to the two lights of england, the two universities of this kingdom and to all their most worthy heads and members, truth, wisdom, and honour from god our father through our lord jesus christ. chamberlen, peter, 1601-1683. 1682 approx. 3 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a31646 wing c1908a estc r24743 08454257 ocm 08454257 41360 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a31646) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 41360) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1249:19) to the two lights of england, the two universities of this kingdom and to all their most worthy heads and members, truth, wisdom, and honour from god our father through our lord jesus christ. chamberlen, peter, 1601-1683. 1 broadside. s.n.], [london? : 1682. caption title. signed: peter chamberlen. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2008-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-06 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-07 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-07 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the two lights of england ; the two universities of this kingdom : and to all their most worthy heads and members , truth , wisdom , and honour from god our father , through our lord jesus christ . ye celebrated men of wisdom and learning , the triple-crowned-little-horn , hath so worried the saints of the most high , out of the world , with his blasphemous endeavours of changing times and laws , that men know not how to keep time for their laws , nor have any law for their time. but the learned dr. more ( and several others ) in their commentaries on daniel , have laid the change of times and laws at the doors of rome . yet because ( dolus versatur in universalibus ) they seem not to be concerned . there wants a nathan to say , thou art the man. ( 2 sam. 12.7 . ) there wants some to say , what times , and what laws , the angel spake of to daniel ? dan. 7.25 . to which purpose i did write to the most reverend arch-bishops , and bishops , on the king's birth-day ; and the most honourable judges in term time , in the very beginning . and now to your selves ( against your days of solemnity ) that many hands may make light work. plus vident oculi , quam oculus . if then you are pleased to make a discovery of those times and laws , you do well ; but if you can restore them , you do better : for ( so extravagant is yet the little-horn in england ) that if any single pen should draw the curtain , and discover the nakedness of antichrist in those times and laws , they would immediately bestow upon him the curse of cham , or adjudge him to fire and fagot . and the scent of the horn is yet so rank , that it is not in the power of king and parliament , to make a perfect restauration . yet do not you refuse your helping hand — est aliquid prodire tenus , si non detur ultra . how strange would it appear , if after all your silence , my goos-quill should make a noise , and awaken the capitol of england , to prevent a ( total ) desolation prophesied by the lord jesus christ , ( mat. 12.25 . ) let not this service be unseasonable from june 19 , 1682. your most humble christian servant peter chamberlen . quæstiones in sacra theologia discutiendæ oxonii in vesperiis, octavo die mensis julii, anno dom. 1671 university of oxford. 1671 approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a90323 wing o947 estc r181260 43078105 ocm 43078105 151627 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a90323) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 151627) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2268:4) quæstiones in sacra theologia discutiendæ oxonii in vesperiis, octavo die mensis julii, anno dom. 1671 university of oxford. 1 sheet ([1] p.) ex officina leonardi lichfield academia typographi, oxoniæ : anno dom. 1671. reproduction of original in: bodleian library, oxford, england. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . lat university of oxford -examinations. theology -examinations, questions, etc. philosophy -examinations, questions, etc. broadsides -england -oxford -17th century. 2007-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-12 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2007-12 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion quaestiones in s. theologia discutiendae oxonii in vesperiis , octavo die mensis julii , anno dom. 1671. quaestiones inceptoris thomae dvncomb è coll. corp. christi . an liceat praescriptâ formulâ orare ? aff. an sacra celebranda sint sermone vernaculo ? aff. an liceat ministris ecclesiae stipendia accipere ? aff. quaestiones inceptoris adami littleton ex aede christi . an s. s. scripturae auctoritas pendeat à traditione ecclesiasticâ ? neg. an dogmata fidei rationis humanae examini subjici fas sit ? neg. an magistratus habeat potestatem in adiaphoris ? aff. quaestiones inceptoris narcissi marsh è coll. exon. an bona opera sint ad vitam aeternam necessaria ? aff. an lex naturae sit dispensabilis ? neg. an liceat clericis matrimonium contrahere ? aff. qvaestiones in jvre civili discvtiendae in vesperiis . quaestiones incep . johannis harison è coll. novo . an in jure deterior sit conditio faeminarum quàm masculorum ? aff. an delinquens ultra id quod cogitavit de eventu teneatur ? aff. an pro ratione legis ejus sententia sit extendenda & restringenda ? aff. quaestiones in medicina discvtiendae in vesperiis . quaestiones inceptoris thomae alvet è coll. merton . an febres sedes suas habeant in corde ? aff. an materia ex quâ lac conficitur sit sanguis ? neg. an similitudo foetûs respectu parentis fiat ab imaginatione ? aff. quaestiones in philosophia discvtiendae in vesperiis . an plures sint mundi ? neg. an terra sit mobilis ? neg. an animae fiant sapientiores quiescendo ? neg. resp . tho. middleton incept . è coll. novo . quaestiones in s. theologia discutiendae oxonii in comitiis , decimo die mensis julii , anno dom. 1671. an patres sub veteri testamento habuerint promissiones tantùm temporales ? neg. an sancti sint invocandi ? neg. an christus solus sit mediator ? aff. resp . alex. pudsey , s. theol. bac. è coll. magd. quaestiones in jure civili discvtiendae in comitiis . an statuta recipiant interpretationem à jure communi ? aff. an gesta per eum qui per errorem magistratu functus est , rata sint habenda ? aff. an reus actori instrumenta edere teneatur ? neg. resp . rob. plott ex aula magd. quaestiones in medicina discutiendae in comitiis . an variolae & morbilli sint morbi maligni ? neg. an in variolis & morbillis regimen frigidum sit prosicuum ? aff. an bilis sit excrementum corporis inutile ? neg. resp . davide thomas , m. d. è coll. novo . quaestiones in philosophia discvtiendae in comitiis . an signatura corporis sit certus animi index ? aff. an ex falsis possit inferri verum ? aff. an imaginatio producat effectus reales ad extra ? neg. resp . fran. smith . a. m. è coll. magd. oxonii , ex officina leonardi lichfield , academiae typographi , anno dom. 1671. a letter of dr. reinolds to his friend, concerning his aduice for the studie of diuinitie rainolds, john, 1549-1607. 1613 approx. 14 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a10328 stc 20611 estc s100412 99836253 99836253 512 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a10328) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 512) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1359:05) a letter of dr. reinolds to his friend, concerning his aduice for the studie of diuinitie rainolds, john, 1549-1607. [24] p. printed by iohn beale, for ionas man, london : 1613. signatures: a¹² . reproduction of the original in the cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology -study and teaching -early works to 1800. 2003-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-09 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-09 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2004-09 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a letter of dr. reinolds to his friend , concerning his aduice for the studie of diuinitie . london printed by iohn beale , for ionas man. 1613. ¶ a letter of doctor reinolds to his friend concerning his aduice for the study of diuinity . &c. i must request you to impute to my businesses , which haue diuerse waies troubled me , not to lacke of good will , my slacknesse is not hitherto answering your letters . which assure your selfe , if i had been able , i would haue sooner answered , so much the more willingly , the better i liked of them , as being sure witnesses of your good will to me ward , and desire of godlinesse : whereof for the one i haue heartily to thank you ; for the other greatly to reioice with you . then to shew my iudgement concerning the order which you may best follow in the study of diuinity , i can tell you nothing but that you haue already better read in others and doe know your selfe . howbeit to satisfie your louing request , i will briefly mention the chiefest points in my iudgement , which are to be regarded : which if you well consider , and earnestly doe follow , as i trust you will , and god grant you may , your labour shall be taken to the aduancement of gods glory , the profit of his church , & your own cōfort the chiefest point of all , to begin withis , sith that diuinity , the knowledge of god , is the water of life ; the vessell must be cleane that shall receiue so precious a liquor : the house must be clensed that shal haue gods holy spirit , not only a guest , but also a continual dweller in it . god forbid you should thinke diuinity consists of words , as wood doth of trees , diuinity without godlinesse doth but condemne consciences against the day of vengeance , and prouoke the wrath of the mighty lord , and make more inexcusable before the seat of iudgement . i will not ad , that true diuinity cannot be learned , vnlesse we frame our hearts and minds wholly to it . but i will desire you to consider that , only , that as the poet saith , symcrum est nisi vas , quodcunque infundis acesssit : so it is written in the book of wisedome , wisedom cannot enter into the heart of a wicked man , nor dwell in a body that is subiect vnto sinne . i hope there is no great cause of standing vpon this point , when i write vnto you , who are , as i trust , the chosen of god , and therefore appointed also to be sanctified . yet sith your selfe haue mentioned vnto me your owne remisse kind of liuing ( as you doe terme it ; ) as you loue me , take heed that this remissenesse be not the same in a mans mind , which a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in the body . and in this , to conclude , consider with your selfe , that if the heathens at their sacrifices were wont to cry out , procul ô procul este profani : what study of holinesse ought there to be in vs , whom god hath adopted , christ hath redeemed , the holy ghost hath sāctified to be a peculiar people vnto god , zealous of good works : which if it be required at the hands of all christians , what shal be asked at theirs , who studying diuinity to instruct others , shold shine themselues as lights in the middest of a lewd generation ? shall he euer perswade others to embrace godlinesse , that hath not perswaded himselfe that it is a pearle to be redeemed with all treasures ? for the study it selfe , which is next to be considered , the knowledge of god must be learned of god , if euer it be learned . of whom that we may learne it , we haue to vse two meanes , prayers and reading of holy scripture . praiers , our selues to talke with god ; reading , to heare god talke with vs. for , because without the grace of the holy spirit , all study , especially in diuinity , is vaine : therefore we must earnestly desire of god that he will enlighten our minds , and soften our hearts , both to know and follow his will reuealed to vs. now because the holy spirit doth teach the same doctrine which our sauiour did , which is set forth vnto vs in the law , and the prophets , and the euangelists : therefore we must diligently giue our selues to reading and meditating of the holy scriptures in tongues in which they were written by the holy spirit . which how much more forcible it is then to be doubtfull among translations , if s. austin did not show , who instructeth a christian preacher that the knowledge of the hebrew and greek tongues is very necessary to vnderstand the old and new testastament : yet themistocles might shew , who hauing to speake to the king of persia , was afraid that his minde would not be perceiued by interpreters , and therefore requested the king to grant him first a yeeres space to learne the persian tongue . wherefore i wish that you also ioyne hebrew to your greeke , though peraduenture you haue once began it , and giuen it ouer . for in that you may follow me , sith you propose my example , so much the better , who my selfe , when i was first master of arts , began the study of it , and being weary , left it : the next yeer perceiuing the necessary vse of it , i set againe vpon it , and i thanke god , since continued a student in it . wherefore the word of god , and that , if it may be , out of the very welspring , not out of the brooks of translations ( if i may so tearme them ) must be diligently read , and by often reading made familiar vnto vs , though it be not in all places throughly vnderstood as the same austin hath very well noted . as for the parts of scripture ( besides this continuall reading of the whole ) to be read first ouer with more diligence then the rest , i will giue you the same counsell which i heard of doctor villerius giuen to yong students , that first you take your greatest trauaile with the helpe of some learned interpreter , in vnderstanding s. iohns gospell and the epistle to the romans , the summe of the new testament : esay the prophet , and the psalmes of dauid , the summe of the old ▪ howbeit in the rest , you shall doe well also if in harder places you vse the iudgement of some godly writer , as caluin and peter martyr , who haue written best on the most part of the old testament . and because it is expedient to ioyne the reading of some compend of scriptures and summe of all diuinity , together with the scriptures , i would wish you to trauaile painfully in caluins institution of christian religion , whereby you shall be greatly profited not only to the vnderstanding of the scriptures , whereof it is a brief and learned commentary : but also to the perceiuing of points of doctrine , whither all things doe pertaine , and may of vs be applied . of farther reading of doctors and histories & other treatises of religiō , i wil not adde at this present : we may hereafter ( if god will ) at greater leisure , when these things are done which must bee laid for the foundatiō , more conueniētly talk . howbeit , if sometimes to recreate your selfe , you intermingle with grauer studies the reading ouer of the history ecclesiasticall , especially as it is written more for our country by good m. fox , you shal receiue of it , togither with great profit , great delectatiō . i had almost forgotten your two last points , quae ratio annotandi , quae exercitatio adhibenda , i haue so little to say of them . for touching noting , you know i do not like the cōmon custom of common places . the best in my iudgemēt , is to note in the margēt or in some paper booke for that purpose , the summe and method of that which you read . as for examples sake , m. bunnie hath done very wel in caluins institutions , shewing all his method and sum of euery sectiō , in his compēdio &c. which book you may wel ioyn with the reading of caluin , to vnderstand his order & method the better . for the other , which is exercising , it wil be good somtimes to occupie your pen either at large or briefly , as you list , of such godly meditations as the reading of the scriptures shall offer vnto you ; praiers vnto god , reprouing of sin , commending of godlinesse , exhorting to righteousnesse , dehorting frō iniquity , consolation in miseries , confirming of the truth , refuting of heresies , & taking an occasion of doing these things som tims to other of your friends ( a liuely and godly exercise , ) whereby you may perfit them , or your self at the least . if you cannot find such occasions to others , i pray write to mee sometime of doubtes that you may find , or whatsoeuer you list , and i will acknowledge my selfe in that respect as in others , beholding to you . now if god giue you grace , as earnestly to follow these things , as you haue been desirous that i should prescribe them : you see the learning of the hebrew tongue , the reading of the scripturs , of learned interpreters , of the sum of religion , of noting what you read , and your exercise therin , these things require much time , & a mind attent ; to speak nothing of prayers , and the study of godlinesse , which will also require some meditation . laborandum , mi iohannes , non luxuriandum . you know what tullie saith for caelius , that to the bare attaining of eloquence omittendae sunt omnes voluptates , relinquēda studia delectationis iocus , ludus , conuiuium , sermo pene familiarium deserendus . you know what plato saith of his philosopher , what a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would haue him , if euer he shall be admitted a man worthy to gouerne his city . if eloquence , if philosophie require such trauaile for ciuill and base things ( in this comparison : ) what shall we think that the knowledge of god , the study of diuinity , desireth for the greatnesse , & for the worthines deserueth . whether you will take such pains or no , or whether you will fly al entisemēts from it , i do not know ; i pray god you may . surely hitherto , which i write with griefe , ( your writing , & your friendship doth embolden me to write freely that which i trust you will take in good part ) you haue bin too much caried away by means of cōpany , from earnest trauaile to your study , to sweet inticemēts of the flesh , seeing of vain spectacles , ouer much eating & drinking , banqueting , frequēting of the town , deliting in vanity , resorting to tauernes , forgetting the word of god. be not filled with wine wherin is exces but be filled with the spirit . wil you pardon my loue for desiring to heale you , or shall i become your enemy for speaking of the truth ? ) they haue made you to neglect your profit in study , they haue hurt your wit , weakned your memory , corrupted your good desire , stained your manners , enfeebled your body , toucht your good name , grieued your friends , and indeed almost quenched , but yet i thāk god they haue not put out the liuely sparks of gods spirit in you . a great wel willer of yours , though not greatly acquainted with you , did ask me a day or two before the act , since i receiu'd your letters , what i thought of you , as one that did hartily desire your profit in learning & godlines . when i had answered him , for that good opinion which i had alwaies cōceiued of you , both alwais for your towardlinesse , and especially for your letters , so friendly that i will not now report : he said that he was very glad to heare it , & that he asked the question in some doubt , because in few daies that here he had staid , he had seen you somwhat often in the town but it might be that by reason of strāgers you had som occasion , the iudges being here , to be the oftner abroad . howbeit about & since the same time , to absent your self from prayers , an exercise so necessary for christiās , that indeed desire the grace of god , and know it coms from him only , to absent your self from sundry exercises of diuinity , wherein peraduenture some good might haue bin done to the furthering of your study : me think these things did not so wel as i wished , agree with the profession & as it were protestatiō , whichin your letters , so shortly before you writ to me . i may seem ouer-bold , & perhaps am to sharp in this my dealing with you , agreeing as some may think , rather to one that were a superior , then fit for a friend , whose degree & state is equal . but i know not how , the good will which i did bear , first being reader to you being scholar , and euer since continued with my free aduise in all things wherin euer you haue asked my counsel ( as , i thank you , you haue done in many ) doth constraine me to poure foorth my inward affection to you , so much the more willingly , because i know you haue learned of salomon , that the wounds of a friend are beter then the kissings of an enemy . euen these things that hinder your study , & therfore at your request i was cōstrained to touch , i haue touched the more boldly , because i do not doubt but your selfe do mislike them : & i see in your letters the strife betwixt the flesh and the spirit , which s. paul setteth down as a marke of gods children , that you do not the good which you wold but the euill which you wold not , that you do . god giue you grace to stir vp your hart & striue as a faithful seruāt to fly from the lusts of youth , as s. paul exhorteth timothy , that you may set your mind to praiers & the reading of holy scripture . it wil be cōueniēt that you haue your appointed times for the one and for the other . which to prescribe as your self knowing your own busines , may most conueniētly ; so cōstātly to follow your order prescribed , i hope the grace of god , which earnestly you shall pray for , will not be failing to you . iuly 4. 1577 finis . some sensible, weighty queries, concerning some things very sweet and necessary to be experienced in the truly-christian state whereunto is added a postscript, containing some queries on isa. 50. 10, 11. a scripture of deep counsel & concern to the darkned and distressed states, of some among those that fear & obey the lord. written by one, who hath been sorely darkned and distressed, for a long season, but at length mercifnlly [sic] enlightned & comforted by the hand which afflicted & distressed him, isaac penington. penington, isaac, 1616-1679. 1677 approx. 22 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 11 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-06 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54064 wing p1203 estc r220472 99831872 99831872 36339 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54064) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 36339) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2129:10) some sensible, weighty queries, concerning some things very sweet and necessary to be experienced in the truly-christian state whereunto is added a postscript, containing some queries on isa. 50. 10, 11. a scripture of deep counsel & concern to the darkned and distressed states, of some among those that fear & obey the lord. written by one, who hath been sorely darkned and distressed, for a long season, but at length mercifnlly [sic] enlightned & comforted by the hand which afflicted & distressed him, isaac penington. penington, isaac, 1616-1679. 19, [1] p. s.n.], [london : printed in the year, 1677. place of publication from wing. caption title on p. 5 reads: some sensible, vveighty queries, concerning some things very sweet, & necessary to be experienced in the truly christian-state. imperfect; final page of text in ms. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible. -o.t. -isaiah l, 10-11 -commentaries -early works to 1800. christianity -essence, genius, nature -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2005-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-01 john latta sampled and proofread 2006-01 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion some sensible , weighty queries , concerning some things very sweet and necessary to be experienced in the truly-christian state. whereunto is added a postscript , containing some queries on isa . 50. 10 , 11. a scripture of deep counsel & concern to the darkned and distressed states , of some among those that fear & obey the lord. written by one , who hath been sorely darkned and distressed , for a long season , but at length mercifully enlightned & comforted by the hand which afflicted & distressed him , isaac penington . come and let us return unto the lord ; for he hath come , and he will heal us : he hath smitten , and he will bind us up , hos . 6. 1. and in that day thou shalt say , o lord i will praise thee , though thou wast angry with me , thine anger is turned away and thou comfortedst me , isa . 12. 1. printed in the year , 1677. a brief preface . indeed , the lord hath reached unto me by his living power , and thereby hath begotten somewhat which he doth own , and which he hath taught to know and own him in his living appearances in my heart : and by its pure life and operations in me , i know it to be the pure power . and truly i would fain have this life and power more and more reach to , prevail and spread in my own heart , and in the hearts of other men . i am not for any noti●nal religion out of the power , in any way or form whatsoever ( no indeed , i am not so much as for the very true form of godliness out of the power ) but where there is any touch , any sense , any operation , any savour of the true life and power any where , my soul loveth and embraceth it blessing the lord for it . and o that this might be visited by the lord , wherever it is , and kept alive to the day of redemption , and led by the lord into the pure and living way , and holy , everlasting covenant of life , wherein he redeems , for which end these queries have broke forth from me ; and indeed , no less then a necessity ( or a necessitous fonci of love and life pursuing me ) hath constrained me to publish them , who with reverence of spirit commit them into the hand of the lord , who can open the hearts of whom he pleaseth , and give the living sense of what comes from him . i am satisfied that god's powerful work of redeeming will go on . o blessed be his name , who hath a mighty arm , and hath done mighty things with it , inwardly ●n mens hearts ; and we are in the true faith assured , that he will yet do more mighty thin●s , as he seeth good , to the gladding of the hearts of those whose hope is in him , and who have no help besides him . some sensible , vveighty queries , concerning some things very sweet , & necessary to be experienced in the truly christian-state . query 1. what is the water , wherewith the soul or inner-man is to be washed , that it may be cleansed from its inward filthiness , as outward things are by washing with outward vvater ? ezek. 36. 25. psal . 51. 2 , &c. q. 2. vvhat is the answer of a good conscience towards god , when the soul is inwardly baptized and made clean ? pet. 3. 21. q. 3. christ faith , blessed are the pure in heart ; do , or can any witness purity of heart before this washing ? q. 4. how may the heart be sprinkled from an evil conscience , and the body washed with pure water ; so that there may be a drawing near to god with a true heart , and in full assurance of faith , heb. 10. 22. psal . 26. 6. q. 5. how might the jews wash and make themselves clean , isa . 1. 16. could it be any otherwise done by them , then by taking heed to the vvord of the new covenant , nigh in the mouth and heart , to which moses had directed them , deut. 30. 14. psal . 119. 9. q 6. vvhat is the fire which takes hold of , and burns up the lusts and corruptions of the heart ? is it not the word of life within , which flames against evil , and hammers down evil ? doth not the holy one in the midst of the spiritual israel do this ? vvhen christ who knocks at the door of the heart , is let in , and his voice hearkned to , doth not he become a spirit of judgment , and burning , judging and burning up , what is evil there ? is it not blessed to know this spiritual appearance , and this work of christ in the heart , isa . 4. 4. & 10. 17. q 7. vvhat are the enemies of a man's house ? vvho must overcome them ? how may they be overcome ? is a man safe or delivered from them till they be overcome , mat. 15. 19. 2 cor : 10. 4 , 5. q. 8. vvhat is the house of the strong-man , where he dwells till he be dispossessed ? vvho can dispossess him ? how doth he dispossess him ? how doth he spoil his goods and then garnish the house a new ? o what a new creation and change within is witnessed , when this is done ? and who would not wait , and pray , and believe , and suffer the judgings and burnings of the spirit of judgment and burning , that this might be done throughly and effectually , luke 11. 21 , 23. isa . 26. 9. 2 cor. 5. 17. q. 9. vvhat is that coming to christ , which none can witness , but those that hear and learn of the father , and are taught by him ; in the drawings of the life and spirit of the new covenant , to come to the son , john 6. 44 , 45. q. 10. vvho can confess jesus to be the lord by the holy ghost ? can any but they that receive the help of his spirit ; and feel somewhat of his lordship and holy dominion in their hearts , isa . 26. 13. q. 11. vvhat is the precious faith , which is the gift of god , which none can obtain , but they that are born of god ? john 1. 12 ; 13. q. 12. can any rightly believe that jesus is the christ , runless they receive this faith , which god gives to his own children that are born of his spirit , 1 john 5. 1. q. 13. doth not this faith give victory over the world ? ( over the worldly nature and spirit within ; over the worldly nature and spirit without also ) can any other faith give victory ? 1 john 5. 4. q. 14. vvhat is the love of god's children ? vvhence doth it arise ? how come they to love ? is it not of an heavenly , spiritual nature ? doth it not arise from god's begetting them and circumcising their hearts , and teaching them in the spirit of the new covenant to love him , and one another , yea and enemies also , 1 john 4. 7. deut. 30. 6. 1 thes . 4. 9. q. 15. how come the children of god , who are begotten of him , to obey his commandments ? is it not from the constrainings of his love , which makes them natural and easie ( where this birth and nature is grown up ) and not grievous and burthensom , mat. 11. 33. 1 john 5. 3. q. 16. vvhat is the fear god puts into the hearts of the children of the new covenant ? is it a fear taught by the precepts of men , or a fear springing from the root of life within ? can any who receive this fear from god , and who are preserved in the sense of it ( and in the holy awe and reverence which it produceth ) depart from the holy , tender , living god and father ? jer. 32. 40. q. 17. vvhat is the law which god writes in the hearts of the children of the new coenant ? is it not the law of the spirit ●ife in christ jesus ? is it not the law which the isles wait for ? isa . 41. 5. and do the isles wait for it in vain ? o blessed be the lord , by the once distressed and miserable ones , in this age it hath not been waited for in vain . q 18. vvhat is the truth that makes free indeed , from the law of sin and death ? is it not the truth as it is in jesus ; the inward truth , which hath virtue and power in it , to work against and work out that which is contrary to truth , and so deliver and free the mind from it ? for the light , which is truth , can expel darkness ; the life which is truth , can overcome death ; yea , the truth which is living , holy and righteous , can overcome and subdue the unholy and unrighteous nature , and break down the strong holds , and bring every rebellious and captivating thought into captivity and subjection , john 8. 32. rom. 8. 2. ephes . 4. 20 , 21. 2 cor. 10. 4. 5. q 19. how doth god cause the children of the new covenant to walk in his statutes and keep his judgments and do them ? is it not by putting his spirit into them , and by the holy virtue , power and operation thereof in them ? doth not that make them a willing people in the day of his power ? and doth not that give them to do also , and strengthen them with might in the inner man ? so that not grieving that , or quenching that : that is as a flame of life in them , and fills their hearts with joy , and the joy of the lord is their strength ; and in this joy and strength they can rejoyce and work righteousness , and remember the lord in his wayes , isa . 64. 5. ezek 36. 27. q. 20. can any work righteousness , or do righteousness , but he that is truly righteous , inwardly righteous ; in whom the righteousness of god , the righteousness of christ is revealed from faith to faith ? must not the tree be good , before the fruit can be good ? must not the heart be changed , be made holy and righteous , before it can bring forth that which is holy and righteous ? can any but the plants of god , the plants of righteousness , bring forth the fruits of righteousness ? isa . 61. 3. & 1 john 3. 7. o that people , nations , tongues and languages , could understandingly , sensibly and experimentally as in god's sight , with the seal of his blessed spirit , answer every one of these things ! three queries more added . query 1. dost thou indeed know the new covenant ? hast thou inwardly felt the spiritual , powerful gathering , by the mighty arm and power of the lord , out of the sinful nature and state , into it ? dost thou abide with god therein ? and art thou daily taught and fed by him there ? these are very weighty things , can any man be safe or happy without experiencing them ? heb. 8. 8. &c. q 2. hast thou experienced the true hunger and thirst after the living waters ? hast thou been called and led to them ? hast thou eat and drunk the bread , wine and milk which those waters yield ? hast thou been abundantly satisfied with the fatness of god's house , and hath he given thee to drink of the river of his pleasure ? hath the lord opened an ear in thee to hear as the learned ? and hast thou inclined thy ear and come unto him who gives life , and received him who is life and gives life in that inward , spiritual , living appearance of his in the heart , wherein and whereby he gives life ? hast thou known his appearance inwardly , as of a living stone ? hast thou heard and learned o the father how to come to him , as to a living stone ? and hast thou been new-created and formed a living stone by him ? and art thou a living stone built upon him the living stone inwardly in spirit , daily living in him , any daily receiving spiritual life and virtue from him ? if it be thus with thee , then surely thou dost know and enjoy the everlasting covenant , even the sure mercies of david , isa . 55. 1 , 2 , 3 psal . 36. 8 , 9. 1 pet. 2 4 , 5. q. 3. dost thou sensibly and experimentally know , how the spirit of the father begets the child-like life , love and fear in the heart , and how the pure fear of the lord is the beginning of vvisdom , and the living child's treasure ? and dost thou know what the vvomb is , wherein the living child is formed ? vvhat the jerusalem above is , which is the mother of all that are truly living ? and how christ is formed in all that are begotten , and born of , and live in his spirit ? isa . 33. 6. gal. 4. 26. john 3. v. 6 , & 8. gal. 4. 19. the conclusion . o how miserable is he , who is deceived about these things ! o how happy is he , who hath received the true understanding from god , which cannot be deceived ; wherein he hath the evidence and demonstration of god's spirit concerning them , and knoweth the truth as it is in jesus ; as it is in his life , in his spirit , in his power , who ministers after the power of an endless life unto all his sheep , wo are returned to the shepherd and bishop of the soul , who hear his voice and follow him , wherever he goes or leads , who is an eternal shepherd and eternal door of life to his , and leads to precious pastures , and sweet still sreams of life , and is giving the sweet food , rest and pure pleasure of eternal life unto his abundantly , even as it is his will , that after their many sore trials , exercises and travels ( & faithfulness to him therein ) they should abundantly possess and enjoy it . glory to the lord for ever , whose kingdom is set up in the hearts of many , and who already reigns in the hearts of many , and will reign in the hearts of more . o that men might hear the sound of his everlasting gospel , and learn to fear him , and give glory to him , and know the hour of his judgment come in their own hearts ; that by his judgment against sin and unrighteousness in them , they might come to know and worship him , and then the worship of the dragon and beast would soon come to an end in their hearts ; and they would worship the begetter of holiness the begetter of life , the king of saints , who dwells and rules in those that are his own , as the devil the destroyer doth in those that are his . the lord god of everlasting power break down the kingdom of satan ( the kingdom of unrighteousness and darkness in mens hearts ) and exalt the kingdom and scepter of his own son instead thereof , amen . postscript , containing some queries on isa . 50. 10 , 11. verse 10. who is among you that feareth the lord , that obeyeth the voice of his servant , that walketh in darkness and hath no light ? it is rendered in another translation . and no light shineth upon him , ( which was job's case in his great affliction , as is signified by him , chap. 29. 2. 3. ) let him trust in the name of the lord , and stay upon his god. verse 11. behold all ye that kindle a fire , that composs about with sparks , walk in the light of your own fire , and in the sparks ye have kindled , this shall ye have of mine hand , ye shall lie down in sorrow . query 1 doth not the tender and merciful god , many times in the bowels of his love and mercy , bring darksness and great distress upon mens spirits , that they might wait for his healing and redemption ? yea , doth not this befal some who fear the lord , and are found in the holy reverence and obedience to him ? and is it not good that it should befal them ? q. 2. should not men in such a condition of darkness and distress , trust in the name of the lord , and stay upon him , till he cause light to arise out of obscurity , and comfort them that mourn in zion ; giving them beauty for ashes , the oyl of joy for mourning , and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ? q. 3. are not persons very proue and liable in time of darkness and distress , instead of waiting upon god for his help and salvation , to be kindling a fire and compassing themselves about with sparks ? q. 4. are there not some who cannot be content without heat and warmth in their religion and performances ; and yet instead of waiting for god's kindling the fire , and his causing the sparks of life to arise , kindle a fire of themselves ; and compass themselves about with sparks of their own kindling q. 5. may not men after they have kindled a fire and sparks ; walk in the light thereof ? and may not god in his just judgment and sore displeasure against them , leave them to themselves , and give them up so to do ? q. 6. what will god do in the end , or what in the end shall befall them from god , who kindle a fire and sparks ; and have continued walking in the light thereof , and have been heated and warmed thereby ? will not god cause them at length to lie down in sorrow ? o that persons that are serious in religion , might not thus err , and so provoke god to give them up , to walk in the light of the fire and sparks of their own kindling . q. 7. when do men kindle a fire and sparks of their own ? do they not first forget the god of their salvation , and become unmindful of the rock of their strength ? and do they not then , plant pleasant plants , and set strange slips ? ( and where do they plant and set them ? ) but what will the harvest be in the day of inheritance , when they come to reap and inherit what they have planted and sown ? ( for what a man so weth , that must he also reap . ) will it not be a heap for the fire of god's jealousie to take hold of , in the day of their tribulation , anguish and desperate sorrow of heart , isa . 17. 10 , 11. q. 8. in what light do men build up a wall inwardly , and daub it with untempered morter , to secure themselves from the wrath to come ? is it not in the light of the fire and sparks of their own kindling ? will any wall or defence built up in the light of this fire or sparks secure men , will not the wrath of god in the day thereof , break forth upon all the workers of iniquity , whatever their faith or hope be to the contrary ? will any wall defend the soul from the over flowing storm of wrath , but the wall of god's salvation ? & can any enter within that wall but the righteous nation which keepeth the truth , isa . 26. 1 , 2. the name of the lord indeed is a strong tower , but can any run into it , and get shelter in it , but the righteous , prov. 18. 10. q. 9. vvho is he , who when he falleth , shall arise again ? and after he hath sate in darkness , the lord shall be a light unto him ? is it not he that feareth the lord , that obeyeth the voice of his servant , that in the time of his darkness and distress trusteth in the name of the lord , and stayes upon his god ? yea is it not such an one , as is willing to bear the indignation of the lord , because he hath sinned against him , until he plead his cause , and execute judgment for him ? vvill not the lord bring forth such an one to the light , and shall not such an one behold his ●ighteousness ? mic. 7. 8 , 9. q. 10. vvhen shall persons light rise in obseurity , & their darkness be as the noon-day ? vvhen shall their light break forth as the morning , and , their hea●h spring forth speedily ; and their righteousness . go before them , and the glory the lord gather them up . and when shall the lord be their continual guide and satisfie their soul in droughts , and make fat their bones , and make them like a watered garden and like a spring of water , whose waters fail not . are not these promises belonging to the gospel-state ; and are they not fulfilled in the gospel-state , as people come to know of keep the gospel-fast , and the gospel sabbath . read 〈◊〉 55. 6 to the end and wait on the lord to receive understanding from him that in reading thou mayst understand . o that men knew the gospel-fast and the gospel sabbath with the leasts of unleavened bread tabernacles , trumpets , &c : a little of the knowledge of mystery of the hidden life and power , is of more value , and would do their souls more than heaps of litteral knowledge , wherewith the world is so filled . the knowledge of god and christ in the mystery , is no less than life eternal in them and to them , who are taught in the new covenant or ministration of the lower of the endless life , so to know them . the end . a brief vindication of three passages in the practical catechisme, from the censures affixt on them by the ministers of london, in a book entitled, a testimony to the truth of jesus christ, &c. / by h. hammond d.d. hammond, henry, 1605-1660. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a87010 of text r202516 in the english short title catalog (thomason e424_9). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 26 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a87010 wing h518 thomason e424_9 estc r202516 99862768 99862768 114944 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a87010) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 114944) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 67:e424[9]) a brief vindication of three passages in the practical catechisme, from the censures affixt on them by the ministers of london, in a book entitled, a testimony to the truth of jesus christ, &c. / by h. hammond d.d. hammond, henry, 1605-1660. [2], 13, [1] p. printed for richard royston in ivy-lane, london : 1648. a reply to: a testimony to the truth of jesus christ, and to our solemn league and covenant. in this edition, "london" in imprint is in roman. annotation on thomason copy: "feb: 1st"; the 8 in imprint date crossed out and date altered to 1647. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng hammond, henry, 1605-1660. -practical catechism -early works to 1800. church of england -catechisms -early works to 1800. testimony to the truth of jesus christ, and to our solemn league and covenant -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. a87010 r202516 (thomason e424_9). civilwar no a brief vindication of three passages in the practical catechisme,: from the censures affixt on them by the ministers of london, in a book hammond, henry 1648 4653 5 20 0 0 0 0 54 d the rate of 54 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2008-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2009-01 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2009-01 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief vindication of three passages in the practical catechisme , from the censures affixt on them by the ministers of london , in a book entitled , a testimony to the truth of jesus christ , &c. by h. hammond d. d. london . printed for richard royston in ivy-lane , 1648. a vindication of the practical catechisme . seeing it again appears to me by a book , that came to this town on saturday last , ( entitled , a testimony to the truth of jesus christ , &c. pretending to be subscribed by 52 ministers of christ within the province of london ) that it is gods good pleasure to deliver me up to be evill spoken of , and accused , and to bear a yet deeper part of his bitter cup , then many others of my brethren have done , i desire to bless and praise his name for this his goodnes and mercy to me , and to embrace all those , who have joyn'd their hands to be instruments in this , as those whom by christs command ( particularly belonging to me on this occasion ) i am bound to love , to blesse , to pray for , and not to think of any other way of return toward them . this , i thank god , i can most cheerfully do , and would satisfie my self to have done it in private , between god and my own soul , were there not another occasion , which makes it a little necessary for me to say somewhat publickly ; and that is the vindication of the truth of christ jesus , which they , who are willing to give testimony to it , will , i hope , take from me in good part . these men p. 4. in the beginning of the second branch of their testimony , ( which it seems by p. 37. the whole number of the 52 ministers have subscribed ) make mention of unsound opinions , especially abominable errours , damnable heresies , and horrid blasphemies , which are broached and maintained here in england among us , under the notion of new lights , and new truths ; many of which they have reason to judge destructive to the very fundamental truths of christianity , &c. all of them utterly repugnant to the sacred scriptures , the occasion of much grief of heart to all the friends of truth and piety at home , the scandal and offence of all the reformed churches abroad , the unparalleld reproach of this church and nation , totally inconsistent with the covenant , and the covenanted reformation , and in a word , the very dregs and spawn of those old accursed heresies which have been already condemned , &c. after this preface and expression of their zeal to gods truth , they conclude the period with a profession , that they more particularly abominate these infamous and pernicious errours of late published among us , and hereafter recited in this ensuing catalogue , viz. errours , &c. in this catalogue , three particulars there are recited from the practical catechisme of h. hammond , 2. edit. london , 1646. from which premises , i suppose , any reader will conclude , that those three particulars are by these ministers thought guilty of all those charges which they had affixt to all the unsound opinions , &c. noted by them , viz. that they are utterly repugnant to the sacred scriptures , &c. and in the modestest of their expressions , that they are infamous and pernicious errours . upon this supposition , i hold it my duty by setting down these three particulars punctually , to refer it to all impartial christians to judge whether it be a testimony to the truth of jesus christ to passe such censures on them . the first is recited by them , p. 9. and it is this , that christ was given to undergo a shameful death voluntarily upon the crosse , to satisfie for the sin of adam , and for all the sins of all mankind . this is thus plainly set down in their catalogue of infamous & pernicious errors , but without the least note to direct what part of this proposition is liable to that charge , any farther then may be collected from the title of the errours under which 't is placed , viz : errours touching universal or general redemption . from whence i presume to discern their meaning to be , that to affirm christ to have satisfied for , or redeemed all mankind , is this pernitious errour by them abominated . and such i confesse i should acknowledge it to be , if it had any right to be joyn'd with that other by these men set under the same head [ that the damned shall be saved ] but i hope that error hath received no patronage from that catechism , nor sure from that assertion of christs redeeming all mankind . these two propositions being very reconcileable , that christ redeemed all men , and yet that the whole number of the impenitent , unbelieving , reprobate world shall never be saved by him . if there were any need of it , i should easily shew the way of reconciling these two , by adding that the great benefits of christs death , which i affirm to be general , are given upon condition , not absolutely ( as gods love to the world , & , the effect of it , giving his son , is not designed , that all absolutely , but that all conditionally , i. e. whosoever believeth in him , should not perish , but have everlasting life ) and that they which do not perform that condition ( as god knows a great multitude doe not ) shall never be saved by his death : to which purpose is that of prosper , one far enough from all kindnesse to the pelagians , redemptor mundi dedit pro mundo sanguinem suum , & mundus redimi noluit , &c. the redeemer of the world gave his bloud for the world , and the world would not be redeemed . ad gall : cap. 9. but , to confine my discourse ( without consideration of the consequences ) to the assertion it self ; i desire it may be observ'd , that this was not crudely set down in that catechisme , but with this immediate addition [ to tast death for every man , heb. 2.9 . ] by that plain testimony of scripture confirming the truth of what was asserted , as punctually as could be imagined . for sure [ every man ] signifies all mankind , as that notes singulos generis humani , in the largest notion of the word , and tasting death for them is satisfying for their sins . if this testimony ( so clear , that it alone hath , to my knowledge , convinc'd one as learned a man as doth in this church of ours maintain the doctrines contrary to the remonstrants ) be not thought sufficient to support this assertion , i shall then ex abundanti adde these other plain testimonies ; not only that of gods giving his only son , mention'd by christ , as an effect or expression of his love to the world , ( which it would not be , if he did not give him for the world , whom he is said to love ) but ( to prevent all distinctions concerning the notion of the world , as if it signified , only the elect ) more particularly these two ; first that of 2 pet. 2.1 . where the lord , i. e. christ is plainly said to have bought ( i.e. paid the price , satisfied for ) them , who deny him , and bring upon themselves swift destruction : to which agrees that of 1 cor. 8.11 . where the weake brother , of whom 't is said , that by another mans scandal he shal perish , is described to be one for whom christ died . the other testimony which i shall adde , is that of s. paul , 2 cor. 5.14 . which i desire the intelligent reader to observe : where speaking of the constreining obliging love of christ , he saith , we thus judge , that if one died for all , then were all dead , that is , surely , all in the full latitude , not only the elect but all others ; and this conclusion the apostle inferrs by this medium , because one , i.e. christ died for all , which being a proof of the other , must certainly be as true , and as acknowledged ( if not more ) as that which 't is brought to prove ; and particularly the [ all ] for whom he died , be as unlimited as the [ all ] that were prov'd from thence to be dead , or else the apostle could not judge ( as he saith he doth ) or conclude the death of all in adam by that medium . from this arguing of the apostle i shall make no question to infer , that in s. pauls divinity , christ died for all who are dead in adam ; and on that occasion i shall adde , by the way , that the contrary doctrine [ of christs not dying for all ] was by the antients affixt on pelagius upon that ground , of his affirming that all ( i. e. that infants ) were not faln in adam , and so needed not to be redeem'd by christ . thus it appears by s. august : cont. 2. epist. pelag : l. 2. c. 2. pelagiani dicunt deum non esse omnium aetatum in hominibus mundatorem , salvatorem , liberatorem , &c. and when the massilians , to vindicate themselves from that charge of s. augustines , confesse that christ died for all mankind , ( as it appears by prospers epistle ) prosper expresses no manner of dislike of that confession , but forms other charges against them . and the truth is , there is scarce any antient writer before pelagius , but hath directly asserted christs dying for all , the testimonies of irenaeus , clemens , origen , macarius , cyril of jerusalem , eusebius , athanasius , and many others might readily be produced , if that were needful . and then let it be guest also , which of the two positions , the affirmative or the negative , best deserves the charge of being the spawn of those old accursed heresies , which have been already condemned , &c. the same i could adde from many the learnedst protestants , which never were thought to be tainted with any antient or modern heresie ( though others i know have exprest themselves otherwise ) but i need not such auxiliaries . to conclude this point , i suppose in affirming or vindicating this position , i have born testimony to the truth of christ , from whom , and whose apostles i professe to have learn'd this truth , and to conceive it ( for the sense of it ) as fully testified by plain scriptures , as many articles of the creed ; and for the expression used in the pract : catechisme of [ all mankind ] i must acknowledge to have learn'd it from the church of england ( of which i do yet with joy professe my self an obedient son and member ) in those words of her catechisme , establisht by act of parliament , and inserted in the book of liturgy , where i was taught , [ to believe in god the father , who created me and all the world , in god the son , who redeemed me and all mankind , and in god the holy ghost , who sanctified me and all the elect people of god ; where mankind as it is of a narrower extent on one side then all the world of creatures , so is it to be understood of a larger , then all the elect people of god ; and so much for the first charge . the second is set down p. 15. and it is this , that neither paul nor james exclude or separate faithful actions or acts of faith from faith , or the condition of justification , but absolutely require them , as the only things by which the man is justified . what is thus set down i acknowledge to be in terminis in the practical catechisme , but cannot easily guesse wherein the error or perniciousnesse is conceived to lie , unlesse it should possibly be thorow a mistake of the phrase [ the only things by which the man is justified ] as if by that speech should be understood , either that the faithful actions or acts of faith without faith it self , were the only things by which we are justified , or else that all the things there spoken of , faith , and faithful actions , or acts of faith are the only cause , and so some cause of our justification , or by which , as by a cause , we are justified ; either of these i confesse might passe for an error , but both these doctrines i have sufficiently disclaim'd ; and indeed in this very proposition 't is affirm'd that the faithful actions or acts of faith are not excluded or separated from faith ( which they must be if they justifie without faith ) or the condition of justification ( i. e. from that faith which is considered as , and affirm'd to be the condition of our justification ) but by those two apostles absolutely required , to what ? why to faith , or the condition of our justication , as the only things together with it by which as by a condition , and only so ( as 't is clearly set down all over that part of the catechisme , which handles faith or justification ) the man is justified . this i suppose may give these men some light of their mistake , if it were such : but if they understand the speech as then and now i do , and yet think it error , and pernicious , i must then only prove that what was said from s. james and s. paul , was not by me falsly imposed upon them , and then they must either maintain my speech , or fall with me in the same condemnation . that s. james doth not exclude or separate faithful actions , or acts of faith , from faith , or the condition of justification , but require them , ( i.e. faith , and faithful actions , or acts of faith ) as the only things by which , as by a condition , the man is justified , will be clear by the definition of a condition in logick , and the plain words of s. james ; a condition is a qualification of the s●bject required to make him capable , or a causa sine quâ non ; and so a condition of justification is no more , then that without which a man cannot be justified ; and that as the direct affirmation of s. james , c. 2.24 . ye see that by works ( i. e. faithful actions , or acts of faith ) a man is just●fied , and not by faith only : and again , faith if it have not works , v. 17. and faith without works , v. 20. is dead , and so , sure , not such as by which we are justified . from whence i form this syllogisme , that , without which , in s. james's opinion , we are not justified , and by which joyn'd with faith we are justified , not by faith only , is not by s. james excluded or separated from faith or the condition of our justification , but required together with faith , as the only things by which ( as by a condition the man is justified ; but without acts of faith or faithful actions , in s. james's ●●●mon , we are not justified , and by them we are justified , and 〈◊〉 by faith only , therefore faithful actions , or acts of ●●●th are not by st. james excluded or separated from faith , or the condition of our justification , but required together with faith , as the only things by which ( as by a condition ) the man is justified . the first proposition is clear from the nature of a condition ; the second from the words cited out of s. james , and then i hope the conclusion will neither be error nor pernitious . then for s. paul 't is made evident in the pract : catech●sme that the faith by which according to his doctrine abraham was justified ( and not by works ) rom. 4. was not only a depending on god for the performance of his promise ( which yet was a faithful action , or act of faith ) but also a resigning himself up wholly to him to obey his precepts ; or more clearly , was a faith , which , howsoever it was tried by promises or commands , did answer god in acts of faith , or faithful actions ; and so was accepted by god ( without absolute unsinning obedience , much more without obedience to the mosaical law , i. e. without works ) all which is clear in the story of abraham , and i suppose need not farther be evidenced . and then concerning s. pauls part in the businesse , my syllogisme shall be this , he that affirms abraham to be justified by that faith , which , howsoever 't was tried , did answer god in acts of faith or faithful actions , doth not exclude or separate faithful actions or acts of faith from faith , or the condition of our justification , but absolutely requires them , &c. but s. paul affirms abraham to be justified by that faith , which howsoever 't was tried , did answer god in faithful actions , or acts of faith , therefore s. paul doth not exclude or separate faithful actions , &c. the first proposition i conceive wants little proving , after that which hath been already premis'd in this matter . and for the second i shall desire that abrahams faith , as it hath justification attributed to it by saint paul , may be viewed both in the 4 to the rom. and the 11 to the heb. in the former his faith was tried by the promise of a numerous seed , &c. and he answered that with one act of faith , or faithful action , believed in hope , beyond hope , v. 18. was strong in faith , and gave glory to god , v. 20. was fully perswaded , that what god had promised , he was able to perform , v. 21. all which what are they but acts of faith , or faithful actions ; all , which ( when the object of the faith is gods absolute promise ) the matter is capable of , and for this it was counted to him for righteousnesse , or he was justified , ver. 22. and thence sure i may conclude , that these were so required , as the condition by which he was , and without which he should not be justified . in the 11 to the heb. many other acts of his faith , or faithful actions are mentioned ; v. 8. by faith he obeyed to go out of his own country , not knowing whither he went , and v. 9. by faith he sojourn'd in a strange land , v. 10. by faith he expected a city , that hath foundations , v. 17. by faith he offer'd his son , and v. 19. counted that god was able to raise him up from the dead , v. 20. by faith he blessed isaac concerning things to come . what are all these but acts of faith , or faithful actions in all kinds of tryals ? and therefore i suppose all this being out of saint paul , as the former out of saint james , 't will be no error or pernitious from their very words to have affirm'd this doctrine , and affixt it on them . i suppose also this may serve for the second proposition . the third is set down p. 18. from pract. catech. p. 120. and t is this , that [ thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain ] is undoubtedly no more then [ thou shalt not forswear thy self . ] to this charge i answer first , that it is a little strange , that a bare explication of a phrase of scripture , a part of the third commandement in exod. though it were acknowledged false , or forc'd , should yet be so far improvable by any , as to come under the title of an infamous pernicious error , a spawn of the old accursed heresies , &c. and be capable of all those other aggravations at first mention'd , which being affixt to all the errors in the catalogue , must also be affixt to this which is set down for one of them . but then secondly , for the truth , ( most undoubted certain truth ) of this explication , or interpretation thus censured , i have formerly at large made it appear , that the words [ to take the name of god ] signifie to swear , and no more , and the hebrew which we render in vain , signifies [ falsly ] and is so rendred in the ninth commandement , and agreeable to that , psal. 15. to lift up the soul to vanity , is to swear by the soul or life falsly , as it there follows , nor sworn to deceive his neighbour , and beside my own judgement in this matter , back'd with the consent of as learned as this age hath , or the antient church had any , i conceiv'd that i had a most authentick warrant from christ himself , who renders it {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , thou shalt not forswear thy self : for so we read mat. 5. ye have heard that it was said to them of old , thou shalt not kill , and again in the same manner , thou shalt not commit adultery , that is , that of the 10 commandements delivered in sinai , and brought down by scripture , to them his present auditors , one commandement was , thou shalt not kill , another , thou shalt not commit adultery , and so again in the very same form of words , another , thou shalt not forswear thy self , from which i did assure my self ( and so stil do ) that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , is as directly the interpretation ( in christs judgment ) of the first part of the third commandement , as {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of the seventh and sixth , and so that it is undoubtedly no more the one then the other . and indeed this was the only occasion of delivering those words in the pract : catech. to shew that christ did not misreport the words of the commandements , nor yet refer to any other place , but that commandment in those words of his . and though i have many other things , that i could say to that matter , able to free that speech from all imaginable inconveniences ( especially when in that place christs prohibition is explain'd to be against all kind of swearing ( by any other as wel as by god ) in ordinary conversation , or in any case but wherein it is necessary to confirm by oath ) yet i am very willing to leave the matter here , upon this account at this time given of it , i. e. in my opinion on christs score , and not fear what any ingenuous reader wil charge on me for this interpretation . i beseech god to forgive them which have brought this unnecessary trouble upon the reader : and for my self i have to them these two only requests , 1. that they wil examine themselves sincerely , and as in gods sight , what the motive or design was , which perswaded them to single out me alone ( who professe my self , and am by all that know me , acknowledg'd to hold nothing contrary to the church of england , and wil justifie it to any man that knows what the church of england is ) and joyn me with the broachers of all the blasphemies and heresies of this age : and 2ly , that they wil lay to heart the consequences which may naturally flow from hence , if god do not uphold weak christians , who seeing so many doctrines of very distant natures blended together , with the same brand of [ heresie and blasphemy , infamous and pernicious ] fasten'd on them , and no kind of proofs annext , that any are such ( beside the judgment of the censors ) may possibly find some of them to be the infallible truths of god , and be tempted ( if they have not stronger antidotes then this bare testimony wil afford them ) to have the same thoughts of the other also ; or if not , whether they wil not be inclined to have the same severity and condemnation for me , or any other asserter of such propositions as these , as they are taught to have for the authors of those other blasphemous propositions , and so be tempted to uncharitablenesse . having said thus much , i shall hope it may find some good successe among some who have subscribed that testimony : but if i am mistaken in all of them , i shall then desire that this improsperous paper may gain me but thus much , that either the first subscriber mr john downam ( who did license the printing of this very book , from whence all these pretended errors are cited ) or else dr gouge , or mr gataker , who are foremost of the second rank , or some other person of learning and christian temper wil afford me their patience personally , and by fair discourse , or any other christian way , to debate the truth of our pretensions ; and for this i shal wait their leisure . h. hammond . from my study , christ-ch : in oxon. jan. 24. munday . the end . a loving exhortation to all kings, princes, potentates, bishops and people in the whole christendom wherein is a distinction betwixt the true and false teachers ... / written by thomas taylor. taylor, thomas, 1618-1682. 1666 approx. 27 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 7 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a64258 wing t578 estc r17705 12166189 ocm 12166189 55327 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64258) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 55327) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 829:7) a loving exhortation to all kings, princes, potentates, bishops and people in the whole christendom wherein is a distinction betwixt the true and false teachers ... / written by thomas taylor. taylor, thomas, 1618-1682. 12 p. [s.n.], london : 1666. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. society of friends -doctrines. 2004-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-09 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-10 melanie sanders sampled and proofread 2004-10 melanie sanders text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a loving exhortation , to all kings , princes , potentates , bishops and people in the whole christendom . wherein is a distinction betwixt the true and false teachers . to be read over in meekness and the fear of the lord. written by thomas taylor . london , printed in the year , 1666. a loving exhortation , to all kings , princes , potentates , bishops and people in the whole christendom , &c. o ye kings , princes , potentates , and rulers of the earth , we desire not your thrones , honours , places or dignities , neither do we envy you for them : for we have enough in god our reconciled father , who hath made us kings and priests to himself by jesus christ , spiritually to reign over the evil in the world , and to offer up our selves in righteousness to his glory ; and this is our crown , and that which we strive after in a pure conscience ; for we are not of those that fight with flesh and blood , and with carnal weapons , for an earthly crown , but such as in the strength of almighty god are taught with spiritual weapons to war only against that mystery of iniquity and power of darkness that captivates the pretious soul of man , and keeps it short of the glory of god ; desiring from the truth of our hearts , that neither the soul nor body of any may perish , but that this wicked one , which is the enemy of both , may be destroyed out of the earth , in this day of christ , by the spirit of his mouth and brightness of his appearing ; that so the whole creation of god may be delivered from bondage , to stand in its holy order , to the glory of the creator , as in the beginning ; that so he may take delight in the children of men , and make his abode with them , as at that time , when the morning stars sung for joy , and all was full of beauty and sweetness , and no death in them . and o ye bishops and high teachers of the world , we desire not your seats , neither do we envy you for your great promotions , but do desire that you may know with us , the true shepherd and bishop of the soul , christ jesus , the good and true shepherd and bishop , who gave himself for the sheep , that he might redeem them from all iniquity , and deliver their souls from the hands of all oppression , to serve him in his own free spirit , where none can come to make afraid . and as this saviour you come to know and receive , your knowledge of men and things according to the flesh will cease , and the love of the world , and the worlds things will die in you , and a love to the seed that breaths after righteousness will arise in you , and you will know what god requires of you , and how you may do that which will commend you to god in the great day of his judgment , which is nigh at hand , and apply your hearts thereto . therefore awake , awake , arise , arise , for the great day of the lord is indeed nigh at hand , yea the sun is already arisen , and his bright glory shineth upon the sons of the morning , and the true searching light from which nothing can be hid , is felt and known in the earth , and before it the workers of iniquity are as chasse , and before it can no mortal man stand in judgment , though he glister never so much in outward glory in the worlds eye ; for in the presence of this light , the judgment proceedeth not according to person or worldly appearance , but according to truth , equity and righteousness ; and so every evil-doer hates this light because his deeds are evil , and the light reproves him to his face , and in his heart , without respect to his person : and therefore none but they whose deeds are wrought in god , can willingly come to this light with their deeds , or endure that this light should pass judgment on them ; for its the righteous only that hath praise in the presence of this pure god , the light who lighteth every man that commeth into the world ; and is come a light in the world , that all through him might believe , and come out of darkness , and the deeds thereof , and be saved . so if any of you perish , it is in your love of darkness , and your destruction is of your selves , for god would have you to be saved , and to that purpose holds forth his love in his light to your consciences daily , that you might be warned and not perish : and if this gospel of his love and grace , the light , be hid from you , it is because the god of this world , with his deceitful allurements ; hath blinded your eye . mark , the god of this world , hath blinded your minds ▪ that old serpent who is called the devil and satan , and prince of the power of the aix , which works in the hearts of all disobedient ones , hath captivated your understanding , if this gospel of light you perceive not to love and obey it . and consider how the power of darkness deceives man ; it begins with him betimes , and works subtilly with him in his mind when he is tender and young , carrying him forth eagerly after childish vanities , and youthful lusts , if by the light , that secretly checks for these things , he be not resisted . the world tells the youth that by going forth into some form of religion , and conforming to that , is gods way by which man may be helped against his sin ; but god , the truth saith , i have laid help upon one that is mighty , christ jesus the light , who is to be known in man , a present help against sin . and , by what means , saith david , may a young man cleanse his way , save only by taking heed according to the word of god. and , the word is nigh , in the heart , saith paul , discerning the thoughts and intents thereof . and , the light shineth in darkness , saith john , ( in man ) yea , in every man that cometh into the world , making all things in secret , manifest ; and who can hide their deeds from it ? so if the young men come not to this light , then they abide in darkness , and grow up in darkness , and covering themselves , but not with the spirit of god , so long , until there be no remedy , but the wo and the curse must needs come upon them . but he that followeth me , saith christ , ( the light ) shall not abide in darkness , sin nor evil , but shall have the light of life , and shall not come into condemnation . so , he that hath an ear , let him hear , and mind the light of christ in you , that lets you see all that ever you have done , and sets before you your sins in order , and brings judgment and condemnation upon your souls for them : and love the light and its righteous judgements , for zion must be redeemed through judgment ; and bring all your deeds , words and thoughts , to this light of christ , and hide not any thing from it ; for he that hideth his sins , from the lord , shall not prosper . but he that in this true light sees his sin , and forsakes the sin , and turns to god in his light , and abides therein , ●h●ll be blessed . but wo is the portion of such as turn not to him that smites them , but instead of owning the pricks and reproofs of wisdom , kick against them . these are the ungodly , whose sacrifice the lord could never accept ; but they abiding in their sins , all their prayers and performances were still returned upon them , from the pure god , as dung upon their faces . therefore , go not forth , saith christ , for the kingdom of heaven ( which he compared to many little things ) is within you : and when they shall say , loe here , loe there , saith christ , go not after them : for those that draw people from the light and spirit of christ ( that holy annointing within ) in man , were alwayes antichrists . and in john the apostles time , many of these were come ; and , they went out from us , saith the same john ( the beloved disciple of jesus . ) from us , understand such as were in the anointing of god , which taught all things , and they needed not that any man should teach them , abiding in the anointing , wherewith their souls and spirits , of god were anointed ; for that was true , perfect , and sufficient to lead them into all truth , according to the promise ; it was in them a spiritual unction , a free gift from the holy one in christ , the promised seed , with whom through faith ( the right holy faith ) they were become one spirit , and so became heirs of the promise , and true witnesses of the new and everlasting covenant , which saith , and they shall all be taught of god. these are not outwardly anointed , as those under the law ( the figure ) were , but these were and are spiritually anointed of god himself , in christ , and so were and are true heirs of the gospel ( the substance ) and true children of the day , walking in that heavenly and eternal light , wherein they could and do in truth say , our fellowship is with the father and the son. so here in this holy body there was no antichrists ; but those that went out from these into the worlds wayes , worships , customs , traditions and inventions , these were antichrists : and now being gone forth from the lord and his spirits teaching , they become one with the world , using their tongues to talke of the things of god in the worlds spirit , without god : and so they being of the world ( saith john ) therefore the world hears them , 1 john 4.5 . but he that is of god ( saith the same john ) heareth us , even us that abide in the holy anointing of god in us . and my sheep hear my voice , saith christ , and follow me , but a stranger they will not follow . so there are two spirits , the spirit of christ , and the spirit of the evil world : and two sorts of teachers accordingly ; the one hears the voice of god in christ , and in the strength of this spirit , goes forth with the word of god , and gospel of truth in their heart and mouth , in obedience to god , and pure love to the soul of man , and not for filthy lucre , nor any worldly end whatsoever ; and these the true seed , gods little ones , lambs and sheep hear , love and are one with , meerly for the truths sake , which is one , and endures for ever . but now contrariwise , the other sort of teachers , who are rightly called strangers , because they are strangers to the life of god , and holy motion of his spirit ; they go forth in their own wills , according to the motion of their own earthly spirits , without god , for self-ends , in the allowance of the earthly power , name , and authority ; not to build up the body of christ , or to minister to his seed in any , for to that they are strangers , but to commend themselves to fallen mans wisdom for self-advantage , and to gather people into several forms and out-side professions and observations , where all sorts of sinners are taught to say , lord , lord , but never a one to do the will of god perfectly from the heart ; and so they build up babel , the city of confusion , where there is like priest , like people , the teachers living in sin , and the people that follow them living in their sins , alwayes learning , never learned to worship god aright : for the teacher being blind through his ignorance of god and christ , he must needs lead them that follow him from god , into the ditch . and of this sort were they in christs time , that loved to be called of men , master ; fair sayers , but evil doers , who loved the praise of men and their greetings in the markets , and the chief and high places in their feasts and synagogues ; and loving , for this end , to go in long robes and costly apparel , outwardly appearing beautiful to the worlds eye , but inwardly full of pride , covetousness , uncleanness , the spirit of persecution , and all manner of unrighteousness , as one may read in the 23 chap. of matth. and other places of scripture , where christ had to do with the false spirited rabbies in his day , whom he compares to graves , painted tombs , serpents and vipers , who shut up the kingdom of heaven against men , and neither entred in themselves nor suffered others , but did what they could to hinder those that were entring . and of such christ gave his disciples warning to take heed in time to come , and told them , though such wolves should get the sheeps cloathing on them ( to wit , the good words , or so ) yet they should not trust them , but should know them by their fruits . and so the tree that is by nature a thorn and a thistle , hath manifested its fruit : and by their fruit the children of light now know them , and according to christs will , avoid them . and of this sort are they that not only in the dayes of christ withstood him , but even the same that in all ages withstood his spirit and work , as at this day . for with such earthly spirited teachers it was that the prophet jeremiahs heart was so broken in his day , as one may read all along the 23. chap. of his prophesie , and of whom in his fifth chapter he so grievously complains , saying , a wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land : the prophets prophesie falsly , and the priests bear rule by their means , and the people love to have it so . and therefore destruction from the lord came upon them all . and these teachers said still in their lying earthly spirit , that jerusalem ( though sinful ) should have peace , and that no evil should come upon them people , though they walked every man after the imagination of his own evil heart , jer. 23.17 . and of this sort were they that the lord sent his prophet micah to cry against , saying ; thus saith the lord concerning the prophets that make my people to erre ; that bite with their teeth , and cry peace ; and he that putteth not into their mouthes , they even prepare war against him : therefore night and darkness came upon them , and the vision ceased from them in the just judgement of god. for a self-end was in all their work , and the dead fly of covetousness corrupted all : as one may read at large in the third chapter of his prophesie , verse 5 , &c. and of this sort are they that isaiah , the prophet of god , in his time so grievously complains of also , as one may read in the 56. chapter of his prophesie , saying , vers. 9 , &c. all ye beasts of the field , come to devour ; yea , all ye beasts of the forest : his watchmen are blind , greedy , &c. all looking for their own way , every one for his gain from his quarter , &c. and against this sort of earthly-spirited teachers it was that god sent his prophet ezekiel to cry wo against , saying , wo to the shepherds of israel that do feed themselves ; should not the shepherds feed the flock ? ye eat the fat , and ye cloath you with the wool , ye kill them that are fed , but ye feed not the flocks . and so the god of this world through pride and covetousness had so blinded their eye , and corrupted their hearts , that they had neither will nor skill to help nor heal the poor diseased , sick , broken , scattered souls of their hearers ; and therefore the lord was glad to put them aside as physicians of no value , and became the teacher of his people himself ; as one may read in the 34. chapter of his prophesie , throughout . glory to the lord who hath fulfilled his promise to his israel this day ; and is become the teacher of his people himself , whereby they come to be truly profited , as it is written , i the lord thy god teach thee , o israel , to profit . but the fore-mentioned teachers , who have run in their wills , for self-ends , and the lord never sent them , could never profit people at all : and as christ jesus the lord , and his true prophets , in former times were troubled and opposed by such hirelings ; so also the true apostles of christ did not escape the trials and oppositions of that deceitful spirit by which they were acted . for such , saith paul , are false apostles , deceitful workers , satans ministers , transforming themselves into the likeness of the apostles of christ , 2 cor. 11. some of these were already come in his day : and i know , saith he , that after my departure grievous wolves shall come in among you , not sparing the flock : also , of your own selves shall men arise , speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them , acts 20.29 , &c. and as the kingdom of antichrist grew , these perverse things were established for doctrine by a law : for the very name of antichrist holds forth a spirit opposing it self to every appearance of christ , and of his holy spirit and anointing in man. the true apostles and ministers of christ drew the soul from men and self , unto christ , and his anointing in them , to know that to teach them : but these , and all other false teachers , draw from christ and his anointing within , to look at flesh and form without , which perfects not at all to god. and of this sort also are they , saith the same paul , which creep into houses ( understand the great stone houses , called churches , as well as others ) and lead captive silly women , laden with sins , led away with divers lusts ; ever learning , and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth , 2 tim. 3. of this sort , saith paul , as shall come in the last perilous times , even lovers of their own selves , covetous , boasters , proud , blasphemers , unholy , ( who say they are christians , but are not so in truth ) fierce , &c. having the form of godliness , but denying the power thereof ; and these he exhorted true believers to turn from ; and so in obedience to god , those now who are come to know christ and his anointing in them , to teach them , are turned from such . and though these deceivers have proceeded for a time , to wit , during the late night of apostacy , which paul , 2 thess. 2. spake of , to deceive many ; yet now that the light is risen again from under the earth , they are manifest , and can proceed no further . let none therefore now be so void of understanding , as to brand the true messengers of jesus christ in this day , with the name of deceivers , because they declare truth , not only publickly , but also from house to house , by virtue of the holy spirit only ; for so did the apostles themselves , and yet were no creepers into houses ; for creeping into houses denotes the work of the children of darkness , who run without the lord jesus christ , his spirit , or authority , in their own wills , for self ends , as before : leading about people in their silliness and sinfulness all their dayes , as by woful experience , in the late ages of the world , since the apostles dayes , hath been fully manifest ; wherein the world hath wondred after the beast . and as there were false prophets among the people , saith peter , even so also shall there be false teachers among you ; who shall privily bring in damnable heresies , &c. 2 pet. 2. but how may these be known , may some say ; by their fruits , saith christ , ye shall know them . and of this sort are they , saith peter , in the same chapter , who through covetousness , with fained words , make merchandise of people ; and by walking after the flesh , in the lust of covetousness and uncleanness , and despite of christs government , even deny the lord that bought them . these are the presumptuous ones indeed , who count it pleasure to ryot in the day time , speaking evil of the worthy things that god works and makes manifest in his children , which these presumptuous ones know not . and these false teachers are of those whose eyes are full of adultery , and that cannot cease from sin : for how should they , seeing their heart is exercised with covetous practises , loving the wages of unrighteousness , like balaam , as he ( to wit , the apostle peter ) there speaks . and therefore , those that see not these are blind indeed ; and those that these teachers can deceive , may well be said to be without a foundation : and hence it hath comes to pass that through such teachers wickedness and peoples ignorance , the world hath been as a wilderness . and now therefore is the the lord , according to his blessed promise , bringing up that knowledge of himself and his christ again , that shall make the wilderness a fruitful field , and sweet smelling garden for himself to be glorified in . and this knowledge of god shall cover the earth as the waters do the sea. and , thereby shall all hurting and destroying be done away from amongst men , isa. 65. last ; as is this day witnessed amongst such where this knowledge of god hath place . glory to his name for ever . so now therefore all ye kings , princes , potentates and rulers of the earth , see in what principle you stand , and upon what foundation you grow , and whose work you are a doing ; whether gods or your own . true magistrates are not a terrour to the good , but to the evil but how can ye see the good and the evil truly asunder , or know what to punish , and what to protect , if you come not to the light , christ jesus , that true light which lighteth every man that cometh in to the world ( as was said before ) to take counsel at him , for he is the wonderful counsellour ; and whatsoever makes things truly manifest is his light , and with it every hard thing is known , and every secret thing found out , but without it nothing ; but all people that walk in the darkness of their own understandings , do erre in vision and stumble in judgment , and so know not what they do nor whither they go : and this way that seemeth good in the mans own eye , is that which alwayes tended to death , and disordered all things . and by such a judgement barralas was released , and the innocent jesus delivered to be crucified ; and by this the false prophets in all ages were protected and born up , and the dear servants of christ cast out as a thing of nought . so arise , arise , awake , awake to righteousness and sin not , for the lord is on his way to give unto every nation , and each people therein , rewards according to their works , without respect of persons . and until gods righteousness rule in all , and over all , how can any thing stand , let that of god in all consciences judge ; so lay things to heart , for this is the day of your visitation . also , you bishops and high teachers , who are pleased in your mindes because accepted of man ; consider , are you accepted of god ? is your sacrifice so pure , and your persons so innocent , that the holy god can receive them ? is your doctrine so sound , and life incorrupt that none can justly blame it ? have your hands handled the word of life which you speak of to others ? and do you know in your selves what that living sharp and powerful word of god is ( which the apostle , heb. 4. speaks of ) which divides betwixt joynt and marrow , soul and spirit , and discerneth all the thoughts and intents of every heart ? and are your hearts cleansed by it ? and do you preach and minister this internal , living , and eternal truth ( the word ) to the people , or the dead letter only ? see how it is : for the fruit now must be the real witness of every trees nature . have you received the free gift from above ? then sell it not for mony . would you be accounted ministers and embassadors of christ , and would you have the children of light to own you ? then approve your selves to them as paul did to the brethren in his dayes , 2 cor. 6.3 , &c. in much patience , in afflictions , in necessities , in distresses , in stripes , in imprisonments ; as dying , yet alive in the hearts of the hearers by the power of truth , &c. and let all people see that you mind the good of the soul , and gods glory , more than the world , and your own self-ease and advantage : for the day is dawned that makes all things manifest . and lay by your carnal weapons , and make proof of your spiritual weapons ( if you have any ) and try a little , how you can perswade men to be of your mind by that means : for people begin to question much the forcing of men into religion by the carnal sword and outward constraint , whether it be of god or no. for it s found by experience , that into what people are forced by the outward power , by the same meanes may they be forced out of that again , and so remain restless and without a foundation , until the truth it self settle them . so set not up your rest in the wilderness , much less in egypt , but look towards the holy land , the undefiled , unmoveable foundation , and suffer others to do so too . and those that have spied out the good land , hinder them not from entring in , but help them on in their journey , if you can , lest you be found fighters against god. for now is the effect of every vision coming in ; and a feeble one in this blessed jerusalem , that is descended , and daily coming down from god out of heaven , is as david , and david as the angel of god before them , zach. 12.8 . he that runs may now read it his eye be open . and blessed are all that have believed in gods holy name ; these will not be troubled at zions prosperity , but will set to their seal that god is true , and praise the lord with us , the children of the womb of the eternal morning , praised be god. so be it . and all know a separation in your selves betwixt the precious and the vile , and the vile brought under , and the precious bearing rule there , and then will you be in some measure able to discern and judge aright of things abroad , but not until then . the carnal man seeks to gather a great heap into a form , but the spiritual man whose eye is in his head , he seeks to bring people out of the evil of the world into the good of gods kingdom and power of godliness . blessed are they that can lay down all their own at the feet of jesus christ , that they maybe what they are in him ; for the world and the glory of it , and the lovers of it , is as a fading flower , but he only that doth the will of god abides for ever . given forth in the movings of the spirit of the lord god , in his servant , who is a sufferer amongst his reproached ones ( called quakers ) for the testimony of his everlasting truth , praised and blessed be god for ever , who hath counted us worthy thereunto . t. taylor . the end . a brief discovery of the corruption of the ministrie of the church of england, or, three clear and evident grounds from which it will apear that they are no ministers of christ published for the information of all by thomas colyer. collier, thomas, fl. 1691. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a33927 of text r35631 in the english short title catalog (wing c5271). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 50 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a33927 wing c5271 estc r35631 15501628 ocm 15501628 103593 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a33927) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103593) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1185:17) a brief discovery of the corruption of the ministrie of the church of england, or, three clear and evident grounds from which it will apear that they are no ministers of christ published for the information of all by thomas colyer. collier, thomas, fl. 1691. [4], 27 p. printed for giles calvert ..., london : [1647?] reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. (from t.p.) i. a parrallel between them and the jewish priests -ii. a parrallel between them and simon the sorcerer -iii. a parrallel between them and the artificiall marchandizing tradesmen. eng church of england -clergy -controversial literature. theology, doctrinal. a33927 r35631 (wing c5271). civilwar no a brief discovery of the corruption of the ministrie of the church of england, or, three clear and evident grounds from which it will apear collier, thomas 1647 9339 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 b the rate of 5 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-09 celeste ng sampled and proofread 2006-09 celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief discovery of the corruption of the ministrie of the church of england : or , three clear and evident grounds from which it will appear that they are no ministers of christ . i. a parrallel between them and the jewish priests . ii. a parrallel between them and simon the sorcerer . iii. a parrallel between them and the artificiall marchandizing tradesmen , published for the information of all by thomas colyer . london , printed for giles galvert , and are to be sold at the black spread-eagle at the west end of pauls . to the reader . reader , the reason why i have brought forth this small treatise to publike view , is for thy information , who hast been a long time deluded with a ministry of antichrist , under the name and notion of a ministry of christ . 2. because the lord hath said it , that we should shew no pitty to babilons inhabitants , much lesse then to the ring-leaders of that mysticall confusion , that at this day the world lyeth in , under the name of church , ministry , ordinances , &c. some perchance may suppose that the end of this discovery , is to make them contemptible in their persons , names , &c. flowing from a private spirit of revenge . but truly friends it 's not so , i can say truly , the lord hath taught me another lesson , to doe good to enemies , pray for them , seek their conversion ; and i can say truly , that it would be a great joy to me , to see any of them enlightened , renewed , changed ; but when i behold the great confusion that is among the men of the earth , principally occasioned by the ministers of the earth ; thousands , and ten thousands , lying not only dead in trespasses and sins , but in professions and ordinances , &c. i say not only for zions sake , but for the sake of the poor deluded soul , who live below and without truth ; under the profession of something like the externall part of truth . i cannot hold my peace , till all these falshoods and delusions fall to the ground , and the glory of zion be more known and lived in : read , and judge with an impartiall spirit , and i trust you shall not finde one word of a malicious spirit ; not like mr. edwards , reckoning up personall infirmities , for then i could say much more ; but clearer and true discoveries of deceivers under the name and notion of christ . thus much by way of information , as likewise by way of prevention of thy mis-understanding of that which followeth : by him who remains thy friend , and the truths servant . thomas colyer . the first parrallel . between the jewish priests and levites : and those of our times . the jewish priests and levites , and those of our times are as like , as if they had indeed been all the sons of one father , the tribe of levi ; they say the lot of gods own inheritance , although in truth , there is no such thing . 1. the jewish priests were to offer sacrifice , to make peace and reconciliation for the sinnes of the people ; and herein they were a type of christ , levit. 9. with hebr. 9. this hath been one principall work of the priests of these latter times to offer sacrifice , to make peace and reconciliation for sinne ; this hath been their end in praying , and pressing others to pray , that so they might make peace and reconciliation for transgression , although not positively , yet circumstantially , there it ends , though christ be often mentioned , yet not without prayers , teares , reformation , &c. to fit the soul for christ . 2. hence it is , that sinners are so often prest to weeping and mourning , that so they might weep and mourn out sinne , and never tell of believing , till sinne be wept forth , and then believe ; nay , that there is no ground of believing till then : a meer delusion , a very lye . hence it is likewise that prayers , dayes of humiliation , have been so much exalted , as peace-makers , and the glory of both of internall consolation as of externall deliverances hath been given unto it , and the priests must have the greatest share of that honour . why ? because they pray most , and best , they doe it by office ; it is their trade to offer sacrifices , to make peace : others may pray wel , and doe much , but they can pray better , because they doe it by office ; this i have heard ascerted by them , therefore affirme it ; and thus they have not only been peace-makers themselves in their own apprehensions , but have directed others to the same work , to the same way : what is the conversion taught by them but only a legall conversion from sinne to duty . if thou canst forsake thy sinnes , pray , hear sermons , walke holily , my soul for thine thou shalt be saved ; thus setting up self-reformation , duties , &c. in the roome of christ , making peace . oh wonderfull and horrible delusion ! and people , look well unto your selves , if you build upon this foundation , and so live and die , you are like to be undone for ever ; if the blinde lead the blinde , both are like to fall into the pit . 2. the jewish priests were to interpret the law , nehem. 8. 7 , 8. hence it is that christ cals them lawyers , woe be unto you lawyers , &c. and this hath been the work of the second tribe a long time , to interpret the law , to set people a working for life , preaching the law , and threatning judgement , to drive to christ , and not to draw with the cords of love , which is sutable unto the gospel . true it is of late , that many of them have learned to say something of the externall part of the gospel , because else they cannot be esteemed , neither will their wares goe off any longer , people having received some farther light ; but this they doe with much confusion , some times almost loosing themselves ; and some-times thwarting , and contradicting themselves often in a sermon although it be well known that not many years since , it was a matter of fact , and deserved censure , to preach christ freely , justifying sinners without themselves , duties , prayers , tears , reformations , to fetch in love , consolation , &c. not acting to god from the enjoyment of life , peace , love , power , &c. so that they might enjoy communion with god , and receive from him what is their own in him . 3. the jewish priests were to purifie their women , levit. 12. they were to be accounted unclean , untill the time of their purification : this is likewise the work of the priests of these times , to purifie the women , until which time they are accounted as formerly , unclean . i wonder what is become of the lamb and the pigeon , commanded for a burnt and a sin offering , vers. 6 , 7. it 's like , the priests-prayer must passe in stead of it ; only note , in one thing they passe the priests then , though they come short in the pigeon and lamb , ( that is ) they provide a purifying sacrifice , and sell it unto the women instead of a lamb , a praier or two for four pence , although skarce worth it . 4. the jewish priests were to live by tythes and offerings , they had no portion given them in the land of canaan ; and this hath the priests of our times appropriated to themselves , they are priests of the tribe of levi , as themselves say , and they doe the worke of priests , and therefore they must have the maintenance of priests : to wit , tythes and offerings , and this they plead for by divine ▪ right , from the old testament , because set a part for the priests then under the law . it is true , some of them plead for it from humane right , because the parliament ( say they ) have given it unto them : but it seems it matters not much with them , whether it be of divine , or humane right , so they have it , they desire not much to dispute the businesse ; take him gaoler is the strongest syllogisme they desire to make use of , for confirmation of this , as of all other their divine humane rights . i shall a little examine the busines about tythes , before i passe this particular , numb. 18. 21. you shall finde that tythes were given to the tribe of levi ; and behold i had given the children of levi all the tenth in israel for an inheritance , for the service which they serve , even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation , &c. where you may take notice : first , that tythes were set a part by god , levit. 27. 3. secondly , comanded only of the jewes , and none else . thirdly , to be paid in the land of canaan , and no other land mentioned in scripture ; the jewes were not commanded to pay it , till they came into that land , where the rest of the tribes had inheritances given them , and the tribe of levi none , for the tenth was reserved for their inheritance . fourthly , it was to be paid to that tribe , ( viz. ) the tribe of levi and none else , if any other tribe or person had appropriated it to themselves , they had been theeves and robbers ; mal. 3. 8. how this illigitimate tribe , that now appropriates tythes to themselves , can free themselves from the like , i leave it to all men to judge . 5. the end of the payment of tythes , was for the livelihood of those who served at the altar . 2 cor. 9. they were under a legall administration , therefore they were to live of the law ; but those who are under the gospels dispensations , they live of the gospel : that is , free , for gospel ▪ people are a free people ; and ministers who live in a free covenant of grace , can trust god for their maintenance , and be content with a little : as christ and his apostles , who could say truly , that though they had nothing , yet they possessed all things . object . it is said , gen. 14. that abraham paid tythes to melchisedeck , which was not in the land of canaan , neither yet to the tribe of levi . answ. true , yet note : first , abraham gave the tenth voluntarily , and freely , not by compulsion , as now the priests demand it . secondly , abraham paid the tenth of the spoil which he had taken in war from the enemy , and none else , which is no warrant for the taking of the tenth of all ; therefore all that can be expected thence , is but the tenth of spoil taken in war , if the souldiers are free to give it . thirdly , this tenth of the spoil was given to melchisedeck , and not to them ; therefore unlesse they prove themselves to be melchisedeck , this scripture will doe them no good at all , which i thinke they will not assume ; for he was an imediate type of christ : hebr. 7. as were the priests and levites , to whom tythes were due , and that by an ordinance not of man , but of god . 4. the tribe of levi in abraham paid tythes to this melchisedeck ; therefore no ground for our second tribe to demand tythes , but rather to pay tythes , if melchisedeck come to demand them . object . if tythes were not paid , how should ministers be maintained , for it is meet that those that preach the gospel , should live of the gospel ; but we know by experience that many places would skarce maintaine their ministers bread , if they were not compelled by a law ; therefore it is convenient that tythes should be paid . answ. first it is an evident ground , that they are no ministers of christ , that will not trust him for their maintenance , and a principall note of infidelity ; a wonderfull dishonour to jesus christ , to pretend to be his servants , and yet will not trust him , but will be caring and providing for themselves . it is , as if a servant conditioning with his master to serve him , should not only indent with him for maintenance , but would be caring and providing for himself : nay , not only caring and providing for himself , but conditioning with another man to care for him , and to give him wages ; this is the dealings of the priests with jesus christ , they will not trust him : questionlesse it is because they are none of his servants , they doe not his work , if they did , they would be content with his wages , which is free gift , as well temporally as spiritually . secondly , those who cannot preach without tythes , or any other stinted maintenance , it is an argument they seek more their own bellies , then the honour of jesus christ , like unto your day-labourers , that will be sure to know their pay , or else they will not work : such belly-gods are they , that if any put not into their mouthes , they even prepare war against them . quest . did ever christ and his apostles practise the like ? answ. they never set forth an holy ordinance for tythes , they never vext men at law in all their lives ; nor ever were they wolves unto the sheep , but rather as meek lambs , in sufferings deep . it is very just that they should be pined for want , and that for these reasons : first , because they would not trust jesus christ , but forsake him , and trust to the power of magistracy to maintaine them ; the civill sword is the fundamentall of their livelyhood ; now can they blame christ , if he care not for those that will not trust him ? did he ever engage himself by promise to such a people , if ever their masters that set them a work , from whence they expect power to fetch in maintenance , leave them ? as such a time will come : who then will care for them , when their mountaines will not cover them any longer ? 2. because they thrust such a people upon jesus christ as he never owned , no wonder if such a people starve their teachers ; and just it is it should be so , for they starve , delude , and undoe their souls , telling them they are christians , a church , when they are not : was ever such a thing as this heard of , that a minister of christ should be in doubt of starving , unlesse he provide for himself by a law ? a wonderfull and horrible thing is committed in the land , the prophets prophesie lyes , and the priests bear rule by that means , and the people love to have it so , and what will you doe in the end thereof ? 3. because the lord hath said it , the lions shall lacke and suffer hunger , but they that fear the lord and wait upon him , shall want nothing that is good . quere . are the priests of england lions ? answ. yea , for first , lions get their prey by violence , so doe they ; witnesse their holy ordinance for tythes , witnesse their taking by violence from those to whom they might better give ; witnesse their greedy desire to devour with open mouth , the lambs of jesus christ , would the parliament once grant their unsatiable desire ; witnesse their petition to the parliament to have them burnt with the letter b. to have them prosecuted as felons for their lives : this was the good will of the priests to the poore lambs of jesus christ : but when their lion , the lord jesus shall roar out of zion , all the beasts of the forrest shall tremble , which will be ere long . thus are they like to be a generation that must suffer want , at least in their souls , in the time of drought , when the towers fall . isaiah , 65. 11 , 12 , 13. yea , ( to wit ) the saints shall eat , but they shall be hungry , yea , shall drinke , but they shall be thirsty , &c. 5. the priests were the greatest enemies to jesus christ in those times ; they it were , who hired judas to betray him ; who cryed out , crucifie him , crucifie him , a way with such a fellow from the earth ; they it was who gave large monies to the souldiers to belie him , and to say his disciples stole him away by night , &c. this hath been , and is the practise of the priests in our dayes , under the notion of hereticks and seducers , to destroy the saints : and why ? because the saints discovering truth , will destroy their errour and falshood ; we desire not the magistrate to destroy them , but liberty to professe and practise truth , before which they are not able to stand , no more then a morning dew before the sun . 6. the priests under the law , they loved the uppermost rooms at feasts , and the chief places in synagogues , and greetings in the markets , and to be called of men rabbi , mat. 23. 6 , 7. quaere . were the scribes and pharises priests ? answ. yea , see nehem. 8. 9. ezra the priest , the scribe , &c. and this is the expectation of the priests now , there need no scripture to prove it , they love the uppermost rooms at feasts , and usually have it ; and the chief seats in the synagogues , that was in their places of meeting , now ( not for want of ignorance ) commonly called churches , who have the chief holy high place , where none may come but themselves , with their consent , with reverence be it spoken : and greetings in the markets , the cap and knee is much expected , and to be called of men rabbi , that is , master ; although there be no master in a towne besides , yet this priest must be a master : this is one of solomons evils that he had seen under the sun , servants on horse ▪ back , and masters walking on foot as servants , on the ground ; they are the peoples servants , they expect their wages from them . oh horrid pride ! was ever such a thing as this heard of ? what , servants become their masters master . servants on horse-back , riding , ruling , and their masters on foot , made slaves unto them . 7. they built the tombes of the prophets , and garnished their sepulchers , matth. 23. 29. but they persecuted christ and his apostles : so doe our priestly scribes and pharisees , hypocrites , pretend to have high thoughts of christ and his apostles , but are as ready to persecute and kil the disciples & followers of christ as ever the priests of old ; they build their tombes , and garnish them ; they spend all their time , and study to finde out the minde of christ and his disciples in their writings , and yet come infinitely short of it : christ a carpenter , paul a tent-maker , peter a fisher-man , all of them poore tradesmen : yet these men of arts and parts , spend all their time , and make use of their authors , to understand what they write : but if god raise up any fisher-man , carpenter , cobler , or the like , in him , and by him , to reveal his truth ; o away with such a fellow from the earth ! he is a mechanick fellow , one of no breeding , he knoweth not the originall , &c. i warrant you if christ and his apostles were on the earth againe , they should finde as hard measure from them , as ever from the priests of old : what doe these but justifie the proceedings of all persecutors that have gone before them , and so bring upon themselves all the righteous blood-shed , even from the blood of abel , untill this time ? 8. and finally the end of all was , that they might hold up their religion , and in that their honour and profits : they knew , if they should let christ alone , he would destroy their religion , and so lay them open unto contempt . this is likewise the ground of our priests opposing and persecuting the saints , to uphold their nationall church , religion , worships , &c. and therein their honour , viz. the cap and knee of the vulgar ; their profits , tythes , their great diana ; this they can doe , but by the exaltation of their humanity , arts and parts gotten by their industry at the universities ; and this is their greatest goddesse diana ; by which they uphold all , and hope to keep in their credit , with the ignorant still ; but this diana learning in the things of god , will fall and break its neck ere long , as dagon before the ark , it begins to tremble already , it dares not look truth in the face , without the power of parliament to assist , &c. second parrallel . between them : and simon the sorcerer , acts 8. simon magus his sin is looked upon by those who know not what it was , as very horrid and wicked , and it 's true , peter said that he declared himself by it , to be in the gall of bitternesse , and bond of iniquity ; the priests give a very high and learned interpretation of it , ( that is , ) to buy a parsonage ; and this they call simony , who so buyes a personage as simon magus : but i believe if we come to examine what was simons sinne , we shall finde more sir simons , then many are aware of . simons sinne , it was first , to buy the gifts of the holy spirit . 2. as it is generally understood , to that end he might sell them again , and its likely to be true , for it would have gotten him much credit as well as profit ; he should have made a good exchange , for the losse of the spirit and power of divination and sorcery , to have gotten the spirit of god , by which , he thought quickly to inrich himself . so then , here was simons sin , he would have bought the gifts of the spirit , to that end he might have sold them , that so he might inrich himself by it . see then how the priests of our time run parrallel with him . i argue it thus , those who buy their gifts , of purpose to sell them , are guilty of simon the sorcerers sinne . but the priests of england buy their gifts of purpose to sell them , and get gain ; ergo , the priests of england are guilty of simon the sorcerers sin . that this was simons sin , is cleared ; that who so doth the like , are guilty of simons sin , is unquestionable ; that only which remains to be proved , is , that the priests of england , buy their gifts of purpose to sell them . first that they buy them it will appear , these things considered . first , what gifts and abilities they have , are humane , such as they have attained in the schools , which cost them much money , as well as industry for the gaining of them . secondly , their appropriating all abilities of preaching , to themselves , accounting it altogether impossible for any other to have any gift at all , who have not bought it like themselves ; so that they doe not only buy themselves , but deny any other way of attaining gifts , to any else ; pretending phylosophy to be the mother of theology ; ah horrible blasphemy against the spirit , who is freely given , and freely opperates as it pleaseth . thirdly , their owne confession when they come to sell , that their gifts cost them much money ; and therefore they sell them at the dearest rate . 2. that they buy of purpose to sell , appears : first , it was the great end for which they were by their parents dedicated and set a part a purpose to get a living , even as they binde their children apprentices , &c. secondly , it appears by their practise , which is , to sel all , and that at the dearest rate too ; witnesse their looking after the greatest and fattest livings , where there are most ▪ calves , lambs , and tyth-pigs , corne , hay , and gleb-land , thither usually is their call ; witnesse their often removing from a lesser living to a greater , ten pounds more per annum is a sufficient call from one parsonage to another ; witnesse their first quere , what it is worth per annum , and if that pleaseth them , then they go , never querying what saints be there : nay , so far are they from that , if they hear that christ and saints be there , then they dare not come there , for fear that light will discover their darknesse ; witnesse their indenting for thus much by the weeke , in case they supply any place that wants , which is so much clear gain unto them , for their own pay goes on neverthelesse at home ; witnesse , their petitioning the parliament for increase of maintenance , where they judge it is too little , although some of them have 40. pound , some 80. livre. some 100. livre. some 140. livre. and besides a great wrong to the parliament , or at the least to the subject ; witnesse the common practise of towns and populous places , who beholding their temper , dare not attempt the getting of a minister , as they desire to be called , untill they first make up , either by petition to the parliament for the states money which poor soulders want , or some other way , a round sum of money ; which being effected , puts courage into poore simple country men to adventure into their presence with all lowly submission . sir , we have maintenance for an honest man , perhaps 100 livre. per annum , if that be too little , wait a while , and perhaps 200. or 300. appears , which will serve to make up the bargain : just as a servant who puts forth himself for a year will make the most of his service ; although it 's true , the conditions are contrary . conditions . inprimis , i will be your minister ( which signifies a servant ) or rather your lord , on condition that you will engage to give me thus much by the year in money , or tythes , as the condition is . ergo , the priests of england preach for hire . 2. i will be your minister in name , provided i may be your lord ; for so they are indeed , and rule over you , and you will become subjects and slaves unto me , bow down before me , and call me your master . ergo , the priests of england are the peoples lords . 3. i will be your minister , provided you will not contradict me in what i preach and teach you , if you will believe as i believe , and teach you ; or rather then this article shall make a breach , they will get an ordinance from the house of lords , which will serve their turn to prevent any from objecting against their orthodox divinity , although never so humane : o horrible impiety ! men may now preach lyes by a law . 4. and finally , i will be your minister , provided that i may have my liberty to remove again when i see a call : which is like to be the next parsonage tendred , wherein 10. or 20 livre. per annum be augmented to his yearly maintenance : as the hired servant keeps himself at liberty for his own advantage , at the end of every year . thus the bargain is made , and the condition is drawn , the priests now with much comfort and alacrety , fals a preaching , for he knowes to a peny what he hath comming in for every sermon he makes . one thing by the way i cannot omit , which i have known : in case any one be so simple as to limit himself for thus much by the year , while he live , unto a people , they have a way to fetch him off again with credit as thus : refer it into the hands of a jury of divines ( as they call them ) although indeed but humane , the simple people agree unto it ; judging these men , if any , will be honest . this jury of humanes quaeries into the businesse , finde that their brother hath engaged himself for life , perhaps for some 70 livre. per annum , the more simple man he : now within a year after , some 6 or 7 score is tendred , the conclusion it delivered in , he may lawfully suspend with his promise , and former engagement , being called unto another place . 1. there is more maintenance , the great lord that drawes ; he is by the scripture to provide for his own , or else he is worse then an infidell . 2. there are perhaps more souls , and so more need of a preaching ministry , &c. and thus the man may lawfully remove , his brethren so determine it : and why ? it possibly may be their own turn next ; that this is truth : witnesse master swayn at tradbrook in suffolk , ( with others ) thus the minor appears , that the priests of england buy , that they may sell for advantage ; therefore guilty of the sin of simon magus : so that the truth is , we have many sir simons amongst us , though under fair pretences and colours : only note one word by the way , wherein it will appear , that they exceed simon in wickednesse . 1. simon would have bought the gifts of the spirit , that so he might have done something for his money : but these men buy humane gifts instead of the spirit , and set up , and sell that , as if it were spirit . 2. simon had good thoughts of the spirit , he would have bought it : but these cry down the spirit , calling it a spirit of giddinesse , and its like they know no other spirit , but that which comes from oxferd , or cambridge : horrible blasphemy against the spirit ! mat. 12. 3. simon did only desire the spirit himself , not to limit it to himself , as those who know not what the spirit is , who would have none to have it but themselves : no fisher-man , as peter ; or tent-maker , as paul , &c. 4. and finally , simon was made sensible of his sin , might repent for ought that any one knowes ; he desired the apostle to pray for him : but the simonists of our times are so farre from repenting , that they still justifie themselves in their wickednesse , and i am afraid , it will be a very hard thing to recover many of them to repentance , unlesse when too late . a third parrallel . between them , and the artificiall merchandizing tradesman . the onenesse between the artificiall tradesman and the priests , will appear , these few things considered . the tradesman , before he attains his craft , or calling , must first be an apprentice seven years , that so he may get understanding and art in his calling , for there is some mystery in every calling ; therefore time is required for the understanding of it , which by the law is not judged lesse than seven years . so it is with the priest ; he must , before he can be his crafts-master , spend many years in the schools , perhaps twice seven before he comes to maturity , at least , he had need be one seven years in the university , commonly called the schools of the prophets , the nursery of piety , or rather of impiety and wickednesse , the well-head of divinity , or rather humanity ; and then by this time he hath gotten a pretty good head and hand , he is , its likely , able to make a sermon now and then , or else he must needs be a very dunce , for he hath a very dull head that cannot learn his trade in seven years ; yet so it comes to passe among these men very often , as well as other tradesmen ▪ some are more ready and handy in it then others , one can make two sermons perhaps , while another can scarce make one : so it is with your shoomakers , taylers , or any other handicrafts-man : and so like other tradesmen , they prove differently ; some prety honest in their way , others knaves , some drunkards , others sober , some whore-masters , others chaste , some more wise and crafty , others simple and foolish , and thus now their apprentiship being expired , they are become masters of art . the second thing to be expected , is their freedome to set up their trade : so it is with the handicrafts-man especially in the city of london , or other priviledge places , for a small matter they are declared free-men of london . so it is with the priests , after they have served their apprentiships , gained the art of making a sermon , and before two , some of them ; they now must get their freedom , which is the approbation and ordination of some principle men of the same art ; thus it is with the tradesman , and thus it is with the priests , that is , either the hands of the prelat , or some other prelaticall , episcopall creatures , newly anabaptizeed into the name of presbyters , or cl asses . 3. the tradesman having obtained his freedome , he now opens shop-windows , and sets himself to work : so likewise those priests , they have their shops , ( viz. ) their studies full of good old books , authors , fathers , all expositures of scripture , and they set themselves to work , search one author , and another author , and for the most part these are the fountains from whence they draw all : come to ask their judgement upon any text of scripture , you must tarry till they have looked their expositers , and then they will tell you what their expositers say , whether it be true or false ; for you must note , they are not infalliable , nor apostolicall . 4. the tradesmen must have a time to make their wares , he cannot make them with his word , nor blow them together with the winde : the shoomaker must have his time to make his shooes , the tayler to make a garment , &c. and when it s made , it s made , & not before . so must these tradsmen of another nature have their times to make a sermon , some a moneth , some two weeks , some one , some two or three in a week , when like to have good sale , but a time they must have to make it up , they cannot preach by the spirit , alas ! they know not what it is , they are strangers unto it , they oppose it , this is that will throw down these sermon-makers in conclusion ; when poor tradesmen , coblers , taylers , tinkers , plow men carpenters , all sorts of men shall preach the everlasting gospel , with so much light , life , and power , that will darken all the light of these sermon-makers ; and then none will buy their wares any more . 5. when the tradesmans ware is made , it is then fit for sale , and he hath his free market in his owne town , he steps forth sometimes into other markets , that so he may vend his wares at the dearest rates , it is his liberty , and doubtlesse he may lawfully doe it ; and sometimes when he wants ware , he buies of another to fit his customers , that so he may keep his calling going : so it is likewise with our spirituall merchandizers when their sermons are made , they have their market daies to set them at sale , their sunday or their sabbath , the first day of the week : well might they , as i have heard them formerly , stir up people to come to their spirituall markets ; for they sell all , and that at an excessive , excised rate too , and they have their change of markets , if it make for their advantage ; they can sell one year perhaps for twenty shillings a sermon , the next they have found a new market place , where they can sell it may be for 40 shillings or three pound a sermon , then sermon-making is worth somthing , a goodly trade : many gentlemen of note and quality bring up their children to this craft ; and they can besides this , break forth now and then a day into a new market , which ads unto the old store , for this they are sure , their own goes on at home , although themselves keep market in another place ; and sometimes when necessity , or idlenesse drives them to it , they buy of other men , viz. preach a sermon of another mans , if the people know it not , it goes for currant , though sometimes they can read along with them as they preach , but i must confesse this is something base . thus it appears , that our spirituall merchants run parrallel with the temporall , and that preaching is become a meer art amongst men ; and truly they have their shops full of godly wares ; by which they delude and deceive souls , john in revel. 18. 11 , 12. opens their shops , or rather their pack , where he gives them the tearm of merchants ; and abundance of good ware there is , and they sell all , and the souls of men too . quere . how may they be said to sell the souls of men ? answ. in that they own those to be christians , which are no christians , and those to be churches , which are no churches , for this very end , that they may inrich themselves ; thus they sell souls , that is , delude and undoe souls under the name of christians for money ; witnesse their readinesse to sprinkle and cozen infants , if their parents pay them tythes , else not : they sell the souls of men , for five or ten pound , they will forsake their cure of souls , as they call it , sel them for gain , be a shepherd to them this year , sell his interest in them the next , go whither they will , he cares not , if he can get advantage : a very hireling , that doe not only fly from his flock when danger comes , but sels his interest in them for gain , come what wil come of them , he cares not ; although it 's confest , it 's better where they are not , then where they are , for there is some hopes of undeluding poor souls . thus it evidently appears , that the artificial tradesman , and the masters of arts the priests , run parrallel together , as much spiritualnesse in the one as in the other ; i mean in relation to their calling ; although it s confest that the first is lawfull , the second , altogether earthly , sensuall and devilish ; only take notice of a word by the way , wherein it will appear , that the art and trade of making and selling of sermons , far exceeds all other arts and trades besides , and that in these following particulars . 1. in their gentility , they are masters before ever they open their shops , or set up their trades . 2. in their sale , they usually have the highest markets , they often sell their sermons ( when cheapest ) for an angel ; when one might buy as good in a book-sellers shop , and it may be a better for three pence , so that their ware comes usually to a good market , especially of late , except some poor ones , or cavaliers , they it s like would be content with a reasonable market sometimes , but its like ere long that this trade of sermon-selling will be very dead and low , so low ; that they will stand weeping and crying alas ! alas ! for no man buies their wares any more ; and how will their honour , house-keeping and hospitality go forwards then ? 3. they have one great advantage more , they doe not only meet with the dearest markets , but they can sell one sermon diverse times , they can sell a sermon , and yet keep him to make and sell twenty paire of sermons , and yet have never the lesse . let any handicrafts man come forth and doe the like , if they could , they might well inrich themselves : but was ever such a thing as this heard of ? what , sell a thing , and keep a thing , and sell it again ? yea , and again too perhaps . should i know a shoomaker sell shooes , and yet keep them , and sell them again , i would brand him for an arch cozoner , or the like of any other calling . 4. advantage , they can sell that which is not money nor ware , as the proverb is ; so it be something it passes : a tradesman must sell that which is good , or else he shall be counted dishonest , and the buyer hath so much liberty as to try it , to look into the goodnesse of it , if he like it , he buyes it , if not , he leaves it ; but these merchants have gotten an ordinance to compell men to receive what they bring them , be it good or bad : oh horrid wickednesse ! what , must we have it whether we will or no ? you merchants of london , stir up your selves , get you such an ordinance if you can , it must needs inrich you : what , sell all manner of stinking wares by a law ? and none durst question it ? 5. they are monopolizers too , they have gotten their pattentees to monopolize all to themselves , none must sell , nay , none may give , when they sell ; a wonderfull way to inrich themselves , was there ever such a thing as this heard of ? what , to monopolize the gift of preaching ! quere . is not this against the liberty of the subject ? answ. yea , questionlesse . quere . have not the parliament declared against it ? answ. yea. quere . was it not one end of the parliaments war to free the subject from it ? answ. yea , it was so pretended , and i suppose it was really intended . quere . are not monopolizes and monopolizers much more dangerous and dishonourable , in spirituall things then in temporall ? answ. yea , for first , herein the free operation of the spirit is as much as lyeth in man prevented by it . secondly , poor ignorant english men are much aabused by it , who know not their liberty . thirdly , the spirituall merchants of the man of sin , the kingdome of anti-christ , are inriched by it . quere . did the parliament thinke they had made a patentee , and the priests monopolizers , when they gave them that ordinance , that none should preach but themselves ? answ. i suppose they did not , if they had , they could not have walked in a way so directly against their own principles , their own declarations , and the subjects liberty . quere . may we not expect that the parliament will call in this patentee again ? answ. yea , questionlesse , when they see the evil of it , and it is the subjects liberty to expect it ; it is that for which they have adventured their lives , suffered the losse of their estates ; and therefore it cannot but be a great bondage and burthen unto the subjects , to see and feel the heavy yoak and bondage of monopolizers yet remaining . however , god will take their patentee from them , for the saints must speak those things they have seen and heard ; notwithstanding their engrossing all into their own hands : thus have i briefly , and plainly discovered the carelesnes and corruption of the priests of england , notwithstanding their fair pretences , not scandalizing their persons , but discovering their evil conditions , to that end that englishmen might not be enslaved , especially in their spirits , unto such a generation , who alone seek themselves . three quaeries answered . quaere 1. was not the jewish priests and levites typicall : and did not they type forth the ministry of the gospel ? answ. it s true , they were typical , but they typed forth christ , the great high-priest of saints , hebr. 9. not the priests of these times . 2. they were a type of all the saints in christ , for christ and the saints are one , and all the saints are the lords portion , an holy priest-hood unto the lord , 1 pet. 2. no priest-hood by office , but all the saints are priests . quere . 2. is it not necessary , seeing the gifts of the spirit are lost , that there should be a getting of those gifts again by humane industry , as tongues , arts , &c. answ. 1. it is all one , as if a man should be so simple , as having lost a pearl , should instead thereof , buy a clod of dirt , a good satisfaction for such a losse ; the gift of the spirit being lost , get a little of the wisdome of man , which is but as dung , and drosse in comparison of it ; the wisdome of the flesh is death , rom. 1. 6. 2. it s the anointings of anti-christ , the spirit being lost , antichrist sets up the wisdome of the flesh in room of it , for in all things antichrist seeks to imitate christ , as well in the flesh , as in the spirit . 3. the saints are made pertakers of the same spirit the apostles were ; for if the spirit of christ be not in you , yee are none of his ; christ is in you , else you are reprobates , if so , then no need of all this humanity . 4. this spirit of god manifest in the saints , will discover and destroy this humane spirit of anti-christ ; by things that are not in the worlds eyes , wil he bring to nought things that are . quere . 3. if ministers of the gospel may not lawfully indent for maintenance for their preaching , seeing the labourer is worthy of his hire , and he that provides not for his own is worse then an infidel ? answ. 1. if christ and his apostles , or either of them did so , then they may , else not , gal. 6. 2. if it stands with the fidelity of a servant to his master , else not : freely ye have received , freely give . 3. christ hath undertaken to care for those that trust him , luke 10. matth. 6. sixteen queries of concernment , propounded , with a desire of an answer from those who can , or please . 1. if ever the lord made use of any as ministers of his minde , unto the people , that were bread idle at schools and universities all the daies of their lives , without a calling , as the priests of england , but rather the contrary , as moses a shepherd , elisha a plough-man , david a shepherd , amos a herds-man ; christ himself a carpenter , paul a tent-maker , peter a fisherman ? &c. 2. if ever christ and his apostles did get a patentee , viz. an ordinance from man to monopolize the gift of preaching to themselves ? 3. if ever universities and schools of humane learning were in scripture , called the fountains , or well-heads of divinity ? 4. whether ever christ and his apostles did indent with their hearers , what to have for preaching before they preached unto them ? 5. whether ever christ and his apostles built their churches by humane authority ? 6. whether christ and his apostles did at any time gather the prophane carnal men of the world into the church , excluding the saints , who out of tendernesse and light , follow him ? 7. whether ever christ and his apostles deterred any from preaching the gospel , by the powers of the earth ? 8. whether ever christ and his apostles made use of these two great bug-bears , so common in use with the priests of england , to prevent the saints from preaching the gospel , and the world from hearing them , viz. 1. the approbation and ordination of the men of the earth . 2. humane learning , the language of the beast , without which men are in their account altogether unmeet to medle in the things of god ? 9. whether ever christ and his apostles first baptized , and then twenty or fourty yeares after taught them faith ? 10. whether ever christ and his apostles deluded the world , viz. the ignorant and prophane , with the name of christians ; when there was no such thing appeared ? 11. if ever christ or his apostles had a hundred or two hundred pounds per annum for preaching ? 12. if ever christ and his apostles appropriated tythes to themselves for preaching ? 13. if ever christ and his apostles did remove from one parsonage to another ? 14. if ever christ and his apostles did confirm the truth they delivered by the power of the magistracy , authors , fathers , &c. 15. whether the spirit teaching be not sufficient in the things of god ? 16. whether it be not the work of christ , and that which is to be expected in these later daies , to overturn , overturn , overturn , all these things acted by men , contrary to his own minde ? finis . a model for the maintaining of students of choice abilities at the university, and principally in order to the ministry with epistles & recommendations, and an account of the settlement and practise of it in the universities from the doctors there : as also with answers to such objections as are most plausible, which may be made against it : and with the names of the trustees. poole, matthew, 1624-1679. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a55386 of text r38154 in the english short title catalog (wing p2841). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 55 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a55386 wing p2841 estc r38154 17197796 ocm 17197796 106184 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a55386) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106184) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1099:4) a model for the maintaining of students of choice abilities at the university, and principally in order to the ministry with epistles & recommendations, and an account of the settlement and practise of it in the universities from the doctors there : as also with answers to such objections as are most plausible, which may be made against it : and with the names of the trustees. poole, matthew, 1624-1679. [10], 23 p. printed by j.h. for j. rothwell ..., london : 1648 [i.e. 1658?] preface signed: mat. poole. probable date of publication suggested by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. eng theology -study and teaching -england. religious education. clergy. a55386 r38154 (wing p2841). civilwar no a model for the maintaining of students of choice abilities at the university, and principally in order to the ministry· with epistles & rec poole, matthew 1658 10057 5 0 0 0 1 0 15 c the rate of 15 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-09 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a model for the maintaining of students of choice abilities at the university , and principally in order to the ministry . with epistles & recommendations , and an account of the settlement and practise of it in the universities from the doctors there . as also with answers to such objections as are most plausible , which may be made against it . and with the names of the trustees . prov. 3. 9. honour the lord with thy substance , and with the first-fruits of thine increase . london , printed by i. h. for i. rothwell at the fountain in goldsmiths row in cheapside . 1648. more conducing than another to the attainment of that great end , that way is most eligible , by wise and pious christians ; and although it is a laudable and necessary work to exercise charity towards the bodies of distressed persons , yet those must needs be the most noble acts of charity which concern the souls of men , seeing both the object of them is more excellent , and the effects more durable . and as the means instituted by christ for the good of souls , is the erection and maintenance of his church , and the supplying of it with an able and pious ministry : so it hath been in all ages the care of those whose hearts have been touched with a sense of gods honour , and a fervent desire of the churches enlargement , to afford such liberall supplies and encouragements as might both prepare men for , and support them in the work of the ministry . and these are the ends which have been principally aimed at by all , but all have not used the same means to those ends , nor are all means equally effectual : it is therefore our desire in this model to make choice of such waies as to us seem most usefull for the forementioned purposes : and because the foundation of the work lies in the excellency of the natural parts of such as are designed that way ( a few such being more worth than a farre greater proportion of other men ) it is therefore of great use , and we shall endeavour that it may be our great care , to single out such persons to whom god hath given the most high and promising abilities : who , if they be placed under the most learned and godly tutors we can finde , and obliged as farre as possibly we can , to a diligent and eminent improvement in knowledge of all sorts and solid piety , we conceive it will be no arrogance humbly to expect a more then ordinary advantage to the poor church , which now , if ever , cals for teachers of exquisite abilities ; and because there are some church-works of great concernment , which cannot be conveniently managed by such as are overwhelmed with preaching work ( such as the resolution of weighty doubts and cases of conscience , the stopping of the mouthes of gain-sayers , and the like ) it must needs be judged of great advantage to have some particular persons exquisitely fit for such works , both in regard of natural and acquired endowments , who should be set apart for them , and attend upon them without distraction . the rather , because there are divers men , peradventure not eminent for preaching gifts , who being wisely improved , may be very serviceable to other of the churches necessities : and these are the chief intendments of the following model : yet , for as much as there may be divers towardly youths , of competent parts ( though short of the eminency that some others attain to ) and mean condition , who may be of good use in the ministerial work , and seeing the ordinary necessities of the church are not to be neglected , especially the condition of ireland and wales , and some dark parts of england , being so dolefull and dismall , we hope it will be an acceptable work to lay in provision in this model , whereby fit persons may be sent into those places , which by reason of their d●stance , many cannot , and others do not go into : we confesse , as we shall not be wanting in our prayers and endeavours , as farre as god shall enable us sincerely and impartially to look to these ends and waies propounded ; so we cannot but hope in god that the bowels of many precious souls will be refreshed by these means . and we are confident whoever shall engage their hearts in this free-will-offering to god , will have no cause to repent of it , nor shall it be a grief of heart to any at the last day ( when the rust of other mens silver shall rise up against them to their everlasting confusion ) to have been the happy instruments of enlarging the church , and propagating the gospel , and saving of souls ; and in this life also the generations to come shall call them blessed . read and approved , and appointed to be printed by the trustees . mat. poole . to the rich that love christ , the church , the gospel , and themselves . gentlemen , i have here a happy opportunity to offer you an excellent benefit , by inviting you to an excellent duty . if receiving be unpleasant to you , how came you to be rich ? if you like it , come while the market lasts . come before thieves , or fire , or souldiers have seized upon your perishing wealth , come before death hath taken you from all . you see here that christ is contented to be your debtour , at the usury of a hundred for one , in this world , and in the world to come , eternal life . mat. 19. 29. if you are covetous , take this bargain , for all the world cannot help you to the like for your commodity : if you are not covetous , you will not be tenacious of your money : the offer is so fair , and so unmatchable , that i know not what can keep you from accepting it , unless it be that you dare not trust the word , the promise , the covenant of christ . and whom then will you trust ? who shall keep your wealth ? will you ? but who shall keep you then ? will you undertake to keep your selves ? alas , how long ? is god to be trusted with the sustentation of the whole creation , and the government of all the world , and with the lives of you and all the living , and with the prospering of your labours , and your daily preservation and provision ? and yet is he not to be trusted with your money ? you 'l say you trust god ? let us see now that you do not play the hypocrites ? if you are friends to christ , you may see in the work here offered to you , your masters name , and interest , and honour : it 's certainly his voice that cals you to this adventure , and therefore never make question of your call . if you are friends to your countrey , now let it be seen : if you live an hundred years , perhaps you will never have a better opportunity to shew it . if you are protestants and love the gospel , shew it by helping to plant and water the seminaries of the lord . perhaps you cannot dispute for the truth , or preach for it your selves : but you can contribute for the maintenance of some to do it : this then is your work , know it and perform it . you may have a prophets reward , without being your selves prophets . matthew 10. 41. at least therefore , shew that you love your selves , and that you love your money better than to lose it , by casting it away upon the flesh , and leaving it in the world behind you . if you can stay here alwaies with it , then keep it : i speak to none but those that must die , and methinks such should be glad to learn the art of sending their wealth to meet them in another world . if you understand not that giving is receiving , and that the giver is more beholden , than the beggar , and that it is for your selves that god commandeth you to give , and that the more you thus lose , the more you save and gain , you are then unacquainted with the reasons of christianity , and the life of faith . i hope you are sensible of englands priviledges , above the dark mahometans or indians , in the freedome of ordinances , and plenty of receiving opportunities . and know you not that an opportunity of giving may be as great a mercy to you , as of hearing or praying , and should be as forwardly and thankefully accepted . he was never acquainted with the christian life of doing good , that finds it not the most sweet and pleasant life . though we must snatch no unsound consolation from our works , but detest the thoughts of making god beholden to us ; yet we must walk in them as his way , ephes. 2. 10. in which we are likeliest to meet him : he is likest to god , that doth most good , and that would do most . this is such an improvement of time and stock , that you may omit a prayer , a sermon , or a sacrament for it , rather than omit it : you may violate the rest of a sabbath to shew mercy , mat. 12. 4 , 5. your lord and master with a special remark hath set you all this lesson for to study . mat. 9. 13. but go ye and learn , what that meaneth , i will have mercy and not sacrifice and yet such is here the happy combination , that it is mercy and sacrifice , because it is mercy for sacrifice , that you are called to . and doubt not but with such sacrifice god is well pleased , heb. 13. 16. forget not therefore to communicate and do good . it is more blessed to give , than to receive , acts 20. 35. for the nature of the work before you , consider , first , is it not pity that so good a breed of wits as england is renowned for , should be starved for want of culture and encouragement ? secondly , is it not pity that so many thousands of souls should starve in ignorance , or be poysoned by seducements , for want of cost to procure a remedy ? and what abundance that may be saved by the ministry of such as you maintain , may blesse god for you as the helpers of their salvation . thirdly , the necessities of the church have of late called students so young into the ministry , that eminent proficients in languages , sciences , antiquities , &c. grow thin , and are in danger of being worn out , if there be not some extraordinary helps for chosenwits addicted to these studies . and what a dishonour , what a losse that would be to us , the papists would quickly understand . fourthly , the barbarous face of the greek and other eastern churches tels us , what need there is of learned instruments , for the maintenance and propagation of the truth . fifthly , what abundance of colledges and monasteries can the romanists maintain , to fill the world with missionaries of all sorts , which is the very strength of their kingdome . and is it not pity that a better work should be starved through our want of pious charity ? and that papists should dare us , and we be unfurnished with champions to resist them , when we are furnished with so much evidence of truth , which yet may easily be lost by ill managing ! sixthly , if you are the servants of christ , above all , you must now look about you for his church and ministry . for the devil hath given you so strong an alarme , that he that now sits still , and runs not to his armes , to help the church , is a traytor , and no true souldier of christ . papists are up , and atheists and infidels and iewes are up , and abundance of secret apostates are up openly reproaching the ministry , that privately deride christ and the scripture , and the life to come , ( i know what i say to be too true ) quakers are up , and all the prophane as far as they dare : and shall not we be up to further that gospel and ministry and church of christ , which so many bands of the prince of darknesse , are armed to assault . let us discourage the devil ; by making an advantage of his assaults . let him see that we never do so much for christ and the church , as when he assaulteth them with the fiercest or cunningest malignity . he that hath not so publick a spirit , as to value the welfare of the church , and the souls of men , before the fulnesse of his own estate , may go away sorrowfull from christ ( as luke 8. 23 , 24. ) but a true disciple he cannot be . it would make a mans heart ake to think of the dark state of the world , for want of preachers . were it but the state of ireland and wales , it should move us to compassion . and now i offer it to your sober thoughts , as to men that are going to be accountable for their talents , whether you have a better way to dispose of your money , and a way that will be more comfortable to you at death and judgement . i would not have you unmercifull to your children : but if you think you may not lawfully alienate any of your estates from them , you are far from the mind of the primitive christians , that sold all and laid it at the apostles feet . if you ask , why we leave you not to your selves to be charitable where you see cause ; i answer , first , there is so much difficulty in every good work , even in giving so as to make the best of it , that you should be thankefull to those that will help to facilitate it . secondly , great works must have many hands . thirdly , conjunction engageth and encourageth , and draws on those in the company , that else would lag behind . what need we else associate for our ministerial works of instruction , discipline , &c. and leave not every minister to himself : in company we go more chearfully , easily , regularly and prevalently . and should you not associate also in your duties ? well gentlemen , seeing it is undoubted that the work before you is of great importance to the honour of christ , to the welfare of the church , to the protestant religion , to the souls of thousands , and to your own everlasting benefit , take heed how you refuse to do your best , lest god distrain on you before you are aware , and then hold it or your souls if you can . and say not but you were warned by a friend that would have had you have saved your money and your souls , by making the best of your masters stock . and if what i have said do not perswade you , i entreat you to read a preface to a book that i have written to this purpose , called , the crucifying of the world , &c. read gal. 6. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. accept this invitation to so good a work , from a servant of christ for his church , richard baxter . february 26. 1658. a model for the education of students of choice abilities at the university , and principally in order to the ministry . april 1. 1658. chap. i. of the contribution and contributers . § . 1. that they , who through their affection to gods glory and the churches good , in the advancement of learning and piety , shall be willing to contribute to this work , be intreited to signifie their desires by way of subscription , that so it may be more certain in it self , and more visible and exemplary to others . § 2. and because subscriptions of this nature , though happily begun , have heretofore failed , lest it should happen so in this case ( whereby the whole design would be frustrated , and youth● of excellent parts , hopefully planted at the university , forced to remove ▪ besides many other inconveniencies ) we do earnestly desire that god would stir up the hearts of those , whose : estates will bear it , to subscribe for eight years or for more , or for ever , which we shall look on as a noble and eminent act of charity , and which present and future ages may have cause to blesse god for , and as the most proper and only certain course to promote the intended design , and to prevent the forementioned mischiefs : yet if any shall contribute any thing upon other terms , we judge it a very acceptable service , and we hope it will occasion thanksgiving to god on their behalf . § . 3. that the name of every contributer be fairly written in a book of velume appointed for the purpose , together with the summe which it shall please him to contribute to his work . chap. ii. of the trustees . § . 1. that the mony collected be disposed of , and the election of schollars made by sixty trustees , whereof 36 to be gentlemen or citizens of eminency , and 24 to be ministers in or within five miles of the city of london , of which number any seven shall make a quorum , in ordinary cases , whereof three to be ministers . § . 2. and because it is of great importance to the good of the work , that there be a special inspection into it upon the place , it is thought fit that there be seven trustees chosen for each university , who shall be intreated to take notice of the proficiency and deportment of the exhibitioners in the university . § . 3. that the trustees proceed in all things without partiality , as they shall judge best for the publick good , and suffer not themselves to be byassed from it by any favours or recommendations whatsoever : and particularly that in the election of schollars , or trustees , when there are any vacancies , the trustees declare themselves , that they will according to their trust proceed therein with all fidelity and integrity : and that the clerk put the chairman in mind of it . § . 4. that when any one of the trustees dies , or refuseth to act further in the businesse , or removeth ten miles from london , or by the rest of the trustees is judged to deserve dismission from his trust , the rest of the trustees , or any 7 of them , whereof 3 shall be ministers ( notice being given to the trustees of the meeting , and of the end of it ) being met together , proceed to chuse another : and that no trustee be compleatly chosen at one meeting , but that he be nominated one meeting , and ( if they see fit ) chosen the next meeting : and that they chuse one whom for wisdom , candor , activity , publick-spiritednesse , integrity , affection to religion and learning , and other necessary qualifications , they judge fit for the work : and that they chuse a minister in the room of a minister ; and upon the vacancy of one who is no minister , that they chuse one who is no minister . chap. iii. of the officers and expences . § . 1. that in the moneth of march yearly the trustees chuse one of themselves being a minister , who shall be desired from time to time for the year ensuing , to appoint meetings of the trustees ; and to be present at all meetings and transactions , and to take special care to promote the work , and to keep correspondency with others in relation thereunto . § . 2. that the trustees in the moneth of march also chuse a treasurer ( being a person of unquestionable fidelity ) from year to year : and that the treasurers or collectors discharge shall be sufficient to any that shall pay the money : and that the treasurer be accountable once a quarter to the trustees , or any seven of them ( a meeting being called ) whereof three to be ministers : and that the treasurer shall not dispose of any of the monies , but according to the direction of the trustees or any seven of them ( three being ministers ) at a general meeting assembled . § . 3. that a clerk be chosen to be present at all meetings , to draw and enter all orders made by the trustees , and keep the books , and write such things as are necessary , as also a collector to gather in the monies , and to call meetings and do other necessary works , and that they have such salaries as the trustees shall think fit . § . 4. that all the charges incidentall to the work , which the trustees shall judge expedient , shall be allowed out of the stock . chap. iv. of the quality of the schollers to be chosen . § . 1. that the schollers to whom the exhibitions shall be granted , be chosen out of the university , or out of schools , as the trustees from time to time shall judge most fit , and that strict enquiry and diligent examination be made , and all possible care used that fit persons be chosen , and that the election be made by seven of the trustees at the least , whereof three to be ministers , notice being given to the trustees of the meeting , and of the end of it . and that no schollers hereafter shall be chosen , but such as have been personally and diligently examined by three at least , being either of the trustees in london ( who are schollers ) or of the university trustees , or of such as shall be chosen and desired by the trustees to examine candidates , &c. and attested by their hands . and that no certificate be owned from the universities , but such as comes from known persons , or from such persons as some of the university trustees shall attest to . § . 2. that the schollers to be chosen , be of godly life , or at the least , hopeful for godlinesse , of eminent parts , of an ingenuous disposition , and such as are poor , or have not a sufficient maintenance any other way : that not only the pregnancy , but the solidity of their parts be observed . and that a speciall regard be had to godlinesse . § . 3. and , although our great aim in this work be , the bringing up of schollers of eminent parts and learning , and the supplying of the church with choyce ministers , and such , as through gods blessing may be pillars of the church ; yet because the ordinary necessities of the church also are to be provided for , and the sad condition of dark corners , both in ireland and wales , and several parts of england cries loud for out assistance ; the trustees therefore may ( after provision made for the fore-mentioned ends , as far as they shall think fit ) chuse some schollers of godly life , and good parts ( though it may be their parts rise not to that eminency which some others attain to ) in order to the supply of such desolate and necessitous places and congregations . § . 4. that the exhibitions be generally given to such as intend the ministry , and direct their studies that way ; yet so , as that the trustees may upon weighty reasons and sparingly dispose of some of them , to such , as , though not intending the ministry , may be other waies eminently serviceable to the church or common-wealth . § . 5. and whereas divers schollers after four years continuance in the universitie , being raised to an higher degree , which they cannot support , are forced to remove and betake themselves to schools or to enter into the ministry , through necessity , raw and unfurnished , to their own perpetual discouragement , and to the great mischief of the church ; that a special regard be had to such of them as during their continuance , have given the best proof of their parts , learning and godlinesse , and they be enabled to continue four years after their degree of batchelor , whereby they may be solemnly prepared and well fitted for that weighty work . chap. v. of the education of the schollers . § . 1. that the exhibitioners shall be obliged to study to be eminent in the latine , greek , hebrew , and other oriental languages , and in the several arts and sciences , so far forth as their genius's will permit . § . 2. that over and besides their ordinary university exercises , they be tied to special exercises in those things as shall be thought fit by the trustees , and others whom they shall advise with . and that when the trustees shall think fit , two or three be picked out of the students to come up to london ( their charges being born ) to do some learned exercises in the city , that so the contributers may see some fruit of their cost , and others may be excited and encouraged . § . 3. that their three last years be principally employed in the study of divinity , and the praeparation of themselves for the work of the ministry , such only excepted , as are mentioned , ch. 4. § . 4. § . 4. that such schollers as are taken from schools , be sent to the university , and there placed under such tutors as the trustees shall chuse , who shall be , as neer as may be , eminent for godlinesse and learning and care of their pupils ; who shall be entreated to have a special eye upon them , as to their godlinesse , and to presse them to a diligent attendance upon all means publick and private conducing thereunto . § . 5. that none of the exhibitioners be absent from their colledges above six weeks in a year , unlesse speciall leave be obtained from some of the trustees of that university . chap. vi . of inspection over the exhibitioners . § . 1. that once in a year the trustees or any three of them ( whereof two shall be ministers ) go to the university , and there with the help of the university trustees , find out their profiting , and diligently enquire into their abilities and conversations , and encourage them accordingly . § . 2. that those doctors of the university , &c. who are trustees , be desired ( so far as they can ) to take special notice of the exhibitioners , and to enquire into their proficiency in their studies , and the godlinesse of their conversations , and admonish or advise them , as they see cause , and give notice to the trustees at london , when occasion shall require : also that they be entreated to direct them in the course of their studies , and resolve them in difficulties , as need requires . chap. vii . of incouragements to be given or denied to the exhibitioners according to their merit . § . 1. that the exhibitioners shal have such allowances as shall be judged expedient , according to their deserts , poverty , and standing in the university ; and that such of them as most need and most excell in abilities and piety , shall besides their yearly allowance , have some consideration for their degree , when , and so far as the trustees shall conceive meet . § . 2. that after eight years standing in the university , the trustees and contributers do by themselves and friends endeavour to promote them to a place answerable to their merit . § . 3. that such of the exhibitioners as shall at any solemn examination , be found eminently to excell the rest , shall have such special encouragements as the trustees shall judge fit . § . 4. that when there shall be satisfying evidence of the idlenesse or dissolutenesse or any depravednesse of any of them , the trustees may , after admonition and triall , for so long time as they shall think fit , withdraw the exhibition from them , and chuse others in their places . chap. viii . of the modell . § . 1. that the alteration or addition of circumstances be left to the wisdom of the trustees , or any seven or more of them ( whereof three to be ministers ) provided that notice be given to the trustees generally , of the meeting , and of the end of it , and provided alwaies that the substantials remain untouched , to wit , the bringing up of eminent schollers at the university , in order to the ministry , and the selection of schollers for special uses , mentioned in the ninth chapter . chap. ix . of the selection of some schollers for speciall uses . § . 1. that provision being made for the maintenance of schollers in order to the ministry , so far forth as the trustees shall judge necessary and sufficient , there be besides some fit persons selected and chosen by the trustees in the university , of sufficient standing and convenient leasure , and employed in that way wherein they are most eminent , one to be the linguist , and principally for greek , and for jewish , and rabbinicall learning ; another the historian , and antiquary , especially for ecclesiastical antiquity ; another the philosopher and mathematician , another the civilian , another the polemical divine ( one or more if need be ) another the practical and casuisticall divine , another well vers'd in all parts of learning : and that each of these employ themselves ( when occasion shall require , and the trustees , reasonably desire ) in such works as shall be usefull and necessary : and that they have such allowances as the trustees shall judge fit , and as the excellency of their parts and the nature of their work shall require . or , if it be not thought expedient to maintain persons constantly for each of these , that any person or persons , be employed in any work which shall appear to be of great concernment and usefulnesse to the publick good , and for which he or they are eminently fit , who shall have such encouragement as the trustees shall judge convenient . and to the end abuses may be prevented , it is resolved , that no money be disposed of by the trustees to any work , but such as eight of the trustees at least ( being all schollers ) and two at least of the trustees in each university , shall under their hands : declare that they judge to be such a work . and also that it be approved at a meeting of the trustees in london . chap. x. of the encouragement of forreigners , & promotion of the gospel abroad . § . 1. and because there is a great desire in many forreign persons to learn the english tongue , that so they may understand our english divines , and be the more able to preach practically and powerfully to their people , which may much further the work of conversion and edification in forreign places ; if it shall please any to contribute any summe or summes to this end , and with this desire ; it shall be faithfully employed to that purpose , viz. to the maintenance of such forreigners , as being poor , are and shall appear to be most eminent for parts and learning and piety , who shall be maintained in london or one of the universities , as shall be judged most expedient , for so long time as shall suffice for the fore-mentioned ends . finis . the names of the trustees . christoph . lord pack robert l. tichburne sir thomas andrews sir thomas foot sir thomas viner maj. gen. brown alderman frederick alderman allen alderman tompson alderman milner alderman laurence alderman higginson alderman warner alderman love andrew ricard esq colonel gower tho. bromfield esq tho. arnold esq theo. biddulph esq walter boothby esq will. pennoyer esq walter bigg esq martin noel esq maurice tomson esq dr. thomas cox deputy iohnson mr. iohn iurian mr. henry spurstow mr. maskal mr. keate . mr. nath. barnardiston mr. valent . wanley captain story mr. brinley mr. crumlum mr. bathurst . ministers . doctor reinolds doctor spurstow mr. ash mr. caryll mr. calamy mr. iackson sen . mr. case mr. slater mr. clarke mr. cooper mr. arthur mr. tayler mr. manton mr. ienkins mr. griffith mr. watson mr. lye mr. iacomb sen . mr. iacomb jun. mr. bates mr. poole mr. whitaker mr. woodcock mr. vinck . a word to the rich , that desire to give up their account with comfort . suffer i beseech you one word of exhortation , and with attention read a few lines which may be of everlasting concernment to you . i will suppose i speak not to atheists , but to such as are possest with a belief of an eternal estate of infinite happinesse or misery : not to fools , but to wise men who would not wilfully neglect any thing , which is necessary to secure them from the wrath to come . it is also notoriously known , that the wilful continuance in the neglect of any one evident duty ; or the commission of any manifest sin is sufficient to entitle a man to damnation , notwithstanding any professions of religion or practises whatsoever : you cannot but know that many perish eternally , not for any grosse wickednesse visible to the world , but for slie and secret and unobserved omission sins , and that these are the only sins which our saviour formes a processe against in that famous representation of the last judgment , mat. 25. and amongst those duties which men are most prone to neglect , are those which are difficult and costly and troublesome , which made christ pronounce it so hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heaven : and therefore you that are rich had need double your diligence to make your calling and election sure . and truly it is an unspeakable happinesse ( if the lord give you hearts to consider it ) that your riches wisely managed , may afford you a special and eminent evidence and assurance of gods love , and your own future happinesse ; forasmuch as if you freely lay out those riches that god hath graciously given you , for his glory , and the churches good , it may be a notable and sound discovery of a lively faith , ( which can part with present comforts in hopes of those future and unseen consolations ) a fervent love to god and the brethren , a resolution to part with all for christ , and a serious and true desire of salvation : as on the other side , it is a token of perdition , when a mans heart is glued to his riches , and the present evil world , when a man is so destitute of charity , that rather than part with his riches , he will suffer , bodies and soules to perish , and the glory of god to be turned into shame ; i beseech you therefore by the bowels of god have compassion upon your immortal souls , make you friends of the mammon of unrighteousnesse , throw not your selves overboard to preserve your riches , from which you can expect no other requital , but this , that the rust of them shall rise up in judgment against you at the last day : and this duty i may the more boldly exhort you to , because , if you make use of your reason , you will find the performance of it is no way disadvantageous to you : for , as you will gain this excellent advantage , besides eternal salvation , that , that portion of your estates which you lay out for god , will be a means to sweeten , and secure all the rest to you and your posterity , so , by the doing of it you will lose nothing of substance , seeing that is most true and evident by daily experience which our saviour saith ; that the comfort of a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of what he possesseth . for what are riches , but for use , without which a mans chest hath as much good by his riches as he ; and how can a man use them , but for his pleasure or credit , or posterity , or the like ? and who knowes not that many discreet men of competent estates between want and affluence enjoy more real pleasure in their estates , than they that have ten times a larger portion ? and if a man look to his credit , let any impartial man judge , whether it more advanceth a mans reputation , sordidly to hoard up his riches to the dishonour of religion , his own shame and contempt ( whereby he live ; lamented , and dies desired ) or generously to lay them out in such waies as not only procure him favour with god , but respect from men here , and at last a crown of glory that fades not away ? and if a man aims at posterity , methinks this city hath afforded sufficient experiments to convince any ingenuous man , that the leaving of vast estates to children , doth commonly betray them not onely to the greatest wickednesses , but also to manifold miseries , which they that carry their sailes lower , and whose estates are nearer the golden mediocrity are preserved from : i may added to all this that divers of you in this city may say with iacob , with may staffe i came over iordan , and now god hath made me two bands . that god that hath brought down others , hath exalted you , that god that hath impoverished others , hath enriched you , and therefore , if others owe their thousands to god , surely you owe your ten thousands . remember i beseech you , that hand that gave you your estates , can recal them when he pleaseth , and if you deny him the interest , he can revoke the principal . remember you will not alwaies have such opportunities : ere long you and the poorest wretch must be upon the same terms , now you have an advantage over them , and a means to do god more special service : i shall trouble you no further , but only this , lay out your estates , but do it freely , not grudgingly , do it liberally , not sparingly : i shall not here determine that question , whether god expects a tenth part of your estates to be employed in his service , and for publick good . but thus much i may safely say , that where god sows liberally , he expects to reap liberally . and as gods ministration to us under the gospel doth exceed the legal ministration , so i know no reason why our ministration to god from our superfluities should not exceed theirs under the law : and however men can easily deceive themselves here in things which concern their profit , yet i doubt not when men shall at last come to make a review of all their actions , their consciences will justly condemn them , not only for the total neglect of such duties , but also for the not doing of them in a fit and full proportion : for this particular occasion , i shall say nothing more than what is said in the preface , and in these other annexed papers : consider what hath been said , and remember it comes from one whose design is not his own profit , ( nor to lay a yoke upon you which he will not take upon his own shoulders ) but meerly that god may be glorified , and that , at that last day , fruit may abound to your account . matthew poole . an answer to some objections which may be raised against this work . object . 1. this designe is needlesse : universities are for this purpose , what is all that meanes given there for , but to fit men for the ministry ? answ. 1. so great is the scarcity of able and godly ministers in the nation , comparatively to the many places which are destitute of such ( as all judicious persons observe ) that it is a vain thing to expect a supply of the churches necessities in an ordinary way : we see by experience , that although of late years the universities have sent forth divers very hopefull persons into the ministry , and although besides the ordinary allowances for students there , divers exhibitions have been allowed by wel-willers to religion and learning , yet , all this not withstanding , there is still a great famine of the word in divers places ; especially in ireland , wales , &c. which are not so likely to be supplied , and which are here in a special manner provided for . answ. 2. the main design of this model is not barely to send forth ministers , but to endeavour to send forth eminent ministers ; and whereas universities are and must needs be ( nor doth it in the least reflect disparagement upon them ) like lotteries , whither students of all sorts come , some of good parts , and some of mean parts , and from whence ( through the negligence of students , and their forwardnesse in entring into the ministry ) divers come into the ministry much unfurnished , to the grief and scandal of their university-governours ; here is a more certain course , care being taken , 1. to select choice wits . 2. to oblige them to a sufficient continuance , as also to extraordinary diligence . object . 2. good designes are generally perverted and abused to other ends than they were intended , and so will this in all probability degenerate into a businesse of faction and partiality , and favour and friendship . answ. 1. we can neither foresee nor prevent all possible abuses , and much lesse all jealous surmises ; but thus much is plain , that we are to do our duty , and to referre events to gods providence , and however mens benevolences may be abused hereafter , contrary to their desires and intentions , yet god will accept of their sincere ends , and no lesse reward them than if they hid been never so religiously used . 2. here is abundant care taken to prevent partiality : the execution of it is committed to divers persons of different perswasions , of known integrity , wisdome and godlinesse ; and care is also taken that when any die , there be a substitution of such other men in their places , and the trustees are engaged , not onely by their promise , but by their judgements and interect to choose such men as themselves . 3. the feoffees , as they now are , so they will for ever be obliged to manage this businesse with all impartiality for the encouragement of lads of all parties ( provided they be true to the interests of learning and real piety ) not onely because they are conscientiously engaged to it , but also , because their interest and the advancement of the work will constantly oblige them to it ▪ seeing if once partiality be observed in it , it will not only reflect upon the trustees , but also bring the whole businesse into disrepute . 4. this objection strikes at all lasting good works , for how can a man settle any thing for any good work , but it may be abused ; so that the effect of this objection should be not to prevent the doing of good works , but to make men cautelous how to do them in as safe a way as may be . object . 3. it is better for a man to see with his own eyes , and to do with his own hands . answ. 1. but then there is one doubt whether he can get any to put in good security that he shall enjoy his eyes and hands for ever , or else ( if he be able and willing to settle something for ever ) it must come into other mens hands , and therefore it is better to commit it to other mens hands while he lives , and may observe how they use it , than to commit it to them after his decease , of whom he had not experience in that kind . 2. for the generality of contributers to such works it may be said without arrogancie , it is likely to be farre better managed by a conjunction of heads and hands of wise , and honest , and learned men for the glory of god , and the good of the church , than can be expected from one man . plus vident oculi quam oculus , and as those small sprinklings of water which signifie little when they are asunder , being united together into one river are very considerable and effectuall to divers excellent uses ▪ so those contributions which being managed singly and dividedly are not so eminently useful , when they are united together , prove of great influence for a generall good : and moreover , he that contributes in such a common way as this , doth not onely an excellent piece of service himself , but also drawes others along with him . for those gentlemen or others in the countrey who shal be pleased to contribute , although we shall wholly leave them to themselves to give what they please , and in what way they please , and shall thankfully accept any thing given upon any termes , nor do we desire this businesse should be burthensome to any , yet we humbly offer to their consideration , that it will be a most excellent service , and most rarely useful for any ( who can do it ) to settle what they give , for ever , though it be in a lesse proportion , both because it is in it self likely to bring forth more fruit , and because it will be a good encouragement to others to contribute when they see a solid foundation laid which is likely to continue : and we hope they will not think it a wrong to their children to alienate some small proportion from them to the more immediate service of god , but rather a special meanes to procure a blessing from god upon the rest of their estates both to them and to their posterity . if it shall please god to put it into the mind of any to contribute , if they signify their desires to any of the trustees , especially to any of the ministers , they may receive further information and direction as to any of the particulars . a testimonial from some oxford doctors . the great usefulnesse of humane learning and university education for the ministers of the gospel hath been abundantly evidenced , both from the powerful and happy influence of ministers so qualified , in the reformation of religion , from the bondage and darknesse of popery , and also from the miserable consequence of the want and neglect thereof in persons undertaking the work of the ministry : besides those more noble infusions of grace , there are two things of great necessity for the profitable discharge of the ministerial work ; to wit , a sufficiency of natural endowments , and acquired abilities . and it is the conjunction of these which throughly furnish the man of god unto every good work . we cannot therefore , but exceedingly approve of , and heartily blesse god for that late design undertaken , and so considerably carried on through gods blessing by divers persons , for the encouragement of poor scholars of greatest abilities and piety in the universities : the rather , because we have frequently , with sad hearts , observed the miscarriage of persons of great hopes and eminent parts , through want of those means and helps which are necessary : and we heartily recommend it unto all the lovers of learning and universities , as that which ( by gods blessing ) is likely to prove of singular use , for the quickning of diligence , and provoking of emulation , and the growth of knowledge and piety : nor do we know , how any , whom god hath enriched with talents for such a service , can lay them out to better advantage , than in such a way as this : and for the better encouragement of those whose hearts god shall encline to this pious work , we , whose names are here under-written , having knowledge of divers of the trustees , and having had experience of the management thereof , hold our selves bound in justice to give this testimony , unto those gentlemen , to whose trust it is committed ; that to the best of our observation , it hath been faithfully discharged according to the real worth of persons , without respect to parties : and it is sufficiently known , that there are divers students already chosen by them in the universities , who are persons of singular abilities , and of pious inclinations , whose poverty had exposed them to many inconveniences , and deprived the church of that great benefit ( which we comfortably hope for from them ) if they had not been relieved by such seasonable succours . and we are further considently perswaded , that as it hath been for the time past , so it will be for the future , the care of the trustees , to discharge that trust reposed in them , with all fidelity and conformably to their proposals and declarations . edmond staunton , d.d. iohn wallis , d.d. dan. greenwood , d.d. hen. langley , d.d. seth ward , s.s.t.d. ioshua crosse , l.l.d. thomas barlow , c.r.p. hen. hickman . a testimonial from some cambridge doctors and others . as we cannot but sadly resent and lay to heart the many and great mischiefs , which have befallen the church of god , through the miscarriage of such as being crude and unfurnished for so weighty an undertaking , have engaged themselves in the work of the ministry : so we cannot but impute them in a great measure to the want of meanes for subsistence at the universities ; whereby such persons have been untimely taken from those breasts and fountaines , whence by a continued use of the helps there afforded , they might have been stored with sound and well-digested knowledge , and thereby have not only prevented those difficulties and temptations , which their own ungroundednesse doth often expose them to , but also become eminently serviceable in the church of christ , the consideration whereof affords us abundant occasion of blessing and praising god , for his goodnesse to his church , as in continuing these schooles of learning , heretofore founded and established , so also in these late supplies by men of publick spirits conferred in way of exhibition , for the further encouragement and support of hopeful students in the universities . which good and pious design , we do with thankfulnesse rejoyce to see so far already put in execution , as that divers hopeful plants are thereby refreshed and made to flourish in these fruitful nurseries , who else for want of so seasonable a supply , might soon have been withered and parched up , or constrained to an unseasonable remove , to their own and the churches exceeding prejudice and disadvantage . but although there be a considerable number already chosen , and made participants of this beneficence , yet are there also many others still among us , truly deserving and really needing the like encouragement ; which we doubt not but many will be the more ready and willing to promote , when they shall together with us , observe these hopeful beginnings , which promise ( through the blessing of god upon them ) a plentiful harvest to be reaped in due season . for we can truly testifie that ( according to the best of our observation ) this matter hath been hither to managed , & the election of scholars made according to their parts , piety and poverty , with much faithfulnesse and impartiality ; as we hope also it will be carried on for the time to come . anthony tuckney . tho. horton . benj. whitchcot . lazarus seaman . ralph cudworth . william dillingham . thomas woodcocke . ioseph hill . iohn stillingfleet . if it shall please any to settle somthing for ever they may conveniently do it in this way which hath been propounded to , and approved by skilful lawyers . they may single out three or four of the trustees whom they can most confide in , and make them special trustees , and when any one of them dies , appoint the other three to chuse another in his place , and may make all the rest of the trustees overseers , and in case those four trustees fail , that then it shall fall to all the rest of the trustees , and in case they fail , then it shall fall to any colledge or company ( whom the doner shall please to nominate ) to be disposed of , according to the modell : and in case it be perverted or alienated to any other use , then it revert to his heirs , &c. an advertisement . vvhereas it hath been suggested by divers & was supposed by some of the trustees , that the present settlement of this trust was not legal ( not being by way of corporation ) nor perpetual , it was agreed by the trustees that some very able lawyers should be advised with ; which accordingly was done , and the result of their discourse was this : that there were two waies for the selting of such a trust , frequently practised among us , and both unquestionably legal ; the one by way of corporation , the other by way of feofment , in which latter way we are for the present setled , and in which way some hospitals , &c , are setled . this being an undoubted principle in law and reason , that it is lawful for any man to give what he will , to whom he will , for what uses he will , unlesse it be to an use prohibited by law , such as this is confessed not to be . an account of the scholars already chosen . in order to the practise of the things proposed in the modell , three of the trustees , to wit , mr. manton ; mr. thomas iacomb , and mr. poole were by the rest of the trustees sent to the two universities , to advise with the doctors the trustees there , and to settle the businesse , which was done , and divers persons of known ability and fidelity were desired , and did willingly consent to take upon them the businesse of examination of all such poor scholar as did propose themselves to trial : upon which , divers persons of great hopes , were then and have been since examined : and out of them , such as gave the best satisfaction for parts and learning , and had the best report for piety , were selected : and two and twenty are already chosen in each university ; it being resolved to carry an equal respect to both universities : of whom some were through necessity already gone from the university , and now to their great comfort , and ( we hope ) the churches great good , are setled again : others were about to leave it , others forced much to discontinue , and all much discouraged and prejudic'd by those pressing wants and difficulties they were overwhelmed with . finis . of true religion, hæresie, schism, toleration, and what best means may be us'd against the growth of popery the author j.m. milton, john, 1608-1674. 1673 approx. 26 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a50917 wing m2135 estc r8629 11982847 ocm 11982847 51894 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a50917) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 51894) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 817:33) of true religion, hæresie, schism, toleration, and what best means may be us'd against the growth of popery the author j.m. milton, john, 1608-1674. 16 p. [s.n.], london : 1673. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology -early works to 1800. theology -history -17th century. papacy -controversial literature -early works to 1800. 2002-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-11 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2002-11 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion of true religion , haeresie , schism , toleration , and what best means may be us'd against the growth of popery the author j. m. london printed in the year , 1673. of true religion , haeresie , schism , and toleration . it is unknown to no man , who knows ought of concernment among us , that the increase of popery is at this day no small trouble and offence to greatest part of the nation ; and the rejoycing of all good men that it is so ; the more their rejoycing , that god hath giv'n a heart to the people to remember still their great and happy deliverance from popish thraldom , and to esteem so highly the precious benefit of his gospel , so freely and so peacealy injoy'd among them . since therefore some have already in publick with many considerable arguments exhorted the people to beware the growth of this romish weed ; i thought it no less then a common duty to lend my hand , how unable soever , to so good a purpose . i will not now enter into the labyrinth of councels and fathers , an intangl'd wood which the papist loves to fight in , not with hope of victory , but to obscure the shame of an open overthrow : which yet in that kind of combate , many heretofore , and one of late , hath eminently giv'n them . and such manner of dispute with them , to learned men , is useful and very commendable : but i shall insist now on what is plainer to common apprehension , and what i have to say , without longer introduction . true religion is the true worship and service of god , learnt and believed from the word of god only . no man or angel can know how god would be worshipt and serv'd unless god reveal it : he hath reveal'd and taught it us in the holy scriptures by inspir'd ministers , and in the gospel by his own son and his apostles , with strictest command to reject all other traditions or additions whatsoever . according to that of st. paul , though wee or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you , than that which wee have preacht unto you , let him be anathema , or accurst . and deut. 4. 2. ye shall not add to the word which i command you , neither shall you diminish ought from it . rev. 22. 18 , 19. if any man shall add , &c. if any man shall take away from the words , &c. with good and religious reason therefore all protestant churches with one consent , and particularly the church of england in her thirty nine articles , artic. 6th , 19th , 20th , 21st , and elsewhere , maintain these two points , as the main principles of true religion : that the rule of true religion is the word of god only : and that their faith ought not to be an implicit faith , that is , to believe , though as the church believes , against or without express authority of scripture . and if all protestants as universally as they hold these two principles , so attentively and religiously would observe them , they would avoid and cut off many debates and contentions , schisms and persecutions , which too oft have been among them , and more firmly unite against the common adversary . for hence it directly follows , that no true protestant can persecute , or not tolerate his fellow protestant , though dissenting from him in som opinions , but he must flatly deny and renounce these two his own main principles , whereon true religion is founded ; while he compels his brother from that which he believes as the manifest word of god , to an implicit faith ( which he himself condemns ) to the endangering of his brothers soul , whether by rash belief , or outward conformity : for whatsoever is not of faith , is sin. i will now as briefly show what is false religion or heresie , which will be done as easily : for of contraries the definitions must needs be contrary . heresie therefore is a religion taken up and believ'd from the traditions of men and additions to the word of god. whence also it follows clearly , that of all known sects or pretended religions at this day in christendom , popery is the only or the greatest heresie : and he who is so forward to brand all others for hereticks , the obstinate papist , the only heretick . hence one of their own famous writers found just cause to stile the romish church mother of error , school of heresie . and whereas the papist boasts himself to be a roman catholick , it is a meer contradiction , one of the popes bulls , as if he should say , universal particular a catholic schismatic . for catholic in greek signifies universal : and the christian church was so call'd , as consisting of all nations to whom the gospel was to be preach't , in contradistinction to the jewish church , which consisted for the most part of jews only . sects may be a in true church as well as in a false , when men follow the doctrin too much for the teachers sake , whom they think almost infallible ; and this becomes , through infirmity , implicit faith ; and the name sectary , pertains to such a disciple . schism is a rent or division in the church , when it comes to the separating of congregations ; and may also happen to a true church , as well as toa false ; yet in the true needs not tend to the breaking of communion ; if they can agree in the right administration of that wherein they communicate , keeping their other opinions to themselves , not being destuctive to faith. the pharisees and saduces were two sects , yet both met together in their common worship of god at jerusalem . but here the papist will angrily demand , what ! are lutherans , calvinists , anabaptists , socinians , arminians , no hereticks ? i answer , all these may have some errors , but are no hereticks . heresie is in the will and choice profestly against scripture ; error is against the will , in misunderstanding the scripture after all sincere endeavours to understand it rightly : hence it was said well by one of the ancients , err i may , but a heretick i will not be . it is a humane frailty to err , and no man is infallible here on earth . but so long as all these profess to set the word of god only before them as the rule of faith and obedience ; and use all diligence and sincerity of heart , by reading , by learning , by study , by prayer for illumination of the holy spirit , to understand the rule and obey it , they have done what man can do : god will assuredly pardon them , as he did the friends of job , good and pious men , though much mistaken , as there it appears , in some points of doctrin . but some will say , with christians it is otherwise , whom god hath promis'd by his spirit to teach all things . true , all things absolutely necessary to salvation : but the hottest disputes among protestants calmly and charitably enquir'd into , will be found less then such . the lutheran holds consubstantiation ; an error indeed , but not mortal . the calvinist is taxt with predestination , and to make god the author of sin ; not with any dishonourable thought of god , but it may be overzealously asserting his absolute power , not without plea of scripture . the anabaptist is accus'd of denying infants their right to baptism ; again they say , they deny nothing but what the scripture denies them . the arian and socinian are charg'd to dispute against the trinity : they affirm to believe the father , son , and holy ghost , according to scripture , and the apostolic creed ; as for terms of trinity , triniunity , coessentiality , tripersonality , and the like , they reject them as scholastic notions , not to be found in scripture , which by a general protestant maxim is plain and perspicuous abundantly to explain its own meaning in the properest words , belonging to so high a matter and so necessary to be known ; a mystery indeed in their sophistic subtilties , but in scripture a plain doctrin . their other opinions are of less moment . they dispute the satisfaction of christ , or rather the word satisfaction , as not scriptural : but they acknowledge him both god and their saviour . the arminian lastly is condemn'd for setting up free will against free grace ; but that imputation he disclaims in all his writings , and grounds himself largly upon scripture only . it cannot be deny'd that the authors or late revivers of all these sects or opinions , were learned , worthy , zealous , and religious men , as appears by their lives written , and the same of their many eminent and learned followers , perfect and powerful in the scriptures , holy and unblameable in their lives : and it cannot be imagin'd that god would desert such painful and zealous labourers in his church , and oft-times great sufferers for their conscience , to damnable errors & a reprobate sense , who had so often implor'd the assistance of his spirit ; but rather , having made no man infallible , that he hath pardon'd their errors , and accepts their pious endeavours , sincerely searching all things according to the rule of scripture , with such guidance and direction as they can obtain of god by prayer . what protestant then who himself maintains the same principles , and disavowes all implicit faith , would persecute , and not rather charitably tolerate such men as these , unless he mean to abjure the principles of his own religion ? if it be askt how far they should be tolerated ? i answer doubtless equally , as being all protestants ; that is on all occasions to give account of their faith , either by arguing , preaching in their several assemblies , publick writing , and the freedom of printing . for if the french and polonian protestants injoy all this liberty among papists , much more may a protestant justly expect it among protestants ; and yet some times here among us , the one persecutes the other upon every slight pretence . but he is wont to say he enjoyns only things indifferent . let them be so still ; who gave him authority to change their nature by injoyning them ? if by his own principles , as is prov'd , he ought to tolerate controverted points of doctrine not slightly grounded on scripture , much more ought he not impose things indifferent without scripture . in religion nothing is indifferent , but , if it come once to be impos'd , is either a command or a prohibition , and so consequently an addition to the word of god , which he professes to disallow . besides , how unequal , how uncharitable must it needs be , to impose that which his conscience cannot urge him to impose , upon him whose conscience forbids him to obey ? what can it be but love of contention for things not necessary to be done , to molest the conscience of his brother , who holds them necessary to be not done ? to conclude , let such a one but call to mind his own principles above mention'd , and he must necessarily grant , that neither he can impose , nor the other believe or obey ought in religion , but from the word of god only . more amply to understand this , may be read the 14th . and 15th . chapters to the romans , and the contents of the 14th , set forth no doubt but with full authority of the church of england ; the gloss is this . men may not contemn , or condemn one the other for things indifferent . and in the 6th article above mentioned , whatsoever is not read in holy scripture , nor may be proved thereby , is not to be required of any man as an article of faith , or necessary to salvation . and certainly what is not so , is not to be required at all ; as being an addition to the word of god expressly forbidden . thus this long and hot contest , whether protestants ought to tolerate one another , if men will be but rational and not partial , may be ended without need of more words to compose it . let us now enquire whether popery be tolerable or no. popery is a double thing to deal with , and claims a twofold power , ecclesiastical , and political , both usurpt , and the one supporting the other . but ecclesiastical is ever pretended to political . the pope by this mixt faculty , pretends right to kingdoms and states , and especially to this of england , thrones and unthrones kings , and absolves the people from their obedience to them ; sometimes interdicts to whole nations the publick worship of god , shutting up their churches : and was wont to dreign away greatest part of the wealth of this then miserable land , as part of his patrimony , to maintain the pride and luxury of his court and prelates : and now since , through the infinite mercy and favour of god , we have shaken off his babylonish yoke , hath not ceas'd by his spyes and agents , bulls and emissaries , once to destroy both king and parliament ; perpetually to seduce , corrupt , and pervert as many as they can of the people . whether therefore it be fit or reasonable , to tolerate men thus principl'd in religion towards the state , i submit it to the consideration of all magistrates , who are best able to provide for their own and the publick safety . as for tolerating the exercise of their religion , supposing their state activities not to be dangerous , i answer , that toleration is either public or private ; and the exercise of their religion , as far as it is idolatrous , can be tolerated neither way : not publicly , without grievous and unsufferable scandal giv'n to all consciencious beholders ; not privately , without great offence to god , declar'd against all kind of idolatry , though secret . ezekiel 8. 7 , 8. and he brought me to the door of the court , and when i looked , behold a hole in the wall. then said he unto me , son of man , digg now in the wall ; and when i had digged , behold a door , and he said unto me , go in , and behold the wicked abominations that they do here . and verse 12. then said he unto me , son of man , hast thou seen what the antients of the house of israel do in the dark ? &c. and it appears by the whole chapter , that god was no less offended with these secret idolatries , then with those in public ; and no less provokt , then to bring on and hasten his judgements on the whole land for these also . having shown thus , that popery , as being idolatrous , is not to be tolerated either in public or in private ; it must be now thought how to remove it and hinder the growth thereof , i mean in our natives , and not forreigners , privileg'd by the law of nations . are we to punish them by corporal punishment , or fines in their estates , upon account of their religion ? i suppose it stands not with the clemency of the gospel , more then what appertains to the security of the state : but first we must remove their idolatry , and all the furniture thereof , whether idols , or the mass wherein they adore their god under bread and wine : for the commandment forbids to adore , not only any graven image , but the likeness of any thing in heaven above , or in the earth beneath , or in the water under the earth , thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them , for i the lord thy god am a jealous god. if they say that by removing their idols we violate their consciences , we have no warrant to regard conscience which is not grounded on scripture : and they themselves confess in their late defences , that they hold not their images necessary to salvation , but only as they are enjoyn'd them by tradition . shall we condescend to dispute with them the scripture is our only principle in religion ; and by that only they will not be judg'd , but will add other principles of their own , which , forbidden by the word of god , we cannot assent to . and the common maxim also in logic is , against them who deny principles , we are not to dispute . let them bound their disputations on the scripture only , and an ordinary protestant , well read in the bible , may turn and wind their doctors . they will not go about to prove their idolatries by the word of god , but run to shifts and evasions , and frivolous distinctions : idols they say are laymens books , and a great means to stir up pious thoughts and devotion in the learnedst . i say they are no means of gods appointing , but plainly the contrary : let them hear the prophets ; jerem. 10. 8. the stock is a doctrin of vanities . habakkuk 2. 18. what profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it : the molten image and a teacher of lyes ? but they alleadge in their late answers , that the laws of moses giv'n only to the jews , concern not us under the gospel : and remember not that idolatry is forbidden as expresly , [ in several places of the gospel , ] but with these wiles and fallacies compassing sea and land , like the pharisees of old , to make one proselite , they lead away privily many simple and ignorant souls , men or women , and make them twofold more the children of hell then themselves , matt. 23. 15. but the apostle hath well warn'd us , i may say , from such deceivers as these , for their mystery was then working . i beseech you brethren , saith he , mark them which cause divisions and offences , contrary to the doctrin which ye have learned , and avoid them ; for they that are such serve not our lord jesus christ , but their own belly , and by good words and fair speeches deceive the heart of the simplea rom. 16. 17 , 18. the next means to hinder the growth of popery will be to read duly and diligently the holy scriptures , which as st. paul saith to timothy , who had known them from a child , are able to make wise unto salvation . and to the whole church of colossi ; let the word of christ dwell in you plentifully , with all wisdome , coloss. 3. 16. the papal antichristian church permits not her laity to read the bible in their own tongue : our church on the contrary hath proposd it to all men , and to this end translated it into english , with profitable notes on what is met with obscure , though what is most necessary to be known be still plainest : that all sorts and degrees of men , not understanding the original , may read it in their mother tongue . neither let the countryman , the tradesman , the lawyer , the physician , the statesman , excuse himself by his much business from the studious reading thereof . our saviour saith , luke 10. 41 , 42. thou art careful and troubled about many things , but one thing is needful . if they were ask't , they would be loath to set earthly things , wealth , or honour before the wisdom of salvation . yet most men in the course and practice of their lives are found to do so ; and through unwillingness to take the pains of understanding their religion by their own diligent study , would fain be sav'd by a deputy . hence comes implicit faith , ever learning and never taught , much hearing and small proficience , till want of fundamental knowledg easily turns to susperstition or popery : therefore the apostle admonishes , eccles. 4. 14. that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of doctrine , by the sleight of men , and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive . every member of the church , at least of any breeding or capacity , so well ought to be grounded in spiritual knowledg , as , if need be , to examine their teachers themselves , acts. 17. 11. they searched the scriptures dayly , whether those things were so . rev. 2. 2. thou hast tryed them which say they are apostles , and are not . how should any private christian try his teachers unless he be well grounded himself in the rule of scripture , by which he is taught . as therefore among papists , their ignorance in scripture cheifly upholds popery ; so among protestant people , the frequent and serious reading thereof will soonest pull popery down . another means to abate popery arises from the constant reading of scripture , wherein beleivers who agree in the main , are every where exhorted to mutual forbearance and charity one towards the other , though dissenting in some opinions . it is written that the coat of our saviour was without seame : whence some would infer that there should be no division in the church of christ. it should be so indeed ; yet seams in the same cloath , neither hurt the garment , nor misbecome it ; and not only seams , but schisms will be while men are fallible : but if they who dissent in matters not essential to belief , while the common adversary is in the field , shall stand jarring and pelting at one another , they will be soon routed and subdued . the papist with open mouth makes much advantage of our several opinions ; not that he is able to confute the worst of them , but that we by our continual jangle among our selves make them worse then they are indeed . to save our selves therefore , and resist the common enemy , it concerns us mainly to agree within our selves , that with joynt forces we may not only hold our own , but get ground ; and why should we not ? the gospel commands us to tolerate one another , though of various opinions , and hath promised a good and happy event thereof , phil. 3. 15. let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded ; and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded , god shall reveal even this unto you . and we are bid , 1 thess. 5. 21. prove all things , hold fast that which is good . st. paul judg'd that not only to tolerate , but to examine and prove all things , was no danger to our holding fast of that which is good . how shall we prove all things , which includes all opinions at least founded on scripture , unless we not only tolerate them , but patiently hear them , and seriously read them ? if he who thinks himself in the truth professes to have learnt it , not by implicit faith , but by attentive study of the scriptures & full perswasion of heart , with what equity can he refuse to hear or read him , who demonstrates to have gained his knowledge by the same way ? is it a fair course to assert truth by arrogating to himself the only freedome of speech , and stopping the mouths of others equally gifted ? this is the direct way to bring in that papistical implicit faith which we all disclaim . they pretend it would unsettle the weaker sort ▪ the same groundless fear is pretended by the romish clergy in prohibiting the scripture . at least then let them have leave to write in latin which the common people understand not ; that what they hold may be discust among the learned only . we suffer the idolatrous books of papists , without this fear , to be sold & read as common as our own . why not much rather of anabaptists , arians , arminians , & socinians ? there is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakt , his judgement sharpn'd , and the truth which he holds more firmly establish't . if then it be profitable for him to read ; why should it not at least be tolerable and free for his adversary to write ? in logic they teach , that contraries laid together more evidently appear : it follows then that all controversies being permitted , falshood will appear more false , and truth the more true ▪ which must needs conduce much , not only to the confounding of popery , but to the general confirmation of unimplicit truth . the last means to avoid popery , is to amend our lives : it is a general complaint that this nation of late years , is grown more numerously and excessively vitious then heretofore ▪ pride , luxury , drunkenness , whoredom , cursing , swearing , bold and open atheism every where abounding : where these grow , no wonder if popery also grow a pace . there is no man so wicked , but at somtimes his conscience , will wring him with thoughts of another world , & the peril of his soul : the trouble and melancholy which he conceives of true repentance and amendment he endures not ; but enclines rather to some carnal superstion , which may pacify and lull his conscience with some more pleasing doctrin . none more ready and officious to offer her self then the romish , and opens wide her office , with all her faculties to receive him ; easy confession , easy absolution , pardons , indulgences , masses for him both quick and dead , agnus dei's , reliques , and the like : and he , instead of working out his salvation with fear and trembling , strait thinks in his heart ( like another kind of fool then he in the psalmes ) to bribe god as a corrupt judge ; and by his proctor , some priest or fryer , to buy out his peace with money , which he cannot with his repentance . for god , when men sin outragiously , and will not be admonisht , gives over chastizing them , perhaps by pestilence , fire , sword , or famin , which may all turn to their good , and takes up his severest punishments , hardness besottedness of heart , and idolatry , to their final perdition . idolatry brought the heathen to hainous transgressions , romans 2 a. and hainous transgressions oft times bring the slight professors of true religion , to gross idolatry : thess● 2. 11 , 12. for this cause , god shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lye , that they all might be damed ▪ who believe not the truth , but had pleasure in unrighteoussness . and isaiah 44. 18. speaking of idolaters , they have not known nor understood ▪ for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see , and their hearts that they cannot understand . let us therefore using this last means , last here spoken of , but first to be done , amend our lives with all speed ; least through impenitency we run into that stupidly , which we now seek all meansso warilyto avoid , the worst of superstitions , and the heaviest of all gods judgements , popery . finis . of the unity of the church a discourse written a thousand four hundred and thirty years since, in the time of decius the persecuting emperor / by cyprian, bishop of carthage and martyr ; most usefull for allaying the present heats, and reconciling the differences among us. cyprian, saint, bishop of carthage. 1681 approx. 59 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 23 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a35528 wing c7714 estc r29694 11192735 ocm 11192735 46659 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a35528) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 46659) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1439:24) of the unity of the church a discourse written a thousand four hundred and thirty years since, in the time of decius the persecuting emperor / by cyprian, bishop of carthage and martyr ; most usefull for allaying the present heats, and reconciling the differences among us. cyprian, saint, bishop of carthage. fell, john, 1625-1686. [5], 40 p. printed at the theater in oxford, [oxford] : 1681. translated by john fell, bishop of oxford--brit mus. catalogue. reproduction of the original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng church -unity. theology, doctrinal. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-04 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-06 john latta sampled and proofread 2006-06 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion of the unity of the church a discourse written a thousand four hundred and thirty years since , in the time of decius the persecuting emperor . by cyprian bishop of carthage and martyr . most usefull for allaying the present heats , and reconciling the differences among us . printed at the theater in oxford . 1681. to the reader . when the idolatrous violence of heathen rome , under the emperor decius , attemted the extirpation of the christian faith , and brought on the seventh bloody persecution : novatian a presbyter of the roman church separated himself from the communion thereof , and became leader of a dangerous schism , upon suggestion that others were polluted by the conversation of ungodly men , and favourd those who were idolatrous : reproching them with the titles of apostats , idolators and jews , as pacian informs us . which most unseasonable rupture , exceedingly weakned the hands of the orthodox christians , and , as s. cyprian expresses it , became another persecution unto them . in this unhappy state of affairs , when idolatry destroied from abroad with all possible violence , and schism divided with like heat and earnestness within ; the good bishop of carthage s. cyprian , thought it lay upon him , ( for the privilege of the pope of rome had not then placed his church above admonition ; nor his infallibility set it beyond instruction ) to endeavor the reducing the dissenters in that church : whose godly labors had very great effect , bringing back into communion , several of the most eminent partizans in schism ; and thereby many others also , who by large pretences to godliness , and the name of some pious men drawn aside into the party , gave reputation to it . i need not say how parallel a case we have in the church of england . when we are now assaulted by the plots and machinations of idolatrous rome , we are molested by domestic dissentions from within , upon the same pretences that we are polluted with the conversation of the vngodly , and favor those who are idolators ; are lukewarm professors , popishly affected , and protestants in masquerade . it would be most happy if the parallel could be advanc'd yet farther ; and that as the advices of the holy bishop and martyr s. cyprian were efficacious heretofore , they may again be so on the like occasion . he being dead , above fourteen hundred years since , yet speaketh ; and his discourses cannot be imagin'd to be levened by interest or passion ; and therefore they are faithfully translated into our english tongue ; and presented to the view and consideration of dissenters among us . the christian church stands under the same terms of duty to god and man , as heretofore it did ; we have as strict obligation to vnity among our selves , & obedience to those who are over us in the lord , as had our first forerunners in the faith . we are as forcibly bound to join in the same public worship as they were ; and excommunication , ( especially that which the schismatic voluntarily executes upon himself ) will be as penal , and as certain a prejudice of the judgment of the great day , as it was esteem'd in the primitive church , and 't is declar'd to be by tertullian . and not only the guilt , but also the danger of division , is now as great as it was ever heretofore ; according to the saying of s. paul , if we bite and devour one another , we shall be destroied one of another . god almighty grant that we may see , at least in this our day , the things belonging to our peace , before they be hid from our eies . the holy martyr s. cyprian of the vnity of the church . whereas our lord instructing us hath said , you are the salt of the earth ; and commanded us to be simple as to the doing any wrong , and yet withall to join wisdom with our simplicity ; what can be more sit and becoming us , then that with watchfull diligence we should endeavour to understand , both what are the ambushes of our crafty enemy , and how to avoid them ? that we who have put on christ the wisdom of god the father , may not seem destitute of wisdom in securing our salvation : for we are not only to fear that persecution , which by open force attemts the overthrow of the servants of god. t is easie to be cautious where the hazard is manifest . the mind is prepared before for the combat , where the enemie professes himself . then is he most formidable and most to be took care of , when he secretly approches , and under a fraudulent pretence of peace , by an undiscernible motion steals upon us insensibly ; from the practice of which methods the devil has the name of serpent : for such hath bin always his craft , and so dark and conceled from all view is the fraud by which he circumvents the sons of men . thus in the infancy of the world he enterprizd upon , and by mixing flattery with lies , he decieved our unexperienced forefathers thro their unwary credulity . thus when he attemted our lord , he secretly approched , as if by stealth he meant to deceive him : but he was immediatly understood , and as soon repulsed and vanquishd , because he was discoverd and known . whence we may learn to decline the path of the first adam , and pursue the steps of christ the victorious , that we may not again unawars be entangled in the snare of death ; but being provident against danger , we may at last enjoy the purchased immortality . but how can we attain the fruition of this immortality , unless we keep those commands of christ by which death is to be vanquish'd and subdued ? according to that counsel and saying of his : if thou wilt enter into life , keep the commandments . and again : ye are my friends , if you do whatsoever i command you . such who are thus minded and resolved , he stiles the couragious and stable , founded upon a rock of vast bulk and strength , firmly compacted and consolidated by an unshaken immovable constancy , against all the storms and tempests of the world . whosoever heareth , saith he , these sayings of mine , and doth them , i will liken him to a wise man , who built his house upon a rock . and the rain descended , and the flouds came , and the winds blew , and beat upon that house : and it fell not , because it was founded upon a rock . it is our duty therefore to regulate our goings by his precepts , and to learn and do the things he taught and did : for with what face can any one profess he believes in christ , while he neglects to do what he enjoyns to be don ? or expect to reap the reward of faith , who is unfaithful in the observation of his commands ? it cannot be , but such a one must stagger , and wander to and fro , being hurryed about by the spirit of error , like dust driven by the wind . nor shall he by his walking forward ever reach salvation , who keeps not the saving way of truth . but we must not only take care to decline the devils more obvious and manifest attemts ; but those which his subtile craft and fraud hath laid in the dark , the more easily to entrap us . for what artifice more fine , what nicer subtilty , then that when this enemy found himself discoverd and defeated by christ's coming into the world ( after this light appeared to the gentiles , after he broke forth with healing rays for the curing and saving mankind , making the deaf hear the words of spiritual grace , the blind lift up their eies to2 god , the weak recover to everlasting life , the lame run into the bosome of the church , the dumb loudly and distinctly pray to god , ) when he beheld the abandoning of his idols , and that his temples and houses of superstition were left desolate and emty , by the very great numbers that went off from his worship , and embrac'd the faith : then to set on foot a new artifice , even under the very title and name of christianity to entrap the unwary ? he invented heresies and schisms to undermine the faith , adulterate the truth , and divide unity it self . those whom he cannot detain in the darkness of the old way , he circumvents by leading them in new and erroneous paths . thus he siezes and takes men out of the church , and while they imagin with themselves that they have made nearer approches to light , and left behind them the night of the world , he insensibly involves them anew in thick darkness ; that not conforming themselves to the gospel of christ , and the observation of his righteous laws , and yet calling themselves christians , and walking in darkness , they should notwithstanding perswade themselves that they were illuminated . the adversary flattering them in this opinion , and so beguiling them ; who according to the apostle , transforms himself into an angel of light , and dresses up his ministers as if they were the servants of righteousness : so that they miscalling night day , ruine and destruction safety and salvation , obtruding despair under the name of hope , pretending infidelity to be faith , setting up antichrist for christ ; suggesting false but seeming probabilities , frustrate the truth by subtilty . this comes to pass , my well-beloved brethren , while we have not recourse to the source and original of truth ; while we seek not for the head and fountain , and are inobservant of our heavenly masters doctrin , which if well weighed and examined , would supersede long discourses and arguments . truth renders the proof of our faith easie and compendious . our lord speaking to peter , useth these words : and i also say unto thee , thou art peter , and upon this rock will i build my church , and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it . and i will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth , shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth , shall be loosed in heaven . and he said unto the same person after his resurrection : feed my sheep . and altho after his resurrection he invested all the apostles with equal power , and told them all : as the father hath sent me , so send i you . receive ye the holy ghost . whosesoever sins ye remit , they are remitted unto them ; and whosesoever sins ye do retain , they are retained ; yet that he might make manifest the churches unity , his authority so order'd it , that the origination thereof should be expres'd by the mention first of one single person . what peter was , that also were the rest of the apostles , they having a like participation of honor and power ; yet the narration begins with unity , to signifie that the church can be but one . this unity of the church the holy spirit designes in the canticles , when in the person of our lord he thus speaks : my dove , my undefiled is but one : she is the only one of her mother : she is the choice one of her that bare her . now can he who keeps not this unity of the church , perswade himself that he holds fast the faith ? can he who contends with the church and opposeth her , have the confidence to imagin himself a member of the church ; when the blessed apostle paul declares , and points clearly at the mystery of unity , saying : there is one body , and one spirit , one hope of your calling , one lord , one faith , one baptism ? which unity we bishops , especially , who preside in the church , ought firmly to maintain and defend ; that we may evidence thereby the unity and individualness of episcopacy it self . let none decieve the brethren with a ly , or corrupt the truth of our faith with perfidious prevarication . there is but one episcopacy , which tho shared among as many several persons as there are bishops in the christian world , yet each possesseth the authority entire . there is also but one church , however her fruitfulness and growth is such , that she spreads and increaseth to a multitude of particular churches . as the beams which issue from the sun are many , and yet the light it creates by them is one and the same : or as the boughs growing out of a tree are many , and yet is it but one stock , fastned and fixt to it's place by one tenacious root : so too , when many rivulets flow from a fountain , whereby it seems so encreased as to become many by the plenty of water , which is such as to require several channels for it's conveyance ; yet 't is but one water still , because it all rises at , and runs from one spring head . intercept a sun-beam from the body of the sun , the oness of light will not admit of division . if you break a bough from a tree , 't will never shoot forth or grow again . cut off a river from it's fountain , 't will immediatly dry up . in like manner the church being enlightned by our lord , extends it's beams thro the whole world ; yet is it the same light that every where appears , and is entirely one however scatter'd : as a tree , she spreads her branches , luxuriant in growth , and plenteous in fruit . and as a river enlarges by her course her swelling streams , yet is there but one head , one source , one stock , of all this happy plenty . we are all the fruit of the churches womb , nourisht with the milk of her breasts , quickned by her spirit . the spouse of christ cannot be deflour'd , but continues chast and incorrupt . she is acquainted but with one house , and by a modest shamefacedness secures the reputation of the marriage bed . t is she who preserves us unto god , and leads her children to a kingdom . whosoever departs from the church , joins himself to an harlot , and forfeits the promises made unto her ; nor can he attain the rewards of christ , who abandons his church ; such a one is an alien , is profane , is an enemy . he cannot have god for his father , who disowns the church for his mother . if any one escaped in the flood , who was out of noah's ark , he may likewise be saved , who is out of the pale of the church . our lord informs us of this , saying : he that is not with me , is against me : and he that gathereth not with me , scattereth . he who breaks the peace and agreement of the church , sets himself against christ . he who gathers and makes proselytes out of the church . scatters and makes havock of it . it 's our lord's saying : i and my father are one . and again it 's writen concerning the father , son , and holy spirit : these three are one . and now can any one believe that this unity , which proceeds from the divine immutability and is consolidated by heavenly mysteries , can be rent asunder in the church , and divided into parts by the discrepancy of the jarring wills of men ? he who keeps not this unity , holds not the law of god , nor the belief of the father and the son , nor the faith by which he should be saved . this sacrament of unity , this indissoluble band of concord is represented to us in the gospel by the coat of christ , which was not divided at all or parted , but the soldiers casting lots upon his vesture , who among them should wear it , it remain'd whole and entire . the scripture saith , the soldiers said among themselves , concerning this coat without seam , woven from the top throout , let us not divide it , but cast lots for it , whose it shall be . that garment represented the unity which descended from above , that is from heaven and the father , which was not to be torn and cut by any who became possessor of it , but he was to have a firm and entire possession thereof . he cannot have the garment of christ , who rends and tears his church . so upon the other side , when after the death of solomon , the prophet ahijah met with king jeroboam on the way , he rent the garment he had upon him into twelve pieces , saying to him : take thee ten pieces ; for thus saith the lord god of israel : behold , i will rend the kingdom out of the hand of solomon , and i will give ten tribes to thee . but he shall have one tribe for my servant david's sake , and jerusalem's sake , the city which i have chosen out of all the tribes of israel to put my name there . thus when the twelve tribes of israel were to be rent asunder , the prophet ahijah presignified it by rending jeroboam's garment . but because christ's people cannot be torn in sunder , therefore his coat which was wove throout and of an entire piece , was not parted and shared by the souldiers , whose fee it was . it 's being undivided , and the parts of it being closely and imperceptibly conjoyned , is a mysterious emblem of that concord and union which ought to be between all who have put on christ . what person therefore can be so impious , so perfidious , so raging mad with discord , as to imagin he can compass , or dare to attemt the rending the unity of the godhead , the garment of the lord , or church of christ ? he himself hath instructed us in his gospel saying , that there shall be one fold , and one shepherd . and can any one imagin that in one fold there should be many shepherds , or many flocks ? the apostle saint paul recommending to us this unity , intreats and exhorts , saying : now i beseech you , brethren , by the name of our lord jesus christ that ye all speake the same thing , and that there be no divisions among you : but that ye be perfectly joind together in the same mind , and in the same judgment . and again he saith : forbearing one another in love , endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace . can it be thought that any one departing from the church , can subsist and live , the man who raises new fabrics for himself : when it was told rahab , by whose house the church was prefigur'd , thou shalt bring thy father , and thy mother , and thy brethren , and all thy fathers house home unto thee ; and it shall be whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street , his blood shall be upon his head : and the sacrament of the passover instituted in exodus contains no other lesson then this , that the lamb ( the slaying of which prefigured christ's death ) should be eaten in one house ? the lord enjoyn'd that it should be eaten in one house , and that nothing of it should be carried abroad . the flesh of christ , the holy of the lord , is not to be cast out of doors : nor have believers any other house besides the church which is but one . the holy ghost in the psalms designs and expresses this house , this lodging of unanimity , when he saith : it is god who maketh men to be of one mind in an house . in the house of god , in the church of christ the loving inhabit , the kind and simple continue therein . therefore the holy spirit appear'd in the shape of a dove , that innocent gentle creature , which is not imbitter'd with gall , bites not fiercely with teeth , nor violently tears with talons : these creatures love the places where men dwell , keep to the same nest , both the mates hatch their young ; when they fly abroad , they go in flocks , they pass their age in mutual converse ; in their billing together , they express in a manner the kiss of charity , and in all points fulfil the law of unanimity . this simplicity is to be sought after in the church , this charity to be acquir'd , that our brotherly love may imitate that of doves , our mildness and gentleness equal that of sheep and lambs . what hath the fierceness of wolves , the madness of dogs , the deadly venom of serpents , and the cruelty of savage beasts to do with a christian's breast ? we are to rejoyce , when such are cut off from the communion of the church ; least they devour the doves and sheep of christ , or poyson them with their infectious contagion . sweet and bitter cannot incorporate or dwell together ; neither can darkness and light , rain and sunshine , war and peace , dearth and plenty , drought and moisture , tranquillity and tempest . it is not possible for the truly good to depart from the church . the wind carries not away the good corn ; nor doth a tempest throw down the well rooted tree . it 's the light chaff which the wind drives about , and the decaied stock which the storm blows down . these are they whom the apostle john execrates and smites , saying : they went out from us , but they were not of us ; for if they had been of us , they would no doubt have continued with us . hence heresies have frequently been , and still arise , while the perverse mind retains not peace , and perfidious discord abandons unity . which things the lord permits and suffers , leaving to men their liberty of will. ; that when our hearts and minds are tried by this test of truth , the integrity of the faithful may be as manifest as the light . the holy spirit warns us of this by the apostle , telling us : that heresies must be , that the approved might be made manifest . by this the faithful are tried , and the perfidious detected ; so that even here before the day of judgment , there passeth a discrimination between the just and unjust , and the chaff is separated from the good grain . these are they who of their own heads without any warrant from the divine appointment , set themselves over the giddy conventiclers ; who without the requisite of ordination , constitute themselves governours ; and assume to themselves the character of bishops , without having that office & authority conferred upon them . whom the holy ghost in the book of psalms points at , when he mentions those who sit in the seat of the scornfull : they are the very pest and bane of faith , decieving with their serpentine glosings , skilfull in adulterating the truth , spitting up deadly poyson from their pestilential tongues . whose very words spred like a canker , whose discourses distill poyson into the breast and heart . 't is against these the lord lifts up his voice , it is from these he restrains and calls back his wandring flock , saying : hearken not unto the words of the prophets , that prophesy unto you ; they make you vain : they speake a vision of their own heart , and not out of the mouth of the lord. they say still unto them that despise me , the lord hath said , ye shall have peace , and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart , no evil shall come upon you . if they had continued in my way , and hearkned to my words , and had from them instructed my people ; i would have turned them from their evil thoughts . these same persons the lord designs and marks out again , saying : they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters , and hewn them out cisterns , broken cisterns that can hold no water . altho there is but one baptism , they presume they may baptize . having left the fountain of life , they promise baptismal grace , whereby they who are immerst are not cleansed but defiled ; their sins not put away but rather multiplyed : that new birth begets not sons to god but to the devil . being born of a ly , they are not capable of the promises of truth : begot in perfidiousness , they lose the grace of faith . they cannot recieve the reward of peace , who by their mad discord have broke the lords peace . nor let any decieve themselves with a false exposition of what the lord hath said : where two or three are gathered together in my name , there am i in the midst of them . these corrupters of the gospel , and false interpreters of it , produce the last clause , and pass over the antecedent parts of the discourse ; remembring one piece of it , and craftily forgeting the other . as they themselves are divided from the church ; so likewise they divide asunder an entire period of the scripture . for when our lord advised his disciples to unanimity and peace , he thus addrest to them : i say unto you , that if two shall agree upon earth , as touching any thing they shall ask ; it shall be don for them of my father , which is in heaven : for where two or three are gathered together in my name , there am i in the midst of them ; shewing thereby that the success and force of prayer was not to be imputed to the number of supplicants , but unanimity of them . if two of you , saith he , shall agree upon earth , he placed unanimity in the front , and began with the agreement of peace , that he might instruct us to agree faithfully and firmly together . but how can he agree with any one , who agrees not with the body of the church , and the brotherhood in general ? how can two or three be gathered together in christs name , who apparently are separated from christ and his gospel ? for we did not go out from them , but they departed from us . and whereas heresies and schisms had their birth and original from mens making of distinct conventicles for themselvs , t is they who are desertors of the head from whence truth takes it's original . but the lord speaks there concerning the church , and speaks to them who are of it and in it ; that if they shall according to his command and counsel , unanimously joyn in prayer , tho they be but two or three gather'd together , yet they shall obtain from the divine majesty a grant of what they ask . where two or three are gatherd together in my name , there am i , saith he , in the midst of them : i. e. of such who are simple and peaceable , who fear god and keep his commands . in the midst of these , tho but two or three , he promised he would be . after this sort he was with the three children in the fiery furnace ; and because they kept their simplicity towards him , and continued in unanimity with one another ; he therefore refresht them , amidst the flames , as it were with a cooling breath of air , or the falling of dew : he was with the two apostles , shut up in prison ; forasmuch as they were simple , forasmuch as they were unanimous . he opened the prison gates , and brought them into the court of the temple , that they might declare that word , they had before faithfully preached , to the multitude . when therefore he commands and saies , that wheresoever two or three are gatherd together in my name , i am in the midst of them ; he who founded and instituted the church , doth not divide men from it : but upbraiding the discord of the unfaithful , and recommending with his own mouth peace to the faithful , he thence declares , he will rather afford his presence to two or three who are met together with one heart and one mind in prayer , then to very many dissenters ; and that more may be obtain'd by the prayer of a few who agree in what they ask , then by the supplication of many , whose very petitions as well as themselves are at variance against each other . upon which account , when he gave a rule of prayer to his disciples , he added : and when ye stand praying , forgive , if you have ought against any : that your father also which is in heaven , may forgive you your trespasses . nay he calls back the person who designs him a sacrifice , from the very altar , if he comes thither having a difference with his brother , and bids him first to be reconciled to his brother , and then to come again in peace , and offer his gift ; for upon this ground god had not respect to the offering of cain . for god could not be reconciled to him , who thro envy , hated his brother . what peace therefore can they expect who are at enmity with their brethren ? what oblations can they offer who strive with the priest ? can they think christ will vouchsafe to be in the midst of them when they are gathered together , whose meeting is without the church ? such if slain for the confessing of christ , would not wash away their sin even with their blood . the heinous and inexpiable crime of discord is not to be purg'd away , no not with death . he cannot be a martyr , who is not in the church : nor can he ever come to the kingdom of christ triumphant , who here deserts it being militant . our lord left us peace for a legacy , commanded unanimity unto us , and gave in charge that we should keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace . he cannot be a martyr , who is destitute of brotherly love . saint paul both teacheth and contests this , saying : altho i have all faith , so that i could remove mountains , and have not charity , i am nothing . and tho i bestow all my goods to feed the poor , and tho i give my body to be burned , and have not charity , it profiteth nothing . charity suffers long , and is kind : charity envieth not : charity vaunts not it self , is not puffed up , doth not behave it self unseemly , seeketh not her own , is not easily provoked , thinketh no evil : beareth all things , believeth all things , hopeth all things , endureth all things : charity never faileth . this shall continue in that kingdom we look for , this shall remain to all eternity in the brotherhood and never to be divided union of glorified saints . discord cannot enter heaven nor recieve rewards from christ , who has declar'd to his disciples : this is my commandment , that ye love one another , even as i have loved you . he can have no relation to him who violates his love by perfidious dissention . whoever hath not charity , hath not god. it 's the blessed apostle john's assertion : for he saith : god is love , and he that dwelleth in love , dwelleth in god , and god in him . they cannot dwell with god who thro dissention will not abide in his church . tho they fry in flames , tho cast into the fire or to wild beasts , they lay down their lives , therein they recieve not the crown of faith , but the reward of disobedience ; not the glorious exit of religious fortitude , but the final destruction of despair . such a one may be killed , but cannot be crown'd . the schismatic assumes the christian name no otherwise then the devil do's , when he counterfiets christ ; according as he forewarn'd us , saying : many shall come in my name , saying : i am christ , and shall decieve many . now as satan is not christ , tho he falsly takes his name ; so neither is he to be lookt upon as a christian , who perseveres not in the truth of his gospel , and faith thereof . it is indeed a sublime and wonderful privilege to prophesy , cast out devils , and to perform on earth works of power . and yet whosoever he be who hath these gifts , doth not thereby attain to the kingdom of heaven , unless he tread in the strait and even path of duty . the lord hath pronounced such a one's doom in these words : many will say unto me in that day , lord , lord , have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name cast out devils ? and in thy name don many wonderful works ? and then will i profess unto them : i never knew you , depart from me ye workers of iniquity . 't is righteousness alone that can recommend us to god when he comes to judgment . we must obey his commands and counsels , that the good works which we have don may be rewarded . our lord in the gospel , when he would guide the progress of our faith and hope in the shortest track , tells us : the lord thy god is one . and , thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , with all thy soul , and with all thy strength . this is the first and great commandment , and the second is like unto it : thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self . on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets . in his instruction he joyns together love and unity ; and in two precepts comprised the law and the prophets . but how doth he retain unity , or preserve love , or so much as think on 't , who furiously mad with the poyson of discord , mangles the church , destroyeth the faith , disturbs the peace , dissipates charity and profanes all holy mysteries . this mischief , my beloved brethren , began long since , but now the destruction occasion'd thereby , is apparently encreased ; and the poysonous bane of heretical perversness and separation hath shot up and shews it self . for the holy spirit foretelling & admonishing us by the apostle , declares that in the declination of the world it was necessary so it should be . in the last days , saith he , perilous times shall come . for men shall be lovers of themselves , covetous , boasters , proud , blasphemers , disobedient to parents , unthankful , unholy , without natural affection , truce-breakers , false accusers , incontinent , fierce , despisers of those that are good , traitors , heady , highminded , lovers of plesures more then lovers of god , having a form of godliness , but denying the power thereof . of this sort are they which creep into houses , and lead captive silly women , laden with sins , led away with divers lusts , ever learning , and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth . now as jannes and jambres withstood moses ; so do these also resist the truth . but they shall proceed no further ; for their folly shall be made manifest unto all men , as theirs also was . what hath been foretold , hath been exactly fulfill'd , and the world now drawing to an end , the times and men are a proof thereof . the adversary now raging more and more , in like proportions error decieves , stupidity thrusts forward , envy enflames , avarice blinds , impiety depraves , pride puffs up , discord provokes , anger transports . yet notwithstanding all this , the abounding of iniquity ought not to shake and disturb us , but rather the truth of the prediction ought to confirm and strengthen our faith . therefore should the brethren rather take heed of such , for that all things were foretold of them : our lord himself teaching us and saying : but take ye heed : behold , i have foretold you all things . avoid i beseech you such men , and walk not with them , and keep your ears shut , and your selves far from their infectious communication , which carrieth death along with it , as it is writen ; set an hedge of thorns about thine ears , and hearken not to an evil tongue . and again : evil communication corrupts good manners . the lord instructs and counsels us to withdraw from this sort of persons : they are blind leaders of the blind . and if the blind lead the blind , both shall fall into the ditch . whoever he is that lives in separation from the church , he is to be detested and shunn'd . he who is such , is perverted and sinneth , being condemn'd of himself . can he concieve himself to be on christ's side , who acts against his priests , who departs from the communion of his clergy and people ? such a one bears arms against the church , against god's ordinance , is an enemy to the altar , a rebel against the sacrifice of christ , instead of being faithful is a traitor , instead of religious sacrilegious , an undutiful son , an ungodly servant , an hostile brother ; contemning the bishops and renouncing god's priests , he presumtuously sets up altar against altar , makes new and unlawful praiers , profanes by false sacrifices the true offering of our lord ; not deigning to consider , that they who resist the ordinance of god , recieve to themselves damnation . thus corah , dathan , and abiram , who challeng'd to themselves the power of sacrificing in opposition to moses , and aaron the priest , were immediately punisht for their attemt . the earth opened her mouth , and swallowed them up . nor did the anger of god thus stirr'd up punish only the authors of this rebellion , but two hundred and fifty others , complices in their seditious enterprise : who joyning themselves to them in their insolence , were with a speedy revenge consumed by fire from the lord. from whence we learn and are taught , that whatever wicked men do in opposition to gods ordinance , is don against him . so king uzziah , taking a censer in his hand to burn incense contrary to the law of god , violently invading the priesthood , and refusing to obey and retire when azariah the priest oppos'd his design , was by divine vengeance put to shame , being markt in the forehead with the stein of leprosy . the offended lord set the mark of his anger on that conspicuous part of his body , where they are sign'd who are reciev'd into his favor . so likewise the sons of aaron for offering up strange fire to the lord , which he commanded not , were forthwith consumed before the lord in his displesure ; and yet these are imitated and followed by all such , who slighting what was delivered by god , seek after and are in love with doctrines of human invention : for which crime our lord in his gospel sharply rebukes and reprooves them : ye transgress and make the commandment of god of none effect , by your tradition . this is a more flagitious wickedness then that which the lapsed commit , who being reciev'd to penance , by acts of mortification recommend themselves to the mercy of god. in this case the church is sought to , in the other she is oppos'd : in this there might be some pretence of necessity , in that the crime is purely voluntary : here the lapsed person prejudiceth himself alone ; there who so proselytes others to schism or heresy , decieves as many as he draws in : here is the loss of one soul , there the danger of many . this is plain , the lapsed understands he hath offended , and mourns and bewails his condition ; but the sectary is puft up in his sin , and pleaseth himself in his transgression ; he parts the mother and her children , whom he draws off from her ; he enticeth the sheep to follow his voice and not the shepheards ; and , in short , disorders gods sacraments . and whereas the lapsed person sin'd but once , the persevering schismatic goes on in daily sinning . to conclude , the lapsed recovering his station , may be honour'd now with the crown of martyrdom , and may hereafter were a heavenly one ; while the schismatic slain out of the church , can never recieve those rewards which are peculiarly hers . and here , my beloved brethren , let it be no wonder to any of you that confessors fall into schism ; and that some of that rank may be guilty of crimes so heinous as not to be mention'd . for it is not the confessing of christs name which privileges a man from the devils snares , or which defends and perpetually safeguards one while in this world : for if it were so , we should never meet with deceit , uncleaness , and adultery in confessors , and yet these are crimes which to our grief and sadness we see in some . whosoever that confessor be , he is not greater , nor better , nor dearer to god then solomon , who yet held that grace he once obtain'd of the lord , so long only as he walkt in his ways : but after he forsook his way , he lost his favor also , as it is writen : the lord rais'd up an adversary against him . and therefore it is said : hold fast that which thou hast , that no man take thy crown . which threat had not bin menaced , were it not that upon departing from righteousness , the crown likewise was to be translated . confession is the first setting out towards glory , but carries not the prize : perfects not praise , tho it initiate to honor : as it is writen : he who endureth to the end , he shall be saved . whatsoever is before the end , may be a step to ascend by to the height of salvation , but it is not that last round which seats us in the utmost summity thereof . by being a confessor , one becomes afterwards in greater danger , because it gives greater provocation to the enemy . is any one a confessor , for this very reason he ought to keep close to the gospel of our lord , having by the gospel obtain'd glory from him . for he has said : to whom much is given , of him much shall be required ; and the higher a person stands rais'd in dignity , the more service shall be demanded of him . let no man perish by the example of a confessor , nor any one learn injustice , pride , faithlesness from a confessors ill morals . is any one a confessor , let him be humble and quiet , let him in his conversation be orderly and modest ; and as he is call'd the confessor of christ , let him imitate that christ whom he has confest . for when he saith : every one that exalteth himself , shall be abased , and he that humbleth himself , shall be exalted , and was himself exalted by his father , because being the word , the power , the wisdom of god the father , he humbled himself here upon earth ; how can it be that he should love a proud advancing of our selves , who both himself requir'd humility in his law , and reciev'd from his father a name above all names as a recompence of his humility ? a confessor he is of christs ; but upon this condition , that he doth not afterward blaspheme christs majesty and glory . the tongue which hath once confess'd christ , ought not to rail , or be turbulent ; should not be heard making a noise in reproches and wrangling ; nor having set forth the divine praises , spit out serpentine venom against the brethren and priests of god. but if the confessor shall grow criminal and detestable afterwards , if he shall overthrow his good confession by an ill conversation , if with some filthy action he shall bring a foul blot upon his life , if lastly forsaking that church in which he became a confessor , and cutting asunder the band of unity , he shall exchange his first faith for infidelity at the last , he is not to flatter himself as if his confession made him one of the elect , and to be rewarded with glory ; when hereby he deserves the severer punishment . our lord chose judas to be an apostle , and yet this judas betray'd afterwards his lord. but albeit the traitor judas fell off from the fellowship of the apostles , yet was not this an empeachment of their fidelity and duty ; and so here in the present affair , it doth not lessen the dignity of confessors , because the faith of some hath faild . the blessed apostle speaks to this purpose : for what if some have not believ'd . ( or fallen away ) shall their unbelief make the faith of god without effect ? let god be true , and every man a lyar . the better and greater part of confessors stands firm in the faith and in the truth of the lords law and discipline . nor do they depart from the churches peace , who keep in mind that it was in the church where thro the mercy of god they obtain'd grace : and in this respect their faith is more to be commended , that they withdrew from a fellowship with them in schism , with whom they had bin join'd in an unconquerable confession : who withdrew from the contagion of guilt , being irradiated with the true gospel light , shin'd upon by the pure and bright beams of the lord ; as much to be renown'd for keeping christs peace , as they were for their conquest in their conflict with the devil . i wish , my beloved brethren , and withal give my counsel and advice , that if it be possible , not one of the brethren may perish , and our joyful mother the church may recieve into her bosom the whole body of agreeing people . but if notwithstanding her wholesome counsel , she cannot recall back some of the chief ringleaders of schism and authors of dissention , obstinately resolv'd to persist in their blind madness , into the way of salvation ; yet let the rest of you who have been caught by simplicity , or led by mistake , or beguil'd by the cunning craft and cozenage of others , disentangle your selves from the deceitful snares , retrieve your wandring feet out of the by-paths of error , and take the straight way which leads to heaven . it is the apostles adjuration : now we command you , brethren , in the name of our lord jesus christ , that ye withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly , and not after the tradition which he reciev'd of us . and again he speaks to this sense : let no man decieve you with vain words . for because of these things cometh the wrath of god upon the children of disobedience . therefore be not partakers with them . we must therefore depart from such offenders as these , nay rather we ought to fly from them , for fear least if one join himself to such disorderly walkers , and goes with them in their ways of sin , wandring from the track where the true road lay , he may at last be involv'd in an equal share of guilt with them . there is one god and one christ , his church one , his faith one , and his people by concord are firmly cemented together into one body . unity is not to be divided , nor can the same body by the dissolution of its contexture be dissever'd from its self , or subsist , having its bowels torn out piece-meal . whatever infant is cut off from the womb , cannot live and breath apart , but looseth its safety and life . it is the holy spirits admonition : what man is he that desireth life , & loveth many days that he may see good ? keep thy tongue from evil , and thy lips that they speak no guile . depart from evil , and do good ; seek peace and pursue it . he who is a son of peace , ought to seek and follow after it , and he who is acquainted with , and hath any affection for the bond of charity , ought to refrain his tongue from evil dissention . to the rest of the divine precepts of wholesome instruction which our lord being about to suffer dispensed , he added this : peace i leave with you , my peace i give unto you . this legacy of peace he left us , and hath promised us all the gifts , all the rewards he hath to bestow , on condition we preserve it . if we are coheirs with christ , let us abide with christ in peace : if sons of god , we should be peacemakers . blessed are the peacemakers , saith he , for they shall be call'd the children of god. gods children ought to be peaceful , of a mild spirit , innocent in their discourse , in affection united , inviolably fastned to each other by the links of unanimity . this accord was in the apostles time . so the new nation of believers kept the commandments of the lord , and held fast their mutual charity ; for a testimony of which this scripture may be alleg'd : and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul . and again : these all ( i. e. the apostles ) continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women , and mary the mother of jesus , and with his brethren . and therefore they could pray effectually , and be confidently assured of obtaining what they askt of gods mercy . but unanimity is decreas'd to that low degree among us , that the bounty of charitable giving is contracted . they sold houses and lands then , and being mindful only of laying up tresures in heaven for themselves , they layd down the several prices for which their goods were sold at the apostles feet , to be distributed by them among the poor according as their necessities required . but alas , now adays we give not the tithe of our estate , and when the lord calls to sell , we are upon the buying and encreasing hand . so much hath the vigour of faith witherd and decay'd ; so much hath the healthy constitution of believers languish'd . and therefore the lord with relation to our times saith in the gospel : when the son of man cometh , shall he find faith upon the earth ? we see that accomplish'd which he foretold . in the fear of god , in the law of righteousness , in all our actions , we are most unfaithful . no man bears in mind the terrors of the lord , his wrath and future judgement ; the vengeance he will take on unbelievers , and the eternal torments to which they are consign'd . which are such as would terrify our consciences if we did believe them , but therefore we disregard because of incredulity : if we did believe them , we should avoid , and avoiding should escape them . let us rouse up our selves , my dearest brethren , as much as it is possible , and throwing off our old sloth and sleepiness , let us be watchful to observe and perform the lord's precepts . let us be such as he hath commanded us to be , saying : let your loins be girded about , and your lights burning ; and you your selves like men who wait for the lord , when he will return from the wedding ; that when he cometh and knocketh , they may open to him immediatly . blessed are those servants , whom when the lord comes he shall find watching . we ought to be ready , least the day of our departure find us unprepar'd and engag'd . let our light so shine in our good works , that it may lead us out of the dark night of this world , to the light and brightness of eternal day . let us carefully and vigilantly expect the sudden coming of our lord , that when he shall knock , our faith may be found waking to recieve the reward of her watchfulness . if these duties are observ'd , if these admonitions and precepts are obey'd ; we shall not be taken sleeping by the deceits of the devil , but as vigilant servants of christ in his kingdom , shall reign with him . an advertisment . whereas in the sixth page of this treatise there is omitted the mention of primacy being given to s. peter ; and that there was to be one chair , the which is his ; as also that the church was founded thereupon : words seeming to justify the pretentions of the see of rome ; all which appear every where in the late editions of this author , and as such are cited by others , and therefore may be suggested to have bin left out by sinister practice , and to be a falsification of the text : the reader is therefore desired to take notice , that the said passages are not to be found in the ancient manuscript copies , nor in the old editions , that of spire , that without name , or time , or place of the impression , nor that of rembolt , those of erasmus , that of morellius , and onward to manutius and pamelius ; whereby it manifestly appears that the aforesaid insertions are a forgery , suitable to diverse others , which the patrons of the roman omnipotence have attemted to impose upon the world ; and that the omission is so far from being a falsification , that t is the doing justice to the genuine reading : which thing rigaltius in his commentary ingeniously acknowledges , tho he had not courage to restore the text. indeed it had bin a great shortness of understanding in s. cyprian , if in the same breath wherein he declar'd that all bishops of the whole christian church , preside therein with parity of power and honour ; he should in contradiction thereto declare , that the whole church was subjected to , and founded upon the primacy of the one chair of s. peter . and moreover the said father , who in his practice was known to have resisted pope stephen , and to have stood his excommunication : and oppos'd pope cornelius , tho his friend , in the business of an appeal to rome ; would have bin utterly inexcusable and self-condemn'd , if in his writings he had taught , that there was a supremacy overall churches and persons , in the roman church . would to god those men who make large boasts of antiquity and fathers on the one part , and those on the other side who cry out for a reformation according to the primitive platform ; would diligently read the holy fathers and writers of the first ages of the church , particularly s. cyprian ; which if they did , it would be impossible for them to continue their opinions , and be either papists or separatists . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a35528-e220 writen in the 251 year after christ . prudence & obedience are to be joined to christian simplicity . mat. 5.13.10.16 . 1 cor. 1.24 . mat. 19.17 . john 15.14 . mat. 7.24 , and 25. heresies are most carefully to be avoided . luke 2.32 . math. 11.5 . 2 cor. 11 14 ▪ and 15. the original of heresie is the ignorance of the holy scripture , and contemt of the vnity of the church . mat. 16.18 , & 19. jo. 21.17 . jo. 20.21 , 22 , 23. cant. 6.8 . schism readily passes into heresie . eph. 4.4 , 5. out of the church there is no salvation . mat. 12.30 . joh. 10.30 . 1 joh. 5.7 . the unity of the church is exprest by our saviours seamless coat . john 19.23 , and 24. 1 kings 11.29 , 30 , &c. if christs garment will not brook division , much less his body . joh. 10.16 . 1 cor. 1.10 . eph. 4.2 , 3. josh . 2.18 , 19. exod. 12.11 . psal . 68.6 . the dove and lamb are the emblems of christianity . heresy is a work of the flesh ; and invads not the truly good . 1 jo. 2.19 . 1 cor. 11.19 . the character of heretics . ps . 1.1 . 2 tim. 2.17 . jerem. 23.16 , 17. ver . 22. jer. 2.13 . the promise of our savior that he will be in the midst of two or three who are gathered together in his name , belongs not to the separate from the congregation . mat. 18.20 . ib. v. 19 , 20. mat. 18.20 . dan. 3.25 . act. 5.19 . mat. 18.20 . mark 11.25 . mat. 5.23 . gen. 4.5 . martyrdom it self cannot attone for the sin of schisme . 1 cor. 13.2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 8. john 15.12 . 1 john 4.16 . they are only christians in name , who do not maintain brotherly love . mark 12.6 . mat. 7.22 , 23. mat. 22.37 , 38 , 39 , 40. the apostles have long before foretold , the rise of schismes in the church . 2 tim. 3.1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. mark 13.23 . eccles . 28.28 . according to the vulg. lat. 1 cor. 15.33 . mat. 15.14 . tit. 3.11 . rom. 13.2 . gods vengeance pursues the invaders of the priest-hood . numb . 16.32 . ibid. 35. 2 chron. 26.16 . &c. lev. 10.1 . mat. 15.3 , and 6. the schismatic is more criminal then the lapst person , whose guilt even martyrdom cannot expiat . it is not to be wonder'd at , if confessors fall into schism . 1 kings 11.14 . revel . 3.11 . mat. 10.22 . luke 12.48 . luke 18.14 . the falling away of some , do's not lessen the glory of those confessors , who retain their dignity . rom. 3.3 , 4. the conversation of schismatics is to be avoided . 2 thes . 3.6 . eph. 5.6 , 7. psal . 34.12 , 13 , 14. jo. 14.27 . mat. 5.9 . acts 4.32 . act. 1.14 . the state of the church declining in its primitive zeal and purity . luke 18.8 . luk. 12.35 , 36 , and 37. the sandy foundation shaken, or, those so generally believed and applauded doctrines ... refuted from the authority of scripture testimonies, and right reason / by w.p. ... penn, william, 1644-1718. 1668 approx. 80 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54206 wing p1356 estc r38009 17161731 ocm 17161731 106037 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54206) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106037) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1099:2 or 2605:1f) the sandy foundation shaken, or, those so generally believed and applauded doctrines ... refuted from the authority of scripture testimonies, and right reason / by w.p. ... penn, william, 1644-1718. 36 p. [s.n.], london, : printed in the year, 1668. errata: p. 36. imperfect: faded; copy at reel 2605:1f lacks t.p., and is stained, with loss of text; reel 1099:2 t.p stained and torn, with loss of text. reproduction of originals in: british library and llyfrgell genedlaethol cymru/national library of wales, aberystwyth, wales. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng society of friends -doctrines. theology, doctrinal. 2005-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-01 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-01 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion th● sandy foundation shaken : or , those so generally believed and applauded doctrines , of one god , subsisting in three distinct and separate persons , refuted . of the impossibility of god's pardoning sinners , without a ple●●●● satisfaction , refuted . of the justification o● 〈◊〉 ●ersons by an imputative 〈◊〉 refuted . from the authority of scripture testimonies , and right reason . by w.p. j. a builder on that foundation which cannot be moved . but to us there is but one god the father of all things , 1 cor. 8.6 . who is a god like unto thee , that pardoneth iniquity ? he retaineth not his anger for ever , because he delighteth in mercy , mic. 7.18 . for i will not justifie the wicked , &c. exod. 23.7 . london , printed in the year , 1668. to the unprejudiced reader . it was the fault of some in antient times , that they made void god's law by mens traditions ; and certainly i may now assume the same complaint : for whilst i take a serious prospect of the spiritual nature , and tendency of the second covenant , which god almighty , in the fulness of time , by his prophets , prophesied to make and perfect ; and also the accomplishment thereof by jesus christ , and what was brought to pass amongst those primitive believers ; methinks i do not only see an utter abolishment of ceremonial worship , but the inscribing that spiritual law on the heart , and infusion of holy fear to the inward parts , whereby each person became capacitated to know so much of god , as suited with his present state , from an infallible demonstration in himself , and not on the slender grounds of mens lo-here-interpretations , or lo-there ; for the kingdom of god is within , where himself must be the teacher of his people : but on the other hand , when from the noise of every parties pretentions to , and contentions for their own way , as most infallible , i am induced to an impartial examination of them ; alas ! how have all adulterated from the purity both of scripture record , and primitive example ? receiving for unquestionable doctrines , the fallible apprehensions , and uncertain determinations of such councils , whose faction , prejudice , and cruelty soon parallel'd the foregoing heathenish persecutions ; and yet that the results of persons so incompetently qualified , should at this day in their authority remain unquestioned by the nations , is matter both of astonishment and pitty ; but an implicit faith has ever been the consequence of ignorance , idleness and fear , being strong impediments to a judicious inquiry , how far profest and imposed opinions have their consistency with reason , and the true religion . but that which most of all deserves a lamentation , is , that protestants , whose better arguments have confuted the plea of such as made tradition , and mens prescriptions unquestionable in circumstantials , should themselves by print and practice so openly declare and contend for its authority in essentials ; as must be obvious to any that observe their zealous anathema's against whomsoever refuse a compliance with them in doctrines , manifestly bottom'd upon mens nice inventions . this is the right state of the controversie that is maintained by us ( contemptibly called quakers ) against the world , and the undoubted reason of our severe treatment at its hands , the end of god almighties raising us , being for no other purpose than to declare that which our eyes have seen , our ears heard , and which our hands have handled of the eternal word , in opposition to the private opinions , conjectures , and interpretations of men concerning god and religion , that all people might thereby be reduced to faith in , and obedience of the universal grace which brings salvation ; which as it onely can restore sound judgment concerning god , and effect redemption from iniquity , so its being relinquish'd by men , was the very ground both of their division in judgment , and corruption in manners . that this hath been , and is our case , i shall produce an instance , which is indeed the occasion of this treatise . two persons lately of tho. vincent's auditory in spittle-yard , ( who goes under the notion of a presbyter ) being desirous to prove all things , and hold fast the best , visited our meetings , to understand if we were as really deserving blame , as represented by our enemies ; where it then pleased divine goodness to visit them with the call of his light , from the inventions , carnal observations , will-worship , and vain conversation of those to whom they formerly were related , that they might be made children of the day ; and though its appearance might be small , yet sufficient to discover them to have been inhabitants of the night , and can never be rejected , but it shall bring that condemnation which will further testifie it to be of god. but their relinquishing his congregation , so incenc'd this presbyterian preacher , as that his peevish zeal transported him beyond , not only the moderation of christianity , but the civility of education , venting his folly and prejudice much to this purpose , that he had as lieve they should go to a bawdy-house , as to frequent the quakers meeting , because of their erroneous and damnable doctrines : and pointing to the window , said , if there should stand a cup of poyson , i would rather drink it , than suck in their damnable doctrines . he further exprest himself in this manner to one of them ; if ever you go again , i will give you up , and god will give you up , that you may believe a lie , and be damn'd . which storms of foul and railing accusations , proving ineffectual to shipwrack that little grain of faith , his hearers , as forgetting they hold their preaching by connivance , and the many appeals made by their non-conforming brethren , for an indulgence , came with this caution to the pater-familias , ( or he that was both husband and father to the concerned parties ) that he would exercise his authority , as well to refuse them to all quaker-visitants , as prohibit them the liberty of their consciences in frequenting our meetings . all which we could not for the truth-sake let pass in silence , and therefore did require him to let us have a publick meeting , in which we might have liberty to answer on the behalf both of our selves and principles ; which after some demur , was granted , the day he appointed , and at the second hour in the afternoon . but that he might not want the applause of many voices , and doubtless to prevent our friends , ( as i am informed ) bespoke his usual auditory to be there at one ; and as a man that would not over-spend himself , or incur a non-plus for want of seconds , he had his third and fourth , two wit , tho. danson , tho. doolittel , and — maddocks , who at their times ( and often out of them ) did interpose , to whom geo. whitehead mostly answered ; nor had there any thing been spoken by another , but from their own example . the matter in controversie will be related in the beginning of this treatise , as a necessary preludium , or introduction to the following discourse ; the manner of it was so gross , that i know not how to represent it better , than by the levity and rudeness of some prize ; laughing , hissing , shooving , striking , and stigmatizing us with the opprobrious tearms of confident fellow , impudent villain , blasphemer , &c. and , as the usual refuge of shallow persons ( when they have little else to say , to prepossess their hearers with prejudice against the principles of such as do oppose them ) he questioned much whether i was not some jesuite ; not remembring , or at least unwilling to let the people know , that none have been , nor are more instant in the vindication of that doctrine he and his brethren did assert , ( to wit , god subsisting in three distinct persons ) than the jesuites ; so that , if i should not as well reflect a scandal upon their learning by a comparison , as he did upon my principle , i could more truly invert jesuitism upon himself : in short , they neither would keep to scripture tearms themselves , nor suffer it in others ; but looking upon g. whitehead's explanation of their tearms , and reduction of their matter ( if possible ) to a scripture sense ( thereby fitting it to the auditories apprehension ) to be an indirect way of answering ( as that which nakedly did expose their tradition all folly to the vulgar ) t.v. in an abrubt manner fell to his prayer in which he falsly , and with many strangly affected whines , accused us for blasphemers unto god ; and that he might prevent the clearing of our selves , he desired the people , when he had finish'd , to be gone , giving them an example by his and three brethrens retreat : but we being desirous further to inform the people of our innocency , they did not only ( as before ) endeavour to pull us down , but put the candles out , though several persons of good esteem , continued , whilst we spoke in vindication of our selves , from the invectives of our adversaries . the people still remaining undispersed , t.v. came very palely down the stairs ( having a candle in his hand ) requiring their dismiss , at which time he promised us , at our request , another meeting ; but as one that knew not well what he said , or never purpos'd to perform what he promis'd , has given us since to understand , he can't in conscience spare us so much time ; yet to satisfie g.w. and my self , in private , he could agree ; which surely can't be tearm'd another meeting , since then it must relate to the proceeding one ; but how near the relation is betwixt an accusation before hundreds , and a satisfaction before none , must needs be obvious to every unbyas'd person : — our right should have been altogether as publick as our wrong : — for which cause we were necessitated to visit his meeting ; where on a lecture day ( after a continued silence during all his worship ) we modestly intreated we might be clear'd from those unjust reflections before his congregation , leaving a disputation ( if he could not then attend it ) to some more seasonable opportunity : but as one , who resolv'd injustice to mens reputation , as well as cowardize , in baulking a defence of his own principles , he slunck most shamefully away ; nor would any there , though urg'd to it , assume his place to vindicate his practice towards us , or his doctrine then deliver'd . reader , what 's thy opinion of this savage entertainment ? would socrates , cato , or seneca have treated us with such unseemly carriage , whom they call heathens ? i suppose not : and well is it for the truly sober and consciencious , they are not lyable to those severe lashes , and that peevish usage , which are the inseparable appendixes to a scotch directory , whose cold and cutting gales ever have design'd to nip and blast the fairest blossoms of greater reformation . so much for history . and what remains , is to inform the reader , that with great brevity i have discust and endeavoured a total enervation of those cardinal points , and chief doctrines so firmly believed , and continually impos'd for articles of christian faith ; 1. the trinity of separate persons , in the unity of essence . 2. god's incapacity to forgive without the fullest satisfaction paid him by another . 3. a justification of impure persons , from an imputative righteousness . which principles , let me tell thee , reader , are not more repugnant to scriptures , reason , and souls-security , than most destructive to gods honour , in his unity , mercy , and purity . therefore i beseech thee to exterminate passion from her predominacy , in the perusal of this abridg'd discourse , since it was writ in love to thee ; that whilst 't is thy desire to know love , and fear god almighty above mens precepts , thou mayest not miss so good an end , by the blind embraces of tradition for truth . but in the nobility of a true berean , search and inquire ; letting the good old verity , not a pretended antiquity , ( whilst a meer novelty ; ) and solid reason , not an over-fond credulity , sway the ballance of thy judgment , that both stability and certainty may accompany thy determinations . farewel . a short confutation , by way of recapitulation , of what was objected against us at thomas vincent his meeting . if disputations prove at any time ineffectual , it 's either to be imputed to the ignorance and ambiguity of the disputants , or to the rudeness and prejudice of the auditory ; all which may truly be affirmed of t.v. with his three brethren , and congregation . the accusation being general , viz. that the quakers held damnable doctrines : george whitehead on their behalf stood up , and as it was his place , willingly would have given the people an information of our principles , which if objected against , he was as ready to attest them by the authority of scripture and reason : but instead of this better method , t.v. as one that 's often employ'd in cathechistical lectures , falls to interrogatories , begging that himself , he in his slander had taken for granted , to wit , the knowledge of our principles . the question was this , whether we own'd one god-head , subsisting in three distinct and separate persons , as the result of various revises and amendments ; which being denyed by us , as a doctrine no where scriptural , t.v. frames this sylogism from the beloved disciples words . there are three that bear record in heaven , the father , the vvord , and the holy ghost ; and these three are one . these are either three manifestations , three operations , three substances , or three somethings else besides subsistances : but they are not three manifestations , three operations , three substances , nor three anythings else besides subsistences : ergo , three subsistences . g.vv. utterly rejected his tearms , as not to be found in scripture , or deduceable from the place he instanced ; wherefore he desires their explanation of their tearms , inasmuch as god did not use to wrap his truths up in heathenish metaphisicks , but in plain language : notwithstanding we could not obtain a better explication then person , nor of person , than the mode of a substance ; to all which g.vv. and my self urged several scriptures , proving gods compleat unity : and when we queried how god was to be understood , if in an abstractive sence from his substance : they concluded it a point more fit for admiration than disputation . but a little to review his syllogysm ; the manner of it shows him as little a scholar , as its matter does a christian ; but i shall over-look the first , and so much of the second as might deserve my objection to his major , and give in short my reason , why i flatly deny his minor proposition . no one substance can have three distinct subsistances , and preserve its own unity , for granting them the most favourable definition , every subsistance will have its own substance ; so that three distinct subsistances , or manner of beings , will require three distinct substances of beings ; consequently three gods : for if the infinite god-head subsists in three separate manners or forms , then is not any one of them a perfect and compleat subsistance without the other two ; so parts , and some thing finite is in god : or if infinite , then three distinct infinite subsistances ; and what 's this but to assert three gods , since none is infinite but god ? and on the contrary , there being an inseparability betwixt the substance and its subsistance , the unity of substance will not admit a trinity of incommunicable or distinct subsistances . t.d. being ask'd of whom was christ the express image , from his alleadging that scripture in the hebrews ? answered , of gods subsistance , or manner of being ; from whence two things in short follow as my reply , it makes god a father only by subsistance , and christ a son without a substance . besides it s falsly rendred in the hebrews , since the greek does not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the character of substance . and if he will peruse a farther discovery of his error , and explanation of the matter , let him read col. 1.15 . who is the image of the invisible god. and because g.w. willing to bring this strange doctrine to the capacity of the people , compar'd their three persons to three apostles , saying , he did not understand how paul , peter , and john could be three persons , and one apostle , ( a most apt comparison to detect the ridicule of their doctrine ) one — maddocks , whose zeal out-stript his knowledge , busling hard , as one that had some necessary matter for the decision of our controversie , instead thereof ( perhaps to save his brethren , or show himself ) silences our farther controverting of the principle , by a syllogistical , but false and impertinent reflection upon g.w. his person . it runs thus , he that scornfully and reproachfully compares our doctrine of the blessed trinity of father , son and spirit , one in essence , but three in persons , to three finite men , as paul , peter , and john , is a blasphemer . but you g.w. have so done . ergo. — a strange way of argumentation , to beg what can't be granted him , and take for granted what still remains a question , viz. that there are three distinct and separate persons in one essence : let them first prove their trinity , and then charge their blasphemy ; but i must not forget this persons self-confutation , who to be plainer , called them three hee 's ; and if he can find a he without a substance , or prove that a subsistance is any other than the form of a he , he would do well to justifie himself from the imputation of ignorance . and till their hipothesis be of better authority , g.w. neither did , nor does by that comparison design mens inventions so much honour . for 't is to be remark'd , that g.w. is no otherwise a blasphemer , than by drawing direct consequences from their own principles , and recharging them upon themselves ; so that he did not speak his own apprehensions by his comparison , but the sence of their assertion , therefore blasphemer and blasphemy are their own . the trinity of distinct and separate persons in the unity of essence , refuted from scripture . and he said , lord god , there is no god like unto thee : to whom then will ye liken me ? or shall i be equal , saith the holy one ? — i am the lord , and there is none else , there is no god besides me. thus saith the lord thy redeemer , the holy one of israel . i will also praise thee , o my god ; unto thee will i sing , o holy one of israel . * jehovah is one , and his name one . which with the cloud of other testimonies that might be urg'd , evidently demonstrate , that in the dayes of the first covenant , and prophets , but one was the holy god , and god but that holy one . — again , and jesus said unto him , why callest thou me good ? there is none good but one , and that is god. and this is life eternal , that they might know thee ( father ) the only true god. seeing it is one god that shall justifie ; there be gods many , but unto us there is but one god , the father , of whom are all things . one god and father who is above all things . for there is one god. to the only wise god be glory now and ever . from all which i shall lay down this one assertion , that the testimonies of scripture , both under the law , and since the gospel-dispensation , declare one to be god , and god to be one , on which i shall raise this argument ; if god , as the scriptures testifie , hath never been declar'd or believ'd , but as the holy one , then will it follow , that god is not a holy three , nor doth subsist in three distinct and separate holy ones ; but the before-cited scriptures undeniably prove that one is god , and god only is that holy one ; therefore he can't be divided into , or subsist in a holy three , or three distinct and separate holy ones . — neither can this receive the least prejudice from that frequent but impertinent distinction , that he is one in substance , but three in persons or subsistences ; since god was not declared or believed incompleatly , or without his subsistance ; nor did he require homage from his creatures , as an incompleat or abstracted being , but as god the holy one ; for so he should be manifested and worshipped without that which was absolutely necessary to himself ; a most absurd blasphemy . — so that either the testimonies of the aforementioned scriptures are to be believ'd concerning god , that he is intirely and compleatly , not abstractly and distinctly , the holy one , or else their authority to be denied by these trinitarians ; and on the contrary , if they pretend to credit their holy testimonies , they must necessarily conclude their kind of trinity a fiction . refuted from right reason . 1. if there be three distinct and separate persons , then three distinct and separate substances , because every person is inseparable from its own substance ; and as there is no person that 's not a substance in common acceptation among men , so do the scriptures plentifully agree herein ; and since the father is god , the son is god , and the spirit is god ( which their opinion necessitates them to confess ) then unless the father , son , and spirit , are three distinct nothings , they must be three distinct substances , and consequently three distinct gods. 2. it 's farther prov'd , if it be consider'd , that either the divine persons are finite or infinite ; if the first , then something finite is inseparable to the infinite substance , whereby something finite is in god ; if the last , then three distinct infinites , three omnipotents , three eternals , and so three gods. 3. if each person be god , and that god subsists in three persons , then in each person are three persons or gods , and from three , they will increase to nine , and so ad infinitum . 4. but if they shall deny the three persons , or subsistencies to be infinite , ( for so there would unavoidably be three gods ) ; it will follow that they must be finite , and so the absurdity is not abated from what it was ; for that of one substance having three subsistences , is not greater , then that an infinite being should have three finite modes of subsisting . but though that mode which is finite can't answer to a substance that 's infinit , yet to try if we can make their principle to approach common sense ; let 's conceive that three persons , which may be finite separately , make up an infinite conjunctly ; however this will follow , that they are no more incommunicable or separate , nor properly subsistences , but a subsistance ; for the infinite substance can't find a bottom or substance in any one or two , therefore joyntly . and here i am also willing to over-look finiteness in the father , son , and spirit , which this doctrine must suppose . 5. again , if these three distinct persons are one , with some one thing , as they say they are with the god-head , then are not they incommunicable among themselves ; but so much the contrary , as to be one in the place of another ; for if that the only god is the father , and christ be that only god , then is christ the father . so if that one god be the son , and the spirit that one god , then is the spirit the son , and so round . nor is it possible to stop , or that it should be other wise , since if the divine nature be inseparable from the three persons , or communicated to each , and each person have the whole divine nature , then is the son in the father , and the spirit in the son , unless that the god-head be as incommunicable to the persons , as they are reported to be amongst themselves ; or that the three persons have distinctly allotted them such a proportion of the divine nature , as is not communicable to each other ; which is a like ridiculous and shameful . much more might be said to manifest the gross contradiction of this trinitarian doctrine , as vulgarly receiv'd ; but i must be brief . information and caution . before i shall conclude this head , it 's requisite i should inform the reader concerning it's original ; thou may'st assure thy self , it 's not from the scriptures , nor reason , since so expresly repugnant ; although all broachers of their own inventions strongly endeavour to reconcile them with their holy record . know then , my friend , 't was born above three hundred years after the antient gospel was declared ; and that through the nice distinctions , and too daring curiosity of the bishop of alexandria , who being opposed by arius , their zeal so reciprocally blew the fire of contention , animosity , and persecution , till at last they sacrific'd each other to their mutual revenge . thus it was conceiv'd in ignorance , brought forth and maintain'd by cruelty ; for though he that was strongest , impos'd his opinion , persecuting the contrary , yet the scale turning on the trinitarian side , it has there continued through all the romish generations ; and notwithstanding it hath obtain'd the name of athanatian from athanatius , an opiniated man , ( witness his carriage towards constantine the emperor ) because suppos'd to have been most concern'd in the framing that creed in which this doctrine is asserted ; yet have i never seen one copy void of a suspition , rather to have been the results of popish school-men , which i could render more perspicuous , did not brevity necessitate me to an omission . be therefore caution'd , reader , not to imbrace the determinations of prejudic'd councils , for evangelical doctrine ; to whom the scriptures bear no certain testimony , neither was believ'd by the primitive saints , or thus stated by any i have read in the first , second , or third centuries , particularly ireneus , justin martyr , tertullian , origen , theophilact , with many others who appear wholly forreign to the matter in controversie . — but seeing that private spirits , and those none of the most ingenious , have been the parents and guardians of this so generally receiv'd doctrine ; let the time pass suffice , and be admonish'd to apply thy mind unto that light and grace which brings salvation ; that by obedience thereunto , those mists tradition hath cast before thy eyes , may be expel'd , and thou receive a certain knowledge of that god , whom to know is life eternal , not to be a divided , but one pure intire and eternal being ; who in the fulness of time sent forth his son , as the true light which enlightneth every man ; that whosoever follow'd him ( the light ) might be translated from the dark notions , and vain conversations of men , to this holy light , in which onely sound judgment and eternal life are obtainable ; who so many hundred years since , in person testified the virtue of it , and has communicated unto all , such a proportion , as may enable them to follow his example . the vulgar doctrine of satisfaction , being dependent on the second person of the imagin'd trinity , refuted from scripture . that man having transgress'd the righteous law of god , and so expos'd to the penalty of eternal wrath , it 's altogether impossible for god to remit or forgive without a plenary satisfaction ; and that there was no other way by which god could obtain satisfaction , or save men , than by inflicting the penalty of infinite wrath and vengeance on jesus christ the second person of the trinity , who for sins past , present , and to come , hath wholly born and paid it , ( whether for all or ▪ but some ) to the offended infinite justice of his father . 1. and the lord passed by before him , ( moses ) and proclaimed , the lord , the lord god merciful and gracious , keeping mercy for thousands , forgiving iniquity , transgression and sin . [ from whence i shall draw this position , that since god has proclaim'd himself a gracious , merciful , and forgiving god , it 's not inconsistent with his nature to remit , without any other consideration than his own love ; otherwise he could not justly come under the imputation of so many gracious attributes , with whom it is impossible to pardon , and necessary to exact the payment of the utmost farthing . ] — 2. for if ye turn again to the lord , the lord your god is gracious and merciful , and will not turn away his face from you . [ where how natural is it to observe that god's remission is grounded on their repentance ; and not that it 's impossible for god to pardon , without a plenary satisfaction , since the possibility , nay , certainty of the contrary , viz. his grace and mercy , is the great motive or reason of that loving invitation to return . ] — 3. they hardened their necks , and hearkned not to thy commandments , but thou art a god ready to pardon , gracious and merciful . [ can the honest hearted reader conceive that god should be thus mercifully quallified , whilst executing the rigor of the law transgrest , or not acquitting without the debt be paid him by another ? i suppose not . 4. let the wicked forsake his way , and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let him return unto the lord , and he will have mercy upon him , and to our god , for he will abundantly pardon . [ come let the unprejudiced judge , if this scripture-doctrine is not very remote from saying his nature cannot forgive sin , therefore let christ pay him full satisfaction , or he will certainly be avenged ; which is the substance of that strange opinion . ] 5. behold , the days come , saith the lord , that i will make a new covenant with the house of israel ; i will put my law in their inward parts ; i will forgive their iniquity , i will remember their sin no more . [ here is god's meer grace asserted , against the pretended necessity of a satisfaction to procure his remission : and this paul acknowledgeth to be the dispensation of the gospel , in his eight chapter to the hebrews : so that this new doctrine doth not only contradict the nature and design of the second covenant , but seems in short to discharge god both from his mercy and omnipotence . ] 6. who is a god like unto thee , that pardoneth iniquity , and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage ? he retaineth not his anger for ever , because he delighteth in mercy . [ can there be a more express passage to clear , not only the possibility , but real inclinations in god to pardon sin , and not retain his anger for ever ; since the prophet seems to challenge all other gods to try their excellency by his god , herein describing the supremacy of his power , and superexcellency of his nature , that he pardoneth iniquity , and retaineth not his anger for ever : so that if the satisfactionists should ask the question , who is a god like unto ours , that cannot pardon iniquity , nor pass by transgression , but retain his anger until some-body make him satisfaction ? i answer , many amongst the harsh and severe rulers of the nations ; but as for my god , he is exalted above them all , upon the throne of his mercy , who pardoneth iniquity , and retaineth not his anger for ever , but will have compassion upon us . ] 7. and forgive us our debts , as we forgive our debtors . [ where nothing can be more obvious than that which is forgiven , is not paid : and if it is our duty to forgive without a satisfaction received , and that god is to forgive us as we forgive them , then is a satisfaction totally excluded : christ further paraphrases upon that part of his prayer , v. 14. for if ye forgive their trespasses , your heavenly father will also forgive you . where he as well argues the equity of gods forgiving them , from their forgiving others , as he encourages them to forgive others , from the example of god's mercy in forgiving them ; which is more amply exprest in chap. 18. where the kingdom of heaven ( that consists in righteousness ) is represented by a king ; who upon his debtors petition , had compassion , and forgave him ; but the same treating his fellow servant without the least forbearance , the king condemned his unrighteousness , and delivered him over to the tormentors . but how had this been a fault in the servant , if his kings mercy had not been proposed for his example ? how most unworthy therefore is it of god , and blasphemous , may i justly tearm it , to be in any's daring to assert that forgiveness impossible to god , which is not only possible , but enjoyn'd to men . ] 8. for god so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believed in him , should not perish , but have everlasting life . [ by which it appears , that god's love is not the effect of christ's satisfaction , but christ is the proper gift and effect of gods love. ] 9. to him gave all the prophets witness , that through his name whosoever believeth in him , shall receive remission of sins . [ so that remission came by believing his testimony , and obeying his precepts , and not by a pretended satisfaction . ] 10. if god be for us , who can be against us ? he that spared not his own son , but delivered him up for us all . [ which evidently declares it to be god's act of free love , otherwise if he must be paid ; he should be at the charge of his own satisfaction , for he delivered up the son. ] 11. and all things are of god , who hath reconciled us to himself by jesus christ , and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation , to wit , that god was in christ , reconciling the world unto himself , not imputing their trespasses unto them . [ how undeniably apparent is it that god is so far from standing off in high displeasure , and upon his tearms , contracting with his son for a satisfaction , as being otherwise uncapable to be reconciled , that he became himself the reconciler by christ , and afterwards by the apostles , his ambassadors , to whom was committed the ministry of reconciliation . ] 12. in whom we have redemption through his blood , the forgiveness of sins , according to the riches of his grace . [ now what relation , satisfaction has to forgiveness of sins , or how any can construe grace to be justice , the meanest understanding may determine . ] 13. but the god of all grace , who hath called us unto his eternal glory , by christ jesus . [ he does not say that god's justice , in consideration of christ's satisfaction , acquitted us from sins past , present , and to come , and therefore hath called us to his eternal glory , but from his grace . ] 14. in this was manifested the love of god towards us , because that god sent his onely begotten son into the world , that we might live through him . [ which plainly attributes christ in his doctrine , life , miracles , death , and sufferings to god , as the gift and expression of his eternal love , for the salvation of men . ] 1. in abolishing that other covenant , which consisted in external and shadowy ordinances , and that made none clean as concerning the conscience . 2. in promulgating his message of a most free and universal tender of life and salvation unto all that believed and followed him , ( the light ) in all his righteousness , the very end of his appearance being to destroy the works of the devil , and which every man only comes to experiment , as he walks in a holy subjection to that measure of light and grace , wherewith the fulness hath enlightned him . 3. in seconding his doctrines with signs , miracles , and a most innocent-self-denying-life . 4. in ratifying and confirming all ( with great love , and holy resignation ) by the offering up of his body to be crucified by wicked hands ; who is now ascended far above all heavens , and is thereby become a most compleat captain , and perfect example . so that i can by no means conclude , but openly declare that the scriptures of truth are not onely silent in reference to this doctrine of satisfaction , but that it 's altogether inconsistent with the dignity of god , and very repugnant to the conditions , nature , and tendency of the second covenant , concerning which their testimony is so clear . the absurdities that unavoidably follow the comparison of this doctrine , with the sence of scripture . 1. that god is gracious to forgive , and yet impossible for him , unless the debt be fully satisfied . 2. that the finite and impotent creature , is more capable of extending mercy and forgiveness , than the infinite and omnipotent creator . 3. that god so loved the world , he gave his onely son to save it ; and yet that god stood off in high displeasure , and christ gave himself to god as a compleat satisfaction to his offended justice ; with many more such like gross consequences that might be drawn . refuted from right reason . but if we should grant a scripture-silence as to the necessity of christ's satisfying his fathers justice , yet so manifest would be the contradictions , and foul the repugnances to right reason , that who had not vail'd his understanding with the dark suggestions of unwarrantable . tradition , or contracted his judgment to the implicit apprehensions of some over-valued acquaintance , might with great facility discriminate to a full resolve in this point ; for admitting god to be a creditor , or he to whom the debt should be paid , and christ he that satisfies or payes it on the behalf of man , the debtor , this question will arise , whether he paid debt , as god , man , or both ( to use their own tearms . ) not as god. 1. in that it divides the unity of the god-head by two distinct acts , of being offended , and not offended ; of condemning justice , and redee●●●● mercy of requiring a satisfaction , and then paying of it . 2. because if christ payes the debt as god , then the father and the spirit being god , they also pay the debt . 3. since god is to be satisfied , and that christ is god , he consequently is to be satisfied ; and who shall satisfie his infinite justice ? 4. but if christ has satisfied god the father , christ being also god , 't will follow then that he has satisfied himself , ( which can't be . ) 5. but since god the father was once to be satisfied , and that it 's impossible he should do it himself , nor yet the son or spirit , because the same god ; it naturally follows that the debt remains unpaid , and these satisfactionists thus far are still at a loss . not as man. 6. the justice offended , being infinite , his satisfaction ought to bear a proportion therewith , which jesus christ , as man , could never pay , he being finite , and from a finite cause could not proceed an infinite effect ; for so man may be said to bring forth god , since nothing below the divinity it self can rightly be stiled infinite . not as god and man. 7. for where two mediums , or middle propositions , are singly inconsistent with the nature of the end for which they were at first propounded , their conjunction rather does augment than lessen the difficulty of its accomplishment ; and this i am perswaded must be obvious to every unbyas'd understanding . but admitting one of these three mediums possible for the payment of an infinite debt ; yet , pray observe the most unworthy , and ridiculous consequences that unavoidably will attend the impossibility of gods pardoning sinners without a satisfaction . consequences irreligious and irrational . 1. that it 's unlawful and impossible for god almighty to be gracious and merciful , or to pardon transgressors ; then which , what 's more unworthy of god ? 2. that god was inevitably compel'd to this way of saving men ; the highest affront to his incontroleable nature . 3. that it was unworthy of god to pardon , but not to inflict punishment on the innocent , or require a satisfaction where there was nothing due . 4. it doth not onely disacknowledge the true virtue , and real intent of christ's life and death , but intirely deprives god of that praise which is owing to his greatest love and goodness . 5. it represents the son more kind and compassionate than the father ; whereas if both be the same god , then either the father is as loving as the son , or the son ▪ as angry as the father . 6. it robs god of the gift of his son for our redemption ( which the scriptures attribute to the unmerited love he had for the world ) in affirming the son purchas'd that redemption from the father , by the gift of himself to god as our compleat satisfaction . 7. since christ could not pay what was not his own , it follows that in the payment of his own , the case still remains equally grievous ; since the debt is not hereby absolv'd or forgiven , but transfer'd only ; and by consequence we are no better provided for salvation than before , owing that now to the son , which was once owing to the father . 8. it no way renders men beholding , or in the least oblieg'd to god , since by their doctrine he would not have abated us , nor did he christ the last farthing , so that the acknowledgments are peculiarly the sons : which destroys the whole current of scripture-testimony , for his good will towards men . — o the infamous portraiture this doctrine draws of the infinite goodness : is this your retribution , o injurious satisfactionists ? 9. that god's justice is satisfied for sins past , present , and to come , whereby god and christ have lost both their power of injoyning godliness , and prerogative of punishing disobedience ; for what is once paid , is not revokeable ; and if punishment should arrest any for their debts , it either argues a breach on god or christs part , or else that it has not been sufficiently solv'd , and the penalty compleatly sustain'd by an other ; forgetting that every one must appear before the judgment seat of christ , to receive according to things done in the body : yea , every one must give an account of himself to god. but many more are the gross absurdities and blasphemies that are the genuine fruits of this so confidently believed doctrine of satisfaction . a caution . let me advise , nay warn thee , reader , by no means to admit an entertainment of this principle , by whomsoever recommended ; since it does not only divest the glorious god of his sovereign power , both to pardon and punish , but as certainly insinuates a licentiousness , at least a liberty that unbecomes the nature of that antient gospel once preached among the primitive saints , and that from an apprehension of a satisfaction once paid for all . whereas i must tell thee , that unless thou seriously repent , and no more grieve god's holy spirit , placed in thy inmost parts , but art thereby taught to deny all ungodliness , and lead into all righteousness ; at the tribunal of the great judge thy plea shall prove invalid , and thou receive they reward without respect to any other thing than the deeds done in the body . be not deceived , god will not be mocked ; such as thou sowest , such shalt thou reap : which leads me to the consideration of my third head , viz. justification by an imputative righteousness . the justification of impure persons , by an imputative righteousness , refuted from scripture . that there is no other way for sinners to be justified in the sight of god , than by the imputation of that righteousness christ long since performed personally , and that sanctification is consequential , not antecedent . 1. keep thee far from a false matter ; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not ; for i will not justifie the wicked . whereon i ground this argument , that since god has prescribed an inoffensive life , as that which only can give acceptance with him , and on the contrary hath determined never to justifie the wicked , then will it necessarily follow , that unless this so much believ'd imputative righteousness had that effectual influence , as to regenerate and redeem the soul from sin , on which the malidiction lies , he is as far to seek for justification as before ; for whilst a person is really guilty of a false matter , i positively assert from the authority and force of this scripture , they cannot be in a state of justification ; and as god will not justifie the wicked , so by the acknowledg'd reason of contraries , the just he will never condemn , but they , and they onely are the justified of god. 2. he that justifieth the wicked , and he that condemneth the just , even they both are an abomination to the lord. [ it would very opportunely be observ'd , that if its so great an abomination in men to justifie the wicked , and condemn the just , how much greater would it be in god , which this doctrine of imputative righteousnes necessarily does imply , that so far disengages god from the person justified , as that his guilt shall not condemn him , nor his innocency justifie him ? but will not the abomination appear greatest of all , when god shall be found condemning of the just , on purpose to justifie the wicked , and that he is there to compel , or else no salvation : which is the tendency of their doctrine , who imagine the righteous and merciful god , to condemn and punish his innocent son , that he having satisfied for our sins , we might be justified ( whilst unsanctified ) by the imputation of his perfect righteousness . o why should this horrible thing be contended for by christians ? 3. the son shall not bear the iniquity of his father ; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him , and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him . when a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness , for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die ; again when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness , and doth that which is lawful and right , he shall save his soul alive ; yet saith the house of israel , the ways of the lord are not equal ; are not my wayes equal ? if this was once equal , it 's so still , for gods unchangeable ; and therefore i shall draw this argument , that the condemnation or justification of persons is not from the imputation of an others righteousness , but the actual performance and keeping of god's righteous statutes or commandments , otherwise god should forget to be equal : therefore how wickedly unequal are those , who not from scripture evidences , but their dark conjectures and interpretations of obscure passages , would frame a doctrine so manifestly inconsistent with god's most pure and equal nature ; making him to condemn the righteous to death , and justifie the wicked to life , from the imputation of an others righteousness : — a most unequal way indeed . 4. not every one that saith unto me lord lord , shall enter into the kingdom of heaven , but he that doth the will of my father . whosoever heareth these sayings of mine , and doth them , i will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock , &c. [ how very fruitful are the scriptures of truth in testimonies against this absurd and dangerous doctrine ; these words seem to import a two-fold righteousness , the first consists in sacrifice , the last in obedience ; the one makes a talking , the other a doing christian . i in short argue thus , if none can enter into the kingdom of heaven , but they that do the fathers will ; then none are justified , but they who do the fathers will , because none can enter into the kingdom , but such as are justified ; since therefore there can be no admittance had without performing that righteous will , and doing those holy and perfect sayings . alas , to what value will an imputative righteousness amount when a poor soul shall awake polluted in his sin , by the hasty calls of death , to make its appearance before the judgment seat , where 't is impossible to justifie the wicked , or that any should escape uncondemned , but such as do the will of god. ] 5. if ye keep my commandments , ye shall abide in my love , even as i have kept my fathers commandments , and abide in his love . [ from whence this argument doth naturally arise ; if none are truly justified that abide not in christ's love , and that none abide in his love who keep not his commandments , then consequently none are justified but such as keep his commandments . besides , here is the most palpable opposition to an imputative righteousness that may be ; for christ is so far from telling them of such a way of being justified , as that he informs them the reason why he abode in his fathers love , was his obedience ; and is so far from telling them of their being justified , whilst not abiding in his love , by virtue of his obedience imputed unto them , that unless they keep his commands , and obey for themselves , they shall be so remote from an acceptance , as wholly to be cast out ; in all which christ is but our example . ] 6. ye are my friends , if ye do whatsoever i command you . [ we have almost here the very words , but altogether the same matter , which affords us thus much , without being christ's friend , there 's no being justified , but unless we keep his commandments , it 's impossible we should be his friends ; it therefore necessarily follows , that except we keep his commandments , there is no being justified : or in short thus , if the way to be a friend , is to keep the commandments , then the way to be justified is to keep the commandments , because none can obtain the quality of a friend , and remain unjustified , or be truly justified , whilst an enemy , which he certainly is , that keeps not his commandments . ] 7. for not the hearers of the law are just before god , but the doers of the law shall be justified . [ from whence how unanswerably may i observe , unless we become doers of that law , which christ came not to destroy , but as our example , to fulfil , we can never be justified before god ; wherefore obedience is so absolutely necessary , that short of it there can be no acceptance ; nor let any fancy that christ hath so fulfill'd it for them , as to exclude their obedience from being requisite to their acceptance , but only as their pattern , for unless ye follow me , saith christ , ye cannot be my disciples ; and it is not only repugnant to reason , but in this place particularly refuted ; for if christ had fulfil'd it on our behalf , and we not enabled to follow his example , there would not be doers , but one doer only of the law justified before god. in short , if without obedience to the righteous law none can be justified , then all the hearing of the law , with but the meer imputation of anothers righteousness , whilst actually a breaker of it , is excluded as not justifying before god. if you fulfil the royal law , ye do well ; so speak ye , and so do , as they that shall be judg'd thereby . ] 8. if ye live after the flesh , ye shall die ; but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body , ye shall live . [ no man can be dead and justified before god , for so he may be justified that lives after the flesh ; therefore they only can be justified that are alive ; from whence this follows , if the living are justified and not the dead , and that none can live to god , but such as have mortified the deeds of the body through the spirit , then none can be justified but they who have mortified the deeds of the body through the spirit ; so that justification does not go before , but is subsequential to the mortification of lusts , and sanctification of the soul through the spirits operation . ] 9. for as many as are led by the spirit of god , are the sons of god. [ how clearly will it appear to any but a cavelling and tenatious spirit ; that man can be no farther justified , then as he becomes obedient to the spirits leadings ; for if none can be a son of god , but he that 's lead by the spirit of god , then none can be justified without being led by the spirit of god , because none can be justified but he that is a son of god : so that the way to justification and son-ship , is through obedience to the spirits leadings , that is , manifesting the holy fruits thereof by an innocent life and conversation . ] 10. but let every man prove his own work , and then shall he have rejoyceing in himself alone , and not in another . be not deceived , for whatsoever a man soweth , that shall he reap . [ if rejoycing and acceptance with god , or the contrary , are to be reaped from the work that a man soweth , either to the flesh or to the spirit , then is the doctrine of acceptance , and ground of rejoycing from the works of another utterly excluded , every man reaping according to what he hath sown , and bearing his own burden . 11. was not abraham our father justified by works , when he had offered isaac his son upon the altar ? ye see then how that by works a man is justified , and not by faith only . [ he that will seriously peruse this chapter , shall doubtless find some , to whom this epistle was wrote , of the same spirit with the satisfactionists and imputarians of our time , they fain would have found out a justification from faith in , & the imputation of anothers righteousness ; but james an apostle of the most high god , who experimentally knew what true faith and justification meant , gave them to understand from abrahams self-denying example , that unless their faith in the purity and power of god's grace , had that effectual operation to subdue every beloved lust , wean from every dallila , and intirely to resign and sacrifice isaac himself , their faith was a fable , or as a body without a spirit ; and as righteousness therefore in one person cannot justifie another from unrighteousness , so whoever now pretends to be justified by faith , whilst not led and guided by the spirit into all the wayes of truth , and works of righteouness , their faith they will find at last fiction . ] 12. little children , let no man deceive you , he that doth righteousness , is righteous , as god is righteous , ( but ) he that committeth sin is of the devil . [ from whence it may be very clearly argued , that none can be in a state of justification from the righteousness performed by an other imputed unto them , but as they are actually redeemed from the commision of sin : for if he that commits sin is of the devil , then cannot any be justified compleatly before god , who is so incompleatly redeem'd , as yet , to be under the captivity of lust ; since then the devil's seed or off-spring may be justified , but that 's impossible ; it there follows , that as he who doth righteousness , is righteous , as god is righteous ; so no farther is he like god , or justifiable ; for in whatsoever he derrogates from the works of that faith , which is held in a pure conscience , he is no longer righteous or justifi'd , but under condemnation as a transgressor , or dissobedient person to the righteous commandment ; and if any would obtain the true state of justification , let them circumspectly observe the holy guidings and instructions of that unction , to which the apostle recommended the antient churches , that thereby they may be led out of all ungodliness into truth and holiness ; so shall they find acceptance with the lord , who has determined never to justifie the wicked . ] refuted from right reason . 1. because it 's impossible for god to justifie that which is both opposite and destructive to the purity of his own nature , as this doctrine necessarily obliges him to do in accepting the wicked , as not such from the imputation of anothers righteousness . 2. since man was justified before god , whilst in his native innocency , and never condemned till he had err'd from that pure state ; he never can be justified , whilst in the frequent commission of that for which the condemnation came ; therefore to be justifi'd , his redemption must be as intire as his fall . 3. because sin came not by imputation , but actual transgression ; for god did not condemn his creature for what he did not , but what he did , therefore must the righteousness be as personal for acceptance , otherwise these two things will necessarily follow , first , that he may be actually a sinner , and yet not under the curse ; secondly , that the power of the first adam to death , was more prevalent then the power of the second adam unto life . 4. it s therefore contrary to sound reason , that if actual sinning brought death and condemnation , any thing besides actual obedience unto righteousness , should bring life and justification ; for death and life , condemnation and justification , being vastly opposite , no man can be actually dead and imputatively alive : therefore this doctrine so much contended for , carries this gross absurdity with it , that a man may be actually sinful , yet imputatively righteous ; actually judged and condemned , yet imputatively justified and glorified . in short , he may be actually damned , and yet imputatively saved ; otherwise it must be acknowledged that obedience to justification ought to be as personally extensive as was disobedience to condemnation : in which real , not imputative sense , those various tearms of sanctification , righteousness , resurrection , life , redemption , justification , &c. are most infallibly to be understood ? 5. nor are their words , impute , imputed , imputeth , imputing , used in scripture by way of application , to that which is actual and inherent , as the asserters of an imputative righteousness do by their doctrine plainly intimate , but so much the contrary , as that they are never mentioned but to express men really and personally to be that which is imputed to them , whether as guilty , as remitted , or as righteous : for instance ; what man soever of the house of israel that killeth an ox , and bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle , to offer unto the lord , blood shall be imputed unto that man , or charg'd upon him as guilty thereof . and sh●mei said unto the king , let not my lord impute iniquity unto me , for thy servant doth know that i have sinned . 6. but sin is not imputed where there is no law. from whence it is apparent that there could be no imputation or charging of guilt upon any but such as really were guilty . next , it is used about remission : blessed is the man unto whom the lord imputeth not iniquity ; or as the foregoing words have it , whose transgression is forgiven . where the non-imputation doth not argue a non-reality of sin , but the reality of god's pardon ; for otherwise there would be nothing to forgive , nor yet a real pardon , but onely imputative , which according to the sence of this doctrine i call imaginary . again , god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself , not imputing their trespasses unto them . where also non-imputation , being a real discharge for actual trespasses , argues an imputation by the reason of contraries , to be a real charging of actual guilt . lastly , it 's used in relation to righteousness ; was not abraham justified by works when he offered isaac ? and by works was faith made perfect , and the scripture was fulfilled , which saith , abraham believed god , and it was imputed unto him for righteousness . by which we must not conceive , as do the dark imputarians of this age , that abraham's offering personally was not a justifying righteousness , but that god was pleased to account it so ; since god never accounts a thing that which it is not ; nor was there an imputation of anothers righteouss to abraham , but on the contrary , his personal obedience was the ground of that just imputation ; and therefore that any should be justified from the imputation of anothers righteousness , not inherent , or actually possessed by them , is both ridiculous and dangerous : — ridiculous , since it is to say a man is rich to the value of a thousand pounds , whilst he is not really or personally worth a groat , from the imputation of another who has it all in his possession : dangerous , because it begets a confident perswasion in many people of their being justified , whilst in captivity to those lusts , whose reward is condemnation ; whence came that usual saying amongst many professors of religion , that god looks not on them as they are in themselves , but as they are in christ ; not considering that none can be in christ , who are not new creatures , which those can't be reputed , who have not disrob'd themselves of their old garments , but are still inmantled with the corruptions of the old man. consequences irreligious and irrational . 1. it makes god guilty of what the ●criptures say is an abomination , to wit , that he justifieth the wicked . 2. it makes him look upon persons as they are not , or with respect , which is unworthy of his most equal nature . 3. he is hereby at peace with the wicked , ( if justified whilst sinners ) who said , there is no peace to the wicked . 4. it does only imply communion with them here , in an imperfect state , but so to all eternity , for whom he justified , them he also glorified . therefore whom he justified , whilst sinners , them he also glorified whilst sinners . 5. it only secures from the wages , not the dominion of sin , whereby something that is sinful becomes justified , and that which defileth , to enter god's kingdom . 6. it renders a man justified and condemned , dead and alive , redeemed and not redeemed at the same time , the one by an imputative righteousness , the last by a personal unrighteousness . 7. it flatters men , whilst subject to the worlds lusts , with a state of justification , and thereby invallids the very ●●d of christs appearance , which was to destroy the works of the devil and take away the sins of the world ; a quite contrary purpose then what the satisfastionists , and imputarians of our times have imagined , viz. to satisfie for their sins , and by his imputed righteousness , to represent them holy in him , whilst unholy in themselves : therefore since it was to take away sin , and destroy the devils works , which were not in himself , for that holy one saw no corruption , consequently in man-kind ; what can therefore be concluded more evidently true , then that such in whom sin is untaken away , and the devils works undestroyed , are strangers ( notwithstanding their conceits ) to the very end and purpose of christs manifestation . conclusion by way of caution . thus reader have i lead thee through those three so generally applauded doctrines , whose confutation , i hope , though thou hast run , thou hast read ; and now i call the righteous god of heaven to bear me record , that i have herein sought nothing below the defence of his unity , mercy , and purity against the rude and impetuous assaults of tradition , press and pulpit , from whence i daily hear , what rationally induceth me to believe a conspiracy is hold by counter-plots , to obstruct the exaltation of truth , and to betray evangelical doctrines , to idle traditions : but god will rebuke the winds , and destruction shall attend the enemies of his anointed . — mistake me not , we never have disowned a father , word , and spirit , which are one , but mens inventions ; for , 1. their trinity has not so much as a foundation in the scriptures . 2. that its original was three hundred years after christianity was in the world. 3. it having cost much blood , in the council of sirmium , anno 355. it was decreed , that thenceforth the controversie should not once be remembred , because the scriptures of god made no mention thereof . why then should it be mentioned now with a maranatha , on all that will not bow to this abstruse opinion . 4. and it doubtless hath occasioned idolatry , witness the popish images of father , son , and holy ghost . 5. it scandalizeth turks , jews , and infidels , and palpably obstructs their reception of the christian doctrine . — nor is there more to be said on the behalf of the other two ; for i can boldly challenge any person to give me one scripture phrase which does approach the doctrine of satisfaction , ( much less the name ) considering to what degree it 's stretched ; not that we do deny , but really confess that jesus christ , in life , doctrine , and death , fulfilled his fathers will , and offered up a most satisfactory sacrifice , but not to pay god , or help him ( as otherwise being unable ) to save men , and for a justification : by an imputative righteousness , whilst not real , it 's meerly an imagination , not a reality , and therefore rejected ; otherwise confest and known to be justifying before god , because there is no abiding in christ's love , without keeping his commandments . i therefore caution thee in love , of whatsoever tribe or family of religion thou mayest be , not longer to deceive thy self by the over-fond imbraces of humane apprehensions , for divine mysteries ; but rather be informed that god hath bestowed a measure of his grace on thee and me , to shew us what is good , that we may obey and do it ; which if thou diligently wilt observe , thou shalt be led out of all unrighteousness , and in thy obedience shalt thou receive power to become a son of god ; in which happy estate god only can be known by men , and they know themselves to be justified before him , whom experimentally to know , by jesus christ , is life eternal . a post-script of animadversions upon t. v's contradictions , delivered in his sermon from 1. john 5.4 . at his evening lecture in spittle-yard ; for whatsoever is born of god , overcometh the world. whatsoever person is born of god , overcometh the world. there is a two-fold victory , the first compleat , the second incompleat . this is as well a contradiction to his text and doctrine , as common sence ; for besides that they neither of them say , he that 's born of god , cannot perfectly overcome the world , but much the contrary ; i fain would understand his intention by an incompleat victory : if he means not such a one as is obtained by the slaughter of every individual , but that which onely does subdue the force and lead captive their enemies , yet will the victory prove compleat ; for if they be so far overcome as to be disarmed of farther power to mischieve , the dispute is properly determined : but whatsoever is incompleat , is but overcoming , or in the way to victory , and victory is the compleating of what was before imperfect . such overcome as are born again , who are in christ , that have cast off the old man , and known a change altogether new . worldly lusts can't be extirpated out of god's people in this world. if sin must have a place in them , how can they be born of god , and have a place in christ , or cast off the old man , and know a change altogether new ? gods children are the greatest conquerors ; alexander and caesar were conquerors , but these overcome their lusts . god's children can't perfectly overcome the lusts of the world , they sometimes take them captive . what strange divinity is this ! that god's people should be conquerors , and yet captives ; overcome the world , and yet be overcome thereby . sin may tyrannize over believers . but not have dominion ; it 's in captivity , it 's in chains . who is so absolutely injurious and incontrolable , as a tyrant ? and notwithstanding that he should have no dominion , but be in captivity , and in chains , at best are bedlam distinctions , and consequently unworthy of any mans mouth that has a share of common sence . you must kill or be kil'd ; either you must overcome the world , or the world you . if ye fight , ye shall overcome . 2. incompleatly ; he overcomes , when he breaks their force , leads them captive , and puts them into chains ; but they are not at all slain , they sometimes take him captive . to kill or be kill'd , admits no middle way to escape ; yet that both sin and gods children should lead one another captive ; and that he which fights shall overcome , and yet in danger of being led captive , because incompleatly a conqueror ; to me seems very strange doctrine . however he goes on to tell them , whosoever is born of god , overcomes the lusts of the world , and he that overcomes the lusts of the world , overcomes the devils of hell ; god's children have to do with a conquered enemy . yet he would all this while be understood in an incompleat sence ; and to excite all to fight for this incompleat victory , he recommended to their consideration the excellent rewards of conquerors , that is , to him that overcometh , will i give to eat of the tree of life , the hidden mann● i will give him a white stone , a new name , power over natons , whi●e rayment ; yea , i will make him a pillar in the temple of my god ; he shall go no more out , and i will grant him to sit with me in my throne . admirable priviledges , i acknowledge ! but are they promis'd to incompleat conquerors ? i judge not . reader , by this thou mayest be able to give a probable conjecture of the rest ; and ●s i have begun with him and his co-disputants , with them i l'e 〈◊〉 who notwithstanding all their boasts and calumnies against us , have so evaded those many opportunities we have offered them by letters , verbal messages , and personal visits , that had they any zeal for their principles , love for their reputation , or conscience in their promises , they would have been induc'd to a more direct and candid treaty . but as it hath occasioned the publication of this little treatise , so am i credibly inform'd , through the too busie and malitious inquisition of some concerning it , ( which have amounted to no less than positive reports ) its currantly discours'd , how that a certain quaker hath lately espoused the controversie against r.f. and therein has perverted the christian religion , to that degree , as plainly to deny christs coming in the flesh ; with much more then was fit to be said , or is fit to be answered . but reader , i shall ask no other judge to clear me from that most uncharitable accusation , since first i am altogether unacquainted with r.f. nor never did design directly such a thing , being unwilling to seek more adversaries than what more nearly seek the overthrow of truth , although i doubt not but this plain and simple treatise may prove some confutation of his sentiments . and lastly , as concerning christ ; although the slander is not new , yet never the less false : for i declare , on the behalf of that despised people , vulgarly called quakers , the grace of which we testifie hath never taught us to acknowledge another god then he that 's the father of all things , who fills heaven and earth ; neither to confess another lord jesus christ , than he that appeared so many hundred years agoe , made of a virgin like unto us in all things , sin excepted ; or any other doctrine than was by him declared and practised : therefore let wery mouth be stopt for ever opening more , in blasphemy against god's innocent heritage , who in principle , life and death , bea● an unanimous testimony for the only true god , true christ , and heavenly doctrine , which in their vindication is openly attested by william penn , jun. errata . page 7. line 1. read , traditional . p. 14. l. 6. r. or subsistence . p. 15. l. 20. r. theophilus . p. 20. f. necessity , r. impossibility . p. 24. l. last , r. compell'd . p. 29. l. 31. f. their , r. those . l. 32. f. application , r. opposition . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a54206-e730 john 5.7 . heb. 1.3 . 1 king. 8.23 . isa . 40 25 c. 45.5 , 6. c. 48.17 . ps . 71.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 zac. 14.9 mat. 19.17 . joh. 17.8 . rom. 3.30 . 1 cor. 8.6 . eph. 4.6 . 1 tim. 2.5 jude 25. doctr. exod. 34.6 , 7. 2. chron. 3● . ● . neh. 1● . 17 . isa . 55.7 . jer. 31.31 , 33 , 34. mich. 7.18 . mat. 6.12 . john 3.16 . act. 10.34 . rom. 8.31 , 32. 2 cor. 11.5.18 , 19. eph. 1.7 . 1. pet. 5.10 . 1. john 4.9 . rom. 14 12. 2 cor. 15.10 . gal. 6.7 . doctr. exod. 23.1 . prov. 17 15. ezek. 18.20 , 26 , 27 , 28. mat. 7.21 , 24 , 25. john 15.10 . joh. 15.14 . rom. 2.13 . rom. 8.13 . rom. 8.14 . gal. 6.7 jam. 2.21 , 24. 1 john 3.7 , 8. lev. 17 4. 2 sam. 19.18 , 19 , 20. rom. 5.13 . psal . 32 2. 2 cor. 5.19 . jam. 2.21 , 22 , 23. rom. 8.30 . socrat. schol. an . 355. conc. sirm. cap. 25. p. 275. doctr. animad cont. anim. cont. anim. cont. anim. cont. anim. the principles of the doctrine of christ: unfolded in two short catechismes, wherein those principles of religion are explained, the knowledge whereof is required by the late ordinance of parliament, before any person bee admitted to the sacrament of the lords supper. for the use of the congregation at fordham, in the county of essex. by john owen pastor there. owen, john, 1616-1683. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a53723 of text r214593 in the english short title catalog (wing o796). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 101 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 34 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a53723 wing o796 estc r214593 99826709 99826709 31114 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a53723) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 31114) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1768:16) the principles of the doctrine of christ: unfolded in two short catechismes, wherein those principles of religion are explained, the knowledge whereof is required by the late ordinance of parliament, before any person bee admitted to the sacrament of the lords supper. for the use of the congregation at fordham, in the county of essex. by john owen pastor there. owen, john, 1616-1683. [6], 62 p. printed by r. cotes, for philemon stephens, at the guilded lion in pauls church-yard, london : 1645. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. eng church of england -catechisms -early works to 1800. catechisms, english -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. a53723 r214593 (wing o796). civilwar no the principles of the doctrine of christ: unfolded in two short catechismes, wherein those principles of religion are explained, the knowled owen, john 1645 16150 54 0 0 0 0 1 219 f the rate of 219 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-10 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2006-07 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the principles of the doctrine of christ : vnfolded in two short catechismes , wherein those principles of religion are explained , the knowledge whereof is required by the late ordinance of parliament , before any person bee admitted to the sacrament of the lords supper . for the use of the congregation at fordham , in the county of essex . by john owen pastor there . come yee children , hearken unto me , i will teach you the feare of the lord , psal. 34.11 . london , printed by r. cotes , for philemon stephens , at the guilded lion in pauls church-yard . 1645. to my loving neighbours and christian friends , at fordham . brethren , my hearts desire and request unto god for you is , that yee may bee saved : i say the truth in christ also , i lye not , my conscience bearing mee witnesse in the holy ghost , that i have great heavinesse , and continuall sorrow in my heart , for them amongst you , who as yet walk disorderly , and not as beseemeth the gospel , little labouring to acquaint themselves with the mystery of godlinesse ; for many walk , of whom i have told you often weeping , and now tell you again with sorrow , that they are the enemies of the crosse of christ , whose end is destruction , whose god is their belly , who minde earthly things . you know ( brethren ) how i have been amongst you , and in what manner , for these two yeers past ; and how i have kept back nothing ( to the utmost of the dispensation to mee committed ) that was profitable unto you ; but have shewed you and taught you , publickly , and from house to house , testifying to all , repentance towards god , and faith towards our lor● jesus christ . now with what sincerity this hath bin by mee performed ; with what issue and successe by you received , god the righteous judge will one day declare ; for before him , must both you , and i appear , to give an account of the dispensation of the glorious gospel amongst us : in the mean while , the desire of my heart is , to bee s●rvant to the least of you in the work of the lord . and that in any way , which i can conceive profitable unto you either in your persons or your families . now amongst my indevours in this kinde , after the ordinance of publick preaching the word , there is not , i conceive , any more needfull , ( as all will grant that know the estate of this place , how taught of late dayes , how full of grossely ignorant persons ) then catechising , which hath caused me to set aside some houres for the compiling of these following , which also i have procured to bee printed meerly because the least part of the parish are able to read it in writing , my intention in them being , principally , to hold out those necessary truths , wherein you have been in my preaching more fully instructed : as they are , the use of them i shall briefly present unto you . 1. the lesser catechisme may bee so learned of the younger sort , that they may bee ready to answer to every question thereof . 2. the greater will call to minde much of what hath been taught you in publick , especially concerning the person a●● offices of jesus christ . 3. out of that you may have help to instruct your families in the lesser , being so framed for the most part , that a chapter of the one , is spent in unfolding a question of the other . 4. the texts of scripture quoted , are d●ligently to bee sought out and pondered , that you may know indeed whether these things are so . 5. in ●eading the word , you may have light into the meaning of many places , by considering what they are here produced to confirme . 6. i have been sparing in the doctrine of the sacraments , because i have already been so frequent in examinations about them . 7. the handling of morall duties i have wholly omitted , because by gods assistance i intend for you a briefe explication of the lords prayer , and the ten commandements , with some articles of the creed , not unfolded in these , by themselves , by the way of question and answer . now in all this as the paines hath been mine , so i pray that the benefit may bee yours ▪ and the praise his , to whom alone any good , that is in this or any thing else , is to bee ascribed . now the god of heaven continue that peace , love , and amity amongst our selves , which hitherto hath ben unshaken , in these divided times , and grant that the scepter and kingdome of his son may bee gloriously advanced in your hearts , that the things which concern your peace , may not bee hidden from your eyes in this your day : which is the daily prayer of from my study , septem. the last , your servant in the work of the lord , j.o. the lesser catechisme . question , whence is all truth concerning god , and our selves to bee learned ? answ. from the holy scripture , the word of god . q. what doe the scriptures teach that god is ? a. an eternall , infinite , most holy spirit , giving beeing to all things , and doing with them whatsoever hee pleaseth , q. is there but one god ? a. one onely , in respect of his essence , and being , but one in three distinct persons , of father , son , and holy ghost . quest . what else is held forth in the word concerning god , that wee ought to know ? a. his decrees , and his works . q ▪ what are the decrees of god concerning us ? a. his eternall purposes , of saving some by jesus christ , for the praise of his glory ; and of condemning others for their sins . q. what are the works of god ? a. acts or doings of his power , whereby hee createth , sustaineth , and governeth all things . q. what is required from us towards almighty god ? a. holy and spirituall obedience , according to his law given unto us . q. are wee able to doe this of our selves ? a. no , in no wise , being by nature unto every good work reprobate . q. how came wee into this estate , being at the first created in the image of god , in righteousnesse and innocency ? a. by the fall of our first parents , breaking the covenant of god , losing his grace and deserving his curse . q. by what way may wee bee delivered from this miserable estate ? a. onely by jesus christ . q. what is iesus christ ? a. god and man united in one person , to bee a mediator between god and man . q. what is hee unto us ? a. a king , a priest , and a prophet . q. wherein doth bee exercise his kingly power towards us ? a. in converting us unto god by his spirit , subduing us unto his obedience , and ruling in us by his grace . q. in what doth the exercise of his priestly office for us chiefely consist ? a. in offering up himself an acceptable sacrifice on the crosse , so satisfying the justice of god for our sins , removing his curse from our persons , and bringing us unto him . q. wherein doth christ exercise his propheticall office towards us ? a. in revealing to our hearts , from the bosome of his father , the way , and truth , whereby wee must come unto him . q. for whose sake doth christ perform all these ? a. onely for his elect. q. in what condition doth jesus christ exercise these offices ? a. hee did in a low estate of humiliation on earth , but now in a glorious estate of exaltation in heaven . q. what is the church of christ ? a. the universall company of gods elect , called to the adoption of children . q. how come wee to bee members of this church ? a. by a lively faith . q. what is a lively faith ? a. an assured resting of the soule upon gods promises of mercy in jesus christ , for pardon of sins here , and glory hereafter . q. how come wee to have this faith ? a. by the effectuall working of the spirit of god in our hearts , freely calling us from the state of nature , to the state of grace . q. are wee accounted righteous for our faith ? a. no , but onely for the righteousnesse of christ , freely imputed unto us , and laid hold of by faith . q. 1. is there no more required of us , but faith onely ? a. yes , repentance also , and holinesse . q. 2. what is repentance ? a. a forsaking of all sin , with godly sorrow for what wee have committed . q. 3. what is that holinesse which is required of us ? a. universall obedience to the will of god revealed unto us . q. what are the priviledges of beleevers ? a. first , union with christ ; secondly , adoption of children ; thirdly , communion of saints ; fourthly , right to the seales of the new covenant ; fifthly , christian liberty ; sixtly , resurrection of the body to life eternall . q. 1. what are the sacraments , or seales of the new covenant ? a. visible seales of gods spirituall promises , made unto us in the blood of jesus christ . q. 2. which bee they ? a. baptism , and the lords supper . q. what is baptisme ? a. an holy ordinance , whereby being sprinkled with water according to christs institution , wee are by his grace made children of god , and have the promises of the covenant sealed unto us . q. what is the lords supper ? a. an holy ordinance of christ appointed to communicate unto beleevers , his body and blood spiritually , being represented by bread and wine , blessed , broken , powred out , and received of them . q. 2. who have a right unto this sacrament ? a. they onely who have an interest in jesus christ by faith . q. what is the communion of saints ? a. an holy conjunction between all gods people , partakers of the same spirit , and members of the same mysticall body . q. what is the end of all this dispensation ? a. the glory of god in our salvation . glory bee to god on high . the greater catechisme . chap. i. of the scripture . question 1. what is christian religion ? answ. the only ( a ) way of (1) (2) knowing god aright , and ( b ) living unto him . ( a ) joh. 14.5 ●oh . 17.3 . act. 4.12 ( b ) col. 1.10 . 2 cor. 5.15 . gal. 2.19 , 20. q. 2. whence is it to bee learned ? a. from the holy (3) scripture onely . isa. 8.20 . joh. 5.39 . q. 3. what is the scripture ? a. the books of the ( a ) old , and ( b ) new (4) (5) (6) testament , ( c ) given by inspiration from god , containing all things necessary to bee beleeved and done , that god may bee worshipped and our soules saved . ( a ) isa. 8.20 . rom. 3.2 . ( b ) rev. 22.19 , 20. ( c ) 2 tim. 2.16 , 17. psal. 19.7 , 8. jer. 7.31 . joh. 20.31 . q. 4. how know you them to bee the word of god ? a. by the ( a ) testimony (7) of gods spirit , working faith in my heart , to close with that ( b ) heavenly majesty , and cleare divine truth , that shineth in them . ( a ) matth. 16.17 . joh. 16.13 . 1 thess. 2.13 . 1 joh. 2.20 . 1 joh. 5.6 . ( b ) luk ▪ 24.32 . 1 cor. 2.14 . heb. 4.12 . 2 pet. 1.19 . chap. ii. of god . q. 1. what doe the scriptures teach concerning god ? a. first , what hee is , or his nature ; secondly , what hee doth , or his works . exod. 3.14 . isa. 44.6 . heb. 1.1 , 2 , 3. heb. 11.6 . q. 2. what is god in himselfe ? a. an ( a ) eternall ( b ) infinite , ( c ) (1) (2) (3) incomprehensible ( d ) spirit , ( e ) giving beeing to all things , and doing with them whatsoever hee pleaseth . ( a ) deut. 33.37 . isa. 57.15 . revel. 1.8 . ( b ) 1 king 8.27 . psal. 139.2 , 3 , 4 , 5. &c. ( c ) exod. 32.20 . 1 tim. 6.16 . ( d ) joh. 4 , 24. ( e ) gen. 1.1 . psal. 115.3 . & 135.6 . isa. 46.10 . joh. 5 17. heb. 1.2 . q. 3. doe wee here know god as hee is ? a. no , his glorious beeing is not of us , in this life , to bee comprehended . exod. 33.23 . 1 cor. 13.12 . q. 4. whereby is god chiefely made known unto us in the word ? a. first , by his ( f ) names , secondly , by his ( g ) attributes , or properties . ( f ) exod. 3.14 . ch. 6.3 . psa. 83.18 . ( g ) exo. 34.6 , 7. mat. 5.48 . q. 5. what are the names of god ? a. glorious titles , which hee (4) hath given himselfe , to hold forth his excellencies unto us , with some perfections , wherby hee will reveale himselfe . exod. 3 , 14 , 15. & 6.3 . & 34.6 , 7. gen. 17.1 . q. 6. what are the attributes of god ? a. his infinite perfections , in being and working . revelat. 4.8 , 9 , 10 , 11. q. 7. what are the chiefe attributes of his beeing ? a. ( a ) eternity , ( b ) infinitenesse , ( c ) simplicity , (1) (2) or purity , ( d ) all-sufficiency , ( e ) perfectnesse , ( f ) immutability , ( g ) life , ( h ) will , and ( i ) understanding . ( a ) deut. 33.37 . psal. 93.2 . esa. 57.15 . revel. 1.11 . ( b ) 1 king. 8.27 . psal. 139.1 , 2 , 3 , 4.8 ▪ 9. ( c ) exod. 3.14 . ( d ) gen. 17.1 . psal. 135.4 , 5. ( e ) joh. 11.7 , 8 , 9. rom. 11.33 , 34 , 35 , 36. ( f ) mal. 3.6 . jam. 1.17 ▪ ( g ) judg ▪ 8.19 . 1 sam. 25.34 . 2 king ▪ 3.14 . ezek. 14.16 . & 16.48 . m●tth . 16.16 . act. 24.15 . 1 the . 1.9 . ( h ) dan. 11.3 . esa. 46.10 . ephes. 1.5.11 . jam. 1.18 . ( i ) psal. 7.2 . & 139 ▪ 2. & 147.4 . ier. 11.20 . heb. 4.13 . q. 8. what are the attributes which usually are ascribed to him in his works , or the acts of his will ? a. ( k ) goodnesse , ( l ) power , ( m ) (3) (4) justice , ( n ) mercy , ( o ) holinesse , ( p ) wisdome , and the like , which hee delighteth to exercise towards his creatures , for the praise of his glory . ( k ) psal. 119 , 68. mat. 19.17 . ( l ) exod. 15.11 . psal. 62.10 . revel. 19.1 . ( m ) zeph. 3.5 . psal. 11.7 . ierem. 12.1 . rom. 1.32 . ( n ) psal. 130.7 . rom. 9.15 . ephes. 2.4 . ( o ) exod. 15.11 . iosh. 24.19 . hab. 1.13 . revel. 4.8 . ( p ) rom. 11.33 . & 16.17 . chap. iii. of the holy trinity . q. 1. is there but one god to whom these properties doe belong ? a. ( a ) one onely , in respect of his essence and being , but one ( b ) in three distinct persons , of father , sonne , and holy ghost . ( a ) deut. 6.4 . matth. 19.17 . ephes. 4.5 , 6. ( b ) gen. 1.7 . 1 ioh. 5.7 . matth. 28.19 . q. 2. what mean you by person ? a. a distinct manner of (1) (2) (3) subsistence or beeing , distinguished from the other persons , by its own properties . ioh. 5.17 . heb. 1.3 . q. 3. what is the distinguishing property of the person of the father ? a. to bee of himself onely , the fountain of the god-head . ioh. 5.26 , 27. ephes. 1.3 . q. 4. what is the property of the son ? a. to be begotten of his father , from eternity . psal. 2.7 . ioh. 1.14 . & 3.16 . q. 5. what of the holy ghost ? a. to proceed from the father and the son . ioh. 14.17 . & 16.14 . & 15.26 . & 20.22 . q. 6. are these three one ? a. one ( a ) every way , in nature , will , and essentiall properties , ( b ) distinguished onely in their personall manner of subsistence . ( a ) ioh. 10.30 . rom. 3.30 . ( b ) ioh. 15.26 . 1 ioh. 5.7 ▪ q. 7. can wee conceive these things as they are in themselves ? a. neither ( a ) wee , nor yet the ( b ) angels (4) of heaven , are at all able to dive into these secrets , as they are internally in god ; ( c ) but in respect of the outward dispensation of themselves , to us , by creation , redemption , and sanctification , a knowledge may be attained of these things , saving , and heavenly . ( a ) 1 tim. 6.16 . ( b ) esa. 6.2 , 3. ( c ) col. 1.11 , 12 , 13 , 14. chap. iv. of the works of god , and first , of those that are internall and immanent . q. 1. what doe the scriptures teach concerning the works of god ? a. that they are of two sorts ▪ first , internall (1) in his counsell , decrees , and purposes , towards his creatures ; secondly , externall in his works , over and about them , to the praise of his own glory . act. 15.18 . prov. 16.4 . q. 2. what are the decrees of god ? a. ( a ) eternall , ( b ) unchangeable purposes (2) (3) (4) of his will , concerning the beeing , and wel-beeing of his creatures . ( a ) mich. 5.2 . ephes. 3.9 . act. 15.18 . ( b ) esa. 14.24 . esa. 46.10 . rom. 9.12 . 2 tim. 2.19 . q. 3. concerning which of his creatures chiefly are his decrees to bee considered ? a. angels , and men , for whom other things were ordained . 1 tim. 5.21 . jud. 6. q. 4. what are the decrees of god concerning men ? a. election , and reprobation . rom. 9.11 , 12. q. 5. what is the decree of election ? a. the ( a ) eternall , ( b ) free , ( c ) immutable (5) (6) purpose of god , ( d ) whereby in jesus christ , he chuseth unto himselfe , whom hee pleaseth , out of ( e ) whole mankinde , determining to bestow upon them , for his sake , ( f ) grace here , and everlasting happinesse hereafter , for the praise of his glory , by the way of mercy . ( a ) ephes. 1.4 . act. 13.48 . rom. 8.29 , 30. ( b ) mat. 11.26 . ( c ) 2 tim. 2.19 . ( d ) ephes. 1.4 , 5. mat. 22.14 . ( e ) rom. 9.18 , 19 , 20 , 21. ( f ) ioh. 6.37 . & chap. 17.6.9 , 10.24 . q. 6. doth any thing in us , move the lord thus to chuse us from amongst others ? a. no , in no wise , wee are in the same lumpe with others rejected , when separated by his undeserved grace . rom. 9.11 , 12. matth. 11.25 . 1 cor. 4.7 . 2 tim. 1.9 . q. 7. what is the decree of reprobation ? a. the eternall purpose of god , to suffer many to sin , leave them in their sin , and not giving them to christ , to punish them for their sin . rom. 9.11 , 12 , 21 , 22. prov. 16.4 . mat. 11.25 , 26. 2 pet. 2.12 . iude 4. chap. v. of the works of god that outwardly are of him . q. 1. what are the works of god , that outwardly respect his creatures ? a. first , of creation ; secondly , of (1) actuall providence . psal. 33.9 . heb. 1.2 , 3. q. 2. what is the work of creation ? a. an act or work of gods almighty power , whereby of nothing in six dayes hee created heaven , earth , and the sea , with all things in them contained , gen. 1.1 . exod. 20.11 . prov. 16.4 . q. 3. wherefore did god make man ? a. for his own glory in his service (2) (3) and obedience , gen. 1.26 , 27. & 2.16 , 17. rom. 9.23 . q. 4. was man able to yeeld the service and worship that god required of him ? a. yea , to the uttermost , being created upright in the image of god , in purity , innocency , righteousnesse and holinesse , gen. 1.26 . eccles. 7.29 . ephes. 4.24 . col. 3.10 . q. 5. what was the rule , whereby man was at first to bee directed in his obedience ? a. the morall , or eternall law of (4) god implanted in his nature , and writen in his heart , by creation , being the tenor of the covenant between god and him , sacramentally typifyed by the tree of knowledge of good and evill , gen. 2.15 , 16 , 17. rom. 2.14 , 15. ephes. 4.24 . q. 6. doe we stand in the same covenant still , and have wee the same power to yeeld obedience unto god ? a. no , the ( a ) covenant was (5) broken by the sin of adam , with whom it was made , ( b ) our nature corrupted , ( c ) and all power to doe good utterly lost . ( a ) gen. 3.16 , 17 , 18. gal. 3.10 , 11 , 21. h●b. 7.19 . & 8.13 . ( b ) iob 14.4 . psal. 51.5 ( c ) gen. 6.5 . ier. 13.23 . chap. vi . of gods actuall providence . q. 1. what is gods actuall providence ? a. the effectuall working of his (1) (2) (3) power , and almighty act of his will , whereby hee sustaineth , governeth , and disposeth of all things , men , and their actions , to the ends which hee hath ordained for them , exod. 4.11 . iob 5.10 , 11 , 12. & 9.5 , 6. psal. 147.4 . prov. 15.3 . esa. 45.6 , 7. joh. 5.17 . act. 17.28 . heb. 1.3 . q. 2. how is this providence exercised towards mankinde ? a. two wayes : first , ( a ) peculiarly towards his church , or elect , in their generations , for whom are all things : secondly , ( b ) towards all in a generall manner , yet with various and divers dispensations . ( a ) deut. 32.10 . psal. 17.8 . zech. 2.8 . mat. 16.18 . & 19.2.29 . 1 pet. 5.7 . ( b ) gen. 9.5 . psal. 75.6 , 7. esa. 45.6 . mat. 5.45 . q. 3. wherein chiefly consists the outward providence of god towards his church ? a. in three things , first , in ( a ) causing all (4) things to work together for their good ; secondly , in ( b ) ruling and disposing of kingdomes , nations , and persons , for their benefit ; thirdly , ( c ) in avenging them of their adversaries , ( a ) mat. 6.31 , 32 , 33. rom. 8.28 . 1 tim. 6.16 . 2 pet. 1.3 . ( b ) psal. 105.14 , 15. esa. 44.28 . dan. 2.44 . rom. 9.17 . ( c ) esa. 60.12 . zech. 12.2 , 3 , 4 , 5. luk. 18.7 ▪ revel. 17.14 . q. 4. doth god rule also in and over the sinfull actions of wicked men ? a. yea , hee willingly ( according (5) to his determinate counsell ) suffereth them to bee , for the manifestation of his glory , and by them effecteth his own righteous ends , 2 sam. 12.11 . & 16.10 . 1 kin. 11.31 . & 22.22 . iob 1.21 . prov. 22.14 . esa. 10.6 , 7. ezek. 21.19 , 20 , 21. amos 7.17 . act. 4.27 , 28. rom. 1.24 . & 9.22 . 1 pet. 2.8 . revel. 17.17 . q ▪ 5. doth the providence of god extend it self to every small thing ? a. the least grasse of the field , haire of our heads , or worm of the earth , is not exempted from his knowledge and care , iob 39. psal. 104.21 . & 145.15 . ionah 4.7 . mat. 6.26 , 27 , 28 , 29. & 10.29 , 30. chap. vii . of the law of god . q. 1. which is the law that god gave man at first to fulfill ? a. the same which was afterwards (1) writen with the finger of god in two tables of stone on mount horeb , called the ten commandements , rom. 2.14 , 15. q. 2. is the observation of this law still required of us ? a. yes , to the uttermost tittle , mat. 5.17 . 1 joh. 3.4 . rom. 3.31 . iam. 2.8 . gal. 3. q. 3. are wee able of our selves to (2) (3) perform it ? a. no , in no wise , the law is spirituall , but wee are carnall , 1 king. 8.46 . gen. 5.6 . joh. 15.5 . rom. 7.11 . & 8.7 . 1 joh. 1.8 . q. 4. did then god give a law whic● could not bee kept ? a. no , when god gave it , wee had power to keep it , which since wee have lost in adam , gen. 1.26 . ephes. 7.29 . rom. 5.12 . q. 5. whereto then doth the law now serve ? a. for two generall ends , first , ( a ) to bee a rule of our duty , or to discover to us the obedience of god required ; secondly , ( b ) to drive us unto christ . ( a ) psal. 119.5 . 1 tim. 1.8 , 9. ( b ) gal. 3.24 . q. 6. how doth the law drive us unto christ ? a. divers wayes , as first , ( a ) by laying open unto us the utter disability of our nature , to doe any good ; secondly , ( b ) by charging the wrath and curse of god , due to sin , upon the conscience ; thirdly , ( c ) by bringing the whole soule under bondage to sin , death , satan , and hell , so making us long and seek for a saviour . ( a ) rom. 7.7 , 8 , 9. gal. 3.19 . ( b ) rom. 3.19 , 20. & 4.15 . & 5.20 . gal. 3.10 . ( c ) gal. 3.22 . heb. 2.15 . chap. viii . of the state of corrupted nature . q. 1. how came this weaknesse and disability upon us ? a. by the sin , and (1) shamefull fall of our first parents , rom. 5.12.14 . q. 2. wherein did that hurt us their posterity ? a. divers wayes ; first , ( a ) in that wee were all guilty of the same breach of covenant with adam , being all in him ; secondly , ( b ) our soules with his were deprived of that holinesse , innocency , and righteousnesse wherein they were at first created ; thirdly , ( c ) pollution and defilement of nature came upon us , with , fourthly , ( d ) an extream disability of doing any thing that is well-pleasing unto god ; ( e ) by all which , wee are made obnoxious to the curse . ( a ) joh. 3.36 . rom. 5 12. ephes. 2.3 . ( b ) 1 gen. 3.10 . ephes. 4.23 , 24. col. 3.10 . ( c ) iob ▪ ●4 . 4 . psal. 51.7 . ioh. 3.6 . rom. 3.13 . ( d ) gen. 6.5 . ephes. 2.1 . ier. 6.16 . & 13.23 . rom. 8.7 . ( e ) gen. 3.17 . gal. 3.10 . q. 3. wherein doth the curse of god consist ? a. in divers things : first , ( a ) in the (2) guilt of death , temporall and eternall ; secondly , ( b ) the losse of the grace and favour of god ; thirdly , ( c ) guilt and horror of conscience , despaire and anguish here , with , fourthly , eternall damnation hereafter . ( a ) gen. 2.17 . rom. 1.18 . & 5.12 , 17. ephes. 2.3 . ( b ) gen. 3.24 . ezek. 16.3 , 4 , 5. ephes. 2.13 . ( c ) gen. 3.10 . esa. 48.22 . rom. 3.9 , 19. gal. 3.22 . ( d ) gen. 3.10 , 13. ioh 3.36 . q. 4. are all men born in this estate ▪ a. every one without exception , psal. 51.7 . esa. 53.5 . rom. 3.9.12 . ephes. 2.3 . q. 5. and doe they continue therein ? a. of themselves (3) they cannot otherwise doe , being able neither to ( a ) know , nor ( b ) will , nor ( c ) do any thing that is spiritually good , and pleasing unto god . ( a ) act. 8.31 . & 16.14 . 1 cor. 2.14 . ephes. 5.8 . joh. 1.5 . ( b ) jer. 6.16 . & 13.2 , 3. luk. 4.18 . rom. 6.16 . & 8.7 . ( c ) joh. 6.44 . 2 cor. 3.5 . q. 6. have they then no way of themselves , to escape the curse and wrath of god ? a. none at all , they can neither satisfie his justice , nor fulfill his law . chap. ix . of the incarnation of christ . q. 1. shall all mankinde then everlastingly perish ? a. no , god of his free grace hath prepared a way , to redeem and save his elect , joh. 3.16 . esa. 53.6 . q. 2. what way was this ? a. by sending his own son (1) jesus christ , in the likenesse of sinfull flesh , condemning sin in the flesh , rom. 8.3 . q. 3. who is this you call his own son ? a. the second person of the trinity , co-eternall , and of the same deity with his father , joh. 1.14 . rom. 1.3 . gal. 4.4 . 1 joh. 1.1 . q. 4. how did god send him ? a. by causing him to bee made flesh of a pure virgin , and to dwell among us , that hee might bee obedient unto death , the death of the crosse , esa. 50.6 . joh , 1.14 . luk. 1.35 . phil. 2.8 . 1 tim. 6.16 . chap. x. of the person of jesus christ . q. 1. what doth the scripture teach us of jesus christ ? a. chiefly two things ; first , his (1) (2) person , or what hee is in himself ; secondly , his offices , or what hee is unto us . q. 2. what doth it teach of his person ? a. that hee is truely god , and perfect man , partaker of the natures of god and man in one person , between whom hee is a mediator , joh. 1.14 . heb. 2.14.15 . ephe. 4.5 . 1 tim. 2.5 . 1 joh. 1.1 . q. 3. how prove you jesus christ to bee truely god ? a. divers wayes ; 3 first , by places of scripture speaking of the great god jehovah , in the old testament , applyed to our saviour in the new , as , numb. 21.5 , 6. in 1 cor. 10.9 . psal. 102.24 , 25. in heb. 1.10 . esa. 6.2 , 3 , 4. in joh. 12.40 , 41. esa. 8.13 , 14. in luk. 2.34 . rom. 9.33 . esa. 40.3 , 4. in joh. 1. esa. 45.22 , 23. in rom. 14.11 . phil. 2.8 . mal. 3.1 . in matth. 11.10 . secondly , by the workes of the deity ascribed unto him , as first , of creation , ioh. 1.3 . 1 cor. 8.6 . heb. 1.21 . secondly , of preservation in providence , heb. 1.3 . ioh. 5.17 . thirdly , 4 miracles . thirdly , by the essentiall attributes of god , being ascribed unto him ; as first , immensity , mat. 28.20 . ioh. 14.23 ephes. 3 17. secondly , eternity , ioh. 1.1 . revel. 1.11 . mich. 5.2 . thirdly , immutability , heb. 1.11 , 12. fourthly , omniscience , ioh. 21.17 . revel. 2.23 . fifthly , majesty and glory equal to his father , joh. 5.23 . revel. 5.13 . phil. 1.2.6.9 , 10. fourthly , by the names given unto him ; as first , of god expressely , joh. 1.1 . & 20.28 . act. 20.28 . rom. 9.5 . phil. 2.6 . heb. 1.8 . 1 tim. 3.16 . secondly , of the son of god , joh. 1.18 . rom. 8.3 . &c. q. 4. was it necessary that our redeemer should bee god ? a. yes , that hee might bee able to save to the uttermost , and to satisfie the wrath of his father , which no creature could perform , esa. 43.25 . & 53.6 . dan. 9.17.19 . q. 5. how prove you that hee was a perfect man ? a. first , by the prophesies that went before , 5 that so hee should bee , gen. 3.15 . & 18.18 . secondly , by the relation of their accomplishment , mat. 1.1 . rom. 1.4 . gal. 4.4 . thirdly , by the scriptures , assigning to him those things , which are required to a perfect man ; as , first , a body , luk. 24.39 . heb. 2.17 . & 10.5 . 1 joh. 1.1 . secondly , a soule , matth. 26.39 . mark . 14.34 . and therein , 6 first , a will , mat. 26.39 . secondly , affections , mat. 3.5 . luk. 10.21 . thirdly , indowments , luk. 2.52 . fourthly , generall infirmities of nature , mat. 4 2. ioh. 4.6 . heb. 2.18 . q. 6. wherefore was our redeemer to bee man ? a. that the nature which had offended , might suffer , and make satisfaction , and so hee might bee every way a fit and sufficient saviour for men , heb. 2.10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. chap. xi . of the offices of christ , and first of his kingly . q. 1. how many are the offices of iesus christ ? a. three ; first , of a ( a ) king ; secondly , ( b ) a (1) (2) priest ; thirdly , a ( c ) prophet . ( a ) psal. 2.6 . ( b ) psal. 110.4 . ( c ) deut. 18.15 . q. hath hee these offices peculiarly by nature ? a. no , hee onely received them for the present dispensation , untill the work of redemption bee perfected , psal. 110.1 . act. 2.36 . & 10.42 . 1 cor. 13.12 . & 15.27 , 28. phil. 2.9 . heb. 3.2.6 . & 2.7 , 8 , 9. q. 3. wherein doth the kingly office of christ consist ? a. in a twofold power ; first , his power of ruling in , and over his church ; secondly , his power of subduing his enemies , psal. 110.3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. q. 4. what is his ruling power in , and over his people ? a. that supreme authority , which (3) (4) for their everlasting good , hee useth towards them , whereof in generall there bee two acts ; first , ( a ) intern●ll , and spirituall , in converting their soules unto him , making them unto himself , a willing , obedient , persevering people ; secondly , ( b ) externall and ecclesiasticall , in giving perfect laws , and rules for their government , as gathered into holy societies , under him . ( a ) esa. 53.12 . & 59.20 , 21. with heb. 8.10 , 11 , 12. esa. 61.1 , 2. ioh. 1.16 . & 12.32 . mark 1.15 . mat. 28.20 . 2 cor. 10.4 , 5. ( b ) mat. 16.19 . 1 cor. 12.28 . ephes. 4.8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. 2 tim. 3.16 , 17. revel. 22.18 , 19. q. 5. how many are the acts of his kingly power , towards his enemies ? a. two also , first , ( a ) internall , by the (5) mighty working of his word , and the spirit of bondage upon their hearts , convincing , amazing , terrifying their consciences , hardning their spirits for ruine ; secondly , ( b ) externall , in judgements and vengeance , which oft times hee beginneth in this life , and will continue unto eternity , ( a ) psal. 110. ioh. 6.46 . & 8 59. & 9.41 . & 12.40 . 2 cor. 10.4 , 5 , 6. 1 cor. 5.6 . 1 tim. 1.20 . ( b ) mark . 16.16 . luk. 19.21 . act. 13.11 . revel. 17.14 . chap. xii . of christs priestly office . q. 1. by what meanes did jesus christ undertake the office of an eternall priest ? a. by ( a ) the decree , ordination , and will of god his father , ( b ) whereunto hee yeelded voluntary obedience , so ( c ) that concerning this , there was a compact and covenant between them . ( a ) psal. 110.4 . heb. 4.5 , 6. & 7.17 , 18. ( b ) esa. 50.4 , 5 , 6. heb. 10 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. ( c ) psal. 2.7 , 8. esa. 53.8 , 10 , 11 , 12. phil. 2.7 , 9. heb. 12.2 . ioh. 17.2 , 4. q. 2. wherein doth his execution of this office consist ? a. in bringing his people unto god , heb. 2.10 . and 4 15. and 7.25 . q. 3. what are the parts of it ? a. first , ( a ) oblation ; secondly , ( b ) intercession (1) ( a ) heb. 9.13 . ( b ) heb. 7.25 . q. 4. what is the oblation of christ ? a. the ( a ) offering up of himselfe upon the altar of the crosse , an holy propitiatory sacrifice , for the sins of all the elect throughout the world , as ( b ) also the presentation of himself for us in heaven , sprinkled with the blood of the covenant . ( a ) esa. 53.10.12 . ioh. 3.16 . & 11.51 , 52. & 17.19 . heb. 9.13 , 14. ( b ) heb. 9.24 . q. whereby doth this oblation doe good unto us ? a. divers wayes : first , in that it satisfyed the justice of god ; secondly , it redeemed us from the power of sin , death , and hell ; thirdly , it ratifyed the new covenant of grace ; fourthly , it procured for us grace here , and glory hereafter ; by all which means , the peace , and reconciliation betweene god and us is wrought , ephes. 2.14 , 15. q. 6. how did the oblation of christ , satisfie gods justice for our sin ? a. in that for us , hee underwent the (2) punishment due to our sin , esa. 53.4 , 5 , 6. ioh. 10.11 . rom. 3.25 , 26. & 4.25 . 1 cor. 15.3 . 2 cor. 5.21 . ephes. 5.2 . 1 pet. 2.24 . q. 7. what was that punishment ? a. the wrath of god , the curse (3) of the law , the paines of hell , due to sinners , in body and soule , gen. 2.17 . deut. 27.27 . esa. 59.2 . rom. 5.12 . ephes. 2.3 . ioh. 3.36 . h●b. 2.14 . q. did christ undergoe all these ? a. yes , in respect of the greatnesse (4) and extremity , not the eternity and continuance of those paines , for it was impossible hee should bee holden of death , matth. 26.38 , 39. mark . 14.33 . & 15.34 . gal. 3.13 . ephes. 2.16 . col. 1.20 . heb. 5.7 . psal. 18 5. q. 9. how could the punishment of one , satisfie for the offence of all ? a. in that hee was not a meere (5) man onely , but god also , of infinite more value then all those who had offended , rom. 5.9 . heb. 9.26 . 1 pet. 3.18 . q. 10. how did the oblation of christ redeem us from death , and hell ? a. first , ( a ) by paying a ransome (6) to god , the judge and law-giver , who had condemned us ; secondly , ( b ) by overcomming , and spoyling satan , death , and the powers of hell , that detained us captives , ( a ) matth. 20.28 . ioh. 6.38 . mark . 10.4 , 5. rom. 3.25 . 1 cor. 6.20 . gal. 3.13 . ephes. 1.7 . 1 tim. 2.6 . heb. 10.9 . ( b ) ioh. 5.24 . col. 2.13 , 14 , 15. 1 thess. 1.10 . heb. 2.14 . 1 pet. 1.18 , 19. q. 11. what was the ransome that christ paid for us ? a. his own pretious blood , act. 20.28 . 1 pet. ● . 19 . q. 12. how was the new covenant ratifyed in his blood ? a. by being accompanyed with (7) his death , for that as all other testaments , was to bee ratifyed by the death of the testator , gen. 22.18 . heb. 9.16 . & 8.10 , 11 , 12. q. 13. what is this new covenant ? a. the gratious , free , immutable promise of god made unto all his elect fallen in adam , to ( b ) give them jesus christ , and ( c ) in him mercy , pardon , grace , and glory , ( d ) with a restipulation of faith from them unto this promise and new obedience . ( a ) gen. 3.15 . ier. 31.32 , 33 ▪ 34. & 32.40 . heb. 8.10 , 11 , 12. ( b ) gal. 3.8.16 . gen. 12.3 . ( c ) rom. 8.32 . ephes. 1.3 , 4. ( d ) mar. 16.16 . ioh. 1.12 . & 10.27 , 28. q. 14. how did christ procure for us grace , faith , and glory ? (9) a. by the way of purchase (8) and merit , for the death of christ deservedly procured of god , that hee should blesse us with all spirituall blessings , needfull for our comming unto him , esa. 53.11 , 12. ioh. 17.2 . act. 20.28 . rom. 5.17 , 18. ephes. 2.15 , 16. & 1.4 . phil. 1.29 . tit. 2.14 . revel. 1.5 , 6. q. 15. what is the intercession of christ ? a. his continuall soliciting (10) of god on our behalf , begun here in fervent prayers , continued in heaven , by appearing as our advocate at the throne of grace , psal. 2.8 . rom. 8.34 . heb. 7.25 . & 9.24 . & 10.19 , 20 , 21. 1 joh. 2.1 , 2. joh. 17. chap. xiii . of christs propheticall office . q. 1. wherein doth the propheticall office of christ consist ? a. in his embassage (1) from god to man , revealing from the bosome of his father , the whole mystery of godlinesse , the way and truth , whereby wee must come unto god , matth. 5. joh. 1.18 . & 3.32 . & 10.9.14 . & 14.5 , 6. & 17.8 . & 18.37 . q. 2. how doth hee exercise this office towards us ? a. by making known (2) the whole doctrine of truth unto us , in a saving and spirituall manner , deut. 18.18 . esa. 42.6 . heb. 3.1 . q ▪ 3. by what means doth hee perform all this ? a. divers , as first , ( a ) internally and effectually by his spirit , writing his law in our hearts ; secondly , ( b ) outwardly , and instrumentally , by the word preached . ( a ) jer. 31.32 , 33. 2 cor. 3.3 . 1 thess. 4.9 . heb. 8.10 . ( b ) joh. 20.31 . 1 cor. 12.28 . ephes. 4.8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. 2 pet. 1.21 . chap. xiv . of the twofold estate of christ . q. 1. in what estate or condition doth christ exercise these offices ? a. in a twofold estate ; first , of humiliation (1) (2) (3) or abasement ; secondly , of exaltation , or glory , phil. 2.8 , 9 , 10. q. 2. wherein consisteth the state of christs humiliation ? a. in three things ; first , ( a ) in his incarnation , or being born of woman ; secondly , ( b ) his obedience or fulfilling the whole law , morall and ceremoniall ; thirdly , in his ( c ) passion or induring all sorts of miseries , even death it self . ( a ) luk. 1.35 . ioh. 1.14 . rom. 1.3 . gal. 4.4 . heb. 2.9 , 14. ( b ) matth. 3.15 . & 5.17 . luk. 2.21 . ioh. 8.46 . 2 cor. 5. 21. 1 pet. 1.19 . 1 ioh. 3.5 . ( c ) psa. 53.4 , 5 , 6. heb. 2.9 . 1 pet. 2.21 . q. 3. wherein consists his exaltation ? a. in first , his resurrection ; secondly , ascension ; thirdly , sitting at the right hand of god ; by all which hee was declared to bee the son of god with power , mat. 28.18 . rom. 1.4 & 4 ▪ 4. ephes. 4.9 . phil. 2.9 , 10. 1 tim. 3.16 . chap. xv . of the persons to whom the benefits of christs offices doe belong . q. 1. vnto whom doe the saving benefits of what christ performeth in the execution of his offices belong ? a. onely to his elect , (1) (2) (3) joh. 17.9 . esa. 63.9 . heb. 3.6 . & 10.21 . q. 2. dyed hee for no other ? a. none , in respect of his fathers eternall purpose , and his own intention , of removing wrath from them , procuring grace and glory for them , act. 20.28 . matth. 20.28 . & 26.28 . heb. 9.28 . joh. 11.51 , 52. esa. 53.12 . ioh. 3.16 . & 10 11 , 12 , 13 , 15. ephes. 5.25 . rom. 8.32.34 . gal. 3.13 . ioh. 6.37.39 . rom. 4.25 . 2 cor. 5.19 , 20. q. 3. what shall become of them for whom christ dyed not ? a. everlasting torments for their sinnes , their portion in their owne place , mark . 16.16 . ioh. 3.36 . matth. 25.41 . act. 1.25 . q. 4. for whom doth he make intercession ? a. onely for those who from eternity were given him by his father , ioh. 17. heb 7.24 , 25. chap. xvi . of the church . q. 1. how are the elect called , in respect of their obedience unto christ , and union with him ? a. his church , act. 20.28 . ephes. 5.32 . q. 2. what is the church of christ ? a. the whole company of gods (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) elect ( a ) , called ( b ) of god , ( c ) by the word and spirit , ( d ) out of their naturall condition , to the dignity of his children , and ( e ) united unto christ their head , by faith in the bond of the spirit . ( a ) act. 2.47 . 1 tim. 5.21 . heb. 12.22 , 23 , 24. ( b ) rom. 1.5 , 6. rom. 9 11.24 . 1 cor. 4.15 . 2 tim. 1.9 . ( c ) act. 16.14 . ioh. 3.8 . 1 cor. 4.15 . 1 pet. 1.23 . heb. 8.10 . ( d ) ephes. 2.11 , 12 , 13. col. 1.13 . heb. 2.14 , 15. 1 pet. 2.9 . ( e ) ioh. 17.21 . ephes. 2.18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22. q. 3. is this whole church alwayes in the same state ? a. no , one part of it is militant , the other triumphant . q. 4. what is the church militant ? a. that portion of gods elect , which in their generation cleaveth unto christ by faith , and fighteth against the world , flesh , and devill , ephes. 6.11 , 12. heb. 11.13 , 14. & 12.1.4 . q. 5. what is the church triumphant ? a. that portion of gods people , who having fought their fight and kept the faith , are now in heaven , resting from their labours , 6 ephes. 5.27 . revel. 3.21 . & ch. 14.13 . q. 6. are not the church of the jews , before the birth of christ , and the church of the christians since , two churches ? a. no , essentially they are but one , differing onely in some outward administrations , ephes. 2.12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. 1 cor. 10.3 . gal. 4.26 , 27. heb. 11.15.26.40 . q. 7. can this church bee wholly overthrown on the earth ? a. no , unlesse the decree of god may bee changed , and the promise of christ faile . matth. 16.18 . & 28.20 . ioh. 14.16 . ioh. 17. 1 tim. 3.15 . 2 tim. 2.19 . chap. xvii . of faith . q. 1. by what meanes doe wee become actuall members of this church of god ? a. by a lively justifying faith , (1) whereby wee are united unto christ , the head thereof , act. 2.47 . & 13.48 . heb. 11.6 . & 12.22 , 23. & 4.2 . rom. 5.1 , 2. ephes. 2.13 , 14. q. 2. what is a justifying faith ? a. a ( a ) gracious resting upon (2) the free promises of god in jesus christ for mercy , ( b ) with a firm perswasion of heart , that god is a reconciled father unto us in the son of his love . ( a ) 1 tim. 1.16 . ioh 13.15 . & 19.25 . rom. 4.5 . ( b ) heb. 4.16 . rom. 8.38 , 39. gal. 2.20 . 2 cor. 5.20 , 21. q. 3. have all this faith ? a. none , but the elect of god , tit. 1.1 . ioh. 10.26 . matth. 13.11 . act. 13.48 . rom. 8.30 . q. doe not then others beleeve that make profession ? a. yes ; with , first , historicall faith , or a perswasion , that the things writen in the word are true , james 2.9 . secondly , temporary faith , which hath some joy of the affections , upon unspirituall grounds , in the things beleeved , matth. 13.20 . mark . 6.20 . joh. 2.23 , 24. act. 8.13 . chap. xviii . of our vocation , or gods calling us . q. 1. how come wee to have this saving faith ? a. it is freely bestowed upon us , and wrought in us , by the spirit of god in our vocation or calling , ioh. 6.29.44 . ephes. 2.8 , 9. phil. 1.29 . 2 thess. 1.11 . q. 2. what is our vocation , or this calling of god ? a. the free gracious (1) (2) act of almighty god , whereby in jesus christ hee calleth and translateth us , from the state of nature , sinne , wrath , and corruption , into the state of grace , and union with christ , by the mighty , effectuall working of his spirit , in the preaching of the word . col. 1.12 , 13. 2 tim. 1.9 . deut. 30.6 . ezek. 36.26 . matth. 11.25 , 26. joh. 1.13 . & 3.3.8 . ephes. 1.19 . col. 2.12 . 1 cor. 4.7 . jam. 1.18 . 2 pet. 2.20 . act. 16.14 . q. 3. what doe wee our selves perform in this change or work of our conversion ? a. nothing at all , being meerly (3) wrought upon by the free grace and spirit of god , when in our selves wee have no ability to any thing that is spiritually good , matth. 7.18 . & 10.20 . joh. 1.13 . & 15.5 . 1 cor. 12.3 . 1 cor. 2.5 . 2 cor. 3.5 . ephes. 2.1.8 . rom. 8.26 . phil. 1.6 . q. 4. doth god thus call all and every one ? a. all within the ●pale of the church are outwardly called by the word , none effectually but the elect , mat. 22.14 . rom. 8.30 . chap. xix . of justification . q. 1. are wee accounted righteous and saved for our faith , when wee are thus freely called ? a. no , but meerely by the imputation of the righteousnesse of christ , apprehended and applyed by faith , for which alone the lord accepts us , as holy and righteous , esa. 43.25 . rom. 3.23 , 24 , 25 , 26. rom. 4.5 . q. 2. what then is our justification , or righteousnesse before god ? a. the gracious free act (1) of god , imputing the righteousnesse of christ to a beleeving sinner , and for that speaking peace unto his conscience , in the pardon of his sin , pronouncing him to bee just , and accepted before him , gen. 15.6 . act. 13.38 , 39. luk. 18.14 . rom. 3.24 , 26.28 . rom. 4.4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. gal. 2.16 . q. 3. are we not then righteous before god by our own works ? a. no , for of themselves , they can neither satisfie his justice , fulfill his law , nor indure his tryall , psal. 130.3 , 4. psal. 143.2 . esa. 64.6 . luk. 17.10 . chap. xx . of sanctification . q. 1. is there nothing then required of us , but faith onely ? a. yes , ( a ) repentance , and ( b ) holinesse , or new obedience . ( a ) act. 20.21 . matth. 3.2 . luk. 13.3 . ( b ) 2 tim. 2.19 . 1 thess. 4.7 . heb. 12.14 . q. 2. what is repentance ? a. godly ( a ) sorrow for every known (1) (2) sin committed against god , ( b ) with a firme purpose of heart , to cleave unto him for the future , ( c ) in the killing of sinne , the quickning of all graces , to walk before him in newnes of life . ( a ) 2 cor. 7.9 , 10 , 11. act. 2.37 . psal. 51.17 . ( b ) psal. 34 14. esa. 1.16 , 17. ezek. 18.27 , 28. act. 14.15 . ( c ) ephes. 4.21 , 22 , 23 , 24. rom. 6.12 , 13.18 , 19. rom. 8.1 . 2 cor. 5.17 . gal. 6.15 . q. 3. can wee doe this of our selves ? a. no , it is a speciall gift and grace of god , which hee bestoweth on whom hee pleaseth , levit. 20.8 . deut. 30.6 . ezek. 11.19 , 20. 2 tim. 2.25 . act. 11.18 . q. 4. wherein doth the beeing of true repentance consist , without which it is not acceptable ? a. in its (3) performance according to the gospel rule , with faith and assured hope of divine mercy , psal. 51.1 . joh. 2.1 , 2. 2 cor. 7.10 , 11. act. 2 38. matth. 27.4 . q. 5. what is that holinesse which is required of us ? a. that ( a ) universall (4) (5) sincere obedience to the whole will of god , ( b ) in our hearts , mindes , wills , and actions , ( c ) whereby wee are in some measure made conformable to christ our head . ( a ) psalm . 119.9 . 1 sam. 15.22 . ioh. 14.15 . rom. 6.9 . heb. 12.14 . tit. 2.12 . 2 pet. 1.5 , 6 , 7. esa. 1.16 , 17. ( b ) 1 chron. 28.9 . deut. 6.5 . matth. 22.37 . ( c ) rom. 8.29 . 1 cor. 11.1 . ephes. 2.21 . col. 3.1 , 2 , 3. 2 tim. 2.11 , 12. q. 6. is this holinesse or obedience in us perfect ? a. yes , ( a ) in respect (6) of all the parts of it , but ( b ) not in respect of the degrees wherein god requires it . ( a ) 2 king. 20.3 . job 1.1 . mat. 5.48 . luk. 1.6 . 2 cor. 7.1 . ephes. 4.24 . tit. 2.12 . ( b ) esa. 64.6 . psal. 130.3 . exod. 28.38 . phil. 3.8 . q. 7. will god accept of that obedience which falls so short of what hee requireth ? a. yes , from them (7) whose persons hee accepteth , and justifyeth freely in jesus christ , rom. 12.1 . phil. 4.18 . heb. 13.16 . 1 ioh. 3.22 . ephes. 1.6 . q. 8. what are the parts of this holinesse ? a. ( a ) internall , in the quickning of all graces , purging all sins ; ( b ) and externall , in fervent and frequent prayers , almes , and all manner of righteousnesse . ( a ) heb. 9.14 . ephes. 3.16 , 17. rom. 2.29 . & 6 ▪ 12. ( b ) matth. 5.20 . rom. 8.1 , 2. ephes. 4.22 , 23. tit. 2.12 . particular precepts are innumerable . q. 8. may not others perform these duties acceptably , as well as those that beleeve ? a. no , (8) all their performances in this kinde are but abominable sins before the lord , prov. 15.8 . joh. 9.31 . tit. 1.15 . heb. 11.6 . chap. xxi . of the priviledges of beleevers . q. 1. what are the priviledges of those that thus beleeve and repent ? a. first , union with christ ; secondly , adoption of children ; thirdly , christian liberty ; fourthly , a spirituall holy right to the seales of the new covenant ; fifthly , communion with all saints ; sixthly , resurrection of the body unto life eternall . q. 2. what is our union with christ ? a. an ( a ) holy spirituall (1) (2) conjunction unto him , as our ( b ) head , ( c ) husband , and ( d ) foundation , ( e ) whereby wee are made partakers of the same spirit with him , ( f ) and derive all good things from him . ( a ) 1 cor. 12.12 . ioh. 15.1 , 2.5 , 6 , 7. & 17.23 . ( b ) ephes. 4.15 . & 5.23 . col. 1.18 . ( c ) 2 cor. 11.2 . ephes. 5.25 , 26 , 27. revel. 21.9 . ( d ) matth. 16.18 . ephes. 2.20 , 21 , 22. 1 pet. 2.4 , 5 , 6 , 7. ( e ) rom. 8.9.11 . gal. 4.6 . phil. 1.19 . ( f ) ioh. 1.12.16 . ephes. 1.3 . q. 3. what is our adoption ? a. our gracious reception into the family of god , as his children , and co-heirs with christ , ioh. 1.12 . rom. 8.15.17 . gal. 4.5 . ephes. 1.5 . q. 4. how come wee to know this ? a. by the especiall working of the holy (3) spirit in our heart● , sealing unto us the promises of god and raising up our soules to an assured expectation of the promised inheritance , rom. 8.15.17 . ephes. 4.30 . 1 ioh. 3.1 . rom. 8 19.23 . titus 2.12 . q. 5. what is our christian liberty ? a. an (4) holy and spirituall ( a ) freedome from the ( b ) slavery of sin , the ( c ) bondage of death and hell ; the ( d ) curse of the law , ( e ) jewish ceremonies , and ( f ) thraldome of conscience , purchased for us by jesus christ , and ( g ) revealed to us by the holy spirit . ( a ) gal. 5.1 . ( b ) ioh. 8.32 , 34 , 36. rom. 6.17 , 18. esa. 61.1 . 1 ioh. 1.7 . 2 cor. 5.21 . ( c ) rom. 8.15 . heb. 2.15 . 1 cor. 15.55 , 57. ( d ) gal. 3.13 . ephes. 2.15 , 16. gal. 4.5 . rom. 8.1 . ( e ) act. 15.10 , 11. gal. 3.4 , 5. chapters . ( f ) 2 cor. 1.24 . 1 cor. 7.23 . 1 pet. 2.16 . ( g ) 1 cor. 2.12 . q. 6. are wee then wholly freed from the morall law ? a. yes , as ( a ) a covenant (5) or as it hath any thing in it , bringing into bondage , as the curse , power , dominion , and rigid exaction of obedience , ( b ) but not as it is a rule of life and holinesse , ( a ) jer. 31 31 , 32 , 33. rom. 7.1 , 2 , 3. rom. 6.14 . gal. 3.19.24 . rom. 8.2 . gal. 5.18 . ( b ) mat. 5.17 . rom. 3 31. & 7.13.22 , 25. q. 7. are wee not freed by christ from the magistrates power , and humane authority ? a. no , being ordained of (6) god , and commanding for him , we owe them all lawfull obedience , rom. 13.1 , 2 , 3 , 4. 1 tim. 2.1 , 2. 1 pet. 2.13.14 , 15. chap. xxii . of the sacraments of the new covenant in particular , a holy right whereunto , is the fourth priviledge of beleevers . q. 1. what are the seales of the new testament ? a. sacraments instituted of christ to bee visible seales and pledges , whereby god in him confirmeth the promises of the covenant to all beleevers , restipulating of them , growth in faith and obedience , mark . 16.16 . joh. 3.5 . act. 2.38 . & 22.16 . rom. 4.11 . 1 cor. 10.2 , 3 , 4. 1 cor. 11.26 , 27 , 28 , 29. q. 2. how doth god by these sacraments bestow grace upon us ? a. not by any (1) reall , essentiall conveying of spirituall grace , by corporeall meanes , but by the way of promise , obsignation and covenant , confirming the grace wrought in us by the word and spirit , heb. 4.2 . 1 cor. 10. rom 4.11 . & 1.17 . mark . 16.16 . ephes. 5.26 . q. 3. how doe our sacraments differ from the sacraments of the jewes ? a. accidentally onely , in things concerning the outward matter and form , as their number , quality , clearnesse of signification , and the like , not essentially in the things signified , or grace confirmed , 1 cor. 10.1 , 2 , 3 , &c. joh. 6.35 . 1 cor. 5.7 . phil. 3.3 . col. 2.11 . chap. xxiii . of baptisme . q. 1. which are these sacraments ? a. baptisme and the lords supper . q. 2. what is baptisme ? a. an ( a ) holy action appointed (1) (2) of christ , whereby being sprinkled with water in the name of the whole trinity , by a lawfull minister of the church , ( b ) wee are admitted into the family of god , ( c ) and have the benefits of the blood of christ confirmed unto us . ( a ) matth. 28.19 . mark . 16.15 , 16. ( b ) act. 2.41 . & 8.37 . ( c ) act. 2.38 , 39. joh. 3.5 . rom. 6.3 , 4 , 5. 1 cor. 12.13 . q. 3. to whom doth this sacrament belong ? a. unto all , to whom the promise of the covenant is made , that is , to beleevers and to their seed , act. 2.39 . gen. 17.11 , 12. act. 16.15 . rom. 4.10 , 11. 1 cor. 7.14 . q. 4. how can baptisme seale the pardon of all sins to us , all our personall sins following it ? a. inasmuch as it is a seale of that promise which gives pardon of all to beleevers , act. 2.39 . rom. 4.11 , 12. chap. xxiv . of the lords supper . q. 1. what is the lords supper ? a. an ( a ) holy action instituted and (1) appointed by christ , ( b ) to set forth his death , ( c ) and communicate unto us spiritually his body and blood , by faith , being ( d ) represented by bread and wine , ( e ) blessed by his word , and prayer , ( f ) broken , (2) powred out , and received of beleevers . ( a ) mat. 26.20 , 21 , luk. 22.14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. 1 cor. 11 ▪ 23 , 24. ( b ) luk. 22.19 . 1 cor. 11.25 , 26. ( c ) mark . 14.22 , 23 , 24. 1 cor. 11.24 , 25. joh. 6.63 . ( d ) 1 cor. 11.23 , 25. ( e ) 1 cor. 11.24 . mat. 26.26 . ( f ) mat. 26.26 . mark . 14.22 . luk. 22.19 . q. 2. when did christ appoint this sacrament ? a. on the night wherein hee was betrayed to suffer , 1 cor. 11.23 . q. 3. whence is the right use of it to bee learned ? a. from the word , (3) practice , and actions of our saviour , at its institution . q. 4. what were the actions of our saviour to bee imitated by us ? a. first , blessing the elements by prayer ; secondly , breaking the bread , and powring out the wine ; thirdly , distributing them to the receivers , sitting in a table gesture , matth. 26.26 . mark . 14.22 . luk. 22.19 , 20. 1 cor. 11.23 , 24. q. 5. what were the words of christ ? a. first , of command , take eate ; secondly , of promise , this is my body ; thirdly , of institution , for perpetuall use , this doe , &c. 1 cor. 11.24 , 25 , 26. q. 6. who are to bee (4) (5) receivers of this sacrament ? a. those onely have a true right to the signes , who by faith have an holy interest in christ , the thing signifyed , 1 cor. 11.27 , 28 , 29. joh. 6.63 . q. 7. do the elements remain bread and wine still , after the blessing of them ? a. yes , all the spirituall change is wrought by the faith of the receiver , not the words of the giver ; to them that beleeve , they are the body and blood of christ , joh. 6.63 . 1 cor. 10.4 . & 11.29 . chap. xxv . of the communion of saints , the fifth priviledge of beleevers . q ▪ 1. what is the communion of saints ? a. an holy conjunction (1) between all gods people , wrought by their participation of the same spirit whereby wee are all made members of that one body , whereof christ is the head , c●nt . 6.9 . ier. 32.39 . ioh. 17.22 . 1 cor. 12.12 . ephes. 4.3 , 4 , 5 , 6.13 . 1 ioh. 1.3.6 , 7. q. 2. of what sort is this union ? a. first , ( a ) spirituall and internall , in the injoyment of the same spirit and graces , which is the union of the church catholick ; secondly , ( b ) externall and ecclesiasticall in the same outward ordinances , which is the union of particular congregations , ( a ) 1 cor. 12.12 , 13. ephes. 2.16 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22. 1 cor. 10.17 . ioh. 17.11.21 , 22. ioh. 10.16 . heb. 2.11 . ( b ) 1 cor. 1.10 , 11. rom. 12.5 . 1 cor. 12.27 , 28. ephes. 4.11 , 12 , 13. phil. 2.2 . col. 3.15 . 1 pet. 3.8 . chap. xxvi . of particular churches . q. 1. what are particular churches ? a. peculiar ( a ) assemblies (1) (2) of professors in one place , ( b ) under officers of christs institution , ( c ) injoying the ordinances of god , ( d ) and leading lives beseeming their holy calling . ( a ) act. 11.26 . 1 cor. 4.17 . & 11.12 . 2 cor. 1.1 . ( b ) act. 20.17.28 . & 14.23 . 2 cor. 8.23 . heb. 13.17 . ( c ) 1 cor. 1.5 . revel. 2.1 , 2 , 3. ( d ) 2 thess. 3.5.6.11 . gal. 6.16 . phil. 3.18 . 1 thess. 2.12 . q. 2. what are the ordinary officers of such churches ? a. first , ( a ) pastors or doctors (3) to teach and exhort ; secondly , ( b ) elders to assist in rule and government ; thirdly , ( c ) deacons to provide for the poore . ( a ) rom. 12.7 , 8. ephes. 4.11 . 1 cor. 12.28 . ( b ) rom. 12.8 . 1 tim. 5.17 . ( c ) act. 6.2 , 3. q. 3. what is required of these officers , especially the chiefest , or ministers ? a. ( a ) that they bee faithfull in the ministry committed unto them , ( b ) sedulous in dispensing the word , ( c ) watching for the good of the soules committed to them , ( d ) going before them in an example of all godlinesse and holinesse of life . ( a ) 1 cor. 4.2 . act. 20.18 , 19 , 20. ( b ) 2 tim. 2.15 . & 4.1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. ( c ) tit. 1.13 . 1 tim. 4.15 , 16. ( d ) tit. 2.7 . 1 tim. 4.12 . matth. 5.16 . act. 25. q. 4. what is required in the people unto them ? a. obedience ( a ) to their message and ministery , ( b ) honour and love to their persons , ( c ) maintenance to them and their families . ( a ) 2 cor. 5.20 . rom. 6.17 . heb. 13.17 . 2 thess. 3.14 . rom. 16.19 . 2 cor. 10.4 , 5 , 6. ( b ) 1 cor. 4.1 . gal. 4.14 . 1 tim. 5.17 , 18. ( c ) luk. 10.7 . jam. 5.4 . 1 tim. 5.17 , 18. 1 cor. 9.9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a53723e-480 chap. 1. of the greater . chap. 2. chap. 3. chap. 4. chap. 5 , 6. chap. 7. chap. 8. chap. 9. chap. 10. chap. 11. chap. 12. chap. 13. chap. 14. chap. 15. chap. 16. chap. 17. chap. 18. chap. 19. chap. 20. chap. 21. chap. 22. chap. 23. chap. 24. chap. 25. notes for div a53723e-1960 (1) every one out of this way everlastingly damned . (2) the life of religion is in the life . (3) popish traditions are false lights leading from god . (4) the authority of the scripture dependeth not on the authority of the church , as the papists blaspheme . (5) all humane inventions , unnecessary helps in the worship of god . (6) the word therefore is the sole directory for faith , worship , and life . (7) this alone perswadeth , & inwardly convinceth the heart , of the divine verity of the scripture : other motives also there are from without , and unanswerable arguments to prove the truth of them : as , i their antiquity ; 2 preservation from fury ; 3 prophesies in them ; 4 the holinesse and majesty of their doctrine , agreeable to the nature of god ; 5 miracles ; 6 the testimony of the church of all ages ; 7 the blood of innumerable martyrs , &c. (1) the perfection of gods beeing is known of us chiefly by removing all imperfections . (2) hence , the abominable vanity of idolaters and of the blasphemous papists that picture god . (3) let us prostrate our selves in holy adoration of that which we cannot comprehend . (4) the divers names of god , signifie one and the same thing , but under divers notions , in respect of our conception . (1) some of these attributes belong so unto god , as that they are in no sort to bee ascribed to any else , as infinitenesse , eternity , &c. others are after a sort attributed to some of his creatures , in that hee communicateth unto them some of the effects of them in himself as life , goodnesse , &c. (2) the first of these are motives to humble adoration , feare , self abhorrency ; the other , to faith , hope , love , and confidence through jesus christ . (3) nothing is to bee ascribed unto god , nor imagined of him , but what is exactly agreeable to those his glorious properties . (4) these last are no lesse essentiall unto god then the former , onely wee thus distinguish them , because these are chiefly seen in his works . (1) this is that mysterious ark that must not bee pryed into , nor the least tittle spoken about it , wherein plain scripture goeth not before . (2) to deny the deity of any one person , is in effect to deny the whole god ▪ head , for whosoever hath not the sonne , hath not the father . (3) this onely doctrine remained undefiled in the papacy . (4) wee must labour to make our comfort from the proper work of every person towards us . (1) the purposes and decrees of god ▪ so far as by him revealed , are objects of our faith , and full of comfort . (2) further reasons of gods decrees then his owne will , not to bee enquired after . (3) the changes in the scrip●ure ascribed unto god , are onely in the outward dispensations and works , variously tending to one infallible event , by him proposed . (4) the arminians blaspheme in saying , god sometimes failes of his purposes . (5) the decree of election is the fountain of all spirituall graces , for they are bestowed only on the elect . (6) in nothing doth naturall corruption more exalt it self against god , then in opposing the freedome of his grace in his eternall decrees . from the execution of these decrees , flows that variety and difference , wee see in the dispensation of the means of grace , god sending the gospel where he hath a remnant according to election . (1) the very outward works of god are sufficient to convince men of his eternall power & god-head , and to leave them inexcusable , if they serve him not . (2) the glory of god is to be preferred above our own , either beeing , or well-beeing , as the supreme end of them . (3) the approaching unto god in his service , is the chiefe exaltation of our nature above the beasts that perish . (4) god never allowed from the beginning , that the will of the creature , should bee the measure of his worship , and honour . (5) though we have all lost our right unto the promise of the first covenant , yet all not restored by christ , are under the commination & curse thereof . (1) to this providence is to bee ascribed all the good wee do injoy , and al the afflictions we undergoe . (2) fortune , chance , & the like , are names without things , scarce fit to bee used among christians , seeing providence certainly ruleth all to appointed ends . (3) no free will in man , exempted either from the eternall decree , or the over-ruling providence of god . (4) though the dispensations of gods providence towards his people be various , yet every issue and act of it , tends to one certain end , their good in his glory . (5) almighty god knows how to bring light out of darknesse , good out of evill , the salvation of his elect , out of judas treachery , the jewes cruelty , and pilates injustice . (1) this law of god bindeth us now , not because delivered to the jews on mount horeb , but because writen in the hearts of all by the finger of god at the first . (2) after the fall the law ceased to bee a rule of justification , and became a rule for sanctification only . (3) it is of free grace that god giveth power to yeeld any obedience , and accepteth of any obedience , that is no● perfect . (1) this is that which commonly is called originall sin , which in generall deno●eth the whole misery and corruption of our nature , as first , the guilt of adams actuall sin to us imputed ; secondly , losse of gods glorious image , innocency , and holinesse , thirdly , deriving by propagation a nature ; 1 defiled with the pollution ▪ 2 laden with the guilt ; 3 subdued to the power of sin ; 4 a being exposed to all temporall miseries , leading to , and procuring death ; 5 an alienation from god , with voluntary obedience to satan , and lust ; 6 an utter disability to good , or to labour for mercy ; 7 eternall damnation of body and soule in hell . (2) all that a naturall man hath on this side hell , is free mercy . (3) the end of this is jesus christ to all that flye for refuge to the hope set before them . (1) this is that great mystery of godlinesse , that the angels themselves admire : the most transcendent expression of gods infinite love : the laying forth of all the treasures of his wisdome and goodnesse . (1) though our saviour christ bee one god with his father , hee is not one person with him . (2) jesus christ is god and man in one , not a god , and a man : god incarnate , not a man deified . 3 the essentiall properties of either nature , remain in his person theirs still , not communicated unto the other , as of the deity to be eternall , every where , of the humanity to be born and dye . 4 what ever may bee said of either nature , may bee said of his whole person : so god may be said to die , but not the god-head , the man christ to be every where but not his humanity , for his one person is all this . 5 the monstrous figment of transubstantiation , or christs corporall presence in the sacrament , fully overthrowes our saviours humane nature , & makes him a meer shadow . 6 all naturall properties are double in christ , as will , &c. still distinct : all personall , as subsistence , single . (1) in the exercise of these offices ▪ christ is also the sole head , husband , & first-born of the church . (2) papall usurpation upon these offices of christ , manifest the pope to be the man of sin . (3) christs subjects are all born rebels , & are stubborn , untill hee make them obedient , by his word and spirit . (4) christ hath not delegated his kingly power of law-making for his church , to any here below . (5) the end of christ in exercising his kingly power over his enemies , is the glory of his gospel , and the good of his people . (1) against both these the papists are exceedingly blasphemous ; against the one by making their masse a sacrifice for sins , the other by making saints mediators of intercession . (2) christs undergoing punishment for us was , first , typifyed by the old sacrifices ; secondly , foretold in the first promise ; thirdly , made lawfull and valid in it selfe ; first , by gods determination , the supreame law-giver ; secondly , his own voluntary undergoing it ; thirdly , by a relaxation of the law , in regard of the subject punished : fourthly , beneficiall to us , because united to us , as first , our head ; secondly , our elder brother ; thirdly , our sponsor or surety ; fourthly , our husband ; fifthly , our god or redeemer , &c. (3) no change in all these , but what necessary follows the change of the persons sustaining . (4) the death that christ underwent was eternall , in its own nature & tendance , not so to him , because of his holinesse , power , and the unity of his person . (5) hee suffered not as god , but hee suffered who was god . (6) wee are freed from the anger of god , by a perfect 〈…〉 dring to the full 〈◊〉 of what he required , from the power of satan by absolute conquest on our behalfe . (7) the new covenant , is christs legacy , in his last will , unto his people the eternall inheritance of glory being conveyed therby . (9) all these holy tru●hs are directly denyed by the blasphemous socinians & of the papists with their merits , masses , penance , & purgatory , by consequent , overthrown . (8) the death of christ was satisfactory in respect of the strict justice of god , meritorious in respect of the covenant between him and his father . (10) to make saints our intercessours , is ●o renounce jesus christ from being a sufficient saviour . (1) christ differed from all other prophets first , in his sending , which was immediately from the bosome of his father ; secondly , his assistance , which was the fulnesse of the spirit ; thirdly , his manner of teaching , with authority . (2) to accuse his word of imperfection in doctrine or discipline , is to deny him a perfect prophet or to have born witnesse unto all truth . (1) the humiliation of christ , shews us what wee must here doe , and suffer : his exaltation , what wee may hope for . (2) the first of these holds forth his mighty love to us , the other his mighty power in himself . (3) the onely way to heaven is by the cr●sse . (1) christ giveth life to all that world for whom he gave his life . (2) none that hee dyed for shall ever dye . (3) to say that christ dyed for every man universally , is to affirm that hee did no more for the elect , then the reprobates , for them that are saved , then for them that are damned , which is the arminian blasphemy . (1) the elect angels belong to this church . (2) no distance of time or place breaks the unity of this church ; heaven & earth , from the beginning of the wo●ld unto the end , are comprized in it . (3) no mention in scripture of any church in purgatory . (4) this is the catholick church , though that term ●ee not to bee found in the word in this sense , the thing it self is obvious . (5) the pope challenging unto himselfe the title of the head of the catholick church , is blasphemously rebellious against jesus christ . 6 this is that ark , out of which whosoever is , shall surely perish . (1) of this faith the holy spirit , is the efficient cause , the word the instrumentall , the law indirectly , by discovering our m●sery ; the gospel immediately by holding forth a saviour . (2) faith is in the understanding , in respect of its beeing , & subsistence in the will & heart in respect of its effectual working . (1) our effectuall calling is the first effect of our everlasting election . (2) wee have no actuall interest in , nor right unto christ , untill wee are thus called . (3) they who so boast of the strength of free will , in the work of our conversion , are themselves an example what it is , being given up to so vile an errour , destitute of the grace of god . (1) legall , & evangelicall justification differ ; first , on the part of the persons to bee justifyed : the one requiring a person legally and perfectly righteous , the other a beleeving sinner ; secondly , on the part of god , who in the one is a severe righteous judge , in the other , a mercifull reconciled father ; thirdly , in the sentence , which in the one , acquitteth , as having done nothing amisse , the other as having all amisse pardoned . (1) repentance includeth first , alteration of the minde , into a hatred of sin , before loved ; secondly , sorrow of the affections , for sin committed ; thirdly , change of the actions arising from both . (2) repentance is either legall , servile , and terrifying , from the spirit of bondage : or , evangelicall , filiall , and comforting , from the spirit of free grace and liberty , which onely is availeable . (3) every part of popish repentance , viz. contrition , confession , & satisfaction , was performed by judas . (4) all faith & profession without this holines is vain and of no effect (5) true faith can no more be wi●hout true holinesse , then true fire without heat . (6) merit of works in unprofitable servants , no way able to do their duty , is a popish mi●acle . (7) in christ are our persons accepted freely , and for him our obedience . (8) the best duties of unbeleevers , are but white sins . (1) by vertue of this union , christ suffereth in our afflictions , and wee fill up in our bodies what remaineth as his . (2) from christ as head of the church , wee have spirituall life , sense , and motion , or growth in grace ; secondly , as the husband of the church , love , and redemption ; thirdly , as the foundation thereof , stability , and perseverance . (3) this is that great honour & dignity of beleevers , which exalts them to a despising all earthly thrones (4) our liberty is our inheritance here below , which wee ought to contend for , against all opposers . (5) nothing makes men condemn the law as a rule , but hatred of that universall holinesse which it doth require . (6) rule and authority are as necessary for humane society , as fire and water for our lives . (1) this is one of the greatest mysteries of the roman magick and jugling , that corporall elements should have a power to forgive sins , and confer spirituall grace . (1) not the want , but the con●empt of this sacrament is damnable . (2) it is hard to say whether the errour of the papists , requiring baptisme of absolute indispensable necessity to the salvation of every infant ; or that of the anabaptists , debarring them from it altogether , bee the most uncharitable . (1) baptisme is the sacrament of our new birth , this of our further growth in christ . (2) no part of christian religion , was ever so vilely contaminated & abused by profane wretches , as this pure , holy , plain action , and institution of our saviour : witnesse the popish horrid monster of transubstantiation , and their idolatrous masse . (3) what ever is more then these , is of our own . (4) faith in gods promises which it doth confirm , union with christ , whereof it is a seale , and obedience to the right use of the ordinance it self , is required of all receivers . (5) there is no● any one action pertaining to the spirituall nature of this sacrament , not any end put upon it by christ ; as first , the partaking of his body and blood ; secondly , setting forth of his death for us ; thirdly , declaring of our union with him and his , but require faith , grace , and holinesse in the receivers . (1) by vertue of this we partake in all the good and evill of the people of god through out the world . (1) every corruption doth not presently unchurch a people . (2) unholines of fellow-worshippers , defileth not gods ordinances . (3) ministers are the bishops of the lord ; lord-bishops , came from rome . the shipwrack of all false churches: and the immutable safety and stability of the true church of christ. occasioned: by doctour chamberlen his mistake of her, and the holy scriptures also, by syllogising words, to find out spirituall meanings, when in such cases it is the definition, not the name, by which things are truly knowne. graunt, john, of bucklersbury. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a85548 of text r207205 in the english short title catalog (thomason e674_21). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 88 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 15 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a85548 wing g1594 thomason e674_21 estc r207205 99866274 99866274 118541 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a85548) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 118541) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 103:e674[21]) the shipwrack of all false churches: and the immutable safety and stability of the true church of christ. occasioned: by doctour chamberlen his mistake of her, and the holy scriptures also, by syllogising words, to find out spirituall meanings, when in such cases it is the definition, not the name, by which things are truly knowne. graunt, john, of bucklersbury. [4], 24 p. printed, and are to be sold by g. calvert, at the west end of pauls, and j. hancock in popes-head-alley, london : 1652. attributed to john graunt. a reply to an untraced tract by peter chamberlen. annotation on thomason copy: "august. 31.". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng chamberlen, peter, 1601-1683. religion -early works to 1800. clergy -england -early works to 1800. theology -early works to 1800. a85548 r207205 (thomason e674_21). civilwar no the shipwrack of all false churches: and the immutable safety and stability of the true church of christ.: occasioned: by doctour chamberle graunt, john, of bucklersbury. 1652 16617 38 0 0 0 0 0 23 c the rate of 23 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-06 john pas sampled and proofread 2008-06 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the shipwrack of all false churches : and the immutable safety and stability of the true church of christ . occasioned : by doctour chamberlen his mistake of her , and of the holy scriptures also , by syllogising words , to find out spirituall meanings , when in such cases it is the definition , not the name , by which things are truly knowne . jer. 9. trust not in lying words , saying the temple of the lord , the temple of the lord , &c. psal. 87. 2. the lord loveth the gates of sion more then all the dwellings of jacob . matth. 12. 36 , 37. but i say unto you , that every idle word that men shall speake , they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement . for by thy words thou shalt be justified , and by thy words thou shalt be condemned . london : printed , and are to be sold by g. calvert , at the west end of pauls , and j. hancock in popes-head . alley . 1652. to the church of christ at london , beloved of god , called by the spirit , to be saints in christ jesus . all grace be multiplyed . faithfull friends ; in love to you and the truth , i have undertaken in your cause , and in the right of you all , to discover a counterfeit friend , whom i lately met with , that did aver to my selfe , and to others of your society ▪ that , to be your state and condition , your devotion , fruit , and manifestation , which upon triall proved no better then carnall and sensuall . and having received perfect knowledge of you by the same spirit that doth make and constitute you , i could not keep silence , but instantly reproved him openly : yet notwithstanding that publick disclaim i made of what he said , he hath since printed that which he then verbally avouched , which is so unsavory , and to your holy and pure nature so contrary . from which aspersion to free you , i have made bold to declare and make knowne your holy and spirituall birth , life , constitution , fellowship , communion , hope , and worship , in the purity and spirituall part of gods ordinances : your divine communion with the father , and with the son , in the spirit , your righteous garments without you , and gods habitation , with his comfortable refreshments within you , your peculiar treasures and priviledges in knowing the truth , and the administration of it also , the heavenly power you have with christ , and what it is indeed to be gathered together in his name , and how clear and intire you stand distinct from all other churches that boldly call themselves by your titles and appellations , and lay claim to your own immunities , and priviledges also , with such particular letters that have passed interchangeably between us , touching the vindication of you in the premises , who am the lords and yours , in all humble service , in the truth . j. g. bucklersbury , the 25th of june , 1652. sir ; i have twice borne your contemptuous slightings , although what i moved was seasonable , both for gods glory , and the present occasion . and had not earnest businesse caused my long absence from london , you should have heard of me before this time , to have required an account concerning your great seemings to no purpose . sir , as there was in times past an outward appearance , that was not righteous , so there is still in this present time , which was as much manifested by your selfe in those arguings , where i was with you at mr webbs , as ever heretofore by any of your generation . now since my returne to london , i have seen you have printed a monument of your owne weaknesse , which except you repent of , will unavoydably redound to your great prejudice , and if you will give me satisfaction in the two particulars i reproved you in , well ; if not , i shall publish not only my reproofe of those two arguments , but of every thing else you then spake of , and since have printed ; this is the mind of him that answered your uncivill questions , what he was that spake , and how in profession , where for habitation , and his distinction for nomination , who then told you he was alwayes ready to meet you at any time to discover the fallacy of your baptisme and church also . subscribing my name as it is , john graunt , dwelling as abovesaid , at the signe of the halfe moon . london , the 9th of july , 1652. sir ; the last month i gave you to understand of your incivility towards me , intimating the time and place also ; and because your regardlesnesse is still continued , i thought good the second time to write , although you denyed me to speak , once and againe , and to let you to know that there is not a more certaine time of sinning against god , his truth , and children , then of suffering for wronging them . for he that affirms , that to be the church of christ that is not , wrongs the lord the husband , and his holy spouse also . and he that gives any other meaning of the scripture , then what the holy ghost intendeth , hurts and wounds the truth of gods testimonies , and his children also . now the truth is , thou art the man that hast blasphemed the tabernacle of god , and them that dwell therein , affirming her to be untempered morter , and fading ▪ that is true , dureable , & everlasting . and that to be the meaning of christ , mat ▪ 16. 17. and the apostle , rom. 10. 9 ; 10. which was never meant nor intended by them . sir , you did not consider the scriptures when you read them , if you had , you might have discerned the meaning otherwise then that you have there declared : and if it be possible , look on the text with a single eye , and then you may perceive more then yet you have , for this is a spirituall scripture , and none but spirituall eyes can discern it . in the letter it runs thus , upon peters confession . thou art christ ; the son of the living god . jesus answered and said unto him , blessed art thou simon , &c. for flesh and bloud hath not revealed this unto thee , but my father which is in heaven . you see the lord pronounces him blessed , because he was one that the lord had inspired , taught , and instructed ; that it was not peters confession as he was a naturall , but as he was a spirituall man , and so uttered from the spirit of adoption , as in another place the same apostle speaking to the same purpose , we beleeve and are sure that thou art that christ , the son of the living god . and as in the foregoing words he calls him lord , saying , whether shall we goe , thou hast the words of eternall life . again , consider the terms he useth ▪ we beleeve and are sure ; this sure and stedfast faith is that faith which ●●y had that received him , that is , that loved , understood , and obeyed him , to whom he gave the priviledge of sonship , even them that beleeve on his name , and then he shewes what manner of men they are in these words , which were borne ( saith he ) not of blood , nor of the will of the flesh , nor of the will of man , but of god : so then this blessed confession is from a blessed man , a regenerated man , the confession of a child of the covenant , as the apostle paul in the other place saith , speaking in the meaning of the lord , the word is nigh thee ( saith he ) even in thy mouth , and in thy heart : that is ( or this is ) the word of faith which we preach , the word or covenant of promise : that is , whoever by vertue of the new covenant , the word or statute of life , the covenant of grace , shall be born again , and shall beleeve in his heart , and confesse with his mouth , the lord jesus , as before is shewed , he shall be saved , for such a one is the child of salvation . now doctour , see how you have wronged these scriptures by making the first a ground of a long discourse of philosophy , in declaring to the people how in the improvement of naturall faculties , first the judgement is informed , then the will consenteth , and accordingly the affections are exercised . i tell you the truth doctour , i was ashamed of your doctrine , and that made me speak , though you returned me a scoffe . and when your wisdom led you to shew us the meaning of the apostles tearms ( believing and confessing ) by a sillogisme without distinguishing the meanings that were of divers significations in the word of god , i was so bold as to tell you before all the people your argument was fallacious , and tended to deceive , because the tearms were dubious : and then you scorn'd and despis'd me again . and according to these corrupt expositions , are all the rest of your arguings , whereof , except you prevent me by your speedy repentance , i shall make a publick anatomy to the view of the world , and subscribe my name your friend , john graunt . sir , i received a thing subscribed with your name , full of basket-hilted words and quarrelsome phrases , to provoke me to a challenge ( as i suppose ) about mr cranfords dispute at mr webbs ; and in justification of your uncivill behaviour there , which not i , but your own party rebuked . the businesse concerns mr cranford , and how you should come to interest your selfe in it , i know not . if mr cranford be pleased to resigne it to you under his hand , i shall accept it . if any thing else lye upon your stomach , you may signifie what it is , and you need not doubt of a reasonable answer from june 30. 1652. peter chamberlen . london , th●●● of july , 1652. sir , yesterday i received a letter from you , dated june 30. 1652. which antedated the last from me of the 3d instant , which had you seen before you had written this , i suppose your mind would not have been as here is expressed , for therein you might have understood no carnall quarrelling , nor provocation to fleshly challenges , nor vaine and uncivill expressions of basket hilted words , nor any private naturall mans suppositions , but a clear , plain , and earnest contention for the doctrine of faith once delivered to the saints , clearly discovered , and not dissembled , nor counterfeited ; minding more the spirit of faith , by which gods servants are inabled to speak then this or that mans busines . and a child of truth that hath his right or interest therein , they hear , they receive , they understand , they beleive the voyce of their shepheard , but a strangers voyce they will not , they cannot , they may not hear and receive : and of the same nature was yours , as i have signified twice before . at this time , i shall deal only with you , i speak not of others , and mind no such resignation as you speak of , but a vindication of the truth of god , from you withholding it in unrighteousnesse , and pray for your repentance , to become truths friend ; truly and plainly to distinguish between divinity and philosophy ; and of terms also , to preserve differing proprieties , and the contrary lyes on my stomach undigested . yours , john graunt . sir , the last night late , i met with a more civill letter of yours , and surely therein you shall not outdoe me . wherefore now , taking all your a reproaches of me , as done out of zeal and conscience , i can willingly passe them by , and endeavour to satisfie you in whatsoever you may make a scruple ▪ ( as far as the lord shall enable me . ) in your letter july 2d you say he that affirmeth that to bee the church of christ which is not , wrongs the lord , &c. and he that gives any other meaning of the scripture then what the holy ghost intendeth , hurts and wounds the truth of gods testimony , &c. to both these i b assent . let us therefore see whether i be the man that have blasphemed ( as ye say ) and i shall not dare to maintain it ; i shall also desire you in the like candour to lay these rules to heart , and examine your selfe . you say i affirm her that is true , durable , and everlasting , to be fading , and framed with untempered morter ; and that to be the meaning of christ ▪ matthew 16. 17. and of the apostle , rom. 10. 9 , 10. which was never meant , nor intended by them , which if i were guilty of , i confesse your accusation just . let us therefore speak of them both apart . first of the first , wherein we must first endeavour to bring your words to your meaning , or your meaning to your words . for if it c relate unto the first rules set down , it is a kind of contradiction . the rule intimating the making of a false church to appear as a true : the other , the making of a true church to be as a false . but if you mean two severall things , then i suppose your rule would infer an imputation on me of having maintained our church to be the church of christ , which you say is not so , and your church not to be the church of christ , which neverthelesse is so . for ( surely ) you mean not that ever i affirmed the church of christ to be fading , and framed with untempered morter , but rather that such churches which were so fading , and framed with untempered morter , are not the churches of christ . now that whereby we aver our selves to be the true church of christ , is by keeping the d pure ordinances of christ , according to his word ; and if you think otherwise , you should instance in any perticular . on the other side , we say that yours is not the true church of christ , because you keep not the true ordinances of christ according to his word . and we instance in baptisme , and the lords supper , and could instance in more . now this we doe not for any spleen or malice , ( for i say the same things to my best friends ) but that i might provoke you and them to examine your selves exactly by the word of god , and forsake the traditions of men . as to the scriptures mentioned , mat. 16. 17. the word it seems saith it was the father that revealed it to peter , and not e flesh and blood , which thing i brought to prove that the knowledge of truth commeth not by flesh and bloud , but by revelation from god . and rom. 10. 9. & 10. was no whit clouded or disparaged by the philosophicall discourse of f experience ( as you suppose ) since david ( psal. 19. & 104. &c. ) and christ himselfe is full of excellent philosophy , both morall and naturall ( mat. 5. 6. 7. chap. 5. ) and all throughout the gospel . so paul ( acts 14. 17. ) &c. be not offended at philosophy ( which is the work and providence of god ) unlesse it be vaine philosophy , which is against god . if any of my syllogisms were fallacious , surely you were more quick then mr cranford , and all the schollars there to discerne it , and truly know it better then my selfe : for i know of none , nor meant none , shew it , and i shall amend it . your last letter from john 10. 5. i confesse in all senses true ; and whosoever is but taught of man is but mans sheep . whether any pretend to be mine or mr cranfords , they have nothing to boast of . but if i speak the words of christ , in the power of christ , it is no more i , but jesus christ that dwelleth in me . and g then they that hear not me , hear not him that sent me . thus you see how large a letter i have written to you , in love unto the truth , and compassion to your soule , that you may know me to be your true freind in the lord , peter chamberlen . now the reason why i doe not answer this last letter of the doctours in a private way as he sent it me , is , because he hath so boldly and publickly wronged the truth , that she hath no way to be righted and relieved , but by publick reparation . and if i should reprove all i know of the gentleman , both old and new , some other things would fall in with my pens reprehension also . but we will lay aside all these and many more , till another opportunity , and now proceed to the tryall of his syllogismes . the shipwrack of all false churches . and the immutable safety and stability of the true church of christ . the disputes and arguings of dr chamberlen , march 1. 1651. which are since published , and as he saith , for the satisfaction of all that love the truth , but tendeth wholly contrary thereunto ; and it is so far from being justified , that it is condemned by all the children of wisdome , as i shall shew plainly , and that from his owne printed papers , gathering these three conclusions out from amongst abundance of unsound positions , vain repetitions , and absurd inferences ; and although he hath scattered them up and down , yet we will orderly reduce them , and quaerie . 1. what he saith of the church of christ . 2. of the ordinances . and , 3. of the ministry thereof . and this shall be my method with gods helpe . 1. i will shew how the doctour in all these particulars misseth the truth , and then i will manifest and confirm the truth it selfe , as the scriptures doe determine of all and each respectively . in the 20●h page of his book of vaine syllogismes , he hath these words , dr chamberlen here took liberty to make a short discourse concerning the church , which indeed is very much and large , but to little purpose ; and therein declareth himselfe not to be acquainted with true divinity ; for what are all heathenish or carnall christian assemblies , to the congregation of christs members , which are his church , or the multitudes of carnall christians , in their devotion and worship , in the litterall , externall ordinances , and yet notwithstanding be a sinfull nation , a people laden with iniquity , a seed of evill doers , children that are corrupters , such as in heart have forsaken the lord , and have provoked the holy one of israel to anger , and are gone astray backward , that is , have estranged , alienated , or separated themselves from god , through their impenitency and hardnesse of heart , notwithstanding all their pretence of outward sanctity in externall ordinances and church discipline , where there is no such thing at all in truth and in sincerity , although drawne out from others into seperated congregations , according to the traditions of mens devices , filling themselves with the old wine of harisaicall righteousnesse . and although among other churches , the doctour is pleased to affirm , that the church of christ comprehendeth all the saints , but in that he sheweth not his ▪ meaning what a saint is , he thereby cleareth not himselfe from being ignorant thereof , forasmuch as antichrist himselfe gives the title of saints to his ungodly church also . but if the doctour would have edified the congregation , he should in the first place have distinguished between the true church , and all such as are false , by a right definition , and description of the saints and true church of christ , from all others that assume to take upon them her name , and yet are ignorant of her nature , which he wholly omitting , hath lost his labour , and rendered himselfe unwise to the children of wisdome . and for wanting better principles , in his premises , he makes his conclusion as equally corrupt in these words , page 21. the church of christ , saith he , is then , and so long the church of christ , as she saith and doth what christ gave her to say and doe , even as christ himselfe . by which saying he maketh the being and continuance of the church to depend on her own obedience ; and for proof thereof , quo●es john 7. 17. & 8. 26 28. & 14. 10. 24. & 5. 19 , 20. and concludeth thus , and when she saith or doth otherwise , she speaketh , or playeth the harlot in that particular . which is not the doctrine of the spirit of christ , but of the spirit of antichrist : for the doctour makes the church to be her owne keeper , but the spirit of god saith , the lord is the shepheard and keeper of her . the spirit of christ saith , she is chast and undefiled , the doctour on the contrary affirmeth she may play the whore , and be a harlot . the spirit saith , she is led into all truth , that she is the ground ▪ pillar , and upholder of it , and so impregnable that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her , that every member is living , every stone precious . but on the contrary , the doctour saith , she is mutable , and so changeable , as that she may say and doe contrary to it , that leads her , that guides her , that speaks in her . oh miserable doctrine , and no lesse miserable are those that receive it ; for if the blind lead the blind , they will both fall into the ditch , yet the doctour would have the people beleive he is not blind , but seeth ; and therefore quotes many scriptures to prove it , as are before mentioned , which being the letter of the text , without any exposition , we will examine the meaning thereof . our lord being at jerusalem , at the feast of tabernacles , the jewes , saith the text , marvelled concerning him and his doctrine ; some said he was a good man , others , that he deceived the people ; but jesus answered . my doctrine is not mine , but his that sent me , and so adviseth them how they might have benefit by it . if any man will doe his will , he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of god , or whether i speak of my selfe , where there is not one word of the church of christ ; for they that doe not obey his will , are not his church , nor any other title to the doctours purpose . in the second place , he continues his speech to his persecuting enemies , which i hope upon second thoughts he doth not understand to be his church . in the third place , he graciously informs and confirms his faithfull servant phillip , in the mystery of his divinity , as of his humanity , and that his words are the works of god ; but not a word in the doctours meaning . and in the 24. verse , as he speaks of them that love him , so he speaks of them that hate him , whom to affirme to be his church , is to blaspheme her . and in the last place , john 5. 19 , 30. the lord speaks of himselfe as distinguishable from the father , and also declareth the hypostaticall union of both natures , humane and divine . the true meaning of these scriptures being thus considered , shewes plainly that his doctrine and their intention , were at a vast distance ; for it is far from their meaning , that the church of christ may play the harlot , and of pure , become base and unclean , because they testifie that she is so long to last , and continue holy , even every member of her his body , as jesus christ her head is to be christ , who was yesterday , and to day , and for ever . and s●ving your learning , sir ▪ this doctrine sheweth that you are still tainted with the old leaven of corrupt popery , and arminianisme , which will be more manifested when i come to shew what the true church of christ is indeed , discovering thereby your fancie more particulerly and exactly . another conclusion that he would teach the people was , that his church was a baptized church , and had the true marks of a true church , which is the true preaching the word , and the true administration of the sacraments , as he calls them . here the gentleman is at a losse also , and beats the air as before , and that which he saith is to as little purpose , his terms not being cleared to what sense he means , from their various ac●eptations . but the truth is , his owne meaning by baptisme is but that which is outward , that any man may bear witnesse to , that is present , as he affirms in page 23. so then , his baptisme is of the same nature as his church is , both carnall , the inside foule , as simon magus his heart was , not right in the sight of god , his estate naturall and miserable , in the gall of bitternesse , and in the bond of iniquity , yet washt and cleansed without . where doe you read in the scriptures that the churches of god , true spirituall christians , did ever brag and boast of the fleshly and carnall parts of the ordinances of the gospel , as you have done ? no , they see those are shaddows , elementary representations , and say , that it is not baptism in the flesh , that saves not ; but the baptism of the heart , the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience , and the body washed with pure water , by this spirituall baptisme men are saved . so also they affirm , that 's not circumcision that is in the flesh , but that is circumcision that is of the heart in the spirit , and not in the letter , inward , spirituall , and heavenly baptisme . and this circumcision is that which gods church glories in , and not the outward , that divells may participate of as well as saints . but the doctour fears not to avouch , that the washing with the old ford , or thames water , and the like places is that baptisme , which the scripture in a speciall sense speaks of , by which men are regenerated , because he maketh it the true mark of the rue church . indeed this is the opinion of the stupid , obdurat , hard-hearted jews and papists , and of most carnall protestants , in which they are all alike . but as the true church of christ is spirituall , so is her baptisme , and so are her fruits and manifestations , her marks and seals , by which she is distinguished from all other churches that are false , as when i come to establish the truth shall be cleared . but the doctour further affirmeth , that their baptized churches have the true preaching of the word ; and he thinks himselfe to be none of the meanest amongst the rest : and therefore in the first place , and in the behalf of all the baptized churches , as he calls them , we will examine his owne true preaching of the word as he affirms in page 24. that his church , and all other baptized churches baptize such as shall be saved , according to mark 16. 16. because , as he saith , they are beleivers and repenters . again , saith he , they that baptize such as confesse with their mouth the lord jesus , and beleeve in their hearts that god hath raised him from the dead , rom. 10. baptizeth such as shall be saved . but baptized churches baptize such as confesse with their mouth the lord jesus , and beleeve with their hearts that god raised him from the dead ; therefore baptized churches baptize such as shall be saved . this professed workman for want of true understanding to divide the word aright , hath from his own mouth eternalized his own shame , for want of a clear and true distinction in the same terms that have divers meanings . and that his folly may the more be manifested , we will ingeniously consider the scriptures ; the first we read thus , he that beleeveth and is baptized , shall be saved . now to find out the true meaning hereof , two terms of necessity must be opened ; for one and the same term admitting of divers meanings in scripture , that sense must be distinguished from all others of like nature , that is properly and only intended in that place . now for the term [ faith ] it hath divers significations in the scripture ; somtimes it is referred unto god , somtimes unto men ; when unto god , then it implyeth or intendeth nothing else but the sure and certain unalterablenesse of his promise , and decree . if unto men , then it signifieth and intendeth either the doctrine of the gospel it selfe , or their faithfulnes that declare it , or else some speciall gifts which the spirit of god indueth his servants with ; now of such gifts there are but three sorts that bear the name of faith . somtimes the knowledge and certain understanding of the truth of gods word , is called faith , which for distinction sake may be called , and that truly , the faith of knowledge , or historicall faith ; which faith , although all the saints under the scriptures administration of the gospel have , yet it is not peculiar to them alone , but common to all perishing christians , such as the doctours church consisteth of , and may abundantly exceed in yea , even sathan himselfe . the second gift of the holy ghost , is that by which any one miraculously doth such things as causeth admiration in the beholders , exceeding naturall effects , and is often in holy writ called by the name of faith , and so may be denominated miraculous faith . but with this gift the unholy may more excell , then the holy men of god ; for john the baptist did no miracle , but iudas the traytour did many ; in which gift of faith the priests and juglers of rome were famous ; as the spirit of the lord foretold . and they shall doe great wonders , and works of great power , so that they would deceive if it were possible , the very elect . which kind of faith may properly be defined thus , that it is a certain undoubted confidence whereby a man beleeveth that god almighty will by him doe this or that miracle , as the scripture saith , through faith in his name . the third sort of the gifts of the spirit , which any man receiveth to eternall life , is called by the name of faith ; and that more often then those before named , which the scripture calleth the faith of god , the faith of the son of god , the faith of jesus christ , the faith of abraham , the faith that worketh by love , the faith of gods elect , which is often and properly called by godly men , justifying faith ; and of this sort and kind of faith , all the saints , and they onely have , which may be truely defined in this manner , that it is a full , sure , and firme confidence ingraven by the power of the spirit of god , in a penitent , broken heart , whereby he assuredly beleeveth that all his sins are remitted , and that he is reconciled and made one with god , in everlasting love and favour through the lord jesus christ . now the doctour ought to have considered which of all these three sorts of faith is meant by our saviour in the place he alledges ; the last sort of faith cannot be understood , for that is included in the next tearm [ baptized ] as i shall shew when i give you the meaning . nor the second sort , for that 's not peculiar to them that shall be saved . and therefore without all contradiction it must be the first sort of faith , which all the elect of god must have in some measure or other , wrought by gods spirit , before he works , either repentance , or remission of sins ; which kind of faith may well be expressed in saying that it is , and it is nothing else but a sure knowledge and settled assent ▪ of the mind and heart , by which a man most undoubtedly beleeveth such things as are revealed for the salvation of mankinde . now the second tearme in the text is [ baptized ] which word is likewise of divers significations in the scripture ; and he ought here to have dealt like a skilfull spirituall workman , as before is exprest ; that is , in the first place to have shewed the manifold acceptations the same word also hath in the holy ghosts expression , and then which of all the meanings by the same tearm is here to be understood , which the doctor having omitted , of necessity i must do this work for him , to find out the true meaning of this scripture also . wherefore i say of the tearm [ baptisme ] as of the tearm faith , that it hath divers , disfinct , and severall meanings in the scriptures ; sometimes is meant by it externall elementary baptisme , that which is from below , but more often that which is spirituall and heavenly , from above , as repentance is called baptisme , and so is remission of sinnes ; and these two heavenly operations together , being regeneration , and the making parts of the new man , are called baptisme , and so are the gifts of the holy ghost given to this new creature , called baptisme : as also , the enabling grace in the holy conversation of this child of god . his mortification and vivification are called baptisme ; as also are his blessed sufferings for righteousnesse sake . can you be baptized with the baptisme that i am baptized with ? &c. now mr. doctour ; may it please you to learne which of all these distinct meanings is that which is intended by our lord and saviour : the last it cannot be , for in that our lord speaks of the work and exercise of a new man , born , and not of the birth it selfe : the first it cannot be , for that is from below ; and it is impossible for the water of the great ocean springs , or fountains to unharden the heart , to convert a naturall man , to renew the sinner , to sanctifie the polluted ; then without all question it must be the baptisme of repentance , and remission of sinnes ▪ the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost , for whosoever is so baptized , doth so repent , and beleeve , shall be saved . now these things considered , i pray see what a corrupt manner of preaching is this of yours , and how these scriptures prove what you have affirmed , let the people of the lord judge . for as you have by your false expositions killed and taken away the life and meaning of gods holy word , in these past instances of divine writ ; even so in like manner hath your dealing been with all other scriptures you have made use of ; for which in due time and place you shall receive just reproof . in the next place , i should have discovered your ignorance of the ordinance of the lords supper , which is your confirmation of your disciples , under the power of your ordinances , as you use to say , by which you doe not onely interest your selves into their estates , but have the disposing of their bodies also . but i will defer that till i shall determine it rightly by the scriptures of truth , and will now take in hand the point you have spent most of your syllogismes about , concerning the ministry of the church of christ ; and you ground your large disputes on a question , page 2. which you frame thus . whether privat men , i mean trades-men , say you may preach the word of god without ordination . by which it appears his meaning is , they may ; and so goes on in all fury , and in a conceit of an uncontrollable ability to make good his three fold cord of major , minor , and conclusion , with cunning , sophisticall words of juglers , as the apostle speaks of some in his time , 2 pet. 1. 16. and the man is so confident , that he thinks neither word nor spirit may countermand him , but when the account of his question is audited , i think he will wish he had been better imployed , for the doctour is fallen into a mist , as he was before , and doth all his work in darknesse ; and he shall find them to prove no lesse then works of darknesse themselves , by not clearing three tearms in his question ; that is , private men , ordination , and preaching : and that i may the more fully discover the doctours weaknesse , his question 's examination shall be by the scriptures , and then it will appear how the scriptures meaning , and the doctours doth disagree . now we find the first tearm , private man , made use of by the apostle , 2 pet. 1. 20 , 21. knowing this first ( saith he ) that no prophesie of the scripture is of any private interpretation ( or motion ▪ as some translate ) for the prophesie came not at any time by the will of man , &c. the apostle teacheth us here that the private man he speaks of , is a naturall man ; and he explains his own meaning to be so , in these words , by the will of man : that is , by no naturall mans abilities whatsoever . and as he denies that the prophesie of truth and holy writ came by the power , parts , and gifts of any man in nature , so also he affirms , by whom god makes knowne his word , will , and prophesies , that is , by spirituall men , in these plain words , but holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost now doctour , see that which yet you never saw ; the church of christ , her preachers and prophets of the lord are not carnall , but spirituall men , and their motion and enablement thereunto , is not by any humane spirit , but through the movings and ability of the holy ghost . where is now therefore the multitude of your arguments , and syllogismes , of men and trades men , and gifted men , not taking into consideration , there are men and men , and gifts and gifts , which for want of scripture distinction , all the pains you have taken to spin so many curious threads to make a carnall webb of , no sooner is it toucht by the divine finger of the spirituall meaning of the word of god , but your glorious shew of humane , and of carnall , or private men falls all into filthy dust : for although carnall men may litterally preach , as judas and others have done , yet none but holy men can preach spiritually . and in this distinction the other tearms are to be understood also , of ordination and trades-men , both divine , the one in person , the other in approbation , and mission for holy men of god . the messengers and ministers of christ , are sent , appointed , and ordained by the lord himselfe , and justified and approved of by the saints and their preachings and declarations are not their own visions and though●s , as the doctours are , but the truth , word , and mind of the lord ; the same spirit in them enables them to open the scriptures now , which wrote them by the hands of his holy prophets and servants , which shall be more fully cleared when i come to the truths confirmation . now this brief discovery of the doctours large mistakes , shall suffice for this time ; some other things there are , which we shall have occasion to reprove , as we find them to hinder us in the way of truth and therefore , according to my promise in the first place i shall make a clear and plain description of the true church of christ , and so follow the doctour the same way he goes . but who is sufficient for these things , as the apostle speaks ; but wee are not as many which corrupt or deceitfully deal with the word of god , but as of sincerily , but as of god ; in the sight or in the powerfull presence of god , speak we in christ , although the doctour despise us . be it known unto him therefore , and all the world , that the true church of jesus christ is of a holy and pure nature , every part and member of her : for he that sanctifieth her , and they that are sanctified , are all of one ; that is , of the one holy spirit ; so then , as in her new nature she is holy and divine , so she is heavenly and spirituall ; spirituall children which make a spirituall family , or houshold ; spirituall trees which make a spirituall , fruitfull , fragrant garden ; spirituall stones built up a spirituall house , temple , tabernacle , a repose , an habitation for the heavenly god , the father of spirits , to abide , to delight , to dwell and reside in . yea more yet , she is a spirituall body , consisting of none but of spirituall members , knit and joyned together with spirituall sinews , supplyed with spirituall grace from the fountaine , the head , the spirituall head jesus christ , from which all the joynts and bands , having nourishment , ministred and knit together , groweth or increaseth with the increase of god ; from the head ▪ i say , conveyeth all over the body , to the least member , with spirituall veins , through which , an everlasting supplying grace is continued . for as she is the building and workmanship of god , the children and houshold of god , the plantation and garden of the lord , so she is kept by the power of god unto salvation . and he that keepeth this his israel , his chosen , called and sanctified ones , doth neither slumber nor sleep , but ever watcheth : and he their holy shepheard is mighty , and stronger then all , so that no opposite power and strength is able to take them out of his hand . now forasmuch as the faithfull servant and apostle of christ writing unto the holy and blessed church at ephesus , affirms them to be saints , and faithfull , and that they are in christ jesus . now all that are in christ jesus are holy and faithfull , for they are justified by faith , and sanctified by the holy ghost , and as the root is holy ▪ so are the branches also ; yet the apostle saith to these holy ones , you were the children of wrath as well as others . and to another church he saith , and such were some of you , speaking before of wicked and unholy men ; but yee ( saith he , meaning now ) are washed , but yee are sanctified , but yee are justified in the name of the lord jesus , and by the spirit of our god . that is , through the power of christ , by the operation of the spirit . therefore to know the way and method which god takes in the conversion of his servants that are his church , the discovery and opening thereof , will make not onely the description of the church of christ more clear , and manifest , but give us a definition also of her supernaturall making , parts : for as since the creation , propagation or birth gives being to all men naturally ; so heavenly and spirituall birth since the fall of man , is ordained and appointed of god to give spirituall being to all his saints , and children , which are the church of god , as it is written , that which is borne of the flesh is flesh , and that which is borne of the spirit , is spirit : so it is spirituall birth that gives being to spirituall men ▪ but forasmuch as this one scripture doth fully prove the assertion in both parts thereof , that is that birth taken in a two fold meaning , is the production both of naturall men , and spirituall men . and the due consideration of the wisdome of the holy ghost by declaring that which is heavenly , by that which is naturall , teacheth us that there is much resemblance of the births in the manner , although not in the nature . in the naturall birth there is a conception in the beginning , and a reception in the continuance , till bringing forth , or accomplishment . and all these distinctions with their concomitants may be comprehended in the tearm birth , now that which doth accompany conception , is compunction in nature , in sorrow , shalt thou conceive , and in the reception , all the while till the deliverance , and in the deliverance , pain , sorrow , labour , pangs , throwes intollerable dollorous till the child is born , and then comes ease , comfort , and rejoycing ; even so it is in the spirituall birth , in a likenesse and resemblance , for the manner of it , but in the nature , no similitude at all , for the the one is from below , the other from above , as it is written ; except a man be born again from above , of water and the spirit , he cannot see the kingdome of god : in which words there are four parts , and the tearms therein to be distinctly considered of . the first is , of whom our lord speaks by the name man , and by it he means a naturall man . and secondly , that this man is to be born again ; his meaning is not as nicodemus at that time understood him , to enter into that place of nature from whence he came forth , but to be born from above by a supernaturall force , power , vertue , and operation of the spirit of god . in the third place , he speaks of the matter of the birth , and that hath two parts : the first is heavenly and spirituall water , meaning thereby the grace and gift of god , which the holy ghost often in the scriptures , calls by the name of water , which is the baptisme of repentance , a true turning to god . the second part consisteth of another more excellent work of the spirit , which is here called the holy ghost , but in other places by metaphoricall tearms , blood , and fire , by which is meant the baptisme of the holy ghost , or remission of sins . the first part is full of spirituall grief , and disconsolation , the last full of heavenly comfort and consolation . and lastly , by seeing the kingdome of god , he means the knowing and being a member of his church in the state of regeneration , receiving the spirit of adoption , through which he is made the child of god , and if children , then heirs of the everlasting kingdome , the world to come , the inheritance of the saints : so then ; from this scripture thus opened we are taught , that gods method and way to convert men from nature to grace , to make them members of his church , is to turne them from darknesse to light , from the power of satan . to be reconciled unto god : to deliver us from the power of darknesse , and translate us into the kingdome of the son of his love . and by this way and means the lord made and constituted the true church of christ at collosse , as he doth all other churches of his , which were saints , and faithfull brethren in christ , and so did he likewise that famous church at ephesus , yee were somtimes darknesse ( saith the apostle ) but now are yee light in the lord , walk as children of light , mark i pray you , he calls this church , these saints , these faithfull in christ jesus , children of light , and how came they to be so , but by being borne of god , of his own will begat he them , being born again of incorruptible seed , the word of god , which is the word of his grace , the new covenant , the word of promise , the covenant of life , the making us partakers thereof , is the taking away the stony heart , and in the place thereof to give his elect a heart of flesh , that is , a soft , tender , and humble heart , and in it to write his everlasting love , mercy , and kindnesse , never to be obliterated , or revoked , as before is shewed . for those whom he thus loves once , he loves unto the end . and these children of god , are those little ones the scripture speaks of , those humble ones the lord teacheth , those contrite and penitent ones , that the lord comforteth , refresheth , and reviveth ; this is his sion , his little city , his desired habitation , his delightfull dwelling , his holy mountaine . and where two or three of these are gathered together in his name ; where by name we are to understand spirit , there is he in the midst of them ; that is it that is it that makes them his church , even his holy presence ; that is it that makes them his house , his tabernacle , to doe his great pleasure in earth , by his spirit , as the everlasting father , and the son doth in heaven , whose voyce not to regard , is as much as not to regard the voyce of god himselfe . oh doctour , for you , to compare your hay , wood , and stubble , with the purity and excellency of this churches mettle , which is gods building , it will even so eclipse your rush light , and split your hulk , and shipwrack your bark for ever , as never to recover , and your sandy foundation will shortly cause such a fall of your foolish church ▪ building , as never to be built again . and that you may repent of your ignorance of the true church of christ , i will give you another discovery of her excellency , by her pure estate , and glorious condition , which the propheticall apostle iohn saw in a vision , and writ it for posterity , in these words , and a great signe appeared in heaven , a woman cloathed with the sun , and the moon under her feet , and on her head a crown of twelve stars . and being great with child , shee cryed travelling and labouring to be delivered . in which scripture there are many things considerable . 1. a matter of wonderment and admiration , for the great excellency of it . 2. the place where it appeared , and that was in heaven . 3. what it was that appeared , and that was a woman ▪ 4. then her cloathing and apparell all over her body . 5. as also what she was crown'd with on her head . 6. what she trod under her feet ; and not only denominating all things without her , but 7. what was within her also . and being great with child , she cryed travelling , and labouring to be delivered . this precious virgin spouse , the lords bride , being in her condition spirituall , did shine forth in her primitive estate , not in any outward pomp and humane carnall glory ; as now in any externall forme , or soft rayment , after the fashion of the multitude of gathered churches in these dayes ; but in her heavenly gifts , and holy vertues , her chast and prudent conversation , the shining of her faith , love , patience , and moderation ; in all things she was such as she was the light of the world , to the wonderment and admiration of all the children that had eyes to behold her . and whereas it is said , she appeared in heaven , the meaning is , the places where the gospel was beleeved , the truth of god , and way to salvation professed , as in iudea , italy , macedonia , asia , and divers other places , cities , and countries ; in which sense the apostle speaks to the church of thessalonica , for from you sounded out the word of the lord not onely in macedonia , and achaia , but also in every place your faith to god-ward is spread abroad , &c. and that the church of christ is signified by the appellation and title of a woman ; that is usuall and often the expression of the holy ghost in the scriptures ; as the kings daughter , the daughter of sion , the spouse of christ , the lambs wife , the mother of all the saints , &c. and there is great reason for the female sex resembles the church of christ in many respects ; as for their fruitfulnesse , for their beauty , for their subjection and passivenesse , and tender bowels of compassion . and that she may want nothing that may tend to her full description in her whole attire , to make her all glorious without as the prophet saith , the kings daughter is all glorious within . the son of righteousnesse , even his own righteousnesse is her mantle , her cloathing , it is a metaphoricall speech , often used in the scripture , thereby declaring the righteousnesse of christ by being cloathed in sine linnen , by a wedding garment , and a white stone , and very apt is the resemblance , for as a stole or garment , covers and adornes the naturall body ; so the righteousnesse of christ covers and cloaths , adorns and beautifies the poverty and brokenness of the peninent souls of his elect. and this garment is of that nature , and quality , as that it warms and sustains the feeble and thirsty soule , with the assurance of the mercy and favour of god in christ jesus for ever . and the holy ghost giveth testimony also of the fruits of her lively justifying faith , in declaring her newnesse of life in her detestation of sin , and true love to her lord in this figurative expression , and the moon under her feet , declaring thereby her mortification and death too , and of her sinfull corruption , and worldly naturall affection ; and also her vivification and daily renewed mind , to a heavenly conversation , delighting and meditating day and night in the holy law and word of god , being no more carnally , but spiritually minded . the next externall , yet spirituall description is the ornament of her head , wherein shee took most pleasure , saying , shee wore on her head a crowne , not with gold and silver beset with precious stones , for the excellent matter thereof it exceeded all these , for it was made of the holy and pure doctrine of the twelve apostles , which testimonies and verities of theirs are the lords lights and torches to guide and direct sinners when they are benighted and darkned with their sins , and for this cause are called by the name of stars . and lastly , the holy ghost declares the effects , and operation of gods spirit and word in her , for by the heavenly truth which was by her ears received , her heart spiritually conceived , and shee was greatly filled with a deep sence of her owne vilenesse and unworthinesse ; with bemoaning and mournfully lamenting her sad forlorn condition , travelling and labouring under great oppression , by reason of sin , in restlesse desire of reconciliation to god ; which paines and anguish of her mourning heart and contrite spirit , the apostle most truly compareth to the throwes and paines of a woman in travell of child-birth , of which spirituall pains and labour shee could not possible by any means be eased or releived , untill her lord were formed in her , even untill her tender heart were sanctified by faith ; for nothing could cure the wound but the assurance of mercy , nor nothing satisfie her restlesse desire , but the love of god insured her in christ her lord , and written in the fleshy tables of her heart , according to his everlasting covenant . thus you see both the definition and description of the true church of christ , that she is holy and spirituall , within and without also , distinguished and disevered from all other churches , by regeneration ; as the outward court and the temple were parted by a vaile , and described by such perfect fruits of righteousnesse , as no pharisaicall congregations can bring forth . and herein i have made good my promise to you in this first particular : the second thing i promised , was to make known unto you the divine ordinances of this holy church , and they are many , but we will briefly and that truly discover such as are most materiall to our purpose . now as shee her selfe is spirituall , and their communions one with another , so also is every part of her worship spirituall likewise ; and yet we must ever remember , that most ordinances consist of two parts ; the one carnall and outward , the other spirituall and inward : now the common and carnall christians are most busied about the carnall part , as fleshly washings , corporall eatings , litterall expositions , and verball supplications , like the pharisees , that were strict to tyth mint , and the meanest externall things , but wholly omitted the weightiest and greatest , that which was internall , as true repentance , &c. diligently washed the outside , but minded not at all to cleanse inwardly the heart , in all which mr doctour , you spent most of your labour , and very few words or none , about the spirituall part . and one reason was , because all your disputes tended but to a carnall church , for a congregation of carnall christians make no better then a carnall church ; and carnall arguments and actions doe manifest the hearts of such to be carnall . but i desire your repentance of these things , and hasten to the discovery of the truth , that may make you a child thereof indeed ; and therefore we will returne to a further discovery of the true churches spirituall worship in the heavenly part of gods ordinances , in which shee and her children are most conversant , for they are alwayes mindfull of the holy covenant of their lord , in the heavenly parts of it ; they mourne , and weep , and suffer together , in their patience possesse their souls , and passe through the valley of tears , participating each with other , knowing they are thereunto called of god , not only to beleeve , but to suffer for his sake : the assured hope they have of the great portion , inheritance , and salvation they are born unto by the spirit , doth so support them , that they rejoyce in tribulation , the holy ghost bearing them witnesse , that if they suffer with him , they shall also reign with him . know you not ( saith the apostle , as if he had said in other words , you know assuredly ) that as many of us as are baptized into jesus christ , were baptized into his death ; therefore we are buried with him by baptisme into death . mark the tearms , baptized , or buried with him into death , which sheweth , if men be members of his body , then if our head suffer , the members must suffer also : and as sure as the head is raised from the dead by the glory of the father , even so we also his members are raised in our mind and affections , to newnesse of life . and in the same sence he saith again , for if we have been planted together in the likenesse and similitude of his death , we shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection . and these broken melting hearted saints , that at first in their regeneration were thus humbled , and made low , and poor in spirit , yielding , inclining , and bowing to the will and pleasure of almighty god . this heavenly grace which the lord calls water in a spirituall meaning , abides in and with them alwayes throughout their whole life ; and by it they are enabled to be baptized with sufferings , as they were born or begotten of water , which is repentance : so likewise at the lords supper , they sometimes , and that with much comfort , eat and drink corporally the elements of bread and wine , and therein declare the lords death till his comming ; but they alwayes by faith communicate of his body and blood , the spirit of adoption that dwells in them , still bearing witnesse of the lords everlasting kindnesse , with the refreshings of the light of his countenance , affording them more comfort , then all the abundance of earthly things , or shaddows of that which is spirituall , the witnesse and evidence of the spirit of god , exceeds all testimonies and assurances , and fills the soul with satisfaction . now in this condition they know the truth of their lords words by blessed experience . my flesh is meat indeed , and my blood is drink indeed , living bread that came downe from heaven , and they that eat thereof , eat everlasting life . it is immortall food , this body and blood is the resurrection and the life , for they that eat this flesh , and drink this blood , dwell in christ , and christ in them . this food causeth union , co-habitation , one-nesse of mind , and likenesse of affection between christ and his members . this is the fatted calfe that fed the prodigall , this is the childrens bread provided of god himselfe for his servant iacob , those excellent dainties , sweet and fat things , full of marrow , the wine and milk , the honey-comb with the honey , with which the lord feeds his friends , his beloved and chosen ones , which food doth not only cheare , delight , and comfort , but it confirms , and seals with assurance , even that gold ring that sealed the fathers favour to his lost son , the best robe of all the wardrobe , for there is none like it in heaven nor in earth , for it is the righteousnesse of the saints , it covers all nakednesse , it defends from all dangers , and it ever finds acceptance with their heavenly father , in all services and sacrifices , for these worshippers have their hearts purged from an evill conscience , and their garments dipt in blood for the lamb is in them , and they in him . and thus spirituall are their prayers also , this sacrifice likewise is a broken heart , and as it is the spirits habitation and dwelling , so it is his place of acting and working ; and although the saints themselves cannot tell how to pray as they ought , yet the spirit their continuall comforter , guider , and directer helpeth them , and secretly prompteth them with sighs and groans that cannot be uttered , with the organ of the tongue , so inward , faithfull , and fervent , are the spirits requests to god that only knowes the meaning thereof : and for their matter they are faithfull supplications , they ask in faith , in the name of their lord , that is , in the powerfull assistance of christs spirit ; and this is the confidence we have in him ( say the saints ) if we ask any thing according to his will , he heareth us , and if we know that he hears us , that is , if the spirit do so witnesse to us , we know then , that we have the petitions that we desired of him ; for number they are but few ; for place , private ; for practice and performance , often and frequent ; pray continually , saith the apostle . and shall the elect cry day and night unto god their father , against their enemies oppressions , and shall not he avenge them ? yea he will avenge them , and that speedily . in all their spirituall warfare , this is the last and principall piece of armour , praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the spirit , and watching thereunto with all perseverance . this servant of our lords had very well learned his masters lesson , watch and pray , least yee enter into temptation ; and this part of their worship is spirituall , as the worshippers themselves are spirituall . again , their understanding the scripture , is not only litterall , but spirituall ; and that it may the more clearly appear , we must remember to make use of this distinction , that the scriptures may be spoken of as of a body , and a spirit , in the letter and the meaning thereof . now all carnall gospellers , and false expositors , as they understand no further then the letter , or common gifts declared therein , by the sense which such give of the scriptures , they kill gods witnesses , the two holy testaments . priests whose visions are darknesse , doe violate , wrong , and injure all the holy writings of gods faithfull servants , and witnesses ; of which company a●e the learned clerks of rome , and all other fleshly preachers ; for that church co●sisting of the fat beasts of the field , did kill , havock , and slay them in such a barbarous manner , in that great city of rome , which in a spirituall wicked meaning , is called sodome and aegypt , for their uncleannesse and malice , against the true intent of the scriptures , that notwithstanding they had the letter and corps amongst them , yet they did deny the life and soule , the mind and will of god therein revealed , to be buried , or inter'd in their proper monuments , the hearts of men ; and as they then , so the same things doe all carnall churches now that are of her old nature , although of a new frame , by their like lying , and false expositions , and interpretations , even take the life from the body , and separate the soule from the corps , of these two witnesses , two prophets , two candlesticks , two testimonies , two olive trees , and two covenants ; which two in all and each appellation , are but one thing in the true meaning ; and so they shall continue to doe the remainder of the 42 months , till 14 years of the whole number to come , be expired . in the mean while the voyce of the church of christ is heard from out of the wildernesse , and wholly tends to the vindication , resurrection , and restoration of the true meaning of the word of god , as it is written . and after three dayes and a halfe ▪ the spirit of life from god , entred into them , and they stood upon their feet . and gods church fears not to speak , although she cares not to be known , she being indewed with the spirit of life from god ; and in her reading the scriptures you shall find her full of consideration , and understanding , as our lord directs her , let him that readeth consider : for they that read and hear the words of this prophecy , and keep those things that are written therein , and are blessed in so doing , must needs truly understand them ; and indeed it is sion , gods church only , that understandeth and declareth the gospel truly by the scriptures administration ; for by the church ( saith the apostle ) is made knowne the manifold wisdome of god ; which shall be more manifested in the next particular , in declaring what the ministers of the church of christ are . and it is an undenyable truth that they are regenerated , spirituall men , for if every member of their church be so , and all their ordinances and sacr●fices , their communions , and administrations , then of necessity their ministry must be so also , and therefore in scripture they are called , holy men of god , and holy apostles and prophets ; and are thereby distinguished from all others that are vaine and ungodly . 1. they are holy personally . 2. they are holy giftedly . and as god hath joyned them together , so i shall not seperate them in their description . a scribe instructed unto the kingdome of heaven , is like unto a good housholder that brings forth of his treasury things new and old . now in that our lord saith , he is taught unto the kingdome of heaven , it is all one as if he had said , he had been taught of god , and that shewes he is a child of god , a holy man , as i have instanced before in the apostle peters description to this purpose ; and by bringing forth of his treasure , he means the administration of his spirituall gifts , from the supernaturall store house within him . again , our lord saith , whosoever beleeveth in me , as the scripture hath said , out of his belly shall flow rivers of water of life . this he spake ( saith the text ) of the gifts they should receive that beleeved on him . this effectuall faith , which is twice repeated , and that to which the word of god witnesseth to be satisfying drink to the thirsty soule , sheweth such a one to be regenerate ; and the flowing fountain proceeding from him ▪ those heavenly gifts of the holy ghost . and agreeable to this is that which is spoke of stephen that holy martyr , when those choyce and learned students of the synagogues of the libertines men of four severall nations , cyrenians , allexandrians , cyreans , and as●ans ; these , even such were not able to resist the wisdome and the spirit by which he spake . so the prophet micha speaking to the shame of such prophets that speak without an answer from god , that have no vision but their own , to whom the day , the light of gods truth is darke over them , and the sun is gone downe from them , and yet will prophesie though they confound themselves ; but truly ( saith he ) i am full of power by the spirit of the lord , and of judgement , and of might , to declare unto jacob , &c. that is , to preach to jacob . and so the apostle paul ( speaking of the gospel of christ , whereof ( saith he ) i am made a minister , according to ( or by ) the gift of grace given to me , by , or through the effectuall working of his power . and so he testifies to another church , whereof i am made a minister , according to the dispensation of god , which is given to me for you fully : that is , perfectly , truly , and spiritually to preach the word of god . and so peter and john testified to the face of such at jerusalem as had crucified our lord with wicked hands , and proceeded also to forbid them to speak any more to anyman in his name , notwithstanding their threatnings we cannot ( said they ) but speake the things we have seene and heard . what gods messengers see , hear , and learne of the father , that they declare , that they preach . christ gives the gifts god hath set them in his church , his body , but every member hath not the same office , therefore the differing gifts give being to different offices and officers , and all spirituall , as the whole body is and are approved of , and allowed by the rest of the members , all the saints . now i should have spoken of the keyes , power , and rich treasures of this church , but doctour you are not able to bear it at this time , that is , neither to understand it , nor receive it . but you will say , i will answer all that he hath said in one word , for all that he hath spoken is to be understood of the invisible church , but all my disputes are of visible congregations , and sir , what you mean by them , your owne words declare , page 23. as is touch before , such as any man may know ( saith he ) and if that be so , then i am sure they consist of naturall and carnall men ; and of the same nature are their administrations , for the apostle saith , the naturall man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god , for they are foolishnesse unto him ; neither can he know them , because they are spiritually discerned . again , to say the true church of christ is invisible , is the old cunning cheat of the devil , to keep men from repentance , and from attaining that eye salve , through which they might discerne the things that belong unto their peace , and depart from babylon , and make haste to sion . but saith the doctour , the baptized churches have forsaken babylon , and admit of none but baptized members , nothing but pure ordinances ; we are knit together in church fellowship . but by your leave , if ye be carnall , and cannot discerne the church of god , and therefore deny her visibility , which her lord affirmeth of her , to be a city set upon a hill , a candle on a table , the light of the world , the salt of the earth . if you cannot discerne the true church , and yet you professe your selves churches , then you are no other then the carnall jewes church , jerusalem from below , which is in bondage with her children ; and the righteousnesse thereof , but the righteousnesse of the scribes and pharisees , who used to wash the out-side , and fl●sh , as you doe , but inwardly and in heart , very foule and adulterous , notwithstanding all their seeming holinesse of separation , stand further off , i am holier then thee ; their boasting of their prayers , and of their ordinances , and their compassing sea and land to make a proselyte , to convert men to their church , and yet in so doing make them more the child of the devil , then they were before , and thereby make them the rather a stink in the lords nostrills . i tell you plainly , doctour , there are but two churches in the whole world ; one carnall , the other spirituall ; two seeds , the seed of the woman , and the seed of the serpent ; two sorts of children , them of light , and them of darknesse ; two heards of cattell , the fat and the lean ; two kinds of people , the cursed and the blessed ; and i advise you therefore to trust no longer in lying words , saying , the temple of the lord , the temple of the lord ; for no outward conceivings , or humane traditions , or inventions , can be gods house , church and temple , but those before described ; and as the holy prophet saith , the temple of the lord are these , such as throughly repent of their sinnes , and amend their wayes and their doings , &c. and therefore doctour , i advise you againe now heedfully and speedily , to mind the apostles counsell , to day if you will hear his voyce , harden not your heart , least you enter not into his rest : where he teacheth you , and me , and all , that to enter into gods rest through faith , is by repentance . and because i will omit no means to take you off from minding so much your false church , i will shew you in what condition you and all men else stand in this c●mmon-wealth of england . consider this i pray you , that this common-wealth being a university of believers , the whole multitude consisteth of two sorts . the one sort regenerate believers , such as are borne of god , whose spirituall estate is before described ; and this sort onely are the church of christ , as before also is affirmed . the second sort of believers are outward christians , and are indewed with the common faith onely , from which faith and grace they may fall , and perish , and yet before their apostacy have equall right with spirituall christians , in outward externall ordinances , as the letter of the word and prayer , the washing away the filth of the body , and the corporall signes of the lords supper , and all which , for the more cleare condemnation in disobeying the gospel . now forasmuch as the congregation and common-wealth of england in these respects is like the congregation or common-wealth of israel , and that in gods great house , as the apostle saith , there are both honourable , and dishonourable vessels , servants evill , slow ▪ and negligent , as good and diligent virgins , foolish as well as wise , some spirituall , but most carnall , and all to be provided for by the stewards of this great house , such as are in supreame authority , not onely in matters between man and man , but also in duties between god and man ; not onely for meum and tuum , but also for the publick worship and service of god . and as moses , solomon , and jehosaphat provided not onely corporally , but spiritually for israel , so and in like manner the supream authority of england ought to provide for every one his portion , that no lack or want may befall any capacity , neither of carnall , or spirituall christians , and as wholesome and good lawes for men , so pious and decent rules for gods publick worship , so far as it concernes their power and direction . and consider also , the jewes before christs incarnation had a rule for most of their externall ordinances by the word ; as the expresse day for gods worship , and the tribe who to wait on the service also , the time when , the member what , and the parties themselves both active and passive for circumcision and for the passeover , what for the matter , the kinde , the age , the preparation , the parties who to provide it , and the manner for participation . now there is no such expresse provision , for the carnall ordinances of god , since christs incarnation and ascension ; 't is true , there 's example for baptisme , but no command who shall baptize , neither when for time , nor how for manner , whether all parts of the body in generall , or which member in particular . and so for the supper of the lord , bread and wine are the elements in the institution thereof , and in the future practice injoyned , but who shall provide it ? and what kinde of wine , or what sort of bread , or who in particular shall blesse or administer it , or how the communicants shall take it , is not in the word determined ; and without these and the like circumstances , the ordinances cannot be celebrated . now if the present authority should give rules for the whole common-wealth , or congregation , for all perticulars ; as formerly they have done in a parochiall way , for time , place , persons , and administrations , thereby the spirituall and heavenly christian is bound to yield obedience as the carnall and outward christian ; for as the saints are free as they relate to the person of a true christian , for so their communion is above the reach and rule of any outward direction , for their baptisms they are spirituall , as i have shewed before ; their teacher exceeds all teachers from men , for they havean vnction from the holy one , that teacheth them all things . and they stand not in need of any private or carnall mens teaching ; yet as they stand , or sustain the persons or members of a state or common-wealth , and under authority ; so gods law binds them to be obedient to every ordinance of man ; and their communion externally with carnall christians , doth no more prevent or preinic● their communion spiritually , then cain's externall communion corrupted abel's , ishmaels defiled isaacks or the proud pharisees polluted the penitent publicans . and although inwardly and spiritually , yet not externally nor corporally severed one from another , till the harvest , least with extirpating the bad , the good may suffer prejudice . and therefore it appears plainly , that in a common-wealth that professes the faith , the carnall with the spirituall may commuicate in the externall ordinances of gods worship , except the injunctions are evill and unlawfull , as were the abominations of antichrist , from which the saints are commanded to separate , least by pertaking with her sins they shall be punished with the participation of her plagues . and also that it is in the power of the magistrate to order all externalls for the publick worship of god , that are not already so done by the s●iptures : now if this be so , then what ground or warrant have you or any man whatsoever , to select form , and order congregations of your selves , when the whole common-wealth is congregated already by christian authority . and how can those that are under this authority cast off their obedience , to which in conscience they are bound ; and gather churches out of churches , without any warrant from god or man ; for they were in the profession and communion of gods ordinances before , and emboddyed and congregated ▪ before by acts of the nationall congregation , the high court of parliament . and what other things they doe ordaine and constitute , that was not done before by the said authority , the wisest and learnedst of them all cannot shew rightly , nor prove plainly , but it will appear to be their owne imagination , tradition , and phancy , by duely considering the scriptures , with what is abovesaid , in the distinction between the spirtuall and carnall christians ; as also , the distinction between the externall part of gods ordinances , and the divine and heavenly part . i am sure these rules are according to the practice of our lord and his apostles , they never neglected the publick , nor disobeyed the magistrate therein , nor contemned participation with them , yet let us alwayes bear in minde , that the faithfull and regenerate christians are the church of god ; and although the carnall christians are amongst them in externall participation , yet they are not of them , nor doe spiritually participate with them . the consequence of selected church-gatherings , admits of many absurdities , as i have shewed in former discoveries . thus much doctour for the publique good hath your private mistaken conference occasioned ; and we have more yet to make knowne upon the next opportunity . and my conclusion shall be a word or two to the state and authority of this nation , against an ancient , continued , superstitious distinction of the people of this whole common-wealth , even of all degrees , from the highest to the lowest , that distinguish the whole into two parts , church and common-wealth , clergie , and layetie . now in common reason , if in this nation the publike ministry , for those are they they mean by clergy , although no man can prove it by scripture , be the church , then the state magistracy , and the rest of the people are not the church or congregation of england , which seems to crosse the scriptures denomination , for the whole nation of the jewes , priests and people , are often called the congregation , or church , and the reason is beyond exception , because they were a people professing and communicating in the externall ordinances of god , and but a small remnant of the multitude faithfull to communicate spiritually ▪ now as spirituall and heavenly christians are gods peculiar , little house , vineyard , or church , so outward christians , may bear the name of his vineyard , church , or great house also , as an outward jew or christian bears the name , although not the nature of a jew or christian inwardly . and if the supream authority doe not annihillate this distinction aforesaid , and cause it to be forgotten , in time it will pull up and advance ecclesiasticall hierarchy again , as the oake the creeping ivy , and a generall provision made for the many , as before is expressed , would supply all men in all things , both divine and humane . beloved christian ; thou that hast read what is here declared for publique good ; see the doctour and his doings in the glasse of one scripture , 2 pet. 3. 15 , 16. the apostle peter speaking of his brother paul , and of his writings according to the wisedome of god given unto him , he speaks of some that notwithstanding had received the common faith , yet were unlearned and unstable , who did wrest not onely what they said , but also the other scriptures to their owne destruction . now the tearms in the text doe shew us plainly what these believers were , even such as should perish , first because they were unlearned , that is , not spiritually taught of god : secondly , they were such as were unstable , that is , were not built upon the foundation , neither were deep rooted , as the good ground , but such christians as were lyable to wither , as the stony ground , to be choaked as the thornes , and to loose what they had , as the high-way side . and such christians as these doe not understand onely , but they pervert or give false expositions of the scriptures , those heavenly things intended by the text , are not understood by their earthly minds ; therefore it is said , that there are some things hard to be understood , that is , the heavenly estate of the children of god , their spirituall sufferings here , and their glorious hope they have of the everlasting inheritance in the world to come , which supernaturall excellencies as they are in themselves are hard , that is , not to be understood by carnall christians , such as the doctour hath declared himselfe to be in all his arguments . now if any please to see the other poor endeavours of thy faithfull friend , thou mayest have them thus nominated . 1. a true reformation , and perfect restitution . 2. truths victorie against heresie . 3. christian liberty to the lords table . 4. a defence of christian liberty . 5. a cure of deadly doctrine . 6. a lamp of light . 7. a right vse made by a stander by , at j. g. and i. s. disputes at great allhallows . 8. a brief discovery of faigned presbyterie ; and capt : norwood's declaration proved an abnegation of christ . there were some other things , but they are out of print . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a85548e-320 a gods servants in speaking the truth to the blame of such as mistake , doe not reproach them , for they are commanded to reprove them , and must not call bitter sweet , nor sweet bitter . they are commanded also to call that darknesse that is so , and that light that is light , and to justifie the just , and condemn the wicked . b and to assent to the truth is tollerable , with a right understanding , but that you are the man that have blasted god &c. is plainly proved in my second letter , and throughout the tryall following . c my words & meaning if you take a true view of them , doe not contradict , as you shall see in my discovering of your owne daubing , which you say is the church of christ , and gods perfect work in building his owne habitation . d do you dare to boast of pure ordinances , when all you doe in the outward , without the spirituall part , and meaning thereof , is abominable iniquity : and , for bodily exercises that rotten strumpet the church of rome will outdoe you , although you should add your owne vanity in your lacivious washing your damsels feet and legs also , for shame bring not in your former carnality unrepented of , under the vizzard of the churches innocency . but consider what is written , for in christ jesus neither circumcision , or baptisme , or vncircumcision availeth any thing , but a new creature . and again , faith that worketh by love . and againe , but keeping the commandements of god . are any of these heavenly effects brought forth by your plants ? nay , a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruits : for all that hath proceeded from you , are but sower grapes , and yet you will compare your bramble berries with the grapes of the vines of canaan . e t is true , you mentioned the words of peter , but your carnall discourse thereof , shewed plainly you understood not his meaning , neither can you til you repent and be a new man . f and if your spiritual experiences be of no higher nature then naturall philosophy is , then your experience is vaine ; for all things under the sun are vanity , since their deprivation through sin and the curse . and as you your selfe have made use of philosophy , our lords and pauls use and yours is at a broad distance . and that all your sill●gisms were fallacious , is sufficiently proved hereafter . g here take notice what frieght of pride the gentleman is laden with , in these words , them that hear not me , hear not him that sent me ; for every thing he hath said or written , proves him not to be sent of christ , although he affirm of himselfe , that he is , for if i had sent him , saith the lord , he should have spoken my words unto the people , which he hath not , as hereafter is more cleared . an explication and vindication of the athanasian creed in a third letter, pursuant of two former, concerning the sacred trinity : together with a postscript, in answer to another letter / by john wallis ... wallis, john, 1616-1703. 1691 approx. 90 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 35 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67388) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106448) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1107:3) an explication and vindication of the athanasian creed in a third letter, pursuant of two former, concerning the sacred trinity : together with a postscript, in answer to another letter / by john wallis ... wallis, john, 1616-1703. [2], 66 p. printed for tho. parkhurst ..., london : 1691. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng athanasian creed. trinity. theology, doctrinal. 2004-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-05 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-05 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an explication and vindication of the athanasian creed . in a third letter , pursuant of two former , concerning the sacred trinity . together with a postscript , in answer to another letter . by iohn wallis , d. d. london : printed for tho. parkhurst , at the bible and three crowns , in cheapside , 1691. an explication and vindication of the athanasian creed . sir , in pursuance of what i have said in a former letter , concerning ( what we commonly call ) the athanasian creed ; it may not be amiss to express it a little more distinctly . we call it commonly the athanasian creed , not that we are certain it was penned ( just in this form ) by athanasius himself ; ( for , of this , i find that learned men are doubtful , ) but it was penned either by himself , or by some other about that time , according to the mind and doctrine of athanasius . in like manner as what we call the apostles creed , we take to be penned ( very anciently ) according to what doctrine the apostles had taught them , though not perhaps in those very words . but whoever was the compiler ( whether athanasius himself , or some other ) of the athanasian creed , i suppose , the damnatory sentences ( as they are called ) therein , were not by him intended to be understood with that rigor that some would now insinuate , ( who , because perhaps they do not like the main doctrines of that creed , are willing to disparage it , by representing it to the greatest disadvantage they can , ) as if it were intended , that whoever doth not explicitely and distinctly know , and understand , and assent to , all and every clause and syllable therein , could not be saved . ( which , i suppose , neither the author did intend , nor any other sober person would affirm . ) but , that the doctrine therein delivered ( concerning god and christ ) is sound and true doctrine in it self , and ought , as to the substance of it , to be believed as such , by all persons ( of age , and capacity , and who have opportunity of being well informed in it , ) who do expect salvation by christ ; at least so far as not to disbelieve the substance of it , when understood . there being no other ordinary way to be saved , ( that we know of ) than that by the knowledge and faith of god in christ. but what measures god will take in cases extraordinary , ( as of infancy , incapacity , invincible ignorance , or the like , ) is not the thing there intended to be declared ; nor is it necessary for us to know ; but to leave it rather to the wisdom and counsel of god , whose iudgments are unsearchable , and his ways past finding out , rom. 11. 33. much less do i suppose , that he intended to extend the necessity of such explicite knowledge , to the ages before christ. for many things may be requisite to be explicitely known and believed by us to whom the gospel is revealed , which was not so to them , before the veil was taken away from moses face , and immortality brought to light through the gospel , 2 cor. 3. 13 , 14. 2 tim. 1. 10. nor are we always to press words according to the utmost rigor that they are possibly capable of ; but according to such equitable sence as we use to allow to other homiletical discourses , and which we have reason to believe to have been the true meaning of him whose words they are . and i have the more reason to press for such equitable construction , because i observe those hard clauses ( as they are thought to be ) annexed only to some generals ; and not to be extended ( as i conceive ) to every particular , in the explication of those generals . it begins thus ; whosoever will be saved ; before all things , it is necessary , that he hold the catholick faith. where , before all things , is as much as imprimis ; importing , that it is mainly necessary , or a principal requisite , to believe aright ; especially , concerning god , and christ. which , as to persons of years , and discretion , and who have the opportunity of being duly instructed , i think is generally allowed by all of us , to be necessary ( as to the substantials of religion ) in the ordinary way of salvation , without disputing , what god may do in extraordinary cases , or how far god may be pleased , upon a general repentance , as of sins unknown , to pardon some culpable misbelief . it follows ; which faith , except every one do keep whole and undefiled , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) without doubt he shall perish everlastingly . that is , ( as i conceive ) unless a person ( so qualified and so capacitated , as i before expressed ) do keep it whole or sound , as to the substantials of it ( though possibly he may be ignorant of some particulars of the true faith ; ) and undefiled , or intemerate , ( without adding thereunto , or putting such a sence upon such substantials , as shall be destructive thereof , ) shall ( except he repent ) perish everlastingly . which , i think , is no more than that of mar. 16. 16. he that believeth not , shall be damned . and what limitations or mitigations are there to be allowed , are ( by the same equity ) to be allowed in the present clause before us . which therefore may ( in this true sence ) be safely admitted . and here i think fit to observe , that whereas there may be an ambiguity in the english word whole , which sometime signifies totus , and sometime sanus or salvus , it is here certainly to be understood in the latter sence , as answering to the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 totam , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sanam or salvam . and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to keep the faith salvam & intemeratam , which is translated whole and undefiled , might ( to the same sence ) be rendered safe and sound . now a man may well be said to be safe and sound , notwithstanding a wart or a wen , or even a hurt or maim , so long as the vitals be not endangered . and so , of the catholick faith , or christian doctrine , so long as there is nothing destructive of the main substantials or fundamentals of it , though possibly there may be an ignorance or mistake , as to some particulars of lesser moment . after this preface ( between it and the conclusion , or epilogue ) there follows indeed a large exposition of ( what he declares to be ) the catholick faith ; ( that is ; to be some part of it : for i take the whole scripture to be the catholick faith ; whereof this collection is but a part . ) beginning with , the catholick faith is this : and ending with , this is the catholick faith. but it is not said , that except a man know and believe every particular of that explication , he shall perish eternally ; but only , except he keep the catholick faith ( as to the substantials of it ) safe and sound . for doubtless there may be many particulars of catholick faith ( contained in the word of god ) which a man may be ignorant of , and yet be saved . it is true , that the name of our saviour's mother was mary ; and the name of the judge who condemned him was pontius pilate : and both these are put into ( what we call ) the apostles creed ; and are part of the catholick faith ; and which ( supposing that we know them to be declared in scripture ) we ought to believe . but i see not why it should be thought ( of it self ) more necessary to salvation ( if he do not know it to be declared in scripture ) for a man to know that her name was mary , than that the name of adam's wife was eve , or abraham's wife sarah , or that one of iob's daughters was called iemima ; ( for all these are declared in scripture ; and , supposing that we know them so to be , ought to be believed as part of the catholick faith. ) nor do i know , that it is ( of it self ) more necessary to know that the name of the judge who condemned our saviour was pontius pilate , than that the name of the high-priest was caiaphus . and though one of these , and not the other , be put into the apostles creed , whereby we are more likely to know that than the other : yet both of them being true , and declared in scripture ; they are , both of them , parts of the catholick faith , and to be believed : but neither of them ( i think ) with such necessity , as that , who knows them not , cannot be saved . and what i say of this general preface in the beginning , is in like manner to be understood of the general conclusion in the end ; which ( catholick faith ) except a man believe faithfully , he cannot be saved . of which i shall say more anon . after the general preface , ( concerning the necessity of holding the catholick faith , ) he proceeds to two main branches of it , ( that of the trinity , and that of the incarnation , with the consequents thereof ; ) which he declares likewise , as what ought to be believed . that of the trinity , he declares thus in general ; and the catholick faith is this ; ( that is , this is one main part of the catholick faith ; ) namely , that we worship one god in trinity , and trinity in unity ; neither confounding the persons , nor dividing the substance . which is what we commonly say , there be three persons , yet but one god. and this general ( which , after some particular explications , he doth resume ) is what he declares ought to be believed . but he doth not lay such stress upon each particular of that explication , though true. he thus explains himself ; for there is one person of the father , another of the son , and another of the holy ghost . ( which persons therefore are not to be confounded . ) but the godhead of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost , is all one. that is , one substance , one god. ( which is what he said of not dividing the substance , as if the three persons should be three substances , or three gods. ) according as christ says of himself and the father , iohn 10. 30. i and the father are one : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) that is , one thing , one substance , one god , not one person . and 1 iohn 5. 7. these three are one ; ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) hi ires sunt unum , not unus . these three who 's , are one what. they are one thing , one substance , one god , though three persons . and as their godhead , or substance undivided , is all one ; so it follows , the glory equal , the majesty co-eternal . such as the father is , ( as to the common godhead ) such is the son , and such is the holy ghost . the father uncreate , the son uncreate , and the holy ghost uncreate . the father incomprehensible , the son incomprehensible , and the holy ghost incomprehensible . the father eternal , the son eternal , and the holy ghost eternal . for all these are attributes of the common deity , which is the same of all. and yet they are not three eternals , but one eternal . not three eternal gods , ( though three persons ) but one eternal god. as also there are not three incomprehensibles , nor three uncreated ; but one uncreated , and one incomprehensible . one and the same substance or deity , uncreated and incomprehensible . so likewise the father is almighty , the son almighty , and the holy ghost almighty ; and yet there are not three almighties , but one almighty . so the father is god , the son is god , and the holy ghost is god ; and yet there are not three gods , but one god. so likewise the father is lord , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the word by which the greeks do express the hebrew name iehovah , the proper incommunicable name of god , ) the son lord , and the holy ghost lord ; and yet not three lords , but one lord. ( not three iehovahs , but one iehovah . ) for like as we are compelled by the christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be god and lord , so are we forbidden by the catholick religion , to say , there be three gods , or three lords . which are so many particular explications or illustrations of what was before said in general of not confounding the persons , nor dividing the substance . which explications , though they be all true , ( and necessary consequents of what was before said in general ; ) yet to none of them is annexed such sanction , as that whosoever doth not believe or not understand these illustrations , cannot be saved . 't is enough to salvation , if they hold the true faith , as to the substance of it , though in some other form of words , or though they had never heard the athanasian creed . nor is any such sanction annexed to the personal properties , which next follow ; the father is made of none ; neither created , nor begotten . the son is of the father alone ; not made , nor created , but begotten . the holy ghost is of the father , and of the son ; neither made , nor begotten , but proceeding . where , by the way , here is no anathematization of the greek church , ( of which those who would , for other reasons , disparage this creed , make so loud an out-cry . ) 't is said indeed he doth proceed , ( and so say they , ) but not that he doth proceed from the father and the son. and 't is said , he is of the father and of the son ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) some way or other ; ( and even this , i suppose , they would not deny ; ) but whether by procession from both , or ( if so ) whether in the same manner , it is not said ; but warily avoided . ( though indeed it seems to favour what i think to be the truth , and what in the nicene creed is said expressly , that he doth proceed from both ; and , for ought we know , in the same manner ; which yet we do not determine ) nor do i see any reason , why , on this account , we should be said to anathematize the greek church , or they to anathematize us , even though we should not exactly agree , in what sence he may be said to be of the father , and in what of the son. and those who are better acquainted with the doctrine and the languages , of the present greek churches , than most of us are , do assure us , that the differences between them and us are rather in some forms of expressions , than in the thing it self . however , those who would make so great a matter of this , should rather quarrel at the nicene creed , than the athanasian : where it is expresly said of the holy ghost , that he proceedeth from the father and from the son. 't is not therefore for the phrase filioque , that they are so ready to quarrel at this creed rather than the nicene , but from some other reason , and , most likely , because the doctrine of the trinity is here more fully expressed than in that , at which the socinian is most offended . i observe also , that these personal properties are expressed just by the scripture words , beget , begotten , proceeding , without affixing any sence of our own upon them ; but leaving them to be understood in such sence as in the scripture they are to be understood . agreeable to that modest caution , which is proper in such mysteries . it follows ; so there is one father , not three fathers ; one son , not three sons ; one holy ghost , not three holy ghosts . and in this trinity , none is afore or after other . ( that is , not in time , though in order . ) none is greater or less than another : but the whole three persons are co-eternal together , and co-equal . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the three ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) are ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) truly persons , or properly persons , and co-eternal each with other , and co-equal . having thus finished these particular explications , or illustrations , concerning the trinity , ( without any condemning clause of those who think otherwise , other than what is there included ; namely , that if this be true , the contrary must be an errour : ) he then resumes the general , ( as after a long parenthesis , ) so that in all things ( as is aforesaid ) the unity in trinity , and the trinity in unity , is to be worshipped . and to this general , annexeth this ratification , he therefore that will he saved , must thus think of the trinity : or , thus ought to think of the trinity , or , let him thus think of the trinity , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and to this , i suppose , we do all agree , who believe the doctrine of the trinity to be true . for , if the thing be true , those who would be saved , ought to believe it . he then proceeds to the doctrine of the incarnation . which he declares in general as necessary to salvation . furthermore , it is necessary to everlasting salvation , that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our lord iesus christ. which is no more than that of iohn 3. 36. he that believeth not the son , shall not see life , but the wrath of god abideth on him . and therefore we may safely say this also : there being no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved , neither is there salvation in any other , acts 4. 12. after this ( as before he had done of the doctrine of the trinity ) he gives first a general assertion of his being god and man ; and then a particular illustration of his incarnation . for the right faith is , that we believe and confess , that our lord iesus christ , the son of god , is god and man. what follows , is a further explication of this general . god , of the substance of the father , begotten before the worlds . and man , of the substance of his mother , born in the world. perfect god , and perfect man ; of a reasonable soul and humane flesh subsisting . equal to the father , as touching his godhead ; and inferiour to the father , as touching his manhood . who , although he be god and man , yet he is not two , but one christ. one , not by conversion of the godhead into flesh , but by taking of the manhood into god. one altogether , not by confusion of substance , but by unity of person . for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man , so god and man is one christ. and thus far , as to the description of christ's person and natures . the particulars of which i take to be all true ; and therefore such as ought to be believed , when understood . but such ( many of them ) as persons of ordinary capacities , and not acquainted with school terms , may not perhaps understand . nor was it , i presume , the meaning of the pen-man of this creed , that it should be thought necessary to salvation , that every one should particularly understand all this : but , at most , that , when understood , it should not be disbelieved . that in the general , being most material , that iesus christ , the son of god , is god and man : the rest being but explicatory of this . which explications , though they be all true , are not attended with any such clause , as if , without the explicite knowledge of all these , a man could not be saved . he then proceeds to what christ hath done for our salvation , and what he is to do further at the last judgment , with the consequents thereof . who suffered for our salvation , descended into hell , rose again the third day from the dead . that clause of descending into hell , or hades , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) which we meet with here , and in the apostles creed , as it is now read , is not in the nicene creed ; nor was it anciently ( as learned men seem to be agreed ) in what we call the apostles creed . when or how it first came in , i cannot well tell : nor will i undertake here to determine the sence of it . the hebrew word sheol , and the greek hades , which here we translate hell , ( by which word we now-a-days use to denote the place of the damned , ) was anciently used to signifie , sometime the grave , sometime , the place , state , or condition of the dead , whether good or bad . and when iob prays ( iob 14. 13. ) o that thou wouldst hide me in sheol ( as in the hebrew ; ) or in hades , ( as in the greek septuagint ; ) certainly he did not desire to be in what we now call hell ; but rather ( as we there translate it ) in the grave , or the condition of those that are dead . but what it should signifie here , is not well agreed among learned men. the papists generally ( because that is subservient to some of their beloved tenents ) would have it here to signifie the place of the damned ; and would have it thought , that the soul of christ , during the time his body lay in the grave , was amongst the devils and damned souls in hell. others do , with more likelyhood , take it for the grave , or condition of the dead : and take this of christ's descending into hades , to be the same with his being buried , or lying in the grave . the rather , because in the nicene creed , where is mention of his being buried , there is no mention of his descent into hell , or hades : and here , in the athanasian creed , where mention is made of this , there is no mention of his being buried ; as if the same were meant by both phrases , which therefore need not be repeated . and though in the apostles creed there be now mention of both , yet anciently it was not so ; that of his descent into hell , being not to be sound in ancient copies of the apostles creed . if it signifie any thing more than his being buried , it seems most likely to import his continuance in the grave , or the state and condition of the dead , for some time . and the words which follow , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , say nothing of his coming out of hell , but only of his rising from the dead . but the words here stand undetermined to any particular sence ; and so they do in the apostles creed ; and are so also in the articles of our church . where it is only said , ( because in the creed it stands so , ) that we are to believe , that he descended into hell , without affixing any particular sence to it . the words , doubtless , have respect to that of acts 2. 27. where , thou wilt not leave my soul in hell , ( or hades ) nor suffer thine holy one to see corruption , is applied to christ , ( cited out of psal. 16. 10. where the same had before been spoken of david . ) and his not being left in hades , seems to suppose his having been ( for some time ) in hades , whatever by hades is there meant . and verse 31. his being not so left , is expresly expounded of his resurrection . and so again in acts 13. 35. now , as we have no reason to think , that david's being in hell , or sheol , ( though not to be left there ) can signifie , his being in hell among the devils and damned spirits , but rather in the grave , or the condition of the dead ; so neither that christ's being in hell , or hades , ( which is the greek word answering to the hebrew sheol ) should signifie any other than his being in the grave , or condition of the dead ; from whence , by his resurrection , he was delivered . and to this purpose seems that whole discourse of peter , acts 2. 24 , — 32. and of paul , acts 13. 30 , — 37. but , without determining it to any particular sence , the creed leaves the word hell indefinitely here to be understood , in the same sence what ever it be , in which it is to be understood , acts 2. 27 , 31. and psal. 16. 10. and so far we are safe . it follows ; h●●scended into heaven ; he sitteth on the right hand of the father , god almighty . from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead . at whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies ; and shall give account for their own works . and they that have done good , shall go into life everlasting : and they that have done evil , into everlasting fire . ( of all which , there is no doubt but that it ought to be believed . ) ending with , this is the catholick faith. that is , this is true and sound doctrine , and such as every true christian ought to believe . and , as he had begun all with a general preface , so now he closeth all with a general conclusion : which ( catholick faith ) except a man believe faithfully , he cannot be saved . that is , the doctrine here delivered is true , ( and so i think it is in all the parts of it , ) and is ( part of ) the catholick faith : ( the whole of which faith , is the whole word of god. ) that is , part of that faith , which all true christians do , and ought to believe . which catholick faith , ( the whole of which is the whole word of god ) except a man ( so qualified as i before expressed ) do believe faithfully , ( that is , except he truly believe it ) as to the substantials of it , ( though possibly he may be ignorant of many particulars therein ) he cannot ( without such repentance as god shall accept of ) be saved . which , so limitted , ( as it ought to be ) i take to be sound doctrine , and agreeable to that of iohn 3. 16. he that believeth not , is condemned already ; because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten son of god : and ver. 36. he that believeth not the son , shall not see life ; but the wrath of god abideth on him : that is , ( according to the words of this creed ) he that believeth not aright ( of god and christ ) cannot be saved . which words of christ , we may safely interpret both with an aspect on the doctrine of the trinity ( because of those words , the only begotten son of god ; ) and to that of the incarnation of christ , and the consequents thereof ; ( because of those words in the beginning of the discourse , ver. 16 , 17 , god so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten son , &c. and god sent his son into the world — that the world through him might be saved : ) which are the two main points insisted on in the athanasian creed . and he who doth not believe on the name of this only begotton son of god , and thus sent into the world , ( the text tells us ) shall not see life ; but the wrath of god abideth on him . which fully agrees with what is here said , except a man believe the catholick faith , ( of which the doctrine of the trinity , and of the incarnation , are there intimated , and are here expressed , to be considerable branches ) he cannot be saved . and what limitations or mitigations are to be understood in the one place , are reasonably to be allowed as understood in the other . and , consequently , those damnatory clauses ( as they are called ) in the athanasian creed ( rightly understood ) are not so formidable ( as some would pretend ) as if , because of them , the whole creed ought to be laid aside . for , in brief , it is but thus ; the preface and the epilogue tell us , that whoso would be saved , it is necessary , or ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) he ought to hold the catholick faith. which faith , except he keep whole and undefiled , or ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) safe and inviolate , he shall perish everlastingly ; or , which except he believe faithfully , he cannot be saved . which is no more severe , than that of our saviour , mark 16. 16. he that believeth not , shall be damned . he then inserts a large declaration of the catholick faith , especially as to two main points of it ; that of the trinity , and that of the incarnation . and if all he there declares be true , ( as i think it is , ) we have then no reason to quarrel with it upon that account . but he doth not say , that a man cannot be saved , who doth not know or understand every particular thereof . of the first , he says but this , he that would be saved , ought thus to think , or ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) let him thus think of the trinity ; namely , that the unity in trinity , and trinity in unity , ought to be worshipped . of the second , what he says is this , furthermore it is necessary to eternal salvation , that he believe aright the incarnation of our lord iesus christ : which is no more severe than that of our saviour , he that believeth not the son , shall not see life , but the wrath of god abideth on him ; because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten son of god , whom god hath sent into the world , that the world through him might be saved , john 3. 17 , 18 , 36. beside these , there are no damnatory clauses in the whole . all the rest are but declaratory . and , if what he declares be true , we have no reason to find fault with such declaration . now as to those two points ; that of the trinity , and that of the incarnation , ( which are the only points in question , ) there is a double inquiry , ( as i have elsewhere shewed , ) whether the things be possible ; and whether they be true. the possibility may be argued from principles of reason : the truth of them from revelation only . and it is not much questioned , but that the revelation , in both points , is clear enough , if the things be not impossible . as to that of the trinity ; i have already shewed , ( in a former letter ) that there is therein no impossibility , but that what in one consideration are three , ( which we commonly call three persons , ) may yet ( in another consideration ) be one god. i shall now proceed to shew , that neither is there any impossibility , as to the incarnation of our lord jesus christ. now this consists of two branches ; that of his being born of a virgin ; and that of the hypostatical union ( as it is commonly called ) of the humane nature with the second person of the sacred trinity . as to the former of the two , there can be no pretence of impossibility . for the same god who did at first make adam of the dust of the earth , without either father or mother , and who made eve of adam's rib , ( without a mother at least , however adam may be fansied as a father , ) and who shall at the last day recall the dead out of the dust , may doubtless , if he so please , cause a woman , without the help of man , to conceive a child . there is certainly no impossibility in nature , why it may not , by an omnipotent agent , be brought to pass . and when the scripture declares it so to be , there is no reason ( if we believe the scripture ) to disbelieve the thing . it is no more than when christ cured the blind man's eyes with day and spittle : or when he said , lazarus , come forth , and he did so . or when god said , let there be light , and there was light : and , of the whole creation ; he spake , and it was done , he commanded , and it stood fast . no more than when he made aaron's rod ( a dry stick ) to bud and blossom , and yield almonds : or what is implied in that , let not the eunuch say , i am a dry tree . and not much more than when god gave abraham a son in his old age ; and , notwithstanding the deadness of sarah's womb . i was about to say , ( and it is not much amiss if i do ) it is not much more than what ( pretty often ) ( happens amongst men , when god gives both sexes to the same person , ( such there are , and have been ; and i think there is one yet living , who was first as a woman married to a man , and is since as a man married to a woman ; ) and what hinders then , but that god , if he please , may mingle the effects of both these sexes in the same body ? a little alteration in the structure of the vessels would do it . for when there is in the same body , and so near , semen virile & muliebre , what hinders but there might be a passage for them to mix ? and plants , we know , do propagate without a fellow , though it be otherwise in animals . and whereas this is said to be by the holy ghost coming upon her , and the power of the highest over shadowing the blessed virgin ; it is not much unlike that of the spirit of god's incubation , or moving upon the face of the waters . so that , as to this point , here is nothing impossible , nothing incredible . the other particular , as to the hypostatical union ; how god and man can be united in one person , may seem more difficult for us to apprehend , because we understand so little of the divine essence , and consequently are less able to determine , what is , and what is not , consistent with it . and , when all is done , if we be never so certain , that there is such an union , yet it will be hard to say how it is . but we have no reason from thence to conclude the thing impossible because we know not how it is done . because there be many other things in nature , which we are sure to be ; of which we are almost at as great a loss as to the manner how they be , as in the present case . solomon , as wise as lie was , and how well so ever skilled in natural philosophy , doth yet acknowledge himself , in many things to be at a loss , when he would search out the bottom of natural things , and even when he made it his business so to do . when ( says he ) i applied my heart to know wisdom , and to see the business that is done upon the earth : then i beheld all the work of god ; that a man cannot find out the work of god that is done under the sun : because though a man labour to seek it out , yet he shall not find it . yea further , though a wise man seek to know it , yet shall he not be able to find it , eccles. 8. 16 , 17. and shall we then say , of the deep things of god , the thing is impossible , because we cannot find it out ? and if we consider how many puzzling questions god puts to iob , in the 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41. chapters of iob , even in natural things , we may very well ( as iob did ) abhor our selves in dust and ashes , and be ashamed of our ignorant curiosity ; and confess ( as he doth ) i have uttered what i understood not ; things too wonful for me which i know not : when he found he had talked like a fool , while he thought to be wise , and would measure the power and wisdom of god by the narrow limits of our understanding : and might come to iob's resolution ( when he had well weighed the matter ) i know that thou canst do every thing , and that no thought can be withholden from thee , job 42. 2 , 3 , 6. the wind bloweth where it listeth , ( not where you please to appoint it , ) thou hearest the sound thereof , but canst not tell whence it cometh , or whither it goeth , ( saith christ to nicodemus : ) but shall we therefore conclude , the wind doth not blow , because we know not how or whence it bloweth ? or , that god cannot command the winds , because we cannot ? we should rather conclude , the wind doth certainly blow , ( because we hear the sound of it , ) though we know neither how , nor whence : and , though they do not obey us , yet the wind and the seas obey him . now ( as he there further argues ) if , when he tells us of earthly things , we do not apprehend it , how much more if he tell us of heavenly things ? of the deep things of god ? but ( to come a little nearer to the business ) consider we a little the union of our own soul and body . 't is hardly accountable , nor perhaps conceivable by us , ( who are mostly conversant with material things , ) how a spiritual immaterial being ( such as our souls are ) and capable of a separate existence of its own , should inform , actuate , and manage a material substance , such as is that of our body , and be so firmly united as to be one person with it . by what handle can a spirit intangible take hold of a tangible material body , and give motion to it ? especially if we should admit lucretius's notion ; tangere vel tangi , nisi corpus , nulla potest res : ( which he repeats almost as often as homer doth his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) who doth thence repute it impossible for an immaterial being to move a body . but we who believe the soul to be a a spirit , know it to be possible . much more is it possible for god ( though a being infinitely act. 17 , 25 , 27 , 28. more pure ) who giveth to all , life and breath and all things ; and in whom we live and move and have our being ; and who is not far from every one of us . it would be hard for us to give an intelligible account , either how god moves all things , or how our soul moves the body ; yet we are sure it is so . that a body may move a body , seems not so strange to apprehend , ( for we see one engine move another ; ) but , by what mechanism , shall a spirit give motion to a body when at rest ? or , stop it when in motion ? or , direct its motions this way or that way ? it would be thought strange , that a thought of ours should move a stone : and it is as hard to conceive ( did we not see it daily ) how a thought should put our body in motion , and another thought stop it again . yet this we see done every day , though we know not how. and it is almost the same thing in other animals . and more yet , when an angel assumes a body . there are none of these things we know , how ; and yet we know , they are done . i shall press this a little farther . our soul ( we all believe ) doth ( after death ) continue to exist , in a separate condition from the body . and , i think , we have reason to believe also , that it will continue to act as an intellectual agent , ( not to remain in a stupid sensless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) else i see not why paul should desire to depart , or to be dissolved , and to be with christ , which is far better ; rather than to abide in flesh. for while he abides in the flesh , he hath some enjoyment of christ , ( as well as an opportunity of doing some service ) which is more desirable , if when he is departed , he have none at all . and , how can he then say , that to dye is gain ? whether the soul thus separated shall be said to have a subsistence as well as an existence ; or , whether it may be properly said then , to be an intire person ; ( as the soul and body are , before death , and after the resurrection ) i will not dispute , because , that were to contend about words , and such words so signify , as we please to define them , and bear such a sence , as we please to put upon them . but it is ( as the angels are ) an intellectual , spiritual agent ; and we use to say , actiones sunt suppositorum ; and suppositum rationale , is either a person , or so near a person , that it would be so if men please to call it so . and the spiritual being , which doth now separately exist , shall at the resurrection , resume a body into the same personality with it self , and shall with it become one person , as before death it had been . now if a spiritual immaterial intellectual being , separately existent by it self , and separately acting as an intellectual agent , may , at the resurrection , assume or reassume a material corporeal being ( heterogeneous to it self ) into the same personality with it self , or so as to become one person with it , while yet it self remains spiritual as before : what should hinder ( for it is but one step further ) but that a divine person , may assume humanity , into the same personality with it self , without ceasing to be a divine person as before it was ? if it be said , that person and personality in the sacred trinity , are not just the same as what we so call in other cases : it is granted ; and by these words ( which are but metaphorical ) we mean no more , but somewhat analogous thereunto ; and which , ( because of such analogy ) we so call , as knowing no better words to use instead thereof : according as we use the words , father , son , generate , beget , and the like , in a metaphorical sence , when applied to god. for no words , borrowed from created beings , can signifie just the same when applied to god , as when they were applied to men , but somewhat analogous thereunto . and if the soul ( though we know not how ) may and do ( at the resurrection ) assume a body so as to become the same person with it self ( though neither the body be thereby made a soul , nor the soul a body ; but remain as before , that a body , and this a soul , though now united into one person : ) why may not a divine person assume humanity , so to be what is analogous to what we call a person ; the humanity remaining humanity , and the divinity remaining divinity , though both united in one christ ; though we do not particularly know how ? we should be at a great loss , if ( to answer an atheist , or one who doth not believe the scriptures ) we were put to it , to tell him , how god made the world ? of what matter ? with what tools or engines ? or , how a pure spirit could produce matter where none was ? he would tell us perhaps , ex nihilo nihil , in nihilum nil posse reverti ; where nothing is , nothing can be made : and what once is , ( though it may be changed ) can never become nothing : and will never believe the world was made , ( but rather was from all eternity ) except we can tell him , how it was made . now , if in this case , we may satisfie our selves ( though perhaps it will not satisfie him ) by saying , god made it , but we know not how : the same must satisfie us here ; that christ was incarnate , ( god and man ) we are certain , ( for so the scripture doth assure us , as well as , that god made the world ; ) but , how god made the world ; or , how the son of god assumed humanity , we cannot tell . nor indeed is it fit for us to enquire , farther than god is pleased to make known to us . all further than this , are but the subtile cob-webs of our brain : fine , but not strong . witty conjectures , how it may be ; rather than a clear resolution , how it is . another objection i have met with : to which the objecters must be contented with the same answer ; we know it is , but we know not how. it would be endless for us , and too great a curiosity , to think our selves able fully to explicate all the hidden things of god. the objection is this : since the three persons cannot be divided ; how is it possible , that one of them can assume humanity , and not the other ? and why the second person , and not the first or third ? as to the question , why ? i say , it is so , because so it pleased god ; and he giveth not account of his matters ; he is not accountable to us , why he so willeth . as to the question , how is it possible ? i see no difficulty in that at all . the persons are distinguished , though not divided . as in the divine attributes , god's justice and mercy are distinguishable ; though in god they cannot be divided . and accordingly , some things are said to be effects of his justice , others of his mercy . so the power and will of god ( both which are individual from himself : ) but when we say god is omnipotent , we do not say he is omnivolent . he wills indeed all things that are , ( else they could not be ) but he doth not will all things possible . and the like of other attributes . if therefore we do but allow as great a distinction between the persons , as between the attributes , ( and certainly it is not less , but somewhat more , ) there is no incongruity in ascribing the incarnation to one of the persons , and not to the rest . 't is asked further , how i can accommodate this to my former similitude , of a cube and its three dimensions ; representing a possibility of three persons , in one deity . i say , very easily . for it is very possible , for one face of a cube , suppose the base , ( by which i there represented the second person , as generated of the father , ) to admit a foil , or dark colour , while the rest of the cube is transparent ; without destroying the figure of the cube , or the distinction of its three dimensions , which colour is adventitious to the cube . for the cube was perfect without it , and is not destroyed by it . which may some way represent christ's humiliation . who being equal with god , was made like unto us , and took upon him the form of a servant , phil. 2. 6 , 7. so that , upon the whole matter , there is no impossibility in the doctrine of the incarnation , any more than in that of the trinity . and , supposing them to be not impossible ; it is not denied but that they are , both of them , sufficiently revealed ; and therefore to be believed , if we believe the scripture . and of the other articles in the athanasian creed , there is as little reason to doubt . there is therefore no just exception , as to the declarative part of the athanasian creed . and , as to the damnatory part ; we have before shewed , that it is no more severe , than other passages in scripture to the same purpose ; and to be understood with the like mitigations as those are . and , consequently , that whole creed , as hitherto , may justly be received . 't is true , there be some expressions in it , which , if i were now to pen a creed , i should perhaps chuse to leave out : but , being in , they are to be understood according to such sence as we may reasonably suppose to be intended , and according to the language of those times when they did use to anathematize great errors , which they apprehended to be destructive of the christian faith , as things of themselves damnable , if not repented of . and , i suppose , no more is here intended ; nor of any other errors , than such as are destructive of fundamentals . oxford , octob. 28. 1690. yours , iohn wallis . postscript . november 15. 1690. when this third letter was printed , and ready to come abroad , i stopped it a little for this postscript ; occasioned by a small treatise which came to my hands , with this title , dr. wallis ' s letter , touching the doctrine of the blessed trinity , answered by his friend . it seems , i have more friends abroad than i am aware of . but , who this friend is , or whether he be a friend , i do not know . it is to let me understand , that a neighbour of his , reputed a socinian , is not convinced by it : but names some socinian authors , who endeavour to elude scriptures alledged for the trinity , by putting some other sence upon them . he might have named as many , if he pleased , who have ( to better purpose ) written against those authors , in vindication of the true sence . and if he should repeat what those have said on the one side ; and i , say over again , what those have said on the other side ; we should make a long work of it . but he knows very well , that was not the business of my letter , to discourse the whole controversie at large , ( either as to the evidence , or as to the antiquity , of the doctrine . ) for this i had set aside at first , ( as done by others , to whom i did refer : ) and confined my discourse to this single point , that there is no impossibility ( which is the socinians great objection ) but that what in one consideration is three , may in another consideration be one. and if i have sufficiently evinced this , ( as i think i have ; and i do not find that he denies it ; ) i have then done what i there undertook . and , in so doing , have removed the great objection , which the socinians would cast in our way : and , because of which , they think themselves obliged to shuffle off other arguments on this pretence . now ( whether he please to call this a metaphysick , or mathematick lecture , ) certain it is , that there are three distinct dimensions ( length , breadth , and thickness ) in one cube . and , if it be so in corporeals , there is no pretence of reason , why in spirituals 〈◊〉 should be thought impossible , that there be ●●ree somewhat 's which are but one god. and these somewhat 's , till he can furnish us with a better name , we are content to call persons , ( which is the scripture word , heb. 1. 3. ) which word we own to be but metaphorical , ( not signifying just the same here , as when applied to men , ) as also are the words , father , son , generate , begot , &c. when applied to god. and more than this need not be said , to justifie what there i undertook to defend . now 't is easie for him ( if he so please ) to burlesque this , or turn it to ridicule , ( as it is , any the most sacred things of god ; ) but not so safe , ludere cum sacris . the sacred trinity ( be it as it will ) should by us be used with more reverence , than to make sport of it . i might here end , without saying more . but because he is pleased to make some excursions , beside the business which i undertook to prove , ( and which he doth not deny ; ) i will follow him in some of them . he finds fault with the similitude i brought , ( though very proper to prove what it was brought for , ) as too high a speculation for the poor labourers in the country , and the tankard-bearers in london . and therefore ( having a mind to be pleasant ) he adviseth rather ( as a more familiar parallel ) to put it thus , i mary , take thee peter james and john for my wedded husband , &c. ( thinking this , i suppose , to be witty. ) and truly ( supposing peter , iames , and iohn , to be the same man , ) it is not much amiss . but i could tell him , with a little alteration , ( if their majesties will give me leave to make as bold with their names , as he doth with the names of christ's mother , and of his three disciples which were with him in the mount at his transfiguration , matth. 17. 1. ) it were not absurd to say , i mary , take thee henry william nassaw ; without making him to be three men , or three husbands ; and without putting her upon any difficulty ( as is suggested ) how to dispose of her conjugal affection . and , when the lords and commons declared him to be king of england , france , and ireland ; they did not intend , by alotting him three distinct kingdoms , to make him three men. and when , for our chancellor , we made choice of iames , duke , marquess and earl of ormond ; though he had three distinct dignities , he was not therefore three men , nor three chancellors . and when tully says * , sustineo unus tres personas ; meam , adversarii , judicis ; which is in english , ( that the tankard-bearer may understand it , ) i being one and the same man , do sustain three persons ; that of myself , that of my adversary , and that of the iudge : he did not become three men , by sustaining three persons . and ( in this answer to my letter ) the friend and his neighbour , may ( for ought i know ) be the same man , though he sustain two persons . and , i hope , some of these resemblances , may be so plain , and so familiar , as that he and his tankard-bearer may apprehend them : and thence perceive , it is not impossible that three may be one. for if ( among us ) one man may sustain three persons , ( without being three men , ) why should it be thought incredible , that three divine persons may be one god ? ( as well as those three other persons be one man ? ) nor need he the less believe it for having ( as this answerer suggests ) been taught it in his catechism , or ( as timothy did the scriptures ) know it from a child . but i would not have him then to tell me , the father is a duke , the son a marquess , the holy ghost an earl , ( according as he is pleased to prevaricate upon the length , breadth and thickness of a cube ; ) but thus rather , that , god the creator , god the redeemer , and god the sanctifier , are the same god. that god the creator is omnipotent and allsufficient ; that god the redeemer is so too ; and god the sanctifier likewise . that god the creator is to be loved with all our heart ; and so god the redemer , and god the sanctifier . and then there will be no absurdity in all this . as to what he says , that all people that have reason enough to understand numbers , know the difference between one , and more than one ; i might reply , that all people who can tell mony , know that three groats are but one shilling , and three nobles are one pound ; and what in one consideration is three , may in another consideration be but one. which , if it look like a slight answer , is yet sufficient to such an argument . he tells me somewhat of dr. sherlock , ( wherein i am not concerned , ) and somewhat of the brief history of the unitarians , ( of which his neighbour gives the friend a copy ; ) but he doth not tell me , as he might , ( and therefore i tell him ) that dr. sherlock hath confuted that history . but dr. sherlock says nothing contrary to what i defend . for if there be such distinction ( between the three persons ) as he assigns , then at least , there is a distinction ( which is what i affirm , without saying how great it is ; ) . nor doth he any where deny them to be one god. he tells me a story of somebody , who , in a publick disputation at oxford , maintaining a thesis against the socinians , was baffled by his opponent . whom , or when , he means , i do not know ; and so say nothing to it : but , that i may not be in his debt for a story , i shall tell him another , which will be at least as much to the purpose as his . it is , of their great friend , christophorus christophori sandius , a diligent promoter of the socinian cause . he printed a latin thesis or discourse against the divinity of the holy ghost , which he calls problema paradoxum de spiritu sancto , with a general challenge to this purpose , ut siquis in toto orbe eruditorum forte sit , qui doctrinâ magis polleat , quam quibuscum hactenus sit collocutus , ea legat quae à se publice sint edita argumenta , seque errare moneat , ac rectius sentire doceat . hereupon , wittichius accepts the challenge , and writes against sandius . to which sandius answers , ( taking in another as a partner with him in the disputation . ) and wittichius replies . and that with so good success , that sandius and his partner , acknowledged themselves to be convinced by it , and to change their opinion . this happening but a little before sandius his death ; his partner ( surviving ) published to the world an account hereof , ( and of sandius declaring , before his death , that he was so convinced , ) in a letter of thanks to wittichius for it . what sandius would have done further , if he had lived a little longer , we cannot tell . that of wittichius bears this title , causa spiritûs sancti , personae divinae , ejusdem cum patre & filio essentiae , ( contra c. c. s. problema paradoxum , ) asserta & defensa , à christophoro wittichio . lugduni batavorum apud arnoldum doude , 1678. the letter of thanks bears this title , epistola ad d. christophorum gittichium professorem lugdunensem ; qua gratiae ei habentur pro eruditissimis ipsius in problema de spiritu sancto animadversionibus : scripta à socio authoris problematis paradoxi : per quas errores suos rejicere coactus est . coloniae , apud ioannem nicolai . he takes it unkindly , that i charge it upon some of the socinians that though they do not think fit directly to reject the scriptures , yet think themselves obliged to put such a forced sence upon them , as to make them signifie somewhat else . and tells me of some socinians , who have so great a respect for the scriptures , as to say that the scripture contains nothing that is repugnant to manifest reason ; and that what doth not agree with reason , hath no place in divinity , &c. but this is still in order to this inference ; that therefore what they think not agreeable to reason , must not be thought to be the sence of scripture : and therefore that they must put such a force upon the words , how great soever , as to make them comply with their sence . if he except against the words , how great a force soever , as too hard an expression of mine : they are socinus's own words , ( in his epistle to balcerovius , of ianuary 30. 1581. ) certe contraria sententia adeo mihi & absurda & perniciosa ( pace augustini , &c. dixerim ) esse videtur , ut quantacunque vis potius pauli verbis sit adhibenda , quam ea admittenda . that is , the contrary opinion ( with augustin's leave , and others of his mind ) seems to me so absurd and pernicious , that we must rather put a force , how great soever , upon paul's words , than admit it . and , as to the suspicion i had of some of their sentiments , as to spiritual subsistences , ( that it may not appear to be groundless ) he doth ( in his epist. 5. ad volkelium ) absolutely deny , that the soul after death doth subsist ; and adds expresly , ostendi me sentiresnon ita vivere post hominis ipsius mortem , ut per se praemiorum poenarumve capax sit : that is , that the soul after death doth not subsist ; nor is in a capacity of being , by it self , rewarded or punished . and how he can then think it an intelligent being , i do not see . st. paul , it seems , was of another mind , when he had a desire to be dissolved ( or depart hence ) and to be with christ , as being far better for him , than to abide in the flesh , phil. 1. 23 , 24. and willing rather to be absent from the body , and present with the lord , 2 cor. 5. 8. now i do not understand the advantage of his being with christ , or being present with the lord ; if he were then to be in a sensless condition , not capable of pain or pleasure , punishment or reward . in epist. 3. ad dudithium , we have these words , unusquisque sacrae scripturae ex suo ipsius sensu interpres : eaque quae sibi sic arrident pro veris admittere de bet ac tenere , licet universus terrarum orbis in alia omnia iret . that is , every one is to interpret scripture accerding to his own sence : and what so seems pleasing to him , he is to imbrance and maintain , though all the world be against it . socinus , in his tract , de ecclesia , pag. 344. says thus , non attendendum quid homines doceant sentiantve , vel antehac docuerint aut senserint , quicunque illi tandem , aut quotcunque , sint aut fuerint . which is pretty plain . i am not ( says he ) to regard what other men do teach or think , or have before now taught or thought , whosoever , or how many soever , they be or have been . and if his whosoever are not here to be extended to the sacred writers ; he tells us of them elsewhere , ego quidem , etiamsi non semel , sed saepe , id in sacris monimentis scriptum extaret , non idcirco tamen ita rem prorsus se habere crederem . soc. de jesu christo servatore , par. 3. cap. 6. operum tom. 2. p. 204. as for me ( saith he ) though it were to be found written in the sacred moniments , not once , but many times , i would not yet for all that believe it so to be . and a little before , in the same chapter , ( having before told us , that he thought the thing impossible , ) he adds , cum ea quae fieri non posse aperte constat , divinis etiam oraculis ea facta fuisse in speciem diserte attestantibus , nequaquam admittantur ; & idcirco sacra verba , in alium sensum quam ipsa sonant , per inusitatos etiam tropos quandoque explicantur . that is , when it doth plainly appear , ( or when he thinks so , whatever all the world think beside ) that the thing cannot be ; then , though the divine oracles do seem expresly to attest it , it must not be admitted : and therefore the sacred words are , even by unusual tropes , to be interpreted to another sence than what they speak . which sayings are , i think , full as much as i had charged him with . and if these instances be not enough , i could give him more of like nature . but i shall conclude this with one of a later date : at a publick disputation at franeker , octob. 8. 1686. where ( amongst others ) this thesis was maintained ; scripturae divinitatem non aliunde quam ex ratione adstrui posse ; eosque errare , qui asserere sustinent , si ratio aliud quid nobis dictaret quam scriptura , huic potius esse credendum . and when ulricus huberus ( because it was not publickly censured , as he thought it deserved to be ) did oppose it in word and writing ; the same was further asserted , in publick disputations , and in print , by two other professors in franeker , in vindication of that former thesis ; that , if reason do dictate to us any thing otherwise than the scripture doth ; it is an error to say , that , in such case , we are rather to believe the scripture . an account of the whole is to be seen at large in a treatise entituled , ulrici huberi , supremae frisiorum curiae ex-senatoris , de concursu rationis & scripturae liber . franakerae apud hen. amama & zachar. taedama , 1687. and a breviate of it in the lipsick transactions for the month of august , 1687. and , after this , i hope this answerer will not think me too severe in charging such notions on some of the socinians , while yet ( i said ) i was so charitable as to think divers of them were better minded . but what should make him so angry at what i said of guessing , i cannot imagine . that there is a distinction between the three , we are sure ; ( this i had said before , and the answerer now says , it is so . ) but not such as to make three gods ; ( this i had said also , and the answerer says so too . ) that the father is said to beget , the son to be begotten , and the holy ghost to proceed , i had said also , ( and i suppose he will not deny , ) because thus the scripture tells us . ( and whatever else the scripture tells us concerning it , i readily accept . ) but if it be further asked , ( beyond what the scripture teacheth , ) as , for instance , what this begetting is , or , how the father doth beget his only begotten son ; this , i say , we do not know , ( at least i do not ) because this , i think , the scripture doth not tell us ; ( and of this therefore i hope this gentleman will give me leave to be ignorant : ) certainly it is not so as when one man begets another ; but how it is , i cannot tell . and if i should set my thoughts awork , ( as some others have done , and each according to his own imagination ) to guess or conjecture , how perhaps it may be ; i would not be positive , that just so it is : because i can but guess or conjecture , i cannot be sure of it . ( for i think it is much the same as if a man born blind , and who had never seen , should employ his fancy to think , what kind of thing is light or colour : of which it would be hard for him to have a clear and certain idea . ) and if this gentleman please to look over it again , i suppose he will see , that he had no cause to be so angry , that i said , we can but guess herein , at what the scripture doth not teach us . that the socinians have set their wits awork to find out other subsidiary arguments and evasions against the trinity , beside that of its inconsistence with reason , i do not deny : but that is the foundation , and the rest are but props . and if they admit , that there is in it no inconsistence with reason ; they would easily answer all the other arguments themselves . i thought not to meddle with any of the texts on either side , because it is beside the scope which i proposed , when i confined my discourse to that single point , of it s not being impossible or inconsistent with reason : and did therefore set aside other considerations , as having been sufficiently argued by others , for more than an hundred years last past . but having already followed him in some of his excursions , i shall briefly consider the two signal places which he singles out as so mainly clear . in the former of them , iohn 17. 3. this is life eternal , that they might know thee the only true god , and iesus christ whom thou hast sent ; he puts a fallacy upon us : which perhaps he did not see himself , or at least hoped we would not see it . and therefore i desire him to consider , that it is not said thee only to be the true god ; but thee , the only true god. and so in the greek ; it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the restrictive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , only , is not annexed to thee , but to god. to know thee to be the only true god ; that is , to be that god , beside which god , there is no other true god. and we say the like also , that the father is that god , beside which there is no other true god : and say , the son is also ( not another god , but ) the same only true god. and if those words , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; should be thus expounded , to know thee to be the only true god ; and whom thou hast sent , iesus christ , ( to be the same only true god ; ) repeating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would not like that interpretation ; but both the words and the sence will very well bear it , ( without such force as they are fain to put upon many other places . ) or if , without such repetition , we take this to be the scope of the place ; to set forth the two great points of the christian religion , or way to eternal life ; that there is but one true god ( though in that godhead there be three persons , as elsewhere appears , ) in opposition to the many gods of the heathen : and the doctrine of redemption , by iesus christ , whom god hath sent , ( of which the heathen were not aware : ) the sence is very plain . and nothing in it so clear , as he would have us think , against the trinity ; but all very consistent with it . and the same answer serves to his other place , 1 cor. 8. 6. but to us there is but one god , the father , of whom are all things , and we in him , ( or for him : ) and one lord iesus christ , by whom are all things , and we by him . for here also one god may be referred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , both to the father ( if here taken as a distinct person ) and to the lord iesus christ : or , without that , it is manifest , that one god is here put in opposition ( not to the plurality of persons , as we call them , in one deity ; but ) to the many gods amongst the heathen : and our one saviour , against their many saviours . as is manifest , if we take the whole context together ; we know that an idol is nothing in the world : and that there is no other god but one . for though there be that are called gods , whether in heaven or in earth , ( as there be gods many , and lords many : ) but to us there is but one god , the father , of whom are all things , and we in him ; and one lord iesus christ , by whom are all things , and we by him , ver. 4 , 5 , 6. where it is evident , that the scope of the place is , not to shew either how the persons ( as we call them ) or how the attributes of that one god are distinguished amongst themselves : but to set our one god ( who is the father or maker of all things , ) in opposition to the many gods of the idolatrous world : and our one saviour or redeemer , against their many saviours . indeed , if we should set up our jesus christ to be another god , the text would be against us : but not when we own him for the same god. so that here is nothing clear in either place ( as he pretends ) against christ's being the same god with the father . but in that other place of iohn 1. ( which he labours to elude ) the evidence for it doth so stare him in the face , that if he were not ( as he speaks ) wilfully blind , ( or did wink very hard ) he must needs see it . in the beginning was the word ; and the word was with god ; and the word was god. the same was in the beginning with god. all things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was made . in him was life , and the life was the light of men , ( ver. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. ) he was in the world ; and the world was made by him ; and the world knew him not . he came unto his own , and his own received him not . but to as many as received him , he gave power ( or right , or privilege , ) to become the sons of god , even to them that believe on his name , ( ver. 10 , 11 , 12. ) and the word was made flesh , and dwelt among us ; and we beheld his glory , the glory as of the only begotten of the father ; full of grace and truth , ( ver. 14. ) why he should not think this very clear , is very strange , if he were not strangely prepossessed . unless he think nothing clear , but such as no man can cavil against . but there can hardly be any thing said so clearly , but that some or other ( if they list to be contentious ) may cavil at it , or put a forced sence upon it . for thus the whole doctrine of christ , when himself spake it , ( and he spake as clearly , as he thought fit to speak , ) was cavilled at . and himself tells us the reason of it , matth. 13. 14 , 15. and ioh. 12. 37 , 38 , 39 , 40. and after him st. paul , acts 28. 26. and rom. 11. 8. not for want of clear light , but because they shut their eyes . in iohn 12. it is thus , but though he had done so many miracles before them , yet they believed not on him : that the saying of esaias the prophet might be fulfilled , which he spake ; lord , who hath believed our report ? and to whom hath the arm of the lord been revealed ? therefore they could not believe , because esaias said again , he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart , that they should not see with their eyes , nor understand with their heart , and be converted , and i should heal them . these things said esaias , when he saw his glory and spake of him . and thus in matth 13. hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand , and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive . for this peoples heart is waxed gross , and their ears are dull of hearing , and their eyes they have closed ; lest at any time they should see with their eyes , and hear with their ears , and understand with their heart , and should be converted , and i should heal them . so that 't is no argument of a place or doctrine's not being clear , because prejudiced persons are able to pick cavils at it , or put a forced sence upon it . but let us see what these cavils are . this i confess ( saith he ) were to the purpose , if by the term word could be meant ( he should rather have said , be meant ) nothing else but a pre-existing person ; and , by the term god , nothing but god almighty the creator of heaven and earth ; and if taking those terms in those sences did not make st. john write nonsence . now in reply to this , i first take exception to that phrase , if it could be meant of nothing else . for if his meaning be this ▪ if no caviller can start up another sence , right or wrong : this is no fair play . for hardly can any thing be so plain , but that somebody may find a pretence to cavil at it . it is enough for us therefore , if it be thus meant , without saying , it is impossible to put a forced sence upon it . but this would have spoiled his design , in mustering up a great many forced sences ; not that he thinks them to be true , ( for surely they be not all true ; and i think none of them are ) nor telling us which he will stick to ; but only that he may cast a mist ; and then tell us ( which is all that he concludes upon it ) the place is abscure , he knows not what to make of it . but when the mist is blown off , and we look upon the words themselves , they seem plain enough , as to all the points he mentions . the word which was with god , and was god , and by whom the world was made , and which was made flesh and dwelt amongst us , and we saw his glory , and of whom iohn bare witness ; must needs be a person ; and can be no other than our lord iesus christ , who was born of the virgin mary . and this word , which was in the beginning , and by whom the world was made , must needs have been pre-existent before he was so born . and this word , which was with god ( the true god ) and was god , and by whom the world was made , and who is one with the father , ( joh. 10. 30. ) and * who is over all , god blessed for ever , ( rom. 9. 5. ) is no other god than god almighty , creator of heaven and earth . ) and this plain sence the words bear , without any force put upon them : without any incoherence , inconsistence , or contradiction ; s●●e that they do not agree with the socinian doctrine . and there is no other way to avoid it , but what socinus adviseth in another case , quantacunque vis verbis adhibenda ; putting a force upon the words , no matter how great , to make them , not to signifie , what they plainly do . or else to say , ( which is his last refuge ) that st. iohn writes nonsence . but let him then consider , whether this do savour of that respect which he would have us think they have for the holy scripture ; and whether we have not reason to susp●●t the contrary of some of them . and , whether we have not reason to complain of their putting a forced sence upon plain words , to make them comply with their doctrine . and lastly , whether it be not manifest , that the true bottom of their aversion from the trinity ( whatever other subsidiary reasons they may alledge ) is , because they think it nonsence , or not agreeable with their reason . ( for , set this aside , and all the rest is plain enough ; but , because of this , they scruple not to put the greatest force upon scripture . ) nor is there any other pretence of nonsence in the whole discourse , save that he thinks the doctrine of the trinity to be nonsence . so that the whole controversie with him , turns upon this single point , whether there be such impossibility or inconsistence , as is pretended . that of 1 iohn 5. 7. there be three that bear record in heaven , the father , the word , and the holy ghost ; and these three are one : is wanting , he says , in some copies . and it is so ; ( and so are some whole epistles wanting in some copies . ) but we will not for that quit the place . for we have great reason to think it genuine . if this difference of copies happened at first by chance ( upon an oversight in the transcriber ) in some one copy , ( and thereupon in all that were transcribed from thence ; ) it is much more likely for a transcriber to leave out a line or two which is in his copy , than to put in a line or two which is not . and if it were upon design , it is much more likely that the arians should purposely leave it out , ( in some of their copies ) than the orthodox foist it in . nor was there need of such falsification ; since 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , concludes as strongly , as to a plurality of persons , ( and of the son in particular , which was the chief controversie with the arians ; ) as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth as to all the three . and , i think , it is cited by cyprian , in his book de unitate ecclesiae , before the arian controversie was on foot . and therefore , if it were done designedly ( and not by chance ) it seems rather to be razed out by the arians , than thrust in by the orthodox . and the language of this in the epistle , suits so well with that of the same author in his gospel , that it is a strong presumption , that they are both from the same pen. the word , in 1 iohn 5. 7. agrees so well with the word in iohn 1. ( and is peculiar to st. iohn : ) and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in 1 iohn 5. 7. with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in iohn 10. 30. ( these three are one , with i and the father are one ) that i do not at all doubt its being genuine . and that evasion of his , these three are one , that is , one in testimony , will have no pretence in the other place , where there is no discourse of testimony at all : but i and the father are one , ( unum sumus ) must be one thing , one in being , one in essence . for so adjectives in the neuter gender , put without a substantive , do usually signifie both in greek and latin : and there must be some manifest reason to the contrary , that should induce us to put another sence upon them . the other place , matth. 28. 19. baptizing them in ( or into ) the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost ; is not so slight an evidence as he would make it . for whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) be rendred in the name , and taken to denote the joint authority of father , son , and holy ghost , admitting the person baptized into the christian church : or , into the name , ( which this answerer seems to like better ) and taken to denote the dedication of the person baptized to the joint service or worship of father , son , and holy ghost ; ( baptism it self being also a part of divine worship : ) they are all conjoined ; either , as in joint authority ; or as joint objects of the same religious worship ; and , for ought appears , in the same degree . and socinus himself doth allow , the son to be worshipped with religious worship ; as adoration , and invocation ; as lawful at least , if not necessary . now when this answerer tells us of the first commandment , thou shalt have no other god but me , ( the god of israel ; ) he might as well have remembred that of christ , matth. 4. 10. thou shalt worship the lord thy god , and him only shalt thou serve . and therefore since socinus ( and other of his followers ) do allow christ to be worshipped , they must allow him to be god , even the god of israel . and i am mistaken if he be not expresly called , the lord god of israel . luke 1. 16. many of the children of israel shall he ( john the baptist ) turn to the lord their god ; for he shall go before him in the spirit and power of elias , &c. now he before whom iohn the baptist was to go in the spirit and power of elias , is agreed to be our lord jesus christ ; 't is therefore he that is here called the lord god of israel . and we who own him so to be , worship no other god in worshipping him . it is those , who do not own him so to be , and do yet worship him , that are to be charged with worshipping another god. now when here we find father , son , and holy ghost , all joined in the same worship , we have reason to take them all for the same god ; and , that these three are one. and do say , ( as willingly as he ) hear , o israel , the lord thy god is one god. father , son , and holy ghost , are but one god : as god the creator , god the redeemer , and god the sanctifier , are one god. and what in the old testament are said of god , indefinitely , without taking notice of this or that of the three persons ; are , in the new testament , attributed some to one , some to another , of the three persons . that which makes these expressions seem harsh to some of these men , is because they have used themselves to fansie that notion only of the word person , according to which three men are accounted to be three persons , and these three persons to be three men. but he may consider , that there is another notion of the word person , and in common use too , wherein the same man may be said to sustain divers persons , and those persons to be the same man , that is the same man as sustaining divers capacities . as was said but now of tully , tres personas unus sustineo . and then it will seem no more harsh to say , the three persons , father , son and holy ghost are one god ; than to say , god the creator , god the redeemer , and god the sanctifier are one god ; which , i suppose , even to this answerer would not seem harsh , or be thought nonsence . it is much the same thing , whether of the two forms we use . and , all the cavils he useth , may be equally applied to either . what answer therefore he would give to one who should thus object against the latter form , will serve us as well to what he objects against the former . if therefore the gentleman please to consider it calmly ; he will find , that , even amongst men , though another person do many times denote another man , ( and thereupon the words are sometimes used promiscuously , ) yet not always ; nor doth the word person necessarily imply it . a king and a husband ( though they imply very different notions , different capacities , different relations , or different personalities , ) yet may both concur in the same man. ( or , in that sence wherein person is put for man , in the same person . ) so a king and a father , a king and a brother , and the like . and this gentleman , though ( in the dialogue ) he sustain two persons ; that of an opponent , and that of an answerer ; or that of a friend , and that of an adversary ; ( that so , while one gives ill language , the other may give up the cause ; ) yet they do not act each their own part so covertly , but that sometime the vizard falls off , and discovers the man to be the same . for though my letter be answered by a friend , pag. 1. yet 't is the neighbour that is weary of writing , p. 13. now , if person , in a proper sence , when applied to men , do not imply , that different persons must needs be so many different men : much less should it be thought nonsence , when ( in a metaphorical sence ) it is applied to god , that different persons in the deity , should not imply so many gods : or , that three somewhat 's ( which we call persons ) may be one god. which is what i undertook to prove . and , having made this good , i need not trouble my self to name more texts ( though many more there be which give concurrent evidence to this truth ) or discourse the whole controversie at large , ( which was not the design of my letter . ) for himself hath reduced it to this single point ; when st. iohn says , the word was with god , and the word was god ; if by the word , be meant christ , and by god , the true god ; whether , in so saying , st. iohn do not speak nonsence ? and if i evince this not to be nonsence , ( as i think i have done ) he grants the place is to the purpose . which quite destroys the foundation of the socinian doctrine . without being obliged to prove , that these persons are just such persons , and so distinct , as what we sometime call persons amongst men , ( but with such distinction only as is agreeable to the divine nature , and not such as to make them three gods. ) like as when god the father is said to beget the son ; not so as one man begets another , ( nor is the son so a son as what we call son amongst men : ) but so as suits with the divine nature : which how it is , we do not perfectly comprehend . i have now done with him . but i have one thing to note upon what i have before said , of the athanasian creed . i there read it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because i so find it in the copy i used ; which is that at the end of the greek testament in octavo , printed at london by iohn bill , 1622 ; with robert stephan's , ioseph scaliger's and isaac casaubon's annotations . but in whitaker's greek testament , reprinted by this copy , 1633 , i since find it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ( which edition , i suppose , is followed by some others . ) i take the former to be the better reading , ( as giving a clearer sence ; ) and that the correcter of the press , had put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , intending thereby to mend the greek syntax , ( because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 follows , ) but doth ( i think ) impair the sence . but , as to the doctrine , it is much one whether we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and what i have said of that whole creed , is chiefly intended for those who do believe the doctrine of the trinity , and of christ's incarnation ; that there is no reason ( in my opinion ) why they should not allow of that creed . but such as do not believe those points , cannot ( i grant ) approve the creed . and it is these , i suppose , who would fain have others to dislike it also . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a67388-e140 joh. 9. 6. joh. 11. 43. 44. gen. 1. 3. psal. 33. 9. numb . 17. 8. isai. 56. 3. gen. 18. 11 , 12. rom. 4. 19. luke . 1. 35. gen. 1. 2. 1 cor. 2. 10 , 11. rom. 1. 22. joh. 3. 8 , 12. mat. 8. 26 , 27. phil. 1. 21 , 23 , 24. job 33. 13. notes for div a67388-e4610 * 2 de orat. * what we render who is , ( in rom. 9. 5. ) is in the greek , not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( he that is , ) which in rev. 1. 4. ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. ) and elsewhere , is used as a peculiar name or title proper to god almighty ; and answers to i am , exod. 3. 14. i am hath sent me unto you ( of the same import with iah and iehovah . ) and what is said of god indefinitely , ( without respect to this or that person in the godhead ) at rev. 1. 4. ( for christ in particular is contradistinguished , ver. 5. ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( from him that is , and was , and is to come , ) is at ver. 8. applied in particular to christ , i am alpha and omega , the beginning and the end , saith the lord , which is , and was , and is to come , the almighty . which closeth the description of christ , that begins at ver. 5. and that , by the lord , is here meant christ , is evident from the whole context , ver. 11 , 13 , 17 , 18 , and the whole second and third chapters . and so the description of christ , rom. 9. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in its full emphasis , is thus , that being over all , ( or , the supreme being ) god blessed for ever , ( or the ever blessed god ) amen . and there will be need of socinus's expedient , ( quantacunque vis pauli verbis adhibenda ) to make it signifie any other god , than god almighty , the creator of heaven and earth . the country-curate's advice to his parishioners, in four parts i. directs us, how to serve god on the lord's day, ii. on the week day, iii. how to discharge our duty in our several relations, as husband and wife, parents and children, masters and servants, iv. how to prepare for death / by h.c. h. c. (henry cornwallis), 1654?-1710. 1693 approx. 94 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a34597 wing c6333 estc r37664 16999045 ocm 16999045 105679 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34597) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105679) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1612:27) the country-curate's advice to his parishioners, in four parts i. directs us, how to serve god on the lord's day, ii. on the week day, iii. how to discharge our duty in our several relations, as husband and wife, parents and children, masters and servants, iv. how to prepare for death / by h.c. h. c. (henry cornwallis), 1654?-1710. 76 p. printed by t.w. for j. robinson ..., london : 1693. advertisement: p. 76. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng christian life -anglican authors. theology, practical. 2007-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2008-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the country-curate's advice to his parishioners , in four parts . i. directs us , how to serve god on the lord's day . ii. on the week day . iii. how to discharge our duty in our several relations ; as husband and wife , parents and children , masters and servants . iv. how to prepare for death . by h. c. london , printed by t. w. for j. robinson , at the golden lyon in st. paul's church-yard , 1693. to the reader . religion is the grand employment of our lives , the main design and biass of our rational natures , the important work and task that heaven hath set us : and calls for our greatest vigour and vivacity to attend it : and though perhaps it may suffer some diminution from the meanness of the person , who treats of it : yet it is not to be denied , that its own intrinsick worth and native excellency are sufficient to render it most acceptable to all intelligent minds , and unprejudiced understandings . i pretend not to any high strain of eloquence , or high flown rhetorications : for if i were master of a very fluent oratory ; yet should i at this time wave it , and study plainness ; the station i am in , a curate : the persons i write unto , not courtiers but country-men : oblige me to it . my office is to present my reader with a portraicture of practical religion ; especially as it hath an aspect to the duties which constitute our devotion : here it is not proper to be quaint and florid , but to make impression on mens hearts ; and bring the deity into their souls . this i have attempted to accomplish in the ensuing sheets : though i most frankly acknowledge how feeble and languid my enterprize hath been . among the plain directions which i have given towards the consummating of a religious life , i have placed those which respect the lord's day in the front of all : and with good reason ; seeing this sacred time is the queen and empress of all the days in the week ; and hath a just precedency of them by our saviour's institution , and the practice of his holy apostles . religion commenceth here : he that begins not with the right celebration of this day ; will be extreamly defective in all the other acts of devotion and religion . this therefore in the first place i most passionately recommend to all votaries of christianity ; that they would concern themselves in the due observation of this divine time : and accordingly i here offer them such rules , as will be a certain conduct to them , and fully instruct them how to behave themselves , in all the portions of that sacred day . if this attempt be favoured and incouraged by the religious reader : i shall be animated then to aspire to a further degree of consulting his spiritual advantage , by committing to the press those other directions which i have prepared for the guidance of pious minds in the grand business of religion . in the interim , i bid such adieu , and incessantly implore the tri-une deity ; that these my weak endeavours may prove auspicious . h. c. the contents of this book . chap. i. the preparation for the lord's day upon saturday eve. chap. ii. of awaking with god upon the sunday morning . chap. iii. closet-prayer , and the preparations to it . chap. iv. of family-duty ere we go to god's house . chap. v. of the great obligation that lies upon every one of us to worship god in publick . chap. vi. of going to our parish-church . chap. vii . the souls soliloquy as it walks to god's house , and behaviour there . chap. viii . of our behaviour at church when the minister is come unto it . chap. ix . of our due behaviour between morning and evening service . chap. x. of resorting to the evening sacrifice . chap. i. of saturday's eve devotion . i shall wave all the opinions i have read , concerning the beginning of the sabbath ; because i would not here enter into a controversy with any man. the sentiments of men are various , yet how different soever they may be otherwise , sure i am , all agree in this : that a due preparation the even before , will be a great help to perform the duties of the day following . the primitive christians used to spend the greatest part of saturday night , in fasting , watching , and prayer ; to fit them for the duty of the subsequent day : from whence , i suppose , our church borrows the custom of reading the collect for the sunday , upon the eve foregoing . nay , so zealous were they in god's service , that upon the ringing of the bell to church , the plowman used to leave the plow , and the tradesman his shop , to join with the minister in publick prayers , for a blessing on the sabbath . which devotion of theirs , because this our degenerate age is , for the most part , strangely averse to ; and very few , if any , will have recourse to the house of god , there to perform their duty : let them repair to their private oratory ; let them enter into their closets ; let conscience there call an audit in their breasts ; and both impartially judge the actions of the week past : and how the case stands , at present , between god and their souls . beg , o beg of god , dear christian ! to give thee a true sight and sense of all thy sins : which thou maist do in this following prayer . o father of light , and god of love , grant me true light , true love , and true wisdom ; that i may clearly discern what doth please , or displease thy divine majesty : most earnestly desiring , even from my very soul , to detest the one ; and embrace the other . illuminate the eyes of my vnderstanding , that i may truly see my sins , and imperfections : strengthen my memory , that i may duly confess them : and rectify my will , that i may resolutely amend them . return , o my soul ! to thy self , and to thy god. lament , repent , amend . the spirit indeed is willing , but the flesh is weak : therefore turn thou me , o lord ; and i shall be turned . convert thou me , and i shall be converted . further me , i humbly beseech thee , with thy continual help , that in all my works , begun , continued and ended in thee , i may glorify thy holy name , and finally , by thy mercy , obtain everlasting life , through jesus christ our lord. amen . questions to be put to our selves every saturday night . 1. how have i this week kept my heart ? have i been diligent in putting away evil thoughts of sundry sorts ? and have i kept my mind exercised with good and holy meditations ? have i thought humbly of my self ? charitably of my neighbour , and reverently of my maker and redeemer ? 2. how have i this week kept the door of my lips ? have not i uttered many idle , vain , and unprofitable words ? have i spoke of my neighbour with that love and charity , as i would have others speak of me ? have i had that compassion of others defects , as of my own ? 3. what aim had i in all my actions ? have i done them so purely for the love of god , as i ought ? or had i any worldly respect in the doing of them ? 4. how have i kept my senses this week ? have not mine eyes gazed upon wanton objects . have not mine ears listned unto filthy communication ? and my taste delighted it self in gluttony and drunkenness ? 5. have i been so truly thankful for god's mercies , as i ought to have been ? 6. have not i , this week , omitted my prayers ? slovered them over ? or suffered my thoughts to wander in them ? lastly , have not i been guilty of some crying sin , that might justly cause god to reject them . these queries proposed , and thy heart , o christian ! upon enquiry , declaring thee guilty : with me say , of these , and all my other sins that i have committed from my youth up , unto this present day , i most heartily repent me , o lord my god! and i am truly sorry for every thought , word , and act , by which i have provoked thy wrath and indignation against me : especially for my disobedience of so holy a law ; and extream ingratitude to so bountiful a lord. o god , i do acknowledge my self unworthy the least of thy mercies , and obnoxious to the greatest of thy judgments : but thou hast revealed thy self a god of pity and compassion , for giving the iniquities of such as truly repent , and acquitting those that voluntarily acquit themselves . wherefore with a penitent and contrite heart , i confess my own guiltiness ; resolving patiently to bear whatsoever affliction thou laist upon me for my sins : hoping for pardon , through the alone mercies of our saviour christ . and now , o most gracious and liberal benefactor ! with my whole strength and faculties of soul and body , i praise and magnify thy name , for thy great and innumerable benefits , proceeding purely from thy bounty , and intended wholly for my good . particularly , for preserving the this week in the midst of so many dangers incident to my condition ; and delivering me from so many calamities and miseries due to my sins . thou art my creator , o my god! and gracious protector : thou art the ultimate end of my being , and the supream perfection of my nature , and under the shadow of thy wings is my perpetual repose : from the light of thy countenance flows eternal joy and felicity . to thee be glory and honour , adoration and praise from all creatures , now and for evermore . amen . and since thou hast ordained us the day to labour in , and the night to take our rest : as i praise thee for the blessings of the day past , so i beseech thee for thy protection this night . let the eye of thy providence watch over me , and thy holy angels pitch their tent about me ; that being safely delivered from all dangers , and comfortably refreshed with moderate sleep ; i may be the better enabled to perform the employment of my condition , and faithfully persevere in the duties of thy service to my lifes end . amen . beware of sitting up late your self on the saturday night , or of causing others to do so ; lest when you go into the house of god , to join with the multitude in prayer , you are fitter to sleep than pray : differing little from the dead bodies , asleep in their graves . the one sleeps above the earth ; the other underneath it . and when you are laid in your bed , let not your mind run on worldly thoughts : but think of the infinite majesty of god , that you are then to meet , think of the great weight and importance of the holy ordinances , then vouchsafed you ; how they concern thy salvation or damnation , thy everlasting life or death . meditate on the short time thou hast to enjoy the sabbath in : how near thy life is to an end : how easily god can take down this earthly tabernacle : how there is no working , no labour , no striving in the other world , to which thou art going ; and continue thus musing till the fire of meditation begin to burn . if thou thus leavest thy heart with god on saturday night , no doubt but you will find it with him the next morning . chap. ii. of awaking with god. as soon as sleep hath unseal'd thine eyes , lift up thy soul in thanksgiving to thy maker for preserving thee that night , and affording thee a good beginning of a new day ; especially a sabbath day ; to labour for his glory , and the good of thine own soul. and that you may be incited to perform this act of praise , consider these several motives . 1. that perhaps many others not so sinful as thy self , have been hurried from their beds to the bar of judgment ; from a bed of down they have been cast into a bed of flames : yet god in his infinite mercy hath spared you until now , to repent , and prepare your accounts . 2. consider that many others are visited by god almighty with sickness , so that they cannot serve god in the publick assemblies : while you enjoy your health and free liberty , to go with the multitude into his courts . 3. consider that you are now brought to the beginning of another day , which when past , you shall never see again . thou maist possibly see more sabbath days ; but that space of time when the sun is once set , thou shalt never see again any more . how careful then should'st thou be to improve this day , so that it may turn to the best account . solomon sends man to school to the ant , to learn this good husbandry ( prov. 6.6 , 7 , 8. ) oh that we were as wise for the bread of life , that came down from heaven ; as the poor pismire for bread , that springs out of the earth ! the sabbath is an harvest ; and he that sleeps away his time in harvest , is a son that causeth shame . the seaman , or mariner , observes his wind and tide , otherwise he cannot get to his intended harbour : but seasons of grace are not like the tides ; of which , if you miss one , you may get another . how careful then shouldst thou be to improve every minute ? our saviour christ said to his disciples concerning the loaves and fishes , gather up the fragments that nothing be lost . the like advice i give you concerning the lord's day : gather up the parcels thereof , let no part of it be lost , no not the least minutes ; which are pretious : to this end , spiritualize all the objects you meet with in the day ; as thus . when first awake , think that god almighty can as easily awaken you out of your graves from the sleep of death ; as he hath in your beds , from the sleep of nature : let the rising out of your beds , put you in mind of the resurrection . and when you see the sun , let your meditation be ; that if the rising of one sun be so glorious , how glorious will that day be , when so many thousands of bodies , far brighter than the sun , shall appear to accompany christ at the great assizes ? consider that this great star must run in one day , ten or twelve millions of leagues : and shall you make no progress in virtue ? consider that unwearied harbinger is gone to take you up a lodging in the grave : each minute is so much deducted from your life . follow therefore the counsel of the son of god , work while it is day ; for the night cometh , when no man can work . let not then this light burn in vain ; but endeavour by your own good works , to let your light so shine before men , that they may see your works , and glorify your father which is in heaven . as thou art putting on thy apparel , remember some of them were at first given as coverings of shame , being the effect of sin ; and that they are made of the excrements and offals of dead beasts , so that thou hast very little cause to be proud of them . nay indeed , thou hast great cause to be humbled at the sight thereof : seeing the richest apparel are but the fine covers of the foulest shame . therefore as thou art cloathing thy body , endeavour to cloth thy soul with christ's righteousness , as with a garment : lest while thou art richly apparelled in the sight of men ; thy soul be found to walk naked in the sight of god. before thou betakest thy self to thy closet , breath forth thy soul to god at thy first awaking , in this , or the like , short ejaculation . o lord god , as thou hast awakened my body from last nights sleep , so by thy grace awaken my soul from the lethargy of sin , that at the general resurrection i may arise to eternal glory . amen . chap. iii. of closet-prayer , and the preparations to it . having thus fitted thy self for thy closet , before thou prayest take the wise man's counsel ( ecclus . 18.5.23 . ) prepare thy self , and be not as one that tempteth god. now for thy better preparation observe these few rules . 1. you are to remember when you settle your self in prayer , you then place your self in the presence of god , whose eyes indeed are upon all men ; but in a more especial manner upon those that call upon him in prayer . 2. the consideration of his presence is to put you in mind , with what humble reverence both of soul and body , you ought to appear before so great a majesty . 3. lay aside all wrath and malice against your neighbour . i will , saith the apostle , that men lift up holy hands without wrath ( 1 tim. 2.8 . ) st. hierom confesseth this of himself , that when he was angry he durst not enter into the church , but totum animo & corpore contremuisse , he trembled very much both in body and mind . the spouse of christ is compared to a dove , which some say is sine felle , without gall. the very heathens when they offered sacrifice threw the gall of the beast away : and wilt thou offer to god the gall of wrath , bitterness and revenge , with the sacrifice of prayer ? 4. banish all worldly thoughts out of your heart . our saviour when he taught us to pray , by the preface to the petitions telleth us where our affections in prayer should be , viz. in heaven : our father , which art in heaven . therefore before you begin to pray , you are to resolve within your self , seriously to intend the duty you are about , that your heart may not wander , but go along with your prayers : or if through weakness it happens to stray , to call it back again , and ask pardon for it , in some such prayer as this : lord strengthen me , and restrain me , and lay not this weakness to my charge . having entred thy oratory , propose these few questions to thy soul , and engage thy self to an answer . o my soul ! wherefore art thou now retired into this place ? what is thy design ? what are thy pretensions ? where is thy god , whom thou comest to treat with ? is he present ? doth he hear thee ? is he merciful ? will he help thee ? what is the business thou art to negotiate ? is it the saving thy soul , or the satisfaction of earthly desires ? what words wilt thou use to move god to hear thee ? what humble gesture ? what profound reverence ? dost thou know who thou art before ? is not gods eye upon all , to observe head and heart , lip and life ? darest thou suffer thy thoughts then to wander ? will he be pleased with that sacrifice he hath accursed , of drawing nigh to him with our lips , when our hearts are far from him ? answer thy self briefly to every one of these interrogatories , as thy own conscience dictates to thee ; for by this discourse made to thy self , thou shalt be better prepared to discourse with god. having thus prepared thy self for prayer , thou maist then fall down on thy knees , and to thy ordinary prayers ( which must not on this day by any means be omitted ) add these following heads of prayers : suitable in some measure , to the solemnity of the day . 1. you are to pray for the minister , that god would give him the door of utterance , that he may open his mouth boldly to publish the mysteries of the gospel : that he may speak the word truly , sincerely , powerfully , and profitably ; delivering that which is sutable and seasonable to your condition . 2. you are to pray for your selves , that he would banish out of your head all wandring , worldly thoughts , which may distract your minds in the hearing of the word , and so choak that heavenly seed , make it fruitless : and that he would give unto you as attention to hearken ; so understanding to conceive , wisdom to apply , judgment to discern , faith to believe , memory to retain , and grace to practise , what you shall hear : so that the word may prove unto you , not a savour of death unto death , but of life unto life ; all which you may do in this following prayer . o lord god , from whom alone are the preparations of the heart , the day is now come , which being holy unto thee , i am to spend in thy more solemn worship : many sins there are by me not duly repented of , which may justly bring upon me a curse instead of a blessing ; especially my crying sins , ( here mention thy particular sins which thou hast found thy self guilty of ; and also the sins committed by thee , the last week ) that may make my prayer an abomination to thee . accept , o lord , this my confession , and ( at least ) desired sorrow for them ; turn my heart from them for the future ; and through the blood of my saviour , so remove the guilt of them , that they may not hinder good things from me . let the effusions of thy grace , both upon me and all the congregations of thy people , be ever plentiful : let my heart be fixed , that no vain or worldly thoughts harbour there ; while i am in thy house . quicken me with thy holy spirit , that i may draw near unto thee with a true heart ; that i may be fervent in spirit , serving thee ; and that , receiving thy word with an honest and good heart , i may understand and keep it : and bring forth fruit with patience , and to perfection . remember thou thy servants which are to dispence thy mysteries unto thy people , and especially him upon whose teaching i wait : pardon their sins and frailties , open their mouths , guide their minds and tongues , that they may deliver thy truths in the demonstration of thy spirit : and let thy work so prosper in their hands , that they may both save themselves , and them that hear them , that both may be built up in our most holy faith , to the perfecting thy church , and eternal glory of thy name thereby , through jesus christ our lord and saviour . amen . you may also add this prayer . o lord ! holiness becometh thy house , and dutifulness becometh me to go into thy courts , and wait upon thee , and this is the great day of thy service : thou that hast given me to see the light of this day , make me careful to do the duty of it ; timely to present my self unto thee ; and reverently to behave my self before thee ; that when i go hence , i may return with fruit and favour from thee , for jesus christ's sake . amen . when you go to receive the sacrament , use this prayer . o thou in whose temple every man speaks of thine honour , whose glory no mortal man can sufficiently express , whose goodness no tongue is able to display , whose holiness transcends all the perfections we see here below ! overaw my spirit , when i go with the multitude to the house of god , with the voice of joy and praise . o let me consider , that it is the all-seeing god in whose presence i stand ; and that holy angels are sent to observe my devotion ! give me sober thoughts , holy affections , devout postures , steadiness of mind , ardent desires , modest looks , and a grave behaviour : especially now i am going to receive the sacrament . now , let all that is within me turn into holy breathings ; banish from me all undecent thoughts ; and if thou dost not think fit to free me from temptations before they come , give me grace vigorously to resist them , that i may show my zeal to thy glory , by my abhorrence of all imaginations , that exalt themselves against the obedience of christ jesus . amen . chap. iv. of family-duty ere we go to god's house . after thou hast fitted thy self for church , thy next care must be carefully and conscientiously to perform family-duties : jos . 24.15 . let others do what they will , i and my house ( saith he ) will serve the lord. in order to the performance of which duty , take along with you these following rules . 1. see that your servants and children waste not away the morning in sleep and idleness . 2. cause them to join together in prayer , reading , or any other godly exercise , gen. 18.19 . 3. make them accompany you to church , command their bodies , though you cannot their souls . 4. inform your selves and them , what a great and glorious majesty and master you are to serve : a god so glorious , that the very angels vail and cover their faces , not being able to behold the brightness of his glory . and if this lowly reverence be performed by them , who are in such nearness to god ; what posture is low enough for us , who , in comparison of those heavenly spirits , are viler than the ground we tread on . 5. make them sensible , what poor worms and wretched creatures they are , dust and ashes ; their hearts full of putrefaction , and a sink of sin : and therefore ought to come crawling , crouching and trembling , to the throne of grace . 6. examine what preparation they have made for the sabbath ; whether they have not spent more time and care to dress their body for the eye of man , than to deck their soul for the eye of god. whether they have prayed in private for a blessing on god's ordinance . 7. inform them seriously of the great work they go about , what a weighty work it is , how that their weeks works are but toys and trifles in comparison of it . what are sheep , oxen , or shops ; to grace , christ , and heaven ? exhort them all to be careful and serious in god's work , in soul-salvation-work : and therefore they ought to prepare themselves with all their might . remember the fourth commandment binds you to look to all within your care , both man-servant and maid-servant , &c. whosoever rides them unnecessary journeys on that day , the groans of the tired beast , will rise up in judgment against them , and condemn them for breaking god's command . as motives hereunto , consider 1. that it is god in a family , not man only that maketh it to prosper : so that if thou wouldest have it go well with thy family ; then oughtest thou to set up the worship of god in it . the lord blessed the house of obed-edom for the arks sake : so god will bless thy house , if the ark , that is , his worship be there . wouldst thou have thy family flourish , set up the worship of god in it . let no wicked person remain in thine house . he that will not pray and join in the worship of god with thee ; let him not eat with thee . make joshua's resolution ; as for me and my house , we will serve the lord. 2. remember you must be accountable to god for those souls he hath committed to your charge : you ought therefore to take care that they be trained up in the fear of the lord. see that none of your family be given to any vice , viz. swearing , drinking , lying , or the like . make choice of such servants as fear god : chuse for him somewhat , and not altogether for your self . enquire in the first place , whether they will submit to his word : if not , let them not come under thy roof . as thou wouldst not have the devils company in thine house ; so do not entertain any of his friends and servants ; but rather let it be an harbour and habitation of god's children : for so shalt thou be blessed . you know that god blessed laban for jacob's sake : so may you likewise expect a blessing , if you entertain such in your house . a family-prayer before we go to church . o lord , encrease our faith , and by thy holy spirit prepare our hearts to pray as we ought ; and for christ's sake accept this morning sacrifice of prayer , though weak and imperfect , which in his name , and by his mediation and intercession we offer up to thee . we humbly and heartily acknowledge thy infinite wisdom , tender love , and fatherly goodness towards us thy unworthy servants , most vile and wretched sinners , in that it hath pleased thee not only to give us a liberal allowance of time to do our own works , and follow our own callings and recreations , for the health of our bodies , and the necessities of this present life : but also to appoint us one day in seven to attend upon thee , do thy work , and fit our selves to keep with thee an everlasting sabbath in the highest heavens . we know , o lord , that we are bound in conscience to serve and worship thee every day of the week ; and every day to set apart some time for spiritual and heavenly exercises ; yea , and when we are in earthly business , to carry heavenly minds about with us : yet it hath pleased thee further to allow us one day in seven to attend wholly upon thee , and more throughly to acquaint our selves with thee ; with thy ways , and with our sinful and deceitful hearts : to wean them from the love of this world , and set them upon heavenly joys . and now , o lord , as thou hast given us a day to serve thee ; fit and prepare every soul to worship thee as we ought . to this end , give us the assistance of thy holy spirit , that we may learn to redeem time , and number all our days , our sabbaths more especially ; that so we may apply our hearts unto wisdom : that we may now get wise , religious , believing and repenting hearts . o lord , give us grace to consecrate this day , as a day of delight , holy and honourable to thee : not doing our own works , nor following our own pleasures , nor speaking our own words ; but exercising our selves in duties of piety and mercy , publickly and privately : in thy house and in our own . so that we may make this season a day not only of reconciliation for the sins of the week past ; but also a day of preparation and spiritual provision , furnishing our selves for the better performance of the duties of the week to come . and now , o heavenly father , we are going to thy house to partake of thy ordinances , we beseech thee to go with us thither , and stand by us there ; and bring us back again : rejoicing when we shall find our faith encreased , our hope quickned , our zeal kindled , our hearts inflamed with the love of thee and our brethren . let us not , we beseech thee , make thy house , which is an house of prayer and spiritual exercises , to be a den of thieves : but let us look to our feet , that so we may be more ready to hear , than to offer up the sacrifice of fools . it is a fearful thing , when this word which should he a savour of life unto life , does prove a savour of death unto death ; as it does to many who regard not what they hear . grant therefore , o lord , that we may take diligent heed what we hear , and how we hear : keep us we humbly pray thee , that we be not like unto them that be compared unto the high way ; who do not so much as bend their minds to regard what is taught : nor to them , who are compared to the stony ground ; who do it but shallowly and superficially : nor to them that be compared to the thorny ground ; that do choak and smother it , with minding their ease , pleasure , gain and profit over much . but give us grace to be like the good ground ; who coming to the word with honest and good hearts , bring forth good fruit , with patience , and in good season : so that keeping this day as we ought to do ; we may be translated to keep an everlasting sabbath in the highest heaven . amen . chap. v. of the great obligation that lies upon every one of us to worship god in publick . neglect not publick ordinances upon pretence of serving god in private : that god almighty gives his blessing both to private and family-duties , is most certain ; but to put god off with these , and neglect publick worship : is to rob him of a greater summ , and pay him with a less . it is worth our observation , that the sabbath and publick worship of god , are by him joined together ; therefore let no man put them asunder : ye shall keep my sabbath , and reverence my sanctuary , i am the lord your god. they then that despise god's sanctuary , cannot observe god's sabbath . do but consider david's tears for the want , and his prayers for the fruition of publick ordinances ; even then , when he had opportunity for private performances : and surely then thou wilt esteem the ministry of the word no mean mercy . see his sorrow for the want of them ! i was driven ( saith he ) from the sanctuary , when i did but think of it , my soul was poured out like water ; for i had gone with the multitude , i went with them to the house of god. psal . 42.3 . my soul was poured out ( that is ) was over-whelm'd with grief , and even ready to dye ; when i compare my present condition with my former happiness , in the fruition of religious assemblies . how bitterly and passionately doth he plead with saul ? if the lord hath stirred thee up against me , let him accept an offering : but if men , cursed be they before the lord , for they have driven me out this day , from the inheritance of the lord. ( 1 sam. 16.19 . ) how pathetically does he bemoan his own soul ? woe is me , for i dwell in meseck , and have my habitation in the tents of kedar ! the loss of his father , mother , wives , children , lands , liberty , nay life it self ; would not have gone so near his heart , as the loss of the publick ordinances . as his sorrow was great for the want ; so was his soul most earnest for the fruition of them . how many prayers does he put up for the liberty of the tabernacle psal . 43.3 , 4. ) and psal . 27.4 . one thing have i desired of the lord , which i will seek after : viz. that i might dwell in the tabernacle of the lord , and visit his holy temple . and ( verse 8. ) when thou saidst , seek my face ; my heart said unto thee , thy face , lord , will i seek . david at this time was banished the temple , and he among other reasons useth this argument to restore him to his happiness ; as if he had said : o god thou hast commanded me to worship thee in the temple . to appear before thee is my delight ; my heart desires to seek and see thy face there . thus he prays to god for the performance on his side , that he might be enabled to obey god's precept . peter and john went up to the temple at the hour of prayer ( acts 3.1 . ) and st. paul reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath day ( acts 13.14 . ) those that by their practices contemn publick worship , have neither christ nor the apostles for their pattern . one of the jewish rabbies hath a saying , he that dwells in a city where there is a synagogue , and cometh not to prayers , merito dicitur vicinus malus : if thou forsakest the assembly of god ; how useful thou maist be to others bodies , i know not : but i am sure thou art neither to thine own soul , or theirs ; in neglecting god's service . consider the condition of primitive christians , who were forced to serve the lord with fear , and attend his ordinances with trembling : who built churches under ground , rather than they would want the opportunity of serving god in publick . consider also how david bemoan'd himself , counting swallows and sparrows in this much better than he , because they could build their nests in the temple , while he was banished from it . ( psa . 84.1 , 2 , 3. ) how amiable are thy tabernacles , o lord ? my soul longeth , yea even fainteth for the courts of the lord : my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living god. yea , the sparrow hath found an house , and the swallow a nest for her self , where she may lay her young : even thine altars , o lord of hosts , my king and my god. did david , being abridged thereof , thus bemoan himself ? surely then we should count it a great mercy , that we have publick churches and oratories to go unto , without any lett or molestation ; that we have no tyrants , no foreign enemies , no rods , no axes , no noise of war to affright us from god's publick ordinances : what cause of rejoicing is here ? but yet , if this liberty of ours make us wanton , and the plenty god gives us tempts us to licentiousness : if instead of growing better we grow worse : if the manna we have , do not make us to hunger and thirst after righteousness : we may have just reason to fear god will remove our candlestick from us , and give it to a nation that bringeth forth better fruit than we have done . perhaps you say , you spend your time as religiously at home as you do at church ; that you read , pray , catechise , and the like : but i must tell you , you do all this out of season ; you mis-time and misplace duty , and you should not use one ordinance or duty , in plain contempt and neglect of another ; you cannot expect god's presence , nor look for the gift of god's grace , in a way of disobedience to his command , and neglect of his appointed means . when god sets up the ministry of the word in any place , his spirit then opens his school , and expects that all that should be taught , should come thither : now ( saith the learned mr. gurnal ) whether is it most fitting , that a scholar should wait of his master at school ; or that the master should run after his truant scholar at play in the field , to teach him there ? and again , put case ( saith the reverend dr. sherlock ) any of you were a father of a numerous off-spring , and that without any express command , most of your children should agree by common consent to visit you together , to ask your blessing , and pay their thankful acknowledgment to you for your care of their education , and the liberal provision you have made for them ; but one or two of them should chuse to come in private , when no body sees them , and obstinately refuse to come with their brethren ; though they were censured by them for undutifulness and ingratitude . now if man would not accept of such a private acknowledgment : shall we expect that god should ? god is a publick benefactor , and upon that account may challenge publick worship at our hands ; nay indeed god himself instituted it . in the jewish church the sacrifices were publickly offered up by the priest : he likewise appointed a publick place for worship , viz. the tabernacle at jerusalem , which would have been of no use , if there had been no obligation to publick worship : and this is enough i should think , to satisfy any reasonable man , of their obligation hereunto . chap. vi. of our going to our parish-church . having thus fitted thy family for god's house , repair with them to thy own parish-church : otherwise you will discourage your minister , and set your neighbours an ill example . remove all prejudices against thy pastor , especially these two , which because most common , i shall therefore instance in them . as ( 1. ) against his parts . ( 2. ) against his life . i confess it is a mercy to sit under a pastor that hath both parts and piety , gifts and grace too : and wert thou to chuse thy dwelling , i would advise thee to bear with many outward conveniencies to sit under such a ministry : but suppose thy teacher be , at least in thy thoughts , a man of mean parts , and his pains will yield thee little profit , that is no excuse for thy not hearing of him . shall the divine herbert be umpire in the case : consult his church-porch , and page 15 th , he speaks excellently to our purpose . judge not the preacher , for he is thy judge : if thou mistake him , thou conceiv'st him not . god calleth preaching folly. do not grudge to pick out treasures from an earthen pot. the worst speak something good ; if all want sense , god takes a text , and preacheth patience . he that gets patience , and the blessing which preachers conclude with , hath not lost his pains . he that by being at church escapes the ditch , which he might fall in by companions , gains . he that loves god's abode , and to combine with saints on earth , shall one day with them shine . jest not at preachers language or expression : how know'st thou but thy sins made him miscarry ? then turn thy faults and his into confession : god sent him whatsoe'r he be . oh tarry , and love him for his master ; his condition , though it be ill , makes him no ill physician . a condemn'd person will esteem a beggar when he brings a pardon : how beautiful then are not only the lips , but the hands of those that bring glad tidings or peace ? dear christian brother ! i pray resolve me : do the efficacy of the ordinances depend on the parts of a man , or on the power of god ? may not a costly treasure be brought to thee in an earthly vessel ? thou maist light a candle as well by a brimstone match , as by a great fire . a small damsel was instrumental for naaman's recovery both of his corporal and spiritual leprosy : and who art thou that none must instruct thee , but such an one that like saul , is higher than others in gifts and abilities ? i wish it proceed not from the pride of thy spirit : a picking stomach argues a diseased body ; and an itching ear cannot argue a sound soul. the industrious bee sucks honey from the thyme , an harsh and dry herb. the meat is as good in a pewter , as silver-dish . if thou goest to the table only for sawce , and the church for stile and elegancy : i dare be bold to tell thee , that thy heart is not right towards god. 2. as to thy prejudice against his life which gives the lye to his lips. i must needs confess , the night ushers in more stars than the day opens eyes to behold a ministers actions , ears to listen to their deportment , and mouths to proclaim their actions through all provinces : and they that forget their sermons will remember their faults to patronize their own . but if the providence of god should place thee under such a minister ( which is no small unhappiness ) yet is he not to be rejected . god almighty fed elijah by a raven : and so may he feed thee with heavenly manna , by a sinful minister ; who may convert thy soul. the reason is ( as before ) because the operation of the word , does not depend on the piety of the preacher , but upon the free grace and power of god. a blind man may hold a candle and give light to others , while he himself remains in the dark . the scribes and pharisees were many of them vicious persons , yet sitting in moses's chair , christ commands his disciples to hear them . he did not forbid them to hear their doctrine , but to forbear their doings . chap. vii . the souls soliloquy as it walks to god's house , and behaviour there . order thy business to come before the prayers ; for many and mischievous are the consequences of coming late . 1. you rob your self of the opportunity of private prayers , for a blessing upon the publick . 2. you lose the benefit of publick confession and absolution ; which are of huge esteem and value to all that are wisely religious . 3. you willingly deprive your selves of part of god's publick worship , which is both a sin , and a loss of so great account , as cannot easily be expressed , nor ordinarily believed . as you are going to church , you may make use of this soliloquy . o my soul ! let vzza's death make thee careful , how thou enters irreverently into god's house . if we be so careful to come with clean apparel before an earthly prince , much more should we with clean hearts and souls , approach our heavenly king. a prince may not regard how his servants go in his kitchen ; but when they come into his presence-chamber , he expects they should look to their carriage and words . god indeed , o my soul ! expects more honour in our religious acts , than in the ordinary actions of our lives : for in the first , we directly design his honour and service ; and if we do not perform them seriously , the greater is our sin. think then , o my soul ! how choice god was in the law , about all things relating to his worship : the tabernacle and temple must be of the best wood , the purest gold , and the finest linnen . the persons must be without blemish ( lev. 2.17 . ) the sacrifice must be perfect , without spot ; the best of the flock , the best of the beasts , the fat that covereth the inwards . and what , o my soul , dost thou think was the substance of these shadows ; but this ? that god will be served by holy men , in the purest and holiest manner : and that we must be exact , both as to our persons and performances . great persons are impatient of contempt and affronts ; especially when offered to them in their own houses . god will sooner overlook thy forgetfulness of him in thy trade , or travels , than in the tabernacle . when thou drawest nigh to him , he will be sanctified , either by thee , or upon thee : if thou refusest to give him glory in thy service ; believe me , he will get himself glory by thy sufferings . his worship is his presence , his face ; and look for his fury , if thou darest him to his face . the waters of the sanctuary , are like the waters given to a suspected wife : if innocent they witness her honesty , and made her fruitful , though barren before . but if guilty , they caused the belly to swell , and the thighs to rot . if thou makest godliness thy business in the ordinances of god , it will make thee fruitful , if barren of good works : but if thou beest formal and perfunctory , and goest thy round in religious duties , never minding the true end of them , nor thy carriage in them : thy prayer will be an abomination ; the word , a savour of death unto death ; and the sacrament a seal of thy damnation . when thou comest at the church-door , say ; surely the lord is in this place : how dreadful is this place ? it is no other but the house of god ; the gate of heaven . when you enter into the church . o my soul ! where ever thou art , thou art under god's eye ; and therefore shouldest thou be no where prophane : but now thou art in his church , thou art in his immediate presence . how holy oughtest thou to be ? how devout thy behaviour ? we read ( exod. 25.37 . ) moses was commanded to light up seven lamps in his tabernacle , the place of his publick worship : and why seven lamps ? what was the substance of these shadows ? in short this : that nothing shall escape his notice . he seeth what uprightness and seriousness there is in thy prayers and performances ; whether thou art praying , reading , hearing , or singing : and after what manner thou dost them , whether slothfully or diligently . his eye is always upon thee ; and his eye-lids try thy actions : to reward or punish them . when you view the baptisterion or font. give hearty thanks unto god for your christendom , that by holy-baptism he hath called you to a state of grace and salvation through jesus christ : and humbly beseech him , that you may continue in the same to your lives end . for if you apostatize , you are guilty of an horrid sin ; and must answer for it at the great and terrible day of judgment . it was a custom in the primitive times , that such as were baptized did wear a white stole : a ceremony , to signify the purity of life , the baptized was to lead . eliodophorus , after his baptism , turning a persecutor of the church , marilla the minister that baptized him , in an holy indignation , brought forth in publick the white stole , saying : this do i keep against thy coming to judgment , to testify thy apostasy from christ . so be thou assured , o christian ! that the water with which , the minister by whom , the people before whom thou wert baptized , shall rise up against thee in judgment ; if thou dost not walk in newness of life . when you behold the eleemosynary , or poor's box. how much am i bound to the good providence of my heavenly father , who hath raised my condition in this world to be in the number of those that abound , not of them that want , since 't is more blessed to give than to receive . when you view the communion-table say , what shall i render unto the lord for all the benefits i have received at his hands ; i will take the cup of salvation , and call upon the name of the lord. when you view the pulpit . remember how many good lessons you have received thence , the which not being carefully practised , will rise up in judgment against you , in the great day of your tryal : resolve therefore for the future , to be a doer of the word , not hearer only , deceiving your own soul. when you view the church-bible upon the desk . remember , that this is the book of life ; the sacred code ; the divine volume ; the infallible oracle of heaven ; and that you are obliged to consult it with all manner of devotion , and to inform your selves thence , what is the will and pleasure of the great ruler of the world. when you have meditated a while on these objects , fall down on your knees in your pew ; and offer up this , or such like prayers . o lord my god! there is no mortal man worthy to stand at thy door , much less to appear in thy presence : yet how oft have i presumed to approach to thee ; without that preparedness of heart , without that dejection of soul , without that true and holy reverence which becometh thy child . pardon , o lord , i beseech thee pardon my irreverence in so sacred a place , and distractions in my prayers ; and give me grace to demean my self so reverently and zealously , now i am in thy house and service : that my prayers may come up before thee as incense ; and the lifting up my hands as a morning sacrifice . grant this for jesus christ's sake . amen . or open my mouth , my lord and maker , to bless and praise thy divine majesty . cleanse my heart from all curious , noxious , and destructive thoughts : enlighten my understanding to know thee , my will to obey thee : settle my attention ; excite my devotion to praise thee . that i may worthily , reverently , religiously , perform this morning-sacrifice of prayer ; through the virtue of those most pure and perfect praises , which thou , o jesu , my redeemer , offeredst up on earth , to thy eternal father ; mine may be now acceptable in thy sight . amen . chap. viii . of our behaviour at church when the minister is come unto it . as soon as the minister begins the publick worship , lay aside all your other meditations and prayers , and apply your mind to attend diligently , and to join devoutly in every part and passage of divine service ; considering it is the great end of your coming to church ; and your business there is to serve the lord , with your christian brethren in publick . 1. therefore when the minister exhorts you out of the word of god , to confess and acknowledge your sins and wickedness , harden not your heart , but with all possible humility , both of body and soul , say after the minister in the confession of your sins ; and endeavour to let your heart even melt and bleed in the bewailing your offences : and to this , and every act of divine worship , neglect not to say , amen . for that is as it were the seal to confirm to your soul , the benefits thereof . the hebrews have a saying , that whosoever says amen with all his might , opens the doors of paradise . 2. after confession , when the minister comes to the words of absolution ; bow down your head and say softly in your heart : lord , let this pardon pronounced by thy minister , be effectual to my soul ; and seal thereunto the forgiveness of all my sins . 3. the psalms and hymns are to be answered verse by verse , with the minister , that so all may join and bear a part in the service of god ; for in his temple do every man speak of his honour : and here , though you cannot read , yet your heart may join with them that do read ; and your mouth also may shew forth the praise of god , by saying after every psalm , glory be to the father : adding always , amen ; to shew and express how affectionately you desire the glory of god. be not silent , nor ashamed , publickly and audibly , to make confession of your holy christian faith , when you are thereunto called by the minister ; for this is a duty you owe both to god and man. it is an act of god's worship , and a declaration that you hold the same faith with all true christians : and therefore it is required of you , not only with the heart to believe unto righteousness ; but with the mouth also , that confession be made unto salvation . and when the confession of faith is publickly pronounced , do not sit and loll , as if you were not concern'd at it ; but stand up with the rest of the congregation : to signifie and declare , that you will stand to this faith , and earnestly contend for it , as being the same which was once given to , or by the saints , the holy apostles . i have read that it is a custom in poland , that the gentlemen draw their swords all the while the creed is a reading : intimating thereby that they will defend it with their lives and blood. be you , christians , as ready to assert and maintain your holy faith ; and resolve to attest it with your dearest blood , if there be occasion . if any child be brought to church to be baptized ; sit not still , as if not concerned in that office : but let it remind you of your own vow ; and put up this short prayer in behalf of the infant . grant that all those that are to be admitted to the fellowship of christ's religion ; ( and to this infant more especially ) may eschew those things that are evil ; and follow after that which is good . when any woman comes to be churched , reflect on the mercies that thou receivest from god , to make thee thankful ; and with a low voice , put up this prayer to god. o lord , as thou hast delivered this woman , thy servant , from the pains of a temporal ; so , i beseech thee to deliver both her and all here present , from the pangs of an eternal death . when you see any come to be catechised , make not light of it , but after this , or the like manner pray . o almighty and everlasting god! who ever makest thy church fruitful , with a new , a numerous issue : increase faith and vnderstanding in our newly instructed , that they being born again may be joined unto the sons of thy adoption , through our lord jesus christ . when you hear the banes of matrimony published in the church , fall not into laughter ( as the manner of some is ; ) for it ill becomes the sacredness of the place , and argues out irreverence to god. we should show our selves better christians , by falling down on our knees , and praying at the same time for a blessing from god on them . o let us then reflect on our own vow and promise in marriage , how we have performed it : and let us make it also an occasion of a fresh engagement in our selves , to keep it most strictly . i am not of the opinion of the papists , that marriage is a sacrament ; but i look upon it as a most solemn engagement among men , and sacred : being a vow made before god , and witnessed by many : and therefore a subject proper for seriousness and devotion . when you sing unto god , let your heart make melody : take heed , that when your voice is high , your heart be not dead , flat , and low . 1. when the word is read and preached ; mind it : and say , this is the word of god , 't is his command , and dare i disobey it ? o that my ways were made so direct , that i might keep god's statutes ! 2. when you hear the curses denounced against sinners , tremble if thou beest guilty of any of the sins . 3. when you hear god's calls and invitations , his rich promises and allurements , say : what , shall i refuse them ? doth god knock at them : and shall not the everlasting doors of my heart fly open , that the king of glory may enter in ? lastly , while the minister is pronouncing the blessing , post not away ( a fault too common every where ) but hope , desire , and believe it shall come down upon you . remember the punishment of judas , he stayed not for the blessing , but went away , and dispatched himself . that you may not forfeit god's protection , and be given over by the almighty , as he was : i pray stay till the blessing be pronounced ; and after it is ended , fall down on your knees , and offer up this short ejaculation . o sweet jesu ! bestow on me this day thy blessing , with this of the minister : preserve me from all sin , and give me perseverance in thy service ; that at the last and dreadful day of judgment , i may receive that happy benediction , among thy elected and predestinated children : come ye blessed children of my father , and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. chap. ix . of our due behaviour between morning and evening service . at your returning home . let your return with your family home be with the same gravity and care , as was thy passage to the church . let your talk be rather of what you have learnt or heard , than of any worldly matters : except necessary occasions enforce the contrary . if any of your neighbours talk heavenly , mind them ; but if their discourse savour of the world , either reprove or leave them . this i mention , because i perceive it the custom of many , as soon as the word is out of the minister's mouth , to have the world in theirs . the main questions , as soon as gone out of the church , are usually these : what news do you hear ? how does corn sell ? what a crop have you upon the ground ? such a person , has he not the best corn in the parish ? poor barren souls ! empty of grace surely ; or your discourses would be more savoury , more seasonable , more heavenly . have you no better things to employ your heads and tongues about ? ask rather , what good word you have heard to day ? how are we to provide for eternity ? how strait is the gate , and narrow the path that leadeth unto life ? and how few there be that find it ? and alas ! how miserable shall i be , if i miss thereof ? the devil is always upon his watch , ever busy , and labours continually to furnish peoples hearts with frothy and vain discourse ; by that means to hinder the efficacy of the word , and the good of many a poor soul. but alas ! the fourth commandment tyes up the tongue as well as the hands ( isai . 51.13 . ) not speaking thy own words . the tongue is there commanded to rest from talking of worldly matters , as well as the hand from servile and worldly works . how blame-worthy then are they , who make the lord's day a day of reckoning with workmen and servants : a day of idle talk , about their pleasures , profits , or other matters ? as soon as you are come home , before you refresh your body , enter into your closet : offer up this , or such like prayer . i do humbly and heartily thank thee , o lord , heavenly father , for that wholesome doctrine and comfortable instruction , which , this morning , i have heard out of thy holy word , by the mouth of thy faithful servant : and i do heartily beseech thee , that passing by my sins and infirmities of hearing , thou wouldst so imprint the same in my memory , and bless it unto me ; that i may believe it with my heart , and practise it in my life and conversation . good lord , let not the sweetness , and savouriness , of any bodily food , which i am to receive of thy bounty , put the relish and remembrance of thy heavenly word out of my mind : but grant , that in feeding my body , i may feed my soul by holy meditation of the things i have heard : and together with my bodily sustenance , may call to mind the food that never perisheth . and as it is thy will , that i should use thy good creatures with wisdom and sobriety every day : so give me grace this day especially to do so : that they may not make me the more unfit to partake of the spiritual food thou hast prepared for me ; to the glory of thy name , and the good of thy saints , and my own eternal welfare and salvation , through jesus christ , my only redeemer and advocate . having finished your prayer in the closet ; depart to your company , and the necessary refreshment of your body , which this day was not appointed to abridge you off . while you are at dinner appear chearful , eating your meal in singleness of heart : rejoice before god ; but let not your joy be , by any means , wanton , idle , vain , intemperate . at dinner observe these few rules . 1. beware of making the lord's day a time of feasting your neighbours : for though it be lawful upon this day to make such provision , as shall be convenient for your own family , and for the relief of the poor : yet to make solemn feasts upon it ( as is the custom of too too many ) whereby servants are kept from publick ordinances , and our selves and guests are more indisposed to the duties of god's worship and service , must needs be unlawful : for though we be not forbidden upon the lord's day , to kindle a fire for the dressing of meat ; yet we must take heed that we make not such a flame as shall kindle the fire of god's wrath against us . 2. when you are set down to dinner , having begged god's blessing on the food , eat no more than will fit and enable you comfortably and lively to serve god. if temperance be required in our meals , on the week day , as ( luke 21.34 . ) much more on the lord's day . many fill their bellies so full , on this day , that they are fit only to lay their drowsie heads on the devil's pillow of sloth : and not at all in a capacity of repairing again to a spiritual repast in the house of god , and to partake of his heavenly viands . 3. talk of god's word sitting down and rising up . let your hearts be heavenly , and your discourse savoury , seasoned with grace : a table without some good discourse , differs but little from a manger . one of the fathers wrote this of the primitive christians , that they were so holy in their talk at the table , that one would have thought they had been at a sermon , rather than at a supper . and luther has a large book in folio , of the pious expressions he used at his table : that indeed was his pulpit , where he read many profitable lectures . when therefore thou art at a full table , consider god's mercy in feeding thee ; while there are so many lazarus's , that would be glad of the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table . when thou eatest thy bread with a good appetite , say thus to thy self : if the bread be thus savory to an hungry body ; how sweet , how savory is that which comes down from heaven to an hungry soul ! and then pray : o god , give me evermore of this bread ! 4. forget not god's servants , but invite the poor to dinner with thee , that day . the poor ye have always with you , ( saith christ : ) and why have we this memento , think you ? but we should exert our charity , according to their indigence and necessity ? if we belong to christ , we are to relieve the oppressed , clothe the naked , and feed the hungry : himself will do it ; though he works a miracle for it . flesh and blood is not prone hereunto ; and therefore such munificence must needs argue a better and higher principle than ordinary . for as when we see the bank of a river , and the ground next to it , wet alone , we gather that the river hath overflown there : but when we see the furthest and remotest ground wet also , then we know that the rain hath done that : so when we see a man doing good to his rich neighbors , and friends , we think this proceeds but from good nature in him ; but when we see him doing good also to strangers and unknown persons ; when feeding the poor and needy ones , then we may well believe , there is more than good nature in that man : it is more than probable the gift of grace is there . after you have eaten and drank . i have now allayed the importunate craving of mine appetite , and my body is satisfied with material food ; but nothing can satisfie my soul , but to behold the presence of god in righteousness . therefore , dinner being over , either respect the word heard that day , and read the scripture , or some other good book ; and call your own heart and family to an account for what you have read or heard ; and explain the same to them . this is commended to us by the practice and example of our lord himself , who when he was come home , said unto his disciples ( mat. 13.5 . ) have you understood all these things ? viz. that he had preached to the multitude . and ( mark 4.34 . ) when they were alone he expounded all things to his disciples . whereupon one observeth , that christ by his example doth instruct every master of a family , how to carry himself in reference to those under his charge on the lord's day , after their departure from the publick congregation . a treble benefit will follow hereupon . 1. in respect to our selves : for the more you build up others , the more your selves are built up in knowledge , faith , and every grace of god. 2. in respect of your children and servants ; for it will make them to hearken more attentively to what is , in publick , delivered : when they know they shall be called to an account for the same at home . 3. it will help much to the understanding and believing of what is heard : if at home you repeat it , conferr of it , and examine the proofs made use of for its confirmation . 2. singing of psalms is another duty to be performed this day in our families , as well as in the church . holy david , that sweet singer of israel , recommends it to us , ( psal . 92. ) the title of that psalm , is , a psalm or song for the sabbath : and it begins thus ; it is good to give thanks unto the lord ; and to sing praises unto thy name , o thou most high ! for the manner of performing this duty , we have the apostle's direction , in these words : singing with grace in your hearts unto the lord. 1. it must be in , or with the heart , that is ; our hearts must go with our voices : the one must be lift up as well as the other : for god is a spirit , and must be worshipped in our hearts and spirits , as well as with our bodies . truly singing with the voice , without concurrence of the heart and spirit , is no more pleasing to god , than a sounding brass , and tinkling cymball . 2. as we must sing in the heart , so with grace in the heart : ( i. e. ) we must exercise the graces of god's spirit , as well as in praying ; labouring to express the same affection in singing a psalm , as david in the penning of it . if it be a psalm of prayers and petitions , then must our affections be fervent : if a psalm of praises and thanksgiving , then must our affections be chearful . thus must the affections of the heart be suitable to the quality of the psalm . 3. another family-duty is prayer ; for if this duty ought to be performed every day , twice at least , viz. morning and evening : then more especially on the lord's day ; a day wholly dedicated to the worship and service of god. chap. x. of resorting to the evening sacrifice . when it is now almost time to repair to the evening service , call as many of your servants as can be well spared , that they may accompany you to the publick assembly : command their bodies , though you cannot their souls . and it may not be amiss ( but right edifying ) if some one person read a psalm suitable to the present undertaking , of going to worship god : such as the 84. psal . or the 119 th ; one , or two parts of it being taken at a time , as occasion shall serve ; to which reading all ought reverently to attend . and this being done , let the same rules and directions which were given touching going to church in the morning , be observed in the evening : and let all ( as before ) resort to the publick worship ; where your carriage ought to be the same , as was before directed . surely unless you and your house appear thus the second time before god ; you cannot be said duly to sanctify the lord's day : but only to do it by halves . and now to move you to this duty : consider you are bound in justice to god to do it . because god hath set a day , not a piece of a day apart for himself ; and we should be more afraid to steal away god's time , than to steal away mans goods : the one is theft ; but the other sacriledge . god almighty hath consecrated to his own service the seventh part of our time ; but if you come only in the morning , you give him but the 14 th part of it : nay , i fear , too many spare him only that time which their morning attendance takes up , in our publick assembly , on the lord's day . now i appeal to thy own conscience , christian brother ! whether it be a meet and fit thing , that rational persons , created by god , redeemed by christ , should afford to the worship and service of christ , and the great concern of their immortal souls , but two hours at the most on the lord's day : and that time perhaps spent in a formal , customary , cold , heartless worship of the infinitely holy and just deity ; the tremendous , impartial judge , both of angels and men. the jews kept a whole day ▪ holy in a grateful memory of the lesser benefit of the creation ; and their deliverance out of aegypt : and shall we grudge to spend a whole day , in remembrance of our deliverance from hell , and death eternal ? we have not only greater motives , but we have greater means : they had only moses and the prophets ; but we have christ and the gospel : they had the shadow ; we the substance . and shall we that have more means and helps , put god off with less duty , smaller service , and shorter performances ? nay , the very heathens , guided by the light of nature , gave whole days to their dunghill deities : and shall we christians refuse it to a true god ? you give your bodies two meals a-day , and will you feed your souls but once ? it was a rational discourse of joseph to his mistress , ( gen. 39.9 . ) my master hath kept nothing from me but thee , because thou art his wife : how then can i do this great wickedness , and sin against my god ? god hath kept no days in the week from us , but only the first day , because it is his sabbath : how can we do this great wickedness then , and sin against him ? nathan's parable to david , may be applied to thee , o thou most prophane sabbath-breaker ! hath god only one day , which he hath kept to himself , and sanctified to his service , and laid as it were in his bosom : and shall men be so unworthy , when their hearts tempt them to vanity , even to take this day to please and gratifie their own corrupt hearts in ? when they are rich in time , and have six days for themselves ; to entrench upon the lord's day : it is something too much . nay , as it is unreasonable , so is it plainly contradictory to our own prayers that day : for upon every lord's day morning , as we make it our open confession , so likewise a publick prayer , after the reading of the fourth commandment : lord , have mercy upon me , and incline my heart to keep this law. as much as to say ; lord , we acknowledge we have neglected thy day ; we pray thee therefore pardon all our unchristian sabbath-breaking for the time past , and give us grace to observe the christian sabbath better for the future . now shall we confess in the forenoon , and transgress in the afternoon ? will you beg pardon in the morning , and sin again the same sin before night ? will you open your mouths to ask god's grace , to sanctifie and keep holy the sabbath-day : and , it may be , prophane it in a graceless manner as soon as you are out of the congregation ? but now to draw to a conclusion . you that god almighty have blessed with families , i beseech you to take care of making any visits on that day after evening-service , for by that means you may become guilty of a double sin. 1. in neglecting to worship god your selves , in your family . 2. in hindering others from doing that duty . but if the weather invite you into the fields , let your walk be such as isaac's was , to meditate : and that you may not want matter to exercise your thoughts about ; when you divert your self in the field , meditate on these ten particulars . 1. the greatness and goodness of that god that you paid your homage unto . 2. with the vileness of sin , and your selves , because of it . 3. with the sweetness of christ , and the greatness of his love , and mercy . 4. with the excellency of that heavenly work you have been about , and the gain of godliness . 5. with the vanity of the world , and all things therein . 6. with the worth and high value of your immortal souls . 7. with the rage , subtilty , and diligence of your souls enemy . 8. with the deceitfulness of your hearts . 9. with the terrour and torment of hell. 10. with the unspeakable and everlasting glory of heaven . 2. endeavour to spiritualize every object you see . as you walk and travail by the king's high-way , say ; i am the way , the truth , and the life , saith my blessed redeemer : the way i must follow , the truth i must believe , the life i must hope for ; the way which leadeth me , the truth which teacheth me , the life whereunto he bringeth me : the way is undefiled , the truth is infallible , and the life without end ; blessed are they that walk in this way that leads to everlasting life . when you behold pleasant grounds , and variety of objects ; o lord , how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all ; the earth is full of thy riches . when you perceive a gentle brieze of wind ; come , holy spirit , blow upon my garden , that the spices may flow out ; make my mind calm , serene , and quiet , breath upon me , and revive me with the light of thy countenance . when you hear a clock strike , or perceive by the sun the hour of the day . o how fast do hour after hour come on ; time hastening to be swallowed up of aeternity ! so teach me , o lord , to number my days , that i may apply my heart unto wisdom ; wisely providing for that long day , wherein the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in his wings . when you see an high place : thy mercy , o lord , reacheth unto the heavens , and thy faithfulness to the clouds . when you perceive a dunghill : o make me to know my self , and discover to me my false deceitful heart , and the odiousness and loathsomness of my sins , that i may hate them with a perfect hatred . when you behold a stately house . o god , make me in love with that city which hath foundations , whose maker and builder is god. oh when shall this earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved , and i received into that building , the house not made with hands , aeternal in the heavens ! when beholding any children or infants . o lord , out of the mouth of babes and sucklings dost thou prepare praises for thy self . when beholding a beautiful woman . o lord , let not this creature 's face be her pride , or the beholder's sin or shame . if you see any cattle to stray , think with your self . o god , how apt am i to go out of thy way . i have erred and strayed , o lord , like to a lost sheep . by such holy ejaculations as these you may banish all worldly thoughts out of your mind , and keep the devil ( that is always busy to hinder the good seed of the word from taking effect ) better out of your heart , than teresa's holy water , or st. anthony's sign of the cross . when you come home observe the same rules that were given you before to be practised after dinner , viz. to read the scripture , sing psalms , meditate , repeat the word , &c. but when you have done all , look upon your selves as unprofitable servants , and that you come short of what god requires or deserves at your hands . o what heavenly , fervent and zealous prayers doth such a god deserve , such rich mercy call for ! god is worthy a better tongue to praise him , and a better heart to love him . disown therefore all your own righteousness , and expect all the blessings you have prayed for , through the alone merits of jesus christ . chap. xi . evening exercise . the day thus happily sliding away , draws on the night-season , and there remains an evening exercise in order to even out accompts with the great father of the family , concerning our days labour in his vineyard . before therefore you take your repose at night , look over your days work , search back into every hour of the day , humble your selves , and be heartily sorry for your miscarriage ; bless god if you have received any good : put these questions to your soul ere you betake your self to your rest . first , how did i ly down or rise up , was god in my thoughts or no ? secondly , how did i put up my prayers in my closet , did they proceed from my heart , or lip only ? have i gone this day with joy into the house of good , have i heard ●he word , and treasured it up in my heart ? have not i aimed more at the information ●f my judgment , than at the warming of my ●ffections ? was it curiosity or piety that led ●he thither ? have i gathered my thoughts ●ogether in the publick prayers of the church , ●nd have my heart and desires gone along with the supplications which the minister of god put up to heaven ? have not i thought ●f my farm , trade , and oxen , while i have ●een repeating after him ? have i read in pri●ate , have i called my family together , read ●o them , instructed them , made them give ●e an account of what they did remember ? when i received the holy sacrament , were ●y thoughts fixed on the cross of christ , ●nd were my soul affected with the great ●ystery of god's love , and did i meditate ●n the word as soon as i left the church ? ●as not the world in my heart as soon as ●e word was out of the minister's ? did not ●eat and drink at table more to please my ●ppetite than to repair the decayed strength ●f my nature ? was my discourse holy at ●●e table , when i craved a blessing ? was ●ot my mind more intent on the meat before ●e than on the god above me ? have not i ●een intemperate at my meals , and eat and ●rank more than nature required ? have i af●●r dinner set my servants to read , and did i pray for them and with them . have not ● this day been guilty of some crying sin , fo● which god might justly punish me as he di● the fool in the gospel , with death , &c. if upon enquiry you find you have mad● any progress in vertue , got ground of satan and mastered your corruptions ; give go● the glory , by whose grace you overcam● them , and return him thanks in this following prayer . praise the lord , o my soul , yea , let all th●● is within me praise● his holy name : praise be the lord from the rising up of the sun unto th● going down of the same : thou art my god , an● i will praise thee , thou art my god , and i wi●● bless thee , who hast preserved me this day from falling into sin , and hast kept me from t●● power of the evil one ; for my soul is this d●● escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowle● the snare is broken and i am delivered : my he● standeth in the name of the lord , who hath ma●● heaven and earth . but if upon enquiry you find , that yo● have been guilty of many frailties and imperfections , if you have not been so devout 〈◊〉 you ought to have been in your prayers : a●fect your soul with the sense of your sin i● this following prayer . ah frail , weak and wicked wretch , art thou not ashamed to remain still in thy wonted negligences and tepidities , to sing the same sinful song after so many vows , promises and purposes of better obedience ? wallowest thou still in the same mire , and lyest thou still snorting in the same bed of sensuality ? o horrid ingratitude , if thou wert now summoned to give up thy just accounts , what couldst thou answer for so much time mis-spent , so many inspirations neglected , and so many graces abused ? thou approachest nearer death and eternity , but recoilest backward in religious piety and perfection ; wilt thou still lye sleeping in this dangerous lethargy ? is this the grateful and dutiful service thou renderest thy creator , for having afforded thee all convenient means to repent , for having so patiently expected thy conversion and amendment ? alas , my confounded soul , what will become of thee , what course wilt thou steer , and when and how wilt thou begin ? ah sinful wretch , prodigal child , disloyal friend , sue to thy physician , return to thy father , repent thee of thy disloyalty , request pardon , grace and love ; resolve to repent for what is past , and amend for the time to come ; and from this moment consecrate the remainder of thy life to his service . and now , o my lord , as thou hast given me grace to frame this resolution ; so give me strength and courage to put it in execution . but if upon inquiry , you find you have greatly broken the sabbath-day , neglected his publick worship , relapsed into some crying sin , which without god's great mercy will bring upon you speedy death and damnation ; affect your soul with this prayer . o my good god , father of all comfort and compassion , creatour of heaven and earth , and redeemer of my poor soul ! behold here a poor worm prostrate at the feet of thy divine majesty , humbly craving pardon for all the iniquities and impurities that i have committed against thy divine majesty from my youth up until now ; especially those that i have this day committed against thee ( such a sin especially ; ) most justly provoking thy wrathful indignation against me : the remembrance of them breeds an extreme shame , fear , and sorrow in my now sensible , penitent soul. shame , for having left an infinite good , to embrace an empty , fading nothing : fear , for having forsaken the light of heaven , and the life of aeternity ▪ to remain in aeternal death and darkness : sorrow , for having offended thee , my god , wh● art so loving and liberal unto me . oh , that my heart could rend asunder , with true contrition and compunction ; and my eyes dissolve into a flood of tears ; for having been disloyal to so faithful a friend , and disobedient to so free-hearted a father ! mercy , dear father , to thy prodigal child ; mercy , dear lord , to thy sinful servant : pardon my past faults , pity my present follies , protect my future frailties ; that with a clean , quiet , contented soul , i may strive to please and praise thee all my life long hereafter , and , in the end , die happily in thy favour and friendship . o my crucified jesu ! my only hope and refuge : bathe me in thy blood , beautifie me with thy merits , bless me with thy grace , by the tears that issued out of thy eyes , by the prayers that came from thy mouth , by the blood that gushed from thy wounds and heart ; by all the pains of thy body , and pangs of thy soul , by all the mercies of thy divinity , and merits of thy humanity , by all that is dear and near unto thee in heaven and earth . cleanse , quiet , clothe , comfort , content my sick , sinful , weak and wretched soul. o thou lamb of god , that takest away the sins of the world , take away the world of sins that is in me . o thou that wert my saviour upon earth , be thou my advocate in heaven , pleading and interceding , that none of these evils my sins have deserved , may fall upon my head . forget and forgive all the crimes , ingratitudes and impurities of my life past , and in particular , whatsoever through my carelessness have escaped my memory , and whatsoever my dreadful judge may in the rigour of his justice lay to my charge , that at the end of my days i may receive the end of my hopes , the salvation of my precious and immortal soul. grant this , o lord , for jesu christ his sake , amen . then fail not to add to this , this usual prayer for the evening . before thou goest to bed , be sure to offer unto god thine evening sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving . this was shadowed out unto us under the law , where the lord required his evening sacrifice , as well as the morning : therefore much more doth he require it of us under the gospel . and truly if thou liest down in thy sins unrepented of , thou mightest haply awaken with hell-flames about thy ears . thou mayst better and safelier sleep with a serpent in thy bosom , than with a sin upon thy soul ; the one can only punish thee temporally , the other torments thee aeternally . before ever then thou suffer the temples of thy head to take any rest ; beg , o christian brother , not only pardon of thy sins , but his protection from all dangers : which you may do in this following prayer . almighty and everlasting god , i yield thee most humble and hearty thanks , for that thou hast vouchsafed me of thy great mercy and goodness , to preserve me this day from all evil , and i also beseech thee , for thy bitter death and passion , most mercifully to forgive me , a wretched sinner , all my offences , which i have this day committed by thought , word , or deed ; and hereafter to preserve and keep me from all danger , as well of body as of soul ; to the end i may rise again in health , to praise thy glorious name , and joyfully to serve thee with a clean body , and chaste heart . whilst thou art going to bed , exercise thy mind with these holy and heavenly meditations . as thou art pulling off thy clothes , think how it will not be long before thou be stripped of all , and go out of the world , as naked as thou camest ; as job excellently expresseth it , naked came i , &c. and when thou art laid upon thy bed to take thy repose , let it mind thee of thy grave , thy sheets of thy shroud , and thy sleep of thy death , which indeed is the shadow of it ; and labour to fall asleep with the sweet meditation of it ; and to that end , while thou art awake , exercise thy mind with these or such like meditations . beg of christ , that you might imitate him in his death , which you may do in these short prayers . 1. jesus died patiently . o my soul , how ill have we imitated our sweet saviour in our life and manners ; let us at least strive to imitate him in his death , by taking patiently whatsoever cross and affliction he shall lay upon us , following chearfully to mount calvary . o my saviour , though my soul be not forced out of my body by such a violent death as thine ; yet imprint , i beseech thee , in my soul such sweet thoughts and affections as thou didst feel when thou didst die for my sake . 2. jesus dyed willingly . o my god , give me health or sickness , life or death ; give me what thou pleasest , not my will , but thy will be done . o my saviour , thou being god's innocent son , dyedst in the flower of thine age , and shall i desire long life , who am a sinner , a rebel , a criminal ? i yield , lord , i yield and submit to death's summons . farewel , earth ; farewel , world ; farewel , this vale of tears and miseries ; heaven is my happier home , paradise is much more pleasant and agreeable , and death is my way to it . 3. jesus prayed for strength and courage in the agony of death . o my jesu , when my glass shall be almost run out , when my senses fail me , when my strength decays , and my breath almost spent ; o do not thou forsake me , dear jesu , when all things else shall leave and abandon me . thou art graciously pleased , compassionate creator , to take pity on the fowls of the air , and the beasts of the earth , and to succour them in time of n●●d . o refuse not thy favours to a soul stampt with thy sacred image and resemblance ; but pity me , succour me , comfort me , and protect me from the hands of the enemy . 4. jesus dying pardoned his enemies , and pray'd for them . o my sweet saviour , in honour of this thy fervent charity , i pray forgive all them that have offended me in my whole life time ; it now heartily grieves me that ever i hated them , and were they here present , how humbly would i embrace them , and beg their pardon . give them , o my god , thy grace in this world , and thy glory in the next . thus have i finished my imperfect piece . and , o my god , as i began it by thy goodness , so i end it with thy praise . let not the weakness and simplicity of the agent be the readers discouragement : but , o my heavenly father , give me thy grace to live up to these rules , lest whilst i preach and write to others , i my self become a cast-away . finis . advertisement . brief directions for our more devout behaviour in time of divine service . with a short rationale on the common-prayer , by the same author . the woman-preacher of samaria a better preacher, and more sufficiently qualified to preach than any of the men-preachers of the man-made-ministry in these three nations / by george keith. keith, george, 1639?-1716. 1674 approx. 74 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 20 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47200) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 109573) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1703:11) the woman-preacher of samaria a better preacher, and more sufficiently qualified to preach than any of the men-preachers of the man-made-ministry in these three nations / by george keith. keith, george, 1639?-1716. [2], 25 p. s.n.], [london : 1674. place of publication suggested by wing. imperfect: cropped, with loss of print. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng society of friends -ministry of women. women clergy. theology, doctrinal. 2003-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-06 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2003-06 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-08 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the woman-preacher of samaria ; a better preacher , and more sufficiently qualified to preach than any of the men-preachers of the man-made-ministry in these three nations . quia non cognovi literaturam , introibo in potentias domini , psal 71. v. 15. ( so the ancient latine , and so the septuagint , in some copies , and so the hebrew it self , being rightly translated ) in english thus . because i know not letters i will enter into the powers of the lord. by george keith . printed in the year 1674. the woman-preacher of samaria . come hither all you men-preachers , of a man-made-ministry , in the three nations ; whether conformists , or nonconformists unto the present way of the ministry , and worship in these nations established by an humane law , who cry out against womens preaching , and speaking , and say , women ought not to preach , there should not be women preachers , they should keep them to the affairs within the house , and not meddle with our holy function . behold , a woman-preacher ! the woman of samaria ( iohn 4. ) who may be an example unto you all ; and the best of you , and most learned and qualified of you all , have need to learn of her how to preach . this woman of samaria may be your school-mistress to teach you to preach ; and it were good for you to learn of her , who though being dead , yet speaketh unto you . verily , she is a witness for god , unto the true way of ministry , and preaching , against you all , and against all your false and invented ways . oh for shame let alone your crying out against women-preachers ; while you are short , exceedingly short of this woman-preacher of samaria : and , first of all , learn the true silence , and to have that mouth in you stopped , which god hath never opened ; that the true mouth which is of his opening , you may come to witness , or else for ever to be silent : that him you may know to open your mouths , who hath the key of david , who shutteth , and no man openeth ; and openeth , and no man shutteth . the woman then left her water-pot , and went her way into the city , and saith unto the men , come , see a man which told me all things that ever i did , is not this the christ ? then they went out of the city , and came unto him , &c. iohn 4.28 , 29 , 30. here she preached christ in few words , but very effectually , and with good success . come , see a man that told me all things that ever i did , is not this the christ ? these were her words , few and short , but very material , and pertinent ; and very powerful and effectual , as appeared by the good success her words had upon the men of the city : for it is said , then ( to wit , after her speaking to them ) they went out of the city , and came unto him : and v. 39. it is said , and many of the samaritans of that city believed on him , for the saying of the woman , which testified , he told me all things that ever i did : but v. 41. it is said , and many more believed , because of his own word . but , how came this woman to be a preacher of christ ? first , who taught her ? secondly , who called her ? verily she was not taught by men , nor by men was she called , but by christ. she had not been learned at the university , neither got she her ordination , either by the laying on of hands , of a bishop , or company of men , called a presbytery : yea we find no hands that christ laid upon her in the outward , but spoke unto her , and talked with her , and she with him . so then she was taught of christ himself , that he was the messiah , or the christ. she had heard of the messiah that was to come , but she knew not that he was come , or who he was : yea for some time , though he was speaking unto her , she did not know him to be the christ ; but when he said unto her , i that speak unto thee am he , then she believed , and went her way into the city , and preached him unto the men of the city . so first of all , she was taught christ , by christ himself ; she was taught immediately , and being thus taught , she believed on him , and then she went and preached him . this is an excellent pattern , and example unto all true ministers , and preachers of christ ▪ first to be taught by himself , before they go preach him unto others . secondly to believe on him ; and having both heard himself , and from his own word , and testimony , believed on him , then to preach him unto others . and this same method paul followed ; who , of a persecutor of christ , became a preacher of him . first , he was taught christ , by christ himself , and that inwardly christ was revealed in him ; when it pleased god , said he , to reveal his son in me , that i should preach him to the gentiles . and secondly , he was a believer in him , as he said himself , we having received the same spirit of faith , we believe , therefore we speak ; and , said david , i believe , therefore have i spoken . and what sort of faith was this ? was it onely an historical faith , which hypocrites , and ungodly men have , whereof paul and david spake ? nay surely , it was the true , saving , renewing , and sanctifying faith , and according unto this , none ought to preach , who have not a measure of true and saving faith , and who are not truly in some measure sanctified and renewed , and by being sanctified and renewed through faith by the operation of the holy spirit , are fitted and prepared for the work of the ministry . now , by these two qualifications of a true and right preacher of christ , let us try the ministers and ministry of those called preachers in these nations ; both conformists , and non-conformists , both of them affirm , and hold it as their principle , that true and saving faith is not necessary unto a mans being a preacher : it 's true they say , if he be a true believer , and godly man , he will be the better preacher , but a true and lawful preacher he is , and ought to be followed , and heard , and maintained , though he be not in the least a godly man , or true believer , if he be a scholar , and can preach in a form of sound words , if he have latine , greek , and a little hebrew and logick , and such like natural arts and sciences , it is enough to qualifie him to be a preacher ; and this principle iames durham , a great presbyterian , expresly holds in his book , called , an exposition upon the revelation , in his digression concerning the ministry , and i my self have had sundry debates , with both conformists , and non-conformists so called , touching this same thing ; both affirming that true faith and piety was not needful to a mans being a preacher , but that letter learning was needful ; so that he could not be a preacher without letters , but he could be a preacher without faith and piety . oh abominable doctrine ! and this same rule both follow , in their trying of mens qualifications unto the ministry ; they try what knowledge they have in strange languages , and arts and sciences natural , and what they can say upon pla●es of scripture , but never one word they question them concerning the work of god in their hearts , or concerning their faith and piety . but alas ! how can they try them concerning the work of grace in their hearts , seeing they acknowledge th●● have not a discerning themselves , whereby to know them surely and infallibly ; yea , they affirm there is no such discerning in these dayes , as whereby men can be known to be truly gracious . and doth not sad experience shew it , that the generality of those preachers have not true faith and piety , their lives and conversations are so gross and carnal ? yea , do not many of themselves see it , and have they not complained of it ? and yet doth not this principle of theirs , that wicked men may be preachers , and ought to be received , lay a foundation for a wicked 〈◊〉 ? and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being laid with their own hands , will not wicked men come in thick and throng ? and will not th●se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have all like themselves ? if they can have a wicked man ▪ will not the wicked prefer him to another that but seems to be a godly , and may , or may not be , and thus in process of time the whole ministry will consist of ungodly men , the wicked being still preferred by the wicked ; and carrying it by most votes , as among them called presbyterians , or by the authority of the bishop , as among the episcopal . oh! for shame never say , that you are for a godly ministry , while you both lay such a foundation for the ungodly . and secondly , as both sorts hold that true faith and piety is not necessary to a mans being a preacher , so they hold that immediate revelation , and to be immediately taught by christ himself , is not necessary , either to his being , or better being , yea , they wholly exclude it , and affirm that all immediate revelation and teaching by christ himself , so as to teach men the truths of the gospel , is ceased since the apostles dayes , and is no more to be expected while the world lasts ; so iames durham , concerning prophecying in his afore said book , and in the first page of that book , he saith , god hath spoke his last words to his church , by iohn , in the revelation ; and so the church nor any in the church is not to hear any word from god , or christ himself ; nay , he hath spoken his last words sixteen hundred years ago . oh gross blindness and darkness ! is the lord wholly absent from his church ? or if he be present with her , and in her , doth he never speak himself ? hath he lost the power of his speech , or his willingness to speak , that he hath been so long silent ? surely , nay , as it is written , our god will speak , and not keep silence , he is not so unkind , nor hard-hearted , as those men would make him , so as not to speak himself . and as concerning the immediate teachings of christ , who is such a stranger unto them , and their principles , who know not that they deny them , and are enemies unto them , and that one of the main things of controversie betwixt them and us lyeth here ; they say , the immediate teachings of christ are all ceased , since the apostles dayes ; we say , not , and we are witnesses of the contrary in our experience , who witness the new covenant fulfilled , they shall be all taught of the lord , that is , immediately , else what doth the new excel the old , and first covenant in ? for under the old they were taught of the lord mediately , as by moses and the prophets ; but under the new , they are taught of god himself , who dwelleth in them , and walketh in them , and is their teacher , shepheard , and husband . and now , how can these men be taught of the lord himself , or immediately to preach christ , who deny the thing it self ? how can we have charity unto them to believe they are so taught , while they deny that any are so taught in those days ? and then what is their preaching of him ? it is but by hearsay , and report ; they are all short of this woman , she both heard christ himself , and saw himself , which none of them , ( as they confess , ) have ever done : they say they have never seen him , nor heard him , nor spoken with him , and yet they preach ; whereas she both heard him , and saw him before she preached him ; and thus did john , and the apostles preach him : that which was in the beginning , which we have seen with our eyes , and heard with our ears , and our hands have handled of that word of life we declare unto you ; for the life was manifested , and we have seen it , and delare it unto you , that you may have fellowship with us , &c. now which of the two ways of preaching are the best ; to preach only from a hearsay by others , or from a fight , and hearing of christ himself ? surely this was the best , and therefore this woman is a better preacher , than all your university men , and doctors , amd batchelors : she learned more of christ from himself , in that small time , ( perhaps not one hours length ) than your doctors , and university men have yet learned , for all their many years studying ▪ labouring , reading , and hearing : as christ , upbraided the jews , that they had neither heard his fathers voice , nor seen his shape ; so it may be said of them ; yea , they say it themselves , they have neither heard him , nor seen him . alas for such teachers ! what should men hear them for ? they can tell us no more of him , but as they have heard it from men , or read it in the seripture ; and all their knowledge is fron the scripture , and all have the scripture as well as they , and so without them , by the scripture , may know as much of christ as they , and save both their pains , and their money . and as concerning this woman , it is manifest , that as she heard him , and saw him outwardly , so she both heard him , and saw him inwardly , and was taught by his spirit in her heart ; for had she not been inwardly taught , and heard inwardly , she could not have believed on him , which she did : neither had the outward hearing and seeing made her blessed ; for many heard and saw him outwardly , and yet were not blessed : but , said christ to his disciples , blessed are your eyes , for they see , and blessed are your ears , for they hear ; this was inwardly , they both heard and saw inwardly , and this made them blessed , whereas others heard and saw outwardly , and therefore were not blessed , as the disciples , and this woman was . yea that she was taught inwardly , and that more largely , and fully , than by what she heard outwardly it doth manifestly appear from her words , in that she said , he hath told me all things that ever i did : now this could not be outwardly , for he told her but some things outwardly , as concerning her husbands that were dead , and how the man she had , was not her husband ; and certainly , in so small a time as they had together , words outwardly could not have told her the half , yea , not the hundred part of all that ever she did ; she was therefore inwardly taught by him , and told all these things . christ jesus the word , the life , the light in her heart told her , as he well could , even in a moment ▪ or the twinkling of an eye bring all things before her , and tell her all things in her whole life ; and certainly this was it that made her to believe him , to be not onely a prophet , but more than a prophet , even the true messiah , or christ. he who hath told me all that ever i did , this must be christ , this cannot but be more than any of the prophets , who told me some things , but no prophet could tell me all but christ onely , who is the true god , and knoweth all things , and searcheth all my my inward parts and thoughts . 3. as concerning her call , ( as was said ) she had it not from men , and indeed we read not of any outward call she had from christ ; but certainly he who taught her inwardly , called her also inwardly , by his holy spirit ; yea , so powerful was her inward call , and the motion of the spirit of christ within her , that it caused her to make hast , she tarried not to carry home her water pot , for it is said expresly , she left here water-pot , and went into the city , and said unto the men , come , see a man , &c. but as for their call , it is wholly from men , and by men ; for as they deny all immediate teaching , so they deny immediate calling unto the ministry ; yea , their principle that immediate revelation is ceased , and that the scripture is the onely rule , obligeth them to deny all immediate calling , as well as immediate teaching . behold then how she hath this third qualification of a true preacher which they want ; she was called immediately by the spirit of christ in her heart ; she ran not unsent , it appears the lord sent her , and was with her by his spirit , by the good effect her testimony had ; for , as it is said , many of the samaritans of that city believed on him , &c. and this was through her preaching . they did not despise her because she was a woman , they did not say unto her ( as many now say ) thou art a woman , thou should not preach ; neither did they say unto her , thou art but ignorant and unlearned , as men commonly say now unto our friends whom god hath taught , by his holy spirit , though they have not the tongues , nor the natural arts , and university learning ; why do ye preach who are unlearned , and have not been at the university ? i say , these men , they neither upbraided her with her being a woman , nor secondly , with her being unlearned ; nor thirdly , that she wanted her call , and was idle , or medled with a business that did not concern her ; they did not say unto her , go home to your wheel , and your spinning , and such like words , as men commodly now say to women friends , whom the lord hath taught and called by his spirit to testifie of him , as he did this woman of samaria . nor fourthly , did they upbraid her with the place , as men commonly also now do , who wonder , and gaze , and mock , and scorn , if they see or hear any speak any thing of christ in the streets ; o , say they , this is not the church , go to church , if ye would preach , this is not a fit place to preach in . these men of the city did not so unto this woman , though she came unto them , and spake unto them , where she first found them , which might be in the streets or any where else . 4. also , this woman , no doubt very unexpectedly , and far from any design she had before had unto this work , became a preacher , little knew she , or little did she think , before she met with christ , and heard him , that she should preach him , nay verily , she knew nothing of it at all , nor had she any such design before hand ; far contrary unto these preachers of the man-made-ministry , who have designed it long before hand , and it was a design of their parents and relations even from their child-hood : yea , this was the end , and final moving cause , of their being sent first to the grammar-school , and then to the university ; a design they should be preachers : quod est ultimum in executione , est primum in intentione : i. e. what is last in execution is first in intention , so it was first of all intended . a father hath three sons , one of them he thinks may be fit to be made a lawyer , another to be a doctor of physick , a third ( and that commonly the greatest dunce or dolt of the three , finding him not so fit for other things ) he resolves he will have him a minister , or preacher , that it may be a living to him ; and so away be send● them all to the grammar school , and from that to the university ; and thus one becomes a preacher only by that which is natural and artificial , as the other two becomes the lawyer and physitian , here is nothing of god or christ seen more in the one than in the other : is it not so generally among them ? they are become preachers by a design or contrivance of their parents , or themselves . as soon as they become but so old , as to have so much natural wit as to see they must make some shift how to live , and looking about the many trades , they readily see it is the far easiest of many , or most trades to be a preacher , to get money , for it is little labour in respect of many other labours , and much gain , and also brings honour , for if he had been of never so mean a degree , and of the most abject and mean parents in all the countrey , yet to become a preacher , maketh him to be esteemed a gentleman , and be called sir ; and perhaps , to be advanced to be a bishop , and then he will be called , my lord. but how many either of one sort or another of them , whether episcopal or presbiterian , are to be found , who have been called from some other calling or occupation they were in before , to leave it , and go to preach christ , as this woman was called from her water pot immediately to go preach him , in a city of samaria , called sychar ? and yet thus were the true servants of the lord called , who were mechanick men , and tradesmen , both prophets , and apostles ; elisha was called from the plough , amos from the heard , who was an herd-man , and a gather of sycomore fruit ; and the apostles , many , or most of them from their fish-nets , who were fishers ; matthew from the receipt of custom , who was a publican , and luke was a physitian , and paul a tent-maker : and so most part of all whom god ever sent to preach had their employments before , and not one ever became a preacher by an humane design or intention before hand in order unto a living , and to get money as they do : and so this is a fourth difference betwixt this woman-preacher of samaria and them , wherein she excelleth them . her preaching was not any humane design , either of her , or any man , or men else , but it was wholly divine , it was of the lord alone , he designed it , and not man ; whereas their preaching commonly and generally is a humane design , and contrivance from first to last , to get money , and worldly honour and preferment with much ease and idleness . 5. she preached christ freely , as she had freely received , so she freely gave ; she did not begin to contract , or covenant , or bargain with them before hand , for monie , or for any worlds good ; she said not unto them , what money or hire will ye give me , and i will preach christ unto you ? nay , nay , she was not of such a mercinary spirit , she was more noble ; far unlike the preachers of the man-made-ministry in these daies , whether episcopal , or presbiterian , as well as popish , where all is done for money , no money , no preaching , as the old proverb is , no penny , no pater noster ; and was it not so generally among the presbiterians , while they had the publick places , and the law of the nation to stand by them , and for them , who of them all preached without a stipend ? which is in plain english , wages or hire ; for stipend being a latine word , signifieth properly wages or hire , but they will not have it called wages or hire , lest they should seem to be hirelings ; they will take the hire , they will seek it , yea , exact it , yea , strain and distrain , and poind , and cast into prison for it , and take away a poor mans pot or pan , or platter for it , as was done to some of our friends in the presbiterian time , and this to pay those mens stipend , who were called godly men of the finest sort of the presbiterians : a strange thing of exacting wages of them , and forcing them to give them money , who never hired them , nor heard them , and so took none of their merchandise , and yet thus it was , as they are living at this day , who can witness it done thus unto them , so ( as is said ) they would take the hire , and force it , but they will not have it called hire , but stipend ; they must put a latine face upon it , that it may not appear in it's own deformed and ugly shape , it must be called stipend , and not hire , whereas the proper english of stipend , is hire ; and now that they are out of their publick places , having gone out through fear , if any of them preach now and then in private places , without a set stipend , that is but in order to propagate , and carry on the presbiterian design , that they may be set up again , and recover their places , and hires again . but which of them can say in the sight of god , at this day , they preach freely without an eye to money or outward reward ? so that if they got nothing by it yet preach they must : who of them all can say , woe unto us if we preach not the gospel , for a necessity is laid upon us to preach ; who of them have got their mouth opened by him to preach , who openeth and no man shutteth , and shutteth and no man openeth ? has not man , and the power and dread of man , oft shut their mouths , and man , with a little of his forbearance , or winking at them , opened them again ? how much of this has been seen these years by past among these called , or accounted the best sort of them ? where were they to be found in times of hazard , when the power and dread of man threatned them to suffer imprisonment , or fining , or the like ; so that it was likely they would be apprehended , and haled to prison , to ly there they knew not how long , or have a fine taken of them . did they preach then openly and in view ? could their voice be heard in the streets ? no surely . but if an indulgence come , or that the magistrates wink a little at them , and they observe it , then they will come out of their holes , and creep forth a little into common view or observation . and thus man shutteth them , and man openeth them ; for they know not him nor his opening , who openeth and no man shutteth , and shutteth and no man openeth . and doth not all this exceedingly bewray and discover them to be of a covetous , and mercinary spirit , hirelings indeed , who flee from the sheep in a time of hazard , whereas the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep . surely this woman of samaria was of a more noble spirit , who preached both freely , and boldly . 6. though she was a woman , yet she was not afraid to bear testimony of christ , she did not call them , to whom she preached into a cellar , or vault under the ground , or some private place , but openly , and publickly she preached him to a great company , so many heard and believed because of her saying , and yet no doubt there was a hazard so publickly to confess him , and own him in that day ; and though some believed in him , yet others were enemies to him , who were samaritans . 7. the manner how she preached christ , is observable , she preached him from her own experience , as what she found done by him in relation to her own condition . come , said she , see a man who hath told me all that ever i did , is not this the christ ? who , among them all , thus preach him from their own experience ? or who preach him as the psalmist did , who said come , and i will tell you what god hath done for my soul ? who of them can say , i have met with the lord , and he hath convinced me of all my sins , and told me all that ever i did , and has set all things before me , and made me hate all my sins , and loath both them and my self because of them , is not this the christ ? also it is observable , the pithy and effectual way of hear reasoning , by question , or interrogation , which implyeth both a strong affirmation , and a clear inference or induction from the premises , leaving it as it were unto themselves to judge , or conclude , is not this the christ , who has told me all that ever i did ? this cannot be a meer man , this cannot be only a prophet , this must be the christ , seeing he hath told me all that ever i did . how effectually doth she reason , as she was taught by the spirit of christ in her , though she never learned the art of logick , yet surely she reasoned most effectually , and saw more into the reason of the thing , than all the university men have done unto this day , by all their artificial logick . and her reason , or argument runs thus . he who telleth a man or woman all that ever they have done , must be christ : but this man has told all that ever i have done , therefore this is the christ , or is not this the christ ? the first proposition is clear unto all men , because it is he only who is god , that knoweth all the doings of a man , so it is he only who can tell them all unto them , and so this he , who hath told me all that ever i did , must be more than any man , or prophet , who may know some things , but know not all , he must be christ , who is god. and as i said before this was inwardly , and not outwardly , he could not tell her outwardly all that ever she did in so short a time , but inwardly he could in a moment ; even as the outward light of the sun in a moment representeth things unto our eye in the outward , and letteth us see in a moment , all at once , as it were a thousand things ; and thus she was taught , and thus she reasoned concerning him : and thus also hath the lord taught us to reason concerning him. he who hath in wardly conuinced us of our sins , and told us all the sins that ever we did , and brought them to remembrance before us , when we had forgotten them , or cast them behind our backs , this is the christ , this light in us must be the light of christ ; or this he in us must be the christ , and not any meer humane , or natural light , this must be divine , spiritual , and saving , yea , the saviour , the christ : so she preached him , and so the lord hath taught us to preach him . but so do not these men of the man-made-ministry preach him ; nay , but the contrary : for , say they , that is not christ which convinceth every man of his sins , and tells him all that ever he did , it is but a humane principle , not divine ; it is but natural , not spiritual ; a natural light , and so instead of preaching him thus , as he is in the hearts of people convincing them of sin , and shewing them their sins , they plainly deny him , they confess them without , but deny him within ; and so deny his divinity , and divine power and godhead : for if he be god , is he not within ? and that both in believers , and unbelievers , doth he not by his spirit convince the world of sin ? is he not the light of the world , who lighteth every man that cometh into the world , that all men through him might believe ? as iohn declared , chap. 1. yea , so contrary are they unto the being of christ within , that they plainly , and openly deny him , to be really and properly , and immediately , or essentially within his saints ; yea , to say , that he is , they call it blasphemy : o , say they , he is in us by his graces , and by his operations , or virtue , but not immediately , or essentially : he is in us , say they , immediatione virtutis , but not immediatione suppositi : i. e. he is in us immediately by his virtue , but not by himself ; as the sun appeareth in us by his virtue or heat : yea , the real in-being of the spirit of god by himself , they have generally denyed , and judged some among themselves who have affirmed it : and yet how clear and full is the scripture unto this truth ; that christ is not only in all men by his light , but also upholdeth all things by his word and power , which canot be separated from him ; and if he were not every where , he could not be infinite ; and as he is in all , so he hath his several ways of operation , and manifestation in all , in unbelievers after one manner , and in believers in another , according unto their several capacities , and conditions . 8. she preached him as one they could both come unto , and see immediately , as she had heard him , and seen him her self , so she had a great desire that they also might see him , come and see , ( said she ) she did not thus preach unto them , it is enough for your faith , o ye men of samaria , that others have heard of christ , and seen him , and from what they have heard and seen , to have reported of him unto you ; oh! nay , but come and see , and after this manner did all the true servants of god , preach unto peopole , o tast and see , said david ▪ that which we have heard and seen , we declare unto you ( saith john in the name of all his brethren ) that you may have fellowship with us ; that ye may hear with us , and see with us , and handle with us , of that word of life : but so do not these men of the man-made-ministry ; neither episcopal , presbyterian , nor independent , so called ; none of them all say or preach , come and see christ himself , or hear himself ; nay , nay , that is all ceased ( say they ) christ is gone into heaven , and will not come again till the last day , he has left us the scriptures , and the sacraments in his room ▪ we cannot know him otherwise , but by these visible things , we cannot see himself , nor hear himself , all immediate revelation is ceased , there is no vision of god or christ to be expected in this life nor immediate teaching , or hearing of christ himself o sad , and comfortless doctrine ! but this is their doctrine , nor christ's . i will rather hear this woman of samaria , than hear them , she bids come and see christ himself ; they say there is no seeing of him , nor hearing of himself , so long as we live upon earth : oh blind and deaf men , who because they have neither heard him , nor seen him , therefore deny this blessed priviledge ! oh that people should follow after them , and not see these blind men ! what great matter can they tell of christ ? what great or excellent thing can they attain by their preaching , who deny that they can either hear him , or see him while they are upon earth ? but who , in some measure hear him not , nor see him while on earth , be this told unto you as from the lord , it will be in vain for you to think to hear him , or see him to your comfort and joy hereafter . 9. again , the method of this womans preaching was not like their school method , who make a tale of an hours length , and yet never come to the matter it self ; who take a text from some place of scripture , and raise from it so many points of doctrine , which they have studied so long before hand ; and must study a day , ( and some perhaps two or three days ) to preach one hour , and then to deliver off unto the people that dry , dead and barren stuff , that they have scraped and gathered together out of so many old and worm eaten authors , which they cannot say is their experience , and have not received it from the lord. but they are theeves , and have stolen it , yea perhaps it is an hundred times stolen , having come through so many hands ; who have stollen the words of god concerning the conditions , and experiences of the saints , as the false teachers , and prophets of old , of whom the lord said jer. 23. behold i am against these prophets who steal my words , &c. they shall not profit the people at all . and is not this fulfilled abundantly ? where is the profitting of the people ? doe they not remain still in their sins and wickedness ? and as for these made , and composed sermons ; by art and cunning of mans wisdom and spirit , it is plain deceit , and is expressly so called in scripture , where the apostle said , that with feigned words the false teachers should make merchandize of the people . according unto the greek properly and truly it is thus : with made , or composed speeches , or discourses , they shall make merchandise of you . and so it is seen at this day : for as they make their sermons by art , and take great pains ( as they say ) to compose , and frame them , so they make merchandise of them , and sell them unto the people for money ; yea , cause people to give them money , over , and over again for the same ; and thus they they beguile them , and make merchandise of them also : so did not this woman ; she did not go home and study what she should say , but she spoke what freely rose in her heart , as the lord taught her ; and though her words were but few , yet they are very material and weighty , and came no doubt from the wisdom of god revealed in her , for her own wisdome could never have taught her such excellent words , and so excellently to prove that he was the christ from her own experience . he hath told me all that ever i did , is not this the christ ? 10. her preaching had this good effect , they came unto him saw himself , and heard him ; and as some believed because of the womans saying , so it is said , many more believed because of his own word , and then their faith had sure footing , and found the right foundation , to wit , his own word : then they generrally came to hear himself , and so believed , because they heard himself , as they declared themselves ; yet she was an occasion unto them by her speaking : but whom hath these of the man-made-ministry brought this length , that they are come unto christ himself , and heard him , and seen him ? nay , both teachers and people cry out generally , this is not to be expected in this life , all vision , and revelation is ceased : and no doubt as they came unto him outwardly , and heard him , and saw him outwardly ; so they came unto him , and heard , and saw him inwardly , otherwise they could not have believed in him , nor loved him as they did , nor been blessed by him , if they had not seen him , and heard him with another eye than the outward , which many heard him , and saw him him with , who remained unbelievers , and were not blessed . and so now by these ten instances , it is manifest , how this woman-preacher of samaria , was a better preacher than any of the men-preachers of the man-made-ministry , who called the men of sychar out of the city unto iacob's well to see christ : now sychar signifieth drunkenness , and doth fitly answer unto the natural , and unconverted state , and now iacob's well typefieth the spirit of christ , which is the well of living-water in true believers , and so out of the natural state , and spirit of this world , she called them unto the spirit of christ , there to come unto him , and to see him . the 29th of the first month , 1673. post-script . but say , the men-preachers of the man made-ministry , women ought not to preach , because the apostle expresly saith , but i suffer not a woman to teach , nor to vsurp authority over the man , but to be in silence . to which i say , first , what if i should understand by the woman in this place , the flesh , as bernard , an ancient father in the church , ( who is of great account both among them called papists and protestants ) doth understand it ; for thus he writeth about five hundred years ago , in sermone de septem spiritibu● , fol. 87. edit . paris . ad spiritum enim debet fieri conversio carnis , ut serviat ipsa , & non serviatur ei , ut dicat spiritus servo sno , veni , & veniat , fac hoc & faciat illud , sic enim erit uxor nostra , sicut vitis abundans , & salvabitur per geuerationem filiorum ▪ qui sunt opera bona , si fuerit ipsa quidem in lateribus domus nostrae i. e. in abscondito , & humili loco , anima vero resideat in medio tanquam domina , tanquam pater familias , tanquam iudex . that is , in english ; for the flesh ought to be converted unto the spirit , that she may serve , and not be served ; that the spirit may say unto his servant , come , and it cometh ; do this , and it doth it ; for so our wife shall be , as a fruitful vine , and shall be saved by bearing of children , which are good works , if she be indeed in the sides of our house , that is , in a secret , and low place ; but let the soul remain in the midst , as a mistress , as a master of the family , as a judge . behold , how bernard understandeth by the woman ( which paul suffereth not to teach ) our flesh , and paul speaking of this woman , that she shall be saved in child-bearing ; bernard expoundeth these children to be good works , notwithstanding she shall be saved ( saith paul ) in child-bearing , or in bearing of children , if they continue in faith and charity , and holiness , with sobriety , 1 tim. 2.12 , 13 , 14 , 15. and that the apostle saith , if they continue what is to be understood by these words ? whether outward and natural children ; or such children as bernard expoundeth to be good works ? or is a woman saved by bearing outward , and natural children , to wit , male , or female children , or can the faith and holiness of these children save the woman ? i have made use of the authority of bernard , in this place , not as if i would have people believe this exposition simply or mainly because bernard hath said so ; but indeed , because the men of the schools , and those called clergy-men , lay such weight upon the authority of the fathers , who commonly say , we are to receive the exposition of the scripture from the fathers , and ( if the expoposition of a scripture be called in question ) we are to hear , what such an ancient father , as bernard , or agustine ▪ or ierome saith upon it , and that is to determine the case , if especially the scripture it s●lf say nothing to the contrary ; let them hear therefore bernard in the case ▪ and leave off their proud and insolent words against the people called in derision quakers , as if they understood the scriptures all contrary to the mind of the ancient fathers , ( for let this be told them , that not onely in this particular , but in most of all the things of weight , wherein we differ from the present clergy-men so called , we have the ancient fathers more on our side , than they have , as it may be made appear ( if god permit ) in due season ) and also let those weak and illiterate man made-ministers , who pretend so much to learning , and reading ( and yet have so little of it ) forbear their frothy jearings , and mockings of our friends as touching the meaning of the scriptures , lest in so doing they be found mockers of them whom they call their fathers , of whom either mediately or immediately they borrow , or rather steal any thing they have to say , though oft knowing neither what they say , nor whereof they affirm , i have had an occasion given me , not long ago by some of these men to return them this advice : some of them going about to represent it , as a most ridiculous , and inconsistent exposition to expound , by the woman ( which paul permitted not to speak ) the flesh ; for , say they , if the woman be the flesh , then , who is the fleshes husband ? now , let them hear bernard ( a man i am verily perswaded far excelling them both in piety and learning ) who saith , the flesh is to be subject to the spirit ( or spiritual part in us ) and so she shall be our wife , a fruitful vine in the sides of our house : by which flesh , is not to be understood sin , or sinfull concupiscence , but the animal or inferior part of a man , which is the creature of god , and is of good use unto them who are sanctified and renewed . and as concerning the woman mentioned by paul , in his first epistle to timothy , chap. 2. v. 12 , 13 , &c. not onely bernard , as i have shewed , but augustine ( who lived twelve hundred years ago , and one of the most renowned fathers in the church in those dayes , and who is of great account at this day both among papists and protestants ) doth by the woman understand the flesh , and by her children , he doth understand good works ; for thus he writeth , libro de trinitate . 12. upon the words of the apostle to timothy ; she shall be saved by bearing of children : in that sex of male and female ( saith he ) the apostle paul from this may be understood to have figured the mystery of something more secret ; his words in latine run thus : in isto sexu masculi & faeminae apostolus paulus occultioris cujusdam rei figurasse mysterium , vel hinc intelligi potest . and again , the same augustine writeth thus , tractatu in psal ▪ 83. salva ergo erit mulier quae in typo carnis accipitur , per filiorum generationem , id est , si faciat opera bona . that is , in english , the woman therefore shall be saved , which is taken in the type of the flesh , by the generation of children , that is , if she do good works . i answer , secondly , if i should so far condes●end , or agree unto them , as to take the words of paul , for women , in the common sense of speech , what will they gain by it ? that no women are to speak in the church ; or that women in no case are to speak in the church ? if so , why then are they sound so great and palpable transgressors themselves , who not onely permit , but command women frequently to speak in their own churches , even in their most publick assemblies . and verily , if the thing were not so publickly and ordinarily practised in this land. i should almost be ashamed to mention it , the matter it self is so shameful a thing . how is it , i say ( to you i speak who are called ministers of the kirk of scotland ) that ye not onely permit , but command , yea , and force women , and that of the worst sort , to wit , whores , and adulterous women , and who have committed fornication again , and again , and that without any real signs of true repentance , to come in before the face of the whole congregation , to speak . and the place wherein they are appointed to stand , is not much unlike to your pulpits , but that it is larger , that it may hold three or four ; and i my self , as many with me , have seen it filled , with as many as it could well hold , and these unhonest women are commanded to speak publickly in the church ; yea , the preacher , ( after he himself hath made an end , ) calleth them by their particular names one by one , and bids them speak to the edification of the congregation ; and so they must all speak one by one , to the edification of all ; and those who are most impudent , and least sensible either of their sin , or their shame , will readily speak most , but in great hipocrisie and deceit , for you your selves know , that a true penitent is rarely to be found among them . if you say , this is not preaching or teaching , but only a confessing of their sins , and asking god mercy , and the like ; i answer , is not confessing their sins , speaking , and asking mercy of god ( so that the congregation may hear ) is not this speaking ? now , the apostle saith , 1 cor. 14.34 . let your women keep silence in the churches , for it is not permitted unto them to speak . so the apostle useth this general word ( to speak ) and yet surely confessing of sin , and praying for forgiveness , so that the congregation may hear , is speaking ; yet it is permitted unto these ▪ whorish and dishonest women at that time to exhort the people , and warn them to beware of the snares of the enemy , and the like words ; and this i● a sort of teaching : and i my self have heard some of them , who had learned the knack of it , more than others , spake by way of exhortation , and instruction , that she seemed to speak almost as well , and to as good purpose , as the preacher himself . now , let all sober , and impartial people judge in this case , betwixt those men , and us ; they not onely permit , but command dishonest women , ( who have been whores , ) to speak in the church , whereas we command no woman at all to speak in the church ; but this we say , if god by his spirit move or command a godly , sober , religious woman to speak in the church , we are not to forbid her , yea , we are to hear her , and we may be both edified , and refreshed by her testimony , it being the spirit of god which speaketh unto us , in her , and by her . yea , that the apostle did not forbid all women in all cases to to speak , is plain , for in the same epistle , chap. 11. v. 5. he sheweth , how the woman is to be covered , that prayeth , or prophecyeth , which plainly holdeth forth , that some women at least , did both pray , and prophecy in the church , in his day , ( yea , and ye your selves allow women to sing in the church , which is a sort of speaking , and if they sing publickly in the outward hearing , why may they not pray publickly in the outward hearing , for both is a sort of speaking , seeing in both they utter words . ) what sort of women then is it , whom paul doth not permit to speak in the church ? in these two places above-mentioned , 1 cor. 14.34 . and 1 tim. 2.12 , 13. &c. taking them for women in the common litteral sence ) verily , let us but look into the context , or words going before , in both places , and that will clear it : for they are such women , as need to be taught themselves ; even , first , unlearned women , secondly , tatling women , that were not yet come to the true silence . thirdly , unruly , proud women , that were not come to the true subjection , all which is implyed in these words , let the women learn in silence , with all subjection ; for no doubt there were such women among them of ephesus ( where timothie then was ) who had need of these instructions : and fourthly , vain women , who were given to vain and gaudy apparel , such as gold , or pearls , or costly array , and were not yet come to be covered with the spirit of the lord. fifthly , such as usurped authority over the man. sixthly , such as were in the transgression , and deceived as the first woman was . seventhly , such women as transgress the law , and not come to be under grace , as said paul , they are to be under obedience , as also saith the law : so read the words going before , and behind , in both places , and you may observe , that a seven fold sort of women are not permitted by paul to speak in the church , and as is said , no doubt there were of all these sorts of women among them of corinth , and ephesus , who were not permitted to speak , who had need of these instructions , for commonly such particular instructions are not given , concerning such things , where there is not need , or where none are guilty . but what if paul had said so concerning all the women at corinth , and ephesus , ( where timothy at this time was when he wrote to him , concerning women ) that he did not permit them to speak , will it therefore follow that no women are to speak in any case in the church ? i will put you in mind of one of your school rules , which is this , a particularibus ad universale non val●t consequentia , i. e. from particulars unto universal the consequence is not valid : therefore , though it had not been permitted either unto some or all of these two particular churches of corinth , or ephesus , to speak ( because they might at that time , being but young , not have the requisite qualifications ) it will not follow , that universally all women every where else ought not to speak ; yea , these called presbyterians may remember , how they have both allowed , and countenanced women both to pray , and speak of their experiences ▪ in their private meetings , and yet they cannot deny , but their private meetings are a church ; for inded a church , according to the greek , and latin word , is nothing else but a convention , or gathering of the people , whether few , or many ; so that three , six , or twelve , is as really a church , as 300 , 600 , or 1200. and further , let us once more take notice of the apostles words , and we shall find , that they do not signifie , an absolute forbidding of women in any case to speak , teach , or preach in the church ; i permit or suffer not a woman ( said he ) to teach in the church , but if they will learn any thing , let them ask their hu●bands at home ; for the better understanding of which , i am to remember you , that even according unto pauls own words , there was in that day a two-fold manner of speaking in the church : one by commandment , another by permission , and this distinction paul himself useth , writing unto the corinthians , when he said , as touching some particular things , 1 cor. 7.6 . but i speak this by permission ( said he ) and not of commandment ; also in divers other places , he writeth thus , i say , not the lord , now this sort of speaking was used in the church , in two particular cases ; 1. in the propounding , or asking of a question , for there were in the church , some who asked questions , and some who answered , the unlearned asked , and the learned answered , which is the most proper way of catechising . 2. this sort of speaking , to wit , by permission , was used in the church in matter of advice , and counsel , relating to the affairs of the church , where men ( according to the wisdome given them of god ) finding the spirit of the lord present with them , enlightning them , and directing them , might speak their mind , in cases , by way of counsel and advice , as seeing the expediency and use of it , for a certain time , though they were not to enjoyn it as a command . and paul himself useth this same distinction , destinguishing betwixt things lawful , and things expedient ; so that some things may be lawful which are not expedient , and some things may be both lawful and expedient , and yet not commanded of god ; and a man ( as immediately taught by the spirit of the lord in his heart ) may see , both the lawfulness , and expediency of a thing , and may speak by the spirit of the lord moving him , in the church , concerning both the lawfulness and expediency of that thing , and yet he may say , i speak not this by commandment , as if what he said were a commandment unto them ; yea the spirit of the lord may command and move him to declare unto them , that the thing in hand before them , is not a command , but an expedient thing , and fit to be done at that time . now in these two cases of speaking by permission in the church , as first in that of asking questions ; and , secondly , in that of giving advice or cousel simply , by a permission : if they would contend , that women ought not to speak in the church , all that they can pretend with any shew , or colour of reason , at most is , that women are not to speak in the church by permission : if they speak , they are not to do it by permission , but by commandment , whereas it is permitted unto men , at times to speak in the church by permission , when not by commandment : an unlearned man may be permitted to ask a question in the church , which is not permitted unto a woman , nor is it needful , for she may ask her husband at home . but if the spirit of the lord command or move a godly and spiritually learned woman to speak , in this case she is the lords , more than her husbands , and she is to speak , yea , though the husband should forbid her , for she ought rather to obey god than man. and in christ iesus there is neither male nor femal● but all are one in him ▪ as the apostle said . so both these cases are in a matter of freedom or permission , not in a matter of necessity or command : therefore though women may not speak by permission , which men may do , yet they may speak by command , as when the lord commandeth or moveth them by his spirit . and that women spake in the church , is most evident , from the second chapter of acts , which was a very solemn time , and also a very solemn convention , for the scripture saith expresly , acts 1.14 . that among the apostles , mary with other women were present , and it is said , acts 2.4 . and they were filled with the holy ghost , and began to speak with other tongues , as the spirit gave them utterance . so here the women were filled with the holy ghost , and spake , as the apostles did ; for it is said so of them all universally : and it appeareth further , that the women spoke , in this solemn assembly from the apology of peter , which he made in the defence of the womens prophecying or speaking , out of ioels prophecy , where it was prophecyed by ioel , that the lord would pour out his spirit upon all flesh , both male and female sons and daughters , men servants and maid-servants , and they shall prophecy ; and so that prophecy was eminently fulfilled at that time as at other times afterwards . and also before this time , the lord made use of women , to witness , speak , or declare , and that unto the eleven apostles , that christ was risen from the dead , luke 24.9 , 10. and was not this convention a church ? and did not the lord after his resurrection first of all appear unto a woman , to wit , mary magdalene ? and did not he command her to speak unto the apostles , and instruct them concerning his resurrection ? go ( said he ) unto my brethren , and say unto them , i ascend to my father , and your father , and to my god , and your god. yea , and not onely the scripture , but also the church history telleth us of women , who taught and instructed men , as particularly that woman , who converted the nation of the iberians unto the christian faith , as eusebius relateth . finis . christvs dei, or, a theologicall discourse wherein is proved that regall or monarchicall power is not of humane but of divine right and that god is the sole efficient cause thereof and not the people : also, that every monarch is above the whole common-wealth and is not onely major singislis, but major vniversis : written in answer to a late printed pamphlet intituled observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses. jones, john, d. 1660. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a47055 of text r14104 in the english short title catalog (wing j961). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 30 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a47055 wing j961 estc r14104 11839685 ocm 11839685 49793 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47055) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49793) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 539:10) christvs dei, or, a theologicall discourse wherein is proved that regall or monarchicall power is not of humane but of divine right and that god is the sole efficient cause thereof and not the people : also, that every monarch is above the whole common-wealth and is not onely major singislis, but major vniversis : written in answer to a late printed pamphlet intituled observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses. jones, john, d. 1660. morton, thomas, 1564-1659 supposed author. [2], 17 p. printed by h. hall ..., oxford : 1642. attributed to john jones. cf. dnb. attributed also to thomas morton, bp. of durham. cf. nuc pre-1956. reproduction of original in bodleian library. eng parker, henry, 1604-1652. -observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses. divine right of kings. theology, doctrinal. a47055 r14104 (wing j961). civilwar no christus dei, or, a theologicall discourse wherein is proved, that regall or monarchicall power is not of humane, but of divine right, and t jones, john 1642 5495 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 b the rate of 4 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-04 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2006-04 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion christus dei , or , a theologicall discourse , wherein is proved , that regall or monarchicall power is not of humane , but of divine right , and that god is the sole efficient cause thereof , and not the people . also , that every monarch is above the whole common-wealth , and is not onely major singulis , but major universis . written in answer to a late printed pamphlet intituled , observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses . 1 pet. 2. 13. subjecti estote omni humanae creaturae propter dominum , sive regi quasi praecellenti . submit your selves to every ordinance of man , for the lord's sake , whether it be to the king as supreme . oxford , printed by h. hall . an. dom. m. dc . xlii . christus dei , or , a theologicall discourse , wherein is proved , that regall power is not of humane , but of divine right , and that god onely is the efficient cause thereof , and not the people . preface . there is a booke come forth of late , barely intituled , observations upon some of his majesties late answers and expresses , without any name of the author or place where it was printed . wherein the observer ( soe i must call him not knowing him by any other name ) aimes cheifly and directly to prove ; that the hereditary , regall , and monarchicall power of our now present dread soveraigne king charles , is inferiour and subject to the power of the now present parliament . which to evince he undertakes to lay downe the originall foundation of all regall power whatsoever , according to the efficient and finall causes thereof . and having made the finall cause to be the safety of the people , together with their civill or politicall happinesse ; he also makes the efficient cause to be , not god , but onely the people , and the instrumentall cause of conveying and deriving this regall power to be , not any divine law , nor nothing else ( amongst christians ) but the meere humane pactions and agreements of the politique body of the people . and then arguing by a rule in nature ; that quicquid efficit tale est magts tale , he issueth out this just inference ( as he calleth it ) that though the king be singulis major , yet he is universis minor , and therefore inferiour and subject in power to the parliament . having perused this discourse , and finding it to be most injurious to regall power or monarchie , contrary to the true principles of state and divinitie , or orthodox christian doctrine : i thought i might doe my king and country good service , to confute these desperate and more then dangerous positions , by declaring and proving the true originall foundation , according to the finall and efficient causes of regall or monarchicall power : which ( with gods good helpe ) i hope to do perspicuously in the few ensuing paragraphes . §. 1 of the primary finall cause ; as also of the efficient cause of all civill societies or republiques . because whatsoever is done , is done for some end or purpose , without which it should not have beene done , nor had a being : therefore it is the constant doctrine of all philosophers , that the end is the cheif and principall of all causes : and therefore , for methods sake i will begin with it . now to find out the primarie end of all civill societies or commonwealthes , we , that are christians , must reflect attentively upon those words of the holy ghost . prov. 16 : 4. universa propter semetipsum operatus est dominus . by which we are ascertaind , that god almighty created not only all other creatures , but all mankind also , as for their primarie end , for himselfe , and his owne praise and glorie . and as for man in particular , god created him to his owne image and likenesse , endowing him with an understanding and a will , that he might know how to honour and love his creator , and by such love and honour might finally become happy in the fruition of his eternall , unspeakable and inestimable glory in heaven : for means whereto , first god dictated certaine divine precepts and principles unto man , and imprinted them with his very creation upon his naturall reason ( for which cause they are called divine naturall lawes written in every mans heart , saith saint paul rom. 2. 15. ) that every man might be equally capable to know them , and equally obliged to obey them . secondly god infused into him faith , hope , and charity , and other supernaturall virtues , all tending to this conducement , that man following them as his guides , might , through his obedience to god , attaine to his owne salvation . thirdly to bind man more strongly to his subjection , and to make it appeare more illustriously unto him , that therein principally consisted his welfare , as the very end and center , for and to which he was created , he gave him an expresse divine law , not to eate of the tree in the midst of paradise upon paine of death . fourthly , by revelation he instructed him in many particular sacred formes and rites of exterior divine worship , as sacrifice and others ; for though we read not anywhere in holy writ , that adam offered sacrifice , no more then wee do of isaac ; yet wee read there that cain and abell did , and that abraham and iacob did . but it cannot be imagined that cain and abell were the first inventors of this most , religious and divine worship , ( noe more then that isaac did neglect it ) but that by paternall tradition and example they received it from adam . all which duely considered ; it will appeare evidently , that the primary end for which all men are created , is to serve , honour , love , obey , & worship god . from whence it followes ; that this being mans highest and principallest concern , it ought also to be his highest and principallest care to attend to it . but most certaine it is , that men , living divided and scattered over the face of the world without the instruction and assistance one of another , cannot possibly performe this for every particular mans behoofe , as is requisite . and therfore from this finall cause arose primarily a necessity amongst men to unite and combine themselves into civill societies and common-wealths . this end could not be prefixed by men ; but men were created for this end by god . and therfore this is the primary , spirituall , supernaturall , and divine finall cause of all republiques , to which every other end must be but secondary , subordinate , and subservient . and from hence it followeth further , that since on the one side no naturall agent can by it's naturall power compasse the attaining of a supernaturall end ; and on the other side civill societies ought not to be instituted in vaine : we mustneeds conclude , that the primary efficient cause of all common-wealths is only god . §. 2. of the secondary finall cause , and also the onely efficient cause of all civill societies and republiques . every creature in the world strives to preserve its owne kind . wee see what paines and care beasts and birds take to reare their younglings . trees and plants beare fruites and seeds to produce the like when they are perished . yea , the inanimate creatures ( according to their predominant element and mixture ) strive every one to obtaine and enioy their center . and all this not only for their owne particular , but also for the harmonious accommodation and preservation of the vniverse , the great and most excellent worke of nature , wherin shee doth nothing in vaine . but in vaine had man been , if he also had not been provided of necessary meanes towards the preservation of his kind . for which cause god said it was not good for man to be alone : and therfore gave him a woman to be his helper , that so by meanes of generation he might propagate his ofspring to the worlds end . this preservation then of mankind is the maine naturall and secondary end of man . and to this end god gave him his blessing to increase and multiply from whence ariseth , that of necessity there must be at least private families . but man and woman finding ( by woefull experience ) most true what god said to adam and eve ; that hee should eate his bread in the sweat of his browes , that shee should bring forth her children in paine , found also presently , that every private family is not sufficient of it selfe to maintaine this worke of preservation , without the helpe of one another . for first , to say nothing of womens deliveries in child-birth , which cannot possibly alwaies and every where be performed requisitely by themselves and their families , without the helpe of some other , or others : and yet even upon this the preservation of mankind holds a most necessary and principall dependance . i will only speake of mans part , who with the sweat of his browes , with extreame toile and labour must provide food and cloathing , and all other necessary supports and sustentations for his family . but to doe this , he must of necessity ( i speake not of barbarous inhumane people ) have some certaine place of aboad ; and in this he must have some peculiar right , some propriety of possession , by virtue wherof he may reape the fruites of the earth , and maintaine his cattel . and how shall every private family be able to doe this with securitie ? will not every one strive for the best possession ? will not the shepheards of abraham and lot , and of isaac and gerara fall to contention for water & pastures , and such like other necessary elbow roome ? and in these uncivill and unsociable quarrels , must not all private families be made like to the fishes of the sea . hab. 11 , 13. 14. where the stronger must devoure the weaker . secondly god endowed man in his creation with an understanding and a will . this understanding is of that infinite capacitie , that it hath for it's adaequate object omne ens as it is verum . and man therefore is in perpetuall and restlesse search of knowledge , to perfect his understanding by experience and learning . the will also hath for her adaequate object omne ens as it is bonum ? and man therefore is in perpetuall pursuite of reciprocall love to perfect his will by friendship and justice . over and above these god gave to man the facultie of speech , to be the reciprocall conveyance of learning and friendship . so as for this verie reason arisiotle said excellently well , that man is by nature a sociable creature , for neither learning , nor friendship , nor justice ( in which consists essentially mans civill or politicall happinesse ) nor safety or securitie ( which is the only preservative of mans verie being ) can possibly be acquired and maintained in the division of men in their private families . and therefore for this verie end it was naturally necessary for men to unite and associate themselves into civill societies and communities , that soe they might preserve their kind . from the learning , experience and industrie of the understanding proceed all arts , tillage , manufactures , trade and traffique , which bring in gaine , and that brings plentie from the freindship and justice of the will proceed peace and securitie : in which secure peace and plenty consisteth perfect salus populi . now since this cannot be had in divided private families , and without this there can be no preservation of mankind , it followes , that civill societies or commonwealthes are naturally necessary . whose naturall finall cause is truely and only ( in the manner as i have explicated ) salus populi . now furthermore , seeing that a commonwealth is not the designe of art and invention of particular men , nor of any positive law of theirs , but proceeds from the common necessity of all mankind , intimated unto them by the law of nature , of which god is the sole cause and author ; it followeth , that the officient cause of all republiques is onely god . §. 3 of the finall and efficient cause of civill power in a common wealth . as for the finall cause there is little or no difficultie ; for seing that the finall cause of every thing must needs be that , which that thing necessarily referres unto , as to it's end for which it is done or hath it's being : it is manifest , that since civill societies have for their naturall and secondary finall cause salus populi ; the power also which must not be ad destructionem , but ad adisicationem , to maintaine those civill societies , can have no other finall cause , but that whereunto they direct and are directed , which is salus populi . the materiall cause in which this power originall , resides and inheres ; as the forme to make up a compleat body of a common-wealth , is the people . and so the observer saith verie well in this kind of cause ; power is originally inhaerent in the people , most certaine then it is ; that even at the very first uniting themselves into a civill societie , there is an inhaerent power in the people to governe themselves , and by such government to preserve themselves in safetie . for this is the onely necessary naturall end for which they met ( as i have shewen before ) that they might be able and powerfull to secure themselves , and preserve their kind . but this meeting would have beene in vaine , and this preservation wholly made frustrate , if there were not this power inhaerent in them . if in the naturall body of man there were not an interiour directive governing power to guide every particular member in the operative use of it's function , and to contrive those operations to the mutuall good of one another , and the conservation of the whole man ; that body could not possibly but suddainly perish . for if the teeth will not chew , nor the throat swallow , nor the hands reach , nor the feete stirr , nor the eyes look out , when nature requires her necessary food , she and they & all must sterve . so in a politicall body ; if all members should doe but what they list , and should not be compelled by some absolute power to contribute their strengthes and endeavours to the preservation of one another , and the whole communitie , it would be but regnum in se divisum , that of necessity must fall to desolation , as the holy ghost confirmes also elsewhere , saying , proverb . 11. 14. ubi non est gubernator dissipabitur populus . the maine difficulty is : who is the efficient cause of this power . wherein , not to be tedious to my reader , but to yeild him the satisfaction of his expectation in a breife and resolute answere , i present unto him this decretorie assertion . this power is not a humane but a divine right ; and god only is the immediate efficient cause thereof . this i prove by five arguments . arg. 1. there is a rule in nature ( to use the observers owne words ) quod dat esse dat consequentia ad esse . but the esse of a republique cannot have a simpliciter esse without the esse of this power . therefore he that is the efficient cause of the republique , is also the efficient cause of this power . but ( as i have prov'd before § . 2. n. 5. ) god is the sole efficient cause of all republiques , therfore he is also the sole efficient cause of this power . arg. 2. the primarie finall cause of civill societies ( as i haue prov'd § . 1. ) is divine worship ; which man could not prefix to himselfe as his end , but he was created by god for and to that end , and only god prefixed that end to man . therefore this is a divine end which cannot be atcheived without a divine power ( as i have alsoe proved in the same . § . n. 4. ) only god then is the immediate efficient cause of this power . and from thence it proceeds , that kings , acknowledging themselves to have received this divine power principally for this primary end , their oathes at their coronation are ( as the observer very grutchingly granteth ) more precise in the care of canonicall priviledges , and of bishops and clergie-men , then of the commonalty ▪ and not from the reason which he gives . viz. because they were penned by popish bishops . for whether the bishops were popish or protestant , surely they are not to be blamed ex hoc capite , but most highly to be reverenced , that according to their profession & dutie they put kings in mind , in the first place , of divine worship , and their owne and their peoples eternall salvation depending thereupon . and i cannot understand why the observer should give that reason , but only to seduce the vulgar into a base and profane misconceiving and vilifying of the royall power of kings , and their sacred oathes . for , popish , without all doubt in his dictionary signifieth superstitious at least , if not idolatrous . but , if it be superstition for a man to be more precise in the care of divine worship , and his soules everlasting salvation , then of any other his remporall end or affaire ( see § . 1. n. 3. ) in vayne then have all christians hitherto beleeved that they were in a true religion . let the observer consider what censure he deserves for thus finding fault with kings oathes , and whether hee gives not just cause of suspicion , that he is rather an athiest then a christian . it is well known to all christians , that quaerite primùm regnum dei & justitiam ejus is no invention of popish bishops , but our blessed saviours owne doctrine and rule , not only to bishops , but to all kings and people whatsoever , as the ! principall , to which as an accessorium followes , & haecomnia adjicientur vobis : mat. 6. 33. arg. 3. when private families first joyned themselves into a common body of societie , before any condictum , paction , or agreement amongst themselves , to enact positive lawes for their government , there was an inherent power in them to enact : such lawes . for who can make a law without a power ? but this power , not being the effect , but the most necessary cause of all humane pactions or positive lawes , cannot have it's origen from man , but only from god . ergo god is the sole efficient cause of this power . arg. 4. when men first associated themselves into a commonwealth , they were all of equall right and power , so that none ( i speake of severall families still as before ) could challenge superioritie the one over the other . for , this divine naturall power , viz. se defendere , et vim vi repellere , was inherent in every one of them , and obliging them . the power then which accrewed to the aggregation of the whole societie , was not made but brought , as being no other then what was in all and every particular member of that society before . but that is a divine power and the immediate effect of god . ergo . and indeed in the due managing or excercising of this divine naturall law of se defendendo , and vim vi repellendo consists totallie the security and salus populi , and the power of the commonwealth to maintaine it . arg. 5. god almighty is so solely the legislator and author of his owne lawes , without the concurrence or consent of any other counsell , ( quis enim consiliarius ejus fuit , aut quis prior dedit ei ? rom. 11. 33. ) that they have their establishment onely in and by his owne will . so that noe power whatsoever of his creatures , can by any contraition against him , invalid or annull those laws . but non occides is a divine naturall law and precept expressed in the decalogue . therefore no pactions or agreements of men can give this power of putting a man to death , no more then cain could kill abel . but on , the other side it is manifest , that republiques have a lawfull power of putting men to death , without which they could not preserve their owne safety . therfore they have it from god . and how soone god gave this power to men i know not , nor cannot find , untill after the floud ; when genes . 9. 6. we read this expresse positive divine law and precept given to the civill magistrate . quicunque effuderit humanum sanguinem , fundetur sanguis illius . §. 4. of the efficient cause of regall power . the finall cause of regall power must of necessity be the same that is of the commonwealth , because the king is the administrator of the power of the commonwealth , to the same end no doubt , for which it was first ordained : of which having spoken largely before , i have no need to say any thing here . the maine question is , who is the efficient cause of regall or monarchicall power ? which the observer boldly averres to be , not god , but the people . and upon this false ground hee vents all those swarmes of false inferences throughout his whole discourse . but before i lay downe the true resolution of this question , i must desire my reader to marke with good heed the great difference that is betweene the power it selfe of a commonwealth , and the authority to administer that power : for the people may be the efficient cause of this second , though not of the first . as for example , the aldermen of london may elect , nominate , and constitute such or such a man to be their lord major to administer the power that belongs to the corporation of that city : and herein they may be the efficient cause of his authority to administer the power of the city , but not of his power ; because that is the guift of the king by his charter , of which his majesty therefore is the onely efficient cause , and not the aldermen , nor all the people of that corporation whatsoever ? i have proved all along in the precedent § . that the civill power of a commonwealth , is not a humane , but divine power , of which , not the people , but god onely is the efficient cause . it is true indeed , that it is in the voluntary election of the people to authorize one , or few , or more with the administration of this power . and as long as this authority is still elective in the people , they may by consent of the major part alter their forme of gubernation into democraticall oligarchicall , aristocraticall , or monarchicall , as they please . and herein the observer saith truly , that god is no more the authour of regall , then of aristocraticall power : for whether this power be in many , or in one , it is still the same divine power of the common-wealth , though diversly administred , of which god onely is the efficient cause . but when the people have once resigned up all their authority into the hands of one , and his heires for ever , so that now it is not any longer elective in them , but hereditary in him : then not onely the power , but the authority also to administer that power is solely inherent in him and his heires , unalterably and irrevocably for ever . this then is my first assertion . the efficient cause of regall or monarchicall power , is not the people , but onely god . i speake in this assertion , not of conditionall princes , but only of absolute kings , and monarchs . my first proofe then is . when the people create a king , they elect his person , and authorize him with the administration of that absolute power which is inherent in the whole commonwealth to governe it selfe : otherwise hee is no absolute king , of whom onely i speake , and so doth the observer also . but this power ( as i have proved ) is not an humane , but a divine power , of which god onely is the efficient cause . therefore god onely , and not the people is the efficient cause of regall power . my second proofe , god saith expresly , prov. 8. 15. per me reges régnant , &c. then their dominion or power by which they reigne is immediately from god . christ saith to pilate , ioh. 19 , 11. non haberes potestatem , &c. nisi tibi datum esset desuper . then this power is not from below from men ; but from above , from god . saint paul saith , rom. 13. 1. omnu anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit : non est enim potestas nisi à deo. and , qui resistit potestati , dei ordinationi resistit . and , non sine causa gladium portat . for what cause ? dei enim minister est , vindex in iram &c. then regall power is divine power and the ordinance of god , wherein the king is not the peoples , but gods minister , as being invested and annointed interiorly in his person by him with a divine power ; of which the exterior unction is a sacred , ceremonious , commonefactive and solemne testimonie . and for this cause , cyrus though a heathen king is called by god himselfe . isay. 45. 1. christus mens , gods owne annointed . the holy king josaphat saith to those whom he had constituted judge . 2. paralip . 19. 6. non hominis exercetis judicium sed domini . then it is not a humane power , but a divine power by which the king doth judge & rule his people . from hence i inferie two corollaries . the first . that there is a twofold trust in the king . the one of his power . the other of the administration of his power . the first is gods trust unto him to exercise his divine judgments . the second is the peoples , to administer it propter salutem populi . but if he swerve herein , seeing that the power is divine & residing and inhering only in him , and not in the people , he is not liable to the people , but only to god . the second corollarie . as god is the sole efficient cause of regall power ; so the instrumentall cause which conveies this power , is the divine naturall law obliging men to unite themselves into civill societies . for god gives a power to men to governe themselves by obliging them to unite themselves . and consequently the election of the people ( with all the observers pactions & agreements ) is but causa sine qua non , by way of approximation , that this divine power may reside in those few , or more , or one rather then in any other . as in my former example . ● . 3. the efficient cause of the lord majors power is only the king . the instrumentall cause by which this power is derived unto him , is the charter of the citie , granted to them at pleasure , more strictly , or more largely by the king . and the aldermens election of this or that particular man , is but the approximation , that the kings power may reside in him to governe the cittie , rather then in any other . my second assertion . every absolute king ( invested and annointed with a divine power by god himself to exercise his judgements , through the election of the people to be sole administrator thereof ) is in power super totam rempublicam , superiour absolutely over the whole commonwealth . and therefore is not only major singulis , but major universis , and super omnes simul . this assertion is evident out of the former . for , the power that was inherent in the whole commonwealth to exercise gods judgements and to governe and preserve it selfe , was a divine power , not only super singulos , but super omnes simul , and therefore major universis . but this power is now totally and absolutly inherent in the king only . ergo he is super totam rempublicam : and major vniversis , in confirmation of this argument , i argue thus . either the whole power of the commonwealth is in one , or no . if no : then he is no absolute king or monarch , contrary to our supposition . but if he be a monarch i aske againe ; if there be a power in the commonwealth , which is not in him , is it subordinate to his power , or no ? if it be subordinate , then his power is above that power , and so super totam rempublicam , and major vniversis . if it be not , then there are simul & semel two supreame civill powers in a commonwealth , two supreame contrary masters at once to be obeyed , one and the same individuall kingdome and gubernation , and yet divided against it selfe , which are most absurd and impossible . from hence it is evident that his majesty sayed most truly and most learnedly , that the administration of the whole power of the commonwealth being committed in trust absolutely and irrevocably to him and his heires for ever , it is impossible that a power above that trust should be committed to others . this the observer in effect plainly confesseth . but relapsing into his wonted paroxismes of strong malice against regal power , he labours ( by his most false erroneous principal rex est minor vniversis ) and tires himself in vaine to answer it . and because the strength of all his long tedious and farraginous discourse depends wholly upon these two false grounds , viz. that the people is the efficient cause of regal power . and that rex est minor vniversis ; and i have manifestly confuted them both , i presume i have also sufficiently confuted all the rest : and therefore conclude in those sacred words . data est a domino potestas regibus , & virtus ab altissimo . power is given to kings of the lord , and soveraignty from the highest . sapient . 6. 3. finis . the discovery of mans return to his first estate by the operation of the power of god in the great work of regeneration with a word to all saints who set their faces towards sion to seek the lord their god ... : a word to the back-slider who hath tasted of the good word of god ... : with a discovery of mystery-babylon and her merchants .... / written by one whom the people of this world calls a quaker, whose name in the flesh is william deusbury, but hath a new name the world knows not written in the book of life. dewsbury, william, 1621-1688. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a35833 of text r27296 in the english short title catalog (wing d1260). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 67 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a35833 wing d1260 estc r27296 09795110 ocm 09795110 44118 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a35833) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44118) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1354:20) the discovery of mans return to his first estate by the operation of the power of god in the great work of regeneration with a word to all saints who set their faces towards sion to seek the lord their god ... : a word to the back-slider who hath tasted of the good word of god ... : with a discovery of mystery-babylon and her merchants .... / written by one whom the people of this world calls a quaker, whose name in the flesh is william deusbury, but hath a new name the world knows not written in the book of life. dewsbury, william, 1621-1688. 30 p. printed for giles calvert, london : 1655. reproduction of original in the huntington library. eng society of friends -apologetic works. regeneration (theology) theology, doctrinal. a35833 r27296 (wing d1260). civilwar no the discovery of mans return to his first estate by the operation of the power of god in the great work of regeneration. with a word to all dewsbury, william 1655 13514 225 0 0 0 0 0 166 f the rate of 166 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2003-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-03 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2005-03 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the discovery of mans return to his first estate by the operation of the power of god in the great work of regeneration . with a word to all saints , who set their faces towards sion to seek the lord their god . and to those that are waiting in sion , to worship him in spirit and truth . a word to the back-slider , who hath tasted of the good word of god , and the powers of the world to come , and hath turned the grace of god into wantonness , and gone back into spiritual sodom and egypt , where our lord is crucified . with a discovery of mystery-babylon , and her merchants : with a word to the hard-hearted unbelieving jews , who profess christ in words , and deny to be guided by his counsel , the light in their conscience , and stumble at him to their own destruction . from the spirit of the lord , written by one whom the people of this world calls a quaker , whose name in the flesh is william deusbury ; but hath a new name , the world knows not , written in the book of life . london , printed for giles calvert , at the black-spread-eagle , at the west-end of pauls . 1655. all men and women , behold , and see in what estate you were created . and god said , let us make man in our image , god created man in his own image , and in the image of god created he him , male and female created he them . and the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to dress it , a●…d to keep it , and the lord god commanded the man , saying , of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat ▪ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it , for in the day thou earest thereof thou shalt surely dye the death . the s●…rpent was more subtil than a●…y beast of the field , which the lord god had made , he said unto the woman , ye shall not surely die , for god doth know that in the day you ●…at thereof , your eyes shall be opened , and ye shall be as god knowing good and evill . and when the woman saw the tree was good ●…or food , and that it was pleasant unto the eyes , and a tree to be de●…red to make one wise , she took the fruit thereof and did eat , and gave also to her husband with her , and he did eat . and the eyes of them both were opened , and they knew that they were naked , and they sewed fig-leaves together , and made them aprons . and they heard the voice of the lord god walking in the garden in the cool of the day , and adam and his wife ●…d themselves from the presence of the lord among the trees of the garden ; and the lord god called unto adam , and said unto him , where art thou ? and he said , i heard thy voice in the garden , and was affraid , and because i was naked , i hid my self . and he said , who told thee that thou wast naked ? hast thou eaten of the tree where●…f i commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat ? and the man said , the woman who thou gavest to be with me , she gave me of the tree , and i did eat . and the lord god said unto t●…e woman , what is this that thou hast done ? the woman said the serpent beguiled me , and i did eat . and the lord god said unto the serpent , because thou hast done this , thou art cursed above all cattel , and above every beast of the field , upon thy belly shalt thou go , and dust shalt thou eat all the daies of thy life . and i will put enmity betwixt thee and the woman , and between thy seed and her seed , it shall bruise thy head , and thou shalt bruise his he●…l . and the lord god said , behold this man is become as one of us to know good and evil , and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life , and eat and live for ever , therefore the lord god sent him forth from the garden of eden , to till the ground from whence he was taken ▪ and he drove out the man , and placed at the east end of the garden of eden , cherubims and a flaming sword , which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life . every man and woman behold and see how you are fallen from the estate and condition you were created in ; you were created in the image of god to delight alone in him , but you are fallen in obeying the counsel of the serpent , and are driven out of the presence of god into the earth , and there your minds are feeding upon the dust of the earth , created objects which will perish : some delight in father and mother , some in wife and children , some ●…n house and lands , some in mony & gold , some in meats & drinks , some in raiment what they shall put on , some in lusts and pleasures , in wantonness , vain idle communication , foolish jesting and laughter , which is madness and folly , and some in honour and preferments in this world , wherein their hearts are lifted up in pride and exaltation above others whom they have power over , not considering how ye are dri●…en out from the presence of the lord wherein you were placed in the beginning : and some there are that feed upon the letter of the scripture , which is death , comprehending god and christ in their wisdome from what the saints of the most high god spoke forth from the life they enjoyed in christ jesus , which was in them the hope of their glory , and man in his serpentine wisdome steals the saints words into his understanding , and never knew the life and power thereof in himself , and so speakes a divination of his own brain , a riddle to his own heart , and while he speaks to others , himself is a cast-away . every man and woman in particular , deal justly with your hearts , and see where your hearts are , and what they delight in , for in some of these created objects you delight in , and feed upon , if you cannot witness your change by the eternal and powerful word of truth ; for into the earth you are driven from the presence of god , and these are the fruits which spring forth of the earth which is in your hearts , self-love , pride , covetousness , anger , revenge , hastiness , frowardness , back-biting , hard-heartedness , cruelty , and oppression , lust and uncleanness , drunkenness , impatiency , and unbelief , and you are fenced out from coming to the tree of life with cherubims and the flaming sword , which turns every way to keep the tree of life . so every one see what you can witness of your return again unto god from whence you are separated by the disobedience and evill of your hearts , and see what is the ground of the hope of your callings , and by what power you are acted in your obedience unto god , whether by the power of the first adam , or by the power of the second , for if thou upon the convincement of the evill of thy waies , doe not wait in the light , which is in thy conscience , that convinceth thee of the evill of thy doings , for power from the lord to guide thee forth of the evill , which the light discovers , which would guide thee into the kingdome of god , but thou runnest out into the wisdom of the first adam , to seek the kingdome of god in outward formes and observations according as thou comprehendest of the saints practices , and thou imitatest their practices in thy wisdome , and though thou walk never so strictly in these outward formes , thou art alive in the first adam , sewing fig-leaves together to cover thy nakedness , a peece of new cloth in an old garment , thou art putting new wine into old bottles , and art building up a tower to get up to god , in thy heathenish and babylonish wisdom , and confusion will come upon thee : in the day when the lord comes to look for fruit , thou wilt be found a fruitlesse tree that cumbers the ground : cain , with his offering up sacrifice unto god in thy first nature , esau seeking the birth-right with teares , who shall never find it , and all the fruit that is raised in thee is from hagar the bond-woman , and thou hast thy end for thy self in all that thou dost which is thy hire , which thou expectest in the end , life , for thy labour , and obedience , and thou regards not the glory of the lord , and his fear is not before thine eyes ; therefore every man and woman , deal justly with your own hearts , under what name or title soever thou be , whether thou be a teacher of others , or a professor of what thou comprehendest to be truth from the testimony the saints gave forth , from the life and power of christ that was in them , and thou expectest life in thy outward formes and observations , and mindest not to be guided by the light which is of christ in thy own conscience , which light guided the saints that gave forth the scriptures , and while thou disobeyest that light , profess what thou wilt , thou art in the fall , first adam is yet alive in thee , cain is not yet banished , nor esau reprobated , nor the bond-woman and her son cast out ; which are all figures and types of the first nature , which is yet alive in thee , and thy will is thy guide , and thy heart is in the earth , notwithstanding all thy profession , and thou art a painted beast , made drunk with the wine of the wrath of the whore , which is thy wisdom , which comprehends ▪ that which thou never didst know manifest in it self , and sits deckt a well-favoured harlot , above the crosse of christ , thou wilt be found a thief and robber , who comes not in by the door jesus christ , but climbs up some other way ; and thus far went the scribes and pharisees , and the young man , who had kept the commandements from his youth , but when he should have sold all for christ , he went away sorrowful : and thus far went paul when he persecuted jesus christ , according to the law he walked blameless , and all thy strict walking to get life in observations according to the letter , is striving again to get the tree of life by thy own power , who art fenced out with cherubims , and a flaming sword which turns every way to keep the way of the tree of life : and if thou never ●…awest thy self senced out from the presence of god , notwithstanding all thy righteousness in observations , thou art not come so near god as to see the flaming sword , which is placed to meet thee in every way thou turnest to get life in thy own power , and to cut thee down and kill thee , ●…hat christ may be thy life , thou art alive in the first adam , and art in the death , for death reignes over all from adam to moses , and moses is until the prophets , and the prophets till john , and john untill christ , and if thou canst not witnesse that thou art come to moses , profess what thou wilt thou hast not set thy face towards god , no●… one step in the strait and narrow way to eternal life , but art going the broad way to destruction , whatever thou be , whether a teacher of others , or a professor of what thou comprehendest to be truth from the le●…ter of the scripture , under what form , name , or title soever thou be , thou art a dead man , and a dead woman , and the wrath of god abides on thee , though thou see it not ▪ rom. 7. 9. there paul witnesseth , i was alive without the law once , but when the commandement came , sin revived , and i dyed . friends , every one in particular , deal justly with your hearts , see what you can witness of your death with christ by the powerful word of truth which enlightens the conscience , and condemns sin in the flesh , for every one would ascend with christ to be partakers of the life and glory with him , but he becomes a stumbling stone to be baptized with him into his sufferings and death , to ascend with him into hell , and this thou must witness before ever thou come to sit with him in heavenly places ; for it is they , and they alone that shall reign with him , who suffer with him , and they that are dead with him shall live with him ; it is the dead that hears the voice of the son of god , and they that hear shall live : arise thou that sleepest in the dust of the earth , securely in thy earthly and serpentine wisdom , thy mind feeding upon the dust of the earth , created objects which will perish ; arise , stand up to judgement that christ may give thee life : this is required of thee , o man ▪ to doe justly , love mercy , and to walk humbly with thy god ; examine thy heart , and deal justly with thy own soul ; there is a light in thy conscience , which light is of christ , minding it will let thee see the mystery of iniquity that lodgeth in thy heart , which is deceitful and desperately wicked ; and this light in thy conscience which discovers unto thee the evil of thy heart , is of the etarnal word of god , and was from the beginning , according as it is written in the outward testimony of the truth . in the beginning was the word , and the word was with god , and the word is god ; and the same was in the beginning with god ; all things were made by him , a●…d without him was not any thing made that was made ; in him was life , and the life was th●… light of men and the light shineth in 〈◊〉 , and the darkness comprehends it not : every one arise out of your earthly wisdome , and minde the light in thy conscience , and wait on the power of the lord in it , and it will bring thee to judgement before the throne of the lamb , where the righteous law will be opened in thy heart , that will cry through thy earthly heart for righteousness and judgement , and the book will be opened in thee , where thou shalt see all written that thou hast done in the body , and shall give an account for every idle word , and receive thy reward for what thou hast done , and thy reward is wrath and condemnation which will pass upon thee from the presence of the lamb for thy disobedience , and breaking of the righteous law , which must be fulfilled , and what way soever thou turnest to get life in outward formes and observations , the flaming sword , which is the righteous law ▪ that goes out of the mouth of the lamb , it will turn every way and meet thee , and cut thee down and cast thee into hell , where there is weeping and wailing for want of the presence of god , and thou canst doe nothing to pacifie the wrath of god which is gone out against thee . now wouldst thou hide thy self as adam did , when he appeares in thy heart , thy fig-leafed garment of prayers , tears , forms , outward observations according unto thy comprehensions of the letter , will not cover thy nakedness ; it served to cover thy nakedness from the sight of men , but now when the lord appears in thy heart , thou canst not stand before him ; now comes cain in thee to be driven from the face of god to be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth notwithstanding all his sacrifice ; and esau in thee reprobated , never to have the blessing though he seek it with teares , and the bond-woman and her son cast out , and the first adam now slain with the sharp sword that goeth out of the mouth of the lamb , and art made to give up thy soul to god whose it is , to doe with thee what he will , if he destroy thee for ever he may ; and if he save thee from eternall death it is his free love ; now art thou baptized with christ into his sufferings and death , where thou liest sealed down under the eternal judgement of god , and there perishest for ever for any power or help thou hast in thy self , and this is the administration of moses , where thou lyest condemned for ever under the righteous law , without any help or hope untill the administration of the prophets , that prophesie of a christ that hath satisfied the righteous law of god for thee who art lost and condemned under the power of the law of moses , and now there is a secret hope raised up in thy soul , and thou lookest up from under the condemning power of moses for a saviour ; and the prophets are until john , and of all that were born of woman there was not one greater than john ; for he is a burning and a shining light that lets thee see the filthiness of thy heart , and the law shines in its purity to condemn the earthly man in thee , but he strengthens the hope in thee that was raised up by the prophets , to see the beauty and excellency of iesus christ , which ravishes thy lost condemned soul that thou art willing to sell all for him , the scripture being now fulfilled in thee who witnesses this from the daies of john even until now , the kingdom of god suffers violence , and the violent take it by force , now is every ▪ mountain and hill layd low in thee , and crooked wayes made strait , and the rough way in thee made smooth , and thou wait in the wi●…derness and lost condition of thy self , for the salvation of god , to be manifest to the in iesus christ : and in the appointed time of the father , the son of man comes to thy soul as a thief in the night , as the lightning from the east to the west , so is his appearance in thee , and causes thy dead soul to hear his voice , which witnesses to it eternal life freely through his own blood , and thy soul heares his voice , and by the word of his power is made to live , and are sealed up by the holy spirit of promise , the spirit of god bearing witness with thy spirit , that thou art his child : now comest thou to witness the second adam to be a quickning spirit , and isaac the promised seed to be heir for ever ; and that the wages of sin is death , but the gift of god is eternal life : and that by grace tho●… ar●… saved through faith in the lord jesus , not of works lest any should boast , and he that hath hope in him purifies himself as he is pure , and the love of christ constrains thee now , who can witnes this work of regeneration manifest in thee , to follow him whither soever he goes , no more to obey him for life as thou didst , when thou wast without ▪ seeking him in forms and observations , but now the love and life thou enjoyest in christ jesus constrains thee to deny thy self , and take up thy cross daily and follow him : now art thou come into the beginning to live in the lord , guided by the powerfull word of faith , the light that shines in thy heart , which is the light of the city , new jerusalem , to whom thou art come to worship the father in spirit and truth , and all that are come to walk in the light of the city new jerusalem , are the true israel of god that are taught of god , to whom the new and everlasting covenant is made , according to the promise of the lord : this is the covenant i will make with the house of israel , and with the house of judah , after those daies , saith the lord , i will put my law in their inward parts , and write it in their hearts , and i will be to them a god , and they shall be to me a people , and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour , and every man his brother , saying , know ▪ the lord , for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them , i will be mercifull unto their unrighteousness , and their sinnes and their iniquities will i remember no more , and in this city t●…ere is no need of the sun , neither of the moon to shine in it , which are borrowed lights , outward dispensations , and teachings of men , for the glory of the lord god doth lighten it , and the lamb is the light thereof , and the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it , and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour unto it , and the●… shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth , neither whatsoever worketh abhomination , or worketh a lye , but they which are written in the lambs book of life , and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day ; for there shall be no night there ; for the lord giveth them light , and they shall reign for ever and ever . halleluiah , to the highest . a word from the lord to all that are waiting on the lord in sion : and to those that are weeping , and are se●…king the lord their god , asking the way to sion with their faces thitherwards . fear not ye mourners in sion , the lord waits on you to be gracious unto you , & though he give you the bread of adversity now , and the water of affliction , yet shall not your teachers be removed into corners any more , but your eyes shall see your teachers , and your eares shall hear a voice behind you , saying , this is the way , walk in it , when you turn to the right hand or to the left , therefore every one of you mind the light which is of jesus christ in you , that judgeth the unrighteousness of your hearts , give up to be guided by the pure light in you , which is your teacher , the counsel of iesus christ , and it will bring judgement forth unto victory ; and whatever he makes manifest to you to be his will , wait on the lord in his counsel , and he will give you power to obey , and when you have obeyed his will , take ●…eed of departing from the counsel of the lord , which is the light within you , to hearken to the counsel of your own hearts , which will draw your minds to look back to your obedience , and the experiences you have passed through , so will the beast , which received a deadly wound with the sword , the righteous law , that goes out of the mouth of the lamb , in you his deadly wound will be healed , and sits a painted beast above the cross of christ , working lying wonders in your hearts , and imitating the operations of the power of god who is purifying his sons and daughters with the spirit of judgement , and the spirit of burning , and the beast in you , that tasted of the power of god when he received his deadly wound under the justice of god , now can imitate the same in deceit , and cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men , imitating the operation of the spirit of burning , and so deceives himself and all that dwel upon the earth , he is made manifest to all that dwell in the heavenly light in their hearts . all friends mind your watch , for your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lyon seeking whom he may devour ; abide in the counsel of the lord , which is the light in you , and you will discern between the beast , which is antichrist in his lying wonders , and the lamb iesus christ in the operation of his power ; so you will come to try the spirits whether they be of god yea or no ; all that are guided by the beast have their life in speaking and acting in outward operations what they once experienced , and what they comprehended to be truth ; speaking that they enjoy not , and is exalted in pride , the heart returned into the earth . but thou that art guided by the lamb , the light in thy conscience ▪ the righteous law cries through thy earthly heart , and brings it to judgment , and thou canst find no life in the operations of the power of god , nor in thy obedience , but whilst the presence of the lord is with thee in it ; and when thou hast done the will of god in obeying what he hath made known unto thee , thou seest thy self to be an unprofitable servant , and hast need of patience , that thou mayst receive the promise where thy life is hid with christ in god , to save the freely for his names sake , or else thou perishest , and to carry thee on by his mighty power , or else thou fallest ; so thou hast n●…thing to glory in but in the lord . and as they that are guided by the beast ( which is antichrist ) speak of the truth , a riddle to their own hearts , not knowing the power and life of what they speak , adding to the word of the lord , and the plagues and curse of god will be added unto them . but thou that art guided by the lamb iesus christ , thou knowest when the word of the lord is committed to thee : if any have my word ▪ ( saith the 〈◊〉 ) let him speak my word faithfully : is not my word like 〈◊〉 ( saith the lord ) and like a hammar that breaketh the rocks in peeces : thou canst witnesse the vvord of the lord to be as a fire , and as a hammar to break the rocks in pieces in thee , and bring down all in thee in subjection to its self , and it alone rules in thee : and thou that canst witness the word of the lord thus manifest in thee , thou art a true messenger of the lord , let not the deceipt stop thy mouth ; for the word the lord calls thee to speak , shall perfect his work for which he is sent . all friends stand fast in the counsel and will of god , be faithfull in following the lamb dayly through the cross , and none be discouraged ; in temptations be content ; look up to the lord to keep you in the hour of temptations ; for it is no sin to be tempted , but to yeeld to the tempter ; and when the lord delivers you from the power of the tempter , watch that your will get not from under the cross , but sink down into the love of god , and every one be content in what the lord hath made manifest to you , and be faithful according to your talents , and more will be communicated to you ; and none look forth at others conditions ; for if you do , the enemy will cause you to stumble , and you will come to a loss in your own condition : wait patiently in the cousel of the lord , the light in you ; for he is making a short work in the earth that you that come into the vineyard at the eleventh hour , shal receive as much as they that came in ●…t the third hour , and have laboured in the heat of the day . all ye children of the lord lift up your heads , behold your king riding in majesty and power , upon the wild ass colt , which is your wild nature , subjecting it to himself , that you may enter with him through the gates of the city into new jerusalem , where there enters nothing that worketh abomination , and maketh a lye , but what is written in the lambs book of life , and there you shall dwel in the banqueting house of the lord forever , feeding upon the feast of fat things , rejoycing 〈◊〉 ●…he eternal love and mercy of your souls , in the free covenant of life , in the blood of christ , who is the lord of lords , and king of kings , god blessed for ever , who is riding on in majesty and in power , conquering and to conquer all the powers of darkness in the hearts of his saints , that they may reign as kings upon the earth , to the praise and glory of our god , who is taking unto him his great power to reign in his saints for evermore , to whom alone be all honour , glory , power , and eternal praises for ever . to all revolted souls who have departed from the counsel of the lord , and are made drunk with the wine of the wrath of the fornication of the whore , bewitched with the mother of witch-craft , to return into spiritual sodom and egypt , where our lord is crucified . whoever thou art , in whom the righteous law of god , jesus christ the light in thee hath cried through thy earthly heart , for righteousness and judgment , and there thou didst stand arraigned before the throne of the lamb , where the book was opened in thee , and written therein all the deeds thou hast done in the body , and the sentence of wrath and judgement passed out of the mouth of the lamb on thee for every idle word , and all that thou hast done , and in this thy condemned estate , thou runnedst too and fro to hide thee from the wrath of the lamb , in reforming thy wayes , and strictly observing what thou wast convinced of to bee the will of god ; but what way soever thou turnedst in thy obedience towards god , to get life , thither the flaming sword turned that proceeded out of the mouth of the lamb , and cut thee down , and cast thee into hell , where thou lyest weeping and waling under the wrath of god , sealed down under his eternall judgment for evermore , for any help or power thou hadst in thy self , untill jesus christ manifested eternal love and mercy freely to thy poor lost condemned soul , and raised thee up to a lively hope , and sealed thee up in the covenant of life with his own blood : now after the witnesses have sealed up their testimony , the beast , which is thy will , that ascends out of the bottomlesse pit of thy deceived heart , which is deceitful and desperately wicked , hath made warre against the witnesses , christ in thee , and slain them , and they lie dead in the spiritual city of sodom and egypt , where our lord is crucified , and thou art made drunk with the wine of the wrath of the fornication of the whore , and bewitched with her witch-crafts , who now tells thee , whom he loves he loves to the end , and to the pure all things are pure , thou art no more under the law but under grace , and all things are alike , that when thou disobeyest the pure law , which once had power over thee , and it witnesseth against thee secretly , crying in thy heart , use thy liberty , but not as an occasion to the flesh , thou regardest not the counsel of the lord , but harkens to the mother of harlots in thee , and causes thee to wrest the scriptures to thine own destruction , and tels thee the law hath no power over thee , thou art under grace , it is but the law in thy members , that wars against the law in thy mind , the acting of the humanity which acts in its place , that the grace of god may appear more gloriously , god sees no sin in thee , for it is no more thou , but sinne that dwels in thee , and the former misery thou was in under the wrath of god , for the dis-obeying of the righteous law , thou now treadst under thy feet , and lies slain in spriritual sodom and egypt , in thy heart , yet not put in grave , but lies in thy sight , and lets thee see the evil of thy doings , and vexes and torments thy earthly and carnal heart in the midst of all thy joy ; but the whore in thee tels thee , that the former trouble thou wast in , it was through the ignorance of god , but now thou art grown up to a higher stature in christ , to see nothing but love in whatsoever thou doest , and now thou knowest nothing but to eat , and to drink , and be merry , for the children of the bride-chamber cannot mourn while the bride-groom is with them : time was thou didst mourn , but it was when the bride groome was not with thee ; but now the winter is past , and summer come ; and singing of birds is heard in thy land , and now wash thy face , and anoint thy head with oyl , that thou appear no more before men , as thou didst when thou wast a pharisee ; now to be a friend to publicans and sinners , and become all to all that thou mayest win some , and whatever thou doest it is god that acts thee , for thou art not stronger than he to resist him , and if hee would have it otherwayes , how couldst thou hinder it ? so it is as it must be , and it cannot be otherwise , thus the subtle serpent winds into the minde of man , and causeth him to wrest the scriptures to his own destruction to draw back into perdition . woe , woe unto thee thou back-slider in heart , who chargest god , who is purity it self , to be the authour of sinne , and the actor of thee in all thy filthy and unrighteous walking , and hast turned the grace of god into wantonnesse , and takest liberty to sinne , because grace abounds , and makest the comming of christ , ( who came to fullfill the law ) to destroy it , through the evil of thy heart , that when the righteous law cries in thee for purity , and condemns thee for thy unrighteous walking , then thou fliest to the free grace in christ , to save thee from the power of the law , but thou shalt finde the law hath power over the fleshly man , as long as hee lives , and the fleshly man that now guides thee , is under the law untill it be destroyed through faith in jesus christ , for he came not to destroy the law , but to fulfill it , and the saints witnesse it , though thou wrest the words of paul ( when he declared his condition before he came to the fullnesse of stature in christ ) to thy own destruction . i see a law in my members warring against the law of my mind , and brings mee into captivity into the law of sin , which is in my members ; but he gave not up himself to be a servant of sin as thou doest , it was his burthen that made him to cry , oh wretched man that i am , who shall deliver me from this body of death ; and he waited in the faith untill hee was freed , romans 8. 2. for the i aw of the spirit of life in christ jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death , that the righteousnesse of the law might bee fulfilled in us , who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit ; he witnessed christ came in him to fullfill the law , and so do all the saints now , according to their growth ; some witness the law fullfilled in them , and others are waiting in the faith patiently , following the lord dayly through the crosse , until the law be fulfilled . but thou art departed from the counsel of the lord thy god , and caused his name to bee evil spoken of , and hast made the hearts of his people sad , as they did that the apostle speaks of ; for many walk of whom i have told you often , and now tell you even weeping , that they are the enemie●… of the crosse of christ , whose end ù destruction , whose god is their belly , and whose glory is their shame , who mind earthly things . these scriptures are fullfilled in thee , which the apostle mentions , and while they promise them liberty , they themselves are the servants of corruption , for of whom a man is overcome , of the same is he brought into bondage , for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world , through the knowledge of the lord and saviour jesus christ , they are again intangled therein and overcome , the latter end of them is worse with them then the beginning , for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteouse esse , then after ▪ they have known it , to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them , but it is happened unto thee according to the true proverb , the dog is turned to his own vomit again , and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire , and thou mayest read what will be manifest to thee from the lord . for if we sin wilfully , after we have received the knowledge of the truth , there remains no more sacrifice for sin , but a certain fearful looking for of judgement , and fiery indignation , which shal devour the adversaries . he that despised moses law died without mercy , how much sorer punishment suppose ye shalt thou be thought worthy of , who hast trodden under foot the son of god , and hast counted the blood of the covenant wherewith thou wast sanctified an unholy thing , and hast done despite unto the spirit of grace ; and we know him that hath said , vengeance belongs unto me , i will recompence saith the lord : it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living god . remember from whence thou art fallen , and repent , and do thy first work , in minding that light of jesus christ in thee , before whom thou once stoodest condemned for that thou now livest in ; prize the time , and give up to be guided by the counsel of the lord in thee , the light of thy conscience , that discovers every vain thought , wait on the power that is present with the light ; and it will dash babylons children against the stones , which is sin in its conception , so will thy carnal minde bee brought to the crosse dayly , and thy heart will be purged with the spirit of judgement , and the spirit of burning : kiss the son in obeying his counsel , the light in thee , lest thou perish in the way ; for if his anger be kindled a little , blessed are they that trust in him . the discovery of mistery-babylon . to all inslaved captives in babylons kingdome , who are made drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornications , and bewitched through the multitude of her inchantments . friends , babylon , is within you , the mother of harlots is within you , and she bewitches you through the abundance of her sorceries ; and the beast is within you that ariseth out of the bottomless pit of the deceived heart , which is deceitfull ▪ and desperately wicked ; and the beast which all the world wanders after , is your wills , that makes war against the lamb of god in you , which is the light that makes manifest the evil of your hearts , and your wisdom is the great whore that sits upon the beast , that ariseth out of the bottomless pit of the deceitfull heart , and she finds out many deceitful inventions to preserve the beastly wil alive , having a golden cup in her hand , ful of the abhominations of the earth , and this golden cup is your outward professions , glorious comprehensions and conceivements of god and christ , imitating what the saints did impower , according as they were moved by the operation of the spirit of the most high god and you imitate the saints practice by your wisdom . there is nothing but confusion in the kingdome of babylon ; so come you to be divided into so many particular forms , as presbyterians , independents , anabaptists , and divers others that are in outward worships painted over with glorious words , and yet you whose wills guide you , are painted beasts , bewitched with the mother of harlots , notwithstanding all your outward professions and glorious observations , they are but the golden cup , and within you are ful of the abhominations of the earth , as self-love , covetousness , lust , and uncleanness , hastiness , frowardness , backbiting , slandering , hard-hartednesse , cruelty , and oppression , grinding the faces of the poor , impatiency , and unbeleef , and the fear of the lord is not before your eys , & thus you lie poor inslaved captives in the kingdome of babylon , refreshing your hearts in the creature injoyments , which will perish , some in father and mother , some in wife and children , some in house and land , some in money and gold , some in self-wisdome , delighting in themselves some in honour and preferment in this world , and when there is injoyment of these visible creatures , then there is content ; and when they are taken away there is trouble , the mind alwaies plodding , contriving , and acting every way to get of the creatures what the heart lusts after , and he that gets the most is the highest exalted , so every one is exalted above another , and there is nothing but tyranny , cruelty , and oppression among you , you sons and daughters of babylon ; and in her was found the blood of the prophets , and of the saints , and all that were slain upon the earth . the merchants of babylon are your teachers , who draw you from your guide , which is the pure light of christ in you , to seek the kingdome of god in observations without you , contrary to the mind of christ , the kingdome of god comes not with observations , neither shall they say , lo here , or lo there , for behold the kingdome of god is within you . but these your merchants have no scripture for their merchandize , which they sell to you inslaved captives for so many hundreds in the year , and is payed in the nation , or elsewhere ; for these observations they tell you , you must observe , or else you cannot come to the kingdome of heaven , though they are contrary to the scripture , as are practised by them ; there is no scripture that witnesseth their call to the ministry by ●…mane wisdome ; notmany great , not many noble , not many wise after the flesh . there is no scripture that any that jesus christ sent forth , made a bargain with the people for so much a year , as these do that profess themselves to be sent of christ . this is the call of the ministers of christ , paul an apostle of jesus christ , neither of man , nor by man , but by the revelation of jesus christ ▪ i send you forth ( saith jesus christ ) as lambs among wolves , into what town or city ye enter , inquire who is worthy and if they receive you , there abide , eating such things as is set before you , the labourer is worthy of his meat , freely ye have received , freely minister . those whom jesus christ commits the word of eternal life unto , and calls them forth to declare it unto others , the love of jesus christ , which is sealed up to their souls through his own blood , constrains them to give up themselves to death , in witnessing forth the eternal life they injoy in christ , as it was , it is ; the love of christ constraineth me to preach the gospel ( saith paul ) but these your merchants are they , which have forsaken the right way , and are gone astray , following the way of balaam the son of bosor , who loved the wages of unrighteousness . and as there is no scripture for their call to the ministery by their humane learning , nor making bargains with the people for so much in the year ; so there is no scripture for these observations they call the ordinances of god , as they are practised by them . there is no scripture that christ or any that he sent forth , did take a child , and sprinkled water on its face , and said in so doing they baptized it into the church of christ . suffer little children to come unto me ( saith christ ) a●…d forbid them not , for of such is the kingdome of god ; for whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of god as a little child , shall not enter therein , he sets the child as a type and a figure , to shew forth to every one , that they must become as a little child depending upon the will of god , before they enter into the kingdome of god : he took them up in his arms , and put his hands on them , and blessed them ; but that he sprinkled water on their faces , and said , hee baptized them into his church , there is no such scripture . an other observation your teachers tel you , you mu observe , is hearing these stndied sermons , in taking a part of scripture , and adding to it their wisdom , calls it the word of god , which is contrary to the scripture ; but they say , they have christ for an example . there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet isaiah , and when he had opened the book ▪ he found where it was written . the spirit of the lord is upon me , because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel unto the poor , he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives , & recovering the sight of the blind , and to set at liberty them that are bruised , to preach the acceptable year of the lord : and he closed the book and sate down : and he began to say unto them , this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears ; and all bare him witness , and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth ; he was the substance of the prophecy which was then fulfilled in him . this is no ground for any to take the saints words , and add to it their wisdom , and call that the word of god . the prophet that hath a dream , let him tell a dream : he that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully . what is the chaff to the wheat ? saith the lord . is not my word like a fire , and like a hammer ? saith the lord , that breaks the rocks in pieces . all to whom the word of the lord is committed , can witness it to be as a fire within them , and as a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces , in subjecting all in the heart , under the power of it self , so it alone rules and guides him that he is what he speaks , that if he had never seen any thing that the saints hath declared without him , he had known what is manifest in him : and he to whom the word is thus made manifest is a true minister of christ , who is called to speak the word faithfully . but these that call themselves your teachers , and makes bargaains with you for so much in the year , they never witnessed the word of the lord in them , as a fire & like a hammer that breaks the rocks in pieces , so they never had any thing to have spoken of the lord ; but as they have stoln it from the testimony of the saints , so they speak a divination of their own brain , a riddle to their own-hearts ; and whilest they speak to others , themselves are cast away . and the lord testifies against them , behold i am against the prophets saith the lord , that steals my word every one from his neighbour . behold i am a ainst the prophets , saith the lord , that use their tongue , and say , h●… sai●…h . behold i am against them that prophesie false dreams , saith the lord , and do tell them , and cause my people to erre by their lies , and by their lightness ▪ yet i sent them not nor commanded them ; therefore they shal not profit the people at all saith the lord , and this fruit is made manifest of the ministry that hath been in england . another observation your teachers tell you to observe which is contrary to the sci●…ture at it is practised by them in singing of david's psal. in metre , taking david's word●… , who was a man after gods own heart , and putting words into the mouths of poor ignorant people to sing that which they never knew , and so causes them to blaspheme the name of god , saying ; let us sing to the praise and glory of god ▪ as , o lord i am not puft in mind , i have no scornful eye , i do not exercise my self in things that be too high for me : when they never knew any change wrought in their minds , and so causeth the people to lie . and causing them to sing david's prayers , as , o lord rebuke me not in thy wrath , neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure , for thine arrows stick ●…ast in me , & thy hand presseth me sore , for my iniquities are gone over my head , as a heavy burthen , they are too heavy for me to bear ; my wounds stink and are corrupt , because of my foolishness , i am troubled , i am bowed down greatly , i go mourning all th●… day long ; and may be none of you in al that place can witness the condition and so blasphemes the name of god , who wil be worshipped in spirit & in truth , and this is the rule given out from him , if any be afflicted , let him pray if any be merry let him sing psalms : and there is none merry but the ransomed of the lord , who returns to sion with joy and singing , and ●…verlasting j●…y shal be upon their heads , and they shal obtain gladness and joy ; and sorrow and sighing flies away . all people may search the scriptures , and see how you have been deceived by your teachers , who have caused you to seek your lost god in carnal & dead observations , which they have not any scripture for , all cease from them ; for the lord complains of them ; the leaders of my people causeth them to erre , saith the lord of hosts ; and now are these scriptures fulfilled in these men , which the apostle prophesied ●…f . this know also , that in the last daies perillous times shal come ; for men shal be lovers of their own selves , covetous , boasters , proud , blasphemous , disobedient to parent●… , unthankful , unholy ; all people see , are not your teachers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? before they come at you , they must know what they must have ▪ covetous , griping for much ; and if you wil not give them so much as they can have in another place , they wil not come at you ; here is self-love and covetousness manifested : without natural affection , truce-breakers , false accusers , traytors ▪ heady , high-minded , lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god , having ●… form of godliness , but denying the power thereof ; from such the apostle exhorts to turn away . all people behold and see all these scriptures are fulfilled in your teachers , they speak against pride and live in it : against covetousness , and live in it ; they teach by their wor●…s to be natural affectionated one towards another , and they walk contrary , causing poor people to pay , to maintain them in pride and high ranks in the earth , who can scarce get bread for their bellies , and cloaths for their backs ; yet they force them to pay to them , beeing void of all natural affections ; and they are truce-breakers , breaking all bonds and covenants if they can get more mony in another place . thus they shew forth to all the world , that they are lovers of pleasures , more than lovers of god & have a form of godliness in words ▪ but deny the power thereof ; from such turn away ; for of this sort are they which creep into houses , and lead captive silly women , laden with sin and divers lusts ; these scriptures are fulfilled in your teachers every one hath his particular house to creep into , where none must come but themselves or whom they please which is contrary to the practice of christ or any that he sent forth ▪ they went through the countries , towns , cities , villages , according as they were guided by the spirit of god , to declare what he gave them to speak ; and your teachers lead silly women captives , laden with sin , and led away with divers lusts , ever learning , and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth ; do they not tel you to look for christs coming in such observations as they set up ? which is nothing but the invention of their brains ▪ for christ tels you , the kingdom of god comes not with observations , but is within you . but many of them that deny , that the light in your conscience , which makes manifest the evil of your hearts , is the kingdom of god , calling it the light of a corrupt conscience , so shuts the kingdom of heaven against men and wil neither enter in themselves to be guided by the pure light of the kingdom of christ within them , nor suffer them that are entring in , to enter as the scribes and pharisees did ; now as jannes and jambres withstood moses , so do these men resist the truth , men of corrupt minds , reprobates concerning the faith , but they shall proceed no further , for their folly shal be made manifest to all men , as their also was , and no man shal buy their merchandize any more ▪ all you inslaved captives in the kingdom of babylon , why will you lay out your money for that which is not bread , and your labour for that which satisfies not ? hearken diligently unto jesus chrst , the light that lets you see the evil of your hearts to be guided by it , and you shal eat that which is good ; incline your ears ( saith christ ) and come unto me ; hear and your souls shal live , and i wil make an everlasting covenant with you , even the sure mercies of david ; mind the call of a powerful and tender father in the lord jesus , who calls , come forth of babylon my people , and touch no unclean thing , and i wil receive you , & wil be a father unto you and ye shal be my sons and daughters , saith the lord god almighty . friends prize your time sleight not the day of the lords mercy , for he waits to be gracious and saith , i stretch forth my arm all the day long to a back-sliding and gain-saying people . every one mind your conditions , deal justly with your own hearts , see what your hearts hath fellowship with ▪ and what guides your minds for the kingdom of christ is within you , it is not in observations as your teachers tels you ; for they deceive you , therefore christ forewarned us for looking forth at those which would come in the latter daies that would say , loe here is christ , lo there is christ , as it is in these our daies , some say , lo here is christ in the presbyterian practice ; the independents say he is there , and the anabaptists say , loe he is here . but friends mind what christ saith unto you , beleeve them not , look not forth , the kingdom of christ is not in any of those , nor in any other outward observations , but ( be awarned ) the kingdom of christ is in you , and that is the light which lets you see the evil of your hearts ; and christ compares it to a grain of mustard seed , the least of all seeds , & it grows up above all other herbs , and becomes a tree that the fowls of the ayr lodges therein ; and he compares it to a little leaven , that a woman took and hid in three measures of meal , and it leavened the whole lump . these are earthly parables and figures , which christ laies down , speaking to the earthly and carnal heart of man , that he may read his condition within . therefore despise not the day of smal things , but mind the counsel of the lord jesus , the little light that shines in thy dark heart , look upon the figures , the parables , the little leaven which is hid in three measures of meal , it changes the whole lump into the nature of it self ; so the little light that shines in thy dark heart , is the powerful word of faith , which was in the beginning by which all things were created , and without him was nothing made , this word is life , and the life is the light of men , and light shines in darkness and the darkness comprehends it not : this light is the word of faith the apostle exhorted to take heed unto ; say not in thy heart , who shall ascend up to heaven to fetch christ down ? or down into the deep to fetch him up ? the word is nigh thee , in thy heart and in thy mouth , and this is the word of faith which we preach , the unction of the holy one given of the father , whereby we need not to teach one another but as the anointing teacheth us , which is truth and no lie , which is the sure word of prophesie , whereunto ye do wel to take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place , until the day dawn , and the day-star arise in your hearts . all people return within , give up your selves freely to bee guided by that light , that discovers to you the evil of your hearts , and none be discouraged because you see an evil heart , but prize the love of god that discovers it to you , and whatever the light makes manifest to you to be evil ; wait on the lord for power , and he wil give thee power to obey , and in being faithful in a little , more wil be communicated from the lord , so wil the righteous law be set up into your hearts , that wil cry through your earthly and carnal hearts for righteousness and judgment , and so will bring you to an account for every idle word , and all deeds done in the body . look up unto the lord against whom you have sinned , and he wil arm you with power to what he laies upon you , with patience to undergo his wil until all the powers of the earth in you be famished , and slain under his righteous judgments ; then wil judgment be brought forth unto victory , that you can no longer live without the loving kindnesse of your father in christ jesus . now is the parable fulfilled , the little grain of mustard-seed grown up above all hearbs , and the little leaven hath leavened the whole lump , and the prodigal starved for ever , if his father receive him not freely into his house . thou that canst witnesse this condition , stand still in the will of god , he wil raise up his seed in thee to trust in his name , and to delight in the eternal covenant of love and life , he hath made with thy soul in the lord jesus christ , and wil guide thee by the word of his power , in a way thou knowest not , forth of babylon ( where thou wast an inslaved captive under the power of the filthy beast , which is thy wil ; and the whore the mother of witchcrafts , which is thy wisdome , which inthralled thee under the power of darknesse , to satisfie the lusts of thine own heart which led thee to destruction ) up to sion , to live by faith in the lord jesus , which wil purifie thy heart , and set thy soul free from under the powers of darknesse , into the glorious liberty of the sons of god , where thou shalt sing the songs of sion , hallelujahs and praises for evermore , unto the lord god that sits upon the throne , and to the lamb for ever and ever . to all inslaved , heard-hearted , and unbeleeving iews in this nation and elsewhere , who are made drunk with the wisdome of the whore , and bewitched through the abundance of sorceries , to put the day of the lord a far off , looking for christs comming in the spirit , as the hard-hearted unbeleeving iews in the letter , did for his comming in the flesh , according to the promise ; but they limited the holy one , according to their carnal wisdome , expected his comming in great pomp and glory : and when hee came in that poor despised way , contrary to their expectations , they stumbled at him , and would not own him to be their saviour , but rose up against him , and put him to death , matth. 27. 1 , to 50. vers. behold , you hard-hearted and unbelieving jews , do you not look for christ coming in the spirit according to his promise , as they did for his coming in the flesh ? but you limit the holy one , as they also did expecting christ to come in power and glory , according to your own fancies ; and so puts the day of the lord a far off you , in rejecting and despising the counsel of jesus christ the pure light in your consciences , which lets you see every evil thought , word and action , and cries behind you , this is the way walk in it ; but you disobey the light , and hearkens to the counsel of your hearts , as the jews in the letter did , that put christ to death , and so you slay the witnesses in spiritual sodom and egypt in your hearts , where our lord is crucified , in not regarding the counsel of christ , which is that light that shines in your dark hearts , which knocks at the door according to his words , i stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear my voice and open the door , i will come in to him , and wil sup with him , and he with me . oh thou inslaved soul under the power of babylon in thee , come forth , mind the light in thee , which is the sure word of prophesie , whereunto you do wel to take heed , as unto a light shining in a dark place , until the day dawn , and the day-star arise in your hearts ▪ stand not out against this secret counsel of christ in you lest you perish in your gain-sayings ; for if his anger be kindled a little , blessed are all they that trust in him . all give up , give up freely to be guided by the counsel of the lord the light in you , beleeving in his power that is present with the light ; he wil lead you dayly through the cross in the streight way of his sufferings and death , where the old man wil be put off with his deeds , and so you shal have right to the tree of life , and shal enter with him through the gates into the city new jerusalem , where you shal have communion with the father and the son , and an inheritance with those that are sanctified in christ jesus , and shal reign as kings upon earth , to the praise and glory of the riches of the grace of our heavenly father , to whom alone be all power , dominion , honour and glory , for ever and ever . finis ▪ notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a35833e-220 gen. 1. 26 , 27 gen. 2. 15 ▪ 16 , 17 gen. 3. ●… , to 16 gen. 3. 22 ▪ 23 , 24. rev. 2 5 gen. 1. 26 , 27 gen. 3. 24 luk 14 26 mat. 10 37 eph 4 5 〈◊〉 . 2 3 〈◊〉 9 33 ●…oh . 5. 44 1 cor. 3. 6 col. 1 ▪ 27 ier. 23. 30 1 cor. 9 9 ▪ 27 gen. 3 24 ▪ mat. 15. 19 gal. 15 19 , 20 , 21 gen. 3. 24 eph. 5. 3 luke 17. 20 gen. 3 7 mat. 9. 16 17 gen 1. 14. to ●… gen. 5 gen. 27. 34 38 heb. 12. 17 gen. 12 9 10 ●… pet. 1. 19 , 20 gen 4. 10 , 11 , 12 gen. 21. 1●… gal. 4. 3●… rev. 28. 3 i●…hn 1. ●… mat. 10. 20 , 2●… phil. 3 5 ▪ 6 gen. 3. 24 gen 2 ▪ 7 〈◊〉 ●… 1●… 〈◊〉 ▪ 11 ▪ 12 13 luke 1 26 i●… . 1. ●… , 〈◊〉 9 , ●… 20 2●… ▪ 〈◊〉 ▪ mat. 7. 1●… 14 eph. 2 1. 2. 3 ioh. 3. 36 ioh 1. 9 rom. 8. 3 1 pet. 2 8 gal. 3. 27 rom. 6. 3 〈◊〉 rom. 8. 17 2 tim. 2 11. 12. ●…oh . 5. 15 eph. 5. 14 mich. 6. 1 ioh. 1. 9. & 8 12. & 9. 5 ●…er . 17 : 〈◊〉 eph. 5. 13 , io●… . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. rev. 20. 12 , 13. 2 cor 5. 〈◊〉 m●…t . 12. ●…6 ●…es 2. 10 gen 3 8 9 , 10 gen. 3. 7 gen. 4. 12 , 13 , 14 gen. 27 34 , 38 heb ▪ 12 17 ge●… . 21. 10 rev. 19. 15 rom. 3. 6 to 〈◊〉 2 tim. 2. 11. ●…2 m●…t . 〈◊〉 . 11 l●…ke 19. 10 luk. 16 16 , 17 ma●… . 11. 11 iohn 5. 35 mat 1. 12 luke 3. 5 2 pet. 2. 10 l●…k ▪ 17. 24 iohn 5. 25 rom. 〈◊〉 . 16 1 cor. 14. 45 r●…m . 6 23 eph ▪ 25 ▪ 〈◊〉 , 10 1 iohn 3 〈◊〉 2 cor. 3. 14 titus 3 ▪ 5 luke 9. 23 ▪ 24 iohn 4. 110 5 iohn 23. 24 isaiah 54 14 heb. 8. 10 , 1. 12 ezek. 36 24 , 25. 26 ▪ 27. 28 iet . 〈◊〉 . 33. 3●… rev. 21 23 24 25 & 27 ver rev. 22. 5 notes for div a35833e-1600 is●… 61. 2 isa. 3●… . 18 , & 20 ▪ 21 〈◊〉 1. 9 & 8. 12 eph. 5 13 1 iohn 2 27 isa. 42 3 mat ▪ 12. 20. prov. 20. 22 rev. 13. 3 rev. 1●… . 11 , 12 ▪ 13 ▪ 15 mat. 13. 37 1 pet. 5 8 2 pet. 1. 19 1 joh. 4 1 , 2 , 3 luke 17. 10 heu . 10 36 col. 3. 2 eze 36 31 32 1 cor. 1. 2●… , 31 rev. 22 ▪ 1●… i●…r 23. 28. 29 2 cor. 10. 4. 5 rev. 14. 4. 5 iames 〈◊〉 . 3 ma●… . 25 ▪ 20. 21. 22 23. mat. 1. ●…0 v. 12 mat. 21. 5 rev. 22. 14 rev. 21. 27 cant. 2 ▪ ●… rev. 17. 4 rev. 19. 16 rev. 5 9. 10 notes for div a35833e-1950 revelat. 8. 3 revelat. 20. ●… matth. 12 36 genesi . 3 2. revel. 19. 15 rev. 11. 7 ▪ 8 ier ▪ 17 9 gal. 5. 13. prov. 14. 14 h●…b . 1. 13 heb. 10 38 romans 6 ▪ 1 mat. 25 17 ▪ 18 romans 7. 1 mat. 15. 17 , 18 romans 7 23 romans 6. 16 roman 7 25 romans vc . 5 luk. 9. 23. phil. 3. 1●… . 19 2 pet. 2 19 ▪ 20 21 verse 2●… hebrews 10. 2●… to 32 verse . revelations 2 5 ephesians 4 ●…3 psalm 137. 8. 9 psalm 2 ▪ 11 , ●…2 notes for div a35833e-2520 rev. 18. 3 rev. 17. 5 rev. 11. 7 je●… . 17. 9 rev. 13. 4 iohn 1. 9 eph. 5. 13 rev 17. 3 rev. 17. 4 2 pet. 1. 11 gen. 11. 7 , 8 , 9 rev. 17. 4 mat. 15 19 , 29 genes●…s 6. 5 gal. 5 ▪ 19 ▪ 20 , 21 prove ▪ b●… 1. 7 luke 14 26 marth 10 37 matth. 1●… ▪ 29 〈◊〉 . 9. 23 io●… 5 44. matth ▪ 6. 21 m●…cah 21 , 2 prov. 22 16 am●… 4. 1. h●…sea 2. 7 rev. 18 2●… rev. 18 13 ioh 1. 9 and 8 12 and 9. 5 1 iohn 2 27 8 luke 17. 2●… , 21 1 cor. 1. 26. matth. 10 8 gal. 1. 11 , 12 mat. 10 ▪ 16 mat. 10. 10. v. 8 2 cor. 5. 14. 19 20 acts 21. 13 2 pet. 2. 15 iude 11 mark 1●… . 14 , 5 matth. 19. 14 luke ●…8 . 16 17 mark 1●… . 16 ●… peter 1. 20 revelat ▪ 22 , 18 luke 4 7 22. 23. ier ▪ ●…3 . 29 30 2 cor 1●… ▪ 4 , 5 isa ▪ 56 ▪ 10 , ●…1 ●…0 . 5 30 , 31 m cah 3. 11 verse 5 ier. 23 30 1 ▪ 〈◊〉 ▪ 9. 27 je. 23 31 ▪ 32 psalm 131. 1 psalm 38. 1. 10. 7 iohn 4. 24 iame : 5 16 isaiah 51. 11 l●…k ▪ 17. 2●… 2 cor ▪ 36 isalah 3 ▪ 12 2 ●…mothy 3. 1 2●… ▪ mat. 10. 12. 16 luke 17. 20. 2 ephesians 5. 3 1 iohn 2 ▪ 27 matth. ●…3 . 13 2 tim. 3. 8 9 revelat. 18. 11 isaiah 55. 2 ephesian ▪ 2. 13 isaiah 55 ▪ 3 revelat. 18 4 2 cor. 6 ▪ 7 ▪ 18 isaiah 38. 18 isaiah 65. 2 ieremiah 3 12 14 22 mosea 14 4 micah 6 ●… ma●… . 6 21 luke 17. 21 roman 8. 14 1 iohn 6 26 matth. 23 ▪ 31 mark 24 32 36 luke 17 20. 21 ephesians 5 ▪ 3 matthew 3. 21 32 3. 33 zachary 4. 19 iohn 1. ●… iohn 1. 1 to 6 rom. 10. 6 , 7 , ●… 1 iohn 1. 1●… 1 iohn 1 ▪ 27 2 peter 1 ▪ 19 romans ●… . 14 prover . 20 22 lame ▪ ●… . 3. 25 isaiah ●… 17 matthew 25. 21 matth. 12. 36 2 co ▪ 5 10 isa. 57 15 , 16 matth. 12 ▪ 20 matth 13 31 32 , 33 luke 15 17 ▪ 18 19 ▪ 20 isaiah 55. 3 isaia ●… 817 revela 18. 4 2 c●… . 6. 17 ephesi 2. 2 , 3 matthew 7 13 h●…bbak . 2. 4. r●…man 1. 17 1 iohn . 3. 3 act. 15. 9 c●…l . 1 13 2 pete . 2. 9 r●…velat . 15. 13 revel. 9 1 6 ▪ notes for div a35833e-3970 revela 18. 3 luke 27 matthew 13 ▪ 54 5 ▪ 5●… , 57 ma. k 6. 4 isaiah 30 21 revelat. 11. 8 revelat. 3 ▪ 20 revelat ▪ 19. 4 2 peter 1. 16 colos. 1 27 iuda 1 psalm 2 12 matth. 7. 14 2 tim. 2 11 2 ephes. ●… 22 revel. 2 ▪ 14 act ▪ 26. 18 revel. 2 9 10 revel. 15 ▪ 3 revelat. 19 1 a view of that part of the late considerations addrest to h.h. about the trinity which concerns the sober enquiry, on that subject : in a letter to the former friend. howe, john, 1630-1705. 1695 approx. 105 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 53 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44701 wing h3047 estc r39277 18320511 ocm 18320511 107349 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44701) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107349) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1636:13) a view of that part of the late considerations addrest to h.h. about the trinity which concerns the sober enquiry, on that subject : in a letter to the former friend. howe, john, 1630-1705. 93, [3] p. printed for tho. parkhurst ..., london : 1695. attributed to howe by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. advertisements: [3] p. at end. errata: p. 91. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng nye, stephen, 1648?-1719. -considerations on the explications of the doctrine of the trinity. antitrinitarianism -england -controversial literature. theology, doctrinal. trinity -apologetic works. 2004-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-11 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-11 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a view of that part of the late considerations addrest to h. h. about the trinity . which concerns the sober enquiry , on that subject . in a letter to the former friend . london , printed for tho. parkhurst , at the bible and three crowns , at the lower-end of cheapside , 1695. a view of the late considerations addrest to h. h. about the trinity . you see , sir , i make no haste to tell you my thoughts of what hath been publish'd since my last to you , against my sentiments touching the h. trinity . i saw the matter less required my time and thoughts , than my other affairs : and so little , that i was almost indifferent whether i took any notice thereof or no. there is really nothing of argument in what i have seen , but what i had suggested before , and objected to my self , in those very discourses of mine , now animadverted on ; which not having prevented , with me , the opinion i am of , can as little alter it , and should as little any man 's else . but a little leasure , as it can , without extortion , be gained from other occasions , i do not much grudg to bestow on this . i find my self concern'd in the late considerations on the explications of the doctrine of the trinity — in a letter to h. h. the author is pleas'd to give me the honour of a name , a lank , unvocal one . it is so contrived , that one may easily guess whom he means ; but the reason of his doing so i cannot guess . is it because he knew himself , what he would have others believe ? but i suppose he as well knew his own name . if he knew not the former , he ran the hazard of injuring either the supposed author , or the true , or both . i could , i believe , make as shrewd a guess at his name , and express it as plainly . but i think it not civil to do so ; because i apprehend he hath some reason to conceal it , whereof i think he hath a right to be the judg. but i will not prescribe to him rules of civility , of which that he is a great judg , i will not allow my self to doubt . yet i will not suppose him to have so very diminishing thoughts of our saviour , as not to acknowledg and reverence the authority of that great rule of his , which he knows gain'd reverence with some who called not themselves christians , [ whatsoever you would that men should do to you — &c. ] nor can divine what greater reason he should have to hide his own name , than to expose mine , or make the person he indigitates , be thought the author of the discourse he intended to expose . since no man can imagine how , as the christian world is constituted , any one can be more obnoxious for denying three persons , than for asserting three gods : which latter his impotent attempt aims to make that author do . for his censures of that author's stile , and difficulty to be understood , they offend me not . but so i have known some pretend deafness , to what they were unwilling to hear . there is indeed one place sob . enq. p. 24. in the end of sect. 8. where must should have been left out , upon the adding afterwards of can ; that might give one some trouble . in which yet , the supposal of a ( not unusual ) asyndeton , would , without the help of magick , have reliev'd a considering reader . and for his complements , as they do me no real good , so , i thank god , they hurt me not . i dwell at home , and better know my own furniture , than another can . for himself , i discern , and readily acknowledg , in him , those excellent accomplishments , for which i most heartily wish him an advocate in a better cause , without despair he will yet prove so ; when i take notice of some passages which look like indications of a serious temper of mind , as of choosing god , and the honour of his name , for our portion and design ; and that he lives in vain , who knows not his maker , and his god , with the like . but on the other hand , i was as heartily sorry to meet with an expression of so different a strain , on so awful a subject , of making a coat for the moon . that precept which josephus inserts among those given the jews , doth for the reason it hath in it , abstracting from its authority , deserve to be considered . it seems to import a decency to the rest of mankind , whose notions of a deity did not argue them sunk into the lowest degrees of sottishness and stupidity . good sir , what needed ( think you ) so adventurous boldness , in so lubricous a case ! it gains nothing to a man's cause either of strength or reputation with wise and good men. a sound argument will be as sound without it . nor should i much value having them on my side , whom i can hope to make laugh at so hazardous a jest. i can never indeed have any great veneration for a morose sourness , whatsoever affected appearance it may have with it , of a simulated sanctimony or religiousness ; but i should think it no hardship upon me to repress that levity , as to attempt dancing upon the brink of so tremendous a precipice . and would always express my self with suspicion , and a supposed possibility of being mistaken , in a case wherein i find many of noted judgment and integrity , in the succession of several ages , differing from me . but go we on to the cause it self , where he pretends , 1. first to give a view of the sober enquirer's hypothesis . 2. and then to argue against it . as to the former . he doth it , i am loth to say , with less fairness than from a person of his ( otherwise ) appearing ingenuity , one would expect . for he really makes me to have said more than i ever did , in divers instances ; and much less than i have expresly said ; and that he cannot have so little understanding as not to know was most material to the cause in hand . he represents me p. 40. col . 1. saying the persons are distinct essences , numerical natures , beings , substances ; and col . 2. that i hold them to be three spirits ; when in the close of one of those paragraphs , viz. calm discourse , p. 112 , 113. i recite the words of w. j. in the unity of the godhead there must be no plurality or multiplicity of substances allowed : and do add , nor do i say that there must . and p. 39 , 40. i do not positively say there are three distinct substances , minds , or spirits . i would ask this my learned antagonist , have saying , and not saying , the same signification ? and again , when calm discourse , p. 123. my words are , i will not use the expressions , as signifying my formed judgment , that there are three things , substances or spirits in the godhead ; how could he say , i hold the three persons to be three spirits ? is any man , according to the ordinary way of speaking , said to hold what is not his formed judgment ? if he only propose things whereof he doubts , to be considered and discust by others , in order to the forming of it , and by gentle ventilation to sift out truth , it the rather argues him not to hold this or that . and i think much service might be done to the common interest of religion , by such a free mutual communication of even more doubtful thoughts , if such disquisitions were pursu'd with more candour , and with less confidence and prepossession of mind , or addictedness to the interest of any party whatsoever . if it were rather endeavoured , to reason one another into , or out of , this or that opinion , than either by sophistical collusions to cheat , or to hector by great words , one that is not of my mind . or if the design were less to expose an adversary , than to clear the matter in controversy . besides , that if such equanimity did more generally appear , and govern , in transactions of this nature , it would produce a greater liberty in communicating our thoughts , about some of the more vogued and fashionable opinions , by exempting each other from the fear of ill treatment , in the most sensible kind . it being too manifest , that the same confident insulting genius , which makes a man think himself competent to be a standard to mankind , would also make him impatient of dissent , and tempt him to do worse , than reproach one that differs from him , if it were in his power . and the club or fagot-arguments must be expected to take place , where what he thinks rational ones , did not do the business . this only on the by . in the mean time that there is a trinity in the godhead , is no matter of doubt with me ; but only whether this be the best way of explaining and defending it . if this be not the best , or sufficient , some other will , i believe , or hath been found out by some other . of which i have spoken my sense not only indefinitely , calm disc. p. 81. but particularly of the more common way ; not that i did then , or have yet thought it the best , but not indefensible , p. 73 , 74. and i must now sincerely profess , that the perusal of these very considerations gives me more confidence about this hypothesis , than i allowed my self before ; finding that the very sagacious author of them , of whose abilities and industry together , i really have that opinion , as to count him the most likely to confute it of all the modern antitrinitarians , hath no other way to deal with it , than first , both partially and invidiously to represent it ; and then , rather to trifle than argue against it . he first paints it out in false and ugly colours , before he comes to reasoning . and then , when he should reason , he says nothing that hath so much as a colour . it seems to me an argument of a suspected ill cause on his side , that he thought it needful to prepossess the reader with the imagination of i know not ( and i believe he knows not ) what gross ideas , as he romances , belonging to this hypothesis . because from those words , prov. 8. then was i by him , as one brought up with him , and daily his delight ; the author speaks of the delicious society , which these words intimate , the eternal wisdom , and the prime author and parent of all things , to have each with other . for my part , i have little doubt but this ingenious writer is so well acquainted with the gust and relish of intellectual delight , that he chose to expose his adversary by using that odd expression of gross ideas so causlesly , in accommodation only to the genius of some other men , whom he thought fit to humour , rather than his own . nor can he be so little acquainted with the paganish theology , as not to apprehend a vast disagreement between this and that , and a much greater agreement between the paganish notion of the deity , and his own . for the questions which he supposes me to put , and makes me answer as he thinks fit , by ( misapplied ) passages of that discourse , i hope it will appear they were either prevented , or answered at another rate . at length he says , the butt-end of this hypothesis , &c. i like not that phrase the worse for the author's sake , of whom it seems borrowed , whose memory greater things will make live , when we are forgot . but let him proceed — the butt-end of this hypothesis is the true strength of it . but that true strength he hath either had the hap not to observe , or taken the care not to represent , i. e. from what is so often inculcated in that discourse , the necessary existence of two hypostases of and in the first , and of an omnimodous simplicity groundlesly supposed in the divine being , he hath kept himself at a wary cautious distance , when he might apprehend there was its strength . therefore i cannot also but observe , that as he hath mark'd this hypothesis , with ( most undue ) ill characters ; so he hath maimed it too , of what was most considerable belonging to it , that he might expose it by the former means , so as to make it need much defence ; and that by the latter , it might seem quite destitute of any defence at all . and now when ( not without some untoward disfigurations ) it hath thus far ' scap'd his hands , and is ( in none of the best shapes ) set up only to be beaten down ; the argument he first attacks it with is the inartificial one of authority . and yet his argument from this topick , is only negative , that the opinion he would confute wants authority , that the enquirer was the first that ever dreamt of it . and that no learned divine of any perswasion will subscribe to it : q. d. 't is false , and impossible to be true ; the enquirer only proposing what he offer'd , as possible for ought we know , is not otherwise oppos'd than by asserting it to be impossible . this therefore he must say , or he saith nothing to the purpose ; and why now is it impossible ? because no body said it before . so , then , was every thing that any man first said ; but afterwards , by being often spoken , it might , it seems , at length become true ! for any learned divines subscribing to it , i suppose he intends that in the strict sense . and so the enquirer never said he would subscribe it himself , otherwise than that his judgment did more incline to it , as liable to less exception than other ways of defending the doctrine of the trinity , or than denying it , which he thought least defensible of all . but now supposing one should find learned divines of the same mind , ( and perhaps some may be found more confident than he ) i would ask the considerator , whether he will therefore confess a trinity a possible thing ? if not , he deals not fairly , to put the enquirer upon quoting authorities to no purpose : or that he would have them conclude him , by whom he will not be concluded himself . he seems indeed himself to have forgot the question ( with which afterwards he charges the enquirer ) as it is set down sober enquiry p. 1. whether a trinity in the godhead be a possible thing ? this was the question , not what john , or thomas , or james such a one thought ? but while he pretends to think no body else is of the enquirer's mind in the particular point he is now speaking to , i. e. the delicious society the divine hypostases are supposed to have with each other ; give me leave freely to discourse this matter . i would fain know what it is , wherein he supposes the enquirer to have overshot his mark : or of what makes he here so mighty a wonderment ▪ it can be but one of these two things : either that there are three divine persons in the godhead really distinct ; or , that they have ( if there be ) a delicious society or conversation with each other . will he say the former is a singular opinion ? or that 't is novel ? was there never a real trinitarian in the world before ? doth he not , in his own express words , sort the enquirer with one , whom he will not deny to be a learned divine , p. 43. of these his present considerations , col . 1. [ the author of the 28 propositions , and mr. h — w , as he calls the enquirer , are honest men , and real trinitarians . ] by which former character he hath , i dare say , ten thousand times more gratify'd his ambition , than by calling him learned too . and i believe he will as little think this a novel opinion , as a singular one . nor shall i thank him for acknowledging it to have been the opinion of the fathers , generally , not only ante-nicene and nicene , but post-nicene too , for some following ages , unto that of p. lombard , so obvious it is to every one that will but more slightly search . for my part , i will not except justin martyr himself , whom i the rather mention , both as he was one of the more antient of the fathers ; and as i may also call him , the father of the modalists ; nor his notion even about the homoousian-trinity , as he expresly stiles it . for tho it will require more time than i now intend to bestow , to give a distinct account of every passage throughout that discourse of his , yet his expression of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must not be so taken , as if it were to be torn away from its coherence , and from it self . when therefore he says the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the being unbegotten , begotten , and having proceeded , are not names of the essence , but ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) modes of subsistence ; he must mean they are not immediately names of the essence , but mediately they cannot but be so . for what do they modify ? not nothing . when they are said to be modes of subsistence , what is it that subsists ? we cannot pluck away these modes of subsistence from that which subsists , and whereof they are the modes . and what is that ? you 'll say the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the one essence , which he had mentioned before ; and that one essence is , 't is true , as perfectly one , as 't is possible ; for what is of it self , and what are from that , to be with each other , i. e. that they are congenerous , as the sun and its rays ( according to that heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the effulgency of glory ) or as mind , and ( where there is nothing else but substance ) consubstantial thought or word . therefore this oneness of essence must be taken in so large and extensive a sense , as that it may admit of these differences . for so he afterwards plainly speaks , if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; if the one ( the father ) hath his existence without being begotten , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , another ( the son ) by being begotten , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but that ( the holy ghost ) by having proceeded , here it befals us to behold differences ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) or the things that import difference . there must be a sense , therefore , wherein he understood this essence to be most truly one ; and a sense wherein he also understood it to have its differences , and those too not unimportant ones , as being unbegotten , and being begotten , signify no light differences . and in what latitude of sense he understood the oneness of essence , whereof he had before spoken , may be seen in his following explication , when what he said he would have be ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) more manifest ; he makes adam's peculiar mode of subsistence to be that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not begotten , but made by god's own hand ; but for them that were from him , he intimates theirs to be , that they were begotten , not made . if then you enquire concerning the same essence that was common to him and them , you still find that man is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the subject , whether of formation , as to him , or of generation , as to them . and who apprehends not in what latitude of sense the humane nature is one , which is common to adam , and his posterity ? tho the divine nature is incomparably more one , which is common to the father , son , and spirit , as we have formerly insisted , and shall further shew it cannot but be , in all necessary , and continually-depending emanations . yet i might , if there were need , again ( as to this part ) quote the considerator to himself . for i suppose he will not disown the considerations in 1693. in which , pag. 15. col . 1. are these words , dr. cudworth by a great number of very pertinent and home-quotations , hath proved that his explication ( i mean that part of it which makes the three persons to be so many distinct essences , or substances ) is the doctrine of the principal , if not of all the fathers , as well as of the platonists . and 't is added , and i ( for my own part ) do grant it . upon the whole then , i reckon that as to this first part , we stand clear not only to the rest of the world , but with this author himself , that to be a real trinitarian is not so unheard-of a thing , or what no learned divine of any perswasion ever dreamt of before the enquirer . but now for the second part. the delicious society supposed to be between ( or rather among ) the three persons . is this a dream ! and so strange a one ! why , good sir ! can you suppose three persons , i. e. three intellectual subsistences , perfectly wise , holy , and good , co-existing with , inexisting in one another , to have no society ? or that society not to be delicious ? he says , how can it be ? i say , how can it but be ? herein i am sure the enquirer hath far more company than in the former . for whether the three persons have all the same numerical essence , or three distinct ; all agree they most delightfully converse . will he pretend never to have read any that make love ( as it were intercurrent between the two first ) the character of the third ? in short ; is it the thing he quarrels with as singular , or the word ? at the thing , supposing three persons , he can have no quarrel , without quarreling with the common sense of mankind . for the word , he hath more wit and knowledg of language than to pretend to find fault with that . for let him but consult expositors ( even the known criticks ) upon the mentioned place prov. 8. ( whom , in so plain a case , i will not be at the pains to quote and transcribe ) and take notice whether none read those words , fui in deliciis . therefore i believe the considerator will be so ingenuous , as to perceive , he hath , in this part of his discourse , grosly overshot , or undershot , or shot wide of his own mark , if indeed he had any , or did not ( letting his bolt fly too soon ) shoot at rovers , before he had taken steady aim at any thing . in short , all this dust could be rais'd but with design only , because he could not enlighten his readers , to blind them . but now when he should come by solid argument to disprove the hypothesis , by shewing that three individual divine natures , or essences , can possibly have no nexus , so as to become one entire divine nature , and , at the same time , ( which this hypothesis supposes ) remain still three individual divine natures and essences , he thinks fit to leave it to another to do it for him , who , he says , if he cannot prove this , can prove nothing . and when we see that proof , it will be time enough to consider it . in the mean time i cannot here but note what i will neither , in charity , call forgery in the considerator , nor , in civility , ignorance , but it cannot be less than great oversight ; his talk of these three , so united as to become one : the enquirer never spake ( nor dreamt ) of their becoming one , but of their being naturally , necessarily , and eternally so . then he comes to put the question , as ( he says ) it is between the enquirer and the socinians . and he puts it thus , how three distinct , several , individual , divine beings , essences , or substances , should remain three several individual substances , and yet , at the same time , be united into one divine substance called god ? one would have thought , when he had so newly wav'd the former question , as wherein he meant not to be concern'd , he should presently have put a new one , upon which he intended to engage himself . but we have the same over again , even with the same ill look of an equivalent phrase unto [ becoming ] [ united ] into one , to insinuate to his reader , as if his antagonist thought these three were de novo united , not in , but into one. which he knew must have a harsh sound , and as well knew it to be most repugnant to the enquirer's most declared sentiment . nor will it be any presumption , if i take the liberty to set down the question according to the enquirer's mind , who have as much reason to know it , as he ; and i am sure it will be more agreeable to the tenour of his discourse now referr'd to , whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the divine being , may not possibly , for ought we know , contain three natures , or essences , under the names of father , son , and holy ghost , so far distinct , as is necessary to found the distinct predications or attributions severally given them in the holy scriptures , and yet be eternally , necessarily , naturally , vitally so united , as notwithstanding that remaining distinction , to be one god. and let us now see what he hath to say ; first , to the enquirer's illustrations of it , as possible . secondly , what he brings to prove it impossible . as to the former part . he first falls upon what the enquirer had said concerning the vegetative , sensitive , and intellective natures in our selves . and upon this he insists so operously , as if the whole weight of the cause had been laid upon it , and seems to think the enquirer had forgot the question , when he mentioned it ; because he says , those are only distinct faculties , not persons , or substances ( tho persons were not in his question ) without ever taking any notice of the enquirers waving it , with these words , that he would content himself with what was more obvious . but this is is all art. to raise a mighty posse , and labour to seem to those that he believed would read what he writ only , not what the other did , most effectually to expugne what he saw was neglected , tho not altogether useless , as we shall see anon . in the mean time , it is observable how needlesly he slurs himself in this his first brisk onset . he says , no man ever pretended — that the vegetative , sensitive , and intellective faculties ( or powers ) are so many distinct , individual persons , substances , or essences , we grant , &c. what did no man ever pretend that these three distinct natures , the vegetative , sensitive , intellective , were , in man , three distinct substances , or souls , concurring by a certain subordination in him ? what necessity was there , that to heighten his triumph , in the opinion of his credulous followers , he should , with so glorious a confidence , put on the vain and false shew of having all the world on his side ; and herein either dissemble his knowledge , or grosly bewray his ignorance in the meer history of philosophy . and most imprudently suppose all his readers as ignorant , as he would seem ! what , did he never hear of an averroist in the world ? doth he not know that physician and philosopher , and his followers , earnestly contended for what he says no man ever pretended to ? or that divers other commentators upon aristotle , have some abetted , others as vehemently oppos'd them in it ? not to insist also that some thought the intellectus agens , and patiens to be distinct substances , belonging to the nature of man , as others had also other conceits about the former ? and if he look some hundreds of years back , as far as the time , and extant work of nemesius , bishop and philosopher ( as he writes himself ) of the nature of man , ( who liv'd in the time of gregory nazianzen , as appears by an epistle of his writ to him , and prefixt to that little book of his ) he will find that author takes notice there were divers that took man to consist of mind , soul , and body , and that some did doubt whether the mind super vening to the soul , as one to the other , did not make the latter intelligent . and in several other parts of that work ( easy , if it were necessary to be recited ) he speaks it as the judgment of some , that the unreasonable nature in man did exist by it self , as being of it self an unreasonable soul , not a part of the reasonable , accounting it one of the greatest absurdities , that the unreasonable soul should be a part of that which is reasonable . and he carries us yet much farther back , referring us to plotinus , in whom any that will , may read much more to that purpose in many places . it matters not whether this opinion be true or false , but a great mistake ( or misrepresentation ) it was , to say no man ever pretended to it . and be that as it will ; if all the readers will suspend their judgments , that a trinity in the godhead is impossible , till the considerator shall have prov'd , by plain demonstration , the concurrence of three such spirits ( a vegetative , sensitive , and intellective ) vitally united in the constitution of man , is a thing simply impossible , i believe he will not in haste , have many proselytes . i , for my part , as his own eyes might have told him , laid no stress upon it ; but only mentioned it in transitu , as i was going on to what is obvious , and in view to every man , the union between our soul and body . nor was i sollicitous to find this an exact parallel , as he fancies i was obliged to do . what if there be no exact parallel ? will any man of a sober mind , or that is master of his own thoughts , conclude every thing impossible in the uncreated being , whereof there is not an exact parallel in the creation ? if any man will stand upon this , come make an argument of it , let us see it in form , and try its strength . [ whatsoever hath not its exact parallel in the creation , is impossible in god , ] &c. he will sooner prove himself ridiculous , than prove his point by such a medium . 't is enough for a sober man's purpose , in such a case as we are now considering , if we find such things actually are ( or might as easily be , as what we see actually is ) among the creatures , that are of as difficult conception , and explication , as what appears represented in the enquirers hypothesis concerning a trinity . 't is trifling to attempt to give , or to ask a parallel exact per omnia . it abundantly serves any reasonable purpose , if there be a parallel quoad hoc , viz. in respect of the facility or difficulty of conception . and tho the vegetative , sensitive , and intellective natures be not so many distinct substances , a trinity is not less conceivable in the divine being , than three such natures , or natural powers , in the one humane nature . and whoever they be that will not simplify the divine being into nothing ( as the excellent author of the 28 propositions speaks ) must also acknowledg the most real perfections in the divine being , tho not univocal , but infinitely transcendent to any thing in us . and are they no way distinct ? let any sober understanding judg , will the same notion agree to them all ? is his knowledg , throughout , the same with his effective power ? then he must make himself . for who can doubt he knows himself ? and is his will the self-same undistinguishable perfection , in him , with his knowledg ? then the purposes of his will must be to effect all that he can . for doth he not know all that he can do ? and the complacencies of his will must be as much in what is evil , as good , even in the most odious turpitude of the vilest , and most immoral evils ! for he knows both alike . i know what is commonly said of extrinsecal denominations : but are such denominations true , or false ? have they any thing in re correspondent to them , or have they not ? then some distinction there must be of these perfections themselves . if so , how are they distinguisht ? and there appears great reason , from god's own word , to conceive greater distinction of the three hypostases in his being , than of the attributes which are common to them , as is said , sob . enq. pag. 140. in reference whereto , it is not improper or impertinent to mention such differences , as we find in our own being , tho they be not distinct substances . less distinction in our selves may lead us to conceive the possibility of greater in him , in whom we are wont to apprehend nothing but substance . what he adds concerning the union of soul and body in our selves , ( which he cannot deny to be distinct substances ) is , from a man of so good sense , so surprisingly strange , and remote from the purpose , that one would scarce think it from the same man ; but that he left this part to some other of the club , and afterwards writ on , himself , without reading it over ; or this was with him ( what we are all liable to ) some drowsy interval . for when he had himself recited as the enquirer's words , or sense , if there is this union between two so contrary natures and substances , as the soul and body , why may there not be a like union between two or three created spirits ? he , without shadow of a pretence , feigns the enquirer again to have forgot the question , because soul and body are not both intelligent substances . and why , sir , doth this argue him to have forgot the question ? 't is as if he expected a man to be at the top of the stairs , assoon as he toucht the first step. in a series of discourse , must the beginning touch the end , leaving out what is to come between , and connect both parts ? what then serve mediums for ? and so farewel to all reasoning , since nothing can be proved by it self . he expected , it seems , i should have proved three intelligent natures might be united , because three intelligent natures might be united ! but say i ( and so he repeats ) if there be so near union between things of so contrary natures as soul and body , why not between two or three created spirits ? the question is , as he now states it himself , why may not three intelligent substances — be united ? and hither he ( with palpable violence ) immediately refers the mention of the union of soul and body ; and says he , why sir , are body and soul intelligent substances ? and , say i , but why , sir , are not the three ( supposed ) created spirits intelligent substances ? and now , thinks he , will my easy admiring readers , that read me only , and not him , say , what a baffle hath he given the enquirer ? what an ignorant man is this mr. — to talk of soul and body , as both intelligent substances ? but if any of them happen upon the enquirer's book too , then must they say , how scurvily doth this matter turn upon himself ? how inconsiderate a prevaricator was he that took upon him the present part of a considerer , so to represent him ? and i my self would say , had i the opportunity of free discourse with him in a corner , ( which because i have not , i say it here ) sir , is this sincere writing ? is this the way to sift out truth ? and i must further say , this looks like a man stung by the pungency of the present question . if soul and body , things of so contrary natures , that is , of an intelligent and unintelligent nature , can be united into one ( humane ) nature , why may not three created spirits , all intelligent natures , be as well united into some one thing ? it appears you knew not what to say to it ; and would fain seem to say something , when you really had nothing to say , and therefore so egregiously tergiversate , and feign your self not to understand it , or that your antagonist did not understand himself . the enquirer's scope was manifest . nothing was to be got by so grosly perverting it . is there no argument but à pari ? might you not plainly see , he here argued à fortiori ? if contrary natures might be so united , why not much rather like natures ? when you ask me this question , do not body and soul remain two substances , a bodily , and a spiritual , notwithstanding their concurrence to the constitution of a man ? i answer , yes . and i thank you , sir , for this kind look towards my hypothesis . if they were not so , the mention of this union had no way serv'd it . you know 't is only union , with continuing distinction , that is for my purpose . i doubt you nodded a little , when you ask'd me that question ; and i do annuere . but when the discourse was only of a natural union , what , in the name of wonder , made you dream of a christmass-pye ? had you writ it at the same time of year i am now writing , i should have wondered less . but either you had some particular , preternatural appetite to that sort of delicate ; or you gave your fancy a random liberty , to make your pen write whatever came to your fingers end , and that whirl'd you unaware into a pastry , and so , by meer chance , you came to have your finger in the pye. or you thought to try whether this wild ramble might not issue as luckily for you , as dr. echard's jargon of words fortuitously put together ( to ridicule hobbes's fatal chain of thoughts ) at length ending in a napkin ; which was mightily for your turn , in your present case . but upon the whole matter ▪ when you let your mind so unwarily be in pati●nis , your cookery quite spoil'd your philosophy . otherwise , when you had newly read those words in the sob . enquiry , ( as i find you had ) pag. 17. [ waving the many artificial unions of distinct things , that united , and continuing distinct , make one thing , under one name , i shall only consider what is natural ] you would never have let it ( your mind , i mean so fine a thing ) be huddled up , and sopt , with meat , plums , sugar , wine , in a christmass-pye ; or have thought that the union of an humane soul with an humane body was like such a jumble as this . i believe when some among the antients made use of this union of soul and body , ( as i find they have ) to represent a very sacred , viz. the hypostatical one , they little thought it would be so debased ; or that any thing would be said of it so extravagant as this . and , if we design doing any body good by writing , let us give over this way of talk , lest people think , what i remember cicero once said of the epicureans arguing , that they do not so much consider , as ( sortiri ) cast lots what to say . but now 't is like we may come to some closer discourse . we see what is said to the enquirer's elucidation of his hypothesis to represent it possible , which by meer oversight and incogitance ( as i hope now appears ) was too hastily pronounced an oversight , or incogitancy . 2. we are next to consider what he says to prove it impossible . and so far as i can apprehend the drift of the discourse , what he alledges will be reduced to these two heads of argument . viz. that three such hypostases ( or subsistents , as i have chosen to call them ) can have no possible nexus , by which to be one god. 1. because they are all supposed intelligent . 2. because they can neither be said to be finite , nor infinite . he should not therefore have said the hypothesis was meer incogitance and oversight ; for he knows i saw , and considered them both . ( in the sob . enquiry it self ; the former pag. 20 , 21. the latter pag. 70 , 71. with pag. 122 , 123. ) and thought them unconcluding then , as i still think . nor do i find the considerer hath now added any strength to either of them . but i shall , since he is importune , go to the reconsideration of them with him . and 1. as to the former , i cannot so much as imagine what should make him , confessing ( which he could not help ) the actual union of an intelligent and unintelligent being , deny the possible union of intelligent beings . he seems to apprehend many dangerous things in it , that if he cannot reason , he may fright a man out of it , and out of his wits too . it will infer associating , discoursing , solacing . but where lies the danger of all this ? or to whom is it dangerous ? he says it introduces three omniscient , almighty beings , as i expresly call them , associating , &c. but he cites no place where , and i challenge him to name any persons among whom , i so expresly called them . he may indeed tell where i blam'd him for representing some of his adversaries , as affirming three almighties , and denying more than one ; but that is not expresly calling them so my self . and he may know in time 't is one thing expresly to call them so , and another to put him ( as he is concerned ) to disprove it . ay , but it will further infer tritheism . it will make three gods. and if this be not to make three gods , it can never be made appear that the pagans held more gods — yes , if there be no natural , vital nexus , if they be not united in one , of which the pagans never talkt : or , if they be co-ordinate , not subordinate , as dr. cudworth speaks . and i add , if that subordination be , not arbitrary , but by necessary , natural , continual emanation of the second from the first , and of the third from both the other ; so as that their goings forth may be truly from everlasting , as is said of the one , and may as well be conceived of another of them . i would have the trinitarians be content with the reproach of falling in , quoad hoc , with plato ; and not envy their antagonists the honour of more closely following mahomet . and , sir , there is more paganism in denying this , and the divine revelation upon which it is grounded , than in supposing it . no. but there can be no such nexus . conversation , consociation , mutual harmony , agreement , and delectation — cannot be conceived , but between beings so distinct and diverse , that they can be one in no natural respect , but only in a civil , or oeconomical . this is loud , and earnest . but why can there not ? setting aside noise and clamour , i want to know a reason , why intelligent beings may not be as intimately , and naturally united with one another , as unintelligent , and intelligent ? and if so , why such union should spoil mutual conversation and delight ? perhaps his mind and mine might not do well together ; for he cannot conceive , and i , for my part , cannot but conceive , that most perfect intelligent natures , vitally united , must have the most delightful conversation , harmony , and agreement together ; and so much the more , by how much the more perfect they are , and by how much more perfect their union is . whereas then i expect a reason , why intelligent beings cannot be capable of natural union , and no other is given me , but because they are intelligent . and again , why such beings naturally united cannot converse , and no other is given me , but because they are naturally united , i. e. such things cannot be , because they cannot be . by how much the less such reasons have to convince , they have the more to confirm me , that the hypothesis i have propos'd is not capable of being disproved . and for my increased confidence i must profess my self so far beholden to the considerator . this , in the mean time , i do here declare , that i see not so much as the shadow of a reason from him , why three spiritual , or intelligent beings cannot be naturally and vitally united with each other , with continuing distinction , so as to be really and truly one thing . if they cannot , i would know why ? i. e. why they cannot as well , or much rather than the soul and body , so as to be one entire man. if they can ; such a created union is acknowledged possible ; which is all that part of our discourse contends for . and 't is enough for our present purpose ; for this will be an union of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. of things of the same nature , the soul and body are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. things of very different natures . and it sufficiently prepared our way , as was intended , to advance further , and add , that if such a created or made union be possible , it cannot be understood why a like uncreated or unmade union should be thought impossible . and if it be possible , the noisy clamour , that a trinity in the godhead is impossible , or that it will infer tritheism , must cease , and be husht into everlasting silence . or if it shall still be resolved to be kept up , to carry on the begun humour , can only serve to fright children , or unthinking people ; but can never be made articulate enough , to have any signification with men of sense . for when the father is acknowledg'd on all hands to be the original , or fountain-being , existing necessarily , and eternally of himself ; the son existing by eternal promanation necessarily of , and from , and in the father ; the holy ghost of , and in them both ; these , because they all exist necessarily , cannot but be each of them god , and , because they exist in necessary , natural , eternal union , cannot but be one god. and he that shall attempt to make tritheism of this , will sooner prove himself not the third part of a wise man , than from hence prove three gods. we may truly and fitly say the father is god , the son is god , the holy ghost is god. but that form of speech , the father is a god , the son is a god , the holy ghost is a god , i think unjustifiable . the former way of speaking well agrees with the homoousiotes of the deity , the substance whereof is congenerous . you may fitly say of three drops of the same water , they are each of them water . but if you should say they are each of them a water , one would understand you to mean they were all drops of so many different sorts of water . i do upon the whole judg the substance or essence of the three hypostases to be as perfectly one , as can possibly consist with the emanation of some from other of them . but now next . in his way to his second topick of argumentation , he is guilty of a strange sort of omission , i. e. he twice over says he will omit , what he greatly insists upon , as a mighty matter , that this ( meaning the enquirer's hypothesis ) is heresy among those of his own party , whether they be the nominal , or the real trinitarians , who all agree , that each of the divine persons is perfect god , in the most adequate and perfect sense ; and this too , as such person is considered sejunctly , or as the athanasian creed speaks , by himself , &c. to this i only say , in the first place , that , if this weigh any thing , it ought in reason to be as heavy upon him , as me ; for i believe the same people that will call this account of the trinity heresy , will call his denial of it heresy much more . but if he be not concern'd at that , i am the more obliged to him , that he hath a kinder concern for me than himself . and if he really have , let it ease his mind to know , that let the opinion be heresy never so much , i , for my part , am however resolv'd to be no heretick , as he , and they may well enough see , by the whole tenour of that discourse . but yet i humbly crave leave to differ from him in this , as well as in greater matters . i am apt enough indeed to think that the nominal trinitarians will judg the opinion of the real trinitarians to want truth ; and the real will , perhaps , more truly judg theirs to want sense . but neither the one , nor the other will say that each of the divine persons is perfect god , in the most adequate and perfect sense . for both cannot but agree that god , in the most adequate and perfect sense , includes father , son , and holy ghost ; but they will none of them say that each , or any of the persons is father , son , and holy ghost . and i am very confident , he that shall so represent them , will betray them by it into such inconveniencies , and so much against their mind and intent , that if ever they did trust him , as i believe they never did this considerator , to express their sense for them , they never will do it more . as for athanasius himself , whose creed he mentions , tho he often speaks of an equality of the persons in point of godhead ; yet he also often , tom. 2. p. 576. most expresly excepts the differences ( which i take to be very important ) of being unbegotten , begotten , and proceeding . and which is a difference with a witness , in his questions and answers ; he asks how many causes are there in god ? [ ( q. 11. ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] and answers , one only , and that is the father . and then asks [ q. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] how many effects , or things caused ? and answers two , the son and the spirit . and adds , the father is call'd a cause , because he begets the son , and sends out the spirit . the son and spirit are said to be caused , because the son is begotten , and doth not beget ; the spirit is sent forth , and doth not send . now can he be thought all this while to mean an absolute equality ? and whereas he uses the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which our author renders sejunctly , or by himself , that he may make it seem opposite to what is said by the enquirer , pag. 50. i , for my part , say , as athanasius doth , that each of these persons is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , singly god , and lord ; but i say not , as he doth not ; and he denies what the sober enquiry denies , in the mentioned place , that any one of the persons sejunctly , is all that is signify'd by the name of god , which words this author slily leaves out , for what purpose he best knows . but his purpose , be it what it will , can no longer be served by it , than till the reader shall take the pains to cast back his eye upon pag. 50. of the sober enquiry . and i must here put the considerator in mind of what i will not suppose him ignorant , but inadvertent only , at this time ; that one may be sejoin'd , or abstracted from another two ways , or by a twofold abstraction , precisive , or negative . that we may truly say of the father , son , or holy ghost , that the one of them is , or is not god , abstracting from both the other , according as you differently abstract . if you abstract any one of the persons from both the other by precisive abstraction , and each of them is god or lord , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or singly considered ; but if by negative abstraction you sever any one from the other , so as to say the one is god , and not the other , or any one is all that is signify'd by the name of god , i deny it , as before i did ; for so you would exclude the other two the godhead ; which is but what was expresly enough said sob . enquiry , pag. 47. the father is god , but not excluding the son and the holy ghost , the son is god , but not excluding — &c. and if ( as this author quotes ) we are compelled by the christian verity so to speak , i wonder it should not compel him , as it is christian verity , or at least as it is verity , as well as the rest of christians , or mankind . why hath he only the privilege of exemption from being compell'd by truth ? athanasius his word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , we are necessitated ; and if the considerator's own translation grieve him , he might relieve himself by considering that all necessity is not compulsive . and because he hath brought me to athanasius , i shall take the occasion to say , i cannot apprehend him to have any sentiment contrary to this hypothesis . his business was against the arians , or the ariomanites ( as he often called them , as symbolizing also with manes . ) and because with them the controversy was , whether the son and spirit were creatures , in opposition hereto he constantly asserts their consubstantiality with the father , never intending ( for ought that appears ) that their being was numerically the same with his ; but of the same kind , uncreated , coessential , coeternal with his own . for so he expresly speaks in his other ( or additional ) questions , i. e. asking ( quest. 6. ) how many essences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. how many sorts of essence ( as the answer will direct us to understand it ) do you acknowledg in god ? the answer is , i say , one essence , one nature , one form ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) and adds , one kind , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) which sufficiently expounds all the rest . he acknowledged no different kinds of essence or nature in the godhead , but that one only , which was eternal and uncreated ; agreeably to what he elsewhere says against the followers of sabellius . 't is impossible things not eternal — beings not partaking godhead , should be ranked , or put in the same order with the godhead . afterwards speaking of the father and the son , he says , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the one is such ( not the same ) as the other , the other such as he . and that the son was not to be conceived under another species ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) nor under a strange and foreign character ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) but was god as the father . and i appeal to any man's understanding and conscience , if that great author believ'd a numerical sameness of essence , common to the three persons , what should make him blame the sabellians for making the son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , when by the latter in that case , he must mean the same thing as by the former ? in the forecited questions , he expresly says we were to acknowledg in the deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , three individuals . answer to quest. 7. ubi priùs . and elsewhere he as distinctly asserts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , three things . and what could he mean by three things , not three deities , ( as he often inculcates ) but he must certainly mean three entities , three essences ; for by three things , he could not possibly mean three non-entities , or three nothings . his great care plainly was to assert the true deity of the son and spirit , or their preeternity , or that it could never be said ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) there was a time when they were not , which he inculcates in an hundred places , still insisting that one deity , one essence was common to them , but still with distinction ; and as warmly inveighs against sabellius and p. samosatensis , as against arius every whit . and that which puts his meaning quite out of doubt , speaking how the father , son and spirit , tho of one and the same sort of essence , are three hypostases , he plainly says the nature wherein they partake is so one , as the humane nature is one in all men. we men , saith he , consisting of a body and a soul , are all ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) of one nature and substance , or essence ; but we are many hypostases . and to the same purpose [ dial. 2. de trinitate ] his anomoeos comparing the father , son and spirit , to a bishop , presbyter , and deacon , he brings in the orthodox saying , they have all the same nature , being each of them man ; as an angel , a man , and an horse , have different natures . in the mean time , because men are not inseparably , and vitally united with one another , as the divine persons are , and cannot but be , by reason of the necessary , eternal , perpetual emanation of the two latter from the first , they cannot admit to be called one man , as the three persons in the godhead , are and cannot but be one god. inasmuch as these three divine persons partake real godhead ( as existing necessarily each of them ) they are each truly god : but because they partake it in necessary , eternal , vital union ; and so that the first is the radix , the second perpetually springing from the first , and the third from both the other , they are therefore together one god as branches , tho really distinct from each other , and the root , are altogether notwithstanding but one tree , and all omoousial , or consubstantial to one another ; which is an illustration familiar with the the antients . and if there be any , now a days , that will call this heresy , ( tho as i said , i will be no heretick however ) yet if i must make a choice , i had rather be an heretick with the ante-nicene and nicene fathers , and post-nicene , for ought appears to the contrary , through some following centuries , than be reputed orthodox with p. lumbard , &c. whom a german divine , not of meanest account , calls one of the four evangelists of antichrist . but having now done with what he said he would omit , but did not , ( tho he might to every whit as good purpose ) we come to what he overlooks not , because ( he intimates ) he cannot . and let us see whether he looks into it , to any better purpose , than if he had quite overlook'd it . he is indeed the more excusable that he overlooks it not , because ( he says ) he could not . in that case there is no remedy . nor do i see how he well could , when the sober enquirer had once and again so directly put it in his view , and , as was said , objected it to himself . but he thinks , however , to make an irrefragable battering ram of it , wherewith to shiver this doctrine of the trinity all to pieces , and he brings it into play with the two horns before mentioned . the father , he says , for instance , is either infinite in his substance , his wisdom , his power , his goodness , or he is not . with the like pompous apparatus , and even in the same terms , i find a series of argumentation is by a noted sceptick adorned , and set forth against the being of any god at all . if there be any divine being , 't is either finite or infinite , &c. and he reasons upon each head , as the matter could admit , and probably thought as well of the performance as our author doth of his . but let us see how much to the purpose our author uses it in the present case . the enquirer had represented three really distinct subsistents in the godhead as possible , for ought we know , not presuming to determine herein , this way or that , beyond what is plain in it self , or plainly revealed . and so still he thinks it may be , for ought he knows ; for he professes not to know any thing to the contrary . yes ( saith the considerator ) but i do . no doubt , if any man. but say i , how know you ? i know , saith he , they can neither be finite , nor infinite , therefore there can be no such thing at all . but , say i , do you know what infinite is , or can you comprehend it ? yes , very well , says he ; for i have an infinite all-comprehending mind . what a cyclopick understanding is this ? nay , and he pretends he can comprehend the very being of god ( otherwise all religion must cease ) after he had granted , we ( including himself ) cannot comprehend the least spire of grass . and yet that being of god is nothing else with him , but existence , ( i. e. not to be nothing ) which he there vafrously inserts , but very imprudently ; for every one sees he said it only to avoid the purpose he was to speak to , and so said it not to any present good purpose at all ? as if it had been the bishop's word , and all one with god's being . 't is true that his being includes his existence : but hath he therefore a clear , distinct and adequate conception what god is , because he , indistinctly , conceives a being , vulgarly signify'd by the name of god , doth exist ? bring the matter to creatures , and because he knows , as he may by the sight of his eye , that such a creature exists , doth he therefore understand its nature ? existence is to be extra causas , and this is common to all creatures ; as to be necessarily , and without a cause , is peculiar to god. if therefore existence , and their being be all one , all creatures are the same , and differ not from one another ; for to be extra causas is that wherein they all agree . and extend it further , as existence is to be , in rerum naturâ , abstracting from being caused , or uncaused ; and so god , and creatures will be all one . and see whether this will not make all religion cease too ? but if he say , tho existence abstractly taken , distinguishes not god from creatures ; yet his existence doth distinguish him . very true ; but that leads us back to the consideration of his being , of what sort that is . which therefore , if he had pleased , he might as well have let stand before as it was ; and might have considered that existence , and that which doth exist , are not of the same import . or that it is not all one , to say that god doth exist , and what he is that doth exist . but it will be worth the while to examine a little further this author's comprehension of infinites . he says it is to have a clear , distinct , and adequate conception of them , so he comprehends the infinite attributes of god. his eternity , i. e. that duration , by which he is without all beginning , and end . this tells us what it is not . but doth it tell us what it is ? q. d. an infinite duration is a boundless duration : a grammatical definition ! or rather a meer translation of latin into english. and so he might teach a meer latinist what boundless is , by turning the english back again into latin. and greatly hath he edify'd his disciple ! as much as he should , without such change of language , by saying invasion is invasion . and doth he give any better account of infinite wisdom and power ? are his conceptions of them clear and distinct . 't is possible to know much , and not be very wise . i do not think that therefore , which he gives , a very good account of wisdom . again , knowing is doing somewhat . he speaks not now of making this or that , but more generally of doing any thing . nor doth any one know any thing , but what he can know . therefore his wisdom is power ; for so is an ability to know , power , as truly , as an ability to do any thing else . here is confusion , therefore , instead of distinction . and to the comprehending any thing , i should think it as requisite a man's conception be true , as distinct . now when he pretends to have distinct conceptions of god's infinite wisdom and power , if also his conceptions be true , those infinite attributes are distinct . i am sure he comprehends them not , if , whereas he clearly conceives them distinct , they are not so . but if they are distinct , they are distinct , what ? substances ? or accidents ? if the former , according to him , distinct divine substances must be distinct gods. if the latter , let him weather the difficulties as he can of admitting accidents in the divine being . either way , he must as little pretend to believe an omnimodous simplicity there , as the enquirer . but would he then have him give better and fuller conceptions of these infinite attributes , or rather of the infinity of them , which is his present business ? no , no , that is none of the enquirer's part . he pretends not to comprehend infiniteness . 't is enough for one , among mortals , to offer at ( that ingens ausum ) so great a thing ! when again he says his conception of the infinite divine wisdom , power , &c. is adequate , telling us they are those properties whereby god knows , and can do , whatsoever implies not a contradiction to be known , and done : i ask , but doth he comprehend in his mind all those things which it implies not a contradiction for him to know and do ? if not , what is become of his adequate conception ? he may so comprehend all that the most learned book contains , because he knows the title , or something of its cover ; and he hath a very adequate conception of all that is contained in the universe , because he hath some general notion of what is signify'd by the word world. let him then pretend as long as he please to comprehend infiniteness , no sober man will believe him , and the less , because he pretends it . if he put his mind upon the trial , and deal justly and truly when he hath try'd , i would ask him , let him put the notion of infiniteness upon what he pleases , space , for instance , whether , as he thinks away any whatsoever bounds of it , new ones do not immediately succeed ? and let him think away those , whether still he doth not presently conceive new ? yes , but he can divert and think no more of it , i. e. he can think ▪ what infinite is , by not thinking ! and yet if he did understand infinites never so well , it would be no small spite to him if a man did but assert the infiniteness of one of the persons ( the father ) , and only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the other two , as knowing their intimate union with him , makes his wisdom , power , &c. as truly theirs , as if it first resided in themselves ; his argument is quite undone by it to all intents and purposes . but i shall however , farther state and weigh this case of [ knowing , or not knowing , three such hypostases cannot be infinite . ] and 1. shew what might cast a thinking man upon , supposing they may be all infinite for ought one knows . 2. then consider the difficulty that is in it . 1. as to the former . that the father virtually ( or eminently rather ) comprehends all being , created and uncreated , there is no doubt . nor again , that what is from him , by perpetual , natural , necessary emanation , cannot but be homoousial to himself , the athanasian differences only supposed , of being unbegotten , and begotten , &c. but how to understand these is the difficulty ; i. e. how the same numerical nature is both begotten , and no● begotten ; nor will i determine it . let them do it that can better . i , for my part , as i have said , assert nothing in this matter , only have proposed to be considered what may be thought possible herein . but if any would set themselves to consider this matter , i would have them take the difficulty they are to consider , entirely , and as it truly is in it self ; that they may not be short in their reckoning . and to that purpose to bethink themselves what is the proper character ( as athanasius , and before him justin martyr phrase it ) or modus of the son ( for instance ) that 't is to be begotten . this methinks should bear very hard upon the meer modalists , who hereupon must say , that to be begotten is the only thing begotten , and so consequently that to be begotten , is the thing that is peculiarly said to be incarnate , and that suffered , &c. for they must assign that which distinguishes the son from the father , otherwise they will make the father be begotten , which is somewhat harder than to be patripassians , or to make him to have suffered . but it must also be upon the matter even the same difficulty , to say , the same numerical nature , with the modus , is begotten . for then the same numerical nature must still be both unbegotten , and begotten , which is very hard . and if they reply , yes , but under a distinct modus . well ; but what is that distinct modus ? and when they find it is but to be begotten , they must be hugely abashed , as one of less deep thought than they would think . for so , the nature being common both to the father and the son , all that is peculiar to the begotten , from the begetter , will still be but to be begotten , i. e. when the question is askt , what only is begotten ? the answer will be but as above , to be begotten . it hath hitherto , therefore , been only enquired , whether it will not seem easier to suppose each subsistent to have its own singular nature , tho homoousial , as , the two latter being by emanation from the first , it cannot but be ? which hath been often inculcated , and is plain in it self . meer arbitrary productions may be very diverse from their original , but purely natural , especially emanative , cannot be so . and then the only considerable difficulty which remains is this now before us , viz. the finiteness or infiniteness of these three hypostases : 't is plain they cannot be all finite . but here our present adversary places his principal pains , and labour , to prove , what he knows no body will deny , that they cannot be so . and hence he carries away glorious trophies , that three , or three thousand finites , will never make one infinite . — spolia ampla — ! but how knows he they are not all infinite ? that , in short , which he hath here to say , is but this , and can be no more than this , till his thoughts have run through and compass'd the never-utmost range of infiniteness , viz. that he knows they are not , he knows not what ! but how can he soberly say that ? how can he either affirm or deny of another what he doth not understand ? is this his demonstration of the impossibility of a trinity in the godhead ? suppose the father infinite , cannot the other two be infinite also , for ought he knows ? how doth he know they cannot ? by the same medium , by which he knows it , he may make other mortals know it too , if he think fit to communicate it . which , from so mighty confidence , especially when he pretends it to be so easy , i have hitherto expected , but in vain . is it because the first is infinite , therefore the two other cannot be so ? i am sure he ought not to say so , whatever others may , or whatsoever the truth of the thing is ( which we shall enquire into by and by ) for he hath over and over acknowledg'd more infinites than one . as when he ascribes infinite comprehension to the mind of man ( as hath been noted , pag. 8. of these considerations ) he doth not indeed say the mind is simply in it self infinite , but it is so in respect of its comprehension , which comprehension must therefore be infinite . how agreeable or consistent these terms are , the infinite comprehension of a finite mind , we are not to consider ; let him take care for that , who can easily make light of such trivial difficulties as these . but in the mean time this infinite comprehension is an infinite something , not an infinite nothing ; and then so many minds , so many comprehensions , and so many infinites . no doubt he includes his own mind ; and 't is possible he may think some other minds as comprehensive as his own . and ought not to think it impossible , supposing an uncreated , eternal word , and spirit , in the deity , that they may be infinite , as well as the comprehension of his own and some other minds . besides what he seems to grant of infinite guilts , and punishments due , tho he doth not grant the sacrifice of christ to be an equivalent for them . all shews he thinks there may be many infinites , and even in the same kind . but tho to him , to whom it is not easy to guess what would be difficult , this would seem a very vincible difficulty ; it is of much greater importance , that we may do right to truth , to consider it , as it is in it self . and i acknowledg it ( as i have said over and over ) to be in it self , a great difficulty , as all sober men have been wont to do , that have had any occasion to employ their thoughts that way . but my part herein hath less of difficulty in it ; which is only to expect , and examine , what another will attempt to prove from this topick , not to assert any thing my self . my opponent takes upon him boldly to pronounce , there cannot be three distinct hypostases in the deity . why ? say i. because saith he , that will suppose each of them infinite , which cannot be . i say , why can it not be ? he perhaps may tell me , if any one be infinite , nothing can be added thereto , or be without its compass , much less can there be another infinite added to the former . i only now say , you talk confidently in the dark , you know not what . and so as to involve your self in contradictions , do what you can . 1. in saying nothing can be added to what is infinite . 2. in pretending to know , if any thing can be added , how much , or how little can . 1. in saying nothing can be added to , or be without the compass of , what is infinite . for then there could be no creation , which i cannot doubt him to grant . before there was any , was there not an infinitude of being in the eternal godhead ? and hath the creation nothing in it of real being ? or will you say the being of the creature is the being of god ? i know what may be said ( and is elsewhere said ) to this , and 't will better serve my purpose than his . 2. in pretending to know what can , or cannot be added . or that , in the way of necessary eternal emanation , there cannot be an infinite addition ; tho not in the way of voluntary , or arbitrary and temporary production . the reason of the difference is too obvious to need elucidation to them that can consider . but for your part ( i must tell my antagonist ) you have concluded your self , even as to that which carries the greatest appearance of impossibility , come off as you can . you say , a body of an inch square , is not only not infinite in extension , but is a very small body ; yet it hath this infinite power , to be divisible to infinity . so , i suppose , you must say of half that inch , or a quarter , or the thousandth part of it , much more of two , or twenty , or a thousand inches . you say , indeed , this body it self is not infinite . nor will i insist upon the trite and common objection against you . how can any thing be divisible into parts which it hath not in it ? which yet men have not talkt away , by talking it often over . still haeret lateri — nor of an infinite power 's being lodged in a finite ( and so minute a ) subject . but , in the mean time , here are infinites upon infinites , an infinite power upon an infinite power multiplyed infinitely ; and still these infinite powers greater and less than other , as either the inch is augmented , or diminished . and he saith the mind of man hath the property of infinite or eternal duration . therefore so many minds , so many infinites . and he must suppose the infinite duration of some minds to be greater than of others , unless he think his own mind to be as old as adam's ; or do not only hold their preexistence , but that they were all created in the same moment . which if he do , i am sure he can never prove . and so , for ought he knows , there may not only be many infinites , but one greater than another . what therefore exceeds all limits that are assignable , or any way conceivable by us , as we are sure the divine being doth , it is impossible for us to know what differences that vast infinitude contains . and we shall , therefore , but talk at random , and with much more presumption than knowledg , when we take upon us to pronounce it impossible , there should be three infinite hypostases in the godhead . especially considering that most intimate vital union that they are supposed to have each with other , in respect whereof , the son is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , inexisting in the father ( as athanasius's phrase is ) agreeably to the language of scripture , joh. 14. 11. and elsewhere . and which , by parity of reason , is to be conceiv'd of the holy ghost too , who is also said to search all things , even the deep things of god , 1 cor. 2. 10. in respect of which union , and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which may thence be collected , whatever of real perfection , wisdom , power , goodness , &c. is in any one , is each ones as truly as any ones , all being originally in the father , as the first and everliving fountain of all . as was said , sober enquiry , p. 31 , 32. but whereas the considerator urges , if the father be infinite in his substance , in his wisdom , his power , his goodness , he is god in the most adequate and perfect sense of the word . i say , well , and what then ? if therefore he mean the son and the holy ghost must be excluded the godhead , let him prove his consequence if he can . and he may find the answer to it , sob . enquiry , pag. 53. i shall not transcribe , nor love , when i have writ a book , to write it over again . his notion may fit pagans well enough , or those who are not otherwise taught . christians are directed to understand that the deity includes father , son , and holy ghost . their equality i acknowledg with the mentioned athanasian exception ; notwithstanding which , that they equally communicate in the most characteristick difference of the deity , from all creatures , viz. necessity of existence , is conceivable enough . to sum up all , the considerator i understand , even by the whole management of his discourse , and specially by the conclusion of that part wherein the enquirer is concern'd , to have most entirely given up this cause , as ever did any man. the enquirer's only undertaking was to maintain the possibility of a trinity in the godhead , in opposition to his former , daring assertion , of its being impossible , and nonsense . he now , in conclusion , says , the enquirer saw there must be a nexus ; intimating , if there can , that he hath gain'd his point ; but , 't is added , he durst not venture to say what it was . to which i must say , that this is most uncautiously said , i will not say , deceitfully , tho i know 't is said untruly ; and he might have known ( or remembred ) too , that he ( the enquirer ) often spoke of it , as a necessary , natural , eternal , vital , and most intimate union . he further says , he only explains it by the union of soul and body . which again , 1. is so great a misrepresentation , that i wonder he would say it here , when he himself but two or three pages off recites as the enquirer's words , [ if god could unite into one , two such contrary natures , let any man give me a reason why he might not ( much more ) first make , and then unite two , and if two , why not three spirits , &c. ] is this only to explain it by the union of soul and body ? but by the way that [ first make , and then unite ] was none of the enquirer's , but appears thrust in to make what was manifestly possible , seem impossible . sic notus — let two substances be created entire , with no natural propension to each other , they are capable of no natural union , without change of their natures . who sees not , it were a contradiction to suppose them , the same still , and not the same ? but suppose them created with mutual aptitudes to union , and united , what should hinder but they may continue united , without being confounded ? 2. and 't is said impertinently , as well as untruly ; for what if he had not explain'd it at all , is it therefore impossible , which it belonged to him to prove , or he did nothing ; and he hath done nothing towards it . i have askt him before , and now i put it again seriously to him , whether he do in his conscience believe this a good argument [ such an union , i. e. natural , necessary , &c. hath no pattern or parallel in the creation ; therefore it is impossible in the nature of god ? ] for what he adds , that the soul and body in a man are not united into one substance or essence , nor possibly can be ; the cause indeed depends not on it , but lies remote from it . methinks however it is very feat , and shews him pinch't , that he can be brought to this ! hath a man no substance ? is he a shadow ? or hath he no essence ? is he a non-entity ? or is his essence a body ? then a body is a man. or is his essence a spirit ? then , a spirit is a man. if he say either of these , i wish he would tell us the quantity of those propositions , that we may know whether he means that every body is a man , or every spirit is a man ? i am sure where the essence is , there must be the essentiatum . or whether soul and body united , make nothing different from either , or both disunited ? or whether a man be only such a thing as a pye ? or why might not a pudding serve as well , if made up of several ingredients ? he hath greatly indeed oblig'd mankind for such an honour done them ! if indeed the cause depended on it , he would have good store of philosophers to confute , and all that have any concern for their own kind , before he could disprove the possibility of the supposed union in the deity , and you have nothing for it but his bare word : which ( at least , without the addition of his name ) will not do the business . nor , if he could also bring us a demonstration against the union of soul and body , can he thereby prove such an union as we suppose in the godhead impossible . the case is quite another . the union of the soul and body was never by me called essential ; for i well know , if they were essentially united , in the strict sense they could never be disunited . but 't is commonly call'd a substantial union , and i called it natural in respect of the principle , nature , in contradistinction to art. as for the supposed union we speak of in the deity , that , being necessary , original , eternal , it must be essential , or none ; but with such distinction as before was supposed . for it was union , not identity , that was meant , which union , with such distinction , till they be proved impossible , the enquirer's cause is untoucht . and is certainly to any such purpose , not in the least touch'd by the considerator . whether there be any such union that may admit to be called essential among the creatures , doth neither make nor marr . we have never said there was , nor doth the stress of the cause lie upon it . i find indeed an ingenious , merry gentleman animadverts upon a postscript writ against the sober enquiry , and upon a letter in answer to it , who at a venture calls all essential union , essential contradiction , and substantial nonsense . who this is , i will not pretend to guess , only i guess him not to be the same with the considerator , for this , besides other reasons , that he calls the author of the considerations a great man ; and i scarce think he would call himself so . his wit , and sportful humour , i should have liked better in a less serious affair . for this heboldly pronounces , in immediate reference to the trinity it self , ( that the world might know he hath a confidence , at least , equal to his wit ) i can easily abstain from asserting that any created unions are to be called strictly essential , because then they must be simply indissoluble . and i see not but whatsoever things the creator hath united , he may disunite , if he be so pleased . yet one might have expected this author to have been a little more civil to him whom he stiles the late famous dr. more , who hath publisht to the world his express sentiments in this matter , that created spirits have real amplitude , made up of indiscerpible parts , essentially united , so as not to be separable , without annihilation of the whole . one would think he should not have treated him so , as to make his essential union , substantial nonsense . but there are those left in the world , who have that veneration for the doctor , as to think it no indecent rudeness to this gentleman , not to put his judgment in the ballance against the doctor 's , or to distinguish between his calling it nonsense , and proving it so . but if any wonder that they who think there is no such thing as an essential union among creatures , do yet think there may be in the uncreated being , they will shew themselves mighty wise in their wonder , i. e. in wondering that the creatures are not god. and if they further hereupon enquire , why we will then make use of unions not essential , among creatures , to illustrate that which is supposed essential in the uncreated being , and expect very particular , distinct accounts of every thing so represented ; they will shew themselves as wise in their expectations , i. e. that they think nothing can serve to illustrate , unless it be like in all respects . that question still returns . is every thing to be judg'd by any man of sense impossible in god , whereof he hath not given distinct and explicit accounts , and illustrations from somewhat in the creatures ? and another will be added , is there any thing originally in god , not essential to him ? but when the world is so full of instances of substantial unions , without confusion , or identification , that he cannot so much as name me a created substance , that he can be sure exists absolutely simple , i am sure it can be no contradiction to suppose that there may be uncreated , necessary , eternal union , without confusion or identification ; and that it would be , as he phrases it , essential contradiction , or substantial nonsense , to say that things united necessarily ( tho distinct ) can possibly ever admit of separation . and if our modern anti-trinitarians ( for i will not call them by the inept name of unitarians , which as rightfully belongs to them whose adversaries they are pleas'd to be , as to themselves , and therefore cannot distinguish the one from the other ) would allow it to be their method to understand the doctrine of the orthodox antients , before they decry and hoot at it , they would find that as they allow sufficient distinction of the sacred hypostases ; so the union they assert , is not such as identifies them , but only signifies them to be inseparable . so speaks athanasius himself , we think not as the sabellians , that the son is of one and the same essence with the father , but consubstantial — nor do we assert three hypostases separated as with men , bodily , lest with the gentiles , we should admit polytheism , &c. so do liberius and he agree in sentiment . the one says , the son is not separated from the father's hypostasis . the other , we hold not the son divided from the father , &c. and upon the most impartial , faithful , and diligent search and consideration , i do solemnly declare there needed nor more of rationality , or intelligibleness in this doctrine , to keep it from being ridicul'd , as contradictious , and non-sense ; but only less prejudice , and more modesty in the opposers of it , with more reverence of the divine majesty , upon this ( obvious ) apprehension , that if it be true , it must be sacred , divine truth . this author would fain have me with him to the play-house , whither really i have no leasure to accompany him , nor much temptation ; for i perceive it hath fill'd his mind with ideas not useful to my purpose ; nor , i think , to any good one of his own . if there he learned to jest away that which should be the best part of himself ; and of which socrates , dying , told his friends it would be gone far enough out of their hands , and for that which was left behind , they might bury , or do with it what they pleased . if there he was taught to ridicule the holy apostle's distinction of ( an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) an inner and an outer man ; and when he hath thrown the former of these out of his notion of himself , for my part , i must think of that which is left , that the silly indian is the less silly creature of the two . and besides , as he is too much given to play , to mind any thing of serious discourse , so i find he is not throughout honest in his play neither ; but that even when he pretends to sit out , and be but a spectator , only taking care that there be fair play , he falls in himself , and plays booty . nor do i find he hath any thing of argument in his discourse , which hath not been considered already in the discourse i have had with the considerator . i therefore take leave of them both together , and of you too , sir , being in great sincerity your affectionate humble servant , the enquirer . errata . pag. 21. l. 20. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 51. l. 11. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . advertisement . the letter to the clergy of both vniversities , came not to my sight , or notice , till some hours after the last sheet of this discourse was brought me from the press ; i have not time therefore to say much to it , nor yet should say more than i do had i never so much . the author seems to think what he was now doing , as to the enquiry , superfluous , because he said it was so fully done by an ab●er hand , &c. in the mean time he was ●n ill case , that he was neither able to write to any purpose , nor be silent : a most deplorable double impotency ? but he hath notwithstanding his modesty , shown a double ability , to invent and make an hypothesis of his own fingers ends , and then most dexterously to combat that shadow . three inadequate gods , is indeed ( to use his own phrase ) his own invention , constantly disavow'd by the enquirer , who , with the generality of trinitarians , calls the three subsistents in the godhead , god ; being each of them necessarily existent , but none of them alone exclusively , a god. what art he hath is shewn in fighting this his own figment . as also that of parts of the deity , other than conceptible , which no man can avoid . so we have his dream of a third part of a god , about which he so learnedly raves in his dream , as to disprove , as effectually , any god at all . for i appeal to what sense he hath left himself , whether power alone be god exclusive of wisdom and goodness ? then 't is an inadequate , or a not compleat notion of god , then by his profound reasoning , not eternal . no more are father , son , and holy ghost parts , unless you be enamoured of the bull , impartible parts , that never were parted , nor ever can be . as what are necessarily united ( tho unconfounded ) cannot without nonsense and contradiction , be said to be parted . his fiction , that what is from the eternal father by necessary emanation , cannot be eternal , but must have a beginning , is of the same stamp . he did not need when he writ , to have abandoned all logick and common sense , that would have told him relata sunt simul naturâ . his so confidently taking it for granted on all hands , that all infinites are equal , shews his little compass of thought , and how unacquainted he is with the difficulties of a controversy , wherein yet he will be so over-meddlesome . qui pauca respicit , &c. but who so bold as — ? i leave him to compound that difference with his abler considerator , whether one inch and two inches be equal ? and so bid him good night . finis . books written by the reverend mr. john howe . 1. the blessedness of the righteous : the vanity of this mortal life , on psal. 17. ver . 15. and psal. 89. 47. 2. delighting in god. 3. living temple . 4. self-dedication discoursed in the anniversary thanksgiving of a person of honour for a great deliverance . 5. of thoughtfulness for the morrow . with an appendix concerning the immoderate desire of fore-knowing things to come . 6. of charity in reference to other mens sins . 7. the redeemer's tears wept over lost souls , in a treatise on luke 19. 41 , 42. with an appendix , wherein somewhat is occasionally discoursed concerning the sin against the holy ghost , and how god is said to will the salvation of them that perish . 8. a funeral sermon for that faithful and laborious servant of christ , mr. richard fairclough , ( who deceased july 4. 1682. in the sixty first year of his age. ) 9. a sermon directing what we are to do after a strict enquiry whether or no we truly love god. 10. a funeral sermon for mrs. esther sampson , the late wife of henry sampson , dr. of physick , who died nov. 24. 1689. 11. the carnality of religious contention . in two sermons preach'd at the merchants lecture in broadstreet . 12. a calm and sober enquiry concerning the possibility of a trinity in the godhead . 13. a letter to a friend concerning a postscript to the defence of dr. sherlock's notion of the trinity in unity , relating to the calm and sober enquiry upon the same subject . books printed for tho. parkhurst , at the bible and three crowns , the lower end of cheapside . a body of practical divinity , consisting of above one hundred seventy six sermons on the lesser-catechism composed by the reverend assembly of divines at westminster : with a supplement of some sermons on several texts of scripture . by thomas watson , formerly minister at st. stephen's walbrook , london . a paraphrase on the new testament , with notes , doctrinal and practical . by plainness and brevity fitted to the use of religious families , in their daily reading of the scriptures ; and of the younger and poorer sort of scholars and ministers , who want fuller helps . with an advertisement of difficulties in the revelations . by the late reverend mr. richard baxter . six hundred of select hymns and spiritual songs collected out of the holy bible . together with a catechism , the canticles , and a catalogue of vertuous women . the three last hundred of select hymns collected out of the psalms of david . by william barton , a. m. late minister of st. martins in leicester . spiritual songs : or songs of praise to almighty god upon several occasions . together with the song of songs , which is solomon's : first turn'd , then paraphased in english verse . by john mason . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a44701-e100 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 4. jud. antiq. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , cap. 16. enn. 6. lib. 7. cap. 5 , 6 , 7 , &c. quaestiones aliae . contra sabellii gregales . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . tom. 1. p. 241. edit . paris . tractat. de definitionibus , tom. 2. 45. ubi vid. plura . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. sext. empir . adversus mathematicos , lib. 8. considerations on the lord bishop of worcester's sermon ; p. 7 , 8. these considerations , p. 31 , 32. considerations , pag. 8. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . liber . epist. ad athan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . rescript . ath. ad liberium . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the christian religion expressed i, briefly in the ancient creeds, the ten commandments, and the lords prayer, and, ii, more largely in a profession taken out of the holy scriptures, containing 1, the articles of the christian belief, 2, our consent to the gospel covenant, 3, the sum of christian duty, according to the primitive simplicity, purity, and practice, fitted to the right instruction of the ignorant, the promoting of holiness, and the charitable concord of all true believers ... / by richard baxter. baxter, richard, 1615-1691. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a26895 of text r25270 in the english short title catalog (wing b1221). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 113 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 44 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a26895 wing b1221 estc r25270 08833965 ocm 08833965 41924 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26895) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 41924) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1274:12) the christian religion expressed i, briefly in the ancient creeds, the ten commandments, and the lords prayer, and, ii, more largely in a profession taken out of the holy scriptures, containing 1, the articles of the christian belief, 2, our consent to the gospel covenant, 3, the sum of christian duty, according to the primitive simplicity, purity, and practice, fitted to the right instruction of the ignorant, the promoting of holiness, and the charitable concord of all true believers ... / by richard baxter. baxter, richard, 1615-1691. 80, [5] p. [s.n.], london : 1660. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. eng christianity. theology. a26895 r25270 (wing b1221). civilwar no the christian religion. expressed i. briefly, in the ancient creeds, the ten commandments, and the lords prayer. and ii· more largely in a p baxter, richard 1660 21769 9 0 0 0 0 0 4 b the rate of 4 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-05 rachel losh sampled and proofread 2004-05 rachel losh text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the christian religion . expressed i. briefly , in the ancient creeds , the ten commandments , and the lords prayer . and ii. more largely in a profession taken out of the holy scriptures ; containing 1. the articles of the christian belief . 2. our consent to the gospel covenant . 3. the sum of christian duty . according to the primitive simplicity , purity , and practice : fitted to the right instructing of the ignorant , the promoting of holiness , and the charitable concord of all true believers . which whosoever sincerely believeth , consenteth to , and practiseth , shall certainly be saved . it is also by prefixed questions , made a catechism . by richard baxter . london printed , 1660. to fill up this vacant page . the papists confession of the sufficiency of our belief . concil. basil. orat. ragus . bin . p. 299. [ the holy scripture in the literall sense , soundly and well understood , is the infallible and most sufficient rule of faith . ] bellarm. de verbo dei , l. 4. c. 11. [ in the christian doctrine both of faith and manners , some things are simply necessary to salvation , to all ; as the knowledge of the articles of the apostles creed , of the ten commandments , and of some sacraments : the rest are not so necessary , that a man cannot be saved without the explicite knowledge , belief and profession of them — these things that are simply necessary , and are profitable to all , the apostles preached to all — all things are written by the apostles which are necessary to all , and which they openly preaclot to all ] ( see the place . ) costenus enchirid. c 1. p. 49. non inficiamur praecipua illa fidei capita quae omnibus christians cognitu sunt ad salutem necessaria , perspicuè satis esse apostolicis scriptis comprehensa . the ancient creed . i believe in god the father almighty , maker of heaven and earth : and in jesus christ his only son our lord , who was conceived by the holy ghost , born of the virgin mary ; suffered under pontius pilate , was crucified , dead and buried , he descended into hell ; the third day he rose again from the dead ; he ascended into heaven , and sittteth on the right hand of god the father almighty , from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead . i believe in the holy ghost ; the holy catholick church , the communion of saints : the forgiveness of sins ; the resurrection of the body , and the life everlasting , amen . i believe in one god the father ▪ almighty , maker of heaven and earth , and of all things visible and invisible ; and in one lord iesus christ the only begotten son of god , begotten of his father before all worlds , god of god , light of light , very god of very god , begotten not made , being of one substance with the father , by whom all things were made : who for us men , and for our salvation came down from heaven , and was incarnate by the holy ghost of the virgin mary , and was made man , and was crucified also for us under pontius pilate . he suffered and was buried , and the third day he rose again according to the scriptures , and ascended into heaven , and sitteth at the right hand of the father ; and he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead ; whose kingdom shall have no end and i believe in the holy ghost , the lord and giver of life , who proceedeth from the father and the son , who with the father and the son together is worshipped and glorified , who spake by the prophets . and i believe one catholike and apostolike church ; i acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins . and i look for the resurrection of the dead , and the life of the world to come . amen . whosoever will be saved : before all things , it is necessary that he hold the catholike faith . which faith except every one do keep wholly and undefiled : without doubt he shall perish everlastingly . and the catholike faith is this : that we worship one god in trinity , and trinity in unity . neither confounding the persons : nor dividing the substance . for there is one person of the father , another of the son , and another of the holy ghost . but the godhead of the father , of the son , and of the holy ghost , is all one : the glory equal , the majesty coeternal . such as the father is , such is the son : & such is the holy ghost . the father uncreate , the son uncreate , and the holy ghost uncreate . the father incomprehensible , the son incomprehensible , and the holy ghost incomprehensible . the father eternal , the son eternal , and the holy ghost eternal . and yet they are not three eternals : but one eternal . as also there be not three incomprehensibles , nor three uncreated : but one uncreated , and one incomprehensible . so likewise the father is almighty , the son almighty , and the holy ghost almighty . and yet they are not three almighties : but one almighty . so the father is god , the son is god , & the holy ghost is god . and yet they are not three gods : but one god . so likewise the father is lord , the son lord , and the holy ghost lord . and yet not three lords : but one lord . for like as we be compelled by the christian verity , to acknowledge every person by himself to be god and lord . so are we forbidden by the catholike religion , to say there be three gods , or three lords . the father is made of none : neither created , nor begotten . the son is of the father alone : not made , nor created , but begotten . the holy ghost is of the father , and of the son : neither made , nor created , nor begotten , but proceeding . so there is one father , not three fathers ; one son , not three sons ; one holy ghost , not three holy ghosts . and in this trinity none is afore or after other , none is greater or less then another . but the whole three persons be coeternal together , and coequal . so that in all things , as is aforesaid , the unity in trinity , and the trinity in unity is to be worshipped . he therefore that will be saved : must thus think of the trinity . furthermore , it is necessary to everlasting salvation ; that he also believe rightly in the incarnation of our lord jesus christ . for the right faith is , that we believe and confess : that our lord jesus christ the son of god , is god and man . god of the substance of the father , begotten before the worlds : and man of the substance of his mother , born in the world . perfect god and perfect man : of a reasonable soul , and humane flesh subsisting . equal to the father as touching his godhead : and inferiour to the father touching his manhood . who although he be god and man : yet he is not two , but one christ . one , not by conversion of the godhead into flesh , but by taking of the manhood into god . one altogether , not by confusion of substance , but by unity of person . for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man : so god and man is one christ . who suffered for our salvation , descended into hell , rose again the third day from the dead . he ascended into heaven , and sitteth one the right hand of the father , god almighty ; from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead . at whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies : and shall give account for their own works . and they that have done good , shall go into life everlasting : and they that have done evil , into everlasting fire . this is the catholike faith : which except a man believe faithfully , he cannot be saved . the ten commandments , exod. 20. god spake all these words , saying , i am the lord thy god , which have brought thee out of the land of egypt , out of the house of bondage . thou shalt have no other gods before me . thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image , or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above , or that is in the earth beneath , or that is in the water under the earth ; thou shalt not bow down thy self to them , nor serve them ; for i the lord thy god am a jealous god , visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children , unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me ; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me , and keep my commandments . thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain ; for the lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain . remember the sabbath day to keep it holy : six days shalt thou labour , and do all thy work ; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god ; in it thou shalt not do any work , thou , nor thy son , nor thy daughter , thy man-servant , nor thy maid-servant , nor thy cattel , nor the stranger that is within thy gates : for in six days the lord made heaven and earth , the sea , and all that in them is , and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it . honour thy father and thy mother , that thy days may be long upon the land which the lord thy god giveth thee . thou shalt not kill . thou shalt not commit adultery . thou shat not steal . thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour . thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house , thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife , nor his man-servant , nor his maid-servant , nor his ox , nor his ass , nor any thing that is thy neighbours . the lords prayer , mat. 6. our father which art in heaven , hallowed be thy name : thy kingdom come : thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven : give us this day our daily bread : and forgive us our debts , as we forgive our debtors ; and lead us not into temptation , but deliver us from evil ; for thine is the kingdom , and the power , and the glory , for ever , amen . the profession of the christian religion . i. the articles of the christian belief . it is a catechism if you prefix to every article , the question , what do you believe : 1 there is one only god a in three persons , * the father , son and holy ghost b : who is infinite in being , power , wisdom and goodness c : the creator of all things d ; our most absolute lord , most righteous governour , and most gracious father e . 2 god made man for himself f in his own image g ; with reason and freewill h : endued with wisdom and holiness i ; and put under him the inferior creatures , for his use k : and bound him by the law of nature to adhere to god his maker ; to believe him , fear him , love him , honour him and obey him with all his powers l : moreover forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge upon pain of death m . 3 man being tempted by satan , did wilfully sin , and so fell from god and happiness , under the wrath of god a , the curse of his law b and the power of the devil c : and hence we are all conceived in sin , and prone to evil , d and condemnation is passed upon all e ; and no meer creature is able to deliver us f . 4 god so loved the world that he gave his only son to be their redeemer a ; who being god , and one with the father b did take our nature , and become man ; being conceived by the holy ghost in the virgin mary , and born of her , and called jesus christ c ; and being free from sin , he conquered the tempter , fulfilled all righteousness d , revealed the gospel , and confirmed it by miracles e ; and gave himself a sacrifice for our sins , and a ransome for us , in suffering death on the cross , to reconcile us unto god f ; and was buried , and went among the dead g * ) and rose again the third day , having conquered death , h ; and afterward ascended into heaven i where he remaineth god and man , in one person k , and is lord of all , in glory with the father l ; the chief priest , and prophet , and king of his church m ; interceding for us ; and teaching and ruling us , by his spirit , ministers , and word n . 5 the lord jesus christ hath ordained in his testament , that all they that receive him by a true effectual faith , and by true repentance do turn from the flesh , the world , and the devil unto god , shall freely receive the pardon of their sins a , and shall become the sons of god , and heirs of everlasting life , b & the spirit of christ shall dwell within them c : and all that overcome and persevere to the death , shall live with christ in endless glory d : but the unbelievers , impenitent and unholy shall be condemned to everlasting fire e . and this he hath commanded his ministers to preach to all the world f : and hath told us , that all that are given him of the father , shall come to him , and that he will in no wise cast them out , nor shall any pluck them out of his hands . g 6 the holy ghost proceeding from the father and the son , did inspire and guide the prophets , apostles , and evangelists , that they might truly and fully reveal the doctrine of christ , and deliver it in scripture to the church as the rule of our faith and life a : and by abundance of evident uncontrouled miracles , and wonderfull gifts , to be the great witness of christ , and of the truth of his holy word b . 7 where the gospel is made known , the holy ghost by it doth enlighten the minds of all that shall be saved , and opening and softening their hearts , doth draw them to believe in christ a and turneth them from the power of satan unto god b : whereupon they are joyned to christ the head , and into one holy catholick church which is his body , consisting of all true believers c : and are freely justified , and made the sons of god d ; and a sanctified peculiar people unto him e , and do love him above all , and serve him sincerely in holiness and righteousness f , loving and desiring the communion of the saints g ; overcoming the flesh , the world and the devil h , and hoping for christs second coming , and for everlasting life i . 8 at death the souls of the justified go to happiness with christ , and the souls of the wicked to misery a : and at the end of this world the lord jesus christ will come again , and will raise the bodies of all men from the dead ; and will judge all according to their works b and the righteous shall go into everlasting life , and the rest into everlasting punishment c : all this i do unfeignedly believe . ii. our consent to the gospel covenant , with god the father , son and holy ghost ; by which we are christians , and members of the catholick church . quest . are you willing and resolved to give up your self to god the father , son and holy ghost , according to the gospel doctrine which your profess ? repenting of my sins , and renouncing the flesh , the world and the devil a , i do take this one god to be my only god b , and do heartily give up my self unto him c ; even to the father , d as my creator and reconciled father in christ : and to his son jesus christ , as my lord , and only saviour , to reconcile , and bring me unto god e : and to the holy ghost as my sanctifier ; that he may further illuminate , sanctifie and confirm me , and i may hold fast and obey the doctrine of christ , which was revealed by his inspiration , and witnessed by his gifts and miracles , and is now contained in the holy scriptures ; and that he may be in me the earnest of my everlasting happiness with god f . iii. the summ of christian duty . quest . what are 1 christ hath appointed that fit men shall be ordained his ministers , to preach the gospel to the nations of the world a , and make them his disciples , baptizing them in the name of the father , son and holy ghost b : and to congregate his disciples c , and to oversee and guide the several congregations , and each member thereof d : particularly , to teach them the word of god e ; to pray and praise god with them and for them f to administer the lords supper in remembrance of him g ; h especially on the lords day , which he hath appointed for holy communion in such works i : also to rebuke with authority the scandalous and unruly k ; and to bind and reject those that are obstinately impenitent , and unreformed ; and to absolve and restore the penitent , and confirm the weak l . it is therefore the peoples duty to joyn with such churches , for the aforesaid worship of god a ; and to know , hear , submit to , and obey these their guides that are over them in the lord ; b and to avoid division and discord , and to live in unity , love and peace c . 2 the secret duties of holiness are these : the exercise of faith , repentance , love , hope , delight in god , and all other graces a : the mortifying of our sins ; especially atheism , unbelief , and unholiness ; hardness of heart , disobedience and unthankfulness , flesh-pleasing , covetousness , and pride , b : the diligent examining of our own hearts , about our estates , our duties , and our sins c : meditating upon god , and his word and works ; especially of our redemption by jesus christ ; and of death , judgement , heaven , and hell d ; watching diligently over our thoughts , affections , words and actions e : resisting temptations f : and frequent and fervent prayer to god , in the name of christ , with confession , thanksgiving , and cheerful praises g ; 3 parents and masters must diligently teach their children and servants , the word and fear of god a , and pray with them , and for them , and hinder them from sin b , and use all their power that they and their households may serve the lord c : children and servants must willingly learn and obey d : we must seek instruction in the matters of our salvation , especially of our teachers e : we must take heed of the company of tempting , and ungodly persons , and delight in the company and help of the godly : we must lovingly and faithfully give , and thankfully receive admonitions and exhortations f : confessing our faults one to another g : and by prayer , psalms , and edifying conference , and a holy conversation , provoking one another to love , and to good works h . 4 superiors must rule for god and the common good ; with justice and mercy a : inferiors must honour and obey them in the lord b : we must not injure , but preserve the life , chastity , estate , name , and rights of our neighbour c : not seeking our own against his welfare d , but doing as we would be done by e ; forbearing and forgiving f ; and loving our neighbour as our selves g : yea loving our enemies ; and doing good to all according to our power h . the agreement of the associated pastors . i. we do each one for himself , profess our resolution , in the strength of christ , to be faithful and diligent in the works of our ministry ; and to live an holy and exemplary life , in piety , justice and charity , according to the measure of our abilities : especially watching against those sins that tend to the corrupting or dividing of the church , and to the hindring of our ministry ; and to the dishonour of the gospel , and of our holy profession . ii. we do profess our agreement and resolution in the strength of christ , to be faithful and diligent in publick preaching the gospel : and in the personal instructing of all in our parishes , or undertaken limits , that will submit thereto ; teaching the ignorant the principles of religion ; endeavouring in love , compassion and meekness , and yet with seriousness and zeal , to convince the erroneous and opposers , to awaken the presumptuous and secure , and help them to try the state of their souls , and to see and feel their sin and misery , and return to god by christ that they may live : to strengthen the weak ; to raise the faln ; to edifie and confirm the strong ; and to comfort such as need consolation ; and to help them all to prepare for death and judgement , and for everlasting life : and all this , as frequently , constantly and orderly , as our strength , and time , and greater duties will permit . iii. that the churches may be capable of the discipline of christ , and constituted and ruled according to the word of god , and the ends of our office and labours may be attained , we are agreed and resolved to take none for adult members of the churches committed to our special charge , nor admit them , as such , to church-communion and priviledges , but those that have first made some personal credible profession of true christianity , that is , of faith and obedience , and as members of those churches , submit to our pastoral over-sight according to the word of god . but all that make this profession of christianity and consent to live in communion with the church , and under the ministry and discipline of christ , we shall receive , though they be weak in knowledge , and utterance , and duties ; and shall faithfully imploy our ministerial abilities and care for their edification and salvation . iv. we are agreed and resolved in the strength of christ , while we have ability and opportunity , to congregate the people , and hold constant assemblies , especially on the lords-dayes ; and therein faithfully to perform the works of our office , in reading the holy scripture , preaching , praying , baptizing , praising god , celebrating the sacrament of the lords supper , and guiding the people in the whole publick worship of god : and to manage our work with as much prudence , and reverence , and love , and compassion to the peoples souls , and with as much plainness and convincing evidence , authority , seriousness , and zealous importunity as we can : avoiding as far as we are able , such things as corrupt and dishonour gods ordinances , and tend to corrupt the peoples minds with errour , presumption , deadness , negligence , or other distempers , displeasing to the lord . v. for the ends of our office , in obedience to the lord , we agree and resolve in the strength of christ , to exercise so much of church-government and discipline , in the churches committed to our charge , as we discern to be our certain duty ; that is , to keep order and decency in the holy assemblies , and see that all be done to edification : convicting seducers , and stopping the mouthes of perverse gain-sayers ; overseeing the several members of our charge ; and requiring them to walk obediently to christ , and do their duties towards each other : to reprove the gross and scandalous offenders : and if they continue impenitent or unreformed , to tell the church , or rebuke them before all ; ( and publickly pray for their recovery ) : and if they hear not the church , but remain impenitent and unreformed , after sufficient reproof and patience , to put away such persons from among us , declaring against them the threatnings of the lord , and requiring them to forbear communion with the church , and requiring the church to avoid them , and have no familiarity or communion with them , as persons unmeet for the communion of saints . and those that credibly profess repentance , we are to absolve ministerially in the name of christ , and comfort with the promises of grace ; receiving them , and requiring the people to receive them , as brethren , into their communion : but warning them to watch and sin so no more , lest worse befall them . this holy discipline , by the help of god , we shall exercise faithfully and impartially , but yet with caution and moderation ; neglecting no necessary consultations with other pastors , or concurrence of the church : and consenting to be responsible for male-administrations . vi . for the communion of churches , and the strengthening our selves for the work of god , and helping one another therein , and maintaining unity , love and concord ; we do consent to hold a brotherly communion and correspondency : and to that end , when necessity or greater duty hindreth us not , we shall meet at such convenient times and places , as shall be appointed or agreed on from time to time ; and shall labour to improve these meetings to our mutual edification , in such consultations , conferences or other holy exercises , as our present case shall most require . and we consent to deal faithfully in advising and admonishing one another ; and for the satisfaction of the brethren ( to the fore-mentioned ends ) to be responsible , if any shall charge us with heresie , scandal , schism , or male-administration : and forbearing matters without our line , to study and endeavour the promoting of truth , and holiness , and unity among our selves , and with other churches , as we have a call . and also we agree by communicatory letters upon all needful occasions , to certifie our brethren and other churches of the state of our affairs , and of particular members , that those that justly have communion in one church , or are excluded , may have communion with other churches , or be refused by them accordingly , when there is just occasion . and if any brethren or churches be prevailed over so far by temptation , as unjustly to deny us their communion , in this way of association , assemblies , or correspondency , we shall not therefore deny them to be our brethren , or churches of christ , but shall love and own them , and have so much communion with them , as their distance shall leave them capable of , if they joyn with us in the profession and practice of true christianity , and of the points that are necessary to church-constitution and communion , and are not proved guilty of heresie , ungodliness , or such kind of schism or scandalous sins , for which the scripture commandeth us to reject men , and avoid them . but such as are thus guilty ( though they offer themselves to associate with us ) we shall refuse to hold communion with , till they credibly profess repentance , and manifest a reformation . vii . because it is a matter of great concernment to the honour of christ , the propagation of the gospel , and the encrease and welfare of the church , that there be a provision of able , faithful ministers , and that unworthy persons be kept out ; and because deceivers and unworthy men are forward to intrude , and the people ordinarily are insufficient of themselves to make such tryal of mens ability and soundness as is requisite to the safety of the church ; and the church in all ages hath received ministers by the ordination of other ministers of christ : we do therefore agree to be careful and faithful in the discharge of our duties hereabout , so far as we can discern them , resolving that if any vacant church desire us to recommend a fit person to be their pastor , or to judge of any recommended to them , we will not recommend or approve of any , but such as we judge most agreeable to the will of christ ; nor will we prefer less fit and worthy men , for friendship or any carnal interest or respect . and if any intollerably unworthy person be about to intrude , or have intruded , or any neighbour church be about to choose , or have chosen such , if we have opportunity , we shall faithfully acquaint them with their sin and danger , and perswade them to a better course . and if we shall be called to invest any by solemn ordination in the sacred office of the ministry , we shall perform it , as near as we are able , according to the directions of the word of god ; admitting none that christ excludeth : and if it may be , we shall do it in that congregation which the person is to over-see , that so we may the better discern their mutual consent , inculcate their duties , and engage them to a faithful performance thereof . and whereas it is much controverted of late , whether the power of ordination be given to the people , or the pastors of a particular church , or the associated neighbour pastors , and whether a stated president among these should not have a negative voice herein ; we are agreed , that leaving the people their due liberty of consent in the reception of their proper pastors , we will none of us singly ordain , without the assistance of other pastors : nor will we joyn with any hereticks or others , in unjust and impious ordinations , that tend to the corrupting or dividing of the churches . and to avoid division upon a tolerable difference of opinions , where we may agree in practice , we consent that the associations that have no stated presidents , or that give not to such a negative voice , shall receive into their communion those that are of the contrary opinion ; giving them leave , if they desire it , to profess or record their opinion in that particular , so they will afterward walk among them in love and peace . and that the associations that choose a stated president , and give him a negative voice in ordination , shall in like manner , and on like terms , receive into their communion , such as dissent in that particular , and having professed or recorded their dissent , will walk submissively in love and peace . which liberty also of professing and recording their different principles , we desire may be allowed them , that joyn in synods , as being only for communion of churches , and them that joyn in them , as having a direct superiour governing power over the particular pastors of the churches . viii . though it be the surest way to peace and concord , to take up with these necessary things , and we cannot approve of the narrow dividing principles of those men that will impose things unnecessary , to the excluding of the necessary ; yet if our lawful rulers shall command it , or the peace of the church , through the distempers of the brethren shall require it , we shall obey , and consent in things that god hath not forbidden ; and if we suffer for well-doing , and for obeying god rather then men , we shall endeavour to imitate our lord , who being reviled , reviled not again , and when he suffered , threatned not ; but committed all to him that judgeth righteously , 1 pet. 2. 23. the office of christs ministers more largely opened . 1. the lord jesus christ having purchased our salvation by his blood , and stablished his testament or covenant of grace , and left us his example of perfect holiness , ascended to the father , and is there the glorified lord of all , and head over all things to his church , all power being given him in heaven and earth ; that interceding for us with the father , he might be the treasury of our light and life ; and offering salvation to the miserable world , might gather , and cleanse , and save the church , which is his body ; communicating to them that grace that is here necessary to them , in their way and warfare , and perfecting them in glory with himself , when their warfare is accomplished . 2. christ being thus invisible to us , in glory with the father , performeth not these works below , by himself in person , immediately and alone ; but by his spirit , ministers , and word . the holy ghost being his advocate or agent to these ends ; and his ministers the instruments used by his spirit and himself : to indite and bear witness to his word , and to preach it to the world , as that infallible truth which must guide them to salvation . 3. the first prophetical and apostolical ministers , being sent by himself , and qualified by the inspiration , conduct and miraculous gifts of the holy ghost , did found the church , and enlarge it unto many nations of the world , and left them the holy scriptures , which contain the doctrine which they preached , that it might be certainly and fully preserved , and propagated till the coming of christ . and they setled by the appointment of christ and his spirit , an ordinary ministry to succeed them , not to deliver a new law or gospel , but to preserve and preach the doctrine which in the holy scriptures ( and conjunctly at first also from the mouths of the apostles ) they had received as once delivered to the saints , and to guide the churches by it to the end . 4. though christ appointed ministers that should have so far a charge or care of the whole church , as not to be limited to any one part , but to extend their labour and oversight , as far as their capacity and opportunities would permit : yet did he never make any man his vicar or vicegerent , as head of the universal church : nor lay upon any one , whether peter , paul , or any other , the charge and oversight of the whole : nor did ever peter or any one apostle exercise such an office , in governing all the catholike church : especially when it ceased to be confined to jerusalem and the adjacent parts , and was dispersed through the world . never did the apostles receive their commissions from peter : or all the ministers then in the world , perform their work by his commission , or by any power received from him , nor were accountable to him , and judged by him for what they did . much less is this universal head-ship , committed to the pope of rome through all ( or any ) generations : but because a certain primacy of order was granted him by emperours and councils , within the limits of the roman empire , long after the apostles days : therefore doth he take advantage thence , to pretend a title to the universal head-ship : as if the roman and the christian world had been the same ; or the emperor and his clergy had been the rulers of all the christian subjects of all other princes or pastors upon earth : and his limited primacy had been an universal soveraignty . this claim of the pope of rome to be the vice-christ , or universal pastor of all the christian world , is a tyrannical , impious , irrational usurpation ; contrary to the holy scripture , and the state of the primitive church , and contrary to nature and common sense , which declare his incapacity of the work ; far more then any prince is uncapable of being the universal monarch of the world ; and therefore all christians should abhor this proud and impious usurpation , and fly from the guilt of that horrible schism , and those corruptions in doctrine , worship and government , which it hath introduced . 5. christ calleth his ordinary ministers to that office , by enduing them with his gifts , and disposing them thereunto , and moving the hearts of the people to consent , and by ordination of the senior pastors ; and giving them opportunities for the work : and sometime the magistrates command hath a hand in the obligation . 6. it belongeth to the office of the ministers of christ to preach the gospel to the nations of the world , and make them christs disciples , baptizing them in the name of the father , the son , and the holy ghost . 7. this preaching or publishing the gospel , is done by voice or by writing : that by voice , is done by reading , by publike sermons , or interlocutory conference : that by writing is either by translating the holy scriptures into the languages used by the nations , or by expounding and applying them . so that the holy scriptures in the original languages , are the word of god , both as to the terms and sense grammatical and doctrinal : the same scriptures in a translation are the word of god as to the sense , both grammatical and doctrinal ; but not as to the terms : the holy doctrine of the scriptures delivered in the writings , and sermons , and conferences of the preachers of the gospel , is the word of god , as to the doctrinal sense ; but not as to the terms or grammatical sense , except when they recite the scripture words , as in the original or translated . 8. baptism is a holy sacrament instituted by christ , in which a person professing the christian faith ( or the infant of such a professor ) is ( regularly by a minister of christ ) baptized in water into the name of the father , the son , and the holy ghost , in signification and solemnization of the holy covenant , in which as a penitent believer ( or the seed of such ) he giveth up himself ( or is by the parent given up ) to god the father , son and holy ghost , from henceforth ( or from the time of natural capacity ) to believe in , love , and serve this blessed trinity , against the flesh , the world , and devil , and this especially on the account of redemption : and ( if he sincerely make this covenant ) is solemnly entred a member of christ and his church , a justified reconciled child of god , and an heir of heaven : all which , with the other present benefits of the covenant , he is hereby instated ( or invested ) in ; they being thus solemnly delivered to him by the promise thus sealed , and applyed by an appointed minister of christ . or if some of us doubt whether these special benefits of the covenant are delivered thus to all the infants that are sincerely dedicated unto god ; yet we are all agreed , that they are assured to them as soon as they believe : and in the interim of their incapacity , they have a general promise that god will be their god , and his mercy shall be to them . 9. it is a notable part of the ministerial office to baptize : and consequently to try and judge of their profession who are thus solemnly to be admitted into the church , and estated by baptism in these benefits : therefore hath christ given the keys of his kingdom to their trust , both that his holy church may be preserved from the unjust intrusions of uncapable persons : and that the faithful covenanters may have the fuller consolation , by receiving a sealed promise and pardon , from the hand of a minister of christ , commanded by him to seal and deliver it in his name . 10. we are perswaded that it is the will of christ that the infants of the faithful shall be dedicated to him in baptism , and engaged in his covenant , and made members of his visible church , because we find that under the promise before christs incarnation it was their duty to devote and engage their children to god in the holy covenant , and that god did accept them as visible members of his church ; and we never find where christ had discharged parents from this duty , or turned all infants out of his church , and reversed this blessing of their church-membership ; but contrarily we find him offering to have taken the jewish nation to be still his church , if they would have taken him for their saviour ; and telling us that it was for unbelief , that they were broken off ; and that it is but some of the branches that were broken off , and we are graffed in amongst them into the same olive-tree , and that all israel shall be saved , when the fulness of the gentiles is come in ; and we find christ rebuking his disciples for hindering little children from being offered to him , and that he charged them to forbid it no more , and that he received and blessed them himself , and tels us that of such is the kingdom of god ; and we find it the commission given to his ministers , that they were to disciple the nations , baptizing them . all which , and much more ( especially having not the least intimation of his will against that which was even then the duty and practice of the parents , and the infants benefit ) do deter us from forbidding the dedication of children unto christ , and receiving them into his church by baptism . 11. baptism being so great a work , should be deliberately , seriously and reverently performed , if it may be , publikely before the church , where the person ( or parent ) should make their solemn profession , and be received with the joy and prayers of the church ; whether infant or adult . 12. the catholick church consisteth of all the christians in the world : those that have the sanctifying spirit of christ are the living members : those that openly profess christianity , and enter into covenant with christ , and are not yet baptized , are visible members initially , but the solemnization and investiture is defective ; if it be where baptism cannot be had , the defect is innocent ; if where it may be had , it is sinful : but yet not such as nullifieth the persons visible christianity . and no errours , offences or differences do exclude any totally from the catholick church , while all the essentials of christianity are kept . 13. it is the will of christ that all christians that have opportunity , be members of some particular church , as well as of the universal : that he may have the honour , and they the great and necessary benefits , that by the ministry , ordinances and communion of saints , is there to be expected . 14. a particular christian church , is [ a competent number of christians cohabiting , who by the appointment of christ , and their own expressed consent , are united ( or associated ) under one or more pastors , for the right worshipping of god in publick , and the edification of the members , in knowledge and holiness , and the maintaining of their obedience to christ , for the safety , strength and beauty of the society , and thereby the glorifying and pleasing of the lord . ] it is a political organized society , that is here defined , and not a meer community that is incapable of the sacraments and other ordinances , and the benefits of them , for want of overseers . 15. those ministers that are placed in parishes , where are many sorts of people , some ignorant of the essentials of christianity , some apostates , some impious and of wicked lives , and some that consent not to be members of their pastoral charge , should teach them all that will submit and learn : for we are called to it by the magistrate and obliged by the publike maintenance which we receive to that end ; and engaged by the general command of improving our talents , and the special opportunity that we have thereunto . 16. this teaching of all our parishioners that will submit , must be both personally and publikely , as far as we have ability and opportunity . the former must be by catechizing , and conference ; wherein we must teach them first the essential points of christianity , and labour to help them to the clearest understanding of the doctrine of salvation ; and press it on their affections , and help them to discern their sin and misery , and do all that we can to procure their conversion or edification , according to their several states ; manageing the whole work with those holy affections , that the weight of it doth require . 17. the great necessity of our neighbours , and the advantages of this familiar way , do tell us that this work of catechizing and conference is so great a part of our duty , that we should do it with much diligence , prudence and constancy . and the general precepts of doing all to edification and in order , oblige us ordinarily to appoint a stated time and place where every family may come in order ; and if we are able we should go to them , that cannot or will not come to us , if they will but hear us . 18. those that are baptized in infancy , and there engaged to god in the holy covenant , should with all possible care and diligence , be educated by the parents , or any that have the tuition of them , in the nurture and admonition of the lord , and taught betimes to know the doctrine of the gospel , and to believe in the lord jesus christ , and to love god above all , and their neighbours as themselves , and to hate iniquity , and live to god , and first to seek his kingdom and righteousness ; to which end parents should catechize their children , and daily be teaching them the word of god , and acquainting them with his fear and holy worship . and ministers must with special care and diligence oversee the several families of their charge , and excite the parents to this necessary duty . and also should themselves assist them herein , and catechize such youth ( as well as all others that are ignorant ) as often as they can ; especially where parents do neglect it . 19. as infants are by baptism admitted among the infant-members of the church , upon their parents profession of christianity , and dedicating them to god ; so must they personally make a profession of their own faith , and own their baptismal covenant , and give up themselves to god the father , son and holy ghost , before they are to be admitted into the number and communion of the adult members of the church ; which profession is to be tryed and approved of by the pastors of the church : and so excellent a duty , to be carefully , and seriously , and solemnly performed , that the transition into the state and communion of the adult , may appear to be so great and observable a thing , as may excite all to an answerable care and diligence , in preparation thereunto , and to look after that saving faith and holiness , which they must so solemnly profess . and ministers should have a special care , that they take nothing for a credible profession , that is not so : and corrupt not the church by letting in uncapable members , that must either be cast out again , to the grievous exasperating them against the church and way of god , and so to the apparent hazzard of their souls : or else must live ungoverned in their wickedness , to the great dishonour of god , and the provocation of his wrath against them and the church . 20. for the publike worshiping of god , and our own edification , the pastors , where there is opportunity , must congregate the people in a solemn assembly in a convenient place and time . and all that can must constantly there attend , preferring the publike worship of god before the private : much more before their worldly businesses , that are not of flat necessity to themselves or others . 21. in these publike assemblies it is lawful for us to admit , even , infidels to be present , and such catechumen's as are yet unfit to be members of the church , and there to teach , reprove and exhort them , and pray for them according to their state : though we may not receive them to be members of the church , nor admit them to our special communion . 22. because it is the holy scriptures that containe that gospel of which we are ministers ; and because the honour of gods holy word is to be preserved , and the people to be instructed in it , and taught to know it ; it is therefore our duty in the solemn assemblies to read the word of god to the people , in a known tongue ; ( as moses and the prophets were read every sabbath day in the synagogues of the jews . ) such portions being chosen , and order observed , as the pastors discern to be most for edification . 23. our publike preaching of the gospel should be from faith and holy experience , with plainness , and perspicuity , with reverence and gravity , with convincing evidence and authority , with fervent zeal , and perswading importunity , with the tenderest love and melting compassion , with faithfulness , impartiality and prudence , suiting both matter and manner to the necessity of the hearers , and with frequency and unwearied patience , waiting on god for the success . 24. the pastor is to lead , and the people to consent and joyn in heart in the publike prayers , and unanimously to pour out their souls unto the lord in penitent confession of sin , and fervent petition , and joyful thanksgiving and praise : and this according to the direction of the holy scriptures ; and especially of the lords prayer : which is the most perfect , comprehensive summary , form and pattern of our prayers . 25. confession is to be made , both of our own sin , and the sins of the church and nation , of magistrates , ministers and people : yet so as that we turn it not into a reproaching and dishonouring of our superiours , or an abusing of mens persons , by venting our malice or distempered passions , or uncharitable censures against them ; we must confess our original and actual sin : the great corruption of our hearts and lives : our sinful thoughts , affections , words and actions : our privative and positive sin : out omissions and commissions : our secret and unknown sins in general , and our known and open sins by name : our sins of ignorance , and sins against knowledge : our sins before and since conversion : our sins against the lord himself , consisting in our unholiness , contrary to the first table ; and our unjustice and uncharitableness against our neighbour ; and our folly and injury against our selves : the sins of our relations , and of our more private life : our sins against the light and law of nature ; and our sins against the gospel and grace of a redeemer : against the outward means of grace , and against the inward motions of the spirit , and of our consciences : against mercies and judgements : against the examples of christ and his servants , and the warning-falls of others ; especially those sins by which we have most dishonoured god and our holy profession ; and have most scandalized , hardened or tempted others : and all our confessions should proceed from true contrition and hatred of the sin . 26. our petitions must be only for things agreeable to the revealed will of god : and principally for the hallowing of his name , and the coming of his kingdom , and the doing of his will , in earth , as it is in heaven : and therefore we must have compassionate thoughts of the dark and miserable parts of the world , where by heathenism , infidelity and mahometanism , the name of god is grievously dishonoured , and his soveraignty denied or rejected , and satans kingdom doth prevail , and where the will of god is partly unknown , and partly willfully disobeyed : and our eye and heart must be on the state of the universal church , that all this interest of god-in-christ , may be there preserved and advanced . and in order to these blessed ends , we must beg such necessaries of our life , as the supportation of our natures for the work of god requireth : and the forgiveness of all our sins through christ ( which yet we cannot expect to receive , if we from our hearts forgive not others : ) and a gratious preservation from temptations , or the power of them , and from satan and sin the greatest evils : that so the holiness of our hearts and lives may shew that we are the loyal subjects of the kingdom of our lord , and that we acknowledge and magnifie his soveraign power , and live as a people devoted to his glory . and all this we must beg in an humble sense of our great unworthiness , misery , necessity and insufficiency to help our selves ; and in the name of christ , in understanding and faith ( and therefore not in a tongue that we understand not ) and with fervency and uncessant importunity , as directed , excited and strengthened by the spirit of christ . 27. our thanksgiving unto god must not be like the pharisees , in hypocrisie and pride , or to make ostentation of things that we never had , but in humility and holy joyfulness of mind , we must declare our thankfulness , for our creation , redemption , justification and reconciliation with god , our sanctification , and all the parts thereof , and helps thereunto : for the gospel and ministery ; and the plantation , preservation and propagation of the church thereby : for common and special works of providence , for the good of the church , our brethren or our selves : for mercies ordinary or extraordinary : spiritual or corporal : for prevention of evils , or removing them : for the quality and degree , the suitableness and seasonableness of all our mercies , with the rest of their aggravations : especially for those that most promote our everlasting happiness , and the publike good and glory of the lord . 28. the matter of our holy praises of the lord , must be his blessed and infinite being and nature , and all his attributes : his infinite power , and wisdom , and goodness : his truth , and holiness , and love : his absolute dominion , his soveraignty , and fatherly benignity : his justice and his mercy : even as they are revealed in the works of the creation , and in the glass of the holy scripture , and in the person of jesus christ , and in the image of god upon his saints : and all these his works also must be praised in subserviency to his praise . and because it is a most high and excellent duty to praise the lord , we must strive to do it with all the faith , and reverence , and admiration , and love , and delight , and joy , and cheerfulness that possibly we can attain : and this with constancy as our daily work , with our eye on heaven , where we shall do it in perfection to all eternity . 29. as the holy scriptures should be read in a tongue that the people understand , so should the purest exactest translation of them be used that can be had : and though it be not of absolute necessity to the communion or peace of the churches ; yet it is to be desired and endeavoured , that all neighbour churches that are of one language do all agree in the use of that one translation . 30. though in cases of necessity the gospel may be publikely expounded and applied by the reading of the expositions and sermons of others , yet as it is meet that the preachers of the gospel be able to perform this work themselves ; by the abilities given them from god , in the use of just and edifying means ; so it is meet that by diligent studying , meditation and prayer , these abilities be improved ; and that from this holy and spiritual treasure within them , the ministers of christ do draw forth sound explication , with pertinent lively application of the truth . 31. so also in the publike prayers , though it be lawful ( in it self ) to read the words of prayer prescribed us by others ; yet as all ministers should be able to pray themselves from the knowledge and feeling of their own and the peoples wants , so it is meet that their graces and holy abilities be ordinarily exercised in such prayer , and that they be not restrained from speaking to god in such sound and meet expressions , as shall either presently , or by the means of their preparations , proceed from the sense of the matter of their prayers , excited and drawn forth by the assistance of the spirit of christ . but whether any particular pastor should use a stinted form of words imposed by others , or invented by himself , or whether he shall pray without such stinted forms , or both , by turns , is a point to be determined according to his own abilities , and the state of his flock , and other accidents : but it is not to be made a matter of such necessity in it self , as to lay the unity or peace of the churches , or the liberty of the pastors and worshippers of christ upon it . 32. the publike praises of god must be expressed by the pastor in such words as are produced by that holy knowledge , faith , admiration , love and delight , with which his soul should be possessed that is so nigh to god ; and also by the recitation of sacred psalms and hymns , and by the cheerfull singing of such by the church : wherein the melody must be spiritually , and not carnally used : for the assisting of our souls in the exercise of that holy alacrity and joy that is required in so high a work ; and not to draw off our minds from the matter , nor to stop at the pleasing of our ears . such psalms also may be recited or sung , as contain matter of confession of sin , petition , thanksgiving , and such narratives as tend to praise . 33. the form of words to be said and sung , must be taken especially out of the holy scriptures : to which use we have the psalms of david and other hymns : and also we may use such as have been or shall be composed by wise and holy men , agreeable to the doctrine of the scripture , and fuited to the gospel frame of worship , and as far as may be , even in scripture phrase . and though it be not meet to insist upon a concord in lesser things , when it cannot be attained without the violation of concord in greater things ; yet is it much to be desired and endeavoured that all the churches of the same language ( especially that are near and in the same dominions ) should agree in using the same psalms and hymns for matter and meeter ; and that the version so agreed on , be the best that they can have . 34. the eucharist or supper of the lord is [ a holy sacrament instituted by christ , wherein bread and wine being first by consecration made sacramentally or representatively the body and blood of christ , they are used by breaking and pouring out , to represent and commemorate the sacrifice of christs body and blood upon the cross , once offered up to god for sin : and are given in the name of christ unto the church , to signifie and solemnize the renewal of his holy covenant with them , and sealing it unto them , and the giving of himself to them to expiate their sins by his sacrifice , and sanctifie them further by his spirit , and confirm their right to everlasting life : and they are received , eaten and drunk by the church , to profess that they willingly receive christ himself to the ends aforesaid , ( their justification , sanctification and glorification ) and to signifie and solemnize the renewal of their covenant with him , and their holy communion with him , and with one another . ] 35. the sacrament of the lords supper containeth in it these three parts . 1. the consecration of the bread and wine . 2. the representation and commemoration of the sacrifice of christ . 3. and the giving to , and participation by the church . the consecration hath chief respect unto god the father : the representation and commemoration to the son as sacrificed : and the giving and participation , to the applying operations of the holy ghost . as it must first be the body and blood of christ before it be sacrificed , and first offered in sacrifice to god , before it is offered for nourishment and salvation unto men ; so is it in the order of sacramental representation . 36. the consecration is performed by the churches offering up the creatures of bread and wine to god to be accepted to this holy use : and by gods acceptance of them , as dedicated thereunto . the churches dedication is expressed by the present action , and gods acceptance is expressed by his command and promise , and the ministerial acception and benediction . the minister in this action is the agent of the people in offering or dedicating these creatures unto god , and he is gods agent or minister in receiving and blessing them . 37. in this dedication of the bread and wine to god to be the consecrated matter of the commemorative representative sacrifice , the church acknowledgeth the three grand relations of god to his people . 1. we acknowledge him the creator and owner of all the creatures . 2. we acknowledge him our righteous soveraign ruler , whose law we have offended , and who hath received the attonement , and whose laws we do herein obey . and , 3. we acknowledge him our father , or bounteous benefactor , by whom we are sustained , and whose love we have forfeited , and with whom we desire by christ to be reconciled . 38. this consecration maketh not the bread to be no bread , or the wine to be no longer wine ; nor doth it make any addition to , or change upon the glorified real body of christ ; but it maketh the bread to be sacramentally christs body ; and the wine to be sacramentally his blood ; that is representatively : as an actor in a tragedy is the person whom he representeth : or as in investitures , a sword is the honour of knighthood , or a key is the house , or a twig or turf is the land . 39. because christ was to be invisible to us , and the heavens must receive him till the restoration of all things , therefore as he hath sent his spirit within to be his agent in his members ; so hath he appointed his ordinances without , and especially this visible solemn representation and commemoration of his sacrifice ; that our faith might hereby be helped , and our souls might be raised to such apprehensions of his love and the mercy of our redemption , as if we had even seen him crucified before our eyes , and this till his glorious return , when we shall enjoy him visibly in his glory . 40. as christ in his intercession , as our high priest in the heavens , procureth and conveyeth his benefits of salvation upon the account of his sacrifice once offered on the cross ; so doth the church in this commemoration , present him unto god the father , as the sacrificed lamb , in whom they profess themselves to believe , and by whom alone they expect salvation , and all the blessings tending thereunto . 41. in this commemoration the minister is chiefly the agent of christ , in representing his voluntary offering up himself unto the father in sacrifice for sin : and he is the agent of the people , in that part of the commemoration , in which they profess their believing in a crucified christ , and thankfulness for him , and dependance on him as their hope . 42. jesus christ having finished the work of redemption , which he was to do on earth , in the days of his flesh , ascended and is glorified with the father , and being become the perfect head and treasure of the church , hath in his testament or new covenant made a free gift of himself and life to all that will receive him as he is offered ; and he hath appointed his ministers not only to proclaim this gift unto the world , but also in his name to deliver it to the church : and it is a great encouragement and comfort to believers , that it is a minister or agent of christ himself , that by his command , and in his name doth say to them [ take ye , eat ye , this is my body which is broken for you . ] and [ this is my blood of the new testament , which is shed for you , drink ye all of it ] ; christ himself with his saving benefits , being herewith as truly offered to their faith , as the signs and representations are offered to their hands and mouths . though it be still but ( consecrated ) bread and wine that doth represent , yet is it the very body and blood of christ that is represented ; and christ himself as the head of the church , and fountain of our renewed life , and as our spiritual nourishment , that is truly given us , and received by us . 43. it is therefore unmeet for any but a lawful minister of christ , who is authorized hereunto , to administer this holy sacrament : both because no other are called to it in the holy scripture , nor can shew any warrant for such an undertaking ; and because it is very injurious to the comfort of the church , when they know not that the person hath any authority to deliver them so great a mercy from the lord , nor whether christ will own his ministration . 44. the ministers must partake of this holy sacrament with the church : not as they are the agents of christ for the delivery of it , but as they themselves are his disciples and members of the chruch . 45. before the receiving of this holy sacrament we ought to examine our selves , that we may come preparedly with repentance for all known sin , and faith in christ , and an humble feeling of our own necessities , and a thankful sense of the love of god expressed in our redemption by christ , and a hungring and thirsting after him and his righteousness , and with an unfeigned love unto our brethren , and a high estimation of the union and communion of the saints , and with a resolution to walk in holy obedience to god , in patient hope of the coming of christ , and of the everlasting kingdom , where we shall be perfectly in him united : which holy affections are also to be exercised in the time of our communion in this sacrament , and afterwards upon the review of what we have here received and done . 46. the word and prayer must be joyned with the sacrament . the nature and use of it must be opend , and the people excited to the exercise of the duties before mentioned . sin must be confessed and lamented , and mercy implored , and thankfully acknowledged , and the goodness of god , especially manifested in the work of our redemption , must with the greatest admiration , alacrity and joy that we can attain to , be magnified and praised , till this unspeakable love of god in christ hath drawn out our hearts in fervent love to him again . and it will be most suitable to this eucharistical ordinance , that the church do sing some psalm or hymn of praise to god , for the mercies of our redemption . 47. those are to be invited to the supper of the lord that have these necessary qualifications , in some degree , and the rest to be acquainted with the danger of eating and drinking unworthily . those only are to be admitted to the table of the lord that have the use of reason , and can examine themselves , and are members of the church , and have made a personal credible profession of faith and holiness , and are not justly , for heresie or any scandalous sin , removed from present communion with the church . 48. the using or not using of forms of prayer in the administration of this sacrament , is to be determined of , as aforesaid in the other parts of worship , according to the different abilities of ministers , and state of the several congregations , and other accidents that should weigh in such indifferent things . but as in the administration of baptism , it is ordinarily meetest and most safe , to use the express form of words which christ hath directed us to , and the church hath still used , viz. [ i baptize thee in the name of the father , son and holy ghost ] : so in the administration of the sacrament of the lords supper , it is safest and meetest that we use the words that christ by his example hath directed us to use . as matth. 26. 26 , 27 , 28. luk. 22. 19 , 20. 1 cor. 11. 24 , 25. viz. [ take ye , eat ye , this is my body which is broken for you , this do in remembrance of me ] and [ this is the blood of christ , even of the new testament ( or this is the new testament in the blood of christ ) which is shed for many for the remission of sins ; drink ye all of it in remembrance of him . ] 49. as it is not unmeet for the church at other times when they assemble , to make a solemn profession of the christian faith and of holy obedience , to manifest their constancy therein ; and to declare what doctrine it is that we assemble to profess , and to preserve it in the minds of all ; so is it more especially meet , that at baptism and the lords supper , when we are solemnly to renew our covenant with the lord , the covenanters do renew this solemn profession : to which end it is most safe to make use of the ancient forms of confession , called , the apostles creed , and the nicene creed ; and also to recite the ten commandments , with a profession of our consent to the terms of the covenant with god the father , son and holy ghost . to which if we ( at lest sometimes ) adjoyn some fuller explication of the creed and decalogue ( such as is our profession here before set down ) it will not be unprofitable or unmeet . and in such manner it may all be managed , and such signs or expressions of consent required , as the pastors shall judge meet for the attainment of the desired ends , with liberty for such variations , as are necessary to prevent a dead formality . 50. at the dismission of the assembly , it is meet that the pastor do solemnly bless them in the name of christ , to which he is authorized as an act of his ministerial office . 51. deacons are church-officers instituted by the holy ghost to be serviceable to the pastors and the church , by the distribution of the creatures dedicated to the church-communion , and taking care for the supplying of the necessities of the poor , out of the contributions or stock of the church . 52. the first day of the week is appointed or separated by the holy ghost for the holy assemblies and publike worship of the church and other holy exercises ; and is herein to be improved to the honour of god , and the edification of our selves and others : and all other imployments are therein to be avoided that any way hinder the holy duties of the day ; except such as become a greater duty , upon the account of piety , justice or mercy . that some stated time be separated to the publike service of god and the benefit of our souls , is a thing that the law of nature doth command ; that this stated time should be at least one day in seven , the reason and equity ( at least ) of the fourth commandment doth acquaint us : that this day should be every first day of the week , the holy ghost in the new testament hath revealed to us ; acquainting us with christs rising on that day ( which laid the foundation of the change ) and of the assembling of his disciples on that day , and his owning their assembly by his appearing to them , and teaching them , and blessing them , and giving them their commission and the holy ghost , joh. 20. 19 , to 24. the same they did the next first day , where he again appeared and owned their assembly , and revealed himself unto them , joh. 20. 26 , 27. and that this was the practice of the apostles and the primitive christian churches directed by them , appeareth act. 20. 7 , 8. 1 cor. 16. 1 , 2. so that it was called the lords day , as the last day before was called the sabbath , rev. 1. 10. and to put us out of all doubt of the matter of fact , and consequently of the meaning of these texts of scripture ; the certain tradition and most concordant history of the church assureth us , that ever since the days of the apostles , the universal church in all parts of the world , hath constantly observed the lords day in commemoration of the resurrection of christ : which it is not possible that they could have done , without contradiction and rebukes from the apostles themselves or some of the churches which they planted , if it had not been a certain truth . those therefore that will be against the holy observation of the lords day , must either impudently deny the testimony of all church history and tradition , which with one consent assure us that it was observed universally in the christian churches from the apostles daies , as a thing by them established and practised ; or else they must imagine that all the dispersed churches through the world conspired in the teaching and practising of such an error without any known rebuke , wherein it had been most easie for any to have convicted them to be slanderers of the apostles , or the ages that were before them . having therefore so much in nature , in the fourth commandment , in the new testament , and the doctrine and practice of the universal church , for our holy observation of this day ; it ill beseems any christian to forsake all or any of these , and think now in the end of the world to find out the certain practice of the apostles , better then all the churches which they planted . 53. seeing the lords day is purposely set apart for the celebrating of the memoriall of the resurrection of christ , and so of the work of our redemption ( as the sabbath was for the commemorating of the work of creation ) , the work of the day must be very much eucharistical , and the church should be taken up in the thankful admiration of the mysterie and mercy of our redemption , and in the affectionate praises of the lord our redeemer , and an aspiring after the everlasting rest , which he hath purchased , and promised , and prepared for us with himself . 54. ministers must not only perform the publike worship of god upon this day , but also exhort the people to improve the rest of it in private , by prayer , and meditation , and holy conference , and calling to mind the word which they have heard ; especially the parents and masters of families , who must instruct their children and servants , and watch over them , and restrain them from the violation of the day , and call them to an account of the doctrine they have heard , and the duties to be performed . 55. it is lawful , and a duty on other daies also , according to our necessities and opportunities , to redeem some time for the publike worship of god . and whenever the pastors shall call the church together , to hear the word , or perform holy worship , it is the peoples duty obediently and gladly to attend , if greater duties do not prohibit them . 56. when great afflictions lie upon the church , or any useful members of it ; or when any great sins have been committed among them , it is meet that in publike by fasting and prayer we humble our selves before the lord , for the averting of his displeasure . and on such occasions it is the pastors duty to confess his own and the peoples sins , with penitence and tenderness of heart , and by his doctrine and exhortation to endeavour effectually to bring the people to the sight and sense of their sin , and the deserts of it , and to a firm resolution of better obedience for the time to come ; being importunate with god in prayer for pardon and renewed grace . 57. upon the receipt of any notable extraordinary mercies , the church having opportunity , should assemble for publike thanksgiving unto god : wherein the pastors should stir them up to the livelyest sense of the greatness of their mercies , and lead them in a joyful celebration of the praises of their bountiful benefactor . and it is lawful on these daies to express our joy in feasting and outward signs of mirth ; provided that they be moderately and spiritually used , and not to gratifie our sensual desires ; and that we relieve the poor in their necessities ( which also on daies of humiliation and other seasons we must not forget . ) 58. it is not unlawful or unmeet to keep an anniversary commemoration of some great and notable mercies to the church , the memory whereof should be transmitted to posterity . 59. in all the modes and circumstances of worship which god himself hath left undetermined , all christians must take heed of making unnecessary things to be necessary , and laying the unity and peace of the church on things indifferent , and laying snares for the consciences of others ; but must leave much to the prudence of the particular pastors that are upon the place , to whom it belongs to fit such circumstantials to their peoples state ; and the churches in such things wherein they may safely differ , must be left to their liberty : long and sad experience having taught us , that the violent imposing of unnecessary things , is the engine of the devil to tear the church . 60. the marriage of christians being a work of great concernment to themselves , and meet to be publikely performed , and accordingly to be sanctified by the word and prayer ; it is convenient that it be solemnized by the minister , or at least that he counsell and exhort them , and pray for a blessing on them : being first sufficiently satisfied of their capacity and necessary preparations . herein he is to acquaint them with the institution , nature and ends of their relations ; and the duties severally and joyntly by them to be performed ; and the difficulties and temptations to be expected and provided for . especially they are to be directed to live together in holiness , as the heirs of life , and to be very carefull and diligent in the holy education of their children , and governing their families for the lord ; and to use the world as not abusing it , remembring their approaching separation by death . and he is to see that they solemnly enter into the matrimonial covenant , engaging themselves to conjugal fidelity to each other , until they are separated by death . 61. the pastors of the churches must not only teach the people , and guide them in the publike worship : but also must faithfully oversee them in private , endeavouring to know and watch over each member of their flock , preserving them from heresies , errours , and divisions : defending the truth , confuting gainsayers and seducers ; instructing the ignorant , exciting the negligent ; encouraging the despondent ; comforting the afflicted , confirming the weak , rebuking and admonishing the disorderly and scandalous , and directing all according to their needs , in the matters of their salvation . and the people in such needs should have ordinary recourse to them , as the officers of christ , for guidance and resolution of their doubts , and for assistance in making their salvation sure , and procuring , maintaining or restoring the peace of their consciences , and spiritual consolation . 62. those persons that are known to commit any gross and scandalous sin , should first by private reproof and admonition ( unless where the notoriousness and heinousness of the crime doth presently call for publike reproof ) be called to repentance : and if they hear not the reprovers , or will not reform , the church must be told of it : and therein it is most convenient , that the pastors be first acquainted with the case ( to avoid contention and confusion , ) before it be brought into the publike assembly : and to that end it is convenient that there be stated meetings where the pastors and some chosen members of the church , ( not as officers , but the deputies or trustees of the rest ) should in their several capacities take cognizance of such offences ; that so a unity and full correspondence may be held between the pastors and the flock , and all things may be done advisedly , orderly , and concordantly : but where this cannot well be done , the pastor or pastors must do their work without it . 63. those persons that by more private means will not be brought to necessary repentance and reformation , must by the pastor be publikely reproved and admonished before the church , and there called to repentance by the opening of their sin , and the judgements of the lord , and pleading with them those gospel mercies and motives that should melt them into contrition . and if the success do not appear , it is ordinarily meet that the church should joyn in prayer for the offender , that god would give him repentance unto life . 64. if after sufficient waiting in the use of these means , the offendor still remain impenitent , it is the duty of the church to reject him out of their communion . wherein the pastors must compassionately declare his offence and his impenitency , and the judgements that god hath threatned to such , and the laws of christ commanding the church to put such from among them , and avoid them , and have no company with them , that they may be ashamed , or to take them as heathen men or publicans : and must accordingly declare the person offending to be unmeet for christian communion , and charge the people to avoid him , and have no fellowship with him , and himself to forbear the communion of christians , binding him over to answer it at the bar of christ . which sentence must be accordingly executed by the pastors , in refusing him the ordinances proper to the church , and by the people in avoiding familiarity and communion with him , till he be restored upon his repentance . 65. it must be a credible profession of repentance only that must be accepted by the church either for the preventing of such a rejection , or for restoring the rejected . and usually when the case is heinous and notorious , or the church hath had the publike cognizance of it , they must also have publike notice of the penitence of the offendor ; who should with remorse of conscience and true contrition confess his sin before the congregation , and heartily lament it , and crave the prayers of the church to god for pardon and reconciliation through christ , and also crave an absolution by the minister , and a restoration into the communion of the church : but because it much dependeth on circumstances of the case whether the confession should be publike or private , or in what manner made , it is therefore to be much left to the prudence of the pastors , whom the people in such cases are commanded to obey . 66. when a credible profession of repentance is made ( whether voluntarily by the converted , or upon the churches admonition by the scandalous , or after excommunication ) it is the duty of the pastors to declare such penitents in the name of christ to be pardoned and absolved , and ministerially to give them this mercy from the lord , in case their repentance be sincere as they profess : and if the person were excommunicate , it is the duty of the pastor to declare him again meet for the communion of the church , and require the church to receive him with joy as a returning sinner , and not to reproach him with his falls , but to forgive him ; as christ forgiveth him ; all which they are accordingly to perform ; and the penitent with joy to receive his absolution , and to return to the communion of the church , and to a more holy careful obedient life . 67. when any by frequent covenant-breaking , have forfeited the credit of their words , the church must have testimony of the actual reformation of such persons , before they can receive their professions and promises as credible any more . though yet there is so great difference here in persons and offences , that the particular cases must be much left to the prudence of the pastors that are present , and know the persons and the whole case . 68. so great is the necessity of the sick , and so seasonable and advantagious the opportunity , that ministers should not negligently omit them , but in love and tenderness instruct them , according to their several conditions : endeavouring the conversion of the ungodly , and the strengthening of the weak , and comforting such as need consolation ; directing them how to improve their affliction ; and helping them to be truly sensible of the evil of sin , the miscarriages and negligences of their lives ; the vanity of the world ; the necessity and sufficiency of christ , and the certainty and excellency of the everlasting glory : perswading them to a pious , just and charitable disposal of their worldly estate ; and to forgive such as have wronged them , and to be reconciled to those with whom they have been at variance ; and believingly to hope for that life with christ , which he hath promised to all that are sanctified by his spirit , and comfortably to commit their souls to their redeemer , and quietly rest in the will , and love , and promises of god ; resolving if god should recover them to health , to redeem their time , and live as a people devoted to his glory . it is meet also that the pastors pray for the sick , both privately and publikely when it is desired and thought fit . 69. the burial of christians should be decent and honourable , and though it be a thing indifferent in it self , whether exhortations , funeral sermons or prayers be then used , yet because the season is very advantagious for mens reception of holy instructions , it is convenient ( at least when desired ) that the minister do take that season as often as he can , to mind people of their mortality , and the necessity of a speedy preparation for their change : so prudently managing all his exhortations and prayers , that the due end may be attained , and the abuse prevented as far as may be . 70. the lives of christs ministers should be conformable to their holy doctrine : and so exemplary in innocency , love , humility , meekness , patience , contempt of the world , crucifying the desires of the flesh , and in a zealous heavenly conversation , and in all works of piety , justice and charity , within their power , that the mouths of the enemies may be stopped , and the people may learn , and be convinced and directed , even by their holy examples , and our selves may be saved , and the christian church and doctrine may be honoured , to the glory of the holy ghost and of our redeemer , and our heavenly father . 71. as we have all one god , one christ , one spirit , one faith , and hope , and love , one covenant , and one catholike church , so should the communion of saints extend as far as their capacity and opportunities will allow . and as particular persons must associate for personal communion in publike worship , so particular churches should associate for such brotherly correspondency and communion , as they are capable of , and their needs require ; that by communicating the truths and mercies which they have received , and advising together , and by a brotherly collation of their apprehensions , and improvement of their several gifts , the unity of the churches may be preserved , and discords and uncharitableness may be avoided , and the beauty and strength of the churches maintained . and therefore the pastors of the neighbour churches ( not excluding others that are fit ) should meet as frequently , and at such times and places , as the ends and works of the association do require . 72. into these associations such pastors and churches should be received that make a credible profession of faith and holiness , and no other : and they that are hereticks , or of scandalous ungodly lives , must after a first and second admonition , if they remain impenitent , be rejected and disowned by the faithful pastors and churches . 73. where the fixing of a stated president in each of these associations is requisite for the peace and edification of the brethren , it may well be yielded to : but however a special care must be had to prevent contentions and divisions : and therefore perverse disputings must be suppressed ; and proud , self-conceited , domineering persons , and such as are of fiery , turbulent , contentious spirits , and also subtile hereticks and dividers , must be watched against as the plague of the churches , and all possible charity , humility , meekness , self-denyal , and zeal for holy concord , must be exercised . 74. those that through distance or impediments cannot , or through mistakes or peevishness will not joyn in such stated brotherly associations and assemblies , are yet to be allowed the due estimation and affection of brethren , and so much communion as at a distance they are capable of , if they do but agree with us in a sound profession of the faith , and a holy conversation , and ministerial fidelity in the main : but yet we must disown the sin of their dividing , or neglect , and as we have opportunity testifie against it . 75. these churches that cannot hold local communion with one another through differences that destroy not the essentials of christianity , should yet maintain a dear and tender christian love to one another , and profess their owning each other as christians , and churches of jesus christ , and should agree together upon certain just and equal rules for the management of their unavoidable differences , so as may least prejudice charity and common good , and least harden the ungodly , or grieve the weak , or dishonour god , or hinder the success of common , great and necessary truths upon the souls of men ; contriving and amicably promoting the cause of christianity , and every part of it , in which they are agreed ; and should open their disagreements to the people as little as they can . 76. in cases of tolerable difference , as ministers and people must maintain a special holy love , and communion as far as their differences will admit ; so must they desire the well-fare and the peace of one another , and not stir up hatred or persecution , against each other , by odious nick-names , or exasperating the magistrate or people against dissenters ; but should consent to the liberty of each other , and help to take off unjust hatred , and to hinder all unmerciful violence or rigor against one another ; and all of us should watch against and abhor that proud , self-conceited , domineering disposition that would make us censorious , malicious , or cruel against the weakest servants of the lord . 77. yet must we not under pretence of charity , consent to any such noxious liberty , as plainly tendeth to the wrong of the church , and the poysoning of the souls of others ; nor yet must we consent to the errours of the best . though we are not the judges of the secrets of mens hearts , nor may not deal uncharitably with any , yet must not heretical self-conceited persons be tolerated in the obstinate dispersing of their errours , to the destruction or danger of mens souls , nor to reproach and speak against the weighty necessary truths of god : nor should any be tolerated to kindle the flames of uncharitableness and contentions in the churches , by railing , reproachful language against the tolerable dissenters : but a healing , merciful , and profitable , and not a destructive toleration should be promoted . 78. the pastors of the churches of christ have the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven , but not of the temporal sword on earth : and though we determine not whether in cases of necessity , it be lawful for pastors to be also magistrates ; yet it is certain that without necessity it should not be allowed ( their work requiring all their time and strength ) and that as pastors it belongeth not to them ; but as the magistrate is the appointed officer of god , to govern even churches , pastors , and people , in the way of outward force , and pastors are his officers to govern them by spiritual conduct ; so must we be so far from desiring to usurp a secular power , that we should still advise the magistrate to keep the sword in his own hand , and to take heed of putting compulsive power in the hands of pastors , or enabling them to execute their passionate displeasure against their brethren : and as the magistrate must not usurp the pastors office , but only see that we perform it our selves , and punish us if we do not ; so must not the pastors usurp the magistrates office , but humbly and modestly teach and advise him from the word of god , and reprove him , and threaten him , and in cases of extremity denounce the wrath of god against him , and bind him over to the tribunal of heaven , to answer for his obstinate impenitent contempt ; and then leave all the matter to that bar , and patiently suffer if we be persecuted by him ; not doing any thing in the management of any of our work , without a due respect and reverence to his authority , and a care of the common good that dependeth on his honour , but remembring what is meet for him to hear , and for us as messengers of christ to speak . 79. those churches of several nations that through distance and diversity of secular governours , are uncapable of personal or local communion with others , should yet consent as neer as may be in their holy professions , and practises ; not tying each other to any of their unnecessary modes or forms , nor uncharitably censuring any tolerable dissenters , but owning those churches that agree with them in the great and necessary things , & holding such correspondence with them by messengers , as shall be needful to the promoting of their unity , love and peace , and of the gospel and common cause of christ , and the defence of each other against the common enemies of those , as emergent occasions shall require and direct them . 80. to the aforesaid uses , the councils or synods of pastors are lawful and convenient in cases that require them , where the pastors of several churches and nations may diliberate and determine in order to their unity , of doctrines and practices to be agrreed in , and may strengthen the hands of one another . but yet , the canons of such councils are rather agreements , then proper laws , to their several members or absent brethren ; and bind in order to unity and concord by vertue of those general commands that require us to do the work of god in such unity and concord , and not by vertue of any proper superior regimental power , which that council hath over the particular bishops of the churches of christ . and as for general councils , as we should to the forementioned ends regard and honour them above all other , if really such were lawfully assembled ; so in this enlarged and dispersed state of the militant church , we may easily see , that full and proper universal councils , are neither the stated governors of the universal church , nor necessary to its well-being , no nor lawful to be attempted , as a course that would certainly destroy or grievously wrong the churches , by the death and long absence of the pastors , through so many hundred and thousand miles travail , and so long attending , which the state and work of proper universal councils will require : yea the said distance , with the age and weakness of the pastors , and the different languages , and the poverty of many disabling them from such tedious voyages and journies , and the dissent of the princes . ( many of them heathens , infidels , mahometans ) under whose government they live , or through whose dominions they must pass , these with many the like impediments do make a true universal council ( like an universal parliament or senate ) to be so far . from necessary , or desirable , as to be morally impossible , or next to impossible , as to the very being of it . the way that god hath appointed for church-government and deciding controversies , is , 1. that princes and magistrates govern by the sword or force , and judge who are fit to be punished by the sword ( and though most princes on the earth by infidelity have made themselves uncapable of this part of the work of their office , yet cannot that disoblige them from the commands of god , or free them from his punishments for not performing them , nor make the office of magistrates another thing , nor disable christian princes and magistrates , or disoblige them who have not made themselves uncapable . ) 2. that these princes and governors of several nations , do hold a loving christian correspondency , for the management of their affairs , and government of the churches under them , so as may be most to the advantage of the cause of christ , and the union , strength and defence of christians ; ( the general rules , and ends of their trust and power , do oblige them to hold such assemblies by their messengers as are needful for their agreement and the unity and safety of the churches under them , as well as they oblige pastors to such necessary correspondencies . ) 3. that the pastors of particular churches be the governors of those churches by the word and holy discipline ( not having the power of the sword or violence ) and that they judge who is fit or unfit for communion with that church which each or any of them over-see , and who is to be thence excommunicated , or there absolved . 4. that these bishops , pastors , or elders of particular churches , should hold communion among themselves with all their brethren of other churches , as far as their natural capacity will allow , and the need or benefit of the churches require it : and that they handle in common the causes that belong to all in common , and settle and maintain agreements for the unity and communion of the churches : and they are judges ( as associate ) who is to be received into their associate communion ; and who to be excluded from it ; and what pastors or churches they should hold such communion with as they are capable of ; and which they should admonish , or renounce . 5. the christian people have allowed them a judgement of discretion , by which they must prove all things , and hold fast that which is good : and must discern and obey the lawfull commands and directions of their magistrates and pastors . 6. and as men have thus their several shares alloted them in government , judgement , and decisions , limitedly , and not absolutely judging , even to the execution which belongs to their several judicatures : so the finall absolute judgement , and decision of all controversies and causes , is reserved to the dreadfull tribunal of the lord , to which we may make our last appeal , where all the world shall be judged in righteousness , and all the judgements of men be themselves judged , and truth and error , good and evil , right and wrong will be more perfectly manifested unto all ; and it shall be irreversibly determined by jesus christ , who shall go into life everlasting , and who to everlasting punishment . come lord jesus , come quickly . novemb. 16. 1658. the author thought it not unfit here to annex the description of that order and discipline which is exercised by him , with his assistant fellow-pastors , in the parish-church of kederminster ; in association with many pastors of those parts , who have agreed to exercise so much of the ministerial office , as by the consent of the episcopal , presbyterian , and congregationall , belongeth to them . which being published , 1. may prevent mens injurious mis-reports of our associations , and discipline , which they may be drawn to by fallacious fame . 2. and may be an example for those churches that by the magistrates are left at liberty , to worship god in that communion and order which they judge most agreeable to the word of god , and the vniversal consent and practice of the primitive church . the order and discipline of this church , agreeable to the word of god . i. we are willing to teach all in our parish , the doctrine of life , that are willing to learn : and desire them all to hear the word publikely preached , and to come to us to be catechized or instructed . ii. we own all those as visible christians and members of the universal church , that make a credible profession of christianity , and destroy it not by heresie , or ungodly lives . iii. so many of these as also consent to hold communion with this church as members of it , submitting to the ministers and discipline of christ , we shall esteem our flock and special charge , and faithfully perform the duties of our office for their good , as we are able . iv. we desire that all the youth of the parish will learn the principles of the christian religion : and as soon as they understand it , and are heartily resolved to give up themselves to god in christ through the spirit , and to lead a holy life , that they will come and acquaint us with their faith and resolution ; and before the church will make a solemn profession thereof , and give up themselves to god in the personal owning their baptismal covenant ; either reciting the fore-going creed or profession , or , if they are unfit for publike speaking , by consenting when we propound it to them ; or by any other fit expressions . that so we may publikely pray for their confirmation ; and if they consent also to hold communion with this church , we may know them as our charge , and register their names . v. those parishoners that desire us to baptize their children , or to be themselves admitted to the lords supper , and are not members of this church , ( because they will not ) , we desire to come to us , some dayes before ; that so we may be satisfied of their faith and life : and if they seem true christians , and either bring a certificate that they are members of any other church , with ( which we are to hold communion , or shew that it is not from ungodliness that they refuse to live under order and discipline , we shall baptize their children , and occasionally admit them to our communion . but if they are scandalous , we shall require them first to profess their serious repentance : and if they return to scandal , we shall after stay till we see their reformation ( or of one of the parents in case of baptism . ) vi . if any member of this church do differ from us about the gesture in the lords supper ( or any such circumstance ) we desire them first to come to us , and hear our reasons : and if we cannot satisfie them , we will not hinder them from receiving it in any decent gesture they desire . vii . all members of the church must ordinarily hold communion with it , in the lords supper and all ordinances : and if a brother grosly offend , they must orderly and prudently admonish him ; and if he hear them not , tell the church . viii . once a moneth we have a meeting of the magistrates , ministers , deacons , and above twenty persons chosen annually by the church , as their trustees or deputies : here the offendours must be accused , and heard , and dealt with , before the case be opened in the church . and any that are justly offended with any member , may have church-justice . ( the magistrates presence being only ad melius esse ) and the chosen trustees or deputies being no ecclesiastical officers , nor pretending to divine institution as such : but only the fittest of the people chosen to do those things which belong to the people ( who cannot all so frequently meet ) and having no authoritative ruling votes . ix . those that repent not upon publike admonition , must be cast out of our communion , and avoided as heathens : but those that are penitent , must be absolved , and lovingly received . x. if any of our people be offended at any thing in our doctrine or life , we desire them before they vent their offence behind our backs , to come and lovingly tell it us , and hear us speak . and if we do not satisfie them , we desire them to open the matter before the ministers of this association , who are here assembled every moneth . and we shall before them , be responsible , for our doctrine , our administrations , and our lives . ( as we are also willing to be to the magistrate , who only hath the power of the sword , even over the pastors of the church , and whom in all things lawful we must obey , and not resist . ) finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a26895e-250 1 of god . a 1 cor. 8. 4 , 6. * or subsistencies . ] b mat. 28 ▪ 19. 1 joh. 5. 7. c 1 tim. 1. 17. psal. 139. 7 , 8 , 9. & 147. 5. isa. 40. 17. d neh. 9. 6. e rev. 4. 8. & 15. 3. ex. 34. 6 , 7. ezek. 18. 4. psal. 47. 7. & 119. 68. & 145. 9. 2 of the creation of man , and the first law . f prov. 16. 4. g gen. 1. 26. h deut. 30. 19 i col. 3. 10. eecles. 7. 29. k psal. 8. 5 , 6. l mar. 12. 30. 33. deut 6. 5. & 10 12. & 1. 32. m gen. 2. 16 , 17. rom. 6 23. 3 of mans fall , and of original sin , and our common misery . a gen. 3. john 8. 44. rom. 5. 12 , 18 gen. 3. 16 , 17. b rom. 3 9 , 19 , 23. & 6. 23. c acts 26. 18. eph. 2. 2. heb. 2. 14. d psal. 51. 5. rom 5. 12. eph. 2. 2 , 3 , 5. isa 48. 4. job 14. 4. & 25. 4. gen. 6. 5. hos. 11. 7. e rom. 5. 18 , 19. f rom. 5. 6 , 10. acts 4. 12. 4 of our redemption by jesus christ . a joh 3. 16 , 17. & 4. 42. 1 joh 2. 2. b joh. 1. rom. 9. 5 ▪ joh. 10. 30 c 1 tim. 25. heb. 2. 14 , 16. luke 1. 27 , 31 , 35. mat. 1. 20 , 21. d heb. 4. 15. mat. 4. heb. 7. 26. mat. 3. 15. e acts 2. 22. heb. 2. 3 , 4. f heb. 9. 26. & 10. 12. 1 tim. 2. 6. ep. 2. 16. g 1 cor. 15. 3 , 4. luk. 23. 43. psal. 16. 10 1 pet. 3. 18 , 19. * or [ to the departed souls ] or [ to the other world . ] h 2 tim. 1. 10. heb. 2. 14. acts 2. 24. i act. 2. 9. k acts 3. 21. rom. 9. 5. heb. 7. 24. l acts 2. 36. & 10. 36. m heb. 8. 2. & 10. 21. acts 3. 23. & 5. 31. n heb. 7. 25. rom. 8. 34. eph. 4. 8 , 11 , 12 , 13. rom. 8. 9. 1 thes. 5. 12. 5 of the new testament or covenant of grace . a heb. 9. 15. joh. 1 12. & 3. 16. acts 26. 18 ▪ gal. 5 ▪ 6. acts 11 18. & 3. 19. & 20 21. rom. 8. 1 , 13. mar. 4. 12. b rom. 8. 16 , 17. c gal. 4. 6. john 3. 6. 1 cor. 6. 17. rom. 8. eph. 2. 18. 22. d rev. 2. & 3. col. 1. 22 , 23. heb. 4. 1. e ma● . 16 16. joh 3. 3 , 5 , 36. heb. 12. 14. 2 thes. 1. 8 , 9. & 2 12. luke 13. 3. f mat. 28. 19. mar. 16. 15 , 16. 2 cor. 5. 19. g joh. 6. 37 & 10. 28 , 29. 6 of the holy ghost revealing and confirming the gospel . a joh. 14. 26. & 15. 26. 1 pet. 1. 10 , 11 , 12. 2 pet. 1. 21. 2 tim. 3. 16. joh. 16. 13. eph. 3. 3 , 5. & 2. 20. isa. 8. 20. rev. 22. 18 , 19. 1 tim. 6. 14. luke 16. 29 , 31. b acts 2. 22. 4. & 5. 32. & 19. 11 , 19. heb. 2. 3 , 4. gal. 3. 1 , 2 , 3. joh. 14. 12. & 3. 2. 1 cor. 14. 7 of our sanctification by the holy ghost , and the state and blessings of the sanctified . a acts 26. 17 , 18. rom. 8. 9 , 10 , 11. acts 16 14 joh. 6. 44. eze. 36. 26. gal. 5. 22. b act. 26. 18. c col. 2. 19. eph. 5. 30 , 31 , 32. & 3. 17. 1 cor. 12. 12 , 13 , 27. d rom. 3. 24. & 4. 24. john 1 12. e tit. 2. 14. f rom. 5. 5. mat. 10. 37. 1 cor. 6. 11 luke 1. 75. g 1 john 3. 14. 1 pet. 1. 22. acts 24. 2. h gal. 5. 17 , 24. 1 john 2. 15. i 1 cor. 1. 7. 2 pet. 3. 11 , 12. tit. 1. 2. & 3. 7. 8 of the judgement and execution . a luke 23. 43. & 16. 22 2 cor. 5. 1. 8. phil. 1. 23. 1 ▪ pet. 3. 19. luke 16. 26 , 28. b acts 1. 11. 1 cor. 15. joh. 5. 22 , 29. mat. 25. 2 cor. 5. 10. c mat. 25. & 13. 41 , 42 , 43. 2 tim. 4. 8 , 18. 2 thes. 1 8 , 9 , 10. & 2 12. john 17. 24. a luke 15. 21. act. 2. 37. & 3. 19. rom 8. 13. luke 14. 33. 1 thes. 1 9. b exod. 20. 3. deut. 26 17. jos. 24. 16. to 26. c 2 cor. 8. 5. d john 17. 3. 1 cor. 8. 6. 2 cor. 6. 17 , 18. 1 john 1. 3. eph. 4 , 5 , 6. e john 14. 6. luke 5. 14. & 14. 26. acts 9 6. rom. 6. 13 , 16. luke 19. 27. john 3. 19. f mat. 28. 29. eph. 2. 18 , 22. & 1. 13 , 14 , 18. rom. 8. 9 , 13 , 16 , 26. 1 cor. 2. 10. eph. 2. 18. 22. & 3. 5 , 16. 2 cor. 1. 22. & 5. 5. isa. 44. 3 , 4 , 5. rom. 15. 6. 1 the publike means , and duties of holiness . a mat. 28. 19 , 20. b rom. 10. 7 , 14. act. 14. 23. 2 tim. 2. 2. acts 13. 2. & 2. 41. c acts 2. 42. & 6. 2. d act. 20. 7 , 28. 1. tim. 5. 17. tit. 1. 5. e acts 20. 20 , 31. col. 1. 28. eph 4. 11 , 12 , 13. mal. 2. 7. 1 tim. 5. 17. f 1 cor. 14. 16 , 26. acts 20. 7 , 36. james 5. 14. acts 6. 4. & 2. 42. phil. 1. 4. neh. 12. 24 , & 11. 17. & 9. 5. & 8. 4 , 6. g 1 cor. 11. 24. & 10. 16. h heb. 7. 7. numb. 6. 23. i rev. 1. 10. acts 20. 7. 1 cor. 16. 2. k tit. 2. 15. & 1. 9 , 11. 1 tim. 5. 19. & 3. 5. l mat. 18. 17 , 18. tit. 3. 10. 1 cor 5. 4 , 5 , 11 , 13. a acts 2. 42. b 1 tim. 5. 17. heb. 13. 7. 17. 24. 1 thes. 5. 12 , 13. 1 cor. 16. 16. c 1 cor. 1. 10. & 3. 3. rom. 16. 17. eph. 4. 3 , 15 , 16. phil. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. rom. 15. 6. 2 the secret duties of holiness . a jude 21. gal ▪ 5. 22. luke 10. 27. 1 tim. 4. 7. isa. 64. 7. b acts 24. 16. col. 3. 5. rom. 8. 13. heb. 3. 12 , 13. mat. 15. 8 , 19. luke 12. 15. rom. 13. 13 , 14. 1 cor. 3. 18. c 2 pet. 1. 10. 2 cor. 13. 5. gal. 6. 3 , 4. psal. 4. 4. d psal. 104. 34. & 1. 2. & 119. 97 , 99. gen. 24. 63. eph. 3. 18 , 19. psal. 90. 12. luke 12. 36. 2 pet. 11 , 12. e luke 21. 36. psal. 141 3. 1 cor. 10. 12. psal. 39. 1. prov. 4. 23. f eph. 6. 10. to 19. 1 pet. 5. 9. jam. 4. 7. g psal. 34. 1. & 145. 2. 1 thes. 5. 17. phil. 4. 6. john 16. 23. 3 the private duties of holiness in our relations to others . a eph. 6. 4 , 9. de ut . 6. 11 , 12. b dan. 6. 10. act. 10. 30. prov. 22. 6 , 15. & 23. 13. psal. 101. 1 sam. 2. 23 , 29. c gen. 18. 19. josh. 24. 15. d col. 3. 20. 22. eph. 6. deut. 21. 18. e act. 16. 30 mal. 2. 7. 1 cor. 14. 35. f psal. 1. 1. & 15. 4. & 119. 63. prov. 13. 20. eph. 5. 6 , 7 , 11. lev. 19 17. mat. 18. 15. heb. 3. 13. jam. 5. 20. 1 pet. 5. 5. g jam. 5. 16. h col. 3. 16 , 17. acts 12. 12. & 16. 25. eph. 4. 29. 1 pet. 4. 11. & 3. 2. jam. 3. 13. col. 1. 3. & 4. 3. heb. 10. 24. 4 the duties of justice and charity towards men . a deut. 1. 17. 2 chron. 19. 6 , 7. josh. 1. 8. isa. 56. 1. b rom. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. 1 pet. 2. 13. eph. 6. 1 , 5. c exod. 20. mat. 5. 17. to 48. d deut. 5. 21. phil. 2. 3 , 4. 1 cor. 10. 24 , 33. & 13. 5. e mat. 7. 12. f col. 3. 13 ▪ g mat. 19. 19. & 22. 39. h mat. 5. 44. gal. 6. 10. heb. 13. 16. notes for div a26895e-2510 art. 1. for an holy exemplary life . 2 chron. 15. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. act. 20. 28. 1 tim. 4. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. and 3. 1 , &c. and 5. 17 , 21. 1 pet. 5. 2 , 3. art. 2. for teaching all that will submit . art. 3. for a personal profession of christianity to be made by all that will be taken for adult members , and partake of their communion . art. 4. for publick worship . art. 5. for discipline . art. 6. for communion of churches by associations . art. 7. of ordination and approbation of ministers . art. 8. of obedience to magistrates . the way to the sabbath of rest, or, the souls progress in the work of regeneration being a brief experimental discourse of the new-birth in which many of the serpents wiles are detected, the mysteries of the cross unvailed, the death of the old man, the life of the new man, the angelical dispensation, with the entrance to the divine / clearly laid open and discovered by mr. thomas bromley. bromley, thomas, 1629-1691. 1692 approx. 124 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 36 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-06 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29649 wing b4888b estc r35790 15561560 ocm 15561560 103754 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29649) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103754) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1586:18) the way to the sabbath of rest, or, the souls progress in the work of regeneration being a brief experimental discourse of the new-birth in which many of the serpents wiles are detected, the mysteries of the cross unvailed, the death of the old man, the life of the new man, the angelical dispensation, with the entrance to the divine / clearly laid open and discovered by mr. thomas bromley. bromley, thomas, 1629-1691. xii, 58 p. printed and are to be sold by randal taylor ..., london : 1692. imperfect: stained, with print show-through and loss of print. reproduction of the original in the huntington library. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng regeneration (theology) theology, doctrinal. 2005-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-03 john latta sampled and proofread 2006-03 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the way to the sabbath of rest . or the souls progress in the work of regeneration . being a brief experimental discourse of the new-birth . in which many of the serpents wiles are detected : the mysteries of the cross unvailed : the death of the old man , the life of the new man , the angelical dispensation , with the entrance into the divine ; clearly laid open and discovered . by mr. thomas bromley . except a man be born again , he cannot see the kingdom of god , john 3.3 . whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me , cannot be my disciple , luke 14.27 . be thou faithful unto death , and i will give thee a crown of life , rev. 2.10 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . london printed , and are to be sold by randal taylor near stationer's hall. 1692. the publisher to the reader . christian reader , the following practical and experimental treatise of the new-birth , was writ and publish'd by the author in his youth , about fourty years since ; and having been long out of print , and desired by many , has put those who are entrusted with his writings to communicate it to the publick a second time , with some alterations and amendments , by the authors own hand , to prevent any occasion of offence or mistake . and forasmuch as it hath pleased the lord , not long since , to take his servant up into that rest , whereof so many years ago he had given him so ravishing a pisgah sight ( as will in part appear from the following sheets ) it has , been the desire of many of his friends ( to whom his memory is and ever shall be most sweet and pretious ) that this disdiscourse might be usher'd-in with a short account concerning him , and some of his last moments , till a fuller relation of his holy life be prepared for publick view , which is a thing much desired by many , to the end , that so saint-like and exemplary a life might serve for a copy and encouragement of the godly , and for the reclaiming and converting of the wicked and profane in these dregs of time , wherein we have so great a scarcity of such examples , and in which true religion and the fear of god seem to have left the earth . but in the mean time , till some or other undertake this task , be pleased reader , to accept of these short hints , concerning the instrument by whom our good god has been pleas'd to reach forth the following truths and directions , in the way and progress to the new-birth ( that land of rest and peace ) unto thee , and all those who have ears to hear what the spirit saith to the churches . mr. thomas bromley was born at vpton upon severne in worcester-shire , of an ancient and honourable family , according to the worlds account ( but methinks in mentioning this , i sink below the subject i am speaking of ; for what 's this to one who by his better birth , was a son and heir of god , and coheir with the king of kings , & lord of lords , the holy and ever blessed jesus ? ) he was in his younger years religiously educated , and after he had gone through the learning of the schools , became a member of all-souls colledge in oxford , where god was pleased to reveal his son in him , and to make great and glorious discoveries of himself unto him , such , as it may be , should they be here related , some would scarce be able to understand or bear . and from that time forwards the supreme love having ravish'd his heart with his all-surpassing beauty , became a vail to his eyes , keeping him from beholding vanity , or lusting after it ; and he again in return of this special divine grace and favour , wholly dedicated himself to his service from his youth ; and parting with all , and denying himself , became a faithful follower and disciple of his great lord and master , the holy jesus , and a true minister of the gospel , not of the letter , but of the spirit , one that needed not to be ashamed , rightly dividing the word of truth . but having spoke a few words of the rising of this bright star , i must next lead you to it 's setting , passing by it's whole course ; he therefore having thus for many years walked with god , the lord was pleased ( before he took him to himself ) to exercise him with a long continued weakness , which yet did not hinder him from exercising the functions of an evangelical preacher . about three weeks before his departure , he preach'd his last sermon from these words ; acts 14.22 . the latter part of the verse , that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of god ; from whence he took occasion to discourse not only concerning the outward , but more especially concerning the great inward spiritual sufferings and combats of gods people . after this sermon he grew so weak that he could not preach , and but seldom pray in the family : yet at sometimes when he felt the power of god upon him , he would have them call'd into his chamber , and would pray with great fervency and strength of voice , as if he had been in perfect health . during this time ( for his setting was of one piece with his rising and whole course ) he gave many holy exhortations to those that came to visit him ; and would often say , he could take delight in nothing but god , as having been dead to the world these many years . he declar'd to a familiar friend of his more than once , that except the lord would be pleas'd to restore him to such a degree of health , that he might preach the gospel , and so help to edify the church of god , he had rather ( if he might choose for himself ) die than live , for he knew whither he should go , viz. to god and christ , and all the blessed angels , &c. but that he must resign . and would often say , that he lived in the will of god. he was observed to be much introverted and exercised in mental prayer , or prayer of silence ; and when he heard too much talk in his chamber , he would say , be silent , be silent ; for silence and stilness is best . he had one evening ( being about ten days before he died , such a mighty power of god upon him , as many years ago he had experienced in the company and communion of his special spiritual friends , so that having call'd some dear friends up to his chamber , he broke forth into singing and praising of god , to the great joy , comfort and refreshment of all that heard him ; and so likewise did about four or five days before his decease . sometime before this , he discours'd to some friends of the difficulty of salvation , which was not to be secur'd but by giving our hearts wholly up to god , without any reserve whatsoever . and then mentioned the great love he had to souls , and desire that they might not miss of salvation ; and testified his vniversal charity to all that fear'd god , of what persuasion or division soever . the day before he dyed , some friends being come some miles to visit him , he with great earnestness and demonstration of truth discours'd to them of god , of the immortality of the soul , the excellency of the holy scriptures , and how much those who profess to believe the christian doctrines , are bound to live a holy life ; and so gave a short , but powerful exhortation to holyness , as the only way to happiness . and then said , i have peace of conscience , i have lived up to my light , and loved god above all things . and at another time he said to two intimate friends , i have peace of conscience , i have walk'd with god , tho i have made no noise in the world. the same day he died ( which was on easter-monday , april 13th . 1691. ) he oft cryed , come lord jesus , come quickly ! o when ! when ! and one time he said , my lord ! my rock ! and my strong habitation ! which words came from him with great power . the last words that ever he spoke were , watch , watch ; whereupon he fell into a sweet slumber for an hour , and in it departed ; thus truly falling asleep in him , to whom , for whom and in whom he had lived , to whom be glory and praise for ever and ever . this was the end , reader , of that pretious saint , who from the light and grace of god confer'd upon him , pen'd the following treatise ; concerning which i shall not need to add any thing further , seeing the following advertisement of the author gives a full account of the design and usefulness thereof . the paraphrase in verse upon the 13th . of the first of corinthians ( printed at the end of the treatise ) being found amongst the authors loose papers , was thought fit to be publish'd herewith , because it expresseth much of his spirit and temper . but i must conclude after that i have inform'd the reader , that the author has left several other excellent spiritual discourses behind him , which if this be well received , are intended to be made publick for the use of the church in her present wilderness condition . the great and glorious god , who hath given this seed to the sower , make it with all fruitfulness to spring up in the hearts of all that are of good-will to the regeneration in christ jesus . amen . an advertisement from the author . to all that shall read this following discourse . i have written this experimental discourse of the new-birth , not for the wise and rich , who think they see , and enjoy enough , but for the poor in spirit , who enquiring the way to sion , are sensible of their defects , and breath after a supply . let none then come with prejudice , for that will give a false tincture to the eye of the mind , and prevent the sight of truth , by a prepossession that 't is error . if any have attained , and enjoy as much , or more than is here expressed , let them bless god for his goodness , both to themselves and me : if not , let them not be ashamed to learn and practice more than they have already ; for , teach a wise man , and he will be yet wiser , prov. 9.9 . and 't is no diminishing of esteem , to grow in true knowledge , or disparagement of age , to gain wisdom from those that are young ; because true wisdom is the gift of god , who is no respecter of persons , bestowing his gifts on whom he pleaseth . but think not , i have here chalked out a way for every one to walk in ; for i have only wrote my own experience : and i know there may be great variety in gods works upon souls ; so that none are to be confined to one exact path , though all are to be informed , that we must turn , and become as little children , and be wholly dead with christ , before we can be as the angels in the resurrection , delighting our selves in the light and life of eternity : therefore the perfect death should be aimed at by all , for nothing less can fit us for glory . for how can any imperfection enter there , where is nothing but perfection ? or any thing of darkness dwell with him , who is light , and in whom there is no darkness at all ? 't is true , many ( from mastaking that principle , of gods being the root of all things ) have endeavoured to reconcile light and darkness , good and evil , flesh and spirit , christ and belial ; and so to laugh tall mortification and self-denial out of the church . but alas ! what have the practices and notions of such ended in , but shame and confusion of face ? for they have sowed to the wind , and reaped the whirl-wind , grasped at an imaginary heaven , and perfection ; but have fallen like lucifer into hell , and palpable darkness , having like foolish virgins , spent their oyl , and received poyson into their lamps , and so made themselves unfit to meet and entertain the bridegroom . others there are , who come forth in such outward strictness and severity , as they are ready to judge all that are not in their peculiar mode , and form ; and so refuse communion with some , who have attained much further in the true death and resurrection ( and are more acquainted with the renewal of gods image , and the state of restoration ) than themselves . and there be many others , who though not owning the first sort , and much disgusting the last , yet give themselves too much to earthly indulgements , under the notion of christian liberty , and so make no real progress in the change of their souls . some of which , are cheated with false notions of their being in christ ; and others of , them with sublime apprehensions of false imaginary deaths , and ways of self-denial , which they much feed upon , instead of that death and cross , which should work their spirits and natures out of flesh into the true spiritual divine image . there are another sort , who are too much offended at forms , and all usual ways of enjoying , and speaking of god , decrying them as cheats , and empty things , though they be used never so spiritually and advantagiously to those that appear in them ; which is a great mistake , flowing from ignorance ; and the want of a clear sight , which could not so confine the great and infinite jehovah within the limits of no-forms , and exclude him from appearing and working in and through forms ; being it is at his own pleasure , to shew himself how ▪ and in what he pleaseth . but lastly , a great part of those that profess religion , are such who rest too much upon the first work of regeneration , and two much eye their first change , afterward running in a circle of duties and performances , without making that progress and growth toward perfection , which the frequent exhortations and examples of the holy scriptures call and incite us to . now the work of regeneration , renewing both the will and vnderstanding , will bring those who persevere in it , to a clear sight of the forementioned mistakes ; by which they will be able to discern betwixt light and darkness ( chaff and wheat ) and come to own the good seed in all ; and endeavour by walking according to the royal law of love and charity , to cherish it . now this law of love , is the rule of perfection , being the scope and end of a christians progress ; a true conformity to which makes us like god , who is love , and delights to impress his own eternal character of love upon his children , who are nearer to , or further from perfection , as they partake more or less of this essential love , which is the spirit and life of christianity ; without which , all duties and observances are but as sounding brass , and perishing shadows : in which , all have their worth and use . from the dictates and impulses of this law , i have written this small discourse , as believing it may be instrumental to undeceive many , who are wandering in the labyrinths of error ; yet seek the true way : and to confirm , strengthen and direct oothers , who are making their way through the cross to the crown of life . and truly th●s subject is of great concernment to all , because all are capable of the new-birth ; and none without it can ever be happy . to mistake this work is very dangerous , because 't is the passage to eternal rest . the highest heaven is situate in the large plains of eternity ; yet the way to it is very narrow . at the entrance , the sharp sword of circumcision is placed . on the left hand there 's a gulf of fire , on the right hand a deep water ; at the end there stands a cherubin with a flaming sword , whose office is to cut off the reliques of all corruption from the soul ; so that the least grain of selfishness or fl●sh , cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven . the spirit of man is totally to be inhabited by christ : there 's not one weed to be left there . we are to be stript of all the riches of corrupt nature , before we can pass through the last gate into the city . a naked spirit quickly enters . hence that of christ , blessed be the poor in spirit , for their's is the kingdom of god. an empty spirit god will fill . for , god is love , and delights ( through his son ) to communicate of his own fulness , to all that can receive it . the soul cannot be emptyed , but through regeneration ; nor filled , if not first emptyed . we part with darkness , vanity and lust ; we receive light , substance , and love. a complete exchange brings complete happiness . how few are willing to sell all for christ ? how many distinctions are created by reason , to avoid the cross and death of christ ? but it is very dangerous to take up such principles , that may indulge any part of that which must be destroyed . it may make us fall short of heaven , when we expect to enter into it . 't is far more safe to be too strict than too remiss : but the mean is best ; which ( i believe ) is here somewhat clearly discovered . farewell . the way to the sabbath of rest : or , the souls progress in the new-birth . chap. i. regeneration is absolutely necessary to salvation , john 3.3 . hence it greatly concerns us , to know its nature and operation ; how it is to be considered , either in it's initiation , progress , or consummation . as it is taken for the beginning of the work , it implies that first change of the soul , when in general the frame of the will is swayed god and heaven-ward . in it's progress , 't is the growth and motion of the soul , from the image of the earthly toward the image of the heavenly . in it's end , it is the bringing forth of the perfect and complete image of god in our humanity , 1 cor. 15.49 . when we attain this , we are completely in christ , wholly new-born , 2 cor. 5.17 . and made fit to see and enjoy that eternal kingdom , which hath been prepared for us from the beginning of the world. regeneration then in it's full latitude , comprehends all three states , and may be thus defined : it is that transforming quickning work of gods spirit , which begins , carries on , and compleats gods image in us . and so it is taken by christ , matth. 19.28 . where he promiseth twelve thrones to his twelve disciples , as rewards for their faithfulness in following him , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in the regeneration ; where it is expressed by an emphatical note , insinuating the fulness and completeness of it , as there meant . but in the ordinary acceptation amongst professing christians , 't is used in the most restrained sense , for the first change of the soul , when the bent of the heart begins to be habitually carried toward god in christ . and by what i have heard and seen , from most i have conversed with , i find too much weight laid upon this first work , as though it were the complete new-birth ; and that which might give sufficient ground of comfort , even to those who feel not the comfortable growth of the inward man in it's motion towards perfection . hence many rest upon their first supposed conversion , and have a continual eye to it , as a great prop to their souls , though they feel their chariot-wheels stand still , yea , go backward , and are in much more deadness and drowsiness of spirit habitually , than when they first entred into the work of the new-birth . but certainly , this is dangerous , ezek. 18.24 . and may much deceive the spirits of many , by making them more eye what they were , than what they are , or may be by pressing toward the mark of perfect union ; for it stops their motion ; and hinders their ascont toward heaven , and their constant practising conformity to the death of christ ; by which death only we pass out of the fall , are fitted for glory , and at length attain the crown of life , rev. 2.10 . oh! then take heed of resting there , where living flesh brings deadly fear , and casts the soul on that sharp reed , which for a cure will make it bleed . then stand not still , nor turn thine eye backward unto mortality ; but wing'd with faith , move apace forward , in thy heavenly race . chap. ii. having briefly shewed what i mean by regeneration , i shall now proceed to it's actual work , as it gradually discovers it's self in the soul. the first appearance of it in the heart is by (a) conviction , through which the soul comes to see its corruption in the darkness of the understanding , the vanity of imagination , the delusion of the will ( in imbracing defiled carnal objects ) and the irregular motions of the affections , running earthward , like swift torrents down a precipice . in a word , the light of god shining into the soul , gives it a view of it's sad (b) apostacy from it's primitive state , when it was created in the image of god ; whereas now it sees it self in the image of the serpent , bespattered with the dust of the earth , cloathed with polluted rags , wrapt up in darkness and hellish confusion , stained with the poyson of sin , centred in the fire of gods (c) wrath , dwelling in the valley of the shaddow of death , where devils are it's associates and companions , pleasing themselves in the pollutions and stains of the soul , as delighting to dwell in such (d) graves of corruption . now when the soul once beholds this , oh how it begins to be amazed ! how it wonders at it's self ! what tumults begin to be raised in it ! what earthquakes discover themselves ! what a monster it appears to it's self , when compared to the righteousness , holiness , and purity of god , expressed in the image of his law ! it sees , 't is impossible in this state , ever to enjoy god , or come near him ; for , without holiness (e) no man can see the lord. here it sees , 't is eternally undone , without the great mercy and compassion of god , not being (f) able to answer the strict requirings of the law , obliging to that which the soul is not capable to perform , through the presence and strength of corruption . here the soul is driven to christ , the only mediator betwixt god and man , who long waited for this time , that so he might discover himself , having long stood in the midst of it (g) unknown , and unregarded ; who upon the melting of the soul into tears of repentance , upon the renouncing flesh and blood , with all corrupt objects , and upon the opening of the will ( in the thirst and desire of faith ) enters (h) into the heart , or rather shews himself to be there , by opposing hell , by shedding abroad his holy blood , to quench the fire of gods wrath , and wash (i) the soul from those sad defilements it then lyes under : here he quiets the soul , gives the wings of faith to it , by which it flies above the reach of despairing fears , and by little and little enters into peace and stilness , and shrouds it's self in some measure , from the awakened storms of wrathful terror . now , so far as the soul can get by faith into christ , so far it finds ease , refreshment and peace , and a cessation from the sense of guilt , with cherishing belief of the present pardon of sin , as finding at such a time no stirring of the will to that which had so endanger'd it before , by it's poysonous insinuations . now therefore beginning to hate evil as a monster , and to love christ as a saviour , it feels the effects of christs meditation , by satisfying gods justice , taking away the enmity in the (k) soul , by the blood of his cróss , by the meltings of love which it feels towards god , and sweet refreshments it receives from him . now it comes to be sensible how it hath resisted gods love , christs mercy , the spirits motions ; how it hath given the devil interest in christs tabernacle , and shut him out from his (m) own possession . hence flow tears of love , and soul-melting groans , with the mournings of the turtle : now it imbraces jesus , weeps over him whom it hath pierced , and is wounded the more , the kinder he seems in returns of love ; in regard he was before so much disobliged by the souls unkindness ; now the soul wants ways of expressing love (n) overwhelmed with the sense of goodness . in this state it could die ten thousand deaths , undergo any thing in requital to it's saviour ; all it's motions and expressions tend to advance christ , to extol him , and (o) predicate his unutterable love , thinking nothing enough for him , who thought not his own life too much for it . o that the soul would faithfully remain in this sweet frame , until he comes again to waft her in his chariot to that throne where god and man are in full vnion . for love doth pitch its true pavilion there ; in other places love is mixt with fear . chap. iii. when the soul after its shakings , attains this settlement in christs love , freely streaming towards it , usually 't is much carried out in the sight and opening of free-grade , which for a time , strongly work upon it , and induce it to yield suitable returns , in constant obedience . and this is commonly a season of much joy and refreshment ; the soul feeling that sensible consolation , and divine sweetness , that causes it to break forth into continual praises and halelujah's to god. now , as this flows from the lively apprehension of gods love in christ , so likewise from the clear sight of christ in us , and of that mystical transcendent union , (p) betwixt him and the inward man ; the soul now beholding him in the ground and centre of her own pure humanity ( there thence darting forth the rays of love upon her , ) whom before she look'd upon as at a distance , without her , as only sitting at the right hand of god in heaven . now whilst this dispensation lasts , the soul is in a (q) perpetual spring , and a kind of delightful paradise , bathing and delighting its self in the sweet (r) fruition of christs love , who in this time , expresseth much kindness to it , and gives frequent testimonies of his divine presence . but this day seldom continues very long , and this summer by little and little usually inclines toward an autumn , in which the flowers of sensible comfort , and love-raptures , begin a little to wither , and benumming flesh again shews its power , in secret ( almost insensible ) dullings of the souls affection , till by little and little , it comes to a sensible (s) deadness , which is the more tedious and burdensom , the more the former dispensation was pleasant and joyous . now what may be the reason of this declining in the souls enjoyments , i shall not positively determine , for it may proceed from different causes , in different persons : in some it may flow from the want of (t) watchfulness over their hearts ; thorough the great elevations of free grace , in which time the flesh by little and little may collect strength ; gifts then being more eyed then graces : it may also flow from the decay of the souls lively apprehensions of gods love , which it felt in freeing it from the poyson and guilt of sin , when it groaned sadly under them ; for so long as the strong (u) impressions of that state remained , gods mercy eminently discovered , forced the soul into suitable meltings at the sight of it , but these somewhat vanishing in time the effects likewise might cease by litle and little . it may also come from want of practising the way of the cross , through our misapprehensions of being dead when we are not , or accidentally through the sensible overflowings of new comforts , which may carry the soul out of that watchful exercise of the cross , which at such a time is most needful . but whatever is the cause of it , the soul ought to enter into a strict examination of it's self , to sift every corner of it's inward chambers , and to pray for a clearer light to view all subtil corruptions ▪ that may gull it and hinder its progress , and make it set up a standard as though all were done . oh! 't is dangerous sticking here , and resting upon former changes ; for this tends to the indulging of spiritual drowsiness and stupidity , and may bring the soul in danger of losing (x) it's former works , by present idleness and relapses : for god looks not at what we were , but what we are ; our present state making us either capable of gods out-flowing love , or obnoxious to his chastising justice . if so , awake dull soul , think not to be excused from thy present lethargy by former kindness , when the force of love did pierce thy heart , and made it upward move ; awake and pray , that christ in thee may give new quickning to thy dead , that it may live . chap. iv. many souls stick long in this condition , before they make a new advance towards perfection , usually much reflecting upon their former work of conversion , as the chief basis of their comforts : and though sometimes they look forward , and desire (w) growth , yet that desire of growth is so weak that it terminates in its self short of effectual accomplishment ; and though they sometimes begin , yet their endeavours are (x) nipt in their first blossoming , and they themselves cast back into wonted deadness , and so they come to run in a circle , without getting ground of their corruptions . and i confess , i was long detained in this state , without any clear evident progress towards eternity : and though i grew much in knowledge and mystical notions of the life , death , resurrection , and ascention of christ , and of our conformity to his example ; yet not in the power of his cross , and death , working the same in my nature . but afterward i came to a clearer sight of the narrow way which leads to life eternal , and of the necessity of our exact (y) conformity to christs sufferings and death , to bring us unto his life , and resurrection : and that every degree of life must come through a degree of death ; and the new-man (z) spring up by the continual decay of the old. and though i saw this before , yet not so distinctly and effectually , as now : here likewise i was more powerfully convinced of the (a) straitness of the pilgrims path , which leads through the visible and invisible worlds , into the third heaven : every step being to be made through death and resignation ; and that the soul could not attain perfect bliss , but through a death to (b) all things , which it came to love through the fall. for as the soul entred into selfishness , so it must come out of it , casting away all that cloathing it is covered with , through lust . and as it descended from paradise into the spirit of the world , and the kingdom of the devil , so it must re-ascend out of the spirit of the world , and the kingdom of the dragon , through the root (c) of fallen nature into the bosom of abraham . here i saw what a real progress the soul must make from the external into the internal , from thence into the eternal : and as it descended so it must ascend ; and as it fell by a gradual change of the will into lust and earthliness , so it must rise by (d) a gradual renewing of the soul , from lust into divine love. here i saw nothing without us could advantage , but as it was apply'd to make a real change within . for (e) except we turn , and become as children , we cannot enter into the kingdom of god. it must be by a transmutation , and metamorphosis of the soul from the image of the earthly into that of the heavenly . nothing can ascend into heaven , but that which came from heaven , even the true (f) image of god ; the earthly being predestinated to destruction : for earth it is , and unto earth it must return . now the motion of the soul through the gate of death towards life eternal , is the motion of a spirit , which is to be looked upon as ascending or descending , as it comes nearer or removes further from god the center , as bodies ascend or descend in relation to their center , by their tending toward or from ward the visible heavens . vpward therefore to a soul , is inward ; outward is downward . the center is the highest , the circumference the lowest . god is in the center , being most inward ; matter in the circumference , being most outward , (g) yet god is in the outward , as his footstool , but in the most inward , as his throne ; filling both , though in both , not manifest alike . in the inmost , he shews himself wholly in the love ; in the outmost , in love and wrath , life and death , generation and , corruption : but in the inward dark world , altogether in death , darkness , and wrath ; as in the inmost , all in light and life . therefore our progress is from the outward , through the inward , to the inmost . the outward is the place of good and evil , and as to its corrupt state , the kingdom of the beast . the inward is two-fold , either the dark or light world . the dark , is the kingdom of the dragron , the center of evil and wrath : the light world is the paradisical sphere , or that garden of eden , which is situate also in its mesopotamia . or betwixt the two great rivers of wrath and love. the first of which is called ( in revelation 19.20 . ) the lake of fire , burning with brimstone ; the last , in rev. 22. a pure river of water of life , clear as chrystal , which proceeds out of the throne of god , and of the lamb. the inmost , is the eternal sanctuary , or the true eternal tabernacle of god , and that spiritual land of peace , where abraham , isaac , and jacob , and all the glorified , departed saints live and inhabit . but none can ever reach this , but through the perfect death ; and as we die daily , so we rise nearer and nearer it . death giving us a gradual passage towards this eternal kingdom of life . and is it so , that death must waft us ore the sea of nature , to the heavenly shore ? then bring thy boat , blest death , that thou and i may saile together towards eternity . a sweet companion thou wilt be to me , till i imbosom'd am in vnity . chap. v. the soul having arrived so far as to see the necessity of a complete death , and of a perfect conformity to the cross of christ , and discovering much selfishness which before it saw not , as matter of this death and cross , begins afresh the serious practice of the cross , with great earnestness and resolution of spirit , to indulge ( i ) nothing that stands betwixt it and god. now it enters upon a strict enquiry into its own heart , searching its own jerusalem with the candle of the lord , that so all selfishness may be discovered and extirpated ; and now it finds , that although ( before this dispensation ) the chief bent of the will inclined habitually toward the good , yet it was not strong enough to bear down that opposition of flesh that hindred its constant ascent toward heaven , and had therefore need of a new alarm from thence to awaken it , and raise it from that bed of drowsiness , and arm it with power and resolution to cast out the (k) relicks of the flesh , and corruption , and defend its self against the assaults of the devil , who having long possessed the unregenerate part of the heart , is loath to quit his hold , least the soul should get wholly out of his kingdom and reach . at this remove therefore the spirits of darkness (l) exceedingly oppose and use all their art and strength to betray and weaken the souls endeavours . here then begins a new and great war in the soul between the seed of the woman and the serpent . michael and his angels fight against the dragon and his angels ; christ and anti-christ strongly oppose each other . the wrath and love bring forth their mighty wonders , being both stirred and awakened afresh in the soul. but the soul being now sensible of its present state , and seeing that there 's no safety where the devils have such access and influence , sinks down into the mercy and love of god , and flies to the cross , imbracing and delighting in it ; that so the (m) blood of the cross may be shed into it , to cleanse it throughout , and to take away those stains , which are the devils mansions . and here it clearly finds , there 's no way of triumphing over the prince of death , but through death ; so (n) it dies daily , to that the evil one lives in , and lives to that which is death to sin. in this way , there may much discouragement sometimes seize on the soul , through the strength of satans working and the reluctancy of flesh , and the outward man , which is loath to subject his neck to the sharp axe of death . but this bitterness is recompenced with that refreshment the soul finds in its constancy of self-denial , which is attended with many glances of divine comfort darting in upon the soul to encourage it , and though it should , for a while , remain in this progress , which is bitter to the flesh , without any sensible comfort ( which may well be , through that great opposition the dragon will make at this remove of the soul ; ) yet when patience hath had its work , and the soul is come to be wrapt up in contentation and passiveness , as to any change of its condition , and so fitted for enlargement , the showers of god's love will seasonably and sweetly descend to the strength and blessed support of the heart ; so that it will be forced to cry out , it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the lord : and what the spirit sometimes now enjoys , so sweetens the cross that it cannot but thus break forth . why should the soul refuse that cross that gold returns instead of dross ? why should it fear that piercing nail which rends away the fleshly vail ? and gives a prospect of that place , which time and age cannot deface . chap. vi. by this time the soul begins to delight in the habit of (p) strong self-denyal , and watches diligently over its self , to discover whatever is to be slain upon the cross of god's pure will : and now it begins to be ashamed of all passions and affections that flow from the animal man ; and therefore much restrains it , and keeps it in subjection to the angelical ; which is according to that order god himself set at the beginning . now it likewise sees how the animal mortal part ( with its motions and passions ) is too much imbraced by most ; few understanding how it was in the beginning ; or how it is to be changed , and again subjected to the angelical part , in the children of the resurrection : but the soul having now some sight and enjoyment of the inward spiritual body , raised from the dead , is much ashamed of the outward body , which stands in the curse , under awakened wrath ; seeing what temptation spirits are exposed to , by union with this , which should continually be under the law of mortification , till its change ; lest through its earthly inclination , it should infect the intellect ( and draw the immortal soul into defilement ) which now dares not hearken to the allurements of the sensitive spirit , which as tempting eve oft presents the apples of mortality , as those which are pleasing to the eye , and good for food . but through the renewal of the spiritual body , with its (r) five faculties , or powers ; ( answering to the five senses of the external body ) the objects and pleasure of the outward begin to be forgot , and to displease , instead of alluring and affecting the heart . for by the exercise of the internal senses , we see spiritual objects , as the internal light-world , visions of angels , and visions of representation . in this state we likewise hear the songs , voices , and harmony of angels , with the harpers upon mount sion , who there continually praise the lord : we smell the perfumes of christ's garments , and are oft entertained with paradisical odours . we touch and feel the powerful tincture of christ's body which many times strongly affects the heart with powerful delight : we also oft taste the heavenly manna , and those dews of paradise which are sweeter than honey , to that part which receives them . i could here more largely particularize the several objects , delights , and enjoyments of the inward spiritual senses ; but because there may be great (s) variety , according to the different gifts and capacities of several persons ; and in regard some ( for ought i know ) may pass far in the progress of the new birth , without a particular knowledge of those enjoyments ; i shall not instance in many particulars , i could ; nor set down my own ( with some others ) peculiar , and various experiences . yet in general , i cannot but affirm , that the unlocking the sences of the inward man , is a great priviledge : and that the soul by it attains many great supports and refreshments to uphold it , and give it incouragement to hold out to the end . for truly , this communion it lives in now , with the (t) angels of god , and other divine objects , continually minds it of heaven , and paradise ; and exceedingly draws the heart from all that is in the world , where death and corruption is wrote upon every thing ; and the dragon and beasts bring forth their various wonders : but in this state the soul blesseth god for that constancy he afforded under the cross ; and for that death it hath undergone , in resignation to his will , which hath proved a passage into this life ; in which the soul beholds the opening of a (u) new world , with its glorious hoasts : and begins to feel the sweetness of the angelical life , and to see what we fell from by descending into the spirit of mortality , and the sensitive nature : now this state cannot be attained but by a death to that which was the chief ingagement of the soul to the world , and the primary chain that hindred its gradual ascent towards god. and we may find there is something in every one , which is the (w) souls dalilah , that shaves its locks and betrays its strength ; and whilst this remains , it cannot effectually grow in the love of god , and conformity to christs death . but when this subtle harlot comes to be discovered and killed , the soul flies apace , and very swiftly to eternity ; for when this wheel is taken away , the smaller that depended on it , lose their strength and motion and so cease with it ; giving freedom to the soul , of tending towards its true center ; which ( having regained this liberty , and attained in some measure the restoration of the holy powers of sensation ) sings a song of praise to god , in this manner . blest be that power , which hath that idol broke , which did so long depress me with her yoke ! blest be that hand which hath restor'd to me an eye , within this world , a world to see ! where angels and blest spirits freely move , as they are acted by the laws of love ; whence they a visit (x) sometime deign to give to those imbodied souls that purely live . chap. vii . the soul having now attained to the death of that which so long hindered its growth in the pure life ( and to the enjoyment of those spiritual objects , which exceedingly refresh and quicken the heart , in the midst of all discouragements ) proceeds chearfully in the strait way of resignation ; (x) offering up its sin-offering daily as a sacrifice to the fathers justice . for now the daily oblation is restored in the holy place , which must continue till the death of sin , and the rending away the vail of (y) flesh from before the most holy : now therefore the circumcising knife of gods power constantly cutts off the fleshly part , which is offered up in the fire of justice and consumed before the lord : now the soul sees it must resist to blood , that is , to the (a) death of the body of sin , which is wholly to be separated from the spirit , with all its members : for this is that false covering it hath wrapped it self in , through the fall , instead of that naked innocency in which there was no uncomliness , and therefore (b) no shame : except therefore this fore-skin of the flesh be cut off , the angelical robe cannot be put on : and as that falls off , this is assumed ; increasing as that decays : for , they cannot both rise and fall together ; for while the outward man decays , the inward man is renewed day by day . here it clearly appears , we must forsake all we have ; otherwise we cannot be christs (c) disciples : all objects of our carnal affections , all complacency in fleshly things ; all propriety of will , which assuredly came through the fall , and the souls departing from the universal love , ( the true ground of heavenly community ) into the particular objects of self-affections , which as it hath been awakened by the souls going out of gods will , into its own ; so it must be crucified by returning from its self into the pure eternal will of god , which we can never attain , till we (d) are dead to the affections of the sensitive part . for , carnal love , joy , hope , fear , desire , displeasure , are all the selfish motions of the natural man , the corrupt members of the body of sin , together with earthly pride , covetousness , envy , jealousy , emulation , wrath , strife , all which are the leggs of the earthly adam , and therefore to be cast away and (e) destroyed ; and in their fall , the will comes to be crucified to all their objects , and so to all selfish propriety . here we come to lose our own lives , to hate our selfish motions , to be slain to all fleshly things , the will hath espoused , instead of god in christ . here we begin to be truly poor , renouncing all (f) for christ , owning no propriety in earthly estates . we see here , that the earth is the lords , and the fulness thereof ; and that covetousness hath been the cause of propriety , and of all those engrossings of land and money , which most are involved in ; and that christ came to destroy this work of the devil , by his doctrine and pattern , who had all things in common with his disciples , even as the primitive christians one with another , which was a renewing of the law of love , by which we were , and still are obliged to love our neighbours as our selves , and to do gods will on earth as it is done in heaven , where the holy angels and glorified saints inherit their eternal substance in common : for he that overcomes (g) shall inherit all things . here likewise we die to , and forsake earthly relations , as part of that we call ours : and though we are not to destroy natural affection , nor to neglect the performing1 forming of any due obligation laid upon us by the law of nature , as it accords with the will and , justice of god ; yet we are to die to all such propriety of affection , as flows from corrupt nature , and hinders the impartial communication of our love to every one , according to the perfect example of our heavenly father , who takes in no fleshly respects , in the giving forth of his love to his creatures , which is our pattern to imitate ; for we are to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect . here those that have wives , are as though they had none , returning from idolizing , and desiring the woman of the world , to the virgin sophia , who is the unspotted mirrour of the eternal world , the first and chief spouse of christ , rev. 21.2 . and they that are unmarried follow the example of christ , who lived and died in virginity , as he was born of a virgin ; and this they do for the kingdom of heavens sake , according to that precept , mat. 19.12 . he that is able to receive it , let him receive it ; where christ speaks concerning the abstaining from marriage , and of those that have made themeselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven : whence it is clear , that the dying to , and crucifying of that root , whence the enjoyment of that state comes , is to such a real mean to the growth and encrease of gods kingdom in the soul , which is to be presented as a chaste virgin to christ , 2 cor. 11.2 . and paul , 1 cor. 7.31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 25. prefers the virgins state far before the married ; and therefore verse 7. saith , i would that all men were as i am : which certainly he spake according to true light , found judgment , and great experience in the work and progress of regeneration . but in a word , in this state before described , we come to see , that we our selves are not our own , but the lords , and that we are to consecrate our bodies , souls , and spirits to him , and to resign up all we call ours to him , whose is the kingdom , and the power , and the glory , for ever . and truly our gradual incorporation into the body of christ , with the enjoyment of new relations and treasures , which are spiritual and eternal , make it the more easie to die to , and forsake all earthly things ; which being of a lower nature , shew their rise by their fall ; for being of the earth , they are earthly and return to earth , as utterly (h) incapable t● enter with us into the kingdom of love. as we then leave the spirit of the world , they leave us ; and so we arrive to a good degree of conquest and victory over that (i) beast , which rules the whole world , which gives the soul occasion thus to express its self in praise . blest be that power , by which the beast is made to serve , and we releast from that base servile drudgery , which some mistake for liberty . sad liberty ! that chains poor souls to dust , and soils immortal things with mortal rust . chap. viii . the soul having arrived so far in the circumcision of the heart from the body of flesh , and in the renovation of the spiritual image , cannot but have attained a good step in the command over imagination , especially in the death of it to complacency in any corrupt fleshly object , which now becomes too gross for the renewed mind to regard . but yet we shall find the tempter working much upon imagination , sometimes taking advantage of the strong influences of the external heavens ; and if we are so strong as to reject thoughts , which tempt to speculative delight in objects , which our corrupt nature formerly imbraced , but now ( being changed ) abhorreth ; we shall find the evil one drawing us to close with , and entertain thoughts not evil in themselves , yet very evil to us , because they present and feed the soul with unprofitable pictures , which should be alone entertained with the sweet meditation of christs love , and the way to be compleated in it . and i know many are exceedingly troubled with the working of their imaginations on inconsiderable trifling objects , when as they dare not entertain any thoughts grosly evil ; and where this state is grown into a long habit , it will be difficult to come out of it , though a soul be very sensible of the vanity of it , and long to be freed from it , as finding the imagination in these workings to be like the witch of endor , raising up the old prophet samuel , or the inward man from the sleep of silence , and innocent stilness , to be disquieted with vain earthly things , 1 sam. 28.15 . in this case therefore , it concerns the soul to stand continually upon its watch , lest it be sometimes snatcht away unawares , and ingaged in vanity , before it sees where it is . here the continual exercise of the cross is very necessary , that by it we may (k) cast down imaginations , and lead captive every thought into the obedience of christ : so that the chief work now , is the reducing this moveable sea into subjection to the illuminated understanding : therefore the soul prays and strives continually against the power of imagination and activity of thoughts , which hinder the silent actings of the intellect upon eternity , and supernatural truths . and here faith and perseverance are very needful : we need faith to believe that by the power and strength of christ we may overcome these imaginations ; and perseverance , that we may not faint in the way , and give off the constant exercise of the cross in rejecting , beating down , and ceasing from these motions of the imaginary faculty , till we come to be conquerors , and to command them ; which is possible through christ , who is come into our world , to destroy the works of the devil , and to rule till he hath put all his enemies under his feet , of which these idle thoughts are a part . and as the soul here uses the power it hath received from christ in checking , rejecting , and beating down all idle thoughts , as a means to overcome them ; so likewise it is oft exercising of its understanding upon the eternal love and free grace of god , and in considering the mystery of that (l) paradisical world , in which the angels and spirits of the just are : it much also reflects upon the presence of its saviour who hath promised to be with us to the (m) end of the world , filling (n) all things in his divine nature , for he continually stands at the door and knocks , so that the soul waits every moment for the fulfilling of that promise of his coming into it , and supping with it , rev. 3.20 . and this constant attending upon god with the eye of the understanding , proves a very effectual mean to the destroying of those imaginations which come to entangle the soul in unprofitable diversions . in this practice the understanding gets such power over the imaginations , that it enjoys almost a continual sight or (o) apprehension of god's presence , and sees beyond the working of imagination , by the (p) eye of the understanding enlightned , and by little and little attains that strength , that although we should have necessary occasion to take up our thoughts in some external employment , yet the understanding pierceth thorough it , and in the very time of exercising its reason on that particular , it hath strong and clear apprehensions of the presence of god , and the spiritual world : which clearly shews that intellection , or the true acting of the understanding , is somewhat beyond reason , which is not able to do two things at once , and act upon several objects , at the same instant . and this constant apprehension or sense of the divine presence is without any fantasm , it being in that moment when the phantasms are employed upon another object , and they having somewhat of materiality , cannot afford that spiritual sight and apprehension such a soul hath constantly of god , which is without (q) figure , colour , or similitude ; yet i must confess the usual contemplations of the soul ( in this state ) upon spiritual objects , whether of paradise , angels , supernatural truths , and scripture verities , are not without the use of phantasms , which being ordered by divine light and wisdom do in some measure ( according to their nature ) express spiritual truth . though i confess this is far below the true intellection of the understanding , informed with the presence of divine light , in regard these phantasms , being generally drawn from corporeal objects , cannot reach the essence of a spirit . and truly here the soul plainly discovers its fall from the divine mind , (r) image , and light in which it saw intuitively , and could give (s) names according to the natures of things into the imaginary (t) spirit , which belongs to this world , and is too gross a glass to express truly and essentially , spiritual eternal objects . and here it appears how easily man's reason ( being the apt and methodical ordering of his phantasms ) may (u) misguide the understanding in spiritual things , as in comments upon scriptures , which were inspired by the holy ghost , and wrote by revelation , and so require the (w) help of that same spirit , to elevate the understanding above imagination , in the true interpretation of them , especially in things which are out of the road of those moral v●●ities , which the light of nature impresseth upon mens consciences , to steer them in their lives and conversations . then let us pray for that true light , which gives a true and constant sight of god , christ , angels , who do lie much deeper than laps'd reasons eye ; which in the glass of phantasie , a lively picture may espy , but not the essence of true verity . chap. ix . the soul having arrived so far , as to enjoy almost a continual apprehension of the presence of god and angels , finds its self much freed from those vain thoughts , which in former dispensations were very troublesom : but being conquerour over these , it must take heed lest the new objects of heaven , angels , and spiritual gifts , set the imagination too much a work , in representing their excellencies , and picturing forth such a state of the soul enriched with them , which may yield too much imaginary delight , and draw the spirit into the admiration of fine pleasant (x) pictures instead of the true substance . therefore we are strictly to watch over the phantasie , which may easily err in this particular , and not without great prejudices following upon it ; for first , by such working of imagination , we come to slacken the exercise of the cross , both upon imagination its self , ( which (y) is continually to be restrained , and as much as is possible reduced unto subjection , to the illuminated understanding ) and also upon the relicks of the old man in any other faculty , which are always to be slain in their first buddings ; and therefore to be strictly eyed , which cannot be , whil'st imagination is so busie in its motions . the second is , that complacency which the soul may take , by representing its self adorned with , and enjoying the gifts of hearing , seeing , touching , tasting , and smelling , in a spiritual way , ( with all the beauty and sweetness of the objects of those faculties ) both in its self so proviledged , and in the objects themselves ; most of which being but streams , and not the fountain it self , the soul may be in danger of taking too much delight , and so of being entangled in them . the third inconvenience is , the obstructing that still silence of the soul , in which it (z) should be oft wrapped up , as a mean to those extraordinary effusions of light and power which god many times affords the soul in its passive quiet waiting ; whereas this labour of imagination too much keeps the soul in action , and so in an unfitness for those divine impressions , which very seldom come down but into a spirit profoundly silent . seeing then there may be so much danger in indulging imagination , even in these pure objects , we shall find it very requisite , oft to cease from all imagination , and to act no thought upon any thing , in the heights above , or the depths below ; i say no thought , thoughts being but images , which reach not the essence of spiritual objects . but this practice excludes not that general , constant , intellectual sight and apprehension of god , which the soul ( thus far arrived ) enjoys : therefore i speak not here to those who have not attained a continual , habitual apprehension of the divine presence ; for if they should strive to cease from their good thoughts , they might fall into a kind of stupidity , far worse . but i here give directions to those who having attained constant habitual communion with god , press after perfection in their constant progress , through all impediments ; of which , this working of imagination being one , we here give experimental directions to over come it : and certainly there is no better way than the annihilation of all thoughts , and the retiring from the phantasie into the silent (a) mind , which more fits the soul for divine irradiation , and spiritual imbraces ; for the more quiet we are , the less resistance we make against a supernatural impression , and the easier we perceive the beginnings of divine attraction , and so yield our selves to it . and truly , when the soul hath attained the power to throw its self ( as oft as it is meet ) into the silent super imaginary state ( which must be attained by the habitual constant practice of it ) it will then come to internal (b) openings , and intellectual sights of the invisible worlds , and many times receive quickning glances from the eternity , with those strong infusions of love that bring the soul many times near to a rapture : and truly , the enjoyment we have in this state fully recompenceth all that self-denial , we pass through to the attainment of it . here then the false (c) prophet ( which is irregular imagination ) comes to be conquered , being commanded by the inward mind , that now oft draws up the soul into the paradisical world , from the motion of phantasie and imagination . and now the soul doth bid adieu to phansies glass , ' cause 't is not true ; and to that mirrour turns its eye where things are view'd essentially : and there in silence waits that state to know , to which all former dispensations bow : wait on , blest soul ! and know this passive life , will send thee into oneness , from all strife . chap. x imagination being now over-come , and the animal man mortified , the soul cannot but clearly discover its growth in the image of god , and the resurrection of the angelical man , which now evidently perceives its self springing up in a new principle , above the spirit of the (d) world , and its mixt laws : and here we come to own and receive new relations , contracted by our progress in the new-birth , and our tendency from the spirit of the world toward eternity . and as through the act of generation we came to be invested with earthly relations , so by the work of regeneration we come to possess those that are spiritual . here we come to honour god , as our father in the spirit , ( not excluding any other of his beloved ones , who have been instrumental to beget us into the divine image and wisdom , ) or jerusalem above , as our true (e) mother : and so all other saints who have been begotten by the same power into the same nature , become our true brothers and sisters ; all standing upon one root , drawing one nourishment , and knit together by (f) one spirit , which is the instructer , leader and comforter of all . but we shall here find a nearer vnion and communion amongst those who have been by one particular instrument begotten into the life of christ , having a peculiar vein of spiritual enjoyment running through them ; which others , who received not that particular tincture , do not partake of . and had we lived in the apostles times , we should have seen this among the primitive christians ; for certainly they that were begotten by paul , had a particular endearment to him , and to one another ; and so it may be said of those that were converted by apollo , cephas , and others : which is clear by that scripture 1 cor. 1 , 12. ev●ry one of you saith , i am of paul , and i of apollo , and i of cephas : and though paul blames them here for contention , emulation and irregularity in their particular affections , to their spiritual fathers , yet not for a peculiar ownment of those who instrumentally converted them , for that is according to the law of pure justice , seeing he that converts a sinner , saves a soul from death , (g) and covers a multitude of sins . and paul himself in some places speaks of himself , as a spiritual father , requiring of those he had begotten into the faith , due respect , obedience and love. but amongst those who are thus peculiarly united , we shall see some more closely knit in spiritual agreement than others , and essensed into one anothers spirits ; as may appear by that great union which christ had with john , and that particular affection he bare towards him , which was the reason why john was called ( by way of eminency and distinction from the rest ) the disciple whom jesus loved . now when we come to experience this , we shall know the meaning of that scripture , where bone is said to come (h) to his bone : for as some bones are locked one in another , and some members grow more immediately one out of another , though all make up but one organical body : so some spirits are nearer united in christs body then others , and stand closer joynted , and more intrinsecally compacted , but all make up but one spiritual and mystical body . and this we shall find to flow from the harmony and agreement of spirits and natures , as they were signatured in the first moment of existency : for grace and the work of regeneration do not destroy our natural signatures , only rectifie them by that heavenly principle which reduceth all our spirits into the highest perfection they are capable of , by their primary model and frame . hence it appears that they are more truly brethren ( even according to natural nature , ) who thus agree , and correspond their essences , then they that are ordinarily called so , who are many times very contrary signatur'd : and the reason of this assertion is in that when our natures come to their perfect rectitude , and restauration by union with god ; this secret propension and harmonious closing with those that are like-essenced , remains ; whereas from meer natural relation , there nothing continues ; though in those who are related , there may be this agreement too : but meer relation is not the cause of it , but that secret law of influence which god hath established to signature some one way , some another ; some in much agreement and proportion ; others more differing , tho' all representing something of that variety which is wrapt up in the unity of the eternal nature . i could not but give an hint of this , because it may open some things concerning relations , which may lye dark to those who know not the deepest ground and root of them . but i shall proceed to the further opening of those enjoyments , which flow from union with new relations , which come now to be very dear , because the ground of their relation is so pure and good , being (i) not of man , or the will of man , but of god. here we shall experience the happy effects of our pure union , which produces that divine love , that none can know , but those that enjoy it . but this will be strongest , where there is most harmony and agreement in spirits and natures ; because the eternal tincture works upon , and through every thing occording to its nature and capacity : hence we come to enjoy more from some , than others ; and some from us receive more than others : but that brotherly-love and friendship , which now come to be renewed in spirit , far transcend any enjoyments meerly natural : and whatsoever we parted with , in dying to all earthly affection and its objects , we regain in the resurrection of our spirits , in this pure love , which is not affection but something above it , not consisting in sudden out-flowings and eruptions , but in a constant sweet inclination , and secret propension of the spirit , to those which are one with it in the pure life : and this good-willingness is so great , that from it the soul could give (k) its life ( or if there were any (l) thing dearer than life ) for its brother ; and choose sufferings , to free others from them : in this state there will be a sympathizing in joy and sorrow ; and where the union is eminently great , there may be some knowledge of each others conditions , at a (m) distance , which comes from their being essenced in each others spirits and tinctures , which is the cause of this invisible sympathy : and they that are in this near union , feel a mutual in-dwelling in the pure tincture and life (n) of each other ; and so , the further we come out of the animal nature , the more universal we are , and nearer both to heaven , and to one another in the internal ; and the sitter instrumentally to convey the pure streams of the heavenly life to each other , which no external distance can hinder : for the divine tincture ( being such a spiritual virtue , as christ imprinted into the heart of the disciples , with whom he talked after his resurrection , making their hearts to burn within them , is able to pierce through all distance , and reach those that are far absent ; because it is not corporeal , nor subject to the laws of place or time . now this is known to some by experience , who in absence enjoy such influences of spirit , and secret insinuations of spiritual virtue from one another , that they cannot but value this spiritual communion , above all enjoyments in the world ; which compared to it , seem but like the basest metal to the purest gold. then quit that wretched state , immortal soul , where poyson'd ghosts in flesh together roul ; and take thy flight into that mount of love , where new-born spirits in bright bodies move , and sport themselves in that eternal joy , which totally excludes lusts base alloy . lust's left below for those that flesh desire ; love dwells on high , love fills the heavenly quire. chap. xi . the love which in this spiritual union , ( before described ) we come to enjoy , is unexpressibly refreshing , proving to be sweeter than the hony or the hony comb , and continually raiseth the soul to the true fountain of it , who being the true cause of all pure union , both preserves and increaseth it : but the soul now having a view , and experience of the beauty and sweetness of the spirits of other christians , and of the excellency of that love which may be enjoyed through them may ( if it be not prevented by much self-denyal and watchfulness ) suffer very much selfishness to spring up in a new dress ; for here may arise spiritual covetousness , or a desire of engrossing spirits to ones self . here spiritual pride may also discover it self in desiring much esteem of such : envy likewise may start up against those we fear may draw them from us , or enjoy more love from them than our selves : and so all other selfish affections may here croud in , in a refined dress : and as these spiritual evils may flow from the sight of the excellency and suitableness of the spirits of other christians ; so also they may break in upon us from large and eminent gifts of the spirit , 2 cor. 12.7 . for we seeing the amiableness and worth of these may come immoderately to desire them ; may fear to have them eclipsed ; may reflect too much upon (n) our selves in the enjoying of them ; may look too much after eminency in the use of them ; and ( in a word ) may take too much complacency in the pleasant fruition of them ; even to an hindrance of our looking up to the fountain , as all in all : if then the soul be here entangled ( as it is hard totally to escape ) it must fly to the (p) cross , and lay the ax to the root of the tree of self , that so it may be hewn down and cast into the fire : and it must pray for the sword of power , to circumcise and cut off this refined selfishness , as it did the grosser part : and to take away this propriety , and self-ownment of all spirits , gifts and graces . here we must come to offer up the very good it self , ( as (r) abraham did isaac ) to god the fountain and bestower . here we must dye to the coveting of any spirit , grace , vision , revelation , rapture , or sensible comfort . here we must come to be nothing in all these ; to enjoy them as though we enjoyed them not , and not to reflect upon our selves on any account ; to rejoyce to see others (s) flourish in the riches of those ; and to have far more light , wisdom , comfort and honour , than our selves ; to be willing when we are rich in gifts ( and esteem of the saints ) (t) to part with them , if god so please , and to hang so loose from all things below god , as that nothing may the least hinder our conformity to the death of christ , or our rising again in the pure life of love and innocency . and truly when we have known the glory of those spiritual objects , and have been rich in possessing them , we may find it exceeding difficult wholly to give up , and to own no propriety of will in them , becoming nothing in the greatest union of spirits , fruition of gifts and spiritual honour ; keeping a sweet innocent spirit free from selfishness in all these . now the reason of the difficulty in being wholly freed from self here , is the excellency of the objects , and the sweetness of their enjoyments : for their nature and effects being very suitable to the soul , they have the stronger influence upon it , to close with them in too much delight and adherency : whence it may be more difficult , totally to give them up , than it was to leave outward gross things , which could not be so pleasing to the nature of the soul : and though some ( who think they have passed far in the new-birth ) never experienced this ; and may therefore look upon it as a thing not much to be regarded , yet let all such know that the reason may be in that they never yet passed clear out of the spirit of the world ; nor overcame their animal nature by a compleat circumcision and renunciation ; and so were not capable to receive any extraordinary enjoyments of visions , revelations , in-speakings , prophesies , unions of spirits ; and being not come into the inward wilderness , where the soul is fitted for such things , and where these spiritual temptations arise to try it : whereas being in the outward sensitive ( spirit ) and detained in flesh and blood , as israel in egypt , the inward spiritual faculties of sensation lie lock'd up and can have no knowledge of those spiritual operations and enjoyments : but they that are come so far in the work of the new-birth , as to be acquainted with , and to live to these things , must of necessity dye to them , and come to be (a) nothing in them , giving up all to god , and forsaking the propriety of their own wills. now this is a parting with our own lives , and the giving up the ghost of refined selfishness , which strikes at the root of sin and evil , and brings us to the death of the cross , in conformity to the example of our saviour's progress , who was crucified betwixt two thieves , one of which was lost , tho' the other went with him into paradise , which we in the mystery likewise fulfil ; for our wills are crucified betwixt the outward animal man , and the inward old man , or sinful nature ; the first of which in the resurrection , shall be received ( after purification ) into paradise ; but the last , must be destroyed and swallowed up into the fire of wrath. the soul which on the cross thus freely dyes , becomes to god a pleasing sacrifice , through that eternal spirit , and that blood , which by meer reason are not understood ; nor by those rabbies , who divines would be , though they know not the true divinity . chap. xii . after this death upon the mystical cross , the soul in conformity to christs progress , passeth through a state analogous to that of christs descent into hell , being that principle which stands as a smoaking furnace before the entrance of paradise , into which none can pass , but those that are dead with christ , and washed from the pollutions of flesh and spirit by the blood of the lamb : for whosoever retain the spots of guilt will be kept back by gods wrath , which in this principle , burns like fire , isa . 30.33 . this also is spread ( at least potentially as to its root ) through the whole world , yet invisible to the outward eye . in this the dragon and all evil angels and spirits are , for jud. epist . ver . 6. the lord reserves the fallen angels in everlasting chains under darkness , or as 2 pet. 2.4 . hath cast them into hell , and delivered them into chains of darkness , to be reserved unto judgment . now though the fallen angels are every where tempting the saints , yet they are always in the chains of this invisible darkness , which could not be if this were not every where in this world. whence , ephes . 6.12 . it is called , the darkness of this world : of which the chief devils are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or wordly rulers . and although evil spirits receive some refreshment by mixing with the souls of men , which are cloathed with the animal sensitive nature , and live in the spirit of the world ! yet they are still in chains under this darkness , as in their proper center . and although it is said , luke 8.31 . that the devils , whose name was legion , besought christ , ( after they were cast out of the man ) that he would not command them to go out into the deep , as though the deep or bottomless pit , had been at a distance from them : yet the meaning is , that they might not wholly go out of the spirit of the world , and out of union with it , deeper into the center of darkness and wrath ; for in union either with men or beasts , who live in the spirit of the world , they receive some mitigation of their torment , which they have not , when they are naked and uncloathed in the abyss : therefore their going into the abyss from union with the spirits of men or beasts , is not as we depart from one room into another ( which are disjoyned by outward distance ) but a sinking deeper from the circumference toward the center , from the outward to the inward , which we call the dark world , and hell ; which ( according to the sight and experience of some deep mystical men ) is made up of spiritual sulphur , mercury , and salt , not united and harmonized in sweet proportion , for then they would be paradise ; but as in discord and disproportion working in contrary motions , through the absence of that pure balsamical oil , which flowing from the heart of god , makes paradise so delightful . now as all things in this visible world are compounded of these three material principles , sulphur , mercury and salt , so are the invisible worlds , in their spiritual nature , from whence the visible world proceeded , and in which it is erected ; for ( heb. 7.3 . ) the things which are seen were made ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) not of things that do appear , but consequently out of things invisible , as the vulgar latin hath it , ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent , and to the same sense is the syriack versions . but to proceed , the dark world ( rev. 9.2 . ) is called the abyss or bottomless pit ; and whosoever go down into this sea , see gods wonders in the deep , psal . 107.24 . for there is the great leviathan , the crooked serpent , the dragon , isa . 27.1 . out of whose mouth job . 41.19 , 20 , 21. ) go burning lamps , and sparks of fire leap out : out of his nostrills goeth smoak , as out of a seething cauldron : his breath kindleth coals , and a flame goeth out of his mouth , v. 31. he maketh the deep to boil like a pot of ointment . 34. he beholdeth all high things : he is a king over all the children of pride , which are the principalities , powers and spiritual wickednesses of this dark world ; many of which in their dark bodies bear the forms of terrible beasts , rev. 9.3.17 . into this region , christ descended after his giving up of the ghost upon the cross ; for this is a distinct article of the ancient creed and agrees with acts 2.27 . thou wilt not leave my soul in hell , which was prophetically spoken by the psalmist , of christ's descending into hell , and of his redemption from it ; and ephes . 4.9 . 't is said , that before he ascended , he descended into the lower parts of the earth , which cannot be meant of his outward body , because that lay in , or near the superficies of the earth : or as in mat. 12.40 . into the heart of the earth : where there is a parallel made betwixt jonas and christ , the type , and the antitype , which cannot well correspond except christ descended into the sphere of the inward spiritual leviathan , as jonas into the belly of the outward : from whence ( in type of christ ) he said , jonah 2.2 . out of the belly of hell cryed i , and thou heardest my voice . now hell or the dark world , may be called the heart of the earth , 1. in allusion to that large sphere or lake of fire , which according to des cartes and some learned hermetick philosophers , is seated in and about the center of the earth . 2 dly . in that acording to the eternal gradation of beings and principles , it may be said to be within , in the middle or center of it ; the earth and all terrestrial matter being more outward , in the circumference . and though hell is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( mat. 8.12 . ) the utter or more outward darkness , yet that 's spoken in relation to paradise , and the eternal world , not in reference to the earth and this world. now christ having passed through this principle into paradise , draws us all after him , according to that promise ; when i am lifted up on the cross , i will draw all men unto me . now this is no other way , than that he went through himself ; for there is but one way into everlasting life , and the kingdom of glory ; and that very narrow too , according to christs words , strait is the gate and narrow , or afflicted , is the way that leads into life , and few there be that find it : even they only who deny themselves and take up their crosses , and follow him , who is the way , not only through this world , but even through death and hell also ; for , though in conformity to his pattern , we come to be cast into hell , which ( mat. 13.50 . ) is called the furnace of fire , ( typed forth by nebuchadnezzars fiery furnace , into which the three children were cast : ) yet the son of god walks there with us , keeping us from that torment and pain , which the damned undergo ; and making us ( with him ) to triumph over principalities and powers , and to conquer them by the blood of the everlasting covenant ; which quenching the fire of wrath , raiseth the spirits of the obedient out of this dark grave , into the joys of paradise . but we must know that in our progress we may many times be cast into terror and anguish ; yea feel hell awakened in us , and afterwards be delivered by some influence of christs spirit , and infusions of his love , and yet be short of this resurrection , and of passing through hell as conquerors , which can never be till we descend thither without guilt , in child-like innocency , with the candle of the lord in our hands , which is the pillar of fire which alone can lead us through this night , into the day of paradise . to which state whoever attain , cannot but sing thus , in the joy of their spirits . ye morning stars , ye sons of light , rejoice with jubilation : as (a) once ye did when that first night was scatter'd by creation . behold the prince of night is thrown into his proper place : and he that cast the dragon down , hath (b) raised me by his grace . and now i stand above that grave , where wrath entombed is ; and wait , that rich crown to receive , which will be perfect bliss . chap. xiii . by this time the soul experienceth the happy state of being freed from the principle of selfness , in returning to god from the spirit of the world , and sees the real progress it hath made from the outward through the inward dark world , into the internal paradise ; where adam lived before his fall , and where christ conversed , betwixt the time of his resurrection and ascention . in this spiritual region the curse is not manifest , there being a perpetual spring . here are the idea's of all visible bodies , in much beauty and appearing , lustre . here are those bright clouds which overshadowed christ on the mount , and when he was received up into heaven ; in which he will descend (d) when he comes again to judge the earth . now the soul having attained to the state of this angelical garden , knows what it is to turn and become as a (e) child , and to attain a secret and quiet life of innocency and pure love , free from those passions and evil affections it had formerly groaned under . and here it experienceth what it is to be born of (f) water and the spirit , as a necessary qualification to do the will of god : and sees its conception in the womb of wisdom ( which is our new mother ) who here distills the milk of the eternal word , ( from the eternal world ) to feed and nourish the soul : whither it now travels as fixing its sight upon that pure river of water of life , clear as chrystal , (g) proceeding out of the throne of god , and of the lamb. but now likewise the soul lives the life of spiritual vegitation , and grows like a willow by the water-courses , or (h) a lilly in the garden of the lord , being continually refreshed with the dews of the eternal heavens , and quickened by the beams of the sun of righteousness , and cherished with the enlivening gales of the holy spirit . all that are in this state are like the harmless flowers in a fruitful garden , springing from the same ground , yet differing in colour , virtue , smell , and growth , according to their several natures , and times of planting ; yet all serving to express the power , love , and wisdom of their creator , without any strife or contention for eminency place or esteem , being all satisfyed with what god affords them , and their different capacities fit them for . o what a sweet harmony is here ! what a beautiful consent in expressing the goodness of the great creator of all things ? how far are spirits here from envying the different beauties and ornaments one of another ? how sweetly do they incline to mutual love and agreement ? as being the branches of one pure root , as enjoying the same kind of nourishment , and receiving life from the same (i) quickening spirit ? how is all wrath and contention here forgot ? how amiable do spirits now begin to grow in the eyes of christ , by their innocent childishness ? and truly in this dispensation , we come to be cloathed with humility , wrap'd up in meekness ; expressing nothing but the blessed effects of heaven upon earth ; here we are full of love-meltings towards christ , who baptiseth us in the soft water of spiritual meekness ; which overspreads the soul , not suffering any of the fire of passion to spring up . in this state the soul is very watchful over every motion , in the outward and inward man , fearing to step down again into nature , where before it had so much trouble and (l) bitterness ; whereas now it is in a sweet pleasant rest , lying upon the bed of innocency , solacing its self in the sweet (m) embraces of its saviour , who now begins to shew himself very clearly , and to afford almost continual refreshments : in a word , this is a life of stilness , silence , and spiritual simplicity ; in which the soul turning its eyes from nature , looks directly forward to (n) eternity ; and strongly breaths after its arrival there . and here we come to know the work of the fifth day in our new creation , answering the fifth of those seven spirits , which are the eyes of the lamb of god , rev. 5.6 . if harmony doth in this fifth arise , what will it be , when thou dost sabbatize , in that last day , where all variety concenters in a perfect vnity ! then stand thou fast , poor soul , and keep thy ground , till with eternal love thou shalt be crown'd . take heed of lust which (o) unlock'd adams eyes , and cast him to the earth from paradise . chap. xiv . when the soul is arrived to this , baptisme of meekness and innocent love , and hath experienced the comfortable distillations of the heavenly dew to its very great profit and growth , it comes to be much confirmed and established in this principle , and finds the effects of its present station to be very blessed , in comparison of what it was ▪ when it stood in the fire of awakened nature . and now seems as one that hath passed thorough a hot fiery region into a moderate cool air , where gentle gales of wind breath upon it , and refreshing dues entertain it , and cooling (p) waters are afforded to take away the sense of thirst . and now it perceives the happiness of those who have made their way by death thorough irregular and discording nature , into that spiritual state where there is joy , peace , (q) rest and harmony . this condition then brings with it a greater death (r) to the world and all worldly things , a total disrelishing of all things corrupt and impure though more refined , and so as it is deadned to the world and selfishness , it (s) lives the more to god and all goodness , and finds its will more strongly drawn to christ and eternity . and this dispensation into which the soul now enters , is a state of much (t) life and quickning , and of much pleasing enjoyment from the objects of the internal senses renewed and restored by the spirit of god ; for here the (u) internal faculties of spiritual sensation are more opened , and give a greater enjoyment of the first angelical (w) life which was in paradise : and we attain the use and restauration of these faculties , through our growth in regeneration , and as a priviledge purchased for us by christ : so that all saints shall partake of them , either here or in heaven , according as their attainments are . in this state our internal (x) eye is more unlocked to behold the paradisical . world with those luminous objects and inhabitants that are in it : here we see such bright clouds as the disciples ( math. 17.5 . ) saw on the mount and at christs ascention when he was taken up into heaven ( acts 1.9 . ) in which he will likewise descend again math. 24.30 . here also we see the angels of god ascending and descending , as jacob at bethell , gen. 28.12 . in this state also our inward ear is sweetly entertained with angelical harmony , hearing the sweet (y) harpers upon mount sion , and the voices of those that sing the song of moses and the lamb , and of those that cry hallelujah ! hallelujah ! rev. 19.1 , 3 , 4 , 6. with many other voices out of the eternal world , rev. 4.1 . moreover our internal feeling is almost continually entertained with the strong contactions of the (z) word of life , which sometimes discover themselves by thrilling motions throughout the whole man ; but most commonly by strong infusions of the pure burning tincture of jesus ( luk. 24.32 . ) into the heart . in this state likewise we oft smell the hot perfumes (a) of paradise , and are pierced through with most delightful odours , which infuse themselves into the tincture of the heart ▪ and create delight , and give a plain feeling and sense of the presence of paradise , and that invisible light world where there is no curse nor corruption . and in a word , here we feed upon the heavenly manna , angels food , which is living bread , that quickens , enlivens , and corroborates the soul ; and we oft taste very sweet dews diffusing themselves with much pleasure into that internal sense of taste , which lies within the organ of the tongue . thus all the spiritual faculties of sensation are in this dispensation more opened , and more freely entertained with their peculiar objects . but yet we are not to rest in these enjoyments , nor to go to build tabernacles with them , but to look forward and to press after perfect union with the divine nature in the eternal world , where is our true sabbath of rest , in the vision of god , and perfect fruition of his love for ever , 1 thes . 4.17 . heb. 4.9 . the pleasures which in this state we enjoy , are only known to those that do obey ; for souls that do imbibe sins poyson here , have neither eyes to see nor ears to hear those sacred objects of divine sensation , which are the pleasures of the new creation : man 's lapsed sense and reason know them not , they are the little childrens sacred lot. chap. xv. by this time the soul begins to draw near the eternal world , in its fixed station and habitual enjoyment , lying under the showers of love , which descend from the heart of god and the bosom of sophia : here the blessed tincture of jesus coming so powerfully , as though it streamed from his glorifyed humanity , flows into the soul like a river of oyl mixed with fire , which affords that unutterable delight , which cannot be conceived by those that know it not experimentally . here christ saith , drink ▪ yea , drink abundantly , o beloved , and filts large cups of love , heavenly love to power into the soul ; so that it sometimes comes to be (b) sick of love , not knowing how to carry its self through the abundant showers that fall upon it ▪ for christ many times toucheth the soul with a piercing beam of love , which by this , is suddenly drawn to a quick return ; and this gives freer passage for a new impression , which more exciting the powers of the soul to a new imbrace , opens the way more for the king of glory to enter with that power and unutterable force of divine love , that the soul becomes filled , swallowed up , and transported into a kind of rapture , not being able to express those pleasures , gusts , imbraces , love-extasies , which then are piercing thorough it ; nor sufficient praises and hallelujahs to the great king of saints , who bestows such royal tokens of love upon it . and as in this state there is such holy commerce in pure love betwixt god and the soul , so there is betwixt the soul and (c) other saints , who cannot but wonderfully own and love one another , and delight in that likeness of god , which they see in each other , and bless him for those living powers of grace and love that are communicated in the worship of god , by which they exceedingly refresh each others spirits . ( now this mutual love chiefly flows from a (d) sight and sense of oneness , which exceedingly enforceth this great closing and out-slowing of spirit to delight , comfort , and refresh one another . and here is that strength of love that we could give our (e) lives for the brethren , and endure much affliction to flee them from sufferings : here we bear one anothers burdens , and so fulfil the royal law of love ; for we can keep nothing as our own , but what we heartily communicate and make our brethren partakers of , because they are part of our selves . here we come to practice that heavenly law , of loving our neighbours as our selves , and of doing gods will on earth as it is done in heaven ; for which end man and the visible world were brought forth . for the breaking forth of sin and wrath , was not according to gods most pure and holy will , which is good , and tends to salvation and blessing , and the keeping of his creatures in that primitive harmony , in which they came out of gods hands as fitted to glorifie him through mutual love , and regular obedience . and this is the end of christs coming into the world of mans nature , even to restore it from the discord of sin and wrath , to the harmony of pure love and righteousness ; therefore 't is a happy state to have attained this habit of love before described , which will not terminate within the sphere of our neighbours and brethren , but in some measure flow out to all ; causing us to breath after , endeavour , and (f) pray for their change : for it is the nature of true love to communicate it self and to delight in propagating its own heavenly image , that so many may come to partake of bliss and happiness through it : and in this enjoyment , if we find any that know and posses but little , yet thirst much after god , o how will our hearts burn within us ! how ready shall we be to employ our talents for their good , and to discover that way which leads through nature into the kingdom of the love ? what labour and pains could we take to be instrumental in changing , and quickning them , and in bringing them through the cross to our ovvn state of happiness ; so that this dispensation abounds much in love , both to god and our neighbour , fitting the soul for ascention into eternity , there to see and know with satisfaction and delight , those wonders which the holy angels and glorifyed saints are continually viewing with joy and admiration . blest is that soul which is arrived here , where quickning love casts out dejecting fear ; and gives that sweet composure to the mind , that it lyes passive to that holy wind , which blowing from the highest paradise , invites the soul to come and sabbatise in that bright day , where the arch-angels sing sweet hallelujahs to our christ their king. chap. xvi . being the conclusion to the rest . the soul being brought thus far in the heart-work by the power of jesus , through the practice of the cross , in self-denial and resignation , lives in habitual springings up of the love in the centre of it's spirit , where the work is near finished , the will being constantly drawn toward the heart of god in the chariot of love. and in this state the soul is completely fitted for ascension , and the opening of the eternal world , which is part of the head-work ; for in that the spiritual eye is seated , which is capable to see and know the wonders of eternity . and though some in a rapture may be taken up into that world long before the work in their hearts , wills , and affections is finished ; yet such must afterward go through the work in nature , of rectifying all their properties , and of bringing their wills into death , and pure resignation , that so they may be fitted for the birth of the love ; whence its clear that this state of regeneration , attained in the will through the death , is far more considerable , and nearer perfection than the highest rapture without such a foregoing work ; and the ascension after this work of regeneration in the heart , is more weighty , and more tending to perfection , than any rapture of transportation before , can be ; because by such a work , the will is wrought up into a constant union with christ , which by ascension , is more confirmed and established , the heart through that , being more raised above (g) all mortal corruptible objects , and more reduced into a passive silent waiting for the opening of the eternal temple , whence the infallible voice proceeds , and where the great high-priest sparkles with the most bright beams of divine glory . but the manner of the souls ascending from the internal to the eternal world , is very remarkable and wonderful . it (h) cannot of its self move one degree upward ; that same hand of power which carried it downward , to see the wonders of god in the depths , must carry it upward to see his wonders in the high places above . so that in this the soul is meerly passive ; the spirit of christ being the agent , which descending with an over-shadowing vertue upon it , wraps (i) it up swiftly , and in a strong force ( by which the souls acts are for a while suspended ) translates it , as it were , in a strait line from the inward , toward the inmost . in this translation or ascension , what wonders are seen and felt , i shall not particularly express : but in general , this i must declare , that there is an unutterable power transfusing the soul in this ascent , which first comes into the womb of the invisible worlds ( out of which they issue ) in which it finds an universal silence or stilness ; and above which , it discovers a great glory , inhabited by glorified spirits , who there live in perpetual harmony and joy , singing halelujahs to the lamb of god ; and continually waiting upon the infallible voice proceeding from the throne of god. to be taken into this , is a further degree of ascension , being the second mansion in the eternal world ; where (k) myriads of angels attend those commands , which come out of the most holy place , which is the last and highest mansion in that world , answering to love , as the second to life , and the first to light , corresponding with the threefold manifestation of father , son , and holy ghost . but to speak much of the two last , requires greater experience than yet i have enjoyed . neither is it expedient to describe the first , nor those wonders which are in it , in regard of that blindness and general enmity which is in mens hearts against the deep mysteries of god in invisible nature . but after ascension into the first , the soul becomes so much indued with the sense and apprehension of those spiritual mysteries it was there acquainted with ; and hath such a clear view of the outward world , and of the misery that most there lye in , that it cannot but weep over the greatest part of men , as christ did over jerusalem , as seeing them exceeding ignorant of eternity , and so of their own everlasting happiness ; and involved in the spirit of the outward world , where the prince of the world holds them captive , and makes them enemies to the kingdom of love , in which there is no enmity , covetousness , lust nor deceit , nor any such things as those are , which in the world are most courted and admired . after this also , the soul begins to discover the evil properties and habits of mens spirits , very much portrayed in their faces , discovering in their very aspects and signatures , those bestial and devillish passions by which they are swayed and captivated within , so that the eye many times affects the heart with grief , in viewing the sad estate of souls estranged from the life of innocency and pure virginity , and imprisoned in the dark chains of corrupt flesh and blood . here likewise the soul is exceeding passive , and much comprehended in deep abstract silence , by which it much enjoys unutterable pleasures and gusts from the inward ground of eternity , having much sense of the nearness of that kingdom , where the angelical thrones sing hallelujahs , and sport themselves in the innocent delights of their eternal spheres and luminous mansions . and as the soul passeth from the first mansion towards the second and third , jesus (m) of nazareth ( in his glorified humanity ) begins to give great demonstrations of his presence ; and to visit the inward man with frequent and very great impressions ; so that it cannot doubt but that he is some times personally present , infusing the tincture of his glorified body into the heart , which is sweeter than hony , and burns like oil and fire mixed together . and truly this dispensation is exceeding comfortable and very weighty ; for the discovery of christs presence sometimes swallows up the soul into unspeakable joy , being transfused with the breath of his mouth which is most odoriferous ; and quickened by the touch of his body , which is most delightful ; and pierced through with the sound of his voice , which is most harmonious and powerful ; causing the soul deeply to admire the grace of god , and to cry out with thomas , my lord , and my god. in this dispensation christ shews very powerfully the necessity of his mediation , as god-man ; and that whatever we receive is through him , who standing in the deepest vnion with the father , conveys all light , life and love from himself , into us , who at the time of the restitution of all things , act. 3.21 . will again breath the holy ghost on his chosen vessels , of which those in the primitive time received but the first fruits . he also reveals in this state how the mystery of iniquity ( even the spirit of anti-christ ) works in most sects of christians ; carrying them either to deny or slight the great mystery of his mediatory office : or by misconceptions , to cry up his blood and merits , to the prejudice of mortification , self-denyal , and the imitating of his most innocent life , as our pattern to walk by in this world. moreover in this dispensation , the soul enjoys very great openings of eternity in the heart , which are different from openings in the head , where the inward senses of hearing and seeing are resident ; for whatever in a divine sight ( eternity opening in the head ) we clearly and distinctly view and behold the same ( in a heart-opening ) we really feel and handle in a spiritual way ; for in it we come experimentally to know and perceive the motions and administring influences of angels , the vertue and efficacy of christs universal and particular body : the harmony , love , and enjoyments of the spirits of just men made perfect ; with much of the glory and majesty of that kingdom prepared for us , from the beginning of the world , into which none can enter , but those who have (n) forsaken all for christ , and have devested themselves of all the vestments of corruption , and have put on the robe of innocency , which is the garment of true virginity , in which they will not be ashamed to stand before the son of man , in his kingdom . then be ye wise immortal sparks of fire , and strive to get you garments of pure light ; in which you may from mortal dregs retire into that glory , where 's no spot of night . o do but weigh how swiftly time goes by , and how all earthly pleasures rise and fall ; as soon as they a being have , they die , and nothing can their hasty joy recall . but when the outward garment is withdrawn , eternity presents its constant face , in which all actions clearly will be shown , which ever have been wrought in times short race . but such alone can there possessed be of happiness , that have been born again : others will feel the pangs of misery , who in their wills corruption still retain . then die to sin , while on the earth you live ; so after death , true life you shall receive . a brief essay in verse , upon the 13th . chapter of corinthians the first . 1. tho' i with eloquence should vested be above the pitch of meer humanity ; so as in tongues with angels for to vie , yet all is nothing without charity : like sounding brass , or the (a) loud cymbals noise , without true life , i should but form a voice . 2. and tho' i have the gift of prophecy , and hidden wisdom be unvail'd to me ; so that in knowledge equal i become to the great soul of mighty salomon : yea , tho' by faith vast hills i could remove , yet all is nothing without perfect love. 3. tho' all my goods on the poor i bestow , and so great zeal for my religion show , as to consent my flesh in flames should burn , rather than from my dear opinion turn : yet thence no profit to my soul can rise , except to love , it's self 's a sacrifice . 4. this love by its true characters may be distinguish'd from pretended charity ; it perseveres in patience , and is kind , then when to try it , all things seem combin'd . envies black tincture it did never know , nor ostentation in its great deeds show . 't is not inflated , but will kiss the dust , to help those souls , which in its goodness trust . 5. comely to all it self it doth express . through condescention seeking for to bless . no self-love ever did its actions stain , it stoops to suffer , to make others reign . no (b) bitterness did ever in it rise from the worst actings of its enemies ; but still it thinks the best , is not severe sin to impute , but rather all would clear . 6. all falshood and injustice distant are , as from it's joys , so from it 's spotless sphere : but truth in heart , word , works , are it's delight ; a pleasing object to a virgin sight . 7. it (c) covers all that malice would reveal ; it pardons , and would fain all breaches heal . it doth believe all that may crimes excuse , except meer evidence makes it refuse . and tho' things at the present appear bad , it hopes at length they will be better made . thus it endureth all things , waits to see , through the long patience , a full victory . 8. which love will gain ; for it can never die , but must out-last the gift of prophecy ; yea , and of languages , for they must cease , and give way to (d) united blessedness : when all our twilight knowledge will expire in the bright beams of it's eternal fire . 9. knowledge and prophecy are but in part , but love's that essence which must fill the heart ; by that imperfect gifts absorpt must be , but that ends well that dies in charity . 10. children like children reason , think and speak , their intellectual actings are but weak ; but when to manly age we do arrive , no longer then in childish things we live . so when our hopes in love consummate are , imperfect lights and gifts will disappear . 11. for little here but images we see , and pictures of essential verity ; eternal truths in riddles do appear , much is obscure , but very little clear . yet when the perfect love we shall possess , with intuition heaven will us bless : then face to face we shall that beauty see , by which angelick hosts astonish'd be . then shall we know , as we of him are known , by rays of intellect and pure sensation . 12. therefore when faith , hope , love , we do compare , love hath the palm ; this love the crown doth wear . the evidence of things not seen faith is , and hope our anchor till we come to bliss ; but then they both expire , and both resign to love the first-born of the sacred trine ; without which heaven could not heaven be , neither a place of rest , nor unity . 't is this that links eternity to time , and makes the heavens with our earth to chime . 't is this that knits eternal souls in one , and bind's the angels in conjunction . 't is this that draws down the almighty powers to over-shadow us in golden showr's , that so our hearts might more enriched be with the abundant fruits of charity . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29649-e1110 regeneration described . foreseeing matthias to be surrogated into the place of judas . (a) acts 2.37 . (b) eccles . 7.29 . (c) ephes . 2.3 . (d) luke 8.27 . (e) heb. 12.14 . (f) rom. 3.19 . (g) ioh. 1.26 . (h) rev. 3.20 . (i) 1 ioh. 1.7 . (k) rom. 5.10 . (m) 1. cor. 6.20 . (n) cant. 2.5 . (o) cant. 1.2 . (p) colos . 2.27 . (q) cant. 2.4 , 11 , 13. (r) cant. 1.2 . (s) rev. 3.1 . (t) rev. 3.2 . (u) 1 ioh. 4.19 . (x) 2 ioh. ver . 8. (w) isaiah 1.19 . (x) gal. 5.7 . (y) 2 tim. 2.11 . (z) rom. 8.13 . (a) mat. 7.13 . (b) luke 14. ●● (c) 1 pet. 2.21 . (d) 1 cor. 15.49 . (e) mat. 18.3 . (f) i exclude not the soul nor the resurrection-body , for they both ( vested with this image ) shall arrive at immortality , and possess heaven , 1 thes . 4.17 . (g) isaiah 66 , 1. phil. 3.8 . (k) 1 cor. 5.7 . (l) rev. 12 ▪ 7. (m) 1 ioh. 1.7 . (n) rom. 6.5 . (p) 1 cor. 9.27 . (r) heb. 5 , 14. (s) 1 cor. 12.5 . (t) heb. 12.22 . (u) 2 kings 6.17 . (w) heb. 12.1 . (x) gen. 32.1 , 2. (x) rev. 1.6 . (y) heb. 10.20 . (a) heb. 12.4 . (b) gen. 2.25 . (c) luk. 14 33. (d) gal. 5.24 . (e) col. 3.5 . (f) mat. 19.27 . (g) rev. 21.7 . luk. 14.27 . (h) 1 cor. 15.50 . (i) rev. 13.16 , 17. though i hint at the mystical sense of the beast in rev. 13. yet i deny not the historical , as it hath been truly applyed to a succession of persons in the signally lapsed or antichristian church . (k) 2 cor. 10.5 . (l) phil. 3.20 . (m) mat. 28.20 . (n) eph. 4.10 . (o) heb. 11.27 . (p) ephes . 1.18 . (q) act. 17.29 . (r) gen. 1.27 . (s) gen 2.19.20 . (t) eccles . 7.29 . (u) 1. cor. 2.14 . (w) joh. 14.26 . (x) isaiah 2.16 . (y) 2 cor. 10.5 . (z) psal . 40.10 . (a) rev. 1.10 . (b) rev. 4.2 . (c) rev. 16 , 13 , & 19 , 20. though i here allude to the false prophet mention'd in the apocalypse , yet i exclude not the external prophetick sense of this or any other part of the revelation , which is a prophetick history of the church to the end of the world. (d) 1 cor. 2.12 . (e) gal. 4.26 . (f) eph. 4.4 . (g) iam. 5.20 . (h) ezek. 37.7 . (i) ioh. 1.13 . (k) 1 joh. 3.16 . (l) gal. 4.15 . (m) col. 2.5 . (n) 2 cor. 3.2 . (n) ezek. 16.15 . (p) gal. 6.14 . (r) gen. 22.2 . (s) 1 cor. 12.25 , 26. (t) phil. 3.8 . (a) 2 cor. 6.10 . ( a ) i deny not but some great sea-monster is ( in the letter ) here described , but that the devils is here also alluded to , and intended , is not only my judgment , but of many of the ancients , as appears clear by ver . 34. which is a key to the rest . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . mat. 7.14 . (a) job . 38.7 . (b) ezek. 37.12 , 13. (d) rev. 1.7 . (e) 1 pet. 2.2 . (f) joh. 3.5 . (g) rev. 22 1. (h) hos . 14.5 . (i) 1 cor. 12.13 . (l) heb. 12 15. (m) cant. 2.6 . (n) heb. 12 ▪ 2. (o) gen. 3.7 , 23. (p) psal . 46 4. (q) heb. 4.3 . (r) gal. 6.14 . (s) 1 pet. 4.2 . (t) 1 joh. 8 3.14 . (u) heb. 5. (w) 1 joh. 1.1 . (x) 2 kin. 6.17 . (y) rev. 14.2 . (z) 1 joh. 1.1 . (a) psal . 45.8 . (b) cant. 2.5 . (c) psal . 16.3 . (d) ioh. 17.21 . (e) 2 cor. 12.15 . (f) 1 tim. 2.1 . (g) col. 3.1 . (h) john 15.5 . (i) 2 cor. 12. (k) rev. 5.11 . and 7. (m) act. 22 & 1. 23. joh. 14. (n) luk. 14. 33. notes for div a29649-e7140 (a) the greek words imports rather a loud sounding , than a tinkling cymbal . (b) the greek imports , 't is never provoked into high passion , or imbittered . (c) in the english , it beareth all things ; but according to the greek it may be better rendred , it covers or hides all things : else the last words of the verse & these import the very same . (d) the division of tongues divided and scattered mankind . the testimony of a cloud of witnesses who in their generation have testified against that horrible evil of forcing of conscience, and persecution about matters of religion ... / composed together, and translated into english, by ... william caton. caton, william, 1636-1665. 1662 approx. 129 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 32 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a31366 wing c1520 estc r34418 14400254 ocm 14400254 102313 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a31366) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102313) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1057:4) the testimony of a cloud of witnesses who in their generation have testified against that horrible evil of forcing of conscience, and persecution about matters of religion ... / composed together, and translated into english, by ... william caton. caton, william, 1636-1665. [12], 51 p. s.n.], [london? : 1662. place of publication suggested by wing. imperfect: pages tightly bound with some loss of print. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng freedom of religion -england -17th century. theology, practical. 2003-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2003-04 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the testimony of a cloud of witnesses , who in their generation have testified against that horrible evil of forcing of conscience , and persecution about matters of religion . whose testimony may be seasonable and sutable for the present state of the wise and learned men in england , whether of the magistrates or of the clergy ; and may serve as a timely warning to them all , of defiling their hands with that horrible filthy thing , which is already in part committed in the land. composed together , and translated into english , by a living witness against the aforesaid evil , william caton . god shall perswade japheth , and he shall dwell in the tents of shem , and canaan shall be his servant , gen. 9.27 . and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb , and by the word of their testimony , and they loved not their lives unto the death , rev. 12.11 . printed in the year , 1662. to the reader . friend , in these latter dayes , the father of our lord jesus christ hath raised up many witnesses , who faithfully bear their testimony to the eternal truth , against the many evils which superabound in the world ; but as the testimony of his faithful witnesses hath been heretofore rejected by the world ; in like manner is the testimony of his servants now , contemned and set at nought by the wise and learned of this world , who now with their power and wisdom resist the almighty , as in ages and generations past : which thing i seriously observing , it entered into my heart to manifest the testimony of some of the antients ( who heretofore have been renowed in their generations ) to my country-men , to the end , that both the wise and simple , noble and ignoble amonst them , might see and perceive , how that the almighty , even the lord of hosts , hath so far opened the understandings of many , as that he hath given them to see the evil of that horrible evil , ( viz. ) of forcing of conscience ; which noysome and hurtful thing hath been testified against by emperours and kings , and by other potentates of the earth , who by experience have found the evil of it : and likewise it hath been witnessed against by many wise and eminent learned men in their several generations , even as it is now testified against , by the servants and hand-maids of the most high , which is evidently manifested by this following treatise . it hath been long upon me to produce this to our native country , and to publish these testimonies in its own language , that its inhabitants might understand how other kingdoms and countries have been depopulated and spoyled , through their persisting in the aforesaid evil ; and that they also might be warned from running head-long in that evil course unto perdition , and thereby incur desolation upon the land , and hasten the lord's judgements upon its inhabitants . much i might have added to the further demonstrating of this evil , but being there is so much writ already concerning it , and so much testified daily against it , and that i was not desirous to make a great volumn , but chused much rather such a compendious abstract as this ; therefore have i only inserted their testimonies , without any paraphrasing upon them , which i leave unto thy just judgement . sometimes i have instanced the chronicle or history , in which they are to be found more at large , and sometime i have not ; for i believe that very few of them are extant in our english language , and that there is not one among a thousand in england that do know the chronologies , out of which they have been extracted . if that thou ( courteous reader ) do with the spirit of meekness peruse this brief treatise , then mayest thou reap of the fruit of this my labour of love , the effects of which i shall leave unto the lord , whose power i know is sufficient to make it effectual . w. c. palatine in germany , the 29th . of the first month , ( called march ) 1662. the epistle to the reader . it hath been the fervent labour and travel of my youth , to seek for , and to follow after the way of righteousness and truth , and it hath ever been the very temper of my spirit until this day , to affect iustice and mercy ; and the virtues of the lord god hath delighted my soul , in what person , and among what people soever as i have seen the same , and perfect liberty and freedom in all the wayes of god inwardly and outwardly , in all the exercise of godliness ; and the virtues of the spirit of christ i have longed after , and according to that light and knowledge committed to me , these things have i followed that i might attain to the perfection thereof , to the fulfilling of my faith and patience in the enjoyment of these things , when god himself should bring them forth in the world , and give his chosen people the possession of the same as the lot of their inheritance . and for this cause and the accomplishing of this end , i have had my portion of afflictions among many other ; and i have suffered somewhat in body and spirit in my day , if possibly this may be obtained in the end ( to wit ) free , open , publick and perfect liberty in the exercise of conscience , in duty and worship to godwards , in and through the whole world ; this hath been and is the end of that long travelled iourney , which once obtained is a sufficient reward for all afflictions , and tribulations , and persecutions suffered and endured in the way ; and saving my hope , and faith , and confidence in the promises of god concerning this thing , the heart would faint , the spirit fail , and the soul be weary , and nothing could comfort my life : thus it is not onely with me , but with many more like minded , who are all travellers , mourners and disconsolate , till the lord appear bringing with him perfect liberty of conscience to all his people , now oppressed and imposed upon with grievous burdens of force and violence , concerning worship and duty to godwards , under which soul groans , spirit grieves , life mourns , and the holy seed is slain in all nations through the world ; and the soul , spirit , life , and holy seed , cryes unto god day and night , and are poured out before him , how long lord , how long , when shall it once be , that persons , peoples , and nations , shall offer service , obedience and worship to thee , according to thy teaching , and as they are led and perswaded by thy spirit ? free service and worship , and without force is that which god onely accepts , and by which he is glorified ; 't is the way of true worship , 't is the way of salvation , duty and service , in the exercise of the free spirit of the lord , in the hearts of his people , in this onely is he delighted ; and all the exercise of that concern which is by force through imposition , is neither pleasing to him , nor saving to the soul , but abomination in his sight , as iniquity which his soul hates , and a vexation of guilt unto the righteous soul : hence may it be said , wo unto imposed worship and service which is forced by outward power , it grieves and vexes the god of heaven unto wrath and indignation , and it wounds and oppresses the immortal soul unto death and damnation . surely , it is contrary to the very purpose of god in order of creation , who made and ordained mankind free from bondage , and never brought him forth into the world to be a subjected slave to the will of another man , in things temporal , much lesse in things spiritual , and relating to eternity ; and this work of imposing by force in matters of faith , worship , and duty to god , of one man upon another , or of some persons over all , is certainly an act of bondage and slavery , laid as a grievous yoak upon the necks one of another , and subjecting one another in oppression , not unto the good will of the creator , but unto the evil will of mortal perishing and sinful creature , and this differing from and contrary to , the pure and perfect order and decree of creation , which was blessed altogether ; and whatsoever is degenerated by corruption , and erred through temptation from that pure and holy order of creation , either in things wordly or divine ; is in the curse and oposition against the holy creator , and so is this thing of which i am now treating , imposition upon conscience in matters divine and temporal : force , exercised in spiritual cases , is the highest product of degeneration , and the greater degression from the holy order of creation ; for without controversie the creator himself , reserved and retained in his alone onely power , the priviledge of supremacy , in and over the inward man , in all the matters immortal , that he might be the onely lord in that case , and give spiritual law , to command , and force thereby to exercise the soul and heart , in fear , love , faith , worship , and obedience to himself , that he might be served as the lord over all , most chiefly in respect of the inward spiritual and immortal man ; this power of supremacy i say , he reserved and retained in himself in the creation to exercise over mankind , and did not commit this priviledge to any other ; wherefore without controversie , it is an usurpation of the creators rightful dominion , it is a robbing of him of his dignity and prerogative , it is an act of violence done against his soveraignty , an audacious intruding into his proper right , and a violating of the law and decree of creation , for one person , or one people , to assume to themselves , power , authority and government , over other persons and peoples , in commanding and imposing in matters spiritual , over their consciences in the worship and service of god ; and it is such an abomination against the creator both in the cause and end of it , that he will arise and take vengeance upon it , and he will ease himself of all such his adversaries . again , it is contrary to the law of love , unity , fellowship , and concord among the sons of men , by order of creation , which god appointed to be among them ; and by imposing in matters of spiritual concern , as aforesaid , that love , unity , fellowship and concord among men decreed in creation , is broken and confounded , and disannulled among them , by reason of the same , and nations and kingdoms hate and contend one with another ; neighbors and brethren , cannot agree but fall into strife one against another : kings and their subjects , rulers and their people , are in discord , debate , disobedience and rebellion one contrary to another , by reason that liberty of conscience in worship and duty to godwards is wanting in the world , and impositions and force by outward authority in that case , are prevailing and in power ; and thus the law of love , unity , and concord , decreed in creation , is violated , despised , and made voyd ; and hatred , divisions , strifes , and discords intraduced in its room , and abounds in the spirits and visible actions of the sons of men through the world , to the woful effects of killing , persecuting , and destroying one another , nation of nation , neighbours of neighbours , and kings of their subjects ; occasioned and grounded upon this thing as the foundation of the same , ( to wit ) imposing by force upon conscience in matters divine . wherefore not onely against god is this evil extended , to dishonour and disgrace him as is shewed , but against man also is this evil and mischief in the effects of it reached forth as ye have seen ; and the law of creation is violated , both in respect of creator and creature . it is in its cause and ground so evil , in its works and effects so wicked and mischievous , and in its end so provoking and damnable , and all this both in respect of god and man , that i have not yet comprehended the height and depth thereof ; though my spirit from a child hath often entered into the serious considerations of this thing , with mourning and sorrow because of it , and with testimony and abhorrance against it ; and at this hour i am a sufferer in body and spirit , because of the same ; carnal imposition upon conscience in spiritual things , wo unto it , my soul hates , and my god will plague in his season . if i should study in searching to find out , and to discribe all the evils , mischiefs and wofull inconveniences , and effects of this gulf out of which they ascend , i might make this epistle a large volumn ; but since that i have elsewhere written about this matter , i shall now contract this , with the saying of the apostle , this mistery of iniquity doth work , untill he be taken out of the way ; yea , this imposition upon conscience opposite to perfect liberty in the exercise of the same , is the onely main , material , support , prop , and defence of the kingdome of antichrist throughout the world at this day : and whomsoever as are friends hereunto , they are friends to him , and they love his wayes , and are subjects of his kingdome , and are rebellious against christ , and to his kingdome they are enemies : wherefore my heart and soul saith within me , would to god i had such a gift of demonstration , by pen or tongue , and that the same were so forcible and efficacious to awaken every soul , to an abhorrance and dislike of that spirit , principle and practice of imposition upon conscience , that there might be a total turning from the kingdome of antichrist , which consists of falshood , darkness , sin , and enmity , of bondage , oppression , and cruel impositions to the kingdome of christ jesus , which consists of truth , light and righteousness , of freedome and perfect liberty in soul and spirit ; which kingdome and government , the lord of heaven and earth will promote and exalt in the kingdomes of this world , which must become the kingdomes of the lord and of his christ , according to promise . it hath ever been my iudgment , that want of liberty and free exercise of conscience in spiritual matters , and the contrary imposed by worldly power , and it remains still with me , that this is one main cause of the woful distractions in kingdomes , of the unsetledness in states , and of many evil consequences abounding in the governments of the world ; and also the cause wherefore the god of heaven is angry and provoked against them , and for which cause he will smite and wound , confound and overturn kingdomes , powers , and authorities , even till he reign whose right it is ; who onely and alone , will rule in the free exercise of soul , spirit , and conscience , through the teachings of his own spirit : and though much opposition and great contention have been made against this in the world , in which men have striven against their own good and welfare , yet there is a day , and it hastens to come in power , when imposition upon conscience by outward worldly force in cases divine , will be banished the whole fabrick of the creation , and exiled into the pit of never-rising obscurity and darkness , and then shall the sons of men be delivered from the violence of it , and from all its miserable and mischievous consequence ; then shall the heritage of the lord rejoyce in ioy unspeakable , being delivered from the oppression under which she hath long mourned , travelled , and groaned in deep distresse ; then shall nations delight in amity one with another ; then shall neighbours rejoyce in society one among another ; and then shall kings and rulers love their subjects and people freely , and people shall obey and serve their rulers with a willing and chearful heart and mind ; hereby the god of heaven should be glorified , and all people become blessed , amity , love , unity , and concord , and the first creation order and decree , would be restored between god and his creatures , and also between man and man , in holy covenant . and this matter ( to wit ) concerning liberty of conscience in the free exercise of godliness ) hath been of these late years in great debate and contest among men in these nations , and some have been of one iudgement , and others of a contrary about this matter , and the contention hath arisen very high , even unto blood and losse of all ; and is yet remaining undetermined in the minds and spirits of many people , which ought to be resolved in every heart through conviction by sound arguments of truth and divine reason ; and men ought then to obey the same according to inward spiritual conviction ; and this case ought not to be determined by carnal weapons , forcibly compelling people in the case by the impositions of conquest , in a violent way of outward power : and since that , this is a case dubious , whether free liberty of conscience in the exercise of worship , or imposition about the same is most worthy : i therefore upon this necessity calling upon me , with my willingness to assist in such a work , would add my mite and grain of knowledge and wisdome towards the resolving of such a dubious and needful case , and have taken this opportunity and occasion thus to declare my mind , and shall leave the effect hereof to the purpose and providence of the lord , who onely is wise , to work whatsoever he will , by whomsoever he pleases ; for he never yet limited himself to any one instrument , in the bringing forth , and accomplishing his purpose ; however no man is to dispute the leadings and commands of god , nor yet to measure his obedience to him , by either objected , or real consequence , in the fruits and effects of his obedience : and this is that warrant ( to wit the leadings of god ) under the commission of which , the servants of god do act in their obedience , and disputes not the authority nor the consequence , but leaves the issue of all things to him that commands . the total sum of this matter ( to wit , liberty of conscience ) is very large , and requires multitude of words , and many arguments to unfold the truth of it , the vertue of it , and the evil causes , works and effects of the contrary ; but at this time i shall contract the sum into , & state it in this total head ; whether it is not perfect reason , justice , and equity , and that without all exceptions , that every man upon the earth , be permitted in the free exercise of conscience , without any kind of force put upon him by any man to the contrary , to follow that religion , and to live in such faith , and perform such worship to god , as he dares trust his own soul withal , and give account thereof before god in the day of dreadful judgement . my iudgement is on the affirmative part , in answer to this question , and it is my iudgement in the fear and spirit of the lord , that 't is perfectly reasonable , just and equal , that every man in the world be permitted his liberty in the free exercise of his conscience , and that without any force imposed upon him to the contrary , to follow that religion , and live in that faith , and perform that worship to god , with which he dares trust his own soul to the salvation thereof ; and the contrary is unreasonable , unjust and unequal ; and this might be amplified in a large manner upon occasion : and this is not only my iudgement alone , nor the false fancy of a single person , but it is the faith and judgement of many more , and that not of fools altogether , but of the wise , not only of some few men of our age , but of many ages past , whose principles were for the toleration of liberty in the exercise of conscience in matters spiritual , as in this smal treatise following more at large appears ; to which , for proof of this particular , and to second the truth of my iudgement , i do refer the serious and well considerate reader ; in which small piece , he may find the iudgements of divers persons asserted by their own sayings , concerning the very case of liberty of conscience ; and what esteem some kings and princes , and religious men have had of the same ; for this following piece ( to which i am now prefacing ) is no other than a certain sum of brief collections , of the sayings of emperors , kings and potentates , of former ages , contracted into this short method , for the better intelligence of all that are inquiring about this occasion ; and such is mine affection to the present contraction collected , that i wish , that all the rulers and princes of our age through the world , would seriously read , and rightly study the same , and improve it to their own advantage , in practising the sayings of their grave and wise progenitors ; and oh that they would engross this small piece in their records , and enclose it in their closets , and use the same as counsel and instruction to themselves in the premises ; the effect of it might prove happy to them , if their present practise would be answerable to the intimations of the antients . and this small piece happily ariving the harbour of my hands , through the tedious industry of the collector , and through other passages of tempestious dangers , which it lay liable unto ; i have transported it over a serious view , and am affected with it unto my commendation and approof ; first of the matter it self , and secondly of its author's pains and industry , in forming of it into this method , in which it now appears ; both of which i cannot but commend , and do also herewith recommend to the view , consideration , and instruction of every impartial reader , who must , and that every man for himself , be judge of the verity of what he reads , even by the light of the spirit of christ iesus in his own conscience ; to which this is singly committed . e. b. from my place of present restraint , the 27th . day of the 7th . month , 1662. the testimony of a cloud of witnesses , who in their generation have testified against that horrible evil of forcing of conscience , and persecution about matters of religion . chap. i. concerning the christian religion , how it is not to be planted , established , nor defended by weapons , nor by violence ; and how it doth not admit of any forcing of conscience . a certain chancellour , speaking before the king and his council at orleans , in praise of the christian religion , said , that those that went about to establish the same by weapons , did against their calling , which is ( said he ) to suffer violence , and not to do it . herein differ we ( said chrisostomus ) from the heathen , who do force and compel by violence , but the christians they are patient and forbearing ; neither hath our religion had her beginning with weapons ( said he ) neither hath it been maintained by weapons . it is not the manner of the children of god to persecute others to death about their religion , but it hath been , and is their condition to be put to death themselves for the testimony of the truth ; moreover ( said he ) the shedding of blood about religion , is an evident token of antichrist . relig. uryl . pag. 192. that religion which goeth about to set up a sect , which seeketh not peace , but speaketh against all , and will suffer none equal with it , but will be alone master , and exercise lordship over the faith of all others , and with the civil powers , persecute those that are of another opinion , by shedding their blood , banishing of them , and spoiling of their goods , or with war and fighting establish their own , such do thereby shew that they are no right shepherds of the true christians , but rather wolves , caines , ishmaelites , and esauhites , whose hand is against all , and every mans hand against them . the kingdom of christ ( which is otherwise called the christian church , said a certain writer ) hath no earthly king , no temporal magistrate nor governour , for the lord alone is king in his kingdom ; as he is ordained to be the head of the church , so he hath committed that to none to govern. this king governeth with the word of his grace , the soul and conscience ; here are none compelled , for there is a spiritual freedom and willingness , there is no violence or contention ; which was held forth by the figure of solomon's temple , where no hammar , no axe , or iron instrument was to be heard , but there 's love and unity , peace and mercy among all his children . that is certain ( said one ) that all religion is vain without true godliness , and it is little matter of what opinion any man be in different points of religion , while he leadeth an ungodly life , and through that doctaine which he professeth is not bettered , but bittered against his fellow christian , and hateth , judgeth , and persecuteth him , as it often happeneth among them that seem to be religious . the states of holland , have confessed that the point of religion in the government of a land , was of great concernment ; and further they said , that they abominated forcing of conscience , otherwise then with good doctrine , good works , and intreaties . a certain turkish ambassadour , complained to the king emmanuel of portugal , of the king of spain , for his compelling by violence the moores in his dominion to the christian faith or religion , saying ; it was not lawful neither for the christians , nor yet for the mahomets to compel any man so , as that he should forsake that religion in which he had been educated ; and that he could not be silent to see such things , to the injury and desolation of people in the general , but must testifie that it was to the prejudice of mankind , and to the disadvantage of religion , &c. osorius declared , that it was neither according to the law , nor according to religion , to compel the iewes and moores to the faith ; and that none ought to determine to restrain the free mind , for he affirmed , it was not the will of christ , neither ought such things to be . anno 1455. the turk wrote a letter to the pope calixtus the third , wherein he acknowledged , that iesus christ had been a great prophet , yet ( said he ) he hath not commanded that any should compel people by violence and weapons , to believe his law. haywardus said , that the best writers of that time did agree in one opinion , and with tertulliano , lactantio , cassiodoro , iosepho , &c. that people must inform men to imbrace religion with reason , and not compel them by violence . i have for a long season determined ( said one of the kings of france ) to reform the church , which without peace ( said he ) i cannot do , and it is impossible to reform or convert people by violence . i am king as a shepherd ( said he ) and will not shed the blood of my sheep , but will gather them through the mildness and goodness of a king , and not through the power of tyranny ; and i will give them of the reformed religion , right liberty to live and dwell free , without being examined , perplexed , molested , or compelled to any thing contrary to their conscience ; for they shall have the free exercise of their religion , &c. vide chron. vande onderg . 2. deel . page 1514. and as concerning the planting , nourishing , and defending of the christian religion , that is said to be the office and work of upright and sincere teachers ; further ( saith he ) it concerns the magistrate to defend and protect the innocent and harmless people , who are persecuted , robbed , prisoned , and tyrannically used . experience hath sufficiently manifested , both in france , germany , bohemia , and in the low-countries , and elsewhere , that to make war about religion , or thereby to establish and defend it , is an absolute perverse and destructive means , and that which is totally against the true christian religion : yet notwithstanding some cry up weapons , weapons , but alas have we not seen , that weapons are stirred up against weapons ? and what is this reconciling slaughter , with slaughter , and blood with blood , but the manner and custome of the heathen ? chap. ii. concerning the true and false church ; the gospel and religion : as also shewing the insufficiency of carnal weapons in spiritual matters . the church that is dispersed through the world , hath the name of christ her head , and is strengthened not with resisting , but with suffering and patience ; for the gospel in the primitive church , was not preached with swords and an armed hand , but with exhortation and perswasion , hist. eccl. lib. 4 chap. 26. barnardus said , the church must not persecute as wolves , but be persecuted , like as the sheep are of the wolves ; and in this calamity of the world , they stand as palm-trees through the power of god , and grow and increase ; so that some have esteemed sanguis martirum est semen ecclesiae , ( i. e. ) the blood of the martyrs to be the seed of the church ; for ( said he ) as one was put to death , there came ten in his stead . luther said , that the hypocrites church was to be known by its manners , whose image and figure was esau , yet she boasted of god , and would be accounted his church , but lived wholly according to the world. further ( said he ) the true church is not defended by a fleshly arm , which wicked bishops especially use and cry unto , thaesau . pag. 622. as heretofore , he that was born after the flesh , persecuted him that was born after the spirit , even so is it now , &c. consider these words of paul ( said castellio ) ishmael that was born after the flesh , persecuted isaac who was born after the spirit ; even so now do the fleshly persecute the spiritual ; but abell did not persecure cain , nor lot the sodomites , nor david saul , nor the true prophets the false , nor christ and his apostles the scribes and pharesees , although some of them might have done it , yet nevertheless they did it not . so is it at this day , though the number of the righteous be but smal , who are persecuted of the wicked , yet sometimes they might injury their persecutors , but they are so far from doing that , that they are rather helpful to them , and do seek their salvation . the false church is grounded more upon men then upon christ , and she persecuteth those that live righteously according to the word of god , and such as reprove her for her failings . damascenus said , that the gospel had been preached in all the world , but did not conquer its opposers with weapons , arms , or fighting , but a few unlearned , confounded the wise ones of the world. oh ( said boudaert ) that the bishops were so well experienced in the word of god , that they would rather with reason seek to bring them that go astray to the right way , then to compell them by corporal punishment to adhere unto their elect. it is impossible ( said luther ) that the church of christ should be , or should stand without bloodsheding , for the devil who is an enemy of god's church , is also a lyar and a murtherer , yet the church hath alwayes increased in blood , said he ; in the colloq . sanguine mundata est ecclesia , sanguine cepit sanguine succrevit , sanguine finis erit . ian monliu , the bishop of valence affirmed , that it was an error to molest the publick peace with weapons , under pretence of religion ; a thing ( saith he ) which hath been alwayes abhorred by the antients . for wars and compulsary punishments , have never been the means to bring to unity ; for wars and cruelty tend to the destroying both of body and soul , even of those , who peradventure might otherwise have been gained through love and gentleness , for that counsel which tends to cruelty is worse then the desease ; yet notwithstanding , it is the manner of such bishops to plead for weapons as have lost the spiritual sword of peter , and therefore ( said he ) do they now make that sword their defence , which he drew against the servant of the high priest. chron. vande rel. uriih . pag. 123 , 124. anno 1579. the states of holland said , that this they observed , finding it by true experience , ( viz. ) dat gewelt ende wapenen luttel helpen tot verbreijdinghe ende behoudenisse der religien ( i. e. ) that violence and weapons availed little in spreading , and maintaining religion ; and further said they , as we would not have that men should do violence to our consciences , neither will we do violence to the consciences of others ; for we are not to do that to another , which we would not have another to do unto us . the prince of orange said , we are not so unexperienced in the doctrine of the christian religion , as that we do not know , that all those tyes of conscience wreathed or turned of men , are to no purpose to bind man before god : people should not think it strange , nor therefore take up arms ( said he ) because that many of the inhabitants of this country are become of another opinion , and simply declare themselves , yea against the will of the magistrates , which thing the histories do testifie not to be new , but that such differences have been in the world in many monarchies heretofore . to the same purpose did the states of holland testifie , ( viz. ) how that difference in doctrine was not strange in the church , but said they , it is better rectified through forbearance , then through devision , inde apolog. 1581. fol. 15. chap. iii. concerning cruel lawes against hereticks , how the bishops and clergy heretofore have been the cause of them ; who are the cause of tumults ; the necessity of just liberty , and the good effect thereof . in the year 553. the pope palagius instituted first of all , that hereticks and apostates should be forced by external compulsion , &c. clemens the fifth made lawes that hereticks should be burned ; gerandus naviomagus sheweth , how that the laws for putting of hereticks to death , came not by the free will of the emperours , but through the earnest importuning of blood-thirsty bishops , whose constant recourse was a burthen to the emperours , so that finally they obtained what they desired ; but when the clergy could not prevail with one emperour , they excluded him out of italy , excommunicated him , brought him in suspition , freed the subjects from the oath , and stirred them up against the power ; and thus have the clergy handled when they could not have their wills . and it might be plenteously manifested out of the histories , how that it hath been blood-thirsty bishops with others of the clergy , that have provoked kings , and the potentates of the earth to cruelty , and who have counselled them to make bloody lawes , like the bishop nestorius , who in his sermon spoke unto the emperour and said , o emperour give me a land cleansed of hereticks , and i will give thee heaven ; help me against the hereticks , and i will help thee to subdue the persians thy enemies , &c. yet it doth not appear that upright and sincere teachers have sought the defence or help of the emperours or kings against hereticks , but it is evident that banishing and persecuting to death about religion , came not from the example of the righteous , but rather from the heathen , and from arius , nestorius , palagius , and their proselytes . there was a certain man that complained unto the prince of orange , saying , that it was sufficiently known , that since the dayes of the apostles , that hurtful and noisom plague hath reigned and had the dominion in the church , ( viz. ) that the greatest part of the divines and clergy , have assumed more authority and power to themselves ( yea and have taken it by force ) then ever god the father gave them ; and the aforesaid prince observed , how they sought to usurp authority over the conscience , and to bring people in subjection to their lawes and institutions . there are some teachers ( said a certain wise man ) that are exceeding cruel , angry , passionate , full of covetousness and pride , who judge and reject all things but their own , and would have such punished and put to death as do not agree with them , and conform unto them ; another sort there are that are meek , patient , gentle and humble , who bear all things , and hope all things , and will compel none to their religion . brassius said , that they that have a right evangelical doctrine and faith , persecute none , but are persecuted themselves ; 't is true paul said , we should reject a heretick after the first and second admonition ; but he said not , that we should banish him out of the city or country . consider once , said adrianus , and see if the hereticks have not alwayes persecuted the righteous ; but where do you find that false prophets and false teachers have been persecuted of the world , which doth alwayes love that which belongs to it , and vilifie , curse , kill and murder that which christ hath chosen ; for that which he chuseth is not of the world : and now is christ and his disciples ( said he ) esteemed of the world as hereticks , seducers , uprore-makers ; and the seducers , hereticks , and they that rise up against the lord , and his anointed , they are by the world called christians . the true christians have been alwayes persecuted of the world , not because they have deserved it , but because they have not been conformable to their false doctrines , false sacraments , their vanity and superstition . it is the manner of the false teachers ( said a certain writer ) to cry out against those that teach any thing contrary to them ; for say they , they make tumults among the people ; and this with other things they charge upon those that reprove them , when they themselves are the most tumultuous ; for if they did not stir up the magistrates and people to persecution and shedding of blood , there would not be such tumults among the people . moreover the contention and tumults that are among men , proceed not from them that serve god in the exercise of their religion according to their conscience , but from such as will not suffer that , but with violence will usurp authority over the faith of others . the histories do testifie , how that the mallady wherewith several emperours , kings , and princes have been perplexed , could nor be cured , nor perfect peace and rest injoyed , nor true obedience and subjection maintained to magistracy , except they gave liberty of conscience to their subjects ; wherefore some of them suffered themselves to be thereunto perswaded by their subjects . anno 1601. in the land of cleave , there was a notable reformation and tolleration in religion ; for there it was decreed , that from henceforth , no man should be adjudged unfit for places of office , for his different judgement in religion ; which did occasion much trust and peace , and did free the people from all persecution in spiritual matters . it hath been formerly said ▪ that when a prince cometh so far , that between two parties he defendeth one party with weapons , and oppresseth the other with weapons , that then he getteth the name of a tyrant , and robbeth the land of its welfare , and through his own power weakeneth his own might , and maketh the same open for an enemy . merck-tyck : page 57. chap. iv. the evil effects of forcing of the conscience ; what it is ; their folly shewn , that would have the magistrates to force people ; how the old fathers and antient christians heretofore have witnessed against it ; and what other means they used . this do most histories testifie ( viz. ) that the distractions , uproars , and many more inconveniences have been chiefly occasioned through severe proclamations , cruel proceedings , and persecution about matters of religion , and forcing of conscience , which is plenteously to be found in several chronicles ; but especially in the chronicles of the overthrow of the tyrants , printed at hoorn , in north holland , anno 1620. forcing of conscience is said to be this ( to wit ) when any compels men to do any thing which is contrary to their conscience , or to abstain from such exercises as they in conscience esteem to be profitable and necessary to their salvation ; one of these two is that which is commonly called forcing of conscience , against which the martyrs since the dayes of the apostles have testified , and have manifested it clearly to be an unfitting thing , as might be shewn at large out of histories , books of martyrs , apologies , remonstrations , &c. maximillian the emperor , told hendricus the king of france , that there was no sin so great ( in his account ) as to do violence to the conscience ; and that those that went about to conquer the same , thinking to gain heaven , did often lose that they had upon earth . it is well known , that many are of opinion , that it is very necessary that the magistrate compel by force and violence the unwilling to the faith , to the end that they may come of themselves as they imagine : but said erasmus , most men are so disposed , that they will rather be led then compelled , and that by intreaties more may be obtained than through cruelties . those that are ignorant of the drawings of the father ( said a wise man ) would have magistrates to draw by violence ; such , as do not only remain ignorant of the drawings of the father , but also others that are in the truth , they would have drawn to their dead inventions , as if they would conform so soon as they are punished : but i suppose ( saith he ) that those that would otherwise come of themselves voluntarily , through punishments are terrified away ; as the fish in the water that come voluntarily to the bait and net , but when people would compel them , they fly . the truth of this , can geneva , savoy , and other places witnesse , said the author . chrisostomus said , that in heavenly matters , people must use no violence ; for saith he , these that use violence , estrange men most of all from their religion ; instancing an example in west-india , of the spaniards tormenting a casique or lord , ( so called ) and one of the clergy seeking by his preaching to convert him to the faith , told him of heaven and hell , &c. then he asked the clergy-man , where he and the spaniards should be ? he said in heaven ; then said the other , let me continue in hell , not being willing to be with such cruel people : bartolomeus delas casas lactantius dixit , non est opus vi et injura quia religio cogi non potest ; verbis potius quam verberibus ves agenda est , ut sit voluntas . nihil est enim tam voluntarium quam religio , in quasi animus sacrificantis aversus est , jam sublata , jam nulla est . augustinus said , he did not approve of the emperors compelling any by violence , contrary to their conscience ; and he with chrisostomus , together with several others of the antient writers , inferred from the 13th . of matthew , that men should do no violence to hereticks neitheir compel any to the free faith , seeing god would have a willing unforced heart . chron. van de urijh . der , rel. 2. deel , pag. 17. there were some in a certain national synod , that did much endeavour to stir up the civil powers to compel all people by fines , or other politick punishments , to come to hear the sermon ; but others bare testimony against such politick corrections , as to punish by fines , imprisonments , &c. which they esteem unfitting to be introduced into the church , being they were inconsistant with the christian long-suffering and meekness , and for the which they had no example neither in the old nor new testament . anno 1619. calvin said , that the apostle gave to understand , that to exercise authority over ones faith , was in no wise just nor tolerable ; yea , ( saith he ) it is tyranny in the church , for faith ought to be free from all subjection of men . though some are yet of that opinion , that it is lawful for the magistrates to compel people contrary to their consciences , by corporal punishments , yea even to the death , for to make them keep silent , or confess things contrary to their minds : yet most of the old fathers have alledged , that it hath not been lawful for the magistrates to touch the conscience , as to force it in matters of religion . merck-teyck . chap. 4. 2 deel . pag. 132. the antient christians did not approve of any external compulsion , but only by intreating , by good living , with exhortations , doctrins , informations and endeavours , they laboured to convince people , and through the word of truth , they sought to bring people captive so under the obedience of christ ; and if the like means now do not prevail , then no humane invention through doing violence will , for that will rather make them worse , as heretofore it hath done . the most violence that can be done by man , cannot compel or change the vain infidelity of the mind ; how should that then possibly move or alter them , that are unmoveably established in the eternal truth , who will not in any wise be brought to receive things that are damnable , nor to forsake that which they esteem to be necessary to their salvation . chap. v. a chancellours testimony . their folly that would force men , and the fruits thereof . how iust liberty would preserve unity . and how they that force others , would not be forced . tthe chancellour of france said in the great assembly of the three states before the king , first , that the absurdity of the romish church was the cause of heresie . secondly , that evil remedies had strengthened the same . thirdly , that the weapons of love , prayer , and information with the word of god , were fit for such a battle . fourthly , that a good life preached more than words . fifthly , that the sword could do little against the spirit , except it was to undoe both body and soul. in the comm. fol. 132. are they not carnal and violent ishmaelites ( said one ) who would violently force rational men ( often to humane and damnable opinions ) as horses and mules , and not with kindness intreat , and only instruct with the truth , and invite to the needful spiritual knowledge of the truth , and true worship , as reasonable and free men . humani juris et naturalis potestatis est unicuique , quod putaverit colere , nec alij prodest aut obest alterius religio ; sed nec religionis est cogere religionem que sponte non vi suscipi debeat . erasmus said , the divines not relying upon that power wherewith they ought to be armed , they make violence their refuge , as if men might be compelled to believe otherwise than their opinion . when several of the priests in the low-country , requested of the prince and states , that they would introduce ordinances and disciplin according to their opinions ; but the prince and the states rejected their requests , esteeming them prejuditial both to religion and policy , when they observed the divers opinions that were among the people , concluding it was the best ( as many politicians have done ) to preserve unity among the people , to give liberty at all , and to compel none , anno 1608. edict . fol. 27. it hath also been the judgement of many , that forcing of conscience hath made many hipocrites , but no true servants of god : therefore ought men to strive with the word and disputation , and to conquer with reason , said augustinus , least that we make them hypocritically catholicks , whom before we have known to be manifest hereticks . anno 1200. the chronicles do shew , how that they that are , and have been but seemingly religious , do commonly joyn themselves to that religion or sect which is the uppermost , whereby they may live in ease , honour and fulness , and get profit and preferment , through places and offices ; instancing how that in england , there were them in the dayes of king hendrick and edward , that shewed themselves to be protestants ; and in the dayes of queen mary papists , and persecuted others to death , and afterwards in the dayes of queen elizabeth , got again in the lap of the protestant church , and then persecuted the papists ; vide the second part of the chronicle of the overthrow of tyrants , pag. 1502. arennius affirmed , that all forcing of conscience , though it was but a forbidding of the exercise which is esteemed by one or another to be necessary to salvation , was in no wise right nor fitting : he also affirmed , that through diversities of religions , the kingdom should not be brought into any disturbance . the antient reformed protestants , termed that forcing of conscience , when they were constrained to leave off the exercise of their religion , saying , car nous privant de nostre religion , on nous tiendroit en une continuele mort corporelle & spirituelle . ( i. e. ) for to deprive us of our religion , is to keep us in a perpetual corporal and spiritual death . adding thereunto , how that they would rather be put to death , than be bereaved of the exercise of their religion , &c. many have testified , and many do testifie , that forcing of conscience is a wicked destructive means , both for soul and body , against which the martyrs that have suffered have universally born testimony . now ( said a certain wise man ) let these consider , who do so much stir up the powers of the earth to force free minds against their consciences , whether they would be forced by violence against their conscience , to imbrace the popes faith of rome , with all its superstitions , or that which is worse , and that upon pain of death : let such then judge ( said he ) how hard it is to be forced against ones conscience to any form of worship , which is not in the spirit and truth , &c. if any durst speak freely what he beleiveth , and thinketh in his heart ( saith castellio ) he should say that he thinketh , and believeth that such forcers are absolute tyrants ; and that whereunto they press him is not good : and if formerly he had any inclination thereunto , that he through such violence cometh wholly to abhor it . the antient protestants testified , that that religion which was defended with cruelty , was not grounded upon the word of god. chap. vi. a shift of the popes ; a humane invention ; how the spiritual kingdome , and true church , subsisteth and is defended by spiritual weapons ; and how persecution answereth not the end of persecutors . the history sheweth , how that this is one of the popes maxim's , ( viz. ) that when he sees the spiritual weapons are not sufficient for him , then doth he fly unto the carnal , therewith to help himself : int duii●se , 244. and others have been and are of that opinion , that religion could not be preserved without the magistrates sword , therefore understood they , that they were to be cryed unto for help , as many do now . but ireneus philaletius said , that this was but a humane invention of the natural understanding , which would gladly change the nature of the church of christ ; but it is in vain said he . the states of holland said , that the true ministers of christ , who did perfectly trust in the lord , had no external sword , nither did they call unto any civill power for protection ; but they used the sword of the spirit , which is the living word of god , with which they defended the church , &c. vide urede handel van colen , pag. 198. barnardus said , that the kindome of christ was spiritul , and as it was builded by spiritual vertues , so was it spread , preserved , and established with spiritual weapons ; for its enemies were and are spiritual , eph. 6.11 . & 2.2 . lactantius said , if you will with blood , with evil , and with torments defend the worship , it shall not thereby be defended , but polluted , lib. 5. chap. 20. the apostles had not the assistance of emperours , kings , princes , nor lords ; but had even the whole world against them , ( said a certain wise man ) wherefore how can this stirring up , and instigating of magistrates be evangelical , or according to the gospel ? or how can this work of tumultuous teachers , bring honour to gods word and his truth ? who hath heretofore defended the church of christ , was it defended by pilate ? or was the church of the apostles no church ? what coercive power or outward protection had they ? or what external power , or outward defence had their church in the beginning ? and cannot the true church now subsist , with that which she had in the begining ? and it is evident , that many who have suffered much persecution for the exercise of their conscience , have been thereby strengthened , and have therein multiplyed ; therefore it is apparent , that the fruit of persecuting to death in matters of religion , is wholly contrary to the determination of persecutors . castellius said , that paul strove with spiritual weapons , and thereby overcame hundreds ; but we ( alas said he ) are together by hundreds to put to death one single man , and appear for christ with fleshly weapons , to the end that people might understand , that we are stripped of the spiritual weapons , and will have a fleshly christ. but seeing the apostles , who planted the church were satisfied with their spiritual weapons ; it is then evident , that they who make use of carnal weapons , confide not sufficiently in the spiritual , which they would confide in no doubt if they had them , seeing they are alsufficient , as shall appear at the coming of the lord ; who will conquer antichrist his greatest enemy , with no other weapon , then with the sword of his mouth . constantinus the emperour said , that it was enough that he preserved the unity of the faith , that he might be excusable before the judgement seat of god , and that he would leave every one to his own understanding , according to the account he will give before the judgement seat of christ ; hereto may we stir up people ( said he ) not compel them , beseech them to come into the unity of the christians ; but to do violence to them , we will not in no wise . [ nota ] herein was constantinus much commended , because that he tollerated every one to believe , and to serve god as he was perswaded in his own heart , esteeming his gentleness and mercy more available , then severe proclamations ; and in this particular he was not deceived , sabast. frank. chron. fol. 127. the christian religion ( said the states of holland ) is a great mistery , for the furtherance of which god doth not make use of wicked souldiers , nor of bow , nor of sword , but his spirit , and the shepherds that are sent by him ; further they said it was not their intention to compell any to their religion , &c. chap. vii . how the inquisitioners and clergy have stirred up the powers to persecute ; and what fair pretences persecutors have had ; how dangerous it is to root out the tares before the time ; and wherein the ancient protestants have been more noble than the clergy now . it is a common thing with many , to accuse those with troubling of the churches peace , and with disturbing of the publick peace , ( said a certain wise man ) who teach otherwise than the church , or who speak any thing against the clergy , or dispute with any of their restless priests , or hold their meetings apart , though it be in all civility and stilness . in like manner hath the inquisitioners and the clergy ( said he ) stirred up the emperour , the king of spain and of france , to terrible persecution , laying it upon their consciences to quit themselves severely against the hereticks , if they would escape the lords reproof , though most of their subjects and land should perish . and when the clergy had prevailed with them , then they declared in their proclamations and edicts , that their intent was onely the glory of god , and the salvation of the hereticks souls , and to prevent the peoples being drawn to any cursed error or sect , but that they should continue in subjection , and in the old observations of the mother , the h. church , and h. christians faith and sacraments , as appears from their proclamations , annis . 1538 , 1546 , 1560 , 1564. erasmus said , how that sometime it cometh to passe , that those who with more fury , then with good understanding carry on matters , do sometime not only root out the wheat with the tares ( which christ hath forbidden ) but also in place of rootting out the tares do root out the wheat ; seeing they judge before they have understanding , or will make that odious , which is well spoken by perverting of it ; and they will have that to be a zeal for religion , and a detesting of heresie , when it is the onely destroying of godliness and unity . chron. van de rel. urijh . 2 deel , pag. 33. augustinus said , some disturbed the peace of the church , while they went about to root out the tares before the time ; and through this error of blindness ( said he ) are they themselves seperated so much the more from being united unto christ. retnaldus testified , that he who with imprisoning and persecuting seeketh to spread the gospel , and greaseth his hands with blood , shall much rather be looked upon for a wild hunter , then a preacher , or a defender of the christian religion . erasmus said , that the world had common lawes for to punish offenders ; but the christian meeknesse must rather use diligence to reform men , then to judge them . in the begining of reformation ( saith the chron. ) the church gloried of the truths weapons , and desired that those that had any thing to say concerning their doctrine , should freely reprove them , and they would defend the same with the holy scripture ; exhorting people in their pulpits , and freely proffering to confer or dispute with any , and every one had then freedome . but now will not the clergy ( said the same author ) be spoken against , who sit at ease in pride , idleness , and fulness ; and if any do speak against them , they will so much as in them lie , cause such to suffer , charging them with breaking the peace of the church , or the peace of the kingdome ; and with rayling words , will evade entering into a sober discourse , thereby manifesting the badness of their cause , and the guiltiness of their conscience ; and then seek to defend themselves more by the power of the magistrate , then with gods word and godly testimony ; and in the mean time prejudice others , by procuring their own rest and peace ; but surely this is neither just , right , nor equal . further ( saith he ) in the mean time those men would have a triumphant church upon the earth , but no suffering ; neither will they suffer any trouble , difficulty , or opposition , but do make the magistrate believe , that such things incurr trouble , uproar , disturbance , &c. yet nevertheless some of the clergy themselves have put forth sundry treatises , wherein they shewed how that the peace and welfare of the land might be preserved , though several religions in the land were tollerated . quand à la permission de s'assembler es temples , sire , aucunc division & tumulte ne'n adviendra entre vous subjects , mais bien un repos public & extinction de toute sedition populaire . as touching the permitting the assembling together in temples , no manner of division or tumult can from hence arise among your subjects , but rather a publick rest and extinguishing of all popular sedition . for the chronicle also sheweth , how that the disturbance and trouble cometh not through those that live orderly according to their conscience and the word of god , and accordingly exercise their religion in stilness , but through those who will not suffer this , nor bear others , but seek to have the preheminence , and to exercise lordship over others , and therefore do they raise up persecution . but the states of holland testified , dat waer vervolginghen ziju , datter daer al in roere is , maer waer geen en sijn al sijnder verscheijden religien , dat daer alle saelren stilder sijn , so ●olr in onse vijden is bevonden , ( i. e. ) that where there was persecution , there was all in distraction ; but where there was none ( though there were several religions ) there all things were the quieter ; as have been evident in our dayes , said they . vide urede handel van coln . fol. 53. chap. viii . concerning obedience to magistrates ; the vanity and evil of forcing of conscience ; certain mixims asserted by many wise men , how violence becometh not the ministers of the gospel , neither hath christ nor his apostles taught it , nor practised it . calvin said , that those that are set over us must be obeyed , if that the command of god be not thereby disobeyed , but if they lead us from obedience to god , and presumptuously strive against the lord , then must they not be regarded ( said he ) to the end that god with his authority may retain the preheminence . the states of holland , testified , that subjects were not obliged in all things , whether right or unright , to be subject to their princes . int plac . anno 1581. 2. deel . fol. 12. prince of orange being commanded by the king , when he departed out of zealand , to put many sober people to death , who were suspected concerning their religion , but therein he would not obey the king , knowing he could not do it with a good conscience , and also being assured , that it was better to obey god than man. moreover ( said a certain writer ) the truth with sad experience hath learned us , and plainly shewn us , that forcing of conscience and persecuting about religion is not onely in vain , but a direct contrary means , and a cause of sects and disturbances , and of many evils , as the chroncles of germany , france and the low countryes , do abundantly testifie . the states of holland also affirmed , that it was not possible to find out means of any good and certain peace , otherwise then by tollerating more then one religion . experientia satis edocti sumus , ferrum , flammas , exilum , proscriptiones , irritasse potius , quam sannasse morbum menti inhaerentem . the king of france was moved with great zeal ( said a certain bishop ) to ordain great torment and punishment for the hereticks , thinking thereby to root out their opinion , and to unite the people together in one opinion ; but in his determination ( saith he ) he was deceived ; so was also duke d'alba , who for five or six years together , endeavoured with exceeding great tyranny , to maintain the law of the king in the low-countryes . in het . 36. van de standt der rel. fol. 190. now notwithstanding the great persecution that is and hath been about religion , these following maximes are asserted and owned by most men ; 1. that faith is the gift of god. 2. that relgion ought to be free . 3. that no religion by violence can be imprinted in the heart . 4. that forcing maketh men hypocrites . 5. that it is impossible to preserve the land in peace , without giving liberty for the free exercise of religion . 6. that in one land or city , there may be well more religions than one . 7. that it is a seed of contention and uproar among the people , when men contrary to promise , and to what they ought , resist one another in their religion . 8. and that prohibiting the free exercise of religion , tendeth openly or manifestly to the destruction of men , which happeneth , when one party with violence seeketh to root out anothers religion . nevertheless ( said the author ) it is evident , that many foolish zealots will obstinatly run on in that destructive path of forcing conscience , and thereby bereave others of the exercise of their religion . fredericus the king of bohemia said , that in these last times there were many different opinions risen among men in matters of faith and religion , but according to what is contained in the scripture , and according to the setled foundation of doctrine ( said he ) men will not be urged , compelled or forced in their conscience ; for when such forcing hath been attempted , it hath had an evil end ; and in the chiefest kingdoms and provinces , there hath been a remarkable change made ; for through this means , cities come to be more ruined than benefitted . vide his declaration printed in the hagne , anno 1619. it doth in no wise become the preachers of the gospel , and ministers of the new-testament , to deal in matters of faith by force , violence and tyranny ( said a wise man ) or thereunto to help , counsel , or advise ; but with prayer , with the word of god , and with the sword of the spirit . lambertus testified , saying , truly things are not well , neither do men right , when they go about to remove hereticks and errors with weapons ; for the truth and certainty of the christian doctrin , ought not to depend upon the uncertain effects of war : therefore hath neither christ himself nor his apostles , taught men to take up armes against them that were reprobated from the faith , as if that were an external means for to rout out errors , for the receiving or spreading of religion , which is through fear of weapons , is more like unto mahometisme , than unto the christian religion . stephanus the king of poland said , our desire is , that all the cities and inhabitants did praise one god unanimously ; but it hath been declared , that in the latter dayes offences shall come ; therefore will not we compel any to believe ( said he ) but will keep peace and concord among the contentious , that contend about religion , and defend every one in his religion . chronicle of the tyrants , second p. pag. 1326. chap. ix . how iudas proselytes now do follow his footsteps ; how confusion and uproar is not occasioned in a land through a just toleration , but rather through want of it ; and how none ought to be banished about religion . the histories sheweth , how that some of the clergy hath said , that the princes ought to kiss the son , and to use their power for to preserve and defend religion against all her enemies , though their lands should therefore be spoyled : but the son of god hath never taught any man so to kiss him , though he was so unkindly kissed of iudas , as many betrayers do yet in his members ; yet notwithstanding christ nor his apostles did not seek to deliver iudas over to the magistrates , but iudas sought to deliver christ over to them : and so do iudas children at this day , deliver the true christians ( whom they falsly call hereticks ) into the hands of the earthly powers . and though some say , that people of different opinions , cannot live together in a kingdom without continual contention ; and therefore say they , must that be prevented with fire and sword. but what though there be vertue and filthiness in a kingdom , good and bad men , which are one contrary to the other , one must not therefore ( said a wise man ) to prevent it , bring a whole kingdom or land into confusion , by stirring up the people one against another . again , the true church ( said he ) hath never helped her self with persecution , neither doth she use any other sword than god's word , which she having and keeping the commands of god , prepareth her self for to bear the cross , and to suffer persecution , but not to bring suffering upon others . moreover it is evident , that in dutchland , poland , and in the low-countryes , more religions than one are suffered , and yet there are not continual uproars and tumults , as some imagine such toleration would occasion in a kingdom ; therefore may we conclude , that it is not the toleration of more religions than one , which produceth uproar in a kingdom , but rather the untowardness and perverseness of them that seek to obstruct this toleration . camerarius said , that it was groundless and irrational to say , that diversities of opinions in matters of religion do disturb the polity ; but on the contrary , the polity is disturbed , when any man with the liberty of his opinion is not contented , but will molest and trouble others . but some say , that every one in matters of faith , are bound to obey the magistrates under whom they live , and to follow them , and that they are worthy of punishment who do it not . but let such know ( saith the author ) that they do not only hereby condemn the first reformed protestants , but also the true prophets and apostles , yea , christ himself , and all the martyrs , and so justifie their persecutors and murderers ; if not , then may not the magistrates now , oppress a church , or a religion , as many of the disorderly clergy would gladly see ( said he ) and make the magistrates believe . and it is to be observed , how that among the jews there were many sects , as the pharisees , esseans , galileans , saduces , samaritans , &c. who retained many unwholsome opinions , yet they were not so persecuted , as now the false christians do persecute one another . the history sheweth , how that it hath been sufficiently proved , that none ought to banish any about religion that payed tribute ; yea , that the peaceable jews and heathen ought not to be banished out of the land where they were born ; for that which they have , they possess through that right which is common to all nations ; and to banish people , is said to be directly contrary to the law of nature , and to the commands of love ; for kings and princes so well as others , ought to do unto others as they would have others to do unto them , and if they would not be banished out of their dominions , then should not they banish others ; and innocency becometh them as well as others , who ought to do evil to no man. les princes qui se sont gouvernez par douceur & clemence conjointe a iustice , & qui ont use de moderation & debonnairete en vers leurs subjets ont tousjours grandement prosperè & longuement regne . mais au contraire , les princes cruels , iniques , perfides & oppresseurs de leurs subjets , sont incontinent tombez eux & leur estat en peril ●● en totale ruine , &c. par . n. m. anno 1576. those princes that have ruled by gentleness and clemency added to justice , and have exercised moderation and meekness towards their subjects alwayes , greatly prospered and reigned long . but on the contrary , those princes that have been cruel , unjust , perfidious and oppressors of their subjects , have soon faln , they and their estate into danger , or total ruin , n. m. 1576. chap. x. the severity of a popish synode ; the disposition of the right christians ; how heresie is not slain through the death of hereticks ; and the evil consequence of the laws , which tend to the putting of hereticks to death . in a general synod holden at rome , it was forbidden men to hold any fellowship with those they termed enemies of religion , neither were they in any thing to assist them , which might tend to the preserving of their life , and great things were promised them that persecuted such , and inflicted punishment to the utmost upon them . vide merula , pag. 772. but the true christians persecute no man about religion , socrat. lib. 4. chap. 3. for the right christians did alwayes deal mercifully with them that were hereticks indeed , and not tyrannically by shedding of their blood ; but hereticks and infidels have been alwayes cruel towards the christians , with persecuting of them to death . when men with the truth ( said one ) slayeth the lies of hereticks , then their bodies remain alive , and their souls come to be cured ; but when men put hereticks to death , they do not slay the heresie , but rather both body and soul. veritus said , seeing christ is a lamb , whom you profess to be your head and captain , then it behoveth you to be sheep , and to use the same weapons which he made use of , for he will not be a shepherd of wolves , and wild beasts , but only of sheep ; wherefore if you lose the nature of sheep ( said he ) and be changed into wolves or wild beasts , and use fleshly weapons , then will you exclude your selves out of his calling , and forsake his banner , and then will he not be your captain . often doth chrisostomus shew , how that the true christians may not put any heretick to death , nor with violence force him to the faith ; manifesting how it is against the scripture , reason and equity , that people should put men to death because of their opinion or ignorance , who otherwise are of a good life and conversation . aug. diligite homines , interficite errores , sine sevitia pro veritate certate . where hast thou ever read in thy dayes ( said menno ) in the writings of the apostles , that christ or the apostles ever cryed out to the magistrates for their power , against them that would not hear their doctrin , nor obey their words ? i know certainly said he , that where the magistrate shall banish with the sword , there is not the right knowledge , spiritual word , nor church of christ ; 't is invocare brachium seculare . it is not christian-like but tyrannical , said d. philipsen , to banish and persecute people about faith and religion , and they that so do , are certainly of the pharisaical generation to whom stephen said , you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears , you do alwayes resist the holy ghost , acts 7.51 , 52. when a king or a prince giveth forth a law , by virtue of which murderers are to be put to death , then all the people that own and obey this law , will do their best in helping to put them death , whom they know assuredly to be murderers ; even so ( said a certain writer ) when the bishops , presbyters , or any other writeth or publisheth , that people ought to put hereticks to death , then must it needs follow ( said he ) that the papists shall do their best to put the protestants to death , and the protestants the papists , the episcopal men the presbyterians , and the presbyterians the episcopal men ; for every sect supposeth themselves to be the right believers , and the rest they esteem to be hereticks ; and then should mannasseh with ephraim , and ephraim with mannasseh , rise up against the jews , yet should not the wrath of the lord be appeased . castellius testified , how that some of the divines ( so called ) when they medled with hereticks , they judged them all to be apostates , false prophets , and blasphemers , to the end , that thereby they might the more vilifie and oppresse those that differed from them ; which ( saith he ) hath been the manner of all scribes and pharisees . but who can produce a law out of the holy scripture , that requires hereticks to be put to death ? 't is true ( said he ) there are laws against blasphemers ; but what is this to the purpose , except it can be proved that hereticks are blasphemers ? for who will believe that all these who at this day are crlled hereticks , are blasphemers and ungodly men ? who are so foolish as to believe the pope ( who judgeth the protestants to be blasphemers , because they differ from him in point of the sacrament ) that they therefore are blasphemers ? and that the baptists are blasphemers , because they differ from him in their baptism . aeontius said , it cannot be that a heretick should reject his errour when he will , except that some reason constrain him thereunto ; wherefore then said he , do you trouble such a miserable man , for to make him lie , and to provoke him more and more to sin against the lord ? surely men cannot deny but that it is an invention of satan ( said he ) for to force the servants of god to deny christ for fear of punishment : further ( said he ) people must seek to conquer such men , not through threatnings , but it must be through the power of certain testimonies and living manifestations . chap. xi . the popes counsel and intreaty ; the sad effects of cruel proclamations ; how inconsistant it is with the life of christ to persecute ; under what pretence the true believers have suffered ; and how persecution cannot effect the thing for which it is intended . heresie is a greek word , and signifieth a sect or an opinion , and they that did stiff-neckedly cleave unto evil sects were called by the greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by the latines pertinaces , and by us are they called hereticks . now it is an easie matter to accuse a man of being a heretick , and of retaining opinions contrary to his conscience ; but it is a difficult thing , sufficiently to prove and manifest the same ; for all the martyrs that have suffered for the name of christ , have been accused with being hereticks , even as the innocent lamb 's of christ that suffer now for his names sake , are accused at this day . pope paul the third , counselled and intreated the emperour charles , and king ferdinandus , to compel the protestants to forsake their error . anno 1545. there can be no greater suffering and sorrow ( said a certain wise man ) brought upon such as fear the lord , than there may by compelling them through punishment , to do that which is against their conscience , or to leave off such an exercise as they are perswaded in their conscience is necessary to their salvation . the history do shew , how that in the low-countries , there were betwixt eighteen and nineteen thousand men put to death , upon their resisting of the inquisition , being brought into those parts . moreover , the chronicle testifieth , that in the dayes of charles the emperor , there were above fifty thousand men put to death by proclamations ; some proclamations did forbid upon pain of death , peoples holding any fellowship with them that fled , or were banished about religion , or of assisting them with money or provision ; yea , one was hanged ( saith the chronicle ) because he entertained his own son , merck-tyck . pag. 77. now , if any emperor , king , prince , or superiours , should through the counsel of the divines or clergy , goe the same way that this emperor charles went with his son king phillip , who were destroyed with their land and people ; who may not so truly , as certainly prophesie and warn such powers , who wilfully take such a course ( said the author ) that they also will bring themselves with their land , religion , and subjects to ruine ? m. publ. alienis malis cautior . seneca , 21. some are , and have been of that opinion , that there are no people that ought to be more severely punished than hereticks , blasphemers , and contemners of religion . but what said erasmus , is it a greater transgression to be a christian than to be a murtherer of father or mother , &c. but such things shall the devil raise up against the gospel ; and oftentimes they are called hereticks , who do so little contemn religion , that they will die for their religion ; and therefore it appears ( said he ) that they are no despisers of religion , who are so given up to suffer , for to keep a good conscience before god. likewise , he appears to be free from blasphemy , who will rather die , than by imbracing error will be freed from death or persecution ; such appear to be free from blaspheming god willingly . and as concerning the life of christ , that hath been alwayes so meek , that it is as possible to find an example of a lambs devouring of a wolf , as of that putting a heretick to death by the sword ; and they in whom his spirit dwelleth are minded like him : but as concerning persecutors , while in the new-testament they find nothing but meekness , which is directly contrary to their persecution ( said he ) therefore are they necessitated to fly unto the old , by which they suffiiently manifest whose spirits children they are . this doth the multitude of the martyrs testifie with their innocent blood , how that the true believers , have suffered as hereticks , blasphemers , uproar-makers , contemners of religion , and seducers , &c. yet it is a fast and certain rule ( saith the history ) that where the spirit of god and his truth hath place , that there must all consultations of persecutions cease ; then much more the thing it self , knowing that their weapons are wholly spiritual ( even as god and his whole kingdom is ) which must be used and felt , and keep the authority ; for there are ( saith he ) weapons of love , of prayer , of peace , and of patience , whereby the inward understanding of the heart and soul , may be brought unto the right way : but what is flesh and blood with fleshly weapons , alas ( said he ) in no wise fitting , but like unto the world , which run on in the broad way to destruction . moreover it is evident enough , for in the whole europa , experience hath learned it , that the cruel condemning , banishing , persecuting and putting hereticks to death about matters of faith and religion , is an absolute contrary means , for to rout out hereticks , for to unite the divided christendom , and to quiet its disturbances . and it hath also been found by experience , that external peace and unity , can , and may be better preserved in a kingdom or common-wealth , through forbearance , and by suffering of contrary opinions ( through love and christian meekness ) than by banishing and persecuting people to death , about matters of faith and religion . chap. xii . when the bishops began to seek the help of the magistrate ; how it then ministered offence ; what punishment the church heretofore had ( according to the will of the lord ) for hereticks ; and how difficult a thing it is for magistrates to judge aright in matters of heresie . erasmus testified , that for above 400. years , the bishops did not seek the help of the emperors against the hereticks ; and when they did seek it against the insufferable wickedness of the donatisten , it did not please the good party , that they should then seek the help of the civil power ; for they then judged , that it became not the bishops to use any other weapons , or to have any other help , than the sword of the spirit , the word of god , although the evil was incurable , yet would they have excluded it by excomunication , which is said to be the greatest judgment or punishment that then the church had . now it is confessed , that the lord jesus christ hath manifested his will by that which is left upon record , and which was delivered by his apostles , who have shewn us how we should carry our selves . 1. towards them that resist the truth , 2 tim. 2.24 , 25. chap. 3.6.8 . chap. 4.15 . 2. towards back-sliders , 1 tim. 1.20 . 3. towards them that deny the resurrection , 2 tim. 2.16 , 18. 4. towards them that teach what they ought not , titus 1.11 , 13. 5. towards them that cause divisions and offences , rom. 16.17 . 6. towards false prophets , mat. 7.15 . chap. 16.11 , 12. 7. towards them that walk disorderly , 2 thes. 3.6 . 8. towards pharisaical hypocrites , that have the form of godliness , and not the power , luke 12.1 . 2 tim. 3.5 . 9. towards false brethren , 1 cor. 5.11 . 10. towards hereticks , titus 3.10 . 11. towards fornicators , and idolaters , 1 cor. 5.11 . 12. towards the disobedient , 2 thess. 3.14 . 13. towards the stiff-necked , mat. 18.17 . thus it appears from the scripture of truth , that it was not the will of our lord and lawgiver , that they should be punished with severe punishments in prisons , or by banishment , or by having their goods spoyled , or by being put to death ; nay , but he hath rather commanded , 1. that with meekness we should instruct , 2 tim. 24.25 . 2. deliver unto satan , 1 tim. 1.20 . 3. sharply to rebuke , tit. 1.11 , 13. 4. to avoid them , rom. 16.17 . 2 thes. 3.6 . 2 ioh. 10.11 . 5. to beware of them , mat. 7.15 . 6. to have no fellowship with them , 1 cor. 5.11 . 7. to reject them , tit. 3.10 . 2 tim. 4.15 . 8. to let them alone , mat. 15.14 . 9. to esteem them as heathens or publicans , mat. 18.17 . thus we see the laws that the lord jesus christ hath ordained for their punishment , to the end , that the fruits hereafter mentioned might be brought forth ; for god willeth not ( as many blood thirsty men ) that they should die and perish ; but the will of god is ; that they all should repent , 2 pet 3.9 . 2 tim. 2.25 . that they cease from mens traditions . that they might be ashamed , 2 thes. 3.14 . that they might learn not to blaspheme , 1 tim. 1.20 . that they might be found in the faith , tit. 1.13 . that the spirit might be saved , 1 cor. 5.5 . for the power which the lord hath given the apostles , was to edification , and not to destruction , 2 cor. 13.10 . erasmus said , the christian meekness must satisfie it self with these punishments ; to stone , that is the jewes work ; but the true christians work is to heal. ambrosius said , that hereticks were only to be punished by excomunication , and not to be beat and persecuted ; for so did the heathen said he , that knew not god : and ignatius said , you shall seperate your selves from them , and exhort them to repentance . in haereticis coercendis quatenus progredi liceat ubi nominatius eos ultimo supplicio affici non deberi aperte demonstratur , christlinge impressum , anno 1577. sectio 2. chrisostomus said , that he was not such a fool , as that he would suffer them to be his judges who were his open enemies , for it is against all right and reason , that he who is the accuser , and witness , should also be judge . every one ( saith he ) will be judge over another , yet none acknowledging the other to be his judge . tell me then ye wise men ( who would have the hereticks punished , or persecuted to death by the magistrate ) who shall be the judge , the magistrate , the church , or the doctrin which is spoken against ? and how shall the magistrate be assured of the odiousness of the blasphemy , and crimes ? and how shall the magistrate know certainly who are punishable sismaticks , apostates , false teachers , hereticks and seducers ; who they are that set up a sect or a church ? who believe well or evil ? who teach according too , or contrary to the scripture ? who are moved of god , or by his own zeal ? who do according to a good conscience or contrary ? who are wounded and judged in themselves , and who are not ? and who are obstinate and stiff-necked hereticks , or constant upright christians ? but suppose the magistrates should refer this to the divines or clergy ( said he ) to judge of , what more assurance shall they have than the magistrate ? who through their strong importuning , blindly persecute the hereticks , and have martyred and put to death most of the christians and servants of god ; ( said he ) how can they then more than the magistrate judge of such hidden mysteries as before mentioned ? vide synopsis disp. 57. thes. chap. 20. chap. xiii . the necessity of just and equal liberty ; how expedient it is to hear and see before one iudge ; how the persecuting clergy do follow the example of the iewes ; how life and conversation hath not been so much looked at , as difference in doctrine and worship ; and how prejudicial it would be for christians , if their counsel were followed , that stir up men to persecute . aremnus said , the profitableness of the king and kingdom , requireth a firm and intire union of all the citizens and subjects ; now there can be no firm union ( said he ) except that all the citizens and subjects injoy equality , and that especially in matters of religion ; for inequallity among them in that particular , is and hath been of most politicians called one pestilence of the kingdom or common-wealth . anno 1575. com. dist . fol. 79. qui autem partem civium consulunt , partem negligunt rem pernitiosissimam in civitatem inducunt . cicero in offi . when the king lodewick of france , was much importuned by the cardinals and bishops to put several people to death in his dominion , who were accused of much odious heresie ; the king said , if i were to begin a war with the turk , or the devil , i would first hear them : and afterwards he sent legaten to examine the matter , and when he found them to be such in their life and conversation , and worship , that he broke out with an oath , and said , these men are better than i with my catholicks . urede hand . van colen . fol. 39. the iewes , scribes and pharisees , exclaimed against christ to the magistrate , and said , if he had not been an evil doer , we would not have delivered him up unto thee : and then they accused him of perverting the nation , of forbidding the people to give tribute to caesar , of stirring up the people , of casting out devils through beelzebub ; and they also said , that they had a law , and that by that law he ought to die , &c. luke 23.2 , 5. john 18.30 . mark. 3.21 . john 19.6 , 7. thus did they seek to deceive pilate , who was unexperienced in their law ; even as the clergy now ( said a certain writer ) stir up the magistrates with their lies , seeking to make them believe that they have a law , by which hereticks ought to be persecuted and put to death ; and by their sophistical art ( said he ) can they prevaile with them so far , as that finally they ( to continue their friend , and the emperours ( or the kings ) deliver them into their hands as pilate did christ , who said , take him , and iudge him according to your law , &c. certainly said one , where christ is now made manifest , there are also iudas's to be found , the world is no better nor holier then it was , but rather worse ; and therefore doth the truth now suffer under the name of heresie ( said he ) as heretofore . for now in these dayes men do little regard life or conversation , but presently fall upon judging of the doctrine , persecuting and shamefully intreating those that differ from them in doctrine , though their life be never so good ( said he ) but indeed they ought to do otherwise , and with the spirit of meekness to instruct those that erre , and not to put men to death for their errors , which is indeed a very great error . condonabiles sunt quidem piorum hominum errores , sicut et non quivis corporis morbus uxitialis est . certainly it is unchristian-like , yea unnatural , that any should judge a man to be an obstinate heretick , who lives a good life , and is of an upright mind , and who cannot comprehend the matter otherwise than he understandeth it , and thereupon is he resolved to suffer whatsoever may come ; but when they have nothing to charge against his life , then rail they against his doctrine ; like as the persecutors of daniel said , we shall have nothing against him , except it be concerning his worship : and as amazia the priest of bethel informed the king against amos , and accused him of uproar , and told him that the land could not bear all his words , amos 7.10 . dan. 6.5 . acts 24. ier. 26.8 , 9 , 11. if one sect should rise up against another , to the destroying one of another ( which must needs follow , if their counsel be followed , who would have hereticks put to death ) then when they had destroyed one another , consider then what a door there would be opened for the turk , and for other barbarous people , for them to take possession of the remainder , and then to tyrannize over them . but as lactantius said , even as they are deceived in the religion it self , so are they deceived in the manner of its protection ; for the true religion is not to be defended with killing , but with exhorting ; not with cruelty , but with patience ; not with wickedness , but by faith : for they that go about to defend their worship with torments , they rather pollute it , than defend it . chap. xiv . several testimonies against persecution , and forcing of conscience ; of the liberty among the heathen ; how meekness is better than war ; how the christians meetings were forbidden upon pain of death ; and of the efficacy of faith and patience . stephanus king of poland , said , it belongeth not to me to reform the conscience , i have alwayes gladly given that over to god which belongeth to him , and so shall i do now ; and also for the future , i will suffer the weeds to grow until the time of harvest , for i know that the number of believers is but small ; therefore said he , when some were proceeding in persecution , ego sum rex populorum non conscientiarum ( i. e. ) i am king of the people , and not of their consciences : he also affirmed , that religion was not to be planted with fire and sword. chron. van de rel. vrijh . 2 deel . tindallus ( apud foxium in actis et monument is ) said , the new-testament of christ suffered no law of compelling , but alone of perswading and exhorting , pag. 1338. timestius , exhorted the emperor , to cease from persecution , beseeching him that he would not be cruel by reason of the discord or defference of the christians doctrine , seeing there was such a multitude of sects among the heathen ; and that every one continue in his own doctrine , contrary to the meaning and doctrine of the rest . the prince of orange testified , that it was impossible that the land should be kept in peace , except there was a free tolleration in the exercise of religion , anno 1579. swinckfeild testified , that according to the doctrine of christ and the example of the apostles , it did not become the preachers of the gospel , and ministers of the new-testament , in no wise to force with violence and tyranny the conscience in matters of faith , but with the sword of the spirit , the power of god , and with prayer , were they to resist the evil spirit and all its temptations , and with long suffering learn to overcome them all . the chronicle testifieth , how that theodosius persecuted no man , neither did he constrain any to hold fellowship with him , but permitted every man to meet in his own house , or at his own meeting ; and he being a very meek man , did thereby ( to wit , through meekness ) sooner bring his subjects to obedience , than by war , neither would he force the consciences of his subjects . relig. uriih . pag. 6. iohn taulerius spoke also much in his sermon book , of the tribulation , oppression and great suffering , that the christians were to expect here , but not that he should cause any of them to suffer . the burgemeesteren of amsterdam testified , that no man had power to bind another mans conscience , let him be who he will ( said they ) for this power pertaineth only to god , under whose command and power the conscience is , anno 1617. erasmus said , that though they take our moneys and goods , they cannot therefore hurt our salvation ; they afflict us much with prisons , but they do not thereby separate us from god : moreover the lord said , if they persecute you in one city , fly unto another ; thereby doth he teach ( saith eras ) that persecuted christians , should not expel weapons with weapons , but rather fly before weapons ; for if peter was reproved , because he drew his sword against the wicked and ungodly , for his harmless lord ; wherefore then should a christian man for the future , revenge wrong with wrong , when it is done unto him ? in de krijgdes urede . fol. 63. lactantius said , we christians desire not that any man against his will should serve our god , who is the creator of all things , neither are we likewise angry if he be not served ; for we believe ( saith he ) that his majesty might as well revenge their despisings , as he doth the injuries of his servants : and therefore when we suffer such shameful things , we keep silent , referring vengeance unto the lord , and do not like unto those who would be esteemed defenders of their gods , who are full of wrath against those that do not honour them . rel. uriih . pag. 17. we are assured ( said cyprianus ) that they that persecute us , shall not remain long unpunished , and the greater injuries which they have done , the more manifest revenge will come upon them ; though we had no knowledge of the antient times , yet notwithstanding , that which of late hath happened , might serve for a sufficient warning , ( to wit ) that in so short a time ( saith he ) so grievious and terrible a revenge is already come upon persecutors . merula . pag. 214. when cyprianus was threatned to be banished out of the land , except he would renounce the christian religion ; he replyed to those that threatned him , and said , he that carrieth christ shut up in his heart and mind , can be no exile or banished man , for the earth is the lords , and the fulness thereof . afterwards he was much urged by the governour to betray his brethren , to which he would in no wise condescend ; and when the governour told him , that the emperour had forbidden the meetings of the christians , that they should not meet upon pain of death , then he gave the governour to understand , that he was prepared to die for the profession of the truth . moreover said cyprianus , have we not seen that the martyrs of christ , did not look upon their torments with cruel eyes , neither did they threaten tyrants , but was more sorrowful for their blindness , than for their own suffering . anno 1567. petrus viretus said , that there was nothing that sooner broke the violence of tyranny , than the patience of the saints ; neither was there any better means to take away the sharpness of their swords ( said he ) and to quench and extinguish their fire , than through faith , constancy and prayer . chap. xv. augustinus's testimony ; how ambrosius was threatned ; how private meetings could not be prevented by proclamations , &c. how it is the duty of christians to continue their meetings ; and how we are to obey god more than the emperor or the king. augustinus testified , that when emperours were in error , then did they make laws for to defend errors against the truth ; yet ambrosius would not obey the emperor in things that were contrary to god and his commands , wherefore the emperor threatned , that he would cut off his head ; then said ambrosius , i will suffer as a bishop , do thou as becometh an executioner or hangman . apoph . fol. 144. the chronicle testifieth , how that in times past , private meetings could never be hindred through rigorous proclamations , strict orders , and executions , nor yet sects of sinister opinions , but by how much the more they were forbidden by orders , and persecuted , by so much the more they acted against the orders . bor. 111.6.91 . moreover it sheweth , how the martyrs in tribulation were mostly accused , because they continued their meetings contrary to the command of the king. int martel . lib. 5. pag. 456. this is the duty of all the faithful ( said a certain wise man ) that they continue their meetings together in the name and fear of the lord , though kings , princes , and magistrates by their proclamations and orders command the contrary ; for after the apostle through many perils of his life , had preached the doctrin of the gospel in synagogues , schools and markets , and being resisted by open violence , and forbidden to preach any more in that name , he notwithstanding after that kept meetings in private houses when he preached . grotius testified , how that it was the opinion of some , that they that did cruelly handle , such as kept their meetings ( not to gormandize or play the glutton , nor to disturb the publick peace , but as schools of vertue ) were themselves in such a state , as ought to be punished . vide grot. lib. 2. pag. 445. the history sheweth , how that heretofore some said , as others do now , that new things , as new opinions , &c. are alwayes to be feared , especially great meetings and assemblies ; but ( said the author ) men need not fear that doctrine which tends to the bringing of people to piety and honesty ; neither need men be afraid of the meetings of honest peaceable people , who seek not to keep themselves private , except that they be thereunto constrained ; concerning whom i may say ( said he ) as augustus said concerning the meetings of the jews , that they were not to domineer , nor to be excessive in eating and drinking , nor yet to disturb the peace , &c. anno 1560. in scotland it was decreed and concluded , that people should in all things , obey the magistrates , religion only excepted . hist. georg. fol. 697. lucernus said , he that commandeth any thing wherewith he bindeth the conscience , that is an antichrist . inde bennse disp. fol. 71. therefore said erasmus , if that at any time evangelical godliness require that people must contemn their commands , that must be done with such moderation , as that it may not be through any hate against them , but through a godly zeal . vide exod. 1.16 , 17 , 21. considering how that the commands of god are to be esteemed above the commands of men ; obey your masters ( saith he ) but not against god , to whom you are more bound than unto men . daniel kept himself innocent before god and the king , notwithstanding his doing contrary to the king's command , concerning the free exercise of his religion , dan. 6.22 . but say some , the powers will not suffer this new doctrine ; i know not , but that they might well suffer it , where it fundamentally manifesteth it self , said vrbanus regnis ; yet though they will not suffer it , every true christian knoweth that he ought to keep to the lord and his truth , and in such a case he may ( said he ) without contempt of authority , let pass that worldly command ; and of this will the spiritual law admit : for it doth not become the emperour , nor the king to determine any thing against the divine command , nor to do any thing that is against the rule of the exangelical prophets , and apostles truth ; and if that they command any evil , then must we give them this answer , we must obey god rather than men , acts 5.29 . but in these things which are not against the command of god , we will be subject . yet when the emperour or king commandeth one thing , and god another , and that we obey god , who hath the supream power , we desire herein to be excused by the emperour and king ; if they threaten imprisonment for disobedience , he threatneth hell. vide his epistle of twofold righteousness , fol. 6 , 7. anno 1532. chap. xvi . how it doth not become the magistrate to force the conscience , nor to be a iudge in points of doctrine ; and of what dangerous consequence it would be , if the magistrate should proceed against hereticks , according to his own interpretation of the law. castellius testified , that in matters of religion , there was no other magistrate than christ alone , and they that he ( not with the sword , but with his word ) armeth and sendeth forth . the antient protestants testified , how that the most of the old fathers affirmed , that the magistrate had nothing to do to meddle with the conscience , to force and compel that to believe , seeing that the temporal sword was put into their hands to punish theeves , murderers , and other disturbers of the peace ; but as concerning religion , and that which pertaineth unto the soul , the only spiritual sword , the word of god , must and ought herein to remedy , separating the zeal and religion which did defend man from tumults , and disturbing of governments . neither doth it belong to any man to ordain other laws for punishment , besides those which god hath appointed ; and therefore is it so highly forbidden to add or diminish , deut. 4.2 . chap. 12.32 . rev. 22.18 . for no laws but god's bind the conscience . merck-tyck , pag. 245. moreover it hath been formerly testified , that they do very unchristianly , who under pretence of ecclesiastical discipline , introduce a new authority over the faith and consciences of men , isa. 10.12 . psal. 94.20 , 21. acontius testified , that it was against the office of a magistrate to be a judge in points of doctrine , in matters of religion , and in the same to use his power violently ; and that in particular he should do contrary to his office , if that he used his power to please any man , as that when he had committed the care of religion to some particular person or persons , and that he should be ready to draw out his sword against those whom the other accused as hereticks , or give the weapon into their hand : now how guilty ( he that thus did ) would be in the day of the lord , may you judge . alcmerus testified , that god alone is the judge of the heart , and that he alone should judge of faith and unbelief ; therefore is it not lawful for princes ( said he ) to judge any man in matters of faith , while they are not guilty of any manifest transgression of any known civil law , as theft , murder , &c. for they are judges of the body , and not of the soul , rel. uriih . 2 deel . pag. 52. through what impudency dare you judge them to death ( saith castellius ) that profess the name of christ ? who hath taught you the matters of religion , of which you are most ignorant ? i believe you will say , you do not these things alone from your own judgement , but through the judgement of the learned , who hath taught you , who ought to be punished , and put to death ; and verily it is so ( said he ) for i see that your learned men do injoyne you , not to put any to death about religion , but according to their judgement . w. teelingh testified , that the magistrate ought not to rest upon the conclusion of the church , nor thereupon to proceed , being that the church might err , and that it was dangerous following . de hevige ende huestige kerckelijcbre luijden ( i. e. ) the vehement and hasty clergy . in eubul . 252.254 , 256 , follies . the lord of pleffy referred the judgement of doctrine and teachers , &c. to the judgement of all christians , and not only to the judgement of the pollitick magistrates , nor not alone to the ecclesiastical clergy , neither only to them both , no , but to all men . vide his trac . of the church , pag. 80 , 130 , 147. experience hath sufficiently demonstrated , that it is a very hurtful thing , to compel all people to dance after the magistrates pipe ( said a certain writer ) for where it hath been so , oh! what hath been the effect thereof , but most commonly an universal delusion of the subjects , with a bloody persecution of the true prophets ; for the greatest multitude of men is never the best ; as also the greatest number of emperors and kings are not very holy , but often have shewn themselves ( saith he ) to be very wicked . merck-tyck . pag. 307. the lord hath expresly declared ( said one ) that the magistrate is no fit judge to judge of doctrine ; and that the use of such jurisdiction is forbidden him . for how shall a man know a heretick but by knowing the cause , whereby a man is made a heretick ? and if the magistrate do so interpret the law , as that he thinketh those hereticks may be forgiven , who have not endeavoured to counsel others , and that they are to be put to death , who persevere in teaching others , and are resolved so to do ; shall men then be in safety , and their credit and welfare preserved ? certainly no ; for so often as the truth shall falsely be scandalized with the name of heresie , through the orders of the magistrate , so often shall the servants of the lord be thereby brought into suffering ; for it is not lawful for them to whom god hath manifested his truth , to hide their talent in the earth , through silence and dissimulation . vide arg. des sat. lib. 3. pag. 184. idem pag. 94 , 95. with what clearer example can the magistrates be exhorted not to depend upon any mans judgement , then that concerning the son of god , who was so carelesly given over , not only according to the judgement of his wicked and ungodly enemies , but also according to their desire . take him ( said pilate ) and judge him according to your law. pag. 100. david said , that heaven was given to the lord of heaven , but the earth unto the children of men ; that is , god hath given man power over earthly matters , and over whatsoever belongeth unto earthly matters , but over heavenly matters , and these things which appertain unto the kingdom of heaven , the king of heaven hath only dominion over . vred . hand . tot . col. fol. 137 , 195. regula sit morte non puniendos , sed iudex videat et ponderet . chap. xvii . how the truth is oppressed through somes vsurpation ; how the protestants have been hindred from printing of their books ; the unjustness of the thing ; how it hath been the papists doing , who will neither suffer disputations nor books against themselves ; the cause why ; and how unjust a thing it is that one should usurp authority over all the rest , &c. not without reason are men offended , said calvine , when they see the truth of god lye oppressed with fire and sword , and that none dare appear to help and defend the same ; and that error is so strongly maintained with the cloak of lawful iudgement , that there is no freedom to reprove and amend the same ; neither will they that have the name of the supream authority , suffer any thing to be spoken that is contrary to their institutions ; and if one reprove or rebuke them , and teach any thing contrary to what they teach , then do they account that to be uproarish , when they themselves are the most tumultuous , decl. chap. 14 , 15. further he added , that if they themselves did not stir up the mighty to shed blood , there would never arise so many uproars among the people . and it was luthers opinion , that those that stirred up the princes to persecute about religion , they raised the uproar . thesaur . pag. 679. likewise the reformed protestants complained of being forbidden to print bookes , and to sell them , as appears from the chronicles ; which thing the prince of orange held for unfitting , a forcing of conscience , a quenching of prophesie , and an oppressing of the truth . bor. chron. second part , fol. 48.47 . the papists counselled the emperour , the princes and states , that they should obstruct writing and printing of books , as also disputing and preaching , otherwise than according to the interpretation and approbation of the church ; and that the dispersers of such books should be punished . vide , history of the counsel of trent . pag. 42 , 43. when tacitus had declared , how that the lords fathers had thought it good , to burn the books of cremutius cordus ( some of which were afterwards brought to light ) he said , he must laugh at the folly of those , who thought by their present power , they could extinguish the remembrance of them from ages to come , for most commonly the contrary happens ; and when men reprove the glorious understandings , their honour and renown is not thereby diminished , but rather augmented : further ( said he ) all kings that have used great tyranny in such cases , have thereby brought contempt upon themselves , and more honour and esteem to the other . vide annales , lib. 3. pag. 22. the emperour nero , caused the books of f. veientio ( who reproved the priests and the council ) to be burned ; yet while they were to be gotten ( notwithstanding the danger ) they were sought and read , but afterwards people were permitted to have them and to read them . [ nota. ] when such writings ( said he ) are little esteemed , they perish of themselves , but when men are angry , then they come to be the more manifest ; for the difficulty in procuring of them , sharpeneth the desire , kindleth the zeal , and bringeth the matter into more esteem . pol. 4. lipsi . 6. lib. fol. 354. the professors of leyden said , that it sounded strange in their ears , that men were come to the forbidding of books , and would not suffer them according to their rights and priviledges ; a thing ( said they ) for which people have justly exclaimed against the popish government , for liberty herein chiefly consisteth , ( viz. ) that every one may freely speak his judgment ; and heretofore it hath been esteemed a mark of tyranny , when people might not speak their thoughts . vide their remonst . anno 1582. verily ( said they further ) reason which opposeth all tyranny , teacheth us in the general , that the truth can be no more than the light constrained ; therefore is it tyrannical to forbid good books , as the apostate iulianus did . the king of spain , with other of the popish princes , will not suffer different religions in their dominion , nor yet disputations about religion , neither will they suffer any books that speak in the least against their orders and religion ; this do many reprove in the papists , and yet would gladly have it so themselves . they fear ( said lactantius ) that being conquered by us , they should be constrained to give us the hand ; whereby they sufficiently manifest the desparation of their corrupt reason , seeing they dare not search nor enter into dispute with any , because they know they should soon be overcome ; and so not searching , they expel wisdom , and set violence in its place ; and being they endeavour to judge those as being guilty , whom they know well to be guiltless , yet will they not suffer their innocency to be made manifest ; as if it were more unreasonable to manifest innocency , than to condemn them that have not been heard : but as i have said ( said he ) they fear that they should not be able to judge , if they heard ; and therefore tortour , kill , and banish they the servants of the most high god , that is , righteous men. lactant. lib. 5. chap. 1. certainly ( said acontius ) if the shepherds once get it so far , as that none may oppose them , then will they force the poor people , and compel them to receive whatsoever they will ; then woe be to us and our posterity , and woe be to all honest people ; if it once come again so far , that the just and equal defence against the learned , should be esteemed calumnies , wickedness , and crimen laesae ma estatis . arg. des sat . lib. 3. fol. 97. for the pope innocentius the third , made a law , that he that presumed to blaspheme the pope , was to be punished with death , neither was any to speak against him , nor against the church of rome , which were not to be judged by any man : likewise a synod at rome made a decree , that none in the world should speak against the church of rome ; and cruelly did they persecute those that did contrary to their decree . merul. pag. 783 , 787 , 741 , 748. at geneva it was also forbidden by a proclamation , that any should speak against calvin and his doctrine . an. 1553. anno 1619. there were several of the clergy in the low-country , that thought it needful that some order was taken , for the preventing and dispersing of such books as they thought unfitting . if that one church or teacher ( said castel . ) be only tolerated , to reprove , vilifie , and falsely to accuse all other , and that without permitting any opposition , defence or reply ; how can such clear themselves from being of those , who will be holier than others ? and how can they reprove that great wickedness in the papists of cutting out peoples tongues ( or depriving them of the power of speaking ) while they do the same , though in another manner . castel . cal . chap. 19. with diligence do they hinder so much as they can any books being written or printed against them , to the end , that they might not be made manifest ; and if they be printed , that they may not be sold but burned ; and moreover , if any have them , such are to be banished and esteemed as hereticks ▪ merck-tyck . pag. 315. if that some had power according to their wills ( said one ) all should finally be esteemed and holden for blasphemers and hereticks , that reprove any divine of any error , or that is of another opinion in points of religion . chron. vande rel. uriih . 223. but said the duke of saexon , it would tend to much praise , if they by their doings and authority did bring it to pass , that this controversie might not be ended with arms or weapons , but that an orderly course might be maintained , which would heal the sickness , reconcile the church or people , and do no violence to the consciences of men. vide john sleid. chron. lib. 10. god's mercy and iudgment rationally shewn to england . hear o england , and consider the things which the lord hath done in thee , and suffer me a little to reason with thee , thou choicest of the nations , and much renowned among god's people ; in thee hath the light , glory , and power of the lord of hosts appeared ; in thee hath the standard of the lord been set up ; in thee hath the acceptable day of salvation and deliverance been proclaimed ; in thee hath many prophets and hand-maids been brought forth , which have gone out of thee into other nations , and thou hast been as a nursery unto them ; in thee hath the everlasting gospel been preached freely , both in thy steeple-houses , markets , high-wayes , and in many other places ; in thee hath the way of life , peace , and everlasting salvation been made manifest ; yea , in thee hath the god of heaven thy creator , done many notable and wonderful things ; and what ! wilt thou now undo thy self by resisting the lord , by rebelling against him , and by chusing thy own wayes , by fulfilling thy own lusts , and by satisfying thy own desires , by persecuting and shamefully intreating the servants and hand-maids of the most high ? of which things thou wouldst not have become so highly guilty , hadst thou not rebelled against the light of the lord which is arisen in thee , and resisted his eternal power and counsel , which is broke forth in the midst of thee ; many besides my self lament over thee , and the hearts of many have been filled with sorrow and heaviness , by reason of thy degeneration and apostasie , by reason of thy violence and cruelty , and by reason of thy persecution and oppression ; oh! alas for thee , how shalt thou avoid the wrath that is to come , or escape the hand of the lord ? yet thy destruction will be of thy self , and thy iniquities the cause of thy judgement . but hear and consider , and suffer me to reason a little with thee ; was thy king reduced out of his deplorable sufferings in forragin parts , and peaceably introduced into thee , to connive at the grievous suffering of the innocent in thee ? have thy parliaments and councils been broken to pieces , and with contempt secluded , to the end that others might come in , to make acts and laws for the binding and forcing of the consciences of the lords dear children ? were thy bishops reinstalled to exercise lordship over gods heritage , and to augment the sufferings of the afflicted in thee ? were thy judges and justices ( together with many inferior officers ) turned out of their places , that others who are more deboyst might come in , to oppress and persecute the harmless , more than heretofore , in thee ? were thy high , notional pretended gifted priests ejected , that they that are more lewd and prophane , might be brought in ? yet greater havock and spoile to make of the saints , and of their substance , than their predecessors did ? in summa , was that notable overturning and remarkable change , which of late happened in thee , to this end ? or was it not rather to manifest the power of the most high , and his wonderful works in thee , that thy inhabitants might know that he alone will rule , not alone in thee , but in all the kingdoms of the whole earth . moreover , consider whether or no it hath been for thy profit and honour , to have so many of the lord's servants and hand-maids in thy goals , dungeons and houses of correction ; and so many drunkards and swearers , cozenners and cheaters , at liberty in thy cities , towns and villages ? is it for thy honour , and the welfare of thy inhabitants souls , that covetous and proud men , yea such as god never sent , should have their free liberty to preach in thee for their heir , and that the true messengers and servants of the lord ( who preach freely ) should be cast into holes and dungeons , thereby to silence them , or to prevent them from spreading god's truth abroad in thee ? is it for thy profit and advantage , that faithful and discreet merchants , trusty and laborious tradesmen , diligent and expert marriners , careful and industrious husband-men , should be deprived of their liberty , about the exercise of their conscience , and thereby consequently obstructed from getting a comfortable livelihood for themselves and their families ? how think'st thou shall they be able to pay all the customes , taxes , dues , rights , and assessments , &c. that are required in thee of thy inhabitants ? how shall they possibly discharge those i say , if they do not injoy their liberty and the priviledges of free-born english-men ; and if they thereby come to be impoverished , what will their impoverishment enrich thee ? or who is there in thee that will willingly relieve and maintain such , if external poverty should overtake them ? were it not therefore better for thee to let them injoy their liberty ( notwithstanding their different judgment in matters of religion , provided that they lived peaceably in the kingdom ) that through diligence and industry , they might win or gain their own bread , though with the sweat of their browes , that the land might so much the better yeild her increase , and that trading in thee might not decay , to the impoverishing of many more families , whose livelihood depends upon their trade , which can scarcely go well when the father or master of it is cast into a prison for the exercise of his couscience ? which things i know will tend to the laying of thee waste , and to the depopulating of thee , even as many parts of germany and other countries , have been laid waste and ruined ; which desolation hath had its rise from such differences in part , as seem to arise in thee , which in process of time may produce the like effects , if god in his mercy , through his power and wisdom do not direct them . though this brief hint which i signifie hereof to thee , may be little regarded by thee , yet when thou hast felt the smart of it , then mayest thou lament it as other places have done , and remember that it was told thee before it came upon thee : and this shall i add further ( viz. ) if thy land open her mouth to drink the blood of the saints ( after which it seems to thirst already ) then expect thou the coming of the overflowing scourge suddenly , which hath been heavy upon other countries , who have polluted themselves with the blood of the lamb's followers , from which horrible thing , the lord deliver thee . though i am not within thy territories , yet my spirit is present with the suffering seed in thy dominion ; for the deliverance of which my soul hath often interceeded unto the lord ; and know assuredly , that in true and entire love to thee , have i laid these things before thee , for thy inhabitants ( my country-men ) to weigh and consider in the light of the lord. w. c. germany the 17th . of the 11th . month , 1661. but transcribed in amsterdam the second month , 1662. finis . hear the church, or, an appeal to the mother of us all to all the baptized believers in england, exhorting them to stedfastness in the truth, according to the scriptures : together with some farther considerations of seven queries, sent to the baptized believers in lincolnshire, concerning the judge of contriversies in matters of religion : in three parts / by thomas grantham. grantham, thomas, 1634-1692. 1687 approx. 133 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 31 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a41780 wing g1536 estc r5931 11964335 ocm 11964335 51668 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a41780) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 51668) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 815:14) hear the church, or, an appeal to the mother of us all to all the baptized believers in england, exhorting them to stedfastness in the truth, according to the scriptures : together with some farther considerations of seven queries, sent to the baptized believers in lincolnshire, concerning the judge of contriversies in matters of religion : in three parts / by thomas grantham. grantham, thomas, 1634-1692. [4], 60 p. [s.n.], london : 1687. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. "hear the church, &c or, an epitome of the chief controversies between papists" ... london, 1687 has special t.p. and forms the third part. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng baptists -doctrines. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2007-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-12 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2007-12 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion hear the church : or , an appeal to the mother of us all. being an epistle to all the baptized believers in england ; exhorting them to stedfastness in the truth , according to the scriptures . together with some farther considerations of seven queries , sent to the baptized believers in lincolnshire , concerning the judge of controversies in matters of religion . in three parts . by thomas grantham . and they shall turn away their ears from the truth , and shall be turned into fables , 2 tim. 4. 4. but i will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth , and there is none that holdeth with me in these things but michael your prince , dan. 10. 21. london , printed in the year , 1687. to the reader . there is nothing , which men sincerely religious , do more heartily desire , than that all men were so too ; and because they are fully satisfied that they are in that very way which most truly leads to life , they therefore strive that all may know it and walk in it . and truly this is my case , my hearts desire and prayer to god for all men is , that they may be saved . and as i believe it hath pleased god to shew me the path of life , i cannot but do my best to shew it to others ; for as some by their labours , have been helpful to me , so i hope mine may be helpful to others . when i call the primitive christian church at jerusalem , the mother of us all , i allude to that place , gal. 4. 26. interpreters , ( so far as i have observed ) take jerusalem there , for the gospel catholick church ; now this church had its beginning , and this beginning was at jerusalem ; and because in the progress of christianity in the world , for near one thousand seven hundred years , there has abundance of errors crept in , and much truth in the antient simplicity of it rejected , i think it highly rational , that ( all prejudice being laid apart ) men should seek with the greatest diligence , for their greatest security , into the state of christs gospel-church , as by himself established ; for whatsoever has not been planted by our heavenly father , is nigh to its being rooted up . god almighty direct us all , is the hearty prayer of thy friend , thomas grantham . let the reader further take notice , that these papers were originally written upon several occasions ; otherwise some things repeated , would have been otherwise . let thy discretion bear with this . hear the church . the first part . containing , by way of preface , a particular consideration of the state of the first christian church at jerusalem , and the reasonableness of appealing to her , as the mother of us all. it is evident to all such as have conversed with the histories of the ages , which have been since the coming of our lord , to make known and establish all things in the kingdom of grace , in the first church at jerusalem ; that there hath been great striving among the christian churches for some honour and prerogative above the rest . sometimes the church at alexandria , sometimes the church at constantinople , and especially the church at rome , pressing very hard for precedence of honour , and preheminence of power ; few minding the poor afflicted church at jerusalem , the true mother of all true christian churches ; when yet the holy ghost hath left a high commendation upon those who do follow her , both in the effectual reception of the gospel , not as the word of such or such a man , ( though preached by apostles ) but as it is in truth the word of god , 1 thess . 2. 13 , 14. and also ( not in persecuting , but ) in suffering like things of their countrey-men , as they did of the jews . and we desire , and hope that there may be yet , all due consideration had by all christians in these days , of the heavenly frame and holy walking of that mother-church . unto whom was committed , in the first place , the principles of the oracles of god ; unto whom our dearest lord was a personal minister , and did actually dispense to , and communicate with them , in the divine mysteries or ordinances of the christian religion ; upon whom was poured the most excellent gifts and graces of the holy spirit of promise . it was this church , from whom ( according to the prophets ) the law of christ should first go forth , isa . 2. 3. mich. 4. 1 , 2. here was the house of the lord established in the top of the mountains , and exalted above the hills , that all nations might flow unto it : an honour not given to other churches , 1 cor. 14. 36. what , came the word of god out from you ? no , this was the glory of another , for out of zion shall go forth the law , and the word of the lord from jerusalem . which by special order from christ was fulfilled , when he gave commandment to his apostles , that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name , in all nations , beginning at jerusalem , luk. 24. 47. and here it was that the spirit gave utterance unto the apostles , to preach in all languages , that then some of all nations ( who were at that very time at jerusalem ) might hear from thence the joyful sound of the gospel , and consequently , keep the same holy doctrine in all ages and nations , as it was there delivered , and confirmed by divers signs and miracles , and gifts of the holy ghost , math. 28. 19 , 20. heb. 2. 4. act. 2. forasmuch then , as all churches , in all ages and nations , are indispensibly bound to follow this church , in the observation of all things whatsoever christ commanded them ; we hold our selves concern'd , at this time , to declare our unfeigned assent unto the truth of the gospel , as it was here delivered ; and our humble resolution to keep the ordinances of christ , as they were here practised ( not doubting but the same was received in all churches at the first ) being confident of this very thing , that a safer way cannot be found for the security of our souls , from the manifold errors , which since the plantation of this church , have been obtruded upon the consciences of men , in most parts of the christian nations . to the intent then that we may avoid error , and cleave to truth , we shall consider particularly ( though very briefly ) the frame of this heavenly building , in respect of her foundation , her form of government , and the way of her worship , in order to her perfection . and first , we find her foundation-principles to consist in six particulars , called , the beginning of the word of christ , which articles are therefore called the foundation , because of the relation they have to christ , who is a foundation to his church , as held forth in his own doctrine , and other foundations than christ so held forth , can no man lay . of such importance are these sacred principles , that we find the ancient christians used to call them the christian catechism . chrysostoms , testimony is this ; that all these are fundamental articles ; that is , that we ought to repent from dead works , to be baptized into the faith of christ , and be made worthy of the gift of the spirit , who is given by imposition of hands ; and we are to be taught the mysteries of the resurrection and eternal judgment . this catechism , saith he , is perfect . and indeed in the whole new testament , we meet not with such an excellent epitome of the christian doctrine as in this place , which was written to this mother-church . 't is true , we have some mention of a form of doctrine delivered to the believing romans : and timothy is commanded to hold fast the form of sound words , which he had heard of st. paul ; christ is said to be the apostle and high priest of our profession , the author and finisher of our faith , we are willed to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints . but none of these places do shew us , as the text under consideration , what this form of doctrine , this form of sound words , this profession , and this faith was , in respect of the composition , and foundamentality of them ; nor can there any thing be assigned , that is so properly the analogy or rule of faith , as these principles of catechism . happy had it been , if all christian churches had held fast this catechism , though no more had ever been composed ; unity in the truth would have been better maintained by this one , than by so many as are now extant . and sure this being of divine composure and authority , the principles of the oracles of god , the beginning of the word of christ , must needs outweigh all others , being but of human composition . to begin with the first principle of this church , let us consider . 1. repentance from dead works . we are first to consider why repentance is put in the first place , even before faith ; sure it is because no unrepenting sinner can have the faith of justification ; therefore this principle of the christian faith must follow repentance . there is indeed a faith ( which we may call the faith of mankind ) to believe there is a god , that will both punish sinners , and reward the righteous , and this faith must needs precede repentance , heb. 11. 6. this repentance , as it was a principle of this mother-church , comprehends three things , a true sence of sin , in the exceeding sinfulness of it ; in which respect it is said , they were pricked at the heart , and cried out , or said , men and brethren , what shall we do ? act. 2. 37. which is accompanied with godly sorrow , and with amendment of life , without which , repentance is rather to be repented of , than to be esteemed any part of the foundation of christian religion ; repent ye therefore , and be converted , that your sins may be blotted out . act. 3. 19. without which repentance , there is no remission . luk. 13. 5. except ye repent , ye shall all perish , saith our saviour . how blessed had it been , if this doctrine had been preached , and men brought to the obedience of it , before they had been admitted to membership in the church of christ ? the not keeping to this rule , has filled all national churches with unregenerate , unconverted persons , to the scandal of the christian religion . 2. of faith towards god in this mother-church . the excellency of the faith of this mother-church , appeared in these things : that they gladly received the word of the gospel of their salvation . act. 2. 40. to the illumination of their souls , and the expelling the darkness of errour and unbelief ; by this faith they had their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience , and their confidence in god had a great recompence of reward , in the love and expectation of which , they willingly endured a great fight of afflictions , whilst they were made a gazing-stock , both by reproaches , and suffering the spoiling of their goods with joyfulness ; and were willingly companions with , and charitably compassionate towards , those that were in bonds for righteousness sake , working the work of god , ministring to the saints , labouring in love : all which are arguments of true and lively faith. heb. 6. 10 , 11. heb. 10. 32 , 33 , 34 , 35. he that reads and considers this excellent epistle , written to this mother-church , wherein we may be sure no new doctrine is delivered but the same corroborated which they had received , shall find that the true knowledge and belief of christ was amongst them , in respect of his divinity , chap. 1. in respect of his humanity . chap. 2. in respect of priestly office and sacrifice , with all other offices to which he was appointed of god , in the residue of the epistle , of which we cannot now speak particularly . 3. of the doctrine of baptism in this church . the lord christ had fully taught the guides of this mother-church the doctrine of baptism both by word and example ; and thereby had informed them of a three-fold baptism . the first delivered by precept , himself making the people disciples , by teaching them to repent and believe the gospel , and then appointing his disciples to dip them in the river , in which respect it is said that jesus made and dipped ( or baptized ) more disciples than john , mat. 4. 17. john 4. 1. john 3. 22. his own example being an unquestionable rule for the manner of baptizing , he being dipped of john into jordan , as the greek hath it , mark 1. 9. and then coming up out of the water . and of this whole church it is said , their hearts were sprinkled from an evil conscience , and their bodies washed with pure water . for baptismal water is therefore purer , because it is sanctified for our religious use , both by the person of christ , and by the word of god. and of this church , was first required , that every one of them should repent , and then be baptized ; and of them it is also said , that they that gladly received the word preached by st. peter , were baptized , acts 2. 38 , 40. they were also instructed concerning the baptism of the holy spirit ; it being the promise of the father made to all the called of the lord , and was particularly applied to them , and poured upon them in the way of faith and obedience . to be willing to be baptized with afflictions for christ and the gospels-sake , they were also taught by our blessed saviour in his discourse with some of his disciples , and by his own sufferings , luke 12. 30. of which they were also partakers , heb. 10. 32. as also all that will live godly in christ jesus must expect the same . and it would be considered by what rule any man can take upon him to make baptism the first principle , seeing christ himself has made it the third principle ? and by what rule any man can call sprinkling baptizing ? dare they speak as they act ? that is , dare they say , i sprinkle thee in the name of the father ? &c. would not their conscience flie in their face if they should so speak ? and yet behold , they prevaricate in action , and lye in expression in that which they call their baptism ; god will surely send the proudest prevaricators in this case a quo warranto for their presumptuous dealing herein . of the laying on of hands in this church . there are two great blessings belong to all true christians , remission of sin , and the gift of the holy spirit ; the first is consigned to then in sacred baptism , the second in prayer , with the laying on of hands , in which way this mother-church received this blessing , as is evident from the ennumeration and order of the principles of her catechism , and also from this testimony , that great grace was upon them all , acts 4. 33. as also in that it is expresly said , that this church continued stedfastly in the apostles doctrine , a principle whereof is prayer with laying on of hands ; and from this church this doctrine and holy practice was carried by the apostles to samaria , acts 14. for it is not to be imagined they would there innovate , a practical principle , which had not first been taught in the church at jerusalem . but god bearing witness to this service of prayer and laying on of hands at samaria , with the same blessing of the holy spirit , fore-received at jerusalem , confirms it as an acceptable and needful service for all churches . and accordingly it was received in the times next succeeding the apostles days , as many witnesses testifie , amongst whom tertullian thus , dehinc manus imponitur , &c. after baptism the hand is imposed by blessing , calling and inviting the holy spirit . tunc ille sanctissimus , &c. then that most holy spirit most willingly descends from the father upon the bodies which are cleansed [ meaning in baptism ] and blessed . of the resurrection of the dead taught and believed in this mother-church . in this church it was where the apostle gave witness with great p●wer of the resurrection of the lord jesus , in whose resurrection assurance , yea very full assurance is given to all men , that there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just and the vnjust . it was here that our saviour shewed himself alive after he had been dead , by infallible proofs , being seen of his disciples forty days , conversing with them of the things concerning his church and kingdom . it was here that many dead bodies of the saints did arise , and come out of their graves , and went into jerusalem , and appeared to many , after christ was risen ; which was a full proof , that the resurrection is of the same numerical bodies which are laid in the graves , disrobed only of mortality and all imperfections . and this is that resurrection of the dead here called a principle of christ's doctrine , and of the foundation of this mother-church . of the eternal judgment believed by this church . it was to the guides of this church to whom our saviour first made known this great priviledge , that they should sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of israel , at that time when he should sit upon the throne of his glory , mat. 19. 28 , who also is appointed of god to be the judge of quick and dead , act. 10. 42. which great article is here recounted among the principles of catechism , heb. 6. 2. and called the eternal judgment , not only for that it is the last judgment , but because the effects of it shall be perpetual , the pains to be imposed in this sentence of judgment shall be of eternal duration to all wicked men , who have contemned the gospel of their salvation , and judged themselves unworthy of eternal life , even that life which then shall be given to eternity , to all such as have held fast the beginning of their confidence , and the hope of this their rejoycing stedfast unto the end , heb. 3. 14. as therefore the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire ; so shall it be in the end of the world. the son of man shall send forth his angels , and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend , and them that do iniquity : and shall cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall be wailing , and gnashing of teeth . then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father . who hath ears to hear , let him hear . matth. 13. 40 , 41 , 42 , 43. lo the eternal judgment taught by christ's own mouth , let all men be admonished to prepare for this judgment , for the coming of the lord draws nigh . of the farther order and manner of worship used in this mother-church . this did especially consist in frequently assembling themselves together , to teach and preach jesus christ , acts 5. 42. or for the ministring of the word of god and prayers , acts 6. 4. in which we find no liturgies , or forms of prayer devised or imposed by the apostles , but these services were performed by the aid of the holy spirit , which as they were given for the work of the ministry , so 't is evident they have a remanency in the true church till the whole be perfected , eph. 4. and it is this blessed spirit which helps the church to make ▪ intercession according to the will of god , rom. 8. 27. they were all very frequent at the lord's table breaking the sacred bread , in remembrance of the lord christ , giving thanks to god by him , acts 2. 41 , 47. nor needed they any mass-book or common-prayer-book , to direct them in either : christ's own ▪ institution of his holy table , and the holy prayer which he had taught his disciples , with other heavenly rules contained in the holy scriptures , was abundantly sufficient , and are so still , to every faithful man of god [ and minister whom god and his church hath called to that work ] to furnish him to every good work . it is also excceding plain that the holy table of the lord is here called the breaking of bread. and therefore , though that holy bread and wine be the body and blood of christ , yet they are these , in such sort , as they are also the bread of the lord , and the cup of the lord , 1 ▪ cor. 11 ▪ 27. and forasmuch as the apostle here , and in the next verse , does expresly call the same things , by these different titles , the body and the blood : the bread and the cup : we must of necessity take him to speak figuratively in one of these , but in the latter , to wit , bread and the cup , we have no figure ( save that the wine in the cup is taken for the cup , which is an usual form of speaking ; ) and therefore of necessity these words , body and blood , must be understood to be mystically , spiritually , or figuratively in the bread and wine , and not the bread and wine to be mystically , spiritually , or figuratively , in the body and blood of christ . it is also as certain that the whole church ( this mother-church , acts 2. 42 ▪ ) did then receive both the bread and cup of the lord , as that any one of them did partake of both , the whole service being expressed by a synecdoche , a part for the whole , which yet will better appear , in that this ordinance ought to be received by every recipient , as he is a member of christ , not as he is a minister : 't is true , as i am a minister i dispense this mystery , but i receive it as a member , saith st. paul ; for ye being many , are one bread , and one body . for we are all partakers of that one bread. it was unto this church , or the guides of it , unto whom our blessed saviour delivered that mystical doctrine , which offended so many of his disciples , john 6. 53. verily , verily , i say unto you , except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood , ye have no life in you , which yet cannot be rightly understood of a corporal eating his flesh , and drinking his blood , because he expresly says , verily , verily , i say unto you , he that believeth on me , hath everlasting life , verse 47. and it is certain there were many that did truly believe on him at that time , among whom s. peter , and the rest that stood by him , when so many forsook him . now these things must all be true . 1. that none of christ's disciples had life in them at that time , but such as did eat the flesh , and drink the blood of christ . 2. that s. peter and the rest of the faithful , had eternal life in them at that time ▪ 3. that the lord's table was not yet instituted ; and therefore from these premises it follows that our saviour speaks not here of his disciples now eating and drinking his flesh and blood in the lord's table , and therefore cannot with any shew of truth or reason , be understood of eating his flesh , and drinking his blood carnally , or corporally , but spiritually , even by believing in him . of the several orders of ministry in this mother-church . this church was endowed with a three-fold order of ministry ; 1. messengers or apostles , whose work was more especially to gather , constitute , and take care for the church in general . 2. elders , whose work was especially to feed the flock committed to them in particular . 3. deacons , whose work more especially was to take care of the poor , and to distribute the alms of the church to the ends for which they were given , and consequently all churches ought to maintain this order of ministry , unless they can shew that god has repealed this ministery , in part or in whole . 't is true , some things were pertinent to the apostles here , which were temporary and extraordinary , which churches in after-ages are not to expect ; but it is also true that some things were ordinary , and fixed in that office , for the continual use of the church , and therefore to remain for ever viz. their care for all churches , their travels and labours to plant and settle new churches , their withstanding false apostles , as themselves are true apostles . their authority to appease strife and contention which may arise among particular pastors and churches , which things being demonstrated in our christianismus primitivus ( to which we refer ) we shall not here enlarge . this part of the apostolical office , was conferred on many in the apostles days , who were also entituled the angels of the churches , rev. 2. 1 , &c. which in english , is , messenger of the churches . of this order was james the lord's brother in this church at jerusalem , and such were timothy , titus , sylvanus , andronicus and junia , with others . a ministry as needful as any , both for the unity of churches , and the management of the most important affairs of the gospel , both in the church and in the world , as experience may convince men if nothing else will do it . and here it were easie to bring in the full test of the best antiquity , but this letter will not bear it . of the discipline or government of this mother-church . it was unto the guides of this cuhrch to whom our blessed lord first gave rules for the government of his church , mat. 18. whence we learn that in cases of personal trespasses , and sins of infirmity or weakness , all possible love , patience and charity , should be exercised by one christian towards another , and the offender , upon confession of his fault , forgiven , unto seventy times seven offences : so abundantly should charity appear among the members of christ . but it was also in this church where wilfull iniquity was punished with great severity , as the hypocrisie and deceit of ananias and saphira ; and the like severity was shewed against simon magus for his pride and covetousness , in aspiring to a ministry for which he was not qualified , and to which he was not called by heaven's donation and due vocation from the church , without which , woful experience hath taught the chrian nations , that it is in vain by money , or for mony to make men ministers in the christian church . in this church was held the first and best of general councils , for setling the churches in peace , when troubles did arise among themselves , by means of false teachers , &c. and because the churches in all ages and nations , may have perpetual need of such helps , it shall not be amiss that we consider the quality and authority of such assemblies , lest otherwise we be abused by usurpation and tyranny : and first of the occasion of the calling this present assembly , acts 15. this assembly was called upon the greatest occasion that ever was , namely , the repealing , or rather shewing the repeal , of many divine ordinances , and freeing the christian church from their obligation ; because they were either fulfilled , or too burthensome for his church , as indeed st. peter avers , they were so heavie , that neither they nor their fathers were able to bear them ; and the endeavours of this council was successful to the removal of them , and the settlement of the churches in the faith ; and to the great encrease of their number , asts 16. from whence we may safely conclude , that if moses's ceremonies which were from heaven , were a hindrance to peace and growth in the christian church , much more must all ceremonies devised , and imposed by human force and power only , be an obstruction to it . let us therefore stand fast in the liberty wherewith christ hath made us free , and not be entangled in the yoak of bondage , whether of legal , or other devised ceremonies . as for the quality of the persons , of whom this assembly did consist , 't is plain they were messengers , elders and brethren , and these did all freely deliberate upon the matters in question , offering their reasons pro & contra ; and the dicision was made , not by the interposition of power apostolical , but by the clear evidence of truth and reason , to which they all agreed . the apostles acting here as grave fathers , giving free audience and faithful advice , to which when all agreed , the conclusion was made in all their names , as appears , acts 15. 22 , 23. then pleased it the apostles and elders , with the whole church , to send chosen men of their own company to antioch , and wrote letters by them after this manner ; the apostles , elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the gentiles , &c. from the sweet concord here , we suppose all churches should do well to constitute their general consistories of such , seeing such helps she may have still , in things ordinary to each office , if she render not her self unworthy of them . now for the quality and authority of the decrees , made by this , or succeeding assemblies , the case is clear of it self ; these were such things as seemed good to the holy ghost , not that the holy ghost now revealed them , but brought to remembrance what the scriptures had said concerning them , and partly by what before that time had been shewed unto st. peter by a certain vision of god's accepting the gentiles , though not cleansed according to legal purification . and therefore till the holy ghost reverse those decrees , they are to oblige all churches to keep them inviolable . and in this point ( as indeed in all the rest ) the baptized churches in this age do stand a witness against the disorder and disobedience of most of the christian nations in the world ; who make no conscience of abstaining from blood , &c. though they know the true churches did religiously observe these decrees for several hundreds of years after . tertullian tells us , the custom of christians is to abstain from all blood , and things strangled , so that it is not lawful for them , when they feed at their tables to meddle with the blood of any beast . it is further safely concluded from hence , that all decrees of general councils are so far obliging only , as the things decreed are proved to be true , and not because they are decreed in council only ; for here st. peter proves , that churches are free from the obligation of legal ceremonies , because they wear a burthen too heavy to be born . 2. because god had accepted them already without them . and james [ the angel of this church ] proves or confirms the same by the scriptures , and these arguments , and probations , satisfied the assembly . and it 's certain , the things prohibited by these decrees , were always forbidden , even to noah and his perpetual generations , gen. 9. 12 , &c. nor does this assembly excommunicate or anathematize all that shall doubt of the necessity of their determination , but very sweetly tells the brethren they shall do well to comply with their advice ; for they knew that every church had power to punish offenders , and to them they seem to leave that care , and not to take the power of any church out of their hands , as the manner of some is . of the case of infants , or whether they were admitted to baptism in the mother-church ? in all that is said of the plantation and growth of this famous church , or in that excellent epistle , which was a long time after written to them , there is not one word to be found of any one infant being brought to baptism ; and therefore we hold to the negative of this question ; and it is observable , that though here infant-circumcision was absolutely excluded , yet is there no argument urged for it from their baptism , which had been very considerable , had there been any such usage in this , or the gentile churches . and because it is granted now by many , and these the most learned too , ( among whom the papists ) that there is no scripture for infant-baptism , &c. but that it stands upon the authority of ecclesiastical tradition ; all that we shall say to that plea in this place is , to desire any man to shew who delivered this thing to the churches , and by what authority , whether divine or human ? for seeing tradition signifies a thing delivered , it is fit the person or persons delivering such a thing , should be known to be persons lawfully impowered to deliver such a tradition , before we can with safety receive it . * but how then shall infants be saved if baptism belong not to them ? i answer , out of the mouth of st. peter , verse 11. by the grace of our lord jesus christ they shall be saved . and sure a man might as well ask how can infants be saved without faith and repentance , seeing it is said , he that believeth not , shall be damned : and except ye repent , ye shall all perish , &c. and what answer could any wise man make , save this ? the grace of god sufficeth them , having christ's express word for it , that to them belongs the kingdom of heaven ; and this he spake to unbaptized infants too , which is therefore so satisfactory that we need no other evidence . if any man say the words which st. peter spake in council , acts 15. 11. are not meant of infants , and therefore not pertinent to my purpose . i shall only desire him to consider , that those words were spoken in opposition to this position , that without circumcision , after the manner of moses , the gentiles could not be saved : now we know , it was after the manner of moses to circumcise infants , and therefore doubtless these false teachers did question the salvation of infants dying without circumcision . therefore these words of st. peter , which teaches that by the grace of our lord jesus christ both jew and gentile shall be saved , have their clear extent to infants as well as to any other persons whatsoever : i shall here only refer the reader to what we have farther written , in a treatise upon this subject , entituled , the controversie about infant-church-member-ship and baptism epitomized . of the reverence due to saints , angels , and to the blessed virgin in particular , according to the usage of this mother-church . it was in this church where the holy virgin , mother of our lord , had her conversation and society , being with that select company , consisting of an hundred and twenty names , acts 1. 15. among whom this most blessed woman is expresly named , and by whose presence this mother-church was honoured above all others . and here is the last mention that is made of her in the holy scriptures . and this honourable mention of her by name , and as the mother of our lord , ( which doubtless calls for great reverence in the hearts of all god's people ) is all the honour that the word of god does here confer upon her . this church makes no prayers to her , nor to christ in her name , nor taught the succeeding churches to do so ; yet surely she was the greatest saint that ever was ; and if we have no ground from any direction , nor president in the scripture to perform such devotion to her , we cannot with any shew of reason , or pretence of truth , do it to any other creatrue , saint or angel , whatsoever . and it is remarkable , that though this church had occasion to make express mention of david in their prayers , acts 4. 25. yet do they not use his intercession at all : but this honour they give to jesus christ , that through his name such things might be done , as might confirm the truth against all opposers . nor does the holy ghost give any notice of the worshipping of angels , saints , nor the holy virgin in particular , in that sacred epistle , which was sent to this church after the death of blessed mary , the mother of jesus ; so that this mother-church ▪ seems altogether unacquainted with such devotions : and much more may we assure our selves , they paid no such devotion to the images of these , or of any of them . if any affirm the contrary , we answer them in the words of jerom , non credimus quia non legimus . and with apollinarius , we dare add nothing to the perfect words of the new testament , whereto nothing may be added ; and wherefrom nothing may be taken away , by him that will lead a life agreeable to the gospel . euseb . hist . l. 5. c. 14. thus brethren i have for your sakes ( as well as others ) taken a fresh view of the state of this most primitive church , to whose holy pattern , through the grace of god , you have diligently laboured to conform your souls , her principles are yours , her government in good measure is yours , if in any thing any of them be otherwise minded , my hearts desire is , that god would speedily reveal even the same unto you , and then it is to be hoped that all well disposed , will in time see themselves concerned to adhere to the truth of your principles , in the very order wherein you maintain them . hear the church : or an epistle to all the baptized christians in england ; exciting them to stedfastness in their holy profession , under their various tryals , and great afflictions . the second part . brethren , as it hath pleased god to exercise you many years with various tryals and afflictions , for your faithfulness to the christian religion ( in respect of the restoration of it to its ancient purity ) both in the form and power of it , wherein you have laboured hitherto , and have not fainted , but , by the grace of god , have attained to some degree in that behalf , above what hath , as yet , been attained by the generality of your country-men , for which you owe the greatest thankfulness to almighty god. and having ( as i verily believe ) laid a right foundation for a true church-state , you are indispensibly obliged to go on unto perfection , as the first churches , which were built upon the same foundation , were expresly required and exhorted , heb. 6. 1 , 2 , 3. in which holy profession , being by the grace of god , one with you , and also called to the ministry and office of a messenger of your churches [ which i mention , because it is the most despised office amongst all christians , as it seems to have been in the apostles days . 1. cor. 4. 9. ] do hold it my duty , at this time , to endeavour to strengthen you ( in what i may ) in your holy profession ; as also to call upon such as have been shaken in mind by the violence of those temptations which have befallen them in common with their brethren . for as it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god , ( as those undoubtedly shall , who draw back from the truth they have once embraced unto perdition ) so i am very confident , that for any to fall from the truth , as it is professed by the baptized churches , is the most dangerous of all other , they being indeed the nearest to the truth , in the pristine order and simplicity of it , of all sorts of persons , who own the honorable appellation of christian . for , what sort of christians can with any confidence look upon , or bring themselves close to the rules of st. pauls catechism , * heb. 6. 1 , 2. ( as the antients used to call it ) except the baptized churches ? to say nothing of others , can they of the present roman catholick-church , in any wise square themselves , or justifie their present church-state by the rule of those sacred principles , in the simplicity of them ? no , these principles of christ's doctrine , will in no wise be concordant with the catechism of the present roman church , seeing a doctor of their own hath told us , that if the scriptures must be our rule , &c. they must all cross the cudgels to the anabaptists ; which is a plain giving up the victory to the baptized churches , unless a better form of doctrine can be assigned than this is , which will never be . yea , so pressing is this place from the true institution of the antient christian religion , that the rhemists seem to be under no small difficulty how to express themselves about it : for thus they speak upon the text , heb. 6. 1 , 2. we see hereby ( say they ) what the first grounds of christian institution , or catechism , were in the primitive church , and that there was ever a necessary instruction and belief of certain points , had by word of mouth and tradition , before men came to the scriptures , which could not treat of things so particularly as was requisite for the teaching of all necessary grounds . among these points were the twelve articles contained in the apostles creed ; the doctrine of penance before baptism ; the manner and necessity of baptism ; the sacrament of imposition of hands after baptism , called confirmation ; the articles of the resurrection , judgment , and such like : without which things first laid , if one should be sent to pick his faith out of the scriptures , there would be mad rule quickly . 1. it 's highly observable from hence , that the first grounds and principles of our churches ( which indeed are no other than what men read , heb. 6. 1 , 2. ) are openly acknowledged , by our most potent opposites , to be the same which were in the primitive church , received for the first grounds and institutions of christianity , or christian institution and catechism . that in the primitime church , these grounds were held in the very order now observed by the baptized churches ; particularly , repentance before baptism , and imposition of hands after baptism . sure this is a full testimony , that the institution of the baptized churches ( now wrongfully called anabaptists ) and theirs only , is truly apostolical . whilst all the paedobaptists in the world ( among whom , the papists ) have quite subverted this order , giving their supposed baptism before repentance , and that unto persons that are not capable of repentance . 2. they tell us there was a necessary instruction and belief of certain points had by word of mouth and tradition , before men came to the scripture ▪ admit this to be so , in respect of such parts of the holy scriptures as were then unwritten , when the apostles first preached the gospel ; yet it is certainly false , in respect of such books of scripture as were then in being ; for it 's evident that our blessed saviour propounded the text of scripture , luke 4. 17 , 18 , 19. and thence preached to the people , and commanded his hearers to search the scriptures , john 5. 29. he did not send his hearers to tradition , as the papists do . the great apostle of the jews , st. peter , even then when he was filled with the holy ghost , acts 2. 17. preached from , and notably confirms his doctrine by the scriptures , act. 2. not by tradition . and philip , acts 8. 35. began at the same scripture which the eunuch read , and preached to him jesus , without making any use of tradition . apollo being mighty in the scripture ( not in tradition ) convinced the jews , shewing ( not by tradition ) but by the scriptures , that jesus is the christ . so did the great apostle of the gentiles , st. paul , acts 28. 2● . perswading men concerning jesus , out of the law and the prophets ( not out of tradition ) from morning to evening ; and the best sort of st. paul's hearers , searched the scriptures daily , ( not tradition ) to see whether the things spoken by him were so . 3. nor can the papists tell us what one point of necessary instruction or belief was delivered by word of mouth , which is not now contained in the holy scripture ; if otherwise , let them assign some necessary point of faith or instruction , such , as without which , we cannot know and serve god truly and fully , and be saved eternally , which is not contained in the holy scriptures . but as this will hardly be attempted ; so let me exhort you , brethren , to beware of all manner of principles and doctrins , which have any tendency to weaken or invalidate the authority and sufficiency of the scriptures , which the apostle avers to be of that sufficiency ( even before all the books of sacred scriptures were extant ) as to furnish the man of god throughly to every good work. and then certainly , he who is in all points of faith and instruction , a good christian , according to the doctrine contained in the holy scriptures , will be out of the reach of any just reprehension , though he know nothing of the unwritten tradition , so much pretended and admired by the papists , or others . being thus secured in your principles , from the very concession of your enemies , and by the authority of the best and most sacred antiquity , even the holy scriptures , you have no cause to fear the most important difficulties , wherewith possibly we may be tried in these days . and that we may the better see how the case stands between the baptists and the papists , with respect to the two great ordinances of christ , to wit , holy baptism , and the holy table of our lord jesus christ ; we will here take a view of the one , and of the other , in a distinct column by it self , the better to discern their disparity . the manner of baptism among the baptized believers , commonly called anabaptists . baptist . the manner of baptism among the papists , commonly called roman catholicks ; taken out of the roman ritual , by a learned hand translated into english . papist . the messenger or elder being attired in comely raiment , not much different from the rest of his brethren , first , preaches the gospel to every creature that is capable and willing to hear , and when by hearing they have received faith , the minister explains the doctrine of repentance from dead works , and of faith towards god , for the further illumination of the disciples understanding , in the knowledge of the only true god , and our lord jesus christ , that they may obtain eternal life . the minister does oopen the doctrine of repentance in three parts especially , i. e. as it consists in a due sense or knowledge of the sinfulness of sin : in true sorrow for sin committed , especially against almighty god. the necessity of forsaking the conversation of sin , and to walk righteously , soberly , and godly in this present life . the doctrine of faith is explained concerning the object , in respect of the god-head , the father , the son , and the holy ghost , into whose name the party is to be baptized , and especially concerning christ crucified , buried , and risen a-again ; and therewith is shewed , that in baptism we are to die unto sin , to be buried with him in baptism , to rise to a holy life , and so to put on the lord jesus christ in baptism , as to be born of water and of the spirit through the word . the minister does open to the party to be baptized , the whole doctrine of baptisms ; first , that of water , which is the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins , in respect of the power by which it is commanded , the extent of it , to every repenting sinner ; the end of it to be a pledge of the washing away of sin , and to give us admission into the church of christ , to draw near to god in prayer , with full assurance , having the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience , by faith in the blood of christ , and our bodies washed with pure water , even the water of the baptismal covenant , called the washing of regeneration . 2. that of the holy spirit , the promise of the spirit being made to all that our lord doth call , and therewith doth explain the fourth principle of christ's doctrine , laying on of hands , with prayers , as the means appointed of god to obtain that blessing , even the promise of the spirit through faith in the word of promise . 3. the baptism of affliction is also opened , that the sufferings of christ ( called by himself a baptism ) may not be feared , but patiently endured , according to the will of god. this is the sum of the doctrine of baptism , taught by the baptized churches . the 5th and 6th principles of christ's doctrine , are likewise particularly opened , concerning the resurrection of the dead , and chiefly of christ's being raised bodily from the dead , as the most sure pledge that the dead shall be raised bodily : and the eternal judgment , in which every man shall receive according to the deeds done in the body , whether good , or bad . to all which the party to be baptized , declares his assent , in the best man●er he can ; shewing also his sense of sin , and sorrow for it , his purpose to live holily ; his faith in christ his saviour the only son of god , and that it is his desire to be baptized according to the will of god. and then the minister , with the congregation , or persons present , do make prayer and supplication to almighty god , to receive the returning sinner , and to bless and sanctifie his own ordinance to him . and then the party to be baptized , being cloathed with convenient garments for decency , he is had to the water , where , calling upon the name of the lord , he is dipped into the river , or water , by the minister , in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost . and as in every thing christians are to give thanks , so this whole service is concluded with farther prayer , and thanksgiving to this effect , that as it has pleased god to call his servant , or servants out of their sinful state , and to bring them into the way of truth , so it would please him to enable them to persevere to the end , to his glory and their own eternal comfort . nor do we put any vow , covenant or promise upon any person , save only what the very nature of the baptismal covenant it self does in its own evidence carry along with it , it being our greatest care , neither to add to , nor to diminish ought from the holy ordinances of christ , but to keep them as they were delivered at first to the church of god ▪ 1 cor. 11. 2. after many preparatory prescriptions , the priest being dressed in a purple robe , calls the infant to be baptized by his name , and saith , what askest thou of the church of god ? the god-fathers answer , faith. the priest saith again , what shalt thou get by faith ? the god-father replies , eternal life . then adds the priest , if therefore thou wilt enter into life , keep the commandments : thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , and thy neighbour as thy self . next , the priest blows three gentle puffs upon the infants face , and saith , go out of him thou unclean spirit , and give place to the holy ghost , the comforter . then with his thumb he makes the sign of the cross on the infants forehead and breast , saying , receive the sign of the cross , both in thy forehead and in thy heart . take the faith of the heavenly precept , and be thy manners such as thou mayst now become the temple of god. then follows a prayer , that god would always protect this his elect one ( calling him by his name ) that is signed with the sign of the cross . then laying his hand upon the child's head , he comes to the benediction of salt , of which this is the form. i exorcise or conjure thee , o thou creature of salt , in the name of god the father almighty ✚ , in the name of our lord jesus christ ✚ , and in the power of the holy ghost ✚ , i conjure thee by the living god ✚ , by the true god ✚ , by the holy god ✚ , by the god ✚ , which created thee for the safeguard of mankind , and hath ordained that thou shouldst be consecrated by his servants to the people , entering into the faith , that in the name of the holy trinity , thou shouldst be made a wholesome sacrament for the driving away the enemy . moreover , we pray thee , o lord our god , that in sanctifying , thou wouldst sanctifie ✚ , this creature of salt , and in blessing , thou wouldst bless it ✚ , that it may be to all that receive it , a perfect medicine , remaining in their bowels , in the name of the same jesus christ our lord , who is about to come to judge the quick and the dead , and the world by fire . amen . then the priest putting a little of the holy salt into the child's mouth , saith , take thou the salt of wisdom , be it thy propitiation unto eternal life . amen . now follows another exorcising of the devil , wherein he is conjured as before , then the priest signs the infant again with his thumb on the forehead , saying , and this sign of the holy ✚ which we give to his forehead , thou cursed devil , never dare thou to violate , by the same jesus christ our lord. amen . then the priest puts his hand on the infants head , and makes a prayer in order to his baptism , then puts part of his robe upon the child , and brings him within the church , saying , enter thou into the temple of god , that thou maist partake with christ in eternal life . amen . then follows the apostles creed , and the pater-noster , &c. then follows another exorcising or conjuration of the devil . then the priest takes spittle out of his mouth , and touches therewith the ears and nostrils of the infant ; when he toucheth his ears , he saith , epthapha , be opened ; and touching his nostrils , he saith , for a sweet smelling savour . another conjuration follows in these words ; be packing , o devil , for the judgment of god is at hand . then the priest asks the infant , whether he renounces the devil and all his works , and all his pomps ? in three questions , and the god-fathers answer distinctly to them . then the priest dips his thumb in holy oyl , and anoynting the infant with it on his breast and betwixt his shoulders in the figure of a ✚ , saying , i anoynt thee with the oyl of salvation in christ jesus our lord , that thou mayst obtain eternal life . amen . then the priest puts off his purple robe , and puts on another of white , and asks three questions out of the creed ; and receives the god-fathers answers , then asks this question , whether the infant will be baptized ? and receiving the god-fathers answers to that , he pours water thrice upon the child's head , and reciteth over it our saviour's form of baptism , doing it each time at the naming of the three persons . and now comes the chrysm or holy oyntment , in which dipping his thumb and anointing the infant on the crown of the head , in the figure of a ✚ , he thus prayeth ; o god omnipotent , the father of our lord jesus christ , who hath regenerated thee of water and the holy ghost , and who hath given ▪ thee pardon of all thy sins , i anoint thee with the chrysm of salvation , in the name of christ jesus our lord , to eternal life . amen . and next after follows the pax tibi , and wiping of his thumb and the anointed head , he takes a white linen cloath , and putting it on the child's head useth this form , take the white garment , which thou mayst carry unspotted before the tribunal of our lord jesus christ , that thou mayst have eternal life . amen . and lastly , he puts a lighted candle into the child's , or godfathers hand , and saith , receive the burning lamp , and keep thy baptism blameless ; keep god's commandments , that when the lord shall come to the wedding , thou may'st meet him , &c. concluding all with , go in peace , and the lord be with thee . there are more conjurations and ceremonies added , &c. but let these suffice at present . now brethren , as it is an observation , that white being compared with black doth seem more white ; so the true baptism according to the scripture ( and graciously restored in the practick part among you ) being thus compared with the supposed baptism of the present roman church , must needs seem more lovely , and the wretchedness of their devised fables become more manifest to all men . let us now see whether they have been more happy in the other great ordinance , the holy table of the lord. baptist . the manner of the baptized churches in celebrating the holy table of the lord. papist . the manner of the celebration of the bread and cup in the mass , taken from dr. willit in his synopsis papismi . the congregation being met together , and having spent part of the day in preaching , and prayer , commonly towards the evening , and ordinarily upon the lords day , the table is decently prepared , and the bread and wine set upon it also in decent manner . the messenger or elder does excite the people to due humility , and reverence in their approaching to the holy table of the lord , shewing the occasion and authority by , and upon which it was instituted for a perpetual ministry in the church of god. the great use and mystical signification of it , as christ is evidently set forth in his crucifixion , or bitter death upon the cross , as the alone sacrifice , once offered for the sins of men , and that there is no more offering for sin , but the offering up of christ once for all . then he putteth them in mind of the qualifications , necessary on their part to the due reception of that divine ordinance , without which they will come together for the worse , and not for the better . then taking the bread into his hands , he calleth upon god in the mediation of jesus christ , for a blessing upon the bread , that it may be sanctified for that holy use for which it was ordained by christ , and that by faith , all that are to partake of that bread , thereby may feed upon the body of christ , which is the true bread , and by him live for ever . then he breaketh the bread , pronouncing the words of christ , this is my body , &c. willeth the people to receive it in remembrance of christ , and as shewing forth the death of christ till he come the second time without sin to salvation . in like manner he taketh the cup , after the people have received the bread , and with prayer suitable to that great mystery , it being sanctified , he poureth out of the wine , remembring the words of christ , this cup is the new testament in my blood , &c. partakes of it himself ( as he did also of the bread ) and gives it to the deacons to communicate to all the congregation , and they all drink of it . then some word of exhortation is given to the people under the consideration of the unspeakable mercy of god in the gift of his son to dye for us , that we might live eternally with him : all is concluded with prayers to the lord for all his blessings , in the most joyful manner that the minister is able to express them , and then usually something is given to the poor , as every mans heart maketh him willing , being not constrained thereunto , but as the love of christ constraineth him . to say nothing here of the roman church , denying to give the cup to the people , the priests only drinking of it ; nor of the priest only partaking of the bread and cup in divers of their masses , the people only looking on : neither of their adoration of the elements of bread and wine in these words , i worship thee , i glorifie thee , i praise thee . nor yet of that passage in the communion of the mass , let us worship the sign of the cross , which are things too large to be discoursed in a letter ; it shall suffice to set down the manner of their celebration . 1. all is done in an unknown tongue , which the people understand not . 2. the benedicamus domino , is sung ten times together , and ite missa est is sung thirteen times , with long and tedious notes . 3. the priest is to say divers prayers privately to himself . 4. he is taught by the rubrick to make thirty several crosses upon the bread , the cup , the altar , and his forehead . 5. their gestures are as followeth . the priest boweth his body , and lifting up himself , kisseth the altar on the right side ; then he boweth again , and looketh toward the host [ that is the bread ] he joyneth his hands , wipeth his fingers , lifteth up the host , then he lifteth up his eyes , and boweth himself , and lifteth up his eyes again , he boweth again , and lifteth up the host above his forehead ; then he uncovereth the cup , and holdeth it between his hands , keeping his thumb and his finger together . then he boweth and lifteth up the cup a little , then to his breast , or above his head. he setteth it down again and wipeth his fingers ; then he spreadeth his arms a-cross . he boweth his body , rising up , he kisseth the altar on the right side . he smiteth his breast ; uncovering the cup , he makes five crosses with the host beyond the cup , twice , on each side under the cup and before it . then he layeth his hands upon the altar , the deacon reaching him the paten , he putteth it to his right eye , then to his left , he maketh a cross beyond his head with it , he kisseth it and layeth it down . then he breaketh the host in three , holding two pieces in his left hand and one in his right over the cup , which with a cross he letteth fall into it . then he kisseth the corporas : the deacon taketh the pax from the priest , giveth it to the sub-deacon and he to the quire. then humbling himself , he first taketh the body , and then the blood , so he goeth to the right horn of the altar , the sub-deacon poureth in wine , and the priest rinseth the cup , and washeth his hands turning himself to the people . cometh again to the altar , and turneth to the people the second time . then bowing his body , and closing his hands , he prayeth to himself : he riseth again , making the sign of the cross , and bowing again , goeth from the altar . thus , brethren , i have given you a brief account of the ceremonious observations of those who would be thought the truest church on earth , though they have assuredly changed the ordinances of our lord more than any sort of christians ; i have also set before you the purity and simplicity ( and yet the great utility ) of these two great ordinances , that you may be more inwardly affected with them , but especially with him whom they so excellently represent , for to this end are they ordained to set forth christ and him crucified . of all the difficulties with which you are likely to be tried in respect of your religious profession , that question which concerns the judge of these and other controversies in religion , is like to be the most dangerous , because you have been little exercised in it ; as also because many persons of great eminency and authority are deeply radicated and very expert in an opinion diametrically opposite to yours , for they say , that the living voice of the church , assembled in a general council of her bishops and doctors , is the only infallible judge to determine all controversies in matters of faith and religion . on the other side , we have been taught , and have constantly believed that it is all christians duty to rely chiefly , and before all things , upon the authority and sufficiency of the voice of god himself , as he speaks in the holy scriptures , as the best , and only infallible decider of all questions that shall arise , ( especially in the christian church , and since the holy scriptures were written and received ) about matters of faith and religion . and indeed it seems very strange that any man should think there is a better judge than god himself , of what is true , and what is otherwise , in matters of religion ; and to be sure he speaks to us with the greatest certainty , and authority , by the holy pen-men of the scriptures . and it is as strange that the church , who must derive all her light and authority from god and his word , should appeal men to her self rather than to him : methinks they should say to us ( as caesar's substitute said to st. paul ) hast thou appealed to god , as he speaks in his scriptures ? to god and his scriptures shalt thou go . and especially when this is the question , what sort of christians are the true church of christ ? for it seems then the most unreasonable thing in the world , that any party contending for this title [ the church ] should be her own judge ; and seeing the church cannot by meerly avouching ( upon her own testimony only ) that she is the church , make any proof or demonstration that she is so , it remains then , that we must have some infallible rule by which to find the church . and now if god himself does not reveal to us who is his church , we shall never find her ; nor does he reveal this , but by the testimonies of the scripture , there must we find the church of god , or no where . for none but enthusiasts pretend to any other revelation in this case ; and to speak feeely , i doubt the papists are more then a little enthusiastical ; for rather than let god's word decide this question about the church , they will flye to miracles , as if a false prophet may not shew a sign , or a wonder , yea , and that sign and wonder come to pass too , and yet the thing he brings it to prove , be nothing but a lye : see deut. 15. surely he that shall pretend to work a miracle or wonder in these days , to prove such , or such a people to be the church , i should the more suspect both him and his church ; because we have a sure word of prophecy confirmed by miracles already , which word , doth as fully set forth the church , as it sets forth any thing ; insomuch as men may as well call for miracles to prove there is a god , and that this god is true , as to call for miracles to prove the true church . indeed the church of christ being once found , then all wise and modest men will readily lend an ear to her in all things , and especially when she undertakes to expound the dark or mysterious points of our religion , or offers her judgment in things doubtful , [ for as for the common point of the christian faith , he that is a wise and good man , and no ways byassed by interest , may perhaps know these things , as well as the church , or at least , such as call themselves church-men . ] but to be bound to adhere to any church in these days , as to a people which cannot possibly be mistaken in any matters of faith , or religion , seems to be an atribute too high for any society of sinful men , [ and there is none that liveth and sinneth not . ] for seeing god hath not told us any such thing , that the church cannot err or be mistaken , it ought not to be spoken : and if it be only proper to the almighty to say he cannot lye ; it must not be said of the church , that she cannot lye , lest he reprove us , and we be found lyars . rom. 3. 4. let god be true , and every man a lyar , for thus it is written ; and again , hos . 11. 12. ephraim compasseth me about with lyes , and the house of israel with deceit . this was the case of the ten tribes : and though judah be justified as to these impieties , yet chap. 12. 2. god tells them he had a controversie with them also . certain it is that famous churches have erred in matters of faith , and others were as liable to err as they , no church being herein priviledged above another , for any thing that god has said in his word , but he every where exhorts his people to beware of sin , error , and apostacy , and commands every one that hath ears , to hear what the spirit saith to the churches : but he does not say to any of them that they cannot err , therefore we are not to hear such a story of any church . mat. 16. 18. is a gracious promise indeed , that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church of christ , as founded upon himself , in the true faith of st. peter . but this promise belongs to all true churches equally , yet no man ever durst affirm from hence , that no true church can possibly err . and st. peter , who understood this promise , never told any church of his planting , that they could not err ; but rather tells them they may err , so as to fall from their stedfastness , and be led away with the error of the wicked . indeed if any church could be assigned here on earth that cannot err , or be deceived in matters of faith , it were the easiest thing in the world to find the truth , having once found the church ; for we should have no need to know any thing but what that church speaks , and to receive her determinations as god's oracles : but then i consider again that we should perhaps have great inconvenience also . for , if all the decrees made by general councils be obliging to us , and were bound up together , we should never be able to read them , nor i doubt , to understand them ; it will then be our best , at the long-run , to take sanctuary at the word of god , as our guide , and superiour to the church . but i consider farther , that no man makes any particular church this guide , but does refer us to the universal church , as assembled in a general council . surely either this is to make as many universal churches at least as there has been ages since christ was upon the earth ; or if all make but one universal church , the direction given to follow her sentence , is scarce practicable ; for how long will it be before a man can be assured , what was held , and what was rejected by the church in all ages ? indeed there are men born of great confidence , who will tell us that the catholick , or universal church hath always held such doctrines , and such traditiors as are unwritten , &c. now it highly concerns all christians , as much as in them lieth , to make sure work with such bold talkers , about the truth of the things which they affirm , especially about the truth of the antiquity of these things , that is , that they appear by some divine record to have been delivered to the first churches , by men approved of god , to be the deliverers of divine institutes ; and if they fail here , it will be ill venturing to follow them in their after-enquiries . and there is the highest reason in the world to stand as strongly as possible for the first age ; for such pure and undoubted antiquity is necessary in our case , from the tenour of our blessed saviour's argumentation against the jews , in opposition to a tradition , or mosaical precept in the case of divorce , mat. 19. 8. from the beginning it was not so . for seeing the apostles did faithfully deliver the whole counsel of god to the first churches , condemning all that shall teach otherwise than they had taught the the doctrine of godliness ; or that should not consent to wholesome words , even the words of our lord jesus christ , it is therefore necessary to bring all doctrine ▪ and practices in the christian church to the test of the most pure and primitive antiquity ; for that church which hath that argument fairly on her side , cannot fail of all other arguments , which can be any way necessary for her justification ; for indeed this first argument does infer all the rest , and they that have not this , have none of the other ; which thing being well considered , look back upon your principles ( o ye baptized christians ) and upon what hath been said for them , even by your adversaries , and take comfort ; for whoever boasts of the best antiquity , it is certain that you only have it . for what is the most ancient record ? doubtless the holy scripture ; and if so , let the question be about christ and his church , there must we find them both , or no where . if any man like not this doctrine ; let him shew me , if he can , these lovely objects without being beholden to the scripture . some i have known to attempt this , but with lamentable success , being soon driven to a shameful silence ; and indeed the whole world must depart into utter silence as touching this great mystery , christ and his church , unless the word of god , ( as it is delivered in the holy scriptures ) through faith , makes us wise in these great concernments of salvation , 2 tim. 3. 14. let men alledge all the authors in the world , and all the tradition that ever was , if the holy scriptures must not be their own evidence , and so capable to command our belief of them ; then for the same , or rather more forcible reasons , then any man can bring against the scriptures , all authors and all traditions shall be dumb and useless as to the production of the least iota of divine faith ; so that the papists at the long-run ( must if they know how ) shew us their church without scripture , or any author , and without tradition also , as i have formerly written unto you , being provoked thereunto by seven queries sent by a learned papist , who in his last to me , does undertake to deliver himself from this difficulty after this manner ; we may ( saith he ) prove the church by the holy scripture , and the scripture by the church , and this by a regressus demonstrativus , without a vicious circle , because we suppose them both sufficiently proved , and prudently accepted for such , by all the motives of credibility , as miracles , holiness , &c. by which christ proved himself and his new gospel . but as for the sense of the scripture , i have more than sufficiently demonstrated , that the scripture it self cannot bear witness for it , but that this must be had from a living judge , viz. the church , the infallible interpreter of gods word . to this i answer briefly : that is a vicious circle , out of which no man can lawfully deliver himself , but must run in a round without end ; and truly such is this circular argumentation of my adversary , he will prove his church by the scripture . 2. he will prove the scripture to be true by his church , and he will prove his church true by the scripture , before the scripture be proved true ; and he will prove the scripture to be true , after it hath proved his church true . this meander is no way to be avoided that i can see , but by suffering either the scripture , or the church to be its own evidence , for his demonstrative regress makes his case worse ; for by it , they be both sufficiently proved , before either of them be proved , and both prudently accepted , before either of them be accepted ; and which is most strange of all the rest , these things are all done before the scripture hath any sense known ; for of this he is the most of all confident , that the sense of the scripture must be had from a living judge , viz. the church , the infallible interpreter of god's word . so that this is the conclusion of the whole matter : the scripture without sense must prove the roman church , and the roman church must then give the sense of that scripture , which had no sense before , when it proved her to be the church ; here is indeed a regressus , but no such thing as a demonstrativus . methinks wise men should consider that the holy scripture is its own interpreter in a great , if not the greatest part of it , the new testament being the best interpreter of the old testament , and of it self also in many places : for example ; it tells us in one place , that the heavens must receive christ from the time of his ascension , till the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the lord. act. 3. 21. and hence we hold , that no christian must say that the real body of of christ , which ascended to heaven , is upon the earth , till he shall be sent the second time , [ for god shall send jesus , saith st. peter ] because the scripture tells us in another place , that if jesus were on earth , he should not be a priest , heb. 8. 4. it is therefore as plain as plain can be , that the papists make void the priesthood of christ , and contradict st. peter himself , when they tell the world that the real body of christ which ascended into heaven , is now really , carnally , corporally present upon the earth , that is , upon their altars , and in the hands and mouths of their priests and people , as often as they celebrate mass , and consequently he is so far from being received into heaven till the time of his second coming , that he is , according to their own opinion , received bodily upon earth ten thousand times , and in ten thousand places , to his being once received bodily into heaven . sure their opinion is directly against the scripture , as sure as their transubstantiation is directly against the best sense , and the best reason , with which almighty god hath endowed the best of men , as has been clearly evidenced by many learned discourses ; among which , i would commend to your perusal , one lately published , under the title of a discourse against transubstantiation : printed this year , and sold by mr. aylmer at the three pigeons against the royal exchange , price six pence . my learned adversary , and indeed the papists generally , do urge us vehemently after this manner , admitting that the church is to follow the rule of god's revealed word in all her definitions ; yet they hold it extreamly irrational , that all that can read it , should be his own interpreter of it , for so , say they , he will be his own judge . and as in a nation where no judge of the law is appointed , there can be no justice , but every man will be his own judge ; so likewise , unless there be a supream judge in matters of faith , to wit , the church , from whom no appeal may be allowed , there can be no end of controversies , &c. this objection is considerable : to which i say , 1. what my adversary means by god's revealed word , i do not very well understand , but i doubt he extends that term farther than the holy scripture , else i am sure enough , the church of rome has no revealed word of god to follow in very many of her observations : but to let this pass at present , i answer to the objection thus ; 2. it seems to be built upon many dangerous suppositions , such as these , that we ought to rest upon the sentence of a priest ( for we must hear the church out of his mouth ) for the state of our soul , as on the sentence of a judge in a civil court for a matter of debt , &c. and that we are no more bound to search the scriptures for eternal life , than to search the statute-book for our temporal life [ nay , here i do them no wrong , for they will permit us to read the statute-book , but they forbid us to read the holy scripture . ] it supposes the priest cannot deceive us ; when the prophet tells us , that though the priests lips should preserve knowledge , and that we should seek the law at his mouth , yet they had caused many to stumble at the law , because they had been partial in the law , mat. 2. 8. it supposes , whoever falls under the sentence of the priest , is as surely damned , as he is cast or hanged , that falls under the sentence of a judge in law. [ which may be false , for the priests did joyntly sentence our blessed saviour , saying , we have a law , and by our law he ought to die . it 's true , whatsoever the church doth bind on earth , is bound in heaven ; but then nothing is bound on earth , unless she judge righteously ; for it is written , that the curse causeless shall not come , prov. 26. 2. and seeing she may be deceived , ( at least by false witnesses ) she may condemn the innocent , though she had no mind to do so , which shews she is not infallible , whatever men talk to the contrary . ] i do not like this opinion , therefore because it leaves not liberty for those whom the church condemns , to appeal so much as to almighty god , who knows the hearts of all men , whilst the church knows them not . but i answer to the objection , by saying , 1. there is a judgment authoritative ; this indeed must be referr'd to the church , and no wise man ever thought otherwise , and the members of the church must be content to abide the sentence of the church , though they be innocent , till god clears their innocency ; but all this while we suppose the church we speak of , to be a true church , and that she judges according to evidence ; and yet because she knows not all secrets , nor all things contained in the scriptures , we also suppose she may possibly mistake , though never so honest . but , 2. there is a judgment of knowledge or discretion , by which men receive the truth of the gospel , as understanding , and so believing it to be so ; and by the same judgment he refuses what is false , as understanding it to be so ; and till his understanding be well informed , or rationally satisfied by convincing evidence , he cannot , if he have the understanding and spirit of a man , do either the one or the other . and hence it is , that salvation , ( and consequently the means to obtain it ) are offered to men in the manner of choice , josh . 24. 15. chuse then this day whom you will serve . heb. 11. 25. moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of god , than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season . and forasmuch as all men are not called at the same moment , but some receive the truth in their youth , others in their middle age , some not till old age ; all the liberty which we contend for , is , that men may have the free use of the means ▪ by which they may know the truth , and be allowed to understand it before they be admitted to sacred things , that they may not only be able to give a reason of the hope that is in them , but also be able to do ( as they are also exhorted ) prove every man his own work , that he may have rejoycing in himself alone , and not in another , gal. 6. 4 , 5. thus much in answer to this objection . there is no man living that would more gladly ( than my self ) give to the church of god , all that honour and obedience which god hath allowed her ; but to say , she cannot err , is to make her more like god than she is . i think all that can be safely affirmed , is , that she shall not sail so , as utterly to cease from being , but that god will have a church in the world , to be his witness to the end of the world , though the apostacy be never so great , or seemingly universal . and as it pleased god to foreshew the great apostacies , which should be found among the christian nations : so he was graciously pleased to intermix some words of comfort , that when it should so fall out , that the spouse of christ should be like the dove in the secret places of the stairs ; cant. 2. 14. or thrust into prisons , and out of sight , which might cause the faithful even to think there was no church remaining ( like that of the prophet , who desired rather to die than to live , because he thought the faithful had utterly failed , and himself left alone ) i say , that then they should remember that the gates of hell should not prevail against the church , and therefore god hath always had a church , however she might be obscured . finally , brethren , my hearts desire and prayer to god for you , is , that you may be of one mind and judgment in all the will of god , and especially in these sacred principles before mentioned , and in the constitution of your ministry , in respect of the threefold order of ministers , under which the first churches were undoubtedly governed , viz. messengers , elders , and deacons . and i do the rather advise to this , because some have been pleased to publish in print , that there are only two offices remaining in the church of christ , viz. elders and deacons ; this presbyterian principle , will , i fear , undo such as receive it . they boldly tell us , that the office of timothy and titus was temporary , as if they had none to succeed them . what i have formerly written in the defence of the first of these offices , is extant among you , and as yet unanswered , and to that i refer you . our divisions have been , and will be , if continued , very prejudicial to the truth it self ; and our adversaries know how to make use of them against us , and our holy profession , though they cannot be ignorant of the great divisions which were in the churches in the apostles days , nor should they be ignorant of their own ; and to the end they may see they are no more happy in that matter than their neighbours , let them consider what bernard hath written of them , as he is quoted by the learned , in cant. serm. 33. his words are to this effect . from whom shall the church hide her self ? all are friends , and all are enemies ; all are kinsfolks , and all are adversaries ; all are houshold servants , and there is none at peace ; all are neighbours , and all seek but their own profit . they are ministers of christ , and serve anti-christ ; they do walk in the honour of the goodness of the lord , unto whom they do no honour . thereby cometh that beauty of the harlot , which thou seest daily in their apparel , as the players of comedies . as in the apparel of a king , thereby thou seest the gold in the bridles , saddles and spurs . thereby are the tables beautified with meats and vessels : thereby cometh drunkenness and gluttony : thereby proceedeth the harp and the viol : thereby are the presses running over , and the garners full , answering the one to the other : thereby are the boxes full of oyntment and sweet savour : thereby are the purses filled . therefore would they be , and are the princes of the churches . the provosts , deans , arch-deacons , bishops , arch-bishops , and these things come not lawfully , but because they walk in the business of darkness . behold now in peace my bitterness is most bitter , it hath been before bitter in the death of martyrs , afterwards more bitter in controversie with hereticks ; now it is most bitter in the manners of those of our own house . we can neither chase them away , they are so mighty , and multiplied without number ; the sores and plagues of the church are entred into the inward parts , and are incurable , and therefore is her bitterness most bitter . and in psal . 90. 6 , 11. o lord jesus , thou hast multiplied the people , but not encreased their joy ; all the christians almost , do seek their own profit , they have removed the offices to shameful gain , and into works of darkness , and the health of souls is not searched for , but the pleasure of vices : therefore are they shorn : therefore do they frequent churches , and sing psalms . they contend most impudently daily by process , for bishopricks , arch-bishopricks , &c. there remaineth nothing , but that the man of sin , the son of perdition , be revealed . and on the conversion of st. paul. alas , o lord god , for these are the first which do persecute thee , whom we do see to love the highest places in thy church , and do hold the principality , and by power and strength have taken the arches of sion , and afterward freely have set all the city on fire . their conversation is miserable , the subversion of thy people is pitiful . and speaking to the pope , he saith , this mortal corruption hath not begun in thy days , but i pray god it may end in thy time . in the mean time thou art apparelled and decked up very gorgeously . if i durst speak , thy seat is rather a pack of devils then of sheep . did st. peter do so ? did st. paul mock after that sort ? behold the murmuring and complaint of all churches , they do cry out that they are cut in pieces , and dismembred . there are very few , or almost none , that do not fear the streak or wound . thus far bernard . let not then the papists contemn or despise us , because of some defects , in respect of unity , neither let us despise them , because of the discords which have been , or are among them . let us beware of the cause of those calamities , and strive only for the true form , and due power of godliness , then shall the spirit of hatred , which hath inserted it self amongst christians , be rooted out ; and then shall that great badge of christianity , unfeigned love , ( even the love of god , shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost ) possess the room of all our bitter contentions . that thus it may be , is the prayer of your loving brother , thomas grantham . written in the year 1685. post-script . concerning the original manuscripts of the holy scriptures . brethren , because our learned adversaries are wont to amuse weak christians , by telling them they knew not the originals , &c. i thought fit to transcribe part of what i have formerly printed in answer to this specious objection ; in the introduction of my book of primitive christianity , how vain and pernicious this talk is about the original , will appear , when you consider , that no man living ever saw the very papers in which the prophets and apostles did write the first draughts of the holy scriptures , and therefore none have the originals , but only copies of scripture . and let not this offend any man : for , it seems to have been the best for all christians , that after many copies are taken and spread in many nations , these first draughts should not continue long ; for had any now but so much confidence , as to say they have these very first sheets of paper to show , how might they trouble the whole world with such a report ? and how might they abuse the world , and all the churches in the world at pleasure ? as by adding or taking away , and who should correct the original ? suppose the roman church had those manuscripts in their hands , what mists might they cast upon the nations , and who could come to the sight of them to discover any such abuse ? and the same may be said of any other potent party . but now the originals being no where to be found , but yet a multitude of copies extant , and the same translated by multitudes of men into several languages ; by this means all are forced to be more peaceable than perhaps they are willing to be , since they have only copies of the divine oracles , and others have copies as well as they , so that they can none of them pretend to have ever seen the original , and therefore can they less quarrel about their copies . thus hath god's wisdom disposed herein , better for his church than she could have thought or desired . and it is worth observation , that scarce any of the churches to whom st. paul wrote , had the original sent to them , ( except the galatians ) but had only certain copies written by divers hands . for instance , the epistle to the hebrews was written by timothy , as 't is said in the post-script . the epistle to the romans was written by tertius . four persons wrote the first epistle to the corinthians , post-script . two brethren wrote the second epistle , post-script . tichicus and onesimus wrote that to colossus . all these churches had only copies , and for ought appears , never saw the originals . and what if some of these copies did accidentally vary some word or tittle , are the sacred epistles ever the worse , so long as the holy doctrine therein contained , was not injured ? can we think that when the holy apostles preached , that they had still the very self-same phrases ? this were idle to imagine , and yet they had the self-same gospel to preach in every place . i speak not this , as if i approved of altering the holy writings ; no , not in the least iota ; yet if accidentally , in transcribing , or printing , there should be some such failure , i do not think that by and by that copy were to be rejected , or the authority of the scriptures therefore to be called in question , that men might set up themselves above it . some under pretence of being the church , and others pretending the spirit , whilst they both reject the church and the spirit , as held forth in , and speaking by the holy scriptures . a plain instance of this , we have in the papists , and most paedo-baptists , who whilst they seem to admire general councils , fathers , &c. they regard not the decrees of the best councils and fathers , which were held by the apostles and elders , and brethren at jerusalem , who among other things , forbid the eating of things strangled , and blood , which the church observed for several hundred of years after [ for indeed they were delivered to the churches to be kept , not to be broken , acts 16. 1 , 2. ] and yet without all conscience of these decrees , they feed upon blood , &c. and on the other side , how ridgidly do they impose the decrees of the trent councils , in the case of transubstantiation ( though never heard of before it was there invented ) insomuch as they have punished with the cruelest death , such as in conscience could not subscribe unto it . god give them a better vnderstanding , and more moderation for the future . but ye , brethren , as you have received these holy decrees among the rest of the heavenly rules left unto us by the most antient fathers , even the apostles of our lord , so walk in them , and keep the ordinances as they were delivered by them , who received them of the lord. now the lord increase our faith , that we may be able to stand fast in the truth , and to overcome all difficulties . so prays your brother , thomas grantham . hear the church , &c. or , an epitome of the chief controversies between the papists , and the baptized believers . by thomas grantham . let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning : if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you , ye also shall continue in the son , and in the father , and this is the promise which he hath promised us , even eternal life , 1 john. unto the perfect words of the new-testament nothing may be added , and from which nothing may be taken away , by him that will lead a life agreeable to the gospel . apollinar . l. 5. c. 14. london , printed in the year , 1687. the epistle to the reader . christian friend , it is now about six and twenty years since it pleased a learned papist to send seven queries to the people commonly called anabaptists , in the county of lincoln , about which many papers were exchanged , and in the year 1662 ; some part of them were printed under the title of the baptist against the papist , or the scripture and rome in contention about the supreme seat of judgment in controversies of religion . to which the querist never replied in print , but only sent me a few notes in manuscript ; which seven queries , with my seven anti-queries i shall annex to this epistle . the truth is , i did then , and do still look upon this sort of christian-adversaries ( so i call them ) to be the most subtil , as well as coherent with their principles , keeping close to their arguments , and using all very much the same mediums : and were the truth with them ( as in many things i am satisfied it is not ) this very thing would be their high commendation . but missing the heavenly mark ( more is the pity ) they must needs be the more dangerous , wherein they stand opposed to the truth , of which being very sensible ▪ i cannot , as i love plain truth , and the souls of all men , but indeavour as much as in me is , after a christian sort to undeceive ( if it may be ) some of them , and to prevent others from being deceived by them . i speak not this as fearing them , but as truly loving them , as they bear the name of christians , and doubtless are as zealous in their way as any , tho i do verily believe they are under the greatest mistakes of any that prof●ss the christian religion , except professed enthusiasts . that i treat them in love is no new thing , let my words written more than twenty years since witness , now in my epistle to the reader thus you find them . not that i envy those of the papal church , or desire them any evil ; not that i desire they should be exposed to a suffering condition for matters of religion , or that they should be denied any liberty in that respect which i desire my self , nor for any other prejudice ( god knoweth ) do i publish this small treatise , &c. and what i said then , i say now , being verily perswaded by the scripture , and all good principles which i could ever meet with , that they and all men [ living soberly and quietly under the government ] ought to have at least a friendly connivance under our differing sentiments from the established form or order of worship , &c. but i am no dictator , i must leave these things to the pleasure of god , and the prudence of our governors , only this is my determination , in christ's strength to live and die faithful to what i know of the ways of truth , and to my own conscience . praying constantly for the happiness of my prince , and all his peaceable subjects . tho. grantham . hear the church : the third part . containing an epitome of the controversies depending between those who are commonly called papists , and those commonly called ana-baptists : occasioned by seven queries propounded by a learned papist . let the christian reader know , that it is no idle conceit of the parts of the author , above his brethren , nor yet above his adversaries ( many of whom are undoubtedly men of very rare parts and accomplishments ) which moveth him thus to appear , and to call forth all the strength of rome in argument to defend their church and religion against the poor baptized churches in this nation : but it is only the clear evidence of truth , on their side , as contained in the holy oracles of god , which gives boldness to this great undertaking . which in all due humility , christian love , and yet with holy confidence , is thus attempted , for a fair trial of the case or cases depending between the parties above mentioned . in the name of god therefore let us proceed to the particulars of the seven queries sent to the baptists by a learned papist , which indeed contains the sum of the controversies between the said parties . papist query 1. baptist anti-query 1. whether we are to resolve all differences in point of religion , only out of the written word of god ? what controversie in point of religion can you resolve without the written word of god ? and whether the written word of god be a perfect rule for matters of religion ? the first part of this anti-query concludes in the negative ; the latter part in the affirmative , and affords ( as i think ) this undeniable argument , that which is the only perfect rule to all christians in the greatest matters of religion , and that without which neither christ , the church , nor christian religion can be known , is the only infallible rule by which all controversies in point of religion , are to be resolved . but the holy scriptures are the only perfect rule to all christians in the greatest matters of religion ; and that without which neither christ , the church , nor christian religion can be known . ergo , the holy scriptures are the only infallible rule by which all controversies in point of religion among christians are to be resolved . papist query 2. baptist anti-query 2. how know you precisely what is the true word of god ? whether some book must not of necessity speak for it self [ or be received for god's word upon its own evidence ? ] and whether the holy scriptures do not best deserve that privilege ? and whether it be not too great presumption to say , there are no holy books , but those which you and we have received for such , seeing those which we have , tell us there were other holy writings , which never yet came to our hands , nor to yours ? forasmuch as no society of christians in these days can bear witness to the truth of any thing upon their own knowledg , sight , or hearing ( as the apostles did , 1 john 1. 2 pet. 1. 16. ) for scarce so much as one hundred years , and this their testimony , also , being but of human authority , it remaineth of necessity , that some books of record must be received upon the authority of the author , in whose name they speak , and the divine evidence of the matter contained in them ; and hence we argue , the sufficiency of the scriptures own authority , to command our reception of them , speaking to us in the name of god , and carrying in themselves divine evidences in respect of the matters therein contained . papist query 3. baptist anti-query . 3. how know you that your copies and translations of the bible , are the true word of god , since the original writings are not come to your hands ? what copies and translations of the scriptures have you that are more true than ours ? and where are the original manuscripts of the prophets and apostles ? seeing it was not the pleasure of the divine wisdom , to preserve , and present to all nations , the very first pieces of paper in which the divine oracles were written ; but rather to preserve many copies , and cause them to be spread throughout the world. and seeing no sort of christians dare pretend to have translated any of those copies by an infallible pen , but only according to the best skill they have acquired or learned in the original tongues ; it would better become all learned christians to bend their minds to rectifie ( what they may ) any imperfection or mistake that may be in any of the translations , rather than by such queries as this , to open a gap to vnbelief and irreligion . and though much might be said ( by a captious person ) against the english translation of the papists , yet to prevent vain jangling , we refuse not to be tried in the cases depending in these queries ▪ and anti-queries , either by their translation of the bible , or by that which is allowed by authority ? and seeing no papist is able to produce the prime originals , let them beware how they quarrel with our copies , lest some quarrel with theirs : and ●so instead of edification , they bring forth nothing but vain contention : and show themselves ungrateful to god , and mischievous to men . for what man of any modesty would upbraid another , because he never saw the original writings , when neither himself , nor any man living ever saw them , nor is ever like to see them ? papist query 4. baptist anti-query 4. where we differ about the sense of the word , by whom must we be tried ? the dead letter cannot explain it self . when we differ about the true church , or the meaning of authors [ be they fathers , or councils ] by whom must we be tried ? these cannot speak for themselves , more than the scriptures : and whether , the scriptures being compared together , do not explain themselves ? also , whether this be not an opprobrious , and ignominious speech , for you to call the scripture a dead letter ? and whether the true lovers of the scriptures , ever vouchsafed them such ill , and indeed improper language ? of all the seven queries , this is the most difficult ; see what we have said to this difficulty in our precedent epistle . let the papists prove themselves to be the true church , and the contention about the power of the church to decide differences which may ▪ arise about the meaning of the scriptures , will with more ease be brought to a period . in the mean time , as we must every one give an account of our selves to god , so it is the duty of every christian to labour to understand the scriptures , mat. 24. 15. pro. 22. 20 , 21. papist query 5. baptist anti-query 5. what clear text have you out of the scriptures , for the procession of the holy ghost from the father , and the son ? or for changing the sabbath from saturday to sunday ? or for prohibiting poligamy , or infant-baptism ? and whether there be not as clear texts to prove unwritten traditions , purgatory , and the real presence ? whether the baptism of the true church be not one ? and whether the one baptism be not expresly found in the scriptures ? and whether the scriptures do not prohibit all baptism of water , beside that one ? and whether the papists have not confessed , in many of their books , that infant-baptism is not found in , nor grounded upon the scripture ? and then , whether it be not clear , that all the texts , which speak of baptism in water , do prohibit infant-baptism ? also , whether john 15. 26. & 14. 26. & 16. 7. be not clear texts , that the holy spirit proceedeth from the father , and the son ? also whether 1 cor. 7. 1 , 2 , 3. do not as much prohibit one man for having two wives , as one woman for having two husbands ? and , whether it do not clearly prohibit the latter ? also , whether there be any thathold the first day of the week under the notion of a sabbath , among the baptized churches ; and yet whether there be not clear proof for the religious observation of it , acts 20. 7. 1 cor. 16. 2. also , whether it be not absurd for you to ask for clear texts , to prove unwritten things ? also whether purgatory , and the real presence , as you hold them , are not plainly destructive to some articles of the christian faith. for , is not this the faith of all sound christians ? 1. that almighty god does love no creature in this world , so much as the creature man ; nor does he take any creature on earth into that nearness of vnion with himself , as the souls and bodies of those that shall be saved . 2. that the blessed body of christ , after his ascension into glory , admits of no change , either by addition to his substance of his flesh , and blood ; or diminution of any part thereof from either . now it is most certain , that the opinion of the real presence by transubstantiation of bread and wine into the very body and blood of christ , god-man , doth evidently militate against these clear truths , with the greatest opposition , as will appear by these considerations following , 1. though the love of god to mankind , especially to all that shall be saved , is exceeding great ; yet it is certain , he never died , nor ever will so take them into union with himself , as to transubstantiate their bodies into the divine substance of christ , and so make their flesh of the same essence with himself , as he is god blessed for ever . and therefore it is in no wise to be believed , that god almighty so loves the creatures , bread and wine , as to turn , or transubstantiate the very substance of them , into the very substance of the only son of god , whom we believe to be of one substance with the father . it is also further to be considered , that though the two natures in christ , i. e. the divine , and human , are united after an unspeakable manner ; yet no christian does believe , that god did transubstantiate the substance of the humane nature , into the substance , of the divine nature , and that the forms of flesh and blood only does remain . how then is it at all credible that god should deifie the creatures of bread and wine , by turning them into the divine essence , as well as human , to be worshipped with the highest degree of adoration which is proper to god himself ? con. trent . sess . 13. can. 6. and the words of bellarmin are very plain ; god ( saith he ) is verily and truly to be worshipped , mat. 4. but christ in the eucharist , is very god ; ergo. thus much of the first proposition . and for the second ; 2. it is to be considered , that if the very substance of bread and wine , be really transubstantiated into the substance of christ's flesh and blood , then they do either remain that same substance of christ's flesh for ever , or else they are after some time either annihilated , or turned to corruption . but to say either of these , is flatly to deny , or oppose express scripture , which tells us , that the flesh of christ saw no corruption , and that he continueth ever . and for the first , that bread and wine , after the words of consecration , remains for ever , of the substance of christ's real body , it is no way credible . for then the body of christ must have received a mighty augmentation since its ascension . for , if all the bread which has been consecrated for almost 1700 years , shall be supposed to be all in one place , at any time ( as sure the whole flesh of christ's body is so ) it might , for magnitude , compare with a mountain . and if all the vast quantity of wine , which hath been consecrated for the like space of time , were supposed to be collected ( as sure all the blood of christ remains in his body , being impossible to be shed since he went into heaven ) it might compare with a considerable fountain of water . but both these are so very absurd , that 't is hoped no christian will affirm them ; and therefore that doctrine of transubstantiation , which necessarily infers these , and many more absurdities , is by no means to be received . if the papists shall reply , and say , that though the bread and wine be really turned into the flesh and blood , body , soul , and divinity of christ , yet it is not necessary that they remain so for ever ; i shall earnestly desire them to shew us what becomes of it then ? and i ask whether by such reply they do not make the real and glorious body of christ the most mutable thing in heaven and earth , being , according to this doctrin , subject to be really made , and unmade every day , and that in a thousand places on the same day ? if any ( who are little acquainted with the doctrine of the present church of rome ) shall question whether they do indeed hold so gross an error , as to teach , that the bread and wine in the eucharist is turned into the very substance of the divine nature of christ , as well as his humane nature ; he may see it fully asserted by a learned papist in a certain catechism , entituled , an abridgment to christian doctrine , the last ▪ edition , printed at doway , 1661. pag. 194 , 195. in these words . quest . what is the blessed eucharist ? answ . it is the body and blood of jesus christ ; true god , and true man , whole christ , under the outward forms of bread and wine . quest . in what manner is christ present under these forms ? answ . by the true and real presence of his divine and human nature , and not figuratively only , as some would have it . god in mercy open the eyes of all that are thus blinded with the doctrine of transubstantiation ; which word transubstantiation , the papists confess is not found in scripture . see the said catechism , pag. 196. papist query 6. baptist anti-query 6. whether vniversality both for time and place , be not an evident mark of the true church ? what church can you name that hath that mark ? and whether the woman which st. john saw ( called mystery bablyon ) be not meant of rome ? and whether her cup was not universally received , so that all nations were made drunk thereby ? papist query 7. baptist anti-query 7. whether you have really this mark ? that is , whether you can fetch out of all ages , and nations , professors of your religion ; in particular you are desired to name but one , or two in the first six hundred years after christ of your profession ; for example , such as held the sole sufficiency of scripture for the deciding controversies , and denied the lawfulness and vsefulness of infant-baptism ? whether any man can shew this mark , as it is here called for , without the help of human history ? and whether human history be infallibly true , so as to be a ground for divine faith ? and whether those human records which concerned christian religion for the first three hundred years after christ were not the most of them burnt by the persecutors of christians ? and whether those which remain have not been much altered ? and whether they are not in many things contradictory ? also , whether infant-baptism was so much as heard of in the first century , and then how should any be named which denied the usefulness of it in this age ? and whether the first clear mention of it be not from tertullian ? and whether the learned do not confess that he opposed it in the third century as an irrational and unwarrantable custom ? also , whether that church , whose manner of admitting persons into her communion , her constitution and government , are according to the scriptures , mat. 28. 19 , 20. heb. 6. 1 , 2 , &c. be not the true church of christ ? and whether the baptized churches ( commonly called anabaptists ) do not excel in these particulars , all other churches whatsoever ? of all the marks of the church , so much stood upon by the papists , this of antiquity leads , and indeed it is of that importance , that if they fail of this mark they are like to miss all the rest , and that they must fail of the best antiquity , in the case of their baptism ( without which they can have no true church ) will with much ease be made evident . 1. because by their own confession infant-baptism ( which is the baptism of the present roman-church ) is not grounded upon the scripture . here they fail of scripture-antiquity , which is the best . 2. because they have not one credible witness for infant-baptism ▪ in the first century after christ ▪ 3. because it is acknowledged by themselves , that they have changed the manner of the administration of baptism from dipping to a little sprinkling , which indeed is no baptism . whereas on the contrary , the best antiquity is as clear for our baptism [ i. e. believers baptism ] as the light of the sun , many thousands of believers being baptized by john baptist , and more by christ ( or his appointment ) john 3. 23. & 4. 1. three thousand believers baptized in one day , act. 2. 40. and multitudes of believers being baptized in every age since the institution of baptism , yea all the antient fathers for the first three hundred years , ( if not for the first six hundred years ) after christ were baptized believers , so that i should think the gates of hell cannot prevail against our church in the case of baptism , whether we consider the subject , manner , end and use of holy baptism , whereas , the only witness which is pretended by my learned adversary for the first century is dionysius the areopagite , mentioned , acts. 17. 34. who is said to speak thus , in a book entituled eccles . hierarch . cult . the custom of our mother the church in baptizing children is not to be contemned , nor to be judged superfluous , nor indeed to be credited , if it were not an apostolical tradition . truly this author speaks not like a man that was satisfied in this point of infant baptism , and such is the faintness of his evidence , that methinks he should leave a suspicion upon every man that reads him , that he did not know what to say , nor whereof to affirm , but leaving every man to think of the words as he pleases , we will hear what the learned have said concerning this book eccles . hirarch . first , they put it down in the catalogue of forged writings , and cajetan a papist denys that work to be written by dionysius : their reasons are , 1. because he never makes mention of st. paul in that book , who was the happy instrument by whom dionysius was converted : and yet he extolls hierotheus as his master . 2. because he writes of many orders , of popes , priests , and monks , of which the first age had none . 3. eusebius and jerome in their catalogues never make mention of this book . and gregory the great doth say it was not written by dionysius . 4. illiricus hath ten very considerable reasons , why this book was written long after the death of dionysius , one is this , the author talks often of the distinction of the quire , and the church : whereas ( saith he ) the christians had no such churches an hundred years after dionysi●s's time . this author therefore will never bear so great a weight ▪ as to prove infant baptism to have been either taught or practised by the apostles . being thus found destitute of all antiquity in the first age , let us hear what one of their own chronographers tells us concerning both the beginning of infant-baptism and the want of any evidence for infant-baptism , in this nation till more then three hundred years after christ . robert fabian , a papist , in his chron. part 5. c. 118. fol. 105. tells us , the faith had endured in brittain from the time of lucius ( the first christian king in britain ) near upon the season of four hundred years , and odd , and then in the next chapter he gives account of augustin ▪ the monk coming into england , and how he prevailed with some bishops to observe his orders . and in fol. 107. he saith , but for all this there were of them that said , that they might not leave the custom which they so long had con●inued , without the assent of all such as used the same . then austin gathered a synod , to the which came seven bishops of brittains , with the wisest men of the famous abby of bangor . but first they took counsel of an holy man , whether they should be obedient to austin or not . and he said , if you find him humble and meek , as to christ's disciple belongeth , that then they should assent to him , which meekness they should perceive in him , if he at their coming into the synod , or council , arose against them . when the said bishops entred the said synod , augustine sate still in the chair and removed not , wherefore they were wroth and disdained him , and would not obey to his requests . then he said to them , since ye will not assent to my hests generally , assent to me especially , in three things . the first is , that you keep easter day in due form and time , as it is ordained . the second , that ye give christendom to children . and the third is , that ye preach unto the anglish the word of god as i afore-time have exhorted you : and all the other deale i will suffer you to amend , and reform among your selves . but they would not thereof . from this passage it is very evident , that infant-baptism came not into this nation till about four hundred years after the gospel was first received here ; and therefore the papists must needs fail of antiquity here , and must , ( if they will do us right ) give place to the baptized believers , not only in the case of believers-baptism , but also in respect of the denial of baptism to infants , seeing these seven bishops , and the wisest men of bangor withstood augustine the monk , in that point then , as we withstand the papists in that point now . and as we have suffered many hard things , even to the burning of our bodies in smithfield , for bearing witness to the ancient and true baptism of christ , even so it fared very ill with those that withstood infant-baptism , &c. in the days of austin ; for fabian relates how they were many hundreds of them murdered ; and mr. fox seems to lay the fault upon austin . i conclude with these two short arguments , 1. the present church of rome cannot possibly prove her self to be the true church of christ ; ergo , the present church of rome is not the true church of christ . 2. the present church of rome hath no true baptism ; ergo , she is no ▪ the true church of christ . let the papists defend their present church against these arguments [ the grounds whereof are delivered truly in the precedent discourses ] without which , all they can say , will signifie little ; for what power soever the church hath , it is little to them , unless they make good proof that they are the true church of jesus christ . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a41780-e330 * it is said of the roman christians , that the light of piety shined in their minds when they heard peter , but they were not satisfied with once hearing neither satisfied with the vnwritten doctrine that was d●livered ▪ but earnestly besought st. mark , ( whose gospel is now in ure ) that he would leave in writing unto them the doctrine which they had received by preaching , &c. euseb . hist . l. 2. chap. 15. we see that the church of rome esteemed the gospel in writing , above the delivery of it in preaching , though they heard it from peter himself . sure they are not the same now as then ▪ for tradition ( from whom it's hard to say ) is more now to them than the scripture . and the scripture nothing to them , but as delivered and interpreted by tradition . notes for div a41780-e3050 * the principles of the doctrine of christ , repentance , faith , doctrine of baptisms , laying on of hands , resurrection of the dead , eternal judgment . christ as received in the power and order of these principles , becomes a foundation to his church , in which respect the principles are here called the foundation also . mark 16. 15. rom. 10. 17. joh. 17. 3. acts 2. 38. tit. 2. 12. mat. 28. 19 , 20. 1 cor. 2. 2. rom. 6. 4. joh. 3. 3 , 5. eph. 5. 26. mat. 28. 18. mat. 28. 18. act. 2. 28. act. 22. 16. rom. 12. 13. heb. 10. 22. acts 2. 38. act. 8. act. 19. gal. 3. 14. mat. 20. 22 , 23. 1 cor. 15. acts. 17. 31. 1 cor. 5. 10. acts. 2. 40. mark ▪ 1. 5. acts : 8. 36 , 37. mark 1. 15. john 3. 23. acts 8. 38. mat. 28. 19. acts 20. 7. gal. 3. 13. heb. 10. 12 , 14. mat. 26. 26. 1 cor. 11. 23 , 24. john 6. 35. 1 cor. 11. 26. 1 cor. 11. 25. 1 cor. 10. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. mat. 26. 30. notes for div a41780-e7510 dr. willet synops . papis . p. 561. acts 2. 27. heb. 7. 24. this catechise is printed with the approbation of william hide . d. d. president of the english colledge at doway ▪ the present baptized believers only do hold to the old religion at least in the point of sacred baptism a view of some exceptions to the practical catechisme from the censures affixt on them by the ministers of london, in a book entituled a testimony to the truth of jesus christ, &c. / by h. hammond. hammond, henry, 1605-1660. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a45472 of text r34933 in the english short title catalog (wing h611). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 27 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 7 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a45472 wing h611 estc r34933 14911107 ocm 14911107 102873 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45472) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102873) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1571:16) a view of some exceptions to the practical catechisme from the censures affixt on them by the ministers of london, in a book entituled a testimony to the truth of jesus christ, &c. / by h. hammond. hammond, henry, 1605-1660. 10 [i.e. 12] p. printed for rich. royston ..., london : [1650] error in paging: no. 2-3 and 6-7 repeated. date of publication suggested by wing. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. eng church of england -apologetic works. dissenters, religious -controversial literature. theology, doctrinal. a45472 r34933 (wing h611). civilwar no a view of some exceptions to the practical catechisme from the censures affixt on them by the ministers of london, in a book entituled a tes hammond, henry 1650 4674 1 20 0 0 0 0 45 d the rate of 45 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-05 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2006-05 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a view of some exceptions to the practicall catechisme : from the censures affixt on them by the ministers of london , in a book entituled , a testimony to the truth of jesus christ , &c. by h. hammond d. d. london , printed for rich : royston at the angel in ivie-lane . a view of some exceptions to the practicall catechisme , &c. seeing it again appears to me by a book , that came to this town on saterday last , ( entituled , a testimony to the truth of jesus christ , &c. pretending to be subscribed by 52 ministers of christ within the province of london ) that it is gods good pleasure to deliver me up to be evil spoken of , and accused , and to bear a yet deeper part of his bitter cup , then many others of my brethren have done , i desire to blesse and praise his name for this his goodnesse and mercy to me , and to embrace all those , who have joyn'd their hands to be instruments in this , as those whom by christs command ( particularly belonging to me on this occasion ) i am bound to love , to blesse , to pray for , and not to think of any other way of return toward them . this , i thank god , i can most cheerfully doe , and would satisfie my self to have done it in private , between god and my own soul , were there not another occasion , which makes it a little necessary for me to say somewhat publickly ; and that is the vindication of the truth of christ jesus , which they who are willing to give testimony to it , will , i hope , take from me in good part . these men pag. 4. in the beginning of the second branch of their testimony , ( which it seems by pag. 37. the whole number of the 52 ministers have subscribed ) make mention of unsound opinions , especially abominable errors , damnable heresies , and horrid blasphemies , which are broached and maintained here in england among us , under the notion of new lights , and new truths ; many of which they have reason to judge destructive to the very fundamentall truths of christianity , &c. all of them utterly repugnant to the sacred scriptures , the occasion of much grief of heart to all the friends of truth and piety at home , the scandal and offence of all the reformed churches abroad , the unparalleld reproach of this church and nation , totally inconsistent with the covenant , and the covenanted reformation , and in a word , the very dregs and spawn of those old accursed heresies which have been already condemned , &c. after this preface and expression of their zeale to gods truth , they conclude the period with a profession , that they more particularly abominate these infamous and pernicious errours of late published among us , and hereafter recited in this ensuing catalogue , viz. errours , &c. in this catalogue , three particulars there are recited from the practical catechisme of h. hammond , 2. edit. london , 1646. for which premises , i suppose , any reader will conclude , that those three particulars are by these ministers thought guilty of all those charges which they had affixt to all the unsound opinions , &c. noted by them , viz. that they are utterly repugnant to the sacred scriptures , &c. and in the modestest of their expressions , that they are infamous and pernicious errours . upon this supposition , i hold it my duty by setting down these three particulars punctually , to referre to all impartiall christians to judge whether it be a testimony to the truth of jesus christ to passe such censures on them . the first is recited by them , p. 9. and it is this , that christ was given to undergoe a shamefull death voluntarily upon the crosse , to satisfie for the sin of adam , and for all the sins of all mankinde . this is thus plainly set down in their catalogue of infamous and pernicious errors , but without the least note to direct what part of this proposition is liable to that charge , any farther then may be collected from the title of the errors under which 't is placed , viz : errors touching universall or generall redemption . from whence i presume to discern their meaning to be that to affirm christ to have satisfied for , or redeemed all mankinde , is this pernicious error by them abominated . and such i confesse i should acknowledge it to be , if it had any right to be joyn'd with that other by these men set under the same head [ that the damned shall be saved ] but i hope that errour hath received no patronage from that catechism , nor sure from that assertion of christs redeeming all mankind . these two propositions being very reconcileable , that christ redeemed all men , and yet that the whole number of the impenitent , unbeleiving , reprobate world shall never be saved by him . if there were any need of it , i should easily shew the way of reconciling these two , by adding that the great benefits of christs death , which i affirm to be generall , are given upon condition , not absolutely ( as gods love to the world , and , the effect of it , given his son , is not designed , that all absolutely , but that all conditionally , i. e. whosoever beleiveth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life ) & that they which doe not perform that condition ( as god knows a great multitude doe not ) shall never be saved by his death : to which purpose is that of prosper , one farre enough from all kindness to the pelagians , redemptor mundi dedit pro mundo sanguinem suum , & mundus redimi noluit , &c. the redeemer of the world gave his blood for the world , and the world would not be redeemed . ad gal : cap. 9. but , to confine my discourse ( without consideration of the consequences ) to the assertion it self ; i desire it may be observd , that this was not crudely set down in that catechism , but with this immediate addition [ to tast death for every man , heb. 2. 9. ] by that plain testimony of scripture confirming the truth of what was asserted , as punctually as could be imagined . for sure [ every man ] signifies all mankind , as that notes singulos generis humani , in the largest notion of the word , and tasting death for them is satisfying for their sins . if this testimony ( so clear , that it alone hath , to my knowledge , convinc'd one as learned a man as doth in this church of ours maintain the doctrines contrary to the remonstrants ) be not thought sufficient to support this assertion , i shall then ex abundanti adde these other plain testimonies ; not onely that of gods giving his onely sonne , mentioned by christ as an effect or expression of his love to the world , ( which it would not be , if he did not give him for the world , whom he is said to love ) but ( to prevent all distinctions concerning the notion of the world , as if it signified , onely the elect ) more particularly these two ; first that of 2 pet. 2. 1. where the lord , i. e. christ , is plainly said to have bought ( i. e. paid the price , satisfied for ) them , who deny him , and bring upon themselves swift destruction : to which agrees chat of 1 cor. 8. 11. where the weak brother , of whom 't is said , that by another mans scandal he shall perish , is described to be one for whom christ died . the other testimony which i shall adde , is that of s. paul , 2 cor. 5. 14. which i desire the intelligent reader to observe : where speaking of the constreining obliging love of christ , he saith , we thus judge , that if one died for all , then were all dead , that is , surely , all in the full latitude , not only the elect but all others ; and this conclusion the apostle infers by this medium , because one , i. e. christ died for all , which being a proof of the other , must certainly be as true , and as acknowledged ( if not more ) as that which 't is brought to prove : and particularly the [ all ] for whom he died , be as unlimited as the [ all ] that were prov'd from thence to be dead , or else the apostle could not judge ( as he saith he doth ) or conclude the death of all in adam by that mediū . from this arguing of the apostle i shall make no question to infer , that in s. pauls divinity , christ died for all who are dead in adam ; and on that occasion i shall adde , by the way , that the contrary doctrine [ of christs not dying for all ] was by the antients affixt on pelagius upon that ground , of his affirming that all ( i. e. that infants ) were not faln in adam , and so needed not to be redeem'd by christ . thus is appears by s. aug : cont. 2. epist. pelag : l. 2. c. 2. pelagiani dicunt deum non esse omnium aetatum in hominibus mundatorem , salvatorem , liberatorem , &c. and when the massilians , to vindicate themselves from that charge of s. augustines , confesse that christ died for all mankinde , as it appeares by prospers epistle ) prosper expresses no manner of dislike of that confession , but formes other charges against them . and the truth is , there is scarce any antient writer before pelagius , but hath directly asserted christs dying for all , the testimonies of irenaeus , clemens , origen , macarius , cyrill of jerusalem , eusebius , athanasius , and many others might readily be produced , if that were needfull . and then let it be guest also , which of the two positions , the affirmative or the negative , best deserves the charge of being the spawn of those old accursed heresies , which have been already condemned , &c. the same i could adde from many the learnedst protestants , which never were thought to be tainted with any antient or modern heresie ( though others i know have exprest themselves otherwise ) but i need not such auxiliaries . to conclude this point , i suppose in affirming or vindicating this position , i have born testimony to the truth of christ , from whom , and whose apostles i professe to have learn'd this truth , and to conceive it ( for the sense of it ) as fully testified by plain scriptures , as many articles of the creed ; and for the expression used in the pract : catechisme of [ all mankind ] i must acknowledge to have learn'd it from the church of england ( of which i doe yet with joy professe my self an obedient son and member ) in those words of her catechisme , establisht by act of parliament , and inserted in the book of lyturgie , where i was taught , [ to beleive in god the father , who created me and all the world , in god the son , who redeemed me and all mankinde , and in god the holy ghost , who sanctified me and all the elect people of god ; where mankinde as it is of a narrower extent on one side then all the world of creatures , so is it to be understood of a larger , then all the elect people of god ; and so much for the first charge . the second is set down pag. 15. and it is this . that neither paul nor james exclude or separate faithfull actions or acts of faith from faith , or the condition of justification , but absolutely require them , as the only things by which the man is justified . what is thus set down i acknowledge to be in terminis in the practical catechisme , but cannot easily guesse wherein the errour or perniciousnesse is conceived to lie , unlesse it should possibly be thorow a mistake of the phrase [ the only things by which the man is justified ] as if by that speech should be understood , either that the faithfull actions or acts of faith without faith it self , were the only things by which we are justified , or else that all the things there spoken of , faith , and faithfull actions , or acts of faith are the only cause , and so some cause of our justification , or by which , as by a cause , we are justified ; either of these i confesse might passe for an errour , but both these doctrines i have sufficiently disclaim'd ; and indeed in this very proposition 't is affirm'd that the faithfull actions or acts of faith are not excluded or separated from faith ( which they must be if they justifie without faith ) or the condition of justification ( i. e. from that faith which is considered as , and affirm'd to be the condition of our justification ) but by those two apostles absolutely required , to what ? why to faith , or the condition of our justification , as the only things together with it by which as by a condition , and only so ( as 't is clearly set down all over that part of the catechisme , which handles faith or justification ) the man is justified . this i suppose may give these men some light of their mistake , if it were such : but if they understand the speech as then and now i doe , and yet think it error , and pernicious , i must then only prove that what was said from s. james and s. paul , was not by me falsly imposed upon them , and then they must either maintain my speech , or fall with me in the same condemnation . that s. james doth not exclude or separate faithful actions , or acts of faith , from faith , or the condition of justification , but require them , ( i. e. faith , and faithfull actions , or acts of faith ) as the only things by which , as by a condition , the man is justified will be clear by the definition of a condition in logick , and the plain words of s james ; a condition is a qualification of the subject required to make him capable , or a causa sine quâ non ; and so a condition of justification is no more , then that without which a man cannot be justified ; and that is the direct affirmation of s. james , c. 2. 24. ye see that by works ( i. e. faithful actions , or acts of faith ) a man is justified , and not by faith only : and again , faith if it have not works , v. 17. and faith without works , v. 20. is dead , and so sure , not such as by wch we are justified . from whence i form this syllogisme , that , without which , in s. james's opinion , we are not justified , and by which joyn'd with faith we are justified , not by faith only , is not by s. james excluded or separated from faith , or the condition of our justification , but required together with faith , as the only things by which ( as by a condition ) the man is justified . but without acts of faith or faithfull actions , in s. james's opinion , we are not justified , and by them we are justified , and not by faith only , therefore faithfull actions , or acts of faith are not by s. james excluded or separated from faith , or the condition of our justification , but required together with faith , as the only things by which ( as by a condition ) the man is justified . the first proposition is clear from the nature of a condition ; the second from the words cited out of s. james , and then i hope the conclusion will neither be errour nor pernitious . then for s. paul 't is made evident in the pract : catechism that the faith by which according to his doctrine abraham was justified ( and not by works ) rom. 4. was not only a depending on god for the performance of his promise ( which yet was a faithfull action , or act of faith , but also a resigning himself up wholly to him to obey his precepts ; or more clearly , was a faith , which , howsoever it was tried by promises or commands , did answer god in acts of faith , or faithfull actions ; and so was accepted by god ( without absolute unsinning obedience , much more without obedience to the mosaicall law , i e. without works ) all which is clear in the story of abraham , and i suppose need not farther be evidenced . and then concerning s. pauls part in the businesse , my syllogisme shall be this , he that affirms abraham to be justified by that faith , which , howsoever 't was tried , did answer god in acts of faith or faithfull actions , doth not exclude or separate faithfull actions or acts of faith from faith , or the condition of our justification , but absolutely requires them , &c. but s. paul affirms abraham to be justified by that faith , which howsoever 't was tried , did answer god in faithfull actions , or acts of faith , therefore s. paul doth not exclude or separate faithfull actions , &c. the first proposition i conceive wants little proving , after that which hath been already premised in this matter . and for the second i shall desire that abrahams faith , as it hath justification attributed to it by s. paul , may be viewed both in the 4th to the rom. and the 11th to the heb. in the former his faith was tried by the promise of a numerous seed , &c. and he answered that with one act of faith , or faithfull action , beleived in hope , beyond hope , v. 18. was strong in faith and gave glory to god , v. 20. was fully perswaded , that what god had promised , he was able to perform , v. 21. all which what are they but acts of faith , or faithfull actions ; all , which ( when the object of the faith is gods absolute promise ) the matter is capable of , and for this it was counted to him for righteousnesse , or he was justified , v. 22. and thence sure i may conclude , that these were so required , as the condition by which he was , and without which he should not be justified . in the 11th to the heb. many other acts of his faith or faithfull actions are mentioned , v , 8. by faith he obeyed to goe out of his own country , not knowing whither he went , and v. 9. by faith he sojourn'd in a strange land , v. 10. by faith he expected a city , that hath foundations , v. 17. by faith he offered his son , and v. 19. counted that god was able to raise him up from the dead , v. 20. by faith he blessed isaac concerning things to come . what are all these but acts of faith , or faithfull actions in all kinds of tryals ? and therefore i suppose all this being out of s. paul , as the former out of s. james , 't will be no errour or pernicious from their very words to have affirm'd this doctrine , and affixt it on them . i suppose also this may serve for the second proposition . the third is set down p. 18. from pract : catech : p. 120. and 't is this , that [ thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain ] is undoubtedly no more then [ thou shalt not forswear thy self . ] to this charge i answer first , that it is a little strange , that a bare explication of a phrase of scripture , a part of the third commandement in exod. though it were acknowledged false , or forc'd , should yet be so farre improvable by any , as to come under the title of an infamous pernicious errour , a spawn of the old accursed heresies , &c. and be capable of all those other aggravations at first mentioned , which being affixt to all the errours in the catalogue , must also be affixt to this which is set down for one of them . but then secondly , for the truth , ( most undoubted certain truth ) of this explication , or interpretation , thus censured , i have formerly at large made it appear , that the words [ to take the name of god ] signifie to swear , and no more , and the hebrew which we render in vain , signifies [ falsly ] and is so rendred in the ninth commandment , and agreeable to that , psal. 15. to lift up the soul to vanity , is to swear by the soul or life falsly , as it there followes , nor sworn to deceive his neighbour , and beside my own judgment in this matter , back'd with the consent of as learned as this age hath , or the antient church had any , i conceived that i had a most authentick warrant from christ himself , who renders it {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , thou shalt not forswear thy self : for so we read mat. 5. ye have heard that it was said to them of old , thou shalt not kill , and again in the same manner , thou shalt not commit adultery , that is , that of the ten commandments delivered in sinai , and brought down by scripture , to them his present auditors , one commandment was , thou shalt not kill , another , thou shalt not commit adultery , and so again in the very same form of words , another , thou shalt not forswear thy self , from which i did assure my self ( and so still doe ) that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , is as directly the interpretation ( in christs judgment ) of the first part of the third commandment , as {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of the seventh and sixth , and so that it is undoubtedly no more the one then the other . and indeed this was the only occasion of delivering those words in the practical catech : to shew that christ did not misreport the words of the commandements , nor yet referre to any other place but that commandment in those words of his . and though i have many other things , that i could say to that matter , able to free that speech from all imaginable inconveniences ( especially when in that place christs prohibition is explain'd to be against all kind of swearing ( by any other as well as by god ) in ordinary conversation , or in any case but wherein it is necessary to confirm by oath ) yet i am very willing to leave the matter here , upon this account at this time given of it , ● . e. in my opinion on christs score , and not fear what any ingenuous reader will charge on me for this interpretation . i beseech god to forgive them which have brought this unnecessary trouble upon the reader ; and for my self i have to them these two only requests , 1. that they will examine themselves sincerely , and as in gods sight , what the motive or design was , which perswaded them to single out me alone ( who professe my self , and am by all that know me acknowledged to hold nothing contrary to the church of england , and will justifie it to any man that knows what the church of england is ) and joyn me with the broachers of all the blasphemies and heresies of this age : and 2ly , that they will lay to heart the consequences which may naturally flow from hence , if god doe not uphold weak christians , who seeing so many doctrines of very distant natures blended together , with the same brand of [ heresie and blasphemy , infamous and pernicious ] fastned on them , and no kind of proofs annext , that any are such ( beside the judgment of the censors ) may possibly find some of them to be the infallible truths of god , and be tempted ( if they have not stronger antidotes then this bare testimony will afford them ) to have the same thoughts of the other also ; or if not , whether they will not be inclined to have the same severity and condemnation for me , or any other asserter of such propositions as these , as they are taught to have for the authors of those other blasphemous propositions , and so be tempted to uncharitablenesse . having said thus much , i shall hope it may find some good successe among some who have subscribed that testimony : but if i am mistaken in all of them , i shall then desire that this improsperous paper may gain me but thus much , that either the first subscriber mr john downam ( who did license the printing of this very book , from whence all these pretended errours are cited ) or else dr gouge , or mr gataker , who are foremost of the second rank , or some other person of learning and christian temper will afford me their patience personally , and by fair discourse , or any other christian way , to debate the truth of our pretensions ; and for this i shall wait their leisure . from my study , christ-ch : in oxon. jan. 24. munday . h. hammond . the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a45472e-130 edit. iiꝫ . but p. 136. edit. vꝫ . an. 1649. the way to prosperity a sermon / preached to the honourable convention of the governour, council, and representatives of the massachuset-colony in new-england on may 23, 1690 by cotton mather. mather, cotton, 1663-1728. 1690 approx. 69 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 26 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a50172 wing m1168 estc r28821 10763443 ocm 10763443 45731 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a50172) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 45731) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1406:13) the way to prosperity a sermon / preached to the honourable convention of the governour, council, and representatives of the massachuset-colony in new-england on may 23, 1690 by cotton mather. mather, cotton, 1663-1728. [7], 36, 5 p. printed by richard pierce for benjamin harris, boston : 1690. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng god -omnipresence -sermons. presence of god -sermons. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-05 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2003-05 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the way to prosperity . a sermon preached to the honourable convention of the gouernour , council , and representatives of the massachuset-colony in new-england ; on may 23. 1689. by cotton mather . jer. 23. 28. he that hath my word , let him speak speak my word faithfully . boston . printed by richard pierce . for benjamin harris . anno domini mdcxc . a prophesy in the divine herbert's church-militant . religion stands on tip-toe in our land , ready to pass to the american strand . when height of malice and prodigious lusts , impudent sinning , witchcrafts and distrusts , ( the marks of future bane ) shall fill our cup unto the brim , and make our measure up ; — then shall religion to america flee ; they have their times of gospel , even as we . — yet as the church shall thither westward fly , so sin shall trace and dog her instantly . the preface , the occasion which first produced the following sermon , cannot be expressed in better terms , than those which were used by the worthy gentlemen that were the conservators of our peace , in their humble address to their majesties , bearing date , may 20th 1689. wherein among other things they say , — your three several princely declarations , encouraging the english nation , to cast off the yoke of a tyrannical and arbitrary power , which at that time they were held under , have occurred unto the view and consideration of the people in this countrey , being themselves under alike ( if not worse ) evil and unhappy circumstances with their brethren in england ; first by being unrighteously deprived of their charter-government , & priviledges , without any hearing or tryal , and under utter impossibilities of having notice of any writt served upon them ; and then followed with the exercise of an illegal and arbitrary power over them , which had almost ruined a late flourishing countrey , and was become very grievous & intolerable ; besides , the growing miseries , and daily fears of a total subversion , by enemies at home , and invasion by forreign force ; the people thereby excited , to imitate so noble and heroic an exemple , being strongly and unanimously spirited , to intend their own safeguard and defence , resolved to sieze upon and secure some of the principal persons concerned , and most active in the ill management of the illegal and arbitrary government , set over them by commission . accordingly upon the eighteenth day of april last past , arose as one man , siezed upon sr. e. andros the late governour , and other of the evil instruments , and have secured them for what justice , order from your majesties shall direct . — thus that address . upon the late revolutions thus described , ensued various debates about the further steps that were needful to be taken for the service of their majesties and this afflicted countrey ; which debates quickly issued in the return of our government , into the hands of our ancient magistrates ; who with the representatives or deputies of the several towns in the colony , made another address unto their majesties , bearing date , iune 6. 1689. in which address there were these words , — finding an absolute necessity of civil government , the people generally manifested their desires and importunity once and again , that the governour , deputy governour and assistants , chosen and sworn in may 1686. according to charter & court as then formed , would assume the government ; — — the said governour , deputy-governour , and assistents , then resident in the colony , did consent to accept the present care and government of this people , according to the rules of the charter , for the preservation of the peace and common safety , and the putting forth further acts of authority , upon emergencies : until by direction from england , there should be an orderly settlement ; which we hope will restore us to the full exercise thereof , as formerly ; notwithstanding we have , for some time , been most unrighteously , and injuriously deprived of it . that royal charter being the sole inducement and encouragement unto our fathers and predecessors , to come over into this wilderness , and to plant the same at their own cost and charge . in answer to this address , his majesty in a most gracious letter , bearing date the 12th of august 1689. unto the government here , uses these expressions , whereas you give us to understand , that you have taken upon you the present care of the government , until you should receive our order therein , we do hereby authorize and empower you to continue in our name , your care in the administration thereof , and preservation of the peace , until we shall have taken such resolutions , and given such directions for the more orderly settlement of the said government , as shall most conduce to our service , and the security and satisfaction of our subjects within that our colony . it was in the time of our greatest heats and straits , and at a time appointed for a general assembly of this great colony , that the ensueing sermon was expected from me . through the grace of god , the sermon then was not altogether unacceptable to some who desired the publication of it . but i gave not my full consent unto their desire , until now , they had an opportunity ( with their renewed importunity ) to join it with another discourse which they have obtained from me ; and tho' the little differences which were among us , when the sermon was preached , are now so well composed , yet i slatter my self with an opinion , that the things here insisted on , will not , should not be judg'd unseasonable . i confess it is a very bold thing , for one every way so mean as my self , to address the whole countrey in such a manner as here i do ; but , si crimen erit , crimen amoris erit ; and if the general dispositions of the year will not excuse a breach of order in me , i have but one thing more to offer by way of satisfaction for it ▪ there was once a people in the world , with whom it was a custome , that when men would conciliate the favour of the ruler , they were to present his own son before him , as a sight which would speak more than any advocate . instead thereof , that i may not want the favour of my countrey , how blameable soever they may count my freedome with them , i shall only present them with my own father ; whose cheerful encounter with an hazardous voyage unto a strange land , and with innumerable difficulties and temptations there , for no other cause , than that he might speak for them , has at least merited a pardon for mee , with whom he has for near two years now left both his church and family , if i have transgressed by taking a liberty of speaking to them at the same time , the things which may promote our enjoyment of the divine presence with us . now , may salvation be nigh unto us , and glory dwell in our land ! cotton mather . the way to prosperity it is the word of the eternal god in ii. chron. xv. 2. hear ye me , asa , and all judah , and benjamin : the lord is with you while you are with him. it is a remarkable occasion which has brought these words to be the subject of our present meditations ; but it was much more a remarkable occasion which these words were first uttered upon . we find them in the sacred book of chronicles , which chronicles are not the civil records , in other parts of the bible refer'd unto ; but an inspired history of things that concerned the line of christ and the church of god for five hundred more than three thousand years . it seems as an epitome of the whole , ( for so t is in ierom's language ) to be written as late as the last of all the books in the old testament ; and the hebrew bibles give it a place accordingly . the greeks choose to entitle it , the book of things ( else where ) passed by ; because , as lyra notes , according to the rule of our saviour , it gathers fragments that nothing may be lost ; and if there were nothing else but the story which affords our text unto us , to justifie that appellation , it were enough : 't is a story passed by in the book of kings ; but worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance . the ready pen of ezra ( for him we conjecture to be the scribe of the holy spirit here , notwithstanding those few clauses which may be judged to be added by another hand after his decease , i say the pen of ezra ) is here informing us , that the people of god had newly been invaded by a vast army of cushites ; but we are yet at a loss who these cushites were ? far more scholars in the world , than there were souldiers in that army have hitherto been content with our translation , which renders them ethiopians here . but that learned french-man bochart , by whose happy industry , more than any man's , the treasures in the bowels of the scriptures have been delv'd into , has with irrefragable demonstration prov'd , that not ethiopians but arabians are the cushites mentioned in the oracles of god. these arabians , tho they have not been called saracens ( as has been thought ) from their word sarak , that signifies , to steal ; yet for their furacious inclinations , they well deserved such an etymology ; they were a wild sort of men , that liv●…d much upon the rapin and ruin of their neighbours ; and particularly , a million of them now designed ierusalem for a prey . the blessed god gave his people a notable victory over these invaders , and they were now returning from gerar ( a place between thirty and forty miles off ) unto ierusalem . the holy spirit of god excited and inclined a prophet whose name was azariah , to entertain them with a faithful & solid sermon hereupon ; and in my text you have the sum and substance of it . we may observe , first , the praeface of it ; and that is very awful and earnest : hear ye me asa , and all judah , and benjamin . as he was probably none of the greatest , so t is like he was none of the oldest men ; for it seems by the eighth verse , that his father was yet alive , & present at this time . yet being to speak in the name of the great and eternal god , he expects , he demands the attention of the whole army to him . secondly , the design of it ; and that is , to decclare both the rise and use of their late prosperity . the lord is with you , while you you are with him ; or as the vulgar latin has it , inasmuch as you have been with him . what follows , is but an explication , and amplification of this . he saw they were taken up with various businesses and contrivances ; they had their enemies under hatches , and their minds were full of thoughts and cares , what to do next ? but he calls them off to acknowledge the presence of god , as the cause of their coming off so well in their late action , and above all things to obtain & secure the presence of god , that they might come off as well , in in their future enterprises . i am therefore to call for your attention unto this faithful saying . doct. that the god of heaven will be with a people while they are with him. 't is by the ensuing propositions , that the explication of this truth shall be endeavoured . proposition . i. it is the interest , and should be the desire , of every people to have the god of heaven with them . but we are to enquire , what is implied in that presence of god , which we are to be solicitous about ? for answer to this ; there is a threefold presence of god , mentioned in the scripture of truth . first , god is naturally present with all creatures . he is an immense being , and no creature can be without him . the apostle thus argued in the court at athens , in act , 17. 27. god is not far from every one of us . no , he is near us all , he is with us all . and paul could have had the gentiles themselves confessing it ; for besides what their seneca did own , one of their own poets had said , iovis omnia plena . it is the speech of our god , in ier. 23. 24. do not i fill heaven and earth , saith the lord ? yea , that he do's . the jews call god by the name of makom , or of place , because all things are in him ; this is his name in the book of esther , if i mistake it not . whether we may count it proper and physical to speak of an imaginary , infinite space , beyond the utmost selvige of the world , replenished with our god alone ; yet we are sure that the heaven of heavens gives no limits unto his being ; and the ancients were not mistaken when they said , deus ipse sibi , et mundus et locus et omnia . we cannot so well say , that god is in the world , as we may say , the whole world is in god ; & we may say with the psalmist , in psal. 139. ●… . whither shall i flee from thy presence ? secondly , god is gloriously present with the inhabitants of the third heaven . the heaven of heavens hath in it most intimate and marvellous manifestations of god. it is the place , of which we may say , as t is said of that state , in rev. 21. 23. the glory of god doth lighten it . there the blessed ones have god with them , so that they alwayes behold his face ; and they are satisfied with his likeness for ever . when we come to heaven , then as in 1. thes. 4. 17. we shall ever be with the lord. so the lord will be with us for ever . heaven is the throne of the most high ; he is there as a prince in his throne ; the great king is in a manner very ineffable residing there . to be there , is called in 2. cor. 5. 4. a being present with the lord. hence unto the heaven , and not unto a bible , are we directed to make our corporal applications in our prayers , or our oathes before the lord. but thirdly , god is graciously present with his people , by being favourable unto them . and this gracious presence of god is that which a people ought to be concerned for . it lies in the engagement of divine providence for the welfare of such a people . god is with us when god is for us . to particularize , first , god is with a people by directing of them . when israel was to pass thro' the wilderness , they had that encouragement , in exod. 22. 15. the presence of god going with them . what was that ? why , they had a cloudy siery pillar miraculously leading of them every step of the way ; there was a wonderful pillar which was a cloud by day , and a fire by night ; the lower part of which rested on the tabernacle , while the upper part was to be seen by the whole congregation : the motions of this being managed by the ministry of angels , now god was with them , and he led them forth by the right way . a people are often brought into a wilderness of difficulties and emergencies : but if god be with them , he guides them to a good issue of them all . the presence of god appears in his directing and inclining of a people to such actions , as may be for his honour and their safety , and such methods , as may extricate them out of all distresses ! when god is with a people , he shapes their counsels for them , and he disposes them to the things that should be done . he supplies them with apprehensions beyond the reach and verge of their own wisdome , and he layes before them invitations , and provocations , which as it were push them into the way wherein they should go . when the jews were upon a re-assumption of the desireable things which the babylonians had deprived 'em of , they took a right way to dissappoint all that were desirous to interrupt them in it . we find in neh. 4. 13. that while those exercises continued , they waited in a posture agreeable thereunto ; and when the danger was over , then they returned every one to his work . how came this to pass ? 't was because god was with them . secondly , god is with a people , by protecting of them . 't was the promise of god unto his people , in isa. 43. 2. when thou passest thro' the waters , i will be with thee , and thro' the rivers , they shall not overflow thee . on which text , blessed bilney after his condemnation so sweetly paraphrased , that his friends caused the whole sentence to be fairly written on their tables . a people may be ready to be swallow'd up , by a stormy , gaping ocean of troubles , but if god be with them , they shall escape clear of all . the presence of god is a defence , a refuge to the people that are partakers of it . it was said unto david in 2. sam. 7. 9. i was with thee , and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight . when god is with a people , he distracts and confounds their enemies , and he troubles those who trouble them . a people who have god with them , are too strong for all the malice and power of their enemies ; no adversary , no desolation , shall make such a people miserable ; they are the iacob , unto whom in gen. 28. 15. behold , i am with thee , and i will keep thee , saith the lord. thirdly , god is with a people by his assisting and succeeding of them . when ioshua had a vast undertaking in hand , it was said unto him in cap. 1. 9. be of good courage , for the lord thy god is with thee , whither soever thou goest . q. d. god will assist thee , and succeed thee , in thy undertakings . the presence of god will carry a people comfortably through all that they take in hand . if they have canaanites to subdue ; if they have enjoyments to obtain or preserve , the presence of god will prosper them in doing all . it was said unto solomon , in 1. chron. 22. 11. my son , the lord be with thee , and prosper thou , and build the house of the lord thy god. thus , if the lord be with a people , they shall prosper in all their affairs ; in every expedition , they shall come off with satisfaction ; and they shall not miscarry in any of their applications . this is the presence of the lord. proposition . ii. the presence of god with a people in his outward providence , has a diverse foundation and continuance from his presence with his people , in the covenant of grace . as t is well observed by the great owen , in a discourse unto the parliament , these two are to be carefully distinguished . we must not reflect on the stability of the new-covenant , for what variety and soveraignty we may see in providential dispensations , toward this and that people in the world . this matter seems determined by david , in 2. sam. 23. 5. tho' my house be not so with god , yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant , ordered in all things and sure . david had promises for the prosperity of his house ; he had also the sure mercies of the covenant made over to him in the promises of god. these promises had now a different establishment ; the sure mercies of the covenant , were unto him more absolute and immutable ; but the prosperity of his house , we find under another law , and subject unto a dreadful alteration . to bring these things into the case before us . god has in the covenant of grace , promised , that he will be with his people . this we read in heb. 13. 5. he hath said , i will never leave thee nor forsake thee . the alsufficient god , who is hee that answers our necessities , let them be what they will ; the unchangeable god , who is he still , whatever he was to the saints of old ; this god hath said [ and how much better is this autos eireken than the best ipse dixit in the world ! he hath said it , and this ] with multipli'd negatives , in the original , heaped one upon another , i will not , i will not leave thee , i will not , i will not , i will not forsake thee . well , but god is not with a people in his outward providence just after the manner therein observed . this two-fold presence of god ; first , it has a diverse foundation . when we look on the covenant of grace , there the sins of one are expiated by the sufferings of another ; and so , god comes to be with his people , for whom the atonement is thus procured . thus t is said in 2. cor. 5. 25. christ was made sin [ or a sin-offering ] for us , that we might become the righteousness of god in him. now come to outward providence , and there you see other measures taken . here god is with a people , according to those terms , in ezek. 18. 20. the soul that sinneth it shall dye ; one shall not bear the iniquity of nother . again , it hath a diverse continuance . when we look on the covenant of grace , there god hath bound himself to be with his people for ever ; yea , to see that they shall therefore for ever be with him. he there saies as in jer. 32. 40. i will not turn away from them to do them good , but i will put my fear in their hearts , that they shall not depart from me. now come to outward providence , and there you see t is otherwise . god is with a people for a while ; and upon their misbehaviours and provocations , he changes the tenour of his dispensations to them . t is with them , as it was with that family , in 1. sam. 2. 30. i said indeed , that thy house should walk before me forever ; but now the lord saies , that be far from me . the sense of these things will prepare your thoughts for one conclusion more , which is , proposition . iii. a people must be with god , or god will not be with them . and here also , to prevent mistakes , let that one text be alwaies carried in our minds ; neh. 9. 18. being merciful , thou for sookest them not ; there is mercy in the whole of this matter . let it be noted , that tho' this condition seems to be imposed upon us ; yet it is grace , pure grace , rich grace that helps us , when we are helped unto the performance of it . when a people have so been with god , as that he has been with them , they are to shout , grace , grace ! concerning all . it is also to be noted , that this benefit dos not depend upon that condition , as an effect upon the real and proper cause of it . when a people has been with god , this does not merit , and so procure that god should be with them ; but that is barely the antecedent unto which , this is the conse having praemsed this i must now affirm , god is with you , while you are with him. we need only reflect on the people of israel , for an instance of it . that whole history , which almost fills the bible , proclames nothing more than this ; it loudly declares , that while a people are with god , god will be with them ; but that he will be very terrible in his providential dispensations towards such a people as do forsake him. but , what is it for a people to be with god ? in short , our being with god , implies the whole of our obedience to him. our duty to god must be attended , that we may have the presence of god. the whloe of this duty is comprised in that expressir●… of our being with the lord. particularly the hebrew particle [ gnim ] in our text , admits of three significations ; it signifies , with , and for , & like , [ which last signific●…tion i make the more free withal , because a little philology will acquaint us with many exemples of it : for instance , when david saith in psal. 120 , 5. i dwell in ( gnim hebr. ) the tents of kedar ; a very great interpreter translates it so , i dwell as the tents of kedar . i. e. like the inhabitants of the stony sun-burnt arabia ; whom indeed i don't remember david ever was among . ] accordingly , a people have three things incumbent on them , if they would enjoy the presence of god. first , a people should be with god , by communion [ with ] him. this t is to be with him ; there are certain meanes of communion between god and us ; and these we must be continually approaching to him in . we are with god , while we are at prayer before him ; hence in our context here , it immediately follows , if you seek the lord , he will be found of you . while we do seek him , we are with him. the psalmist was a man much in prayer , and therefore he could say as in psal. 73. 23. i am continually with thee . a people much in prayer may say the same , we are continually with the lord. a people that will pray upon all occasions , a people that will pray over all businesses , a peothat will retire into the mount for prayer ( and fasting too ) at every turn ; that people is with the lord. and the whole worship of god must be , diligently , graciously , faithfully frequented by a people that would be with him. we are with god , when we are at his house . a people should support & esteem , and use all the ordinances of god among them . the church of god hath his very special preseuce in it ; the name of the church is that in ezek. 48. 35. iehovah shamm●…h , the lord is there . we should all be there too , and there give those encouragements which are due to the institutions of god ; so shall we be with the lord. secondly , a people should be with god by activity [ for ] him. to be for god is to be with god. it was once the summons given in exod. 32. 26. who is on the lords lide ? and all the sons of levi gathered themselves ; they were with god in doing so . t is a summons given to the world in every generation , who is on the lords side ? they that obey the summons are with the lord. a people full of contrivances for the interest of god , are with him. a people should set themselves to advance the glory of god ; they should own his truths , and his wayes ; and endeavour to draw all about them into the acknowledgement of the same . a people should propound the glory of god as their cheef end and the main scope of all that they do ; and they should think much of no cost , no pains , nor ( tho , as a martyr once expressed himself , tho' every hair on their heads were a life ) should a thousand lives be dear unto them , in the promoting of it . then are they with the lord ; they are so , when god can say of them , as in isa. 43. 10. ye are my witnesses , saith the lord , and my servant . thirdly ; a people should be with god , by behaviour [ like ] him. to be like god is to be with god. they that are with him , do not walk contrary to him. god and we should be one. a people should have the same designs , the same desires , which the written edicts of heaven declare to be in the blessed god ; and not only so , but the same vertues too . is god holy ? thus a people should not bear with them that are evil . is god righteous ? thus a people should abhor all injustice and oppression . is god merciful ? thus a people should be disposed unto all fair acts of pitty and kindness . then they will be with the lord ; and , o that this people were so with him ! this is the use to be now made of what has been delivered . let us all now , be with god , that god may be with us . i suppose , whatever else we differ in , we generally concur in that wish , 1. king. 8. 27. the lord our god be with us , as he was with our fathers , let him not leave us nor forsake us . o that we might all as much concur in an endeavourous resolution , to be with god , as our fathers were with him ; not to leave him , nor forsake him . there is as much of new-england in this great congregation as can well be reach'd by the voice of one address ; t is indeed , the best part of new-england , that is , at least represented in this assembly . as the great council at ierusalem satt near the temple , thus the whole convention of the massachusets , is here come into the house of god this day : wherefore i take the boldness to say , hear ye me asa , and all judah , and benjamin . the cheef sinner and least preacher among all your sons , now takes a liberty to mind you , that god will be with you while you are with him. now that we may be all of us inspired with a zeal for this great thing this day , let us consider , first , how desirable , how necessary a thing it is , that we should have god with us . truly , this is the unum necessarium of new-england ! nothing is more desireable , for us , than the presence of our god. the jews have a fable of their manna , that whatever any man had a mind to tast , he presently found in the manna a savour & a relish of it . it is very true of this blessed presence ; all manner of blessings are enwrapped in it . there is a multitude of blessings which we are desireous of ; but they are all contained in this comprehensive thing : it will give every honest man , all that he wants . this will extricate us out of all our labyrinths ; this will set all things to rights among us ; this will wonderfully carry on all the salvations which have been begun for us , by the god of our salvations . if christ , if god be aboard , our little vessel will not sink in the gaping , roaring , formidable waves now tossing of it . well did the apostle say , in rom. 8. 31. if god be for us , who can be against us ? thus , if god be with us , we have all for us . one god will weigh down more than ten worlds . if we have the presence of that god , who made and moves the universe by a word ; if we have the presence of that god , who can command and create our deliverances , o most happy we ! we may then join in such triumphant acclamations as that in psal. 118. 6. the lord is on my side , i will not fear ; what can man do unto me ? we may then defie , even the gates of hell it self , for , cur metuat hominem homo in sinu dei positus ? and tho' abroad at this day , the earth is removing , and the waters roar , and are troubled , and the mountains are shaking , splitting , tumbling , with the swelling thereof ; tho' the great and the terrible god be at this day , coming out of his place , to make all europe a stage of blood and fire , and make the nations everywhere drink deep of the cup that shall make them giddy with all manner of confusion & astonishment ; yet we shall be helped right early , for god is in the midst of us . add to this ; nothing is more necessary for us , than the presence of god. we are undone , thrice , and four times undone , if we have it not . methinks i hear the almighty god with a voice more awful than that of the loudest thunder , saying over us , as in hos. 9. 12. wo to them when i depart from them . and wo to us indeed ; we are in a most woful estate , if it come to that ! how can we endure the mention of it , without our most importunate deprecations , o our god , leave us not ! we can have a prospect of nothing but horrible disorders , agonies and vexations , if we lose the presence of our lord : we ly open to no less than a fearful dissipation , and more than all our late oppressors would rejoice to see brought upon us . we have lately been complaining of burdens , that were grievous to us ; but i may warn you of our danger to feel one burden more , which will infinitely exceed them all ; t is that in jer. 23. 33. what burden ? i will even forsake you , saith the lord. behold a burden that will sink us into a bottomless abiss of calamities ! the presence of god , this is no less than the very soul of new-england ; we are dead and gone , if that withdraw . when israel was nimbly enough possessing themselves of the promised land , which god had given them such a charter for , they perished in the attempt ; for in deut , 1. 42. the lord said , go not up , for i am not among you . alas , if we don 't in the first place look to this , that god be among us , we cannot avoid all manner of dissappointments , desolations . let us consider , secondly : what uncomfortable symptomes we have had of god's not being with us . it seems as if god had fulfilled that sad word on this poor land , in deut. 31. 17. i will forsake them , and many evils shall befal them , so that they will say in that day , are not these evils come upon us , because god is not among us ? there is a vast number of calamities , which have given us lamentable cause to fear , that god has forsaken us . why have we suffered such a blast , both on our trade , and on our corn , that the husband-man complaines , i iooked for much , and lo , it came to little ! and the mariner complains , i went out full , & came home empty ! t is because our god is not among us . why have we had fire after fire , laying our treasures in ashes ? what means the heat of this anger , that boston , the most noble , and vital bowel of the territory , hath with a twice repeted conflagration suffered such a loss of that which in the body politic answers to blood in the body natural ? t is because our god is not among us . why have we had war after war , made upon us by a foolish nation ? why have the worst of the heathen had renewed advantages to disturb our peace ? and why have so many of our brethren and neighbours been made a prey to the most savage murderers in the world ? it is because our god is not among us . give me leave to say , as in judg. 6. 12. if the lord be with us , why then is all this befallen us ? but we may find humiliation enough to convince us of this deplorable thing , from what we have endured upon the loss of our government . she of old said unto our lord jesus , in i-h. 11. 21. lord , if thou hadst been here , my brother had not dyed . so , if the lord had been here , t is possible we had not died. if the lord had been with us , would he have made our wall so feeble , that ( as they said of ierusalem ) the going up of a poor fox upon it , should break it down ? if the lord had been with us , had all the wild creatures that passed by this vineyard , found such opportunities to be plucking at it ? no , our god would have kept us , as a vineyard of red wine ; and lest any should have hurt us , he , ( the lord ) would have kept it , night and day . if the lord had been with us , had you ever thought you had seen cause to declare , as you have lately & justly done , that a company of abject strangers had made a meer booty of us ? had we ever felt the sore grievances of an illegal & arbitrary government ? no ; the god of heaven was not with that oppress'd people , to whom he said in isa. 1. 7. your countrey is desolate ; your land , strangers devour it . what shall i say ? it was an appeal made in ioel , 1. 2. hear this , ye old men , ; hath this been in your dayes ? even so , i may say to the old men within the hearing of it ; my fathers , you remember how we were , when god was with us ; pray , was it so in your dayes , as it has been in ours ? were you visited with plague after plague , in a long series of heavy judgements , as we your poor children are ? surely , they will tell us ; god is not with us , as he was with them . in all these matters , our case may at least have some correspondence with that in luc. 23. 28. he made as though he would havegone ; but they constrained him , saying , abide with us ! let us consider thirdly ; if we are not with god , we shall be guilty of an apostasie , and that under very shameful , very direful aggravations too . we shall be apostates , and o let us not be so , lest our god say , my soul can have no pleasure in them . but if we are so , we shall be of all apostates the most inexcusable let us consider , what fathers we have had ; they were with god. i may say of 'em as in hos . 9. 8. they were with my god : & they are gone to be so forever . what an unaccountable thing will it be for us , to have that character , which we have been so much cautioned against , there arose another generation which knew not the lord ? what ? shall the grandchildren of moses turn idolaters ? and shall the children of samuel become the children of belial ? shall we forget the hope of our fathers , or forsake our fathers friend ? the very graves of those blessed men , every post , every stone upon their graves , is a witness against us , if we do . with dismal accents , methinks , their very ghosts , will groan unto us , alas , is our posterity come to this ! nay , abraham would be ignorant of us , and israel would not acknowledge us , if we should be so degenerate as to lose the presence of the lord. let us also consider , what warnings we have had . it may be said unto us , as in jer. 25. 4. the lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets . this countrey has been blessed with a most faithful ministry , by which , i suppose , every assembly in this territory , has been called upon , to be with god , and to keep with him. especially the sermons which our elections have put the embassadours of god upon preaching and printing of ; these have been so many loud warnings unto us , that we leave him not . in them we have been faithfully warned , that our true interest is not to lye unto god. we have been warned , that the latter end of our misbehaviours will be destruction from the lord. we have been warned , that we must repent and do our first works , or have the candlestick of the lord iesus removed from us . in a word , we have been warned from heaven , that if we forsake our god , he will cast us off for ever . o miserable we , if we do it after all . these considerations , will not have their due force , unless they expire in a threefold request , which i must now lay before you ; and i may justly assert concerning the things contained therein , they are not vain things , they are our life . wherefore , hear ye me , asa , and all judah , & benjamin ; hear ye these things , all ye people of the massachusetts ! first , let us return to the lord. we must come to him , if we would be with him. we have marvellously backsliden from our god , but he calls after us , return ye backsliding children , and i will heal your backslidings . o that we may all as one man reply what is in jer. 3. 22. behold , we come unto thee , for thou art the lord our god! if we ask that question , in mal. 2. 7. wherein shall we return ? methinks , t' were an harder quaestion , wherin should we not ? but , behold , we have had a great voice out of the temple in answer thereunto . we have had the elders and messengers of our churches , conven d in a synod , solemnly informing of us , wherein we shall return . god forbid the advice of that synod , should only serve to convict us and condemn us , in the day when he shall take vengeance on us for our contemning of it . that were dreadful indeed ! but in compliance with it , let every man seriously now enquire of himself , what have i done ? mark what i say , that man who does not suspect himself , of having a share in the sins which have driven away from us the presence of our god ; that man , i may safely affirm it , is one of the principal troublers of this israel ; i do without any scruple say it , thou art the man. let us all then examine our selves , and set upon the reforming of our own hearts and lives , and the renewing of our covenants with the lord. indeed , both the objects in which , and the authors from whom we have endured our calamities , those are enough to indigitate what sins they are that have exposed us thereunto . let me in two or three instances use a plain dealing with you , agreeable to my station here this day . what have been the objects in which we have been afflicted ? our fruits have been blasted ; & were they not abused in the excesses of sensuality ? our lands have been threat'ned ; and were not they the idols , for the sake of which we have offended god , and almost renounced all that was holy , and iust and good ? the most happy and easy government in the world , was changed with us , into what has by the most impartial men been confessed to have become intolerable ; why , did not men despise the best of governments , and procure other things to be set over them , because they endeavoured to make loggs of what they before enjoyed ? to pass on , were we not in the late unreasonable extortions of the law , invited to consider , whether our needless multiplications of litigious contentious law-suits , formerly amongst us , were not a scandal thus chastised ? were we not in the late unsufferable injuries , abuses , and exactions of them , that under the pretence of the excise carried on very outragious villanies , put upon considering , whether the multitude or quality of drinking-houses , in the midst of us , had not once been a stumbling-block of our iniquity ! again , what have been the authors from whom we have been afflicted ? our molestations have risen very much from indian hands . and alas , have we not very much injured the indians ? i do not mean , by taking from them their land ; for it was hardly possible they should be more fairly dealt withal than they have been in that particular ; but by teaching of them , our vice. we that should have learn'd them to pray , have learn'd them to sin. endeavors for their conversion have by many people been blown upon ; but there have been wicked english , who have taught them to drink , yea , and to curse , and swear ; things which they knew not the meaning of , till they came to school unto such white pagans as some that wear the christian livery among our selves . and have not we also followed the indians ? the indians are infamous , especially for three scandalous qualities : they are lazy drones , and love idleness exceedingly ! they are also most impudent lyars , and will invent reports and stories at a strange and monstrous rate ; and they are out of measure indulgent unto their children , there is no family-government among them . but , o how much do our people indianize in every one of those abominable things ! we must repent of these our miscarriages , or else our god will take up that resolution concerning us , i will even for sake them , saith the lord. secondly , let not sin be with us , and god will be so . t is the purpose of our god , in josh. 7. 12. i will not be with you except ye destroy the accursed thing , from among you , let us then destroy that accursed thing . especially , let us take heed of the sins , which at this time , we have a peculiar disposition to . it was complain'd in hos. 7. 1. when i would have healed israel , the iniquity of ephraim was discovered . it has bin thus , but god will not be with us , if it still be thus among our selves . our good god , the lord our healer , is now healing of us : o let us not now be impatient patients , lest that our blessed physitian deal hardly and roughly with us . impatiens aegrotus crudelem facit medicum . let us now no more discover revengefulness against them that have deserved ill of us . let the law , and not the sword measure out their due unto them . no more discover an unthankfulness unto them that have deserved well of us . requite them not with censure and hatred for their unwearied pains to preserve our peace . no more discover a contempt of the ministers , who set themselves faithfully to declare the whole counsil of god , and to lift up their voice like a trumpet in shewing us our sins . they are all agreed ( i hope ) as one man to live and dye studying of your well-fare ; but if they are unjustly ill-treated with you , the great god , whose messengers they are , will take notice of it , and say , ye have despised me ! and o let us no more discover such a spirit of lying as we have made our selves worthy to be reproved for . we find mention of an evil spirit , that said in 1. king. 22. 22. i will go forth , and i will be a lying spririt in the mo●…th of all the prophets . doubtthe same devil has been saing for a license to go forth and be a lying spirit in the month of near all the people here : i would to god , this devil were in a shorter chain ! i beseech you let not this land have that character , a countrey full of lies . but of all our errors , there is none of such dangerous and threatning consequence as the 〈◊〉 which we are too prone to break forth into . we are too much a con●…entio●…s , and that will soon render us a wretched and a ruin'd people . a divided and quarrelsome people , do even say to the almighty , depart from us ; for he is the god of peace . but o , what is our meaning then , to make a fall submission & entire resignnation of our sel●…es to the tyranny of our own passions , as we have too much done , wh●…le we have been debating about the measures of another submission and resignation in our various revolutions ! i have read of a people with whom it was a law , that in a fray , where swords were drawn , if a child did but cry peace , they must end the quarrel , or else he dyed that strook the first blow after peace was named . he that considers the feavourish paroxysms which this land is now raging in , through meer misunderstandings about the means leading to the end wherein we are generally agreed , and how ready we are to treat one another with siery animosities , had need cry , peace , peace ! with a very speedy importunity . for my own part , i confess my self but a child , and among the meanest , the smallest of your children too ; but yet i am old enough to cry peace ! and in the name of god i do it . peace ! my dear countrey-men ; let there be peace in all our studies , peace in all our actions , and peace notwithstanding all our differences . we cannot avoid having our different sentiments ; but peace ! i say ; o let not our dissents put us upon hatred and outrage , and every evil work . it has not a little surprised mee to read in a greek author , who wrote fifteen hundred years ago ; that in the times long praeceding his , there was a tradition among them , that europe , and asia , and africa , were islands , encompassed by the ocean , without and beyond which was another as big as they : in which other world , were mighty and long-liv'd people , inhabiting of great cities ; the two greatest whereof were called , one of them , the fighting city ; the other of them , the godly city . behold very ancient footsteps of the knowledge which the old world had of our america , some thousands of years ago . but i pray , which of them american cities , must new-england become incorporate into ? truly , if we are a fighting , or a disagreeing people , we shall not be a pious one . we have hitherto , professed our selves , a countrey of puritans ; i beseech you then let us have the wisdom to be first pure , then peaceable . every man should count himselfe liable to follies , & mistakes , & misprisions not a few . are you so , or are you not ? if you are not , what do you here in this lower world , where you can find no more of your own attainments ? if you are so , then be patient and peaceable towards those who see not with your eyes ! let us all condescend one unto another ; and let no man be in a foaming rage , if every sheaf do not bow to hi●… . there is one ingenious way to unite this people , if it were so heeded as it ought to be . i remember , an inquisitive person of old , that he might know which was the best sect among all the philosophers , he asked one and another , and every one still preferr'd the sect which he was of himself : but he then asked them , successively , which do you reckon the next best ? and they all agreed , that next to their own , plato's was the best : upon which , he chose that , as indeed the best of all . thus , we all have our several schemes of things , and every man counts his own to be the best ; but i would say to every man , suppose your scheme laid aside , what would you count the next best ? doubtless we should be of one mind as to that : and if we could act by the common measures of christianity , we should foon be united in it . o that we could receive the word of the lord jesus , in 2. cor. 13. 11. brethren , live in peace , and the the god of love and peace shall be with you . thirdly . let every man do his part , and his best in this matter , that god may be with us . behold , a work provided for all sorts of men . pardon me , that i first offer it unto you , that are or may be our superiours . it was said in hos. 11. 12. iudah ruleth with god. when rulers are with god , o happy government ! unto you , much honoured , i would humbly address this petition , that your first work may be to think on some considerable expedient , by which the presence of god may be secured unto us . a little consultation may soon produce , what all new-england may bless you for . yea , t is very much in your power to do what may have a tendency to perpetuate the presence of god unto the succeeding generations . i cannot for bear uttering the wish of the great chytr●…us in this honourable audience , urinam potentes rerum domini majorem ecclesiae et scholarum curam susciperent ! may a godly and a learned ministry be every where encouraged : and no plantations allowed to live without a good minister in them . may the colledge be maintained , and that river the wholsome streams whereof have made glad the city of god , and blest us with a priviledge above the other out-goings of our nation , be kept running , with issues beyond those from the seminaries of canada or mexico ; may schools be countenanced , and all good wayes to nourish them and support them in every town , be put in execution ; you shall then probably leave the presence of god , as a blessed legacy with such as may come after you . i know not whether we do , or can at this day , labour under an iller symtom , than the too general want of education in the rising generation ; which , if not prevented , will gradually , but speedily , dispose us , to that sort of criolian degeneracy , observed to deprave the children of the most noble and worthy europaeans , when transplanted into america . the youth of this countrey , are very sharp , and early ripe in their capacities , above most in the world ; and were the benefits of a religious and ingenuous education bestowed upon them , they would soon prove an admirable people ; and as we know that england afforded the first discoverers of america in these latter ages , whatever the spaniards may pretend unto the contrary ; for it may be proved that both britains and saxons , did inhabit here , at least three or four hundred years before columbus was born into the world , which the annals themselves of those times do plainly enough declare ; so our little new-england may soon produce them that shall be commanders of the greatest glories that america can pretend unto . but if our youth be permitted to run wild in our woods , we shall soon be forsaken by that god , whom our fathers followed hither , when it was a land not sown ; and christianity , which like the sun , hath moved still westward , unto these goings down of the sun , will return to the old world again , leaving here , not a new-ierusalem , as doctor ●…wiss hoped , but a gog and magog , as master mede feared ; for the last of the latter dayes . now may the god of heaven , bless the wisdome and goodness of your endeavours , for the continuance of his presence , with those that may rise up in your stead , when you shall be gone to be forever with the lord. allow me to say , unto the fathers of this countrey , what was said unto the iudges of old , deal courageously , and the lord shall be with the good . and as for us , that are and shall be inferiors , let us also do what we can , that our god may be still among us . we ought all of us humbly to lay before our worthy rulers that encouragement in ezr. 10 4. arise , for this matter belongs to thee , we also will be with thee , be of good courage & do it . let there be a publick spirit in us all , for the good of the whole ; the rarity & mortality whereof among us , new-england bewails among the greatest of its calamities . especially , let us pray hard , that god would not leave the land. it was a publique spirit which was in that famous prince of orange , who was the first captain general of the united provinces an hundred years ago ; and the ancestor of that illustrious person , whose glorious design and service , we have lately with so much unanimity declared for ; that when he was basely murthered by the pistol of a papist , his dying and only words were , o my god , take pitty of my soul , and of this poor people . when he had but one breath to draw in the world his poor people had half of it ! o let this poor people have no less than half our cares , half our prayers . let no man say , i am a sorry creature , of what account can my prayers be ? for you that can do little else but pray , can yet be the instruments of saving this poor people , by the presence of the lord. we find in amos. 7. 2. that a poor herdsman and huckster , kept the great god from leaving of the land. a poor husbandman , yea a poor woman , by lively prayers , may do incredibly much towards the keeping of our god yet among us . and if god be with us , then his rod , and staffe , his mighty crook , which horribly breaks the bones of all that it falls upon , will crush and wound all that shall go to make this wilderness , a valley of the shadow of death unto us ; and beat away all that may essay to do us any harm . so shall we be led and fed among the sheep of our god ; he will restore us , and his goodness and mercy shall follow us all our dayes . mantissa . thus have the words of god been calling upon us , to beware of loosing his gracious presence . now the presence of god , will either go or stay with his gospel ; and the principal danger of new-england lies in its giving an ill entertainment unto that glorious gospel of our lord jesus . let us then see wether the works of god , have not also been calling upon us to take heed of that epidemical evil ; and let what has befallen some of our neighbours , in our dayes be produced as a warning unto us to avoid any contempt of that gospel , which others have smarted for the slighting of . i would fill the remaining pages of this sheet with a discourse fetch 't from a reserved collection of memorable providences , not improper to be produced on this occasion . matth . x. 14. 15. whosoever shall not receive you , nor hear your words , it shall be more tolerable for sodom and gomorrah in the day of iudgement , than for that city . to despise and reject the glorious gospel of jesus christ , is an evil , than which none is more evil ; and yet nothing is more ordinary than this extraordinarily sinful sin ; which unbeleef may be accounted , as tertullian of old esteem'd idolatry , the praecipuum ●…rimen humani generis , the grand crime of mankind . low thoughts about the person , and the office , and the beauty of the lord jesus ; contemt●…uous apprehensions of his truths and his wayes , and his ordinances ; these are the things which bring the most signal slery wrath of god upon the children of unperswadeableness . the peculiar controversy of god with man , in the managing of which the most high god inflicts upon particular persons , at once a blasting on their estates , and a blindness on their spirits here , as the prologue to the hottest vengeance of eternal sire in the dismal vaults of hell below , is not so much on the score of all their other profanity & iniquity , as this one thing , they sleight the redeemer of their souls . and this is that thing , by which whole nations & peoples bring swift destruction upon themselves ; that thing for which all the seals , all the trumpets , all the vials in the apocalypse , have brought in the direful plagues of the almighty upon the pagan and the papal , after the ruine of the iewish world. they have maintained a vile praejudice against the saving and the ruling hands of a gracious mediator . o that , besides the other innumerable rebukes of heaven upon mankind for this madness in their hearts , the following instances of divine displeasure may awaken us to take heed of an evil heart of unbelief . exemple i. ¶ among all the nations of wild salvages by which the vast territory of new-england was inhabited , scarce any was more potent or populous than that of the narragansetts . unto those miserable heathen was the gospel , and a gospel without charges too , offered by some english preachers of it , but they peremptorily with much affront & contempt refused the glad tidings of salvation by iesus christ , praeferring their own devillish rites & gods before the new thing tendered unto them . an holy man , then famous throughout our churches , hereupon let sall a speech to this purpose , i speak altogether without the spirit of god , if this nation be not speedily & remarkably destroyed . and so it happened . this nation , much against the advice of the more aged men among them , engaged in the late bloody armed conspiracy with the other indians in the countrey to cut off the english : in prosecution of which , after they had done many acts of hostility , the english army took the just provocation in the depth of winter to assault the strong fort & swamp in which was their general rendezvouz . the number of our forces was much inferiour unto theirs , but with a wonderful valour , & memorable success , on our part , the day was carried against the tawny infidels . their city was laid in ashes , two and twenty of their cheef captains were kill'd , with we know not how many hundreds or thousands of the common indians ; after which , mortal sickness & horrid famin pursued the remainders of them ; so that there are scarce any of them that we know of , to be now seen upon the face of the earth . exemple . ii. ¶ the ringleader of the last warr which the indians asslicted the english in this land withal , was philip the prince of the wompanoags . that gracious and laborious apostle of the indians , the reverend iohn eliot , made a tender of the gospel to this monster , who after the indian mode of joining signs with words , pulling off a button on the good man's coat , told him , he did not value what he said so much as that : and he moreover hindred his subjects from embracing the christian religion through a fear which he expressed , that it might obstruct something of their civil absolute unlimited obedience to him . after his invasion of the english with some unhappy success , the hand of god so fell upon him , as that after many calamities , one of his own vassals upon a disgust at him , for killing an indian who had propounded an expedient of peace with the english , ran away from him , informing our forces where he was ; and they came upon him in the thicket , just as he was telling his counsellours of his dream the night before , that the english had taken him , and while he endeavoured an escape an indian shott him thro' the heart , whereof he dyed immediately , nor are any considerable part of his people now to seen any wher out of their own place . exem . iii. some time since there were sundry well disposed persons in virginia , upon whose affectionate letters , full of desires , that they might enjoy the meanes of eternal salvation , diverse worthy ministers were sent from hence unto them , mr. thomson , mr. knowles , & mr. iames ; who after a passage so tedious & dangerous as made them almost suspect their call , at length arrived there , where god gave them a blessed success of their labours , with a loving & a liberal entertainment in the countrey : yet it was not long before the rulers of the plantation drove them away by an order , that all such as would not conform to certain things , which the consciences of these gentlewere known to scruple , should leave the countrey by such a day . before that black day came , the indians , who for some hundreds of miles had entred into a confoederacy to cut off all strangers , made a dreadful massacre of the english , & 300 at least were suddenly kill'd by the natives there : a grievous mortality by sickness did also accompany the said massacre , so that many removed from thence , & many of the rest glorified & magnified the iustice of god , thus avenging the quarrel of his refused gospel . finis . a table of the additions and alterations made in the second edition of the animadversions upon dr. sherlock's book of the trinity south, robert, 1634-1716. 1693 approx. 31 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a60952 wing s4743a estc r200970 99825111 99825111 29484 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a60952) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 29484) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2061:23) a table of the additions and alterations made in the second edition of the animadversions upon dr. sherlock's book of the trinity south, robert, 1634-1716. [16] p. s.n., [london : 1693] with a caption title. attributed robert south. cf. wing. place and date of publication from wing. intended to accompany: south, robert. animadversions upon dr. sherlock's book entituled a vindication of the holy and ever-blessed trinity &c. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. -vindication of the doctrine of the holy and ever blessed trinity, and the incarnation of the son of god. trinity -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2003-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-06 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2003-06 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-08 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a table of the additions and alterations made in the second edition of the animadversions upon dr. sherlock's book of the trinity . preface , page 3. over against line 22. this passage is added in the margin , [ dr. owen in his vindication of himself against this author , gives him the character of a scoffer , and a censurer of other mens labours , judgments , and expressions . which witness of his is true ; and since it is so , whether he , of whom it is true , deserves a rebuke , or no , is left to the world to judge . owen ' s vindic. against sh. p. 129. ] preface , p. 5. line 4. this passage in the first edition , which shews , that tender consciences are such things as may some time or other put the church not only to part with its liturgy , rites and ceremonies , but its very faith also for their sake , is thus altered in the second edition ; [ which shews , that there are some such tender consciences in the world , as ( when opportunity serves ) may put the church not only to part with its liturgy , rites and ceremonies , but its very creed also for their sake . ] preface , p. 12. l. 26. after the words paying the scores of both , this discourse follows in the second edition . [ but now if either he himself , or any for him shall plead , that it was not fairly done to charge him with those blasphemies , which he may ( and perhaps does ) pretend to have been uttered by him in the person of his adversary , and as the genuine consequences of the doctrine maintained by him . to this i answer . first , that he , who pretends to speak in the person of another , ought , according to all justice and decorum , to speak only such things as that other , whom he personates , uses to speak , and consonant to his known , avowed sence . but did his adversary , dr. owen , ever speak so ? or use the expressions here uttered by this author ? whereas he declares himself concerning the said expressions thus , viz. that he cannot mention them without begging pardon for repeating such horrid and desperate blasphemies . owen ' s vindication against sherlock , p. 46. that they were fitter for a iew , or a mahometan , for servetus , or socinus , than a son of this church , p. 47. that he abhorred the rehearsal of such horrid profaneness , p. 49. that they were odious satanical exprobrations of the truth of christ's satisfaction , ibid. and now can this man pretend to speak these things in the person of one who thus abhors , abominates , and detests them ? the truth is , his whole book is such a lewd misrepresentation both of the words and sence of his adversary , that if he has any bloud in his body , it must needs fly in his face , and bid him blush for such unconscionable falsifications . but secondly , if he charges these assertions as consequences of the doctrine maintained by his adversary , i must put him in mind of these two things . 1. that to the just charging of any man with the consequences of his doctrine , or opinion , the things so charged , ought to be not only the real , but also the plain , direct , and immediate consequences of that opinion . forasmuch as no man ought in reason to be charged with the remote far-fetched consequences of any proposition held by him ; since he may in all equity ( if he disclaims them ) be supposed ignorant of them , and that inculpably too . 2. this author is to know , that to the just charging of even any doctrine , or opinion , with such and such consequences , though they follow never so really and truly from it , yet if they also lie any thing remote , and at some distance from the same , they ought first by clear undeniable arguments to be proved to follow from thence , before they can justly and fairly be charged to do so . which two observations thus premised ; that i may lay the whole matter before the reader more particularly ; he is to take notice , that the doctrine , which this author loads with these blasphemous consequences ; is , that of the necessity of a satisfaction to be paid to god's justice in order to the pardon of sin , and the justification of sinners . and this i affirm to have been the received doctrine of the church , and the general opinion of divines in the case ; all asserting the necessity of such a satisfaction ; though not all , i confess , upon the same ground . for first , some found this necessity upon the necessary egress of god's vindictive justice , naturally acting and exerting it self where it meets with a proper object . but secondly , others state this necessity upon the decree or purpose of god , resolving to take this course for the pardon of sin , and no other . which decree and purpose , though made freely , yet being actually passed and declared , it was not free for god to baulk the execution of it . his veracity , wisdom and honour , as supreme governour of the world , not suffering him to let the violation of his laws pass without a due satisfaction made to his iustice. and this has been the opinion of most divines in this matter . nevertheless , ( whether upon either of these grounds , or some other ) it is certain , that the necessity of a satisfaction was still held , and owned by the church : and yet upon supposal of this necessity alone it is , ( whatsoever ground it be stated upon ) that this author sets god forth in a most profane manner , as an impotent man venting his rage and passion without any sufficient ground or reason for it . for , i am sure , no other consideration can answer , or come up to the impiety of the forecited expressions . and i freely appeal to the learned , and unbyassed reader , whether the said passages can be placed to any other account whatsoever . and if they cannot , i ask with what conscience could this man , of his own head , invent such hideous , abominable words , and then thrust them into his adversary's mouth , whether he would , or no ? or charge them as the necessary consequences of his doctrine , without proving , or by any formed argument so much as offering to prove them so ? for surely he ought to have done this in the first place , and ( since he knew that the learned assertors of this doctrine , did and would deny these to be the consequences of it to the very death ) he should by clear and solid ratiocination have proved against them , ( in spight of their denial ) that these were indeed the true and natural consequences of the said doctrine , before he reproached them as such . but , it seems he was for doing execution first , and for proceeding to tryal afterwards ; though , as hasty as he was in the former , he has not yet done the latter , nor , i believe , ever will. upon the whole matter it is manifest , that it was not so much any thing personal in dr. owen ( how bitter soever he was against him ) as the doctrine of christ's satisfaction asserted by the said doctor , in common with the whole christian church , which this author so vilely reflected upon ; and discharged all those blasphemous scoffs at , in that book of his ; and consequently so far as he was the author both of the book and the scoffs in it , he was as fit a person to have joyned in the address to the morocco ambassador , as any man in england besides . i do , i confess , charge this author with asserting three gods ( though he does not in terminis express it ) because of his asserting three distinct infinite minds , or spirits ; but then the case here on my part is quite different from what it was on his . for in this , the consequence of three gods from three distinct infinite spirits , is direct , manifest , and immediate ; or rather , in truth , is not so properly a consequence , or one assertion following from another , as one and the very same thing expressed in other words , which is the true account of this matter : for the words [ infinite mind , or spirit ] are but a periphrasis of the thing signified by the term [ god : ] and their perfect equivalence shall be fully demonstrated in my fifth chapter . from all which i conclude , that since there are ( beyond all pretence of denial ) several horrid blasphemous expressions in this author ' s forementioned book , which must and ought to be charged somewhere ; and since his adversary utterly disowns them all , both as to words and sence ; and since the doctrine it self , maintained by him , infers no such thing , nor has this author proved that it does so ; but that the said representations of it are peculiarly his own , and occur no where but in his book ( except possibly in the writings of some of his old friends the socinians , and those such as the transilvanian ministers ) it follows , that according to the strictest laws of fair and just quotation , all the black dirt of those impious and foul passages which i have cited from him , and charged upon him , ought to lie wholly at his door , and let him ( and his porter ) shovel it away thence as they are able . as to what concerns the licensing this book , so severely and so justly reflected upon by dr. owen , it did ( it must be confessed ) meet with a person ( as it were ) framed for the very purpose , &c. ] in the book , p. 24. between l. 12. and 27. of the first edition , this addition and alteration is made in the second . [ i must here remind him of two things . first , that he would be pleased to tell us how men can write plainer and plainer of the trinity every day after his new notion of it has solved all the difficulties about it , as in the forecited p. 85. l. 27. he positively tells us , it does . for ( as i take it ) where there remains no difficulty , there must be the utmost degree of plainness ; and withal , when men are come to the utmost of any thing , they can then go no further . secondly , i must remind him also , that the word plainer in the comparative degree , does not couch under it the positive signification of plain , &c. and much less very plain and easie : [ nay , so very plain as to have all the difficulties of it solved , as this author has expresly affirmed ] . so that if this be a scandalous imputation , it is easie to see to whom the scandal of it must belong , &c. p. 27. l. 25. after the word contradicted , this parenthesis is inserted in the second edition ( as nothing ought to be , which cannot be comprehended . ) p. 74. l. 30. after the word whatsoever , three lines from the bottom in the first edition , this following parenthesis is inserted in the second . ( for an hypostatick union and an hypostatick composition , viz. such an one as makes a compound hypostasis , are quite different things : and this author shall in due time be taught so much , if he has any thing to object against it . ) or , &c. page 291. over against line 12. of the first edition , the following latine quotation is added in the margin of the second . qui personas in deo modos tantúmmodo existendi , sive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse dicunt , ipsam deitatem nequaquam exc●●dum , in quâ conveniunt ; sed nihil aliud esse volunt , quàm existendi modum , in quo differunt . quáre pater non est modus tantùm existendi , sed deus est , quemadmodum & caeter ae personae , verùm deus est cum certo modo existendi , qui neque filio convenit , neque spiritui sancto . sic & filius deus est , non modus tantùm existendi , sed deus est cum certo modo existendi , qualis neque patri convenit , neque spiritui sancto . ad eundem modum discriminis , & spiritus sanctus deus est , non modus existendi tantùm ; sed deus est cum certo modo existendi , qualis nec patri convenit neque filio . summa est , personas in deo non differre essentiâ , quia sunt unus deus , sed proprietate & modo subsistendi . twissus in responsione ad arminii praefationem in extremâ pag. lin. 20. editionis amstelodamensis apud ianssonium anno 1632. page 342. after these words [ joyned true greek and english together ] in the 4th line , this following discourse is to be inserted . [ but there is an extraordinary passage in his book of judgment , chap. 2. sect. 1. p. 164. of the last edition , ( which should be the most correct ) and i was doubting , whether i should charge it upon his ignorance , or his insolence ; but both of them play their parts very remarkably in it . for first he makes a most false , illiterate , and absurd translation of a verse , or rather part of a verse in the new testament , and then reproaches the received translation as wrong , and very faulty , for rendring it otherwise . the place is in 2 pet. c. 2. v. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in which he considers only the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , dividing them from the rest of the sentence , viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and by that means from the verb in this latter part of it , which should govern the noun in the former ; thereby making 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be governed not by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as it ought to be ) but most falsely and ungrammatically by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and so he renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , casting them , viz. the apostate angels , down into chains of darkness . and this interpretation he builds partly upon the pretended reason of the thing here discoursed of , and partly upon the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but upon both of them very absurdly . from the reason of the thing he argues , that if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should signifie the apostate angels being cast down into hell , how could they be said upon sentence passed upon them at the last judgment , to be then cast into hell , if they were there before ? to which the answer is very easie and obvious , that immediately upon their sin they were cast down into , and kept in those lower regions called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or hell locally , but not cast into hell-torments , till the last judgment has passed upon them ; so that with full accord both to scripture and reason we are to distinguish the place of hell , where they now are , from the iudicial penal torments of hell , which they shall be adjudged to , and endure in that place hereafter ; as we distinguish the prison wherein malefactors are kept , from the execution which they are there kept for ; as indeed this text with great significance alludes to both : so that his argument from hence falls to nothing . his other reason is from the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which he affirms to signifie only to cast down . but on the contrary , i must here tell him first , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not only import the act of casting down , but ( being derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) signifies also the term ad quem , or the place , into which this casting down is . and i refer him to all the greek lexicographers ( not one of them excepted ) whether they do not render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by in tartarum detrudo , dejicio , or praecipito ; and if so , how can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possibly here agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; for if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be the term ad quem of the act , how can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be so too ; since one single act can have but one ultimate term ad quem ? and even this man himself does not allow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be one and the same thing . and besides this , i must tell him further , that if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imported the term , thing , or place , into which god cast down the apostate angels , it ought not to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , forasmuch as the motion of casting down , importing a local descent to something , the dative case cannot in true grammar answer it . and therefore the old latine version makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to import , not the term to which , but the instruments or means by which these angels were thus brought down , rendring the text thus , rudentibus inferni detractos in tartarum tradidit , &c. which , as it is not strictly a translation , but an arbitrary paraphrase , so it is a very forced and unnatural one too ; as importing not a casting but a drawing down these angels into hell. in which case , who must be the person drawing them ? for since god ( to whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does and must here agree ) ought to be considered by us as in the highest heaven , how can this drawing down be applied to him , which , in the nature of it , supposes the person drawing to be in that lower place , to which he is drawing others ? for all traction is a motion of the agent forcibly bringing something to himself , but trusion a motion by which he removes or forces something from himself . it is clear therefore , that according to all the rules of grammatical construction , and proper speaking , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot be governed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that , therefore something else must be sought for to govern it , which can be nothing besides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and then the whole sentence will be properly and plainly translated thus . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [ god ] having cast or thrust them [ viz. the apostate angels ] down into hell [ or the lower regions ] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , delivered , or put them into chains of darkness , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , kept , or reserved to [ or for ] iudgment . and this is sence and propriety of speech , agreeable both to the natural signification , and the grammatical syntax of the words . but the translation so imperiously and ignorantly given by this man ( in correction of that of the church ) is agreeable to neither . for it both divides one part of the sentence from the other , from which it must not be divided , and then makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be governed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which cannot govern it , and quite cutts it off from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which alone can . and now , ought it not to be matter of amazement to all men of sense and sobriety , to see a puny , who is not able to master three words of greek , presume to controul such great masters of that language , as the translators of the new testament into english undoubtedly were ? nay , and thereby to reflect upon the church her self , which has received and owned this translation , and to whose judgment and authority ( if he be so nearly related to her , as he pretends ) he ows so great and filial a deference ? let him rather instead of correcting the english translation ( a work which he was never born for ) thank god , and the translators for it ; there being few men living more beholden to it than himself . and therefore leaving his forlorn criticisme ( as new every whit as his divinity ) to shift for it self ; i , for my part , like my english bible , for his dislike of any part of it , better than before . for i can by no means see any force or consequence in this argument , viz. that because this author is much better at quoting a greek sentence than at construing it ; therefore the english translation of this text in st. peter is a very bad translation : i say , i cannot admit , or yield to this consequence . ] page 347. of the first edition after this sentence [ in such a case some are of opinion , that where the words escape it , the author himself ought to have it ] the following discourse comes in p. 351. lin. 8. of the second edition beginning with these words . [ but because some perhaps will hardly be satisfied with so general a charge without an allegation of more particulars , i shall here give the reader a catalogue of this author's greek errata in the second edition of his vindication of the trinity ( which should in reason be thought the most correct ) together with their correction confronting them . greek errata . correction . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 punctum interrogationis post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro semicol . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 punctum interrogationis post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro semicol . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 punctum interrogationis post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro semicol . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now all these errata , one would think , make up a jolly company to rendezvous together in the compass of less than half a dozen pages of an english book ; a company fit for our author to march triumphantly in the head of . page 360. after [ william giles some time of mark-lane ] in the first edition in the margin , is added in the margin of the second [ who wrote ( forsooth ) in defence of our author against the papists . ] page 374. lines 12 , 13 , 14. that passage [ it is much fitter to be censured by a convocation , though even he himself should be prolocutor of it ] is altered in page 377. line 9. thus — [ [ though even he himself ( since john goodwin and hugh peters are gone off ) should be prolocutor of it . ] and now , upon the issue of the whole matter , i hope all ingenuous , and impartial readers , all true friends of our english , church and old divinity will allow , that i have treated an insolent , imposing innovator , no otherwise than he has deserved ; or rather indeed much short of it ; and that none will tax , or censure me for what i have wrote , but such as can think it reasonable for one man to trample upon , and insult over his whole profession , and to be applauded , or at least endured in such a presumption . for my own part , i can by no means judge so ; and as i abhor such pride in others ; so , i hope , i shall never be guilty of the least degree of it my self . i thank god , i account not the meanest of my own profession my inferiour ; and if i should be tempted to think any one below me , it should be only such an one as thinks himself above all the world besides . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a60952-e10 see a most virulent and blasphemous book wrote by these men , and entituled , praemonitiones christi & apostolorum de abolendo vero christo per antichristum . pag. 102. quotat . pag. 107. quotat . pag. 107. l. 14. pag. 110. quotat . pag. 113. quotat . 2d quot . ibid. pag. 115. quotat . pag. 116. quotat . pag. 119. quotat . pag. 119. l. 28. pag. 120. l. 26. l. 27. pag. 121. l. 24 , 25. pag. 122. l. 27. ibid. pag. 123. quotat . pag. 125. quotat . pag. 128. l. 19. quotat . 〈◊〉 . 129. 〈◊〉 . 166. 〈◊〉 . 200. charitas evangelica, a discourse of christian love by the late pious and learned john worthington ... worthington, john, 1618-1671. 1691 approx. 127 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a67104 wing w3620 estc r34761 14626992 ocm 14626992 102689 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67104) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102689) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1082:4) charitas evangelica, a discourse of christian love by the late pious and learned john worthington ... worthington, john, 1618-1671. [9], 70 p. printed by j.m. for walter kettilby ..., london : 1691. "published by the author's son." reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng love -religious aspects -christianity. theology, practical. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-09 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-06 kirk davis sampled and proofread 2002-06 kirk davis text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion charitas evangelica . a discourse of christian love. by the late pious and learned john worthington , d. d. published by the author's son. london , printed by j. m. for walter kettilby , at the bishop's head in st. paul's church-yard , 1691. imprimatur . october 20. 1690. z. isham , r. p. d. henrico episc. lond. à sacris . the preface . it would be an unnecessary trouble , for me to endeavour , by a long and elaborate preface , to evince the usefulness of the author 's subject ; seeing it is both apparently most seasonable , and also confessedly of the greatest importance . but since the discourse is posthumous , i must not forbear to give some account thereof ; it requiring that in regard to the author , which is the common and indeed always a just and becoming civilty to the reader . in short , what i here publish , are the remains of several sermons , which he preach'd upon one text ; but where , i cannot positively affirm . most probably they were some of his first lectures at hackney : and this i conclude from one of them , which bears date 1670. the year in which he was chosen lecturer there ; where , in the following year , he died. had the author in his life-time design'd these papers for the publick , it is not to be doubted , but they would have received some further polishing , as well as enlargements ; and have come into the world with more advantages . what he could have made them , is well known to those who are acquainted with his labours , in the revising and preparing of mr. mede's and mr. smith's works for the press ; as also , with his not to be unmentioned edition of thomas à kempis . but i would not lessen the esteem of the following discourse : of which , this i may say ( without breach of filial modesty ) and onely this i shall add , that whosoever peruses it with a becoming candour , cannot but acknowledge it , if not worthy of the author , at least not unworthy of the publick view . london , octob. 13. 1690. john worthington . the heads of the following discourse . chap. i. the rule and measure of christian love page 1 chap. ii. the universality of christian love 15 chap. iii. the purity of christian love 55 a discourse of christian love. the introduction . that we may more fully apprehend the doctrine of christian love ( a duty so frequently , so continuedly inculcated in the new testament ) it will be fit to consider the characters or qualifications of the true christian love wherein we are to walk . and to this purpose , what lies more dispersedly in several places of scripture , which may bestlead us into the true and full notion of this so lovely a grace , i shall collect and bring into your view ; both to the clearing of the truth it self , and for the illustrating by the way several expressions in scripture . chap. 1. the rule and measure of christian love. first , it is to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fervent love , or charity , 1 pet. 4. 8. charitas intensa ( as beza renders it ) an intense love : above all things have fervent charity , or love , among your selves : and 1 pet. 1. 22. see that ye love one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fervently ; earnestly , as the greek word is used when joined with prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acts 12. 5. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luke 22. 44. and crying unto god , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mightily ( fortitudine , vulg. lat. ) is render'd by the lxx . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not therefore a sleight , formal , weak , cold affection , but an earnest fervent , intense , a great and vehement love. the coals of this love must be as coals of fire , which hath a most vehement flame , cant. 8. 6. it must be a love rais'd up to a great degree of dearness and affectionateness , even to a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hence that in rom. 12. ( a chapter enricht with excellent precepts ) ver . 10. be ye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kindly affectioned to one another . the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implies vehementem & genuinum amandi affectum , a strong affection of love , such as is reciprocal between parents and children , &c. such as is betwixt those of the nearest relation . how fervent , how dear this love ought to be , he who was love incarnate ( the wisdom of god , and the great token of his love ) our blessed saviour hath shewn us in a few words , but so fully expressive , as none can be better , in that royal law ( as s. james calls it , ch . 2. 8. ) thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self . in this one commandment are comprehended the six commandments of the second table , matth. 22. 39. containing our duty to our neighbour , that is another , every other man : for by neighbour is not meant only ( as we commonly use the word ) one that dwells near us : but according to the stile of the scripture , neighbour signifies another , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( saith isiodore pelusiote lib. 4. ep. 123. ) not him only that is near us in place or habitation , but any one of the same common stock with us , partaker of the same nature , all men , all of our kind ; especially 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a one as is in want , and needs our love in relieving him . thus in rom. 13. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in ver. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the old test. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neighbour , sometimes signifies no more than another . gen. 11. 3. prov. 18. 17. exod. 21. 18. of the same import and sense is that other excellent rule of christ , delivered in his sermon on the mount , matth. 7. 12. all things what soever ye would that men should do unto you , do ye even so to them ; or as it is in luke 6. 31. as ye would that men should do to you , do ye also to them likewise . to the same sense is that rule delivered in a negative stile , quod tibi fieri non vis , alteri nè feceris . and concerning this , lampridius the historian , in the life of that roman emperour alexander severus , reports , that that excellent emperour ( who flourished 206 years after christ ) was so much in love with it , quam sententiam usque adeo dilexit , ut & in palatio & publicis operibus inscribi juberet , he caused it to be writ upon the walls of his palace and publick buildings ( as sentences of scripture are written on our church walls ) . and though he was an heathen , yet he was better affected towards christians for this rule and precept of their masters , and shewed them favour . and as he loved this rule ( which is radix justitiae & omne fundamentum aequitatis , as lactantius speaks ) so he practis'd it : for when there was cause to inflict punishment upon any for acts of injustice and injury to others , he ordered that the officer should thus admonish the party of his unjust carriage , and proclaim aloud this dicate of conscience , quod tibi fieri non vis , alteri nè feceris : and in case , the army being on their march , a person of quality had offended in doing any hurt to the field or possessions of another , and his dignity excused him from such corporal punishments and disgraces which the inferiour sort had inflicted on them , yet the emperour would vehemen'ly reprove him with this , visne in agro tuo fieri , quod alteri facis ? wouldst thou have that done to thy own field and possession , which thou doest to anothers ? and such a reproof and check as this must needs affect and forcibly strike the conscience of the guilty offender , espe c●a lly when it comes from the lips of a person of integrity and exemplary worth . and such a one was this emperor , as the same historian reports of him , dies nunquam translit quin aliquid man suetum , civile , pium faceret , not a day past him , but he expressed the benignity and the integrity of his spirit in some acts of goodness , kindness and equity , and in acts of exact justice ; and therefore he is by the best interpreters of the apocalypse fitly supposed to be meant by the rider of the black horse ( rev. 6. 6. ) with the pair of balances in his hand . but to return from this digression , to that forementioned rule and measure of the love which we are to express to our neighbour , thou shalt love thy neighbour ( i. e. another , every other ) as thy self ; or , as ye would that men should do to you , do ye also to them : none can pretend that the rule is obscure and intricate , hard to understand , though it be through mens own fault hard to practise . for every one may know , without much study and beating his brains , what it is to love himself . no man ever hated his own flesh ( saith the apostle . ) no man is coldly or slightly affected toward himself . no , the love wherewith a man loves himself , is a servent , intense love : and if this must be the rule and measure of thy love to thy neighbour ( for thou must love him as thy self ) then surely the love wherein christians are to walk , is not to be a cold , remiss , slight , and formal love , but earnest , intense and ardent . to prevent and obviate any cavils or mistakes about this love of thy self , which is to be the rule and measure of thy loving thy neighbour ; and for a further explaining of those two forementioned precepts of christ , we are to consider , first , that here is meant a regular love of our selves ; not an inordinate , vitious self-love ; not a love that breaks or transgresses the bounds of righteousness . no man must do an unjust or unlawful act in his own behalf , or for his own advantage ; nor for the interest or advantage of another : for such a love as this , is not ( as the apostle speaks of the right love , rom. 13. ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulfilling of the law , but the transgressing thereof . if the thing be unlawful or forbidden by god , which thou wouldst have others do to thee , thou must not do the same to them : which yet is the practice of those that stile themselves good-fellows and are brethren in iniquity ; all that entangle others , or strengthen one another in their sins which they have chosen . thou must therefore do that to another , which thou wouldst have done to thee , that is , which thou mayst rightly and lawfully will ; that which is agreeable to the holy scripture , and right reason , to the light of nature shining in thy conscience , and shining with a greater lustre in the divinely-inspired scripture : and so that thy love be regulated by a right judgment , by purified reason , so it be agreeable to the rule of righteousness , let the love of thy self , and of thy neighbour , be as intense and fervent as it can ; so that the spirit of love be accompanied with the spirit of a sound mind , to borrow those words of the apostle , 2 tim. 1. secondly , that evil which thou wouldst not have done to thy self , thou must not do , or wish , or contrive to be done to another . thou must not do that to another which is unjust , and would seem so to thee , if thou wert that other . and if thou hast been that other , and therefore by experience knowest more feelingly what it is to be evil dealt with , and unworthily used by others ; thou , even thou especially shouldst not deal so with others : for if they did evil therein , thou art not to practise the like . what was evil and unjust in them , when done to thee , will be also evil in thee , if thou doest the like to them . do not therefore render evil for evil , or railing for railing , as s. peter speaks ( 1 ep. ch. 3. ) ; who also tells us ( in ch. 2. ) that christ , our pattern as well as our propitiation , did not so : he , when he was reviled , reviled not again ; when he suffered , he threatned not , but committed himself , and his cause , to him that judgeth righteously . do not return slander for slander , wrong for wrong , or any the like for the satisfying of a revengeful humour : vengeance is mine , and i will repay , saith the lord , rom. 12. leave that therefore to god , and to his vicegerents . there is a rule which many walk by [ do as thou hast been done to : or , what others do to you , do ye the same to them likewise ] which they do not so much mean and practise in that better sense , wherein only it is allowable , viz. in doing good to others , in rendring good for good , in a way of gratitude , as one good turn asks another ; there is ingenuity and justice in this : but they generally understand and practise it in returning , or doing evil for evil . but there is a vast difference between this rule , do as thou has been done to , and our saviour's rule , do as thou wouldst be done to : tho'they differ but little in words ( in a word or two ) yet they are as distant as heaven and hell , as christ and belial . do as thou hast been done to : or , what others do to you , do ye the same to them likewise : this is the devil's maxim ; it is a branch of that wisdom , which ( as s. james speaks , ch. 3. ) descendeth not from above , but is earthly and devilish , such as the devil doth insuse into the minds of men . but , do as thou wouldst be done to : or , what ye would others should do to you , do ye the same to them likewise : this is our saviour christ's rule ; it is the royal law of him who is king ; it s a branch of that wisdom which is from above ( from heaven ) which is peaceable , gentle , full of mercy and good fruits , ( as s. james speaks in the same chapter . ) thirdly , thou must make thy neighbour's , or another's , condition thine own ; thou must look upon his concernments , his case and circumstances , as if they were thine own : and then , that pity , that counsel , that help , that relief and comfort which thou wouldst expect or wish for from others , if thou wert in straits and difficulties , and uncomfortable circumstances ; the like must thou now afford to them in such hardships . this is that true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 benignity , kindness and goodness of disposition and deportment , to which our religion doth exhort and oblige us . and phavorinus doth very pertinently describe it , when he saith , it imports 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a disposition and temper of mind as makes a man to look upon the case and circumstances of another as his own . and then what he would desire or endeavour for himself , the like will he desire and do for another , if he loves his neighbour as himself , with as unfeigned and fervent a love as he loves himself . and here it may be fit to remember that wise saying of the son of syrach , which contains a great deal of sense in a few words , ecclus. 31. 15. judge of thy neighbour by thy self . that which thou judgest unworthy , and unbecoming , yea and injurious in reference to thy self ; judge the same of it , if done to thy neighbour in the like circumstances : and that kindness , those civilities , that fair respect , that which thou wouldst judge fit and decent in thy own behalf ; judge the same in behalf of thy neighbour in the like capacities . i may also superadd that wholesom and short counsel which tobias had from his father ( tob. 4. 15. ) do that to no man which thou hatest . fourthly , but to rise higher yet , and to prevent an exception against this rule and measure of the love of our neighbour , ladd ( for a further explaining of it , this , which is to be observed ) that which thou wouldst should be done to thee , if thou wert of such a rank and condition , if thou wert in such a place , or ( to look more inward ) if thou wert so qualified and accomplished , do thou the same to thy neighbour , to any other , of such a rank and condition , of such qualifications and accomplishments . and if thy neighbour , if another be of an higher rank , degree and condition ; or if he be more excellently qualified , and more worthily accomplisht ; particularly , if he partake more of god , of true holiness which is the fairest image and resemblance of god , and consequently has more real divine worth in him ; thou art then to judge that he is to be loved and esteemed ( not only as thy self , or equally with thy self , as thou art for the present , but ) above thy self , viz. whilst thou art not such . and yet still the rule holds good , still this is to love him as thy self , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( though above thy self as thou art now ) this is to love him as thou thy self wouldst judge thou wert to be loved , esteemed and regarded , if thou wert in his estate , if thou wert such as he is . fifthly and lastly , there is yet an higher pitch and degree of love , which at some time , and in some cases , is due from thee to thy neighbour or fellow-christian ; whom thou art to love , not only as thy self , but more then , or above , thy self , though he be not superiour or above thee in those respects mentioned in the last particular : 1 john 3. 16. christ laid down his life for us , and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren . here is love raised up to the greatest fervency , to the highest degree possible ; for ( as our saviour christ told his disciples , joh. 15. ) greater love hath no man than this , that a man lay down his life for his friends . now the rule and measure of this love , love in its utmost height , and that which obligeth a christian to this love , is the love of christ manifested in laying down his life for us . as in the former particulars the rule and measure of thy love to thy neighbour was thy own love , thy loving thy self ; thou wast to love him as thy self : so the rule and measure of this highest degree of love , is the love of christ to thee ; thou must love a christian as christ loved thee . thus he commands , jo. 15. 12. this is my commandment , that ye love one another , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as i have loved you : how 's that ? in laying down his life for them , as appears by the following words . as i have loved you . ] these words carry in them the greatest force and reason , the greatest obligation to this degree of love , and make it a duty full of equity . nothing can sound so high , nothing can have such an obliging vertue as this of christ , [ as i have loved you . ] if we consider , either , 1. the excellency of the person of christ , who this i is [ as i have loved you ] . he that spake this , and thus loved us , was jesus christ , the brightness of god's glory and the express image of his person ; god manifest in the flesh , the lord of life and glory , the sovereign of men and angels , messiah the prince , the lord of all . and if he loved us at this rate , so as to lay down his life for us ; he that was so far exalted above , not men only , but angels ; he the head of all principality and power , higher then thrones and dominions , and any of the angelick orders : then should a christian thus love his fellow-christians , those of the same mould , and make with himself , in laying down ( if need be ) his life for them . 2. or if we consider the vileness and unworthiness of those for whom christ did thus much . if he the prince , and only son of god , laid down his life for us who were enemies ( rom. 5. ) rebels against heaven , enemies to the crown and dignity of his father , the king of heaven and earth : should not a christian then do as much for his friends , his brethren , born of god ; he and they having one god for their father , one christ for their redeemer and head , who paid as dear a price and ransom for them as for thee , and who owns them as much for his living members as thee ; partakers of the same precious faith with himself ( 2 pet. 1. ) and therefore as valuable and dear in god's sight as he is ; nay it may be more , if they be more like to god in eminent degrees of holiness , and if the continuance of their life , and being in the world , be more considerable they being fitted to be more useful in the world. 3. or if we consider the infinite advantages , the richest benefits and best of blessings , which came and redounded to us by the love and death of christ : as christ hath done and suffer'd so much for us , even to the laying down of his life for us , and pouring out his life to death , even to the death of the cross ( a death of shame and pain ) amidst the contradictions , and derisions of his insulting enemies if he hath done so much for us , when the case of our souls so much needed it ; more than can be done , by any , or all the men in the world ; then ought we ( it is a reasonable service , an equitable duty ) to lay down our lives for the brethren , if the necessity of their case so require it , no other means appearing ; and if such a considerable good may thereby come to them , or others , or to the furtherance of the faith or gospel , as may justly call for this highest degree and demonstration of love. nor have there wanted instances of this among the noble army of martyrs , whose love was as strong as death . a fair instance of this was s. paul , who tells the thessalonians ( in 1 ep. 2. 8. ) that he had such an affectionate desire or love for them , and that they were so dear to him , that he was willing to impart to them not only the gospel of god , but also his own soul or life . and yet more affectionate is that which he writes to the philippians ( ch . 2. 17. ) telling them , that it would be matter of greatest joy to him , if it should so fall out that he should be offered upon the sacrifice and service of their faith . and though the apostle s. john , whose words these are ; [ because christ laid down his life for us , therefore ought we to lay down our lives for the brethren . ] he of all the apostles is said by ecclefiastical historians , alone not to have laid down his life by martyrdom , but quietly and in a good old age to have died at ephesus : yet he was in his mind prepared to have suffer'd martyrdom ; which he had done ; had he not been miraculously preserved by god when he was cast into the vessel of hot scalding oyl , from whence coming forth unhurt , ( as the three children out of the fiery furnace ) he was by domitian banish'd into the isle of patmos , for the word of god , and testimony of jesus christ : and he calls himself in his epistle to the seven asiatick churches , their brother and companion in tribulation , and in the kingdom and putience of jesus christ , rev. 1. 9. the full purpose and noble resolution of his mind was for the utmost sufferings , even unto death . and the same spirit of love , love ready to express it self in this highest degree that is possible , lived and continued in the first and best christians . it was so conspicuous in tertullian's time , that the very heathens took special notice , as tertullian reports in his apology ; vide ( in 〈…〉 ) ut invicem se diligunt christiani , & ut pro alicratro mori parati sunt . see ( said the heathens ) how the christians love one another , how ready they are to lay down their lives for each other . till these days that love ( which afterward grew cold ) continued warm and vigorous ; and by this loving one another , did all men know that they were christs disciples , as he had said , john 1. 3. but i shall not insist any further upon this fifth particular , viz. love raised up to the greatest height possible , in loving others more then thy self , by laying down life it self for them : the occasions of expressing love in this degree of fervency , are more rare ; god doth not so frequently call to this , as to that fervency of love exprest in the four foregoing particulars of loving thy neighbour as thy self . and yet this fifth particular , this loving another , in laying down thy life for him , may be in some sort reduced to the loving him as thy self ; i.e. as thou wouldst he should do for thee , in . case thy case and necessities did as much require that he should lay down his life for thee , as his do that thou shouldst do this for him . to conclude then , seriously think on this rule of our blessed saviour's , then which nothing better could ever have been said , nothing more need to be said . there is enough compriz'd in this short rule of love , as to instruct and govern the conscience of a man in matters of justice and equity towards those he has to deal with ; so likewise to engage and raise him up to a fervency and excellent degree of love. there is more in these few words of christ , that which is more fully instructive to a christian , than all that has been said in the voluminous writings of the school-men , casuists , and other writers ; more than in the pandects , code , and institutes of the civil law. in a word , such is the excellency of this law , or rule of christ , [ whatsoever things ye would that men should do unto you , do ye even so to them . ] that immediately after it is said ( matth. 7. ) for this is the law and the prophets : which two words signifie the old testament , the whole scripture then in being . moses and the prophets are epitomiz'd and contracted in this one rule . and as it is moses and the prophets , so it is also the law of nature , the law written upon the hearts and consciences of all men , and written upon the tables of the heart before the law was written upon tables of stone in mount sinai . and this law of love is more cleared , more improved , the obligation to it more inforced and strengthened by many peculiar considerations which the gospel affords , in which respects it is a new commandment , though a commandment too from the beginning ; writ fairer , and in more legible and lasting characters then before , upon the hearts of all true christians . chap. ii. the universality of christian love. secondly , it is to be a love extended and enlarged to all ; according to the other sense and obvious notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so to love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to love universally . to this purpose the same apostle s. peter in his 2 d ep. ch. 1. 7. in that rich chain of christian graces , unto brotherly kindness , or love ( saith he ) add charity . in the former epistle he doth thrice commend brotherly love , ch. 1. 22. ch. 2. 17. ch. 3. 8. but christians must not only be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to the love of the brotherhood must be superadded charity , an universal love , a love more enlarged , even to all men . this chain of graces mention'd in ver 5 , 6 , 7. ( whereof the first is faith , and the last charity or love ) is not compleat without such a love. a christian is not cloathed and adorned compleatly , has not on all that he should have , except he be cloathed with humility ( as s. peter speaks , ch . 5. ) or ( as s. paul in col. 3. ) except he put on humbleness of mind , kindness , meekness , long-suffering , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above ( or over ) all these put on charity , or love , which is the bond of perfectness . and this chain of graces mention'd by s. peter is a greater ornament to the inward man , and is more valuable in the sight of god , then the richest chain or necklace of pearls ; as the same apostle in 1 ep. ch. 3. 4. speaks of the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit , that it is of great price , highly valuable , and of as great account in the sight of god , as the bravery of jewels , rich and gay attire , and curious dressings , are in the eyes of any in the world. and accordingly this inward ornament and excellency of moses his soul , made him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fair to god , as the phrase is used otherwise , in acts 7. moses is said to be the meekest man upon earth , num. 12. 3. and consequently most removed from bitterness , anger , hatred , malice ; all which are contrary to meekness and charity , two graces near a-kin , and inseparable companions . and god being highly pleased with him , conferr'd the greatest honours and favours upon him , and dignified him above any under the old testament : he made choice of him for the greatest and highest trusts . he was a prophet and a prince , the first ruler of his people in israel for forty years , a king in jeshurun , deut. 33. and as god to aaron ( exod. 4. 17. and ch . 7. 1. ) he was a kind of mediator between god and the people ; an illustrious type of christ , the great mediator , and the great prophet , of whom moses speaks , deut. 18. a prophet shall the lord your god raise up unto you , like unto me . god spake to him face to face , mouth to mouth , as one friend to another ; took him into a more inward converse with him upon the mount ; where he was enabled to fast forty days ; which abstinence was so far from impairing the amiable air of his countenance , that his face shined with a glory and lustre too bright for the people's eyes to look upon , till he put a veil over his face ; as he afterwards appeared in glory on mount tabor , he and elias , who had the favour and honour ( of all under the old testament ) to be and speak with christ on the mount. such honour from god had moses , who was eminent for meekness , that inward ornament of his soul ; so precious in the sight of god , though mean in the world's account : as also eminent for his charity , his most fervent and heroick charity , that he had for all the people of israel , offering himself to dy for them , to be blotted out of the book of life , exod. 32. god values a christian by the inward graces of the soul , by what the soul wears and is adorned with ; by humbleness of mind , meekness , charity , enlarged love , and all other vertues which are the just accomplishment of a christian. god values not a man by what is outward in him ; not by what he wears ; not by the titles by which he is called ; not by his relations , his honours or riches ; not by the train and retinue he hath : these and the like add no inward real worth , no true perfection to a man. but now to return . besides this observable place in s. peter , which contains an enumeration of those christian graces which adorn and compleat a christian , the last of which is love or charity , added to brotherly love , a love extended to all ; it may not be amiss for the further clearing and enforcing of this duty , to recount some other passages of scripture , whereby it may appear , that a christian is obliged to this enlarged and universal love. s. paul presseth the same duty , whom s. peter calls his beloved brother . to name some few places . 1 thess. 3. 12. the lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another , and towards all men : not only in brotherly love ( of which he tells them in this epistle he needs not write to them ) but in a love extended to all men . to which purpose is that other passage in this epistle , ch. 5. ver. 14. be patient towards all men : and ver. 15. see that none render evil for evil unto any man : but ever follow that which is good , both among your selves , and to all men . the like in titus 3. 2. put them in mind to be gentle , shewing all meekness unto all men . and this in opposition to that in ver . 3. to living in malice and envy , hateful and hating one another : and such we our selves also were sometimes ( saith the apostle ) namely before we were converted to christ , before the power of the gospel had changed us into a better temper of spirit . but what if men hate and curse us , and persecute us and despitefully use us , must our love be enlarged to such enemies ? yes , unto these , and surely then unto all men ; for none seem less to deserve love then such . and therefore i will only add one place of scripture more , that in matth. 5. where christians ( all that name the name of christ ) are strictly enjoin'd , ver. 44. first , to love their enemies : here 's the affection of love in the heart , diligite corde ; in opposition to inward grudging , spight , rancour and malice . secondly , to bless them that curse them : here 's diligite ore , here 's love in word and language ; in opposition to the returning of railing for railing . to bless them is to speak , either well or friendly to them , without bitter , or reviling , or defaming words ; or to speak well of them , so far forth as there is any thing commendable or praise-worthy in them , or done by them . thirdly , and not only to bless , but to do good to them : here 's diligite opere , love in deed and real acts . some are mention'd in rom , 12. 20. if thine enemy hunger , feed him ; if he thirst , give him drink : which are put for all other acts of beneficence . fourthly to pray for them . which fort of spiritual beneficence the poorest christian may shew to his enemies , who may have left him little or nothing , and so disabled him from doing good in an outward way ; and if he had wherewithal to do it , yet the enemies might proudly scorn to receive it : but true christians whether poor or not poor , may pray for their enemies in secret , and in this way desire and endeavour to do them good against their wills , and they cannot avoid this kind of beneficence . thus our lord who practis'd what he preach'd , prayed for his most violent and virulent enemies , when he was upon the cross ; and they are the first words which he spake when he was lifted up on the cross , in the midst of all the pain and shame they put him to , ( as s. luke records it , chap. 23. 34. ) father , forgive them , for they know not what they do . and that diverse were the better for this prayer of christ , ( which was an act of real beneficence to them ) may appear by what is said , verse 48. that the people beholding the things which were done , smote their breasts and returned : which was the beginning of that remorse which did more deeply affect them at s. peter's sermon , where three thousand did not only smite their breasts , but were smitten to the heart , pricked and wounded in their hearts unto repentance , acts 2. thus also s. stephen , the first martyr that suffered for christ , and who had much of the spirit of christ in him , the spirit of benignity and charity , pray'd for his enemies at his death , when they exprest the most violent and barbarous rudeness and cruelty , lord , lay not this sin to their charge . and that some also were better for his prayer , there is no cause to doubt . that it was for s. paul , then saul who had an hand in his death , appeared by his conversion soon after . hence that saying , si stephanus non or asset , ecclesia paulum non habuisset . and to gain such a one as he was to the church , was to the gain of many . his famous conversion is rolated in acts 9. where it is also recorded , that the churches then had rest throughout all judea , and galilee , and samaria , and were edified and multiplied . thus i have particularly explain'd the several expressions in matth. 5. where is enjoin'd by our saviour christ , a love extended and enlarged to all , even to enemies , such as seem least to deserve it . but then i must not omit the reason of this command so grievous to flesh and blood : it is said , in verse 45. that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven , for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good , and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust : i. e. that ye may approve your selves , both to others , and in your own consciences , that ye are the children of god , born of him , having the same benign nature , and this god-like affection in you . take it briefly thus . first , god hath his enemies , those that hate him ; and he is wrong'd and injur'd by them , more than you are or can be by yours . secondly , god hath done nothing at any time to provoke or hurt them ; but you may have done it more or less at sometimes to your enemies . god may justly say , as he doth in micah 6. 3. o my people , what have i done unto thee ? and wherein have i wearied thee ? testifie against me . thirdly , god hath always done them good ; it is of his mercies that they are not consumed : his mercies are new every morning : and therefore he had greater reason to be otherwise dealt with , having deserved infinitely better of them , then you can of your enemies . fourthly , god is their lord and maker ; the infinitely perfect being ; they are but vanity , and as nothing before him . fifthly , and yet god is neglected , hated , worse dealt with , and more unworthily used ; worse and more frequently and for a longer time wronged , then you are by yours . sixthly , but though he is thus dealt with , and though he is sensible of all the wrongs done to him , yet he is patient and long-suffering ; and this not per force and of necessity , because he cannot help himself , ( which may be your case ; ) but when it is in his power to revenge himself every moment , and to break his enemies in pieces , as easily as a potter may dash in pieces his vessel ; yet he is strong and patient , and he is , ( as it is luke 6. 35. ) kind to the unthankful , and to the evil ; kind to those that do not worthily resent his kindnesses , but return evil for good , which is the greatest provocation that may be among men . and god hath shewed these riches of his goodness , forbearance , and long-sufferings , upon a merciful design ; that by heaping these coals of fire on their heads , he may melt them , that this his goodness might lead them to repentance ; and that by repentance they might be qualified for the receiving of richer blessings , and choicer favours , spiritual blessings in heavenly places in christ ; that a better sun , the sun of righteousness might rise and shine upon them ; that showers of blessing ( ezek 34. 26. ) the sweetest influences of heaven , might descend upon them . this is god's nature and disposition : and if ye are born from above , the children of god , then ye must be god-like , partakers of the divine nature , imitaters of god as dear children , living pictures of your heavenly father in such an enlarged charity and goodness . christians are obliged to a love as large and unconfined as god's love , who is good to all , and his tender mercies are over all his works , ( psal. 145. ) the earth is full of the goodness and mercy of the lord , ( psal. 3. and psal. 119. ) the beams of our love of benevolence are to shine upon all , as god's sun shines upon all . ( sol non oritur uni aut alteri , sed omnibus in commune , saith pliny in his panegyrick . ) the love of our beneficence ( as his rain ) must shower down upon the just and unjust . and the spirit that is otherwise affected , ( that is not thus enlarged into desires and endeavours of doing good to all ) is not the true christian spirit of love , but is either ( 1st . ) a kind of jewish spirit , or ( 2ly , ) the spirit of the world : but the true christian spirit differs from both these . not the contracted and self-pleasing spirit of the pharisees , or of the publicans and sinners of the world ; but the more kindly and nobly-enlarged spirit of love , ( as it is in god and christ ) must be our pattern , that so we may be the children of god. and here it may be of great use to describe these two sorts of spirit , from which the right christian spirit must be at the greatest distance , more enlarged than either of these two . 1. the jewish spirit was a low , contracted , limited spirit , confin'd only to some few in respect of mankind , to their fellow-jews , those only of their own nation , or of their way ; viz. the proselytes who came over to their religion , as the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports . a thing so obvious , that juvenal the satyrist , ( who lived not long after christ ) took notice of this temper of their spirit in his days , so devoid of civility and charity . non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti , quaesitum ad fontem solos déducere verpos . in sat. 14. to shew the way to a stranger that was at a loss ; to shew a spring of water to a thirsty traveller , that was not of their religion ; was but an easie and ordinary courtesie , a cheap civility , that which any , the least sense of common humanity , should have made them willing to . and therefore to deny this to any , except he were a jew , whatsoever his distress was for want of a little drink , a draught of cold water ; and though he knew not which way to turn in a strange country , how pressing soever his occasions might be ; was a barbarous and monstrous piece of inhumanity . and even such it was judged to be by the very heathens : and therefore as tully relates , ( in offic . lib. 3. ) the athenians were wont in their devotions to curse aloud those ( amongst the rest ) that would not monstrare viam . and yet the jews were observed to deny to do this so easie , and yet necessary , a kindness to any , but those of their own nation or way . nor did their inhumanity stay here ; but to give you a further taste of their bitter spirit , and out of their own authors , ( which by the way will make what was said by juvenal , though an heathen , to be their practice , more credible : ) maimonides ( one of the most eminent of the jewish writers ) in halach rotsach , affirms it to be their duty , not to endeavour the saving of any gentile from the most imminent danger of death ; instancing in this , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , viz. if a gentile had fallen into the sea , and was in manifest danger of drowning , they were not to lend him an helping hand to save him from drowning : and he adds , that in levit. 19. 16. thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour ; ( i. e. thou shalt not stand by and see thy neighbour perish , and with-hold thy help from him . ) this , say they , is to be done in behalf of a fellow-jew ; but as for a gentile , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is not thy neighbour , and so by this law thou art not obliged to save him , though in a case of most imminent danger . which verifies that which tacitus ( hist. 5. ) observes of the jews , apud ipsos misericordia in promptu , they were ready enough to shew mercy and kindness to those of their own nation and religion ; but adversus omnes alios hostile odium , they had a deadly hatred against and abhorrence of all others : which the apostle s. paul doth also observe of them , 1 thes. 2. 15. that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrary to all men . and what he immediately adds , [ forbidding us to speak unto the gentiles , hindering us from preaching christ to them , that they might be saved , in turning from their idolatries and other sins ] is the worst of their cruelty , the very gall of their bitterness . so loth were they that the gentiles should have any benefit by messias , whom they would engross to their own nation , that when s. paul in his apology came to those words , that god bade him to depart from jerusalem , ( where he was then praying in the temple , acts 22. 8. ) for i will send thee unto the gentiles ; 't is said verse 22. that they gave him audience to this word : but then , as being full of impatience and rancour , 't is said , they lift up their voices , and said , away with such a fellow from the earth , for it is not fit that he should live ; and they cast off their clothes , and threw dust into the air ; which were expressions of their fury . and so when our saviour christ had mentioned to the jews at nazareth ( in luke 4. ) god's particular favours and kindnesses to two gentiles ; one to the sidonian widow of sarepta , whose barrel of meal did not waste , nor her cruse of oil fail , all the time that the famine lasted , ( whereas no such thing was done for any of the widows in israel , ) and whose son also elias raised from the dead ; the other favour done to naaman a syrian , whose leprosy elisha healed ( whereas no such thing was then done for any of the lepers then in israel ) both which stories are recorded in the first and second book of kings ; 't is said ( ver. 28. ) that all in the synagogue when they heard these things , were fill'd with wrath , and rose up , and thrust him out of the city , and led him to the brow of the hill , that they might cast him down headlong ; they that before ( in ver. 22. ) are said to have wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth ( the words seem'd words of grace to them , while he preacht on those privileges in isaiah 61. 1. ) but now are out of patience , and furiously design his ruine , when he speaks of any acts of grace and favour which god shewed to the gentiles . by this ( little of the much which i might observe ) may appear , how distant the jewish spirit was from that better spirit and temper which christ came to plant in the world ; how strait and contracted their love was , determin'd only to those of their nation and way ; and how their spirit ( about our saviour's time ) was more rigid and strait then god ever commanded or allowed . for though god forbad them of old to have any intimate familiarity with the nations that were near them , which were then idolatrous and abominably wicked , lest they should be drawn to do after their works , and depart from the true god and his service : yet god did no where forbid them to express that humanity , those civilities due to any stranger by the law of nature , which is god's own law writ in the heart of every man , jew or gentile . much less did god command them to be inhumane and barbarous to all that were not their countrymen , to all other nations in the world , and when the case of any distressed gentile did need their merciful relief . nor did they learn this narrowness , this harshness and cruelty of spirit , from either abraham their father , jo. 8. or from moses , whose disciples they gloried to be , jo. 9. 1. for as for abraham , the story of his life in genesis shews him to have been a person of another spirit , a better , a larger , and more benign spirit . to select only two passages in his story ; as that in gen. 18. from ver. 1. to the 9 th . the text saith , it was in the heat of the day that he was sitting at the door of his tent , as if he waited and long'd for an opportunity to shew kindness to travellers , at a time when their travelling might make them more faint , and therefore more to need refreshment . he espies three strangers ( whom he knew not then to be angels ) he runs to meet them ; bows himself to the ground . according to the civil custom of those countries : and addressing himself to one of the three , that was of the most genteel presence , and probably stood foremost , the other two angels standing behind ( and this was christ , whom in his journey towards sodom he calls jehovah , and the judge of the whole earth , and before whom he intercedes for sodom , they two being left alone , the other two angels being gone towards sodom , ver. 22. ) abraham entreats him to do him the favour to accept of a short dinner ( if i have found favour in thy sight , &c. ver. 3. ) he makes hast to get it provided for them . and though he calls it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a morsel of bread , ver. 5. ( or a bit of meat ; bread being put for all food ) a small treat : yet it was of the best things he had ; butter and milk , and a calf that was tender and good , ver. 7. ( which he himself ran to fetch from the herd ) and bread or cakes of fine meal , ver. 6. and of this there were used three measures , or seahs , which made up our bushel : and all this for the dinner of three guests ; which as it was of the best he had for quality , so the quantity of his provision shew'd his liberality , as his ( no mean person ) waiting upon them at table , did his humility , ver. 8. which did further verify the reality of his hearty complement , when twice in the story he calls himself their servant . this is a short descant upon some parts of this story ; the whole ( if well considered ) is full of most hearty kindness , a generous and chearful singleness of heart , being the character of those ancient days , the primitive ages . the other passage in gen. 23. ( which i shall but mention ) relating his carriage to the hittites , or sons of heth ( when he would purchase of them a place for the burial of his dead ) is full of respect and civility to them who were uncircumcised heathens : as they had shew'd themselves civil to him , so he was not short of them in returning civilities ; and accordingly he testified his respect and thankfulness to them , by bowing himself before them , and that twice , as is exprest in gen. 23. and this behaviour of abraham's ( besides the former instance ) argued a better and larger spirit , a better deportment towards strangers , and even to heathens ; a temper of mind far different from the temper of the jews in after-ages : though they call'd him father , and gloried that they were his children , yet they did not the works of abraham . 2. as for moses , their lawgiver ; they learnt not their straitness and sowrness of spirit from him . for as he was a man of the meekest , the sweetest spirit upon earth : so his law did command kindness to be shewed to strangers , that they should not vex and oppress them , because they were also strangers in egypt , exod. 22. 21. but on the contrary should love them , as god loveth the stranger in giving him food and rayment , deut. 10. 19. yea it 's said in levit. 19. 34. the stranger that dwelleth with you , thou shalt love as thy self ; as in ver. 18. and elsewhere , thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self . exod. 23. 9. thou shalt not oppress a stranger , for ye know the heart of a stranger , seeing ye were strangers in the land of egypt . the words are very moving and pathetical . ye know how a stranger 's heart is affected in a strange land ; what the troubles , and sorrows of his soul are ; what it is to be vexed and oppressed ; by your being in egypt , where your lives were made bitter by reason of your hard service and bondage : and therefore having had but lately such a smart and sensible knowledge of being hardly and cruelly used , there is all the reason that ye should not vex and oppress strangers ; but rather love them . and as you , when strangers in that land , would not that the egyptians should have vext and opprest you : so neither should you do the like evil to those that are strangers in your land . it would be the greater evil in you to do thus , because ye , by suffering evil in this kind , are from experience and feeling , more convinced of the grossness of this evil . but see how the jews in our saviour's time , ( yea before and after his time ) did evacuate these laws of moses , so full of charity , and by what arts they would excuse themselves from a love enlarged and extended to all . 1. by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or stranger , they would have to be understood only the stranger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was become a proselyte to their religion , that was circumcised , and took upon him the observance of all the laws and ordinances of moses : and this sort of strangers or proselytes , were call'd proselytes within the covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the native jews . but as for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proselytes that sojourn d with them , ( called in scripture , the stranger within thy gates ) that came to dwell amongst them , and was not circumcised , nor took upon him the observance of all the ordinances of moses's law , but only the observation of the seven precepts of the sons of noah ( the two first whereof were to renounce idolatry , and to worship the only true god ) : and especially the stranger that dwelt not within their gates , but belong'd . to other countries : they exclude both these strangers from having any interest in that charity which those laws required ; and not only this latter , but the other stranger-proselyte , were by them accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as gentiles . but though it be granted that the stranger that was circumcised and a perfect proselyte , was to be regarded by them more especially ; ( as suppose two were in equal danger or distress ; the one a proselyte of justice , or within the covenant ; the other an uncircumcised proselyte , or proselyte of the gate ) yet this was not to exclude the proselyte of the gate , or any other stranger , that needed their relief and charity : for these were of the same common stock and root of mankind , partaking of the same humane nature ; and such to whom they were bound by the law of nature to shew kindness and mercy , as well as to do justice and equity , as they themselves would expect and desire that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the strangers of the gate , or other gentile-strangers , should do to them in the like circumstances . to think and practise otherwise , was highly to dishonour the god of nature ; as if he were not the god of love and peace , but of sowre severity and barbarous cruelty to all but to one nation of the world , the nation of the jews ; or as if god ( who is infinite love , and goodness , and rectitude , and no respecter of persons , the father of all mankind ) were so fond of the jews , that they onely were to receive kindnesses of others , but to return none ; but on the contrary to return evil for good , to any but their own country-men . 2. another way whereby the jews did excuse themselves from a larger and more extensive love , was by straitning the notion , ( as of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stranger , so ) of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a neighbour , whom the law did command them to love , and by restraining it to a fellow-jew ; which was more then they needed , or ought to have done . for ( not to repeat what i observed of a larger acception of this word [ neighbour ] in scripture ) although it be granted that a fellow-jew , one born or made a jew , was in the first place meant by neighbour in those places of the law : yet the word is not appropriate to such , but the notion of neighbour is to be enlarged , to signifie any other , though a proselyte of the gate , or a gentile-stranger ; especially if he either needed , or had shewed charity and kindness . yea , suppose such a stranger or gentile , did shew kindness and charity to a jew in distress when yet those of his own country and religion did not : such a one was more that jew's neighbour , then any of those his country-men ; and he was more bound to love that stranger ( thus discharging the office of a neighbour ) as himself . and in this sense our saviour christ determined it , in the case of that jew , that lay wounded and half-dead , in the way from jerusalem to jericho ; shewing ( in luke 10. ) that the samaritan who had mercy on him , and took care of him in that sad condition , was his neighbour ; and more truly and really his neighbour , then the priest and levite , that only look'd on him , and then passed by on the other side , not ministring any charitable relief to him in such a sad case ; though the priest and levite were his country-men , of his own religion , and the samaritan a stranger from the commonwealth of israel , yea , and much scorned and hated by the jews . but if moses's laws did not so expresly and literally oblige them to kindness and charity to strangers , where did they oblige them to an eternal hatred of all nations but their own ? what pretence had they for hating of all other men as enemies ? that it seem'd to go for a precept with them , and so our saviour quoted it as their sense , matth. 5. 43. ye have heard that it hath been said , thou shalt love thy neighbour , and hate thine enemy . where , by the way , our saviour doth not say , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them of old time ( i. e. your ancestors the jews ) as in vers. 21 , 27 , 33. where three of the ten commandments are mention'd , which were god's express precepts to them . this of hating enemies was no where said to them in the law , but was their own sense , which they inferr'd from this , because god commanded them to exercise severity to seven nations , ( mention'd in deut. 7. 1 , 2. ) not to make a league with them , or shew them mercy . but the weakness of this inference may thus appear . 1. they were not commanded to be so severe to those of any other nation in the world besides : nay , in deut. 23. 7. they are commanded not to abhor an edomite , nor an egyptian ; though the edomites were enemies to them , and had shew'd themselves such in an high degree , numb . 20. 18. and though the egyptians were idolatrous , and therein different from them . 2. this severity allow'd against the seven nations , was not unlimited ; so as they might be as severe to them as they would , and to be so for ever . for it 's more probable ( from josh. 11. 19. ) that they were to proclaim peace to them , as well as to other cities and nations ( according to that in deut. 20. ) which , by the way , shews , that moses did not oblige them to an hostile hatred of all but themselves ; for to offer peace is an expression of good-will : and if they accepted of peace , then they were to become tributaries unto them . and thus solomon did not destroy the remainders of those seven nations in his age , but levied a tribute of bond-service upon them ( 1 kings 9. ) and because none of the seven nations , but the gibeonites ( that were part of the hivites , one of those seven nations ) made peace with israel ( which implies peace was offer'd them ) but harden'd their hearts , and stood it out , and would not submit to israel , to their terms of peace ( one whereof was the relinquishing of their idolatry , and owning the only true god ) therefore were they destroy'd . 3. this severity was allowed and appointed them , upon particular reasons , and at that time , and for that age : for these seven nations were those that possess'd the land of canaan , which by their abominable wicked practices had so provoked god , that he having shewn much patience to them , and yet they continuing and encreasing in their wickedness ; when the iniquity of the ammonites and other nations was full ( as it is gen. 15. ) when the measure of their sins was filled up , he made use of the israelites to execute his sentence of wrath against them , to destroy them , and possess that land. and the israelites were to be more severe against them , least , if they were spared , they might seduce them to idolatry ( a sin to which israel was prone ) and to do after their abominations , as it is in deut. 20. 18. and ch . 7. 4. but this was no just ground for the jews to express their hatred and severities to all other nations , and in all ages ; and that upon the account of their differing from them in religion , or their not being of their way . and here , observe the strange temper of the jewish spirit . where god commands them to love their neighbour , to love and not to vex the stranger , they straiten the commandment of love to fewer then are meant , or the law of nature requires : but where god commands them to exercise hostility against , and not to spare seven nations , they extend this to more then are meant : and under the pretence of their being obliged , to abhor , and to oppose seven nations express'd in scripture , and for a particular reason , they think themselves allowed to hate nine times seven nations , 63 of the lxx nations into which they supposed the world to be divided , from that in deut. 32. 8. and by this time you have a full discovery of the jewish spirit ; a labour of some pains , which i might have willingly spared , and not insisted so long upon this argument ; but that i thought it might be of good use ( besides the expiaining of several scriptures by the way ) to lay before you the narrowness and straitness of the jewish spirit , and to engage you , as you would tender the honour of christianity , to beware of this sowre leaven of the pharisees ; as also , that by setting before you the unbecomingness and unloveliness of this temper of mind , you might be the more enamour'd with , and endeavour after the true christian spirit of love , of a love more enlarged , into all kindnesses and charities to all . ii. the spirit of the world is a mean and strait spirit , a poor contracted spirit . the temper and fashion of the men of the world , the men of this earth , ( as the psalmist calls them ) is to love those that love them , matth. 5. 47. if ye love them which love you , &c. and there is no harm in this , to render good for good , to shew kindness , and pay love where it is owing ( and it is owing to such as have been friendly , and shewed kindness to us . ) but here is to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only , which is express'd in the following words . if ye love them [ onely ] which love you , is that which our saviour reproves and forbids , as being an instance of that strait , and low , and contracted spirit in the men of the world ; yea , in the vilest and worst of them ; above which he would raise the spirit of christians , all his disciples : he would have their love enlarged and advanced above that pitch which the men of the world ( earthly men , who only relish and mind earthly things ) attain to . publicans , and sinners , and heathens , love at this rate ; they can love those that love them , those that have been kind to them ; but as for others , those whom they account enemies , those that have provoked and ill-treated them ; they are so far from loving them , from doing any good to them , that they meditate revenge , they bear ill-will to them , they plot mischief against them , they desire and contrive their hurt ; and if they succeed herein , they rejoice at the calamity they bring upon them . if others revile them , they revile again ; if others have injur'd them , they are impatient till they be even with them ; and ( as it is said in prov. 4. 16. ) they sleep not except they have done mischief , and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall . it is possible indeed ; yea , usual , for publicans and sinners , to love in word and in tongue ; to pretend fair in looks or words , when as , at the same time , enmity and war is in their hearts , rancour and malice boils within them ; when they flatter with their tongue , their inward part is very wickedness ( as it is ps. 5. 9. ) but this falseness and dissimulation in pretending love and kindness , when nothing less is meant , is worse then open hostility and profess'd enmity : it is but a cover and vizard to a more deeply meditated revenge , and a certainly intended mischief ; as it is also an argument of a more course and ignoble spirit , a more sneaking temper , to dissemble . but our blessed saviour ( in whose spirit and mouth there was no guile ) would have his followers to love in deed and truth ; to love enemies so ; to love them heartily ; to be as hearty and real in desiring and endeavouring their good , as the others are in doing evil to them . and thus to love not only friends and benefactors , those that have loved us , or are our brethren ; but to love our enemies , those that are unthankful , and render evil for good : and to love these , not only in word or appearance , out of a design to do them a mischief more successfully ; but to love them in truth and reality ; to overcome their evil with good : to love at such a rate as this , with a love enlarged into true desires and endeavours for the good of others , those that are contrary to us ; this is to do more then publicans and sinners do ; this is a more noble , heroick , and god-like love ; a love resembling the divine love , far exalted above that low , and narrow , and selfish spirit of the world , and above that vulgar and ordinary sort of love practis'd by the men of the world. to return therefore to those excellent words of our saviour in matth. 5. 46. if ye love them which love you ] i. e. if ye love them onely , if ye shew kindness , and express good will to those onely who have obliged you by kindnesses and favours , what reward have ye ? ] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as it is in luke 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whàt thank have ye ? both come to one ; for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here , and upon the like occasion in scripture . do not even publicans the same ? ] or as it is in luke , for sinners do also the same . publicans , men of the worst note and character ; and therefore in scripture , publicans and sinners , publicans and harlots are joined together . christ puts it here by way of question , what reward have ye ? what reward can ye expect from god ? he appeals to their own consciences ; they themselves could not think that the publicans ( men of so vile a character ) should have a reward from god : but if ye do but as they do , as they can do ; what reward can ye expect from god for so doing ? the very publicans , the worst of men , do as much as this ; they love those that love them : and if a christian is to excel and out-do the scribes and pharisees , who were deemed the strictest sect ; else no reward , no entrance into god's kingdom ( ver. 20. ) much more then is he to out-do the publicans and sinners of the world. to the same purpose , and to engage christians to a love enlarged above the spirit of the world , is that which follows in matth. 5. 47. and if ye salute ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) your brethren onely ; ( some greek copies have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your friends onely ; ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what do ye more then others ? what extraordinary what excellent , or eminent thing above others , do ye ? do not even the publicans so ? ( some copies read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , do not even the heathens so ? ) by brethren are here meant , those of your kindred , or acquaintance , or those of your own country and religion , fellow-jews ; brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh , as s. paul calls them , rom. 9. 3. or those which have obliged you , done good to you , so in luke 6. 33. by salute ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , if ye salute ) is meant all outward expressions of affection , as by friendly embracing one another ( which was the custom of those eastern nations in their meeting ) or by courteous compellations and friendly askings of their health and wellfare ( so the syriack here ) and wishing well to them . salute it , in matth. 10. 12. is in luke 10. 5. say , peace be to this house : and so it is as much as if ye be friendly to — ; as our old translation not unfitly renders the sense , and in luke 6. 33. if ye do good to — . what do you more then others ? do not even publicans so ? or as it is in luke 6. 33. for sinners also do even the same . and what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( to use the word in i pet. 2. 20. ) what honour , what glory and praise is it to do no more in this kind then they ? publicans and sinners do all this , they can return civilities and pay kindnesses to such as have been friendly and kind to them . this is no such difficult thing ; to love with such a strait and consined affection : it is the common practice of publicans , and heathens , and sinners of the world. this is the way of love wherein they walk . but there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a more excellent way ( as the apostle calls it , i cor. 12. ult . ) and this more excellent way is the way of an higher and more enlarged charity ; an excellent description whereof we have in ch. 13. it becomes a christian to do more then others here , as he expects to have more then others hereafter ; a full reward . it becomes him to excel others in what is commendable and praise-worthy , and to out-go them in somewhat they cannot reach to : otherwise he might have done what he does , and lived according to this rate , had he never heard of christ , nor been acquainted with the gospel . it seems the life of christ , ( that fairest and highest pattern and copy of the best life ) it seems the precepts of christ , ( the best rules of the best life ) it seems the eternal reward , promis'd in the gospel , which hath more brought to light life and immortality , then all the philosophy in the world did : it seems that these , and none of these , have had such a prevailing influence and power over him , as to engage and excite him to do more then those others ; to do that which is eminent above others ; and particularly in this duty of enlarged love. for as for the life of christ : his life ( as his spirit ) was a life of the most enlarged benignity and goodness . he hath done all things well , say they of him , ( mark 7. ult . ) who at his diffusive goodness were astonished above measure , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more then above measure . jesus of nazareth , who went about doing good , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the short character s. peter gives of him in his sermon to cornelius , acts 10. 38. and for his precepts and rules of love ; of love to enemies , to those that hate and persecute us ; there were never any precepts or rules so full and strictly pressing , as those given by christ , the great lawgiver , prophet and teacher sent from god : as never such a reward , so great reward , promised , and assured , as the reward of eternal life in the gospel , which hath brought to light life and immortality . to conclude : it becomes a christian to be a living testimony to this , that grace doth over-match nature the scripture speaks of the power of godliness , of the mighty spirit and power of christianity : and is it indeed such a powerful thing ? then it must sweeten the sowre and harsh spirit ; rectify the crooked disposition ; cool the hot and passionate spirit ; ennoble the servile , and fix the vain heart ; and enlarge the strait and contracted spirit to a spirit of enlarged love ; love to all , to enemies ; to more then friends , and brethren , or those that love us . but now to prevent all mistake , and to remove any scruple which may arise upon what hath been said of the extensiveness and enlargedness of that love , which is to be in christians : we are to consider , that there is a threefold love , which we are to deal forth agreeably to the respective objects thereof . 1. of benevolence , or good-will . 2. of beneficence , or bounty . 3. of complacence , good-liking , or well-pleasedness . 1. as for the love of benevolence , or good-will , this is to be extended to all men ; of what rank and condition , or of what quality soever ; though they be never so unlike and contrary to us . all men whatsoever are the objects of this love , of love under the manifestation of hearty good-will , and inward pity . and of such love and compassion , and the fruits thereof , sinners have most need , because they do not truly wish well to themselves , they do not pity and love their own souls ; as on the contrary , of a good man it is said , he loveth his own soul , and , doth good to his own soul ( as it is express'd in prov. 19. ver . 8. and ch. 11. 17. ) the sinners of this world , that relish and pursue the forbidden pleasures of the flesh , or the unjust gains and advantages of the world ; those that mind either filthy lucre , or filthiness of flesh or spirit ; that walk after their own ungodly lusts , walk in the ways of their own hearts , ānd in the sight of their eyes , committing iniquity with greediness ; and thus are busy to destroy themselves ( as if the devil were not active enough , who goes about seeking whom he may devour ; but they will be active to help forward their own destruction . ) are not these to be bewailed , and pitied ? these ( if any ) should be lamented ; and thou should'st testify thy good-will and compassion to them in mourning over their souls ; in discovering to them the danger their souls are in ; in seasonably reproving and admonishing them ; in affording them thy prayers , thy counsel , and best help for their good . and that which doth most strictly oblige , and should powerfully excite us to such a charity towards the worst of men , is the consideration of christ's practice , whose example is to be transcribed by us . for our saviour christ manifested this love of benevolence and good-will and pity towards sinful and unworthy jerusalem , which was then designing to kill him , and therein expressing its greatest hatred and enmity against him ; as it had kill'd the other prophets , and stoned those that were sent of god , ( math. 23. ) and so the city was become macellum prophetarum , and civitas sanguinum , the city of bloods , as it 's thrice called in ezekiel . and ( which is another circumstance most remarkable ) when he rode in triumph to jerusalem , such hosanna's and gratulations , such respects and honours being then performed to him , the meek king of zion , prophesied of in zach. 9. as were never done to david or solomon , or any the most magnificent king in israel : in the midst of all these triumphs , these hosanna's and joyous acclamations , his heart was melted into all charity and compassion to the unworthy and bloody jerusalem . so we read in luke 19. 41. that when he was come near the city , as soon as he beheld it , he wept over it . ( and here it might have been said , as the jews said at his weeping upon the sight of lazarus's grave , behold how he loved it ) saying ( ver . 42. ) if thou hadst known , even thou , at least in this thy day , the things that belong unto thy peace . never did a bleeding heart express its inward compassion in more pathetical language , in words more full of pity and charity . this form of words seems abrupt , his sighs and tears supplied the room of other words , which should have made the sentence compleat . and indeed , such abrupt forms of speech are most pathetical , they are the becoming graces and elegancies of sorrow : it 's the proper idiom of grief , thus to express it self in half-sentences , when the vehemency of the inward affection , or a flow of tears will not suffer the speaker to utter all . he wept over jerusalem , because of its stupidity , and blindness , and hardness of heart ; and because of the utter destruction and misery which would therefore follow , about forty years after , at which time a strange stupid hardness did possess them , as ananus one of their priests complained , who was weary to live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as josephus relates . christ had for three years spoken to the jews by his word and miracles ; endeavoured to gain them to the minding of the things of their peace : and now at this his last visitation of them , he speaks to them by his tears as well as his words , to try whether these would affect them whom it so nearly concerned . if thou hadst known ( or o that thou hadst known , or knewest , as some render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) at least in this thy day ; though hitherto , thou hast not known , but neglected and rejected my doctrine and miracles , and the things of thy peace ; yet if now , at least in this thy day , the day spoken of by zachary , the day of thy visitation , and that in a way of mercy and favour . o that thou would'st discern and believe to the securing of thy own good and welfare . by this love of benevolence , pity and good-will , which christ testified in so remarkable an instance to jerusalem , he shewed himself to be the express image of his father , the god of love , and who is love it self : and the example of god , is a further engagement to this sort of enlarged charity to all . god wishes well , and bears a good-will to the souls of men . he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the truest lover of souls , and wishes better to us then we do to ourselves , or any friend to us . we have god's oath and his affectionate expostulation in ezek. 33. 11. as i live , saith the lord , i have no pleasure in ( or , i desire not ) the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and live . turn ye , turn ye from your evil ways , for why will ye die , o house of israel ? why are ye so stupid , so hard of heart , as not to know and consider what concerns you so nearly ? and if these words ( and the like in ch. 18. 32. ) be meant of temporal evil and ruine ; and god desires not , nor delights in that which is the lighter and less considerable evil ; much less doth he desire , or delight in their spiritual and eternal ruine , and in their sin , the proper cause thereof . no , he discovers riches of goodness , long-suffering and forbearance ; and the end of this is to lead us to repentance . he speaks in a still voice to our hearts , by the gentle sollicitations of his spirit : he speaks to our consciences in inward rebukes and checks for sin : he speaks by his providences , his works of judgment and mercy : he speaks by his word ; and by the ministers thereof doth beseech us to be reconciled to him , and so mind the things of our peace . he , who hath been injur'd and dishonour'd by us ; he , who is almighty , and fears us not , if enemies ; he , who is all-sufficient , and needs us not , if friends ; he seeks unto us , that we be at peace with him , from whence no benefit will redound to him , but to us. thus we have a short view of god's good-will , and of christ's charity . and o , how should the same free charity and good-will shew forth it self in us to others ; to the souls especially of others ! 2. as for the love of beneficence , this is also to be extended to all men . 't is not enough to wish well . bare benevolence the philosopher in his ethicks calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a lazy , vain and fruitless friendship . as faith without works is a dead faith , a vain faith , being alone ( james 2. ) so love without agreable effects is a cold , dead and vain love , being alone . to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , benevolence , then must be added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , beneficence : and it will be so , where the inward affection is sincere and real . the same greek word [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] simplicity or sincerity of affection , imports also liberality and bountifulness , as it is well translated in 2 cor. 9. to wish well , is friendship in the root , love in the springhead : to do well is friendship in the fruitful branches , love in the streams . our doing good therefore , must spread as large as our wishing good ; both must be to all men . this is fitly call'd humanity , which is to extend as far as mankind , all of human race ; though evil and unthankful ; for god's beneficence is as large . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said the philosopher , when he was reproved for giving to a bad man ; i consider not his manners ( saith he ) but his needs ; i give it to him as a man , not as a bad man. but here we are to consider , that this love of beneficence is not equally to be distributed to all men . the apostle who commends the corinthians for their liberal communicating unto the saints , and to all men ( 2 cor. 9. 13. ) and who exhorts the galatians ( ch. 6. 10. ) to do good as they had opportunity , or ability , to all men , yet adds a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , especially unto them who are of the houshold of faith ; caeteris paribus to them in the first place , or rather then to heathens ; to the believing christians who are of gods family and houshold ; the greater part of this love is due to these . and such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or especially is observed by god in his beneficence towards men , who is therefore said ( 1 tim. 4. 10. ) to be the saviour of all men ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , especially of them that believe , or of the faithful , i. e. of christians . god by the care of his merciful providence preserves all his creatures , is the pre server of man and beast ( ps. 36. ) the saviour of all men , but especially ( more particularly ) of christians and believers , those of his houshold ; to save them from , or support them under their pressures and troubles , when they labour , and suffer reproach , ( as in this verse , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as some greek copies read it ) and when they hope in the living god. and as we are especially to do good to christians , those of god's family , to testify a greater measure and degree of this love of beneficence to them then to heathens and unbelievers , cateris paribus : so amongst christians , those that do most answer that worthy name , that approve themselves most such in all those graces and vertues which accomplish and adorn a christian , they are to have the greater share of our love ; as also those that have been instrumental to our good . yea further as to those that are of god's houshold , so to those that are of our own houshold , those that are our kindred and nearly related to us . if any provide not for his own , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and especially for those of his own house , he is worse then an infidel , 1 tim. 5. 8. some under the pretence of this place ( which by the context appears , rather to command the care of children for their parents , then parents care in providing for their children ; though that be also so be minded ) think that they can never exceed in thoughtfulness , or do too much in providing for theirs , that so they may not be worse then infidels : whereas by this means they become , what they would avoid , infidels , and worse then infidels , through their unbelief and distrust of god's providence and blessing ; while they are so sollicitous and eager about the world , with all their might and art , to scrape still more of the world , to leave them as wealthy as they can , and make them as great as they can ; by which means , they more hazard the eternal estate and concerns of their relations , who are tempted hereby , to live according to the course of a vain and wicked world , tempted to pride and luxury , and the like sins , which not seldom bring them to want and ruine here also . whereas by a moderate care and decent provision for them , they might have better secured the welfare of their souls , and the continuance of their houses . and besides , some part of such great abundance , might have been reserved for , and employed upon , pious and charitable uses and occasions ( and so their beneficence would have spread to the comfort of many , and they might have been as fathers to the needy , as job saith of himself . ) and some part of such an estate employ'd to a more publick good , would have been a means to secure that other proportion of estate , dispos'd to the more particularly related to them : and if it were so , there is a greater ground of hope that god would bless it , and them that enjoy it . besides , a truer greatness , a fairer name , and greater honour is procured by such diffusive charities , that respect the good of many : while they live they are loved and honoured by all , and when they are dead their name is had in everlasting remembrance . 't is not absalom's pillar that he built , nor a stately mausolaeum , nor magnificent palaces which men call after their own names , nor costly tombs , nor pompous epitaphs that shall secure the memory of rich and great men , or eternize their names so much , as the devoting of somewhat of their estates to the service of religion ( whereby the welfare of many souls is endeavoured ) or to other publick uses ; either for the comfortable being of others that are aged , or sick , or needy , ( as in erecting , or better endowing hospitals , or alms-houses ) or for the training up of those that are young , and rendring them more fit to be useful in the world , ( as in founding , or endowing schools and colleges ) the fruit of which charities is likely to be for ever . one thing more is to be added , that although this love of beneficence , is caeteris paribus ( where circumstances are alike ) first , and more especially and in a greater measure to be extended to those of our own house , and are near us , rather then to others that are more removed from us ; to christians , rather then to heathens and infidels ; and amongst christians to those that are such in reality , and in an eminent degree , rather then to christians in name and profession only ; to good men rather then to the evil : yet it may so fall out that even to vitious and unworthy persons this sort of love is rather to be extended ; and that is upon the exigency of their present condition , if it be sadly calamitous , and their wants are pressing above measure . 3. as for the third & last sort of love , the love of complacence , good-liking , and well-pleasedness ; this being the most precious sort of love , is not to be pour'd out so diffusively as that either of benevolence or beneficence ; it is not to spread out so large as either of them . we may wish well to all men ( even to those that are evil ) but we may not delight or take pleasure in all men ; but onely in such as are truly good , or at least are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a hopeful preparation for the kingdom of god , and not far from it . thus did david , as he speaks , psal. 16. 3 — to the saints that are in the earth ( or upon the earth ) to the excellent , in whom is all my delight . where by the way observe , that he calls the saints or good men , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great men ; the word is rendred the nobles in judg. 15. 13. nehem. 3. 5. jer. 14. 3. it signifies illustrious and magnificent and glorious ; such are the saints in god's esteem , and in his , as partaking of the holiness and image of god , then which nothing doth more ennoble the soul , and makes it more honourable and glorious . in these saints , good men , and therefore great men , the truly excellent ones , was his delight , all his delight . i will not know a wicked person ( saith he , psal. 101. ) not know so as to approve and delight in ; but i am a companion ( saith he , psal. 119. 63. ) of all them that fear thee and keep thy precepts . with such he loved to associate himself , he delighted to converse with them : and herein david's heart was after god's heart , the lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him , psal. 147. it is true that our saviour christ did converse ( while he was upon earth ) with all sorts of men , with jews , samaritans , and gentiles , with publicans and sinners : upon which score the pharisees did twit him more then once , murmuring at his going to the house of levi or matthew a publican , when invited to dinner there , where there were also many publicans and sinners at dinner . but this was rather an high praise and vertue in christ , then a thing to be reproved ; and shewed the great benignity of his spirit , accompanied with a design of doing them good : for where should a surgeon or physician be but among the diseased and sick , where there are most that stand in need of their relief ? christ was sent by god upon a merciful design into the world , as the great physician to heal the world , to call sinners to repentance . the pharisees were as sick and diseased as others , but they thought themselves righteous , and whole , and not to need this physician . the publicans and sinners were made more sensible of their danger , and their need of him : and he is as ready to cure them ; and to this end doth freely converse with them ; and if invited by them , or falling into their company , he did not decline them ; yea sometimes he would invite himself , as he did to zacheus's house . not that any man is hence to embolden himself to a free and inwardly familiar and delightful frequent converse with sinners ; especially with obdurate and hardened sinners , settled in sin , and scandalously wicked . for as christ was rooted and grounded in the love of god , and not to be shaken with any tentation from the world ; as he was of a perfectly healthful and strong ( as well as pure ) constitution of soul , so that he was not in danger of any hurtful infection or contagion from the worst company : so christ convers'd with sinners , not out of delight and complacence in such company , but out of charity and compassion in order to their cure , as the great and gracious physician of souls . and if thou wilt imitate him therein , thy conversing with the sinners of the world must be out of the same design of spiritual charity ; in order to the winning of them to goodness and vertue , or at least to the restraining and checking of their sin : it should be accompanied with the shewing of thy dislike and detestation of their wicked courses . otherwise there is to be no frequent and familiar and complacential converse with such ; especially when upon thy endeavour to reclaim them they appear obdurate sinners , settled in their wickedness , and small hope appears of working any good upon them . and though christ's love of good-will was to all , yet his love of complacence and good-liking was to his obedient disciples , his spiritual kindred ; according to that passage in matth. 12. ult . he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples , and said , behold my mother and my brethren ; for whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven , the same is my brother , and sister , and mother . and thus s. paul , though out of tender good-will and compassion to souls , he was willing to become all things unto all men ( yet so as without sin ) that he might by any means save some ( 2 cor. 9. 21. and ch. 10. ult . ) yet those who were truly saints , were his joy and crown , his dearly beloved and longed for , or much desired ) so he accounts the saints at philippi ; whose faith and conversation worthy of the gospel , he remembers with joy and greatest satisfaction , in his epistle to them . others had his good-will , these his delight and complacence ; these he had in his heart , as he speaks , ch. 1. 7. there is to the same purpose a pathetick expression of s. paul concerning the believing romans , ( ch. 15. 24. ) i trust to see you in my journey towards spain , and to be brought on my way thither , if first i be somewhat filled with you , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with your company . somewhat filled , or in some sort ( so the same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are rendred ver. 15. ) in some measure be filled , or have satisfied my self in the pleasure of having some communion with you . but the syriack rendred the greck 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which tremelins thus renders , postquam quast odore aromatum perfusus fuero in videndo vos . the communion of holy souls , the spiritual converse of such , how sweet and delightful , how aromatical , more then a bundle of spices ; no sweet odors so grateful , so refreshing , so delightful as the society of well-agreeing souls ! that therefore which makes a person an object most properly capable of this love of complacence ( the most precious sort of love ) is true and real goodness , the participation of the divine nature in holy souls , or divine beauty shining out in the spirit and life of a christian. it may be evidenced thus , god most high , is the first fair as the first good , the first beauty , excellency and perfection : and consequently nothing can make a creature more lovely , nothing can raise a soul to more excellency and perfection , then the participation of god , the nearer a creature comes to resemble god : there is nothing higher , nothing better in a soul , then the image of god ; and there is nothing more precious and dear to god then resembling of him in righteousness and true holiness . this is his delight , and should be ours . righteousness and true holiness ( which is the most excellent participation and image of god ) qualifies us for converse with god , and angels , and the spirits of just men made perfect , who would rejoyce in us ; as it qualifies us to be the proper objects of this love of complacence in good men. without this , we cannot be of the houshold of god , nor fellow-citizens with the saints : without this , we are not in a capacity for the enjoyments and delights of heaven , we should not know what to do in heaven , how to behave ourselves there , how to consort with the citizens of the jerusalem above . chap. iii. the purity of christian love. thirdly , it is to be a pure love , love out of a pure heart . this is another scripture-character of that love wherein christians are to walk . love out of a pure heart , 1 tim. 1. 5. and 1 pet. 1. 22. see that ye love one another with a pure heart ( or out of a pure heart , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so render'd , 1 tim. 1. 5. ) pure it must be , 1. to distinguish it from that gross , sensual , carnal love , which is found amongst those that are companions in iniquity . 1. whether it be in doing violence to others . such a love , and friendship amongst a knot of thieves and murdering robbers , solomon doth describe , prov. 1. come with us ( say they ) cast in thy lot among us , let us all have one purse , we shall find all precious substance , and fill our houses with spoil . thus they entice others to their society , and their sin ( for nemo facilè solus peccat , saith s. austin lib. 2. confess . cap. penult . ) but such a love as this tends to the hurt and ruin of such companions here and hereafter : and they lay wait for their own blood , and lurk privily for their own lives ( i. e. they are active to their own destruction ) saith solomon , ver. 18. even when they are designing the destruction of others , as it is in ver. 11. they say , come with us , let us lay wait for blood , let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause . 2. or whether it be in running to the same excess of riot , with those whose course of life is a course of luxury and intemperance , men that are mighty to drink wine , and men of strength to mingle strong drink ; for which these sensualists love and delight in one another . but it is no true kindness to entice others to such a course of life as tends ( besides the wast of estate , and of what is most precious , time ) to the ruin of health and body ; and to the woful ruin of the soul , if unrepented of , and unforsaken . 3. or whether it be in chambering and wantonness , lasciviousness , or the lust of the flesh , which is an impure love , and particularly call'd uncleanness . and this impure love ( or rather lust ; for inordinate , impure and forbidden love is lust ) as it was amongst the gentiles , who for their sins were by the just judgment given up to vile affections ( rom. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dishonourable passions ) so it was found amongst a vile sort of christians , call'd by the ancients gnosticks , from their pretence to greater knowledge , but it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as s. paul calls it ) a knowledge falsly so called ; for it did not tend to better them , but their principles did lead them to all impurity , and to work all uncleanness with greediness . such as these began betimes to dishonour the pure and undefiled religion of christ , and to turn the grace of god into lasciviousness , as s. jude speaks , in whose epistle they are call'd spots in your feasts of charity . they came to the christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or love-feasts , but they were the repraoch and dishonour of the christian profession . and in the 2 epistle of s. peter , chap. 2. they are call'd spots and blemishes . they spake indeed ( as he saith , ver . 18. ) great swelling words of vanity . ( this was an instance of that sublime and unordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which they pretended ) but it was to allure to the lusts of the flesh , through much wantonness ; and ( ver . 19. ) while they promised liberty to them that they did thus allure , they them selves were the servants of corruption , slaves of lust and debauchery , being entangled in the pollutions of the world , ver. 20. much more of their vile character we have in these 2 epistles ; as also in some of the ancients , in irenaeus , clem. alexandrinus , tertullian , epiphanius , eusebius ; yea , in a philosopher , plotinus , who wrote against them an excellent discourse . and yet for all this , they gloried in a strong conceit of their special relation to god , and nearness to him . plotinus saith they were wont to speak to their proselytes in such flattering language as this , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. thou art a child of god , but others are not . and so irenaeus saith , they call'd themselves , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the seed of election , and ( as clem. alex. ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the children of the king ; and therefore above the law : for others indeed which were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , carnal ( as they call'd all but themselves ) they were to mind temperance , and chastity , and good works , else they could not be saved ; but as for themselves , they had no such need to mind them ; but because they were spiritual , they should be saved ; and they affirmed , it was impossible for them not to be saved , in whatsoever actions they were engaged ; and therefore the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do all things without fear : and such was their filthiness , that they were fitly call'd barbaritae by the ancients , the dirty sect ; to which that of s. peter agrees , where he compares them to the sow wallowing in the mire . there is the filthiness of flesh and of spirit , mentioned in 2 cor. 7. 1. to both which , this pure love , or love out of a pure heart , is opposed . [ love out of a pure heart . ] the scripture still lays the great stress upon the heart , and requires that should be first lookt to , for out of it are the issues of life or death . prov. 4. except this spring be pure , and kept clean from all defilement , the streams will never be pure and chrystalline . and if there be purity in the heart ( if the heart be cleansed from the love or liking of all , either worldly , or fleshly lusts ) then all other purity will follow , purity in life and conversation . it was therefore the best counsel , and the onely right method , which our saviour christ-did prescribe , ( he , who was the wisdom of god , the best guide and director of souls , as the best physician for sick and diseased mankind ) that in matth. 23. 26. cleanse first that which is within , that the outside may be clean also . but more fully doth our saviour christ insist upon this , in that best of sermons , his sermon on the mount. for whereas the scribes and pharisees thought it enough for the keeping of the sixth commandment , to abstain from actual outward murder ; and so for the keeping of the seventh commandment , to abstain from the gross and outward acts of adultery and uncleanness ; whereas in the mean time they cared not though their hearts were full of raneour and malice , and inveterate hatred against their brother ; and though they had their hearts full of lust , and eyes full of adultery : our blessed saviour ( the best master of morality and good life ) forbids the undue motions of the heart to either sin , the inward tendencies and inclinations to sin , with the first occasions and incitements thereunto : he forbids the murder of the heart , as well as of the hand ; and not onely the lust of the flesh , but the lust and adultery of the heart ; and the lust of the eye , he affirms it to be adultery it self in the account of god , matth. 5. 28. and god's account , christ's esteem of things we are chiefly to consider and regard . 't is not so material how men account of things or call them : they call evil good , and good evil ; they put darkness for light , and light for darkness : the world calls many things by softer and more plausible names then the holy scripture doth . but it will be our wisdom and safety to judge of all things according to god's measures , and to account and call them as god doth ; to his infinite wisdom it 's fit our weak understandings should submit ; to him we stand or fall ( rom 14. ) he onely can clear or condemn in the great day of accounts . and , o take heed ( as thou lovest thy soul , or tendrest the honour of christ ) of thinking that what christ hath here or elsewhere in the gospel prescribed and enjoined us to avoid , is any part of unnecessary strictness , and that his doctrines and laws are too nice and severe . to think thus , is to undervalue the wisdom of christ , the lawgiver , the head of the church , the lord of all , the great prophet sent by god to teach the world , testified by a voice from heaven to be the son of god , whom we are to hear : as if he ( who was the wisdom of god ) did not better know the true natures and properties of things , the just measures and bounds within which humane nature was to be determined and kept , where man was to be restrained , and may not be allowed to do otherwise . and for thee not to restrain thy self as christ hath ordered thee , and told thee it must be thus for thy souls welfare ; not to govern thy self according to his rules and institutions , is plainly to deny the lord that bought thee , to deny thy christian profession . for by professing thy self a christian , thou professest christ to be thy teacher , lord and ruler ; and that he is the person whom thou hast made choice of to serve ; and that there is no way so likely & sure to bring thee to blessedness and salvation as what he hath prescribed . but then to practise contrary , is to deny all this thy profession : it 's to mock and despise christ , as if he were guilty of prescribing thee some things which were unnecessary , dishonourable , or ridiculous to observe ; which is plainly to deny the faith , to deny the lord that bought thee , and hath shew'd thee what is good , and for thy good ; and consequently , it is to bring upon thy self swift destruction . but , o be so kind , so good to thy soul , as to flee these things , and abstain from fleshly lusts which war ( as against christ and his laws , so ) against thy own soul , 1 pet. 2. and avoid such discourse and corrupt communication , such sighs and representations , such books and poems , as cross the laws and precepts of christ , and tend to feed , and cherish , and enflame that which christ came to extinguish and destroy ; and which tend to make that seem ridiculous nicety , which christ hath made thy necessary and just duty . and a most faithful follower of christ , blessed s. paul , doth often in his epistles press and inculcate that purity of heart and life , which our saviour christ so indispensably requires . flee youthful lusts , saith he ( not long before his departure ) to timothy ( 2 ep. 2. 22. ) but follow after righteousness , faith , charity ; that 's love out of a pure heart , and within its due bounds , in opposition to the youthful lusts ; youth being the more wild , untamed , impetuous , inconsiderate part of life , more obnoxious to the temptations and defilements of sin : and therefore thou hast need to watch and pray against tentations ; to look unto thy eyes , to make a covenant with them , as job did ; to look to thy words , as david did , that he might not sin with his tongue ; and above all keeping , to keep thy heart ( as the words are literally to be rendred , prov. 4. 23. ) that the heart , the spring of thy affections and actions , may be free from all mud and defilement . the same apostle , s. paul , in 1 ep. cor. chap. 6. presseth this duty , flee fornication , saith he , ver. 18. and he presseth it with six arguments ; heaping one argument upon another ( as you may read from ver. 13. to the end of the chapter ) one whereof ( in ver. 20. ) is taken from this , that they were bought with a price , the precious blood of christ , the lamb without spot and blemish , ( a price above silver and gold , which yet are the most precious of corruptible things , as s. peter in 1 ep. chap. 1. ) ye are bought with a price ; it cost christ dear to redeem you , even the price of his blood to purchase you , your whole man , bodies as well as souls . as the same apostle in col. 3. from another consideration of christ , of christ as risen from the dead , and in his body ascended into heaven and sitting at the right hand of god , doth earnestly exhort christians ( as they believe and expect that god will also after death , raise up their bodies by his power to an incorruptible , pure and undefiled state , and heavenly glory ) to keep their bodies undefiled and in a state of purity , in a rising condition , so as they may be qualified for that spiritual and heavenly state and glory , to which at the resurrection they shall be advanced . and in order and preparation thereunto , that they would mortify fornication , uncleanness , their inordinate affection and evil concupiscence ( ver. 5. ) contrary to the love and affection out of a pure heart ; mortify , ( a word of great importance and significancy ) not onely abate , or lessen , or weaken their lusts , that so they may not be so lively and stirring in them ; but mortify , put them to death , crucify them , as he speaks , gal. 5. 24. they that are christ's , have crucified the flesh , with the affections and lusts . christians should be dead to them ( as dead to all sin , rom. 6. ) and therefore not walk in them : and all forbidden pleasures , all sensual objects should be dead to them , without force to tempt or perswade them ; and as dead things , out of mind , should they be forgotten , uncared for , unremembred ( i. e. not remembred with any complacence or delight ) not once named , as the apostle speaks , ephes. 5. 3 , 4. but fornication and all uncleanness let it not be once named amongst you , as becometh saints : neither filthiness , nor foolish talking , nor jesting ; by which two last words the apostle means obscene discourses , stories or tales , songs and jests ( much of the wit and jesting of wicked men being in obscene arguments , and in behalf of that sin which is call'd folly , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the old testament , to work or commit folly in israel ) . concerning these the apostle adds , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are not convenient ; that 's too soft a word , rather which are not beseeming , but altogether unbecoming christians . purity of heart , and affections , and life , and actions is that which thou art called and obliged to as a christian , 1 thes. 4. 7. god hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness or sanctification . and if thou wouldst attain to this state of purity , and continue in it , first , seek unto god by humble & earnest prayer . say with david ( ps. 51. ) purge me , and i shall be clean ; wash me , and i shall be whiter then snow : create in me a clean heart , o god , and renew a right spirit within me ; or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a firm , constant , resolved spirit , so as never to fall again into the like defilements . say with the poor leper , who kneeled down , and in this humble posture earnestly besought christ ( mark 1. ) lord , if thou wilt , thou canst make me clean . and know and be assured for thy encouragement , that christ is as willing , as able to do it ; and as willing to make thee clean , as thou thy self canst be willing to be cleansed . secondly , but see then that thou art willing : for god complains of the unwillingness of many ( jer. 13. ult . ) o jerusalem , wilt thou not be made clean , when shall it once be ? thou must be willing , thou must not resist ; thou must pati deum , suffer god to work in thee without disturbance ; not oppose , not hinder him when he is at work in thy conscience , to convince and humble thee : and whatever method god shall please to use for the purifying of thee , patiently submit and yield to it , be it longer and sharper afflictions , inward or outward . thirdly , nor must thou onely quietly and willingly suffer god to work in thee , but thou must also work with him , and strive according to the working which worketh in thee . thou must use thy serious and best endeavours to keep thy self unspotted from the world , and always labour after that thou prayest for , jer. 4. 14. o jerusalem , wash thine heart from wickedness , that thou mayest be saved ; how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee ? fourthly , and if thou hast begun to set upon the work of self-purification , go on to purge and cleanse thy heart yet more and more . if thou hast escaped the pollutions of the world , through the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ ; if thou hast begun to purify thy soul in obeying the truth through the spirit , ( as s. peter speaks ) take heed lest thou again be entangled therein and overcome : for then thy latter end would be worse with thee then the beginning . fifthly , pray and watch against tentations . none can be secured from sin further then they are careful to shun the occasions or tentations of sin. prov. 6. 27. can a man take fire in his bosome , and his cloaths not be burnt ? can one go upon hot coals , and his feet not be burnt ? saith solomon , who by sad experience found the hurt of tampering with tentations . thus the silly moth plays about the candle , and at last burns it self to death . sixthly , and as thou must be watchful , so thou wilt have need of courage and resolution , and fortitude of spirit : and this thou shalt not want , if thou hast faith in god. resist then , stedfast in the faith. be strong in the lord , and in the power of his might . put on the whole armour of god ; that thou may'st be able to withstand in the evil day , in the day of tentation ; and having done all to stand , keep the field , and come off with victory and triumph : which thou shalt not fail of , if thou hast faith in the goodnessand power of god , if thou be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus ; his grace shall be sufficient for thee , and thou shalt be able to do all things through christ strengthening thee ; thou shalt be more then conquerour through him that loved thee , a conquerour over those fleshly lusts that warr'd against thy soul : and to thee and every one that overcometh , will christ ( that with contentment and delight beheld thy conflict , courage and conquest ) give a crown of life and glory that fadeth not away . and thus i have done with the first particular ; a pure love , 1. to distinguish it from that gross , sensual , carnal love which is found amongst them that are companions in wickedness . ii. pure love it must be , to distinguish it from a love for by-ends and self-respects , founded only upon politick considerations and worldly interest . the most of that love and amity which is in the world is ( as tully doth fitly express it ) mercatura magis quàm amicitia , a kind of traffick and merchandise , rather then pure love and true friendship . men drive on a trade and pursue designs and serve their interests , by seeming courtesies and civilities . this is the guise and fashion of the world ; thoughts and designs to oblige others , and to advantage themselves thereby , and to make themselves friends here on earth of the mammon of unrighteousness ; these are the springs of all the motions this kind of love hath : it moves not , it goes not out to any but upon these accounts ; it ariseth wholly from interest ; and therefore when any cease or are uncapable to be further serviceable and advantageous to them , their love also ceaseth to such whom they now cast by and lay aside as unprofitable tools , as a broken vessel , a vessel wherein is no pleasure ( as jeremy speaks ) and therefore to be cast away . but consider that this is not to love thy neighbour as thy self ( which god commands ) but meerly for thy self : whereas this is one of the excellent characters and properties of the pure christian love ( 1 cor. 13. 5 ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeketh not her own , the things which are onely for its own advantage ; but mindeth and careth for the interests of others , and is concerned for their good and welfare , without any respect to its own advantage thereby . christian religion doth oblige and would excite us to a greater purity of love , such as should express it self in doing good for goodness sake ; and this is a nobler and higher sort of love , grounded upon the best principle and end . and to this purpose we have two very observable speeches of our saviour christ , quite opposite to the spirit of the world. the first is that in luke 14. 13. where he wills that when they make a feast , they should invite and entertain the poor , lame and maimed and blind , who cannot recompense them ; rather then their friends or rich neighbours , who would invite them again and make them recompence . the main scope of which words , is to perswade them to do good for goodness sake ; and that it should be as great a pleasure & satisfaction to them , to do good and shew kindness to those that are in want , as to the rich and great in the world. and surely to a soul that is generously good , there is nothing so pleasant and delicious ( as nothing more honourable and worthy in it self ) then to be making others full of comforts ; and the greatest pleasure is , when they cannot requite them . the second passage of a like noble import is that speech of our saviour's in matth. 10. two last verses , where christ commends the receiving ( i. e. the entertaining , shewing love and kindness ; yea the least office of love , as the giving a cup of cold water to ) a righteous man , or one of his disciples , in the name of a righteous man , or in the name of a disciple , eo nomine , quatenus such a one ; mainly upon this account and consideration . there may be a receiving and a kind treating of a righteous man , or a disciple of christ , upon other names , regards and considerations ; as in the name of a friend , one that hath done some courtesies ; or in the name of a kinsman , or one related to us ; or in the name of a man of wit or learning , and accomplishments of body or mind ; or in the name of a man of some interest and power , or related to and in favour with men of interest and power ; and so this righteous man , or disciple of christ , or this christian may be thought to be in a capacity to befriend us . but there is a purer love-fire which christ would enkindle in the hearts of christians , viz. to love a righteous man for righteousness and true holiness shining in him , to love him chiefly for goodness sake ; to shew kindness to any of these little ones , ( so christ in matth. calls his disciples ) little in the esteem of the world , little in worldly interests and possessions , and so not likely to recompense those that shew them the least kindness : this is above that common love and friendship in the world , which is founded chiefly upon self-respects , by-ends and politick considerations . nor shall this love lose its reward : though these little ones , these least of christ's disciples , be also little in the account of the world , and have little of the world to recompense thee , yet thou shalt have a reward from god , and a great reward for this thy service of love. and though to give but a cup of cold water to a christian , to a disciple of christ , to a righteous man , seem but a cheap kindness ; yet it being done seasonably ( and so a draught of cold refreshing water may be a great kindness to one that is afflicted with thirst , as it might fall out in those hot eastern countries , and in such a case may be worth a treasure ) he that doth it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( two negatives ) shall in no wise lose his reward , mat. 10. ult . and if to give a cup of cold water shall have its reward , what a reward shall be given to thee if thou cloath , and feed , and visit a disciple of christ , that is naked , or hungry , or sick and in prison ; and do all this in the name of a disciple ? it may be thou hast forgotten thy cup of cold water , thy cloathing , feeding , or visiting a disciple of christ ; and it 's better that thou should'st not remember it , better to have no self-pleasing reflections on what thou hast done ; as the righteous said ( matth. 25. ) lord when saw we thee ( or any disciple of thine , any that belongs to thee ) an hungred , and fed thee ? or thirsty , and gave thee drink ? or naked , and cloathed thee ? or sick , or in prison , and visited thee ? but though thou remembrest not these things , to please and pride thy self therein , yet god will remember thee concerning all this , and for good ; and the rather remember thee , if thou dost not remember them to thy own praise and glory . god is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love , which ye have shewed to ( or in ) his name , in that ye have ministred to the saints , and do minister , heb. 6. 10. saith the apostle to the charitable hebrews ; and for such their charity he was perswaded better things of them , and things that did accompany salvation , as in ver. before . and if the least kindness and labour of love be so rewarded with god ; if to give a small refreshment , a little water , be so acceptable with god ; proportionably the reward will be greater , as the service of love was greater that is done out of a pure heart to a christian , a disciple of christ ; and greater still if done to a prophet , and in the name of a prophet , one whose care and desire is faithfully to preach the gospel , to declare the whole counsel of god , for the better instructing and winning souls to christ : we are to esteem such very highly in love for their works sake ( 1 thes 5. 12 ) and to treat them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , worthy of god , as that observable phrase is 3 ep. john ver. 6. so as is worthy of god , whose messengers they are , on whose errand and business they are employed , whom they serve in the gospel ; as it follows in ver. 7. because that for his names sake they went forth , viz. to preach the gospel . and thus the words [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] being rendred literally and properly worthy of god , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [ or his ] is plain , as referring to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [ god ] in the foregoing verse : but our translation rendring the phrase thus ( which needed not ) [ after a godly sort ] the [ his ] in the following verse [ for his names sake ] is made more obseure , there being in our translation no person mention'd before , to which the [ his ] doth refer : as also the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ver. 6. [ whom if thou bring forward after a godly sort , or worthy of god ] is not so fully rendred ; for the word doth not onely imply to bring part of the way such as went forth to preach the gospel , but it further signifies ( as in other places , so here ) to provide what is needful for them in their journey upon so great an occasion and work ; and this is to be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of god , in a worthy and becoming measure to testify their regards to god , whose work this is . and what is thus done to the prophet , and in the name of a prophet , is done to christ , and done to god ; and such shall receive a prophet's reward . the end . a very christian, learned, and briefe discourse, concerning the true, ancient, and catholicke faith, against all wicked vp-start heresies seruing very profitably for a preseruatiue against the profane nouelties of papists, anabaptists, arrians, brownists, and all other sectaries. first composed by vincentius lirinensis in latine, about twelue hundreth yeares ago. and now faithfully translated into english, and illustrated with certaine marginall notes. by thomas tuke. pro catholicae fidei antiquitate libellus. english vincent, of lérins, saint, d. ca. 450. 1611 approx. 161 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 96 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a14435 stc 24753 estc s102090 99837890 99837890 2237 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a14435) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 2237) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1043:08) a very christian, learned, and briefe discourse, concerning the true, ancient, and catholicke faith, against all wicked vp-start heresies seruing very profitably for a preseruatiue against the profane nouelties of papists, anabaptists, arrians, brownists, and all other sectaries. first composed by vincentius lirinensis in latine, about twelue hundreth yeares ago. and now faithfully translated into english, and illustrated with certaine marginall notes. by thomas tuke. pro catholicae fidei antiquitate libellus. english vincent, of lérins, saint, d. ca. 450. tuke, thomas, d. 1657. aut [12], 71 [i.e. 83] leaves. for leonard becket, and are to be sold at his shop in the inner temple, imprinted at london : 1611. a translation, by thomas tuke, of: saint vincent of lérins. pro catholicae fidei antiquitate libellus. title on a2r; a1r contains only printer's device and imprint. printed by n. okes. cf. colophon. some print show-through. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of 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to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng catholic church -controversial literature -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2005-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-08 john latta sampled and proofread 2005-08 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion london , printed for leonard becket , and are to be sold at his shop in the temple neere the church , 1611. a very christian , learned , and briefe discourse , concerning the true , ancient , and catholicke faith , against all wicked vp-start heresies : seruing very profitably for a preseruatiue against the profane nouelties of papists , anabaptists , arrians , brownists , and all other sectaries . first composed by vincentius lirinensis in latine , about twelue hundreth yeares ago . and now faithfully translated into english , and illustrated with certaine marginall notes . by thomas tvke . imprinted at london for leonard becket , and are to be sold at his shop in the inner temple . 1611. to the right worshipfull , sir iohn leventhorpe knight , and to the right vertuous lady ioanna , his wife , all happinesse earthly and heauenly . right worshipfull , great is the peruersenesse of mans nature , as may appeare by the multitude of errors , and false religions , of the which the world is now sicke euen vnto death . for the iewe hath his , the turke his , the indians theirs , the papist his : yea and almost euery man is ready to turne his fansy into faith ( so common is this kind of alchymie ) and to make doctrines of his owne deuises ; so fond we are by reason of selfe-loue , and the blindnesse of our minds . but ( as eli sayd ) this is not well . for there is but one true religion , and as a leo saith , faith is either one , or none . now because there are so many religions in the world , therefore some will be of none , but stand as it were amazed , not knowing what course to take , like the b fool , that salomon speakes of , which knowes not the way into the citty . it behooues vs therefore seeing such variety of professions to looke before we leape , & to sound the waters before we hoyse vp our sailes ( for heauen is no harbor for heretickes , no common inne for all kinds of trauellers ) i meane afore all to consult with the written word of god , the oracle of truth , the ground of faith , a c lanterne to our feet , & a light vnto our path , & is d profitable to teach , to conuince , to correct and instruct in righteousnesse , that the mā of god maybe absolute . heare ( saith s. e austin ) thus saith the lord : not , thus saith , donatus , or rogatus , or vincentius , or hilary , or austin , but , thus saith the lord. f to the law , and to the testimony ( saith esay : ) if they speake not according to this word , it is because there is no light in them . by the scripture god speaketh his whole will , saith g gregory . if therefore men would in the true feare of god and lowlinesse of spirit desire diuine direction , and attend vnto the word , vndoubtedly they should see their way before them , and could not be so transported of impostors , as they vse to be . for h them that be meeke , will he guide in iudgement , and teach the humble his way . what man is he , that feareth the lord ? him will he teach the way , which he shall chuse . the secret of the lord is reuealed to them , that feare him ; and his couenant , to giue them vnderstanding . and as our sauiour speaketh , i whatsoeuer ye shall aske the father in my name , he will giue it you . so then , if we will not giue eare vnto man , but vnto god , if we will not trust vnto our owne wings , but seeke for aide of him , we may boldly expect assistance of him according to his word . and because to begin a course well is nothing , vnlesse a man continue constant in it ; therefore it behoues vs to cleaue fast vnto the faith , auoiding all impostures of heretickes whatsoeuer . for the furtherance hereof , this treatise was first written in latine aboue a thousand yeares agoe , by a learned and godly frenchman , whose authority is nothing lesse to be respected for his monasticke kinde of liuing , considering that our moderne monkes haue almost nothing of antiquity besides their name . and for the same purpose we haue turn'd it into english , desiring the almightie to bedew the same with the blessing of his grace . my labour i account as due to the church in generall , and abundantly deserued of you both in particular : if therefore you shall accept it , i shall haue my full desire . the god of heauen and earth preserue you by his grace , that after this life on earth ye may be presented to iesus christ to liue in heauen with him in eternall glory . amen . london s. clem. april 14. 1611. your vvorships in christ iesus to be commanded , thomas tuke . to the reader . there are three sorts of men , for whō i haue translated this little booke . the first are they , that heare their fathers instruction , and despise not the gouernement of their mother : whom i desire god vpon my knees to keepe free from the poyson , and peruersnesse of all heretickes , and schismatickes whatsoeuer . the second are they , that are mis-led by romish impostors into many grosse and nouell errours , such as the scriptures and antient doctors vtterly condemne , as may easily be seene by viewing sundry workes of diuers learned men amongst vs , either written , or turned into english . the chiefest cause of of whose erring , partly consists in an incredible credit , which they giue vnto their teachers , and partly in their owne wonderfull ignorance of the holy scriptures , which might inlighten their eies , and informe their iudgements . it is written of naash , that he would make a couenant with the men of iabesh gilead vpon condition that he might thrust out all their right eies : euen so surely the diuell delights in nothing more , then in putting out mens eyes , and in captiuating their vnderstanding ( which is as the right eye of the soule ) that being blinded , he may leade them at his pleasure . but if it would please them to search the scriptures ( as christ exhorteth ) and to consider of the catholicke doctrine of the antient church euen to the times , wherein this our author liued , i doubt not , but that the scales of ignorance would fall from their eyes , and that those mists would be soone dispersed , which satan casts before them . the third are such , as are not much offended at the doctrines of the church , but condemne her gouernment , and stumble at her ceremonies , which yet are neither vndecent , nor superstitious , or numerous , and such as neither gods word forbiddeth , nor any approued church in the christian world condemneth , as they are commanded by this church , & entertained . now see heere what strange conceipts and doctrines are deuised , and defended of them , such as haue no foot-step in the scripture , no fellowship with antiquity , 1. it is affirmed that the true and right gouernment of the christian churches is a certaine democratie . 2. that a prouinciall church is contrary to the testament of christ . hereupon henry iacob in an epistle prefixed to a booke lately printed at leyden , labours for a separation . 3. that humane ceremonies being once abused , cannot bee purged but by vtter abolishion . 4. that o it is out of all doubt , that christ sate or lay at his last supper : or thus , that it is not only possible or probable , but certaine that he vsed a table gesture at that his last supper . 5. that because christ vsed a table gesture ; therefore it is vnlawfull for vs to vse any other then a table gesture . 6 that to receiue the bread and wine kneeling is vnlawfull , is idolatry . * which me thinkes is very strange . for what is the idoll ? wee kneele not vnto the elements , but vnto god , in testimony of reuerence and humblenesse of spirit . secondly if wee must receiue the sacrament with reuerence and humility of heart ( as who dare gainsay ? ) thē vndoubtedly wee may receiue it with a reuerend and humble gesture . thirdly , if our kneeling be idolatry , then are wee idolaters ( as if oppression bee theft , and oppressors are theeues : if to take the cure of soules , and to take no care of soules be murder , then they , that take the cure of soules , and take no care of soules are murderers ) yea and resolute idolaters : for we do not onely kneele , but stand to defend it , and we practise it daily , yea and charge them with ignorance that do condemne it as vnlawful . now what wil follow ? if we be idolaters , then they must not eate with vs. if any , ( saith s. paul ) that is called a brother , bee an idolater , with such one eate not . and againe , if wee be idolaters , how dare they communicate with vs ? what ? with idolaters ? either therefore these conceits must be for saken , or else i see not how wee can but swarme with iacobites . but i am perswaded better things of many of them : such as accompany saluation , and tend not to separation . a. fuluius once sayd to his sonne : * i begat thee not for catiline against thy country , but for thy country against catiline : so may i say , they were not begotten by the gospel , for iohnson , for iacob , for any turbulent and phantasticke doctor against the church , but for the church against them . and be they well assured that this sleight stuffe will shrinke when it comes to wetting , this counterfeit coine will not indure triall . the greatnesse of men , their learning , their godlinesse , are no arguments to moue vs to receiue their owne conceipts for doctrines . no , an angell must not be heard against the truth . but mee thinkes i heare some man say , how may i be resolued in this difference of opinions ? what shall i doe to finde out the truth ? i answer . first giue diligent care to the voyce of god in the scriptures : what it saith , that receiue , though it crosse thee neuer so much , and where it hath no tongue , haue thou no care . do not first entertaine a conceit , and then look out scripture to draw it by the haire to thee . secondly , be not ouercaried with any preiudicate opinion of thine opposite : neither let the reuerend conceit of thy teacher , that hath taught thee such a doctrine , couer thine eye from beholding reason : and do not thinke that , because hee is a good man , therefore all must needes bee good , that hee hath taught thee ; or that his doctrines are sounder thē another mans , because his life is better . thirdly , be not proud , or selfe-conceited , for * god resisteth the proud . god and pride ( saith bernard ) cannot dwell together in the same heart , which could not dwell in the same heauen . and the history of the church sheweth that arrius of very pride fell into wicked and open heresie . but the lord * giueth grace to the humble , and teacheth him his way . if yee aske ( saith augustine ) what is the first step in the way of truth ? i answer humility . if yee aske what is the second ? i say humility , if yee aske , what is the third ? i say the same , humility . fourthly , pray earnestly with dauid that god would bee pleased to * giue thee vnderstanding , and to teach thee good indgement and knowledge . finally , bee not easily perswaded to beleeue doctrines specially against the vnanimous consent of a true church , which neither the ancient acknowledged , neither are allowed by any present approoued church , but are the conceipts of some particular persons . in one word , i pray thee diligently to read this treatise ouer . for it teacheth how to continue in the faith , against all the fraudes and fallacies of imposters . it is not great , but good : learned , though but litle : and as sweete to them , that are intelligent , as short . the lord blesse it to thee , and giue thee an vnderstanding head , and an obedient heart . april . 14. 1611. thine in christ , thomas tvke . a treatise , or disputation of vincentivs * lirinensis , for the antiquity of the catholicke faith , against the profane nouelties of all heresies . the preface . forasmvch as the scripture speakes , and warnes vs thus ; a aske thy fathers , and they will shew thee thine elders and they will tell thece . and againe , e apply thine eare to the words of the wise . in like manner also , my son , forget not these sayings , and let thine heart keepe my words ? it seemeth to me o peregrinus , the least of all the seruants of god , that it will not be a little profitable , through the lords assistance , if i shall set downe those things in writing , which i haue faithfully receiued of the holy fathers ; sure i am , very necessary for mine owne infirmity , seeing i may haue in readinesse , whereby the weakenesse of my memory may bee relieued with continuall reading . vnto which taske , not only the benefite of the work doth mooue me , but the consideration also of time , and the oportunity of place . the time ; for seeing all things are carried away therewith , it behoueth vs also to catch something therefrom againe , which may further vnto eternall life : especially because the expectation of gods terrible iudgement requireth the studies of religion , and the subtilty of nouell heretiques , asketh much care and diligence . the place also , because auoiding the throngs & multitudes that are in citties , we liue in a little village more remote , and are there inclostred in a monastery , where without great distraction we may do that , which the psalmist sings of ; be still and know that i am god. but indeed the reason of our purpose is agreeable thereunto , as who , because wee haue some while bene tossed with diuers and grieuous troubles of a secular warfare , haue at the length through the fauour of christ hidden vs within the hauen of religion , most faithful alwaies vnto all : that there the blasts of vanity and pride being laid downe , and appeasing god a by the sacrifice of christian humility , we might escape , not onely the ship-wracks of the life present , but the flames also of the future . but now will i in the b name of the lord , set vpon this businesse ; to wit , set downe in writing , the things that haue ben deliuered from our elders , and committed to our keeping , intending to be a faithful relator of them , and not presuming to be their author . neither meane i to set downe all , but to touch those onely , that are necessary : & that not in any polished and curious stile , but in a plaine and familiar speech , that the most of them may seeme to bee pointed at rather then vnfolded . let them write delicately and with accuratenesse , that are led thereunto through confidence of their wit , or by reason of their office : but for me it shall be sufficient , that i haue prepared a remembrancer for my selfe , to helpe my memory , or rather to preuent my forgetfulnesse , the which yet i will endeauour through the lords assistance to mend , and perfite dayly , by reuoluing and calling to mind the things that i haue c learned . and this i haue said before hand , that if happily ought of ours shall come into the hands of the * saints , they would reprehend nothing therein rashly , which they may see by promise yet to be amended . chap. 1. inquiring therefore oftentimes with great care and very singular diligence , of very many excellent men , both for holinesse and learning , how i might by some certaine , and as it were generall and regular way , discerne the truth of the catholicke faith , from the falsehood of wicked heresies , i receiued this answere alwaies from them all almost ; that if either i , or any other would finde out the wiles of vpstart hereticks , and escape their d snares , and continue sound and whole in a sound faith , he must fortifie his faith through the lords assistance with a two-fold fence ; namely first with the authority of gods word : and then also with the tradition of the catholicke church . chap. 2. here , it may be some man will aske ; seeing the canon of the scriptures is perfect , and that it is aboundantly sufficient of it selfe to all things , what need is there that the authority of the churches vnderstanding should be ioyned therunto ? surely , because al mē do not after one manner vnderstand the holy scripture , according to the height thereof ; but diuers men interpret the sentences thereof diuersly , that there may seeme to be as many meanings thereof almost , as men . for nouatian expounds it one way , photinus another way , sabellius thus , donatus otherwise , arrius , eunomius , macedonius other waies , appollinaris & priscillianus by themselues , iouinianus , pelagius , celestius another way , and finally , nestorius hath a sence by himselfe , and therefore by reason of so great deceipts , and windings of so different errours , it is very necessary that a man should interpret the prophets and apostles according as the catholicke church doth vnderstand them . chap. 3. in like manner , euen in the catholike church wee must haue a speciall regard , that we hold that which is , euery where beleeued alwaies & of all : for this is truly and properly catholike ( as the very force & reason of the name declareth ) which comprehendeth al things truly vniuersally . now this we shall doe , if we follow vniuersality , antiquity and consent . and wee shall follow vniuersality thus , namely if we do confesse this one faith to be true , which the whole church through out the world confesseth . we shall follow antiquity , if by no meanes we reiect those interpretations , which we know to haue bene vsed and esteemed of our holy elders and forefathers . and consent in like sort also , if euer in antiquity we follow the determinations and iudgements of all , or surely of almost all priests and doctors . chap. 4. vvhat then shal a christian catholicke do , if some few members of the church shall cut themselues from the fellowship of the catholicke faith ? surely what else , but preferre the soundnesse of the whole body before a noysom and corrupt member ? and what if some new contagion shall indeuour the corruption , not of some small part of the church onely , but euen of the whole body thereof also ? in like manner then he shall bee carefull to cleaue fast vnto antiquity , which cannot now wholly be seduced by any nouell deceipt . and what if euen in antiquity it selfe the errour of two or three , or of a citty , or of some prouince be found out ? then his whole care shall be to prefer the decrees of the vniuersal church , vniuersally of old maintained , to the rashnesse or ignorance ( if any such be ) of some few persons . but what if some such thing breake out , where nothing of that nature may be found ? then shall hee compare the sentences and opinions of the fathers together , and take counsell of them : of those fathers or elders ( i meane ) * onely , which though they liued not in one age and place , did yet continue in the fellowship and faith of one catholicke church , & were laudable teachers : and whatsoeuer he shall perceiue that not one or two alone , but that all alike with one and the same consent did openly , commonly , and constantly hold , write and teach , let him know that the same of him also is without any scruple to bee beleeued . but that those things , which wee say may be made more plaine , they are each of them to be cleered by examples , and to be a little more enlarged , least through affectation of too much breuity , the weight of things bee not perceiued , by reason of passing so swiftly ouer them in our speech . chap. 5. in the time of donatus , from whom sprang the donatists , when as a great part of aphrica had throwne themselues headlong into his furious errours , and when vnmindfull of their honour , religion and profession , they did preferre the sacrilegious headines of one man to the church of christ , then those africans could of them all alone be safe within the sanctuaries of the catholicke faith , which hauing that wicked schisme in detestation , adioyned themselues to all the churches of the world ; leauing in truth a notable paterne to them that should come after , namely how , and that also well , the soundnesse of all might be preferred before the fury of one , or but a few . chap. 6. in like manner , when as the poyson of the arrians had now corrupted not some fewe , but almost all the world , so as that well neere all the * latine bishops being deceiued , partly by force and partly by fraude , knew not well , by reason of a certaine kinde of blindnesse , which had inuaded their vnderstandings , what course they were best to follow , when things were so confused : then whosoeuer was a true louer & worshipper of christ , the same by making more accoūt of the ancient-faith , thē of nouel-falshood , was preserued from all infections of that contagious doctrine . the danger in truth of which time hath aboundantly shewed what great calamity the bringing in of that vpstart doctrine caused . for then were shaken not small things onely , but euen the greatest also . for not onely alliances , kindreds , friendships , and houses were dissolued , but also cities , people , prouinces , nations , yea , and the whole romane empire was vtterly shaken , and put out of order . for when that profane noueltie of the arrians , as a certaine d bellona or furia , had first captiuated the c emperour , and then brought all the f chiefest about him vnder new lawes , it ceased not afterwards to trouble & disorder all things , priuat and publicke , facred and profane , and to haue no regard of that , which was good and true , but whomsoeuer it listed , to smite them downe , as from some place on high . then were wiues defiled , widdowes robd , virgins deflowred , monasteries demolished , cleargy-men disturbed , leuites beaten , priests banished , prisons , gaoles and mynes filled with the g saints : the greatest part of whom being driuen out of citties forbidden to them , and exiled , were euen broken and consumed with nakednesse , hunger , and thirst , amongst deserts , dens , wild beasts and rockes . but all these things did they for no other cause befall , but euen because the superstitions of mans inuentions were taught for heauenly doctrine , because well-grounded antiquity was vedermined by wicked nouelty , because the ordinances of the elders were violated , because the decrees of the fathers were repealed , because the determinations of the ancient were disanulled , and for that the lust of profane and vpstart curiosity contained not it selfe within the most h chaste limits of sacred and vncorrupt antiquity ? chap. 7. bvt ( it will bee thought ) perhaps wee faine these things through hatred of nouelty and loue of antiquity . whosoeuer iudgeth this , let him giue credit at the least to blessed ambrose , who in his second book to the emperour , gratian , himselfe bewailing the bitternes of the time , saith : but now , almighty god , quoth * he , we haue beene sufficiently punished by our owne destruction and bloud-shed for the slaughters of the confessours , the banishments of the priests , and for such wicked villany . it is cleare enough that they , which violated the faith , cannot be safe . in like manner , in the third booke of the same worke : let vs , therefore keepe ( saith he ) the commandements of the elders , that wee be not bold through vnciuill rashnesse to breake the seales , that are hereditary . neither the elders , nor the power , nor the angels , nor archangels durst open that sealed booke of prophecy : the prerogatiue of explaning that was reserued for christ alone . which of vs dares vnseale the i sacerdoticall booke , sealed of confessours , and consecrated now with the martyrdome of many ? which they , that haue bene compelled to vnseale it , yet afterwards haue sealed , when the fraud was condemned : they that durst not violate it , were confessours and martyrs . how can wee deny their faith , whose victory we do extoll ? wee praise them i say , o venerable ambrose , wee praise them indeed , and praysing wee wonder at them . for who is he , that is so mad , who though he be not able to ouertake them , yet would not wish to follow , whom no violence hath driuen from defending of the faith of the elders ? not threatnings , not flatterings , not life , not death , not the palace , not sergeants , not the emperour , not the empire , not men , not diuels , whom ( i say ) the lord , for their constant imbracing of holy antiquity , deemed meete for so great an office , as by them to repaire churches ruinated , to quicken spirituall people extinguished , to put on the crownes of priests , that were deiected , to deface ( a fountaine of vnfeigned teares being infused from heauen into the bishops ) those wicked ( i say ) not letters , but litures ( blots or dashes ) of nouell impiety , and finally , to call back now almost all the world being strucken with the tempest of suddaine heresie : ( i say to call it backe ) to the ancient faith , from vp-start falshood : vnto ancient soundnesse , from furious and vnsound newnesse , and to the ancient light , from the blindnesse of nouelty . chap. 8. bvt in this certaine diuine vertue of confessions , that we are also euen most of all to mark , that then in the very antiquity of the church , they vndertooke the defence , not of some part ; but of the whole body . for it was not lawful for mē so great , and of such quality , to mantaine with so great contention & indeauour , the straggling & selfe-thwarting coniectures of one or two , or to striue for the rash consent of some little prouince : but following the decrees and determinations of apostolique and catholicke truth , made by all the k priests of the holy church , they choosed rather to betray themselues , then the faith which was held of old vniuersally . whereby they obtained also so great a degree of glory , as that they were rightly and worthily counted not confessours only , but the principall of confessours also . it behoueth therefore all true catholikes vncessantly to meditate on this notable , and indeede diuine ensample of those same blessed men : who shining like the l seuen headed candlesticke , with the seuenfold light of the holy spirit , haue shewed their posterity a most euident way , how the boldnesse of prophane nouelty may in all the vaine bablings of errours bee m hence forth cooled with the authority of sacred antiquity . chap. 9. neither is this a new thing truly : for this custome was alwaies vsed in the church , that the more any man flourished in religion , the more ready he was to withstand nouell deuices . the world is full of such examples . but , for breuity sake , wee will make choyce of some one , and this especially from the apostolicke sea. in times past therefore agrippinus , of venerable memory , bishop of carthage , held rebaptization first of all men , against the canon of the word , against the rule of the uniuersall church , against the iudgement of all his fellow-priests , against the n manner and customes of the elders . the which presumption caused so great a mischiefe , as that it ministred a forme of sacrilege , not onely to all heretickes , but gaue occasion of error to some catholickes also . when as all men therefore euery where vpon the nouelty of the thing cryed out against it , & all the priests on euery side , did euery one indeuour to resist it , then pope stephen , of happy memory , bishop of the apostolike see , with the rest of his fellowes , but yet aboue the rest withstood it ; deeming it , as i suppose , a thing beseeming , if hee did excell all the rest as much by deuout affection to the faith , as hee did surpasse them by the authority of place . finally , in an epistle which was sent into affrica , the said stephen ordeined in these words : that nothing should bee renewed , but that which is deliuered . for that holy and wise man knew , that piety doth nothing else allow of , but that all things should with the same faithfulnesse bee reteined for the children , with the which they were receiued of the fathers , and that we ought to follow religion , not which way wee would lead it , but rather by that way it would lead vs , and that that is the propertie of christian modesty and grauity for men not to deliuer their owne deuices to them , that so come after , but to keepe the things receiued of their elders . what therefore was the issue then of all the matter ? surely what else , but that , which was vsuall , and accustomed ? antiquity namely reteined , and nouelty exploded . chap. 10. bvt peraduenture then that new deuise was destitute of means to defēd & beare it out . yea verily , there was for it so great acutenes of wit , so great aboundance of eloquence , so great a number of maintainers , so great likelihood of truth , so many oracles of gods word , but indeede after a new and naughty manner vnderstood , that me thought all that conspiracy could by no meanes be destroyed , vnlesse that selfe same vndertaken , defended , & commended profession of nouelty , had forsaken the alone cause of so great an enterprise . to conclude , what force had that affrican councell or decree ? truly none , through the gift of god : but all things were abolished , made void , and troden vnder foot , as dreames , as fables , as things superfluous . chap. 11. and ô the wonderfull change of things ! the authors of the same opinion are accounted catholickes : but the followers are iudged heretickes . the maisters are absolued , the schollers are condemned . the writers of the bookes shall bee the children of the kingdome , but hell shall receiue the defenders . for who would doubt that most blessed cyprian , the light of all the saints , both bishops and martyrs , together with the rest of his fellowes , shall reigne eternally with christ ? or who on the contrary is so sacrilegious , as to deny that the donatists , & those other pestilent wretches , which doe bragge that they rebaptize by the authority of that councell , shall burne for euer with the diuell ? which iudgement truly to me seemeth to bee promulged of god , for their craftinesse especially , who when they go about to forge an heresie vnder another bodies name , do commonly lay hold of the writings of some ancient man something too couertly set out , which in respect of their darknesse , doe as it were , serue for their owne opinion : that that , which , i know not what , they doe bring forth , they may seeme to thinke , neither first , nor all-alone . whose wickednesse i iudge worthy double hatred : either therfore , because they are not afraid to proffer the poyson of heresie vnto others : or therefore also , because they do with a wicked hand blow vp , and winnow the memory of euery holy man , like ashes now raked vp , and diffame those things with a reuiued opinion , which ought in silence to be buried ; altogether following the foote-steps of their father cham , who not onely neglected to couer the nakednesse of venerable noah , but told it also to the rest , that it might be mocked . whereby hee did so grieuously sinne against child-like piety , as that his very posterity became obnoxious to the curses of his sin : those brethren being blessed , and farre vnlike , who would neither distaine the nakednesse of their reuerend father with their owne eies , nor haue it lye open vnto other mens , but couered him , as it is written , with their faces backward : which is neither to approue , nor disclose the error of the holy man : and therefore are they blessed in their posterity . but let vs returne vnto our purpose . chap. 12. we should therefore greatly feare the grieuous sinne of changing the o faith , and of stairing religion : from the which wickednesse wee are deterred , not onely by the discipline of ecclesiasticall constitution , but also by the censure of apostolicall authority . for all men know how grauely , how seuerely , and how earnestly the blessed a apostle paul inueigheth against some , that were too soone through their owne lightnesse , translated from him , who had called them to the grace of christ , vnto another gospel , which is not another : who had heaped to themselues teachers after their owne b desires , turning their eares from the truth , and turning themselues to fables , hauing damnation , c because they haue broken the first faith . who were by them deceiued , of whom the same apostle writeth to the romane brethren : now i beseech you d brethren , marke them , that cause dissentions & offences otherwise then the doctrine which yee haue learned , and auoyd them . for such serue not the lord christ , but their owne belly : and by faire speeches , and flattering seduce the hearts of the simple : which enter into houses , and lead captiue e silly women laden with sinnes and led with sundry lusts , euer learning , and neuer coming to the knowledge of the truth , f uaine-talkers , and seducers , which subuert whole houses , teaching things which they should not , for filthy lucre sake . men of corrupt mindes g reprobate concerning the faith : proud , and knowing nothing : but h doting about questions , and strife of words , destitute of the truth , imagining that gaine is godlinesse . likewise also being idle i they learne to goe about from house to house , yea they are also bablers , and busi-bodies , speaking things , they ought not . who k repelling a good conscience , as concerning faith , haue made ship-wracke . whose prophane bablings further much vnto impiety , and their l word fretteth like a canker . and it fitteth well which is also written of them : m but they shall preuaile no further : for their madnesse shal be manifest vnto all , as theirs also was . when therefore some such wandring vp and downe countries and cities , & carrying about their o pedlary errors , had come also to the galatians : and when as the galatians hauing heard thē , being now affected with a certaine loathing of the truth , and casting vp the manna of apostolicke and catholicke doctrine , delighted themselues in the filthinesse of hereticall nouelty , the apostle did so exercise his apostolicall authority , as that with all seuerity he did decree : but though either we ( saith hee ) or an angel from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then we haue preached , let him bee accursed . what is that which he saith , but though wee ? why does hee not rather say , but though i ? the meaning hereof is this : though peter , though andrew , though iohn : lastly , though the whole cōpany of apostles shold preach to you otherwise , then we haue preached , let him bee accursed . a terrible curse , that to maintaine the constant embracing of the first o faith , he neither spared himselfe , nor the rest of his fellow-apostles . yet this is but little , although ( saith hee ) an angell should from heauen preach vnto you , otherwise then wee haue preached , let him be accursed . it sufficed not for the keeping of the faith , once deliuered to haue mentioned the nature of man , vnlesse hee had comprehended also the excellency of angels . though we ( saith he ) or an angell from heauen . not because the holy and heauenly angels can now offend : but this is his meaning : if also ( saith hee ) that should bee , which cannot be , whosoeuer hee be , that shall assay to change the faith , that was once deliuered , let him bee accursed . chap. 13. bvt hee spake , it may bee , these things without due regard , and vttered them in an humane passion rather , thē decreed them with diuine reason . farre bee it from him , for hee goes on , and presseth this same point with a very earnest repetition : as wee haue said before , quoth he , so say i now againe , if any preach vnto you otherwise , then that yee haue receiued , let him be accursed . he said not : if any preach vnto you besides that which ye haue receiued , let him bee blessed , praised and entertained : but let him be , quoth he , accursed , that is separated , put from the flock and excluded , least the cursed contagion of one sheep should corrupt the harmelesse flocke of christ , by a * venemous mixture with them . yea , but perhaps these precepts belong only to the galatians . then these things also are commanded to the galatians onely , which are mentioned in the same epistle after : such as are these ; if wee liue in the spirit , let vs also walk in the spirit , let vs not be desirous of vaine glory , prouoking one another , enuying one another : and the rest . which if it bee against sense , and if they be commanded vnto all alike , it standeth with good reason that , as these commandements concerning manners , so those also concerning faith should equally belong to all . chap. 14. and as no man may prouoke , or enuy one another , so no man may receiue ought besides that , which the catholike church doth alway preach . or else perhaps it was at that time inioyned : that if any did preach otherwise , then was already preached , hee should bee accursed : but not at this time there is no such commandement . then that also , which hee likewise speaketh in the same epistle , and i say , walke in the spirit , and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh , was at that time onely commanded , and is not now inioyned . but if it be both impious and pernicious so to thinke , it doth necessarily follow that , as these things ought to be obserued of all ages , so those things which are decreed concerning the keeping of the faith without alteration , are commanded also to all ages . to preach any thing therefore to christian o catholikes besides that , which they haue receiued , was neuer lawfull , is no where lawfull , and neuer shall be lawfull : and to accurse them , which preach any thing besides that , which was once receiued , hath beene euer behoouefull , is euery where behoouefull , and shall alwaies be behoouefull : which things seeing they thus stand , is there any man either so bold , as to preach otherwise , then hath ben preached in the church , or so light as to receiue otherwise , then that hee hath receiued of the church ? let him cry , and cry againe , and againe , let him in his letters cry both vnto all , and alwaies , and euery where , * euen that vessell of election , that teacher of the gentiles , that apostolique trumpet , that preacher of men , and who knew the will of god , that if any one preach a new doctrine hee shall be accursed , on the contrary also certaine frogs , and gnats , and flies , that shall perish , such as are the pelagians , cry out against him , and that vnto catholikes . we , say they , being authors , leaders , and interpreters , condemne ye those things , which yee did hold , hold yee those things , which yee did condemne , reiect yee the ancient faith , the fathers ordinances , and those things which the elders haue committed to your trust and receiue ye , what things i pray you ? i tremble to speake them : for they are so insolent , that mee thinkes they * cannot be without some vile offence affirmed , no nor intruth somuch as refelled . chap. 15. bvt some man will say . wherefore then doth god very often suffer certaine excellent persons in the church to broach new matters vnto catholikes ? it is a good question , and worthy to be diligently & largely answered . which yet we must make answere to , not of our owne head , but by the authority of gods word , and by the instruction of an ecclesiasticall teacher . let vs therefore heare holy moses , and let him teach vs , wherefore learned men , and such as by reason of the grace of knowledge be called also prophets of the apostle , are sometimes permitted to publish new doctrines , which the old testament vseth allegorically to call strange gods ; to wit , because heretiques worship their owne opinions , as the gentiles doe their gods . blessed moses therefore in deuteronomy writeth ; if there arise among you a prophet , or which saith hee hath seene a vision : that is to say , a teacher constituted in the church , who is thought of his schollers and hearers to teach by some reuelation . what followeth ? and shall giue thee a signe or wonder , and the signe or wonder , which he hath spoken of shall come to passe . doubtles some great , i know not what , teacher is vnderstood , and indued with such knowledge , as who may seeme to his owne followers not onely to know things , that are within the reach of man , but also to foreknow things , which are aboue him , such almost as ualentinus , donatus , photinus , appollinaris , and the rest of that rabble , were by their disciples crakt of to haue bene . but what followes , and shall say , quoth moses ? vnto thee , a let vs go and follow after other gods , which thou knowest not , and let vs serue them . what are those strange gods but strange errours , which thou hast not knowne , that is to say , new , and not-heard-of ? and let vs serue them , that is , let vs beleeue thē , follow thē . but what saies he last of all ? b thou shalt not hearken , quoth hee , vnto that prophet , or dreamer of dreames , and why , i pray thee , doth not god c prohibite that to bee taught , which hee doth forbid to be receiued ? because , saith hee , the lord your god prooueth you , that it might appeare whether you loue the lord your god , withall your heart , and withall your soule . the reason is cleerer then the light , why the prouidence of god doth sometimes suffer certaine teachers of the churches to broach some new doctrines : that the lord your god , quoth he , might try yee . and indeed it is no small temptation , when as he , whom thou countest a prophet , the disciple of the prophets , and a teacher and defender of the truth , and whom thou dost exceedingly reuerence & loue , shall on the suddaine closely bring in some hurtfull errours , which thou art neither able quickly to perceiue , as long as thou art led by a fore-stalled iudgement , concerning his old maisterlike authority : neither dost thou easily thinke it lawfull , to condemne them , whilst thou art hindred by thine affection towards thine ancient maister * . chap. 16. here some man may , perhaps desire that those things , which are in the words of holy moses affirmed , may be by some ecclesiasticall ensamples cleered . the desire is iust , and not long to be put off . for that we may beginne with the neerest , and those , that are manifest : what a temptation was that of late suppose wee , when as that wretch nestorius , being suddenly turned from a sheepe to a wolfe , had begun to rend the flocke of christ ? at which time the very same persons , whom he did teare : for a great part of them as yet did verily think him to be a sheep , and therefore lay the more open to his teeth . for who would easily imagine him to erre , whom he saw chosen with such iudgement of the empire , and so highly fauoured of the priests ? who being continually honoured with the great loue of the saints , and very great good will of the people , did openly preach the word of god , and confute also the hurtfull errours of iewes , and gentiles . by the which meanes i pray you , would hee not perssade any man that hid doctrines , preaching , and iudgement were right and sound ? who to make way for his one heresie inueighed against the blasphemies of all heresies . but this was that , which moses saith ; the lord your god proueth you , whether yee loue him or no. and that we may passe by nestorius , in whom there was alwaies more wonderment then profite , and more fame then experience : whom the fauour of men , rather then of god , had for a while aduanced in the opinion of the common people : let vs rather speake of those , who hauing profited well and being full of industry became no small temptation to catholike men . as in hungarie , in the memory of our ancesters e photinus is said to haue tempted the church of sirmion . where whēas with the great liking of al mē hee was called vnto the priesthood , and had executed his office for a time , like a catholike , suddenly , like that euil prophet , or dreamer , which moses speaketh of , hee began to perswade the people of god , committed to his trust , to follow after strange gods , that is to say , strange errours , which before they knew not . but this is vsuall , and that dangerous , because hee was furnished with no meane helpes to so great a wickednesse . for hee had a good wit , and hee was an excellent scholler , and very eloquent , or powerfull in speech ; able in both languages to dispute and write eloquently and substantially : as appeareth by the monuments of his bookes , which hee hath written , partly in greeke , and partly in latine . but it was well , that the sheepe of christ committed to him , being very watchfull and wary for the catholicke faith , had quicke regard to the words of moses , who did forewarne them , and that , although they did admire the eloquence of their prophet and pastor , yet notwithstanding , they were not ignorant of the temptation . for whō before they followed as the f bel-weather of the flocke , euen him they fled frō afterwards , as from a wolfe , neither do wee come to know the perill of this ecclesiasticall temptation by the example of photinus , but of apollinaris also , and are therby also admonished to the more diligent keeping of the faith , which is to be kept . for he made his hearers to haue much a doe , and brought them into great straites . for whereas the authority of the church drew them one way , the custome or conuersation & acquaintance of their maister drew them backe another way : and so wagging , and wauering betwixt both , they see not which way they should rather chuse . but it may be he was a man , that might easily bee contemned . yea verily , he was so worthy a man , and so qualified , as that he might in the most things be too soone beleeued . for who surpast him in acutenes of wit , practise , and in schollership ? how many heresies hee hath ouerthrown in many volumes , how many errours contrary to the faith hee hath confuted , that most excellent and very huge worke , consisting of no lesse then thirty bookes , doth witnesse , wherein he hath with a great masse of argumēts confounded the furious cauils of porphiry . it is too long to reckō vp all his workes , for the which he might intruth be matched , with the chiefest builders of the church , had he not through that wicked lust of hereticall g curiosity found out what nouelty i wot not , by the which he might both defile all his labours , as with the mixture of a certaine leprosie , and should haue his doctrine said to be not so much an edification , as an ecclesiasticall tentation . heere perhaps some may require at my hands , that i would shew them the heresies of these men , of whom we spake before ; to wit , nestorius , apollinaris , and photinus . but this is nothing to the matter ; which now wee are in hand with . for our purpose is not to set downe the errours of all , but to shew the examples of a few , whereby that may euidently and plainely be cleered , which moses speaketh : namely that , if at any time any ecclesiasticall teacher , and hee a prophet by reason of interpreting the mysteries of the prophets , shal attempt to bring in some new point of doctrine into the church of god , the diuine prouidence doth suffer it to be done , that we might be proued . chap. 17. it will not therefore bee amise by way of digression briefly to shew the opinions of the fore-named heretiques , that is , photinus , apollinaris , & nestorius . this is then the doctrine of photinus : that god is single and alone , and to bee confessed after a iudaicall manner : he saith that there are not full three persons , neither doth he thinke , that there is any person of the a word or son of god , or any of the holy ghost : he doth also say that christ is a meere man only , to whom he ascribeth a beginning from mary : and this he teacheth by all meanes for a doctrine , that we ought to worship onely , the person of god the father , and onely christ the man. these things therefore held photinus . apollinaris also doth as it were glory that hee doth consent vnto the vnity truly of the trinity , and that with perfect soundnes of faith : but he doth by open profession blaspheme against the incarnation of the lord. for hee saith , that the soule of a man was either not at all in the flesh of our sauiour , or else surely that there was such a one , as wanted vnderstanding and reason . yea and he said , that the very flesh of our lord was not of the flesh of the holy virgin mary , but that it came downe from heauen into the virgin : and alwaies staggering and doubting , he said sometimes that it was coëternall with the god , the word , sometimes that it was made of the diuinity of the word . for he would not that two substances should bee in christ , one diuine , and another humane , one of a father , the other of a mother : but he immagined that the nature of the word was diuided , as though a part thereof remained in god , and the other had bene turned into the flesh : that , whereas the truth saith , that of two substances there is one christ , he being opposite to the truth might affirme that of one diuinity of christ , there are two substances . these then are the errours of apollinaris . now nestorius being sicke of a contrary disease to apollinaris , whiles he makes fare , as if hee did distinguish two substances in christ , all on the sudden hee brings in two persons : and with incredible wickednes will haue two sons of god , two christs : one of them god , the other man : one that is begotten of a father , the other generated of a mother : and therefore hee doth affirme that holy mary is not to bee called the e mother of god , but the mother of christ : to wit , because of her came not christ , who is god , but he , which was man. if so be that any man thinke , that hee saith in his letters , that christ is one , and that hee speaks of one person of christ , let him not easily giue credit to him . for either hee hath deuised this shift through his skil to deceiue , that by good things he might the more easily perswade men also vnto euill : as the apostle saith : it wrought death vnto me by that , which was good . either therefore ( as wee said before ) to the end that hee might deceiue , he doth in some places of his writings glory that he doth beleeue on christ , & one person of christ : or else surely hee saith that two persons now after the virgins deliuerāce did so meete and knit in one christ , that yet he holds there were two christs at the time of her conceptiō or deliuering , & a little afterwards . and whereas intruth christ was at the first borne an i ordinary and meere man , and not yet partaker of the vnity of the person of god the word , afterwards the person of the word assuming him descended into him . and although now being assumed he do remain in the glory of god , yet it seemeth to him that for some space there was no difference betwixt him , & other mē . chap. 18. these things therefore nestorius , apollinaris , & photinus like o madde dogs doe barke against the catholicke faith ; photinus by not confessing the trinity : appollinaris in saying that the nature of the word is conuertible , & not acknowledging two substances in christ , and by denying either the whole soule of christ , or at the least , the minde & reason in the soule , and by affirming that the word of god was in stead thereof : & nestorius , by auouching either that there are alwaies two christs , or that there were two some while . but the catholike church iudging rightly both of god and of our sauiour , blasphemeth neither against the mystery of the trinity , nor against the incarnation of christ . for it worshippeth both one diuinity in a perfect trinity , and the equality of the trinity in one and the same maiesty , and acknowledgeth one iesus christ , not two , and that same is both god and man. it beleeueth indeed that there is one person in him , but two substances : it beleeueth there are two substances , but one person ; two substances , because , the word of god is not changeable , that it should be turned into flesh : and one person , least by professing two sons , it may seeme to worship a quaternity ( or foure ) & not a trinity , or three . chap. 19. bvt it is worth our labour to lay open this point with diligence more distinctly , and more plainly . in god there is one substance , but three persons . in christ there be two substances , but one person . in the trinity there is o distinction of persons , but no diuersity of nature . in our sauiour there is diuersity of nature , but no difference of person . how is there in the trinity distinctiō of persons , but no difference of nature ? namely , because there is one person of the father , another of the sonne , and another of the holy ghost : but yet the nature of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost , is not diuers , but one & the same . how is there in our sauiour differēce of natures , but not of person ? surely because there is one substance of the diuinity , & another of the humanity : but yet the god-head and manhead are not two persons , but one and the same christ , one & the same sonne of god , and one and the same person of one and the same christ , and sonne of god. as in a man the flesh is one nature , and the soule another : but the soule and the flesh is one and the same man. in peter & paul the soule is one nature , and the flesh another : but yet the flesh and soule are not two peters , neither is the soule one paul , and the flesh another paul ; but one and the same peter , and one and the same paul , subsisting of the double and diuers nature of the soule and of the body . so then in one and the same christ there are two substances : but one is diuine , the other is humane : one of the father god , the other of the mother , the virgin : one coëternall and equall to the father , the other consubstantiall to the mother : yet one and the same christ , in both the substance . there is not therefore one christ god , and another man : not one vncreated , and another created : not one that cannot suffer , and another , that can suffer : not one equal to the father , another lesser then the father , another of the mother : but one and the same christ is god and man : the same is vncreated , and created : the same could not bee changed , and could not suffer , the same was changed , and did suffer : the same is equall to the father , & inferiour : the same was begotten of the father before time , & the same is borne of his mother in time : perfect god , and perfect man : in god is the soueraigne diuinity , in man the whole humanity : i say the whole humanity , which comprehendeth both the soule and the flesh : yea true flesh , our flesh , and the mothers flesh : a soule also indued with vnderstanding , furnished with iudgement & reason . there is therefore in christ , the word , a soule , and flesh : but all this is one christ , one sonne of god , and one sauiour and redeemer of vs. and one , not by i wot not what corruptible confusion of the god-head and man-head , but by a certaine entire and singular vnity of person . for that coniunction doth not conuert and change the one into the other ( which is an errour proper to the arrians ) but hath so conioyned both the natures in one , that the singularity , or vnity of one & the same persō abiding alwaies in christ the property of either nature remaineth also for euer : so that verily the body doth neuer at any time begin to be god , nor cease at any time to bee a body : which is also made manifest by an example of an humane case . for neither for the present onely , but for the future also , euery man shall consist of body and soule : yet neither shall the body euer bee changed into the soule , or the soule into the body : but euery man being to continue euer , the difference of both the substances shall continue for euer in euery man : euen so in christ also the property of both the substances is to bee reteined of them both for euer , but yet the vnity of the person being preserued safe . chap. 20. bvt whereas wee doe often name this word person , and say that god in person was made man , wee must greatly feare , that we do not seeme to say this , that god the word did onely by the resemblance of action take vpon him those things , that appertaine to vs , and that hee wrought whatsoeuer belonged to the cōuersation of a man , as it were in shew , and not as a true man : as is wont to be done on the stages , where one man doth suddenly represent many persons , of the which himselfe is none . for as often as there is made a resemblance of another mans action , the duties and deedes of others are so done , as that yet these men , that act them , are not the very same men , whom they do act , or counterfeit . for , that we may for illustration sake vse the ensamples of things secular , and which are vsed of the manichees , whenas a tragicall player doth counterfeit a priest , or a king , hee is neither a priest , nor a king : for the action ceasing , those things also cease together , which that person had represented . but from vs farre bee this cursed & wicked mockery . let this madnesse be the manichees , who being phantasticall preachers , affirme that the sonne of god , who is god , was not a man truely and substancially , but that hee resembled man by a certaine imaginary act and conuersation . but the catholicke faith doth so say that the word of god was made man , that hee tooke vpon him our nature and properties , not deceitfully , and in shew , but truly , and liuely : and that he did not resemble those things , which belong to the nature of man , as not his owne , but that hee did sustaine them rather , as being his owne : and that hee was altogether also the very thing , which hee did resemble . euen as we our selues also in that we speake , vnderstand , liue , and subsist , wee doe not represent men , but wee are men . for neither peter and iohn ( that we may especially speake of them ) were men by imitating , but by subsisting . in like maner paul did not counterfeit an apostle , or resemble paul : but hee was an apostle , and paul indeede : euen so also god the word by assuming and hauing the flesh , and by speaking , doing , and suffering by the flesh , yet without any corruption of his nature , vouchsafed verily to performe this , that hee might not resemble or counterfeit a perfect man , but exhibite , that hee might not seeme , or be thought to bee a true man , but that hee might subsist , and bee one indeede . therefore as the soule vnited to the flesh , but yet not turned into flesh , doth not resemble a man , but is a man , & is a man not in shew , but in substance : so also the word god by vniting himselfe vnto man without any cōuersion of himselfe was made man not by cōfusion , not by imitation , but by subsisting . let vs therefore vtterly reiect all conceipt of that person , which is vsurped by counterfeiting , & resembling : where alwaies one thing is , and another thing is counterfeited : where hee that doth act or represent , is neuer he whom he doth act . for farre bee it from vs to thinke , that god the word hath taken vpon him the person of man in this deceiptfull manner : but rather so , as that his substance continuing vnchangeable , and by taking vpon him the nature of a perfect man , he might himselfe be flesh , a man , the person of a man : not counterfeit , but true : not by resemblance , but in substance . to conclude , not such a one as ceaseth with the action , or representatiō , but which alway abideth in the substance . this vnity therefore of person in christ , was not made and perfected after the virgin had brought him forth , but in the very wombe of the uirgin . chap. 21. for we must be very wary that we doe confesse , that christ not onely is one : but also that he was alwayes one : because it is intolerable blasphemy , though thou shouldest grant him to be one ( person ) now , yet to auouch that he was sometime not one , but two ; to wit , one after the time of his baptisme , but two at the time of his birth . which exceeding great sacriledge surely we shall not be able otherwise to auoid , but by confessing that man was vnited to god in the vnity of person , not at his ascension , or resurrection , or baptisme : but euen now in his mother , euen in the wombe , yea , euen in the very conception of the virgin : by reason of which vnity of person those things , that are proper vnto god , are indifferently and in common giuen to him being man , and those things , that are proper to the flesh , are ascribed vnto god. for thence it is that the holy scriptures say , both that the sonne of man came downe from heauen , and that the lord of glory was crucified vpon earth . thence also it is that , because the flesh of the lord was made , because the flesh of the lord was created , the very word of god is said to be made , the wisedome of god is sayd to be filled , the o science or knowledge of god is sayd to be created : euen as in respect of fore-knowledge his hands & his u feet are sayd to be peirced . in regard , i say , of this vnity of person that also hath by reason of the like mysterie proceeded , that because the flesh of the word was borne of his uirgin-mother , that therefore god the word himselfe should be most catholickly beleeued to be borne of the virgin , and most wickedly denied . which things seeing they thus are , god forbid that any man should go about to depriue holy mary of the priuiledges of diuine fauour , as a speciall glory . for she is through a certaine singular benefit of our lord and god , and her owne sonne , to be most truly and most happily confessed the a mother of god. but she is not so the mother of god , as a certaine wicked heresie surmiseth , which affirmeth that she is to be sayd to be the mother of god in name onely , as who forsooth did bring forth that man , which was afterwards made god ; as we call one the mother of a priest , or the mother of a bishop , not because she did bring forth one , that was at his very birth a priest or bishop , but for that she brought one forth , that was afterwards made a priest or bishop . e holy mary is not , i say , so to be called the mother of god : but therefore rather , because , as hath beene sayd before , that holy mystery was accomplished euen in her sacred wombe , since by reason of a certaine singular and indiuiduall vnitie of person , as the word in the flesh is flesh , so man in god is god. chap. 22. bvt now according to those things , which haue beene briefly sayd before concerning the foresayd heresies , and the catholicke faith ; let vs for the refreshing of memory make a briefer and shorter rehearsall : to the end verily , both that being repeated they might be better vnderstood , and that being pressed they might more surely be remembred . accursed therefore be photinus for not acknowledging three distinct persons , & for affirming christ to bee no more then a bare man. accursed be apollinaris , that affirmeth the corruption of the diuinitie changed in christ , and denieth the property of a perfect manhead . accursed be nestorius , which denieth that god was borne of the virgin , and affirmeth there are two christs , & reiecting the faith of the trinitie , bringeth in amongst vs a quaternity . but blessed be the catholicke church , which worshippeth one god in a perfect trinity , and the equality also of the trinity in one diuinitie : so as that neither the singularitie of the substance confoundeth the propertie of the persons nor the distinction of the trinitie separate the vnitie of the deity . blessed , i say , be the church , which beleeueth that there are two true and perfect substances in christ , but yet one person of christ : so that neither the distinction of the natures diuideth the vnitie of the person , nor the vnitie of the person confounds the difference of the substances . blessed , i say , be the church , which that it might acknowledge that christ both is & was euer one , confesseth that man was vnited to god , not after his birth , but now euen in the mothers wombe . blessed , i say , be the church , which vnderstandeth that god was made man , not by the conuersion of nature , but in regard of person ; person , i say , not counterfeit and transient , but substantiall and permanent . i say , blessed bee the church , which affirmeth that this vnity of person is so effectuall , as that by reason thereof the things of god are by a wonderfull and vnspeakable mysterie ascribed vnto man , and the things of man ascribed vnto god. for , because of that vnitie it doth not deny that man descended from heauen in respect of the god-head , and hath belieued , that god was made vpon earth , that he suffered , and was crucified in regard of the manhead . to conclude , by reason of that vnity she doth acknowledge man to be the sonne of god , and god to be the sonne of the virgin. holy therefore and venerable , blessed and inuiolable , and to that celestiall praising , performed of the angels , altogether comparable be this confession , which glorifies god with a threefold sanctification . for therefore it doth especially * tel and glory of the vnitie of christ , least the mysterie of the trinity should exceed . be these things spoken by way of digressing , else where ( if god shall please ) they are more largely to be treated of , and vnfolded . let vs now returne vnto our purpose . chap. 23. vve sayd therefore before , that in the church of god the teachers error was the peoples temptation : and that the tentation was so much the greater , by how the the learneder he was , that did erre . which we taught first by the authority of scripture , and then by ecclesiasticall examples ; to wit , by reckoning vp them , that though they were for a time accounted sound in the faith , yet at the last did either fall into the sect of some other , or else deuised an heresie of their owne . a matter doubtlesse of great moment , & both commodious to learne , and necessary to be thought of and remembred , the which wee ought diligently to illustrate and inculcate with the multitude of ensamples : that all catholikes for the most part may know , that they ought with the church to receiue teachers , and not that they should with teachers forsake the faith , that the church embraceth . but in my conceit , though we might recken vp a number in this kind of tempting , yet was there almost none , that was so great a temptation , as was origen : in whome there were many things so excellent , so singular , and so admirable , that any man might easily iudge * at first that all his assertions were to be belieued . for if the life doth win authority , his industry , his chastity , patience and sufferance was not small : if either kindred or learning , who more noble then he , who at the first was borne in that a family , which was made illustrious by martyrdome ? and afterwards hauing for christ lost not his father onely , but all his substance also , he did profit so much within the straites of holy pouerty , he did often , as they say , susteine afflictions for confessing the e lord. neither indeed were these things onely in him , all which might afterwards proue a tentation : but hee had also such a notable wit , so profound , so acute , and so fine , that he did much and farre surpasse almost all : and so great was the skill of this notable man in all knowledge and learning , as that there were but few things in diuine philosophy , & of humane it may be almost none , which hee did not thorowly vnderstand . who when he had atteined to the learning of the greekes , he gaue himselfe , also to the study of the hebrew . but why should i speake of eloquence ? whose speech was so pleasant , so delectable , and so sweete , that not words me thinkes so much , as hony seemed to flow out of his mouth . what incredible things did he bolt out and cleer by the force of disputation ? what things seeming hard to be done , did not he make that they should seeme most easie ? but he woue his assertions , it may be , onely with the knots of arguments . yea doubtlesse there was neuer any teacher , which vsed more examples or proofes of holy writ . but he wrote , i beleeue , but little . no man writ more : that i thinke all his works cannot onely not be read ouer , but indeede not so much as found . and who also , that he might not want any helpe to knowledge , was furnished with ripenesse of age . but perhaps he was not very happy in disciples . who euer more happy ? for out of his bosome sprang innumerable teachers , an infinity of priests , confessors and martyers . and now what man is able to conceiue in what admiration , in what renowne and grace he was in with all men ? what man a little more deuout then ordinary did not with speed resort vnto him from the farthest quarters of the world ? what christian did not reuerence him almost as a prophet , what philosopher honor'd him not as a maister ? and how reuerend he was accounted , not onely among priuate men , but euen of the chiefest in the empire , the stories doe declare , which say that he was sent for by the n mother of alexander the emperour , intruth because of heauenly wisedome , which also he did much affect & loue . but the epistles also of the same mā beare witnes , which he wrot by the authority of christian teacher to emperour philip , who was the first christian of all the romane princes . concerning whose incredible knowledge , if any man beleeue not a christian testimony , we being the relators , let him at the lest receiue a pagan confession , the philosophers being the witnesses . for that wicked porphicie saith that being moued with his fame , he went , being in a manner but a boy , to alexandria , and that he sawe him there being now an olde man : but indeede so notably qualified , as one that had attained to the height of all learning . the day would sooner faile me , then i shall be able to touch euen the smallest part of those excellent things , which were in that man : which notwithstanding did not only perteine to the glory of religion , but also to the greatnesse of temptation . for what man among a thousand would easily cast off from him a man of such an excellent wit , so great a scholler , and of so great account , and not rather vse that sentēce , o that he had rather erre with origen , then iudge truly with other men ? but what should i make many words ? it so fell out , that not some humane , but ( as the euent declared ) a too dangerous temptation made by so great a person , so great a teacher , so great a prophet , did draw very many frō the soundnesse of the faith. wherefore this origen so great and so well qualified , whiles he doth insolently abuse the grace of god , whiles he makes too much of his own wit , and thinks so well of himself , whiles he contēneth the ancient simplicity of christian religion , whiles he presumes he is wiser then all men , and whiles that contemning the traditions of the church , and the u maisterships of the elders he doth after a new manner expound certaine places of the scriptures , he hath deserued that it should be sayd vnto the church of god concerning him also ; if there arise among you a prophet . and a little after , thou shalt not , quoth he , listen to the words of that prophet . and againe , because the lord your god , saith he , tryeth you , whether ye will loue him , or no. it was indeed not onely a temptation , but euen a great temptation to remoue the church , being * giuen vnto him , and depending vpon him , and through wondring at his wit , learning , eloquence , conuersation and reputation suspecting him not , nor fearing him ( to remoue the church , i say ) all vpon the sudden by little and little from the ancient religion to nouell profanenesse . but some man will say that the bookes of origen * are corrupted . i gain say it not , but had rather too it were so . for that is both deliuered and written of some , not onely catholikes , but also heretiques . but that is it , which now we are to marke , that although he himselfe bee not , yet the bookes , which are publiked vnder his name , are a great temptation , which being pestered with many wounds of blasphemies are both read & embraced , not as other mens , but as his owne : so that although origen did not conceiue the error , yet origens authority may seeme powerfull to perswade the error . chap. 24. bvt tertullians cōdition also is euen the same . for as he among the greekes , so this man among the latines is without doubt to bee reputed the chiefest of all our men . for who more learned then this man ? who more exercised in diuinity , and in humanity ? for verily he did with a certaine admirable capacity of vnderstanding , vnderstand & compasse al philosophy , and all the sects of the phylosophers , the authors & abettours of the sects , and all their doctrines , and all manner of stories and studies . and did hee not excell for a wit so graue and vehement , as that he propounded almost nothing to himselfe to vanquish , which he did not either breake into with acutenesse , or strike out with weightinesse . moreouer , who can expresse the praises of his speech ? which was replenished with such , i wot not what , vrgent arguments , as that whom he could not perswade , he forced to consent vnto him : whose sentences were almost as many as words : and as many victories as * reasons . this knew the martionists , apelles , the praxeans , hermogenes , the iewes , gentiles , gnostickes , and the rest , whose blasphemies he ouerthrew with his manifold & great volumes , as with certaine lightenings . and yet this man also , i say , this tertullian being vnmindfull of the catholicke doctrine , that is , the vniuersall and ancient faith , and much more eloquent , thē happy , changing his iudgment afterwards wrought that at last , which the blessed confessour hilarie writeth of him in a certaine place ; by the error ( quoth he ) which he fell afterwards into , he made the workes , which he wrote well , to loose their reputation . and hee himselfe was also a great temptation in the church . but of him i will say no more . this thing i will onely mention , that , because hee did against the commandement of moses affirme that the new braine-sicke doctrines of montanus arising in the church , and that those madde conceits of a mad women , euen the dreames of an vpstart doctrine , were true prophecies , he did deserue that it should be said of him also and of his writings ; if a prophet shall arise among you . and againe . thou shalt not heare the words of that prophet . why so ? because , saith he , the lord your god tryeth you , whether you will loue him , or not . by these therfore so many , and so great examples in the church , and by the rest of that nature , we ought euidently to marke , and to know more clearely then the light , that if euer any teacher in the church shall wander from the faith , the prouidence of god doth e suffer it to be done for our tryall to proue , whether we loue the lord our god with all our heart , and with all our soule , or no. chap. 25. vvhich things , seeing they so stand , he is a true and right catholicke , who loueth the truth of god , the church , the body of christ , and who preferres nothing to gods religion , nothing to the catholicke faith , not the authority , not the loue , not the wit , not the eloquence , nor the philosophy of any man : but contemning all these things , and abiding firme and stedfast in the faith , doth iudge that , whatsoeuer he shall vnderstand to bee vniuersally held of old of the catholicke church , himselfe should hold and beleeue alone : but whatsoeuer nouell and strange doctrine hee shall perceiue to bee priuily brought in after by any one besides , or against the iudgement of all the saints , hee knowes that it belongs not to religion , but rather to tentation . and is also especially by the speeches of the blessed apostle paul instructed : for this is that , which hee writeth in his first epistle to the corinthes : there must bee , saith he , heresies euen among you , that they , which are approued among you , might be knowen . as if hee should say ; for this cause the authors of heresies are not presently rooted out by god , that they , which are approued , might be seene : that is , that it might appeare , how sure , faithful and constant a louer of the catholick faith euery mā is . and in truth , when euery nouelty cometh vp , the weightinesse of the corne , and the lightnesse of the chaffe is presently perceiued : at which time that is easily shaken frō the floore , which was held with no weight within the floore . for some doe forthwith flye quite away , but others being onely driuen out , doe both feare to perish , and blush to returne , being wounded , halfe dead , and halfe aliue : as haiung drunke such a quantity of poyson , as neither kild them , nor was digested , as would neither make them dye , nor suffer them to liue . oh miserable condition , with what waues of care , with what whirlwinds are they tossed ! for somtimes , which way the wind shal driue thē , they are carried with a violent error : sometimes returning to themselues , they are beatē back like cōtrary waues : somtimes by rash presumptiō they allow of those things , which seeme vncertaine : sometimes also through a reasonlesse feare they are afraid of those things , that are certaine : being vncertaine which way to go , which way to returne : what to follow , what to fly , what to hold , what to let go . which afflictiō verily of a doubting & wauering hart is the medicine of gods mercy towards them , if they would be wise . for therefore are they tossed , beaten , and almost killed with sundry tempests of thoughts , out of the most i quiet hauen of the catholike faith , that they might let downe the sailes of a proud spirit spread out on high , which they did wickedly spread open to the winds of nouelties , and that they might retire and keep themselues within the most faithfull station of their gentle and good mother , and first vomit vp those bitter and troubled waters of errours , that they might bee able o afterwards to drinke of the streames of liuing and springing water . let them vnlearne that well , which they did not well to learne : and let them receiue by the vniuersall doctrine of the church , what may bee vnderstood : and what may not , let them beleeue . chap. 26. which things seeing that they are thus , reuoluing and recounting the same things oftentimes , i cannot sufficiently wonder that the madnesse of some men , that the vngodlines of their blinded vnderstanding , and lastly , that their lust of erring is so great , that they are not contented with the rule of beleeuing , which of old was once deliuered and receiued , but that they do dayly hunt after change of nouelties , & euer delight to put some new matter to religion , to change & take away : as though it were not an heauenly doctrine , which sufficeth to haue beene once reuealed , but an earthly institution , which could not otherwise bee perfited , but by continuall correction , or rather reprehension : albeit the oracles of god cry out ; thou shalt not remoue the ancient bounds , which thy fathers haue set : and , thou shalt not iudge aboue , or more then the iudge : and againe , hee that breaketh the hedge , a serpent shall bite him : and that of the apostle , wherewith all the wicked nouelties of all heresies are often cut in peeces , as with a certaine spirituall sword , and are alwaies to be dismembred ; o u timotheus , keepe that which is committed to thee , and auoid profane a nouelties of words , or vaine bablings , and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called : which while some professed , they haue erred about the faith. and for all this are there some found of such a marble forehead , so impudent without all shame , and of such an adamant like obstinacy , as which would not yeeld to such heauenly speeches of so great importāce ? which would not faint vnder such heauy weights ? which would not be broken in peeces with such mighty hammers ? finally , which would not be bruised with so great lightnings ? auoid , quoth he , profane nouelties of words . he did say antiquities , hee said not old : yea hee doth plainely shew , what should follow on the contrary , for if nouelty must bee auoided , then antiquity is to be maintained . and if nouelty be profane , then antiquity is sacred . and oppositions , quoth he , of knowledge salsly so named . a false name indeed is vsed among the doctrines of heretiques , that ignorance might bee coloured with the name of knowledge , and mystinesse with the name of cleerenesse , and darknesse with the name of light . which , quoth hee , while some professed , they haue erred concerning the faith . what was that , which whiles they did professe , they fell away , but a new , i wot not what , and vnknowne doctrine ? for you might heare some of them say : come , o yee foolish and wretched men , who are commonly called catholicks , and learne the true faith , which none , but we , doth vnderstand , which many by-past ages hath ben concealed , but was of late reuealed & disclosed : but learne ye by stealth , and secretly , for it shall delight you . and in like manner , when ye haue learned it , teach it closly , least the world doe heare it , least the church take knowledge of it . for it is granted but to a few to conceiue the secret of so great a mystery . are not these the words of that harlot , which in the prouerbs of salomon calleth them that passe by the way , which goe right on their way ? who so is , quoth shee , the simplest among you , let him turne into me . and thē that , are voyd of sense , she exhorteth , saying : do yee gladly touch hidden bread , and drinke ye sweete water i by stealth . and what followes ? but hee knowes not , quoth he , how that o earthlings do perish at her house . and who are those earthly men ? let the apostle declare , euen they , saith he , which haue * erred about the faith . chap. 27. bvt it is worth the labour diligently to entreate of all that place of the apostle . o timotheus , saith he , keepe that , which is committed to thee , auoiding profane nouelties of words . o : this exclamation betokens , both foreknowledge , and charity also : for hee did foresee the errours , that were to be , for the which he was also grieued aforehand . who is timotheus now at this day ? but either the vniuersall church , or specially the whole company of priests or bishops , who should either haue themselues , or instill and teach vnto others the whole knowledge of diuine worship . but what meaneth this , keepe that , which is committed to thee ? keepe it , saith he , for feare of theeues , for feare of enemies : least , whiles men do sleepe , they should sow their darnall vpon that good seede of wheate , which the sonne of man had sowne in his field . keep , quoth he , that which is committed to thee . what is that , which was committed ? that is to say , that wherewithall thou art put in trust , not that which thou hast deuised ; that , which thou hast receiued , not that , which thou hast inuented : a matter not of wit , but of doctrine : not of priuate vsurpation , but of publique tradition : a thing , that was brought vnto thee , and not which commeth from thee : as in which thou must not bee an author , but a keeper : not an ordainer , but a follower : not a leader , but one that is led . keep , saith he , that which is committed : keepe the talent of the catholicke faith , inuiolated & vncorrupted . that which is committed to thy trust , let it remaine in thy possession , let it be deliuered of thee . thou hast receiued gold , repay gold : i will not that thou shouldest bring mee one thing for another : i would not that instead of gold thou shouldest either impudently put lead , or deceitfully brasse : i respect not the colour of the gold , but the nature surely . o timotheus , o priest , o treatiser , o teacher , if the gift of god shall make thee fit , be thou for wit , exercise , and doctrine a bezaleel of the spirituall temple , in graue the precious gemmes of diuine doctrine , fit them faithfully , adorne them discretly , adde lustre , fauour and comlinesse . let that bee through thine exposition vnderstood more cleerely , which was before beleeued more obscurely . let the posterity reioyce that that was vnderstood by the meanes of thee , which antiquity before did reuerence being not vnderstood : the same things which thou hast learn'd , do thou teach so , that , although thou speakest * newly , yet not new things . chap. 28. bvt it may be some mā saies : what ? shall there then bee no progresse made of religion in the church of christ ? let there bee made verily , and as much as may be . for who is he , that is so spitefull to men , and so hatefull to god , as that goes about to prohibite that ? but yet let it be so , that it may be indeed a proceeding , & not a changing , of the faith. for that is to o profite , that euery thing bee increased in it selfe : but that is changing , when a thing is altered from one thing to another . it behoueth therefore , that the vnderstanding , knowledge , and wisedome , as well of each as of all , as well of one man as of the whole church should by the degrees of ages and times increase , and profite much and greatly : but yet in their owne kind onely : to wit , in the same doctrine , in the same sense , and in the same iudgement . chap. 29. let the religion of soules resemble the state and nature of bodies , which although in the processe of yeares they declare and finish their proportions and degrees , yet do they continue still the same , which they were at first . there is much difference betwixt the flower of child-hood , and the ripenesse of old-age : but yet the very self-same men become old , which had bene yong : that albeit the very state and quality of one and the same man bee altered , yet is he neuerthelesse one and the same nature , one and the selfe-same person . the members of sucking children are small , but of young men great : yet are they the very selfe-same . as many as are the ioynts of little ones , so many are there of men : and if those be any which come forth in riper yeares , they be now already planted in the nature of the seede : so that no new thing comes out in old men after , which did not now before lye within them hid in their childhood . whence it is manifest , that this is the lawful and right rule of profiting , that this is the certaine and most excellent order of increasing : if so be that the number and degrees of age do alway discouer those parts and formes , when wee are greater , or elder , which the wisedome of our creator did forme before , when wee were little . if that the shape of man should afterwards be changed into the shape of another kinde , or if at the least wise the number of the members should be increased or decreased , the whole body must of necessity either perish , or become monstrous , or at the least be weakened . so also it is fitting that the doctrine of christian religion should follow these rules or fashions of increasing : namely , that it should bee strengthened by yeares , inlarged by time , & extolled with age : but yet remain incorrupted and pure , and bee compleat and perfect in all the measures of her parts , and in al her owne members , as it were , and senses : as which more ouer admitteth no change , no losse of property , nor indureth any variety of definition . chap. 30. for examhle sake : our elders sowed of old the wheaten seedes of the faith in this corne field of the church : it is vniust , and vnbeseeming , that wee their posterity instead of the naturall and true wheate , should make choice of the cockle of errour put into the roome thereof . but this rather is right and agreeable , that the beginnings and the endings being correspondent to each other , we should reape and enioy of the increasings of a wheaten institution the fruit or graine also of wheaten doctrine : that whenas somthing out of those beginnings of the seeds is by processe of time shot vp , it may now both o flourish , and be trimmed vp by husbanding : yet so as that nothing of the property of the sprout bee changed : though forme , shape , and distinction bee added , that yet the nature of euery kinde abide the same . for god forbid , that those rosy plants of catholicke iudgment should bee turned into thistles & thornes . farre be it , i say , that in this spirituall paradise darnell and woolfe-bane should all vpon the sudden come from the sets and shootes of cynnamon and balme . whatsoeuer therefore is faithfully sowen of the fathers in the church , which is gods u husbandry , it behooueth that by the labour of the children the very same should be husbanded and lookt vnto : it is fitting that the very same should flourish and ripen , that the same should grow , & come to perfectiō . for it is lawfull that those ancient doctrines of heauenly philosophy , should in processe of time bee exactly handled , trimmed , and polished but it is vnlawful that they should be changed , it is vnlawfull to mangle and to maime them . they may lawfully receiue clearenesse , light , and distinction : but it is needfull that they should reteine fulnesse , soundnesse , and property . chap. 31. for if this licentiousnesse of wicked deceit be once permitted , i tremble to vtter what great danger may ensue of rooting out , and abolishing of religion . for when any part of the catholicke doctrine shall be reiected , others also , and others after them , one after another , will now as it were by custome and lawe be reiected and done away . moreouer also , when the parts are each of them seuerely reiected , what will follow at the last , but that the whole should in like manner be refused ? yea , and contrariwise , if nouelties shall begin to be mingled with antient doctrines , and forreine with domesticall , and profane with sacred , it cannot be but that this fashion will spread it selfe ouer all , that nothing in the church wil hereafter bee left vntouched , nothing sound , nothing vncorrupted : but that the a stewes of wicked and filthy errours should afterwards be there , where there was aforetime the sanctuary of the chast and vndefiled truth . but let godly deuotion driue this wickednesse from mens minds , and let this rather bee the fury of the wicked . chap. 32. bvt the church of christ , being a diligent and wary keeper of the doctrines , that are cōmitted to her , doth alter nothing in them at any time , diminisheth nothing , addeth nothing : shee cuts not off things , that are necessary , she ads not things superfluous , she looseth not her owne , she vsurps not strangers : but this one thing she studies with all diligence , namely , that by handling the antient doctrines faithfully and discreetly , she might perfit and polish those , if any , that haue bene shaped and begun of old : and if any be already perfectly declared and made manifest , that she might confirme & strengthen them : and that , if any be now confirmed and defined , she might conserue and keepe them . to conclude , what else did she euer labour by the decrees of councels , then that the selfe-same thing , which was * simply beleeued afore , might more carefully bee beleeued after ? that the very same thing , which was more slackly preached before , might be more diligently preached after ? that the very same thing , which was more carelesly kept before , might more carefully be husbanded after ? this thing , i say , she hath aimed at alwayes , and at nothing else , being stirred vp with the nouelties of heretiques . the catholicke church be the decrees of her councells hath done nothing , but that , what she had receiued before of the elders onely by tradition , she might moreouer set the same thing downe in hand-writing for those also , that shold come after : comprehending a great deale of matter in a few words , and commonly expressing the thing by some conuenient new tearme for the clearenes of vnderstanding , and not for any new meaning of the faith. chap. 33. bvt let vs returne vnto the apostle : o timotheus , saith he , keepe that , which is committed to thee , auoiding the profane nouelties of words : auoid them saith he , as a viper , as a scorpion , as a cockatrice : that they may not smite thee , not onely by touching , but by sight also , and by breathing . what is it to auoid ? not to eate meate with such an one . what meaneth this , auoide thou ? if there come any vnto you , saith saint iohn , and bring not this doctrine . what doctrine meanes he , but the catholicke and vniuersall , which both continueth by an vncorrupted tradition of the truth one & the same throughout all succeeding ages , and shall continue for euer and for euer , without end ? but what followeth ? do not , quoth he , receiue him to house , neither bid ye him god speede . for he , that biddeth him , god speed , is partaker of his euill deeds . profane nouelties of words , saith paul. what is profane ? such as are altogether voyde of holinesse and o religion : vtterly strange from the bosome of the church , which is the temple of god. profane nouelties of words , saith he : nouelties of words , that is , of doctrines , * things , opinions : which nouelties are contrary to antientnesse , to antiquity . which if they should be receiued , it cannot bee , but that the faith of the blessed fathers should be violated either all , or for a great part thereof at least : it must needs bee , that all the faithfull of all ages , all the saints , all the chaste * the continent virgines , that all the cleargy , leuites , and priests , that so many thousands of confessors , so great armies of martyrs , so great an assembly and multitude of cities and people , that so many islands , prouinces , kings , nations , kingdoms , countries , and finally , that now almost all the world , being incorporated into christ the head by the catholicke faith , it must needs bee , i say , that all these aforesaid , should be said to haue beene ignorant for so long continuance of time , to haue erred , to haue blasphemed , and not to haue knowen what they should beleeue . chap. 34. auoid , saith he , profane nouelties of words : which to receiue and follow was neuer the propertie of catholickes , but alwayes of heretickes . and in truth , what heresie was there euer , which did not spring vp vnder a certaine name , in a certaine place , and at a certaine time ? who euer brought vp heresies , but which first separated himselfe from the viuersall and antient consent of the catholicke church ? which that it was so , examples shew most cleerely . for who euer before that prophane pelagius presumed that the power of free-will was so great , that hee did not thinke that the grace of god was necessary to helpe it in good thngs in euery act ? who euer before celestus his prodigious discipline denyed that all mankind was guilty of adams transgression ? who before sacrilegious arrius dared to diuide the vnity of the trinity , who durst confound the trinity of vnity before wicked sabellius . who before most cruel nauatianus affirmed that god was cruell , for that he had rather the death of him , that dyeth , then that he should returne and liue ? who before simon the magitian , whom the apostle e cursed , from whom that whirle-poole of filthinesses flowed by a continual and hidden succession , euen vnto priscilianus the last and hindermost , ( who i say , before that simon ) durst affirme that god the creator is the author of euils , that is , of our abhominable acts , impieties , and wicked enormities ? for he did auouch , that god himselfe did with his owne hands create the nature of men so , as that by reason of a certaine proper motion , or impulsion of a certaine necessary will , it could doe nothing else , it could will nothing else , but commit sin : because it being chafed and inflamed with the furies of all vices , it is carried by an vnsaciable desire , into all the gulfes or whirlepits of dishonest and filthy facts . innumerable examples there are of the like nature , which for breuity sake we pretermit : by al which yet we haue euidently and clearely inough shewed , that this with almost all heresies , is solemne , as it were , and i according to law , to delight alwaies in prophane nouelties , to contemne the ordinances of antiquity , and through oppositions of knowledge , falsly so tearmed , to make ship-wracke from the faith . on the contrary also , this is almost proper vnto catholickes to keep those things , * which were left in the custody of the holy fathers , and were committed to them , and to condemne prophane nouelties , and , as the apostle sayd , and sayd againe : if any shall preach otherwise then that which was receiued , to anathematize or curse him . chap. 35. heere some man perhaps may aske , whether heretickes also do vse the testimonies of the holy scripture . indeed they vse thē , and in truth with vehemency : for you may see thē flie through all & euery booke of the word of god , through the bookes of moses , and of the kings , through the psalmes , apostles , gospels , prophets . for whether it bee amongst their owne followers , or with others : whether priuately , or publickly : whether in sermons , or in bookes : whether at banquets , or in the streetes : they neuer almost vtter any thing of their owne , which they labour not also to shadow with their words of the scripture . reade the pamphlets of paulus samosatenus , of priscillian , eunomius , iouinian , and the rest of those o plagues : you may see an infinite masse of examples , that no page welneere escapes , which is not painted and colored with the sentences of the old , or new testament . but they bee so much the rather to bee taken heede of , and feared , by how much the more closely they lurke vnder the shadowes of gods word : for they know , that their stinking errours would not quikly bee pleasing almost vnto any man , if they should bee vented barely , and as they are in their owne nature : and therefore they bespice them ( as it were ) with the word of god , that he , which would easily despise the errour of man , might not easily contemne the oracles of god. they doe therefore , as those are wont , which being to giue some bitter potions to children for to drinke , doe first rub their mouthes about with honey : that the silly little ones , hauing before felt the sweetenesse , might not be afraid of the bitternesse . which thing they also are carefull of , which set the names of medicines vpon ill hearbes and hurtfull u syrrops : that almost no body would suspect poyson , where he read a remedy written ouer . chap. 36. finally , our sauiour also cried out for the same thing . beware yee of false prophets , which in sheepes cloathing come vnto you : but inwardly they are rauening wolues . what is sheepes cloathing , but the sentences of the prophets and apostles , which they with a certaine sheepe-like sincerity haue wouen as certaine fleeces for that immaculate lambe , which taketh away the sinnes of the world ? who are rauening wolues , but the sauage and rauening opinions or conceits of heretickes , which alwaies annoy the foldes of the church , and rend assunder the flocke of christ , on what part soeuer they are able . but that they may steale more slily vpon the vnwary sheepe , retaining still their woluish cruelty they lay aside their shape of a wolfe , and wrap themselues within the sentences of the holy scriptures , as it were , within certaine sheepe-skinnes : that when a body hath felt afore the softnesse of the wooll , hee might not bee afraid of the bitings of the teeth . but what saith our sauiour ? yee shall know them by their fruits . that is , when they shall begin not only now to vtter those sayings , but also to expound them : nor as yet to cracke of them only , but also to interpret them : then that bitternesse , thē the sourenesse , and madnesse is perceiued , then this new deuised poison will bee breathed out , then are prophane nouelties disclosed , then may ye see the bounds of the fathers to be remoued , the catholicke faith to be then but chered , and the doctrine of the church torne in peeces . chap. 37. svch were they , whom the apostle paul reproueth in his second epistle to the corinthes , saying : for such false apostles , saith hee , are crafty , workmen , transforming themselues into apostles of christ . what meaneth this transforming themselues into the apostles of christ ? the apostles alledged examples of the o law of god , and so did they : the apostles cited the authorities of the psalmes , and so did they : the apostles produced the sayings of the prophets , euen so did they too , not a iot the lesse . but when they had begun to expound those sentences diuersly , which they had alike alledged : then were the simple apostles discerned from the subtill apostles , the sincere from the counterfeite , the right from the peruerse , and finally , the true from the false . and no wonder , quoth he : for u sathan himselfe transformeth himselfe into an angel of light : it is no great thing therefore , though his ministers bee transformed as ministers of righteousnesse . therefore by the apostle pauls doctrine , so often as euer either false apostles , or false prophets , or false teachers all edge the sentences of gods word , with the which being vnderstood amisse , they seeke to maintaine their owne errors , there is no doubt but that they follow the crafty deuises of their author : which he would neuer without doubt deuise , but that hee knowes , that there is no way at all more ready to deceiue , then that , where the deceit of a wicked errour is vnderhand introduced , there the authority of diuine sentences should bee pretended . but some man will say : how is it proued , that the diuell is wont to vse proofes of holy scripture ? let him read the gospels , in the which it is written ; then the diuell tooke him , that is , the lord and sauiour : and set him vpon a pinacle of the temple , and said vnto him , if thou be the son of god , cast thy selfe downe : for it is written , that hee hath giuen his angels charge ouer thee ( to keepe thee a in all thy waies : ) and with their hands they shall lift thee vp , least it may bee thou shouldest dash thy foote against a stone . what will this fiend do to silly men , that set vpon the lord of glory with testimonies of scripture . if , quoth hee , thou be the son of god cast thy selfe downe . why so ? for , saith he , it is written , the doctrine of this place is to bee diligently marked , and reteined of vs , that , when we shall see some alledge the words of the apostles or prophets , against the catholicke faith , we should in no wise doubt : considering such a remarkeable example of euangelicall authority , that the diuell speaketh by them . for as then the c head spake to the head , so now also the members speake vnto the members : to wit , the members of the diuell , to the members of christ , the vnfaithfull to the faithfull , the sacrilegious to the religious ▪ finally , heretiques to catholickes . but what i pray you , saith hee ? if , quoth he , thou bee the sonne of god , cast thy selfe downe . that is to say , thou wilt be the son of god , and wilt receiue the inheritance of the kingdome of heauen , cast thy selfe downe : that is , throw thy selfe off from the doctrine and tradition of this high church , which is also counted the temple of god. and if any man should aske some hereticke which perswades him to doe thus : how dost thou prooue , vpon what ground dost thou teach , that i ought to forsake the vniuersall and ancient faith of the catholicke church ? hee would presently answer : for it is written . and forthwith hee prepares a multitude of testimonies , examples , and authorities , from the law , frō the psalmes , from the apostles , from the prophets , through the which being after a new and naughty manner interpreted , the vnhappy soule might bee plunged headlong into the gulfe of heresie . and now with those promises following the hereticks are wont to deceiue vnwary men . for they presume to promise and to teach . that in their church , that is , in the conuenticle of their communion , there is a great , and special , and in truth a certaine personall grace of god , so as that they , whosoeuer they bee , that are of their company , without any labour , without any study , without any trauell , though they neither seeke , nor aske , nor knocke , are yet for all that so ordered by god , that being lifted vp in the hands of angels , that is , being preserued by angelicall protection , they can neuer dash their foote against a stone , that is , they can neuer be scandalized , or offended . chap. 38. bvt some man doth say ; if the diuel and his disciples do vse diuine speeches , sentences , and promises , amongst whose disciples some are fals-apostles , & false-prophets , and false-teachers , and all of them generally heretiques : what shal catholicke men , and the children of the church our mother , do ? how shall they discerne the truth in the holy scriptures from falsehood ? surely they shall haue speciall care to doe this , which wee haue in writing set downe in the beginning of this aduertisement to haue beene deliuered vnto vs by holy and learned men : namely , that they doe interprete the holy scriptures according to the traditions of the vniuersall church , and by the rules of catholicke doctrine : wherein also it is necessary that they follow the vniuersality , antiquity and consent of the catholique and apostolique church . and if at any time a part shall rebell against the whole , if nouelty shall thwart antiquity , if the dissention of one , or of some few erronious persons , shall crosse the consent of all , or surely of the greatest number of catholickes , let them preferre the soundnesse of the whole to the corruptnesse of a part : in the which same vniuersall body , let them make more account of religious antiquity , then of profane nouelty : & in like manner in the same antiquity , let them first and foremost , afore all thinges preferre the generall decrees , if there be any , of an vniuersall counsell , vnto the rashnesse of one , or of some very few . then secondly , if that be not , let them follow , which is the next thing to it , the iudgements of many & great teachers , that are agreeable one vnto another : the which being faithfully , soberly , and carefully obserued by the lords assistance , we shall easily perceiue all the hurtfull errours of the heretickes , which rise vp . chap. 39. here now i see it meete , that i should shew by examples , how the profane nouelties of heretickes may bee both found out , and condemned , when the iudgements of ancient teachers , agreeing one with another , are produced and compared . which ancient consent of the holy fathers wee should with great labour search out and follow , yet not in all the petty questions of gods word , but onely , at the leastwise especially , in the rule of faith . but neither are heresies alwaies , nor all of them thus to be impugned , but those onely that are new and fresh : namely when as they doe first arise , before they falsifie the rules of the ancient faith , whiles they bee let with the straitnesse of the time it selfe , and before that , the poyson spreading it selfe farther about , they do attempt to corrupt the writings of the elders . but heresies that haue gathered much ground , and are waxen old , must not this way be assailed , because that by reason of long continuance of time , they haue had opportunity offered them , a great while to * steale the truth . and therefore it behooueth vs either to confute those more ancient wicked schismes or heresies by no meanes , but by the sole authority of the scriptures , if neede be , or else verily to auoid them , being now of old confuted & condemned by the generall councels of catholike priests . therefore so soone as the rottennesse of euery wicked errour beginnes to breake out , and to steale for the defence of it selfe certaine sentences of gods word , and to expound them falsely and deceitfully : the sentences or iudgements of the elders are presently to bee gathered together for to interpret the * canon , by the which that nouell , and therefore profane opinion , whatsoeuer it be which shall start vp , may without any coyle presently be descried , & without any retractation condemned . but the iudgements of those fathers onely are to be compared together , which liuing , teaching & cōtinuing , holily , wisely , & cōstantly in the catholike faith and fellowship , obteined either to dye faithfully in christ , or to be slaine happily for christ . whom to notwithstanding we must giue credit with this condition , that , that be accounted vndoubedly true , certaine , and sure , whatsoeuer either all of them , or the most , haue manifestly , commonly , and constantly with one and the same meaning , as in a certaine vnanimous councell of teachers , confirmed and established by receiuing , holding and deliuering it . but whatsoeuer any man shall conceite or thinke otherwise then all men , or else contrary to all men , though he be ( o ) holy and learned , though * he be a bishop , though he bee a confessour and martyr , let it be put apart from the authority of the commune , publicke and generall iudgement , amongst proper , hidden and priuate opinions : and let vs not with very great hazzard of our soules , after the wicked fashion of heretiques , & schismatiques , follow the nouell errour of one man , forsaking the truth of catholike doctrine . chap. 40. the holy and catholicke consent of which blessed fathers , least any man should vnaduisedly , it may be , thinke for to contemne , the apostle saith in the first epistle to the corinthians : and god indeede hath ordeined some in the church : as first apostles , of which ranke he himselfe was one : secondly prophets , as we reade in the acts of the apostles that agabus was : thirdly teachers , which are now called treatizers , tractators , which by this same apostle are sometimes called prophets , because they open the mysteries of the prophets to the people . whosoeuer therefore doth contemne these men , being set by god in sundry ages and places in the church of god , whiles in the name of christ they do determine or iudge some one thing according to the meaning of the catholicke doctrine , he doth not contemne man , but god. and from whom , that no man should dissent , whiles with one consent they speake the truth , the same apostle doth very earnestly desire , saying : now i beseech you , brethren , that ye all speake one thing , and that there be no schismes or dissentions among you : but be ye knit together in the same mind , and in the same iudgement . if so be that any man shall goe from their commune iudgement , he shal heare what the same apostle saith ; god is not the god of dissention , but of peace : that is to say , he is not his god , which departeth from them , that doe ioyntly consent vnto the truth , but theirs , that continue peacably consenting with them : as , saith he , i teach in all the churches of the saints , that is , of the catholickes : which churches are therefore holy , because they abide in the fellowship of the faith . and least any perhaps , the rest beeing vnregarded , should arrogate to bee heard himselfe alone , and that he alone should be beleeued , he saith a little after : came the word of god out from you ? either came it vnto you onely ? and least this should as it were for fashion sake be receiued , he hath added , saying , if any man thinke himselfe to be a prophet , or spirituall , that is , a teacher of spirituall things , let him be with all diligence a louer of equality and vnitie : that in truth he do neither preferre his own opinions to the rest , and that he go not from the iudgements of all . the commaundements of which things he which knowes not , saith he : that is , hee which either learnes them not beeing vnknowne , or which contemnes them being knowne , he shall not be knowne , that is , he shal be counted vnworthie to be by god respected among them , that are knit together in the faith , and made equall by humilitie : then which euill i wot not whether any cā be thought to be more grieuous . which yet we see to haue befallen , as the apostle threatned , that pelagian iulianus , who either neglected to agree in iudgement with his fellows , or else presumed to diuide himselfe from them . but it is now time , that we should produce that example promised , wherein and after what manner the iudgements of the fathers are gathered together , that by them the rule of ecclesiasticall faith might be established by the decree and authority of a councel . which that it may be done more handsomely , let this be the end now of this aduertisement : that we may begin the rest of the things that follow with another beginning . the second aduertisement hath fallen betweene , neither hath any thing more thereof remained , then the last parcell , that is , onely a briefe rehearsall of that , which hath bene more largely handled , which is also added after . chap. 41. the which things seeing they thus stand , it is nowe time , that we should rehearse the summe of those things in the end of this second aduertisement , which haue ben spoken of in these two . we haue sayd before that this hath euer bene , and is also at this day the custome of catholickes to proue the true saith these two wayes : first , by the authority of gods word : secondly , by the tradition of the catholike church : not because the word alone is not sufficient of it selfe for all matters , but because many , whiles they expound the scriptures , as they list themselues , they conceiue sundry opinions , and errors . and therefore that it is necessary , that the interpretation of the heauenly scripture should bee directed by the alone rule of ecclesiastical iudgement or vnderstanding : especially , in those questions at least , on which the grounds of all the catholicke doctrine are layed . in like maner we haue sayd , that we should againe haue regard in the church her-selfe vnto the consent of all in generall , and also of antiquity , least we should either bee broken off from the whole body ( of the church ) being vnited and coupled together , and so become schismatickes , or else be cast head-long from the antient religion into nouell heresies . we haue also sayd , that in the very antiquity of the church , two certaine things are earnestly and carefully to be obserued , to which all , that would not be heretiques , should throughly cleaue : first , if any thing hath bene of antient time decreed of all the priests of the catholicke church by the authority of a generall councell : secondly , if any strange question should arise , when that in no wise might be found , that recourse should be had to the iudgements of the holy fathers , of those onely , which in their times and places conteining all of them in the vnity of fellowship and of the faith , were commendable teachers . and that , whatsoeuer they should be found to haue held with one meaning and consent , that it should without any scruple be iudged of the church to be true and catholicke . chap. 42. vvhich-least we should seeme to set abroach through our owne presumption rather , then by ecclesiasticall authority , we haue vsed the example of an holy councell , which was held almost three yeares since at ephesus in asia , those most excellent men bassus and antiochus being consuls . where when there was dispute about the confirming of the rules of faith , least perhaps any profane noueltie should steale in there after the manner of the ( o ) ariminian councels vnfaithfull dealing , this seemed to all the priests , which had come thither to the number almost of two hundreth , to be a thing most catholicke , most commodious , and best to be done , that the iudgements of the holy fathers should be brought foorth and shewed , of whom it should be manifest that some were martyrs , others confessors , but that all had bene and had continued catholicke priests : that so by their consent and decree the religion of the ancient doctrine might well and solemnly be confirmed , and the blasphemy of wicked nouelty condemned . which when it was so done , then was that foresaid nestorius iudged contrary to catholicke antiquity , but blessed cyril to consent * vnto it . and that the truth of those things might in no wise be called into question , we haue also shewed the names and number ( though we had forgotten the ranke ) of those fathers according to whose order therein concording and vnanimous iudgement both the sentences of holy writ were expounded , and the rule of diuine doctrine established . whom for the strengthening of our memorie it is not superfluous here also to recite . these therefore are the men , whose writings , either as of iudges , or as it were of witnesses , were in that councell shewed and recited ; s. peter of * alexandria , a bishop , a most excellent teacher , and a most blessed martyr : s. athanasius , a prelate of the same citty , a most faithfull teacher , and a most worthy confessor : saint theophilus , a bishop of the same citie too , a man very famous for his religion , life , and learning , whom worthy cyril did succeed , who doth at this time make the church of alexandria famous . and least it should perhaps be thought to be the doctrine of one city & prouince , there were ioyned also those lights of cappadocia , s. gregory bishop and confessor of nazianzum : s. basil , bishop and confessor of caesarea in cappadocia : as also the other s. gregory bishop of nysse , and for his faith , conuersation , vprightnesse , and wisedome , a man most worthy of his brother basil . but that it might be proued that not greece alone , or that the east onely , but that the weasterne and latine world was alwayes also of that iudgement , certaine epistles also were there read , written to certaine men by saint foelix , a martyr , and s. iulius , bishops of the city of rome . and that not only the head of the world , but that the sides also might giue testimony to that iudgement , there was taken from the south most blessed cyprian , bishop of carthage , and a martyr ; and from the north saint ambrose , bishop of millaine . all these * ten therefore were at ephesus produced as teachers , counsellers , witnesses and iudges : whose doctrine , counsell , witnesse and iudgemēt that blessed synode mainteining , following , crediting , and obeying , did readily , discreetly & vnpartially giue sentence concerning the rules of faith. although a farre greater number of elders might haue bene ioyned to these , yet it was not needfull : because it was not sitting that the time allotted for that businesse should be taken vp and spent with producing of a multitude of witnesses , and for that euery man is perswaded that those ten did differ nothing in a maner in iudgement from all their other fellowes . after all which things we haue also annexed the holy iudgement of cyril , which things are conteined in the ecclesiasticall acts . for after that the epistle of s. capreolus , bishop of carthage was read , who laboured and intreated no other thing , but that noueltie being conuinced antiquity might be beleeued , bishop cyril spake and defined to the same effect : the which it seemeth not vnfitting for the matter in hand here also to interpose . for hee saith in the end of the acts ; and this epistle which was read , quoth he , of the reuerend & very religious bishop of carthage , capreolus , shall bee faithfully recorded , whose iudgement is manifest : for hee would haue the doctrines of the ancient faith confirmed , but nouell conceipts , and such as are superfluously deuised , and wickedly published , to bee reiected , and condemned . all the bishops cryed together in signe of approbation ; these are the words of vs all , we do all affirme these things , this is the wish of vs all . and what , i pray you , were the words and the wishes of all , but that that should bee embraced , which was anciently deliuered , and that that should be banished , which was newly deuised ? after which things we wondred at & told of the great humility and holinesse of that councell , and what a number of priests there were , the greater part welneere being metropolitanes , of such knowledge , and so well learned , as that almost all of them were able to dispute of doctrines . whom when the congregation being assembled all together might seeme to incourage , to vndertake and to determine something of themselues , yet would they giue nothing , presume nothing , arrogate nothing to themselues at all : but by all meanes prouided , that they might not deliuer any thing to their posterity , which they themselues had not receiued of their fathers , and that they might not only order the matter well for the present , but giue example also to them , that should suceede , that they also might embrace the doctrines of sacred antiquity , and condemne the deuises of prophane nouelty . wee inueighed also against the wicked presumption of nestorius , because he boasted that he did first and onely vnderstand the holy scripture , and that all those whatsoeuer were ignorāt of it , which being teachers before him had handled the oracles of god ; to wit , all priests , all confessors and martyrs : some of which had explained gods word , and others had consented or giuen credit to the explainers of it : and lastly , because he did affirme that the whole church doth now erre , and that it hath alwaies erred , * which , as to him seemed , had both alwaies followed , and did ( now ) follow ignorant and erroneous teachers . chap. 43. all which things , though they cannot plentifully & aboundantly suffice to ouerwhelme and extinguish all prophane nouelties , yet least any thing should seeme to bee lacking , where there is such plenty of proofe to cleare this point , we haue in the last place added a double authority of the apostlicke see ; namely one of the holy pope , or o father xistus , who like a reuerend man doth at this present aduance the church of rome : and the other of his predecessor of blessed memory pope calestine , whose authorities wee haue deemed needfull heere also to interpose . pope xistus then saith in an epistle , which he sent to the bishop of antioch , about the cause of nestorius . therefore , quoth he , because as the apostle saith , there is one faith , which hath euidently preuailed , let vs hold those things that are to be beleeued , and let vs beleeue those things that are to bee held . at the length hee sheweth the things , that are to bee held and beleeued , and saith ; let no libertie ( quoth he ) bee giuen at all to nouelty , because it is fitting that nothing should be added to antiquity . let the manifest faith and credulity of the elders be troubled with no mixture of * mire . speeches altogether apostolical , in that hee adornes the credulity or faith of the elders , by comparing it to the light , for the manifestnesse or clearenesse of it , and describes nouell profanities , ( or prophane nouelties ) by likening them to the mixture of mire . but pope caelestine also deales in the like manner , and is of the same iudgement . for he saith in an epistle which he sent to the french ministers , reprouing their conniuencie , because they * letting the ancient faith to be iniured through their silence , did suffer prophane nouelties to start vp . iustly , quoth hee , the matter concernes vs , if we shall nourish an error with holding our peace . let such men therefore be rebuked , let them not haue liberty of speech at such their pleasure . some man here may peraduenture doubt , who those may be , whom hee forbids that they should haue libertie to speake what they list , whether the preachers of antiquity , or the deuisers of nouelty . let him speake himselfe , and answer the doubting of the readers . for it followeth : let nouelty cease , saith hee , if the case stand thus , that is , if it bee so , that some accuse your citties and prouinces to me , because you make them to giue consent to certaine nouelties through your dangerous winking at them . let nouelty therefore cease , saith hee , if the matter stand so , to inuade and incroach vpon antiquity . this then was the blessed iudgment of blessed celestine , not that antiquity should cease to ouerthrow nouelty , but rather that nouelty should cease to gather ground vpon , and inuade antiquity . which apostolicke and catholicke decrees whosoeuer doth gainesay , hee must needs first of al triumph ouer the memory of saint celestine , who determined that nouelty should cease to vexe and inuade antiquity : and in the second place scorne the decrees of holy xystus , who iudged that no liberty at all should be granted to nouelty , because it is meete that nothing shold be added to antiquity : yea & contemne the determinatiōs of blessed cyprian , who did greatly extoll the zeale of reuerend capreolus , because hee desired that the doctrines of the ancient faith should be confirmed : and that nouell deuises should be condemned : and despise the counsell of ephesus also , that is , the iudgements of the holy bishops almost of all the east , whom it pleased by gods direction to determine that the posterity should beleeue no other thing , but that * which the sacred and in christ vnanimous antiquity of the holy fathers had held , and who also with their cryes and exclamations witnessed with one consent , that these are the words of all , that they did all wish this , that they were all of this iudgement : that as almost all heretickes before nestorius , despising antiquity , and desending nouelty should be condemned , euen so nestorius himselfe also should be condemned as an author of nouelty , and an impugner of antiquity , whose consent being inspired by an holy gift and of heauenly grace to whom it is displeasing . what else doth follow , but that he should affirme that the wickednesse of nestorius was not iustly condemned , and lastly also contemne the whole church of christ and his teachers , apostles , and prophets ; but yet especially the apostle paul , as certaine filth or off-scourings ? her , because she neuer departed frō the religion of the saith once deliuered vnto her to be husbanded & carefully lookt vnto : and him , because he hath written ; o timotheus keep that which is committed vnto thee , auoiding profane nouelties of words : and also , if any one shall preach vnto you otherwise then that yee haue receiued , let him be accursed . if so be that neither apostolicall ordinances , nor ecclesiasticall decrees be to be broken , by the which according to the sacred consent of the vniuersall and ancient church all hereticks alwaies , and last of all pelagius , celestius , and nestorius haue ben iustly and worthily condemned , it is necessealy doubtlesse for all catholickes hereafter , which study to shewe themselues the lawfull children of the church their o mother , that they should sticke and cleaue vnto , and dye in the holy faith of the holy fathers : and that they should detest , abhorre , inueigh against , and persecute the profane nouelties of profane persons . these are well nigh the things , which being more largely handled in the two aduertisments are cōtracted as a recapitulation ought to be , that my memory , for the helping whereof we haue done these things , might bee both * refreshed by being continually put in minde , and not oppressed with wearinesse , caused by long discourses . trin-vni deo gloria . finis . london , printed by nicholas okes , for leonard becket , and are to be sold at his shop , neere the church , in the inner temple . 1611. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a14435-e180 a in natiu . dom. ser. 4. nisi vna est , fides non est . b eccles . 10. 15. c psal . 119. 105. d 2. tim. 3. 16 e aug. ep . 48. audi dicit dominus , non dicit don●● &c. f is . 8. 20. g per scripturam deus loquitur omne , quod vult . moral . l. 16. c. 16. h psal . 25. 9. 12. 14. i ioh. 16. 23. notes for div a14435-e670 1. sam. 11. 2. iohn . 5. 39. o indeede christ lay at the pass . but that he did so at the last supper , the scripture sayes not . * kneeling at communion , as it is required of the church of england , lawfull . 1. cor. 5 , 11. * ego te non catilmae aduersus patriā , sed patriae aduer sus caulinam gonui . quest . an. * iam. 4. 6. * 1. pet 5. 5. psal . 25. 9. * psal . 119. 34. 66. notes for div a14435-e1380 * so called of lerme , or lerina , an iland in the mediterraneā sea , where he liued . a deut 32. 7 e pro. 22. 17. & 3. 1. o this word signifies a pilgrime , or stranger : a word befitting al christian men : & vnder this name our author puts forth his booke , concealing his owne proper name , least the aduersary should reiect the worke for the workemans sake . or it may be a read peregrin , a pilgrime or a stranger . psal . 46. 10. a by , not for : the ancients knew no merits , but christs , they preached mercy , not merit . b that is with the helpe of god , for to do a thing in the name of god , is either to doe it to gods glory : or by his power & authority : or else , as here , by his grace , or with confidence of his assistance , as ● psa . 20. 5. c not which himselfe hath forged vpon the anuill of his owne wit. * he meanes especially such as are saints not in respect , of grace onely , but of place , as bishops & other ministers , whose office is holy . d that is their deceit full reasons , wherby they seeke to catch & intangle men . quest . ans . quest . ans . quest. ans . quest . ans . quest. ans . * or especiall , duntaxat . * latini sermonis , that spake the latine tongue . d bellona , & furia were two heathen god desses : the one was ouer war , the other was the mother of fury . c he means constantius or valens , or both : who were arrians both . f or principall courtiers . g antiquity acknowledgeth men liuing to bee saints : & not dead men onely , as some do , h heretiks break from their teachers , exorbitate , & go an whoring after the idols of their owne braines . * in sine cap. vlt. reu. 5. 3. 5. i that is , the holy scriptures : so called , because it is giuen them to keep , and teach : i meane ministets , which book is then said to be vnsealed in our authors sense , when it is violated and corrupted . k that is , the ministers of the gospell : so called , because they did offer the people to god , as a sacrifice : killing their flesh with the word , as with a sacrifycing knife . l he alludes to the candlesticke in exod. 25. m or ouerthrowen , quasht , stayed , broken , c●nteratur . n or against the custome & ordin ances contra morem & instituta . apud cypri . lib. 2. ep. 7. obiect . ans . gen. 9. o by faith is not meant , the gift of faith , but the doctrine : not by which , but which wee do beleeue . a gal. 1. b 2. tim. 4. c 1. tim. 5. d rom. 16. 17 e 2. tim. 3. 6. f tit. 1. 10. 11 g 2. tim. 3. 8. h 1. tim. 6. 4 , ● i 1. tim. 5. 13 k 1. tim. 1. 19 l 2. tim. 2. 17 m 2 tim. 3. 9 o he alludes to pedlars that go vp and downe to sell their wares . gal. 1. 8. quest . answer . o he means not faith , whereby we do beleeue , but which we doe belieue , that is , the doctrine of faith , which was once for euer deliuered to the saints , as in iud. 3. obiect . sol. gal. 1. ● . * or infectious , contagious . obiect . sol. gal 2. 25. 26. obiect . sol : gal. 5. 16. o there are now two sorts of catholiks , christian , & antichristiā , the former are reall , the other ( as the iesuits ) are nominall & titular . * he alludeth to that in act. 9. 15. * this he saith to shew the abhominablenes of their errours . quest . ans . deut. 13. 1. 2 ' a deut. 13. 2. b deut. 13. 3. c or inhibit , hinder , let . * or teacher . false teachers are called wolues , because they bite and deuoure the sheep of christ with their wicked errours : and like wolues they are not of the sheepeheards feeding , but his foes . e he was bishop of the sirmitan church : but a galatian borne : skilfull in the greeke and latine tongues : he fostered a blasphemous error against christ : and being a man of good parts otherwise , ouerthrew himselfe with pride , ( a moath that frets the cushion in which it bred ) as some ancients say . f such an one is euery godly and orthodoxall bishop , and pastor : who goes before his fellowes the sheepe of christ in life and doctrine , ringging the word of god in their eares : & being at the controll of the chiefe sheepheard , as well as the meanest in the flock . g humility is the nurse of verity , pride & curiosity be the founders of heresie . a christ is called the word : because he is begotten of the father , as words are of the mind : and because hee shewes his fathers mind vnto vs. e non the●t ocos●sed christoto●os . rom. 7. 13. i lo the fond cōceit of this heretique ! the colt ruins if he haue the reines . o not rage but zeale makes him thus to speake . a dog will bawle & bite : a mad dog will not stick to bite his maister , and that which he should not ; & such are false teachers . o alius & alius , non aliud & aliud . quest . ans . quest. ans . o or thus , & is according to knowledge sayd to be created : euen as in , &c u psal . 22. 16. a dei non deitatis : of god , not of the god head : for so hee had no mother . e she was holy not by generation , but by regeneratiō : her sonne , that tooke flesh of her , gaue grace to her . * or preach . * at the first sight , before matters were scanned . a he was the sonne of leonides , who dyed a martyr vnder seuerus . e for his fathers goods were consiscated to seuerus . he cals his pouerty holy : because it befel him by tyranny for religion sake . cuius scientiae um graeel encederent . obiect . sol. obiect . sol. obiect . n mammaa . o so cicero of plato l. 1. tusc . quaest . u he meaneth their authority . deut. 13. 1. * or committed , deliuered , addicted , bent . * s. ierome thinkes not so : vide epis . ad panimachium , et oceanum . * or conceipts and opinions . sensus . a he meaneth priscilla , and maximil a , two montanists . deut. 13. 3. e not cause , but suffer . i a quiēt hauen indeed : for out of this harbour men are either tossed vpon the waues of errour , or swallowed vp . o for a vessell is not capable of wine , till the water or dregs , that filled be emptied out . pro. 22. 28. eccles. 8. 17. ecc. 10. 8. u 1. tim. 6. 20. 21. a cainophonias , siue cenephonias . pron . 9. 15. 16. i furtim . o terrigenae . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1 tim. 6. 20. exod. 36. 1. * or after a new fashion : noue , non noua . quest. ans . o to proceed or make progresse . o laetetur , be manured : for laetamen is manure , which being layd on the ground , doth make it flourish . pallad . lib. 1. vseth this word : in laetandis , inquit arboribus crs tes facicmus . u 2. cor. 3. 9. a an errour stifly mainteined is a filthy harlot . * or barely . 1. tim. 6. 20. 1. cor. 5. 11. 2. ioh. 10. 2. ioh. 11. o porrò , fiue procul a sano * or opinion concerning things or matters . * or the continent , the virgins . e acts 8. 21. i that is , heretickes count is a law , and make it as a trade . * or which the holy fathers left in their custody , diposit● patrum . gal. 1. 9. quest . ans . o so he calleth pestilent , and pernicious teachers : whose errors are as plague-soares , rotten and infectious . u or drugs . math. 7. 15. math. 7. 16. 2 cor. 11. 13. o or word u vers . 14. 15. quest . an. mat. 4. 5. luk. 4. 9. psal . 91. 11. a these words are not in the gospell , though in the psalme . c that is , the diuell to iesus , and hereticks to true catholikes . 1 , tim. 3. 15. quest. ans . * he is said to steale the truth , which writhes the scriptures to his owne opinion or errour , peruerting their meaning . * or scriptures . * for the person doth not commend the faith , but faith the person . 1. cor. 12. 28. acts 11. 27. 28. 1. cor. 1. 10. 1. cor. 14. 33. uers . 36. vers . 37. uers . 38. which receiued ualens the arrian , hauing before condemned him . * ad verb. to sacred antiquity . * perhaps it shold be read bishop of alex. for the comma is wanting in some bookes . * ad verb. of the sacred number of the decalogue . * that is , the whole church . o for papa , pope , is fatheria name of old giuen to other bishops , thē the romane . ephes . 4. 5. * all corrupt cōceits of men are no better then mud , or mine : they are foule & filthy : and therefore to be shunned of such as would not be desiled . * or forsaking the ancient religiō through silence . quest . ans . * that is , which the holy fathers agreeing in christ held of old before . 1. tim. ● . gal. 1. o hee that hath not the church for his mother , hath not god for his father , nor christ for his brother . * or mended , and repaired . a conference held at paris betweene father gontier a iesuite, and doctor du moulin seconded by the lady of salignac. together with doctor du moulin his answere to gontier his letter to the king concerning the subiect of this conference. by peter du moulin doctor of diuinitie, and minister of the word of god in the church of paris. translated according to the french copie printed in paris. veritable narré de la conference entre les sieurs du moulin et gontier. english du moulin, pierre, 1568-1658. 1615 approx. 48 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a20940 stc 7319 estc s111071 99846493 99846493 11465 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a20940) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 11465) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1064:03) a conference held at paris betweene father gontier a iesuite, and doctor du moulin seconded by the lady of salignac. together with doctor du moulin his answere to gontier his letter to the king concerning the subiect of this conference. by peter du moulin doctor of diuinitie, and minister of the word of god in the church of paris. translated according to the french copie printed in paris. veritable narré de la conference entre les sieurs du moulin et gontier. english du moulin, pierre, 1568-1658. gontery, jean, 1562-1616. aut [4], 24 p. printed [at eliot's court press] for iohn barnes and are to be sold [by nathaniel butter] at the signe of the pyde-bull neere saint austines gate, london : 1615. a translation of: veritable narré de la conference entre les sieurs du moulin et gontier. identification of printer and bookseller from stc. often bound with (as issued?): du moulin, pierre. father cotton a jesuite, the kings confessour, his two and thirtie demands to the ministers of france. london: printed by edward griffin for nathaniel butter .., 1615. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng catholic church -controversial literature -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2007-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-08 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-02 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2008-02 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a conference held at paris betweene father gontier a iesuite , and doctor du moulin : seconded by the lady of salignac . together with doctor du moulin his answere to gontier his letter to the king concerning the subiect of this conference . by peter du moulin doctor of diuinitie , and minister of the word of god in the church of paris . translated according to the french copie printed in paris . london printed for iohn barnes and are to be sold at the signe of the pyde-bull neere saint austines gate . 1615. to the very godly and right noble lady , my lady elizabeth winvvood : wife to the right honourable sir ralph winvvood knight , one of his maiesties priuy counsell , and principall secretary to the state. madam , it may bee thought a double recompence in you , amongst many workes and many writers , if you would onely spare employments to peruse and giue ( in charity ) a milde opinion of this . but i ( intending to your selfe a recompence , for late and earely loues vouchsafed by your honourable husband ) dare honestly prefixe your name to this , and thinke it woorth your patronage . when as indeede omnipotence it selfe cannot be well entituled to any thing but truth : then certainely it should be triumph , to defend a truth conuincing . and such a truth is now commended to your fauor : which if it may acquit my zeale vnto your knight and you , of thanks though not of satisfaction . for hauing thought your selfe most worthy to defend this truth , opposed by one of your own sexe , & almost of the same rank , i shall according to my wish esteeme it sutable to your person , whom with your honourable husband , i doe now leaue to heauens disposall ; which may enable me to discharge a further duty . your ladyships most deepely bound , iohn barnes . a trve narration of the conference betweene du moulin and gontier , seconded by my lady baronesse of salignac . peter du moulin hapning about three of the clocke in the after-noone to meete with monsieur de liembrune before his gate in marsh streete , was requested by him to steppe vp along with him vnto his chamber , where hee was no sooner come , but he saw the roome full of ladies ; among which , one of them , at the first on set , entreated him to explaine the 31. article , in the confession of the faith of the reformed churches . du moulin answered , that if it pleased her to take the paines to come home to his house , he would do the best he could to satisfie her . presently vpon that another lady replied and said , that we ought at all times be readie to giue an account of our faith : that du moulin ought not deny to instruct them herein which did demand it of him : whereunto du moulin answered , that hee knew well enough , they did not aske this for any desire they had to be instructed ; and to dispute about religion with women , which tattle altogether ; and after they are gone publish what they please , were to wrong the truth of religion . one among them replied , that she could not satisfie her selfe as concerning this article , and that it was often obiected to her , how that our ministers were not able to giue an account of their mission and vocation . du moulin answered , that he wondred much how she forgat to aske a reason of them for the iustifying of theirs : and that had she so done , she should haue found them lesse able to satisfie her : that euery one which presumes to aske a reason of another for the maintaining of his vocation , ought to be sure that he is able to iustifie his owne , and be readie at any time to yeeld a reason . he had no sooner spoken these wordes , but in comes gontier , with two others , which brought many bookes along with them ; gontier at his first entrance asked what was the matter ? what it was that was said there ? why my lady heere ( said du moulin ) requires a reason of me to iustifie my mission : and i told her , that she should haue demanded the like of you , for the iustifying of yours . gontier . this is onely a shift to rid your necke out of the coller . du moulin . it is no shift at all : for whosoeuer is so bold , as to demaund a reason of another for his vocation , bindes himselfe thereby to giue an account of his owne . but if you will confesse that you are not able to defende yours , i will presently heere take vpon mee to defende mine . gont. pray sir , be not cholericke ; you doe not heare me acknowledge any such matter . du moul. i speake nothing , but what is apparantly true ; and do here vndertake to proue that you haue no vocation . gont. who hath giuen you authoritie to speake so saucily to your superiours . du moul. as for your dignitie i denie that you haue any such superioritie ouer me . but to the point , i heere maintaine that you haue no commission ; for you call your selues priests , and haue receiued this order of priesthood in this manner : which is , that the bishop , hauing anointed your fingers , and imposed his hands , saith vnto you ; receiue power to offer vp sacrifice to god , and to celebrate the masse , as well for the liuing as the dead : by this meanes he hath made you sacrificers to sacrifice iesus christ . i demaund of you therefore in what place of scripture bishops are authorized to establish such sacrificing priests in the church . gont. that is easily prooued , out of the second and fifth chapters of the first epistle to timothie ; bring mee a new testament hither : hereupon a testament was brought him , wherein he read these two chapters , which was not a little tedious to the standers by ; and finding nothing there that he desired , said to one of his company ( which was his assistant ) go and fetch me my * concordaunce , which being brought , he stood turning the leaues along time without saying a word : du moulin being weary of staying for his answere , said vnto him , if this disgrace had lighted vpon me to haue beene put to silence , and to send for my concordaunce , i should be ashamed euer to shew my face more in any honest company : wherupon monsieur de liembrune tould gontier , sir i am ashamed to see , that which i do : for you haue often told me that the ministers durst not speak a word before you , and now i see you driuen to such straites , that you haue not a word to say : after halfe an houres silence , i sought ( said gontier ) a place of scripture , wherein there is mention made of imposition of handes : i will ease you , said du moulin , of the paines and presently turned to the place , which is in the 4. chapter of the first epistle to timothy . gontier red the words which were these , despise not the gift that is in thee , which was giuen thee by prophesie , with the laying on of the hands of the company of the elders : note withall that these elders were priests , and that greeke word imports as much . du moul. this doth not proue at all that bishops haue authoritie from god to establish sacrificers in the church . gontier in steede of answering , tooke a bible , and turning himselfe towards monsieur de liembrune , said that he would shew , that vnder the old law , the church was neuer without sacrificers . du moul. that is nothing to the purpose , we speake of the authoritie which bishops haue to make sacrificers vnder the new testament . gont. whereupon gontier being at a stand , asked for pen and inke , which being brought , hee falls a writing without speaking a word , and then blotted out that which he had written , which made the company wonder at him . du moul s . aid vnto him , you gaine time , and vnder the colour of writing take leisure to thinke vpon some thing to saue your selfe . gont. laying aside his writing entreated du moulin to set downe his proposition in writing . du moul. then at his entreatie writ these words . let any man shew me out of the word of god , that the bishops of the romish church haue authoritie to establish sacrificers in the church . gont. i will proue vnto you that the apostles were sacrificers . du moul. this is not the thing in question , neither doth it proue that which i demaund . gont. it is sufficient if i proue that the apostles were priests and did offer vp sacrifices . du moul. since you are at a stay , and that i cannot draw any proofe from you of the power that bishops haue , to establish sacrificing priests in the church , let vs see how you proue that the apostles were sacrificers . hereupon gontier tooke his pen and wrote that which followes . gont. this word , to sacrifice , in his primary signification imports as much as to do an holy thing ; but the apostles were ordained to do an holy thing , therefore the apostles were ordained to sacrifice . du moul. we haue nothing to doe here with etymologies , but with the sence of this word , to sacrifice , as it is taken in the church of rome , to wit , to offer vp really vnto god the body of iesus christ in a propitiatorie sacrifice for the liuing and the dead . to pray vnto god is to do an holy thing , yet neuerthelesse euery one that praieth is not therefore a sacrificer in this sence : whereupon it followes that the conclusion is nothing to the purpose , since the word , to sacrifice , is taken therein in another sence then we take it . gont. i haue proued that which i was to proue . du moul. i denie it , this is nothing to the purpose , you tie your selues to the word , so to auoide the thing . gont. i haue done enough , and you haue granted what i demanded . du moul. i do not agree with you in that , and doe call the company to witnesse , if there be any one here which hath hitherto heard master doctour speake one word to proue that bishops haue authoritie from god to establish sacrificers in the church : or that the apostles were sacrificers , to sacrifice iesus christ . gont. whereat all holding their tongues , gontier answered and said that iesus christ had said vnto his apostles : do this , and thereby commanded them to sacrifice . du moul. i denie that , to do this , signifies to sacrifice . gont. this word , do , is referred to his body . du moul. suppose it were so ; yet to do his body is not to sacrifice it . gont. in the 26. of saint mathew it is said that the bloud of christ is shed for the remission of sinnes , now where the bloud of christ is shed there is a sacrifice ; and all that is auaileable to the remission of sinnes is a sacrifice . du moul. that i denie : if it were so , baptisme should be a sacrifice seeing that that also is auailable for the remission of sinnes : nor is it true , that wheresoeuer any bloud is shed for the remission of sin , there should of necessitie be a sacrifice , except this bloud be offered to god , for without this it is no sacrifice : also it is requisite that this shedding of bloud be made by death , but in the eucharist you cannot shew me , either that this bloud is offered vnto god , or that this shedding of bloud is made by death . gont. in the 26. of mathew it is expressely said that the bloud of christ is : and withall hee went to write this argument the bloud shed which is ioined with death , is a sacrifice , but the bloud shed in the sacrament is ioined with death , therefore it is a sacrifice . du moul. you take that for granted which you are to proue , to wit , that the bloud which you say to haue been shed in the sacrament hath beene offered vnto god ; secondly i answere , that you doe fallaciously adde this same word , ioine , to that which i haue said : that in the 26. of mathew it is truly said of the shedding of bloud which by nature is ioined with death , but i say that when the very bloud of christ is really shed in the sacrament , yet it is neuerthelesse not shed by death . gont. by this answere you seeme to allow of my maior . du moul. you speake nothing , neither haue you produced any thing yet , to proue that iesus christ hath offered his bloud to god in the eucharist . gont. i haue proued it sufficiently , i need not proue it againe . du moul. proue this , or confesse that you cannot . gont. gontier hereupon tooke his pen and writ as followes : the bloud shed for the remission of sinnes is contained in the institution of the eucharist : in the 26. chap. 28. verse of saint mathew . du moul. this doth not enforce at all , that iesus christ did offer his bloud vnto god in the eucharist . gont. hereupon after some silence , and complainte of the ladies , desiring vs to conferre about some other matter , at last gontier stood vp vpon his legges , and framed an argument ; which he would not write , but du moulin writ it as he told it him : the argument was this , the bloud of iesus christ which is shed for the remission of sinnes , must of necessitie be offered vnto god , but in the institution of the eucharist contained in 26 chapt. 28. verse of saint mathew the bloud is shed for the remission of sinnes , therefore it must needes be offered vnto god. du moul. i denie that the maior proposition is alwaies true , for should the very bloud of christ iesus be shed in that same action of the eucharist , it would not follow , that it were offered vnto god for a sacrifice : for it might be offered or presented to the communicants , and not vnto god : it is sufficient that he hath beene offered on the crosse : as for the second proposition , i acknowledge that the bloud of iesus christ was shed , but vpon the crosse : saint mathew saith truly that the bloud of the lord is shed , but hee meanes vpon the crosse ; as the romish bible witnesseth ; and the very masse , which turne it in the future , effundetz , that the bloud of the lord shall be shed , i aske of mr. doctour whether he will renounce his bible , and his masse . gont. gontier taking pen and inke to answere blotted out part of that which du moulin had writ ; du moulin complained thereof , and shewed it to the companie , gontier exeused himselfe , and said he did it vnwittingly , afterward he began to write these words this offring cannot be made vnto the people . afterward he paused vpon it , and blotted out that which he had written ; then passing that ouer , he posts to the second article of du moulins answere ; who required him to answere to the first article : gontier answered that he would not answere to it at all : and that in his answering he would haue to do with those parts which hee thought most feeblest : du moulin prest him againe , saying that his conclusion was weake , whilest that one of his propositions remained still denied : gontier refused againe : some that sate there comming vnto him , whilst he did thus delay , vrged him vnto it , yet he persisted in his refusall ; but vppon the second article he said , that du monlin denied his owne bible ; which saith , is shed , and not shall be shedde . du moul. answered that our translation was turned faithfully according to the greeke , and that this did proue nothing , but that the exposition of the romish church which the bibles approued by the counsell of trent and the masse it selfe doth carry , is false . gont. gontier then made one of robert stephens greeke testaments be brought vnto him , and for to weaken the authoritie of the greeke text said that many things there had beene changed , and that at the end of the booke there was a table of more then fiue hundred seuerall readings . du moul. answered that these diuers readings did not alter the sense at all ; that all this inueighing against the originall of the new-testament did not help him a iot to proue that which as yet he could not proue : to wit , that iesus christ offered vp his bloud to god in the eucharist , and he called vpon gontier to proue it , gontier continuing in denying to proue it to him , and the disputation being there at a stay , all the ladies to gratifie him entreated them to talke of some other subiect , and said that this matter was to deepe for their capacities . a new matter proposed . one of the ladies therefore requested that these words might be expounded , this is my body . du moulin . answered and said : that no man doubted of the truth of these words , and that wee should beleeue the scripture according to the exposition that it carries of it selfe : that these words , this is my body , were thus expounded by the apostle saint paul 1. cor. 10. chap. 16. vers . the bread which wee breake is the communion of the body of christ ; an exposition which the church of rome doth reiect , not beleeuing at all that it is bread , nor that we breake bread ; nor that this bread so broken is the communion of the body of christ , seeing that it is his very body : hereunto adde , that the euangelists do with a ioint consent witnesse , that iesus christ broke bread and gaue it : he tooke bread broke it , and gaue it : therewith the church of rome , denies , not beleeuing that hee gaue bread : nay which is more , it denies these words ; this is my body : for seeing the word , this , signifies that which he gaue , and seeing that he gaue bread , the sense of these words , this is my body , is , this bread is my body , the which the church of rome denies . gontier on the contrarie opposed against this , that saint paul had said in the eucharist , that the body of our lord is broken for vs : that the bread whereof hee speakes , saying the bread which we breake is his flesh , as it is said in the sixt of saint iohn , the bread which i will giue is my flesh . du moul. replied and said that herein gontier contradicted the church of rome , which doth not beleeue at all , that the lords body is broken in the eucharist , and asked of gontier whether he would subscribe to this : that the church of rome doth beleeue that the body of the lord is broken in the eucharist : that gontier by this word , bread , meaning the body of christ makes the words of saint paul ridiculous , making him to say , that , the body of christ , which wee breake , is the communion of the body of christ . that in that place of saint iohn he speakes not at all of the eucharist , but promiseth to yeeld himselfe vnto death , as he makes manifest by the words following : the bread which i will giue , is my flesh which i will giue for the life of the world , now he did not giue himselfe for the life of the world , but in his death . gont. hereunto gontier answered nothing , but only this , that these words , i will giue , being twise repeated were taken in two seuerall significations . afterward being required to subscribe , that the church of rome doth beleeue that the body of christ is broken in the sacrament ; he tooke paper and writ : christ hath broken his body in the eucharist : saint paul : 1. cor. 11. vers . 14. which was not that which was demanded of him : hereupon being required to speake his minde freely , and tell in his conscience , whether he thought the apostle saint paul did speake truth , saying , that we breake bread : he answered flatly that he would answere no more then he had done alreadie ; which moued one of the gentlemen that sate by ( master paupart by name ) who came in at the latter end of the conference , to say vnto him , wee haue brought our eares but it seemes you want a mouth . this done gontier being prest a new , to proue , that iesus christ hath offered his bloud to god in the eucharist , forsooke the battaile , and being ashamed of himselfe , and cleane out of heart retired into one of the corners of the chamber , where being all alone he falls a writing what he thought best in a paper apart , which when he had shewed vpon the table , a little after hee toare in peeces snatching it out of the handes of my lady of liembrune who was willing to haue kept it . he therefore giuing roome my lady baronesse of salignac succeeded in his place . the vpshot of the conference . my ladies discourse tended to this end : i haue ( said she ) withdrawne my selfe from the religion wherein i was bred , after i came once to the through discussing of the cause ; i haue spent foure whole yeares in sounding of this ; i haue looked vpon all the fathers latine and greeke , i kept a man of purpose to translate them ; i haue found that the fathers of the foure first ages are conformable in all things to the faith of the church of rome , hereupon i was confirmed in mine opinion , and my conuersation hath turned diuerse others . du moul. said , madame since you vnderstand that which you do so well , giue me leaue to aske you , if you do not call vpon the virgine mary , and if the forme of your praier , wherein you call vpon her , be not aue maria &c. yes said she : then du moulin said vnto her , you do not therefore vnderstand what you do , for by speaking thus you thinke you pray to the virgine mary , but indeed you pray vnto god for her , saying vnto her , mary the lord protect thee , the lord bee with thee &c. also madam , i thinke you haue not forgot the causes , which moued you to this change . for example can you shew vs any places of the scripture , wherein wee are commaunded to paint god , and to make carued images of the trinitie in stone : the lady answered that she would not take vpon her to prooue that in the presence of a doctour : du moulin then shewed her the 4. chapter of deuteron . at the 15. vers . and following , where god forbids any image to bee made like vnto him ; she on the contrary alleaged the images of the cherubins ; but du moulin told her that she spake of the images of god , and that a cherubin was no god. as for the images of creatures , he asked her , if since her change of religion , she had seene any commaundement of god for the worshipping of creatures images : gontier did releeue her a farre of , crying out of his corner where he was retired ; madame , instance in the brasen serpent , being the image of christ , who was both god and man , tell him withall , that there was sacrifice and incense offered before the cherubins . du moul. answered that the brasen serpent , was no image of iesus christ , but a figure of his office , and sauing vertue ; that suppose it were his image , yet it was not an image of his diuinitie : that he could neuer find that the israelites did worship it , but that they were taxed for idolatrie : and lastly that there was neuer any sacrifice or incense offered vp before the cherubins , there being alwaies a vaile interposed . shee heereupon had recourse againe to the fathers ; affirming that shee had read them all . du moulin tolde her that it was impossible , first in respect of the multitude of bookes , and then because of the difficultie therof to her , which vnderstood neither greeke nor latine . that twenty yeares were too little for him to doe it : and that shee must needes aske twice as long : hee entreated her to name some father among others , which shee had read : shee named chrysostome for an example . du moulin said , praie madam shew me but one place in him which you doe best vnderstand : then she strained courtesie , saying that being as she was a mother of a family , she could not be wholly at leisure : afterwards she brought foorth a whole bedroll of the fathers , wherein shee tooke the greeke for the latine , saying that tertullian was the disciple of the apostles ; that cyprian was his disciple in the 150. yeare of our lord , for which shee was taken vp by gontier which heard it a farre off . who raising himselfe vp , gently tooke his leaue of the company : du moulin told him as he was going foorth , that if we were castawayes and damned creatures , as they reported , they should then by the lawes of ch●istian charity haue compassion vpon vs : and i am amazed that you which heere shew your selfe to bee of so yeelding a nature , should yet neuerthelesse preach bloud and sedition ( as all those tell me which goe to heare you ) gontier answered , you are misinformed : i haue giuen an accoun● to the king for that which i did , i would hazard my life for your good ; after some complement the company departed . two dayes after , my lord of liembrune meeting with the same ladies in saint nicholas des chamans , hee enquired of them what the reason was that father gontier was so astonished , and did stay at a st●nd in his answering , who sayd that ( as he himselfe told them ) he did this to cheere vp my lady of liembrune who wept for feare he should else haue afflicted her a new . peter dv movlins answer to the letters of m. gontier written to the king , concerning the subiect of this conference . since the religion of rome is become a marchandize , they which teach it study how to put trickes vpon men , but they doe them so slouenly , and performe them with so little slight , that ( as it seems ) they are willing to do vs a pleasure in disgracing themselues ; the letters of monsieur gontier vpon this subiect shew this which i say to be true ; wherin he bragges of the conuersion of my lady of mazancourt , as the prize of his victorie ; though she in the yeare 1596. in the moneth of iune , in the church of sechelles publikely forswore our religion on her marriage day , and protested that she would liue in the church of rome : and neuer since hath she turned to vs , or made any shew of professing our religion . see then what a new conquest here is , he hath spoiled vs of that which wee neuer had , hee hath killed a person already dead , hee hath made a lady forsweare our religion , which had done it a douzen yeres before ; and gained so excellent a victory , to the end the people should say , this was done by the dexterity of venerable father gontier : not vnlike him , who hauing bought an hare , tied it with a chaine vnto his saddle bow , that so the people might say , this is the hare which hee hath taken ; which opinion makes the dish to rellish the better : these doctors could neuer yet catch any , but such like preyes as these : shee surely is a lady of honor , whose person & family i reuerence , yet she neuerthelesse , either to gratifie her husband , or els through simplicity , had willingly forsaken the truth before our conference : in which she was so farre from profiting any thing , that whilst it was a doing , she often professed that she did not listen to that which was said , nay more then this ; since that hath she written letters to my lady of liembrune her sister , where she speaks thus ; i was not in any manner in the world instructed , because the points , which du moulin proposed to bee discussed , were aboue the reach of my vnderstanding : a little after she saith , that when the conference was done , shee went to consult with father gontier , who shewed her all the fathers of the first 600. yeares to bee on his side ; where as ( shee reports ) shee hath found true saluation , that heereupon she hath fixt her resolution . but if master gontier behaued himselfe so manfully as hee sayes , without shewing how ; how comes it then to passe , that the ladies there present were faine to excuse him to monsieur de liembrune , for bearing himselfe so dastardly in the fight , saying that he did this to comfort my lady of liembrune which wept ? why was i constrained to turne for him to a passage of scripture which hee could not finde ? why did he stand so many times so long , together without speaking a word ? why ( he being at a non-plus , and not able to iustifie the authority of bishops for the ordaining of sacrificing priests ) was i forced to change my question , for to gratifie him ? why did hee withdraw himselfe out of my presence to hide himselfe in a corner ? why did hee blot out that which i had written ? why did he teare the papers which himselfe had written ? whereof i can yet for aneede produce some peeces : and note that he tooke mee vnawares then , when i thought of nothing lesse then conferring with him ; but hee came prepared and furnished with bookes hauing agreed on this conference before hand with the ladies ; i am also giuen to vnderstand by the report of men worthy of credit , that a few daies after the conference , gontier dining with my lord the prince of conde , and my lord the duke of espernon , that the prince askt gontier as concerning this matter , telling him there went a speech abroad thereof which tended little to his praise ; and that the sayd iesuite imputed his little resistance to the great noise there was made : but especially to the earnest entreatie of an aduocate ; yet there was no aduocate nor anie stirre , but onelie towards the latter end , the three first houres being past ouer with a great silence , euerie one looking that master gontier should speake , whilst hee did nothing but turne the leaues of his concordance , and made as though he did write . now to iustifie this which i speake to bee true , i call the assistants for witnesses which sate there from the beginning to the end , and god knowes that in the discourse which i haue published , i haue dealt as faithfully as i cold possible , hauing shew'd it ready writen to those which were present at it ; to the end that if i had forgotten my selfe in any thing , they should correct what was amisse ; yea i haue yet some part of mr. gontiers arguments written with his owne hand , of the which hee doth not so much as repeat one word in his letter ; wherein he reduces our conference to a douzen lines , not for breuities sake , for he breakes out into other vnprofitable discourses , but by an apparant shift : for in our conference there were two points aboue others that we chiefely handled : one , whether bishops were authorized from god to establish sacrificers for to sacrifice iesus christ : the other , whether it could possibly be prooued that iesus christ did offer vp his bloud to god in the eucharist : because , that although his bloud were really shedde , yet it is not a sacrifice if the bloud be not offered vnto god. these two points beeing of such importance , how comes it to passe that mr. gontier writing to the king , doth not satisfie them , nor so much as mention a word of them at all ? did he thinke his maiesty vnworthy to be throughly informed in the truth of the matter ? or why doth he frustrate the people of this their expectation . and if in the conference hee had not a word to speake heereupon , why doth he not yet repaire his credit heerein by his writings vpon farther studie ? why is he so loth to speake anie more of the passage in saint cyprian , which is in the 9. epist . of the first booke alleadged by my ladie baronnesse of salignac , doth hee not perceiue by this that he hath spoken nothing worth the considering , but that a ladie hath spoken that which deserues to be weighed ? nay , he shewes that he neuer read the place , seeing that he produceth it so disguised , and which is more , saies in the margent of his booke that this is the 66. chapter ; when saint cyprians epistles are not distinguished by chapters ; doubtlesse my ladie of salignac , who hath ten times more learning for a ladie , then he for a doctor , could haue taken him vp for this : saint cyprian indeed speaks in the place alleadged , of alters and sacrifices , but by sacrifices he vnderstands the presents which the people offered on the table , of which one part was laid aside for the celebration of the eucharist ; wherefore in his sermon of almes he takes vp the rich men which men which came to receiue without offering anie sacrifice : doest thou come ( saith he ) to the lords table without a sacrifice , doest thou take part of the sacrifice which the poore hath offered ? and in the same ninth epistle , in the honour of the brethren which offer vp offrings , as if they did receiue the tithes of fruits , let them not depart from the altar , and sacrifices . as concerning prayer for the dead , which began to be in vse in the time of tertullian , and of which saint cypryan speakes in this epistle , this is a praier which at this daie the church of rome doth allowe of no more then wee ; seeing that then they praied for the saints and martyrs , and that it shall neuer bee found that any one praied for the deliuerie of soules out of purgatorie , but onely for the enfranchisement of soules kept in prison , and sleeping in the bosome of peace , of which you haue a feeling in your masse , where the priest praies in this manner for the dead : lord thinke on thy seruants which sleepe in the bosome of peace ; amongst the number of which the ancient church doth reckon the saints : who also as they thought in the next age to st. cyprian , should bee purged by fire in the last day of iudgement , not exempting so much as the virgin mary herselfe , as wee haue shewed by a great number of proofes in the last chapter of a booke entituled , the waters of silo. neuerthelesse master goutier least hee should haue nothing at all to say , doth accuse mee for denying our owne bible ; how so ? because saith hee , that when he did alleadge these words vnto me , which is shed for vs , i said this was to be vnderstood in the future : a ridiculous calumnie : rather on the contrary i say that our bible doth turne the words more faithfully then that of the church of rome , seeing that it is in the greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which is shed , and not shall bee shed , as the bible of the church of rome and the masse haue it : but it is one thing to aske what is the best translation of the words of iesus christ , another thing to aske what is the meaning of the words ; for our translation onely is true : but the romish bible doth expound the meaning and intention of iesus christ , which is to promise that his bloud shall be shed for vs on the crosse , failing in the turning , but not in the drift of his words : as if when iesus christ saith , ioh. 10. ver . 15. i lay downe my life for my sheepe , one should translate it thus , i will lay downe or leaue my life : hee indeed should lay downe the true meaning of his words , which although it were true , yet ought it not to be inserted in the text : let this suffice for an answer to master gontiers letters , letters without sinewes , without ioynts , puft vp with a childishly affected kinde of swelling , which we do therfore here pricke to the end we might bring it downe . had he no bodie to present them to , but his maiestie . the pagans in their sacrifices did neuer offer an ape vnto their gods , but these men presume to offer apish to yes to so great a prince , which holds the place of god among vs : who being wonderfull in his patience since he suffereth himselfe to be thus serued , is no lesse wonderfull in the clearenesse of his iudgement . for hee knowes well that , if his royall vertues were not aboue al enuie , and out of the danger of forgetfulnesse , they must needs lose some of their lustre by being mixt with the impurenesse of their pamphlets , as pearles that are wrapt in smoake : neither doth he like of these seditious preachers , which now preach in their sermons before his maiestie , that we hate dominion , & set al kind of gouernment at nought : for his maiestie is not ignorant that this is so farre from being true , that on the contrary , this is the principall cause for which we are hated , to wit , because wee haue not taken on oath of allegeance to anie other then to the king , because we hold that the pope cannot giue or take away realmes , nor dispense with subiects for the oath of fealty ; because wee teach that he should not haue heere anie other lawes , any other iudges , any other prisons , then those of the king , because that we shew that his realme is spoiled of siluer , which passeth ouer into italy for the paiment of first fruits dispensations , absolutions , matrimoniall contracts &c. and that cousenage and tyrannie are established vnder the shew of religion . finallie , because we complaine that the pope makes kings kisse his feete , and tramples on their crownes : would wee but sticke to the pope in these things , hee would easilie dispense with vs for our beleefe in the gospell : or by a speciall priuiledge would permit vs to beleeue thereon , in the things which were not preiudiciall to his profit . is there any one that can accuse the reformed churches of rebellion or attempting ought against our kings , or of conspiring to blow them vp with gun-powder , and yet to dare to preach this in the presence of his maiesty : which reproach , the onely consideration , and manie proofes that he hath had of our fidelitie doe sufficiently confute : for that the iesuites goe about to perswade him that we are rebellious , or ill-minded towards him , is all one as if caiphas should defend iesus christ against his apostles , or as if catiline should accuse cicero of sedition . at the end of master gontiers epistle there is a discourse annexed , subscribed with the name of corbozon mount-gommeri , which was not present at the conference , but saies that he heard of it at the vicaridge of saint nicholas : this so honorable a name of mount-gommeri doth vnhappily come to be written vnder so base a pamphlet , and i cannot beleeue , that so false and ridiculous peece of stuffe , should come from vnder the handes of a gentleman of that honor as he is ; without doubt some paltry iesuite composed this writing at his pleasure , which comes no more neere the truth of that which past betweene vs , then ouid his metamorphosis doth to that of the gospell . and indeed , the recitall that master gontier hath made of our conference in his letter to the king , hath nothing like vnto this ; but monsieur de corbozon is willing to honor it , in couering it vnder his name , as with a cloake , which will scarce euer be brought him backe againe cleane : it would bee time lost to go about to confute this writing ; for if i should conuince the author of absurditie , master gontier would renounce him as one that had written vpon false information , and so i should haue done as good as nothing . as for the defiance and threatnings of master gontier , we neuer yet refused vpon any occasion that was offered , to enter the lists vpon iust and equall termes ; but this people loues to set on men in corners , that they may a little after publish the contrary the more freely ; especially when they haue one in hand to deale withall which is alreadie conuerted ; and which hath promised to yeeld himselfe before the combat , only they make it deferre it a little , till the time they haue plotted a conference . now for to iustifie this which i say to be true , master gontier a few daies after all this adoe , ill befitting the grauitie of a doctour , will not yet let mee scapeso , saying that he will enter in conference with me concerning the antiquitie of our church ; and i meaning to enter the lists with him , haue at this time sent him a writing , of which this is the substance . i maintaine that m. gontier can not shew me in the foure first ages after christ , any church , or any man which held the same religion as the church of rome doth at this day : and for this purpose . 1 he should shew me any ancient church that celebrated the communion without communicants , as they do ordinarily in the church of rome . 2 that he should shew me that any ancient church did barre the people of the communion of the cup. 3 or that in any ancient church , the common seruice was read in a tongue which the people vnderstood not . 4 or that any ancient church did forbid the people to read the holy scriptures , as it is by no meanes permitted without a speciall priuiledge in the countries , where the pope is absolute commander . 5 or that in any ancient church there were euer made any images of god , and representation of the trinitie in stone , or in painting . 6 or that in any auncient church the people were taught to pray without vnderstanding that which they said . 7 or that any ancient church did do seruice to the images of creatures , in kissing them , in clothing them , by bowing themselues downe before them , and offring vp sacrifices vnto them . 8 or that any ancient church euer beleeued that the virgine mary is crowned queene of heauen , and empresse of the world , as it is painted throughout all their churches . 9 or that any ancient church did assigne diuers offices to saints ; to one ouer this country , to another ouer that , to one ouer this sicknesse , to another ouer that , to one ouer this trade &c. 10 or that any ancient church did euer beleeue that the pope could giue and take away realmes , and free subiects from their oath of allegeance , canonize saints , dispense with vowes and promises made vnto god. 11 or that in the ancient church , the pope by his pardons did distribute the superabundant satisfactions of the saints , for the remission of the punishment of the sinnes of others . 12 or that the pope did then lay his pardons on one church and not on another , on one village and not on another , and this sometimes for one hundred and two hundred yeares of true pardon . 13 or that the ancient church did beleeue a lymbus of little infants . 14 or that the ancient church did euer adore the host , which the priest holds , with diuine worship , and that this is the cause , why the priest doth vse to hold vp the host in the masse . 15 or that the bookes of the machabees were held for canonicall in the ancient church . 16 or that the ancient church did beleeue that the bishop of rome could not erre in the faith . 17 or that the ancient church did beleeue that iesus christ by his death and suffering did indeed discharge vs from the punishment of sinne before baptisme , but as for the punishment of sinne committed after baptisme , he hath changed it from eternall , vnto temporall , and that it lies vs vpon to satisfie the iustice of god for this . that master gontier should tell vs , if in these points he will admit of the fathers for iudges , we will aske but halfe a douzen cleare passages vpon euery point . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a20940-e220 * he did the like at amiens against monsieur hucher being troubled to answer , he sent to fetch his concordance . the nature of christianity in the true light asserted in opposition to antichristianism, darkness, confusion, & sin-pleasing doctrines : being a looking glass for sin-pleasing professors of all sorts / written upon particular occasion herein signified, by a servant of christ, g. whitehead. whitehead, george, 1636?-1723. 1671 approx. 165 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 38 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a65874 wing w1942 estc r39132 18217111 ocm 18217111 107200 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a65874) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107200) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1136:18) the nature of christianity in the true light asserted in opposition to antichristianism, darkness, confusion, & sin-pleasing doctrines : being a looking glass for sin-pleasing professors of all sorts / written upon particular occasion herein signified, by a servant of christ, g. whitehead. whitehead, george, 1636?-1723. 74, [1] p. s.n.], [london : 1671. place of publication suggested by wing. "an aditional postscript by george keith to robert gordon"--p. 60-69. imperfect: stained, with print show-through. errata : p. [1] at end. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng keith, george, 1639?-1716. society of friends -england -apologetic works. theology, doctrinal. 2004-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 melanie sanders sampled and proofread 2005-01 melanie sanders text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the nature of christianity in the true light asserted . in opposition to antichristianism , darkness , confusion , & sin-pleasing doctrines . being a looking-glass for sin-pleas●ng professors of all sorts . written upon particular occasion herein signified ; by a servant of christ , g. whitehead . if we say that we have fell●wship with him , and walk in darkness , we lie and do not the truth , 1 joh. 1.6 . printed in the year , 1671. an epistle explanatory to the unprejudiced reader· contention , especially with perverse spirits , that desire it , and seek occasion for it , is not a thing desireable to me ; howbeit , for the living and precious truth 's sake , and that living effectual faith which was once deliver'd to the saints , i am one necessitated earnestly to contend , being brought forth and rais'd up by the power of the living god for that end , against perverse gainsayers and peevish opposers : one of whom i find one robert gordon , in a second piece of antichristianism , stuft with confusion , perversion of scriptures , abusing and belying the people call'd quakers ; though he hath given it the title of christianity vindicated , but therein hath discover'd a great deal of his own , and of his tutor's ignorance of the very nature of christianity , as concerning those weighty matters of salvation ; to wit , reconciliation , justification , and redemption ; which in the true nature and sense thereof are in this treatise unfolded , according to the holy scriptures ; although this man hath grosly wronged divers of us , by accusing us , as if we did oppose and seek to overthrow the plain testimonies and voices of all the prophets and apostles , concerning the true saviour , or the man christ jesus , whom we have frequently confessed , both as to his divinity , and as to his taking upon him the body , prepar'd for him to do the will of god in , according to the scriptures of truth ; yea , both his outward and inward appearance , his suffering nature , and glorified state , and his divinity in both we have always truly believ'd and confess'd ; even his dignity , spiritual out-goings from of old , from everlasting ; as also his outward birth , and coming in the fulness of time in that body , wherein he shew'd forth innocency , preacht righteousness , wrought miracles , suffered contradictions , crucifying , and death , by wicked hands ; together with his glory , dignity , resurrection , and glorious triumph ; as a captain , as a conqueror , leader , and example through all : these things have a spiritual and divine impression upon us , and a place in our hearts ; through that eternal spirit , by which christ offered up himself a lamb without spot , and a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour to god ; which things being so openly and frequently own'd by us , according to the scriptures of truth : we cannot but look upon it as a wilful perversion and wicked abuse in this r. g. or any others , contrariwise to represent us , when ( as to him ) we have only oppos'd his confus'd dark testimony , which is without life , and much of it without sense or reason ; although pervertedly he hath interwoven some scriptures , abus'd by him in it : howbeit , he saith , he hath testified to what he received of the lord , and witnessed through and under the ministry of those i ca●l presbyterians and i●dependants . now seeing he hath learn'd his testimony or religion of such , and yet hath pirked up , as if he were ●ome-body , or could do more against us then his tutors or fraternity ( although he falls short of many of them , in the manage●ent of their cause ) i should think it were more prudence in the presbyterians and indepen●ants , to stop such shallow cavellers and forward novices , as can scarce write three pages , without manifestly contradicting themselv●s , as this their disciple r. g. hath done , who will never bring any honour to the cause of presbyterians and independants : he should have let us known , whether they do approve of this his work against us , yea , or nay ; which it he write again , we desire him to signifie , whether he is own'd , and his work approv'd of , by the presbyterians and independants , yea , or nay ? some suppose it probable , that what he hath writ against the innocent and suffering people of god in this nature , hath some self-interest and end , as either of some preferment , or applause at least ; who though he be dismounted with the times , from his former place and preferment , yet is not content to live quietly in that obscurity he is in , but he must villifie , reproach and slander an innocent people , who have appear'd ( and do stand up ) for god , and the testimony of jesus , in his divine power , where such peevish , pittiful , underly cavellers as r. g. dare not shew their faces for christ ( nor yet for their own directory and church-faith ) for all their pretended zeal for him , though he and they can carp and quarrel against us , who are under sufferings : and he having shown himself both an antinomian , a shatter'd presbyterian , and independant , he is the more fit man to insinuate into such , especially the more ignorant sort of them , for some applause or name to himself , like many of his selfish teachers before , who being dismounted from their parochial bishopricks , pulpits & tythes , are now for the rattling of the platters , which have been v●ry beneficial to many such fain'd preachers and temporizers , who can make a florish in fair weather ; but ei●her ●lee , sculk , or comply , when a storm or a pinch comes ; or otherwise , drive a trade more privately , and have the platters rattle more secr●tly , with their watchers and spies at ea●h corner , to give them warning , lest they should be surpriz'd for driving a trade unlicens'd , that they may escape out at back-doors , ●or by-wayes , which hath been the manner and practice of such as r. g's . tutors , notwithstanding their severely pressing their hearers to faithfuln●ss , and to stand fast , &c. when they are no example thereof themselves ; but on slite occasions ready to flee like hirelings — and ready to give their ●locks the ●●ip . and now as to the doctrinal part of his book , he having affirm'd a justification a●d redemption of men , even while no good is wrought in them by any light or spirit whatsoever ; and when no qualificat●on is wrought in man by any spirit whatsoever ( to mend the matter he adds ) in order to the perfecting the purchase of redemption , &c. which word , purchase , he thus explains , in an unscriptural and nonsensical stile , viz. that god man purchased and compleated reconciliation , justification , &c. with god , at once , without us ( which is as good sense , as to say , god purchas'd them of god ) and for proof thereof , he very many times over repeats that scripture , rom. 5.10 if when we were enemies , we were reconciled to god , by the death of his son ( not so much minding the following words ) much more being reconciled , we shall be sav'd by his life : and verse 11. we have now received the attonement , &c. this he hath made a cloak for his justification of men , even while no good is wrought in them ( one while saying , they are reconcil'd to god ; another while , god to them ) now though plenteous redemption , salvation , and peace were in being in christ for us , while enemies ; and that god commended his love towards us , in that while we were sinners , christ died for us , vers . 8. which doth explain the intent of the words [ if when we were enemies we were reconcil'd to god , by the death of his son &c. ] yet it is not the nature of reconciliation for men to be enemies to god : i appeal to the conscience of both r.g. and all other professors , whether enmity and reconciliation do not differ ? and whether , while persons are at enmity , they be then actually reconcil'd ? though while we were enemies , we were reconcil'd , by the death of his son ; intentionally on god's terms , but not actually in our selves , till the enmity was slain in us ; as god , with reference to his purpose , speaks to abraham , i have made thee a father of many nations ( before he was actually so made ) for paul , in the following words , saith , god , who quickeneth the dead , calleth those things which be not as though they were , rom. 4.17 . and also zacharias , being filled with the holy ghost , he prophesied saying , blessed be the lord god of israel , for he hath visited and redeemed his people , luke 1.67 , 68. and to the end of the chapter : now though this [ redeemed ] be spoken of as a thing done , yet it was spoken of in the prophesie , of christ the horn of salvation ; whose salvation is deliverance and preservation out of the hands of our enemies , that we may serve him , without fear , in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life : this was not witnessed when the enemy rul'd , and no good was wrought in us . further , if reconciliation and redemption had been actually finish'd without us , when no good was wrought in us , what needed the apostle so earnestly beseech and pray them in christ's stead to be reconciled to god ? 2 cor. 5.20 . they might have said , that is done and complated already : or to say , tbat jesus christ gave himself for us , that he might redeem us from all iniquity , and purifie unto himself a peculiar people , & c ? tit. 2.14 . they might have said we are redeem'd at once already without us , while no good is wrought in us ; what needst thou to tell us of redeeming from all iniquity , or of being purified ? we do not expect any such thing while we live here , and yet we are redeemed , justified , and perfect in christ. this is according to r. g's . doctrine and sense ; but the apostle's sense is contrary , as where he saith , you that were sometimes alienated , and enemies in your minds by wicked works ; yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his fl●sh , through death , to present you holy , and vnblameable , and vnreprovable in his sight ; if ye continue in the faith grounded and se●tled , col. 1.21 , 22 , 23. mark here the nature and tendency of a reconcil'd state● and how it differs from that of enemies in the mind , as you were sometimes enemies , yet now reconciled , viz. ye saints and faithful brethren in christ , which are at coloss , chap. 1.2 . but the mind of him that is an enemy in his mind is not reconcil'd to god or his truth . drunkards , swearers , and ranters , are not in a reconcil'd state , nor justified state ; neither is god reconcil'd to them , nor in union with them . again , the words purchased and redemption , are us'd by r. g. in an unscriptural sense , while he doth so nonsensically render it as god man , having purchased all of god without , and so justified man , when no good is wrought in him by the spirit of god ; and as if christ's works without , were the previous purchasing cause of the love of god ; and also , states man's justification and redemption , as only without , and preceeding the work of the spirit within ; whereas redeeming from all iniquity and bondage , under which man was sold , is not wrought without the opperation of the spirit of god within ; but it is a work to be fulfilled within , where sin and bondage have ruled ? and being washed , sanctified , and justified by the spirit , are plac'd in their proper order , 1 cor. 6.11 . sanctified being plac'd before justified . and the apostle paul saith , you are seal'd with the holy spirit of promise , which is the earnest of our inheritance ( note that ) until the redemption of the purchased possession , unto the praise of his glory , eph. 1.13.14 . so mark here , the holy spirit of promise was the earnest of their inheritance , until the redemption , &c. ( and grieve not the holy spirit , whereby you are s●aled until the day of redemption , eph. 4.30 . but with r. g. the day of his redemption was long since over , many years before he was born ; he was redeemed and justified above sixteen hundred years ago ; but then he must suppose or conceit himself an elect person before that , or else the whole world is as much justified as he ) see how plainly these scriptures refute r. g. as also , god purchased his church with his own blood , acts 20.28 . so his chosen people were a purchas'd possession , god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself ; but the saints ( who are hi● friends ) are actually reconcil'd , he hath fulfill'd it in them . and now because those terms in scripture , relating to christ and his works , are mis-understood , and p●rverted by many professors and priests , as this man hath done , i shall state them with the natural and simple sense thereof , as followeth , viz. jesus , a saviour , who saveth from sin , of whom it was said by the angel , thou shalt call his name jesus , for he shall save his people from their sins , mat. 1.21 . christ , is anointed ; for he was anointed with power from on high. propitiation , a sacrifice well-pleasing , which is to purge away sin , and ( in scripture sence ) to make nigh to god * and which imports forgiveness , reconciliation , favour , mercy , kindness , &c. as propitious is favouable , merciful , &c. sacrifice , an oblation or offering , which is to consecrate or make holy. reconciliation , an agreement , a peace-making between them that have been friends , and afterwards foes , a setting at one. covenant , an accord , agreement , a contract , a treaty , a condition , &c. attonement , peace , quietness , &c. between them that are reconcil'd or in mutual friendship . redemption , a ransoming , buying again , rescuing or recovering such as were under bondage , or sold under slavery . salvation , a saving , preserving , or a making safe from the hand of an enemy , destroyer , or oppressor , &c. imputation , an ascribing , attributing to , laying to the charge of , or an accounting , reckoning , or thinking . justification , a making righteous , just , upright , vertuous , good , perfect , &c. and also , an adjudging , pronouncing , and sentencing one that is made righteous to be so . now if professors come not to feel and experience these things ( or works of christ ) fulfill'd within them , they are but meer empty professors and talkers of them , without the true life and power of christianity and true religion . certain scriptures , touching the saviour , redeemer , redemption , and salvation , &c. thou shalt know no god but me ; for there is no saviour besides me , hos. 13.4 . deut. 6.4 . i , even i , am the lord , and besides me there is no saviour . isa. 43 11. and 44.6 , 8. and 45.15 . and all flesh shall know , that i the lord am thy saviour and redeemer , the mighty one of jacob , chap. 49.26 . and 60.16 . jer. 50.34 . i will mention the loving-kindness of the lord , &c. for he said , surely they are my children , people that will not lye : so he was their saviour , isa. 63.7 , 8. thy people shall be all righteous , &c. chap. 60.21 . o the hope of israel , the saviour thereof in time of trouble , jer. 14 8. he saved them from the hand of him that hated them , and redeem'd them from the hand of the enemy ( by this he made his power known ) psa. 106.8 , 10 , 21. with the lord there is plentious redemption , and he shall redeem israel from all his iniquities , psa. 130.7 , 8. see also psa. 19.14 . and 20.6 . and 28.8 . and 34.22 . and 49.8 . draw nigh unto my soul , and redeem it , psa. 69.18 . he shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence , and precious shall their souls be in his sight , psa. 72.14 . the redemption of their souls is precious , psa. 49.8 . and mary said , my soul doth magnifie the lord , and my spirit hath rejoyced in god my saviour , luk. 1.46 , 47. see also , 1 tim. 1.1 . & 2.3 . & 4.10 . tit. 1.3 . & 2.10 . god so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten son , that whosever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life , joh. 3.16 . our saviour jesus christ , gave himself for us , that he might redeem us from all iniquity , and purifie unto himself a peculiar people , tit. 2.14 . but after that the kindness and love of god our saviour , towards man appeared , not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us , by the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost , which he shed on us aboundantly , through jesus christ our saviour , tit. 3.4 , 5 , 6. i and my father are one , joh. 10.30 . jesus of nazareth was a man approv'd of god by miracles , and wonders , and signs , which god did by him , acts 2.22 . the son can do nothing of himself , but what he seeth the father do , joh , 5.19 , 30. we have seen , and do testifie , that the father sent the son to be the saviour of the world , 1 joh. 4.14 . he is the propitiation for our sins , and not for ours only , but also for the sins of the whole world , 1 joh. 2.2 . lord , thou wilt ordain peace for us ; for thou also hast wrought all our works in us , isa. 26.12 . the nature of christianity , in the true light , &c. in answer to robert gordon . the first part. the title of r. g's . pamphlet . christianity vindicated ; or the fundamental truths of the gospel : concerning the person of christ , and redemption , through faith in him maintained . answer , these are covertly , and deceitful insinuations , implying that we deny christianity , or deny redemption through faith in christ , both which are very false ; for it is antichristian sin pleasing-doctrines which oppose and slight the inward work of christ in his people , that we oppose : and what we have said on this account , are neither cavils nor groundless exceptions , as we are falsly accus'd . r. g. to the reader saith , having lately published a book , intituled , a testimony to the true saviour — concurring with the voices ●f all the prophets and apostles , to the man christ jesus , &c. answ. nay , it was a heap of confusion , which could add nothing to the credit of the prophets nor apostles , if they had been question'd ; but their testimonies of the man christ jesus , we never doubted of , nor oppos'd , as wickedly and falsly he hath mis-represented us . r. g. and unto reconciliation , justification , and redemption , as already in being in him , purchased , compleated , and perfected with god for sinners , by the price of his whole , entire , and perfect obedience — in his crucified body without us , to be made effectual by the operations of his spirit , &c. answ. that perfect reconciliation and redemption , &c. were in being both in god and his son for us , while enemies , we assert , but not receiv'd by us till we were made friends ; and so reconci'd in our minds by the spirit or word of reconciliation operating within . but ( r. g. ) to thy matter , i query first , how , and of whom reconciliation , justification , &c. are purchas'd for sinners , and so perfected whilst not made effectual by the workings of the spirit within ? or are men justified , when no good is wrought in them by any light or spirit whatsoever , as thy doctrine was , and is ? and thou shouldst have plainly spoke-out , and told us what thou meanest by the words , purchased with god ; whether in the sence of satisfaction ; and payment to god in our stead , as thy tutors , the presbyterians and independants hold , yea , or nay ? and whether the love , which is infinite , was not the cause of his sending his son into the world , that the world through him might be sav'd ; and so the coming and manifestation of christ in his life , works , doctrines , sufferings , tasting death for every man , &c. effects of the love of god to mankind , yea , or nay ? and tell us plainly where doth the scripture say , that justification and redemption are purchas'd of god , and perfected without us , by the crucified body , when no good is wrought within ? and if all these things are so purchas'd and perfected without for sinners , or the whole world , what must be the spirit 's operation within ? and how then can god condemn any for sin , if thy doctrine be true ? if thou sayst it is because of their unbelief , then this hath respect unto the work of the spirit and faith within , without which men cannot be sav'd nor justify'd ( wherein thou , r. g. dost plainly contradict thy self ) whatever thou , or carnal professors , imagine of your justification , &c. being purchas'd and perfected without you , you are not yet purchas'd nor redeem'd from iniquity , nor from a deceitful spirit ; wherein thou hast shew'd thy pretended love to be enmity and falshood , against us and the truth , as will further appear . r. g. that there are some , pretending to be teachers among them — under the disguise of the names of light and power within , thereby bring in damnable errors , to pervert the faith — among whom these four men have numbred themselves , by their voluntary opposition against the plain truth , left us upon record by the prophets and apostles , and testified by me , &c. answ. it s our testimony of the light and power within , that perplexeth thee , and such dark and lifeless professors as thou art , who are in the spirit of enmity : and why dost thou envy and belye us , call'd quakers , or those for whom christ died , as well for thy self ? if we had oppos'd the plain truths of the prophets and apostles , in scripture ( as thou hast most falsly accus'd us ) it had been thy part and duty to have prov'd the scriptures true , if we had denied them ; and not to impose thy impertinent tautollogies upon us , which thy book is fill'd with ; if we were either jews , turks , jesuits , or papists , which in any thing deny'd plain scripture , thou takest but a mean course to convince us , by thy imposing and begging the question : but hadst thou dealt plainly , and only brought us plain scripture , without thy confusion , corrupt glosses , and sin-pleasing fancies , we should not have had these controversies , nor such mudled stuff , and ramblement to deal withal , as thou hast divulg'd . and as to thy speaking of two gospel mysteries , ( viz. ) what was wrought in christ , and finished and perfected as once by that sacrifice of his crucified body ; and the second of what is to be wrought by christ in us , &c. answ. truly to know christ crucified , and the fellowship of his sufferings , and conformity to his death ; as also , his vertue as a sacrifice by eating his flesh and drinking his blood , is a mystery which none but the children of the light know and receive , who only receive life thereby ; and such are they that see and walk in the new and living way , which he consecrated through the va●l ( that is to say ) his flesh ; and so witness the new covenant , or testament , which he the testator , confirm'd through his death ; who in the body , offer'd up himself once for all , to end the many offerings , and often sacrificing under the law ( that once is oppos'd to the many ) he offer'd up ●imself by the eternal spirit , to break down the partition-wall between jew and gentile , and to abolish that enmity that w●s between them , in putting an end to that figurative dispensation , wherein the jews gloried against the gentiles , that they might be reconcil'd in one body , and by the spirit come to have the mystery of christ within , and fellowship of the gospel reveal'd . now this was not to indulge any in sin , or enmity thereof in themselves ; nor yet for any to plead that they are redeem'd , and perfectly justified at once ▪ without them , while in their sins , and no good wrought within them ; for in that state they are so far from receiving the attonement , that they are enemies to christ and to his cross , and guilty of his body and blood , not discerning either : and this is thy state , who thinkest thy self justify'd ( before thou wast born , above sixteen hundred years since ) and yet art in thy sins , pretending to the work of christ in thee ( when otherwhiles thou reckonest all done without thee ) but now sayst , it is daily doing in many bodies , till mortality be swallowed up of life : and when dost thou think that will be ? will it be on this side the grave , yea , or nay ? dost thou not expect a perfest sanctification , and deliverance from sin till after thou art deceas'd ? if thou dost not , how art thou in the method of the gospel , and how art thou perfectly justify'd ? it s they that are wash'd and sanctify'd that are justify'd . as to the sufferings of christ without , though the scripture-relation of them be true , yet thou hast but a traditional and historical faith thereof , with some particular conceits and wrong constructions , whilst thou coverst thy self in thy sins with a profession thereof : and so art upon a false bottom , not sanctified nor justified by the spirit of god , which is the immediate cause of both unto them that believe in the name of his son christ jesus , whose sufferings for sinners was two-fold , both inward and outward ; he bore the burthen , and weight of the sins of the world. and whereas thou wouldst have g. k. to prove , that christ doth bear sins but as he did bear them in his crucified body , p. 5. to which i say , he was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world ; the righteous seed hath suffer'd through all ages , by the seed of rebellion ; there is a spiritual suffering , as well as there was a bodily suffering ; his soul was made an offering for sin ; he bore the sin of many , and made intercession for the transgressors , isa. 53. and said the apostle , the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings , which cannot be uttered , rom. 8.26 . and do not these groanings imply an inward and spiritual suffering ? and was not christ spiritually crucified in sodom and aegypt ? and that he doth suffer , besides that in his crucified body at jerusalem , is evident to them that know the fellowship of his sufferings , though not to thee ; as the apostle paul witnessed , when he said , who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you , and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of christ in my flesh , for his body's sake , which is the church , col. 1.24 . and whereas thou accusest the author of the book intituled , the great mystery of the great whore , with saying , that the soul is infinite in it self , without beginning , more then all the world , a part of god , of his beeing — coming from god , and returning to god again , the power of god , &c. and addest , doth a part of god infinite , need to be saved , & c ? and in p. 27. on the same occasion sayst , this is the very root of rantism &c. reply , we have alwayes distinquish'd between the soul of man , and that which saves it ; and between the soul as in death under transgression , and as quickened and united unto god by his son ; as is plain to be seen in that book accus'd by thee , where mention is , of the soul being in death in transgression , and man's spirit not sanctified , p. 91. and of the soul being immortal , and living in the covenant of god , where christ is the bishop of it ; it being in the hand that saves from transgression : and that christ brings up the soul to god , whereby they come to be one soul , page 129. in which state the soul is in union with god , as he that is joyn'd to the lord is one spirit : and they that are baptiz'd into christ have put on christ , through whom they come to obtain the answer and end of his prayer , ( viz. ) that they all may be one , as thou father art in me , and i in thee ; that they also may be one in us , &c. and the glory which thou gavest me , i have given them ; that they may be one , as we are one , john 17.21 , 22 , 23. and it s said , that man is the image and glory of god , 1 cor , 11.7 . now how absurd would it be to question , doth the image and glory of god need to be saved ? for man is called so , he partaking of that image and glory ; and so it is no otherwise intended of the soul ( as to divine , immortal , and infinite ) then as by participation of that life and light , which is divine and infinite , wherewith the soul is cloth'd and adorn'd in the renewed state . but as to its being the power of god , a part of god ; i find not these words so asserted by the author of the said book , nor any thing ( like them ) with that general intent and consequence , as strained by this accuser ; for the power of god is that which saves the soul , and it is the soul ( as in the power ) that is unchangable : and god is not to be divided into parts and particulars ( he is not divisable nor separable ) it was the priests words , that the soul is a part of the divine essence , 〈◊〉 in the said book , pag. 227. and one of them confessed , that there was a kind of infiniteness in the soul , pag. 90. and in p. 68. it is said , god breathed into man the breath of life , and he became a living soul ; for that which came out from god is the cause that man became a living soul : and is not this of god , & c ? now infinite , divine , &c. is no otherwise intended to the soul , then as relating to the breath of life ( which immediately came from god , by which the soul lives and subsists in its beeing ) which ( figuratively ) some have put for ( or called ) the soul , as being the soul or life of it , by which it lives and is upholden , whether under a sense of anguish or peace : and this hath no accord with rantism , but is a testimony against it and thee too . and it had been well for thee , to have cleared thy self of rantism , ere thou hadst charged it on others ; for , indeed thy doctrine hath a direct tendency to it ; as , that men are perfectly justified and reconciled in the sight of god , g●d with them , and they with him , while whoring , killing , stealing , cursing , roaring , ranting ; yea , that ra●ters ( if all , while en●mies , wicked , no good wrought in them , &c. ) are perfectly justified , reconciled with god , and g●d with them : doth not this tend directly to strengthen the ranters in their rantism ? and as touching g. f's . words ; the places have been look'd , and it s found that thou hast disorder'd them , and left out what was necessary ●o clear their sense , and his intent . r. g. if their consciences accuse them not , neither have i , who have not so much as mention'd them . answ. our consciences do not accuse us , but thou hast covertly and deceitfully , when thou didst not mention us by name ; and now hast openly revil'd us , and wrong'd our principles , contrary to that love so much pretended by thee . so now thou appearest in thy own shape , and for all thy shuffling and shifting in this matter , i appeal to thy own conscience , if thou didst not chiefly mean the quakers in thy other pamphlet , more than turks or jews , arians , papists , socinians , or ranters ? will these pretences excuse thee ? and as to thy not finding a plain consistency in our principles , nor a unanimous reception of them by every person among us ; no doubt but thou hadst us'd thy skill to make an inconsistency in our principles ( but art disappointed ) and to stumble the weak by thy unde●ly insinuations against us : but i ask , what persons among us are so far from the reception of our principles , as to receive thine , or own thy spirit ? r. g. what an inconsistency is there between thy words , and this work , published by you four against my testimony , and that not by the youngest among you . answ. thou knowest in thy own conscience that it was g. k. that chiefly answer'd thy book , a. r. and g. l. were little concern'd in it ; and it was thy irreconcilable contradictions that i chiefly took notice of : what a silly ambitious boaster art thou then , to seek to make the world believe , that four of us were so deeply engag'd against thee , and thy self to be such an eminent champion against us ? thy testimony is so much of it false and confus'd , that many more then us four , would have testified ag●inst it ; and what we did , it was not so much to wage war with thee , as to answer the truth in our selves , and clear it in general . however , through thy ambition thou shewest thy vapouring spirit and ostentation against four o● us ; the least of which , yea , the youngest child of truth may see thy weakness . whereas g. k. said , though redemption is wrought within by the spirit of christ. to which thou sayst , here i take notice of thy slighting that great work of man's redemption , as already purchas'd by christ for sinners , by that one sacrifice of his crucified body . answ. we do not slight that one sacrifice , nor the dignity thereof , by confessing to redemption , as wrought within by the spirit of christ , if thou wilt own redemption in the true sense thereof ; as christ gave himself for us , that he might redeem us from all iniquity , whi●h is not remov'd without his spiritual operation within . but thou contradictest thy tutors th● presbyterians , and independants , in saying , that man's redemption is purchas'd by his crucified body ; for they say , he did not satisfie as man simply , but as god and man , or as god man ( which is all one as to say , that god satisfied and paid god , or that god purchased redemption of himself ) for they say , that his suffering being finite could not purchase an infinite reward ; for nothing but an infinite price could procure that ; there must be an equiv●lency between the price , and the thing purchas'd , &c. whereas it was the love and good-will of god , to send his son into the world , to redeem man from sin and corruption , which is a work inwardly effected ; and christ giving himself a ransom for all , was for a testimony of gods love to all . r. g. the operations of the spirit of holiness , being necessary for bringing the believer into vnion and friendship with god , &c. p. 8. answ. this confuteth much of thy work ; for then men are not in a reconcil'd state , while out of that friendship ; for where the mind is reconciled to god , it is brought out of the enmity and evil works , into union with god ; and so there is mutual union between him and the creature . r. g. he slew the enmity in himself ; god reconcil'd us to himself , through the death of his son , while we were yet enemies ; so no qualification wrought in us by any spirit whatsoever , in order to the perfecting of the purchase and paying the ransom for sinners , pag. 8. answ. here is still thy old story , with thy additional excuse of purchasing and payment to lessen the dignity and worth of the spirit of god , and its qualification and work within ●s ; as if god did not value the same spirit of his , and its work in his people now , as formerly in christ and his followers ; whenas it is the same spirit by which jesus christ offered up himself a lamb without spot to god , and that rais'd him up from the dead , which also quickeneth true believers : but thou preferest the suffering of the body before the spirit , and layest all the stress upon it , as the only cause of redemption , justification , &c. and the works of the spirit but as the effect thereof : how darkly hast thou herein consulted ( and set the flesh above that spirit , which is the cause of spiritual effects ) for without the eternal spirit , his body could not be offer'd nor rais'd , nor the saints quickened . and concerning his slaying the enmity in himself , as thou wordst it ; and misconstrues eph. 2.15 , for thy sinful design against the worth of the operations and qualifications of the spirit of holiness within : christ had no enmity or sin in himself to slay ; but the enmity which he abolisht in his flesh , was the law of commandments contain'd in ordinances , for to make in himself of twain one new man , eph. 2.15 . ( or that both jews and gentiles might be reconcil'd in one body . ) now the new man hath the inward qualifications , and fruits of the spirit , which thou want●st ; and therefore art not in a reconcil'd state , nor actually reconcil'd in thy self , who reckonest all done , purchas'd , and paid in thy stead , at once without thee , while no qualification nor good is wrought in thee by the spirit of god ; and yet thou must be qualified with faith , and both reconciliation , justification , and redemption must be effected or fulfilled in thee , or else thou canst not be sav'd , according to thy own concession . what confusion are you still in ? r. g. i say , that the works wrought for us by christ in his crucified body , is the first mystery , the foundation of all our mercies , the ground of the possibility of having any works wrought in us by the spirit of god , tending to our being made like unto him ; pag. 8. answ. the ground and cause of all our mercies is the infinite love of god , in which he sent his son , whose works for us and example to us , were effects and tokens of the love of god to man , and not the ground and purchasing cause thereof ( nor as by way of payment and ridgid satisfaction to vindictive justice , as presbyters call it ) as if christ were more kind to man , and his love more infinite , than his father's , which is blasphemous ; like some of the popish fryars , that said , the son was better then the father . and what better doth thy doctrine imply , then that the son's works , wrought without us , are the previous procuring purchasing cause of the law of god to us , while sinners , pag. 22. on this erronious stuff depends much of thy book ; thou mightest as well say , that god and his love had a beginning , or were inferior to the man christ , as that christ's works without were the previous ( or foregoing ) cause of god's love to us : how then is his love infinite in it self , and free to us , and the cause of sending his son , joh. 3.16 . and darest thou say , that god had not love to m●nkind before he sent his son in the flesh ? or that the love of god was not the previous cause of his so sending his son , and of christ's testimony and works in the dayes of his flesh ? r. g. the works wrought in us , who believe , being but the consequence and effect of what he did for us , even when sinners , pag. 9. ans. if but the consequence , then men must begin first to learn and believe the history or outward relation of christ's sufferings , and not in the spirit ; whereas the true and well-beginning of the churches of christ , was in the spirit , which is life ; and then i ask , if none can be saved nor sanctified , but they who have that outward relation , or history ? when as it s confessed , that the operations of the spirit of holiness within do bring the believer into union and friendship with god : and is no● th●s absolute reconciliation or agreement with god ? so justification ( making righteous , and accepted with god ) from thos● things , from which we could not be justified by ●he law of moses , and redemption from iniquity , which are eff●cted within , are the effects and immedi●te consequences of the operations of god ( by his son or power ) within , who hath ordain'd pe●ce for us ; for , ( note that ) he h●th wrought all our works in us , isa. 26 ▪ 12. a testimony whereof , and of the love of god to us , was even christ's outward manifestation , works , and suffering in the flesh , in which he directed to the spirit that quickens to god. r. g. it hath been the work of the devil and his agents , to darken this doctrine , of the justification of sinners through the death of christ , as already perfected with god , &c. pa. 9. answ. by this the reader may understand thy sense of justification , that sinners are perfectly justified by the death of christ ( even while sinners and enemies ) but thou shouldst have defin'd what justification is ; for if thy doctrine be true , all the world is in a justified state ( seeing christ died for all ) while actually sinners , polluted , and unjust ; only it remains for them to believe it is perfectly done without them , and imputed to them ; so they may conceit themselves at peace with god , in their sins : a pleasant doctrine to make hypocrites , like thy self , who but in the same page hast confessed , that christ died for our sins , and rose again for our justification ; and that the apostles intreated men to be reconcil'd to god : but how agrees this , with sinners being perfectly justified without them , by his death , when no good is wrought within them ? did he so justifie sinners by his death , and after rise again , either to add to their justification , or do it over again ? what a laborinth art thou now in ! but have not some of thy brethren confessed , that sanctification and justification are inseparable companions ? r. g. but thou , as doth thy partner g. w. jumbles these things confusedly together — speaking of the works wrought for us by christ , as lame and imperfect — not as having finish the work given him to do , &c. pag. 10. answ. thou belyest us ; for we affirm , that christ's obedience and works ( even in the d●yes of his flesh ) were all perfect , and that he therein finisht so much as the father sent him to do , having left a perfect example to be followed ; being a perfect captain , leader , and conquerer through all his sufferings , and by the eternal spirit offered himself a lamb without spot to god : but wherein we testifie , that a meer belief of his works and sufferings without , are not sufficient to save man , but he must know his spiritual works wrought within , and be saved by the washing of regeneration , &c. this is no deeming his works without either lame or imperfect : for thou thy self sayest , i do not say that he so finished it for us , as if no more were to be done within us by his spirit . now thou wouldst think much , if we , or any , should accuse thee , for rendring christ's works for us as lame and imperfect : hast thou done by us , as thou wouldst be done unto ? who also hast granted to the operations of the spirit within . the living testimony of christ jesus , confirmed by him , through his sacrifice and suffering in the flesh ( which we truly own ) is a mystery , to be known and fulfilled within , where the righteousness of faith is experienc'd , which brings the true believers ( in the light ) into the fellowship of christ's sufferings ( which were both inward and outward ) and makes them conformable to his death ( the spirit baptizing them into it ) a mystery thou art yet a stranger to . r. g. vnwilling to be manifested in the light , not telling us what that further influence and service was more then being a bare example , pag. 11. answ. jesus christ , in the dayes of his suffering , was not alone in his testimony ; but as he said , i and my father , &c. and i can of mine own self do nothing . he was endu'd with power from on high , whereby h●s coming , offering , and testimony had a divine influence upon the hearts of them that knew and receiv'd him ( and still hath . ) and they who attain to the blood of sprinkling , to have their consciences thereby sprinkled and purged from dead works , and to eat of the flesh and drink of the blood of the son of man , do truly experience the end of his coming , who hath given his ●lesh for the life of the world ( and himself a ransom for all , for a testimony in due time ) which things are mysteries , hid from all hypocrites , and such who are dead in their sins . r. g. which of all the prophets or apostles ever so wrote of a ransom , an attonement , a propitiation , a price of our redemption , as of a work to be done in us , as it was in christ ; or that in these christ was an example to us , that they might be over again effected in us ? — and which of all those holy men ever so wrote of a believer's being brought through the ministration of death , condemnation , and wrath , after the example of the man christ , & c ? pag. 12. answ. thou hast perverted our words by adding [ as it was in christ ] and hast also shew'd thy wonderful darkness ; for though we do not suffer in all points after the same manner that christ did , yet it follows not that he was not a real example of obedience and humility in his suffering : but how contradictory to thy own confession ( hast thou reasoned ) which is , that reconciliation , justification , and redemption , are to be made e●fectual by the workings of his spirit , in all who through faith receive the attonement : and did not the prophet say to the lord , thou hast wrought all our works in us ? isa. 26. and because the chastizement of our peace was upon christ , does it therefore follow , that we must never be chastiz'd ? this is like thy doctrine , redemption was in christ , therefore not to be done in us ; christ passed through death , therefore we must not be crucified , nor perfectly dead to sin in this life : is not this the very tendency or sum of much of thy doctrine ? but is it not sin , and its enmity within , which christ came to redeem and reconcile man from ? thou art yet in death , far from being redeem'd , or thus reconcil'd ; who hast not known the ministration of death , condemnation , and wrath ; but questionest the believers passing through it [ though it be a plain truth , that they did ( and many do ) so pass ] they passed from death to life , and through the law , became dead unto the law : and did not the commandment which was ordain'd to life , work death in the apostle paul , who also knew the terrors of the lord ? but thou hast in thy imaginations fram'd up a more easie way to heaven ( or redemption , &c. ) then through the ministration of judgment ( through which sion is redeem'd , and her converts with righteousness ) , or of death and condemnation , which in its time is glorious , which is fulfilled , where the righteousness of the law is fulfilled within , even in them that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit . r. g. this new-coyn'd m●stery of faith , in the light in your conscience , or within you , as your saviour , ●nd obedience thereunto to be done and perfected in your bodies , &c. pag. 12. answ. it s evident , that the true light and perf●ction ( by it and in it ) were ever oppos'd by darkness and its children , which cannot comprehend the light of christ within : and this is darkness to be felt , that scornfully calls faith in the light , a new-coyn'd mystery : but jesus christ ( the true light that enlightens every man ) gave a better testimony of the light , when he said , believe in the light , that ye may be children of the light , joh. 12.35 , 36. and so did his ministers in these words , god , who commanded the light to shine out of darkness , hath shined in our hearts , to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ , 2 cor. 4.6 . and if we walk in the light , as he is in the ●ight , we have fel●owship one with another , and the blood of jesus christ his son cleanseth us from all sin , 1 john 2.7 . and the anointing , which ye have receiv'd of him abideth in you — and even as it hath taught you , ye shall abide in him , verse 27. see also 2 pet. 1.19 . and rom. 2.7 , 10 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. and hath not the grace of god , which brings salvation , appear'd unto all men ? titus 2.11 . see how manifestly this man hath oppos'd both christ and his apostles plain testimonies , which are on the behalf of his light within , and b●lief in it , and obedience to it ; in order to perfection , cleansing from all sin , or a perfecting holiness in the fear of god : are these new-coyn'd mysteries ? nay , they are gospel truths , which stand against the devil and his darkness . r. g. we , who since we believ'd receiv'd that attonement , shall after our bodily death be rais'd from the grave , and be made partakers of that salvation , which through faith and hope we wait for , while in the body , pag. 13. answ. thou puttest salvation at a great distance , shewing thy self yet in the grave of corruption : is this thy meaning of salvation , that thou hopest and waitest for , while in the body to be rais'd from the grave after thy bodily death ? what strange nonsensical language is this ? * and was this the salvation that christ's second appearance was lookt for to effect , heb. 9.28 . if thou livest and diest in thy sins , and be'st not saved from them , nor rais'd out of them here , thy resurrection will be miserable ( and thy state sad hereafter ) even that of the unjust , which is to condemnation . r. g. it pleased the lord to bruise him , he was ( he hath left out [ we did esteem him ] smitten of god — the chastizements of our peace were upon him — ( then he adds ) this man should thus answer the prophet isaiah , is that divine justice to take vengeance on , wound , smite , bruise the innocent , and let the guilty go free ? answ. the prophet said , he was despis'd , and we esteem'd him not ; surely he hath born our griefs , and carried our sorrows ; yet we did esteem him stricken , smitten of god , and afflicted ; but he was wounded for our transgressions , &c. isa. 53.3 , 4 , 5. there are still those that reject and dis-esteem christ , and that esteem him smitten or plagued of god , and even to have under-gone the wrath and vengeance of his father in their stead , to acquit them from punishment ( though they live and dye in their sins , not expecting salvation till after their decease ) whereas 1st , god had never any such wrath nor revenge , against his innocent son , to execute upon him ; nor will he so clear the guilty in their sins : 2d , it pleasing the lord to bruise him , was neither in wrath , nor to take vengeance on him ; nor yet actually or immediately by himself to bruise him , but permissively ; for though he was deliver'd by the determinate council of god , yet he suffer'd wicked hands to afflict and put christ to death , who did bear and suffer under the load and oppression of the sins and iniquities of the world ( yea , he hath born our griefs and sorrows ) the iniquity of all being so made to meet upon him . but a gross sense hast thou given to the prophet's words ; for neither were these sufferings of christ that the guilty might go free ( for that divine justice admits not of , as to condemn the righteous and justifie the wicked , that 's an abomination ) neither are god's chastizements by way of revenge , nor a taking vengeance on his innocent son , who is the delight of his soul , the son of his love : chastizement and revenge are two differing things ; and so are forgiveness , and the rigour of the law. r. g. jesus christ is a propitiation for the sins of the whole world : may i not thence in truth assert him to have been a propitiation for all sins past , present , and to come ? pag. 15. answ. that christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world , i own ( and that his blood , that cleanseth from all sin , bears record in the earth ) but thy words [ for all sin , past , present , and to come ] are added to the scripture by thy teachers the presbyterians and independants , and have given much liberty to sin ; contrary to the apostles words , who saith , ( of christ ) whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood , to declare his righteousness fo● the remission of sins that are past , through the forbearance of god , rom. 3. he does not say , for the remission of sins past , present , and to come ; nor that men are perfectly justified and redeem'd by the sacrifice of christ , who commit sin all their dayes ( which is imply'd in thes● words [ for all sins past , pres●nt , and to come ] whereas his b●ing a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world , is intended for the sins past ( of every man ) committed before believing or conversion , or otherwise , through weakness after conviction ; not for wilful sins against knowledge ; if we sin wilfully after that we have receiv'd the knowledge of the truth , there remains no more a sacrifice for sin , but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation , which shall devour the adversaries , heb. 10.26 , 27. r. g. but that these works of the spirit , wrought in us , are the attonement , the propitiatory sacrifice , or any part of it , or the ground and cause of our being redeem'd ; that i deny , pag. 17. answ. what 's attoneing , but making peace and quietness ; and redeeming , but a delivering from sin and bondage , or rescuing from the enem● ? and must the spirit of god have no hand or part in this ? or he in his working within , be no cause hereof ? ( strange doctrine ) mayst thou not herein as well exclude christ as his spirit ( who are one ? ) whereas the work of righteousness shall be peace , and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever , isa. 32.17 . and the fruit of the spirit is love , joy , peace , &c. gal. 5.22 . it is the spirit that both quickens , sanctifies , and justifies , and leads the true believer into all truth : and what 's this short of redemption ( i pray you ? ) if it be a freeing from iniquity ? but these inward works of the spirit we dare not call the propitiatory sacrifice , as falsly thou imply'st ; but he ( christ ) the worker , who is made unto us wisdom , righteousness , sanctification , and redemption ; and is not this spiritually , o● by his spirit ? and are not his works in his people as acceptable to god as ever ( being true in him and in us ) from the dignity of him that worketh them ? r. g. god hath purchas'd his church by his own blood : g. w. his confus'd doctrine renders this purchase as a work daily doing in every generation , in many bodies , as every man comes to be renew'd by the spirit — a fine dress of new coyn'd words , pag. 17. answ. whoever comes to be a member of the true church , as he doth experience the work of god , and his will fulfilling in him , must feel and witness ( even in the body ) a saving , purchasing , redeeming , and cleansing , &c. ( from iniquity and bondage ) by the blood of god : and as it s written , after that the kindness and love of god our saviour toward man appear'd , not by works of righteousness , which we have done , but according to his mercy he sav'd us , by the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost , tit. 3.4 , 5. see now how contrary to plain scripture and saints experience this r. g. hath argu'd ; and how the work of the spirit , or inward renewing and washing , by it ( which saveth ) is slighted by him , and such as he , who never knew what it is to be purchas'd unto god , nor to be of his purchas'd church : and they who are not yet come to be m●mbers of that church , to know his blood ( or life ) both to sprinkle , sanctifie , and redeem them from sin and iniquity in their bodies ( which have been defiled ) or else they are never like to be a true church , nor to inherit god's kingdom : and herein i do not bring a sacrifice without blood , nor without spirit , nor like that of rome , as blasphemously r. g. reproach'd me ; for the spirit , and the water , and the blood do bear record in the earth ; and except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of christ , ye have no life in you ; and jesus christ the righteous is the propitiation , &c. mark [ is ] in the time present ; he ●e●ains a sacrifice ( his soul being made an offering ) for all that have not wilfully sinned against knowledge , or that have not rejected christ , and sinned out their day . r. g. christ , as form'd within , th● hope of glory , dwelling in us by faith , is manifest within us ; this manifestation of him , as in us , thou calls the true christ , our only saviour , which the apostles never did , pag. 19. answ. strange d●ctrine ! did the apostles preach a false christ , or another then the true ? was not christ within , the mystery ? and was not the ingrafted word that which sav'd the soul ? and he that hath not the son hath not life : how amply hath both christ and his apostles testified of his being in his chosen ones ? and hast thou not in pag. 22. granted to his appearance in believers , through faith by his spirit for salvation ? will this man never leave his confu●ion , and self-contradiction ? r. g. from acts 2.36 . — god hath made that same jesus ( adding ) ( not him that was manifest in that body of flesh , but the same jesus ) whom ye have crucified , both lord and christ , pa. 19. answ. what a strange addition and parenthesis is this ! that in effect denies him to be christ , that was manifest in that body of his : i ask if it be not true language , to say , that christ was manifest in the flesh ; seeing that every spirit that confesseth not that jesus christ is come in the flesh [ mark that ] is not of god , but is the spirit of antichrist ? r. g. and to him as saviour , and to this way of his appearance in believers , thro●gh faith by his spirit for salvation , and remission of sins through him , i have in plain words testified , and you have oppos'd , p. 22. answ. nay , thou hast rather oppos'd it , and not we ; for we own , that god our saviour , according to his mercies , sav'd us , by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy ghost , tit. 3.4 , 5 , 6. but thou thinkest reconciliation , justification , redemption , and salvation , are all compleated , perfected , and done at once , by the crucified body without ; but now it must be by his appearance in b●lievers , through faith by his spirit . see thy manifest contradiction , viz. a perfect justification and redemption ( of sinners ) without them , when no good is wrought in them : ( contra . ) but now it must be done by christ's appearance in believers , through faith by his spirit . as also thou grantest , that his appearing the second time is without sin to salvation : but when thinkest thou that must be , is it in this life or hereafter ? thou sayest , that after the bodily death , you shall be rais'd out of the grave , and made partakers of that salvatio● , pag. 13. 't is strange the salvation of sinners , yea , of the whole world , as thy word is , should be compleated at once , above sixteen hundred years since ( from whence thou shouldst look upon us , whom thou revilest and condemnest , to be in as good a state as thy self ) as yet to be so long after death look'd for , how long , is not known to thee ; or dost thou look for christ , as the son of mary , to appear outwardly , in a bodily existence , to save thee , according to thy words , pag. 30 ? if thou dost , thou mayst look until thy eyes drop out , before thou wilt see such an appearance of him . the second part , further asserting the nature of christianity , &c. whereas g. k. did truly assert , that the works of the law , excluded by the apostle from justification , is when the law is done without life or spirit ; the first covenant or law coming before the seed be rais'd ; so the works not done in christ the seed , do not justifie ; and that the righteousness by faith , is when the law is perform'd in us , by the works of the spirit , righteousness in the elect seed , &c. to this r. gordon answers , these are strange vnscriptural expressions , in effect renewing again the old popish trick . and further saith , scriptures do indiffinitely exclude all works , wrought in us or by us , as the ground and cause of our justification with god , &c. also addeth , that which requireth works to be wrought in us , as the ground of our righteousness and justification , though wrought in and through the spirit of god , whether by obedience to a law without us , or in us before the seed be raised , or in the elect seed , is a law of works still ; this doctrine is no other then the old law-working spirit , he saith , pag. 23. reply , the ignorance of this scornful man , between the righteousness of the law , as immitated by self , and the righteousness of faith , and so between death and life , how obvious is it , and how manifestly contrary to scripture , hath he here excluded all work wrought in us , even those of the spirit and of the elect seed , from justification ? thus laying all the stress upon a suppos'd purchase without ; or on the suffering of christ's body without , in opposition to his works within ; as if the seed of god , and its work in his children , had lost the dignity it had in christ's person : oh sad doctrine ! and what gross antinomianism , and liberty in sin , would this man lead people into ? in answer to whom i say , that god sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh , and for sin condemned sin in the flesh ; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfill'd in us , who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit , rom. 8.3 , 4. now is not christ fulfilling the righteousness or justness of the law in us unto justification ; it being both for the removing of sin , which he hath already condemn'd , and to make us righteous ? and further , the apostle saith , the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god ; and such were some of you , but ye are washed , b●t ye are justified in the name of the lord jesus , and by the spirit of our god [ mark that ] was this any popish trick in the apostle , to assert the operation of the spirit of god within for justification ? 1 cor. 6.9 , 10 , 11. and was not this in the name of the lord jesus , who is the elect , the promis'd seed ? it appears this man is a stranger , both to the elect seed which abides in him that is born of god , and to the righteousness thereof : and why doth he so scoff at plain words of truth , concerning the seed being rais'd , and the righteousness and works thereof , which are those of the spirit , those of faith , and the law thereof : but that a contrary seed , to wit , that of the serpent , shows its dominion in him , and such as he is ; who like the old antinomians and lybertines , exclude the works of the spirit , and of the elect seed from justification , ca●●ing it an old law-working spirit , as the antinomians use to do ? and what is his then , but an old devil-working spirit ? for , can any be justif●ed , or made righteous , without the work ●f the spirit , or seed of god within ? is not the seed sown to bring forth the fruits of righteousness ? and do not the heavens drop down , and the lord rain down righteousness , that the earth may open and bring forth salvation , and that righteousness may spring up together ? isa. 45.8 . but you sin-pleasing-preachers , have neither sown in tears ; have not gone forth weeping , bearing pretious seed ; nor reaped the fruit thereof ; your fallow ground is not plow'd up ; your earth doth not open , either to receive or bring forth righteousness in the seed or fruit thereof ; your earth is hard and barren , sin and unrighteousness dwells in it , whereby you have caus'd the heavens to be as brass , and the earth as iron . again , to oppose the righteousness of the elect seed and works of the spirit within , as unto justification , this r. g. scornfully tells us , that in plainer words they of rome thus express , that the apostle excludes from justification , works , which we our selves do by our strength , without the help of the grace of god ; not those works we do by the aid of the spirit . now , if he hath truly represented what they of rome say in this case , i must needs say , however they may hold that , and other truths in unrighteousness , that they of rome have given a better definition of justification , then r. gordon hath , and in words at least shown a better esteem of the works of grace , and of the spirit of god , then he hath done , which works are above those of self ; and surely the apostle james did not exclude the works of faith , which are done by the aid of the spirit of god from justification , when he said , but wilt thou know , oh vain man , that faith without works is dead ; and was not our father abraham justified by works , when he had offered isaac his son upon the alter , jam. 2.20 , 21. now was this an old popish trick , or the old law-working spirit ( as he calls it ) no , sure it was before the law was written ; and it was the spirit of faith , by which abraham obey'd god ; for abraham believ'd and it was imputed to him for righteousness ; and he was called the friend of god , gal. 3.6 . jam. 2 23. and they that are of faith are of abraham , and partakers of the righteousness of faith , wherein they are justified and accepted of god : now if i be exclaimed against herein , for p●pery , i must say , that wherein papists hold any truth ( though in unrighteousness ) i must not therefore deny it : if the pope , and the devil also , confess there is a god and a christ ; must i therefore deny it , or be counted a papist ? nay , i must speak the truth in righteousness , however i be villified and scorned for it . again , our asserting the righteousness of the elect seed rais'd in us , and obedience of faith therein for justification and acceptance with god : this doth neither deny nor oppose the sacrifice of the crucified body of the man christ jesus , nor yet blot out of our hearts either the name or remembrance of him , who is the great propitiation for sin , as unjustly the elect seed , and its righteousness within is accus'd , p. 23. for the appearance of christ within , and his manifestation in spirit , doth neither deny nor oppose his manifestation or suffering in the flesh , but rather answereth and fulfilleth the intent and end thereof ; for the outward manifestation of the son of god in the likeness of sinful flesh , as it did condemn sin in the flesh , so his inward manifestation in spirit doth destroy sin , worketh justification and redemption in them who obey his light within ; for he is the author of eternal salvation to as many as obey him ; and it is through the obedience of the spirit that the soul is purified unto unfained love , &c. and if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body , ye shall live : so here is righteousness , redemption , and salvation receiv'd in christ the light , through obedience to his light within ; however this be slightly stiled , a law-working spirit , and falsly judged . a principle agreeing with all the false religions in the world , by this antinomian , presbyterian , independant , r.g. p. 24. who thus further preacheth , as in the name of the man christ jesus , receive the attonement , be ye reconciled to god ; believe and be saved , the man christ jesus having already slain the enmity in himself , the power of sin , and death , and the law , for us : and thus he is our saviour , &c. to which i say , these exhortations , receive 〈◊〉 attonement ( which is the peace ) be ye reconcil'd to god , believe , &c. imply some qualification and good must be wrought in men before they be in peace , in a reconcil'd or justify'd estate : but how agrees this with those doctrines , which wholly exclude the works , qualification and good wrought in us by the spirit of god , and all obedience done by the aid of the spirit from justification , reconciliation , &c. it being done at once , as he saith , by the sacrifice of the crucified body of the man christ , whom he saith , hath slain the enmity in himself , the power of sin , death , and the law for us ; and thus ( saith he ) he is our saviour , to wit , when no good is wrought in us , by any light or spirit whatsoever : so then is follows , its only our priest's belief , that all this is already done ; how much void of good and full of evil soever we be of our selves , this r.g. hath prescrib'd , an easie way to heaven , a broad way for hypocrites to sooth and flatter themselves up in their sins , but a way that is never like to lead them to heaven , though christ bore the sin of many and suffer'd for the unjust , even when in the flesh , and through suffering did both triumph over the law of ordinances ( and shaddows ) which was the enmity he slew or abolished , eph. 2.15 . for he had no sin nor enmity , nor power of it in himself to slay ; seeing by the eternal spirit he offer'd up himself without spot to god ; by all which , though he by his innocency condemn'd sin in the flesh , and in himself became a conqueror and triumpher through sufferings ; yet if r. g. and others , come not to experience of the enmity and power of sin and death slain in themselves , they are not actually reconciled , nor sav'd by christ , neither yet freed from the condemnation of the law nor judgment of the son of god , who hath all judgment given to him , and power to execute judgment , because he is the son of man ; but where he is receiv'd as a saviour , he saveth from sin , death , and enmity in man , and redeemeth from all iniquity ; for , for that end he gave himself : it s not enough to say , he hath slain the enmity in himself , and the power of sin ; for hypocrites make that a cloak for the continuance of sin and enmity in themselves , who know no good wrought in them by any light or spirit whatsoever : and such are the corrupters of the earth , destroyers of souls , deceivers of the simple , and perverters of the right wayes of god ; such think themselves secure and safe in their sins , while they unscripturally and antichristianly oppose the work and light of christ within , as not being of a justifying nature to the obedient ; and so they falsly apply , reckon , and impute christ's righteousness to themselves , while they are actually rebellious against his light within : and i see no better tendency that r. g's . work hath , it being strictly examin'd and compar'd ; however , therein he covers himself with a pretended applause and extolling of the dignity and suffering of christ's person ; but they that are sav'd and redeem'd from sin and enmity by him , can say with the prophet , i will mention the loving kindness and praises of the lord — for he said , surely they are my people , children that will not lye ; so he was their saviour : mark so , he was their saviour , as having sav'd them from sin. iniquity , and falshood ; such are the people that are sav'd by the lord , who are children that will not lye , in whom deceit and enmity is slain by the power and spiritual appearance of christ jesus within , though i grant in general that he is the saviour of all men , as he affords them preservation by his power , as men and creatures , in order to give them a day of visitation , wherein the tenders of life and everlasting salvation may be held forth unto them , that believing and receiving the son of god , they may be sav'd from sin and death in themselves ; for he is the saviour of all men , but especially of them that believe , whose faith is not a meer historical faith of things only done without , but a faith in the name and power of the son of god , a heart-purifying faith , a justifying faith , a faith that worketh by love , a faith that is victorious over the world ; by which faith , we being justified , we have peace with god ; and by which faith we have received christ in spirit , and know him after the spirit . the traditional knowledge , faith ; and outward profession of him ( as meerly after the flesh ) will neither save nor justifie . the pope and papists have as much of these as robert gordon , who hath only his tradition and faith or credulity for his religion and profession . although the concurring testimonies of the holy prophets , and the four evangelists , and true apostles , and ministers of christ , concerning his outward birth , life , miracles , suffering in the flesh , death , resurrection , and assention , we never deny'd , nor hereby ( in the least oppose , by treating of the nature and effects of faith in him as the son of god , the foundation , the power and wisdom of god ; the light , life , salvation , righteousness , sanctification , and redemption of true believers : for he that believeth in , and hath the son , hath life ; but he that believeth not in him , the wrath of god abideth upon him : how then is he , or such , perfectly justified with god , reconcil'd and redeem'd at once without them , a●●ording to r. g. while the wrath of god abides upon them , and while no good is wrought in them ? is it good doctrine to say , that men are perfectly justified while under the wrath of god ? and that th●y are perfectly redeem'd , and reconciled , and so at peace , and imputatively righteous while actually under the wrath of god in themselves ? were it not as good doctrine to say , that they are imputatively saved while actually damned ? but this is something like the doctrine of r. g. and his teachers or ministers , the presbyterians and independants , under whose ministry he hath receiv'd what he hath testified , which he deceivedly thinks came from the lord. and whereas r. g. having deny'd that this light which enlightens every man is christ , in which g. k. and i oppos'd him ; and to our saying , so john preacht him , &c. r.g. again answers in scorn , thou should rather have added , so g. f. preacht him , and so others among the quakers . and further addeth , john , or any of the pen me● , never so wrote of christ ; neither canst thou show me one place of scripture , wherein it is inserted of christ , that the light enlighteneth every man that comes into the world — is the true christ. rep. what is this , ●u● to deny the divinity of christ , or to deny him to be that word or life which was the light of men , testified of , john 1. which word became flesh , and tabernacl'd in us ? was not this still ●●●ist that john testified of , that was the true christ that enlig●●●●s every man that comes into the world ? is it not anti-christian doctrine , to deny this enlightening true light to be christ , and to scoff at us for asserting it ? and because i distinguished between christ the enlightener , and his gift of light or illumination in man , r. g. hath judg'd me severely , as to be in self-contradiction , for my saying , that we affirm a spiritual divine light to be in eve●y man , yet we do not say that christ is in every man , or that every man hath the son ; though still i own the son to be the enlightner of every man : this he counts a contradiction , but herein he hath but slightly overlookt and censured my words ; for there is no contradiction in them , any more then in saying , christ the true light , enlighteneth every man ; so that there is christ and his illumination , yet every man is not a child of light , walks not in the light , hath not the son , is not attain'd to the revelation of christ , and yet hath a degree of his light and illumination in them ; wherein is his power and capacity of believing and receiving the son of god ; or otherwise , it is sufficient to leave them without excuse ; yea , the least measure of christ's light is sufficient in each respect , although this opposer most ignorantly s●ights the work of any law or light in man , or obedience wrought thereby , as not able to deliver him from the condemnation and curse of the law , so as to obtain justification with god the●eby , pag. 25. whereas the law of the spirit of life in christ makes free from the law of sin and death ; and this law of the spirit of life is within ; this law is light ; this being obey'd thus freeth man from the power of sin and death , where true obedience to the light is ; sin is not obey'd , neither sin nor death doth raign in the creature , but righteousness raigns within unto life ; sin being forsaken , the cause of condemnation and the curse is remov'd ; and where there is no condemnation there is justification , even to them that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit : and is not this a state accepted of god , seeing its the doers of his will that are just and justified ? but after this , r g. hath oppos'd and scoff●d at that saying , that this light that enlightens every man that comes into the world is christ ( having deny'd this ) he , in plain contradiction to himself , is forc'd to acknowledge the truth in these words , i also acknowledge that it is said , john 1.9 . of christ jesus , that was the true light , which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , illuminat , enlighteneth every man , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , venientem , coming into the world , for so it is in the greek ; and that every man is enlightened by jesus christ , as he is the word that made the world &c. pag. 27 , 28. see here , r. g. against r. g. one while the true light which enlighteneth every man is not the true christ ( with him ) another while , jesus christ was the true light , which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world : do you think this is a trusty man to give credit to ? let the unprejudic'd readers judge . and further , we do not call the enlightening in every man the christ , but the light of christ , having already distinguished between the enlightener and the illumination , and between the giver and the gift . and now as concerning the law and nature by which the gentiles did the things contain'd in the law ; r. g. saith , this law or enlightening thus planted in man'● nature by generation , is by generation convey'd into every man as he cometh into the world ; and that it is called by solomon , the spirit of man , which is the candle of the lord , &c. pro. 20.27 . answ. this law and light , that inwardly taught the gentiles , was the immediate gift of god ; christ , as the word , being confessed to enlighten every man , whose light is not natural , nor by natural generation convey'd , as most grosly r.g. words it ; neither is it the spirit of man which simply knows but the things of a man ; but it is that light , which lighteth , kindleth and stirs up the spirit of a man , whereby it is the candle of the lord ; neither is it a light or thing form'd or made , as the spirit of man is , za. 12.1 . but a divine and spiritual light , manifesting the good-will of god unto the creature . again , it is r. g's . gross error , that the law , or enlightening in every man , is the form'd spirit in man ( and yet in contradiction adding ) enlightened by him that made it , pa. 29. so that the law or enlightening , is not the form'd spirit of ma● , it being the light of him that made it , p. 29. so that the ●aw , or enlightening , is not the form'd spirit of man , it being the light of him that made it , that enlighteneth man's spirit : thus this r.g. is involved in his own confusion , as one in a labyrinth . now concerning the nature by which those gentiles did the things contain'd in th● law , r. g. gives this expl●nation of it , viz. as being born of the seed , and after the kind of man , they are naturally or by nature men ; so being born of the seed of man , they do naturally or by nature , the things contained in the law , being written in their hearts , &c. pa. 29. answ. i would ask this man , whether this nature he speaks of was pure or impure , corrupt or incorrupt ? these gentiles had not the law outwardly , but they had the law inwardly written in their hearts , according to which they should be either accus'd or excus'd in the day when god should judge the secrets of men by jesus christ ; this law or light in them was not natural but spiritual : excusing the obedient , and accusing the disobedient before god , unto which law the awakened and convicted conscience doth bear witness and testifie either a mans condemnation , or peace : these gentiles , who obey'd it , shew'd the effects of it ; they had more of the life of christianity in them , then many of the professors of christianity , who are disobedient to his law and light within , placing christianity meerly in a dead faith and profession of christ , without the knowledge of his work of righteousness within , or the obedience of faith , or effects of his law in the heart ; the christianity of such is but meerly pretended and fa●n'd , and not real : and the life , state , and nature of those gentiles , who obey'd the law written in their hearts , as they witnessed against the jews outward , so shall these gentiles rise up in judgment against you hypocritical and fain'd professors of christianity , who are strangers to the true life , power , and nature thereof . and what confusion doth this r. g. show in saying , that the law or light in every man , is neither the light of the gospel , nor the ingrafted word within , that is able to save the soul : and yet confess , that by it the eternal power and godhead may be known . how hath he broke the neck of his own cause ! is there any higher power , then the eternal power and godhead ? and can any law or light , then what is divine , and of a gospel nature , discover it ? for the gospel is the power of god unto salvation , to all them that believe ; and it is the gospel of god show'd forth , or manifested by the light of his son , and preach'd in every creature under heaven : and by this light of christ within , is the love , good-will , and grace of god to mankind declar'd and signify'd , both in its being so universally given , and in its living testimony in ma● against sin and corruption , and for truth and righteousness , in order to direct man to life and salvation in the son of god , who is the power and wisdom of god , the brightness of his fathers glory , and the express character of his divine substance ; who proceeded and came forth from god , whose power and glory is eternal and divine , seen spiritually , not carnally ; his own royal and peculiar off-spring do in his light behol● his glory , as that of the only begotten of the father . as to r. g. his saying , his apostles and all his ministers in all ages — all in one joynt voice , pointing to jesus the son of mary , this son of man , with an hosanna to this son of david , and to none before him , or to any ever since . answ. that the holy prophets , apostles , and ministers , both pointed and testify'd unto jesus christ , both as man born of the virgin ( or to his coming in the flesh ) and unto his divinity , and manifestation in spirit ; this is own'd : but that they all cry'd hosanna to the son of david , is a mistake ; for it was the multitudes that went before and that followed ( when christ rid to jerusalem ) that cry'd hosanna to the son of david , matt. 21.9 . mark , it was the multitude that cryed , hosanna to the son of david : many can now cry hosanna , who never knew his salvation within , nor believ'd in his power ; but rather spiritually crucify him . and the scribes and pharisees could talk of christ's being the son of david ( and some calling him the carpenter's son ) when they neither truly believ'd nor o●n'd him ( that was the true christ ) either as the root or off-spring of david . but christ ask'd these pharisees and scrib●s ( who said christ is the son of david ) this questi●n ▪ saying , what think ye of christ , whose son is he ? they said unto him , the son of david : he said unto them , how then doth david in spirit call him lord , saying , the lord said unto my lord , sit thou on my righ-hand , till i make thine enemies thy foot-stool ? if david then call him lord , how is he his son ? and no man was able to answer him a word , neither durst any man ( from that day forth ) ask any more questions , matt. 22. and mark 12.35 , 36 , 37. now was not this the true christ , whom david in spirit call'd lord , before he took upon him flesh , or came of his seed ? and what is hosanna ? is it not , save now i beseech thee ? and did not david call to , and beseech god , to save him , and to shew mercy unto him , long before christ ( as of mary ) was born ? ( how ignorant and confus'd doth this our opposet shew himself ? ) see psa. 3.7 . & 6.4 . & 28.9 . i perceive he is ignorant of christ , both as the son of god , and as the son of man ; for , according to the spirit he was the son of god ; and as the son of man it s said of him , that no man hath ascended up to heaven , but he which came down from heaven , even the son of man , which is in heaven , john 3.13 . and what if ye shall see the son of man ascend up , where he was before ? john 6.62 . but it appears further , that r. g's . hosanna , and pretended adoration , and claim of salvation , is only to him , as the son of mary , as now ( imaginary he saith ) existing outwardly bodily without us . * whereupon i ask him , if he hath so considered him to be god the saviour , or the son from the substance of the father , ( as some of his brethren have confessed the son is ? ) and that he existeth outwardly bodily without us , at god's right-hand : what scripture proof hath he for these words ? ) and then , what , and where , is god's right-hand ? is it visible , or invisible ? within us , or without us only ? and is christ the saviour as an outward bodily existen● or person without us , distinct from god , and on that consideration , to be worshipped as god , yea , or nay ? and where doth the scripture say , he is outwardly and bodily glorified at god's right-hand ? do these termes express the glory that he had with the father before the world began , in which he is now glorified ? but did not mary express a higher praise and worship then r. g's ( and the multitudes ) hosanna to the son of david , when she said , my soul doth magnifie the lord , and my spirit doth rejoyce in god my saviour , luke 1.46 , 47. and whereas concerning the law or light in every man , he instanceth , doth not even nature it self teach ? either to prove this law or light natural , as mans nature , insufficient or far below the teachings of the new covenant ; and yet in pag. 31. confesseth , that it show'd them ( to wit the gentiles ) that which may be known of god , being manifested in them — they are left without excuse , saith he ; and that of god , which is manifest in them , gave them an eye to see his invinsible power and godhead ; to know god , and glorifie him as god , page 32. a large confession to his own confusion : and was that of god in them , or that which might be known of god in them natural , as of man's nature , or but the form'd spirit of man , or something proceeding from natural generation ? oh gross ignorance ! that ever a man should pretend to vindicate christianity , and shew so much contradiction to himself , and so much ignorance of that divine light and power , which gives both to see the invisible things of god , and to glorifie him as god ; surely this is not natural , nor of corrupt nature , that is sufficient to bring men into this good estate ; or to leave them without excuse if they abide not in it , retain not god in their knowledge , or glorifie him not as god , see rom. 1.19 , 20 , 21 , 28. how contrary to plain scripture and reason hath this man reason'd against the light of god and christ within ; as also , ignorant of the seed within , and its being raised ; and of the righteousness in the elect seed . for he calls these , new imagined notions , whereof there is no mention made in the scriptures of truth , pag. 32. i believe they are new to him , and such as he is , in whom the seed of the serpent is so highly risen , and raigns as so ; openly to oppose this blessed seed of god where it is raised , though they cannot prevail against it ( for , though it be sown in weakness , it s rais'd in power . ) and yet in contradiction to himself , in the same page , confesseth , that the ingrafted word which is able to save the soul , which is called the seed of the kingdom ; which , in the children of faith takes deep root downward , and brings forth fruit upwards . neither of which it hath done in this , and such like confus'd gainsayers , who can talk much of the outward birth of christ , but know nothing of his spiritual birth ( this is r. g's . state ) but as much as in them lies , bury the seed , having crucified unto themselves the son of god , untill by their persisting in their gainsaying , and wilful opposition against the light and seed of god within , there remains no more sacrifice for them ; though there remains a sacrifie for them that do not persist in wilful disobedience , nor crucifie to themselves the son of god , or seed of ●ife and righteousness in its appearance within , which appearance being received and believ'd ; and so the righteous seed , which abides in him that is born of god , taking place and rule within , this bringeth forth the fruit of righteousness unto life and justification ; and so removes and works out that which is the cause of wrath and condemnation . let him that can , receive it . and as to r. gordon's part against gawen lowry ; it appears an impertinent flam and a piece of cavil , much like the rest of his stuff against us . he seems to be offended , that g. l. should communicate to others his private letter ; and yet he himself hath published some passages of g. l's . letter to him in print , with his own impertinent cavils and pervertions . now if he thinks g. l. did not well in communicating his letter to be publish'd , why did he publish g. l's . with such cross and peevish aggravations against him ? hath he not herein done that by another , which he would not have done by himself ? where is his pretended-love ; or friendship , or his equal-dealing ? as for what could be sqeezed out of his letter to his disadvantage , tending ( as his words are forc'd to speak ) to no less then an owning another mediator — then jesus of nazareth , as he saith , but that we needed not do by his letter ; it needed neither forcing nor sqeezing to make it worse then it was ; for we laid down his own very words in it , and did write but little to it , it appear'd so gross and antichristian : and now because he saith , that he is not asham'd of what he hath written , it is meet his doctrine should be here inserted again , that the reader may further take notice thereof . some places of scripture sent to robert gordon , by gawin lawry . john 1. ( from the first verse forward ) in the beginning was the word . chap. 12. verse 46. i am come a light into the world , &c. chap. 15. ver . 5. i am the vine , ye are the branches . rom. 8.10 . if christ be in you , &c. 1 cor. 1.24 . christ the power of god , and the wisdom of god. 2 cor. 13.3 . seeing you seek experience of christ speaking in me . tit. 2 14. who gave himself for us , that he might redeem us from all iniquity . 1 joh. 5.12 . he that hath the son , hath life . chap. 4. vers . 4. greater is he that is in you , then he that is in the world. robert gordon's answer to these scriptures . i have considered the scriptures thou mentionest ; and i find that in none of them it is testified who the true christ our only saviour is , but what he is through the operations of his spirit in believers , called therefore the anointing within , or christ within ; but these operations of his spirit within , are no where in scripture called the lord's christ , our only saviour : and if thou own no other mediator , christ , or saviour , then what is described in these scriptures thou mentions , then necessarily thou disowns the lord jesus christ of nazareth , a man approved of god , &c. thus far r. g. telling us also of the writings of that enlightned man jacob behoman , as his words are . on which the observation was thus , viz. observe , hear the tenure and tendency of r. g's . answer how antichristian it is ? he appears here plainly as owning another mediator , christ , or saviour , then that christ that said , i am come a light into the world , i am the vine ; &c. ( and we ask , was not he jesus of nazareth ? ) and of whom it is testified in scripture , christ in you ; christ the power and wisdom of god ; he that hath the son , hath life ; who gave himself for us , that he might redeem us from all iniquity , &c. but r. g. doth not own this christ to be the lord 's christ , or jesus christ of nazareth ; but he must have some other christ , then this christ , that is descib'd in those scriptures before . ( but dare he say that jacob behoman owns his doctrine herein ? and i add , surely r. g. grows darker and darker , to turn from a behmanist , to an antinomian , presbyterian , and independant . ) for this christ , who is the word , the light , the christ in believers , the power and wisdom of god speaking in saints , r. g. deems but the operations of the spirit , and not christ the operator , saviour , or redeemer ; wherein he is greatly mistaken , and has out-run himself besides any right aim : for christ , as the word , the true light , the power and wisdom of god , the redeemer from all iniquity ; and as in his saints , the giver of life and victory over the world , &c. he is the true operator of god ( his operations within , cannot be wrought without him the operator ) and the author of faith , the worker out of sin , the saviour and redeemer from iniquity ( and so an operator as such ) he is given for a leader , for light , life , and salvation to all who believe in his light , which will shine , live , prevail and prosper against all the darkness , dark-spirits , and enmity which oppose it . now let the reader judge , whether r. g's . words be not antichristian , and he an antichrist and deceiver , yea , or nay ? this r. g. represents some of g. l's . letter to him in these words . i find thy mind , in this book , abroad ; gathering in the comprehension what thou fancy'st , and hast heard of others , so heaps up confusion and contradiction : what will avail thee or me , that we know abroad , of things done abroad ? nothing at all . if ever thee or i come to know true peace , we must come to know the life that quickens : it is not names nor things done without , but the life within that redeems , that purges , that sanctifies , that quickens the soul to god. to this r.g. cavillingly answers . now consider what is testified by the prophets and apostles , concerning the man christ jesus without them , a name and thing abroad — the saints of old believed in him for redemption ; they saw , and believed , and left it upon record to us , and their report is true , that we also , who have not seen , might believe and be blest — thou hast made the coming , death , sufferings , and resurrection of the man christ , for the taking away sin , as quite useless as redemption , justification , salvation , as a name and thing done abroad , &c. no , he hath not made void these things by his owning the life that quickens , the life within that redeemeth , that purgeth , and that sanctifieth , and quickens the soul to god ; for this answereth both christ's testimony , and the end of his coming : he hath only signify'd how void and empty r. g. is of the true and living knowledge of christ , and his works within : as also , accounting that faith but dead , which is receiv'd only by tradition and report , without either sight or sense of christ , or his power and operations within , as the foundation , and author , and object of living faith , which sanctifies and justifies ; which is contrary to r. g's . dead faith of names and things all without , while nothing of life is felt within : the flesh of the son of man he hath not eat , and his blood he hath not drunk of ; so that life in him he hath not received : and i believe , that the name of christ jesus , his power and works , have so little place or reception in him , that both christ , his name , the redemption of the soul , justification , and salvation , are all shut out of doors , and so but as names and things abroad with r. g. and so the end , and effect of christ's coming , and sufferings , and the power of his resurrection , these also have no place in such as he , who do not experience the life nor the power of christ within , to redeem , sanctifie , or quicken the soul to god ; neither is his sin taken away from within , while salvation and redemption are shut out , meerly as things abroad : but christ said , it is the spirit that quickens , the flesh profiteth nothing , john ▪ 6.63 . and the apostle paul said , though we have known christ after the flesh , yet now henceforth know we him so no more , 2 cor. 5.16 . and did not the apostle know him to be their everlasting salvation , justification , and redemption ? now that of jesus , the son of the highest , it s said , the lord god shall give unto him the throne of david ; and he shall raign over the house of jacob ; and of his kingdom there shall be no end , luke 1. now to this we both confess , and assert it . but whereas ▪ r. g. so very often over , speaks of jesus christ the son of mary , and that out of the natural seed of david , is their saviour , &c. now though i grant , that according to the flesh he was born of the virgin mary , descended of the linage of david ; yet he was miraculously conceiv'd by the over-shaddowing of the power of the highest , and therefore was call'd the son of god ; not natural seed of david , that 's not sc●ipture : he is neither a natural saviour , nor carnal christ ( as is imported in such like sayings of carnal professors ) but being the son of the most high , ( who proceeded and came forth from god ) in his divine power and spirit , he was , and is the saviour ; and thereby raigns over the house of jacob forever , so the seed which raigns is not natural nor carnal , but spiritual ; for unto the son it s said , o god , thy throne is forever , heb. 1.8 . now i ask , was this a natural seed ? but in that christ , in the dayes of his flesh , said , i can of my own self do nothing ; the son can do nothing of himself , but what he seeth the father do , that he doth : still i imply and grant , that he took upon him a real body of flesh ; though methinks r. g. might have ascribed more honour to jesus christ , as being the son of the most high , then by so often calling him the son of mary , which he doth so very often , as if we deny'd his outward birth of her ; but that no ingenious man will judge of us , how disigeniously soever he hath dealt by us in this and other things ; whom i query upon his words , jesus christ , the son of mary , of the natural seed of david , shall raign over the house of jacob forever . first , whether or no the throne of david , which was promised to be given him to sit upon , be an outward throne ? secondly , whether or no he shall outwardly raign in person ? thirdly , whether or no his kingdom , that shall have no end , be an outward kingdom ; seeing christ said , my kingdom is not of this world ? and now r. g. thou showest thy self in a most inveterate rage against me , as one highly angry'd at me , in thy parcel of confusion , and ignorance , and reviling ; wherein thou hast not at all clear'd thy self , nor reconcil'd thy manifold contradictions , which i laid upon thee in my part of the book , about which thou hast but made a meer scraffling bundle of confusion against me and us , instead of candidly answering our book ▪ thou begin'st to charge my part , as that of a clamorous woman , having only brought forth a meer libel , stuffed with a bundle of ( currilous expressions ; which is but thy own clamour and malice against me , and it doth not touch me , nor what i writ ; for , the truth asserted by us , stands over thy head , and thy confusions and self-contradictions remains on record against thee to thy own perplexity ; which beca●se i have so plainly manifested on my part , thou appear'st ( instead of clearing thy self thereof ) as if thou would'st be reveng'd of me at once , by seeking to make people believe , that not only i have contradicted my self ; but g. f. also , in these passages , viz. where i s●id in my answer to newman , that though we do affirm a spiritual divine light of god and his son to be in every man , yet not that christ is in every man , or that every man hath the son : and yet i said thus of thee , let the impartial reader judge of r. g's . confusion and ignorance , not owning the light , that enlight●ns every man , to be christ or the son of god ; contrary to scriptures . to which thou add'st , oh strange ! be ●sham'd , &c. truly thou may'st be asham'd of thy ignorance , to attempt to fasten a contradiction upon me , without either right judgment , sense , or consideration ; for i do still assert , that jesus christ , the son of god , is the true light , that enlightens every man that comes into the world ; and that it is r. g's . ignorance and antichristianism , to deny that it is jesus christ that so enlightens : and yet i say , it is no contradiction in me to say , that the light , gift , or illumination of christ , that is in every man , is not christ himself , the giver , or enlighterner , his universal illumination being consider'd as a measure of his light , grace , or gift ; for there is the giver , and the gift , which is given in divers measures and degrees , as the creature is capable of receiving from the infinite fulness of light and life ; so there is a distinction ( as to the creature ) between the giver and the gifts , as every good and perfect gift comes from god ; who by his enlightnings enlightned the world , and the earth trembled and shook , psa. 77.18 . now here is god the fountain of light , and his enlightenings , which do enlighten , and yet he is infinite and omnipresent ; and so i may say of christ , as god over all , he is without and beyond limitation or bounds , of place ; the heaven of heavens cannot contain god ; his presence filleth heaven and earth , although his light or life appears and shews it self by degrees to the universal capacities of mankind , and not in the fulness thereof , that being beyond the reach of the creature 's capacity . but to come to r. g's . objection , as neer as i can , to make him understand my clearness of contradicting my self , or g. f. as also to see his own ignorance ; i say , jesus christ the living word , is the true christ , that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world ; here is the true light and its enlightening distinguish'd , as plain as lux and lumen , he being that vera lux quae illuminat , &c. as to speak in a low similitude ( not for proof nor absolute comparison * but illustration ) there is the shining , the beams , or illumination of the sun , in houses , which are not the sun it self ; though this is but a p●rable limited to the word enlighten . much might be said in these matters . but whereas thou add'st , that thou supposest there may be so much honesty in g. f. to rebuke me openly , and bring me to a publique confession before him , thereby at least to vindicate his own book , printed 1659. wherein , thou say'st , it is often affirm'd , that the light in every man is christ , and that christ is in every man , see page 9 , 10 , 19 , 20. now by the way it is observable , that thou hast rather justified that asse●tion , that christ is in every man ; in pressing to have g. f. rebuke me openly , which assertion thou hast not only deny'd at other times , but also deny'd that the true light , which enlighteneth every man , is christ : but thy scorn , and falshood , and wronging us both in this matter , is very manifest from his said book , and the very pages cited by thee : for as g.f. with me , often asserts , that christ is the true light , which lighteth every man that cometh into the world : yet he also asserteth in the said book , and pag. 9. in answer to john bunion , these very words , thou never knew christ form'd in thee , nor the raigning of the seed ; and how was the lamb slain from the found●tion of the world , but amongst such as thou art ? and reprobates may talke of justification , in whom christ is not , who witness him not within ; he is not ●our justification . m●rk now , where is the contradiction between g. f. and i ? d●th this contradict that saying , that it is not our principle to s●y , t●at christ is in every man ( intending as form'd , rev●al'd , or u●ited to man ) or that ever● man hath the son ; and yet a spirit●al divine light of god and of his son is in every man ? see now how thou art deceiv'd in thy conceits and bragging , as if thou had'st fasten'd such irreconcilable contradictions on us ; who , notwithstanding thy insinuation , to make g. f. rebuke me openly , thou would'st have such among us , who have known any thing of the teachings of the spirit , to cease from us , as if we were all deceivers , and yet supposest honesty in g. f. as to rebuke me for a contradiction , as thou falsly imagin'st ; but now would have people cease from us , as if we both taught untruths , which thou thus represents , that christ is not in every man ; yet that he is in every man : if neither of these be true , shew us another truth between them ; but thou rather showeth thy own confusion still . again , i neither clamour , nor am angry at any scripture proofs , concerning christ , as falsly thou accusest me ; but thou dost not answer my matter , where i question thee concerning thy words , god man and his purchasing all with god ; so i must still leave the question upon thee : for , whom dost thou reckon hath he compleated and purchas'd all ? and of whom did god purchase salvation , according to thy strange manner of expre●sion ? whereas thou go'st so often over with these words , jesus christ the son of mary , whom thou call'st , god-man : i ask thee , if this be not of kin to the papists , calling mary the mother of god ? and where did the apostles so often ( or ever ) use those expressions , jesus christ [ god-man , the son of the virgin mary ? ] and who were they that said , is not this the carpenter , the son of mary ? to whom jesus said , a prophet is not without honour , but in his own country , &c. mark 6.3 , 4. now what think'st thou ? did they honour him in those expressions ? and which hast thou more honour'd , him , or mary ? but peter gave a higher testimony of him , when he said , thou art christ the son of the living god : to whom jesus answer'd , blessed art thou , simon barjona ; for flesh and blood hath not reveal'd it unto thee , but my father which is in heaven , mat. 16.16 , 17. but do not the papists honour him as much as thou , in their frequ●nt calling him the son of mary , as thou hast done ? who also hast grosly wrong'd my words , where i said , nor was the son of god , nor his light , under such a limitation , either as to time or place , a● a finite creature ; but his out-goings were of old , from everlasting , &c. from which thou infer'st , if that holy thing , conceiv'd ●f the holy ghost , and born of mary , was not therefore the son of god — then the man jesus christ of nazareth , who w●s the so● of the virgin mary , was not the son of god ( thou say'st . ) whereby ●hou falsly add'st , that i have given the angel gabriel the lye , and am in union with those jews , who reckon'd him but a meer man , the carpenter 's son , &c. john 10.33 . to be sure thou art in union with a lying spirit , and art a gross perverter ; for though i do not own that the son of god , and his light , is under such a limitation , the holy one and his light being unlimited : i did neither thereby intend , nor do my words bear any such construction , as that the holy thing conceiv'd by the holy ghost , was not the son of god : besides , thou having confest , that his out-goings were from everlasting , hast thereby granted to what i said , that the son of god and his light are not under a limitation as to time and place , especially if thou wilt own his divinity , or that he ever was the son of god before he took a body in the womb of the virgin ; but if thou dost not own that the son of god was before then , then thou dost not own his divinity , nor him no more then a finite creature : and herein the heathen may judge thee as nebuchadnezar , when he said , lo i see four men loose , walking in the mid'st of the fire , and they had no hurt ; and the form of the forth is like the son of god , dan. 3.24 , 25. how came he to speak of the son of god then ? and by what scripture , and how much , hast thou exceeded those jews , that call'd christ the carpenters son ; or those that call'd him the carpenter , the son of mary , mark 6.34 . who therein did not truly honour him as a prophet , much less as the son of god , no more then thou hast in thy frequent calling him the son of mary , the son of mary , the son of mary , &c. as the pope and papists do ? but when one said unto christ , behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without , &c. he answer'd , who is my mother , and who are my brethren ? behold ! whosoever shall do the will of my father , which is in heaven , the same is my brother , my sister , and mother , mat. 12.47 . to the end . mark 3.33 , 34 , 35. luke 8.21 . and 11.29 , 30. and now to what thou say'st pag. 41. of sinners , vngodly , vnjust , enemies , even while enemies and no good wrought in them by any light or spirit whatsoever ; that for these christ made an end of sin , abolish'd condemnation , curse , and death , &c. and this is thy explanation , of god-man having at once without us wrought , compleated , and purchas'd all with god ( as thou nonsensically word'st it . ) for which i query , if all this be done for the whole world , when no good is wrought in them by the light or spirit of god ; then why are any condemn'd ? can it be just with god , to condemn any , or with-h●ld salvation from any , if it be so purchased , paid for , or he satisfied for , and , with men in their sins , when no good is wrought in them ? but what absurdity is it to say , that transgression is finish'd , and sin made an end of , and condemnation , curse , and death abolish'd ; where ( yet in thee , and other such empty and dead professors ) both transgression and sin actually remains , and death raigns , for which you are liable to condemnation ; the wrath of god being reveal'd from heaven against all vngodliness and vnrighteousness of men , who hold truth in vnrighteousness , and his wrath abiding on him that believes not in the son ? but if thou reckon'st that men's transgression is finish'd , and their sin made an end of , and that they are reckon'd righteous , when no good is wrought in them ; then it must thus be taken , that they are imputatively righteous , while actually sinful ; and though sin be in them , god sees it not , or takes no notice of it , as to condemn them or reprove them for it ; which is still corrupt antinomianism , and contrary to reason or truth : though he●eby i do not oppose , but really confess christ to have given himself for us , an offering and sacrifice to god , for a sweet smelling savour , eph. 5.2 . yea , and that god hath set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood , to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past , through the forbearance of god : now though there be an appeasment of wrath , and remission held forth in this propitiation for sins that are past ; yet this righteousness of god , declar'd thereby , doth not admit of sin to be continu'd ; or of sins past , present , and to come , as thy words are . this righteousness will not indulge thee , nor other● in unrighteousness all your dayes ; neither is it the nature of this blood of his sacrifice , nor of faith in it to cover or excuse thee in thy sins ; for faith purifies the heart , and the blood of jesus christ cleanseth from all sin , where it is receiv'd in the living faith : neither will thy profession of sin being ended without thee , and righteousness brought in , in christ's person without thee , be any cloak for thee in thy sin and enmity ; nor yet will thy confus'd talk ( of god-man having purchas'd all with god for thee ) stand thee in any stead in god's dreadful day . although thou professest victory and perfection in christ , while in sin and imperfection in thy self , as thou represents the believer's state , p. 43. which shews thy ignorance both of perfection , victory , and being in christ ; for perfection and imperfection are two contrary things , as being in christ , and being in sin are : and as the warfare against sin , and the victory over it , are different ; so he that is in christ , is a new creature , old things are done away , though there is a time of warring , and a time of victory ; a time of groaning within our selves for redemption , where the first fruits of the spirit are receiv'd , and a time of triumphing and rejoycing in victory ; for first fruits imply that there are second fruits : but thou , in citing that of rom. 8.23 . hast left out the word first ( for it makes against thee ) and set the fruits of the spirit , instead of the first fruits of it : but why dost thou talk of the warfare , whil'st thou reckon'st transgression and sin made an end of ; and justification , and salvation , and redemption purchas'd and perfected with god without thee , when no good is wrought in thee ? and after what manner dost thou pray to god ? dost thou ask forgiveness for thy sins ? or rather , doth not thy doctrine tend , not only to strengthen people in sin , and to make them so stout in their rebellion , as not to need to ask forgiveness of god for their sins ? for what need that , if such a purchase , pa●ment , or satisfaction be made without them , for sins past , present , and to come , as thy doctrine imports ? for that is ●ot of the nature of forgiveness : and what doth christ make intercession for ? is it for something he hath purchas'd and compleat●d with god already ? which ( if so ) cannot justly be detain'd from the creature , no , not from any in what state soever , if thy doctrine hold : for i● a m●n's debts pasts present , and to come , be all aforehand paid at once , and his release purch●s'd by his surety ; would it not be absurd in him still to pray to his creditor , oh! i beseech thee forgive me my debts ? and would it not be as unjust if the creditor should still detain him in prison after such a full compensation or rigid satisfaction of th● law is made ? * o●ght there not rather to be enjoy'd a deliverance upon it , ipso facto ? but thou , and such as thou art , make christ's sufferings a cloak for sins past , present , and to come ; pleading your perfection , righteousness , and compleatness in him ; and all as done at once without you , while yet imperfect , actually vnrighteous , and incompleat in your selves in your lives and conversations , and no good wrought in you by any light or spirit whatsoever : dost thou think that god is therewith satisfi●d ? or that christ and his sufferings will indempnifie and acquit you , living and dying in your sins and pollutions ? no , no ; god will not be put off , nor his wayes slighted by such hypocritical flams and mockeries . and whereas in pag. 44. thou falsly accus'st me , of pleading for a being perfected in my self ; and to prove the contrary of me [ as not having attain'd the end of faith ( which is the salvation of the soul ) which thou reckon'st , is not till men be as angels , neither marrying nor giving in marri●ge ] and thou say'st of me , why is he then like unto us m●rtals , marrying , and giving in marriage ; eating , and drinking , and not above sickness and death ? is this a sufficient argument against perfection ? is marriage an argument of imperfection ? was adam imperfect in paradice , when eve was given an help-meet for him ? or is either eating , drinking , bodily sickness , or death , an argument of imperfection ? by this thou may'st accuse many of the servants of the lord , if not all , and christ himself , with imperfection ; for he did eat , and drink , and suffer'd death in the flesh : but as for my particular , i do not tell thee my state , whether perfect , or imperfe●t , nor argue from thence against thee ; though i plead for the principle ( of truth ) of perfection , or freedom , and salvation from sin , being attainable in this life , by vertue of that divine power and faith , which overcomes sin , and is able to subdue all things to it self . and thy accusing me of giving in marriage , is a meer falshood ; for though i own marriage as being an ordinance of god , and witness bear to the honourable marri●ge and joyning in him ; yet it is not our principle to make , or give in marriage ; but we do own the lord 's joyning , and the marriage that is according to his will. and as for not being above sickness and death , which i am accus'd of , as a token of imp●rfection : this is a very mean argument against me ; and how i am in such a state or tryal of sickness , thou dost not know how my spirit is ; nor what injoyment of god , or renewing in the inward man i have , when the outward man is in weakness : however , such as thou art , be ready to rejoyce and insult over me , or others of us , when you hear of our afflictions or tryals ; and its probable thou , and such , would rejoyce much more in our death or dissolution , if that might come to pass according to your minds : but i thank god , he hath given me peace and patience , and hath afforded an increase of consolation to me in sickness ; and death i have not feared , but in my spirit have been over it , when in outward appearance nigh unto it : i confess i have had sickness , and many outward tryals , for the work of the lord and his truth 's sake ; as that servant of christ in the gospel , ep●phraditus , paul's brother and companion in labour and fellow-soldier , was sick nigh unto death for the work of christ , not regarding his life , phil. 2.25 . to the end : now if thou should upbraid him , or such , with being imperfect because of such sickness , what a peevish pitiful argument would it be ? nay , doth it not rather make more against thee ; that the servants of christ meet with such exercises for the work 's sake , which is not for sin ? and that some do the more witness patience to have her perfect work , and faith its exercise under tryals ; and as job said , when i am try'd , i shall come forth as gold , job 23.10 . do not these all make against thee , and argue that god will have a pure and perfect people , and they shall be manifest to be such through their manifold afflictions and tryals . and now whereas i said , that thou hadst shown thy self one while like a quaker , having gotten many of their words ( in thy other pamphlet ) and another while like a presbyterian and independant : to this thou answer'st , that thou hast therein testified to , in thy measure , what thou receiv'dst of the lord , through and under the ministry of those i call presbyterian and independant , pag. 44. what didst thou think to gain such a great conquest over us , by thy beggarly scraps and poor reliques , that thou hast gather'd and learn'd under the ministry of presbyterians and independants , when many of them ( thy tutors ) have been confounded and overthrown , and their mouths stopt by the power of truth in us , when they have gone about to overthrow it , and villifie us , by their perverse gainsayings ? thou mightest have taken warning from them , to have kept back and sav'd thy self from this cumber which by thy perversness and busie meddling in thy false spirit , thou hast brought upon thee , had not conceitedness , pride and presumption blinded thee ; and seeing thou hast been but a pedant , under the tutoring and ministry of presbyterians and independants : what conquest think'st thou now to gain ? and what name or title dost thou go under ? art thou a presbyterian , or a presbyterian-independant , or both ? may we not rather look upon thee to be an antinomian , presbyterian , and independant ? but indeed , thy spirit appears to be that of a ridged reviling presbyter : however , thou should'st in policy and prudence have sit in silence , to have seen what success and end thy tutors or masters would have had in their warring against us , before thou hadst thus busied thy self , or taken upon thee thus severely to judge us ; and me in particular , that i am not in any measure a partaker of that living faith the holy men lived and died in ; which judgment i value not , but trample upon it in the power of the true light , and am over all thy confusion and nonsensical scribbling , or what thou canst scribble against me , or the truth testified by me , which stands over thy head , and the heads of all such peevish , perverse , and pittiful gainsayers as thou art , who hast sufficiently manifested whose off-spring thou ar● , and whose work thou ar● in ; and accordingly shall be rewarded . i pass by much of thy fruitless stuff , and impertinent tautologies ( whereof a vollumn might be made ) as not worth repetition , or divulging . g. w. a postscript . if r●bert gordo● will devise and frame any thing , for r●ply to what is here written ; i only desire this civility and reason●ble thing of him , that he wou●d be ple●sed , not to inter-line nor mistake my words , nor ●y down things in my name , which i never writ nor i●tended , as he h●th done in divers particulars ( to the great ●buse both of truth , and me as one concerned in it ) mo●e th●n i have ( as yet ) mentioned : but i request , th●t he would state my own words ( as i have his , both in sentences and clauses ) and not divulge forgeries in my name to fight with . for we perceive by his two pamphlets , and his many vain repetitions , and i●pertinencies therein ; that he is as in a whirle-pool , and hath already brought forth the bottom of his matter ( as to doctrine and vindication ) and can bring forth no profounder opposition , but a vain repetition of the old , unless that some more reproachful rusty stuff remaineth behind in him , and his associate apostates , to be brought forth , as further to give occasion for his and their inveterate revengeful spirits to be made manifest . however , though 't is not my principle to st●ive for strife , nor for the last word ; yet i am not willing to acq●iess under such abuses , wher● truth is so deeply concerned . though ( i thank god ) i can both pass by , and bear , many personal r●flections and injuries . g. w. an aditional postscript , by george keith to robert gordon . r. g. although thy part to me be answer'd by another , yet there are some things which i find fit a little to touch ; i had indeed much in my heart , for truth 's sake , to lay open the emptiness , weakness , and inconsistency of this thy work against us ; but being prevented by another concern'd with me therein , much of what i have to say may remain unto a further occasion . thy way of reasoning against me , as having nothing from the lord to answer thee , or proving rebellious , in not delivering it , because i did not communicate it unto thee , by word of mouth , or writing , is vain and frivolous ; it was deliver'd thee in print by one of my friends , viz. g. l. and seeing thou camest forth in print against us ( though under a cover ) what ground hadst thou to expect another way of answering , then by print ? and although i was in the same town with thee , yet i left the town , and the nation also , before it was printed ; so i could not send thee it in print , and in writing it was not convenient ; but i left it with friends , to be given thee in print , as was accordingly done : and however thou so positively deny'st that i had any thing from the lord to answer thee ( in thy presumptious carnal confidence ) yet in the day of the lord , that shall over-take thee , it shall be known unto thee , that i had it from the lord , in love to thy soul. thy alledgance that our principles are inconsistent ( without further probation ) will have no more weight with sober men , then that the earth is inconsistent , because it may seem so to a man drunk with wine , to whom all things seem to reel and stagger ; so principles , never so consistent and solid , may seem as inconsistent to thee , and such as may be drunk with a spirit of giddiness and levity ; whereas the inconsistency is in such men's spirits , and not in our principles . what thou writest of a fourfold combination against thy testimony , as thou call'st it ; and our making such a stir about it , and printing together against it , as for our very lives ; and thy giving us names in a vain and scornful mind , as if thou seem'st to glory ; is weak and groundless . g. l. p●●lish'd nothing of his in print against thee : a. r. only writ a few lines to thee , as being thy old acquaintance , rather indeed regrating thy condition , then entring into a dispute with thee ; and but touching at two or three things passing by : and g. w. did little more but set thy contradictions before thee , which as yet stand over thy head unanswer'd ; thou having not so much as assay'd any answer unto them ( but telling us , he or we might no less charge contradictions upon the apostle paul ; thus fathering thy gross confusion , and contradiction upon him ) so thy book was upon the matter almost wholly left upon me , that thou needest not have made such a noise of a fourfold combination ; and there was no great stir made about it by us ; however , thou may'st have apprehended so , by the stir in thy own spirit ; not unlike a man diseas'd with the megrum in his head , that imagins he heareth great noises and stirs abroad ( when all is quiet ) because of the distemper within himself . the whole substance and strength of my answer unto thy first remains in force against thee , who hast wav'd the most material things in it ; only nibling at some things , when thou seem'st to thy self , thou wouldst get something to say ; for proof of which , i refer the readers to one impartial examination of both . in thy fourth page , part 1. to a. r. thou abusest my worde , taking occasion from a small error in the printing , which is a disingenious way of dealing ; and had not thy prejudice blinded thee , thou might'st easily have corrected it by the sense : thy abuse of me is in these words , that thou citest my words thus , yet the soul , yea and the whole man , is to be saved within ; whereas my words were thus , yet the soul , yea and the whole man , is to be saved , with , in , and through the seed , whoever believe in christ , and are joyned to him — the error in printing is , that within was put for with , in ; and upon thy own mistake and abusing me , thou raisest a callumny , as if i held , that the full salvation was only from sin within ; whereas i said , the whole man was to be sav'd ; and i say still , not only the soul , but the whole man is to be sav'd , both from sin , and all the effects and consequences of it , whether inward or outward : and the redemption of the body , and the resurrection , i do believe according to scripture , contrary to what thou falsly insinuatest against me . and whereas thou queriest , by what scripture can i prove that christ died for a seed in man that needed redemption , which seed is christ in every man ? answer , thou abusest our words herein , which are not that christ needed redemption , but that he redeems his seed which he taketh upon him ; but christ died for men , that men who were dead might become alive ; and no other way can men live , but by having christ to live in them , gal. 2.20 . and the life of christ in the saints is in a rais'd seed ; he who was crucified in them ( who could not be crucified in them , but as in the seed ) coming to live in them ; but if thou wert not ignorant of this birth , thou wouldst not propound such an ignorant question ; and the scripture speaketh expresly of christ , as having been crucified in some , as gal. 3.1 . crucified in you ; and 1 cor. 2.2 . crucified in you ; for so are both places in the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; and said christ , joh. 6 39. this is the fathers will , which hath sent me , that of all which he hath given me , i should lose nothing , but should raise it up again at the last day . now what it is that whereof he should lose nothing , but should raise it up at the last day ? that i slight the work of man's redemption , or what christ did or suffer'd in order thereunto is falsly charg'd upon me , nor dost thou produce the least ground for it : did i slight his redemption , because i said , in contradiction to w●at thou didst alledge on us , that it was not without respect to christ , as outwardly born and crucified ; i said also more , and could say more ; but what was said , was enough to clear us of thy false accusation . pag. 10. thou alledgest , i did not in my first , tell what further tendency the sufferings , testimony , and example of christ had unto our reconciliation , then that of paul 's , or any other martyr's . answ. that is false ; both g.w. and i expresly affirm'd , that he was a sacrifice ( most acceptable and satisfactory ; so said g.w. yea , and w.p. in his book , said as ●uch , whom thou falsly hast accus'd ) and a ransom , a propitiation , and offering for the sins of the whole world ( but not that men should be justified while in their sins , but in having forsaken them ) yea , in the very next two pages thou confessest , that we have mention'd him an attonement , a sacrifice , a propitiation for mankind in his sufferings and death in the outward ; and this is more then paul , or any , or of all the other martyrs were ; and had a greater and more weighty service and tendency then the sufferings of all others ; for of none else can it be said , that is true of him , who is the universal offering , attonement , propitiation . how ● art thou not asham'd thus falsly to charge us , and yet a few lines after , in contradiction to thy self , to clear us again ? pag. 13. thou accusest me , as unfaithfully repeating thy words , to make them speak what thou intend'st not ; but thou dost not mention one particular , wherein i have so done , nor canst thou ; only thou tell'st m● , that i leave out that part of the sentence , in the apostle's words , that is most weighty against me , viz. being reconciled . in answer to which i say , that i did not leave out these words , as making against me ; and that i mention'd them not , was not on any such design ; but that the mentioning , or not mentioning of them , was not material to the thing in hand ; nor dost thou gain the least by these words , being reconciled ; for he doth not say so of any , while remaining enemies , as being reconcil'd . and for a confirmation of thy false and confus'd doctrine , as , that men , while yet enemies , and so remaining , before and without respect to any inward operations of the spirit of holiness , are reconcil'd to god , and god to them : thou abusest that scripture , rom. 5.10 . both corrupting it as it s in the english , and wresting it to a wrong sense ; 1st , in that thou addest the word ( yet ) as importing , a remaining enemies , which ( yet ) is not in that verse , rom. 5.10 . 2d , that thou draw'st from this place , that god is fully reconcil'd to them , while yet remaining enemies : whereas the scripture saith not , when we were enemies , god was reconcil'd to us ; but thus , as it is in the english , when we were enemies , we were reconiled to god : and that the apostle cannot understand , that they were reconcil'd to god , while remaining enemies , is manifest ; because he inviteth enemies to be reconcil'd to him ; which imports , they were not already reconcil'd to him : yea , thou grantest , that it is a qualification on our part , as to receiving the attonement , that we be reconcil'd to god. but because the english translation , at first view , seemeth to favour thee , i shall therefore refer thee and others , who have any skill in the greek to the greek text , and you will find the words run thus , if we being enemies ( graece 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) were reconcil'd to god , &c. this doth not import , that they were both enemies and reconconcil'd at one and the same time , more then it imports that , where it is said , eph. 2.1 . and you , being dead in your sins , &c. hath he quickned ( for so it is in the greek , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) that they were dead and quickned at one and the same time ; both expressions importing , not a remaining enemies , & dead ; but a passing from being enemies , and dead , to be quickned and reconcil'd : and that it is said , we were reconcil'd by his death , implyeth , that his death had an influence in order thereunto ; but not that we were then , at his death , fully and perfectly reconcil'd , as r.g. affirmeth ; for we are said to be sanctified through the offering of the body of jesus , &c. yet who will say , we were then sanctified ? pag. 15. thou desir'st me to ask the boyes in the grammar school , whether was reconciling , and hath reconciled , do not both denote a time past ? saying , that i am very hard put to it . ans. if thou ( not i ) hadst not been put hard to it , thou wouldst not have fled to such a weak refuge ; and seeing thou appeal'st to the boyes of the grammar school , let them determine , whether was reconciling ( though denoting a time past ) doth denote or signifie , the imperfect time , or perfect , yea , or nay ; and whether it signifieth the action perfectly done , ended , & compleated , as thou insinuatest , that our reconciliation was then d●ne sixteen hundred years ago ? will not the boyes of the gammar school tell thee , that that it is in imperfect time ; and signifieth the action begun , but not ended or perfected ? and god was in christ , reconciling men to himself ever since the fall in all ages , both before and since christ suffer'd in the outward ; having given them , or put in them , the word of reconciliation ; by which they , who became renew'd thereby , were reconcil'd and justified in all ages : but according to r. g's . doctrine , no men were justified nor reconciled , until christ suffer'd death in the outward ; because then , and not till then , was reconciliation and justification wrought , done , &c. and here in thy 15th page i take notice of another piece of thy self-confusion and contradiction , as that thou say'st , our reconciliation and justification was fully done , perfected , accomplish'd at christ's death without us , and is not to be done or wrought over again in any man : and yet in contradiction thou say'st , to make our reconciliation effectual in every man , we are as a qualification on our part , &c. requir'd , invited to be reconcil'd to god. then according to thee , it must be made effectual in men ; and yet thou deny'st , that it is to be made or wrought within any men , it being already fully done ; and if it was fully done before , was it not effectual , before ? or if it be not effectual , till it be made so in us , was it not in-effectual before ? and if it was in-effectual , it was not fully done : what confusion and contradiction ! effectual in-effectual , all done , wrought , yet not made effectual ; we reconcil'd to god , yet as a qualification on our part , we are to be reconcil'd , pag. 16. thou chargest me with a self-contradiction , because i said , the full and perfect redemption was in christ , while we were enemies : but herein thou show'st thy self weak ; for i say still , our full and perfect redemption was in him , while we were enemies , so was our full and perfect sanctification , wisdom , righteousness ; yet it followeth not that we are redeem'd , sanctified , wise , and righteous , till ( as it is in him so ) it be receiv'd by us ; for it is the receiving it that giveth us the denomination of redeemed , sanctified , wise , righteous , as the cloth becometh colour'd , by receiving the colour , and not otherwise . pag. 17. that the works and fruits of the spirit , as humility , meekness , &c. are reckon'd by us , as the ransom , the price , the mediaton , the saviour , is a most false and unjust charge ; nor do our friend's words give thee the least ground for it : as for w.b. he said , humility , meekness , was a mediator to asswage and stop wrath in the enmity-seed ; but he said not , it was our mediator betwixt god and vs : so thou canst not be excus'd , from being a gross and unjust perverter of his words : and if any have called christ the humility , it is not more then paul said , that he , to wit christ , was made unto us wisdom , righteousness , sanctification , &c. and when christ is call'd humility , righteousness , are not understood those particular effects and fruits of the spirit , but that original & primative righteousness , verity , humility , truth , and goodness , &c. that is christ , as he is god , the fountain , goodness , truth , righteousness , &c. pag. 18. because christ is call'd the one offering , and that be once offer'd up ●is body &c. thou wouldst exclude him , as in us , from being one offering , but herein thy work is vain ; for christ jesus is the one offering still ; and though he offer'd up his body outwardly but once upon the cross , yet he remains still an offering for us , within us : for he is a priest forever , and every priest hath somewhat to offer ; and he is both the offering and the priest , who liveth forever to make intercession for us . that thou alledgest of our testimonies as dissagreeing , is false , nor hast thou ought to prove it ; but to corrupt g. w's . words by a deceitful interlining of them , as alledging on him , that he calls it a blasphememous opposing the omnipotency of god , &c. to assert any such necessary respect our redemption hath to the death of christ , which last words are thine , not the words of g. w. pag. 21. thou cry'st out on it , as strange doctrine , that i said , the apostles preach'd christ in the form of a man ; yet they preach'd him also , and that more generally a light to the gentiles : then thou ask'st , was he not a real man. answ. yea , he was a real man , and is ; and it is a most false and unjust charge , that we neither confess nor preach him as a man ; and that thou askest , tell us plainly , what is become of that man ? i say , he remains to judge thee for thy lyes and false accusations , against the innocent ; and as for his body , that thou queriest , he hath his body , which is spiritual , and heavenly , and glorious , to which our low body is to be made conform ; and the body of christ is but one , yet having many members : and this answer is given , not to gratifie thy bad spirit , but for the truth 's sake , and for a service to the simple-hearted . and that thou deny'st , that that was christ , that took on him the form of a man , and was manifest in flesh : do'st thou not herein plainly deny the true christ ? for did not he , even jesus christ , take on him the form of a servant , according to plain scripture ? did he not come in the flesh ? and if he came in it , was he not in it ? and if he was in it , was he not manifest in it ? and if thou deny'st him come in the flesh , art not thou an antichrist ? thou say'st , not he manifest in that body , but thou art the son of god , p. 19. oh blasphemous and contradictory to thy self ! do'st thou not expresly say , in thy testimony , pa. 38. that he is a christ near us , wrap'd up in our very flesh and blood , the seed of the woman , meaning in that flesh he appear'd in outwardly : and that thou deny'st , that he that was manifest in that body , was the son of god : do'st thou not plainly deny his divinity ? was he not the son of god , before he took flesh in the virgin 's womb ? pag. 21. thou bely'st me , that i said , the apostles preach'd one way of appearance of christ to the jews , and another to the gentiles : whereas i said , he was preach'd a light more generally both to jews and gentiles ; and the apostles preach'd him as within men ; 2 cor , 13.5 . know ye not , how that jesus christ is in you ? that thou challenge it that one said , christ was never seen with any carnal eye ; thou hast no more ground then to challenge himself , who said , he who hath seen me , hath seen the father ; and yet he said to the jews , who saw the outward body of jesus , you have neither seen him nor known him ; and many such places could be mention'd : and did not thy darkness and prejudice still blind thee , thou mightest understand better how christ is seen , and how he is not seen : we deny not but the names , messiah , jesus , christ , &c. were given to him as man , even as in the flesh ; but they do more eminently and more originally belong to him as he was before he took that body on him ; yea , more immediately and more originally to the word , the light , the seed , the life , the quickning spirit , that dwelt in that body , which he call'd , this temple ; and it was call'd the body of jesus . pag. 22. thou deny'st , that either faith or works , wrought by us , or in us , by the spirit of christ ; are the previous , procuring , purchusing cause of the love of god to us , while sinners , &c. answ. and who ever said that they were ? this is but a pittiful waving and shifting the state of the controversie ; they are needful as qualifications , requisite unto justification and life or eternal happiness ; and that is the true state of the question : and thus i prov'd in my former , citing rom. 8.13 . and rom. 10.8 , 9. to which thou hast answer'd nothing , but art mute as a fish ; and these i recommend again unto the readers , and particularly rom. 10.8 , 9. compar'd with deuteronomy 30 14. which require not only doing under the new covenant , but such as is in order unto salvation , summ'd up in these two general heads , to wit , believing and confessing , which is a work , and that not a bare one , but a living practical confession , which includes in it our whole obedience , and not only faith , but repentance , conversion , and a turning from the darkness to the light , and from the power of satan to god ; or requir'd in order to forgiveness , repent and be converted , that your sins may be blotted out , said peter , acts 3.19 . and acts 26.18 . to turn them from darkness to light , and from the power of satan to god , that they may receive forgiveness of sins , and keep my commandments , and live , said wisdom ( christ jesus ) prov. 7.2 . and rev. 22.4 . blessed are they that do his commandments , that they may have right to the tree of life , &c. and here the spirit is not preaching the first covenant or law , but the new . and as for tit. 3.5 . it expresly mentions the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost ; which are the works of the spirit of christ in us , by which we are sav'd , as said the apostle ; though in thy blindness , with the priests , thou dost not observe it ; but bring'st it against us , which maketh very manifestly for us , and the works that the apostle opposeth to grace are works of the law , and not of grace , which can never be opposite . pag. 24. that with me , the first and second covenant are in effect but one , is a false charge ; though i must tell thee , that the spirit , life , or light of the new covenant , is universal , and was from everlasting , and reacheth through all dispensations of god unto men , both before , under , and since the law , and without it none could ever be sav'd ; and though the manifestations and ministrations of it were various , and more and more by degrees came forth , yet this spirit , life , or light is still the same in it self and in its nature , extending in some degree to all , both jews and gentiles , to make them capable of life and salvation ; though many harden their hearts against it , that it hath not an impression upon them , as upon those who believe and obey it , in whose hearts the life of the new covenant dwells , and the laws thereof are written or engraven , as in fleshly tables , not stony tables nor hearts . pag. 31. as for my queries , which thou only makest a shew to answer , but indeed givest them a most pittious and slight go-by ; i return them upon thee , to be directly and plainly answer'd , in the tearms propos'd . pag. 34. thy insinuations , that i seek a hole to creep out at ; that i am ignorant of the scriptures ; that i assert n●w notions , receiv'd from other men , tending to the darkning and denying the joynt testimony of the holy men of god : i reject , as false and groundless , together with diverse other false charges against me and my friends ; and it is a small matter for us to be judged by one , who is over head and ears in the mire of such confusion and contradiction , as thy books hold forth : but that thou sayest it was none of thy work to prove , christ come in the flesh , or become man ; thou declar'st thy impudency in so saying ; for proof of which , let the reader see in thy testimony , so called , from pag. 17. to pag. 35. though to thy own contradiction . g. k. the 3d moneth , 1671. some of robert gordon's corrupt doctrines . 1. that christ without us , upon the cross , hath already subdu'd all things , finish'd transgression , made an end of sin , abolish'd condemnation and death , pag. 4. of his testimony . 2. that the light that enlightneth every man that cometh into the world , is not the true christ , pag. 10. testim . 3. that christ came to justifie and deliver us from the law or light in our consciences , pag. 11. testim . 4. that obedience to the light in the conscience , is but the work of the first covenant , and righteousness thereof ; and that no man is justified thereby , p. 10 , 11. testim . 5. that god is fully attoned , perfectly reconcil'd to man , without any consideration , qualification , or work to be wrought in any man , by any light or spirit whatsoever ; but singly and solely upon the account of the active and passive obedience of the man jesus christ of nazareth , done in his crucified body without us , pag. 12. testim . 6 that redemption , justification , and reconciliation , is finished and compleated by what christ did and suffered outwardly [ and so , according ●o r. g. all men are redeemed , justified , reconciled , christ having dy'd for all ; as he expresly affirmeth in his second book ] pag. 12. testim . 7. that our salvation is wrought by christ , in what he did and suffer'd outwardly ; and our wor●ing out of our salvation , is only as to evidence and manifestation [ and so according to r. g. all men are sav'd , christ having died for all , but it is not made evident to all , that they are sav'd ] pa. 12. testim . 8. that redemption justification were finished and compleated in the crucified body in christ for us , not in our persons , pag. 3 , 4. testim . 9. that the lord did not direct man to the light in his conscience , nor to light and power ; but promis'd him another kind of saviour , p. 18. test . that the worker of rede●ption could not be the light inlightening every man , p. 21. test . 10. that the light in our consciences , that shews good and evil , is not given for righteousness , nor able to reveal or give l●fe , any more then the law written in tables of stone . 11. that a believer is pure , beautiful in christ , walking in rest , victory , and perfection ; yet in himself in his body he hath a law of sin ; he is in the earth in warfare and imperfections , pag. 16. testim . 12. that redemption , &c. and all things , are wrought , purchas'd , &c. for us , without the help of any thing to be wrought in us , pag. 3 , 4 , 5 , 20. testim . 13. that christ did break through , fulfil , and satisfie stirred up wrath in god ; which , he saith , would hold me captive in death ; intending that thereby they might be acquitted and justified , and so escape with their imperfections and sins past , present , and to come , pag. 19 , 20. testim . pag. 15. 2 d book . 14. that to question , if it could be an answer of divine justice , to take vengeance on the innocent , and let the guilty go free , with their sins past , present , and to come ; and then from this to ask , how can god , then in justice , execute wrath , on any for sin , [ this r. g. counteth an arguing against god ] p. 14. 2 d book . 15. that the law , sin , and death , were charged upon christ's crucified body ; and that he buried them in his grave , and thus abolished sin out of the sight of god , pag. 39. test . and that therein he vanquish'd and buried in his grave all the powers that were against us , p. 26. test . 16. his argument for imperfection or against perfection in this life ) is marrying , sickness , mortality , &c. as in his 2 d book and part to g. w. 17. he insinuates , as if what christ did and suffer'd without us , was the previous , procuring , purchasing cause of the love of god to us , while sinners , pag. 22. 2 d book . 18. that he that was manifest in that body , born of the virgin mary ( and within us ) is not ( the true christ jesus ) the son of the living god , pag. 19. 2 d book . also most of these aforesaid corrupt doctrines are repe●ted over again in his 2d book . some of r. g's . lyes and false accusations against us . 1. that we deny the mystery of god in the flesh of christ , as a matter of any necessity to us , as to r●demption , reconciliat●on and justifica●ion , pag. 5. testim . 2. that we hold our justification to be without respect to the true christ , and our only saviour jesus christ of nazareth , and without respe●t to what christ did for us , in his body without us , pag. 5. testim . 3. that we make christ to be no better then the priest and levite , only looking upon us and passing by , leaving us an example , wherein , if in p●rfect obedience , we follow'd him , we should live ; and so departed , leaving us undone , as he found us , to cure redeem , and reconcile our selves to god by obedi●nce to the light plac'd in our consciences , convincing us of sin , pag 15. testim 4. that our doctrine asserts another christ , another saviour , then him , jesus christ of nazareth , pag. 17. 5. that according to our doctrine , redemption is only of the seed within , that lies under condemnation , p. 24. test . & p 4. 2 d book . 6. that we make our selves equal with christ , pag. 36. test . 7. that we reckon it a poor low thing to believe in the lord jesus christ of nazareth , as our only saviour , pag. 40. testim . 8. that we suppose our selves to find access to the glory of the father , without this man christ jesus , our mediator , p. 41. test . 9. that we have trod under foot the son of god , and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing , as the blood of any ordinary man or beast , p. 24. testim . and in his second book . 10. that christianity it self , in its very foundation , is struck at by us , and deny'd , preface ; and that some among us bring in damnable errors , to pervert the faith of some . 11. that the n●w present glorified existence of that body ( or man christ ) that suffer'd at jerusalem , is deny'd by some teachers among ●s , pag. 2. 12. that the full and compleat salvation , is only a salvation from sin within [ false ; for it is both from sin , and all the effects and consequences of it , within and without ] pag. 4. 13. that according to g. f. the soul needeth no salvation , as being infinite , without beginning , a part of god [ which g.f. speaketh not all these things of the soul of man , but of the breath or spirit of life , that made adam a living soul , that is the soul or life of the soul ] pag. 5. 14. that it agreeth with the doctrine published by g. f. that the life in man and beast is god , and all in us is god ; denying the real individual existences of angels , saints , devils , or wicked men in eternity , pag. 27. 2 d book . [ a most gross slander ; for all that is in men is not god , neither that which defileth , nor any part of man , that is or can be defiled ; nor deny we either the real or particular beeings of angels , saints , devils , or wicked men in eternity , as most wickedly he doth scandalize us . ] 15. that it is not allowed to our friends , to question and examine the doctrine deliver'd to them , by the antient friends of the ministry , pag. 8. 16. that christ , in offering up himself , is an imperfect insufficient propitiation , pag. 16. 17. he insinuateth , that we hold , that the works wrought in us by the spirit , are the ransom , the attonement , the propitiatory sacrifice , and ground of our h●pe for eternal life , p. 17. & 12. 18. that the man christ jesus of nazareth , to be the true and only christ , g. k. doth not confess , pag. 19. 19. he alledgeth , that our friends have put some out of their synagogues for openly confessing christ , calling them pharisees , and in a vain and evil mind thus bespeaking g. k. is it because he was hanged upon a tree that thou art asham'd to own him as saviour , & c ? or rather , art thou affraid to confess him , because of the pharisees ? pag. 20. 20. that according to g. k. the first and second covenant are in effect one and the same , pag. 24. 21. that g. k. is against the holy law of god , p. 25. [ false ; is he or we against it , because we say , it is writ in the heart , and doth bind unto obedience , as is written there , and that the obedience only acceptable unto god , is that which is given in the newness of the spirit , and not in the oldness of the letter . ] 22. that th●re is a light in every man , as he cometh into the world , by natural generation , that is saving , pag. 28. 23. that we would preach to the indians nothing , but what they knew already , pag. 43. g.r. for these thy lyes and thy many gross abuses against the truth and its witnesses , the righteous god will rebuke and judge thee . note . some other friends , who are r. g's country-men , have a further reserve against him , whereby he may be further discover'd in his false colours , turnings , twinin●s , hypocrisies , shiftings , self-contradictions , as he shall again further appear against the truth , and them concerned in it . g. k. ingenious reader , knowing that the errors of the press , ought not to be imputed to the author ; thou art desir'd to correct these , as here directed . page , line , error , corrected . 4 3 divinity dignity   4 dignity divinity 8 mar. pro & ito prope & ito note . 10 5 souls blood 14 18 fest fect 16 11 particulars particles 17 29 would could 19 29 are you art thou 20 9 law love 22 1 are is 27 9 dare do   33 to know must know 29 13 as yet and yet 34 22 dele of   35 9 our priests your priestly 38 7 et let   33 one sentence is printed twice , dele the latter . 41 22 imaginary imaginarily   32 existent existence . 56 14 ep phraditus epaphraditus 58 4 mistake mis-state 65 1 dele that   71 19 hold me hold men     the word blaspemy in the margent , place opposite to these words , viz. arguing against god. the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a65874-e110 mica . 5.2 . * propitio ex pro & pio ( non imp●o ) propiti us ex pro & ito . notes for div a65874-e2090 eph. 3.5 . * he now hopes and waits for salvation after the bodily death : see his sottishness and confusion ; at other times it was perfectly wrought at once without , or else purchas'd ( he knows not which ) at jerusalem ; but now he hope for it after his bodily death . ah! the hypocrites hope shall perish . note note notes for div a65874-e4700 * why did he not call mary the mother of god ( as papists do ) which to be sure is not scripture language ? job 36.26 . psa. 1●9 . 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , &c. * the sun and its light being under limitation ; so is not the light of the son of god. job 10.14 . * such as the presb●ters and independants suppose christ to have made in our stead , b● undergoing vin●ictive justice at the hand of his father , as they vainly imagine . note notes for div a65874-e12170 deceit . blasphemy . a discourse of earthquakes as they are supernatural and premonitory signs to a nation with a respect to what hath occurred in this year 1692, and some special reflections thereon : as also on that security and assurance of mind which is attainable in the light and power by the author of the fulfilling of the scriptures. fleming, robert, 1630-1694. 1693 approx. 188 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 76 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a39754 wing f1264 estc r32433 12696511 ocm 12696511 65862 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39754) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 65862) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1527:2) a discourse of earthquakes as they are supernatural and premonitory signs to a nation with a respect to what hath occurred in this year 1692, and some special reflections thereon : as also on that security and assurance of mind which is attainable in the light and power by the author of the fulfilling of the scriptures. fleming, robert, 1630-1694. [8], 128 p. printed for thomas parkhurst ... and jonathan robinson ..., london : 1693. "the fulfilling of the scriptures" was written by robert fleming the elder -dnb. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng disasters -religious aspects. prophecies. theology, doctrinal. 2006-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discourse of earthquakes ; as they are supernatural and premonitory signs to a nation ; with a respect to what hath occurred in this year 1692. and some special reflections thereon . as also on that security and assurance of mind , which is attainable in the light and power of religion , under the greatest surprizals , and terrors of sense . with some enquiry upon the grounds both of our fears and hopes , as to the publick state of the church of christ in this day . by the author of the fulfilling of the scriptures . london : printed for thomas parkhust at the three bibles and crown in cheapside , and jonathan robinson at the golden lyon in st. paul's church-yard , 1693. the preface . it is sure that the great intent of religion , is to bring men unto a near communion and intimacy with god , whilst they are here on the earth , both by his word and providences ; and where this end is not designed , it is a very low interest that can be made by the profession thereof : for it may be evident , how the intellectual part of man , when it is in a serious and true exercise , must tend either to their greatest torment , or to an unexpressible joy , when they cannot but see that their good is not in their own hand , but must every moment be dependent on an invisible refuge and support ; since men are no statues , but in the solid use of reason , must have deep impressions , both as to fears and hopes of future events , and how sad and surprizing changes may be near , in the publick state of nations and cities , as well as of persons , when all humane refuges and assistances will fail ; yea , when then the great lawgiver's right and authority to a passive obedience , will be found indisputable in the way of judgment , over such , who would not acknowledge the same by active obedience , under a treaty of grace . but yet , such is the tender regard of the majesty of god to humane race , and to the work of his own hand , that in the most severe , judicial procedure with a people and nation , he does not surprize without previous warnings before the decree go forth , and hath a time of patience herein , if so be , the voice of threatned judgment might be regarded ; and whereby such stroaks , as have at last made desolate , might have been prevented : tho i find not either in divine or humane record , that any kingdom or people , did truly meet god in the way of his wrath , to put a stop thereto , upon extraordinary premonitory signs , except that one instance of nineve . i know it is no easie thing to understand warnings from heaven aright , and to have a clear interpretation of such providences , or to discern the approaches of divine vengeance , when such tender intervals of forbearance , as are usual betwixt one step and another thereof , takes off all fear of a greater woe that may be to come . there are two things which may occasion some deep and serious thought about the same , with respect to this juncture of time we are now in : the first is , as to that difference which is betwixt extraordinary warnings in the way of a treaty , and such astonishing providences , as are of a predicting nature , as presaging signs , and as a signal of judgment in its near approach to particular places , which speaks the certainty of what is signified thereby : this is a subject that may surely cause matter of great reflection upon what hath been both of late , and for some considerable time past , made visible by strange and unusual discoveries of god this way , both from the heavens , and the earth beneath : nor can it be in the dark , how such are become then portentous signs and prognostications of future events ; when they cease to affect and warn , or to work in a monitory way upon mens spirits ; when the saddest of moral signs does not awaken , nor tend to reclaim ; when the dread and reverence of god does not accompany the most extraordinary occurences of providence , but men thus become rather more hardned ; yea , when such unusual signs meet in an extraordinary season of sin , and point as with the finger thereat ; which is a conjunction of another kind , that hath a more dismal aspect , than all that was ever pretended , or feared from the planets : but oh ! who shall live when god does this , and does cease to warn any more , after renewed and unusual methods he hath taken with this generation for this end ? but there is a second thing to be matter also of serious thoughts herewith , for what ends such extraordinary signs may be directed , since they never be in vain , when now there seems no promising efficacy or influence therewith , on the spirits of most , and are so easily past , as if they had no commission from heaven to discharge : but sure then is it that the majesty of god will make known , he hath not forsaken the earth ; so that when his word hath no regard or intercourse with mens souls , he will not yet leave them without some sensible demonstration of himself , and of a divine and invisible power above them ; as this way he will also awake and put his people more on their watch , and to be on a preparatory work , whatever storm may be to blow . this scripture on which the following discourse is founded , does give a most singular account , how far a christian may be raised above his ordinary reach , by a special faith , in the power and evidence thereof , when it can have no possible rise from any natural cause ; yea , as there is a supposal here made of such a prodigious concussion of the earth , as if the frame of nature should be dissolved by some earthquake , and is there literally to be understood ; it did give a special call to speak thereon in the first part of this discourse , when such a concurrent call was also in the way of providence thereto , and to offer some special reflections on what hath in this last year 1692 occurred . i know the publishing thereof , might seem now too late , tho i hope it may be the more seasonable to revive the sense and remembrance thereof , after some others have , ( i doubt not ) with much advantage discours'd on the same providence , tho i knew not thereof , when this was writ . and i had not the least thought to have touched any thing of that additional discourse which is in the close , if ( in the blessed disposal of the lord ) there had not then been some remarkable concurring providence , which thus put me to some deep and serious thoughts on such a subject , and to have my soul more nearly join'd in therewith , for keeping sight of the way of the lord , in such steps thereof , as needed his special conduct and teaching , in a more than ordinary way . a discourse of earthquakes . psal . 46. 1 , 2 , 3. god is our refuge and strength , a very present help in trouble . therefore will not we fear , though the earth be removed : and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. though the waters thereof roar and be troubled , though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof . it is one of the most adorable mysteries of truth , that for an eternity the glorious god would hide himself within himself , in that unconceivable fellowship , and enjoyment of the blessed trinity when there was no created existence . but as such a reflection must be bounded with a becoming silent and humble admiration , as being too wonderful for us to think on ; so is it matter for the highest joy and exultation of spirit , that we should have this day such a being as admits us to see and enquire upon the glory of that work , which he hath brought forth within time , so infinitely becoming the perfections of the deity ; and to have so clear a discovery of the same , not only in the whole dispensation of nature and providence , but as it 's more nearly relative to us in the dispensation of grace , and in the speciality of that work that he hath about each of his people in this militant state ; yea , thus to see on what security we are fixed against the greatest hazards , and fear of future events : it was on this account that the psalmist here , bears so great and wonderful a testimony for god , and to the sureness of their state , who have him to be their alone refuge , and trust in the most extream case . this is indeed a rare passage of scripture , and does imply , 1. a supposal of that which is one of the most tremendous providences that can occur , a concussion of the earth , whereby the whole frame of nature would seem not only to be shaken , and cast into a trembling posture , but turned out of its place : and there is nor eason to account a metaphor that the psalmist makes use of , but to be taken in the literal sense , as that which is supposable may occur to the most excellent on the earth . but 2. what is more wonderful here , is a supposal made of such a stupendous earthquake by this man of god , as though it were present and visible to his sense , without any trepidation or earthquake on his soul , to shew what a pitch sometimes the faith of assurance may be at , and what relief thus is attainable amidst the greatest terrors of sense , in the light and power of religion , as is above the comprehension of nature . he was one who had made a great tryal of god , and of acquaintance with him by inward converse , and does thus speak in a dialect that 's not intelligible to such who may pretend the highest flight by reason in the searches of nature . i shall offer some propositions for a more clear understanding and improvement of this scripture ; the first whereof is this , that the most select and eminent of the saints may meet with such a trial to their faith of the same nature as is here mentioned , of some extraordinary concussion of the earth , as would seem to overturn the setled course and constitutions of nature : it is true , such a strange providence is not still alike in the same manner or measure , but sometimes is with the most tender reguard , as a premonitory warning and sign only , when at other times it is with the greatest terror of an immediate desolating judgment . that a supposal of this kind may be suitable to the most endeared favourites of heaven , needs be no strange or difficult thing , when it 's considered how it 's by no external providences the lord hath design'd the more special discoveries of his love to his people , and that no tryal can be so astonishing or at such a pitch , as to exceed the measure and allowance of their grace ; but that the expence this way be ever proportioned to their receipts , and measure of faith ; yea , how it is to the most dismal tryals and extremity the lord hath reserved the greatest experiments of his distinguishing respects to christians , and where his leading into the one by an immediate conduct , hath been made so observable to make way for the other , and some more extraordinary appearance of himself in such a case . it is not needful to insist on any concurrence of natural and occult causes , that may be in so stupendous a providence , when such difficulty and contradiction is to be seen amongst the late writers , and such as have made the greatest search upon this head ; and is so conjectural and problematick a thing , to know what influence herein the sun may have , or subterraneous fires , as descartes speaks ; or mineral vapours and irruptions of winds , penned up in the caverns and bowels of the earth ; so dark is the judgment that is on such an amazing phenomenon , though it fall in within the sphere of nature , when it is so visibly preternatural , besides the course thereof . but it 's a remarkable reflection which aristotle makes , speaking upon this very subject , that they must be bruitish and stupid who are not deeply affected with so amazing a thing as an earthquake , not only upon the hazard , but as to the original and cause thereof ; yea , whatever subserviency the majesty of god may make of inferiour causes in such providences , when he does in so stupendous a way appear ; yet it calls us to a deep and tremendous sense hereof , as his alone work. but since this is a subject of such weight , and what may justly cause great thoughts of heart in the present day , i shall speak a little to some special enquiries hereon . the first is this , on what clear and infallible grounds such an astonishing concussion of the earth by an earthquake , should be reckoned as a divine sign , and to have a supernatural causality in directing the same to a nation , and some particular place more than to others ; for giving light thereto . 1. it cannot possibly be denied that such as are sacred signs , and expresly foretold in the scripture to take place , must have a divine and supernatural causality for accomplishing the same , that go above all inferiour or secondarycauses , and can have no dependance thereon . 2. it 's sure also , how this stupendous providence is in a peculiar way reserved by the lord to be a demonstration of himself to the world , in the greatness of his power and more immediate presence , by making that which he hath setled and made firm in it self , not only to shake , but cleave asunder ; to shew his absolute dominion over the most setled constitutions of nature . thus did he in such a way cause the earth to rent in two , and swallow dathan and abiram , to set up such a stupendous sign of judgment hereby , where nature could have no concurrence ; yea , in this way , though in a promissory sense did the lord give so extraordinary a demonstration of himself and of his immediate presence upon that marvelous effusion of the spirit , act. 4. 31. when he caused the house and earth to shake underneath ; both to seize their spirits with a more deep fear and reverence , and as a sign that he would make the nations to shake and tremble before his divine power by the gospel . yea , in the same manner did he bear testimony to the divinity of christ in his sufferings , by such a tremendous earthquake , as an immediate and supernatural sign ; in which sense through the scripture as it is ever given , as an extraordinary appearance of god for some special end , so it 's unquestionable , the greatest commenter we have on the scripture , is that which is writ by the finger of god himself in his work. 3. it is with an undeniable evidence , we see a supernatural influence and causality in such a providence , hath in all ages been matter of solemn observation upon these remarkable events have followed such a sign ; so as in the most judicious records of history , we do rarely find the one mentioned without respect to the other : thus josephus does most punctually relate these earthquakes , that did so nearly preside the destruction of jerusalem , and the expiration of the judaical state , as they were predicted by our lord himself , matth. 24. 7. 4. yea , it 's beyond question how sometimes such earthquakes fall out with these tremendous circumstances , and clear evidence of an immediate divine appearance ; as serves a constraint herewith , on a natural conscience , to see and acknowledge a supernatural cause , and that they have some extraordinary commission ; so as it 's not possible then for the worst of men , to keep off the terror and impression of an invisible god. and we see little what interest the ministry of the angels hath herein , who have surely a more peculiar delegation and service in such extraordinary acts of providence . 5. as it 's needful to understand the rule of providence , e're we can discern aright the seals appended thereto , so is it evident that a great and stupendous earthquake is foretold to be one of the strange events of the last trumpet ; which must assuredly take place in these last times , and have a literal accomplishment : and though its appearance then will be something we may judge of an extraordinary kind , with some astonishing marks of judgment ; yet is the intent of that prediction clear herein , that when there is any appearance of god this way , it calls the world to a very solemn and awful regard of the same , and for some correspondent acts of reverence and homage , as is suitable to a providence whereon he does put so signal an impress of his terror and greatness . but it were well if mens spirits were more prepared and inclinable , not only to entertain any such intimation with reverence and fear of the divine majesty , but to improve the same for a greater strengthning of their own faith of his glorious being , and of the divinity of his word , when it is also directed for such an end . a second enquiry upon this subject and of great use , is what may be more specially judged as the grounds of any such extraordinary warnings and signs to a nation , where god hath clearly revealed his counsels and judgments by his word , and of his making use thereof . though here the soveraignty of his will should both silence and subject our spirits in such a case , yet there can be no darkness therein , to any of a serious and judicious spirit , when they see , 1. such a suitable congruity therewith , to that tenderness which the son of god hath to mankind , and to kingdoms and nations in his government of the world , that he will not only speak by his word , but go to the utmost , by more extraordinary warnings of some great and unusual stroak of judgment e're it come , so as nothing may be wanting either to reclaim , or render such a people unexcusable : and it hath a most sad and fatal aspect , if this hath no suitable impression in the present day . 2. this can be no dark or strange thing , when the times we are in , are such , that the honour and glory of the godhead is interested to appear in some unusual manner before men , when no application of light to the judgment , either from his words or works , in an ordinary way does prevail , when his name is in so visible a way blasphemed , and all wherein he has placed his name of so low a regard with this generation . 3. yea , may not yet some more strange and immediate appearance to this generation be expected , when such a visible tendency now is to sacrifice to natural causes , whatever hath the greatest evidence to bring near an affecting sense of the deity unto mens conscience ; and to account it a small thing to arraign and subject the greatest of his works to the comprehension of their dark and limited reason ; and that their wisdom hath such a dominion and influence on future events , as they can give law to providence , and lay wagers on what the next day is to bring forth : oh! may not some unusual application be yet more than expected , to let men know they are under the dominion of that god , who can in a moment , break the most promising means and measures taken by human counsel , by one touch of his hand ; and what hath been thought most infallible in the course of humane affairs . 4. and may it not be feared , that when these are so rare , who tremble at the word and threatnings of an invisible god , they should meet with such awakening signs , as cause the earth to tremble beneath ? which in the very nature thereof , is suited to beget an awful and trembling posture of spirit , and let us see how every moment it is dependant on heaven , and in the reverence thereof , that the earth does not rent and swallow men up . but it is clear also that extraordinary appearances of god , not only in judgment , but in the way of grace , have been most discernable , when things have come to an extremity in the tryals of christians , and when their faith and patience have been ready to be overset by disappointments , and contrary appearances , answerable to that of isa . now will i arise , now will i be exalted , now will i lift up my self , saith the lord. a third enquiry , that i humbly judge is of concern here , is what suitable and safe application may be made of such extraordinary providences , to the present day and place we are in ; since it is requisite that any impression of fear on such an account , be fixed on solid and rational grounds , and we be not affrighted with shadows , but according to that evidence they bear of being supernatural signs and forewarnings , to have an answerable sense thereof ; on which account , as to a clear and applicatory judgment in such a case , i shall yet further offer a few things to be considered for this end . 1. that when something astonishing and unusal , above any influence of natural causes , is given to be a premonitory sign to a nation or people , and hath an extraordinary call with it , it does surely speak there is some more than ordinary piece of the work of god than in bringing forth there , and on a near approach ; yea , that it is on some great and important ground , when the lord does this way appear . 2. it is of undoubted evidence which we must peremptorily hold by , that where the majesty of god takes an unusual way to awake and warn a people , they must either answer the same , or else they are infallible prognosticks of wrath and judgment , and some dismal night coming on : nor can any sign be more mortal than this , that men will not consider the work of god , or regard the operation of his hand , when it hath unavoiadble evidence to be his alone work. 3. there may be a clear and infallible application of what 's more extraordinary in any appearance of god to a nation , when such forewarnings have most immediately gone before some astonishing judgment , on a people who have not been under more aggravating circumstances of guilt ; yea , not comparable to the height that is this day in our case : since such precedents of the severity of judgments in one place , are undoubtedly given to be a premonitory sign to another . 4. yea , when there is some more singular conjunction , and reiterating in a successive way of such awakening signs , it then hath not only a distinct sound , but a loud cry of some near and immediate approach of judgment , and that it may come upon the last call. i know it is one of the greatest things of practical religion , that needs a near intercourse with god , to have any such application brought near to mens souls , both in order to fear , and to account also the more immediate appearances of his power and workings , as a matter of their greatest joy , that the sense of a deity might thus more strongly work on such a generation : but oh ! how sad a token is it , when such are not only rejected , but have a sinistrous and false application made of the same ; and to see the earth trembling at the near approaches of divine wrath , when such as dwell thereon , have no fear of this kind , as habac. 3. 10. the mountains saw thee and they trembled , the overflowings of the water passed by , the deep uttered its voice ; but says the prophet there , was the lord displeased against the rivers ? was his anger against those elements , &c. no , it was against humane race , and given to be a sign thereto . but there is a fourth enquiry , which comes more close and near to us on this subject , to know what evidence such late extraordinary providences do bear , as was at jamaica , june 7. and here , september 8. to be the alone work of god in such an immediate and unusual manner , and to go forth on a special commission to england , and to this great and renowned city of london ; yea , the whole island : for answer thereto , i must crave leave with humble sobriety , to offer some reflections on both , according to the express signature and impress , they bear not only of an extraordinary appearance of god herein , but of his counsel and intent in this day . 1. as to that tremendous stroak on jamaica , we cannot but see 1. it s being directed to a place where the whole country was purely english in its interest and inhabitants , and thus a part of the same nation , though at a distance ; so that it can be no more evident that such a strange stroak was real and no imaginary thing , than that it hath a proper aspect in a monitory way on this island , and set up as a publick beacon and monument of judgment in this respect , to shew how terrible a thing it is to fall immediately into the hands of the living god , when a people may seem most secure from all humane power , yea , that there can be safety on the earth , where their adversary is above them , and is god. 2. we see its being directed also with a special commission to that one place , which alone was the most flourishing , populous part of the whole country ; and thus made the scaffold on which so dreadful an execution of judgment was acted , as did in two moments , swallow up near 2000 of its inhabitants , whilst no part else of the island had any such dreadful effects ; and was this a contingent and casual thing only , if men do but excercise reason herein . 3. this as it 's publickly known , was after some remarkable forewarnings , given by a trepidation of the earth there , a short time before though in that manner , and with such tenderness then , as might shew a holding of the hand of judgment , even when it was lifted up . 4. it 's yet further remarkable as i find it related from some who dwelt in that place , that no instance of traditional conveyance , was before ever known there , not only since the first english plantation , but under the spanish power ; so as in that sense as moses spoke , numb . 16. 13. the lord did thus work a new thing in such a place of the earth , as it 's thus circumstantiate . 5. but that which may most direct our eyes to see an immediate appearance of god herein , and a causality above nature , was , as is by all acknowledged , when such a prodigious height of impiety and wickedness seem'd to have filled up its full measure , and no ordinary means could reclaim ; so as the holy god upon the honour of his justice and government , was thus interested to put so astonishing a mark of his severity and wrath on the same , and make known what one day and hour , may at last bring forth on a city and country after a long forbearance , when it is least expected or feared . but it is on this last sign and extraordinary concussion by an earthquake , that was in the 8th . of september , i must offer a few reflections further , that hath come nearer to our sense , with so unusual an aspect . 1. that it was given in so near a conjunction with the former , and with such evidence as the lord speaks to moses , exod. 4. 8. if they will not hearken to the voice of the first sign , they may yet hearken to the voice of the second ; yea , when the first had the less influence , that it was so remote in its distance , this comes and speaks in that manner as jeremiah , i am a god near at hand , and not a far off only . 2. if we look on the manner of it , it is so astonishing , as is unaccountable to all humane reason , that so discernable a trepidation should be in one room in the same house , and not in another , as was certainly known ; yea , in so distinguishing a respect , that it was most perceptible and terrifying to one in the same room and not to another ; tho' both in the sober exercises of reason . 3. and whence should such a correspondence in this great sign have a rise , that almost in the same hour it made the earth to tremble at london , and in the sea-coasts there , in so astonishing a manner , and then also give the same signal and warning through the whole low-countries , with other adjacent parts of germany , when so great an extent of sea lyes betwixt the same ; since it is not possible that in the ordinary course of nature , the influence of any subterraneous fires or vapours , should have so immediate a conjunction with places so vastly remote , and separate from other by so great an extent of the sea. i find some famous searchers into natural causes , writ that an earthquake is simply impossible in nature , to be of any universal extent . 4. and though we read in the english histories some strange extraordinary instances that did occur of such a kind in queen elizabeths reign at london in the year 1580 , at marcly hill in herefordshire in the year 1571 , where it removed it self from the place where it stood , and travelled to another place ; as also a prodigy of the same kind , which was in dorsetshire 1582 , yet was none of these , in the least , of such a nature as this , or in any respect parallel thereto ; but were restricted only to particular bounds , tho' they were then matter of great observation in their day : but i humbly judge if the most exact search were made into history both modern and ancient , under such circumstances , no instance so strange and unaccountable , as to any natural causes herein will be found . 5. and what a state should we have been in , if it had continued but three minutes more ? or was there any humane counsel or power , that could either prevent or restrain the same in the least , of its going so far and no further , but we might see at once , our hazard and deliverance set in our sight , from an invisible power . but as all the works of god , even such as fall under the observation of each day , should be matter of special regard ; such wherein his appearance is more extraordinary , calls for some greater advertence and enquiry about the same . i must therefore offer a few reflections further on this late astonishing providence . 1. that as it was now ten years ago since the lord gave a sign in an unusual manner from the heavens above , by that great and remarkable comet in the year 80 , so now after such an interval of patience to this generation he hath given a sign of another kind , which is from the deep beneath , that comes more near to us , answerable to that of isa . 7. where we may see how it is most eminently in these two ways the lord does appear , when he is to give some great and significative sign to the world of unusual events ; and as nothing can bring more terror therewith , than an appearance of such a kind , so needs it not be strange that this day , when the earth hath so near a resemblance to the infernal state , why this should be from beneath , and have so dreadful an aspect . 2. though there might be cause why such a concussion of the earth should cause just fears and tremblings of heart , yet does it exceed all humane comprehension such a circumstance herewith , which was so universally noticed of its affecting the head with a sensible giddiness , even before they did apprehend , and understood any thing of an earthquake ; which was so obvious to the most judicious observers , that it seemed as if an apoplectick distemper had seized upon them , without any known cause for the same : this i have found so general a remark , as i could not pass it over , though without any application else , but that no natural cause can be supposable herein . 3. and if we regard the manner of this sign , as it is directed to such a time we are in , and in so strange an extent thereof , may it not also as with clear and articulate voice be understood , that what is signified thereby will prove matter of trembling and astonishment , and may cause a trepidation in these western parts of europe answerable thereto , so as to shake the most setled constitutions of nations , if so solemn a call be not regarded . 4. and though it might seem a strange criticism , yet i hope not unsuitable to be noticed , that this last warning was given in the 2d . week of september , as directed to revive the sense , and remembrance of what had been so highly remarkable to this great city in the first week thereof , and with a new call tho in a most tender premotory way , but with that evidence , as we are sure was immediately from heaven ; only let me add herewith , that 's sure divine threatnings , and the most tremendous warnings to kingdoms and nations , are in their primary intention , design'd to keep off men from the judgments threatned , and not to be gazed at for a matter of talk and report : but oh ! if the furthest measures of this kind can have no weight to answer the intent hereof : it is sure that god will be known to be god this day unto britain , and before this generation , by such an evidence and demonstration , as will at last work effectually . but having now so far touched these two extraordinary signs that have so lately occurred , i must for the same end point at a third , as so nearly contemporating with the former , though it may be feared , is gone out of sight and forgot , when the bitterness of death seems to be past , but did cause such fears in the present time , and consternation of mind : it is that unusual and astonishing rain , which in these parts , through most of the summer continued , when thus these sweet influences from heaven by moistning showers , to restore and ripen , were in that manner changed to be destructive , when we might see the heavens with fo extraordinary an aspect , as it were mourning from above over the earth , if hereby men would be awakened to the fear and dread of that god in whose hand both our breath and bread is ; yea , when it was come to that extremity in its continued course , as threatned to make void the harvest , and when but one week almost seemed to stand betwixt us and such an unavoidable stroak ; when no humane counsel or power , could save the nation from perishing in such a case : it was then the sovereign god did stay his hand , and with an eminent testimony of his tenderness , not only shut up the clouds , but gave such a compensation by a most serene desirable season , as might recover in a short time , what the former months had spoiled , and seemed in an ordinary way to mens thoughts , irrecoverable . but i shall shut up any further insisting on this subject , with a short touch only at some improvement hereof for these ends . first to a solid fixing of our judgment and light about the same , there is nothing more amazing and dreadful to the spirit of many in this day , than any supernatural appearance in the events of providence , as renders the sense and impression of an invisible god , and his dominion over second causes , to be unavoidable , and on this account , as these seem to be in such a fear upon the truth and existence of devils , since their faith hereof , must needs bring them to the same with the devils , to believe and tremble : so is it in this case , men are so much on the rack how to solve all by natural demonstration , that may darken any immediate appearance of god ; as jannes and jambres in egypt , until at last they were constrained to see and acknowledge it was a divine power alone they opposed themselves to ; but such as will peruse what the most judicious of modern philosophers speak on this head , may see how dark and perplexed their inquisition is hereon , and how strait bounds they are penned up in , whilst they jointly confess that an earthquake is by no natural motion of the earth , but is impetuous and violent , that moves contrary to the setled course of nature , and fixedness of the earth ; but that some extraordinary stop and obstruction is herein , and when they come to fix on the particular cause hereof , think it most probable to be either ab aqua , à flammis subterraneis , vel ab halitu : but if they will rise higher upon another principle , to give a true idea of nature , they must then see also how it is acted by god as his instrument , to do whatever he will , and that the motions of all inferior causes must be ultimately resolved , both on an immediate divine concurrence to their working , and on his directing counsel to answer his intent ; since as the eye of god is still on the whole circle of the creation in its motions , so is his dominion over the deep and darkest caverns of the earth , to move upon his call ; which can never be subjected to the rule of natural causes . it is true , that in the ordinary course and procedure of providence , the only wise god hath a special respect to the order of inferior causes , and his own ordination herein , and does thus exercise his dominion over the world , and the motion of things there , according to their particular nature wherein he hath fixed them ; but when sublunary things step out of their natural course , and do either move against or above their own nature , it is surely then upon a supreme determination for a great end , and some notable step of providence is to be understood herein ; yea , it is most conspicuous in the way of god , when great events of what 's foretold in the scripture , are in bringing forth as to any piece of his work , wherein he designs some higher discovery of himself to men , that it is when secondary causes and the whole concourse of nature would seem most to controul the same ; and in this present case , if with a serious and prepared mind , men do consider these two late earthquakes under their proper circumstances , then it is not possible but they must see them to be such events , as cannot possibly be ascribed to another cause , than an immediate divine power exerted in the same . there is a second improvement , which on this head is now called for , to have our eyes thus carried up towards god by serious observation : i know this is not easily attained , to be in a due capacity and posture to converse with him this way , wherein lyes one of the nearest intercourses betwixt heaven and our soul within time ; but it is of great use to know aright where the intent of judicious observation on such an account should be most fixed , as 1. on the immediateness of such acts of providence to be from god alone , as can be ascribed to no created power , which is a discovery that comes not with more terror to a profane world , whose study is to live without god therein , than with unspeakable joy it meets these of a serious spirit for a more full establishment of faith , and to see it with that evidence , as makes it unavoidable to terminate their eyes otherwise than on god alone herein , deut. 32. see now , i even i am he , and there is no god , else ; i kill and make alive , i wound and i heal , &c. 2. it is then our observation is suitably fixed , when it respects the clear impress of divine truth on any extraordinary step of his way , no less than of his power , since as his work is ever answerable to his being , and the perfections of his nature , so is the outgoings of his truth , and faithfulness herein to be intensly observed ; who does rule and govern the world according to these established laws and constitutions of his revealed truth . 3. it is essentially requisite also to consider and see such providences as are more extraordinary , under these circumstances , which most remarkably attend the same . it being sure how great a weight one circumstance may have to render a providence in some singular way , to be both instructing and comforting , which otherwise would not work in that manner . thus did the ruler so exactly inquire and observe at what hour it was when his son recovered , and found it answer to that very time when christ had given him the assurance thereof . it is herein one of the great duties of our day lyes , and i am perswaded that great things for observation , do yet wait upon this time . providence hath been a long teacher to britain , and it useth to be the last teacher that is made use of , and the last way that the spirit of god does strive with a people or nation , before approaching judgment : we have seen it go by on the right hand in most singular dispensations of grace and mercy to these nations ; as also upon the left hand in extraordinary acts of justice , yet have we little seen or perceived to this day , the most special intent of the lord herein : but since i have spoken more expresly thereto elsewhere , i forbear to touch it further ; only this improvement further , might be suitable on such a subject , to impress mens spirits with the fear and dread of walking contrary to providence , especially in any more extraordinary discoveries of god this way , since this is the highest contempt and opposition upon the earth , to his providential government , and does in an unusual manner , hasten and prepare such for the last stroak : this seems to be one of the signs of our time , that hath a sad resemblance to these in the primitive times , 2. pet. 2. who turned divine patience to be a matter of scoff , and said , where is the promise of his coming , since we see things continue yet as they were , and have yet outlived many threatning tokens , and presages of judgment ? but it is usually seen , that such who have looked on premonitory signs with the greatest confidence , and have counted any serious regard thereto , to be a superstitious weakness , have been beyond all others , seized with the greatest terror and amazement , upon a surprizing stroak : a reverential fear and dread of divine warnings , and of the evil day , is most highly becoming such who may have the greatest security of mind , as to their own personal lot therein ; such as habac. 3. 16. when i heard this , my belly trembled , my lips quivered , &c. that i might rest in the day of trouble . a second proposition that hath the same clear evidence with the former from this scripture is this , that such an assurance of faith is attainable here on the earth , as can bear out , and secure the soul of a christian in a present extremity , and amidst the greatest terrors of sense , when there is no possible support from nature , or things seen in such a case . to this does the psalmist here bear a most clear witness . i confess it is one of the most astonishing mysteries of our religion , which is wholly unaccountable to the spirit of this world ; and it hath been matter of wonder to me , in how ordinary a way such a subject is oft spoken of , and what length is come in the notion and theory , when so little of the experimental light hereof , seems to be found on the earth in this day : but where it is known in truth , it is surely one of the greatest demonstrations of god , and of his immediate power and working on the soul in this militant state , yea , such as may supply the room of any external miracles to these , who know the same ; it is a thing of that nature , as exceeds the sphere of all created power to work , and goes far above the reach of angels to impart the same ; but to him only it belongs who is both the author and finisher of our faith ; yea , which according to the out-lettings of his spirit , herein makes so unspeakable a difference betwixt such and themselves to whom it is thus known , how in one time then they are made to differ from another , and where the sorrows and pains of a doubting heart , about the warrant of their hope is understood , it will be then known what unexpressible joy the truth of such an assurance as we find here in the text does raise , and be as a resurrection from the dead in that case . it 's true such a particular confidence and trust , that hath nothing from things seen , or on any natural account to fix , cannot bear out in the way of light only , even on the most clear grounds of a divine promise herein , but is immediately dependant on that measure of the spirit of faith , which is then given to answer to the height and measure of their present tryal ; but yet it 's sure and unquestionable , that such a faith as is not founded on appearances , hath a ballast as will not be broken by contrary appearances ; and since this may look as a very dark and amazing thing , what relates to such singular workings of a christians faith in an extremity , i would speak a few things to be previously considered in what manner this acts on the highest principles of inlightned reason , as well as by supernatural influence , and how nothing can be more rationally deduced than such a conclusion which david here makes from the foregoing premises , since it 's undeniable , 1. that such a sweet and absolute necessity there is for men to betake themselves to a divine power and relief , only in a present exigence of tryal , when it 's sure that god hath afforded nothing to man without himself in the whole frame of the creation , to bear up that weight of dependance and trust ; so as we must herein either cease from man , whose breath is in his nostrils , in the way of reliance or part with god : nor can any time ever find that to be blessed , on which the god of truth hath by any irrevocable sentence setled a curse . but this is one of the rare characters of a christian , when in such a manner , both his choice and confidence does center in god alone , as he is resolved to trust him only or none else ; and to ly at anchor on his revealed truth , or perish . the great former of heaven and earth will not bear the empty name and shew of being his peoples hope , when the interest and weight thereof , is laid on things beside himself . 2. it is no less demonstrable and known on this head , that there is no possible rest or quiet to the soul of man amidst the hazards and terrors of time , but in an intire dependance and trust on an invisible god and his being their alone refuge and help , for the profession of the only true god , and of our souls adventuring intirely on him , as the alone object of our trust , is one and the same ; and as there is a receding from the one , so is there consequentially from the other also , in denying to him the glory of his godhead . nothing is indeed more usual than to see mens confidence still ebb and flow , according to the visible posture of their affairs , tho it does sadly evidence such a trust and reliance that hath its greatest weight on something else than god , however he bear the name thereof . it is unquestionable that the greatest princes and monarchs , need to have their dependance no less setled on god , even for outward supplies , than the poor ; whose holding hereof , is no less absolutely from him , than those who may be put to live on humane charity , and are ever in his reverence , who can make the scarlet to embrace the dunghill , when it would seem not conceivable to humane reason : it is in this respect that one of the highest tryals of faith is , when external advantages do most abound , and in that sense riches prove so mortal to those who enjoy the same , and as christ himself testifies , is no less hard for such to be saved , than for a camel to go through a needle 's eye : it 's so rare for men to have the world in their hand and not upon their heart also , as the ground of their confidence and trust . 3. this should be also considered for giving light to the work of faith in any extraordinary tryals , that it 's sure the utmost perfection of this excellent grace , not only in its truth , but in the degree and measure thereof , is alone in this life attainable ; so , that this is not possible to be at a higher pitch than in this militant state , or to have another season for paying in that tribute of glory and praise unto the god of truth , and to his faithfulness , which is so highly called for in the way of believing , but within time only ; but , in a more special way in the greatest exigence and strait which may be in a christians case , when their hope seems most visibly stated against them . it is in this sense , the apostle speaks of the filling up of the work of faith in a christians day , 2. thess . 1. 5. as one of the highest designs of providence in the conflicts of their warfare , though the same measure in this work and tryals hereof , be not allotted to some as to others ; yea , it is in that respect only james speaks , chap. 1. 4. for the patience of faith to have its perfct work , and to attain this in the utmost degree , since it belongs only to this life . 4. but is it not a compensation to the hardest lessons of a christians confidence and trust , and to the most remarkable hour of extremity , that we know god hath reserved thereto , the most immediate and extraordinary discoveries of himself , and of his being god alone , above what is known in the ordinary course of his providence : said i , not unto you , if you would believe that ye should see the glory of god , joh. 11. which was a sight that our lord would not give until all support in the way of sense was taken off , and that it was put beyond the possibility of nature . and it 's sure , that on such rare experiment and tryal of god in a christians life , and in a case where none but god can act , is of such value , as to be a continued matter of admiration ; yea , is an earnest of that kind , as may bear evidence to to their security by a peci al conduct of providence in all after-times , when this is enjoyed not only as it 's demonstrative of the greatness of his power , but on the account of his promise , and as a seal thereto in the way of their relyance on him . 5. it is surely here in the powerful workings of a christians faith , in an extraordinary hour of tryal , that one of the great demonstrations of the truth and excellency of our religion , is exhibited before the world : and what a temporal interest does thus accompany the same , to support and quiet the soul ? yea , to bear the full expence of the saddest afflicting times , which is not known to the residue of men besides . for it should be a sad part , if any case were of that kind in a christians lot , as did exceed a supernatural relief by reliance intirely on god ; when nothing besides in any visible way is left : but here does the glory of our religion with an eminent brightness shine forth , when such as look but at a distance , can see the effects thereof , to afford quiet and rest to the mind , where it 's sure nature could give no assistance , when humane refuge hath most visibly failed , when lovers and friends have stood afar off , and when the frownings of providence have been such , as if their god was become a party against them , and their eyes made to fail in waiting for his appearance ; yea , as it 's sure all natural causes must still have their operation and effects , congruously to their proper nature , so is this alone peculiar to that excellent religion we enjoy in the truth thereof , to afford a supernatural vertue and efficacy therewith , so as to give rest and refreshment to the most perplexed and weary spirit ; and to commend its institutions by the influential presence of the spirit of god , as that way whereby man here on the earth in this visible sate , is advanced , and made capable of an immediate and familiar converse with an invisible god , which is one of the wonders of religion , that might in another manner affect and work upon us , if it were truly believed . oh! what a subject is this to converse with , that such a demonstration of the christian faith is known and sure , as a vital intercouse and communion betwixt our blessed head , and these who are united to him by faith here on the earth ; so as the greatness of that local distance , which is betwixt the third heavens and this lower world , can be no lett thereto , when yet the least moral distance by any impurity and defilement through sin does separate betwixt god and the soul , and obstruct this enjoyment . but since this is not conceivable at a distance in what manner a surprizing extremity may work , when it 's the present object of sense , and mens confidence is resolved intirely on a supernatural relief ; when it 's no theory or light in the judgment can express the same as in an experimental way is known ; yea , when the actings of faith in the power thereof , in such a tryal is so rare and wonderful a thing above natural comprehension . let me yet offer here some of the most choice improvements that are called for , to the attaining such an assurauce and establishment of faith , when things may come to some unusual exigence . 1. how then , such whose acquaintance with god is not to begin , can have this reflection alone with their soul , that they know whom they have believed , and his being able to keep that which was committed to him , and give an account thereof , in a day of extremity , 2 tim. 1. 12. yea , knows the god of their trust is such , who can extend his power and relief unto things that are unconceivable to us , and past finding out ; who can serve himself of means visibly destructive to save in a way contrary to their proper nature ; whose help tarries not for man , nor waits for the sons of men ; and is ever at work to make his providence serve the interest and accomplishment of his truth to such who have setled their reliance thereon , though the whole visible state of things , would seem to conspire against the same ; and , can then look up to that god ( when there may be no look downward , but to cause terror ) whose kingdom and dominion , is not only over all but can immediately act on their souls , to quiet and settle the same , though the earth about them , should be in a visible disorder and confusion . 2. it is then , even under the most dismal aspect of external providences , that such can betake themselves to the certainty of divine truth , and cast anchor on that ground on which they must shortly adventure for an eternal state , in that greatest tryal at death : thus did abraham rest his soul when he had such a strange tide of contrary providences to shake him , and was not staggered at the promise , knowing it was given by that god , with whom it was unpossible to lie ; and oh ! what a hell should this earth be , if the enjoyments of a christians faith and hope , had another dependance than on god alone , and were in the reverence of outward things ; yea , if there were not such a certainty of supernatural evidence and assurance , as in a mid-night hour , can bearup against the greatest contradictions of sense . 3. there is this great assistance to improve in the darkest tryal , what former acquaintance with the ways of god hath been attained for discerning how the designs and methods of grace , do lye towards them , by the light of his truth : thus when present affliction and distress , seems most astonishing , they are not in the dark herein , to understand what unusual measures the most endeared favourites of heaven have had of such a tryal , whilst they were on the earth , and that they are upon no strange or unknown ground in such a case : they know thus what an illustrious and essential part the most deep distresses and straits in a christains life , hath in the great frame of divine providence , to bring forth the greatest comforts and mercies thereof ; and that according to the measure both of their grace and services for god ; they must expect his way towards them , to go out of the ordinary road of his dealing with others . 4. it is likewise in the most dismal hour , when all humane refuges do succumb , that such can with delight , reflect on that ancient friendship and entercourse of love hath sometimes been betwixt god and their soul , as being still an undoubted earnest in their hand , though they may not have the same inward sense and evidence therewith , on their heart as formerly : yea , the singular comfort and advantage which is in a judicious observation of these more extraordinary . acts of providence , that have met them formerly , will be then understood , when they come to a serious recollecting of the same . it 's true , the measure of such a talent with some , may much exceed that of others , whose life hath been filled up with more singular experiments of this kind , what god hath been to them in some unusual way , and in the more immediate interpositions of providence ; yet where something is in any measure of such an assistance for a clear and sweet review on the same , it 's not expressible how this will work in a new exigence ; when the comforter indeed brings it to their remembrance , it is a strong argumentation that the spirit of god affords this way to raise the confidence of his people , in the most extraordinary c●●●… , job 5. he will deliver in six trouble , yea in seven ; by which in scripture , style is to be understood a note of perfection , when it comes to the highest and most extream part of trouble , that then these experiences were assured pledges , that his power will not fail in the seventh , or come short for bringing forth so great a deliverance . it 's true , one day may come in a christians way to heighten the tryal of their faith , more than all the preceeding part of their life : but it is no less remarkable in the way of grace , how these also have been in some singular manner then trained and ripened for such an assault e're it came ; and , as the greatest paroxism of a disease is usual upon the height of a crisis , and when it 's on a turn , so is it experienced , how astonishing a darkness does oft fall down , when some eminent appearance of god in the way of comfort and light to a christian , hath been most immediately near . it is not conceivable also until it be tryed what satans greatest design and effort means , which each of the saints does once prove in some time of their life , though not in a like measure ; yea , how singular a time this is found to be , for some higher tryal of god beyond their former experience : but it may be a strengthening remark to our faith , how the design of those powers of darkness , are most deeply laid against the followers of christ , according to their room in the body , and any more special services for him that may be alotted to such . i remember a passage of luthers in his common places with respect to himself , very remarkable ; videtur mihi satanas a pueritia mea aliquid providisse in me eorum , quae nunc patitur , ideo ad perdendum , ad impediendumque me incredibilibus machinis insanivit , ut saepius fuerim admiratus , egone solus essem inter mortales , quem ita peteret . 5. there is one singular assistance also , that such who have attained fome near entercourse with god in the way of his truth , have beyond others , in the darkest hour , by a review on these peculiar promises that have been with the most full evidence and seal of the spirit of promise , sometimes enjoyed in a sensible application of the same : it was this gave david so strong an argument to plead and prevail with god , psal . 119. 49. remember the word unto thy servant whereon thou causest me to hope ; and it 's clearly in that sense it must be understood , heb. 11. of these who by faith obtained promises from god , being made theirs by such an immediate seal and application , that gave them as clear an interest therein , as if they were in the performance . and surely where the testimony of the renewed conscience is kept clear herewith , as to the truth of the condition to which these promises relate , the very life and comfort of a christians trust lyes in such a support , above what 's expressible , than in an hour of temptation . 6. but there is one improvement further in order to a christians faith and support , in the most extreme case to consider , that in a short time he is to make a tryal of faith , that will be of another nature than he hath ever known before ; and no tryal within time can be like this , which is at death ; when the whole visible part of man , must be shut up in a dark and narrow grave , which had once the spacious earth to move in , and did enjoy the light of the same , where in one moment there is a parting with all interest and comforts in this lower world , and an immediate entry on the decision of their eternal state , which is then irrevocably cast ; where they can have no intelligence from all who have gone before , what it is to die , or what manner of sight that will be , which is at the first opening of those gates of the second world , either as to blessedness or torment ; yea , where there can be no possible assistance from nature , in the shutting of this dark gulf , nor is conceivable by humane light , the way and manner of that passage ; so that any exigence which may seem most trying to a christians faith here on the earth , is but as a prelude , and preparatory part to this last step of their warfare : and as death was in its first constitution purely penal , and is no natural accident , which meets us not as we are men , but as we are sinners , there is no true support possibly attainable then , but in the vertue and power of religion . but it is now in a more applicatory way i must yet speak further , with respect to so great a subject , and what in order to light hath been held forth thereon . 1. that if men do not design a resolute opposition to god in those late premonitory signs of this present year , it 's not morally possible then , to withstand such a concatenation of evidences , of a supernatural discovery thereby ; and that they were surely directed with a special commission from him , and forewarnings of such a kind as are suited to the design of providence in this day ; and when there is so little faith now on the earth , with respect to any threatnings of the word , is it strange though there be some unusual demonstrations of god in the way of sense , to speak to the world by a monitory voice : it is true the lord did never give forth miracles , to attest before men the truth of his deity , which hath a witness thereto in every object of sense , and from the whole constitutions of nature , yet have these been most specially directed to awake a more deep , and tremendous impression of the majesty of god on mens souls , when the voice of his revealed truth is not regarded : and there is just cause to believe that the design of providence this day , is in another manner now , than in times past taking place , to let this generation know , that surely there is a god who judgeth in the earth , before whom the greatest of men must either bow or be broken ; and that the time is not only near , but is now come , for his taking to himself , his great power to reign , with another appearance of his greatness and terror , than was ever known before in the world. and oh ! what must be expected to work for greatr excitements to fear , and a more awful sense of a supernatural and divine power , and of his supreme government over the world , when no instituted means in a moral way , does answer to this end : tho' it is sure , if that relation we stand in to the deity , and the interest of our ingagements to him , with the greatness of our hope from him alone , were taken to heart , we could not but accountsuch , to be most desirable acts of providence ; yea , rejoyce herein , where he gives the most near and immediate discoveries of himself , when the vindication of his glory is so visibly concerned in the same , even though it should cause trembling to humane sense , and be at a very dear and expensive rate to a secure world. but it is on another head that i must more specially insist in a practical way , as to the great security of faith with such a full reliance on god , as is here held forth in this scripture , and to what a degree the elevation of a christians soul may be thus raised with that inward assurance , as can bear out against the greatest terrors of sense : this is a demonstration of god by his immediate working on the souls of men , which is wonderful , and should be matter of great improvement in the saddest tryals of our warfare , to know in what manner divine power is thus exerted , as can in a moment , dispel the most extream fears and darkness on the soul , so as to make day arise , and a sun shine there , when it hath been as midnight otherwise . and since this is a subject of such weight , as the very life , comfort , and sustaining of the soul amidst the innumerable hazards and tryals of time lyes herein , as to a full assurance and acquiescence of the mind , but the certainty of our faith that we are thus safe , and in sure terms with god , it may be needful to answer a few proposals for giving light thereto . 1. how we are to apprehend aright , so great an attainment of grace as this is , and to have our judgment setled , and clear about so wonderful an experiment . i know it is no ordinary standard or example , what 's here held forth in such assurance of davids faith , when no supposal of hazard or extremity , was then too great for the same ; for , even this great man of god , had at other times his low ebbs and faintings , that were as remarkable , as such a triumph and high-spring-tide , which we see here in the power of believing ; but on the other hand , this is a strange riddle to the spirit of the world , and unaccountable to all reason in the eyes of many who profess the same doctrin of our faith ; as if it were something that alone works in the power of some strong imagination , whilst they take up religion in a natural way only , which goes not above moral inducements , and the power of free-will : i must therefore speak a little in a special way , to such a proposal . 1. that the great design of the gospel , does most eminently ly here , not only to reveal the mystery of grace and of redemption , in what christ hath done for us , but to acquaint us also with the immediate and internal work of faith on the soul , which he does work and perfect in us , as the author and finisher thereof ; which was so wonderful a thing , as put one of the disciples of christ , to that strange enquiry , lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thy self to us , and not to the world ? and in such a distinguishing way by inward evidence and power . 2. this cannot be understood aright , but by such a discovery thereof , as one of the essential parts of that rare divine workmanship of the new man , which in its whole life and actings , hath no other subsistence , but by immediate supplies from heaven ; and as in one time of a christians life , his faith will need a more extraordinary allowance for support , than in another ; so i must humbly judge the present time we are in , is such as needs in a more than ordinary way , some clear understanding of this mystery of faith , by practical light , and the vertue thereof in an hour of temptation , when the times seem to be growing so dark , as the spirits of the most judicious discerners of things , are put to astonishment , to think what providence may be bringing forth , when the sea-compass seems as it were to fail , and so little of any conforting signs , but for a long time past , have been in paths so untrodden , as is not easie to trace or find a clear way before us . 3. but this cannot be understood as some singular and powerful operation of the spirit of god , which upon some special service for him , may be imparted to such as never knew his graci-inhabitation in their soul , or what it is to be entred in such a state of communion with the spirit , as is by his setled residence and abiding with them , john 14. 17. for such is this mystery of faith in the nature thereof , as it 's true acting and work , is not attainable without a vital influence from heaven , and where it 's gradual increase and advance is made a reward to frequency in the acts thereof , and these resolute adventures and reliance , which hath through grace , been attained on a divine power . 4. but for a more full understanding hereof , it is not possibly attainable , without a supernatural evidence accompanying the same ; such whereby it clearly sees both the excellency and certainty of things that are above sense , how they are no less sure than great : and though the highest enjoyments of faith , whereby the soul rests about things to come , as if they were present , hath no such immediate evidence thereof as they are in themselves , and are the objects of our sense ; else they could not be hoped for , if they were thus seen : yet it 's upon no credibility , but upon the highest certainty , that this quieting work of faith , is founded : but how this supernatural evidence does work on a christians soul in an hour of greatest tryal , is not expressible by words , tho' it doth then clear it self in the same manner , as the day-light does when the sun shines . for , when it 's known in the power thereof , in times of fainting and distress , it hath then such a call therewith , by a present efficacy , as psal . 116. 7. to return unto their rest ; a rest of tranquility and assurance from god , in the way of a promise , when there may not be the least appearance of its performance . thus did abraham know the truth and power of such an evidence upon his soul , when he staggered not at the promise through vnbelief ; when both the way of povidence and the course of nature , upon his hopes of isaac , did most visibly controul the same . but let me add herewith , that the most choice and experienced in the work and advantages of faith , hath not done with the settlement hereof , even after the greatest confirmations ; for whilst he is within time , he must still look out , both for new assaults , and further experiments of assistance for this end , and to attain a higher growth : but oh ! how dark and strange a thing is this , and how disrelishing to most in this present day ? who count it enough to have their religion in the bibls , but not in their sonl ; and to have it in external ordinances , and a visible form , but in no inward enjoyments of the same . a second proposal upon this great subject of the quieting power of faith , amidst the hazards and terrors of time , is to know the truth hereof , in the sureness of its principles , and on what a clear warrant , so wonderful a piece of our religion does found : this i must touch a little , to clear the same , both from any presumptive confidence , and enthusiastick pretences on such an account ; and that its holding in the way of right , on the warrant of divine truth , is no less sure , than the enjoyment hereof is sweet ; when we can with such evidence see . 1. how it hath this fundamental principle to hold by , that the god of truth hath taken the establishing of his peoples faith , under his own hand , as his alone immediate work , and is such a work , that none but he can accomplish : thus we see 2 cor. 1. 20. the sureness of the grounds of our faith held forth , that all the promises of god in christ , are yea and amen in him , unto the glory of god , &c. but though here is enough as to a divine warrant and right , yet will not this alone bear out , without it be gods immediate work also , when a storm riseth ; therefore verse 21. it's expresly shewed , that he who establisheth us in christ , and hath anointed us , is god ; and hath given us the earnest of his spirit , to raise the faith of his people , answerable to the height and measure of any present tryal . 2. is it not on this sure principle of truth also , that faith in the power , and supports hereof , even in the most extraordinary case of tryal , does found ? that the lord jesus christ , hath not only given himself for us , by a legal substitution in our room , to satisfy divine justice , but hath given himself to us , to be enjoyed in the nearest intimacy of relation , and a vital vnion with himself , so that thus he is not only the purchaser , but the dispenser also , of such potent influences , as the faith of his people , in the most extream case does need ; and as he knows the ways of the righteous , in their necessities , temptations and hazards ; so he hath fixed them this way , in such an immediate and absolute dependance on himself , by taking off visible refuges , to give them a more special discriminating testimony of his respects , though then in the present time , it may have a very strange and dismal appearance , whilst it 's not understood in such a case , how his gracious design to accomplish the great ends of his love to his people lyes so near him , as to defer oft , an answering of their natural desires , until things come to that extremity , as may make way , both for the highest tryal and victory of their faith. 3. it is one of the most fundamental grounds and principles of trust , that no doctrinal knowledge of this mystery of faith , in its supporting power against the greatest of trouble , can avail , without the spirit of faith , 2 cor. 4. 13. for here does the communion of the holy ghost , with the saints on the earth most eminently lye , and the enjoyments of faith in the saddest hours of temptation are experienced , how the joy and peace of believing in such a security of mind does thus work , when there is no natural cause , or visible appearance for the same ; and how in so strange a manner , a christians spirit hath been oft carried above the present temptation of their day , with such quiet and composure of mind , as even in the midst of great waters , they have not come near unto them , so as to shake and stagger their confidence ; and i doubt not , that many humble and tender christians , have at some times , been sealed with that inward assurance by the spirit of faith , and with such strength and clearness of evidence , in an oblignatory way to their souls , as the greatest assaults and oppositions of satan , which have been after made thereto , were never able to break the same , so bright and convincing hath the conveyance of such a seal been in that time , as they could thus humbly take instruments , that it was assuredly given them of god , and was truth , and no lie. 4. and is it not one of the principles and grounds of our faith , that the great author thereof , hath made its security so full , and with that evidence , as may fully countervail the want of ocular demonstration by outward sense : for thus does our blessed lord testify , joh. 14. 17. when he hath there promised the sending of his spirit to his church , whom the world cannot receive , because they see him not , and can be no object of humane sense , which is the only prevailing evidence and demonstration , with a terrene spirit ; but then shews his disciples , that they had a more full and sure testimony : for you know him , says he , and i have made you sure by a higher evidence , as can leave no room for doubtfulness ; for though herein does the excellency of faith most eminently appear , in believing things not seen , and contrary to all natural sense , on the credit of divine revelation , yet is there no darkness this way , from want of evidence , since this must be understood only , quoad evidentiam rei , sed non quoad evidentiam testimonii ; which is made as full , as that which we have seen with our eyes , or have touched and handled in that security which god hath given to us , in his way of believing . 5. i must yet add one principle of our faith , for giving light to that strong influence and power thereof , amidst the greatest fears and terrors of future events ; that it is sure such who are christs , have not only things present , but things to come made theirs , cor. which is one of those great assurances of truth , that seems little understood , or improved by most , as being not only founded on that fundamental right of our being christs , and made thus heirs of those promises which are in him yea , and amen to his people ; but that such an entry is also on the enjoyment of this right , by the power of believing , and inward testimony of the spirit , as can fully quiet the soul of a christian , and make things to come in another manner : there 's then the residue of the world know . it 's true , there is a rational prospect and discovery upon future things , by humane wisdom ; and the prudent man sees and foresees the evil day , to provide for the same as solomon speaks : yea , what a thing should mans life be without foresight and sagacious decerning of what may be the issue of things , in a due application of proper means for such ends ? and of those successive removes , that in the setled course and way of natural causes , seem most unavoidable ; for on this must all true humant policy found : but on the other hand , they see not how the designs of a supreme providence may be taking place above the reach of humane thoughts , which does controul their measures and hopes , and how it was above the sphere of ordinary reason or their foresight , that events have oft occurred betwixt the entry and close of a year , as they could neither see or prevent . but there is a divine foresight which is of another nature , by the evidence of faith of things not seen and future , without extraordinary revelation , as can render the enjoyments of hope on the certainty of a divine promise , to be matter of unexpressible joy and support , when it would in an ordinary way seem to be against hope . there is a third proposal , of great weight also on this head , to know what may have the most near and immediate influence on such a raisedness and security of a christians soul in an extraordinary hour of tryal , and does then give the greatest advantage to such an appearance , when it can have no visible cause for the same ; for answer thereto , it is indeed a secret betwixt god and the soul of men , and a matter of power rather than of words , what can raise such a confidence as hath no possible rise from nature herein ? and in this respect , those who look at a distance , can never know where a christians support , and his great strength lyes : yet since this seems so strange and dark a thing to most , who may give some assent to the doctrin of our faith , i must speak a little further , so far as may tend to clear their judgment , who would know what manner of persons these are , who both in a judicious and experimental way , move in so high a sphere , and are thus skilled in the way of trust , and secure reliance on an invisible refuge . but to render it the more clear , i shall touch this in the way of example , by some peculiar view of such , of whom i hope there be many this day on the earth , to shew that none goes upon higher principles of true and enlightned reason . and though the measures of a christians faith and establishment , be not alike , but of a very different size , yet may this clearly appear and be understood by some special characters to illustrate the same , 1. that he is one who in a serious recess , and retirement of his soul , hath made a just reckoning of such surprizing tryals , as lyable to a christians state here on the earth , where the alone way of believing against sense , must either be his support and security , or else perish . and that no present condition he is in , can be so prosperous or promising , but dark and black clouds may fall down when least expected , as all humane comfort and assistance may fail , and have no visible refuges to rest on ; which hath thus brought the serious thoughts of religion and his soul , more close together , to know such an infallible way , as can never fail , and will bear the whole expence of the most extraordinary and dismal trouble ; and that there is indeed , such a temporal interest lying thereto , as an immediate communion with heaven , when the lower springs of comfort and supply from the earth , may be shut up ; yea , such a reality , as supernatural comforts in the peace and joy of the holy ghost , which are best known in the saddest hour , to be undoubted and sure . 2. but when he hath thus judiciously reasoned himself to such a supposal , he is one who is no less deeply awakened to provide for the same , not only with respect to that last and great adventure of faith upon an eternal state , but to know where his strength lyes , when such a case may occurr ; for then it must in a special way lye near , to have a stedfastness of his own in the truth , and to know the strong and firm conveyances of the security of our faith on divine promise in such a manner , as should not need the seal of a miracle , or the testimony of an angel , to support the same ; since as such a settlement on the testimony of god , is surely attainable , so he cannot conceive how men can possibly walk in the light of any true joy and comfort on the earth , until they once be at rest here . 3. he knows also , that the greatest tryals wherein he is sisted within time , is upon the work and actings of faith , in an hour of temptation , both in the truth and in the strength thereof ; yea , how one day in his life , may have some special commission for this end , more than many years formerly have had ; but does consider herewith , how great the recompences are even within time , that wait on the issue , when the set measure shall be perfected of such unusual tryals that it shall be the same as in job , 23. to bring them forth as gold : and as he considers how high a value the lord does put hereon , since the great dispensation , whereby he deals with his church in this militant state is in the way of trust , and upon the credit of his truth , when there is no sensible evidence ; so it is the most important study of his life , how he may acquit himself , and stand to the proof hereof , for the honour of his god , and master , who hath counted him worthy to put him on some hotter service and more remarkable conflicts this way than others ; and that he may hold fast the beginning of his confidence unto the end . 4. he must be reckoned one , who hath attained to a special communion with god in the ways of providence , by frequent and deep observation of the same , and who thus can discern the great ends and designs which he hath upon his people , in such methods of his dealing with them that may seem more strange and astonishing to others , and in what dark paths he does usually lead such to whom he hath reserved the greatest testimonies of his love and respect ; so that what proves most staggering to others , as to the way of the lords training of his choicest followers in this state of warfare , is made a special assistance to his further establishment . 5. but more especially wherein his great strength lyes is , on that acquaintance he hath attained with the communion of the spirit of god , which was once so dark , and not conceivable by report ; but now knows that it 's an acquaintance of such a kind , as is not remote or at a distance , but by near and sensible approaches to his soul ; and is not by words , but by things of the greatest substance and reality , with the sanctifying vertue of the spirit made so evident , as can make his work and services for god , to be matter of the highest delight and enjoyment ; yea , he now knows what a spiritual faculty and life , is for corresponding with those divine communications , so as with a judicious and discerning ear , he can know the voice of his beloved master , from the voice of a stranger , both in its sweetness to allure , and in its power and efficacy to draw , and conform their soul into a nearer resemblance to himself , with that tenderness and fear , which is the native result of such an intimacy of converse . 6. but as to this marvelous acquaintance with the spirit of god , in order to a higher encrease of faith ; he is one who can give an account hereof also , that in no singular way it was attained , but as it does respect the whole community of the saints by an unchangeable rule , as attainable , not only in the retired duties of communion with god , but by an invisible trade and commerce with external ordinances , and the out-lettings of sanctury strength this way , answerable to that psal . 20. 2. in both which respects , his faith hath oft gained a higher interest and establishment , than by external providences , as being more immediately dependent on the spirit of god ; and as all causes must work answerably to the nature thereof , so can he put his seal and testimony to that hid vertue and vital influence , which those divine institutions of the gospel hath on mens soul , and is only peculiar thereto ; yea , when others who stay only in the outward court , are bounded this way with an audible voice to their ears , and literal discovery of sacred truth to the judgment , such can witness what unexpressible support hath been then enjoyed for a more full settlement of their faith , by immediate conveyances of power and life to their spirits , as hath made it sweet matter of admiration ; what invisible strength hath in a moral way been thus imparted , and what remarkable returns of light they have had upon such a tryal of enquiring in the temple , from the fountain of divine light , in the way of his word , under their darkest hours ; which sometimes have been like elijahs meal , in the strength whereof , he was enabled to go forty days , without faint and weariness . 7. but for a further illustrating of such an example whatever in a preparatory way he hath thus attained for a special acting of faith in the most extreme case : yet when this is not at a distance , but becomes a present visible object of sense , and comes so near as cannot but in some extraordinary way affect his spirit , then does it yet more appear where his strength , and immediate relief does lye , in making that great tryal of turning his eyes wholly to god , by a present address for such a special allowance from heaven , that his strength may be according to his day ; and then it is in his improvement of that way which god hath consecrated for the most extreme exigences of a christians life , he knows the high value and use of such great experiments he hath formerly made of sensible acceptance , and audience in the most astonishing straits , with such testimony from heaven herein , and inward evidence on his soul , as if fire had come from thence to consume the sacrifice , so as he could then speak in that manner psal . 20. 6. now know i that the lord saves his anointed ; and psal . 40. 11. i know i shall yet praise him ; yea , as he knows the way of humble wrestling in prayer , is not bounded in its warrant , by the greatest extremity , so , it hath been in such a case , that when god does take some unusal tryal of his people and of their faith , he then designs to give them some great and singular tryal of himself . 8. it may be further applicable to such an example , that though the workings of a special faith in some great exigence and distress be such , that he cannot speak to others , as it 's then felt in the light and power thereof ; yet does he then know the security hereof , and present settlement of his spirit with such evidence , as he sees as well as believes , when he cannot possibly demonstrate this to the conviction of others , but as he knows with assurance his trust in such an hour , to be one of the most highly rational acts of his life , so is this no less evident and sure , how the whole supernatural part of christianity , whereby a christian is raised above himself , and the workings of natural light and reason , hath its alone dependence on a near and immediate converse with heaven ; wherein his great strength then lies , that when a tide from without may be such as should quickly overwhelm his soul , he is thus put on a higher tryal than at other times , of the certainty of divine support by a present gale of the spirit to stemm the same ; such as riseth higher than the work or assistance of angels : yea , how it is not habitual grace only , that could make the practical use of the shield of faith to be clear and comforting in an extremity , if there were not some very immediate supplies . but if it be inquired what is the ground whereon they must adventure , and rest their soul in such an hour , and should specially fix their anchor on , it is not conceivable , without respect to two special actings of faith , by which abraham and sarah did enter on the enjoyment of the promise , when nothing seem'd in an ordinary way more impossible , than this , that he was perswaded , god was able to perform what he had promised , rom. 4. and she judged him faithful who had promised , heb. 11. 9. but yet now let me add this more with respect to such an example ; that he is one who in a season of greatest tryal , knows the greatness of that witness he is then sisted under , to be of another kind ; than any humane observation that may be upon him , when he hath so difficult and hazardous a part to act on the theatre of his life ; and that he hath herein , not only the witness of the elect angels , the watching and considering eye of the powers of darkness , who are against him , but above all , that he is in a more singular way than at other times , stated under the immediate witness of the glorious trinity , to see how he acts suitably to the greatness of a divine refuge , and these assurances which the god of truth hath given him to adventure on ; then is it also that he knows the tryal of his faith , does not alone lie , when he is now at so eminent a step thereof , for the quiet and support of his own spirit , but for such an appearance before men , as may tend to sanctify god before the world , and for a putting his seal hereto , that he is faithful and true ; to whom these have concredited themselves ; and that they durst follow him , with a resolute reliance , when both sense and natural reason did fail , and could give no support in such an hour . thus i have offered a view in such an example , where the support and strength of a christians faith , in the most astonishing hour of temptation does lye ; and of the solid judicious actings thereof , both in the way of light and power : and there is herewith presented , a special series and scale of these steps , whereby such a measure of establishment is attainable under that blessed conduct of the word and spirit of god , as it keeps close by the line of truth , betwixt hazards both on the right and left hand ; so that we may see on what firm and sure ground such are , and have their anchor fixed , who thus know the work of faith in an extraordinary case of tryal . but now in the last place , i must yet in an applicatory way , shut up this discourse with a more special respect to the times we are now in , when such great thoughts of heart , may be both from those strange providences that have of late gone over the churches of christ in those three nations , and what my be yet expected , and on a near approach ; since it is sure men does not know their day , nor can take to heart , time and judgment , where there is no suitable regard to the voice of god in his works , as well as in his word , and what is given to be the most remarkable talent of observation , on such an account . i have spoke a little to such a strange supposal the psalmist makes , as to what might be the tryal of his faith , in the day wherein he then stood : but let me speak a few things that may be judged more than supposable with respect to the present time wherein it seems in some singular way to be stated from other times ; and though with humble sobriety i have desired to exoner my soul on such an account , in a late essay , which hath been published ; yet having a rise , both from this subject , and the present aspects of providences , i must crave leave to offer some thoughts farther . 1. is it not more than supposable that such an appeal from the lord , as we have isa . 5 , 4. hath a most peculiar respect beyond former times to this generation ? what could i have done more to my vineyard than i have done , by new methods and tryals , both in the way of grace , and in the severity of judgments , to bring the churches of britain , again unto god ? or hath there been such precedents in the way of the lord , with any churches else , and in that manner , as these 50 years past , he hath made use of ? and oh ! what must be expected to work for such an end , when no instituted means does answer thereto ? and that it 's evident what the highest improvements of mens natural power can do , which is so much exalted by this generation , to shut out the necessity of supernatural influences of grace , with so little fear of such a judicial restraint thereof , as is at this day : for if men do but sincerely reason their soul unto serious thoughts of such a cafe , what can be seen now by ordinary means , to beget a deep and awful sense of god on mens souls , if he do not in some more immediate and extraordinary way appear ; but , such an astonishing confidence and contempt of all divine signs and threatnings , seem discernable as nothing in a monitory way does work or affect in mens spirits : nor is judgment from heaven , a matter of fear with most , if it be not felt . but the same spirit which we may see isa . 5. 19. may be visible in the present times , when they said , let him make speed , and hasten his work , that we may see it ; and let the counsel of the holy one of israel draw near , that we may know it ; which was in an express way to speak , that neither their faith nor their fear , did rise higher than sensible evidence and demonstration of what was present in their sight . 2. it 's a matter of truth also , is more than supposable , that the stability of the earth beneath us , can give no assurance and solid quiet of spirit , to those who dwell thereon , until they be at peace with heaven : but whilst they reckon that nothing is more sure to build their hopes on , than this lower earth , and thus have their hearts on the same level therewith , may see how amidst their greatest confidence and expectation , their judgment may then immediately have its rise from the same , so as in one hour , to make the alone support of their confidence , to be the grave thereof ; and whatever some have writ as to the foregoing presages of any remarkable earthquake , before it took place , yet was it never known , that an appearance of god this way , either to forewarn as a sign , or as a present judgment , did occurr but with a present surprizal , when nothing hereof , was feared or supected : and it hath ever been one of the most immediate signs of sudden destruction , when a peoples security hath come to that height , as nothing could be awakning in such a case , answerable to that 1 thess . 5. 3. when they said , peace , peace , then was a destroying stroak most imminent and near : and i may speak this with assurance , that either these late providences by which god hath in so remarkable a manner made himself known , shall be regarded as signs , and carry mens spirits above any product of natural causes herein unto god , or will at last be felt , by what is signified thereby . 3. i hope , it can be no questionable thing with any of a serious and considering spirit , that as the standing of the world , and its being secured from the extremity of justice , is alone by a dispensation of grace , and the tenor of the second covenant , with respect to the church therein , so is it in no other way but of grace only , that britain hath this day , any claim or charter of right , to the blessings of providence , and for having the hedges of divine protection kept up : nor could the furthest of humane strength and counsel avail then , if once the full measure of the long-suffering and tenderness of god , should be summed up , that hath assuredly its set bounds , to the most eminent churches where sometimes god hath most remarkably shined ; and oh ! what a thing should this world be to live in , were it but fore one day or hour , if there should be a withholding of an immediate divine care and inspection over the same , or for so small a time , that door could be shut up of entercourse betwixt heaven and the saints here , which by a divine immutable constitution of grace , is kept open , whilst they are within time : but this is a thing as to any publick and national interest , that seems to have little credit or regard with men , what invisible influence such a hid party , who makes least appearance in the earth , hath on the greatest changes thereof ; and how a filling up the measure of the elect , in a nation and continuance of the candlestick there , with the oversight of a special providence , is still of the same extent . 4. it is a dilemma of undeniable evidence , as to the publick state and interest of those nations , that we must either have god for us , in the efficacy and out-goings of his providence , or against us : that god , who in the supreme administration of his government over the world , stands not as nouter , or as a witness only to the actings of men ; but if he be not on our side , and interested in our cause , we must then know him as an adversary : for there can be no possible midst herein , that god , whose room all the world cannot supply , if he should be shut out of our counsels ; yea , such a god we have both to fear and rely on , who is not one like to our selves , to be put off with words , or a complemental address in a stated form only , or can expect in faith , that this will bring assistance to turn the scale of providence on our side , if he be not according to his revealed counsel , with an intire reliance on him alone , adored and feared as god : yea , it 's sure in no humane affairs , he does more immediately appear , and by an extraordinary ministery of the angels , than in the decision of war and of battels , for which cause he does in so special a respect , take that style unto himself , to be the lord of hosts . it should seem a strange and astonishing thing , how men can live in the earth without god , without whom they cannot live for one moment , and in whose hand their bre●●…h is ; yet if we look to the publick state of religion this day , nothing may be more applicable to the most numerous part of the reformed churches than this ; and that the sense of a deity , hath more power and influence amongst heathens , who walk in the name of their god , than it hath amongst millions of professed christians ; for except we shut out reason , such must be surlie said to live without god in the earth , and not to walk in his name , who live without any resolute dependance and trust upon him in the course and conduct of their affairs ; whose great business in the world lies only with men , and are much more influenced by such a fear , than of his srownings , and terror , who made heaven and earth ; when it seem's now easie with most to lose god , if they may gain men , and make an intrest that way , tho the purchase will never bear the expence ; yea , can go the farthest length of external worship in church assemblies , and yet be without god , then as to any internal converse or injoyment of him by inward acts of adoration ; and what account can such possibly make of an invisible god , who know no other measure of their confidence , but as visible things do either smile or frown upon them ; but there is one respect further wherein we may see how most , who profess the name of god , do this day live without him in the earth , which is in the way of observation of what passeth betwixt him and them , whether by providences or influences on their soul , but take all things at an adventure , without any higher looke than what is from secondary causes , though it was in this way that an enoch , an noah , and the whole race of the saints , who have gon before , knew what it was to walk with god in the earth , no less in discerning his appearances , and work towards them , than their way and services towards him ; but oh ! what will he do with us , when it may be feared that the most prevailing suffrage and vote of the generation we are now in , should be this ( if their soul might speak for them in such a case ) let god depart from us , for we desire not the knowledge of the most high , since this lght tends only to be tormenting , and does afford no comfort to such ; or can it be expected , that he will allow in this age a restoring miracle to bring men again to the faith and sense of the deity , as he did in the days of elia , when we have a much greater talent to be accountable for , than these had , or any former ages past , having the whole income of their confirmations and improvements added to our stocks ? 5 tho the great intrest of that mysterie of a christians faith , which is the special subject of this discourse , does in the first place respect our reconciled state , and justification before god , yet is it too evident that the most usually trying and difficult part thereof , is , with respect to the tryals and conflicts of time , and sucha day , when they must live immediately on god , and give him the glory of his godhead when no visible means can support , which is that wonderful experiment of faith in the power thereof that is here expresly pointed at , when it is by the spirit of god as his immediate work alone proportioned to the most extraordinary hight of a christians tryal ; but as to the filling up of this great work of faith in the appointed measure thereof , it does principally 1. respect the whole state and times of the elect church , and on this account , there is still a growing increase as to the measure of the work of faith since abel the righteous , and is not yet come in many degrees to that full hight of perfection which it must have before the close of time ; yea , herein hath each of the saints their proper share and interest for bringing forth the glory of this excellent grace to it's greatest display before angels and men , which is an end worthy of all the tryals , and suffering times which have ever gone over the church , because this way of giving glory to god is only within time . 2. but it must be understood also that in each age of the church there are some more illustrous examples that the lord does afford to the world this way , in whom his grace in the power thereof hath a greater triumph in the way of passive valour than in these , who have been most admired upon their heroick actings and conquest over men. 3. it is undeniable also what eminent experiments have been thus afforded , upon these adventures of a christians faith , which did not then answer the ordinary standard of the tryals , which others have had ; and though we may confidently hope , that the highest measure of the suffering times of the church is now accomplished and past , and of the tryal of the passive graces of the spirit , yet it may be matter of fear that the faith of christians in this day may have some more extraordinary essay in the way of judgment , as to the publick state of the church , and of these nations now in these last times of the gentiles , than what hath been in ages past , and may need more than ordinary ballast to bear up against the darkness thereof , when such a midnight hour seems immediately to preceed the dawning of that bright sun-shine , which may be truly reckoned the brightness of christ's second coming , in that last state of time . 6. may it not be matter of unavoidable evidence also as to the present state of the church that there is surely some eminent period of providence , to which so swift and extraordinary a courses of remarkable changes , as hath in a successive way still attended these nations , have aproper tendency ; these being so unusual and astonishing , and out of the way of the lords ordinary working , as the most judicious , and deep discerners of things could not to this day have reasoned their falling out on principles of humane reason ; yea such , as i must humbly judge , will not cease , until the spirit of god be quieted in that great design which he is to accomplish hereby answerable to that zach. 6 , 8. on which he hath set his heart , who leaves not his work unperfected , which hath also the same sense , and intent . isa . 66. 9. shall i bring to the birth , and not cause to bring sorth , &c. nor ( i am perswaded ) will any humane counsel make civil establishments to be effectual , until that great design of providence be more understood , and concurred with . 7. it is now a day of great expectation how the next scene of providence may open for a farther clearing of this design of the lord about which i judge these who have nearest converse with god this day by his word and spirit , see cause to give their fears the first place before their hopes , as to some very extrordinary work of judgment that from all signs seems to lie nearest now to the reformed churches in the frame of providence , tho we are like to have little either of faith or fear , when it comes , until it be made an object of sense ; but i am sure a few of these evident prognosticks that now are in our sight , would have deeply affected the spirits of ous fathers , when we may see no providences are so extraordinary , as to have any sanctifying influence on mens souls for the most part , or to advance the publick state of religion as formerly ; when an outward calm and a dead lethargy herewith does so visibly still go together , which hath a more mortal aspect on the present state of britain than might be judged from the highest paroxism of personal sufferings ; when the christian interest this day for accomplishing the great designs of grace under a reformed profession thereof is as a low thing in mens eyes in respect of what is more extrinsick , and foreign thereto ; when also the long decrease of that tide of power , and influences of religion on mens souls hath at last come to such an ebb by these judicial removes of the spirit of god , that without some very immediate appearance from heaven we might fear lest truth should quickly perish from the earth ; yea , when it 's so evident that god is yet calling for some to stand in the gap , and make up the hedge before judgment go forth , butt almost none sound to answer it's voice ; so intently are mens spirits now , even of such , who outgo others in a profession set upon designs about their own things ; and it hath surely ever been a dismal sign to a nation , when it becomes rare to find any suitable instruments , and tools to answer a restoring work therein , or to see that raisedness of spirit for such an end , as hath been formerly , which may be feared speaks the long shadows of the evening before some horror of great darkness are too visibly stretched out . but if men do count these things small and remote from their eyes , and will raise a confidence , that it shall be peace , until there be another appearance for god and the interest of his kingdom , than hath yet been . it may make the disappointment sad , and dreadful in the issue : one thing i have thought strange , how there can be a national love and respect to its interest in another way , than to have god interested both in their case and cause , in the first room ; or how solemn and publick thaksgivings , in a stated external form for the most eminent appearances of god , whether as to a nation , or to a city , or to persons , is so visibly divided from such an essential part thereof , which is by thankofferings , and some returns to him in a promissory way by deeds and performances , as well as by words , suitable to the weight of such engagements . but this is a rare practice now to be found on the earth , to design some special consecration of the gain of any eminent national mercies unto god this way . 8. yet whatever may be too evident in the matter of our fear , it 's sure that the just grounds of our hopes in behalf of the church , does far exceed the same : and though there be many extraordinary signs to cause terror and consternation of spirit , there is one sign of another kind , that will compense all , which is that sign of the son of man , mat. 24. 30. as it is to be understood in a promissory sense ; and how that great mourning of the tribes of the earth , which is there spoke , to attend such a sign , hath the same sense with that , zach. 12. 10. and is clearly expository of the same , they shall look on me whom they have pierced , and mourn , &c. as also that evident parallel , rev. 1. 6. since these do so jointly bear evidence to the nature and intent of such a sign , as will then have an eminent appearance with the first entry , and returning of the jews unto him , whom their fathers did pierce . i know some of the greatest writers of this age , such as vsher , twiss , and mead , and of late that worthy man mr. mather of new-england , take this in the same sense , only seem to reckon this sign to be the thing signified of christ himself , in a visible appearance then to the world : but this will be e're long in another manner understood in the event . yet i have found it so sweet a subject of thoughts in these dismal and sad times , when other signs are so tremendous , that in some things which are most clear herein , and suitable to humble sobriety , i must speak a few things . 1. how it is unquestionable , this is that one sign by way of singularity , which our blessed head and redeemer , does appropriate to himself as his , and to be the sign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the son of man , such as hath never been given to the world like thereto , nor will ever be , until he come himself to judgment . 2. it is surely a sign which must be publick and conspicuous to the world , in some extraordinary vision to humane sense ; for therein is the intent of that prediction made express and clear : but as to the nature hereof , or its duration , i judge it suitable not to enquire , where the holy ghost hath not more particularly cleared the same , and reserved a further discovery thereof , to the event . 3. it is sure also , when this great appearance shall be to the world , it will be with that demonstrative and undubitable evidence as the sign of the son of man , as will beyond any contradiction , expound it self , and verify such a prediction of our blessed lord , before angels and men. 4. it must be understood as a sign that will be deeply affecting , and work in an extraordinary way on mens spirits , to cause so great and universal a mourning , which will not be as som have understood , a mourning from horror , but what will be a result not only of the greatness and certainty of the sign , but of an extraordinary concurrence of the spirit of god herewith , to answer that eminent design of grace , with a peculiar respect to the jewish race , as may be clearly seen zach. 12. 12. and herein i humbly judge , as in the first times of the gospel , the jews did require a sign from heaven to engage them to the christian faith , as the apostle speaks 1 cor. 1. 22. so that this way now in the last times , both with an eminent rebuke to their infidelity , and marvelous condescendence of grace , he will yet in such a manner appear . 5. but it must still be according to what the scripture expresses , a sign , and not the thing signified , or personal appearance of our blessed lord in his humane nature , whom the heavens must contain until the full restitution of all things ; wherein i must differ from the judgment of such great interpreters , who take it in the other sense , though this will assuredly be such a sign , as is then to have some extraordinary impress and signature upon it , to be demonstrative to the world , and the jews more peculiarly , of the humanity of our blessed redeemer . 6. but whatever may be the glory and splendor of so extraordinary an appearance , it must be still reckoned such as the state of mortality can bear , since that vision that he gave to his beloved disciple john , of himself in his glorified state , rev. 1. was so overpowering , as he who had sometimes leaned on his bosom , whilst he was on the earth , did then fall as dead at his feet ; and except it were supposed that he should put a veil on his glory , in such a visible and immediate appearance of his humane nature , it is not conceivable , how even the saints on the earth , much more the residue of the world , could bear a sign of that nature : and herein my soul doth rest with assurance , as to the sense and intent of the scripture , about that much desired sign , after serious and humble enquiry about the same . though i must crave leave to add this further , with a special confidence , that this sign , which is to be the greatest , is to be given in a monitory way gof his second coming , is now surely on a near approach , as being both that great signal of grace to the poor jewish world , and of its being very near to a perfecting of the work of time , and his coming to judge the world ; yea , since the finishing of the times of the gentiles , and that great tide and effusion of the spirit , which will then bring a resurrection therewith , from the dead to the jews , does contemporate together , the promissory evidences of the near approach hereof , are such as i hope many of this generation now in the earth , may be made witnesses thereto . 9. i know it is reckoned usually , that the accomplishing of these great designs of providence , which are yet to take place now in the last ages of the world , and the exhibition of this wonderful sign of the son of man , may be at a great distance of time , as to the event thereof , upon which i have had the same thoughts , until a more deep enquiry and search about the counsel of god herein , hath brought me under a constraint of light , to see how the work of time in all its intents , is nearer to a final close , than seems to be apprehended by most ; and that we are now surely near to an entring on the last watch of that long night of the churches militant state , when her warfare shall for ever be accomplished , and there will be no more such long stages in the course and procedure of providence , as hath formerly been ; but when the last part of scripture prophesie is once come to the birth , and full height of accomplishment , then i'ts to be hoped that a few years will bring forth more than hath been formerly attained in some ages ; yea , to this doth the spirit speak expresly with respect to that great and wonderful revolution in the last times , by the incalling of the jews , and final destruction of antichrist , that then he will cut short his work in righteousness , and finish the same ; because a short work will the lord make upon the earth , rom. 9. 28. by which the way and manner of the course of providence , is clearly expressed , as it will be in the evening of time , from what it hath been formerly ; the word there in the original , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew that as the work of god which he hath upon the earth , is the alone product , and accomplishment of his word , so when the administration of providence , is drawing near to its last period and close , then will he cut it short , and hasten the same in some extraordinary way ; yea , allot more to a day or year , than he did to many years before , in the ordinary course of his working ; and as the first bringing forth of the creation was a short work , and a swift course that omnipotency took herein , so may the last consummation and close of the great work of providence , be expected to make no delay : i am sure the holy ghost speaks expresly for this end , in that aforecited scripture , besides other passages of sacred truth , which give light and confirmation thereto ; but in what sense the cutting short of the work of god in the last times , and his making a short work in the earth is to be understood , i must humbly offer what i am in faith persuaded hereof , as agreeable to the intent of that scripture . 1. how it is to be a short work , and a very swift motion that shall be then in the churches increase , and in gathering of the elect , as what will be answerable to that great extent of the church vniversal , when it is made up both of jews and gentiles , and in such a day of power , as the dew of his youth , shall be as the womb of the morning , psal . 110. 3. for though it be clear that the last triumph of christ's visible kingdom , and the glory of his grace in order to conversion , must assuredly have a great harvest therewith , for in-bringing of the saints , and filling up of that large room , which is yet void in the church triumphant , in the whole appointed measure thereof , yea , may be judged such as shall bear a resemblance to that progress of grace , and wonderful product of its efficacy in the first times of the gospel , so is it to be expected that this last tide of the effusion of the spirit of god , shall be so strong and prevalent , as to attain the work of an age formerly in a very short time , and verify that scripture to the amazement of the world , isa . 66. 10. how a nation and people should be born , and formed to the lord in a day . but i must herewith speak to a sad mistake , that i humbly judge many are upon , as to the measure of that prophetick millennium , and highest glory of christs visible reign herein , as if that definite time of a thousand years , should be understood extensively of such a precise number of years , and of so long a duration , when the intent of the holy ghost herein , seems so clear and evident , that it 's rather intensively to be taken in the value and splendor thereof , when the light of one day will be as of seven in one , and the work of god in a short measure of time then , will virtually amount to a thousand years . i know it 's accknowledged by all , and clearly understood as david speaks psal . 90. and the apostle , 2 pet. 2. how a thousand years with the lord is but as a day ; yet seems the sense of this to be little apprehended by most , how a day before the lord , may be as a thousand years : and how it 's intended there , to shew his ing such a value and glory thereon , as it may amount to the product of a thousand years formerly in the ordinary course of providence . 2. it is in this respect also that the lords making a short work in the earth , in the last times of the church , may be understood by a more swift course than usual , in order to the perfecting of the saints , who then are on the earth , and ripening of them for heaven ; so that answerable to their attainments of grace in a more extraordinary growth herein , their translation to glory will be the more hastned , and the measure of the work and services of their time , more quickly perfected : this with humble sobriety , i have sometimes , and do still judge , that the lords cutting short his work then , may be no less remarkable in the short period and duration which the saints shall have on the earth , after their calling , than that long measure which was allotted to men in the first entry of time , as congruous to this design of grace , to make a short work then , and hasten the full translation of the church to its triumphant state. 3. it is to be judged in this respect also , will appear that cuting short of the work of god in the last times , by bringing forth the great designs of providence , which are then to have their full accomplishment , with so extraordinary a gale of divine power , and swift course thereof , as will admit no halting or delay , but shall attain that in a very short time , which to our thoughts , would seem great for an age to bring forth . we can see now with full evidence for what great ends the service and vse of time hath been from the first entry thereof , and what designs the blessed author of the same , hath had on the ages past : but when we look forward to the last intent and work thereof , there seems to be very dark and strange thoughts hereof , by many , though the spirit of god by divine revelation , is clear and express about the same , as to what must be yet filled up of the work and administration of providence before the end : the testimony of christ , which is the spirit of prophesie , was most specially directed under the old testament , upon his priestly office ; but now is the glory of this testimony , as to the prophesies under the new testament , in a peculiar way , settled on his kingly office , in the whole progress and gradations of his visible kingdom , until the close of time ; and it 's in a twofold respect , that the spirit of prophesie does reveal the great designs of providence , which are yet to be perfected before the end of time : the first is as to a breaking down , and final overthrow of the kingdom of antichrist under the last vials ; yea , as to the methods of providence , and the manner hereof , is also express and clear , that when the time is once come for this great and magnificent act of judgment on that city , and seat of the beast by the fifth vial , it will then make a strange and unusual dispatch , and be an amazing surprizal , as the scripture speaks rev. 18. 7 , 8. when she says , i sit as a queen , and shall see no sorrow ; then in one day shall her plagues come ; for strong is the lord god who judgeth her . nor can this be more marvelous in our eyes when it comes , than what we have seen of the degrees of wrath and judgment , that are already fulfilled on this adversary ; so as i must judge by scripture evidence , this will be a work of short time , as it will bear an extraordinary and immediate appearance of god therewith : but there is one great design further in that way of breaking down , and overturning which must yet take place in the final judgment of the mahumetan empire , both as to turks and persians ; which as it may be clearly understood by the sixth vial , and does with great evidence relate to what is foretold of this adversary , rev. 9. 14. under the sixth trumpet , so as to the manner hereof , in that allusion of drying up the river of euphrates ; when formerly we see how these angels were let loose for destruction , who were bound thereat : we may see how the same allusion does speak such a work of judgment , as will be strange , sudden and surprizing , as the drying up of euphrates , by diversion of that river , did in one night , make way to finish the babylonish empire in the time of cyrus ; and now some prelude and remarkable steps of judgment , as to the fall of that empire , have been of late very obvious : but yet in a concurrence herewith , there is one great design of providence , to be accomplished before the end , which is for building up , and a restoring work on that great and long ruin of the scattered jews ; and thus for gathering together in one , in the dispensation of the fulness of time , all things in christ , even in him , eph. 1. 10. which scripture , i must humbly judge , speaks peculiarly to that last uniting work about the church vniversal , both of the jews and gentiles : when the times of the gentiles are once accomplished , which as i have a little touched before , then will it be understood in the event , how the value and interest of a day , may be by the lord in that manner heightned as to sum up and abridge therein , what had not been attained in a thousand years before : it was in the first times of the gospel , that the effusion of the spirit of god , and out-goings of his power was so wonderful and strong , as in forty years , the extent of the christian church , after the ascention of christ , was then greater in the world , than it seems to be at this day ; which i do not question , shall yet once more before the close of time , be no less wonderful in the swift course and conquest of grace , both as to jews and gentiles , than it was at that time . but as no great excellencies , or extraordinary splendor in any appearances of god , have been of a long duration , whilst the church here is militant , so the nearer all things are to the center in the final close of time , we should expect as god hath expresly spoke , that it will be with a remarkable cutting short of his work then ; and that the world will be in a strange manner surprized with his last coming : yea , that the greatness of such a harvest of israels conversion , will bring in more in a short time , than many ages hath done formerly . 4. it is also in this respect that the making a short work in the close of time , may be judged , that after such extraordinary discoveries of god , and methods of grace , the final opposition then made thereto by the world , will to the furthest , make way for the last decision of judgment , when the harvest of the earth is thus ripened and made white , under such prodigious measures of guilt , more than in all ages past ; as the righteous god will then be interested in vindication of his glory , to shut up for ever , that long period of his patience and long-sufferings . 5. let me but add upon this head , that i account it a peculiar demonstration of god , which he hath reserved to the last times of the church , to shew before angels and men , what use he can make of a short time , for the greatest ends , and how far he can cause it to amount in perfecting of his work , to bring forth such wonderful things in a few days or years , that would seem as incomprehensible to reason , as for the earth to bring forth in a day , or for a nation to be created therein , isa . 66. 10. it hath been the glory of god , that some should live more in a few years , and act a greater part on the stage , than others in a long age ; the first service of time was beyond all that ever followed upon this account , made wonderful and glorious , when one day brought at once forth the sun , moon , and stars ; and set them in their proper orbs , and another day brought forth that intellectual being of man , made after the image of god ; and can it be strange that the same god give such a demonstration of himself , and of the glory of his power , in the last shutting up of his work , as the world may see it 's not in the reverence of time , nor of ages , when his design and counsel herein is to take place : but if men will raise and build their hopes on the long duration of this horrid and sad world now in its old age , and think their houses shall be continued for many generations ; it will be a sad surprizal in the close , when they are found in the same posture at the coming of the son of man , as it was in the days of noah : and i doubt not the swift motions of providence , for making a short work in the earth , will be yet rendred more astonishing than all we have hitherto seen ; blessed are they that watch and wait with joy , for the drawing near of this great day of their redemption , though the precise day and time hereof , be alone known to the lord. 10. it is true , that the way of the lord may seem to controul any swift motion and course of providence in his procedure this day , when the wheels do to our sense stand still , and things yet kept in a suspence , as to any great or remarkable decision in the publick state of affairs ; yea , when after such expectations now for a considerable time , there is so strange an interval of silence , as to the work of god in this part of the world , and the ballance kept in an unusual manner , equal betwixt the french and the whole confederates , which are against him : it is unquestionably , matter of great thoughts of heart , what the event may be e're long of such an astonishing calm and stop. but in order to this , let me humbly speak a few things to be considered . 1. how in all times of the church , it hath been made observable , that when the lord is to bring forth some great work of judgment on the world , and on particular nations , he does not only reinforce warnings , and gives time herein to answer his call , but even when his hand is lifted up , will yet hold the same : but where the most signal delay and forbearance hath gone before , it 's sure the more dreadful and sad , is the stroak when it comes at last . 2. though there needs a divine light to make a right estimate and judgment of things which relate to the present day , yet if men admit reason , it may be too easie to see , that there is no slow motion in the visible tendency of things , as they now move in these three nations to some fatal and sudden period ; except these things which should thus awaken our fears , have a more special influence to direct unto these duties , which might yet prevent the same : for even judicious reason may prophecy what aspect such evils have , as by a native and unavoidable result have the most near and immediate influence on a nations ruin , when they are come to that height , as will admit no cure : and when the most numerous part of a protestant profession therein , are so visibly stated in emnity to other , pursuing different and contrary interests , as cannot but lay a dead lift on all publick actings this day : when also the contagion of example is so prevalent and mortal , but the comfort thereof so rare , as to any of a truly raised and heroick spirit . and if we look to these who have a leading interest in these nations , as to their stations and qualities , how few of such may be now found , whose ancestors had an eminent appearance for god in their day , that have the spirit of their fathers resting on them ? but now in the 3d. place , i must crave leave to speak a little more fully in order to a trying and inquisitive judgment on a very great and affecting head , what it should mean that there are such threatning appearances of hazard to britain from the french power , in these times we are in : i know it may seem a hopeful sign , that such a party as we have to deal with , are such also against whom the blood of thousands of protestants is crying to heaven . and i am perswaded , that the holy god will in due time , avenge these strange measures of cruelty exercis'd there , upon the house of bourbon ; and have indignation against that race , until the sun cease to rise and set : but on the other hand , i must speak , that surely there seems something in an unusual way , threatning in the present aspect of this adversary ; on which i shall offer a few serious reflections . 1. that for several years past there hath been such remarkable evidence of a seal of their commission for judgment , not only to take peace from this part of the earth , but to be the rod of divine indignation against the refomed churches : for it hath been under this rod , that hitherto the most destructive ddsigns have had the most visible successes ; and when an instrument of judgment is of gods choosing , and hath an anointing for this end put upon him , it proves then to be very formidable , as it hath the impress of his terror and greatness put thereon , beyond what is at another time ; and is thus acted with an invisible power and concurrence , until such a work of judgment be accomplished . 2. we see this is an adversary who in this late design against the whole protestant interest in the kingdom of france , hath had such prevailing successes , to carry on a ruining and judicial work of that nature , when in former times the protestants there , did with an heroick and invincible spirit , bear out against the utmost power and violence of four kings successively ; and could see them by an extraordinary divine hand broke : but oh ! now was the day turned no less remarkably , and the attempts of this king followed with that terror , fainting and lowness of spirit , as to any self defence , that it might be seen , as in the case of samson , their strength this way was departed , so as nothing could avail until such a work both of tryal and judgment , was accomplished : this i confess hath oft had an affecting sense on my own spirit , and brings a more extraordinary call therewith , to have our reliances more absolutely fixed on god , and promise less to our self from visible means ; yea , how to prevent such a hazard at the fountains head , as is still threatning , when there may be just matter of fear , that the date of his commission is not yet expired . but 3. is it not known that this is such an adversary , over whom the english nation once had so great an ascendent in times past , as they were a terror unto that people who now does not only keep , but gain ground against the united strength of so great confederacy ? so that there may be cause for a higher look than to what is humane , in the standing , supports , and growing strength of that party : and it 's surely one of the great demonstrations of providence in the world , which is both in the rising and depressing of the genius of a nation and people , answerable to the designs which god is accomplishing hereby : but this i leave to the more serious thoughts and judgments of others , what appearance such a sign hath to us this day . 4. it is in some singular way that it may be said the french have attained beyond others , to be united within themselves ; and on the other hand , no less skilful to divide and promote discords amongst those who are against them , and who now in this critical juncture of affairs , know how to graft their deepest designs on these intestine distempers , and convulsions which are so visible in the politick body of these nations ; yea , know how to foment the same , whilst intestine conslicts , even amongst the most serious part of protestants , are so uncessant as to shut out all fear of this kind , and despise any moral relief or cure. 5. tho' it may be of small notice or remark , upon any threatning aspect of such a party , yet i must look otherways thereon , even in this particular , that there has been such a long and resolute conforming amongst us to the way of that nation , in the most prodigions fashions and attires , who have delighted herein to copy after such a patern , that they may be at last in the righteousness of god , made to have as sad a tryal of them in the way of judgment , as of that continued instuence and ascendent they have had over them in the way of sin. 6. but there is one reflection i must yet further offer upon this head , which in this day hath had a special impression on my own spirit , that the last effort and ultimus conatus of the kingdom of antichrist before its final fall , may be feared , is not yet accomplished as to the ultima clades of the reformed churches ; yea , that this work hath fallen under his hand as the instrument waited and fitted by divine providence for such an end ; which hath oft made me judge , that the date of his commission is not yet expired , when the same provoking causes of such a desolating stroak as hath been of late on the church of france , are no less visible amongst us , and may have the same ground to fear , when we see such a remarkable beacon in their case set before us . the god of the reformed churches is no respecter of persons and nations , who will not still bear with a naked shew , and an uninlivened profession of that pure and excellent religion we enjoy ; yea , when the most near and immediate signs , which in former times have gone before some extraordinary stroak of judgment on nations and churches , are rather in some further degree , applicable to us : there may be more than ordinary cause to meditate terror on such an account , that there is a sound of great wrath on this generation , yea , that a sword is fourbished and sheathed in heaven , which is to have some great destroying work under its hand , before it be put up : but oh ! nothing is like to do until something more extraordinary than we have yet seen , draw aside that veil of security we are now under , and hide these things from our eyes . but i shall add herewith , as it should be a blessed surprizal , if the god of patience might yet spare and prolong a season of grace , and respite so threatning a woe ; so on the other hand , an experimental knowledge of the truth of divine premunitions , when it 's too late , and is had at so dear a purchase , will be very sad , when no conviction or repentance , can regain such a season as we now have , if it be once lost : but as the proverb speaks , non licet in bello aut morte bis errare . there is one thing yet further now in the shutting up of this discourse , which i must in a few words touch ; that as it is the alone prerogative of the deity to declare things to come , before they spring forth , and who hath bounded the prospect and evidence of his people as to future events , or what he is yet bringing sorth of his work in the last times , according to the extent of divine revelation herein , ( since this is to be the measure of our light and discoveries , until the second coming of the lord. ) so it 's no less evident and sure , that any pretence or prospect of the events of providence , which have no dependance on any natural causes , is beyond the possible reach of all natural science , or of that horrid profession which is so much aloft in these times of judicial astrology , as it relates to future and contingent events ; wherein men as free agents do act , when besides the known vanity of any such pretence , the god of truth hath put them in the same class with sorcerers , isa . 47. 12 , 13. stand now with the inchantments , and the multitude of thy secrets , and let the astrologers and stargazers , stand up and save thee . it is little taken to heart how deep such real homage to the devil , under a splendid shew of a dependance on natural causes herein , may draw to a coming under greater invasions of his power , when it 's so far a giving up with their baptismal covenant . i could speak what hath been with too sad evidence known of its tragick effects , but one instance leads me now specially to speak thereto ; that before this last tremendous earthquake at jamaica , there was so strange and universal a tendence in that place , to consult astrologers in their usual vndertakings as to the event , as did inforce a serious minister of the gospel , who was there a little time before that stroak ; not only to preach , and appear against such a contagious wickedness , as that which brings some remarkable judgment with it , but to publish something in print against the same ; which is here extant : but they could not thus foresee their own destiny that was so near approching . i might further add a very sad instance as to a person who was unquestionably of eminent piety and parts , who by a too eager curiosity , was carried to make some tryal of that study , which tended not only to be his snare , but to most tragick effects in his own personal lot : though i forbear to speak more particularly herein , only that god is a jealous god , who will not pass some evils , without a severe remak thereon . an additional enquiry on that singular conduct of providence , which is about the saints here , and upon some of the greatest depths thereof , for giving further light to the foregoing discourse on that subject . i hope there may be many this day on the earth , who are indeed on so desirable a scent , and to whom this will be a subject of great weight , to know the way of the lord , and out-goings of his providence towards them , amidst the various changes of their life , and in the more eminent periods and stations thereof : but this proves in another manner , an exercising subject in an hour of great temptation , to carry the strength of a christians soul thereon , and to penetrate on such reasons and designs , that the majesty of god hath in more strange and extraordinary providences , which may for a time , put them in an amaze when darkness does overshadow the same ; since for men thus to be skilled and discerning in his ways , is surely one of the highest attainments of spiritual wisdom within time . there are two mysteries of divine truth to be matter of deep thoughts and reflection , the one is a christians conduct and passage through time , the other is his way and ascent to that blessed world which is above , at death ; which is by the immediate ministry of the angels : but it is surely the first that 's most marvelous herein , since the special leading and communion of the spirit of god is so essential thereto ; yea , the concurrence of the whole glorious trinity , and where every step in that passage is watched by infernal spirits , whilst they are beset with a body of death : but this is an experiment also does never fail , that the most dark and searching tryals , which may be in some unusual manner measured out , do still make way for the greatest discoveries of providence , and giving more light to the deep things of god herein . what i shall now speak to , is on some special enquiry for attaining a more clear light upon this subject ; in the resolution whereof , it will be found how much the highest assistance and support of a christians faith in the conflicts of their warfare , when it comes to the most trying part thereof , does lye here ; and for having some clear and experimental acquaintance with the same , which is one of the most choice improvements of grace , that we are called to within time . 1. enquiry that may be suitable here , is to know in what special manner a christian is stated , with respect to the administration of divine providence in his militant course , and how he is interessed herein , above the whole residue of men in a most singular respect ; for clearing of which it is evident , 1. that it is sure with their immediate entry unto a new state by converting grace , they come then under a special conduct and care of a watching providence , and of the delegate ministry of the angels , which will never cease , no not for one moment , until the putting off of their armour , and a being carried into the eternal imbracements of divine love. 2. they are in such a manner stated also , under the interpositions of this special care and oversight of providence , as if such a christian were alone on the earth , and not another , about whom so great a business and regard from heaven is put forth ; so high is that value which god does put upon one of these , who are the immediate objects of his complacence and delight . 3. it is in such a manner he is interested herein , as a talent under trust of the highest concern , how to be answerable thereto , both by judicious observation of what this way passeth betwixt god and them , and how their suits have been returned after much waiting hereon ; as also for answering the several ends thereof , in their improvements of the same . 4. yea , it is in this respect he is stated under so great an administration of providence which is ever about him , as it is the seal of heaven put to the certainty of divine truth , and the adventures of his trust thereon , wherein he can see with joy and admiration , that he on whom he did believe and not see , hath in the issue , made him see what he did believe , to be undoubted and real . 5. he stands thus also related thereto , in the matter of a testimony , and sanctifying of god before others , upon the account of any remarkable issues of providence , and to keep the remembrance thereof , up as a part of the most valuable interest he hath upon the earth ; when this way one hour in his life may occurr , that can fully clear the by-gons , and conflicts of many years past . 2. enquiry upon this subject , is to know wherein the singularity of some steps of providence , with respect to some of the saints beyond others , do most specially appear , when they are directed for some eminent design of grace herewith : for a right understanding whereof , we may see , 1. what strange and different measures the sovereign god does take in his refining and trying work , about some of his people , which he does not with others , as isa . 45. behold i have refined you , but not as silver ; when it 's at a much higher pitch , that david upon his proper tryal speaks hereof , psal . 66. thou hast tryed us as silver is tryed ; which is there spoke as the most intense degree of exactness in such a tryal , by a hotter furnace , whilst herein , some eminent project of love , hath been found still then in the issue . 2. to what an extremity also he will sometime bring such to , in a trying work before it be accomplished , so as to kill first er'e he make alive , and render the case wholly dependant on a divine miraculous power , as in that sickness of lazarus , and that last conflict of davids at ziglag , which proved the sorest of all , when it was on an immediate turn of providence , and so singular an appearance of god was breaking up herewith . 3. thus appears in so strange a deferring of light , and concealment of the thoughts and counsel of god towards the choicest of his people , that may be seen even under such a duration of afflicting providences , as may be ready to faint and stagger their faith , so as no intreaties , no tears or wrestlings can prevail herein , until they have stayed out their time wherein they must be tryed , as was in the case of jacob on joseph's supposed death ; who was so familiar with god , and yet kept so long in the dark therein , as also of joseph under so strange a scene , and mystery of providence towards him , until once the word of the lord had tryed him . 4. in his taking some of his followers by a most signal conduct of providence , of all visible and ordinary means of their relief ; and crossing all their natural inclinations and desires herein , in an irresistable way , that nothing may interpose to darken his more immediate appearance in the deliverance . 5. but which may seem more astonishing and singular is in such a conduct of providence , as is by contraries , and directing of means , that in their natural tendency , seem only destructive to such an end ; yea , when by a falling down of the greatest darkness , he brings their case to some higher paroxism , as may have all mortal signs , when yet such providences do then most powerfully work to hasten a comforting issue , above all which had gone before . 6. in an entring of the choicest of his people , with a more singular seal , and frequenter confirmations of his love than at other times , into some extraordinary course and series of trying conflicts , which have been as the falling down of a dark and long night , immediately following so great a brightness ; yea , thus also by such a constraint of providence , leading them into the same , as david speaks psal . 66. thou broughtest us in the net , and laidst affliction on our loins , &c. and as the disciples of christ were constrained to go to the sea , when a storm was to follow thereon . 7. when in following the most express and clear call to some special service and acts of duty , there occurrs greatest oppositions , and cross providences thereto , as was in paul's voyage to rome , when his commission from heaven herein was given , under so great a seal and evidence : and nothing did shake jeremiah's faith more , than that strange and growing tide of opposition , which was still in the way of his work , when his call herein was so clear and extraordinary , as put him to speak thus unto god , chap. 20. 7. thou hast perswaded me , and i was perswaded , &c. when he was almost overpowered by the enmity and violence of men in his work . 8. in that strange length , to which a deferred hope may be continued before its enjoyment , even where the earnest , and confirmations thereof , have been in some unusual way made evident , until it seem'd wholly desperate , and beyond hope ; yea , when under such a delay they have been exposed to all kind of temptations , which in the nature thereof , as well as duration , seem'd to contradict the same , and give it the lie. 9. by such a concurrence also in some part of a christians warfare , as at the same time there may be fightings without , and fears within , as the apostle speaks , such as may render it a strange mystery to others , when yet there is nothing penal herein ; yea , when this may be for a time , wholly in the dark to them , until that design of grace appear for their being trained thus by lesser conflicts for such a time in their life , wherein usually satans greatest effort lyes against them , and the highest probation of their grace , which god hath design'd to take whilst they are on the earth . 10. i shall but add on this head , that as the lord hath designed something in his way towards each christian , that 's peculiar to them alone , so is that variation in the methods of providence about such , remarkable , whilst some have their most choice and comforting times first , as was solomons , and his last days the worst , whilst the latter days of job were his best . but there is also some singularity in the tryals of the saints , which it's sure will never be reiterated , either in the kind or measure ; such as in abraham's being tryed in his faith ; upon the offering of isaac ; the intent thereof being purely typical : and it may be judged that job was given for an example , to have a room only proper to himself , until the church ceased to be militant . a 3d. enquiry which is of great concern on such a subject , lyes here , in what respects it may be said that the light and comforting side of some very dark and astonishing providences is gained , which had held such under greatest fears and suspence formerly ; so as they can now keep sight of the way of the lord towards them herein : it 's true , this is not attained in the way of light only , but of power ; and one day may fall in to raise the tryal of a christian , more than many years past have done ; when the night may be both dark and long , without either moon or stars then appearing , before there be any day-break : yet may such a rare injoyment in a special way thus be understood , when there is some clear breaking up of light herein upon these things . 1. how congruous such steps in the spotless way of god , that seemed to have so dismal an aspect , are to the excellencies of his nature , to the testimonies and setled constitutions of his word , and to these usual methods , which he hath taken with his greatest favourites , in cases of tryal of the same nature , and under , as trying circumstances . 2. when they can thus see how great a design it is , which the holy god hath on the hottest conflicts of his peoples warfare , and in redoubling their assaults , and that it is more than on the highest civil interest of kingdoms and nations : and how intensely his eyes are fixed on what part his people does then act , wherein the honour of his own grace , and their victory over the infernal world , does so much lye . 3. how there is surely an appointed measure , which the work and tryal of faith hath to be filled up , not only with respect to the personal case of christians , but to the state of the church militant , from the entry , to the close of time ; which hath still a growing increase , wherein each of the saints hath some proper interest that is allotted to him , for perfecting of the same . 4. when they can also discern by what a special overruling providence , the lord hath usually bequeathed the choicest mercies , and prevented great hazards in such a way , as was most grieving and contrary to their thoughts in the present time ; and hath ever reserved the most rare experiments and tryals of himself , to the most trying times of his peoples lot , when their support was beyond the possibility of nature . 5. when they can see what a foord and strange passage others have been taken through , in extraordinary cases , by that alone way of reliance on an invisible god ; which could have no rise from ordinary or natural causes ; and how sweet a remembrance such providences have thus transmitted to the after-times of a christians life , to witness that no joy or comfort on this earth , is comparable to that which hath followed the deepest agonies and down-castings . 6. when there is some clear breaking up of light upon the design and deep reaches of providence , which are in the most strange methods thereof , to promote the interest and service of many , by the personal conflicts of some of his people ; yea , for their being thus made a more publick blessing to the time they live in , by example , and their special improvement of the same ; since for this end , more singular cases of tryal , are usually allotted by the conduct of divine wisdom , in order to services that such are design'd for , beyond others . 7. when it 's evident both from scripture light and observation , how no notable mercies and enjoyments of divine respect , have ever been attained , without something no less remarkable in the proving of their patience and faith , which hath gone before : yea , in how strange a manner the lord hath then chosen , to hide his work for a time , and shut up their way , that the returns of light after the same , might be more sweet and discernable . 8. how it 's unalterably fixed by the standing laws of heaven , that the testimony of god in his revealed truth , must first be the object of his peoples trust and expectation , e're it be made the object of their sense and enjoyment in its performance ; and that it 's an inviolable connexion which lyes in such a method as is said of abraham , heb. 6. 15. that after he had patiently endured , he obtained the promise ; so as they can thus see how signal a part this hath in the great frame of providence , when a long term of enduring in hope , and under greatest conflicts , goes before the return and enjoyment of the same . 9. how clear it 's also in the way and order of grace , that god will first have a sore trouble , and depths of affliction to be deeply exercising and humbling , before it be made comforting ; but with such advantage thereby , that these will be least broke by their conflicts , who have been most bruised and bowed down by humbling exercise and work herein ; this being ever sure , that his great power will never be imployed to ruin , but to raise , and revive the spirits of such . 10. when they see also these tender methods of divine providence , as are made use of in the training of christians by lesser essays of tryal , with some lucid intervals betwixt one degree , and another thereof , before the lord bring forth his design upon some more solemn and extraordinary tryal , which should have otherwise crush'd and overset their spirits , if it had not been thus gradually brought on . 11. but in this respect most specially it may be said , the light side of the most dark and astonishing providence , is turned towards a christian , when he can discern and prove his way towards god , with such an humble reference as that , job 23. 10. but thou knowest the way that i take : and when it 's thus made evident in the hid actings of grace and that prevalency it then hath to keep close with god under the greatest temptations ; in their applications also , and retirements of their soul with him , where they can have no witness but himself , who sees in secret , that he may reward openly ; when it 's evident likewise in their designs , and being acted from internal motives herein , to have another service for god , than such as stand with him upon the wages of the hireling ; yea , can prove their way in a counter-motion to such evils , that are most contagious and exemplary in the times wherein they are ; so as thus , to save themselves from such an untoward generation : when also their work hath not only been to prove their state by sure evidence , but to know of what manner of spirit they were in such a case towards men , and these who might have had the greatest influence on their trouble and grief . but there is yet a 4th . enquiry , of highest consequence in order to light herein , to know where the life and comfort of a christians confidence in an hour of temptation does lye , and what hath the nearest and most immediate influence on the comforting work of faith , not only in cases of personal tryal , which may be most searching , but under any surprizal of publick judgment , that may be on a nearer approach than seems apprehended by most . it 's true , it 's honourable for god , both to try his people above the power and support of nature , and to bear them up herein , in the view of the world : but as on the one hand it seems astonishing , what providences may occurr to some of the saints of that nature , as are amongst the arcana of the divine government , so is it no less wonderful on the other hand , what he hath afforded to be assistant thereto , which lye not in the reverence of the world , but are a secret betwixt god and the souls of his people ; who hath not left them in the dark , as to the hid spring of their supplies . this i must improve further here , though it be a little touched in the foregoing discourse , in these respects . 1. that there is surely then such an undoubted assistance , as an immediate communion with the spirit of god , in addresses to heaven by prayer , when no visible things can be comforting , such as goes above the support of miracles , or ministry of the angels , though this be not comprehensible by the spirit of the world ; which can in a moment raise the soul above its greatest fears , when there is no cause by humane sense herein ; and affords also one of the highest demonstrations of the christian faith. 2. that there is herewith such an enjoyment attainable , as an ineffable sense and evidence of divine love , shed abroad on the soul by the holy ghost , which goes above any external providences for this end ; and does efficaciously work , when no light , no former experience , nor habitual grace can stemm the the tide of some extraordinary afflictions . 3. yea , there is also such a support to be known then , as the sensible and immediate presence of the comforter in his reviving power , and their fellowship with him , which no local distance can possibly obstruct in such an hour , when their release must either come out of heaven , or utterly fail . these are indeed great things , which cannot be believed and not admired , that have thus the nearest influence on the joy and peace of believing , such as are no abstract notions , but the greatest realities within time . 4. there is the comfort of such divine promises , which by some special application of that seal of the spirit of promise , hath been formerly known , will in a dark and sad hour , afford a most singular assistance : but it 's no contemplation can speak the power of that evidence which hath accompanied the same , when in an obsignatory way this is given unto the soul , or the great improvement that hath been made hereof , when all visible refuges are failed . 5. there is likewise the support of sanctuary strength , that 's in a most peculiar way design'd of the lord , for a supply in the most overwhelming case ; when by the publick ordinances of the gospel ( where such a door is kept open ) and under the blessing of that institution , such hid and immediate conveyances of power have been then experienced , as hath made them return with admiration upon the directing of truths to their present case , when nothing could be more seasonable ; yea , hath been so evident a return oft to some humble reference and enquiry in the temple herein , as if it had been by a voice from heaven , both in the light and power thereof . 6. there is the improvement of former experience of ancient friendship and love betwixt god and their soul , which in the sadest hour , is of a singular use ; as also of providences which have been more extraordinary in their life past ; since it 's thus experience worketh hope , not only upon our reasoning from the same , but in the way of an establish'd mean and ordinance for this end , by that indissoluble connexion , which god hath fixed betwixt them . 7. nor is it personal experience only , ( though that takes the deepest impression on mens soul ) but the improvement of such eminent acts of providence , as have been most discernable in the case of others , under their greatest exigencies , and under some observable seal of gods immediate appearance therein ; since there is a publick interest that the residue of the saints have in the same , for strengthening of their faith , as well as these who are most immediately concerned herein ; to make some new accession to the churches treasure , when the issue of some resolute and great adventures of trust and reliance on god , hath been made clear and conspicuous to the world. 8. there is likewise that rare assistance to a christians faith , and its comforting work in the saddest hour , which is ever then found in the actings of love , and fervent emotions thereof to him , who is the determiner of their lot ; since it 's proper to love , that it thinks no evil , but hath still honourable thoughts of god , even under the most dismal appearances of providence ; and is thus watchful , that nothing should estrange or separate betwixt them and the love of christ , whose severest act of smiting , is to heal , and is ever saving : and where this love is in exercise , it hath such a piercing intelligence with its blessed head , as to discern his heart , and the sounding of his bowels towards them , even when his hand would seem to destroy ; which renders the way of trust so sweet and delightful , that if this way could fail , they should make no other choice . 9. yea , there is to be known then , how the comfort of hope does work upon their being in the issue made overcomers , when the triumph shall be proportioned to the measure and greatness of these conflicts , which have been in their way ; and that it 's so near when this shall be made the object of their sense , which is now such a wonder to their faith ; and that even in this militant state on the earth , they stand in right , as a part of the church triumphano , who are insert as members thereof , on the records of heaven ; and tho' they be not yet in possession , yet have a proper room secured them in these regions of glory , who may have no title , or comforting interest now in this world : and how short a view are we to take of the things of time , whilst that other world , in both the states thereof , is each day filling up , with a growing and new increase ? let me add this further , that as each observing christian should have some record and history of himself , both as to what hath been most remarkable in the ways of god towards them , and of their designs and improvements of grace , which in any measure they have attained : so is it not expressible , what an interest this makes as a helper to their joy , when there may be a surrounding of them otherwise , with matter of heaviness under manifold temptations . it is by this short view which is now offered of assistance , that have the most immediate and prevalent influence on a comforting reliance and adventuring on god , though tryals should be at the greatest height , may let us see what an advantage such have above these who seem to have the most support and security from visible things ; yea , we know little how near such a day may be to these , who now are at ease , when no comfort or relief shall be found in another way : and oh ! that men would in the way of reason , inquire more deeply about the truth hereof , and what they will do when humane confidences are blasted , if they have no interest in such a support . i should have entred on a 5th : enquiry about the present appearances of the time we are in , but having both in the foregoing discourse , and another piece lately published , spoke at some length thereto , as to what may be just grounds of fear , and for confidence and hopes ; i shall forbear to add further on that head ; but whatever regard may be to the same , which i must say , hath a directing call in a special way to these , who are in the highest station and power , this day in britain ; i can with humble confidence speak that what is there offered to be awakening to us as matter of fear , when such unusual grounds are for the same , was under the dread and fear of that god , to whom i must e're long give an account of the commission i have received , as a watchman to his church ; yea , with such inward quiet and assurance of mind herein , as if the close of this discourse , should be the last of my work and service within time ; though something may possibly seem strange of what hath been offered on such an account : but i hope therein will be found nothing which may not be convincing to any of a serious and considerate spirit in the way of solid reason and was for this intent designed , that by our answering to the call and warnings of god , which have been very extraordinary and evident in our day , there might be yet a meeting him whilst he is in the way , to prevent threatned judgment , which tarrieth not for man , nor is dependent on visible things , when the time thereof , is once come : only i must shut up this with two serious reflections on the present juncture of things , as may be too obvious . 1. that it 's now some years past , since an unusual and conspicuous signal of judgment hath been given , not only to these nations , but to the whole reformed churches , in that astonishing stroak , and devastation of the church of france , where hath been a plucking up of what was so eminently planted there , and casting down of what was built , so as for a time , the candlestick is removed thence : this i must confess hath had to me , a more sad and affrighting aspect , that the correspondence which is this day in the publick state of the reformed churches , does so evidently in as high a prevalence of sin , and of wasting distempers , ( if not in a higher degree ) than could be than charged on that church . 2. that when the holy god sets up so great and eminent a beacon as such a ruin is this day in our sight , he does usually for some time , allow it to be warning and awakening to other places for whom it is design'd ; and herein as to this instance , hath he graciously held his hand , that the out-cast of his people there , might have both a retreat and relief in other churches ; but oh ! when the intent of such an astonishing beacon is not answered , and ceaseth to be affecting to our spirits as at the first , i must refer it to the thoughts and enquiry of others , whether the design of such a rod as hath been there raised and made use of for judgment and breaking down , as well as tryal , be yet sisted , and hath no further work for the same interest and vindication of the glory of god , as to other of the churches ; or if there be no cause now to fear that the dregs of such a cup is not yet wrung out ? which may be feared to be more severe at last , than what was in the first part thereof , if grace do not in a singular way , interpose : and it is on that account my heart cannot but meditate terror this day . finis . an aduertisement to the english seminaries, amd [sic] iesuites shewing their loose kind of writing, and negligent handling the cause of religion, in the whole course of their workes. by iohn doue doctor in diuinity. dove, john, 1560 or 61-1618. 1610 approx. 181 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 44 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a20679 stc 7077 estc s115461 99850680 99850680 15903 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a20679) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 15903) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1513:16) an aduertisement to the english seminaries, amd [sic] iesuites shewing their loose kind of writing, and negligent handling the cause of religion, in the whole course of their workes. by iohn doue doctor in diuinity. dove, john, 1560 or 61-1618. walsingham, francis, 1577-1647. [6], 78, [2] p. printed [by n. okes] for simon waterson, dwelling in paules church-yard, at the signe of the crowne, london : 1610. printer's name from stc. in two parts; pagination and register are continuous. part two has separate dated title page, reading: the ansvver to a treatise intituled: a search made into matters of religion: by francis walsingham .. with a final blank leaf. reproduction of the original in the union theological seminary (new york, n.y.). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng catholic church -controversial literature -early works to 1800. catholic church -doctrines -early works to 1800. catholic converts -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2006-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2007-02 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an advertisement to the english seminaries , amd iesvites : shewing their loose kind of writing , and negligent handling the cause of religion , in the whole course of their workes . by iohn dove doctor in diuinity . ieremy 47. 10. cursed be he that doth the worke of the lord negligently . tam robvr . tam robor . ni = colis arbor iovis . 1610. london , printed for simon waterson dwelling in pauls church-yard at the signe of the crowne . 1610. to the most reverend father in god , my very good lord , toby , by the prouidence of god , lord arch-bishop of yorke , primate , and metropolitan of england . most reuerend father in god , my especiall good lord. albeit there is no end in writing many books , and much reading is a wearinesse to the flesh ( as the wise man speaketh : ) yet doth the condition of this present age require a multitude of bookes : neither ought we to be weary , so long as the labour onely is ours , the cause gods , and not our owne . our aduersaries are neuer weary of withstanding the truth , they neuer cease to prouoke vs by bookes , our names are daily traduced in their papers , that vnlesse the spirit of god waxe cold , and the zeale of his house be quenched in vs , we cannot be silent . and as your grace hath laboured these fourty yeares without intermission , like a silfull maister-builder of gods house , a painefull husbandman in the vineyard , a vigilant pastour ouer the flocke , and were neuer yet weary of wel-doing : so my trust is this small volume shall not seeme tedious , which heere i offer vnto your reading , and humbly present vnto your grace . since your grace hath bene called to the office of a bishop , ( as with s , paule , it is a worthy worke ) so it hath bene with you , all your time hitherto , a worke rather then a promotion , neither haue you fainted vnder so great a burthen . my prayer is for you , that god wich hath begun this good worke in you , will also performe it vntill the day of jesus christ . that as you haue deserued that good report which the godly emperour theodosius in the church of constantinople gaue of s. ambrose then bishop of milanie : so you may contiuue still another saint ambrose in our church , to the glory and honour of god , to whose goodnesse and mercy i commend your grace , and your godly labours . your graces most humble in the lord. iohn dove . the introdvction declaring what is the drift and intent of the author . i acknowledge my selfe with saint paul to be a debter vnto all men , to the greeke and the barbarian , to the wise and the vnwise , so farre as lyeth in me to win some of all sorts to iesus christ . hauing already by the will of god , published a short treatise of perswasion to the ignorant recusants , to reconcile themselues to our church : i hold it my duty to speake somewhat to them also which fit in the chaire of moses ; which would be accounted the great masters in israël , guides of the blinde , lights to them which sit in darknesse , instructers of them which lacke discretion , and teachers of them which are vnlearned . my purpose is not to speake of all points concerning which there is controuersie and difference betweene them and vs , ( for so should i make a tedious volume ) but onely by instance in some few places for example sake , in liew of all the rest , to aduertise them of such errours as dayly they commit in the whole course of their writings , when they handle the cause of religion , to the preiudice of the cause it selfe which they take in hand , and to the slander of learning . that i may vse the words of the apostle : this is not to cast away the cloakes of shame , but still to walke in craftinesse , to handle the word of god deceiptfully , and not in the declaration of the truth ; neither so doing can they approue themselues to their owne consciences in the sight of god. they would beare the world in hand , that they are more exact in their iudgement , more painfull in their studies , more acute in their arguments , more aduised in their answers , more diligent in all things they vndertake , then any other of the contrary religion ; whereas , due examination being had , it doth appeare they slubber vp many things negligently , and performe them loosely . they despise all our schooles of learning , in respect of their owne vniuersities ; as if solid learning , and true schoole-diuinity were no where taught but among themselues , they hold all others to be superficiall : and yet contrary to all schoole-learning they suppresse the truth by fallacies throughout their bookes , they transgresse the rules and lawes of disputation , and in no place will they stand to the orders receiued in schooles . their yong frye of seminaries and seed-men , which are trained vp vnder them , see not with their owne eyes , but receiue their sophismes for true syllogismes , vpon the credit & trust which they repose in their teachers ; as if it were impiety to call any thing into question which their readers haue taught them ; or heresie to examine their grounds by the rules of art , which are the true touch-stone and onely try all of arguments . in their discourses which they publish , they vse such prolixity , that the matter which is plaine and obuious to any man of reasonable capacity , seemeth perplexe , and very difficult : they deliuer the state of the question so vncertainly , that the reader looseth himselfe as in a labyrinth , not conceauing what is the scope and drift of the author , whether he hold the affirmatiue part or the negatiue . in the end , hauing seemed to stand long in opposition against vs , they concurre with vs. they alledge no other arguments in defence of the religion which they do maintaine , but such as haue bene oftentimes answered by caluin , beza , kemnitius , and other protestant writers : which arguments being already answered , are of no validity , and therefore we expect they should reply against the answers , and not produce the same things againe . neither will their disciples take notice of any answer , but alledge these triuiall things for nouelties , and rare inuentions , as neuer heard of before . these things are but satan transformed into an angel of light , deceptio visus to deceiue the world , as the babylonian priests did the king astyages , making him beleeue that bell did eate and drinke , and was a liuing god ; when he was but a dead idoll . the king at the first , because hee found the doore of the temple sealed vp with his owne signet , the meate deuoured , and the wine drunke vp which hee set before the idoll , but saw not the priuy entrance which was vnder the table , cryed out with a lowd voyce : great art thou ô bell , and in thee is no deceipt . but when daniel shewed him the footing of the priests , and their wiues and children , in the ashes which he strewed on the pauements , and the priuy doore which they came in at ; he confessed there was deceipt in the priests of bell , and he saw plainly , that bell was no god but an idoll . so my purpose is to finde their falshood by their footing , to shew how they enter in at the false doore , and go not the right way ; to detect their sleights and iuggling casts , whereby they aduance errour and falshood , but stand in opposition against the truth . forasmuch therefore as if the gospell be yet hidden , it is hidden to them which are lost ; the lord of his mercy take away from their disciples and followers , that veile or couering , which vntill this time hath continued vntaken away , and remoue from them the spirit of slumber , that hereafter seeing they may see . the lord of his goodnesse endue the teachers themselues with his grace , that henceforth as sincere pastors , and faithfull stewards of his word , they may walke in simplicity , and handle his word plainly in the declaration of the truth , that they may approue themselues to euery mans conscience in the sight of god : that when the chiefe sheepheard and archbishop of our soules shall appeare , they may receiue an incorruptible crowne of glory , through iesus christ our lord , amen . chap. 1. of the head of the church . and that i may first with saint iohn the baptist , lay the axe to the roote of the tree ; because the cardinall deriueth the popes supremacy from s. peter , let vs therefore examine by what right he entituleth s. peter to that supremacy . for his supremacy being shaken , the popes authority which is grounded vpon it , cannot stand . our sauiour vpon saint peter his confession , where he saith : thou art the christ , the sonne of the liuing god : answered : thou art peter , and vpon this rocke will i build my church . it is as impossible to reduce these words into a true syllogisme , or forme of argumentation , as it was for the oracles to speake when the sonne of god had enioyned them silence , or for the aegyptians to make lice when the finger of god was against them . euery lawfull syllogisme must consist onely of three parts , or termes , as they call them ; but here are fower , petrus petra , persona petri , & structura ecclesiae : the person of him that made the confession , his name , his confession it selfe which is called the rocke , or foundation stone ; and the building of the church . his person , and his name , where it is said : tues petrus , thou art peter : the confession or foundation stone , vpon this rocke : the aedifice or building it selfe , will i build my church . the medius terminus , or argument , whereby euery conclusion ought to be proued , must bee one and the selfe same as well in the minor proposition as in the maior : but here it cannot be so , for it is petra in maiori , & petrus in minors , the rocke in the maior , and peter in the minor , as if they should conclude in this manner : the rocke is the foundation of the church ; but the apostle which made this confession , is peter : therefore the apostle which made this confession is the foundation of the church . but this is not in moode and figure , the medius terminus being not the same in both propositions . therefore if they will correct it , and reduce it into a true forme , they must conclude in this manner : whosoeuer is the rocke , he is the foundation of the church . but the apostle which made this confession ( meaning peter ) is the rocke : therefore the apostle which made this confession , is the foundation of the church . and then , besides that they do confound the confession and the confessor , s. peters person and his doctrine , which are two seuerall and distinct things , the minor is vntrue , and contrary to the assertion of our sauiour christ . for he doth not say : tues petra , thou art the rocke ; but tues petrus , thou art peter : nor super hunc petrum , sed super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam ; vpon this peter , but vpon this rocke will i build my church . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . so then , where he saith thov , he speaketh of his person ; and mentioning peter , he telleth what is his name ; speaking of the rocke , he iustifieth his religion , being three seuerall points besides the aedifice and building of the church , whereof that religion is the foundation stone . now before we proceed any further in this argument , let vs auoyde such exceptions as the aduersary bringeth against the analysing of this text . first , bellarmine obiecteth , that our sauiour spake in the syrian tongue , and in that language this one word cephas is nomen proprium viri , & commune saxi , the proper name of a man , and a name common to all stones , as also in the greeke tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both peter and a stone ; and it is plaine in the syriac text he said : thou art cephas , and vpon this cephas will i build my church . and thereupon he concludeth , that cephas in the first place should not signifie his name , and in the second the rocke , as i deliuered in my analysis , but in both places the rocke ; so that there may be tres tantùm termini , onely three termes or parts to make a true syllogisme , and consequently that peter is the rocke . to which i reply : there can be no good argument drawne from the authority of the syriac text , not onely because of the ambiguity of the word , which maketh the matter doubtfull , according to the grammaticall construction , and very vncertaine ; but also because that text is disalowed by the church of rome : whereas the latine text , out of which i made this analysis maketh for me , and is vpon paine of anathema to be receiued as authenticall ; and so i touch him to the quicke , and slay him with his owne sword . as cephas according to grammer signifieth both the name of a man , & a stone , yet in this place it cannot signifie both of them ; because it is otherwise in the greeke , which is the originall , & without exception , and in the vulgar latinetranslation , which do make that very plaine , where the first cephas is peter , and the second a stone : and so that which is , or might seeme to be ambiguous , and yeeld matter of controuersie in the syriac , is cleared in these editions , and all ambiguity is taken away , there is no starting-hole left for the sophister to cauell vpon . concerning the syriac text bellarmine maketh doubt , where he writeth thus : de testamento nouo maior est dubitatio , of the whole edition of the syriac new testament , there is a greater doubt , whether it were written in that tongue by the authors themselues or no ? againe , hee deliuereth his owne iudgement in these words : quod si editio syriaca aetate horū patrum posterior est , vt ego quidem mihi certè persuadeo , non potest eius authoritas tanta esse vt cum editione graecâ aut latinâ meritò comparari possit , vt interim illud non omittam , quod non desunt etiam quaedam in eâ editione quae viris doctis & pijs non admodum placeant . if the syriac edition be of lesse antiquity then these fathers ( meaning clemens alexandrinus , origen , eusebius , athanasius , & others of whom there he spake ) as i certainly perswade my selfe it is , it cannot be any way of equall authority , with the greeke and latine ; besides , that many things are found in that edition distasting to men , both godly and learned . againe , valde probabile est euangelium matthaei , & epistolam sancti pauli ad hebraeos syriacà linguà scripta esse : there is great probability onely that s. matthew his gospel , and s. paule his epistle to the hebrews were written in the syrian tongue . there he doth not take it as a cleare case that s. matthew his gospell was written in syriac by himselfe , but onely he leaueth it as a probable coniecture . but the greeke he will haue to be without exception : constat nouum testamentum graecè scriptum ab ipsis apostolis vel euangelistis , quorum nomina in titulis singulorum librorum vel epistolarum praefiguntur , exceptis duntaxat euangelio matthaei & marci , et epistola ad hebraeos . it is manifest that the new testament was written in greeke by those apostles or euangelists whose names are praefixed to euery booke or epistle , excepting the gospels of s. matthew and s. marke , & the epistle to the hebrews . but athanasius existimat ab apostolo iacobo matthaei euangeliū in graecam linguam esse translatū ; alij verò iohāni apostolo ; at alij ipsi matthaeo eam translationē attribuunt : sed cuiuscunque sit , it a recepta est ab ecclesiâ illa trāslatio , acsi eâ linguâ scriptū fuisset euangeliū mathaei . athanasius thinketh s. matthews gospel was translated into greeke by s. iames the apostle , others by s. iohn the apostle , others by s. matthew himselfe ; but by whomsoeuer it was translated , the greeke translation is so approued by the church , as if it had bene originally written in that tongue . againe : itaque graeca editio noui testamenti vniuersa apostolos & euangelistas authores habet : therefore all the greeke edition was set forth by the apostles and euangelists , and as for the vulgar latine edition it is by the councell of trent imposed vpon all romish catholickes vpon paine of excommunication , to be receiued as authenticall , and without exception . therefore according to the rules of their catholicke religion , i argue against the catholickes more safely and firmly out of the greeke and latine which are plaine , and of whose authority they make no question , then bellarmine doth against vs out of the syriac , which is both ambiguous , and of no authority in the church to build vpon . so then , for asmuch as by the decree of that councell , nothing can be held for truth in the syriac which is repugnant to the latine , but the latine maketh for vs ; i conclude that my analysis of the text , is without exception , let him refute it if he can . now this being the question , whether the church be founded vpon the person , or vpō the doctrine of saint peter ? if they say , vpon his person : i reply : the church was from the beginning of the world , and it stood as firme as now it doth , before the conuersion of s. peter . when s. peter was not , the church was one and the same which now it is , and it could not stand without a foundation . but the faith which he professed , was more ancient then himselfe , euen from the beginning common to the whole church ; so that the church might well be builded vpon that faith , though not vpon saint peter , nor vpon the person of any sinfull man. and therefore our sauiour saith : he will build his church , that is the members of the church vnder the gospell , which make but vnam ecclesiam aggregatam , one church ioyntly with that which was vnder the time of nature , and the time of the law , vpon the same foundation , being all stones of the same building . but bellarmine alledgeth out of saint chrysostome hom. 55. in matth. where he saith : tues petrus , & super te aedificabo ecclesiam meam , thou art peter , and vpon thee will i build my church . and hom. 4. in esaiae cap. 6. quid autem petrus ille basis ecclesiae ? what shall we say of peter the foundation of the church ? as if saint chrysostome did not acknowledge the doctrine , but the person , not the confession , but the confessor himselfe , to be the foundation of the church . to the first place i answer : i haue examined , but finde no such place in that homily , but that which is contrary to it . but supposing that to be true , which he hath so faisified , i answer to it , as likewise to the secōd place which is rightly by him produced , that it is but the fallacy of aequiuocatiō . for he alledgeth that out of chrysostome , as a speech proper , which is but metonymically vnderstood . it is a figure called metonomia causae . so abram speaketh to the rich man : they haue moses and the prophets ; meaning not the men themselues which were dead , but their bookes which were extant . so saint paul teacheth that we are built vpon the foundation of the prophets and apostles , that is : vpon the faith which is taught in the propheticall and apostolicall writings ; so that there is but one faith , one ground or foundation , vpon which the old church from the beginning , and the new church vnder the gospell are builded vpon : these two being but one , as before i haue deliuered . and that the meaning of saint chrysostome is metonimicall , and not proper , it appeareth by his owne exposition of himselfe , where he saith in the same homily , contrary to that which bellarmine hath alledged : super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam , id est , fidem & confessionem , i will build my church vpon this rocke , that is , vpon this faith and confession which thou hast made . and it is iustified to be a true exposition by the consent of other fathers , as of saint hilary , which saith : super hanc confessionis petram aedificatio ecclesiae est , vpon this rocke of confession , is the church founded . and of cyrillus , which saith : petram opinor nihil aliud quàm inconoussam & firmissimam discipulifidē vocauit , he called the faith of s. peter arocke , because it was stedfast as a rocke that cannot be moued . and by the way to preuent that which may in subtilty , but not in sincerity be obiected against vs ; that the foundation must be answerable to the building , but we which are builded vpon that foundation , are all liuing stones , and we come to him which is also a liuing stone , disallowed of men , which is iesus christ ; as the building is personall , so there must be a personall foundation , the persons of men are these liuing stones : i answer , the onely true and proper foundation of the church is christ , as the apostle teacheth : no other foundation can any man lay , then that which is already layed , which is iesus christ . i will therefore explaine the meaning of saint chrysostome , saint hillary , and saint cyril , in what sort faith may be verified to be the foundation of the church ; and yet with a due reseruation of that prerogatiue which belongeth to our sauiour christ , and which saint paul ascribeth to him ; and so i will reconcile luther which saith , faith is the rocke , vnto caluin which affirmeth , that this rocke is iesus christ . as a gold ring of very small weight , hauing a precious stone in it of great value , may be iustly estimated at an high price ; not for the due value of the gold it selfe , but for the worth of the precious stone which is set in it , it may be said to be worth an hundred pounds ; so faith is said to saue , though saluation belong to iesus christ ; and to be the foundation of the church , though christ be properly that foundation , because he is the obiect of our faith : and our sauiour christ and faith are so inseparably ioyned together , that they cannot be diuided one from the other , or conceiued one without the other . thus haue i briefly declared how the church is not founded vpon s. peter : but suppose it could be proued , how can it be deriued from him to the pope ? the office of apostleship was personall , and died with s. peters person . the apostles were equall in authority . it was said to them all : go and preach , as well as to peter . that which was said seuerally to peter : to thee will i giue the keyes , was said ioyntly to all the apostles ; whose sinnes ye remit , they shall be remitted . and this confession of peter was made in the name of them all : so saith theophilact , and saint ambrose . but if it were granted that saint peter was aboue all the rest of the apostles , this giueth no preheminence to the pope being no apostle . for apostleship consisteth in these things ; they were immediatly called of god ; they saw our sauiour in the flesh ; they could giue the holy ghost by imposition of hands ; the spirit of god did so direct them , that in their writings they could not erre : which things belonged personally vnto them , but are not left hereditary to the succeeding ages . the foundation being thus shaken , the building falleth of it selfe . that i may come nearer to the man of rome , to discusse this question , whether there ought to be one head ministeriall of the church vniuersall militant vpon the earth or no ? bellarmine to proue the affirmatiue part , argueth out of aristotle in this manner : a monarchy is the best , & most absolute state of gouernment : therefore the gouernment of the vniuersal church ought to be monarchicall . i answer : it is a fallacy called ignoratio elenchi , in so much as aristotle his antecedent , and bellarmine his consequent , are not vnderstood , ad idem , secundum idem , &c. a monarchy is the best state of ciuill gouernment , and for one country , but not of ecclesiastical gouernment , nor for the whole world . no one secular prince is sufficient to gouerne a world , neither if any one man could be supposed sufficient , could it stand with iustice that one should gouerne a world ; because no man can attaine to be such a monarke , but by oppression , and violent inchroching vpon the dominions of other princes . againe , a monarchy is the best state of ciuill gouernment of one country ; but the ecclesiasticall gouernment cannot simply be so , but onely when the church so gouerned is in such a country as is subiect to one secular prince , and not in an aristocraticall , or democraticall state : because the ministers of the church must be subordinate to the supreme secular magistrates , and the ecclesiasticall gouernment of the church must be subordinate and answerable to the ciuill gouernment of the country where that church is . againe , as one man cannot gouerne the ciuill state of the world : so much lesse can one man be head of the whole church ; all authority both ciuill and ecclesiasticall being deriued from our sauiour christ , which is both the head of the church , and the prince of the kings of the earth , and all power is giuen to him from god his father both in heauen and earth . our sauiour christ is considered two manner of wayes : as he is god , so is hee the king of the whole world by the right of his creation : as he is the redeemer , so is he the head of the vniuersall church by right of his redemption : as he is god , he hath his vicegerents ouer the world , and they be his secular magistrates . ego dixi , vos dij estis , i haue said ye are gods. but as hee is the head of the church he hath no copartener nor vicegerent : no copartener , for so he were an vnperfect mediator : no vicegerent among men , for no man is able to supply his place in that behalfe , which i proue by this argument : the office and worke of his mediation proceedeth from his two natures , god and man , which concurre in one action of the same person ; so that he which supplyeth his office , must be of an infinite power , which is not to be found in any man besides himselfe . now lest it should be obiected that he hath said of ministers also : ego dixi , vos dij estis , i haue said ye are gods , as well as of princes , and therfore it should be concluded that they are his vicegerents for the church , as princes for the common wealth : i answer , the argument doth not hold . for as both princes & ministers haue their authority deriued from him , so after a different manner ; princes as vicegerents : ministers onely as actiue instruments . for the keyes of the church being in number but two : the one of the word & sacraments , the other of gouernment : in the opening and shutting with these keyes which is the execution it selfe , are to be considered two things , the actiue instrument , and the principall agent . the ministers are onely the actiue instruments , to preach to the outward eares of men , when god alone giueth the gift of faith , & conuerteth the heart inwardly as the principall agent : they conferre the outward elements only in the ministration of the sacraments : hee alone sealeth remission of sinnes , and giueth inward graces : they lay hands vpon men to ordeine them ministers , which is the outward calling : he doth call them inwardly , and make them able by giuing them his holy spirit : they testifie and pronounce before the congregation in iure fori , that wicked men are excommunicated out of the church ; but god onely ratifieth it in iure poli , and cutteth them off from being members of christ , and shutteth the kingdome of heauen against them . from the head to all the members must be such an influence as possible cannot be from any sinfull man , as i haue deliuered in my former treatise . thus you see how idly and weakly the popes supremacy is by them defended . and therefore vnlesse stronger arguments be alledged , and more substantially proued , they cannot iustly blame vs for withdrawing our neckes out of the obedience to the sea of rome . chap. 2. of image worship . because they write , that worshipping images they commit no idolatry , in that they distinguish betweene an image & an idoll : that an image is the representation of somthing that is in the nature of things , as in salomons temple were the images of lions , and oxen : but an idoll is made onely to represent somewhat that neuer was , as the idols of mercury and iupiter , which are but false gods of the gentiles , gods by imagination , and not indeed . and therefore they hold it for a slander to their religion , that their images are called idols . let the first question therefore be concerning the truth of that distinction , that yee may examine their fiue reasons whereby that distinction is by them auouched . first , saith bellarmine , images which are a true representation of somewhat , are neuer called idols in the holy scriptures ; as in salomons temple : the images , but not the idols of lions , and oxen. to which i answer : first , it is but a kinde of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or contention about words , which , be they vnderstood howsoeuer , be they confounded or distinguished , the worshipping of them is the breach of gods commandement , where we are forbidden to worship any grauen image , or the likenesse of any thing . secondly , this negatiue proofe drawne from scriptures , is no sufficient argument , but contrary to the lawes of disputations , as is plainly set downe in the topic called pronunciatum , authoritas non valet in negatiuis . thirdly , i bring instance against him , out of the holy scriptures , where the image of a calfe is called an idoll . for so saith saint stephen : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they made a calfe in those daies , and offered sacrifice to an idoll . there in plaine termes the image , or true representation of a calfe , is called an idoll . by this you see what smal credit is to be giuē to this distinction , and what false grounds catholike doctrine is builded vpon . againe , idols by bellarmine himselfe are called statuae , and are so translated in the latine , 1. kings 10. 16. 17. and what is statua but an image ? secondly , saith he : an idoll is in the hebrue tongue . leuit. 19. 26. num. 23. ose . 6. a vaine thing , a false thing , a lye , alwaies signifying some false representation , a false image , and not a true image ; as abacuc . 2. 18. which reason because it is but colewoorts twise sodden , a mere tautologie , and all one with the former , i answer to it as before . thirdly , he argueth out of saint paul 1. cor. 8. 4. we know an idoll is nothing . it is something ( saith he ) in respect of the matter whereof it is made , as wood , stone , mettall ; but nothing in respect of the forme , because it representeth that which is not . to which i answer as before , by deniall , in as much as the golden calfe , being for the matter gold , represented that which in forme was somewhat , a bodily substance , animal mugibile , a lowing beast . and that i may make a better exposition of saint pauls words , out of s. paul himselfe , of that proposition : idolum nihil est , an idoll is nothing : as in matter it is something , so in respect of any diuine vertue in it , which the idolater ascribeth to it , it is nothing . and againe , by the analogie of that place , it is nothing either in respect of sanctification or pollution of those meats which are offered to it . and if there be any that cannot , or will not be satisfied with this answere , let them reply against it . fourthly , saith he : s. hierom vpon abac. 2. & zach. 13. compareth heresies and idole together , because as an idol is a false image , so an heresie is a false imagination . to which i answer : s. hierom might as iustly haue compared heresies with images , which are many times as vnlike the man for whose pictures they are made , as heresy is different frō the truth . but he fayleth in the maine point of his comparison , because this proposition is not generally true , that an idol is a false image , because the calfe in horeb , of which i first spake , was both an idoll and a true image . fiftly , out of eustachius lib. 11. odyss : ( saith he ) an idoll is properly such a representation as the shadowes of men , flying phantasies , and imaginations of the braine , which we thinke we see , when nothing is before our eyes , ghosts , apparitions of such as be dead . to which i answere out of the vulgar latine bible , which is of better authority with the church of rome then euer eustachius was : that the word image , is also vsed in the same manner , as : in imagine transit homo , man passeth away as an image or a shadow . and iob saith : in the thoughts of the visions of the night , when sleepe falleth on men , feare came vpon me , and dread which made all my bones to tremble , and the winde passed before me , and made the haires of my flesh to stand vp : then stood one , i knew not not his face , & imago , animage was before mine eyes , and in silence heard i a voyce , &c. thus vnder a colour and shew of learning , hath he made an idle and fruitlesse discourse , to intangle the simple reader , with no small preiudice to the romish religion , which is defended by such sleight shifts , rather then by manifest truth . this scruple being remoued , it remaineth in the second place , that we discusse this question : whether images are to be worshipped or not ? and herein the practise of the romish church is contrary to the doctrine they do teach , because in their churches they worship images , & set them vp to be worshipped ; and inioyne the people to adore them ; and yet not able to stand in the defence thereof , by their writers they forsake their old defence , and by their canons deny that any diuine worship is due vnto them . for the councell of trent hath these wordes : imagines christi & sanctorum honorandae sunt , modo tamen in imaginibus non collocetur fiducia , nec ab ijs aliquid petatur , nec in ijs esse credatur aliqua diuinit as , sed solum honorentur propter eos quos nobis repraesentant : images are to be honored ( not to be adored : ) and they are to be honoured onely with such limitations , that we put no trust or confidence in them ; that we pray not vnto them ; that we ascribe not any diuine vertue to them , but onely they are to be honored for their sakes whose images they are , and whose likenesse they represent to vs. there you see plainly what their doctrine is , how they deny them adoration . and yet by their practise , they do not onely prostrate themselues before them , as the gentiles did before their idols , but plainly shew in action , that they suppose some diuine power to be in them , in that they pray to them , and by their long peregrinations weary themselues in visiting some images rather then others ; yea they trauell very farre to prostrate themselues before the images of our sauiour christ , and the virgin mary , and other saints in farre countries , when they haue in their owne churches at home the images of the same saints ; yea farre more beautifull then are abroad . bellarmine saith : omnes cruces ador amus , we adore all images of the crosse : and yet by his owne exposition , this word ador amus , we adore them , is no more then if he had said ; we honour them , and thinke reuerently of them , or vse them reuerently ; because they be for exercise of deuotion , and make difference betweene them and other things which are appointed only for ciuill vses . and to make good this his expositiō , he referreth vs to that decree of the councel of trent , which before i haue alledged . moreouer he sheweth , that as there is one adoration which is religious belonging to god ; so there is an other onely officious , belonging to all ecclesiasticall rites and ceremonies ; and such things as are vsed in the church . and to that purpose he alledgeth the authority of the 2. councell of nice , which speaketh more in fauour of images then all other councels , and decreeth in this sort : imagines sunt venerandae , non quidem cultu latriae , sed honore illo quo prosequimur sacras literas , vasa sacra : images are to be worshipped ; but how ? not with such worship as belongeth to god ; but onely to be honoured , as the church bookes , and the church vessels . ( but i thinke no catholicke , holdeth that the bible , the basen , the font , and the chalice , are to be worshipped by adoration . ) and so they call them sacras imagines , sacred images ; as they call other things which belong to the church , res sacras , holy things ; as the communion cuppes , vasa sacra , holy chalices ; the font , lauacrum sacrum ; their priests , personas sacras ; their churches , aedes sacras ; their bibles , biblia sacra : and yet adore them not . and thus , as men ashamed of themselues , they qualifie the matter by such subtilties among the learned , to auoid suspition of idolatry , & continue the people in ignorance and grosse idolatry . againe , whereas aquinas , and other catholicke doctors , haue before deliuered in grosse tearmes , that images are to be worshipped , cultu latriae , with diuine worship , or such worship as is due vnto god. bellarmine to qualifie the matter , and to reduce them to the meaning of the councell of trent , would seeme to make a more milde exposition of these words , coigning this distinction : inter sanctos & eorum imagines , & reliquias , betweene the saints themselues , and their images and reliques . so inter christum & eius imagines & reliquias , betweene our sauior christ , & his images & reliques . and so he hath written that the images & reliques are to be worshipped with the same worship , as they whose images & reliques they are ; and so the images & reliques of saints with the worship of doulia , and of christ with latria ; but yet at the length , as a cow that giueth a paile full of milke , and then kicketh it downe with her heele , he doth by a distinction so qualifie the matter , and set downe such a state of the question , whereby all is ouerthrowne . for , saith he , that worship which is called latria , and that which is doulia , are of two sorts , one is cultus verus , a true worship , which is due to the persons themselues : the other but analogicus , an analogicall , or equiuocall worship onely , which is due to the images and reliques . but what difference is betweene analogum , and analogatum , a liue saint , and the picture of a saint , i referre the consideration thereof to the iudgmēt of all scholers which haue learned but aristotle his antipredicaments . as a painted man , or analogical man is no man , so analogical worship is no worship ; a painted man is but the resemblance of a man , so analogicall worship is but a resemblance of worship , and not worship it selfe . but it is hard to deuise how they should make such a resemblance of worship before the image , and not worship the image . and howsoeuer , if it were possible , yet the apostle teacheth how they ought to auoid all shew of euill . and thus hath he auoyded that which was alledged against him by aequiuocation , which is contrary to the law of schooles . to leaue their doctrine , & come to their scandalous practise , we charge them with breach of the second commandement , because they fall downe before their images , bellarmine in defence thereof , saith : they do not cultū tribuere simulacris tāquam dijs , worship their images as gods , but onely they worship god in the images of god , & saints in the images of those saints before whom they fall downe , and that such worship is not prohibited in holy writ . now therefore vpon this point let vs ioyne our issue . if to prostrate themselues before the image , and say they worship not the image , but god in the image , might be lawful ; then might both iews & gentiles which did the like , haue excused their idolatry , forasmuch as neither of them hold their idols to be gods when they fall downe before them . for knowing by the light of nature there was a god , but knowing him not as he ought to be knowne , nor in what sort he should be worshipped , they framed idols , & worshipped him in those idols ; & yet for so doing , they were condemned in the holy scriptures , because he being a spirit , would be worshipped in spirit , but not in an idol ; and so he will not be worshipped in an image . concerning the iewes , which were idolaters , they knew their golden calfe was no god , but worshipped god in the calfe . bellarmine therefore asketh why they said : faciamus deas qui praecedant nos : let vs make gods to go before vs ? & hi sunt dij qui eduxerunt te de terra aegypti : these be the gods which brought thee out of aegypt ? i answer , their maner was to call idols gods ; but deos repraesetatiuos , gods by represetation , because they made thē to represent god , vsing the figure called enallage numeri , gods for god , the plural number for the singular . i answer him also by his owne distinction , they did meane deos analogicos non veros , gods analogically but not truly & vniuocally vnderstood . so in the story of the iudges , speaking of micha the idolater , the text saith : this man micha had an house of gods , the holy ghost would not call his idols gods but in this sense , because they were idols . there it is plaine that in the scriptures that which is knowne & vnderstood to be no god but an idol , yet is called a god. and that i may somwhat inlarge this point for the better satisfaction of the reader . the iewes knew that god in particular which brought thē out of aegypt before the golden calfe was made ; for a little before he came down in their sight vpon mount sina , they heard him speake with their own eares , he appeared in thundering & lightning ; his presēce was so terrible they were afraid , they said to moses : talke thou with vs and we will heare thee , but let not him talke with vs lest we dy ; & therfore could not think this calfe which they made afterward , to be the same god ; which could not speake , nor terrifie them at all , and consequently they held it to be but an analogicall or representatiue god. but saith bellarmine , though first they knew him , yet whē they made the calfe they had forgotten him . how proueth he that ? fecerūt vitulū in horeb , they made a calfe in horeb , they worshipped the molten image , & forgat god which saued them , and did wonderfull things in aegypt . to which i answer by distinction , that forgetfulnesse is of two sorts ; one which is ignorance , when a man letteth slip out of his memory that which once he knew , or heard , or saw , as when peter heard the cocke crow , he remembred the words of iesus : the other of ingratude , as where it is written : the butler did not remember ioseph , but forgat him , that is , he was ingratefull to him . and in that sense the israelites forgate god. againe , any impiety , negligence , presumption , disobedience , is called forgetfulnesse ; as dauid speaketh : the wicked shall be turned into hell , and all they which forget god. and that the forgetfulnesse of the iewes , could not be the obliuion of ignorance , i proue by the text it selfe : cras erit solemnitas iehouae , tomorrow shall a solemne feast be kept to the god iehoua . ( which iehoua is the proper name of the god of heauen , knowne then onely among the iewes ) so that they worshipped iehoua in the calfe . but , saith bellarmine , respondeo fortè iudaeos illos qui plures deos veros esse tradebant , non putasse hoc nomen esse proprium sed appellatiuum : peraduēture those iewes which held a multitude of true gods , thought that iehoua was not a name proper to one , but common to many . to which i reply : that besides religion must not be grounded vpon bellarmine his peradventvres , and idle coniectures , how can he auoid this text parallell vnto that , to shew what was the opinion of the iewish idolaters , where mica his mother saith : sanctificaui , & voui iehouae , &c. i haue sanctified the siluer , and dedicated it to iehoua , to make a molten image ? forasmuch as there by his owne words , ieboua & sculptile , god and the molten image , are two seuerall things , votum quod est sculptile , & numen cui sculptile vouetur , the vow which is the molten image , and the god iehoua , to whom the image is deuoted , she could not thinke that image to be iehoua . to come to the worship of the gentiles , what answer doth he make to these arguments ? first they did , vni deo plura simulacra erigere , erect many idols to one god. for example , they acknowledge but one iupiter , yet in euery country were idols of iupiter : therefore they made a difference betweene the god himselfe and his idoll : consequently they did not thinke the idoll to be a god. his answer is , habuerunt alios deos in coelo , alios interrâ ; nec putauerunt absurdum si vnus deus coelestis , vt iupiter vel apollo haberet interrâ multos collegas minores , id est , multa idola eiusdem nominis : the heathens had some gods in heauen , some on earth ; neither did they thinke it an absurdity that one god in heauen , as iupiter or apollo , should haue many fellow gods inferiour vpon earth , that is , many idols to beare their names . and i pray you what is this answer , but a confession , or grant of that which i haue alledged , that the heathens accompted their gods which they thought to be in heauen , to be gods indeed , & these vpon earth , before whom they prostrated themselues , to be but idols , and representations of them which were in heauen ? therefore they did not thinke they were gods. secondly , they framed dayly new idols , and yet said not that they made new gods. his answer is : putarunt gentes senouos deos facere , saltem terrestres : the gentiles so doing , thought at the least , they made such gods as were vpon earth , although not such as were in heauen : which is no more then he spake before to the first obiection , a grant of that which i haue obiected . thirdly , mutarunt simulacra pro arbitrio , nec tamen deos mutarunt : they changed their idols at their pleasure , whereas their gods continued the same . to it he saith : respondeo ethnicos eâdem stultitiâ quâ putabunt deos posse fieri manibus hominum , potuisse etiam credere deos aliquos potuisse destrui manibus hominum : as the heathens in their foolishnesse thought they could make gods with their hands : so in as great folly they thought they could destroy the gods which they had made . and this is no more then was in the answer to the first obiection , where he confessed that in the opinion of the heathen , their idols were but idols , and no true gods. fourthly , s. augustine relateth , that when the gentiles were accused of idolatry , they answered that : non colebant idolum , sed numen quod per idolum significabatur : they did not worship the idoll , but the god which was represented by it . this obiection bellarmine repeateth in his 2. booke and 11. chapter . but in the 13. chapter , where he taketh vpon him to answer the arguments going before , as i haue shewed , he passeth this ouer with silence . but to to come the reasons which bellarmine produceth against vs for proofe of this defence . if ( saith he ) they did not beleeue these idols to be very gods , but representations only of god , and so worshipped not them , but god in them ; why do the prophets labour so much to perswade them that they were no gods ? i answer : whatsoeuer we prostrate our selues before in our prayers , consequently we make it our god , not by our opinion , but by that adoration , which is the prostrating of our selues before it ; not directly , but by a consequent . and because the people did so , the prophets , and s. paul in those places by him cited , do not so much labour to proue them no gods , as if the people had thought them to be so , but because they prostrated themselues before them , and so by a consequent made them gods . but ( saith bellarmine ) if they did not thinke them to be gods , why did they inuocate , and call vpon them ? why did they pray vnto them vnlesse they thought that they did heare them ? i answer out of the roman catechisme which holdeth this doctrine : that they must pray to the images of saints in the romish churches , not thinking that the images can heare them , but that the saints , which by those images are represented , should heare them when they pray before their images . the words are these . quum ad imaginem sancti alicuius quis dominicam orationem pronunciet , ita tum sentiat se ab illo petere vt secum oret , sibique postulet ea quae dominicae orationis formulâ continentur , & sui denique sit interpres & deprecator apud deum . when any man saith the lords prayer before the image of any saint , let his meaning be thus , that he craueth of the saint himselfe whose image it is , that the saint would pray with him , and obtaine for him those petitions which in that forme of prayer are comprehended , and so that he would be for him insteed of an interpreter , and a spokes man for him with god. so then , as the catholike prayeth to the image of the saint , that the saint his selfe may heare him , and not the image : likewise , the gentile prayeth to the idoll , not that the idoll , but god should heare him . other arguments he produceth , weaker then these , as namely : that the gentiles thought their idols to be gods , because they were so taught by their priests ; and the world did so beleeue , because the idols did seeme to speake , when indeed , not they , but the diuels spake out of them , as also because they had the shape of men , they thought they had in thē life & motion . to which i answer : their priests did not so teach them , neither did the world beleeue that they were gods , but analogically as before : for the gentiles held that god was a spirit and not a body ; the diuels speaking out of them could not make the gētiles beleeue they spake , no more thē the friers speaking out of the rood-loft maketh the catholike thinke that the image in the rood-loft speaketh . again , the diuels speaking out of them did imitate god , which spake out of the fiery bush , whē it could not seeme probable that the bush spake , but god out of it . lastly , that their idols had the shape of men , it maketh against him , for that should be an inducement rather to make them thinke they were no gods , but rather men . and to conclude , that i may not be tedious , concerning the erecting of images in the church , whether it be lawfull or no ? they alledge for proofe of the lawfulnesse thereof the example of god himselfe , which commanded images to be erected in the temple of salomon , and thereupon conclude , we may by that warrant erect images in our churches ; which is but to deceiue the simple with a fallacy called , a dicto secundum quid , ad dictum simpliciter . salomon lawfully erected images in his temple hauing receiued a commandement from god ; therfore we may erect them in our churches , when god hath not giuen any such commandement . the israelites lawfully robbed the aegyptians , when god appointed them so to do ; but we may not do the like , hauing no such dispensation from god. he is liberrimum agens , a free agent , and aboue his law ; but we are vnder it , and may not breake it without warrant from him . god saith : non facies tibi sculptile , thou shalt make to thy selfe no grauen image ; and yet we may deo sculptilia facere , make grauen images to god , that is , when he doth so appoint it , and so salomon did . chap. 3 of predestination . for the better vnderstanding what predestination is , it behoueth vs to know first ; that god hath written three bookes , the one of nature , to hold vs without excuse , in which we may reade there is a god ; and that is the fabrike of the world . the other of grace , to saue our soules , which is the holy bible , where he hath manifested himselfe in his sonne . the third of life , for our farther assurance , which is his secret counsell , and it he reserueth to himselfe in his owne bosome . in it we cannot reade particularly whose names are written , because it is not published as the two other are , but it is sealed vp with seuen seales , and none can open it , but the lambe christ iesus . yet out of the booke of grace we are taught that some few are written in the booke of life , and the lambe christ iesus hath reuealed to s. paul his chosen vessell seuen leaues of that booke , containing seuen heads , or principall chapters , to giue vs some small light and taste thereof , that we may not be meerly ignorant of so much as in his wisedome he thought fit to impart vnto vs. the apostle hath these words : we know that all things worke together to the best to them that loue god , euen to them that are called of his purpose , for those whom he knew before he hath predestinated to be made like the image of his sonne , that he might be the first-borne among many brethren . moreouer , whom he hath predestinated , them he called , whom he called , them he iustified , whom he iustified , them also he glorified . and in another place : he hath chosen vs in him ( meaning christ ) before the foundation of the world , that we should be holy and blamelesse before him in loue , who hath predestinated vs to be adopted through iesus christ , vnto his selfe , according to the good pleasure of his will. in which words are deliuered these seuen principall heads , to wit , purpose , fore-knowledge , predestination , election , vocation , iustification , glorification , which all of them i define after this manner . his purpose is his eternall and immutable decree in generall , that he will be glorified by his creatures . fore-knowledge is his eternall and immutable decree , proceeding meerly from his will and pleasure , that he will be glorified by the saluation of men . which fore-knowledge called in latine praescientia , is not deriued of the verbe scio , which signifieth barely to know , but of s●isco , which is antè decernere , to know with a certaine decree , or determination that he will haue it to be so , as where it is written : this foundation remaineth sure ; god knoweth who are his . and againe where our sauiour saith in the gospell to the false apostles : i know you not . for otherwise , though the foreknowledge of god be immutable , it cannot be the cause that any thing should come to passe ; for nothing cometh to passe because he knew it would be so , but because he ordained that it should be so . predestination is his eternall and immutable decree , proceeding onely from his will and pleasure , that he will be glorified by the saluation of some particular men aboue the rest , as where it is written : i haue loued iacob , and hated esau . election is his eternall and immutable decree , proceeding from his will and pleasure , that the whole lumpe being a lumpe or masse of iniquity , they which are predestinated to be vessels of honour should be separated from the other clay , which serueth to make vessels of wrath and destruction . and all these foure go before the conception of man , the other three follow after , not in gods secret determination , but onely in his execution , two of them in this life , and the other in the life to come . vocation is an action of especiall grace in this life , in which by the holy ghost inwardly working , the minister of the word outwardly preaching , and the will of man vnfainedly consenting , man is effectually conuerted to the faith , and piety of life . iustification is a sentence of grace in this life , out of which they which are effectually called , are by him through christ absolued from sin , and consequently from the sentence and decree of death . glorification is an action of glory in the life to come , by which corruption being cast off , he doth cloath them with immortality after the similitude of the resurrection of iesus christ . these are subordinate one to the other , the first foure being before one another in order but not in time ; because they are eternall : the other three , though in gods booke they be also eternall in respect of his determination , yet in respect of the men that are called , iustified , and glorified , as they are acts proceeding from his decrees to execute and accomplish that in them which god hath decreed , not only in order but also in time , they follow after , as they are not in eternity but in time . these things being duly considered , let vs come to the state of the question . our doctrine is , that god by eternall decree hath ordeined some to saluation , others to damnation ; the cause which moued him so to do , being not in them , but only in himselfe , and that is onely his will and pleasure . the subiects therefore of this disputation are two sorts of men , paucitas saluendorum , the paucity , or small remnant of them which are saued . and concerning them , bellarmine his defence is all one with ours ; that they are saued , no cause being in themselues , but onely in god , without any foresight of any thing in them . he saith it is a doctrine consonant to scriptures , to the tradition of the church , & to reason grounded vpon scriptures and fathers . the difference betweene him and vs is only concerning them which are comprehended in the second ranke , which is numerositas damnatorū : the great multitude of them which are damned . of them he saith : caluiniani contendunt homines ante praeuisionem paccati ad mortem destinatos quod cum dei iustitiâ pugnat : it cānot stand with the iustice of god to ordeine men to destruction without foresight of some cause to be in themselues . our answer is : god ordeined them to destruction of his owne will , not for their sinnes , and yet not being without sinne , but bringing with them into the world from their natiuity and conception , sufficient matter of condemnation before his decree should be put in execution : as the hebrues when they were in aegypt did both build for pharaoh , and also finde straw their selues to make morter for the building . we distinguish inter vasa ipsa , & vniuersam massam , betweene the vessels in particular which are made to condemnation , and the whole lumpe out of which they are fashioned and framed . though they were ordeined to damnation for no iniquity which was particularly in themselues ; yet that there might be no iniustice with god , he had a generall respect to the mould of iniquity whereof they were made . he hated esau in his owne person , not for any thing that was in esau , but there was matter enough in the whole lumpe out of which he was created , wherefore he should hate him . saint augustine saith : merito iniustum videretur quod fiunt vasa ad perditionem nisi esset in adam vniuersa massa damnata : it might seeme iniustice that any should be vessels ordeined to destruction , had it not bene so , that the whole lumpe out of which those vessels were formed , had bene damned before in adam . so he maketh the foundation of this decree to be the fall of adam ; and yet so , that the fault and guilt of condemnation should rest in themselues ; and yet this fall of adam not to be an antecedent or cause of this decree , but a consequent or sequele of that decree . but concerning the vessels in particular which are comprehended in this lumpe , the apostle saith : god hated esau that his purpose might remaine according to election , not by workes , but by him that calleth , where he plainly deliuereth this doctrine : that god in this reprobation of esau , respected nothing in his person , but the cause which moued him to this hatred , was onely in himselfe . if the aduersay alledge ( as vsually he doth ) that albeit god did no hate him ex operibus , for his euill workes which were in in him , because then he was vnborne : yet he did hate him ex praeuisis operibus , because he foresaw those euill workes which afterward when he should be borne he would commit : i answer : that obiection is preuented , and fully satisfied by the words themselues in that which followeth after . concerning the words themselues saint augustine saith : si futura opera quae deus vtique praesciebat vellet intelligi , nequaqum diceret non ex operibus , sed ex futuris operibus , eoque modo istam solueret quaestionem , immò nullam omnino quam solui opus esset faceret quaestionem : if the apostle had vnderstood foresight of workes to be any cause , he had not said as he did not of workes , but he would rather haue said : god hated him because of the workes which he foresaw in him , and so he would not onely haue resolued this question , but also haue made it so plaine , that it should haue bene without question . but in the words which follow , saint paul expresseth his owne meaning to be as i haue deliuered , first by making answer to this obiection : is there iniquity with god ? god forbid . for flesh would obiect that it were iniustice condemnare hominem non natum , to condemne the child vnborne : to which obiection he answereth : it is no iniquity , which answer in defence of gods iustice , had bene needlesse , and the obiection as fruitlesse , if it were so that god did in his decree condemne him out of a foresight of sinne , which he knew he would commit , forasmuch as god in his foresight could not be deceiued , and his decree was not to be executed vntill the sinne were committed , and that were in mans iudgement no iniquity or iniustice . secondly he cleareth the matter by inlarging that point to make it more apparant to mans capacity , where he saith : he will haue mercy vpon whom he will haue mercy , and where he will , he hardeneth . and againe , it is not in him that willeth ( meaning mans indeuours ) nor in him that runneth ( meaning the workes of man ) but in god that sheweth mercy . there he , reacheth that the onely law of iustice , and rule whereby god in his predestination and reprobation is directed , and the highest cause which moueth him thereunto , is onely his will. non potest iniuste agere cuius volunt as est iusticiae regula : he cannot do iniustice which is tyed to no other rule of iustice , but his will. whatsoeuer is the will of god , the same with him is iustice . hauing thus layed open the state of the question , and shewed briefly what is our defence , let vs examine what may be said against vs. our aduersaries which we are to conclude withall , are bellarmine and becanus , two famous iesuites . bellarmine seemeth in words somewhat to discent from vs by wilfull mistaking both of vs and of saint augustine , from whom he would deriue the grounds of his disputation , as a man that will not see that which plainly he seeth . he goeth about the bush by sleights and subtilties , that he might at the least , beare the world in hand he standeth in opposition against vs , but when he commeth to the point , he discenteth not from vs. as for becanus which hath written after him , he would be thought to see more then others did before ; and therefore feedeth his owne phantasie with new trickes , and busieth the reader with strange conceipts farre fetched , and nothing pettinent to the matter . in his whole tract hee beateth the ayre , and fighteth with his owne shadow , but commeth nothing neere vnto that which is cardo questionis , & prora quasi , & puppis totius controuersiae , the maine matter now in controuersie betweene him and vs. but that we may first come to bellarmine . of reprobation he speaketh thus : causâ reprobationis partim ad solam dei voluntatem , partim ad peccata prauisareferenda est , the cause of reprobation is partly the meere will of god , and partly the foresight of sinne . in these termes he seemeth to impugne vs. but afterward he explaneth his meaning by a distinction , saying : reprobatio duos actus comprehendit , vnum negatiuum , alterum affirmatiuum , negatiuus est : non habet deus voluntatem eos saluandi , & quantum ad illum actum , nulla datur eius causa ex parte hominum . affirmatiuus est : habet deus voluntatem eos damnandi , & huius causa est praeuisio peccati ; there are two acts of god in his reprobation , the first negatiue , the other affirmatiue . his negatiue act is this : he hath no will to saue them , and of that act there is no cause at all in men , but onely in himselfe . the affirmatiue act is this : he hath a will to damne them , and the cause of this is the foresight of sinne . for proofe of the negatiue saith , bellarmine : god hated esau , antequam aliquid mali agisset , non solum coram hominibus , sed etiam in praescientià dei , before he had done any euill , not onely in the sight of men , but also in the fore-knowledge of god. he hated him ( saith he ) not for originall sinne , for then should he as well haue hated iacob , because originall sinne was common to them both ; nor because he was worthy of hatred , for so they were both , and so he should haue hated all men , and elected none , because all were worthy of hatred . by the way ( saith he ) it is to be noted , that these words : to hate , to harden , which in termes are affirmatiue , in sense are negatiue , as odisse est nolle diligere , indurare nolle misereri , to hate , is not to loue , to harden , is not to be willing to shew mercy . againe ( saith he ) that a man is hardned , though it be a punishment for sinnes past , yet it is an effect of this reprobation , so that god doth harden him because from eternity he appointed him to be a reprobate . last of all ( saith he ) facere vasain contumeliam , to make men vessels of dishonour ; though being vnderstood in this sense : deputare ad contumeliam , to depute them to dishonour and shame is affirmatiue ; yet , being thus vnderstood : facere vasa qualia requirit totius massae conditio , & sic relinquere , & nihil aliud addere , to make them such vessels as the nature and condition of the whole lumpe requireth , and so to leaue them , and do no further act , is negatiue , and of all these there is no cause in men , but onely in god. but for proofe of the affirmatiue , which is : habere voluntatem damnandi , to haue a will to damne them ( saith he ) that is by reason of the foresight of sinne , we haue instance . ite maledicti in ignem aternum , go ye cursed into euerlasting fire , the cause of this damnation is shewed to be in themselues : i was hungry , and ye gaue me no meate , &c. bonus deus est , iustus deus est , god is good , and god is iust , he can saue , though men haue not deserued saluation , because he is good , but he cannot condemne them vnlesse they haue deserued condemnation , because he is iust . condemnare aliquem sine culpà est punire sine causà , quod iniustum est , to condemne a man without fault is to punish without cause , and that cannot stand with iustice . so farre goeth bellarmine . now , that i may speake to euery point , i will first repeate his words : reprobation ( saith he ) hath two parts , one negatiue , that god will not saue , the cause of that is in god , the other affirmatiue , that god will condemne , the cause thereof is in man. first , i say this is no lawfull distinction , to make a diuersity of that which is an identity ; for there is aequipollentia in re , they be different onely in termes , but are equipollent one to the other in substance . he sheweth out of saint augustine that to hate , and to harden , which in termes are affirmatiue , are in matterall one with nolle diligere , nolle misereri , not to loue , not to haue mercy , which are negatiue . but after the same manner i come vpon him , deus vult damnare , god will condemne , is a proposition in voyce affirmatiue , and equiuolent to this : deus non vult saluare , god will not saue , which is negatiue . and as there is no meane betweene loue and hatred , mercy and induration , but he that is not loued of god is hated , he that findeth no mercy is hardned : so , in gods predestination there is no meane or third thing betweene saluation and damnation , but necessarily by this decree , he that is not saued must be damned , he that is not separated from the lumpe of iniquity must be left to continue in the lumpe of iniquity , no meane betweene separation from it , and continuance in it . but secondly , to leaue his idle termes to himselfe , which sauour of subtiltie , and not of substance , and which make that to seeme darke and obscure , which is as cleere as the day light ; i will shew plainely out of himselfe that in doctrine he consenteth with vs : for , concerning this affirmatiue act god will condemne esau , which he saith is an act of gods reprobation , let him acquit himselfe if he can . i would know whether he will haue it to be a part of reprobation , as it is in ipso decreto , in the decree it selfe , or in decreti executione , in the execution of the decree ? in intention or in action ? one of them it must be . the decree it selfe which is gods intention is eternall , the action which is the execution of his decree , is temporall . if he meane it is to be referred to the decree it selfe , i proue by his owne argument , that then the cause why he would condemne esau , was not in esau , but only in god. for , he framed his argument to proue the negatiue part in this manner : that god would not saue esau , it was not because he foresaw sinne in him , for then he should not haue saued iacob ; for he foresaw sinne in iacob as well as in esau . so i come vpon him with his owne argument : that god would condemne esau , it was not because he foresaw sinne in him ; for then he would haue condemned iacob , because he did foresee sin in iacob as well as in esau ; therefore , as bellarmine inferreth : the cause was onely in god that he would not saue esau . so i inferre , the cause was only in god that he would condemne esau . but if he meane that the affirmatiue part is to be referred to the condemnation which is the execution of reprobation , which is temporall , and not to the decree it selfe , which is eternall ( as needs he must ) and it appeareth plainely by his words following that so he meaneth , we hold with him , and his defence is all one with ours . for , how doth he proue the affirmatiue part : that god will condemne them , it is in themselues ? but by this sentence of scripture , math. 25. go ye cursed into eternall fire , the cause being shewed to be in themselues : i was hungry , and ye fed me not . these words are a finall sentence to be pronounced at the end of the world , and not the decree it selfe , which was before the beginning of the world , these words put the decree in execution , and are a sentence published to the world by the mouth of our sauiour christ , whereas reprobation is a secret which god reserueth to himselfe in his owne bosome . and , whereas he calleth this finall sentence of the iudge reprobation , it cannot properly be so called , but onely by the figure called metonimia effectus pro causa , where the effect is vsed for the cause ; for this is condemnation , and not reprobation , an effect of reprobation , but not reprobation it selfe . and , where for proofe of the affirmatiue part he sayth out of saint augustine , condemnare sine culpâ ost punire sine causâ quod iniustum est , to condemne without fault , is to punish without cause , and that is against iustice ; i hold with him , god cannot in his iustice punish or condemne any man which hath not deserued condemnation or punishment : but what is this to reprobation ? peter martyr acknowledged so much long before bellarmine his workes came forth , where he sayd : peccata sunt causa cur condemnantur , non tamen cur à deo reprobantur , sinnes are the cause why men are damned , and yet no cause why men are reprobates . so where he saith that god doth make vessels of dishonour , the cause is in himselfe ; but that he doth deputare ad contumeliam , appoint them to wrath and dishonour : it is in the men themselues , we consent with him , in as much as this deputation is an action which is temporall , but that making of vessels of wrath is a decree which is eternall . peter martyr saith : peccata sunt causa damnationis quae fit in tempore , sed non reprobationis quae fuit ab aeterno , sinne is the cause of damnation which is in time ; but not of reprobation , which was before time , sinne is an effect of reprobation , and therefore it cannot be a cause of reprobation . as the apostle saint paul , and bellarmine his selfe do shew , that good workes are no cause , but an effect of election : so the argument followeth : sinne is not a cause , but an effect of reprobation . the sinne of pharaoh was hardnesse of heart , he would not let the people go ; this could not be the cause why god eternally did reiect him , but god reiected him eternally ; and therefore in time he hardned his heart , that he should not let the people go . last of all , there are two sorts of causes , one the highest , an other subordinate , which go betweene the decree , & the execution thereof . so that albeit gods will was the first and highest cause that he ordained some to damnation : which cause was onely in himselfe ; yet there are found other causes inferiour and subordinate , sufficient to stand with the rule of iustice , that his decree should be put in execution , as hardnesse of heart , infidelity , and other sins , which causes are inherent in the men themselues . becanus writeth in this manner : the doctrine of predestination ( saith he ) is vnderstood two manner of wayes : either according to the catholike defence , that god did , post praeuisionem originalis peccati , quum vniuersae esset massa perdita , aliquos aligere ex suâ misericordia ad gloriam , alios in massâ perditionis relinquere vt essent vasa in contumeliam , after he foresaw originall sinne in the whole lumpe being corrupted , of his mercy choose some to be vessels of honour , and leaue others in the lumpe of perdition to be vessels of dishonour : or according to caluin , that god before he fore saw originall sinne , ex massâ integrâ , out of the lumpe being sound , ordained some to life , others to death without any offence of theirs or their parents . and as it is taken in that second sense he argueth against caluin , and out of this diuision so made by himselfe , he frameth his disputation . by the way , before we come to his arguments . first , it is superfluous and idle , to suppose that god did predestinate antè aut post praeuisionem peccati , before or after the foresight of originall sinne , because he did both praeuidere & praedestinare ab aeterno , foresee and predestinate from euerlasting , with him there is nihil prius aut posterius , nothing before or after , because he is before all time . againe , this were to impute ignorance vnto god , as if some thing had bene to come to passe which once he did not foresee . thirdly , our question is not of the time when ? but of the cause why god did predestinate ? i confesse with bellarmine these termes : post praeuisionem operum & expraeuisis operibus , after the foresight of workes , and out of a foresight of workes ( making this foresight to be the cause ) are all one , so that he disputeth not of the time when ? but of the cause why god did predestinate ? but , with this iesuite it is otherwise , as it appeareth by the sequele of his disputation ; and therefore he commeth not neere the question which he proposeth . as also , massaintegra & corrupta , the state of innocency and of sinne , though in time they succeeded one another ; yet in gods foresight they were both at once . but let vs come to his argument . that god did not predestinate any man to life ex massâ integrâ , out of the lumpe being sound , before he foresaw originall sinne in him , he taketh vpon him to confirme by two reasons , the first is this : if god did so , then the decree of predestination was before the decree of christ his incarnation , but that decree of predestination was not before the decree of christs incarnation ; therefore god did not predestinate man to life out of the lumpe being sound , before he foresaw originall sinne in him . he proueth the sequele of the maior ; because the foresight of sinne is more ancient then the decree of incarnation : for had not adam sinned , christ had neuer bene incarnate . he proueth the minor , because else our election had not bene grounded vpon the merits of our sauiour christ . for saint paul saith : elegit nos in christo , he hath chosen vs in christ , &c. to which i answere : this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a skirmish with his owne shadow , but no combat with caluin , because he obtrudeth that to caluin which is not his doctrine . caluin doth not hold that god did predestinate any man to life ex massâ integrâ , out of the lumpe being sound : for the lumpe being sound , men were in state of life iure creationis , by the right of their first creation , and if the lumpe had continued sound , there had bene no vse of predestination ; for that is grounded vpon christ his merits , which were to take place massâ perditâ , & corruptâ , the lumpe being corrupted . and much lesse did caluin hold that god did predestinate or ordeine to death , ex massâ integrâ , out of the lumpe being sound . for , besides that it was impossible that man should dye , the whole lump 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uing in the first integrity , it could not stand with gods iustice . but caluins doctrine is , that god did ab aeterno ante 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creatam , multò magis antè massam integram aut corruptam , eternally before the lumpe was created , and therfore before the integrity or corruption of it , predestinate out of it by his decree , some to life , some to death , foreseeing that it should be corrupted . for in his predestination , he had a generall respect to the whole lumpe , which hee foresaw should be corrupted , though not to the corruption of euery particular vessell which was to be framed out of that lumpe : so his predestination which was decreed from eternity was executed in time , after the lumpe had receiued corruption ; for so long as it cōtinued sound , there could be no vse of predestination , nor possibility of death . and so , euen as they which are saued , are the children of god before they are borne , by eternall predestination , but not by actuall adoption vntill they be sanctified ; likewise they which are damned , be eternally by reprobation before they are born , but not actually before they be infected with sin , the children of belial , and vessels of destruction . secondly , how could there be praeuisio peccati in massâ integrâ , aforesight of sinne in the lumpe being sound ? when integritas massae & originale peccatum , the soundnesse of the lumpe and originall sinne cannot stand together ? god did foresoe that the sound lumpe should be infected , but not so long as it continued in integrity . the lumpe so long as it was found , consisted but of two persons , adam and eue , both which are saued , by all mens confession : how then did god predestinate any to damnation out of the lumpe being in integrity ? i confesse that in respect of the corruption of the whole lumpe which god did foresee , there was first afore-sight of sinne , then a decree that christ should be incarnate , and then the decree of predestination founded vpon the merits of iesus christ , which were in order , & as we do apprehend them , one before the other ; yet in eternity , with god they were altogether , but in respect of massa integra , the lumpe being sound , there were none of these ; so that this syllogisme confuteth not caluin . his second argument is this : infants ( sath he ) dying without baptisme , according to caluins doctrine , are saued by the faith of their parents ; therefore god hauing a respect to their faith predestinated them , non sine intuitu operum , not without a foresight and relation to somewhat which was in the persons of those men . to which i answer : that in the state of innocency baptisme was not instituted , neither was faith preached , and therefore he disputeteth idlely . againe if he had brought this argument to proue predestination after the lumpe was corrupted , to proceed from any thing that god respected in man : it were but a fallacie , non causa pro causà . for faith which god foresaw in any man , is not the cause why hee did predestinate him to saluation , but contrarily his predestination is the cause why man is comprehended vnder the couenant of grace , and why hee giueth him faith that hee may bee saued . for whomsoeuer he vouchsafeth the end , them also he vouchsafeth the meanes whereby they may attaine to that end . gods predestination consisteth with good workes as it doth with faith , though he predestinateth freely without the merit of good workes , the workes being an effect and end of gods election , and not the cause that moued him to elect vs : for the apostle saith : he chose vs that we might be holy , and not because we were holy , or because he did foresee that we should be holy . and his election is made sure to vs by good works , which are the effects and fruits thereof . against reprobation , or predestination to death , ante praeuisionem originalis peccati ex massà integrâ , before the foresight of originall sinne , out of the lumpe being sound , he argueth in this manner : first , god decreed to create man to perpetuall happinesse , where it is said : faciamus hominem , let vs make man according to our owne image . secondly , he decreed not that man should dye vnlesse he were disobedient : quacunque die , what day soeuer thou shalt eate of the middle tree , thou shalt dye . thirdly , he decreed to shew mercy to all mankinde rather then cruelty , vniuersae vie eius misericordia , all his waies are mercie . yea god was mercifull euen to the reprobates , because he gaue his sonne to be the redeemer of mankinde . and there digressing from his argument , he exclaimeth against caluin , as if caluin should say , that god did execute cruelty vpon mankinde , elect but a few , and damne a great multitude , condemne man before his cause is heard , stirre man vp to commit sinne , that thereupon he might take occasion to punish him . my answer is as before . first , that he did not foresee any originall sinne that could be in man so long as man was to continue in the state of innocency ; and therefore he doth but beate the aire as before , to proue that against caluin , which caluin neuer meant , that god should predestinate any man to death the lumpe being pure : for reprobation and the state of innocency could not stand together . as he created man to euerlasting happinesse , so he decreed not that man should continue in that happinesse . as his decree of death was but conditionall , if man were disobedient : so he gaue not man constancy to perseuer in obedience . as all the wayes of the lord are mercy , so his mercy belongeth onely to the faithfull , but he gaue not to all the gift of faith . as he was mercifull euen to the reprobates , in that he gaue his sonne to be a redeemer of the whole world ; so this benefite did not extend any way to the reprobates , but onely to the elect . hee gaue him to bee a sufficient redeemer of the whole world , if the whole world would haue receiued him , but he was an effectuall redeemer onely to the beleeuers . he offered his grace through christ to all men , euen to the reprobates , but he sealed and confirmed it onely to the elect . so these arguments refute not caluin . and that i may answer his exclamations . this cannot be cruelty in god , but as the apostle saith : it is iustice . nunquid deo non licebit quod figulo licet ? may not god do as much as the potter may do ? neither is this to condemne men the cause being not heard : for the whole lumpe being corrupted , the particulars could not be cleare , neither was any particular to expostulate with god , the whole lump being iustly damned , more then moses was to be admitted to plead for himselfe why he should not be cast into the water , when it was decreed generally that all male children of the hebrues should be cast into the water . it was sufficient without further arguing the case , that moses was a male childe of the hebrues : so it was sufficient that esau was the sonne of adam . that god elected but a small remnant , and damneth many millions , it is no new doctrine , our sauiour saith : many are called , but few are chosen . saint augustine saith : god is glorified as well by destroying , as by sauing of mankinde , else he would not create so many millions whom he knew before should be damned . if all ( saith augustine ) which are borne of adam should be saued : lateret beneficium quod donatur indignis , gods mercy to them which are saued ( which are indeed vnworthy of saluation ) would not appeare . plures deus facit damnandos quàm saluandos incomparabili multitudine , vt reiectorum multitudine ostenderetur quàm nulli momenti est apud deum iustū quantalibet numerositas iustissimè damnatorum , atque vt hinc quoque intelligant qui ex ipsâ damnatione redimuntur , hoc fuisse massae illi vniuersae debitum , quod tam magnae eius parti redditum cernerent : god ordeined more to condemnation then to saluation without all cōparison : first , that it might appeare by the maier part of them which are damned , how little god , which is so iust regardeth the destruction of whole multitudes of sinners , which are most iustly punished . secondly , they which are redeemed from that damnation , may by their owne redemption confesse when they see the maior part damned , that that damnation was due to the whole lumpe , which was adiudged to the greater part . and last of all , if he thinke it an hard speech in caluin to say that god inciteth men to sin , that so he might take occasion to punish them , let saint paul answer it out of whom caluin did alledge it , where he saith : god hardened , and god stirred vp pharaoh , for this purpose , that he might shew his power in him , and that his name might be declared through all the earth . to conclude , whereas he obiecteth , 1. tim. 2. it is the will of god that all men should be saued . and ose . 13. perditio tua ex te , salus ex me israël , that thou art damned it proceedeth from thy selfe , that thou art saued it is to be ascribed to me , ô israël : and therefore inferreth that the cause of predestination is in our selues , & not in god : i answer first to saint paul , it is his will that all should be saued , that is his reuealed , but not his secret will , and to hose , our destruction is of our selues , and yet it is of god that men are predestinated to destruction , for as much as there are two causes of damnation , one principall , which is his will , and that is outward , and not in men : the other subordinate which commeth betweene the decree and the execution of the decree , which is damnation , and that is sinne , matter worthy enough of damnation ; and that is inherent in man. and thus you see the saying of the apostle verified of this iesuite , volentes esse doctores legis non intelligunt quid loquuntur , neque de quibus affirmant . they would bee doctors of the law , and yet vnderstand not what they speake , neither whereof they affirme . chap. 4. of inuocation of saints . the church of rome hath bene , for many yeares past , charged with the crime of idolatry , for yeelding that worship to dead mens soules which is due onely to god. being not able to stand any longer vpon the iustification of themselues , the matter appearing so fowle , they flye frō their first holds , and deuise new defences to auoide that grieuous imputation ; and yet still to retaine their ancient superstition . therefore concerning inuocation of saints , they deliuer this doctrine : non licet à sanctis aliquid petere , vt nobis tanquam auctores aliquid concedāt , sed vt corū precibus à deo nobis beneficia concedantur : it is not lawfull to pray vnto saints as authors and giuers of any good thing which they should bestow vpon vs , but onely as helpers and mediators vnto god in our behalfe , that by their praiers for vs , we may more easily obtaine at the hands of god such things as we shall aske . being charged that their practise is contrary to this doctrine , that in the practise of their religion throughout their churches they pray still in as grosse maner , as before they did , howsoeuer in their schoole-diuinity they dare not maintaine it , to cleare themselues they say : si quis dicat sancte petre miserere mei , quantum ad verba sic licet dicere , sed sensus intelligendus est : miserere mei orando pro me , da mihi aditum coeli , id est precibus impetra : it is lawfull to pray in these termes : s. peter haue mercy vpon me , open to me the gate of heauen : but that praier is not to be vnderstood as it is conceiued in those expresse words , but in another sense , which is this : pray for me that i may obtaine mercy , by thy praiers obtaine for me that the gate of heauen may be opened vnto me , to which i reply , that the common people among them are no schoole-men , and therefore this euasion doth not make their prayer to bee lesse idolatrous then it was before . this is but to hold the people still in darknesse , and to rob god of his honour by the fallacy of equiuocation . but let vs examine the grounds of this defence : they alledge the words of the apostle : i magnifie my office to try if by any meanes i might prouoke them of my flesh to follow them , and might saue some of them . and in another place : i am made all things to all men , that i might by all meanes saue some . to these words i answer : they are sufficient to proue that while saint peter liued , god stirred him vp as an instrument of his glory to bring men to the kingdome of heauen , and to saue their soules , but not after he was departed out of this life . so timothy taking heed to learning , and continuing therin , might both saue himselfe , and them which heard him , when he liued , but not after his death . for who knoweth not , that verbum dei est officio seruatrix humani generis ? the word of god hath a sauing power , and that the ministery of the gospell is the ordinary meane to saue mens soules ? but what is this to saints departed , whose ministery ceaseth , or to proue the lawfulnesse of prayer to the dead which do not heare vs ? s. paul spake of sauing men in his life time , not after his death , by his preaching to them , not by their praying to him that he should pray for them . this is no true kinde of argumentation , but a fallacy called ignoratio elenchi . the defence of the romish church being this : that saints are to be inuocated after they be dead , not as authors , but as mediators ; let this be the question betweene vs : whether any such inuocation is commended vnto vs in the holy scriptures , or no ? eckius , one of their greatest schoole-diuines that euer was in the vniuersitie of ingolstad , maketh this free confession , that innocation of saints is not expressly commanded in holy writ : explicitè sanctorum inuocatio non est praecepta in sacris literis : not in the old testament ( saith he ) because the people of themselues were prone to idolatry , and the saints departed were then in limbus , and not in heauen . in the new testament the apostles wrote no such thing , left such doctrine should be a meanes to bring the gentiles backe againe to idolatry as also because the apostles their selues would not be thought so ambitious as to seeke their owne glory after their death . i desire them therefore with christian sobriety to speake to these foure points . first , the wisedome of the holy ghost being such , that in the whole body of the bible , such inuocation was not so much as once named for feare of idolatry , how can it be denied but this inuocation hath at the least some affinity with idolatry ? or why should the church of rome either withstand , or go beyond the wisedome of god , to maintaine & publish that in their humane policy , which god in his diuine wisdome thought fit to be suppressed and concealed ? or why should not the perill of idolatry bee as carefully shunned now as then it was ? secondly , forasmuch as the confession of bellarmine is : dico illa omnia scripta esse ab apostolis quae sunt omnibus necessaria , & quae ipsipalam omnibus vulgo praedicarūt , that all things which are necessary for the church to know , or which the apostles in their sermons by word of mouth did publish & teach are written by the apostles , but this inuocation is not mentioned in their writings ; and therefore was neither taught by them nor held necessary to saluation . why doth the church of rome so vehemently maintaine it ? s. paul saith : no mā must presume to vnderstand aboue that which is meet to be vnderstood , but that euery man must , sapere adsobrietatem , vnderstand with sobriety . and what it is plus sapere quàm oportet , to vnderstand aboue that which is meet , and not according to sobriety , he sheweth in another place : supra id quod scriptum est sapere , when any man shall presume beyond that which is written . thirdly , if inuocation of saints were necessary for the easier obtaining of mercy at the hands of god , and the readier way to saue mens soules ; and yet the apostles forbeare to publish this doctrine , because they would not be thought ambitious , they were not faithfull stewards of the word , nor so carefull of the church of christ as behoued men of that holy vocation for humane respects neglecting their office . furthermore , they did contrary to the rule of saint paul , in concealing the truth of religion , which was to do euil , that good might follow , which imputation cannot without great impiety bee layed vpon such sanctified vessels . nay which is more , how can it stand with that which saint paul testifieth of himselfe , where he saith : i haue kept nothing backe , but haue shewed you all the councell of god. and againe , i haue shewed you all things . fourthly , in the same chapter eckius hauing deliuered that such inuocation is no where expressed in the holy scriptures ; yet taketh vpon him to produce many expresse places to proue the same ; i would therefore bee satisfied with what conscience he could aledge those places to resist a knowne truth ? but to come to bellarmine , when mathias was to be elected in the place of iudas , the apostles prayed after this manner : thou lord , which knowest the hearts of all men , shew whether of these two thou hast chosen . in which words it is expressed that hee which onely is infinitely wise , hath reserued the knowledge of mens hearts to himselfe . but this is a ground or principle agreed vpon betweene vs both , that we may pray vnto none , but onely to him which knoweth the heart : he answereth : that not onely god , but also the saints departed are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , searchers and vnderstanders of the secrets of mens hearts . i reply : that belongeth onely to the creator , which made the heart . for , saith salomon , heare thou in heauen in thy dwelling place , and be mercifull , and do , and giue euery man according to all his waies , as thou knowest his heart , for thou onely knowest the hearts of all the children of men : he distinguisheth in this manner : non tribuunt catholici sanctis mortuis diuinitatem , id est , vim cognoscendi mentium cogitationes . cognoscunt quidem preces nostras , non vt sunt in mentibus nostris , sed vt sunt in deo quem vident , & qui eas ipsis ostendit . the catholickes ascribe not to saints departed any deity , as if they had power in themselues to bee discerners of mens thoughts . and yet they conceiue our prayers , though not by any insight into vs , or inspection into the inward and hidden man , but by vision in the maiestie of god , whom they do see , and who reuealeth our prayers vnto them . against this answer i dispute in this manner out of his owne booke in another place : if saints conceiue our prayers in such sort , as is aforesaid , then it is by a generall illumination or vision , by which at their first entrance into the state of happinesse , in the maiesty of god , they see all at once , or else successiuely by a speciall reuelation from god , at such times and seasons onely as prayers in particular are made vnto them , he standeth in doubt what he should answer , whether it be by such a generall illumination , or such especiall reuelation ? by which of them it is , or whether it be by any of them , or not , he cannot tell . for he saith : ex his duabus prior videtur simpliciter probabilior tamen posterior sententia est magis idonea ad conuincendos hereticos : it is more probable it should be by vision , and yet it is a more safe defence against the heretickes , to hold that it is by reuelation : in which words you see what weake grounds he buildeth vpon , which are onely , probabilitas , & studium contradicēdi , the first probility , or humane coniecture : the second , a vaine desire of contradiction , to withstand his aduersaries in disputation ; whether it be by truth or falshood , right or wrong , by certainty or vncertainty , by hap or good cunning , he careth not . i reply therefore : if saints heare vs not , it is very idle to pray vnto them , if it were possible that they could heare vs : but if we cannot resolue our selues that they do heare vs , our praiers can neither be effectuall , nor yet made with a good conscience . that they cannot be effectuall , it is the doctrine of saint iames : euery thing which we aske must be asked in faith , and not with doubting , &c. that such prayers are made with an ill conscience , and are sinne , it is the doctrine of saint paul : he that doubteth is condemned , because hee doth it not of faith : and whatsoeuer is not of faith , is sinne . let euery man bee fully perswaded in his minde . but we cannot be assured that they heare vs , seeing there is no ground nor proofe thereof in the holy scriptures : neither can the classicall authors and and maintainers of that doctrine , yeeld any plaine or firme reason to satisfie either vs , or their owne selues , how it may be so , that we should beleeue it , and subscribe vnto it . he alledgeth many arguments in defence of inuocation of saints , as mediators to pray for vs , which arguments haue bene alledged long before his time by eckius , and other catholicke doctors . and they haue bene long since ansered by peter martyr , caluin , kemnitius , & other protestant writers , before his booke came forth . now it was to be expected for the catholike credit of bellarmine , so great a doctor , that he should not haue produced these old arguments againe whose answers were published in print so long since : for that is no cunning , but he should haue bene furnished with new stuffe , or at the least , haue replyed vpon the answers , ( hic labor , hoc opus est ) which he hath not done . the answers therefore being so sufficient , that hee doth not reply vpon them , as his proofes are but the same which were before , so it shall be sufficient to answer them as they were answered before , and so to satisfie old arguments with old answers . saints ( saith bellarmine ) do pray for the good estate of the whole church in generall , and for such men in particular as do pray vnto them , and we ought to pray vnto them , that they would particularly pray for vs. and that i may speake to these three propositions , although i deny not the first , that saints do pray for vs in generall : yet i will examine the validity of his arguments which he alledgeth for proofe thereof , to shew how weake the grounds are which they build vpon , and so i will in order descend to the rest , only to set downe his arguments , and kemnitius his answers to those arguments published in print long before , for the satisfaction of others by whom they were before obiected , as followeth ? that saints departed do pray generally for the whole church . bell . hieremy 15. the lord said to me , though moses and samuel should stand before me , yet my affection could not be towards this people . therefore moses and samuel being dead , both then could , and vsually at other times did , pray for the people , alioqui inepta esset dei loquutio ; otherwise god had spoken these words impertinently , as if a man had said : if my oxe pray for thee , he shall not preuaile , meaning that oxen cannot pray . kemnitius . we deny not but saints departed do pray for the whole church , but it cannot be proued by this text . first , a conditionall proposition proueth nothing vnlesse the condition were performed , but moses and samuel did not thē stand before god ; therfore they made no intercession for the people . secondly , by the confession of the church of rome they were then in limbus , as all other saints departed , vntill the death of our sauiour christ ; therefore they could make no intercession . thirdly , the idolatry of the people was so odious in the sight of god , that if moses and samuel had bene aliue to make intercession for the people , as in their life time they did , yet god would not heare them . fourthly , this supposition was made of moses and samuel being aliue , and not after their death . to which i adde my owne answer , this argument is a fallacy called the ignorance of the elenche . bellarm. 2. maccab. 15. iudas in a vision saw onias the priest , and ieremy the prophet , pray for the people , but that booke of maccabes is held for canonicall . concil . 3. carthag . cap. 47. kemnitius . first , that is but a dreame , and not a story , & is related to animate the souldiers to fight valiantly . secondly , notwithstanding the relation of this dreame , neither iudas maccabeus , nor yet his army , did inuocate onias , or ieremy , but onely god. thirdly , that booke is vnderstood to be canonicall for examples of life , but not for ' points of doctrine ; and therefore maketh not for this purpose . bellarm. apoc. 5. 8. the 24. elders fell downe before the throne , hauing their phials full of odours , which were the praiers of saints . kemnitius . these praiers as they were their owne , and not of other men which were made vnto them ; so they were onely a thankesgiuing to god for their owne redemption , & for the redemption of the whole church , but no intercession . bellarm. 2. pet. 1. 15. i will endeuour therefore alwaies , that ye may be able to haue remembrance of these things after my departure . kemnitius . saint peter did this endeuour , by his epistle while he liued , not by his praiers after he was dead . bellarm. luk. 16. the glutton in hell praied for his kindred , much more do the iust in heauen pray for the whole church . kemnit . first , we must not forsake the scriptures to receiue instruction from them which are damned in hell , which being forsaken of god , seeke for comfort any where rather then at the hands of god. secondly , this is but a parable , and not a story . thirdly , if it were a story , yet this prayer is not heard . fourthly , he saw abram whom he prayed vnto , and receiued answer from him : what is this to saints departed , whom we see not , neither heare them make any answer ? fifthly , the glutton remembred in what state he left his kindsfolks when he departed ; but they might haue repented after his departure , for any thing that hee knew . this proueth not that the dead know the state of them which are aliue , neither yet that they pray for the church in generall . that saints departed do pray for particular men which pray to them . bellarm . the saints do not onely pray forvs , but also take charge ouer men , and whole countries and prouinces , as the angels do . concerning the angels we haue proofe toby . 12. zach. 1. apoc. 8. dan. 10. psal . 19. matth. 18. and much more the saints departed , which are as the angels , luk. 20. and haue a prerogatiue aboue angels , because they are members of the body of christ , and are neerer vnto vs , and better able to haue a feeling of mens infirmities , being men themselues . kemnit . the booke of toby is not canonicall to proue any point of faith , but onely for examples of good life . that angell in zachary is our sauiour christ , which maketh intercession for his church , and his praier is his owne , which is there mentioned , and not the praier of the church . the angel in the apocalips , which offereth the praiers of the saints , is expressed heb. 9. to be our sauiour christ , the mediator of the new testament : which maketh his appearance in our behalfe , heb. 13. through him we offer our sacrifices of praiers to god. againe , to the angels god reuealeth so much concerning the affaires of men on earth , as appertaineth to the ministery of those angels , and they haue the charge of men committed vnto them . but it cannot be proued that the like charge is committed to saints departed ; neither can the argument follow which is drawne from angels to men . that saints departed are like the angels in heauen , is ment there onely concerning single life , that they marry not , as it appeareth by the text . and this is not onely the exposition of kemnitius ; but also of the english seminaries themselues , in their notes vpon the same place , printed at rhemes . and whereas bellarmine alledgeth for proofe , that saints departed haue the regiment of whole prouinces , because it is written , apoc. 2. he that ouer commeth , shall haue power ouer nations : it is to be vnderstood of the discipline and doctrine of the church in this life ; whereby nations shall be conuerted , but not of any gouernment of theirs after they be deceased . bellarm. the fathers make for vs. kemnit . the fathers were falsified by the papists . see kemnitius at large , how he satisfieth the obiections out of the fathers . bellarm. it is also proued by many apparitions of saints , which appearing to men in dreames , haue testified that particularly they did pray for vs. kemnit . this can be no proofe without testimony out of the word of god. for moses saith : deut. 13. 5. thou shalt not hearken to the words of the prophet , or vnto the dreamer of dreames ; for the lord your god proueth you , to know whether yee loue the lord your god with all your heart , and all your soule , &c. heb. 1. in times past god spake many waies to our fathers by the prophets , but in these last dayes he hath spoken to vs by his sonne . and post illam postremam patefactionem non est expectanda reuelatio alterius noui dogmatis : after god hath deliuered his will vnto vs this last time by his sonne , we must not looke for any latter reuelation by which any new doctrine should be reuealed vnto vs. that saints are to be inuocated . bellarm . iob. 5. 1. call now if any will answer thee , and to which of the saints wilt thou turne ? kemnit . the meaning is not that iob in his calamity should flye to the saints for succour , but that instance could not be giuen in any saint whom euer god punished , without iust cause . bellarm. iob. 33. 23. if there be an angell with him , one of a thousand , to declare vnto man his righteousnesse , then will hee haue mercy vpon him , and say : deliuer him that he go not downe into the pit , for i haue receiued a reconciliation . kemnit . if there be present a minister of gods word , ( for ministers are called angels ) and out of the word of god he shall shew vnto man what is right and iust , and so the ministery of the word shall be applyed for comfort to the terrified and distressed conscience , god will worke by this ministery repentance vnto saluation . bellarm. exod. 32. 13. moses praieth for the people in these words : lord remember abraham , isaac , and israël , thy seruants , &c. in which is to be noted : that when moses thought not himselfe sufficient to pacifie the wrath of god , he was glad to flye to the helpe of the patriarkes , which patriarkes , because then being in limbus , did not ordinarily vnderstand or conceiue the praiers of the liuing : therefore it was not the custome in the old testament , to say : o holy abram pray for me ; but onely in those daies men praied vnto god : but in their praiers , they alledged the merits of saints departed , that by the merits of those saints their praiers might more easily be heard . so dauid . psalm . 131. lord remember dauid with all his troubles . and many other places are parallell vnto these . kemnit . in the praiers which are recited in the old testament , oftentimes the good workes of the patriarkes and saints are mentioned , to shew , that they which so praied , relyed vpon the promises and couenants , which god made with the patriarkes and saints departed , while they liued . that they flye not vnto them for helpe it is plaine by their doctrine which they professe . esay . 63. 16. abraham is ignorant of vs , israel knoweth vs not ; yet thou , ô lord , art our father . neither doe they mention the workes of the patriarkes in this sense , as if they should say : heare vs , ô lord , for their sakes , because they haue deserued it at thy hands ; but heare vs lord for thy promise which thou diddest make , for thy oathes sake , which thou diddest sweare vnto them , when they beleeued thee , obeyed thee , and did those workes . bellarm. in the scriptures , as 1. king. chap. 7. rom. 15. &c. they do pray to the lining saints , that they would pray for them . much more then is it lawfull to inuocate the dead saints , whose soules do reigne with iesus christ . if it be not lawfull , then , either because they will not , or because they cannot heare vs , or because they vnderstand vs not , or else because it is derogatory to god , or to our sauiour christ . but it cannot be said that they will not , because being in heauen their charity is greater then whē they were on earth : neither that they cannot , because , if they could being strangers and pilgrims vpon earth , much more can they in heauen , which is their natiue country ; neither that they vnderstand not , forasmuch as the angels , luk. 15. vnderstand when a sinner is conuerted , but the saints are like to the angels , as before it was proued ; neither that it is a dishonour vnto god , or to our sauiour christ , for then had it bene a dishonour to them to inuocate the saints liuing . kemnit . an argument cannot be drawne from those things which are done vpon earth , to proue what is done in heauen , without some testimony of the scriptures . for the eye hath not seene , nor the care hath not heard , neither can the heart of man conceiue the things which are in heauen , further then by the scriptures they are reuealed . secondly , if any man should desire them which are liuing to pray for him in that manner as the papists pray to dead saints ; that by their intercession & merits they may bee heard , the praiers vnto the liuing , were also derogatory to the priest-hood of iesus christ . to the other parts contained in that diuision , is answered before . an answere to the booke intituled , protestant proofes of catholicke religion . it pleased god i published a short treatise of perswasion to the ignorant recusants , to reconcile themselues to our church . i might happily haue perswaded them , at the least , to be halfe conuerts , as saint paul did king agrippa to bee halfe a christian , had they not beene as a plot of ground vnapt to receiue good seed ; and like those houses , with whom for their vnworthinesse the peace of the apostles could not abide . the points which especially i vrged , were proued out of bellarmine , their owne doctor , and in the places by me produced , i falfified nothing ; but dealt sincerely , let the learned disproue me , if they can . if they examine my arguments according to the lawes of schooles , they shall finde nothing false that may iustly bee denied ; nothing equiuocall , that needeth distinction : so that they must either answere me with silence , or else , if they deale ingeniously , say with the inchanters : digitus dei est , it is the finger of god , and make as open a confession of euiction , as iulian the apostata did , when hee cryed out : vicisti galilaee , thou hast gotten the victory thou galilean : yet haue i beene contradicted , but how iustly , let the learned reader iudge . an author without a name , printed a booke at paris , anno 1607. with this title : the first part of protestant proofes for catholicke religion and recusancy , taken onely from the writings of such protestant doctors as haue bene published since the reigne of his maiesty . which booke is nothing else but an vndigested chaos , or miscellanea of halfe sentences rudely consarcinated together , a confused heape of places , some meerely diuised by himselfe , and not to be found in these protestant doctors ; some wrested and falsly applied ; some truly alledged ; but impertinent to the argument hee taketh in hand : all of them being praemisses without conclusions , to make an idle shew of proofe where nothing is proued ; and of a confutation where nothing is confuted . these proofes he saith , he collected out of the bookes of the reuerend father in god , the lord bishop of winchester , doctor suckliffe , doctor field , doctor downam , doctor morton , , mr. egerton , and my selfe , among many others , in defence of his recusancy , and romish religion . but hee hath not vndertaken to answer any of our books ; neither can any iudicious man hold such recital of our words , to be a confutation of our works . of these learned writers , and reuerend men , i say with the parents of the blinde man : aetatem habent , they are sufficient to answer for themselues ; and therefore i vndertake nothing in their behalfe , onely for apology of mine owne selfe , i may truly say : because it is as impossible for him to make a iust reply against me , as it was for the centurion to deny the power of god in our sauiour christ , when being conuicted by euident demonstration , he said : verè filius deiest , in truth he was the sonne of god : therefore he hath with elimas peruerted the straight waies of the lord , and withstood the truth by indirect and sinister meanes , as iamnes and iambres resisted moses ; for i pressed them by way of sound reason , and strong argument , he hath dealt by elenches and sophismes , as the apostle speaketh : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , deceiuing them by paralogismes . first , he hath these words . the greatest number of protestant writers , doctor succliffe , doctor doue , &c. do teach there is no matter of faith , no materiall or substantiall point or difference in religion betweene protestants & puritants , but they are of one church , faith , and religion . but we doubt whether they will stand to their positions they writ , in queene elizabeth daies , seeing they defend they may often change ( at the least at the change of euery prince . doue perswasion pag. 31. wherein let the reader iudge whether he hath dealt with me ingenuously or no ? for i spake only of the manner of compiling our seruice booke , he chargeth me as if i had spoken of faith , materiall and substantiall points of religion . i spake of fact , what we did concerning our seruice booke , and they concerning their breauiry , which haue changed as often as we , he speaketh of right , as if i had said , we not onely then might , vpon such good considerations , as then iustly moued vs , but also may euer hereafter , when there is no such iust cause to induce vs thereunto , change and alter our faith and grounds of religion . my words were antagonisticall , and by way of obiection from them , with answere to their obiection , he doth make relation of them , as if they were dogmaticall , and as a grounded conclusion maintained among vs. therefore i charge him with two fallacies . the first is , fallacia accentus . for when wordes spoken interogatiuely are repeated indicatiuely , or words spoken ironically , as if they were spoken plainely , or by way of obiection , as if they were dogmaticall , and all such like are referred to that fallacy . secondly , he citeth part of my words , which are the obiection : and leaueth out the other part , which are the answere , which is comprehended vnder the elenche , called fallacia diuisionis , of which one species is : quando citatur imperfecta sententia , non integra , when part of the words are recited which the sophister thinketh may serue his turne , the other part is omitted , lest the whole sentence should make against him . secondly , he writeth thus : the visible church of christ is a congregation of faithfull men , in which the pure word of god is preached , the sacramēts duly administred , according to christs ordinance , in all things that are of necessity required to the same , couel , field , doue , be of the same minde , perswas . page . 23. i confesse , i am of the same minde , not onely in thesi , but also in hypothesi : that our church is such a congregation , that gods word is truly preached , and the sacraments duly administred among vs , according to christ his institution . but this is not with sampson , to fetch meat out of the eater . our words make for our selues , but yeeld no aduantage to our aduersaries , among whom neither gods word is truly preached , nor the sacramēts duly administred . therefore they are idlely produced by him , to delude the reader in making a shew of proofe for their religion , and of confutation for ours , when there is no medivs terminvs , wherby any thing should be proued or confuted . and if he apply it by hypothesis to the church of rome , that it is such a visible cōgregation , &c. and that therfore recusants may safely continue in it , and refuse to communicate with vs , we were neuer of that minde , neither can that be any protestant proofe . but it is a petitio principij , begging of the question , which he taketh as granted when it is denyed . thirdly , thus : m. williats words . to errors of doctrine which are not fundamentall , euen the true church of christ is subiect . so field ordinarily in his bookes of the church : so sutcliffe , doue perswa . pag. 31. 32. but what doth he cōclude out of these words ? that therefore recusants may wilfully maintaine the errours of the church of rome , rather then be reconciled to our church , which is purged from such errors ? these words are no protestant proofe of catholike religion : hoc est ludere , non argumentari , this is to play the wanton , not the logitian . fourthly , he chargeth me in this manner : concerning doctrine . doctor doue writeth in these termes : in fundamentall points of doctrine , the greatest papists in the world agree with vs. perswas . page . 11. these are my words ; i deny them not . moreouer , i did instance in these fundamentall points , wherein they consent with vs , and thereupon i inferred , that they did rashly condemne vs for heretickes , what then followeth ? will he therefore inferre , that either holding the fundamentall points therefore their superstitions and errours may safely be maintained ? or that therefore they may be iustly excused for not communicating with vs , as if their consenting with vs in fundamentall points , should be a cause why they should the rather abhorre our church & religion ? it is a sufficient preiudice to the cause of their religion , that they dispute in such loose manner . againe , he saith : so doctor doue in his whole treatise neuer chargeth the church of rome , either with schisme or heresie , but laboureth to excuse themselues , offering that we shall communicate with them , without any change of opinion ; and yet hee setteth downs this for an infallible position : this proposition is vndovbtedly trve : no heretike , or schismatike is to be commvnicated withal . perswas . pag. 5. in that i haue not charged them with schisme or heresie , i haue shewed that we are more charitable to them , then they are to vs , which do charge vs with both . in that hee saith : i onely laboured to excuse our selues , as if i had proued nothing to cleare vs from that iniust aspertion , i referre him to the place it selfe , where i haue made due proofe that we are free from both heresie and schisme , by such sound reasons as this author cannot answer . but whereas he saith it is offered on my part , that they shall at their pleasure communicate with vs without change of opinion , he burdeneth me with an vntruth by himselfe diuised , and not to bee quoted out of any of my bookes . in so writing , he may fill vp a volume , but he shall neuer strengthen his owne cause , of weaken ours . moreouer ( saith he ) he giueth vs security that by no possibility ( according to the former reason of generall councels ) the romane church can be iudged hereticall . his words bee these , pag. 14. no church can be condemned and iudged hereticall by any priuate censure , but it must be publicke , by a generall councell , as he there expoundeth himselfe , and is granted before . but what doth he cōclude out of this ? that because the church of rome is not condemned by a generall councell to bee hereticall ; it must needs be therefore orthodoxall ? this is such a consequent as neither protestants , nor any other of sound iudgement will grant . fifthly , he chargeth me thus : touching sacraments , he alledgeth pag. 27. 28. that according to our definition of a sacrament , there are as many as we teach ; and this shall not breede any iarre betweene vs ; that therefore we should refuse to communicate together . and transubstantiation it selfe shall be no barre : but if we will receiue at their hands , they will not examine how we expound these words : hoc est corpus meum , this is my body . pag. 29. and of discipline he writeth : in that councell of trent they set forth such wholsome canons concerning discipline , as were fit for a reformed church . i deny not these words , but i deny that they make any thing for the defence of recusancy . concerning the word sacrament , as it is a name diuised by man , but not found in the scriptures : so it is not any matter of saluation to vary about the number of sacraments ; especially among them with whom it is not agreed what a sacrament is : for , where words are not vnderstood , ad idem , secundem idem , &c. nothing hindereth , but contrary , or contradictory propositions may be both true , as to say : there are seuen , and there are not seuen sacraments : for so concerning the number of sacraments they and we differ in words when we may easily agree in substance . the word sacrament is strictly taken with vs , and so according to m. caluin his definition ; it is an outward signe ordeined of god to be cōtinued in his church , as a part of his diuine seruice , offering to all men , but sealing onely to the faithfull his inward grace , for the strengthening of their saith , & the applying of christ his death vnto them . and so there can be but two , according to the confession of saint augustine : a resurrectione domini quaedam pauca signapro multis , eademque factu facillima , intellectu augustissinta obseruatione castissima ipse dominus & apostolica tradidit disciplina , baptismum & coenam domini : since the lord his resurrection , our sauiour his selfe , and from him his apostles , haue commended to vs for outward signes , or seales , a very few in steed of many , and those for performance most easie , for signification most ample , for obseruation most pure and holy , and they are baptisme , and the lords supper . but this word sacrament is more largely taken in the church of rome for a signe in generall , although it do not apply vnto vs , and represent before our eyes the death of iesus christ . and it is defined to be signum rei sacra an outward signe of any holy thing . and according to that definition , there may be not only 7. but also 70. sacraments . of transubstantion , hauing first proued that the bread and the wine in the eucharist cannot be transubstantiated ; and yet not denying them to be the body and bloud of our sauiour , because he hath said they are so , i said : in that we both agree , onely the difference betweene vs , is , how the words : this is my body , are to be vnderstood ? whether really or sacramentally , properly or mystically ? and that it should be no barre or scruple to their consciences in what sense we vnderstand it , so as we deliuer it to them according to the institution of our sauiour christ : and that if they will in all other things submit themselues to the lawes of our church , we will not presse them so farre in examining them how they expound the words , but rather yeeld so much to their weaknesse in this one poynt , vntill god shall reueale a further measure of the knowledge of his truth vnto them . so these words of mine import nothing in fauour of transubstantiation . thirdly , the councell of trent hath set downe wholsome canons cōcerning discipline , as in part the 3. lataran coūcell did long before ; as namely , for preaching , and learned ministers , &c. and the reformed churches of england , scotland , germany , netherland , geneua , haue receiued many of those canons , although they come from the pope , as deeming them fit for a reformed church . but these my words make nothing for the allowance of that councell it selfe , or of the points of doctrine there concluded ; neither yet of their recusancy , among whom for the most part , these canons of discipline are not receiued . sixthly , concerning the popes supremacy , of europe there can be no question . for , generally protestants agree with field , doue , ormerod , that the regiment of the west churches ( among which this nation is one ) belonged to the pope of rome . page . 29. 30. i spake of the popes supremacy , and my words are these : what authority soeuer the pope had ouer the latine church , or west part of the world , it hath bene giuen him by humane constitutions onely , and generall consent of princes and states , which they suffered him to enioy during their good liking , and no longer . and hauing thus shewed that the popes authority ouer other churches , was not by diuine institution , but onely by humane permission ; not certaine , but during the pleasure of princes and states : my words fauour not his supremacy ouer vs in england , out of which by consent of prince and parliament , hee hath beene abandoned long since . and therefore , i say , the bishop of rome is little beholding to me for his title of supremacy : this is a very loose and negligent kinde of disputation . seuenthly , saith he , doue persw . pag. 15. referreth the question what books be canonicall scriptures to the two doctors , s. augustine and s. hierom. his words be these : catholikes proue them to be canonical out of s. augustine : we , that they be apocripha , out of s. hierome ; both which doctors : are of no smal authority in the church of rome : therefore in this we differ no more from them , then s. hierome did from s. augustine . therefore i hope for many causes protestants will giue place to us in this question . i deny not , but the question being propounded concerning the bookes of toby , iudith , baruch , ecclesiasticus , wisedome , the maccabes , and the fragment of esther , whether they were canonicall , ( as the church of rome doth hold ) or apocripha , as our church maintaineth ? i answered : that forasmuch as there is canon fidei , & morum , one canon or rule of good life , another of faith : and that may be canon morum , quodnon est fidei , arule and patterne of good life for vs to follow , which is not a sufficient ground of doctrine to build our faith vpon : they were both canonicall , and apocripha : canonicall , according to saint augustins , for rules of good life : apocripha , according to s. hierome ; because they were no true grounds of doctrine . and so the church of rome and our selues , rightly vnderstanding one another , as saint hierome and saint augustine vnderstood themselues , there needed not be any difference concerning this point betweene vs. but how can he inferre vpon this : that therefore we must giue place to him in this question ? as saint hierome gaue no place to saint augustine , so will we giue no place to any ; onely i wish they would better vnderstand both vs and themselues , and giue place to the truth . and , forasmuch as they allow both of saint hierome , and saint augustine , to be orthodoxall doctors , they cannot receiue s. augustine his opinion , but they must also embrace s. hieroms exposition , where it is explained what is the meaning of s. augustine , where hee alloweth those bookes to be canonicall . eighthly , saith he , concerning the vulgar latine translation allowed among catholikes , d. doue writeth thus , pag. 16. we grant it fit , that for vniformity , in quotation of places in schooles , and pulpits , one latine text should be vsed , and we can bee contented for the antiquity thereof , to preferre the old vulgar translation , before all other latine bookes ; and so much we yeeld to the councell of trent . the praemisses are mine , but what is his conclusion ? because we ascribe to the vulgar edition , more then to all other latine translations ; and therein agree with the church of rome : and because we yeeld to the councell of trent so farre as reason doth require , and no further ; but disagree both from the church of rome , and that councel in things which are erroneous : concedendo vera , negando falsa , will he therefore take this for a protestant proofe of his catholicke religion ? non taliauxilio , nec defensoribus istis roma caret : if the church of rome had no better champions , it would not stand . ninthly , doctor couel writeth : no translation whatsoeuer is authenticall scripture . and doctor doue addeth : all translations haue many faults . page . 16. in so writing , i write the truth . for onely god is free from errour ; and therefore only the originall text is authenticall scripture . all men are subiect to errours , omnis homo mendax , but all translations are the workes of men . but how idlely is this brought in as a protestant proofe of recusancy ? well may it serue against recusants , which ascribe more to the translation thē to the originall . if no translation be authenticall , then it followeth as a firme consequent , that the vulgar latine edition cannot be authentical , howsoeuer the councel of trent hath imposed it vpon vs as authenticall . tenthly , for this time and place ( saith he ) i will only make amplification of doctor doue , his grant & confession , which followeth in these words : when the masse was first put down , king henry had his english litourgie , and that was then iudged absolute without all exception . but when king edward came to the crowne , that was cōdemned , and another was in the place ; which peter martyr , and bucet did approue as very consonant to gods word . when q. elizabeth began her reign , the former was iudged to be full of imperfections , and a new was diuised , & allowed by consent of the clergy . but about the middle of her reigne , we grew weary of that booke , & great meanes haue bene wrought to abandon it , & establish another , which although it was not obtained ; yet we do at the least , at euery change of prince , change our booke of common praier , we bee so want on we know not what we would haue . pag. 31. hitherto his words , and he freely confessed errours in all these states and changes . for defence whereof , besides that these words are written by way of obiection from them , rather then any confession made by our selues : i did not so much as intimate that there were errours in all these states and changes , as he vniustly chargeth me ; but onely that in the seruice bookes of king henry , and king edward , some things were iudged to sauor of the superstitions of the church of rome . but as for the seruice booke which was allowed by queene elizabeth , it stood not only during her time without alteration , but also it is ratified by his maiestie , and allowed of by the state ; albeit by some particularmen it hath bene impugned , as nothing else can be by the wit of man so well deuised , but mans wit can dispute against it . and as for those errours which were reformed in the books of k. henry , and king edward , they were the superstitions onely of the church of rome , the land being not then sufficiently reformed , nor purity of religion so perfectly established , as now it is , because the bishops & clergy men by whom those bookes were written , their selues were too much so wred with the romish leauen . and our daily renouncing those superstitions , and receiuing greater light of the gospell , could be no protestant proofe that we should any way fauour their superstitions . eleuenthly , he writeth thus : why may we not say with the councell of florence , cited by m. williat for generall , and the patriarkes of the apostolike seas there present , and the councel of constance , not of vnequall authority , & the councell of trent ( to passe others ) with 6. cardinals , 4. legats , 3. patriarkes , 32. arch-bishops , 228. bishops , and 5. abbots there assembled , ( as doctor doue telleth vs ) that protestancy in all places is false , and catholicke religion true ; where no protestant church can shew any one such like authority for their cause ? the third part of such an assembly would haue bene a great countenance to protestant religion , farre greater then euer it had , or is likely to procure . to which i answer : first , concerning the councell of florence , in all those 25. sessions which in it were : held , 15. of them being at ferraria , where the councell began , and the other at florence , where the councel was concluded , there is scarce any one point of religion touched , of which there is any controuersie betweene protestants and recusants ; onely while it was at ferraria , before the acts of the first session , the question of purgatory was superficially disputed . therefore that councell was farre from cōdemning protestancy , or approuing catholike religion . secondly , of the councell of constance , which he will haue to be of no lesse authority : bellarmine his selfe denyeth it to haue any authority at all , or credit of a generall councell , alledging that it is in the catalogue of those 15. synods which the catholicke church hath not receiued . it seemeth therefoe that this author was not well acquainted with the generall councels . thirdly , as i confessed such a number of prelates to be present at the councell of trent , so i alledged reasons why it could not bee a lawfull councell ; which he is so farre from answering , that he passeth them ouer with silence . as also he spareth to repeate the residue of my words , which make against him , according to his accustomed fallacy , wherein i derogated from the credit of this assembly , shewing that they were there onely at the end of the councell , being then newly created by the pope to countenace the synod , and so to subscribe to all conclusions for forme sake . but at the beginning , when matters were argued , there were but forty bishops , and foure legates , too small an assembly to deserue the name of a generall councell . albeit , it is not a bare multitude of suffrages , and presence of bishops , that can giue coūtenance to a generall councell . for the whole multitude of priests and others cryed against our sauiour christ : crucifie him . the kings stood vp , and the princes tooke councell together against the lord , and his annoynted . so then , if he argue from the councell of florence , to condemne our religion , i deny his antecedent . if from the councell of constance , i deny his argument : if from the councell of trent , it is but a fallacy , petitio principij ; because hee taketh that for a proofe , which is the matter in dispute . the ansvver to a treatise intitvled : a search made into matters of religion : by francis walsingham , deacon of the protestants church , before his change to the catholicke . dedicated to the kings maiestie . against luther , caluin , zuinglius , beza , iewel , williat , doue , rogers , and other protestants . ieremy 47. 10. cursed be he that doth the workes of the lord negligently . london , printed for simon waterson , dwelling in paules church-yard , at the signe of the crowne . 1610. the answer to a treatise intitvled : a search made into matters of religion , by francis walsingham , deacon of the protestants church , before his change to the catholicke , dedicated to the kings maiesty : against luther , caluin , zuinglius , beza , iewel , williat , doue , rogers , and other protestants . in my perswasion to the recusants to reconcile themselues to our church , i vsed these words : the ignorant recusant pretendeth his conscience , saying : it is against my conscience to come to church ; and , whatsoeuer i do against my conscience , is sin . i confesse , whatsoeuer is done without testimony or warrant of conscience , is sin to them that do it , be that which is done in it selfe neuer so lawfull ; because the apostle saith : he that doubteth , is condemned if he eate , because he eateth not of faith ; and whatsoeuer is not of faith , is sinne . in which words , by faith , is vnderstood conscience . but by the way , they must see that their conscience be rightly informed , else it will bee their damnation . out of which words , m. walsingham maketh this collection : that i seemed to him , substantially to iustifie out of these words of s. paul , the recusancy of catholickes , if they can proue they haue a good ground , or motiue of conscience . it is true , one absurdity being granted , many others will follow . therefore to this hypothetical proposition , i answer , by granting the maior , and denying the minor. for they cannot proue they haue any such good ground or motiue of conscience ; therfore their reculancy is not iustified out of these words . it is but petitio principij , a begging of the question . againe , he saith : if their conscience were erroneous , and grounded vpon false grounds , and principles : yet , so long as that perswasion endureth , it seemeth they may not be forced . the insufficiency of which argument i will lay open by the like . hee that hath not examined himselfe , may not come to the lords table , lest he eate and drinke vnworthily ; and so eate and drinke his owne damnation , not discerning the lords body . shall this want of examination of a mans selfe , be therefore a warrant to any man to liue like an infidell ? neuer to examine himselfe ? and so neuer to come to the lords table ? and so to be exempted from the authority , and coactiue power of the church ? he must be forced to examine himselfe , and communicate : so the recusant , whose conscience is erroneous , and founded vpon false principles , must be forced to renounce his errours , to build his religion , vpon sounder principles , to receiue instruction , and informe his conscience better , and so to come to the church . he taketh vpon him to disproue my definition of conscience , which is , that it is an application of a generall knowledge , grounded vpon gods word to particular actions and intents . he saith : this definition is defectiue , being not so large as the thing that is defined ; because the heathens which know not gods word , yet haue a conscience grounded onely vpon the law of nature . i answer , that if conscience be by him vniuocally vnderstood , ( as all things ought to be which are defined ) my definition cannot be disproued . but when he instanceth in the consciences of heathen men , he flyeth to equiuocation , whereas an equiuocall thing cannot bee defined . in like manner , if i should define religion to be a rule of faith and life , grounded vpon gods word , he might take the same exception against it , and say , that the religion of the turkes is grounded vpon the alcaron ; the religion of the iewes is grounded partly vpon the talmod : the religion of the catholickes partly vpon the traditions of men . if i define a man to be animal rationale , a body indued with a reasonable soule , he may likewise say that definition agreeth not with a painted man , or the picture of a man. as speaking of religion , i define not false religion ; but the true christian religion : and speaking of a man , i define not an equiuocall , or analogicall , but an vniuocall man : so i define not a darke and erroneous , but a sound , and true vnderstanding conscience . as for the heathens , they haue yet left some reliques of the image of god , which are reason & vnderstanding . therefore the apostle saith : the gentiles which haue not the law , do by nature the things contained in the law , hauing not the law , they are a law to themselues , which shew the effects of the law written in their hearts , their consciences also bearing witnesse , and their thoughts accusing one another , or excusing : that is , the gentiles haue not the law absolutely , and in such perfect manner as the iewes , to whom god deliuered euery precept of the law expressely by writing ; yet they haue , will they , nill they , written in their hearts some feeling of religion , and are able to put a difference betweene vertue and vice ; which sufficeth onely to their damnation . they do by nature , ea quae legis sunt , the things contained in the law : that is , they command things which are honest , forbid the things which are vniust , set downe punishments for theft , adultery , and such like offences . but by the way : aliud est facere quod lex iubet , aliud facere quod lex facit , aut ea quae legis sunt facere . it is one thing to doe what the law commandeth , ( for that they do not , that were to keepe the law ) another thing to do the things contained in the law , or to do as the law doth : that is , onely to command the things which the law commandeth , and to forbid what the law forbiddeth ; which onely the gentiles do . neither do they that fully , but onely in some part , concerning outward things ; but are farre from the knowledge of true piety to saue their soules . so then , the conscience of the gentiles being sufficiently instructed without gods word , by the light of nature , onely to their condemnation , what doth that concerne my purpose which define a conscience rightly informed , and sufficiently grounded to saluation ? he goeth about to disproue my definition of heresie , which i defined to be : an errour stiffely and obstinately maintained and defended ; not by a consequent , but directly impugning some article of faith . which definition he saith is also defectiue , because it is not so large as the thing which is defined . his words are these : for if we looke into all the heresies recorded by ireneus , tertullian , epiphanius , saint augustine , &c. we shall not find the lest part directly , and expressely , against any article of the apostles creed , which m. d. doue a little after doth say he meaneth , as of the pelagians , which holdeth that a man may do good workes by the power of his owne free will without grace , the aetians , that faith was sufficient without good workes to life euerlasting , and that christ had reuealed more to them , then to the apostles , the aerians that denied prayer , and sacrifices for the dead , and set fasts of the church . neither can d. doue proue that his owne example of the arian heresie by him alleaged , did directly impugne any article of the creed , but by a consequent . for arius denied the equality of the sonne with the father , and by a consequent his godhead , and so by a consequent the second article of the creed : iesus christ his onely sonne our lord. first , i answer , he hath not dealt ingenuously with me . for i did not in my definition of heresie restraine faith only to the creed of the apostles , as the place it selfe will plainely shew ; for i did mention not onely that creed , but also the creed of nice , of ephesus , of constantinople , which i sayd we hold , and also the text of the bible , to free vs from heresie . secondly , the pelagian holding that a man could do good workes by the power of his owne free will without grace : directly impugneth faith , euen the text of the bible , where it is written : we are not sufficient of our selues to thinke any thing as of our selues , but our sufficiency is of god. o lord i know that the way of man is not in himselfe ; neither is it in man to walke and direct his steppes . all the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart are onely euill continually . the naturall man perceaueth not the things that are of god. we are dead in sinnes . no man can say that iesus is the lord , but by the spirit of god. the aëtian saying : faith without good workes is sufficient to eternall life , directly , denieth the doctrine of the bible : what auaileth it my brethren , though a man say he hath faith when he hath no workes ? can the faith saue him ? if faith haue no workes it is dead . whereas the aetian holdeth that christ hath reuealed more to him then to the apostles , it is expressely , and directly against the scriptures , where s. paul saith : i haue kept nothing backe , but haue shewed you all the counsell of god. that the arians denied the godhead of christ , not by a consequent onely , but directly , witnes s. augustine , and epiphanius . for s. augustine saith that they held : filium esse creaturam , that the sonne of god was a creature . and epiphanius : non veritus est ipse ac discipuli eius creaturam vocare eum qui omnia creauit , verbum ex patre sine tempore , & sine principio genitum , both he and his disciples feared not to call him a creature which created all things , euen the word which was begotten of his father , without time , and without beginning . as for aerius he could not be an hereticke for denying prayer and sacrifice for the dead , and set fasts of the church ; for as much as prayer and sacrifice for the dead are contrary to sound doctrine , and fasts are a matter of indifferency , and not of faith . that he was condemned for an hereticke , it was not so much for these opinions , as for that first being a schismaticke , because he could not obtaine a bishopricke he became an arian , as it appeareth by s. augustine , his words are these : doluisse fertur quod episcopus non potuit ordinari , & in arianorum haeresim lapsus propria quoque dogmata addidisse dicens : orare pro mortuis , vel oblationem offerre , non oportere , &c. he was discontented because he could not obteine a bishopricke ; and thereupon he fell into the heresie of the arians , to which he added some opinions of his owne , saying : it was not lawfull to pray , or offer sacrifice for the dead , &c. these positions of his , s. augustine doth not call heresies , but onely opinions . likewise epiphanius . therefore adhuc saluares est , my definition of heresie remaineth sound , and not to be by him gainesayd . but by the way , that i may giue good satisfaction to the reader concerning this poynt . we find in the catalogue of heresies many reckoned vp , which are so farre from directly impugning faith , that indeed they do not at all impugne the faith , as that of aerius , which denied prayer and sacrifice for the dead , and the set fasts of the church . to which i answer out of s. augustine . first , these fathers which make such long catalogues of heresies , do not write as if they in their owne iudgements did hold all these to be heresies ; but onely they deliuer what opinions in seuerall ages haue bene condemned as hereticall , leauing it to the priuate iudgement of the reader , whether they were iustly condemned as hereticall , or not : but their selues deliuer not what is their owne iudgement . for saith he : quid faciat haereticum , regulari quâdam definitione comprehendi , sicut ego existimo , aut omninò non potest , aut difficillimè potest : to deliuer by a lawfull definition what thing maketh an hereticke , in my opinion it is impossible , or at lest , of great difficulty . againe , that in the catalogue of heresies the fathers do not agree concerning the number of them , but some recken vp more , some fewer , he saith : quod vtique non euenisset , nisi aliud vni eorū videretur esse haeresis , & aliud alteri , the cause was for that such an opinion as seemed heresie in the iudgement of one father , in the iudgement of another was not hereticall . and concerning epiphanius the bishop of cypris , & philestrius bishop of brix ; which both writ of heresies : the one making a longer catalogue then the other , he saith : procul dubio in eâ quaestione vbi disceptatur quid sit haeresis , non idem videbatur ambobus , & reuer à hoc omnino definire difficile est : & ideo cauendum , quum omnes in numerum redigere conamur , ne pretermittamus aliquas quum hareses sint , aut enumeremus aliquas quum haereses non sint : that which seemed an heresie to one of them , did not seeme so to the other ; and to define truly what is heresie , is very hard : and they which will write the catalogue of heresies , must be very circumspect , lest they leaue out of the catalogue , some opinions which are indeed hereticall , & put in others which are no heresies . secondly , the fathers in those catalogues did not vnderstand this word heresie , so strictly as in our age it is vnderstood ; but generally for euery sect in religion , differing from the receiued opinion of the church , as it appeareth by s. augustine in the words going before , where hee maketh an heresie and a sect all one , shewing : quantum inter se differunt de numero sectarum . how much epiphanius and philastrius discent concerning the number of sects ? where he calleth them sects , which before he called heresies . and it is no maruaile though with those fatheres , all heresies do not directly impugne the faith , when by thē onely sects are vnderstood . but to make euery opinion an heresie which not only , directly , but also by a consequent impugneth faith , as m. walsingham will haue it , is to make no difference betweene errour and heresie ; but to call euery errour in religion an heresie , as ludouicus viues speaketh : haeresis nomen rebus leuissimis impingitur , the name of heresie is layd vpon euery light matter . and of him it may one time or other be verified which alphonsus de castro speaketh : idcirco fit , vt hiqui tam leuiter de haeresi pronuntiant , non expendentes de quâre loquantur , saepè suà ipsorum sagittâ feriantur , incidantque in eam foueam quam alijs parabant . it happeneth that they which so rashly call euery thing heresie , not considering whereof they speake , bee oftentimes beaten with their owne weapon , and fall into the pit which they digged for others . i shewed , pag. 10. how pusillanimity maketh men sometimes do contrary to their owne conscience , as cardinall pole , who dying said : the protestants are the honester men , i would be a protestant , were it not for the church of rome . this i brought for example to illustrate , not for argument to proue . for exempla non probant , examples proue not . he turneth it another way , saying : i broughtit for a reason to proue that protestants are no heretickes . in defence of our church , that it could not be accounted hereticall , i called into question the authority of the councell of trent by which it was condemned , alledging diuers exceptions against that councell , that it could not be a lawfull generall councell , the paucity of the bishops which were there present , their partiality , the definition of a generall councell cited by bellarmine , which could no way be verified of that assembly . hauing produced these arguments to disinable that councell , he doth not so much as repeate any of them ; much lesse doth he answer them : onely he saith , that it seemed to him a slight argument , and to giue more aduantage to my aduersary , then defence to my selfe and my cause . i reply , that it is no maruaile though a man of slight iudgement , which passeth ouer all other things of moment so slightly , doe esteeme those arguments to be so slight , which his selfe cannot answer . to perswade catholikes to come to our church , i shewed how the learned among them , do come euery day nearer to our religion , and more and more fauour our opinions . he saith it is a dreame . i wish this dreamer to awake out of sleepe , and with greater vigilancy to consider of the particulars as they are produced by mee , i said : first , the learned catholickes agree with vs concerning the bookes of scripture which be canonicall , which apocripha , i writ in this maner : the bookes of toby , iudith , baruch , ecclesiasticus , wisdome , maccabes , the fragment of esther , they hold to be canonicall , according to s. augustine : we , to be apocripha , according to s. hierome ; and in this point we differ no more from them , then hierome did from augustine , which did both agree , and were easily reconciled . s. hierome interpreting s. augustines meaning : that they were canonicall enough to proue rules of life , not grounds of doctrine and faith . thus haue we deliuered long since . but bellarmine handling this question at large , replieth not against vs : nay , hee doth not so much as mention this distinction of canons of faith , and canons of good life . therefore we take it as a thing granted by the lawes of disputation , that he holdeth as we hold , resteth satisfied with our answer , & the case to be cleare betweene vs both . m. walsingham blusheth not to deliuer a notorious vntruth , saying : that bellarmine handleth this distinction at large , and refuteth the same in his first booke , de verbo dei , cap. 10. in which booke and chapter , no such thing can be found . secondly , they agree with vs cōcerning the bible , which is the best and truest edition . for wheras we holding the originall text only to be authenticall , the councell of trent obtrudeth to vs the vulgar latine translation . bellarmine preferreth the original before the latine , as we do . m. walsingham is not ashamed to charge me that i haue abused both the councell of trent and bellarmine . that i haue not abused the councell , witnesse the councell it selfe : that i haue not abused bellarmine , witnesse bellarmine de verbo dei , lib. 2. cap. 11. thirdly , they agree with vs concerning the sufficiency of the scriptures , that in them are deliuered all things necessary to saluation , contrary to the ancient doctrine of the church of rome . so bellarmine , de verbo dei , lib. 4. cap. 10. he is not ashamed to say : in reading the place hee hath discouered a notable fraude . whether i haue dealt fraudulently or sincerely , let the reader iudge . but wherein lyeth the fraude ? he saith that bellarmine speaketh these words onely by way of answer to an obiection . i conclude therefore it is no fraude . if i had taken that for positiue doctrine which was spoken by way of obiection , it had bene fraude in me ; but seeing it is an answer to an obiection , it is no fraude , but sincere dealing . fourthly , they hold with vs that purgatory is a tradition , and not to be found in the holy scriptures , witnesse bellarmine de verbo dei. l. 4. c. 4. he thinketh to auoid vs by saying that bellarmine speaketh onely antagonistically , by way of obiection out of luther , and not dogmatically out of his owne iudgement ; which is but petitio principij , a begging of the question . for it was questioned by me , whether bellarmine spake out of his owne iudgement , or not ? and the affirmatiue was by me proued & concluded . he bringeth no proofe for the negatiue part , but onely maketh that for his allegation , which is the question it selfe . fifthly , they discent not from vs about the authority of the scriptures , that it is aboue the authority of the church ; witnesse bellarmine de verbo dei. lib. 3. cap. 10. he repeateth the words , but maketh no answer to them . he chargeth me with papistry , because i confessed that our church was condemned as hereticall by the councell of trent ; which is but petitio principij : for i denyed our church to be euer the more hereticall for the censure of that councell , whose authoriry i disinabled by sufficient reasons , to which he maketh no answer : and therefore in that place i haue not played the papist . whereas i exhorted the recusants , diligently to reade , as well our writers , as their owne ; our answers as well as their obiections ; and then to examine their owne iudgements before they passe their sentence against vs to condemne vs of heresie : he maketh two answers : first , that they haue already done so , to which i reply : they haue done it partially . secondly , that vnlearned men and women are not able to do so ; and therefore they must relye vpon the iudgement of the catholicke church . to which i reply , that if they be not able , the fault is in the the catholicke church of rome , which holdeth the people still in ignorance , whereas s. iohn teacheth , that they ought to be of such knowledge , as to try and examine the spirits : and the citizens of berea are commended by the holy ghost , because they were able to examine saint pauls doctrine . and i say with the apostle : that if the gospell bee hidden , it is hidden to them which are lost . i alledged that few things are in our booke of common praiers , which are not taken out of the bible , or out of that which was good in the masse booke : so that if they allow of the bible & their masse booke , they cānot disallow of our seruice book . he answereth in these words : if all the seruice booke were taken out of the bible it selfe , ( as most of all heretical seruice hath bene in euery age pretended to be ) yet might the collection and combination be such as might make it vnlawfull and pestiferous : as when the arrians did sing : gloria patri cum filio , & per filium , and the catholickes , & filio . the difference in sound of words , was small ; but in substance and malice execrable . to which i reply , that forasmuch as he maketh such a supposition , but sheweth no such collection or combination in our seruice booke ; neither any thing in it like to that of the arrians , he speaketh idlely , and to no purpose ; neither is any thing thereby derogated from the credit of our seruice booke . to the recusants which obiect that there are dissentions among vs : i answered , that so there were among them : i named eckius , pighius , thomas , scotus : nay , there were dissentions among the apostles themselues : so that dissention is no argument to disinable vs from being the true church , for in religion we agree . m. walsingham chargeth me with three absurdities : the first of ignorance or folly ; for that eckius , pighius , thomas , scotus dissented onely in matters disputable , and not determined by the church for points of faith . in which words he maketh the church of rome to be so negligent in their determination of matters of religion , as if they held the doctrine of iustification , wherein eckius and pighius disagreed , and of merit wherein the thomists and scotist disagreed not to appertaine vnto faith , and to be matters so indifferent , as if they afforded onely cause of disputation , but needed not to be discided . the second absurditie he saith is impiety , for that the apostles contentions were not about matters of different doctrine . i say no more are ours . the third he saith is ridiculous audacity , to deny so absolutely disagreement in matters of religion among vs , whereof the whole world can be witnesse out of our owne books , and inuectiues one against another . to which i answer , that albeit some particular factious spirits among vs write seditious pamphlets one against another , this imputation cannot iustly be layd vpon our church , which by all manner of good meanes suppresseth dissention , but maintaineth peace and vnitie . thus much i thought fit to deliuer , not for answer to his disgracefull speeches vttered against me , which i passe ouer with silence , as not touching the cause of religion , but in defence onely of the truth which i tooke in hand , that our aduersariēs may vnderstand how we haue not suffered those things so loosely to passe our hands , which they so loosely haue published against vs , to the view of the world , and so leauing them to the mercy of the lord , my prayer is : vincat christus , cadat haeresis , that falshood may still be detected , and truth may get the vpper hand . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a20679-e120 ecclesi . 12. 12. 1. tim. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . sixtus senensis , biblioth . sanctae lib. 4. notes for div a20679-e300 rom. 1. 14. 2. cor. 4. 2. the history of bell and the dragon . notes for div a20679-e470 mat. 3. 10. bellar. de rom. pont. lib. 1. c. 10. mat. 16. 18. caesar . bar. in apparat . 13. exod. 8. 19. de rom. pontifice . l. 1. c. 10. de verbo dei. l. 2. c. 4. de verbo dei , lib. 2. cap. 7. concil . trid. sess . 3. de rom. pont. lib. 1. cap. 10. luk. 16. 29. eph. 2. 20. chryss . hons . 55. in mat. lib. 6. de trinit . lib. 4. de trini●… 1 pet. 2. 5. 1. cor. 3. 11. luther l. de potestate pope . caluin instit . li. 4. c. 6. sect . 6. math. 28. mat. 16. ioh. 20. 23. theoph. in mat. 16. ambrose in psal . 38. de rom. pontifice . l. 1. c. 9. eph. 1. 22. apoc. 1. 5. ma. 28. 18. psal . 81. 6. ioh. 10. 34. notes for div a20679-e2000 bellar. de imaginib . lib. 2. c. 5. 1. reg. 7. exod. 20. rodolphus agricola . acts 7. 41. psal 39. ●… . iob. 4. 16. concil . trid. sess . 25. de imag . sanct. lib. 2. cap. 12. concil . nic. 2. act. 7. de imag . li. 2. cap. 25. de imag . l. 3. cap. 11. de imag . l. 2. cap. 13. exod. 23. iudg. 18. 5. exod. 19. 9. 11. exod. 20. 19. psal . 105. mat. 26. 75. gen. 40. 23 psal . 9. 17. iudg. 17. 3. de imag . li. 2. cap. 13. august . in psal . 113. esay 46. psa . 13. act. 19. catechis . rom. pars . 4. cap. 6 sect . 3. exod. 2. catechis . rom. pars 3. cap. 2. bell. de imaginib . li. b2 . cap. 5. exod. 11. 2. exod. 20. notes for div a20679-e3670 rom. 1. 20. psal . 19. 1. 2. tim. 3. ●5 . apoc. 20. 15. apoc. 5. 1. rom. 8. 28. 89. 30. eph. 1. 4. 5. so beza in annot . main in rom. 8. so bell. de grat . & lib. arbit . l. 2●… . 13. 2. tim. 2. 19. mat. 7. 23. mal. 1. 2. rom. 9. 13. rom. 9. 13. degrat & lib. arbit . l. 1. cap. 10. degratiâ & lib. arb . l. 2 cap. 16. exod. 5. 7. eucherid . ad laur. c. 98. rom. 9. 11. euchirid . ad laur. cap. 98. de gratiâ & lib. arb . lib. 2. c. 16. math. 29. august . lib. 3. aduersus iulianum cap. 18. august . l. 3 : aduers . iulian . cap. 18. petrus martyr locorum comclassis . 3. cap. 1. eph. 1. 4. de gratiâ & lib. arb . l. 2. cap. 10. euchirid . cap. 1. degrat & lib. arbit . l. 2 , cap. 10. eph. 1. 4. eph. 1. 2. pet. r. 10. gen. 2. gen. 2. psal . 24. rom. 9. 21. exod. 1. ad optatum epist . 157. rom. 9. 17. 18. 1. tim. 7. notes for div a20679-e6070 bellarm de sactorum bea● . lib. 1. cap. 17. bellar. ibidem . bell ibidem . rom. 11. 14. 1. cor. 9. 22. 1. tim. 4. 16. euchirid . com . locorum cap. 15. de verbo dei lib. 4. cap. 10. rom. 12. 3. 1. cor. 4. 6. rom. 3. 8. act. 20. 27. & 35. act. 2. 24. 1. reg. 8. 39. de sactorū beat lib. 1. cap. 16. de sanct . beat . lib. 1. cap. 20. iam. 1. 6. rom. 14. 23. de sanct . be at . lib. 1. cap. 18. exam. decret . trid. pars 3. de sanct . beat . lib. 1. cap. 18. exam. decret . trid. pars 3. de sanct . beat . lib. 1. cap. 19. notes for div a20679-e8320 act. 26. 28. mat. 13. mat. 10. 13. exod. 8 19. sozom. lib. 6. cap. 7. & 10. ioh. 9. 21. mat. 27. 54. acts 13. 10. exod. 7. 11. 13. iam 1. 22. see the preface of pope pius 5. in breuiarum rom. ex decreto synodus trid. restitutum . iudg. 14. 14. de doct . christi lib. 3 cap. 9. cathechis . romannus pars 2. de . sacram . sect . 3. concil . la. tar . 3. can. 13. & con. cil . 4. later . can. 29. de concil . l. 1. cap. 7. mat. 26. 50 psal . 2. 2. notes for div a20679-e9850 rom. 14. 1. cor. 11. 28. 29. rom. 2. 14. perswas . pag. 13. 2. cor. 3. 5 ier. 10. 23. gen. 5. 1. cor. 2. 14. col. 2. 13. 1. cor. 12. 3. iam. 2. 14. act. 20. 27. ad quod vult . cap. 49. contra ha● reses l. 2 , 1. 2. aug. de haeres . cap. 35. epiph. contra haeres . l. 3. tom . 1. haeresi 75. prafat . ad quod vult . epist . ad quod vult . epist . ad quod vult . de corrup . artib . de haeres . l. 1. cap. 7. tomo . 1. contro . 4. cap. 4. de verbo dei. l. 1. c. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. decret . 3. sessionis . 1. ioh. 4. 1. act. 17. 11. 2. cor. 4. 3. the practice of christian perfection wherein several considerations, cautions, and advices are set down, for the perfecting of the saints, and completing them in the knowledge of christ jesus / by thomas white ... white, thomas, d. 1682. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a65809 of text r39071 in the english short title catalog (wing w1852). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 137 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 98 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a65809 wing w1852 estc r39071 18208955 ocm 18208955 107139 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a65809) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107139) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1136:13) the practice of christian perfection wherein several considerations, cautions, and advices are set down, for the perfecting of the saints, and completing them in the knowledge of christ jesus / by thomas white ... white, thomas, d. 1682. [32], 160 p. printed by t.m. for tho. vere ..., london : 1651. running title: a directory to christian perfection. imperfect: tightly bound and stained, with some loss of print. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library. eng perfection -religious aspects. salvation. theology, doctrinal. a65809 r39071 (wing w1852). civilwar no the practice of christian perfection wherein several considerations, cautions, and advices are set down, for the perfecting of the saints, a white, thomas 1651 26896 11 10 0 0 0 0 8 b the rate of 8 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-11 john latta sampled and proofread 2004-11 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the practice of christian perfection . wherein several considerations , cautions , and advices are set down , for the perfecting of the saints , and completing them in the knowledge of christ jesus . by thomas white , minister of the word of god . thes. 3. 10. praying exceedingly , that we might see your face , and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith . london , printed by t. m. for tho. vere , at the sign of the angel , at the uper end of the old daily . 1651. the dedicatory prayer . let not my lord be angry , and i thy servant , which am but dust and ashes , will speak unto my lord . blessed god , unto the glory of thy name i dedicate and consecrate all that i have , and do , and think , and speak , and am , and in particular this treatise , beseeching thee to give me gifts , and strength , and wisdome , opportunity , and a heart to serve thee , that i may not be as a broken vessell . and i beseech thee , if thy servant hath found favour in thy sight , grant that whensoever any one shall read this treatise , thou wilt set in with such over-powring workings of thy holy spirit , that what they read may not be as a dead letter unto them , but that thou wilt so prevaile with their hearts when they shall read it , that they may both understand and practise the things that belong to their peace . grant this , and more , for his sake in whom thou art well pleased . amen . to the famous universities of this land , grace , mercy , peace and truth be multiplyed . men , brethren , and fathers , when i consider that all men generally by nature , and universities by designe desire and endeavour to know , and yet generally all live crosse to that principle when they come to act in the matters of god , i cannot but be astonished : for though the knowledg of him be demonstrably the most excellent , yet , as the apostle observeth , they like not to retain god in their knowledg , rom. 1. 28. arationall tract of insects , or any such thing , is bought , and read , and studied , admired and commended , whilest the word of god is a book which men are rather ashamed not to have , then delight to read and understand . now the great mischief of doting upon the knowledg of the creature , and despising the knowledge of the creator , is , that as they did reprobate the knowledge of god , so god did give them up to a reprobate sense , as the apostle speaketh in the following words . wherfore , since the insatiable desire of knowledge and unsanctified learning is a snare , though it be looked upon as a harmlesse and an innocent thing , and in that respect the more dangerous , i shall crave leave to give some christian advises for study . adv. i . get holiness before you get learning : for , 1. except you be holy your learning it self is defiled and defileth . 2. it puffs up , it builds not up . 3. you must never think by learning unsanctfied to learn the things of god , 1 corin. 2. 14. nor will the socinians distinction serve , that it is meant of carnall debauched men , for it is not {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . 4. if it were no hinderer it were far better , but it is an utter enemy ; nay it is not only an enemy , but enmity , yea enmities , romans 8. 7. and indeed , an enemy may be reconciled , but enmity never . 2 corinthians 10. 5. it builds strong holds and syllogisms against gospel truths , and accounts the knowledge of christ an illiterate thing . pardon me if i desire to know nothing among you but jesus christ , and him crucified . if i wrote to those that despise learning , i should in that case shew them many great advantages humane learning gives one , if sanctified , and that one might as well not make use of riches as not of learning in the service of god : yet since i write to you , whose great businesse is to get knowledg , i must say of that as it is said of riches , if humane learning increase , set not your hearts upon it . and though for a man to be holy is no hinderance but rather a furtherance to him in the getting of learning ; yet to be learned is a great hinderance to the getting of holinesse , that is , if he be first learned before holy . 5. except you have holinesse , you will be subject to run out to the wild and ungodly studies of jacob boheme , astrology , &c. for 't is grace that directs the choyce and moderates the use of studyes . 6. that of our saviour carryes all before it , matth. 6. 33. seek ye first the kingdome of god , and his righteousnesse , and all these things shall be added unto you . but alas ! how unproportionable and unsutable are the lives of christians to the rule of christ , and how few doe account it their businesse to be christians ? but i have spoken of that in the following treatise . ii. advice . take heed of making an idol of humane reason : and that you do when you make god and all his truths do homage to it ; when you set reason in the throne , and bring christ & his truths to the barr , to be judged by it . to shew the vanity of this , consider , 2. some things , even in the very wisdome of men would seem to be very folly , if so be the reason of their actions were not discovered to us . i am confident , that sentence of solomon concerning the two women would seem foolish , cruell , and unjust , if one had gone away so soon as ever that sentence had been pronounced : for were it not very cruell and unjust to deprive a mother of her child ? an infant of its life , for no default of either ? and foolish , for would not the living child be dead when it was divided into half ? and so each mother would have but two halfs of two dead children in stead of one baving one whole dead child . and it would have required no lesse then solomons wisedome to finde out the reason of that sentence , and it was one part of it to give such a sentence that might least seem to do what he intended , lest the mother that pretended to the living childe , discovering his design , might give such an answer that should not discover what solomon intended to manifest : so some of the wayes of god , the reasons of them are past finding out , except by the same wisdome that contrived them ; nay it may be , god doth some things on purpose to deceive humane reason , and that some of the reasons of his ways are so full of wisdome , that were they revealed , we were no more able to understand them , then a child of three yeers old , could understand some propositions in euclid , vietta , cartes , apolonius , or archimedes . 3. it seems that god hath so ordered matters , that except we love him and his truths there shall be such objections , that the wit of man can never answer . i shall give you an instance of this both in the speculative and practicall part of religion , deuter. 13. ver. 1 , 2 , 3. if wee might discover the deceit of that prophet by humane reason or wisdome , without the love of god being in us , how could it prove whether wee did love god or no , if wee could finde out the fallacy of that deceit without love ? 2. in the 2d of thessal . 2. 10 , 11. god will send strong delusions , that those which love not the truth , be they never so learned , shall not be able to know it ; for if so be it were said they should professe lyes , it might be , that they knew the truth though they professed the contrary ; but it is said , they beleeved lyes . our saviour gives this reason why hee would manifest himselfe to his disciples , and not to the world , viz. because the world did not love him , john 14. 22 , 23. for none will unbosome himselfe unto an enemy , nor mayst thou think to master god by thy learning , and know him whether he will or no ; for god must manifest himselfe , or else thou canst never know him , and he will not manifest himselfe to thee except thou love him , though thou beest never so learned or great a politician , mat. 11. 25. for you must understand , it is not a speculative knowledge , but a knowledge of acquaintance . so in that sense is that saying of our saviour verified , matth. 7. 23. and this knowledge of god is not got by study , but by prayer and meditation , by an inward strict communion with god , and the friends of god the saints , but especially with christ the son of god , for he is the expresse image of god the father , &c. can we be acquainted with a man whether he will or no ? nor can we be throughly acquainted with a wise holy man , that is , we cannot know his wisdome and holinesse without much observing and pondering his words and actions ; nor can we much observe and be acquainted with any with whom wee do not dwell and have private conference . thou mayst know god to discourse of him , and to write learned tracts , yet if thou art not acquainted with god , at the last day god will not know thee : therefore be much with god ; and to that purpose , i have one humble and earnest request to you , though i need not be very earnest to obtaine so small one , it is , that you would spend an hour every day in prayer , meditation , and searching out the inward spirituall corruptions of your owne heart , and an impartiall examining what interest you have in christ , and such like spirituall exercises ; do not you say , how can you prove that we are bound to spend one hour every day ? for 1. suppose god , when you goe to prayers , should answer you so , how can you prove that i am bound to give you such a mercy ? thou mayst cause god to carry himselfe as froward by this froward answer ; for it is said , with the froward he will shew frowardnesse . 2. how wilt thou spend eternity in the admirings , adoreings and praysings of god , if an hour spent so , is now so irksome to thee ? how shall it then be thine heaven , if it be now thine hell ? 3. is it a friendly answer ? if a friend should come to desire a courtesie of you , do you so answer him ? how can you prove that i am bound to do it ? 4. consider , this is the question of a slave to ask ; what must i do ? but the question of a friend and a child is , what may i doe to please my father or my friend ? 5. keepe this answer untill the world or the flesh come unto thee ; give this answer to those thine enemies , and not to thy god . 6. dost thou stand out ? shall the great and holy god be ready and willing to meet thee , and have communion with thee as often and as long as thou pleasest , and shalt thou refuse ? it should be his part , one would think , to be hard to be intreatted , not thine : shall he account it his riches to bestow mercies on thee , and thou account it thy trouble to receive them ? 7. do but doe that which thou art bound to do ; viz. love god with all thy soul , with all thy minde , and with all thy strength ; and then thou wilt ask , not , why so much ? but , why no more ? and indeed , when once thou hast found the sweetnesse and profit , thouthy self wilt not onely continue , but increase these holy duties : and that is the reason why i propose no more time , because i suppose this being spiritually spent , more will follow of it self . david wisheth us to taste and see how gracious the lord is , not because he would not have us feed on him , but because if wee once taste how good he is , hee supposeth it needless to wish us to feed on him . 8. if thy friend comes to visit thee , thou wilt afford him an hour with thanks : he comes in his own name , but i come unto thee in my fathers , desiring thee to afford god as much ; if thou deniest , that saying of our saviour belongs unto thee , john 5. 43. i am come in my fathers name , and ye receive me not ; if another come in his owne name , him ye will receive . to conclude , i desire to speak one word more as to humane learning , which i account of singular use for the understandiug of the word of god , and have doted on it as much as any , and love it still , as much as i dare , for i account the love of it dangerous , the use of it very advantageous ; and could i set down how far i have gone in it with the same spirit that saint paul doth set down , ( phil. 3. ) his excellencies in leg all priviledges and righteousnesse , i would ; but i account it safer for me to be thought wholly ignorant , then to venture priding my self of that small knowledge i have : yet thus much i conceive of humane learning , that besides the incertainty of it , there are many inconveniences incident to it . 1. our thoughts are wholly taken up with it when wee are studying of it , which are not necessarily so in other employments ; for one may buy , and sell , and yet have our mindes often upon god , even in the very midst of those employments . 2. men generally judge of the truths and wayes of gods worship according to that way of learning wherein they excell : those who excell in the fathers and church histories , are subject to admit of the truths and wayes of god's worship , because they are attested and warranted by them : those who most excell in phylosophy and schoole divinity , they make reason the touchstone to try even gospell truths by ; yet i doe much esteem of these egyptian jewells , so wee make not an idoll of them , and fall downe and worship them . 3. and lastly , i finde it as hard a thing to deny humane learning as to get it . moses is much to be admired , who being brought up in all the learning of the egyptians , yet preached so plainely as you may see in deuteronomy : and paul , who preached so very plaine , that his adversaries objected it against him consider what is said , and the lord give you understanding in all things . your servant in the lord , thomas white . a directory to christian perfection . matt. 5. ver. 48. be ye therfore perfect , even as your father which is in heaven is perfect . a malicious christian and a courteous cynick , are expressions equally including contradiction ; yet notwithstanding , it is too manifest , that thousands that honour themselves with the name of christians , dishonour god , and by their works deny their very name ; for if the least injury be offered them either in word or in deed , though in passion , how do they foame and rage , like the troubled sea , while they are revenged of the injury ? but our saviour here doth abundantly condemn , and give rules to the contrary , from ver. 43. to the end of the chapter . a brief exposition whereof shall serve both for the prosecution of the point , and introduction to the text . in the 43. ver. our saviour sayes , that you have heard that it hath been said , thou shalt love thy neighbour , and hate thine enemy : our saviour does not say that ever it was said so ; for there is not any place in scripture where we are commanded to hate our enemy ; and there are three things wherein their glosse is faulty . first is , that they restrain the word neighbour , to one of their own kindred or nation , which our saviour fully confutes in the tenth of luke , in the parable of the good samaritan . secondly , they leave out , as thy felfe . thirdly , they put in , thou shalt hate thine enemy ; whereas there is nothing in the scripture for it , but many places against it : exod. 23. ver. 4 , 5. if thou meetest thine enemies ox or his ass going astray , thou shalt surely bring it backe to him again . if thou seest the asse of him that hateth thee lying under his burden , and wouldest forbear to help him , thou shalt surely help with him . and whereas some say it was to be meant of an israelite , if he be an enemy , but not of those of other nations , but that they might hate them ; the contrary is evident , deut. 10. v. 19. love ye therfore the strangers , for yee were strangers in the land of egypt . vse . the use of this is , that every one should read the word of god , for if he only hears the word , and searhes not the scripture , he shal hear that many things are said in the word of god , which are no where there to be found ; but divers times the cleane contrary . argu. so the first argument against revenge is , that from the alpha , & beginning of genesis , to the omega and amen of the revelations , there is not one syllable to warrant us in such practises , but they are diametrically opposite to the doctrine of the gospel , as you have it in the next verse ; but i say unto you : as if christ should say , whatsoever thoughts your own corruption suggests unto you , or whatsoever men shal say unto you , it matters not , they are likely enough to blow the least sparke of contention into a flame ; they haply wil tel you , that if you bear one injury you invite another . but i say unto you , love your enemies , besides , there is an emphasis in the words , i and you ; for it hath the same force to move us to love our enemies , mat. 11. 33. he that hath loved us , and gave himself for us when we were his enemies , may he not justly exspect and command from us that we should love our enemies ? that we should forgive an hundred pence when he commands us so to do , that hath forgiven us ten thousand talents . but to the further exposition of the following words , we are to love our enemies , be they never so many we must love them all , and be they never so much ones enemies , for here is no limitation put either in respect of their number or enmity , or in respect of our love ; it is not said how much we should love them , to shew that wee should love them without measure . reas. now the reason why love your enemies is put first , is because that this must have an influence upon all the rest ; we must bless them that curse us , do good to them that hate us , upon this very ground , and from this principle , because wee love them . but if our enemies curse us , then we are not to content our selves with a bare inward love to them , but we must shew our love by our outward expressions ; and as our enemies encrease in the manifestations of their enmity , so we must encrease in the manifestations of our love , and we must not only not curse again , or be silent , and neither blesse nor curse , but we must bless them that curse us : nor is it set down how much , how often , nor when we must bless , that we might put no limits to our blessing in any of these respects : and as before it is observed concerning our enemies , be they never so many , and never so much our enemies , we ought to love them ; for the same observations may runne thorow all the rest of the branches of this precept , nor doth our saviour wish us to reprove those that curse us , but to blesse them . first , because reproofs at such a time are very unseasonable ; for doubtlesse there is a time to reprove . secondly , generally because reproofs at such times when people are cursing of us , are a kind of revenge taken of them , especially , if it be before others ; for wee lay open their shame . thirdly , because this is the mildest , the secretest , and lovingest way of reproofe ; for i remember , the rule is given , that one should not , if one hears one speak a word of latine wrong , tell him that he pronounces it not as it should be pronounced , much lesse to tell him that he is an ignorant man , but speedily to take some occasion to speake that word right ; so here , if thine enemy speak false christian language thy mildest way to shew him his errour , is by speaking those words right which he hath spoke wrong ; for by thy blessing him , thou doest in a milde manner shew that he should have blessed thee . the next branch is , that wee should do good to them that hate us : many are willing to give good words , but they will not do any good deeds to their enemies , they will serve god of that which cost them nought ; but in the originall it is not , do good to them that hate you , but do well ; to shew us that if we do our enemy good , yet if we do it in a churlish and scornfull manner , we do not observe his commandment : but if thine enemy shall have blocked up this way , because he scornes to receive , or by reason of his persecution hath disabled thee to bestow any temporall courtesie upon him , then take another way , and doe him that courtesie which he cannot reject ; for though one cannot give a man money who will not receive it , yet one may pray , and ones prayers may be powerfull to do our enemies good whether they will or no ; so that thou canst never be so impoverish'd by persecution , but thou art worth a prayer ; nor thine enemy can hardly be so obstinate , but thy prayers may fasten blessings on him : doe thine enemy as much good as thou canst , & what thou canst not do , desire god to do for him . it followes , that ye may be the children of your father . first , it is not meant as if we could love our enemies before we were gods children , or that this is the way to get adoption or regeneration ; for he calls god their father when he wishes them to do thus , that they may be his children ; therefore the meaning may be thus : first , that you may be , id est , that you may be known to be both to your selves and others ; as it is said , we are justified by works , id est , our justification is knowne to our selves and others by works ; or so that you may be children , is meant , that since two wayes we are the children of god , by adoption , and sanctification ; in respect of sanctification we may have the image of god renewed more and more in us , and so in a qualified sense may be said more to be gods children ; & in that sense we may attain to be more the children of god , id est , more like him . secondly , none can be the children of god unless they love their enemies . thirdly , that every one should strive both to be , and to know himselfe to be the child of god . fourthly , that no man by nature is the child of god , since no man by nature can or does love his enemy , as it follows , which is in heaven . first , we can never love our enemies , so long as we are no more then the children of our earthly father . secondly , that it is an heavenly thing to love ones enemies , and therfore ex diametro , an hellish thing to hate ones friends , and therfore to hate gods people . 1. because they are our friends . 2. they are heavenly . 3. this is the first motive to perswade to love , &c. and as it follows ; for he makes his sun to arise . first , this is that second motive to the duty , id est , gods example ; and it stands thus ; if god who is greater then you , does bestow greater blessings upon those that are greater enemies , and between whom and him there is a greater distance , how much more should you love , & c ? secondly , the sun doth not arise of it selfe , that knows not what it does , nor is it of necessity that the sun should arise ; of necessity , it is in respect of the sun , not in respect of god , for he makes it to arise ; so that the sun cannot choose but arise , but god might choose whether he would make it arise . thirdly , these common blessings come not by chance , as well as not by necessity ; it is by gods providence that we enjoy them . fourthly , it shews the continuall concurrence and power of god with naturall causes , it is not like a clock , which when it is once wound up , will go of it selfe by the weight ; but as a pen , that writes not without the continuall guidance of the writer ; so god did not at the first create the world , sun , &c. and so without his actuall concurrence to every particular act enable them to do it , so that the sun did not arise at the first moment of its creation more immediately by the power and providence of god , then it does now , this advances gods goodnesse ; for as one that hath setled maintenance upon ▪ an hospitall for the poore , it argues not so much patience in him , to suffer the men there if they abuse him to receive their setled stipend , as it does for him daily to feed them with his own hand , and to put mony into one of their hands , while the other is lifagainst him . fifthly , or may not he make it be taken in this sense ? that all the creatures of god are enemies to the wicked ; the earth will not bear them , but open her mouth and swallow them ; the fire will not warme them , but consume them ; the sunne will not give light unto them , as it did once in egypt , while they had light in goshen ; but god , as it were , renuente sole , doth make it arise upon the good and the bad ; it shews the great power of god , that not only the things on earth , but all the creatures in heaven and earth obey him : he that can make the sunne arise , what can he not do ? nehemiah 9. 6. as it followes ; his sun to arise . first , à fortiori , it is a motive to us to do good to our enemies . reas. first , because that which we give or bestow on them in respect of god , we have no right to , we are but his stewards , and what have we that we have not received ? we have the possession of al those things we have , but not the disposing of them : in respect of the poor , to give them alms is charity , in respect of god it is justice . but you see here the sun is called his sun , he hath a ful title to it : if he therefore gives that which is his own , and is lord of , much more should we deliver that , of which we are only stewards , when he that is the lord commands us . secondly , consider what he gives ; it is his sun , the greatest of al temporal blessings in the world ; for we might longer live without food or raiment , then without the benefit of the sun ; for without his heat all things would immediatly freeze to death : nay , not only by giving the wicked the benefit of the sunne , they enjoy that heat which is necessary , for life , but they enjoy the light of the sunne , which is a thing of ornament and pleasure , to make their life comfortable , eccle. 11. 7. therefore if god gives the wicked things of ornament , much more give your enemy bread , romans 12. 20. no man not only cannot , but doth not offer to lay claime to the sun : and as it follows , on the good and the bad : some will say , how can it be otherwise ? for if the sunne shines upon the good , how can it but shine upon the bad also , since they are in one kingdome , in one towne , in one house ? but god is not necessitated to bestow this mercy upon the bad , though he bestowes it upon the good ; for de facto , god did make it darke in egypt when it was light for three dayes in goshen , though they were of the same kingdome ; the cloud gave light to the israelites in their march , and at the same time was darkness to the egyptians , exod. 14. 19 , 20. besides , god can strike all wicked men with blindnesse , so that the sunne shall be in respect of his light , as if it was not to them : and he might strike them with such a burning feaver as he threatens , deuter. 28. 22. that for its heat the sunne should be worse to them , then if it was not , and thousand other wayes known to the lord . secondly , we see that by common and temporal blessings , the good are not distinguished from the bad . thirdly , it followes that wicked and unjust men are gods enemies , and curse god , hate god , persecute god , and dedespitefully use him ; or else it would not follow from this example of gods dealing with wicked men , that we should love our enemies , &c. for one might say , it is true , god makes his sun to shine upon the bad and unjust , but though indeed they be gods enemies , yet they do not hate him , curse , &c. as mine do me . thirdly , that god may be said to blesse , and do good to those that are bad and unjust , deut. 10. 17. acts. 14. 17. and as it followes ; he sendeth rain . first , god bestows not one , but many blessings upon the wicked , he doth not only make the sun to arise , but sends also the rain upon them ; nay , by bestowing this second blessing , he takes off that inconvenience which otherwise would follow upon the enjoyment of the first ; nay they do help mutually one another ; for the rain cooles the heat of the sun , and the sun warms the coolnesse of the raine , and both together make the earth fruitfull : from hence we may learn , first , to doe great and many benefits to our enemies . secondly , not to do them such courtesies that we know wil bring mischiefes upon them ; and to do them good in one thing , on purpose to do them hurt in another . thirdly , we should do good to those that do not only not thank us for courtesies , but attribute it to others ; for god does so , he makes his sunne to shine , and his raine to fall , not only upon those that are so bad as not to be thankful for them , but are so exceeding unjust as not to account god the author of them . the observations concerning gods making the sunne to arise , &c. mutatis mutandis , may agree to this later part of the verse ; this may also be observed , that god doth not only give temporall blessings to those that ask and come for them , but he sends his mercies home to their very doors ; for the cloudes that arise from the sea , or other places , he causes his winds to carry them to their habitations . besides , this may be observed , that one reason why our saviour instances in these blessings rather then in others , may be , not only the reasons before , but this also , that we might never want a motive to our doing good to our enemies ; for whether it raines , or shines , we have either the instance of gods making the sunne to shine , or his rain to fall upon wicked men ; as it follows , vpon the just and unjust . first , it is not set down here as contradistinguished , as if there were some bad that were not unjust , and some unjust that were not bad ; nor is it meant , god makes his sunne to arise on the bad , and sends his raine upon the unjust , bestowes some kind of these blessings upon some wicked , and the other kind upon other wicked men , but he bestowes both upon all ; as before it is not meant , we should love our enemies , but not love those that curse us ; or blesse those that cursed us , but not blesse those that hate us ; but as when god commands us to blesse them that curse us , and does not say , doe good to them that curse you , it is because blessing is directly opposed to cursing ; and so it is more likely to make him that curses see his error , because contraries being placed one by another , make each other more apparent , as it is before shewn , and as it followes ; for if ye love them that love you : the former argument was from the example of almighty god , whom all confesse in all things to do well ; there he brings an argument from them whom all condemn , and the argument stands thus ; you all desire and expect to be rewarded for your workes , but none of you think that the publicans shall have any reward , therefore neither you , if you love them that onely love you , for so do they . secondly , it is good to make use of that evill opinion wee have of others , as a motive to our-selves to be better . thirdly , that the wickedest man may have something good in him , but nothing perfect ; and as it followes ; what reward have ye ? christ doth not set it down positively , that they have no reward , but by way of question to shew them that it is not onely his judgment , but their owne , for he appeales to their owne consciences ; and it shewes the manifestnesse of the truth , since self-love doth cast such a mist before our eyes when we are to judge of things concerning our selves , that except the truth doth shine very bright , we cannot behold it ; it is not said , what great reward , but what reward : to shew them that they should be so farre from expecting everlasting life , that they cannot expect any reward at all . thirdly , it is not said , what reward shall yee have , but what have yee ; to shew that they are not to expect so much as a temporall reward for loving their friends . fourthly , they have temporall blessings as motives to obedience , but none by way of reward for obedience ; for it is not said , what blessings , but what reward have you ; for if one say of your righteousnes you do , do not the publicaus the same ? one may say of your blessings , have not the publicans the same ? do not even the publicans the same ? the publicans were such as used to receive custome , tribute-money , and other taxes , and were men very odious to the jewes , both for their injustice and oppression of them , and they were generally heathens , because the jewes did abhorre to have any hand in the oppressing of their own nation ; nay , our saviour joynes them with harlots , sinners , heathens ; and if you salute your brethren onely , the word translated salute , signifies to kisse and embrace ; and our saviour doth signifie by it all outward expressions of love . secondly , by brethren is meant our near kindred and acquaintance . thirdly , this word only is to be referred as well to the former verse as to this ; and the observations ( mutatis mutandis ) upon that may he applyed to this . and so i come to the words of the text , be ye perfect , &c. in the handling of these words , i shall shew these things . first , how we must be perfect as our father which is in heaven is perfect . secondly , in the pressing of christian perfection , three things i shall set downe . first , severall considerations . secondly , severall cautions . thirdly , severall rules or advises before i come to the exposition of the words , to shew how we must be perfect as our father which is in heaven is perfect , i must remove an objection that quarrels against the perfection of this rule of perfection ; viz first , that this rule is too high : secondly , it is dangerous : thirdly , that it is imperfect and too short . first , it is too high : for what man or angel is able to be as perfect as god ? it is not compatible to any created nature , for that being finite , cannot possibly be capable of infinite perfection ; for his glorious name is exalted above all blessing and praise , neh. 9. 5. and the lord is fain to dwell in thick darknesse , and therby doth connivere radios suae gloriae ; and the angels also do cover their faces with their wings , or else they were not able to behold his glory , their understanding would be dazled : if therfore they are not able to behold his glory in its ful strength and vigour , how much lesse are they able to attain it ? how much lesse able are we that are sinfull dust and ashes , who are not able to behold ( that which is darkenesse in comparison of god ) the sunne , to be perfect as god is perfect ? first , i answer , that we are here commanded to attaine the same kind , not the same degrees of perfection : it is not , be as perfect as your father ; but , be perfect as your father ; we are to go in the same steps , though not aequis passibus , his example is the copy we should write by ; though it be impossible to write so curious an hand , yet we may write the same words &c. secondly , it is an advantage to have so perfect a copy set us , though we cannot attain it , for who is there that learns to write , that blames the exactnesse of the copy he writes by ? and he that taketh aime and shooteth at the highest point or zenith of the heaven , will shoote higher with the same strength then he that shootes at a levell , or any other point besides . thirdly , it addes to the holiness of any action , that we desire in that action to be like to god , and upon that ground to desire to be holy because god is holy . secondly , you may say , it is a dangerous rule , for we may not strive to be like unto god in many things ; we may not desire our own glory as he doth ; adam desiring to be like him , it was his sin and his fall . i answer to that , that there are two kinds of perfections in god , communicable and incommunicable : incommunicable are called those , not which the creature cannot have , but which the creature ought not to have , as to do all things for its own glory ; for a creature may do all things for its own glory , but ought it not so to do ; not onely because it is folly in the creature to do so ; for glory is a thing of ornament , & man is a poor creature that wants things necessary ; and it is folly for man to buy jewels to adorn him , while he is ready to starve for want of garments to cloath him ; but it is because it is incommunicable to the creature ; that is , god and the creature cannot do things for their own glory without thwarting one another ; for if man do things for his own glory , then it must needs follow that he doth it not for the glory of god , and so thwarts the end that god proposeth to himselfe , and to all creatures , viz. his own glory : so that here when our saviour commands us to be perfect as he is perfect , it is meant , that we should endeavour to attain those perfections which our having doth not hinder his having of them , as holinesse , patience , wisdom , &c. for our holinesse , be it never so great , makes not god lesse holy ; but the more we seek our owne glory , the more wee rob god of his . secondly , i answer , that all these kinds of perfections which are incommunicable , are rather resultancies and consequences of perfection , then perfections ; for it is more proper to say , that because god is infinitely perfect , therefore all the heaven and earth should praise him ; then to say , because heaven and earth doth praise him , therfore he is infinitely perfect ; for the praises which are given unto him , are not the causes of his perfection , but his infinite perfections are the causes of his praises . thirdly , it may be objected , that it is an imperfect rule , for it seems to come short . first , in respect of our relations ; as of husband , wife , child , subject , how can we have an example of god in these particulars , since he is not capable of these relations ? secondly , in respect of duties ; we are to pray , to worship , to hear the word . thirdly , in respect of graces ; repentance , faith , hope , patience in afflictions ; all these are below him . i answer , first , that though we have not an example of any of these from god , considered in himself , yet we have of most of these from christ , who was god as well as man ; for we have an example , how to carry our selves in afflictions , of obedience both to god and man , and those relations which our saviour left us no example of in a temporall way , yet in a mysticall way he hath : though he was not a magistrate , nor an husband in a temporall way , yet in a mystical way he is both lord and husband to the church . and as for those graces which suppose sin , as repentance doth , our saviour hath left us an example of those graces , which if we obtain , they wil certainly produce repentance in us , and enable to carry our selves in all duties and in all our relations as becometh christians ; so that as one that should teach us to write , and set us exact copies , we should not quarrell with him and say , that he hath been a defective schoole-master , because that some of those words that afterward we have occasion to write , were never in those copies that he set us ; sufficient it is for him to vindicate himselfe and say , that i have taught you all those letters , and all those severall joynings , which will spel and make up that word that you are to write , whatsoever it be ; so christ hath left us an example of al those graces , which are able to spel and make up any duty or grace we stand in need of . there are the ingredients , of which all compositions may be made up , if we follow christ in our love to god ▪ and our hatred to sin , our godly sorrow for sin wil necessarily follow , & be made up of these two ingredients , thogh christ for his part had never any occasion to use such a composition for himself , having never need of that physick : and so i come , the jection being removed , to the prosecuting of the point , to shew how we should be perfect as our father which is in heaven is perfect . first , in respect of the kinds of perfections , they must be spirituall and divine : carnall , corporall , or civill , or morall perfections are two low for a christian to look at , especially to make it his business , or the marke he shootes at : morall vertues were the highest perfections of the heathens ; but alas morall vertues transforme us not , they change not our natures , but only gild our rottennesse ; though one be never so good a natured man , as they call it , if one has not the divine nature , one is but a tame divell ; for one is his child , if ones nature be not sanctified , and our person justified , and so become the childe of god by regeneration and adoption ; and the most excellentest act that is meerly , morally vertuous , is sinne , and cannot please god : let me give a simile to make this evident ; a great emperour commands his empresse to come to him , as ahasuerus did queen vasthi ; his commands not prevailing , he entreats her , after that sends his letters full of love and importunity , sends embassadors after embassadors , and lest those should fail , sends her many gifts very rich and magnificent , and thus he continues week , month , year after year , yet she utterly refuses ; but after her rejecting and slighting all these wayes of love from the emperour her husband , there comes a base slave , from whose company her husband had especially forewarn'd her , because she had formerly committed folly with him , and dishonoured both her self and the emperour , this adulterer and traytor speaks but half a word to her to go , and she presently without delay and with joy goes , when she perceives it would please the slave . what do you think now ? do you think the emperor wil be pleased with her , coming upon those terms ? this is the case of all men that are no more then morally vertuous . god perswades us to be just , and to defraud no man , he entreats us , sends the embassadors the ministers unto us , giveth us mercy upon mercy , sends us his word , his epistles from heaven , line upon line to perswade us to do justice , or to be temperate : not we , for his sake we will do nothing : the world comes , the world , which is a slave to satan , for he is a prince and ruler of the darkness of this world ; the world , with which we have committed so often spirituall whoredom , and against which god hath so often and seriously forewarned us ; now only upon a supposition that we should please the world if we are just or temperate , we wil be intemperately temperate , if i may so say , even to macerate our bodies with fasting , for a good look of the world ; we do indeed in being temperate or just , do that which god commands , but far are we from pleasing him , considering the grounds from which we do it ; for can he be pleas'd that we should do more for a good look of the world , then we would for all the wayes of love that he took with us ; nay indeed , never to do any one action for his sake ; nay but before his face at the same time when we refuse all his entreaties , &c. to do it at the first word of the world ; therefore morall vertues , considering the ground upon which they were done , are sinnes before god ; therefore let us learn not to be vertuous as philosophers were vertuous , but holy as god is holy . secondly , the perfections of god are infinite , so must ours as farre as it is possible for creatures to attain ; our desires of holinesse must be without limits , we must not set bounds to our holinesse , saying , hitherto shalt thou go , and no further : but we must alwayes hunger and thirst after righteousnesse . thirdly , god hath all perfections , or rather is all perfections : so we must adde to our faith vertue , to vertue knowledg , to knowledge temperance , &c. we must receive from christ grace for grace , as a child receives from his father limb for limb , part for part ; the same parts that the fathers body hath , the childs hath also , the same for number , figure , and position , though neither for strength , nor bignesse : and as god is the act of all possible absolute perfections , either in degree or in kinde , so we should endeavour to have those perfections that a creature of that kind is capable of . fourthly , as the perfections of god are both inseparable from god , and from themselves , so should ours be also ; our wisdom must be holy , our holinesse innocent , our wisdom zealous and our zeal wise ; for we must not conceive that some of gods actions are holy , others , wise , but all are all ; his wisdom is holy , just , & good ; his justice , holy , good and wise , and every attribute is as inseparably united to all the rest of his attributes , as any of them are to his essence : as if there were an hundred suns shining at once in the firmament , one could not say that one of these sunnes shined in this part of the ayre , and another in that , but the light of every one of them would be in every point of the ayre ; nor could you possible take away the light of one of the suns , and leave the rest , unless you could take away the sun it self : so it is in gods perfection : but thy glorious name is exalted above all knowledge , above all blessing , and above all praise . many men will be zealous , but without knowledg ; others will be wise , but without zeal ; and so their wisedomes come to be no better then carnal , sensuall , and divelish : the former zeal was that zeal of the jews , rom. 10. 2. the other wisedome was the wisedome of pilate ; both of them crucified christ . lastly , for i do not intend to be large in these parallels , but make haste to presse the great point of christian perfection ; we must be perfect as our father which is in heaven is perfect , notwithstanding all hinderances or provocations to the contrary ; though god by his wisdome governs and orders all things , not a spire of grasse , or blade of wheat grows but by him , 1. cor. 15. 38. not a sparrow falls on the ground , nor an hair from our head , but by his providence ; not a lilly is cloathed in the field , nor a fowle of the ayre is fed but by him ; yet notwithstanding such an innumerable number of creatures , are both in respect of their essence and operations , nay even in respect of the smallest circumstances of either , are acted , governed , and ordered continually by his providence ; yet he doth no lesse know , love , and enjoy himselfe , then he did from all eternity , before there was any creature for his providence to watch over : so should we do , we should not have our thoughts lesse fixed on god , or our love lesse fervent ; our communion with god should be neither remitted nor intermitted by the imployments in the world ; mothers that have their little children to look to , should be like the angels , which alwayes behold the face of our father which is in heaven , mat. 18. 11. but i come ( as i promised ) to the great businesse of this treatise . viz. the pressing of christian perfection , which is almost forgotten , and nothing left of it but the forme of godlinesse ; and i shall referre the whole discourfe to these three heads . first , severall considerations . secondly , severall cautions . thirdly , severall advises . considerations . 1. consid. let us consider what the word of god speaks in this matter , 1 cor. 10. 31. whether ye eat or drinke , or whatsoever ye do , doe all to the glory of god : do we live up to the meaning of these words ? let us consider a little of it , and see the meaning of the words . first , we are to glorifie god in all our actions ; that is , wee ought in the secret of our hearts to admire and adore him , to have high thoughts of him , and sweet thoughts of him ; and to expresse it fully , we ought to honour him as god , romans 1. which he blames the gentiles for not doing , that knowing him as god , did not honour him as god : to honour him but as we would honor the holiest man in the world , nay the highest angel in heaven , is nothing , and as great derogation to his glory , as to give his glory to them ; for to give the honour due unto god to a creature , and to give that that is due unto a creature unto god , are equally vitious : butlet us deal freely and openly with our own souls , do we do so much , as that which if we did no more we were guilty of that great sin of the heathens , which the apostle in the forenamed place doth condemne ? do we honour god as much as we do honour an angel , or an holy man ? let us but ask our own consciences , and they wil tell us . would we do that in the presence of either of them as we do in the presence of god ; nay , of a child that is come to that understanding to distinguish between good and evill ? secondly , by these words we are enjoyned that our words , actions , gestures , and all our carriages should be such , as may be sutable and fit to raise up those high thoughts of god in others , as we our selves have ; for instance ; in prayer we ought not only our selves to admire and adore our good and glorious god , but so to lift him up and hold forth his excellencies by our very expressions , pronounciations and gestures , that they may be such as not only may be sutable to our inward admirings of him , but fit to beget the same thoughts in all that hearus ; our loves should be like a flame , that takes hold of all that comes near it . thirdly , we should , as much as in us lies , do all our actions , and speak all our words with an actuall intention by them to edifie others , & to cause them to glorifie the lord . now , how far we come short of this , we may even be confounded with shame to speak of it . the second place that sets down christian perfection , is phil. 3. 20. we should have our conversation in heaven ; we should think with our selves how we should live when we come thither , or how those live that are there , or one would live that should come from thence to live on earth again ; how feelingly would they speak of god ? how fervently would they praise him ? how would their songs of praise be all flames of love ? how are they continually taken up with thoughts of admiration of the excellencies of god , of the love of god ? let us not dally with our selves or god , but consider with our selves whether we live in any measure sutable to such a life . but to proceed , let us consider another place , eph. 3. 19. to say of such an one , that he is a godly man , the holy spirit of god is in him , that he is ful of the holy ghost , that he is filled with all the fulness of god : if one went upon such relations and expressions to see him of whom they were spoken , doubtlesse one should come with great expectations to meet with one that was wholly taken up with thoughts of god , and if one spake any thing to him of god , doubtless one would expect that he should speak wonderful things of god , with so much admiration , such zeal , such love , with such feelings , that his very word would be able to enflame our hearts with love of god ; but if when one came to see such an one , he should entertain one with vain and idle jests , with discourses of the world , and spend the whole day generally in recreations , and somtime when he hath nothing else to do , go and spend half an hour in reading , or in praying ; and when he comes from those duties ( iron wil be red hot if it be put into the fire for any time ) speak as savourly and with as much delight of the vanities of the world , as if he had spent his time not in prayer , but in admiring and gazing upon the beauty of the creature ; and if one should speak to him somthing of god , he should answer one overly , would ye not think in your own souls , is this that holy man you spoke of ? is he that man that was full of god ? but to proceed a little further , 2 cor. 3. 18 ▪ the apostle says of himself , and of christians in his days , that they were transformed into the image of god ; that is , lived the life of god , such a life as christ lived when he was here on earth ; nay , the grace of god in them was in such an high degree , that it might be rather called glory then grace ; they lived as if they were of the church triumphant , in respect of holinesse , though of the church militant , in respect of afflictions ; their grace was of such an high degree , that it was more like glory , as was said before , then grace ; yet they did not content themselves with that neither , but made a progresse from glory to glory : dear brethren , are our saviours words but winde ? and can we imagine that the lives of those that take upon them the names of christians , are any whit sutable to these expressions ? many times have i thought of that saying of erasmus , that since men could not bring the world to christianity , they have brought christianity to the world ; and those expressions and precepts that have been too strict to give us liberty to follow the vanities of the world , we have found out vain distinctions and expositions of the places , to make them signifie no more then we do , and to quiet our consciences , that they being deceived and laid a sleep , we might not be troubled with their clamours . our saviour says , that for every idle word we must give an account at the last day , mat. 12. 36. the words are so plain , that it wil ask one a great deal of labour to find out such an exposition as might not be a continuall accuser of us in all companies , in all discourses : our saviours example is the best exposition of this precept ; we do not read in all the scripture , one word that he spake , but was some way or other to edification ; and yet how loose are wee in our discourses ; as if there were no such place of scripture in the whole bible as these words ? surely , our time would be better spent in praying to god for strength against our corruptions , then in studying to finde out excuses and intricate expositions of plaine places to justifie them . but you will say , that it is true , these are excellent things , if one could live so , it were a blessed life ; but alas who can doe it ? i answer ; first , if thou sayst thou canst not live thus , i ask thee how dost thou know ? didst thou ever try what might be done in this case ? didst thou ever make it thy businesse ? it may be thou hast had some perfunctory and carelesse desires , some cold prayers and faint endeavours ; but didst thou ever set thy self to it ? didst thou ever spend as much time , so many thoughts , with as much earnestnesse , to get acquaintance with god , as men in the world doe in their trades ▪ to get a little thick clay ? didst thou ever pray with half that earnestnesse for grace , as ambitious men do sue for places and preferments , or a condemned man for a pardon ? didst thou ever seriously , and from the very bottom of thy heart and soul say , well , by the blessing of god i wil not speak an idle word , nor imploy my self in things that profit not : hast thou said with david ? i have sworne and i will perform thy righteous judgments , psal. 119. 106. or as in the 20. or with the apostle ; i fight not as one beating the ayr , but i press thorow towards the mark , and forget the things that are behind , &c. so that if thou shalt say that one cannot live thus , i say again , there is no question , thou canst not live holily , doing no more then thou doest ; neither the word of god , nor any one that knows the ways of god , ever said or thought that thou couldst upon these terms do any thing to purpose in the attainment of holiness : for our saviour plainly says , we must strive to enter in at the strait gate ; and , that many shal seek to enter in ( with such seeking that comes not to the height of striving ) and shal not be able : if thou shouldest bid thy servant lift such a piece of timber , and he should go with his little finger to lift it , and not being able , should tell thee , that he could not lift it : wouldest thou not think that he mocked thee , in stead of obeying thee ? so when we shall complain of religion , that it is too difficult a thing , we cannot attain it , and yet we will not so much as touch it scarce with one of our fingers ; may not god justly say , that we do but mock him , and unjustly murmur against his commands , complaining of their difficulty , when we never tried , in using the meanes he hath appointed us , what might be done ? furthermore , let us consider how far many of gods servants , whose stories are recorded in the sacred scriptures , have gon in this way of perfection ; it is said , that enoch walked with god , and that noah was perfect in his generations , and walked with god . can we possibly think that these expressions import no more then that sometimes when they had little or nothing else to do , they spent their time in prayer and meditation of divine matters ? or that they did no more then usually men do , in the morning spend some small time in prayer , and then take their leave of god all the day , as it were compounding with god for two or three prayers a day ? but doth it not much rather import a sweet , constant , and strict communion with god ? for doubtlesse enoch found so much sweetnesse in his walk with god , that he could not be content with that communion that earth could afford him . and of all the patriarks before the flood , we read of none that lived so few years upon earth as enoch did ; and doubtlesse those years which he did live were more tedious to him , to be so long absent from the full fruitition of god , then if he had lived ten times as long and had not tasted of those joyes , in comparison of which the pleasures of this world are but as the gall of aspes . what thinke we of abraham , moses , david . and daniel ? with how much faith , zeal , meeknesse , holinesse , breathings after god did they live ? what high expressions of joy , love , and heavenly desires are there in the psalms ? what , doe we think all these holy examples are set down in the scripture to find us matter of discourse ? or that the wisedome of god set down an idaea of holinesse , as plato hath done of a common-wealth ? or were they not set down for our imitation ? thousands of expressions almost in the psalmes we must make strange hyperboles , and say , they were but davids rhetorick ; or else we must needs acknowledge that he was a gyant in compariof us in spirituall matters . o what heavenly spirituall frame of heart had he ! surely his righteousnesse in comparison of christs was but as filthy rags , but in respect of ours a glorious robe : and now i pray , what reason is there in the world , why we might not live as holily as they , but that we take it for granted , we cannot , and so never strive ; 't is true , to think our selves holier then the meanest saint , is pride , but not to strive to be as holy as the highest saint is sin : what means had they to attaine holinesse that we have not ? they had prayer , meditation , reading , hearing ; so have we : if their prayers and meditations were more servent , and more heavenly , who must we blame , god is not a barren wildernesse unto us , and his grace is as sufficient for us , as for them ; they had circumcision , and the passeover ; the brests of the new testament are as full of graces as those of the old ; nay doubtlesse , in respect of meanes they are farre more abundantly glorious in our dayes then in theirs , in respect of the knowledge of jesus christ , and the mysteries of salvation : may we not say as our saviour does , that of all that was born of women , there was none like john the baptist , and yet the least in the times of the gospel , is , or may be greater then he ? and what enemies or hinderances have we that they had not ? was satan , the flesh , the world , all or either of these not their enemies as much as ours ? or had they better weapons and armour to fight against them then we have ? we have the armour of god , they could have no better ; if you shall say , you had a great family to provide for , weighty affaires and imployments lay upon you , and these are great hinderances : in all these they exceed thee , and yet they were no hinderances to them in comparison of that , generally they are to us ; abraham drew three hundred out of his family to deliver lot , besides what men , women , and children were left behinde . job had also a great family , he was a judge , and a prince , and yet notwithstanding in all the whole world there was none like unto him . so david had a whole kingdome to look to , besides continuall wars , and yet how often did he pray , every day ; how frequent was he in meditation ? without all question , did we make it our business to intreat the lord for strength & grace to serve him , were we frequent & servent enough in such desires , did we seek for wisdome as for silver , and search for understanding as for hid treasures , we might do wonders in religion , in comparison of what we do . and if you shall say , that all these you speake of are prophets . i answer , what then ? for the gifts of prophecy are not gifts of sanctification , but of edification ; they might have been as holy , and not have been prophets , and they might have prophesied , and yet been workers of iniquity . but to returne to what we spake , surely if men had faith , and that wrought by love as it should do ; if we were as watchfull over our wayes as wee might be , if we were not wanting to our selves , and to god , ( for he is not wanting unto us ) we might live many days , without doing or speaking any thing that materially is a sin : i do assuredly know , that no one thought , word , or action , but in some respect or other is sinful , either the ground is not spirituall ; or not so spirituall ; the end is not heavenly , or not so heavenly ; we do not purely aim at the glory of god , nor purely do it out of obedience to god , and in the name of christ , &c. as wee should ; therfore i do not say , we can live one minute without sinning against god ; but one may live many hours and dayes without doing such actions which materially and in their own nature are sins : as now for those which are accounted grosse sinnes in the world , and are so , as adultery , murder , theft , blasphemy , swearing ; it may be some of gods people live their whole life without actually committing any one of them . what is meant by that that is said of zachary and elizabeth , that they lived blamelesse , luke 1. 6. and what is meant by that of st paul , 1 cor. 4. 4. that he knew nothing by himself ? well , certainly those that love not to keep a strict communion with god , and love not the truth , may finde excuses enough to bolster themselves up in their carelesse walke ; nay , let them take heed , least they so provoke the lord , that he sends them strong delusions to beleeve lies . it may be , they will plead the infirmities and falls of the saints , noahs drunkennesse , davids adultery , peters deniall , and so encourage themselves in their owne wickednesse ; surely these failings of the saints are set downe as sands and rocks to avoyd , not as our compasse whereby we should steer our course : 't is true , if after prayers and strivings against those sins , through the strength of our corruptions we fall into some sin , we may take comfort from the infirmity and failings of the saints : but before our fall , what use have we of such failings , but onely rocks , as i have said : comforts they may be after , but not encouragements before ; otherwise our spots are not the spots of gods people . 2. consid. the second consideration is , that no art , science , or trade whatsoever , is attained without some yeares being apprentice , or studying of it ; and can we imagine that we can attain to any measure of perfection in religion , without spending either time or thoughts about it , but making it a thing meerly by the bie ? the unreasonablenesse of this conceit appears the more , if we consider , that wee have no such impediments to hinder us from the attainment of excelencies in trades , arts , and sciences ; nay , those things that are hinderances in the attainment of holinesse , do further us in the attainment of such kind of excellencies : to be an excellent workman in any trade , or to be an excellent physician , neither the world , nor our corruptions , nor satan are against it ; the world generally doth promote and imploy such persons ; when they have an occasion to use any one of any trade or calling , they use the skilfullest , and so they are an encouragement to them : and for our corruptions , they do not hinder , but rather further , for wee pride our selves generally in such kind of excellencies : and if the world nor the flesh be not , certainly satan is not against them neither ; but against holinesse they are all enemies . now if we should see a man rowing , having both wind and tide with him , and should row with all his might , and yet with much adoe come to such a place by night , and the next day being to row back again against winde and tide , should take no pains at all , but lie sleeping in the boat , as if the streame that was against him , should carry him back of it self , wee should much wonder at such a mans folly . much more then may we wonder , when men shall spend so much pains , so many thoughts to get an estate ; and in things concerning god and eternity , should carry themselves as if they were either not worth having , or as if holinesse ( like weeds ) should grow of it self . 3. consid. the third consideration is , that there is no pain nor trouble in it's self in religion , nor no true pleasure nor profit in sin ; or what pleasure or pain soever there is in them , it is so short and so small , that it deserves not the name of either : do but truly and seriously consider , what pain or trouble is there in spending an hour , in reading , meditating , or praying , i speak to the most disadvantage ; for indeed , one should rather say , what wonderfull delight there is in a strict and constant communion with god in such duties : but let it be supposed it be troublesome , the trouble is nothing , but the comfort and the benefit is exceeding great ; when thou hast spent a day in humbling thy soul before god , i pray , next day , is it any pain or trouble to you ? in respect of them , it is as the way of a serpent upon a stone , there is nothing of the trouble that did accompany those holy duties doth remain when they are ended , but the comfort and profit of them thou maist meet withall twenty years hence : and so for sin , the pleasure of it is momentany , but the guilt and sting of it is eternall ; the poor empty pleasures of sinne , what are they while they do continue ? but sure i am , they are bitternesse at the last . to have a guilty conscience , and a wounded spirit , but one hour in any extremity , as poor souls in desertion or despair have , hath so much horrour in it , that doubtlesse whosoever hath had any experience in such things , would not edure them for all the pleasures in the world for methusalems age : but alas , we look not afar off , consider neither the end of holinesse , nor of sin ; nay to speak the truth , we consider not the essentiall excellency of the one , nor filthinesse of the other . 4. consid. fourthly , consider that there is not the least sin , nor the least holy thought that shall vanish into aire , or into nothing ; for if god shal call us to account for every idle thought or word , shall not every holy thought or word , through his mercy , tend to our good also ? the wicked do treasure up wrath against the day of wrath ; as a man that should cast in every day many pieces of silver and gold into a room for twenty years together , or more , when he should come to look in that room at the twenty years end , he would finde many a piece which he had forgotten ; so it is with one that treasures up sin , when the book of conscience shall be opened at the last , day , and the baggs wherein god sealed up his sins , as job speaks , how many sins will he meet withall that he never thought of , untill that day ? not one of them shall be lost that ever he cast in : so surely it will be with thee that treasurest up prayers and holy thoughts ; god doth as safely seale up them , as he doth the sins of the wicked : there is a book of remembrance writ of all thy good words , and there is a bottle to bottle up all thy teares : now how easie is it for thee to cast into this treasury a thousand holy thoughts a day ? to what a numberlesse number would they arise to in few years ? and by these not any businesse is hindred ; thou mayest ride , thou mayest eat and drink , thou mayest sell and buy , thou mayest walk for all them : now if every holy thought do adde something to thy grace here , and to thy glory hereafter , and since they do not hinder , but sweeten and sanctifie all imployments , why doest thou not treasure up these against the day of the lord ? 5. consid. fifthly , consider seriously the excellencies of the scriptures ; for we are not sensible enough of their worth , nor do we firmly nor feelingly enough believe that they are the word of god : suppose that by some infallible arguments it might be demonstrated that there were a prophet now in england , with what extraordinary care and observation would you observe his words that he spake in the name of the lord : if when thou wer● pouring out thy soul before god , humbly begging of him that he would discover to thee more the things that belong to thy peace , and thou shouldest have an angel from heaven coming unto thee , as one did to cornelius ; or that our saviour should himselfe speak to thee from heaven , as he did to paul , when thou shalt say as he did , lord , what would'st thou have me to do ? with what reverence and attention would'st thou observe , and what obedience to a tittle would'st thou give to such messages ? wouldest thou not mark every word , and every syllable ? and wouldest not vary from them one jot . well , thou shouldest give no lesse reverence nor obedience unto the word of god , then unto them . if thy friend speaks to thee , or writes to thee , so thou art sure that it is his hand , they are both of equal authority with thee ; and why should not the word of god immediately spoken from heaven , or written , be so too , of equall authority with thee ? to have an angel from heaven to tel thee what thou should'st do , is a stronger temptation to pride ; but there is no more of reality in it to move thee to obedience , then there is in the written word : nay , may i not say lesse ? for the word of god is the rule by which we must judg their messages ; and not their messages the rule by which we must judg the word of god ; for if an angel from heaven should preach another doctrine , let him be accursed . now there is no reason , thou believing the bible to be the word of god , which we all professe , but thou shouldest with as much care endeavour to understand and practise what therein is written . if wee will do but as luther did , that hee might understand rom. 3. 25 , 26. fast and pray when wee finde any place of scripture too difficult to be understood ; or when we found our corruptions so strong , that wee obeyed not when it is understood : if wee sought the lord by prayer and fasting ( a duty generally neglected , and by some condemned , though by the apostles commended and practised ) surely , wee should both understand more of the minde of god , and live more sutable to what what wee know . 6. considerat . sixthly , consider , that howsoever we esteem it , it matters not , without question the enjoyment of god is infinite happinesse : for , doe but truly and really consider wherein doth the happinesse of angels consist ; doth it not consist in the vision , fruition , and union with god ? is not god their all ? and shall he not be ours when we come thither ? how comes it to passe , that it is not so now ? nay , it is so ; but how comes it to passe , that it is not so to us ? either the angels are deceived in making of it their happinesse ; or wee must be deceived in not making of it ours : we cannot have the face to say , that if the angels knew what pleasure there were in eating and drinking , and other vain and wicked pleasures of the word , they would never spend their eternity in singing the praises , in beholding the face , and admiring the excellency of god ; yet though we are ashamed to say thus , yet by our lives we generally hold forth this blasphemy , and proclaime it to the whole world ; nay , let me raise this one step higher , the blessednesse , of god wherein doth it consist ? the creature is not his happinesse , but himselfe ; and if god be enough for himselfe , shall be not be enough for thee ? of dust and ashes , his enjoyment of himself , is his happinesse ; how comes it to passe that it is not thine ? god doth command , invite thee , entreat thee to enjoy him ; nay , indeed what is it that god requires of thee , but this , even to admire , love and enjoy him in the secret of thy soul ? thou wilt not , thou preferrest every trifle before him ; thou wilt go and see a carnall friend for carnall ends , rather then spend thy time in the enjoyment of him , who is the praise , and above the praise of men and angels to all eternity ; pray to him , who onely can discover his love and excellencies to thee , that he would make thee taste of this hidden manna ; that he would draw away the vail before thine eyes , that thou mayst be no longer ignorant of this truth ; that he would purge out those corruptions out of thy heart , that thou mayst relish and experiment the sweetnesse of it . 7. consid. seventhly , consider that we have three enemies , the world , the flesh , and the divel ; consider this , i say , fully and feelingly ; for few there are that live so much as a tittle of this truth : or who lives as if the world was his implacable enemie ? for , do we not generally into all our actions put something of that poysonous ingredient , viz. a desire to please men , and to get their good word and will ? wee ought not to scandalize any one , as much as in us lies ; we ought to be all things to all men ; but it is that we may gain them to god , not to our selves : if this truth was ingraven on our hearts , that it is as possible to go to heaven and please the divel , as go to heaven and please the world : i say , if we were fully perswaded in our hearts of that truth , we would neither wonder the world hates us , nor endeavour that it should love us : we should not endeavour nor cast away our pains to do that which is absolutely impossible : so then , if we resolve to be christians , wee must neither fear nor care what the world can say of , or do unto us . and we should in all our actions of religion , not so much as once bring it into our consideration , to think what men will say or do unto us , if we do so or so , except it be by their dislike to help our selves to know what is right ; for though it is not an absolute rule , yet it is a generall rule , that such a thing is right , because men generally speak against it : certainly , our desires and endeavours to please men , is one of the greatest snares in the world ; for generally we live so that we enslave our selves , and lose not only our christian , but our naturall liberty for men ; but indeed if it was no more but our outward liberty , it was nothing , but we wound our consciences and offend our god , which is worth more then a thousand heavens . cautions . 1. caut. first , take heed of the perfunctory performance of holy duties ; for many mischiefs come by them . first , they puffe up , not edifie ; if thou powrest out thy soule before god in prayer , feelingly , spiritually , and faithfully , thou never departest without some spirituall profit ; but if thou dost it carnally and formally , thy prayers are but wind , and they puffe thee up ; for thy carnall heart would plead these carnall performances to thy conscience , and make thee beleeve , because thou hast many pieces of this counterfeit coyne , that thou art rich and wantest nothing , though thou art poor , and blind , and naked , and miserable ; for thy duties have not the right stamp , having neither the image nor superscription of god upon them , being neither performed for the glory of god , nor by the spirit of god , nor in the name of christ : and between carnall and spirituall duties , this is the difference , that we usually pride our selves in the one , and are humble by the other . secondly , which followes upon the former , we shall grow weary in time of performing carnal duties ; for needs must we be weary of these things from which we get no profit nor strength : when duties are dry brests unto us , it is no marvel if we are weary of drawing them ; by spirituall duties we get strength ; and such prayers do enable us to pray more ; but carnall prayers tire us . thirdly , consider the same time is spent in the one as in the other , whether thou hearest or prayest with zeal and attention , or without , it takes up the same time in the publick congregatition , though not the same profit . fourthly , consider that you spoyle both , by mixing the thoughts of worldly businesse with spirituall duties ; for thy outward performance of the duty keeps thy thoughts of businesse from coming to maturity , and the thoughts of worldly things keep thy prayers from doing thee any good , so that they spoil one another ; i mean , of those wandering thoughts that we let lie in our duties , for those that are resisted , and removed , and mourned for , do somwhat hinder , but not putrifie the duty ; for as the wise man saith , that dead flyes cause the oyntment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour ; if one takes out a fly as soon as it is come into it , so much of the oyntment that sticks about the fly is lost , but the rest remains sweet and pure , as it was before : so wandering thoughts spoyle something of our prayers , though they be resisted and removed , they make a little hole in our prayer , by taking up that time which should have beene fill'd up with better thoughts ; but if they continue , they eat up the fat of those sacrifices , and make the sweet odours of our prayers noisome . but to conclude this caution , if we were but in any measure sensible of the majesty of him to whom , and the necessity of those things for which we pray , ( to instance in that duty ) for they are our life , and of the necessity of having them from god ; we need no other motives to deterre us from perfunctory performances . 2. caut. secondly , take heed of worldly company , for whosoever delights in that , will find that he never comes out of it but worse then he comes into it ; for when one goes into such a company among whom there is nothing spoken of god , of christ , or of the spirit of the word of god , and of spirituall experiences , where there is no spirituall duty performed ; except one be exceeding carefull to sequester ones mind from their discourses , and keepe a stricct communion with god in the secrets of our hearts , our graces , if they were strong , would grow weak ; and our corruptions , though they were weak , would grow strong ; and that spirituall advantage which you have got by many prayers , you will find will be lost in a little time spent in such company , except their discourses be as dry brests unto you , and as meshech and kedar were unto david ; they must either be a grief or sin unto them , except in some cases , as in case of businesse , thy particular calling , or charity , if thou comest as a physician , either of their bodies or of their souls , then thou not only mayst , but oughtest to come unto them ; in such cases , our saviour did frequently eat with publicans and sinners , not out of any love he had to their worldly conversation , but to their conversion ; and this must be taken as a rule , he that knows not how to be alone , knows not how to be in company with profit . 3 caut. thirdly , take heed of idleness ; for as the wise man says , seest thou one wise in his own eyes , there is more hope of a foole then of him . for to make such a man wise , there are two things to be done . first , you must bring him to that , that he may know himself to be ignorant , and then you must teach him wisdom ; wheras he that is ignorant and knows himself to be so , needs only the last ; so he that is in any honest employment , satan hath two works to do to make him sin . first , he must get him to leave off what he is doing , and then perswade him to the evill that he tempts him to : as a bowle that is running must be first stopped , before it can be made to run the contrary way ; whereas the bowle that ●ies still may without stopping be cast what way one pleases : a bird that is flying one can hardly take any aime at , as one may at that which sits stil ; so satan cannot levell his temptations so at a busie , as at an idle man : but i shall not prosecute this common place of idlenesse , but my main designe is to give you caution against spirituall idlenesse ; for that which is not taken notice enough of , that is not avoidied nor mourned for enough , is that we think that we are not idle , if we are busied in worldly imployments , if we are selling of wares in our shops , or riding of a journey , or busied in some such imployment of our particular calling . the man thresheth and plowes all day , and thinks that he is free from idlenesse ; but we should know , that if our thoughts are not imployed upon spirituall things when they may , it is the worst idleness of all : and very few worldly businesses there are that stand in need of the continuall intentions of our thoughts upon them ; for it is rather our love of the world that fixeth our thoughts upon worldly matters while we are imployed about them , then because they might not be done without halfe that intention of mind : doubtlesse , there are many disseminata vacua , in all imployments of the world , which might and ought to be filled up with spirituall thoughts ; and as it is with bees , though they gather honey from a flower , they leave it as fragrant and as fresh as they found it ; so we gathering and mixing spirituall thoughts with and from our worldly businesse , we hinder it not at all ; for as a vessel that is full of sand will hold almost as much water as if there were no sand in it ; so when we are full of imployments , we may hold a thousand holy thoughts ; and as a ship can hardly be so fild with chests or other lading , but there will be so many corners unfild up , wherein diamonds of such great value might be put in , that they would be more worth then all the lading of the ship ; so those thoughts of god and spirituall things which we might have in the midst of our other employments , may be of farre greater value then they . fourthly , take heed of perfunctory and careless resisting of temptations ; but what thou dost in that particular , as in spirituall things , do it with all thy might ; for to think and weakly to resolve against sin , will not hinder , but aggravate thine offence ; and it is one of the divels policies , to let a man alone to thinke of severall motives , and make some faint resolutions against any sin , when hee sees that hee hath him fast enough ; for he knows , that the more motives and resolutions wee sin against , the more wee are hardened , and god is provoked : and as it is with a town that is besieged , they will willingly let so many of their enemies in , as they know they are able to master : so satan , when hee sees that the motives and resolutions that enter into the soul are too weak , hee willingly suffers them to enter ; for , perfunctory performance of duties , and feeble resisting of temptations are equally dangerous , if the later be not the worst ; by the former we get no spirituall good , and by the later we overcome no spirituall evill . 5. caut. take heed of making others sin , either by scandall , or being a temptation to them by example or provocation ; it is a good way , when one hath to deal with a passionate man , not onely to prepare our selves for the combate by prayer and resolutions and keeping a strong guard upon our hearts , that we may not be overcome with passion , howsoever he shall use us , either in word or in deed ; but to take special care and to use all means to keep him from passion ; for there is a wretched joy that our hearts are subject to take in the sins of others , thinking them to be a foil to our innocency , to have others very passionate when we are very meek ; there is a secret delight that the heart is prone to take , but it proceeds from a desperate pride in us , who desire to have our excellencies made manifest , though with the dishonour of god and damnation of our brother ; but there is a great deal of hel in it , and charity rejoyceth not in ill . 1 cor. 13. 6. caut. take heed of studying high speculative points whatsoever ; for when our thoughts are exceedingly intent in finding out truths , all the fire is in the top of the chimney , and none is left upon the hearth : generally high speculations leave the heart cold without devotion ; for generally there is a great deal of curiosity and pride in such studies , for commonly we desire to be accounted knowing men , in searching into whys and how 's of gods works and truths ; as why god made the tree of knowledg of good and evill , and how there can be three persons , and but one god : therefore in all reading , joyn prayer , whether it be in the reading of humane or divine things , and take speciall care that the love of god go not out , nor grow cold in you . that which i have heard of one , is a good practice , that whatsoever book he was reading , every leafe that he turned over he would look what was become of his heart , and of god , and would not begin till he had sent up some prayers to the lord for direction . advises . 1. adv. first , concerning writing , many wayes thou art to employ that for thy advantage . first , write down all those spiritual passages out of sermons , books , discourses , wherin thou hast found most relish and spirituall profit . secondly , keep a register of all the mercies that god hath bestowed upon thee , whether it be temporall or spiritual , but especially thy spirituall experiences , and his manifestations of his love , if ever the terrors of the almighty was upon thee ; the wayes of gods providence in supporting thee , and how , and when , and in what manner he delivered thee . and so for the discoveries of his love , and concerning the mercies god hath bestowed upon thee , how , and whether , and when he answers your prayers ; as also all the speciall ways of gods providence to other spirituall persons , in temporalls or spirituals ; and when thou findest thy heart dull and cold in love , or weak in faith , these experiences of gods goodnesse to thy selfe and others , will be an excellent means to enflame and strengthen thee . lastly , keepe a diurnall of thy life in respect of the spirituall passages of every day ; set downe whether thou didst awake with god , or whether the world had the first fruits of thy thoughts , and how thou didst performe spirituall duties , whether with relish , fervency , or delights , or otherwise ; mark and set down when thy heart made any default , intermitting its communion with god , and all the severall sins that thou canst take notice of , that thou hast committed that day , and what mercies thou hast received ; and when there is any mercy that thou prayest for , some marke should be set untill thou hast an answer of that prayer from god , and that day the lord gives thee that answer , make a reference from that day to the day of praying for that mercy . 2. adv. secondly , choose some spirituall friend one or more , to whom thou mayst wholly unbosome thy self in all spiritual matters ; but a great deal of caution need to be had in this particular , he need to be one of a 1000 that thou choosest ; thus thou needest have a gr●at deal of experince of his spirituall wisedome , humility , and experience of the ways of god ; for be he never so learned , though he understand all mysteries and all knowledge , though he hath never such excellent gifts of edification , yet if he be not an experienced christian , thou wilt little benefit either by his society , or counsell ; for when he speaks of spirituall and experimentall truths , and the discourses of such truths are the very life of the communion of saints ; i say , that his discourses concerning such matters , be he never so learned , if he be not experienced in them , will be without life or relish ; he will seldom speak of such things , but when he does it , it will be with so much heaviness , that thou mayst cleerly perceive he doth speak but by rote , and of things he delights not in ; and for his advise in spirituall matters , it must needs be very imperfect , for thousand cases may happen of which books speak nothing ; and having no other way to understand them , and direct thee , he will be at a losse ; as one that travels by a map , and hath no other way to guide himselfe , he will meet with many turnings , that put him to a non-plus which way to take ; whereas he that hath often travelled that way is a farr safer guide : the truth is , we have no knowledge of god , or no saving knowledge of him , but what is by experience : to conclude therefore , if thou wilt choose a spiritual friend , choose such an one as magnifies christ , and the spirit of god , and his teachings , and the word of god , and inward mortifications above outward , and that is an experienced wise and humble christian , and thou shalt get a world of good by the converse of such an one ; for in doubts his wisdom and experience wil direct thee , in thy distresses hee will comfort thee , when thou art spiritually cold , his example and carriage in the performance of holy duties , his discourses of heavenly things , and the flames of his love wil set thee on fire . 3. adv ▪ the third is diurnal examination , every night strictly to examine what thou hast done that day ; we read of god himselfe that every day he looked over his works : surely god hath no need to examine his works , but it is writ for our instruction , and doubtlesse the benefit and necessity of this examination are very great . first , we should find out our sins before they come to be customary , when they are but a day old , and before they have taken root in us , and so they will easily be pull'd up , and by faith , repentance , prayer , and resolutions against them , we shall easily get the victory over them , and through the help of god , who makes us more then conquerours : it is very likely , by the blessing of god , if david had not neglected the examining of his soul that day when he defiled bathsheba , he would have discovered that abomination , and he would never have gone fo farre as to have added bloud and the rest of his abominations to his uncleannesse , and he would have watered h●s couch with his teares , which he had defiled with his adultery . the second advantage is , that we shall never lie in any sin unrepented of ; and there be many other inconveniences ( besides bringing it to a custome ) that come by sin lying on our souls unrepented of ; for it deads our prayers , cools our love , hardens our heart , makes us that we cannot come to god with that joy , with that freedome of spirit ; as when one hath done ones friend an injury , one is loth to see him . the third advantage is by dividing this great work of giving up our account , and making all even betwixt god and our selves , the work will be very easie ; which if we shall not doe it but at our death , or only yearly , it would be exceeding difficult , and almost impossible : as if some merchant who had very great trading , should ballast his accounts of debts , receipts , of disbursements , &c. but once in seven years , it would be an intollerable burden ; besides , many things would be forgotten ; whereas it being done daily , his accounts are perfected with more ease , and fewer defaults . the fourth advantage is , that at thy death thou wilt have a world of comfort by taking this course ; for besides , thou art eased of that burthen of having all the accounts of thy life to make up then , thou hast a clear way to answer satan , when he shall lay to thy charge any sins of thy former life ; for if he shall accuse thee , and say , do'st not thou remember , that such a year , and such a day , thou didst commit such a sin ? thou mayest answer him , and say , it is true , that such a day i did commit such a sin , but then that very night i mourned for it , and went not to bed before i had my pardon sealed with the bloud of christ to my soul ; and when satan shall not be able to lay to thy charge any debt of which thou hast not had an accquittance , nor any sin for which thou hast not had a pardon from the lord , such fiery darts will have no power to wound thee : and this examination thou mayest make thus : consider all the severall hours of the day , and how thou hast spent them ; when thou didst first awake , what didst thou think of ? when thou wert asleep , and thoughtest not of thy selfe , god thought on thee , and thou wert safe under the shadow of his wings ; when i awake , thou art with me , sayes david ; was not god with david when he was asleep ? yes surely ; for his being with him when he was awake , shewed that he was there before ; for it is not said , when i awake thou comest to me , but art with me . well , but what are thy thoughts when thou first wakest ? are they of god , or of the world ? thou shalt much discover the temper of thy heart by this ; those that are our very familiar acquaintance , we suffer them to come into our chamber before we are up : surely , god is a stranger to thee , if thou thinkest not of him , nor seekest him on thy bed ; then as the apostle sayes , if the first fruits are holy , the whole lump is holy : so generally , as thy first thoughts are , such art thou all the day after : in the morning thou sayest , it will be foule weather , sayes our saviour , for the skie is red and lowring ; so we may say of the day in respect of spirituall matters ; if thy morning thoughts be red and lowring , it will be foule weather in thy soule that day : and when thou readest over thy diary , thou shalt finde that those dayes when that thy waking and morning thoughts were full of god , that all the duties of that day , whether of thy generall or particulat calling , were full of god also . well , what didst thou think of afterwards , didst thou keep thy thoughts close to god , untill thy morning exercise ? didst thou dresse thy soul , as thou didst dresse thy body ? well , after that , what didst thou doe such an hour and such and hour , & c ? or to help thee in this duty something more , examine at night thy works , words , thoughts , what they were every houre of the day . for thy works , consider what thy religious works , the works of thy particular calling , and thy recreations were . for thy prayers , hast thou not oomitted thy seven times a day , if thou hast attained with david to that number ? or how often soever thy set times are , hast thou not omitted them ? for i dare not discourage any one in observing set times , as if that could not be don lawfully . wel , how hast thou prayed ? hast thou performed that duty as a task , or as a means ? hast thou bound up thy devotion to such a number of times of going to god ? or hast thou given god those prayers as a composition , or as the rent of the day , that thou mayest do with the rest , and spend the rest in vanity , as thou pleasest ? or didst thou not much rather perform that duty of prayer as an act of communion with god for the present , and as an help for communion with god for the future ? didst thou not by thy prayers intend and desire of the lord power and strength not to depart from him ? what were thy prayers ? were they faithfull , fervent , reverent , humble ? what returns of thy prayers hast thou had this day ? hast thou endeavoured to obtain those mercies and graces that thou prayedst for ? thou mockest god , to pray for those things thou endeavourest not for ; and thou mockest thy self , to endeavour for those things thou prayest not for . for thy meditation and reading the word of god , how hast thou performed them ? what power have they had upon thy heart this day ? hast thou been more faithfull , humble , charitable , & c ? what resolutions didst thou make ? and how hast thou kept them ? &c. concerning thy reading the scriptures and meditation , most of the things which are spoken concerning prayer , may be applyed to these also : as , didst thou meditate and read as a task , or as a means ? and so of the rest . concerning the works of thy particular calling , have they not justled out the works of thy generall calling ? hast thou not unnecessarily omitted thy set times for spirituall duties ? or have not thy thoughts been taken up too much with them ? hast thou not left off thy communion with god ? god may be with thee in thy shop as well as in thy closet . againe , if thou art a tradesman , hast thou not took advantage of the necessity of the seller , and bought too cheape , and of the ignorance of the buyer , and sold two dear ? hast thou not sold thy conscience with thy wares ? concerning thy recreations , have they not been unlawfull recreations in respect of the kinde ? hast thou not made a sport of sin , making that a recreation which should be thy grief ? making that thy delight , which should make a christian weep ? have not thy recreations been unlawfull in respect of time ? have they not been unseasonable ? hast thou not used recreations , when thou shouldest have put on sackcloth , not being sensible of the afflictions of joseph ? or have not thy recreations taken up too much time ? hast thou not made a vocation of recreation ? the best way is by prayer and by frequent communion with god , to attain to that spirituall frame of soul , that thou mayest go to god as david speaks , psalm 43. ver. 4. to make god thy exceeding joy : so shall thy great businesse and designe that thou hast in the whole world be turned into a recreation ; and thou shalt need no other , but thou shalt be as those that are in heaven ; it shall be thy eternall businesse and delight to admire and praise god . what have thy words been ? thou must give an account at the last day for every idle word : how many hast thou spoken this day ? where , when , and with whom hast thou discoursed , and what hath thy discourse been of ? have thy words been to edification ? remember what the apostle says , that we must avoyd foolish talking and jesting , which is not convenient ; hast thou not this day slandered , or spoken ill of thy neighbour ? if thou hast , besides thy humbling thy selfe before god , and asking pardon of him , make some recompence to thy neighbour , and put up as many prayers to god for him , as thou hast spoken evill words of him . for thy thoughts , what have they been ? have not vain thoughts lodged in thee ? the fountain of all sinne are our thoughts ; if thou keepest them close to god , all the rest will follow , thy words and thy conversation will be spirituall also : hast thou not had a thousand thoughts of god this day ? if thou hast not , thou hast lost that which is irrevocable : for though thou hast a thousand thoughts of god the next day , thy losse this day is not thereby recovered ; for thy having a thousand thoughts of god this day , doth not hinder thee from having a thousand thoughts next day , but rather further thee ; the more thoughts thou hast of god , the more thou mayst have ; and for thy thoughts of god , what have they been ? have they been fervent as well as frequent ? have thy thoughts of god been worthy of god ? or have not thy thoughts of god been such that thou shouldest have had of the world , and thoughts of the world such as thou shouldest have had of god ? 4. adv. the fourth is meditation , a duty of so great concernment , so much profit , that nothing but experience can make one know the benefit of it ; and the man of the greattest devotion , and of the heavenlyest affections , that we read of in all the bible , though indeed , for matter of revelations , it may be , something more is spoken of others then of him , i mean david , was exceedingly versed in meditation , and doth speak very much of it concerning his own practise , and commending it to others : you know very well , that he sets it down as the only , or at least the chief exercise of the blessed man , to meditate in the word of god day and night : he delights in the word of god , and therefore meditates in it ; and meditates in it , and therfore delights in it : one that walks in a garden , sees the beauty , and may smell sweetnesse of the flowers growing there ; but it is the bee that gathers honey out of them : to read and study the scriptures , hath a great deal of sweetnesse in it , but it is meditating on the scriptures that brings the sweetest and lastingest benefit : the end of study is knowledge ; but the end of meditation is also holy affection and practice . now that which i advise and direct in this particular , is , to know how to read and meditate on the holy scriptures to our greatest spirituall comfort and advantage : and there are many advises to this purpose . first , take the bible , open it , and read it with the same attention , reverence , and resolution to follow it , as if christ living on the earth either by reason of sicknesse , or some other occasion , not being able to go to him thy self , thou shouldst send some speciall friend with thy humble desires to christ , to advise thee what to beleeve and do , and christ should send a letter to thee by that friend . how exceedingly wouldst thou prize that letter ? how wouldest thou rejoyce and long to read it ? how strictly wouldest thou observe every syllable ? goe , take the bible , open it , and do likewise . wee do not read that ever christ writ any thing with his own hand , save that which he wrote upon the ground , john 8. and what that was wee know not . and what might be the reason ? might not one , if not the chiefest reason be , lest we should dolize that place of scripture , and despise the rest in comparison of that : it is not the hand , but the spirit of christ that gives authority to scripture : we have strange opinions of the bodily presence of christ ; we think , had we lived in his dayes , we would have gone to him , and acknowledged our sins , and craved pardon and direction , and scarce doubt but we should have obtained both : but we consider no● we have as neer and as certain a way to obtain them now as then ; nay , we have the same way as they had ; for it was their faith that made them whole , and by faith we may be made so too in respect of spiritual diseases . so , if an angel should bring a message from heaven to us , how would we observe and follow it ? the scripture should be of as great power and authority with us , as that message , and indeed more ; for if it were possible that such a message should contradict any thing in the scripture , the scripture must be beleeved before it . but of this more largely in the fifth consideration . secondly , read every verse in the bible with this consideration , that the holy spirit of god , when hee inspired the apostle , prophet , or other pen-men of the holy scriptures to write that place , did particularly intend thy good in it ; for wee must not conceive that the scripture was written for their good only who lived in those times when those severall books were published ; but to all ages , for every particular man that should live in those severall generations . the scripture it self is plain in this particular ; rom. 15. 4. for whatsoever things were written afore time , were written for our learning , that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope , deut. 29. 29. the secret things belong unto the lord our god , but these things which are revealed belong unto us , and to our children for ever , that we may do all the words of the law . nay , we read of a particular promise made to a particular person upon a speciall occasion ; if any part of scripture were not to extend to every particular person that should live while the world lasts , one would think it should be that ; yet even that very promise the apostle brings , even that , as a promise particularly to be applied to every christian : compare but these places , heb. 13. 5. josh. 1. 5. the scripture like a well made picture looks upon every one in particular , so directly , as if it looked upon none else : we generally read the scriptures as we hear sermons , without a particular and personall application of them ; if a godly minister should come home to any one of our houses , and take one aside , and tell one privately and feelingly , you professe your selves christians , but there is little or nothing of christianity appears in your lives , you live not as becomes the gospel of jesus christ ; it would startle us ; we hear the same in the pulpit , and we let it passe as a thing not concerning us : if one should come from an house of uncleanenesse , and hear a voice from heaven , saying , whoremongers and adulterers god will judge , it would strike terrour into that mans heart ; he reads the same words in the scripture , and they are a dead letter to him . thirdly , read the scripture to a right end for which it was written , not for custome , or that you might be able to discourse , and because you are ashamed to be ignorant of those things which you conceive every christian should know , and having an occasion divers times in company to talk of such matters , then you would be loth to be able to say nothing ; but consider what end the scripture was writ for , rō . 15. 4 rev. 3. 10. 1 pet. 2. 2. 2 tim. 3. 16. and many other places , set them down ; our knowledge , our affectionss , and our lives are quite out of frame , and thou must go to the holy scriptures there to finde out directions to cure these distempers : and in a word , that thou may'st be able to know , admire , love , fear , trust , and serve god more then thou doest ; thou should'st never read any part of the word of god , without a particular intention to advantage thy selfe in these particulars by thy reading . fourthly , thou must humbly and earnestly pray to the lord to give thee his spirit to understand what thou readest in his word ; take heed of going with thine own humane spirit , and in the strength of thy learning , to search out the deep things of god ; go to the shallowes of the workes , which wee call the works of nature , and thou shalt finde that thou art not able to fathome them ; the winde thou hearest the sound thereof , but knowest not whence it comes , nor whither it goes ; and how canst thou presume to understand the great mysteries of god , which the angels themselves desire to look into , without the help of the spirit of god which teacheth wisdome secretly ? let thy desires be fervent , for the things written in the word of god are thy life ; desire the lord to give thee a powerfull , spirituall , and experimentall knowledge of the truths that thou shalt read . fifthly , promise to the lord that if he will but reveal to thee his will , thou wilt do it , and obey him in it , whether it be good or evill ; jer. 42. 6. whether it be pleasing or displeasing to thine own will : we do not use to tell any one a receipt to cure a disease he is sick of , if we know he is resolved not to take it ; nor do thou satisfie thy selfe with a neutrality , to finde thy selfe neither resolved to follow , nor not to follow what thou shalt understand : it is an hard thing when one whom god hath loved so much , shall give no other return of all his goodnesse but this , that he doth not finde his heart to hate and rebell against him : many people do little better then use the scripture as a charme , they think by reading so many chapters a day , they shall be cured of all spirituall diseases : had they not as good think , that by hanging some chapters or two about their neck , they shall be cured of some corporall disease ? if one should have a receipt to cure the gout , and he should read it over every day twice or thrice , and think thereby to be cured , though he never took what was prescribed ; so it is with him that thinks the bare reading of the word of god will do him any good without being , beleeving , and doing accordingly . sixthly , when thou art thus prepared , read that place which thou intendest to meditate of , and consider what the true meaning of the place is , to thy understanding thereof before thou didst crave the assistance of the spirit of god ; but if the place be knotty and hard to be understood , passe it by , for such places are not proper places of meditation , but of study ; thou must choose those places of scripture as are fit for the affectionate , not the speculative part of divinity , such as may more affect the heart , then busie the braine to understand it ; and thou must not be curious to raise nice observations from the words , but take those truths that lie open in the text . first , because those truths that lie hidden in one place of scripture , are obvious in another . secondly , because when the braine is much imployed , the heart lyes dead without affections . thirdly , because that time thou spendest in finding out curious observations , may be farre more profitably spent in working thy heart to holy affections and resolutions , from some other truth that will presently occur from the words . lastly , it shewes that there is not so great spirituall hunger after righteousness as there should be ; for hungry men do not use to stand and pick bones , when they have meat enough to eat . seventhly , when thou hast raised any observation from the words , then thou art to put one of these three questions to thy selfe ; do i thus ? is it thus with me ? and , believe i thus ? one or two , or all of these will belong to every text ; some to all , and all to some , as luke 12. 32. fear not little flock , it is your fathers good will to give you the kingdom : do i thus ? that is , for the first branch , fear not ; do i fear ? then , is it thus with me ? am i little in mine own eyes ? am i one of christ's flock ? am i one of that small number that shall be saved ? lastly , do i believe this , that god will give the kingdom of heaven to such ? eighthly , if thou doest find , that thou art , doest , or believest as the word requires , give god the praise , humbly acknowledging that it is not thy doing at all , either that thou art , or doest , or believest what thou shouldest : and if thou findest that thou pridest thy selfe in stead of being thankfull , as if they were from thy selfe , or that by any of them as thine act thou mayest be justified , then doe but think in how many other things thou failest , and how even in these very particulars , if thou considerest either the measure , manner , ground , and end , thou shalt find them all to be defective , and thy best righteousnesse not onely to be ragged , but filthy too . ninthly , if thou findest that either it is not with thee , or that thou dost not , or beleevest not as the word requires , then , first , humble thy self before the lord , and desire pardon and help for the future . secondly , seriously consider what is the reason ( if it be that thou beleevest not ) why thou art not established in that truth : say to thy self , o my soul , god can neither be deceived , nor deceive , and that this is his word that we now read and meditate on , is more certain then any reason that can possibly be brought against it ; consider that generally the howe 's and whyes of gods truths and works are the things that stumble us ; as , how can there be three persons and yet but one god ? and , why should god hate esau , and love jacob ? in those cases say to thy selfe , that for the whys and howe 's of gods word and truths , it is curiosity and pride to enquire of them , except god does reveal them , and we ought to mortifie our desire of knowing them : as that of our saviour takes place in this case ; blessed are they that beleeve and see not . thirdly , think with thy self , if thou canst remember any other place or places that confirms the truth that thou doubts of . fourthly , know that that which thou art mainly to enquire of , is of the meaning of the word of god , not of the truth of it ; for we are seriously to consider , whether such a place holds forth such a point , not ( it appearing to be the plaine meaning of the text ) whether it be true or no , if it be a thing that thou doest not which thou shouldst do , or doest which thou shouldst not do ; then seriously consider what are the reasons and grounds of thy disobedience , and thou shalt find them to be either the pleasure , profit , or honour of the world ; and say , alas , o my soul , can we be so deceived as to be put off with vanities , such as by experience we have known to be vanities , and by faith much more ? shall we leave an heaven of joys , the god of mercies ? shall we leave christ , who hath so loved us , that he left all , even the bosome of his father , and emptied himself of all his glory , and filled himselfe with our misery ? shall we leave all these for these , vanities which we must leave , and will leave us ? consider the impediments that hinder thee from doing thy duty ; consider the temptations and occasions of thy sin ; consider the means and motives to avoyd it : remove the impediments ; avoyd the occasions ; use the means ; and think of the motives to do that which the lord commandeth : but thou must neither think to find out these , nor to use the means , or avoyd the occasions , &c. without imploring humbly and earnestly the direction and assistance of the spirit of god , to assist and direct thee in the premisses ; for you must know , that you must find out and use spirituall motives , or else thy very avoyding of sin is sin , when it is done upon carnall grounds or sinfull motives . tenthly , when thou hast finished all thy meditations , first , thou art to entreat the lord , that hee would work all these truths upon thy heart , and fasten them as a nail in a sure place , that his word may not be a dry brest unto thee , nor thou a barren wildernesse unto it . secondly , thou art to blesse god for any spirituall frame of heart that is either wrought or discovered in thee by this exercise . lastly , chuse some speciall truth or point ( in which thou are either most defective , or wherein thou hast found most relish , which thou hast most occasion to make use of that day ) and keep it by thee to think of ; and do as those that walk in a garden of fragrant flowers , if one may have leave , generally hee takes some along with him , to smell to the rest of the day : do thou binde up some spirituall truths out of thy meditation , and do likewise . last adv. the last great advice , and that which must serve for an antidote , lest all the other cautions and advices being observed , they should be turned into poyson to us , is , that we should often meditate , and never be satisfied in our souls , until we come to a cleer gospel experimental knowledg of christ , without which indeed , we are not worthy of the name of christians ; for are wee not call'd christians from the very name ? and doubtles , if we have not a right knowledg of christ , we shall make up a christ to our selves of our prayers , and fastings , and almes , and repentance ; and woe be to that soul that at the last day shall have nothing to trust to but his graces and duties , which will accuse him in stead of pleading his cause : and two things especially we should endeavour to know of christ ; first , the excellency of the person and mysteries of christ . secondly , the love of christ . first , for the excellency of his person , though to say he was both god and man , is indeed to include all ; yet some few things i shall speak to manifest this point . first , that all his people do receive from him grace for grace ; john 1. 16. now if we consider the vast emptinesse and spirituall wants of the people of god , we must needs conclude that he must be an ocean of excellency that must continually supply them . secondly , ( for i shall be very brief , setting down rather heads of meditation , then sermon-wise , to dilate upon them ) consider the dignity of his sufferings ; for they did satisfie the justice of god , and that could not be satisfied without somthing of infinite value ; nor could it have been done by him save only by reason of the dignity of his person . thirdly , consider how he suffered ; though the pains he suffered were exceeding great , yet was it without any abatement at all of his love of , and confidence in god ; for while he satisfied the justice of god by his passive obedience , in suffering the penalty of the law ; he also satisfied and fulfilled the righteousness of the law , by his active obedience , which was a wonder full thing , that in the midst of all his agony and all his fathers anger , while he was laying upon him the punishment of the iniquity of us all , and spared him not , that even then there should be no abatement at all of his confidence in , and love of his father , but that he should love him and trust in him as much as at any other time ; for had there been any abatement , and had he not loved god then with all his soul , with all his might , and with all his strength ( and the same may be said of his trusting in god ) his sufferings could never have satisfied for sinne , but themselves had stood in need of forgivenesse . fourthly , consider that saying of our saviour , john 14. 9. he that hath seen me , hath seen the father : the speech of philip is as if he should say ; wee indeed see a great deal of holinesse and wisdom in thy words and actions , but would we could see the father ; surely there would be a world of holinesse and wisdom in his words and actions ; if he would have lived amongst men as thou lord hast done , surely then it had sufficed . now our saviours answer is as if he should say to philip , if the father himselfe had taken humane nature , and lived amongst men , he would not have spoke one word more , or otherwise , nor done one action more or otherwise then i have done , he would not , nay could not have spoke , or done more wisely then i have done ; so he that hath seen me , hath seen my father . fifthly , consider that those who have had the greatest and highest revelations of divine things , have alwayes had the highest esteem of , and have most magnified christ . saint paul , rapt into the third heaven , and saw and heard things there , which was neither possible , nor lawfull to be uttered ; yet no man speaks higher things of christ then he , he desires to know nothing but jesus christ , and him crucified ; accounts all other knowledg but drosse and dogs meat ; such knowledge as dogs and swine , reprobates may have ; nay , one step further , the very angels in heaven , though they have the beatificall vision , yet notwithstanding they desire to look into the great mysteries of the gospel , 1 pet. 1. 12. therefore never think that thou hast attained to any measure of christian knowledge before thou seest an excellency in christ , and an heighth and depth in the mysteries of the gospel ; which if thou shalt not do , say within thy self , it is so evident that nothing is more in the word of god , that christ is the end of all the ceremoniall laws , and all the prophesies of the old testament ; that all the prophets , nay all the angels give witness ; and the apostle cleerly says , that there is no controversie of this matter of the greatnesse of gospel mysteries , and therefore that i do not admire them , it certainly proceeds from my ignorance of them ; for if it proceeded from knowledge , without doubt the apostles that had more knowledg then i , and the angels which had more knowledg then the apostles , would never have desired to have known more of them : and after thou hast wrought this upon thy heart , and art fully convinced of the truth of it , that there is no knowledg , not onely not so profitable , but not so sweet , nor so excellent as this , then humbly beseech the lord that he would shew unto thee , teaching thee by his spirit the deep things of god , and that he would not only do it to informe and enlighten thy understanding in , but to inamour thy will of the beauties of the mysteries of christ : we stand doating and gazing upon hamane knowledge , which is but like a poor glow-worme compared to the sun of righteousnesse ; but alas poor thing , it hath neither light nor heat , compared to the truths of the gospel : and we must look upon christ as the only author and finisher of our faith , and justifier of our persons ; though we do all that hath been mentioned , yet we must not so much as make our doings , or not doings the least ingredient in our justification : and as solomon speaks concerning our wisdom , so we must do in the matter of holinesse ; leane not to thine own wisdome , saith solomon ; not onely not rely upon it , but lean on it : we must not partly trust in our own wisdom , and partly in the wisdom of god , but we must wholly rely upon his wisdom : so , we must not partly rely upon christs merits , and partly upon our own ; but wholly on christ : those sins which we do not commit , we are not innocent of ; and those holy duties that we do perform , we are not innocent in ; therefore neither can we escape hell , nor attain heaven by any thing that wee do , or not do : and the reason why wee either avoyd sin , or perform holy duties , or frequent ordinances , is not because thereby we shall be justified , but that thereby wee may glorifie god and christ , and because therein wee have communion with christ , and are made more conformable unto him , and made more capable of more of christ . when we go to some stately palace , where we have appointed to meet some deer friend whom wee love with our whole soul , though we have never so much entertainment there when we come , yet if wee neither see , nor enjoy the company of our so exceedingly loved and desired friend , wee rather weep then rejoyce , notwithstanding the feasts and buildings which wee taste and see : prayer , hearing the word , the lords supper , are stately ordinances and rich feasts ; yet if we meet not christ there , they are but dry brests and barren wildernesses to a soul that loves christ . secondly , now the main thing that hinders a poor soul from coming unto christ , is , that it is not cleerly satisfied of christs love and willingnesse to receive her : to this point therefore by the blessing of god i shall speak more largely , and as cleerly as the lord shall inable me ; this therefore may be said to that point : art thou not satisfied of the love and willingnesse of christ to receive thee ? what can christ say or do more then he hath done ? suppose christ from heaven should bid thee write downe what expressions soever thou wouldest or couldest invent , and bid thee call all the saints in the whole world , and all the angels in heaven , and bid you consult together , and write down the highest , fullest , cleerest , and largest expressions of love , and he wil set his hand and seal to them , would that satisfie ? surely god and christ have done more ; for the holy ghost comes not short of the expressions of love of whatsoever the angels in heaven could invent , thou hast his hand and seale to them in his word ; thou wouldest be a ▪ looser if thou shouldest make another draught of love for christ to set his hand to , and take that in stead of the expressions of love which he hath already ratified and confirmed by his word , his oath , his seal , that thou mighest have strong consolation : suppose that thou shouldest search the whole world to find out the fondest , lovingest and tenderest parent in the world , and when thou hast found her , thou shouldest observe with what love , care , and bowels of affection she carried her selfe towards her little infant , how shee breaks her sleep , and even her very heart when her child is sick , and never complains of her pains and costs , and never thinks she can do or suffer enough for the little infant : now if thou shalt say within thy self ; o that i was sure that god loved me as much as this woman loves her child : well , would that satisfie ? then be satisfied , god loves thee more : isa. 49. 15. can a woman forget her sucking child , that shee would not have compassion on the son of her womb ? yea they may forget , yet will not i forget thee : the lord doth not say , can women ? but a woman , any woman : find out that woman which thou supposest is the most unlikely to forget her child , yet god is more unlikely to forget thee ; nay it is more possible that all the women of the world should forget their children , then god ; for though the question be put in the singular number , can a woman ? yet the answer is in the plurall , not she may , but they may , they all may . further again ; suppose thou wert at the solemnizing of a marriage of the lovingest couple in the whole world , and shouldest observe with how much joy and love the bridegroom carried himselfe toward the bride , even in the midst and height of all his nuptiall solemnities ; wouldst thou not be satisfied if thou didst know that god did not only love thee with that tender love of compassion with which the lovingest mother in the world loves her infant , but with that love of complacencie which the bridegroom beareth to , and with which he rejoyceth over his bride : whose love was equall to their espousals ? then be satisfied , for god doth so ; isa. 62. 5. and as a bridegroome rejoyceth over his bride , so shall thy god rejoyce over thee : nay surely , i may say , that the holiest saint in the whole world , when by the clearest discoveries of gods love unto him , his heart is most enflamed ; nay further , that the highest angell in heaven doth not love god so much , as god loves the poorest and meanest saint in the whole world ; for god so loved the world , it is such a sic , that there is no sicut for it , not that of the angels unto him ; nothing can expresse it to the ful , save onely the greatness of the gift which hee out of his love gave to , and for his pleople , even the lord jesus christ . to conclude , do but consider what christ hath done , and if thou art fully satisfied of that , thou canst have no cause to have the least doubt of his willingnesse to do whatsoever more is to be done for thee ; for that which is to be done is nothing in comparison of that which he hath already done for those that are his . first , nothing in respect of excellency , for the apostle brings that in , he will much more give us all things : also for god to give thee christ , is much more then to give thee heaven : as to give thee heaven is much more then to give thee all temporall blessings , mat. 6. 33. if one that ought thee 10000 pounds , should have payed thee nine thousand nine hundered ninety nine , thou wouldest no whit doubt , but he will pay thee the residue , especially if it stood upon the forfeiture of his credit ; how much more shalt thou assure thy self of gods doing for thee whatsoever is behind , since he hath already done so much ! secondly , the great matter of difficulty is over ; indeed it cost christ dear , and god the father dear to redeem thee ; god spared not his own son ; christ spared not his bloud , nor his life ; he suffered hunger , cold , and nakednesse , and reproach , the painfull and shamefull death of the cross to redeem thee ; but he lives for ever to make intercession for thee ; he needs not rise off from his throne , nor put off his robes of glory to carry on the remainder of thy work of salvation ; he sits at the right hand of god to make intercession for thee ; the lord said unto my lord , sit thou on my right hand until i make thy enemies thy footstool . thirdly , the great matter of wonder is over also : that a great and mighty monarch should marry a poor wretched and diseased woman , is a thing of great wonder ; but it s not so great a wonder that having married her , should make her partakers of all the glory and riches of his kingdome ; nay indeed , it was a wonder if he should not . that christ who is the lord of glory should marry a poor sinful soul is a wonder ; but having married thee , that he should sanctifie thee , that he should present thee glorious , without spot or blemish , or any such thing , is no wonder ; nay it was a wonder if he should still suffer thee to go in rags , and never adorn thee with the jewels of his grace , and set upon thy head the crown of glory . therefore comfort thy self with these truths : now to him that hath done so much , and much more , be glory and honour for ever , amen . finis . a correct copy of some notes concerning gods decrees especially of reprobation / written for the private use of a friend in northamptonshire ; and now published to prevent calumny. pierce, thomas, 1622-1691. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a54833 of text r26882 in the english short title catalog (wing p2170). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 232 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a54833 wing p2170 estc r26882 09570829 ocm 09570829 43672 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54833) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43672) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1337:36) a correct copy of some notes concerning gods decrees especially of reprobation / written for the private use of a friend in northamptonshire ; and now published to prevent calumny. pierce, thomas, 1622-1691. [4], 74, [1] p. printed by e. cotes for r. royston, london : 1655. "epistle dedicatory" signed: t.p. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. eng god -wrath. judgment of god. theology, doctrinal. a54833 r26882 (wing p2170). civilwar no a correct copy of some notes concerning gods decrees, especially of reprobation. written for the private use of a friend in northamptonshire pierce, thomas 1655 37634 147 230 0 0 0 0 100 f the rate of 100 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2003-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-09 john latta sampled and proofread 2003-09 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a correct copy of some notes concerning gods decrees , especially of reprobation . written for the private use of a friend in northampton-shire . and now published to prevent calumny . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . isocrat . london , printed by e. cotes for r. royston at the angel in ivie-lane , m. dc . lv . to a person of honour and integrity , who was the principal perswader to this publication . though i could not well answer your former reasons why i should publish a true copy to anticipate a false one , yet i was willing to be obstinate in a case of this nature ; wherein to vindicate my credit , did seem ( to me ) too great a prejudice to my ease ; and was thought ( by some friends ) to be a hazarding of my safety . and as i have never been delighted to lye busking in the sun , so of late ( more especially ) i have been even so amorous of living retiredly in the shade , that i would fain have provided for my peace and quiet , as more considerable to me then my reputation . not that i dare be so wedded to ease , or safety , as guiltily to court them by sloth , or cowardize ; nor that i dare be so indifferent to the good opinion of good men , as not to desire to be very well thought on ; but because i had resolv'd to sit and smile upon my sufferings , and to purchase the continuance of my beloved obscurity and repose , by that which i thought a lawful means ; even the burying my self amongst my books , and living under the protection of passive silence . but having put my judgement into other mens hands , and more especially into yours , and being perfectly conquer'd by your this weeks letter , who was but disorder'd by your last , ( against which i must confesse i did rather stand out , by an affected deafnesse , then any real dissent ) and being now no longer threatned by bare report , but by one who professeth ( under hand and seal ) to have been writing against papers which he cals mine , ( adding , that he intends to make them publick ) i finde my self brought to such an unfortunate dilemma , ( either of having a false copy printed , or else of printing a true copy to discountenance the false , ) that i must pitch upon this latter as the lesser evil . and so your wishes and my fears are come upon me ; whilest i lie under a necessity of going abroad into the world , meerly in order to my very privacy and peace . for the very same letter which threatens the publishing of papers falsly bearing my name , cals me the grandchilde of pelagius , the enemy of god , of christ , and of his church , with more such {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , then i will ever repay in kinde . the greatest revenge that i will seek , shall be ( in love to his person ) to conceal his name . i hope my soul hath been dieted with cleaner food , then to break out at the mouth into such exulcerate erysipelas . and that i shall get moderation by those very means , by which i finde some men have lost it . and though i hope it doth not lie in the power of any man to infect my name with such a leprosie , as to make it loathsome to such persons by whom i desire to be approved , yet have i hated the publication of this my scribling , for fear some young or old trojan should make it an apple of altercation . for you know this age is full of salamanders , who never live so pleasantly as in the fire of contention : in hopes to expire and to be buried ( like some pausanias or herostratus ) in the armes of fame , though not of glory . and truly this is the reason , why i have suffer'd so long in so deep a silence ; even hating the means , because abhorring the effects , of a vindication ; and desiring that what i built upon such controverted subjects , might be ( like solomons temple ) without the least noise of axe or hammer . if i had lookt upon my self with so much reverence , as to have made my self beleeve i could be publ●ckly useful , i would have fasten'd upon a subject which should have been fitter , and more easie , more profitable and pleasant , and every way more acceptable to my self , and others . i have been very attentive to that preaching of siracides , search not the things that are above thy strength , but what is commanded thee think thereupon with reverence , &c. and whilest i consider , that god will render to every man ( not according to his opinions , but ) according to his works ; i do not think it so good a task , to make men orthodox christians , as to make them honest and sincere ones . if i had been one of those , who prefer the truth of opinion to the truth of practise , and hate a man more for the least error of his judgement , then for the greatest obliquity of his will , i might indeed have been forward on such a subject . but because i have seriously observed , that whilest men scamble too eagerly after the truth of religion , they ( in the heat of contention ) do lose the practise of it , i have passed the hardest censure upon my present necessity , and have been ( hitherto ) the unkindest man in the world to mine own publication . but you ( sir ) are to thank me for my misfortune , in submission to whose judgement , i have offered violence to mine own . i may be a stranger to my self through the deceitfulnesse of my heart , but if my heart doth not deceive me , no man living hath gone to presse with greater vanity , then i go now with self-denial . i am sure my aversenesse to this publication hath extorted from me an unproportionable length both of this my letter to your self , and of my paraenesis to the reader ; which makes a portal too large for the littlenesse of the cottage to which it leads . which as i first submitted to your judgement , so must i now commit it to your disposal , and withal commend it to your protection . i say to your protection , because ( whilest the presse is so prostituted , and the age so prurient ) it is not likely to be the safer for being innocent . it was not the modesty of susanna that was able to secure her from the indictment of the elders ; and 't was the innocence of joseph , which made his mistresse pronounce him guilty . but had i imagined ( as i did not ) that my private notes would have been so vitiated and exposed , when i deliver'd them as whispers into one man's ear , i would infallibly have us'd them as virginius did his vertuous daughter ; that at least they might have gone unpolluted out of the world . but since they are unhappily condemn'd to live in spight of all my endevours to have supprest them , ( pro supplicio est , non potuisse mori , ) and that you will have them rather to be shew'd by me , in their natural shape , then by any strange man , in any uncharitable disguise ; i hope that you will secure me from farther trouble , by undertaking its vindication against any pragmatick person , who shall possibly abuse either them , or me . for the temptation must be greater , and the necessity more urgent then i hope it will be , if i draw at either end of the saw of strife . but you have leisure as well as skill ; and you are able to forget your rank and quality , in favour to him , who does honour your vertues and erudition , above your fortune and your bloud . and who is not more by obligation of duty , then by the peculiar inclinations of his soul , sir , your most affectionate , obliged , and humble servant , t. p. a paraenesis to the reader . ( shewing the first occasion of this following discourse , and the author's necessity to make it publick . ) sect. 1. that i am subject to errors , it is no humility to acknowledge ; it being no more then to confesse , that i carry about me the infirmities of a man ; which whosoever doth not , let him cast the first stone at me . but whether or no i am an heretique , or a dangerous person , i d●…sire my censors may be my iudges ; and do therefore addresse this present apologie and appeal , not to the kindnesse and partiality of my dearest friends , but to the very jealousies and prejudices of my severest enemies . i bar the suffrage of none , but the accuser of the brethren , that abaddon or apollyon , so very skilfull to destroy , who is the father of lies , and was a murderer from the beginning . 2. i do professe in the presence of that punctuall register within me , ( to which i bear a greater reverence then to affront it with a premeditated and wilfull lie ) that i do not unsheath my pen , to wound the reputation of any man living . but since mine own lies bleeding in the mouths of some , whose very tongues have teeth , which bite much harder then i will ever allow mine , ( and if there happen to be any in all my papers , i shall not think it painful to have them drawn ) it is but needful that i be clothed at least with armour of defence . i meant indeed at the first , only to have armed my self with silence , that my reservednesse and obscurity might keep me safe : and even now that i am forced and as it were drag'd into the field , i contend not for victory , but for an honourable retreat . and if after i have suffer'd , i may be competently safe , i will thank my buckler , but not my sword . even now that i am writing , it is with a kinde of willingnesse to blot it out ; and do only so do it , as preferring an inconvenience before a mischief . 3. there had been a private conference betwixt a gentleman and my self , which ( for his further satisfaction ) i threw hastily into a paper ; every whit as incohaerent , as it had been in our oral and extemporary discourses : a discourse which of necessity was forc'd to be without method as without premeditation ; because ( in my answers to his objections ) i was bound to follow after the measure that i was led . i thought the thing so inconsiderable , as not to vouchsafe it a reading over , but just as it was written , delivered it instantly to my friend , to be returned ( when he had used it ) unto the usual place of my forgetfulnesse . and forgotten it was so long , that truly i know not how long it was ; till discoursing with another gentleman upon the very same subject , i found my memory awak'd by that sleeping scribble ; but ( forgetting that secrets do cease to be so , when they are told though but to one , and that with strict conjurations of greatest secrecy ) i gave him leave to peruse it as his leisure serv'd him . it seems this gentleman had a confident , as well as i ; and so my original increas'd and multiplied into many false copies , of which not one was like the mother . now that my paper went abroad by the help of more hands then one , was against my knowledge , against my will , against my precept , against my care , and lastly against my best endevours to recal it . it having been absolutely impossible , that i should love the publication of my poor abortive , who never esteemed my ripest and most legitimate productions to be any way worthy of publique view . so far was i from an ambition of being known by a disfigured and mis shapen childe , that when i first heard of its travels , it was faln out of my memory ; and when it came to me in a disguise , it was quite out of my knowledge . 4. i do acknowledge the great abstrusenesse of the whole subject on which i treated , and the disproportion of my faculties to undertake or manage it . for if the learned bishop andrewes did choose with s. austin , much more may i with bishop andrewes , rather to hear then to speak of these insearchables . i do not hope to fathom either the bathos of the apostle , or the psalmists abysse . but i expect to be pardon'd , if when my way is slippery , i take heed to my footing ; and so eschew the precipice , as not to run upon the wolfe . it is not the businesse of this paper , either to state an old question in a new found way , or to publish my judgement as a considerable thing . who am i , that i should moderate between the remonstrants and anti-remonstrants ? betwixt s. austin and other fathers ? betwixt him and himself ? betwixt the synod of dort , and that other at augusta ? betwixt the dominicans and the iesuites ? arminius and mr. perkins ? twisse and bellarmine ? or betwixt whitaker and baro ? much indeed may be excus'd , because much may be look't for , from such reverend prelates , as were overall , and davenant . but i beleeve , amongst the clergy there is not one in a hundred fit to speak of these mysteries ; and amongst the laity not one in a thousand , that 's fit to hear them . hence was that silence first , and afterwards that secrecie , wherein i fain would have buried mine own conjectures : and even now that i am forc'd to be more publique then i meant , ( by the many false copies of my discourse , whereof one of the falsest is now preparing for the presse , by one , who it seems is at very great leisure ) it is not at all from any ambition to be follow'd , but from an humble desire to be rightly understood ; and do therefore only pretend to an apologie , and an appeal . first , an apologie for my imprudence ; that i could think such a secret might be communicated to one ; and so betray those papers to the light , which belonged only to the fire . secondly , an appeal , whether i am a pelagian , or whether so much as a massilian : or whether indeed i am not rather a very orthodox protestant of the church of england . i have managed my discourse , as i ground my faith , not from the hidden mysteries of god's secret will , but from the clearest expressions of his written word . where , of divers interpretations , ( as often as they are divers ) i love to pitch upon that , which i finde agreed upon by the wisest and the best ; and which , in my shallow judgement , ( which yet is the deepest that i have ) doth seem the safest , and the most sutable to the analogie of faith . even babes and idiots have this advantage of their betters , to be afraid of that fire where wiser men have been burnt . and sad experience hath taught me , ( who am a babe and an idiot in respect of the aged and the wise ) to steer aloof in my doctrines from those fatal shelves whereon my own small vessel hath been soundly dashed , and many others ( much greater ) as it were shipwrackt before mine eyes . this entirely is the reason , why i have hovered a long time betwixt the absolutenesse of a decree , and the liberty of a will ; like a trembling needle betwixt two loadstones ; or rather like a man newly walking upon a rope , who so ballanceth his body with his two hands , that his continual fear of falling down is the only tenure by which he stands . i dare not , for my life , be so bold as the pelagians , nor yet so bloudy as the manichees . i would not split my judgement on the symplegades of two intolerable mischiefs , either by robbing god of his efficiency in any one act which is naturally good ; or by aspersing his holinesse in any one act which is morally evill . i do endevour to keep my self , ( and others committed to my keeping ) both from the rock of presumption , and from the gulf of despair . i steer as carefully as i can ( in this so dangerous archipelago ) betwixt the nature of gods will , and the condition of mine own ; that so my confidence may well consist with my humility . i dare not impute to god what is unworthy for him to own ; nor arrogate to my self what is god's peculiar : and therefore settle my minde and my judgement upon these two grounds . i. that all the evil of sin which dwelleth in me , or proceedeth from me , is not imputable to god's will , but entirely to mine own . the serpent and the protoplast were promoters of my guilt , but my god was no promoter either of their guilt or mine . when the serpent speaketh a lie , he speaketh of his own ; he is the father of lies , and the works of your father ye will do , joh. 8. 44. ii. that all the good which i do , i do first receive ; not from any thing in my self , but from the special grace and favour of almighty god , who freely worketh in me , both to will and to do of his good pleasure . phil. 2. 13. chap. i. 5. if these are principles to be granted , my work is done ; for these are the grounds on which i build my judgement , and these are the touchstones by which i try it . whatsoever i beleeve concerning election or reprobation , and those other questions which are depending , i do infer from these truths , which ( as i suppose ) cannot possibly deceive me . and whilest i stand to these grounds , i am not able to quit my judgement , how little soever it shall be liked by such as are wittily unreasonable . so that my principles be right , i care not whither they carry me , whilest scripture and my best care are both guides in my conveyance ; for where the premises are true , the conclusion cannot be false : all that needeth to be car'd for in the progresse of my search , is the legality of the deduction ; which , if it be wrong , i shall be glad to hear of it for my instruction ; and if it be right , it cannot choose but be truth which leaps naturally forth from the womb of truth . 6. if by any inadvertency ( either in me , or the reader ) my words seem to clash with my belief , it is by no other misfortune then befell s. austin , when he used such expressions against the pelagians , as seemed to contradict what he had spoken against the manichees ; and yet he professeth it was not his judgement , but his style only that was changed . the saying of bucer is remarkable , ( and the more because it was bucer's ) that there was no such harm in what was said by the learned , both ancient and modern , concerning the freedome of the will , if things were taken as they were meant , ( that is to say ) by the right handle : and that would oftner be done , if the persons of some men were not a prejudice to their cause : for i finde the same words may passe with favour from one , which would not be endured should they be spoken by another . one short example will not be burdensome to the reader . doctor twisse himself hath said expresly , that the justice of god doth not appear in the absolute or simple condemnation of his creature , but in the condemnation of it for sin . thus he speaketh in his preface , which is most of it spent against arminius . i did but say the same words to some admirers of dr. twisse , and yet was counted an arminian ; which makes me heartily desire , that i may meet with unbyas't and impartial readers ; that whatsoever i shall say in these following papers , may be compared with the two principles which i have just now laid : i disallowing all that disagreeth with those principles , as the unhappinesse of my pen , or the unsteadinesse of my brain . i desire all may go for no more then it is worth . if i seem to any man to be overtaken in a fault , he shall do well to restore me in the spirit of meeknesse , remembring himself lest he also be tempted . if i am thought to be in the wrong by those that think themselves only in the 〈◊〉 , they can conclude no worse of me , then that i am not infallible : if in any thing i erre , it is for want of apprehension , not my unwillingness to apprehend ; nor am i severely to be censur'd , for being every whit as dull , as those thousands of thousands who have thought as i do . i hope my reasons will make it appear , that if i erre , i am not affectedly , but invincibly ignorant ; and so for being most unpassionately , i am most pardonably erroneous . or if i am thought not to be so , i desire one favour from them that so think , even that all my faults ( whether real or supposed ) may rather be laid upon my person , then imputed to my cause . 7. before i come to prove any thing from the first of my principles , i foresee a necessity to prove my principles to be true ; for though the foolishnesse of man perverteth his way , yet his heart fretteth against the lord . there are men in the world of no small name , who have told the world both out of the pulpit , and from the presse , that all the evill of sin which is in man proceedeth from god only as the author , and from man only as the instrument ; whether or no i am deceived , let the reader judge by this following catalogue of expressions . i forbear to name the authors in meer civility to their persons : but i have them lying by me very particularly quoted , and will produce them , if i am challenged by any man's doubt or curiosity . the expressions are such as these : ( to begin with the mildest . ) that all things happen , not only by god's praescience , but by his expresse order and positive decree . whereby many from the womb are devoted to certain and inevitable destruction , that by their misery god's name may be glorified . that god directeth his voice to some men , but that they may be so much the deafer ; he gives light unto them , but that they may be so much the blinder ; he offers them instruction , but that they may be the more ignorant ; and he useth a remedy , but to the end they may not be healed . that a wicked man , by the just impulse of god , doth that which is not lawful for him to do . that the devil and wicked men are so restrained on every side with the hand of god , as with a bridle , that they cannot conceive , nor contrive , nor execute any mischief , nor so much as endevour its execution , any farther then god himself doth ( not permit only , but ) command : nor are they only held in fetters , but compelled also as with a bridle , to perform obedience to such commands . that theeves and murderers are the instruments of the divine providence , which the lord himself useth to execute his judgements which he hath determined within himself ; and that he works through them . that gods decree , by which any man is destined to condemnation for sin , is not an act of his iustice , nor doth it presuppose sin . or if damnation doth presuppose sin , it doth not follow , that the praescience of sin doth precede the will or decree of damning ; or if the will of damning any man is an act of vindicative iustice , it doth not follow that it praesupposeth sin . that god can will that man shall not fall , by his will which is called voluntas signi , and in the mean while he can ordain that the same man shall infallibly and efficaciously fall , by his will which is called voluntas beneplaciti . the former will of god is improperly called his will , for it only signifieth what man ought to do by right ; but the latter will is properly called a will , because by that he decreed what should [ inevitably ] come to passe . that when god makes an angel or a man a transgressor , he himself doth not transgresse , because he doth not break a law . the very same sin , viz. adultery or murder , in as much as it is the work of god the author , mover , and compeller , it is not a crime ; but in as much as it is of man , it is a wickednesse . that they are cowards and seek for subterfuges , who say that this is done by god's permission only , and not by his will . if the ex●…aecation and madnesse of ahab is a judgement of god , the fiction of bare permission doth presently vanish ; because it is ridiculous , that the judge should only permit , and not also decree what he will have done , and also command the execution of it to his ministers . that god's decree is not lesse efficaeious in the permission of evill , then in the production of good . ( nay ) that god's will doth passe , not only into the permission of the sin , but into the sin itself which is permitted . ( nay ) that the dominieans do imperfectly and obscurely relate the truth , whilest besides gods concurrence to the making way for sin , they require nothing but the negation of efficacious grace , when it is manifest , that there is a farther prostitution to sins required . ( nay afterwards ) that god doth administer the occasions of sinning , and do so move and urge them , that they smite the sinners minde , and really affect his imagination , according to all those degrees , whether of profit or pleasure , represented in them . if my hand were not weary , if my heart did not tremble , if both my ears did not tingle , i could reckon up many more such frightfull sayings , from mine own knowledge and inspection , which i have quoted to the very page , and can do to the very line of their several authors : besides a cloud of blasphemies which i could name from other compilers , if i either listed or had need to take up any upon trust . now by all this it appears , ( as well as by many too literal expositions of some texts in scripture , which make god ( blessed for ever ! ) to be the tempter , the deceiver , and the father of lies ) there is a necessity lying upon upon me to prove my first principle , before some readers will dare to trust it , viz. that all the evill of sin which dwelleth in me , is not imputable to god's will , but entirely of mine own . adam and the serpent may be allowed as sharers , but my god ( blessed for ever ! ) is none at all . 8. this is plain by scripture , and by the evidences of reason : ( to which anon i shall adde antiquity . ) and first for scripture , though the force of a negative argument is not irrefragable , yet it is not unworthy to be observed , that god is no where affirmed to predestine sin : and therefore the word predestination is us'd without any epithet , to signifie nothing but election in the ordinary sense : and it is set by divines ( both ancient and modern ) as an opposite member to reprobation ; which cannot be done from the bare nature of the word , but from the use of it in scripture : and why should that be the sole use of it ( when the word it self is as fit to signifie the contrary ) but because god is the author of all the good we do , and of all the good that we receive , whereas man is his own author of all the evil which he committeth , and of the evil which he suffereth for such commissions ? 9. and though this bare negative proof might seem sufficient in such a case [ that god doth no where professe he wil's or decrees the sin of man ] yet ( to make us inexcusable when we excuse our selves , like adam , by any the least accusation of him that made us ) god doth every where professe , that he wil's it not : as when he forbids it by his lawes , when he provides against it by his discipline , when he shews us how to avoid it , when he tels us he cannot endure it , when he wins us from it by promises , when he frights us from it by threats , when he professeth that it is to him both a trouble , and a dishonour . how doth he wish that his people had walked in his wayes ? how doth he expostulate and make his appeal , whether he had omitted any thing , which might tend to the conversion of a sinful israel ? in the whole 18. chapter of ezekiel , god is pleased to make his own apologie and appeal , even to them that had accus'd him in an unworthy proverb : [ the fathers have eaten sowre grapes , and the childrens teeth are set on edge ] are not my waies equal ? and are not your waies unequal ? sure their waies had been his , if he had absolutely contriv'd them . the soul that sinneth it shall die , vers. 4. and why will ye die o house of israel ? vers. 31. which was virtually to aske them , why they would sin too ; which they ought to have done , if he had will'd it : for the positive will of god must and ought to be done ; and can any man be punisht for doing that which he must ? must any man be punisht for doing that which he ought ? 't is but an ill {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ( which some men use ) to say that god hath a double will , of which the one is secret , and the other revealed ; the revealed will not only diverse , but even opposite to the secret one : god ordaining sin with the one , whilest he forbids it with the other ; and not alwaies willing in secret what he reveals himself to be willing to , for this is a salve ( {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) a great deal worse then the wound which it fain would cure . gods will indeed is divided amongst orthodox divines in respect of several acts , and in relation to several objects , or to the very same object at several times , and in several qualifications , into his first will , and his second will , his antecedent and consequent , his secret and revealed will : but to affirm two wils in simplicity it self , the one contrariant to the other about the very same act , ( the one decreeing that very act which is prohibited by the other ) seemeth a greater blasphemy to me , then that which the gnosticks , and the marcionites , and the manichees were guilty of , when they affirmed two gods , as the different fountains of good and evil . for by what i finde in tertullian ( who was best acquainted with marcion's heresies ) those two principles of good and evil were found out as a refuge for those other opinions , against which it is , that this my scribble was first design'd . and what tertullian speaks against marcion , might very well be repeated against the absolute reprobatarians : it having been better and more reasonable ( in that father's iudgement ) that god should never have forbid what he determin'd should be done , then that he should determine to be done what he forbid . and so 't is the lesser blasphemy of the two , to ascribe holinesse to one principle , and unholinesse to another ( in the marcionite's sense ) then both to him who is the spirit of holinesse ; who therefore cannot so irrespectively decree the punishment of his creature , as to necessitate his sin , and so be the author of his impenitence . 10. let no man say then when he is tempted , i am tempted of god ( as our modern ranters are wont to do ) for every man is tempted , when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed . so far is god from being the author of any man's sin , that he is faithfull ( saith the apostle ) and will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able , but will be sure to make a way either for conquest , or for escape . i dare not say then ( with him in the comedian , who had been a great sinner ) quid si haec quispiam voluit deus ? what if some god hath so decree'd it ? for s. iames makes me beleeve , that sin is both ingendred and conceived within me : when my lust hath conceived , it bringeth forth sin : and if my lust is the mother of it , sure the father is my will . it was david's saying of wicked israel , that they provok'd god to anger ( not with his will , but ) with their own inventions : there are contrivers of mischief , ( ps. 58. 2 ) devisers of lies , ( eccles. 7. 13. ) such as weary themselves to commit iniquity ( jer. 9. 5. ) which cannot possibly be imputed unto an absolute decree . how many volumes have been written de arte magica ? de arte meretricia ? de arte lenonum ? with such others as would blush to be nam'd in english ; and dare we say they are decreed , to be mysteriously wicked ? or that their destruction was irrespective , and unconditionall ? i am in such disorder and discomposednesse of minde , whilest i only repeat these bold expressions , that were it not to good purpose ( as i conjecture and intend ) i durst not venture to repeat them . o lord , righteousnesse belongeth unto thee , but unto us confusion of face . for thou hast made man upright , but we have found out many inventions . after scripture i come to reason ; by which i hope to make it appear , that god almighty is so far from being accessary to sin , and does so many things to hinder it , that he doth not permit it but in an aequitable sense : and amongst many reasons which may be given , i shall ( in civility to my reader , and for the love of brevity ) content my self with that one , which to my seeming is the best ; and i the rather think it the best , because i ground it upon a notion which i have formerly learnt from most judicious mr. hooker : that which assigns to every thing the kinde , that which moderates the power , and appoints the form and measure of working , that we properly call a law . hence the being of god is a kinde of law to his working ; because that perfection which god is , giveth perfection to that he doth . so that being nothing but what is good , he can work nothing that is otherwise . it is therefore an errour ( saith that man of judgement ) to think there is no reason for the works of god , besides his absolute will , ( although no reason is known to us ) for the apostle tels us , he worketh all things ( not simply and meerly according to his will , but ) {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , according to the counsel of his will : and because he doth voluntarily set himself a law whereby to work , it followes that that law is no abatement to his freedome . if he is pleas'd to set himself a law or rule , not to reprobate any but upon praescience of sin , ( because that is most conformable to the nature of his goodnesse ) can this be any praejudice to the perfection of his being ? is his nature the lesse absolute , because it pleases him that his will be conditionall in some things , as it is absolute in others ? does he lose any praerogative , by being unable to be the author of sin ? or is not that rather a very great argument of his power ? such an ability as that being meer infirmity . we are god's creatures , but sin is ours . god saw every thing that he had made , and behold it was very good . we see the things that are made by the fiat of our will , and behold they are very evil . this creative power of ours we justly reckon as the sequel of humane weaknesse , and shall we heedlesly affirm it to be a iewel in the glorious diadem of god's almightinesse ? the apostle indeed hath told us , that god worketh all things , ( eph. 1. 11. ) but first he speaks it of god's election which he praedestin'd in his son , and the means conducing to such an end , which are none but good ; not at all of reprobation , the means in order to which are none but evill . secondly , even * beza himself doth so interpret that place , as not to annihilate , or stupefie , but rather to strengthen and to rectifie our wils . god makes an ill will a good one , not no will at all ; ( as * beza elsewhere speaks , and it were heartily to be wisht that he had never spoke otherwise ) according to that of austin , ex nolentibus facit volentes . he saies facit , not adigit , cogit , compellit . he makes us willing who were unwilling , but does not force us to be willing whilest we are unwilling ; ( that is to say , to be willing against our wils , or whether we will or no . ) 12. but i finde that i have shot somewhat farther then i aim'd ; it being only my design , and the proper businesse of this place , to shew , that the words of the apostle , [ he worketh all things ] are infinitely far from being meant either of sin , or reprobation . so far from that , that god almighty does not permit sin , as permission signifies connivence or consent ; but he permits it , as that signifies [ not to hinder by main force . ] if i see a man stealing and say nothing to him , i so permit as to be guilty : but if i warn and exhort , if i promise and threaten , and do all that may avert him ( besides killing him ) i so permit as to be innocent . in like manner , all that is done by god almighty by way of permission , is his suffering us to live , and have that nature of the will with which he made us . whereas to destroy us for the prevention of sin , or to make us become stocks ( as beza phrases it ) or like wooden engines , ( which are moved only by wires at the meer pleasure and discretion of the engineer ) were by inevitable consequence to * uncreate his creature , which to do were repugnant to his immutability , as tertul. shewes . this is all that i am able to apprehend , or pronounce , [ that god permits our sins in this sense only ; and that he disposes and orders them to the best advantage . ] 13. having proved my first principle by scripture and reason , it will be as easie to confirm it by the common suffrage of antiquity ; and to avoid the repetition of so long a catalogue , which i suppose will be as needlesse , as i am sure it will be nauseous to a considerable reader , i refer him to the citations which will follow my first inference sect. 18. i will content my self at present to shut up all with that article of the augustan confession , ( to which our 39 articles have the greatest regard and conformity , and which for that very reason is to me the most venerable of any protestant confession except our own ) that though god is the creator and preserver of nature , yet the only cause of sin is the will of the wicked ( that is to say , of the devil and ungodly men ) turning it self from god to other things against the ( will and ) commandements of god . and the orange synod doth pronounce an anathema upon all that think otherwise . if any will not subscribe to this confession , i will leave him to learn modesty both from arrian the heathen , and from philo the iew . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . arrian . in epictet . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . philo {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . p. 325. chap. ii. my first demand being fully granted ( as in the mathematicks 't is usual to build upon certain postulata ) it doth immediately follow , that [ man himself is the sole efficient cause of his eternal punishment ] ( i say the sole cause , as excluding god , but not the devil ; whom yet i also exclude from the efficiency of the cause ; because he can only incite , and propose objects , and adde perswasions to sin , but cannot force or cause it in me without my will and consent : so that the devil being only a tempter and perswader , cannot for that be justly styled an efficient . or if he were , sure for that very reason god himself cannot be so : but only man and the devil must be the concauses of man's destruction . ) which is the second thing i am to prove both by scripture , and reason , and the whole suffrage of antiquity . 15. and sure i shall not be so solicitous as to rifle my concordance , but make use of such scriptures as lye uppermost in my memory , and so are readiest to meet my pen . these i finde are of two sorts , negative on god's part , and affirmative on man's . god gives the first under his oath . ( ezek. 33. 11. ) as i live , saith the lord , i have no pleasure in the death of the wicked , but that the wicked turn from his way and live : turn ye , turn ye from your wicked waies , for why will ye die , o house of israel ? in the 18. chapter of the same prophesie , the latine translation is more emphatical then the english : for there it is not [ non cupio ] but [ nolo mortem morientis ] not that he doth not will the death of a sinner , but that he wils it not ; he doth not only not desire it , but ( which makes the proof more forcible ) he desires the contrary , even that he should turn from his wickednesse and live : ( chap. 33. v. 14. ) not willing ( saith s. peter ) that any should perish , but ( on the contrary ) that all should come to repentance . and so ( 1 tim. 2. 4. ) he will have all men to be saved , and to come unto the knowledge of the truth . where it appears by the context , that the apostle does not only speak of all kindes of particulars , but of all particulars of the kindes too : for he first of all exhorts them , that prayers , and supplication , and giving of thanks be made for all men , ( vers. 1. ) secondly , he does instance in one sort of men , for kings and all that are in authority , ( vers. 2. ) thirdly , he addes the cause of his exhortation , for this is good and acceptable in the sight of god our saviour , who will have all men to be saved , ( vers. 3 , 4. ) and if the spanish frier said true , that few kings go to hell , ( giving this reason ) because all kings are but few , the apostles way of arguing will be so much the stronger ; for when he speaks of all men in generall , he makes his instance in kings , in all kings without exception , thereby intimating nero the worst of kings , under whom at that time the apostle liv'd . and he uses another argument ( vers. 6. ) because christ gave himself a ransome for all . this is yet more plain from rom. 2. 4 , 5. despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse , and forbearance , and long-suffering , not knowing that the goodnesse of god leadeth thee to repentance ? but after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath ? observe who they are whom god would have to repent ; even the hard hearted and the impenitent . but i have stronger proofs out of scripture , and lesse liable to cavil then any of these , which yet i thought fit to use , because i finde they are the chief of those that vossius relies upon , and expounds to my purpose from the authority of the ancients . i will adde to these but three or four texts more , of which the one will so establish and explain the other , as to leave no place of evasion to the gainsayer . first our blessed saviour is call'd by the apostle , the saviour of all men , especially of them that beleeve , ( 1 tim. 4. 10. ) as if the apostle had foreseen an objection , that the word [ all ] might be restrained unto the houshold of faith , he prevents it by a distinction of general and special : for if he is a special saviour of beleevers , he is a general saviour of those that are unbeleevers ; not that unbeleevers can be saved , whilest they are obstinate unbeleevers , but upon condition they will repent and beleeve : else why should the apostle affirm the saviour to be of all , and then come off with an [ especially ] to them that beleeve ? certainly if it is every man's duty to beleeve in christ , christ dyed for every man . and this very argument is not easily answered in the very confession of dr. twisse ; who yet by and by saies 't is easily answered , and yet he leaves it without an answer , he only scornes it and lets it passe . twiss. in respon. ad armin. praefat. p. 16. col . 2. this is secondly confirm'd from the apostle's way of arguing ( 2 cor. 5. 14. ) if one died for all , then were all dead . this is the major preposition of a hypothetical syllogisme ; in which the thing to be proved is , that all were dead ; and the medium to prove it is , that one died for all . now every man knows ( that understands how to reason ) that the argument of proof must be rather more , then lesse known , then the thing in question to be proved : so that if it be clear , that all men were dead by the fall of the first adam , it must be clearer ( as s. paul argues ) that life was offered unto all , by the death of the second adam ; and if none were died for but the elect , then the elect only were dead : for the word [ all ] must signifie as amply in the assumption , as it does in the sequel ; or else the reasoning will be fallacious and imperfect : the apostle thus argues , if one died for all , then were all dead ; but one died for all ; ( that must be the assumption ) therefore all were dead . whosoever here denies the minor , does ( before he is aware ) condemn the sequel of the major ; and so gives the lie to the very words of the text ; which i can look from none but some impure helvidius , who would conclude the greatest falshoods from the word of truth . this is thirdly confirmed from the saying of the apostle , ( rom. 11. 32. ) that god concluded all in unbelief ( the gentiles first , vers. 30. and afterwards the iewes , vers. 31. ) that he might have mercy upon all ; from whence i inferre , that if this last [ all ] belong to none but the elect , then none but the elect were concluded in unbelief . but 't is plain that all without exception were ( first or last ) concluded in unbelief , therefore the mercy was meant to all without exception . lastly , it is confirm'd from those false prophets and false teachers , ( 2 pet. 2. 1. ) who though privily bringing in damnable heresies , even denying the lord that bought them , and bringing upon themselves swift destruction , yet it seems they were such whom the lord had bought . so far is god from being the cause of mans destruction , by an absolute , irrespective , unconditional decree , that he gave himself a ransome even for them that perish . they were not left out of the bargain which was made with his iustice , but the apostle tels us they were actually bought ▪ he whose bloud was sufficient for a thousand worlds , would not grudge its extent to the major part of but one : he was merciful to all men , but the greatest part of men are unmerciful to themselves . he is the saviour of all , but yet all are not saved ; because he only offers , does not obtrude himself upon us . he * offers himself to all , but most refuse to receive him . he will have no man to perish , but repent by his antecedent will , but by his consequent will he will have every man perish that is impenitent . which is sufficient to have been said for the negative part of my undertaking , [ that the cause of damnation is not on god's part ] in which , if any one text be found of power to convince , let no man cavil at those others which seem lesse convincing . if any one hath an objection , let him stay for an answer till his objection is urged . it might seem too easie , to solve objections of my own choice , or confute an argument of my own making ; and therefore i passe ( without notice of common shifts , and subterfuges , till i am call'd to that drudgery ) to the second part of my enterprise , which is the affirmative . 16. [ that man himself is the cause of his eternal punishment . ] which though supposed in the negative , must yet be proved to some persons , who are prevailed upon by fashions , and modes of speech ; and will deny that very thing when they see it in one colour , which they will presently assent to , when they behold it in another . he who is very loth to say , that god is the author of sin and damnation , will many times say it in other terms ; and therefore , in other terms , it must be proved that he is not . o israel thou hast destroyed thy self , but in me is thine help , ( hosea 13. 6. ) they that privily bring in damnable heresies shall bring upon themselves swift destruction . the foolishnesse of man perverteth his way : and as when lust conceiveth it bringeth forth sin , so when sin is finished it bringeth forth death , ( iam. 1. 15. ) if death is that monster , of which sin is the dam , that brings it forth , how foul a thing must be the sire ? and can there be any greater blasphemy , then to bring god's providence into the pedegree of death ? death ( saith the apostle ) is the wages of sin , ( rom. 6. 23. ) and wages is not an absolute but a relative word . it is but reason he should be paid it , who hath dearly earn'd it by his work . it is the will of man that is the servant of sin . disobedience is the work ▪ death eternal is the wages , and the devil is the pay-master ; who as he sets men to work to the dishonour of their creator , so he paies them their wages to the advancement of his glory . from whence i conclude ( with the book of wisdome ) god made not death , neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living : for he created all things that they might have their being , and the generations of the world were healthful , and there is no poyson of destruction in them , nor the kingdome of death upon the earth . but ungodly men with their words and works call'd it to them , and made a covenant with it ; because they are unworthy to take [ {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ] part with it . 17. i will confirm this truth by no more then one reason ; which , if it is not the best , doth seem to me to be the fittest ; as being aptest to evince both the connexion and necessity of my first inference , from my first principle . it is taken from the nature and use of punishment ; which as soon as it is nam'd , doth presuppose a guilt ; for as every sin is the * transgression of some law , so every punishment is the revenge of some sin : upon which it followes , that if a mans sin is from himself , 't is from himself that he is punisht . and as the law is not the cause , but the * occasion only of sin ; so god is not the cause , but the inflicter only of punishment : for so saies the apostle , sin taking occasion by the commandement wrought in me all manner of concupiscence : for without the law sin was dead . that which is good not being made death , but sin working death by that which is good god and his law , are , each of them , the causa-sine-qua-non ▪ the condition without which , sin and punishment could not have been , ( for without law no sin , and without god no reprobation ) but not the energetical efficient cause , of which sin and punishment were the necessary effects . for if god had made a hell by an absolute purpose , meerly because he would that some should suffer it , and not in a praevious intuition of their sins ; damnation had been a misery , but not a punishment : as if a p●…tter makes a vessel on purpose that he may break it , ( which yet none but a mad man can be thought to do ) or if a man meerly for recreation cuts up animals alive , ( which yet none ever did that i can hear of , except a young spanish prince ) it is an infelicity and a torment , but no more a punishment then it is any thing else . indeed the common people , who do not understand the just propriety of words , make no distinction many times betwixt pain , and punishment ; not considering that punishment is a relative word ▪ of which the correlative is breach of law ; and therefore is fitly exprest in scripture by the mutual relation betwixt a parent and a childe : when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin ; sin being perfected bringeth forth death ▪ * ( iam. 1. 15. ) which is as much as to say ( according to the propriety of the apostles words ) sin is the parent , and death is the childe . now there cannot be a childe without a parent ; ( for they are relata secundum esse ) much lesse can the childe be before the parent ; ( for sunt simul naturâ , & dicuntur ad convertentiam ) upon which it followes , that punishment could not be ordained by god , either without sin or before it , or without respect and intuition of it , ( which yet the great * mr. calvin does plainly say . ) i say it could not , because it implies a contradiction . for though god could easily make adam out of the earth , and the earth out of nothing , yet he could not make a sinful cain to be the son of sinful adam ▪ before there was an adam , much lesse before there was a sinful one : because it were to be , and not to be at the same time ; adam would be a cause , before an entity ; which god almighty cannot do , because he is almighty . so that when the romanists assert their transubstantiation , or the posterity of marcion their absolute decree of all the evil in the world , ( both pretending a reverence to god's omnipotence ) they do as good as say , those things which are true may therefore be false , because they are true ; or that god is so almighty , as to be able not to be god : that being the result of an ability ▪ to make two parts of a contradiction true : ( so said austin against s. faustus , and origen against celsus . ) whensoever it is said , [ god can do all things ] 't is meant of all things that become him : so isidore the pelusiote . but ( to return to argument in the pursuit of which i have stept somewhat too forward ) if gods praeordination of mans eternal misery were in order of nature before his praescience of mans sin , as mr. calvin evidently affirms in his [ ideo * praesciverit , quia decreto suo praeordinavit , ] setting praeordination as the cause , or reason , or praevious requisite to his praescience ) either mans reprobation must come to passe without sin , or else he must sin to bring it orderly to passe ; which is to make god the author either of misery by itself without relation to sin , or else of sin in order to misery . the first cannot be , because god hath * sworn , he hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner , ( ezek. 33. 14. ) much lesse in his death that never sin'd . and because , if it were so , the scripture would not use the word wages , and the word punishment , and the word retribution , and the word reward . hell indeed had been a torment , but not a recompence ; a fatal misery , but not a mulct ; an act of power , but not of vengeance ; which yet in many places is the style that god speaks in , vengeance is mine , and i will repay , rom. 12. 19. nor can the second be lesse impossible , it having formerly been proved , that god is not the author of sin ; * he hath no need of the sinful man , whereby to bring mans ruine the more conveniently about ; and most of them that dare say it , are fain to say it in a disguise . some indeed are for [ ligonem ligonem ] but the more modest blasphemers are glad to dresse it in cleaner phrase . a strange {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} in divinity , to put the 1 childe before the parent , the 2 wages before the work , the 3 end before the means , the reprobation before the sin ! yet so they do who make the decree of reprobation most irrespective and unconditional ; and after that , say , that whom god determines to the end , he determines to the means . to put the horse upon the bridle , is a more rational hypallage : for by this divinity , eternal punishment is imputed to gods antecedent will ( which is called the first ) and sin to his consequent will , ( which is the second . ) the first {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} and the other only {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , punishment chiefly , and sin by way of consecution . men are bid not to sin ex voluntate signi , or revelata ; but are determin'd to it ex voluntate occultâ , or beneplaciti . distinctions very good , when at first they were invented for better uses . the former by s. chrysostome , from whom it was borrow'd by damascene , and from him by the schoolmen . but i say they all were us'd to very contrary purposes , by them , and by these , who endevour'd to repel those fathers with their own weapons , ( as the elaborate gerard vossius does very largely make it appear . ) i am sorry i must say , ( what yet i must ( saith * tertullian ) when it may tend to edification ) that the lord god merciful , and gracious , long-suffering , abundant in goodnesse and truth , who is all bowels and no gall ; who hateth nothing that he hath made , who in the midst of iudgement remembreth mercy , ever forgiving iniquity , transgression and sin , is exhibited to the world by the authors and abettors of unconditional reprobation , as a kinde of platonick lover of so excellent a creature 's everlasting misery . which if mr. calvin himself confessed to be a * horrible decree ( who yet beleev'd it ) how frightful must that opinion appear to me , who did therefore leave it , because it frighted me into my wits ? for to say that god is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , a slayer of men from all eternity , ( who is the lamb slain , that is , a saviour , from the foundation of the world , ( rev. 13. 8. ) is to affirm that of him , which he affirmed of the devil , who is called by our saviour , a murderer from the beginning , ioh. 4. 44. which the devil could not be ; if god had absolutely willed the death of any , without respect or relation to the snares of the devil , it being impossible to murder the dead ; or to slay those that were killed long before they were born . i know by whom it is answered , [ that god doth will sin , not as it is sin , but as it is a medium for the setting forth of his glory ; and so damnation . ] but whilest men finde out distinctions to excuse god almighty , they do imply him to have offended . which i am so weary even to think on , that i hasten , for some refreshment , to my third proof of this inference , from the suffrage of antiquity . 18. before i name any particular , i will take the confidence to say in general , that all the greek and latine fathers before s. austin , and even austin himself before his contention against pelagius , ( and even during that contention in some places of his works ) besides those many fathers who lived after him , were unanimously of this judgement , that god did not absolutely decree the reprobation of any creature , but upon praescience and supposition of wilful rebellion and impenitence . i have not liv'd long enough to read them all , but i have dipt into the most : and by the help of such collectors as i have gotten into my study , ( whereof vossius hath good reason to be the chief upon this occasion : and i the rather use him , because i find him so very punctual in every one of the quotations , which i have had means and opportunity to make trial of ) i say , by the help of such credible compilers , i shall give in a cloud of witnesses ( i hope ) sufficiently authentick . i do as little love to be voluminous as callimachus would have me , ( {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) and therefore shall set down only the substance of what the fathers have said , referring the reader , by my citations , to the larger fields of their discourses . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . pluribus pereuntibus , quomodo defenditur perfecta bonitas ? ex majore parte cessatrix , paucis aliqua , pluribus nulla , cedens perditioni , partiaria exitii ? quòd si plures salvi non erunt , erit jam non bonitas , sed malitia perfectior . — magis autem non faciens salvos , dum paucos facit , perfectior erit in non juvando . — suae potestatis invenio hominem à deo constitutum , — lapsúmque hominis non deo , sed libero ejus arbitrio deputandum . ( i wonder vossius did not remember tertullian , then whom there is not any one more directly for this purpose . iustin martyr also was ill omitted ; and so was s. ignatius . ) {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . ignem autem aeternum non illis , quibus dicitur [ discedite à me maledicti ] paratum ostendit , sicut regnum justis , sed diabolo , & angelis ejus : quia quantum adse , homines non ad perditionem creavit , sed ad vitam aeternam & gaudium . ( note that chrysostome , theophylact , and euthymius , interpret those words of christ , as origen doth . ) {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ideo venit dominus iesus ut salvum faceret quod perierat . venit ergo ut peccatum mundi tolleret , ut vulnera nostra curaret . sed●…quia non omnes medicinam expetunt , sed plerique refugiunt , — ideo volentes curat , non adstringit invitos . non injustè judicat , quia omnes vult salvos fieri , manente justitia . — deus utique vult omnes salvos fieri . cur non impletur ejus voluntas ? sed in omni locutione , sensus est , conditio latet . vult omnes salvos fieri , sed si accedant ad eum : non enim sic vult , ut nolentes salventur , sed vult illos salvari , si & ipsi velint : nam legem omnibus dedit , nullum excepit à salute . * {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} miseratur humano generi deus , & non vult perire quod fecit . vult deus quaecunque sunt plena rationis & consilii . vult salvari omnes & in agnitionem veritatis venire . sed quia nullus absque propriâ voluntate servatur , ( liberi enim arbitrii sumus ) vult nos bonum velle , ut cum voluerimus , velit in nobis & ipse suum implere consilium . constat deum omnia bona velle , sed homines suo vitio praecipitantur in malum . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . duae sunt voluntates in deo. una misericordiae , quae non est cogens , nec aliquid libero arbitrio aufert . quâ omnes homines vult salvos fieri , quod tamen in liberâ voluntate illorum positum est . est alia , quae est de effectibus rerum , de quâ dicitur , [ omnia quaecunque voluit , fecit . ] huic nemo potest resistere . de quâ dicitur , voluntati ejus quis resistit ? ( atque haec est duplex , permittens , respectu mali ; approbans , respectu boni . ) itaque homines resistunt voluntati misericordiae , & non resistunt voluntati justitiae . ( postea in hunc sensum . ) orat ergo , fiat voluntas tua , sicut in coelo ( ubi non resistitur ) sic & in terris , ubi resistitur . deus ex se sumit seminarium miserendi . quod judicat & condemnat nos , eum quodammodo cogimus , ut longè aliter de corde ipsius miseratio , quàm anivadversio procedere videatur . — omnibus offertur , & in communi posita est dei misericordia ; nemo illius expers est , nisi qui renuit . if after all these testimonies , i have s. austin and prosper to side with me in my assertion , i know not why i may not seem , to those who think me in an error , at least to have rationally and discreetly erred : and though grotius gives a reason why s. austin is the unfittest to be a iudge in these matters , yet if prosper ( who best knew him ) may be allowed for his interpreter , i am very well content that he be one of my iury ; for of four expositions which that father made ( in several parts of his writings ) upon 1 tim. 2. 4. [ god will have all men to be saved , ] i finde one very directly just such as i would have it ; and it is even in those writings which he pen'd after the heresie of pelagius was on foot ; which is therefore with me of very great moment and authority . to this question , de bonâ voluntate unde sit , si naturâ , cur non omnibus , cùm sit idem deus omnium creator ? si dono dei , etiam hoc quare non omnibus , cùm omnes homines velit salvos fieri ? he thus answers , vult deus omnes homines salvos fieri , non sic tamen ut eis adimat liberum arbitrium , quo vel bene vel malè utentes justissimè judicentur . quod quum sit , infideles quidem contra voluntatem dei faciunt , cùm ejus evangelio non credunt : nec ideo tamen eam vincunt , verùm seipsos fraudant magno & summo bono , malisque poenalibus implicant , experturi in suppliciis potestatem ejus , cujus in donis misericordiam contempserunt . inevitabilis illa sententia , [ discedite à me maledicti ] à piissimo deo ideo multo antè praedicitur , ut à nobis totis viribus caveatur : si enim nos deus noster vellet punire , non nos ante tot secula commoneret . invitus quodam modo vindicat , qui quomodo evadere possimus , multo antè demonstrat : non enim te vult percutere , qui tibi clamat , observa . 't is very true that s. austin did sometimes let fall such expressions , ( transported sometimes in the heat of his dispute ) as rais'd some calumnies after his death , as if he had thought that god created the greatest part of mankinde on purpose to do the will , not of god , but of the devil . but prosper made it appear , in his answers to that and the like objections , that they who censur'd austin's iudgement , were seduced to it by his style : and that ( notwithstanding the misfortune of his expressions ) austin's judgement and his owne , was clearly this ( and so * fulgentius doth professe to understand it . ) — syncerissimè credendum atque profitendum est , deum velle ut omnes homines salvi fiant . siquidem apostolus , cujus ista sententia est , sollicitissimè praecipit , ut deo pro omnibus hominibus supplicetur : ex quibus quòd multi pereunt , pereuntium est meritum ; quòd multi salvantur , salvantis est donum . — nemo ab eo ideo creatus est , ut periret : quia alia est causa nascendi , alia pereundi . ut enim nascantur homines , conditoris est beneficium ; ut autem pereant , praevaricatoris est meritum . — insanum omnino est dicere , voluntatem dei ex dei voluntate non fieri ; & damnatorem diaboli ejúsque famulorum , velle ut diabolo serviatur . — nullo modo credendum homines — ex dei voluntate cecidisse , cùm potius allevet dominus omnes qui corruunt , & erigat omnes elisos . — dei ergo voluntas est , ut in bonâ voluntate maneatur . qui & priusquam deseratur , neminem deserit . et multos desertores saepe convertit . — deus nec quae illuminavit , obcaecat ; nec quae aedificavit , destruit ; nec quae plantavit , evellit . quia praesciti sunt casuri , non sunt praedestinati . essent autem praedestinati , si essent reversuri , & in sanctitate ac veritate mansuri : ac per hoc praedestinatio dei multis est causa standi , nemini est causa labendi . — hi cùm à pietate deficiunt , non ex dei opere , sed ex sua voluntate deficiunt . casuri tamen & recessuri ab eo , qui falli non potest , praesciuntur . — denique qui voluntatem spreverunt invitantem , voluntatem dei sentient vindicantem . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . theodor . heracl . in joh. 8. 44. anathema illi qui per dei praescientiam in mortem hominem deprimi dixerit . synod . arelatensis . suo prorsus decipiuntur arbitrio , suâ voluntate labuntur , & si in hac desidiâ perseverent , ipsi se his quae accepere , despoliant . scriptor de vocat . gent. l. 2. cap. 11. quos praescivit deus homines vitam in peccato terminaturos , praedestinavit supplicio interminabili puniendos . fulgentius ad monimum . l. 1. * lastly , that this is precisely the judgement of the church of england , i cannot better prove then by that sense and apprehension which bishop overal had of it ; who does professedly interpret the minde of her articles in this particular , and was as well able to do it as any man that ever lived . — sub generali promissione & praecepto tutò quisque potest indubi●… fide se includere : & cum certâ spe ac fiduciâ ad thronum gratiae accedere , veréque cognoscere , si non confidat deo promittenti , & mandanti obsequatur , suam culpam esse , non dei : idque per negligentiam suam , non gratiae divinae defectum accidere . — ordo divinae praedestinationis nostrae in articulo septimo iste videtur intentus ; deum praescium lapsûs generis humani ad remedium ejusdem filium mittendum decrevisse , in eóque salutis conditionem statuisse ; tum ad eam in animis hominum producendam necessaria & sufficientia media & auxilia omnibus generatim secundum magis & minus ordinâsse , quae magis speciatim his quos in christo elegit ex reliquo hominum genere pro suo beneplacito cumularet , quibus hi ad fidem , perseverantiam & aeternam salutem certissimè perducantur , & reliqui nihil habeant quod conquerantur , &c. de morte christi tam plena & ubique sibi constans ecclesiae nostrae sententia , pro omnibus omnino hominibus , sive pro omnibus omnium hominum peccatis , iesum christum mortuum esse , ut mirandum sit ullos ex nostris id in controversiam vocare . pro omnibus actualibus hominum peccatis , non tantùm pro culpâ originis . aeterna vita humano generi est proposita . oblatio christi semel facta perfecta est redemptio , propitiatio & satisfactio pro omnibus peccatis totius mundi tam originalibus quàm actualibus . it is farther observed by that most moderate and learned man , that mr. calvin himself , however rigid he was in some places , did yet so soberly contradict himself in others , that those very texts of scripture in which it is affirmed [ christ dyed for many ] he so interprets as to say , the word [ many ] is put to signifie [ all ] as heb. 9. 28. and that many are not saved is ( saith he ) for this reason , [ quia eos impedit sua incredulitas ] because they are hindred by their own incredulity . 19. i have not translated these authorities , because they are principally meant for such as are able to understand them . and if any plain reader shall desire to have them in the grosse without being troubled to suffer them over in the retail , he may be pleas'd to receive it in these following words : that god did not absolutely , irrespectively , unconditionally decree the everlasting misery of any one , but in a foresight and intuition of their refusing his proffer . that he sent his son to dye for all the sins of the whole world , inviting and commanding all men every where to repent [ and be forgiven ] ( act. 17. 30. ) but that most , like the slave in exodus , are in love with their bondage ; and will be bored through the ear . that everlasting fire was prepared especially , ( not for men , but ) for the devil and his angels ; nor for them by a peremptory irrespective decree , but in praescience and respect of their pride and apostasie . that christ came to save that which was lost , and to call sinners to repentance , and to have gather'd them as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings , but they would not . that god gave his law , his rule , his promises to all , and excepted none in the publishing of either ; but so as he expected they should be willing as well as he ; for he would not save any whether they would or no . that god almighty made no man on purpose to torment him , but that he might participate of his goodnesse . that so many as perish may thank themselves ; and that so many as live forever , are beholding to nothing but the grace of god . that god decreed the fall of none , but the raising up of those were down : and that those very men who are reprobated had been predestin'd to salvation , if they would have return'd and remain'd in truth and holinesse . gods decrees being to many the cause of their rise , but to none of their downfal . lastly , that they who have despis'd the will of god which did invite them to repentance , shall feel the terrors of his will , which is to execute vengeance upon the children of disobedience . 20. from all this together which hath been said from scripture , the result of all . from reason , from the authority of the ancients ( who are the fittest of any to interpret scripture ) i thus conclude within my self . that god almighty is the author of men and angels ; that wicked angels and wicked men are the authors of sin ; and that the sin of men and angels is the author of unexpressible and endlesse punishment . that sin is rebellion against the majesty of god ; that hell was made to punish rebels ; and that god never decreed any rebellion against himself . upon which it followes , that as i look for the cause of my election in the sole merits of my redeemer , so for the cause of my reprobation , in the obliquity of my will : because the reason of my punishment is to be taken from my sin ; and the reason of my sin is to be taken from my self : from whence there followes ( and follow it will , do what i can ) a second inference from my first , compared with my first principle , viz. chap. iii. 21. that every reprobate is predetermin'd to eternal punishment , not by gods irrespective , but conditional decree . god doth punish no man under the notion of a creature , but under the notion of a malefactor : and because he does not create a malefactor , but a man , he hateth nothing that he hath created , but in as much as it hath wilfully ( as it were ) uncreated his image in it . so that no man is sinfull , because ordain'd to condemnation ; but ordain'd to condemnation , because he is sinful . sin is foreseen , and punishment is foreappointed ; but because that sin is the cause of punishment , and that the cause is not after , but before the effect ( in priority of nature , though not of time ) it followes that the effect is not foreappointed , until the cause is foreseen . so that god damns no man by an absolute decree , ( that is to say ) without respect or intuition of sin ; but the praescience of the guilt , is the motive and inducement to the determining of the iudgement . and yet however my second inference is depending upon my first by an essential tye , ( which gives it the force and intrinsick form of demonstration ) yet because some readers will assent much sooner , to a plain reason lesse convincing , then to a more convincing reason lesse plain , ( and that some are wrought upon , by an argument exactly proportion'd to their capacities or tempers , rightly level'd and adapted more by luckinesse then design , whilest another argument is displeasing they know not why , but that there is an odnesse in the look and meen , which betokens something of subtilty , and makes them suspect there is a serpent , though they see not the ambush in which it lurks ) i will gratifie such a reader by a proof of this too ; first from scripture , then from reason ( grounded upon scripture ) and last of all by an addition to my former suffrages of antiquity : in which s. austin more especially shall speak as plainly , and as strongly in my behalf , as any man that can be brib'd to be an advocate , or a witnesse . 22. that my proof from scripture may be the more effectual , i shall first desire it may be consider'd ; that since god is affirmed to have a secret and a revealed will , we must not praeposterously interpret what we read of his revealed will by what we conjecture of his secret one : ( for that were to go into the dark to judge of those colours which are seen only by the light ) but we must either not conjecture at that which cannot be known ( as gods secret will cannot be , but by ceasing to be secret ) or if we needs will be so busie , we must guesse at his secret will by what we know of his revealed one , that so at least we modestly and safely erre . upon which it followes : that we who meekly confesse we have not been of gods councell , must only judge of his eternal and impervestigable decrees by what we finde in his word concerning his promises and his threats : which are fitly called the transcripts or copies of his decrees . such therefore as are his threats , such must needs be his decrees , ( because the one cannot praevaricate or evacuate the other ) but his threats ( as well as promises ) are all conditional , therefore his decrees must be so too . thus in his covenant with adam ( and indeed the word covenant doth evince what i am speaking ) he threatens death , or decrees it , ( not with that peremptory reason , which is the redoubling of the will only , i will therefore because i will , but ) on supposition of his eating the forbidden fruit . which was not therefore forbidden , that adam might sin in the eating , ( man was not so ensnared by the guide of his youth ) but adam sin'd in the eating , because it had been forbidden . such immediately after was gods language to cain . [ if thou do well , thou shall be accepted , and if thou doest not well , sin lyeth at the door . ] again ( saith god by the mouth of moses ) behold , i set before you this day a blessing and a curse . a blessing , if ye obey ; and a curse , if ye will not obey . that is the form of making covenants betwixt god and man every where throughout the scripture : and according to the fulfilling or not fulfilling of the condition , the righteous iudge of all the world proceeds to sentence . which that we may not so much as doubt of , he ( by a merciful anthropopathia ) is pleased to speak like one of us . i will go down now and see , whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it , and if not , i will know . there is an expression of god to eli ( 1 sam. 2. 30. ) which shewes his will sometimes is either not absolute , or not immutable . i said indeed that the house of thy father should walk before me forever . but now the lord saith , be it far from me . which words do not argue any ficklenesse in his will , but demonstrate his promise to have been conditionall : there was an [ if ] impli'd , though not expressed , and so it appears by the very next words . this is also the style that is used in the new testament . if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the lord iesus , and shalt beleeve in thine heart , &c. thou shalt be saved . from whence it followes , that if thou shalt not confesse with thy mouth , nor beleeve in thine heart , &c. thou shalt be damn'd . if we forgive not men their trespasses , neither will your father forgive your trespasses . if we suffer , we shall also reign ; if we deny him , he also will deny us . i will cast her into a bed , and them that commit fornication with her , into great tribulation , except they repent ( rev. 2. 22. ) if ye beleeve not that i am he , ye shal dye in your sins , joh. 8. 24. in a word , the very end of christs coming into the world , was to save us from our sins , ( mat. 1. 12. ) to redeem us from all iniquity . ( tit. 2. 14. ) he came to deliver us indeed out of the hand of our enemies , but to the end that we might serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the daies of our lives . ( luk. 1. 44. 45. ) now the end ( we know ) is the prime condition , the greatest requisite of all : which to neglect without repentance , is the true cause of condemnation : for so runs the sentence of our saviour ( mat. 25. 41. ) depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire . why ? for what reason ? he gives the true reason in the next verse , ( not because ye were reprobated by an absolute decree ; not because ye were ordain'd to be vessels of wrath by a meer irrespective and inexorable will , but ) because i was hungry and ye gave me no meat , because i was thirsty and ye gave me no drink . ( which yet they could not have given him , if it had not been given them from above to give . ) from which and a thousand such texts besides , i do thus state the matter betwixt me and my self . that no man is infinitely punisht by an unavoidable necessity , but for not doing his duty ; nor because he cannot , but will not do it . impossibility is not a sin , and therefore no man is punisht for not doing that , which it is impossible for him to do . it was the cruelty of adonibezek , to cut off mens thumbs , and then to make it their task to gather up meat under the table . a greater cruelty in pharaoh to require a tale of brick , where he gave no straw . whereas the master we serve , will render to every man according to his works . with him there is no respect of persons . but whatsoever a man soweth , that shall he reap . and therefore let us not sin , under pretence that all we do is by an absolute decree : ( an opinion brought , amongst other merchandise , out of turkie into christendome , and would be rooted out in the next reformation ) for every such sinner is his own worst satan , he seeks out death in the errour of his way , and puls upon himself destruction with the works of his hands . other proofs out of scripture , ( and perhaps , to some , more convincing ) will be found interweaved in my followlowing proofs . 23. i must next confirm this truth by reason ; and because this reason will be manifold , i will make it my endeavour to be brief in each . whereof the first shall be taken from the nature of punishment , which ( as before i signified ) does praesuppose a sin ; sin does imply a breach of law ; and this again does imply at once , a rational and a voluntary agent . which seems to me to be the reason , why god is not offended with the cruelty of the bear , or with the pride of the peacock , or with the theevery of the fox . this is the reason , why the earth does not sin by breeding thornes and thistles against its primitive institution . for the ground cannot be punisht , and was not cursed for its own , but for adam's sake . ( gen. 3. 17. 18. ) and lastly , this is the reason , why the tower of siloe was not damn'd for committing murder . man is an agent very capable of a law , and so of sin , and so of punishment ; and is therefore punisht , not because he could not , but because he could help it , by that goodnesse of god which would have led him to repentance , if he had not despis'd the riches of his goodnesse . man is punisht because he would sin , and not because he could not but sin . 24. my second reason is taken from the nature of a covenant ; which ever implies a condition : now when the first covenant was broken , god immediately made a second ; not with a part , but with all mankinde . and this is observable in the title of our gospel ; [ {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ] which though we render the [ new testament ] we might better render the [ new covenant , ] which cannot be without conditions . heaven and hell are set before us ; the performance of faith and obedience , is that important condition ; without which , as the former will not be had , so cannot the latter be avoided . 25. my third reason is taken from the unlimited generality whereby promises and threats , rewards and punishments , exhortations and dehortations , are exhibited to all . the gospel is commanded to be preached to all ; and it is published in writing , that all might read and beleeve ; baptisme , repentance , and remission of sins are commanded to be offered to all in general , even to them that refuse both the word and the preachers . who when they are refus'd ( and not before ) are to shake the dust off their feet for a testimony against them . now preachings would be vain , and exhortations would be deceitful , if life and death did not depend upon submitting or refusing to be amended by them . 26. my fourth reason is taken from the degrees of damnation . some shall be beaten with many stripes , and some with fewer ; some shall have a lesse , and some a greater condemnation . it shall be worse for chorazin then for tyre , worse for bethsaida then for sidon , worse for capernaum then for sodom , worse for the iewes then for the ninevites ; which is not because one had a greater necessity of sinning then the other , but one was guilty of the greater contempt . not because god had absolutely decreed a greater punishment to the one , but because the one had means of sinning lesse then the other . for our saviour sayes expresly , that if the mighty works which were done in tyre and sidon had been also done in chorazin and bethsaida , they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes . which was as much as to tell them , that it was not at all for want of means and mercy on gods part , but for want of will on theirs , that they did not do what was commanded to be done . and therefore our saviour did upbraid them , because they repented not , ( mat. 11. 20. ) which he could not have done , had it been impossible for them to have repented . our blessed saviour was too pitiful , and of too sweet a disposition , to jee●… a poor creature for being such as god made him , or for being such as he could not but be , whether by fatal , or by natural infirmity . we esteem it an ill nature to upbraid a stammerer for not speaking plain ; nor is any man reproached for being naturally , but wilfully blinde ; nor for being born deaf , but for being like the adder that stoppeth her ears . he that bindes my feet , and then invites me to come to him , intends me nothing for entertainment but a salted sarcasme , or bitter iest ; for if he were serious , he would set my feet at liberty , that i might come in good earnest ; and not say to me , as we say to a childe that is fallen down , [ come hither to me and i will lift thee up . ] and yet this mr. calvin is fain to say , ( having been first of all ingaged in that opinion ) that so many nations of men together with their infants were involved without remedy in eternal punishment , by the fall of adam , for no imaginable reason , but that so it seemed good in the sight of god : and being pincht with that text ( ezek. 18. 23. ) have i any pleasure at all that the wicked should die , and not that he should return from his waies and live ? he is fain to say , that god wils not the death of a sinner so far forth as he wils his repentance . which experience teacheth us he doth so will , as not to touch his heart that he may repent . which is all one as to say , he wils it so , as to command it ; but he does not will it so , as to leave it possible : ( that is ) he wils it in shew , but not in reality . nor do i know any way possible for mr. calvin to escape those ugly sequels , but by saying [ that the sinner may repent by the strength and force of nature , without the touch of his heart by the grace of god , ] which is to shelter himself under the heresie of pelagius . solomon gives us a more rationall accompt , why wisdome one day will laugh at mens calamities , and mock when their fear cometh ; even because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord . 27. my fifth reason is taken from the nature of death , as that does signifie privation , and as privation supposes a former habit. a stone is said to be not alive , because it suffers the negation of life ; but a stone cannot properly be said to be dead , because it doth not suffer the privation of life . so that when a man is said in scripture to be spiritually dead in trespasses and sins , he is imply'd by that expression to have been spiritually alive . and no man is damn'd for the negation , but the privation of grace ; because the negation of grace would be gods work , whereas the privation of it is his own . it having formerly been shew'd , that god doth not punish his own work in man , but man is punisht for his own work ; not for gods illiberality , but for his own being a prodigal ; not because no talent was given him , but because he squander'd it away . sin is properly the death of grace ; death is a privation , a privation is of a habit . so that every sinner had grace , for this very reason that he hath lost it ; he was alive , for this very reason that he is dead . he came alive out of gods hands , but he fals desperately by his own . a man may be dead born , but he cannot possibly be dead begotten ; deprived of life he cannot be in the very act of his conception . a man can no more be created a sinner , then he can be generated a dead man : which infers the condition of gods decree . 28. my sixth reason is taken from christs having bought those very men ( 2 pet. 2. 1. ) whose damnation did not slumber . ( vers. 3. ) i have proved already , christ died for all that were dead in adam , from ( 2 cor. 5. 14. ) and from several other texts . which he could not be truly affirm'd to do , if any one had been past by , by an absolute praeterition . for that any man doth perish for whom christ dyed , is from his own sin , and not from adams , if to free us from adams it was that christ died . which as it hath been already proved , so it may be confirmed from other scriptures : as from 1 joh. 2. 2. where he is called the propitiation , not for our sins only , but also for the sins of the whole world . the apostle foresees and confutes the heresie of christs dying only for the elect , with a not only , but also . he died for infidels and impenitents , as the whole stream of the fathers conclude from those words , destroy not him with thy meat for whom christ died . and shall thy weak brother perish for whom christ died ? that this was the judgement of the primitive church , i can prove by an induction , and though i now spare my reader , yet i shall trouble him hereafter if i am challeng'd to it . i shall at present refer him to the 31 article of our church of england . [ the oblation of christ once made is a perfect redemption , propitiation , and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world , as well original as actual . ] i had almost forgot a special testimony of s. iohn , who cals the messias [ the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world . ] so that if any man is in the dark , it is not for want of light , but because he will not see , ( as s. chrysostome infers ) which is the very interpretation that s. iohn himself gives it ( chap. 3. vers. 9. ) this ( sayes he ) is the condemnation , that light is come into the world , and men loved darknesse rather then light , because their deeds were evil . sure that which is the reason of their condemnation , was the condition upon which they were determin'd to be damn'd : then which i know not what can be said either more plainly , or more convincingly of any subject whatsoever . 29. my seventh reason is taken from the conditional decrees of temporal death , and other temporal punishments ; which are so evidently conditional , as i cannot beleeve any creature will deny it . for the denuntiations of destruction to nineveh , and of certain death to hezekiah , do put this quite out of all scruple : for the first was not destroyed , and the second did not die , at that determinate time when god had threatned they should . of which no reason can be given , but that gods purposes , and decrees , and threats were conditional , on supposition of their impenitence he threatned to destroy , and therefore on sight of their repentance he promis'd to preserve . and from hence it is natural to argue thus . is god so merciful to bodies ? and is he lesse merciful to souls ? does he decree temporal iudgements conditionally , because he is pitiful ? and will he decree eternal ones absolutely , meerly because he will ? is he so unwilling to inflict the first death , and will he shew his power , his absolute power in the second ? did he spare the ninevites in this life , because they were penitents ? and will he damn them in the next , because they were heathens , by his peremptory decree ? is he milde in small things , and severe in the greatest ? is there no other way to understand those texts in the 9. to the romans , then by making those texts which sound severely , to clash against those that sound compassionately ? is it not a more sober and a more reasonable course , to interpret hard and doubtful texts by a far greater number more clear and easie , then perversly to interpret a clear text by a doubtful one , or an easie text by one that 's difficult ? which is to shew the light by the darknesse . or if some texts have two senses , if some texts are liable to many more , must we needs take them in the worst ? and that in meer contradiction to the universal church ? if i had no other argument against an absolute reprobation , this one were sufficient to prevail with me , that that father of mercies and god of all consolation , who spareth when we deserve punishment , did not determine us to punishment without any respect to our indeservings . he that had mercy upon wicked ahab meerly because of his attrition , did not absolutely damn him before he had done either good or evill , before the foundations of the world were laid . he doth not afflict willingly , nor grieve the children of men , ( lam. 3. 33. ) much lesse doth he damn them for his meer will and pleasure . when god doth execute a temporal punishment , upon such as already have deserv'd it , he comes to it with reluctation , ( {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) and therefore cals it his * strange work , a work he loves not to be acquainted with , a work which he doth sometimes execute , because he is iust ; but still * unwillingly , because he is compassionate . and he therefore so expresses it , as we are wont to do a thing we are not us'd to , and know not how to set about , [ how shall i give thee up , ephraim ? how shall i deliver thee , israel ? how shall i make thee as admah ? how shall i set thee as zeboim ? mine heart is turn'd within me , my repentings are kindled together . i will not execute the fiercenesse of mine anger , for i am god , and not man . ] now that god doth professe to afflict unwillingly , and many times to repent him of the evil which he thought to do unto his people , is a demonstrative argument of his conditional decrees in things temporal , and by a greater force of reason in things eternal . 30. my eighth reason is taken from the little flock which belongs to god , and the numerous herd , which belongs to belial . which would not have been , if they had both been measur'd out by a most absolute decree . for when it pleas'd the divine goodnesse to suffer death upon the crosse for all the sins of the world , ( the every drop of whose bloud had been sufficiently precious to have purchased the redemption of ten thousand adams , and ten thousand worlds of his posterity ) he would not yeeld the major part unto his rival rebel , the black prince of darknesse ; reserving to himself the far lesser portion ; and all this irrespectively , meerly because he would . he would not absolutely determine such a general harvest of wheat and tares , as freely to yeeld the devil the greater crop . he would not suffer his iustice so to triumph over his mercy , who loves that his mercy should rejoyce against iudgement . it was not for want of a new instance to shew his power , or his iustice ; for they were both most eminent in the great mysterie of redemption . much greater instances and arguments then an absolute decree ; as i could evidently shew , if i were but sure of my readers patience . my ninth reason is taken from the reprobation of angels , which was not irrespective , but in regard to their apostasie , as is and must be confessed by all who place the object of reprobation in massâ corruptâ . for the overthrowing of which tenent ( in all the sublapsarians ) dr. twisse himself does thus argue . si deus non potuit angelos reprobare , nisi ut contumaces , ergo nec homines nisi ut in contumaciâ perseverantes . de praedest . digres . 4. § 4. c. 2. 31. my tenth reason is taken from the absurdities which have , and still must follow , if gods eternall decree of mans misery is not conditional but absolute . and those absurdities are discernible , by this following dilemma . let dives be suppos'd to be the man that is damn'd . it is either because he sins , or meerly because god will have it so . if for the first reason , [ because he sins ] then sin is the cause of his damnation , and consequently before it . from whence it followes , that dives is not damn'd meerly because god will have it so ; but that god will have it so , because he sins . ( which plainly shewes the conditional decree . ) but if it be said that it is for the [ second reason , meerly because god will have it so ] then that absolute decree to have it so , doth either necessitate him to sin damnably , or it does not . first , if it does , then how can dives be guilty of that thing , of which gods absolute decree is the peremptory cause ? or how can that be guilt , which is necessity ? ( dives could as little have cherisht lazarus , as the tower of siloe could have spared the galilaeans , if his will had been no more free , then that tower had a will . ) and secondly if it does not necessitate him to sin damnably , then dives who is damn'd might possibly have not been damn'd . from whence it follows , that dives is not damn'd absolutely , but in regard to his sins . ( which had they not been his choice , they had not been his , but his that did choose them . and it is a contradiction to say , a man chooses any thing without a free will , or by an absolute necessity , which is , whether he will or no . ) besides ; if god did absolutely decree the end , which is damnation , and consequently the means , which is final impenitence ; these absurdities would follow . first , it would be a reprobates duty to be damn'd . and to endevour his salvation would be a sin . because 't were striving against the stream of gods absolute will . if all men are to choose , and withall to execute the will of god , and that it is gods will the greatest part shall be damn'd ; it will then be a duty in the greatest part of men , to go industriously to hell . and to do good will be a vice , because it tends heaven-wards , and so to the crossing of an absolute irreversible decree . which since i have considered , i have lesse wondred then i was wont , at the conclusion of carpocrates , that the very worst of actions are out of duty to be performed . and that the soul shall be punisht with its imprisonment in the body , untill she hath fill'd up the number of her iniquities ; according to that text mat. 5. 29. which we call iniquities , but they duties . and so indeed they would be , if every thing in the world ( the means as well as the end ) were absolutely ordain'd , and by consequence effected by god ( blessed forever ) who can ordain nothing but good . and such sin and hell must be [ exceeding good ] if they could possibly be ordain'd by as absolute a decree , as the heavens and the earth , the water , and the air , of which god said , they are very good . secondly , gods revealed will being that all should repent , and his secret will being that very few shall ; it followes thence , that it is his will that his will should not be done . and that god hath one will which is the same with the devils ; and that when a reprobate saies in the pater noster [ thy will be done ] he vehemently prayes for his own damnation . which things , as they were falsly objected in france against s. austin , so prospers way to excuse him , was to make protestations against any such tenent , as unconditional reprobation . he sayes the very things in his masters vindication , which i have said in my own . and cals the sequels of that opinion which he disowns ; most sottish blasphemies , and not only prodigious , but devilish lies . but he denies not that such ill consequences will follow upon the bold assertion of irrespective reprobation , which he does therefore very distinctly and very earnestly disclaim . and he doth so much speak the very minde of s. austin , that he seems sometimes to speak out of his mouth too : it being hard to say , whether the answers to the objections of vincentius do truly belong to the master or to the scholar , they being inserted in both their works . and that which is called prospers by vossius , is ascribed to s. austin by ludovicus lucius . if i have made any unfriendly or injurious inference , i will instantly retract it upon the least conviction that it is so . but truly the reasons which i have given , have serv'd to confirm me in my adhaerence to my second inference . which i yet farther prove by the the remaining votes of antiquity . for though my former citations are all to this purpose , yet i will not repeat them , but adde some others , ( perhaps more fully and indisputably ) to the number . 32. * and first i will set down the confession of mr. calvin , that the schoolmen and ancients are wont to say , [ god's reprobation of the wicked , is in praescience of their wickednesse ] but he professes to beleeve ( with one more modern ) that god foresaw all future things , by no other means , then because he decreed they should be made , or done . nor ought it ( saith he ) to seem absurd , that god did not only foresee , but by his will appoint the fall of adam , and in him of his posterity . the ancients , he confessed , were quite of another minde , but because he addes [ dubitanter ] and would have it thought that s. austin was for his turn , i will set down some of their words , and begin with austins . 33. no man is chosen unlesse as differing from him that is rejected . nor know i how it is said [ that god hath chosen us before the foundation of the world ] unlesse it be meant of his praescience of faith and good works . — iacob was not chosen that he might be made good , but having been seen to be made good was capable of being chosen . if s. austin was so distinctly for conditional election ( and in those very works too , which he afterwards writ as very sufficient to confute pelagius ) he was infinitely rather for conditional reprobation . as any man knows that knows any thing of him ; and may be seen in the same book to simplician . esau would not , and did not run . for if he had , he had attained by the help of god ; unlesse he would be made a reprobate by a contempt of his vocation . it seems unjust that without the merits of good or evil works , god should love one , and hate another . wicked men had no necessity of perishing from their not being elected ; but they were therefore not elected , because they were foreseen to be wicked through their own wilful prevarication . god foresaw that they would fall by their own proper will , and for that very reason did not separate them by election from the sons of perdition . god is the creator of all men , but no man was created to the end that he may perish , 34. i have given the more testimonies out of prosper , because he is known to have been the scholar and vindicator of s. austin . and to produce their suffrages is to imply all the rest . they having been the only ancients whom their contentions against pelagianism made to speak sometimes to the great disadvantage of their own opinion : as they do not stick to confesse themselves . and we ought in all reason to take that for their iudgement , which we finde delivered by themselves by way of apologie and vindication . but though i need not , i will adde some others . he therefore brought the means of recovery to all , that whosoever perisht might impute it to himself who would not be cur'd , when he had a remedy whereby he might . even they that shall be wicked have power given them of conversion and repentance . god's love and hatred arises from his praescience of things to come , or from the quality of mens works . if the day is equally born for all , how much rather is jesus christ ? — when every man is call'd to a participation of the gift , what is the reason , that what god hath equally distributed should by humane interpretation be any way lessen'd ? * the fountain of life lies open to all . nor is any man forbid or hindred from the right of drinking . let d. twisse himself be heard to speak in this matter , and that against piscator ( both antiarminians ) damnatio est actus iudicis , & procedere debet secundum justitiam vindicativam : at ne vestigium quidem iustitiae apparet in damnatione reproborum . ( he speaks of absolute irrespective reprobation which piscator set up ) nam justitia neminem damnat nisi merentem . at esse reprobum , nequaquam significat mereri damnationem . sola damnatio peccatoris splendere facit dei iustitiam . twissus in vind. gr. de praed. l. 1. digr. 1. § . 4. p. 57. 35. time and paper would fail me , and sufficient patience would fail my reader , if i should make repetition of all i finde to my purpose . for whatsoever hath been spoken by the fathers , of universal redemption , doth diametrically oppose the irrespective reprobation . and to reckon up their verdicts in that behalf , were to ingage my self and my reader in a new ocean of employment . i hope the account that i have given of my belief in this matter is a sufficient apologie for my belief , and may at least excuse , though not commend me . rather then offend any man who takes me upon trust to be unsound in my principles , i have made this excuse for being orthodox . and do humbly desire to be forgiven if i still adhaere to that doctrine , which by scripture , and reason , and the authority of my teachers , i am verily perswaded is the truest and the most safe : ( to wit , ) 1. that man himself is the cause of his sin . 2. that sin is properly the cause of its punishment . and by consequence , 3. that man is the procurer of his own misery . and by consequence , 4. that reprobation is a conditional thing . not decreed by god almighty to shew his absolute power , but to shew his power in the exercise of his iustice . not determin'd before , but because of his praescience . nor without regard or respect , but in relation to sin , in foresight , and hatred , and requi●…al of it , as of an injury ; on which damnation is praeordain'd , by way of recompence and revenge . and therefore the last day is call'd a day of iudgement , as well as of perdition . and the judge himself is called the lord god of recompence . and when the lord jesus shall be revealed in flaming fire , it shall be to take vengeance on them that know not god , and that obey not the gospel of jesus christ . now that which is the motive to the taking of vengeance , was also the motive to the making of the decree . he who therefore takes vengeance , because they obey not the gospel of christ , did for the very same reason , decree to take it . whi●…h to me is demonstration that the decree is conditional . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . 36. i have nothing now of duty that lies upon me to be done , but that i descend to the second ground of my belief . but for the love of charity and reconcilement , i will endevour to take a course of making some composition with my dissenters . if they will but come up to my most reasonable demands , we will not strive about words and phrases ; so small a thing shall never part us . i will swallow the word [ necessity , ] so i may take it down with a grain of salt . i will say with mr. whitaker ( in his 4. article at lambeth ) that they who are not praedestin'd to salvation shall be necessarily damn'd ( but ) for their sins . ( as he himself speaks . ) i allow my self to be no wiser then bishop andrews , ( the strings of whose books i am not worthy to untie ) who interprets necessariò , not by an absolute necessity , but by a necessity which followes sin . they shall be damn'd for their sins ; that is , for that very reason , because they have sin'd , not for that only reason , because they are not praedestin'd . and because that reverend , ( i know not whether more learned , or saintlike ) man , allow'd himself to be no wiser then all the fathers and schoolmen that went before him , he thought 't was fit to abstain from [ such {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ] such new phrases and waies of holding forth and making out the ancient doctrines of the church ; and therefore in stead of [ necessity ] to say [ without doubt . ] and for my own part , i desire to be no deeper , and to speak no better language , then all the fathers of the church ( who have gone to heaven with those opinions , for which i am censur'd by some to hell , ) i choose to say [ a conditional , not an absolute necessity . ] 37. if i may guesse ( without censure ) at the cause of other mens mistakes , by that which once was mine own , i shall ascribe much of it to the vulgar misconception of gods praescience or foresight . which being constant and infallible , seems to give a necessity to all events , which are the objects of that praescience . and this must certainly be the reason , ( i at least must so conjecture , who can think of no better , and did my self once stumble upon this very stone ) why mr. calvin will have gods praescience to succeed his praeordination . the ground of which error does so border upon truth , as to lessen the wonder why men of good parts should so frequently mistake it for that truth it self , on which it borders . ( and does unluckily verifie the italian proverb , troppo confina la vertù col vitio , ) gods praescience indeed doth imply a necessity , which it is mistaken to have effected . and again necessity is not by every body distinguisht , as by the admirable boethius : ( to whom i owe my greatest light in this particular . ) for if it were , i beleeve many others might be converted , as i have been . but before i mention , ( much lesse insist on the distinction ) i shall choose to say something in preparation to it . it is briefly this . 38. that the knowledge of the eternal far transcending all motion and succession of time , does abide in the simplicity of its present being ; beholding all past and future things in his simple knowledge , as just now done . and therefore boethius will have it call'd not praescience , but science . not praevidence , but providence : which doth not change the natures and proprieties of things future , but considers them as they are , in respect of himself ; which is as they shall be , in respect of time . for as the knowledge of things present doth import no necessity on that which is done ; so the foreknowledge of things future layes no necessity on that which shall be : because whosoever either knowes or sees things , he knows and sees them as they are , and not as they are not . gods knowledge doth not confound things , but reaches to all events , not only which come to passe , but as they come to passe : whether contingently , or necessarily . as ( for illustration ) when i see a man walk upon the earth , and at the very same instant , the sun shining in the heavens , i see the first as voluntary , and the second as natural . and though at the instant that i see both done , there is a necessity that they be done ( or else i could not see them when i do ) yet there was a necessity of one only , before they were done , ( viz. the suns shining in the heavens ) but none at all of the other , ( viz. the mans walking upon the earth . ) the sun could not but shine , as being a natural agent ; the man might not have walked , as being a voluntary one . upon which it followes , 39. there is a twofold necessity . whereof one is absolute , and the other on supposition . the absolute is that , by which a thing must be moved when something moves it . the suppositive is that , by which a man shall be damn'd if he die impenitent . the latter necessity ( though not the first ) does mightily well consist both with the liberty of man's will , and god's conditional decrees . e. g. i am now writing , and god foresaw that i am writing , yet it does not follow that i must needs write ; for i can choose . what god foresees must necessarily come to passe , but it must come to passe in the same manner that he foresees it . he foresees i will write ; not of necessity but choice ; so that his foresight doth not make an absolute and peremptory necessity , but infers a necessity upon supposition . ( we must mark , in a parenthesis , how great a difference there is betwixt the making , and the inferring of a necessity . ) whatsoever i do , there is an absolute necessity that god should foresee ; yet god foreseeing my voluntary action does not make it necessary , but on supposition that it is done . if all things are present to god , ( as indeed they are ) his foresight must needs be all one with our sight . as therefore when i see a man daunce as he pleases , it is necessary that he do what i see he does ; but yet my looking on does not make it necessary ; so gods foreseeing that man would sin , implyed a certainty that so it would be , but did not make it an absolutely necessary or involuntary thing . for that a thing may be certain ( in respect of its event ) and yet not necessary ( in respect of its cause ) is no newes at all to a considering person , who will but duly distinguish : gods omniscience from his omnipotence , and his foresight from his decreè , and infallible from necessary , and spontaneous from voluntary , and that which follow's as a consequence only , from that which follow's as a consequent . if i may judge by those errors which i convince my self to have been in , when i was contrary minded to what i am , i see as many mistakes in other men arising from the misfortune of confounding those things which i just now distinguisht , as from any one unhappinesse that i can think of . and from all that i have spoken upon this last subject , it seems inevitably to follow , that a suppositive necessity , and none else , is very consistent with a free and contingent action . whilest i see a man sitting , it is necessary that he sit , but upon supposition that i see him sitting . his posture is still a voluntary contingent thing . for he sate down when he would , and may arise when he pleaseth . ( but still with a proviso of god's permission . ) i desire to be taught what is , if this is not , exact speaking , viz. that god by his prohibition under penalty makes my disobedience become liable to punishment . and by his decree to permit , or not hinder me , he leaves me in the hand of mine own counsel , and so in the state of peccability , that i may sin and perish if i will . so that by his praescience that i will sin he hath no manner of influence or causality upon my sin ; which infers my destruction to be entirely from my self . i am a little confident , that whosoever shall but read boethius his fifth book , and reading shall understand it , and understanding shall have the modesty to retract an error , he will not reverence the 4. section of the 23. chapter of the 3. book of institutions , because it is mr. calvins , but will suspect mr. calvin because of that section . the question there is , [ whether reprobates were praedestined to that corruption which is the cause of damnation ] to which he answers with a [ fateor ] i confesse that all the sons of adam , by the expresse will of god , fell down into the misery of that condition in which they are fetter'd and intangled . and a little after he professeth , that no accompt can be given , but by having recourse to the sole will of god , the cause of which lies hidden within it self . and that we may not think he speaketh only of the posterity of adam , he telleth us plainly in the close of that section , that no other cause can be given for the defection of angels , then that god did reprobate and reject them . in this place i would aske , was the angels defection or apostasie their sin , or no ? if not , why were they reprobated and cast into chaines of darknesse ? and if it were , how then is god's reprobation not only the chief , but the only cause of such a sin ? this is the sad effect of being enslaved to an opinion , and of being asham'd of that liberty which looks like being conquer'd . i beleeve the love of victory hath been the cause of as many mischiefs as have been feigned to leap forth from pandora's box . whereas if every one that writes , would but think it a noble and an honourable thing , to lead his own pride captive , to triumph over his own conceitednesse and opiniastrete , and to pursue the glory of a well natur'd submission ; there is perhaps hardly an author of any considerable length , but might think he had reason to write a book of retractations . and sure it will not be immodesty for a young man to say , that many old men might have done it , with as much reason as s. austin . 40. but as i have learnt of boethius ( that most excellent christian , as well as senator ; and profound divine , as well as philosopher ; who lived a terror to heresie , and died a martyr for the truth ) to distinguish of necessity ; so have i learn't from other antients , to distinguish better of god's will , then i was wont to do before the time of my retractation . first , i distinguish ( with s. chrysostome ) of a first and second will . gods first will is , that the sinner should not die , but return rather from his wickednesse and live . his second will is , that he who refuseth to return receive the wages of iniquity . secondly , i distinguish ( with damascene ) of an antecedent and a consequent will . the antecedent is that , by which he wils that every sinner should repent . his consequent is that , by which he preordaineth the damnation of the impenitent . which distinction is not made in respect of gods will simply ( in which there cannot be either prius or posterius ) but in respect of the things which are the object of his will . for every thing is will'd by god so far forth as it is good . now a thing consider'd absolutely may be good or evill , which in a comparative consideration may be quite contrary . e. g. to save the life of a man , is good ; and to destroy a man , is evil , in a first and absolute consideration . but if a man secondly be compared with his having been a murderer , then to save his life , is evil ; and to destroy it , good . from whence it may be said of a just iudge , that by his antecedent will he desires every man should live ; but by a consequent will decrees the death of the murderer . and even then , he doth so distinguish the murderer from the man , that he wisheth the man were not a murderer . whom he condemns as murderer , and not as man . for whilest he hath a will to hang the murderer , he hath a merciful woulding to save the man . he doth not hang the man , but only because he is a murderer . and ( if it lay in his power ) he would destroy the murderer , to save the man . both the one and the other is not an absolute , but a conditional will . he would save the man , ( with an ) [ if ] he were not a murderer . and doth destroy the murderer ( with a ) because he is a malefactor . just so , god's antecedent will is , that every man would repent that they may not perish . it is his consequent will , that every one may perish who will not repent . both the one and the other is respective and conditional . thirdly , i distinguish ( with prosper ) of an inviting and revenging will . the inviting will is that , by which all are bidden to the wedding feast ; his revenging will is that , by which he punisheth those that will not come : or fourthly , i distinguish ( with reverend anselme ) of the will of god's mercy , and of the will of his iustice . it is the will of his mercy , that christ should die for the sins of all ; but 't is the will of his iustice , that all should perish who come not in to him , when they are called , or who only so come , as not to continue and persevere unto the end . 41. all these distinctions come to one and the same purpose , and being rightly understood , as well as dexterously used , do seem to me a gladius delphicus , sufficient to cut asunder the chiefest knots in this question . for the first will of god may be repealed , whereas the second is immutable . which is the ground of that distinction betwixt the threats and promises under god's oath , and those other under his word only . of which saith the councel of toledo , iurare dei est , à seipso ordinata , nullatenus convellere . poenitere verò , eadem ordinata , cùm voluerit , immutare . when he is resolv'd to execute his purpose , he is said to swear ; and when it pleaseth him to alter it , he is said to repent . for there are some decrees of god which ( being conditional ) do never come to passe ; as he thought to have done an evil of punishment unto israel , which yet he did not . exod. 32. 14. and the reason of this is given us from that distinction before mentioned . which also serveth to reconcile many seeming repugnances in scripture . for when it is said , that god repenteth ( 1 sam. 16. 35 ) it is meant of the first nill ; and when it is said he cannot repent ( 1 sam. 16. 29. ) it is meant of the second . in respect of the first , we are said to grieve , to quench , to resist the spirit of god , ( 1 thes. 5. 19. ) but when it is said , who hath resisted his will ? ( rom. 9. 19. ) it is meant of the second . god's mercy is above and before his iustice , and therefore that is his first will , that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth ( 1 tim. 2. 4. ) but yet so , as that his iustice is not excluded by his mercy , and therefore that is his second will , that so many should be damned as hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord . ( prov. 1. 29. ) the will of his mercy , that all should live , is from nothing but his goodnesse ; whereas the will of his iustice , that some should die , depends upon something in the creature . ( so that both parties may be gratified , they that are for the dependence , and the independency of his will . ) that the reprobate is invited , is from the mercy of god's will ; but that he is punished for not accepting , is from the obliquity of his own . in respect of the first , it is the man that refuseth god ( ier. 8. 5. ) but in respect of the second , it is the god that doth reprobate man . ( rom. 1. 28. ) the free love of the creator is the only motive to his first will ; but man's ingratitude and rebellion is his impellent to the second . the first shewes him a tender and compassionate father ; the second speaks him a righteous and an impartial iudge . both proclaim him a powerful and a provident god . now can any distinction be better chosen , can any word that is aequivocable be more safely understood , can any opinion ( of god's will , or mans ) be more rationally , or more warily , or more religiously entertain'd , then that wherein god's mercy doth greet his iustice ? and wherein his love doth kisse his power ? i appeal to any man living , whether this be an error , or if it is , whether it is not a very safe one ; and if it is so , whether it is not a very small one ; and if so safe , that no body can suffer by it ; if so smal , that no body can see it ; whether the author of this appeal is not very excusable , both for not being able to see his own eyes , nor to see his own error with other mens . as much as in me lies , i would live peaceably with all men . with those especially , who when i speak unto them thereof , make them ready to battle . and in order to that peace , i desire them to lay this one thing to heart . that as , if i were as they , i would quit my opinion ; so , if they were as i , they would not long keep their own . chap. iv. 42. having proved hitherto , that sin is really the cause of punishment , that man is really the cause of sin , and therefore that man is the grand cause of punishment , ( as being the cause of the cause of his damnation ) intending thereby to secure my self against the errors and blacker guilt of the manichees , the marcionites , the stoicks , and the turks , who do all affirm ( some directly , some by necessary consequence ) that god's absolute will is the cause of sin , and man's only the instrument ; the second part of my task is to be an advocate for the pleading and asserting the cause of god too ; and that against the opiners of the other extreme , to wit , the pelagians and the massilienses ; who , to be liberal to nature , do take away from grace ; and to strengthen the handmaid , do lessen the forces of the mistresse . and though i think the latter to be the milder heresie of the two , it being lesse dangerous to ascribe too much goodnesse to the power of nature , ( which very power is undoubtedly the gift of god ) then the very least evil to the god of all grace , ( and this according to the judgement of the synod at orange , which pronounced an anathema upon the first heresie , whereas it did but civilly reject the second ) yet in a perfect dislike and rejection of this latter extremity , as well as of the former , my second principle is this . that all the good which i do , i do first receive ; not from any thing in my self , but from the special grace and favour of almighty god . who freely worketh in me , both to will , and to do , of his good pleasure , phil. 2. 13. 43. that i may not be suspected of any secret reservation within my self , in the laying down of this principle ; i will endevour to speak out , and make my reader my confessor , by revealing the very utmost of what i think in this businesse . i beleeve , that no man can come to heaven any otherwise then by christ ; nor to christ , unlesse it be given ; ( that is , unlesse the father draw him . ) first the father loves the son ; next he loves us in the son ; then endowes us with his spirit ; so endow'd he elects us ; so elected he praedestines us ; so praedestin'd he will glorifie us ; by crowning his gifts and graces in us . i say his graces , because they are not acquired by us , but infus'd by him . nor so properly given , as lent us . lent us as talents , not to hide , but multiply . we owe it wholly to god , not that he gives us his his grace only , but that he gives us the grace to desire his grace , as well as to use it to the advancement of his glory . and we are to thank him , as for all other mercies , so for this also , even that we have the grace to thank him . so far am i from that pelagianism whereof i have wrongfully been accused , ( i beseech god not to lay it to my accusers charge ) that i have never lain under any the least temptation to any degree of that heresie . no , no more , then fulgentius , or prosper , or s. austin himself . it not only is , but ever hath been my assertion , that as we cannot spiritually be nourished unlesse the father of mercies doth reach out unto us the bread of heaven ; and as we cannot take it when it is offered , unlesse he give us the hand of faith ; so cannot we possibly desire to take it , unlesse he gives us our very appetite and hunger . we cannot pant after the waters of life , unlesse he give us our very thirst . he stirs us up , when we are sleeping , that we may seek him ; and shews himself , when we are seeking , that we may finde him ; and gives us strength , when we have found him , that we may hold him fast unto the end . there is no good thought arising in us , unlesse suggested by his preventing grace . no nor increasing , unlesse strengthned by his subsequent grace . no nor consummate , unlesse perfected by his grace of perseverance . if i am better then any man , it is god that makes me differ . every good gift is from above , and cometh down from the father of lights . and therefore he that will glory , let him glory in the lord , saying with the psalmist , not unto us o lord , not unto us , but unto thy name give the praise . 44. having thus secur'd my self from giving the will of man a sacrilegious liberty ; i must withall provide , that i be able to answer the objection of the marcionites ; which tertullian could not do , but by asserting the liberty of the will . which grace doth correct , but not destroy . grace doth strengthen , but not compell . grace doth guide , but not necessitate . grace makes able to choose good , but not unable to refuse it . marcion objected thus . if god is good , and praescient of all the evil which is to come , and withal able to prevent it , why did he suffer mankinde to fall ? why did he not hold him fast by irresistible grace ? tertullian answered , that god made man in his own image , and that in nothing more lively , then in the liberty of a will . and to that it is to which his fall must be imputed . but ( saith marcion ) man ought to have been made of such a frame , as not to be able to fall away . marry then ( saith tertullian ) man had not been a voluntary , but a necessary agent . ( which is as much as to say , a man should not have been a man . ) nor could have been a right object of reward and punishment . 45. before i venture on any rational , or scholastical way of arguing , i must first enlighten my self out of some clear places of scripture . amongst which there is none that seems more proper , then that of s. paul to the philippians . workout your salvation with fear and trembling . for it is god which worketh in you , both to will , and to do , of his good pleasure . he bids them work , because god worketh , which they needed not have been bid to do , if god had workt after a physical irresistible manner . that they might not be betray'd into a yawning reliance upon their being superacted to the working out of their salvation , he bids them work it out with fear and trembling . ( as our saviour bids us , strive to enter in at the strait gate , because many shall strive , and shall not enter . ) which they needed not have done , had their salvation been ( not only certain , but withall ) a necessary unavoidable thing , and so inconsistent with choice and option . but the apostle tels them ( in the next verse ) that it is god which worketh in them , not only to do , but to will , and to do ; by his preventing grace he worketh in them to will ; by assisting grace he worketh in them to do : by neither so irresistibly , but that they must work it out themselves too ; and that not only with expectation and hope , but with fear and trembling . god worketh in us to will ( saith the apostle ) not without , or against , but according to the nature of that very will with which he made us . grace doth not destroy , but establish , and strengthen , and perfect nature . shall we say that we do a thing without liberty and choice , because god worketh in us to will and to do ? ( that is ) to do it by choice and option ? is the liberty lost , because it is guided and enabled to do that which is good ? if i can do all things through christ that strengthens me , then can i ( through him ) both refuse the evil , and choose the good . which would not be choice , if it were whether i would or no . and so it would be , were i unable to resist it . ( as i shall shew by and by in the open confession of d●… . twisse , whose favourers cannot be angry with one that speaks his language . ) i can do all things through him that strengthens me , ( saith the apostle ) now to strengthen , is not to necessitate . for then to strengthen would be to weaken . because to necessitate or compel with an irresistibility , is to vanquish , and over-master ; not to give strength , but rather to take it away . again , our saviour is said to tread down satan under our feet . to what end doth he tread the serpent down , but that we may have the freedome to trample on him ? and though he doth it with his own feet , yet it is under ours . this liberty and freedome of the regenerate will , is at once expressed and expounded in those words of the psalmist , i will run the way of thy commandements , when thou shalt set my heart at liberty . to which is agreeable that of our saviour , and the truth shall make you free . it being a great absurdity ( in the opinion of tertullian ) that a man should have his happinesse forced on him by god almighty . so far is god from prostituting his blessing , by such a controlling of the will , and such an ob●…ruding of the object , as makes the object unavoidable , that he doth not only offer and propose it to his peoples choice , but desires them also to choose it . i call heaven and earth to record this day against you ( saith god by moses ) that i have set before you life and death , blessing and cursing . therefore choose life , that thou and thy seed may live . but choose we cannot , if god works in us irresistibly ; as i will farther prove by reason . * that is properly called irresistible , which is of such an over-ruling and prevailing force , that a man cannot withstand it , although he would . ( and thus dr. twisse hath well defin'd it ) upon which it followes , that to choose irresistibly , is a contradiction in adjecto . for it is to will a thing whether one will or no . he that saith , god worketh in us to choose irresistibly , doth say in effect , he so worketh in us , as that we cannot choose but choose . which is as much as to say , not only that we do , what we cannot do , but that we therefore do it , because we cannot do it . he that cannot choose but choose , doth choose because he cannot choose . which is as bad as to say , that the thing is necessary , because it is impossible . to make this plain to my plainest reader , i will shew the legality of my deduction by these degrees . first , he that is wrought upon by god ( to believe , obey , or persevere ) irresistibly , cannot possibly do otherwise ( then beleeve , obey , or persevere . ) secondly ▪ he that cannot possibly do otherwise then he doth , cannot possibly choose but do what he doth . thirdly , he that cannot choose but do what he doth , doth clearly do it whether he will or no . fourthly , he that doth beleeve , obey , or persevere , whether he will or no , doth do it by as evident undeniable necessity , as that by which a stone tends downward . ( which tendency of the stone , though it is spontaneous , yet is it not voluntary , and as it is not by violence , so it is not by choice neither . ) fifthly , he that willeth to beleeve , obey , or persevere , whether he will or no , doth do it by a necessity , by which a stone tends upwards , when it is thrown . ( which tendency of the stone is so far from voluntary , that it is not spontaneous . it is not only an irrational , but an unnatural thing . ) and besides implies a contradiction in a voluntary agent , which cannot take place in an involuntary stone . for to say , a man willeth to obey or beleeve , whether he will or no , is to say he willeth it either without his will , or against his will , or else not having a will at all . which is as bad as to say , that he must needs will it because he cannot any way possible . i know not any trick imaginable to escape the odium of these absurdities , unlesse by denying the definition of irresistible . which were not to escape , but to commute absurdities . and not only the authority of dr. twisse , but the very force of the word would cry it down . and so little is my deduction in a capacity to be blamed , that doctor twisse saith expresly of irresistibility , it hath no place in the act of willing . and though he pleadeth for a necessity which he will have to follow gods operation upon the soul , yet he will have that necessity to be no other , then what may very well agree with the liberty of the will . so that if that doctor , in that his skirmish with arminius , had not confounded a necessity with a certainty of event , and used that word in stead of this , his antagonist and he ( in that particular ) must needs have wrangled into friendship . for arminius denieth the irresistible working of grace upon the will , and so doth dr. twisse . again dr. twisse affirmeth , that the liberty of the will doth agree with the working of grace upon the will , and so doth arminius . and therefore i hope for no hard usage from such as are haters of arminius , whilest i say the same things with them that hate him . 47. me thinks the principal ground of my mistakes heretofore in this businesse , ( if i may be allowed to passe a conjecture upon my self ) is the misapprehension of certain texts , the cause of whose misapprehension is the illogical confounding of two things , which though they look like one another , are yet exceedingly different . e. g. from [ ezek. 26. 27. cant. 1. 14. 1 ioh. 3. 9. i will cause you to walk in my statutes , &c. draw me , we will run after thee . whosoever is born of god cannot sin , because he is born of god , and the like ] many conclude that gods working upon the wils of his elect , is by such a physical immediate immutation of their wils , as doth not only produce a certain , but a necessary effect . and being forgetful ( rather then ignorant ) to distinguish necessity from certainty of events , they call that necessary which is but certain and infallible , and so ( through hast or inadvertency ) they swallow down the error of irresistible grace ; using the word irresistible in stead of efficacious . and this is a second inadvertency begotten of the first ; as commonly one error loves to draw on another . now because a fallacy undiscerned in the praemises cannot possibly be discover'd by gazing only on the conclusion , ( just as an error in the first concoction is hardly mended in the second ) i must mark out the difference betwixt infallible and necessary , before i can usefully distinguish betwixt effectual and irresistible . 48. infallible properly is that , that cannot erre , or be deceived . that is properly necessary , which cannot but be . the first relates to the perfection of the knowledge of god , but the second to the almightinesse of his will . the first is properly applyed unto the object of god's foresight , ( and though 't is otherwise used , yet 't is by such a catechresis , as i humbly conceive to be a stone of stumbling . ) but the second more precisely unto the object of his decree . the first is consistent with those contingent events , to which the second is diametrically opposed . e. g. that i am now writing is but contingent , because i do it upon choice . yet gods foreknowledge of this my writing from all eternity did infer that this my writing would infallibly come to passe . this event is contingent , for i can choose ; but yet infallible , for god cannot erre . this contingent therefore doth infallibly come to passe , not by way of a consequent , but by way of consequence . my writing being not the effect , but the object only of god's omniscience . which is , in order , before the act. god foresees a contingent will contingently come to passe , and therefore we infer it will infallibly come to passe , because he foresees it who is infallible . so that his praescience is a consequent of the thing 's coming to passe ; and its infallibility of coming to passe is inferr'd from his praescience only by way of consequence . it is one thing to follow as the effect of a cause , in order of nature ; and quite another , to follow as the sequel of an antecedent , in way of argumentation . the short and plain upshot of all is this . the precious vessels of election do very certainly and infallibly persevere unto the end , and that by reason of god's omniscience which cannot be deceived ; but not of necessity and irresistibly , by reason of his omnipotence which cannot be frustrate nor defeated . what god foresees shall come to passe shal infallibly come to passe , and that because he cannot erre who is omniscient . ( on the other side ) what god decrees shall come to passe must come to passe of necessity , because he cannot be resisted who is omnipotent . 49. hence it is easie to distinguish betwixt the other two things , which have been so often , and so unhappily confounded ; i mean sufficient , effectual , and irresistible , applyed to grace . 1 sufficient grace is that , which possibly may produce that effect for which it is given . 2 effectual is that , which certainly will . 3 irresistible is that , which necessarily must . that which is irresistible doth carry away its object to what it pleaseth , like a mighty torrent , by indisputable force , malgre the greatest opposition that can be made , and therefore cannot take place in the elections of the will , which ceaseth to elect after the nature of a will , in case it be made to do any thing whether it will or no . ( as hath already been shew'd from no lesse a concession then that of doctor twisse . ) but that which is only effectual is quite another thing , and doth prevail upon the will not ineluctably , but infallibly . it doth so strongly and effectually incline the will , at such critical opportunities , and by such congruous means , as that the will doth very certainly and undoubtedly assent . but it doth not so irresistibly and compulsively necessitate , as to take away the freedome and possibility of assenting , by making it do what it doth , even whether it will or no . 50. i discern the truth of this distinction with greater ease , by having alwaies in my prospect the very great difference betwixt the generical notion of acting or taking , and the specifical notion of willing or choosing . god indeed ( if it please him ) can by his absolute power over his creature , make him act this thing , or take that thing , by ineluctable necessity , and whether he will or no . but then that acting is not volition , and that taking is not choice . for the very word choice cannot be apprehended but it must carry along with it a sound of freedome . optio must be optimorum , and so duorum at least . it is of two things or more , that we choose the best , whether in reality , or in appearance . and this liberty of the will , by which we choose , being acknowledged on all sides , ( as well by mr. perkins and dr. twisse , as by bellarmine and arminius , as every man knows that hath but read and compar'd them ) that famous {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of a twofold necessity , the one of coaction , and the other of infallibility , ( being built upon a manifest and grosse mistake both of the word necessity , and the word infallibility , ) seems to me to be serviceable to no other end , then to cover a wound , which 't is impossible to cure . but admit of that distinction of a twofold necessity , or admit a necessity be twentifold , yet still it ceaseth not to have the nature of a necessity . if it is absolutely necessary that i must go to london , it doth not cease to be necessity , because i am drawn rather then driven . coaction and infallibility , if they do both imply an absolute and peremptory necessity , ( and so by consequence an irresistibility , and so by consequence are opposed to the elective faculty of the will , ) it is no matter how they differ in their syllables and their sounds . shall i declare my iudgement then , ( although in weaknesse , yet in sincerity ) how freewill is necessary to the choosing of good , to which , without grace , it is altogether insufficient ? my judgement is , that it is necessary , not as a cause , but as a condition . not as that , by vertue of which , we can do any thing that good is ; but as that , without which , we cannot choose it . god's grace alone is the cause of the good , but man's will is as really the instrument of the choice . we can do good , as god's engines , without a will ; and so did balaams asse without a reason . but we cannot choose good , without a freewill , as that asse could not possibly understand what she spake , without a ratiocination . this seems to me to be as plain as the light . and now i speak of the light , ( if my reader please ) by that light i will make it plain . we know the sun is the fountain or cause of light . and light the only means by which we see . but yet the opening of the eye-lid is a necessary condition , because if i wink , i am dark at noon . and if my eyelid is held open by such a power as i cannot resist , my eye in that case cannot choose but see , and therefore cannot choose to see . my sight may be with delectation , but not properly with that which is call'd election . thus if a man be never so much delighted in doing good , but ( by reason of necessity ) cannot possibly but do it , it is god that chooseth that good , and the man doth only act it . i say god chooseth , by a catachrestical way of speaking , meerly the better to shew my thoughts . for though god did choose to make a world , and one world , because it was in his power to have made many worlds , or none at all ; yet i conceive it absurd , to say that god did choose to be good , or that he chooseth to do good , ( in opposition to evil ) because he is good , and doth good by an absolute necessity ; he cannot choose to be , or to do , any otherwise . and so he loves , but doth not choose it . for if that were true speaking , it would be as true speaking to say , that god doth will his being and doing good whether he will or no ; or that he cannot choose but choose . which is sure very childish untoward speaking . only he chooseth to enable us to do it , because he can choose , whether he will so enable us , or not . when he giveth us his grace , he hath the power to withhold it ; when he continueth his grace , he hath the power to withdraw it ; therefore doth he choose both to give and to continue it . the goodnesse of his essence is not arbitrary and elective , but spontaneous and natural . whereas the goodnesse of his effects in all his creatures is not naturally necessary in respect of him , but arbitrary and elective , meerly depending upon his choice and pleasure . for he gave us our goodnesse when we would , and may take it away when he pleaseth . to understand this the better , and to hold it the faster in my understanding , 51. i must carefully distinguish betwixt spontaneum ( that which is of its own accord ) and voluntarium , ( that which is freely and upon choice . ) the first is agreeable to inanimate creatures , the second only to rational . that is properly oppos'd to violence , but reconcilable with necessity , to which this is oppos'd . e. g. a stone tends downwards by a natural , and necessary , and spontaneous motion . it tends downwards of necessity , because it cannot but do so . and yet spontaneously , because it doth it without violence , and of its own accord . but yet that motion is not voluntary , nor doth the stone choose that kinde of tendency ; because it could not refuse it , as not being furnisht with the liberty of a will . thus when i made my entrance out of the womb into the world , i did not choose to go forwards , because i had not the power to stay behinde . i did it as a spontaneous , not as a voluntary agent . but now that i am capable either of virtue , or of vice , and do pursue the one , in refusal of the other , i do it not only in a spontaneous , but in a voluntary manner . we have the perfect character of a voluntary agent in that admirable {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of the son of syrach . the lord left man in the hand of his counsel ; if thou wilt , to keep the commandements . he hath set fire and water before thee ; stretch forth thy hand unto whether thou wilt . before man is life and death , and whether him liketh shal be given him . i dare not ( like marcion ) be more inquisitive , why god made man with such a freedome of willing or nilling , then why he made the hand with those two muscles , whereof the one doth move to the taking of a thing , and the other , to the throwing of it away . 52. having spoken all this in order to the clearing of resistibility of the working of grace in god's elect , i think i cannot do better then to apply my reasoning to two examples ( at least as much of it as shall be needfull ) whereof one must be the protoplast before his fall , and the other must be one of his posterity whom we are very well assur'd to have been one of god's elect. adam was made in a state of innocence , and ( god not requiring any impossibilities , as brick without straw ) had grace enough to have performed a most adaequate obedi●…nce to god's command . which if he had not resisted , how could he have sin'd ? and if that measure of grace was lessen'd before he sin'd , how was the taking away of grace any punishment of his fall ? or how was he then in the state of innocence ? if he was not , then was he sinful before he sin'd . god doth not take away his grace , unlesse to punish the abuse of it . but adam did not abuse it before he sin'd ; and by our saviour's rule [ to him that hath shall be given ] god would rather have given him more , then have taken away any . from whence it followes , that though the working of grace in the heart of adam was so strong and so perfect , as to enable him to stand , and that in no lesse then ●… state of innocence , yet was it also so resistible , as to suffer him to fall , and that into no lesse then a state of perdition . and although he had the favour to be rais'd again in some measure , yet it was not to that innocence from whence he fell . so that as to his first covenant , and his first pitch of perfection , his fall was not only total , but final too . and indeed i would know , why our saviour hath told us , that from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath , if it is not for this reason , because he hath lavisht out his talent , and hath resisted that power of doing well which was offer'd him . sure there is no better arguing then ab actu ad potentiam . man can resist , because he doth . and i may wonder , as well as grotius , why such men are not confuted by their own experience , who say that grace in the elect is unresistible , unlesse they will deny themselves to be of the number of the elect . david hath grace to have done better then he did in the double matter of uriah , but he resisted it with a witnesse , and that for some moneths together . he was a vessel of election ; how then did he resist the grace of god , so as to fall into those damnable and killing sins , in which , if he had been snatcht away , he had perished irreversibly ? it was not without grace , ( for he was one of the elect ) nor by its concurrence , ( for god was not guilty ) it was therefore against the working and means of grace . indeed if god did his utmost , such as david could never sin . or if they could , it would argue god to be conquer'd either by man , or devil . unlesse we should say , that such omnipotent grace doth come , and go , and come again , after the measure that god is willing a man should sin and repent , and sin again . and therefore it is evident , that god almighty , in his elect , doth shew the congruous efficacious power , but not the irresistibility and almightinesse of his grace . sure david ( and solomon ) did fall from grace , by resisting it , in both acceptions of the word grace ; ( as it is taken for gracious living , and as it is taken for the favour of god ) and this invincibly conclusible even from that very answer which is wont to be alledged for irresistibility . for they say that god had decreed the repentance and return of david , and that therefore he could not die , until he had repented . which is spoken by them for this reason , because if david had not repented , he must have perisht . which yet he could not have done , if he had continued in the state of grace . 53. if against this it is excepted , that though a vessel of election may fall damnably from grace , yet he cannot finally , this is unworthy for a sch●…lar to speak , or hear ; for who ever was so silly , as to say or think , that the precious vessels of election can fall away finally ? this is not answering the argument , but forsaking the question . the question is , whether the grace of god doth work irresistibly in the elect ? not , whether or no it brings them to a most certain and infallible degree of blisse . ( for they that dispute against the first , affirm the second , ) grace is proved to be resistible in gods elect by such examples as david . and to that it is answer'd , he could not so resist as to fall away finally . which is first a skipping from the first question to the second , and secondly , it is to say ( what no man living doth gainsay ) that such as persevere unto the end can never fall away finally . a grosse identical proposition , which doth not only betray the weaknesse of that opinion which it asserteth , but doth establish the truth of this very cause which i am pleading . for it confesseth , that grace is resistible , and only denies that it is finally resisted . david was able to resist it , but he did not resist it unto the end . and every technical grammarian can distinguish the act which is imply'd in the participle , from the aptitude which is couched in the adjective in bilis . but ( to hasten towards the conclusion of my readers sufferings ) there is also a final as well as total resisting of such a grace as is sufficient for the attainment of glory . for ( not to speak of those men who resisted and sinned against all the means that could be used , isa. 5. 4. and who alwaies resisted the holy ghost , act. 7. 51. and who would not be gathered , after never so many essays , mat. 23. 37. ) how many christian professors are now in hell , who when they were infants were fit and suitable for heaven ? shall not i spare nineveh , in which are above 120000 souls , which cannot distinguish betwixt the right hand and the left ? ion. 4. 11. god speaks there of heathen infants , toward whom his bowels did yearn within him , and that upon the impendence of but a temporal destruction . but i speak here of infants born and baptized into a membership of the church . how many are there of such who in their harmlesse nonage were babes of grace , and yet have outlived their innocence , so as at last to be transformed into vessels of wrath ? i will shut up this paragraph with the words of tertullian . saul was turned into a prophet by the spirit of holinesse , as well as into an apostate by the spirit of uncleannesse . and the devil entred into judas , who for some time together had been deputed with the elect . and with the saying of s. augustine , that if the regenerate and justified shall fall away into a wicked course of living by his own will and pleasure , he cannot say , i have not received , because he hath wilfully lost that grace of god which he had received , by that will of his which was at liberty to sin . and how exactly that father doth speak my sense of this businesse , i leave it for any one to judge who shall consult him de praed. sanct. l. 1. c. 14. de bono persev . l. 2. c. 1. & 6. & l. 2. c. 8. & 13. and i would very fain know , whether the lost groat , the lost sheep , and the prodigal son , do not signifie ( in our saviours parables ) that a true beleever may be lost , and being lost may be found , and again become a true beleever . which is as much as i desire to prove the thing under consideration . chap. v. 54. having evinced to my self ( and that is all that i pretend to ) first , that my will of it self is inclinable to evil ; and that , secondly , of it self it is not inclinable to good ; and that , thirdly , it is inclined by the singular and special operation of grace , to the refusing of evil , and to the choosing of good , and that therefore in the fourth place , that singular grace doth not work so irresistibly as to compel an unwilling will , but yet so strongly as to heal a sick one ; not so necessitating the will of god's elect , as that inevitably it must , but yet so powerfully perswading , as that it certainly will , both believe and obey , and after repentance persevere unto the end ; i should in civility to my reader conclude his trouble , if i were sure that some men would not call it tergiversation ; and if i were not obliged by those papers , which have been so frequently , s●…falsly ( that i may not say so maliciously ) transcribed , and are threatned to be laid very publiquely to my charge , ( and which i plead in the defence of this mine own publication , which i should never have ch●…sen upon such a subject , as i have least of all studied , and am least delighted in of any other ) to remonstrate the utmost of what i think in these matters . for i do stedfastly beleeve ( what i also asserted in that extemporary discourse , which was the innocent cause of this unacceptable effect ) that ▪ gods decree of election from all eternity , was not absolute and irrespective , but in respect unto , and in praescience of some qualification , without which no man is the proper object of such decree . and this i prove to my self from these waies of reasoning . 55. first , i consider with my self , that there is no salvation but only to such , as are found to be in christ iesus , in the day of death and of iudgement . which no man living can be , unlesse he be qualified with such conditions , as without which it is impossible to be so found ; ( such as are faith , and obedience , and repentance , after sin , bringing forth such fruits as are worthy of repentance , and perseverance in weldoing unto the end . ) that god will save none but such , is all men's confession . and that he saves none but such whom he decrees to save , is every whit as plain . therefore none but such are the object of such decree . for if he decreed to save any without regard or respect to their being such , he might actually save them without regard or respect to their being such . because whatsoever is justly decreed , may be justly executed as it is decreed . but it is granted on all sides ( as i suppose ) that god will save none except such as are found to be in christ with the aforesaid qualifications ; and therefore it should be agreed on all sides , that he decreed to save none but such as they . and what is that but a respective and conditional decree ? made in intuition of our being in christ , and of our being so qualified to be in christ ? so that although our election is not of works , but of him that calleth , yet good works are required as a necessary condition , though utterly unworthy to be a cause of our election . nor can it be without respect to the condition of the covenant , that the covenant is made , and the promise decreed to be fulfilled . 56. secondly , i consider , that the decree of the father to send the son to be a second adam , was in respect and regard to the backesliding of the first adam . without which it was impossible that the son of god should have been sent to be the saviour of the world . and the decree of god almighty to save the first adam , was in regard of and respect to the meritoriousness of the second adam . for god adopteth never a childe , nor doth acknowledge him for his own , so as to give him eternal life , unlesse it be for the sake of his only begotten son . first god pitied a woful world , then he loved what be pitied , next he gave his own son to save what he loved , and upon the condition of beleeving in his son , he gave it a promise of eternal life . for so beleeving is interposed betwixt love and life , in the 3. of s. iohn vers. 26. god so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever beleeveth in him , should not perish , but have everlasting life . from this text it appeareth , that god loved the world before he gave his son to it ; for therefore gave he his son , because he loved it . but it was not a love by which he loved it to life everlasting ; for with such love he only loved it in his son . and the world is not capable of such a love without the condition of beleeving . it was therefore in praescience of our beleeving in christ , that god elected us to life eternal . for christ is not only the means , ( as some affirm ) but the meritorious cause , and the head of our election . christ was foreknown , 1 pet. 1. 2. and we in him , rom. 8. 29. christ was praedestin'd , and we by him , eph. 1. 5. 57. thirdly , i consider , that there must be a difference before there can be an election . love indeed is an act of favour , but election is properly an act of iudgement ; a preferring of the better before the worse . they that say god elected such a number of men without the least intuition of their qualifications by which they are differenced from the reprobated crew , do speak illogically ( to say no worse . ) how much safer is it to say , that because such men as are in christ by faith are better then such as are out of christ by infidelity , therefore those are taken , and these are left ? nor doth this derogate from god , or arrogate to man , to say , he chooseth his own gifts , any more then it doth , to say , he crowns them . for god doth give us the advantage of our being in christ , as well as choose us for that advantage . first he giveth us his son , next he giveth us his grace whereby to enable us to believe in his son , and so beleeving he doth elect us . so that here is no matter for man to boast on ; he having nothing which he hath not received , no not so much as his {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} it is god that makes the difference , as well as god that chooseth . and it seems this very argument from the nature and use of the word election , did prevail with s. austin and oecumenius . s. austin saith expresly , that iustification precedeth election ; and his reason is , because no man is elected unlesse he differ from him that is rejected . 58. fourthly , i consider , that the whole tenor of the scriptures , in the iudgement of all the fathers , who are best able to understand them , teacheth no other praedestination , then in , and through christ , which is respective and conditional . first the scripture gives us none but conditional promises , such as , if any man keep my saying , he shall never taste death . whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap . and we shall reap if we faint not . if any man will hear my voice , and open the doore , i will come in to him , &c. nay even the very texts which are wont to be urged for irrespective election do seem very precisely to evince the contrary . for when god is said to praedestine according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himself , the word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} rendred good pleasure , doth not signifie the absolutenesse , but the respectivenesse of his will . for it relateth to something in which god is well pleased , and that is christ . it being impossible for god to please himself with mankinde , or for men to be acceptable and well pleasing to god , any otherwise then in him , of whom it was said , this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased . besides , all those scriptures which do●… teach universal grace , and redemption , ( which i suppose hath been proved in the prosecution of my first principle ) do seem to me most clearly to inferre a respective and conditional election . for if it is true , that christ did offer up himself , not only sufficiently , but intentionally for all ; if he did earnestly desire that every one would come in , upon the preaching of his word , and receive the benefit of his death and passion ; if his warnings were not in jest , and his invitations serious ; if [ depart from me ye cursed ] was therefore foretold , that every one might beware and not obtrude himself upon that sentence ; if he is unwilling that any one should be caught in the serpents snare , who shewes to all ( without exception ) a certain way to escape ; if ( as s. austin speaks ) he is desirous not to strike , who bids us look to our posture , and stand upon our guard ; if ( as s. austin speaks again ) he shews his power to punish none but only those that refuse his mercy ; and would not damn any one without respect to sin , who gave his own son to die for all ; then his refusing of the goats in respect of that which makes them differ from sheep , infers his election of the sheep , in respect of that which makes them differ from goats . and i have made the more haste to make this inference , because as the respectivenesse of election needs not otherwise to be proved then by the respectivenesse of reprobation ; so they are both taken for granted , upon the supposition of christ's having dyed not only sufficiently , but intentionally for all . towards which ( having discoursed so largely of it already ) i will only offer this one consideration which meets my pen as i am writing , and even obtrudes it self upon me to be delivered . it is briefly this . that since our saviour upon the crosse , did very heartily pray , even for those very homicides , and parricides , and deicides that kill'd him , we have no reason but to beleeve , that he laid down his life even for them that took it away ; and that he dyed for all for whom he prayed . and yet we reading of their murders , but not of their repentance , i should be loth to tell my people , that those crucifying wretches , were precious vessels of election , ( in complyance with that opinion , that christ died only for the elect ) lest they should comfort up themselves in the most ●…rimson sins that can be named ( like some in the world ) as well consisting with their pretensions to the kingdome of heaven . and yet in my shallow iudgement , ( which because it is shallow , i do submit to those of deeper and profounder reach , how dogmatically soever i may seem to have spoken in many places of this discourse ) i say in my shallow judgement , christ dyed for all for whom he prayed ; and he prayed for them that curst themselves . his bloud be upon us ( said they ) and yet ( said he ) father forgive them . he made his murderers execration become his prayer . he took the poyson out of their curse , and made it wholsome for them . he wished , as well as they , that his bloud might be both upon them and upon their children ; but in his own most merciful , not in their barbarous and cruel sense ; for they meant the guilt , he the benefit of his bloud ; and would have it ●ight on them , not to accuse , but cleanse them . and yet i dare not affirm , that they were all a portion of god's elect. 59. lastly , i consider , that the main stream of the fathers doth run this way . and not to trouble my reader with such a catalogue of particulars , as i gave in before , for a conditional reprobation , ( which yet i think were very easie upon a very smal warning ) i will content my self at present to prove what i say from the confessions of beza , and doctor twisse . first beza in his comment upon rom. 11. 2. rejects the judgement of the fathers , because they are not ( as he would have them ) for the absolute , irrespective , unconditional way . and dr. twisse confesseth , that all the ancients , before s. austin , did place the object of god's election in fide praevisâ . at which s. austin was so far from being any way displeased , as that ( with very great reverence to their authority ) he made it appear to be an innocent and harmlesse tenent . he affirmed that all the fathers , who lived before himself , agreed in this , that the grace of god is not prevented by humane merits . which one profession he thought sufficient for the asserting of the free grace of the divine praedestination . to which saying of s. austin , because i finde that dr. twisse doth very readily subscribe ; i ought in reason to be secured from any very hard censure , because i am not an affirmer of humane merits , much lesse do i place them in a precedency to grace . 60. i conclude with a desire of so much liberty of conscience , as to beleeve with s. paul , that god is a respecter , not of * persons , but of * works . that my sins are perfectly and entirely mine own . and that if i do any thing that is good , it is not i that do it , but the grace of god that is in me . yet so , as that i can do all things through him that strengthens me . and who doth so strengthen as that i may do them , but not so force me as that i must . in this , and every other thing , i have been long since taught by vincentius lirinensis , ( whom i shall ever observe to the utmost of my discretion ) ▪ to opine with the most , and most iudicious , rather then with the fewest , and least discerning . opinionastrete is a fault , but fallibility is none . if my teachers are in the right , they have knowledge enough to make me moderately instructed ; if they are anywhere in the wrong , they have authority enough to make me pardonably erroneous ; if i have not perspicacity to comprehend them as they deserve , it seems they have depths enough to prove , i am invincibly ignorant . the end . errata's . pag. 2. lin. 19. read extemporary discourse , p. 10. l. 30. r. and doth so move , p. 11. l. 10. dele upon , l. 12. for of r. to mine own , p. 17. l. 15. f. sure r. here . p. 19. l. 8. f. preposition r. proposition , l. 25. after look adde for , p. 21. l. 19. f. unworthy r. worthy , p. 23. l. 4. after ret●…rn to adde that , p. 24. l. 25. f. joh. 4. r. joh. 8 , p. 33. l. 18. after we adde may , p. 44. l. ult. r. gallorum , p. 45. l. 4. after id . r. ibid. p. 53. l. 30. f. aequivocable r. aequivocal , p. 60. l. 19. f. cant. 1. 14. r. cant. 1. 4. l. 29. f. efficacious ▪ r. effectual , p. 61. l. 4. f. catechresis r. catachresis , p. 71. l. 5. f. eleget ●… elegit . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a54833e-240 ecclesiasticus 3 , 21 , 22 , 23. rom. 2. 6. notes for div a54833e-3260 joh. 8. ●… . rev. 12. 10. 9. 11. joh. 8. 14 , 44. episc. winton . in iud. de art . lamb . rom. 11. 33. psal. 36. 6. the two principles or grounds of my belief in this businesse . sic proponam , sic asseram , ut verita●…i quae nec fallit , nec fallitur , semper inhaream , sempe●… obediens consentiénsque reperiar . fulgent . ad monim . l. 1. sub init . nec inest iis quae de libero arbitrio patres quidem & neoterici asseruerunt , ea quam olim non nulli putant impietas , si haec rite modò accipiantur , & sicut ipsi scriptores ea accipi voluerunt . apud cassand . consult . p. 130. in praefat. ad vind. grat. p. 3. gal. 6. 1. prov. 19. 3. l. 3. c. 23 § 6. p. 324. l. 3. c. 24. § 13 p. 333. l. 1. c. 18. § 4 ▪ ☜ p. 71. l. 1. c. 17. § 12. p. 66. ☜ l. 1. c. 17. § 5. p. 64. l. 1. part . 1. digr. 10. c. 1. § 4. p. 125. ☜ ibid. § 12. p. 140. ☞ ☞ in serm. de prov. c 5 &c. 6. & sic citatur l. 2. part . 1. p. 36. l. 1. c. 18. § 1. p. 68. ☞ ☞ l. 2. part . 1. p. 142 , 143 , 147 , 148 , &c. ☞ the first principle proved by scripture . praedestinare deum homines ad peccata , aut poenas , in s. scripturis non dicitur , sed eos ad vitam aeternam praedestinare dicitur , quos v●…care decernit . grot. in riv. ap. disc. p. 52. quatuor priores articuli lambethani sunt de praedestinatione , & reprobatione , quarum illa significatur rom. 11. 33. haec psal. 36. 6. epis. wint. de artic. judi●… . psal. 81. 13. isa. 5. 3 , 4. ezek. 18. vers. 2 , 29. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . 〈◊〉 . in . c. 1. 〈◊〉 eph homil. ●… . p. 1036. augustir . 〈◊〉 . 6. tertull. adversus mar. l. 1. c. 1. duos d●…os adf●…rt tanquam duas sy●…plegadas naufragii sui . quis iste deus tam bonus , ut ab illo malus ●…iat ? ibid. c 23. ibid. c. 26. jam. 1. 13 , 14. 1 cor. 10. 13. terent. in eunuch . jam. 1. 15. ps. 106. 29. vide cornel. agrip. de vanit . scient. dan 9. 7. eccles. 7. 29. proved secondly by reason . hocker eccl. polit. l. 1. eph. 1. 11. gen ▪ 1. 31 ▪ * n●…c tamen 〈◊〉 sumus stipites ; ea enim nobis ut v●…limus & possimus concedit . beza . in eph. 1. 11. * bene volumus , non quidem naturâ , sed quia deus ex malâ voluntate bonam fecit . ad philip . 2. 13. * liberum & sui arbitrii & suae potestatis invenio hominem à deo institutum ; nullam magis imaginem & similitudinem dei in illo animadvertens , quàm ejusmodi status formam . tertull . advers. marc. lib. 2. c. 5. see also cap. 6 , 7. proved by antiquity § ●…8 . tametsi deus ●…reat & conservat naturam , tamen causa p●…ccati est voluntas malorum viz. diaboli & impiorum hominum quae avertit se à deo ad alias re●… , con●…ra mandata dei . august . confess . artic. 9. aliquos ad 〈◊〉 divinâ potestate 〈◊〉 esse , non solùm non cre●… , sed etiam si sint qui tantum m●…lum cred●…re ve●…int , cum omni detestatione in illis anat●…ema dicimus . synod . arausic . can. 25. the first inference . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . ammonius in ioh. 8. our selves we condemn as the only causes of our own misery . hook . l. 5. § 72. proved by scripture . in the negative . ezek. 33. 11. c. 18. v. 32. 2 pet. 3. 9. rom. 2. 5. veteris haec ecclesiae sententia suit , velle deum conversionem ad salutem omnium , non tantùm genera singulorum , sed singulos generum intelligens . gerard . voss. in pelag. hist. l. 6. thes. 2. 1 tim. 4. 10. 2 cor. 5. 14. rom. 11. 32 ▪ 2 pet. 2. 1. * gratiam salutarem non existimo conferri omnibus , sed tamen omnibus offerri ; & praesto esse deum ut conferatur . episc. wint. de artic . lamb . omnibus offertur dei misericordia . nemo illius expers est , nisi qui renui●… . bernard . serm. 1. in purif. . mar. in the affirmative . hos. 13. 6. 2 ▪ pet. 2. 1. prov. 19. 3. jam. 1. 15. rom. 6. 23. vers. 20. wisd. 1 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. proved secondly by reason . * {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . * rom. 7. 8. vers. 13. * jam 1. 15. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . apud lucianum dr * ideo praesciverit , quia decreto suo sic ordinavit . and for no other reason , nisi quia deo ita visum est . cal vin . instit. l. 3. cap. 23. p. 7. non percipit se dicere , ea quae vera sunt , eo ipso quòd vera sunt , falsa sint . august . contra faustum . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . origen . contra celsim . l. 4. isido●…us pelusiota 〈◊〉 , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , respondit , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . * loco superi●…s paulò citato . * idcirco jurat , ut si non credimus promittenti deo , credamus salum p●…o salute juran●…i . hieron. epist. 46. o beatos nos , quorum causa deus jurat ! o mise●…rimos si nec juranti credimus ! tertul. l. de poe●…it , cap. 4. * eccles. 15. 12. 1 jam. 1. 15. 2 rom. 6 23. 3 rom. 6. 2●… . poterit deus velle voluntate signi & approbante , ut ●…ono non 〈◊〉 ; interea voluntate beneplaciti statue●…e 〈◊〉 gratiam efficacem negare , ex quo insallibiliter & efficaciter sequetur ut labatur . twiss. in vind. grat. l. 1. de praed. § 12. p. 140. voss. pelag. hist. l. 6. thes. 2. * quod dicere periculosum , ad aedificationem proferendum est . tertul. depoen . cap. 5. * decretum horribile quid●…m fateor , inficiari tamen nemo poterit . calvin . instit. l. 3. c. 23. § 7. l. 1. part . 1. § 13. p. 140. proved thirdly by antiquity . ignatius in cp. ad magnes . p. 53. edit. usser . iustin. martyr . in apolog. prima pro christianis pag. 35. edit. sylburg . 1593. tertull. contra ma●…cion . l. 5. c. 24 edit. iun. a.d. 1597. lib. 2. cap. 5. 6. clemens alex. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} p. 24. edit. 〈◊〉 . vide & clem. rom. l. 1. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , cap. 45. theophil . ad au●…ol . l. 3 p. 336. edit. basil. 1555. origen . tract. 34. in matth. p. 194. athanas. orat . de incarn. v●…rbi dei . t. 1. p. 45. macarius homil. 26. p. 230. homil. 30. p. 53. basil. homil. in psal. 29. p. 80. ambros. l. 2. de secundâ interpellat . david . c. 11. hilarius diacon . in epist. pauli in rom. c. 3. & 9 idem ad 1 tim 11. * ch●…ysost . in 1 tim c. 2. p. 1556. idem ad ephes. c. 1. hom. 1. p. 1036. hieronymus advers. pelagianos l. 2. sub finem . & ad eph. c. 1. primosius in 1 tim. 2. damascenus l. 2. orth . sid . c. 29. idem contra manichaeot p. 375 edit. basil . 1578. oecumenius ad 1 tim. 2. anselmus in matth. c. 6. bernardus serm. 5. in natal . dom. idem serm. 1. in purif. . mar. grotius in rivet . apolog. discus . p. 97 , 98. augustin in lib. de spiritu & lite●â ad marcellinum c. 33. idem serm. 38. de sanctis . * nihil aliud accipiendum in isto augustini sermone existimo , quo ad interitum quosdam praedestinatos firmat . &c. fulgent . ad monim . l. 1. prosper ( s●…u august ) ad object . vic●…n ▪ artic . 2. & seqq . * causā rep●…obationis certum est hanc esse , viz. peccatum in hominibus . melancthon in locis theolog. de praedest . idem ubique ait perrus molinaeus in sua anatome arminianismi . d. overallus theol. cantab. professor de 〈◊〉 ecclisiae anglic. &c. cap. 1. cap. 2 de morte christi . artic. 2. artic. 7. artic. 31. calvin . ad heb. 9. 28. idem ad rom. 5. the total sum of the citations . the english reader may be pleas'd to observe , that these last words are translated out of prosper in his vindication of august●…ne his dearest friend , who is : he only father ( i can hear of ) whom our adversaries are willing to be tryed by in this businesse . ( see the confession of dr. twiss. in vind●…c . grat. l. 1. dign . 8. § 4. p. 110. ) {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . plotin. enn. l. 2. p. 263. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . hierocl {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . p. 258. the second inference , explain'd . proved by scripture . gen. 2 17. chap. 4. v. 7. deut 11. 26 , 27. gen. 18. 21. rom. 10. 9. mat. 6. 15. 2 tim. 2. 12. mat. 1. 12. tit. 2. 14. luk. 1. 44 , 44. mat 25. 41 , 42. judg. 1. ●… . rom. 2. 6. 11. gal. 6. 7. wisd. 1. 12. proved secondly by reason . gen. 3. 17 , 18. rom. 2. 4 , 5. mat. 28. 19. luk. 24. 47. joh. 20. 31. luk. 9. 5. luk. 12. 47. cap. 20. v. 47. mat. 11. 20 , 21 , 23 , 24. mat. 10. 15. joh. 3 19. psal. 58. 4. calvinus in institut . l. 3. cap. 23. § 7. mortem non vul●… deus , in quantum vul●… poenitentiam . sed experientia docet , ita eam velle , ut cor peccatoris non ●…angat . idem in ezek. 18. prov. 1. 26. 29. 1 joh. 2. 2. rom. 14. 15. 1 cor. 8. 11. joh. 1. 9. cap. 3. v. 19. jonah 3. 4 , 10. 2 kin. 20. 5. 1 kin. 21. 29. * isa. 28 21. * lam. 3. 33. hos. 11. 8 , 9. exod. 32. 14. jam. 2. 13. ineptissimae blasphemiae . prodig●…osa mendacia . diabolicus mendacio●…um indiculus . leguntur apud . prosp. in praesat . respon. ad object . vinc. * proved thirdly by antiquity . solent veteres &c. & scholastici in eâ acquiescunt &c. non aliâ ratione quae futura sunt , praevideat , nis●… quia ita ut fierent decrevit . calvin . instit. l. 3. c. 23. §. 6. nec absurdum videri debee , deum non modò primi hominis casum & in co posterorum ruinam praevid●…sse , sed a●…bitrio quoque suo dispensasse . idem ibid. § 7. nemo eligitur nisi jam distans ab illo qui rejicitur . unde quod dictum est , [ quia elegit nos deus ante mundi constitutionem ] non video quomodo sit dictum , nisi de praescientiâ fidei & operum pietatis . & mox — iacobus non electus est ut fieret bonus , sed bonus factus eligi potuit . augustia . ad . simplicianum l. 1. quaest. 2. noluit ergo esau , & non cucurrit . sed et si voluisset , & cucurrisset , dei adjutorio pervenisset , nisi vocatione contemptâ reprobus fieret . id. in lib. ad simpl. num quid iniquitas est apud deum ? absit . iniquum enim videtur , ut sine ullis bonorum malorúmve operum meritis , unum deus eligat , odiátque alterum . id. in enchirid. cap. 98. non necessitatem percundi habue●…unt , quia praedestinati non sunt ; sed ideo praedestinati non sunt , quia tales futuri ex volunta●…iâ pr●…vaticatione praes●…iti sunt . prosper . ad galorum cap. 3. edit. basil. 16●…1 . illos 〈◊〉 propriâ ipsorum volunta●…e praescivit , & ob hoc a filiis perditionis nullâ praedestinatione discrevit . id. idem . ad . cap. 7. omni●…m quid●…m hominum deus creator est , sed nemo ab eo ideo creatus est u●… pereat . idem . ad object . vinc. 3. ideo omnibus opera sanitatis de●…lit , ut quicunque perierit , mortis suae causas sibi ascribat , qui curari noluit , cùm remedium haberet quo posset evadere . ambros. l. 2. de cain & abel cap. 13. etiam his qui mali sint futuri , datur potestas conversionis & poenitentiae . hieron. l. 3. adversus pelagianos . dilectio & odium dei vel ex ▪ praescientiâ nascitur futurorum , vel ex operibus . idem , ad malach. 1. si dies aequaliter nascitur omnibus , quanto magis christus ? — cum singuli ad donarium vocentur , quid est ut quod à deo aqualiter distribuitur , humanâ interpretatione minuatur ? cyprian . epist. 76. * patet omnibus fons vitae , neque ab ju●…e potandi qui●…quam prohibetu●… , aut ●…elli u●… . arnob. adversus nat. lib. 2. the sum of all that hath been said . 2 pet. 3. 7. jer. 51. 56. 2 thess. 1. 8. an obvious expedient to reconcile dissenters . qui non sunt praed●…stinati ad salu●…em , necessario propter p●…ccata condem . nabuntur . art. lamb . 4. atque id necessariò ( si sic loqui placeat ) sed necessitate ex hypothesi , non absolu â. id est , ideo quia peccarunt , non autem ideo , quia non sunt praedestinati . epist. wint jud. de art lamb . the probable cause of the dissension is a mistake of gods praescience . the mistake is endevoured to be rectified . boethius de consol. philosoph. lib. 5. by the co●…sideration of a twofold necessity in 〈◊〉 . duae sunt necessitates . simplex una , veluti quòd necesse est omnes homines esse mortales . altera conditionis , u●… si aliquem ambulare scias , cum ambulare necesse est . boeth . de con . phil. l. 5. ecclus. 15. 14. and by a right . application of a twofold will in the almighty . chrysost. in epist ad eph. c. 1. homil. 1. damascen . l 2. orth. fid. c. 29. prosper . in respon. ad objec . vincen . sub finem . anselmus in mat. cap. 6. concil. tolet. 8. ●… . 2. rom. 12. 18 the second principle or ground of my belief in this businesse . explained . act. 4. 12. joh. 6. 44. 65. 1 cor. 4. 7. jam. 1. 17. 1 cor. 1. 3●… . psal. 115. 1. reconciled with choice , which is irreconcilable with irresistibility . object . 1. si deus benus & praescius mali , & potent depellere , cur hominem lab●… passus est ? resp. liberum & sui arbit●…ii & suae potestatis invenio hominem . & s●…qq . object . 2. homoita d●…uit institui , ut non posset cadere . resp. ergo bonum suum haberet 〈◊〉 sibi à deo. e●… bonus aut malus necessitate fuisset inventus , non voluntate . nec boni nec mali merces iure pensaretur ei . tertull . advers. marc. l. 2. c. 5 ▪ 6. 1. proved by scripture . phil. 2. 12 , 13. liberi arbitrii nos condidit deus . nec ad virtutes 〈◊〉 ad vitia necessitate 〈◊〉 . alioqui ubi necessitas , ibi nec damnatio , nec corona est . hieron. contra jovinian . l. 2. valet liberum arbitrium ad bona , si divinitus adjuvetur ; qued fit , humili●…er petendo & faciendo . august . epist. 89. psal. 119. 32. joh. 8. 32. tertull. loco citato . deut. 30. 15 , 19. * 46. 2. proved by reason . illud propri●… dicitur ●…resistibile , cui resistere nemo potest , quamvis vellet . twiss. in praef. ad vin . grat. §. ●… . p. 31. in act●… vol●…di locum non habet . in loco citato . ex hujusmodi autem operatione divinâ existit necessitas offect●…s , cum ips●… libertate voluntatis con sen●…iens . ibid. the ground of the opposite mistake removed . by rightly distinguishing betwixt infallible and necessary . betwixt sufficient , effectual , and unresistible . betwixt action in general , and volition in particular . betwixt taking and choosing . betwixt voluntary and spontaneous . ecclesiasticus 15 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. a result of the whole in two examples ▪ mar. 25. 2●… . and that cleared from an exception . jonah 4. 11. saulem tam dei spiritus vertit in prophetam , quàm & malus spiritus postea in apostatam . iudam aliquandiu cum electis deputatum postea diabolus intravit . tertul. de animâ . c. 11. si regeneratus & justificatu●… in ●…alam vitam suâ voluntate relabitu●… , certò is non potest dicere , non accepi , quia acceptam gratiam dei suo in malum arbitrio libero amisit . aug. de grat & correp . c. 6. &c. 9. the decree of election conditional and respective . quá gratiâ non nova voluntas creatur , neque invita voluntas cogitur , sed infirma sanatur , depravata corrigitur , & ex malâ in bonam convertitur , ac interiore quodam modo tra●…itur , ut ex nol●…nte volens effi●…iatur , & divinae vocationi libenter consentiat , &c. august . de grat . & lib. arb. ad valent . c. 13. sicut praf●…it , praedestinat , & propterea prae ▪ destinat , quia quale futurum sit , praescit . mala tantùm prae ▪ s●…it , & non praedestinat . aug. in resp. ad calum . pelag . sub initium l ▪ 6. hypognostic●…n . proved by reason , from its being respective of our being in christ , and of the conditions by which we are so . eph. 1. 4 , 6. rom. 8. 39. 1 cor. 5. 15. and from the nature of election . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} oecum . apud episc. wint. de artic. lam. iud. non ta●…en electio praecedit iustificationem , sed electionem iustificatio . nemo enim eligitur , nisi jam distans ab illo qui rejicitur . unde quod dictum est , quia el●…get nos deus an●…e mundi constitutionem , non video quomodo sit dicendum nisi praesc●…entiâ . august . ad simpl. 1. 2. proved by scripture . joh. 8. 51. gal. 6. 7 , 9. rev. 3. 20. eph. 4. 9. aug. in serm. 28. de sanct. idem contr●… 2 epist. pelag. l 3. c. 2. idem de sp. & lit. ad marcell . c. 33. and by antiquity , from the concessions of anti remonstrants . patres hîc nullo modo audiendi , qui ad praevisionem hoc referunt . beza in rom. 11. 2. edit. 2. twiss. in vin. gr. l. 1. part . 1. digr. 8. sect. 4. p. 110. august . de bono persever . c. 19. & 20. twiss. loco citato . the conclusion . * rom. 2. 11. * vers. 14. 1 cor. 15. 10. baptismōn didachē, or, the doctrine of baptisms reduced from its ancient and modern corruptions and restored to its primitive soundness and integrity, according to the word of truth, the substance of faith & the nature of christ's kingdom / by william dell ... dell, william, d. 1664. 1697 approx. 79 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 37 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-08 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a37493 wing d916 estc r37724 17007855 ocm 17007855 105740 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a37493) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105740) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1613:27) baptismōn didachē, or, the doctrine of baptisms reduced from its ancient and modern corruptions and restored to its primitive soundness and integrity, according to the word of truth, the substance of faith & the nature of christ's kingdom / by william dell ... dell, william, d. 1664. [8], 64 p. printed and sold by t. sowle ..., london : 1697. first 2 words of title in greek characters. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng baptism -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal. 2004-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-05 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-05 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion βαπτισμων διδαχη or , the doctrine of baptisms ; reduced from its ancient and modern corruptions ; and restored to its primitive soundness and integrity ; according to the word of truth , according to the substance of faith , & according to the nature of christ's kingdom . by william dell , minister of the gospel , and master of gonvil and caius college in cambridge . isa. 52. 15. that which hath not been told them , they shall see ; and that which they have not heard , they shall consider . london , printed and sold by t. sowle , next door to the meeting-house in white-hart-court in gracious-street , and at the bible in leaden hall-street , 1697. to the reader . the doctrine of baptisms hath been dark and obscure in the church , from the very primitive times , and hath had more of humane notion , than of divine truth in it ; and therefore zuinglius , writing , touching this point , speaks thus in the beginning of his book , entituled , de baptis . tom. 2. f. 57. illud mihi ingenuè circa libri initium dicendum est , ferè omnes eos , quotquot ab ipsis apostolorum temporibus , de baptismo scribere instituerunt , non in paucis ( quod pace omnium hominum dictum esse velim ) à scopo aberravisse : that is , in the beginning of my book ( saith he ) i must ingeniously profess , that almost all those that have undertaken to write of baptism , even from the very times of the apostles , have ( which i desire may be spoken with the favour of all ) not in a few things erred from the scope . and as he affirms , that almost all before him had erred in many things touching baptism , so did he himself also err as well as they , not in a few : and it is as free for me , or any body else , to differ from him and other late writers , as for them to differ from former writers ; especially if that be true which godly and learned chemnitius affirms out of augustine , that these things are not tanquam articuli fidei , a quibus diversum sentire piaculum sit anathemate dignum , chemnit . examen concil . t ▪ rident . 1. de bapt. and therefore , reader , i acquaint thee before hand that , in this point , i shall speak much otherwise than all former or later writers whatever , that i have met with : and though i do not ; without some fear and trembling , dissent from so many worthy and gracious men , that have been and are otherwise minded , yet it is the less grievous to me , because i differ from them , ( i can say it in truth before the lord ) not out of any desire to be singular , or for any worldly or carnal end whatever , but only that i might cleave to the clear and evident word of god alone , even there where i see the very faithful to leave it ; seeing i am rather to joyn to the word without men , than to joyn to men without the word ; and where i find the holiest men in the world and the word parting , i am there to leave them , and to go along with the word . and so , in all love and meekness , i tender this discourse to thee , desiring that if thou canst not at the present agree to what is there in contained , yet that thou wouldst not rashly judge and reproach it , seeing through god's goodness , it may come to pass , that what thou knowest not now , thou mayest know afterwards . but because i see this present generation so rooted and built up in the doctrines of men , i have the less hope that this truth will prevail with them , and therefore i appeal to the next generation , which will be farther removed from those evils , and will be brought nearer to the word ; but especially to that people , whom god hath , and shall form by his spirit for himself , for these only will be able to make just and righteous iudgment in this matter , seeing they have the anointing to be their teacher , and the lamb to be their light. the doctrine of baptisms , &c. the lord , fore-seeing how great an evil it would be in the church , to leave men either to their own or other men's opinions and iudgment in the things of god , did , in the very beginning of the gospel , command and bind all the faithful , to hear christ alone ; saying from heaven ( that we might give absolute credit to his voice ) this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased , hear him : and the more the faithful have kept to the word of christ , the more they have been free from error ; and the more they have left this , and turned aside after the doctrines of men , ( though men in some measure faithful and holy ) the more have they been perverted and seduced ; insomuch that the true church of god , and the very faithful themselves , have received , held , and maintained divers errors . and false doctrines , and opinions , even for many ages and generations ; yea and have not been altogether free from some , from the very apostles times : and because many or most godly , men in former ages , held such and such opinions , therefore the following ages have taken them upon trust from them , and have entertained them as sure and certain , though not at all consulting in those points , with the great doctor and apostle of the new testament , iesus christ. and thus have the very elect themselves been drawn into much error , though they have still had christ for their foundation , and were built on him so firmly by faith , that the gates of hell could not prevail against him . now , to free the faithful from the former mistake , ( and consequently from all error ) there is no other way than this , wholly to forsake the doctrines of men , and to lay by all those opinions that we have sucked in from our very cradles , and which are now become even a natural religion to us ; i say , utterly to lay by , and wholly to forget all these things , and to come immediately to the pure unerring word of god , and to the voice of iesus christ himself by his spirit , wherein all things are true , sincere and perfect ; and not bring hearts to the word , that are prepossest with doctrines and opinions learned of men , but to come thither with hearts and consciences free and uningaged , and in all meekness uprightness and simplicity of heart , to hear what iesus christ , the faithful and true witness , will say to his spirit , which also is the spirit of truth ; and to receive and believe that alone , though never so differing from the opinions and doctrines of this present age , as well as of the former , and though perhaps the whole nation would be offended with it . and this is the course that i have observed , to come to some clear and certain knowledge in the doctrine of baptism : for having read much , and discoursed with many touching this point , and having seriously considered what they say , as one that searched after the truth , for it self only , and for the satisfaction of my own soul ; i do prosess , i could not find any thing almost spoken , for my spirit boldly and safely to lean on , as perceiving most of what they said , to be but the apprehensions and thoughts of men , and that they spake very much by conjecture and at uncertainty in this matter : and thereupon i resolved , wholly to withdraw from such discourse , and to lay down whatever opinions i had before entertained touching this point , and to come to the plain and manifest scriptures , & from thence ( after much seeking god ) to learn whatever the lord should please to teach me ; chusing rather to build on the clear word , though alone , than on any uncertian inferences and blind conjectures of men , tho' imbraced and magnified by all the world. now , in this inquiry from the word , i met with that place , heb. 6. 2. where the apostle speaking of some of the first and initial points of christian religion , names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the doctrine of baptisms ; whence i perceived that in the primitive church they had the dostrine of baptisms in the plural number , and therefore did apply my self to search from the word what these baptisms might be , and so met with the baptist's own doctrine touching baptisms mentioned mat. 3. mar. 1. luke 3. and iohn 1. ( for all the evangelists make mention of this , it being a matter of so great concernment ) and luke makes mention of the ground of this doctrine of the baptist , chap. 3. 15. as the people were in expectation ( saith he ) and all men mused in their hearts of john , whither he were the christ or not , john answered , saying , &c. the people , it seems , had great and high thoughts of iohn , because he was the son of the high priest , conceived after an extraordinary manner , his parents being both well stricken in age , and past children , by the course of nature ; and then the manner of his life was strange , for he lived in the wilderness , out of the ordinary converse of the world : and his apparel and diet were unusual , being raiment of cammels hair , and a leathern girdle about his loyns , and his meat locust and wild honey ; but especially his ministry was mighty , being in the spirit and power of elias ▪ and his baptism new and famous ; so that all the people stood in great expectation of some work or event from him , that should manifest him to be the christ ; wherefore iohn , to take them off from that gross and dangerous mistake , plainly told them all , and that openly , that he was not the christ ; but that there was a great deal of difference between himself and the messias , and that both in regard of his person and office. first for his office. for he begins to shew the difference from thence , because the newness of his baptism was the ocasion of the peoples conceiving , that he was the messias ▪ whereupon he vilifies his own baptism in respect of christ's : saith he , i indeed baptize you with vvater ; that is , my baptism is but water-baptism , that washes the body only with a corporeal element ; but one mightier then i comes , for i am but a creature , he the power of god , i but a servant , he the lord of all , and one so infinitely excellent above all that i am , that the latchet of his shoes i am not worthy to unloose ; that is , i am unworthy , to perform the meanest and lowest office for him. and having thus first spoken meanly of his own baptism , and then magnified christ's person above his own , he ( saith he ) shall baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire ; that is , i that am a servant do baptize with water , but he that is the son baptizes with the spirit ; my bap●ism washes but the body from the filth of the flesh ; but his , the soul from filth of sin ; so that how much the spirit excels water , and god the creature ▪ so much his baptism transcends mine . now hence i gather clearly , even from the baptist's own mouth , that iohn's baptism and christ's were distinct baptisms , the one water-baptism , the other fire-baptism : and though our late writers and teachers , have and do affirm , that iohn's baptism and christ's make up but one entire baptism , yet all generally of the antient christians apprehended them to be distinct ; one whereof , saith , illud manifestum est , alium fuisse iohannis baptismum , alium christi : august . contra liter ▪ petil. 2. c. 37. and i could produce many more testimonies besides , but it is not my meaning to entangle any body with the authority of men , and therefore i shall make it plain by clear scriptures , and evidences from them , that iohn's baptism and christ's are distinct . 1. iohns baptism and christ's are distinct in their appellations in scripture ; for iohn's baptism was still so called , even when the apostles used it ; and it was not called by their names who administred it , but was still called iohn's baptism : yea after christ's baptism came in , iohn's still retained its name , as being distinct from it ; and therefore , act. 18. 24 , 25. it is said , apollos taught diligently the things of the lord , knowing only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the baptism of iohn . 2. the scripture saith , that christ's baptism was to follow iohn's , and did not ▪ accompany it at the same time , for mat. 3. iohn saith , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i do bapize you with water , but he that comes after me , i. e. in order of time , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall baptize you : and in luke 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i have baptized you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but he shall baptize you ; which places plainly declare , that christ's baptism did not go along with iohn's , but was to follow it , and that he was to baptize with the spirit , after iohn's water baptism had its full course , to wit , when he was risen from the dead , and ascended into heaven . and therefore christ , after he was risen from the dead , and immediately before he was to ascend into heaven , though his disciples had used water-baptism , or iohn's baptism , for above three years , yet affirms , that which iohn had said of him , touching his baptism with the spirit , was not yet fulfilled , but was shortly to be fulfilled , as appears acts 1. 4 , 5 , christ being assembled with the apostles , commanded them that they should not depart from jerusalem , but wait for the promise of the father , which , saith he , you have heard of me ; for john truly baptizeth with water , but ye shall be baptized with the spirit , not many days hence ; and this was fulfilled at the day of pentecost ; whence it is evident , that christ's baptism did not go along with iohn's , and make that up one entire baptism with it self , seeing it followed almost four years after ; and therefore iohn's baptism and christ's must needs be distinct . 3. it is evident , that christ's baptism and iohn's were distinct , in as much as the baptism of christ was necessary for those very persons , who had before been baptized with the baptism of iohn , whereas if iohn's baptism had been one and the same with christ ; that only had been sufficient ; but now , those whom iohn had baptized with water , christ was to baptize again with th● spirit , as in that place before mentioned ; i have baptized you with water , but one comes after me , who shall baptize you with the spirit ; even you whom i have before baptized with water ▪ and this was not a second baptism , but the first baptism of the new testament , iohn's baptism being more legal than evangelical ; and evangelical only in so much , as it pointed out this baptism of christ at hand . again , the baptist himself saith , i have need to be baptized of thee ; so that the very author or chief minister of water baptism stood in need of spiritual baptism himself : paul also , acts 19. when he found certain disciples baptized only with the baptism of iohn , he baptized them again in the name of christ , because they had not received the spirit ; and this baptism into the name of christ , was not the repeating of any water , but meerly the gift of the spirit ; for paul preached to them largely the doctrine of faith in christ , ( for the text relates but the abstract of the thing ) and laid his hands on them , and through his ministry the holy spirit came upon them ; and this was christ's baptism indeed , and no renewing of water at all , as the anabaptist would fain inforce from this place . by these things , it is evident that christ's baptism and iohn's are distinct ; and therefore as what god hath joyned , no man ought to put asunder , so what god hath put asunder , no man ought to joyn ; as if the baptism of christ were insufficient and incompleat , except we should add to it the baptism of iohn ; which is exceedingly to eclipse the brightness of the son of god , as to draw 〈…〉 ail over the greatest glory of the new testament , which is the baptism of the spirit . object . if the ordinary objection shall be offered against this , to wit , that iohn's doctrine was the same with christ's , and therefore his baptism also was the same with his . answ. i answer it is most true , that iohn did preach christ clearly , both in regard of his person and offices ; but this was not his proper work , as he was the baptist , but in so much as he preached christ in the spirit , he belongeth to the kingdom of christ , which is spiritual , as also abraham , moses , david , isaiah , and all the prophets , did in the same sense : but so far forth as he preached the doctrine and administred the baptism of repentance and both these not really and spiritually , but only in the letter and sign , so far he belonged to the old testament rather than to the new : here was iohn in his proper office. i say , so far as iohn preached christ spiritually , he did not that as iohn the baptist , but as iohn a believer : and so the same iohn , in regard of his baptists office , belonged to the old testament , but according to the revelation which he had from the father touching christ , and his faith in him , and confession of him , he belonged to the new , and except we learn thus to distinguish of iohn's doctrine , to wit , what he preached as baptist , and in his proper office , and what as a believer , who had the revelation of the father , we shall never understand his baptism aright : for iohn's baptism was the seal of his old testament-doctrine , and not of his new , or of his own immediate ministry , and not of christ's ; at the highest , iohn's ministry and baptism pointed out christ , but neither of them were the same with christ's . and thus having cleared from the word , that iohn's baptism is distinct from christ's , i shall proceed to speak of each of these baptisms apart by themselves , and to hold forth to others what my self have learned touching them from the same word ▪ and first i begin with iohn's baptism , as being the first in order of time . now the baptism of iohn was brought in besides the rite and manner of the law , and so was a sign of a great change to follow : the iews indeed had their baptisms in the law , for they washed their members , garments , vessels , &c. and by this they were cleansed from legal pollutions , but not from any sin or stain that did cleave to their conscience : but iohn was the author or first minister of a new and unwonted baptism , calling all men to repentance for sin , and to flee from the wrath to come , and awakening them to confession of sin , and amendment of life , and also pointing out one to come , and now at hand : who should do all these things for them indeed , which neither he nor his baptism could do . now touching iohn's baptism i shall shew , first , the honourableness of it in it self . and secondly , the weakness and imperfectness of it in reference to christ. and thirdly , the continuance and duration of it . 1. for the honourableness of it self : it appears in several passages . 1st . that though the baptism of iohn in it self were more legal than evangelical , yet in this it did excel all the former legal baptisms , that it pointed out christ's baptism near at hand ; for as iohn himself was greater than all the former prophets , because he pointed out with his finger christ the true and great prophet of the church ; so his baptism was more excellent than all the former baptisms , because it pointed out christ's great and glorious baptism no 〈…〉 at hand , as he saith , i baptize you with water , and he that comes after me shall baptize you with the spirit . 2. iohn's baptism was from heaven , and not from men , it had its institution from god , and was not an ordinance he took up of his own head , luke 3. 2. it is said , that at the beginning of iohn's setting forth to his baptism and ministry , that the word of god came to him in the wilderness ; that is , he was inspired , instructed , and taught by a word from god himself , touching his ministry baptism , and the discovery of christ he was to make ; and iohn 1. 6. there was a man sent from god , whose name was john ; and verse 33. he that sent me to baptize with vvater , said unto me : he went not of his own accord , but god sent him to baptize ; so that as god was the author of those inferiour baptisms of moses , so of this more high and excellent baptism of iohn ; and hereupon the publicans that received iohn's baptism , are said to justifie god ; and the pharisees and lawyers that refused it , to reject against themselves ; that is , to their own harm , the councel of god , luke 7. 29 , 30. 2. christ himself , who was born under the law , and subject to the law , submited himself also to the baptism of iohn , as the last and liveliest ceremony , mat. 3. 13. then cometh iesus from galilee to jordan to be baptized of him ; and so christ who had submitted himself to the circumcision of moses , submitted himself also to the baptism of iohn ; and as he submitted himself to all the ceremonies of moses , not for his own sake , but for ours , so also to the baptism of iohn . for seeing christ was free from sin , he stood in no need of repentance , and so not of that baptism , which was the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin ; but there the head , who was free from sin , was baptized for the body , which was full of sin , that he might fulfil all righteousness in his own person . and this was a great honour to the baptism of iohn , that christ ( though in reference to our flesh more than his own ) submitted himself to it . thus it appears , that the baptism of iohn was very honourable , and of high account in its time , so that the very disciples of christ took it up , and christ himself suffered them , because iohn's baptism was the sign and fore-runner of his , and because the time of his own baptism was not yet come ; but christ himself used it not , as iohn witnesses chap. 4. 2. saying , iesus himself baptized not , but his disciples ; to wit , with iohn's baptism , which was water-baptism . for it became not the son of god to baptize with a creature ; nor the lord of all to use the baptism of a servant . and thus having shewed how honourable iohn's baptism was in it self , ( wherein i conceive i have not done him , though a servant , the least prejudice , but have fully attributed to his office , whatever the word , or he himself a messenger from god attributes to it ) i shall now proceed to shew , that the baptism of john , how honourable and excellent soever , is yet far beneath and below christ's ; yea , and most weak and imperfect in comparison of his . for first , iohn's baptism was with a creature , with the element of water ; for the creature could baptize but with the creature ; that is , iohn with water ; and so this was far beneath the baptism of christ , which was the work of god by god , the work of the father by the son , and of the son by the spirit . 2. iohn's baptism was tantum exterius lavacrum , but outward , and reached the outward man only ; the baptism of water reached but the body , and it could pierce no deeper ; and after all the washing of the body with water , the soul still remained as full of filth , sin and corruption as ever ; and so it was far beneath christ's , which reaches the soul : the baptism of john was the baptism of bodies , but the baptism of christ the baptism of souls ; and only the baptism of the spirit reaches the spirit , and attains to the soul , conscience , and inner man , to purge and purifie them . 3. the baptism of iohn was but a sign and ceremony , though it had more life and light in it , than any of the signs of the law , as being nearer to christ , and more newly revived by god ; and so thought useful in its season , yet the efficacy of it ( after the manner of all signs ) was but weak . for first , it did not give the spirit , one drop of the spirit ; yea some who were baptized with iohn's baptism , did not know the vvay of the lord perfectly ; that is , had no certain knowledge of christ , the only way to god , as apollos , acts. 18. yea , some of them did not so much as know , whether there were any holy ghost or no , as those twelve disciples , acts 19. much less had received the spirit . secondly , neither did it give repentance and remission of sin ; ( for what was the plunging of a man in cold vvater towards repentance and remission of sin ? ) but these were the works of christ's own baptism , which is the baptism of the spirit : for no man can repent of sin , but by the presence of the righteousness of god in his heart , which is the work of that spirit , which is given in christ's baptism : neither can any remit sin but god : our sins are never forgiven by god , till god dwell in us through iesus christ , by the work of the spirit : so that repentance was given , and sin forgiven , not in hope only in iohn's baptism , but really and truly in christ's , which was the real baptism of repentance and remission of sin. thirdly , neither did it give entrance into the kingdom of god , for the kingdom of god is a spiritual kingdom , and no earthly or corporal thing can give entrance into it : the baptism in the water of iordan could deliver no man up into the kingdom of god , but the baptism in that river that makes glad the city of god , psal. 46. 4. in that river clear as christal , that proceeds from the throne of god and of the lamb , which is the spirit , which delivers up all that partake of it , first , into the kingdom of the son , and after thro' that into the kingdom of the father . the baptism of iohn left men in that old world , wherein it found them , but the baptism of christ delivers them up into the new world , or the kingdom of god. now , in all these regards , it appears that iohn's baptism did not do the work of the baptism of the new testament , for then that only had been sufficient , and there had been no need of christ to come . and thus you see that the baptism of iohn , as it is distinct from christ's , so it is far inferiour to his. and therefore great hath been the mistake of many , for several ages , who have made iohn's baptism equal to christs ; for what is this but to make the servant equal to the lord , and to set down the creature in the throne of the only begotten of the father ? tea , and it is the quite perverting of iohn's office , for iohn was to be a burning and shining light , to usher in christ the true light : he was to be as the morning-star to usher in christ the son of righteousness , and was not to be so much clouds and darkness to obscure him : he was but to point out christ , and depart again , and not to sit in equal glory with him , on his throne in the new testament . iohn said , he was not worthy to bear his shoes ; and therefore they do not well , who have prepared an equal crown for him with christ , who is king of kings ; and lord of lords . wherefore we must take great heed that we do not so magnifie iohn's office , as to intrench on christ's , and to make the son , out of the bosom of the father , to take up the baptism of iohn a servant , and to administer one , entirely his own ; surely this would not have been suitable to the glory of the only begotten son of god. the third thing i propound to speak to , touching iohn's baptism , is the time of its durance or continuance , and that was but very short : for iohn's baptism , as all the ceremonies of moses , was but for a time ; yea , this being nearer the truth and substance than they , was of less duration ; as the morning-star , though brighter than the rest of those heavenly lights , shines less while than they , because the hasty appearance of the sun swallows it up : and so iohn's baptism was of great use a little before christ's manifestation to israel , and continued till the time of his ascension ; and then , when christ's baptism began , the shadow was to give way to the substance , and the sign to the truth , and the letter to the spirit , and the servant to the son : so that christ's baptism put an end to iohn's , free-baptism to water-baptism , and spirit-baptism to creature-baptism : for as all the prophets were until iohn , so iohn was until christ ; and iohn must no more exceed his bounds , than moses and the prophets theirs ; but as the prophets gave up to iohn , so iohn must give up to christ. iohn's temporary ministry had a temporary baptism ; but the everlasting gospel , ( which is , that word in our flesh ) hath an everlasting baptism , which is the pouring out of the spirit . so then , iohn being a servant and forerunner of christ , christ was not to take up his baptism , but iohn was to resign up his baptism to christ ; yea , and as a servant to deliver up all things into his hands , as heir and lord : and so iohn's vvater-baptism was to last but till christ's fire-baptism should come in , and then the fire should lick up the vvater ; and as spirit baptism should increase , vvater-baptism should decrease . so that iohn's baptism or vvater-baptism ( which is all one ) belongs not to christ's kingdom , which is a kingdom not of the letter , but of the spirit , not of signs and shadows but of the truth : and therefore we leave it where we found it , even without the bounds and reach of christ's kingdom : for iohn's office and baptism reached unto christ's kingdom , but hath no place in it ; and to bring signs and ceremonies into the kingdom of truth , is ( if rightly understood ) to act against christ glorified . object . but some will say , this is strange indeed , that water-baptism should have no place in the kingdom of christ : and therefore pray stay a little , for we have many things to object against it . object . 1. why , this would rob us of our christendom . i answ. no : for it was not water but spirit baptism that makes us christians ; and water-baptism hath been an unlawful blending or mixing of the church and world together ; so that hitherto they could not be well differenced from each other , to the great prejudice of the congregations of christ. object . 2. but have so many ages erred , that have used water-baptism ? answ. for the errors of former ages , and their great mistakes in many of the truths of god , i have nothing to say , but that of the apostle , how unsearchable are his iudgments , and his ways past finding out . 3. object . but you are the first men , for ought we know , that ever opposed it . answ. one single mean man , with the word , may very justly and lawfully contradict the whole world without it : truth is not to be judged by multitudes , or an unity , but by the word . 4. object . but christ himself was baptized with water , and surely that perpetuates it in the church . answ. christ's being baptized with water , under iohn , no more perpetuates water-baptism in the christian church , than his being circumcised under moses , perpetuates circumcision in the christian church ; or his submitting to other mosaical ceremonies perpetuates them ; christ brings no temporal or carnal thing , into his everlasting or spiritual kingdom , though himself submitted to them under their several dispensations in the season of them . 5. object . but christ iustifies and commands water-baptism in john 3. except a man be born of water , &c. and mat. 28. teach and baptize . answ. i confess these are places that many have mistaken , to justifie the practice of water-baptism ; but i shall shew you , that they do indeed misunderstand them . for that first place , iohn 3. 5. except a man be born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of water and the spirit , he cannot enter into the kingdom of god ; i confess , many of the ancients have by water here understood material water , and have interpreted the place of external baptism , which was iohn's only : and hereupon divers of them have exceedingly magnified water , and ascribed it to the washing of souls , and the regeneration of christians in some measure , they not considering , in the mean time , what christ saith in the very next verse , that which is born of the flesh is flesh , but that which is born of the spirit is spirit ; by which they might have learned , that outward and corporal water can do nothing but outward and corporal things , and can contribute nothing to the cleansing of souls and consciences from sin. so that this place cannot be understood of corporeal water ; and i could produce the testimonies of many godly men , of good note , to this purpose , but do forbear , because i would not have our faith built upon the authorities of men ; but the thing is evident from the text it self , for it saith , except a man be born of vvater , which shews the vvater he speaks of , must be such as is able to give a new birth , and to make a man a new , that is , a spiritual , holy , heavenly creature ; and no vvater can do this , but the spirit ; and therefore christ adds to vvater the spirit by way of explication ; as if he had said , no man can enter into the kingdom of god , except he be born again of water ; but the water i speak of , is no material vvater , but the spirit , which is able to produce in us a heavenly nature , through which only we can have an entrance into a heavenly kingdom , seeing flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god ; so that the water christ means in this place is the spirit : and many other places give witness to this , iohn 4. 10. if thou didst know who it is that saith unto thee , give me to drink , thou woudst have asked of him , and he would have given thee living water : and verse 13 , 14. iesus said unto her , whosoever drinks of this water ( meaning the water of the well , called iacobs well ) shall thirst again ; but whosoever shall drink of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst , but the water that i shall give him , shall be in him a well of water , springing up unto everlasting life ; and john 7. 37 , 38. iesus stood and cried , saying , if any man thirst , let him come unto me and drink ; he that believeth on me , as the scripture hath said , out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water ; but this spake he of the spirit , which they that believe on him should receive . now by water in all these places , is not meant material water , but the spirit , as christ himself explicates ; and sure his testimony alone is sufficient . but again , if in this place , except a man be born of water and spirit , you will needs understand material water ; why then , upon the same ground , you must needs understand that place in matthew of material fire , where it is said , mat. 3. 11. he shall baptize you with the holy spirit and with fire ; which is absurd to very reason to think : but water and fire , in each place , added to the spirit , shew only the efficacy of the spirit ; and so you may as well bring in the use of material fire in baptism , from the text in mat. as of material water , from the text in iohn . so that this place in iohn , proves no authority of christ for water baptism , in his kingdom , which is the church of the new testament . now the other place , mat. 28. 19. go ye and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy spirit , is also of as little force as the former , to prove water-baptism to be an institution of christ. indeed i find , that where ▪ ever men have met with the word baptism or baptize in the scriptures , presently their thoughts have descended to material water ; they not so well considering or understanding that water , which is the spirit , which is the only water that performs all the baptism in the kingdom of god. now for that place , go teach all nations , baptizing them , they understand it thus , teach them , and baptize them with material water , using this form of words , i baptize thee in the name of the father , &c. but herein they err from the mind of christ : for by these words christ leads his disciples from iohn's baptism to his own ; as if he had said , iohn indeed baptized with vvater , and ye have hitherto used his baptism , but i shall now shortly baptize you with my own baptism of the spirit ; and from that time i would have you go teach all nations , and by the ministration of the spirit , not baptize them , or dip them in cold vvater , ( as iohn did in his own baptism , and you in his ) but baptize them , or dip them into the name of god the father , son , and spirit ; and note , that he saith not here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in the name , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the name of the father , &c. and by the name of god , is meant the power and vertue of god , or god himself ; as mark 16. christ saith , in my name they shall cast out devils ; that is in my power and vertue ; so that the sence lies thus , teach the nations , and baptize them into the name , &c. that is , by your ministry , which shall be of the spirit ▪ and not of the letter ; you shall baptize them , or dip them , or interest them into the name of god , who is the father , son , and spirit , as he hath discovered himself , in his last and most glorious discovery of himself in the gospel ; you shall ( i say ) dip them into his name , or sprinkle his name upon them , that they may be holy , iust , true , merciful , righteous , good , &c. that is , your ministry , after you have received the spirit , shall have such efficacy , that it shall cloath men with the name of god , and transform them into his very nature . so that this place cannot be understood of water , but instead of baptizing in material water , as iohn , he tells them , they should baptize into the name of god , in such sort , that they that were before sinful , corrupt , and evil men , should now be taken up into the glory of the name of god. neither can this place be understood of a form of words , which the apostles and their successors should use in baptizing , as most men have thought and taught , seeing no place of scripture can be named , wherein the apostles in baptizing , used this form of words , saying , i baptize thee in the name of the father , son and spirit ; which they had undoubtedly done , if christ had commanded it as an absolute form. and because many will presently be ready to be inraged at this assertion , i will a little cool their heat with what zuinglius saith of this place , who was one of the greatest enemies to the anabaptists that was in his time ; christus iesus ( saith he ) baptismi formulam , qua uteremur his verbis , non instituit , quem-admodum theologi hactenus falso tradierunt . zuing. lib. de bap. p. 56. tom . 2 oper. that is , jesus christ did not in these words institute a form of baptism , which we should use , as divines have hitherto falsly taught : and he affirms it upon the same ground i have mentioned before . again , if this place , go teach and baptize , be meant water-baptism , paul did very ill observe the command of christ , who baptized but two or three believing families a● the most , with water baptism , and yet preached the word in a circuit from ierusalem to illiricum , acts 15. 19. through many kingdoms , countries , villages , people ; but , i say , paul , though he used not water-baptism , yet did punctually fulfil the command of christ , and did teach them , and baptize them into the name of god. so that no question there were many churches planted in paul's time , who believed in christ , and received the spirit , and walked in fellowship with the father and the son , and with one another in the father and the son , who never were washed at all with water baptism ; but paul knew well , that no outward thing is of any account in the kingdom of god ; and that as circumcision and uncircumcision were nothing , so neither water-baptism nor the want of it , were any thing , but a new creature is all ; and if there be faith and the spirit , they are sufficient to the kingdom of god , without any outward ceremonies whatsoever . so that neither of these two places prove any institution of vvater baptism of christ , but that still remains iohn's baptism , and not christ's . 6. object . the last , and that which seems the strongest objection , is , that the apostles practise vvater baptism , not only before christ's baptism came in , but after ; and this is most evident in very many places in the acts of the apostles . answ. i answer , true indeed , the apostles did practise vvater baptism , but not from christ , but from iohn , whose baptism they took up ; and an outward ceremony of honour and account is not easily and suddenly laid down ; and hence some of the apostles used circumcision , and that after the ascension of christ ; for circumcision was an honourable ceremony used from abraham's time , and so they could not ( no not in the time of the new testament ) suddenly and abruptly leave it off , but they did use it for a time for their sakes who were weak , well knowing that the circumcision without hands , would by degrees put an end to the circumcision made with hands . for ceremonies are best laid down , and old customs best laid aside , by the efficacy of the spirit and power of righteousness . and so in like manner the apostles used the baptism of iohn , or vvater-baptism , it having been of high account in the dawning of the day of the gospel , and for the present still continuing so ; but they knew , that spirit , or fire-baptism , would by degrees consume water-baptism , and lick up all the drops of it ; for so iohn himself intimates , saying , he must increase , but i must decrease ; that is , the truth must eat out the ceremony , and the substance the sign , and the more his ministry and baptism come in , mine shall go out ; and the ministry of the son shall swallow up the ministry of the servant as the sun-light doth the moon-light ; and the baptism of fire shall devour the baptism of water ; and his spirit-baptism , by degrees shall put an end to my water-baptism : and therefore paul ( as you have heard ) after he had used this baptism twice or thrice , quite for bore it , and yet planted many churches of christ ; and probably by degrees did other apostles too ; for they knew , that christ's baptism included iohn's , and was fully sufficient of it self without it ; and therefore we find paul teaching in christ's kingdom but one baptism , and this the baptism of the spirit , eph. 4. from which the church of the new testament , both iews and gentiles , was to take its beginning , and not from outward elements ▪ or water washing . wherefore seeing these things are so , the anabaptists have extreamly mistaken who have made their water washing so essential a work of the new testament , that they would neither hear the word , nor have christian communion with any one that was not so washed ; yea though they were convinced touching them , that they had received the spirit : this , i say , hath been the great error of very many honest and well-meaning people , through misunderstanding the word , to make washing with material water so necessary a thing in spiritual worship , yea , and more essential to the communion of saints , than the very spirit it self , whom i do not therefore iudge , but pity . and this much for water-baptism , which was iohn's , and belonged only to that middle ministry , betwixt the prophets and christ. now the other baptism i am to speak of , is christ's , which is spirit or fire-baptism ; and this is the one and only baptism of the new testament , as we find paul affirming , eph. 4. 6. where he saith , that in christ's kingdom , where is but one body , and one spirit , and one hope of our calling , and one lord , and one faith , there is also but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one baptism ; and this is the baptism of the spirit , as the apostle elsewhere shews , saying , 1 cor. 12 13. for by one spirit we are all baptized into one body , and have been made all to drink into one spirit . now this spirit ▪ baptism did not go along with iohn's water-baptism , but followed it about four years after ( as you have heard ) and as appears by the forementioned place of christ , act. 1. 5. where he tells his disciples , saying , iohn verily baptized with water , but ye shall be baptized with the holy spirit not many days hence ; and this promise of christ , and of the father , was fulfilled at the day of pentecost , when the apostles being all met together , there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind , and it filled the house where they were sitting , and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire , and it sate upon each of them , and they were all filled with the spirit . here was the first beginning of christ's or spirit-baptism , for it began not till after the ascension of christ into heaven , and his sitting down on the throne of god ; and iohn the apostle also witnesses to this , chap. 7. saying , the spirit was not yet given , because christ was not yet glorified ; but as soon as he was glorified , then did he begin to baptize with the spirit ; not the apostles only , but also the iews and gentiles , and all sorts of people that did believe in his name through the word of the gospel ▪ so that then christ's baptism began to take place , and to prevail , as you may see acts 8. when the apostl●s that were at jerusalem had heard that samaria had received the word of god by the preaching of philip , they sent unto them peter and john , who , when they were come down , prayed for them that they might receive the holy spirit , for as yet he was fallen on none of them : ( only , saith the text , they were baptized in the name of the lord iesus , i. e. they had only been baptized with iohn's baptism , who only baptized with water , saying , that they should believe on christ that was to come after : for iohn's baptism was yet usual , inasmuch as christ's bap●ism was but new begun : ) then did the apostles lay their hands on them , and they received the holy spirit : so that here now was the progress of spirit-baptism . and after , when peter preached to cornelius , and his family and friends , the holy spirit fell upon them , act. 10. and peter gives this account to those of the circumcision at ierusalem , act. 11. 15. and as i began to speak , the holy spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning ; then remembred i the word of the lord , how that he said , john indeed baptized with water , but ye shall be baptized with the holy spirit : so that peter evidently declares , the gift of the spirit by the ministry of the gospel , to be the baptism of christ , or the baptism of the holy spirit and fire , which christ promised at his ascension into heaven . and this is the only baptism wherein all the church of the new testament are to partake with christ , i say not the baptism of water , but of the spirit : he and we drinking into one spirit , and the same spirit descending on us as did on him. the pouring out of the spirit on the flesh of christ , was his new testament baptism , and it is ours too ; and all our true and sound comfort and happiness lies in this , that we are baptized with the same spirit that . he was ; for it would be as little spiritual comfort to be dipped in the same vvater with christ , as to eat with him at the same table , or to drink with him in the same cup , or to go along with him in the same ship , as iudas did , and divers of the unbelieving iews ; but to drink with him in one spirit , is to partake of one flesh with him , and to be one christ with him ; and this is a comfort indeed ▪ now the outward instrument of christ's , or spirit-baptism , is not material water , but the vvord , as christ shews , mat. 28. where he saith , teach and baptize , shewing that teaching the vvord is the outward means of baptizing with the spirit . and again , iohn 17. now are you clean through the word , not which moses , but which i have spoken to you ( and therefore is the gospel called the ministration of the spirit , because it proceeds from the spirit , and communicates the spirit , and christ baptizes with the spirit thro' the ministration of the spirit , which is the preaching of the gospel ) and eph. 5. 26. christ gave himself for his church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with the washing of water by the word ; that is , christ cleanses his church by such a washing of vvater , as is brought about by the vvord and the vvater with which the vvord washes in the spirit ; for by the vvord the spirit is given , and the vvord cleanses by the spirit , and the spirit by the vvord : and therefore it is also said , 1 cor. 7. 1. having these promises , let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit . from all this it appears , that spirit-baptism is not to be performed by water , but by the word ; and no man under the new testament , receives the spirit through the baptism of water , but through the ministry of the new testament , which is the only ministration of the spirit . to conclude , this baptism of the spirit , that is performed only by the word , is that baptism of which so many excellent things are spoken in the new testament : as , 1. this baptism of the spirit gives a new nature , and this nature is a divine nature , or the nature of god ; and hence it is said , exept a man be born of water and the spirit ; so that the baptism of the spirit gives a new birth , and so a new nature : and again , that which is born of the spirit is spirit ; so that the baptism of the spirit makes us spirit , and through the baptism of the spirit , we become that which the spirit it self is : and so the true foundation of christianity begins from faith and the new creature , and not from water-washing . 2. this baptism gives a new name , not iohn or thomas , &c. but as christ saith , rev. 3. 12. i will write upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , my new name : our own name is sin , and ignorance , and pride , and injustice , and envy , and covetousness and uncleanness , and all evil ; and this is the name which the first adam wrote upon ; but the name the second adam writes on us , is righteousness , and holiness , and truth , and love , and meekness , and wisdom , and all good , and this is the name the second adam writes on us , or his own new name ; for christ himself was baptized by the spirit into the name of god ; that is , was taken up into god , and the things of god , which are himself , as into the truth , wisdom , justice , mercy , power , &c. and all the whole flesh or humanity of christ , even all his members are baptized into the same name of god with him , and so are called by his new name ; so that this name of christ , this new name which is given us by god through the baptism of the spirit , is infinitely better than that name which is given us by parents or god-fathers in water-baptism . 3. christ's baptism translates us into a new world : except a man be born of that water ▪ which is the spirit , he cannot enter into the kingdom of god : no man can possibly enter into the church of the new testament , which is the kingdom of god , but through the baptism of the spirit ; the baptism of the spirit makes a new creature , and this new creature enters into a new world , which is the new ierusalem that comes down from god out of heaven . 4. spirit-baptism inables us to the same work with christ , that is , to the ministry of the new testament , saith christ , the spirit of the lord is upon me , for he hath anointed me to preach , isa. 61. 1. and he began his ministry from his spirit-baptism , which did immediately follow his water-baptism , but was in no sort one baptism with it ; and having , thro' the opening the heavens , received the spirit which taught him the name of god , he presently began to teach the name of god to others , and christ himself was not a minister of the new testament but thro' the baptism of the spirit . now all believers that are anointed with him in his unction , or which is all one , are baptized with him in one baptism of spirit , are anointed and baptized to the same ministry : for the anointing of the spirit is the teaching of god , and they that are taught of god themselves , ought also to teach others : and the spirit of christ is the spirit of prophecy , and they that have received that spirit must prophecy , as it is written , it shall come to pass in the last days , that i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh , and your sons and daughters shall prophecy ; which very place peter , act. 2. applies to the baptism of the spirit ; so that this spirit-baptism of christ , makes all prophets that partake of it . 5. spirit-baptism makes all those one with christ the head , who partake of it , gal. 3. 27. as many as havebeen baptized into christ have put on christ ; so that by the true baptism of the new testament we do actually put on christ , and are made one with christ , and this is not done by any water-washing , but by the spirit ; for through the gift of the spirit only are we made one flesh with christ , yea , through this we necessarily become one spirit with him too , as it is said , he that is joyned to the lord is one spirit ; so that not through water but spirit-baptism do we put on christ , the spirit carrying us into christ , and bringing christ into us , and being one and the same spirit in both ; and this is to be baptized into christ. now this baptism that makes us one with christ , makes us to partake hoth of his death and resurrection . 1. through baptism of the spirit we are dipt into the death of christ , rom. 6. 3 , 4. know ye not that somany of us as are baptized into iesus christ , are baptized into his death ? and this is , as the apostles unfolds it , vers . 6. the crucifying of the old man with him , that the body of sin may be destroyed , that henceforth we should not serve sin : and all this is done , not through any water-wash , but through the gift of the spirit ; for it is through the spirit only that we are able to mortifie the deeds of the flesh ▪ and nothing but the presence of the spirit in us is the destruction of sin ; so that the spirit of christ baptizes us into the death of christ. 2. spirit-baptism makes us partake of his resurrection as well as of his death , yea , therefore do we dye with him , that we may live a better life , rom. 6. 3 , 4. therefore we are buried with him by baptism ( that is , spirit-baptism ) into death , that like as christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father , i. e. the spirit , so should we also live in newness of life ; for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death , we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection , where you see the same baptism of the spirit that makes us dye with christ , doth also quicken us into his resurrection , and deprives us of our own life ; not that we remain dead , but that it may communicate to us a better life than our own , even the life of christ himself , that we that are men may live the very life of the son of god in our own souls and bodies , and may be quickned with him , and raised up with him , and set in heavenly places in him . 6. as spirit-baptism makes us one with christ the head , so with the church the body , 1 cor. 12. 13. for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body , whether we be jews or gentiles , whether we be bond or free , and have been all made to drink into one spirit ; so that by drinking into one spirit with the church , we become one body with it , and no other-ways : i say , not by being dipt into the same water , but by receiving the same spirit do we become one body with the church ; and it is not being of one judgment , or opinion , or form , or the like , that makes men one true church or body of christ , but the being of one spirit ; and there are no more of that church , which is the body of christ , than they that are baptized with that one spirit of christ. 7. spirit-baptism it truly washes and cleanses from sin : what water-baptism doth in the sign ; this doth in the truth , even cleanses from all carnal and spiritual filthiness : and no man is cleansed from sin but by the washing of the spirit ; the pouring forth of the spirit on all flesh , is the killing of sin in all flesh , 1 cor. 6. 9 , 10 , 11. neither fornicators , nor idolaters , nor adulterers , nor effeminate , nor abusers of themselves with mankind , nor theeves , nor covetous , nor drunkards , nor revilers , nor extortioners , shall inherit the kingdom of god ; and such were some of you , but ye are washed , but ye are sanctified in the name of the lord iesus christ by the spirit of our god : so that spirit-baptism cleanses from all sin whatever it is , and there is no man cleansed from sin , but through this baptism . and again , eph. 5. 26 , 27. christ gave himself for the church , that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word , that he might present it to himself a glorious church , not having spot , or wrinkle , or any such thing , but that it should be holy and without blemish ; and nothing doth thus purifie the church , till it be without spot , wrinkle , or blemish , and till it be perfectly holy , but the baptism of the spirit . and therefore , tho' the baptism of iohn was administred but once , yet the baptism of christ is a continued baptism , for as long as corruption is in the flesh , the baptism of the spirit is in use : so that the nature & life of a christian are under a constant and continual baptism , god every day pouring forth his spirit upon a believer , for the purifying and sanctifying of him , and making him meet for the immediate presence of god , whither no unclean thing comes , nor the least uncleanness in any thing . 8. spirit-baptism saves : whatever in us is washed with the spirit , is saved as well as sanctified ; and how much any one hath received of the spirit , so much is he already saved : tit. 3. 5. according to his mercy he hath saved us by the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy spirit , which he shed on us abundantly , through iesus christ our saviour : where the apostle teaches us how god saves , and that is not by iohn's baptism or water-washing , but by the laver of regeneration , which is the renewing of the holy spirit , poured on us abundantly through christ ; so that he calls the baptism of the spirit , the laver of regeneration , such a laver as renews the old nature , yea and begets a new one , so that a man through this baptism is wholly changed , not in a few good works , but in his whole nature ; and from his newness of nature flows newness of life , so that he is no more as he was , but is , and lives , and loves , and thinks , and speaks , and acts otherways than he was wont ; and this cannot be the work of water in any measure , but wholly of the spirit ; for where men are destitute of the spirit , tho' washed with water a thousand times , there is no change of nature in them ; but the change of nature , wrought by spirit-baptism , is so much present salvation , even in this present world. there is another scripture witnesses the same thing , and it is 1 pet. 3. 20 , 21. a few ( that is eight souls ) were saved by water , to to which figure baptism answering , doth now also save us , not that whereby the filth of the flesh is cast away , but whereby a good conscience answers well to god by the resurrection of iesus christ. peter having said that baptism answers to the flood , and saves the church now , as the flood did the church then , yea saith he , but i mean not the outward baptism , or the washing away of the filth of the body , but the answer of a good conscience towards god , by the resurrection of iesus christ : which place is difficult ; but i thus conceive it . the efficacy of christ's resurrection is the gift of the spirit , and the spirit of christ , in a believer , rectifies his conscience , and makes it good , so that it can return a sweet answer to god upon every word of his ; for the work of the spirit in the heart , answers every word of faith spoken from god ; particularly it can say to god , i was indeed filthy and unclean throughout , but i am now washed , and justified , and sanctified in the name of the lord jesus , and by the spirit of my god ; and this spirit-baptism is that that saves , and not the water , which puts away the filth of the flesh only , but leaves the filth of the spirit as much as ever . so that , in this place , peter puts an end to baptism in the flesh , as paul , rom. 2. 28. puts an end to circumcision in the flesh , saying , he is not a iew which is one outwardly , neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh , but he is a iew which is one inwardly , and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit , and not in the letter , whose praise is not of men , but of god : that is , saith paul , in the kingdom of christ , where all things are spiritual : circumcision in the spirit puts an end to circumcision in the flesh : and in the same kingdom of christ , saith peter , baptism in the spirit puts an end to baptism in the flesh ; for he is not a christian who is one outwardly , neither is that baptism which is outward in the flesh , but he is a christian who is one inwardly , and baptism is that of the heart in the spirit , and not in the letter , whose praise also , is not of men but of god. for under the gospel , which is the ministration of the spirit ( as ye have been oft minded ) we can find nothing among all outward things , through the use and exercise whereof we may attain the cleanness and purity of righteousness in our natures ; and therefore christ hath put an end to all outward , carnal , and earthly things of the first testament , by the inward & spiritual & heavenly things of a second & better testament : and by his own death and resurrection only , not without us ; but within us , through the power and efficacy of his spirit , all the baptism of the new testament is fully and perfectly performed . and thus , in all these particulars , you see the infinite excellency and glory of the spirit-baptism above water-baptism , and this only is sufficient in the days of the gospel , as being the true and proper baptism of the new testament : for as christ himself only is sufficient to the faithful without iohn , tho' iohn were of use in this season to point our christ ; so the baptism of christ only is sufficient to the faithful , without the baptism of iohn , tho' the baptism of iohn were of use in its season , to point out the baptism of christ ; and the baptist himself was of this judgment , who said to christ , i have need to be baptised of thee ; which he means not of water-baptism ( for so christ himself as you have heard , did not baptize ) but with the baptism of the spirit , and so the baptist himself , who was never baptized with water , neither by christ nor the apostles , nor any body else , yet was baptized with the spirit , and the baptism of the spirit was sufficient for the baptist , without any water-baptism ; and so christ's spirit-baptism , by the word , is sufficient for all the faithful now , without iohn's water-baptism ; for he that is truly washed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit , and hath the holy ghost in him to renew his nature , and to conform him exactly to christ's own image , and to work him in this present world into the true similitude of heaven , and to be in him a fountain of water springing up unto everlasting life , what need hath he of cold material water to be poured on his body , under the pretence of any sign whatever , either of moses or iohn , when as , he hath the truth , substance , and heavenly thing it self ? now this , it may be , may seem strange and dangerous to some of low , and fleshly and customary religion ; but let all such ( if it be possible ) consider , that where the substance comes ; the shadow is at an end , and the ceremony were the truth comes , and the creature where god comes : and if they understand not this for the present , i hope they may understand it afterwards ; for we speak not at uncertainties in this point , but what we have in some measure seen , and felt , and handled of the word of life , that we deliver to you , that ye may have fellowship with us ? and truly our fellowship is with the father , and his son iesus christ , through the spirit . finis . a short and plain answer to two questions: i. where was your religion before luther? ii. how know you the scriuptures to be the word of god? by a protestant. owen, john, 1616-1683. 1682 approx. 36 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 14 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a53727 wing o806a estc r214595 99826711 99826711 31116 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a53727) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 31116) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1768:17) a short and plain answer to two questions: i. where was your religion before luther? ii. how know you the scriuptures to be the word of god? by a protestant. owen, john, 1616-1683. [2], 21, [1] p. printed by t.n. for jonathan hutchinson bookseller in the city of durham, london : 1682. "a protestant" = john owen. advertisement on verso of final leaf. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. church of england -doctrines -early works to 1800. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2005-04 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a short and plain answer to two questions : i. where was your religion before luther ? ii. how know you the scriptures to be the word of god ? by a protestant . london , printed by t. n. for jonathan hutchinson bookseller in the city of durham . 1682. sir , i have received your letter , wherein you seem to be at a loss for a ready and pertinent answer to two capping questions , by which the papists are wont to puzle and confound those silly souls , whom they compass sea and land to make proselites . i know you are well satisfied , that popery is a grand cheat , upheld by fraud and violence , and hath nothing truly rational to recommend it : but yet sometimes a man of honesty and good principles may be at a stand to render a satisfying reason of his belief , and to obviate the cunning craftiness of those , who lie in wait to deceive . i suppose moreover you cannot expect any thing from me , but what hath been said before , and what is infinitely better perform'd in some hundreds of printed books already extant , than any scribling of mine will ever amount unto . but yet since men oftimes make most use of those reasons , which arise in their own minds , by thinking and meditation ; i shall , for my own satisfaction , rather than for yours , note down , as briefly and plainly as i can , such answers to those two questions you mention , as shall at present occur to my thoughts ; which nevertheless i shall communicate to you , if perhaps they may be worth your acceptance . the first is , where was your religion before luther ? to this the answer will be very short and easie , but then it will cast the whole stress of the business upon the later question . i say then , that our religion , as to the rules and principles of it , was before luther , where it hath been ever since , in the scriptures : and as to the profession of it , it hath been own'd and maintain'd by the faithful in all ages , namely , such as have been kept by the power of god through faith unto salvation , against whom the gates of hell and rome have not been able to prevail . the protestant religion , we contend for , is nothing else , but christianity uncorrupted , which was in its greatest purity before ever the pope was heard of in the world. and popery , that we oppose , is christianity adulterated , or rather paganism christianized , which was in the cradle when the mistery of iniquity began to work , and grew up to be the man of sin , when popes had gull'd the world into so much slavery , as to endure their trampling upon princes . and this truth , as it appears in great measure from the fathers and historians of the church , and from all antiquity , that hath had the good fortune to escape the expurgatory index ; so it is more especially , and most evidently manifest from the scriptures , which makes way for the second question , which is the main subject of this epistle , namely , how know you the scriptures to be the word of god ? with this question chiefly , they think to undo the simpler sort of hereticks , as they are pleased to speak ; and 't is not impossible but some weak and unsteady minds may be shaken by it . for since we never heard god vocally pronounce it , nor ever saw him deliver it unto the world , as his act and deed ; they would have us so easie and credulous as to believe , that there is no way to be assured of its being his word , but upon the authority of the church , and that no church but theirs , can have that authority . but this plea , is as far from satisfying an inquisitive mind , as my arguments are like to be from convincing our adversaries . now , if any unlearned , well meaning person , shall happen to be attackt by this , or any such like question , and shall doubt of his own ability , to repel the sophistry , whereby they are wont to manage their needy cause : i should advise him to deal with them , as our saviour sometime did with the captions and impertment jews ; namely , to answer their question by asking another . as , who gave you authority to call in question the scriptures ? how dare you insinuate doubts into any christians mind concerning the truth and authority of that book , which is the rule of our duty both to god and man ? away with these too curious questions , of which a fool may ask more than a wise man can tell how to answer . it argues a desperate cause , and a religion highly suspicious , that cannot be maintain'd otherwise , than by such pleas , as tend to make men atheists . but though it be safe and prudent for some people to put them off in this manner , yet without any tergiversation , i shall address my self to answer directly , so soon as i have propounded a query or two , which , i think , will tend to introduce an answer to this grand question of theirs . i demand therefore of our adversaries , how they know that the sun shines , or , that there are any bodies in the world ? why may not all the objects we discern about us , be certain phantasms only , or apparitions of the brain , which have no real existence in nature ? or , how come we to be assured , that our whole life is any more than a dream ? for since in our dreams , we verily believe the truth and reality of such things , as we laugh at when we are awake : why may we not hereafter awake into another state of life , in which we shall conclude our life past , to have been a meer shadow ? if they will answer these enquiries , according to the nature of their own principles , then , all the proof we are to expect , is only this : we have heard many people say this and tother ; or , thus we have been taught by our parents , or by our tutors and governours ; and we believe them , and trouble our selves no further . in this manner they would have us to speak in the case of the scriptures . they will not allow us to expect , or to endeavour , any rational satisfaction in the point ; it is enough if we can but gape so wide , as to swallow that trojan horse of papal authority . but verily we are not yet perswaded to make our selves brutes , for the catholick cause ; that is , we are unwilling to lay aside our own senses and humane faculties , to commit the whole reason and conduct of our lives to he said and she said . and surely he that should pretend to dispute , and yet so palpably beg the question , would gain to be laught at instead of a conclusion . upon supposition therefore , that they would be a little more philosophical and gentile , in answering my questions , in case they were propounded to them ; i will endeavour the like , according to my small skill , in answer to theirs . and that i may deal as civilly as i can , i shall insist particularly , upon none but the first , between which and this question of theirs , i will run a parallel , and attempt to shew , that by the same arguments they will prove that the sun gives light , i will prove the scriptures to be the word of god. in the first place then i shall consider what would be said by our adversaries , in answer to those extravagant questions , i mention'd even now ; and if i mistake their sense in this matter , i pray do you inform me better by the next opportunity ; for i seldom come in their company , and when i do , if they forbear , i am not forward to raise disputes . i suppose therefore they would tell me , that these questions are about such things , as all the world takes for granted upon the evidence of sense , and the uniform experience of all ages ; that thus to deny principles , were to turn sceptick , and so take the ready way never to come to any conclusion ; just as if one that pretended to the mathematicks , should deny the definitions and postulata of geometry , which have endured the test of most ages , and , as the common notions and sentiments of mankind , have bid defiance to all exceptions . who would trouble his head to argue with such a person , as should deny that two and three make five , or that the whole is bigger than the half ? we find by daily experience , and no body can perswade us to the contrary , that when the sun is above the horizon we can see our way before us , the objects that are about us , and how to do our business , which in the dark we cannot do . if any man walk in the day , ( saith our saviour ) he stumbleth not ; why ? because he seeth the light of this world ; he needs not that any man should tell him it is light , he sees it himself , and his own sight is beyond all other mens arguments . but if a man walk in the dark , he stumbleth ; and when night cometh , men cannot work . so that these questions you propound , are altogether unquestionable ; ( 1. ) from the undeniable evidence of our senses ; ( 2. ) from the clearest inferences of reason ; and ( 3. ) from the universal acknowledgment of mankind . in this manner i presume , they would answer my queries , nor do i know any better way : and just thus it is in the case before us ; for , from these very grounds it will appear , that the scriptures have proceeded from god. the sun doth not more plainly direct our steps , than the scriptures do our lives and actions . the first enlightens our natural , and the latter , our moral walking . the one makes us discern the creatures that are about us , the other teaches how to use them to our greatest comfort , and highest advantage . by the one we may conclude there is a god , as he is knowable by the things that are made ; by the other we are instructed what to think of him , and how to behave our selves in reference to him , and to our neighbour . the scriptures are a lamp unto our feet , and a light unto our ways ; and whilst we take heed thereunto we walk securely , and never fail to find the benefit thereof ; but when we forsake their conduct , we fall into a thousand errours and mischiefs , oftimes discovered to our outward senses , in the discomposure of our bodies , and detriment of our estates ; often too in the trouble , and disorder of our minds , and not seldom in both these respects at once . as for example , the scripture commands us to live soberly , to love our neighbour , to feed the hungry , to forgive injuries , and to deal justly with all men. and what are the consequences of our obedience in these things ? why these , some sleep , a healthful body , a peaceful soul , a chearful life , bread to eat , the love of neighbours , the prayers of the poor , and a kind of universal respect and deference , which vertue doth command wherever it comes . but then our disobedience to these precepts is usually follow'd with restless nights , racking pains , anxious thoughts , scaring dreams , trembling fears , perplexing doubts , the hatred of some , the curses of others , and the just condemnation of all . it 's true , there are some reserv'd cases ; god doth sometimes trie a vertuous soul with afflictions , and often makes a soul vertuous by afflictions : he doth again sometimes feed the epicure unto the day of slaughter , and court the vicious by temporal enjoyments to reclaim them . yet , in the mean time , the good are born up with peace of mind , and expectation of a crown ; and the wicked are busied in stupefying their senses to abate the sting of conscience and fear of hell. but not withstanding these reserv'd cases , i dare adventure to affirm , that there is not any thing in the world , whereof i am more certain , than that the scripture is a most excellent rule for the government of my life and actions ; and the ground of this assurance , in a great measure is taken from sense . i am no more assured that the sun shines , or the fire warms , than i am , that my conformity to the scriptures is highly advantageous to me . the sun is not more necessary to the being of mankind , than the scriptures are to his well-being . the one gives natural life and light to the creation , the other enlightens the mind , and teaches how to manage our lives , and the blessings thereof , to the best purpose . without the first the world would be a chaos , without the later it would be a kind of hell. now the very first step of reason , infers the conclusion : for , from whence should such a treasure of wisdom and truth proceed , but from the inexhaustible fountain of all goodness , god almighty ? and let any man in the world ( unto whose hands divine providence shall bring it ) carefully peruse that book , and consider well the vast stock of wisdom , the immense treasures of love and bounty therein contained ; let him observe the excellent rules it propounds , so fitted for all purposes and occasions of humane life , that an universal conformity to it , would make heaven upon earth ; let him mark how all the disorders and miseries , contentions and blood-shed in the world , proceed from mens disobedience thereunto , and do constitute the formal reason of hell it self ; and in a word , let him observe , that whatever he doth well , and which afterwards leaves him a grateful relish and easiness of mind , is done according to the precepts of that book ; and whatever he doth amiss , which leaves a sting and poyson behind it , is nothing else but a deviation from that rule : i say , let him but diligently read , and impartially consider these things , and he can be no better assured , that there is a god , who is good and wise , merciful and just , than that the holy scriptures are the result of his goodness and mercy , towards the sons of men ; and that they do contain a declaration of his mind with respect unto us , and the rule of our duty in relation to him . why might not our adversaries demand of us , how we come to be certain , that god is righteous and the devil wicked ? is it lest the question should recur upon themselves ? for since so many of their holy fathers , have been so flagicious , as history makes mention , and since villany is so far patronized by their church , that the blackest criminals in that communion , are oftimes canonized for the greatest saints : one would be apt to suspect , they worship no other deity but the pope , and that whilst they pronounce his holiness , the secret reservation may be , his wickedness . i have heard indeed of a pope that made this question , unless perhaps it were spoken by way of exclamation ; quantum lucri ista fabula de christo nobis peperit ! and this seems to be the proper language of that church : for if they did believe the new testament to be ought but a fable , they could not allow those doctrines and practices , that are every where visible amongst them . for i reckon , that imposing upon the conscience things unrevealed , and beyond all possibility of belief , upon no less penalty than the inquisition here , and damnation hereafter , is the very next door to infidelity and atheism . how can he be said to believe the truth , that would force another to believe a lie ? so that whilst our adversaries would seem to question the grounds upon which we assent unto the scriptures ; it 's more than probable , they themselves do not believe them at all . i nothing doubt , for all that , but there are within the romish church , thousands of pious and devout souls , whose education and other unhappy circumstances , god will in great mercy consider ; and , though under gross error and much ignorance , will bring them through the power of his grace unto salvation . if their foundation be upon the rock , though they have built thereon hay and stubble , they may indeed suffer loss , but shall escape utter ruine . i think too there are amongst them , some learned men , as the jansenists , and perhaps some others , whose lives and principles are far better than the rest , and who by an odd kind of fatality preserve their station in that church . these , if they pursue their own rules and practice according to what they write , shall not ( i hope ) smart with the rest , when god comes to visit their iniquity . but as for those designing men , whose business it is to prie into the cabinets of princes , and to influence the affairs of kingdoms for the advantage of the catholick cause ; who though priests , affect to be ministers of state , not of jesus christ , whose kingdom is not of this world ; they whose gospel is fire and sword , and their glad tidings of salvation some bloody massacre ; whose faith is in the pope , and whose heaven it is , to be courted and canoniz'd by a scarlet whore : i look upon these to be a generation of the vilest wretches that ever the earth bore , and in a far worse condition than turks or pagans . and yet these are the men that would have me receive the scriptures upon their credit , who are the great shame and discredit of that holy christian religion contained therein , and whose lives are one entire contradiction thereunto . i suppose it will not be denied , that , had we no inspired writings at all to direct us , there were nevertheless many reasons to believe the being of god. scarce any people under heaven so brutish , as not to have some impressions of a deity . scarce any person in the world so profligate , as not to have some checks of conscience : besides what arguments may be drawn from the beauty of providence and harmony of the creation . now the very notion of a god includeth goodness , and the notion of goodness supposeth a god : one is the stream , the other is a fountain . let any man trie how he can phansie the stream that should proceed from no original fountain at all . it is not imaginable sure , that any creature should be in the world , or that good things should be bestow'd upon any creature , but they must proceed from some original , and that can be nothing else but god blessed for ever . from whence i argue thus ; if the invisible things of him , from the creation , be clearly seen , being understood by the things that are made , much more may the visible characters of divine goodness , every where evident in the scriptures , be clearly concluded to be from god. will any man object and say , where are those visible characters of divine goodness contained in the scriptures ? many people cannot see them . true indeed , and there are some too that cannot see the sun , but then they are blind , and cannot see any thing at all . the sun illuminates the material visible world , and the scripture gives us a prospect of a spiritual world , and lets us see things divine ; but then we must have eyes , and if we complain of darkness in the meridian light , where 's the fault ? now if any man will say , he can see no marks nor footsteps of divine goodness in the scriptures ; i would ask him , whether health and vigour of body , whether easiness and pleasure of mind , are good things or not ? and whether he would choose to lie upon a rack , or a bed of roses ? or suppose a man by his own default , and wilfulness in going astray , be fallen into a pit , where he is certain either to be stung with vermine , or to die by wild beasts , or famish to death ; would he not account it a kindness , not only to be delivered from the present danger , but conducted throughout the remainder of his journey , in such a way , as is both safe and easie ? if he answer in the affirmative , he yields the cause ; if he deny , he must be a mad man , past all sense of understanding of good or evil . now if i pursue our adversaries to the gates of bedlam , they must excuse me , if i there bid farewell , and follow them no further . the summ is this ; that which teacheth us the best way imaginable , to preserve health in our bodies and peace in our souls , to live comfortably at home and profitably to our neighbours , to honour our creator and know our selves , to avoid misery and attain happiness , must needs be an excellent rule , very much for our good , and must proceed from the true fountain of all goodness . but such is the scripture , therefore it is the word of god. thus far i have considered the scripture , in reference chiefly to its utility ; let us now observe it a little with respect to its verity : for sometimes it happens , that a thing may be useful , which yet is not exactly true ; as for example , decimal arithmetick resolves a question speedily , but not altogether exactly ; yet it will come so near the truth , as not to miss the 10000th . part of a farthing . and a clock will follow the motion of the sun for a weeks time , with the errour only of some few minutes ; but neither the one nor the other in strictness of speech can be said to be true , though both are very useful . but now , if the scriptures appear to be both useful in the highest degree , and infallibly true , it must needs speak the very great perfection of those sacred writings . they may be distinguished into four parts according as they contain , 1. things related , or matter of history ; 2. things fore-told , or matter of prophesie ; 3. things to be done , as matter of action , or duty ; 4. things to be believed , or matter of faith. as for the historical part of that book , how hath it bidden defiance to time to discover any just exception ! nay , even the enemies of truth , have own'd and confirm'd the matters of fact therein contained . and many profane writers , who either knew not of , or have not rightly acknowledged the scriptures , have nevertheless inserted into their own stories , the same things therein contained , as is well known , and hath been oft observed by those that look into books . and though the divine history bears such authority and majesty in its style , that it needs not the confirmation of prophane ones ; yet the testimony of adversaries against themselves , is always considerable . and hath not much of the prophetick part been verified to the amazement of all those that duly consider it ? how many , and how punctually were the prophesies , concerning our redemption by christ ? how plain was that , concerning the type thereof , namely , israels deliverance from egyptian slavery , gen. 15. verse 13 , 14. and yet how wonderfully fulfill'd , many hundreds of years after they were fore-told ? but i am not at leisure to enlarge upon these things , many learned men have done it , more especially the incomparable sir charles wolseley . and then for the preceptive part , containing rules of life and manners , it is so rooted in the nature of things , so obvious to sense , so agreeable to reason , so beneficial to the world , and so confirmed by the experience of all men , whose faculties are not depraved , that heaven and earth shall pass away , before one jot or tittle thereof shall fail , or be found deficient . lastly , the divine mysteries therein revealed , as the doctrine of the trinity , the incarnation of the blessed jesus , &c. though they are above our capacity , to explain the nature of them , yet are they so suitable to gods goodness , and do make such a harmony of divine attributes , that reason it self , will rather from thence infer the truth of their being , than that they cannot be , because we understand not the manner how they are . how could god be just , if justice were not satisfied ? and could be merciful , if all men were to be damned ; how could lost man redeem himself ? or , how could he be saved , if he should suffer for himself ? but now in the person of our blessed redeemer , the law is satisfied , justice is done , and even thereby , mercy doth the more eminently appear ; god is glorified , and man is not left to perish in his iniquity . if a man will be so morose as to urge , that three in one , eternal generations , a virgins conception , and the like , sound so harsh to humane understanding , that they cannot be true : he may after the same rate conclude , that there is no such thing as humane generation , since the nature and process thereof , is very obscurely , if at all understood . that there are no souls , because it is not yet agreed , whether they are immediately created of god , or they are ex traduce , or pre-existent . no such thing as milk in a womans breast , since anatomists are confounded with difficulties to find what matter it is made of , or by what secret chanels conveyed thither : in so much that one very learned writer in that faculty , flies to the force of imagination to produce it . no such thing as quantity , because no man ever yet could demonstrate unexceptionably , whether it be infinitely divisible , or ultimately resolvable into indivisibles . no bodies in the world , since no man knows what kind of original particles they are made of . these and many things more , as to the manner how they are , have difficulties attending them , which are insuperable and incomprehensible . and methinks it is somewhat hard , that we should do things our selves , and see many things before our eyes , of which we can give no tolerable account , and should yet think , that god cannot do somewhat more than we can apprehend ; and should be so inclinable to reject even god himself , his word , and all his works of wonder , if they will not accommodate themselves to our little understandings . from these considerations , and many more , that will occur to any impartial thinking man , it doth appear beyond all possibility of doubting , that the scripture is most certainly true ; and if so , it must be the word of god ; for it testifieth of it self , that it is given by divine inspiration . never did any book contain so much wisdom , kindness , and usefulness to the sons of men as it doth . summ up the whole world together , except the bible and what is taken out of it , and the total will neither afford you half so many excellent rules , and observations , for the government of mens lives , nor one thousand part of that clear discovery of divine truth , which that book contains . shall we now say , that this book is a forgery , a cheat and imposture of the devil ? for so it must be , if it be not the word of god. and what follows ? why , that a corrupt tree brings forth good fruit , and that most pure and wholsome streams proceed from a putrid fountain . that truth is falshood , that good is evil , and that light is darkness . he that denies the scriptures to be the word of god , must quit his sense , his reason , and his conscience , that he may admit of these conclusions . to which it may be added , that all the malicious and cunning adversaries of god and true religion ; all the pagans , popes , and hellish apostates ; all the devils themselves , and their incarnate brethren the jesuits , with all their subtilty and contrivance , have not been able to destroy nor discredit that book : no , nor to corrupt it neither , in any such degree , but that still there remains good copies thereof in several languages . and though there may be deficiency and humane frailty , in some readings and versions , as to some particular words , yet is not that any blemish unto , or diminution of the beauty and excellency of the whole , but may rather teach us to value it the more : for since neither the failings of some , nor the fraud of others hath availed in sixteen hundred years , to do any substantial dammage to that book , it is a convincing argument , that divine providence hath been engaged for it's preservation . if it should be here objected , that since there are so many various readings of the scriptures , it may be doubtful which of them is the best : i readily grant it , but then there can be no doubt , but that every one of them , for the main substance of it , is the word of god. let us suppose religio medici to be turned into several laguages ; there may be divers faults in every one of them , as is observed to be in the latine copy , and some of them very gross ones : but , will any body from thence infer , that sir tho. brown is not the author ? for though indeed he is not the author of those errors , wherein the true sense of some particular words is mistaken : yet since they are not such , nor so many , as to evacuate the design and scope of the book , much less to denominate the whole work from the translator ; i may say , with good propriety of speech , that that book was written by the learned sir t. brown , though i should find the same in latine or french , and had never seen the original english. thus i scruple not to say , the rhemists translation is the word of god. that is , for the substance , and main purpose of it , it is not so spoil'd as to lose the nature of divine truth , but is profitable for doctrine , for reproof , for correction , for instruction in righteousness : and , to such as cannot procure a better , it may doubtless be sufficient to make them wise unto salvation . but i intend not in the mean time , to entitle god almighty to the failings or frauds of that version , or of any other . the errors that have been occasioned from various copies taken , and translations made , are either of infirmity or knavery . as for this latter , i suppose it cannot be proved , that ever any person was so audacious , as to attempt the palpable corruption of the scriptures , until the aspiring popes had set up an infallible chair at rome , a court only fit to protect such undertakings , because indeed it could not be supported without them . so that in the primitive times , the errors which have crept into the bible , have been first , only such failings as have escaped unawares in the transcribing thereof : and secondly , afterwards , when it came to be translated into other languages , some difficulty and contest could not choose but arise , about the rendring such words as were of various , & doubtful signification , from which i believe there are very few languages entirely free . now i say , it was impossible that both these together , whilst men were sincere and honest , should ever stifle or quench the divine spirit which breaths every where in those sacred writings , and we may reasonably suppose , that the christian church was stockt with a competent number of good copies , before the mystery of iniquity came to such a height , as to attempt the wilful depravation of the scriptures . two things are considerable in this matter ; first , that in the infant state of christianity , believers were cordial , and in good earnest , about the business of religion . the power of godliness prevail'd , and those who call'd themselves christians , were really such ; nor had they yet learn'd those crafts of cousnage and deceit , which afterwards , the mystery of iniquity furnisht the world withall . and therefore they would be careful , in the highest degree , to transmit faithful copies of those precious papers unto posterity : a duty more especially incumbent on them , who had the keeping of the true originals . secondly , that god almighty , having by the holy ghost inspired his pen-men , to deliver his mind unto the world , it is not likely , that he should relinquish the same , to perish in the hands of ignorant or wicked men : for since the blessed spirit did so manifestly appear in it , divine providence was sure to guard it , and will doubtless secure it to the end of the world. these inducements , with others of like nature , are sufficient i count , to convince any man , unto whose hands the bible shall come , that it doth contain the words of eternal life : for it carries that self-evidencing light , that majestick plainness , that unaffected gravity , and substantial utility throughout the whole ; that no man , who will but consider , can possibly doubt of its original . and though mens corruptions may prevail so far with them , as to make them pretend at least , to call in question the being of god , as well as the truth of his word : yet it shall certainly operate upon them so far , as to leave them without excuse . i do not believe , that nature ever yet produc'd so profligate a wretch , but would be sensible of some reluctancy and grief , to see his child murder'd , his house fir'd , and have his limbs torn asunder , without any just cause or provocation given . but if these things have no evil in them , why should any body be grieved at them ? if they have , why should any one do the like to his neighbour ? now , if men ought not to do wrong in one respect , no more ought they to do it in any other : from whence ought to follow the universal rectitude of all our actions . and where are there such rules of equity and righteousness as the scriptures afford , teaching us to do unto others , as we would that they should do unto us ? the faithful observation of which short precept , would confine astrea to this lower world , and yet banish all her courts , as being useless : it would set such a face on things , as would far exceed all the imaginary beauties of the golden age. from whence now should this proceed , but from the fountain of all righteousness , god almighty ? there is yet a further means of assurance , that the scriptures are the word of god , namely , from the evidence of the spirit bearing witness in our consciences , to the truth of those things contained in our bibles ; of which there is a counter-part written in our hearts , and attested by the holy ghost . there are indeed many false spirits , and many vain pretences to the true one ; yet a measure thereof is given to every child of god , and promised to all those , that seek it with sincerity and perseverance . now i say this evidence of the spirit , wherever it is , doth fill the mind with assurance and satisfaction , about divine truth , beyond all arguments : it is so convincing , that st. paul calls it a demonstration . and though perhaps it may not have that force to those who deride it in others , and stifle its motions in their own breasts , ( for neither is geometrical demonstration of force to them that understand it not ) yet to a mind enlightened by it , and brought under the power of it , the evidence and demonstration of the spirit , is beyond all other arguments and demonstrations whatsoever . to summ up all , we need not to go to a corrupt and adulterous church , to have its authority and imprimatur stampt upon our bibles , from whence on the contrary it ought to derive its own authority : and it will one day sink under the weight and force of those laws and precepts , which it now vainly pretends to authorize . i say then , the scriptures are known to be the word of god beyond all possibility of mistake or dubitation , by evidence of sense , by arguments of reason , and by demonstration of the spirit . this ( sir ) is all , i shall trouble you with in this matter , till either i have your objections , or some further opportunity of discovering my zeal to serve you , according to the utmost of my power . i am sir , &c. finis . these books following to be sold by jonathan hutchinson in durham . folio . dr . hammond 's annotation on the new testament . h. grotii opera omnia theologica 4 vol. 1679. eusebii , socratis , sozomeni , theodoriti & evagrii historia ecclesiast gr. lat. notis hen. valesii 3 vol. mogunt . 1672 — 77 — 79. bishop taylor 's course of sermons for all the sundays in the year . — his ductor dubitantium , or rule of conscience . quarto . bishop nicholson on the church catechism . dr. donns pseudo martyr . rogers on the thirty nine articles of the church of england . octavo . dr. combars exposition of the book of common prayer , 4 parts . dr. hammond 's practical catechism . bishop morton of episcopacy . dr. basire of sacriledge arraign'd and condemn'd by st. paul. twelves . dr. breviul on the sacrament . bishop cousins devotions . the end . ecclesiastes, or, a discourse concerning the gift of preaching as it fals under the rules of art shewing the most proper rules and directions, for method, invention, books, expression, whereby a minister may be furnished with such abilities as may make him a workman that needs not to be ashamed : very seasonable for these times, wherein the harvest is great, and the skilful labourers but few / by john wilkins ... wilkins, john, 1614-1672. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a66039 of text r22913 in the english short title catalog (wing w2190). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 231 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 72 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a66039 wing w2190 estc r22913 12125721 ocm 12125721 54590 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66039) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 54590) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 907:10) ecclesiastes, or, a discourse concerning the gift of preaching as it fals under the rules of art shewing the most proper rules and directions, for method, invention, books, expression, whereby a minister may be furnished with such abilities as may make him a workman that needs not to be ashamed : very seasonable for these times, wherein the harvest is great, and the skilful labourers but few / by john wilkins ... wilkins, john, 1614-1672. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a66039 of text r22913 in the english short title catalog (wing w2190). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread [6], 133, [4] p. printed by t.r. and e.m. for samuel gellibrand ..., london : 1651. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. index: p. [1]-[2] at end. eng preaching. theology, doctrinal. a66039 r22913 (wing w2190). civilwar no ecclesiastes, or, a discourse concerning the gift of preaching as it fals under the rules of art. shewing the most proper rules and directio wilkins, john 1651 29004 133 145 0 0 0 0 96 d the rate of 96 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-04 john latta sampled and proofread 2004-04 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ecclesiastes , or , a discourse concerning the gift of preaching as it fals under the rules of art . shewing the most proper rules and directions , for method , invention , books , expression , whereby a minister may be furnished with such abilities as may make him a workman that needs not to be ashamed . very seasonable for these times , wherein the harvest is great , and the skilful labourers but few . the third edition . by john wilkins . d. d. 2 cor. 2. 16. who is sufficient for these things ? london , printed by t. r. and e. m. for samuel gellibrand , at the ball in pauls church-yard . 1651. to the reader . i have been encouraged to some enlargement of this treatise , in that part of it , which concerns the account of books and authors . there is here some addition to the several kinds of them . and because it would be of excellent use , if the many choise treatises upon particular subjects in divinity , were so distinctly reduced , that a man might have recourse to them upon any emergent occasion ; therefore i have here attempted something to this purpose , namely , to referre them unto the several heads in the analysis of divinity , towards the latter end of this book . the latine or greck tracts of the ancient fathers and other eminent writers , are already thus reduced under several heads in bolduanus , draudius , molanus , &c. by whose direction it is easie to finde the chief a●●●●rs or discourses in those languages upon any particular subject . the like is here endeavoured for our english treatises , which for their clearnesse and fulnesse in matters of practical divinity , are generally esteemed to be of special use and eminency . it cannot be expected but that the first attempt in this kinde , must needs be very defective . but it is easie for any one to alter , or adde , as his own better experience shall direct . i have now by an asterisk noted some of those commentators who are esteemed most judicious and useful . i did farther intend by some mark to have distinguished them , according to their several times & professions , whether fathers , rabbies , papists , lutherans , calvinists . the nature of their works and comments , whether more brief , by way of annotation ,   analysis or more large , by way of questions ,   common places , or doctrines , whereby younger students might be directed in the choice of their several kinds . but i am forced as yet to lay this aside , as being a businesse which will require more pains and leisure , then my other necessary employments can permit . ecclesiastes , or the gift of preaching . it is the end of all sciences and arts to direct men by certain rules unto the most compendious way in their knowledge and practice ; those things of which in our selves we have only some imperfect confused notions being herein fully and clearly represented to our view , from the discoveries that other men have made after much study and long experience . and there is nothing of greater consequence for the advancement of learning , then to find out those particular advantages which there are for the shortest way of knowing and teaching things in every profession . now amongst all other callings , this of preaching , being in many respects one of the most weighty and solemn , should therefore have its rules and canons , whereby we may be directed the easiest , readiest way for the practice of it . besides all those academical preparation s by the study of languages , sciences , divinity , with which men should be qualified , and predisposed for this calling , i say besides all these , there is a particular art of preaching , to which if ministers did more seriously apply themselves , it would extreamly facilitate that service , making it more easie to us , and more profitable to others . there are two abilities requisite in every one that will teach and instruct another : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} a right understanding of sound doctrine ; and an ability to propound , confirm , and apply it unto the edification of others . and the first may be without the other . as a man may be a good lawyer , and yet not a good pleader ; so he may be a good divine , and yet not a good preacher . one chief reason why divers men , otherwise of eminent parts , are herein so slow and unskilful , is , because they have not been versed in this study , and are therefore unacquainted with those proper rules and directions , by which they should be guided in the attaining and exercise of this gift . it hath been the usual course at the university to venture upon this calling in an abrupt over-hasty manner . when schollers have passed over their philosophical studies , and made some little entrance upon divinity , they presently think themselves fit for the pulpit without any farther enquiry , as if the gift of preaching and sacred oratory were not a distinct art of it self . this would be counted a very preposterous course in other matters , if a man should presume of being an oratour because he was a logician , or to practise physick because he had learnt philosophy : and certainly the preheminence of this profession above others , must needs extreamly aggravate such neglect , and make it so much the more mischievous by how much the calling is more solemn . now there are several treatises of many learned men , both protestants and others , who have written particularly and largely upon this very subject , concerning the art of preaching , wherein they have laid down such various helps and rules , as they from their own practise and long experience have found most useful . among whom , these are some of the most eminent , and common . * bowles de pastore . hen. alsted . theologia prophetica , frid. baldvini institutio ministrorum . rich. bernard . the faithful shepheard . joh. clark . oratoriae sacrae {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . lamb . danaei methodus s. scripturae in concion●bus tractandae . hen. diest de ratione studii theologici . des. erasmi ecclesiastes . nichol . hemingius de pastore . barth. keche●●anus de rhetorica ecclefiastica . geor. laetus de ratione concionandi ad method . anglican . will. perkins concerning the art of prophesie . casp. strasonis technologia theologica . de methodo concionandi anonym. jo. segobiensis de praedicatione evangelica . abra. sculteti axiomata concionandi . will. zepperus de arte habendi conciones .   audiend●   besides these , there are above forty other authors , who have writ particularly upon this subject , recited by draudius in his bibliotheca classica under the head of concionatorum instructio , pag. 132. to which may be added the directions to this purpose so briefly and fully comprehended in the directory , besides those many other discourses wherein these things have been largely handled on the by , though not chiefly intended . in all which , many learned men have laid down various rules , which to them according to their several genius's and observations seemed most useful . and we must not doubt but that in this as well as in all other professions , every days experience may yeeld some farther advantage , by discovering yet more facile compendious directions to furnish a man for this calling . and that is the inquiry which is aimed at and attempted in this following discourse . this service of preaching may be considered under a double notion , as a duty . gift . it is here insisted upon only in the second sense , and may be thus described . 't is such an expertnesse and facility in the right handling and dividing the word of truth , as may approve us to be workmen that need not to be ashamed . it does require both spiritual abilities .   artificial   1. such spiritual abilities as must be infused from above , whereby our judgment and affections shall be made experimentally acquainted with all those sacred truths , that we are to deliver unto others . the onely way for the attaining of these , is by prayer , an humble heart , and a holy life . 2. such artificial abilities as are to be acquired by our own industry . and these are either more general , as skill in all those arts and languages , which are required as predispositions . or more particular and immediate , for the act of preaching , or making sermons , to which the chief helps are these three ; method . matter . expression . each of these do contribute mutual assistance unto one another . a good method will direct to proper matter , and fitting matter will enable for good expression . by method i understand an art of contriving our discourses in such a regular frame wherein every part may have its due place and dependence : which will be a great advantage both to our selves . our hearers . 1. to our selves , and that both for invention and memory a man may more easily finde out things , when in stead of seeking for them at randome he can have direct recourse unto all those places and heads from whence they may be most naturally collected . and more easily retain them , when they are linked together and not scattered ; method being as a chain , in which if a man should let slip any one part , he may easily recover it again , by that relation and dependence which it hath with the whole . 2. and so for benefit of the hearers likewise , who may understand and retain a sermon with greater ●ase and profit , when they are before-hand acquainted with the general heads of matter that are discoursed of . 't is but a bad rule in alsteà , where he advises to conceal , & alter the method for variety sake . crypsis dispositionis tollit fastidium auditoris . this may be true of itching curious hearers , but not of such as regard their own profit and edification . an immethodical discourse ( though the materials of it may be precious ) is but as a ●eap , full of confusion and deformity ; the other , as a fabrick or building , much more excellent both for beauty and use . there might be divers kinds of methods prescribed , according as mens own fancies and the variety of subjects and occasions shall require . but that which our gravest divines by long experience have found most useful , is this of doctrine and use . this in the nature of it , is very easie , and therefore most natural , being generally applyable unto any subject . in the true latitude of it , 't is as full and comprehensive as any other , taking in all such notions as are any way useful or proper . in the branches and gradations of it , 't is very logical , putting homogeneous things together , handling generals first , and particulars after . the principal scope of a divine orator should be to teach clearly . convince strongly . perswade powerfully . sutable to these , the chief parts of a sermon are these three ; explication . confirmation . application . each of these may be farther subdivided and branched out according to this following analysis . 1. explication is either of the text by unfolding difficulties in the sense , for which we are to con●ider the phrase it self according to the originall translations . the cirumstances of the place . persons who , to whom . occasion . time . place . scope or end . context . the analogy of faith . other parallel or like scriptures . distinguishing ambiguous words . phrases . dividing of the text , which must not be needlesse . obscure . doctrines deduced from it , by clearing their inference . shewing the latitude of every truth . according to their severall branches . duty .   degrees . 2. confirmation by positive proofs from scripture , in notionall truths by direct affirmation . negation . evident consequence . practicall truths by precepts . examples . reason , to convince in doctrinall points from the nine topicks . cause , effect . subject . adjunct . dissentan . comparats . name . distribution . definitions . practicall truths from the two generall heads of necessity . equity . solution of such doubts and quaeries as are most obvious , and materiall . 3. application , which is either doctrinall for our information more generall in some truth to be acknowledged . didacticall instruction . elencticall confutation . more particular of our own estates to be examined by marks , which are commonly either effects . properties . practicall reproof , which hath two parts , disswasive from the aggravation of the sin . threats denounced . judgments executed . directive , wherein concerning impediments that hinder . means to promote , more remote . immediate . consolation by promises . experience . removing of scruples . exhortation , to be amplified by motives to excite the affections from profit . danger means to direct the actions , generall . speciall . besides those more essential parts recited in this scheme , which belong to the very nature and substance of a sermon ; there are other lesse principal parts also ( not to be neglected ) which concerne the external form of it : such as these ; preface . transitions . conclusion . the first thing to be entred upon in this fabrick or method , is the porch or preface , which is not always necessary in every common structure ; but only when some extraordinary occasion does require it , or by reason of some special reference , which the text may have to that particular time and auditory . and then it should be clear and p●rtinent , short as being a thing on the by , and such as may quicken attention unto the following discourse . the most general and effectual matter for a preface , is ( that which was so commonly used by the prophets of old ) to perswade the hearers that it is the word of god which is spoken to them , which concerns their everlasting happinesse , and is able to save their souls ; that the ministers do but stand in christs stead ; that our receiving or despising of them shall be reckoned as done unto christ himself : which being beleeved and considered , will be a strong engagement upon the hearers , unto those three qualifications which are the chief ends of prefacing , namely to make them favourable . teachable . attentive . the next thing to be done is the opening of the text , according to its proper sense and meaning ; to which purpose we may give some brief analytical explication of the chapter , or at least so much of it as may serve to clear the text , and shew the dependence of it on the coherent words . all scriptures are either manifest or cryptical and obscure . matters that are absolutely necessary to salvation , are exprest in the first of these . other truths whether historical , doctrinal , or practical , may be sometimes involved in doubtful difficult expressions . in the unfolding of which , we must observe ; that if the natural & most obvious signification of the words , do manifestly disagree with other perspicuous scriptures , then we are to seek for some other meaning , which must always be consonant with the words and other circumstances of the place . in the finding out of this , we are not so much to consult with our own fancies ; for no prophesie in scripture is of any private interpretation , but with the holy ghost himself , who best understands his own meaning . all difficult expressions should first be examined according to their original and most authentick translations , which will give much light to the true meaning of them . though it will be needlesse to mention any various readings , translations , or interpretations of scripture to a vulgar auditory , because it is apt to stagger them , and to raise doubts ; rather then to confirm and settle them ; but we should pitch upon that , which upon serious consultation , we conceive in our own judgments to be most congruous and pertinent . the circumstances of the place will help much to illustrate any difficulty of it . the rabbies have a saying , nulla est objectio in lege , quae non habet solutionem in latere , that is , there is not any doubt in the law , but may be resolved by the context . we must be careful that all our interpretations be agreeable with the analogy of faith , and other parallel scriptures . the consulting of these , will be a good means to preserve us from perverting the word of god by any dangerous heretical imposition . beware of that vain affectation of finding something new and strange in every text , though never so plain . it will not so much shew our parts ( which such men aim at ) as our pride , and wantonnesse of wit . these new projectors in divinity are the fittest matter out of which to shape , first a sceptick , after that a heretick , and then an atheist . there are divers texts that have a double sense , historical and literal . typical & allegorical . so those places concerning the brasen serpent , numb. 21. 9. iohn 3. 14. ionah in the whales belly , ionah 1. 17. matth. 12. 40. abraham two wives and sonnes , sarah and isaac , hagar and ishmael , gen. 21. galat. 4. 22. the law concerning the muzeling the oxe that treads out the corne , deut. 25. 4. 1 cor. 9. 9. in all which there is some typical allusion primarily intended . allegorical interpretations may lawfully be used also , when there is no such natural reference , but meerly a fitnesse by way of similitude to illustrate any doctrine . saint paul gives example for this , 2 cor. 3. 13 , 15. ephes. 4. 32. but here we must observe these three qualifications ; there must be , raritas . concinnit as . utilitas . 1. we must use them sparingly and soberly . 2. they must be short and pertinent , not forced and farre-fetcht . 3. they must be usefull , not for aery and unprofitable notions , being more proper for illustration then for proof . it will be a great help for the understanding of the books of scripture , to know their several times , references , and order . the five books of moses are as the first bases , by which the whole frame of scripture may be more easily apprehended . the other historical books that follow will explain themselves : the psalms do most of them , in their occasions and historical grounds , referre to the books of samuel . the prophets are ordinarily divided into three ranks , 1 those that prophesied before the captivity , who referre to the history in the books of kings and chronicles , especially the second book . 2 those that prophesied in the captivity , concerning whose times , there is but very little mention in the historical parts of canonical scripture . 3 those that prophesied after the captivity , unto whom the history of ezra and nehemiah hath some reference . and so in the new testament , the epistles do many of them referre unto the story of the acts of the apostles . as for the ranking and succession of the books in scripture , they were not writ in the same order as they are placed . but they are set down rather according to their bulk and largenesse , then their true order . 1. those that were before the captivity are to be reckoned according to this succession , obadiah in the reign of ahab . 1 kings 18. 3. ionah   ieroboam . 2 kings 14. 25. amos in the dayes of uzziah isaiah   iotham hosea   ahaz micah   hezekiah nahum     ioel about the time of manasseb habakkuk   iosiah zephaniah   iehoiakim ieremiah     2. in the captivity there prophesied ezekiel   daniel 3. from the return out of captivity , till our saviours coming is reckoned 559 yeers . about the 18 yeer of this began haggai and ze●hariah , and not long after malachi . and so in the new testament though the larger epistles are placed first , yet they were not written so . 't is probable that they were composed according to this order , 1 thess.   romans . 1 corinth . 1 tim. 2 corinth . titus .   2 thess. philip . coloss. galat. ephes. hebr. philemon .   2 tim.   so for the canonical epistles , that of iames is thought to be written first , then those of peter , then iude , and lastly iohn . thus likewise for other particular books , that of the psalms , some conceive that the 108. should be first , where david doth stirre up and prepare himself to this work , of making psalms : o god , my heart is ready , i will sing and give praise . and the 72. psalm the last , because it concludes with this passage , the prayers of david are ended . the ordering of them is not jure divino , though it be of very great antiquity , for saint paul doth expresly quote the second psalm , act. 13. 13. the right apprehension of these general notions concerning the proper times and order of several books , may be one good help to the true interpretation of scripture . next to the unfolding of any abstruse and difficult sense , we are to consider likewise , the very words and phrases , amongst which , if there be any ambiguous , they must be distinguished and applied according to their proper signification in the text ; tropes and figures being explained in their natural meaning . as for the division of the text , it will be needlesse , unlesse either the explication of terms , or the deduction of doctrines from the several parts , do require it . that common practice of dissecting the words into minute parts and inlarging upon them severally , is a great occasion of impertinency and roving from the chief sense . the text having been thus unfolded , the next thing to be done is the inferring of observations from it , which should always follow from the words by a strong logical consequence . the wresting of scripture unto improper truths , may easily occasion the applying of them unto grosse falsehoods . these observations may be of several kinds , either mediate and more remote , immediate and principal . of the first kind are such as are raised from the occasion , coherence , manner , circumstances , order , denomination of the text ; as whether it be a precept , exhortation , threat , promise , petition , deprecation , similitude , &c. all which may afford several hints of instruction , and are not to be passed over without notice . though these points should be only touched at briefly on the by ; and those only insisted upon largely , which we conceive to be most agreeable unto the principal immediate scope of the holy ghost in that scripture . and these observations must be laid down in the most easie perspicuous phrase that may be , not obscured by any rhetorical or affected expressions ; for if the hearers mistake in that , all that follows will be to little purpose . the doctrine being mentioned ( if there be any necessity ) we may briefly clear the inference of it , by shewing its necessary dependence on the text . then ( if the matter be capable of it ) we may farther inlarge it in its several branches and degrees , by shewing the full latitude and extent of every truth or duty . the text and the doctrine being thus opened , we should in the next place descend to the confirmation of it . remembring always to connect these several parts by some plain and brief transition , that so the method may be the more perspicuous . now here are two sorts of proofs {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} .   {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . the quod sit , and cur sit , that 't is so , and why it is so . the first is properly from testimony , either divine . humane . divine testimony is either from some scripture precept .   example . 1. for precepts , it will be needlesse to heap up many proofs ; but 't is enough to suggest two or three of the most pertinent places , with some brief explication of them . 2. for examples , it is a rule , exempla magis movent imparia . there may be much advantage in the inequality of examples : lillies , sparrowes , pismires , heathens . testimonies of fathers , decrees of councels , consent of churches , confession of adversaries , may all be of good use if they are sutable to the matter and auditory . testimonies of heathen men may be proper to shew a truth agreeable unto natural light . though scripture can best inform us , what is true and false ; yet humane records can tell us what is new , and what is ancient . but here we must be carefull that we do not let hagar the handmaid out-brave her mistresse sarah : that we do not preferre bleer-eyed leah before beautifull rachel . to stuffe a sermon with citations of authors , and the witty sayings of others , is to make a feast of vinegar and pepper , which may be very delightfull being used moderately as sauces , but must needs be very improper and offensive to be fed upon as dyet . the reasons of the doctrine should be such as may convince the judgment concerning the reasonablenesse of any truth or duty , which are herein distinguishable from the motives , belonging to the application , because these refer properly to the convincing of the judgment , those to the exciting of the affections . in practicall matters , the generall heads from whence the reasons are deducible , are these two , necessity ,   equity : which are capable of very many subordinate branches . in other notionall doctrinall points , the 9 topicks , to which we are directed in logick and rhetorick , may be good helps for the invention of proper arguments . when we have confirmed the proposition by positive proofs , the next thing to be done is the removing of such doubts and queries , either from carnall reason , or ambiguous scriptures , as are most naturally emergent , and proper . not that any evident position or consequence from scripture does need all this proof in it self , but the better to instruct us in the agreement and harmony of sacred writ , and the more powerfully to convince the judgment , which in some cases will be apt to find out shifts and evasions , whereby to delude it self and escape conviction , whereas we shall embrace any doctrine , with a stronger assent , and rest upon it with the whole bent of the affections , when it comes in upon us with a full stream of evidence . but here we are to remember that the too long insisting on a confessed truth , is apt to nauseat and flat the attention . having thus passed over the doctrinall part in the explication and confirmation of the words , we are in the next place to descend unto the application of them , which is the life and soul of a sermon , whereby these sacred truths are brought home to a mans particular conscience and occasions , and the affections ingaged unto any truth or duty . the application is frequently mentioned by severall authors , according to a double acception ; sometimes it is taken more strictly , as it is distinguished from the uses , and refers onely to those particular passages of them , which do more especially concerne the present time and auditory . sometimes it is taken more largely , as it comprebends all the uses that are inferred from the doctrine . and so i understand it in this place . in the inlarging of this we are to observe this caution , that the several heads or uses we are to insist upon , must not here be handled , in a generall notionall way , as in the doctrinall parts , but in such a home and applicatory manner , as may have some peculiar reference unto the hearers . the cheif rules or canons that concerne this part are these two . 1. every scripture does affirm , command , threaten , not only that which is expressed in it , but likewise all that which is rightly deducible from it , though by mediate consequences . 2. an example hath the force of a rule . all of them being written for our learning . but then we must be carefull to examine and discern whether the example be extraordinary or ordinary , according to which the application must be properly made . the apostle tels us that the whole scripture is given by inspiration from god , and is profitable {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , for doctrine , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , for redargution , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , for correction , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , for instruction in righteousnesse , that the man of god may be perfect , being perfectly instructed in every good worke , 2 tim. 3. 16. in that place all the uses to which scripture may be applied , are briefly set down . application is either doctrinall .   practicall . doctrinal application , is for our information in some truth to be known or beleeved , which must follow from the doctrine before delivered and confirmed , by a natural logical consequence , as that doctrine does from the text . and this is of two kinds , didactical .   elenctical . 1. didacticall , in some positive truth , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , which is commonly stiled , a use of information , and should consist of such pertinent doctrinall truths , as will most properly follow from the observation : in the deducing of these it would be an endlesse businesse to take in all those inferences that are remote or collaterall : but we should pitch upon some few that are more principal and immediate . where those logical directions may be usefull , concerning the collecting , 1. of a generall from a speciall , as rom. 4. 3 , 4. 2. the lesse from the greater , as ●ohn 10. 25. rom. 8. 32. 3. the greater from the lesse . 1 cor. 9. 9 , 10. 4. the effect from the case . heb. 2. 8. 5. the cause from the effect . ●ohn 6. 45. &c. 2. elencticall , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , in some controverted point , which is usually called a use of confutation , for the refuting of such erroneous positions as do subvert the truth . where it will be needlesse to raise up any old obsolete errors , as now lie dead and do not trouble the church : but we should take notice only of such as being pertinent to the subject in hand , do most infect the present times and places wherein we live . and here we ought to be specially carefull that we manage these polemicall discourses , 1. with solid pressing arguments , making our answers as clear as the objections ; for if these be plain , and those perplexed , in stead of confuting we shall rather confirm the error . 2. with much meeknesse and lenity in differences , not fundamental , 2 tim. 2. 25. soft words and hard arguments being the most effectuall way to convince . another part of this applicatory information may be for the discovery of our own particular estate and conditions , in regard of our assent unto any truth or practice of any duty , where we are to try our selves by marks or signes , and these for the most part are in the nature of effects , properties , which are the surest demonstrations of the nature of any thing . practicall application is either , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} .   {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . 1. for correction of manners , commonly stiled a use of reproof , terror , dehortation , to disswade and fright men from any sinfull course . in the urging of this , there is much prudence to be exprest in distinguishing betwixt sins of infirmity , and sins of wilfulnesse and frowardnesse ; and accordingly proportioning the severity of our reproofs . this is generally to be observed , that in all reprehensions , we must expresse rather our love then our anger , and strive rather to convince then to exasperate . though , if the matter do require any speciall indignation , it must be the zeal of a displeased friend , rather then the bitternesse of a provoked enemy . 't is too much levity to check men in an ironicall geering way , and 't is too much rashnesse to reprove men in a furious revengefull manner . this use should be more especially directed against those particular sins of the times and places wherein we live . and because in it self , it may be very displeasing unto the guilty hearers , which will much prejudice the power and operation of it ; we should therefore sweeten it by some gentle insinuations , wherein it might appear that it proceeds from our affection and care of their welfare . that there is a necessity of insisting upon it , both from our duties , and their danger . the proper heads for amplification of this use are twofold , disswasive . directive . 1. disswasive may have these three heads . first , the agrravation of the sinne . secondly , the threats denounced against it . thirdly , the judgments executed upon it . all which are further capable of many subordinate amplifications , by comparing one sinne , with others that are like or lesse . by mentioning the evill effects , consequences , adjuncts , facility , or difficulty , indignity , or any other argument that may breed in us shame and detestation of the sinne , compassion of our own selves , repentance for our offences past , and greater vigilancy for the future . 2. the directive part , should mention the impediments that hinder , and such means or helps whereby we may be inabled to avoid and overcome any sinne . 't is not enough for the physitian to inveigh against the malignity or danger of a disease , but his chief care must be , to direct unto the remedy and cure of it . and for this the prescriptions must be various , according to the severall kinds of offences . but this directive part is reducible also under the use of exhortation , only here is the difference , that in this place it does properly belong to disswasion , in the other to perswasion . 2. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or instruction in righteousnesse unto every good work , may include consolation exhortation . 1. a use of consolation is , when we apply the comforts that arise from any doctrine unto the particular state and consciences of our hearers . this is one main end of the scriptures , which were written for our learning , that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope . and it should be the speciall care of a minister , to attend {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , unto consolation , ( as that word may signifie ) like a wise physitian to apply lenitives and cordials , where the condition of the patient does require it , as well as corrosives and purges . this use may be amplified by these three heads . 1. by the promises that are made in scripture . 2. by the experience of others . 3. by removing of such doubts and scruples , as an afflicted soul might suggest . in all afflictions whether outward or inward , we should endeavour to chear up the faith of the dejected hearer , by proposing sutable comforts , by raising his thoughts from sense to faith , from present things to future . pressing upon him the consideration of gods wise providence , by which all things are disposed for the best . his sure promises in christ , by whom we may certainly enjoy plentifull redemption and eternall glory . and though for the present the way of piety may seem to be full of trouble and opposition , yet 't is most safe in the issue , and the day of redemption does draw nigh , when those that are good shall be delivered from all their sufferings , and every man shall receive according to his work . 2. exhortation , is for the exciting and quickning of our affections unto any grace or duty . 't is so principall a part of preaching , that acts 13. 15. all that was to be spoken is called exhortation . the cheif end of an orator is to perswade , ( say the philosophers ) finis oratoris est persuasio . and therefore that preacher , who in his discourses does only flourish in generall notions , and does not drive at some particular argument , endeavouring to presse upon his auditory , the beleife or practise of some truth or duty , is like an unwise fisher , who spreads his net to the empty aire , were he cannot expect any successe of his labours . this use hath two common heads of amplification , motives , to perswade . means , to direct . 1. motives should be such , as do most properly and powerfully work upon the affections , and therefore are derivable from those two generall places , of 1. benefit in doing it . honestum .     utile .     iucundum . 2. hurt or danger in neglecting it . malum .     inutile .     amarum . which are capable of very many subordinate branches , and these may sometimes be the more effectually pressed , by adding to them some affectionate conjurements and obsecrations , like those of the blessed apostle , ephes. 4. 1. i beseech you brethren by the mercies of god . 2 tim. 4. 1. i charge thee before god , and the lord iesus christ , who shall judge the quick and the dead , &c. 2. means or directions , should consist of such particulars , as may best conduce to the attaining of any grace , or the performance of any duty . and these may be either , 1. generall ; as , prayer , seeking it from god who is the foundation of all good . setting apart some solemn time for our more particular enquiry after it . improving our abilities and opportunities to this purpose , &c. 2. more speciall , according as the nature of severall subjects shall require , and scripture or experience direct . these are the chief uses to which scripture may be applyed . they are frequently mentioned under more and different names , but they are all reducible to these heads : it is not necessary they should be all insisted upon in every sermon , but only such of them as may be most sutable to the text , and seasonable to the time and auditory . the conclusion should consist of some such matter as may engage the hearers to a serious remembrance and consideration of the truths delivered , that they may revolve upon them , and be carefull to renew that impression , which has thereby been made upon their souls by conference and meditation . to which purpose , as the milder affections , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , do best sute with the introduction , which must insinuate into the love and attention of the hearers ; so {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , more eager and vehement affections will best become the conclusion , as supposing then that we have wonne the cause we did contend for , convinced and perswaded the auditory beyond all opposition . and therefore here it will be proper to recapitulate some of the most effectuall arguments , which may leave the hearers moved and stirred up in their affections . thus much briefly concerning the most easie method and true logick of a sermon , which was the first thing proposed to be discussed , and being rightly understood , may be a very great help to facilitate this service of preaching . the next generall head to be insisted upon is , concerning the invention of matter , where there are two things considerable ; 1. the seasonablenesse of it to the time and auditory . 2. the pertinency of it to the text , or subject we are to treat of . the first of these must be left to the prudence of the minister in distinguishing of times and emergencies , in applying himself to the severall conditions and necessities of his hearers ; whether they are to be taught and instructed in some necessary truth , or to be excited unto some necessary duty ; to which purpose he must consider , whether the generality of his hearers be either ignorant or knowing , whether enemies to religion , or professors of it , whether meerly formall , or truly pious , whether more chearfull and zealous , or more cold and sluggish : according to which variety , his doctrine and expressions must be variously suited . to use the same matter and manner in all auditories , is as if a shoo-maker should make all his ware of an equall size for children and men , great and little , there being as much difference betwixt the inward gifts and necessities , as betwixt the outward statures . as in other invitations we carve that to the guests which is most suitable to their severall palats and appetites : so in these spirituall feasts , we should be carefull to fit our preparations unto the capacity and edification of the hearers . this is the meaning of the holy ghost , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , rightly to divide the word of truth , when like a faithfull steward he does proportion his dispensations according to the exigencies of the family , when like a wise physitian he does fit his prescriptions according to the severall necessities of his patients . this is to have the tongue of the learned , which knows how to speak a word in due season . 2. the matter must be pertinent and naturall unto the subject we are to insist upon ; for want of skill in the invention of this , many men ( especially young beginners ) are very apt to complain of much drynesse and slownesse in their composures , and to take any hint of flying out into impertinent amplifications , not being able to inlarge themselves , and keep close to their text . now there is a threefold remedy against this : prayer . reading . meditation . by the first we must be prepared and directed , both in our judgments and affections . by the second we may inform and furnish our selves with materials . by the third we may digest them into the most proper way for the edification of others . lectio inquirit , oratio postulat , meditatio invenit , contemplatio degustat , ( saith a father , ) prayer does desire , reading does enquire , study and meditation do discover and digest . 1. prayer . that god would direct and inable us for the particular service that lies upon us . it was a usuall saying of luther , benè orasse est benè studuisse ; he alwayes found himself in best temper for study , when he had first composed his thoughts , and raised up his affections by prayer : and certainly the weightinesse of the service may justly deserve this preparation . for if queen esther , if nehemiah , being to speak unto an earthly king for the temporall safety of their people , did first prepare themselves this way , much more then should ministers , who are to be embassadors from the great god concerning that weighty businesse of mens eternall salvations . 2. reading . it was the apostles advice to timothy , 1 tim. 4. 13. give attendance to reading , and he sayes , that it is the study of the scriptures , that must make the man of god perfect , throughly furnished , 2 tim. 3. 17. if this were necessary in those primitive times , when men were extraordinarily inspired with speciall gifts : much more now , when we cannot exspect any immediate infusion , but must apply our selves unto the naturall proper means of attaining any ability . 3. meditation and study , 1 tim. 4. 15. meditate on these things , give thy self wholly to them ; {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , be in them , which phrase implies much intention and industry in our studies . demosthenes would have such a one branded for a pernicious man to the common-wealth , who durst propose any thing publikely which he had not before-hand seriously pondered . what impudence is it then in the great businesse of salvation , when a man appears before the church , angels , god himself , to discourse in a loose irreverent manner , so as to nauseat and flat the devotion , and attention of the hearers , to prostitute the esteem and authority of that sacred ordinance . let such rash persons consider , qualis sit res ovile christi , quam pulchra & deo grata fit ovium christi societ as , in cujus medio dominus ille est , cui sol & luna famulantur , cui adsunt ministri ejus millia millium & decies centena millia ; quantae molis est regnum christi erigere , & satanae palatia demoliri , &c. but now because amongst those helps of invention which fall under the rules of art , this of reading is one of the principall , therefore it will deserve a more large and particular consideration . there are two things which in our reading and study may be of great advantage . 1. good books . 2. a right method and series of matter to be first and most exactly inquired into . there is no externall help more effectuall to direct a man unto pertinent usefull matter , upon all subjects and occasions , then a weli contrived library , whe●ein upon any emergent doubt or difficulty , he may have recourse unto the advice of other grave and learned men , who ( it may be ) have bestowed a great part of their time and study , in the resolution of that particular businesse which he hath occasion to inquire into . there are many men whose naturall parts would extremely improve and grow very eminent , if they had but the knowledge and help of such authors , as are most suitable to their genius and imployment , whereas on the other side their abilities are much damped and kept low , whilest they are confined only to a scant ill chosen library . there is as much art and benefit in the right choyce of some books with which we should be most familiar , as there is in the election of other friends or acquaintance with whom we may most profitably converse . and this knowledge of books ; as it is in it self a very specious part of learning , making oftentimes more pompous shew then the knowledge of things , so is it likewise of very great use and advantage . for the attaining of this , the most proper effectuall way is by our own study and experience in the works of severall authors ; but because that is a businesse of vast industry and much time , scarce consistent with the frequent returnes of publike service required of a constant preacher , unlesse he be before-hand qualified for this , by his education and leisure at the university ; therefore there is another help to expedite our enquiry in this kind , namely , the perusall of such books as do give a particular account of all authors , the times when they lived , the works they have published , with the several subjects they have insisted upon ; their editions , translations , corruptions , their esteem and authority ; of which kind there are severall writers , both protestants and papists . such are these discourses : pauli bolduani bibliotheca theologica . georg. draudii bibliotheca classica , eufebius de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis . gesneri biblioth. cum simleri supplemento . hieronymus de scriptoribus ecclesiast . fabiani iustiniani index universalis . johan . molani biblioth. materiarum . photii biblioth. possevini apparatus sacri . sexti senensis biblioth trithemius de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis . dav. tossani synopsis de patribus . gilberti voetii biblioth. theolog. amongst whom there are some that go by an alphabeticall order of the authors names , as photius , sextus senensis , possevine , &c. others observe an alphabeticall order in setting down the severall matters and subjects they insist upon , as bolduanus , draudius , gesner , iustinianus , &c. so that if a man would know either what subject any particular authors have treated upon , or what authors have treated particularly upon any subject , he may in them see references to this purpose . these are esteemed the most advantageous helps for the understanding of books in generall : but more particularly the authors which are most proper and usefull for the study of a divine , are reducible to these three heads . those which concern the study either of scripture .   the body of divinity .   antiquity . the understanding of scripture being one of the chief businesses of a minister to which all his other studies are subordinate ; 't is to be supposed therefore in the first place that he is provided with the old and new testaments , both in their originals and most authentick translations . the chief translations of the bible may be distinguished into those which are either in the learned language .   vulgar   the translations of the old testament into the learned languages , are chiefly of five heads . 1. into chalde , commonly called the targum or chalde paraphrase , which in the historicall books do , for the most part render the true sence of the originall ; but in the hagiographa is exceeding full of mistakes , and do seldome come near the right meaning . 2. into greek , the chief of which is the septuagint by the 72 interpreters , ( as the tradition goes ) which hath been alwayes esteemed ofgreat authority and repute . the other great translations by aquila , symmachus and theodosio , are now lost , excepting only some few fragments of them which yet remaine . 3. into arabick , this translation hath been formerly published onely for some parts of the bible as the pentateucb , psalmes , and is by some learned men rejected as being ignorantly done , not from the originall , but out of some other translation and by some corrupt copy . it hath since been published for the whole bible in the king of france his late edition . 4. into syriake . this hath been esteemed for genuine and faithfull . 5. into latine , of which version there are severall kindes , but the chief of them are these five . 1. the vulgar commonly ascribed to st. hierom , though there be great reason to doubt of it . 2. pagnines translation , which is of good antiquity and esteem , published anno dom. 1523. altered by arias montanus in the interlineary bible . 3. the tigurine translation , begun by leo iuda , and finished by other reformed divines , anno dom. 1543. published by robert stephens , 1557. with notes annexed which he ascribes to vatablus . 4. the translation of sebastian castalio , which is for the most part very elaborate and subtile , but not without too much affectation of elegance , published first anno dom. 1551. 5. the latine version which is in most common use amongst us , being performed by those learned men , fran. iunius , and eman. tremelius , with very great diligence and judgment . the translation of the new testament into the learned languages , are either into syriack . latine . 1. the syriack is of good antiquitie and esteem , but was heretofore defective in some books , namely the 2d . and 3d. epistle of john , the 2d . of peter , iude and the apocalypse , which have been lately supplied by mr. pocock . 2. the latine translations , are chiefly of three kinds , namely . 1. the vulgar . 2. erasmus . 3. beza , which are all commonly known , and in their severall kinds of good repute . now for the translations of the bible into our own vulgar tongue , there are some of these so ancient as henry the 8th his time , by mr. tindall and matthewes ; but these translations were not so much from the originall hebrew and greek , as from some other latine version , and therefore are not esteemed of any great authority . the english translations that have been of most common use and greatest repute , are these three . 1. the geneva translation , so stiled because it was finished in that place by some english exiles in queen maries time , being first published , anno dom. 1560. 2. the bishops bible in the beginning of queen elizabeths reigne , by arch-bishop parker and others , which because it was not so exact and carefully done , too often following the greek rather then the hebrew , and so liable to divers mistakes , ( as may appear in the reading psalmes of the leiturgie , ) therefore king iames caused another most exact translation to be made of it in his time , which is by way of distinction called 3. the kings bible , being that which is now in common use amongst us . the various editions of the bible in the learned languages , have been so multiplied , that 't is not easie ( if possible ) to recite them . amongst those that are esteemed either of greatest antiquity , elegance , or correctednesse , i still mention some of the chief . 1. the hebrew with other translations annexed is of severall kinds and editions . the complutensian in spaine containing the hebrew , greek , latine , together with the targum upon the pentateuch , in sixe tomes fol. anno dom. 1515. munsters edition with his latine version , and some notes out of the rabines , printed at basil. anno dom. 1534. the king of spaines bible , printed at antwerp , 1571. in 8. tomes fol. containing the hebrew text , the septuagint , the chalde paraphrase and vulgar , with a latine translation of the 70 and targum . and for the new testament , the originall greek , the vulgar and syriack versions , , together with a latine translation of the syriack by guido boderianus . besides an interlineary bible and a large apparatus . all very elegantly and correctedly printed . vatablus his edition in 3 vol. fol. 1586. containing the hebrew , the septuagint and latine . the king of france his bible , lately printed at paris , containing all that is in the king of spains edition , excepting onely the interlineary bible and the apparatus , and having further added the samaritan pentateuch and a translation of it , a syriack translation of the old-testament , and an arabick translation of the whole bible , with latine translations to each of them . a very pompous magnificent work , had the corrector bestowed as much diligence and skill , as the publishers did cost . 2. the edition of the hebrew text without translations , are likewise of divers kinds . by plantine with much truth and exactnesse both in fol. 4o — 8o — with and without points at severall times . by robert stephens at paris in 4o in a very fair large character , and after very elegantly and most correctedly in 16o . by hutter in a faire elegant character , which distinguisheth the radicall and servile , the deficient and quiescent letters . hamburgh . 1587. by buxtorfe , with large rabinicall notes and comments . anno dom. 1618. 3. the septuagint distinct from the originall text , is printed at rome , and after , both at frankford and paris with a latine translation , and the fragments of the old greek interpreters , aquila symmacus and theodosio , which fragments may likewise be had distinct in drusius his fragmenta veterum , augmented with severall other explications and annotations of his own . 4. the new testament for the cheif edition of it hath been mentioned before , besides which there are very many others that are commonly known . next to these there are some other discourses that in their severall kinds may be very usefull . amongst these some are 1. preparatory . 2. principall and more direct . 1. those may be stiled preparatory , which lay down rules and directions for the profitable reading , and right interpretation of scripture ; such as these . ferdin . de escalante , clypeus concionatorum . wolfang . franzius de interp . s. script . salom . glassii philologia sacra . and. hyperius de s. script . lectione . flacii illyrici clavis scripturae , pars secunda . jo. euseb. nierembergius de origine scripturae . and. rivet . isagoge . nicol. serrarii prolegom. . biblica . ludov. de tena isagoge . michaelis waltheri officina biblica . 2. the books that do more principally and directly tend to make a man a good textuary , may be reckoned up under these three heads : 1. concordances . 2. commentaries . 3. reconcilers . 1. concordances are of very great use , both for the unfolding of difficult texts , by referring to parallel scriptures , and to inlarge upon any theme with the most proper quotations , as also for the directing of us unto such texts of which we have onely some confused imperfect remembrance . these are of two kinds , for words .   things . concordances for words are those which reckon up the severall places wherein such a word is mentioned . these are either for the originall old testam. hebrew . buxtorfius . chaldee , in some places of dan. & isa. martin . trostius : n. testam. in greek . hen. stephanus . lucii lexicon . n. t. translations old testament into greek by the septuagint . conrad . kircherus . n. testam. into syriack . mart. trostius . both into latine . hen , stephanus . english . cotton . newman . a concordance of things does summe up all the pertinent scriptures unto any particular head or common place , which drive at the same sense , though it may be of different words . some of these are in latine , as , allotti thesaurus . berchorii index moralis . pet. eulardi concordantiae morales . marlorati thesaurus . enchridion . dan. tossani index . georgii viti doctrinale bibliorum . there are some others of this kinde in our english tongue : mr. bernards thesaurus biblicus . the fort-royall of the scriptures . clarks holy oyle . wilsons dictionary . unto these may be added those treatises that handle the severall acceptions of words and phrases in scripture : as flacii illyrici clavis scripturae . mr. leigh's critica sacra . petri ravanelli bibliotheca sacra . commentators are either upon some particular matter .   books . those i stile commentators upon matter who do insist upon the explaning of some peculiar subject , dispersedly contained in the severall parts of scripture . such are those that handle , scripture philosophy , as , valesius de sacra philosophia . levinus lemnius de plantis sacris . franc. rueus de gemmis sacris . wolf . franzius hist. animalium sacr. joan. bustamantinus de animalibus s. scripturae . scripture chronology , as , hen. alstedii chronologia sacra . hugh broughtons consent . laur. codomanni annales s. scripturae . mr. lightfoot , his harmony . sr. walter raleighs history . jac. saliani annales , à creatione ad christum . jos. scaliger de emendatione temporum . scripture geography , or topography , as , jo. adamannus de situ terrae sanctae . * christ . adricomii theatrum terrae sanctae . david chytraei , itinerarium totius s. scrip.   chronic.   mr. fuller , holy land . the travels of the patriarchs . scripture measures and weights , as , boizardus . dav. chytraeus . rob. cenalis . pet. ciaconius . epiphanius . hulsius . johan . mariana . occho . the proverbiall expressions either used or alluded to in scripture , or adagialia sacra . as , martin delrius . johan . drusius . andreas schottus . joach . zehner . the allegories in scripture , isidor . hispalensis de alleg. hieron. laureti silva alleg. totius scripturae ▪ ottomarus luscinius . roberti holcot alleg. utriusque testamenti . the schemes and tropes used in scripture . beda . cassiodorus . flacius illyricus , in parte secunda . barthol . westhemeri tropi insigniores ex utroque testamento . there might be divers other the like subjects instanced in , but these are some of the chief : now in all difficulties that referre to any of these heads , a man may expect more full satisfaction from those authors that purposely insist upon them , then from others who do more promiscuously comment at large . commentators upon the books of scripture are very numerous , and of various kinds : i shall mention only some of those whose names are most common and most eminent . upon the whole bible . * english annotat. hugo cardinalis . * deodate annot. * hugo grotius . io. de la hay . nicol. lyranus . mariana . steph. menochius . * pareus . conrad . pellicanus . pisc●tor . eman. sa. iacob . tir●nus . on the pentateuch . hen. alstedius . benedict . aretius . * henry ainsworth . iac. bonfrerius . io. brentius . tho. de vio cajetanus . * iohan. calvinus . seraph . cappo à porrecta . catena veterum . david chytraeus . joh. drusius . * paulus fagius . ferus . gregorius magnus . arth. jackson . cornel. à lapide . oleaster . fab. paulutius , piscatoris questiones . * august . steuchus eugubinus . * theodoret. * tostatus . on genesis . tho. aquinas . augustinus . jo. chrysostom . cyrillus alexan. mart. delrio . benedict . fernandez . ioh. gerhardus . io. de la hay . d. hieronymus . mart. lutherus . aug. marlorat . * pet. martyr . wolf . musculus . ioh. mercerus . marinus mersenius . origenes . david pareus . ben. pererius . * and. rivet . victorin . strigelius . * an. willet . lod. ystella . hulder . zuinglius . upon exodus . jo. de la hay . iansenius in 15. prior cap. arth. lake in cap. 19. * lorinus . christoph . pelargus . balthazar paez . in 15. p. cap. benedict . pererius . in 15. p. cap. * and rivet . * an. willet . hulder . zuinglius . on leviticus . cyrillus alexand. * jo. lorinus . origenes . christoph . pelargus . pet. serranus . * an. willet . on numbers . guil. attersoll . francis . iunius . * iohan. lorinus . origenes . christ . pelargus . on deuteronomy . * io. lorinus . mart. luther . christoph . pelargus . august . de quiros . * jo. wolfius . on josuah . augustinus . bonfrerius . brentius . cajetanus . * calvinus . carthusianus . chytraeus . drusius . jo. ferus . arth. jackson . lavaterus . corn . à lapide . jo. mayer . * and. masius . cosm. magalian●s . arias montanus . origenes . * nicol. serrarius . rupertus . * theodoret. * tostatus . hugo de s. victore . * io. wolfius . on judges . augustinus . iac. bonfrerius . io. brentius . mart. bucer . tho. de vio. caietanus . chytraeus . io. drusius . io. ●erus . corn . à lapide . ludo . lavater . jo. mayer . * pet. martyr . a●ias montanus . cosma . magalianus . pellicanus . rich. rogers . nic. serrarius . * theodoret. * tostatus . hugo de s. victore . on ruth . gab. acosta . ven. beda . iac. bonfrerius . io. brentius . tho. à vio caietanus . chytraeus . ioh dr●sius . lud. lavater . corn . à lapide . jo. mayer . pellicanus . * gasp. sanctius . nic. serrarius . topshell . * tostatus . * theodoret. hugo de s. victore . on samuel . io. brentius . tho. de vio caietanus . * io. calvinus . dion . carthusianus . ioh. drusius . hieronym●s . corn . à lapide . * pet. martyr . mendoza . jo. mayer . origenes . pellicanus . nic. serrarius . * gasp. sanctius . victor . strigelius . * theodoret. * tostatus . hugo de s. victore . * an. willet . on the kings . io. brentius . cajetanus . carthusianus . io. drusius . corn . à lapide . * pet. martyr . jo. mayer . origenes . pellicanus . nic. serrarius . * gasp. sanctius . victor . strigelius . * theodoret. * tostatus . hugo de s. victore . on the chronicles . caietanus . carthusianus . hieronymus . corn . à lapide . lud. lavater . jo. mayer . nic. serrarius . * gasp. sanctius . * theodoret. * tostatus . on ezra . ven. beda . io. brentius . cajetanus . lavàterus . corn . à lapide . jo. mayer . * gasp. sanctius . hugo de s. victore . on nehemiah . beda . brentius . cajetanus . ferus . à lapide . lavaterus . jo. mayer . mr pilkinton . nic. serrarius . on esther . brentius . caietanus . drusius . io. fevardentius . lavaterus . corn . à lapide . jo. mayer . pet. merlinus . raba●●s maurus . nic. serrarius . * gasp. sanctius . on job . ambrosius . tho. aquinas . augustinus . beda ioh. bolducus . io. brentius . * ioh. calvinus . * jos. caryl . catena 24. graec. doct. io. cocceus . balth. . corderius . ioh. drusius . io. ferus . gregorius mag. lud. lavaterus . * io. mercerus . pet. merlinus . origenes . * io. de pineda . * aug. steuchus eugubinus . * gasp. sanctius . on the p●almes . ant. angelius . hen. ainsworth . alex. de ales. amesius . tho. aquinas . augustinus . beda . bellarminus . fred. baldvinus . bonaventura . bucerus . cajetanus . * calvinus . carthusianus . catena graec. doct. euthymius . eusebius caesariensis . * io. foord . gilb. genebrardus . gregorius m. gregorius nissenus . hieronymus . corn . iansenius . pet. lombardus . * io. lorinus . * mollerus . * marloratus . ar. montanus . * wolf . musculus . * muis. rob. rollocus . abra. scultetus . theodoretus . viccars . on the proverbs . ro. baynus . ven. beda . cajetanus . * tho. cartwright . jo. dod. hieronymus . rob. holcot . iansenius . jermin . a lapide . lud. lavater . luther . melacton . * io. mercerus . * salazar . on ecclesiastes . beda . bonaventura . io. brentius . hugh broughton . * tho. cartwright . cajetanus . io. ferus . tho. granger . hieronymus . iansenius . lavaterus . lorinus . lutherus . * mercerus . melancton . * will . pemble . io. de pineda . fra. sanchez . serrarius . tolle●arius . hugo de s. victore . on the canticles . hen. ainsworth . hen. alsted . anselmus . tho. aquinas . pet. arboreus . beda . bernardus . tho. brightman . carthusianus . catena grae. patrum , jo. cotton . foliot . mart. delrius . * mich. ghisler . gregorius m. gregorius nissen . hieronymus . lutherus . io. mercerus . origenes . de ponte . * gasp. sanctius . paulus sherlogus . * theodoretus . on isaiah . tho. aquinas . did. alvarez . beda . io. brentius . hen. bullingerus , cajetanus . * calvinus . cyrillus alex. euseb. caesari . * fran. forerius . hieronymus . cor. à lapide . lutherus . * marloratus . hen. mollerus . * wolf . musculus . mich. de palatio . hect. pintus . august . de quiros . * gasp. sanctius . abra. scultetus . on jeremiah . tho. aquinas . io. brentius . * io. calvinus . a castro . * pet. à figueiro . * mich. ghislerius . hieronymus . a lapide . maldonatus . origenes , * sanctius . * theodoretus . on the lamentations of jeremiah . gab. acosta . tho. aquinas . bonaventura . broughton . * io. calvinus . mart , delrius . ferus . * pet. à figueiro . hieronymus . cor. à lapide . io. maldonatus . * pet. martyr . melancton . origenes . hector pintus . * gasp. sanctius . * theodoret. * dan. tossanus . john udall . hugo de s. victore . hulder . zuinglius . on ezekiel . * calvinus . carthasianus . georgius mag. hieronymus . iunius . a lapide . lavaterus . maldonatus . origenes . hector pintus . * amand , polanus . pellicanus . * gasp. sanctius . pet. serranus . * theodoretus . * villalpandus . steph , zegedinus . on daniel . hen. alsted . tho. aquinas . broughton . bullingerus . * calvinus . carthusianus . hieronymus . fran. iunius . cor. a lapide . lutherus . maldonatus . melancton . * parker . ben. pererius . hect. pintus . amand. polanus . rollocus . * sanctius . * theodoretus . io. wingandus . * an. willet . on the 12 minor prophets . beda . * calvinus . carthusianus . cyrillus alex. drusius . steph. fabritius . pet. à figueiro , hieronymus . hemmingius . cor. à lapide . arias montanus . fran. rivera . * gasp. sanctius . * io. tarnovius . * theodoretus . on hosea . io. brentius . hiero. guadalupensis . lutherus . * io. mercerus . hen. mollerus . da. pareus . am. polanus . * and. rivet . imman . tremelius . theophylactus . * hieron. zanchius . on joel . johan . faber . lutherus . * mercerus . pareus . hugo de s. victore . on amos. io. brentius . lutherus . * io. mercerus . pareus . mat. quadratus . ruffinus . on obadiah . mar. lutherus . * mercerus . edw. marbury . * io. rainoldus . hugo de s. victore . on jonah . * bp. abbot . gab. acosta . pet. baro. io. brentius . jo. fevardentius , fran. iunius . * bp. king . lutherus . * jo. mercerus . jo. treminius . theophylactus . on micah . io. brentius . * da. chytraeus . lutherus . on nahum . * da. chytraeus . * ludo . crocius . lutherus . hector pintus . theophylactus . io. winkelmannus . on habakkuk . * chytraeus . lutherus . theophylactus . winkelmannus . on zephaniah . * martin . bucerus . lutherus . io. winkelmannus . on haggai . frid. baldvinus . jo. ecchius . phil. melancton . david pareus . winkelmannus . on zechariah . frid. baldvinus . * da. chytraeus . lutherus . phil , melancton . * will . pemble . jo. de reyroles . balth. . willius . on malachi . gab. acosta . frid. baldvinus . da. chytraeus . io. martinus . melancton . hen. mollerus . amand. polanus . aug. de quiros . will. sclater . * rich. stock . winkelmannus . balth , willius . upon the new testament . ben. aretius . * theod. beza . * tho. cartwright . carthusianus . drusius annot. * erasmus . fulk . gregorius m. * heinsius . fla. illyricus . cor. à lapide . marloratus . zach. muthesius . alph. salmeron . dan. tossanus . upon the 4 gospels . tho. aquinas , ben. aretius . augustinus . sebast. barradius . io. brentius . * luc. brugensis . mart. bucerus . cajetanus . * calvinus . * cartwright . * chemnitius . catena au●ea . ad. contzen . lud. de deiu . io. gerson . nic. go ranus . hie●onymus . * cor. iansenius . maldonatus . jo. mayer . arias montanus . aloysins novarinus . guido de perpiniano . rupertus . alphon. salmeron . scultetus . theophylactus . dan. tossanus . jo. trap . hugo de s. victo●e . on matthew . anselmus . aquinas . alphon. avendanus . augustinus . * ferus . rod . gualtherus . cl●ud . guilliaudus . hieronymus . hilarius . phil. melancton . melo . * musculus . aloys. novarinus . origenes . pareus . a ponte . rob. stephanus . sibelius . dan tossanus . * tostatus . ward . on mark . albertus m. beda . lamb . daneus . io. ge●son . angel del pas. rob. stephanus . io. winkelmannus . vitale zuccolo . on luke . ambrose beda . bonaventura . catena graec. pat. isid. cla●us . hier. guadalupensis . gas. melo . origenes . rob. stephanus . * did. stella . * fran. tollet . vit. zuccolo . on john . aquinas . bonaventure . catena gr. patrum . chrysostomus . cyrillus alex. hemingius . * io. ferus . lutherus . melancton . * musculus . origenes . hieron. osorius : michael de palatio . ben. pererius . chr. pelargus . ribera . * rob. rollocus . * fran. tollet . paul . tarnovius . on the acts. dan. arcularius . beda . brentius . bullingerus . cajetanus . * calvinus . catena vet. pat. chrysostomus . ioach. camerarius . lud. de dieu . * io. ferus . gregorius m. rod . gualtherus . * nic. gorranus . co● . à lapide . * lorinus . malcolm . jo. mayer . alos . novarinus . oecumenius . alph. salmeron . tho. stapleton . theophylactus . dan. tossanus . joh. trap . upon the epistles . ambrosius . anselmus . aquinas . beda . bullingerus . cajetanus . * calvinus . chrysostomus . * dav. dickson . * guil. estius . nic. gorranus . rod . gualtherus . ben. iustinianus . and. hyperius . * cor. à lapide . pet. lumbardus . jo. mayer . * musculus . oecumenius . beat. remigius . * theodoretus . theophylactus . dan. tossanus . joh. trap . hugo de s. victore . conrad . vorstius . on the epistle to the romans . augustinus . frid. baldvinus . io. brentius . mart. bucerus . adam . contzen . lud de dieu . * io. ferus . marcil . ficinus . ioh. gerhardus . gomarus . * pet. martyr . phil. melancton . * wolf . musculus . origenes * da. pareus . elnath . parr . ben. pererius . rob. rollocus . ab. scultetus . dominic . soto . stapleton . * fran. tollet . and. willet . wilson . on the epistles to the corinthians . frid. baldvinus . * pet. mart. in prim. phil. melancton . * wolf . musculus . tho. morton in prim. * dav. pareus . gul. sclater . tho. stapleton . geor. wenrichius . to the galatians . augustinus . frid. baldvinus . io. brentius . lutherus . * musculus . * da. pareus . * will . perkins . rob. rollocus . adam sasbout . io. wigandus . io. winkelman . to the ephesians . * paul bain . frid. baldvinus . mart. bucerus . * lud. crocius . lubinus . * m●sculus . aug. de quiros . rob. rollocus . adam sasbout . ab. scultetus . * hieron. zanchius . geor. wenrichius . to the philippians . hen. airay . frid. baldvinus . io. brentius . * gomarus . lubinus . * musculus . ad. sasbout . scholanus . io. au. velasquez . * hieron. zanchius . to the colossians . frid. baldvinus . * nic. bifeild . tho. cartwright . * io. davenant . ed. elton . melancton . * musculus . de quiros . rollocus . sasbout . * hieron. zanchius . to the thessalonians . * io. gomarus . io. iewel in prim. * musculus . rollocus . * will . sclater . pet. steuartius . * zanchius . zuinglius . to timothy . alex. ales. frid. baldvinus . lamb . danaeus . * claud. espencaeus . ant. fayus . io. gerhardus . cosma magalianus . melancton . * musculus . ad. sasbout . * ab. scultetus . lud. soro . major . to titus . alex. ales●●s . * lud. crocius . * claud. espenc●us . cos. magalianus . ad. sasbou● . * ab. scultetus . lud. soto-majo● . * tho. taylor . to philemon . * attersol . brentius . danaeus . * dan. dyke . fra● . fevardenti●●● * gomarus . phil. pareus . ab. scultetus . on the hebrews . * da. dickson . io. gerardus . * gomarus . * an. hyperius . polyc. lyserus . david pareus . mic. de palatio● fran. ribera . sasbout . scultetus . * ludov. de tena● on the 7 canonicall epistles . hen. alsted . * tho. aquinas . beda . bullingerus . cajetanus . * calvinus . * estius . faber . stap. nic. goran . rod . gualther . nic. hemmingius . corn . à lapide . salmeron . dan. tossanus . mat. turnemannus . on the epistle of james . * brochman . didac . daza . fran. fevardentius . * ia. laurentius . lorinus . * jo. mayer . dav. pareus . balt. paez . aug. de quiros . on the epistles of peter . * amesius . tho. adams . in ep. 2. * nic. bifeild . clemens . alex. io. gerardus . * gomarus . * iac. laurentius . lutherus . dav. pareus . scholanus . io. winkelman . turnemannus . on the first epistle of john . augustinus . clemens alex. * lamb . danaeus . * io. ferus . * io. lorinus . turnemannus . * zanchius . on the second epistle . clem. alexand. * danaeus . io. iac. grynaeus . * io. lorinus . ed. pocock . on the third epistle . * lamb . danaeus . * io. lorinus . ed. pocock . on the epistle of jude . iac. bolduc . clemens alex. * danaeus . fevardentius . hyperius . fran. iuniu● . * lorinus . lutherus . sam. oates . * will . perkins . aug. de quiros . phil. pareus . sasbout . * sibelius . on the revelation . alabaster . albe●tus . m. alcazar . alsted . anselmus . augustinus . beda . * brightman . ioach. camerarius . dav. chytreus . will. cowper . dent . lud. de dieu . forbes . ioh. gerhardus . gorranus . io de la hay . a lapide . laurentius . casp. melo . * mede . napier . perkins in 3. pr. cap. ribera . tossanus . viegas . amongst all these commentators , it would be too great presumption , for any private man to compare them , or say which is best ; since there is scarce any one so well acquainted with all of them , as to be able to passe such a censure . and besides , amongst those that are commonly known , there are but few that agree in the same judgement , one preferring this , and another that . and therefore it will be safest to give only some general character of them . some of the interpreters are more especially eminent for their authority , and antiquity , as the comments of the fathers ; ambrose , augustine , bernard , chrysosto●e , cyril alex. eusebius , gregary the great , gregory nissen , hierom , hilary , origen , theodoret , theophylact. amongst the later writers , some are eminent for their orthodox sound judgments , proper and usefull matter . so the protestant commentators in general : as alsted , baldvin , brentius , bucer , bullinger , calvin , chemnitius , danaeus , drusius , gerard , hyperius , iunius , lavater , luther , p. martyr , melancton , mercer , moller , musculus , p●reus , piscator , rivet , rolloc , scultet tarnov . zanchy , &c. more especially our english divines , whose abilities and genius's ( when they apply themselves this way ) do for the most part raise them up above the common pitch of other writers . as may appear in the works of ainsworth , ames , baine , byfeild , brightman , cartwright , davenant , mayer , perkins , sclater , willet , &c. amongst the popish interpreters , some are more eminent for their subtilty and rational learning in the explaining of scripture ; such were generally those schoolmen who have undertaken to comment upon it , as albert●s m. alexand. de ales , aquinas , bonaventure , cajetan , carthusian , daza , estius , mich-d● palatio , dominic . soto , &c. others amongst them are eminent for solid pious matter , in practical things and points not controverted , as ferus , iansenius , brugensis . others of them are useful for their various collections , and observations out of former writers , as many late jesuits and others , as gorran , à lapide , lorinus , maldonat , masius , mendoz● , pererius , pineda , ribera , saimeron , sanct. serrarins , tolet , &c. besides these commentators upon the several ●ooks , there are others that have commented upon particular parcels and texts of scripture . of which kinde the homilies of the ancient fathers are the first and most eminent , as those of augustine , bernard , chrysostome , chrysologus , gregory , &c. as for the common postillers they are for the most part rejected by our gravest most judicious divines , as being generally uselesse and empty . but there are some amongst them of better esteem , as protestants . papists . dr. boys . besseus . dietericus . coppe●stenius . iac. laurentius . fonseca . stumphius . gal. inchino . zepperus . labata .   mussus . to which may be added those discourses of this kinde upon occasional subjects . as , georg. grossii thesaurus concionum omnigenarum , nempe catecheticarum , praeparatoriarum , eucharisticarum , nuptialium , funebrium , anniversariarum , paenalium , auspicatoriarum , valedictoriarum , &c. pontani conciones funebres ex variis autoribus collectae . io. noviomagi penu concionum tum nuptialium , tum funebrium . io. geminiani conciones funebres . a collection of english funeral sermons , stiled , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . 't is the common opinion that amongst all such kinde of works , our english sermons and treatises are most elaborate and useful . it was the judgment of a very learned man , that if the choyce and best observations , which have been made dispersedly in our english sermons ( leaving out the largenesse of exhortations and applications thereupon ) had been set down in a continuance , it would be the best work in divinity that has been written since the apostles times . and certainly there is either some special em●nency in their writings , or else there is some pecular genius in men of the same country , which makes their notions seem unto one another more proper and acceptable . amongst our english divines , these are for sermons and practical divinity some of the most eminent : bp andrews . mr attersoll . mr ball . mr bifeild . bp bilson . mr bolton . mr burroughs . mr caryll . bp cooper . mr cotton . mr dod. bp , and mr downham . mr dan : dyke .   jerem :   dr featly . mr gataker . mt tho goodwin . dr gouge . mr greenham . bp hall . mr harris . mr hieron. mr hooker . dr iackson . bp lake . mr mayer . bp morton . mr pemble . mr perkins . dr preston . dr reinolds . mr rogers . dr saunderson . dr sibbs . mr smith . dr taylor . bp usher . mr whateley . thus much concerning the two first kinds of books that tend to make a man a good textuary , namely concordances and commentators . the third sort that was nominated is reconcilers . those are called reconcilers , which do purposely insist upon the unfolding and reconciling of such scriptures , as seem opposite to one another : of which kind are , althameri conciliatio locorum pugnanti●m . alba in difficilioraloca . augustinus . gerardi bergomensis . conciliatio . v. t. cum . n. cameron . cumerani conciliatio loc. pug . estius in difficiliora loca . lunii parallela . menasseh ben. israel conciliatio . maimonides doctor perplexorum . pelargi quaestiones . scharpii symphonia prophetarum . spanhemii dubia evangelica . mich. waltheri harmonia totius scriptur● . in which authors a man may justly expect to find the great difficulties of scripture more exactly discussed and unfolded then in other commentators . to these may be added ●uch criticall discourses as do make more particular enquiry after those difficult texts that are dispersed in severall parts of scripture . such are arnoldi bootii annotationes sacrae . angeli caninii disquisitiones . fulleri miscellanea . mr. gregories observations upon some passages of scripture . mr. medes diatribe . these are the severall kinds of treatises that do more immediately tend to the explaining of scripture , and to make a man a good textuary . 2. there are some other very useful discourses , which treat of the body of divinity , and these are , either pos●●ive , as , 1. catechismes . latine . english . 2. common places epitomes . more large . 3. casuists . polemicall . schoolmen , upon the sentences . summes . particular controversies about discipline episcopacy . presbytery . independency . doctrine with the papists . lutherans . socinians . arminians . anabaptists . antinomians . 1. catechismes are of very great variety and of excellent use , even for the best divines , to set before them the analogy of faith , by which all doctrines must be tried , and the most fundamentall principles of religion , wherein they ought chiefly to instruct their hearers . these are so generally known , that i shall need to mention but few of them : in latine there is , amesius , and ursinus . in english there is mr bals catechisme , mr. bains cathechisme , mr. cartwritghts catechisme , mr. crooks guide , bp ushers catechisme , &c. 2. the usuall common places of divinity are systematically handled by these authors , amesius . alsted . calvinus . keckerman . piscator . tilenus . trelcatius . wendelinus . wollebius , &c. they are more largely insisted upon in these following discourses . altingii loc. com. aretii problemata . brochmannus . chemnitii loci communes . danaei isagoge . gerardi loci com. p. martyris loci com. musculi loci com. polani syntagma . wallaei loci com. besides these , there are other kinde of common places , wherein the matter is alphabetically disposed of under severall heads , from which a man may be supplyed with the most common observations and notes upon any simple theme . and though these are by many men rejected as occasions of idlenesse , yet they may be sometimes very usefull , both for learned men to recall such notions of which they retain only some confused remembrance : and for others also , who have not leisure or reading sutable to their imployment : of this kinde amongst the protestants , there is gruteri polyanthea . magiri polymnemon . zuinger beyerlink amongst the popish writers . labatae apparatus . langii polyanthea novissima . busaei viridarium . peraldi summa virtutum & vitiorum . besides these treatises of positive divinity there are some other writers that are stiled mysticall divines , who pretend to some higher illuminations , and to give rules for a more intimate and comfortable communion with god . and these of late have been by some much cryed up and followed . but they do in the opinion of many sober and judicious men , deliver only a kinde of cabalisticall or chymicall , rosicrucian theologie , darkning wisdome with words , heaping together a farrago of obscure affected expressions and wild allegories , containing little of substance in them but what is more plainly and intelligibly delivered by others . some of the cheif amongst them are these , de avila . blosius . barbinson . behem . climachus . hen. harphius . thom. à iesu. barth. riccius . jo. rusbrochius . fran. sales . ioh. thaule●us . wigelius . 3. the study of casuists may be very usefull for a preacher in respect of practicall divinity . amongst them , these are some of the most eminent . hen. alstedius . guil amesius . ir. azorius . frid. baldvinus mart. bona●ina . lud. candidus . bp hall . diana p●normitana vincent . filliucius . barth. keckerman . will. perkins . raynerus de pisis . tho. sanchez . greg. sayru● . silvester . fran. toll●● . unto these may be subjoyned those authors which have treated particularly of the lords prayer . creed . decalogue . sacraments . which are generally much of the same nature and use with the casuists . on the lords prayer . bp andrews . aquinas . babington . bains . calvinus . cyprianus . lam. danaeus . dent . dod. gregor. nyssen . greenwood . dr gouge . dr. hen. king . jo. mayer . martinus . will. perkins . alpb. salmeron . hier. savanorolla . hug. de s. victore . lud. vives . on the creed . tho. adams . hen. alsted . aquinas . augustin●s . babington . n. bifeild . calvinus . cyprianus . danaeus . dr. jackson . lutherus . mayer . martinus . perkins . del. paz. zanchius . on the decalogue . hen. alsted . bp. andrews . aquinas . babington . calvinus . jo. dod. elton . ioh. gerson . lutberus . jo. mayer . pet. martyr . martinus . melancton . musculus . will. perkins . and. rivet . jo. vossius . hieron. zanchius . on the sacraments . pet. de alliaco . ambrosius . will. attersol . gerardus . martinus . guil. parisiensis . greg. sayrus . guil. snecanus . paulus tarnovius . wilhel . zipperus . besides the authors of common places , and the schoolmen that comment on the fourth book of the sentences , who do largely treat upon this subject . amongst the writers of controversies , the schoolmen are in the first place considerable , who dispute over the whole body of divinity in many nice and subtile questions . and though this kind of learning do not deserve so much of our time and study , as they themselves bestowed upon it . a great part of it being but as cobwebs , fine for the spinning , but uselesse . and he were an unwise man who having bread and wine hanging on either side of him ( the wholesome nutriment of the old and new testament ) would notwithstanding be continually gnawing upon a flint-stone : yet because they were men of acute fancies and great searchers into the more abstruse and intricate parts of divinity , therefore they are not to be wholly neglected , but in many things may be very usefull . amongst these , the two chief are lumbard .   aquinas . peter lumbard is the first , who is therefore called the master of the sentences , his books being as the text which are wholly commented upon by gul. altissiodorensis . alex. de ales. tho. aquinas . gab. biell . dio carthusianus . durand . estius . ockam . bonaventura . jo. capreolus . scotus . the first book of the sentences does treat of god , his nature , names , properties , &c. this is commented upon particularly by pet. de alliaco . greg. areminensis the second book of the sentences does treat of the creatures , angels , men , originall sin , free-will , &c. upon which these are some of the most eminent commentators . marsilius inguen . aegidius romanus . archangelus rubeus . the third book does speak of christ his incarnation , passion , merits , of faith , hope , charity , and other graces ; upon this there is pet. de alliaco . io. de rada . the fourth book does insist upon the sacraments , resurrection , judgment , and state after this life . upon this there is adrianus . ricardus de media villa . dom. ● soto . as these books of sentences , so the summes of aquinas are likewise made choise of by the schoolmen as another text upon which to inlarge themselves . these are commented upon by rod . de arriaga . dominicu● bannez . fran. cumel . tho. à vio cajetanus . fran. de lugo in primam partem . did. ruiz . fran. suarez . greg. de valentia . gab. vasquez . particular controversies about discipline , are of three sorts ; those that concern 1. episcopacy . 2. presbytery . 3. independency . concerning episcopacy there are these authors : pro. con. bp. bancroft . paul bayn . bp. bilson . cather wood his altare damascenum . dr. burges . bp. downham . tho. cartwright . mason . mr. parker . bp. whitgift .   bp. hall . smectymnuus . dr. heylin . walo-messalinus , by salmasius . dr. taylor .   concerning presbytery . pro. con. apollonius . the forecited discourses that are for episcopacy . gersom buceri amica collatio cum georg. downham . issachars burden . the divine right of church-government , by the london ministers . a declaration concerning church government and presbyteries . mr. bailies vindication . dr. bramhill warning against the scots discipline . answer to dr. bramhill .   mr. pagets defence of church-government   mr. rutherford .   answer to the reasons of the dissenting brethren . the reasons of the dissenting brethren . salmasius de apparatu ad primatum papae . saravia de gradibus ministrorum . gellius snecanus . grallae ab anonymo . mr. gillis●y assertion of government in scotland . matth. sutliv . de presbyterio . the debate concerning independency is but of late years , and hath scarce been treated of in any of the learned languages . there are these authors for it . against it . amongst the brownists , ainsworth , cann . robbinson , in several parts of their writings . m. ball , tryall of the grounds tending to separation .   apollonius . apologeticall narration . spanhemius .   vindiciae clavium . mr. cottons keyes of the church . m. edwards reasons :   antapology .   m. baylies disswasive . the way of the churches in n. england . dt. stewards considerations .   duply . mr. ioh. goodwins answer to the antapology . m. hudson , concerning the essence and unity of the catholique church . m. mathers and m. tomsons answer to m. hearl . m. hearl . the independency on scriptures of the independency of churches . m. wells , his answer to m. rathband .   the 32 questions . m. rathbands relation of church courses in n. eng.   particular controversies about doctrine are very numerous and of severall kinds : the six before mentioned are in these times most common and generall . 1. the papists . for them . against them .   amesius . becanus . chamierus .   chemnitius . bellarminus . morney .   pareus . stapleton . perkins .   rivetus . grego . de valentia . tilenus .   whitaker , &c. there are besides some mixt disputes of this kinde in our english tongue , wherein the arguments pro and con are put together ; as , abbot and bishop . chillingworth and knot . iewell and harding . reynolds and hart. white and fisher , &c. 2. the lutherans . pro. con. eckhardi fasciculus . bezae colloquium montisbelgartense . io. himmelii . calvi .   mateol . calv. lud. crocii examen matth. hoe . matth. hoe calvinistarum descriptio . lamb . danaei resp. ad nic. selneccerum . pro. con. aegid. hunii . calvini confut .   cal. iudaizans . hildebrandi orthodoxa declaratio . conrad . schlusselburgi theologia calvinistarū dav. paraei orthodoxus calvinus . 3. the socinians . pro. con. socinus . christ . becmanni exercitationes theologicae cont. socinū crellius .   hieron. moscharow . bisterfeldius . smaltius . jo. botsacci anti-crellius . volchelius . abr. calovius de haeres . socin. picesius . d. cheynels history of socin. goslavius . dr. cheynell of the trinity . ostorodius . grotius de satisfact. . christi . jonas slictingius . iunius de divinitate filii . catech. racoviensis . sib. lubertus con . socinum .   martini synopsis photinianis .   jacob . ad portum .   stegmanni photinianismus .   paul . tarnovius de trin.   thalei anatome samosatenis . 4. the arminians . pro. con. arminii opera . amesius con . grevenchovium . apologia remonstran .   bertii collatio hagiensis . amesii coronis . castellio . acta synod . dordracen . consessio remonstrantium . m. bayly's antidote ag . arminianisme . pro. con. corvinus contra . bogarmannum .   tilenum .   molineum . bp. davenant animadversions on m. hoard .   dr. featly pelagius redivivus . m. hoards gods love to mankind . bp. hutton .   latius de pelagianis . scripta synodalia remonstrantium . molinaei anatome arminianismi . vorstius contra piscatorem . twissi vindiciae .   videlius de arcanis arminianismi . thomson . abbot . 5. the anabaptists . pro. con. there is scarce any book of note in defence of all the opinions that are held by this sect. cloppenberg . gangraena , lucae osiandri enchiridion .   io wigandus .   ios. symlerus . for that particular against paedobaptisme , it hath been of late much debated by m. tombes his * m. bayly .   m. blake .   m. cook .   m. cotton .   m. marshall sermon .   answer . exercitation .   examen . m. geree . apology . m. hussey . m. laurence . dr. featly . vanity of childish baptisme . m. baxter . 6. the antinomians . pro. con. i know not of any author who does scholastically maintain any of these points . they who are commonly cited for it , are m. geree against doct. crisp.   history of antinomians .   lutheri disputationes tres contra antinom .   william hinde , concerning the office and use of the morall law . dr. crisp. sermon .   mr. eaton honycomb .   dead faith . dr. taylor , the use of the law . iohan. islebius agricola . * m. sedgwick . ro. town . the assertion of grace . m. gataker .   m. ant. burgesse .   m. tho. bedford . the third kind of authors proper for a divine , are such as concern the study of antiquity . under which head the authors upon these several subjects may be reduced , namely concerning 1. jewish learning . 2. the heathen moralists . 3. the writings of the fathers . 4. ecclesiasticall history . 5. councels . 6. confessions . 7. heresiologies . 8. lives . 9. martyrologies . 1. for jewish learning . buxtorfii tiberias ? lexico-rabinicum . synagoga judaica . cuneus de repub. hebraeorum . le-empereur clavis talmudica . pet. galatinus . dr. goodwins jewish antiquities . maimonides de legibus hebraeorum . ariae montani antiquitates iudaicae . pagnini thesaurus , cum mercero , &c. schekhardi examen comment . rabinicorum . de iure regum apud hebraeos . seldeni de jure gentium libri . uxor hebraica . mr. lightfoot the temple service . temple . 2. the heathen moralists . the two chief authors in this kind are plato and aristotle , men of clear reason and profound judgments , whose works are sufficiently known . but besides these , there is . antoninus . epictetus . hierocles . maximus tyrius . plotinus . salustius . gr. l. seneca . simplicius . stobaeus . plutarchus . seneca in traducendis vitiis salsus est & elegans , ac vehemens etiam . de moribus nemo foelicius scripsit quam plutarchus , c●jus libelli digni sunt qui ad verbum ediscantur , è quibus basilius & chrysostomus multa videntur hausisse . unto these may be added those authors that treat concerning naturall divinity , the religion of the heathen , or the light of nature , and the use of reason in sacred matters , and the like , such as coelius secundus . collius de animabus paganorum . lipsii manuductio ad stoicam philosophiam . marinus de cognitione hominis quoad lumine naturali attincre potest . musaeus de usu principiorum philosophiae & rationis . raimundi de sabundis theologia naturalis . nic. videlii rationale theologicum . io. vossius de theologia gentili . 3. the writings of the fathers . the ancient fathers are usually reckoned up , according to the age and centuries wherein they lived . the 1. century . clemens . ignatius . dionysius areopagita . polycarpus . the 2d . century . iustin martyr . athenagoras . irenaeus . the 3d century . tertullianus . theophilus antiochenus . clemens alexandrinus . origenes . gregorius thaumaturgus . cyprianus . arnobius . lactantius . the 4th . cent. eusebius caesariensis . athanasius . hilarius . cyrillus . hierosol . basilius . gregorius nazian. epiphanius . ambrosius . gregorius nyssenus . theodoretus . hieronymus . chrysostomus . the 5th . cent. augustinus , cyrillus alexan , chrysologus . salvian . prosper . fulgentius . the 6 , & 7th . cent. gregorius magnus . the 8th . cent. beda . damascenus . the 9th . cent. nicephorus . the 10th , 11th , 12th . centuries . theophylactus . anselmus , bernardus . pet. lumbar ▪ dus , &c. divers other of the lesser fathers , see in bibliotheca graec. patrum . many of the most eminent amongst these are thus charactered and censured by erasmus . basilius , dilucidus , pius , sanus , suaviter gravis , & graviter suavis , nihil habens affectatae loquacitatis . athanasius in docendo mirus . chrysostomi scripta popularia sunt , & adimperitae multitudinis aures animosque accommodata . in gregorio nazianzeno , multum est acuminis , vehementiae satis . tertullianus durus est , tametsisalsus in confutandis h●reticis , nasutus in traducendis vitiis . cyprianus , apertus , vehemens , serius , nec infeliciter fluens . ambrosius habet , argutias , & sententias affectatas , saepe etiam subobscuras . hieronymus , adomnem dicendi facultatem appositus , ardens in concitandis affectibus . augustinus in genere extemporalifoelix est & argutus , sed dulcior est quam gravior . gregorius pontif. rom. simplex & pius . prud●ntius , licet carmine scripsit , multum spirat ch●istianae facundiae . bernardus , festivus , jucundus , nec segnis in movendis affectibus . in the reading of the fathers there is much caution to be used , for the distinguishing of their spurious imposed works , from such as are true and genuine . to which purpose , there are particular directions set down at large in these tracts . bellarminus de scriptor . ecclesiasticis . coci censura quorundam scriptorum . doctor james his censure . m. perkins his demonstration of the probleme . riveti critici sacri specimen . many of the fathers are logically contracted by scultetus , in the medulla patrum , as also m. rous in his mella patrum , which may be very usefull both for those who intend with profit to read any of them over ; and for others also , who have not means or leisure to peruse them at large . 4. ecclesiasticall history . this subject is variously treated of , either briefly in epitomes , or more at large ; either more generally for a long succession of times , or more particularly for some few ages . epitomes . jo. micrelii syntagma histor. ecclesiast . dav. parei epitome . sympsons history of the church . spondani epitome baronii . conrad . hornei . compend. . histor. ecclesiast . more large . baronius . centuriatores . dorotheus . evagrius . eusebius . iosephus . nicephorus ▪ ruffinus . socrates . sozomen . sulpitius severus . theod●retus . unto which may be added bishop mountague's apparatus , and io. forbesii instructiones historico-theologicae . hospiniani historia iesuitica . mornaei historia papatus . luào . lucii historia jesuitica . bp usher de britannicarum ecclesiarum primordiis . samson lennard's history of the waldenses & albigenses . bp parkers antiquitates britannicae . by iosseline . goldasti , histor. the continuation of the sacred story from nehemiah to christ by dr mayer at the end of his english comments lately published . 5. councels . counsels are either general in large .   particular   little . concilia generalia . binii . gr. lat. 10. vol. romae 4. vol. crab . 3. vol. caranzae epitom . longii à coriolano epitom . concil. concilia gallicana . sermond . britannica . spelman . hispanica . garcia . balsamon in concilia . zonaras in concilia . synodus ephesina . iustelli codex canonum . ecclesiae universae . the councel of trent history .   review . unto which may be subjoyned as being very usefull and something of this nature , the canon law , corpus juris canonici . 6. confessions . corpus confessionum . confessio augustana . besides many other confessions of particular churches , which according to the various light and severall occasions of those times wherein they were framed , do comprehend the chief heads of religion . 7. heresiogies . augustinus . damascen . epiphanius . petrei haeresiologia . alph. à castro . guido carmelita . irenaeus . schlusselburgii catal. leontius de sectis . io. pontani catal. haeret. vincentius lyrinensis . philastrius . 8. lives . rob. barns , and io. baleus de vitis pontificum . ioan. bismarcus . theod. bezae icones virorum illustrium . the glory of their times , or the lives of the fathers . m. clarke , the lives of the fathers . govanus de vitis patrum occident . halliox . de vit. & script . patrum 1 & 2di ▪ saeculi . hieronymus de illustribus ecclesiae doctoribus . lippomannus de vitis sanctorum . melchior adam . de vit. theol. germ. georgius major . platina de vitis pontificum . rosweydus de vitis patrum orientis . 9. martyrologies . baronii martyrologium . eulardi martyrol . martyrologium romanum . — gallicanum . monumenta martyrum . book of martyrs . these are the severall kinds of books which are most proper and usefull for a preacher ; and these are some of the most eminent authors in each kind . it would be expedient for a minister to be provided at least with one of each sort , unto which he might have recourse upon all doubts and enquiries of that nature . and this may be one speciall advantage for the invention of matter . the second help proposed for this purpose , was a right method and series of matter to be first and most exactly inquired into . when a man studies over the chief heads of the whole body of divinity , according to some naturall method and dependence ; by which means the several parts will give mutuall light to one another , and the better inable a man to see into the principles and bottome of things . and when he has thus deliberately passed over the whole , he may afterwards with the more facility inlarge himself upon any particular text or subject as occasion shall require . our chief collections in the study of these heads may be contrived under the form of sermons . every sermon containing either one or more of them , according to the nature of severall subjects . there is a twofold series or order , that may be observed in the matter of our sermons ; exegeticall . methodicall . exegeticall , is when a man goes on in a continued course of unfolding some particular book or chapter , which ( though it be of very great use , yet ) is not so proper for a young divine to begin withall . methodical , is when we propose a certaine scheme or designe of matter to be orderly insisted upon under several heads . this again is twofold , catechisticall .   scholasticall . catechisticall does referre to those plain and most obvious principles of religion , laid down in the catechisme , contained under those four generall heads . the creed .   commandements .   lords prayer .   sacraments . the distinct unfolding of which may be of great advantage , and has heretofore been esteemed a very good method both for ministers and people . scholasticall method , or that which is by way of common place , is more particular and comprehensive then the former , taking in all those chief heads , that are insisted upon , either in the schoolmen or the common-place-writers . these schemes of matter are various according to severall mens fancies and apprehensions . but amongst all , that is to be esteemed the best , which is most naturall for the order , and most comprehensive for the extent of it . there are divers learned men , who in analyzing the whole body of divinity , have contrived the scheme of it under 52 heads , according to the number of weeks in a yeer , so that in that space one who is a constant preacher , might go through all of them . to which purpose , see mr. crooks guide ; bp ushers catechisticall doctrine , where the whole substance of divinity is disposed under so many severall heads of matter , and severall pertinent scriptures for texts to each of them . but amongst the rest there is a very full elaborate frame proposed by doctor staughton , which takes in , ( what is much neglected amongst other protestant writers ) the most profitable points handled amongst the schoolmen , who were great searchers into divinity , and their writings in many things very usefull . this frame of his is largely set down in his third sermon upon 2 tim. 1. 13. where he represents the whole body of divinity under the notion of an aedifice or building , wherein there are two things considerable . the frontispice or porch .   fabrick or pile . in the frontispice he proposeth four generall heads , which are premised as the praecognita to this series . in the fabrick there are two stories , and in each story two rooms . in the first story is contained the chief principles to be known or beleeved , either more generally , in each of these 12. heads .   particularly ,   in the second story , things for practise , duties , in each 12 particular heads .   helps ,   in all 52. but in some of these the method seems obscure and involved , especially towards the latter part of it . besides this , there are divers other draughts and systems of divinity in several other authors , amesius , trelcatius , tilenus , wollebius , &c. to which may be added bishop downhams abstract , a bookof singular use for direction in this kind ; out of these it is easie for any one to compose such an analysis as shall be most sutable to his owne apprehension , and that is certainly most proper for every one , which he himself shall frame . for instance and illustration , consider this model which is collected from the authors above named . in divinity two things are considerable , the praecognita or generals to be premised concerning happinesse , psal. 4. 6. micab. . 4. 5. religion , eccles. 12. 13. act 24. 14. church , m●tth . 16. 18. scripture , 2 tim. 3. 16. the parts containing things to be known and beleeved concerning god , vide a. man , vide c. done and practised , commanded in the law , vid. i. gospel , vid. v. happinesse . upon this subject , see at large the moralists . aquinas 1a 2dae . the commentators upon ecclesiastes . m. reynolds his three treatises . doctor staugh ton happines of man :   righteous mans   plea to happiness . rob. bolton , discourse of true happinesse . jo. downhāconcerning the vanity of all worldly things . spiritual warfare religion in generall . the controversies against turks , jewes , the apologies of the fathers for the christian religion against the heathen . phil. mornaeus deveritate   christianae hug grotius . religionis . ed. brerewoods enquiries . mr. pagets christianography . s● . edwin sands relation of the state of religion . church . the common places . controversies about discipline . dr. feild , of the church . dr. jackson . bp. morton . jo. randall . dr preston , the churches . dignity .   duty . scripture . jo. goodwin . the divine authoritie of the scriptures assertd . the common places : controversies betwixt us and the papists . those preparatory discourses for the study of scripture mentioned before . fra. roberts key of the bible . jo. weems , exercitation proving the necessity , majesty , integrity , perspicuity of the scriptures . his christian synagogue concerning the diverse reading , right pointing , translation , collation of scripture . ed. leigh , of the authority , editions , versions , end , properties , interpretation of scripture . sa. hieron. dignity of the scripture . nic. byfeild , directions for private reading of the scripture . bp. jewell . treatise of the holy scripture . jo. white . the way to● the tree of life , in sundry directions for our profitable reading of the scriptures . a. things to be known and believed concerning god , in himselfe essence set forth in his name , exod. 3. 14. attribiutes . first incommunicable simplenesse , 1 john 1. 5. infinitenesse . immensity , 1 kings 8. 27. aeternity . 1 tim. 1. 17. communicable love , mercy , exod 34. 6. wisdome , power , &c. ●ob 36. 9. arising from the first . perfection . glory . blessednesse . persons father , sonne , holy ghost , matth. 28. 19. 1 john 5. 7. his actions and works immanent , his generall coun●ell and decree concerning all things , ephes. 1. 11. partic. of reas . create. . praedest . election , rom. 9. 23. reprobation 2 tim. 2. 20. transient , vid. b. god . the common places schoolmen , lumbard li . 1. aquinas p. 1. dr. preston . treatise of the divine essence and attributes . ed. leigh . treatise of divinity . sam. hieron. back parts of jehovah . dr. jackson . treatise of the divine essence and attributes . tho. morton . treatise of the nature of god . the name of god . jerem. borough's , lord of hosts . jos. mede . sanctification of gods name . attributes . dr. preston , as before . item , concerning gods all-sufficiency . rich. stock . treatise of gods attributes . the trinity . the socinian controversies . lumbard li . 1. aquin. p. 1. dr. cheynell . hugh broughton . ben. austin . hils collection out of zanchy de tribus elohim . gods decrees in generall . lumbard li . 1. common places . ed. leigh . treatise of divinity . predestination . common places . arminian controversies . gomarus de praedestinatione . m. cotton & d. twisse . m. pe●kins . treatise of the manner and order of predestination . jo. ailward . jo. veron . apology for predestination . b. the transient workes of god do refer either to . nature creation generall things aethereall , gen. 1.1 . elementary , gen. 1.1 . particular angels , coloss. 1. 16. men , gen. 2. 7. providence common , in the order of nature , psal. 135. 6. speciall in the guidance of humane affaires . small and great , mat. 10. 29. casuall and neces . pro. 16. 33. evill and good , amos . ● . 6. grace contriving our redemption by christ , who in thatwork may be co●sidered according to his offices regall , psal. 110. 1. isa. 9 6. priestly , h●b. 5. 1. & 9. 24 prophetical , isa. 61 1. states humiliation . nativity , luk. 2. 11. incarnatiō , 2 tim. 3. 16 passion , 1 pet. 3. 18. exaltation . resurrection act. 2. 24 ascension , eph. 4. 8. session , 1 pet. 3. 22. creation . common places . lumbard . lib. 2. aquinas p. 1. commentators on genesis . geo. walker . treatise of the externall works of god . tho. jackson . providence . tho. jackson . gul. pemble , de providen . geo. walker , of god actuall providence . dr hackwels apology . dr gouge . the extent of gods providence . jo. veron treatise of divine providence . jo. wilkins the beauty of providence . redemption . the arminian and socinian controversies . stalham , against universall redemption . mr jo. owen , the death of christ . spanhemii exercitationes de gratia universali . christs offices . m. reynolds , on the 110. psal. dr fowns trisagion . christs states of humiliation .   exaltation . lumbard lib. 3. aquinas p. 3. bp usher . of christs incarnatiō . m. casaub.   d. jackson . the humiliation of the son of god . th. goodwin , of christs death , resurrection , ascension , &c. bp andrews , bp lake , doct. don , &c. nativity and passion sermons . bp bilson . of christs sufferings hen. jacob .   c. things to be known and beleeved concerning man may referre to his severall parts . body , its naturall perfections , 1 cor. 11 7. infirmities , as affliction , psal 103 14.   mortality .   soul , its nature spirituall . ecclef . 12. 7.   immortall ,   faculties , understanding , and here of free will .   will ,   acts , habits   affections ,   virtues , and   memory .   vices in generall .   conscience ,     states . in this life , innocence covenant of works , gal. 3. 20. sacraments , the tree of life , gen. 2. 9. 17.   knowl .   fall , vid. d. restauration , vid. f. after this life , vid. h. of man in generall . lumbard li . 2. jo. weems , the portraiture of the image of god in man , in his creation . restauration . glerification . ant. nixon , the dignity of man . afflictions . bp hall , balm of gilead . mr hughs , dry rod blossoming . jo : downham , spirituall warfare . paul bain , comfort and instruction in afflictions . mortality . mr perkins , treatise of dying well . manchester , al mondo . a contemplation of death and immortality . rob : harris samuels funeral   barzillai . sam : hieron. useful meditations on mortality , on phil : 1 , 2 , 3. will : cowper , defiance to death . divers funeral sermons collected into one volume stiled {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . m. byfeild , cure of the fear of death . sam : crook , death subdued . immortality of the soul . aquinas p. 1. the philosophical discourses de anima . p : morney , translated . sir kenelm digby . jo : jackson , defence of the souls immortality . passions . aquinas , 1a 2dae . m. reynolds , treatise of the passions . will : fenner , treatise of the affections . tho. wright , the passions of mind . conscience . the casuists . m. perkins , a discourse of conscience . sam. ward , balm from gilead . jerem. dyke , will : fenner , d. hammond . m. harris judas his misery on matth. 27. 3. s. pauls exercise , confidence acts 21. 16. get , keep , and use a good conscience , on heb. 13. 18. richard bernard , christian see to thy conscience . * m. sheffeild . a good conscience the strongest hold . free-will . the casuists , arminian controversies . common places . lumbard lib. 2. m. perkins . treatise of gods free grace , and mans free-will . jo. bradford , dialogue of predestination and free-will . jo. veron . treatise of free-will . d. in the fall of man , there is considerable the sinne , originall , rom. 5. 18 , 19. & 7. 7. psal. 51. 5. actuall weaknesse , rom. 7. 19. malice , psal. 19. 13. heb. 6. 4. punishment death , temporall , rom. 5. 12.   spirituall ,     eternall .   of sinne . p. lumbard lib. 2. m. reynolds , sinfulnesse of sin . tho : goodwin , aggravation of sin . m. byfeild , rules and directions about our sins . of original sinne . the common places : casuists : arminian controversies : lumbard lib. 2. aquinas 1a 2dae . dr sibs , the dead man , or the state of every man by nature , on ephes. 2. 1 w. teelinck , pauls complaint against his naturall corruption . sins of weaknesse .   wilfulnesse . sam. hoard , of presumptuous sins . jerem. dyke , of quenching the spirit . dr hammond . dr preston , the saints infirmities . the sin against the holy ghost . lumbard li . 2. casuists . will : bradshaw . dr donne , on matth. 12. 31. sebast : benefield . jo : denison . henry hoddesdon . jo : meredith , the sin of blasp●eming against the holy ghost . the punishment of sin . the common places . casuists . dr gouge , 3. arrows . see after , de quatuor novissimis . tho : beard , theater of gods judgments . e. in our restauration there is considerable the covenant of grace , gen 3. 15. gal. 3. 2. 1. vocation into foederal communion , the administrations whereof have been various under the old testament , which enjoyns some things peculiar to the jews , as a church , the ceremonial ; a nation , the judicial law . wherein the doctrine of the gospel is offered more obscurely , heb. 1. 1. & 10. 1. sealed ordinarily in the sacrifices , heb. 9. 9. sacraments circumcision , gen. 17. 10. passeover , exod. 12● . extraordinarily invarious types , 1 pet. 〈◊〉 . 20. 1 cor. 10. 1. the new test. teaching more plainly , heb. 1. 2. rom. 16. 25 , 26. sealing in the sacraments of baptisme , john 3. 5. the supper , 1 cor. 11. justification , vide f. sanctification , vide g. the covenant of grace . dr. preston . jo. cotton . jo. ball . treatise of the covenant of grace . peter bulkley . the gospel covenant . bp. downham , of the covenant of grace . rob. harris . treatise of the covenant . cameron de triplici foedere . the ceremoniall law .   judiciall   aquinas 1a . 2ae . jo. weems exposition of the ceremon .   judiciall . sacrifices and types . m. guild . moses and aaron unvailed . d. taylor , of types . sacraments in generall . common places : lumbard lib. 4. aquinas p. 3. the particular treatises upon this subject mentioned before , pag. 73. the new testament . d. reynolds . on the 110. psal. concerning the excellency and power of the gospel . d. sibs . the excellency of the gospel above the law , on 2 cor. 3. 17 , 18. baptisme . lumbard lib. 4. the controversies about paedobaptisme , mentioned before , pag. 81. mr rogers . d. burgesse . of baptismall regeneration . jo. down . treatise of the faith of infants . sam. hieron. baptizing of the eunuch , on acts 8. 36 , 37. the lords supper . jer. dyke . the worthy communicant . m. rogers . m. dod. d. preston . sam. bolton . will. pemble . introduction to the sacrament . will. bradshaw . a preparation to , and receiving of christs body and blood . tho. morton . treatise of the lords supper . d. gouge . of the lords supper . d. reynolds meditation of the lords supper . will. cowper , preparative . will. fenner . punishment of unworthy communicants . duty of commun. . m. cudworth . a discourse concerning the true notion of the lords supper . jo. down . against transubstantiation . phil. goodwin . f. justification is wrought instrumentally by faith , rom. 10. 10. efficiently by christ , his obedience . active , matth. 3. 15. passive , 1 pet. 2. 24. g. sanctification is considerable according to its parts . mortification denying our selves . mat. 8. 34.   taking up our crosse .   vivification renovation of the john 33. tit. 3. 5. faculties . habits . progresse and increase in grace . 2 pet. 1. 5. & 3. 18. priviledges . liberty , from the law ceremoniall , gal. 5. 13. morall , rom. 10. 4. sinne , 1 john 5. 18. joy , 1 pet. 1. 8. peace , rom. 5. 1. of justification . common places . controversies betnixt us and the papists . bp. downham , io. will. pemble . m. forbes . jo. goodwin . rich. baxter . aphorisins of justification . sanctification . d. prestons saints qualifications . jo. downham , spirit●all warfare . the tracts that set down generall directions for a christians walking with god , as m. scudder , the christians daily walk . rob. bolton , directions for walking . m. brinsley . true watch . paul bain , directions , practise of piety , &c. mortification . d. preston . sins overthrow .   treatise of humiliation .   golden scepter . m. cotton . sins deadly wound : on acts 2. 37. m. woolfall : of mortification . rob. bolton . helps to humiliation . self-denyall . d. reynolds : on matth. 16. 24. m. hooker . jer. bur. roughs . self-denyall .   moses his choise d. preston . treatise of self-denyall . taking up the crosse . d. hammond . those that write on the beatitudes , ver. 11. vivification . m. wheatleys new birth . b● . cowpers anatomy of a christian . sam. hieron , old and new man : on john 3. 6. tho. morton . treatise concerning regeneration . dr taylors new creature .   kings bath of regeneration . progresse in grace . tho. goodwin . growth in grace . d. taylor . the saints progresse . ob. sedgwicks . christs counsell to his languishing chu●ch . christian liberty . geor. downham . treatise of christian liberty . d. saunderson : on 1 pet. 2. 16. sam. bolton . true bounds of christian freedom . william pemble slavery of sinne .   benefit of gods service . joy . m. gataker : on ps. 97. 11. will. cowper . heaven opened . d. donne : on psal. 32. 10 , 11. peace of minde . see assurance : desertions . rob. harris . blessednesse of a sound spirit : on pro. 18. 14. h. mans state after this life . resurrection , 1 cor. 15. 52. john 19. 25 , 26. judgment particular , heb. 9. 27. generall , acts 17. 31. states salvation , joh. 5 29. damnation , dan. 12. 2. place . heaven , psal. 16. 11. hell , rev. 20. 15. i. duties required in the law , are either more generall as being conducibleto every duty , in respect of the manner , with sincerity , rom. 6. 17. readiness , 1 chro. 28. 9. zeal , 1 kings 19. 10. constancy , rev. 2. 10. means ; prayer , 2 cor. 3. 5. the word , rom. 10. 17. good company , psal. 119. 115. more speciall commanded in the 1 table , our duty to god . internall worship . 1 com. vide k. externall in the 2d vide l. 3d vide m. 4th vide n. 2 table referring unto acts or intents concerning speciall ranks of men , 5. vide o. all persons life , com. 6. vide p. chastity , com. 7. vide q. goods , com. 8. vide r. name , com. 9. vide s. the very motion without consent , com. 10. vide t. the 4 last things . the common places . lumbard lib. 4. aquinas in supplemento partis 3ae . rob. bolton . baxter . the saints rest . resurrection . bp lake . sermons for easter . b. andrews .   dr donne .   judgment . greenwood : the generall judgment . sam. smith : great assise . will. fenner : the judgment of the world passed by saints . will. attersoll : gods trumpet sounding the alarum . joseph mede : the prophesie of s. peter , conc●r●ing the day of christs second coming . sincerity dr preston . of mans uprightnesse . m. gataker : on psal. 97. 11. m. hooker : on 2 tim. 3. 5. dr sanderson : on 1 kings 21. ●9 .   gen. 20. 6. hitherto may be referred the tracts of hypocrisie : as , sam. torshels hypocrite . sam. hieron. discovery of hypocrisie , mat. 3. 10. bp hall . the hypocrite , on 2 tim. 5. 3. readinesse and watchfulnesse . m. gataker : on mar. 13. 37. joh. downham : against sec●●ity . dr sibs : gods inquisition , on jer. 8. 6 , 7. sam. hieron : the remedy of security . will. fenner : christs alarum to drowzy saints . jo. rogers : discourse of christian watchfulnesse . zeal . dr burgesse : fire of the sanctnary . mr bowles : on joh. 2. 17. dr sibs : violence victorious , on mat. 11. 12. mr greenham : on rev. 3. 19. constancy or perseverance . aquinas 2a 2ae . common places . dr benefeild gomarus de perseve rantia . mr gataker : on rev. 2. 10. ob. sedgewick : on rev. 3. 2 , 3. prayer . dr preston : saints daily exercise . rob. harris : peters in largemnt . tho. goodwin . return of praye●s . tho. ball about set formes . jo. cotton   gifford about read prayer , greenwood   jos. mede . hearing and reading the word . mr mason . jer. dyke of the right eating & digesting the word bp andrews , on james 1. 22. joh. downham , treatise of the force and efficacy of reading . good company . joseph beutham : the society of the saints . sam. torshell . k. the first commandement does prohibit , atheisme , heb. 11. 6. poluthe●sme , deut. 6. 4. heresie , tit. 3. 10 , 11. apostacy , heb. 10. 26. errors , james 1. 16. injoyn knowledge , john 17. 3. remembrance , eccles. 12 1 : love , deut. 6. 5. trust , p●ov. 3. 5. hope , psal. 146. 5. fear , isa. 51. 12 , 13. gratitude , 1 thess. 5. 18. humility , mic. 6. 8. patience , lam. 3. 39. obedience , 1 john 5. 3. of the moral law in generall . the common places : casuists . aquinas 1a 2ae . controversies against the antinomians , mentioned , pag. 82. commentators on the decalogue , pag. 73. dr reynolds . the use of the law . jo. weems : of the morall law . atheisme or polutheisme . see the treatises before , concerning gods essence and attributes . p. 97. smiths arrow . mart. fotherby : atheomastix . jo. weems : treatise of the atheist . heresie . aquinas 1a 2ae . the tracts of heresie mentioned , p. 97. many particular sermons ●pon this subject , as m. ob. sedgewick , m. cranford , mr. vines , mr. clark , &c. apostasie . aquinas 2. 2dae . will. pemble . tho. goodwin : the danger of relapsing . dr featly : on ezek. 18. 24. mt mede : the apostasie of the latter times . error . sam. bolton : tract concerning errour . jer. burroughs irenicum . bp davenant : exhortation to communion . knowledge and remembrance of god . mr perkins . a declaration of the true manner of knowing christ crucified . will. pemble . mischief of ignorance . dr featley : on 1 cor. 2. 2. pet. molinaeus , de cognitione dei . love to god . gratitude   lumbard lib. 3. aquinas 2. 2dae . dr preston . of love , will : pemble . the christians love . mr pink . tryall of a christians love . dr sanderson , 1 tim. 4. 4 dr donne : on 1 cor : 16. 22. trust and hope in god . lumbard lib. 3. aquinas 2. 2dae . mr harris . davids comfort at ziglag . fear of god . lumbard lib. 7. mr greenham . of gods fear . d. donne . on 1 pet. 1. 17. will. case . the nature & necessity of godly fear . humility . aquinas 2. 2dae . sibelius de humilitate davidis in psal. 131. commen . on the beatitudes . m. cawdrey . humility the saints livery . d. featley : on matth. 5. 3. bp hall . the fall of pride ; on pov. 29. 23. patience . aquinas 2. 2ae . see afflictions . drexelius . will : cowper . praise of patience . m. young . l the second commandment does prohibite idolatry , psal. 97. 7. will-worship ▪ col : 2. 23. superstition , acts 17. 22. traditions , coloss : 2. 8. witchcraft , exod. 22. 18. schisme , 1 cor : 11. 18. confusion , 1 cor : 11. 21. injoyn right worship in respect of the manner deut : 12. 32. means john 4. 24. sorts . ordinary prayer , 1 thess. 5. 17. preaching , mal. 2. 7. sacraments . discipline , mat : 18. 17. extraord . fasting , lev. 23. 29. feasting , esther 9. 22. idolatry . jo : weems , treatise of the idolater . m. perkins . warning against the idolatry of the last times . superstition and will-worship . aquinas 2. 2dae . d. hammond treatise of superstition ▪ will-worship . witchcraft . m. perkins , discourse concerning the damned art of witchcraft . jo. weems , treatise of the magician . king james , his daemonology . jo. cotta . tryall of witchcraft . scots discovery of witches . schisme . aquinas 2. 2dae . greg : martin : treatise of schisme . tract concerning schisme . anonym. m. brinsley . of prayer : see before . pag. 111. preaching . m. perkins : the calling of ministers , declaring their dignity and duty . d. stoughton . preachers . dignity .   duty . sam : hierō . bargain of salt ▪   spiritual fishing .   preachers plea .   dignity of preaching ol. bowles , de pastore evangelico . of the sacraments and discipline . see divers discou●ses mentioned before . of religious fasts . various se mons upon this occasion , especially those before the houses of pa : liament . the tracts of mortification . m. hildersham . m. mason , of the christian fast ,   epicures   m. the 3d commandement does prohibit more particularly the abuse of oathes , jer. 4. 2. vowes , num. 30. 2. lots , prov. 16. 33. injoyn the sanctifying of gods names , d●ut. 28. 58. attributes , 1 pet. 3. 15. word , psal. 15. 16 , 17. works , psal. 58 , 10 , 11. religion , ephes. 4. 1. n. the 4th commandement concerning the set time of worship , its institution , gen. 2. 3. observance , isa. 58. 13 change , rev. 1. 10. o. the 5th command . concerning the duties of se●erall relations magistrates , 1 tim. 3. 2. subjects , rom. 13. 1. ministers , 1 pet. 5. 2. people , heb : 13. 17. parents , ephes. 6. 4. children , ephes : 6 1. masters , coloss. 4. 1. servants , 1 pet : 2. 18. husband , ephes. 5. 25. wife , ephes : 5. 24 , 33. noble and rich , 1 tim. 6. 17. poor , 1 sam : 25. 8. aged , tit. 2. 2 , 4. young , levit , 19. 32. of oaths and perjury . lumbard lib. 3. aquinas 2. 2dae . bp andrews : on jer. 4. 2. jo. downham : treatise against swearing . d. saunderson , de iuramento . of vowes . the common places : casuists : aquinas 2. 2dae . of lots . m. gataker : of lusory lots . treatise . answ. and reply to m. bamford . joh. down : defence of the lawfulnesse of lots in gaming . of the sabbath . brerewood , and byfeild . d. twisse : the morality of the fourth commandement . m. leigh : primrose . jo. sprint : m. ironside . m. cawdrey , & m. palmer . sabbatum redivivum . bp white , &c. politicall duties . bp bilson , of subjection . bp halls politicks . sam. hieron : on luke 20. 25. upon this subject see many particular debates of these times : as , d. fearn : the fuller answer . scripture and reason . the treatise of monarchy , &c. oeconomicall duties . m. perkins : of the right manner of ordering a family according to scripture . m. dod : of houshold government . tho : paget : demonst●ation of family duties . bp halls oeconomicks . d. gouge : domesticall duties . m whateley bride bush .   care cloth . m. gataker : on prov. 18. 22 19 14.   col : 3. 18. sam : hieron : on mat 9 15 ,   ruth 4. 11. 12 , p. the 6. commandement concerning our own and our ne●ghbours person , and life , does probibit roots , unjust anger , matth. 5. 25. hatred , 1 john 3. 15. fruits , inward desire of revenge , rom. 12 19 outward in words , reviling , mat. 5 22. deeds to the body , lev. 24 19. gen. 9 6. soul by scandall , matth. 18. 6. command friendship , prov. 27. 9. mercy , gal : 6. 10. placablenesse , ephes. 4. 26. meeknesse , ephes. 4. 32. overcoming evill with good , rom. 12. 21. q. the 7 commandement , concerning chastity , does prohibit all unchastity in the kindes , inward , in desire , mat. 5. 28. outward , uncleannesse , 1 cor. 6. 9. fornication , 1 cor. 6. 9. adultery , heb : 13. 4. diorce , mat. 19. 9. incest , 1 cor : 5. 1. polygamy , 1 cor : 7. 2. rape , deut. 22. 25. sodomy , rom. 1 26 , 27 bestiality , lev. 18. 27. meanes , idlenesse , 2 sam. 11. 2. intemperance , 1 pet : 4. 3. neglect of marriage , 1 cor : 7. 2. 9. signes , immodesty , 1 tim. 2. 9. bad company , 2 cor : 5 9. places , job 31. 6. injoyn a care of our owne chastity in the kinde .     means . neighbours   signes . concerning anger and hatred● the commentators on severall parts of the proverbs . plutarchus . seneca de ira . m. greenham , of anger . jo : downham , treatise against anger . of murther . m. sym. lifes preservative . dr donne , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . scandall . common places , casuists , aquinas 2. 2dae . jer : dyke , mischiefe of scandals . m. tombes , treatise of scandalizing . d. hammond , of scandall . friendship . the moralists . commentators on the proverbs . cicero de amicitia . danaeus   mercy and peaceablenes comments on the beatitudes . d. donne , on rom. 12. 20 of whoredome . the casuists at large . jo : downham , treatise of whoredome . d. preston , on colos. 3. 5 of divorce & polygamy lumbard lib. 4. aquinas in supplem . p. 3. the casuists . wigandus de divortiis . beza de polyg . & divor. . edm. bunny , of divorce for adultery and marrying again . m milton treatise .   vindication .   tetrachordon . dove . intemperance . aquinas 2. 2dae . junius , the drunkards character . m. harris , the drunkards c●p , on i say 5. 11. jo : down : against drunkennesse . vowing ag : marriage . lumbard lib 4. peter martyr , de caelibatu contra richardum smith . angl. jo : down . r. the 8th commandmét concerning our own , and our neighbours goods , does prohibit theft , levit. 19. 13. oppression , prov. 14 31. deceit , 1 thess. 4. 6. sacriledge , prov. 20. 25. usury , de●t. 23. 20. bribery , prov. 29. 4. prodigality , luke 15. 13. injoyn just dealing , ●evit . 25. 14. diligence in our callings , eph. 4. 28. frugality , john 6. 12. liberality , prov. 11. 25. almes , luke 12. 33. hospitality , 1 pet. 4 9. restitution , exo. 22. 5. lev. 6. 4. 5. of sacriledge and tythes . aquinas 2. 2dae . bp andrews . sir james semple . bp carleton . m. selden . rob. tillesly . steph. nettles . sir henry spelman . p. h. treleinie . usury . aquinas 2. 2dae . salmasius . rog : fenton , treatise of usury . tho : wilson , discourse of usury . ro : bolton , discourse with m. s. dr holmes . bribery . jo : downham , treatise against bribery . justice and equity . aquinas 2. 2dae . m. perkins , treatise of christian equity . dt saundersons sermons ad magistratum . dr donne , on rom. 13. 7 diligence in callings . m. whateley , redemption of time . m. perkins , treatise of callings . dr saunderson , on 1 cor. 7. 24. liberality and almes . aquinas 2. 2dae . jo : downham , plea for the poor . will : whateley , the poor mans advocate . bp andrews : on 1 tim. 6. 17. bp hall :   rob : harris , the old religion . hospitality . caleb : dalechamp , treatise of christian hospitality . restitution . the casuists . aquinas 2. 2dae . s. the 9th commamdment concerning fame , &c. speeches , does prohibit all slaundering , prov. 15. 3. credulity , psal. 15. 3. hearing talebearers , prov. 25. ●3 . censuring , matth. 7. 1. sinister suspitions , 1 cor. 13. 5. flattery . prov. 27. 14. silence in defending , 2 tim. 4. 16. injoyn a care of the name of our selves , phil. 4. 8. neighbours , mat. 1. 19. our speeches that they be deliberate , james 1. 19. profitable , gods glory , ephes. 5. 4. good of others , col. 4. 6. t. the 10th com mandment concerning motions without consent , does prohibit covetousnesse , heb. 13 5. self-love , 2 tim. 3. 2. 1 cor. 10. 24. evill thoughts , prov. 24. 9. envy , prov. 23. 4. injoyn a pure heart , 1 tim. 1. 5. watchfulnesse over our thoughts , prov. 4. 23. contentednesse , phil. 4. 11. of lying . common places : casuists : lumbard lib. 3. aquinas 2. 2dae . jo : downham : treatise against lying . of slandering tale-bearers , credulity , flattery . see the comments on many places of the proverbs . censures and suspitions bp hall : on john 7. 24. dr saunderson : on rom. 14. 3. care of our names and credit . m. greenham : on prov. 22. 1. m. gataker : on eccles. 7. 1. care of our words . the comments on many places of the proverbs . m. bolton , his directions for a comfortable walking with god . m. perkins : treatise concerning the government of the tongue . covetousnesse . d. preston : remedy against covetousnesse . d. stoughton : baruchs sore gently opened . rob : harris : remedy against covetousnesse . jer : dyke : a counterpoyson against covetousnes self-love . m. rogers history of naaman . m. dyke , of the heart . bp hall , the great impostor : on jer. 17. 9. jo : downham : spiritual warfare . thoughts . tho : cowper : government of thoughts . tho : goodwin : vanity of thoughts . m. perkins : treatise of mans imaginations . m. cotton . the christians charge : ●n prov. 24. 3 will . fenner . the use and benefit of divine meditations . the arraignement of vain and evill thoughts . contentation . d. taylor . bp hall . hen. mason . m. burroughes . v. the gospel , ( asiti distinguished from the law , which was the co●dition of the first cov●nant ) does require faith , which is , historicall , james 2. 19. salvificall . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ; and here of desertions , ps. 51. 12. j●b 6. 4. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , 2 pet. 1. 10. r●pentance the parts search into sinne , lam. 3. 40. godly sorrow , 2 cor. 7. 10. confession , prov. 28. 13. reformation , isay 1. 16 , 17. thetime , late repentance , 2 thess. 2. 10 , 11. of faith . lumbard lib. 3. aquinas 2. 2dae . joh. wilson , some helps to faith . tho. ball . d. preston . m. pemble . dr jackson . jo. down . jo. cotton the life of faith . sam. ward   ezek : culverwell . treatise of faith . tho : goodwin : encouragements to faith . m. perkins on the 11th chap. to the hebrew .   grain of mustard seed . tho : shepheard . the sound beleever . desertions . jos. symonds the case of a deserted soul .   cure   drsibs souls conflict .   bruised reed . m. greenham , comforts for afflicted consciences . ro. bolton . instructions for afflicted consciences . rob. yarrow . soveraign comforts . jo. haiward . strong helper . tho. goodwin . child of light . will. whateley : oyl of gladnesse . of doubting bp babington . combate between flesh and spirit . m. perkins :   d. saunderson : on rom● 14. 23. assurance . nath. cole . the godly mans assurance . m. ●reenham . marks of a righteous man .   sure signes of election . will. perkins . treatise declaring whether a man be in the state of grace or not . another treatise resolving this case of conscience , how a man may know whether he bee the childe of god . sam : hieron tryall of adoption , 1 john 3. 10.   spirituall sonneship 1 joh. 3. 1.   the spirituall mans task . 1 thess. 5. 19. m. byfeild : signes of a godly and wicked man .   assurance of gods love , and mans salvation . tim: rogers . the righteous mans evidence for heaven . m. roberts , beleevers evidences . will. whateley . gods husbandry . drexelius . the christian zodiack . repentance . dr taylor . dan : dyke . mr stock . ar. dent . m. perkins exhortation to repentance .   of the nature and practise of repentance . dr preston judas his repentance .   pauls conversion . the tracts of conversion , as jo : cotton , the way of life , or the whole work of conversion . tho : shepheard . the sincere convert . m. hooker , the souls preparation .   humiliation .   vocation .   exaltation .   union .   implantation . those that comment on the 51. psal , as bp lake . will : cowper . sam : hieron. mr. hildersham , &c. d. hammond . of late repentance . william fenner . danger of deferring repentance . though this analysis does not deserve to be much commended , as being in some respects defective , and besides the rules of art , yet it may serve for instance and direction to others , in the finding out a better . the severall particulars may be used as common-place heads , unto which to referre the collections of our reading . now ( i say ) when a minister hath thus distinctly passed over the substance of divinity under such heads as these : it will be very easie for him afterwards to inlarge himself upon any particular subject or text with naturall pertinent matter . there are some other helps of invention to which the art of rhetorick does direct , according to the subject we are to handle , whether demonstrative praise dispraise . deliberative perswade . disswade , judiciall accuse . defend . for each of which there are severall topicks , but 't is supposed that every minister is acquainted with those things in his preparatory studies , and therefore i forbear any further mention of them . thus much of the two first helps unto the gift of preaching , method . matter . the third and last to be insisted upon is concerning expression ; in which there are two things considerable , phrase . eloquution . the phrase should be plain , full , wholesome , affectionate . 1. it must be plain and naturall , not being darkened with the affectation of scholastic all harshnesse , or rhetoricall fluorishes . obscurity in the discourse is an argument of ignorance in the minde . the greatest learning is to b● seen in the greatest plainnesse . the more clearly we understand any thing our selves , the more easily can we expound it to others . when the notion it self is good , the best way to set it off , is in the most obvious plain expression . s. paul does often glory in this , that his preaching was not in wisedome of words , or excellency of speech ; not with inticing word : of mans wisdome , not as pleasing men , but god , who tryeth the heart . a minister should speak as the oracles of god , 1 pet. 4. 11. and it will not become the majesty of a divine embassage , to be garnished out with flaunting affected eloquence . how unsuitable is it to the expectation of a hungry soul , who comes unto this ordinance with a desire of spirituall comfort and instruction , and there to hear only a starched speech full of puerile worded rhetorick ? how properly may such a deceived hearer take up that of seneca ? quid mihi lusoria ista proponis ? non est jocandi locus , ad miseros vocatus es , op●m te laturum naufragis , captis , aegris , intentae securi subjectum pr●stantibus caput , quo diverteris ? quid agis ? 't is a sign of low thoughts and designes , when a mans chief study is about the polishing of his phrase and words . cujuscunque orationem vides politam & sollicitam , scito animum in pusillis occupatum . such a one speaks only from his mouth , and not from his heart . 2. it must be full , without empty and needlesse tautologies , which are to be avoided in every solid businesse , much more in sacred . our expressions should be so close , that they may not be obscure , and so plain , that they may not seem vain and tedious . to deliver things in a crude confused manner , without digesting of them by previous meditation , will nauseate the hearers , and is as improper for the edification of the minde , as raw meat is for the nourishment of the body . 3. it must be sound and wholesome , not tainted with any erroneous corrupt doctrine , or the affectation of novelty . false opinions do many times insinuate themselves by the use of suspicious phrases . and 't is a dangerous fault , when men cannot content themselves with the wholesome fo●me of sound words , but do altogether affect new light and new language , which may in time destroy practicall godlinesse and the power of rel●gion . 4. it must be affectionate and cordiall , as proceeding from the heart , and an experimentall acquaintance with those truths which we deliver . quod procedit è corde redit in cor : 't is a hard matter to affect others , with what we are not first affected our selves . praecipuum ad persuadendum est amare quod suades , amanti pectus ipsum suggerit o●ationis ardorem . 't is said of iohn the baptist , that he was a burning and a shining light . ardere prius est , lucere posterius ; ardor mentis est , ●ux doctrinae . this is to speak in the evidence and demonst●ation of the spirit and of power . there is a common relation to this purpose , of divers learned men , who having a great while , with much argument and strength of reason , contended with another about perswading him to be baptized , he being learned also , could still evade all their arguments . at length a grave pious man amongst them , of no note for learning , stands up and bespeaks him with some downright affectionate expressions , which wrought so effectually upon the other , that he presently submitted ; yeelding this reason , donec audiebam rationes humanas , humanis rationibus repugnabam ; caeterum simul atque audivi spi●itum loquentem , cessi spiritui . and 't is storied of iunius , before his conversion , that meeting once with a country-man as he was in a journey , and falling into discourse with him about divers points of religion , he observed the plain fellow to talk so experimentally , with so much heartinesse and affection , as made him first begin to think , that sure there was something more in those truths , then his notionall humane learning had yet discovered : which occasioned his more serious inquiry into them , and afterwards his conversion . such great power is there in these cordiall expressions . as for the manner of composing sermons , it will not be convenient for one that is a constant preacher , to pen all his discourses , or to tye himself unto phrases : when we have the matter and notion well digested , the expressions of it will easily follow . whereas to be confined unto particular words , besides the great oppression of the memory , will likewise much prejudice the operations of the understanding and affections . the judgment will b● much weakned , and the affections dulled , when the memory is overmuch burdened and vexed . a man cannot ordinarily be so much affected himself , ( and consequently he cannot so easily affect others ) with things that he speaks by rote ; as when he takes some liberty to prosecute a matter according to his more immediate apprehensions of it , by which many particulars may be suggested , that were not before thought of , when he doth expatiate upon any subject , according to the workings of his owne affections , and the various alterations that may appear in the auditory . and then besides , this liberty will breed a {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , such a fitting confidence , as should be in that orator , who is to have a power over the affections of others , which such a one is scarce capable of , who shall so servilely tye himself to particular words and expressions , from which he dares not vary for fear of being out . but a man cannot expect a good habit of preaching thus , without much study and experience . young beginners should use themselves to a more exact and elaborate way , when a good stile and expression is first learned by penning , it will afterwards be more easily retained in discoursing . in the elocution there are two extremities to be avoided : too much boldnesse . fear . 1. against too much rashnesse and boldnesse , consider the speciall presence of god , and angels , the solemne dignity of those sacred mysteries with which we are intrusted , the weighty businesse of saving souls . and who can be sufficient for these things ? it was a usuall saying of luther , et si jam senex , & in concionando exercitus sum , tamen timeo quoties suggestum conscendo . and he found by experience , that when he was most distrustfull of his own preparations , then were his labours accompanied with some speciall blessing and efficacy . and on the other side , when hee was most confident , then he failed most . 2. against too much fear , consider , it does not become the businesse we are about , we should speake the word with boldnesse , god has promised his assistance , that his strength shall appear in our weaknesse , it does not become the dignity or excellency of our calling , we are the angels , the ambassadors of god , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , his fellow-workers , and besides , this timerousnesse in the speaker will much hinder the efficacy and power of the word on the hearers . in brief , the most propermanner of eloquution is with modesty and gravity , which will best sute with our calling and businesse . to conclude . the observation of these helps and directions , together with frequent diligent practise , will as farre ( as art can effect ) quickly produce a good habit , and by consequence a facility . finis . the table . a afflictions . pag. 101 atheisme . 112 anger . 119 almes and hospitality . 121 assurance . 125 c concordances . pag. 39 coment : on the bible . 43 catechismes . 69 casuists . 72 creed . 73 controversies about discipline ; viz. episcopacy , presbytery , independency . 76 co●troversies about doctrine , with — papists , lutherans , socinians , arminians , anabapt. antinomians . 79 councels . 88 confessions . 89 church . 95 creation . 99 christ's offices , humiliation and exaltation . ibid conscienc●. 101 covenant of grace . 105 ceremonial and iudicial law . ibid christian liberty . 108 care of our words . 123 covetousnesse . ibid contentation . 124 d decalogue pag. 73 dilligence in callings 121 defertions . 125 e editions of the bible . pag. 34 eccles. history . 87 f foure last things . pag 110 faith . 124 g god . pag. 97 good company . 111 h heathen moralists . pag. 83 heresiologies . 89 happinesse . 94 hearing and reading the word . 111 heresie , apostasie , errour . 113 humility and patience . 114 i iewish learning . pag 83 immortality of the soul . 101 justification . 107 ioy and peace of minde . 108 idolatry . superstition . 115 intemperance . 119 iustice and equity . pag. 121 k knowledge of god . pag. 113 l lives . pag. 89 love , hope , fear . 113 lying and slandering . 123 m mysticall divinity pag. 71 martirologies . 90 man in generall . 100 mortality . 101 mortification . 108 morall law . 112 murther . 119 o oathes , vowes , lots . pag. 117 p proverbial expressions . pag 42 postillers . 65 practicall divinity . 67 predestination . 97 providence . 99 passions . 101 progresse in grace . 108 perseverance . 111 prayer . 72. & 111 preaching . 115 politicall and oeconomicall duties . 117 r reconcilers pag. 67 religion . 95 redemption . 99 religious fasts . 115 restitution . 121 repentance . 126 s scripture . pag. 95 sripture-philosophy — chron●logy-geography-weighs and measures , schemes and tropes . allegories . 4● systems of divinity . 70 sacraments . 73. & 105 schoolmen . 74 sinne . 10● sanctification . 107 self-love . 123 self-denyall . 10● sincerity . 10 sabbath . 117 sca●dall and friendship . 119 sacriledge . 120 t thoughts . pag. 123 v vivification pag. 108 usury . bribery 121 writings of the fathers . 84 watchfulnesse . 110 witchcraft . 115 whoredome . divorce . 119 z zeale . 111 finis . these books are printed for sa. gellibrand , and are to be sold at his shop at the ball in paul's church-yard . dr. twiss synod of dorts and ales. mr. paul bain on the ephesians . m. bowles de pastore evangelico . m. robert bailie's disswasive against brownists . against anabaptists historicall vindication of the church of scotland . antidote against arminianisme . m. cotton of the way of life m. sym. treatise of life and self-murther . m. downh●n plea for the poor . dr. stoughton body of divinity . dr. cheynell , the rise and growth of socinianisine . the divine trinunity of the god-head . m. goodwin the vanity of thoughts . m. morton the state of the church . threefold state of man . piscator's aphorismes in english . of justification . chillingworthi novissima . dr. saunderson's 14. sermons . m. sheffield of conscience . m. sedgwick christs counsell to sardis . sr. jo. temple history of the irish rebellion . dr. taylor on the revelation . dr. wilkins , ecclesiastes or a discourse of preaching . mathematicall magick . the beauty of providence . m. wallis his animadversions on the lord brooks his book of truth . m. bradwel's helps for sudden accidents . m. sedgwick against antinomianisme . the mystery of iniquity yet working in england , scotland , and ireland . plain english . the life and death of ms. brettergh . the art of surveying . the jewel of arithmetick . an account given to the parliament by the ministers sent to oxon. sermons preached by m. oliver bowles 1. m. ed. bowles 1. m. bond 1. m. baily 2. m. catelyn 2. dr. cheynell 3. m. hall 1. dr. horton 1. m. marshall 3. m. maynard 2. m. nalton 1. m. palmer 1. m. pickering 1. m. ob. sedgwick 5. m. jo. sedgwick 2. dr. tuckney 1. dr. temple 1. dr. hen. wilkinson 3. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a66039e-530 luke 21. 15 {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . so jo. molanus in bibliotheca materiarum , under the head of concionandi munus . james 1. 5. psal. 25. 9. john 7. 17 theol. pro phet . par . 1 cap. 10. jam. 1. 21. 2 c or . 5. 20. luk. 10. 16 1 thes. 4. 8 z pet. 1. 20. n●h. 8 8. dr reynolds selfe denyall . in the year before christ . 920. 840. 780. 700. 680. 610. 580. since christ . 50. 55. 56. 57. 61. 64. lud. de tena isag. see ludca●elli historia apostol. rev. 2. 10 1 cor. 20. 11. rom 15. 4 isa. 40. 1. 1 tim. 4. 13. eccles. 3. 11. rom. 8. 28. laudabile . possibile . facile . 1 cor 1. 10 phil. 2 1 , 2 luk 12. 42 isay. 50. 4. august . de scalis parad . cap●z . nic. hemming de pasiore . translations of the bible . munsters . editions of the bible . hebrew with translations . hebrew alone . septuagint . new testa . see many other commentators mentioned in possevin , draudius , schottus . besodnerus , the oxford catalogue . l. verulams advance of learning . 1. catechisme . 2. common places . erasmiecclesiastes . lib. 2. eccles. lib. 2. see amesi us his chrstianae catechesi●● sciagraphia . 1 cor. 1. 17. cap. 2. 1 , 4. 1 thess. 2. 4 non quaerit aeger mediqum eloquentem , sed sanantem . sen . ep. 76. epist. 49. epist. 21. 1 tim. 6. 3. 2 tim. 13. tit , 2. 7. 1 tim. 6 , 20. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . 2 cor. 2. 16. acts 4. 29. 1 cor. 3. 9. the opinion of witchcraft vindicated in an answer to a book intituled the question of witchcraft debated : being a letter to a friend / by r.t. r. t. 1670 approx. 68 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a64198 wing t50 estc r37869 17150414 ocm 17150414 105893 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64198) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105893) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1160:4) the opinion of witchcraft vindicated in an answer to a book intituled the question of witchcraft debated : being a letter to a friend / by r.t. r. t. [2], 63 p. printed by e.o. for francis haley ..., london : 1670. "licensed november 20, 1669. roger l'estrange." reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng wagstaffe, john, 1633-1677. -question of witchcraft debated. witchcraft -england -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal. 2003-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-09 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-10 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-10 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the opinion of witchcraft vindicated . in an answer to a book intituled the question of witchcraft debated . being a letter to a friend . by r. t. licensed november 20. 1669. roger l' estrange . london , printed by e. o. for francis haley , and are to be sold at his shop at the corner of chancery-lane in holborn , 1670. the opinion of witchcraft vindicated . sir , i received yours , and with it that little treatise of witchcraft , which you were pleased to send me : which when i had opened , i found the author in his preface , laying about him like a hercules furens , or an ajax mastigophorus , and charging his opposers with no less than paganisme , acknowledging a plurality of gods , and ascribing omnipotency to the devil . this he doubts not but he shall make good with the same ease as he asserts it , and promises himself and his reader , to force a surrender at the first assault . but his batteries are not of force enough to effect it , his strongest arguments being little better than an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and his whole book standing upon no firmer ground than his own supposals . the vast confidence which he seems to have in the strength of his arguments , had made me arm my self with a more than ordinary care and circumspection for the sharp encounter i was like to receive from this great goliah , but i have since found that i may lay aside those heavy arms , and that a stone and a sling will serve the turn . at the entrance of his book he layes before you the necessity , in which the eastern empire stood , of juggling tricks and impostures , to uphold it's greatness ; and that the heathen priests were by continual practice arrived to that perfection in cheating , that they stood not in need of the devils assistance : from hence he would infer that the answers given at oracles , were no other than cheats put upon the people , and the priests inventions . but 't is very improbable that the devil , who had the liberty of possessing so many bodies ( as we find he had by several undeniable instances of the new-testament ) should be debarred that of a wicked idolatrous priest , or the shrines of the heathen gods , or , that if he had that freedom , he would not make use of it , for the establishing of his own kingdom . after this he tells you of the great variety of impostures used by them , all which he reduces to four heads , viz. juggling , inchanting , conjecturing , and divining . of these he gives you definitions , ad arbitrium , and you must take them on his word , as if that were as uncontroulable as the laws of the medes and persians , he sayes that a familiar was no devil , but a confederated person , privy to the plot , and assistant to the performance . i do not deny but some cheats of this nature have been , and yet are in the world , but he that from hence concludes that all are so , is but a bad logician . for my part , i cannot be convinc'd by such an argument , when i find ( as i shall endeavour to prove ) both the testimonies of scripture and history against it . nor indeed , is there any probability , that the heathen priests could so readily give answers to all questions ( put to them or the sudden , and ex improvise ) as to keep up the credit of their oracles to that height they were at for many ages together : neither may we easily suppose that this miraculous art of cheating could be conveyed from one priest to another , and not one of so many thousands discover the deceit to the world ; and that of so great a number , all should be so ready witted , as to give their answers at a venture , and yet with so much cunning , as that whatever happen'd , the oracles should not be taxed with falshood , which i believe our author , if he were put to it , would find something harder to perform than he seems to think it . yet all this he easily believes they did , and by such tricks magnified their idols , and seduced the common people , for which cause they were so great an abomination before god , as that in the law given by moses , he so strictly gave in charge to the israelites , the rooting them out from among them . to this purpose he quotes the eighteenth chapter of deuteronomy , the ninth , tenth , eleventh , and twelfth verses . and this he thinks to be as considerable a place as any can be brought from the whole bible for the proof of witches . here therefore he takes occasion to fall foul with our translatours of the bible , for that , sayes he , they have falsly translated the tenth and eleventh verses , making them more significant to that purpose than they are in the original . wherefore i think it will not be much amiss to compare the authors translation of those two verses and ours with the hebrew so far as they differ one from the other : ours runs thus . there shall not be found among you any that maketh his son , or his daughter to pass through the fire , or that useth divinations , or an observer of times , or an inchanter , or a witch . or a charmer , or a consulter with familiar spirits , or wizards , or a necromancer . now the main difference ( for i pass by those of less concernment ) is that instead of a witch , in the tenth verse this author has put the word miracle-monger ; and for a consulter with familiar spirits , a seeker of an oracle . now in these places he seems much to blame , for having so peremptorily charg'd the learned translatours of the bible with a false interpretation , making himself the only judge in the sense of the original , and refusing any translation that suites not with his fancy , meerly for that reason . now the original being rightly considered , we shall find but little difference between it and our translation , as in that of a witch , the hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , coming from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which word , if we may believe the best hebricians , signifies witchcraft , or fascination : for so buxtorfe , and xantes pagninus understand it , expounding it by these words , fascinum , maleficium , and praestigium : and so pagninus in his translation of the bible , in which he endeavour'd to come as near the sense of the original , as was possible for him , has in this very place expounded the hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , maleficus , which is the same with our word witch ; iunius and tremellius render it , praestigiator , which has the same signification with the other , though our author takes it for no more than a meer juggler , or to use his word , a miracle-monger . but the word has more in it than so , for though it be true , that every praestigiator is a miracle-monger , a juggler , or a coozner , yet as we find it alwayes used in authors , it implyes a doing of those deceits by witchcraft . as for what he sayes of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the septuagint , that it signifies an impostor , i cannot at all conceive why he should so positively assert it , or at least why i should believe it , except he could prove from good authors , that the genuine signification of the word is so ; for i do not at all find it any otherwise than our word witch has that signification , for it is certain that witches are the greatest impostors of the world : and he were extremely irrational , that would believe that the devil does really those things which many times he seems to do , and that it is in his power to transform the bodies of men and women into those of dogs , or cats , or any other creatures . yet as we cannot deny but the devil , having a greater insight into natural phylosophy than ever yet any man has attain'd to , may perform those things by natural means , which will yet be beyond the reach of those who are in the highest rank among us , and have gone farthest in the wayes of nature , so we may easily believe , that he is more cunning in his tricks , whereby he deceives the senses , and that many times he seems to change the outward forms of bodies , when he only deceives the sight by the interposition of colours , and condensation of air , between the eyes of the beholders and the object , or many other wayes which to us are altogether unknown : but for us to deny that the devil can do such things , only because we cannot tell how they are done , or to say that he must be omnipotent , to deceive our weak senses , is so far from a rational argument , that nothing but the want of reason can produce such ridiculous fancies . but to proceed , the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sayes he , in this place signifies an impostour , not a poysoner , for it is ridiculous to think that king manasseth , and queen iezabel , exercis'd the art of poysoning . now i find it not at all necessary to say that they used the art of poysoning , though we deny that they were meer jugglers : yet i see nothing so ridiculous in that assertion as he does ; for it may with reason enough be supposed , that witches do , by their confederated devils , infuse poysonous and noxious humours into those bodies which they desire to hurt : and 't is likely that manasseth and iezabel , being practitioners in that art , were not wanting in any thing that belong'd to their profession . now where he sayes that these miracle-mongers ( as he calls them ) were so severely prohibited in the law of moses , because they acted strange things in the sight of the people , to confirm them in a false religion , i can easily grant him that this was one cause , but that it was the onely cause i cannot readily believe , since the art was in it self wicked , and most detestable ; and by consequence so displeasing to god , that he would not suffer it among his people : and besides , i do not think that it was the design of all those that professed this art , to establish a false religion , but rather that they did it for gain , by fore-telling things to come , as 't is likely the witch of endor did . as for what he objects of their being coupled together with sooth-sayers , many times in those places of scripture , where mention is made of idolatry , it is not at all strange , for where should we so reasonable expect to find those wicked artists , as with an idolatrous and ungodly people . and we may easily think , that the devil when he finds a people inclin'd to idolatry will not be wanting to the farther deceiving of them , so far as his false miracles and lying wonders can conduce to it : but to conclude from hence , he seems to do , that they were prohibited meerly for upholding it , i see no colour of reason . but here i find my author endeavouring to perswade the world that pharaoh's magicians were nothing else but jugglers , and brought serpents in their sleeves or pockets to make a fool of pharaoh , by conveying them into the place of their sticks by some slye trick of legerdemain . but i find much difficulty in this cheat ; for first , i cannot possibly believe , that moses and aaron told the magcians before hand what it was they intended to do , and if not , how it came to pass that they were provided of necessaries for such a cheat ; and were so ready at pharaoh's call , without so much as desiring time to catch the serpents , and to pull out their stings , for fear of the worst ( for otherwise it had been a kind of jeasting with edged tools . ) but to be so quick at it , was i believe an art beyond the reach of modern jugglers , but suppose they were furnished with all things requisite , i cannot see how that could serve their turns , for we read in the text , they did as aaron had done , for they cast down every man his rod , and it became a serpent ; and in the hebrew it is the same , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et projacerunt unusquisque , virgam suam , and the septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by these i think it plainly appears that the magicians cast down rods , which afterwards became , or at least seemed to be turn'd into serpents . now i believe , our author will have enough to do , to show by what means those miracle-mongers could make their rods seem to the eyes of pharaoh , and the other spectators , after they had thrown them down , to be chang'd into serpents , and to think that when they had once cast them out of their hands , they could recover them again , and lay serpents in their places ( except they could have shown pharaoh and his attendants , some pretty thing upon the wall , to employ their eyes in the mean time ) is a whimsey beyond the reach of imagination . and though we suppose , that pharaoh and his nobles were such fools , yet moses and aaron were wise men , and one would think , being concerned themselves , might have so carefully observed them as to discover it . but if we could possibly conceive , that notwithstanding all those difficulties , it might be a meer juggle , the gordian knot is yet behind , which i will present to our author to unty ( if he can ) which is that he would be pleas'd to tell me by what kind of legerdemain these men could turn the waters of the rivers into blood , or if by any pretty slight of hand they could make the frogs come up from the waters upon the land of egypt : and if they could , why they were to seek at the bringing of lice , for to humane reason this seems as easie as either of the other two . here methinks i find mine author at a stand ; and because he has not his answer ready , i would advise him in the mean time to say ; that certainly that these magicians dealt with the devil , by whose assistance they 〈◊〉 thus far in opposition to moses and aaron , but that here god ( without whose permission the devil can do nothing ) thought good to set his bounds that he might go no farther . and this , 't is probable , made them say that the finger of god was in it , because they found that power by which they acted , restrain'd by a greater : for if they had done these things by slight of hand , they would only have thought that moses and aaron were more cunning jugglers than themselves , without acknowledging that it was the finger of god that did it . but i find him yet very unwilling to yield , because , sayes he , whosoever believes that the devil could turn these staves into serpents , ascribes to him an omnipotent creating power : but if this be all he sticks at , i shall quickly remove that obstacle , by showing upon how little reason it is founded ; for first let him consider the vast difference which is between creating all things of nothing , and changing one thing into another : for by creating we understand the giving of the first being , and making not onely the thing , but the matter also , of which it is compos'd . now i see nothing of this ascribed to the devil by that opinion . secondly , let him observe that many times such changes are seen in nature , serpents being bred of the corruption of other bodies , even of rotten trees and sticks : and the devil having had time enough to search into the wayes of nature , might probably follow the same steps which she treads in changes of this kind , though he might go faster , and be sooner at his journeys end : and seeing no man has yet attain'd to that perfection in natural philosophy , as to know the thousandth part of what may be done by natural means , it is but vanity in any one to measure the time which is requisite , for such a production being wrought by supernatural agents , especially seeing no man knows the means by which it is done ( for would not that man make himself extremely ridiculous , that should with an ignorant confidence affirm that 't is impossible to take the copy of a book by any means sooner than by writing , because he never knew the art of printing ? ) now if he grants that the seed of a serpent is in a stick , and that the devil of this seed may produce a serpent ( as he seems to do ) and that sooner than they are form'd by nature , for he confesses that devils may strangely promote the generation of several creatures , if i say this be granted , i may as well say that he can do it in a minute . for if by his great skill he can find out wayes of accelerating generation , why may not he improve those wayes , by the greatness of his skill so far as to do that in an hour , which nature does in a year : for to say , that in regard the devils do these things by application of matter to matter , they cannot produce a creature of it's seed without such a space of time as to us seems convenient , is to measure the devils knowledge by our own , and to fathom the depth of nature by the short line of our understandings . but i see no necessity of believing that the devil chang'd those rods into serpents , neither do i believe it , but rather think that it was a meer illusion and deceit of the devils , who might either deceive the lookers on with an appearance of what was not really there , or by placing true serpents instead of the staves . and now i would not have this author take me up , and say that if i once recede from the letter of the text , he may as well say 't is a juggle of the magicians , for i have already said that it is not at all conceivable , that it was possible for the magicians to do it by meer humane art , in regard that when they threw them down , they were yet staves ; but though we deny that it could be done by them , we may yet believe that the devil has both agility , and subtilty enough to effect it . but if he will , after all this , believe that the magicians might , by slight of hand , conveigh away the staves , and lay serpents in their places , certainly he cannot think that they turn'd the waters into blood , and brought up frogs by slight ; for i cannot see how they could carry frogs enough about them to strew the land with , neither do i believe the author himself can guess how it might be done , because he silently pass'd by this place of scripture . as for the interpretation which he has given to the hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by their tricks , ( thinking from thence to infer that they were no other that the tricks of the magicians , though such an inference is of small force , it properly signifies by their inchantments ; and so iunius and tremellius , arias montanus , and pagninus expound it , all three in the same words , incantationibus suis , and in this his exposition of it he differs from most , if not all translatours . i am of the same opinion with him where he sayes the scripture speaks oftentimes according to the deceived apprehensions of men , and i cannot deny but it may be so in this expression of the slaves being turn'd into serpents ; but that it is so , as he affirms , in that of samuels being raised when saul came to consult the witch of endor , i cannot say , for the scripture sayes not that the witch raised samuel , and that he was sent by god , is not so very improbable as he would make it : for though god to shew his displeasure against saul , had refused to answer when he enquired of him , there is no reason from thence to conclude that he did not at this time send samuel to him , seeing god might do it for many reasons unknown to us : and 't is probable that if he had at first answered saul ( though he had received the same answer as he did now from the mouth of samuel ) he had not been stricken with so great a sence of his sin , and of gods anger against him , as by being first reduced to the extreamity of not knowing what to do , or whither to go for counsel , because god had refused to answer him . and to say that 't is unlikely that god would answer him when he sought in a forbidden way , is vain , for we see that he did the same , in sending elijah to meet the messengers of ahaziah , when they were going to enquire of beelzebub , in the first chapter of the second book of the kings . but we must not look for a reason of all gods actions ; we find that many times his great wisdom sees good to do those things which to us seem very strange , and unaccountable . besides 't is no small motive to perswade us that it was samuel , that the witch cryed out , as at some unexpected accident , being , it may be , frighten'd at the sight of one whom she so little expected : and this , 't is probable , made her say that she had seen a god coming up from the earth , meaning a blessed spirit . as for his argument drawn from samuels words , why hast thou disquieted me ? that he was not sent by god , seeing that could have been no trouble to him , it is of no force at all , for those words were spoken to saul's capacity , and as being words of course , importing no more than if he had said , why hast thou not suffered my body to rest ? that is , lye still in the grave : and the hebrew word in this place implyes no more than , why hast thou mov'd me to come up : so this phrase of dead bodies , resting , and being disturbed , is usual with us , though we know that they are not at all sensible of repose , or disquiet . but if it were not samuel , 't is very irrational to believe that it was either the witch , or any confederated person , for two reasons ; first , because it is said in the scripture , that saul knew that it was samuel , and he bowed himself ; for it is not imaginable that any man could so change his face , as that saul , ( who questionless was well enough acquainted with samuels countenance ) could be deceiv'd by it : and to think that saul saw him not is as ridiculous , for then why did he bow himself ? secondly , because he foretold saul's death ; for if , as this author supposes , it had been said by the woman at a venture , the more cunning way had been to have told him that he should live , for then if he had died , who could have accused her of falshood ? if he had liv'd she had told the truth : but to tell him positively that he should dye , and not only himself , but his sons too , and this with a limitation of time , to morrow , was something too much to be spoken at a venture . the second difference between our translation and the authors is , where he puts a seeker of an oracle , for a consulter with familiar spirits . here he tells you that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken in scripture sometimes for the gift of oracling , sometimes for the person that has such a gift : this is as much , and no more , than if he had told you that he is pleas'd to understand it so ; i confess as an oracler may be understood , that is , for one that takes and gives answers from the devil , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , may have that signification ; for ob properly signifies a daemon , or an evil spirit , and so the best hebricians expound it : now this being the true sence of the word ob , i see no reason for blaming our translatours , who have not at all erred from the original in this place . but he understands an oracler otherwise , to wit , for one that gave answers at a venture , and only followed the dictates of his own fancy , counterfeiting strange voices , thereby to deceive the people , &c. and so he interprets the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but how they came by that signification i cannot tell , for i find it no where but in his book . and from the scripture i think the contrary may be gather'd , viz. that ob and python , are taken for an evil spirit that possess'd the person divining , and not for the person himself ; we read in leviticus , the twentieth chapter , and the twenty seventh verse , and a man or a woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when there is in them a python ; which words [ in them ] seem to imply something of this nature , and that the ob was some distinct being from the person in whom it was , for he could not be in himself . and we find in some old translations , where mention is made of saul's turning the witches out of israel , 't is said , et qui pythones habebant in ventre . but whosoever reads the sixteenth chapter of the acts of the holy apostles , will be fully confirm'd that this is the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , except he himself be possessed with a spirit of contradiction , for he there shall find that as st. paul was walking he met a maid , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having a spirit of divination ( as our translation renders it ) and in the eighteenth verse , paul turning himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he said to the spirit , i command thee in the name of jesus christ to come out of her , and it came out that same hour . this methinks shews plainly to any body but our author , that this kind of divining was done by the help of the devil . but it may be he will say ( for i know no other way that he can answer it ) that she did but deceive the people by counterfeiting strange voices , and speaking in a bottle , or some such juggle , and that where st. paul bid the spirit come out of her , it is to be understood , that he bid her juggling tricks come out of her . but to those that rightly consider this place , it will plainly appear that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was no other than a devil ; and this being true , i see no reason to deny that the witch of endor was possessed with the same spirit ; or that the pythons of manasses were familiar spirits . thus i have almost done with his first chapter . but i cannot pass by one argument which he uses , without taking notice of it ; for i cannot tell , sayes he , how witches come in here , no , not how devils neither , except you believe that the devils made answer at heathen oracles , which if you do , i must crave leave to dissent : truly no man can deny him this leave , and he may dissent when he pleases , but i do not conceive my self obliged to follow his example ; for if they were , as he supposes , onely jugling tricks of the priests , i cannot imagine how it came to pass that they ceas'd so suddenly after our saviours time : beginning sensibly to fall away at the time of his birth , and since his death being wholly extinguish'd . for the first , we find something considerable in suidas , who writes that augustus , who liv'd at the time of our saviours birth , as he enquired of an oracle concerning his successour , had this answer given him . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in english — a boy of hebrew race , whom the blest gods obey , bids me go hence to hell without delay , in silence from our altars go thy way . hereupon augustus at his return commanded that an altar should be built in the capitol , with this inscription . haec est ara primogeniti dei. now if this story may be credited , it makes very much for the opinion of the devils answering at the heathen oracles , and this answer is not at all like the fancy of a juggling priest , it being neither for the priests interest , nor the credit of the oracle . thus we see how soon they began to decay upon our saviours coming : and we find another story to this purpose , which happen'd at the time of his crucifixion , in plutarchs morals , that part which is intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , why oracles are ceased , where he sayes , that a certain company sailing from greece towards italy , were suddenly becalmed , and heard a voice calling one thamus , who was an egyptian , and at that time in the ship ; but he being called twice gave no answer , but at the third time he said here am i ; whereupon the voice bid him , when he came at the ( shelves in the ionian seas which are called ) palodes , to publish that the great god pan was dead ; then the ship going forward , he did as he was commanded ; for coming to the palodes , he publish'd it from the poop of the ship ; after which immediately followed a great noise of many shreeking and lamenting together . this being told to tiberius the emperour , he enquired of the wise men of his empire , who this great god pan should be , but they could give him no better answer , than that he was the son of mercury and penelope . but the circumstances being considered , it was thought by the wiser sort to be our blessed saviour , this happening just at that time when he dyed upon the cross ; the devils making this great lamentation , for that they were from that time to quit those oracles by which they had so long deceiv'd the world. but however it was , we are certain that from that time they began to decay extremely , and in a short time came to nothing ; and the famous oracle of delphos was silent in iuvenal's time , as we may see by that expression of his , delphi oracula cessant : this their general silence is no small argument that there was something more in them than our author supposes ; for if they had been no more than such deceits as he speaks of , i see no reason why they might not have been acted as well since our saviours time as before , for we do not find that men are debarred the liberty of cheating , or that they are less cunning now than they were then . but it is probable that god would not suffer the devil to stand in such open opposition to his sons kingdom , and to carry on the interest of the kingdom of darkness , where the sun of righteousness was risen , and the light of the gospel was made manifest . now by the title of his second chapter he would make you believe that he there proves , that the opinion of witches had it's beginning from the heathen fables , but when you come to the chapter it self , there is no such thing ; indeed he tells you a story of one lamia , whose children were killed by iuno , and that she out of spight used to kill those of other women , and that from thence witches ( being called lamiae ) had their original : thus , a man who had never seen a swan , might dispute against their being , and say that the fancy of swans had it's first rise from ovid's metamorphosis , because he there speaks of one cyenus , who was chang'd into the first bird of that name . but the weakness of this argument is so obvious , that it stands not in need of a confutation : then he tels you how far the folly of men ( as he calls it ) has proceeded in their belief concerning the actions of witches , as if , says he , they could transform men and women into beasts , as if they could destroy the fruits of the earth , and the fruit of the womb , &c. i am of opinion that the most rational assertors of witchcraft are as far from believing that the practisers of it can change the bodies of men and women into those of beasts , as he is , though the common people that search no farther than the outward senses can discover , may believe it . but i see no reason why we should not allow the devil a little more cunning than pharaoh's magicians , for he grants that they by meer humane art could so far deceive the spectatours , as to make them believe that their staves were turned into serpents ; and i think the devil may go far beyond them in the art of juggling , as to do the same with the bodies of men and women : besides , the devil has those advantages which they had not , for being a spirit , he can take to himself a body of what form he pleases , which he may afterwards transform to any other shape ; so that when we think we see the body of a witch transformed , it may be only the vehicle of the devil in her likeness . and that he can destroy the fruits of the earth , or of the womb , and enable or disenable in matters venerial , seems not at all hard to be believ'd , seeing humane art can reach so far : as for his raising of winds and tempests , we need no other argument than that example we have in the first chapter of iob , to convinee us of it : besides , that he is called in scripture the prince of the air , is something considerable to this purpose ; and 't is probable that he may as easily cause lightnings and thunder , as he could bring down fire in such abundance upon iob's servants and cattel , as to consume them : now when we find in scripture , that winds and tempests have been rais'd by him , i think it is a sufficient warrant for us to believe that he can do it . then he tells you that examples of this prodigious power are scatter'd up and down the roman poets , and quotes you two whole sides out of ovid , virgil , horace , tibullus , propertius , and lucan , and alas , all this stir to very little ( or to speak more truly , to no ) purpose ; but onely to shew that these poets did speak of those things , and that indeed he has very clearly demonstrated : but i will not so much as suppose that he meant from hence to conclude that nothing of this nature is true , for then i might think that he would say , the world had no beginning , because ovid writes of it . but sayes he , the ingenious poets themselves , nor the wiser sort of heathens , did not believe these things ; and what then ? i hope he will not say that we must believe no more than the wiser sort of heathens did ; for if he does ( to use his own words ) i must crave leave to dissent . he says he could instance in many more of the ancients ( and all , i believe , to as much purpose as these . ) but he will conclude with nero the emperour , who having studied the art of magick , did at last despise it as vain , and promising more than it can perform . but what is this to the purpose , for it is no argument to say , nero could not be a witch , ergo , there are no witches ; it may be the devil thought nero sure enough without a contract , and 't is likely that he will not engage himself in such bargains when it is no advantage to him . besides , the devil will not appear to atheists , for fear of undeceiving them , and it may be he took this course to confirm nero in the belief that there was neither god nor devils ; and it may be that if he had made a contract with nero , he would have required more at his hands than our witches do , or then he was able to perform ; for his ambitious mind could not have contented it self with such petty practices as theirs are ; for he had already wherewithall to satisfie himself in the enjoyment of worldly pleasures , and he stood not in need of the devils help or any tricks of witchcraft to wreak his fury upon those that had offended him : but the devil usually takes advantage of poor silly wretches , over-ruled by malice and desire of revenge , and wanting means to execute their malicious designs , whom if he can satisfie in this particular , and in the accomplishing of their inordinate lusts and pleasures , they aim no farther . but i need not insist upon this ; it is enough to say , that his not being a witch , is no argument against the being of witches in general . his third chapter is nothing but the story of the first setting up of the inquisition , and of their proceedings ; where he tells you what a great number of witches were then discover'd , and supposes them to have been all innocent , having their confessions extorted from them by extremity of torment : truly i cannot say any thing to the contrary , but weak spirits may by torture be brought to confess any thing ; and i verily believe that many innocent persons suffered by this cruel way of proceeding , as well as those which were guilty ; but i cannot from thence conclude that none were guilty , either there or any where else , no more than i can say that because many at amboyna were forced by torture to confess that they had conspired against the governour , there are no traytors in the world ; so that i think i may pass by this chapter , and come to the fourth , which by the title seems more considerable ; for that tells you that there are arguments to prove that there is no such thing as a witch in scripture , as also to prove that there is no such thing as a witch at all . now because he has yet said nothing towards it , i suppose he has reserved his greatest strength for this chapter ; so that if i can come off here without harm , i shall think my business done ; wherefore it will not be amiss to take these arguments into consideration . the first , says he , shall be taken from the difference which is between our vulgarly reputed witches , and those which our translatours of the bible call so ; for who be they , but the kings , queens , and princes of this world ? whereas now adayes , they are poor , silly , and contemptible persons . now let any rational person judge if there be any force in this argument : for supposing this to be true , there will follow nothing from hence to his purpose ; for his argument rightly considered sounds thus , our translatours of the bible call none but kings , queens , and princes , witches . our witches now adayes are poor , contemptible persons . ergo , there is no such thing as a witch in scripture . this is a strange sort of argument to be brought by a rational man , and stands rather in need of pity than an answer : yet to satisfie him i will say thus much ; that he ought to consider that the scripture mentions the witchcrafts of kings and queens , as being the more considerable , and such as concern'd all israel in general ; and also , that in writing their lives , these practices of theirs could not be omitted : now it was not at all requisite that the scripture should speak of every old woman in israel , that was a witch , since it was nothing pertinent to the story : this i say might serve to answer him , supposing his assertion to be true , that the scripture makes mention of no other witches but kings and queens ; but that is not apparent ; for where the story required it , we find that the scripture does take notice of meaner persons that practised this art , as in that passage of the witch of endor ; as also where it is said that saul turn'd them all out of israel , for we cannot suppose that he turn'd out so many kings and queens ; but we may easily think that many of them were poor contemptible persons , as well as some of ours . but seeing there is nothing in this argument to stop me , i will pass to the second , which is drawn from the sadduces , who denyed spirits , and the resurrection of the dead , yet had the five books of moses in great esteem among them ; wherefore , sayes he , either they did not understand hebrew , or the notion of a witch does not appear in scripture . this argument is as weak as the other , for if he means that there is no mention of spirits in scripture , the contrary is easily proved , what ever the sadduces thought ; and it is very manifest from many places of scripture that there were both good and evil spirits : in the nineteenth chapter of genesis , and the first verse , it is said that two angels came to sodom ; so in the thirty second chapter , and the first verse , iacob went on his way , and the angels of god met him ; so we read that iacob , in his dream , saw a ladder that reacht from earth to heaven , and the angels of god ascending and descending on it : many other places there are where mention is made of the angels of god : now in the seventeenth of leviticus , and the seventh verse , it is said , and they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils ; and in the thirty second of deuteronomy , and the seventeenth , they sacrificed to devils , not unto god ; and other examples of this kind might be produced ; yet by his argument nothing of all this should be found in scripture . now if he once yields ( as he must do ) that the notion of a devil appears in scripture , for what end serves his argument drawn from the sadduces , but to shew that they were in an errour , and mis-understood the bible : but i cannot be convinced that the sadduces denied the being of spirits in general , though we read that they deny'd the resurrection , or that there was either angel or spirit , for that has reference only to the spirits of dead men ; for if they had denied all spirits and angels , 't is not likely that our saviour would have told them , as he did , that men in the resurrection should be as the angels of god , for what would such a comparison have signified to those who denied that there were such things as angels . now if we believe that they acknowledged any spirits , whence can we draw an argument to prove that they denyed the being of devils . but whatever the opinion of the sadduces was , we are not to be governed by their judgment , in deciding whether or no the notion of a witch appears in scripture , but by our own ; neither have we any great reason to rely upon their understanding of the scriptures , though this author sayes much for it ; seeing our saviour tells them that they erred , not knowing the scriptures . now for his third and last argument , which is taken from the different practices of those whom our translatours call witches , and those which are vulgarly supposed to be so ; for sayes he , our modern witches practise an occult and secret art , and 't is great art to discover them , by several strange signs and horrid tortures ; but the others practis'd what they did openly and in the face of the world : i have this to answer , that he is extremely deceiv'd in this point , for that the witch of endor practis'd openly , is not to be imagined , seeing she was so cautious when saul came to her , that she durst not do any thing till he had sworn to her that she should have no harm , but asked him why he laid a snare for her life . and since the law was so strict against them , as it is in the twentieth of leviticus , and the twenty seventh verse , where it is said , a man or a woman that hath a familiar spirit thou shalt not suffer to live , but shalt stone him with stones , his blood shall be upon him ( i say where such a law was in force ) it is not likely that this art was practised openly , and in the face of the world , as he sayes , but that they were as private as ours are ▪ but , sayes he , if they were so , how impossible was it for saul to turn them all out of israel ? 't is true indeed , it was impossible for him , neither did he , for the witch of endor was yet there ; and if one remained , there might be as well a hundred , or a thousand , notwithstanding his objection of the first of samuel , and twenty eighth chapter , where we read that saul had put away those that had familiar spirits out of the land , which must of necessity be understood , that he put the law in execution against them , putting all those to death which were discovered , so that they durst not practise openly ; and so he might well be said to put them out of the land , though there were hundreds yet remaining , which practised secretly and by stealth , because he used all possible means for the rooting them out of israel ; neither can he certainly say that manasses practised this art openly , for the scripture onely sayes that he used inchantments , and divinations , and dealt with familiar spirits , which he might do privately , though he was a king : yet i can easily grant that when both king and people were wholly given up to idolatry , and all other wickedness , any thing might be practised openly ; wherefore that hinders not but it might be the same art which our witches use now adayes , though practised in a different manner . thus i have done with his arguments , by which he endeavoured to prove that there is no such thing as a witch in scripture , and am now come to those by which he undertakes to prove that there is no such thing as a witch at all . to his first i perceive i shall not need to say much , it being onely this ; that seeing there is no such thing in scripture , it follows there is no such thing at all : therefore i shall onely say , that seeing the force of this argument depends wholly upon those which went before , they being already answered , this may keep them company . now he objects , that the law of moses being so strict against bestial and incestuous concubinage , it would seem very strange , the opinion of witches being true , that it should not so much as mention diabolical . to this i answer , that it is not at all strange that it should not mention particularities , when the whole art is forbidden upon pain of death ; for in that law [ thou shalt not suffer a witch to live ; ] this and all other their wicked actions , were included . so that , whether it was diabolical copulation , or killing of men or beasts by witchcrafts , or any other action of this nature , all was punish'd when the witch was ston'd to death . his second argument is taken from the miserable poverty of our vulgarly reputed witches ; for , sayes he , i am not willing to believe that they have such a power with the devil , as to make him do wonderful things at their command , when they cannot command him to fetch them money , &c. to this i answer , that certainly the devil deludes these people with the enjoyment of all sorts of pleasures which they desire , if not in reality , at least in the imagination , which is all one to them , as if they were real . now riches not being desirable for themselves alone , but onely as they conduce to a pleasant life , if they can obtain this without them , i see no reason why they should command the devil to fetch them money : besides , as they are people of a base and degenerate spirit , having no aim but malice and revenge , and the satisfying of their beastly lusts , and coming as near as is possible to the nature of the devils themselves , such a sordid way of living may be more suitable to their temper ; as also they may out of policy choose such an obscure and contemptible life to avoid suspition , and that they might have the greater freedom to practise their wicked arts , their actions not being so much pryed into , as those of more considerable persons . these reasons may suffice , though many more might be given for the removing of this objection . in the third place he sayes , that the opinion of witchcraft is attended either with irrationality or impiety , for that it is irrational to think that the devil being so full of malice , and breathing nothing but mischief against men , should suffer any man to live , when he can so easily kill us at the command of a witch : to this i say , that the devil cannot go beyond his commission , and that it is in gods power to stop the course of the devils malice , when , and where he pleases . besides , 't is very probable , that the laws by which the devils are governed , do not allow them that freedom ; for by that means the interest of the dark kingdom would not be carried on , seeing it is the ruine of the souls of men , not the destruction of their bodies , by which it is established . so that cunning and slye temptations are more advantagious to this end , than open violence ; for if the devil should take this course to wreak his malice upon men , they would be more sensible of his mischievous practices ; and finding themselves too weak to make resistance , it might be a means to draw them from their evil courses , and make them run to god for succour . this i say may be suppos'd , and it is enough to clear this opinion of irrationality , if we can guess at a reason why the devil would not take this course , though he had his liberty of hurting whom he pleas'd ; but it is certain that neither devils nor witches can hurt us without gods permission . but i see no such impiety in saying that god does many times permit such actions ( as the author seems to think there is , ) for then it were as impious to say that god suffers us to be tempted to sin ; yet we are certain that the devil cannot do it without his permission ; as appears by that expression of st. paul , he will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able , &c. so if we acknowledge that god is omnipotent , we must confess that no wickedness could be done in the world without his permission , seeing it is in his power to prevent it ; and there is no impiety in affirming that though god of his great mercy may preserve any man from falling into sin , yet he is not bound to do it , neither does he , as we see by daily experience ; and if we once grant that he suffers men to sin , where lyes the impiety of saying that he permits witchcraft ? if we do not deny that god suffers one man to murther another , why should we not , without impiety , confess that he suffers witches to do the same thing ? certainly no reason can be given why it should be more impious to say that he permits one sin , then another ; and if not , i see none , why this opinion should be charged with either irrationality or impiety . his last objection is as malicious as it is frivolous ; for , sayes he , the opinion of witchcraft being true , no man can be able by the light of reason to know if christ were a witch or no. but if he had considered the difference between the miracles wrought by the holy jesus , and the impostures of witches ; if he had considered the different ends to which they tend , if he had had any regard to the life and conversation of our blessed saviour , and that of an impostor , the holiness of the one , and the wickedness of the other , if he had weigh'd the words of our saviour , you shall know the tree by it's fruit ; can one gather grapes of thornes , or figgs of thistles ? he might have spared this objection . who ever believed , of all the rational assertors of vvitchcraft , that an impostor could infallibly cure all diseases by a word of his mouth , or a touch of his hand ? that he could raise the dead to life , after they had been so long buried as to stink in their graves ? that he could feed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes ; that he could cause the earth to tremble , and the sun to be darkened at his death ? the graves of dead men to be opened , and their bodies to arise to accompany him at his resurrection ; finally , that he could raise himself after three dayes burial , and converse for some days with men , and at last gloriously to ascend up to heaven in the sight of several witnesses . methinks the manner of our saviours birth is enough to satisfie us in this particular , that he was born of a virgin , that a glorious star appeared over the place of his birth , that a company of heavenly angels were sent to proclaim it , as tidings of joy to the whole world ; and that the wise men being led by his star , which they had seen in the east , came so far to worship him , and bring him presents . much more might be said to shew the great difference between them ; but i think it is so visible to those who have read the life of our saviour in the four evangelists , that i shall not need to insist upon it ; i will onely add , that the sweetness of his disposition , the sincerity of his doctrine , the holiness of his life and conversation , his transcendent knowledge , his zeal for the glory of god , and the salvation of men , are infallible testimonies to prove that he was no imposter : so that , if whatever has been by the common people ascribed to witches , which seems miraculous , were really true , and that they had done all , or more than has ever been believ'd of them ; yet should we have no reason to doubt of our blessed saviours divinity ; and his faith that thinks so , is but weakly grounded , and in danger of being shaken by every strange action , which is beyond the reach of his understanding . our saviour himself has told us that false christs shall come , with signs and wonders able to deceive , if it were possible , the very elect , which is enough to convince us , notwithstanding this authors objection , that such miraculous actions may be performed without a divine commission , as may carry with them a great shew of divine power ; but he is in a deplorable condition that from thence concludes that christ jesus might be an impostor . thus i have done with his objections ; after which he tells you his opinion of the nature and power of devils ; i believe , sayes he , that the devils are aërial creatures , and though they have more skill , strength , and agility than men , yet they act as men do by applying natural agents and patients , one to the other , in this sublunary vvorld ; but as for the vvorld aetherial , or coelestial , i suppose they have no power there , but consequently that the wind bloweth when and where it listeth ; and that the seasons of the year are neither promoted nor hindred by them , or the fruits of the earth : to this i answer , that i think it is apparent out of the first chapter of iob , that the devil may raise winds and tempests ; but i am of his opinion , that he cannot promote or hinder the seasons of the year , or alter the course of the stars and planets ; as for the last , touching the fruits of the earth , he himself has said enough against it , in the eleventh page of his book , where he sayes that men by their well ordering the seeds of plants may strangely promote the generation of such plants , and the ripening of their fruits ; therefore he adds , the devils being more skilful than men may strangely promote the generation of several creatures . thus having answered himself , he has sav'd me the labour ; and i see very little , or no reason that he has , to tax the affirmers of witchcraft , with approaching to the opinion of the persians , of two great principles of good and evil , both almighty ; for by the opinion of witchcraft , nothing of omnipotency is ascribed to the devil , as he supposes ; and by this saying , he seems not to understand what is meant by omnipotency ; for any one action , how strange soever it seems to us , cannot be an argument to prove an omnipotency in the doer ; so to say , if the devil can raise a wind , he must be omnipotent , is ridiculous , as much as if he said , i can blow with a pair of bellows , ergo , i am omnipotent ; i can do one thing , ergo , i can do all things : if the devil raises a wind , he does but act upon natural bodies , and by natural means , which requires nothing of omnipotency . so if he causes thunders , or lightnings , or if he changes one body i●to another , he has still matter to work upon , and so long we may suppose any thing to be done without omnipotency , b●cause we know not how far the laws of nature are intended . now for what he quotes out of the ancyran council , it is not much to be regarded , for it seems not to have been intended against the opinion of witches in general ; but to shew the folly of those witches which believ'd the illusions of the devil to be realities , and professed that in the night time they conversed with diana , or some other heathen god , or goddess : for they feared lest by this their folly the common people might be led to the old errour of the heathens , in believing a plurality of gods : this seems very plain from the words of the council ; — quod quaedam sceleratae mulieres retro post sathanam conversae , daemonum illusionibus , & phantasmatibus seductae , se nocturnis horis cum diana paganorum dea , &c. super quasdam bestias equitare ; and a little after , nam innumera multitudo hac falsa opinione decepta , haec vera esse credit , & credendo , a recta fide deviat , & in errorem paganorum devolvitur , cum aliquid numinis , an t divinitatis extra unum deum arbitratur . now that witches are deluded by the devil , and made to believe those things which are many times false , is not to be question'd ; but it does not follow , because they are deluded , that they are no witches ; neither can i find o●e sentence in all this decree to prove it : 't is true , they have endeavoured to shew that these nocturnal pleasures and recreations are onely imaginary , and delusions of the devil , and this seems to be the scope of the whole decree : and the other decree , — siquis credit quod diabolus aliquando creaturas in mundo facerit , et tonitrua , et fulgura , &c. sua authoritate fecerit , sicut dixit priscillianus , anathema sit ; it was made against that errour of priscillian , that the devil has a power in the things of this world , equal to that of god , and can do these things at his own will and pleasure ; wherefore these words , sua authoritate , are put in ; but it does not at all deny that he can do those things with gods permission ; and if it had , i think the authority is not so great , but that of the scripture is to be preferred before it . as for that which he objects that the devil did no more in the case of iob , than elijah , or any mortal man may do when he receives a commission from god , i think the contrary may be gathered from the scripture , i mean , that it was wholly sathans doing , having only obtain'd leave from god , for , god said to him , all that he has is in thy power ; and the same expression is again used in the second chapter , and the sixth verse ; behold , he is in thy power ; by which expressions we may gather , that god left it to him , and acted nothing of it himself ; and it immediately follows , sathan went out from the pr●sence of the lord , and smote job with sore boyls from the head to the foot ; it is not said , the lord smote him ; now if this last was done by the devil , why not all the rest ? besides , if god had been the actor , the limitation , onely upon himself stre●ch not forth thine hand , had been altogether needless . thus i have done with his fourth chapter , and am come to his fifth , which he intitles , an answer to their arguments which endeavour to prove , that there are witches , where i find the arguments which he produces against himself , to be these : first , that drums and trumpets have been heard when neither drummer nor trumpeter was near . secondly , that the persons tormented have fallen into their fits upon the sight of the suspected vvitches . thirdly , that immediately upon the threatning , or cursing of this or that person , such an accident has happened to the party threatned or cursed . and lastly , that the vvitches themselves have confessed it . the first he yields to be true , being unwilling ( as he sayes ) to gainsay the authority of so many in the world , who affirm it to be so , but he denys that from hence the being of vvitches may be proved : it is easily thought this author would not raise a devil which he could not lay again ; and that of so many arguments as may be brought too for the proof of vvitches , he would only make choice of such as he could answer , or at least would so order the matter , as to leave out the most material circumstances , thereby to render the argument invalid ; for it is true ( as he sayes ) that onely to hear drums and trumpets , and to see chairs and stools move about a room , and no body touching the one or the other , proves no more than the being of spirits ; but ( because he seems to allude to that story of mr. mompesson's house in wiltshire ) i will thus answer him ; that if these things shall happen in a gentlemans house , which was formerly undisturb'd , meerly upon the taking away of an idle fellows drum ; if the devil by such and such signs being demanded , shall declare that the drummer employ'd him ; if upon the drummers being condemned , and sent to the islands , shall be quiet , and upon his return these disturbances shall be renew'd , these circumstances will render the argument of no small force to prove contracts with the devil . now if he has ever heard the true relation of the foremention'd story , he will find in it all this that i have said . the second argument , that upon the sight of the witch the party has fallen into his fit , &c. he answers thus : first , he objects that these stories are different from the former , in this , that those are attested by several persons of credit , and these are grounded onely in the juggling delusions of impostors , and the foolish mistakes of the vulgar : to which i answer , that he speaks with too much haste , and considers not that these things have been sworn by innumerable , and many of them persons of credit , before judges of assize , and in the face of the countrey ; and that judges are not generally so careless of what they do , as to take away the lives of so many hundreds , upon no better ground than the foolish mistakes of the vulgar . secondly , he sayes , that if he grants these things to be true , he yet sees no reason to grant that there are witches , but rather to conclude that these spirits , which are so gamesome , in doing us mischiefs , when they perceive that any are suspected to have set them on work , use these tricks to confirm the suspition , making it their sport to see poor innocent people hang'd . here i will make him the same objection as he made against the being of vvitches , which is , that if the devil could by such tricks as these so easily deprive innocent people of their lives , 't is irrational to think that he would suffer any body to live , considering his great malice ; and if he answers , that he cannot do it without gods permission , i will say , in his own words , that 't is impious to concern the great god with these designs of the devil to take away innocent persons lives : thus by denying of vvitchcraft , he is fallen himself into the same irrationality , or impiety , of which he accused the assertors of it . but if , as he sayes , the devil should by such tricks endeavour the ruine of poor innocent people , 't is not probable , that he could make those persons actors in their own ruine , so that all their words and actions should contribute to it ; as it happens for the most part , for it is seldom known that people are hanged , because others fell into their fits at the sight of them , without any other evidence against them , but some suspitious actions of their own concurring . to the third , which is , that upon their threatning or cursing such things have happen'd to the party cursed , he answers , that it is not to be wondred at , if in the vvorld there has often happened a notable concurrence of events , &c. this i suppose he said , meerly for want of something else to say ; for it is not at all conceivable ( though once in a hundred years such a thing may come to pass , as that upon an old vvomans cursing a man may immediately fall sick , or dye ) that it should be so frequently done , and that such events should constantly attend the curses of some particular persons , more than others . the last argument is from the confession of the vvitch ; and he answers it thus ; that the wisest man in the world may by torture be brought to confess any thing , whether it be true or false : this answer seems very weak , when we consider , that this way of forcing confessions by torture is not in use with us , and by consequence , that can be no reason why our witches should confess themselves to be so , except it were really true . but that answer not sufficing , he has another , which is , that he believes , that some silly old women overgrown with melancholy and dotage , have really believ'd themselves to be witches , and to have done those things which not onely their foolish neighbours , but worshipful men in the vvorld , have charged them with . but suppose some one , or two , have been so extreamly foolish , as to be perswaded into that belief against their own knowledge , can it be thought that all were so ? or if we could conceive that any persons by being accus'd could be made to believe that they were vvitches , what is that to those who have freely accus'd themselves without so much as being suspected by others ? or what to those , who after they had past the danger of being perswaded into this folly , and had stood it out to the last with a stiff denyal , notwithstanding the clear evidences brought in , and sworn against them , after , i say , that they had past all this , without confession , have afterwards penitently acknowledged all upon the ladder ? to such as these his answer reaches not ; yet , that many such have been , is evident to any but those who believe no more than they have seen themselves . now , to suppose that an old man or vvoman , sunk in melancholy , may be perswaded to think themselves vvitches , is excusable , if that were all ; but to believe , that not onely the old man or woman , but the judge , the jury , and the whole assize , should be thus abus'd , the witnesses forswearing themselves , only to hang poor innocent people that have done them no harm ; and that not onely one judge , one jury , and one assize , should be so fool'd , but thousands of each , and all with nothing ; and to imagine that whole countries , nay , all the christian world , should be so over-spread with folly , as to establish laws against a sort of people which never were in being , is a madness of which whosoever is guilty , wants but one step more to become a sceptick , and reject the testimony of his own senses . thus , sir , i have answered , i think , what is most considerable in this book ; i will pass by the sixth chapter , as having nothing in it which requires an answer , it being little more than what has been said before , and onely to shew his fancy touching the first entrance of this opinion of vvitchcraft into the world ; so that the truth of this assertion being once proved , the ground upon which that chapter stands is taken away . and now sir , it is time that i free you from this trouble ( if you have had the patience to suffer it thus ●ar ) and that i beg your pardon for those many errours , of which either haste or ignorance have made me guilty ; which if you grant me , you will abundantly obliedge , sir , your most faithful servant . a perswasive to an ingenuous tryal of opinions in religion clagett, nicholas, 1654-1727. 1685 approx. 115 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-06 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a69762 wing c4370 estc r927 11780344 ocm 11780344 49019 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a69762) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49019) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 683:10 or 811:13) a perswasive to an ingenuous tryal of opinions in religion clagett, nicholas, 1654-1727. [2], 57, [5] p. printed for tho. basset ..., london : 1685. attributed to nicholas clagett; sometimes erroneously attributed to william clagett. cf. nuc pre-1956. advertisement: p. [1]-[5] at end. reproduction of original in duke university library and huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng catholic church -controversial literature. religion -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2006-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-03 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-03 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a perswasive to an ingenuous tryal of opinions in religion . london : printed for tho. basset , at the george near st. dunstan's church in fleetstreet . 1685. a perswasive to an ingenuous tryal of opinions in religion . § 1. the great reason why they are few in comparison who come to a right understanding and a well-grounded perswasion in matters of religion , is because they are not many who make a due inquiry into them . were this done more generally , there would not be so much ignorance and errour in the world , nor so great a variety of opinions and sects , as there is , and for the most part hath been in the world . and there are three sorts of men who fail of knowing the truth , for want of due endeavours to find it out . some there are who want ability or opportunity to inquire ; others , who wanting neither , do utterly neglect it , and will not apply their minds to it at all ; a third sort make but a very imperfect search after truth . and so all ignorance or mistake in things of moment , that concern the salvation of ▪ men , or the peace of the church ▪ may be attributed either to want of power and means to inquire after truth , or to unwillingness and perfect negligence , where it may be sought and attained to ; or to laziness , inactivity , and partiality in seeking it . to the first sort , we are not onely to reckon ideots , who want a competent measure of reason and understanding wherewith to judge , but those also that having the same common natural gifts of the mind with others , are yet by reason of their outward circumstances , kept almost invincibly ignorant , having very little or no occasion given them to inquire into things , that they might know them better . and thousands who sit in pagan , or mahumetan , or popish darkness , are thus detained in gross errours and remediless ignorance , as the case at present stands with them . but blessed be god this is not our case , who live in such a time and place as put no man under circumstances of incurable ignorance . as for the second sort of men ▪ who have plentiful means and fair opportunities of being better informed , but utterly neglect to use them , they are either such who remain under the power of those false principles which were instilled into them in their education , or who blindly follow erring guides , whose persons they have in admiration , resolving never to trouble themselves with a free and impartial use of their own reason concerning those doctrines which they have in their own opinion wisely and safely taken upon trust . it happens likewise very often ▪ that men are led away by lofty conceits of their own judgment ; and the extravagant opinion they have of themselves , will not suffer them to attempt such an ingenuous examination of things , as implies a possibility of their being deceived . but i believe they are more who take up opinions and engage in parties for worldly ends and carnal interests ; and these , of all others , are farthest from inquiring & conviction , because it is a great uneasiness to a mans mind , to find himself mistaken in those opinions which are for his profit or pleasure in this world . and mostly the power of custom strengthens all these causes of obstinacy in neglecting to inquire . men are not willing to quit the perswasions they have for a long time entertained , but had rather keep where they are , without troubling themselves to begin all anew , and to inquire whether they have not been all along deceived . and where most of these obstructions meet together , as they often do , in the same person , if he be not succoured mightily by the grace of god , his mind is barred up for ever against the knowledge of the truth . a third sort miss of the truth , not that they make no inquiry , but because they do this very imperfectly and superficially , and that either through sloth and laziness , being not willing to take that pains and care which is requisite for the discovery of truth ; or through partiality ▪ whence it comes to pass that they examine and 〈◊〉 onely or chiesly what is offered in favour of their own side , and make it the great end of their search not to follow what shall appear to be true upon inquiry , but to be confirmed in their present perswasion . and because diligence and honesty are very necessary dispositions in order to the right understanding of a great many things in religion , no wonder that they who inquire without these advantages , are rather hardned in errour than convinced of the truth . now these being the common causes of ignorance and errour amongst us at this day , and since they all center in want of due inquiry , i shall set my self to excite all sorts of people , who are not made incapable by natural weakness of understanding , to prove and examine things which concern their own souls and the peace of christians , with that diligence and ingenuity which becomes reasonable creatures . and though i know 't is a hard task that i am undertaking , by reason of the prejudices and corrupt interests of men which i must encounter ; yet i am sure no advice can be more rational than this , that we would be perswaded to use our reason , which if we do not , we lay up the common talent of our natures in a napkin . for god hath endued us with faculties whereby we can discern between truth and errour ; and moreover , with a natural desire to know the truth : so that the use of these faculties is inexcusably neglected , and this desire is foully corrupted and debased , if we are easily imposed upon in things of great moment . god in our creation hath enabled and inclined us to seek the knowledge of truth , and to inquire into the grounds of our belief and practice . and therefore to neglect this , is to abuse the first gifts of god , and to sin against nature . and it should be every mans care to find out that truth which concerns religion and another life , 〈◊〉 this is every mans greatest interest ; we should 〈◊〉 most diligence there , where to be deceived is of most dangerous consequence . but because there are some plausible pretences against a due and impartial enquiry in matters of religion , i shall prepare my way by endeavouring to remove those prejudices that lie against it ; and in order hereunto , i shall consider these three questions . 1. whether it be dangerous to private men to leave them to use their own judgment , and to be led by it in matters of faith and religion ? 2. whether a general liberty of examining and judging in those things , doth mischief in the church , and be the cause of schisms and heresies ? 3. whether if every one have a just right to examine for himself , this be not a good reason for toleration , or the universal liberty of practising according to a mans conscience or perswasion , after examination . § 2. 1. whether it be dangerous to private men to allow them the use of their own judgment in matters of religion . now to leave men wholly to themselves in this business , without directing them to use the best helps they can to find out the truth , is very dangerous indeed ; and no wise man will contend for this liberty of judgment in behalf of christian people , or of any sort of men whatsoever : for this were not so much to advise them to judge for themselves , as to conclude for themselves before they had taken any pains to judge . for i do not see how men can be said to judge , who refuse the means without which they can make no tryal . now the assistance of men of greater knowledge and ability than themselves have , is one very necessary means by which private and unlearned persons are to examine and judge in matters of religion . and god hath not onely given us ability to find out some truths by our selves , but also to weigh and consider what others offer to us : and therefore he hath appointed governours and guides of souls , that are to feed the flock , and to instruct christian people in the way to heaven . and one part of their work is to enable them to give an answer to every one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in them , i pet. 3. 15. which i conceive they cannot do , without informing and helping them to judge for themselves . so that liberty of examining in order to private judgment , does by no means exclude advising with and hearkening to men of greater skill and ability than our selves , especially to the publick guides of souls , but rather makes it necessary so to do , this being one means of gods appointment by which we are to inform our selves . and i grant that without very good and clear reason , we are not to depart from their doctrine , but in all doubtful cases to presume in favour of it . but that it should be dangerous to private persons to weigh and consider , as well as they can , what their guides teach them to believe or to do , this is that which i can by no means understand , unless it were a dangerous thing to follow our guides like men that have reason , and not like beasts that have none . it is at any time as safe to follow a guide with our eyes open , as to suffer our selves to be blindfolded , and then to follow him by a string . god hath referred us to guides , heb. 13. 17. but yet he hath trusted us to our selves too , and we are to try the spirits whether they be of god : otherwise we may follow guides that want guides themselves . and if the blind lead the blind , both fall into the ditch . to say that inquiries after truth with the best endeavours and means that we have in our power , is the way to be mistaken , is to reproach our own reason , and god the author of it ; since as it seems , the more we exercise and improve our reason , the more likely we are to be in the wrong , and to deceive and abuse our selves . at the great day of accounts , seducers shall answer for those whom they have deceived . and therefore the guides of the church are strongly obliged that they do not through wilfulness or negligence mislead us . but if they mislead us in things that touch our eternal state , i do not sind that all the blame will lie upon them , but rather that we also shall answer for it our selves : otherwise why should our saviour say , why of your selves do ye not judge that which is right ? luke 12. 57. and st. john , believe not every spirit , but try the spirits , &c. 1 joh. 4. 1. and st. paul , prove all things , hold fast that which is good , 1 thess . 5. 21. and , let no man deceive you , 2 thess . 2. 3. again , if it be dangerous to permit men to judge for themselves in that sense wherein i contend for it , then these are not wholsom but very dangerous exhortations . and yet if a church which pretends to be an infallible guide in religion , could make it out clearly and plainly that she is so , i should , without much examination of her particular doctrines , receive them as the oracles of god. but then i must have stronger arguments to assure me that she is infallible , than those which at present make me certain that she is actually deceived . for to submit to a pretended infallible authority , without knowing why i do so , is to put it into the power of others , for ought i know , to lead me into the most damnable errours , and to call virtue vice , and vice virtue . therefore they must be very convincing reasons upon which i am to believe that of my guide , which being once admitted , i must take his bare word afterward for all things else . i think none of the roman communion will deny this . and then it will follow , that for my own safety i am to use my own reason and judgment as severely as i can , before i admit this fundamental article of their faith. and this will amount to what i say , that it is so far from being dangerous for men to use their own judgment in matters of religion , that it is very dangerous for them not to do so ; since otherwise they are likely to follow men of the greatest confidence , as they for the most part are who have the least reason for it . besides , if i am led into errour by the authority of a church that does not pretend to infallibility , i may hope to recover the knowledge of the truth , especially if it be a matter of great consequence , more than if she pretended and i believed her infallible . for such a church will not so readily deny me the means of examining her doctrine , and so i may be able to discover the errour my self : if not , i have this comfort at least , that my guides being not engaged to contend that they are infallible , are themselves in the way of detecting their own mistake , and will more easily come off from it . but they that pretend to infallibility , are stak'd down to their opinions ; and though their cause be never so bad , they are engaged to serve it . and therefore this pretence is so far from discharging me of the pains of using my own judgment and reason in matters of religion , that i make the most foolish venture in the world , if i do not use my reason as strictly as i can in examining that very pretence before i admit it . and though a churches claim to infallibility were in it self never so just and well-grounded , it is to me but a pretence , till i understand the grounds of it . nor can any man blame me , if before i am convinced of the infallibility of that church , i take those particular doctrines into consideration which are to be believed upon this account , that i may this way also judge of the reasonableness of that pretence : for 't is not for nothing that men would be thought infallible . if i find the doctrine they would put off with such authority , to be indeed divine and heavenly , rational and scriptural , tending to the reformation and salvation of mankind , this will incline me to yield more easily to the antecedent arguments of the infallibility of that church . but if the doctrine for which she vouches this authority does , upon the most impartial tryal that i can make , appear to be worldly , unscriptural , or contrary to common sence ; then i am bound to examine the grounds of her pretence more severely than in the former case . and there is no question but such doctrines may be taught by men pretending to inspiration or infallibility , which will justifie a man in rejecting that pretence out of hand , and troubling himself no more about it . if a physician of never so great name should tell me that he would infallibly cure my disease , and then prescribe a dose of arsenick , i think reason would advise rather to question his infallibility , because he goes thus madly to work , than to take his poyson because he promises an infallible cure. now if i am not to do violence to my own understanding in things that concern my bodily health , much less should i do the same in things that regard my everlasting state . and they are a strange sort of men , who will allow people the liberty of using their reason as well as they can for the security of their worldly interests , but will have them be led in the great affairs of religion and eternity , as if they had no reason at all . for to judge aright , and to know the truth in matters of religion , which is our highest concernment , was the principal end for which we have reason , and are creatures of judgment and choice . and they may as well say that 't is dangerous for a man to walk abroad with his eyes open , as that 't is dangerous for him to take upon himself to judge as well as he can whether he be in the right way to heaven or not . § 2. if we consider what has been already said , it will not be difficult to answer the second question . 2. whether a liberty of examining and judging in matters of religion , doth mischief in the church , and be the cause of heresies and schisms ? to which i answer , that to affirm this , is in effect to say , that it had been much better , in order to the peace of the church , and the prevailing of truth , that men had been nearer to stocks and stones , than endued with natural abilities of judging , and natural propensions to use those abilities ; which i think would be to reflect upon the wisdom of our maker . for certainly it had been better for men to have wanted the faculties of judging and proving , if it be so dangerous a thing to the church to make use of them . nor is it much for the credit of the church , that it should be against her interest for men to examine her doctrine , and use their reason about it as well as they can . to speak to the thing : it is not the liberty of examination and judgment in order to the knowledge of the truth , that causeth heresies and schisms , but the not making a right use of this liberty , i. e. mens entring upon this work with pride , and the prevalency of lust and passion , and worldly interest , their want of care and diligence , and of proving things sufficiently ; their taking up opinions without reasonable examination , and then seeking for pretences to colour their obstinacy . the lusts and vices of men are against the peace of the church and the interest of truth , but not the use of that reason which is the divine part of our natures , and which god hath given us to restrain and govern our inferiour faculties . 't is true indeed , that if few or none troubled themselves at all to judge in matters of religion , there would be no heresies . but 't is true too , that if they had no reason to judge of these things at all , there would have been no heresies ; and 't is as true , that if there had been no religion at all , it were impossible that there should be heresies in religion . but will any men say , that reason or religion is therefore the cause of heresies ? and yet there is as much reason to say this , as to conclude that the use of our own understandings in the things of god , is the cause of heresies . these things are too gross to need a confutation . and yet this pretence against the liberty of proving what is propounded to us in religion , is intended chiefly against private and ordinary persons , but not against the publick guides and officers of the church ; whereas in truth , if there be any thing in it , it holds more strongly against these than against the other : and that because the most pernicious heresies that ever came into the church , were brought in by men of learning and authority in the church . and if this pretence be good , they of all men should be forbidden to inquire into matters of religion ; because if they fall into any dangerous mistake , their authority is likely to give reputation to it , and to make it go down more easily with the common people , than if it had been started by one of themselves . so that we must not lay the heresies that have been in the church , to the liberty we have been contending for , unless we will be content to exclude all from the duty of proving what they have been taught to 〈◊〉 . and no man can think this reasonable , unless he 〈◊〉 all religions to be equally true , that is , every one to be alike false . and he that believes this , needs not care what heresie he is of . § 3. 3. but if every man hath a just liberty and right to examine for himself , is not this a good reason for toleration , or for the universal liberty of practising according to a mans conscience or perswasion ? for to what purpose is liberty of enquiry , if after all , i must be concluded by the authority of my superiours , or else suffer under those laws by which they provide for uniformity in religion ? to this i answer , that every mans right and duty to judge for himself in matters of religion , is no good reason for toleration , unless it were also apparent that every man used that right as he ought to do , i. e. with industry , deliberation , and impartiality . if all men were sincere , and would examine without prejudice , without that byass to one side which is made by lust and passion , and worldly interest , if they all intended to know the truth , that they might do their duty , then doubtless it were very fit that all should enjoy an undisturbed liberty of practice according to their judgment ; for then no man would err in things plain and necessary to his own salvation and the peace of church and state. for our lord hath assured us , that if any man will do the will of god , he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of god. but so long as there is that hypocrisie in the world whereof men are conscious to themselves , so long as all those vices also reign , which insensibly corrupt the judgment , and make men disloyal to the truth , while they perceive it not ; it is by no means reasonable that the state under which we live , should leave us lawless , and free from all obligation of temporal penalties what religion we profess , and what communion we observe . for the most dangerous pretence for the ●●●rying on of seditious and rebellious designes against the government , is that of religion : and a few men that mean nothing but their own greatness and power , shall be able to manage the zeal of a superstitious multitude against the government for their own private ends , while they scorn the superstition of their followers , and perhaps all pretence to religion in their own hearts . and therefore it concerns the government to take care that the true religion be protected by the laws , and then to provide by the most prudent methods that no other be professed in the commonwealth . if it be said , that the end of all liberty to inquire and judge for our selves is destroyed , if at last we must conform to the laws , or be punished for our refusal : the contrary will be easily shewn to any one who believes that we are infinitly more concerned what will become of us in the life to come , than in our present fortunes . for suppose that they are errours which authority requires us to profess , and that they are unlawful things which it requires us to do in divine service , and that by a due and diligent examination of things i come to know this ; do i get nothing by my enquiry , but the severity of those humane laws that are against me ? do not i obtain the comforts of a good conscience , in having honestly endeavoured to know the truth , and in doing what i thereupon knew to be my duty ? if i do hereby obtain gods favour at present , and shall obtain gods rewards in a better life , is not this worth all my care and sincerity , though i should get nothing by it in this world but trouble and persecution ? so that it is worth the while to examine the doctrine imposed upon me by authority , though i know before-hand that be it right or wrong , i must be punished by man if i receive it not . true religion , and our observation to profess gods truth , and to do his will , stands indeed upon the authority of god , and the evidence of divine revelation ; but nevertheless , the profession thereof ought to be encouraged and protected by the powers of the world ▪ and by consequence all false religions should be discountenanced , and the profession of them made uneasie by their laws : scripture and reason teach us , that they no less than parents , should use that authority for god , which they have received from him . but if they , for want of sincere tryal and examination , do themselves establish iniquity or heresie by a law , and turn the edge of their power against the true religion , they must answer it to god at the day of judgment , who hath shewed them as well as others , what is good and what he required of them . in the mean while persecution distinguishes between the sincere and the hypocrite ; and as the insincere study how to perplex the truth , and to avoid the convictions that are upon their minds , and to reconcile their apostacy to their credit and consciences ; so the honest inquire into the grounds of their faith more diligently , and being desirous to strengthen themselves under sufferings by a full assurance that they suffer for righteousness sake , they search into all the grounds of their perswasion more narrowly than if they had never come under this temptation : and by this means the true doctrine comes to be propounded to the world , with the advantage of stronger arguments , and those better managed than if it had never met with opposition . but if the true faith and worship be establish'd by law , and the penalties of nonconformity be strictly required ; this is so far from hindring men from enquiring , that it lays an obligation upon a great many to consider things impartially , who otherwise would never have looked but upon one side of the question ; i mean all those whom either wantonness and self-conceit , or faction and worldly interest , or the undue admiration of mens persons , and the like , would have held under a constant prejudice against reason and truth . a carnal argument for a good cause , is very often a wholsom means to remove a carnal prejudice against it : and the authority of the magistrate can hardly be better used in matters of religion , than to make such a difference between the observers of the ecclesiastical laws , and the dissenters from them , that it shall be very hard for any man to lie under a worldly temptation , to dissent sufficient to recompence the damage he must undergo . this will make a great many impartial in weighing the objections against conformity , with the arguments and answers on the other side , and by degrees bring them to the knowledge of the truth , and at length to a sincere love of it . it is a false maxime , that force in matters of religion makes hypocrites , but not true converts . for sometimes it cures hypocrisie , very often ignorance and partiality ; and that is a good degree towards conversion : and yet this will not justifie the putting of men to death for mere difference in religion . the least degree of severity which will do the business , is great enough . the supreme powers should consider their subjects in these cases , as a wise and good father would consider his own children ; who if he had power of life and death over them , would not kill his misbelieving son , and yet would try to reduce him by worldly discipline , and drive him to consideration by the sensible effects of his displeasure . the moderation of the english laws for uniformity , is visible to all disinteressed persons ; and though the unevenness of their execution hath rendred them less effectual , yet there are several who have cause to bless god for being compelled to come to our churches , and to consider the terms of our communion with some impartiality ; whereas if there had been an absolute toleration , their ignorance and prejudices might have led them they know not whither . the church of england causeth the scriptures to be publickly read , and puts them into the peoples hands , and desires nothing more than that every one would diligently and impartially consider the cases between her and those that separate from her . and it is no absurd thing to say , that this liberty of judgment which she allows , is consistent with the english laws that require conformity of all ; since if it had not been for those laws , some men had never attained to liberty of judgment but had still been held in bondage to their prejudices and errours . 〈…〉 , that they make the greatest noise for liberty of practice , according to their judgment , who have made little or no use of their judgment in distinguishing between good and bad , true and false . they demand one liberty , while they make no use of another ; the liberty of being undisturbed and licentious in a wrong way , while they never use that liberty of examining the grounds of their perswasion , to which the church so vehemently perswades them by her ministers . if it be urged , that when a man sets himself with honesty and diligence to examine the case of communion with the chnrch , and doth all that he can to inform himself aright in this matter , but cannot be satisfied that he may lawfully conform , and this through mere weakness of understanding ; it is not reasonable that he should suffer any thing for that . it may be said on the other side , that there are many more who fail of understanding their duty in this kind , for want of examination and inquiry , and through the prevalency of prejudice and passion , than there are of those who continue erroneously perswaded through mere weakness of understanding . but as for those who in perfect weakness remain unconvinced , if i may suppose any such , i wish the laws could distinguish them from the rest , and that they could be known by some visible characters , that they might be exempted from undergoing any penalties . but since this cannot be , it must be endured that a few or none in comparison , come to have hard measure , by means of that which is necessary for the common and publick good . § 4. having premised thus much concerning this subject , i shall proceed in this method following . i. to consider in what cases we are to enquire most of all into the truth . ii. to shew how or by what rules or tests we are to try and examine opinions in religion . iii. how we ought to be disposed and qualified that our inquiries may be profitable and successful . iv. to lay down some motives whereby to perswade men to such inquiry and examination . v. to consider what becomes us and is our duty , after the discovery and knowledge of the truth . i. i shall consider in what cases we ought to be most careful in making inquiries after the truth , lest we be imposed upon ▪ or mistaken . all inquiries about religion are either concerning the truth of religion in the general ; or supposing the existence and providence of god , which is the true religion , whether the pagan , or the jewish , or the mahometan , or the christian ; or the truth of the christian religion being granted , what communion of men professing christianity , is to be chosen ; for instance , whether the church of rome , or the church of england , or the communion of the dissenters who separate from this church . but now all things are not alike needful to be proved , or are equally proper matters of inqniry . for , 1. every man is not bound to know all the false ways of religion that are in the world , and therefore not to try and examine every one of them . it is sufficient for most men , that they well consider the faith and profession to which they have been educated , that if it be the truth , they may be well-grounded in it ; if it be false , that they may upon good reason depart from it . 2. things that are self-evident , need not to be examined : for no argument can make them plainer to us than they are already . we may without any hesitation assent to such principles as these : that god cannot lie ; that men ought to observe fidelity and justice to one another , and the like . if there were not some principles that needed no proving , it were impossible to prove any thing ; and the more plain any thing is in it self , the less need there is to examine it . if i am told that white is black , i shall not go about to disprove it , because the thing is evidently false of it self , and i can use no argument that can make the matter plainer than it was at first . in like manner , if any man pretends that there is no difference between vice and virtue but in name , and that all things are equally lawful ; this shall not put me to the trouble of examining the thing , because 't is contrary to the common sense of mankind . and for this reason any man is to be excused that dismisses the doctrine of transubstantiation , without taking much pains about it ; because upon a very little consideration , there appears so many gross contradictions and inconsistencies in it , that i can have no greater reason to believe any thing is true , than i have to believe that is false . 3. some things are hardly worth the examining , and it signifies little or nothing to understand the right side of the question . if the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the virgin mary were true , yet it were not worth a quarter of the pains they have taken about it in the church of rome . it is by no means true , that an infallible living judge is necessary upon earth , and that for the deciding of all controversies in religion ; since all such controversies are not necessary to be decided , some of them being of so little concern to us , that it is no great matter if they remain controversies to the worlds end . but we ought to use our reason as well as we can to find out the truth in all those cases wherein it will be dangerous to be deceived ; and therefore in these four : first , when any man or company of men would gain us over to their way by lofty and extraordinary pretences . secondly , when doctrines are propounded to us with considerable authority , which seem to encourage licentiousness , and to render all care of living well needless . thirdly , when we are tempted to separate from the communion of the establish'd church where we live , or if we are in a state of separation from it . fourthly , when opinions in religion are propounded to us by those that would get us to yield up our judgments wholly unto them , and do what they can to keep us from examining them . a prudent man would examine in all these cases ; first , when men make extraordinary pretences . the reasonableness of which i have already shewn , with reference to that pretence of the church of rome to infallibility . and the like is to be said of those that pretend to work miracles , or that talk of immediate revelations , of knowing the truth by inspiration , and of more than ordinary illuminations . for it is not onely a childish thing to be frighted with big words from looking what is under them , but a very dangerous sort of cowardize , to be afraid of calling those things into question which are set off with such highflown pretences . for from hence it has come to pass , that superstition and idolatry , enthusiasms and impostures , have prevailed so much in the world. it is somewhat strange that we should believe men the more , for that very reason upon which we should believe them less , that is , for magnifying themselves . and yet if this had not been common , mahomet had not imposed upon so great a part of the world , nor the church of rome upon so great a part of christendom , nor our enthusiasts upon so many people in england as they have . i would not be backward to give that man a hearing , that pretends to great things in teaching religion ; but then i should be something forward to give him a tryal too : for otherwise i might encourage a very impudent hypocrite to be more impudent still , and to play upon my easiness till i had swallowed all the foolish and damnable opinions which he would have me believe for his own advantage . secondly , when we meet with doctrines that seem to strike at the foundations of morality and good living , we are to examine them too , before we yield our assent ▪ though they be recommended by men of name and authority . for the end of divine truth is a good and holy life ; and therefore i should suspect that to be false doctrine , which in my judgment either takes away the necessity of piety and virtue , or discourages men from endeavouring to attain them . for instance , i find this doctrine maintained by some men of great note , that god hath from all eternity absolutely chosen some men to salvation , and reprobated the rest , without respect to any personal qualifications . now if this be true , i cannot see for my life how the obtaining of eternal happiness , and the avoiding of damnation , depends upon any care of mine , or upon any thing that i can do , since every mans state is absolutely over-ruled by predestination and an irreversible decree ; so that let me do what i please , all that i can do for another world will be but lost labour , and might as well be spared . but if i am sensible of this , it is but reasonable that i should not rely upon the credit of the author or of the preacher for so perilous a doctrine ; but because it is pretended to be grounded upon the ninth chapter to the romans , i should go to the apostle my self , and carefully inquire into his meaning in that place , by the best rules of interpretation that i can learn. and whoever goes thus impartially to work , will find that the apostle in that place was discoursing of another question , and indeed upon a subject that has nothing to do with this question of absolute election or reprobation of the persons of men ; and that though the words sound that way to a man that is already prepossess'd , yet the meaning of them is nothing to the purpose . suspicion of doctrines when it is grounded upon so good a reason as we are now speaking of , should cause inquiry , and then that inquiry will discover on which side the truth lies . he that would be a libertine , and live as he lists , may be pleased when he meets with any pretended doctrine of religion that will excuse a wicked life , or discourage virtue and holiness ; and therefore it is likely that he will rest satisfied , and examine no farther . but an honest mind will not let a man deceive himself in this manner ; but if it does not cause him to reject such opinions as soon as ever he has well satisfied himself of their consequences , it will at least keep him from admitting them , till he has tried them every way that he can . thirdly , we ought also to be very well satisfied , and that upon much consideration of the matter , before we separate from the communion of the church where we live . for whatever some men may think of it , this is a business of so weighty a nature and consequence , that it is not to be resolved upon or continued in , till we are sure we are in the right , and that upon most plain and evident reasons . and if there be any case in which a christian ought not to go rashly to work , this is one . and therefore it is greatly to be lamented , that so many amongst us pretending to the power of godliness , should make so light a matter as they plainly do of running into separate congregations ; it being very notorious , when one discourses the point with them , that they never enquired why the church-assemblies were to be forsaken , and what it is in the establish'd forms of worship , or in the terms of our communion , that makes it needful for an honest and wise christian to depart from it . and this is an argument that they take it to be a matter of very little consequence ; for otherwise they would have applied themselves with more diligence to weigh it in all the particulars that belong to it . and therefore i shall offer some reasons in behalf of such inconsiderate people , to convince them how bold and dangerous a thing it is to separate from this church of england , unless they were fully satisfied upon mature examination that there are just and necessary causes for separation , such namely as will make them sinners against god , if they do not separate . 1. if without just cause i separate from this church , i do wilfully reject the great blessings and advantages of communion with it , and must be answerable to god for slighting that merciful providence of his through which i happened to be born and bred in a place where i might enjoy the benefits of church-communion , without venturing at any disorderly and sinful practice for them . surely it is no small blessing , if my lot has been cast where so great a blessing did , as it were , lie in wait for me , where the true christian doctrine and way of worship was recommended to me by publick authority , and establish'd by law and custom , and defended to my hand by clear and strong arguments . if this be our case in the church of england , then my separation from her ( i say it again ) makes me guilty of a stupid and ungrateful contempt of gods exceeding mercies in disposing my condition in this world so to my advantage , that i was born , baptized , and bred in a place where the truth invited me , and was ready to receive me , before i made one step towards a search after her . indeed to be baptized within the communion of a particular church , and to have been born and to live under that authority which requires me to keep close to it , is of it self no sufficient reason why we should continue to be of it ; but it is a mighty reason why we should examine things carefully before we leave it , or take up a resolution never to return to it , if we have left it already ; because if there be no just reason for separation , we shall have the more to answer to god : for it is a great fault to neglect searching after the truth in matters of this concern , even when it lies a great way off from a man ; but it is much more inexcusable to reject it when it lies at our doors . 2. i had need be very careful and impartial in this case , since if the reasons upon which i separate be not really weighty and substantial , i am at once guilty of throwing off that subordination and subjection to the pastors and guides of the church , which the christian profession requires , and of contemning the lawful commands of my superiours in the state , contrary to the rule of the gospel which obliges me to submit to their ordinances . i should not easily be led to a practice where there is danger of such a complicated sin . 3. i am to consider , that differences in religion and worship , do dangerously affect the peace of kingdoms and all other societies , especially where the interests of church and state are so mixed and interwoven together as they are in england . they that agree in religion , are the most likely to be at peace , and to agree together in other things . but it seldom happens that they maintain hearty correspondence in any thing , who are of opposite communions in the service of god. when the unity of the church is broken , there is a foundation laid of those uncharitable censures and animosities which for the most part end in violence and bloudshed , very often to the dissolation of kingdoms and nations . it were easie to put this out of question by several instances of the sad experience which christendom hath had of it . but the late and sad example hereof at home , is enough to make all others needless for our conviction . the rebellion here was supported by nothing more than by difference about religion . this was the principal cause that brought together so many people against the king , and that inslamed them with anger and resolution to venture all , till they had secured the king and enslaved the kingdom . i need not say ( for sure every body must be sensible of that ) how diversity of religions weaken the government , and render a people unable to do well for themselves , to oppose foreign enemies , and to use the most likely opportunities for the common safety and prosperity . therefore in love to our country , and for the sake of peace at home , and of success in all just enterprizes abroad , we should be very backward to violate the present constitution of the church , and to unsettle the state of religion , and never separate from the establish'd communion , till we find our selves forced to it by reasons so plain and weighty , that there is no avoiding of it , if we would keep our selves honest men and good christians . 4. the setting of a bad example to others should in this case be most considered . for if where a necessary reformation in things of religion is made by just authority , or a lawful separation made by private persons from a communion polluted with unlawful conditions ; it is yet very hard to keep the example from being abused by others in reforming or separating without any such cause , and will still be of worse consequence to set an example of wanton and unjustifiable separation : for this is so plain a contempt of authority , order , and unity , that others will be afraid to subdivide into more parties , as self-conceit , ambition , or revenge , or the like evil dispositions shall prompt them . 5. if separation should not be made but with very great caution , for fear of incurring the guilt of schism by a causeless and unlawful departure from the assemblies of the church , and setting up other assemblies in opposition to them . this in the judgment of the ancient christians was no less than for a man to cut himself off from the catholick church of christ ; and if the body of christ be but one , as the scripture plainly tells us , he that divides himself from any particular church that is a member of this body , divides himself from the whole body . and therefore schismaticks were not accounted by the ancients to be within the church , although they retained the profession of the common faith. and surely a man would well advise with himself about an action whereby he may be in danger of putting himself into that condition . the vnity of christians in one body and communion , was instituted by our lord for very great and weighty reasons , and particularly for the securing of brotherly kindness amongst his disciples , who being members of the body of christ , should therefore love and care for one another more than other men are wont to do ; and for the retaining of professors within the rules of a true christian life , from which if they should break away by any scandalous practice , they were to be punished for it by the shame of being turned out of the communion of the church , and by the loss of the great advantages thereof . but it is evident , that they who are guilty of dividing the communion of christians , and setting up one communion in opposition to another , without necessary cause , do what in them lies to render this provision for the maintenance of charity and purity of manners amongst believers , altogether ineffectual . and we see by experience that hatred and ill will , and looseness of life , gains ground more by the schisms that are amongst christians , than by any thing else ; and no wonder , since men that are of different and opposite communions do not use to love one another ; and vicious persons do not value the communion of a true church , nor care if for their ill manners they be turned out of it , when they can take sanctuary in a pretended church of another communion , that makes as loud a claim to all the priviledges of a chruch-society as that church can do from which they have divided themselves . which things being considered , we are not to wonder that in st. cyprian's time schism was accounted no less , but rather a greater fault than to sacrifice to idols for the avoiding of persecution . for though idolatry simply considered be in it self worse , yet schism in its consequences is more pernicious . he that is the head of a schism , does more mischief to the church than if he turned a pagan or a mahometan . the conclusion from hence is this : that it concerns every man that separates himself from an established church , it concerns him , i say , as much as his soul is worth , to look to it that the cause of his separation be just and necessary , and such as will throw the guilt of schism upon that church from which he separates . but alas , how few are they that examine the reasons upon which they have broken away from the church of england ? how many , that when they are pressed in good earnest , can say no more for themselves than that they have better preaching , and more spiritual praying elsewhere , than in our parish-churches ? how will they abuse our prayers and call them porridge , and such other vile names , who never in all their lives so much as read them , and are not ashamed to own that they have not ? they call the bishops antichristian , and the rites and ceremonies of the church idolatrous or superstitious , who yet never well considered what antichrist means , what is idolatry or superstition ; who have little or nothing to say , if they be asked what evil is in bishops , in liturgies , and in the rites of our worship . how many others are there who read the books written to defend the separation , but will not vouchsafe so much as to look upon any one that is published in behalf of the communion of our church ? god of his mercy give a better spirit to such people , and repentance to those that have misled them . fourthly , we should not easily believe those men in matters of religion , who would keep us from examining their doctrines by fair ways of tryal , and would affright us into an implicit faith , by pronouncing damnation against all that are not of their own way . if men use violence or subtlety to hinder us from judging for ourselves , there is great reason to suspect that they are conscious to themselves of a bad cause which will not bear the tryal . i need not say how this reaches the roman church , which forbids the laity to read the scriptures , unless some one lay-man has that special favour granted him of leave so to do from his ordinary , who commonly is wise enough not to give this license , but where he is sure the party is fast enough to the cause of that church . those of the separate congregations best know what arts are used to keep the people that go that way , from informing themselves by reading our books , or discoursing with our ministers about the matters in controversie between them and us . but we are not ignorant of all of them , some of their leaders teach them to pity our ignorance , and want of illumination ; alas , poor wretches that we are , we know not the things of the spirit of god! we are strangers to the life and power of godliness ! thus they use to represent us . they take all the good names and promises of the scripture to themselves , and leave the threatnings of god , and the punishments inflicted upon his enemies , to us . now this is but a cunning and indirect way to keep the people from hearkning to any thing we can say to 'em , and to teach them how to conclude against us , without thinking it to any purpose to examine what is offered on both sides . they that have a good cause , need not use those disingenuous arts ; they will not fright men from considering what their adversaries say , by denouncing damnation against them , nor forbid them to read their books , but rather encourage them to do so , that they may see the difference between truth and errour , between reason and sophistry , with their own eyes . this is the effect of a well-grounded confidence in the truth ; and there is this signe of a good cause apparently discernable in the application of the clergy of this church both to their friends and enemies . they desire both the one and the other to consider impartially what is said for us and against us . and whatever guides of a party do otherwise , they give just cause to those that follow them , to examine their doctrines so much the more , by how much they are unwilling to have them examined . it is a bad signe when men are loath to have their opinions seen in the day , but love darkness rather than light . thus i have shewn in what cases we are most concerned to examine the doctrines of those that undertake to inftruct and guide us . § 5. ii. because the duty of proving all things supposes certain rules and tests , by which doctrines are to be examined and tryed , i proceed to shew what they are . now it is very certain that the rules by which we are to try doctrines for our own satisfaction about them , are no other than those want of argument by which a wise man would prove the truth of his perswasion to others for their satisfaction . and therefore it is plain that those rules must be common to me and to other men whom i would also guide so into the knowledge of that truth to which i have attained . and they are these three . 1. reason , which is a common rule to all men . 2. scripture , which is a common rule to all christians . 3. antiquity , or the uniform judgment and practice of the church in the first ages of christianity ; which is a common rule to those who are verst in the histories of the primitive church , and in the writings of the fathers . the two former rules are the principal and most necessary , and we are safe if our perswasions in religion will bear the test of reason and scripture , and withal those rules are near at hand for every mans use amongst us . but the last rule is also of good use to those that can use it , for their own confirmation in the truth , and stopping the mouths of gain-sayers . but more particularly , 1. by reason , i do not understand that faculty by which we are men , and can compare one thing with another , and argue and conclude , &c. for this is that natural power by which we use any kind of rule whereby to judge of the truth or falshood of opinions in religion ; but i understand by it , those common truths which are natural to the minds of men , and to which we give a ready assent , without any need of having them proved by any thing else . for by these fundamental truths we are to prove all things else ; and if there were none such , we could prove nothing . and they are such as these , that nothing can make it self ; that the same thing cannot be and not be at the same time ; that common sence is to be trusted ; that god is a being absolutely perfect ; that the good is to be chosen , and the evil to be refused ; and that contradictions cannot be true , and the like . now whatever is by true consequence deduced from such principles , is thereby proved to be true ; and whatsoever is repugnant to them , or can be disproved by them , is false . they are the forementioned propositions , with others as self-evident as they ; which make up that which we call the light of nature or of reason . and i mention this rule in the first place , because it must be presupposed to all other ways and means of enquiring after truth , and without which nothing could be done in it ; insomuch that the belief of that truth which is not to be deduced from mere natural reason , but depends upon a divine testimony , is at last resolved into a rational act , and relies upon this natural principle , that god cannot lye . wherefore they that cry down reason , as if it were at no hand to be trusted in matters of religion , and call it carnal , blind , and foolish reason , and such-like vile names , if they are in good earnest , they are incapable of searching after truth themselves , and of receiving any satisfaction from others . while they are in this humour , i may as well take a beast to dispute with , as go about to convince them . and if all men were thus senseless , it were impossible that men should be serviceable to instruct one another in the things of god. but to abandon the use of reason in matters of religion , and to scorn a man when he speaks consistently , and argues clearly from common principles of truth , is such a wretched sort of unmanliness , that i cannot but think it is for the most part taken up in designe , by those men that have brought nonsence , and contradictions , and absurd opinions into religion ; which no man can admit , without doing violence to his own understanding . for when hypocrites have for their worldly interest debauched religion in this manner , they know that the meanest people will never swallow their gross absurdities , unless they can first prevail with them to believe that 't is a dangerous thing to trust their own eyes , or to hearken to any discourse from principles of reason , though it be never so clear and strong ; and that it is a kind of merit to believe things incredible , and to stick to a conclusion the faster , the more impossible it seems to be true . but by the way , if reason be one , and that the first means by which we are to judge for our selves in matters of religion , as i shall make bold to say it is , i should vehemently suspect , without farther examination , that they know their opinions to be very foolish , who at first dash renounce the most general and necessary rule by which they are to be tried . i shall onely adde , that because the fundamental principles of reason are the same all the world over ; reason is therefore the most publick rule and test , whereby to judge between truth and errour . and therefore if a council defines things in that manner , that i must forsake right reason to follow its definitions ; when i make this plain , this is not opposing a private spirit to a publick judgment , but appealing from a less publick judgment , to the most publick sence and judgment of mankind . § 6. 2. as reason is a rule to all men , so is scripture a rule to all christians , at least it ought to be so ; and all pretend to make it a rule for their judgment , by appealing to it . the church of rome indeed allows it to be but part of the rule of faith ; we say it is an intire and perfect rule thereof . however , so long as she acknowledges the scriptures to be a rule , though she pretends there is another rule besides that , she is to be concluded by the authority of the scriptures ; and so we are to be acquitted by her , in not believing her against the scriptures . now every body must grant that we do not judge rightly by the scriptures , where we mistake the meaning of the text. and we ought to be sure that the sence wherein we take any place , is the true sence , before we make our interpretation of it a rule whereby to examine other things . where the sence is very plain , it requires nothing more than common sence and common honesty to understand it ; and it is very reasonable to suppose that god hath revealed all points necessary to salvation so clearly and plainly , that it is not difficult for an honest man to understand what they are . but because there are many obscure places in the scriptures , we must be very careful not to ground any doctrine upon them , till we have well weighed and examined the meaning of those places ; and the way to be secure from any dangerous mistake in concluding from places of scripture that are more or less hard to be understood , is to observe such cautions as these are , which i think all christians must allow to be reasonable . 1. that we take no text in a sence which is repugnant to common sense and natural reason . 2. that we put no sence upon a place of scripture that is repugnant to the general scope and designe of the whole word of god. 3. that we understand no ▪ difficult places in a sence that is contrary to to those places whose meaning is plain and manifest to all men . 4. that we mistake not those places for plain , which are not so . 5. that we put no other sence upon a text than what agrees with the scope and designe of that particular discourse wherein we find it . 1. before we conclude upon the sence of a text , so as to prove any thing by it , we must be sure that sence is not repugnant to natural reason . for if it be , it cannot be the true meaning of the scripture . for god is the original of natural truth , as well as of that which comes by particular revelation ; and , as hierocles saith , to believe and obey right reason , and to follow god , are the same thing . and therefore no proposition that is repugnant to the fundamental principles of reason , can be the sence of any part of gods book ; and that which is false and contrary to reason , can no more be true and agreeable to the revelations of scripture , than god , who is the author of one as well as the other , can contradict himself . from hence it is evident , that these words , this is my body , are not to be understood in that sence which makes for the doctrine of transubstantiation , because it is impossible that contradictions should be true ; and we cannot be more certain that any thing is true , than we are that that doctrine is false . there are some other doctrines maintained by men of name in the world , that they have no better grounds for , than obscure texts interpreted contrary to the principles of natural reason and religion . this caution therefore is to be minded in the first place . 2. we must put no sence upon a difficult place , which contradicts the great end and drift of the whole bible . now that is , to work faith in men , and thereby to bring them to repentance , and to a holy life . and therefore whatsoever doctrine does naturally tend to take men off from the care of holy living , by nourishing them in foolish presumption , or driving them to miserable despair , cannot be the doctrine of the scriptures ; and therefore such a doctrine cannot be proved from any obscure text of the bible , and by consequence that sence of an obsure text from which it may be proved , is not the true sence , unless we can believe that some part of the holy books teaches something that undermines the great end of the whole . there are too many opinions amongst some christians that have no other colour for them , than scripture interpreted without this necessary caution , which must therefore be added to the former . 3. we must not understand a difficult place in a sence that is contrary to those places whose meaning is plain and manifest to all men . for the scripture cannot teach one thing plainly in one place , and the quite contrary obscurely in another . it is but reasonable therefore in trying to understand a difficult place , or in going about to prove any thing from it , that we should compare scripture with scripture , and the obscure places with those that are plain ; not to interpret the plain by the obscure , which is contrary to all rules of discourse , but the obscure by the plain ; especially because the plain places contain things that are most necessary to be understood and believed by us : and therefore we cannot without great danger forsake the doctrine which they teach ; as every man in effect does , who takes a difficult place in a sence contrary to that doctrine . in a word , the scripture is our rule principally where it is easiest to be understood , and the meaning is most plain and evident . but this caution will be of greater use , if we take the next along with us ; and that is this : 4. in trying opinions by scripture , we must be something careful lest we mistake those places for plain , which indeed are not so , but more or less obscure . and here i think it needful to shew what i mean by the plainness or by the difficulty of a text. a text is then plain , when that is the true and intended meaning of it which the first reading or hearing of the words doth suggest to a mans mind . and the scripture is thus plain in necessary points , especially in the precepts and exhortations thereof , which though in some places they are couched under more obscure terms , yet in others they are delivered with this plainness . a text may be said to be difficult , when we do not hit of the true and intended sence upon the first reading , or gather it from the bare surface of the words , but must search and enquire farther to know it . and there are two sorts of difficult texts in scripture . some places are so hard to be understood , that upon the first reading of the words or phrases , no tolerable or intelligible sence can be put on them at all , without a great deal of farther study and enquiry ; the difficult places of which sort are more seldom perverted to maintain any ill opinion : for no body goes about to make a text a scriptural proof of any thing , without he first determines with himself in what sence to take it ; and as for the hard places of this kind , it being not obvious at the first reading what sence they can bear , a man cannot well offer to prove any thing by them . the other sort of difficult texts are those which being taken by themselves , do upon the first sight or sound of the words , seem to have a plain sence and meaning , which yet are not to be understood in that sence the words will be upon the first reading of them ; and these are the hard places in gods word which are most perverted , and taken in such sence as the holy ghost never intended : for then is an hard place like to be wrested , when it seems plain to him who doth not understand it ; and a difficult text may seem plain to him who for want of studying and considering , thinks he understands it , but doth not . i shall instance in some difficult texts of the latter sort , which have been mistaken for plain ( that is ) erroneously taken to have such a meaning as they appear to have upon the first reading . in the ninth chapter of the epistle to the romans we have these words , that it might not be of works , but of him that calleth : some take this for a plain place , and therefore think it a clear scriptural truth , that our salvation is not at all of our works , but onely proceeds from an absolute decree of heaven . so again we have it affirmed by the apostle in the same chapter , it is not of him that willeth , nor of him that runneth , but of god that sheweth mercy . hence some think it is plain in scripture , that what we do signifies little , all is from an arbitrary favour of god. again , in the 1 cor. 4. 7. we find these words , who maketh thee to differ from another ? from the sound of which words some gather that we are not free agents in our own conversion ; but that if we be better than our neighbours , it is an almighty power hath made us so , and not any free choice or care of our own . now certain it is , that we mistake the meaning of a text of scripture , if we look upon it as plain when it is not so ; and consequently , in this case we cannot be able to judge what is orthodox or erroneous , by having recourse to any scriptures so misapprehended . but how can i know when a place is but seemingly plain , and not really so , ( i. e. ) when i am not to take that to be the meaning of the place , which i may apprehend upon the first running of the words and sound of the phrases ? this is to be known by comparing places together , and going by this rule . a place seems onely to be plain , but is not , when it 's uppermost sence , and what it offers to us , does not agree with the sence of a place undoubtedly plain . for instance , the texts now mentioned may seem plain to those who would prove their erroneous perswasions to be scriptural truths by them ; yet if we suppose them plain , ( i. e. ) if we think they are to be taken in that sence which they will bear at the first reading , then they are texts undeniably repugnant to such places of st. paul , as all must believe and acknowledge to be plain . for whereas he says — that it might not be of works , &c. in another place he gives us this plain precept , work out your salvation . is not salvation of works , and yet must we work it out ? either therefore it is not true in the sence some take the words , that salvation is not of works , or it is not proper to bid us work it out ; wherefore by this plain place [ work out your salvation ] we must conclude that the other place [ that it might not be of works ] whatsoever the sence of it may be , it cannot have this meaning , that our salvation doth not depend upon our works or doings . in like manner , whereas the apostle says [ it is not of him that willeth , nor of him that runneth , &c. ] doth he not in a plain practical discourse , wherein he compares the christian life to a race , exhort us so to run that we may obtain ? now is it not of running that we obtain ? and yet doth he bid us so run that we may obtain ? wherefore the plain precept to run , &c. evidently shews that it cannot be the meaning of the other place , that it is not by running or by diligence in a christian life ▪ that we obtain salvation . again , whereas he asketh in one place , who maketh thee to differ from another ? he also exhorteth in another , be not conformed to the world . and therefore the meaning of the former clause cannot be , that the righteous man who is more excellent than his neighbour , doth nothing towards the making of that difference : for then it would be very improper to exhort a man to make that difference , by not conforming to the world . finally , it is evident that these places of st. paul which i have now compared , cannot be all of them plain , for then they are irreconcilably repugnant to one another ; and if they are not all plain , then some of them must not be thought to have such a meaning , as the first reading of the words might make us think they have . and therefore in judging things by scripture , we must be careful that we do not prove or disprove them by scriptures mistaken for plain when they are not so . 5. we must also see that the sence wherein we take a passage of scripture that belongeth to a discourse , be agreeable to the designe and scope of that discourse to which it belongeth . this rule , as it is necessary for all to observe , so it is especially to be urged upon men that are apt to interpret places that are not of themselves plain , by those opinions that they are already possessed with a belief of , but for which they have little ground , besides the mere sound of some texts , which at first hearing seem to be of their side , but which , if they were compared with the designe of the holy writer in that chapter or book , would be found to mean quite another thing . all that i shall say besides of this rule is , that the difficulty of many places that are not of themselves plain , will be removed by observing it . for instance , by this way we shall easily be satisfied , that that forementioned place of st. paul , who maketh thee to differ from another ? was chiefly meant of those extraordinary gifts which were distributed amongst believers in the first ages of the church ; and therefore ( though in a qualified sence this is true of all saving graces ) it is very consistent with all those scriptures that suppose the difference between the righteous and the wicked , to depend upon something which is in the power of the righteous . if we mangle coherent discourses , and take a shred or a phrase of scripture by it self , without regard to the main scope of the place , and this to prove what what we would have ; we do not try our opinions by scripture , but we interpret scripture by our own opinions . thus i have shewn what cautions are to be observed in judging by scripture . i doubt not but all will acknowledge them to be very reasonable and equal ; and if all men had observed them , who have a just veneration for the scriptures , the word of god had been better understood and less wrested ; unsound divinity had not easily passed for scriptural truth , and all occasion of those unjust reproaches had been taken away which the church of rome throws upon us for allowing to all christians the free use of gods holy book . and thus much for the rules of reason and scripture . 3. the third i mentioned was antiquity and catholick tradition . now if this rule , as i said at first , be of excellent use , then they are in the best way to find out what is the true christian religion by it , who stick to the holy scriptures , though they are not capable of using it otherwise . for if that be true which was most anciently taught and believed in the church , and which was received all along in the best ages of the church ; then he that can prove his faith by scripture , has the argument of antiquity and catholick tradition unquestionably on his side , because the scriptures are the most ancient records of our religion , and they have been delivered down to us as such from the beginning through all ages to our present times . but we acknowledge also the testimony of antiquity of something of a later date , that is , of the antient fathers of the church , to be of very good use for the clearing of some places in scripture ; for shewing what order and discipline was left in the church by the apostles ; for confirming us in points of faith grounded upon the scriptures , but which have been disputed and opposed by hereticks ; and likewise for confuting those gross errours in belief or practice , which of later days have been brought in amongst christians , especially those of the church of rome . but how things are to be examined by this rule , i shall not here direct , because this is the subject of an excellent discourse already published . and thus much concerning rules whereby to try opinions in religion . § 7. iii. the dispositions wherewith we are to search for the truth by these means , are also of necessary consideration : for whatever other advantages we have , if we be greatly defective in these , we shall very often lose our labour , and fall into mistakes of dangerous consequence . to qualifie a man for receiving truth when propounded with sufficient evidence , or to find it out by his own search , there must be these three things . 1. a prepared mind . 2. competent diligence . 3. prayer to god for his blessing upon that diligence . 1. a prepared mind , which our saviour calls a good and honest heart . now this consists in humility , ingenuity , and sincerity . humility is necessary , because overweening and self-concit makes a man apt to despise what those of a different perswasion can say for themselves , before their arguments are considered ; and in general , to neglect that help which may be had by the advice and reasoning of others . so likewise vain-glory fixeth a man in an errour he hath once defended ; and while he is unwilling to acknowledge a mistake , he strains all his wit to delude himself into a stronger belief of it , and of his ability to defend it . in controversies he is desirous of victory , and would fain be thought some-body ; and therefore he studies more to expose an adversary , than to inform himself . and if he be yet to chuse his side of a question , he takes the wrong one , if it be more fashionable than the right . therefore says our saviour , whosoever doth not receive the kingdom of god as a little child , i. e. with a meek and pliable spirit , shall not enter therein . again , says he , my sheep hear my voice ; intimating that they would be easily convinced who were of tractable and humble minds . and therefore he adds concerning the pharisees , that they rejected him , because they were not of his sheep , i. e. because of their haughty and inflexible dispositions . prejudice is apt to bar the mind against conviction as well as pride , and therefore to humility we must adde ingenuity and sincerity , by which a man is qualified to distinguish between the suggestions of prejudice on the one side , and the force of good reasons on the other . ingenuity is opposed to those prejudices that are either unavoidably contracted , or taken up through weakness of understanding . of the former sort are the prejudices of education , or conversing altogether with our own party . men are generally prepossess'd with great favour to those opinions in which they have been all along trained up , and which have been instilled into them by all that they have conversed with . and therefore we cannot be meet inquirers after truth , if we want the ingenuity of suspecting our selves on this side , and trying those perswasions in which we have been bred up , with the greater impartiality and severity . some men are prejudiced by an unaccountable inclination toward an opinion , or an antipathy against it ; and these ought the more carefully to distinguish between the warmth of their imaginations on the one side , and the force of arguments on the other ; and not to take a passionate fondness for a conclusion , or an aversion from it , to be a reason one way or other . it is very incident to weak minds , to prejudg in favour of their opinions whose persons they admire , and mostly to that degree , as not to hear with any patience an argument against them . such a precious man said this or that , and therefore no body must say otherwise . but it is at once disingenuous and silly , to entertain such an opinion of any man , as to take all that he says for gospel ; for the best men are fallible , and 't is easie for an hypocrite to make himself pass for a saint in the opinion of ordinary people : and therefore men may be led into great errours , whose judgments are captivated in this manner . to this we may adde that prejudice which arises from conceiving hard things of mens persons ; which an ingenuous man will by no means yield to , but will consider what another says , though he does not fancy the man. it is reason enough with some people to reject all that their minister says to convince them of their mistakes , if he be called a high church-man , or goes for an arminian ; and all this while they stand in their own light , and will not suffer themselves to be instructed in many profitable truths which they might learn. thus the jews , though they were astonished at our saviour's doctrine and works , yet believed not ; and this because they were offended at him for the meanness of his parentage . some are so weak as to be prejudiced against opinions and practices , meerly because they have heard them often abused , nicknamed , and inveighed against in a rude and reproachful manner . and this goes a great way with some dissenters to make them deaf to all our reasons , that when they are got together , they hear the rites and prayers of our church scoffed at and called by vile names . but it stands not with the least ingenuity , to run away with prejudice against things that are abused and laugh'd at , without examining whether there be reason for it . sincerity is opposed to those prejudices that arise from vicious affections and worldly interests ; and it consists in a firm resolution to do the will of god , and a vehement desire to know it for that end . and this is a most necessary preparation to know the truth , because nothing is more common than the perverting of mens judgments by the inordinacy of their lusts , and the serving of a corrupt interest . the love of any vice makes a man partial and insincere in examining the truth of that doctrine by which he stands condemned . the belief of it is uneasie to him ; it is not for his interest that it should be true ▪ this is the reason why the fool saith in his heart , there is no god. the worldly interests of men do strangely byass and fashion their judgments . it were a thing never enough to be admired , that so many men of parts and learning should not be ashamed of those pitiful grounds upon which they maintain the supremacy of the pope , the doctrine of purgatory , the half communion , the sacrifice of the mass , the invocation of saints , and the like ; but that those things do notoriously serve the wealth and grandeur of the roman church . if it be needful to go to a conventicle for the getting of a rich fortune , or the bettering of a mans trade , a little enquiry will for the most part serve his turn , and satisfie him that the separation is lawful , and the causes of it are just . a man ought to set aside all consideration of his worldly interest , and to propound eternal life to himself as the end of his inquiry , when he labours to know the truth . the affectation of popularity , and the love of praise and flattery , cannot consist with a sincere love of the truth , and does very often hinder the attainment of it . it is hard to convince men of those things that check their vainglorious ends and purposes . and therefore says our saviour , how can ye believe in me , that receive honour one of another , and seek not that honour which cometh of god onely ? the wise man exhorts us to buy the truth , intimating thereby that we must quit all our sinful lusts and affections , and our carnal interests in prosecuting of it . in a word , we must be in mind prepared to believe all truth , by being resolved to do whatsoever appears to be the will of god , let what will come of it in this world , having our hearts evermore fixed upon the great concernment of eternal life . and this is more necessary for the best knowledge , than vastness of parts and learning . where the mind is thus prepared , there will be little need to press the two remaining dispositions ; whereof the former is , 2. competent diligence . errour is sometimes made to look so like the truth , that a superficial examination will not serve to distinguish one from the other . sometimes the truth must be had by laying a great many things together , and the proof does not lie in one , but in many arguments pointing the same way . sometimes also a conclusion is offered with the shew of many motives of credibility , which neither singly nor joyntly prove what is intended . and here patience and industry commonly helpeth more than quickness of judgement . our saviour bad the jews search the scriptures ; those very men who in all probability had read them , but as it seemeth , not with diligence enough . it were very well , if those that begin to study divinity would not presume upon the diligence and honesty of others , whose books they see full of citations of scripture ; but take some pains to judge whether that be the true sence in which they are quoted . for want of this , several have miscarried in their first entrance upon this work ; and the errours of men of name and authority , have been propagated . it would also be very happy for this church , and for themselves too , if the dissenting people would not presently conclude that what they read in the books of their own way is all agreeable to gods word , because they see abundance of scripture in them , but would use some diligence to judge whether that be the true meaning in which the scripture is there understood . it was doubtless with designe to catch such slothful people , that the catechism of h. t. was published in our language , wherein he pretends to prove all the lewd doctrines of the romish religion , by texts of scripture . but if any man will take the pains to examine his pr̄oofs , he shall find such miserable wresting and perverting of the scripture , that he will never trust a book more merely for store of scripture-phrases and citations ; but go to the fountain of truth it self , the pure word of god , to see whether the interpretations of men are indeed the unpolluted streams of that spring , from whence they are said to come . we must be willing to sift things to the bottom , if we would not be imposed upon . a very little pains will serve to make a man confident ; but 't is not a little that will make him confident upon safe grounds . 3. to diligence we must adde prayer for the divine illumination . in searching for truth we must implore his help who is the god of truth , whose word is the word of truth , and whose spirit is the guide into truth , that he would free our minds from all prejudices and corrupt affections , and from every thing which obstructs a right understanding . if we lack wisdom , we must ask it of god , who giveth his holy spirit to them that ask him . and now i dare appeal to all that read these papers , if it had not been to the unspeakable advantage of gods church , and the souls of men , if all that profess christianity had inquired into the controversies of religion ( so far as they are concerned in them ) with these dispositions that i have recommended . and therefore i do the more earnestly desire them to lay their hands upon their breasts , and in good earnest to ask themselves if they have in this manner sought the knowledge of the truth ; with a mind thus prepared , with impartiality and diligence , and constant prayer for gods blessing and direction . § 8. iv. my next business is to offer some considerations to perswade our people to an honest and impartial tryal of opinions in religion . this indeed cannot be done by all with equal advantage , because of the difference of mens abilities ; but something is to be done by all , and every one is to do what he can , and god expects no more . if we chuse a way of religion at random , or without honest care to know the truth , we are in great danger of falling into delusion , because there are false religions and damnable errours in the world. saith st. john , try the spirits whether they be of god , because many false prophets are gone out into the world . there was danger of running into grievous errour in the best and purest age of the church , if christians were not careful to examine things . and surely the danger is greater in this corrupt age , and this extremely-divided state of christendom . it often happens also , i doubt for the most part , that seducers are more diligent and wise to propagate errour , than good men are to gain proselytes to the truth . the former are evermore too hard for the latter in confidence , peremptoriness , threatning of damnation , magnificent and lofty pretences , and where the case calls for it , in artificial addresses and insinuations . and this makes our danger the greater , if we are not resolved to try before we trust . nay , if we were secure from impostors , yet because no man is infallible , we should not surrender up our belief wholly to the authority of any man , but judge of his doctrine as well as we can . because there cannot be a stronger ground for our assent to any thing , than that god has said it , we are to be very careful how we receive an opinion , for which texts of scripture are multiplied one upon another , i. e. we must see whether they do indeed prove the thing in question : for otherwise we may by the pretence of so great authority , be the more fastned in some dangerous errour . we are exposed to manifest hazard , if we are apt to admire a man for bringing much scripture to serve his purpose , but not to think it needful to see whether those passages of holy writ be pertinently applied or not . to this i must adde , that the errours we may fall into for want of enquiry and examination , may for ought we know , be of dangerous consequence to our own souls . some there are that wrest the scriptures to their own destruction ; and if we are in their way , they may wrest them to ours too . we may inconsiderately take up principles that will by degrees debauch our consciences , and reconcile us to wicked practices , and in many instances eat out the sense of good and evil , sin and duty . on the other hand , by considering things as impartially and judiciously as we can , we shall not onely be secure from running into great errours , but the doctrines of true religion will become more plain to us , and we shall have a more clear and distinct apprehension of them ; which will reward our endeavours with great pleasure and satisfaction . for next to the delight of a good conscience gained by doing what we know to be our duty , there is no pleasure more pure and agreeable to the best part of our nature , than that which arises from an improved knowledge in the things of god. and having well weighed and considered the grounds of our perswasion , we shall adhere more stedfastly to that truth which we have learn'd , and not be easily unsetled by the sophistry or the confidence of ill men , being prepared to shew that there is no sound reason in the former , and no just cause for the latter . and when seducers perceive that we have inquired too far into things , to be born down with peremptoriness , or to be deluded with colours ; they will be discouraged from attempting to draw us into their net. moreover , it will be no little satisfaction to us , when we are going out of the world , that we have all along taken due pains to inform our selves in things of the greatest concernment to us , viz. those which regard our everlasting salvation ; and that the errours into which we may have fallen , were not to be imputed to want of honest diligence in inquiring after the truth , but onely to humane infirmity . in the mean time , we cannot have the conscience of sincerity upon good grounds , if we do not with diligence apply our selves to know all our duty , and consequently all that divine truth which is the rule of it , or which leads to the performance of it . one character of that good and honest heart which our saviour compares to the good ground , is to understand the word . and the reason why the pharisees did not understand , was because they were not of god , but of their father the devil whose lusts they did . one reason why god in his wisdom permits impostures and errours to go up and down in the world , is because this serves to make a more evident difference between those that are sincere and honest , and those that are not so . for in these circumstances good men will take the more pains to distinguish between truth and errour , while the insincere either take up that profession which serves best for their worldly ends , or take occasion by the differences that are in the world about religion , to throw off all pretence to religion it self . there must be herefies among you , saith st. paul , that they which are approved may be made manifest . to which we may adde , that by honest endeavours to be rightly informed in matters of religion , we do in some measure qualifie our selves for the happiness of another life , and shew that we are disposed heavenwards , and desirous of that infinitely-better state of things , where darkness and errour shall be done away . for one great part of the reward promised in a better life , is that we shall know divine things more perfectly there , than we can do in this world. but this can be no happiness to any but to those that are lovers of truth and goodness here . i shall conclude this point with one consideration more , that at this time we have very confiderable advantages and opportunities towards the discovery of truth in the present controversies among us . we of this church are perswaded that papists and other sectaries do causelesly divide from our communion , and grievously sin against god , and endanger their own souls , as well as disturb the quiet of the church , by their separation from it , and their combinations against it . and therefore some pains has been taken , more than ordinary , to shew them the errour of their way , by going through the several points upon which they pretend to justifie their doings . and it is plain , as i have shewn already , that in things of this nature they are mightily concerned to know the truth . and therefore if they neglect so fair an opportunity of examining things as is now offered them , they will have the more to answer for another day . the several controversies between this ▪ church on the one side , and the dissenters and the recusants on the other , are stated and argued in a plain and familiar way , and brought down for the most part to the capacity of ordinary readers . and therefore let both the one and the other look to it , that they do not either in obstinacy or in laziness , or for worldly interest , put away the truth from themselves . we should be very sorry if our endeavours should have no other effect than to make them more inexcusable at last . it will be our grief , but it will be their condemnation . § 9. v. when after due examination , we have setled our selves upon true grounds , whether in keeping our first perswasions , or in changing them ( if we found they were wrong ) for better : we must remember that there are duties incumbent upon us growing from the knowledge we have gained . 1. we are to be thankful to god for the truth we have learn'd . when we see how miserably some men are mistaken and deluded in things that are both plain enough , and of great moment , we should not insult over them and grow into self-conceit , but into humility and gratitude to god , acknowledging it to be of his grace and goodness , that we are not led away into the same delusions . we are indeed to thank him for all things that contributed towards our escape or recovery . if we have a better natural apprehension and judgment than some others , who was it that made the difference ? if we had a good education , and were put into a right way at first , it was god that chose those happy circumstances for us . if we have recovered from any way of dangerous errour in which we were bred up , the conversation , the friends , the books , and all other means by which we came to be better informed , were ministred unto us by the good providence of god. and that degree of a good mind which either prompted us to inquire , or prepared us to do it with success , was likewise from his grace . finally , it was his blessing that crowned all . for every good and perfect gift cometh from above , from the father of lights . so that in effect god is to have all the praise . and if we make it our business humbly and thankfully to acknowledge all his goodness in that knowledge of the truth to which we have attained , we shall reap this great advantage and comfort thereby , that by his grace and providence he will communicate to us more and more knowledge , if it be needful for us ; or at least that he will not suffer us to fall into any dangerous errour . for we are not safe from damnable errours merely because we believe the truth at present ; our perseverance in it depends upon the grace of god , which is forfeited by nothing sooner than by pride and ingratitude . for god resisteth the proud , but giveth grace to the humble . and if by the impiety of neglecting to acknowledge god in those blessings we have received from him , we should provoke him to leave us to our selves ; our judgments though they be set right at present , will easily be depraved and corrupted by vicious affections , and by degrees we may fall from one delusion to another , till we come to believe the same things with those men whom we were once apt to scorn or to pity for their stupidity and blindness . now the ways are very plain by which we are to express our thankfulness to god for the knowledge we have gain'd . we must do this in our dayly prayers , if we would shew our selves grateful in any proportion to the greatness of the benefit we have received . we are to thank god for the least of his mercies , because we are less than the least ; and therefore for all the blessings of this life , and of the outward man ; that we are not blind or lame , that we have not distorted limbs , or a deformed shape . but is it not a more valuable blessing still to have a mind clear from all foul and monstrous errour , endued with soundness of judgment , and replenisht with the knowledge of divine truth ? does not this therefore call for particular acknowledgments and thanks ? we must be sure to express our thankfulness by better obedience , and by improving in all virtue and piety , as we have improved in knowledge . otherwise we receive this grace of god in vain . knowledge conduceth to a mans true happiness by leading him to do well ; but if he holds the truth in unrighteousness , by increasing knowledge he does but increase sorrow , and that because he increaseth his guilt . but that which i chiefly intend here , is this : that god by inlightning our minds with a more full discovery of the truth , has laid upon us a great obligation in general to love him more perfectly , and to perform his will in all things more readily and cheerfully than we have done . and this is true thankfulness , if because god hath led us to the understanding of some things which we were ignorant of heretofore , we do more heartily perform those plain duties , and obey those divine rules of which we were not ignorant before . finally , it is a principal expression of our gratitude to god , for being enlightned and undeceived our selves , to be charitably helpful for the undeceiving of others , and leading them into the knowledge of that truth into which god by his providence and grace hath led us . for god is never more pleased with us than when we do good one unto another : and therefore our charity to our mistaken brethren , is the most acceptable sacrifice of praise that we can offer to him . but this is so considerable a thing , that it ought to go by it self for one remarkable use we are to make of having gained the knowledge of the truth . wherefore , 2. let us consider how we are after this to behave our selves to others . i have already told you , that in gratitude to god we are to do what we can to recover those to whom we have opportunities to do this good office ; and that because god would have all men to be ▪ saved , and to come to the knowledge of the truth . this was that which our lord said to peter , when thou art converted , strengthen thy brethren ; and if those who are not thoroughly confirmed in the truth are to be farther instructed , there is the same reason for endeavouring to recover those that are quite out of the way . therefore if any of our friends and acquaintance , or others , whom at any time we have a good opportunity of instructing , remain under those errours that we have forsaken , and have discerned good cause to forsake ; we must remember that though it was chiefly by the grace and disposal of god that we came to a right understanding , yet it was also by humane means , by conversing with others , or by reading their books . and therefore we should take our selves to be fit instruments under god for the reducing of them , by desiring them earnestly either to hear what we have learned from others , or to read those books by which we have been convinced . and we should be the more earnestly engaged in this charity , because those whom we may prevail withal , will thereby be engaged to help others also ; and by this means our diligence and charity will be blessed with the good success of propagating the knowledge of truth so far , that we shall not be able to see to the end of it . if therefore thou art convinced that thy former perswasions were erroneous , and thy practices grounded upon them unjustifiable , be not ashamed to confess thy mistake , but shew thy self glad that thou art now better informed ; and go to thy friend and tell him that thou art fully perswaded thy was has been wrong all this while , and shew him these arguments that have set thee right , that he , as well as thy self , may rejoyce in the discovery of the truth , and have the same reason to bless god that thou hast . now when we are thus resolved , let us by no means forget in what manner we are to apply our selves to our mistaken brother for his information , i. e. in meekness of wisdom , in the spirit of meekness , without railing and bitterness , though we should meet with unhandsome opposition , remembring that we our selves not long since were under the same mistakes , and had the like fondness for those erroneous opinions which we would now rescue our brother from . if he does not take information and receive instruction as fast as we did , we must not presently grow into passion ; for some mens prejudices are greater and stronger than others , and all men have not the same capacity of understanding , and quickness of apprehension ; and therefore more time is to be allowed , and more patience is to be used for the recovery of one man , than may be needful in the case of another . and because nothing puts a slow or a prejudiced man more backward than rough and bitter discourse , therefore more meekness , and gentleness , and patience is requisite in dealing with him , than if we had to do with one of better wit or less prejudice . when we would bring a man to the truth , we must avoid all things that will be sure to drive him at a farther distance from it , as clamour , fierceness , and railing will certainly do . for this carriage does but harden the obstinate , and confound the simple . 3. when we are convinced of the truth , as we must not be ashamed , so neither must we be afraid to own it , but constantly adhere to it by professing it , and practising according to it , whatever we lose or suffer for so doing . for otherwise we are convinced to no other purpose than the increasing of our guilt , for he that knows his masters will and doth it not , shall be beaten with many stripes . if therefore thou hast hitherto been a papist , but art now convinced of the impious doctrines and practices of the church of rome ; or a dissenter , but art now satisfied that there is no just ground for separation from the church of england ; be not afraid of the reproaches and accusations of those whose errours thou hast left , no , not though your dependance be in a great measure upon them , or your expectations of worldly advantage from them be never so great . consider that thy salvation lies at stake , and that the question is , whether gods love is not to be preferred before their favour , and that you are now to shew that you do not love the praise of men more than the praise of god. tell them that you will be still glad of their friendship , but that you cannot purchase it at so dear a rate , as to sin against god for it , either by renouncing that which you are throughly convinced is gods truth , or by going contrary to a conscience well informed of your duty . let them know that you have been at a great deal of pains to discover the truth in these matters , and more than they have been at ; that you value that knowledge of your duty to which the grace and providence of god hath led you , at a more just rate than to sacrifice it to every worldly interest ; and that the industry you have used to inform your self aright , would turn to a very evil account , if after all , you should play the hypocrite . when we have the truth , our loins must be girt about with it ; we must love it heartily , profess it sincerely , and contend for it earnestly , and practise it honestly . when we have bought the truth by diligent and impartial enquiry , we we must not sell it for the gain of worldly wealth or honour , or any other secular advantage , no not for the safety of our lives . the sum of all , is this : prove all things , hold fast that which is good . finis . a catalogue of several tracts written by some divines in and about the city of london , for the satisfaction of the protestant dissenters . 1. a perswasive to communion with the church of england . 2. a resolution of some cases of conscience which respect church-communion . 3. a letter to anonymus , in answer to his three letters to dr. sherlock about church-communion . 4. the case of lay-communion . 5. the case of mixt communion : whether it be lawful to separate from a church upon the account of promiscuous congregations and mixt communions ? 6. the case of indifferent things used in the worship of god , proposed and stated . 7. a vindication of it . 8. a discourse of conscience . 9. a discourse about a scrupulous conscience . 10. some considerations about the case of scandal , or giving offence to weak brethren . 11. certain cases of conscience resolved , concerning the lawfulness of joyning with forms of prayer in publick worship . in two parts . 12. an answer to the dissenters objections against the common prayers , and some other parts of divine service prescribed in the liturgy of the church of england . 13. the resolution of this case of conscience , whether the church of englands symbolizing so far as it doth with the church of rome , makes it unlawful to hold communion with the church of england ? 14. a defence of it . 15. the case of infant-baptism , in five questions . 16. the case of the cross in baptism . 17. a perswasive to frequent communion in the holy sacrament of the lords supper . 18. the case of kneeling at the holy sacrament stated and resolved , in two parts . 29. a discourse about edification . 20. a discourse of profiting by sermons , and of going to hear where men think they can profit most . 21. an argument to union ; taken from the true interest of those dissenters in england who profess and call themselves protestants . 22. a serious exhortation , with some important advices , relating to the late cases about conformity , recommended to the present dissenters from the church of england . against popery , these : 1. a discourse about the charge of novelty upon the reformed church of england , made by the papists asking of us the question , where was our religion before luther ? 2. discourse about tradition , shewing what is meant by it , and what tradition is to be received , and what tradition is to be rejected . 3. the difference of the case between the separation of protestants from the church of rome , and the separation of dissenters from the church of england . 4. the protestant resolution of faith. 5. a discourse concerning a guide in matters of faith. 6. a discourse concerning invocation of saints . 7. a discourse concerning the unity of the catholick church , maintained in the church of england . 8. a discourse of auricular confession . 9. a discourse against transubstantiation . a catalogue of some books printed for t. basset . speed's maps and geography of great britain and ireland , and of foreign parts . hooker's ecclesiastical politie . guillim's heraldry . bishop sanderson's sermons . mezaray's history of france . dr. howell's history of the world. in 2 vol. dr. littleton's dictionary . compleat clerk. dr. sherlock's sermon on the discovery of the plot. medicina curiosa . miege's french dictionary . willis's london tract of physick . bishop wilkin's sermons . — principle and duty of natural religion . bishop land's devotions . ☞ all the works , newly printed , of doctor john lightfoot , in two volumes in folio . illustrated with maps and several tables to the whole , with some things never before printed . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a69762-e2810 phil. 2. 12. 1 cor. 12. 24. 1 cor 4. 7. rom. 12. 2. discourse about tradition , shewing , &c. notes for div a69762-e3760 abridgment of christian doctrine printed at doway . the point of church-unity and schism discuss'd by a nonconformist, with respect to the church-divisions in england. corbet, john, 1620-1680. 1679 approx. 94 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 40 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a34541 wing c6260 estc r37663 16998970 ocm 16998970 105678 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34541) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105678) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1612:26) the point of church-unity and schism discuss'd by a nonconformist, with respect to the church-divisions in england. corbet, john, 1620-1680. [8], 67, [3] p. printed for thomas parkhurst ..., london : 1679. advertisements: [3] p. at end. errata: p. 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will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng church -unity. schism. theology, doctrinal. 2004-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-08 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-09 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-09 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the point of church-unity and schism discuss'd , by a nonconformist with respect to the church-divisions in england . london , printed for thomas parkhurst , at the bible and three crowns at the lower end of cheapside . 1679. the contents . chap. i. of the church and its polity . what the church is both in its invisible and visible state . the state of the church catholick . the state of particular churches , and their pastors , elders or bishops . of the partition of churches by local bounds . of the interests of bishops or pastors in any assigned circuit of ground . of the association or combination of churches . of a national church . of the interest of civil magistrates in the state of the church . of a diocese and a diocesan bishop . of exercising the ministery without subordination to a diocesan bishop . no human power may prejudice christs interest in his ministers or people . all have a judgment of discretion about their own acts . chap. ii. of true church-unity . the names of unity and schism should be rightly applied . true church-unity is the unity of the spirit ; what is included therein . true unity is primarily of the church in its mystical , secondarily in its visible state . holy love is the life and soul of this unity . church-unity considered in three points . 1. in the essentials and all weighty matters of christian faith and life . 2. in the essentials and integrals of church-state . 3. in the accidentals of religion . the different value of these different points of unity . the rule of unity is gods word . of the scriptures sufficiency as a rule thereof . of things left to human determination , with the pastors and magistrates interest therein . the rulers wisdom in setling the right bounds of unity . the burden of things unnecessary not to be laid on the churches . unity of external order is subservient to faith and holiness . chap. iii. of schism truly so called . schism is the violation of the unity of the spirit . separation and schism are not of equal extent . the violation of holy love is the root of schism . schism lies primarily in a breach made upon the unity of the church as mystical , and secondarily as visible . the highest point of schism against the church as visible , is that which is about the essentials and weighty matters of christian faith and life . how both persons and churches may be guilty of it . the next point of schism is about the essentials and integrals of church state . this may be either against the catholick or a particular church ; instances of both kinds . the lowest point of schism is about the accidentals of religion . how any are guilty or not guilty in this point . a preposterous valuation made of the aforesaid different points , tends to schism . the setting of other bounds of unity , than gods word allows , is to make a breach upon it . terms of unity may be allowed of god as to the submitters , when they are not allowed as to the imposers . the danger of acting against conscience rationally doubting . t is a false unity that is set up to the hindrance of faith and holiness ; and not to adhere to it is no schism but duty ; instances hereof . of the right of drawing together into new congregations on such occasion . what endeavour of reformation is unlawfull to subjects . a difference between inimical separation and amicable necessary segregation . the objected inconveniences against the amicable segregation answered . the import of the text , rom. 16. 17. opened . chap. iv. of the schisms that were in the more ancient times of the church , and the different case of the nonconformists in these times . of the donatists . of the novatians . whether the case of the present nonconformists be the same with the case of these or any others anciently reputed schismaticks . the case of such nonconformists , as be more remote from accomodation with the established order . the case of such of them , as be more disposed to accommodation . an answer to objections against relaxing the terms of conformity . of diverse other remarkable schisms in the ancient times ; and the nonconformists case different from theirs . an appeal to antiquity and to our superiors . chap. v. of making a right estimate of the guilt of schism , and something more of the right way to unity . the great abuse of the name schism , and the bad consequence thereof . the degree of the schism to be duely considered for making an equal judgment of the guilt thereof . examples of schismatical animosities in worthies of ancient times . charity in censuring thence inferred . true unity is founded in true holiness , and promoted by impartiality and equity towards all real christians , and by the due exercise of true church-discipline , and by removing the snares of division ; and as by the equity and charity of superiors , so by the humility and due submission of inferiors . a question considered about the warrantableness of submission to things not in themselves unlawfull , but inexpedient . errata . pag. 2. lin . 2. r. regeneration , p. 12. l. 8. r. without , ib. l. 16. r. and in , p. 22. l. 6. r. due extent , p. 25. l. 14. r. account of accidental . p. 32. l. 16. r. injured christians as are , p. 33. l. 25. r. segregation , p. 42. l. 27. r. renouncing , p. 47. l. 21. r. deposed . the point of church-unity and schism discuss'd . chap. i. of the church and its polity . the church is a spiritual common-wealth , which according to its primary and invisible state is a society of regenerate persons , who are joyned to the lord christ their head , and one to another as fellow members by a mystical union through the holy spirit , and are justified , sanctified , and adopted to the inheritance of eternal life ; but according to its secondary and visible state , it is a society of persons professing christianity or regeration , and externally joyned to christ , and to one another by the symbals of that profession , and made partakers of the external priviledges thereunto belonging . there is one catholick church , which according to the invisible form , is the whole company of true believers throughout the world ; and according to its visible form , is the whole company of visible believers throughout the world , or believers according to human judgment . this church hath one head and supream lord , even christ , and one charter and system of laws ; the word of god and members , that are free denizons of the whole society , and one form of admission or solemn initiation for its members , and one kind of ministery and ecclesiastical power . this church hath not the power of its own fundamental constitution , or of the laws , and officers , and administrations intrinsecally belonging to it , but hath received all these from christ its head , king and lawgiver , and is limited by him in them all . nevertheless , it hath according to the capacity of its acting , that is , according to its several parts a power of making secondary laws or canons , either to impress the laws of christ upon its members , or to regulate circumstantials and accidentals in religion , by determining things necessary in genere , not determined of christ in specie . as the scripture sets forth one catholick church , so also many particular churches , as so many political societies distinct from each other , yet all compacted together as parts of that one ample society , the catholick church . each of these particular churches have their proper elder or elders , pastor or pastors , having authority of teaching and ruling them in christs name . an ecclesiastical order of presbyters or elders , that are not bishops , is not found in holy scripture . for all presbyters or elders , being of a sacred order in the gospel church that are any where mentioned in scripture , are therein set forth as bishops truly and properly so called , and are no where set forth as less than bishops . these elders or bishops are personally to superintend all their flock , and there is no grant from christ to discharge the same by delegates or substitutes . a distinction between bishops and presbyters , and a superiority of the former over the latter , was after the scripture times anciently and generally received in the christian church . yet it was not a diversity of orders or offices essentially different , but of degrees in the same office , the essential nature whereof is in both . the bishop of the first ages was a bishop not of a multitude of churches , but of one stated ecclesiastical society or single church , whereof he was an immediate pastor ; and he performed the work of a bishop , or immediate pastor towards them all in his own person , and not by delegates and substitutes ; and he governed not alone , but in conjunction with the presbyters of his church , he being the president . though several cities in the same kingdom have their different municipal laws and priviledges according to the diversity of their charters , yet particular churches have no divine laws and priviledges diverse from each other , but the same in common to them all , because they have all the same charter in specie from christ. therefore each of them have the same power of government within themselves . and the qualifications requisite to make men members or ministers of the universal church , do according to christs law sufficiently qualifie them to be members or ministers of any particular church , to which they have a due and orderly call . local , presential communion in gods ordinances , being a main end of erecting particular churches , they should in all reason consist of persons , who by their cohabitation in a vicinity are capable of such communion , and there may not be a greater local distanc● of the persons than can stand with it . a bishops church was anciently made up of the christians of a city or town , and the adjacent villages , who might and did personally meet together , both for worship and discipline . all christians of the same local precinct are most conveniently brought into one and the same stated church , that ●here might be the greatest union among them , and that the occasion of straggling and running into several parties might be avoided . yet this local part●●ion of churches is not of absolute necessity a●d invariable , but if there be some insuperable impediment thereof , the partition must be made as the state of things will admit . no bishop or pastor can by divine right or warrant , claim any assigned circuit of ground as his propriety for ecclesiastical government , as a prince claims certain territories as his propriety for civil government ; so that no other bishop or pastor may without his licence , do the work of the ministery , in any case whatsoever within that circuit . it is not the conjunction of a bishop or pastor with the generallity or the greater number of the people , that of it self declares the only rightfull pastor or true church within this or that circuit . for many causes may require and justifie the being of other churches therein . seeing particular churches are so many integral parts of the catholick church , and stand in need of each others help in things that concern them joyntly and severally , and they have all an influence on each other , the law of nature leads them to associations or combinations greater and lesser , according to their capacities . and the orderly state that is requisite in all associations , doth naturally require some regular subordination in the several parts thereof , either in way of proper authority or of mutual agreement . and the associated churches and particular members therein , are naturally bound to maintain the orderly state of the whole association , and to comply with the rules thereof , when they are not repugnant to the word of god. a bishop or pastor and the people adhering to him , are not declared to be the only true church and pastor within such a precinct , by their conjunction with the largest combination of bishops or pastors and their churches . for the greater number of bishops may in such manner err in their constitutions , as to make rightly informed persons uncapable of their combination . a national church is not a particular church properly so called , but a combination or coagmentation of particular churches , united under one civil supream , either personal as in a monarchy , or collective as in a republick . and the true notion thereof lies not in any combination purely ecclesiastical and intrinsecal , but civil and extrinsecal , as of so many churches that are collected under one that hath the civil supremacy over them . the national church of england truly denotes all the churches in england united under one supream civil church-governour , the kings majesty . civil magistrates as such , are no constitutive parts of the church . the christian church stood for several centuries without the support of their authority . but supream magistrates have a civil supremacy in all ecclesiastical matters , and a political , extrinsecal episcopacy over all the pastors of the churches in their dominions , and may compell them to the performance of their duties , and punish them for negligence and mal-administration ; and they may reform the churches , when they stand in need of reformation . the possession of the tithes and temples doth not of it self declare the true pastor and church , nor doth the privation thereof declare no pastor and no church . for these are disposed of by the secular power , which of it self can neither make , nor make void a pastor or church . a diocess is a collective body of many parishes under the government of one diocesan . if the several parishes be so many particular churches , and if their proper and immediate presbyters be of the same order with those which in scripture are mentioned by that name , and were no other than bishops or pastors ; then a diocess is not a particula● church , but a combination of churches , an● the diocesan is a bishop of bishops , or governour over many churches and their i●mediate bishops . if the parishes be not a knowledged to be churches , nor their presbyters to be realy bishops or pastors , but the diocess be held to be the lowest political church , and the diocesan to be a bishop of the lowest rank , and the sole bishop or pastor of all the included parishes ; i confess , i have no knowledge of the divine right of such a church or bishop , or of any precept or precedent thereof in scripture . for every particular church mentioned in scripture was but one distinct stated society , having its own proper and immediate bishop or bishops , elder or elders , pastor or pastors , who did personally and immediately superintend over the whole flock , which ordinarily held either at once together , or by turns personal , present communion with each other in gods worship . but a diocess consists of several stated societies , to wit , the parishes which are constituted severally of a proper and immediate presbyter or elder having cure of souls , and commonly called a rector , and the people which are his proper and immediate charge or cure . and the people of the diocess do not live under the personal and immediate oversight of their diocesan , but under his delegates and substitutes . nor do they ordinarily hold personal present communion with each other in gods worship , either at once together or by turns . nevertheless , which way soever a diocess be considered , i have nothing to object against submission to the government of the diocesan , as an ecclesiastical officer established by the law of the land under the kings supremacy . there is nothing in the nature of the office of presbyterate ( which according to the scripture is a pastoral office ) that shews it ought to be exercised no otherwise than in subordination to a diocesan bishop . christ , who is the author and only proper giver of all spiritual authority in the church , hath not so limited the said office , and men cannot by any act of theirs enlarge or lessen it as to its nature or essential state , or define it otherwise than it is stated of christ in his word . no power ecclesiastical or civil can discharge any minister of christ from the exercise of his ministery in those circumstances , wherein christ commands him to exercise it , nor any christians from those duties of religion , to which the command of christ obligeth them . as the magistrate is to judge what laws touching religion are fit for him to enact and execute , so the ministers of christ are to use a judgment of discretion about their own pastoral acts ; and all christians are to do the same about their own acts of church-communion . the too common abuse of the judgment of discretion cannot abrogate the right use thereof , it being so necessary that without it men cannot act as men , nor offer to god a reasonable service . chap. ii. of true church-unity . when the names of unity and schism are by partiality and selfishness commonly and grosly abused and misapplied , the nature of the things to which those names do of right belong , ought to be diligently inquired into , and clearly and distinctly laid open . for a groundwork in this inquiry i fix upon two very noted texts of scripture . the one is eph. 4. 3. indeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace . the other is rom. 16. 17. mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine that ye have learned , and avoid them . the former guides us to the knowledge of true church-unity , and the latter shews us the true nature of schism . by the former of these texts , all christians are obliged to maintain that spiritual unity , which they have one with another under christ their head , by the holy ghost in all due acts of holy communion in peace and concord . several important things are here to be taken notice of . 1. there is a spiritual unity between all christians in the form of one mystical body , as there is a natural unity between all the members of the natural body . the members being many are one body and members one of another . 2. this unity is under christ as the head of it . what the head is to the natural body , that is christ and much more to his mystical body the church . 3. this unity of christians one with another under christ , is by the holy ghost , and therefore called the unity of the spirit . the spirit of christ the head , doth seize upon and reside in all the faithfull , by which they become christs mystical body , and are joyned one to another as fellow-members . 4. this unity of the spirit among christians is witnessed , maintained , and strengthened by their holy communion of love and peace one with another , but is darkened , weakened , and lessened by their uncharitable dissentions . hence it is evident that the unity here commended , is primarily that of the church in its internal and invisible state , or the union and communion of saints , having in themselves the spirit , and life , and power of christianity . t is the unity of the spirit we are charged to keep in the bond of peace . but concord in any external order with a vital union with christ and holy souls , his living members , is not the unity of the spirit , which is to partake of the same new nature and divine life . secondarily , it is the unity of the church in its external and visible state , which is consequent and subservient to the internal , and stands in the profession and appearance of it , in the professed observation of the duties arising from it . where there is not a credible profession of faith unfeigned and true holiness , there is not so much as the external and visible unity of the spirit . therefore a sensual earthly generation of men , who are apparently lead by the spirit of the world , and not by the spirit that is of god , have little cause to glory in their adhering to an external church order , whatsoever it be . holy love , which is unselfed and impartial , is the life and soul of this unity , without which it is but a dead thing , as the body without the soul is dead . and this love is the bond of perfectness , that cement , that holds altogether in this mystical society . for this being seated in the several members , disposeth them to look , not to their own things , but also to the things of others , and not to the undue advancement of a party , but to the common good of the whole body . whosoever wants this love , hath no vital union with christ and the church , and no part in the communion of saints . the church is much more ennobled , strengthened , and every way blessed by the communion of holy love among all its living members , or real christians , than by an outside uniformity in the minute circumstances , or accidental modes of religion . by this love it is more beautifull and lovely in the eyes of all intelligent beholders , than by outward pomp and ornament , or any worldly splendor . the unity of the church as visible , whether catholick or particular , may be cons●dered in a three-fold respect , or in three very different points . the first and chief point thereof , is in the essentials and all weighty matters of christian faith and life . the second and next in account is in the essentials and integrals of church state , that is , in the christian church-worship , ministery and discipline , considered as of christs institution , and abstracted from all things superadded by men . the third and lowest point is in those extrinsecal and accidental forms and orders of religion , which are necessary in genere , but left in specie to human determination . of these several points of unity , there is to be a different valuation according to their different value . our first and chief regard is due to the first and chief point , which respects christian faith and life ; the next regard is due to that which is next in value , that which respects the very constitution or frame of a church ; and regard is to be had of that also which respects the accidentals of religion , yet in its due place and not before things of greater weight and worth . things are of a very different nature and importance to the churches good estate ; and a greater or lesser stress must be laid upon unity in them , as the things themselves are of greater or lesser moment . the rule or law of church unity is not the will of man , but the will of god. whosoever keeps that unity which hath gods word for its rule , keeps the unity of the spirit ; and whosoever boasts of a unity that is not squared by this rule , his boasting is but vain . an hypothesis that nothing in the service of god is lawfull , but what is expresly prescribed in scripture , is by some falsly ascribed to a sort of men who earnestly contend for the scriptures sufficiency , and perfection for the regulating of divine worship , and the whole state of religion . god in his word hath prescribed all those parts of his worship , that are necessary to be performed to him . he hath likewise therein instituted those officers that are to be the administrators of his publick worship in church assemblies , and hath defined the authority and duty of those officers , and all the essentials and integrals of church state . as for the circumstantials and accidentals belonging to all the things aforesaid , he hath laid down general rules for the regulation thereof , the particulars being both needless and impossible to be enumerated and defined . in this point god hath declared his mind , deut. 4. 2. ye shall not add unto the word which i command you , neither shall ye diminish ought from it . deut. 12. 32. what soever thing i command you , observe to do it , thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it . the prohibition is not meerly of altering the rule , gods written word by addition or diminution , but of doing more or less than the rule required , as the precept is not of preserving the rule , but of observing what is commanded in it . such human institutions in divine worship , as be in meer subserviency to divine institutions , for the necessary and convenient modifying and ordering thereof , are not properly additions to gods commandments . for they are of things which are not of the same nature , end and use with the things which god hath commanded , but of meer circumstantials and accidentals belonging to those things . and these circumstantials are in genere necessary to the performance of divine institutions , and are generally commanded in the word , though not in particular , but are to be determined in specie by those to whom the power of such determination belongs . they that assert and stand to this only rule , provide best for the unity of religion , and the peace of the church . for they are ready to reject whatsoever they find contrary to this rule , they are more easily kept within the bounds of acceptable worship , and all warrantable obedience , they lay the greatest weight on things of the greatest worth and moment , they carefully regard all divine institutions and whatsoever god hath commanded , and they maintain love , and peace , and mutual forbearance towards one another in the more inconsiderable diversities of opinion and practice . those things that are left to human determination , the pastors , bishops or elders , did anciently determine for their own particular churches . and indeed it is very reasonable and naturally convenient , that they who are the administrators of divine institutions , and have the conduct of the people in divine worship , and know best what is most expedient for their own society , should be intrusted with the determination of necessary circumstances within their own sphere . but forasmuch as the supream magistrate is intrusted of god with the care of religion within his dominions , and hath a civil supremacy in eclesiastical affairs , and a great concern in the orderly management of publick assemblies , he is authorized of god to oversee the determinations and actings of ecclesiastical persons , and may assume to himself the determination of the aforesaid circumstantials for the honour of god , the churches edification and the publick peace , keeping within the general rules prescribed in gods word . for the maintaining of church-unity , that is according to gods word , it is the part of subjects to submit to what their governours have determined , so far as their submission is allowable by the said rule ; and it is the part of governours to consider well the warrantableness of their determinations . more especially their wisdom and care is much required in settling the right bounds of unity . in this regard the terms of admission to the communion and ministery of the church must be no other , than what the declared will of god hath made the terms of those privi●edges , and which will shut out none , whom god hath qualified for and called to the same . the setting of other boundaries , besides the iniquity thereof , will inevitably cause divisions . the apostles , elders and brethren assembled at jerusalem , acts 15. 28. writing to the blieving gentiles declare , it seemed good to the holy ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things . from which it is evidently inferred that the burden of things unnecessary ought not to be laid on the churches . the things injoyned by that assembly were antecedently to their decree , either necessary in themselves or in their consequents according to the state of things in those times and places . and whatsoever is made the matter of a strict injunction , especially a condition of church communion and priviledges , ought to have some kind of necessity in it antecedent to its imposition . symbolical rites or ceremonies instituted by man to signifie grace or duty , are none of those things , which being necessary in general , are left to human determination for this or that kind thereof . they have no necessary subserviency to divine institutions , they are no parts of that necessary decency and order in divine worship , without which the service would be undecent . and indeed they are not necessary to be instituted or rigidly urged in any time or place whatsoever . the being and well being of an● rightly constituted church of christ , ma● 〈◊〉 without them . st. paul resolves upon the cases of using or refusing of meats , and the observance or non-observance of days , which god had neither commanded nor forbidden , and of eating of those meats which had been offered in sacrifice to idols , rom. 14. and 1 cor. 8. that no man put a stumbling block , or an occasion to fall in his brothers way . the command here given , extends to pastors and governours as well as to other christians , and is to be observed in acts of governments as well as in other acts . st. paul was a church governour and of high authority , yet he would not use his own liberty in eating flesh , much less would he impose in things unnecessary to make his brother to offend . in the cases aforementioned , there was a greater appearance of reason for despising , censuring or offending others , than there can be for some impositions now in question among us , viz. on the one side a fear of partaking in idolatry , or of eating meats that god had forbidden , or of neglecting days that god had commanded , as they thought ; on the other side a fear of being driven from the christian liberty , and of restoring the ceremonial law. nevertheless , the apostle gives a severe charge against censuring , despising or offending others of different persuasions in those cases . and if it were a sin to censure or despise one another , much more is it a sin to shut out of the communion or ministery of the church for such matters . the word of god , which is the rule of church-unity , evidently shews that the unity of external order must always be subservient to faith and holiness , and may be required no further than is consistent with the churches peace and edification . the churches true interest lies in the increase of regenerate christians , who are her true and living members , and in their mutual love , peace and concord , in receiving one another upon those terms which christ hath made the bond of this union . the true church unity is comprized by the apostle in these following unities ; one body , one spirit , one hope , one lord , one faith , one baptism , one god. but there is nothing said of one ritual or set form of sacred office , one policy or model of rules and orders , that are but circumstantial and accidental in a church state and very various and alterable , while the church abides the same . chap. iii. of schism truly so called . here i lay down general positions abou● schism without making application thereof ; whether these positions be right or wrong gods word will shew ; and who are , or are not concerned in them , the state of things will shew . schism is a violation of the unity of the spirit , or of that church-unity which is of gods making or approving . this definition i ground on the afore-cited text , mark them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine that ye have learned . separation and schism are not of equal extent . there may be a separation or secession where there is no schism . for schism is always a sin , but separation may be a duty , as the separation of the protestants from the church of rome . moreover , there may be schism where there is no separation . the violation of unity or the causing of divisions may be not only by withdrawing , but by any causing of others to withdraw from the communion of the church , or by the undue casting or keeping of others out of the church , or by making of any breaches in religion contrary to the unity of the spirit . by looking back to the nature , and rule , and requisites of true church-unity , we shall understand the true nature and the several kinds ●nd degrees of schism . as holy love is the life and soul of church-unity , so that aversation and opposition which contrary to love , is that which animates the sin of schism , and is as it were the heart root of it . whosoever maintains love , and makes no breach therein , and whose dissenting or withdrawing from a church is no other than what may stand with love in its extent , is no schismatick . the unity of the spirit being primarily that of the church as mystically , the breach thereof lies primarily in being destitute of the spirit and life spiritual , much more in being opposite thereunto , under the shew of christianity ; also in the languishing or lessening of spiritual life , especially of the acts of holy love . the unity of the spirit being secondarily , that of the church as visible in its external state , and the first and chiefest point thereo● being in the essentials and weighty matters of christian faith and life ; the highest violation thereof and the chiefest point of schism lies in denying or enormously violating th● said essentials or weighty matters . and it directly a violation of the unity of the catholick church , and not of particular churches only . not only particular persons , but churches , yea a large combination of churches bearing the christian name , may in their doctrine , worship and other avowed practice , greatly violate the essentials , or very weighty matters of christian faith and life , and be found guilty of the most enormous breach of unity . it is no schism to withdraw or depart from any the largest combination or collective body of churches , ( though for their amplitude they presume to stile their combination the catholick church ) that maintain and avow any doctrine or practice , which directly , or by near and palpable consequence overthrows the said essentials . the next point of external unity being about the essentials and integrals of church state , the sacraments and other publick worship , the ministery and discipline of the church considered as of christs institution , the next chief point of schism is the breach hereof . and this may be either against the catholick , or a particular church . of such schism against the state of the catholick church , there are these instances . 1. when any one part of professed christians how numerous soever , combined by any other terms of catholick unity , than what christ hath made , account themselves the only catholick church , excluding all persons and churches that are not of their combination . 2. when a false catholick unity is devised or contended for , viz. a devised unity of government for the catholick church un●er one terrene head , personal or collective , ●●uming a proper governing power over all christians upon the face of the whole earth . 3. when there is an utter disowning of most of the true visible churches in the world , as having no true church state , no not the essentials thereof , and an utter breaking off from communion with them accordingly . of schism against a particular church in point of its church state , there be these instances . 1. the renouncing of a true church as no church , although it be much corrupted , much more if it be a purer church , though somewhat faulty . 2. an utter refusing of all acts of communion with a true church when we may have communion with it , either in whole or in part , without our personal sin of commission or omission . 3. the causing of any divisions or distempers in the state or frame of a true church contrary to the unity of the spirit . but it is no schism to disown a corrupt frame of polity , supervenient to the essentials and integrals of church state in any particular church or combination of churches , like a leprosie in the body , that doth grosly deprave them , and in great part frustrate the ends of their constitution . the last and lowest point of external unity lying in the accidental modes of religion , and matters of meer order , extrinsick to 〈◊〉 essentials and integrals of church-state , the violation thereof is the least and lowest point of schism , i mean in it self considered , and not in such aggravating circumstances as it may be in . those accidental forms and orders of religion , which are necessary in genere but left in specie to human determination , are allowed of god , when they are determined according to prudence , and charity for peace and edification , and accordingly they are to be submitted to . consequently it is one point of schism to make a division from or in a church upon the accountal of accident forms and orders so determined according to gods allowance . but if any of the accidentals be unlawfull , and the maintaining or practicing thereof be imposed upon us as the terms of our communion , it is no schism but duty to abstain from communion in that case . for explicitly and personally to own errors and corruptions even in smaller points is evil in it self , which must not be committed that good may come . in this case not he that withdraws , but he that imposes causeth the division . and this holds of things sinfull either in themselves , or by just consequence . and herein he that is to act , is to discern and judge for his own practice , whether the things imposed be such . for gods law supposeth us rational creatures able to discern its meaning , and to apply it for the regulating of our own actions ; else the law were given us in vain . submission and reverence towards superiors obligeth no man to resign his understanding to their determinations , or in compliance with them to violate his own conscience . persons meek , humble , peaceable and throughly conscientious and of competent judgment , may not be able by their diligent and impartial search to see the lawfulness of things injoyned , and t is a hard case if they should thereupon be declared contumacious . seeing there be several points of unity , the valuation whereof is to be made according to their different value , mens judgment and estimation of unity and schism , is very preposterous , who lay the greatest stress on those points that are of least moment , and raise things of the lowest rank to the highest in their valuation , and set light by things of the greatest moment and highest value ; as indeed they do , who set light by soundness of faith and holiness of life , and consciencious observance of divine institutions , where there is not also unanimity and uniformity in unscriptural doctrines and human ceremonies . and they that make such an estimate of things , and deal with ministers accordingly , do therein little advance the unity of the spirit , or indeavour to keep it in the bond of peace . seeing the word of god is the rule of church unity , a breach is made upon it , when other bounds thereof are set than this rule allows . an instance hereof is the devising of other terms of church-communion , and ministerial liberty , than god hath commanded , or allowed in his word to be made the terms thereof ; also any casting or keeping out of the church or ministery such as gods word doth not exclude from either , but signifies to be qualified and called thereunto . god doth not allow on the part of the imposer such tearms of church communion or ministerial station , as are neither scriptural nor necessary to peace and edification , nor are any part of that necessary order and decency , without which the service of god would be undecent , nor are in any regard so necessary , but that they may be dispensed with for a greater benefit , and the avoiding of a greater mischief . and they are found guilty of schism that urge such unscriptural and unnecessary things unto a breach in the church . such imposers are not only an occasion of the breach that follows , but a culpable cause thereof , because they impose without and against christs warrant , who will not have his church to be burdened , nor the consciences of his servants intangled with things unnecessary . nevertheless , such unscriptural or unnecessary things , if they be not in themselves unlawfull nor of mischievous consequence , may be of gods allowing as to the submitters . thereupon they are guilty of schism , who meerly for the sake of those unnecessary things yet lawfull as to their use , though wrongfully urged upon them , forsake the communion of the church or their ministerial station , where things are well settled as to the substantials of religion , and the ends of church order , and when they themselves are not required to justifie the imposing of such unnecessaries . here i speak of contumacious refusers , who will rather make a breach than yield . but refusers out of conscience believing , or with appearance of reason suspecting the said lawfull things to be unlawfull , are either accquitted from schism , or guilty but in a low degree , and much less culpable than the imposers , who might well forbear to impose . be it here noted that when superiors sin in commanding a thing exempt from their authority , it may be the subjects duty to observe the thing commanded . in this case the said observance is not an act of obedience , for that can arise only from the rulers authority to command . but it is an act of prudence , equity and charity , and it is good and necessary for the ends sake , and in that regard t is an act of obedience , though not to the earthly ruler , yet to god who commands us to follow peace and maintain unity in all lawful● 〈◊〉 and means . in the judgment of the apostle it is no slight matter to act against conscience rationally doubting , or suspecting a breach of gods law , rom. 14. 5. let every man be fully persuaded in his mind , v. 14. to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean , to him it is unclean , ver . 23. he that doubteth , is damned if he eat , because he eateth not of faith , for whatsoever is not of faith is sin . the command of rulers is no good security for acting against a rational doubting conscience . when i am in doubt touching the lawfulness of the thing injoyned , i have no certainty of being on the safer side , by complying with rulers . for though in general obedience to rulers be a certain duty , yet in the particular doubted case , i cannot be certain that my compliance is right and warrantable obedience , and not a breach of gods law. is it plain that i ought to obey the commands of rulers in things that have gods allowance ? so t is as plain that i ought not to obey their commands in things which god hath forbidden . moreover , it is as plain that i ought not to act against my own conscience , which as being the discerner of the will of god concerning me , is of right the immediate director of my actions . indeed my conscience cannot alter gods law , or make that which god hath made my duty to be not my duty , yet it will not suffer me to act in disconformity to its directions . seeing the unity of the spirit is always in conjunction with faith and holiness , to which the unity of external order is always to be subservient , it follows that when unity of external order doth not tend to advance but hinder sound faith and true holiness , then a false unity is set up , and the true unity is abandoned , and divisions and offences are caused . and it is no schism but a duty not to adhere to a unity of external order so set and urged , as that it tends to the destruction or notable detriment of faith and holiness , which are the end of all church order . the means are good in reference to their end , and must never be used in a way destructive to it . of the hinderance of the said ends , there be these following instances . here laid down in general , without intendment of particular application to any churches now in being , which are left to be tryed and judged by that rule by which all must stand or fall . 1. when a church or churches , a congregation or congregations have an establishment of external polity , and an ordained ministery , and a form of divine worship , but are destitute of such ministers as are qualified to feed the flock , and are burdened with such as are altogether unfit to have the charge of souls committed to them , who are either unable to teach , or teach corruptly , either teaching corrupt doctrine , or abusing , mishandling and misapplying sound doctrine , to encourage the ungodly and discourage the godly . 2. where there are some ministers able and apt to teach and duly qualified ; but their number is in no wise proportionable to the number of the people , and there be multitudes that cannot have the benefit of their ministery , so that if they have no more placed among them than those few , they have in effect none . 3. where sincere christians , or credible professors of christianity are cast out of an established church by wrong sentence , or are debarred from its communion by unlawfull terms injoyned them , or unnecessary terms which are to them unlawfull by real doubts of conscience , and which christ hath not authorized rulers to injoyn as terms of church communion . 4. when ministers , whom christ hath furnished and called , are driven out of their publick station by unlawfull terms injoyned , or by terms unnecessary and to them unlawfull by real doubts of conscience , and which christ hath not authorized rulers to injoyn as terms of the publick ministery . upon the cases here mentioned , i inquire whether the said ministers and people may not draw together into new congregations . let it be considered whether the determinations of men may be a perpetual bar to true visible christians , ( it may be to multitudes of them ) against the injoyment of those most important priviledges , to which god hath given them right . yea , suppose their consciences were culpably weak in scrupling things imposed , yet they may suffer wrong by such an excess of punishment , as so great a deprivation . and christ doth not reject them for such weaknesses . let it be also considered , whether such injured as christians are wrongfully excluded from gods ordinances , and such neglected souls as are left destitute of the necessary means of salvation , may lawfully be deserted by christs ministers . should not the stewards of the mysteries of god indeavour to supply what is lacking to such by reason of the rigourousness or negligence of others ? if it be said , we may not do evil that good may come , nor break the laws of unity for such respects , the answer is , that this is not to do evil , but a good work and a necessary duty , and here is no breach of unity that is of gods making or allowing . the necessary means of saving souls are incomparably more pretious than uniformity in external , accidental order , especially when t is unwarrantably injoyned , and attended with such evil consequents . if within any local bounds assigned for the pastoral charge of any ecclesiastick , the people be left destitude of competent provision for their souls , it is no intrusion or breach of unity if an other pastor perform the work of the ministery within those bounds . subjects may not by coercive power reform the publick state and change the laws , which is the work of the supream magistrate . but let it be considered whether they may not have their voluntary assemblies for gods worship , when they are driven from the communion of the legal churches by the imposition of ●nlawfull terms , or unnecessary terms appre●ended by them to be unlawfull . for in this ●ase they are forced either to hold such assem●lies , or to abide perpetually without those ●piritual priviledges which are their due , and ●●e ordinary means of their salvation . there is a great difference between inimi●l separation , like sedition in a common-●ealth , and secregation upon necessary causes ●ithout breach of charity . and among the ●ecessary causes this may be one , that all sober ●hristians , who for conscience sake cannot ●●bmit to the way of the established churches , ●ay be relieved ; and that none may be exposed for lack of that relief to be lead aside into the error of the wicked , as heresie , infidelity , or any other course of impiety . indeed here is some variation from the ordinarily regular bounding of churches . but the partition of one church from another by local bounds , is not of absolute necessity and invariable , but naturally eligible from the convenience thereof , when it may be had . but the state of some christians may be such , as to compel them to vary from it . the scope hereof is not to set up churches agains● churches , but either occasional and temporary assemblies , or at the most but dive●● churches distinguished by their several place of assembling , or by diversity of external order , as the allowed congregations of foreigners in london , are distinguished from the parish churches . if any object the inconveniencies that ma● follow the permitting of church assemblies b● sides those of the established order , the a●swer is , that the wisdom and clemency rulers in any nation where this case may supposed can provide , that as few as may should stand in need of that permission , fixing the terms of church communion a●● ministerial liberty to such a latitude , as m●●● comprehend all the more moderate dissente●● and after such comprehension , christian ch●rity will plead , that all tolerable dissenters ( that is , all who believe and live as christians ) may be tolerated within such limits , as may stand with publick peace and safety . that which is here proposed , may make for the relief of many thousand serious christians without breach of the external order , which is necessary to be maintained , and is not set up to the hinderance of things more necessary . it is to be noted that the offenders expresly marked out by the apostle in the text , rom. 16. 17. were ungodly men that opposed or perverted the christian doctrine , and being sensualists and deceivers disturbed and polluted the christian societies , and seduced the simple into destructive error and practice . wherefore the text is ill applied to the rigorous condemnation of honest and peaceable men , that dissent only in some accidental or , ●nferior points of religion , for which the apostle forbids christians to despise or judge one ●nother . yet not only false teachers , but all ●chismaticks are here condemned under this de●●ription , viz. those that cause divisions and offences . and though they be not direct op●osers of sound doctrine , yet being dividers 〈◊〉 disturbers , they practice contrary to the ●octrine of christ , which teacheth unity , ●ove and peace . but still it must be observed ●●at the reality of schism lies not in being divided or disordered , but in causing the division or disturbance , or in a voluntary violation of or departing from true church-unity . they that cause divisions are not excused from schism by the support of secular power , nor are others convicted of it meerly by the want of that support . the magistrates power in sacred things is accumulative , not destructive o● diminitive to the rights of christs ministers and people . it takes not from them any thing that christ hath granted them , but gives them a better capacity to make use thereof . chap. iv. of the schisms that were in the mor● ancient times of the church ; and th● different case of the nonconformist● in these times . of those parties which were anciently r●upted schismaticks , as violating the un●ty of the church , yet not hereticks , as d●nying any fundamental point of the chris●●an faith , the novatians and donatists are the chiefest note . forasmuch as both the● are looked upon as the greatest instances schism , it may be requisite for me to consid●● the true state of their separation from the main body of the christian church , passing by accidental matters , and insisting on the merits of their cause according to their main principles and practices . as concerning the donatists , the breach made by them had this rise . donatus with ●is complices vehemently opposed cecilianus , who had been chosen bishop of carthage , in design to thrust him out of his bishoprick . they accuse him of being ordained by one that had been a proditor , and of having admitted into ecclesiastical office one that was guilty of the like fault . this cause was by the emperor constantine's appointment heard before several councils and many judges . the accusers still fail in their proofs of the ●hings objected , cecilianus is acquitted and confirmed in his office. the party of donatus failing in their design , were carried in a boundless rage of opposition to a total , and ●rreclaimable separation from all the churches ●hat were not of their faction , and became very numerous upon a pretence of shunning ●he contagion of the wicked in the communion of the sacraments . their principles were , that the church of christ was no where ●o be found but among themselves in a corner of africa ; also that true baptism was not administred but in their sect. likewise they proceeded to great tumult , and violence , and rapine . and a sort of them called circumcelliones gloried in a furious kind of martyrdom , partly by forcing others to kill them , and partly by killing themselves . the novatians took their name and beginning from novatus a presbyter , first at carthage , afterwards at rome , who held that they who lapsed in times of persecution unto the denying of christ , were not to be readmitted unto the communion of the church , though they repented and submitted to the ecclesiastical discipline of pennance . he separated from the roman church , and was made a bishop by bishops of his own judgment , in opposition to cornelius bishop of rome cyprian gives a very bad character of him , a● a turbulent , arrogant and avaritious person but of what spirit soever he was , his judgment and canon was received among many that were of stricter lives ; and he himself i● reported to have suffered death in the persecution under valerian . at the council of nice , acesius bishop o● the novatians being asked by constantine whether he assented to the same faith wit● the council , and to the observation of easte● as was there derceed , answered that he full assented to both . then being again aske● by the emperor , why he separated from th● communion , he recited for himself things done in the reign of decius , and the exquisite observation of a certain severe canon , that they who after baptism had fallen into that kind of sin , which the scripture calls a sin unto death , ought not to be partakers of the divine mysteries ; but to be exhorted to repentance , and to expect the hope of remission not from the priest but from god , who hath power to forgive . by this it appears that the novatians did not deny the salvability of the lapsed , or others that had fallen into a sin unto death , but only refused to admit them to sacerdotal absolution and church-communion . and thus they made a very unwarrantable separation , grounded upon an unjust rigor of very bad consequence . nevertheless their error was no other , than what holy and good men might be ensnared ●n by the appearance of a greater detestation of ●in , and its tendency to prevent the lapse of christians into idolatry , and to make them more resolved for martyrdom . and by as ●redible history as any we have of the an●ient times , they are reported to have had among them men eminently pious , and some ●amous for miracles . they unmovably ad●ered to the homousian faith , and for the maintenance of it together with the orthodox , ●uffered dreadfull persecutions . they had some bishops remarkable for wisdom an godliness , and such as were consulted with by some of the chief of the catholick bishops , and that with good success for support of the common faith against the arrians and such like hereticks . under a certain persecution , wherein they were companions of the self same suffering , it is said that the catholicks and novatians had prayers together in the novations churches , and that in those time● they were almost united , if the novations had not utterly refused that they might keep up their old institutes ; yet they bare such good will one to another , that they would die one for another . these and many other things of like nature are reported of them by socrates , whom some indeed suspect to have been addicted to them , yet upon no other ground , but because he gives them their due upon evident proof . and besides what he hath reported , sosomen thus testifies of them , l. 2. c. 30. that when other sects expired , the novatians because they had good men for the leaders of their way , and because they defended the same doctrine with the catholick church , were very numerous from the beginning , and so continued , and suffered not much dammage by constantines law for suppressing of sects ; and acesius their bishop being much favoured by the emperor , for the integrity of his life greatly advantaged his church . also l. 4. c. 19. he reports the great amity that was between them and the catholicks in a time of common persecution . whether the case of the dissenters from the uniformity now required , be in point of schism of the same or like reason with the above mentioned , or any other anciently reputed schismaticks , is now to be considered . and it is the case of those that dissent not in the substance of religion , but only in things pertaining to the ecclesiastical polity or external order in the church , that it here taken into consideration . of these , some being persuaded of the necessity of their own church-order , desire to remain as they are in their severed societies ; yet they do not nullify the legal churches or ministery , or the dispensation of the word , sacraments and prayer therein performed . others being satisfied in the constitution of parochial churches , and in the substance of the established form of worship , would gladly embrace a freedom of communicating and administring therein , upon the removal of some bars that lie against them , and which they think may well be removed . thereupon they seek an accommodation and union by a sufficient comprehensiveness in the publick constitution ; and withall a reasonable indulgence towards those brethren , who for the straightness of their judgments cannot be comprehended . neither party of the dissenters here described can be charged with any thing like the donatistical fury before expressed . if austin sought the suppression of that sect by the secular power , in regard of the horrible outrages committed by them , it cannot reasonably be urged for a precedent ( as it hath been by some ) for the suppression of men sober and peaceable , and sound in the main points of christian faith and life . nor can either party of us be charged with that intolerable presumption and arrogance of the donatists , in confining the flock of christ to their own party , or the disannulling and utter denouncing of all churches besides their own . nor is the ground of our dissatisfaction like theirs , which began in a quarrel against a particular bishop , and was maintained by animosity against those that would not condemn him . it is well known that another manner of account is to be given of our dissents . if it be objected , that those dissenters whose principles bind them up to persevere in their severed societies , seem in this respect to be as the novatians , who would not admit a re-union with the other churches ; it may be answered for them , that reasons have been offered in the foregoing parts of this discourse for indulgence to conscientious people , who are intangled by the narrowness of their principles touching church-order . besides , they do not stand off upon so harsh and rigorous a point as the novatians did , viz. the utter repelling of the lapsed , though penitent from the communion of the church . and they have ordinarily communion in the word and prayer with congregations that are not of their church way , and occasionally in the sacrament with those congregations , where they apprehend a care of the exercise of discipline . nor may they be judged so irreconcilable to the established order , but that the holy lives of those in the publick ministery , and their lively preaching , and a greater care of true and real church-discipline , might do much to their recovery . in the mean time , why may not these be upon as good terms under the present government , as the novatians were under the government of their times ? church history reports that they were cruelly persecuted by the arrian emperours and bishops , and that they had great indulgence under orthodox emperours , and with many catholick bishops and patriarchs , whose prudent and moderate government did best provide for the peace of their churches . but those orthodox bishops , who took from them their churches and estates , were chiefly either such as took to themselves a secular power , and ruled imperiously and with violence , or such as with their zeal had more of wrath and rashness than of meekness and prudence . this can be easily proved in the particular instances , if need were . but this is not the case of all nonconformists . for part of them ( and upon good experiment made , they may be found the greater part ) do not seek to abide in a severed state , but desire a union . it is well known they are as sensible of the evil of schism , and as studious of the churches peace and concord , as any others . and though they have not the same latitude of judgment with others in some points , yet they have a right catholick spirit to promote the common interest of religion , and more especially the protestant reformation , and dread the weakning and shattering of it by needless divisions , and are ready to go as far as conscience will allow in compliance with the injunctions of rulers . but they are cast and kept out of the established order by the injunction of some terms , which in regard of their present judgment , they can not comply with , but under the guilt of so great a sin as dissembling in the matter of religion . touching church-government , they admit the episcopacy that was of ancient ecclesiastical custom in the time of ignatius , yea , or of cyprian . bishop usher's model of government by bishops and arch-bishops with their presbyters , was by some of them presented to the kings majesty for a ground-work of accommodation . they acknowledge the kings ecclesiastical supremacy according to the oath in that case required . his majesty in his gracious declaration concerning ecclesiastical affairs , gives a testimony concerning the ministers that attended him in holland , in these words , viz. to our great satisfaction and comfort , we found them persons full of affection to us , and of zeal to the peace of church and state , and neither enemies ( as they had been given out to be ) to episcopacy or liturgy , but modestly to desire such alterations in either , as without shaking foundations might best allay the present distempers . they are ready to engage that they will not disturb the peace of the church , nor indeavour any point of alteration in its government by rebellious seditions , or any unlawfull ways . those points of conformity wherein they are dissatisfied , are but some accidentals of religion and external modes , and the declarations and subscriptions importing an allowance of all and every thing contained in the liturgy . and they think that these points are not so necessary in themselves or in their consequents , but they are very dispensable as the wisdom of governours shall see cause . if it be objected , that if any thing should be yielded to them , there would be no end of their cravings , that which i have to say is , that reasonable men will be satisfied with reasonable concessions ; and if subjects know not what is fit for them to ask , governours know what is fit for them to give . by granting the desired relaxation , the church would not ( as some alledge ) be self-condemned , as confessing the unlawfulness of her injunctions , or as justifying the opinions of the dissenters . for it can signifie from her no more than either her indulgence to the weak , or her moderation in things less necessary and more controverted , which would not turn to her reproach , but to her greater justification . i have here nothing to say to them that object against any relaxation after that manner , as if they desired not our conformity but our perpetual exclusion . such may be answered in due season . and i have here nothing to do with those that argue against ●s from politick considerations , respecting a particular interest too narrow for an adequate foundation of church-peace and christian-concord . but my scope is to consider what may be done by the higher powers and church guides for the healing of breaches , according to the wisdom which is from above , which is first pure , then peaceable , gentle and easie to be intreated , full of mercy and good fruits , without partiality and without hypocrisie . i have made particular observation of those too most remarkable parties , which have been looked upon as the chief instances of schism in the more ancient times . the other schisms that i find of any remark in those times were raised , sometimes by persons cast out of the church for their crimes , and thereupon drawing disciples after them , as was that of meletius a bishop ●n egypt , who was desposed for having sacrificed to idols . sometimes by offence unjust●y taken at some supposed faultiness in a bishop , as was that of an orthodox party ●n antioch , against another meletius , an orthodox and right worthy bishop of that city , only because he was at first brought ●n by the arrians ; sometimes by the exasperations of the people for injuries done to them or their pastors , and outrages committed by their opposites , as was that of the johannites at constantinople upon the banishment of chrysostom ; and somtimes by meer animosity and humor of discontentment , as was that of lucifer a bishop in sardinia● who separated from eusebius bishop of vercellis and others , because they disliked his rash act of ordaining paulinus to be bishop of antioch , as tending to perpetuate the schism there begun . touching all the said parties , it may be observed that they did not plead that any opinions or forms were imposed on them to which their consciences did reluctate , no● did they desire others forbearance toward● them in such things as might bear too har● upon them ; but they themselves woul● not bear with others in that which they supposed faulty , but did rather choose wholly to abandon the communion of the churches and did not seek nor care for accomodatio● with them . but this is not the case of 〈◊〉 least a great part of the dissenters of the● times . for they importune an accommodatio● with the churches of the established orde● and for peace sake , are willing to bear wit● the practice of others in that which themselves dislike or doubt of ; but they canno● obtain a dispensation from others , in some things which are very dispensable points according to their judgment , but are forced to abide in a severed state , unless they will profess what they believe not , or practice what they allow not . now because the judgment and practice of antiquity is much insisted on , i pray that it may be considered , whether in the primitive , or ancient times of christianity , men , yea , many hundreds of men duly qualified for the ministery by sound faith and good life , as also by their learning and industry , and offering all reasonable security for their submissive and peaceable demeanure , were or would have been cast and kept out of the church for their nonconformity to some opinions , forms and ceremonies , which at the best are but the accidentals of religion , and of the truth or lawfulness whereof , the dissenters were wholly dissatisfied , and which the imposers judged to be but things in themselves indifferent . and i further pray that it may be considered , whether it be easier for the nonconformists to be self-condemned in conforming to some injunctions against their consciences , and in deserting the ministery to which they are dedicated , than for superiours either by some relaxation to make them capable of conforming , or to bear with their peaceable exercise of the ministery in a state of nonconformity , while some of their injunctions confine them to that state . chap. v. of making a right estimate of the guilt of schism , and something more of taking the right way to unity . the confused noise about schism , and the unjust imputation thereof , that is commonly made , hath greatly disordered the minds of many . some have been thereby swaid to an absolute compliance with the most numerous or the most prevailing parties . others discerning the abuse of this name , but forgetting that there is something truly so called , have made light of the thing it self , which is indeed of a heinous nature . i have been engaged in this disquisition by a deep sense of the evil of schism , and an earnest care of keeping my self from the real guilt thereof , and what is here written , i willingly submit to a grave and just examination . errare possum , haereticus , schismaticus esse nolo . i am liable to errour as others are , but i am sure i am no wilfull schismatick . it is commonly given to men to pass a severe judgment upon every dissent from their own opinions and orders . whereupon , as that hath had the character of schism stamped upon it , which is not such indeed ; so that which is schism in a low and tolerable degree , hath been aggravated to the highest , and prosecuted against all rules of prudence and charity . to make an equal judgment of the guilt of schism in persons or parties , the degree of the schism is duly to be considered . our saviour teacheth that reviling language , contemptuous words and rash anger , are breaches of the sixth commandment , yet in degree of guilt , they are vastly different from the act of wilfull murther . and indeed in the kind of delinquency here treated of , there are as great differences of degrees as of any other kind . the case of those that are necessitated to a non-compliance in some lawfull things by them held unlawfull , yet seeking union would gladly embrace a reasonable accomodation , is much different from theirs , who upon choice and wilfully sever themselves , because they love to be severed . in like manner the case of those who desire and seek the conformity of others , and would gladly have fellowship with them , yet through misguided zeal , are approvers of such unnecessary impositions as hinder the conforming of many , is much different from theirs , who designing the extrusion of others , contrive the intangling of them by needless rigors . many other instances might be given to express the great disparity of cases in point of schism , all which may teach us in the estimate that we are to make thereof , to put a difference between honest minds , that by mistake are drawn into division , and those that out of their corrupt minds and evill designs do wilfully cause division . in many things we offend all , and therefore it behoves us to consider one another , as subject to the like errours and passions . we should not judge too severely , as we would not be so judged . there be many examples of schismatical animosities and perversnesses , into which in the ancient times such persons have fallen , as were otherwise worthily esteemed in the church . cyril with the greater number of bishops in the ephesine council , too rashly deposed john of antioch , and his party of bishops upon a quarrel that arose between them . and john with his adherents returning to antioch , did more rashly depose cyril and his party , and yet both parties were orthodox , and in the issue joyned in the condemnation of nestorius . but the most remarkable instance in this kind , is the disorderly and injurious proceeding of so venerable a person as epiphanius , against so worthy a person as chrysostom , to which he was stirred up by the instigation of that incendiary theophilus of alexandria . the said epiphanius goes to constantinople , and in the church without the city held a sacred communion , and ordained a deacon ; and when he had entred the city , in a publick church he read the decree made by himself and some others in the condemnation of origens books , and excommunicated dioscurus and his brethren called the long monks , worthy and orthodox men persecuted by the anthromorphites . and all this he did without and against the consent of chrysostom the bishop of the place , and in contempt of him . i may further instance in the long continued division between paulinus and meletius , with their parties at antioch , though both of them were of the nicene faith ; likewise in the long continued separation made from the church of constantinople , by the followers of chrysostom after his banishment , because they were exasperated by the injuries done to their worthy patriarch . these weaknesses in good men of old times , i observe not to dishonour them , but that we may be thereby warned to be more charitable and less censorious towards one another , in case of the like weaknesses and disorders , and to be sollicitous to maintain peace , and to prevent discord among all those that are united in the substantials of christian faith and practice , and for this end to be more carefull in avoiding unreasonable oppositions , unwarrantable impositions , and all causless exasperations . true holiness is the basis of true unity . for by it the faithfull cleave to god , and one to another in him and for him , and are inclined to receive one another on those terms , on which god hath received them all . and by it they are turned from that dividing selfishness , which draws men into several or opposite ways according to their several or opposite ends . let not a carnal wordly interest in a church state , be set up against holiness and unity . let the increase and peace of the church visible , be sought in order to the increase and peace of the mystical . let no one party be lifted up against the common peace of sound believers ; and let not any part of the legitimate children of christs family be ejected or harassed upon the instigation of others , but let the stewards in the family carry it equally , and so gratifie one part in their desired orders , that the other part be not oppressed . let not them be still vexed , who would be glad of tolerable terms with their brethren . in church-governours let the power of doing good be enlarged , and the power of doing hurt restrained , as much as will stand with the necessary ends of government . let the discipline of the church commend it self to the consciences of men . let the edge of it be turned the right way and its vigor be put forth , not about little formalities but the great and weighty matters of religion . zeal in substantials and charitable forbearance in circumstantials , is the way to gain upon the hearts of those that understand the true ends of church-government , and what it is to be religious indeed . let the occasions of stumbling and snares of division be taken out of the way , and let controverted unnecessaries be left at liberty . discord will be inevitable , where the terms of concord remain a difficulty insuperable . the conscientious that are willing to bid high for peace , cannot resign their consciences to the wills of men , and humility and soberness doth not oblige them to act contrary to their own judgments out of reverence to their superiors ; they cannot help themselves , but their superiors may . t is the spirit of antichrist that is fierce and violent ; but the spirit of christ is dovelike , meek and harmless , and that spirit inclines to deal tenderly with the consciences of inferiours . tenderness of conscience is not to be despised or exposed to scorn , because some may falsly pretend to it . the head of the church and saviour of the body is compassionate towards his members , and he hath said , whoso shall offend one of these little ones , that believe in me , it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck , and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. as the way of unity lies much in the wisdom , equity and charity of superiours , so in the humility and due submission of inferiours , in their ready closing with what is commendable in the publick constitutions , in their bearing with what is tolerable , in making the best improvement of what is therein improvable for their own and others edification , in a word , in denying no compliance , which piety towards god and charity towards men doth not forbid . matters of publick injunction , which inferiors stick at , may be considered by them either as in themselves unlawfull , or as inexpedient . now it is not only or chiefly the inexpediency of things commanded , but the supposed unlawfulness of divers of those things that the nonconformists generally stick at , whereof they are ready to render a particular account , when it will be admitted . howbeit a question may arise about the warrantableness of submission to things not in themselves unlawfull but inexpedient , especially in respect of scandal , the solution whereof may be requisite for the clearing of our way in such things . upon this question it may be noted , that in those cases , wherein there is no right of commanding , there is no due of obedience . nevertheless , things unwarrantably commanded are sometimes warrantably observed , though not in obedience , yet in prudence , as to procure peace , and to shew a readiness to all possible compliance with superiors . moreover , rulers have no authority to command that , which in it self is not unlawfull , when christian charity forbids to do it in the present circumstances by reason of evil consequents . for all authority is given for edification and not for destruction . likewise our christian liberty includes no licence to do that act at the command of rulers , the doing of which in regard of circumstances , is uncharitable . but here it must be considered , how far the law of charity doth extend in this case , and when it doth , or doth not forbid my observance of what the ruler hath unwarrantably , because uncharitably commanded . true charity doth not wholly destroy christian liberty , though it regulates the use thereof ; and it doth not extend it so far one way as to destroy it self another way . if i am bound up from doing every indifferent thing , at which weak consciences will take offence , my liberty is turned into bondage , and i am left in thraldom to other mens endless scrupulosities . this is i think a yoke which christians are not fit nor able to bear . this bondage is greater and the burden lies heavier upon me , if by reason of others weakness , i must be bound up from observing an indifferent thing at the command of rulers , and by them made the condition of my liberty for publick service in the church , when my conscience is fully satisfied that it is lawfull , and otherwise expedient for me to do it . as for the warrantableness of enjoyning , the ruler must look to that . are some displeased and grieved that i do it ? as many or more may be displeased and grieved if i do it not . do some take occasion by my necessary use of a just liberty , to embolden themselves to sin ? my forbearing of it may be an occasion of sin to others , as their persisting in some troublesom errour to their own and others spiritual dammage , and in unwarrantable non-compliance with their governours . and the loss of my liberty for publick service consequent to such forbearance , must also be laid in the ballance . when both the using and forbearing of m● liberty is clogged with evil consequents , i kno● no safer way than duly to consider of what moment the consequents are on either side , and t● incline to that which hath the lesser evil . here in the wisdom of the prudent is to direct his wa● upon the impartial view of all circumstance which come under his prospect . and if goo● conscience and right reason , guided by the general rules of gods word , lead me to make us● of my christian liberty in compliance with m● superiors , i must humbly and charitably apply my self to remove the offence , that some take by clearing the lawfulness and expediency o● my act to their judgments . but if that canno● be discerned by them , i am by my christia● good behaviour to make it evident to thei● consciences , what in me lies , that what i do , 〈◊〉 do sincerely and faithfully , and that i am n● temporizer , man-pleaser and self-seeker . 〈◊〉 humbly conceive that that high saying of th● apostle , if meat make my brother to offend , 〈◊〉 will eat no flesh while the world standeth doth admit such equitable interpretation , as th● circumstances of time , place , person , and th● whole state of things declares to be most reasonable . a humble representation of my own case touching the exercise of the ministery . i have been in the ministery near fourty years , having been ordained presbyter according to the form of ordination used in the church of england . and being called to this sacred order , i hold my self ●ndispensibly obliged to the work thereof , as god enables me and gives me opportunity . the nature of the office is signified in the form of words , by which i was solemnly set apart thereunto . viz. [ receive the holy ghost , whose sins thou dost forgive , they are forgiven , and whose sins thou dost retain , ●hey are retained : and be thou a faithfull dispenser of the word of god and of his holy sacraments , in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost , amen . ] the former part of these words being used by ●our saviour to his apostles , in conferring upon them the pastoral authority , fully proves that the office of a presbyter is pastoral , and of the same nature with that which was ordinary in the apostles , and in which they had successours . likewise , this church did then appoin● that at the ordering of priests or presbyters certain portions of scripture should be read as belonging to their office to instruct them in the nature of it , viz. that portion o● act. 20. which relates st. pauls sending to ephesus , and calling for the elders of the congregation with his exhortation to them , to take heed to themselves and to all the flock , over which the holy ghost had made them overseers , to rule the congregation of god. or else 1 tim. 3. which sets forth the office and due qualification of a bishop . and afterwards the bishop spake to them that were to receive the office of priesthood , in this form of words , ( ye have heard , brethren , as wel in your private examination , and in the exhortation and holy lessons taken out of the gospels and writings of the apostles , of what dignity , and how great importance this office is whereto ye are called , that is to say the messengers , the watchmen , the pastors and stewards of the lord , to teach , to premonish , to feed , to provide for the lords family . i mention my ordination according to the episcopal form , because it is of greatest esteem with them , to whom this representation is more especially tendred . nevertheless , i own the validity of presbyterial ordination , and judge that ministers so ordained , may make the same defence for exercising the ministery , in the same case that is here represented . christ is the author and the only proper giver of this office ; and though he give it by the mediation of men , yet not by them as giving the office , but as instruments of the designation , or of the solemn investiture of the person to whom he gives it . as the king is the immediate giver of the power of a mayor in a town corporate , when he gives it by the mediation of electors and certain officers , only as instruments of the designation , or of the solemn investiture of the person . i am not conscious of disabling my self to the sacred ministrations , that belong to the office of a presbyter , by any opinion or practice , that may render me unfit for the same . touching which matter , i humbly offer my self to the tryal of my superiors to be made according to gods word . nothing necessary to authorize me to those ministrations is wanting that i know of . i am christs commissioned officer ; and i do not find that he hath revoked the authority which i have received from him ; and without the warrant of his law no man can take it from me . nor do i find , that the nature of this office , or the declared will of christ requires , that it be exercised no otherwise , than in subordination to a disocesan bishop . that i do not exercise the ministery under the regulation of the bishop of the diocess , and in other circumstances according to the present established order , the cause is not in me , who am ready to submit thereunto ; but a bar is laid against me by the injunction of some terms in the lawfulness whereof i am not satisfied , whereof i am ready to give an account when it is required . i do not understand that i am under any oath or promise to exercise the ministery , no otherwise than in subordination to the bishop , or the ordinary of the place . the promise made at my ordination to obey my ordinary and other chief ministers , to whom the government and charge over me is committed , concerns me only as a presbyter , standing in relation to the bishop or ordinary , as one of the clergy of the diocess , or other peculiar jurisdiction , in which relation i do not now stand , being cast out and made uncapable thereof . moreover , in whatsoever capacity i now stand , the said promise must be understood either limitedly or without limitation . if limitedly , as in things lawfull and honest , ( as i conceive it ought to be understood ) then i am not bound by it in the present case . for it is not lawfull nor honest for me to comply with the now injoyned conformity against my conscience , or in case of such necessitated non-compliance , to desist from the ministery that i have received in the lord. if it be understood without limitation , ●t is a sinfull promise in the matter thereof , and ●hereupon void . absolute and unlimited obedience to man may not be promised . let ●t be considered also that the objected promise could not bind me to more than the conformity then required . but since my ordina●ion and promise then made , the state of con●ormity hath been much altered by the injunction of more , and to me harder terms than ●ormerly were injoyned . when i was or●ained , i thought that the terms then requir●d were such as might be lawfully submitted to . but young men ( such as i then was ) may be ●asily drawn to subscribe to things publickly ●njoyned , and so become engaged , before they have well considered . the ordainer or ordainers , who designed me to this office of christs donation , and not ●heirs , could not by any act of theirs lessen it ●s to its nature or essential state . nor can they ●erogate from christs authority over me , and ●he obligation which he hath laid upon me , ●o discharge the office with which he hath ●ntrusted me . that a necessity is laid upon me in my present state to preach the gospel , i am fully perswaded , in regard of the necessities of souls which cry aloud for all the help that can posibly be given by christs ministers , whethe● conformists or nonconformists . the necessary means of their salvation is more valuable than meer external order or uniformity in things accidental . i receive the whole doctrine of faith an● sacraments , according to the articles of th● church of england , and am ready to subscrib● the same . i have joyned , and still am ready to joyn with the legally established churche in their publick worship . the matter o● my sacred ministrations hath been always consonant to the doctrine of the reforme● churches , and particularly of the church o● england . i meddle not with our present differences , but insist on the great and necessar● points of christian religion . i design not th● promoting of a severed party , but of mee christianity or godliness . i am willing to comply with the will 〈◊〉 my superiors as far as is possible with a saf● conscience , and to return to my ministeri●● station in the established churches , may i b● but dispensed with in the injunctions , wit● which my conscience , till i be otherwise informed , forbids me to comply . in the whol● of my dissent from the said injunctions , i ca● not be charged with denying any thing essen●●al to christian faith and life , or to the ●onstitution of a church , or any of the weigh●er matters of religion , or with being in any ●hing inconsistent with good order and go●ernment . my case , as i have sincerely set it forth , i ●umbly represent to the clemency of my go●ernours , and to the charity , equity and candor ●f all christs ministers and people . i am sure design to follow after the things which make ●or peace ; and i hope i am not mistaken in ●he way to it . j. c. finis . books lately printed for tho. parkhurst at the bible and three crowns in cheap side . one hundred of select sermon upon several occasions , by tho. horton , d. d. sermons on the 4th . psal. 42. psal. 5● and 63. psal. by tho. horton , d. d. a compleat martyrology , both of fo raign and english martyrs , with th● lives of 26 modern divines , by sam clark. a discourse of actual providence by john collings , d. d. an exposition on the 5 first chapter of the revelation of jesus christ , 〈◊〉 charles phelpes . a discourse of grace and temptat●on , by tho. froysall . the revival of grace . sacrament reflections on the death of christ testator . a sacrifice and curse , by john hur● a glimps of eternity to awaken sinners and comfort saints , by ab. coley . which is the church , or an answer to the question , where was your church before luther ? by rich. baxter . the husbandmans companion , or meditations sutable for farmers , in order to spiritualize their employment , by edward bury . mr. adams exposition of the assemb . catechism , showing its harmony with the articles and homilies of the church of england . the present state of new-england , with the history of their wars with the indies . popery an enemy to truth and civil government , by jo. sheldeck . spelling book for children , by tho. lye. principals of christian religion , with practical applications to each head , by tho. gouge . almost christian , by matth. mead. godly mans ark , by edmund calamy . heaven and hell on earth in a good or bad conscience , by nath. vincent . little catechism for children , with short histories , which may both please and profit them , by nath. vincent . ark of the covenant , with an epistle prefixed by john owen , d. d. this author hath lately published this book intituled , the kingdom of god among men . a tract of the sound state of religion , or that christianity which is described in the holy scriptures , and of things that make for the security and increase thereof in the world , designing its more ample diffusion among professed christians of all sorts , and its surer propagation to future ages . printed for tho. parkhurst . an eighth letter concerning the sacred trinity occasioned by some letters to him on that subject / by john wallis ... wallis, john, 1616-1703. 1692 approx. 51 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 11 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67386) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106447) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1107:2) an eighth letter concerning the sacred trinity occasioned by some letters to him on that subject / by john wallis ... wallis, john, 1616-1703. 21 p. s.n., [london : 1692] caption title. imprint suggested by wing. dated at end: novemb. 23, 1691. errors in paging: p. 2-3, 6-7 misprinted 16-13, 12-9. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng trinity. theology, doctrinal. 2004-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-06 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2004-06 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an eighth letter concerning the sacred trinity ; occasioned by some letters to him on that subject . by john wallis d. d. &c. since my publishing seven letters , and three sermons , concerning the sacred trinity ; i have received , on that occasion , several letters from divers persons , ( some known , some unknown , ) concerning that subject . mostly by way of gratulation and approbation of what i have done . and where some expressions therein are not just the same with mine ; they are much to the same purpose , and not at all contrary to what i undertook to maintain . one of them ( from an unknown person ) subscribed a. b. was written ( it seems ) by a countrey gentleman , not a professed divine : who though he do not pretend to be much versed in school-divinity ; yet is , i find , not a stranger to it . it was left for me at my booksellers , with an intimation , that the author was willing to have it printed . and i left it again with the bookseller for that purpose ; though it hath been delayed hitherto . which ( because the author did desire it ) is as followeth . a letter to the reverend doctor wallis occasioned by his several letters touching the doctrine of the trinity , &c. reverend sir , 't is gratitude and acknowledgement directs these lines to you . i have been so fortunate to meet with your several letters in affirmance of the doctrine of the blessed trinity , &c. and cannot but confess my self not only confirmed , but much enlarged in my notions about that doctrine by the so plain and pressing reason of your discourses . but lest i should seem fond of my own understanding , and fancy to my self that i do comprehend more touching these matters than i indeed do , i shall humbly offer to you my method of thoughts , and submit the same to your grave judgment and allowance . the metaphysicians i remember teach us that one way to know the deity is by way of eminency , is there any good or perfection in the creature ? then , say they , god that is the great author and cause of all things , must be so in a more eminent and high degree . the attributes of god are competent to man ( whom he made after his own image ) in some measure , but in god they are in the highest and superlative degree . now besides these eminences and perfections in the deity , there are three more particular and more transcendent eminences , wherein and whereby god hath manifested himself to and for the good of mankind . god almighty was pleased in his infinite mercy to determine that mankind should be rescued from that state of sin , which the defection of our first father brought us into , and be brought back into a state of salvation . but how he should bring about and effect this great work , is out of the reach of humane contemplation , and can no otherwise be known , than as god himself hath been pleased to reveal and discover the same to us in the scriptures . now the scriptures intimate to us three several manifestations of the deity in this great work of our salvation . the first is that of a father . that god the father of heaven and earth , who created the world by his power , and preserveth it by his providence , so loved this world , that he sent his only begotten son to be our saviour and mighty redeemer . the second is that of a son. that jesus christ the only begotten son of god , undertook this great work of man's redemption , and to that purpose came into the world , and became man , a second adam , who by his holy life , and absolute and perfect obedience to the will of god , did expiate and make atonement for the disobedience of the first . the third is that of the holy ghost , who by his inward operations and gracious influences , doth incline and prevail with man to embrace the redemption purchased for him upon the terms of the gospel . now in respect of these three several manifestations of the deity , there is said to be a trinity of persons in the vnity of the godhead , and the same god in respect of one of these manifestations of himself , is called god the father ; in respect of another is called god the son ; and in respect of the third is called god the holy ghost . that there are these three more eminent manifestations of the deity , and under these denominations , of father , son , and holy ghost , is most plain in the scriptures . but the great doubt is whether these be three personalities in the deity . and this doubt ( i take it ) ariseth from a misunderstanding and mistaking the true sense of the word persona . for this word persona , i think the philosophers are short in their definitions of it . boethius defines it to be naturae rationalis individua substantia . this other philosophers dislike as too scanty , because it is applicable to man only , and doth not include spiritual beings . and therefore they to inlarge it , and make it more comprehensive , call it substantia particularis , intelligens & incommunicabilis , &c. but for my part i cannot but like boethius his definition best , and think him so far in the right , in that he makes the word persona only applicable to man ; for so doubtless it is in its true and proper signification ; and it is applicable to spirits by a metalepsis only and transumption of the word . and herein the philosophers are too short in their definitions of persona , that while they done so much upon the word substance , they forget that accidents are a more necessary ingredient in its true definition . the word persona in relation to man , doth not only signifie individuality , and denote a particular or single man , but it doth imply those qualities also whereby one man differeth from another . by the word quality her i do not mean the single predicament so called , but all the other predicaments except that of substanee , it being those whereby the naturae rationalis substantia is individuated . 't is quantity that differs the person of taller stature from the lower . 't is quality that differs the learned from the vnlearned person . 't is relation that differs the father from the son. 't is the ubi or locality that differs john of noke from john at style . and so of the other predicaments . i would therefore propose the adding a few words to boethius his definition , and then i think it will be well enough . let it then be thus , viz. persona est naturae rationalis individua substantia taliter qualiter ab aliis differens . thus defined it relates to man only , and so to one man as he differeth from another by accidental individuation . for though 't be true that every person is a single substance , yet 't is as true that they are accidents that do determine the personality . and as the specifick differences do constitute the species , so predicamental accidents do constitute the individual . thus rationality doth constitute the species of man , and differs it from that of the brute . and thus wisdom , fortitude , &c. do differ this particular man from another , and make him to be this person and not another . nor can we have any certain notion of naked substances , or otherwise conceive of them than as they are clothed with and variegated by accidents . to this purpose also is the true sense and meaning of the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which strictly translated is in latine subsistentia . now subsistentia doth not only import the esse of the substance , but the modus essendi : and what is that doth modifie substance but qualities and accidents ? the fundamental mistake therefore in this great point hath been in making the word substance so more than necessary in the definition of persona , and concluding from thence that there cannot be three persons but there must be three several substances . whereas in truth there may be in the same one particular man , diversly qualified and circumstanticated , diverse personalities . thus in the man melchisedeck . melchisedeck king of salem may be said to be one person , and melchisedeck the priest of the most high god another . so in david , in respect of his double qualification of a king and a prophet . thus much for what i conceive to be the true notion of persona . now to consider this word persona as it hath been applyed to the godhead . and here i must say again , as i said before , that this word persona is used only in a borrowed sence , and for want of another word that might more appositely and fully signifie what is intended by it . god cannot properly be said to be a person . there are no accidents in him . all his attributes are essential to him . that wisdom that is finite in man and accidental to him , is infinite in god and essential to him . and so of all the other attributes and perfections of the deity , that are in an imperfect and low degree competent to man. in this borrowed sence therefore it is that this word persona is applyed to the deity ; and in respect of those three eminent manifestations of the deity there are said to be three persons in it . not that the word person , and distinction of personalities in respect of men doth bear a full analogy to the difference of personalities in the deity , for in this as in all other contemplations of god , we must expect to fall short and not comprehend . but that the consideration of the different personalities amongst men may help us in some imperfect measure to conceive of that trinity that we adore in the vnity of the godhead . object . but here i expect an objection , that if in respect of these three manifestations of the deity there are said to be three persons , why are there not said to be more persons in the godhead than three , even as many as there are divine attributes , for so many are the manifestations of the deity to us . answ. there is not so much reason to imagine more personalities in the godhead than these three , as that there are these three and no more . for although it be true that every attribute doth import the deity , and can be predicated of nothing else but the deity , yet every single attribute doth not ( if i may so speak ) import the whole deity . his infinite wisdom doth not necessarily import or administer to us the notion of his infinite power . and so of the other attributes . but these three several manifestations of the godhead , that are called three persons , are such wherein the whole deity ( as i may say ) doth exert it self , and appear in all its attributes , and therefore i call them three more transcendent eminences or manifestations of the deity . thus i do conceive this trinity of persons in the godhead in some sort intelligible , without any necessity of thinking that these three persons must be three several substances , and consequently three gods. and i must confess i cannot but think this great dispute a meer wrangling business , and a contest more about words than things . for at the same time that our adversaries are so fearful of multiplying the deity by dividing the substance , we tell them that we believe in one god only , and that these three persons in the godhead are but one god. so that all the dispute is whether to say there are three persons in the deity doth necessarity imply that there are three substances , which we declare we do not mean nor intend by it . and for my part if they will as fairly declare that they believe these three several manifestations of the deity , viz. of god the father , god the son , and god the holy ghost , as held forth to us in the scriptures , i would willingly compound with them for the word person , and comply with them in the use of any other word they shall find out that may better or as well express what we mean by it . i come now to the other great objection of our adversaries touching the hypostatical vnion . how the divine and humane nature could be united in the same person , and this person be at the same time both god and man , and this without multiplying or dividing the deity , or without confining the omnipresent to the scanty tenement of an humane body . how this god-man should be born of a virgin by the overshadowing of the holy ghost , and humane nature propagated without the natural help of a man. these things seem so utterly impossible to these men of great reason , that therefore they must not , cannot be ; and the scriptures themselves must rather be mistaken or false , than that can be true which they think cannot . bvt when they argue thus from impossibility , i wonder their curiosity doth not question the creation it self , how it was possible for god to make all things of nothing . and for the hypostatical vnion , methinks before they question that so strictly , they ought to give a better account than yet can be given of the vnion of the soul of man with his body . and when they question the being born of a virgin , may they not as well question how the first woman was made of the rib of a man : one as well as the other being supposed to come to pass by the divine power . bvt because i am apt ( with you ) to suspect how far the scriptures are of authority amongst these reasoning men , i will adventure to propose to them one consideration touching the hypostatical vnion to shew that it is not so inconceivable a thing to humane reason as they would have it . let them but consider the several degrees of beings that god hath made in the world. the trees and plants to which he hath given vegetation . the brutes to which besides vegetation , he hath given animal life ; senses and appetites to discern and endeavour after what is necessary to the preservation of their beings . then to step further and consider man , to whom , besides all these , god hath given a rational mind and soul. and to step yet further , let them consider those higher beings the angels , what pure intellectual beings they are , and what degrees of perfection god hath given them , beyond what he hath given to man. i say when we consider these , what necessity is there of limiting and confining god almighty here ? may we not as reasonably think , that if in his infinite wisdom he so thought fit , he might as well make a being yet more perfect ? why is it not as conceiveable , that , ( to bring about his own eternal purposes ) he might actuate the humane nature by the divine power , and make a man in whom even the perfections of the deity should reside ? is the principle of essentiality and vitality any whit divided in or from the deity by giving life and being to those creatures ? is the eternal mind any whit multiplied or divided by giving a rational soul or mind to man ? nor is the infinite and eternal spirit of the world , multiplied or divided by creating and giving being to those glorious spirits the angels . what necessity then to think that the godhead must be either multiplied or divided , or in any wise varied by acting the divinity in the humane nature ? oh rebellious mankind , that hast offended thy creator ; but more ungrateful , that wilt not accept his mercy upon his own terms , and believe it exhibited in that manner that he himself has revealed it ! is it not that god , whose justice is infinite , that is offended ? is it not the same god , who is also infinite in goodness and mercy that is appeased ? what room for his mercy , without derogation to his justice , unless there be satisfaction ? and what satisfaction can be competent to the offended deity ? were men or angels fit to mediate , or could they make a satisfaction ? surely not . 't is his infinite mercy only that can appease his justice . there is mercy with him , that he may be feared , yea mercy rejoycing over judgment . now because it is inconceivable to man how the offended deity should make a satisfaction to it self , god almighty is pleased thus far to condescend to the capacity of humane nature as to tell us in what manner he hath done it . viz. that he hath sent his only begotten son into the world to be born of a woman to live a life of righteousness for our instruction and example , and to dye the death of sinners to satisfie for our defection . and further , that our original taint might not prevail over and misguide us into actual transgressions , he hath sent his holy spirit amongst us to lead us into the ways of truth and righteousness . this he was pleased to promise after the fall , by his prophets in the times of the old testament , and has now performed it to us in the times of the new. now , is it fit for us to object against this manifestation of his mercy to us , and glorious contrivance of our redemption , because we cannot comprehend the mystery of it ? that surely was ne're meant to be within our fathom . in the days of the old testament when god was pleased to command the adoration and duty of his people , he manifested himself to them under several appellations , whereby he put them in mind of his mercies to them and their duty to him . i am ( says he ) the god of abraham , the god of isaac , and the god of jacob. and so in the prologue to the decalogue — i am the lord thy god which brought the out of the land of egypt , out of the house of bondage , &c. intimating thereby to them the great mercies he had shewn in his miraculous preservation of the patriarchs , and people of isreal . so now in the days of the new testament god almighty has been pleased to manisest himself to us under other denominations and appellations , viz. those of god the father , god the son , and god the holy ghost ; intimating thereby to us in what manner be hath made good his promised mercy , and brought about the great work of our redemption , and that under those appellations and manifestations of himself he will now be worshipped in the times of the gospel . but for us to understand the great mysteries of our salvation in this manner offered unto us , ( viz. that the trinity in the vnity of the godhead , and that of the incarnation of our blessed saviour , &c. ) was certainly never intended by god almighty . and shall we doubt what god himself tells us because we cannot comprehend it ? when god said to the people of israel ; i am the lord thy god which brought thee out of the land of egypt , &c. had it been fit for them to have enquired how he brought them out of egypt , and to have ravelled into all the miracles he wrought for that purpose , and to have brought them to the touch of their understandings , and to have doubted the truth thereof , or the power of god that did them , because they could not reconcile them to their own reason ? yet thus ill certainly do they use god almighty , who will doubt the manner of our salvation , because they cannot understand the mystery . alas , vain men , that will not believe what god himself has reveal'd , because it will not bear the test of their weak reason ! do they think the wisdom and power of the almighty are to be bounded by the scanty limits of their vnderstanding ? that were for what is finite to comprehend infinity . god were not god if that were so . and these very men , who value themselves so much upon their reason , that they think they ought to understand the very arcana of heaven , would , i doubt not , be ready enough by the same strength of reasonng , to disown that deity that they could comprehend . thus i have presumed ( reverend sir ) to trouble you with this draught of my rude notions about this matter , which i hope you will excuse , they coming from a private countrey-gentleman , unread in polemick divinity , and particularly in this dispute , and in whom these thoughts were occasioned by the perusal of your late papers , i am , sir , may 28th , 1691. yours most humbly , a. b. this letter being for substance , much to the same purpose with what i had undertaken to maintain ; and the expressions not much different , and in nothing contrary to it : i shall not detain the reader with any long discourse upon it ; because it speaks sufficiently for it self . it hath been suggested to me by another anonymous ; that , we knowing so little of the infinite divine nature , there may possibly be greater distinction between the three ( which we use to call ) hypostases , or persons , than ( what he calls ) the civil or relative acceptation of the word person ; ( and we may as well prejudice the truth , by affirming too little , as by affirming too much . ) and it is very true ; there may be , for ought we know , ( and perhaps there is ) more than so , ( nor have i any where denyed it : ) but , how much that more is , we cannot tell . sure we are , not so as to be three gods ( or more gods than one : ) and i choose to say ( with st. austin ) that these three are one spirit ( as we say , they are one god , ) not three spirits . the true ancient import of the word person ( when first applied to the trinity ) implies no more than as i explained it : which was a full answer to the anti-trinitarians popular argument ( from the modern gross acceptation of the word person , in english , ) as if three divine persons , must needs be three gods , because three persons amongst men doth sometimes ( not always , nor did it anciently so , ) imply three men. and , when we say , these three persons are but one god ; 't is manifest that we use this metaphor of persons ( when applyed to god , ) as borrowed from that sense of the word person , wherein the same man may sustain divers persons , or divers persons be the same man. i have seen , more than once , an address from edward earl of clarendon , chancellor of the vniversity of oxford , to edward earl of clarendon lord high chancellor of england , ( in a claim of privilege , to remove a cause from the court of chancery , to that of the vniversity . ) yet these two chancellors were not two men , nor two earls of clarendon ; but one and the same , sustaining two persons , ( one addressing to the other . ) and if this do sufficiently answer that popular cavil ; 't is as much as 't was brought for . if it do otherwise appear , that the distinction between these three divine persons be more than so ; ( but yet more god's than one ; ) that may well enough be , though this metaphor do not necessarily imply so much . 't is certain , that three persons , neither according to the true import of the words , nor according to the intent of those who so speak , doth not imply three gods : but three persons which are one god , or one god in three persons . i have also a third letter from w. i. much to the same purpose with what he had written in his two former . ( and therefore i do not think it needful to insert it here ; nor do i see that he desires it . ) it is , he tells me , to take his leave of me , as not meaning to give me any farther trouble in this kind . 't is full of divers expressions of respect , thanks , and approbation ; and he doth insist ( as in his two former he had done ) upon these two things ; not to be too positive ( in these matters ) beyond what the scripture tells us ; and , not to lay the like stress upon our argumentations from thence , as on what we find thore . in both which ( as before i did ) i do fully agree with him . because , in matters of pure revelation , we know no more than what is revealed : and , because 't is very sure , that ( even in natural things ) men do oft mistake in their argumentations , from principles which they think to be true and clear ; ( else it could not be that divers men , from the same principles , should infer contrary conclusions : ) and because we find it difficult , sometimes , to reconcile some things , which yet we cannot well deny to be true . and , if it be so , even in natural things : much more may it be so in things of an infinite nature . so that herein ( i think ) he and i do not disagree . yet would i not infer from hence ( nor doth he ) that we must therefore be scepticks in all things , because it is possible that in some things we may mis-take . for it is one thing to be infallible ; another thing not to err. a man who is not infallible , may yet argue truly ; and where he doth so , his argument is conclusive . and we may accordingly rest in it , and insist upon it , more or less , according to the degree of evidence . for things equally true , are not always equally evident ; nor equally necessary to be known . where the evidence is not clear ( and the matter not needful for us to know ) we are not to be too positive in our determinations , ( but rather be content to be ignorant farther than god is pleased to reveal : ) but where it is , ( and the things be of moment ) we must hold fast that which is true , and not suffer our selves to be easily wheedled out of it . which , i suppose , is his opinion as well as mine . for he seems to interpose this caution ( particularly ) as to that hypothesis ; to which ( as before he had done ) he doth suggest some new difficulties : but , wherein i am not concerned . that god is trin-unus , he doth profess . and the word person he doth not dislike . but thinks it safe not to be too positive in determining precisely how great that distinction of persons is . in all which , i do concur with him . now as to the word person ( though i am not fond of words , where the sense is agreed ; ) i am not willing to quit it , because i do not know a better to put in the room of it : and because , if we quit the word , which the church hath with good reason made use of , for so many hundred years ( without any just exception made to it : ) those anti-trinitarians , who would have us quit the word , will pretend , that , in so doing , we quit the doctrine too . that we do not , by person ( when applyed to the sacred trinity ) understand such a person , as when applyed to men ; and , that by three divine persons , we do not mean three gods : hath been so often said , and so fully , by those who believe the trinity ; that those who cavil at it , cannot but know it : but by person in the deity , we mean only what bears some analogy , with what amongst men is said of several persons ( even without being so many several men ; which the true sense of the word person doth not import , as hath been often shewed : ) as do the words , beget , begotten , sending , proceeding or going-forth , and many more ; which all are metaphorical expressions , taken from what amongst men is wont to be said of persons , ( for , of whom , but persons , are such expressions used ? ) and they who use to cavil at it , may as well do it when we talk of the foot of a stool , the arm of a chair , or the head of a staff ; and perswade us , that when we so speak , we do believe a stool , a chair , a staff , to have life and sense , because a foot , an arm , a head ( properly taken ) have so and they may as well cavil at the word sacrament ( which is a name that we have given to that of baptism and the lord's supper ; ) attributes , ( which is a term we give to some of the divine perfections : ) creed , ( by which we mean an abstract of some principal things that we believe : ) and a great many such other words that we find occasion to make use of : whereof yet there is no danger , when it is defined and determined what by such word , in such discourse , we mean ; even though , in some other discourses , such word may signifie otherwise . 't is well known , that a cone in euclide doth not signifie just the same as in apollonius ; nor a triangle in euclide , just the same as in theodosius , and others , who write of sphericks : but when we meet with these words in euclide , we must there understand them as they are defin'd by euclide ; and when in others , so as they are defin'd by those others . and so when we speak of persons in the deity , we must be so understood as we there define : that is , for somewhat analogous , but not just the same , with what is meant by it , when applyed to men ; and , particularly , not so distinct as to be three gods. and , for the same reasons , i am not willing to part with the athanasian creed ; lest those who would have us so do , should then say , we have parted with the doctrine also . they , upon pretence , that some expressions in it , though true , are not absolutely fundamental ; would fain wheedle us out of all . they might as well say , that , because some words might be spared in what we call the apostolick creed , or nicene creed ; or some other words put in ; therefore those creeds should be laid aside also . and when they quarrel with the preface of it , ( whoever would be saved , ought to hold the catholick faith ; and the catholick faith is this ; ) as if it were intended thereby , that every syllable in it were so fundamental , as without knowing whereof , a man could not be saved : ( which no man can reasonably think to be so meant by the penners of it ; since that thousands were saved ( even in their opinion ) before that was penned ; and others since , that never heard of it ; ) is mere cavilling . for no more can reasonably be thought intended by it , but that this is found doctrine , which , for the substance of it , ought to be believed by those who would be saved : like as if i should say , who ever would be saved , ought to believe the word of god ; and this is the word of god , ( pointing to our bible ; ) no man ( who is not mad ) would think my meaning to be , that no man could be saved who did not know that one of iob's daughters was named iemimah ; or that zeruiah was mother ( not father ) to those who are called the sons of zeruiah . as to that question ( which i meet with in some of the letters ) why just three persons , and no more : the answer is short and easie ; because the scripture tells us of three , but of no more . ( and , had not the scripture told it us , we had not known of these three . ) we are baptized into the name of ( and therefore into the faith of ) the father , son and holy ghost ; ( as if this were the first christian creed . ) we are told , there are three that bear record in heaven ; and , these three are one : ( not , that there are more such than three : ) and to these three ( somewhats ) we give the name of persons ; meaning , by the word persons , these three . and if by persons in the deity we mean but these three ; then there are but three in the deity whom we call persons ; or , whom we mean by that name . there is another ingenious person ( a stranger to me ) who hath written to me divers letters on this occasion , ( full of gratulation , approbation and applause : ) but in one of them he moves a question concerning a passage in one of mine ; where i say , we have no notions in our mind , other than what we derive , mediately or immediately , from sensible impressions of finite corporeal beings : and tells me , that it seems to him , that the notion of one infinite essence should be excepted . and that he hath formerly vindicated des cartes against mr. hobs , who had affirmed , that there is no conception in a man's mind , which hath not at first totally , or by parts , been begotten upon the organs of sence : and again , that a man can have no thought representing any thing not subject to sense . but , in a following letter , he declares himself fully satisfied , ( and that my sentiments do not really differ from his , ) when i had sent him this answer , viz. as to what you say of my affirming , that we have no notions in our mind , other than what we derive , mediately or immediately , from sensible impressions of finite corporeal beings : when you consider it again , i believe you will be of my mind . if you can suppose a man in such circumstances , as never to have seen , or heard , or felt any thing : i doubt whether he would have any thoughts of god , more than an embryo yet unborn , ( who hath the same soul , that he will after have ; but hath , i doubt , as yet , no notions of a god. ) sure i am that we attain it by other steps . the heavens declare the glory of god : but not without being seen , or at least heard of , or some way made known to us by sensible impressions . the invisible things of him ( even his eternal power and godhead ) are clearly seen ; but it is by the creation of the world ; being understood by the things that are made . but if we neither see , nor hear of , nor have any notion of the things that are made ; how shall we thence derive the notion of a god ? and there must be many notions , antecedent to that of one infinite essence , ( which must be derived from sensible impressions of corporeal beings . ) we must have the notion or conception of ens , esse , finis , finitum , non-finitum , vnum , non-nullum , non-multa ; before we can have the notion of one infinite essence . and those antecedent notions , i think , we do derive ( mediately or immediately ) from what we see , hear , feel , or some way apprehend by the help of our sences . as to des cartes ; there must be a great many notions , or simple apprehensions , which he must presume , before he can come to the complex notion of deus est. and a great many illative notions ( from natural logick ) before he can argue , cogito , ergo sum . he must at least have a notion , or simple apprehension , of what is meant by cogito , and of what is meant by sum , and of what by ego : and then a complex notion , that what is not , cannot think : and then this illative notion ( from natural logick . ) but , i think , therefore i am . and , i doubt , he cannot come at all this , without some use of his senses . and , even after all , it seems to me , that to be is a notion more simple ( and therefore antecedent ) than to think ; and therefore soone to be apprehended by it self , than by consequence from that . but it is not now my business to dispute against des cartes . onely to shew , that sensitive notions are subservient to our notions of a god ; and , from these our understandings do , by steps , ascend to these . upon this answer , he owns my sentiments to be the same with his , &c. that ( in a natural way ) the humane intellect hath no operation , but what is occasioned , or suggested by sensible objects . but he thinks , i perceive , ( and so do i , ) that from these notions occasioned or suggested by sensible objects , our intellect , or reason improved , may ascend , by steps , to a discovery of something concerning god , which , in corporeal objects it cannot find ; in which we both agree . now the best means we have for the forming of such notions concerning god , is chiefly by one of these two ways ; that of eminency , and that of negation . whatever of good , or excellency , we find in the creature , we conclude that in god ( who is the fountain of all excellency ) there is somewhat analogous thereunto , but much more eminent . and whatever of imperfection we find in the creature , we conclude , that in god ( who is infinitely perfect ) there is nothing of this imperfection . and , from both , we conceive a notion of somewhat in god , which is more great than is possible for us fully to comprehend : but , what that somewhat is , we cannot fully understand , now , these being the steps , by which we form these notions ; we know no better way to express these conceptions , than by metaphors taken from such objects , from whence these notions take their rise , or some such figurative expressions . ( and it was with this prospect that i mention'd that observation . ) and , in the same way , god is pleased ( in scripture ) to express himself to us ; by somewhat analogous ( not just the same ) with what we meet with in the creature ; as when it speaks of god's eyes , ears , hands , feet , &c. of his seeing , hearing , striking , going , &c. so when the father is said to beget ; the son to be begotten ; and both these to send out , and the holy ghost to proceed , or go forth from them . all which expressions are such , as we commonly apply to what we call persons . and in what sense those are to be understood concerning god ; in such sense they are fitly called three persons . and those who in such sense cavil at the word person ; would no doubt ( if there were not somewhat else in the wind ) as well cavil at those other words . but because , so to do , were directly to affront the scripture ( whose words they are ) they do not think fit so to speak out , whatever they think . when christ saith , of himself and the father , john 16. 28. i came forth from the father , and am come into the world ; again , i leave the world , and go to the father : of himself and the holy ghost , ver . 7 , 8. if i go not away , the comforter will not come unto you ; but if i depart , i will send him unto you ; and when he is come , he will reprove the world , &c. of himself and the other two , iohn 14. 26. and 15. 26. the comforter which is the holy ghost , whom the father will send in my name , he shall teach you all things , and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever i have said unto you . and again , when the comforter is come , whom i will send you from the father , even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the father , he shall testifie of me : what could be said , as of three persons , more distinctly ? and if the scripture speak of them as three persons ; why should we scruple to call them so ? but these three persons are but one god. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . these three are one ; vnum ( not unus ) one thing , 1 iohn 5. 7. and john 10. 30. i and the father are one ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( unum sumus ) we are one and the same thing ; and therefore one god. and , that there is no other god but one , is known to be so often said that i need not repeat it . but 't is not so much the word person , is the deity of christ , which these men are offended at ; and all their cavils at the word person , ( and the athanasian creed , ) are but to undermine our saviours deity . of this i have said enough elsewhere , and need not here repeat it . the lord our god is one lord , deut. 6. 4. that is , the lord god of israel is one lord ; or iehovah the god of israel is one iehovah . there are not more iehovah's than one : and this one iehovah is the lord god of israel . and isa. 45. 3 , 5. i the lord ( jehovah ) am the god of israel : i am the lord ( jehovah ) and there is none else . there is no god beside me : ( no god beside the lord god of israel . ) so in 2 kings 19. 15. and many other places to the same purpose . now our christ , is this lord god of israel , luke 1. 16 , 17. many of the children of israel shall he ( iohn the baptist ) turn to the lord their god , ( to the lord god of israel ; ) and he ( john baptist ) shall go before him , ( this lord god of israel ) in the spirit and power of elias . now no man doubts but that it is our christ , whose fore-runner john baptist was ; and before whom he was to go in the spirit and power of elias . therefore our christ is this lord god of israel : this one iehovah . 't is true that the greek septuagint's translation of the old testament doth not retain that word , but doth every where wave the word iehovah , and puts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of it . and accordingly , the new testament ( which mostly follows the language of that , the only greek translation then in use ) doth so too . but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( which they substitute for iehovah ) is so oft applied to christ ( even in those places cited out of the old testament wherein iehovah is used ) that none can be ignorant of it . and though we have not there the word iehovah , yet we have as full a periphrasis of it as can be desired . 't is well known ( and owned by all ) that the two proper names of god , iah and iehovah , are derivatives from the verb hajah or havah which signifieth to be , ( which whether we take for one and the same root , or two roots of one and the same signification , is not material ; the letter iod and vau in hebrew being so oft used promiscuously , or one changed for the other : ) and therefore the noun verbal must needs import a being . and it hath been further observed long since by hebricians , that the name iehovah hath moreover the peculiar characteristicks of the three times , ( past , present , and future , ) ie the characteristick of the future tense ; ho , of the present tense or participle ; and va of the preter tense , ( which i did forbear to mention formerly , lest they should throw it off as a criticism ; till i had a fresh voucher for it , so good as dr. pocock in his late commentary on ioel. chap. 1. 19. ) and we have all this in that character of god ( indefinitely ) rev. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , from that being , who is and hath been , and shall be for the time to come . and it is particularly applied to christ , at ver . 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . i am alpha and omega , saith the lord god ( jehovah elohim ) which is , which was , and which is to come , the almighty . which is a full account of the name iehovah ( here translated , as elsewhere , by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) with a discant upon it , importing his being , with the three diversities of times , ( past , present , and future , ) and his omnipotence superadded . that being which now is , which ever was , and which ever shall be , the lord god , almighty . ( so rev. 4. 8. and rev. 11. 17. ) and in rev. 16. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( so beza , and so dr. pocock reads it , and so ours translate it . ) and much to the same purpose is that rev. 1. 11 , 17 , 18. rev. 2. 8. ( and elsewhere ) i am alpha and omega , the beginning and the end , the first and the last ; he that liveth and was dead , and behold i live for evermore . so rev. 4. 9 , 11. rev. 5. 12 , 13 , 14 who liveth for ever and ever . which fully answers that title , the living god , whereby the true god doth so oft distinguish himself from other gods ; as ier. 10. 10. and elsewhere frequently . but i have said so much formerly to this point , that i shall now add no more . i had almost forgotten one piece , ( wherein i find my self mentioned ) intituled , a suit for forbearance , &c. it aims chiefly at two things . one is against arging ( on others ) too strict an vnion , wherein christianity , as delivered by our lord and his apostles , hath left a latitude and simplicity : but herein i think , he hath no cause to blame me ( nor do i see that he doth ) he doth not find me to trouble him with cramping scholastick terms . i know not how i could speak more tenderly than to say these three are three somewhats , ( not three nothings ; ) and if he please to sport himself with that , he may . and , that 't is convenient , to these somewhats , to give a name ; and , that i know no better name than persons ; and , therefore , that we may still say ( as we were wont to do ) three persons and one god ; even though by person , i do not require men to fancy just such a person , as what we so call amongst men. like as by father , son , beget , &c. i do not understand ( in god ) just such as what these words signifie amongst men. and i do not know how he could wish me to speak more tenderly , or more agreeing to the christian simplicity , wherein it is delivered by our lord and his apostles . the other is ; he thinks it not adviseable in things sufficiently setled by just authority ( as is that of the trinity ) to revive a controversie long since determined , and draw the disputatious saw : because , to litigate about a fundamental , is to turn it into a controversie . and herein , i am so much of his mind , that i would not have advised to start the controversie , about what we have been in quiet possession of , for so long a time . and i am ready to own , that it is an art of our adversaries the papists , to perswade the world that we have no better ground for the doctrine of the trinity , than they have for transubstantiation ; ( for they care not what they overthrow , if thereby they may advance their own ends : ) and , that atheistical and irreligious men will be glad of any opportunity to ridicule religion . but if others will make it their business to run down religion ; and profess to the world , there is nothing but authority to define it ( which they despise ; ) and no reason or scripture for it , more than for transubstantiation : i think we are not obliged to stand ( all of us ) so silent , as if we had nothing to say for it , or yielded up the cause . there is a middle way ( for the promoting what he calls a purer and more scriptural divinity . ) between a rigorous imposing all the scholastick cramping terms ; and , a giving up the cause . a modest defence of what the scripture teacheth us , ( without excursions into a rigorous pressing of extravagant niceties of our own inventions ) may be of good subserviency , to shew , that the doctrines of our religion are not inconsistent with right reason . what he tells us of some body who had been heretofore master of the temple , that did express himself to this purpose , the substance of god , with this property , to be of none , doth make the person of the father ; the very self same substance in number , with this property , to be of the father , maketh the person of the son. the same substance having added to it the property of proceeding from the other two , maketh the person of the holy ghost . so that , in every person , there is implyed , both the substance of god , which is one , and also that property which causeth the same person really and truely to differ from the other two. this , i say , would pass with me well enough . and if he please so to express himself , i should not quarel with it . again ; if i should express it thus , that god considered as the original or fountain of being ( who himself is and gives being to all things else ) may be called god the father , ( or the god and father of all : ) and the same god , as the fountain of wisdom or knowledge ; be called god the son , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the word , wisdom or reason ; the true light , that lighteth every man that cometh into the world , ) gods wisdom resulting from his essence or being : and the same god , as the fountain of power , might or action ; be called god the holy ghost ; ( gods power of acting , proceeding from his essence and wisdom also : ) and this eternal , all-wise , and almighty god , is one god : perhaps he would not much mislike this . or , if he should ; i would not quarel with him on that account ; or be positive that it must just be so . we know that christ is called the wisdom of god ; the son of god ; the son of the highest : and the holy ghost is called the power of the highest . and we know that , amongst our selves , knowledge results from the essence of our soul ; and action proceeds from both. 't is said also , that in him we live , and move , and have our being . ( from god we have our being , our rational life , and our motion : in whose image and likeness we are created . ) yet would i not be positive ( much less would i require every one to be of that opinion ) that the personalities in god must needs be these . i am content to rest here , that these three , father , son , and holy ghost ( whatever name you call them by ) differ in somewhat ( more than what we commonly call the divine attributes ) yet not so as to be three gods ( or more gods than one ; ) but are one and the same god. and so far we be safe . nor is there any danger ( that i can see ) in giving the name of persons to these three : nor know i a fitter name to give them . and this , i think , is as much as need be said , as to all those letters , which , on this occasion , have come to my hand , since the publishing of those already printed . there being nothing in all these which is contrary to what i therein undertook to defend . ( nor should i have said thus much , if the author of the letter here inserted had not desired to have it published . ) and now i hope to trouble the press no more upon this occasion . novemb. 23. 1691. yours , john wallis . finis . reprobation asserted, or, the doctrine of eternal election & reprobation promiscuously handled in eleven chapters wherein the most material objections made by the opposers of this doctrine are fully answered, several doubts removed, and sundry cases of conscience resolved / by john bunyan. bunyan, john, 1628-1688. 1674 approx. 129 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 26 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a30198 wing b5588 estc r30870 11674948 ocm 11674948 48081 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a30198) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48081) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1481:4) reprobation asserted, or, the doctrine of eternal election & reprobation promiscuously handled in eleven chapters wherein the most material objections made by the opposers of this doctrine are fully answered, several doubts removed, and sundry cases of conscience resolved / by john bunyan. bunyan, john, 1628-1688. 44 p. printed for g.l., london : [1674?] date of publication suggested by wing. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng reprobation. election (theology) theology, doctrinal. 2005-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-04 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-05 melanie sanders sampled and proofread 2005-05 melanie sanders text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion reprobation asserted : or , the doctrine of eternal election & reprobation promiscuously handled , in eleven chapters . wherein the most material objections made by the opposers of this doctrine , are fully answered ; several doubts removed , and sundry cases of conscience resolved . by john bunyan of bedford , a lover of peace and truth . rom . 11.7 . what then ? israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for : but the election hath obtained it , and the rest were blinded . london , printed for g. l. and are to be sold in turn-stile-alley in holbourn . the contents of the chapters . chap. i. that there is a reprobation . chap. ii. what reprobation is . chap. iii. of the antiquity of reprobation . chap. iv. of the causes of reprobation . chap. v. of the unchangableness of eternal reprobation . chap. vi. whether to be reprobated , be the same with being appointed before-hand unto eternal condemnation ? if not , how do they differ ? also whether reprobation be the cause of condemnation ? chap. vii . whether any under eternal reprobation have just cause to quarrel with god for not electing of them ? chap. viii . whether eternal reprobation in its self , or in its doctrine , be in very deed an hindrance to any man in seeking the salvation of his soul ? chap. ix . whether god would indeed and in truth , that the gospel , with the grace thereof , should be tendred to those that yet he hath bound up under eternal reprobation ? answered in the affirmative . chap. x. seeing then that the grace of god in the gospel , is by that to be profered to sinners , as sinners ; as well to the reprobate as the elect ; is it possible for those who indeed are not elect , to receive it , and be saved ? answered in the negative . chap. xi . seeing it is not possible that the reprobate should receive this grace and live , and also seeing this is infallibly fore-seen of god ; and again , seeing god hath fore-determined to suffer it so to be ; why doth he yet will and command that the gospel , and so grace in the general tenders thereof , should be profered unto them ? answered , and cleared by five reasons , and the removing of three objections . the doctrine of eternal election & reprobation promiscuously handled . chap. i. that there is a reprobation . in my discourse upon this subject , i shall study as much brevity as clearness and edification will allow me ; not adding words to make the volumn swell , but contracting my self within the bounds of few lines , for the profit and commodity of those that shall take the pains to read my labours . and though i might abundantly multiply arguments for the evincing and vindicating this conclusion , yet i shal content my self with some few scripture-demonstrations : the first of which i shall gather out of the ninth of the romans , from that discourse of the apostle's , touching the children of the flesh , and the children of the promise . 1. at the beginning of this chapter , we find the apostle grievously lamenting and bemoaning of the jews , at the consideration of their miserable state : i say the truth in christ , saith he , and lie not , my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy ghost , that i have great heaviness , and continual sorrow in my heart ; for i could wish my self accursed from christ , for my brethren , my kinsmen according to the flesh. poor hearts , saith he , they will perish ; they are a miserable sad and helpless people ; their eyes are darkened that they may not see , (a) and their back is bowed down alway : wherefore ? have they not the means of grace ? yes verily , and that in goodly measure : first they are israelites , to whom pertaineth the adoption , and the glory , and the covenants , and the giving of the law , and the service of god , and the promises ; whose are the fathers , and of whom , as concerning the flesh , christ came , who is over all , god blessed for ever , amen . what then should be the reason ? why saith he , though they be the children of abraham according to the flesh , yet they are the children of abraham but according to the flesh : for they are not all israel ( in the best sence ) that are of israel ; neither because they are the seed of abraham , are they children ; but in isaac shall thy seed be called . that is , they that are the children of the flesh , they are not the children of god ; but the children of the promise shall be counted for the seed . so then , here you see that they that are onely the children of the flesh ( as the greatest part of israel were ) they are those that are neither counted for the seed , the children of promise , nor the children of god ; but are rejected , and of the reprobation . this therefore shall at this time serve for the first scripture-demonstration . 2. another scripture you have in the eleventh chapter of this epistle , from these words , (b) the election have obtained it , and the rest were blinded . these words are shedding words , they fever between men and men ; the election , the rest ; the chosen , the left ; the embraced , the refused : the election have obtained it , and the rest were blinded . by rest here , must needs be understood those not elect , because set one in opposition to the other ; and if not elect , what then but reprobate ? 3. a third scripture is that in the acts of the apostles , (c) and as many as were ordained to eternal life , believed . and as many ; by these words , as by the former , you may see how the holy ghost distinguisheth or divideth between men and men ; the sons , and the sons of adam . as many as were ordained to eternal life , believed : if by many here , we are to understand every individual , then not onely the whole world must at least believe the gospel , of which we see the most fall short , but they must be ordained to eternal life ; which other scriptures contradict : for there is the rest , besides the elect ; the stubble and chaff , as well as wheat : many therefore must here include but some ; for though israel be as the sand of the sea , a remnant shall be saved . i might here multiply many other texts , but in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established : let these therefore for this , suffice to prove that there is a reprobation . for this i say , though the children of the flesh , the rest besides the election , and the like , were not mentioned in the word ; yet seeing there is such a thing as the children of the promise , the seed , the children of god , and the like , and that too under several other phrases , as predestinated , foreknown , chosen in christ , and written in the book of life , and appointed unto life , with many others : i say seeing these things are thus apparent , it is without doubt , that there is such a thing as a reprobation also . rom. 8. ephes. 1.3 , 4. 1 thes. 5.9 . nay further , from the very word election , it followeth unavoidably ; for whether you take it as relating to this , of distinguishing between persons as touching the world to come , or with reference to gods acts of chusing this or that man to this or that office , work , or employment in this world , it still signifieth such a chusing , as that but some are therein concerned , and that therefore some are thence excluded . are all the elect , the seed , the saved , the vessels of mercy , the chosen and peculiar ? are not some ( yea the most ) the children of the flesh , the rest , the lost , the vessels of wrath , of dishonour , and the children of perdition ? rom. 11.9 . 1 pet. 2.8 , 9. mat. 10.16 . 2 sam. 6.21 . psal. 78.67 , 68. john 15.16 . 2 cor. 4.3 . rom. 9.21 , 22. john 17.12 . chap. ii. what reprobation is . having thus shewed you that there is such a thing as a reprobation , i come now to shew you what it is : which that i may do to your edification , i shall first shew you what this word reprobation signifieth in the general , as it concerneth persons temporary and visibly reprobate : secondly more particular , as it concerneth persons that are eternally and invisibly reprobate . first generally , as it concerneth persons temporary and visibly reprobate , thus : to be reprobate , is to be disapproved , void of judgement , and rejected , &c. to be disapproved , that is , when the word condemns them , either as touching the faith or the holiness of the gospel ; the which they must needs be , that are void of spiritual and heavenly judgement in the mysteries of the kingdom ; a manifest token they are rejected . and hence it is that they are said to be reprobate or void of judgement concerning the faith ; reprobate or void of judgement touching every good work ; having a reprobate mind , to do those things that are not convenient , either as to faith or manners . and hence it is again , that they are also said to be rejected of god , cast away , and the like . 2 cor. 13.6 , 7. 2 tim. 3.8 . tit. 1.16 . rom. 1.28 . jer. 6.30 . 1 cor. 9. i call this temporary visible reprobation , because these appear , and are detected by the word as such , that are found under the above-named errors , and so adjudged without the grace of god. yet it is possible for some of these ( however for the present disapproved ) thorow the blessed acts and dispensations of grace , not onely to become visible saints , but also saved for ever . who doubts but that he who now by examining himself , concerning faith , doth find himself , though under profession , graceless , may after that , he seeing his woful state , not onely cry to god for mercy , but finde grace , and obtain mercy to help in time of need ? though 't is true , that for the most part the contrary is fulfilled on them . but to pass this , and more particularly to touch the eternal invisible reprobation ; which i shall thus hold forth : it is to be passed by in , or left out of , gods election ; yet so , as considered upright . in which position , you have these four things considerable : first , the act of gods election . secondly , the negative of that act. thirdly , the persons reached by that negative . and , fourthly , their qualification when thus reached by it . for the first . * this act of god in electing , it is a chusing or fore-appointing of some infallibly unto eternal life , which he also hath determined shall be brought to pass by the means that should be made manifest and efficacious to that very end . ephes. 1.3 , 4 , 5. 1 pet. 1.2 . secondly , now the negative of this act , is , a passing by , or a leaving of those not concerned in this act ; a leaving of them , i say , without the bounds , and so the saving priviledges , of this act : as it followeth by natural consequence , that because a man chuseth but some , therefore he chuseth not all , but leaveth , as the negative of that act , all others whatsoever . wherefore , as i said before , those not contained within this blessed act , are called the rest besides the election : the election hath obtained it , and the rest were blinded . thirdly , the persons then that are contained under the negative of this act , they are those ( and those onely ) that pass through this wicked world without the saving grace of gods elect ; those , i say , that miss the most holy faith , which they in time are blest withal , who are fore-appointed unto glory . and now for the qualification they were considered under , when this act of reprobation laid dold upon them , to wit , they were considered upright . this is evident , first , from this consideration , that reprobation is gods act , even the negative of his choosing or electing ; and none of the acts of god make any man a sinner . secondly , it is further evident by the similitude that is taken from the carriage of the potter (d) in his making of his pots ; for by this comparison the god of heaven is pleased to shew unto us the nature of his determining in the act of reprobation : hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump ? &c. consider a little , and you shall see that these three things do necessarily fall in , to compleat the potters action in every pot he makes : 1. a determination in his own mind what pot to make of this or that piece of clay ; a determination , i say , precedent to the fashion of the pot : the which is true in the highest degree , in him that is excellent in working ; he determines the end , before the beginning is perfected : for this very purpose have i raised thee up . isa. 41.22 . & 46.10 . exod. 9.16 . 2. the next thing considerable in the potter , it is the [ so ] making of the pot , even as he determined ; a vessel to honour , or a vessel to dishonour . there is no confusion or disappointment under the hand of this eternal god , his work is perfect , and every way doth answer to what he hath determined . deut. 32.4 . 3. observe again , that whether the vessel be to honour or to dishonour , yet the potter makes it good , sound , and fit for service ; his fore-determining to make this a vessel to dishonour , hath no perswasion at all with him to break or mar the pot : which very thing doth well resemble the state of man as under the act of eternal reprobation , for god made man upright , eccles. 7.29 . from these conclusions then , consider , 1. that the simple act of reprobation , it is a leaving or passing by , not a cursing of the creature . 2. neither doth this act alienate the heart of god from the reprobate , nor tie him up from loving , favouring , or blessing of him ; no , not from blessing of him with the gift of christ , of faith , of hope , and many other benefits : it onely denieth them that benefit that will infallibly bring them to eternal life , and that in despite of all opposition ; it only denieth so to bless them as the elect themselves are blessed . abraham loved all the children he had by all his wives , and gave them portions also ; but his choice blessing , as the fruit of his chiefest love , he reserved for chosen isaac , gen. 25.1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. lastly , the act of reprobation doth harm to no man , neither means him any ; nay , it rather decrees him upright , le ts him be made upright , and so be turned into the world. chap. iii. of the antiquity of reprobation . having now proceeded so far as to shew you what reprobation is , it will not be amiss if in this place i briefly shew you its antiquity , even when it began its rise ; the which you may gather by these following particulars . i. reprobation is before the person cometh into the world , or hath done good or evil : this is evident by that of paul to the romans , (e) for the children being not yet born , neither having done any good or evil , that the purpose of god , according to election , might stand , it was said unto rebeka , the elder shall serve the younger . here you find twain in their mothers womb , and both receiving their destiny , not onely before they had done good or evil , but before they were in a capacity to do it , they being yet unborn ; their destiny , i say , the one unto , the other not unto the blessing of eternal life ; the one chose , the other refused ; the one elect , the other reprobate . the same also might be said of ishmael and his brother isaac , both which did also receive their destiny before they came into the world : for the promise that this isaac should be the heir , it was also before ishmael was born , though he was elder by fourteen years , or more , then his brother . and it is yet further evident , 1. because election is an act of grace ; there is a remnant , according to the election of grace (f) : which act of grace saw no way so fit to discover its purity and independancy , as by fastening on the object before it came into the world ; that being the state in which , at least , no good were done , either to procure good from god , or to eclipse and darken this precious act of grace : for though 't is true , that no good thing that we have done before conversion , can obtain the grace of election ; yet the grace of election then appeareth most , when it prevents our doing good , that we might be loved therefore : wherefore he saith again , that the purpose of god according to election , might stand , not of works , but of him that calleth ; it was said unto her , the elder shall serve the younger . 2. this is most agreeable to the nature of the promise of giving seed to abraham ; which promise , as it was made before the child was conceived , so it was fulfilled at the best time , for the discovery of the act of grace , that could have been pitched upon : at this time will i come , faith god , and sarah shall have a son : which promise , because it carried in its bowels the very grace of electing love , therefore it left out ishmael , with the children of keturah ; for in isaac shall thy seed be called . rom. 4.16 , 17 , 18 , 19. & 9.9 . 3. this was the best and fittest way for the decrees to receive sound bottom , even for god both to chuse and refuse , before the creature had done good or evil , and so before they came into the world : that the purpose of god according to election , might stand , saith he ; therefore before the children were yet born , or had done any good or evil , it was said unto her , &c. gods decree would for ever want foundation , should it depend at all upon the goodness and holiness either of men or angels ; especially if it were to stand upon that good that is wrought before conversion , yea or after conversion either : we find by daily experience how hard and difficult it is , for even the holiest in the world , to bear up , and maintain their faith and love to god ; yet so hard , as not at all to do it , without continual supplies from heaven : how then is it possible for any so to carry it before god , as to lay by this his holiness a foundation for election , as to maintain that foundation , and thereby to procure all those graces that infallibly saveth the sinner ? but now the choice , i say , being a choice of grace , as is manifest , it being acted before the creatures birth ; here grace hath laid the corner-stone , and determined the means to bring the work to perfection . thus the foundation of god standeth sure , having this seal , the lord knoweth who are his (g) : that is , who he hath chosen , having excluded works both good and bad , and founded all in an unchangable act of grace ; the negative whereof , is this harmless reprobation . ii. but secondly , to step a little backward , and so to make all sure : this act of reprobation was before the world began ; which therefore must needs confirm that which was said but now , that they were before they were born , both destinated before they had done good or evil . this is manifest by that of paul to the ephesians , at the beginning of his epistle ; where speaking of election , whose negative is reprobation , he saith , god hath chosen us in christ , before the foundation of the world. nay further , if you please , consider , that as christ was ordained to suffer before the foundation of the world , and as we that are elected were chosen in him before the foundation of the world ; so it was also ordained we should know him , before the foundation of the world ; ordained that we should be holy before him in love , before the foundation of the world ; and that we in time should be created in him to good works , and ordained before that we should walke in them . wherefore reprobation also , it being the negative of electing love ; that is , because god elected but some , therefore he left the rest : these rest therefore must needs be of as ancient standing under reprobation , as the chosen are under election ; both which , it is also evident , was before the world began . which serveth yet further to prove that reprobation could not be with respect to this or the other sin , it being onely a leaving them , and that before the world , out of that free choice which he was pleased to bless the other with . even as the clay with which the dishonourable vessel is made , did not provoke the potter , for the sake of this or that impediment , therefore to make it so ; but the potter of his own will , of the clay of the same lump , of the clay that is full as good as that of which he hath made the vessel to honour , did make this and the other a vessel of dishonour , &c. 1 pet. 1.20 , 21. 1 cor. 2.6 , 7. ephes. 1.3 , 4. ephes. 2.10 . chap. iv. of the causes of reprobation . having thus in a word or two shewed the antiquity of reprobation , i now come in this place to shew you the cause thereof ; for doubtless this must stand a truth , that what ever god doth , there is sufficient ground therefore , whether by us apprehended , or else without our reach . first then , it is caused from the very nature of god. there are two things in god , from which , or by the vertue of which , all things have their rise , to wit , the eternity of god in general , and the eternal perfection of every one of his attributes in particular : for as by the first , he must needs be before all things ; so by vertue of the second must all things consist . and as he is before all things , they having consistence by him ; so also is he before all states , or their causes , be they either good or bad , of continuance or otherwise , he being the first without beginning , &c. whereas all other things , with their causes , have rise , dependance , or toleration of being from him . col. 1.17 . hence it follows , that nothing , either person or cause , &c. can by any means have a being , but first he knows thereof , allows thereof , and decrees it shall be so : who is he that saith , and it cometh to pass , when the lord commandeth it not ? now then , because that reprobation , as well as election , are subordinate to god ; his will also , which is eternally perfect , being most immediately herein concerned ; it was impossible that any should be reprobate , before god had both willed and decreed it should be so . it is not the being of a thing that administers matter of knowledge or fore-sight thereof to god , but the perfection of his knowledge , wisdom and power , &c. that giveth the thing its being : god did not fore-decree there should be a world , because he foresaw there would be one ; but there must be one , because he had before decreed there should be one . the same is true as touching the case in hand : for this very purpose have i raised thee up , that i might shew in thee my power . lam. 3.37 . exod. 9.16 . rom. 9.17 . secondly , a second cause of eternal reprobation , is the exercise of gods soveraignty ; for if this is true , that there is nothing either visible or invisible , whether in heaven or earth , but hath its being from him ; then it must most reasonably follow , that he is therefore soveraign lord , &c. and may also according to his own will , as he pleaseth himself , both exercise and manifest the same , being every whit absolute , and can do and may do whatsoever his soul desireth : and indeed , good reason , for he hath not onely made them all , but for his pleasure they both were and are created . now the very exercise of this soveraignty produceth reprobation : therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy , and whom he will he hardneth : hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump ? and doth he not make his pots according to his pleasure ? here therefore the mercy , justice , wisdom and power of god , take liberty to do what they will ; saying , my counsel shall stand , and i will do all my pleasure . job 23.13 . dan. 4.35 . rev. 4.11 . rom. 9.18 . isa. 43.13 . & 46.11 . thirdly , another cause of eternal reprobation , is the act and working of distinguishing love , and everlasting grace : god hath universal love , and particular love ; general love , and distinguishing love ; and so accordingly doth decree , purpose , and determine : from general love , the extension of general grace and mercy ; but from that love that is distinguishing , peculiar grace and mercy : was not esau jacobs brother ? yet i loved jacob , saith the lord. [ yet i loved jacob ; ] that is , with a better love , or a love that is more distinguishing : as he farther makes appear in his answer to our father abraham , when he praid to god for ishmael : as for ishmael , saith he , i have heard thee ; behold , i have blessed him , and will also make him fruitful : but my covenant will i establish with isaac , whom sarah shall bear unto thee . touching which words , there are these things observable : mal. 1.2 . gen. 17.18 , 19 , &c. 1. that god had better love for isaac , than he had for his brother ishmael . yet , 2. not because isaac had done more worthy and goodly deeds , for isaac was yet unborn . 3. this choice blessing could not be denied to ishmael because he had disinherited himself by sin ; for this blessing was intailed to isaac , before ishmael had a being also . rom. 4.16 , 17 , 18 , 19. gen. 15.4 , 5. gen. 16. 4. these things therefore must needs fall out through the working of distinguishing love and mercy , which had so cast the business , that the purpose of god according to election might stand . further , should not god decree to shew distinguishing love and mercy , as well as that which is general and common , he must not discover his best love at all to the sons of men. again , if he should reveal and extend his best love to all the world in general , then there would not be such a thing as love that doth distinguish ; for distinguishing love appeareth in separating between isaac and ishmael , jacob and esau , the many called , and the few chosen . thus by vertue of distinguishing love , some must be reprobate : for distinguishing love must leave some , both of the angels in heaven , and the inhabitants of the earth ; wherefore the decree also that doth establish it , must needs leave some . fourthly , another cause of reprobation , is gods willingness to shew his wrath , and to make his power known . this is one of those arguments that the holy apostle setteth against the most knotty and strong objection that ever was framed against the doctrine of eternal reprobation : thou wilt say then ( saith he ) why doth he yet find fault ? for if it be his will that some should be rejected , hardned , and perish , why then is he offended that any sin against him ; for who hath resisted his will ? hold , saith the apostle ; stay a little here ; first remember this , is it meet to say unto god , what doest thou ? shall the thing formed say to him that formed it , why hast thou made me thus ? hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump , &c. besides , when you have thought your worst , to wit , that the effects of reprobation must needs be consummate in the eternal perdition of the creature ; yet again consider , what if god be willing to shew his wrath , as well as grace and mercy ? and what if he , that he may so do , exclude some from having share in that grace that would infallibly , against all resistance , bring us safe unto eternal life ? what then ? is he therefore the author of your perishing , or his eternal reprobation either ? do you not know that he may refuse to elect who he will , without abusing of them ? also that he may deny to give them that grace that would preserve them from sin , without being guilty of their damnation ? may he not , to shew his wrath , suffer with much long-suffering all that are the vessels of wrath , by their own voluntary will , to fit themselves for wrath and for destruction ? yea , might he not even in the act of reprobation , conclude also to suffer them thus left , to fall from the state he left them in , that is , as they were considered upright ; and when fallen , to binde them fast in chains of darkness , unto the judgement of the great day , but he must needs be charged foolishly ? you shall see in that day what a harmony and what a glory there will be found in all gods judgements in the overthrow of the sinner ; also how clear the lord will shew himself of having any working hand in that which causeth eternal ruine ; notwithstanding he hath reprobated such , doth suffer them to sin , and that too that he might shew his wrath on the vessels of his wrath ; the which i also after this next chapter , shall further clear up to you . as the lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation , without approving of their miscarriages ; so he also knoweth how to reserve the ungodly unto the day of judgement to be punished , yet never to deserve the least of blame for his so reserving of them : though none herein can see his way , for he alone knows how to do it . rom. 9.19 . 2 pet. 2.9 . chap. v. of the unchangableness of eternal reprobation ? many opinions have passed through the hearts of the sons of men concerning reprobation ; most of them endeavouring so to hold it forth , as therewith they might , if not heal their conscience slightly , yet maintain their own opinion , in their judgement , of other things ; still wringing , now the word this way , and anon again that , for their purpose : also framing within their soul such an imagination of god and his acts in eternity , as would suit with such opinions , and so present all to the world . and the rather they have with greatest labour strained unweariedly at this above many other truths , because of the grim and dreadful face it carrieth in most mens apprehensions . but none of these things , however they may please the creature , can by any means in any measure , either cause god to undo , unsay , or undetermine what he hath concerning this decreed and established . first , because they suit not with his nature , especially in these foundation-acts : the foundation of god standeth sure , even touching reprobation , that the purpose of god according to election might stand . i know ( saith solomon ) that whatsoever the lord doth , it abideth for ever ; nothing can be put unto it , nor anything taken from it , &c. hath he said it , and shall he not do it ? hath he spoken , and shall he not bring it to pass ? his decrees are composed according to his eternal wisdom , established upon his unchangable will , governed by his knowledge , prudence , power , justice , and mercy , and are brought to conclusion ( on his part ) in perfect holiness , through the abiding of his most blessed truth and faithfulness : he is a rock , his way is perfect , for all his works are judgement : a god of truth , and without iniquity , just and right is he . 2 tim. 2.18 , 19. rom. 9.11 . eccles. 3.14 . numb . 23.19 . deut. 32.4 . secondly , this decree is made sure by the number , measure , and bounds of election ; for election and reprobation do inclose all reasonable creatures ; that is , either the one or the other ; election , those that are set apart for glory ; and reprobation , those left out of this choice . now as touching the elect , they are by this decree confined to that limited number of persons that must amount to the compleat making up the fulness of the mystical body of christ ; yea so confined by this eternal purpose , that nothing can be diminished from or added thereunto : and hence it is that they are called his body and members in particular , the fulness of him that fills all in all , and the measure of the stature of the fulness of christ ; which body , considering him as the head thereof , in conclusion maketh up one perfect man , and holy temple for the lord : these are called , christs substance , inheritance and lot ; and are said to be booked , marked , and sealed with gods most excellent knowledge , approbation and liking . as christ said to his father , thine eyes did see my substance , yet being imperfect , and in thy book are all my members written , which in continuance were finished , when yet there was none of them . this being thus , i say , it is in the first place impossible that any of those members should miscarry , for who shall lay any thing to the charge of gods elect ? and because they are as to number every way sufficient , being his body , and so by their compleating to be made a perfect man : therefore all others are rejected , that the purpose of god according to election might stand . besides , it would not onely argue weakness in the decree , but monstrousness in the body , if after this , any appointed should miscarry , or any besides them be added to them . ephes. 1.22 , 23. & 4.11 , 12 , 13. psal. 16. 2 tim. 2.18 , 19. psal. 139.16 . mat. 24.24 . rom. 8.33 . rom. 9.11 . thirdly , nay further , that all may see how punctual , exact , and to a tittle this decree of election is , god hath not onely as to number and quantity confined the persons , but also determined and measured , and that before the world , the number of the gifts and graces that are to be bestowed on these members in general ; and also what graces and gifts to be bestowed on this or that member in particular : he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in christ , according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world ; and bestoweth them in time upon us , according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in christ jesus our lord. he hath given to the eye , the grace that belongeth to the eye ; and to the hand that which he also hath appointed for it : and so to every other member of the body elect , he doth deal out to them their determined measure of grace and gifts most fit for their place and office. thus is the decree established , both of the saved , and also the non-elect . ephes. 1.3 , 4. & 3.7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. rom. 12.3 . ephes. 4.16 . col. 2.19 . ephes. 4.12 , 13. fourthly , but again , another thing that doth establish this decree of eternal reprobation , is the weakness that sin in the fall , and since , hath brought all reprobates into : for though it be most true , that sin is no cause of eternal reprobation ; yet seeing sin hath seized on the reprobate , it cannot be but thereby the decree must needs be the faster fixed . if the king , for this or the other weighty reason , doth decree not to give this or that man ( who yet did never offend him ) a place in his privy chamber ; if this man after this shall be infected with the plague , this rather fastens then losens the kings decree . as the angels that were left out of gods election , by reason of the sin they committed after , are so far off from being by that received into gods decree , that they are therefore bound for it in chains of everlasting darkness , to the judgment of the great day . chap. vi. whether to be reprobated , be the same with being appointed before-hand unto eternal condemnation ? if not , how do they differ ? also whether reprobation be the cause of condemnation ? it hath been the custom of ignorant men much to quarrel at eternal reprobation , concluding ( for want of knowledge in the mystery of gods will ) that if he reprobate any from eternity , he had as good have said , i will make this man to damn him ; i will decree this man , without any consideration , to the everlasting pains of hell. when in very deed , for god to reprobate , and to appoint before-hand to eternal condemnation , are two distinct things , properly relating to two distinct attributes , arising from two distinct causes . first , they are two distinct things : reprobation , a simple leaving of the creature out of the bounds of gods election ; but to appoint to condemnation , is to bind them over to everlasting punishment . now there is a great difference between my refusing to make of such a tree a pillar in my house , and of condemning it unto the fire to be burned . secondly , as to the attributes ; reprobation respects gods soveraignty ; but to appoint to condemnation , his justice . rom. 9.18 . gen. 18.25 . thirdly , as to the causes ; soveraignty being according to the will of god , but justice according to the sin of man. for god , though he be the onely sovereign lord , and that to the height of perfection ; yet he appointeth no man to the pains of everlasting fire , meerly from soveraignty , but by the rule of justice : god damneth not the man because he is a man , but a sinner ; and fore-appoints him to that place and state , by fore-seeing of him wicked . rom. 1.18 , 19. col. 3.6 . again , as reprobation is not the same with fore-appointing to eternal condemnation ; so neither is it the cause thereof . if it be the cause , then it must either , 1. leave him infirm . or , 2. infuse sin into him . or , 3. take from him something that otherwise would keep him upright . 4. or both license satan to tempt , and the reprobate to close in with the temptation . but it doth none of these ; therefore it is not the cause of the condemnation of the creature . that it is not the cause of sin , it is evident , 1. because the elect are as much involved therein , as those that are passed by . 2. it leaveth him not infirm ; for he is by an after-act , to wit , of creation , formed perfectly upright . 3. that reprobation infuseth no sin , appeareth , because it is the act of god. 4. that it taketh nothing ( that good is ) from him , is also manifest , it being onely a leaving of him . 5. and that it is not by this act that satan is permitted to tempt , or the reprobate to sin , is manifest ; because as christ was tempted , so the elect fall as much into the temptation , at least many of them , as many of those that are reprobate : whereas if these things came by reprobation , then the reprobate would be onely concerned therein . all which will be further handled in these questions yet behind . object . from what hath been said , there is concluded this at least , that god hath infallibly determined , and that before the world , the infallible damnation of some of his creatures : for if god hath before the world bound some over to eternal punishment , and that as you say , for sin ; then this determination must either be fallible or infallible ; not fallible , for then your other position of the certainty of the number of gods elect , is shaken ; unless you hold that there may be a number that shall neither go to heaven nor hell. well then , if god hath indeed determined , fore-determined , that some must infallibly perish ; doth not this his determination lay a necessity on the reprobate to sin , that he may be damned ; for , no sin , no damnation ; that is your own argument . answ. that god hath ordained † the damnation of some of his creatures , it is evident ; but whether this his determination be positive and absolute , there is the question : for the better understanding whereof , i shall open unto you the variety of gods determinations , and their nature , as also rise . the determinations of god touching the destruction of the creature , they are either ordinary or extraordinary : those i count ordinary that were commonly pronounced by the prophets and apostles , &c. in their ordinary way of preaching , to the end men might be affected with the love of their own salvation ; now these either bound or loosed but as the condition or qualification was answered by the creature under sentence ; and no otherwise . 1 sam. 12.25 . isa. 1.20 . mat. 18.3 . luk. 13.1 , 2 , 3. rom. 2.8 , 9. rom. 8.13 . rom. 11.13 . 1 cor. 6.9 . again , those extraordinary , though they respect the same conditions , yet they are not grounded immediately upon them , but upon the infallible fore-knowledge and fore-sight of god , and are thus distinguished : first the ordinary determination , it stands but at best upon a supposition that the creature may continue in sin , and admits of a possibility that it may not ; but the extraordinary stands upon an infallible fore-sight that the creature will continue in sin ; wherefore this must needs be positive , and as infallible as god himself . again , these two determinations are also distinguished thus : the ordinary is applicable to the elect as well as to the reprobate , but the other to the reprobate only : it is proper to say even to the elect themselves , he that believeth shall be saved , and he that believeth not shall be damned ; but not to say to them , these are appointed to utter destruction , or that they shall utterly perish in their own corruptions ; or that for them is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever . 1 king. 20.42 . 2 pet. 2.12 . jude 13. so then , though god by these determinations doth not lay some under irrecoverable condemnation , yet by one of them he doth ; as is further made out thus : 1. god most perfectly fore-seeth the final impenitency of those that so die , from the beginning to the end of the world. prov. 15.11 . psal. 139.2 . isa. 46.10 . 2. now from this infallible fore sight , it is most easie and rational to conclude , and that positively , the infallible overthrow of every such creature . did i infallibly fore-see that this or that man would cut cut his heart in the morning , i might infallibly determine his death before night . object . but still the question is , whether god by this his determination doth not lay a necessity on the creature to sin ? for , no sin , no condemnation : this is true by your own assertion . answ. no , by no means : for , 1. though it be true , that sin must of absolute necessity go before the infallible condemnation and overthrow of the sinner ; and that it must also be pre-considered by god ; yet it needs not lay a necessity upon him to sin : for let him but alone to do what he will , and the determination cannot be more infallible then the sin , which is the cause of its execution . 2. as it needs not , so it doth not ; for this positive determination is not grounded upon what god will effect , but on what the creature will ; and that not thorow the instiga●ion of god , but the instigation of the devil . what ? might not i , if i most undoubtedly foresaw that such a tree in my garden would onely cumber the ground ( notwithstanding reasonable means ) might not i , i say , from hence determine ( seven years before ) to cut it down , and burn it in the fire , but i must , by so determining , necessitate this tree to be fruitless ? the case in hand is the very same . god therefore may most positively determine the infallible damnation of his creature , and yet not at all necessitate the creature to sin , that he might be damned . object . but how is this similitude pertinent ? for god did not onely fore-see sin would be the destruction of the creature , but let it come into the world , and so destroy the creature . if you , as you fore-see the fruitlesness of your tree , should withal see that which makes it so , and that too before it makes it so , and yet let the imp●diment come and make it so ; are not you now the cause of the unfruitfulness of that tree which you have before condemned to the sue to be burned ? for god might have chose whether he would have let adam sin , and so sin to have got into the world by him . answ. similitudes never answer every way ; if they be pertinent to that for which they are intended , 't is enough ; and to that it answereth well , being brought to prove no more but the natural consequence of a true and infallible fore-sight . and now as to what is objected further , as that god might have chose whether sin should have come into the world by adam , to the destruction of so many : to that i shall answer , 1. that sin could not have come into the world without gods permission , it is evident , both from the perfection of his fore-sight & power . 2. therefore all the means , motives , and inducements thereunto , must also by him be not onely fore-seen , but permitted . 3. yet so , that god will have the timing , proceeding , bounding and ordering thereof , at his dispose : surely the wrath of man shall praise thee , and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain . 1 kings 22.20 , 21 , 22. john 8.20 . luk. 22.51 , 52. psal. 76.10 . 4. therefore it must needs come into the world , not without , but by the knowledge of god ; not in despite of him , but by his suffering of it . object . but how then is he clear from having a hand in the death of him that perisheth ? answ. nothing is more sure then that god could have kept sin out of the world , if it had been his will ; and this is also as true , that it never came into the world with his liking and compliance : and for this , you must consider that sin came into the world by two steps : 1. by being offered . 2. by prevailing . touching the first of these , god without the least injury to any creature in heaven or earth , might not onely suffer it , but so far countenance the same : that is , so far forth as for trial onely : as it is said of abraham ; god tempted abraham to slay his onely son , and led christ by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil . this is done without any harm at all ; nay , it rather produceth good ; for it tends to discover sincerity , to exercise faith in , and love to his creator ; also to put him in mind of the continual need he hath of depending on his god for the continuation of help and strength , and to provoke to prayers to god , when ever so engaged . gen. 22.1 , 2. mark 1.12 . luke 4.1 deut. 8.1 , 2 , 3. 1 pet. 1.7 , 8. heb. 5.7 . matth. 26.41 . object . but god did not onely admit that sin should be offered for trial , and there to stay ; but did suffer it to prevail , and overcome the world. answ. well , this is granted : but yet consider , 1. god did neither suffer it , nor yet consent it should , but under this consideration ; if adam , upright adam , gave way thereto , by forsaking his command , in the day thou eatest thereof , thou shalt surely die : which adam did , not because god did compel him or perswade him to it , but voluntarily of his own mind , contrary to his god's command : so then , god by suffering sin to break into the world , did it rather in judgement , as disliking adam's act , and as a punishment to man for listening to the tempter ; and as a discovery of his anger at mans disobedience ; then to prove that he is guilty of the misery of his creature . gen. 2.17 . & 3.3 . 2. consider also , that when god permitted sin for trial , it was , when offered first , to them onely who were upright , and had sufficient strength to resist it . 3. they were by gods command to the contrary , driven to no strait to tempt them to encline to satan : of every tree of the garden thou mayst freely eat , saith god ; onely let this alone . 4. as touching the beauty and goodness that was in the object unto which they were allured ; what was it ? was it better then god ? yea , was it better then the tree of life ? for from that they were not exempted till after they had sinned . did not god know best what was best to do them good ? 5. touching him that perswaded them to do this wicked act ; was his word more to be valued for truth , more to be ventured on for safety , or more to be honoured for the worthiness of him that spake , then was his that had forbad it ? the one being the devil , with a lie , and to kill them ; the other being god , with his truth , and to preserve them safe . quest. but was not adam unexpectedly suprized ? had he notice before-hand , and warning of the danger ? for god foresaw the business . answ. doubtless god was fair and faithful to his creature in this thing also ; as clearly doth appear from these considerations : 1. the very commandment that god gave him , fore-bespake him well to look about him ; and did indeed insinuate that he was likely to be tempted . 2. it is yet more evident , because god doth even tell him of the danger ; in the day thou eatest thereof , thou shalt surely die . 3. nay god by speaking to him of the very tree that was to be forborn , telling him also where it stood , that he might the better know it ; did in effect expresly say unto him , adam , if thou be tempted , it will be about that tree , and the fruit thereof ; wherefore if thou findest the tempter there , then beware thy life . to conclude then : though sin did not come into the world without gods sufferance , yet it did without his liking : god suffered also cain to kill his brother , and ishmael to mock at isaac , but he did not like the same . gen. 4.9 , 10 , 11. gal. 4.30 . secondly , therefore though god was first in concluding sin should be offered to the world ; yet man was the first that consented to a being overcome thereby . thirdly then , though god did fore-determine that sin should enter , yet it was not but with respect to certain terms and conditions , which yet was not to be enforced by vertue of the determination , but permitted to be compleated by the voluntary inclination of a perfect and upright man. and in that the determination was most perfectly infallible , it was thorow the foresight of the undoubted inclination of this good and upright person . quest. but might not god have kept adam from inclining , if he would ? answ. what more certain ? but yet consider , 1. adam being now an upright man , he was able to have kept himself , had he but looked to it as he should and might . 2. this being so , if god had here stept in , he had either added that which had been needless , and so had not obtained thankfulness ; or else had made the strength of adam useless , yea his own workmanship in so creating him , superfluous ; or else by consequence imperfect . 3. if he had done so , he had taken adam from his duty , which was to trust and believe his maker ; he had also made void the end of the commandment , which was to perswade to watchfulness , diligence , sobriety , and contentedness ; yea , and by so doing would not onely himself have tempted adam to transgression , even to lay aside the exercise of that strength that god had already given him ; but should have become the pattern , or the first father to all loosness , idleness , and neglect of duty . which would also not onely have been an ill example to adam to continue to neglect so reasonable and wholsome duties , but would have been to himself an argument of defence to retort upon his god , when he had come at another time to reckon with him for his misdemeanors . many other weighty reasons might here be further added for gods vindication in this particular , but at this time let these suffice . chap. vii . whether any under eternal reprobation have just cause to quarrel with god for not electing of them ? that the answer to this question may be to edification , recal again what i have before asserted ; to wit , that for a man to be left out of gods election , and to be made a sinner , is two things ; and again , for a man to be not elect , and to be condemned to hell fire , is two things also : now i say , if non-election makes no man a sinner , and if it appoints no man to condemnation neither , then what ground hath any reprobate to quarrel with god for not electing of him ? nay , further , reprobation considereth him upright , leaveth him upright , and so turneth him into the world ; what wrong doth god do him , though he hath not elected him ? what reason hath he that is left in this case to quarrel against his maker ? if thou say , because god hath not chosen them , as well as chosen others : i answer , nay but o man ; who art thou that repliest against god ? shall the thing formed say to him that formed it , why hast thou made me thus ? behold , as the clay is in the hand of the potter , so are ye in my hand , o house of israel , saith the lord god. so then , if i should say no more but that god is the onely lord and creator , and that by his soveraignty he hath power to dispose of them according to his pleasure , either to chuse or to refuse , according to the counsel of his own will , who could object against him and be guiltless ? he giveth no account of any of his ways , and what his soul desireth , that doth he . rom. 9.20 , 21. jer. 18.6 . job 23.13 . & 33.13 . again , god is wiser then man , and therefore can shew a reason for what he acts and does , both when and where at present thou seest none : shall god the onely wise , be arraigned at the bar of thy blind reason , and there be judged and condemned for his acts done in eternity ? who hath directed the spirit of the lord , or who hath been his counsellour ? do you not know that he is far more above us , then we are above our horse or mule that is without understanding ? great things doth he , that we cannot comprehend ; great things and unsearchable , and marvellous things without number . rom. 11.34 , 35. job 5.9 . & 37.5 . but i say , should we take it well if our beast should call us to account for this and the other righteous act , and judge us unrighteous , and our acts ridiculous , and all because it sees no reason for our so doing ? why we are as beasts before god , psal. 73.22 . but again , to come yet more close to the point : the reprobate quarrels with god , because he hath not elected him ; well , but is not god the master of his own love ? and is not his will the only rule of his mercy ? and may he not , without he give offence to thee , lay hold by electing love and mercy on whom himself pleaseth ? must thy reason , nay , thy lust , be the ruler , orderer , and disposer of his grace ? may i not do what i will with mine own , saith he ? is thine eye evil , because mine is good ? matth. 20.15 . further , what harm doth god to any reprobate , by not electing of him ? he was , as hath been said , considered upright , so formed in the act of creation , and so turned into the world : indeed he was not elected , but hath that taken any thing from him ? no verily , but leaveth him in good condition : there is good , and better , and best of all ; he that is in a good estate ( though others through free grace are in a far better ) hath not any cause to murmur either with him that gave him such a place , or at him that is placed above him . in a word , reprobation maketh no man personally a sinner , neither doth election make any man personally righteous : it is the consenting to sin that makes a man a sinner , and the imputation of grace and righteousness that makes gospelly and personally just and holy. but again , seeing it is gods act to leave some out of the bounds of his election , it must needs be [ therefore ] positively good : is that then which is good in it self , made sin unto thee ? god forbid : god doth not evil by leaving this or that man out of his electing grace , though he chuse others to eternal life , through jesus christ our lord. wherefore there is not a reprobate that hath any cause , and therefore no just cause , to quarrel with his maker , for not electing of him . and that , besides what hath been spoken , if you consider , 1. for god to elect , is an act of soveraign grace ; but to pass by , or to refuse so to do , is an act of soveraign power , not of injustice . 2. god might therefore have chose whether he would have elected any , or so many or few ; and also which and where he would . 3. seeing then that all things are at his dispose , he may fasten electing mercy where he pleaseth ; and other mercy , if he will , to whom and when he will. 4. seeing also that the least of mercies are not deserved by the best of sinners ; men , instead of quarreling against the god of grace , because they have not what they list , should acknowledge they are unworthy of their breath ; and also should confess that god may give mercy where he pleaseth , and that too , both which or what , as also to whom and when he will ; and yet be good , and just , and very gracious still : nay , job saith , he taketh away , who can hinder him ? or who will say unto him , what doest thou ? job 9.12 . the will of god is the rule of all righteousness , neither knoweth he any other way by which he governeth and ordereth any of his actions . whatsoever god doth , it is good because he doth it ; whether it be to give grace , or to detain it ; whether in chusing or refusing . the consideration of this , made the holy men of old ascribe righteousness to their maker , even then when yet they could not see the reason of his actions : they would rather stand amazed , and wonder at the heights and depths of his unsearchable judgements , then quarrel at the strange and most obscure of them . job 34.10 , 11 , 12. & 30.3 . jer. 12.1 . job 37.23 . rom. 11.33 . god did not intend that all that ever he would do , should be known to every man , no nor yet to the wise and prudent : it is as much a duty sometimes to stay our selves and wonder , and to confess our ignorance in many things of god , as 't is to do other things that are duty without dispute . so then , let poor dust and ashes forbear to condemn the lord , because he goeth beyond them ; and also they should beware they speak not wickedly for him , though it be , as they think , to justifie his actions . the lord is righteous in all his ways , and holy in all his works . mat. 11.25 . 1 cor. 2.8 . job 13.6 , 7 , 8. psal. 145.17 . chap. viii . whether eternal reprobation in its self , or in its doctrine , be in very deed an hindrance to any man in seeking the salvation of his soul ? in my discourse upon this question , i must intreat the reader to mind well what is premised in the beginning of the former chapter , which is , that reprobation makes no man a sinner , appoints no man to condemnation , but leaveth him upright after all . so then , though god doth leave the most of men without the bounds of his election , his so doing is neither in it self , nor yet its doctrine ( in very deed ) an hindrance to any man in seeking the salvation of his soul. i. it hindreth not in its self , as is clear by the ensuing considerations : 1. that which hindereth him , is the weakness that came upon him by reason of sin : now god onely made the man , but mans listening to satan made him a sinner ; which is the cause of all his weakness : this therefore is it that hindereth him , and that also dis-inableth him in seeking the salvation of his soul. let no men say when he is tempted , i am tempted of god ; for god cannot be tempted of evil , neither tempteth he any man. god made man upright , but he hath sought out many inventions . ezek. 16.30 . jam. 1.10 . eccles. 7.29 . hos. 13.9 . & 14.1 . gen. 3.8 , 9 , 10 , 11. 2. it hindereth not in it self , for it taketh not any thing from a man that would help him , might it continue with him ; it takes not away the least part of his strength , wisdom , courage , innocency , or will to good ; all these were lost by the fall , in that day when he died the death . nay , reprobation under some consideration did rather establish all these upon the reprobate ; for as it decrees him left , so left upright : wherefore mans hindrance cometh on him from other means , even by the fall , † and not by the simple act of eternal reprobation . 3. as reprobation hindereth not either of these two ways , so neither is it from this simple act that satan is permitted either to tempt them , that they might be tried , or that they might be over-thrown . 1. it is not by this act that satan is permitted to tempt them that they might be tried ; because then the son of god himself must be reached by this reprobation ; he being tempted by the devil as much , if not more then any : yea , and then must every one of the elect be under eternal reprobation ; for they also , and that after their conversion , are greatly assaulted by him : many are the troubles of the righteous , &c. mat. 4.1 , 2. mark 1.12 . heb. 2.17 . & 4.15 . 2. neither is it from the act of reprobation that sin hath entred the world , no more then from election ; because those under the power of election did not onely fall at first , but do still generally as fouly , before conversion , as the reprobate himself . whereas , if either the temptation , or the fall , were by vertue of reprobation , then the reprobates , and they onely , should have been tempted , and have fallen . the temptation then , and the fall , doth come from other means , and so the hindrance of the reprobate , than from eternal reprobation . for the temptation , the fall and hindrance being universal , but the act of reprobation particular , the hindrance must needs come from such a cause as taketh hold on all men , which indeed is the fall ; the cause of which , was neither election nor reprobation , but mans voluntary listening to the tempter . rom. 3.9 . 3. it is yet far more evident that reprobation hindreth no man from seeking the salvation of his soul ; because notwithstanding all that reprobation doth , yet god giveth to divers of the reprobates great incouragements thereto ; to wit , the tenders of the gospel in general , not excluding any ; great light also to understand it , with many a sweet taste of the good word of god , and the powers of the world to come ; he maketh them sometimes also to be partakers of the holy ghost , and admitteth many of them into fellowship with his elect ; yea , some of them to be rulers , teachers and governours in his house : all which without doubt both are and ought to be great incouragements even to the reprobates themselves , to seek the salvation of their souls . mat. 11.28 . rev. 22.17 . heb. 6.4 , 5. mat. 25.1 , 2. act. 1.16 , 17. ii. as it hindreth not in its self , so it hindreth not by its doctrine : for , all that this doctrine saith , is , that some are left out of gods election , as considered upright . now this doctrine cannot hinder any man : for , 1. no man still stands upright . 2. though it saith some are left , yet it points at no man , it nameth no man , it binds all faces in secret : so then , if it hinder , it hindreth all , even the elect as well as reprobate ; for the reprobate hath as much ground to judge himself elect , as the very elect himself hath , before he be converted , being both alike in a state of nature and unbelief , and both alike visibly liable to the curse , for the breach of the commandment . again , as they are equals here , so also have they ground alike to close in with christ , and live ; even the open , free , and full invitation of the gospel , and promise of life and salvation , by the faith of jesus christ. ephes. 2.1 , 2. rom. 3.9 . joh. 3.16 . 2 cor. 5.19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , rev. 21.6 . & 22.17 . 3. it is evident also by experience , that this doctrine doth not ( in deed ) neither can it hinder any ( this doctrine i mean , when both rightly stated , and rightly used : ) because many who have been greatly afflicted about this matter , have yet at last had comfort ; which comfort , when they have received it , hath been to them as an argument that the thing they feared before , was not because of reprobation rightly stated ; but its doctrine much abused , was the cause of their affliction . and had they had the same light at first , they received afterwards , their troubles then would soon have fled , as also now they do . wherefore discouragement comes from want of light , because they are not skilful in the word of righteousness : for had the discouragement at first been true , ( which yet it could not be , unless the person knew by name himself under eternal reprobation , which is indeed impossible ) then his light would have pinched him harder ; light would rather have fastened this his fear , then at all have rid him of it . heb. 5.12 , 13 , 14. indeed the scripture saith , the word is to some the savour of death unto death , when to others the savour of life unto life : but mark , it is not this doctrine in particular , if so much as some other , that doth destroy the reprobate : it was respit at which pharaoh hardened his heart , and the grace of god that the reprobates of old did turn into lasciviousness : yea , christ the saviour of the world , is a stumbling-block unto some , and a rock of offence unto others . but yet again , consider that neither he , nor any of gods doctrines , are so simply , and in their own true natural force and drift : for they beget no unbelief , they provoke to no wantonness , neither do they in the least in courage to impenitency ; all this comes from that ignorance and wickedness that came by the fall : wherefore it is by reason of that also , that they stumble , and fall , and grow weak , and are discouraged , and split themselves , either at the doctrine of reprobation , or at any other truth of god. exod. 8.15 . jude 4. 1 pet. 2. lastly , to conclude as i began , there is no man while in this world , that doth certainly know that he is left out of the electing love of the great god ; neither hath he any word in the whole bible , to perswade him so to conclude and believe ; for the scriptures hold forth salvation to the greatest of sinners : wherefore though the act of reprobation were far more harsh , and its doctrine also more sharp and severe , yet it cannot properly be said to hinder any . it is a foolish thing in any to be troubled with those things which they have no ground to believe concerns themselves ; especially when the latitude of their discouragement is touching their own persons onely . the secret things belong unto the lord our god. indeed every one of the words of god ought to put us upon examination , and into a serious inquiry of our present state and condition , and how we now do stand for eternity ; to wit , whether we are ready to meet the lord , or how it is with us : yet when search is fully made , and the worst come unto the worst , the party can find himself no more then the chief of sinners , not excluded from the grace of god tendred in the gospel ; not from an invitation , nay a promise , to be imbraced and blest , if he comes to jesus christ. wherefore he hath no ground to be discouraged by the doctrine of reprobation . 1 tim. 15. act. 19.19 . 2 chron. 33. deut. 29.29 . joh. 7.37 . & 6.37 . mark 2.17 . chap. ix . whether god would indeed and in truth , that the gospel , with the grace thereof , should be tendred to those that yet he hath bound up under eternal reprobation ? to this question i shall answer , first , in the language of our lord , go preach the gospel unto every creature : and again , look unto me , all ye ends of the earth , and be ye saved : and whosoever will , let him take the water of life freely . and the reason is , because christ died for all , tasted death for every man ; is the saviour of the world , and the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. mark. 16.15 . isa. 45.22 . rev. 22.17 . hebr. 2.9 . 2 cor. 5.15 . 1 john 4.14 . & 2.1 , 2 , 3. secondly , i gather it from those several censures that even every one goeth under , that doth not receive christ , when offered in the general tenders of the gospel ; he that believeth not , shall be damned ; he that believeth not , makes god a lyar , because he believeth not the record that god hath given of his son : and , wo unto thee capernaum , wo unto thee coraxin , wo unto thee bethsaida ; with many other sayings : all which words , with many other of the same nature , carry in them a very great argument to this very purpose : for if those that perish in the days of the gospel , shall have , at least , their damnation heightened , because they have neglected and refused to receive the gospel , it must needs be that the gospel was with all faithfulness to be tendred unto them ; the which it could not be , unless the death of christ did extend it self unto them : for the offer of the gospel cannot , with gods allowance , be offered any further then the death of jesus christ doth go ; because if that be taken away , there is indeed no gospel , nor grace to be extended . besides , if by every creature , and the like , should be meant onely the elect , then are all the perswasions of the gospel to no effect at all : for still the unconverted , who are here condemned for refusing of it , they return it as fast again : i do not know i am elect , and therefore dare not come to jesus christ ; for if the death of jesus christ , and so the general tender of the gospel , concern the elect alone ; i , not knowing my self to be one of that number , am at a mighty plunge ; nor know i whether is the greater sin , to believe , or to despair : for i say again , if christ died onely for the elect , &c. then , i not knowing my self to be one of that number , dare not believe the gospel , that holds forth his blood to save me ; nay , i think with safety may not , until i first do know i am elect of god , and appointed thereunto . joh. 3.16 . mark 16.16 . 1 joh. 5.8 , 9 , 10. matth. 11.21 , 22. heb. 2.3 . thirdly , god the father , and jesus christ his son , would have all men whatever , invited by the gospel to lay hold of life by christ , whether elect or reprobate : for though it be true , that there is such a thing as election and reprobation , yet god by the tenders of the gospel in the ministry of his word , looks upon men under another consideration , to wit , as sinners ; and as sinners invites them to believe , lay hold of , and embrace the same . he saith not to his ministers , go preach to the elect , because they are elect ; and shut out others , because they are not so : but , go preach the gospel to sinners as sinners ; and as they are such , go bid them come to me and live . and it must needs be so , otherwise the preacher could neither speak in faith , nor the people hear in faith : first , the preacher could not speak in faith , because he knoweth not the elect from the reprobate ; nor they again hear in faith , because , as unconverted , they would be always ignorant of that also : so then , the minister neither knowing whom he should offer life unto , nor yet the people which of them are to receive it ; how could the word now be preached in faith with power ? and how could the people believe and embrace it ? but now the preacher offering mercy in the gospel to sinners , as they are sinners , here is way made for the word to be spoke in faith , because his hearers are sinners ; yea , and incouragement also for the people to receive and close therewith , they understanding they are sinners : christ jesus came into the world to save sinners . luk. 24.46 , 47. fourthly , the gospel must be preached to sinners as they are sinners , without distinction of elector reprobate ; because neither the one not yet the other ( as considered under these simple acts ) are fit subjects to embrace the gospel : for neither the one act , nor yet the other , doth make either of them sinners ; but the gospel is to be tender'd to men as they are sinners , and personally under the curse of god for sin : wherefore to profer grace to the elect because they are elect , it is to profer grace and mercy to them , as not considering them as sinners . and , i say , to deny it to the reprobate , because he is not elected , it is not only a denyal of grace to them that have no need thereof , but also before occasion is given on their part , for such a dispensation . and i say again , therefore , to offer christ and grace to man elect , as simply so considered , this administers to him no comfort at all , he being here no sinner ; and so engageth not the heart at all to jesus christ ; for that comes in , and is effected on them as they are sinners . yea , to deny the gospel also to the reprobate , because he is not elect , it will not trouble him at all ; for saith he , so i am not a sinner , and so do not need a saviour . but now , because the elect have no need of grace in christ by the gospel , but as they are sinners , nor the reprobates cause to refuse it as they are sinners ; therefore christ by the word of the gospel , is to be profered to both , without considering elect or reprobate , even as they are sinners . the whole have no need of the physitian , but those that are sick . i came not to call the righteous , but sinners to repentance . 2 cor. 5.14 , 15. luk. 7.46 , 47. mark 2.17 . thus you see the gospel is to be tendred to all in general , as well to the reprobate as to the elect , to sinners as sinners ; and so are they to receive it , and to close with the tenders thereof . chap. x. seeing then that the grace of god in the gospel , is by that to be profered to sinners , as sinners ; as well to the reprobate as the elect ; is it possible for those who indeed are not elect , to receive it , and be saved ? to this question i shall answer several things : but first i shall shew you what that grace is , that is tendred in the gospel ; and secondly , what it is to receive it and be saved . first then , the grace that is offered to sinners as sinners , without respect to this or that person , it is a sufficiency of righteousness , pardoning grace , and life , laid up in the person of christ , held forth in the exhortation and word of the gospel , and promised to be theirs that receive it ; yea , i say , in so universal a tender , that not one is by it excluded or checked in the least , but rather incouraged , if he hath the least desire to life ; yea , it is held forth to beget both desires and longings after the life thus laid up in christ , and held forth by the gospel . joh. 1.16 . col. 1.19 . 1 john 5.11 , 12. act. 13.38 , 39. col. 1.23 . rom. 10.12 , 13 , 14 , & 16.25 , 26. secondly , to receive this grace thus tender'd by the gospel , it is , 1. to believe it is true . 2. to receive it heartily and unfeignedly through faith. and 3. to let it have its natural sway , course and authority in the soul , and that in that measure , as to bring forth the fruits of good living in heart , word , and life , both before god and man. now then to the question : is it possible that this tender , thus offered to the reprobate , should by him be thus received and embraced , and he live thereby ? to which i answer in the negative , nor yet for the elect themselves , i mean as considered dead in trespasses and sins , which is the state of all men , elect as well as reprobate . so then , though there be a sufficiencie of life and righteousness laid up in christ for all men , and this tender'd by the gospel to them without exception ; yet sin coming in between the soul and the tender of this grace , it hath in truth disabled all men , and so , notwithstanding this tender , they continue to be dead . for the gospel , i say , coming in word onely , saveth no man , because of mans impediment ; wherefore those that indeed are saved by this gospel , the word comes not to them in word onely , but also in power , and in the holy ghost , is mixed with faith , even with the faith of the operation of god , by whose exceeding great and mighty power , they are raised from this death of sin , and inabled to embrace the gospel . doubtless , all men being dead in trespasses and sins , and so captivated under the power of the devil , the curse of the law , and shut up in unbelief ; it must be the power of god , yea the exceeding greatness of that power , that raiseth the soul from this condition , to receive the holy gospel . ephes. 2.1 , 2 , 3. 1 thess. 1.5 , 6. col. 2.12 . heb. 4.1 , 2. ephes. 1.18 , 19 , &c. for man by nature ( consider him at best ) can see no more , nor do no more then what the principles of nature understands and helps to do ; which nature being below the discerning of things truly , spiritually , and savingly good , it must needs fall short of receiving , loving and delighting in them . the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god , for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them , because they are spiritually discerned . now i say , if the natural man at best ( for the elect before conversion are no more , if quite so much ) cannot do this , how shall they attain thereto , being now not onely corrupted and infected , but depraved , bewitched and dead ; swallowed up of unbelief , ignorance , confusion , hardness of heart , hatred of god , and the like ? when a thorn by nature beareth grapes , and a thistle beareth figs , then may this thing be . to lay hold of and receive the gospel by a true and saving faith , it is an act of the soul as made a new creature , which is the workmanship of god : now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing , is god. for a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit . can the ethiopian change his skin ? 1 cor. 2.11 , 14. mat. 7.16 , 17 , 18. luk. 6.43 , 44 , 45. jer. 13.23 . but yet the cause of this impossibility , 1. lieth not in reprobation , the elect themselves being as much unable to receive it as the other . 2. neither is it because the reprobate is excluded in the tender , for that is universal . 3. neither is it because there wanteth arguments in the tenders of the gospel , for there is not onely plenty , but such as be perswasive , clear , and full of rationality . 4. neither is it because these creatures have no need thereof , for they have broke the law. 5. wherefore it is , because indeed they are by sin dead , captivated , mad , self-opposers , blind , alienated in their minds , and haters of the lord. behold the ruines that sin hath made ! wherefore whoever receiveth the grace that is tender'd in the gospel , they must be quickned by the power of god , their eyes must be opened , their understandings illuminated , their ears unstopped , their hearts circumcised , their wills also rectified , and the son of god revealed in them . yet as i said , not because there wanteth argument in these tenders , but because men are dead , and blind , and cannot hear the word . why do you not understand my speech ? saith christ : even because you cannot hear my word . act. 9.15 . & 26.9 , 10. psal. 110.3 . gal. 1.15 . mat. 11.27 . john 8.43 . for otherwise , as i said but now , there is , 1. rationality enough in the tenders of the gospel . 2. perswasions of weight enough to provoke to faith. and , 3. arguments enough to perswade to continue therein . first , is it not reasonable that man should believe god in the profer of the gospel , and life by it ? secondly , is there not reason , i say , both from the truth and faithfulness of god , from the sufficiency of the merits of christ , as also from the freeness and fulness of the promise ? what unreasonable thing doth the gospel bid thee credit ? or what falshood doth it command thee to receive for truth ? indeed in many points the gospel is above reason , but yet in never a one against it ; especially in those things wherein it beginneth with the sinner , in order to eternal life . again , touching its perswasions to provoke to faith : first , with how many signs and wonders , miracles and mighty deeds , hath it been once and again confirmed , and that to this very end ? heb. 1.1 , 2 , 3. 1 cor. 14.22 . heb. 6.18 . act. 13.32 . secondly , with how many oaths , declarations , attestations , and proclamations , is it avouched , confirmed and established ? thirdly , and why should not credence be given to that gospel that is confirmed by blood , the blood of the son of god himself ? yea , that gospel that did never yet fail any that in truth have cast themselves upon it , since the foundation of the world. jer. 3.12 . gal. 3.15 . heb. 9.16 , 17 , 18. & 12.1 , 2 , 3. again , as there is rationality enough , and perswasions sufficient , so there is also argument most prevalent to perswade to continue therein , and that too heartily , cheerfully , and unfeignedly unto the end : did not , as i have said , blindness , madness , deadness , and wilful rebellion , carry them away in the vanity of their mindes , and overcome them . ephes. 4.17 , 18 , 19. for , first , if they could but consider how they have sinned , how they have provoked god , &c. if they could but consider what a dismal state the state of the damned is , and also that in a moment their condition is like to be the same , would they not cleave to the gospel , and live ? secondly , the enjoyment of god , and christ , and saints , and angels , being the sweetest ; the pleasures of heaven the most comfortable ; and to live always in the height of light , life , joy , gladness imaginable , one would think were enough to perswade the very damned now in hell. there is no man then perisheth for want of sufficient reason in the tenders of the gospel , nor any for want of perswasions to faith ; nor yet because there wanteth arguments to provoke to continue therein . but the truth is , the gospel in this hath to do with unreasonable creatures ; with such as will not believe it , and that because it is truth : and because i tell you the truth , saith christ , ( therefore ) you believe me not , john 8.45 . quest. well , but if this in truth be thus , how then comes it to pass that some ●eceive it and live for ever ? for you have said before , that the elect are as dead as the reprobate , and full as unable as they ( as men ) to close with these tenders , and live . answ. doubtless this is true , and were the elect left to themselves , they , thorow the wickedness of their heart , would perish as do others . neither could all the reasonable perswasive prevalent arguments of the gospel of god in christ , prevail to make any receive it , and live . wherefore here you must consider , that as there is mercy proclaimed in the general tenders of the gospel ; so there is also the grace of election ; which grace kindly over-ruleth and winneth the spirit of the chosen , working in them that unfeigned closing therewith , that makes it effectual to their undoubted salvation ; which indeed is the cause that not onely in other ages , but also to this day , there is a remnant that receive this grace ; they being appointed , i say , thereto , before the world began ; preserved in time from that which would undo them , and inabled to embrace the glorious gospel of grace , and peace , and life . 1 king. 19.18 . rom. 11.5 , 2 thess. 5.9 . now there is a great difference between the grace of election , and of the grace that is wrapped up in the general tenders of the gospel ; a difference , i say , and that both as to its timing , latituding , and working . 1. touching its timing ; it is before , yea long before , there was either tender of the grace wrapped up in the gospel to any , or any need of such a tender . ephes. 1.4 , 5. 2. they also differ in latitude ; the tenders of grace in the gospel are common and universal to all , but the extention of that of election special and peculiar to some . there is a remnant according to the election of grace , rom. 11.5 . 3. touching the working of the grace of election ; it differs much in some things from the working of the grace that is offered in the general tenders of the gospel . as is manifest in these particulars : 1. the grace that is offered in the general tenders of the gospel , calleth for faith to lay hold upon , & accept thereof ; but the special grace of election , worketh that faith which doth lay hold thereof . act. 16.31 . & 13.48 . phil. 1.29 . 2 thess. 1.11 . 2. the grace that is offered in the general tenders of the gospel , calleth for faith as a condition in us , without which there is no life ; but the special grace of election worketh faith in us without any such condition . mark 16.15 , 16. rom. 11.5 , 6. 3. the grace that is offer'd in the general tenders of the gospel , promiseth happiness upon the condition of persevering in the faith only ; but the special grace of election causeth this perseverance . col. 1.23 . ephes. 2.10 . rom. 11.7 . 1 pet. 1.5 , 6 , 7. 4. the grace offered in the general tenders of the gospel , when it sparkleth most , leaveth the greatest part of men behind it ; but the special grace of election , when it shineth least , doth infallibly bring every soul therein concerned to everlasting life . rom. 10.16 . & 8.33 , 34 , 35. 5. a man may overcome and put out all the light and life that is begotten in him by the general tenders of the gospel ; but none shall overcome , or make void , or frustrate the grace of election . jude 4. 2 pet. 2.20 , 21 , 22. mat. 24.24 . rom. 11.1 , 2 , 3 : &c. 6. the general tenders of the gospel , considered without a concurrance of the grace of election , helps not the elect himself , when sadly fallen . wherefore when i say , the grace that is offered in the general tenders of the gospel , i mean that grace when offer'd , as not being accompanied with a special operation of gods eternal love , by way of conjunction therewith . otherwise the grace that is tender'd in the general offers of the gospel , is that which saveth the sinner now , and that brings him to everlasting life ; that is , when conjoyned with that grace that blesseth and maketh this general tender effectually efficacious . the grace of election worketh not without , but by these tenders generally ; neither doth the grace thus tender'd , effectually work , but by and with the grace of election : as many as were ordained to eternal life , believed : the word being then effectual to life , when the hand of the lord is effectually therewith to that end . they spake ( saith the text ) unto the grecians , preaching the lord jesus ; and the hand of the lord was with them , and a great number believed , and turned unto the lord. acts 13.48 . mark 16.20 . act. 11.21 . we must always put difference between the word of the gospel , and the power that manageth that word ; we must put difference between the common and more special operations of that power also ; even as there is evidently a difference to be put between those words of christ that were effectual to do what was said , and of those words of his which were but words onely , or at least not [ so ] accompanied with power . as for instance ; that same jesus that said to the leper , say nothing to any man , said also to lazarus , come forth ; yet the one obeyed , the other did not ; though he that obeyed was least in a capacity to do it , he being now dead , and stunk in his grave . indeed unbelief hath hindred christ much , yet not when he putteth forth himself as almighty , but when he doth suffer himself by them to be abused who are to be dealt with by ordinary means : otherwise legions of devils , with ten thousand impediments , must fall down before him , and give way unto him . there is a speaking , and a [ so ] speaking : they [ so ] spake , that a great multitude , both of the jews , and also of the greeks , believed . even as i have hinted already , there is a difference between the coming of the word when it is in power , and when it is in word onely . so then , the blessed grace of election chuseth this man to good , not because he is good ; it chuseth him to believe , not because he doth believe : it chuseth him to persevere , not because he doth so ; it fore-ordains that this man shall be created in christ jesus unto good works , not if a man will create himself thereto . acts 14.1 . 1 thess. 1.5 , 6 , 7. ephes. 1.4 , 5. 1 pet. 1.2 . ephes. 2.10 . what shall we say then ? is the fault in god , if any perish ? doubtless no ; nor yet in his act of eternal reprobation neither : it is grace that saveth the elect , but sin that damns the rest : it is super-abundant grace that causeth the elect to close with the tenders of life , and live ; and it is the aboundings of sin that holds off the reprobate from the rational necessary and absolute tenders of grace . to conclude then ; the gospel calleth for credence as a condition , and that both from the elect and reprobate ; but because none of them both , as dead in sin , will close therewith , and live ; therefore grace , by vertue of electing love , puts forth it self to work and do for some beyond reason ; and justice cuts off others , for slighting so good , so gracious , and necessary a means of salvation , so full both of kindness , mercy and reason . chap. xi . seeing it is not possible that the reprobate should receive this grace and live , and also seeing this is infallibly fore-seen of god ; and again , seeing god hath fore-determined to suffer it so to be ; why doth he yet will and command that the gospel , and so grace in the general tenders thereof , should be profered unto them ? why then is the gospel offered them ? well , that there is such a thing as eternal reprobation , i have shewed you ; also what this eternal reprobation is , i have opened unto you : and shall now shew you also , that though these reprobates will infallibly perish , which god not only foresaw , but fore-determined to suffer them most assuredly so to do ; yet there is reason , great reason , why the gospel , and so the grace of god thereby , should be tendred , and that in general terms , to them as well as others . but before i come to lay the reasons before you , i must mind you afresh of these particulars : 1. that eternal reprobation makes no man a sinner . 2. that the fore-knowledge of god that the reprobate would perish , makes no man a sinner . 3. that gods infallible determining upon the damnation of him that perisheth , makes no man a sinner . 4. gods patience and long-suffering , and forbearance , until the reprobate fits himself for eternal destruction , makes no man a sinner . so then , god may reprobate , may suffer the reprobate to sin , may fore-determine his infallible damnation , through the pre-consideration of him in sin , and may also forbear to work that effectual work in his soul that would infallibly bring him out of this condition , and yet neither be the author , contriver , nor means of mans sin and misery . again , god may infallibly foresee that this reprobate , when he hath sinned , will be an unreasonable opposer of his own salvation ; and may also determine to suffer him to sin , & be thus unreasonable to the end , yet be gracious , yea very gracious , if he offer him life , and that onely upon reasonable terms , which yet he denieth to close with . isa. 1.18 . & 55.12 . the reasons are , 1. because not god , but sin , hath made him unreasonable ; without which , reasonable terms had done his work for him : for reasonable terms are the most equal and righteous terms that can be propounded between parties at difference ; yea the terms that most suiteth and agreeth with a reasonable creature , such as man. nay , reasonable terms are , for terms , the most apt to work with that man whose reason is brought into and held captive by very sence it self . ezek. 18. & 33. 2. god goeth yet further , he addeth promises of mercy , as those that are inseparable to the terms he offereth , even to pour forth his spirit unto them ; turn at my reproof , and behold i will pour forth of my spirit unto you , and incline your ear ; come unto me , hear and your soul shall live . prov. 1.21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27. now then to the question it self , to wit , that seeing it is impossible the reprobate should be saved ; seeing also this is infallibly foreseen of god , and seeing also that god hath before-hand determined to suffer it so to be ; yet i shall shew you it is requisite , yea very requisite , that he should both will and command that the gospel , and so grace in the general tenders thereof , should be profered unto them . the first reason . and that first , to shew that this reprobation doth not in its self make any man absolutely uncapable of salvation : for if god had intended that by the act of reprobation , the persons therein concerned should also by that only act have been made incapable of everlasting life , then this act must also have tied up all the means from them , that tendeth to that end ; or at least have debarred the gospels being offered to them by gods command , for that intent ; otherwise who is there but would have charged the holy one as guilty of guile , and worthy of blame , for commanding that the gospel of grace and salvation should be offered unto this or that man , whom yet he hath made uncapable to receive it , by his act of reprobation . wherefore this very thing , to wit , that the gospel is yet to be tender'd to those eternally reprobated , sheweth that it is not simply the act of gods reprobation , but sin , that incapacitateth the creature of life everlasting . which sin is no branch of this reprobation , as is evident , because the elect and reprobate are both alike defiled therewith . the second reason . secondly , god also sheweth by this , that the reprobate doth not perish for want of the offers of salvation ( though he hath offended god ) and that upon most righteous terms ; according to what is written , as i live , saith the lord , i have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth , but that the wicked turn from his wicked way , and live . turn unto me , saith the lord of hosts ; and i will turn unto you , saith the lord of hosts . so then , here lieth the point between god and the reprobate , ( i mean the reprobate since he hath sinned ) god is willing to save him upon reasonable terms , but not not upon terms above reason ; but no reasonable terms will down with the reprobate , therefore he must perish for his unreasonableness . ezek. 18.31 , 32. & 33.10 . zech. 1.3 . that god is willing to save even those that perish for ever , is apparent , both from the consideration of the goodness of his nature , of mans being his creature , and indeed in a miserable state . but i say , as i have also said already , there is a great difference between his being willing to save them , through their complying with these his reasonable terms , and his being resolved to save them , whether they , as men , will close therewith , or no : so onely he saveth the elect themselves , even according to the riches of his g 〈…〉 e●en according to his riches in glory , by christ jesus ; working effectua●●● 〈◊〉 them , what the gospel , as a condition , calleth for from them . a 〈…〉 nce it is that he is said to give faith , ( yea the most holy faith , for th●● is the faith of gods elect ) to give repentance , to give a new heart , to give his fear , even that fear that may keep them for ever from everlasting ruine ; still ingaging his mercy and goodness to follow them all the days of their lives , that they may dwell in the house of the lord for ever : and as another scripture saith , now he that hath wrought 〈◊〉 the self-same thing , is god. psal. 145.9 . job 14.15 . joh. 3.16 . ephes. 1.4 , 7. phil. 1.29 . & 4.19 . act. 5.30 , 31. ezek. 36.26 , 27 , jer. 32 , 40. psal. 23.6 . rom. 8.26 , &c. 2 cor. 5.5 , &c. but i say , his denying to do thus for every man in the world , cannot properly be said to be because he is not heartily willing they should close with the tenders of the grace held forth in the gospel , and live . wherefore you must consider that there is a distinction to be put between god's denying grace on reasonable terms , and denying it absolutely ; and also that there is a difference between his with-holding further grace , and of hindring men from closing with the grace at present offered ; also that god may with-hold much , when he taketh away nothing ; yea , take away much , when once abused , and yet be just and righteous still . further , god may deny to do this or that absolutely , when yet he hath promised to do , not onely that , but more , conditionally . which things considered , you may with ease conclude , that he may be willing to save those not elect , upon reasonable terms , though not without them . it is no unrighteousness in god to offer grace unto the world , though but on those terms onely , that they are also foreseen by him infallibly to reject ; both because to reject it is unreasonable , especially the terms being so reasonable as to believe the truth and live ; and also because it is grace and mercy in god , so much as once to offer means of reconciliation to a sinner , he being the offender ; but the lord , the god offended ; they being but dust and ashes , he the heavenly majesty . if god , when man had broke the law , had yet with all severity kept the world to the utmost condition of it , had he then been unjust ? had he injured man at all ? was not every tittle of the law reasonable , both in the first and second table ? how much more then is he merciful and gracious , even in but mentioning terms of reconciliation ? especially seeing he is also willing so to condescend , if they will believe his word , and receive the love of the truth . though the reprobate then doth voluntarily , and against all strength of reason , fun himself upon the rocks of eternal misery , and split himself thereon , he perisheth in his own corruption , by rejecting terms of life . 2 thess. 2.10 . 2 pet. 2.12 , 13. object . 1. but the reprobate is not now in a capacity to fulfill these reasonable terms . answ. but i say , suppose it should be granted , is it because reprobation made him uncapable , or sin ? not reprobation , but sin : if sin , then before he quarrel , let him consider the case aright , where in the result , he will find sin , being consented to by his voluntary mind , hath thus disabled him : and because , i say , it was sin by his voluntary consent that did it , let him quarrel with himself for consenting , so as to make himself incapable to close with reasonable terms ; yea , with those terms because reasonable , therefore most suitable ( as terms ) for him notwithstanding his wickedness . and i say again , forasmuch as these reasonable terms have annexed unto them , as their inseparable companions , such wonderful mercy and grace as indeed there is , let even them that perish , yet justifie god ; yea cry , his goodness endureth for ever ; though they , through the wretchedness of their hearts , get no benefit by it . the third reason . thirdly , god may will and command that his gospel , and so the grace thereof , be tender'd to those that shall never be saved , ( besides what hath been said ) to shew to all spectators what an enemy sin , being once embraced , is to the salvation of man : sin without the tenders of the grace of the gospel , could never have appeared so exceeding sinful , as by that it both hath and doth . if i had not come and spoken unto them , saith christ , they had not had sin ; but now they have no cloak for their sin . as sins that oppose the law , are discover'd by the law , that is , by the goodness , and justness , and holiness of the law ; so the sins that oppose the gospel , are made manifect by that , even by the love , and mercy , and forgiveness of the gospel : [ if he that despised moses law , died without mercy ; of how much sorer pun●shment , suppose ye , shall he be thought worthy , who hath trodden under foot the son of god ? ] who could have thought that sin would have opposed that which is just , but especially mercy and grace , had we not seen it with our eyes ? and how could we have seen it to purpose , had not god left some to themselves ? here indeed is sin made manifest : for all he had done so many miracles amongst them ( to wit , to perswade them to mercy ) yet they believed him not . sin , where it reigneth , is a mortal enemy to the soul ; it blinds the eyes , holds the hands , ties the legs , and stops the ears , and makes the heart implacable to resist the saviour of souls . that man will neither obey the law nor the gospel , who is left unto his sin : which also god is willing should be discovered and made manifest , though it cost the damnation of some : for this very purpose , saith god to pharaoh , have i raised thee up , that i might shew in thee my power , and that my name might be declared in all the earth . for god by raising up pharaoh to his kingdom , and suffering him to walk to the height , according as his sin did prompt him forward , shew'd unto all beholders what a dreadful thing sin is ; and that without the special assistance of his holy spirit , sin would neither be charmed by law nor gospel . this reason , though it be no profit unto those that are damned ; yet it is for the honour of god , and the good of those he hath chosen . joh. 15.22 . rom. 7. heb. 10.27 , 28 , 29. joh. 12.37 . exod. 9.16 . rom. 9.17 . it is for the honour of god , even for the honour of his power and mercy : for his power is now discovered indeed , when nothing can tame sin but that ; and his mercy is here seen indeed ; because that doth ingage him to do it . read rom. 9.22 , 23. the fourth reason . fourthly , god commandeth that the tender of the gospel , and the grace thereof , be in general offered to all , that means thereby might be sufficiently provided for the elect , both to beget them to faith , and to maintain it in them to the end , in what place , or state , or condition soever they are . god , through the operation of his manifold wisdom , hath an end and an end in his acts and doings amongst the children of men : and , so in that he commandeth that his gospel be tender'd to all , an end , i say , to leave the damned without excuse , and to provide sufficiency of means for the gathering all his elect. o that god would speak , saith zophar , and open his mouth against thee , and shew thee the secrets of wisdom , that they are double to that which is . for though god worketh with and upon the elect , otherwise then with and upon the reprobate ; yet he worketh with and upon the elect , with and by the same word he commandeth should be held forth and offered to the reprobate . now the text thus running in most free and universal terms , the elect then hearing thereof , do through the mighty power of god close in with the tenders therein held forth , and are saved . thus that word that was offered to the reprobate jews , and by them most fiercely rejected , even that word became yet effectual to the chosen , and they were saved thereby . they gladly received the word , and as many as were ordained to eternal life , believed . not as though the word of god had taken none effect ; god hath not cast away his people whom he fore-knew . the word shall accomplish the thing for which god hath sent it , even the salvation of the few that are chosen , when tendred to all ; though rejected by most , through the rebellion of their hearts . ephes. 1. job 11.5 , 6. act. 13.44 . to 48. & 28.28 . heb. 4.1 , 2 , 3. rom. 9.6 . & 11.12 . object . 2. but if god hath elected , as you have said , what need he lay a foundation so general for the begetting faith in his chosen particulars , seeing the same spirit that worketh in them by such means , could also work in them by other , even by a word , excluding the most in the first tenders thereof , amongst men ? answ. i told you before , that though this be a principal reason of the general tenders of the grace of the gospel , yet it is not all the reason why the tender should be so general , as the three former reasons shew . but again , in the bowels of gods decree of election , is contained the means that are also ordained for the effectual bringing of those elected to that glory for which they were fore-appointed ; even to gather together in one , all the children of god : whereunto he called you , saith paul , by our gospel , to the obtaining of the glory of our lord jesus christ. god's decree of election then , destroyeth not the means which his wisdom hath prepared , it rather establisheth , yea ordains and establisheth it ; and maketh that means which in the outward sound is indefinite and general , effectual to this and that man , through a special and particular application : thus that christ that in general was offered to all , is by a special act of faith applied to paul in particular ; he loved me , and gave himself for me . joh. 11.51 , 52.2 thes. 2.13 , 14. gal. 2.20 , 21 , 22. further , as the design of the heavenly majesty is to bring his elect to glory by means , so by the means thus universal and general , as most behooful and fit ; if we consider not onely the way it doth please him to work with some of his chosen , in order to this their glory , but also the trials , temptations , and other calamities they must go thorow thereto . 1. touching his working with some , how invisible is it to those in whose souls it is yet begun ? how is the word buried under the clods of their hearts for months , yea years together ? onely thus much is discovered thereof , it sheweth the soul its sin , the which it doth also so aggravate and apply to the conscience ( jesus still refraining , like joseph , to make himself known to his brethren ) that were there not general tenders of mercy , and that to the worst of sinners , they would soon miscarry and perish , as do the sons of perdition . but by these the lord upholdeth and helpeth them , that they stand , when others fall for ever . psal. 119.49 . 2. and so likewise for their trials , temptations , and other calamities , because god will not bring them to heaven without , but by them ; therefore he hath also provided a word so large , as to lie fair for the support of the soul in all conditions , that it may not die for thirst . 3. i might adde also in this place , their imperfect state after grace received , doth call for such a word ; yea , many other things which might be named : which god onely wise hath thought fit should accompany us to the ship , yea in the sea , to our desired haven . the fifth reason . fifthly , god willeth and commandeth the gospel should be offered to all , that thereby distinguishing love , as to an inward and spiritual work , might the more appear to be indeed the fruit of special and peculiar love. for in that the gospel is tender'd to all in general , when yet but some do receive it ; yea , and seeing these some are as unable , unwilling , and by nature as much averse thereto , as those that refuse it , and perish ; it is evident that something more of heaven and the operation of the spirit of god doth accompany the word thus tender'd for their life and salvation that enjoy it ; not now as a word barely tender'd , but backed by the strength of heaven : behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us , that we should be called the children of god! even we who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in christ , when he raised him from the dead . this provoketh to distinguishing admiration , yea and also to a love like that which hath fastened on the called , the preserved , and the glorified : he hath not dealt so with any nation ; and as for his judgements , they have not known them . praise ye the lord. now are the sacrifices bound even to the horns of the altar , with a , lord how is it , that thou shouldst manifest thy self to us , and not unto the world ! he sent from above , he took me , he drew me out of many waters , he delivered me from my strong enemy , and from them that hated me , for they were too strong for me . 1 thes. 1.4 , 5 , 6 , 7. 1 joh. 3.1 , 2 , 3. psal. 147.20 . joh. 14.22 . 2 sam. 22.17 . psal. 18.16 . for thus the elect considereth : though we all came alike into the world , and are the children of wrath by nature ; yea , though we have alike so weakened our selves by sin , that the whole head is sick , and the whole heart faint , being altogether gone out of the way , and every one become altogether unprofitable , both to god and our selves ; yet that god should open mine eyes , convert my soul , give me faith , forgive my sins ; raise me , when i fall ; fetch me again , when i am gone astray ; this is wonderful ! yea , that he should prepare eternal mansions for me , and also keep me by his blessed and mighty power for that ; and that in a way of believing , which without his assistance i am no way able to perform ! that he should do this notwithstanding my sins , though i had no righteousness ! yea , that he should do it according to the riches of his grace , through the redemption that is in jesus christ our lord ! even according to an everlasting covenant of grace , which yet the greatest part of the world are void of , and will for ever miss and fall short off ! besides , that he should mollifie my heart ! break it , and then delight in it ; put his fear in it , and then look to me , and keep me as the apple of his eye ; yea , resolve to guide me with his counsel , and then receive me to glory ! further , that all this should be the effect of unthought-of , undeserved , and undesired love ! that the lord should think on this before he made the world , and sufficiently ordain the means before he had laid the foundation of the hills ! for this he is worthy to be praised : yea , let every thing that hath breath praise the lord ; praise ye the lord. ephes. 2.1 , 2 , 3. rom. 3.9 . isa. 1.5 . rom. 3.12 . psal. 23.6 . & 37.23 . 2 cor. 5.5 . deut. 9.5 , 6 , 7. ezek. 16.60 , 61 , 62 , 63. deut. 7.7 , 8. mal. 1.2 . psal. 51.17 . jer. 32.4 . isa. 66.2 . psal. 138.6 . jer. 31.3 . 1 cor. 2.9 . object . 3. but you have said before , that the reprobate is also blessed with many gospel . mercies , as with the knowledge of christ , faith , light , the gift of the holy ghost , and the tastes or rellish of the powers of the world to come : if so , then what should be the reason that yet he perisheth ? is it because the grace that he receiveth differeth from the grace that the elect are saved by ? if they differ , where lieth the difference ? whether in the nature , or in the degree , or in the management thereof ? answ. to this objection i might answer many things ; but , for brevity , take this reply : 1. that the non-elect may travel very far both in the knowledge , faith , light , and sweetness of jesus christ , and may also attain to the partaking of the holy ghost ; yea , and by the very operation of these things also , escape the polutions of the world , and become a visible saint , joyn in church communion , and be as chief amongst the very elect themselves . this the scriptures every where do shew us . the question then is , whether the elect and reprobate receive a differing grace ? to which i answer , yes in some respects , both as to the nature thereof , and also the degree . to begin then with the nature of it : 1. the faith that the chosen are blessed with , it goeth under another name then any faith besides , even the faith of gods elect , as of a faith belonging to them onely , of which none others do partake ; which faith also , for the nature of it , is called faith most holy ; to shew it goes beyond all other , and can be fitly matched no where else , but with their most blessed faith who infallibly attain eternal glory : even like precious faith with us , saith peter , with his elect companions . and so of other things . for if this be true , that they differ in their faith , they must needs therewith differ in other things : for faith being the mother grace , produceth all the rest according to its own nature , to wit , love that abounds , that never fails , and that is never contented till it attain the resurrection of the dead , &c. tit. 1.1 . jude 20. 2 pet. 1.1 , 2 thes. 1.3 . 1 cor. 13.8 . phillip . 3. 2. they differ as to the nature , in this ; the faith , and hope , and love that the chosen receive , it is that which floweth from election it self ; he hath blessed us according as he hath chosen us , even with those graces he set apart for us , when he in eternity did appoint us to life before the foundation of the world : which graces , because the decree in it self is most absolute and infallible , they also , that they may compleatly answer the end , will do the work infallibly likewise , still through the management of christ : i have prayed that thy faith fail not . ephes. 1.4 , 5. luk. 2.32 . but secondly , as they differ in nature , they differ also in degree : for though it be true that the reprobate is blessed with grace , yet this is also as true , that the elect are blessed with more grace : it is the priviledge onely of those that are chosen , to be blessed with [ all ] spiritual blessings , and to have [ all ] the good pleasure of the goodness of god fulfilled in and upon them . those who are blessed with [ all ] spiritual blessings , must needs be blessed with eternal life ; and those in whom the lord , not onely works all his good pleasure , but fulfilleth a●l the good pleasure of his goodness upon them , they must needs be preserved to his heavenly kingdom : but none of the non-elect have these things conferred upon them ; therefore the grace bestowed upon the one , doth differ both in nature and degree from the other . ephes. 1.4 , 5 1 thes. 1.11 . thirdly , there is a difference as to the management also : the reprobate is principal for the management of the grace he receiveth , but jesus christ is principal for the management of the grace the elect receiveth : vvhen i say principal , i mean chief ; for though the reprobate is to have the greatest hand in the management of what mercy and goodness the lord bestoweth on him , yet not so as that the lord will not help him at all ; nay contrariwise he wi●l , if first the reprobate do truly the duty that lieth on him : if thou do well , shalt thou not be accepted ? but if not well , behold sin lieth at the door . thus it was also with saul , who was rejected of god upon this account . and i say as to the elect themselves , though jesus christ our blessed saviour be chief , as to the management of the grace bestowed on his chosen , yet not so as that he quite excludeth them from striving according to his working which worketh in them mightily : nay contrariwise , if those who in truth are elect , shall yet he remiss , and do wickedly , they shall feel the stroke of gods rod , it may be till their bones do break : but because the work doth not lie at their door to manage as chief , but at christs , therefore though he may perform his work with much bitterness and grief to them ; yet he being engaged as the principal , will perform that which concerneth them , even until the day ( the coming ) of jesus christ. gen. 4.7 . 1 sam. 13.11 , 12 , 13 , 14. & 15 26. col. 1.29 . psal. 138.8 . phil. 1.6 . fom what hath been said , there ariseth this conclusion : the elect are always under eternal mercy , but those not elect always under eternal justice : for you must consider this , there is eternal mercy and eternal justice , and there is present mercy and present justice : so then , for a man to be in a state of mercy , it may be either a state of mercy present , or both present and eternal also . and so again for a man to be in a state under justice , it may be understood either of present ju●●ice onely , or of both p●esent and eternal also . that this may yet further be opened , i shall somewhat enlarge . i begin with present mercy and present justice . that which i call present mercy , is that faith , light , knowledge , and taste of the good vvord of god , that a man may have , and perish . this is called in scripture , believing for a while , during for a while , and rejoycing in the light for a season . now i call this mercy , both because none ( as men ) can deserve it , and also because the proper end thereof is to do good to those that have it . but i call it present mercy , because those that are only blessed with that , may sin it away , and perish ; as did some of the galatians , hebrews , alexandrians , with the asians , and others . but yet observe again , i do not call this present mercy because god hath determined it shall last but a while absolutely ; but because it is possible for man to lose it , yea determined he shall , conditional●y . heb. 6.4 , 5. 2 pet. 2.20 . mat. 13.22 . luk. 8.13 . joh. 5.35 1 cor. 12.7 . gal. 5.4 . heb. 12.15 , 16. 1 tim. 1 20. 2 tim. 2.18 . & 1.15 . heb. 12.25 . again , as to present justice , it is that which lasteth but a while also : and as present mercy is properly the portion of those left out of gods election , so present justice chiefly hath to do with gods beloved ; who yet at that time are also under eternal mercy . this is that justice that afflicted job , david , heman , and the godly , who notwithstanding do infallibly attain , by vertue of this mercy , eternal life and glory . i call this justice , because in some sence god dealeth with his chil●ren according to the quality of their transgressions ; and i call it also present justice , because though the hand of god for the present be never so heavy on those that are his by election , yet it lasteth but a while ; wherefore though this indeed be called wrath , yet is but a little wrath , wrath for a moment , time or season . in a little wrath i hid my face from thee for a moment , but with everlasting kindness will i have mercy on thee , saith the lord thy redeemer . job 6.4 . psal. 88. & 38.3 . amos 3.2 , 1 cor. 11.30 , 31. isa. 54.7 , 8. psal. 30.5 . & 103.9 . 1 pet. 1.6 . thus you see there is present mercy and present justice ; also that the elect may be under present justice , when the rest may be under present mercy . again , as there is present mercy and present justice , so there is eternal mercy and eternal justice : and i say , as the elect may be under present justice , when the non-elect may be under present mercy ; so the elect at that time are also under eternal mercy , but the other under eternal justice . that the elect are under eternal mercy , and that when under present justice , is evident from what hath been said before , namely from their being chosen in christ before the foundation of the world ; as also from the consideration of their sound conversion , and safe preservation quite through this wicked world , even safe unto eternal life ; as he also saith by the prophet jeremiah , yea i have loved thee with an everlasting love , therefore with loving kindness have i dra●n thee : and hence it is that he calleth the elect his sheep , his children , and people , and that before conversion ; for though none of them as yet were his children by calling , yet were they his according to election . jer 31.3 . joh. 10.16 . & 11.52 . act 18.9 , 10. now the elect being under this eternal grace and mercy , they must needs be under it both before present justice seizeth upon them , while it seizeth them , and also continueth with them longer then present justice can , it being from everlasting to everlasting . this being so , here is the reason why no sin , nor yet temptation of the enemy , with any other evil , can hurt or destroy those thus elect of god : yea this is that which maketh even those things that in themselves are the very bane of men , yet prove very much for good to those within this purpose ; and as david saith , it is good for me that i have been afflicted : and again , for when we are judged of the lord , we are chastened , that we should not be condemned with the world. now afflictions , &c. in themselves are not onely fruitless and unprofitable , but , being unsanctified , are destructive ; i smote him , and he went on frowardly : but now eternal mercy working with this or that affliction , makes it profitable to the chosen ; i have seen his ways , and will heal him , and will restore comfort to him and to his mourners : as he saith in another place , blessed is the man whom thou chastisest , and teachest out of thy law. for eternal mercy doth not look on those who are the elect and chosen of god , as poor sinful creatures onely , but also as the generation whom the lord hath blessed , in whom he hath designed to magnifie his mercy to the utmost , by pardoning the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage ; having predestinated us to the adoption of children by jesus christ to himself , wherein also he hath made us accepted in the beloved . vvherefore i say , the elect , as they do also receive that grace and mercy that may be sinned away , so they have that grace and mercy which cannot be lost , and that sin cannot deprive them of , even mercy that abounds , and goeth beyond all sin ; such mercy as hath engaged the power of god , the intercession of christ , and the communication of the blessed spirit of adoption , which spirit also engageth the heart , directs it into the love of god , that it may not depart from god after that rate as the reprobates do . i will make an everlasting covenant with them , saith god , that i will not turn away from them to do them good , but will put my fear in their heart , that they shall not depart from me . rom. 8.28 . psal. 119.71 . 1 cor. 11.31 , 32. isa. 57.17 , 18. psal 94.12 . 1 pet. 2.9 . mic. 7.18 , 19. ephes 1.5 , 6 , & 5 29 , 30. jer. 32 40. but now i say , gods dealing with the non-elect , is far otherwise , they being under the consideration of eternal justice , even then when in the enjoyment of present grace and mercy . and hence it is that as to their standing before the god of heaven , they are counted dogs , and sows , and devils , even then when before the elect of god themselves they are counted saints and brethren : the dog is returned to his own vomit again , and the sow that was washed , to her wallowing in the mire . and the reason is , because notwithstanding all their shew before the world , their old nature and corruptions do still bear sway within , which in time also , according to the ord●nary judgement of god , is suffered so to shew it self , that they are visible to saints that are elect , as was the case of simon magus , and that wicked apostate judas , who went out from us , but they were not of us , for if they had been of us , they should no doubt have continued with us ; but they went out from us , that it might be manifest they were not all of us : they were not elect as we , nor were they sanctified as the elect of god themselves ; wherefore eternal justice counts them the sons of perdition , when under their profession . and i say they being un\der this eternal justice , it must needs have to do with them in the midst of their profession ; and because also it is much offended with them for conniving with their lusts , it taketh away from them , and that most righteously , those gifts and graces , and benefits and priviledges that present mercy gave them ; and not only so , but cuts them off for their iniquity , and layeth them under wrath for ever . they have forsaken the right way , saith god ; they have followed the way of balaam the son of bosor ; these are wells without water , clouds that are carried with a tempest , trees whose fruit withereth , without fruit , twice dead , plucked up by the roots , for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever . 1 joh. 2.19 . joh. 17.12 . mat. 13.12 , & 25.29 . mark 4.25 luk 8.18 . 2 pet 2.5 , 16 , 17. jude 11 , 12 , 13. these things thus considered , you see , 1. that there is present grace and present mercy , eternal grace and eternal mercy . 2. that the elect are under eternal mercy , and that when under present justice ; and that the reprobate is under eternal justice , and that when under present mercy . 3. thus you ●ee again , that the non elect per●sh by reason of sin , notwithstanding present mercy , because of eternal justice ; and that the elect are preserved from the death ( though they sin , and are obnoxious to the strokes of present justice ) by reason of eternal mercy . what shall we say then ? is there unrighteousness with god ? god forbid : he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy , and compassion on whom he will have compassion . finis . errata . page 12. iine 23. for finished , when yet ; read fashioned , when as yet . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a30198-e420 (a) rom. 11.10 . (b) rom. 11.7 . (c) act. 13.48 . isa. 1.9 . & 10.22 , 23. rom. 9.27 . (d) rom. 9.21 . (e) rom. 9.11 . gen. 15.4 , 5. & 16.4 , 5 , 16. & 17.25 . & 21.5 . (f) rom. 11.5 . (g) 2 tim. 2.18 , 19 , 20. † jude 4. † gen. 3. autoschediasmata, de studio theologiae, or, directions for the choice of books in the study of divinity written by ... dr. thomas barlow ... ; publish'd from the original manuscript, by william offley ... barlow, thomas, 1607-1691. 1699 approx. 158 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 45 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a30972 wing b824 estc r22775 12125349 ocm 12125349 54573 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a30972) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 54573) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 756:31) autoschediasmata, de studio theologiae, or, directions for the choice of books in the study of divinity written by ... dr. thomas barlow ... ; publish'd from the original manuscript, by william offley ... barlow, thomas, 1607-1691. offley, william, 1659 or 60-1724. [10], 79 p. printed for leon. lichfield, oxford : 1699. advertisement: prelim. p. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology -bibliography. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-07 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2005-07 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , de studio theologiae : or , directions for the choice of books in the study of divinity . written by the r t reverend father in god , dr. thomas barlow , late l d bishop of lincoln , provost of queen's college , and margaret professor of divinity in oxford . publish'd from the original manuscript , by william offley , m. a. prebendary of lincoln , and domestick chaplain to his lordship . oxford , printed by leon . lichfield , 1699. to the right reverend father in god , james , lord bishop of lincoln . my lord , whilst others , who are more immediately under your episcopal government , do equally approve and commend your generous disposition , and indefatigable industry upon all accounts , to advance the honour of the most excellent church of england ; i cannot at this unhappy distance be silent , but think my self obliged to mention that great esteem which your lordship entertains for the memory of many learned prelates , who have presided over that holy see , which your lordship at present so deservedly fills : and i am very sensible what an honourable regard your lordship in particular has for bishop barlow's memory , which suffer'd extreamly from those a two relick-mongers , who printed a b spurious book under his lordship's commanding name and character : and whereas neither religion or gratitude were of any force to restrain their endeavours , from blasting their great benefactor 's reputation after his death , by their publishing of many small tracts ; it was thought necessary for bishop barlow's legatees ( to whose care his lordship had committed all his own original mss. ) to undeceive the world , and put a stop to mercenary proceedings , by exposing the defects of those papers which were surreptitiously printed : and , i hope , those reflections , which were drawn up , and publish'd in the year 1694. by my brother chaplain ( the late ingenious mr. henry brougham ) and my-self , have been so far serviceable , as to do justice to our pious patron 's memory , and to vindicate our selves from all suspicion of being any way concern'd in so base an action , as that of selling to be printed many private papers , with the specious title of the genuine remains of that learned prelate dr. thomas barlow , &c. my late lord commanded , that particular care should be taken of all his original mss. and that i may with greater ease discharge my trust , i have lately reposited all bishop barlow's original writings , in the archives of queens college library in oxon , two mss. only excepted ; one treating of grosthead's life and works , which i left in your lordship's library at buckden , in its way hereafter to the library at lincoln , where the ashes of that memorable prelate are intomb'd : the other ms. relating to the choice of books in the study of divinity , i here humbly present to your lordship's patronage ; which your lordship has already been pleas'd in a great measure to grant , by approving of my design , and giving me good hopes of your lordship's recommending these directions to the clergy of your extensive diocese , that they may be acquainted with the smallest part of that learned bishop's study , whose communicative presence they were not so happy to enjoy , by his visiting of them in such a regular , and episcopal manner , as your lordship has lately done in your primary visitation of your diocese . that part of his sacred office in our church , bishop barlow often complain'd he was not able to discharge as he ought : and when he once attempted to visit his diocese in person ( which he often did by legal deputies ) by confirming great numbers of people , at a four several towns in hunting tonshire , he was necessitated to tell some that then waited on him , that his great a age , and infirmities wou'd not permit him to go through the * several counties of his diocese : but to express his willingness , and readiness to confirm , such as wanted confirmation , his lordship publish'd an advertisement at the end of his articles of inquiry ; upon which many persons of good quality came to buckden , and receiv'd confirmation from him in the chapel of his palace . how diligent he was constantly to perform all other duties of his episcopal function , none are ignorant , who at any convenient time waited on his lordship about matters ecclesiastical . and as his lordship 's repeated wishes were , that the diocese of lincoln , might be bless'd hereafter more duly with the solemn rite of confirmation ; so it was my duty to attend , whilst your lordship perform'd the sacred office , for many days together , in your cathedral church at lincoln , and elsewhere , within some peculiars belonging to that magnificent church ; particularly at banbury , where near a thousand persons receiv'd confirmation the 25th and 26th of september last , some 80 years of age , and scarce any under 12 , for which blessing that ancient corporation owns it self for ever oblig'd to your lordship . may your lordship's exemplary life , and doctrine , adorn the faith and practice of that * numerous and learned body of men committed to your pastoral care , is the earnest of his prayer , who is , my lord , your lordship 's most obedient servant , william offley . middleton stony , in the diocese of oxon , nov. 24. 1697. the preface . i shall not trouble the reader with any long apology for the publication of the following directions ; only i think it necessary to inform him , that had not this method for the study of divinity been first printed , and prefix'd to many other papers , which swell'd the book to such a * price , that few cared to buy , it might the sooner have pass'd without censure , considering the usefulness of such a treatise , wheresoever it shou'd be kindly receiv'd : but being sensible withal that several copies of this method were dispers'd abroad , and that many things already falsly printed , did prejudice the church of england , and lessen the author's reputation ; i thought it my duty to publish these directions from the original manuscript , ( which the late mercenary editors never saw ) without the long train of letters , which are of no use , but to expose the secrets of a private and hasty correspondence . and since some angry men are known to pass many unkind reflections upon bishop barlow's memory , i leave the bishop's own words ( in a letter , which i have publish'd at the end of these directions ) to vindicate himself from those unchristian censures , some at this day make use of , that they may wound the memory of a great father of the church , who has written many learned books in defence of the church of england , against all that oppose it . as for the first letter , which follows these directions , i found it written with bishop barlow's own hand ; and as an instance of its being proper to be included in his directions to a young divine , his lordship left it fix'd to his original ms. on that subject . the second letter sell into my hands , as i was making a collection of some scatter'd papers , in my late lord's study ; and having communicated it to many judicious men , they advis'd me not to conceal such modest and excellent advice , but to do the unknown author the justice of printing of it : and i question not , but such as are studious to know how to make choice of the most proper books for the study of divinity , will soon experience the great usefulness of these following directions , which i have publish'd , to prevent them for the future from being impos'd on , by false copies of this , or any other of bishop barlow's learned works . advertisement . there is lately printed at the theatre in oxon , a catalogue of all bishop barlow's original manuscripts , which are now in queens college library in oxon ; and if any person shall hereafter presume to print or publish any part , or parcel of them , he shall be prosecuted according to law , by bishop barlow's trustees . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , de studio theologiae : or , directions for the choice of books , in the study of divinity . theology , or divinity , is a science , or prudence , containing our knowledge of god , and our duty , and that divine worship which is due to him : and there are but two principles to know both : 1. lumen naturae , or the principles of natural reason ( common to all mankind ) and on these theologia naturalis is built . 2. lumen scripturae , or divine revelation ; on this theologia revelata , seu a evangelica is sounded , containing such further knowledge of god and our duty , as we have ( beyond all that natural reason can tell us ) by divine revelation in scripture . 1. theologia naturalis , we may call morality , and the religion common to all men , as men , and rational creatures . 2. theologia revelata , we call christianity , and it is the religion peculiar to christians . now to be a christian pre-supposes him to be a man , and christianity does not exclude , but pre-suppose morality , and is an addition to , and perfection of it ; yet these two , morality and christianity , are as distinct as natural reason and revelation , which are their respective measures and principles . 1. theologia naturalis , being grounded on the law of nature ( or the moral law ) it will be convenient to know the nature , extent and obligation of that law ( as also of all laws in general ) to which end , we may consult , grot. de ju. belli , lib. 1. cap. 1. § . 9. &c. pet. à sancto joseph . idaea theol. moralis , lib. 1. de legibus . aquinas , 1. 2. quaest. 90. &c. suarez de legibus . azortus instit. moral . part . 3. lib. 1. cap. 1. and when there is necessity to see more , all the commentators on aquinas , and all casuists , where they speak of the ten commandments , or moral law ; amongst others filliucius quaest. mor. tract . 21. besides those many divines and christians , who have expresly written upon the ten commandments , and all things enjoin'd or forbid in them , there are many authors of excellent use , and authority to understand the nature of moral habits and actions , good and bad ; as ( to omit others ) arist. eth. ad nicom . andro. rhodius paraphr . ex edit . heinsii , lugd. batav . 1617. in an octavo . the greek scholia in arist. eth. hierocles in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pythag. so call'd , because they contain pythagoras's doctrine ; for philo crotoniates was the author of those verses . johan . stobaei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , aurel. allobrog . 1609. highly commended by suidas a . many of this kind there are ( even amongst pagan writers ) who have described well the nature and kinds of moral virtues and vices . 2. theologia revelata ( of which the sacred scriptures are the sole rule ) is to be understood by considering the text it self , and the true meaning of it . for the text of the old testament , it will be convenient to have , 1. biblia interlinearia hebr. lat. antverp . 1584. 2. biblia graeca septu . interpr . paris 1628. 3. biblia latina junii & tremel . in fol. or quarto . 4. biblia lat. sixti quinti romae 1590. & bablia lat. clementis octavi romae 1592. both popes pretend to infallibility , and yet their bibles contradict one another expresly , and in terminis , above an hundred times . the bibles of clement the eighth , are many times printed with a false title-page , and miscall'd , biblia sixti quinti ; as in an edition at antverp 1628. in octavo , and in an edition at antverp 1603. in fol. and in another edition colon. agrip. 1666. in 8 little vol. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is biblia sacra vulgatae editionis sixti quinti pont max. recognita ; and yet ( by comparing ) it appears to be the bible of clement the eighth . for the text of the new testament , there are many editions ; but i conceive two only to be most useful . 1. novum testamentum gr. per rob. steph. paris . 1550. in folio ; 't is the best for character and exactness , and it furnishes us with an account of all the ancient sections and divisions of the testament , call'd * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. nov. test. gr. a steph. curcel . edit . amstelod . 1658. in octavo ; it has the various lections , and parallel places , more exactly than any other i have yet seen ; and yet robert steph. edition has the various lections of 15 mss. when occasion is to consult the bible in more languages , and more editions , we have 1. biblia complutensia , complut . 1515. in 3 folio's . 2. biblia regia ( reg. hisp. ) per ar. montanum , antverp . 1569. 3. biblia per mich. le jai , 7 linguis , and 10 volumes , printed at paris 1645. 4. biblia polyglot . lond. 1657. by collating these , we may see the difference and variety of reading . for the better understanding of these languages , and the bible by them , it will be convenient to have some concordances and lexicons . we have many concordances , and some of great use : 1. for the a hebrew ( and chaldee words , as many as are in the bible ) concordantiae bibl. hebr. per joh. buxtorf . basil. 1632. there are other ( but worse ) editions . 2. for the hebrew and greek of the old testam . conrad . kercheri concord . vet. test. gr. hebr. vocibus respondentes , francof . 1607. and it will be convenient to have his book ( explaining the use of his concordance ) de concordantiarum bibl. usu , in 4º , whitberg . 1622. 3. for the greek of the new testam . concordantiae gr. lat. n. test. ab hen. steph. edit . genevae 1624 , there are former , and worse editions . 4. for the latin ( which are of some , but much less use in the study of divinity ) concordances , we may consult concord . bibl. lat. ad correctionem rom. edit . vulgat . &c. francofurti 1620. there are former editions , but imperfect . 5. we may consult corn. jansenii commentar . in suam concordiam evang. mogunt . 1612. an 8o. concordiam evangel . per theologum parisiensem , an 8º , printed at paris 1660. osiandri elench . harmoniae , basil. 1561. comment . ja. fabri stapul . in quatuor evang . & ihi post praefat. canones seu concord . evang. 6. nov. test. gr. per steph. lutetiae 1550. & caenones evang. ab ammonio conditos , & ab eusebio absolutos . 7. we may consult eosdem canones apud hieronymum , & per m. victorium , tom. 6. in initio , & dan , tossanum in evang. harmoniam . the use of the hebrew and greek concordance is very great : in reading of the text , when i doubt what a word signifies , i turn to my concordance , to see how many times the word occurs , and in what sence it is taken . for instance , hebrews 11. 1. fides est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which some render , persona , substantia , expectatio , &c. now 't is very incongruous to affirm , that faith is a person , substance , or expectation ; for 't is an accident , an assent of the understanding , and truth is the sole object of it : i do not mean bonum futurum , for that is the proper object of expectation , or hope . by consulting , in this doubt , my concordance , i find the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to occur five times in the n. testament : 1. it signifies a a person , 2. and twice b it evidently signifies , and we render it confidence ; 3. tho' not so evidently , yet most probably it signifies c confidence too : for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is faith oppos'd to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in the 12. and 19. verses , which is principium & fundamentum fiduciae & confidentiae nostrae : by the circumstances then of the text , it is evident , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies confidence ; and if we apply that signification to hebrews the 11. 1. ( the place doubted of ) it will appear to be very agreeable to the nature of faith , and the thing there spoken of . fides est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. fides est eorum quae sperantur d confidentia , & eorum quae non videntur argumentum ; so e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies ; and hierom , and the vulgar render it , faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , such an argument , as is the ground of all the assurance and confidence we have , or can have of heaven . this seems to me the genuine sence of the place , if we consider either the signification of the words , or the nature of the thing signified ; it is certain , and concluded by all , that a true and firm faith in the promises of god in the gospel , is the foundation and evidence of all our hopes of heaven , &c. whence it is that the a trent conventicle calls faith , — humanae salutis initium , fundamentum , & radix ; and in the margent cites this very text , heb. 11. 1. 2. for lexicons and glossaries , they are useful for explanation of the words , in the originals of the old and new testament ; and amongst them we may consult , for the old testament , 1. lexicon polyglot . 7. linguis , per ed. castellum , londini 1669. 2. lex . pentaglot . val. shindleri , hanoviae 1612. 3. masii lex . hebr. syr. chald. gr. antverp . 1571. 4. joh. buxtorsii lex . chald. talmud . rabbin . or his excellent opus triginta annorum ( as he calls it ) printed at basil 1639. 5. kercher's concordance ( before mention'd ) may well be call'd , and us'd for a lexicon heb. gr. every word in the bible , and the various translations of them being express'd by the lxx . in their ( as they call it ) hellenestical greek . 6. nomenclator biblicus hebr. lat. per ant. hulsium , bredae 1650. useful for all divines . 7. for proper b names ( for these already named are for appellative words ) such as these may be consulted : 1. gregorii greg. lexicon sanctum , hanoviae 1634. in octavo ; wherein all proper names in scripture are explain'd . 2. onomasticon sacrum , in quo omnia nomina propria , hebr. chald. gr. quae tam in vet. quam nov. test. & apocryphis occurrunt explicantur , per joh. leusden , ultrajecti 1665. in octavo . for the new testament , and 1. appellative words , consult hesychius , suidas , phavorinus , etymolog . mag . glossae veteres , per stephan . & bonavent . vulcanius , stephani thesaurus , harpocration , all these are useful . 2. for proper names , lex . sanct. gregorii greg. ( before mention'd ) gives an account of all their proper names , hebrew and greek in both testaments . so c stephanus of cities , and suidas of the proper names of men. 3. for greek-barbarous words , you may consult petri chritomaei graeco-barbara nov. test. quae orienti originem debent , amstel . in octavo . his lexicon also graeco barbarum . after the knowledge of words , ( quae sunt rerum signa & indices ) the next business will be to know the true sence of scripture signified by those words ; to this purpose you must consult commentators : and first of all , those that have written upon the whole bible . 1. the criticks of the last edition at london , in several tomes , the first printed 1669. the benefit of which book is very great ( i may call it bibliotheca ) seeing when we doubt of any text of scripture , we may ( uno intuitu ) see what many learned men say of it ; and then ( by collation of them and others ) judge which ( or whether any ) of their expositions be true . 2. biblia universa cum commentariis , 1. lyrani , ( gente judaei , religioni christiani , oxoniensis , hic enim literis operam dedit ) 2. cum glossa ordinaria quam strabo fuldensis condidit circa an. 846. 3. cum glossa interlinearia , ansel. laudunens . circa an. 1077. of these three lyranus is much the best , especially on the old test. because he well understood the the hebrew and greek languages , which the other two ( as most of the barbarous age ) were wholly ignorant of . 3. biblia sacra vet. & nov. test. cum notis trimellii & junii editionis tertiae , hanov. 1596. 4. cornelius a lapide , stephanus monochius , jacobus tirinus , emmanuel sa , ( all jesuites ) and joh. deodat . for your understanding of the old test. how the ancient jews interpreted it , consult 1. the chaldee paraphrase . 2. josephus . 3. philo-judaeus . as for antiquity , so for authority and sobriety , they are more significant than any ( may be ) than all the rabbins . maimonides ( qui primus inter suos nug ari desiit ) comes next them . 5. lugd. de dieu has written very short , and significant critical notes on all the old and new test. in 5 or 6 volumes in 4o. on the pentateuch , consult ainsworth , inferior to none . cajetan , calvin , ( ubi bene nemo melius ) joh. ferus , ( a pious papist ) who has said many things well and truly , and therefore the spanish expurgatory index has damn'd many passages in his commentaries on the new test. and his other works : as for his commentaries on the old test. they are absolutely prohibited a , till the inquisitors think fit to correct them . paulus fagius his annotations on the chaldee paraphrase , on the theodoret's questions on the penta . hyeronymus ab oleastro , antverp 1568. besides the pentateuch , cajetan , calvin , ferus , theodoret , hierom , august . and beda , and pareus , have written on other parts of the old test. and upon occasion may be consulted . and for genesis and exodus in particular , you may consult andr. rivetus , who hath wrote well on both ; he hath also publish'd a very useful book in quarto on the xx. chap. of exod. lugd. batav . 1637. pererius ( the jesuite ) hath also long and learned commentaries on both the two first books of moses . in short , you have catalogues of the commentators on every part of the bible already printed , out of which you may chuse the commentaries of brentius , calvin , pet. martyr , joh. wolsius , bucer , melanchton , luther , musculus , &c. cajetan , masius , ar. montanus , gaspar sanctius , simeon de muis , ( the best popish writer on the psalms ) a lapide , corn. jansen . vitalpandus in ezek. fran. ribera in 12. prophetas minores , arias montanus in 12 prophetas . in hexameron , you may consult , 1. eusta . antiochenum , lugduni per alatium 1629. in 4o. 2. ambrosium in hexameron tom. 4. operum , edit . erasmi , basil 1527. for the new testament , very many ( ancient and modern ) have writ explications of it ; some , or all may be consulted , 1. chrysost. hath homilies on most parts of the n. test. 2. hierom on the gospels , acts , and all st. paul's epistles ; but they are * none of his , as is certain and confess'd . 3. ven. bede in 5 or 6 tomes . 4. theophylact. on the gospels , acts , and all st. paul's epistles ; his commentary on the acts , is by it self very hard to be met with , gr. lat. per laur. sifanum , col. agrip. 1567. theophylact. hath nothing on the canonical epistles , or revelations . 2. beza's notes on the whole new test. the best edition ( for there are many ) is that at cambridge 1642. camerarius's notes on the whole n. test. are joyn'd with it . calvin on all the n. test. except the apocalyps , these two ( paucis exceptis quae disciplinam presbyterianam & genevetismam sapiunt ) are inferior to none , for the literal sence of the scriptures . aug. marloratus his comment on all the n. test. containing the expositions of many protestant writers . zach. muthesius in 4o. edit . 1611. dr. wm. foulke in nov. test. contra annotationes anglo-rhemensium . erasmi annot. in n. test. aquinas in nov. test. chemnitius , gochardus , brentius , bucer , novae glossae in mat. mar. luc. per rob. steph. they are damn'd by the a spanish inquisitors , and therefore more valuable . lucas brugensis in 4. evang. antv. 1606. maldonatus , lutetiae 1629. there are former and worse editions ; he is vir dotatus , but , as causabon calls him , maledicentissimus . hugo cardinalis ( alias hugo de sancto claro ) he writ about the year 1244. in which he was created b cardinal by pope innoc. the iv. in a time of great ignorance , when popery was not form'd ; whence it is that he , and others of that age , have many things , which they at rome like not . jacobus faber stapulensis in 4 evangel . he was an honest and sober papist ; and has an excellent preface before his commentaries , concerning the excellency , perfection , and universal use of scripture , &c. and therefore that preface totally , and many other things in his commentaries , are damn'd by the c inquisitors , and all his works prohibited by d clement viii . till they be purg'd , that is corrupted , and spoil'd by the inquisitors , and their indices . 1. theodoret in omnes pauli epistolas , num . 14. he has nothing on the 7. canonical epistles ( james , peter , john , jude ) nor the revelation ; he is amongst the ancients one of the best , and usually comes nearest the literal sence . ambrose in omnes pauli epist. ( except . ad hebr. ) peradventure because that epistle was not in his time , receiv'd in the roman a church ; which may be the reason too , why st. hierom has no commentary on that epistle , nor any preface to it , as he has to most books of the bible ; but those commentaries are deny'd to be ambrose's by b many , and suspected by more . primasius utiensis circa annum 545. sedulius , circa annum 430. c oecumenius ( quisque demum fuerit ) in omnes pauli & canonicas epist. cum quo conjungitur arethas caesariensis in apocalyp . who he was , and when he liv'd is uncertain : bellarmine places him after the year 1000. and some sooner ; his commentary is indeed a catena taken out of about 121. d ancient authors , ( for so many he cites ) and amongst them he often cites photius ; whence 't is evident he liv'd after photius's time , who flourish'd after the middle of the ninth century . 1. conrad . vorstius , on all the epistles , ( excepting that to the hebrews ) who has , first , the analysis , 2. the paraphrasis , 3. scholia in paraphrasin , 4. the loci communes of every chapter . dr. hammond's annotations on the new testament . cameronis mirothecium evang. & lud. capelli spicilegium , ( both bound together , printed in 4 to 1632. ) they have both many short and considerable notes on many particular places in the epistles and apocalyps , &c. estius in epistolas ; one of the best popish writers on that subject . joh. gagnaeius in omnes epistolas & apocalypsin , brevissima & facillima scholia , in 8 0 , antv. 1564. petrus lombardus in omnes pauli epistolas ; he writ before transubstantiation ( opinionis portentum & prodigium ) was decreed in the lateran council , anno 1215. and in many things honest peter is no papist . dionysius carthusianus in omnes pauli epistolas , and many others , &c. arias montanus in omnes epistolas , & apocalyp . for the better understanding of the scriptures , it will be convenient to know , and to consult such books as have given general directions for studying scriptures , and particular explications of the jewish antiquities , and customs , &c. such as these , 1. antiquitatum judaicarum lib. 9. per ar. montanum , lug. bat. 1593. in quarto : 2. buxtorfii tiberias , seu commentarius historicus , didacticus criticus , ad illustrationem operis biblici , &c. bas. 1620. folio . 3. and. riveti isagoge , seu introductio ad scripturam sacram vet. & nov. test. lug. bat. 1627. 4. ant. possevini apparatus ad studia scripturae , theologiae scholasticae & practicae , &c. ferrariae 1609. quarto . 5. ejusdem bibliotheca selecta , & dictae bibliothecae , lib. 2. & . 3. colon. agrip. 1607. fol. there are many such more : bibliotheca studiosi theol. per gilb. voetium , ultrajecti 1651. lib. 2. sect . 2a. pag. 481. de apparatu theologico , hen. hottingeri clavis scripturae , seu thesaurus philologicus , tiguri 1649. in quarto . seeing there are many controversies concerning the canon of scripture , some books being canonical to some , which to others are apocryphal ; it will be convenient to consult some who have writ ex professo of that subject : amongst others , these that follow , 1. joh. rainolds , de lib. apocryphis , tom. 1 , 2. sunt quatuor , oppenheim 1611. there are many controversies learnedly discuss'd ( obiter ) in those two volumes , besides those about the canon : 2. the scholastical history of the canon of scripture , by dr. cosins , late bishop of durham , london 1657. 3. hen. lemmichii vindicatio lib. apocryph . 1638. octavo . 4. consulendi sunt ( cum opus fuerit ) scriptores eristici ( pontificii & reformati ) qui controversiam de canone bib. tractant , quales sunt chemnitius in exam . concilii trident. dan. chamier . ( panstrat . cath. tom. 10. ) andr. rivetus ( catholici orthodoxi ) tom. 1. tract . 1. eras. brochman . universae theol. system . tom. 1. de sacra script . bellarm. tom. 1. controv. 1. de verbo dei , g. amesius contra bellarminum . vet. erbormannus jesuita in sua pro bellarm. replica . contra amesium , herbipoli 1661. 5. it will be convenient also to consult , what the ancient fathers , and canons of council determine concerning the canon of scripture ; as , that i may name some , 1. canon apostol . 85. apud balsamonem pag. 278. apud zonaram , est canon 84. pag. 42. dionysius exiguus , antiquissimus canonum collector , apostolorum canones tantum habet , spurius ideo est hic canon 85. vet . 84. &c. 2. canon concil . laodiceni 59. apud justellum , in cod. can . eccl. univer . can . 163. seu ult . 3. canon 47. concilii carthag . 3. apud joverium , conc. part . 2. p. 19. col . 2ª , & in conciliis per labbe , paris 1671. tom. 2. pag. 1177. but this canon is a spurious , as might evidently be prov'd , if need require . 4. athanasius in synopsi , tom. 2 , pag. 55. gr. lat. he reckons the books of scripture as we do . 5. b nicephorus patriarch of constantinople , his catalogue of canonical books , apud eusebium chronologic . pag. 312. gr. editionis amstel . 1658. 6. c hieronymi prefatio 106. quae est in lib. regum , tom. 3 , pag. 682 , 689. ubi libros vet . testamenti , eodem plane modo quo ecclesia anglicana enumerat , & tum addit — quicquid extra hos est inter apocrypha reponendum . 7. ruffinus in symbolum apostolorum , inter opera cypriani per pamelium , pag. 552 , 553. per goulartium , pag. 575. where he has a catalogue of canonical books of both testaments , the very same with ours of the church of england . 8. epiphanius de ponderibus & mensuris , § . 4 , 5. tom. 2 , pag. 161. 9. nazianzenus carm . 33. operum tom. 2. pag. 98. utriusque testamenti libros ( nisi quod a apocalypsis desideratur ) eosdem plane , quos ecclesia anglicana , agnoscit , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ) eusebius ( out of origen ) reckons the canonical books as we do ; only he ( neither the protestants nor papists do ) reckons an epistle of jeremy's , with his prophesie and lamentations , eccles. history , lib. 6. cap. 25. pag. 225. edit . valesii . vide etiam cyrillum cateches . mystog . 4. pag. 36 , 37. & nicephorum hist. eccles. lib. 2. cap. 46. pag. 216 , 217. for the fathers and ecclesiastical writers , it will be convenient to know who they were , when they lived , and what they writ : and for this , such books and tracts as these may be consulted . 1. nomenclator praecipuorum jam inde a christo nato ecclesiae doctorum , scriptorum , professorum , episcoporum , testium veritatis , scholasticorum , conciliorum , haereticorum , imperatorum , pontificum rom. &c. per hen. ozaeum , hanoviae 1619. he ( in an alphabetical order ) only sets down the age , or year they flourish'd in . 2. hieronymus de illustribus eccl. scriptoribus : extat operam sancti hieronymi , per m. victorium tom. 1. pag. 263. gr. lat. ubi sophronius dicitur versionis gr. author , cum tamen inepta est versio , & b sophronio indigna . prodiit hieronymus de script illustr . ( una cum gennadio massiliensi de illustr . eccles. doctoribus ) helmest . 1611. prodiit postea ( cum aliis ) 1639. quod ex sequente aub. miraei opere constet . 3. bibliotheca ecclesiastica , seu nomenclatores septem veteres , hieronymus , gennadius , ildefonsus , sigebertus , per aubertum miraeum , cum ejus scholiis & auctariis , antverp . 1639. fol. sed hi authores à miraeo editi caute sunt legendi ; miraeus enim non uno loco romae potius , quam veritati favet . 4. illustrium eccl. orientalis scriptorum , qui secundo saeculo sloruerunt vitae & monumenta ; authore pet. halloix , duaci 1636. habet etiam pontifices , imperatores , persecutiones , & concilia istius saeculi , &c. fol. 5. scriptorum ecclesiast . abacus chronologicus ( vet. & nov. test. ) a mose ad annum christi 1589. authore phil. labbe , paris 1658. 6. tabulae ecclesiasticae , quibus scriptores ecclesiastici , eorumque patria , aetas , ordo , & obitus , exhibentur , a christo nato ad annum 1517. lond. 1674. 7. phil. labbe de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis , &c. in 2. tom. 80. paris 1660. in calce tom. 1. tractatus jo. papissae coenotaphium eversum . 8. joh. tritthemius de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis , cum appendicibus duobus , paris 1546. there are many such as these , who have given an account of the time wherein they liv'd , and the writings of the fathers , and ecclesiastical writers , and upon occasion may also be consulted . but because there are ( in the works of the ancient fathers , and ecclesiastical writers ) many apocryphal and spurious books , and tracts , which are indeed none of theirs , whose name they bear , it will be necessary for a divine to know , and have some of those authors , who have writ critica sacra , and censures of books , discovering the fraud or ignorance of those who have publish'd erroneous and heretical books , under catholick names ; amongst others , such as these may be consulted : 1. photii bibliotheca by shottus , 1611. folio . 2. hierom de scriptoribus eccles. of the edition of paris 1630. or rather of labbe's edition , with his additions , in 2 volumes , paris 1660. 3. censura quorundam scriptorum , quae sub nominibus sanctorum & veterum authorum , a pontificiis citari solent , &c. per rob. cocum , in quarto lond. 1623. 4. a treatise of the corruption of the fathers , by dr. james , quarto , lond. 1612. 5. andr. riveti crit. sac. libri quatuor , in octavo , cum tractat. de authoritate patrum , errorum causis , & nothorum notis , genevae 1626. 6. abrahami sculteti , syntagma medullae theologiae patrum , in quarto , francof . 1634. he gives an account of almost forty very ancient writers , of their genuine works , of their suppositions , of their errors , of their consent with protestants , ( and the particulars wherein ) and an analysis of all their genuine writings . 7. joh. dallaeus de pseudepigraphis apostolicis , harderb . 1653. 8. davidis blondelli , pseudo-isiodorus & turrianus vapul . in quarto , edit . 1628. veterum roman . pontificum ( à clemente x. ad sirisium , i. e. an. 383. ) epistolas decretales ab isiodoro mercatore suppositas , & a ioh. a bosco editas , ac tandem a b francisco turriano defensas , spurias esse demonstrat blondellus . 9. bellarmine de scriptoribus ecclesiast . sixtus senensis in bibliotheca : possevinus in apparatu sacro , &c. and many other popish authors confess and prove many supposititious books , printed and publish'd with the genuine works of the fathers , and yet very usually cite those tracts ( when they make for them ) against protestants : in the a edition of hierom's works , the whole ninth tome consists of such tracts , as are now confess'd to be all b spurious . in the 17th . tome of the magna bibliotheca patrum , paris 1654 : there is index chronologicus , and index omnium patrum alphabeticus , in which we have many things well , and truly said of the times , and writings of the ancient fathers . 10. vide gratian. dist. 15 , 16. praecipue can . sanc. rom. 3. where we have a long catalogue of authentick and apocryphal books , made by pope gelasius ( and he infallible sure as any of his successors ) and his council of 70 bishops an. 494. ( the c canons of that council we have elsewhere better than in gratian. ) in that canon and council they call some things canonical and authentick , which they damn now as apocryphal ( and so do we too ) and other things they approve , as authentick , which now neither they nor we approve ; vid. joh. de turre cremata his 15 and 16 can. & glossas , ( especially the late d ones ) where to reconcile the contradictions of this canon and council to the present opinions of rome , they are glad to say , that this canon is so much a corrupted , that they cannot tell which words in it are really the words of gelasius , and which not . it will be requisite , for a divine , to consult some writers about the authority and use of fathers , ( as to their works which are confess'd to be genuine ) such as these ; 1. dallaeus de usu patrum , extat . 1. gallice , 2. latine , per joh. mettaienum , genev. 1656. in 4o. 2. tractatus de patrum , concil . & traditionum authoritate in rebus fidei , &c. per emend . k. vyfalvinum cum praefat. d. paraei , francof . 1611. in 8o. 3. tractatus de patrum authoritate , &c. ( qui sint patres , quid eorum authoritas , & ad quid , &c. ) per and. rivetum , praefixus libro suo , quem criticum sacrum inscripsit . 4. vide gratiani distinctio 9. glossam a tur. cremata ibidem , & multa de authoritate scripturae , concil . patrum , &c. true it is that the socinians grant the b fathers no authority at all , and the papists ( tho' all their ecclesiasticks , secular and regular , are c sworn never to expound scripture , but secundum unanimem patrum consensum ) but very little ; and ( when they make against them ) none at all : as we may evidently see by a cajetan , b feuardentius , c maldonatus , &c. who tell us , it was the opinion of augustin and pope innocent the i. that it was necessary to communicate infants , and that augustin deliver'd this , — d non ut opinionem suam , sed ut fidei & totius ecclesiae dogma : which opinion prevail'd in the church for many centuries , tho' 't is now denied . for the better understanding scripture , and fathers , the knowledge of ecclesiastical history will be necessary : to this end you may consult such as have writ general epitomes , and comprehensions of ecclesiastical histories ; for instance ( to omit others ) 1. timanni gesselii historia sacra , ordine chronologico compendiose digesta , à mundo condito ad annum christi 1125. trajecti ad rhe. 1659. 2 vol. in 4o. 2. joh. cluverii historiarum totius mundi epit. ab origine mundi ad an . christi 1633. lug. bat. 1639. 1 vol. quarto . there are others who have writ ecclesiastical history anciently , and more fully , as , 1. eusebii hist. eccl. cum notis hen. valesii , paris 1659. 2. socrates & sozomon , per eundem , par. 1668. 3. theodor. evagrii philostorgii , & theodori historia , per eundem , paris 1673. these give an account of church affairs for almost 600 years : and if ruffinus his 2 books of ecclesiastical history , by ben. laurent . de la barre , paris 1580. and the historia tripartita , compos'd by cassiodore , and publish'd by ben. rhenanus , basil. 1528. be added , it may compleat and facilitate the understanding of the foremention'd histories . the late writers of ecclesiastical history , which are very full , are such as these , 1. historia ecclesiastica per centuriatores , magdeburg . basil. 1624. or the epitome of it in 7 volumes , in quarto , by lucas osiander , tubing . 1607. 2. annales ecclesiastici card. baronii , à nato christo ad annum 1197. continuati à provio ad an . 1431. & à spondano ad an . 1646. observand . de his annalibus . 1. quod ex editionibus omnibus illam antverpiae 1612. solam & correctissimam agnoscit a baronius : there were three or four former editions . 3. rob. saliani annales ecclesiastici vet. test. tom. 8. col. 1620. in fol. notand . extat epit. annal. card. baronii , per lud. aurel. 8o. monast. 1638. 2 vol. but before baronius's annals be read , it will be useful to read the most learned b exercitations of causabon upon them , which discover the many errors and frauds of the annalist . for baronius is very zealous in maintaining the pope's prerogative , and all the receiv'd errors , and ridiculous superstitions of that church : and on the other side , the centuriators are ( in some things ) a little too strait-laced ; so that the truth ( many times ) lies between them , that the reader of their stories can find it no otherways , but by collection of what they have said , and the grounds why they did so . it is useful also for to consult , ad. trebbechorii exercitationes ad annales baronii , ubi desiit causabonus , in quarto edit . kilonii 1673. there are two historians more , which i wou'd commend , ( for understanding the state of religion since luther ) both persons of great moderation , and fidelity ( tho' of different religions ) and writ what they might , and did know . 1. joh. sleidani commentarii de statu religionis ab anno 1519. ad an . 1556. 2. thuani historia ab an . 1543. ad an . 1607. and to these you may add father paul's history of the council of trent , all excellent persons . cedro digna locuti . it is necessary for a divine , in reading of ecclesiastical history , to have some skill in chronology ; after a convenient knowledge of the * tecknical part of chronology : ( de anno , mense , septimana , &c. de aeris , seu epochis , &c. ) in order to this , he may consult such as these : 1. helvicus's chronology , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( as they call it , ) oxon. 1651. of continual use in reading any history , sacred or civil . 2. ja. usserii armach . annales , &c. à mundo condito ad an . christi 73. 2 vol. fol. 3. chronicon cath. ed. simson , oxon. 1652. fol. 4. chronicon charionis , à melancthone & peacero auctum & editum , aureliae 1610. chronology and geography are justly the eyes of history , ( sacred or civil ) and therefore such maps and books as are useful in that kind , may with benefit be a consulted , amongst others such as these : 1. for maps . those publish'd by george hormius , accuratissima orbis antiqui delineatio , sive geographia vet. sacra , & prophana , folio , amstel . 1657. particularly you may consult those maps which concern b palestine , and other places of scripture , which are mention'd in ecclesiastical history . you may consult for books , such as by way of lexicon , or dictionary , explain the proper names of nations , provinces , cities , &c. which are spoken of in scripture , as 1. stephanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , gr. basil. 1568. it is but an epitome of stephanus , made by hermolaus grammaticus , and dedicated to justinian the * emperor . 2. fragmentum stephani de urbibus , per tennulium , amstel . 1669. in quarto . 3. eusebius de locis hebraicis , seu onomasticon urbium & locorum s. scripturae , &c. a jac. bonfrerio , edit . paris 1659. gr. lat. in fol. vide geographiae episcopalis breviarium , per phil. labbe in concil . collectione maxima , paris 1671. tom. 16. p. 1 , 2. &c. 4. lexic . geograph . stephani , per n. lloydium , oxon. 1670. folio . 5. abrah . ortelii thesaurus geographicus . 6. lexic . geographicum mich. antonii baudrand , paris 1670. the most exact of any . such as have not writ by way of lexicon , are these ; which may also be consulted . 1. geographia sac. sam. bocharti , cadomi 1646. fol. 2. geographia sacra caroli à s cto paulo , par. 1641. in folio ; the most considerable , and of greatest use for understanding ecclesiastical history . 3. notitia episcopatuum orbis christiani , per aub. miraeam , 8o. antverp . 1613. 4. notitia graecorum episcopatuum , a jac. goar . edit . paris 1648. in calce codini . 5 notitia episcopatuum totius orbis mss. in archivis laudanis , j. 17. bib. bodleiana . 6. notitia utrius que imperii , cum notis pancirolae , genev. 1623. in folio . 7. notitia dignitatum imperii romani , ex nova recentione phil. labbe , cum plurimis aliis opusculis , & notis , paris 1651. he has none of pancirola's notes , but only the text of the ancient notitia , and that somewhat more correct than in the edition of geneva 1623. 8. theatrum terrae sanctae , & biblicarum historiarum , cum tabulis geographicis , authore christiano adricomio , colon. agrip. 1590. fol. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , gr. lat. cum notis gothofredi , edit . 1608. in quarto . 10. geographia vet. & nov. test. per cluverium , amstel . 1661. in quarto . in the next place , those authors , which have writ of councils ( general , imperial , patriarchal , &c. ) are to be consulted : and in the first place such as have given a general account , when , and where , and by whom they were call'd ; what , and how they acted , &c. 1. synopsis conciliorum , in qua indicatur , quale , ubi , quando , propter quod habitum fuit unumquodque concilium , &c. there is joyn'd with it chronologia patrum , pontificum , &c. & chronologiae ecclesiasticae continuatio ad an . 1671. op. douja . par. 1671. in 8o. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vetus omnes synod . tam orthodox . quam hereticas brevi compendio continens , quae ab apostolorum tempore ad synodum 8. ( i. e. ad an . 869. ) celebratae sunt , gr. & lat. per joh. pappum . argentorati 1621. 4o. cum notis joh. pappi , & concil . omnium historicam synopsin , per p. labbe , paris . 1661. 4o. 3. synopsis concilii historica , &c. in collectione conciliorum maxima , paris . 1671. tom. 16 , in principio . 4. notitia concil . ecclesiae , &c. per joh. cabassutium , lugd. 1670. in 8o. 5. solomon gesnerus , de conciliis lib. quatuor witteberg . 1600. in 2 vol. in quarto : the former authors are papists , the last a protestant , and therefore much rather to be credited than the other , who are all a sworn to believe , maintain , and ( to the utmost of their power ) propagate all the roman doctrines and practices , or all their receiv'd doctrine , discipline , rites , and ceremonies . 6. epitome conciliorum omnium à nato christo ad an . 1619. edidit ( ac condidit ) dan. angelocrator , francof . 1620. in quarto : angelocrator was a protestant , and an anti-arminian , as you may perceive in his epitome , pag. 162 , 163. 7. brevis historia omnium concil . in calce epitom . omnium conciliorum , per greg. de rives , lugd. 1663. fol. there are some authors , who have given us only the canons of councils , and not the order , and acts which pass'd in every session ; amongst many , these which follow : 1. codex canonum eccl. dionysii exiguii ( i. e. ipso interprete ) floruit circa b annos 525 , 533 , 540. edit . à justello , paris . 1628. in 8o. erat abbas roman . & codicem canonum ecclesiae univ. primus corrupit , siquidem canones apostolorum , 50. concilii laodicensis xxi . concilii carthag . 138. & epistolam cyrilli , & concilii alexandrini addidit . and he c has left out , 1. a great part of the last canon of the council of laodicea , ( that is the catalogue of the canonical books ) pag. 86. 2. he has left out all the canons of the council of ephesus : 3. four canons of the council of constantinople , pag. 86. 4. the 28th canon of chalcedon ; for these canons , even in the 6 century were not lik'd at rome . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , gr. publish'd by joh. tilius , par. 1540. in 4o. in which the last canon of the council of laodicea , the canons of constantinople , ephesus , and chalcedon ( left out by dionysius exiguus ) are ( according to all the greek copies ) faithfully put in . and the canons of the constantinopolitan council in trullo , 103. and 22 canons of the second nicene council put in . 3. canones dictos à joh. tilio , gr. solum editos ; * elias ehingerus edidit eos gr. & lat. cum notis nonnullis , wittenbergae 1614. in quarto . 4. codex can. ecclesiae universae , gr. lat. cum notis , edit . justellus , paris . 1610. this is the true and best edition of that codex can. as it is publish'd by justellus ; and is indeed a most authentick book , being it is approv'd and receiv'd by the universal church , ( greek and latin , east and west ) whence it was call'd codex canonum ecclesiae universae . 5. codex can. ecclesiae affricanae , gr. lat. per justellum , paris . 1614. 8o. the best edition of those affrican councils , with justellus's notes . 6. synodorum general . & provincial . decreta , & canones , scholiis , notis , & historicâ actorum dissertatione illustrati , per chr. lupum , in 5 tom. in 4o. buxelii 1673. next you may consult such authors , as have writ conciliorum summas ; and have not only the canons , but several censures , explications and animadversions upon them , &c. 1. summa omnium conciliorum per bar. caranzam , in 8o. rothomagi 1633. there is not much credit to be given to this collection of canons : for when any thing makes against rome , caranza will corrupt the text ; so when they are in the council of laodicea condemn'd , — qui a angelos colunt , he reads it — qui angulos colunt , and that both in the lemma and canon too . so of pope silvester the ii. for — is magus fuisse fertur , he has it , — is b magnus fuisse fertur . 2. summa concil . omnium per francisc. longum a cariolano , antverp . 1623. fol. a great and confident parasite of the court of rome , & pontificiae omnipotentiae vindex acerrimus . 3. summa concil . omnium per lud. basil. in two tomes in folio , paris 1659. as high , and confident for rome and heresie , as the former , but of much more use ; he has in the beginning of the first tome an erroneous apparatus , de triplici c verbo dei. 4. sanctiones ecclesiasticae tam synodales , quam pontificiae in tres partes distinctae : 1 ma synodos universales ; 2 da particulares ; 3 tia pontificum decreta continet , per fr. joverium , paris . 1555. fol. this ( both for method , a good index , and the author's fidelity ) is ( by much ) the best , and of most use . in the next place you may consult such as have reduc'd the canons of councils to common-places , having made a catalogue of their several heads , and then refer'd to every head those canons which concern it . 1. epit. juris pontificii veteris , per ant. augustinum , paris . 1641. fol. or ( if that cannot be had ) romae an . 1614. a very useful book , or rather a library of the canon-law , to those that rightly use it . 2. epit. canonum , conciliorum omnium , per gr. de rives , lugduni 1663. folio . he has the heads for common-places in an alphabetical order , and then refers to each of them , those canons which concern them : a book of good use . it will be convenient to have , and ( on occasion to consult ) such authors as have made more full collections of the councils , with the order and time of each session of their acts , canons , epistles , &c. such as these ; 1. concil . per pet. crabbe , in 3 tomes , col. agrip. 1551. there is a former , and worse edition in two tomes , colon. 1538. 2. concil . per laurent . surium , in 4 tomes , col. agrip. 1567. 3. concil . per nicolinum , in 5 tomes , venet. 1585. 4. concil . per binium , in 9 tomes , and x. vol. paris . 1636. 5. concil . in tomis 37. paris . 1644. 6. concil . per labbe & cossartium , tom. 16. paris 1671. now concerning all these , it may be observ'd ; 1. that they are all popish editions , and have many things to be read with great care and caution ; there are spurious canons , and decretal epistles of ancient popes put in , and genuine canons left out , or corrupted , or industriously contriv'd notes to make them look like rome . 2. to sence against these frauds , you must collate editions and ms. copies , and consult those authors ( before-mention'd ) which have writ censures upon the works of fathers and councils . 3. of all the editions of councils , and their collections , peter crabbe is most commended for his fidelity , and ( not for none but ) less fraud than those who follow him . all of them generally leave out the 28th canon of the council of chalcedon : and those few who have it , rail at it , and always damn it , as got by fraud , and the pride of the patriarch of constantinople . and every one of them , even crabbe , and cossartius , in their concil . maxim. ( tho' it be a extant , and printed before b luther ) leave out concilium pisanum secundum , and only name it ; and both they and their c index expurgatorius damn it , because it makes against them ; tho' it was call'd by the emperor , king of france , and cardinals , and kept only by catholicks ( as they call them ) and that according to the constitutions of their own general councils of constance and basil ; and the council it self ( both in the time it sate , and after ) call'd — d sacrum concilium pisanum . of all the foremention'd editions , that of labbe and cossartius , paris 1671. in 17 volumes , is the most comprehensive , containing above a fourth part more than any other former edition ; by reason whereof ( as also for exact indices , and many things in the apparatus explain'd ) it is of far more general , and beneficial use for a divine , than any other edition . there are also other editions or collections of councils , or their canons , of great use : 1. versio vet. latina concilii niceni 2 di , per g. long , col. 1540. in which , pag. 68. we have these words , — post consecrationem , corpus domini & sanguis vocantur , ( he speaks of the eucharistical elements ) now binius reads it thus — a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. post consecrationem corpus propriè & sanguis christi dicuntur . it was ( as is evident by the old b latin version ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and binius makes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. concilium illiberitanum , an . 305. cum discursu apolegetico ferd. de mendosa , & notis uberioribus emanuel . gundisalvi tellei , lugd. 1665. fol. 3. concil . trident. cum declarationibus cardinal . citationibus sotealli , remissionibus barbosae , additionibus balthaseris andreae , antverp . 1633. 8o. it is of all editions ( for there are many ) the best , and indeed an authentick common-place-book , and a repertory for all points of popery . 4. concil . trident. canones & decreta , cum aliis in concilio gestis , viz. 1. cum principum literis ad concilium : 2. legatorum orationibus ad synodum habitis : 3. synodi responsis : 4. patrum orationibus : 5. eorundem sententiis & disputationibus , de rebus gravioribus in synodo habitis , &c. per phil. labbe , paris . 1667. fol. 5. concil . constantiense & basiliense , per zachariam ferrerium , mediolani 1511. six years before luther wrote against rome . 6. concil . constantiense & pisanum 2um , ( quod aliàs non extat ) editum ab hieronymo de croazia , paris . 1514. in octavo . these last editions of the councils of constance , basil , and pisa , are of unquestionable authority , as writ by papists of those times , men of great note and learning , and no way infected ( as they call it ) with luther's heresies , seeing they writ before he appear'd against rome , and her indulgences , which he first oppos'd . and as for particular editions of some particular councils , it will be convenient to know some more accurate collections of the canons and decrees of councils . i shall only name two or three . 1. bibliotheca juris canonici vet . oper a gul. voelli dris sorbonici , & hen. justelli , ( men of great learning and fidelity ) paris 1661. in 2 vol. folio . in them we have the codex canonum eccles. anglicanae , ( with justellus's notes upon both ) scarce elsewhere to be had ; and many more particulars truly published , according to the original mss. gr. lat. and not ( as many are ) according to any partial interest . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , seu pandect . can. apostolorum & conciliorum ab ecclesia graeca receptorum , & epistolarum canonicarum ss . patrum , cum scholiis balsamonis , aristeni , zonarae , &c. per gul. beveregium , vol. 2. in fol. oxon. 1672. of great use for a comprehensive knowledge of ecclesiastical antiquity . other collections there are of councils of particular nations , which are to be known , and ( when there is occasion ) consulted : for instance , 1. for our nation , spelman's councils , in two vol. folio . 2. for spain , collectio conciliorum hispa . per gar. loaisam , madriti 1593. folio . for tho' they may be in labbe's concil . maxim. yet they are not there in so good order , nor so easy to be made use of . 3. for france , the collectors of their councils are many ; to instance in some , 1. concil . galliae , per sirmondum , tom. 3. fol. 1629. 2. concilia galliae novissima , per lud. odespun , paris . 1646. fol. 3. conciliorum antiquorum galliae supplementum , opera & studio pet. delalande , paris . 1666. fol. 4. concil . galliae narbonensis , stephanus balasius notis illustravit & edidit , paris . 1668. in 8o. as controversies in religion are now stated , it will be necessary for a divine to be acquainted with school-divinity : the fathers of the school-men are lombard , and aquinas . 1. for lombard , the master of the sentences ( as they call him ) bishop of paris ; he flourish'd about the year 1145. as * bellarmine ( if he says true ) informs us . it will be convenient to have , 1. his four books of sentences , either editionis lovarii 1568. in quarto ; or ( which is much better ) edit . moguntiae 1632. in 8o. edidit ant. demochares , dr. sorbon . sub finem annexi sunt articuli erronei ( in quibus magister non tenetur ) partim parisiis olim damnati , partim communiter non probati . 2. lambertus danaeus in 1 m librum sententiarum , in 8o. genevae 1589. he has , 1. prolegomena , quibus scholasticae theologiae origo , progressus & aetates ostenduntur : 2. commentarius triplex : 3. elenchus locorum , scripturae & patrum , quos addendo , detrahendo , vel mutando corrupit lombardus : 4. in calce , synopsis sanae & veteris doctrinae de trinitate . 3. joh. martinez de ripalda in lib. 4. lombardi : he 1. gives a short analysis of each distinction : 2. a list of the questions the schoolmen handle on those distinctions : 3. under every question he cites the schoolmen , who , and where they handle such questions , and so refers the reader to the chief authors who handle each question . 4. durandus and ariminensis ; amongst the more ancient schoolmen , ockam , scotus , ant. 1620. ockam is damn'd in indice expurg . alexand. papae vii . romae 1667. and therefore we may be sure , 't is some great truth he is guilty of . for later commentators on the sentences , you may consult gabriel biel and estius ( especially estius ) by comparing the ancient and modern schoolmen , you may see that popery does proficere in pejus ; for the old speak many things more freely , which ( since luther and the trent conventicle ) pass for little better than heresie at rome . for aquinas's summes , it will be convenient to have , 1. his summes , col. agrip. 1562. 2. bannes vasques , suarez , &c. or cajetan ( who is the most moderate , and comes nearer truth and us ) and such others , ( for there are many ) and catalogues of them may be a consulted . aquinas's summes are the most considerable of his works ; and the impious picture before them tells us , it had the express approbation of our blessed b saviour , — bene scripsisti de me , thoma . — concerning schoolmen , and their theologia scholastica , we may further consider ; 1. that our reformed writers observe three intervals of time , which they call theologiae scholasticae aetates . 1. scholasticorum , & theologiae scholasticae aetas prima , seu vetus ; incepit c anno 1020. lanfranco papiensi scholasticorum istius aetatis principe , & duravit ad an. 1220. in this interval lanfranc and his followers undertook the justification of rome , and all her errors and superstitions , particularly transubstantiation , which then began to be hatch'd , and was fully defin'd in the d lateran council . 1st to effect this , they equal the fathers to scripture : ( finding something in them ) but nothing in this for their purpose : 2ly they make much use of aristotle's philosophy , & aristotelem in sacrae theologiae templi & sacrarii limen introducunt : 3ly decretal constitutions of popes , and all the receiv'd doctrines and rites of rome were authentick with them ; and whatever seem'd to contradict them , was deny'd , or constru'd to a complying sense . 2. scholastica media ab alberto magno ( ejus principe ) an . 1220. ad durandum an . 1330. in hoc intervallo aristoteles in ipsa adyto sacrarii theologiae introductus , & script a ejus demonstratione miti censentur ; quae autem verbum dei docet credulitate & opinione , probabili teneri ; quod etiam expresse & publice a fatentur , & asserunt eorum doctissimi : hac aetate quaestiones curiosas impias , b blasphemas temere proponunt scholastici , & impie discutiunt , & ex principiis philosophiae peripateticae , potius quam scripturae statuunt definiuntque . 3. scholastica tertia , ultima & pessima , ab an . 1330. ad an . 1517. haec aetas ( says my author ) longe impudentissima , nam quae modestia in veteri & media scholastica adhuc manserat ( ne temere de quibusdam ritibus & quaestionibus adhuc dubiis affirmaretur ) ista aetate periit . utrum papa sit simplex homo , an quasi c deus ? an participet utramque naturam cum christo ? an potestas ejus sit supra concilium ? an mariae conceptio erat immaculata ? an calix sit laicis negandus ? haec & similia , sub deliberatione quâdam positâ quaesivit scholastica prior , sed haec ultima decrevit . if you desire a fuller account of the schoolmen , and their theologia scholastica , of the original and progress of it , and the approbation and incouragement rome gave it ( the main business and endeavours of the schoolmen being to aggrandize and maintain the pope's power , and all the receiv'd doctrines and rites of that church , how erroneous and superstitious soever ) these authors may be consulted : 1. hospinian historiae sacramentariae , tom. 1. lib. 4. cap. 9. p. 401 , &c. 2. lamb. danaeus in prolegom . ad lib. senten . lombardi 1. cap. 1. 2 , &c. fusi . 9. 3. sixt. senensis bibliot hec . sanctae , lib. 3. pag. 216. edit . col. agrip. 1626. 4. possevin . bibliothec. selectae , lib. 3. c. 1 , 2 , &c. the two first give a true account of the iniquity and ignorance of those times , of the corruption of divinity , introduction of errors and superstitions , and the schoolmen's industrious and impious endeavours to vindicate and establish what the pope and his adherents had as impiously introduced : the two last , senensis and possevine ( being concern'd and engag'd in the same cause the schoolmen were ) mince the matter , and conceal the truth , and tell a confused tale of the original of school-divinity ; and at last highly commend it , and its authors ; ( even for their a learning , which all know they were never guilty of ) and excuse their bad latin and barbarisms with a piece of scripture , miserably misapply'd , transferring that of st. b paul , to peter lombard and his followers . but others , and more sober papists , are of another opinion , and candidly confess that truth which protestants affirm and know : i shall name one or two , and 1. joh. tritthemius abbas spanheimensis , speaking of the time of the emperor conrad . tertius , 1140 , tells us , a ab hoc tempore philosophia saecularis sacram theologiam suâ curiositate inutili foedare cepit , &c. tritthemius writ and finish'd that work an . christi 1494. joh. aventinus , no papist , yet he is commended by learned papists , and conradus adelmannus , canonici august . 2. quod legem historiae , veritatem scilicet religiose in scribendo observavit . i say aventine speaking of pet. lombard ( who was made bishop of paris 1159. ) writes thus , — eâ b tempestate petrus longobardus lut. parisiorum creatur pontifex , is quidem theologumenωn . 4. lib. scripsit , sed sacrosanct . philosophiae veritatem , fontemque purissimum ( sicuti plus millies à jacobo fabro , & jodoco chichtoveo , proeceptoribus meis ; and they not lutherans or calvinists , accepi atque audivi ) coeno quaestionum , & rivulis opinionum conturbavit [ id quod & usus rerum magis ( nisi coeci sumus ) satis super que docet ] verba haec lineis inclusa , ex jussu inquisitorum , ex indicibus expurgatoriis hispan . madriti 1667. & lusitan . olysipone 1624. sunt delenda : vide dictos indices in joh. aventino , qui floruit circa an . 1500. one thing more may be observ'd of the schoolmen , ( and of popish casuists and commentators too , especially those before luther ) that when they speak of moral duties , and those things which are within the compass of natural reason , to know and judge of , we shall find many things well , and some very acutely said : but when they speak of those things , the knowledge of which depends solely on scripture and revelation ( as of faith , repentance , sacraments , justification , &c. ) their ignorance of tongues and antiquity , and consequently of the meaning of scripture being so great : ( besides their being inslav'd to maintain all the errors and superstitions of rome , which at that time were very many ) in their discourses of such subjects , 't is no wonder if their mistakes ( ex inscitiâ aut partium studio ) be many and great . it is next necessary for a divine to have some casuists , and to know more , that upon occasion he may consult them . amongst the popish authors , there are very many ; so that all persons of their faction may find most cases , ( at least in the general ) stated and determin'd according to the principles and interest of their church ; and their prudence in this is great , was their cause good . for protestants , there no part of divinity , which has been ( i know not the reason ) more neglected , very few having writ a just and comprehensive tract of cases of conscience : however , it may be useful to consult both protestants and papists . 1. protestants casuists ; and amongst them 1. dr. sanderson , bishop of lincoln , his two tracts or prelections de obligatione conscientiae , and de juramento , are of great use and excellence ; for in those prelections he has so plainly explain'd , and prov'd many propositions concerning oaths and conscience in thesi , and in general , that he who seriously reads them , and remembers what he reads , may determine and resolve many other cases , which are not mention'd by dr. sanderson . 2. consult the five cases of conscience determin'd by a late learned hand , ( that 's the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , london 1666. in octavo ) no name to them , but — parentem referunt , they look so like that good bishop , that any wou'd suspect ( and it is certainly known ) those resolutions are his , and worthy our perusal . 3. amesius de conscientia , &c. a non-conformist , and therefore cautè legendus , as to that particular ; but otherwise he writes very rationally , and what he resolves is short , and the texts he urges very pertinent : so that when is out , ( which is not usual ) you lose not much ; and when he is right , you have it in a little time . 4. fr. balduinus ( a lutheran ) and therefore must be warily read , as to that point , de casibus conscien . witterbergae 1628. 5. casp. eras. brochmanni systema universae theologiae , in quo singuli religionis christianoe articuli , controversiae priscae & recentes polemicae expediuntur , & praecipui conscientiae casus è verbo dei practicè deciduntur , in 3. vol. 4º , lipsiae 1638. there be former , but worse editions . popish casuists are many , and voluminous ; for ant. dieina consists of 12 parts , and 6 or 7 vol. in folio ; but these that i shall here mention are of greatest note , and authority . 1. manuale confessariorum , &c. per mart. azpilivetam navar. par. 1620. 8o. 2. franc. toleti cardinal . de instructione sacerdotis , &c. lib. 8. rothomagi 1630. in octavo . 3. vincent . filliucii quaestiones morales , &c. colon. agrip. 1629. fol. he writes as fully and learnedly , as any among the jesuites ; of which sort of casuists , amongst those who do not ( as some do ) with ambiguous words and soft expressions , disguise and mollifie their harsh , and horrid opinions ; i shall name a few , who write plain popery , and openly endeavour to prove their most desperate opinions . 1. ant. de escobar theologia moralis , &c. lugd. 1646. 8o. this is a good edition , but there are two something better after it ; one at lions , and another at brussels 1651. 2. thomae tamburini è societate jesu , explicatio decalogi , &c. lugd. 1659. fol. 3. and that we may know what his erroneous opinions are , and where to be found , we have a catalogue of no less than 103 pernicious errors found in his works , and the place where signify'd , in a book with this title — extraict de plusieurs erreurs & maximes pernicieuses , contenues dans un volume du pere tambourin jesuite , &c. imprimé à lion , en la presente annee 1659. in quarto . 4. if you desire to see more of the jesuites casuistical divinity , you may consult pauli lymanni jesuitae theologiam moralem , lugduni 1654. and fr : bordoni propugnaculum opinionis probabilis in concursu probationis operum bordoni , tom. 6. lugd. 1668. in folio . 5. and lastly , vid. amadaei guimenii opusculum singularia universae ferè theologiae moral . complectens , adversus quorundam expostulationes contra nonnullas jesuit arum opiniones morales , lugd. 1664. in quarto . he endeavours to justifie all the jesuites wild and extravagant opinions , which the jansenists charge them withal in their a provincial letters and the b jesuites morals , and the c mystery of jesuitism ; and to do this , he shews that many eminent authors and writers of the roman church ( before and besides the jesuites ) maintain'd ( with approbation ) the very same opinions , which are charg'd upon the jesuites . so that this work of guimenius is a common-place-book , wherein we may find all the impious opinions of the roman church , particularly cited by guimenius , and eight or ten more eminent and approv'd writers of that church , who publickly held and defended them . besides popish casuists , they have many writers , whom they call summistae , who have put all the heads of divinity in an alphabetical order , and then explain each by way of position , case , or question . there are many such writings , the more ancient ( before luther , when they writ more secure ) speak plain popery , the later are more cunning and cautious , yet sufficiently erroneous ; i shall name two only : 1. summa universae theologiae rainerii de pisis , venet. 1585. in two tomes , quarto . 2. summa ecclesiasticae disciplinae , & totius juris canonici , aucta & recognita , &c. lugd. 1598. authore p. crespetio ; the most useful amongst them , if i mistake not , under every head , he cites passages out of the fathers , councils , historians , schoolmen , &c. and any thing which he thinks makes for the catholick cause . of this sort of writers ( or casuists ) are antonius archiepisc. florentinus , card. cajetan , turre-cremata , ( in his summa de ecclesia ) a book ( by reason of the cardinal's authority ) considerable ; as also ( which occurs in the end of his summa ) for his apparatus super † decreto vorionis graecorum in concil . florentino ab eugenio papâ iv. promulgato . august . de ancona , and a rabble of such romish janizaries , the pope's pretorian band , capitolii custodes , & pontificiae omnipotentiae jurati vindices . seeing every divine of the church of england is bound to subscribe and defend the doctrine and discipline of our church , against all adversaries ; and none can do that , before they know and understand what that doctrine and discipline is , and where 't is authentically treated of , and to be found ; jewel , rainolds , hooker , * laud , and whitaker , are excellent authors ; but the most authentick are , and to be consulted , 1. our xxxix articles , compos'd in the synod at london 1552. i. e. 6 to edvardi vi ti , printed in latin , an. 1553. they were in number 42 , they were after ( an. 1562. elizabethae 5 to ) revised in the convocation at london , and reduced to 39. and publish'd in latin 1563. a copy of which is in bodley's library amongst selden's books , with the original subscriptions of the clergy annex'd to it . 2. our book of homilies , compos'd 5 years before the articles an. 1º edvardi vi ti , & anno 1547. 3. our liturgy , which was first publish'd an. 1549. then revised by cranmer and bucer , and publish'd an. 1552. i. e. 6 to edv. vi ti . and left a establish'd at his death ; abolish'd by queen b mary , and again establish'd by queen c elizabeth , with some alterations , 1558. 4. our book of ordination ; all these are confirm'd by parliament and convocation , the supreme power ecclesiastical and civil ; and therefore whatever these four books contain , relating to the doctrine and discipline of the church of england , is authentick , and obligatory to the whole church and nation , and to all persons , whether clergy or laity . this our common lawyers will admit , but no more ; because they wou'd increase their own civil power , and diminish the ecclesiastical . but we say , and can d prove , that there are other books , which ( as to the discipline of our church , and her ecclesiastical jurisdiction ) are , and de jure shou'd be , as authentick and obligatory , as the former four already mention'd ; that is , 1. our ecclesiastical canons , made in convocation in the first year of k. james the first , an. 1603. 2. the provincial constitutions , quas collegit gul. linwood , ( erat e officialis curiae de arcubus , dein custos privati sigilli , demum meneven . episcopus ) & glossis illustrare f incepit an. 1423. perfecit g glossas illas 1429. not and. constitutiones has , cum erant in synodo provinciae cantuar. conditae , provinciam illam solum obligasse . 3. constitutiones legatinae othonis , & othoboni ( erant legati pontificii in anglia sub hen. iii. ) cum glossis johan . de aton , canonici lincolniensis . not and. 1. quod gul. a linwood citat hunc johan . de aton , qui erat linwoodo antiquior : 2. costitutiones has angliam universam obligasse , conditae enim erant in b conciliis , ubi ader ant utriusque provinciae episcopi , pontificio legato preside . now all these canons , and constitutions ( provincial and legantine , and indeed the whole canon-law ) are still in use , in all our ecclesiastical courts , and obligatory , so far as they are not contrary or inconsistent with , 1. the law of god : 2. the law of the land , or the prerogative royal : as may ( and evidently does ) appear by many c statutes not yet repeal'd . the next inquiry will be , how a divine may come to know the true meaning of those writings , which authentickly contain our doctrine and discipline , and the reason of both ? in answer to this query ( with submission to better judgments ) there can be no better way to know the true meaning of our articles , canons , and constitutions , than by a diligent and intelligent reading the works of those excellent persons , who contriv'd those authentick writings , ( ejusdem enim est exponere , cujus est componere ) and have ever since successively defended them against all the adversaries of our church ( pope , presbyter , and fanatick ) and that with victory ; i mean such as cranmer , a bucer , b peter martyr , jewel , rainolds , whitgift , bancroft , hooker , joh. white , dav'nant , abbot , crakanthorp , field , laud , chillingworth , &c. and such others . as for some later wtiters ( scriblers rather ) they have endeavour'd by the many apocryphal pamplets , which they have of late years publish'd , to confute the establish'd and known doctrine of our church , and all reform'd churches in europe , and maintain positions , which are evidently socinian , popish , or pelagian ; and we have too much ground to wonder why such as are in authority , do give an imprimatur to such pestilent heresies , which they are bound ( by law and conscience ) to condemn . now as it concerns a divine to know the doctrine and discipline of the church of england , &c. so he ought to know what are those erroneous opinions which our enemies and the church's hold : for no one can confute what he does not know . to write against rome or geneva , and upbraid them for doctines they do not hold , is a calumny ; all that bellarmine , lombard , vasquez , or cajetan hold , ( who were great , but private men ) is not presently to be charg'd upon the roman church , but such things as she ( by publick authority ) owns in her authentick constitutions , or sacred and approv'd offices : as for popish errors , they are either fidei aut facti , in credendis aut agendis , such as concern their doctrine and discipline . 1. for their credenda , and errors in doctrine , ( and many in discipline too ) they have authentically declared , and we may find them , 1. in their trent * council ; the best edition is that at antverp 1633. in octavo , ( of which before ) pag. 18. § . 3. 2. in the catechism . trident. ( seu roman . ) ex decreto concil . trident. jussu pii papae quinti ; there are many editions of it , but the best and most useful , is that of paris 1635. in octavo . 3. in their pope's bulls ; many collections of them there are : as for instance , 1 , eclog. bullarum pii iv , pii v , gregorii xiii . lugd. 1582. in 8o. item . 2 , literae apostolicae , &c. de officio inquisitionis , cum superiorum approbatione , romae 1579. fol. extant hae literae cum aliarum auctario , in calce directorii inquisitionis , per nicol. eimericum , venet. 1607. 3 , novae compilatio privilegiorum apostolicorum regularium , mendicantium , &c. per iman . roclerium , turnoni 1609. fol. in which collection we have the bulls of about 44 popes : 4 , bullarium romanum noeissi , à leone magno ad urbanum octavum , tomis 4. in fol. romae 1638. edidit mar. cherubinus , extat editio hujus bullarii alia posterior , & ( additis urbani octavi , & innocentii decimi constitutionibus ) auctior , lugd. sumptibus phil. borde , &c. this last edition is best : 1. because it contains more bulls : 2 , because i find many things in this last edition of lyons , which ( being damn'd by the inquisitors ) are to be † expunged , and the edition prohibited , till they be so . 4. in their canon-law , ( of which i shall hereafter write something ) all these are of publick authority , receiv'd with approbation of their popes and church . for the popish agenda , matters of fact and discipline , their sacred and civil rites , and ceremonies , we have them authentically set down in these books : 1. in missali roma . there are very many editions of it , and much differing one from another , as is evident , and may appear by comparing the mss. ( of which there are many in bodley's library , and some in my own ) with the printed copies ; the first and more ancient with those that follow . besides the roman missal ( which never was in use in england in any age ) there are many others proper for other countries and places : so we had in england , 1 , missale secund . usum hereford . 2 , secund . usum sarum : 3 , secund . usum yorke : 4 , secundum usum evesham : 5 , lincoln : 6 , bangor , &c. 2. breviarium roman . there be many , and differing editions of this , and breviaries of other churches , as well as rome : the breviary of sarum ( so famous in england ) they call'd it portiforium , &c. 3. pontificale romanum , containing their offices for ordination , confirmation , consecration of churches , &c. and other things particular to the bishop . 4. rituale romanum , continet ritus in administratione sacramentorum usitatos , viz. baptismi , eucharistiae , poenitentiae , matrimonii , unctionis extremae , quorum administratio ad parochos spectat , &c. 5. sacrarum ceremoniarum , sea rituum ecclesiasticorum s. roma . ecclesiae libritres , romae 1560. folio : there are many more editions of it , at venice 1506. at colon. 1572. and there again 1574 , in octavo . whoever desires to be inform'd , and convinc'd of the many ridiculous ( as well as impious ) roman superstitions , and the prodigious papal pride , let him get that book . 6. processionale , graduale , paris 1668. fol. officium b. mariae manuale , secundum usum sarum , horae b. virginis , &c. and ( to omit the rest ) psalterium b. mariae , per bonaventuram ( so they call it ) and 't is printed amongst his works ; it is the most blasphemous and impious piece of superstition and idolatry that ever saw the sun : for whatever in david's psalms is spoken of god , or our b. saviour , is in that psalter attributed to the virgin mary ; and yet * possevine has the impudence to write — psalterium divi bonaventurae laudibus beatissimae virginis summa pietate ( impietate potius in deum blasphemâ & idololatrica ) accommodatum . all the fore-mention'd councils , canons , and sacred offices , have been receiv'd , and publickly approv'd by the church of rome , and so what errors or superstitions soever occur in them , may be justly charg'd upon the roman church , and they are responsable for them ; but not so for the writings of particular and private men , altho' otherwise ( for place and learning ) of greatest eminence in their church . it is necessary to understand the popish controversies ; books of this kind are very many , to read them all , is not opus unius hominis , aut aetatis ; i shall name some few of the best , which will furnish an intelligent reader with a convenient knowledge of those things that are controverted . 1. dr. crackanthorp contra archiepisc. spalatensem , 4o. london 1625. it gives the shortest and best account of most popish controversies . 2. gul. amesii bellarminus enervatus : i noted to you before , that he was a non-conformist , but he has very distinctly expos'd rome , and bellarmine's pretences , and given a clear , short , and rational answer to them . vitus erbermannus , a jesuite , and publick professor at mentz , has published ( an impertinent thing he miscalls ) an answer to amesius , printed at herbipolis 1661. in 2 vol. in octavo . but — omnia cum fecit thaida , thais olet ; his pretended reply is inconsistent and irrational . 3. andr. riveti catholicus orthodoxus , &c. it is extant in his works , roterodami 1652. in french , saumur 1616. lat. 2. tomes 4.o. lugd. bat. 1630. he very fully handles almost all popish controversies . 4. chamierus contractus , seu panstratiae catholicae dan. chamieri epitome , per fred. spanhemium , one vol. fol. genevae 1645. this is more full and large than the former , and may supply their brevity and omissions . 5. if you desire ( upon occasion ) further satisfaction in any question , our own great and learned men , jewel , rainolds , john white , whitaker , laud , chillingworth , and others already mention'd , may be consulted ; for none have oppos'd rome , and defended the reformation with more learning and success . to these may be added , such as have ( ex professo ) examin'd and confuted the council of trent ; as for instance , 1. chemnicii examen concil . trident. francofurti 1578. 2. examen concilii trident. per innocentium gentilletum , genevae 1586. octavo . 3. anatome concilii trident. historic . theolog. cum historia concil . trident. per thuanum , & vindiciis pro p. suavo polano , contra scipionem henricum , per jo. hen. heideggerum , 2 tomis , in octavo , tiguri 1672. more such writers there are , but one ( chemnitius ) is best , or all of these will be sufficient . there are some who have writ enchiridia controversiarum ; such as these may be consulted , 1. manuale controversiarum , per martinum becanum , herbipoli 1623. 2. or if that be too large a work , we may get his enchiridion manual . controversiarum hujus temporis , duaci 1631. he gives also an account of the lutheran controversies , and of the calvinists , and of the anabaptists , &c. 3. enchiridion controversiarum , per fr. costerum , jesuitam , col. agrip. 1587. & postea turnoni 1591. 4. controversiae generales fidei , contra infideles omnes , ( he puts all protestants in that catalogue ) octavo , paris 1660. and because in all controversies about religion , scripture is urged on all sides , and some things are hard to be understood ; it will be convenient to consult such authors as have writ explicationes & conciliationes locorum difficilium . 1. fred. spanhemii dubia evangelica , tom. 3. in quarto : the first tome was printed at geneva 1634. the second and third tomes 1639. 2. gul. estius in loca scripturae dissiciliora , folio , duaci 1629. a learned writer , who explains many places very well ; but being sworn ( as all their ecclesiasticks are ) to maintain all the receiv'd doctrine , discipline , and rites of the church of rome , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he does explain places so , as may make most ( not for truth , but ) for the interest of the church of rome . 3. symphonia prophetarum & apostolorum , &c. à joh. schorpio , 4o. genev. 1625. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , seu contradictiones apparentes s. scripturae , &c. ven. 1645. 12o. 5. vindicatio locorum praecipuorum vet. test. à corruptelis pontificiorum ( praecipue bellarmini ) calvinistarum ( he was a learned man , and a lutheran ) photinianorum , &c. in octavo , gissae 1620. per c. helvicum . 6. conciliationes locorum s. scripturae , in specie pugnantium ex libris augustini , per ludovic . rabum , 4o. noribergae 1561. 7. harmonia totius scripturae , seu conciliatio locorum script . &c. per mich. waltheum , 8o. argent . 1621. a lutheran . 8. conciliationes s. scripturae , &c. per andr. athalmerum , 4o. noribergae , an . 1561. there are many more writers of this nature , but these i have here mention'd , may be sufficient . an mysteria fidei à ratione naturali apprehendi possunt ? negant . 1. lubbertus de christo servatore , lib. 4. cap. 12. pag. 582. 2. ludovicus crocius in anti-socinianismo , disp. 7. pag. 64. 3. jac. ad portum orthodoxa fidei defensione , cap. 30. pag. 377. 4. andreas prolaeus in mataeologiâ sua sociniana , cap. 2. pag. 21 , 22. &c. 5. christianus dithmarsus in coll. exercitationum anti-socinianarum , exercit. 2. pag. 32. &c. 6. balth. meisnerus considerat . theologiae photinianae , cap. 4. pag. 310. 7. joh. hoornebeck socinianismi confutati , tom. 1. lib. 1. cap. 5. fusè . 8. sam. maresius in hydrâ socinianismi confutatâ , lib. 1. cap. 25. pag. 392. 9. suarez opuscul . lib. 3. cap. 1º , 2o. 10. pet. lombard . sent. lib. 2. disp. 26. vid. commentatores , ibid. 11. aquinas , 22. quaest. 2. art. 3. 4. & commentatores , ibid. an sociniani sint verè christiani ? negant . 1. lud. crocius anti-socinianismi , disp. 1. § . 4. 2. and. prolaeus in mataeol . socinianâ , cap. 1. qu. 5. lib. 7. &c. 3. balthas . meisnerus in brevi consid. theologiae photinianae , cap. 4. pag. 294. &c. 5. pag. 634. 4. jacob. martinus . synopsi religionis photinianae , cap. 6. § . 26. pag. 144. &c. 1. § . 14. 5. joh. polyander concertat . anti-socinianâ , prima disp. 4 , 5. 6. joh. hoornebeck socinianismi confut . tom. 1. l. 2. cap. 9. pag. 188. authores aliqui qui contra f. socinum senensem , suique sequaces scripserunt . 1. jacobus ad portum , ss . theol. in acad. lausannensi professor , scripsit defensionem fidei orthodoxae adversus christophori ostorodii institutiones religionis christianae , genev. edit . an . 1613. 4o. 2. sibrandus lubbertus scripsit contra f. socinum . lib. 4. de jesu christo servatore , 4o. 3. andreas essenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hug. grotii scripsit lib. cui titulus — triumphus crucis , seu fides catholica de satisfactione christi , contra joh. crellium , francofurti , 4o. 4. johan . henr. bisterfeldius nassovius , scripsit de uno deo , patre , filio , & spiritu sancto , contra joh. crellii , l. 2. de uno deo patre , lugd. batav . 1639. 4o. 5. wolfangus franzius scripsit disp. varias adversus photinianos pro satisfactione christi , sub hoc titulo , disputationes theolog. de sacrificiis satisfactionis christi pro peccatis totius mundi praestitae , typis firmissimis , 4o. 6. christanus matthias dithmarsus in academiâ noricorum altorsinâ professor , scripsit & edidit collegium exercitationum theologicarum anti-photinianum , in quo disputationes decem : 1. de notitiae dei naturalis existentia & essentiâ : 2. de notitiae naturalis usu & efficaciâ : 3. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. nomenclaturâ divinâ in genere & in specie de nomine jehova : 4. de appellatione deus : 5. de appellatione adon , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dominus : 6. de dei definitione , genere & praedicatorum qualitate : 7. de essentiae divinae unitate : 8. de naturâ attributorum divinorum ad intra consideratorum : 9. de attributis divinis ad extra : 10. de ordine attributorum divinorum , 4o. 7. valentinus legdaeus suerinensis edidit examen refutationis valent. smalcii , quam thesibus alberti graweri de aeterna deitate & incarnatione filii dei , opposuit , 4o. 8. joh. winterus naumburgensis edidit refutationem sententiae f. socini de justificatione hominis coram deo , quam tractat in praelectionibus theol. cap. 15. problemata socini quinque ponit & refellit . quarto . 1. an in justificatione nostra peccata nostra deleantur nuda remissione , sine satisfactione ? asserit socinus . 2. an deus poterat peccata condonare sine satisfactione ? asserit socinus . 3. an vitae innocentia possit censeri loco satisfactionis , & articulum justificationis ingredi ? asserit socinus . 4. an deus voluerit peccata sine satisfactione condonare ? asserit socinus . 5 an christus pro peccatis nostris satisfecerit ? negat socinus . idem scripsit collationem & differentiam vet. & nov. testamenti sacerdotum : item tractatum de hac quaestione , an adamus in statu integritatis fuerit mortalis ? asserit socinus . negat winterus . 9. joh. junius ecclesiae sylvae ducensis pastor , scripsit refutationem praelectionum theologicarum f. socini senensis , amstel . 1633. 8o. 10. balthazar meisnerus in academiâ wittebergensi professor , scripsit lib. cui tit. brevis consideratio theologiae photinianae , prout eam f. socinus descripsit libello cui titulus — quod evangelici omnino debent se illorum coetui adjungere , qui falso ariani & ebionitae vocantur , 8o. 11. jacob. martin . scripsit lib. cui tit. — synopsis totius religionis photinianae ex illorum institutione brevi , volkelio , ostorodo , aliisque ejus sectae authoribus repetitae , & breviter refutatae , 8o. 12. joh. junius ecclesiae essendelphensis minister , scripsit examen responsionis f. socini ad librum jacobi wieki , de divinitate filii dei , & spiritus sancti , amstel . an . 1628. 8o. 13. joh. polyander professor leidensis , scripsit lib. cui tit. prima concertatio anti-sociniana disputationibus 48. comprehensa , amstel . an . 1640. 8o. 14. joh. paulus fetwinger in academ . altdorphinâ alumnorum noricorum ephorus , scripsit lib. cui tit. — vindiciae incarnationis jesu christi aeterni patris aeterni filii , pro alberto grawero professore olim jenensi , 8o. 15. andreas * keslerus superintendens eisfeldensis , scripsit lib. cui tit. physicae photinianae examen , &c. an . 1630. 8o. 16. jacob. martin . scripsit lib. cui tit. j. martini de tribus elohim liber primus , photinianorum novorum , praecipuè georg. emeldeni blasphemiis oppositus , an . 1619. 8o. 17. andreas volanus , scripsit lib. cui tit. paraenesis ard. volani ad omnes in regno poloniae , magno ducatu lithuaniae , somosatenianae doctrinae professores : & ad nova ebionitarum contra paraenesin objecta respontio . spirae , an . 1582. 18. prodiit not it a pridem libellus cui titulus , specimen refutationis libri johannis crellii de satisfactione christi : auth. l. v. &c. trajecti ad rhenum , an . 1648. 12 mo . 19. extat meditatio theologica de usu † & abusu rationis humanae , in interpretandis & aestimandis rebus & scripturis divinis , per c. s. a. lugd. batav . 1633. 12 mo . 20. ambrosius de penalosa scripsit opus egregium de christi & spiritus sancti divinitate , & trinitatis mysterio , contra socinianos , an . 1635. fol. 21. nicolaus arnoldus polonus ecclesiae beetkumanae minister , lib. edidit cui tit. johan . maccovius redivivus ; continens , 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pontificiorum socinianorum , &c. 2. casus conscientiae ad normam doctrinae socinianae ; 3. anti-socinum , cum appendice de atheis : an. 1647. 4o. 22. hugo grotius de satisfactione christi , contra f. socinum , * cui resp . andreas essenuis in triumpho crucis , & l. v. in specimine refutationis joh. crellii de satisfactione christi , octavo . 23. vid. ludov. lucium de satisfactione christi , contra michaelem gettichium , edit . bas. 1612. 8o. 24. lambert . danaeus in p. lomb. sentent . lib. 1. multa pro trinitate disputat . edit . an . 1580. 8o. 25. christianus beemannus bornensis , edidit exercitationes theolog. pro deitate christi , &c. contra socinum , smalcium , ostorodum , crellium , mennonem simonis , paracelsum , wiegelium , & c. amst. an . 1643. fol. 26. joh. paulus felwingern , scripsit examen disquisitionis brevis edit . norembergae 1637. octavo . 27. sam. maresii xenia academica , seu de divinitate & personalitate sp. sancti , contra socinianos ( cum aliis ) quarto . 28. disputatio theologica orthodoxa de sanctissima trinitate , auth. josepho voisin , par. 1647. 8o. 29. socinianismi confutati , tom. 1. auth. johanne hoornebecke professore ultrajectano , ultrajecti 1650. quarto . 30. hydra socinianismi expugnata , contra joh. volkelium & joh. crellium , per sam. maresium , groningae 1651. quarto . 31. bernardus paxillus , scripsit monomachian pro defensione fidei trinitatis , cracov . 1616. in biblioth . bodl. 32. joh. cloppenburg . scripsit vindicias pro deitate sp. sancti , adversus joh. bidellum anglum , franck. 1652. 33. josuae stegmanni photiniasmus , seu succincta refutatio errorum photinianorum , &c. rhinthelii 1623. 8o. alli pene infiniti , pontificii pariter & reformati sese socino opposuere , ut passim videre est . vide sis . aegidium hunnium in articulo de trinitate . polanum in syntagm . theol. l. 3. c. 2. ad 11. barthol . terres in 1. part . aquinatis . benedict . szentkiral . transylvanum , contra georgium enjedinum . hieron . zanchium de tribus elohim , &c. hannib . rosseli comment . in paemandrum hermetis . calvinum in defensione orthodoxae fidei sacrae trinitatis , contra m. servetum , & georg. blandr . erasmum brochmannum , qui utraque controvers . parte quaestiones socinianas proponit & discutit . dionys. petavium , qui fusè pariter & doctè in dogmatis theologicis tractandis , contra socinum disputat , testimoniis ex intimâ antiquitate petitis . tandem longum scriptorum catalogum ( eorum nempè qui contra socinum & sui sequaces militant ) tibi exhibet christianus becmannus bornensis , in exercitationibus theologicis amstelod . editis an . 1643 pag. 12. ubi authores 56 plus minus enumerat , qui justo bello & marte internecino contra socinum , ipsumque etiam socinianismum animosè militant . qui vellet , videat . scholastici ( quod ad articulum trinitatis attinet ) in 1. sent. p. lombardi distinct . 2. & in 1. parte aquinatis multa disputant , curiosa mag is fateor quam viro cordato profutura . quorum omnium catalogum laboriosè contextum tibi exhibet iohan. martinez de ripaldâ in lib. sent. 1. disp. 2. amongst other things , 't is exceeding useful for a divine , to have some knowledge of the canon law ; there are many books written of this faculty , and amongst others ( to omit those which concern the forum , and jurisdictionem contentiosam ) these following may be useful . 1. for the original , parts , and use of the canon law , it will be very useful , first of all to read dr. duck de usu & authoritate juris civilis , roman . lib. 1. c. 7. de jure canonico , pag. 39. edit . lond. 1653. 2. institutiones juris canonici , per paulum lancelottum , cum casibus joh. bapt. bartoloni , in octavo , col. 1609. 3. arnoldi corvini jus canonicum per aphorismos strict . explicat . amstel . 1651. in octavo . and this for brevity , method , and perspicuity , may ( at the first ) be more useful to a divine , than the aforesaid institutions . 4. corpus juris canonici , cum accessione novarum constitutionum summorum pontificum , & annotationibus ant. naldi , &c. lugd. 1661. in quarto , and 2 volumes : this is the last and best edition corporis juris canonici , ( without the gloss ) and contains many useful things , which are not in any former edition . 5. if the aforesaid edition cannot be had , then consult corpus juris canonici , at paris 1618. folio , the next in time and goodness . 6. corpus juris canonici , cum glossis , par. 1612. cum indice steph. davys , in 4 volumes fol. 7. the old edition of the canon law , with the gloss , at par. 1519. in 3 vol. in 4º ; or any other edition before the year 1572. for since that time , many things are left out of the gloss , which were in before . 8. censurae in glossas juris canonici , colon. 1672. where what is to be left out of the gloss , is distinctly set down . after a general knowledge of this law , a few books more will be of advantage to perfect that knowledge , ( so far as a divine may be concern'd in it ) for instance such as these : 1. joh. cardinal de turre-cremata in decretum gratiani . 2. abbas panormitanus in decretales , &c. 3. conclusionum practicarum in jur. utr. foro , &c. 8. tom. fol. per card. tuschum , lugd. 1634. the whole work is in an alphabetical order , like a law dictionary , and things easy to be found in it . 4. epit. juris pontificii veteris , per ant. augustinum , fol. rom. 1614. aut par. 1641. it is divided into 3 parts : 1. de personis ; 2. de judiciis ; 3. de rebus , &c. he has a catalogue of the popes councils , collectors of the canons , and his censure of them . a book of great use for a divine . for explanation of the terms , and ecclesiastical words , which occur in the ancient canons , histories , councils , and ecclesiastical writers , greek and latin , some law lexicons will be necessary ; there are many , but i shall name only what i think most useful . 1. glossarium graeco-barbarum , jo. meursii , 4o. lugd. bat. 1614. 2. lexicon juridicum juris caesarei canonici , per jo. calvinum , joh. christum , genevae 1640. which edition has escaped the inquisitors fury . notand . many things in this lexicon are damn'd , and to be expung'd by the command of the inquisitors , in the spanish and portugal indices ; sed salva res est , this edition has escap'd purgatory . vid. indicem expurg . hisp. madriti 1667. pag. 570 , & indicem olysipone 1624. p. 742. there are more lexicons , which may ( on many occasions ) be consulted : 1. lexicon juris , per sim. schardium , fol. colon. agrip. 1600. 2. vocabulum utriusque juris , per alexandr . scot. 8o. lugd. 1622. 3. notitia de vocabulis eccles. &c. rauolta de domenico , magri , &c. romae 1650. part latin , and part italian . 4. glossae p. pithaei capitulis caroli magni proefixae , paris 1640 , &c. it is exceeding useful for a divine to know the civil law also ( setting aside the litigious part of it ) such books as these may be useful : and first , for a general knowledge of the civil law , consult , 1. ridley's view of the civil law , &c. 4o. 2. dr. duck's first book de usu & authoritate juris civilis , lond. 1653. elementa juris civilis , per joh. arnold corvinum , amstel . 1645. in 12o. justinian's institutions shou'd be read with it : and for a fuller explication of justinian's institutions , it will be convenient to have , either 1. joachim . mynsingerus : 2. joh. scheideuinus ; both have writ well on the institutions , but scheideuinus later , and more fully , and ( in many things ) more useful for a divine : 3. theophili antecessoris institutiones , gr. lat. cum scholiis faberti , & notis curtii , 4o. par. 1638. 3. corpus juris civilis , ( without the gloss and case ) 2 vol. in 8o. per dion . gothofredum , 1614. 4. or which is far better , corpus juris civilis ( with gloss and case ) paris 1612. 5. codex theodosianus , cum perpetuis commentariis jac. gothofredi , &c. in 6 vol. fol. lugd. 1665. in which there are many titles , which concern ecclesiastical matters , ( doctrine or discipline ) for instance — de summâ trinitate catholicâ — de sacro-sanctis ecclesiis , &c. de episcopis & clericis , de episcopali audientiâ — de haereticis , manichaeis , & samaritis , ne sanctum baptisma iteretur , de judaeis , de apostatis , &c. and many such more . now if we consider the antiquity of those laws , and gathofred's most learned commentary , and explications of them , it must be confess'd , that the knowledge of them will be very useful for a divine . 1. calvini : 2. schardii lexica juridica ( but now mention'd ) or one of them ; calvin is more useful , and will be sufficient , as to most latin words in that law. vid. bar. brissonii de verborum quae ad jus pertinent significatione , libros 19. par. 1596. fol. an excellent and learned work ; alciate and joh. goeddaeus , have writ well on the same subject , in octavo both . and after them arnoldus corvinus , very well , in octavo , amstel . 1646. one , or all of these may be consulted . you may consult ( besides meursius his glossary ) 1. rigaltii glossarium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , de verborum significatione , quae novellis imperatorum orientis , post justinianum regnabant , &c. 4o. lut. 1601. 2. glossae veteres verborum juris in basilicis , &c. per card. labbaeum , paris . 1606. in calce emendat . & observationum in synopsin basilic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. there is one title in the law of great use in divinity ; ( as well as policy and civil prudence ) and that is , — de * regulis juris antiqui : it contains above 200 maxims of law and reason , so many principles , and axioms of greatest evidence and authority ; being great truths universally receiv'd in the roman empire ( pagan and christian ) by divines , as well as states-men , and lawyers : and because there is hardly any rule so universal , but it may admit of some exception , or limitations , so those regulae juris have been cautiously and learnedly explain'd by several eminent lawyers : for instance , 1. everard broncherst , 12o. lugd. bat. 1641. one of the last , and ( i believe ) the best . 2. jacob. cujacius , octavo , bas. 1594. 3. pet. faber , lugduni 1590. 4. philip. decius ( cum additionibus ) octavo , lugduni 1601. it is of use to a divine for to be acquainted with the roman inquisitors , who corrupt ( rather than purge ) authors in all faculties and arts ; ( some of the fathers not excepted ) for this purpose we have , 1. the popes † bulls , about their expurgatory indices , as 1. the bulls of pius iv. 1564. in bullario cherubini , romae 1638. tom. 2. p. 81 , 82. 2. that of clement viii . 1595. in the same bullarii , tome the 3d. pages 37 , 38. vide ibi citatâ de congregatione indicis , ( as they call it ) that is a congregation ( a committee ) of cardinals , who consulted about the composing and perfecting the index expurgatorius . for the rules and directions given the inquisitors , for prohibiting what books they pleas'd , we have them ( as given by the authority of the trent council ) in the end of * some editions of the council . 3. for the indices expurgatorii themselves , it will be useful to have one or more of them , ( for there are many ) and if possible of their own editions : amongst those we have , 1. index trid. publish'd at the end of those editions of the trent council , quoted in the margin . 2. index hispan . madriti 1612. fol. & madriti 1571 , 1584. salmurii 1601. madriti iterum 1614 , 1628. & hispali 1632. & madr. iterum 1640. these are the several editions of it , but the most complete and useful , is that madr. ex typograph . didaci duaci . fol. an . 1667. in which we have 4 or 5000 authors damn'd absolutely , or so corrected with a purgation ( as they call it ) that the best things are left out , and corrupted † . 3. index libr. prohibit . alex. 7mi. jussu editus , romae 1664. & iterum 1665. ibid. extat etiàm ex ms. 1667. fol. in this last edition the index tridentinus is joyn'd with it , and many decrees of the congregatio indicis ( wherein they name particularly , and censure books ) which elsewhere i find * not extant . 4. the portugal index , olysipone 1624. in folio : continet 1. indicem roman . 2. indicem prohibitorum , lusitaniae : 3. indicem expurgandorum , a. pag. 195. &c. vid. papa . bullas , & librorum expurgandorum regulas , ibidem in principio , ante indicem . 5. index expurgatorius , juxta concilii trident. decretum , philippi 2i. regis catholici jussu , albani ducis consilio , ac ministerio in belgico concinnatus , an . 1571. & à franc. junio edit . an . 1586. vide epist. dedicatoriam , & praefat. junii , diploma regis catholici , & praefationem b. ariae montani , dicto indici praefixam . now 't is to be observ'd , that in their indices , authors and books are distinguish'd into 3 classes . 1. in the first class , the books and authors too are damn'd , and all hereticks ( amongst which we protestants are reckon'd ) and all their books writ of religion : 2. in the second class , books damn'd , but not their authors , when the authors are catholicks , and yet their books absolutely forbid : 3. in the third class , such books ( writ by papist or protestant ) as be purged , may pass . by this we may come to know the best books ; i. e. those condemn'd by them ; magnum aliquid bonum est quod à nerone damnatur . 2. by considering their indices , we come to know the best editions of many good books : for they name the edition of every book to be purged : so that if we have that edition they name ( or any before ) we are sure it has not been in their purgatory , nor ( by putting in and leaving out ) corrupted editions . 3. their indices expurgatorii ( for that use we may make of them ) are very good common-place-books , and repertories , by help of which we may presently find what any author ( by them censur'd ) has against them , i shall only commend four authors more of excellent use . 1. historia conciliorum generalium , in 4 libros distributa , authore ed. richerio , doctore sorbonico , col. 1680. and again at colon. 1683. 2. joh. launoii parisiensis theologi epistolae , in 8 parts or volumes ; both sorbon doctors , and yet write learnedly against the corruptions of rome . 3. de antiquâ ecclesiae disciplinâ dissertationes 7. par. 1686. auth. ludov. ellis du pin doct. sorbonico . 4. selectae historiae ecclesiasticae capita , & in loca ejusdem insignia dissertationes , &c. paris . 1676. authore natali alexandro , ord. praedicatorum , & doctore sorbonico , in octavo , and 23 or 24 volumes . you may consult french men's writings ( both before and since luther ) such as gerson , chancellor of paris , and espensaeas , &c. for they write more freely and learnedly against the corruptions and errors of rome , than any another popish writers . having writ this at several times , and scarce perus'd any part of it , as i would ; i hope the reader will pardon my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and ( not wilful ) mistakes . if he desire to see any of the aforemention'd authors , they are all ( some few excepted ) in my own * library here at buckden . thomas lincoln , letter i. bishop barlow 's letter to dr. howell chancellor of the diocese of lincoln , concerning his primary visitation . mr. chancellor , when i appointed this present visitation of my diocese , it was both my duty , and desire to have done it in person ; as for several other ends , so more particularly that i might have the happiness to know , and be acquainted with my brethren of the clergy : but my age ( being now actually past 71. ) and infirmities , necessitate me to lay upon you that burthen , which my weak indisposition at this time has disabled me to bear . the reason why i have not visited before this time , was this : my predecessor visited the year he died , and tho' ( de jure ) i might have visited the next year , yet i was unwilling to bring a burthen upon the clergy so suddenly ; and therefore resolv'd not to visit , until such time as my predecessor ( if he had liv'd ) might have visited , which was anno 1677. when being call'd to the parliament , i was detain'd there , and ( till now ) had no opportunity to undertake ( what i had really design'd ) a visitation . this premised , i shall intreat you to commend to my brethren two or three things , in what words , and with what enforcement you in prudence shall think fit . 1. that they wou'd be conscientiously careful to live a pious life , and be exemplary in walking themselves in that way they commend to their hearers from the pulpit ; for if they preach never so well , and do not live accordingly , they will dishonour god , and do mischief to the people , who are more apt to follow examples than precepts . 2. that they wou'd be diligent in catechizing the younger people ( i fear too many of the older sort may need it ) that they may know the principles and grounds of our religion ; otherwise to preach to uncatechiz'd people , is to build without a foundation . 3. that they wou'd studiously endeavour to understand the doctrine and discipline of the church of england , which they have subscrib'd to , and are bound to vindicate . and in order to this , let them read such books as authentically contain both the doctrine and discipline of our church , viz. our liturgy , homilies , xxxix . articles , and our book of ordination . these books are establish'd by convocation and parliament , and ought both before and after ordination , seriously to be read and consider'd . jewel , whitaker , reynolds , hooker , are excellent authors , who vindicated the church of england , against all her adversaries , with great learning , and victorious success ; and if young students in divinity will apply themselves to read them diligently , they will find that these books are of excellent use for the explication , and confirmation of our churches doctrine , and approved discipline . 4. and as divines , we are bound to inable our selves , to know and defend our own doctrine and discipline , ( than which no church in christendom has better , or more consonant to scripture and primitive antiquity ) so we shou'd endeavour , according to our ability , to confute our adversaries , papists and non-conformists , who ( as herod and pontius pilate against our blessed saviour ) are confederates against truth , and the church of england . what i have here mention'd , is to re-mind my brethren , of what they know already , and of the pressing necessity we now have ( if we love truth , and our holy mother the church of england ) to know and confute the impious and blasphemous practices of all those recusants , which at this day disturb the peace of the church and state. i desire you to advise the clergy to pay their tenths to the king duly , for the reasons in a paper , which the reverend mr. skelton , my domestick chaplain will give you : and i have taken effectual order , to prevent the clergy's being impos'd on , by undue exactions , from any officer or collector , of their respective dues within my diocese ; resolving to lessen rather than augment the fees , &c. which the clergy pay . with my respects to your self , and my brethren , i rest theirs , and your affectionate ( tho' infirm ) friend , thomas lincoln . sept. 1. 1688. letter ii. a short method for the study of divinity , in a letter to a friend , by an unknown author ; and found in bishop barlow 's study . sir , you ask of me one of the hardest things i know : to direct a young student in the the methodical study of divinity . if i have any knowledge in it , i must profess to you , i know not how i came by it : i read as it happen'd , and thought of what i read , and this is all i know of it . it is , i confess , a great defect in our church , and the occasion of many mischiefs to it , but it requires a much better hand than mine , and more leisure than i have , to prescribe a remedy for it . but if you will be contented with some free and hasty thoughts , you shall have them . the constant reading of s. scripture , with great application of mind , is a general rule , and ought to be a constant practice , whether we rightly apprehend the true sence of it at present , or not : for when the very phrase or expression of s. scripture , and the history of it is imprinted on our minds , when we come strictly to examine any particular doctrine of religion , various expressions will occur to our minds , and will suggest such thoughts to us , as are to be had no other way . and tho' it is not suppos'd , that any man acquainted with other parts of learning , and beginning to apply himself to the study of divinity , can be in such a state ; yet the scripture is to be read , and learnt , as the grammar is by children , who know not how to apply the rules , much less understand the reason of them . and therefore part of them is to be read every day , tho' only in english ( which i think very adviseable for one who intends the ministry ) without stopping at every difficulty he meets with , but charging his memory with the phrase , and the series , and order of events . but to make the reading of the s. scripture useful , he must furnish himself with all variety of questions about religion , that he may know what to observe and enquire after : and you will think it hard , that i cannot direct him better , than to send him to the master of the sentences , or aquinas's summs , or estius upon the sentences : and yet so it is ; not that i think that either their questions , or resolutions are always wise , but they will surnish a wise man with many material questions , and with some very material answers , and deliver him from the danger of ever being impos'd on with school-falacies . and a man who reads them with this design and this caution , will find great benefit by it . for tho' i am no admirer of school-divinity , i doubt the great ignorance of some persons may be ascrib'd to a contempt of it , without knowing it . but then he ought also to read other systems of divinity , as calvin's institutions , and zanchius , ( whom i take to be one of the best and subtilest writers of calvinists ) and arminius , episcopius , or the late remonstrant philip à limborch . for a man who will throughly enquire , ought to have the different schemes of religion in his head : but especially to read and consider well the articles , homilies , and canons of our church : which every one , who intends to be a minister of the church of england , ought to do . having thus far advanced , you may think i bring him back again , when i come to more particular enquiries : but if you think well of it , you will find he is not sufficiently prepar'd for them before . and now i begin from the very foundations of religion ; to enquire strictly and severely into the reasons of our faith. and , 1. why he believes there is a god. and here he must review all the several hypotheses of philosophy , and examine the powers of nature , and the arguments of atheists . tully and dr. cudworth , will sufficiently furnish him , if his curiosity does not draw him further . the next enquiry is , whether god has made any revelation of his will to the word : and here he must consider the authority of revelation , and the canon of scripture : and dr. stillingfleet's origines sacrae , huetius , or dr. cosin's canon of scripture , will furnish him with all that is needful to be known , or direct him where he may enquire further . and this is the most proper time to read the apologists for christianity , justin martyr , tertullian , minutius felix , arnobius , lactantius , st. austin de civitate dei , theodoret contra gentes , and such like , as eusebius's praeparatio and demonstratio , &c. and now especially it is time to read the scriptures with greater care ; both to understand the grammatical and critical . sence of them , by comparing the various versions , especially the septuagint , with the original of the old testament , and by our volumes of criticks ( which have more than all that is useful ) and to understand the true sence of them . as for particular commentators , i know not how to direct , because there is so great variety of them : but ainsworth upon the pentateuch is allow'd by all . josephus and philo-judaeus ( tho'a platonick jew ) are very useful for the old testament , and maimonides nevochim , and such tracts of jewish writers , as he may meet with . dr. lightfoot ( i think ) has prescrib'd the best method of reading the scriptures , by digesting the historical and prophetical books into the order of time. and the prophesies are certainly understood , by considering the times to which they relate . tho' i must needs say , that the shortest and most compendious way to useful knowledge , is to study the new testament , and those parts of the old testament , which he there finds apply'd to the state of the gospel ; which will enable him the better to understand the old testament , when he has more leisure for the thorough study of it . and for modern authors , let him read mr. poole's synopsis criticorum , allowing for the different hypotheses of the authors , and reading with caution . tho' ( if i may advise ) when he intends thoroughly to understand any book of scripture , let him read it several times over , and make himself master of it : then let him read it verse by verse , and observe what the difficulties are , and try by the construction and signification of the words , and the series of the discourse , what he can make of it ; and after that consult expositors . this is the most laborious and slow , but the most useful , and will be found at last the shortest way to true and substantial knowledge . i have found such advantage by it my self , that i dare recommend it . from hence , he may proceed to the enquiry into particular controversies , which he is now well furnish'd for , with a great compass of knowledge : and here he may begin , and end ( if ever he can find an end ) where he pleases . and he will easily inform himself of the best writers on both sides . as for the fathers , and councils , and ecclesiastical historians , i think the best way at first , is to examine , as he has opportunity , such citations as he meets with ; and see to what purpose their authority is urg'd on all sides ; or to read any particular tract in them , as he has occasion for it : and then when he finds leisure to read them , he will know how to use them . this is sufficient employment for some years ; and as imperfect as the rules are , if observ'd , will certainly make him a very good divine , and furnish him with useful knowledge ; and before he has done half this , he will need no director . i have taken no notice of reading the ancient moralists , and observing the differences of their several sects , and how they differ from , or agree with the precepts of christianity ; nor of the nature of laws , &c. these being suppos'd necessary prolegomena . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a30972-e190 a sir p. p. s. w. b genuine remains , &c. a st. ives , huntington , buckden , and st. neots . a 68 when consecrated , and 85 at his death . * five counties and in half . * above 1300 clergy in lincoln diocese . notes for div a30972-e1280 * six shillings and six pence . notes for div a30972-e1690 a theologia revelata ( in its full latitude ) may be , 1. patriarchalis , containing the positive revelation of god's will and worship made to the patriarchs before moses ; for to them the messias was promised , and salvation by him ; they had the covenant of grace , and sacrificia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which were sacraments and seals of it . 2. mosaica , which contain'd many further positive revelations of god's will and worship . 3. evangelica , of which only at present . 〈…〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , suid. in joh. stob. vid. photii biblioth . cod. 167. pag. 366. theologia 〈◊〉 bibles pr●pe● for the te●t of the old testament . for the new testament . * vid. suidam , verb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . bibles . concordances . a extant concordantiae hebr. per mazi . calasium , in 4 tomes , printed at rome 1621. in bodley's library , much larger than buxtorf's ; but whether better , docti judicent . a heb. 1. 3. b 2 cor. 9. 4. and 11. 17. c heb. 3. 14. d tindal renders it so ; faith is a sure confidence of . e gloss. vet . in calce cyrilli , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arguo , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 probatio ; & oecumen . & theophylac . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in loc . a concil . trident. sess. 6. de justificat . cap. 8. vid. vasq. in 1. 2. disp. 210. cap. 7. pag. 744. lexicons for the old testament . b vid. hieron . de locis hebr. tom. 3. p. 904 , 905. & theatrum terrae sanctae , per adricomium . l●●i●ons for the new test. c there are two supplements of stephanus extant : 1. fragmentum steph. de urb. per sam. tennulium , amstel . 1669. in quarto ; 2. genuina stephani fragmenta , per abra. berkelium , lugd. batav . 1674. in octavo . commentators on the old test. a caetera ejus opera à sectariis vitiata prohibentur , donec corrigantur . ind. expurg . hisp. madriti 1667. commentators on the new test. ancient . * vid. rivoti critica sacra , lib. 4. cap. 5. pag. 373 , 374. modern . writers on the gospels . a index hispan . expurgat . madriti 1667. in rob. steph. pag. 874. col . 2. protestants . papists . b bellarm. de scrip. eccl. in hug. de sancto claro . c ind. expurg . belgico . ulysip . verb. jac. faber . d possev . in apparatu sacro verb. jac. faber . writers on the epistles and apocalyps . ancient . a epist. ad hebr. inter canonicas script . consuetudo latina non accipit . hieron . in cap. 8. isa. tom. 4. pag. 32. col 2. & cap. 6. isa. ibid. pag. 24. col . 9. b vide riveti criti. sacra lib. 3. cap. 18. pag. 291. bellarm. de script . eccles. in ambrosio , pag. 130 , 131 , &c. c ubi supra in oecumenio , pag 293. d vide corum nomina in possev . appar . sac. verb. oecumenius . modern . apparatu a ad scripturas intellegend . 11. de canone scriptures . a vide joh. rainoldi theses , pag. 90. dr. cosin's scholastical history of the canon of scripture , p. 111 , 112 , 113. b vide hist. ecclesiast . anastasii biblioth . pag. 189. paris 1649. & pet. pithaei opera , paris . pag. 14 , 15. c vide eandem hierony . praefat. 115. in proverbia , tom. 3. pag. 692. edit . m. victor . a amphilochius ieoniensis in jambis ( in reliquis cum nazianzeno consentiens ) apocalypsin etiam habet . in bibliotheca patrum per marg. de la bigne , par. 1589. tom. 8. pag. 666. de patribus & co●um saecul● scriptis . b vide isae . vossium in notis ad ignatium , pag. 257 , 258. de scriptis pat●um genuinis , spuriis . a vid. pet. de marca , de primatu lugdunensis eccl. p. 353. b turrianus ad magdeburgenses centuriatores pro canonibus apostolorum , & epistolis pontificum , 40. col. 1573. a paris 1623. per mar. victorium . b tom. 9. complectens quae falso hieronymo ascripta . vid. the title-page . c vide concil . tom. 1. pag. 991. & concil . per labbe , paris 1671. an 4 toms , 1259 , 1260 , 1261. surius concil . tom. 2. pag. 318. d editionis paris . 1612. 1618. a toto hoc canone tot modis distant collectiones ab orig. ut satis certo statui , non possit quae vera sit gelasii lectio . nota ad verbum mandamus , can. 3. dist. 15. in utraque edit parisiensi . de authoritate & usu patrum . b totius mundi ( praeter apostolos ) authoritas in religione nulla est smalcius in refut . 2. lib. smeglecii de erroribus nov . arianorum , lib. 2. 16. 223. 225. pag. c in juramento professionis fidei in concil . trident. sess. 24. de reformat in calce cap. 12. edit . antverp . 1633. a he allows an exposition of scripture , tho' contra torrentem patrum ad commentar . in 1. cap. gen. b he says , if all were left out of the fathers , which we now believe not ; bona pars scriptor . & patrum periret . feuard . in irenaeum , pag. 494. ad lectorem . c maldonat . in 6. cap. joh. § 111. p. 1487. d augustini & innocentii sententia sexcentos circiter annos viguit in ecclesia , ibid. §. 116. pag. 1488. de historicis ecclesiasticis . a bar. in literis christoph. plantino datis , quae extant in calce tom. 1. & 10. edit . antverp . 1612. monet lectorem omne illud esse adulterinum & spurium , quod editioni dictae non est consentaneam . b rosweidus's lex talionis , in quarto , ant. 1614. and. eudemon johannes in quarto , colon. 1617. convitiis fortiter , sed argumentis frigidè contra causabonum agunt . chronology . * hac de re vide p. crusium de epochis , 8o. basil. 1578. d. petavius , in rationario temporum , 2 vol. octavo , paris 1636. helvicum in prolegomenis ad suam chronologiam , oxon. 1651. geography . a erasmus , when he writ his annotations on the acts of the apostles , had a map of the roman empire always before him ; and whilst he writ of st. paul's voyage to rome , and finding all the places ( mention'd in the text ) in his map , he was much pleas'd , and highly commended the study of geography . b vid. the large map of palestine prefix'd to eusebius , de locis hebraicis ; and bonfrerius's notes upon it , pag. 246. in the edition of eusebius , mention'd hereafter . * vid. etiam genuina stephani fragmenta , gr. lat. cum notis abr. berkelii . 8º , lugd. batav . 1674. councils . a vide juram . professionis fidei , in bulla pii papae iv. in concil . trident. sess. 24. in calce , cap. 12. de reformatione . b vide bellarm. de script . eccl. labbe , in abaco scriptorum ecclesiast . ozaeum in nomenclatore supra citatis . c vide codicem canonum veterem eccl. rom. paris . 1609. 8o. ( antea erat edit . mogunt . 1525. per joh. wendelstinum ) in that edition all is left out , except the canons of the council of ephesus , and several other things put in , which are not in dionysius exig . * the same canons were publish'd gr. lat. by andr. gesner . an. 1559. in a book intituled — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; fol. a concil . laodic . can . 35. apud caranz . pag. 191. b ibid. pag. 788. c 1. verbo scripto , scripturas sacras intelligit . 2. de verbo tradito , seu traditionibus . 3. de verbo explicato per ecclesiam ( romanam intelligit ) idque vol. 1o. per concilium , vol. 2o. per papam , extra concilium . a concil . hoc pisanum 2m. edit . est paris . ab hieronymo de croaria , 1514. b hoc est ante an . 1517. c index expurgat . hisp. madriti 1667. verb. concil . pisan. class . 3. & index romae 1664. pag. 29. d it was call'd 1511. and printed 1514. and the title prefix'd to it in the printed copy is this — constitutiones factae in diversis sessionibus sacri generalis concilii pisani . a binius concil . tom. 5. p. 758. edit . par. 1636. b and crabbe uses that true version , concil . tom. 2. p. 568. school-men . * bellarm. de script . eccles. in p. lombardo . a vid. catalog . scriptor . in summam aquinatis in calce . b ita christus in cruce pendens aquinatem alloquitur , in iconismo summae ejus praefixo , edit . duaci 1614. c vid. lamb. danaeum in lib. 1. sent. p. lombardi prolegom . c. 2. d concil . later . sub innoc. papa iii. an. 1215. a gul. ockamus in centilogico saepiusculè . b vid. lamb. danaeum loco citato , ubi earum aliquas ( plurimae enim sunt ) brevi catalogo lectori exhibet . c hence that blasphemous piece of poetry , — papa stupor mundi , qui maxima rerum ; nec deus es , nec homo , quasi neuter es inter utrumque . vide glossam verb. papa in prooemio clementinarum . a sixtus senensis bibli . sanctae , lib. 3. p. 217. b 1 cor. 11. 6. tho' i am made rude in speech , yet not in knowledge . — a tritthemius de scriptor . ecclesiast . in pet. dialectico , seu abelardo , pag. 161. edit . col. 1546. b joh. andr. quenstedt , dialog . de patrum illustrium doctrina & script . virorum . joh. avent . anal. boiorum , lib. 6. pag. 392. edit . basil 1580. and again 1615. casuists . protestants casuists . popish casuists . a vid. lud. montalii literas provinc . de morali & politicâ jesuitarum disciplinâ , col. 1665. in 8o. b vid. the jesuits morals , collected by a doctor of sorbon , lond. 1670. in folio . c in 4 or 5 vol. in 8o. not and. that there is decretum conditum in congregatione generali romanae & universalis inquisitionis , &c. dat. romae , 1. augusti 1641. in quo omnia edita & edenda , tàm contra quàm pro jansenio prohibentur , ne quis leg at , retineat , &c. and yet ever since they write read , and maintain such books amongst them . summists . † extat hoc decretum gr. lat. apud binium concil . tom. 8. pag. 851. edit paris . 1636. writers of the doctrine and discipline of the church . * a martyr for our church . a vid. stat 5. 6. edv vi. cap. 1. b stat. 1. mariae sess. 2. cap. 2. c vid. stat. 1. eliz. cap. 2. d vid. ms. de excommunicatione cancellario missum an. 166. e m. parker antiq. britan. in gul. chichley , pag. 285. f it a linwood in praefatione . g vid. glossam ad constitutio : finaliter verbo remotas , p. 161. col. 3. edit . paris . 1505. de haereticis lib. 5. a in glossa §. et quia verbo asserunt & locato & conducto . b vide m. parisiensem ad an. 1237. in hen. 3. pag. 446 , 447. c vide stat. 28. hen. 8. cap. 19. § ult . which is confirm'd 1. eliz. cap. 1. vide etiam 27. hen. 8. cap. 15. & 35. hen. 8. cap. 16. a buceri scripta anglicana praecipuè basil. 1577. vel argentorati . he was regius professor of theology at cambridge . b he was regius professor at oxon. how to know the errors and opinions of the enemies of our church . * and so in all those councils they call oecumenical , and approve , ( tho' we do not ) as the second nicene council ; and about 13 more , which came after it : whatever errors be in any of these , they do ( and must ) own ; for seeing they do approve those councils , they must approve their positions and decrees : we have a catalogue of what councils ( general and provincial ) the church of rome acknowledges , prefix'd to the corpus juris canonici , paris 1618. fol. and to the last edition of that law , lugd. 1661. in quarto . † vid. indicem prohib . jussu alexandri vii . romae 1664. edit . pag. 19. verbo , magnum bullarium & deeretum inquisitorum , ibid. pag. 371. * possevine in apparatu sacro , verbo rossarium ( mihi ) pag. 357. writers of controversies . epitomizers of controversies . interpreters of the more difficult texts of s. scripture . for the socinian controversie . * idem keslerus habet logicae & metaphysicae socinianae examen . † vide sis hac de re joach . stegman . de judice & norma fidei controversiarum libros duos : eleutheropoli . an. 1644. * id est socino . canon law. law lexicons . for the greek . for the latin. civil law. lexicons to explain the terms of the civil law. for the greek . * lib. 5. degest , tit. 17. de regulis juris scripserunt . de indic●bus expurgatoriis . † vide plures pontificum constitutiones de libris expurgandis in bullario cherubini , in indice bullarii not at as , verbo index , & verbo libri prohibiti . * vide concil trident. ant verp . 1633. 8o. in calce post indicem : and in the edition by labbe , paris 1667. pag. 230 , 231. † si episcopus , presbyter , aut diaconus chartam falsaverit , aut falsum testimonium dixerit , deponatur , in monasterium detrudatur , & quam diù vixerit laicam tantummodo communionem accipiat ; concilium agathense ( agathae in gallia narbonensi ) celebratur , 506. can. 50. * some of these decrees are extant in a book , with this title , librorum post indicem clementis viii . prohibitorum decreta , omnia hactenus edita , romae 1624. 8o. it is bound up with the index librorum prohibitorum , romae 1596. in octavo . * anno 1690. now the bishop's library is in bodley's and queens colledge librarys in oxon , to which he gave all his books by will , in the year 1691. valued at 3000 pounds . the exceptions of mr. edwards in his causes of atheism against the reasonableness of christianity, as deliver'd in the scriptures, examin'd and found unreasonable, unscriptural, and injurious also it's clearly proved by many testimonies of holy scripture, that the god and father of our lord jesus christ is the only god and father of christians. nye, stephen, 1648?-1719. 1695 approx. 132 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 24 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a70688 wing n1506b estc r41202 12796736 ocm 12796736 93987 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a70688) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93987) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 379:22 or 1750:3) the exceptions of mr. edwards in his causes of atheism against the reasonableness of christianity, as deliver'd in the scriptures, examin'd and found unreasonable, unscriptural, and injurious also it's clearly proved by many testimonies of holy scripture, that the god and father of our lord jesus christ is the only god and father of christians. nye, stephen, 1648?-1719. iv, 5-47 p. [s.n.], london : printed in the year mdcxcv [1695] this work appears at reel 379:22 as wing e3840 (number cancelled in wing 2nd ed.), and at reel 1750:3 as wing (2nd ed.) n1506b. erroneously attributed to john locke, despite the fact that it is dedicated to him, i.e., "to the author of the reasonableness of christianity." also appears as pt. 6 of a third collection of tracts. 1695. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng edwards, john, 1637-1716. -some thoughts concerning the several causes and occasions of atheism. locke, john, 1632-1704. -reasonableness of christianity. antitrinitarianism. church history -17th century. christianity -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2007-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 john latta sampled and proofread 2007-05 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the exceptions of mr. edwards , in his causes of atheism , against the reasonableness of christianity , as deliver'd in the scriptures , examin'd ; and found unreasonable , unscriptural , and injurious . also it 's clearly proved by many testimonies of holy scripture , that the god and father of our lord jesus christ , is the only god and father of christians . london , printed in the year mdcxcv . to the author of the reasonableness of christianity as delivered in the scriptures . sir , in reading your book of that title , i readily perceived your design , intimated in your preface , to be therein most industriously and piously pursued : so that you have , with full evidence of scripture and reason , shewed , against the manifold obscure and tedious systems , that the fundamentals of christian faith , necessary to constitute a man a true member of christ's church , are all comprehended or implied in this plain proposition , that jesus is the messiah : whereby you have happily provided for the quiet and satisfaction of the minds of the honest multitude or bulk of mankind , floating in doubts and fears , because either they cannot understand , or can find no clear evidence in holy scripture , of those intricate points requir'd to be explicitly believ'd upon pain of eternal damnation . you have also argued clearly the reasonableness and vsefulness of the christian revelation against atheists and deists . these things consider'd , 't was no marvel , that the systematical men , who gain both their honour and profit by the obscurity and multitude of their fundamental articles , should raise an outcry against you , like that of the ephesians magnifying their diana . they have more cause for it than demetrius had . but that they should traduce your work as tending to atheism or deism , is as strange from reason , as many of their articles are from scripture . and that mr. edwards has done it , and forc'd it in among his tendencies to atheism , is , i think , to be imputed to the co-incidence of your book 's being publish'd , and striking strongly upon his inventive faculty , just when it was in hot pursuit of the causes of atheism , rather than to any the least colour or inclination that way , which mr. edwards can spy in it in his cool thoughts : for i am much perswaded on the contrary , that there is no atheist or deist in england , but , if he were ask'd the question , would tell mr. edwards , that their obscure and contradictious fundamentals were one cause or inducement to his casting off and disbelief of christianity . in this mind i have undertaken to vindicate your doctrine from the exceptions of mr. edwards against it . but whether i have done it as it ought to have been done , i cannot be a competent judg. if i have mistaken your sense , or us'd weak reasonings in your defence , i crave your pardon : but my design in this writing was not to please you , ( whom i know not ) nor any man whatsoever , but only to honour the one god , and vindicate his most useful truths . i am , sir , your very humble servant . mr. edwards 's exceptions against the reasonableness of christianity , examined , &c. it seems to me , that mr. edwards , printing his causes of atheism , whilst the reasonableness of christianity was newly publish'd , was put upon it by his bookseller , to add some exceptions against that treatise so much noted for its heterodoxy ; that so the sale of his own tract might be the more promoted : whence it comes to pass , that his notes being writ in haste , are not so well digested as might be expected from a person of his learning and ingenuity . in pag. 104. he takes notice of a plausible conceit , which hath been growing up a considerable time , &c. but tells not his reader what that conceit was , till he hath charged it upon a very learned and famous author , whom he is pleased to call a wavering prelate , and another of the same order , and a third of a lower degree ; but more particularly , fully and distinctly , upon the late publisher of the reasonableness of christianity , &c. here at length in his next page , he tells us , that this author gives it us over and over again , in these formal words , viz. that nothing is required to be believed by any christian man but this , that jesvs is the messiah . i think if he had not been in haste , he would have cited at least two or three of those pages , wherein we might find those formal words , but he has not one , and i do not remember where they are to be found ; for i am almost in as much haste as mr. edwards , and will not seek for them . it 's true , he says , that all that was to be believed for justification , or to make a man a christian , by him that did already believe in , and worship one true god , maker of heaven and earth , was no more than this single proposition , that jesus of nazareth was the christ or the messiah . but then he takes to be included in this proposition , 1. all synonimous expressions , such as , the son of god ; the king of israel ; the sent of god ; he that should come , he of whom moses and the prophets did write ; the teacher come from god , &c. 2. all such expressions as shew the manner of his being the christ , messiah , or son of god , such as his being conceived by the holy ghost and power of the most high ; his being anointed with the holy ghost and power ; his being sanctified and sent into the world ; his being raised from the dead , and exalted to be a prince and saviour after the time he was so , &c. 3. such expressions as import the great benefits of his being the messiah ; as having the words of eternal life ; his having power from the father to remit sins , to raise the dead , to judg the world ; to give eternal life ; to send the h. spirit upon the apostles whereby they might work miracles , and preach the light of life to jews and gentiles , and the like . for all those quotations of scripture which the author ( as mr. edwards observes ) has amassed together out of the gospels , and the acts of the apostles , which take up about three quarters of his book , for the proof of his proposition , are indeed expository of the meaning of that proposition , and are included in it . not that it was necessary that every one , who believed the proposition , should understand and have an explicite faith of all those particulars : for neither the believers during the life of christ , nor the apostles themselves understood many of them , no nor presently after his death and resurrection ; for they had still divers erroneous opinions concerning the nature of his kingdom , and the preaching to the gentiles , and other things . and in the beginning of christ's preaching , though philip believ'd that jesus was the messiah , the son of god , the king of israel ; yet he seems to be ignorant of his being born of a virgin , for he calls him the son of joseph , john 1. 45. but as he that believes that william the 3d is the true king of england , &c. believes enough to make him a good subject , though he understands not all the grounds of his title , much less all his power and prerogatives that belong to him as king : so he that believes upon good grounds that jesus is the messiah , and understands so much of this proposition as makes him , or may make him a good subject of christ's kingdom , though he be ignorant of many things included in that proposition , he has all the faith necessary to salvation , as our author has abundantly proved . but mr. edwards says , this gentleman forgot , or rather wilfully omitted a plain and obvious passage , in one of the evangelists , go teach all nations , &c. mat. 28. 19. from which it is plain ( says he ) that all that are adult members of the christian church , must be taught as well as baptiz'd into the faith of the holy trinity , father , son and holy ghost , and then they must believe it : and consequently more is required to be believed by christian men , than that jesus is the messiah . he infers from this , you see it is part of the evangelical faith , and such as is necessary , absolutely necessary to make one a member of the christian church , to believe a trinity in vnity in the god-head ; or , in plainer terms , that though god is one as to his essence and nature , yet there are three persons in that divine essence , and that these three are really the one god. i must confess , that if mr. edwards's reasoning be good , the author is totally confuted , three quarters of his book at least are writ in vain , and the old systems must stand good ; and the bulk of mankind will certainly be damned , or it will be a wonder if any of them be faved . but give me leave to tell him i do not see , what he says we do see : that text will well enough consist with our author's proposition . for i would ask him , whether the apostles follow'd this commission or not : if they obey'd it , then in baptizing in the name of jesus the messiah , and exhorting those to whom they preached , to be baptiz'd in the name of the messiah , after their preaching the messiah to them , they did in effect baptize in the name of the father , son and holy ghost , otherwise they did not pursue their commission ; for we never find them baptizing in those express terms , but always in the name of jesus the messiah , or the lord jesus , or the lord , and the like . so that mr. edwards must either charge the holy apostles with ignorance of , or disobedience to their lord's command , or acknowledg that they did really baptize in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost , when they did but expresly baptize in the name of the son or messiah ; forasmuch as all that were so baptiz'd , did believe in the father of that son of god , as implied in the son , and in the holy ghost , as the anointing of the son , and which also was given to those that were so baptiz'd . but as for his inference , viz. that it 's absolutely necessary to believe a trinity in vnity in the godhead ; or that god is one as to his essence and nature , yet there are three persons in that divine essence , and that these three persons are really the one god : this will condemn not only the unitarians , and the bulk of mankind , but the greater part of trinitarians , the learned as well as the vulgar . for all the real trinitarians do not believe one essence , but three numerical essences . here dr. sherlock , dr. cudworth , the bishop of gl. the late arch-bishop , mr. h — w , and all that hold as the council of nice did , with that council it self , and the whole church ( except some hereticks ) for many centuries , are by mr. edwards expung'd out of the catalogue of christian believers , and consequently condemn'd to the horrible portion of infidels or hereticks . the mystery-men , or ignoramus trinitarians , they are condemn'd too ; for they admit not any explication , and therefore not mr. edwards's . there remains only dr. south , and dr. wallis , and the philosopher hobbs , who ( mr. edwards says ) is the great master and lawgiver of the profess'd atheists , pag. 129. and that party which have the absolutely necessary faith of three persons in one essence . but if you ask these men what they mean by three persons : do they mean according to the common sense of mankind , and especially of the english nation , three singular intellectual beings ? no , by no means , that is tritheism , they mean three modes in the one god , which may be resembled to three postures in one man ; or three external relations , as creator , redeemer , sanctifier ; as one man may be three persons , a husband , a father and a master . this is that opinion of faith , which the antients made heresy , and sabellius the head of it . thus it is absolutely necessary to make a man a christian , that he be a sabellian heretick . but perhaps mr. edwards may be of mr. h — w's mind , for he says , these three persons are really the one god ; but then , no one of them singly is so , but every one a third of god : if so , mr. edwards is indeed a unitarian , for he gives us one god only ; but then he is no trinitarian , for he has put down the father himself from being god singly , and so the son and holy ghost . as to what he says of being baptized into the faith and worship of none but the only true god , that has been answer'd a hundred times . he cannot look into any of the unitarian books , but he will find a sufficient answer to that inference . were the israelites baptiz'd into the worship of moses ? but they were baptized into moses , 1 cor. 10. 2. or when the apostle paul supposes he might have baptized in his own name ; did he mean that he should have baptized into the worship of himself as the most high god ? then mr. edwards minds his reader , that the author had left out also that famous testimony in joh. 1. 1. in the beginning was the word [ jesus christ ] and the word was with god , and the word was god. whence ( saith he ) we are obliged to yield assent to this article , that christ the word is god. here mr. edwards must mean that this is a fundamental article , and necessary to salvation ; otherwise he says nothing against his author , who has prevented his urging any other text , not containing a fundamental , in his answer to the objection from the epistles and other scriptures . for ( saith he ) pag. 299. they are objects of faith — they are truths , whereof none that is once known to be such may be disbelieved . but yet a great many of them , every one does , and must confess a man may be ignorant of ; nay disbelieve , without danger to his salvation : as is evident in those who allowing the authority , differ in the interpretation and meaning of several texts . — vnless divine revelation can mean contrary to it self . the whole paragraph ought to be read , which i have abridged . and if this text of john 1. 1. be not one of those , that by reason of its difficulty and variety of senses , may not be disbeliev'd in mr. edwards's sense , then i will be bold to say , there 's no such text in the whole bible . to it i say , 1. he dares not trust his reader with the clear text , but thrusts in his own sense , in the beginning was the word ( jesus christ : ) and then 2. makes his fundamental article not from the text , but from what he has inserted into the text thus , christ the word is god. but will mr. edw. stick to that ? is he of socinus's mind , that by the word is meant the man jesus christ , born of the blessed virgin , and anointed with the holy ghost ? i think he is not . or does he mean that christ was the first-born of every creature , as he is called , col. 1. 14. the beginning of the creation of god , rev. 3. 14. by whom god made the worlds , and is therefore a god ? i think mr. edw. might be call'd an arian , if that were his sense . what then does he mean ? he does not mean that either the body or soul , or both united to constitute a man , or the anointing of the holy ghost added to that man , was the word ; though by reason of those he had the name of jesus , and by reason of this he had the name of christ . he means by the word , a second person or mode of god. now how fairly he calls this second person a mode of god , jesus christ , when it was neither jesus nor christ , nor any part of him , let his reader judg . in the beginning was the word ] that is , ( according to him ) before the beginning , and therefore from eternity , god in a second mode or person did exist : and the word was with god ] i. e. god in the second mode was present with god , even himself in the first mode or person : and the word was god ] i. e. god in his second mode was himself ; or otherwise , was the father himself and the holy ghost ; for he tells us before , that the three persons [ or modes ] are really the one god : but if the word is really the one god , as mr. edw. understands the term god in this text , then the word is the three persons , or else he is not really the one god , which the three persons only are . now if this be a clear text to build an article necessary to salvation , and the worship of another almighty and only wise person upon , besides the god and father of our lord jesus christ ; let all that have any reverence for god or his gospel judg ! besides , can he alledg one text out of all the old testament , or out of the three former gospels , where ever by the word or logos ( as they love to speak ) is meant any such preexistent eternal person ? if there be none such , it seems to be no little defect in the holy scriptures , that the world should be 4000 years old , before any part of it heard any thing of a second personal god , equal to the first , and who had therefore as much right to be known and worshipped as the first : nay , and that that person , the word , should have no mention made of him in the gospels or sermons of christ or the apostles till above threescore years after the ascension ; for it for it was so long ( as ecclesiastical historians tell us ) before the gospel of the apostle john was written , all the churches and believers we read of in scripture , having been gather'd and converted before . next mr. edw. tells us ( p. 107. ) there is added in verse 14. another indispensable point of faith , viz. that the word was made flesh , i. e. that god was incarnate , the same with 1 tim. 3. 16. god manifest in the flesh . one would have expected that mr. edw. undertaking in short to confute a proposition , that the author had spent three quarters of his book ( which consists of 300 pages ) in proving ; and for which he had alledg'd perhaps an hundred clear texts of holy scripture , should have produc'd some clear texts against him , and not such as need explanations ; and when he has explain'd them , leaves them far more difficult than before . we have spoken already of the word that was said to be god in the first verse of that chapter ; and now in the 14th the word must signify god : but , 1. are not the same words and terms taken in different senses in the same context , and that too , when they come nearer together than at thirteen verses distance ? thus the word light in ver . 5. signifies an impersonal thing ; but in the 7 , 8 , and 9th verses , it denotes a person , which john was not , but jesus was , to wit , the revealer of the word or gospel . 2. the father was god too , and if god was incarnate , how will it be avoided that the father was incarnate ? and if it cannot , then mr. edw. will be a patripassian heretick . 3. it must be acknowledged , that mr. edw. has given a wonderful learned explanation of the phrase — was made flesh ; far more learned than that of the old justice — invasion is invasion . the vulgar and unlearned may understand something , when it is said that one thing is made another thing , as when water was made wine : but i doubt they will stare and know nothing , when one tells 'em that a person was incarnate ; much more when they read mr. edw. saying , that god was incarnate , will they not gladly return from the explanation to the text ? and then it will run thus , god was made flesh . but was god indeed turn'd into flesh , and ceased to be god , as the water turn'd into wine ceased to be water ? i 'm sure mr. edw. never intends to make that an indispensable point of faith , as he calls this , that god was incarnate . but this is a very hard case , that the generality of the world ( which god so loved , that he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life ) their salvation or damnation should still depend on the belief of , not only obscure texts , but of much more obscure interpretations of those texts . whether shall we go for the sense of god was incarnate ? he sends us to 1 tim. 3. 16. god manifest in the flesh . but he might know that that reading of the word god in that text is a corruption , and that instead of god was read which in the council of nice , as the accurate examination against mr. milbourn has fully prov'd ; however allowing that reading , has given a rational sense of it . thus we are sent for the sense of an obscurer interpretation of an obscure text , to a corrupt one. whither shall we go next ? it 's very like that mr. edw. may next time send us to the athanasian creed , when the scriptures fail him ; that creed saith , it is necessary to everlasting salvation , that one believe rightly the incarnation of our lord jesus christ , — that he is god and man — perfect god and perfect man — one christ , not by conversion of the godhead into flesh , but by taking of the manhood into god : so then the sense of the word was made flesh , will be this , god was incarnate , that is , not by being made flesh or man , but by taking man into god ; that is , god is now perfect god and man. well , but since god is a person , and man another person ; perfect god and perfect man must unavoidably be two persons : but this is the heresy of nestorius arch-bishop of constantinople , an. dom. 428. but how shall we help it ? for to believe god and man not to be two persons , we directly contradict our belief of god's being perfect god and perfect man. if we say with apollinarius , an. dom. 370. that god and man are not two persons but one , because the man had no human soul or understanding , then we contradict god's being a perfect man , and are condemn'd to eternal damnation , as apollinarian hereticks . and if for solving these difficulties , we should think good to hold , that indeed there were two natures in christ when god was made flesh , but upon the union the human was swallowed up of the divine , and so there was one nature made of two ; then we incur the anathema of the eutichian hereticks . and it follows ( saith mr. edw. ) in the same verse of this first chapter of st. john , that this word is the only begotten of the father ; whence we are bound to believe the eternal , tho ineffable , generation of the son of god. answ . could mr. edw. be so weak as to think any body but one deeply prejudiced , would approve of either of his inferences from that clause ? either the eternal generation , or that we are bound to believe it as an article necessary to salvation ? does he not know that jesus is the only son of god , by reason of that generation which befel him in time ? does he read of any other son that god generated of a virgin but jesus ? see luke 1. 35. did god ever sanctify and send into the world in such a measure and manner , any that were called gods or sons of god , as he did jesus our lord ? see john. 10. 35 , 36 , 37 , 38. and chap. 3. 34. did he ever give such testimony to any other ? did god ever beget any other son by raising him from the dead to an immortal life ( acts 13. 33. ) by anointing him with the oil of gladness above his fellows , heb. 1. 9. by setting him on his right-hand , making him to inherit a more excellent name than angels , even that of son in a more excellent sense , heb. 1. 3 , 4 , 5. by glorifying christ , making him an high-priest , saying unto him , thou art my son , this day have i begotten thee ? is not isaac call'd the only begotten son of abraham , though abraham had other sons ? but for mr. edw's eternal generation , there is not one tittle either in this text , or in all the bible ; and yet he has the confidence to bind the belief of it upon mankind , upon pain of damnation : i wish he would not be so rash , but more reverent in so tremendous a point . next , he finds our author faulty in not taking notice , that we are commanded to believe the father and the son , john 14. 10 , 11. and that the son is in the father , and the father in the son , which expresses their vnity . wonderful ! did our author indeed take no notice that we are commanded to believe the father and the son ? when he all along in his treatise makes the messiah , christ , son of god , terms synonimous , and that signify the same thing ; and cites abundance of texts to that purpose ; so that the belief of the father & the son , is required by him in the whole three quarters of his book , which mr. edw. takes notice he spent in proving his proposition . did mr. edw. write these remarks ? or did some body else add them to his book of the causes of atheism ? as for the vnity of the father and son , exprest he says by these words , the son is in the father , and the father in the son ; does he think his reader never read that text in john 17. 21. that they [ believers ] all may be one , as thou father art in me , and i in thee , that they also may be one in us , with ver . 23. or that other text , 1 john 4. 16. he that dwelleth in love , dwelleth in god , and god in him ? but for the word vnity , which he uses , if he means by it any more than a close union , it implies a contradiction , that two should be one ; that a duality should be an unity . this ( saith he ) is made an article of faith by our saviour's particular and express command . he must mean , that mr. edwards's own sense of that text is commanded as necessary to salvation , else he says no more of that than the author allows concerning both that and other scriptures . if he means his own sense , then i think he 's an inconsiderate and rash man ; for i have shew'd that his sense is contradictious . here mr. edw. calls in question the sincerity of our author , and , pag. 109. says , it is most evident to any thinking and considerate person , that he purposely omits the epistolary writings of the apostles , because they are fraught with other fundamental doctrines , besides that one which he mentions . i will not question mr. edwards's sincerity in what he writes , but i question much his due considering what he writes against . does not our author make in effect the same objection against himself , pag. 291. and answer it in fourteen pages , even to the end of his book ? but mr. edw. takes notice of very little of it . and the most of that he does take notice of , he answers with a little raillery upon the bulk of mankind , the unlearned multitude , the mob , and our author . his note upon these phrases , is , surely this gentleman is afraid of captain tom , and is going to make a religion for his myrmidons . — we are come to a fine pass indeed ; the venerable mob must be ask'd what we must believe . thus he ridicules the doctrine of faith , on which the salvation or damnation of the multitude depends , and the grounds of our author's design ; who finding in holy scripture , that god would have all men to be saved , and come to the knowledg of the truth ; the gospel was preach'd to the poor , and the common people heard christ gladly ; that god hath chosen the poor in this world , rich in faith ; he concluded ( when he had overcome the prejudices of education , and the contempt of the learned , and those that think themselves so ) that the gospel must be a very intelligible and plain doctrine , suted to vulgar capacities , and the state of mankind in this world destin'd to labour and travel ; not such as the writers and wranglers in religion have made it . to this mr. edw. answers ( besides what i have noted above ) and is forced to agree , that all men ought to understand their religion : but then asks ( as of a positive thing not to be doubted ) if men may not understand those articles of faith which he had mention'd a little before , pretended to be found in the epistolary writings , [ which are generally form'd not in scripture-terms , and about which there is such endless contentions ] when they be explain'd to them , as well as our author's article , jesus is the messiah ? nay he is confident that there is no more difficulty in understanding this proposition [ the father , son and holy ghost , are one god or divine nature ] than in that other of our author ( see pag. 120. ) when yet the world knows to its cost , that this article has exercis'd all the greatest wits of the church these fourteen or fifteen hundred years to understand the terms , and take away the contradictions : and at this day the english trinitarians have most fierce contentions among themselves about the meaning of it . the nominal trinitarians agree with the unitarians , that the realists , that hold three real persons , are tritheists ; and the realists agree with the unitarians , that the nominals or modalists destroy the reality of the eternal son and holy ghost , and are patripassians or sabellians . besides , mr. edw. knows that each of these parties are at vast difference among themselves ; they easily find inconsistences or contradictions in one anothers explications ; so that supposing there be but ten different trinitarian hypotheses , ( i think there are more ) every one has mine against him , all which he looks upon as faulty ; and they on the other hand do all reject his . they reject them i say , not , as the bishop of sarum , in his letter to d. w. pag. 56. would paliate matter , as having the same acts of piety and adoration , though different ways of explaining , either the vnity of the essence , or the trinity of the persons ; but as having different acts , except we can have the same idea's when we worship three gods , as when we worship one only ; or when we worship one all-perfect person , as when we worship three such ; or when we worship one real person , and two nominal ones , as when we worship three equals ; or when we worship one self-existent god , and two dependent gods not self-existent , as when we worship three self-existents , and the like . again , mr. edw's proposition is never once found in holy writ ; but our author 's often expresly . he uses terms in such a sense as they are never us'd in scripture , for divine nature is never put there for god ; nor does the word god , or one god , ever signify father , son and h. ghost , but always one singular person ; and throughout the holy scriptures from the beginning to the end , god is spoken of , and spoken to , as one only person , and by terms and pronouns that signify singularly , and never otherwise . god indeed does twice or thrice speak of himself plurally , as persons of dignity and dominion do often . but our author both his words in form , and his explications are all taken out of scripture ; and in the days of our saviour and his apostles , there was no difficulty in understanding them . the most illiterate fishermen and shepherds , and women , knew what was meant by jesvs , and what by messiah : the only question was , whether the proposition jesus is the messiah , was to be affirm'd , or denied . but notwithstanding all this , mr. edw. says , truly if there be any difficulty , it is in our author's proposition ; why pray ? for here is an hebrew word first to be explain'd before the mob can understand the proposition : but by his favour , the word messiah is by our translators adopted into the english tongue , and the common people , the rabble ( as mr. edw. is pleas'd to call them ) understand it as well as they do the christ or the anointed , and also the explications of those terms , provided they use to read either themselves , or hear others read the holy scriptures . but the word messiah was in our saviour and the apostles time most common among the jews : therefore our author designing to represent the preaching and faith of that time , chose to use it more frequently than any other term , see pag. 30. but i presume mr. edw. brought in this objection , only as a diversion . if he really think as he says , it 's a sharp reflection upon all the learned trinitarian controvertists upon this point ; except they take it more candidly for an invitation to their reverences and right reverences , to come to the most learned mr. edw. to inform their understandings , and solve all the difficulties that make them at so great odds one with another : and it 's to be hoped he will give such a clear explication of the trinity , as will satisfy the mystery-men or ignoramus-trinitarians , that at length they may understand what they now profess to believe without understanding . but to return , for all this will seem a digression except the reader please to remember it is for a vindication of our author from mr. edw's hard charge , of purposely omitting the epistolary writings , because fraught with other fundamental doctrines besides that one which he mentions : among those , mr. edw. reckons chiefly and more especially — the doctrine of the ever to be adored trinity , eminently attested in those epistles . this doctrine he has given us in his proposition above discoursed , and has attempted to show ( against matter of fact in all ages , and especially in this present time ) that this fundamental ought not to have been omitted because of its difficulty or unintelligibleness ; for it is ( he saith ) less difficult than that of our author , jesus is the messiah ; but how successfully i leave to consideration . but if it be unintelligible , or contradictious , at least to the bulk of mankind , then it 's impossible it should be a fundamental article ; and therefore our author needed not purposely to omit the epistolary writings of the apostles , for fear of finding it there , since mr. edw. himself cannot find it there , nor in the bible . but what says he to our author 's full answer to the question , about the usefulness of the epistles , though the belief of many doctrines contained in them be not necessary to salvation ? our author answers , 1. that he that will read the epistles as he ought , must observe what 't is in them is principally aim'd at ; — for that is the truth which is to be receiv'd and believ'd , and not scatter'd sentences in scripture-language , accommodated to our notions and prejudices . what says mr. edw. to that ? 2. [ for i abridg ] there be many truths in the bible , which a good christian may be wholly ignorant of , and so not believe ; which perhaps some lay great stress on , and call fundamental articles , because they are the distinguishing points of their communion . what says mr. edw. to this ? 3. the epistles were writ to those who were in the faith , and true christians already ; and so could not be design'd to teach them the fundamental articles and points necessary to salvation . this he shows from the address of all the epistles , or something noted in them . 4. their resolving doubts and reforming mistakes , are of great advantage to our knowledg and practice . 5. the great doctrines of the christian faith are dropt here and there , [ he has cited some such passages in the proof of his proposition ] . — we shall find those necessary points best in the preaching of our saviour and the apostles . 6. the epistles , besides the main argument of each of them , do in many places explain the fundamentals , and that wisely , by proper accommodations to the apprehensions of those they were writ to . which he shows particularly in the epistle to the romans , and that to the hebrews ; also in the general epistles . at length , these holy writers ( saith he ) inspir'd from above writ nothing but truth ; and in most places very weighty truths to us now ; — but yet every sentence of theirs , must not be taken up and look'd upon as a fundamental necessary to salvation , without an explicite belief , whereof no body could be a member of christ's church , &c. for ( saith he , pag. 299. ) 't is plain , the contending parties on one side or t'other , are ignorant of , nay , disbelieve the truths deliver'd in holy writ , as i noted before . this little i have transcribed out of our author for the sake of those , who perhaps have not his book , but have mr. edwards's , and that it may appear how unfairly ( to say no worse ) mr. edw. deals with our author , saying , pag. 111. he passes by these inspired writings with some contempt ; also he suggests his insincerity to the reader . but i have seen a letter from a gentleman of no ordinary judgment , who says , — mr. edwards has not only mistook mr. lock , but abus'd and belied him : for he says , mr. lock cites only the gospels and acts , but declares ( or insinuates ) his contempt of the epistles , as if they were not of like authority with the acts or gospels ; but mr. lock has no where intimated any such opinion . his book ( saith he ) shows , he has read the scriptures with very great observation , as well as judgment ; he suffers nothing to escape him , that belongs to the subject he manages . he names our author mr. lock , which i am assured he does by common fame and conjecture ; he has no other grounds for it , as neither have i , no more than mr. edwards . whether we are mistaken or not in his name i know not , but i think i have proved that mr. edw. is much mistaken in his judgment concerning his book , or has perversly censur'd him and it . he is so far from contemning the epistles , ( as mr. edw. accuses him ) that whoever will take the pains to reckon , he will find he has quoted them , and refer'd to them near fourscore times . and mr. edw. is no less injurious in his censures upon other writers : in the very socinian doctrine it self ( saith he ) there seems to be an atheistical tang. for proof , he cites the considerations on the explications of doct. of trin. pag. 5. where ( saith he ) the self-existence of god , which is the primary , fundamental , and essential property — of the deity , is peremptorily pronounc'd by them to be a contradiction . it 's strange a man of mr. edwards's undertaking , should give forth such a calumny . his ldp. of worcester says , if god was from eternity , he must be from himself . that author answers , that that is an espousing the cause of the atheists , and he gives this reason ; if god is from eternity , he must be of none ; neither of ( or from ) himself , nor from any other ; not from himself , for then he must be before he was ; and neither from himself , nor from any other , because all origination of what kind soever is inconsistent with an eternal being . is this now peremptorily to pronounce , that the self-existence of god is a contradiction ? or is it not to vindicate the self-existence of god from a false notion of it , occasion'd by the bishop's words ? but what will mr. edw. say to the author of the xxviii propositions , &c. ( who , they say , is the bishop of glouc. ) who peremptorily denies , nay says , it is a flat contradiction , to say that the second and third persons ( of the trinity ) are self-existent ? ( prop. 8. ) consequently neither of them is god : because ( as mr. edw. says ) self-existence is the primary , fundamental , and essential property of god , which yet neither the son nor the h. ghost have . i wish mr. edw. would either reconcile himself to the bishop , or the bishop to him , before he charges an atheistical tang upon the socinian doctrine , upon account of the denial of god's self-existence , which he may see strongly affirm'd in the reflections on the said propositions , &c. as for socinus's denying the praescience of contingencies , i am not , nor is our author concern'd in it ; but which is more dishonourable to god , to be the author of all the sin and wickedness that ever was , or ever will be in the world ; or to deny his fore-knowledge of the certainty of that which is not certain . socinus and crellius have denied such an immensity of god , which makes him to be essentially and wholly in every point of space ; because such immensity would take away all distinction between god and creature , and has indeed an atheistical tang ; for the greater part of atheists hold the universe to be god ; hence lucan , jupiter est quodcunque vides , quocunque moveris . which opinion , some of the antient fathers have wrote against ; as clemens alexandrinus , and others . mr. edw. may charge them all with a tang of atheism if he please . as for god's spirituality , modest divines confess it easier to say , what it is not , than what it is . mr. edw. perhaps has attain'd to such a perfection of knowledg in that matter , as may make him able to teach them what they are now ignorant of : but socinus nor crellius , nor any other of them ever denied , contrary to most express , and often repeated scriptures , and common reason , the most glorious attribute of god's vnity , which gives excellency to all his other attributes : for were self-existence , omniscience , immensity and spirituality , and all other attributes common to more than one ; where would the excellency and majesty of god's name be ? how should we love and adore him with all our hearts and strength , when there are others that require it and have as equal right to it as he ? but mr. edw. will count himself highly injur'd , if i charge him with denying god's unity : but hold a little , be not angry ; if you be , take heed it be not more for your own sake , than for god's sake : do you not say , that the infinite nature of god is communicable to three distinct persons ? pag. 79. and pag. 120. that the father , son and holy ghost are one god , or divine nature ? are not these terms convertible ? namely , that one god is father , son and h. ghost , that is , three persons ? and what are three almighty and only wise persons , but three gods ? the father is one god , the son is one god distinct from the father , and the holy ghost is one god distinct from the father and son. thus your proposition amounts to this , that one god is three gods , that the unity of god is a trinity of gods. that vnity or oneness is no longer an attribute of god , but trinity or threeness . but we cannot be heard , let us make out your contradictions never so clearly : nay , you impute it to us as a heinous crime , that we make it an argument against the belief of your trinity , that it cannot be understood without contradiction . you impute to us most injuriously , that we are to admit of nothing but what is exactly adjusted to nature's and reason's light , pag. 68. that therefore the trinity is a doctrine that can't be born , because it can't be understood , pag. 69. and that the english vnitarians declare they cannot believe it , because reason does not teach it , pag. 72. this is a topick the trinitarians do always inlarge upon , and urge with a great deal of pomp in themselves , and ignominy in the unitarians , as persons that prefer their own reasonings before divine revelation how clear soever . and though this calumny has been answer'd and wip'd away , and retorted upon them a hundred times , yet mr. edw. will still confidently charge it . he cites the letter of resolution for proof of it , and therefore has read it , but passes by the answer to this imputation , which is to be found in the very first page of it , where thus ; first , 't is not true , that we prefer reason before revelation ; on the contrary , revelation being what god himself hath said , either immediately , or by inspired persons ; 't is to be preferr'd before the clearest demonstration of our reason . and in the consider . on explic. on 4 serm. and a sermon of the bishop of worcester , the author says : he utterly mistakes in thinking that we deny the articles of the new christianity , or athanasian religion , because they are mysteries , or because we do not comprehend them ; we have a clear and distinct perception , that they are not mysteries but contradictions , impossibilities , and pure non-sense . but now that the trinitarians do most expresly prefer their reasoning , consequences and wire-drawn deductions before holy scripture ; besides that it has been done in the notes upon the athanasian creed , and other tracts , i shall shew further from mr. edwards's fundamental doctrine , but now recited ; if at least the trinitarians will acknowledg him for their orthodox champion . 1. it 's manifest he means by the one god , not one divine almighty person , but three such ; but nothing is more evident in holy scripture , than that god is one person only . for proof of it , i have referr'd my reader to the scriptures from beginning to end , in more than twenty thousand texts , even as often as god is spoken of , or to , or speaks of himself ( except as i have said ) . but mr. edw. says expresly , that his god is three distinct divine persons , to wit , the father of the son , the son of the father , and the h. ghost which proceedeth from the father and the son. 2. he says , that these three distinct divine persons , [ each of which is god in the most perfect sense ] is the only true god , or the one god , or divine nature . the proposition which he advances , as necessary to salvation , and more easy to be understood than that jesus is the messiah , is , that the father , son and holy ghost are one god , or divine nature . whereby it 's manifest , that by one god he means not one person , but one divine nature ; and by one divine nature he means such a divine nature as is communicable to three distinct persons , see pag. 79. so that his three persons which are one god , are so one god as they communicate in one divine nature ; in like manner as peter , james and john are one man , because they communicate in one human nature , as do also all the men in the world. now i shall cite some texts of h. scripture , which do expresly declare that god is one ; and that cannot otherwise be understood than that he is one person , or singular intellectual nature , essence or substance . here let me premise first , how equivocally mr. edw. and the trinitarians express themselves in this great and necessary point , on which depends our eternal salvation ; and whereby the bulk of mankind ( for i think that 's a far more decent phrase than mr. edw's rabble , or captain tom and his myrmadons , or the venerable mob ) cannot escape being deluded . he and they confess also , that there is but one god , though three persons in that one god ; but by one god they do not mean ( as i have shewed from mr. edw. ) one singular intellectual nature , essence , or substance compleat , for that is a person ; and if they did , the contradiction would presently appear to every capacity , to wit , that three divine persons are one divine person ; but they ( as mr. edw. ) say , the father , son and holy ghost , or the three divine persons , are one god , or divine nature , essence or substance . hereby they conceal from their poor honest reader , thirsting after truth , that god is one intellectual perfect nature , essence or substance , and make him believe by that concealment , that though there are three divine intellectual perfect natures , yet there is but one divine nature or god. i am also willing to premise , that the grecism of a solitary adjective masculine , or article without a substantive ( where the discourse is of intellectual beings ) doth frequently , if not always connote person ; and our english translators have in many texts render'd it person , as the clear sense of the greek text , not as a word supplied in another character to explain the text , but in the same character as a verbal translation . instances of this rendring are these among many others ; mat. 27. 24. of this just [ person ] luke 15. 7. ninety nine just [ persons ] acts 17. 17. — the devout [ persons ] eph. 5. 5. — unclean [ person ] 2 pet. 3. 11. what manner of [ persons . ] in these places there is nothing in the greek to answer the word person , but what is implied in the adjective . to come now to the texts that assert the vnity or oneness of god , against mr. edw's trinity or threeness ; or that god is one intellectual nature , or one person , against mr. edws's one divine nature , or three persons : see jam. 2. 19. according to the greek , thou believest that god is one , thou dost well . gal. 3. 20. but god is one . mark 12. 29. the lord our god , the lord is one , saith our saviour out of the law , to the scribe that asked him , which is the first commandment of all ? and jesus answer'd him , the first of all the commandments is , hear , o israel , the lord our god , the lord is one . and thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , &c. and in the 32d ver . the scribe said unto him , well master , thou hast said the truth , for god is one , and there is none other but he . and ver . 34. — jesus saw that he answer'd discreetly . our bibles refer us to deut. 6. 4 , 5. whence our lord takes this his answer , and where we find the same words , which by ainsworth are also render'd , the lord our god , the lord is one . now in these scriptures the numeral adjective masculine , being without a substantive and singular , it forces us to understand in every place person . so that we nothing doubt but the translators would have render'd every where god is one person , if they had not been prepossessed with the opinion of god's being three persons ; the like to which they have done in many other places . but in that answer of the holy jesus to him that called him good master , mat. 19. 17. it 's not possible to avoid it ; 1. that god is a person ; 2. that he is but one person ; and 3. that he is good in an eminent sense above all other persons whatsoever . for thus he says , why callest thou me good ? none [ or no person ] is good but one [ person ] the god. how strangely perverse would it be to understand this text in the trinitarian sense , viz. none , or no person is good but one , the father , son and holy ghost ? or thus , none , or no person is good but one , i. e. the divine nature ? again , 2. consider we these texts , and see what sense we can make of them , if god be not one person only , mal. 2. 10. hath not one god created us ? must we say with mr. edw. hath not one father , son and holy ghost [ or one divine nature that is not a person ] created us ? rom. 3. 30. there is one god who justifies , &c. trin. there is one father , son and h. ghost that justifies , zech. 14. 9. hebr. in that day the lord shall be one , and his name one . how should the lord be one and his name one , if the lord be three distinct persons , and his name father , son and holy ghost ? isa . 37. 16. o lord of hosts , god of israel , thou dwellest between the cherubims , thou art the god , even thou alone , of all the kingdoms of the earth ; thou hast made heaven and earth ; psal . 86. 10. thou art great and dost wondrous works , thou art god alone . 2 king. 19. 19. — that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the lord god , even thou only . isa . 44. 24. &c. i am the lord that maketh all things , that stretcheth forth the heavens alone , that spreadeth abroad the earth by my self . nehem. 9. 6 , &c. thou even thou art lord alone , thou hast made heaven — the host of heaven worshippeth thee . isa . 37. 20. — that all the kingdoms of the earth may know , that thou art the lord , even thou only . 2 king. 19. 15. jude 4. — denying the only lord god , and our lord jesus christ . 1 tim. 2. 5. there is one god , and one mediator between god and men , the man christ jesus . ephes . 4. 6. one god and father of all , who is above all and through all , and in you all . isa . 46. 9. for i am god , and there is none else ; i am god , and there is none like me . 1 king. 8. 23. lord god of israel , there is no god like thee in heaven above , or in earth beneath . — ver. 60. that all the people of the earth may know that the lord is god , and that there is none else . isa . 44. 6. i am the first , and i am the last , and besides me there is no god. ver. 8. is there a god besides me ? yea , there is no god , i know not any . isa . 45. 5. i am the lord there is none else , there is no god besides me . verse 6. — there is none besides me , i am the lord and there is none else . ver. 14. — saying , surely god is in thee , and there is none else , there is no god. ver. 21. — have not i the lord ? and there is no god else beside me , a just god and a saviour , there is none beside me . ver. 22. look unto me , and be ye saved all the ends of the earth , for i am god , and there is none else . deut. 4. 35. unto thee it was shewed , that thou mightest know that the lord he is god , and there is none else beside him . 1 chron. 17. 20. o lord there is none like thee , neither is there any god besides thee . exod. 34. 14. for thou shalt worship no other god , for the lord whose name is jealous , is a jealous god. deut. 32. 39. see now that i , even i am he , and there is no god with me . 2 king. 5. 15. behold , now i know that there is no god in all the earth , but in israel . 2 sam. 22. 32. for who is god save the lord ? see the same words in psal . 18. 31. 1 cor. 8. 4. — there is none other god but one . i conclude with the first and chiefest of the ten commandments given from mount sinai , exod. 20. 3. thou shalt have no other gods before me — i the lord thy god am a jealous god : and that of the lord jesus , when himself was tempted , matth. 4. 10. thou shalt worship the lord thy god , and him only shalt thou serve . the meaning plainly is , i am a jew , and subject to the law of the jews , i am commanded therein to worship the lord my god , and to serve him only . these scriptures do so clearly prove , that god is a person , or a perfect intellectual nature or substance , and that he is only one such ; that to deny either of these propositions , is to me to deny the truth of holy scripture , not only in some obscure and doubtful text , but in the current of it , and in the chief fundamental of all religion . and mr. edw. in asserting there are three such persons in one divine nature , renders in effect the whole bible void and useless for the proof of any proposition whatsoever it be . if this , that god is an absolutely perfect being , and therefore a person , ( for persons are the most perfect of beings or substances ) and but one such , cannot be plainly and undeniably prov'd from scripture , it 's utterly in vain to attempt to prove any thing . for it 's manifest that to assert this , is the chief aim and design of all the holy writers , and that they are most zealous and vehement in it . and herein lies the controversy between the trinitarians and the unitarians ; we assert with the greatest plainness , and fulness , and clearness of holy scripture , as ever any thing was or can be exprest , that god is one in the most perfect sense of oneness , ( which is by all men that understand the word ) in a personal sense . but the trinitarians do on the contrary contend , that god is not one , but three in that personal sense , and one in a less perfect sense ; which is not personal , but common to many : which is a sense that dethrones god , and makes him either a third of the one god , or one of the three , that created and governs the world , and is to be ador'd by men and angels . for they cannot deny but that in worshipping the father our god , we worship one god ; but they rage against us , because we do not worship besides him , and distinct from him , the son as perfectly god as he ; as different from him as a real son is from a real father , and another person as really god as either the father , or the son , and as really different from the father and son , as he that is sent is from him that sent him . and this is so evidently true , that ( as i have observ'd ) almost one half of the trinitarians consent with the unitarians , in condemning the other party of trinitarians as confessors of three gods. but that i may give yet fuller evidence of this fundamental truth of the unity of the person of god against the trinity of persons in him , i shall in the third place produce some texts that ascribe some perfections to the person of god singularly , and with exclusion of all other persons in that sense and degree . such are those , where the holy jesus says , none [ or no person ] is good but one , the god , which i have urged before : and that in john 17. 3. where the blessed son in his prayer to god , ( wherein it were absurd to say that he pray'd to himself ) calls him father , and the only true god ; and that in distinction from himself , whom he describes by the names of jesus christ , him whom the father hath sent . this particle only , imports some excellency in the attribute of true , which is here given to god his father , above and with exclusion of all others , or it signifies nothing . rom. 16. 27. to god only wise be glory through jesus christ for ever . amen . here again the attribute of only wise is ascrib'd to the person of god in distinction from jesus christ as the medium of the glory which is given to the only wise god. 1 tim. 6. 15 , 16. god is called , the blessed and only potentate , the king of kings , and lord of lords ; who only hath immortality , &c. which are all personal titles , from which all other persons are excluded by the exclusive particle only : for there can be but one potentate who is king of kings in the highest sense , and much more when only is added . when christ is called king of kings , and lord of lords , ( rev. 17. 14. and 19. 16. ) it 's manifest it 's to be understood in a derivative sense , because all power in heaven and earth was given to him as the lamb that had been slain ; and therefore he is represented as clothed with a vesture dipt in blood , in that 19 chap. ver . 13. who only hath immortality : that is , ( as dr. hammond says ) god is immortal in himself , ( not in three selfs ) and all immortality of others is derived from him . in the same sense is the lord god almighty called , in rev. 15. 4. only holy , because he only is holy of himself ; and as it is understood , 1 sam. 2. 2. there is none holy as the lord. now in these and such-like passages of holy scripture , the trinitarians and mr. edw. must understand by god three persons ; by father , the father , son and holy ghost ; by thou , ye ; by him , them ; by himself , themselves ; and those words the scripture hath in the singular number , must be understood by them plurally . it 's no marvel then that they call their doctrine a mystery , and that there is so much dissension among themselves concerning it , since it cannot be understood in any sense , which is not either contradictious in it self , or so to the full current of holy scripture . in like manner , 4thly , all those texts ( which are not a few ) in which god is named the most high , the most high god , the lord the most high , god most high , the highest ; whether these titles be subject or attribute , must all be understood , not of one person , or a singular knowing and willing substance , but either of a substance that is not a person , or else of three equal persons : and all this by virtue of that scholastic and unreasonable distinction between person and essence ; or as mr. edw. words it , the infinite nature of god communicable to three distinct persons , ( pag. 79. ) which distinction being absurd in it self when understood , they obtrude upon the world under the name of mystery and incomprehensible . 5thly . besides , that the holy scriptures are so abundant in those texts that clearly shew him to be one person only , as i have fully manifested ; yet i may still urge from the same texts and others , that the father only , whom the trinitarians acknowledg to be but one person , is that god , that god alone , that one god , that god who is one , the most high god , and no person else besides him . i produced before the text in john 17. 3. to prove that the perfection of being the only true god , is ascrib'd to him as being one person only . now i urge from the same text , that that person is the father of the son , in express distinction from the son and all others . next , that text in 1 cor. 8. 5 , 6. though there be that are called gods , whether in heaven or in earth , ( as there be gods many , and lords many ) ; but to us there is but one god , the father , of whom were all things , and one lord jesus christ , by whom are all things , and we by him . which words do plainly assert , that that person who is the one god of christians in exclusion of all those that are called gods , ( and in some sense may be so ) is none but the father ; and in distinction from the lord jesus , who was made lord and christ in a most excellent manner , after his resurrection . this text must be understood by the trinitarians thus ; there is none other god but three almighty persons : — there are gods many , and lords many , but unto us [ christians ] there is but one god or divine nature , the father , son and holy ghost ; each of which is the one god of christians , and not the father only . see next ephes . 4. 4 , 5 , 6. there is one spirit — one lord — one god and father of all . where the one god and father of all is clearly differenced from the one spirit and the one lord. now see mat. 24. 36. but of that day and hour knoweth none [ or no person ] ( for of necessity it must be so understood ) no not the angels of heaven , but my father only . st. mark hath it — neither the son , but the father . these parallel texts prove , 1. that the person of the father is the person of god ; for none but that person could then know the day and hour of judgment : and , 2. that the father only is that person of god in exclusion of all other persons , both angels and men , and of the son himself . what shall we say of them , who in flat contradiction to this scripture , and the son himself , assert , that the son knew the day and hour of judgment as well as the father ? let us next compare that passage in 1 tim. 2. 5. ( which i cited before ) with 1 john 2. 1. the former saith , there is one god , and one mediator between god and men , the man christ jesus . the latter says , if any man sin , we have an advocate with the father , jesus christ the righteous . by which consider'd together , it appears that the one god and the father are the same person , for only a person is capable of being interceded to , and the mediator and advocate the same : so that the father is the person of god , as well as the advocate is the person of the mediator . but if the reader desire to see this point ( viz. that the father only is the most high god ) fully and learnedly argued and defended , let him read crellius's two books of one god the father , out of which i have transcribed much . in what a many places of scripture is christ called the son of god , and the holy spirit the spirit of god ? in every of which either god must be taken for the father only , or christ must be the son of himself , and the holy spirit the spirit of himself , both which are absurd . again , how many places of holy scripture are there , where some prerogative is given to the father above christ , as john 14. 28. my father is greater than i ? how asham'd are the more ingenuous trinitarians of that answer , to this objection against the deity of the son , which says , the son was less according to his human nature ? john 10. 29. my father is greater than all . it 's manifest from the context , that the son himself is included in that word all. 1 cor. 11. 3. the head of christ is god. christ is not the head of himself , therefore the father only is god. how often do christ and the divine writers call the father his god ? john 20. 17. i ascend to my father and your father , to my god and your god. in rev. 3. 12. he calls the father my god four times . mat. 27. 46. and mark 15. 34. he cries out , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ! his god was only the person of the father , and not god the divine nature , which according to mr. edw. is common to three persons . ephes . 1. 17. — the god of our lord jesus christ , the father of glory . heb. 1. 8. where christ is called a god , he is also said to have a god , who anointed him . was he his own god , and the god that anointed him ? or was the father only ? john 10. 18. this commandment have i received of my father . he only is god who gives commandments to the son. john 12. 49. the father that sent me , he gave me a commandment what i should say , and what i should speak . john 14. 31. as the father hath given me commandment , so i do . john 15. 10. as i have kept my father's commandment , and abide in his love. see chap. 4. 34. and 6. 38. and 8. 29 , 55. and 17. 4. and 18. 11. add those places wherein it 's clearly taught that christ obey'd god , rom. 5. 19. phil. 2. 8. heb. 5. 8. god calleth christ his servant , isa . 42. 1. mat. 12. 18. isa . 49. 5 , 6. with acts 13. 47. isa . , 2. 13. and 53. 11. ezek. 34. 23 , 24. and 37. 24 , 25. he is called — a minister of the sanctuary , heb. 8. 2. all these texts , and a hundred more ( say the trinitarians ) are answered by the distinction of a divine and human nature in one person , or the second person of god his having a human nature : so you are to understand that this person of god , who is here said to be a servant , to receive commands and obey them , &c. is yet as perfectly great as he , from whom he receiv'd those commands , who has no prerogative above him . the servant is as great as his lord , and he that obey'd as he that commanded , and he that is sent as he that sent him ; yea , the same god is servant and lord , the obeyer and commander , the sent and the sender . when all these prerogatives of the father above the son , and consequently above the holy spirit , will not prove the father only to be the most high god ; of what use can the holy scriptures be to us ? what shall be the difference between holy scriptures and profane writings ? may not all the greek fables of their gods , be justified by the same , or such like distinctions ? o father of mercies , enlighten their understandings , and remove their prejudices , that they may no longer , deny thee the glory due to thee above all ! neither is it to be passed by , that to the father only is ascrib'd in holy scripture , the creation of heaven and earth , to christ never ; though in a certain way of speaking , common to the sacred writers , many things , or all pertaining to the new covenant or gospel , are said to be created ( that is , medelled or put into a new and better state ) by him . so in that antient confession of faith , call'd , the apostles creed , the creation of heaven and earth is appropriated to the father ; and both in those apostolical times , and to this day , prayers and praises are offer'd to the father through-christ , and the gift of the holy spirit is begg'd of him ; which clearly shews the prerogative of the father above the son and holy spirit ; and consequently that he only is that person , whom we ought to understand by the name of god. in fine , the god of abraham , of isaac , and of jacob , the god of the fathers , and the father of christ , are descriptions of one and the same person : so acts 3. 13. — the god of our fathers hath glorified his son jesus : and heb. 1. 1. god who — spake in times past to the fathers by the prophets , hath — spoken to us by his son. so that they who make the son to be the god of the fathers , make him to be his own god and father . but because i think it may give farther light and evidence to this great point , wherein the glory of god , even the father , is so much concern'd ; i will yet further show from many plain texts , set so as they may give light one to another ; that the god of the fathers , and the god and father of christians ; or our god and father , and the god and father of our lord christ ; our heavenly father and his heavenly father ; his god and our god , is one and the same person . i present them by couples , the first speaking of christ , the second of us . see rom. 15. 6. that ye may glorify god , even the father of our lord jesus christ . phil. 4. 20. now unto god our father , be glory for ever and ever . 2 cor. 1. 3. blessed be god , even the father of our lord jesus christ , the father of mercies . rom. 1. 7. grace be to you , and peace from god our father , and the lord jesus christ . col. 1. 3. we give thanks to god , and the father of our lord jesus christ . eph. 1. 2. grace to you , and peace from god our father , and from the lord jesus christ . 2 cor. 11. 31. the god and father of our lord jesus christ knoweth that i lie not . 1 thes . 1. 1. grace be to you , and peace from god our father , and the lord jesus christ . heb. 1. 8. unto the son he saith , thy throne , o god , is for ever and ever . thou hast loved righteousness , and hated iniquity , therefore god even thy god hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows . phil. 1. 2. grace be unto you , and peace from god our father , and the lord jesus christ . ephes . 1. 3. blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ . 1 tim. 1. 2. grace , mercy and peace from god our father , and jesus christ our lord. eph. 1. 17. that the god of our lord jesus christ , the father of glory , may give unto you the spirit , &c. col. 1. 2. grace be unto you , and peace from god our father , and the lord jesus christ . 1 pet. 1. 3. blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ . 2 thess . 2. 16. now the lord jesus himself , and god even our father , &c. john 20. 17. jesus saith to mary , i ascend to my father and your father , and to my god and to your god. gal. 1. 4. who gave himself for our sins — according to the will of god and our father . mat. 27. 46. jesus cried — saying , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? philem. 3. grace be to you , and peace from god our father , and the lord jesus christ . rev. 3. 12. him that overcometh , will i make a pillar in the temple of my god , and write upon him the name of my god , &c. 2 thess . 1. 1. — unto the church of the thessalonians in god our father , and the lord jesus christ . john 17. 1. — jesus lift up his eyes to heaven , and said — father , glorify thy son. mat. 23. 9. one is your father which is in heaven . psal . 115. 3. our god is in the heavens . thus we see there is one god and father of all ( ephes . 4. 6. ) both of christ , and believers the children of god ; the same person is the god and father of both . it 's absurd to say , that christ the son is his own father , or his own god ; so it 's plainly contrary to scripture to say , that any other person is our god or our father ( in the highest sense ) but the same who is christ's god and father . that it is so , i appeal to the serious thoughts of every man and woman that reads the scriptures attentively , without the prejudice of scholastick and confus'd distinctions . now i shall further produce you many couples of scriptures , which prove expresly , that the name of god ( when taken by way of excellency ) and the name of father ( in christ's gospel ) do signify the same singular person . so that no one is or can be god , who is not also the father ; which term is acknowledged to signify but one person . this appears from the scripture , attributing the sending of christ , or the son , sometimes to god , sometimes to the father , and both frequently . john 3. 34. he whom god hath sent , speaketh the words of god ; for god giveth not the spirit by measure unto him . chap. 14. 24. the word which ye hear is not mine , but the father's who sent me . acts 10. 36. the word which god sent to the children of israel , preaching peace by jesus christ . john 5. 30. i seek not mine own will , but the will of the father which hath sent me . acts 3. 26. god having raised up his son jesus , sent him to bless you . john 12. 49. the father which sent me , he gave me a commandment what i should say , and what i should speak . 1 john 4. 10. not that we loved god , but that he loved us , and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins . chap. 4. 14. and we have seen and do testify , that the father sent the son to be the saviour of the world. gal. 4. 4. god sent forth his son made of a woman . john 6. 39. and this is the father's will that hath sent me . see ver . 44. 1 john 4. 9. in this was manifested the love of god toward us , because god sent his only begotten son into the world , &c. john 5. 24. he that heareth my word , and believeth on the father that hath sent me . rom. 8. 3. god sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh . john 20. 21. then said jesus , as my father sent me , even so send i you . joh. 3. 17. god sent not his son to condemn the world. chap. 5. 23. he that honoureth not the son , honoureth not the father which sent him . joh. 6. 29. jesus answered , this is the work of god , that ye believe on him whom he hath sent . chap. 17. 25. o father , these have known that thou hast sent me . john 17. 3. this is life eternal , that they might know thee ( father ) the only true god , and jesus christ whom thou hast sent . chap. 10. 36. say ye of him whom the father hath sanctified and sent into the world , thou blasphemest , because i said , i am the son of god ? john 16. 27. the father himself loveth you , because ye have — believed that i came out from god. ver. 28. i came forth from the father , and am come into the world ; again , i leave the world , and go to the father . ver. 30. by this we believe that thou camest forth from god. john 3. 16. god so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten son — . chap. 8. 18. i am one that bear witness of my self ; and the father that sent me beareth witness of me . john 8. 42. for i proceeded forth and came from god ; neither came i of my self , but he sent me . chap. 5. 36. the works that i do , bear witness that the father hath sent me . hence it appears most evidently , not only that god and the father are the same person , and that the same is as plainly distinguisht from our lord christ , as the sender is distinct from him that is sent ; but that the son is no more the same god that sent him , than he is the same father that sent him . if christians will still suffer themselves to be impos'd upon , under the notion of mystery , to believe that the son of god is the same numerical god as his father , who sent him to do his will , ( not his own ) and to be the propitiation ( or mercy-seat , heb. 9. 5. ) for our sins ; that the only begotten or well-beloved son , whom the father ( first ) sanctified and ( then ) sent into the world , is the same god who sanctified and sent him , that the miraculous works which the son did , did bear witness , not that the father even god had sent him , but that the son was that god , &c. they should no longer pretend , that their faith concerning god and his son christ jesus , in what is necessary to eternal life , is clearly and plainly reveal'd in holy scripture , but that they have learnt it by tradition from their teachers , which yet they can no more conceive the meaning of , without contradiction to scripture and reason , than the papists can their transubstantiation , which they also believe under the notion of mystery . let none say there is a wide difference between the faith of protestants and papists in these cases , because transubstantiation is contradicted by sense , the trinity only by reason ; for i appeal to any man of sense , whether we may not be as certain that one person is not three persons , nor three persons one person , as that bread is not flesh . if protestants think themselves excusable in that , let them not for shame blame the papists in this . and if both protestants and papists are faultless in these points , i see not but the heathen polytheists will be capable of the same charity . the new testament scriptures are so full of those clear distinctions , and opposite relations , and works of god , from the son of god , that a man must in a manner transcribe the whole volume to present them all . i have given my reader a great number of texts already ; i will yet point him to some more , which he may read at his leisure . see then 1 john 4. ver . 9 to 16. 2 pet. 1. 17. rom. 16. 27. john 6. 69. john 5. 26 , 27. as the father hath life in himself , so hath he given to the son to have life in himself , and hath given him authority to execute judgment also , because he is the son of man. the son of god had not this life in himself , till it was given him by the living god his father , not because he was god , but because he was the son of man. but what ears can hear , that life and authority were given by the same god the father , to the very same god the son ? or that any life and authority could be given to him that was god , who had always from all eternity , all life and authority in himself , and could never be without it ? but i am pointing you to some texts of scripture . read also rom. 1. 9. chap. 8. 3 , 29 , 31. chap. 5. 10. ephes . 1. 3. 1 john 1. 5 , 7. chap. 3. 21 , 23. chap. 1. 3. gal. 1. 15. col. 1. 10 , 13. 1 cor. 1. 9. 1 john 4. 15. whosoever shall confess that jesus is the son of god [ not that he is that god whose son he is ] god dwelleth in him and he in god. 1 john 5. 9 , 10 , 11. heb. 1. 1 , 2. john 3. 16 , 17. acts 3. 26. 1 thess . 1. 9 , 10. john 5. 18. 2 john ver . 3. gal. 4. 4. acts 3. 13. these texts do undeniably prove , that god is one person only , to wit , the father of the son ; and as the son cannot be his own father , so neither that god who is his father . but i proceed , see mat. 14. 33. and 16. 16. luke 1. 35. mark 1. 1. john 1. 34. and 20. 31. these are written that ye may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god , and that believing ye might have life through his name . the apostle john did not write his gospel ( as some pretend ) to prove that jesus was god , who was his father , but that he was the christ , or a man anointed with the holy ghost and power , the son of that god who anointed him ; and that so believing we might have life through him . mark 1. 11. mat. 3. 17. luke 3. 22. mark 9. 7. luke 9. 35. heb. 1. 5. 1 john 4. 14. mat. 11. 27. luke 10. 22. john 1. 14. and 3. 18 , 29. and 14. 28. and 15. 10. and 20. 17. against all these scriptures , and many more that might be alledged , it 's urged that the son is somewhere called god [ or rather a god ] in scripture . to which i answer , that both angels and men are called god , and gods , and sons of god in scripture ; see exod. 7. 1. — i have made thee [ moses ] a god to pharaoh . exod. 4. 16. compar'd with chap. 3. 2 , 5. an angel is called jehovah and elohim ; in english , the lord and god. psal . 8. 5. thou hast made him [ man ] a little lower than the angels ; in hebrew , than the gods. and judg. 13. 22. manoah said — we shall surely die , because we have seen god ; so he calls the angel that appeared to him . but the word god taken by way of eminency for the father of all , signifies also the god of gods , deut. 10. 17. joshua 22. 22. psal . 136. 2 , &c. the most high god , gen. 14. 18. heb. 7. 1. and the lord jesus being stoned and charged with blasphemy by the jews , for saying , that he and his father were one , as we read john 10. 29 , 30 , &c. he vindicates himself by the authority of that text , in psal . 82. 6. where it's divinely written , i said ye are gods , speaking of the judges and princes , who receiv'd their authority and power from god ; and all of you sons of the most high : and argues from it thus , say ye of him , whom the father hath sanctified and sent into the world , thou blasphemest , because i said , i am the son of god ? which is in effect to say , i may with far greater right than they , be called a god , or the son of god , who have received from god far greater authority and power ; being sanctified to such a degree , and sent among men to preach such a doctrine and work , such miraculous works , as plainly shew , that the father is in me , and i in him ; that is , there is such a close union between us , as if the father dwelt in me , and did the works which i do , ( dwelling as it were in him ) and which cannot be done by any other power . whence i argue , that if in any text of scripture , jesus is said to be god or a god , ( tho he himself never said he was god ; nunquam seipse deum dixit , as saith lactantius ) it is to be understood of that godlike power , authority and glory , which god his father has conferr'd upon him ; for which he is to be honoured as the father who sent him , who anointed him , who raised him from the dead , and set him at his own right hand . so in heb. 1. 8 , 9. where in the words spoken of solomon , psal . 45. he is called god , he is said to have a god above him , who anointed him . let them consider who say , the son is god in the same sense as the father , how they can clear themselves of blasphemy . such persons look upon the unitarians with amazement and horrour , because they will not take the term god in that sense as themselves do : what! deny christ to be god , so expresly spoken of him in holy scripture ! in the mean time , they do not reflect upon themselves , who make to themselves ( by understanding scripture in another sense than christ understood it in ) another god besides the father , who only is the true god. the unitarians acknowledg and celebrate one god the father , the trinitarians do so too , but they also acknowledg and celebrate two other persons , each of which is god in the same sense as the father , neither of which is the father . which of us are safer , and in less danger of being blasphemers , and worshippers of more gods than one ? there 's nothing more manifest in holy scripture , than that the only true god hath given to the son both his being , and all whatsoever that he enjoys ; he has exalted him to his right hand , given him all power in heaven and in earth , as pharaoh exalted joseph in egypt ; only in the throne ( saith he ) will i be greater than thou . but the trinitarians will not suffer the father to enjoy that privilege ; they are asham'd of that son of god ( and his words ) who is not as great as his father ; though he said , my father is greater than i. they are asham'd of his words , who said , of that day and hour — knoweth none , not the son , but the father only : and say in contradiction to him , the son did know that day and hour as well as the father , and not the father only . they are asham'd of his words who said , i can do nothing of my self ; i came not to do my own will , but the will of him that sent me ; my doctrine is not mine , but his that sent me ; i — do nothing of my self , but as the father hath taught me i speak these things ; i have not spoken of my self , but the father that sent me , he gave me a commandment what i should say , and what i should speak ; the word that i speak , i speak not of my self , but the father that abideth in me he doth the works . these and many other words and sayings of the same kind , they seem to be asham'd of , and say , and contend for it , that he could do all things of himself , that he came to do his own will , that his doctrine was his own , that he had no need of the father's teaching , &c. they are ashamed of those words of christ's ; mat. 19. 17. why dost thou call me good ? none is good but one , the god ; and say none is good but three , god and god and god , or father , son and holy ghost . here let me observe to the reader ( as i have hinted above ) that there is a considerable difference between that particle one in this text , and the same particle one in that supposititious text , 1 joh. 5. 7. these three are one ; for here one is of the neuter gender , as is manifest both in the greek and latin , and fignifies as the same word does in 1 cor. 3. 8. he that planteth and he that watereth are one : but in the text above , one is of the masculine gender , and must be understood of one person ( or intelligent being ) who is good , and none but he , to wit , the god. if they were not hinder'd by strong preiudices , they might easily see , that whatsoever they attribute to the son , be it eternal necessary existence , almightiness , or omniscience , &c. they take away from the father thereby , not only the glory of enjoying those divine excellencies alone , but also the glory of his free goodness , and the son 's , and our thankfulness for such unspeakable benefits both to him and us , as he has been graciously pleas'd to give unto the son , either in begetting him , or raising him up in time , or in rewarding him both for his and our good. nay , they make the son uncapable of receiving those great and glorious rewards , of all power in heaven and earth given to him , of an everlasting kingdom , of a name above every name , of exaltation to the right hand of god , and the like , which the scriptures are full of : for how could any of these blessings be given to him that was god always , even from eternity ? could god sit at the right hand of god in any sense whatever ? these are the absurd doctrines , which make the trinitarians contend so fiercely one with another , and with us . god will judg the world , and between them and us , by that man whom he has ordained to be judg of the dead and living . but to return to the consideration of those texts that are alledg'd for the son 's being called god ; that in john 1. 1. i have spoken of already , as also that in 1 tim. 3. 16. that in rom. 9. 5. is read without the word god in the syriac , and in the writings of st. cyprian , hilary and chrysostom ; whereby it 's probable it was not originally in that text. but erasmus acknowledges that for a good reading , which points the clause so as to render it a thanksgiving to the father thus , the god over all be blessed for ever , to wit , for his benefits in raising up christ of the fathers , &c. and it seems to have been so read by some of the antients , for they reckon it among the heresies to say , that christ was god over all , as origen contr . cels . and others . in 1 john 3. 16. the word god is not found but in very few greek copies ; and if it be read there , admits of a good sense , without making god to die , who only hath immortality . as also doth that text in acts 20. 28. which may be render'd , feed the church of god , which he hath purchased with the blood of his own son ; but the truer reading according to the syriac , the armenian , and most antient greek bibles , is , christ instead of god. most of the antient fathers read christ or lord. those words in 1 john 5. 21. this is the true god , which some refer to the son , are plainly to be refer'd to the father , signified by him that is true , through his son jesus . this [ he that is true ] ( whose son christ is ) is the true god. lastly , they urge that in john 20. 28. where thomas being convinced by the clear testimony of his senses , that christ was risen from the dead , answered and said unto him , my lord and my god : which words , whether they are words of admiration , respecting god that raised him from the dead , or him that was raised to be a prince and saviour ( acts 5. 30 , 31. ) a lord and a god ; the term god cannot signify in this latter sense , any other than a god or christ , made so by resurrection . 't is a clear case , that the evangelist could not intend by these words , to teach us that jesus was god , when he tells in the last verse , that they and his whole book were written , that we might believe that jesus is the christ the son of god , and that believing we might have life through his name . i have insisted long upon this point of the oneness of god , partly because it is a matter of the highest moment in religion ; partly to shew , that if our author had a design ( as mr. edw. says he had ) to exclude the belies of the trinity ( or threeness of god ) from being a point necessary to salvation , it was a pious and christian design ; and that mr. edw. has been so far from offering any thing to prove that faith to be so necessary , that he has not proved it a true doctrine ; but on the contrary , i have proved it to be false , and highly dishonourable to the ever-blessed god and father of christ , contrary to the clear and full current of scripture , obscuring the true glory of christ , and very injurious to the peace and hope of christians . but after all , whether our author is of my mind in this matter ; or whether he believes that the doctrine of three coequal almighty persons is a truth , but not fundamental , i cannot determine : but methinks mr. edwards's concluding him all over socinianiz'd in this point , is done upon such grounds , as will argue the holy evangelists to be also socinians : for he says , this writer interprets the son of god to be no more than the messiah : and i am much perswaded , that whoever shall read the gospels with any attention , will find the holy writers to be of the same mind ; and our author has fully prov'd it in his book , but more particularly from pag. 48. to 61. and pag. 95. yea the comparing the evangelists in the relation of one and the same story alone may do it ; for what in matthew is exprest by , thou art the messiah the son of the living god , chap. 16. 16. the same is in mark , chap. 8. 29. thou art the messiah ; and in luke 9. 18. the messiah of god. and if you compare 1 john 5. 1. with ver . 4 , 5. you will easily see the christ or messiah , and the son of god , are terms of the same import . besides , the very word messiah or christ signifying anointed , and so interpreted in the margin of our bibles , john 1. 41. is in the 49th verse , understood by nathanael to be the son of god , the king of israel . for the kings of israel in the letter and type , were constituted kings by anointing ; hence god is said to anoint david king over israel , 2 sam. 12. 7. and psal . 2. 2. he is called the lord 's anointed ; but in verse 7. upon that very account , the lord said , thou art my son , this day have i begotten thee . now as the first and second verses of this psalm , are by the apostles and believers , applied to god's holy child [ or son ] jesus , who as david is called the lord's christ , acts 4. 25 , 26 , 27. so upon god's raising again of jesus to be a prince and a saviour , the apostle paul does expresly apply to him that glorious proclamation in the 7th verse , saying , as it is also written in the second psalm , thou art my son , this day have i begotten thee , acts 13. 33. and the author to the hebrews , chap. 1. 4 , 5. speaking of the son 's being made better than the angels , proves it from this , that god said not at any time to any of them , as he did unto jesus , [ in his type david ] thou art my son , this day have i begotten thee ; and in his type solomon , i will be to him a father , and he shall be to me a son , 2 sam. 7. 14. moreover we have seen before , that our lord vindicates to himself the name of the son of god , by a text out of the 82d psalm , where the mighty judges and princes are called gods , and sons of the most high , john 10. these things consider'd , will i think justify our author in interpreting the son of god to be no more than the messiah , or will condemn the divine writers ( if not the messiah himself ) in the same crime . another evidence of our author's being socinian , is ( according to mr. edw. ) that he expounds joh. 14. 9 , &c. after the antitrinitarian mode , whereas generally divines understand some part of those words concerning the divinity of our saviour . he says , — generally divines , &c. by this mark those divines that do not so interpret , must be socinians : the socinians owe mr. edw. their thanks , for adding to their number many learned and able divines ; but i doubt those divines will not thank him for it . but mr. edw. has courage enough to call a most learned and right reverend father , wavering prelate , and to bring in his doctrine about fundamentals , as favouring the causes of atheism , if he and those other divines agree not with him in their sentiments . another mark of socinianism is , that our author makes christ and adam , to be the sons of god — by their birth , as the racovians generally do . that they both make christ to be the son of god by his birth , and that truly according to that text of luke 1. 35. cannot i think be denied by any that duly considers the place ; but that either the one or the other make adam , who was never born to be so , in like manner by his birth , is mr. edwards's blunder , and not their assertion . i have not taken notice of the other fundamentals which mr. edw. reckons in his system , ( divers of which are not found in holy scripture , either name or thing , expresly , or by consequence ) because he insists chiefly on the doctrine of the trinity ; which however it is believed by learned men , to be in some sense or other ( they cannot agree in what sense ) a truth ; yet some of the most learned of them do not believe it a fundamental and necessary truth , particularly mr. limborch ( than whom this present learned age does not afford a more learned and able divine ) could not defend christian religion , in his most famous and weighty disputations against the jews , without waving that point ; one of which we have in his amica collatio cum erudito judaeo , &c. the ablest jew ( i presume ) that ever wrote in defence of judaism against christianity . another conference i am informed we may hope shortly to see , in his reduction of an eminent person , who was upon the point of forsaking the christian religion , and embracing for it that of the jews at amsterdam , when first the ablest systemers had tried their utmost skill and could not effect it . perhaps mr. edw. means him for one , when he says , our author 's plausible conceit found reception ( if it had not its birth ) among some foreign authors besides socinians , pag. 104. indeed he had cause enough , for mr. limborch tells the jew expresly ( in the book i named , chap. 9. pag. 218. ) quando exigitur fides in jesum christum , nusquam in toto novo testamento exigi ut credamus jesum esse ipsum deum , sed jesum esse christum , seu messiam olim promissum , vel quod idem est , esse filium dei ; quoniam appellationes christi & filii dei inter se permutantur . when we are requir'd to believe in jesus christ , we are no where in all the new testament requir'd to believe that jesus is the very god , but that jesus is the christ or the messiah , that was of old promised , or which is the same , that he is the son of god ; because those appellations of christ and of son of god are put one for another . so that in company of mr. limborch and other eminent divines , as well as our english bishops and doctors , our author may still believe the doctrine of the trinity to be a truth , though not necessary , absolutely necessary to make one a christian , as mr. edwards contends . but why does he make mention of only the right reverend fathers , one reverend doctor , and the foreign divines and socinians , as favourers of this plausible conceit , of making nothing necessary and fundamental , but what is evidently contain'd in holy scripture as such ; and so is accommodated to the apprehension of the poor , that hear and read the scriptures , making them also capable of being saved , though they are either ignorant of , or do not believe aright those truths , which , though deliver'd in scripture , are yet either hard to be understood , or difficultly infer'd , or have no mark of fundamental , either in themselves , or in divine revelation ; and for those reasons cannot be made evident to the despised common people , which the lord jesus came to save as well as the learned ? he might also have charg'd the sixth article of the church of england with this plausible coneeit , which has so much evil and mischief in it , tending to reduce the catholick faith to nothing , pag. 122. for that article saith thus ; holy scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation , so that whatsoever is not read therein , nor may be proved thereby , is not to be required of any man , that it should be believed as an article of faith. observe here , that every necessary article must be read expresly , or at least proved thereby , and to whom is this proof to be made ? even to the weakest noddles of those that are requir'd to believe it . absolutely there is not one man or woman of the venerable mob , that ( according to mr. edw. ) can be saved , because they cannot possibly have the article of the three persons that are one prov'd to them from scripture ; for it 's evident the learned , even of the clergy , cannot prove it to one another , much less to vulgar understandings . and mr. chillingworth ( the ablest defender of the religion of protestants , that the church ever had ) says ( and ingeminates it ) — the bible , the bible , i say the bible only is the religion of protestants ; whatsoever else they believe besides it , and the plain irrefragable and indvbitable consequences of it , well may they hold it as a matter of opinion , but not as a matter of faith or religion ; neither can they with consistence to their own grounds believe it themselves , nor require the belief of it from others , without most high and most schismatical presumption , ch. 6. n. 56. will mr. edwards say , his fundamentals are such irrefragable and indubitable truths , about which there are among protestants such hot and irreconcileable contentions ? again , that most judicious author lays this as the unmoveable foundation of his whole discourse against the papists , viz. that all things necessary to salvation are evidently contain'd in scripture ; as the church of england does , ( see pref. n. 30. ) and he shows in the following paragraphs , to n. 38. that all the jesuits arguments against protestants are confuted by it . but that 's not all , the same author after dr. potter affirms , that the apostles creed contains all those points of belief , which were by god's command of necessity to be preached to all , and believed by all : and yet he says in the same paragraph , that all points in the creed are not thus necessary ; see chap. 4. n. 23. now what more or less hath our author asserted in his whole book ? for i have shewed out of him , and it 's evident to the impartial ; that his proposition , that jesus is the messiah or christ , does comprehend or clearly imply all the articles of necessary christian faith in the creed . for , though it was sufficient to constitute a believer during the life of christ , to believe him to be the christ , although they had no explicite belief of his death and resurrection to come ; yet afterwards those articles were necessary , being undoubted evidences of his being the messiah , as our author pag. 31. and therefore mr. edw. is very injurious to him , in representing his proposition , as if it were only the believing the man called jesus to be the messiah , an hebrew word , that signifies in english anointed , without understanding what is meant by that term , see pag. 121. but why should i expect that mr. edw. should have any regard to mr. chillingworth's judgment , and all those , the vice chancellour , the divinity-professors , and others that licensed and approved his book , when he has none for the pious and learned bishop jer. taylor , and those others ? nay , when those numerous plain testimonies , which our author has quoted out of the holy scriptures themselves , do but provoke his opposition and contempt ; though the divine writers add these sanctions to the belief of our author's proposition , or of those words and sentences that are of the same import , and comprehended in it , viz. he that believeth shall be saved , or shall never thirst , or shall have eternal life , and the like : on the contrary , he that believeth not shall be condemned , or shall die in his sin , or perish , and the like . however i doubt not but my impartial reader will consider both what my author , and what my self have said in this point . having thus made it appear , that the reducing of the fundamentals of christian faith to a few , or even to one plain article deliver'd in scripture expresly , and often repeated there , and in divers equipollent phrases , easy to be understood by the poor , and strongly enforcing the obedience of the messiah , ( as is our author's proposition ) is far from having any tendency to atheism or deism ; i shall now retort this charge upon mr. edw. and show that on the contrary , the multiplying of speculative and mysterious articles as necessary , which are neither contain'd in scripture expresly , nor drawn thence by any clear and evident consequence , but are hard to be understood , especially by the common people , having no rational tendency to promote a good life , but directly to the high dishonour of the one god , the god and father of our lord jesus christ , and the subversion of the hope and peace of christians , as i have manifested in one and the chief of mr. edw's fundamentals , and of other systemers : this i say has been , and is one great cause , or chief occasion of that atheism and deism that is in the world. 1. mr. edw. himself tells us , that undue apprehensions of a deity join'd with superstition , are the high road to atheism , pag. 34. — therefore imposing of false doctrines , concerning the attributes of god , is very pernicious , for they are destructive of his very being and nature . but i have shew'd that the imposing of the doctrine of three almighty persons , or personal gods , is a false doctrine , and destroys one of the chief attributes of god , therefore is ( according to mr. edw. ) destructive of his very being and nature , pag. 35. again , another of mr. edw's fundamentals is , that full satisfaction is made by the death of christ to the divine justice ; which doctrine does clearly destroy the attribute of the divine mercy : for every one may readily perceive , that full satisfaction to justice by punishment , cannot consist with pardoning mercy ; when a judg punishes according to full justice , he does not at all forgive or shew mercy . but that they may not be seen to destroy altogether the mercy of god , they make him to inflict that punishment upon himself in a human body and soul. will not these false conceptions of the deity expunge at last the belief of the true one ? mr. edw. says false ones will. 2ly . another occasion , mr. edw. says , atheists take from our divisions , broils and animosities , from the many parties and squadrons of sects that are in the world , to bid defiance to all religion . and is it not manifest that those divisions , &c. arise chiefly from those doctrines that are mr. edw's fundamentals ? i have intimated already , there are many divisions of trinitarians , and how hotly they contend with one another , and upon unitarian principles . and whoever shall but peep into ecclesiastical history , may soon see that their trinity has been such a bone of contention as has exercis'd the wits and pens of church-men these 1400 years ; for so long it is , and longer since christians departed from the simplicity of the faith , as it was preached by our lord christ and his apostles . and now when the unitarians and our author would bring christians back to that simplicity , in which the gospel was preached to the poor , and they understood it and receiv'd it ; this pious design is ridicul'd , and the salvation of the bulk of mankind is set at nought ; mr. edw. may well conclude that this conduct gives occasion to atheistical persons . 3ly . he says , pag. 63. when persons observe that the very divinity of our blessed lord and saviour is toss'd and torn by rude pens — what can they think of the other great verities of christianity ? but mr. edw. mistakes , it 's not the opposition that is made to the supreme divinity of the son of god , but the asserting it , that inclines men to disbelieve christianity . had many that are now deists , been sooner acquainted with the doctrine of one god even the father , and of one man the mediator between god and men , it 's very probable they would have continued christians ; for there are some that of deists have been reconcil'd to the christian faith by the unitarian books , and have profess'd much satisfaction therein . but i must confess it 's a very handsome rebuke mr. edw. gives to his own party , when he blames the antitrinitarians , that they have provok'd some of them to an undecent sort of language concerning these holy mysteries : so that some of these latter have hurt the cause , it may be almost as much by their defending it , as the others have by their opposing it . i must lay up this for a curious figure in rhetorick : he cuts some dignified persons through the unitarians sides ; and so whoever is in fault , they must bear the blame . but if the unitarians have truth , and necessary truth on their side , then they are not faulty , even as christ and the apostles were not faulty , though they preach'd the gospel which set the son against the father , &c. and produc'd not peace but a sword : and the reformers were not faulty in vigorously opposing the popish faith , even unto blood. but whoever will attentively consider it , may see it 's the nature of the trinitarian doctrine , that it cannot be defended without being exposed , so that when the most learned of the party labour to defend it , they necessarily run into one absurdity or other ; which being perceived by the next learned man , he exposes him : and a third sees the weakness of each of them : and a fourth man spies flaws in every of them . this produces various hypotheses , and makes them a scorn to atheists , and enclines others to deism . for the obscuring of a contradiction will not take it away . contradictions are stubborn things , and will never yield to any reconciliation whatsoever . god will never be more than one real person , and one person will never be three real persons . and if trinitarians will ( as they do ) make that a fundamental of religion , which contradicts the best reasonings of mankind , whereby they prove the existence of god and his unity , viz. that he is that being which is necessarily and by himself , and so consider'd not in kind , but in act ; wherefore if you suppose more gods , then you will necessarily find nothing in each of them why any of them should be . grotius de verit . chr. relig. in initio . and if the trinitarians cannot explain their doctrine to one another , so as to clear it from introducing more gods than one , no marvel then that loose men ( who yet reason as the incomparable grotius , and other learned men do ) do thence deny there is any god at all . the learned allow there is not necessarily any god , if you suppose more than one : the trinitarians say he is more than one ; men who think it their interest there should be no god , conclude thence , it 's equal in reason to believe there is no god as three . and mr. norris joins them with his suffrage in the point ; i think it ( saith he ) a greater absurdity , that there should be more gods than one , than that there should be none at all . reason and relig. p. 59. and if some men take occasion from such reasonings as these to turn atheists it may easily be conceiv'd , that men that are more sober , and find strong and irresistible reasons for the existence and unity of god , but see clearly that christians worship three , and besides that , hold divers other absurd doctrines for fundamentals ; such men ( i say ) must of necessity forsake christianity ; and turn deists . thus it 's most manifest , that the unitarians take the direct course to prevent atheism and deism , by letting the world see , that those fundamentals are no doctrines of christ ; but that the necessary faith of christ is a plain and short doctrine , easy to be understood by the poor , and clearly exprest in scripture , most reasonable in it self , and most agreeable to the unity and goodness of god , and other the divine attributes . i shall now in the 4th place shew how the obscurity , numerousness , and difficulty of understanding systematical fundamentals promotes deism , and subverts the christian faith , and that in a notorious instance . it 's matter of fact , and evident to the whole world , that the quakers are a very numerous people , and form'd into a compact body , in which they exercise strict discipline , as to what concerns their party . they will not own any other denomination of christians or others for the people of god , but themselves only ; all others are of the world. they utterly disown the scriptures as the rule of faith ; they decry it as letter , carnal , dust , &c. their principle is , that their religion is taught them by inspiration or revelation of a light within , whereof every man has a measure , but they only hearken to it , and obey it ; they give the scripture the place of bearing witness to their inward light , as the woman of samaria to christ . they turn the gospel into an allegory , and consequently make use of the words and phrases of the scripture ; as that christ is the word , the light , the teacher , the word in the mouth and heart ; that christ died , and rose , and ascended , and is in heaven , and the like ; but all in a mystical or spiritual sense , as they call it . by all which things , and indeed by the whole tenour of their books , preachings and professions , they appear to be deists and not christians . george fox's book ; titled , the great mystery , will give full satisfaction in this point . and they have all along been charg'd by other denominations to be no christians , and that quakerism is no christianity . however retaining still the words wherein the christian faith is exprest , though in an equivocal sense ; and having some among them ( as george keith and others ) who still believ'd the gospel in the proper sense , they made a shift to be reputed generally christians . and indeed this conduct of theirs deceived even many of their own party , which is manifest in william rogers of bristol , francis bugg , thomas crispe , john pennyman , and especially in george keith ; who having been a quaker about 30 years , yet did not till within these three or four years discover the infidelity of the primitive and true quakers , who are deservedly call'd foxonians , because holding the principles of george fox their author . but g. keith living in pensylvania , ( where the quakers were governours , and might be free to open their minds plainly ) did then perceive they did not believe the doctrine of the apostles creed , the summary of christian faith , which made him preach it and contend for it more earnestly . this provok'd the foxonians so far , that it came to a breach and separation , and at length to impeachment , fines and imprisonment . then g. keich returns to london , where the matters in contest between him and the foxonians of pensylvania , was taken into consideration , and had divers hearings by the general annual meeting of quakers , 1694 , who gave a kind of a judgment in the case , but no clearer determination of the principal matter concerning christ within , and christ without , and the other articles of christian faith , than their former equivocal expressions . the next year 1695 , at the like general meeting , they absolutely excommunicate g. keith , and make this the ground of it , viz. that he had not given due observance to their former order , and was troublesome to them in his declarations , &c. for he had still continued to preach frequently christianity as before . see a late book , titled , gross error and hypocrisy detected , &c. the reader i hope will excuse it , that i have detain'd him in this long story , because it was necessary for me first , to prove the quakers are deists , and then to proceed and shew , secondly , that the obscurity , ambiguity , and numerousness of systematical fundamentals , is that which is the chief cause of their being so : for not being able to satisfy themselves in understanding and determining the truth and certainty of those fundamentals , for the proof of which scriptures were alledg'd ; but those of so doubtful a sense , and variously interpreted by opposite parties , that they readily embrac'd george fox's only fundamental of the light in every man ; that is in reality the natural light , whereby we distinguish between good and evil in ordinary ; whence it is that ( as saith the apostle paul ) we ( as the gentiles ) are a law to our selves , and our thoughts accuse or excuse , rom. 2. 14 , 15. which is in truth an excellent doctrine , and has great certainty and clearness in it . but g. fox preaches this , not as a natural principle , but 1. as a supernatural revelation : and 2. christ being call'd in scripture , the light that lighteth every man , and the light of the world , because be brought the light of the gospel into the world ; george fox applies these terms and phrases , and almost every thing that is spoken of christ , to the light in every man , and so turns the plain sense of the gospel into a parabolical or mystical sense , and makes the christian scripture to speak nothing but deism . 3. g. fox adds certain observances of giving no respect in word or gesture , or title , nor speaking as others speak , nor saluting as others salute , nor paying tithes , nor using the sword , nor swearing in common form , &c. and all as inspired dictates , that so the only people of god might be separated from all the world , and they serve admirably for that purpose . now if you consider the experimented certainty of their principle , the light within , that accuses and excuses , and their perswasion that it was a divine inspiration , which also was confirm'd to them by their giving obedience to those ceremonies which were so contrary and offensive to the world , and expos'd them to much suffering ; [ all suffering for religion , especially for a clear revelation from god , confirming the sufferers in their perswasion : ] you may clearly perceive it was the uncertainty , obscurity , and intricacy of their former principles , which induced them to embrace g. fox's religion , which is all dictated by the spirit of god in every man. whence it is , they upbraid other professors with doubtfulness and fallibility ; and every one of them counts himself as infallible as the papists do the pope . how can ye but delude people ( says g. fox ) that are not infallible ? myst . p. 33. lastly , the obscurity , uncertainty , and multiplicity of fundamentals , is that which has given an argument to popish priests and jesuits , wherewith to seduce protestants to popery . for evidence of this , i shall mind you of a paper written by a jesuit , in the late king james's time , titled , an address presented to the reverend and learned ministers of the church of england , &c. the purport of which is , that all things necessary to salvation are not clearly contained in scripture , as protestants hold ; because the belief of a trinity , one god and three persons , is necessary to salvation , but not clearly contain'd in scripture . then he goes about to shew , that the scriptures commonly alledged for the trinity , admit of another sense . he goes the same way in the article of the incarnation . thus supposing these articles to be necessary to salvation ( as protestants hold ) and not clearly contain'd in scripture ; it follows that the undoubted certainty of them must be found in the determinations of the church ; and then that church which professes infallibility is the only refuge ; and i believe as the church believes , supplies all other articles . no certainty any where else ; but certainty must be had in these points . here the making of those articles fundamental , which cannot be clearly prov'd from scripture , subverts the sufficiency and clearness of scripture , and sends poor protestants to rome , for the certainty and infallibility of the christian faith. they did so glory in the strength of this argument , that the jesuit-preacher in limestreet , read their paper , and made the same challenge in his pulpit , where he had a great number of protestants that went out of curiosity to hear him . having thus ( as i presume ) vindicated our author , and shewn the mischiefs of mr. edw's fundamentals , i may now take my leave of my reader . only i am first willing to let mr. edw. know , that i have not undertaken this defence out of any ambitious humour of contending with so learned a man as he is ; nor would i have made opposition to him in any other point of learning or divinity : but fundamentals every man is concern'd in , and ought to know , and to be assured that he holds them all . eternal salvation is a greater thing by far than any empire , and will therefore justify and exact our utmost care and endeavour for the obtaining it . so that in these considerations of mr. edw's exceptions — i have done my duty to my self ; and that i have publish'd them , i am perswaded i have therein done a great charity to my neighbours , the poor and bulk of mankind , for whose salvation ( i hope ) i should not think it too much to lay down my life , however mr. edw. speaks so scoffingly of them , even where their eternal happiness or misery is deeply concern'd . the end . errata . pag. 9. col. 2 l. 0. for a read or . p. 11. col . 2. l. 14. r. perfect man. p. 14. col . 2. l. 8. f. mine r. nine ; l. 14. r. palliate the. eleutherosis tēs aletheias, truth asserted by the doctrine and practice of the apostles, seconded by the testimony of synods, fathers, and doctors, from the apostles to this day viz. that episcopacie is jure divino / by sir francis wortley ... wortley, francis, sir, 1591-1652. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a67119 of text r34763 in the english short title catalog (wing w3637). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 59 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 20 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a67119 wing w3637 estc r34763 14627444 ocm 14627444 102691 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67119) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102691) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1082:6) eleutherosis tēs aletheias, truth asserted by the doctrine and practice of the apostles, seconded by the testimony of synods, fathers, and doctors, from the apostles to this day viz. that episcopacie is jure divino / by sir francis wortley ... wortley, francis, sir, 1591-1652. [8], 30 p. printed by a.n. for j.k. and t.w. ..., london : 1641. first three words of title in greek characters. imperfect: pages stained. reproduction of original in the huntington library. eng episcopacy. apostolic succession. theology, practical. a67119 r34763 (wing w3637). civilwar no eleutherōsis tēs alētheias. truth asserted by the doctrine and practice of the apostles, seconded by the testimony of synods, fathers, an wortley, francis, sir 1641 10426 18 125 0 0 0 0 137 f the rate of 137 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the f category of texts with 100 or more defects per 10,000 words. 2004-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-05 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2004-05 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion ελευθερωσις της αληθειασ . trvth asserted by the doctrine and practice of the apostles , seconded by the testimony of synods , fathers , and doctors , from the apostles to this day . viz. that episcopacie is iure divino . by sir francis vvortley knight and baronet . london printed by a. n. for i. k. and t. w. and are to be sold at the white horse in pavles church-yard . 1641. to the most high and illustrious charles prince of great britain . sir , you set back the clock of my age and make it day-spring , when it is past the mid noone of my life . i court my fancy in my observations of you . my first love , my first master , your vnkle prince henry , whose name is , and ever must bee sacred to mars and the muses , whose memory is still precious to the world , justly was the rivall and competitour to honour , with your glorious grandsier henry the great , of france the greatest . in you deare sir i finde the character of them both , as if you were sole heire to both ; and it joyes my soule to see it . i had the honour to gird the first sword about you , with this wish , that you might use it in peace , like our northern solomon king iames , and drawn , as that boanerges the sonne of thunder , the glory of france , your grandfather . when your father ( whose goodnesse makes him glorious ) shall be gathered to his fathers , his titles must as your birthright descend on you ; amongst the rest that which is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , defender of the faith . this , as it is well worthy observation , was given by him who they say could not erre in cathedra , plenario consistorio & pleno concilio , to him who as some of his successors say even in that gave him the lye , who gave him the title ; t is true t was an unkind requitall , but there was digitus dei in it , for it was like the selling of ioseph into egypt , faelix scelus in eventu , guided by that hand which cannot erre . it was a worke of great and high daring , a voyage wherein many of his predecessours had suffered shipwracke , and sir walter rawleigh observes the worke suited the man , and the man was made for the work : as nebuchadonezar was for tyre . sure it is strange that out of the ruines of good workes faith should spring , & disorder set all the church in order , sed deus est qui fecit , & est mirum in occulis nostris . sir , the title is the most glorious your royall father hath , and his second is , that he is the best friend living . it was a promise of the prophets , that kings should bee nursing fathers , and queenes nursing mothers to the church . and believe mee sir , the words are emphaticall , for the fathers wisdome and power should provide for the childe ad extra , the mothers care ad intra ; the fathers is and should be protegendo , instruendo , promovendo , corrigendo ; the mothers in her oeconomicks pro victu & amictu , necessaries and decency , and all with a ▪ nurses affection . and i am so much irish , that as they love , the children the nurse , and the children their nurses , and foster brothers as much or more then their own : such mutuall love wish i betwixt the prince and the church , and as that habit is acquired partly , and partly infused , so may god infuse that into your heart , and by many mutuall reciprocall actions may it become habituall . so shall the church be happie in future , and you shall be glorious in your timely reigne , and blessed in your succession , as your father is in you , and the prayers of the church attracted as the dew and exhalations , by the glory and heate of the sunne above , shall bee returned in rich showers of blessing upon you and yours . poets are prophets , or at least would be ; if i be one this is my prophecie : your name 's no stranger to the imperiall seate , our turn comes next , wee must have charles the great . your highnesses most humble servant , francis wortley . to the well affected reader , or otherwise . pruning and reformation i allow , but eradication and deformation i tremble to heare of , and hope never to see . god forbid that personal errors should destroy an institution so ancient & sealed with the bloud of so many blessed martyres . though iudas die in the consciousnesse of his treason , yet an other must succeed him in his bishoprick . as an obedient sonne to my mother the church i wish her honour , and happinesse to the common weale , as a member of it ; and that these two as mercie and truth may kisse each other , and in their unitie make the soul and bodie , the king and his people happie , so shall our common-weale flourish , and our church be glorious , and god even our own god shall blesse us : peace shall be within our walls , & plentie within our palaces . i study multum in parvo , and to put as much as i can into a little room , and hope to give satisfaction to such as are not more addicted to their wills then reason , if mine deceive me not . however i have discharged the dutie i ow my conscience , and hope to finde the benefit of that , which is all i look for , and is sufficient to arm mee against the obloquies or misconstructions of those , whose hearts are ful of that , which their tongues must utter , or their hearts will breake with their plerophory ▪ i protest i have no end in it but gods glory & the discharge of my own studied thoughts , & have therein conquered my inclination by the assistance of my reason grounded upon much more paines then the world holds me guiltie of . and thus satisfied i would not that succeeding ages should finde my name amongst those who consented to eradicate episcopacie . for my part i had rather suffer the censure of the malevolent then to be thought to consent to that which my conscience approves not . if this excuse me for my writing , i am glad , if not , i have pleased my selfe in discharge of my troubled thoughts and conscience . ελευθερωσις της αληθειασ . truth asserted , by the practice of the apostles , confirmed by the testimonie of synods , fathers , and doctors from christs time to this day . in discourses rhetoricall men desire to shew the power of nature improved by art , which wee call eloquence : in logicall disputes , the quicknesse of apprehension , and the improvement of judgement . the one often makes a difference betwixt subtilties , and attempts to puzle reason : the other rightly employed defines and settles a truth obscured by different falsities . in matters of faith wee lay aside reason , and yield to scriptures truth , as other faculties of the body doe to their informer the rationall soule , and as young scholars to their ipse dixit . we believe therefore what neither sense nor reason can make us to conceive . i believe the scripture to bee the sacred word of god : and what truth i find therein , i conceive it to be iure divino . my reason , i confesse , is bound , and yields in the point of episcopacie , that it is iure divino , because i find for it so many ipse dixit's in sacred writ . my judgment also is further strengthned therein by reasons sufficient to settle humane belief . opinion , we define , haerens & dubia deveritate quorumvis in animo praesumptio ; a questionable and doubtfull presuming in ones conceit that a matter is true ; and cognitio est rerum conceptarum per experientiam scientia ; knowledge is a sure apprehension of the matters which we conceive by experience of their causes and undoubted grounds of truth ; and resolution is dubii depositio , the abandoning of all doubting . i am past opinion , and acknowledge my selfe satisfied , and well resolved , that episcopacie is iure divino : and am ready to give an account thereof : and endeavour so to doe in this discourse . i will not {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , withstand and resist , or seek evasions , or subtle answers to elude gods truth . nor doe i love {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to be in suspense : having well weighed the truth here asserted , i finde cause to say {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , great is the force of truth , and hath prevailed . to satisfie the world , what reason i have of this my confidence , i leave a testimony thereof in this my discourse . i define episcopum presbyterum cum additamento superioritatis quoad regimen in ecclesia : a bishop to bee a presbyter , having an addition of superioritie for the government of gods church : his charge is to oversee the clergie , and their flocks . the word i confesse in a large signification may be taken for a major of a citie : for hee is over-seer thereof : in homer ajex is , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the bishop or orderer of his army : but our episcopus est cleri & gregis in sua dioecesi , is over-seer of his clergie , and his flock , bounded within his own diocesse . hee is also called presbyter an ancient , and therefore experienced and able to informe and direct . as for the inferiour presbyter or ancient , and diaconus minister or servant , they are distinct and subordinate to the bishop or superiour presbyter , both in the new testament , and in the practice of the first centurie , and in all ages even to this day . let it not stumble any man that the apostles sometimes terme themselves and bishops by the title of presbyters , they call themselves also diaconos , deacons , in a generall notion . our presbyterians would have bishops to be pastores jure divine praesides jure ecclesiastico , principes jure humano & diabolico , pastors by gods law , presidents by ecclesiasticall law , lords by humane and diabolicall law . how faultie this assertion is , let my following discourse testifie . our bishop is a presbyter or ancient pastour set in eminent superiority over the clergie and their flocks with a relation to the government of them in matters ecclesiasticall . and such i say the apostles instituted , and to them gave a charg how to demean themselves . a perpetuall succession hereof by practice hath continued from christs apostles to this day . now for ius divinum , i take that to be of divine right which is warranted in sacred scripture de credendis & agendis in matters to be believed or done . let this serve for the present , it wil be more enlarged occasionally in some part of this treatise . only here i adde , that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} the practice of the apostles , which never was questioned or excepted against , and is recorded in the canonicall scripture ; hath in it ius divinum , and shews what is of divine right defacto . these things ▪ being premised , i proceed to objections against my assertion , and answere unto each of them particularly . eminent superiority , & lordly authority over their people is that which the lords of the gentiles may & do challenge & practice , as their due , iure human● , by humane right . therefore , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , by law of things opposite , eminent superiority and lordly authority over the clergie & the people of god is that which bishops ought not to challeng or practice iure divino . for proofe hereof see mat. 20. 25. 26. the princes of the gentiles dominantur , lordly rule over them , but you non sic , not so , or , it shall not bee so with you . and 1. pet. 5. 2. 3. feed the flock of the lord taking the over-sight therof not by constraint , but willingly , not for filthy lucre , but of a ready minde , neither as being lords over gods heritage . to this i answere , that the measure of domination , not the matter lies in the word [ sic ] and so is expounded by the words aforegoing , not by constraint , but willingly , not churlishly or covetously , not as though ye were lords domineering over them , but that yee may be ensamples to the flock . non herile aut regale imperium exercentes , sed pastorali superioritate , & paterna gubernatione utentes , not exercising a masterlike or kingly command , but using a pastorall superiority and fatherly government . and so this rather ( as i conceive ) confirms superiority and episcopacy then destroies them . for the word sic , so , takes not away the legality , but qualifies the power given , by saying , let it be used sic , so . this i prove to bee the meaning of the apostle by this argument . the practice of the apostles is not contrary to christs and their doctrine , and the sense thereof : but the apostles did practise eminent superiority , and such lawfull authority as christ forbids not , over the clergie and flock , and instituted successors . therefore their doctrine allowed the same . and so that cannot be meant by the words above , which is pretended : viz. that there should be a parity in the clergie , and that episcopacie is dominium in clerum , a lordly rule over the clergie , and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} an usurped authority . the successors which they instituted are warranted by christ , when hee said , i am with you to the end of the world : that is , i am with you , whilst you live , and with successors in your stead governing and teaching the church to the worlds end . hence it was that the apostles ordained bishops to succeed them , so did the ancient fathers in the purer times . this course continued ever since . the practice of the apostles was in a superiority above others of the clergie : and to the bishops whom they constituted to succeed themselves in place over the clergie , they gave a superior authority : neither did they either practise , or ever mention that parity in power , which the presbyteriās so much endeavour to introduce . and therefore the apostles never understood the words as these men doe , viz. that they should disallow of bishops in superior authority above other of the clergie . to make the practice of the apostles more evident , i appeale to saint paul , who gave to timothy and titus episcopall power . to the one in ephesus , to the other in creet . now to cleere this , let us first cleanse the spring head , and then the streames will run cleare down to the after times . i have to his end above defined episcopum a bishop : if we observe what he is , then shall we evidently see , whether saint ▪ paul did institute such a calling or no . of civill bishops i speake not : but of spirituall . a bishop of this kind i defined to be presbyterum cum additamento superioritatis quoad regimen in ecclesia : he governs the clergie and their flocks in spirituall matters . bishops of this kind saint paul did institute . he made timothy and titus episcopos cleri & gregis quoad regimen in ecclesia , bishops of the clergie and their flocks , and to have ecclesiasticall government over them : whereas before they were but presbyters , or disciples brought up under him . by this institution were other presbyters made subordinate to them in governing and teaching the church . which to prove i thus argue . he that is ordained , and so ordained that hee hath power constituere presbyteres per civitates , to ordain presbyters in every city , is greater then those , who have no such power in their cities or churches : and those who may correct , what is defective , are superiour to those for whom matters defective are corrected . but titus and timothy had such power given them , and did so correct things defective , and none of the presbyters had the same from the apostles . therefore i conclude undeniably that titus and timothy were superiors as bishops over their presbyters in their severall charges and divisions , viz ▪ titus in creet , and timothy in ephesus . that they had this power given them by paul appeares 1. tim. 5. 22. lay hands suddenly on no man . tit. 1. 5. for this cause i left thee in creet , that thou shouldst set in order things which are wanting , and ordain elders in every city , as i had appointed thee . if any other in these churches could have ordained presbyters , why was timothy sent to ephesus , and titus left at creet for this very purpose . and if the cretians and their presbyters could have set in order things defective , what neede was there that tit. alone should have this commission . saint ierom himselfe , who was accounted no great friend , but rather harsh against episcopacie , in his epistle to evagrius , pag. 329. gives us this as a distinction , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , remarkable betwixt a presbyter and a bishop , saying , quid facit excepta ordinatione episcopus , quod non facit presbyter ? what doth a bishop , except the ordaining of others , which a presbyter doth not ? and it is worth the observation that the ancient father and great champion for the blessed trinity athanasius hath in his second apologie , viz. that colythus a presbyter of the church of alexandria had constituted presbyters , but what became of them ? rescissa est haec ejus ordinatio , & omnes ab eo constituti in laicorum ordinem redacti fuere , the ordaining of others by him , was made invalid , and they who were ordained by him , were degraded and made laicks . so then you see that bishops are in this eminenter superiores presbyteris , eminently superior to presbyters , having power affirmative and negative by the opinion and practice of the ancient fathers . this confirms what the apostles had taught & practised , and appointed others in place above the ordinary presbyters to do . now i come to shew a second difference betwixt a bishop and a presbyter , and wherein a bishop hath , eminentem superioritatem , a cleere superiority above a presbyter , that is , excommunication , and was called mucro episcopalis , the episcopall weapon , and was a power given to bishops successors of the apostles , and was ever practised by them . this appears in that an account of it was and is expected at their hands , as is manifested by the quarel , which our blessed saviour had against the angell of the church of pergamus , namely , that he suffered some of his church who held the doctrine of the nicolaitans ; and against the angell of the church of thyatira , viz. that hee suffered the woman iezabell to teach and seduce the people . by this it is apparent that christ expected they should doe , what they had by their places power to doe ; namely , that they being angells of their churches ( whom i affirme to bee also bishops therof , and successors to the apostles , as is sufficiently proved by the most reverend and learned arch-bishop of armach , and by beza himselfe called {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , men in place above others ) should haereticos coercere & ex ecclesia ejicere , keepe under heretikes and cast them out of the church . if here it be objected , that wee must ▪ not argue from darke and mysticall places of scripture , such as the apocalypse . i answere , that i argue from a plain place , and from the plain words , and direct scope of the place , & not the mystical sense or interpretation . neither can we here admit of that distinction , that angelus is in this place to bee taken collectively pro tota ecclesia , for the whole church . for i conceive that there is not a word in the scripture , but hath its weight : and was it not as easie to have said [ ecclesiae ] as [ angelo ecclesiae ] if [ angelus ] had not something more in it then [ ecclesiae . ] and why not angelus ecclesi● , but angelus ecclesiae , the angell the church , but the angell of the church , if it had beene to be taken collectively ? but the tearmes be distinct and of a different force , like those , panis domini , the bread of the lord , and panis dominus , bread representing the lord . besides , to return to timothy and titus , they are injoyned to command others {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} not to teach other doctrine , and obturare ora deceptorum , & haereticos rejicere , to stop the mouthes of deceivers , and to reject hereticks . these things were commanded them , and an account accordingly exspected of the performance thereof : which manifestly proves that every church had his angelum , who had episcopall authority and jurisdiction eminent above other inferior clergie-men : and not many angels in each of these churches all of equall authority and place . or at least the angell in each of the seven churches was so absolute in his power , that he was {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , chief governour , the presbyters assistants to him : he a spirituall justicer and of the quorum , they of the counsell . the difference also of episcopal authority from that of presbyters appears , in the cause of excommunication : where there was an appeal to the synods , which either confirmd them , or dissolved them , but none to the people , none to the presbyters . this is confirmed by the ancient councill at nice can. 5. and at antioch can. 6. and ierom himselfe writing to riparius concerning vigilantius an hereticall presbyter , is angry that the bishop under whom he was , did acquiescere eius furori , & non virga apostolica , virgaque ferreavas inutile confringere , & tradere ad interitum carnis , ut spiritus salvu● fiat , did quietly give way to his fury , & not rather break in pieces that unprofitable vessell with his apostolike staffe and rod of iron , and deliver him up to the destruction of the flesh , that his soul might be saved . and it seemes strange to mee that any should think , that our blessed saviour his excecutors , administrators , and assignes knew not the meaning of his will and testament , as well , as wee in these dayes . christ who ascending into heaven gave guifts unto many , would not deny this guift so necessary . hee , i say , giving supereminent guifts to his apostles ad fundandam ecclesiam , for the founding his church , would not deny to their successors those , which were necessary ecclesiae fundatae , to the church being founded : and so necessary that nothing more concerneth the church . would he not , or could he not informe his trustees how he pleased to have his church his houshold governed in his absence ? to say he would not , is derogatory to his wisdome and goodnesse ; to say he could not , to his almighty and sovereigne power . i therefore conclude these 2. points . 1 that ordination of presbyters was left to titus and timothy , as to men of higher place and authority , and not to the presbyters who were of inferiour degree . 2 that the power , given to the angells of ephesus and the other churches , puts a difference of superiority and eminence betwixt a bishop , and an ordinary presbyter , and others the teachers of the churches , and gives them commission prae caeteris tam clericis quam laicis , above others both clergie and laity , yea a coercive and castigative power . further they object and say . that episcopacie is not iure divino , because christ did not command it in the gospell . to this i answere . that ius divinum aliter se habet in rebus credendis , aliter in agendis ; aliter in rebus fidei , aliter in rebus facti , there is a difference of divine right betweene matters to bee believed , and matters to bee done ; betwixt matters of faith , and matters of fact . in matters of faith there must be textus manifestus , aut convincens deductio , a cleere text , or a sound consequence . as for example . in the beginning god made all things . here is textus manifestus . but there is only convincens deductio , concerning the mystery of the blessed trinity : for the trinity is proved not by an expresse text , but by convincing deductions out of sacred scriptures ; as thus . there came downe at the baptisme of christ the holy spirit in the form of a dove , and a voice was heard saying , this is my beloved son , in whō i am well pleased . here wee find the spirit in the form of a dove : there is heard a voice : and christ is seene in the water . we know both by the sacred scriptures and by the light of nature , that there is but one god : and that from one all things are , and that in one they terminate : and that there is aliud medium copulans primum & ultimum , one between both coupling the first and the last . seeing also we reade that there is a father , a son , and a spirit , and that there is but one god , we hence infer by necessary deduction , that there are three persons and but one god . besides this deduction is further confirmed by that place {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , these three are one : which in some sort is textus manifestus , a cleere text . now a matter of fact may be inferred to bee iure divino ( as i suppose ) if i prove , 1 that the same fact was the practice of the apostles . 2 that it is analogical to the institution of the church of the jewes , which was setled according to gods appointment by the mediation of angels , by the ministery of moses and aaron . 3 that it is pointed at and insinuated in the new testament . 4 that it hath successively continued since the apostles time . and as elsewhere , so particularly in britain . if these points can bee proved concerning the fact ( viz. government by bishops ) in question , i hope that none will deny it to be iure divino . now for proofe and confirmation of my tenent , that episcopacie is iure divino , i will prove these points , and then say something more concerning the practice of some other churches . 1 saint paul the apostle and doctor of the gentils gave power and authority to titus and timothy ordinare dignos , to ordain men worthy , and to examine such as were faulty , to reprove and discharge such as were guilty , and did {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , teach other doctrine , and were offensive to the honour of their callings , and to cherish such as did well . these things are evident in the epistles of paul to timothy and of that to titus . from pauls practice of superiority over these two , and from the institution of timothy and titus to be bishops , the one of ephesus , the other at creet , i prove episcopacie to be practised by the apostles . to make which good thus i argue . if saint paul himselfe practised an eminent superiority , and in the epistles alleadged gave all that power , which of right bishops challeng , or doth belong to the definition of a bishop , to timothy and titus then paul himselfe did not only practise episcopacie , but did also constitute and institute them bishops . but verum prius , ergo & posterius . that he had {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , a bishoprick as the other apostles had , act. 1. 20. & did diligētly run his course therein , no man will deny . and that he gave power to timothy and titus ( the same which himself had ) 1 to ordain , 2 to convent , 3 to punish , 4 to reward duplici honore ▪ with double honour , the epistles alledged doe sufficiently prove . therefore paul himselfe practised superiority , and constituted timothy and titus bishops in place superior to presbyters , whom they had authority to ordain , convent , punish , and reward . if they further object , that the presbyters with their president may doe the same , even all things which are commanded timothy and titus , and therefore these things were spoken to timothy and titus and to their presbyters collectively in the persons of timothy and titus . i answer , this is petere principium : this evasion i formerly took away . and now further i argue . such as the charge is , such is the power : but the tharge is personall , that is , given to timothy and titus particularly ; and therefore the power and authority given is personall : to them for their time , and to their successors in place after them ; and not to them and the presbytery collectively : nothing in places where such charge is given doth intimate the presbyters or deacons interposing themselves in these episcopall actions with timothy and titus . if they will have these priviledges and performances to belong to their president , they must plead them due to him as he is successor to timothy and titus : and so hee is in effect ( if you give him continuance in his place ) a bishop indeede ; the bare name of president cannot make him of a different calling from a bishop , when as he acteth the part of a bishop in all points by saint paul prescribed . the practice of all times , especially of the first century warrants not a monethly or yeerly president doing nothing for ordination , convention , punishment , & reward without the advise and consent of a company of presbyters : but it allows bishops superiority to presbyters , and presbyters to deacons : yea , it placed bishops as successors to the apostles , as were timothy and titus ; and presbyters and deacons subordinat to bishops , as to the apostles , whilst they lived . saint ignatius the next bishop to evodius : hee received episcopall charge from the apostles : and writing to them at antioch , when hee was carried prisoner to rome , useth these words to the laity , obsequium praebete presbyteris & diaconis , be yee obedient to your presbyters and deacons , and addeth to the presbyters , pascite gregem apud vos , done● deus ostendit {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , feed the flock under you , untill god shew who shall bee your governour : and hereby establisheth superiority to bishops , and enjoyneth the presbyters obedience . the same father in an epistle to the ephesians acknowledgeth onesimvs ( named often by saint paul ) to be their bishop , & exhorteth them saying , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , as it becomes you submit your selves to your bishops advice . thus here wee finde saint pauls charge and ordination observed and followed by ignatius , who lived in the first century , and whose worth and authority clouds of witnesses doe confirme . in the same journey he writes to the church of smyrna and salutes their bishop by name , and exhorteth the flock , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , to follow their bishop as jesus christ did his father : and the presbytery , as the apostles . the bishop here spoken of was polycarpus , as ireneus his successor affirmes : with whom ireneus was contemporaneus & multa accepit ab illo de sancti ioannis vita & conversatione , contemporary , and by whom ireneus was informed in many things concerning saint iohns life and conversation . in the life time of trajan the emperour , saint iohn returning from his banishment out of patmos , where he wrote his revelation , summoned the seven bishops , who are conceived to be those named in the apocalypse the angells of the seven churches , and used their ministery for setling and ordering his own metropolis of ephesus , and the other churches in asia , as the ancient greeke records found in the library of photius testifie . concerning his apostolicall superiority and practice of constitution and ordination of bishops is frequent mention in ireneus , eusebius , and ierom. so then , by that which hath been said , wee see that episcopacie is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , warranted by the practice of the apostles , because that viventibus , videntibus , constituentibus , confirmantibus apostolis & viris apostolicis , patribus & doctoribus testantibus , the apostles and apostolike men being alive , seeing it , appointing it , and confirming it , and the fathers & doctors being eie witnesses thereof , there were these three distinct degrees in the clergy , bishops , presbyters , deacons . now to the second point . that episcopacie is analogicall to the institution and constitution of the church government of the iewes in the old testament : which moses as a prince did establish by gods appointment in the wildernesse , and which continued in force till the veil of the temple was rent , and the gentiles became heirs to abraham , and the promises made to him , were made good to us his heirs by faith and adoption : because the iews , abrahams heirs according to the flesh , by their own default & disobedience forfeited their interest in that conveiance of inheritance , which they claimed from their father abraham by the evidences registred in moses and the prophets . episcopacie and subordination thereunto , i say , holds analogie and a kinde of proportion with the jewish church government . for god in it appointed an high priest , priests and levits subordinate one to the other , such is the subordinatiō of the three degrees in the clergie in the new testament church . this subordination of the christian church saint ierom neere the end of his epistle to evagrius observes , and ▪ says , scimus traditiones apostolorum sumptas de veteri testamento . quod aaron & filii ejus atque levitae in templo fuere , hoc episcopi , presbyteri & diaconi sibi vendicant in ecclesia , scil ▪ christiana . the orders delivered to the church by the apostles , were taken out of the old testament . the same subordination which was seen in aaron , his sons , and the levits , now appeares in the christian church , in our bishops , presbyters , and deacons . this proportion is made undenyable by saint iude , who chargeth some with the gain-saying of koreth . now there can be no gain-saying like that of koreh in the christian church , except there be distinction & subordination of superiours and inferiors in the clergie , as there was : and was gain-said by koreh and his complices , desirous of superiour honour , and of higher degrees and places , then they had a calling unto . here then you see that god would have a proportion of church-government betwixt the old and new testament . it is further worthy the observation that both the church and common-wealth of the jewes had in their government a kind of proportion established by god . for as the church was monarchicall in moses , aristocraticall in some select priests and levits governing under aaron , and democraticall in the rest of the priests and levits : so was the common-wealth monarchicall in moses , aristocraticall in some select princes of each tribe governing under moses , and democraticall in the rest , and in the whole body of the people . such is the proportion betwixt our church and common-wealth , and such hath it beene from the first foundation . this will , i hope , appeare , when i come to speak of the succession in our church . and what kind of government thus sutable to that of the jews , is in any one church , may be in all churches : namely , all degrees of men subordinate to their princes , and all the princes or kings subordinate to christ , without having any king on earth head over the rest : as all degrees of men in the churches were subordinate to the apostles , and the apostles going to severall and far remote nations were all equally subordinate to christ , and no one of them head over the rest . to conclude then , seeing the constitution of episcopall government is so agreeable to that which was most absolute , and was established by that wisdome , that no other common-wealth and church ever was ; as one observes , dictante deo , constituente mose , god ordaining it , and moses putting it in practice : why should wee endeavour to alter it ? such an attempt might prove with us , as it did with the people of capua , when pacuvius saved the senators . it is held an axiome among architectors , that it is scarce wisdom to pull down one of the mayne posts of a building , especially so ancient , except another be setled and fixed , which we are sure is right and fitted to our purpose : which yet for all the workmans skill may have a private flaw in it , which cannot be discovered by the most skilfull : and so may the building fall on the builders head . thus much for the analogie and proportion betwixt episcopacie and the church government of the jews . now in the third place wee come to prove that episcopacie was pointed at , and in some sort deciphered in the new testament . what i produced before concerning the authority of ordination , convention , punishment , and reward , put upon some speciall persons , may serve sufficiently to this purpose : yet some thing more i will here adde . bee it so , that when the apostle saith , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , if any one desire the office of a bishop , hee desireth a good work , that this is spoken of an inferior bishop , or presbyter , who is an overseer of the people committed to his charge , as well as of a bishop superiour , who hath the oversight of the clergie and people : yet will it follow , that if the office of an inferiour bishop or over-seer of his flock bee a good work ( as indeed it is ) then much more they , who first have laboured in that painful harvest , and afterward in their elder yeeres are advanced to the superiour bishops office of over-seeing the clergie , of ordaining , conventing and the like as above , undergoe and performe {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , a good work of greater eminencie and more notable . for certainly there cannot be a more blessed worke , nor more holy calling in the clergie , then to succeed the glorious apostles , and martyrs in their places and callings , as heires doe their parents in their estates and possessions , and to deliver and teach sacred doctrine to faithfull men , who shall bee able to teach others also : as saint paul bids timothy ▪ 2 tim. 2. to this purpose , s. austin upon that , ps. 44. or as we have it , 4● . propatribus tibi nati sunt filii , childrē shall rise in steed of their fathers , saith patres m●ssi sunt apostoli , pro apostolis filii tibi nati sunt , constituti sunt episcopi . hodie enim episcopi qui sunt per ●orum orbem , unde nati sunt ? ipsa ecclesia pa●tes illes appellat : ipsa filios genuit , & ipsa illos constituit in sedibus patrum : the fathers sent to us were the apostles , insteede of the apostles , the sons which were appointed are bishops . for at this day the bishops in all the world , from whom did they arise ? the church it selfe calls them fathers : shee her selfe begot these sons , and shee her self hath put them into the seats of the fathers . here yee see the succession of bishops proved plainly by saint augustin , as before by ireneus , eusebius , ignatius , and a cloud of witnesses , who sealed their witnesse with their bloud , and are those whose robes are washed in the bloud of the lamb , and who shall shine more brightly then the cynosure amongst other starrs of heaven . besides all the witnesses and proofes already brought , i will produce one text more to prove bishops to bee successors of the apostles iure divino . in that great synod . act. 1. where were assembled the eleven disciples , and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} fere centum & viginti , other persons believer : 120. saint peter moved the consideration of an election of one in the place of iudas , and urgeth two places of the psalmes , as prophecies , which must be fulfilled , psal. 69. 26. and 109. 6. there the holy ghost prophesied by the mouth of david concerning iudas : let his habitation be void , and let no man dwell therein : {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and let another take his bishoprick . mark wee well the words , and grant we these two assertions . 1 that no man will say that there is a tautologie or vaniloquium in the words of sacred scripture , or that any word may be altered or can be beitered . 2 that the scriptures should be understood , as neere as we can , literally , and as the plaine sense of the place will beare , and so as may stand with the analogie of other scriptures . these things being granted , i thus argue . that which the spirit of god by the mouth of a prophet hath foretolde , and the blessed apostles in a synod have ratified , that is an undeniable truth , and may pleade its ius divinum . but david did foretell by the inspiration of the spirit of prophecie , that episcopacie should succeed apostleship , and the apostles ratified it in their synod . therefore episcopacie succeeded the apostleship , iure divino . it is not any other word which is attributed to matthias place , but {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , a bishoprick : and hee succeeded iudas . if any here object , that matthias had {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the bishopricke of iudas , so that iudas his apostleship is there call'd a bishopricke in a generall notion , as it imports an office or charge . and that therefore episcopacy did not succeed apostleship , but both of them were of right attributed to the 12 chosen by christ , and both given to matthias , who succeeded iudas . i answer . suppose this be granted , it maketh much more for what i intend . for first , if they be termes of so neere affinity , that they serve to expresse one and the same office in a different regard : then it followeth , that in regard of their affinity , the one may more easily succeed in the other place ; for where there is a likenesse of nature , there is facilior transitus , an easier change of one thing into another , as of aire into fire , because of their agreement in the quality of heat . secondly , seeing the terme of apostle was by those and after-times in some sort appropriate to some few : it remayned that the other term , viz. bishop , should be left and turned over to their successors . and with respect to this , matthias is expresly said to succeed in iudas his episcopacie : and the chiefe officers of the clergie are termed bishops rather then by any other name . this we read to have beene the constant practice of the first century , in which ( as it is likely ) the executors and feoffees in trust of our lord , best understood the meaning of the testatour , and had gifts extraordinary , ad ecclesiam & fidem stabiliendam , as to establish our faith , so gods church too , and could best fit right terms to persons and callings . but to come close to our selves . this isle received christianity very soon , even in the days of tiberius , as gildas brito a grave authour writeth : who wrote , anno 493. and as another gildas after him confirmeth . this gildas was cald albanicus , and , as some will have it , preceded the other . he testifies , that after the dispersing of the disciples , by reason of the persecution , philip sent out of france , joseph of arimathea , and divers others , who preached the gospel in this kingdome . their doctrine ( as malmesbury hath it ) was afterward confirmed by other preachers and doctours here . this is also witnessed both by origen and theodoret ; not to speake of those , who some of them affirme that paul , some that iames , some that peter were in this island , and visited the church here established , as baronius a romish writer , and of special note in that church , hath it . t is further said , that insula glacialis ( which we now call glastenbury ) was granted them by arviragus king of the britains . this is witnessed unto by divers memorable records alleaged by the studious and learned searchers into the british and saxon antiquities . as for that report of lucius and eleutherius mentioned by beda and marianus scotus , and so often alleaged by divers others , i must either thinke that rome had changed her customes , and many of her tenents , or question the truth of the relation : my reason for this is : because , when in the yeer 601. austin the monk first required obedience to the roman church in three things , viz. 1. in paschate celebrando , 2. in baptismo ministrando , 3. in praedicando anglis saxonibus , in celebrating easter , in administring baptisme , in preaching to the english , his motion was refused , and austin utterly disliked . quia ( to use the words of another ) augustini fastum spernebant , they disliked austins pride . and well they might , for he was haughty and harsh , and did contrary to his directions from gregory bishop of rome , who sent him hither . for he incensed edlefred so against the poore christians of bangor , that he put twelve hundred of them to the sword . of this the reason is given : quia noluere obsequium augustino praebere , because they would not submit to austins will . for this was indeed the quarrell , as our writers say . this their refusall to yield to austin the monke , i produce as a proofe , that the christians , which hee found here , held in many things with the eastern churches , as having their doctrine from ierusalem and sion , whence the gospel was to be sent , esay 2. 3. mic. 4. 2. to the nations . and whence as salvation went , psal. 14. 7. so likewise the doctrine of salvation : for christ , who gave the apostles commission to go to all nations , and preach to them the gospel , did bid them stay at jerusalem , till the holy ghost furnished them with guifts for the worke commanded . this further appeares by that resolute answere , which the abbot of bangor gave to austin the monk , anno 601. viz. that he and his acknowledged no superioritie in the bishop of rome over them , nor any superiour but their own archbishop caer-leonis , or ( as some have it ) senovensis , qui sub deo solus positus fuit super illos ad supervidendum , & ad faciendum illos servare viam spiritualem , who alone under god was made an over-seer or bishop to them , that hee might make them observe the spirituall way . seeing this stout champion thus answered , it is probable that they were of the primitive institution . and this i the rather give credit unto ; because if the bishop of rome had then held the present tenet of that church : that their citie is the spirituall metropolis , and that their bishop is caput ecclesiae , our predecessours would have acknowledged the pope and his see , as they had been taught . but baronius saith , that our british bishops are as ancient as those of rome . and t is probable they were so . for this we have good proof ; that at a council at arles held anno dom. 314. wee had three bishops , viz. 1. eborius de civitate eboraci episcopus , 2. restitutus de civitate londini episcopus , 3. aldelfius de civitate coloniae londinensium , & exinde sacerdos presbyter , arminius diaconus , eborius bishop of yorke , restitutus bishop of london , adelfius bishop of colchester , and after them sacerdos a presbyter , arminius a deacon . these subscribed in this synod . here therefore i observe , that anno 314. wee had bishops , presbyters , and deacons : the very governours now in question . and romish they were not , as i conceive : because they then acknowledged not a subordination to rome : and because vrban the second called learned anselme , patriarcha britaniae , the patriarch of britaine . therefore , me thinks , it should not now be questioned , whether episcopacy be a romish relicke , but rather , that it should be confirmed as an evangelicall ordinance , and as ancient , as the first institution of churches , and as a calling appointed by the apostles . what more have we for baptisme of infants ? what more for our sunday , or the lords day , but convincing deductions from the scriptures , or the practice of the apostles , and the observation of the same in the churches of god successively to this very day ? yet wee hold both these to be sacred ordinances and of divine institution : though they both be questioned by some learned men of the reformed churches , as episcopacie is among some of ours . the case is alike , and as cleere , if not much more , for episcopacie : that it had a divine institution . if what is formerly said , satisfie not , i will only use this argument more , to prove that episcopacie is iure divino . if the charge given 1 tim. 6. 14. be to timothy personally , and be perpetuall , then it is to one person , namely to timothy , and to the successors in his place : for timothy was mortall , so that the perpetuitie of the charge must reach to all his successors , till the appearing of the lord christ iesus . but the charge is personall to timothy , and perpetuall even to the appearing of our lord iesus christ . therefore it is to one person , viz. to timothy and to his successors for ever . if it be here objected , that the charge there was given to timothy , as elswhere the keyes to peter , and according to that , which is said , quod dixit petro , dixit caeteris apostolis , what was spoken to peter , was spoken to the other apostles also : i answer , it is so . for what was said to timothy , was said caeterisque episcopis & successoribus eorum , both to other bishops , and their successors : as christs giving the keys to peter were to him and the other apostles : but not to all the disciples , deacons and widdowes . to summe up all in a word ; since it appeares that episcopacie , presbytery and diaconatus are according to the practice of the apostles analogicall and agreeable to the constitution of the jewish church appointed by god , and established by moses ; pointed at , and in some kinde deciphered in the new testament ; and strongly insinuated by the successors of the apostles , to have beene received and practised by them , as commended to them from divine authority : since these three orders in our church are derived so high , have continued so long , even from the primitive times to this day : we may well conclude , that as presbyters and deacons , so bishops are iure divino : especially seeing episcopacie is so generally confirmed , and hath beene so constantly continued by the apostles , apostolick men , councills , fathers , and doctors . and much the rather am i induced thus , as i have said , to judge of episcopacie : because the contrary part have not the like proofes , warrant , and approbation for their presbytery ; and can bring no sufficient and convincing authority for a quarterly or yeerely president , joynt presbyters and lay elders usurping pastorall and episcopall jurisdiction . and here in confidence of my cause i adde , that if they have any lawfull generall councill , or any synod ( except their own ) which established a church government by such a president , presbyters , and lay-elders , as above , i will yeeld the cause . now it concerns us very much to be well advised and truly to judge of these matters ; because it appeares in that dangerous and seditious pamphlet concerning the late protestation , that the author therof , and such as he is , care not what government be established , so that popery ( which we wish more rightly then they ) be abolished , episcopacie and the present government ( which change how inconvenient it may be , they know not ) be altered , and that they may have liberty and toleration ( which what state wil permit ) to professe what manner of religion they make choise of . so may we have as many religions , as there be at amsterdam , and unpeople all our plantations by calling many phantasticall schismaticks home , who under colour of dislike of the church government here , have fallen out with our religion , and framed to themselves divers opinions , if not religions , contrary to ours , not only in forme , but in reality . seeing there is but one lord , one faith , one baptisme , one god and father of all , let us indevour to keepe the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace : that there may be one body and one spirit , even as we are called in one hope of our calling , eph. 4. let us stick fast to that one truth , which wee are taught , and be stedfast in one faith : and agree joyntly with one accord , like children of one father and mother . let us not lose the honour of our church government , but reforme the personall errours . and since reformation signifies nothing else , but the reducing and setting matters into the forme in which they were most perfect : let us constantly hold our-selves to the forme kept and practised in the primitive times , and in the first & second cēturies . in which we shal find the order episcopall , presbyteriall , and diaconall observed , and ever since confirmed by nationall synods and councils of our own , neere 1400 yeeres agoe , or at least 1000 , and practised by many successions before and since . what then remayneth , but that wee establish the present government of our church , which is so agreeable to the ancient constitution ? as for that which is alleaged by saint ierome , in his dialogue against the luciferians , concerning those things which were rather in honorem sacerdotii , quam legis necessitate , gratia principum & conciliorum authoritate data & collata , for the honour of the ministerie , then the necessity of any law , given and bestowed by the bounty of princes , and authoritie of councils ; i say for these things , i take them not to be iure divino , though deo data : i know that god is to be honoured with our substance , and that it is as lawfull since christs time to vow or give to him , according as he blesseth out labours and meanes , as it was for david , solomon , and their worthies ; and how offensive it may be to him to alter what is given or vowed , as it was of old to change and give a bad lamb for a good , i leave to the grave consideration of others . only i here wish that we may save the honour of our deare and aged mother ; and punish her sons , if any have dishonoured her by pride , tyranny , or covetousnesse : and that the church and common-wealth may hold such correspondencie , as they did in the daies of david and solomon : and that as kings were nursing fathers , and queenes nursing mothers to the church in her infancie ; so in her age shee may find kings to support her , if weake : and if any of her children be like those of elies , their fathers may correct them so , that their mother be not dishonoured nor ruined . to say no more , i conclude with that of saint augustine , siquid tota ecclesia hodie per orbem frequentat , hoc quin ita sit faciendum , disputare insolentissimae est insaniae , if any thing at this day be of frequent use in the whole church , to question and dispute whether it ought so to be is a most insolent madnesse . epist. 118. and that it is aerianisme to say , that presbyters ( in the common acception ) are equall to bishops , such namely as were successors of the apostles , and such as saint augustine himselfe was . this epiphanius reckons among the ancient heresies , and time hath not bettered it : and whether it resembles and comes neere to the antilogie of koreh , or not , my self not being rigid , or prone to censure , i leave to be determined by others . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a67119e-640 object . answ. object . answ. object . 2. answ. of the first point . object . answ. epist. ad antioch . the second point . the third point . object . answ. the fourth point . object . answ. the rules of a holy life. or a treatise containing the holy order of our liues, prescribed in the scripture concerning our carriage: towards god, towards men, towards our selues. with generall rules of preparation, that concerne either the helps, or the maner of a holy conuersation. by n. bifield preacher of gods word at isleworth in middlesex. byfield, nicholas, 1579-1622. 1619 approx. 231 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 186 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a17410 stc 4233.5 estc s122202 99857354 99857354 23076 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a17410) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 23076) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 737:19) the rules of a holy life. or a treatise containing the holy order of our liues, prescribed in the scripture concerning our carriage: towards god, towards men, towards our selues. with generall rules of preparation, that concerne either the helps, or the maner of a holy conuersation. by n. bifield preacher of gods word at isleworth in middlesex. byfield, nicholas, 1579-1622. [48], 323, [1] p. printed by g[eorge] p[urslowe] for ralph rounthwaite, and are to bee sold at the flower de-luce and crown in pauls church-yard, london : 1619. printer's name from stc. issued as part 4 of "the marrow of the oracles of god", 1619. identified as stc 4233b on umi microfilm. reproduction of the original in the folger shakespeare library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng christian life -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2003-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-07 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2003-07 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-08 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the rvles of a holy life . or a treatise containing the holy order of our liues , prescribed in the scripture , concerning our carriage : towards god , towards men , towards our selues . with generall rules of preparation , that concerne either the helps , or the maner of a holy conuersation . by n. bifield preacher of gods word at isleworth in middlesex . psal. 50. vlt. to him that ordereth his conuersation aright , will i shew the saluation of god. london , printed by g. p. for ralph rounthwaite , and are to bee sold at the flower de-luce and crown in pauls church-yard . 1619. ❧ to the noble and religious lady , the lady marie vere , increase of ioy and peace in beleeuing . madam , it was most truely said by the apostle of the gentiles : godlines is great gaine ; importing thereby , that if man would be incited to the care to get any thing , for the profit might come thereby , it should be godlinesse : no skill in the world being c̄oparable to that skill of being able to leade a godly life , for the sure , and speedy , & matchlesse gain it will bring vnto a man : for besides that it onely hath the promise of a better life , godlinesse were to bee desired , and with all possible diligence to bee sought after , for the very gaine of it in this life : for to omit the consideration of the fauor it breeds with god , & the vnspeakable treasures of the grace of christ , which alwayes go with it , it were to bee desired for the immediate effects it workes vpon men in it selfe . for if men loue themselues , what should they desire more then that which tends to make themselues perfect ? what should it aduantage a man to haue all things good about him , if himselfe bee ill and vile ? if men , that were onely guided by the light of nature , could ( some of them ) see cleerely , that nothing was so good for a man as to liue well ( when yet they knew no other liuing well , then what was prescribed in their naked and naturall ethickes ) then how much more happy must it be for a man to liue a religious life , by which he is brought more neerer to god , himselfe , and farre aboue the condition of any naturall man ? yea , if there were no more to bee had by it , but the peace and rest it brings vnto a mans heart , it were aboue all outward things to bee desired : for no man walkes safely , that walkes not religiously , nor can any actions of men produce any sound tranquillity and rest of heart , but such actions as are prescribed by true religion . what shall i say ? if for none of these , yet for it self were a godly life to be had in singular request : for if men , with much expence of outward things , seeke but the skill of diuers , naturall , and artificiall knowledges , and thinke it worth their cost but to bee able to attaine these skils ? how much more ought man to be at the paines , yea and cost too ( if it were required ) to get this admirable skill to liue a religious life ? this most gainefull subiect is intreated of in this little volume ; i may truely say , that almost euery sentence in this little treatise , leads vs to much and rich treasure , if the promises belonging to each duty were annexed thereunto : and therefore no christian that loues his owne soule , should thinke much of the paines of learning , or practising these rules . i shall not need to exhort your ladiship to the hearty care of those things you haue beene taught of god ( long since ) to profit , and haue learned iesus christ as the truth is in him : your sincere profession and practice hath many witnesses : and since you beleeued the gospell of saluation , and were sealed by the spirit of promise , you haue a witnesse within your selfe , which will not faile in life or death to pleade your aboundant consolation . when i entreat of piety , righteousnesse , mercy and temperance , i entreate of things you haue aboue many profited in . i haue presumed to dedicate these directions to your ladiship , and not without reason : you haue heard the preaching of them with speciall attention , and haue beene a principall perswader to haue them published for the common good , being many wayes bound to acknowledge your ladiship amongst my best hearers and friends . i cannot but beseech your ladiship to accept of this small testimony of my vnfeigned obseruance of your many prayses in the gospel , and as a pledge of my thankefulnesse for all your workes of loue to me and mine . the god of glory , and father of our lord iesus christ , make you abound yet more and more , in all the riches of his grace in this life , and fill you with the comforts of the blessed hope of the appearing of iesus christ. your ladiships in the seruice of iesus christ , to be euer commanded , n. bifield . the contents of the whole booke . chapter 1. page 1. to the 12. the scope of the whole booke is , to shew briefly the choysest rules of life of all sorts . some obiections against this course answered , and the warrant and profit of it shewed . the easinesse of the course , with some generall direction . cha. 2. p. 12. to 48. the rules are either generall or particular . the generall rules concerne , either the helpes to a holy life , or the manner of wel-doing . he that would prepare himselfe to an holy course of life , must do diuers things , and auoide diuers things . the things hee must doe are these : 1. hee must be sure he hath repented , & doth beleeue . 2. hee must get knowledge how to do well , and that he may attaine knowledge : 1. hee must esteeme it . 2. hee must not consult with flesh and bloud . 3. he must redeem the time . 4. hee must be wise for himselfe . 5. he must be swift to heare . 6. he must study onely profitable things . 7. hee must striue to increase in knowledge . 8. hee must propound his doubts . 9. hee must be rightly ordered toward his pastor , to pray for him , and obey him , and not discourage him . 3. he must auoid ill company . 4. he must resolue to practise these rules . 5. he must order his outward calling so , as hee bee freed from all needlesse incumbrances . 6. hee must keepe company with such as doe liue well . 7. hee must not be a seruant of man. 8. hee must accustome himselfe to the thoughts of the comming of christ. 9. he must not regard what the multitude doth . 10. hee must carefully remember to be in all things thankfull to god. 11. he must study to be quiet . 12. hee must bee carefull to go on in a direct course . 13. he must reade the scriptures daily . 14. hee must bee carefull to preserue his first loue . 15. he must especially striue for such good things as would make him most excell in his place and calling . 16. hee must be often in the duties of mortification . 17. hee must obserue the opportunities of well doing . 18. hee must bee carefull of keeping the sabbath . 19. he must often meditate of the examples of the godly that excell in holinesse . 20. he must daily pray god to direct him . chap. 3. p. 48. to 56. thus of what he must do , what hee must auoide followes ; and so hee must take heed , 1. of carelesenesse . 2. of rashnesse . 3. of carnall confidence . 4. of hasting to be rich . 5. of distrustfull feares . 6. of adding to , or taking from the word of god. 7. of contempt of reproofe . 8. of beholding of vanity . 9. of the beginnings of sin . chap. 4. p. 56. to 81. nine things to be euer in our minds , that in general concerne the manner of all well-doing , for in all good workes wee must shew : 1 — 1. zeale . 2 — 2. sincerity , which hath in it : truth , respect to all gods commandements , a right end , obedience , without obiecting , obedience in all companies . 3. constancy , whē we do good , without wearinesse . without discouragement . without resistance . without wauering . without declining . 4. feare . 5. simplicity , which is , to rest vpon the word for the forme of holinesse and happinesse . to be harmelesse . to be simple concerning euill . to loue goodnesse for it selfe . to bee meeke and lowly-minded . so to feare god , as not to enuy the wicked . 6. circumspection , which hath in it , a respect of lesser commandements , abstaining from appearance of euill , obseruation of the circumstances of things , vnrebukeablenesse , auoiding euill when good might come of it . 7. growth , which hath in it , abounding in goodnesse , finishing of holinesse . progresse . 8. moderation , to bee neither iust nor wicked ouermuch , which is expounded at large . chap. 5. p. 81. to 95. thvs of the generall rules ; the particular rules concerne either god , or other men , or our selues . our whole duty to god concernes either his loue , or his seruice . the loue of god must be considered , either in the foundation of it , or in the exercise of it . the foundation of the loue of god , is the knowledge of god. the rules about the knowledge of god , concerne either the right conceiuing of his nature , or our acquaintance with god. that we may conceiue aright of the nature of god : 1. wee must cast out all likenesses . 2. wee must striue to conceiue of him according to his speciall prayses in his word . 3. we must bring with vs the faith of the trinity . 4. we may helpe our selues by thinking of the godhead in the humane nature of christ. 5. wee must get cure for atheisticall thoughts , that we may be acquainted with god. 1. we must prepare our harts . 2. wee must begge acquaintance by prayer , praying with all our hearts , and earely and constantly . 3. we must giue our selues to god. chap. 6. p. 95. to 121. thvs of the foundation of the loue of god : the rules that concerne the exercise of our loue to god , either shew vs how to manifest our loue to god , or how to preserue it . wee manifest our loue to god : 1. by auouching him to be our god. 2. by prouiding him a place to dwell with vs. 3. by louing iesus christ. 4. by walking with him , which hath fiue things in it . 5. by honouring god : and wee honour him ; by seeking his kingdome first . by open profession of his truth . by grieuing for his dishonour . by directing all our actions to his glory . by suffering for his sake . by honoring such as feare him . by hating his enemies . by speaking of his truth with all reuerence . by free-will-offerings . by praysing him : where diuers rules . 6. by trusting in him : and this trust in god we shew : by relying vpon his mercy for our saluation . by committing all our workes to his blessing . by beleeuing what he saith by staying vpon him in all distresses , praying to him , and casting our care vpon him , and relying vpon his helpe , without leaning to our vnderstanding : without murmuring , without feare , without care , without vsing ill meanes . 7. by obeying him . in the manner also of our manifesting our loue to god , we must doe it , 1. with feruency . 2. with feare : and our feare of god we shew , by awful thoughts of god. by departing from euill . by all reuerence of minde . by not fearing men . by remembring his presence . by trembling at his iudgments . by humility in the vse of his ordinances . by the reuerend vse of his very titles . chap. 7. p. 121. thus of the manifestation of our loue to god , for the preseruation of our loue to god. 1. wee must separate our selues from all others to be his . 2. wee must beware that we forget not god. 3. wee must edifie our selues in our holy faith . 4. wee must pray in the holy ghost . 5. we must waite for the comming of christ. 6. we must seek his speciall presence in his ordinances . 7. we must preserue the truth hee hath deliuered to vs. 8. wee must study his prayses . 9. wee must study to reioyce in god , which containes in it 4. things : where eight rules to obtaine this ioying in god. cha. 8. p. 121. to 138. thus of our loue to god : his seruice followes , and the rules about the seruice of god , concerne either the parts of his seruice , or the time of it . the rules that concerne the parts of gods worship , are either general to all parts , or speciall . nine things to bee remembred in all parts of gods worship : 1. preparation . 2. godly feare . 3. penitency . 4. griefe that others serue not god. 5. that all be done in the name of christ. 6. precedency before other businesses . 7. that we serue with all our hearts . 8. desire to please him . 9. detestation of what might draw vs from his seruice . chap. 9. p. 138. to 147. the speciall rules concerne either his publique seruice , or the particular parts of his seruice : vnto the publique seruice , all must come , with speciall reuerence and zeale : and this zeale to be shewed six waies . and with our consent , with speciall gladnesse before god , and trust in his mercy , and thankefulnes for all successes . chap. 10. p. 147. to 156. the speciall parts of gods worship , are , 1. hearing : where the rules concerne vs. 1. before hearing . a resolution to deny our owne wits and affections . a meek and humble spirit . 2. in the time of hearing . speciall attention . prouing of the doctrine . 3. after hearing : 1. meditation . 2. practice . chap. 11. p. 156. to 166. 2. the sacraments which are either baptisme or the lords supper . concerning baptisme wee haue diuers things to doe : 1. about our children to present them to baptisme , in due time . in faith . with thankefulnesse . 2. about our selues , to make vse of our owne baptisme , in case of doubting , in the case of temptatiō to sin , where our baptisme serues for vse three waies : in the case of doubting of our perseuerance . 3. about others , to acknowledge the baptized . chap. 12. p. 166. to 171. concerning the lords supper wee are charged with , 1. examination . 2. the discerning of the lords bodie . 3. the shewing forth of the death of christ. 4. the vowes of louing the godly . 5. reconciliation . 6. vowes of holy life . chap. 13. p. 171. to 178. 3. prayer , about which the rules are , 1. thy words must bee few . 2. thy heart must bee lifted vp , which hath three things in it ; vnderstanding , freedom from distractions , and feruency . 3. thou must vse all manner of prayer . 4. thou must perseuer in prayer . 5. thou must be instant without fainting or discouragement . 6. with supplications for all sorts . 7. in all things thou must giue thankes . cha. 14. p. 178. to 184. 4. reading the scripture , the rules are : 1. reade daily . 2. meditate of what thou readest 3. conferre vpon it . 4. resolue to obey . chap. 15. pa. 184. to 186. 5. singing of p●●lmes , the rules are : 1. teach one another by psalmes . 2. sing with the heart . 3. sing with grace . 4. make melody to the lord. chap. 16. p. 186. to 190. 6. vowes : the rules are : 1. before thou vow , consider . 2. when thou hast vowed , defer not to pay . 7. swearing : the rules are , 1. sweare not by any thing which is not god. 2. sweare in truth . 3. sweare in iudgement . 4. sweare in righteousnesse . chap. 17. p. 190. to 193. 8. fasting , rules concerne 1. the strictnesse of the abstinen●● 2. the humbling of the soule . chap. 18. p. 193. to 204. hitherto of the parts of gods worship : the time followes , which chiefly is the sabbath , and the rules about the sabbath concern● 1. the preparation to it : end thy worke . auoid domestical vnquietnes . cleanse thy selfe . 2. the celebration of it , where is prescribed : 1. rest from all worke . 2. readinesse and delight . 3. care and watchfulnesse . 4. sincerity to bee shewed : by doing gods works with as much care as our owne . by obseruing the whole day . by auoiding the lesser violations of the sabbath . 5. faith , by trusting vpon his blessing . 6. discretion . chap. 19. p. 204. to 209. hitherto of the rules that concerne our carriage towards god : towards man followes ; and so either towards all men , or towards some men . the rules that order vs in our carriage towards all men , concerne either righteousnesse , or mercy . the rules that concerne righteousnesie , either order in company , or out of company . in company we must be ordered , either in respect of religion , or the sin of others , or the way how to carry our selues inoffensiuely : for matter of religion look to it : 1. that thou take not vp the name of god in vaine . 2. that thou auoide vaine ianglings , about doubtfull disputations , or curious questions , or vnprofitable reasonings . 3. if thou be asked a reason of thy hope , answer with all reuerence and meekenesse . 4. let thy communication be yea , yea , and nay , nay . chap. 20. p. 209. to 216. as for the faults of others , 1. iustifie not the wicked , nor condemne the righteous . 2. conuerse , without iudging . 3. walke not about with tales . 4. reprooue , but hate not . 5. passe by meere frailties . 6. giue soft answeres . chap. 21. p. 216. to 229. that thou maist conuerse inoffensiuely , thou must look to three things , humility , discretion , and purity . vnto the humility of thy conuersation belong these rules . 1. be soft , shew all meekenesse to all men . 2. hearken to the words of those that are wise . 3. stand not in the place of great men . vnto the discretion of thy conuersation belong these rules . 1. speake what is acceptable . 2. auoide those that cause diuisions . 3. make no friendship with the angry man. 4. in the euill time bee silent . 5. and communicate not thy secrets . 6. withdraw thy foote from thy neighbours house . 7. restraine thy passions . 8. blesse not thy friend with a loud voyce . vnto the purity of thy conuersation belong these rules : 1. refraine thy tongue from euill . 2. especially auoide filthy speaking , foolish talking and iesting , 3. auoide reuelling and drinking . chap. 22. pa. 229. to 233. ovt of company : 1. conceiue loue to all men . 2. pray for all sorts of men ; 3. prouide to liue , honestly , without scandall . iustly , without deceit . peaceably , without strife . chap. 23. pa. 233. to 245. thus of righteousnesse : mercy followeth ; and vnto mercy is requisite , 1. willingnesse , 2. labour . 3. liberality . 4. humility to be shewed fiue waies . 5. faith , in two respects 6. discretion in foure respects . 7. sympathy . 8. sincerity in fiue things . chap. 24. pa. 245. to 260. thus of the rules that order our carriage towards all men : towards some men followes , as they are either wicked , or godly : as for the wicked , 1. hold no needlesse society with them . 2. when thou must needes come into their company , carry thy selfe wisely , that thou maist , if it be possible , win them : and to this end shew 1. thy mortification . 2. reuerend speech in matter of god and religion . 3. meekenesse of wisedome . 4. reseruednesse in 8. things . 5. mercy . 6. vndauntednesse in a good cause . 7. patience . 8. loue to thy enemies . chap. 25. p. 260. to 271. thus of our carriage towards wicked men : in our carriage towards the godly , the sum of all is , walke in loue : and the particular rules concerne , either the manifestation of our loue vnto them , or the preseruation of loue to thē . six wayes to manifest our loue to the godly 1. by courtesie . 2. by receiuing them . 3. by bearing their burthens . 4. by prouoking them to good duties . 5. by faithfulnesse in their businesse . 6. by imploying our gifts for their good . chap. 26. pa. 271. to 279. for the preseruation of our loue to the godly , some things are to be done , and other things to be auoided . the things to be done , are : 1. labour to be like-minded . 2. follow peace . 3. couer their nakednesses . 4. confesse your faults one to another . chap. 27. pag. 279. to 288. ten things to be auoyded . 1. suits in law. 2. dissimulation . 3. conceitednesse . 4. reioycing in iniquity . 5. the minding of our owne things . 6. ficklenesse . 7. vaine-glory . 8. iudging . 9. euill words , and complaining . 10. the forsaking of their fellowship . chap. 28. p. 288. to 294. other rules which concerne onely some of the godly . 1. such as are falne . 2. such as are weake . 3. such as are strong . 4. such as are especially kuit vnto vs in friendship . 1. those that are falne , are either falne from god , or from thee : from god , either grosly or by infirmity ; and so are guilty of foule vices , or extreme omissions . 1. warne them , and reproue them . 2. if they mend not , auoide them . 3. if they repent , forgiue them . toward such as are falne frō thee , by trespassing against thee , obserue these rules : 1. either speake not of it , or so , as thou vex not at it . 2. in great wrongs two things are to bee done : first , when the trespasse is secret , reprooue him priuatly : if he mend not , reprooue him before witnesse : if hee yet mend not , make the church acquainted with it : if he will not then amend , hold him as a heathen , or a publican . secondly , if he repent , forgiue him , as often as he saith , it repenteth him . chap. 29. pa. 294. to 298. 2. towards such as are weake , 1. we must not intangle them with doubtfull disputations concerning ceremonies , or things indifferent . 2. wee must beare with their weakenesses . 3. wee must not offend them . 4. wee must incourage and comfort them . 5. in things indifferent , we must suffer a little restraint of our owne liberty to please them . 3. towards strong christians : first , we must acknowledge them . secondly , wee must set their practice before vs , as examples of imitation . thirdly , we must submitour selues to them , to haue their iudgements in all doubtfull things . fourthly , how we must carry our selues towards our speciall friend . 1. neuer forsake him . 2. giue him hearty counsell . 3. be friendly to him . 4. communicate thy secrets to him . 5. loue him with a speciall loue : first , as thine owne soule . secondly , at all times . thirdly , it must be a sincere loue , that looketh not for bribes . fourthly , it must bee such a loue as will reach to his posterity , if need be . chap. 30. p. 298. to 308. rvles that concerne our selues , are of two sorts . 1. either our generall , or particular calling . concerning our generall calling , 1. our faith. 2. our repentance . 3. our hope . 1. concerning our faith , we must be expert in the catalogue of promises , that concerne infirmities , mentioned in the third treatise . our iudgement must be established particularly in the doctrine of the principles , expressed in the fifth treatise . 2. concerning our repentance , one rule is of singular vse , and that concernes the catalogue of present sinnes , mentioned in the first treatise . 3. concerning our hope , 4 things : 1. we must pray earnestly , for the knowledg of the great glory is prouided for vs. 2. we must vse all diligence to perfect our assurance of heauen , when we die . 3. we must accustome our thoughts to the daily contemplation of heauen , that our conuersation may be in heauen . 4. we must striue to inable our selues for the expectation of the comming of iesus christ , and to be able to waite for his comming . chap. 31. pa. 308. to 317. seuen things to be auoided in our particular calling : 1. slothfulnesse . 2. vnfaithfulnesse . 3. rashnesse . 4. passion , or perturbation . 5. the temptations of our calling . 6. worldlinesse . 7. prophanenesse . chap. 32. pa. 317. to 323. how we must cary our selues in afflictiō eight things to be auoided : 1. dissembling . 2. shame : 3. impatience . 4. discouragement . 5. trust in carnall friends . 6. perplexed cares . 7. sudden feares . 8. carelessenesse of thy wayes . fiue things to be done in the time of affliction : 1. we must pray , and call vpon the name of the lord. 2. we must beare our crosse with patiience and contentation . 3. we must vse all good meanes for our deliuerance . 4. we must be sure to shew our trust in god , & cast our burthen on the lord 5. we must shew our obedience to god. foure waies : first , by submitting our selues to gods will. secondly , if we iudge our selues , and acknowledge our sinnes to god. thirdly , if wee bee constant in the good wayes of godlinesse . fourthly , if we learne more righteousnes , and are made by our crosses to do holy duties with better affections . chap. i. containing the preface , which shewes the drift , warrant , profit , and vse of the ensuing treatise . the onely thing intended in this treatise is , to collect for thy vse ( christian reader ) those directions scattered here & there in the scriptures , which may , through out the whole course of thy life , tell thee , what thou must do in the right order of thy conuersation : how thou shouldst behaue thy selfe toward god , and how thou shouldst carry thy selfe toward men , in all the occasions of thy life : in company , out of company : in all duties either of righteousnesse or mercy : and how thou shouldst dispose of thy selfe in affliction , and out of affliction , at all times . and thou maist be the more encouraged to study and practise these rules , because thou hast the most expresse & apparant word of god to warrant and require thy obedience herein . be not so prophane , as to thinke , that here is more to do then needs , or that i burthen the liues of christians with a multitude of vnnecessary precepts , and so make the way harder then it is : for i require thy obedience in nothing , thou hast not reason to be perswaded to bee enioyned thee by the pure word of god ; and thou must know , to the confusion of thy security ; that hee that will walke safely , must walke by rule , gal. 6. 16. hee is yet in darkenesse , and walkes on in darkenesse , and sees not what he doth , or whither hee goeth , that doth not make the word of god the light vnto his feet , and the lanterne vnto his pathes : psal. 119. there is a holy order of life commended in the godly , col. 2. 5. and gods promises are made to such as will dispose of their waies aright . a loose conuersation is an ill conuersation ; and if euer we would see the saluation of god , wee must bee at the paines to dispose of our waies , and to see to it , that we dispose of our waies aright , psal , 50. vlt. the benefite thou maist reape by this treatise , is much euery way , if the fault bee not in thy selfe : for here thou maist briefely behold the substance of a godly life ; thou maist in a short time informe thy knowledge in that great doctrine of practicall diuinity : but especially thou maist , by the help of this treatise see a sound way , how to beautifie thy owne conuersation , with the addition of diuers rules , which , perhaps , hitherto thou hast not taken notice of : god hath promised much peace , and comfort vnto such as will walke according vnto rule , gal. 6. 16. yea , hee hath promised , that they shall see the saluation of god , that dispose their way aright , psal. 50. vlt. it is true , it is a greater labour to trauaile in the way , then to shew it ; but yet it is a great benefite to be shewed the way . howsoeuer , it may not be denied , but it is a greater glory to obserue these rules , then to know them , or prescribe them . it may be thou wilt obiect , that the rules are so many , thou canst neuer remember them , and so not profite by them . i answer : if i haue made the rules no more in number then god hath made them in his word , thou maist not finde fault with me . secondly , no man that is to learne any trade , or science , but hee meeteth with more directions , then hee can on the suddaine reach to , or practise , and yet hee reiects not his trade or science , because in time he hopes to learne it all . would we put on a resolution to serue a prentiship to religion , and to worke hard one whole seuen yeeres : oh , what work would we dispatch ! how many rules and knowledges would wee grow skilfull in ! but alas , after many yeeres profession of christianity , the most of vs , if all were put together , haue not done the worke , that might haue bene done in few daies . thirdly , i answer , that it is not necessary thou shouldst lay all these rules before thee at once , but marke out certaine choise rules , so many as thou canst well remember , and striue , by daily practice , to bring thy selfe to some kinde of dexterity in obseruing them . there bee some rules of each kinde , which , if thou bee a true christian , thou knowest and obseruest already : these thou maist continue to obserue still , without loading thy memory about them . now if those be omitted , then consider of the rest that remaine , which of them do most concerne thee , or would most adorne thy practice and profession , or are such as thou neuer hitherto didst make conscience of : extract or marke out so many of those at a time , as thou wouldst in daily practice striue to attaine , and when thou hast learned them , then go on , and prescribe to thy selfe new lessons . to a carnall minde , all the way of godlinesse is impossible , but to a godly and willing minde all things , through the power and assistance of god , are possible : god will accept thy desire and endeuour , and will adde strength and might , and encourage thee in all his waies . by prayer thou maist forme any grace in thee , by reason of the power the lord iesus hath to preuaile for any thing thou dost aske the father in his name . the last benefite may come to thee , if thou daily reade these directions , is , that they will quicken thee to a great care of wel-doing , and giue thee cause to walke humbly with thy god , and abase thy selfe for thine owne insufficiency : the lord giue thee vnderstanding in all things , and vnite thy heart vnto his feare alwaies , that thou maist obserue to doe , as hee commandeth thee , and not turne from the good way all the daies of thy life . chap. ii. containing such rules as in generall men must take notice of , as preparations and furtherances to a godly life . the rules of holy life may bee cast into two rankes : the first containing such rules as are generall : and the other , such as are particular . the generall rules are likewise of two sorts : some of them concerne certain generall preparations , helpes , or furtherances to a holy life , without which men in vaine beginne the cares , or endeuours of a reformed life : and some of them comprehend those necessary rules which are to be obserued in the manner of doing all holy duties , and so are of singular vse to bee alwaies remembred , when wee go about any seruice . of the first sort there are many rules ; for they that will addresse themselues to order their conuersation aright , must be soundly carefull in the obseruation of these directions following . 1 he must examine himselfe about his faith and repentance ; hee must bee sure hee is reconciled to god , and hath truely repented himselfe of his sinnes , 2. cor. 13. 5. for vnlesse hee bee a new creature , hee is no creature , but a dead man , and so vtterly vnable for the practice of these rules following : and without god we can do nothing ; and without god we are , till we liue by faith : besides , the pollution of our hearts or liues drawne vpon vs by the custome of sinne past and present , will so infect all we do , that it will bee abominable to god , and so lost labour . this is the first rule . 2 his next care must be to learne the knowledge of the rules of life ; wee can neuer practise what we know not , and therefore our next care and paines must be to get the knowledge of gods waies distinctly , and effectually , into our heads and hearts ; our direction must not be in our bookes , but in our heads ; and a christian must haue his rules alwaies before him , that so hee may walke circumspectly by line and leuel , ephes. 5. 15. vnderstanding the will of god in what hee is to doe . he is in the way of life , that hath and keepeth instruction , how to liue , prou. 10. 17. whereas he that will not be at the paines of getting instruction , erreth , as salomon saith : and therefore wee must take fast hold of instruction , and not let her goe , but keep her : for shee is our life , prou. 4. 13. knowledge then , of necessity must be had , or in vaine we go about to liue well . now this is such a rule , as must not slightly bee passed ouer , and it is not enough thus in generall to require knowledge , but withall , i would shew certain choice rules to be obserued by vs , if wee would take a sound course to attaine knowledge . he then that would prosperously seeke sound knowledge , must remember these directions . first , hee must esteeme knowledge , and labour to frame his heart to a high estimation of it , accounting it as great treasure , accounting the getting of wisdome aboue all gettings , pro. 4. 7. we must seek for knowledge , as for siluer , & search for her , as for treasure , and then with wonderfull successe shall wee vnderstand the right feare of the lord , prou. 2. 4. else our labour will bee blasted and fruitlesse , if wee bring meane thoughts to the exercise of directions for the attaining of knowledge . secondly , he must take heede that hee consult not with flesh and bloud , gal. 1. 16 he must not regard other mens opinions , or his own carnall reason , but resolue to giue glory to god and his word , as willing to beleeue or doe whatsoeuer the lord saith vnto him . 3. thirdly , he must redeeme the time , ephes. 5. 16. inasmuch as he hath lost so much time past , hee must now prouide to allow himselfe conuenient and certaine time to be spent this way for the attaining of knowledge , else to study by snatches and vncertainly , will bee to little or no purpose . to complaine of ignorance , will not serue the turne , nor will the pretence of worldly businesse excuse vs : and therefore we must buy so much time of our occasions , as may bee competent for the supply of our wants in knowledge . 4. fourthly , in seeking knowledge , he must be wise for himselfe , prou. 9. 12. he must striue to vnderstand his owne way , so to be carefull to know the generals about religion , as his speciall care bee in all things to referre what hee reades or heares , to the particular directions of his owne soule . this is a rule of singular vse , if it could bee beaten into mens heads , and for want of this , many christians , after long paines , & much time spent , haue bin found exceeding ignorant . 5. hee must be swift to heare , iam. 1. 19. with all frequency and attention , making vse of the publike ministry , striuing with his owne heart against deadnesse , and drowsinesse , and remouing al impediments might bee cast in his way from the world , or his worldly occasions , obseruing all opportunities for hearing , especially when hee seeth the heart of his teacher enlarged , and the power of doctrine more then at other times , or in other things . 6. sixtly , he must auoid vaine questions , and fruitles contemplations , titus . 3. 9. 1. tim. 6. 20. 2. tim. 2. 23. when the light of doctrin was so great in the primitiue times , this was one practice of sathan , to draw aside the studies of christians from necessary and solid truths , to genealogies or quarrels about words or vaine controuersies , falsly called oppositions of science : we must therfore be warned of this method of sathan , & till we know cleerly the wayes of life , allow our selues no time for more remote studies , or fruitlesse controuersies . what riches of knowlege might some christians haue attained to , if they had spent the time ( they haue imployed about con●rouersies , genealogies , & generall knowledge ) in the ●ound building of themselues vp in such things , as their soules apparantly stand in need of ? seuenthly , hee must not ●est satisfied with a small measure of vnderstanding ; hee must not giue ouer when he hath gotten a little knowledge more then he had : hee must desire to increase in knowledge , and neuer be well pleased with himselfe , while he is but a child in vnderstāding , 1. cor. 14. 20. 8. eightly , hee must inquire and take counsell , he must propound his doubts daily and carefully . hee that would know much , must aske much , hee must breake off that wretched silence he is prone to , and prouide , if it bee possible , to enioy the fauor of some one or moe , that are able to resolue his doubts from time to time . this rule hath incredible profit in it , if it bee rightly practised , prou. 15. 12. & 20. 17 , 18. & 27. 9. ninthly , and lastly : he must bee rightly ordered in respect of his pastor . for the principal meanes of knowledge is assigned of god to be in the ministry of his seruants : and therefore if wee would attaine knowledge , we must dispose our selues aright towards our teachers , and to this end we must looke to it , first , that wee pray for them , that their word may run and haue free passage , & that god wold make them able to open vnto vs the mysteries of his will , 2. thes. 3. 1. 2. colos. 4. 3. ephes. 6. 19. secondly , we must keep their directions , and make conscience of it to be carefull to obey them , in what they command vs in the lord , 1. cor. 11. 2. thirdly , wee must take heed of discouraging them . for this is not profitable for vs. for the more cheerefull and comfortable their hearts are , the more apt they are to finde out profitable things for vs , heb. 13. 18. 1. cor. 16. 10 , 11. and thus of the first and second rule . thirdly , hee that would redresse his waies aright , must get out of the way of wicked men : he must giue ouer euill company , and sequester himselfe from the counsell and society of carnal and prophane persons . the necessity of this rule is both proued and vrged in these & many other scriptures , prou. 4. 14. psal. 1. 1. 2. cor. 6. 17. epb. 5. 7 , 8. fourthly , he must bring a minde full of care & desire , and resolution to practise the rules , when hee hath learned them : he must as the phrase is , obserue to doe gods will , deut. 5. 32. hee must be watchfull and diligent , hee must ponder vpon the waies of god , bewaring lest hee eyther neglect or forget to doe them , deut. 6. 17. & 31. 46. & 8. 11. 1. corin. 16. 13. prou. 4. 26. we must follow after righteousnesse , 1. tim. 6. 11. and binde directions as signes vpon our hands , &c. deut. 8. 28. if wee could be thus awakened , this rule would breed vs vnspeakable good in our conuersation . fiftly , he must endeuor to settle his head and his estate in respect of his worldly affaires . it is a singular helpe to godlinesse , to reduce our outward callings into order , and euery daies experience shewes , that confusions in worldly businesse breede miserable neglect in gods seruice . and therefore hee that would profite in an orderly course of life , must prouide to vse the world so , as he may serue the lord without distraction : hee , that would runne a race , abstaineth from all things , that might encumber him . no man , that warreth , intangleth himselfe with the affaires of life , that hee may please him , who hath chosen him to be a souldier : and therefore we may not think it much , if in our spirituall course god lay some restraint vpō vs , in respect of the cares and encumbrances in our outward callings , 1. cor. 7. 29. 35. &c. 2. tim. 2. 4. 1. cor. 9. 28. sixthly , he must walke in the way of good men , both setting before him their practice , as patternes of imitation , as also by conuersing with them , that thereby he may gather encouragement , and help in well-doing . hee is deceiued , that thinkes to goe alone , and yet go prosperously in the course of a godly life : hee may profit , and learne by many things he heareth , receiueth , and seeth among the godly . prou. 2. 20. phil. 4. 8 , 9. seuenthly , hee must not bee the seruant of men , 1. cor. 7. 23. other mens humours must not be the direction of this practice : he must so depend vpon persons he hopes to get any thing by in this world , as hee be not thereby hindred in workes of religion , knowing , that he is christs free-man . hee must haste to , and looke for the comming of iesus christ , 2. pet. 3. 12. hee must often remember his latter end , and daily set before his eies the comming of christ , striuing to stirre vp in his heart the desire after chrst , praying for it , and dispatching those workes , that may prepare him thereunto : the remembrance of our accounts in the day of christ will wonderfully quicken men to the care of well , doing , and the cause of the viciousnesse , and miserable neglect , and procrastinations of many is , their forgetting of their latter end : a great reason , why the directions about godlinesse are not entertained , is , because men put farre away from them the day of the lord : whereas the remembrance of the reuelation of iesus christ , would put spirit and life into vs. hee dares not say from his heart , come , lord iesus , come quickly , that is not resolued diligently to worke the works of christ. 9 he must not stay for company , but rather choose to runne alone ; or with a few , then hazzard the losse of the crowne . our life is a race , and as in a race men stay not for company , but striue who may runne formost : so it is in the race of godlinesse : he must so runne , as he may obtaine : he must set out with the first , and runne as it were for his life : as he must make vse of the society of the godly , so hee must not stay , till his carnall friends , and acquaintance will set out with him : hee must bee of ioshua's minde , that if the whole world will liue in wickednesse and prophanenesse , yet he and his house will serue the lord , 1. cor. 9. 24. & 14. 12. iosh. 24. 15. tenthly , hee must in all things giue thankes ; when god giues him successe in any thing , or prospers the meanes to him , and helps him with victory ouer any sinne , or strength to performe any duety , or bestowes vpon him any spirituall blessing , hee must remember to praise god in the name of iesus christ. this will quicken him : daily thankfulnesse will breed daily alacrity in wel-doing : hee that will not be thankfull for beginnings of successe in the practice of holy duties , will not hold out : this is the speciall will of christ , that wee should in all things giue thankes , 1. thess. 5. 18. he must study to be quiet , and follow peace with all men , meddling with his own businesse , and auoiding all occasion of contention , that might distract him in his owne course : a busy-body is as good as no body in respect of sound progresse in sanctification : it is an excellent skill to bee able to auoide the intanglements of discord ; especially hee must prouide to haue perfect peace with the godly . though god bee able to sanctifie the oppositions of vnreasonable men , yet wee must take heed of drawing needlesse troubles vpon our selues ; for that makes vs neither to be , nor to be accounted the more holy , but contrariwise . the apostle could not speake vnto the corinthians , as vnto spirituall men , but as vnto carnall ; at the best , but babes in christ ; and the reason was , because there was strife and enuy , and diuision amongst them , romanes 9. 19. hebrewes 12. 14. marke 9. vlt. i. cor. 3. 3. his eyes must looke straight , and his eye-liddes right before him , prou. 4. 25. hee must take heed of going about , and fetching of compase in religion , ier. 31. 32. hee must bee still aiming at the marke of the high prize of his calling : being sure that the things hee employeth himselfe in , tend directly to the furtherance of his saluation , and not lose his time in vnprofitable studies , or practices , proceeding from one degree to another , till hee come to a ripe age in christ. 13. he must bee conuersanrt in the scriptures , & bee familiarly acquainted with them , that they may dwell plenteously in him : for those good words of god haue not onely light in them to direct vs , but power also to assist vs to do what they require , and by the daily reading and hearing of them , wee shall bee excited to more care of well-doing : we must exercise our selues in the word day and night , and neuer let them depart out of our hearts , but keep our hearts still warme , with the heate that comes from them , neuer suffering the warmth to go out through our long forbearance of the vse of them , col. 3. 16. psal. 1. 2. iosh. 8. isaiah . 8. 16 , 20. 14. hee must carefully perseuer in his first loue , reu , 2. 4. the lord is wont at some times or other , about the first conuersion of a sinner , to shew himselfe with such power in his ordinances , and to reueale vnto him such glories in the merits & gifts of iesus christ , and the happinesse of his estate in him , that his hart is thereby fired to a cheerfull liking of the meanes of saluation , and of godly persons , and to a wonderfull desire after god , and care to please god. now hee that would prosper in a christian course , must bee wonderfully careful to preserue affection , & this spirituall loue in his hart , and watch , against , and resist the first beginnings of decay , or coldnesse , or declining in his heart , and take heed of suffering his heart to be drawne away by the deceitfulnesse of sin , or the inticements of the world . 15. hee must couet earnestly the best gifts , 1. cor. 12 vlt. there are some duties in piety or mercy , or righteousnesse , which in respect of our places do most concerne vs , and would in a more speciall manner adorne our particular profession : so are there some gifts which doe aduance our communiō with god , and do make vs more profitable amongst men . now these things we should study , and earnestly labour to frame our selues to , and to expresse them more effectually in our conuersation . this no doubt is the reason why the holy ghost doth in scripture make catalogues of certain speciall duties , or graces singled out from the rest , and fitted to the conditions of the people who are written to : and this would be a singular aduantage to vs , if wee also would single out to our vse some few of the chiefest vertues or duties which wee would daily set before vs , and striue by prayer and all holy indeuor to fashion them to life in our hearts of liues . 16. he must renew often his mortification ; mans heart is like fallow ground , which is not to receiue seed , till it be broken vp , and at best it is like a garden which will often need weeding . if we doe not at some times in speciall manner humble our soules before god , worldly cares , or carnall delights will ouer-grow our desires and our practice , & choake the seed of the word receiued by vs ; we must keep vnder our bodies , & bring them in subiection , and be often dragging our lusts to the crosse of christ , there to crucifie them . our practice is like to sowing , which presupposeth plowing before , ier. 4. 34. hosh. 10. 12. 1. cor. 9. 27. 17. hee must watch for the opportunities of well-doing , and take heed of procrastination : he must seeke righteousness , and haste to it , hee must not put it off , till to morrow , esay 16. 5. pro. 3. 28. & 23. 26. amos 5. 14. 18. he must remember the sabbath day to sanctifie it : the commaundement concerning the keeping of the sabbath , to sanctifie it , is placed in the midst betweene the two tables , of purpose to shew that the keeping of the sabbath is a singular helpe to all piety & righteousnesse , and god hath promised a speciall blessing to the obseruers of the sabbath , and giues strength by the rest of that day , the better to perform holy duties all the week after , commandement 4. esay 58. 13. 19. hee must meditate much on the example of the godly of all ages , and striue diligently to learne their waies , and to quicken himselfe by the thought of their care , zeale , and sincerity . and thus he may also profitably set before him the examples of some of his owne acquaintance , as excell in the gifts of christ , and fruits of well-doing . the example of good men should bee as forcible to draw vs to good , as the example of euill men is to incline others to euill : we haue bin compassed about with a cloud of witnesses , who haue liued in all ages of the church : we must therefore stand in the wayes and see , and aske for the olde way to walke in it , and with all gladnesse follow any that are fit to bee guides to vs therein , hebr. 12. 1. ierem. 12. 16. & 6. 16. 20. hee must goe daily to him that teacheth to profit , begging of god to shew him away , and to lead him by his spirit vnto the right practice of euery holy duty , euen to guide him in the plaine path , esay 48. 17. psal. 27. 11. thus i haue set downe those rules which are generall helpes vnto godlinesse , and must bee attended by a godly christian. chap. iii. shewing the things that are to be auoyded by such as would order their conuersation aright . now before i proceed vnto the rules that concerne the manner of well-doing . i will adde vnto the former directions , nine cautions , or nine things which a christian must take heede of in his practice of holy duties : as 1. first , hee must take heed of wretchlesnesse , or a scornefull carelesnesse of his owne waies , he must not despise his waies : as if hee cared not how hee liued , or rested satisfied to be still , as hee was : this carelesnesse proues the bane of many a soule , whereas hee that keepeth his soule , keepeth his way , pro. 19. 16. & 21. 5. 2. hee must take heed of precipitation , or rashnesse , or too much haste : this is the ground of much false zeale , and the cause of strange euils in the practice of some christians : but the godly christian must learne of salomon , to prepare his work in the field , and then build his house : he must get sound knowledge of the warrant of his actions , and guide his affaires by aduice , and with serious preparation fit himselfe to the doing of what he is sure is good . he that hasteth with his feet , sinneth : what is done rashly , cannot he done well : prou. 19. 2. as procrastination is a great vice ; so praecipitation is no vertue , prou. 24. 27 ▪ & 28. 2● . 3 hee must haue no confidence in the flesh , hee must not relye vpon his owne wit , memory , reason , desires , vertues , prayses , or power ; but all his comfort and affiance must be in the merits , intercession , vertue , presence , and assistance of iesus christ his sauiour , phil. 3. 3. 4 he must not haste to be rich , for the desire of money is the roote of all euill ; and they cannot be at leasure for good duties , that are so eager to compasse great things in the world , prou. 23. 4. & 28. 20. 5 he must take heed of the snares that arise from distrustfull feares : there is a snare in feare , prou. 29. 25. there are many feares will assault a man , that resolues to liue well ; as the feare that hee cannot doe good duties ; the feare that god will not accept what hee doth ; the feare left men should scorne him , or contemne him , or lest hee should lose the fauour of his friends , or such like . now against all these must the godly minde bee armed , and take heed that those feares prooue not great hinderances to him ; and especially take heed of that vnbeleefe , or counterfet humility , in disabling himselfe , or mistrusting god contrary to his nature and promises . 6 hee must take heed of adding to , or detracting from the word of god : hee must not imagine more sinnes , then god hath made ; that is , not trouble himselfe with feare of offending in such things , as god hath not in his word forbidden : and so likewise he must not impose vpon his owne conscience , or other mens , the necessity of obseruing such rules of practice , as god neuer prescribed . this caution would case the hearts of many christians , if it were discreetely obserued and applied , prou. 30. 6. 7 hee must take heed of hardening his necke against reproofs : pro. 29. 1. he must needs ▪ run into headlong euils , that is so proud as not to heare aduice , or to reiect reproofes ; and it will bee a singular furtherance to a holy life , to bee easie to be entreated to leaue his offences , and to mend his errours . 8 hee must take heed of beholding vanity : dauid prayes , that god wold turne away his eyes from beholding vanity : he that would forsake vanity , must auoide the presence of vaine persons , and the too much contemplation of vanity , shunning the reading and discourse of the inticements of others vnto any sin , psal. 119. 37. 9 and lastly , hee must take heed of the beginning of euils in his owne heart : hee must keep his heart with all diligence , for thereout commeth life : his practice will be easie to him , if hee resist sinne in the beginning , and driue out sathan from his holds within his soule , whereas hee cannot but be much intangled and encumbred , that allowes himselfe in the secret entertainment of contemplatiue wickednesse ; he must watch his heart , and striue for inward purity , prou. 4. 23. chap. iiii. containing the generall rules to be remembred in the manner of doing all good duties . hitherto of the first sort of generall rules : the second sort concerne the manner of well-doing : there are diuers things in the generall , which are to be obserued of the godly christian in all good duties , which hee ought to haue perfect in his memory , and such as hee might bring with him at all times to forme his heart in respect of them , to beget in him that holy manner of carrying himselfe , which is requisite vnto the acceptation of the good things he employeth himselfe in : and the rather should hee bee moued to the care of learning and expressing of these things , because the matter of good duties may be done by wicked men , as they were by the pharises , and yet all abomination to the lord : that therefore hee may not lose what he worketh , hee must striue in euery good action to expresse these nine things following in the manner of his behauiour . the first thing required in the manner of euery holy duty , is zeale : it is not enough that hee doe the dutie , but hee must do it affectionately , bringing with him the stirring of the desires of his heart answerable , and agreeable to the duty he would performe : zeale hath in it two distinct things , willingnesse and feruencie ; it must not seeme euill to him to do gods worke , and in doing it , he must lift vp his heart , so as he performe it with all his might , and with all his soule ; and this hee doth , when either hee brings a heart delighting in good workes , or when hee iudgeth himselfe for what deadnesse , or distraction , or vnwillingnesse he findes in himselfe : he is accounted zealous , when he striues for it , and lifts vp his soule against the impediments which burthen him : this zeale is necessary ; christ died to redeeme a people vnto himselfe , not onely that would do good works , but that would be zealous of good workes , tit. 2. 14. 2 the second thing required in the manner of good duties , is sincerity , all his actions must bee done in the sincerity of his heart . the life of a christian is like a continuall passe-ouer ; now this feast hee must keepe alwaies with the vnleauened bread of sincerity , 1. cor. 5. 8. now this sinceritie hee must shew diuers waies , as , 1 by the truth of his heart , as it stands opposed to hypocrisie ; he must not talke of well-doing , or seeme to do it , but he must doe it indeed . 2 by his respect to all gods commandements , when he can say with dauid , i esteeme all thy precepts , concerning all things to be right , and i hate euery false way . he that is truly sincere , accounteth that euery word of god is good , and desires to yeeld obedience in all things . hee hath not his reseruations , or exceptions : he doth not with herod giue himselfe liberty to lie in the wilfull breach of one commandement , resting satisfied to haue reformed himselfe in other things . as he would haue god to forgiue him all his sinnes , so his heart desires to forsake all sinne , and so hee desires also to do euery part of gods worke . 3. by propounding the glory of god , as the chiefe end of all his actions : his praise must not be of men , nor must hee doe good duties for carnall ends , 1. cor. 10. 31. 4. by obeying without expostulating , though god giue no apparant reason of his commandement . thus abraham shewed his sincerity , when god bade him goe out of his owne country , though hee knew not whither hee should goe , hebr. 11. 8. this is to obey simply , because god hath commanded it . 5 by obeying absent as well as present , in all companies as well as one . this praised the sincerity of the obedience of the philippians , phil. 2. 12. thus of sincerity , which is the second thing required in the manner of well-doing . 3. the third thing is constancy : he is blessed that doth righteousnesse alwaies . doing righteousnesse will not serue the turne , but it must be at all times , psalm . 106. 3. our righteousnesse must not be like the morning dew . it is not sufficient to doe good by fits ; wee are no day laborers , but gods hired seruants : hee that is righteous , must bee righteous still , rom. 6 19. reuel . 22. 11. there must be continuance in well-doing , rom. 2. 7 , 8. now to bee constant in well-doing , is to doe good duties , 1. without wearinesse : it is required as a thing necessary to the manner of well-doing , that we be not weary of it , and that wee faint not , gal. 6. 9. this we must striue for by prayer . 2. without discouragement : wee must lift vp the hands that hang downe , and the feeble knees , and make straight steppes to our feete . how much hinderance to well-doing , discouragement is , may appeare by the similitude : feeble knees will dispatch but a little space of the iourney , and hands that hang down , are not fit for worke : great is the hinderance comes to many by their discouragements and aptnesse thereunto , which ariseth vsually from pride , & the dregs of worldly sorrow , and ought much to be resisted by true christians , hebr. 12. 12 , 13. iosh. 1. 6 , 7. 3. without impediment : that is , notwithstanding all the impediments may be cast in the way ; iudgement should runne downe as waters , and righteousnesse as a flowing streame : wee should ouercome all difficulties : you cannot stop the flowing streame , though you cast in great logs or stones , yea though you would goe about to damme it vp ; and such should be the resolution of a godly christian , amos 3. 24. 4. without wauering or vncertainty . it is vncertaine running the apostle implyedly forbids , 1. cor. 9. 25. our life is like a race : now in a race it is not enough that a man runne now and then , though he runne fiercely for the time : he must not trifle & looke behinde , and stand still at his pleasure , and then run againe , but he must be alwaies running : so ought it to be with vs in the race of godlinesse . it will not serue the turne to bee good by fits , and to bee forward in good things onely at some times , and then be careles , and off the hookes , as wee say , at other times . 5. without declining or going backe . iob comforts himselfe against the aspersion of hypocrifie by this , that his foot had held on his steps , and gods waies he had kept , and not declined , nor had hee gone backe from gods commandements , iob 23. 11 , 12. though hee had not made such progresse as he desired , yet this was his comfort , he had not backe-slided by apostasie . and thus of the third thing also required in the manner of well-doing , which is constancy . 4. the fourth thing required is feare : thus pro. 28. 14. the man is blessed that feareth alwaies . and 1. pet. 1. 17. & 3. 2. our conuersation must be with feare : this feare excludes rudenesse , carelesnesse , conceitednesse , pride , & the like , & includes reuerence , awfull regard of gods holinesse , or holy presence ( whom wee should set alwaies before vs ) and the feare of the deceitfulnesse of sinne , and our own corrupt dispositions , and the care to auoyd all occasions of offending god or men . the fift thing is simplicity . this is so necessary , as the apostle mistrusted most the subtilty of the diuel , in beguiling christians of this simplicity , which they had in iesus christ , 2. cor. 11. 3. now this simplicity containes in it distinctly diuers things . 1. a resting in those forms of holinesse and happinesse which god hath prescribed , when a man desires no more to make him happy , then what god hath offered and giuen in iesus christ , 2. corin. 11. 3. and when he accounts nothing to defile him , but what god hath forbidden , and nothing needfull to bee done by him , but what god hath in his word required . 2. a doue-like innocency , and harmlesnesse , when the christian shewes a desire to bee iniurious to no man , but rather to seek the good of others , as well as his owne , 1. cor. 10. 24. 3. an ignorance of the depths of sathan , and the methods of sinne , when hee is not cunning in sinning , out simple concerning euill , no way desirous to get subtill excuses , or arguments ●o defend himselfe in euill , romanes . 16. 19. 4. a loue of goodnesse for it selfe , and hatred of sinne , as it is sinne . 5. meekenesse of wisedome , i am . 3. 13. which is shewed three wayes . 1. by lowlinesse of minde , when a man is not conceited , or wise in himselfe , but retaines a sence of his owne vnfitnesse , and vnworthinesse , iob 37. 24. 2. by silence from his owne praises , prou. 27. 2. 3. by auoiding vain ianglings , which arise out of enuy , or contempt of others . 6. the preseruing of himselfe in the feare of god , notwithstanding the prosperity of euill doers , not enuying the wicked , that hath successe in his way , prou. 23. 27. the sixt thing required in the manner of well-doing , is circumspection , eph. 5. 15. now he walketh circumspectly or exactly : 1. that makes conscience to obserue the lesser commandement as well as the greater , mat. 5. 19. 2. that abstains from the very appearance of euill , 1. thes. 5. 22. 3. that with discretiō lookes to the circumstances of things to bee done , as time , place , persons , order , and the like : that doth not onely doe good , but is wise to doe good , romanes 16. 19. 4. that liues without rebuke , and is vnspotted of the world , phil. 2. 15. i am . 1. vlt. that is not guilty of any scandall , and giues no iust cause to the wicked to blaspheme , but prouides for things honest in the sight of all men , 2. cor. 8. 21. 5. that will not doe euil , though good might come of it , rom. 3. the seuenth thing required in the manner of well-doing , is growth & increase : wee must not onely get grace and knowledge , and doe good , but wee must grow in the grace and knowledge of iesus christ , 2. pet. 3. 18. & this growth should haue in it distinctly three things : 1. abounding in good workes , or a more frequent practice of all sorts of duties , that wee haue opportunity and power to practise , 1. cor. 15. 58. col. 1. 10. 2. the perfecting of holinesse , 2. cor. 7. 1. or the ripening of our gifts , & finishing of the good things we begin , not leauing off till we haue accomplished them in some good measure and manner . 3. progresse , so as our workes bee more at last , then at first . and all this we should striue for , both thth so our profiting might appeare , 1. tim. 4. 15. and we may be fit to be an example to others , 1. th. 1. 7. the eighth thing required in the manner of well-doing , is faith : wee must walke by faith in all our actions , 2. cor. 5. 7. now faith is employed partly in taking notice of gods will , as the warrant of our actions , and partly in ouercomming the difficulties of well-doing , making vs hold out , though wee bee scorned , or disgraced , or opposed in the world , and raising vp our hearts to beleeue gods assistance , notwithstanding our owne weaknesses , & partly in trusting god for the successe , beleeuing gods promises . the ninth & last thing required in the manner of wel-doing , is moderation . this rule is expressed in these words , eccles. 7. 16. be not iust ouer-much , neyther bee thou wicked ouermuch : now for the sense of these words , wee must know in the negatiue , that this place is most prophanely alleadged by such as produce it as a reproofe of strictnesse of life , and the refusall of the excesses of the time . there are many things said to giue a sence of those words . 1. some referre these words to iustice , eyther distributiue , or commutatiue , and that eyther in the case of a priuate person , or of a magistrate . a priuate man must neyther stand too much vpon his right , nor yet suffer his innocency to be too much wronged . a magistrate must not be too seuere in a selfe-conceited iustice , nor yet too remisse in sparing or fauouring wickednes . 2. some thinke it restraines curiosity and carelesnes , as if the sence were , be not curious to pry or search into secret things , that are not reuealed : for hee that will bee searching into gods maiesty , may be oppressed by his glory : nor yet be so carelesse , as not to take notice of the truth reuealed . 3. some thus exceed not by too much precisenesse on the right hand , or by too much prophanenes on the left hand . on the right hand they goe out , that bring in workes of supererogation , and such as worship god after the precepts of men , and such as tye mens consciences to obserue or auoid things without warrant of scripture , and such as say they haue no sin , and need not the grace of god. 4. lastly , the fittest interpretation is theirs , that expound the words in this sense , be not iust ouer-much , that is , think not too highly of thy selfe in any thing thou doest well , nor yet be wicked ouer-much , that is , account not too vilely of thy selfe , denying gods gifts in thee , and refusing the iust comforts thou shouldest take to thy selfe ; aggrauate not against thy owne soule thy weakenesse aboue reason and measure . chap. v. intreating of the rules that concerne our carriage towards god , and in particular about the knowledge of god. hitherto of the generall rules : the particular rules that concerne the right ordering of our conuersation , may be cast into three heads , as they direct vs in our carriage , 1. towards god. 2. towards men . 3. towards our selues . all the rules that concerne our duties to god , may bee cast into two heads : 1. for they concerne eyther the loue of god , or 2. the seruice of god. this is an exact diuision ; for all wee owe to god , is fitly comprehended in these two , loue and seruice : and the scripture so diuides in these and the like places , commandement 2. deut. 11. 23. & 30. 16. iosh. 22. 5. esay 56. 6. now that wee may bee rightly ordered in respect of our loue to god , wee must consider of his loue , eyther in the foundation of it , or in the exercise of it . the foundation of our loue to god , is the true knowlege of god , 2. chron. 28. 6. so that in the first place wee must soundly informe our selues concerning this knowledge of god. now the rules that concerne the right knowledge of god , concerne eyther the right conceiuing of his nature , or our aoquaintance with god , when wee doe aright conceiue of him . that wee may conceiue aright of gods nature , 1. wee must exclude out of our thoughts all likenesses , so as men do not thinke of god , representing him by the similitude of any creature : hee that forbids images of him in churches , forbids it also in our heads , commandement 2. esay 40. deut. 4. 2. wee must striue to conceiue of him according to his praises declared by his workes , or in his word . this is an excellent , and easie way to thinke of god. since our hearts cannot conceiue his nature , we should fill them with the impression of his praises , and according to them direct our affection , and seruice to him : as i would bring this minde to prayer , or any other seruice of god , i cannot make any resemblance of the diuine substance , whom i am about to serue : yet this will i do , i will remember that hee that i pray vnto , is most wise , most omnipotēt , most iust , most gracious , &c. thus god proclaimes himselfe by his praises , exod. 34. 6. where god himselfe shewes vs a way how to conceiue of him . 3 thou must then silence thy reason , and exalt thy faith in the point of the trinity , which must be conceiued of necessity , because all seruice is due to the whole trinity : now thou needst not striue to resemble the trinity in any likenesse in thy minde , but onely bring faith to beleeue that thy god is three in one . 4. it may yet helpe thy vnderstanding to conceiue , that god is in christ , and the fulnesse of the god-head dwels in him bodily : and therefore when thou commest to worship , thou maist set before thy minde the humane nature of christ , adoring the god-head in him , as conceiuing of god in that humane nature thou thinkest of , col. 2. 9. ioh. 17. 3. 5 that this may be the more cleerely and comfortably done , thou must labour by sound aduice and direction , to expell out of thy head those secret and rebellious atheisticall thoughts , which arise in thee about his nature , decree , attributes , or works : men must take heed of smothering these obiections , but seek helpe against them in time . thus of the knowledge of god , as it concernes the right conceiuing of his nature . there is required further such a knowledge , as brings vs acquainted with god : wee are commanded to acquaint our selues with god , iob. 22. 21 , 22. now , because it is an exceeding hard way for a mortall man to finde out god , so as to enioy familiarity with him : therefore i will adde some directions about it : for if thou wouldst acquaint thy selfe with god , thou must prepare thy heart for this vision of god , by driuing out filthy and vnholy thoughts , and affections , for without holinesse no man can see god. the pure in heart shall see god , math. 5. 7. hebr. 12. 14. 1. chro. 19. 3. god delights to shew himselfe familiarly in a cleane heart . 2. thou must beg this acquaintance by prayer : if thou seeke it of him earnestly , though god be in himselfe inuisible to mortall eyes , yet hee will shew himselfe to the eies of thy minde : pray for his acquaintance , and he will be acquainted with thee : this is to aske after the lord , and to seeke god : if wee seeke him , hee will be found , psal. 105. 3 , 4. but then we must remember three things ; 1 to seeke him with our whole hearts , we must pray with great earnestnesse and desire . 2 to seek him earely , psalme 119. verse 10. and while hee may bee found , god offers acquaintance in his ordinances , and sometimes comes neere , and knocketh at mens hearts , and workes greater impressions vpon them : now if thou wouldst call vpon god heartily , hee would shew thee his presence . 3 to seeke him constantly ; wee must seeke his face continnally : both till we finde it , and after wee haue had acquaintance with him , it must be continued : we must not thinke much , if we be put to pray often and long , before we attaine such an incomparable benefit . 3 thou must giue thy selfe , soule and body , to god , seriously , and from thy heart , deuoting and promising to spend thy daies in his seruice , and then hee will reueale himselfe vnto thee , rom. 12. 1 , 2. 4 thou must waite vpon his ordinances , and watch , how the lord speakes vnto thee , either by his word , or by his spirit . for in them hee shewes himselfe to men , and conuerseth with them . 5 it is a great furtherance to our acquaintance with god , to keepe company with his houshold ; for with them hee dwels , and by conuersing with them we may-occasionally often see god , 1. ioh. 3. 6 , 7 , 8 , 12. thus of acquaintance with god. there are other things to bee further noted concerning our knowledge of god , such as these : that when we attaine vnto any acquaintance with god , we must neuer rest , till wee know him to be our god , col. 2. 2. that it must bee our daily care to increase in the knowledge of god , labouring to plant in our hearts a more large and affectionate contemplation of the glories of gods nature & loue. that aboue all earthly things we should glory in it , if wee attaine some happy admission into gods presence , and ability to conceiue of god , and to be acquainted with him , ier. 9. 24. chap. vi. rules , that order is about the manifestation of our loue to god. hitherto of the rules that concerne the knowledge of god , as the foundation of our loue to god : the rules that should order vs in the exercise of our loue to god , follow ; and those are of two sorts : 1. for either they concerne the manifestation of our loue : 2. or our preseruation in the loue of god ; wee must shew our loue to god , and we must keepe our selues in the loue of god , iude 21. in our manifestation of loue to god , we must look to both the matter , ( as the things whereby ) and also the manner how we should expresse our loue to god. for the first , there bee diuers excellent rules to bee heeded of vs in our practice , in obseruing whereof we may soundly prooue the truth of our loue to god : if wee say wee loue god , wee must shew it by these things following . 1. wee must auouch god to be our god , deut. 26. 17. and so we doe , if wee do not onely make choice of god aboue all things to set our harts vpon him , but also maintaine our choyce by a constant refusall of all idols in the world , euen all things which might intice vs to loue them in stead of god , by sound affection and practice declaring our resolution to cleaue to god , as our sufficient happinesse , though all the world follow their profits , or pleasures , &c. 2. wee must prouide and prepare a place for god , that he may dwell with vs , wheresoeuer we dwell , exo. 15. 2. it is a signe of our true loue to god , when we cannot liue without him : he that can be content to liue in any place , where he is not powerfully present in his ordinances , shewes no loue to god : it should be our chiefe care to seate our selues so in the world , as the lord and his presence may bee prouided for , that hee may raigne amongst vs by the scepter of his word . 3. we shall shew our loue to god , by our loue to the lord iesus the sonne of god : we must kisse the sun , psal. 2. vlt. and if any man loue not the lord iesus , hee hath not the father , 1. cor. 16. 22. we shew that wee loue god , when we highly esteeme iesus christ , and make much of him in our hearts , & striue to fire our affections toward him ; and this must bee our care through the passages of our life , to forme in vs the loue of the lord iesus , that wee may long after him , and haue the desires of our soules after him , and his comming . 4. we must shew our loue to god by walking with him , genes . 17. 1. mica . 6. 8. the lord doth not account it a signe of loue to offer to him a thousand rammes , or riuers of oyle . but this is it that pleaseth him , to humble our selues to walke before him . now we walk with god diuers wayes . 1. when we set the lord alwaies before vs , remembring his holy presence , & not daring to goe long without thinking of god , psal. 16. 18. 2. when wee nourish the motions of the spirit , and retire our selues of purpose to entertaine them . 3. when we daily haue recourse to those meanes by which the lord is pleased to conuerse with men , and not rest in the bare vse of the meanes , but striue to finde out the lord in his holy presence , in euery ordinance of his , psal. 63. 1 , 2. 4. whē we vse our selues to soliloquies with god , taking all occasions to speake to god by prayer and priuate meditation of things offered to vs , out of which wee could extract matter for frequent ciaculations , lifting vp our hearts vpon the very first motions of good vnto god , psalm . 63. 5 , 6. 5. when our hearts are fired with longing desires after his presence of glory in heauen , 2. cor. 5. 8. thus of our walking with god. 5. we should manifest our loue to god by honouring him : for this is one speciall way by which god requires to haue our loue shewed to him , malac. 1. 6. now there are many waies by which in our cōuersation we may declare our desire to honor our god : as , 1. by performing the care of businesses that concerne his kingdom , aboue al other businesses , & shewing our respect of the duties of the first table , that concern god , before the duties that concerne men in the second table : we honouring him by seeking his kingdome first : first ( i say ) in the precedency of time , and first , in respect of the measure of our affections , math. 6. shewing a desire to please him rather then all the world . 2. by making a bold & open profession of gods truth vpon all occasions , without feare of oppositions or snares of the world . 3. by grieuing heartily for his dishonours done vnto him , by the blasphemies or prophanenesse of his enemies , psal. 42. 3. 4. by directing all our actions to his glory , striuing in al the things to order them so , that some way god may be praised by vs , or others , 1. cor. 10. 31. 5. by our willingnesse to suffer any thing for his sake , though it were extremities , euen the losse of all worldly things , yea and life it selfe , if wee were called to it . 6. by honoring them that feare his name , and are begotten of him , and beare his image , receiuing them , & making much of them , and defending them for the loue we beare to god himselfe , psalm . 15. 1. ioh. 5. 1. 7. by hating them that are his enemies , as if they were our own , conceiuing more dislike of them for dishonouring god , then for any wrongs they could do vnto vs , psal. 139. 21 , 22. 8. wee honour god , when we speak of the oracles of god with alreuerence as may become the nature and glory of them , commandement 3. 1. pet. 4. 11. 9. we honour him by gifts bestowed vpon him , when we bring to him our free-will offerings , such as are the first fruites of all our increase , when out of all things wherein god hath prospered vs , we with gladnes consecrate a part for the furtherance of his worship , or the maintenance of his poore : prou. 3. 6. esay 60. 6. 10. wee honour him , when we praise him . one vsuall way by which we honour great persons in the world , is by taking all occasions to magnifie them , by commending their vertues , or their worthy acts : and this is likewise one great way of honouring god : & therefore with sorrow for our neglects herein , we should study his praises for the time to come , and striue for language to be able readily to doe so . now god is praised diuers wayes . some of them belong not properly to this place , and therefore i will but touch them . we praise god. 1. when we keepe and obserue carefully the solemnities set apart for his praise , as when wee celebrate the sacrament of the lords supper , which is therfore called the eucharist , because it is to be performed as a thanksgiuing , and praising of god. 2. when daily we take all occasions in priuate to blesse god for his daily mercies : but let these and such like passe , as not proper to this place . we must praise him in our discourse to others : this is required of vs in many scriptures , psa. 33. 1. iob 36. 24. psal. 96. 4. but because this must not bee done cursorily , diuers rules are to bee obserued : as , 1. that we may praise him effectually , wee must wisely consider of his workes , and so of his nature to extract from thence sound arguments of praise , psalm . 64. 9. 2. we should do well for this purpose to keep records , and register vp the speciall glorious workes of god , iob. 36. 24. & 37. 14. psalm . 78. 7. 3. when we do praise him , it must be done with our whole heart , speaking of his prayses with all possible affection , and not as if we spake of ordinary things , psalm . 9. 1. 4. vve must thus praise him , not once , or for one worke of his , but wee must praise him for all his workes , especially his wonderous works , psal. 9. 1. & 105. 1 , 2. & 106. 2. 5. vve must praise him from day to day , and continue to doe it , while wee liue , psal. 63. 4. & 96. 3. 6. this is a duety , that all the kindreds of the people are bound to : all the people must praise him , psalm . 148. 12 , 13. & 96. 6 , 7 , 8. thus of the fift way of shewing our loue to god , and that is by honouring him . the sixth way by which wee must shew our loue to god , is , by trusting in him ; as men shew , whom they loue most , by relying most vpon them , and their fauour and helpe ; now there are diuers cases , in which we must shew our trust in god. 1 by relying vpon his mercy for our iustification and saluation : and in this wee should most vse our trust , as being in a businesse that most highly concernes vs , esay 45. 24 , 25. 2 by committing all our workes to him , for assistance in them ▪ or successe of them : this is to commit our way to god to be carefull to seeke his assistance to helpe vs , to doe our duty , and then to leaue the successe of all to his blessing , psal. 37. 3 , 5. prou. 16. 3. 3 by beleeuing all that hee saith is true , whether hee promise , threaten , or comfort by his word , vpon all occasions beleeuing his prophets , 2. chro. 20. 20. 4 by staying our hearts vpon him in all our distresses : now in the time of distresse we may proue , that wee trust in god diuers waies : — as 1 by running to him , and powring out our hearts before him , making our moane vnto him , psa. 18. 2. & 62. 10. looke amongst men , to whom we first run to make our moane in our distresse , and that person is he whom we most loue , and trust : so is it toward god. 2 by casting our cares and burthens vpon him , psal. 55. 22. 3 by not respecting the proud , and such as turne aside to lies , psal. 40. 4. 4 by relying vpon his help , ioel 3. 16. esay 50. 11. but then we must obserue how wee must relye vpon gods helpe : for there are many things we must cast out of our hearts in affliction : when wee haue beene with the lord and committed our selues to him , wee must relie vpon him , 1 without leaning to our owne vnder standing , or wilfull inclination to follow our owne courses , and proiects , prou. 3. 5. 2 without murmuring or repining at our condition , or vexing our selues at the prouidence of god toward vs , psal. 37. 7. 3 without feare , that is , without mistrustfull feares , and seruile perturbations , imagining euils , which the lord hath not brought vpon vs , psal. 3. 6. & 27. 1. 4 without vsing ill meanes to get out of distresse , amos 5. 4 , 6. 5 yea , lastly , without care , that is , without distrustfull carking cares , phil. 4. 6. thus of the sixth way of shewing our loue to god , and that is by trusting in him . the seuenth & last way , by which we must shew our loue to god , is , to obey him : for this is the loue of god , that wee keepe his commandements : neither is the signe in this , that wee do what god requires for the matter , but that his cōmandements are not grieuous vnto vs : wee loue god , if wee loue to doe his worke , and if wee lift vp our hearts in his waies , setting vpon his work with a speciall readinesse , and strength of desire , and more then ordinary care , 1. ioh. 5. 2. 2. chron. 17. 6. & 19. 2. thus of the matter , that is , the things by which we must shew our loue to god ; the manner also is to bee considered : for in all those things which we would do at any time to prooue our loue to god , we must look to the manner how wee do them , as was a little touched before : now distinctly wee must bring to the declaration of our loue to god , two things ; 1 feruencie . 2 feare . for the first , wee must loue god , and shew it in all the fruits of our loue ; how ? euen with all our hearts , and all our soules , and all our might , and all our vnderstanding . our hearts must bee more inflamed then they are , in shewing loue to wife , children , friends , parents , &c. wee must loue god aboue all , deut. 6. 3. & 30. 6. for the second , we must loue god and shew it too , but it must be with feare . howsoeuer with men true loue casts our feare : yet god being so infinite in glory and maiestie , wee must loue him , but yet with feare . now that this may not be mistaken , i will set downe the particulars of this feare . wee must shew our feare : 1 by entertaining awful thoughts of his dreadfull maiestie , casting out all vile , meane , and vaine thoughts of him , dan. 6. 26. 2 by departing from euill , that might any way displease him , being tender in this point , not daring to presume , or plead impunity , or freedome from danger , but in all things desire to auoide what might anger him , prou. 3. 7. 3 by vsing all tearmes of hearty abasement of our selues , when wee come before him : thus abraham cals himselfe dust and ashes ; and thus wee should humble our selues vnder the mighty hand of god , 1. pet. 5. 9. 4 by doing his will , without fearing man , or any other creature , esay 8. 12 , 13. 5 by a daily and reuerent remembrance of his continuall holy presence . 6 by trembling at his iudgements , psa. 4. 4. hab. 2. vlt. 7 by the humble vsing of all the meanes of communion with god , vsing his ordinances with all conuenient reuerence , attention , and abasement of our selues . mal. 2. 5. 8. lastly , by the reuerend vse of his very titles , fearing that great , and fearefull name of the lord our god , deut. 28. 58. chap. vii . rules , that concerne the preseruation of our loue to god. hitherto of the rules that concerne the manifestation of our loue to god : the rest of the rules serue to teach vs , how to preserue in vs this loue to god. now that wee may continue in our loue to god , wee must obserue these rules . 1 wee must separate our selues from all others to be his , leu. 20. 26. auoiding fellowship with the seruants of a strange god , that might any way intice vs from the loue of god ; yea , wee should so much alienate our hearts from all idols , that we should not make mention of their names , and therefore daily confirme our hearts in that purpose to cleaue to god alone , leu. 20. 26. mal. 2. 11. exod. 34. 11. 14 , 15. exod. 23. 13. act. 11. 23. iosh. 23. 8. 2 wee must beware , that we forget not god , nor go too long without effectual remembrance of him . they that can liue whole daies and weekes without any care to thinke of god , may bee snre their hearts are voide of the loue of god : and as euer we would continue to loue god , wee must be carefull euery day to remember him , and thinke vpon him , deut. 6. 12. & 32. 18. 3 wee must labour to edify our selues in our most holy faith ; we must build vp our hearts in the assurance of that wonderfull loue god hath shewed to vs : and this will preserue and keep vs in our loue to him againe , iude. 20. 4. we must pray in the holy ghost , as is shewed in the same place : prayer preserues acquaintance with god , and exceedingly quickens the heart ; and besides , drawes from god new pledges of his loue to vs , which may serue to kindle our affections toward him . 5. in the same place another rule is imported ; and that is the daily expectation of the comming of christ : for the terrour of that day will mooue vs to shew all possible loue to god , and so will that singular glory wee are assured to receiue in that day . 6. in the vse of all gods ordinances , wee must bee carefull to seeke out the face of god , which is that speciall presence of his grace . for the loue of god will decay in vs , if once wee come to vse the meanes onely for forme , and an outward shew , ps. 105. 4. and if wee misse of god in his ordinances , we must neuer be quiet , till we finde him whom our soule loueth , cant. 3. 1. psalm . 63. 1. 7 vvee must preserue the truth hee hath deliuered to vs ; yea , wee must contend for it : for sound doctrine laid vp in our hearts , will preserue in vs soundnesse of affection to god , iude 3. 8. vvee must get catalogues of gods praises in particular , and fill our hearts with the knowledge & contemplation of them . 9 if we would be preserued in the loue of god , wee must labour to attaine to the ability to reioyce in god , and delight our selues in god. a wife that would increase her loue to her husband , must striue to solace her selfe often with her husband , and to forme in her heart a speciall delight in him : so must wee doe to god. this is miserably neglected , and yet exceeding necessary : nor is it an ordinary ioy we should take in god , but we should ioy in him , first , with all our hearts : 2. not for a time , but alwaies , euery day ; nor with cōmon , but with exceeding ioyes , phi. 4. 4. ps. 37. 4. & 68. ● , 4. & 105. 3. now that this point may be the better vnderstood , i will consider of two things : first , what it is to delight and ●oy in god : secondly , what we should doe that might delight , and take pleasure in god. 1. for the first , this delight in god hath in it foure things distinctly . 1 first , a spirituall satisfaction , or contentment arising from the assurance of gods loue to vs , as hauing enough that he regards vs ; thus dauid saith , his soule was satisfied as with marrow , psal. 63. 5. & 149. 2. 2. secondly , a ioyfull entertainement of all passages of loue betweene god and vs ; especially in the vse of his ordinances . 3. thirdly , a delightfull contemplation of god and his mercies . 4. fourthly , a glorying in god , and extolling of his praises , as by discourse , so by singing of psalmes , 1. cor. 1. 31. psal. 33. 1. & 105. 3. & 68. 3 , 4. now for the attainement of the ioying in god. 1. vvee must mourne often for our disabilities herein , & pray to god to forme this delight in vs. 2. vvee must restraine carnall ioyes , and cares : for the excesse of both doth exceedingly dull the heart , and with-drawes it from care of delight in god , ioh. 2. 8. phil. 4. 4 , 5 , 6. 3. vvee must exercise our selues with all the ioy we can in the word of god , psal. 119. 14 , 16. 4. vvee must take heed of listning to obiections against the loue of god to vs , whether they arise from sathan , or our owne flesh . 5. vve must often obserue the miseries of the wicked in comparison of our happy estate in christ , hab. 3. 17 , 18. 6 vvee must seek a delightfull conuersation with the godly . 7 vvee must take heed of domesticall euils , our home sinnes , the corruptions that would daily preuaile in vs , iob 22. 23 , 26. 8 vvee must restraine our owne vnbeleefe about the acceptation of the good duties we performe , and to this end wee must take heed , that we be neither iust ouermuch , by attributing too much to our selues : nor yet wicked ouermuch , in condemning all we do , as hatefull to god. for this last doth maruellously hinder vs from ioying in god. chap. viii . containing generall rules about gods seruice . hitherto of the first sort of rules , that concerne our carriage toward god , namely , those that concerne our loue to god. now the second sort of rules follow , and that is , those that concerne the seruice of god , and these may be cast into two rankes : 1. for they either concerne the parts of gods worship : 2. or the time of gods worship . the rules that concerne the parts of gods worship , 1. are either generall , which binde vs to the good behauiour in all parts of gods worship : 2. or else certaine specialties of direction , that concerne some part of gods worship onely . now for the generall rules , we should know and remember , that there are nine things to bee looked to , and brought to the practice of euery part of gods worship . 1. the first is preparction ; wee must in some sort conferre with our owne hearts , and prepare them , before wee go before god to doe any seruice , iob 11. 13. psal. 4. 4. ezech. 7. 10. 2. secondly , wee must come with all reuerence & godly feare , hebr. 12. 28. psal. 2. 11. 3. thirdly , we must performe the seruice in repentance for our sinnes : wee must not come before god in the loue of any sin : if wee doe , we lose our labour , and god will loath our workes , isai. 1. iob. 11. 14. vvee must haue cleane hands , and a pure heart , or else no seruice of god will be accepted , psalm . 119. 11. & 24. 4. 4. fourthly , it must grieue vs , that others will not serue god , psalm . 119. 139. 5. fifthly , we must performe euery seruice in the name of christ , or else it cannot bee accepted , by reason of that euill that cleaues to our best workes , whether wee pray or giue thankes , or whatsoeuer we doe , wee must doe it in the name of christ , col. 3. 17. 6. sixtly , in euery seruice of god wee must so neer as it may be , giue god the first place , preferring the respects of god and his worship , before our selues , or the regard of others : we must serue him betimes , seeking god in the first place , iob 8. 5. math. 6. 34. psalm . 5. 3. 7. seuenthly , when we doe any seruice to god , we must do it with all our harts , with as much willingnesse as may be , so as it may appeare , that we loue to be his seruants , as the prophets phrase is , 1. sam. 12. 10. 1. chron. 28. 9. esay 56. 6. 8. eightly , in all seruice wee must striue so to serue god , that wee may please him , not onely carefull to doe the duety , but carefull of gods acceptation . in good duties being cheefely carefull to see gods approbation , not caring so much for the praise of men , as the praise of god. in euery part of gods worship , our praise must be of god , and not of men , heb. 12. 28. rom. 2. 26. 9. ninthly , wee must cleaue to god with detestation of all things , or persons , that might any way draw vs away from his seruice , deut. 13. 4 , 5. chap. ix . shewing how we should carry our selues in gods house . hitherto of the rules to bee obserued in all parts of gods worship generally . the speciall rules concerne 1. eyther , gods publike worship in his house : 2. or else the particular parts of gods worship each by themselues . the godly christian ought with all care to lay before him the rules that binde him to the good behauiour in gods house , & to striue to fashion his nature and practice , as may become the glory of gods publike seruice and presence , and so there bee diuers things which in a speciall manner he must looke to in performing gods publike seruice . for concerning these publike duties , these rules must be obserued . first , that all sorts & degrees of men must appeare before god publikely to doe him homage and seruice . none must bee spared or freed , men , women , and children must all take notice of it , that they are bound hereunto , deut. 31. 11 , 12. secondly , we must come our selues with all possible reuerence , and looke to our feete when we enter into the house of god , and striue to shew before all men our most carefull respect of god and his holy ordinances : for god will be sanctified in them that come nigh him , and he lookes for it at our hands by our reuerend behauiour , to bee glorified before all the people , leuit. 10. 3. eccl. 5. 4. wee should then shew a most holy feare of gods name , and presence , psalm . 5. 7. thirdly , in publike duties , that of the prophet dauid should be true of vs : the zeale of gods house should eate vs vp , psal. 69. 9. and this speciall zeale wee should shew : 1. by louing gods house aboue all the places in the world , our hearts should be fired in vs in that wee respect , that wee may truely say with dauid , o how i loue thy house ! psalm . 26. 8. 2. by confirming our own hearts in a resolution to resort to gods house with all ioy and gladnesse , notwithstāding the scornes and oppositions of worldly men and persons . 3. by stirring vp others with all importunity to go vp with them to worship god in sion , esay 2. 2. 4. by making haste to gods worship , going to the house of god with the first , & with willing hearts , with a holy thirst after the meanes , flocking and flying thither as the clouds , or as so many doues to their windowes , zach. 8. 21. psal. 110. 3. esay 35. 1. & 60. 8. 5. by forwardnes and cheerefulnesse in contributing towards the maintenance of gods house , and seruice in the means thereof , isaiah 60. 8 , 9. 6. by grieuing heartily , because other men neglect or contemn the house of god , and haue no more mind to keepe gods law , psalm . 119. 136. thus of that speciall zeale wee should shew about gods publike worship . 4. fourthly , we should in all publike dueties serue god with one consent and one heart . there should appeare in gods seruants a wonderful desire of vnanimity and concord . they should serue the lord vvith one shoulder , that when they speake to god , it may be as the voyce of one man , when the lord speakes to them , they should heare with one heart . it is a maruellous glory in religion , when people can come once to this , to serue the lord with one shoulder , zephan . 3. 9. lastly , in the 52. psalm . v. 8 , 9. we may gather three other rules , which in a speciall manner fitte vs for a right behauiour in gods house . 1. first , wee should alwaies be as green oliue trees in the house of the lord. howsoeuer it go with men in the world , yet when wee come before the lord , our hearts should reioyce and reuiue , and our spirits bee fresh and cheerefull , and our affections should bee healed of all the cares or distempers were before in them . gods ordinances should haue such a power ouer vs , as to make a sudden fresh spring of desires , and holy thoughts in vs. there is this power in the ordinances of god to effect this , if the fault be not in vs , i meane , when these ordinances are exercised in the power & life of thē . 2. secondly , wee must trust on the mercy of god , bringing a heart ready to beleeue euery good word of god , resoluing , that if the lord will speake comfortably to his seruants , we will not dishonor his cōsolations through carelesnes , or vnbeleefe : but receiue them with all our hearts , and establish our selues in the safe keeping of his good word . 3. thirdly , we must resolue to be thankefull , with all tendernesse for all experiences of gods presence and goodnesse towards vs in the means , vowing with dauid , to praise him for euer for them . and if the lord doe with-hold his power and presence for a time , so as we feele not the effectualnesse of his ordinances : yet we should resolue without distemper , to wait vpon the lord , and obserue him according to the seasons of his grace . chap. x. rules that order vs about hearing of the word . thus of the rules that we must obserue in all publike seruice of god. now there be certain speciall rules which must bee particularly headed in each part of gods worship by it selfe . and first i will beginne with those rules , which wee must more specially obserue in hearing the word of god , and these are of three sorts . 1. some bind vs to the good behauior , before we come to heare . 2. some at the time of hearing . 3. some after we haue heard . 1. before wee come to heare , we must bring with vs two things . 1. a resolution to deny our own wits , reasons , opinions , and conceits , and empty our heads of al perswasion of our owne skill , to iudge in the things of the kingdome of god , being ready to beleeue and thinke in all things , as god shall teach vs out of his word . we must be fooles , that we may be wise , 1. cor. 3. 18. humbling our selues at his very feete to receiue his law , deut. 33. 3. 2. vve must bring with vs a meeke and quiet spirit , a minde quieted from passions , lusts , and perturbations , and at rest from the turmoyling cares of this world . the world is able to doe great things in our hearts , if wee receiue it with meekenesse , iam. 1. 19. secondly , at the time of hearing , we must looke to two rules . first , wee must hearken without distraction : wee must heare , as it were for our liues , wee must incline our eares , and shake off all impediments arising from our owne drowsinesse , preiudice , or vaine thoughts , or distracting obiects , esay 55. 3. psal. 119. 113. secondly , we must proue all things , and keepe that which is good . wee must heare with iudgement , and hearken for our selues , hauing speciall care to looke to that doctrine which in particular concernes vs to lay it vp in our hearts , and apply it effectually . this is a rule of singular thrift in godlinesse . if wee did marke what sinne in vs the lord reprooues , or what comfort is specially fitted to our hearts : or what direction doeth specially concerne vs : he hath an honest memory that will bee sure to keepe these things , though hee forget all the rest , and hee hath a wretched memory , and hart too , that forgets these things , though hee could r●peat all the sermon verbatim . thirdly , after wee haue heard , two things also must be further done . first , wee must by meditation labor to make those things wee haue heard , which concerne vs , fast , that they runne not out of our mindes , and wee must take heed that neyther the diuell steale away the good seed , nor our owne heart through negligence forget it . neyther is this a worke for an houre after , to keepe these things till we may repeate them to others , but ought to be our daily worke , especially the weeke after to thinke so often of them , till there be a sure impression of the vvord in our hearts , hebr. 2. 1 , 2. secondly , wee must yet further see to it , that we be doers of the word , yea wee must obserue to doe : as the phrase of the holy ghost is . it is the wisedome of god so to dispose of his ordinances , that wee receiue our directions by parcels , and there is a time of interim between sabbath and sabbath , sermon and sermon , that we might in that space learne to frame our selues to the obedience of the truths receiued , that so we might bee ready to receiue new lessons from the lord. the surest way for the husbandman to keepe his seed , is not to lay it vp in his barne , but to cast it into the ground . for what is sowed , he may receiue againe with aduantage ; or if hee might faile of a haruest from his seede in nature , yet godly men shall neuer faile to receiue what they sowe by practice , with increase . so much of the truth , as is put into practice , is sure for euer : the rest may be lost : and it is a singular helpe to a christian , if he set vpon his obedience , while the doctrine is yet fresh in his minde ; for delay will compasse him about with many difficulties , and hee will want those inward incitations , that might stirre vp his heart with power and strength to obey . chap. xi . rules about the sacrament of baptisme . thus of the rules of our carriage about hearing : next wee are to consider , how we are to order our selues in respect of the sacraments : the sacraments are two : baptisme , and the lords supper . the duties we are bound to in respect of baptisme , concerne either 1. our children . 2. our selues . 3. others . for our children , it is our duty to present them vnto baptisme , but withall we must looke to it , that it be done in due time , and with faith and thankefulnesse to god : in due time , so as thereby wee signifie our great estimation of gods mercy to our seed , and our great desire to haue the couenant sealed , euen vnto them . we must also bring them to baptisme with faith in gods couenant . the lord hath bound himselfe to bee our god , and the god of our seed : now it is our parts to giue glory to god , and to declare before the lord our perswasion of his goodnesse and claime to that part of his couenant . by faith wee plead our right , wheras by vnbeleefe wee giue god occasion to neglect our seed . i adde also with thankfulnesse , because we ought with great ioy and acknowledgement of the free grace of god , to behold our seed admitted in the sure couenant of mercy and saluation with our selues , and ought to thinke that god hath done more for our children , to admit them into couenant by baptisme , then if the greatest person on earth had made vpon them the assurance of some great estate of maintenance or preferment . secondly , for our selues , we must make conscience of it , to make vse of our owne baptisme , and that throughout the whole course of our life : it is giuen vs as a seale of gods promises , and as a vow of our obedience , and so we must make vse of it all the daies of our life , especially in three cases : first , in the case of doubting and feare of the forgiuenesse of our sinnes , or of the saluation of our soules : for baptisme saueth vs , that is , effectually assures vs of our saluation ; and wee doe not offend in trusting gods promise made in his word , and signed and sealed in baptisme . as certainely doth it saue our soules , as the arke saued the bodies of noah and his houshold ; so as wee cannot miscarry , if wee leape not out of the arke into the seas of waters . let vs stick to our baptisme , and then we are safe : the washing in baptisme did assure the washing of our soules by the bloud of christ for our sinnes . if i be tempted to doubt of my saluation , i must say to my own soule , hath not the lord prouided me the arke of baptisme to preserue me from the seas of his wrath ? and if i doubt the forgiuenesse of sinnes , i must say , hath not the lord washed mee from my sins by the bloud of his sonne ? did hee not shew mee so much in baptisme ? vvee sinne shamefully , in that wee doe not make this vse , but neglect the confidence baptisme should worke in vs , as if the lord had but dallied with vs , or that baptisme were but some idle ceremony , 1. pet. 3. 21. 1. cor. 15. 29. act. 22. 16. 2. secondly , in the case of temptation to commit sinne : we ought to fight against sinne by his mighty weapon of our baptisme , and so wee may doe by diuers arguments : as first , in my baptisme i haue made a vow to god , that i would cleaue to him in iesus christ , and renounce the world , the deuill and sinne : and shall i break my vow to god , that would bee ashamed to break my promise to men ? secondly , my baptisme was the baptisme of repentance : and shall i yet liue in sinne ? my body was washed : and shall my soule bee still impure ? math. 3. 11. mark. 1. 4. acts 13. 24. thirdly , by baptisme i was assured of the vertue of the death of christ to kill sinne in me : and shall i not beleeue the operation of god , that hee can deliuer me from the power , or powerfull temptations , or inclinations to any sinne ? shall i not seek strength of christ ? or shall i betray my selfe to the deuill and the flesh ? in christ i am dead to sinne , and shall i yet liue therein ? rom. 6. 1 , 3. col. 2. 12. thirdly , our baptisme must bee vsed against the doubts of perseuering , or whether we shall bee kept vnto saluation , and whether our bodies shall bee raised againe at the last day : for god hath assured all this vnto vs in our baptism , that we haue our part not onely in the death of christ , but also in the resurrection of christ : and if christ bee raised in vs , christ can die no more , either in himselfe , or in our hearts , and the same power , that raised him out of the graue , will also raise vp our bodies at the last day , as is pleaded , romanes 6. 10 , &c. galath . 3. 27 , 28. 1. cor. 15. 29. 1. pet. 3. 21. if wee be baptized , and beleeue , wee shall certainely bee saued , mark. 16. 16. thus as it concernes our selues . 3. in respect of others , we are bound to the good behauiour in baptisme , as to acknowledge the communion of saints : so are we tied to preserue our selues in all brotherly loue with the godly , who weare the same liuery with vs , and are souldiers prest to the same warre , and haue taken vpon them the same holy vow with vs : we are bound in baptisme to loue them , to stand for them aboue all other people , and to liue with them in all holy loue , to our liues end , ephes. 4. 3 , 4 , 5. 1. cor. 12. 13. & 1. 13. gal. 3. 27 , 28. chap. xii . rules about the lords supper . hitherto concerning baptisme : the rules that concerne the lords supper , follow . now concerning this sacrament , we are charged with these things : 1. first , examination , 1. cor. 11. we must examine our selues , and so eate and drinke : examine our selues , so as wee be sure there bee no sinne in our hearts and liues , which we haue committed , but wee are desirous to forsake , and do vnfaignedly iudge our selues for it , being as desirous to forsake it , as we desire god should in the sacrament forgiue it . 2. secondly , the discerning of the lords bodie and bloud : so comming to partake of these outward signes of bread & wine , as we withall know and beleeue the presence of christ ; and that god doth as effectually giue christ to the soule of the beleeuer , as hee giues bread and wine to his body : yea , we must thus discerne and beleeue , that hee is there offered and giuen vnto vs also , and that god doth not delude vs , but as truely giues vs the bodie and bloud of christ , as he doth by the minister giue vs the bread and wine , 1. cor. 11. thirdly , the shewing forth of the death of christ : this is a solemnity , where wee must intend to make a solemne remembrance of the passion and death of our sauiour , not onely in being present at the breaking of the bread , and powring out of the wine , but in raising vp in our hearts a thankefull remembrance of his grieuous sufferings and death for our sinnes , math. 26. 1. cor. 11. fourthly , fellowship and louing communion with the godly , which wee both signifie , and vow in the sacraments , and testifie before god and men , that wee will cleaue vnto them aboue all the people in the world , as being the same bread with vs , euen members of the same mysticall bodie of christ , 1. cor. 10. fifthly , speciall reconciliation with such as we haue offended , bearing malice to no man , and desiring and seeking peace with all sorts of men , math. 5. rom. 12. sixtly , and lastly , the vowes of sinceritie , resoluing to keepe this feast all our life in the vnleauened bread of sincerity and truth , euen to spend . our daies in all vprightnesse of heart , and vnfaigned hatred of all sinne and hypocrisie , 1. cor. 5. 8. chap. xiii . rules about prayer . thvs of the sacraments . the rules concerning prayer follow ; where besides the generall rules , that belong to all worship , these things in speciall must bee heeded concerning prayer . 1. thy words must bee few , eccles. 5. 1 , 2. and the reason is , because god is in heauen , and thou art in earth : hee is full of maiestie and wisedome , and thou art an infirme and sinfull creature : length of it selfe doth not commend prayer ; we must speake as becomes the maiestie of god , without vaine repetitions and babblings , pattering ouer of the same things is not pleasing to god : as affectation is ill in any thing , so much more ill in prayer . this rule may bee vnsauory in the taste of some that are transported with rash zeale : but let them take heed of will-worship : the words are so plaine in the text , as they must informe themselues about them : the lord knew what was fittest for vs , when hee gaue vs this charge . 2. thy heart must be lifted vp in the performance of this duty ; this is often imported in diuers scriptures , and this lifting vp of the hart hath diuers things in it . 1. vnderstanding : thou must be aduised what thou prayest for , and know thy warrant , that what thou askest is according to gods will. 1. cor. 14. 15. 1. ioh. 5. 14 2. freedome from distractions : thy heart must be cleansed from passions and lusts : thy prayer must be without wrath , 1. tim. 3. 8. and as the distractions arising from passion must bee auoided , so must a●l other distractions . 3. feruency , or the stretching out of the affections according to the matter of prayer ; thou must expresse the affections of prayer : for god looks at the prayer of thy heart , not at the prayer of thy lippes onely . 3. thou must pray with all manner of prayer , according to the occasions of prayer : thou must pray at thy set times daily , and thou must pray also with eiaculations ( as diuines call them ) that is , those suddain and short speeches to god , when thy heart is moued vpon speciall occasion : thou must vse supplications , deprecations , intercessions , confessions , giuing of thankes , or the like , according to thy necessities , or the other occasions of thy life : thou must striue to get a fitnesse and language to speake vnto god for thy selfe in thine own words , as may best expresse the desires of thine hart , eph. 6. 18 4. thou must continue and perseuer in prayer without ceasing : prayer must bee the worke of thy whole life , not an exercise for a fit , for a day or two , or a week or two , or a month or two : thou must make conscience of prayer alwaies , ephes. 6. 18. 1. thess. 3. 17. 5. when thy prayer is grounded vpon gods will , thou must be instant , and not faint , or be discouraged : thou must pray without doubting and wauering , as resolued neuer to cease praying , till god heare and shew mercy . 't is basenesse of minde , not humility , to be quickly discouraged : if god entertaine vs not according to our expectation , or liking , we must not bee weary of seeking to god , but set vpon prayer , with a resolution to take no nay , luk. 18. 1. iam. 1. 6. 6. thou must remember supplication for all saints , especially to pray heartily for magistrates & ministers ; especially those vnder whose charge thou art , ephes. 6. 18 , 19. 1. tim. 2. 1. 7. thou must looke to it , that in all things thou giue thankes : let the lord see the truth of thy heart herein , that what thou obtainest from god , especially by prayer , thou wilt with all gladnesse remember and acknowledge : this rule must by no meanes be forgotten , 1. thess. 5. 18. colos. 4. 2. chap. xiiii . rules about reading the scriptures . thus of the rules that concerne praier : there remaines the reading of scripture , and singing of psalmes , as the other parts of the ordinary worship of god. concerning the reading of the scriptures , i will instance in one place of scripture onely , which containes the charge giuen to ioshua , chap. 1. 8 , 9. which comprehends the substance of the necessary directions about priuate reading . i say necessary ; for godly men may , and haue aduised diuers courses for reading of scripture , which are not absolutely necessary , but arbitrary , as may stand with the leasure and capacity of the person that will reade : such are those directions , that shew how many chapters may bee read in a day , and what things may be obserued in reading , &c. which , as they may bee profitable to many christians , & expedient too , yet they must not bee vnderstood so , as that those persons sinne , which reade not so often , or so many chapters , or the like . the things therefore that must necessarily be obserued by such as can reade the bible , i take to be these : first , they must exercise themselues therin daily , they must constantly be imployed therin , & if their occasions interrupt thē at some time , they must redeeme it at other times : this is the praise of the blessed man , that he exerciseth himselfe in gods law day and night ; that is , constantly , psal. 1. 2. secondly , in reading they must meditate therein , that is , they must obserue profitable things , as they reade , attending to reading , & marking what the lord saith vnto them by that part of the word which they reade : this is that meditation , which is chiefly required of a christiā , to get into their harts good thoughts frō the matter they reade of , so as they may the better bee inabled to imploy their thoughts all the day after . thirdly , the word of god must not depart out of their mouth ; they must make the best vse of it they can , in conference to speak of it to others , for the edification of themselues and others . fourthly , they must obserue in their reading , what the lord saith vnto them , that concernes their practice : they must obserue to do according to those holy directions they reade of : they must bring a minde desirous , and resolued to let the word of god both informe them , & reforme them , making conscience of it , to let god direct them by his holy word read , and not onely by the word preached to them : their liues must be bettered by their reading , and to that end they must obserue the chiefest things they can , out of their reading , to remember them in their practice . chap. xv. rules about singing of psalmes . the rules , that concern the singing of psalms , are summarily comprehended in that place , col. 3. 16. and they are these : 1. first , they must teach one another by their psalms , and hymnes , and spirituall songs . they must learne to profit , and make good vse of the holy matter contained in the psalmes they sing . 2. secondly , they must sing with their hearts , they must attend to the matter they sing of , & lift vp their hearts , as well as their voices . 3. thirdly , they must sing with grace in their hearts , they must imploy the graces of the holy spirit , or gods spirit in singing of psalmes , as wel as in prayer , or any other ordinance of god. 4. fourthly , they must make melody to the lord : they must direct their songs to god , and to his glory , and not vse them as meere ciuill imploiments , but as parts of gods seruice . chap. xvi . rules about vowing and swearing . hitherto of the rules , that concerne the most vsuall parts of gods seruice : there are other parts of gods seruice , which are to be vsed , but at certaine times , and vpon speciall occasions , & these are vowes , and oathes , and fasting . the rules about vowing are briefely comprehended in that place , eccl●s . 5. 3 , 4. and they are chiefly two . 1. first , before thou vowest , consider : consider , i say , thine owne strength , whether thou be able to do it : and consider also the end , that it bee to gods glory ; and consider the matter , that thou vow not things vnlawfull : and consider what may be the euents of thy vow , for all vowes being made before the angell , that takes notice of all couenants , it will bee in vaine afterwards to plead , it was an errour , thou wast mistaken : god may bee angry at thy voice , and destroy the worke of thy hands : be not rash therefore , to cause thy flesh to sinne therein . 2. secondly , when thou hast vowed thy vow to god , deferre not to pay it , be sure thou performe it : it is a grieuous offence to breake a lawfull vow : better it is thou shouldst not vow , then that thou shouldst vow , and not pay . thus of vowing . concerning the oath , when thou art called to sweare , thou must obserue these rules : first , that thou sweare not by any thing which is not god , ier. 5. 7. secondly , that thou sweare in truth , that is , that thy conscience know , what thou swearest is true . thirdly , that thou sweare in iudgement , that is , with due consideration of the nature of god , and with sound deliberation , not rashly , and diligently weighing of all things , that belong to the matter thou swearest about . fourthly , that thou sweare in righteousnesse , that is about lawfull things , & iust matters : thou must not sweare to do vniust things , as dauid sware to kil nabal : nor must thou swear about impossible things , or about things that are doubtfull and vncertaine : nor in the forme of thy oath must thou vse such words , as be contumelious to god , or expresse not sufficient reuerence to the diuine maiestie , as they that wickedly sweare by any part of christ , or such like . chap. xvii . rules about fasting . thus of vowes and swearing ; fasting followes : now if we would keep a religious fast vnto god , wee must obserue these two rules . first , wee must looke to the strictnesse of the abstinence in the day of our fast ; for we must abstaine from all sorts of meate as well as one , and from all labour also , and from our costliest apparell , and from recreations and vsuall delights : wee must keepe the day , as wee keepe the sabbath , in forbearing our own works , ion. 3. 6 , 7. 1. cor. 7. 5. ioel 1. & 2. leuit. 16. secondly , the time must bee spent in religious duties , as a sabbath , especially in the exercises that concerne the humiliation of the soule , in renewing of our repentance , for the obtaining of pardon of sin , or some speciall blessing of god , or the preuenting , or remouing of some great iudgement of god. the former rule concernes onely the ceremonie , or outward exercise of the bodie : but this rule containes the substance of the dutie , without which a religious fast is not kept vnto god , who regardeth not the hanging down of the head like a bull-rush , if the soule bee not humbled before god for sinne : leu. 16. 29. ioel 1. 14. & 2. 16 , 17. chap. xviii . rules about the sabbath . hitherto of the rules , that concerne the parts of gods worship : the rules , that concerne the time of gods worship , follow , and this time especially is the sabbath day . now the rules , that bind vs to the good behauiour concerning the sabbath , cōcern either the preparation to the sabbath , or the maner of performing holy duties on the sabbath . the preparation to the sabbath , containes in it these things . first , the ending of all our workes on the sixe daies , as god did his : gen. 2. 2. this example of god is set downe , not onely to shew what hee did , but to prescribe vnto vs , what we should doe , as is manifest by vrging this example in the reason of the commandement : we must then take order to finish the workes of the weeke daies with such discretion , that neither our heads be troubled with the cares of them , nor our hands tempted to worke about them on the sabbath day . secondly , the preuenting of domesticall grieuances , and perturbations , leuit. 19. 3. yee shall feare euery man his mother and his father , and keep my sabbath . discords and contentions , and heart-burnings in the members of the family , extend their infection , and hurt , euen to the prophaning of gods sabbath . the lord looks not to bee serued aright in his house , if people liue not quietly , and louingly , and dutifully in their own houses . thirdly , we must cleanse our selues , that we may keep the sabbath , nehem. 13. 22. which place , though it speake of legall cleansing , yet it shadowes out that moral and perpetuall care of cleansing our selues , that ought euen to be found in vs. and thus we doe cleanse our selues , when we humble our selues , that we may walk with god , confessing our sinnes , euen the sinnes of the weeke past , & making our peace with god , through the name of iesus christ. thus of the duties of preparation : now for the manner of keeping the sabbath , the rules prescribe vnto vs these things : 1. rest from all our works , whether they be workes of labour , or workes of pleasure . workes of labour the scripture instanceth in such , as are selling of victuals : nehem. 13. 15. carrying of burthens : ierem. 17. iournying from our places , exod. 16. 29. the businesse of our callings done by our selues , our children , seruants , or cattell , which the words of the commandement forbid . and as workes of labour , so also workes of pleasure are forbidden , esay 58. 13. 2. readinesse and delight . we should loue to be gods seruants on this day , esay 56. and consecrate it with ioy , as a glorious priuiledge to vs , esay 58. 13. abhorring wearinesse , or a desire to haue the sabbath gone , and ended , amos 8. 3. care and watchfulnesse . we must obserue to keepe it : exod. 31. 16. we must take heede to our selues , that no duty bee omitted , and that wee no way prophane it , tending our hearts , and our words , ier. 17. 21. 4. sinceritie , and this sinceritie we should shew diuers waies . first , by doing gods worke with as much care , as we would doe our own , or rather shewing more care for the seruice of god. they had their double sacrifices on the sabbath , in the time of the law , and wee should studie , how wee might please god in especiall manner on that day , choosing out the things that might delight him : god hath taken but one day of seuen for his worke ; and shall wee not doe it willingly ? further , if wee respect our selues , shall we not bee as carefull to prouide for our soules on the sabbath , as for our bodies on the weeke daies ? 2. by obseruing the whole day , as well as a part , and keeping the sabbath in our dwellings , as well as in gods house : god requires the whole day , and not a part . as wee would not be contented our seruants should worke for vs onely an houre , or two in the six daies : so neither should wee yeeld lesse vnto god , then wee require for our selues . nor will it suffice to serue god by publike duties in his house , vnlesse wee serue him also by priuate duties in our own dwellings , commandement 4. leuit. 23. 3. 3. by auoiding the lesser violations of the sabbath , as well as the greater , especially not transgressing of contempt , or wilfulnesse in the least things we know to bee forbidden . the prophet instanceth : isaiah 58. 13. wee must not speake our owne words . thus of sinceritie . 5. the fift thing required of vs , is faith : we must glorifie god by beleeuing , that hee will make it a day of blessing vnto vs , and performe that blessing hee hath promised , accepting our desire to walke before him in the vprightnesse of our hearts , and passing by our infirmities , and fraileties . we many times disturbe the rest and sabbath of our soules by vnbeliefe , commandement 4. genes . 2. 2. exod. 31. 13. ezech. 20. 20. & 46. 2 , 5. 6. the last thing is deprecation : wee must beseech god , when we haue done our best , to shew vs mercie , and spare vs for our defects and weakenesses . thus wee must end the day , and reconcile our selues to god , that the rest of iesus christ may be established in our hearts , nehem. 13. 22. and thus of the rules , that binde vs to the good behauiour , in respect of the time of gods worship . chap. xix . rules that shew vs how to carry our selues , when wee come into company , in respect of religion . hitherto of the rules , that concerne our carriage toward god ? now it followes , that i breake open those directions , that should bring our liues into order in respect of men : and these rules are of two sorts , for either they are such , as binde vs to the good behauiour towards all men , or such , as order our conuersation toward some men onely , as they are considered to bee either wicked or godly . the rules that concerne all men , may bee cast into two heads , as they belong either to righteousnesse , or to mercy . the rules that belong to righteousnesse , order vs either in company , or out of company . the rules which we are to obserue in company , concerne either , 1. religion , or 2. the sinnes , and faults of others : or 3. our owne inoffensiue behauiour towards all men . 1. for the first , when we come in company , wee must be carefull to be that which may become the glory of gods truth , and the religion we professe , that wee take not vp the name of god in vaine : and thus we shall rightly order our selues , if wee obserue these rules : first , to be soundly aduised , before wee fall into discourse of religion , not doing it , till god may bee glorified by it ; a wise man concealeth knowledge , but the heart of fooles will publish foolishnesse : it is as great a discretion to know how to conceale knowledge , as it is to know how to vse knowledge . secondly , auoide vaine ianglings , and contradiction of words , such as are 1. doubtfull disputations about ceremonies , and things indifferent , which may entangle the weake , and keep them from more necessarie cares and knowledge , rom. 14. 1. 2. curious questions , about things that are not reuealed in the vvord , rom. 12. 3. bee wise to sobriety . 3. vnprofitable reasonings , such as were those about genealogies , in the apostles time , 1. tim. 1. thirdly , if thou be asked a reason of the hope that is in thee , by such as haue authority to require it , or need to seeke it , then answer : but be sure to remember two things ; namely , that thou answer with all reuerence , as may shew how much thou art affected with the maiestie of gods truth , and withall with meeknesse , that is , without passion or frowardnesse : and without affectation , or conceitednesse , or wilfulnes in thine owne opinions , 1. pet. 3. 15. fourthly , let thy communication be yea , yea , and nay , nay : otherwise , customary and vaine swearing , is a most damned sinne , and such as god will surely plague . chap. xx. rules that shew vs how to carry our selues in company , in respect of the faults of others . thus of our carriage in company in respect of religion . now concerning the faultes of others , wee must obserue these rules : first , wee must neuer in our discourse iustifie the wicked , or condemn the righteous ; all excesse in words is euill , but this is an abomination to the lord : we must euer honour those that feare the lord , and as for vile persons , they are to bee contemned , psal. 15. 4. amos 5. 15. prou ▪ 17. 15. secondly , let thy conuersation and discourse be without iudging , math. 7. 1. lam . 3. 17. it is time exceeding ill-spent , that is spent in censuring of others . and the rather should we take heed of iudging , if we consider how the holy ghost hath matched that sin in that place of iames , wee must bee without iudging , without hypocrisie : as if he wold signifie , that great censurers are commonly great hypocrites ; and as any are more wise , they are more sparing of their censures . thirdly , thou must not walke about with tales ; take heed of tale-bearing : he goeth about as a slanderer , that reuealeth a secret , though it be true hee speaketh . it is a maruellous euill custome , that many haue to fill vp their discourse with the report of the frailties of others , which they by some meanes or other , come vnder-hand to know : this is an euill frequently condemned in scripture , and yet most vsually practised ; as if it were lawfull to speake of any thing which they know to be true : thou shalt not walke about with tales , nor stand against the bloud of thy neighbour : a strange connexion , by which the lord imports , that this tale-bearing is a kind of murther ; and it is true in the case of many a man ; thou wert as good lay violent hands vpon him , as with that licentiousnesse of words to diuulge tales concerning him , prou. 20. 19. & 11. 13. leuit. 19. 16. and for the better strengthening of this rule , thou art yet charged to looke to thy eares too , as well as thy tongue ; thou must not receiue euill reports against thy neighbour , but make it appeare , thou art not pleased with such tales , psal. 15. 3. yea , thou art forbidden the society of such persons , as carry tales ; thou must not meddle with tale-bearers , nor with such as flatter with their lippes ; certainely such creatures commonly flatter the present , and reproach the absent , prou. 20. 19. fourthly , if thou do know an offence in any , with whom thou conuersest , thou shalt not hate him in thy heart , but rather reproue him plainely : for , he that rebuketh a man , shall afterward finde more fauour then hee that flattereth with his tongue , leu. 19. 17. prou. 28. 23. fifthly , as for the meere frailtie of others , hold thy tongue , passe by them : a foole despiseth his neighbour , but a man of vnderstanding will hold his peace , prou. 11. 12. commonly they that haue most defects themselues , are aprest to contemne others for their weakenesses : but a wise man must so distinguish of the faults of others , that hee couer meere frailties , and learne of god to passe by the infirmities of his seruants : the antithesis shewes , that a wise man doth not ' onely hold his tongue , but restraine his thoughts from thinking the worse of others for such infirmities . sixthly , against the passions & wrongs of others thou must arme thy selfe with a soft answer , and bee sure thou render not euill for euill , prou. 15. 1. 1. thess. 5. 15. or rebuke for rebuke , 1. pet. 3. 9. chap. xxi . rules that shew vs how to carry our selues in company , and not giue offence . thus of our carriage towards others in cōpany , as it respects their faults : now followeth the third sort of rules , which orderour behauior toward others in company in respect of in-offensiuenesse . it ought to be our principall care to carry our selues so , as no body may take offence at vs. now these rules may be directed to their heads , as they concerne , of our behauior toward others . 1. the humility , 2. the discretion , 3. the purity , wee must carry our selues humbly , discreetly , and honestly in our conuersation with others , so shall wee conuerse with much amiablenesse , and reputation : first , vnto the humility of our conuersation belong these rules : 1. first , bee soft , shew all meekenesse to all men , restraining the inordination of thy heart , endeuouring to shew thy selfe gentle , and peaceable , and harmelesse , and easie to be entreated , tit. 3. 1 , 2. prou. 8. 13. iam. 3. 13. 2. secondly , thou must bow downe thine eare , and heare the words of the wise , and apply thine heart to get knowledge , and profit thy selfe by others , pro. 23. 17. this is the same with that of iames , bee swift to heare , and slow to speak , i am . 3. 19. 3. thirdly , put not forth thy selfe , nor stand in the place of great men , till thou bee called , prou. 25. 6. in generall , concerning humility , the apostle peters phrase is much to bee noted , hee saith , we should cloath our selues with humility : which notes both the great measure of it , it should couer all our actions , and also the continuance of it : when wee go amongst men , wee should stirre vp our hearts , and fashion our selues to expresse this grace , and not dare to bee seene without humility , no more then we would bee seene without our cloathes . humility hides our nakednesse , and pride and passion lay it open to the view and contempt of others . 2. secondly , neither is humility all that is required to make our conuersation without offence , or prouocation ; but we must also carry our selues discretely , and to this end there are these excellent rules : first , thou must consider to speake what is acceptable , and auoide what may irritate ; there is singular vse of this rule , if it were followed , prou. 10. 32 , 13. & 13. 23. secondly , thou must marke those that cause diuision and offences , and auoide them , and shunne the societie of such , rom. 16. 17 , 18. this will breed thee much peace , and deliuer thee from much suspition in others . thirdly , thou must make no friendship with the angry man ; for either by much conuersing with him , thou maist learne his waies , or else it will bee a snare to thee , that thou shalt neither know how to keep his fauour , nor yet how to breake off from him , without much vnrest and inconueniences , prou. 22. 24 , 25. fourthly , it is a great discretion in euill time to be silent . in things wherein thou maist indanger thy selfe , and not profite others , it is thy best way , and a wise course , to forbeare speech of such things , amos 5. 13. fifthly , so likewise it is thy discretion in matters of danger to forbeare the communioating of thy secrets to any , though thou mightst bee tempted to a perswasion of trust in those , to whom thou wouldst reueale them : it may often repent thee to haue spoken , but seldome to haue held thy peace , micah 7. 5. sixthly , with-draw thy feete from thy neighbours house , left hee bee weary of thee and hate thee : this is an excellent rule giuen by salomon , pro. 25. 17. if thou wouldest conuerse with reputation , take heed of idle gadding from house to house , when thou hast no occasion or employment : thou maist draw hereby much secret contempt , and loathing of thee , when thy emptinesse and vanity shal be thereby discouered . an empty conuersation , that hath in it no exercise of piety or vertue , if it be frequent , occasioneth secret , and vnutterable scorne . 7. restraine thine owne passions in conuersing . there are none so wise , but if they shew their passions of immoderate anger , feare , griefe ; yea , or ioy , but they discouer much weakenesses in their disposition , which would bee couered if thou didst bridle the excesse of thy passions . a wise man couereth shame , when a foole is presently knowne : it is the best praise not to haue such weakenesses ; but the next to this , is by discretiō to bridle our selues , so as wee may hide our weakenesses from breaking out . lastly , thou maist make good vse of that direction of salomon about thy friend , blesse not thy friend with a loud voyee , rising early in the morning ; for it may bee accounted a curse to thee : take heed of flattery , which in stead of effecting thine owne ends , may bring thee out of all respect . hee doth not forbid the iust praise , and encouragement of friends , but the intending of praise of purpose to the vttermost notice of thy friend ( this is to praise him with a loud voice ) and the affectation of preuenting others in praising ; and of doing it in such things as are not yet sufficiently knowne to bee praise-worthy , and to set ones selfe so to praise , as if hee studied to do nothing else , but humour his friends , especially if it bee but once perceiued , that thou dost it but for thy owne ends . it is a great part of wisedom , to know how to speak of the praise of others , so as neither sinister ends bee intended , nor the humoring of those we praise : to doe it sparingly and seasonably , is a great discretion . and thus of the rules , that make our conuersation amiable , in respect of discretion . 3. thirdly , that our conuersation may not be hurtfull and offensiue , we must looke to the purity of it , and so these rules following are of singular vse : first , in generall , refraine thy tongue from euill , and thy lippes that they speake not guile , psal. 34. 13. for hee that keepeth his mouth , keepeth his soule , pro. 22. 23. take heed of the vsuall vices of the tongue : for thereout may come much mischiefe , and discontent to thy selfe and others . secondly , in particular looke to thy selfe carefully , that thou auoide those three euils mentioned by the apostle : ephes. 3. 4. viz. filthy speaking , foolish talking and iesting . by iesting hee meanes those biting iests , that vnder pretence of shewing wittinesse , or conceit , doe secretly leaue disgrace vpon the persons whom they concerne . thirdly , auoide with detestation the excess● in drinking and reuelling , and suffer thy selfe vpon no pretence , to be drawne to giue way to thine owne practice in them , 1. pet. 4. 3. chap. xxii . how wee must carrie our selues out of company . thus of thy carryage in generall in company . now out of company thou must looke to these things : 1. first , thou must fashion thy heart , by the vse of all good meanes , to the loue of all sorts of men . this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , loue of me● , is a vertue little thought on : yet greatly necessarie , as a foundation of all practices in conuersing with others , and wee should labour to abound in loue towards all men , 1. thes. 3. 12. secondly , remember to pray for all sorts of men : this is a precept giuen vs in charge by the apostle , 1. tim. 2. 1. and belongs to this place , and wee ought to make conscience of it according to the occasions of our callings , or acquaintance with other men : we should euen in secret seeke to profit our neighbours by praying for them . thirdly , we should prouide , euen out of company to order our affaires so , as that we may liue , 1. honestly without scandall , 1. cor. 10. 32. phil. 1. 10. 2. iustly , without deceit or fraudulent dealing , leu. 19. 35. 36. 1. thes. 4. 16. 3. peaceably without strise with any , if it be possible , prou. 3. 29 , 30. zach. 7. 10. hebr. 12. 14. chap. xxiii . rules about workes of mercy . hitherto of the rules , that concerne righteousnesse . mercy followeth . now in shewing mercie , diuers things are charged vpon vs. first , willingnesse . we must giue cheerefully : for the lord loueth a cheerefull giuer . we must loue mercy , as well as shew mercy . our hearts should bee euer answerable to our power . we must be ready , and prepared to shew mercy , abhorring delaies , and putting off of time , or seeking excuses : our eares should bee open to the cries of the poore , rather then bee behinde hand ; we should sell , that wee might giue almes , mich. 6. 8. 1. tim. 6. 18. 2. cor. 9. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. pro. 22. 23 , 13. luke 12. 33. pro. 3. 27 , 28. secondly , labour and diligence . wee should take paines , and work hard according to all the occasions of mercy . this is the apostles phrase : god will not forget your worke , and labour of loue , heb. 6. 10. we must bee forward to doe those workes of mercy , that require our paines and trauaile about them , as well as those we may doe and sit still , 2. cor. 8. 16 , 22. thirdly , liberalitie : we must open our hands wide , deut. 15. 8. wee must bee rich in those good workes , 1. tim. 6. 18. we must no● giue sparingly , 2. cor. 9. 6. we must giue to our power , and sometimes beyond our power : 2. cor. 8. 2. wee should desire to answere the expectation had of our bounty , especially the expectation of our teachers that know vs and our estates , 2. cor. 8. 24. wee should striue to abound in this grace also , as well as in other graces of the spirit , 2. cor. 8. 9. we should giue to seuen , and also to eight , eccles. 11. 2. we must make good measure , yea and pressed downe , luke 6. 8. fourthly , humility . there is great vse of humility , in shewing mercy . now we should shew our humilitie diuers waies about mercie : as first , in helping others , without exalting our selues , and dominiering ouer them . the rich must not thinke to rule the poore , and to command them , as if they were their vassals : we should so shew mercy , as not to stand vpon tearmes of their beholdingnesse , to whom wee shew mercie , prou. 22. 7. secondly , in not despising the poore ; we must no● thinke of them meanely , and contemptuously , because they stand in neede of our help , whether it be in bodie or minde , prou. 14. 21. thirdly , in accepting exhortation , shewing our selues willing to be called vpon , and stirred vp to mercie , 2. cor. 8. 17. 4. by our penitencie , whē we goe to god , after wee haue done our best , and confesse the corruption that cleaues vnto vs , euen when we haue shewed our best desires to communicate to others , and withall striuing to plow vp the fallow ground of our hard harts , that they may bee more fit to expresse the bowels of mercy , hos. 10. 12. fiftly , the macedonians shewed their humilitie in this , that they prayed the apostle to accept their gifts , giuing themselues also to bee disposed of to the lord , and vnto them by the vvill of god , 2. cor. 8. 5. thus of the humility to bee shewed in doing workes of mercy . a fift thing required in shewing mercie , is faith ; and faith is needfull in two respects . first , to beleeue gods acceptation of the mercy shewed . for a godly christian , that is not vaine-glorious , hath so meane an opinion of his best workes , that he findes neede to flie to gods promises , and dares not trust vpon his owne goodnes . now god hath promised to accept of that we doe , if there be a willing minde : the will is accepted for the deed , 2. cor. 8. 12. secondly , to beleeue the successe and reward from god , and that wee shall not lose , by what is so expēded . though the persons to whom we shew mercy , should bee so vngratefull , that it were as bread cast on the waters : yet wee ought to beleeue , that our seede cast on the waters , shall bring vs a plentifull haruest , eccles. 11. 1. and it is certaine , whatsoeuer the persons be , yet what is giuen , is sowed . and if the husbandman doe not thinke his come spoiled , that he casts vpon his land , no more ought a christian to think that to be lost , that is giuen to the poore . nature may disappoint the hope of the husbandman , but in works of mercie , there is no venture , but a sure increase from the lord , 2. cor. 9. 9 , 10. and therefore our faith should make vs get bags to put vp the certaine treasure wee shall gaine by mercy from the lord , luke 12. 33. a sixt thing required in shewing mercie , is discretion , and discretion should shew it selfe first , by distributing our almes in the fittest course wee can , hauing a principall respect to godly poore . he that sheweth mercy , ought to haue a good eye , prou. 22. 9. secondly , by obseruing our owne abilitie , so to ease others , that we burthen not our selues , 1. cor. 9. 14 , 15. thirdly , by taking heed that wee spend not vpon the rich by needlesse entertainments , what ought to bee bestowed vpon the poore , prou. 22. 16. luke 14. 13. fourthly , by auoiding scandal , or giuing offence , that none blame vs in our aboundance , but prouiding things honest in the sight of god and men , 2. cor. 8. 20 , 21. yet so as wee indeuour in an holy & discreet manner to prouoke others by our zeale , 2. cor. 9. 2. a seuenth thing required in shewing mercy , is sympathy , pitie , a fellow-feeling of the distresses of others , being like affectioned and laying their miseries to heart , heb. 13. 3. col. 3. 12. rom. 12. 16. iob 30. 25. there should be bowels in our mercy . the last thing is sinceritie . now this sinceritie should bee shewed diuers waies , as : 1. in the matter of our almes . it must be of goods well gotten . for god hateth robbery , though it were for burnt offerings , esay 61. 8. 2. in the maner we must shew mercy , without wicked thoughts , or griefe of heart , deut. 7. 7 , 8. to 12. and without hiding our selues from the poore , esay 58. 7. and without excuse to shift off the doing of it , prou. 24. 11 , 12. 3. in the ends . that we doe not our workes to bee seene of men , or to merit of god : but with an vnfained desire to glorifie god , and make our profession to be well spoken of , and shew the true loue and pitie wee beare to the creature in distresse , math. 6. 2. cor. 9. 19. 4. in continuing our mercy ; not forgetting to distribute , but still remembring the poore , heb. 13. 16. galat. 2. soundly performing the mercy with constancie , which wee haue purposed , willed , or promised . it were an excellent order , if christians would follow the apostles rule , euery weeke , as god hath prospered them , to lay aside for the poore , 1. cor. 1. 16. 2. 2. cor. 8. 11. 5. in the kindes of mercie , that wee bee ready to shew spirituall mercy , as wel as corporall , and in corporall mercy to doe good all the waies we can , as well as one way : as by lending , protecting , releasing , visiting , and giuing ; and thus to the poore , to such as are fallen into decay , and to the strangers also : as many scriptures require . chap. xxiiii . rules that shew vs how to carry our selues towards wicked men . hitherto of the rules that concerne al men : now the particular rules direct our carriage either toward wicked men , or toward godly men . our conuersation toward wicked men may be ordered by these rules : first , we must auoide all needlesse societie with them , and shunne their infectious fellowship , especially wee must take heed of any speciall familiaritie vvith them , or vnequall yoaking our selues with them , by marriage , friendship , or leagues of amitie , psal. 1. 1. 1. cor. 6. 17. eph. 5. 7 , 11. prou. 23. 20. & 4. 14 , &c. secondly , when wee haue occasion to conuerse with them , wee must study how to walke wisely towards them , so as we may bee so farre from giuing scandall , as if it bee possible , we may winne them to glorifie god and his truth in our profession . it requires much skill to order our selues aright in those things that are to be done in the presence of wicked men , or in such things , as must come by report vnto them , and their scanning . now there are diuers things of admirable vse in our carriage to put them to silence , and to make them in their consciences at least to thinke well of vs : such as are : 1. mortification . a sound care to reforme our waies , and true hatred and griefe for our owne sinnes , will cause many times wicked wretches to say of vs , that wee are the people of the lord , esay 61. 3 , 8. i say , a sound care of reformation for to professe a mortified life , and yet in any thing to shew , that we can liue in any fault vvithout repentance , this prouokes them exceedingly to speak euill of the good way of god. therefore the first care of a christian , that would be rightly ordered toward wicked men , must be to liue without offence , and to discouer a true mortified minde , and a heart broken for sinne . secondly , to speake with all reuerence , and feare , when wee intreat of matters of religion , much amazeth the prophane conscience of a wicked man. whereas cursorie discourses of such grand mysteries , and empty and vaine ianglings doe exceedingly occasion a confirmed wilfulnesse , and prophanenesse in such men , 1. pet. 3. 16. & prou. 24. 26. thirdly , it is a most winning quality in all our carriage , to shew meekenesse of wisedome to expresse a minde well gouerned , free from passions , and also from conceitednesse , frowardnesse , affectation , and the vaine shew of what we haue not in vs in substance . for each of these haue in them singular matter of irritation , and prouoke wicked men to scorne , and hatred , and reuiling . fourthly , there is a holy kinde of reseruednesse , which may adorne the life of a christian in his carriage among wicked men : and this reseruednesse is to be shewed : 1. in not trusting our selues too farre with them , not beleeuing euery word , not bearing our selues vpon euery shew of fauour from them . for as too much suspition of them breeds extreame alienation , if they perceiue it : so credulitie is no way safe : pro. 14. 15. iohn 2. 24. 2. by abstaining from iudging of them that are without . it is a most intemperate zeale , that spends it selfe in the vaine and bootelesse censure of the estate of those that are without . those censures haue in them matter of prouocation , and nothing of edification . it were happie for some christians , if they could with the apostle say often to their owne soules , what haue i to doe to iudge them , that are without ? 1. cor. 5. 12 , 13. 3. by studying to be quiet , and meddle vvith our owne businesse , casting about , how to cut off all occasions , by w ch we might be intangled with any discord , or contentions , or much businesse with them . it is a godly ambition to thirst after this quietnesse of life , 1. thes. 4. 12. 4. by our silence in euill times , alwaies auoiding all such discourses , as might bring vs into danger , without any calling for our owne edification , or the edification of others . many a man hath smarted sorely for want of this bridle for his tongue , when his words could doe no good to others , and much hurt to himselfe , amos 5. 13. dauid held his peace while the wicked were present , psal. 39. 1. 5. in forbearing to reproue scorners , prou. 9. 7 , 8. & 23. 9. 6. in seasoning the words with salt , so as they discouer not vanity , lightnesse , vaine-glory , malice , or desire of reuenge , or the like faultes in their speeches . 7. in answering the foole , but not according to his folly , that is , not in such pride , passion , or reuiling fashion , as the foole obiects in , prou. 26. 4 , 5. 8. in getting out of their company , when we perceiue not in them the words of wisedome : if wee see they grow once to bee peruerse , outragious , or wilfull in any notorious offence of words or works , we must get from amongst them . thus of the eight waies wherein wee should shew reseruednesse : they are of excellent vse , if men would study them , and practise them . 5. mercy is amiable euen in the eies of wicked men : and mercifull christians , that are full of good workes , doe bring a great deale of honour to religion : it is true religion , and vndefiled , to visite the fatherlesse , and widowes , and to be vnspotted of the world : a conuersation , that is vnrebukeable , and full of mercy also , cannot but be very honorable : whereas religion it selfe , when it is seated in the brests of such christians , as haue forgotten to shew mercy , and do not study how to be doing good to others , is exceedingly darkened in the glory of it , and many times extremely ill spoken of : a true christian should hold it a great disparagement , that any papist , or carnall man in the world ( in equall comparison ) should put them downe , for either the tendernesse , or the aboundance of workes of mercy , 1. pet. 2. 12. math. 15. iam. 3. 25. 6. when wee haue cause , & a calling to speak for the truth , or to reproue sinne , it is an excellent grace to bee vndaunted , & free from seruile feares , flatterie : to giue place to wicked men in gods cause , or to feare their faces in the quarrell of religion , or to shew a minde that would repent of wel-doing , or that basely would stoupe some way to honour vngodly persons for our owne ends , is so farre from gaining true fauour with euill minded men , that it makes them to scorne and hate vs , and religion so much the more : whereas a godly man , that is vnmoueable , & refuseth to praise the wicked , or iustifie the vngodly , and when hee hath cause , will contend with them , as salomons phrase is , and not be like a troubled fountain , or a corrupt spring : hee may for the time receiue ill words from the wicked , but his heart is afraid of him , and his conscience doth admire him , pro. 24. 25. & 28. 4. & 25. 26. 1. cor. 16. 22. 7. the like aduantage is brought to the conuersatiō of a godly man , when hee can shew like patience , and firmenesse of minde , in bearing all sorts of afflictions , and crosses . patience in affliction makes a great shew before a wicked man , that well knowes how vnable he is so to carrie himselfe , 1. pet. 3. 14. 8. lastly , to loue our enemies , and shew it by our fruits in forgiuing them , or being ready heartily to pleasure them , and ouercome their euill with goodnesse : to pray for them , when they reuile and persecute vs , is a transcendent vertue ; euill men themselues being iudges , luke 6. 27. to 31. prou. 20. 22. chap. xxv . rules that shew vs how to carry our selues towards godly men . thus of our carriage toward the wicked : how we should carry our selues toward the godly , followeth to bee considered of : the summe of all is , that wee must walke in loue : if wee can soundly discharge our duety to the godly , in respect of louing them vnfaignedly & heartily , and constantly , wee performe all that is required of vs toward them : and this loue to the godly is so necessarie , as that it is imposed vpon vs , as the onely commandement giuen by christ , who in one word tels vs the substance of our duties , ioh. 13. 34. ephe. 5. 2. 1. pet. 2. 17. 1. cor. 16. 14. now the rules which in particular binde vs to the good behauiour in respect of our loue to the godly , concerne either the manifestation of our loue to them : or the preseruation of our loue to them . wee must shew our loue to the godly diuers waies : first , by courtesie and kindnesse towards them , and that in a speciall manner , being affectioned toward them with a brotherly loue and kindenesse . no brethren in nature should shew more kindnesse one to another , then christians should , eph. 4. 33. rom. 12. 10. secondly , by receiuing and entertaining them : we must receiue one another , and be harberous one to another ; and this with intirenesse of affection : negatiuely , it must bee without grudging , 1. pet. 4. 9. affirmatiuely , we must receiue one another , as christ receiued vs into glory , that is : first , without respect of desert ; wee haue done nothing to deserue heauen ; yet christ hath receiued vs to glory : so , though the godly haue not pleasured vs any way greatly , yet because they are the children of god , we should make much of them , and entertaine them gladly . secondly , not thinking any thing too deare for them : christ hath not enuied vs the very glory of heauen , and therefore what can we doe to the brethren , that should answer the example of christ ? rom. 15. 7. thirdly , by bearing their burthens ; for so we should fulfill the law of christ , gal. 6. 2. there are two sorts of burthens presse the godly : one inward , such as are temptations , and their owne corruptions ; the other outward , such as are afflictions of all sorts : now in both these , this rule holds ; for when wee see a godly christian mourne and lament his distresse in respect of his infirmities or temptations , wee must beare his burthen , not by soothing him in his sinne , as if it were no sinne , but by laying his griefe to our owne hearts , and striuing to comfort him with the promises of god. this is not to make our selues guilty of their sinnes , or to beare with their sinnes , but to helpe them out of their griefe by consolation , out of their sinne by direction . note , that this is charged vpon vs , when sinne is a burthen to them , not before ; for till then wee are rather to reprooue them , or admonish them : but then we are to take notice of this rule , when they confesse their sinnes , and are weary of them , and sorry for them : and thus also in their outward burthens we must beare them by comforting them , and aduising them , and helping them , and shewing our affection to them , as if it were our owne case , so farre as we haue a calling , and power to help them . fourthly , by considering one another , to prouoke unto loue , and good workes , heb 10. 24. note the dutie and the manner how it is to be done : the duty is , to stirre vp others all wee can to the increase of loue and aboundance of all good workes : the manner is shewed two waies ; first , wee must prouoke them to it , both by example , and by exhortation , and all good waies , that might fire in them the desire of well-doing . secondly , we must consider one another , wee must study the estates of others , their wants , impediments , meanes , gifts , callings , &c. and accordingly apply our selues for the best aduantage to helpe them forward . it is not enough to doe it occasionally , but wee must meditate of it , and cast about , how , where , and when we must yeeld this helpe , and incouragement , and furtherance . fifthly , by doing whatsoeuer wee do for the godly , heartily , and with all faithfulnesse , as if it were for our selues , or our owne brethren , or kinred in nature , not being slothfull in seruice ; or such as disappoint the trust reposed in vs : wee should doe all things wee vndertake for . them , with all fidelity and care , 3. ioh. 5. rom. 12. 6 , 7 , 8 , 11. yea , we should care for their good and profit , as wee would care for the good of the members of our owne body : for such are they to vs in the mysticall body of iesus christ , as the former place to the romanes sheweth . lastly , we should shew our loue to the godly , by employing the gifts of our minde , as may be best for their good : as euery man hath receiued the gift , hee must so minister the same , as good stewards of the manifold grace of god. there are diuersity of gifts in the godly , as knowledge , vtterance , prayer , and the like ▪ now these are giuen to profite withall , 1. pet. 4. 10. 1. cor. 12. as for example , the lippes of the wise must disperse knowledge , pro. 15. 7. so when christians meete together , as any haue receiued a doctrine , or a psalme , or an interpretation : so must hee minister it for the profite of others , 1. cor. 14. 26. and so must we help one another by prayer , either absent , or present , 2. cor. 1. 11. chap. xxvi . how wee should preserue our loue to the godly . thus of the rules that concerne the manifestation of our loue to the godly : now there are further diuers things to bee obserued for the preseruation of our loue to them : and these may bee cast into two heads : for , they are either such things as wee must doe ; or , such things as wee must auoide . the things that we must do to preserue loue are these . first , wee must striue to be like minded in matters of opinion ; many discords or abatements of affection grow among christians for their differences of opinion in diuers things . it is true , that difference of iudgement should not cause difference in affection : if wee cannot bee of one minde , yet wee should bee of one heart ; yet wee see the contrary , and therefore euery christian should make conscience of it , to bee so wary and so humble in his opinions , especially in things doubtfull , or not so necessarie , as to take heed of admitting , who might shew dissent from the godly ; or if hee must needs dissent , yet to bee very wary how hee discouer it to the vexation , or entanglement of others . now because this is very hard to perswade christians vnto , marke how vehemently the apostle speakes of it , rom. 15. 5 , 6. now the god of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded , that yee may with one mouth and one minde glorifie god. we must learne of the apostle to pray feruently for this , that our natures , and the natures of others , with whom wee conuerse , may bee fitted hereunto : and 1. cor. 1. 10. the apostle adiures them by the name of iesus : i beseech you , brethren , by the name of our lord iesus christ , that yee all speake the same thing , and that there be no diuisions amongst you , but that yee bee perfectly ioyned together in the same minde , and in the same iudgement . and in the epistle to the philippians cha . 2. ver . 1 , 2 , 3. hee vrgeth them with strange vehemency to import the necessitie of this duty : if , saith he , there bee any consolation in christ , or any fellowship of the spirit , or any bowels of mercy , bee like minded , hauing the same loue , being of one minde . and certainely , this earnestnesse in requiring this duety , imports , that some peruerse christians will smoke one day , for their presumption and waywardnesse , and pride of opinions . 2. wee must follow the things , which may make for outward peace ; and to this end wee must labour to shew all meeknesse in our carriage , and long-suffering in for-bearing one another , and forgiuing one another , ephes. 4. 2 , 3 , 4. 3. wee must striue to heate our affections to such a degree , as that it may be able to couer the infirmaties of others : hee must get a couering loue , that will liue constantly in the loue of the godly : a loue , that will couer a multitude of faults , 1. pet. 4. 8. prou. 10. 12. 4. we must confesse our faults one to another , i am . 5. 16. it doth exceedingly preserue loue , if men , when they haue offended , or wronged others , would quickly , and easily , and heartily acknowledge their offences : nor doth this rule hold in case of trespasse onely , but when we haue not wronged others , yet discreetly to complaine of the corruption of nature that cleaues to vs , and the infirmities which daily trouble vs : this doth work not onely compassion , but great increase of affection in others towards vs : for acknowledgement preuents their secret loathing of vs for such frailties , if they should discouer them . and besides , it makes them the willinger to giue vs leaue to reproue their faults , when they see wee are as willing to reproue our owne ; besides the ease it brings to our owne hearts many times to make our moane to others , when our consciences are troubled . chap. xxvii . what wee must auoide , that our loue may bee preserued . thus of what we must doe to preserue loue ; now further , that loue may be preserued amongst the godly , these things following are to be auoided . first , suites in law ; a christian must haue many considerations of his cause , before it can be lawfull for him to goe to law with his brother ; these kinds of contentions are most vnnaturall amongst christians , and proue not only scandalous in respect of others , but extreamely grieuous and poisonous to themselues , 1. cor. 6. 1 , 4. secondly , dissimulatition : our loue must be without faining , in deede , and in truth , not in shew , or in words , rom. 12. 9. 1. iohn 3. 18. thirdly , conceitednesse . this is a vice , that extreamely vexeth others , and alienateth affection : wee must not be vvise in our selues , but rather in lowlinesse of minde esteeme another better then our selues , and shew it both by making our selues equall to them of the lower sort , and by going before others in giuing honour and praise , rom. 12. 10 , 16. phil 2. 4. pro. 12. 15. fourthly , reioicing in iniquitie . our loue must be holy and pure , if wee would haue it preserued . it must haue nothing in it , that is vnseemely , nor must it bee an affection , that will take pleasure in the vices , or faults of those , with whom wee conuerse , 1. cor. 13. 5 , 6. fiftly , the minding of our owne things : wee must not study for our selues , and our owne ends onely in conuersing , 1. cor 13. 5. the meaning is not , that wee should leaue our callings , and our houses , to spend the greatest part of our time in our neighbours houses , but he prohibits , first , worldlinesse , and excessiue cares about our businesse , and the things of this life , which hinders needfull societie with the godly : and secondly , hee forbids selfe-loue in conuersing , when men in all things aime at their owne profit , or pleasure , or credit , and doe not as well seeke the good of others : we may minde our owne things , but not onely . 6. sixtly , ficklenesse and vnconstancie : we must looke to it , that brotherly loue continue , heb. 13. 1. and to this end wee must looke to the leuitie of our owne natures , and striue to make good , by continuance , the affection wee haue conceiued and professed to others . some are of such vnconstant dispositions , that they will loue vehemently for a fit , and suddenly fall off without reason , but not without singular shame , and blemishing of their reputations . for such tempers are hardly fit for any societie . now this must bee repented of , and refonned . seuenthly , wee must take heede of vaine-glory , and an ouer-eager desire of credit and estimation aboue others . for this is the cause of much vnrest in our owne hearts , and of much interruption in brotherly loue . and vvhy wouldest thou be so highly esteemed of ? thou considerest not the hard taske thou layest vpon thy selfe , to bee euer carefull to answere that great praise , or estimation thou desirest : nor markest thou , how thereby thou art made to offend against thy brother : by enuying him , by backbiting ; or other waies of prouocation , nor yet how little this commends thee to god , gal. 5. 26. eightly , take heede of iudging thy brethren , not but that thou maist say , that sinne is sinne , but looke to thy selfe in two things : first , that thou censure not thy brother about things indifferent , or doubtfull : such as ceremonies were and are . this is flatly forbidden , rom. 14. 3 , 13. secondly , that thy suspitions transport thee not to condemne thy brother for hidden things , the things of darknesse and counsels of the heart : till thou be sure of the fault , or offence , thou maist not iudge , or censure , 2. cor. 4. 5. ninthly , if there be any occasion of grieuance that loue may be renewed , or preserued , looke to two things : first , that thou render not reuiling for reuiling , 1. pet. 3. 9. secondly , that thou grudge not against thy brother , or by whispering depraue his actions , or backbiting , or complaine against him to his disgrace in things , where the right is not apparantly discouered , iam. 5. 9. lastly , if thou wouldest preserue thy selfe in the loue of the godly , then thou must take heede of forsaking the assembling together of the saints : thou must preserue all vvayes of exercising the communion of saints , and hold fellowship with them in gods house , and in your owne dwelling . prophanenesse must not draw thee from the temple , nor worldlinesse from societie , and louing , and profitable conuersation with thy godly friends and acquaintance , heb. 10. 25. chap. xxviii . how wee must carrie our selues towards such as are fallen . hitherto of such rules of conuersation , as direct vs in our carriage toward the godly considered in generall . now there are other rules , which concerne onely some of the godly : namely : 1. such as are fallen . 2. such as are weake . 3. such as are strong . 4. such as are especially knit vnto vs in friendship . for the first , those that are fallen , are either fallen from god , or fallen from thee . such as are fallen from god , are either fallen grosely , and of habite , or by infirmitie , and suddenly . those , that are fallen grosely , are either guiltie of foule vices , or else of extreme omissions , such as that , which the apostle instanceth in of idlenesse , and the generall neglect of their callings . now towards both these thou must bee thus ordered : first , warne them in the beginning , and reproue them sharpely , 1. thes. 5. 14. secondly , if they mend not , auoide them , withdraw thy selfe frō them , conuerse not familiarly with them , let them not be the companions of thy life , 1. cor. 5. 11. 2. thes. 3. 6 , 14. thirdly , if they repent , forgiue them , and comfort-them , lest they be swallowed vp of griefe , 2. cor. 7. 2 , 8. now if they bee fallen by infirmitie , either they are likely to offend again , or not . if they bee likely to fall further , saue them with feare , pulling them out of the fire , iude 23. but if not , then restore such a one with the spirit of meekenesse , comfort him , deale gently with him , gal. 6. 1. this of thy carriage to such as are fallen from god. as for those , that are fallen from thee , by trespassing against thee , thou must obserue these rules of carriage towards them . first , in slighter wrongs doe all things vvithout reasonings , or murmurings : either speake not of it , or so , as thou shew no repining , or vexation about it , phil. 2. 14. secondly , in great wrongs , thou must doe two things : first , obserue the methode of our sauiour christ : when the trespasse is secret , goe and tell him of it betweene thee and him : if he mend not , then take two or three other discreet godly persons with thee , and tell him of it againe : if hee yet mend not , then diuulge it , and acquaint the church with it : either seeke a publike sentence vpon him from authoritie , or acquaint the godly generally with it : and if these courses will not amend him , then abandon his societie , as if hee vvere a heathen , or a publican , mathew 18. 15. secondly , if by any of these courses hee repent , forgiue him , yea , and that as often as hee saith , it repenteth him , if he should doe thee many iniuries , luke 17. 3 , 4. chap. xxix . how we must carry our selues : towards the weake christian , &c. thus of thy carriage toward them that are fallen . towards weake christians we must bee thus ordered : first , we must take heed , that wee intangle them not with , doubtfull disputations in matters of ceremonies , or things indifferent , rom. 14. 1. secondly , we must get the skill to beare with their weakenesses , & meere fraileties , rom. 15. 1. thirdly , wee must be wonderfull carefull , that wee doe not offend them , or cast any stumbling blockes in their way , math. 18. 1. cor. 10. 32. fourthly , wee must incourage them , and comfort them , and support them all we can , 1. thes. 5. 14. fiftly , in things indifferent , wee must not thinke it much to crosse our selues to please them , and to suffer a little bondage in the restraint of our liberty , rather then vexe them ; especially for the furtherance of their soules in the meanes of their saluation , wee should become all things to all men , gal. 5. 13. 1. cor. 9. 20 , 21 , 22. 3. towards strong christians wee must be thus ordered : 1. first , we must acknowledge such , 1. cor. 16. 18. 2. we should set them and their practice before vs , as paterns , & examples of imitation , 1. cor. 5. 17. phil. 3. 17. 3. wee should submit our selues to such , to let them aduise vs , & admonish vs , and with all should submit our iudgements in things doubtfull to theirs , 1. cor. 16. 16. 1. pet. 5. 5. 4. towards thy friend thou must be thus ordered . 1. neuer forsake him , prou. 27. 10. 2. giue him hearty counsell , prou. 27. 9. 3. bee friendly to him , prou. 28. vlt. 4. communicate thy secrets to him , iohn 15. 15. 5. loue him with a speciall loue . 1. as thine owne soule , deut. 13. 6. 2. let thy loue be at all times , euen in aduersitie , prou. 17. 17. 3. it must bee a sincere loue , that looketh not for gifts , or rewards , pro. 19. 6. 4. it must be such a loue , as will reach to his posteritie also , if need be , 2. chro. 20. 7 chap. xxx . rules that concern our selues : and so first in our generall calling . hitherto of the rules of order in respect of god , or our neighbours . now follow the rules that concerne our selues : and these are of two sorts . for they are either such , as order vs at al times , or such as order vs in the times of affliction . the first sort concerne either our generall , or particular calling . the rules that concerne our generall calling , as in this place they are to bee considered of , concern either : 1. our faith : 2. or our repentance : 3. or our hope . 1. the rules , that concerne our faith ( supposing the christian to be informed in the things contained in the former treatises ) are onely these two : first , thou must be expert in the catalogue of promises , that concerne infirmities , mentioned in the third treatise . for those wil preserue thy faith in gods fauour , against the daily experience of frailetie , and infirmitie in thy selfe . for thou maist by them see , that thou hast no reason to doubt of the continuance of gods loue to thee only , because of thy many weaknesses . for in those promises , hee hath and doth declare , how graciously he is inclined to his seruants , and passeth by their frailty , and accepteth their desires and endeuours , &c. this rule will prooue a maine support of the contentment of thy life : and therefore let not sathan make thee either despise , or neglect it . secondly , thou shalt doe well to establish thy iudgement particularly in the doctrine of the principles expressed in the fifth treatise ; and by sound learning of them settle thy selfe , so as thou bee no more carried about with the winde of any contrary doctrine : it should be the labour & care of all good christians to keep the pattern of wholesome words , 2. tim. 3. 13. concerning thy repentance , as now it is to bee vrged vpon thee ; after thy assurance one rule is of singular vse , and that concernes the catalogue of present sinnes : by the directions in the first treatise , i suppose thou hast deliuered thy selfe from the body of sinnes , so as the most of those euils mentioned in thy first and great catalogue , are shaken off , neuer to bee committed againe , and so thou hast no more to doe about them , but giue god thankes for thy deliuerance from them through iesus christ : now because after thy first repentance , there will remaine some corruptions , which as yet are not rooted out ; thy course for thy whole life , for these remainders of sinne , would be this : make thee a catalogue of thy present sinnes , euen of such euils as thou findest thy selfe yet daily prone vnto . examine thy selfe seriously to this end : it may bee thou wilt finde 6. or 8. or 10. or more , or fewer euils , which yet hang vpon thy nature and life : thy course for the vse of this catalogue may be this : i suppose thou art instructed so far , as to know the profite of daily calling vpon god : now whereas inprayer thou dost ; or oughtst to make confession of thy sinnes , in stead of a more generall confession , vse still thy catalogue , that is , labour euery day to iudge thy selfe distinctly for those sins that doe presently annoy thee : hold on this course constantly ; till thou haue gotten power against all , or any of them , and as thou findest vertue against any of them , so alter thy catalogue , giuing thankes for the sinnes thou gettest head against , and putting them out of thy catalogue . the paines is little , it is once done for a long time , and thy memory will easily carry thy speciall present faults : besides , this distinct daily remembrance of thy present sins , will make thee more watchful against those sins ; & thou maist once a year , or once a quarter , or before euery communion , examine thy selfe anew , and mend thy catalogue , by putting in any corruption , which thou discouerest then , or at any time , to arise anew in thee , and putting out such euils , as by prayer thou hast gotten victory against : thus maist thou see the state of thy soule distinctly al the daies of thy life , discerning when thou goest forward or backward : besides , this course of daily iudging thy selfe , keeps thee out of the danger of any wrath from god. concerning thy hope , there are foure things for thee to doe . first , pray constantly and earnestly , for the knowledge of the great glory is prouided for thee : thou must forme the admiration of heauen in thee , by prayer : for naturally it is not in vs , ephes. 1. 18 , &c. secondly , thou must vse all diligence to perfect thy assurance of heauen , when thou diest , heb. 6. 12. 1. pet. 1. 13. thirdly , thou must striue to accustome thy thoughts to the daily contemplation of heauen , that thy conuersation may be in heauen , phil. 3. 20 , fourthly , thou must striue to direct thy heart , and inable thy selfe to the expectation of the comming of iesus christ ; thou must labor for that skill distinctly , to be able to waite for the comming of iesus christ , and to shew that thou louest his appearing , 1. thes. 1. 10. & 2. thess. 3. 5. gal. 5. 5 2. tim. 4. 8. chap. xxxi . rules that order vs in our particular calling . thus of the rules that concerne thy general calling : in thy particular calling there are seuen things to be auoided . the first is slothfulnesse , and thou art guiltie of this sinne , both when thou dost not the labours of thy calling , and when thou obseruest not the seasons , and opportunities of thy calling , prou. 10. 4 , 5. and that thou maist bee free from this sin , thou must auoide together with it the occasions of it : and so thou must auoide 1. the loue of sleep , pro. 20. 13. 2. good fellowship , & haunting of ale-houses , and tauernes , and keeping company with dissolute persons , prou. 21. 17. 3. wandring from thine owne house , euen that vnnecessary going from house to house , though it bee not to places of ill fame . fourthly , thou must take heed of pertinacious entertainement of doubts and obiections about thy calling , thou shouldst bee afraid of excuses for idlenesse , especially to bee so selfe willed , as to be glad of any thing may seeme to patronize thy slouthfulnes , prou. 20. 4. & 15. 19. & 26. 16. and therefore to conclude this rule , when thou art about thy calling , what thou dost , do with all thy power , eccles. 9. 10. and rest not in words or pratling : hee is not diligent , that brags much of what work hee can or will do , but hee that doth it indeed , prou. 14. 23. the second sin to bee auoided in thy particular calling , is vnfaithfulnesse , prou. 20. 6. and so thou must take heed of breach of thy promise in thy dealings with men , psal. 15. 6. and also thou must take heed of all deceitfull courses , all waies of fraud and couzenage . it is a hatefull thing in men , when they are such as cannot be trusted , either because they make not conscience of keeping their words , or because they will vse so much cunning and deceit , and dissimulation , & lying in their dealings . the third sinne to bee auoided , is praecipitation , hastinesse , and vnaduised rashnesse arising out of the leuity of mens mindes , or their wilfulnesse . prouidence and wise diligence is wonderfull requisite vnto a right ordering of our selues in our callings , pro. 21. 5. the fourth sinne to bee auoided , is passion or perturbation ; and that hath in it both vncheerefulnesse and vnquietnesse : vncheere . fulnesse , when men are not content with their callings , or gifts , or estates , 1. cor. 7. 17. vnquietnesse , when men are froward , & carry themselues peeuishly , or cholerickly with those that are about them . this sinne of frowardnesse is vehemently censured & condemned in scripture , prou. 11. 29. psal. 37. 8. pro. 16. 32. & 19. 11. & 25. 28. whereas god requires a quiet , contented , and merry heart , pro. 17. 22. eccles. 9. 7 , 8. the fift thing to bee auoided and shunned , is the temptations of thy calling ; euery calling in the world is assaulted with certaine temptations , and they are vsually of two sorts ; for first in all callings there are certain vnlawfull courses held for gaine by wicked men , which wee call the sinnes of such a calling . these vniust courses thou must learne to auoide , and abhorre , and so exercise thy calling , as thou shun those sinfull courses vsed by wicked men in that calling : secondly , euery calling is assaulted with crosses , & afflictions : now in these afflictions the deuill is wont to tender ill counsell , to perswade to sinne , or the vse of vnlawfull meanes , or other sins of distrust in god : all these thou must auoide . sixtly , thou must take heed of worldlinesse , or setting thy heart vpon these earthly things thou art to deale with in thy calling : thou must euer be ready to confesse , and shew it by thy practice , that thou accountest thy selfe to be but a stranger and pilgrime in this world , heb. 11. 13. and if riches increase , thou must look to it , that thou set not thy heart vpon them , psal. 62. 10. thou must vse the world , but not loue the world , 1. ioh. 2. 15. thou maist and oughtest to bee carefull to do the duties of thy calling ; but thou must in nothing be carefull about the successe , but submit thy selfe in all things to god , math. 6. 1. cor. 7. 32. thou must behaue thy selfe like a weaned child , psal. 131. 1 , 2. take heed of eating too much hony , prou. 25. 16 , 17. & 27. 1 , 2. the seuenth , and last thing thou must auoid , is prophanenesse , which is to vse the workes of thy calling without exercising thy selfe in the word of god , and daily prayer for gods blessing vpon thy labours , and the creatures thou art to vse , psal. 90. 1. tim. 4. 3 , 4. gen. 24. 11 , 12 , 26 , 27. chap. xxxii . how wee should carry our selues in the time of affliction . thus of the rules of carriage which concerne thy selfe at all times : now follow the rules that shew thee how to behaue thy selfe in the time of affliction and aduersity . when thou art in affliction , thou must consider what thou must auoide , and what thou must doe . thou must auoide eight things . first , dissembling : make not thy selfe poore when thou art rich ; nor sick when thou art well , prou. 13. 7. secondly , shame ; be not ashamed of that condition god brings thee into : beare thy crosses with spirituall magnanimity , account not thy selfe dishonoured by gods hand , who doth all for the best , 1. pet. 4. 16. thirdly , impatience : grieue not at gods works : sorrow not after the world : fret not at god or man ; refuse not gods chastening , but with patience beare what is laid vpon thee : it is the lord , let him do whatsoeuer hee will with thee , prou. 3. 11. fourthly , fainting , or discouragement of heart : liue by faith ; call not gods loue into question : keep thee in the good way , prou. 24. 10. fifthly , trust vpon carnall friends ; relye not vpon-man , but vpon god : trust not in the arme of flesh , prou. 27. 10. sixtly , too much carefulnesse for the meanes how to get out of affliction : commit thy way to god , and put thy trust in him ; vse all lawfull meanes , but distresse not thy heart with bootlesse cares : cast thy care vpon god , for hee careth for thee , phil . 4. 6. iam. 4. 10. seuenthly , suddaine feares ; bee not so amazed with the first tydings , or beginnings of any affliction , discouer not such want of faith , as to be guilty of those violent passions of feare ; gods loue is vnchangeable : and though heauen and earth should go together , yet god will be with thee ; hee will not leaue thee , nor forsake thee , prou. 3. 25. eightly & lastly , carelesnesse of thy waies ; be not secure in sinning , but let thy crosses melt off some of thy drosse , & draw thee neere to god : go not on boldly to sinne without regard ; if the lord haue any quarrell against thee , humble thy selfe and depart from iniquity , prou. 14. 16. the things then thou must doe on the contrary side , are these : when thou art in affliction , thou must do these things : first , thou must pray , and call vpon the name of the lord ; as these expresse scriptures require , iam. 5. 13. psal. 50. 15. 1. cor. 4. 12 , 13. secondly , thou must beare thy crosse with patience , and contentation , iam. 1. 4. 1. pet. 3. 15. esay 5. phil. 4. 6. 2. cor. 6. 8. prou. 12. 9. thirdly , thou must labour for wisedome to know how to carry thy selfe discreetly , and to vse all good meanes for thy deliuerance , iam. 1. 5. fourthly , thou must bee sure to shew thy trust in god , and cast thy burthen on the lord , iam. 5. 7 , 8. nahum . 1. 7. psal. 27. vlt. & 37. 7. & 55. 22. fifthly , thou must shew thy obedience to god ; and that thou dost , 1. if thou submit thy selfe to gods will , heb. 5. 8. 2. if thou iudge thy self , & acknowledge thy sinnes to god , hosh. 5. vlt. iob 36. 8. 3. if thou be constant in the good waies of godlinesse , psal. 37. 34. 4. if thou learne more righteousnesse , & art made by thy crosses to do holy duties with better affections , esay 26. 11. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a17410-e5540 the scope thy warrant . the profit of the course . the easines of the course . marke this direction . notes for div a17410-e5940 the rules of life are either generall or particular . the generall rules concerne either , the helps to a godly life ▪ or secondly , the manner of wel-doing whoso will address himselfe to a holy course of life . and hee that would prosper in seeking knowlege must obserue nine rules . 1. he must esteeme knowlege . 2. he must not consult with flesh and bloud . 3. he must redeeme the time . 4. he must be wise for himselfe . 5. he must be swift to heare . 6. he must study only profitable things . 7. he must striue to increase in knowlege . 8. he must propound his doubts 9. he must be rightly ordered towards his pastor . 1. to pray for him . 2. to obey him . the third rule . hee must get out of euill company . 4. he must resolue to practise . 5. he must settle his outward estate . 6. he must keep company with the godly . 7. he must not be the seruant of men . 8. he must looke for the comming of christ. 9 he must notregard what the multitude doth . 10. hee must in all things giue thanks . 11. hee must study to bee quiet . 12. hee must keep a strict course in following onely profitable things . 13. hee must bee conuersant daily in the reading of the holy scriptures 14. hee must keep his first loue . 15. hee must couet the best gifts . 16. he must often humble his soule before god. 17. hee must watch for the opportunities of wel-doing 18. hee must bee carefull of sāctifying the sabbath . 19. hee must often thinke of the example of the godly that haue excelled . 20. hee must daily seek a way of god. notes for div a17410-e7910 hee must auoid , 1. carelesnesse . 2. rashnes 3. carnall cōfidence . 4. haste to be rich . 5. distrustfull feares . 6. adding to , or taking from the word of god. 7. contempt of reproofe . 8. beholding vanitie . 9. the beginning of sinne . notes for div a17410-e8460 there are 9. things to be still remē bred , which cōcerne the manner of wel-doing 1. zeale , with continual willingnesse and feruencie . 2. sincerity , which hath in it 5. things . 1. truth . 2. respect to al gods commandements . 3. right end . 4. obedience without expostulation . 5. obedience in all places . the third thing required in the māner of well-doing , is constācy . and he is constant , that doth good duties , 1. without wearines . 2. without discouragement . 3. notwithstanding impedimēts . 4. without wauering . 5. without declining . 4. feare . simplicity which is , 1. to rest vpon the word for the formes of holines & happinesse . 2. to bee harmlesse . 3. to bee simple cōcerning euill . 4. to loue goodnesse for it selfe 5. to bee meeke & lowly-minded . 6. feare god , and not enuy the wicked the sixt is circumspection , which hath fiue things in it . the 7. is , growth or increase . which hath three things in it . 1. abounding in goodnes . 2. perfecting of holinesse . 3. progress 2. tim. 4. 12. 8. faith. the last is moderatiō the place in eccl. 7. 16. expounded . notes for div a17410-e10280 the diuision of the particular rules . the subdiuision . the rules that concerne the right knowlege of god of 2. sorts . that wee may conceiue aright of gods nature . 1. we must cast out all likenesses . 2. we must conceiue of him according t● his prayses . 3. we must beleeue the trinity of persons . 4. thou maist conceiue of god in the humane nature of christ. 5. thou must resist atheistical thoughts . 2. of acquaintance with god. that thou maist bee acquainted with god. 1. thou must prepare thy heart . 2. thou must beg it by prayer . three things in seeking aright . 3. thou must giue thy selfe to god. other things about our knowlege notes for div a17410-e11170 rules about the exercise of our loue to god. seuen waies to manifest our loue to god. 1. by auouching him to bee our god. 2. by prouiding him a place to dwell where wee dwell . 3. by shewing our loue to iesus christ. 4. by walking with god. men walk with god 5. waies . 5. by honouring god. 10. waies of honouring god. rules about the praise of god. when we commend god , diuers things are to be obscued . 6. by trusting in him . how wee must shew it that we trust god. how wee may proue that wee trust god in distresse in relying vpon god in affliction , wee must auoid fiue things . 7. by obeying him . 2. things in the manner of shewing our loue to god. 1. feruencie . 2. feare . eight wayes by which we shew our feare of god. notes for div a17410-e13260 what wee must do to preserue the loue of god in vs. about reioycing in god. what it is to reioyce or delight our selues in god. what wee must doe that wee might bee able to ioy in god. notes for div a17410-e13950 rules about the s●ruice of god. nine things to be remembred in euery part of gods worship . notes for div a17410-e14390 rules about the publike worship of god. 1. all must come . 2. with all possible reuerence 3. and zeale . and this zeale wee should shew six waies . 4. with one consent . three other rules gathered out of psal. 52. 8 , 9. notes for div a17410-e14950 rules that order vs in hearing the word of god. 1. before we come . 2. in the time of hearing . note . 3. after we haue heard . notes for div a17410-e15290 rules about baptisme . 1. about our children . 2. about our selues . in three cases . how baptisme may helpe vs against sinne . 3. in respect of others . notes for div a17410-e15760 rules about the lords supper . 1. wee must examine our selues . 2. we must discerne the lords body . 3. we must shew forth christs death . 4. we vow to cleaue to the godly . 5. we must be reconciled . 6. we vow a holy life . notes for div a17410-e16110 rules about prayer . thy words must bee few . 2. the heart must bee lifted vp . 3. vse all manner of prayer . 4. thou must perseuer in prayer . 5. thou must bee instant , without fainting or discouragement . 6. with supplication for all saints . 7. in all things giue thankes . notes for div a17410-e16630 rules about reading the scripture . 1. r●ade daily . 2. meditate of what thou readest . 3. confer vpon it . 4. resolue to obey . notes for div a17410-e16880 rules about singing of psalmes . notes for div a17410-e17030 the rules about vowing . rules about swearing . notes for div a17410-e17380 the rules about a religious fast. notes for div a17410-e17570 rules about the sabbath . 1. the preparation to it . 2. of the celebration of the sabbath . notes for div a17410-e18120 rules that direct our carriage towards men . 1. towards all men . and so 1. in cōpany . with due respect of religion . auoiding vaine ianglings in 3. things . notes for div a17410-e18640 how wee must behaue our selues in company concerning the faults of others . reproue , but hate not . passe by meere frailties . notes for div a17410-e19000 rules that concerne the in-offensiuenes of our carriage in company . a humble behauiou● hath three thing in it . eight rules that concerne discretion in our behauiour . three rules that concerne the purity of our cōuersation . notes for div a17410-e19690 the rules that order vs out of companie . notes for div a17410-e19890 8. things required in shewing mercy . 1. willingnesse . 2. labour . 3. liberalitie . 4. humilitie . humilitie shewed fiue waies in doing workes of mercy . 5. faith in two respects . 6. discretion in four● things . 7. sympathy . 8. sinceritie in fiue things . notes for div a17410-e21030 needlesse societie with them must be auoided . great wisdome required in cōuersing with them . diuers things that affect the hearts euen of the worst men , are 1. a mortified life . 2. reuerend speech of religion . 3. meekenesse of wisedome . 4. reseruednesse in foure things . 5. mercy . 6. vndauntednesse in a good cause . 7. patience in affliction . notes for div a17410-e21850 six waies of manifesting our loue to the godly . 1. by courtesie . 2. by receiuing them . 3. by bearing their burthens . note . 4. by prouoking them to good duties . 5. by faithfulnesse in all their businesse . 6. by imploying our gifts for their good . notes for div a17410-e22380 what wee must do to preseru● our loue to the godly . wee must labour to be of one iudgment with them 2. we must follow peace . 3. we must couer their weaknesse we must confesse our faults one to another . notes for div a17410-e22690 10. things to bee auoided . 1. suits in law. 2. dissimulation . 3. conceitednesse . 5. worldlinesse and selfe-loue . 6. ficklenesse . 7. vaine-glory . 8. iudging . 9. euil words and complaining . 10. forsake not their assembly . notes for div a17410-e23270 how we must carry our selues towards such as are fallen fro god. how we must carry our selues towards such as trespasse against vs. notes for div a17410-e23770 how we must carry our selues towards weake christians how we must carry our selues towards the strong . how we must carry our selues towards our special friend . notes for div a17410-e24320 how we must carry our selues in our generall calling . 1. in matters of faith . 2. about thy repentance . 3. about thy hope . notes for div a17410-e24720 7. things to be auoided in our particular calling . 2. vnfaithfulnesse . 3. rashnesse . 4. passion . 5. the temptations of thy calling . 6. worldlinesse . 7. prophanenes . notes for div a17410-e25270 how wee must carry our selues in affliction . 8 things to bee auoided . 1. dissembling . 2. shame . 3. impatience . 4. discouragement . 5. trust in carnall friends . 6. perplexed eares . 7. suddain feares . 8. carelesnesse of thy waies . 5. things to be done in the time of affliction . a plea for the late accurate and excellent mr. baxter and those that speak of the sufferings of christ as he does. in answer to mr. lobb's insinuated charge of socinianism against 'em, in his late appeal to the bishop of worcester, and dr. edwards. with a preface directed to persons of all persuasions, to call 'em from frivolous and over-eager contentions about words, on all sides. 1699 approx. 208 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 73 1-bit 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a55108) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 33442) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1935:12) a plea for the late accurate and excellent mr. baxter and those that speak of the sufferings of christ as he does. in answer to mr. lobb's insinuated charge of socinianism against 'em, in his late appeal to the bishop of worcester, and dr. edwards. with a preface directed to persons of all persuasions, to call 'em from frivolous and over-eager contentions about words, on all sides. lobb, stephen, d. 1699. baxter, richard, 1615-1691. [16], 128 p. printed for j[ohn] lawrence, at the angel in the poultry, london : 1699. with errata at foot of a8v. stephen lobb's "appeal to the right reverend edward lord bishop of worcester" was published in 1698; "mr. baxter" in the title is richard baxter, the presbyterian divine, who died in 1691. this is the parting shot in an ongoing controversy between presbyterians and independents, largely fueled by lobb and john humfrey, in which the presbyterian non-conformists are accused of socinianism. reproduction of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -17th century. presbyterianism -apologetic works -early works to 1800. 2005-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-08 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-09 john latta sampled and proofread 2005-09 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a plea for the late accurate and excellent mr. baxter , and those that speak of the sufferings of christ as he does . in answer to mr. lobb's insinuated charge of socinianism against 'em , in his late appeal to the bishop of worcester , and dr. edwards . with a preface directed to persons of all persuasions , to call 'em from frivolous and over-eager contentions about words , on all sides . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . non agimur partis studiis — . london : printed for j. lawrence , at the angel in the poultry , 1699. to the ( whether dissenting , or consenting ) readers . though the concealment of my name might ( perhaps ) be some security to me , supposing any one should be offended at the following papers ; yet have i not thereupon allow'd my self a liberty ( too commonly taken ) to reflect upon and censure those , whose sentiments are not the same with mine : i have indeed taken the freedom to expose their notions , as they deserve ; but without reproaching those that hold ' em . there is scarce any thing more common , than for persons to maintain such principles , the necessary consequences whereof they do abominate ; but either through ignorance , or inadvertency , they discern 'em not : many through weakness cannot , others for want of due attention do not apprehend the connexion there is between 'em : in both which cases 't is not allowable , nor have we allow'd our selves to charge such invidious consequences upon 'em ( which are not own'd , but especially which are disown'd by 'em ) ; but to argue from 'em against their mistaken principles , is what no one can reasonably disallow . — and this is what is principally blam'd in our accuser , that he has laid us under the imputation of socinianism , at least of socinianizing ( crimes which we do from our very souls detest ! ) had he attempted to prove it , as a consequence upon one or other principle advanc'd by us , we should very thankfully have accepted his endeavours to undeceive us ; but having so injuriously reproach'd us , we are necessitated to vindicate our selves ; should we be silent under the impeachment , we should too far participate in our accuser's guilt : that same law of god not permitting us to bear false witness against our selves , which obliges us not to do it against our neighbour . but though from this very consideration the general design of these papers be justifiable , that is not enough ; nor yet tho the management and manner of writing be so too : that may be justifiable , that is not greatly useful or commendable : we have therefore endeavoured that the ensuing pages may do real service . in order whereunto , we have not only avoided all unbeseeming reflections , upon any person or party , by reason of their differing sentiments from us ; but have also studiously declin'd all meer logomachies , all contentions about meer words and phrases , carefully distinguishing ( upon every occasion ) real from meerly verbal differences ; and as to the latter , even where the words have been less apt and expressive , we have not thought rent worthy of a debate , being more sollicitous to find out the sense in which one or other person uses them , than concern'd about phrases or expressions on one side or other . and were this one rule more universally observ'd , how greatly would it contribute to the ending most of our controversies ; not to make meer phrases and forms of speaking , the matter of a dispute either way ; but to allow every one the liberty of their own expression , provided they can but agree in sense . 't is hardly to be conceiv'd , of how pernicious consequence this one thing has been , the making necessary what god has never made so : should we take the freedom to instance in self-devis'd notions , and ceremonies ( some , as amongst the papists , wicked and intolerable ; others , almost amongst all other persuasions that profefs christanity , needless , and ( at the best ) but tolerable ) which yet have been impos'd with like rigour as if all religion had dain in 'em ; how black and dismal a tragedy would it introduce ! how great a part of that christian blood , which has been spilt , would be found chargeable hereupon ! but i shall confine my self to the point before us , the insisting upon terms and phrases ( such as are meerly of humane stamp , ) as if so necessary that orthodoxy in the faith , that christianity itself could not subsist without ' em . such a spirit as this has long been growing upon the church ; and in our accuser it seems to have arriv'd to full maturity : his whole zeal and strength and time is , in a manner , taken up in collecting , and heaping together , out of various authors , certain words , and forms of speaking ( without any fix'd determinate sense ) ; and ( though they have no certain meaning ) the man will needs force some upon us , that we must by no means leave out , unless we will fall under his resentments ; and another set of phrases , we may not use ( let our sense be what it will ) but , by vertue of i know not what ( papal or patriarchal ) authority , he will say , we do socinianize . at this rate of magisterialness does he talk , in the preface to his appeal , p. 3. if any one that comes after shall use the same expresions ( meaning , the same that mr. baxter uses ) — i say ( and who then dare gain-say it ? ) he does socinianize ! and immediately after ( speaking of such words , as he with others shall put into your theses ) he adds , much less may i be censur'd , though i express my resentments against him , whosoever he be , that is for leaving such words out . one would have thought it had been no excess of modesty , if he had , at least , excepted his superiours in state , age , gravity , learning and piety : if the king should convene an assembly of the most pious and judicious bishops and others , to draw up theses to avoid socinianism and arminianism , and they should leave out such words , as this dictator would put in , they are like ( for what i see ) to feel his resentments , whosoever they be , without exception ; though those worthy persons , to whom he has appeal'd , should be amongst 'em , they are to find no favour ; nay , though the king himself should preside in the assembly , the beams of majesty will not be a sufficient security to him. in the mean time , it is to be observ'd , what a mighty stress this man lays upon words and expressions ; these are all he talks of ; not one syllable about the sense or meaning of 'em : men may mean what they will , so they do but use his phrases ; and let their meaning be never so sound , they must not escape his censure , unless they speak his words . what degree of necessity he puts upon 'em , as well as what the particular words and phrases are that he would impose , may , the better appear if we also cast our eye upon the letter he prefix'd to his late defence : there we are told , that the phrases are those , that they of the greatest character for learning — have both us'd , and judg'd necessary — not only as a fence about the receiv'd faith , and a barrier against irruptions upon common christianity : but as such phrases , without which the doctrines of christ's satisfaction , and of our justification could neither be orthodoxly , nor intelligibly express'd . you see 't is not enough , that he may use 'em himself , but they must be impos'd as necessary : nor is be satisfi'd , to have his words accounted a fence about the receiv'd faith , a barrier against irruptions upon common christianity ; but they must be admitted as the standard of orthodoxy : nothing will serve the turn , but they must be esteem'd necessary , so necessary , as that without them the doctrine of christ's satisfaction , and of our justification can neither be orthodoxly , nor intelligibly express'd . and what these so invaluable phrases are , he tells us afterwards in his defence it self , p. 13. & passim . they are the very same that run through his appeal , viz. a commutation , or change of persons between christ and us ; christ's sustaining the person of sinners , and suffering in their person ; his coming under the bond and obligation of the violated law , &c. these forms of speaking are not , by any means , to be omitted ; we forfeit our understandings , our orthodoxy , our christianity , if we dare to alter ' em . and ( perhaps ) all the guilt of this kind does not lie at the door of this accuser , and others of his way ; it were well , if there were not a participation of it on all sides : and therefore , as one earnestly desirous of the more healthy and peaceful state of the church amongst us , i will here adventure to lay my hand upon the contenders of all denominations ; and whether they will hear , or whether they will forbear , i will ( at least , so far as relates to the matter in hand ) interpose a few seasonable and healing advices . 1. distinguish carefully betwixt such words or terms as the spirit of god has made use of , and such as are of our own devising . 2. as to the latter , distinguish again betwixt obscure and improper terms , and such as are apt and expressive of what is intended by ' em . 3. distinguish betwixt what you are oblig'd to use your selves , and what you may expect from others . 4. as to others , you will find a difference ( which shou'd be allow'd for ) betwixt such as are acted for one or other party , by ignorance or prepossession , and men of more large and free understandings . 5. but especially ( as to the expressions of other men ) distinguish betwixt what they say , and what they mean. whereupon i add , ( 1. ) it should be no matter of debate amongst christians , whether scriptural , or other terms , be to be preferr'd ; the very words of scripture being sacred , as well as the sense . though this will not altogether hold true , as to one or other translation ; yet of the original text , it is most certainly true , the very words being dictated by the divine spirit . and this ( perhaps ) is what principally distinguishes it from the best of other writings : and even as to translations themselves , by how much the nearer they approach ( in their respective languages ) to the original text , and by how much the more exactly they express that , so much the greater regard is to be had to the very words that are found in ' em . thus far it may be hop'd , such as are christians will readily be agreed . i say not this to countenance any in their ignorant mis-applications of scripture-phrases ; i would only have it to refer to an understanding , and apposite use of ' em . ( 2. ) as to meerly humane phrases , or forms of speaking , there are none ( upon any pretence ) fit to be impos'd ; the most plausible pretences commonly made use of , for that purpose , are either on one side , [ our phrases are of venerable age , what the church has long been in possession of ] : or , ( perhaps ) on the other side [ our terms , though new , are most clear and expressive of the truth , and render it easily intelligible to every considering mind ] : now , granting either the one or the other to be true , or ( in some instances ) that they are both old and significant ; yet all that can follow thereupon is , therefore they are fit to be us'd ; not , therefore they may , or ought to be impos'd . how weak would such a method of reasoning as this be , such a word the ancients us'd , therefore we must use no other ; such a father , or such an eminent reformer us'd it , and therefore he is a heretick , or a man of very dangerous principles , that varies from it ] ! or again , should it be admitted on the other hand ; [ such a word is very significant , therefore no other should be us'd ] ! yet upon no better bottom do multitudes suffer the churches peace , and their own charity to be reason'd away . ( 3. ) when we either speak , or write our selves , we are oblig'd to make use of such terms as have a most clear and agreed sense , and are best adapted to express to others , what it is we mean : the very end of speech it self proves this . and hereupon we ought , out of how great variety soever offers , to choose the fittest for our own use ; but we are not hereupon impower'd to choose for , or prescribe to others , [ in these words , and no other , shall ye pray to god , or speak to men , &c. ] those seem fittest to one person , which do not so to another . ( 4. ) amongst men that do not religiously tie up themselves to the phrases of one or other party ( but , placing their christianity only in those great and necessary things about which all parties of professors are agreed , as to other matters , have a greater latitude and freedom , both of thought and speech ) we may indeed expect the last mention'd rule will be observ'd : but we should not wonder , if some do tenacionsly adhere to the terms and modes of expression , that are peculiar to their own party , how obscure and improper soever ; some out of weakness cannot , and many out of prejudice and prepossession will not vary from ' em . ( 5. ) now even as to these , there is room to hope ( at least ) , they may not mean altogether so bad , as their words would seem to import : we should therefore ( in such cases ) do what in us lies , to find out the sound sence they aim at , and approve of that , though not of their uncouth , and unintelligible phrases . but , ( 6. ) by no means seek to impose upon others , one or other self-devised phrase , or form of expression , as if truth could not be maintain'd without it ; neither lay so great a stress upon meer words , as if orthodoxy or heresie did depend upon ' em . and surely we should have little disposition so successively to cry up , and contend for our respective modes and forms of speaking , if we did consider , i. what a trifling spirit it argues , wherever it has place ! a mind empty of every thing that is more great and manly ! a childish spirit that can find leisure for , and pleasure in such little , inconsiderable things ! ii. especially , if we also add , ( and i pray let it be added ) how disagreeable it is , to a spirit rightly christian ! and that on many accounts : particularly , 1. as it manifests too little veneration for the sacred scriptures ; how boldly are these impeach'd of insufficiency , when words and phrases not to be met with here , are obtruded upon the church as necessary , so necessary as that without them , the most important articles of the christian faith can neither be orthodoxly nor intelligibly express'd . with modest minds it should surely suffice to say [ they are apt , and may be useful ] : but if their necessity be press'd upon us , they are at least equaliz'd with , if not preferr'd to those of the divine spirit . and can any one that has the spirit of christianity in him , deliberately agree to this [ my words , my phrases are as necessary as those the holy ghost has chosen ] ! he knew not how to convey his sense to the world so well as i ! if any will thus insolently set up themselves and traduce the sacred oracles of our holy religion , my soul , come not thou into their secret ! 2. nor will christianity suffer , that the perogative of god should be thus invaded : his soveraign rights are hereby usurp'd upon : for asmuch as it is one of his peculiarities , to impose any thing upon the church as necessary . he claims it , as what belongs to him , not only to be a law-giver , but to be the one , the only lawgiver in reference hereto : and who are we , that we should justle him out of his throne . 3. how disagreeing to the spirit of christianity is it , to give way to and countenance such uncharitable censures ; [ that such an one is unsound , heretical , no christian ; because he dos not use my words . ] how common a guilt is this ! and by how much the more lately such an over-magnifi'd phrase was introduc'd , so much the farther does the censure reach : for instance , christ's suffering in our person , &c. if no one may be allow'd for orthodox , that uses not this phrase ; the whole christian church is laid under censure , except an inconsiderable bandful within this last age. but can it consist with christianity ( whereof charity is a most essential and inseparable part ) to reproach , and unchristianize ( in a manner ) the whole christian church ? besides , 4. we do not only hereby revile christians , ( and so offend against the generation of god's children ) ; but we do also debase christianity it self : how contemptibly mean , and vile is it render'd in the eyes of by-standers , when they see us with so unproportionate beat and zeal contend for and against insignificant words and phrases ; and labouring to proselite men to these , as if the kingdom of god was in these letters and syllables : how do they hereupon ridicule , and break their prophane jests upon our holy profession ! and how are they fix'd in their prejudices against it ! and is it nothing to us , that the name of christ , and christianity , is blasphem'd through us , by our means . 5. besides , how are we hereby diverted , our minds diverted from intending the most amazingly great and awful things that relate to christianity : those principles and practices that do most truly essentiate and constitute it : those truths which are according to godliness , and which are adapted to advance and promote it ; which do both tend to make the temper of our own spirits better , and to excite us to do more good to others . these are forgotten , and overlook'd : hereupon ( being diverted from what should animate and nourish us ) what a ghastliness and languor appears in the face of our profession ! how are we become as dead men ! how little of the life and power of godliness is to be found amongst us ! and should not this ( will it not ) be laid to heart by such as have any serious regard to the welfare of christianity , or of their own souls ? will it not henceforward render strifes of words less grateful and relishing to such , that they are likely to be attended with so pernicious effects . we cannot surely deliberately consent , that one or other phrase should be to us instead of our god , our redeemer , our faith , our hope , our love , holiness , and our heaven ; nor place out the zeal on that , which should be reserv'd for these . but again , iii. if this spirit were not so disagreeing to christianity ; 't is no way fit to be indulg'd , on the account of those perpetual quarrels , it must necessarily introduce amongst us : it would endlesly be contested ( without the possibility of being ever decided ) what particular phrases shall be admitted as necessary ? by what rules their necessity , or no-necessity shall be adjusted ? or , with whom the judgment of this grand affair shall be entrusted ? and iv. it would greatly tend ( should it obtain ) to discourage all improvements in knowledge : every encrease of light will require more or less alteration to be made in the old and customary modes of expression ; and consequently endanger a person 's reputation . at how much easier cost , may men learn a set of phrases , that they do not understand ; and save their pains , and their orthodoxy at once . v. and lastly , it has not the least advantage attending it , to compensate for , and set against all its mischievous effects . that which is commonly pretended for it , is , that it may be a security against error . but how utterly insufficient is it for any such purpose ! how possible , nay , how common a case is it , for persons to use the same phrase , and yet not mean the same thing . so vain , and so pernicious does it generally prove , when we leave the methods god has prescrib'd , and will needs prevent or remove the churches maladies by ways and means of our own devising . but to draw to a close , there is one thing farther that i would add ( to avoid offence ) and 't is in reference to the mention of mr. cross's name , in the long marginal note : when i wrote what you find there , i was in hopes of his second thoughts upon that text ; and the papers were out of my hand sometime before i heard of his death ( i not having seen 'em for several months past ) : nor , till i saw it in print , did i remember there was any thing in which he was concern'd ; otherwise i should at least have suppress'd his name , if not all that relates to him — for i cannot but be averse to every thing that looks like trampling upon the ashes of the dead . errata . page 5. l. 26. r. nostra , p. 15. l. 8. r. as errors , p. 20. l. 16. r. alledge , p. 28. l. 26. r. surely , p. 45. l. 2. r. that , p. 75. l. 14. r. strictius , p. 92. l. 2. add it , p. 114. l. 4. r. pursuing . introduction . not knowing whether that right reverend and worthy bishop , or the other very learned person ( in the great and constant cares of a more publick nature that attend their stations ) may not account it rudeness for us to break in upon and disturb 'em with our petty quarrels ; i have not thought fit so directly to apply to them ; and for this only reason it is , that i have not joyn'd in the appeal to ' em . their determination is not hereby intended to be declin'd ; there being no reason to fear the issue should they think fit to publish their judgments to the world. but whether their leisure from greater affairs will permit 'em ( or indeed , whether they shall account it worth their leisure ) to interpose in this matter , or not ; the nature of the charge is such , that ( how groundlesly soever it be advanc'd ) it is not fit to be silent under it . that which is apprehended more especially to require that this invidious reflection be taken notice of , is , that this way the reputation of that most excellent person is undermin'd , and his most valuable writings ( as well as the ministry of those that in this matter are of his judgment ) are ( so far as in this accuser lies ) blasted , and rendred odious and useless . and such as either have wanted opportunity to look into the socinian writings , or have not judgment sufficient to distinguish betwixt appearances and realities , may be so far impos'd upon , by the confidence of this accuser , as to believe the charge advanc'd against us . for their sakes therefore , and our own ; to prevent their guilt , as well as to preserve our own reputation and usefulness ( and , if possible , also to undeceive this accuser and his brethren ) we think it fit and necessary that it be made appear , there is no sufficient ground whereupon to censure mr. baxter , or ( those whom he calls ) his followers , as socinians , in that great and important article of christ's satisfaction . for the clearing whereof , we shall , with reference to the suspected passages , ( first ) manifest their agreeableness to truth . and then shew the no-advantage hereby given to the socinian cause . now the passages this accuser , and his brethren , are so much afraid of , and griev'd at ( as he pretends ) we shall set together , that we may see what they will in the whole amount to ; and they are these : 1. christi perpessiones quoad rationem reifuere malum naturale perpessum ex occasione & causalitate remota peccatorum generis humani . ( he should have added ) & proxime ex sponsionis & consensus proprii obligatione . bax. method . theol. pars iii. cap. 1. determ . 5. p. 38. this will be the better understood , if it be observ'd , that the question he had before him , was , whether the suffering of christ was properly and formally a punishment ? for the determination whereof , he does define punishment ( properly so call'd ) a natural evil ( that is , an evil of suffering ) inflicted for , or on account of a moral evil ( i. e. the evil of sin. ) and ( besides other distinctions which he had premis'd ) he distinguishes betwixt the suffering of the delinquent himself , for his own sin , in which case his sin is directly , immediately , and per se , the cause of his suffering ; and this ( he tells us ) is punishment in the primary and most famous sense of it : and the suffering of another by reason of the delinquent's fault ; in which case , though there be a suffering for sin , yet that sin is more indirectly , mediately , and per accidens the cause of the suffering ; and therefore though it be punishment , yet 't is only in a secondary and analogical sense to be so call'd . and this secondary sort of punishment is two-fold ; 't is either natural or voluntary ; the natural punishment for another's sin , he calls that which follows upon the nearness of relation in nature betwixt the sufferer and the sinner ; as when children suffer for their parent 's sins ; the voluntary is , when there is a free consent and undertaking to suffer on the behalf , and in the stead of the sinner , though there was no previous relation to the sinner from whence he should naturally be oblig'd to suffer for him . now he does ( and surely with very just reason ) conclude the sufferings of christ to be of this last kind , for that they were not the sufferings of the delinquent himself , and so not punishment in the primary and most famous sense of the word ; they cou'd therefore only be punishment in a secondary and less proper sense . and since , even in his assuming our nature , christ was conceiv'd miraculously by the power of the holy ghost ( and did not descend from adam by ordinary generation ) therefore in that secondary sense , his punishment could not be the natural effect of adam's sin. it remains then , that christ only was punish'd as a voluntary undertaker , and the analogical punishment he underwent was inflicted on him as a sponsor in our stead ; our sins were the ground and reason of his sufferings , yea the meritorious cause ( but not so nearly and immediately as they wou'd have been of our own sufferings ; ) for that his sponsion and consent did necessarily intervene ; so that they may not unaptly be call'd punishments , though not so fully and properly as the sufferings of the sinners themselves might have been so call'd . to this sense does that excellent person speak , and this is little else than a translation of his latine words , as will appear to any one that is capable and willing to consult the place referr'd to . and this being the substance of what he afterwards quotes from him , i shall need to be at no farther trouble than only to recite the words . 2. and thus he goes on ; peccata nostra fuere causa remota passionis christi . and again , culpa nostra non erat causa proxima ejus passionis , sed tantum remota & occasio . once more ; at sensu improprio ( i. e. not in that most proper and primary sense in which they are imputed to the sinner himself , as may be collected from the immediately fore-going words ) per meram connotationem dici potest , peccata nostro christo imputata fuisse , viz. quoad reatum paenae ( & culpae ut ad paenam , at non in se ) idque tantum remote : non quasi peccata nostra paenas christi merita essent , sed quia nisi nobis paenas merita essent , ille paenas non dedisset . et quia paena nulla est formaliter nisi propter peccatum , ideo quatenus christi passiones fuere paenae analogice fic dictae , peccatum ( non suum , sed nostrum ; non causam meritoriam , sed quasi procausam meritoriam & occasionem ) connotabant . ibid. determ . 7. p. 40 , 41. 3. he quotes him again in english , thus : man's sin was an occasion of christ's sufferings , as being loco causae meritoriae , for properly there was no meritorious cause . the law 's curse , or obligation , was another occasion , as being miseriae causa removenda . christ's voluntary sponsion or consent , was the moral obliging cause . universal redempt . p. 7. again , we must distinguish betwixt suffering ex obligatione legis , & merito peccati , as we should have done if we had suffered our selves ; and suffering ex obligatione solius sponsionis propriae , as christ did , without any merit , or legal obligation , his own sponsion being instead of both , and our sin and obligation being but the occasion , or loco causae meritoriae , ibid. p. 25. again , the law , as binding us was the great occasion of christ's death , and loco causae obligatoriae ; but not the obligatory cause it self : christ's own sponsion , and his father's will , were the only proper obligations , p. 34. again , christ did not suffer from the obligation of the law , but from the obligation of his own sponsion , on occasion of the law 's obliging us to suffer , p. 48. once more , christ's sufferings had no real , proper , meritorious cause ; but yet man's sins were the pro-causa meritoria , he undertook to bear that suffering which for them was due to us ( not to him ) and therefore when i say , he bore the sufferings due to us , i mean it materialiter only ; such sufferings for kind and weight he bore , but his obligation to bear 'em was only from his own sponsion , and not the law , p. 91. these are alledg'd by the accuser , as some of those passages which move him and his brethren to fear , &c. appeal , p. 4. but these being but some of 'em , he adds the rest , p. 10. 11 , 12. and what he further transcribes is this : 4. we must not say that christ died nostro loco , so as to personate us , or represent our persons in law-sense , but only to bear what else we must have born , p. 51. and , as for your objection , that no other way but representing our persons cou'd suffice to save us by the satisfaction of another , 't is a gross mistake , and naked affirmation , without proof : and for them that say , christ suffer'd in persona nostra , but not satisfy'd , or merited so : i answer , they speak inconsistencies , p. 76. to which he adds his explication of that phrase of christ's suffering loco nostro ; as it signifies , suffering that which another was oblig'd to suffer towards the freeing him from it ; being materially the same , but not formally , from the same obligation , but from the obligation of a voluntary sponsion ; and this not in the name , or as representing the person of that other , but in a third person , viz. in the person of a mediator , redeemer , or friend , p. 22. 23. i need not mention what he next adds , for that it were exceeding strange if any one shou'd ( with this author ) traduce a person as socinianizing , for distinguishing betwixt christ's dying in our stead , and his dying for our good . now to what purpose have we all these passages transcrib'd by him ? with what design ? what , can it be imagin'd the man will make of ' em ! ( unless he have a mind to bring some of his friends into a better acquaintance with that most excellent person . ) what has he to except against any of the recited clauses ? for my part , i was not able to guess , what evil it was that he wou'd charge upon 'em ; nor cou'd i have been more surpriz'd , if any one had cavill'd against the plainest theorem in euclid ; mr. baxter's theses in this case , being as plainly demonstrable ( upon scripture-principles ) as any of euclid's are ( upon principles of common reason : ) nor is it fit ( perhaps ) that any thing shou'd be admitted into the rank of christian doctrines , but what is so . but what dangerous , what pernicious error has he found in these passages ! why , he dreams at least , that he is aware of a design ( bad enough , you may be sure ) against the doctrine of a real , full , and proper satisfaction to god's justice for our sins , p 4. risum teneatis . well , but how must this design be carried on ? why , don't you observe it , here 's left out a change of persons between christ and us all along ? i 'm well aware of it ; and what then ? why , and then there 's not a word of christ's sustaining our person , nor of christ's suffering in the person of sinners ; and a design there is on foot ( i smell it at a distance ) to turn [ christ's suffering in the person of sinners ] into [ his suffering in the person of a mediator . ] why surely , though one can't yet guess what hurt there should be in it , yet ( if it be kept so very close , as this man's way of expression would intimate ) one would be ready to suspect , there was some ill design in it ; but ( upon further enquiry ) it appears , there was no need of so great cunning to find out that this was design'd ; 't is what mr. baxter proclaim'd openly ( in the hearing of the whole world ) near fourty four years ago ; for thus he spake in his confession of faith , p. 152 , 153. christ , as the publick sponsor , did bear the punishment deserv'd by the sins of the world , and made to his father a satisfaction sufficient for the sins of all : but this he did in the person of a mediator , that undertook to bear the penalty , and not in the person of the elect , or of any particular sinner , &c. nor has he at any time since made a secret of it ; but upon every befitting occasion this has still been his constant language . so in the catechism , at the end of his family-book , p. 447. christ suffer'd for our sins , and in our stead , because it was to free us from sufferings ; but yet he suffer'd in the person of a mediator , who indeed is one that undertook to suffer in the sinner's stead , but never was , nor consented to be esteem'd the sinner himself . and a little farther ; christ suffer'd in our stead , but not as our delegate , nor in our name and person properly , but as a voluntary mediator , &c. — so also in his treatise of justifying righteousness , part i. p. 55. christ suffer'd and obey'd in the person of the mediator , between god and man , and as a subject to the law of mediation . the like again , p. 24. as indeed frequently in that book . so in his meth. theol. p. iii. p. 42. christus in persona mediatoris passus est — non in persona — offendente . and in his cath. theol. part ii. p. 38. § . 41. christ did not take upon him strictly and properly the ( natural or civil ) person of any sinner , much less of all the elect , or all sinners , but the person of a mediator between god and sinners . see also § . 43. and p. 66. § . 142. he ( god ) judges christ to have been the sponsor and mediator , and in that person to have done and suffer'd as he did ; because it is true : but he judges him not to have been the legal person of the sinner , — because that is not true . it were almost endless to refer you to all the other places where he thus speaks — now after all , is it not very pleasant , to have this man come and whisper it ( as if it had been some mighty secret ) that he was aware this great man had a design to turn [ christ's suffering in the person of sinners ] into [ his suffering in the person of a mediator . ] p. 12. if it be a plot , 't is surely a very innocent one , that he should carry it on ( for so many years ) so openly , and in the view of all the world ; 't was what he never was asham'd to own ; and what was known to be his sense of the matter ( for ought i know ) before this informer was born . but to proceed , suppose he was for christ's suffering in the person of a mediator , and not of sinners , ( as , though 't is by this accuser only hinted as a remote design , yet we have ( if that will do him any kindness ) given him very full and plain evidence of it ) what hurt is there in it ? — what! why then christ was never by vertue of the sanction of the law oblig'd to suffer for us ; that is , as he oft tells us , the original law , the law which we had transgressed did not oblige christ to suffer . well , 't is granted ! pray go on ; and then , he suffer'd not a proper punishment [ but only the same sufferings we were oblig'd to materially , not formally : ] this is the design he ( the reporter ) was aware of , and so suggested it , p. 12. the reporter ( if all reports be true ) has been aware of other kind of designs which yet he has not thought fit to suggest ; and if he be so good at an intrigue himself , as he is commonly fam'd to be , no wonder if he be jealous of every one else : it would incline one ( that is of no very surmising temper ) to fear his thoughts run much upon designs and plots when he is awake , that he cannot sleep but he must dream of 'em , and like one delirous cry out in his sleep , oh! they have a design , a cursed design , i 'm aware of what they aim at ! and when he is perfectly awake , he can tell of no more that they design , than only to turn [ christ's suffering in the person of sinners ] into [ his suffering in the person of a mediator ] who was never by vertue of the sanction of the law , oblig'd to suffer for us , and who suffer'd not a proper punishment , but only the same sufferings we were oblig'd to materially , and not formally ; though in his dream he had talk'd of a design against the doctrine of satisfaction . — whereas these two things do so widely differ , as that the one may be design'd , where the other is not , as shall hereafter be made appear ; yea , that 't is as consistent , as for a most sincere anti-socinian to be as heartily engag'd against antinomianism ; and that nothing but his ignorance can disprove this accuser's being engag'd in a design to promote either the one or the other , socinianism , i mean , or antinomianism ; though whether of the two may hereafter more evidently appear , if ever he should have either less policy , or more integrity than now . in the mean time , as a vindication of that ( not-without-just-veneration-to-be-nam'd ) mr. baxter , and those who ( with my self ) bless god for him , and his excellent labours , ( though we , as the servants of christ , dare follow no one farther than he is a follower of our lord ; ) i say , as a vindication of him and our selves , i shall undertake these two things in the following papers , viz. to prove , that what is here transcrib'd from mr. baxter is the truth , that must secure us from the impious and to be abhorr'd blasphemy of antinomianism : and afterwards , to make it appear , that the equally horrid opinions ( on the socinian extream ) are ( not only not-countenanc'd , but also ) most effectually refell'd upon these principles . to which i shall apply my self , when i have only added , that what is here said , is not intended as an anticipation to the just defence that may be expected from that other worthy person , whom this accuser does also by name traduce ; and therefore i do not meddle with any of those passages wherein he is personally concern'd . part i. § . 1. this accuser having throughout his appeal insinuated that the before-recited passages are unsound , and socinianizing at least , if not socinian , has made it necessary in order to our defence , that we make it appear , they are not chargeable errors , much less as socinianism : the former of these we shall begin with , viz. that there is nothing erroneous or unsound in the particulars he has transcrib'd from mr. baxter . § . 2. in order to which we shall consider 'em distinctly , according to the several heads , to which he seems to have reduc'd 'em ; tho' for want of method in his book ( or thro' the intricacy of it at least ) 't is not easie to find 'em out — but the principles he seems to extract from the above-mention'd passages , and to expose to censure are these , viz. i. that christ suffer'd by vertue of the law of mediation , not by vertue of the sanction of the violated law. ii. and consequently that he suffer'd in the person of a mediator , not in the person of sinners . iii. and that thereupon his sufferings were only materially , not formally the same we were oblig'd to . iv. and that our sins ( tho' they were the impulsive meritorious cause of christ's sufferings ) yet it was only more remotely that they were so , and not so nearly and immediately as they wou'd have been of our own . v. and therefore , though his sufferings may not unaptly be call'd a punishment , yet not in that full and proper sense in which the sufferings of the sinner himself might have been so call'd . chap. i. that christ did not suffer by vertue of the law which we had transgress'd , but only by vertue of the law of mediation . this is so far from being a pernicious error , as that it is a very important and most useful truth ; for the manifesting which i 'll set my self to hint the absurd consequents of the opposite notion , and to obviate the seeming reasonings of this accuser against it . § . 1. suppose we for a while that this notion of mr. baxter's is false , as this accuser would have it ; now if it be so , then the proposition contrary to it must needs be true ; and if it were true , nothing but what is so could naturally and necessarily flow from it . we will therefore consider some of the direct consequences of that opposite notion , and they are such as these . § . 2. 1. if christ did suffer by vertue of the violated law , then it must needs be , either that he was a violator of the law himself , or that law must be disjunctive ; [ thou , or thy surety , shall obey , otherwise , thou , or thy surety , shall suffer . ] that one of these consequents must be allow'd , cannot ( with any appearance of reason ) be denied : he cou'd not suffer by vertue of that law , unless he were under the reach of it ; and how cou'd he be any other way under the reach of that law , than one of these two : either as having violated it himself ; or , being bound , when the law was given , as a surety in the same bond with us . there is indeed a third way pretended by this accuser , and that is , that by his own sponsion , and by the will of the father , he came under the obligation of the violated law , and so stood bound by this law to suffer , ap. p. 5 , 6. but 't is strange , that a person so well acquainted with laws , as he wou'd be thought to be , shou'd need to be told , that if the obligation christ laid himself under to suffer , was as exactly the same , with that we lay under , as it was possible to be ; yet the change that was made in the person oblig'd to suffer , did alter the form of it , and make it truly another law , another obligation , and not that of the original law , otherwise than materially only . we are willing to allow , that christ suffer'd the same for quantity and quality that we shou'd have suffer'd , so far as there is but probable proof . baxt. of univers . redempt . p. 78 , 79. but if it were most strictly the same thing that we were oblig'd to , yet it is not sufficient to prove , he suffer'd under the formal obligation of the violated law , or that he stood bound by that law to suffer ; for that another person may , in the stead of a criminal , suffer the very same kind of pain , or loss , that the criminal himself was condemn'd to , and this by his own sponsion , and the will of the prince : in which case i dare appeal to all the learned in the law , whether the obligation be not another ; whether the law by vertue whereof he suffers , be not differing from that which condemn'd the malefactor himself . so that if christ did ( as this accuser of him , as well as us , says ) suffer by vertue of the violated law ; 't is not to be conceiv'd , how the threatning of that law cou'd reach him , unless he were ( as we have hinted ) either a violater of that law himself , or an antecedent surety with and for us . which either of these he shall say , it will equally be subversive of the whole gospel . § . 3. ( 1. ) shou'd he have the front to say , that christ was himself a violater of that law , what more egregious blasphemy cou'd he utter against the author of our holy religion ? how shou'd he be the redeemer of sinners , that was a sinner himself ! the whole gospel does depend upon , and necessarily presuppose his innocency ( yea , which is more , his divinity ) as the foundation of it , john 1. 1. hell it self cannot foam out greater rage and nonsense than to call god a sinner ; and while we are so expresly assur'd , that our lord jesus was holy , harmless , undefiled , separate from sinners , heb. 7. 26. that he knew no sin , 2 cor. 1. 21. heb. 4. 15. 1 pet. 2. 22. 1 joh. 3. 5. 1 pet. 1. 19. we shall not so much as suspect , that any one professing the christian name will imagine , that christ suffer'd as being a violater of that law himself . 2. if then he suffer'd by vertue of the sanction of that law , it remains that he was an antecedent surety with and for us ; otherwise the obligation of that law cou'd never reach him ; and then the law as given to adam , must be supposed to run [ thou shalt obey , or thy surety for thee ; otherwise , thou shalt die , or thy surety for thee . ] now if the original law did thus take in a surety , how plain is it , that it was never violated ! our surety did obey , did fulfill all righteousness ; if then it only oblig'd either him , or us disjunctively to obey ; what ground is there left , whereupon either christ or we shou'd suffer ! obj. but i presume some will allege , his suretiship did only respect the sanction , not the preceptive part of the law ; that the law did not oblige him to obey ; but only ( supposing our disobedience ) either he or we must suffer . repl. to which it might be reply'd , the surety's name is not more legible in the penal ; than in the preceptive part of the law ; and we find he did obey , as well as suffer ; and therefore have reason to think he was equally oblig'd to obey , as he was to suffer . but yet we will suppose it to be ( as they wou'd have it ) that christ was only oblig'd in case of our disobedience ; that he was only a surety with reference to the penalty ; and that the sense of the law was [ thou adam shalt obey , otherwise , thou or christ , shall die . ] and thus far at least he must be obnoxious to the original law , otherwise he cou'd not possibly suffer under the obligation of that law ; he cou'd not be said to be ( as this accuser wou'd have it thought he was ) in the same bond with us , and oblig'd to suffer by vertue of the sanction of the same law that oblig'd us to suffer . § . 4. now this notion in the consequences of it , is equally subversive of christianity with the former , for 1. if the original law ( as to its penal part ) was disjunctive , viz. either that the offender shou'd suffer , or christ for him , then the gospel had not been the bringing in of a better covenant , but a performance of the old. thus does that right reverend person , to whom this accuser has appeal'd , argue against him . upon this principle , what the apostle had so carefully distinguish'd , are confounded together , and made one and the same thing , when upon a comparing 'em together , he does once and again give the preferrence to the latter covenant , ( as heb. 7. 22. — 8. 6. ) 't is plain he supposes the one is not the other ; or , if the apostle in that discourse had a more immediate reference to the mosaick law , his argument will hold a fortiori from hence , in reference to the original law. but there is one thing farther i wou'd add under this head , which perhaps will be of weight with this accuser and his friends , and that is , that hereupon the gospel must needs be a law , the very old , original law , and not so much as a law of greater grace ; what can there possibly be left to distinguish the old , original law , and the gospel , if this principle be admitted ? 2. if the original law ( as to its penal part ) was disjunctive , it wou'd also follow , that we are justifiable , according to the utmost rigour of that law ; for supposing the penalty to be already borne , what has that law further to charge upon us ? the psalmist ( surely ) had much differing apprehensions of the matter , when he cried out , if thou , lord , shouldst mark iniquities , o lord , who shall stand ? psal . 130. 3. the reverend dr. owen's words upon this place , are very remarkable : but ( says he ) may not an intercessor be obtain'd to plead on the behalf of the guilty soul ? eli determines this matter , i sam. 2. 25. if one man sin against another , the judge shall judge him ; but if a man sin against the lord , who shall intreat for him ? there is not , says job , between us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that might argue the case , in pleading for me , and so make up the matter , laying his hand upon us both , job 9. 33. we now ( as he immediately adds ) consider a sinner purely under the administration of the law , which knows nothing of a mediator . so that ( according to him , and indeed according to the truth of the thing ) the original law did not admit or appoint any mediator , any christ to suffer and plead on the behalf of the guilty soul ; and consequently left no place for hope . but upon this supposal , that that law only oblig'd either christ , or us to suffer , what reason was there for so dismal apprehensions ? tho' god shou'd mark iniquities , resolve to animadvert upon 'em with utmost rigour , we may yet stand ; for that the very rigour of the law does ( according to them ) require only , that either christ , or we shou'd suffer , not that both shou'd , now then where is the danger the psalmist was so apprehensive of ? and whence is it , that he does elsewhere so earnestly deprecate god's judicial process , psal . 143. 2. enter not into judgment with thy servant , for in thy sight shall no man living be justify'd . it must needs be , either that the psalmist , or these men , have very greatly misapprehended the sense of that law ; for that according to him , if god shou'd judge us by that law , no man living cou'd be justify'd ; whereas according to them , though god shou'd judge us by that law , we cannot but be justify'd ; for when the threatned penalty is inflicted , the most rigorous justice can go no further ; we are recti in curia , when the law is satisfy'd ; no further charge can have place against us . 3. yea further , it follows , that we never had ( as indeed we cou'd never need ) a pardon . the case will be very plain by a familiar instance : suppose two persons jointly bound for the payment of a certain sum of money , or for the performance of any other condition or contract ; if either party pay the money , or discharge the bond , the other is quit in law , and the creditor cannot be said to have forgiven him . justice it self is so far from requiring , that it wou'd not admit of double payment . now then , if christ was in the same bond with us , if either he or we suffer , the debt is paid , the utmost demands of justice are answer'd ; what place is there then left for forgiveness ? can a penalty be said to be forgiven , that was not due ? or can it be yet due , when 't is already paid ? and is it not in law paid , if either the principal or surety pay it ? upon this principle then it is plain , that god cannot be said to have forgiven us , to have been gracious to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : for tho' socinus did ( as grotius has manifested ) argue from those terms , with great weakness , against all satisfaction ; yet nothing can , with greater force and evidence , disprove a full and proper solution . what shall we then say to those numerous texts , where we and our sins are said to be forgiven ? hereupon the gospel-covenant , as offering remission , luke 24. 47. and the sacraments of the gospel , as sealing it to sincerely penitent believers , acts 2. 38. mat. 26. 28. are render'd meer impertinencies ; and can it be thought these persons do ever pray for pardon ; or that they do account themselves beholden to god for it ? how they can consistently with this their opinion , i see not . 4. moreover , this doctrine renders our repentance , and all obedience of our's needless ; and a continued course of the most enormous wickednesses wou'd hereupon be unhurtful to us . if these persons will be consistent with themselves , it seems necessary for 'em to say ( as dr. crisp ) that sin can do us no hurt , and holiness can do us no good . upon this principle , what hurt can sin , the grossest wickedness do us ? suppose a person an atheist , a blasphemer , an adulterer , that he live and die such ; in this case it can only be said , the law was violated , and therefore the threatning must take place : but if this notion be true , that the law threatens only , that either the sinner or christ shall die , it cannot touch such a creature as this , it having been already executed . and alike needless must it needs render holiness and obedience in all the instances of it ; for to what purpose is it , can it be suppos'd to be needful , if he may be accepted with god , if he may be rectus in curia without it . 5. again , if this principle be admitted , none of our sufferings wou'd consist with the justice of god : for that according to them , the law did oblige only christ , or us , to suffer ; if either suffer therefore , full payment is made ; the law has no farther demands to make ; how is it then , that we notwithstanding suffer ? that we are subjected to any sufferings , spiritual or temporal ( not to make any mention here of eternal ones ) whence is it that god with-draws the quickning , or comforting influences of his spirit from any ? whence is it , that he gives up any to their own hearts lusts ? whence is it that any are expos'd to the fiery darts of the wicked one ? or yet , that the arrows of the almighty do wound , do stick fast in any soul ? or , if we shou'd yet come lower , how unaccountable were it , that we shou'd groan under pining sicknesses , noisom diseases , racking pains , and at length yield to death ? it will , perhaps , be pleaded , that god may inflict all these evils , and many more at pleasure , as being absolute lord of his creatures ; but it shou'd be remembred , that having given us a law , he is become our ruler ; and thereby he does declare , that he will not , however ( antecedently thereto ) he might have arbitrarily inflicted any evil upon us : the very giving out a law , in and by which it is enacted , that such certain evils shall be inflicted upon the transgressors of it ; how plainly does it indemnifie-the non-violaters of it from such sufferings ? such threatnings otherwise cou'd answer no end ; if it were intended , that whether they violated the law , or not , they shou'd be alike obnoxious . now if we consider god as a governour , the evils he inflicts come under another consideration ; they are not meerly afflictions or sufferings , but they are also punishments , and therefore they are not dispens'd arbitrarily , but according to a stated rule ; he does not punish any but such as by the law are obnoxious ; hence is it that we read of his righteousness in reference to this matter . and as this does more generally evince , that all evils inflicted by a ruler as such , are punishments ; so ( with reference to the particular instances above-mention'd ) it might be distinctly made appear , that they are , in the most strict and proper sense , punishments — in the last ( which is not the least doubted ) case , how plain is it ! that the separation of soul and body is penal ; that 't is a natural evil no one doubts , as such 't is abhorr'd of all ; and that 't is inflicted for , or by reason of sin , is as unquestionable , if the apostle's account of the matter may be allow'd ; for so he tells us , rom. 5. 12. by one man sin enter'd into the world , and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men , for that all have sinn'd . so that death ( amongst men ) has the nature of a punishment in it , but how then comes it to be inflicted , if it be not due ? if we be not obnoxious to the sentence of the law , it cannot be said to be due to us ; if the threatning was disjunctive , both parties bound cou'd not be obnoxious , if sentence be executed on either , the other is clear ; how comes it then that we are punish'd and christ too ! what shall we say ? is god unrighteous that taketh vengeance ? rom. 3. 5. or is not this rather an unrighteous doctrine , that wou'd reflect the imputation of injustice upon the holy god ? 6. yet again , according to this notion , how can the eternal damnation of any soul consist with divine justice ? this surety is a punishment with a witness ; but how can it be a righteous one if it be not due ? and it cannot be due to any man , if it be already paid ; and every man has paid it , if his surety have done it . i see not , upon this principle , how god can , in justice , damn any individual soul : here then is universal redemption , and universal grace , beyond the utmost stretch of arminianism it self . what! is it then not only possible that they may , but is it also certain that all shall be sav'd from everlasting perdition ! is there not only a sufficiency of grace afforded to all , but that efficacious influence that will secure the effect ! is god not only unwilling to damn any , but is he also unjust , unrighteous if he do ! 't is strange then , that we should read of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rom. 2. 5. and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , heb. 2. 2. certainly a threatning us with wrath , because of god's righteous judgment , and with remediless ruine , as a just recompence of reward , cannot but intimate , that god wou'd be righteous and just , tho' careless obdurate sinners shou'd finally perish . nay , while we are assur'd , that sodom and gomorrah , jude , v. 7. and many others , suffer the vengeance of eternal fire , and that god has not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , power , ability , mat. 10. 28. but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , power , authority , luke 12. 5. to cast into hell : those , and many like texts , cannot be more true , than this opinion is false , that wou'd infer god cannot punish , cannot cast into hell , were unjust if he shou'd do it ; yea , such a notion must needs be false , that these sacred scriptures may be true . 7. i 'll add but one more absurd consequence of this opinion ( though many more might be subjoyn'd ) and that is , that the patrons of this principle do hereby greatly obscure , and lessen that free-grace in christ , which they so highly pretend to exalt and magnifie . when they have seem'd to advance free-grace beyond all others , to cry up gospel-grace , and gospel-preaching , they do at length subvert all purely-gospel-grace at once , and necessarily resolve the whole of divine grace into the constitution of the law of works : for , supposing ( with them ) that christ's name was put into the original bond ; supposing that law did take in christ as surety with us ; 't is not of grace , but justice , that god is reconcil'd to us , or that we are accepted with him ; it shou'd not be said that we are justify'd freely by his grace , but that the rigour of the law did exact nothing more , and therefore our justification was a due debt , 't was what was owing to us by governing justice ; the righteous god cou'd not condemn us , having already exacted the threatned punishment at our surety's hands . now is it so adorable , so surprizing grace , that god shou'd be just to his own law ! is it so very astonishing and wonderful a thing , that god shou'd be true to his word ! thus , after all their pretences of a more exalted admiration of , and value for divine grace , they do by this notion shrink it into so narrow a compass , as the framing the original law ; and as for all that which the gospel magnifies as grace , they render it nothing other than pure justice ; all gospel grace shou'd ( with them , if they will consist with themselves ) be nothing differing from a due debt , tho' the apostle does so carefully contra-distinguish and oppose 'em to each other , rom. 4. 4. § 5. ( 2. ) if christ did suffer by vertue of the violated law , then his sufferings were most strictly the same that we were obnoxious to ; this is as plain , as that the sanction of the law was the same with it self . but is it to be admitted , that our lord jesus christ was alienated from the life and love of god! that he was dead in trespasses and sins ! deserted of the spirit of holiness ! was his soul over-run with outragious and impetuous lusts ! all which , under one consideration , is our punishment , tho' under another respect it be also our sin. or was the lord jesus hated , abhorr'd of the father ! did he lose all right to , and interest in god's favour and kindness ? did he bear the stinging reflections of a guilty conscience , the horrors of a despairing damned wretch in hell ? this is but part of the punishment included in the threatning against us ; but what pious soul wou'd not rise with indignation against any one , that shou'd so far blaspheme the holy and ever-blessed redeemer , as to say this was his case , his state ? and if he did not suffer what that law threatned , it cannot be said that he suffer'd by vertue of that law. it remains then , that he did only suffer by vertue of the law of mediation , as before . § . 6. ( 3. ) then the law oblig'd him to suffer ; whereupon it wou'd follow , that neither he cou'd refuse the undertaking ; nor god refuse to accept it as punishment ; but this i shall but mention here . § . 7. we are next to obviate the seeming reasonings of this accuser against this truth ; and what he does loosely ( and immethodically enough ) offer here and there to this purpose , we shall endeavour to reduce into some order , that it may appear , with all the force it has , against us ; and be more capable of receiving a just reply . and , ( 1. ) he does insinuate , that christ's sufferings cannot otherwise be an act of rectoral justice ; but only acts of obedience and dominion . take his own words : we are of opinion , that sufferings which are not from the obligations of a violated law , cannot be an act of rectoral justice , which does essentially respect the law in its distributions . — if a rector sentenceth any to sufferings , without a regard to sin , it is unjust . appeal , p. 7. and again , if mr. b. resolve christ's sufferings wholly into a conformity to the precept of the mediatorial law , — they can be but acts of obedience and dominion , not acts of justice , p. 50 , 51. so he goes on , p. 52. they affirm 'em to be but acts of obedience , and consequently acts of dominion , not of punitive justice . so again , p. 54. the sufferings of christ — cou'd not be a judicial act of god : he ( christ ) cou'd not be condemn'd , nor cou'd sentence pass upon him ; nor according to any sentence cou'd he be executed ; for where no obligation to punishment by the sanction of the law , there no guilt in any sense ; where no guilt , no condemning , no passing a sentence justly , no execution , &c. and p. 56. his sufferings cou'd be but an act of dominion . now to all this we answer . 1. that he is so confus'd , and unsteady in the forming this objection , that we can hardly so much as guess what it is he means : sometimes he speaks of the sufferings of christ as an act of rectoral justice , and a judicial act of god ; where one wou'd think he considers 'em as inflicted by god ; and yet in other places , he speaks of 'em as acts of justice , where 't is not certain , but he may refer to 'em as undertaken by christ : now these two are far from being the same thing , that christ was not unrighteous in undertaking , and undergoing those sufferings ; and that god was not unrighteous in inflicting and laying 'em upon him. again , he thus confounds , an act of dominion , and acts of dominion ; whereas the former may import , that the father ( as dominus christi , as his lord ) might enjoyn him to suffer ; and the latter may signifie , that christ ( as lord of his own acts ) might offer , might consent to suffer . besides , he confounds sufferings inflicted by vertue of the sanction of the law , and sufferings inflicted , with a regard to sin , and makes the latter signifie as much as the former , whereas we constantly ( and with the justest reason ) distinguish betwixt 'em ; and allow that in the sufferings of christ , there was a regard had to sin , to our sin , as what had offended , highly incens'd the divine majesty against us , and render'd it necessary ( for the reputation of his wisdom , holiness , justice , and the support of his governing-authority ) that his displeasure shou'd in one way or other be manifested against sin , if he shou'd ( and that he might ) remit the penalty due to the sinner . and hereupon it was agreed betwixt the father and the son , that christ shou'd suffer ; the divine wisdom this way at once providing for the honour of god , as governour , and for the redemption of apostate-man . so that we readily grant , there was a respect had to sin , in the sufferings of christ ; yea , that it cou'd not have consisted with the justice of god as rector , to sentence him to suffer , without a regard to sin . but it does not , cannot thence follow , that he suffer'd by vertue of the obligation of the violated law ; that that law oblig'd him to suffer ; unless you will also say , that that law oblig'd god to save sinners , and to appoint this ransom for ' em . but , 2. supposing him to mean ( as his reference to the bishop of worcester's letter wou'd intimate ) that unless we will allow christ's sufferings to have been by vertue of the violated law , they cou'd not be inflicted by god as a ruler , but only as an absolute lord. we deny the consequence : neither is it to be allow'd , unless he can make it appear , that this is the only law , by vertue whereof christ cou'd be oblig'd to suffer . and therefore also , it might be ( and was ) a judicial act of god , an act of his rectoral justice to inflict sufferings upon christ , because the law of mediation render'd him obnoxious to sufferings : and being hence oblig'd to suffer ( and , in that general sense , having guilt upon him ) he might have sentence justly pass'd and executed upon him ; and accordingly we find ( in that prophetical psalm , 22. 3. ) christ justifies god the father under the very depth of his sorrows . nay , christ's sufferings did not only consist with the justice of god as a rector ; but did also declare and demonstrate it to the world , rom. 3. 25 , 26. god set him forth , set him in view of all the world , by him ( by his blood ) to declare his righteousness , that he might be , and appear to be just , though he was a justifier of sinful men. as we shall ( god willing ) more fully clear , when we come to deal with the socinian adversaries , in the second part of this discourse . ( 3. ) whereas he argues from their being acts of obedience ( in our opinion ) that consequently we must hold , that they are only acts of dominion , &c. we again deny the consequence ; nay , rather think the direct opposite shou'd have been inferr'd , viz. that because we do consider the sufferings of christ , as acts of obedience to a law , therefore god is not , in reference hereto , to be look'd upon as a meer lord or owner , but also as a ruler . and we are the less afraid of having any ill consequence prov'd upon us , as to this , because ( which yet this accuser , as if he very little convers'd with the scriptures , seems not to know ) 't is consecrated language as well as divine truth ; 't is not only the sense , but also the words of the holy ghost , rom. 5. 19. phil. 2. 8. heb. 5. 8. so that the sufferings of christ were acts of obedience , and consequently we may infer , did correspond to the precepts of a law , and what other could it be but that of mediation : accordingly , in reference to these very sufferings , our saviour himself tells us , that he acted herein pursuant to a command he had receiv'd of his father , john 10. 17 , 18. he says not , this i was oblig'd to by the threatning of one or other law ; but a command i have received to this purpose , and i 'm ready to obey ; for thus also in the volum of the book it is written of him , lo , i come to do thy will , o god ; for to the offering of his body , the apostle does apply those words , heb. 10. 7 — 10. ( 4. ) and lastly , to close this head , we add , that if indeed we had said , that the sufferings of christ had no respect at all to the violated law , he might then ( with some force of reason ) have inferr'd upon us , that we thereby render'd 'em , with the socinians , a meer act of dominion upon christ , and not ( in any sense ) an act of justice : but he cannot but know , that we willingly grant , that they had some reference even to the sanction of that law , and that both as , the law , obliging us to suffer , was the ground and reason of his undertaking to suffer . his sufferings did in great part answer the ends , for which that sanction was annex'd to the law. ( 1. ) the law , as obliging us to suffer , was the ground the reason of christ's undertaking to suffer ; but his sufferings themselves , were by reason of that undertaking ; had it not been that we were under sentence of death by that law , we had not needed a mediator ; nay further , could that sentence have been remitted without any satisfaction made ; could the threatning have been absolutely recall'd ( so as that no severe marks of divine displeasure should have been left upon sin ) and this without weakning his authority , and rendring the majesty of heaven cheap : christ had never suffer'd , never undertaken to suffer — but these things are vastly differing ; to say that upon this reason christ undertook to suffer ; and to say , that that very sanction oblig'd him to suffer ; in the former case , 't is no more than loco causae obligatoriae ; in the latter , it would be the obligatory cause it self . ( 2. ) christ's sufferings did , in great part answer the ends of that sanction ; as will appear , if we consider for what purposes a sanction was added to the law ; and amongst others , such as these do readily occur , viz. thereby to express god's hatred of sin ; to secure the law and law-giver from contempt ; and to enforce obedience , &c. now these ends of the threatning were answer'd as well ( perhaps better ) by the sufferings of christ , than they could have been by the sufferings of sinners themselves . yet it cannot therefore be said , that the threatning it self was executed upon christ . in short , some respect the sufferings of christ had to the violated law , as is above said , but not such , as that it can be said with truth , either that that law oblig'd him to suffer , or that it was fulfill'd in and by his sufferings . ( 2. ) he does next insinuate , as if christ cou'd not be a mediator , at least , not suffer as such ; unless he suffer'd by vertue of the violated law. this ( surely ) must be his sense , if he have any , p. 25. where he says , that though christ came not under the obligation of the law of works , but by the father's will , and his own consent — yet ( on his entring into the office of a mediator ) the obligation to suffer for sin , is immediately by vertue of the sanction of the law. i take him to mean , that tho' he was not a mediator , without the appointment of god , and his own consent , yet upon his very becoming a mediator , the obligation of the violated law must immediately lay hold upon him ; so that tho' he might have avoided suffering , had he declin'd his mediatory undertaking ; yet supposing him to mediate , the violated law immediately seizeth on him , and obliges him to suffer . to which we answer , 1. the violated law did indeed oblige the sinner himself to suffer ; but that it did or cou'd oblige any one else , is what ( how oft soever it be said ) has never yet been prov'd . 2. nor does christ's meerly entring into the office of a mediator , necessarily ( and in the nature of the thing ) oblige him to suffer ; for it is conceivable , ( as a thing very possible ) that he might have mediated for a mitigation of our sufferings only . suppose ( for instance ) that instead of the torments of hell for ever , we might only endure those tortures for a determinate number of years . i would not be mistaken : i am not saying christ did so , being well assur'd he did otherwise ; nor am i devising a better method , or one equally good with that which took place : 't is not without inexpressible delight and gratitude , that i do own and adore the infinitely excelling wisdom and goodness , that is conspicuous in the gospel-way of mediation . all i say is , that in the nature of the thing 't was not impossible , there might have been a mediation set on foot to this purpose ; in which case i ask , how it does appear , that the mediator himself must needs suffer ? and this with a design to convince our accuser , his argument can have no force in it ; for that it must according to all rules of logick , proceed upon this indefinite and unlimitted proposition , whoever mediates for an obnoxious criminal , shall suffer . which proposition is not to be allow'd , unless every one that mediates ( in what way soever ) for such an one must needs suffer : an assertion so weak , that barely to mention it is sufficiently to expose it ; yet if he shou'd limit it to this , or any other special case , 't would there only be a naked assertion , and no argument . 3. but supposing christ was ( as i willingly grant he was ) upon his entring into the office of a mediator oblig'd to suffer for sin ; yet still , it appears not that he is so , immediately by vertue of the sanction of the law. that the sufferings of the mediator had a respect to the sanction of the law ( as before ) we grant ; but that he was properly oblig'd by that law to suffer ( whether mediately , or immediately ) is what we believe this accuser can never prove . the violated law never said , if christ mediate for sinners , he shall die ; but another law that was peculiar to himself , and which we therefore call the law of mediation . ( 3. ) but he proceeds , if christ's obligation to suffer did not result from this law ( i. e. the violated law ) our sins were not the impulsive cause of his sufferings , ibid. p. 25. and he adds , p. 41. it 's impossible sin shou'd be their meritorious cause . and again , p. 50. if christ's sufferings be not — by vertue of the penal sanction of a violated law , our sins cannot be their meritorious cause . the answer to this we must defer to the fourth chapter , where we shall have occasion to speak fully to it . again , ( 4. ) he does also suggest , in the last quoted pages , that christ's sufferings cou'd not otherwise be a proper punishment — the consideration whereof is also to be reserv'd for the fifth chapter of this discourse . moreover , ( 5. ) he does next intimate , that it was either by vertue of that sanction ( i. e. that of the violated law ) or by vertue of no sanction at all , that christ was oblig'd to suffer : for that according to us , the mediatorial law had no penal sanction ; and thereupon he challenges us to shew , by vertue of what sanction christ was oblig'd to suffer , vid. p. 26. in answer whereto , we distinguish betwixt a sanction in a more loose and general sense ; in a more strict and proper one . accordingly we say , 1. in the strictest sense , as it does import the threatning that is annex'd to a law , we see not how it can be said , that christ was oblig'd to suffer by vertue of any sanction ; for that we know no law that threatned him. but , 2. if we understand the word in a looser and more general sense , as signifying only an ordination at large ; we may say , sancitum fuit , it was ordain'd , enacted by the law of mediation , that he shou'd suffer for sin ; and so he was oblig'd to suffer by vertue of that sanction . 6. in the last place , he does advance a very formidable argument against us , viz. that ( upon the fore-mention'd principle ) we cannot hold christ's sufferings to have been in our place and stead , otherwise than as it signifies only for our benefit and advantage . this he inlarges upon , p. 29 , 30. to which we reply , first , and more generally , that all that make use of that distinction , are not agreed upon one and the same sense ; and therefore the sense of the terms shou'd be fix'd , before they can signifie any thing in an argument . 't is possible such a sense may be affix'd to one , or other of the terms , in which it may be true , that we cannot hold christ's sufferings to have been in our place and stead , or to have been otherwise so , than as it signifies for our good . who knows what secret sense this accuser may understand these phrases in , by which he may prove his charge against us . we shou'd therefore know , what it is he means , both by christ's suffering in our place and stead , and by his suffering for our benefit and advantage : for by knowing only his sense of one of these phrases , we cannot possibly conjecture , whether the other ( with him ) import less or more , or just the same thing . yet , 2. and more particularly , tho' we cannot ( in his declar'd sense ) hold that christ suffer'd in our place , yet it will not follow , that we do not ( or cannot ) hold that he suffer'd in our stead , otherwise than as it signifies for our good only . but what we do , ( and consistently with our selves can ) maintain his suffering in our stead , in such a sense in which the socinians ever deny'd it , shall ( thro' divine assistance ) be made appear in the second part of this discourse . chap. ii. that christ did not suffer in the person of sinners , but in the person of a mediator . § . 1. this also he would have to be accounted amongst our errors , as appears not only from several passages in his appeal , but also from his objecting this , amongst other faults , against the third paper ( in his report ) viz. that it was so worded as to be calculated to their meridian , who hold , that christ suffer'd only in the person of a mediator , not in the person of sinners . § . 2. that christ was a mediator , and did suffer as ( or in the person of ) a mediator , i will suppose is no part of the controversie betwixt the accuser and us : all that can then remain as questionable , is , whether he suffer'd as ( or in the person of ) a sinner — which being affirm'd , shou'd also have been prov'd by this accuser : we being only doubters or deniers in this point , have nothing to do but only to hear his proofs : no rules i have yet met with , oblige us to any thing more . § . 3. yet since he has not ( as might have been expected ) done his part ; or perhaps , could not do it ; we shall more than do our own ; that it may appear , what it is we do herein deny , and upon what reasons we do it . and § . 4. in order to a better understanding the state of the case , it should be considered , that the phrase it self is what the scriptures are utterly a stranger to : we no where read in those sacred oracles , either of christ's sustaining , or suffering in the person of sinners ; and 't is but reasonable for us , when articles of faith are propos'd to , nay press'd upon us , to hesitate about 'em ( can we be blam'd , if we also deny , renounce 'em ) unless scripture-evidence be produc'd for ' em . if their sense of this ( or any other ) phrase appear in the scriptures , we shall readily own that sense ; but the phrase it self cannot be thought necessary , while it is not there . § . 5. but besides , this is not only an humane phrase , but a very obscure and ambiguous one ; and 't is hard to conceive ( amongst the many senses it is capable of ) any one sense , in which it may be tolerably apply'd to the present case — we shall briefly mention some of the more remarkable notations of the word [ person : ] and passing by several others , i shall only take notice of the vastly differing sense in which the word is us'd by metaphysicians , and by civilians . § . 6. the word [ person ] as made use of by metaphysicians , is design'd to express an individual , compleat ; intelligent substance . thus every man , and every angel are distinct persons ; and christian philosophers transfer this account of the word [ person ] to christ as god-man ; yea , and to the god-head it self , when they use that term with reference to the sacred three , father , son and holy ghost . but in this sense 't is not to be admitted , that christ suffer'd in the person of sinners ; for that in order to his suffering in any person ( one or other ) it was first necessary he should assume that person ; now , however he did assume the nature of man , yet he did not , 't was not possible that he should , in this sense , assume the person of any sinner . surely this accuser himself will not dare to assert , that christ was the individual substance of peter , judas , &c. if not , he was not their person ; and if not their person , then he did not suffer as such . § . 7. or if they should refer us to civilians for the sense of the word , 't is amongst them a very perplex'd and un-agreed term. sometimes they do only in general contradistinguish persons to things , and make the word person to be aequivalent to the word man. thus zouch , res sunt de quibus homines agunt ; personae quae agunt in se ; i. e. viri & mulieres : qui hominis appellatione continentur . yet according to others , this term of person is not so extensive as that of man. so calvin tells us , personae appellatio cum hominis appellatione non est eadem ; haec enim quam illa est generalior — omnis persona est homo , sed non vicissim . inde persona definitur homo , qui caput habet civile . by caput civile habens . he does not ( as some apprehend ) mean one that has a civil head , or a superiour in the state ; then indeed ( as they infer ) a king would be no person ; but what he and other civilians intend by it , is one that has the liberties of a free-born subject in the state ; and so is design'd only to exclude prisoners of war , bond-slaves , &c. from being persons . thus he explains himself at large , qui in eum ( scil . liberorum ) ordinem cooptatur , caput jam habere dicitur : unde servus , qui pro lihertate pretium persolvit , pretium pro capite solvere dicitur , apud plautum & j. consultos frequentissime , i. e. ut liceat illi caput in ordinem libertorum habere : qui , si postea libertate mulctetur , capite minutus dicetur ; and thus also the learned pufendorf explains it : persona apud j. consultos praeprimis , illa dicitur , quae caput ( i. e. libertatem personalem ) habet . but this distinction is not to be admitted with reference to the sufferings of christ ; in dying he had a respect , not only to jews , but to gentiles ; and amongst them not only to the learned greeks , but also to the more uncultivated barbarians and scythians ; not only to such as were free among 'em , but also to the very bond slaves , rom. 10. 12. 1 cor. 12. 13. gal. 3. 28. col. 3. 11. § . 8. again , sometimes they do by the term [ person ] intimate ( not absolutely the man himself , but ) the man respectively consider'd , with reference to the quality , state or condition , in which he stands . so calvin , ubi supra . persona tam hominem , quam qualitatem hominis & conditionem significat . and more fully , pufendorf , personae morales — sunt homines — considerati cum statu suo aut munere , in quo in vita communi versantur . now will this accuser say , that in this sense christ did sustain , and suffer in the person of sinners ? was he every one of those very men for whom he died ? did he possess the place , state , condition , quality of every individual sinner . § . 9. but amongst political persons ( to omit other sub-divisions ) there is one special kind , which they call representative persons ; and this i suppose may be intended , when 't is said , that christ suffer'd in the person of sinners . under this rank the civilians do commonly reckon embassadors , plenipotentiaries , vice-roys , &c. as acting in the person of the prince that commissionates 'em : members of parliament , as personating or representing those that do elect 'em : advocates or attorneys , as pleading in the person of their clients : tutors and guardians , acting for , and in the name of the pupils and minors , with whom they are entrusted : a servant , or any other delegate , whom we authorise and appoint to pay money , or transact any other affair for us ; so far as any one does with authority manage any of our affairs , he may in some sense be said to represent us , or to do it in our person . now if in any tolerable sense it may be said , that christ suffer'd in the person of sinners , it must ( i conceive ) be in this , that he did suffer as their representative . § . 10. and therefore , that it may the better appear , how far he did , and wherein he did not represent , or personate us in his sufferings , we should carefully distinguish , 1. betwixt christ's representing us in his sufferings ; and representing us in his obedience . 2. betwixt his representing , or personating a sinner in his sufferings , and his representing or personating sinners therein . 3. betwixt his representing , or personating sinners when he suffer'd , only in some very limited and restrain'd sense ; and his representing 'em therein simply and absolutely . 4. we may also distinguish betwixt a representative , that is deputed and delegated thereto by us ; and one that is appointed and authoriz'd by god. § . 11. whereupon i add , i. he did not so far represent , or personate sinners in his holiness and obedience , as in his sufferings ; 't is ( as we shall immediately shew ) in some sense allowable to say , christ suffer'd in the person of a sinner , or sinners ; but i know no sense in which it may be said , that he obey'd in the person of a sinner , or sinners . he did not personate a sinner , much less sinners , in his sinless obedience ; this were as grosly absurd ( as mr. baxter himself hints ) as it would be to say , in the person of sinners he never sinned . now this we the rather take notice of , because this accuser extends christ's personating us indifferently , and equally , to both his obedience and his sufferings ; for thus he speaks in his late defence , p. 28. christ's thus suffering and obeying in the person of sinners , it is to all intents and purposes as effectual , as if they did it themselves . and what any libertine or antinomian wou'd say more than this , i know not ; or which way he will ●…can , make this consist with the necessity of faith and repentance , in order to our actual discharge from punishment ( which yet he largely asserts , appeal , p. 8. 9. ) i cannot imagine . § . 12. ii. it is more allowable to say , that christ suffer'd in the person of a sinner , than that he suffer'd in the person of sinners : for that the former of these signifies no more , than that he suffer'd as a sinner . now that may be suppos'd to intimate , either that christ , in the inflicting sufferings upon him , was dealt with like a sinner ; or also , that therein he was reputed and declar'd a sinner , suffer'd under that imputation and charge : and both these are true ; the former , whether we consider him as suffering under the hand of god or men ; and even the latter also , so far as men were concern'd in 'em ; he died by their sentence as a blasphemer . § . 13. iii. yet in a very limited and restrain'd sense it may be said , that christ suffer'd in the person of sinners ; that is , so far as that he suffer'd in our room and stead , he stood before god as an undertaker to suffer for our sins , and accordingly became a sacrifice for us : if any one will say he was our representative , or suffer'd in our person thus far , i shall not contend with him . nor would mr. baxter neither , as is plain from such passages as these — when we are agreed , that the person of the sponsor , and of every particular sinner , are diverse ; and that christ had not suffer'd if we had not sinn'd ; and that he , as a sponsor , suffer'd in our stead , and so bore the punishment which ( not he , but ) we deserv'd : if any will here , instead of a mediator or sponsor , call him our representative , and say that he suffer'd in all our persons reputatively , — not representing our persons simply , and in all respects , and to all ends ; but only so far as to be a sacrifice for our sins , and to suffer in our place and stead . we take this ( says he ) to be but lis de nomine — and will not oppose any man that thinks those words fittest , as long as we agree in the matter signify'd . again , christ suffer'd in our stead , and in a large sense , to certain uses , and in some respects , as the representer , or in the person of sinners . yet further , though the person of the mediator be not really , or reputatively the very person of each sinner , yet it does belong to the person of the mediator , so far ( limitedly ) to bear the person of a sinner , and to stand in the place of the persons of all sinners , as to bear the punishment they deserv'd , and to suffer for their sin. i 'll mention but one more , though there be several other passages to this purpose — it belongs to him ( christ ) as mediator , to undertake the sinner's punishment in his own person ; and if any will improperly call that , the personating and representing of the sinner , let 'em limit it , and confess that it is not simply , but in tantum , so far , and to such uses , and no other ; and that yet sinners did it not in and by christ , but only christ for them , to convey the benefits as he pleas'd ; and then we delight not to quarrel about meer words , though we like the phrase of scripture better . § . 14. iv. so far as he did represent , or personate us in his sufferings ; he did it not as our deputy , or delegate ; we did not order , nor could we authorize him thereunto ; not being capable either of obliging him to suffer , or of impowering him in such sufferings to represent us , and stand in our stead : but , he voluntarily consenting to suffer for us , god authoriz'd and appointed him thereunto ; and from that divine appointment his sufferings become efficacious for us ; and therefore from thence it is , from that appointment of god , that it must be adjusted how far , and to what ends and uses , he shou'd suffer as the representative , or in the person of sinners ; and in what way and method , and upon what terms his sufferings shou'd be of saving benefit and effect to ' em . christ did not represent us as far as we please ; or to what ends and uses we please ; nor will his sufferings be effectually saving to us in what way and method we please , upon any , or no terms , as we think fit ; but all this is ( according to divine pleasure ) unalterably determin'd and fix'd , by that appointment and law of god , by which it was also ordain'd , that christ our mediator shou'd be sacrific'd for us . he cou'd not personate us farther than he was allow'd and impower'd of god ; and how far therefore his commission did extend , or with what limitations it was attended , is only to be collected from the oracles of god ; so far then , as it shall appear by the sacred scriptures , that christ suffer'd in the person of sinners , or as their representative , we shall readily agree , and no farther . § . 15. v. and lastly , the veneration we have for those sacred oracles , will not admit us ( without any limitation ) to say , as this accuser does , that christ suffer'd as the representative , or in the person of sinners : the reasons whereof will the better appear , if it be first agreed what is the exact and proper notion of such a person , a representative person : and in this matter , i suppose , our accuser is not unwilling ( and for my part , i am most willing ) that the learned pufendorf shou'd be our instructer . this therefore is the account he gives us of it , peculiaris species personarum politicarum est , quas dicere possis representativas , ideo quod personam aliorum referant : quae scil . potestate & authoritate agendi ab aliquo instructae , hujus vice negotia expediunt eodem cum effectu , ac si ab illo ipso essent confecta . so that according to him ( and indeed according to the truth of the thing ) so far as any one is allow'd to represent another , they are both in law reputed one person ; and thereupon , whatever he has , does , or suffers as a representative , it is ( eodem cum effectu , i. e. as this accuser well enough englishes it ) to all intents and purposes the same thing , as if it were had , done , or suffer'd by that other whom he represents . § . 16. now , if it be the same thing , then 't is neither more or less , than if we had so suffer'd our selves ; there are therefore two things that we have to plead against christ's thus personating , or representing us ; and they are , that such a representation of us by christ , is in differing respects , both too much and too little to answer the exigencies of our case , and the scripture-account of this matter . § . 17. and ( 1. ) in some respects , such a representative personating of sinners in and by christ's sufferings , would render 'em too little to answer the exigencies of our case , and the account which the scriptures give of 'em : for if christ in his sufferings was look'd upon as properly , and most strictly our person or representative , his sufferings ( as has bin hinted ) would be but the same thing , and no more in value or vertue , than if we our selves had so suffered : but if we our selves had suffer'd as christ did , would it have been effectual to the great and necessary purposes of obtaining redemption , reconciliation , pardon , the holy spirit , and eternal salvation for us ! can any one think ? dare any one say , our own suffering what christ did , our own dying as he did , would ( by way of merit ) have procur'd such consequent blessings as the death and sufferings of christ did ! such as the mention'd blessings we needed , our case call'd for ; and these blessings we find attributed to the death of christ , as what did ( meritoriously , and by way of a price ) procure 'em for us — so the apostle tells us , we have redemption through his blood , eph. 1. 7. col. 1. 14. he obtain'd it for us by his own blood , heb. 9. 12. so 1 pet. 1. 18 , 19. so also our reconciliation is the purchase of his blood ; this account we have of it , rom. 5 10. when we were enemies we were reconciled to god by the death of his son. and having through several verses before spoken of this reconciliation , he at length tells us , that god made him to be sin , i. e. a sin-offering for us , to intimate to us which way that reconciliation was procur'd and brought about , 2 cor. 5. 21. he made him to be sin , &c. and in that , eph. 2. 16. we are said to be reconcil'd to god by the cross . and col. 1. 20. christ is said to have made peace through the blood of his cross ; but wou'd our death have avail'd to any such purpose ? if not , how can he herein be said strictly to have represented us — the same might be also pleaded in reference to the procurement of our pardon , mat. 26. 28. and the holy spirit , heb. 10. 10 , 14. — 13. 22. with eternal salvation , 1 thess . 5. 9. 10. these are blessissings that we cou'd not have procur'd by our own dying ( this , to christians surely , i shall not need to prove ) : now , if christ died strictly in our person , his death had signify'd no more than ours : a representative , so far as he represents another , is in law look'd upon no otherwise , than as that other whom he represents ; whatever excellencies he may otherwise have above that other , yet do they not come under consideration here ; as a representative , he does but personate that other man ; and what he does or suffers as a representative , is but the same thing , as if that other man had done or suffer'd . so far as there is any difference allow'd in law , 't is plain the law looks upon 'em to be two distinct persons ; so far the one does not , cannot represent the other . either therefore these benefits were not procur'd for us by the sufferings of christ , or he suffer'd otherwise than as our representative , or in our mean and vile person , viz. in the most highly dignify'd person of a mediator . to this sense mr. baxter had pleaded long since , in the forecited treatise of justifying righteousness , p. i. p. 96. if christ ( says he ) suffer'd but in the person of sinful man , his sufferings wou'd have been in vain , or no satisfaction to god , &c. see also baxter's life of faith , p. 322. thus therefore such a representation of us by christ , wou'd have been too little for us . § . 18. but again , ( 2. ) if the matter be consider'd under other respects , christ's strictly personating or representing us in his sufferings , would be too much for us . for ( as we have before observ'd ) betwixt a representative and that other whom he represents , the law makes no difference : whatever the representative does as a representative , in the sense of the law , that other does whom he represents . ( 1. ) if then christ suffer'd strictly and properly in the person of sinners , or as their representative , they did , in the account of the law , suffer themselves ; and whatever is the moral effect ( i. e. whatever the law under which christ suffer'd has annex'd , by promise , as a consequence ) of his suffering , it being the effect of our representative's sufferings , may be attributed to us whom he did therein represent ; whatever is in scripture ascrib'd to the sufferings of christ , as an effect of 'em , if he suffer'd in our person , wou'd be to be ascrib'd to us : so we shou'd be our own redeemers , our own saviours , we shou'd have merited our own peace , our own pardon , &c. as truly as i pay money , which one that in the strict sense of the law represents me , does pay in my name ; or purchase land , which my legal representative purchases for me . § . 19. ( 2. ) if christ had suffered strictly in our representative person , we shou'd have had an immediate and absolute right to all the proper results and benefits of his sufferings : indeed , if christ in his own person , as mediator , purchas'd these blessings by suffering for us , he may confer 'em on us at what time , in what measure , in what order , and upon what terms he pleases , as we find he does : but supposing him to have been our proper representative therein , our right in law , to all the benefits of his sufferings , wou'd have been absolute ( as his now is ) and have immediately resulted from his having so suffered ; so as that no place cou'd have been left for the introducing and imposing upon us any terms or conditions in order to our enjoying such benefits : there cou'd be no room for such a constitution afterwards , if thou [ sinner ] repent , believe in christ , &c. thou shalt be saved : for according to this principle , the sinner has purchas'd salvation by the sufferings of christ [ as his representative ] he has thereupon an absolute and present right to the salvation so purchas'd ; to deny or suspend his right , or with-hold him from possession , wou'd be injurious to him , as keeping him from that which is his own : how then will this consist with the justice of god , who does not give sinners immediately the full of what was purchas'd by the sufferings of christ ! god does not give 'em an immediate and absolute pardon , present freedom from all sin and sorrow , present possession of the heavenly inheritance — if sinners have an immediate absolute right to these blessings , it wou'd be a wrong done to 'em , for god to keep 'em out of possession as he does ; and such a right we shou'd have , if he suffer'd ( strictly ) as our representative — so that this way consider'd , it does as much exceed , as the other way it fell short of answering the exigencies of our case . § . 20. and we may add , as a farther consequent hereupon ( 3. ) if christ had suffer'd ( strictly ) as the representative person of sinners ( indefinitely , as 't is express'd ) it wou'd follow , that every sinner equally has a right to the fore-mention'd benefits of christ's sufferings ; why then have not all equally a pardon ? why are not the influences of the divine spirit equally diffus'd ? why are some ( yea , even of the truly sanctify'd ) more freed from sin and sorrow , than others ? some but babes , while others are strong men in christ ? nay , why are not all in heaven ( whom christ did represent ) as well as some there ? § . 21. moreover ( 4. ) if christ had thus suffer'd as our representative ( and we had thus satisfy'd and merited in him ) what room would there have been left for his holiness and obedience to bestead us , or be of any advantage to us . we are most expresly assur'd , that by the obedience of one ( i. e. of christ ) we are made righteous , rom. 5. 19. suppose his sufferings and death to be included , as it cannot be deny'd , yet 't is as they were instances of his obedience , phil. 2. 8. and ( according to that known rule , a quatenus , ad omne valet consequentia ) if his sufferings did meritoriously procure our pardon , peace , &c. as they were instances of his obedience to the law of mediation , then whatever was an instance of such obedience , had an influence upon the same effect . his habitual , active and passive obedience , are therefore to be consider'd as one entire meritorious cause , one entire purchasing price of such blessings . — but upon this principle , that christ in suffering did strictly personate , or represent us , where can his habitual holiness , and active obedience be taken in ! what room is there for ' em ! what need is there of ' em ! when we have merited a pardon , acceptance with god , eternal salvation already , by the sufferings of christ as our representative ; what further need can we have of his obeying for us ? or shall we say , that he was our representative , in his obeying , as well as in his suffering ? so indeed our accuser would have it , in his defence , p. 28. christ ( says he ) thus suffering and obeying in the person of sinners , it is , to all intents and purposes , as effectual , as if they did it themselves . but besides , that these two parts of the assertion are inconsistent with each other , had he obeyed in our person , he needed not to have suffer'd in our person ; or had he suffer'd in our person , he needed not so to have obey'd . i say , besides that , the notion carries a manifest inconsistence in it — if it were admitted , it would infer all those seven absurdities mention'd in the fore-going chapter , with many more , that i cannot now stay to mention . § . 22. in a word then , since his strict representing , or personating us , would intimate , that christ and we are , in the sense of the law , but one person ; and thereupon his suffering in our person ( our representative person , properly so call'd ) would intimate either that he ( in his sufferings ) was ( in the esteem of god and the law ) depress'd to the mean , and vile , and sinful state of us , whom he did represent ; or else that we are ( in the account of god and the law ) exalted to the dignity and perfection of his state who represented us : and neither of these are to be admitted . not the former , for that it would render christ's sufferings unavailable to the great purposes that were to be serv'd of 'em ; not the latter , for the reasons last mention'd : it follows , that he cannot ( otherwise than very improperly , and with great limitations ) be said to have suffer'd in the person ( the representative person ) of sinners . chap. iii. that christ's sufferings were only materially , not formally the same we were oblig'd to . § . i this our accuser charges also upon us , as a branch of that design , that plot he impeaches us of ; a socinian plot , a plot to introduce socinianism : that we have such a design , he once and again insinuates , and thereupon brands us as episcopians , socinianizing arminians , &c. he had signify'd his apprehensions , his fears of a design against the doctrine of a real , full , and proper satisfaction to god's justice for our sins , p. 4. but by that time we are got to the 12th . page , those surmizes are improv'd into clear evidence , he is now aware of the design ; nay , twice together we are told it , to intimate ( no doubt ) that he is throughly aware of it ; and to make proof of it , he does alledge , amongst other matters , that ( according to us ) christ's sufferings were the same we were oblig'd to , only materially , and not formally . now the design he suggests , is what we do from our souls abhorr ; and if this accuser were himself a socinian , he could no way more effectually serve their interests , than by persuading the world ( as he here endeavours ) that all must be socinians , at least socinianize , that are not antinomians . sect. 2. but for the principle he charges upon us , we are not asham'd to own it ; and cannot but wonder , that our accuser should never once attempt to prove the contrary ; it lying upon him here again , as being the affirmer , to produce his evidence : surely this , that christ's sufferings were formally the same we were oblig'd to , is not to be reckon'd amongst those propositions which carry their own light along with 'em , and engage our assent at the first hearing : why then has he only mention'd our denial of it , as if that alone , were sufficient to expose us to the severest censures . sect. 3. but we cannot satisfie our selves ( though we be on the negative part ) to deny , and dispute against words that have no meaning , or ( which is , in effect , the same thing ) words that have an unagreed and uncertain one : and therefore though he has not told us his meaning , we shall , with greatest plainness , tell him , and the world , ours ; that it may be understood what we intend , when we deny , that christ's sufferings were formally the same we were oblig'd to . sect. 4. now there are two things that ( we apprehend ) may be meant , when 't is asserted , that christ's sufferings were not only materially , but also formally the same we were oblig'd to , viz. either that they were not only in a more loose and general way of speaking , but strictly and fully the same kind of sufferings that we were oblig'd to : or , also it may intimate , that they were not only the same kind of sufferings , but even the very same thing in law , as if we our selves had suffer'd . and the former of these we dare not admit , much less the latter . sect. 5. 1. not the former , viz. that christ's sufferings were strictly and fully of the same kind with those we were oblig'd to . that they were not , could not be so , i think was sufficiently made appear , chap. i. sect. 5. of this discourse . and mr. baxter has yet more distinctly and fully clear'd it , by an enumeration of several particulars , in which his were not the same with ours , under these three heads ; i. christus nullas tulit penas , quae etiam peccata sunt . ii. nullas tales paenas dedit , quae sunt tantum naturalia peccandi consequentia . iii. nullas deus ipse paenas in christum inflixit , quae ex displicentia ( adversus christum scil . ) vel amoris diminutione aliqua proveniunt . vid. method . theol. p. iii. cap. 1. disp . 4. p. 36 , 37. sect. 6. 2. much less can we agree to it in the latter sense , as it intimates , that christ's sufferings were the idem , the very same thing in law , as if we our selves had suffer'd ; for that this it could not be , unless he suffer'd ( most strictly ) in our person ; and that too , by vertue of the law , which we had transgress'd : both which have been abundantly disprov'd by us in the fore-going chapters . what has been there alledg'd against the one , or the other of those errors , may also have place here again . to which i shall only add ; 1. the inconsistency hereof with the doctrine of christ's satisfaction . for if christ's sufferings should be allow'd to be strictly the same thing that the law oblig'd to , then they could not be a satisfaction for our non-payment , but would themselves have been the proper payment : now these two things are vastly differing , to pay a debt ; and to offer some-what instead of payment , that is accepted as satisfaction for non-payment . since the word [ satisfaction ] was borrow'd from the civilians , from them it is that the import of it may be best understood ; and they do carefully distinguish betwixt solution and satisfaction . solution is when the very same thing is paid , to which the law oblig'd . so vinnius , — solutio , specialiter accepta , denotat naturalem praestationem ejus quod debetur . which is agreeable to the account grotius gives us of it , with whom solutio stricte sumpta , is solutio rei plane ejusdem , quae erat in obligatione ; solutio rei ipsius debitae . now this , as the bishop of worcester tells us , in the sense of the law is never call'd satisfaction , but strict payment . this is what cannot be refus'd , when offer'd in payment . but christ's sufferings might have been refus'd : god was not oblig'd to accept of them , but might have insisted upon the sufferings of sinners themselves . therefore grotius tells of another sort of solution , cum aliud , quam quod in obligatione est , solvitur . when some-what else , and not strictly that which the law requir'd , is paid ; and this , if accepted , is peculiarly call'd satisfaction . talis autem solutio ( says he ) quae aut admitti , aut recusari potest , admissa ; in jure , speciale habet nomen satisfactionis ; quae interdum solutioni strictus sumptae opponitur . so that by a satisfaction , 't is plain they intend a valuable consideration offer'd instead of what was due , which the creditor in pecuniary ( and the rector in criminal ) cases , may accept or refuse at pleasure . under this notion do the greatest and best of our divines maintain the doctrine of christ's satisfaction , in opposition to the socinian adversaries ; nor can it be defended upon any other bottom . to make the controversie betwixt the socinians and us ( in the point of satisfaction ) to be not ( as it has been wont to be stated ) whether christ's sufferings were an equivalent ( a valuable consideration ) offer'd and accepted , instead of what was due from us to divine justice ; so far as that upon account thereof , we have reconciliation , pardon , and eternal salvation , in the order , and upon the terms of the gospel ? i say , to make the question in difference , not to be what is above-said , but whether christ's sufferings be the very same thing , the all , that the law requir'd , oblig'd to , the very execution of its threatning ? how plainly is this to betray the cause into their hands ! if the bishop of worcester has any judgment in this controversie ( and while the learned world has so universally approv'd what he has wrote in it , they cann't themselves be thought to have much , that deny , or doubt his thorow acquaintance with it ; and of all men living , our accuser , who has appeal'd to him , surely does not suspect it ; i say , if that right reverend person has any insight into this matter ) the socinian cause can scarcely any way be more effectually befriended , than by such as pretending to be their adversaries , do thus state our controversie with 'em : for with these remarkable words does he close up his most convincing reasonings against christ's sufferings having been the very same thing which the law requir'd : when ( says he ) our adversaries ( meaning the socinians ) dispute against this opinion , no wonder if they do it successfully ; but this whole opinion is built upon a mistake , that satisfaction must be the payment of the very same ; which while they contend for , they give our enemies too great an advantage , and make 'em think they triumph over the faith of the church , when they do it only over the mistake of some particular persons . 2. neither could the sufferings of christ be strictly ( and individually ) the same thing that the law threatned ; for it threatned the death of the offenders themselves : in the day thou eatest , thou shalt die , gen. 2. 17. the same individual that sinneth , shall die : thus does the prophet express it , the soul that sinneth , it ( that very soul ) shall die . ezek. 18. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very sinning soul it self , that very soul shall die . the sense of the holy ghost could not have been more fully expressed to this purpose . and so also the apostle , gal. 3. 10. cursed is every one that continues not , &c. 't is denounc'd against no one but the sinner himself ? since then the law mentions no surety or substitute ; the sufferings of christ could not be the execution of its threatning , unless he was the very soul that sinned , that very individual soul. and hence we may be assisted in that only difficulty , with which our accuser ( at the second hand ) does seem to press us : for in the passage he quotes from his brother ferguson , ( p. 5. ) amongst other attributes of god that were to influence the grand affair of our redemption , he mentions the divine veracity : god's truth ( as that gentleman says ) and his immutability must be evidenc'd in proceeding according to the penal law he had at first enacted . and this being presuppos'd , he would naturally enough iufer , that man ( having sinn'd ) could not be receiv'd into favour , but in such a way as might evidence that truth of god , &c. now indeed , if the truth and immutability of god did require , that he should proceed ( exactly ) according to the penal law he had enacted , it must be granted then , that christ's sufferings could not otherwise bestead us , then as being the very execution of that penal law , the very penalty therein threatned . and this objection i shall the rather take notice of , because ( whatever character our accuser , and this brother of his deserv'd ) i find some of greatest name ( and deservedly too ) both for learning and piety , speak as if they did apprehend , that the truth of god did engage him to execute the threatned penalty ; that unless the punishment due by that law had been inflicted , his veracity could not have been justified . but ( how much soever i reverence the names of some that speak thus ) i dare not agree , out of respect to any man , so far to expose the veracity of the holy god , as to suspend it upon any thing that is not certainly true , much less upon what is evidently untrue . 1. supposing it only to be uncertain , whether he was oblig'd formally to execute the threatning of that law , 't is no way fit the veracity of god should be suspended upon an uncertainty : may i not be sure that god is true , though i were not sure , that his threatning must needs be executed ! 2. and especially , when we have full and clear evidence , that he has not executed that threatning ; we should surely be afraid to say , his truth oblig'd him to execute it ; he has falsify'd his word in not-executing it . though we could not see which way god's veracity could be reconcil'd with the non-execution of his threatning ; yet when he has relax'd or dispens'd with his threatning ( as in this case he manifestly has ) we may be assur'd , it is not inconsistent with his truth . the law threatned the delinquent himself , and every delinquent ; another ( who was no delinquent ) dies for us : here is not then an execution of the threatning ; is the truth of god therefore violated ? god forbid . yet had his truth oblig'd him to inflict the threatned penalty at all , it would as well have oblig'd him to inflict it on the offenders themselves . that god has inflicted death for sin , is not therefore because of his truth , but for other reasons that have been already hinted . and this is that which does difference threatnings from predictions : that threatnings do only constitute the dueness of punishment , and make the offender obnoxious , without determing certainly whether ( eventually ) it shall be inflicted , or not ; but predictions do primarily respect a certain event . so that the truth of god is indeed concern'd to accomplish a prediction ; but not to execute a threatning ; a meer threatning does only render the transgressor liable to suffer , but god is afterwards at liberty to inflict , or not inflict the penalty incurr'd , as his wisdom shall see fit ; indeed if a prediction should also be added to the threatning , god's word is then past for its execution , and his truth obliges him accordingly — they that are otherwise opinionated in this matter , may do well to consider , which way the veracity of god ( upon their hypothesis ) can possibly be maintain'd : when the law was at first given to adam ( as our accuser himself expresly owns ) christ was not in its obligation ; it did not run [ thou , or thy surety for thee . ] hereupon the afteradmission of a surety , and the transferring our punishment upon him ( supposing he had undergone , as far as was possible , the same that we should ) was an act of soveraign-dispensing-power : the threatning was so far relax'd , or dispens'd with ; not executed . but if god had engag'd his word ( by an absolute prediction ) to punish the offender , there had been no place for a dispensation ; in that case , as indeed in every case where the divine truth is concern'd , the event will infallibly , and in every respect be answerable to what god has fore-declared . since therefore the event did not answer in this case , the very sinning soul it self did not die , but christ for him , it must be concluded , that this was not a prediction of what eventually should be , but a meer threatning of what legally might be inflicted ; importing only what the sinner was oblig'd to undergo , not what god was oblig'd to lay upon him . and therefore his truth was no way violated , though christ's sufferings were not strictly the same thing that the law threatned . to which i might add , 3. that if christ's sufferings had been the very same thing that the law requir'd , we must thereupon , ipso facto , have enjoy'd present and perfect deliverance ; if the idem , the all ( and that it must needs be , if it was the same ) that the law threatned , was endur'd in the sufferings of christ , what further penalty could remain upon us ? justice it self could require no more than the idem quod debetur . to this purpose the learned grotius speaks , ipso facto liberat , solutio rei plane ejusdem , quae erat in obligatione . upon which account he does determine , that the death of christ was not solutio rei ipsius debitae . and so also that very judicious and right reverend person ( the bishop of worcester ) to whom this accuser has appeal'd , does not only deny , but does also very largely and nervously disprove , christ's sufferings to have been the very same that the law requir'd ; we shall only transcribe what he offers to the purpose we are arguing upon — if ( says he ) the very same had been paid in the strict sense , there would have follow'd a deliverance ipso facto ; for the release immediately follows the payment of the same ; and it had been injustice to have requir'd any thing further , in order to the discharge of the offender , when strict and full payment had been made of what was in the obligation . but we see that faith and repentance , and the consequences of those two , are made conditions on our parts , in order to the enjoying the benefit of what christ has procur'd ; so that the release is not immediate upon the payment , but depends on a new contract , made in consideration of what christ has done and suffer'd for us . this is but a small part of his most clear and invincible arguings against christ's paying ( in his sufferings ) the very same that we were to have paid . and therefore we add , 4. had christ's sufferings been the very same thing that the law threatned , there had been , there cou'd have been no such thing as pardon ; we must have been discharg'd , set at liberty as before ; but we could not afterwards have been said to be pardon'd . to remit a debt or penalty , is a phrase that is never us'd but in reference to such from whom the one or other was due ; and does import a gracious discharge of a person ( either in whole , or in part ) from what in justice might have been requir'd . the civilians therefore explain it by relaxatio , indulgentia , &c. and this is most manifestly the import of the greek term [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] . proper remission that cannot be , that is not an act of grace and favour , but what in strict justice we are oblig'd to . therefore grotius does accurately distinguish betwixt liberation and remission ; allowing ( as he needs must ) that all remission is a liberation , or discharge ; but not that every discharge is or may be so call'd , remission : the law it self does of course acquit and discharge a person ( debtor or criminal ) that fully answers its obligation ; but when a discharge is granted , by the rector or creditor , out of meer pleasure , to one that according to the rigour of the law could not lay claim to it , here is proper remission . ubi idem solvitur ( scil . quod debetur ) aut a debitore , aut ab alio , nomine debitoris , nulla contingit remissio — si quis poenam pertulerit quam debet , liberatio hic erit ; remissio non erit . remitti aliquid recte dicitur , etiam ubi solutio accedit , sed talis quae sine actu voluntatis vim non habeat pariendae liberationis . where there is a payment of what was owing , there is no remission , no place for forgiveness ; the quondam debtor or criminal now neeeds it not , nor can the creditor or rector be said to have granted it ; the same debt cannot be both paid and forgiven . it is impossible ( as the bishop of worcester further urges ) to reconcile the freeness of remission , with the full payment of the very same , which was in the obligation . sect. 7. for the close therefore of this head , let it be consider'd , that mr. baxter ( in that very book to which our accuser refers us ) thus explains the question before us : it is not ( says he ) de materia debiti that we enquire , but de forma ; whether it was the same formally which we ow'd , and the obligation requir'd ? or , only the value , and not the same full debt ? also , you must know , that though we may well use the word [ debt ] in this case , because the scripture does , yet we must acknowledge it but a metaphor , and the proper terms are , whether christ's sufferings are the same thing that the law in its threatning requir'd , i. e. oblig'd to , and made due ; and so a fulfilling of that threatning ? and this with great aversness he does ( and very justly sure ) deny . now therefore if our accuser will not own christ's sufferings to be formally the same we were oblig'd to , in the sense in which mr. baxter denied it , why does he quarrel with him ? if he will , 't is but reasonable to expect , he should either disown and disprove the doctrine of satisfaction , of pardon of sin , &c. or , else make it appear , we have not justly charg'd these consequences upon him . chap. iv. that though our sins were the impulsive , meritorious cause of christ's sufferings , yet it was only more remotely that they were so ; and not so nearly and immediately as they would have been of our own . § . 1. since our accuser bears so hard upon this point , and seems most plausibly from hence to insinuate his spiteful and unchristian surmizes of us , i shall endeavour with all the freedom and plainness possible , to deliver our thoughts about this matter ; that it may appear what we deny , and what we own ; and that herein we do not in the least vary from the common faith of christians , or make the least approaches towards the socinian tents . sect. 2. we do therefore distinguish ( in reference to the controversie , whether our sins were the meritorious cause of christ's sufferings ) betwixt the name , and the thing intended by it ; as every one surely will do , that does not prefer strife before truth . if we can agree in this , or other controversies , in sense , words are not worthy of a contention on either side : 't is strange that what the apostle has said of such contentions , that just account he has given of their so base original , and sad effects , should not awe the spirits of all ( at least ) that make any pretensions to the christian name , 1 tim. 6. 4. for ( according to the order in which the apostle has plac'd it ) this doting about questions , that are but a strife of words , a [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] does presuppose the person to be proud , puff'd up with arrogance and self-conceit , as the word imports ; and withal extreamly ignorant , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one that knows nothing , that has no skill , no judgment , one that has never penetrated into things , that has look'd no further than their outside ; and therefore is he so exceeding sollicitous about words , for that he is acquainted with nothing more valuable about which to be concern'd ; he is sick , nay , he does insanire , if his word may not be allow'd [ such a sense the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to carry in it ] . neither are the effects of this logomachy less fruitful ; thereof ( as the apostle adds ) cometh envy , strife , railings , evil-surmizings , perverse disputings , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , such as are nothing to the purpose , that can serve no good end. i wou'd requite all this accuser's hard speeches of us , with a serious admonition that he wou'd carefully look into the text last mention'd , and if to that he adds , what does occur , in the carnality of religious contentions , p. 39 , 40 , 41 , 42. ( a tract well worthy of its most excellent author . ) perhaps , it may minister towards the cure of his so sickly mind ; and he may not hereafter so far dote upon an unscriptural word or phrase , or turn it to our reproach , that we are not alike fond of ' em . sect. 3. but to proceed , we challenge this accuser to instance any one particular thing plainly intended by the orthodox ( grotius , the bishop of worcester , &c. ) that use this phrase against the socinians ; i say , let him instance ( if he be able ) any one thing they intend by it , that is not readily agreed to by us . we have reason to suppose , that he himself may intend some-what more by it , than we are willing to allow ( and which in due place may be taken notice of ) : but we cannot find that they thereby design ( in general ) to express any thing more , than that the sufferings of christ had a respect to sin , to our sins , as the ground or reason of 'em ; they were the assumed cause of 'em ; he suffer'd for , or on the account of our sins . now , whereas it may be difficult to conceive how , or which way our sins cou'd influence his sufferings in such sort , as that he shou'd be said to suffer for our sins , to die for our sins : what they say for the clearing this relation that our sins had to the sufferings of christ , as an antecedent , procuring cause ( for we meddle not now with the other respect they bear to 'em as a final cause ; though he also suffer'd for our sins , so as in a proper sense to expiate , and make atonement for 'em ) i say , the whole of what they offer , for the clearing the relation our sins had to christ's sufferings , as their antecedent procuring cause , may ( so far as i have yet observ'd ) be reduc'd to the following particulars , viz. sect. 4. i. our sins , both in the nature of the thing , and according to the constitution of the divine law , deserv'd death , eternal death , rom. 1. 32. this was what they had render'd our due ; they were ( in the strictest and most proper sense ) meritorious of our own sufferings . had we lain eternally under the avenging wrath of god , it cou'd not have been said , with truth , that he had done us any wrong ; it wou'd have been but the wages we had earn'd , rom. 6. 23. and what apostate angels do actually undergo . ii. hereupon ( death being the demerit of our sin ) it follows , that we must of necessity suffer , unless we be forgiven ; for no one ( surely ) will , or can imagine , that it might be avoided by our own power or policy ( whether alone , or in conjunction with any other creature , or creatures ) : is it possible we shou'd either hide from god's all-seeing eye , or prevail against his all-powerful hand ! we cannot therefore escape against , or without the divine pleasure . now , a liberation , a deliverance from deserved wrath , that does depend upon , and derive from the divine will and pleasure , is most proper remission , as has been before said . and , how is to be conceiv'd , that the miseries which the law threatned , and we had deserv'd by our sins , cou'd otherwise possibly be avoided , than by vertue of such an intervening act of the divine will , whereby the penalty is graciously remitted . iii. several things concurr'd to render it unmeet , that god should meerly pardon ; that he should so forgive the sinner , as not to leave ( one way or other ) any severe marks of his displeasure upon sin . he did retain ( in the heighth of his displeasure ) such a love of benevolence , as did incline him to commiserate the case of lapsed , sinful man ; and ( in some befitting way ) to re-admit him into favour . but it was highly fit and necessary , it shou'd be in such a way as shou'd both duly provide for the honour of god , and be most apt to deter and affright men from sinning . due regard must be had to both these ; the sinner cou'd not be forgiven , unless ( consistently therewith ) the honour of god cou'd be secur'd , and sin render'd frightful , and to be dreaded by us . now in reference to the former ; the honour of god did require , that if he pardon sinners , it shou'd be in such a way , as shou'd manifestly vindicate and acquit him , from the reflections that are not uncommon upon such occasions . 't is a very usual and known case , in humane governments , that the soveraign's reputation suffers by too easie pardons : in the case before us , it is exceeding plain , that the honour of god's power and wisdom , but specially of his holiness and justice , were to be provided for ; whilst he magnify'd his mercy in our forgiveness . 1. whereas nothing is more common , than for too easie pardons to be imputed to a governour , as an evidence of his weakness and want of power ; it was a most condecent and becoming thing , that god should pardon in such a way , as yet shou'd manifest his power ; that it might appear , he was not afraid , or unable to vindicate his injur'd law ; that he did not forgive , through a meer want of power to punish . 2. it was equally fit and necessary , that he should also vindicate the honour of his wisdom , and not by a light and easie pardon tempt the world to impeach him of levity and folly ; as if he had rashly and unadvisedly made a law , of the consequences whereof he was not aware ; and therefore was afterwards oblig'd to change his mind , and indemnifie the transgressors , without any compensation . 3. yea , a meer pardon would also have reflected upon his holiness ; it was therefore necessary that god ( for the vindication of his essential purity ) shou'd make it appear , that he hated sin , though he lov'd the sinner ; that men might not look upon him to be a god that has pleasure in iniquity ( the direct contrary to what he has declar'd of himself , psal . 5. 4. ) neither yet , as if he was indifferently affected towards it . he is ( as we are assur'd ) of purer eyes than to behold iniquity , i. e. so as to allow , or not to be displeas'd at it , hab. 1. 13. this holiness of his , is that which gives a most adorable and conspicuous beauty and lustre to all his other perfections , he is glorious in holiness , exod. 15. 11. and therefore it cou'd be no way meet , that the honour of this attribute should be neglected , or post-pon'd to our safety : 't were better that ten thousand worlds should perish , than that the glory of god's holiness be stain'd : but how shall it be vindicated , if sin be absolutely remitted ! that connexion we find betwixt his holiness , and his not forgiving sin , josh . 24. 19. does very plainly intimate , that the holiness of god is a bar that lies in the way of pardon , that does ( as it were ) oblige god not to give out pardons too easily ; not to pardon absolutely , or without due provision made for the demonstrating his antipathy against sin ; that in his eye ( as well as in its own nature ) 't is an abominable thing , what his soul hates , jer. 44. 4. 4. it was further necessary , that the reputation of his governing justice , shou'd also be consulted . god ( consider'd as a governour ) is necessarily just , cannot but be so : how monstrous a sound wou'd these two words conjoyn'd carry in 'em [ an unjust god ! ] they do mutually destroy and subvert each other ; he that is god cannot be unjust ; and that being that is unjust , for that very reason cannot possibly be god. now this justice of god , not only has place in the conferring promised rewards , but also in the executing threatned penalties : of the former , no one makes a doubt ; 't is the latter therefore that only needs to be clear'd : and how plain is it that even the punishment of sin is still mention'd as an act of justice , rom. 3. 8. — 2. 5. 2 thess . 1. 6. heb. 2. 2. rev. 16. 5. 7. — 19. 2. but though in the nature of the thing , and from these texts it is most evident , that when god punishes sin , he does it justly ; it may yet be a doubtful case with some , whether , or how far his justice obliges him to punish it ? and that it does oblige him in some cases , surely shou'd be agreed ; for that we cannot form a notion of rectoral justice , that does not import and carry in it a difference betwixt the righteous and the wicked in its distributions ; it will not admit , that all be alike treated : the wise man therefore complains of this , as one of the great evils of our world , that there be righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked , and wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous , eccles . 8. 14. but is certain it shall not ( at last ) be well with 'em , v. 13. god has declar'd this justifying the wicked in humane judicatures , to be an abomination to him , prov. 17. 15. and has accordingly denounc'd a woe against it , isa . 5. 23. and therefore surely it can have no place with him. besides that in reference to himself , we are assur'd , that he is no respecter of persons in judgment , rom. 2. 11. which text is the more considerable , for that the apostle does there alledge this as an argument to evince , that god will render to every man according to his works , and thereby manifest his judgment to be righteous , v. 5. 6. intimating that his justice does consist therein , viz. in rendring to every one according to his works ; his justice obliges him thereto : now , that we may not mistakingly imagine , that he intends it only of the good that is their due , he carefully distinguishes betwixt good and bad , and applies this exercise of justice to both — not only will he ( as justice obliges him ) render glory , honour , and peace to every man that worketh good , but also ( as the same justice obliges ) tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that does evil , ver . 9. 10. not upon one , or two , but every one ; for there is no respect of persons with god. and ( to give this yet the greater force ) we find it conjoyn'd with the denial of any iniquity in god , 2 chron. 19. 7. there is no iniquity with the lord our god , nor respect of persons . signifying thereby , that shou'd god ( as a ruler ) deal unequally with persons , whose cases are the same ; or deal alike with persons , whose cases are differing ( either of which ways there wou'd be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a respect of persons ) he wou'd be chargeable with iniquity : 't is as certain therefore that god cannot but severely animadvert upon sin , as that there can be no iniquity in him. but what need we further proof , while crellius himself owns it , that the justice of god in some cases oblige him to punish . nec illud negamus , rectitudinem ac justitiam dei , nonnunquam eum ad peccata punienda movere ; eorum nempe , &c. — quales sunt homines non-resipiscentes , atque in peccatis contumaciter perseverantes , &c. — maxime , si ipsum peccati genus in quo persistunt , insignem animi malitiam , aut apertum divinae majestatis contemptum spiret . and he not only grants this ( which yet , as we may hereafter make appear , does plainly infer the whole of what he had been pleading against ) but he does also nervously prove it in the immediately following words , si enim hujusmodi hominibus venia concederetur , facile supremi rectoris majestas ( ex qua ordo universitatis pendet ; ) & legum , ab ipso latarum , authoritas evilesceret ; & gloria ipsius , quae praecipuus operum ejus finis est , minueretur . to the same purpose he speaks again : non resipiscentes paena non liber are — positis quibusdam finibus quos deus sibi in regendis hominibus prefixit , factu necessarium , &c. now upon these concessions of crellius , it may be inferr'd , that supposing god to rule us by his laws , we must conceive of him as necessarily oblig'd to punish the impenitent ; but , why is he so necessitated to punish ? that the honour of his majesty , and the authority of his law may be maintain'd : and that principle ( as we may call it ) that in god which obliges him for these ends to punish the impenitent , the contumacious , he allows to be his justice . now therefore if crellius will consist with himself , i think he needs must own , that unless god govern the world so , as to attain the great ends of government , he would not be just ; and that those ends cannot be attain'd , unless sin be punish'd , will easily be made appear , if any one shou'd make a doubt of it ; but the further consideration of this , is more properly to be reserv'd , till we meet with it in the second part of this discourse . in the mean time , let it be observ'd , how far we have proceeded ; and these things seem to be very plain , viz. that god is ( in a most proper sense ) the governour of intelligent creatures ; that ( as such ) he is most necessarily just ; that his justice does respect the distribution of rewards and punishments , and that however in reference either to rewards or punishments , it may not always oblige him to execute strictly what the very letter of the law imports ; yet will it not admit , either in reference to the one or other , of any such relaxation or change , as wou'd not well consist with , and secure the great ends of threatnings or promises . this governing justice therefore was a further bar in the way of a meer pardon ; god could not ( consistently herewith ) absolutely pardon : if the very penalty threatned be not inflicted , justice it self requir'd that an equivalent should , i. e. such sufferings as should as well attain the ends of the law , as the threatned penalty it self should . thus , in respect of god , his honour , the honour of his power , wisdom , holiness , and governing justice , did necessarily require , that if god pardon the sinner , he should yet ( one way or other ) leave such marks of his displeasure upon sin , as shou'd as effectually support the authority , and secure the ends of his government , as if the sinner himself had suffer'd according to the utmost rigour of the law. and in reference also , to the latter thing mention'd , i. e. that we be discourag'd and affrighted from sinning ; in order thereto , it was alike necessary , that sin shou'd with great severity be animadverted on ; if no punishment was inflicted , or none proportion'd to the offence , what shou'd keep the world in awe , or make 'em afraid of sinning yet again ? crimes unpunish'd are too much countenanc'd at least , if they be not thereby authoriz'd . we see the meer delay of punishment is very frequently abus'd to this purpose , eccles . 8. 11. because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily , therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in 'em to do evil . and if meer forbearance have this effect , what ( may we suppose ) wou'd have been the consequence of absolute forgiveness ? so that we conclude god cou'd not ( consistently with either his own honour , or our safety ) pardon sin without a satisfaction ; it was necessary that sufferings shou'd be insisted on ; and such sufferings as shou'd be equivalent to what was threatned , sufferings that were adapted to answer the ends of the law and government , as well , or better than the sufferings of sinners themselves . hereupon , iv. in order to our remission , the sufferings of christ were insisted on by the father , and agreed to by the son ; by his sufferings it was effected , brought to pass , that sin might be remitted , without either reflecting any dishonour upon god , or ( in the least ) encouraging any to sin. his sufferings did fully answer all the exigencies of our case ; and therefore this constitution is mention'd by the apostle as a very condecent and becoming one , heb. 2. 10. supposing so gracious an intendment towards us , that god design'd to put us into the hand of christ , that he might bring us to glory , it was what well became god , to make the captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings . but what condecency or becomingness wou'd there have been in it ; if sin might have been pardon'd , and the sinner sav'd as well without it ? nay , the death of christ was therefore insisted on , that thereby god's justice might be demonstrated , rom. 3. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; 't is doubled to give it the greater emphasis . god would have been just , and sufficiently have demonstrated himself to be so , if he had infficted upon us the vengeance that was threatned ; but supposing that he pardon us , that he justifie sinners ( though penitent believers ) his justice might well be call'd in question , unless satisfaction be first made for our sins ; therefore does the apostle so industriously urge and inculcate this over and over , as what he would not , by any means , have overlook'd — christ therefore was a propitiatory-sacrifice , that god's justice might be demonstrated , that it might clearly be demonstrated to the world ; and the next words rise yet higher , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that he might be ( and not only that he might appear to be the ) just , as if , upon the supposal of his justifying sinners , he cou'd not otherwise be just . so that though meer remission wou'd have well consisted with mercy alone ; or the damnation of all apostate sinners with justice alone ; yet if god wou'd be merciful to sinners , he must also be just ; and that he cou'd not be , unless he so far , and in such a way punish sin , as will suffice to keep up his own honour and authority , and effectually to discourage sin : and hence it was that christ became the propitiation for our sins . — wherefore , v. and in the last place , the sufferings of christ being thus insisted on , in order to his being a successful mediator with god for sinners , he is therefore said to have died for us , and for our sins . our sins render'd suffering necessary : god thereupon insists on suffering , without shedding of blood he will allow no remission : hereupon christ consents to die , and accordingly dies a sacrifice for us , bears our sins , carries our griefs , &c. sect. 5. and this is that relation betwixt our sins and the sufferings of christ , which is intended to be express'd by grotius , and others , when they say , our sins were the meritorious cause of his sufferings , i. e. they deserv'd death , and so bound us over to it , as that we cou'd not be exempted from it , without a satisfaction , without some-what equivalent to our dying ; in which exigency christ dies for us . i cannot find that they ( or , which with every christian surely shou'd yet be of greater weight , that the scriptures themselves ) do mean any thing more . thus grotius , causa altera , quae deum movit sunt peccata nostra paenam commerentia . he does not mean that they deserv'd christ shou'd be punished ; but they so bound us over to punishment , that unless christ die for 'em , we cou'd not salva divinae justitiae demonstratione , a paena mortis aeternae liberari , as he had a few lines before expressed himself . and therefore having mention'd that text a few pages forward , gal. 2. 21. if righteousness be by the law , then christ died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , without a cause , he adds , locus ipse pauli , de quo agimus , aliam ( quam antecedentem ) causam intelligi non patitur — and a little further adds ; causam propriam , cur se tradiderit christus , mortuusque sit , hanc esse , quod nos per legem justi non essemus , sed rei paenae ; nostra ergo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 causa est antecedens mortis christi . to which he adds , p. 36. non potest alicujus actionis causa impellens esse meritoria , nisi & finis sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and cap. 5. p. 113 , 114. merebantur peccata nostra ut paena exigeretur : quod vero paena in christum collata fuerit , hoc ita ad dei & christi voluntatem referimus , ut ea quoque voluntas causas suas habeat , non in merito christi ( qui peccatum cum non nosset , a deo peccatum factus est ) sed in summa christi aptitudine ad statuendum insigne exemplum , &c. so that whoever allows , that our sins deserv'd punishment , and so bound us over to eternal death , as that we cou'd not be exempted from it , with safety to the divine justice , unless satisfaction be made ; that christ died for this end , by satisfying divine justice to procure our remission ; and that his death therefore was antecedently thus caused by our sin , and was inflicted for an example , to deterr us from sin ; i say , whoever agrees to this ( so far as i can find ) admits of all that grotius ever design'd , when he calls our sins the meritorious cause of christ's sufferings . and so also the bishop of worcester ; our sins , as an impulsive cause , are to be consider'd , as they are so displeasing to god ; that it was necessary for the vindication of his honour , and the deterring the world from sin , that no less a sacrifice of atonement shou'd be offer'd , than the blood of the son of god. sect. 6. and to all this we do readily agree ; yea , how fully has mr. baxter spoken to this sense , particularly in his reasons of the christian religion , part i. cap. 15. sect. 9. p. 161 , 162 , 163. so also part ii. c. 4. § . 6. p. 232. and c. 5. § . 10. p. 253 , 254. the passages are too large to transcribe . but he has there very plainly intimated , that god neither has , nor cou'd pardon sinners without such a sacrifice , or substitute-means , as might preserve the honour of his law and government , and the future innoceney of his subjects , as well as their punishment in the full sense of the law wou'd have done . sect. 7. now when the whole matter or thing is agreed to , all that the orthodox intend by that phrase , 't is a very insipid thing for any one vehemently to contend what word or name to call it by : what if one call our sins the meritorious cause , another the promeritorious cause , another the occasion of christ's sufferings ; whilst they are all agreed as to the reference they had to 'em : but if any one by a meritorious cause intend more than what is abovesaid , or by an occasion intend less , it may with just reason be concluded , they are mistaken with the antinomians in the one , or with the socinians in the other extream . sect. 8. we blame no one therefore meerly for calling our sins the meritorious cause of christ's sufferings ; nay , mr. baxter himself sometimes calls 'em so , the meritorious , or pro-meritorious cause . confession of faith , p. 153. the remote , or assum'd cause . life of faith , p. 311. and p. 321. he allows , that our sins lay on christ as the assum'd meritorious cause of his sufferings . so in his methodus theologiae — ad peccatum relationem habent ( speaking of the sufferings of christ ) ut ad occasionem , & ut ad causam meritoriam remotam , & si non proximam . p. iii. c. 1. determ . 5. p. 38. and in that other book to which our accuser refers us , he thus expresses his sense , at his very entring upon this point ? when he ( christ ) is said to die [ for our sins ] it may be understood — for our sins as the pro-meritorious procuring cause of his suffering , through his own undertaking to bear what they deserv'd : or , if any think it fitter to call 'em the occasion , than the meritorious cause , they may . universal redempt . p. 5. and the very last words that i have observ'd him to use of this matter ( in that last-mention'd tract ) are these : the strictest sense in which he ( christ ) is said to die for men , is , to die in their stead ; or to die for their sins as the procuring cause , on his own undertaking : yield this once , and we shall much easiler agree , &c. ibid. p. 91. which two passages do so inclose and explicate all the rest , that for a person to represent any of the intermediate passages to adiffering and disadvantageous sense , is what deserves a censure so severe , as we did not think fit to express , otherwise than by a significant silence . sect. 9. but though we allow others their liberty , yet ( accurately speaking ) it must be said , that all that reference that our sins had to the sufferings of christ , does not amount to a proper meritorious cause : nor did grotius ever think it did ; whatever our accuser may imagine ; for though he does affirm ( as is intimated , appeal , p. 6. ) that praeter dei & christi voluntatem , datur causa antecedens legitima mortis christi : yet he distinguishes once and again , betwixt punishment taken personally , and taken impersonally : by punishment taken personally , he intends the sufferings of christ , consider'd as his ; by punishment taken impersonally , he means the sufferings of christ consider'd only as sufferings : and he expresly tells us , that our sins were only the meritorious cause of the sufferings of christ in this latter sense . for thus he speaks , illud quoque reprehensione indiget quod dicit socinus , praeter dei , & ipsius christi voluntatem non posse ullam legitimam causam reddi mortis christi , nisi dicamus christum meritum fuisse ut moreretur : nam inest quidem in antecedente causa meritum , ut supra diximus , sed impersonaliter ; merebantur enim peccata nostra ut paena exigeretur , &c. cap. 5. p. 113. our sins only did deserve sufferings , and those of such a value , and cou'd not be remitted , unless such a compensation was made to divine justice for 'em ; but they never did deserve that christ should die ; they made it necessary , supposing we be redeem'd , that it be by such a price ; but they did not deserve that we shou'd be redeem'd with his precious blood : all that grotius asserts is , that death was deserv'd , he no where says that christ's death was so . § . 10. and this is the true reason why we are not fond of the phrase [ a meritorious cause ] because it wou'd intimate , christ's sufferings were deserv'd : now if they were deserv'd , it must either be allow'd , that they were the very thing that the law threatned , or we ( by our sins ) deserv'd god shou'd save and ransom us by such sufferings . if either of these be true , our sins may then be said to be the meritorious , the proper meritorious cause of christ's sufferings , as our accuser wou'd have 'em ; but cannot be strictly and truly so , otherwise than upon the one , or the other of these principles . in that they deserv'd such sufferings for weight , and cou'd not be remitted without such sufferings , and christ hereupon consented to suffer for 'em , they may be call'd the meritorious cause of his sufferings , or , much more fitly , the ground , the reason , the assum'd cause , the pro-meritorious , or quasi-meritorious cause of his sufferings : but the real , proper meritorious cause of 'em they cou'd not be , unless they in a strict and proper sense deserv'd that christ shou'd die . now the death of christ is considerable under a two-fold notion , either as a curse or blessing . as inflicted upon him , 't was a most dreadful curse : as it was our ransom , the price of our redemption , it was and is a most invaluable blessing . if our sins therefore deserv'd the death of christ , it must be either in the one , or the other of these respects : but no one surely will dare to say , that our sins deserv'd such a ransom ; that god in giving his son to be the saviour of the world , gave us no more than we deserv'd ; this were egregious blasphemy , against the brightest and most amazing instance of love , with which god ever bless'd the world. § . 11. it remains then , that ( supposing our sins the proper meritorious cause of christ's death ) they did deserve it as a curse to be inflicted upon him , tho' not as a blessing influential upon us . and 't is not conceivable how our sins cou'd so deserve the death of christ , unless this be suppos'd to be the very thing threatned in the law ; [ if thou sinnest , christ shall die ] : and this our accuser sometimes seems to intend ; what else can he possibly mean , when he tells us , appeal , p. 25. if christ's obligation to suffer did not result from this law ( i. e. the law which we had violated ) our sins were not the impulsive cause of his sufferings : or , if it did not immediately , our sins were but the remote cause , or occasion ; not a meer impulsive , or proper meritorious cause of ' em . and p. 50. if christs sufferings be not ex obligatione legis ( we suppose he means the same law as before ) our sins cannot be their meritorious cause . and p. 41. whence its impossible ( i. e. if christ's sufferings arise not from the violated law , but from the mediatorial law , it s impossible ) sin shou'd be their meritorious cause . so that his sense shou'd be , that christ's sufferings were not , could not be , 't were impossible they shou'd be from our sins , as the proper meritorious cause , unless they did result , and immediately result from the violated law. and this is what we also say ; and therefore while he pleads for our sins being so properly , so immediately , the meritorious cause of christ's sufferings ; he must needs mean , that they did result , immediately result from the law when violated ; i. e. so soon as ever the law was violated , so soon as we had sinn'd , the law immediately lays hold on christ , binds him over to death ; and that it cou'd not do , unless he was threatned by it . here therefore i wou'd have manifested that the death of christ was not threatned by that law , but that i have already largely done it , both in the first and third chapters of this discourse : and our accuser himself has render'd it the less needful , by giving it as his true sense , that when the law was at first given to adam , christ was not in the obligation : it did not run [ thou , or thy surety for thee ] p. 5. of this very appeal . we shall therefore ( instead of perusing the matter further ) allow him leisure to bethink himself how these things will be made to consist together , that christ's obligation to suffer did immediately result from the law , and that yet the law did not include a surety : humanity it self ( and much more christianity ) obliging us to shew some pity , and not to press too hard a person that labours under the hardships of self-contradiction . § . 12. to sum up this head then , orthodoxness does not consist in words and phrases ; 't would be egregious weakness to imagine , that the controversies betwixt us and the socinians are only whether this , or the other word , or form of speaking , be most apt and expressive of that truth about which there is no difference : that which the bishop of worcester has observ'd , with a more particular respect to a change of persons , will admit a much more extensive application . it is not ( says he ) the use of the words , but the sense of 'em is to be enquir'd into . see his lordship's letter to mr. w. inserted in the answer to the report , p. 57. 't is not the bare word [ trinity ] that divides betwixt them and us in that point , or the term [ person ] or [ satisfaction ] or [ meritorious cause ] &c. but 't is the sense design'd to be express'd by those terms , in which they will not agree with us ; wou'd they allow the truth we plead for , that is wont to be express'd by those words ; they wou'd no longer be socinians ; nor wou'd any wise man perpetuate the contention with 'em , tho' they shou'd yet be unsatisfy'd as to the foremention'd phrases . our accuser therefore does not ( to use that right reverend persons words again ) discover his profound knowledge in these matters , if he think , as he says , ap. p. 39. that the heart of the controversie lies in asserting or denying our sins to be the properly meritorious cause of christ's sufferings : and if he know otherwise , and to design to impose upon those that do not , where is his ingenuity . 't is so far from being true , that the heart of the controversie lies here , that so far as i have yet observ'd , this very man is the first that ever asserted , our sins were the properly meritorious cause , &c. grotius , vossius , and the bishop of worcester , do indeed speak of 'em as the meritorious cause ; but how they explain themselves we have before manifested as to two of ' em . nor does vossius intend any thing more , than only that they are truly meritorious of sufferings , that they cou'd not be remitted without 'em ; and that in this exigency , christ consents to suffer for us ; whereupon he calls 'em the meritorious cause of his sufferings ; though he ( as grotius ) means it only of the sufferings he underwent , not of those sufferings as undergone by him. to this purpose we find him explaining himself ; punitio omnis qua talis , sive impersonaliter spectata , causam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habet justitiam dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 procatarctica vero causa sunt peccata , itidem impersonaliter , & in genere spectata , sine determinatione , &c. punitio vero , quae pro alio est , plane misericordiae divinae opus est : procatarctica vero causa sunt peccata nostra satisfactionem exigentia . vossi responsum ad judicium ravensperg . chap. 12. so that though they call 'em the meritorious cause of christ's sufferings , yet they plainly manifest , that they intend only they were meritorious of the sufferings he underwent ( abstractly consider'd ) and therefore may improperly be said to be meritorious of his sufferings ; but i no where find 'em asserting our sins to be the properly meritorious cause of christ's sufferings , much less fixing that as the point in controversie betwixt the orthodox and the socinians , whether they be to be so call'd , or not . nay , 't is not only not needful to use the phrase our accuser wou'd impose upon us , but ( unless carefully explain'd ) 't is very unsafe ; for that if the words be taken as they sound , they wou'd import that ( in a strict and proper sense ) our sins deserv'd that christ shou'd die : an assertion , that in a sense very obvious does amount to blasphemy , and ( without a manifest force put upon the words ) cannot possibly be a truth . chap. v. that though christ's sufferings may not unaptly be call'd a punishment , yet not in the full and proper sense in which the sufferings of the sinner himself might have been so calld . § . 1. in this point also , our accuser is as clamourous , as in the former ; and what has been said in the fore-going chapter will furnish out a just answer to all his cavils upon this head. he represents us , as if we did allow the sufferings of christ to be the punishment of sin , only so far , and in the same sense as crellius does , appeal , p. 27. but deny'd 'em to be a proper punishment ; and that therefore we are against the doctrine of christ's satisfaction , ap. p. 4. 10. and lest this shou'd not be enough to leave us under the reproach of socinianism , he represents this as the very parting point betwixt the orthodox and the socinians ; the heart of the controversie ( according to him ) lies in the asserting or denying — christ's sufferings to be properly penal , p. 39. and ( if he be not mistaken ) grotius , vossius , and the b. of worcester , are of the same mind . § . 2. but after all , what if it should appear , that the phrase is ambiguous ; that in one sense ( and which is plainly the sense of that very judicious and learned bishop , and others , that use the phrase ) it is true , that the sufferings of christ are a proper punishment ; and yet in another sense ( which shall appear to be the sense of mr. baxter , and those whose sentiments agree with his in this matter ) it is as true , that christ's sufferings are not a proper punishment , but analogically only to be so call'd : that the bishop never own'd it , nor any person of note , in the sense in which we deny it ; and that we do not , mr. baxter never did deny it , in the sense in which the bishop , ( and other famous defenders of the catholick faith against socinianism ) assert and plead for it . § . 3. to evince this , there needs nothing more than a just representation of their sense ; what the one and the other intend by a proper punishment , and this they themselves were best able to express : now then to constitute a proper punishment in the bishop's sense , there is no more needful , than that there be sufferings inflicted on the account of sin , to deter men from sinning , and to assert god's rights as a sovereign , and vindicate his honour to the world. whatsoever sufferings do answer all these ends of divine punishments , and are inflicted on the account of sin , have the proper notion of punishments in ' em . and again , whatever is inflicted on the account of sin , and with a design to shew god's severity against it , and thereby to deter others from the practice of it , has the proper notion of punishment in it . this is plainly the sense of that right reverend person , he means no more when he calls the sufferings of christ a proper punishment , than what is abovesaid . and to all this we cheerfully consent . § . 4. but mr. baxter , when he denies the sufferings of christ to have been a proper punishment , 't is plain , he takes punishment in the strictest sense , as it does connote the suffering person to have sinned ; and intends no more by it than that christ was not himself a sinner . poena in sensu primo & famosissimo est ipsius delinquentis malum naturale . — concludendum est . christus non-fuit rever a peccator ; ideoque ; poenam sensu primo & famosissimo sic dictam non dedit . and this is no more than what every one must agree to ; that supposing it be taken into the notion of punishment , that the snffering be inflicted upon one that has sinned , christ's sufferings were not a proper punishment . nor was mr. baxter the only person that apprehended this to be the most strict and proper notion of punishment , the learned pufendorf ( after grotius , and other civilians ) does upon this very principle assert , that however one man may suffer , yet he cannot ( properly speaking ) be punish'd for another's sin. paenae vocari nequit dolor ille aut damnum , qui in illos redundat , qui nihil deliquerunt — & qui in altero paenae rationem habiturus est dolor aut damnum , delictum proprium tanquam causam respicere debet . unde paena non est dolor ille , quem quis ex paenae propinqui aut amici sui capit , nisi ipse fo rs ad istius delictum concurrerit , &c. to the same purpose he also speaks in his larger tract ; illos quidem , qui revera de reatu delicti participant , pro ratione influxus ad facinus aliquod puniri posse , extra dubium est ; cum iidem non alienum , sed proprium delictum luant . de jure naturae & gent. lib. viii . c. 3. § . 28. p. 831. but § . 30. p. 834. he adds , de coetero firmum manet istud , in foro humano , ob delictum alienum , de quo nulla ratione quis participavit , recte aliquem puniri non posse , &c. and the famous dr. ames includes it expresly in the notion of punishment , not only that it be some evil inflicted for or on the account of sin , but also that it be inflicted upon the sinner himself . paenae est malum peccatori propter peccatum inflictum . amesii medulla theol. lib. 1. c. 12. § . 10. p. ( mihi ) 56. and therefore he adds , § . 14. paena igitur proprie dicta non habet locum , nisi in creaturis intelligentibus , in quibus etiam peccatum reperitur . § . 5. this therefore is the only question that can lie betwixt us and our accuser , whether christ was really a sinner , or not ? if not ( which we hope our accuser himself will not scruple to say with us ) then his sufferings were not a punishment , in that most full and proper sense , in which the sufferings inflicted on sinnners themselves are so call'd . we willingly allow , that they were as properly punishments , as it was possible the sufferings of one , who was himself no sinner , cou'd be ; but we dare not say , that christ was a sinner : and therefore , though he suffer'd for sin , yet the sin ( since it was not his own ) did not so nearly and immediately render christ liable to suffering , as it did the sinner himself . death was not due to christ immediately upon our having sinn'd ; the law did not threaten christ [ if men sin , thou shalt die ] : after we had sinned , there was no one obnoxious to suffering for it besides our selves , 'till christ voluntarily undertook to suffer ; he was not antecedently oblig'd , but ( when he might have refus'd ) he freely chose to die for us , he gave himself for our sins , gal. 1. 4. he gave himself a ransom for us , 1 tim. 2. 6. § . 6. so that here is a vast difference betwixt the sufferings of christ , and the sufferings of a sinner . the sinner , and christ do indeed each suffer on the account of sin , so far they agree ; but the sinner suffers for his own sin , christ for the sins of others ; the sinner suffers deservedly , he receives the due reward of his deeds , luk. 23. 41. but christ's sufferings were undeserv'd , he having done nothing amiss : the sinners sufferings were threatned by the law ; but where do we find any threatning against christ : the sinners sufferings are inflicted without and against his consent ; but christ's were the matter of his free choice , what he might have refus'd , &c. § . 7. upon which , and other like grounds , how plain is it , that the sufferings of christ are not in all respects commensurate to the sufferings of sinners ; and that however they have such a respect to sin , on account whereof they may not unaptly be call'd punishments ( as mr. baxter himself asserts , method . theol. part iii. p. 38. ) yet they have not altogether the same respect to sin , as the sinners own sufferings have , or would have had ( as appears before ) and therefore when we call 'em punishments , we must not take so much into the notion of punishment as when we call the sinners own sufferings by that name . § . 8. so that when the sufferings of christ are compar'd with those of sinners , we say , they are less properly and analogically call'd punishments not in that primary and most famous sense in which the sinners own sufferings are so call'd : and yet when we compare the same sufferings with meer calamities , that have no relation to sin , or guilt ; we say , they are not unaptly , but properly enough to be call'd punishments , for that they had such a respect to sin , as has been before-said . in this mr. baxter is plain : and therefore elsewhere asserts , that his ( i. e. christs ) sufferings were truly punishments because for sin , though not for his own ; yet not punishments , in so full and strict a sense as ours , who suffer for our own sins . § . 9. and hence it appears , that our accuser has with no just reason , represented mr. baxter as agreeing with crellius in this matter : crellius ( says he ) says the same , only with this explication , viz. that it must be taken materially and improperly which is the sense in which mr. baxter — takes it . appeal , p. 27. but besides that mr. baxter ( so far as yet appears ) no where says , that the sufferings of christ are punishments materially only , ( as this accuser intimates ) nay , on the contrary , he argues from their participating in the formal reason of punishment , that they may properly enough be so call'd , quoad nomen vero , non inepte poena dicuntur , dum ad peccatum habent , relationem &c. baxter ubi supra . i say , besides this , any considering and unprejudic'd reader will easily see , cannot but observe , that if at any time they happen both to use one and the same term , they yet intend it in a vastly differing sense . so if crellius allow christ's sufferings to be punishments improperly so call'd ; it is most evident he thereby excludes that respect they had to sin , to our sin , which we have in the fore-going chapter asserted and clear'd , and in reference to which mr. baxter with the bishop of worcester , and all the orthodox are agreed : and so also when he calls our sins the occasion of christ's sufferings , he means it not as mr. baxter does , of such an occasion as was ( so far as the nature of the thing will admit ) a meritorious cause of 'em also . and it may as well be said that crellius says the same with grotius , and the bishop , because he sometimes calls our sins the impulsive cause of christ's sufferings ; and that his sense is the same with their's , because sometimes his words are so ; and therefore also , that their sense is the same with his , and thereupon that they are socinians : i say , there is the same reason why they might also , as well as mr. baxter , be thus represented by our accuser , for that they also sometimes use crellius's words without any scruple . § . 10. nor is it any uncommon thing , for several persons , to use the same words in differing senses : our accuser himself affords us a most convincing instance to this purpose , in reference to the very matter before us . the sufferings of christ are to be consider'd as a punishment of sin , a proper punishment . in the expression the bishop of worcester , and our accuser are agreed ; but that notwithstanding , the sense intended by the one , and the other is not the same . he pretends indeed p. 38. that it is not the words and phrases , but his lordship 's sound sence , that he contends for ; but if that were all he would have , there was no occasion for him to contend at all ; that having never ( by those he accuses ) been call'd in question : where he apprehended a difference betwixt his lordship and mr. baxter at the most , it could be but a verbal one , that their sence , when they explain themselves , does well agree , has been already manifested ; and since mr. baxter did , and we do most entirely agree , that christ's suffeings were a proper punishment , according to the notion his lordship , gives us of such a punishment , we may surely hope for an end of this contention . § . 11. only for a close , i would remark it to our accuser , that whilst ( either through prejudice , or inadvertency ) he groundlesly charges us as differing from that judicious and right reverend person ; he does himself give occasion , for any one to return back the charge , with greatest justice , upon him . for under the pretence , that christ's sufferings were a proper punishment ( for which he alledges the bishop of worcester ) he wou'd have 'em to be the very punishment we had deserv'd , the very punishment the law threatned , punishment inflicted by vertue of the sanction of the violated law. v. p. 23 , 26 , 28 , 29 , &c. this notion almost runs throughout his appeal . but this is so far from being the sound sense , in which his lordship has us'd this expression , that 't is what he does most directly dispute against . § . 12. and whereas he does once and again insinuate , that 't is necessary christ's sufferings should be truly and properly penal ( we must suppose he means it in his own , not in the bishop's sense ) in order to their being a proper satisfaction to god's justice for our sins : 't is ( as has bin already , in some measure , manifested ) utterly subversive of the true , and universally own'd doctrine of christ's satisfaction , to assert his sufferings to have been penal , in any such sense , as would inferr or include their having been inflicted by vertue of the violated law , undergone in the proper person of sinners , their having been formally the same we were oblig'd to , and most immediately and properly deserv'd by our sins ; while yet this is what he every where pleads for : but of this point of satisfaction we design ( god assisting ) to treat more distinctly and at large hereafter . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a55108-e3830 of the sufferings of christ , last edition , p. 14. dr. owen , on psal . cxxx . p. 48. elementa jurisprud . p. 1. §. 7 , 8. lexic . jurid . sub tit. personae . sub tit. caput . elementa jurisprud . p. 19. de jure naturae & gentium , lib. 1. cap. 1 §. 12. to the same purpose he also speaks . elem , jurisp . lib. 1 , def. 4. treatise of justif . righteous . part i. p. 58. treat . of justifying righteous . page 56. ibid. p. 58. ibid , p. 56. de jure nat. & gent. lib. 1 , cap. 1. §. 12. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the greek , as also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the hebrew , do admit of two very differing senses ; they signifie either sin it self , or a sin-offering , a sacrifice for sin ; as cannot be unknown to any that are conversant with the scriptures of the old testament and the new , in the languages in which they were endited by the inspir'd penmen ; the instances to that purpose are too numerous to be over-look'd ; i 'll name a few , isa . 53. 10. when he shall make his soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an offering for sin ; so we read it there , and in lev. 7. this is the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( not of the sin , but ) of the sin-offering , verse 1. so verse 2. they shall kill , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin-offering , the blood thereof shall he sprinkle , &c. so verse 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a sin-offering . once more , 1 sam. 6. 3 , 4. if ye send away the ark of the god of israel , send it not empty , but in any wise return him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( not sin but ) a sin-offering — then said they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what shall be the sin-offering ; which you find afterwards specified in that verse . so for the other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how promiscuously is it us'd in that one chapter , lev. 4. if any one of the common people , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there it is commit a sin , verse 27. and so again , ver . 28. if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his sin which he hath sinned , come to his knowledge , then he shall bring his offering [ a kid , &c. ] for his sin which he hath sinn'd ; there you have the same word again . yet in the very next verse the sense of the word is chang'd , and that very kid which is offer'd , is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — so verse 29. and he shall lay his hand upon the head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( 't is not now to be read of the sin , but ) of the sin-offering : and slay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin-offering : the very word that , but the verse before , signify'd sin it self . the same word you have again twice for a sin-offering , ver . 33. and again , the priest shall take of the blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the sin-offering , ver . 34. it wou'd be endless to refer you to the many other places of scripture , where the same observation would occur ; i 'll therefore only mention one text more ( which may help to evince the usefulness hereof in interpreting several difficult texts of scripture ) and that is , hos . 4. 8. they eat up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin of my people ; so we read it ; but it were scarce possible , to devise any tolerable sense that the words cou'd be capable of , according to that reading ; yet what we have observ'd , renders 'em exceeding easie and plain ; all the difficulty dis-appears when you read , they eat up the sin-offering of my people ; and by this reading of the words , the latter part of the verse may be also most satisfactorily accounted for ; they set their heart on their iniquity ; i. e. they rejoicé at , or are pleas'd with it . thus does the very ingenious and reverend bishop of salisbury comment upon the words : that corrupt race of priests ( says he ) attended still upon the temple , and offer'd up the sin-offering , and feasted upon their portion : — and because of the advantage this brought 'em , they were glad at the abounding of sin , &c. discourse of the pastoral care , p. 23. ( a tract so very valuable and useful , that having mention'd it , i cou'd not forbear to recommend it , though i cou'd wish what is said of praying by the spirit , p. 199 , 200. were re-view'd by the very reverend author , and some-what more distinctly explain'd ; that he might not seem to reflect upon praying by the spirit it self , when ( i suppose ) he only intends to animadvert upon some persons mistaken apprehensions of it ; the same i cou'd also wish in reference to one or two passages in that book which i may not now stay to mention . now the words that the lxx . use in those places , are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — but we shall only take notice of the second of those words , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] and sometimes indeed by a reduplicated article , or by a preposition , they plainly refer to some or other word that is understood . so we read in that 4th chap. of leviticus , sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and chap. 6. ver . 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — where the word immediately fore-going is most probably referr'd to , i. e. in one place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the she-goat , in another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the be-goat ; and in the third , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the burnt-offering ; sometimes the phrase is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for sin , where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sacrifice , is plainly enough intimated , though not express'd : yet sometimes again there is nothing more than the bare word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sin , express'd , where yet a sin-offering must needs be meant ; for instance , lev. 4. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it is ( not a sin , but ) a sin-offering for the congregation . and lev. 6. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , this is the law ( surely not that they should sin by , but that they should sacrifice according to ) the law of the sin-offering . so also in that mention'd hos . 4. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they eat ( not the sins , for how cou'd that be done , but ) the sin-offering of the people . and the new testament stile is generally conform'd to the septuagint : thus you read here also , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , heb. 10. 6. in burnt-offerings , and for sin ( i. e. and in sacrifices for sin , as we render it ) thou hast had no pleasure . and rom. 8. 3. we are told , that god condemn'd sin in the flesh of christ ; but how , which way ? by sending him in our likeness , to die a sacrifice for sin. and since the word will as well signifie a sacrifice for sin , as sin it self , it should surely be readily agreed to intend only a sacrifice for sin , in that 2 cor. 5. 20. he made him to be a sin-offering for us , &c. nor does any thing in the context discountenance this reading — he that knew no sin , was not a sinner , what should hinder but he might be ( nay , for that very reason was he the fitter to be ) made a sin-offering for us : i cou'd not therefore read mr. cross's objection , without a smile , when he alledges against our thus interpreting sin for a sin-offering ; that then sin wou'd be us'd equivocally in differing senses ; and suppose it be , what would the ill consequence be ? why , he tells you , the apostle then would bring a sophism instead of an argument . he knew no sin properly , ergo , he was made sin. cross 's two sermons on justification and imputed righteousness , p. 32. now what if this text be a naked assertion , and not design'd for an argument , what sophistry would there be in it , if the apostle barely tell us , he that was no sinner himself , was yet made a sacrifice for our sin. but if he will have no argument of it , 't will be as weak and impertinent , though the words should be interpreted according to his mind : he knew no sin properly , ergo , he was made sin ; i see no consequence in it , whether the phrase bare his sense or ours . as to what he next alledges , p. 33. from its opposition to righteousness , it signifies as little ; for that the apostle is not here ( there is no appearing proof that he is ) critically contradistinguishing christ's being made sin , and our being made righteousness ; nay , the contrary is plain , for that he uses differing words in reference to christ and us to intimate that he did not intend , christ was made sin , in the same way , or sense , that we are made righteousness ; nor can he for that alteration , be justly charg'd again as sophisticating , whilst he only designs to acquaint us , that our being made righteousness ( take it in one sense or other ) did pre-require , and derive from christ's having been made a sacrifice for us . as to his third allegation against us , i cann't guess what he produc'd it for . and for his fourth , that the word made is sometimes us'd for imputed , if that shou'd be granted him , yet still it must be added , that 't is where other words are found in the greek text ; for i remember not ( nor do i think our opposer can produce ) one single instance where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( which is made use of in the text ) does carry that sense : it does most plainly intimate the work of an effective agent ; and therefore does strongly argue for our sense of the text , that he was made a sacrifice for sin , made sin in such a sense as that god might be the author and efficient , without being chargeable as the author of sin. and for his fifth and last objection , that criticks distinguish betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and say the latter is us'd for a sacrifice , not the former : i think we have already made the contrary sufficiently appear from the lxx . to whom he refers us . so that i see not what further can be pleaded against this interpretation of the text. in notis ad justini . instit . tit. 30. p. ( mihi ) 494. de satisf . p. 123 , 126 p. 13. ib. p. 124. discourse of the sufferings of christ , p. 17. interest of reason in religion , p. 536. grotius de satisfact . cap. 6. p. ( mihi ) 123 p. 126. discourse of the sufferings of christ , p. 15. ib. p. 123. ib. p. 133. ib. p. 16. baxt. of universal redempt . p. 79. crell . resp . ad grot. cap. 1. §. 78. p. ( mihi ) 98. c. 2. §. 29. p. 198. de satisf . cap. 1. p. 9 , 10. discourse of christ's suff. p. 69. discour . of the suff. of christ . p. 59. ib. p. 73. meth. the. p. iii. c. 1. determ . 5. p. 38. pufendorf . element . jurisp . univers . lib. 1. def . 21. §. 7. p. 237. baxt. two disputat . of original sin , p. 156. some principles of the elect people of god in scorn called quakers penington, isaac, 1616-1679. 1671 approx. 293 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 64 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54059 wing p1198 estc r33049 12852042 ocm 12852042 94552 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54059) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94552) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1038:34) some principles of the elect people of god in scorn called quakers penington, isaac, 1616-1679. fox, george, 1624-1691. [4], 122 p. s.n.], [london? : 1671. variously attributed to george fox and isaac penington. "conclusion" signed on p. 122: isaak penington. place of publication suggested by wing. imperfect: some pages faded with loss of print. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng society of friends -doctrines. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2005-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-11 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2006-07 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion some principles of the elect people of god in scorn called quakers . o send forth thy light and thy truth , let them lead me , let them bring me to thy holy hill , and to thy tabernacles , psal . 43.3 . for the commandement is a lamp , and the law is light , and the reproofs of instruction are the way of life . printed in the year , 1671. the contents . concerning first , a breif account of what we are , and what our work is in the world : by i. pennington . page 1 secondly , grounds and reasons why we deny the worlds teachers , pag. 5 some principles of the elect people of god called quakers , p. 16 worship . p. 20 the church . ibid. the way . ibid. the cross . p. 21 true communion . p. 22 the gospel . ibid. faith. ibid. baptisme . p. 23 persecution . ibid. scriptures . p. 26 tyths . p. 27 the higher power . p. 28 the kingdom of christ , how held up , and how not . p. 29 teachers , prophets , pastors , bishops , presbiters . ibid. an exhortation to all christendom , to mind the grace of god , to wit , the light. p. 30 perfection . p. 33 resurrection . p. 34 election and reprobation . ibid. fear and trembling . p. 36 the body of death . p. 37 the word thou to a single person . p. 39 putting off the hat , bowing the knee , cringings and complements . ibid. good manniers . p. 40 objections of the world against the preaching of christ , p. 41 bread , water and wine . p. 42 the sabbath day . p. 43 god-fathers god-mothers and sprinkling of infants , ibid. the word trinity , ibid. the ministry . p. 44 dayes , times , meats and drinks . ibid. marriages . ibid. false prophets and antichrists . p. 45 a generall objection of people . p. 48 the jew inward and outward . p. 49 christ the covenant of god. ibid. plots and conspiracies . p. 50 original sin . p. 51 oaths . p. 52 the word of god and original sin , what it is . p. 54 heathen idolaters naming dayes and moneth . p. 63 singing psalms . p. 65 a warning to all to keep out of the fashons of the world. p. 66 some queries given forth to priests ahd people to answer if they can . by g. f. p. 68 the scriptures . p. 72 baptism . p. 75 the lords supper . p. 76 prayer . p. 77 ministry . p. 79 magistracy and government . p. 80 superiority , honour , breeding , manners , and the word thee and thou to a single person . p. 84 the word thou and thee . p. 89 putting off the hat. p. 90 perfection . by j. parnel . p. 92 womens speaking in the church . by w. d. p. 94 the sum or substance of our religion p. 97 christ . coming to the father by him , &c. p. 103 the gospel ministration . p. 107 christ manifested without , and within , and how both are owned by them that know the truth , p. 108 the principle of truth , what it is , and how in may be discerned , and how it may be purchased , and possessed . p. 111 an invitation to professors seriously to consider , &c. p. 114 a brief testimony for truth : by t. taylor , &c. p. 119 the conclusion ; by i. penington . a brief account of what we are , and what our work is in the world . we are a people whom god hath converted to himself ; a people in whom god hath raised up the seed of his own life , and caused it to reign over the eartly part in our selves ; a people whom god hath divorced from the spirit of whordom , and joyned to his own spirit . we , many of us , sought truly and onely after god from our childhood ( our consciences bearing us witness in the sight of god ) but the honesty of our hearts was still betrayed , and we led aside by the whorish spirit , and knew not how to turn to that of god in us , which inclined us toward god. by this means we came to great distress and misery beyond all men , not but that all men were in as great a want of god ( his life , power and presence ) as we ; but the sence therof was not so quickened in others , as in us . now it pleased the lord at length to pitty us , and to inform our minds towards himself , to shew us where life lay , and where death lay , and how to turn from the one , and to the other ; and he gave us his helping hand to turn us . and by being turned to h●m , we have tasted of the truth , of the true wisdom , of the true power , of the true life , of the true righteousness , of the true redemption : and by receiving of this from god , and tasting and handling of it ; we come to know that that which the world hath set up in the stead of it , is not the thing it selfe . now mark , we are not persons that have shot up out of the old root into another appearance , as one sect hath done out of another till many are come up one after another , the ground still remaining the same out of which they all grew : but that ground hath been shaken & shaking , destroyed & destroying , removed and removing in us , and the old root of jesse hath been made manifest in us , and we have been transplanted by the everlasting power of life , and a real change brought forth in us out of that spirit , wherin the world lives and worships , into another spirit , into which no thing which is of the world can enter . and hear we have met with the call of god , the conversion to god , the regeneration in god , the justification , the sanctification , the wisdom , the redemption , the true life and power of god , which the world cannot so much as bear the name of . and what we are made of god in christ , we know to be truth and no lye : and when we testifie of this to the world , in the measure of the life of god in us , we speak truth and no lye ; though the world which knoweth not the truth , cannot hear our voice . now our work in the world is , to hold forth the virtues of him that hath called us to live like god ; not to own any thing in the world which god doth not own : to forget our country , our kindred , our fathers house ; and to live like persons of another country , of another kindred , of another family : not to do any thing of our selves , and which is pleasing to the old nature , but all our words , all our conversation , yea every thought in us to become new . whatever comes from us , is to come from the new principle of life in us , and to answer that in others , but we must not please the old nature at all in our selves , nor in any else . and walking faithfully thus with god , we have a reward at present , and a crown in the end , which doth and will countervaile all the reproches and hardships , we do or can meet with in the world. we are also to be witnesses for god , and to propagate his life in the world ; to be instruments in his hand , to bring others out of death and captivity unto true life and liberty : we are to fight against the powers of darkness every where , as the lord calleth us forth . and this we are to do in his wisdom , according to his will , in his power , and in his love , sweetness , and meakness . we are not to take wayes according to our own wisdom ( but there must be a strict watch , set in the life , least that get up again : ) nor must we speak such words , as mans wisdom would call wise : nor may we go in our own will to seek any , but the lord must go before : nor may we make use of our own strength , but feel his arm in our weakness : nor may we go forth in that love , sweetness , or meakness which is pleasing to the fleshly mind : but we must be true to god handling the sword skilfully and faithfully , judging and cutting down the transgressor in the power and authority of god ▪ and when the meek , the lowly , the humble thing is reached and raised , then the true love , the sweetness , the tenderness , the meekness must go forth to that . the lord god is rough with the transgressor , and all along the scripture heweth and judgeth him : and if we come forth in the same spirit , we shall find the same leadings , where we meet with the same thing : for the lord god will never be tender there ; nor can that which comes from him , lives in him , is lead by him , be tender there whe●e he is not . now the very root of this severity is good , and of god , and hath love and sweetness at the bottom of it : yea in pitty , love , and bowels do we use the sword . it is in pitty to the poor captived creature , that that might be cut down , which keeps it in bonds and captivity . and though we seem enemies to all sorts of men , for the lords sake : yet we are not enemies , nor could do the least hurt to them any way , but are true freinds to their soules and bodies also : and our only controversie is with that which captives and maks them miserable : for we fight not at all with flesh and bloud , but with the principallity and power which led from god , and rules in it against god , to the poor creatures ruine and distruction . yea if we had all the powers of the earth in our hands , we could not set up our own way , ( if , after the manner , of men i may so call it ) or so much as disturb others in their way thereby , but should wait in patience , till god gave us an entrance by his power . now let not men run on in heats against us , but let them seriously consider , whether we be of god or no : and let them consider ; not with the reason and understanding which is alienated from god , but with the witness which lies hid in the heart . there is one great palpable argument that we are of god , which , is this , all the world is against us , the worldly part every where lights with us , the worldly part in every sort and sect of men opposeth us , the rage of man every where riseth up against us ; but those that are so hot against us , if at any time they become but meek and calm , patiently considering our cause , and consulting there upon with the testimony that they , find in their own hearts concerning us , they soon become pacified , and see that we are no mans enemies , against no righteous law , not against relations , not against governments , not against any thing in the world that is good , but only against that which is evil and corrupt . and of a truth , the corruption of things god hath shewed unto us , and daily cals us forth after an immediate manner to witness against . therfore let men be sober , and take heed what they do , least they be found fighters against god : for the reproaches the scoffs , with other persecutions , which seem to be cast at us , light on him . it is not as we are men , but as we are obedient to him , as we stand witnesses for him , that we meet with these things . now , as it is not we our selves that do these things , but the life and power of god in us ; so it is not we that are struck at , but the life and power : if it were not for that , we might be as acceptable as other men . it is because we are not of the world , but god hath called us out of the world , that we are so hated of the world . this is the true cause , though the world will no more now acknowledge it , then it would in former ages . yet i do not speak this for my own sake , to avoid my share in the cross : for the reproach of christ is our riches , yea far greater treasure then is to be found in the pallace of egypt : yea the presence of god , the sweet power of life makes up all our losses , so that we have no cause to complain . it is very sweet , pleasant , and profitable for us to be found sufferers for god ; but we know it will not be profitable for you to be found persecutors : and this is told you in true love and good will , by one who wishes no evil to you , for all the evil that ye have exercised towards the dear and pretious people of god for these many years . o that god would open your eyes , that ye might see whom ye have opposed , and against whom ye have hardened and strengthened your selves , that ye might bow to him , and receive life from him , and not perish in your gainsaying and opposition . isaack penington . grounds and reasons why we deny the worlds teachers first , they are such shepheards that seek for their gain from their quart●rs , and can never have enough , which the lord sent isaiah to cry out against , who bid all come freely , without money and without price , and , was not hired , but spake freely ; and these make marchandise and a trade of his words ; and therfore we cry out against them , and deny them , isa . 56.11 . and 54.1 . they are such shepherds that seek after the fleece , and cloath with the wooll , and feed on the fat , which the lord sent ezekiel to cry wo against ; who made a prey upon us ; and the lord said , he would gather his sheep from their mouths , and that we should be a prey to them no longer ; and we do witness the promise of the lord fulfilled ; and therfore we deny them , ezek 54.34 . they are such priests as bear rule by their means , which was a horrible and filthy thing commited in the land , which the lord sent jeremiah to cry out against ; while we had eyes and did not see , we held up such priests , but the lord hath opened our eyes , and we see them now in the same estate that they were in , which jeremiah cryed out against , who did not bear rule by his means ; and therfore we deny them , jer. 5.31 . they are such prophets & priests that divine for money , and preach for hire , which the lord sent micah to cry against ; and whilst we put into their mouths , they preached peace to us , but now w● do not put into their mouths , they prepare war against us ; and therfore we deny them , micah 3.11 . they are such as are called of men masters , & call men masters , and have the chiefest place in the assemblies , and stand praying in the synagogues , and lay heavy burdens upon the people which jesus christ cryed wo against , and bid his disciples not to be so ; be ye not called of men mast●rs , for one is your master , even christ , and ye are all brethren ; so we do witness je●us christ our master , and see them to be in the steps of the pharisees ; and therfore we deny them , mat. 3.10 . mat. 20.3 . they are such teachers , that with fained words and th●ough covetousness , made merchandize of us , and do upon the people ; who by oppression maintain themselves and wives in pride and idleness , in hoods , veils , and changable suits of apparrel ; who go in the way of cain , to envy , murder , and persecute , and after the e●ror of balaam , who loved the wages of unrighteousness , following after gifts and rewards , which the apostles cryed against ; and therfo●e we deny them , 2 pet. 2. jude . 11. they are such teachers as have told us , the steeple-house hath been the church , when as the scripture saith , the church is in god ; and the●fore we deny them . 1 thes . 1.1 . they are such teachers that have told us , the letter was the word , when as the letter saith , god is the word ; therfore we deny th●m , joh. 1.1 . they are such teachers as have told us , the letter was the light , when as the letter saith , christ is the light ; therfore we deny them , joh. 1.1.19 . and 8 . 1● . they are such teachers as sp●inkle infants , calling it an ordinance of christ , and baptizing into the faith , into the church , when as the scripture saith no such thing ; and therfore we deny them : but the baptism by one spirit , into one body we own , 1 cor. 12.13 . they are such teachers as tell people of a sacrament , for which there is not one scripture , and so feed the people with their own inventions ; and therfore we deny them ; but the table and supper of the lord we own , 1 cor. 10. they are such teachers as tell people , that mathew , mark , luke , and john , is the gospel , which are but the letter . the lamb of god which takes away the sins of the world , is glad tydings to poor captives : glad tidings we●e promised before the letter was written , the seed of the woman shall bruise the serp●nts head , and h● shall be a light unto the gentiles : the letter is a declaration of the gospel , and many have the letter , but not christ ; but we having received the gospel , know them to be no ministers of it ; and therfore we deny them , gen. 3.15 . luke . 1.1 . they are such ministers as go to oxford and cambridge , and call them the well-heads of divinity , and so deny the fountain of living mercies , and there they study , and read books , and old authors , and furnish themselves with philosophy , and fine words , and other mens matter ; and when they come again , they sell it to poor people ; when as the apostle saith , he was not made a minister by the will of man , and that the gospel which he preached was not of man , nor had he received it from man , neither was he taught it ; and denyed all his learning which he had got by the will of man at the feet of gamaliel ; and so finding them in the will of man , preaching by the will of man ; we cannot but deny them , gal. 1. they are such teachers , that tell people that hebrew and greek is the o●iginal , when as the apostle spake in the hebrew tongue to the hebrews , who heard him in their own language , and yet persecuted him ; and the greeks , who had the gospel in their own tongues , said , the cross of christ was foolishn●ss ; these who had the scripture , in their own language , were as ignorant of the life of them , as our naturall priests , who spend so much time in learning a natural language , to find out what those meant that spake forth the scripture ; who make poor people beleive that to know a natural tongue is the means to understand the original ; the vvord which is the original was before all languages were , the vvord was in the begining which vvord was made manifest in all the children of god , who spake forth the scriptures ; holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost . now all ye learned ones , where is your original ? he●e you and your original is razed out f●om the word , which is the original which the apostles preached amongst the hebrews and greeks , which was before tongues were and your original , which will break all your tongues and original to peices . pilate had your original of hebrew greek , and latine , who crucified christ ; he that draws back into many languages , as into hebrew , and greek , draws back into the naturals , and so draws into confusion ; but the ministers of god , who preach the everlasting gospel which endures for ever draw up into one language , and so the priests , and all that trade in natural languages we utterly deny ; act. 22. 1 cor. 1.13 . john. ●9 . 2● . they are such teachers as have told us , that the steeple-house is the temple , when as the apostle said , your bodies are the temples of the holy ghost ; and stephen was stoned to death for witnessing against the temple , who said , god that made the world dwells not in temples made with hands ; and here finding them in the generation that hold up the figu●es , and deny the substance , and to be ignorant of that spirit that gave forth the scriptures ; we cannot but deny them , 1 cor. 6.19 . acts. 7. they are such priests that take tythes , the tenth of mens labours and estates ; and those that will not give them , they sue at law and hale before cou●ts and sessions , yea even those they call their own people , their own parishon●rs . levy according to the law receiv●d tythes , and he had a command to set open his gates that the st●angers and the fatherless should come within his gat●s , and be satisfied and filled ; but we find none more pittiless of the fatherless and widdows then they ; and the strangers they complain against to justices , and persecute , ( though they neither seek to them nor others for any outward thing ) as wanderers ; and he●e they walk contrary to the old law : and the apostle in his epistle to the hebrews said , the preisthood being changed , there must of necessity also be a change of the law , and we witness both the priesthood and the law changed ; but they that take tythes , and they that pay tythes , according to the old covenant , deny jesus christ the everlasting preist to be come in the flesh ; and he●e these priests sh●w themselves to be antichrist , that are entered into the world , and opp●ess the creation , when as jesus christ said , freely ye have received , freely give ; and the apostle said , was there a wise man amongst them that went to law one with another ? here they are evil examples to the people , to sue , w●angle and cont●●d , and walk out of the steps of christ , and all the holy men of god ; yea they exceed all the false prophets in wickedn●●s , for we do not read that ever any of them sued men at the law ; and therfore we cannot but utterly deny them , deut. 14.29 . heb. 7.12 . they ar● such priests as beside their tythe of corn , hay , beast , sheep , hens , pigs , geese , eggs , cherries , plumbs ; take ten shillings for preaching a funeral sermon , more or less , as they can get it , and ten shillings for the death of a man ; and money out of servants wages , and money for smoke passing up the chimneys , and easter reckonings , and midsummer dues , and money for churching of women , and thus by every device get money , ( and burthen poor people that labour very hard and can scarse get food and raiment , ) to maintain them in idleness and pride : these are they that have hearts exercised with covetousness , burthening the truth , and making the free gospel chargable : if the apostle was here , he would be ashamed of them , and so are we , and therefore turn from them , and deny them , 2 pet. 2.3 . they are such priests as not only take tyths and money for many other things of their own hearers , and sue them at law for it ; but they take money of them they do no work for ; but only raile against them , and say , they that wayt at the alter , are pertakers with the alter , but live of them who are not of the alter , and say , the labourer is worthy of his hire ; but take wages of them that have not hired them , and if they will not give it them , cast them into prison , or take their goods by justices warrants ; these are they that christ cryed wo against , who lay heavy burthens upon the people , who oppress tender consciences , that own the everlasting high priest ; where do they find any of the ministers of christ bargaining for so much a year ? here they abide not in the doctrine of christ , but are hirelings , and therefore we deny them . mat. 23.2 . they are such preachers as have told us , they have been gifted men , and we find in the scriptures , that the gift of god is free , and not to be bought and sold for money ; and job said wisdom is not to be purchased for money nor gold ; but they will not sell their gift under 200 l. 100 l. 80 l. or 50 l. a year , more or less , as they can get it , here we find they have not received the gift of god , but are like simon magus , and therefore we deny them . acts 8.20 . job 28. they are babylons merchants that make a trade of scriptures , and the saints conditions , which the prophets and apostles spoke forth freely , without money , and without price , and bad all come freely . how many hundred thousand pounds in england is gained by the scripture , and humane authors joyned to it ? where is there a more profitable trade ? here they make scriptures their cloak and colour to get mnoey by , and so make an idol of it ; and if any come to witness it fulfiled , as it was in them that gave it forth , they cry out to the magistrates against them as blasphemers and deceivers : and if they answer , he that administers spiritual things ought to reap carnal , let him consider , the apostle wrote not that to the the world , but to those that they had gathered out of the world , to whom the ends of the world were come ; and let them gather people out of the world , and then they shall not need to bargain with them for things of the world ; but their trading is with the world , and therefore we deny them , isa . 55.1 . they are such teachers as take a text out of the saints conditions , and take a weeks time to study what they can raise out of it , adding to it their own wisdom , inventions , imaginations , and heathenish authors , and then on the first day of the week go amongst the people , having an hour glass to limit themselves by , and say , hear the word of the lord , and for money tell people what they have scraped together . these are they that speak a divination of their own heart , and not from the mouth of the lord , which the lord sent jeremiah to cry out against , jer. 23. these are they that use their tongues , and say , the lord saith , when as the scriptures say so , and the lord never spake to them , jer , 23.30 . these are they of whom the lord speaks , i am against all such as steal my word every one from his neighbour : and so we are against all such as jeremiah was sent to cry wo against , the pastors that now steal the words of the prophets , of christ , and the apostles ; the lord hath shaken his hand at their dishonest gain , and to them belong the plagues that are written in the book they make a trade on , for adding to it their own inventions , therefore do we come out from amongst them , and deny them . jer. 23.31 . these are they of whom the apostle speaks : that creep into houses leading silly women captive , which are led away with divers lusts , which be ever learning , and never able to come to the knowledg of the truth , though some have learned 50 , 60 , or 70 years , covetous , proud , high-minded , self-willed , lovers of pleasures more then lovers of god , who have gotten a form of godliness , but deny the power thereof , from which the apostle bad turn away , and so do we , 2 tim. 3.6 . they are such teachers as gave us , and give people , davids conditions in meeter , and when we had no understanding we sung after them , as ignorant people do now , his tremblings , his quakings , his weepings , fastings , prayers , prophesies ; and when we sung we put of our hats , and when they read them , we kept them on , and so they caused us to worship the works of their own hands ; here they shew the spirit of error , making wicked people to sing , o lord i am not puft in mind , i have no scornful eye , i do not exercise my self in things that are to high , when they are puft in mind , and have scornful eyes , and do exercise themselves in things that are to high , and are full of filth , pride and loftiness , and can scarce look at one another : here they make poor people to offer a sacrifice of lyes , and make them hypocrites , deceiving themselves , saying what they are not : but the singing with the spirit and with understanding we own , and therefore the priests that sing without understanding we deny , 1 cor. 14.15 . they are such teachers as deny the conditions that the saints witnessed , viz. trembling and quaking : when as we find the holy men of god that gave forth the scriptures witnessed such things . moses who was judge over all israel , feared , quaked , and trembled exceedingly : and the son of man was to eat his bread with quaking ; and daniel the man of god trembled , and was sore astonished : and jeremiah the prophet of the lord reeled to and fro like a drunken man , and all his bones did shake ; and david who was a king trembled and quaked ; and ephraim when he trembled was exalted in israel ; and habakkuk who was a prophet trembled , and his belly shook , his lips quivered : and isaac in whom the seed was called , trembled exceedingly ; and paul a minister of christ trembled ; but they make a scorn of trembling and quaking , and shew themselves ignorant and strangers to the life and power of god , as their generation ever was , who still made a scorn and reproach of the holy men of god that trembled and quaked ; but the seed of god , and the prophets , and the servants of the lord we own , and their conditions we witness ; and therefore all the priests , and them that deny the holy men of god , we utterly deny , heb. 12.21 . ezek. 12.18 . dan. 10.10 . jer. 23.9 . psalm . 119.120 . hos . 13. ● habbak . 3.16 . acts 9.6 . gen. 27.23 . they are such teachers as tell the people that christ hath not enlightened every one that comes into the world , when as christ saith ; he doth enlighten every one that comes into the world : and hear they go about to make christ a lyer , and john baptist a false prophet , and deny the scriptures ; and they say , god hath not given every one a measure according to his ability when at christ saith , he hath done it , christ is the light of the world , and by him the world was made , and he came into the world , and the world received him not ; it is so now , light shines in darkness , and the darkness comprehends it not ; and this is the condemnation , that light is come into the world , the one he loves the light , and brings his deeds to it , that they may be made manifest , and walk in it , there is no occasion of stumbling in him ; the other , he hates the light because his deeds are evil , and this is his condemnation ; and we witness the light wherewith christ hath enlightened every one that comes into the world , and by obedience to the light , he is become our master , our teacher : and all who stumble at the light , and deny it are ignorant of the foundation stone , and know not the first principle , but are shut out from knowing any thing of god ; and therefore the priests and all their followers we deny , joh. 1.9 . and 3.19 , 20. mat. 25.15 . they are such teachers as walk out of the doctrine of the apostles , and practise of all the churches ▪ paul saith , if any thing be revealed to him that sits by , let the first hold his peace , for all may prophesie one by one , that god in all things may be glorified , and you edified : and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets : and god is the author of peace , and not of confusion : and this was in all the churches of the saints : but now if any man come among them , while they are speaking , or when they haue done , and be moved to speak any thing , them of their church , the rude multitude , fall upon him with staves , fists , and punches and knocks him down with stones , shewing themselves to be of that generation that stoned stephen to death , and the priests call to the officers to take him to the stocks , and to carry him before the magistrate , and from thence he is sent to prison , and called a disturber of the peace : here they shew themselves to be no ministers of christ , and their assembly to be no church , but in confusion , for that which was order among the saints , is disorder amongst them ; the church of christ was never fighters , nor quarrellers , nor scorners ; such churches are the fruits of the ministry of england , who were made by the will of man , and never sent of christ , and therefore they do not profit the people at all , but are persecutors of the messengers of christ , and therefore we deny them , 1 cor. 14 , 32.33 . acts 7. ver. 23.32 . they are such teachers as have told us , we should never be made free from sin while we are upon earth ; when as the apostle saith , they were made free from sin , he thanks god , and had put of th● body of sin ; so we find they had told us lyes contrary to the scripture , and the apostle saith , while we were servants of sin we were free from righteousness ; so in that state we find them ; and therefore we deny them , and they have told us , none shall ever be sanctified , nor the body of sin destroyed , nor cleansed from sin while they are upon earth , when as the apostle said , they were sanctified , and the blood of jesus christ cleanseth from all sin ; and the ministers of god said , they reigned as kings ; and here they deny the scriptures , and therefore we deny them . and they deny the begotten son of god , which sinneth not , and calleth it blasphemy for any to witness that born which sins not , when the scripture saith , he that is born of god sinneth not , neither can he sin , because he is born of god , and the seed of god remaines in him ; and he that commits sin is of the devil , and hereby are the children of god made manifest , and the children of the devil ; and as he is , so are we in this present world , and a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit ; if the root be holy so are the branches , and one fountain cannot send forth sweet water , and bitter : he that can receive it , let him ; but the cheif priests , and elders , and pharisees , and sadduces , and rulers , at this stumbled then , and so they stumble now at the light , from whence these words were given forth , which doth enlighten every one that comes into the world , and therefore we deny them , rom. 6.18 . and 6.6 . rom. 8.10 . 1 cor. 6.11 . 1 joh. 1.7 . 1 joh. 3.6 , 9 ; 10. 1 joh. 4.17 . and they a●e such teachers that have told us , none shall ever be perfect while they are upon the earth , when as christ saith , be ye perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect ; and the apostle saith , by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified . and the ministry of christ is for the perfecting of the saints , till they all come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of christ , to a perfect man. here we find them to deny the scriptures , and the everlasting offering , and all such we cannot but deny ; and we witness the everlasting offering , which perfects for ever them that are sanctified . praises to the lord for ever , who hath sent forth his son in the likeness of sinful flesh , to condemn sin in the flesh , that in him we might be made the righteousness of god ; and all that deny perfection and sanctification , deny this offering , and the gift of god , which is perfect , and the ministry of god , which is for perfecting the body ; and such ministers are not members of the body , nor can present any man perfect in christ jesus , and therefore we deny them , mar. 5.10 . heb. 10.14 . eph. 4.12 , 13. 2 cor. 5.21 . james 1.17 . they are such teachers as deny the everlasting covenant , and the anointing , for if any come to witness that they are taught of god , and that he hath written his law in their hearts , and put his spirit within them , and that none need say to them , know the lord ; then they cry out to the magistrates , and ignorant people , these are the deceivers and false prophets that shall come in the last times , they deny the means ; and when any witness they have received an unction from the holy one , and need not that any man teach them , but as the anoynting teacheth them of all things ; then they cry out , these are seducers and seduced : and so here they deny the covenant of god , and the promise of god , and shew themselves to be the great seducers , that draw from the anointing , and finding their spirits contrary to the scriptures , we cannot but deny them , jer. 31.33 . heb 11.8 . 1 joh. 2 , 20 , 27. they are such teachers , that say , revelations are ceased , and deny revelations and so deny the son , for , no man knows the father , but he to whom the son reveals him , and no man knows the things of god , but the spirit of god , and he to whom the spirit reveals them : and the apostle said , it pleased the father to reveale his son in him : and so he that denies revelations , denies both the father , and the son , and the spirit ; these are the priests who talk of religion , and have gotten a form to trade with , and have received things by traditon , but are ignorant of god , and of the spirit , by which all saints were ever guided ; and therefore we deny them , mat. 11.27 . 1 cor. 2.11 . gal. 1.16 . phil. 3.15 . therefore all people , consider what you do , and hold up , and worship , for the worship is but one , and the word is but one , and the baptism is but one , and the church is but one , and the way is but one , and the light is but one , and the power is but one ; but they that are without have many teachers , many ways , many opinions and judgments , and many sects ; but we have but one priest , which is over the houshold of god , and therefore are all of one heart and soul . moved of the lord , written from the spirit of the lord for the cleansing of the land of all false teachers , seducers and deceivers , and witches , who beguile the people , and inchanters , and diviners , and sorcerers , and hirelings , and which is for the good of all people , that fear the lord , and own jesus christ to be their teacher . from them whom the world scornfully calls quakers ; but quaking and trembling we own , else we should deny the scriptures , and the holy men of god ; but the scriptures we own , and the holy men of god ; therefore we deny all them who deny quaking . if you say these things are frivolous things , which you have taught us , then we have been taught frivolous things all this while ; but we find all these things frivolous things , wind and air , and therefore we deny them . all people that read these things , never come ye more at the steeple-house nor pay your priests more tythes , till they have answered them , for if ye do ye uphold them in their sins , and must partake of their plagues , some principles of the elect people of god , scornfully called , quakers . by g. f. a salutation of salvation to all people throughout the christian world , that they may enter in by the door which is christ the light , by which every man is enlightened that cometh into the world , by christ the light , which is the way to god , and the door by which they must enter into the father , from the world , from darkness and death , and its power , into covenant with god , by christ the door . and this is the light , by which ye see all the evil actions which ye have evilly acted , and all the ungodly works which ye have ungodlyly commited , and all the ungodly thoughts which ye ungodlyly have thought , and all the hard speaches and ungodly words which ye have spoken . the light wherewith christ hath enlightened you ; is that which maketh manifest all that is contrary to it . the same light maketh manifest the saviour , from whence it comes : and it maketh manifest that christ is the covenant of light and life , by which you come to have peace with god. the same light maketh manifest to you ( if you love it ) that christ is the mediator between you and god. the same light maketh manifest that christ is the offering for your sins , and the sins of the whole world. the same light doth manifest that christ is the way , the truth and the life , and the word of god by which all things were made and created . and the same light manifests that christ is the wisdom of god , and power of god , and sanctification , and justification , and redemption . to sanctifie , justifie and redeem from that which the light manifests to be evil ; and that which lets , and keeps in the seperation from god. and this light is within , by which all these things are seen ; and you that love this light you will se all these things love mentioned : christ the mediator , christ the way , the life , the wisdom , the sanctifier , the redeemer , the offering for your sins , and the sins of the whole world. in this light ye will have his testimony ; and so he that believes shall have the testimony and witness in himself , and so ye all being enlightened with this light , receiving it , you receive christ , then you do not receive darkness , nor the prince of darkness . and as many of you as receive christ , he will give you power to become sons of god ( mark ) ye shall have power by which you shall know son-ship to stand against sin and evil , and become the sons of god. now if you hate this light , and go on in sin , and in evil thoughts , and evil words , works and actions , and do not come to the light which reproves you , but love darkness rather then light , it will be your condemnation . and this is the light which maketh manifest to every one of you what you have done , spoke , thought and acted amiss , and reproves you for it : and if you love the light , you love christ , and you love your saviour , redeemer , sanctifier and offering for sin. and you see him who puts an end to sin , and destroyes the devil who brought it in , and his works ; he that destroyeth ; and brings in everlasting righteousness in you . but ( as above mentioned ) if you hate this light , and go on in sin and evil , it will be your condemnation . this light is with you in your labours , and in your beds , and when you are about your business , trades and occupations ; shewing to you all your words , and all your thoughts , works and actions . which light ( if you love it ) will lead you from the old into the new life , and from the alienation and degeneration from god , his life and image . and with this light you will see christ a king to govern you , who hath all power in heaven and in earth given to him ; and with the light you will see him a prophet to open to you , and a priest to offer for you to the father ; and in this light you will see more light , the same shining in your hearts , it will give you the knowledge of the glory of god , in the face of christ jesus your saviour : and with the light you will see the kingdom of heaven within , which never gave consent to sin and evil , like to a grain of mustard-seed , and to a leaven which leaveneth into a new lump . and with the light you will see the field , which is the world , placed in your hearts , where the pearl is hid , and with what you must dig to find the pearl , the power of god ; and what you must sell for its sake , to purchase the field , and waiting in this light , you will receive the spirit of truth , the comforter , to to lead you into all truth , and to bring the words which christ hath spoken to your remembrance ; and it will shew you things to come ; and it shall receive of those which are christs , and give it unto you . so loving the light you love christ , and receiving it you receive christ , the first and the last ; for in the light christ is seen and handled , his voyce is heard and he is followed . so in the light you will see christ to be your teacher , who saith , learn of me , i am the way , the truth and the life ; by whom life eternal is given . and you are brought again to christ the shepherd , who draws you out of the fall to god , into his image , where the green pastures of life are known and fed upon . and no man commeth to the father ( saith christ ) but by me : who enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world , that by the light all may believe . and , saith christ , believe in the light whilst ye have the light , that you may be children of the light. so you being enlightned with the light , which if you believe in it , you come to be children of the light , and heirs of promise , and mercy , and of the power of a life that hath no end. and believing in the light , you pass from death to life , from darkness to light ; and you come to know a translation from darkness to light , and from satans power to the power of god ; and to know the begotten of god , into his own image , by his power , as you have been degenerated from god , and have lost his image , by the prince of darkness , and so translated from the image of god , into the image of satan , from the power of christ , into the power of darkness ; so you must come to the light , that ye may have another conversion , from satans power to god , from darkness to light , to be renewed into the image of god ; and this is felt within , and as you feel this within , you will know the word of god within in your hearts , which is the word of faith , which the apostles preached to the romans ; which they were to hear , obey , and do : and that is the word which seperates the pretious from the vile ; your pretious thoughts , affections , motions and words from your vile : so the word is in your hearts , and mouthes , to obey it , and to do it ; and it is quick and powerful , sharper than a two-edged sword : and you shall not need to say , who shall bring it from heaven , or who shall fetch it from beneath ? but it is in the heart and mouth ; and this is the word of faith which the apostles preached . and the same word is called a hammer , a sword , and a fire to beat down , to cut down , and to burn up whatsoever is contrary to it . so it is the same word which sanctifieth , and purifieth , and reconcileth to god , as beats down , and cuts down , that which is contrary to god and which seperates betwixt you and god. so you may hear , obey and do the word , for it is with you in all places , and in all your occasions , dividing good thoughts from bad , good words and motions from bad : for if all christendom would hear and obey the word in their hearts , which is pure , and lives , and remaines , and endures for ever , by which they would come to be born again of the immortal seed , this word would keep them from evil actions and words which are spoken and acted by them : and so by the word every one should be taught , and should know the engrafted word , which is able to save the soul , which beats down , and cuts down , and burns up that which wars against it , and keeps the soul from the enjoyment of god. and so in this word they should know the annointing in themselves to teach them , so that they should not need any man to teach them , but as the same annointing teacheth them , which teacheth truth in all things . and in this light and word , which is in the heart , they should know the new covenant of god , the law written in the heart , and put in their mindes , by which they should not have need to say one to another , know the lord ; for all should know him from the least even to the greatest . and those are true christians who come to witness this , as thousands in england do witness it in this his day ; among whom the pretious pearl is found , and the field is bought , among whom the law of the spirit of life , sets free from the law of sin and death : who witness the ages to come , of which the apostle spoke , in which the kindness and exceeding riches of the grace of god should be manifested again , which the lord in the primitive times made manifest amongst the apostles , who sat together in heavenly places in christ jesus . in which places ▪ thousands are now come to sit ; glory be to him for ever . i. concerning worship . the promise of redemption is from that state in which adam and eve , their sons and daughters are in the fall driven from god , into a state in which they were before they were driven from god , to the church in god. now they that sit down in a state driven from god , are people far off from the church in god. our worship is in spirit and in truth , in which the devil abode not , but is out of it , who is the author of strife and unrighteousness amongst people , which truth maketh the devil to bow , and cringe , yea , and destroys him ; and it is the spirit that mortifies sin , which makes the separation from god. now we say , that if all christendom had worshipped god in spirit and in truth , they had all been in him , out of which the devil is , and had been in the holy mountain , and had felt the spirit ruling them in their own particulars , and had felt the spirit of truth guiding and teaching them in them , in their own hearts . ii. concerning the church . our church is in god the father of our lord jesus christ , which he redeems with his own blood , without spot , or wrinkle , or deformity , or any such thing , which blood we feel in our hearts , purging us from all sin ; with which blood we feel our consciences cleansed from dead works to serve the living god. so this blood is witnessed in us , and the excellency thereof , by which we come to know the price of redemption . iii. concerning the way . we say that christ is our way , which is light , which enlighteneth you and every man that cometh into the world , that with this light you may see him , the way , and may come to walk in the way of peace and life , which is the way to god , and which is the new and living-way , in which the apostles were , out of which christendom is gone , erring from the light in their own particulars , into their own inventions and imaginations , which is the cause that there are set up so many wayes among them , changable wayes , and changable worships , among them ( i say ) who have erred from the new and living way . so whosoever comes to the light in themselves , they come to christ , they come to the new and living way , out of the old and dead wayes which are in the fall from god , out of his image and power ; so whosoever comes to his image and power , they must come to the light , wherewith christ the way hath enlightened them all in their own particulars , and hear his voyce and doctrine . so there is not another way to the father but christ the light , which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world , which is the way , yea , the new and living way . so , who love the light , they love the way , and they love christ ; but they who hate the light , they hate christ the way . iv. of the crosse . the cross of christ is the power of god , which is contrary to the world ; which cross of christ , the power of god , was among the apostles , which crucified them from all outward figures , types , shadows and inventions of men. so they who are gone from the power of god , since the dayes of the apostles , have set up many crosses , who have lost the true cross , which is the power of god. the cross of christ , which is the power of god , crucifies that state in which adam and eve , and all their posterity were in , in the degeneration , in which cross is the power of god ; by which cross they come to a state in which they were in before their fall. and in this power of god , the cross is the fellowship , which is a mystery , which brings to the beginning , in which is endless life ; and this mystery is in it . v. of the true communion . the true communion is in the gospel , which is among us , as it was among the apostles , in the spirit and light , by which we have fellowship with the father and with the son. vi. of the gospel . the gospel is the power of god to salvation ; for he that believeth receiveth power , receiveth the gospel , by which life and immortality is brought to light ; and the power of god expels that which keeps life and immortality from people , and captivates their soules spirits and mindes , and keeps them in bondage ; which power of god expells it all and sets them free , and gives them dominion over that , which burdens them and gives them to feel and to see before that was which hides life and immortality from them . and by this power of god , life and immortality comes to reign , in which is the saints fellowship , and church-fellowship , in which they come to be heires of the power of god , heirs of the gospel , heirs of the fellowship , membrs of the church , and membrs of one another ; in the power of god , the gospel wich was before the power of darkness was . and now the gospel must be preached again to all nations , kindreds , tongues and people , who dwell upon the earth ; that by this gospel , life and immortallity may be brought to light among them , and expel away that which hides it from them , by which power , the gospel , which is salvation , which frees the soules , spirits , and consciences from that which burdens them , and to them this is glad tydings . vii . of faith . the faith is one which purifieth the heart , which giveth victory , and which brings to have access to god , and which giveth victory over that which seperates from god ; in which faith was the unity of the saints in the primitive times , in which also stands our unity ; which faith is the gift of god. viii . of baptisme . there is one baptism , by one spirit , into one body , which plungeth under all the corruption which got up since transgression , which hath made the separation between man and god ; which spirit leads into one body from the many bodies , and into one head from the many heads of those many bodies , which are in the fall from god. so baptized with one spirit , into one body , which plungeth under all that which makes a separation from god. we are made to drink into one spirit , and this spirit is within , plunging under all the corruptions which are within ; and the cross of christ , which is the power of god , is within , crucifying the mind which did walk in those things which hides from god , and which keeps in the world , in the lust of the eyes , the pride of life , and the lust of the flesh which are not of the father . now they that mind earthly things , they go from the power of god within , and are enemies to his cross , which is the power of god ( as paul saith ) and so , many heads , many bodies , many baptisms , are among them , who are out of the power of god , the cross of christ , and out of the one baptisme with the spirit , into one body , into one head , christ jesus , the first and the last , the beginning and the end , and the head of his church , which is his body , and he is the saviour of it ; of which church we are . ix . of persecution . now concerning the divers faiths , and divers worships , which are in the world , and the persecution about them , such believers and worshipers are out of the one faith which giveth victory , and have lost the spiritual weapons and are run into the carnal , and so are out of the true worship which is in spirit and truth ; out of which ( as i said before ) the devil is . and here are all the carnall weaponed men , fighting for their worship , and for trifles . when as the spiritual weaponed men , who have the word of god , and the sword of the spirit , they strive not with flesh and blood , destroy not creatures by calling to the powers of the earth to help them . when as carnal minded men , who are out of the church , which was in the begining , and its weapon and spirit : who deform , kill and slay creatures about their invented worships , faiths , baptisms , churches , croses , and such like ; which were not the fruits , neither the works of the apostles , nor of the spiritual weaponed men . so all ye that persecute and kill about religion , church and worship , are not worshipers of god in spirit and truth : they are not in the fellowship of the gospel , the power of god , which was before the power of sathan was , and they are not in the true faith which giveth victory over that which seperates from god , neither are they in the cross of christ , the power of god , which was before sathan was , which crucifies the flesh , and the world , and their carnal weapons . so all ye who persecute and kill about religion , you are out of the new and living way , christ jesus , which saith , love enemies ; and commands to give the check● , back and hairs to the smiters : ye are in cains way who persecute and kill your brother christians , as cain did , and so in this you do not well , neither doth god respect your sacrifice for if you and cain had done well , neither you nor cain had killd your brothers about worship , church , sacrifice and religion , and then god would have had respect unto you , but you doing not well , sin lyeth at your door , as it did at cains , and it s gotten in your house ; so that now , neither his nor your sacrifice god accepts or regards , neither stand you in an acceptable state , where now you are , but in a way , in which together with cain you walk , which is not the new , nor the living way . for adam neglected to hear the voice of god , and cain neglected to hear the voice of god , and the jews they neglected to hear the voice of god , and you neglect to hear his voice , and the devil who went from the truth , lyeth at the door of such who neglect the voyce of god , and so sin entreth into the house and defiles them , and so their hearts are hardned , for which cause they turned against their brethren . so they neither do well , neither doth god accept their sacrifice , for they go from the path and the way where god respects and accepts people , and so becomes fugitives and vagabonds in the earth , and hath not an habitation in god , and in this fugitive state , those baptised nations are worse than the nations not baptized ; and many of them are much more children of the devil than before , like the jews proselites , killing and persecuting , doing the devils work , who is out of the truth . for both christ , his ministers and apostles came to save mens lives ; but the devils policy was to cloath his ministers , apostles and messengers with the sheeps cloathing , and keeps people always under them , that they may alwayes pay them , but destroys and persecutes such as refuse . and this is not according to christ the way , who destroyes the devil and his works , who led man from god , and maketh man unclean ; and christ , who destroyes the devil , maketh man clean again , and brings man to god , who is the justifier , sanctifier , redeemer , and the captain of their salvation ; and persecution is alwayes blind . so every religion , church , worship , ministry , maintenance , which is set up by carnal weapons , clubs and swords is from cain and judas , and from the jews , and from anti-christ , and is anti-christianism , and not from christ , neither in the way which is the way to life . for he is the life which saveth mens lives , but he is of the prince of death that destroyeth mens lives , and of the prince of darkness , out of the light , and out of christ the way , who was before he was , and his workes , and who lives and remaines when he is gone ( to wit , the devil ) and all his instruments and works : let the glory be to god alone for ever . and all the vain jangles and contentions , and disputes concerning the scriptures of truth , with the divers meanings and interpretations thereof , from whence they arise , because they are not in the power and spirit in which they were that gave them forth ; so they are not in fellowship with god , from whence they came , neither with the spirits of just men , who gave them forth , neither are in vnity one with another , for they are out of the spirit , in which spirit we are , by which spirit we know god , we know the spirits of just men , we know the scriptures , with which we have vnity one with another , and the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets ; and this is witnessed amongst us which god said , viz. that he would pour out of his spirit upon all flesh , and sons and daughters should prophesie . and now both sons and daughters do prophesie in our age , as formerly among the apostles . and now there are women-helpers and labourers in the gospel , and such who for its sake can lay down their lives . x. of the scriptures . now concerning the scriptures we say , that they were not given for this end that men should make a trade of them for a maintenance , neither to keep people alwayes learning , and alwayes teaching of them to get their money , this proceeds from the earthly wisdom , knowledge and vnderstanding , which shall perish , and be confounded , and brought to nothing ; and not in that wisdom which cometh down from above , which is pure and peaceable ; but in that wisdom which is from beneath , which is earthly , sensual and devilish , which will destroy them who are not of their opinions and judgments ; such are not in the spiritual understanding , which giveth dominion over sin , and which giveth a discerning by which they can discern one thing from another , and are out of that knowledge by which god is known , which is life eternal . so they who make a trade of the scriptures , and serve themselves by them , they are such as are out of the life , neither can they bring people to it , and so they keep people learning all their life time ; and this is the state of the merchants of babylon , who are building up and plucking down . now this is the end and right use of scripture , viz. for all to read them , and believe them , and to wait in the light , to feel the power and spirit which was in them , who gave them forth , by which they may know them , and have the revelation of them in themselves , and so feel christ who is the voyce and the corner-stone , by which they are fulfilled , and so to receive him , and live in him , who fulfills them , who is the end of the prophets , and of all types , figures and shadows . so ( i say ) the scriptures of truth were given forth to be believed , read , fulfilled , performed , and that people might enjoy that of which they spoke , to wit , christ jesus the substance . the scriptures of truth are the words of god , which comes from god the father of truth , and cannot be broken , but must be fulfilled , and he who fulfills them is christ , by whom all things were made and created ; who is called , the word of god. xi . concerning tythes . tythes have been held up among christians ( so called ) by force and violence since the dayes of the apostles , and christs incarnation , by whom not any example was given about tythes , for among them all things were done freely in charity and love. tythes before the law , by abraham , and tythes , &c. offerings , &c. under the law , were for the priests , widows , fatherless , and the poor ; which law of god commanded tythes by reason of the encrease to be offered for his service , but christ in gospel-times , redeems from the ninths , and puts an end to the law that gave the tenths , and to the priesthood that took them , and to the commandment that gave them , and puts an end to the offerings . and although abraham paid tythes to melchisedeck in time of war , those were only tythes of the spoil , and not by a command ; and christ was according to the order of melchisedeck , who puts an end to war , and destroyes the devil its author , and redeems out of the earth . and although we are many thousands , yet there is not a beggar among us , neither do we read there were any beggars in the primitive-times , which church denyed tythes , and said , the priesthood was changed that took them , together with the law by which they were set up , and also the commandment which gave them . so they who take tythes , and they who pay them , are both anti-christs , and deny christ to be come in the flesh . xii . of the higher power . moses , who had the law , saw over all transgression , and before it was ; he saw the state which adam had in the garden before he fell , he saw his state in the fall , and how death reigned from adam to moses , who received the law , which law passed over all transgression ; which law did answer to the witness of god in all , which was a command to people that they might not sin , and that they might be kept from sin , and so from death , which raigns from adam to moses , which law passeth over both sin and death . and this was the higher power ( higher than the transgression ) which answereth to the witness of god against the rebellions , which witness is true , holy , righteous , and equal , which law is just , holy , and good ; a true measure , and just weight ; this is called the higher power ; this was added untill the seed came , which is christ ; and this law they were to hear , even moses : to whom wisdom was given to make the pattern , and to set forth figures and shaddows under the law till christ should come . of which moses said , the lord will raise up a prophet like unto me , him shall ye hear in all things . and when christ himself came , he put an end to all those types , figures , and shaddows , and changable things ; for in him there is no shaddow , who is called gods righteousness . so the law was in use untill the seed came ; and moses who had it said , god shall raise up a prophet like unto him , and now he is come , which we hear , ( to wit , the seed ) who is the end of all the prophets , who prophesied of him ; and so he is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believe . so believers are members of the true church , of which christ is the head. so christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth . which christ purgeth his floor , and burneth up the chaffe , commeth with his fan , baptizeth with his holy spirit and fire , and bringeth his wheat into his garner . and christ is the end of all oaths which were under the law , and which was before the law , viz. of oaths which put an end to strife among men. xiii . of the kingdom of christ , how it is held up , and how not . the kingdom of christ is not held up by carnal weapons , for saith christ , my kingdom is not of this world , therefore his servants fight not . now all you that profess your selves to be christians , and bringers of glad tydings , yet ye are fighthers with clubs and swords about religion , you are not the servants of christ , who are fighting for an earthly kingdom ; for in christs kingdom we must fight with spiritual weapons in patience and long-suffering ; and christ said to his disciples , ( who would have had fire to come down from heaven to consume those that were contrary to them , as it was in the dayes of the prophet elias ) that they knew not what spirit they were of . so they who destroy mens lives , and doth not save them , they are not according to the mind of christ , nor the way of christ , but are under the condemnation of it , neither do they know what spirit they are of . and so they who are spiritually wise cannot commit their souls , bodies nor spirits into the hands of such . xiv . concerning teachers , prophets , pastors , bishops , presbyters , &c. teachers , prophets , pastors , presbyters and bishops , ought not to be such as are given to filthy lucre , nor covetous , nor given to wine , nor strikers , nor brawlers , nor covetous of earthly things , nor to teach for filthy lucre , nor to contend about words and fables , and vain phylosophy , and beggarly rudiments , and traditions and doctrines of men , nor their commandements , neither ought they to compel people to observe dayes , meats , and drinks , nor such like things , nor to bear rule by their means , nor they ought not to be such who seek their gain from their quarter , such were forbidden ; and such as teach for money and handfulls of barly , and pieces of bread , and such as teach for lucre , were forbidden and opposed by the true prophets , teachers and apostles , and such as wore long robes , and were called of men master , and followed and loved salutations in mark●ts , and the uppermost roomes at feasts , and such like , all such are out of christ , and against such christ himself cryed , woe , woe , who said , ye have one master , even christ , and ye are all brethren : and that it should not be so among them , as it was among the gentiles . and so all they who have the scriptures of christ , of the apostles and prophets , and not in the power and spirit that gave them forth , and do not obey it , which reproves them that they may come into it , but stop their ears , and shut their eyes against it , such are like the pharisees , these cannot worship god in the spirit , neither can they pray in the spirit , nor sing in the spirit , but quench it , and burthen it , and vex it . these are out of the fellowship of the spirit , and out of the fellowship of god the father of spirits . those erre , not knowing the scriptures nor the power of god. and such go hither and thither to change their way , and go from the spirit of god in their hearts , which would lead them to christ , the way , the truth , and the life . so all such who have the form of godliness , and are not in the power and spirit in which they were in who gave forth the words ; such are to be denyed . and the true praying is in the spirit , and the true worship , true praysing , and true singing must be in the spirit : so they who grieve and vex the spirit , and quench it , they cannot worship god in the spirit . xv. an exhortation to all christendom , to mind the grace of god , to wit , the light. all ye people in that part of the world which is called christendom , come to the light wherewith christ hath enlightned you , that with it you may see your salvation , and may know christ you teacher , the captain of your salvation , and the grace which comes by him , which brings your salvation ; which grace teacheth us , which grace is sufficient in weakness and temptations , which brings the salvation , and by it we are saved . and this grace teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts , and to live soberly and righteously ; and this is our teacher that brings salvation . so you may have all the loynes of your mind girded up , to wait for the grace which is to be brought to you at the revelation of jesus christ , according to peters exhortation . now they who turn from the grace , and walkes despightfully against the spirit of god , they set up teachers according to their own hearts lusts , and such makes merchandize of them , alwayes learning of them , but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth , but still remains in earthly mindedness , covetousness , and temptations , and weaknesses , where is mournings and complaints , and where there are very many mourners and complainers , among such as turn from the grace of god into wantonness , and set up teachers ( as aforementioned ) according to their own hearts lusts , &c. therefore come ye to the grace of god , and it will give you to see your ungodliness , your unrighteousness , and your worldly lusts and intemperance . this grace is your teacher continually , who brings salvation ; if you take heed , and have regard to it , and love it , but if you turn it into wantonness , the sudden judgement of god will come upon you . so take heed to the grace of god , your constant teacher , which brings salvation , by which grace you will see your salvation brought in ; for , the mighty day of the lord is coming upon all unrighteousness of men . the son of the lord god will appear against you , he who hath all power in heaven and in earth given to him , who is king of kings , and lord of lords . so take heed to the light and receive it , wherewith he hath enlightned , so you receive the lord himself . open ye your gates , that the king of glory may enter in , who stands at the door and knocketh , turn ye to the light , and then you open the door where the coming in of the king of glory is discerned . and come from all the barren mountains , who are in the fall , alienated from the image of god , life and power . come from all those wells without water , and clouds without rain , who are as vagabonds tossed up and down like a tempest . come to the light , and receive the light , that in the light ye may receive christ , and be his children , that by the same you may see the day-star appearing , where the sons of god sing together . for , woe is to the world that lyeth in iniquity , for the lord is coming to judge it , and to render to every one according to their works , whether they be good or evil . and with the light every one of you knows whether your works are good or evil , for what is to be known of god is manifest in you , ( for god hath manifested it to you ) when you do any thing that is naught , or unjust , or worthy of death , by that which is of god in you , you know it . and when you go from this , which is of god in you , you do not glorify god as god , but are alienated from his life , and strangers from the covenant of life and peace which is in christ , and so your foolish hearts are darkned , and filled with unrighteousness , and upon such comes the judgments and displeasure of god. now they who are delivered from the wrath to come , they come to that which is of god in themselves ( viz. ) to the light , and so they see christ the covenant of god ; so man is brought into peace with god , and saved from the wrath to come , and from all false wayes , false doctrines , false worships , and false churches , commandments , traditions , rudimenus , will-worships , inventions , and from hand-worship , and lip-service . so come to the light and spirit of god in your selves that by it you may be converted to god , and may worship him in spirit , and walk in the spirit , in christ jesus , who was before sin was . for since man fell from god , from his power and image , all the false wayes , false worships , false churches , have been set up ; and by that spirit , and power , and wisdom which is out of truth , from below , which leads men to kill one another about them . so the light is the way by which life is to be found , and this is the light which enlighteneth you . so come to the light and you come to the way , which was before the power of death was . and christ is called the way , and he is called the light , and who are out of the light they are out of him , the way , in the wayes of death , and darkness , and bondage . for as the jews outward were in bondage and captivity under pharaoh in egypt , so the jews inward in the spirit , are captivated in spiritual sodom and egypt . they who do not take to the directions of the spirit , and heareth what it saith , for every man ought to hearken and hear what the spirit saith to the churches , and not to mind nor hear any visible thing . and in it , ( viz. the spirit ) they edifie , build , and gather together , and meet together in vnity and fellowship . xvi . of perfection . he who leads man into imperfection is the devil , and his work who leads from god , for man was perfect before he fell , for all his works were perfect ; so christ who d●stroyeth the devil and his works , makes man perfect again ( destroying him who made him imperfect ) which the law could not do ; so by his blood he cleanseth from all sin , and by the one offering he perfecteth for ever them that are sanctified . and they who do not believe in the light which cometh from christ ( by which they see the offering , and receive the blood ) they are in unbeliefs concernig it . and the apostles who were in the light , christ jesus , who destroyes the devil and his works , they spoke wisdom among them that were perfect , although they could not do it among them that were carnal . and their work was to perfect the saints ( and for this end they had their ministry given them ) until they all came to the knowledge of the son of god , who destroyeth the devil and all his works , and who put an end to the prophets , and to the first covenant , types , figures and saddows . and the apostles work was to bring people to the vnity of the faith , which purified their hearts , which gave them victory over that which seperates them from god , in which they have access to god , by which faith they please him , by which they are justified , and so at last they come to a perfect man , to the measure of the statrue of the fulness of christ . and so the apostle saith , we preach christ in you , the hope of glory ; warning every man , that we may present every man perfect in christ jesus . xvii . of the resurrection . we say that christ is the resurrection and the life , to raise up that which adam lost , ( who hath all power in heaven and in earth given to him ) and to destroy him who deceived him ( viz. adam ) so christ is the resurrestion unto life , of body , soul , and spirit , and so renews man into the image of god , and brings man into an higher condition than that in which adam stood before the fall , even to himself , who never changed , and never fell , nor never will fall . and so they who forget god and do wickedly , they are to be turned into hell ; for they who forget god and do wickedly , they go from the life and power of god , into the seperation from him , and out of his acceptance ; for in the life is the acceptance ; and so the power , light and life , goeth over them , who go into sin and iniquity , which leades from god , who was before transgression was . xviii . concerning election and reprobation . reprobation is an alienation from the life , and from that which is of god within , and from his voice and command , as adam and the jews did ; and such who despise that which is of god within , they despise their birth-right ; such are concluded to be out of true vnderstanding , and true knowledge , and the witness of god within is grieved , and such are dead in their sences from the life and covenant of peace with god , and from the seed which is called the elect , in which the elect , and the election is known , in the seed christ , before the foundation of the world , which world slew him , and they who slew him , and now slayes him , they were and are reprobated from the life , who go from the command of god , and they have lost his image , they have lost his power , which keeps over , and above , and out of the reprobation . and so they who come into the election , the seed , they come out of the state in which adam was , in the fall , into the state in which he was in before he fell , and into an higher state than that , into christ , the seed , the elect. and so they in the seed , in the elect , in christ , the wisdom of god , they comprehend and see the state of election before the world was laid , and the state of adam before the fall , and the state of adam in the fall , in the reprobation , and the state of adam restored again out of the fall , and a state which is higher than that in which adam was in before he fell , into the election ( which is a thing beyond that ) and the state of the beloved of god is seen in the seed , the wisdom of god. cain was the first birth , esau was the first birth , ishmael was the first birth ; cain killed his brother about religion , ishmael was a scoffer , esau bore the sword , he despised his birth-right , he fought against his brother jacob. so christendom , read your reprobation , the first birth , which is born of the elesh , for the first birth will persecute him who is born of the spirit ; so the most part of christians are seen to be of the first birth , and to remain in the reprobation from god. cain departed from the voyce of god , and esau from his birth-right , and ishmael in his scoffing nature , they went from the good , and so from faithful abraham , who was in the election . and so they who are in cains , ishmaels and esaus nature , are in the first birth , which is not elected . now as to the love of god towards one , and his hatred to another , before either had done good or evil , all this consists in the first birth , who despised his birth-right , which god foresaw , which was not the seed , unto which the love of god is to for ever . therefore know thy self ( o christendom ) and thy birth , that that which hates the principle of god and his voice , is reprobated , he that rebells against gods command and his voyce , god turneth against such , neither doth he hear such who hates the election , and are in the reprobation from the seed , yea , even from the law it self , for the law keeps a man from sin ; but the law it self doth not say that it destroys the devil , but the seed , viz. christ , who is higher than the law , who is the election , and destroys the devil . so who knows the election , they must know the seed , they must know the birth born of the spirit . now if all christendom , know the election , they must know the birth born of the spirit , which will not persecute . for the nature of cain , ishmael , and esau , is one ( of which the apostle spoke in the primitive times ) which we now also say is one , and the election is one which standeth in the seed , which was before the foundation of the wicked world was . and the reprobation is one , which standeth in the unjust world , out of the truth and the life in disobedience to the command of god. therefore know the one reprobation , and the one election , then ye shall know the seed , in which is the wisdom of god , and ye shall know that which goes from his voyce , power and command , out of the wisdom of god ; so whom god loves , he loves for ever : know jacob , and know esau . esau , cain and ishmael were the first-born ; and is not christendom of the first-birth , who persecutes , who departs from the good , and despises the pure , and persecutes the birth born of the spirit , which god hates . and such act out of his life in the reprobation , out of his power and wisdom , and out of the election , christ , the seed , the second birth , who was before the carnal birth was , and remains when he will be gone , unto which the love of god is for ever , and unto whom is the promise , which goeth over the outward birth , and destroyes the devil and his works , who went from truth , and led man from god , by which the curse , wrath and woe came upon man , which christ the seed , brings the blessing , and gives man to see the blessed state of all things , how they were in the beginning , and how they were blessed in the beginning ; and through christ , man comes up into the power , which is his throne , where there 's blessing and no curse at all . xix . concerning fear and trembling . the strong man hath kept the house long , and his goods have been at peace , but now he is come who is stronger than he , christ jesus the stronger , who doth dis-inherit and cast him out , and spoil his goods , and makes man the temple of god ; that ●e himself may dwell in him , an holy temple , and an habitation for himself to dwell in ; who maketh the keepers of the house to tremble ; by which power of christ the salvation is wrought out with fear and trembling . and so we can say , that it is god that worke●h in us both to will and to do , according to his will and good pleasure . in the dayes of the prophets , the prophet he trembled and staggered like a drunkard , for the iniquity of the times , and because of the holiness of the word of the lord ; he trembled when he heard his voyce , and when the lord spake to him he feared grea●ly . this is the man whom god regards ( saith the prophet isayas ) who is of a broken and contr●ie spirit , and trembleth at his word : who have been cast out by their brethren , who said , let the lord be glorified : who will appear for those that tremble at his word , and for those that are of a contrite heart ; who were for signes and wonders to both the houses of israel , when they shall be confounded , ashamed and astonished . and before you know sin rooted out , and wasted out of your flesh , and the earth shaken and removed out of its place , and ye brought into that state which man was in before he fell , you must know the trembling and shaking of that which is to be shaken , and the removing of that which is to be removed , before christ the seed will appear , who is the foundation of many generations , and the rock of ages , who is the first and the last ; who cannot be shaken , neither can be changed . so that the whole unjust wicked world hath much to suffer before they come to this , they must know the devils to tremble , the heavens to be shaken , and the earth also , before he who cannot be shaken will appear ; by whom the world was made . xx. concerning the body of death . it s evident that they who plead for a body of death and sin , about which the world so earnestly jangle , and which they plead for as long as they live upon the earth , that they also plead for its author , viz : the divel , and this is not to plead for christ who destroyes him who is the author of sin , and the body of it . object . now if you object , that john hath said , if we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves , and the truth is not in us ▪ answ . john saith , if we say we have not sinned , we make him a lyar : ( mark ) but if we confess and forsake our sins , the blood of jesus christ , the son of god , cleanseth us from all sin . further he saith , he that is born of god sinneth not , neither can he : because the seed of god remains in him . because of which seed he cannot sin , for that seed keeps the holy ; so that the evill one cannot touch him : in this the children of god and the children of the divel are manifest : whose children of both kinds contends and pleads for his own ; so there is a time in which men may say that they have sinned , and have sin , and a time to confess and to forsake sin ; and then a time to know the blood which cleanseth from all sin ; and then the birth born , which doth not commit sin ; and the seed which remaines in him ; so that he cannot sin , for , ( as i said before ) it keeps the holy that the evil cannot touch him . and though paul cryed out of a body of death , and of a warfare , yet afterwards he gave thanks to god , that he had gotten victory , through jesus christ , over the body of death , and that the law of the spirit of life , had freed him from the law of sin and death . and afterwards the apostle never complained of a body of death , but he thanked god , that he had obtained victory through christ , who destroyes the devil the author of it , who destroys death and its body , and said that he was freed , and that there was no condemnation to them who were in christ jesus : and that the life that he now lived , was by the faith of the son of god ; which faith gives victory over sin , death and the devil ; which sin separates from god , by which man hath displeased him , by which faith man is purified , and hath victory , and pleaseth god , and hath access to him , and is justified and saved , amen . xxi . concerning the word thou to a single person . it is the manner among us to use the word [ thou ] to a single person , and [ you ] to more than one , as in the primitive times among the saints , according to scripture and the principle of god placed in every man , which distinguisheth many from one , and hath the proper word both to singular and plural ; to wit , the singular word to a single person , and the plural word to more than one , according to the true understanding and spirit of god in every man , and the testimony of all the prophets . but they are degenerated from the spirit of god , they are degenerated from the scriptures , and from their own translations , calling this manner of speaking ( thou , to one , and you , to many ) nonsence , and improper ; when they themselves are gone from the true understanding , which whosoever are in it , comprehends them who are degenerated from it . xxii . concerning putting of the hat , and bowing the knee , and cringings , and complements . to put off hatts , bowing knees , cringing and complements , are from below , and customes and manners of the world , which shall pass away , and never came from god , neither is that honour wherewith men ought to honour one another ; for if all men had honoured and esteemed one another , they had been of an higher spirit than the spirit of the world , and of a more noble and generous spirit : then neither man nor woman throughout all christendom had received wrong or injury if they had esteemed and honoured one another ; for he that honours men , will in no wise hurt them , in this consists breeding and civillity . and every knee shall bow to me ( saith the lord. ) for this is the cry , worship god , and fear him , and reverence him . and if you object , that some in times past bowed them-themselves to an angel , but in the time of the gospel , which is the power of god , which was before the fall , in the state of reformation and restauration , john was forbidden to bow to the angel , and the apostels reproved them that bowed to them . and although jacob bowed for a time to his brother esau ; yet it is not said , that he bowed to him all his life time . for it is written , the elder shall serve the younger ; so the elder shall bow among the cringers and knee-bowers , one to another , who will kill and envy one another ; and to them this is a mystery . xxiii . concerning good manners . evil words , and evil communications corrupts good manners ; and if christendom would learn good manners , they must all come to the light of christ jesus , to the spirit of god in themselves , and to the word of god in their hearts and months which will teach them to leave off evil words , and will lead them from them , and to deny them , and this is the way to come to good manners ; but they who live in high expressions and complements , and full of evil words , and flatteries , and dissimulations , and call such good manners ; their words and works testify and manifest that they are evil and corrupt , and such whose manners are evil and corrupt , they quench , grieve and vex the spirit of god in themselves , and hate the light , and will not come to it , because it reproves them of their evil words . such do love envy , wrath , vanity , pride , rashness , hastiness , and yet they are found in flattering expressions , and bowings one to another ; and they call it good manners , and honour , when all such things are altogether out of that honour that comes from above ; and are those things which the witness of god in themselves testifieth against , and testified in the name of the lord , that he will bring such honour in the dust , and that which he will condemn as unjust . the apostle saith , that women ought not to adorne themselves , with gould , silver , pearls , costly attire , platting of the hair , but to be adorned with a meek and a quiet spirit , which is in the sight of god of great price ; and the hidden man of the heart , &c. and if christendom had minded this , it had been more virtuous , and more sober , and less envious towards one about their manners . xxiv . concerning objections of the world against the preaching of christ . object . the world objests , and saith , that some preach christ of envy , and some of good-will , and some of strife and contention ; and that christ commanded to hear the pharisees : so we may hear ( say they ) our teachers although they be wicked . answ . he that hath the form of godliness and denyes the power , from such turn away . the apostle bid turn away from envious men , and contentious men , and men of strife : although there was a time when the name of christ was first spread abroad , in which time he permitted envious men to spread his name abroad . but when his name was spread abroad , then he forbad such envious and contentious men to preach , and exhorted timothy to withdraw from , and avoid such , for they could not bring people into the power . for envious and contentious men may preach the form , and have it , but they cannot bring people into the power . and so there came a time ( before the decease of the apostles ) to turn away from such . now as to the hearing of the pharisees , this was before christ was offered up , and before the fulfilling of the law ; for they were ministers of the law ; and so people ought to do as they said , but not as they did , but when christ was offered up , he commanded them to preach the gospel , and not to hear the pharisees , and it was the work of the apostles to bring people to the end of the law , to the seed , into gospel-fellowship , into the power of god , which was before the power of darkness was . xxv . concerning bread , water and wine . bread , water , and wine are earthly and perishing things ; for the bread and wine which christ gave at supper in the evening , which the world takes at noon , those things christ and the apostle gave for a shewing forth and a remembrance of his death until he should come . and after some of the disciples had receiv'd it , they doubted , whether he was the christ or not . and after the apostle had given the supper to the corinthians , in his first epistle , he bad then examine themselves , and so to eat in the remembrance of christ . but in the second epistle he bad them examine themselves , and try themselves , whether christ [ except they were reprobates ] were in them or not . now they may be reprobates , who have taken the bread and wine , and have had the water ; they were reprobates if christ was not in them ; for bread and wine is not the flesh and blood of christ , which came down from heaven , which flesh , whosoever eates , lives for ever . for people may eat of bread made of grain , and may drink wine make of grapes , and yet may dye reprobates . now they were to take it in remembrance of his death , this was one state , and than they were to come to dye with him and this was a nearer state than the taking of bread and wine in remembrance of his death , and then they were to arise with him , and then to seek those things which were above where christ sitteth at the right hand of god , but bread water and wine are all earthly things , and they are not christ , and they who have him , they are not reprobates , neither do they need outward things to put them in mind of his death ; whenas they are dead with him , and risen with him , to live with him . but they who will not dye , and suffer with him , such live in the old nature , and desire to have outward things , continually to put them in mind of his death , and such live in strife and contention about outward things and shaddows and do not come to christ the substance , who was before the world was made in whom there is no strife at all , but only life and peace . xxvi . of the sabbath day . the jews they kept the sabbath-day , a type and sign of rest , that both the man-servant , and maid-servant , and strangers , and all cattel should rest within their gates ; a sign of christ , who destroys the devil the author of oppression , and gives rest to man and beast , and to the whole creation , and brings it again into that blessed condition which it was in in the beginning before the fall. now as to the saints meeting together on the first day of the week , this practice is not denyed , but owned by us , for who are come to the first day , as they jews on the last day . but there is more in the word . xxvii . concerning god-fathers , and god-mothers and sprinkling of infants . concerning god-fathers , and god-mothers , and sprinkling of infants , and such like things , the scriptures make no mention , yet the scripture saith , repent , teach and baptize . xxviii . concerning the word trinity . of this word [ trinitas ] there is no mention made in scripture ; yet the scripture speaks of father , son and holy spirit , and of water , blood and spirit , and all these are , one among us , as in the primitive time among the apostles , who gave no such outward names to them as trinity , as the world now doth . xxix . concerning the ministry . they that receive from christ , they receive freely , and they give freely , they pray freely , and preach freely ; and the ministry is the gift of god , and is to be exercised freely ; and of a free people of their earthly things it is to be administred freely . heavenly men and bringers of glad tydings of a kingdom of which they are heirs , must minister to the eternal condition of people . and this is the highest love in the life . xxx . concerning dayes , and times , and meats and drinks . the kingdom of god consists not in dayes , times , meats and drinks , and such like things , but in power , righteousness faith and joy in the holy ghost ; and people ought not contend and persecute one another about such things , for the apostles gave not any commandment or example that any should do so , but on the contrary reproved them who did so , and keep people in such things . xxxi . concerning marriages . whom god hath joyned together let no man put asunder ; and those which he joynes he joynes with his power , even by his immortal power , with a band over and above the state which is in the fall , where men joyn and put asunder , about outward and earthly things , and jangle and fight about them , but this is all in the defiled bed , out of the honourable state which was in the beginning , where there was no hardness of heart . and marriage in it self is not condemned but owned , and among all them who are in the power , i say it is honourable . so forsake and come out of all vain words , and all vain customs , and all unprofitable and idle communications and talkings , for which you are judged and condemned with the light , viz. the light in your consciences which reproves you , and come into the the new life , in which god is served , that your words may be seasoned with grace , that by it your hearts may be established , that no corrupt communication may proceed out of your mouthes , for whatsoever is corrupt is contrary to the witness of god in your consciences , to christ the light which reproves you . therefore away with all the customes and fashions of the world which grieve and quench the spirit of god , and repent while ye have time , and spend not your time like a tale ; come to the light , and sleep not in sin , in darkness , in seperation from god ; but prize the time while you have it , lest in the end ye come to say , we have had time but now it is past ; but so mind the power of god , the light of christ jesus , by which you may redeem it . xxxii . concerning false prophets and antichrists . false prophets and antichrists are much condemned in this part of the world called christendom , and they bring the 7th , chapter , and the 24th chapter of matthew , and say , that they are but now come . to which i answer , that christ said , they should come , viz. antichrists , and false apostles ; he said to his disciples , that they shall come , i. e. to his disciples , and he gave them markes how they should know them ; a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit : nor a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit . — and if it were possible they should deceive the very elect , for they have the sheeps-cloathing . and he commanded his disciples that they should not follow them , for they were inwardly ravening wolves , having the sheeps cloathing . and those were antichrists and false prophets , false christs and deceivers who were inwardly ravend from the light , and so from the seed , viz. the true christ . and christ told his disciples those should come , and before the decease of his disciples they came ; as we may read in the first epistle of john , the second chapter , and fourth chapters , he saith , little children , ye have heard that antichrist should come , and even now there are many antichrists , and false prophets come into the world. so christ had spoken before that they should come , and his disciples said that they were already come ; who went out from them , inwardly ravend from the spirit ; and this was above sixteen hundred years since . and john who saw them already come , he directed the saints to this annointing in themselves , and said to them , that they had not need that any one should teach them , but as this annointing taught them , they should abide in the father and in the son. and so those anti-christs , false prophets , wolves , false christs , inwardly ravend , they bear pryars , thornes and thistles , which christ said , shall come , and his disciples said they were come , and who went out from them into the world. and in the revelations it is said , the whole world went after them . so they went out from the church , fellowship , gospel ; they went out from the fellowship of the spirit within , being ravend from it ; they went from the annointing within , which should teach them ; they went from the law in the heart , to wit , from the new covenant ; and they went from the kingdom within , and they went from the word which is in the the heart to obey it , and to do it ; they went out from the light in the heart , which gives the knowledge of god in the face of jesus christ , and so they lost the pearl hid in the field , viz. the world in their hearts . and so the false prophets went out from the disciples , and , as was said before in the revelations , it s said , the whole world went after them . so john wrote to the seven churches which erred , by permitting jezabel to teach , and to set up idols , and such who said they were jews , and were not , but were the synagogues of satan . so he goes on in the revelation till he comes to the eleventh chapter , where the witnesses are slain ; the two olives which carried the oyl to the annointing of the nations , the two candlesticks which holds the light. and in the 12th chapter , the woman , viz. the true church , fled into the wilderness , prepared for her of god , that there she should be nourished , for a time , times , and half a time . and in the 13th chapter , the dragon gives his power to the beast , and the beast with the dragons power makes war against the saints ▪ and killed them who were l●ft of that seed who kept the testimony of jesus , the spirit of prophesie ; who were in him , from whom the ravening wolves had departed . then all that dwelt upon the earth worshipped the beast , and worshipped the dragon , and both caused and compelled all , both small and great to fall down and worship . and from hence arose this compelling power to worship : then the false prophet and the whore , through the dragons power , got upon the beast , and caused all nations to drink of her cup. so thus the whore arose , which went from the apostles , and from their life , power and spirit , and committed fornication ; before the nations were married to christ , they took the cup of fornication of this whore. and she drank the blood of the saints and martyrs , who were not inwardly ravend , and who could not drink of her cup. yea , she drank the blood of the saints and prophets who kept the testimony of jesus , who were not inwardly ravend . and so such doings and works they have set up for the space of fifteen hundred years , viz. killing and murdering ; and they have dispersed themselves into all nations , as the apostles they were to go into all nations . and such works the wolves have wrought in the sheeps cloathing , yea those who are inwardly ravend from the spirit of god , whose fruits are brambles , bryars and thorns , and such like works those raveners have done since the dayes of the apostles , being ravend from their life and power ; having the words of the sheep , the scriptures , but not in the power and life which gave them forth ; therefore bryars and thorns appear : who devour and kill the lambs , and compels them to worship and use violence upon them and their outward things about religion , which was not the work of the apostles . and so john saith , again the beast and the dragon , and the false prophets ( which hath deceived the nations which christ said should come , and john said was come ; who went out from them ; from which time the world hath gone after them , for the space of fifteen hundred years ) is to be taken : which beast and false prophet shall be taken and cast into the lake of fire , and the nations shall be deceived no more , and the whore the great whore , which hath compelled the nations to drink the blood of the saints , is to be taken , and her flesh burnt with fire , and babylon shall be confounded , and all merchants which have merchandized with her , shall howle , and lament , and cry , alas , alas , how is this great city fallen ! for there hath been a merchandizing in this great city , which must be thrown down ; and all the merchants of this great city , have been those that inwardly ravend from the spirit of god , who have built up and plucked down . so unto this from which they have apostatized , you must all come before the sheeps life be known , and so the witnesses are raised , and shall be raised , who hold the light , and carries the oyl to enlighten the nations , and to annoint them ; yea , the spirit , and power , and fellowship , and worship in which the apostles were formerly in . and the cry is begun , fear god and give glory to him . — come out of her , my people , lest you be pertaker of her plagues . — and the mourners shall go forth , and the prophets prophesie . who witness the spirit of god fallen upon them , as formerly among the apostles . and the everlasting gospel shall be preached to all nations , kindreds and people . xxxiii . concerning an objection of people . objection . but many people speak after this manner . have not we had the gospel all this time till now ? answer . we say , no , you have had the sheeps-cloathing , while you are alienated from the spirit , and so not living in the power , which is the gospel ; and the bride , the lambs wife , is coming out of the wilderness , which hath been nourished of god for a time , and times , and dividing of times , preparing for her husband ; and the man-child is risen to rule all nations with a rod of iron . and the lamb and the saints shall have the victory , ( glory to the highest ) and people shall come into gospel-fellowship , and to the church of god , and church-fellowship in the gospel , the power of god , which was before the power of satan was ; which gospel was among the apostles , in which their fellowship was , and this is gospel-fellowship ; and in the power of god they are over all false prophets , false worshippers , over the dragon , over the false church and his worship , ( which are begotten betwixt us and the apostles ) and are gotten beyond them , and see their rise , who are inwardly ravend from the spirit , and are gone from the truth , as the devil and the whore heretofore , who set themselves against them who are in the truth , but here is the faith and patience of the saints , who seeth the destruction of the whore , the beast , the dragon , and the false prophet , by the hand and power of god , who know the seed of god to raign over all , viz. he who is the first and the last . xxxiv . of the jew inward and outward , and of a christian in the power and out of the power . the uncircumcised gentiles , which have not the law , and yet do those things contained in the law , are better than the circumcised jews which have the law , and are more sober and moderate ; and so the jew within in the spirit , is more excellent than the jew without in the flesh . and so a christan in the light , and power , and seed of god , is more excellent than a christan in the form of godliness , and yet out of the power ; and more moderate and patient . xxxv . concerning christ the covenant of god. christ , the covenant of god , was foretold by the prophet , who said , i will give him for a light and for a covenant to the gentiles , and he shall be my salvation to the ends of the earth : yea , the new covenant to the house of israel , and to the house of judah . so this covenant is made to all people , to them who were called the people of god , and to the gentiles also . and this is that covenant of light unto which john came to bear witnesse , which enlighteneth every one that cometh into the world ; which giveth power to all , who receive it , to become the sons of god , from him who hath all power in heaven and earth given to him , and this is the light in which people must believe , by which they become children of god , and this is the light which shineth in darkness , and out of the darkness , which is in the heart which giveth the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ jesus , from whence it comes ; and this is that light , which they who love darkness hate , and will not come to it , because it reproves them . and by this covenant of light to the gentiles , which is salvation to the ends of the earth . now we who are gentiles , are become christians , and we obtain salvation , and by faith in this covenant we become children of the light , and by receiving it , we receive power to become the sons of god : but they who hate this light and love darkness rather than the light , and do not come to it because it condemns them , even this light is their condemnation . xxxvi . concerning plots and conspiracies . plots , conspiracies , insurrections , tumultuous meetings , we utterly abhorre , who live peaceably , and seek the peace and good of all people upon earth . there were about thirty of the fifth monarchy men who made an insurrection in england , which insurrection was wickedly laid to the charge of the people of god called quakers , from which insurrection , the monarchy men themselves declared when they were to dye , that we were innocent ; yet nevertheless , the diurnals and news-books have joyned us together with the monarchy men , in that plot and insurrection , and have published us to the nations as plotters , though we are innocent . and we say , the lord forgive them for wronging of us . the lying priests and professors say , that we deny the scriptures , and that we deny the resurrestion , and christ and his body , and that we foame at the mouth , and that we bewitch men , and bind ribband about their armos ; which are altogether false and lies , and from their father the devil , the author of them , who is out of the truth , in which truth we are however scandalized by them , who are of the father of lyes . and what evil soever they may bring against us , yet we are in the truth , and can rejoyce ; praised be the lord , who lives for ever . xxxvii . concerning original sin. the devil is the original of sin , which christ destroyes ; god is the original of righteousness , and christ is gods righteousness , which endures for ever ; but the worlds original is the many languages ( whose original is babel ) which makes divines ( as they call them ) with many languages set a top of christ : and the whore sits upon the waters , ( as it s spoken in the revelation ) and john saith , the waters are nations , multitudes , people and tongues : which tongues they call their original . to which waters the gospel must be preached before they can be established . and ye are to be redeemed from tongues , and tongues shall cease , ( saith the apostle ) and so from this worlds original , the beginning of which is babel , and which keeps in babylon , the saints are redeemed . and this hath been set up as an original among them who are alienated from the spirit of god , in babel , where the original of tongues was in the dayes of nimrod , that heretick , who began to build babel . so tongues do not make any man a divine , neither a minister of christ , for that which makes a man divine ( as they say ) is the word ( which redeems out of tongues ) which was before babel was , and in the beginning before the fall , which knocks down all that which corrupts mans nature , and renews again into the divine nature . and whosoever are ministers of the word , and preachers of the gospel , they are in the power and in the word which was before tongues were ; this word brings into the church-felowship , which is in god , into which they are not brought by the worlds original , which they call the tongues , which shall cease , and out of whom we are redeemed ; neither do they bring into fellowship with god , neither into his worship , nor further than babel , where the tongues stop . but who comes to the word of god and the gospel , they come to that which was before many tongues were , and shall remain when they shall all pass away . xxxviii . concerning oathes . the spirit of christ , the spirit of the apostles , of the martyrs is risen again , which gives testimony against swearing and oathes . there were no oaths at all imposed upon man before the fall , but only since the fall , for under the law after the fall ; and among the jews ; oaths and commandments were given . to which christ ( by whom the world was made , which was before the fall , which is the oath of god , which oathes in the fall were types ) who put an end to strife , and brings into quietness and peace , and bindes to god without oathes , which christ put an end to . and , christ himself , the oath of god , puts an end to all oaths , and brings into the land of quietness and rest , the spiritaul canaan , and puts and end to strife , and destroyes the devil the author of strife , he who is the rest , the way , truth and the life , who brings again to god , and is the covenant of god in man , hath peace with god , which destroyes that which led from god and from christ ; and he himself said , swear not at all , neither by heaven , nor by the earth , nor by any other oath . he who restores man into that state in which he was in the beginning before the fall , who restores into the image of god. and so in the restauration there are no oathes to be used , nor swearing , according to his own doctrine ; but yea , yea , nay , nay , was to be used among men in all their communications , and what is more then this , is evil ; so that swearing now is evil . and this is the doctrine of him who restores people into that state in which man was in in the beginning ; who is the substance , who put an end to figures . and his disciple jeams in the 5th chapter of his epistle , who followed his counsel ( who is an everlasting counsellor ) saith , above all things , my brethren , swear not , neither by heaven , nor by earth , nor by any other oath , lest you fall into condemnation : but let your yea , be yea , and your nay , be nay . and this was the manner among them who followed the doctrine and command of christ in the restauration , who were built upon the true foundation , which was first laid in the primitive times among the true brethren ; and was publickly held forth which manner and custome , doctrine and command of christ jesus and the apostles in the primitive times , many of the martyrs followed , held forth , and practised among those who were degenerated and apostatized from the life and power of christ and the apostles , although they profess the words . and now the spirit of christ is risen again , and of the apostles , and saints as in the primitive times , and the spirit of the martyrs , who bear witness against all oathes and all sort of swearing whatsoevever , that were used among the heathens , jews , and apostatized christians , both privately and publickly , and bindes to yea , and nay , in all manner of communication , as christ and the apostles taught , and and the saints and martyrs practised , knowing , that whatsoever is more than yea , and nay , is evil ; and such who swear , are condemned according to christ and the apostles doctrine . so we say again , that the spirit of christ , the apostles , and martyrs is risen again , who hath been dead , and is dead , in and among the apostates , who have the form , but deny the power , from whom we have turned away . but now its ri●en again , and lives amongst us : glory and honour be given to god through jesus christ , who hath restored to the beginning , into the image of god in which man was in before he fell , before oathes were . for example . read the book of genesis , and there you may see that there was no command given to adam and eve before the fall , concerning swearing , neither from christ , who restores man again , and who puts an end to oathes , before the law , and under the law , and prophets both , whom the angels ( which sware ) worship , for christ saith , swear not at all , who is lord and master , so it is better to obey him than man , and in all your communication let your yea , be yea , and your nay , be nay ; for whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil , saith he who restores , even christ . and in the second example , consider the apostles , who did according to the command and doctrine of christ , who said , above all things , my brethren , swear not at all , lest ye fall into condemnation , jam. 5. but let your yea , be yea , and your nay , nay , in all your communication . and although there was swearing among the jews , and other nations and heathens , before the apostatized christians used to swear , nevertheless the apostles and the brethren obeyed , and they must obey the doctrine and the command of christ , for if christ command one thing , and man another , it is better to obey the lord jesus christ , the life , who is the restorer , saviour , and redeemer , than men . this is the word of the lord god to you all . concerning the word of god , and the original , what it is . blessed are all those whose mindes are staid upon the lord , for they shall be kept in perfect peace ; so where the mind is staid upon the lord , there is a perfect peace , for it is a whole peace which cannot be broken : so here is not only a perfect peace , but a blessing ; a perfect peace which comes from the god of all peace , that bruiseth the serpents head under your feet , ( the troubler ) and the blessings which comes from the blessed god. so all imperfect peace may be broken , that is when the mind is staid upon any creature , or in any creature ( and not upon the creator ) or in any outward things . goods , houses , lands or inventions of the vanities , in the foolish vain fashions , which the lust of the eye , and the pride of life go into , which will defile it and corrupt it , when any of these things fail , and are not according to your mind , it being in them , then your peace is broken , and you are cross , and brickle , and envy gets up ; so this is not a perfect peace , but is a broken peace , and then you have the trouble and not the blessing ; and the reason is , because your minds are in the creatures , and the outward things , and are not staid upon the creator , where the perfect peace is , and the blessing , where nothing can get betwixt you and the lord. and this is below job to have the mind in the creatures , and visible things , for when you are tried , and creatures fail you , you are crost , and troubled , that shews an imperfect state ; for god said , that job was a perfect man : and when that the lord suffered him to be tried , and when that his goods and houses were thrown down , and driven a way , and servents killed , he said , blessed be the name of the lord , for the lord gave and the lord taketh ; here his mind was stayed upon the lord , and he retained his peace . and when that his children were destroyed , and his wife said to him , what , dost thou continue in thy integrity still ? curse god and dye ; he rebukes her , and calls her , a foolish woman : and said unto her , shall i receive good of the lord and not evil ? naked came i out of my mothers womb , and naked i must return again . here job kept his integrity still , and did not all this while offend with his lips. now many of you who think your selves high , and above job , if that your goods and children should be after the same manner taken away ( whose mind is in them ) you would be found in a troubled brickle state , far below job . and when that jobs friends came to reason with him , who kept his integrity , and would no way yeeld to them , they called him an hypocrite , and said , he denyed prayer , and filled his belly with east-wind , and said , what shall mortal man be more pure than his maker ? shall man that is born of a woman be just ? god chargeth his angls with folly , and the heavens are not clear in his sight . and these are the scriptures the priests use to bring against friends ( who keep there integrity ) as jobs friends did against him ; but at the last the lord commanded job to offer a sacrifice for his friends , because they had sinned , and spoken not right , as job had , who was perfect and kept his integrity . and the apostle said to the saints , that he had learned in all conditions to be content . mark , in all conditions , but this was when he was paul , not when he was saul , running up and down with his packet of letters , halling the saints before the rulers like a paritor ; then he was not content , neither with his own condition , nor others : but when he came to learn of christ , which destroys the devil and his works , which teacheth to know all things , then in all things he learned to be content ; so that you know that there is learning , learneth , and learned ; as a child when he is learning , learneth , and learned is three stats ; so paul he had learned in all conditions to be content ; and who was his school-master but christ , by whom all things were made , not of man , nor by man ( out of the truth ; ) so while he learned of men , and by men , he was not content , neither are any others . therefore all are to learn of christ the light , the life , and the truth , that you may come to that condition , to have learned in all conditions to be content , and not to trust in uncertain riches , for they have wings and will flee away ; and so he is never counted a wise man that will put any confidence in that which will flee away from him : for those are the heirs of the earth and the world that l●ad themselves with thick clay , that they may set their nests on high ; but they that be heirs of christ , and of the power of an endless life , trust in the living god , and come to possess an everlasting inheritance of the power of an endless life , and come to increse in the riches of the everlasting inheritance , and there lay up riches that are everlasting , which will abide for ever . and so therefore mind every one gods word in your hearts , and in your mouthes , and obey it and do it ; and be not of them that are saying in their hearts , who shall ascend or descend to fetch him from above ? keep down that sayer under reproof , and then your eares will be open to that which the righteousness of faith saith , the word is nigh thee , in thy heart , and in thy mouth , so thou needest not to say , who shall ascend or descend , and that was the word which the messengers of god preached , and do preach , and rebuke the gainsayer . and so all people seeing the devil hath made the world like a wilderness , and there is so many wayes in it , that they do not know which way to come out , nor which to follow : therefore this is my answer to you all , take davids lanthorn and candle ; you may say , what is that , and where is it ? i say it is within you , the word of god : you may say , people do not use to carry lanthorns and candles in the day time , but in the night . i say , you be in the night of darkness , and therefore the word is called a lanthorn and candle to you , by which you may see the way of the lord which is perfect , from all mens wayes which are imperfect ; by which ye may see the path of the just to be a shining light , from all the unjust paths that be in the darkness ; for by this word did david come to outstrip his teachers , who was made wiser then them all , so it will you , if you obey it ; for by this word he saw christ , and called him lord : therefore he loved the word and hid it in his heart ; for by it he spake so many glorious expressions , which the world since hath turned into meeter , and made songs or ballads of them ; and this was the word that came to abraham , which made him forsake his national religion and worship , and obey the lord ; and this was the word that came to jacob the shepherd ; by which he saw christ , and prophesied of him to his sons on his death-bed , when he said to judah , the law should not depart from betwixt his feet till shilo came , ( meaning christ ) and the gathering of all nations should be to him , as it is at this day , the gathering is to christ , and this was the word that came to moses the shepherd , when he was keeping sheep , which he obeyed , and went to egypt , and brought the children of israel out of egypt ; by which word he was made a minister ; and when the children of israel were come out of egypt into the wilderness , told them , they need not go for the word beyond the seas , &c. for it was nigh them , in their hearts and mouths , to obey it and do it . and this was , the word that made moses a prophet , who prephesied of christ , and said , like unto him god would raise up a prophet , him should they hear in all things : mark , ( in all things ) we are to be ordered both inward and outward , for hearing christ , by whom all things were made ; and every one that would not hear this prophet ( christ ) should be cut off ; for how should they continue or reign ? and this was the word that came to samuel , and made him a prophet , who spake to ely the priest , and reproved his sons , and the children of israel : and this was the word that made saul to prophesie , and balaam , though they erred from it : and this was the word that made all the prophets to prophesie , and to reprove the kings of israel , and their priests , of their superstition and idolatrous ways , in seting up groves , and images in high places ; and reproved all their monthly prognostications , who spoke and acted from them , and not from the lord. and this was the word that came to isaiah , by which he prophesied of christ , and of his preaching , and of his sufferings , and by which word he reproved the shepherds , which were as greedy dumb dogs , could never have enough , seeking their gain from their quarter : and by this word he saw , that all the children of god should be taught of god , and established in righteousness and peace ; and though many tongues should rise up in judgment against them , yet those that were taught of god should condemn them all , this power should be given to his children . and many weapons formed against them should not prosper , god would restrain them : and also he saw them that were cast out , that trembled at gods word , to whom god would appear to their glory , and to the shame and to the confounding of them that cast them out for his names sake , as it is at this day . and this was the word of god that made jeremiah a prophet , by which he saw the new covenant , by which word he was said to reprove the people and princes , of the filthy and horrible thing commited in the land , that the priests preached for hire , and the prophets prophesied falsly : and for reproving them for their superstition and idollatry , they struck him , and put him in the stocks , and prison , and persecuted him in the dungeon , till his persecutors were carried into captivity . and by the word jeremiah saw the number of seventy yeares of his persecutors being in babylons captivity . elijah by the word was made a prophet , and by the word reproved ahab and jezebel for their idolatry , and worshiping of images . for which words sake they persecuted him , and the rest of the prophets ; and was not he fed of the ravens by the river ; and did not they seek to take away his life ; and did not he think all the lords prophets had been killed , and he left alone ? yet did not the lord say to him , he had reserved so many thousands that had not bowed the knee to baal ? and elisha the plowman by the word was made a prophet , and forsook his plough ; and by the word reproved the idollatry in his age of priests and people . and by the word was ezekiel made a prophet , by which word he reproved the shepherds of israel , that made a prey upon the people , and taught them for the fleece ; and by the word he saw that god would bring the people from them , that they should be made a pray upon no longer ; and would gather them from their mouths , and set one shepherd over them , christ , which is witnessed ; and by the word he reproved false prophets , that taught for handfuls of barly , and peices of bread , and daubed with untempered morter , and sewed pillows under the armholes ; and by the word he saw the patern of the temple , and the return of the jews . and by the word daniel was made a prophet , and saw christ and his kingdom , and how the saints should take his kingdom ; and by the word he saw such that should rise up against the people of god ; and by the word he numbred the yeares of christ to his time 499 yeares , and of his , death and how he should end the sacrifices ; and how that christ should bring up everlasting righteousness , and put an end to sin and end the prophets , and seal up their visions . and by the word micah was made a prophet , by which he cryed against the priests that preached for hire , and the prophets that prophesied for money , and the judges that judged for rewards , and such as preached peace to the people , that put in their mouths , ( like the priests in these times ) and when they did not , they prepared war against them , and chopt their flesh and , gnawed their bones , ( as the priests in this day and time have done ) but micah saw by the word that the sun was gon down upon such prophets and priests , and they should have no vision nor answer from god ; therefore such are against revelations and visions , on whom the sun is set , and gon down upon , and then the night comes upon them . and by the word was amos the herdsman made a prophet , who was a gatherer of fruits , and likewise all the rest of the prophets , who spoke forth divine things and reproved the superstition and idolatry in their time and day . and by the word did all the prophets speak forth divine things , which word brought them into the divine nature and mind , which word hammered and cut down that which corrupted their natures ; and this was the word that made so many fisher-men preachers of the gospel , which is the power of god. and this was the word which made matthew the toll-gatherer , luke the physitian , and paul the tent-maker , ministers and preachers of the gospel and power of god. and this was the word which made peter to see joels prophesie , how that god would power out his spirit upon all flesh , and sons and daughters should prophesie , and young men should see visions , and old men dream dreams , and the powering forth of the spirit upon servants and hand-maids , that every one should have somthing to speak to the glory of god. and now the priests and proud prelates , and bishops , and popes , though you have made a trade of the saints words , and the apostles and prophets words , and gotten a deal of money by them , ( which were fishermen and shepherds words , from the word ) yet nevertheless if a company of shepherds , herdsmen , fishermen , tent-makers , and toll-gatherers should come amongst you to preach , you would say , away with these mechanick fellows , they have not served seaven yeares apprentiship at the colledges , which we have set up to make ministers ; therefore they are not to set up , because they have not served their apprentiships . what say the shepherds , tentmakers , physitians and tolegatheres ? do you make a trade of our friends words , who were of our occupation , that never served apprentiships in colledges , before they spake forth the words you make a trade of ? what , will you make a trade of our friends words , who were of our occupation ! away with you to work , and away with your colledges : for our brother paul the tent-maker said , if you will not work you must not eat . for , would you own christ if he had come in your day ? who was called , a carpenters son. you popes with your triple crowns , and you lord bishops with your coaches and fat horses , and gorgeous aparrel , with your black coats , and white coats , and girdles ; are you like to entertain him who is called , a carpenters son ? or to cast him and his mother into the manger in your stables ? this was the word by which john the evangelist saw christ , which did enlighten every man that came into the world , and saw how he became flesh , and came to his own , and his own did not receive him : but to as many as received christ the light , to them he gave power to become the sons of god ; which all they that are ministers of the letter , made by the seven years colledges , and not the word , hate the light. and by this word , the minister of the word preacheth christs word , life , death and resurrection : and therefore as john saith in his epistle , that which our eyes have seen , our hands have handled , and our ears have heard of the word of life , do we preach unto you ; that which was from the beginning , in the beginning was the word , though since the beginning were the words and letters : for the scriptures of truth are the words of god , and the words of christ ; and he that adds to these words ( saith john in the revelations ) god shall add unto him the plagues , that are written in this book . so the word was in the beginning , and christs name is called , the word of god , but christ is neither called scriptures nor writings , for scriptures signify writings . so , in the beginning was the word , since the beginning were writings and scriptures . in the beginning was the word , since the beginning were all false wayes , false churches , false teachers ; and in the word ye comprehend them all . the priest saith , that hebrew , greek and latine were the original , the many languages , and the many languages began at babel , which nimrod the hunter before the lord , ( began to build ) after god had destroyed the old world with water : then would he go build a tower which should reach to heaven ; then god came down and confounded them into many languages : so he hunted before the lord , but the lord followed him , and confounded him in all his work , as he will do all the builders that run before him ; and so all the priest that have gotten the many languages , which began at babel , they tell simple ignorant people , that they have the original , and are the orthodox men , and get in a different habit from them , and say the quakers are a simple people , and despise the learned orthodox men who have the original . give ear o people , if these languages which came up at the confounding of babel are the priests original that makes them orthodox and divine , then pilate that crucified christ was as good an orthodox divine as they : for when he crucified christ he writ a paper in hebrew , greek and latine , and set a top of him , he was as ignorant of scripture and of orthodox and divine matters as you , and you as he ; and the apostle saith , that tongues must cease , then that which makes orthodox men and divine , as you say , must cease , according to the apostles doctrine ; and so then tongues neither are the original , nor make orthodox nor divine : and john that gave forth the revelations saith , that the whore and the beast are set upon tongues , and the everlasting gospel must be preached again to all kindreds and tongues ; which were before babel was , who was the first beginner of tongues . now it is clear that the gospel must be preached to all nations and tongues , and that tongues are not the original , neither do they make divines or orthodox men ; but it is clear that it is the word which was in the beginning which makes divines ; yea , tradesmen , which are base and contemptible in the eyes of the proud , and them that have gotten babels tongues , who are confounded by the ministers of the word , which was in the beginning before babel was ; for all the earth was of one language and speech before babel . and you that call your selves orthodox men made by tongues , and say that is your original , who are so blind and cannot see that there was an original before babel was ; for did not enoch the prophet , the seventh from adam , who prophesied in the old world before it was destroyed , and long before babel was , concerning the coming of christ in ten thousand of his saints , as in jude ; and lamech prophesied in the old world concerning noah , and adam and others might be instanced , before your tongues which you call your original were : and so we say that the word of god is the original , which doth fulfil the scriptures , and the word is it which makes divines , which is called a hammer , but it is a living hammer , and a sword and fire , but a living sword and a fire , to hammer , cut , and burn up that which separated and kept man from god , by which word man is reconciled again to god , which is called the word of reconciliation ; by this word are men and women sanctified and made clean , and this is the word that makes both men and woman divines , and brings them into the divine nature , which hammers and cuts down that which corrupted their nature ; and by this word a●e they brought into a divine wisdom , understanding , knowledg , spirit and power . and this is the word that lives , and abides , and endures for ever , by which the saints are born again of the immortal seed and word of god , who feed upon the milk of the word , up into a divine life , wisdom and understanding , and divine nature ; and by this word they do see all flesh to be as grass , and as the flower of the field that fadeth ; and the word of god that lives , and abides , and endures for ever , which is christ , whose name is called , the word of god. and so to keep the word of patience , which is over all the impatient spirits , and then you will know the word of life , the word of patience and word of wisdom is everlasting , and abides and endures for ever ; which all they that be in the letter , out of the life and word , have neither patience to themselves nor others ; for the word of patience , and the word of life , which is to be kept in all tribulations was before death and impatient spirits were . concerning the heathen idolaters naming their dayes and moneths . the old pagan saxons in their idolatry , were the first that brought in the names of the days , which those called christians , have retained to this day ; for they adored idols , and unto them offered sacrifices , and worshipped the planets . see vestigans antiq. and cambdens brit. as touching the idols which these saxons adored they were divers ; and though they had many , yet seven among the rest , they especially appropriated unto the seven dayes of the week . that day which is the first day of the week , they worshiped the idol of the sun , which was placed in a temple , and there sacrificed unto , and to the special adoration of which idol they gave the name of sunday . the second day of the week , they dedicated to the idol of the moon , and from whence , these called christians retain the name of monday instead of moonday . the next was the idol of the planets , was the idol of tuisco , who was the first and chiefest man of name among the germans , unto whom the name of tuesday was especially dedicated . the next was the idol woden , whom the saxons honoured for their god of battel ; and after this idol , these called christians do yet call the fourth day of the week . wednesday , instead of woddensday , the next was the idol thor , from whence the name thursday , is retained , instead of the fifth day of the week . the next idol was the goddess friga , to which idol they dedicated the sixth day of the week , and called it fryday ; which is retained to this day . the last was the idol seater , from whence is called the seventh day , satureay . and as these called christians , have followed the heathens examples in naming their days , so they follow them in nameing their months ; for the heathen they called mars the god of battel , and from thence they called the first month march. and venus they called the goddess of love and beauty , and from thence they called the second month april . and maja a heathen goddess called flora and cloris , were called the goddesses of flowers , unto maja the heathen idolaters used to sacifice ; from thence was the third month called may : and upon the first day of the same month , they used to keep floralia feasts to the two goddesses of flowers ( viz. ) flora and cloris ; and flora was a strumpet in rome , that used on the first day of that month , to set up a may-pole before her door to intice her lovers ; from whence came may-poles and may-day to be since observed , by these called christians . and juno whom the heathen called the gooddess of kingdoms and wealth , from this juno , the forth month was called june . and julius cesar a roman emperor , in honour to him , was the fifth month called july . and in honour to augustus cesar , an emperor , was the sixth month called august . and four of the other months are called after the latine names , as september for the seventh month , october for the eighth , november for the ninth , december for the tenth . and one janus a king of italy , was for his wisdom pictured with two faces , whom they honoured as god ; and from this name janus , was the elventh month called january . and saturnus , pluto , februs , were called the gods of hell , who the heathen said , had the rule of evil spirits there ; and from pluto februs , was the twelfth month called february . and by all these idolatrous names , do these called christians , call their days and months , to this day , which is contrary to the scriptures , the prophets and the apostles . the saxons also had a goddess , ( whom they sacrificed to in the month of april ) called eoster ; hence they called april , eoster month , and hence in process of time came easter . page 135. camb. brit. concerning singing of psalmes . psalms began to be sung about three hundred eighty three years after christ , brought in by damasins bishop , though not turned into meeter . benedistus an abbot of the monastery of peter and paul at wirr , brought with him from rome one john the arch-chanter , who first taught in england how to sing in the quire , after the manner of rome . act. & mon. vol. 1. page 164. anno , 724. laws made by the saxon kings in england , concerning singing psalms . in the year seven hundred forty seven , at the beginning of king edgberts reign , the synod of bishops disputed the profit of singing of psalms in the church , and made a decree , that with a modest voice , they should sing in the church so called . in the year nine hundred twenty four , king ethelston , alias , atelston , made a law that fifty psalms should be daily sung in the church , as he called it , for the king. beza being much diverted with poetry , made his pastime to become a part of the vulgar devotion ; hence they have been stiled by some geneva-jigs . these are the express words of the injunction , given to the clergy and laity by queen elizabeth . item , because in divers collegiate , and also some parish-churches heretofore , there hath been livings appointed for the maintenance of men and children , to use singing in the church , by means whereof , the laudable science of musick hath been had in estimation , and preserved in knowledge ; the queen willeth & commandeth , that first no alteration be made of such assignments of living , as heretofore hath been appointed to the use of singing or musick in the church , but that the same so remain , and that there be a modest and distinct song so used in all parts of the common prayer in the church , that the same may be as plainly understood , as if it were read without singing : and yet nevertheless , for the comforting of such as delight in musick , it may be permitted that in the begining or end of common prayers , either at morning or evening , there may be sung an hymn , or such like song , to the praise of almighty god , in the best sort of melody or musick , that may be conveniently devised . a warning to all to keep out of the fashions of the world , which lead them below the serious life ; and not to fashion themselves according to the world. friends keep out of the fashions of the world , let not your eyes , and minds , and spirits run after every fashion ( in apparel of the nations ) for that will lead you from the solid life , into a full stomack , with that spirit that leads to follow the fashions of the nations , every fashions of apparel that gets up ; but mind that which is sober and modest , and keep your fashions ; therein you may judge the world , whose minds and eyes are in that , what they shall put on , and what they shall eat ; and friends that see the world so often alter their fashions , and follow them , and run into them , in that they cannot judge the world , but the world , will rather judge them : therfore keep all in the modesty , and plainness , and fervency , and sincerity , and be circumspect ; for they that follow those things the worlds spirit invents daily , cannot be solid ; and many fashions might be instanced , both of hats and clothes of men and women , that daily are invented , which they that run into them , are near unto the worlds spirit , and their eyes are gazing after them , when they should be upon the lord , from whom they should receive judgment : therefore all keep down that spirit of the world that runs into so many fashions to please the lust of the eye , the lust of the flesh , and the pride of life : and fashion not your selves according to your former lust of ignorance ; and let the time past be sufficient , which you have lived according to the lusts of men and the course of the world , that the rest of your time you may live to the will of god , taking no though what you shall eat , what you shall drink or what you shall put on ; therein your lives may judge the heathens and that you may be as the lillies ; for nothing you brought into the world , neither any thing shall you take out : and therefore , while the eye is gazing after every new fashion , and the mind and desire is thirsting to get it , when it has it , it lifts up its mind , and so brings himself under the judgment of them that be in the sober life , and of the world also , and to be like one of them : therefore take heed of the worlds fashions , lest ye be moulded up into their spirit , and that will bring you to slight truth , and lift up the wrong eye , and wrong mind , and wrong spirit , and hurt and blind the pure eye , and pure mind , and quench the holy spirit ; and through such foolish toyes , and fashions , and fading things , you may lose your conditions : and therefore take heed of the world , and trust not in uncertain riches , neither covet the riches of this world , but seek the kingdom of god , and the righteousness thereof and all outward things will follow ; and let your minds be above the costly and vain fashions of attire , but mind the hidden man of the heart , which is a meek and quiet spirit , which is of great price with the lord , and keep to justice and truth in all your dealings , and tradings ; at a word , and the form of sound words , in the power of the lord , and equity in yea and nay in all your dealings , that your lives and conversations may be in heaven , and above the earth , that they may preach to all that you have to deal withal ; so that you may be as a city set on a hill that cannot be hid , and as lights of the world , answering the equal principle in all , that god in all things may be glorified ; so that you may pass your time here with fear , as pilgrims and strangers , and sojourners , as having an eye over all things that be uncertain , as cities , houses , lands , goods , so , as things below , they that possess , as if they did not ; and they tha● marry ▪ as if they did not ; yet as having a city whose maker and builder is god , and a possession of an inheritance that will never fade away , in which you have riches that will abide with you eternally . some queries given forth to the priests or people to answer if they can . 1. have any of you the same spirit and power as the prophets and apostles had ? 2. or have you the same revelation and inspiration , and spirit of prophesie , and pouring forth of the holy ghost ; or do you own the pouring forth of the spirit upon sons and daughters , and is not this the last time in which it should be poured out , and the sons and daughters should prophesie , and old men dream dreams , and young men see visions ? 3. or have you heard gods voice , and christs voice immediately fro● heaven , or are you some of them the lord never sent , nor spake unto ? answer me these queries . 4. do you own that christ that died at jerusalem to be the light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world ; and are not all enlightened by him either to their salvation or condemnation ? 5. what and where is that which must give the knowledge of god , is it within people or without them ? answer me according to plain scripture . 6. do you teach or preach , that whilst a man is upon the earth , he may be freed from sin , and the body of death , and imperfection , and shall be perfect whilst he be upon earth ; or do you keep people in the state of your father adam and mother eve in the fall , or do you bring them to the state before they fell , and so to christ that shall never fall , which of these states do you bring them to , and keep your flock in , in adam and eve in the fall , or adam and eve before they fell , or in christ that shall never fall ; you must keep your flock in one of these three states , and which of them is it ? have you brought any of your flock whom you have driven to that condition and state , they need no man to teach them , that is to the anointing in them , the law in their hearts , whereby they need not say one to another , know the lord , that is to the light of christ that shines in their hearts to give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ jesus , and how many have you brought hither ? 7. what is the mother of harlots , and what is the beast she rides upon , and what are the people , nations , and multitudes , and tongues the whore sits upon , and what is mystery babylon , and what is the woman that went into the wilderness , what was her time she was to be there , and what is the beast and dragons worship , and what is a will-worship , and what is it to worship angels , and what is that which leads nature into its course , and so to the glory of the first body , and what is the glory of the second body , and what is that which leads nature out of its course , and so sets the whole course of nature on fire ? 8. what is the ground of that which keeps in good manners , and what is that which corrupts them , and what is the righteousness the world is reproved off , and what are the judgments , and what is that which leads the saints into all truth , and hath every one the spirit of god ; and whether bowing , bending , dossing hats , scraping , cringing , saying you to one , be the honour that comes from above , or what is it , and whence comes it , and whether this before mentioned do not stand in that nature , part and principle , which is on fire , if it hath not these things , and therefore whether or no these things do proceed from that which leads nature into its course , or out of its course , and what is it that defaces the glory of the first body ? 9. whether or no you own trembling and quaking at the word of god ? 10. seeing you look upon your selves to differ from many , and to be above them , let us see wherein , and in what it is manifest ? 11. what is self-righteousness , and what is man's righteousness , and the righteousness that is as filthy rags , distinguish these one from another , or whether they be all one , for our righteousness is that which was before adam was , whom ye in scorn calls quakers ? 12. whether ever any came to see so far as balaams ass , who saw the angel of the lord ? 13. what are the graves , and the tombes , and the sepulchres , and the fowls of the air , and the nests they sit in , which christ spake of ? answer . 14. whether or no to pay tythes or receive tythes , is not to deny christ jesus to be come in the flesh , and to deny christ to be offered up , the offering once for all ; and was not theirs of the tythes a heave-offering , and was not that offering to be ended by christ offering up himself , and had not the priests a commandment to take tythes of the people , of their brethren , and do not you transgress the law of god which take them of those you do not call brethren ; and was not the widows , fatherless , and strangers to have a part of the tythes , and was every priest and levite , and them that was to have a part of them , to have a particular tythe-barn , and was tythes to be sold , and was there any impropriators , and whether they do not hold up the priests of the jews , and their law and commandments , that take tythes and give tythes , and so denyes christ the priest , in holding up the jews priests . 15. and whether or no melchisedeck did ta●e tythes of all other nations that were under him , or any other spoil , but once of abraham , and whether he had a command for doing it , or whether it was an example ? 16. and whether the jews did take tythes of the canaanites , or any of those nations that lived among them , or of any people where ever they came , that they had the power over , that was not of them ? 17. you that speak so much of christs reigning , whether or no your swords are beat into plowshares , and your spears into pruning-hooks , that you do not learn war any more ; that nation shall not lift up a sword against nation ; and whether or no this ministration should be amongst christians , seeing that it was christs doctrine , that they should love one another , and love enemies ; and he bad peter put up his sword : and the apostle said , their weapons were spiritual . secondly , doth not peter say , that the heavens must receive christ jesus until the time of restitution of all things , which god hath spoken by the mouth of his prophets since the world began , act. 3. now do you look at restoring of things , then by what doth christ restore , whether by his light and power within people or without them , seeing the sin is within them , and whether or no christ doth not remain in the heavens untill all things be restored ; and whether or no christ doth not now reign ; and whether or no he is not restoring ; and then by what ( as i said before ) doth he restore seeing he is in the heavens , and must remain in the heavens until all things be restored , and whether or no some was not restored , when they sate in the heavenly places in christ jesus , ephes . 2. and whether or no he that remaines in the heavens , be not also manifest in man , that is restored and lives , and walks , and reigns in him ? answer this you that talk of a personal reign . 18. what is that voice of christ which his sheep hears and knows from all false voices , and all that hear cannot endure any more to hear the voice of a stranger , hireling or thief ? 19. what or where is the word that people shall hear behind them , saying , this is the way , walk in it , when they turn to the right hand or the left ; or what the word of faith that none needs to say , who shall ascend to heaven , or into the depth to seek christ f●om above or below , but was nigh in their hearts ; and is not the same now ? answer in writing the thing queried . g. f. concerning the scriptures . we witness the life thereof , and by the same do we witness the scriptures to be truth , and serviceable in its place , and was written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world is come , 1 cor. 10.11 . and to us it is given to know , but to the world in parables , luke 8.10 . and he that would go about to unfold the parables to the dark mindes , by the serpentine wit and imagination , he must be kept out of the scripture , and he who takes the scriptures and makes a trade of them , professing to interpret them , and so gets a living by them , which was spoken forth freely , he is a deceiver and must be shut out of the scripture ; and who reads or takes the scripture to talk or d●sco●rse of , and is ignorant of the life , must be kept out of the scripture ; for all those runs in with their scripture wit and imaginations , wresting them for their own ends , adding and diminishing to their own destruction , and so he must be shut out of the scripture ; for hence arises all these sects and opinions in the world , running into the scripture , with their wit , imaginations , and dark mindes , one imagining one way , and another , another way , and one of this opinion , and another of that opinion , but opinion , are no assurance , but are fallible , and every one out of the way , because they want the life which is the mystery ; and this is the difference between all sects and opinions , and the infallible truth ; and so they come not in by the door but are climbing up another way , and so are shut out of the kingdom ; but the same which gave them forth , the same can open them , and to it they are no mystery nor parable ; nor needs any meaning ; for they are of no private interpretation , nor came they in the old time by the will of man , but holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost , neither can the will of man open them , but the same which spake them forth , the same can open them , and speak them forth freely , so let him that hath a dream tell a dream , and he that hath my word , let him speak my word faithfully . what is the chaffe to the wheat saith the lord ? so he that hath the letter , let him speak the letter , and he that hath the life , let him speak the life : what is the husk to the kernel ? and what should swine do with pearls , whose life is in husks , and there they feed ? he that can receive , let him ; the same which gave it forth , the same can open it : and he who saith the letter is the word , is a deceiver , and erres , not knowing the scripture ; for the scripture saith , in the beginning was the word , and the word was god , john 1.1 . and the word of the lord came to the prophets , and they spake from the word of the lord , jer. 2.1 . and the word became flesh , and dwelt among the apostles , and they saw the glory thereof , as the glory of the only begotten son of the father , full of grace and truth : and the word is quick and powerfull , sharper than a two-edged sword ; and the word is immortal , and this , the apostles , in whom the word dwelt , bore witness of , and hath left it upon record and we witness the same the word is the same which was , is , and is to be for ever , and who putteth the letter for the word is blind , and putteth the shadow for the substance , and must be shut out of the scripture . and he who saith the letter is the light , is in darkness , and erres , not knowing the scripture , which declareth of the light , which john came to bear witness off , who was not the light , but testified of the light , which was the true light which enlighteneth every one that cometh into the world. he was in the world , and the world was made by him , and the world knew him not , nor knows him not ; and he came unto his own , and his own received him not , but as many as received him , to them he gives power to become the sons of god , john 1.6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. and this we witness , and by the same light do we discern and testifie against him to be in darkness and blindness , and is a deceiver , who putteth the letter for the light , and so draws peoples minds off from the light within them , to the letter without them , seeking the living among the dead , thinking to find life in the letter without them , as the pharisees did , and will not come unto christ that they might have life , john 5.39 , 40. and so they must be shut out of the scripture as the pharisees were ; and he also that saith the letter is the rule and guide of the people of god , is without , feeding upon the husk , and is ignorant of the true light which was before the letter was , which all the children of god were and are guided by , and spoke and speakes the letter from , which was before the letter was , and with this the letter witnesseth ; and who is guided by this cannot walk contrary to the letter , nor deny it , but they know how to use it in its place , and see in what condition it was spoken , and it witnesseth with them both in words and actions , and they that have this , have and need the mystery within , though they cannot read the letter without , nor ever learned , as it was with christ , which confounded the scribes and pharisees ; and they who are never so learned without , and can read and understand all tongues and languages without , and doth not read the scripture within , only feed upon the husk , and are ignorant of the life which is the mystery , which is hid from the wise and prudent , and revealed unto the ignorant , as it was from the scribes and pharisees , and high priests , and was revealed to those whom they counted ignorant , and cursed , and knew not the law , john 7.48 , 49 ▪ and they who take the letter to be their rule , cannot walk according to it , because they are ignorant of the light , which opens and leads into the life which they who spake them forth lived in , but drunkards , and swearers , and proud , and wantonesse , and covetoues lustfull enveons ones , and all manner of unrighteous persons will take the letter to talk of and say it is their rule and guide , but are out of the life thereof , and so by it are condemned ; and those are the swine that are feeding upon the husk without , luke 15.15 , 16. and have gotten the form but are out of the life and power , and put the shadow for the substance , and so lives in darknesse , and knowes not whether he goeth , but they that read with the single-eye may understand , for the scripture is within , and was read within before it was read without . now , silence all the study and wisdom of man. concerning baptism . the baptism we own , which is the baptism of christ , with the holy ghost and with fire , but we deny all other , for there is but one lord , one faith , one baptism , one god and father of all , and they who would have one baptism outward , and another inward , would have two baptisms , when the scripture saith the baptism is but one , and whosoever hath the baptism outward , are the same they were before ; but the baptism of christ makes a new creature , and this i witness , for i received water upon my face , as my parents told me , which they called baptism , but i grew up an heathen , as all other children do , and no new creature , though my parents were counted believers among the world and their priests ; but now i wittess the baptism of christ , by one spirit , into on● body ; and now i witness a new creature , old things are past away , and all things become new. and now i see the other to be formal imitation , and the invention of man , and so a meer delusion , and all are heathens and no christians who cannot witness this baptism ; mat. 15.4 . who can witness this denies all other ; for the scripture saith , the baptism is but one , and who can witnesse this are believers , but who cannot witnesse this are no believers and so it is that water or no water availeth nothing but a new creature ; for all by nature are the children of wrath , and except they be born again they cannot enter ; and as for the baptism of water which the apostles used it being a figure for its time , the power went along with it , and the disciples received the holy ghost when they were baptized , but none can witness this , who sets themselves of acting or imitating the apostles , and so takes it up by imitation , and their ground is the letter , and are not guided to it by the same spirit which guided the apostles , and so they are the same after water as before , and so now wa●er or no water availeth any thing , but a new cereature ; for water was but for its time , though many in darkness have now got the form , and are groping in it for life , but wants the life and power , and so from such turn away . concerning the lords supper . the supper of the lord we own , which is the body and blood of christ , which the saints fed upon , and this is eternal food and life , and here they all feed upon one and are of one heart and one mind ; and here is pure and eternal union and communion , and this is not carnal but spiritual for saints are spiritual , and their communion is spiritual and eternall ; and this we witnesse , who are of one heart and one mind , who are in the new covenant , and herein we discern the lords body , and here all drunkards are shut out , and all lyars , adulterers , proud , covetous , lustfull , and envious ones , and all back-biters , revilers , extortioners , and all deceitfull and unrighteous persons are shut out of the new covenant , 1 cor. 6.9 , 10. and are with-out feeding upon the husk and shadow , which is carnall , for the br●ad which the world breaks is carnall and naturall , and only feeds the outward carnall body , and goeth into the belly , and so passeth out into the dunghill ; and so likewise the cup which they drink , and so the communion and fellowship of the world passeth away ; but this is no nourishment to the soul , but still the soul lies in death , and here is no communion , but natural , outward and carnal , of several minds and hearts , full of filthiness , and uncleanness , which is the table of devils , eating and drinking their own damnation , not discerning the lords body , which is spiritual , which the natural man discerns not . and here stands the worlds communion and fellowship , which is carnal ; and cross but their carnal wills , and it is turned into envy , and for earthly triflles they will go to law , and cozen and cheat , and defraud one another for earthly trifles , and like people like priest ; but if they lye in wait for revenge of one another , then they will not take their sacrament , as they call it : and here the devil hath a great hold , for he that envies is a murderer ; and here is the difference betwixt the worlds communion , and the saints communion ; life and death . for to be carnally minded is death , but to be spiritually minded is life . and here they are without , feeding upon the husk and shadow without , and would destroy the life and substance , where it appears , both priest , people and rulers , and so have a form of godliness , and denies the life and power , from such turn away ; for it is meer delusion , to take the shadow for the substance . concerning prayer . the prayers of the wicked we deny , and god denies , for it is abominable , prov. 15.8 , for cain the wicked one , who was out of the comands of god , gen 4.3 , 4 , 5. who was the first-birth , he offered up a sacrifice of the earth , but god had no respect to it ; but abel the second-birth , who was the righteous , his sacrifice god had respect to ; so the prayers of the faithful and righteous god doth accept , and they avail ; and what comes from his own , which is the second-birth , his own is pure , and what comes from it is pure , and god who is pure , doth receive that which is pure , but he receives nothing which is polluted or unclean , for he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity . for his sacrifice must be without spot and blemish , and that which comes from an unclean heart is spotted and defiled and unclean , for nothing that is pure can come forth of an unclean vessel ; but who can witness the second-birth , and that the seed of the woman hath bruised the serpents head , which is the first promise , and faith which purifieth the heart , then that which comes out is pure , proceeding from a pure single heart , and this prayer god receives , and he hath respect to it , and this we owne and witnesse and this comes from the second birth , which is pure , for the first birth is unclean , and out of the command of god in the fall , in the wrath , in the peevishnesse , and perversenesse , cain-like , and the seed of the serpent is first in every one , and rules the head , but the promise is , the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head , so you who are not come to this are still in the fall , and are not come to the first promise ; so all your self-acting and imitating , thinking to merit with your prayers and praises , singings , and duties , and worships , and traditions , which are all in vain and you are sacrificing to an unknown god , a sacrifice of the earth from the first nature , which god hath no respect to , and the flaming sword is set against that to keep from the tree of life , for both drunkards , and swearers , lyars , proud , covetous , and all manner of unrighteous persons are offering up sacrifices , and are in their formal worships and duties , thinking that is sufficient to pascifie for their sins , and yet doth not repent , but saith the lord , bring no more vain oblations , away with your new moons and sabbaths , th●y are an abomination , and my soul loathes them . when you spread forth your hands i will hide mine eyes from you , yea when you make many prayers , i will not hearken ; your hands are full of blood : wash you , make you clean , put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes , cease to do evil learn to do well . so it is the heart the lord requireth , prov. 23.16 . jer. 29.12 , 13. and , where your treasure is , there your heart will be also , mat. 6.21 . and saith the apostle , we know not how to pray as we ought , but as the spirit maketh intercession with sighes and groans , rom. 8.26 . and this is more acceptable to god from an honest single heart , than the long prayer of the pharisees . concerning the ministry . the true ministry of christ we own and witness , and the ministers and messengers of christ we own and witness , but those who have gotten the letter and form to trade with , which was spoken forth freely , and denyes the life and power , those we deny , their ministry , and all those who go to get humane learning , and are certain years as it were serving a prentiship , pretending to study divinity , and when their time is expired , they go among ignorant blind people , and gets a certain place , and certain wages , and so sells that which they studied and got into the brain , and those which receive it , gets it into the brain , and ●o they live upon dust which is the serpents meat , feeding upon the tree of knowledge both priest and people , mic. 3.10 . death feeding death , and with the notion begets into the notion , and feeding the carnal mind with the carnal letter ; and this is the cause why drunkards , swearers , lyars , proud , covetous , envious , wrathful and contentious ones , and all unrighteous persons , hath gotten the letter to talk of , or discourse of , though in the ale-house , or tipling-house ; but this ministry works no reformation , only hath the form , and leads into the form , and denies the life and power , which is neither to be bought nor sould for money ; so from such we turn away , who come by the will of man , are approved by the will of man , and are upheld by the will of man , and not by the will of god : and their call and ministry we deny , which is mediate , and formal imitation , and the invention of man , and so meer delusion , and this is the cause why the land so overflowes with iniquity , and all manner of ungodliness , and no better reformation wrought amongst them , their ministry is so dark , and dead , and cold , and yet the land full of teachers , and yet the people lost for want of teaching , jer. 23.29 , 30 , 31 , 32. and so they spend their money for that which is not bread , and their labour for that which profiteth not , isa . 35.2 . but who can witness an immediate call by god , from their outward callings and countries , lands , livings and possessions , into several countries , to preach the free gospel as they had received it , by the immediate inspiration of the spirit , and speakes it forth as they are moved by the holy ghost , and as the spirit gives them utterance freely , as they have received it freely , by which ministry many are convinced , and as they abide in it are converted , as many in the nation can witness to the honour and glory of god , who are now new creatures ; and this call we own and witness , and this ministry we own and witness , which is immediate , and stands in the will of god , and such covets no mans silver nor gold , neither could be hired to a certain place , but travels from place to place , and hath no certain dwelling place ; and such are the true ministers of jesus christ , who make the gospel free and without charge ; and this we own and witness , and for the testimony of this true ministry , some of us are imprisoned , some stoned , some stocked , whipped and shamefully entreated , as vagabonds , and deluders , and wanderers , and raisers of sedition , and pestilent fellows , and esteemed not worthy to live in the nation , both by priest , and people , and rulers , who are out of the commands of god , and are vagabonds and fugitives from god , who go in the way of cain , to envy and murder the innocent ; and because we declare against all who come not in by the door , but see●s to climb up another way , by their study , inventions , and serpentine wisdom and knowledge , and so are thieves and robbers ; and those are they which are now so set up and extoll'd in england , with great augmentations and benefices , by the arm and will of flesh , now heads of england , and such ministers and their ministry we deny , for the hand of the lord is against such , john 10.1 . but this which we own is no new call , nor new ministry , but the same which was with the prophets and apostles : and all who god sent witnessed , and here is the difference of the ministers of the world and the ministers of christ , the one comes by the will of man , the other by the will of god ; and the one is upheld by the will of man , the other by the will of god , contrary to the will of man ; and the one of the letter , the other of the spirit ; the one hath the form and shadow , and the other the life and substance ; and the effects and fruits of their ministry makes them manifest ; but from such turn away , 2 tim. 3.5 . who have the form , but not the life and power , for they are meer deceivers , and witches , bewitch people from the truth , holding forth the shadow instead of the substance ; and what is the shadow to the substance ? or what is the chaffe to the wheat ? he that hath an ear to hear , let him hear and understand . concerning magistracy and government . magistracy and government we own in its place , for while there is transgression there must be a law , 1 john 3.4 . and while the devil hath power over man , there will be transgression , so the law was added , because of transgression , gal. 3.29 . and the devil was the cause of it ; so there must be a law without , to keep those who are without the fear of god in subjection , else they would destroy one another , and cain would destroy abel , for this is the devils work ; and so for this end was the law given forth , to curb evil doers , and to preserve and encourage them that do well , 1 pet. 2.14 . and it was according to that in the conscience , just , holy , and good , according to the will of god , and serviceable in its place . and true government , according to the law of god , is serviceable in its place : and all magistrates who fear god , and hate covetousness , and are guided by the light of god in the conscience , and executes the law in its place , place , without partiallity or respect of persons , and such are serviceable in their place , and this we own , and honour , and are subject to for conscience sake ; but the righteous are from under the outward law , for they are a law unto themselves , neither is there need of any law amongst them who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit ; for against such there is no law : but he that walkes after the flesh cannot please god , neither know how to rule nor govern , who cannot witness his own will , subjected by the law of god in the heart , but is guided by his own will , and stands in his own will , and such wink at deceit , and rule with partiality and respect of persons , and so transgresseth the law of god , which respects no mans person , and also gives forth lawes in his own will , which takes hold of the righteous , persecutes the righteous , and countenances and encourages the heathen , who know not god , so cain slayes abel within them , and they suffer cain to slay abel without them ; and the wicked and ungodly have more liberty in the nation than the righteous , and so the land abounds with iniquity , oppression and treachery , because such corrupt magistrates wink at deceits for carnal ends , and upholds iniquity and oppression , and tread truth under foot ; and this is the cause why the land so abounds with all manner of ungodliness , and deceit , falshood , tyranny , oppression and persecution , and yet full of magistrates and officers ; and corrupt magistrates put corrupt magistrates in office , and so they bear with , and wink at one another , and feeds and nourishes up deceit amongst them , unless they cross one anothers will , and then they are as much in deceit on the other side , seeking and perverting the law for revenge , and such as these upholds these corrupt ministers , and false prophets which the nation swarmes of ; and they can have a law to maintain their deceit , and uphold them in oppression , and so the beast upholds the false prophet , and they combine together against the simple ; and so the law is made a stalking-horse to deceive the simple , and they will pervert and wrest the law out of its place , and act contrary to their own law against the righteous ; and such magistrates and such government we honour not , but deny , and testifie against it as the prophet of god alwayes did , for by such magistrates and government did the righteous ever suffer , and for the same testimony of a pure conscience , i have and do suffer by such corrupt magistrates , and hundreds more in the nation , who are redeemed out of transgression , who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit : and haman who stood in the corrupt will , would have destroyed mordecay , because he crossed his will , and could not bow to him ; and also pharaoh and nebuchadonozer , and herod who headed john who stood in their own wills , but the hands of the lord they did not escape . and so corrupt magistrates say we deny all magistracy and government , as haman did , but christ comes to fulfill and end all outward lawes and government of man , and he himself will reign ; for as truth and righteousness growes , the law is fulfilled , and passeth away , and the lyon and the lamb lye down together , and this is the cause why corrupt magistrates beat down the truth as much as they can , and so to uphold themselves ; but god will deliver his own , and pharaoh will he plague and confound ; but such magistrates as are guided by the light of god in the conscience , and rules and governs by it without partiality , or respect of persons , in singleness of heart , discharging their consciences before the lord , and executing the law in its place , and such magistrates , and such government , we own and honour in our hearts , for such are a terror to evil-doers , and for the praise and encouragement of those that do well : and such bear not the sword in vain , but stand in the will of god , which is cross to their own wills , and they rule for god and not for themselves ; and this government is of god and not of man , nor after the will of man , neither takes hold of any tender conscience , nor oppresses it , but stands in the place where it is set ; and some such magistrates there hath been in the northern parts of this nation , who witness the law of god set up in their hearts , and feared god and hated covetousness , and testified against those who did not ; and so corrupt magistrates sought to put them out , so let all who are single-hearted judge who are destructive to true magistracy and government . concerning superiority , and honour , breeding and manners , also of the word thou to any single person . in the beginning when god made , man , he made him to be lord over all creatures , gen. 1.26 , 27 , 28. but not man to be lord over man : yet he was to be servant of god , and when he had disobeyed the command of god , god , spoke to adam , and adam spoke to him , and god thoued adam and adam thoued him , and here was the plain language betwixt god and adam . and when god appeared to moses in the bush , god thoued moses , and moses thoued him ; and this was the plain language which ever passed betwixt god and his people in all ages : and thou that disdains to be thoued , would exalt thy self above god , who thous god in thy formall prayers , and scornes to take it thy self ; therefore thou must come down as lucifer did : but it is lucifer in thee that is exalted , who must not be honoured , but must be cast down into the pit , and it is he who is head in man , who would be honoured , and would be superior , and would be above god , and calls this manners and breeding to bow to him and honour him , and he hath vented wayes whereby he is honoured and exalted a●d worshipped , and he calls this manners and breeding , and who can honour him the most , and exalt him the highest , those he saith is the best bred , and of the best breeding , and those he calls noblemen and gentilmen , and the other he calls yeomen and common people , and inferio●rs , though they all honour him , but they observe it not so much as the other ; but their mindes is more set upon the earth and ear●hly things , to get wealth and riches , and those he calls providen● carefull people ; but he that seeks preferment in the world , and would be exalted and set up , seek to get his breeding in as excellent manner as he can that so he may get in favour with lucifer that sits in the courts and high places ; and so long as he pleases lucifer he will set him up , but both he and lucifer must be cast down into the pit together obad. 3 , 4. and here is the ground of the worlds superiority , nobility , gentility , honour , breeding and manners ; and here they lord over one another by their corrupt wills ; and here is the ground of all tyranny and oppression , rackings and taxings , and wars , and imprisonments , and envy , and murder , and the persecutions of the righteous ; all arises from proud lucifer , the lust in man , who would be honoured ; and all this is in the fall and under the curse ; but mordechai could not bow to him in haman , and therefore he sought to destroy him , and informed the king against him , and all the jewes in the nation , and said they were a scattered people , and ●heir lawes were diverse from all people , neither did they observe the law of the king ; then he set up a paire of gallows for mordechai , esth . 6.1 , 2. but haman was hanged on his own gallows , and is cast down to nothing , and mordechai is exalted in his stead : so there is a time that mordechai is despised and haman exalted ; and there is a time that haman is cast down and mordehcai exalted : and there is a time that esau reignes over jacob ; and there is a time that the elder serves the younger : gen 25.3 . and there is a time that pharoah rules and oppresses the israelites ; but there is a time of israels deliverance , and pharoah drowned in the sea , exod. 11.9 . so there is a time that antichrist sits in the temple of god as god and saith he is god , 2 thes . 2.4 . and christ lyeth low in the manger : but there is a time that he must be cast into the pit , rev. 19. and christ alone exalted . he that can receive it let him . but in all ages the children of god could not bow to lucifer nor his image ; and this was the cause why shadrach , mesech , and abednego , was cast into the fiery furnace ; dan. 6. and this was the cause why daniel was cast into the lyons den , but by the hand of his god , whom he alone worshipped and honoured , he was delivered and exalted , and his adversaries cast down in his place : and this was the cause why the prophets were alwayes persecuted and imprisoned , and the apostles , acts 7. vers . 6. who came to turn the world upside down ; and this is the cause now why the ministers and messengers of jesus christ are imprisoned , stoned , stocked , whipped , and shamefully entreated , whom the lord is pleased immediately to call from their outward callings , and countries , and sends them abroad into seve●al countries to preach his name , no more after the flesh , but after the spirit ; and who knows him , must know him no more after the flesh , but after the spirit : and those come to turn the world upside down , being crucified to the world , and the world to them ; and these cannot honor lucifer , nor bow to lucifer , nor worship his image , though there was a time when they did , but that was done in egypt , when they knew not god , but now lucifer and his image is cast down , and christ alone exalted , and the pure and perfect law is witnessed , which respects no mans person , but god alone honoured and exalted , and this we witness : for amongst us there are no superiours after the flesh , but christ is the head , and all the rest fellow-servants : and he that would be the greatest should be the least , and he that respects persons commits sin : and the angel would not suffer john to bow to him , but said , he was his fellow-servant ; and this we witness , who are redeemed out of the kingdom of the devil , from amongst the children of this world into the kingdom of the son , who are crucified to the world , and the world to us , by the spiritual cross of christ in which we joy and glory , amongst whom there is no partiallity , nor respect of persons , but all in union in one , though ten thousand ; and here god alone is king , and he alone is honoured , exalted , and worshipped , no more after the flesh , but after the spirit ; for we have no other god in whom our hearts delight ; and here proud lucifer , and his image is cast out , and here all his honour is thrown down , and his breeding , and manners , and fashions , and customs , and words , and wayes , and worships , which are after the flesh , and not after the spirit , whereby he sets up himself , and causeth his image to be worshipped ; and this is the cause he rages in his kingdom , wheresoever we come , and saith we are destructive to all superiority , and magistracy , and ministry , and honour , and breeding , and manners , and turn the world upside down ; for he knowes where christ comes , he comes to take his kingdom from him , and cast him down into the pit , and there he must be tormented quick , and all who bears his image or his mark ; and these are some of his marks , which he calls nobility , gentility honour , breeding , manners , and civility . but true nobility we own , the seed of god is noble wheresoever it is born up , and who can witness to the head of the serpent bruised , and the seed of god born up to reign and rule , there is true nobility , there is true gentillity , no more after the flesh , but after the spirit : and this is to be honoured , for honour is due to this both in magistrate or minister , fisherman or plow-man , heards-man or shepherd , wheresoever it rules without respect of persons , and hear fear to whom fear , and honour to whom honour ; and this is no more after the flesh but after the spirit : and here all the true prophets of god were noblemen , and gentlemen , sprung of the noble seed , though of the nobles and great ones of the earth , they were disdaind and reproached , because according to the world , they were of lower degree , some of them plow-men , some heards-men , some shepherds , and therefore they persecuted them , and destroyed them , yet they were gentile and bore all . christ was noble , sprang of the noble seed , though of the great ones and nobles of the earth he was disdained , reproached , and scorned to be the king of the jewes , because , according to the world , he was of low degree , and supposed to be a carpenters son , so they spit upon him and disdained him , and crucified him , yet he was gentile and bore all . the apostles were noble , sprung of the noble seed , though of the nobles and great ones of the earth they were despised , and disdained , and reproached , because , according to the world , they were of low degree , some of them fisher-men , and the like , and came to turn the world upside down , so they were despised p●asecuted , and killed , yet they were gentile and bore all : but those were all noble , sprung of the noble seed , and so is all now who are of the same seed : and those were all gentile , sprung of the gentile seed , and those have the nature but not the name , and to those belong the true honour , not after the flesh but after the spirit : acts 7 for they denyed the honour of the world ; and therefore christ said , i receive not honour from men ; and said to his apostles , be yee not called masters , neither call any master upon the earth ; and though the princes of this world exercise dominion one over another , yet it shall not be so amongst you , but he that would be the greatest amongst you , let him be your servant ; mat. 23.8 , 9 , 10 , 11. and said he , how can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from god onely ? john 5.44 . and here the true honour is no more after the flesh but after the spirit : and here you who are giving and receiving outside earthly honour , you are in the unbelief , out of the doctrine of christ , cringing , and bowing , and honouring , and exalting the devil , and worshipping the beast and his image , which all the world wonders after and worships , rev. 13. and as for manners and breeding , courtesie and civility , learn to do us you would have all to do to you , and speak every one truth to his neighbour : and let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth , but such us is good for the use of edifying : for evil communication corrupts good manners , but let your yea be yea , and nay be nay , for whatsoever is more is evil : mat. 7.12 . ezek. 8.16 . and breed your children so , and here is good manners and breeding , curtesie and civility : and who are of the right noble seed , hath this manners and this breeding , but the nobles and great ones of the earth want this manners and this breeding , and both priest and people of all sorts according to the world : and here is the ground of all true nobility gentility , majesty , honour , breeding , manners , courtesie , and civility , no more after the flesh but after the spirit ; for the natural man mindes natural things , and the spiritual man , spiritual things ; but the natural man receives not the things of god : and this we own and witness , and the time is coming , and now is , that before this seed every knee shall bow , and every tongue confess , and the kings and nobles of the earth shall be bound in chaines , and fetters of iron : and here is also the ground of the nobility , gentility , superiority , honour , breeding and manners of the world , which is after the flesh but not after the spirit , sprung from proud lucifer , the lust that reigns in man , and are not yea and nay , but calls it manners to say nay and take it , or do it : and so they have the name , but not the nature , and so are bastards and no sons , who are not sprung from the noble gentile seed ; and to those honour is not due , neither can we bow unto them , for if we should , we should set the devil in the room of god , and give unto him that which is due to god , which when we were in blindnesse through ignorance we did , and so worship the beast and his image , which all the world worships and wonders after ; for they that are proud and lofty , which is the image of the devil , for the devil is the father of pride , and in gay attire , those the world worships and wonders after , and extols and exalts into high places : but since the lord hath opened our eyes , this we cannot do , but testifies against it wheresoever we come both in words and actions , and so we are destructive to the worlds superiority , nobility , gentility , honour , breeding and manners , which is after the flesh , and not after the spirit , therefore the devil hates us in the nobles and great ones of the world , but we give unto caesar the things that are caesar and unto god that which is gods ; mat. 22.21 . but we cannot give unto caesar that which is gods , but fear to whom fear , honour to whom honour is due : he that hath an eare to hear , let him hear and understand : for , saith the lord , if i be a master , where is my fear ? if i be a father , where is my honor ? mal. 1.6 concerning the word thou or thee . first , concerning the word thou or thee , which all those which are their priests and teachers knows , that thou is the proper word to one particular person , and is so all along the scripture throughout to any one , without respect of persons ; yea to god himself : and the word you is the proper word to more then one , but not to one ; and it so is all along the scriptures throughout . as for example , at all times when the apostles spake to christ they used the word thou or thee unto him , and when he spoke to more then one of them , he used the word you or ye ; but if he spoke but to one , he used the word thou or thee , as in mat. 16.14 , 15 , 16 , 17. verses : and also paul thoued king agrippa , and king agrippa thoued him , as in acts 26.27 , 28. verses , and so all along the scripture : and so it is plain , that now it is an invention of proud lucifer in man to exalt himself , as it will plainly appear ; for amongst the great and rich ones of the earth , they will either thou or you one another if they be eqall in degree , as they call it ; but if a man of low degree in the earth come to speak to any of them , then he must you the rich man , but the rich man will thou him ; nay you shall find it so betwixt priest and people , if a poor labouring man come before one that you call a minister , though he be one of his hearers , and one who helps to maintaine him according to his ability , yet he must you the priest , and the priest thou him ; and here the heathen lord over one another by their corrupt wills : but this is contrary to the apostles and ministers of christ , who made themselves servants to all , and yet those will call themselves the ministers of christ ; and the word minister signifies a servant , and they are masters , and so they have gotten the name but not the nature , and so are bastards and no heires , who are not sprung from the gentle seed and yet they are hired as servants of men , and yet bears rule by their means as masters over those that maintaines them , so that he that hath an eye to see let him see the deceits of the professed ministers of england , jer. 5.30 , 31. concerning putting off the hat. this is another invention of proud lucifer , whereby he is honoured and worshipped , and exalted in man ; but the scripture doth not speak of any such fashon used in any age , but man hath found out many inventions since the scripture was recorded : and now it is so , that it is a fashon throughout the land , whereby one man is exalted above another ; for if a poor man come before a rich man , it may be the rich man will move his hat , that is called courtesie and humility ; but the poor man must stand with his hat off before him , and that is called honour and manners and due respect unto him ; but if the rich man doe bid him put it on , it is counted a great courtesie , and he gets honour to himself , there to be counted a courteous man. but this difference or respect of persons was never ordained by god but by the devil , whereby he exalts himself in man ; but james the apostle of jesus christ witnessed against it ; as in james . 2.1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. and so on , and said , he that respects persons committs sin , for there is no respest of persons with god : acts. 10.3 , 4 , and therefore saith james , howl ye rich men : and here your professed ministers abide not in the doctrine of christ , and so hath not god but the devil , and his ministers they are whom they exalt , 2 john 5. and now you shall see the partiality of the names in this your breeding and manners . first , from a poor man to a rich man it is called honour , and due respect , and manners ; from a rich man to a poor man it is called courtesie and humility ; but amongst the rich and nobles of the earth it is called court-like breeding , but of those of the lower degree it is called country breeding , and amongst the lower sort of the world it is called neighbourhood and civil respect one to another : and so the devil hath covers for all his deceit , and so he is honoured and exalted both in court and country , but the highest in the court , and therefore they have the highest title : but wo unto them that hides their sin , and covers with a covering , and not of the spirit of the lord : isa . 30.1 , but this is the riches of the world , and the devil that makes so many degrees , as between dives and lazarus , and haman and mordecai , for the lord hath made all the nations of the earth of one mold and one blood , but we who are redeemed out of his kingdome , he calls us clowns and fools , and saith our religon is built upon such small and frivilous things , and stumble at strawes , and leaps over blockes , this saith his wisdome , but it is even death to him to b●ar these strawes , especially where he is the highest exalted ; for it puls down all his honour , and therefore do rich men and great ones of the earth , and rulers , and priests , and pharisees , persecute and oppresse us , and draw us before judgement seats , and would root us out of the nation , as haman would have done by mordecai and the rest of the scattered jews , because they cannot bear those strawes : but i say , whatsoever it is that comes to be forbidd●n in the conscience , it becomes a weight and a burden , though it be never so small a thing in the eye of a pharisee , so let none despise the day of small things , ezek. 4.10 . but some will call it stubbornness , obstinacy , pride , and presumption , but the same nature would have called it so in mordechai , who could not bow to haman as the rest did that sate by ; and so let every one take heed of speaking evill of that you know not , least you call good evill and evill good ; for the woe is pronounced against such , but they that were after the flesh , alwayes , in all ages persecuted them that were after the spirit ; and so it is , not many mighty , nor many noble , nor many wise after the flesh are called , but god hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise , and the weak to confound those that are mighty , that no flesh should glory in his presence , 1 cor. 1.26 , 27 , 29. concerning perfection . man was perfect without sin before the fall , or else he could not have been the image of god ; for god is pure and perfect , and he made man after his own image pure and perfect without sin , but when he sinned he defaced his image , and lost his pure estate , and was drove out of paradice , and became the image of the devil , for sin is the image of the devil , and here all sin is in the fall , and who are in the fall are in the devils kingdome , which is impure and impefect , and unclean ; but god promised the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head , gen. 3.15 . and christ the seed said , he was come to preach deliverance to the captive , and to heal the broken hearted , and to seek that which was lost , and to bring again that which was driven away , and this was his work ▪ to redeem to man that which man had lost . now consider what man hath lost , and i shall leave this as querie with all both priests and people , who deny perfection from sin here , whether christ is but a part of redeemer , or a perfect and full redeemer , and which is the place betwixt heaven and earth , where man shall be made free or cleansed from sin , if not upon the earth , seeing that no unholy , nor unclean thing can enter the kingdom of god ? but who can witness this , hath passed through death , and that hath none who plead for sin , neither can they witnesse christ come ; but for some simple ones sake i shall speak more clearly of this for it is a great delusion of the devil , to keep people in sin to tell them , they shall never be made free from sin so long as they are upon the earth , and brings this scripture to maintaine it , he that saith he hath no sin deceiveth himselfe , and is a lyar ; but he tells them christ dyed for all , and if they can but lay hold on him by faith , he will not impute their sins unto them , though they sin dayly ; for the righteous man sins seven times a day , and all the holy men of god sinned ; and so he takes scripture to maintain his kingdome , and this he delivers by the mouth of his ministers , which he sends abroad to deceive the nations , leading people in blindnesse , full of sin and corruption , ever learning , and never comes to the knowledge of the truth , nor never shall doe for them , and here he carries them on an easie delight some way to the flesh , but the end is death , and so heals them up in their sin with a feigned formed faith which perisheth ; and here they settle upon the lees , and set up a rest in the devils kingdom , which is sin ; and here many are meerly blinded and hardened and all tendernesse of conscience is done away : but you shall finde that he that sooths you up in this faith is the greatest enemy of your souls and whosoever witnesseth christ their redeemer , shall witnesse that he is come to destroy the works of the devil , which is sin , and to redeem out of the fall , out of sin , and out of the devils kingdome , which is sin , and all sins in the devils kingdome , which is in the fall ; but for this end christ is manifested , to destroy the works of the devil , and to redeem out of the fall , out of the devils kingdome into his own kingdome , and no unclean thing can enter therein , rev. 21.27 . but none can witness this redemption but through the death , and through the cross which paul rejoyced in , by which he was crucified to the world and the world to him , rom. 6.6 . and had put off the body of sin , and was mad● free from the law of sin , which once warred against his mind , which once he complained of , which scripture the unlearned , which are strangers from his conditions , who reads them with the carnal eye , now wrest them to their own destruction . j. parnel . concerning womens speaking in the church . what woman is it that is not permitted to speak in in the church ? is it she that is come to have christ head in her ? or is it she that is not come that length , but is learning , and so is to learn in silence ? or , may not christ speak through the woman , when he is head over all ? if not , then why did paul ( that said , i suffer not a woman to speak in the church ) allow of women as his fellow-labourers and helpers in the gospel ? it appears that she was on her travel and he commended her to the church . what did they travel about , or help him in ? what was that labour and help ? rom. 16.1 , 2.3 . why did paul suffer phillips daughters to prophesie ? were not they prophetesses ? and had not they the spirit of prophesie ? and wherefore is the spirit of prophesie given but to edefie the church ? it is commended by paul above many other gifts , see 1 cor. 14.1 . follow after charity , and desire after spiritual gifts , but rather that ye may prophesie . and see the 3d. verse , but he that prophesieth , speaketh unto men to edification , to exhortation and comfort . now seeing he that prophesieth hath the spirit of prophesie , and seeing it is through the spirit of prophesie that he speaketh to man to edification , exhortation and comfort ; why may not the same spirit of prophesie , being head in the woman , as in philips daughters , seeing women are made prophetesses thereby ; i say , why may not the same spirit of prophesie put forth the female to speak to men to edification , exhortation and comfort ? or else were not the gift received in vain , if it were not to be used ? and if it be to be used , then must it not be for the service of the church , for edification , exhortation and comfort ? is not the widdow without an husband ? was not israel that went from her spiritual husband , called an harlot , or a whorish woman ? and were not there many males and females to make up this woman that had forsaken her husband ? is not christ the husband ? is not his church the spouse of christ ? is not he as well the husband of the males as of the females , and of the females as of the males ? and are not the priests and bishops of that whorish woman , that is gon● from the husband christ , who are to be silent ? and also the woman that is in the church , which may be said to be in the church , and yet but in learning , and is not learned ; she is not fit to teach , but is to be silent , and learn in silence until she be learned ; and then christ the husband , in the male and female , the head in the male and female , is one ; and it is he the one in all , both in the male and female , that speakes ; and the male as well as the female , is that woman that is not to speak , who hath not learned christ , and is not made subject to him ; but such who have learned him , whether male or female , he may speak in them ; and then it is not the woman , but christ the man that speaketh in the male and in the female . and whoso denies this , disprove it if he can . and what will ye do with that in joel 2.28 ? if you will not suffer christ to speak in the females , then you will contradict joel's prophesie , and so will judge him a lying prophet , who spake in the name of the lord , saying , i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh ? yea , it is said that daughters shall prophesie as well as sons , no distinction made : vpon the hand-maids in those dayes will i pour out my spirit . and when was this fulfilled , if it was not among the apostles ? if paul had stopt women and maids that had learned christ , would not that have been against joel's prophesie ? but paul did not so ; for he cites the law and saith , as also saith the law. but the priests are blind , and cannot see what the woman is that was not permitted under the law , nor under the gospel to speak . for , the law did not forbid miriam , and those women that prophesied and were prophetesses , judg. 4.3 , 4 , 5 , 6. luke 2.36 . and was it not a woman that was sent by christ that first did preach his resurrection to his disciples ? they that would stop christ from sending women now , who are witnesses of his resurrection , they be of another spirit ; and also they are of another spirit then moses was of , who said , he would that all the lord's people were prophets ; and were all the lords people men and no women amongst them ? it appears that moses would not stop any , either male or female , among the lords people : but the priests and many more are of another mind : but that mind is not the mind of christ , and therefore we matter it not what it either leads to say or affirm , seeing they will be wilfull . and seeing it is written in the first language of greek ( out of which the english was translated ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which word signifies both man and woman ; and in latine , hic & haec homo , which doth signifie both man and woman : and in john 1.1 , 9. where it is said , the word which was with god , was the true light , which lighteth every man that cometh into the world ; which word man signifieth both man and woman and as it maketh no difference in the enlightening , neither doth it in their speaking . but that the simple may not be deceived by them , many things have been and are written for their sakes , more then for the sakes of such opposers , who go after their own deceived heart , and will not be warned , and so the lord lets many of them alone , to whose righteous judgments i leave them , who will plead with them for what they have done against him , who by their sophistry and subtil insinuations have turned aside the simple out of the way of truth . w. d. concerning the sum or substance of our religion , who are called quakers , and the exercise & travels of our spirits therein . this is the sum or substance of our religion , to wit , to feel and discern the two seeds : the seed of enmity , the seed of love ; the seed of the flesh , the seed of the spirit : the seed of hagar , the seed of sarah ; the seed of the egyptian womb , the holy seed of israel : and to feel the judgments of god administred to the one of these , till it be brought into bondage and death ; and the other raised up in the love and mercy of the lord to live in us , and our souls gathered into it , to live to god in it . now when the light of gods holy spirit breaketh in upon man , and his quickning vertue is felt ; then life enters into that which was slain , and there is a desire begotten in the heart to travel out of the egyptian state , into the good land ; that the soul which came from god , might return back again to him ( out of the sinfull , wandring , miserable , lost estate ) and might live and walk with him , in the purity , vertue and power of his own life and spirit . but then the other birth strives for its life , and pharoaoh ( the king of egypt ) takes part with his egyptians against israel ; and there is no help to the poor soul , but as god pours out his judgments upon that hard nature and spirit in man , which is of the birth of the flesh , and receives the influences and strength of its father , which harden it against the true seed . and now what a condition is this poor soul in ! the light of gods spirit giveth it the sence of its state , and the quicknings of life make it sensible of its bondage , there are also some desires and longings after deliverance : but this doth but provoke the enemy , and the soul being yet in his territories , and under his power , he dealeth the more hardly with it , increasing its burdens and oppressions daly . and o the out-cries of the soul in this state ! how is its spirit pained , anguished and vexed within it , so that it could almost many times chuse rather to lie still in egypt then undergo the heavy burdens , oppressions , fears and dangers , that it daily meets with in this state . yet there is a secret hope , springing up in the heart from the true seed , which often encourageth it to trust him , and wait upon him who hath visited , in his pure ministration of judgment . for this is felt many times ( as the soul is made truly sensible by the lord ) that the judgment is not to the seed , not to israel ; but to pharaoh and his egyptians : and by every stroke of gods wrath upon them , the seed is eased , and its deliverance working out . and so at last when the judment is finished in the land of egypt , the strength of pharaoh and his egyptians broken , their first-born slain , out comes israel , out of the dark land , out of the house of bondage , to travel towards its resting place . then the paschal lamb is known and fed on ; yea it is because of the blood of the lamb , sprinkled upon the door-posts , that israel is passed over and saved , in the day of egypts visitation . o who can read this truly , that hath not felt and been a living witness thereof ! but now , when the seed is come out of egypt , there is not the end , but rather the beginning of its travels . pharaoh and his egyptians ( with their horses a●d chariots ) may pursue again and even overtake ; and there may seem no way of escape or help to the soul but only to stand still , hope in the ●ord , and wait to see his salvation . then shall the sea be divided , which stopped israels course , and pharaoh with his egyptians , the enemies of the soul in this appearance of dreadful opprssieng power be destroyed and seen no more . yet in the willdernes in the passage through the entangelements to the holy land , there are many straits , trials and sore enemies to be met with , who will strive by open force and also with enchantements to betray israel : ye● there is a part yet unbrought down , yet unwrought out , at which they will be striving to enter the mind . and as israel forgets his god , walking out of his counsel , hearkning to that which his ear should be shut against , and so joyning to the contrary seed ; the plagues , the judgments , the indignation and wo will be felt by him , and many carkases may fall there . so that there may be a great outcry in the heart , who can stand before this holy lord god ? shall we be consuming with dying ? yes there is somewhat must be consumed with dying . yea , if a man came so far , as to witness dominion and victory over his souls enemies , the evil seed brought into death in him , and a possession and inheritance in the pure rest of life : yet if that part be not kept in the death , if there be not a praying and watching to the preserver of israel ( in the pure fear and humility ) the enemy will be sowing to the flesh again ; he will be getting some of his corrupt seed into the heart again ( if the soul do but sleep and become negligent ) and so corruption will take root again , and the contrary birth grow up again , and the foxes break into the vineyard and spoil the tender grapes . so that this is our religion , to witness the two seeds , with the power of the lord bringing down the one , and bringing up the other : and then to witness and experience daily the same power , keeping the one in death and the other in life , by the holy ministration of gods pure living covenant . and so , to know god in this covenant ( in this covenant which lives , gives life and keeps in life ) and to walk with god and worship and serve him therein , even in his son , in the light of his son , in the life of his son , in the vertue and ability which flows from his son into our spirits , this is our religion , which the lord our god in his tender mercy hath bestowed upon us : and indeed we find this to be a pure , living and undefiled religion before god , daily witnessing his acceptance of it in and through his son , whose name is here known and confessed , worshipped and honoured , according to the very heart of the father . this may be further illustrated , and perhaps made more manifest to some , by a scripture or two . the flesh lusteth against the spirit , and the spirit against the flesh , and these are contrary one to the other , saith the apostle , gal. 5.17 . here are the two seeds ( the seed of the serpent , the seed of the woman ) whose striving and fight is in man , when god awakens the soul , the one whereof hath a nature , a desire or lust contrary to the other . now as the one of these prevails in any heart ; so the other goes down . as the one gains life and power : so the other is brought into death and captivity : so that this is it every one is to wait for , after they once come to the sensible knowledge and experience of these two , to feel the flesh brought down , the lusts of it denied , the judgments of the lord administred to it ; that so the other may come up to live , thrive and prevail in the soul , and so the soul witness salvation and redemption under its shadow . thus sion is redeemed with judgment , and her converts with righteousness . isa . 1.27 . what is sion ? is it not the holy hill of god , whereon his son is set king to reign , whereon the holy city is to be built , and god to be worshipped in spirit . what condition is sion in , when god visits her to redeem her ? is she not laid wast , desolate , lying in the dust : ( as psal . 102.13 , 14. ) well : how will god redeem her ? zion shall be redeemed with judgement and her converts with righteousness . by bringing judgements upon that which keeps her under , upon her enemies the contrary seed , god redeems her : and by bringing forth righteousness , ( the righteous life and spirit of his own son ) in those whose minds are turned to her , whose faces are set sion-ward , thus god redeems her converts . yes , yes , it is truly felt and witnessed . the living righteousness of christ revealed in the heart , and having power there , sets free from all unrighteousness which was there before . and then , when the unrighteous one is cast out , and the righteous one is revealed , and the soul united to him , and receives virtue and power from him ; then he becomes a servant of righteousness , and doth not commit sin , but doth righteousness ; and he that doth righteousness is righteous , even as he is righteous , 1 john. 3.7 . for how can it be otherwise , when the righteous life is revealed and brought up into dominion in him ? how can the same righteous spirit and life ( revealed in the members , as was in the head ) but live and act after the same manner in the members , as it did in the head ? ( o that men were turned to that , which would give them the certain knowledge and sensible experience of this ! ) now this is exceeding comfortable and precious to them that are in the true travel towards it : much more to them that enjoy it . this is the sum of all , even to know and experience what is to be brought down into death , and kept in death , what to be brought up out of the grave , to live to god and reign in his dominion , and what to be kept in subjection and obedience to him who is to reign . now to experience it thus done in the heart ; the flesh brought down , the seed of life raised , and the soul subject to the pure heavenly power , whose right it is to reign in the heart in and by the seed , this is a blessed state indeed , for here the work is done : here the throne of god is exalted , and his king reigns in righteousness and peace , and all his enemies are under his feet ; and this soul , this true israelite this redeemed one may wear the white robe , and serve god in righteousness and holiness without fear of his enemies ( keeping in and to the covenant , which ministers life and power abundantly ) all the dayes of his life . for that was to be the outward state of the outward israel , keeping to god in the outward covenant and it is to be the inward state of the inward israel , keeping to god in the inward covenant , which is a pure covenant of life and peace , of all inward and spiritual blessings and mercies in christ , wherewith the souls are blessed that are obedient to god , and walk humbly with him in this covenant . and i beseech you to consider ( o tender people , who are grieved because of sin and corruption in your hearts , and would fain witness victory and dominion over it , in the name and strength of the lord jesus christ ) whom did that prophesie of zachary ( luke 1.71 , 72 , 74 , 75. ) concern ? what was that holy covenant ? who were to be so redeemed ? who were the israel that was to inherit this promise ? all the promises are yea and amen in christ to the israel of god. why should not the israel of god hope to enjoy this ? even so to be acquainted with gods holy spirit , and to wait upon him , that they may witness it granted to them , that they being delivered out of the hands of their enemies , might serve him without fear , in holiness and righteousness before him ( whose eyes are piercing , and behold no iniquity ) all the dayes of their lives ? surely they who witness that promise ( mentioned isa . 35.8 . ) fulfilled to them , cannot fall short of this . and truly , the children of the new covenant can never come throughly to live to god , till they witness the inward circumcision of the heart , so as to love the lord with all the heart and soul , deut. 30.6 . now , where it is so , the devil or lust can find no place of entrance : and how then should they be able to sow their seed and bring forth sin ? out of the evil heart proceeds all evil : but out of that heart which is throughly circumcised , to love the lord god wholly , evil cannot proceed . if lust be not conceived , it cannot bring forth sin : and where the womb , which conceived it , is kept dry and barren , it cannot conceive again . and is not this the promise of the gospel , that the womb which was once barren , shall be very fruitful and bear abundantly ; but the other grow feeble , and be able to bear no more ? oh that people had experience of gods power , and did believe therein ! what should stand in the way of it ? it was israels sin of old , when they looked at their enemies , and saw their footing and strength in the land , which god had promised to abrahams seed for an inheritance , they could not believe that they should be overcome . o take heed of the same unbelief now . concerning christ , coming to the father by him , receiving him , walking in him ( not in the oldness of the letter , but in the newness of the spirit ) and concerning reading the scriptures aright . i am the way , the truth , and the life : no man cometh unto the father but by me , saith christ , john 14.6 . man in the corrupt degenerate estate is fallen from god , hath lost his image ( the holy , heavenly image of the father of spirits ) is driven out from his presence , dwels in the land of darkness and confusion , under the government of the prince of the power of the air , who rules in , and hath power over , all the children of disobedience . now this should be mans work , even to return to the father : to come back out of the prodigal lost state , to the fathers house , where there is sufficiency and fulness of true bread and water of life , to satisfie every hungry and thirsty soul. the way whereby a man must come , the truth wherein he must be renewed , and the life wherewith a man must be quickned , is christ , the son of the living god : and he must know him as the son of the living god , and feel him revealed in him , and received by him , and so walk in him the way , in him the truth , in him the life , if ever he come to the father . he must not rest in the description of things ; but feel and know , receive and walk in the thing , which by the spirit of the lord hath been often formerly , and is still described , in what words , and by what means the spirit pleaseth but to receive all the descriptions of him that were formerly given forth , or all the descriptions that are now given forth , that will not do ; but the soul that will live by him , must receive him and feel the ingrafting into him , the holy root , the living word of gods eternal power , and must feel this word ingrafted into his heart , so that there be a real becoming one in nature and spirit with him . and then he is truly in the vine , in the olive-tree , and partakes of the vertue and sap thereof , he abiding therein and walking in the spirit , life and power thereof . now hear a man walks not , nor cannot walk in the oldness of the letter ; but in the newness of the spirit only , paul , notwithstanding all his knowledge of the scriptures , walked but in the oldness of the letter , before christ was revealed in him . and those in the apostles dayes , who had got the form of godliness , but turned from and denied the power , they walked but in the oldness of the letter . yea , the church of sardis ( for the most part ) and the church of laodicea , who had received the right order and ordinances , and the true descriptions of things , and though they were full and rich and wanted nothing , they walked but according to the oldness of the letter , and not in the newness and power of the spirit of life , but alas , how far are many ( who pretend to christ in this day ) from this state ! who never came so far as to walk in the oldness of the letter , from a true understanding thereof ; but have only learned and continued to walk in the oldness of their own apprehensions and conceivings upon the letter . can these , in this state , possibly understand truth , or know the inward spiritual , precious appearances thereof , either in their own hearts or others ? surely no. why so ? why this is the reason ; because the measure the appearances of truth ( either in themselves or others ) by their own old apprehension and conceivings upon scriptures concerning truth , which is not the proper measure of it . now all such are yet in darkness , let them pretend what they will , and grow never so high in knowlerg , exercises and experiences after this manner : and so the best , zealousest and most knowing of them in this state , are but blind leaders of the blind , and ( thus going on ) shall most certainly fall into the ditch of perdition . o that men could feel that which makes rightly sensible , and might lay it to heart ! for no man can confess christ ( how then can he receive him and walk in him ? ) but by the holy spirit . and he that knoweth not the spirit rightly , knoweth not christ rightly : and he that doth not know him rightly , doth not confess him rightly : and none can know him rightly , but by the revelation of the father inwardly . the mistery must be opened within , or there is no true knowing . the mistery of deceit is discovered within ; and the mistery of life is discovered within also . and though the heart of man ( in the unregenerate estate ) is deceitfull above all things , and despeartely wicked , and no man of himself can search or know it : yet that is not the state of the true jsraelites whom god hath cleansed , and taught to deny themselves daily ; but they have boldness before that god who hath searched them , and removed from them the iniquities which he found therein . yea , whoever witnesseth christ revealed within , shall find him revealed within for this very end , to destroy the works of the devil there : and he is a powerfull saviour of the soul from sin , and a powerfull destroyer of the works of the devil within . now concerning reading the scriptures , mind this . it is said of the jews , that when they read moses ( or in reading the old testament ) the vail was upon their heart , which vail is done away in christ , 2 cor. 3.14 , 15. o consider seriously , is the vail done away from thee ? dost thou read the scriptures with the unvailed eye ? dost thou read in the anointing , in christs spirit , in the pure heavenly wisdom of the divine birth ? it was promised of old , that god would take away the face of the covering cast over all people , and the vail spread over all nations . dost thou witness this promise fulfilled to thee ? dost thou know the difference between reading the scriptures with the vail on thee , and with the vail off ? are the scriptures opened and unlocked to thee by the key of david , so that thou readest and understandest them in the light and demonstration of gods holy spirit ; or is thy own understanding and will at work of it self , in searching into the scriptures ? if the wrong birth , the wrong wisdom , the wrong understanding be at work ; it can gather but that which will feed and strengthen it self : and if thou beest not in christ , and dost not read in christ , the vail is not taken away from thee : ( for the vail is only done away in him : ) but thou readest and walkest in the oldness of thy apprehensions upon the letter , and not in the newness of the spirit ; and so knowest neither the scriptures nor the power of god , what ever thou professest to men , or dreamest concernning thy self . for it is no other indeed : thy knowledge , thy apprehensions , thy faith , thy hope , thy peace , thy joy ( being out of the compass of the pure living truth , in which the substance , the vertue , the kernel of all is comprised and comprehended for ever ) are but as so many dreams . o that men that are any whit tender , and have any sincere desires in them towards the lord , could read that one scripture ( psal . 43.3 , 4. ) sensible and experimentally . o send out thy light and thy truth ; let them lead me , let them bring me unto thy holy hill , and to thy tabernacles . ( what , did not david know how to go to the hi●l and tabernacles of god , without a particular sending forth of light and truth from god to lead him thither ? ) then may men go unto the altar of god unto god their exceeding joy , and witness his hill and house their dwelling-place , when god by his light and truth , sent forth from him into them , leads them thither . the scriptures are words , whose chief end drift , and service is , to bring men to the word from which the scriptures came . and when men are there ; then they are in the life of the scriptures , and witness the fulfilling of the scriptures , even the executing of the righteous judgments of god upon that spirit , mind and nature in them , which is contrary to his image ; and the fulfilling of the promises and sure mercies , which belong to christ the seed , and to them who are gathered into , and abide in christ the seed . here 's the covenant , the new covenant , that which is said , or those things which are said concerning the covenant in the scriptures , are but descriptions of the new covenant : but christ within , the hope of glory , the spirit within , the fear within , the power of life within , breaking down and reigning over the power of sin and death ( so that the lord is served in the dominion and power of his own life , in righteousness and holiness before him , out of the fear of sin and death , all the dayes of our lives ; so that captivity can lead captive nor break the souls peace no more , nay not so much as make afraid those , that keep their habitation on gods holy mountain ) here is the covenant indeed : the strength and vertue whereof is witnessed in the soul , as the soul feels the power of life revealed in it , and is made subject by the power to christ who reigns in righteousness , love , mercy and peace , in the hearts of those whom he redeems out of the earthly nature and spirit , up to the mind and spirit of his father . and here the psalms , hymns and spiritual songs , the pure songs , ( the song of moses , the song of the lamb ) are sung to the father of spirits , to the redeemer of israel , which never were sung , nor can be sung in any part of babylon : but all those songs are but dreames of the night , which will be turned into howling and bitter lamentation , when the whore ( that which hath whored from god , and is not in the wisdom of his spirit , what ever she may pretend ) is stripped , and the nakedness of her profession and religion ( with all her duties and ordinances , as she calls them ) made manifest . concerning the gospel ministration . if the gospel be not a ministration of words or letters : but of the spirit , life and power ; and if it was the intent of god , that men should not stick in word , or testimonies concerning the things , but come to the thing it self , and live in the sons life and power , and feel the son living in them : then they are greatly mistaken , who think to gather a rule to themselves out of the testimonies and declarations of things in the scriptures , and do not wait upon the lord to receive the spirit it self to become their rule , guide and way . for these are all one ; the truth is the way , the truth , which lives and abides in the heart ( where it is received and entertained ) is the way : the rule is the guide . for god is one . there are many names , but the thing is one . the life , the power , the wisdom in the father , son and spirit , is all one : yea they themselves are one , perfectly one , not at all devided or separated but where the father is , the son is ; and where the son is , the spirit is ; and where the spirit is , there is both the father and the son , who tabernacle in man in the day of the gospel . and where these are , there that is which is to be preferred before all words , which was afore them , and is in nature , spirit and glory above them . he that hath the son , hath life , even the life eternal , which the words testifie of . he that hath the son , hath him which is true : and he that is in the son , is in him that is true ; and abiding there , cannot be deceived : but he that is not there , is deceived , let him apprehend and gather out of the scriptures what he can . o how is god glorified , and how is redemption and real salvation of the soul witnessed in this dispised dispensation of truth , which god hath held forth in these latter dayes ! blessed be the name of the lord , who hath hid this pure dispensation of life from the eye of the prudent , worldly wise part in every man , revealing it only to the babish simplicity which is of his son , and which lives in him and by him . concerning christs being manifested without , and his being also manifested within , and how both are owned by them that know the truth . it is objected against us , who are called quakers , that we deny christ ( and look not to be saved by him ) as he was manifested without us , but look only to be saved by christ in us . to which this is in my heart to answer to such as singly desire satisfaction therein . we do indeed expect to be saved ( yea and not only so , but do already in our several measures witness salvation ) by the revelation and operation of the life of christ , within us ; yet not without relation to what he did without us . for all that he did in that body of flesh , was of the father , and had its place and service in the will and according to the counsel of the father . but the knowledg and beliefe of that , since the dayes of the apostles , hath been very much held in the unrighteousness , and in the separation from the inward work of the power and life of christ in the heart : which , as so held , cannot save any . but whoever feels the light and life of christ revealed in him , and comes into union with god there-through ; he feels the work of regeneration , of sanctification , of justification , of life and redemption ; and so comes to reap benefit inwardly , and to partake of the blessed fruits of all that christ did outwardly . yea , he that is thus one with christ in the spirit , cannot exclude himself , nor is excluded by god from the advantage of any thing , nor every thing christ did in that body of flesh . this indeed is the main thing , to witness salvation wrought out in the heart : to witness the eternal power and arm of the lord , laying hold on the soul to save it ; and not only laying hold on it to save it , but to witness the working out and the effecting of the salvation , as really in the substance , as israel of old did in the shadow . for as they witnessed moses and joshua outwardly : so the true israelite ( the inward israelite , the spiritual israelite ) is to witness that which is the substance of these , even the son of god revealed inwardly . now they were not saved outwardly by a ba●e outward believing , that moses and joshua were sent of god to save them : but by following them , in faith and obedience to what from god they required . so to the inward israel christ is given for a leader and commander , who appears to the distressed , embondaged soul in egypt , brings out of egypt , and so leads on towards the good land and into it . now , as the soul followes ; as the soul believes in his appearances , and obeys his voice in the holy pure covenant of life ; so he works out the redemption thereof . but as unbelief and disobedience gets up , and the heart is heardened at any time against his voice and counsel , and the ear open to the temtaptions of the enemy ; the redemption thereby goes backward , and the distress and captivity returns again . this is witnessed , known and experienced by ever , true traveller towards sion . therefore the main thing requisite is to abide in the sence of the redeemers power , as also in waiting for his motions and apperances , and in the faith and obedince thereof . for sin gathers strength and is brought forth by letting in and giving way to the motions thereof : and so also holiness and righteousness is brought forth and getteth ground in the mind , by harkening and giving up to the stirrings and movings of gods holy spirit . therefore it is of great necessity to every true traveller , to come to a right understanding and distinguishing of these : and then that the heart be kept with all diligence , because out of it are the issues both of life and and death . and most happy is he , who knows the issues of death stopped and the issues of life opened , and whose spirit is naked and open before the lord , for life to spring up in him and issue forth through him at its pleasure . o it is a precious state to witness captivity led captive by life , and the power of life reigning over it . and truly , there is as real deliverance witnessed inwardly , by those that wait upon the lord and are faithfull to the leadings of his holy spirit , as ever there was by the jews outwardly , in their faithfull following moses and joshua : and christ is as truly an healer of his people , in this ministration of life to them by his holy spirit , as ever he was an healer of persons out wardly in the dayes of his fesh . that ( with the other miracles which he wrought then ) was but a shadow of what he would work and perform inwardly in the day of his spirit and holy power : and shall he or can he ( to those that faithfully wait upon him ) fall short in the one , of what he shadowed out in the other ? nay surely , it was the intent of his heart , and he will not fail to perform it , to save to the very utmost all that come to god by him and abide in his holy , pure , righteous , living covenant . here is the skill of christianity , to abide in him : and here the living virtue and pure power is felt , which overcometh all , but nothing can overcome it ; but victory , dominion , glory , majesty and power is sung unto him , who is king of saints , who reigns in righteousness , and who establisheth peace and truth within his borders . a few words concerning the the principle of truth , what it is , how it may be discerned , and how it may be purchased and possessed . quest . 1. what is the principle of truth ? answ . it is the light which reproves and makes sin manifest . whatsoever doth make manifest is light : wherefore he saith , awake thou that sleepest , arise from the dead , &c. eph. 5.13.14 . there is no other way of awaking out of sleep and arising from the the dead , but by the light which makes sin manifest . and , o how pretious is that light ! quest . 2. how may the principle of truth be discerned ? answ . by its piercing , quickning nature , which discovereth it self in its appearances and operations . for it appears and works , not like mans reason , or like motions of his mind which he takes into his understanding part : but it appears and works livingly , powerfully and effectually in the heart . mans reason is corrupt , dark , impure since the fall ; and in the hand and under the power of the wicked one . it s nature is to hide and cover sin , not to discover it . now the light of the law which discovers sin , ariseth not hence . who can bring the clean pure light of the law , out of the unclean , impure reason of man ? the light indeed may shine in the darkness ; but it is no part of it , but of another nature and descent . it is from gods spirit , and given to man in his love unto him , to lead him out of his dark wayes and spirit , into the pure spirit and way of holiness . for the light which discovers sin , is all holy and pure , like the fountain from whence it comes . now a man that is acquainted both with reason and with this light , he can distenguish the nature and operations of both . for there is a great difference between truth held in the reasoning part , and truth held in its own principle . it is very powerful in the one : it effecteth little in the other . in the pure quickenings of life this distinction is perceived and also held . therefore our advice is to all men , to retire from all mortality , that they may come to feel the spring of life in themselves ( and something springing therefrom into them to quicken them ) and to wait to have their understandings opened and kept open by that ; that so they may receive , retain , and not again lose the capacity of understanding the things of gods kingdom . quest . 3 how may this principle ( seed or pearl ) be purchased and possessed ? answ . by dying to a mans own wisdom and will. there is not another way . for the light is wholly contrary to man , as he stands , in the alienation from god. it crosseth his spirit , his thoughts , his desires , his knowledge , his reason , his understanding ; even all that is of himself . he must therefore con●ult with none of these , but prefer the little , pure demonstration of the light of christs spirit above all these , and stand in the parting with and loss of them all for ever . o this is an hard saying , who can bear it ? surely none but those that are taught and learn of the father , can thus come to give up to and follow the light of the son. the law of the lord is perfest , converting ( or restoring ) the soul ( psal . 19.7 . ) what law was this , or what law is this ? was it the law of workes in the hand of moses ? or is it the law of faith in the hand of christ ? doth not christ enlighten every man that cometh into the world ? would not god have all men to be saved ? and doth he not give to all , a proportion of the true light whereby they may be saved ? and it is not the property of this light to convert to god ? can any man receive this and be united to this , and it not change his nature : so that he must needs have a new nature , and from that new nature do that naturally , which the jews by all their endeavours with-out this , could never do ? can any thing convert fallen man to god , but christ ? hath any thing power to convert to god , but his pure law of life ? can christ and his light be seprated ? can any man receive his light and be united thereto , and not receive him ? o that mens hearts and understandings were opened by the spirit and power of the lord ! for this is a direct riddle to all men , who have not gods heifer to plow with , to understand it by . and so for want of a true understanding , it is despised and rejected among the builders : but with us it is elect and precious , chosen of god , and precious in the eye of our souls . now this doth not exclude or make void any thing , that christ did in his body of flesh here on earth , or that he doth in heaven for his : but this brings unto a right , and into a possession and enjoyment of his purchase . for all that are in the darkness , and walk in the darkness , have nothing to do with christ in truth and reallity , what ever they may profess , and what hopes soever they may feed themselves with : but all that are in any measure of his light , and walk therein , they are so far of him , and have a right to and share in all that he did in and from the same light and spirit . and this i dare positively hold forth as a standing truth , which hath been sealed unto me by constant experience : that no man can fall in with , and obey the light wherewith he is enlightened , but he must deny himself , and take up a cross to his own wisdom and will , which cross is the cross of christ , which is the power of god to the salvation of the soul. and he that takes it up daily and waits upon the lord therein , shall witness the power of the lord jesus christ to the redemption of his soul : ye then he shall be able in true understanding to say , this is light indeed , life indeed , power indeed . that powerfull arm which hath saved me from sin , and breaks the snares , devices and strength of the enemy before me ( delivering me daily when none else can , and when my own strength and wisdom is as nothing ) i cannot but call christ , the living power and wisdom of god revealed in me , who will not give his glory to another . for he is the lord god of pure power and life for evermore ; and beside him there is no such saviour . yea , blessed be the name of the lord for ever , the dayes of mourning after salvation are over with many , and the dayes of reaping and enjoying salvation are come , which shall endure with the israel of god for evermore , amen . isaac penington . an incitation to professors seriously to consider , whether they or we fail , in the true acknowledgment and owning of the christ which died at jerusalem . we , who are commonly called quakers , being a people whom the lord hath gathered ( out of the wandrings , out of the many professions , out of the several scattered estates and conditions , wherein his eye pittied us , and his love found us out ) into a measure of the eternal rest ; where we have found that life , that power , that manifestation of the eternal spirits and that redeeming virtue , which we never were before distinctly acquainted with ; i say , having tasted of this , haveing known this , having felt this , and come to a real enjoyment of it , in some degree , in our several measures ; we could not possibly conceal this treasure , but in bowels of love ( and in the movings of the life and power of the spirit ) have been drawn to testifie of it to them who were left behind , groveling under the burthen of corruption , and crying out because of the sin and bondage from the powers of darkness , who hath in a mist withheld their eyes from beholding that living virtue , which is able to save ( and doth save , blessed be his name ) therefrom . now this we have often found that this our testimony hath not been received in the same spirit and love , wherein it hath gone forth ; but the enemy ( by his subtilty ) hath raised up jealosies concerning us , and prejudices against us , as if we denyed the scriptures and ordinances of god , and that christ that died at jerusalem , professing him only in words ( to win upon others by ) but denying him in reallity and substance . to cleare this latter , ( for my heart is only at this present drawn out concerning that ) we have solemnly professed in the sight of the lord god ( who hath given us the knowledge of his ●on in life and power ) these two things . first , that we do really in our hearts own that christ , who came in the fulness of time , in that prepared body to do the fathers will ( his coming into the world , doctrine , miracles , sufferings , death , resurrection , &c. ) in plainness and simplicity of heart , according as it is expressed in the letter of the scriptures . secondly , that we own no other christ then that , nor hold forth no other-thing for christ , but him who then appeared and was made manifest in flesh . now it would be nakedly inquired into by professors , what is the reason that their jealousies still remain concerning us , and why they are still so ready to cast this upon us ? certainly if they did know and own the same thing with us , ( in the spirit , and in the power , in the life , and in the love which is of the truth ) this prejudice , and these hard thoughts could not remain . but if they themselves do not know christ in the spirit ( but only according to a relation of the letter ) no marvel though they miss both of the spirit , and of the true intent and meaning of the letter , and likewise be liable to clash against the truth , as it is made manifest in others . and indeed the lord hath shewen me in spirit several times , that they themselves are guilty of that very charge ( and that he will so implead them at his judgment seat ) which they cast upon us , even of denying that christ which died at jerusalem , to be the christ . for he that owneth the words of scripture , as he apprehends or conceives them in the reasonings of his mind , and doth not wait to have them revealed in the spirit , keeping out of his own reasonings and conceivings , and waiting patiently till the lord open the thing in the spirit ; he setteth up his own conceivings , or an image in his mind of the mind of the spirit , but misseth of the thing it self , which alone is known in the spirit , by them who wait upon the spirit there to receive it , and are not hasty to set up their own reasonings and imaginations concerning the thing in the mean time . no man can in truth call jesus the lord , but by the spirit . but any man , that is any thing serious , and weighs the scriptures in the natural part , may so learn to acknowledge his coming into the world , and that he is lord and king , &c. and may thus call him lord , yea , and kindle a great heat in his affections towards him ; but all this ( out of the life , out of the spirit ) is but mans image , which he forms in his mind , in his reading the scriptures , and observing things therefrom . but the true calling jesus lord , is from the feeling of his eternal virtue in the spirit , and finding the scriptures opened to him by the spirit , in a principle which is above the reason , comprehends the reason , and confounds and brings it to nothing . again , there is no true knowledge of christ , no living knowledge , no saving knowledge which hath the eternal virtue in it ; but that which is received and retained in a measure of light given by god to the creature , in the faith which is the gift , in the grace which is supernatural and spiritual , whereas the resoning part is but natural . and such as have received the spiritual understanding , know it to be distinct from the natural ; and we experimentally find a very clear distincttion , between scriptures searched out by the reasonings of the mind , ( and so practises drawn therefrom ) and scriptures opened by the spirit , and felt in the life . now that professors generally have not received their knowledge of christ from the spirit , or from scriptures opened it the spirit ( and so know not the thing , but only such a relation of the thing , as mans reasoning part may drink in from the letter of the scriptures ) is manifest by this , in that they are not able in spirit and understandind to distinguish the thing it self , from the garment wherewith it was cloathed , though the scriptures be very express therein . speak of christ according to a relation of the letter , there they can say somewhat : but come to the substance , come to the spirit of the thing , come to the thing it self ; there they stutter and stammer , and shew plainly that they know not what it is . now the scriptures do expresly distinguish between christ and the garment which he wore ; between him that came , and the body in which he came ; between the substance which was vailed , and the vail which vailed it . lo i come ; a body hast thou prepared me . there is plainly he , and the body in which he came . there was the outward vessel , and the inward life . this we certainly know , and can never call the bodily garment christ , but that which appeared and dwelt in the body . now if ye indeed know the christ of god , tell us plainly what that is which appeared in the body ? whether that was not the christ before it took up the body , after it took up the body , and for ever ? and then their confining of christ to that body , plainly manifesteth that they want the knowledge of him in spirit . for christ is the son of the father , he is the infinite eternal being , one with the father , and with the spirit , and cannot be divided from either ; cannot be any where , where they are not ; nor can be excluded from any place where they are . he may take up a body and appear in it , but cannot be confined to be no where else but there , no not at the very time while he is there . christ , while he was here on earth , yet was not excluded from being in heaven with the father at the very same time , as he himself said concerning himself , the son of man which is in heaven , john 3.13 . nor was the father excluded from being with him in the body , but the father was in him , and he in the father , whereupon he said to philip , he that hath seen me , hath seen the father . what , did every one that saw that body , see the father also ? nay not so , but he that saw christ the son of the living god , whom flesh and blood revealed not , but the father only ( mat , 16.16 , 17. ) he saw the father also . o frinds , look to your knowledge of christ , and to your faith and knowledge of the scriptures , and to your prayers also ; for it is easie missing of the living substance in all these , and meeting with a shaddow , which may please and make a great shew in the earthly part , in the natural understanding and affections , but satisfieth not the soul , or that which is born after the spirit , but still the cry there goes out ( where the soul is awakned ) after truth , substance , life , virtue , from gods spirit in the spirit , which it alone can feed upon . these four things following , i am certain of , which he that cometh into the true light , shall infallibly experience them there . first . that nothing can save but the knowledge of christ , even of that very christ and no other , who took upon him the prepared body , and offered it up at jerusalem . secondly , that no knowledge of christ can save , but the living knowledge , not a knowledge of him after , the letter , ( which the carnal part may get much of , and value it self much by ) but a knowledge of him in the spirit ; which is only given to that which is begotten and born of the spirit , and only retained by that which abides and remains in the spirit , and runs not out into the fleshly reasonings , imaginings and concevings , about the things mentioned in the scriptures . thirdly , that that man who knoweth not christ in spirit , nor keepeth close to him in spirit ; but ( through darkness and misguidance of the spirit of deceit ) called the shinings of his light ( his reproofs , his checks for that which is evil , and his secret motions to that which is good ) natural ; this man , though he seem to own christ never so much according to the letter , yet in truth denies him . fourthly , he that denies christ , ( in his knocking 's and visitations of him in his own heart , and before men in the truths which he holds forth by his servants and ministers of his spirit him will he deny before his father in heaven . o , i beseech you , do not trifle about these things ( for they are exceeding weighty ) lest ye perish from the way ; for missing of the saviour , ye must needs also miss of the salvation . o that ye knew your state , as god knows it to be , and as it is certainly known and felt in the measure of his life and holy spirit , by those whom god hath gathered together , and whose eyes he hath opened , and preserveth open there , glory be to his name therefore : yea , glory , glory , glory , and everlasting praises be sung to him throughout all the holy land , ye in the very heights of sion , by the souls of the redeemed , from henceforth , and for evermore , amen : whose mercy , love , grace , wisdom , power and rich goodness remaineth and endureth for ever ; by and in which the redeemed live to his praise , who have overcome by the blood of the lamb , whose blood they know what it is ; and none else knoweth it , but they who feel the sprinkling and virtue of it . lo this is our god , we have waited for him ; and how can we but be glad , and rejoyce in his salvation ! o let all that live by the breath of thy power , and drink of thy streams , sing praise unto thee , and exalt thy great and wonderful name for ever and ever . a brief testimony for truth , by tho. tayler . i shall add somewhat of the testimony which is written in my heart , by the finger of gods spirit , concerning the people called quakers . indeed they have met with many reproaches , and sore oppositions many wayes , since they were a people : but notwithstanding all , their bow abides in strength , and the hands of their arms have been made strong against the wicked one , with all his devices in his several kinds of instruments : and their light is still the same and their god the same , who blesseth them from day to day , even in the midst of all the revilings , slanders , persecutions and curses , which they have met with from men without , and in the midst of all the temptations , inward trials and afflictions also , which are often met with inwardly . yea we know him to be our god and cannot but trust him , having found him to be faithfull to us hitherto , and knowing his nature to be such , that he cannot but continue his loving-kindness and faithfulness , to all who are gathered by him in to his holy , inward , spiritual covenant of life and peace , and who dwells with him therein . and truly we are fully satisfied and at rest in him , and cannot desire another , then he who hath redeemed our souls from death , given us life , brought us out of the pit wherein was no water , into a large place , set our feet upon a rock ( a rock indeed ) and establisheth our goings in the path of holyness , working all our works in us and for us , by his spirit and power . yea , we have the witness in our hearts , even the witness which never erred nor can deceive , which testifieth to and with our spirits , our sonship : so that we do not imagine our selves sons from apprehensions upon scriptures , but we feel our selves sons in the true sensibleness , and know who david is , and reap and inherit the sure mercies of david daily , o blessed be our father , o blessed for ever be the father of life , who feeds , who nourishes , who waters , who refreshes ( with the bread of life and with the pure living water ) his lambs , his babes , his plants , his tender ones , of whom he is daily tender , and who are daily tender of his name and honour . and if any man preach another god , then he who creates anew in the true light , and therein puts forth his arm of salvation ; death , and destruction and the curse , are his portion from the hand of the lord. the conclusion . glorious was the estate of the church , before the apostacy , for purity of doctrine , for holy order and discipline , for love to god , one to another , and to all men ( even of enemies ) for faith in god , for the presence and power of his spirit among them ( insomuch as the unbeliever coming among them , might find his heart and state reached to , and be forced to confess and report that god was in them of a truth ) for singleness and uprightnesse of heart , meekness and innocency of spirit and conversation , for zeal for god and his truth , suffering the spoiling of their goods , imprisonments , stripes , and many other wayes , both from the heathen , and also from the professing jews , who had been the church once . o what shall i say concerning the beauty and loveliness of that state ! ye that would know it , o wait to feel it in that , which giveth the true sence of it . but over this glorious state , came a dark , thick , corrupt night , wherein the kernel was lost , and the shell defaced ; wherein the house , which had been swept and garnished , became again recovered and possessed by the wicked spirit . and how great hath this darkness been ! o what a kind of church hath appeared in the world , wherein the spirit of enmity hath dwelt and acted in men , under the name of christianity ! so that instead of loving and seeking the good of enemies , they are ready to rend and tear one another for every little difference , and will be lords over mens faith , requiring men to practice things in religeon , before the spirit of the lord teacheth them so to do , which the apostles did not . for though they had from god the express knowledge of what was truth , and could certainly instruct and build men up therein ; yet they were not lords over mens faith ; but if men were otherwise minded then according to what they knew and taught , they could wait and bear with them , bidding them walk so far as they had attained , and god in his due time would reveal the rest also . o that men were come to this spirit again ! then they would be christians indeed , and then they might be known to be christs disciples , by their loving the brethren and fellow-disciples . but without this love , mens religion is but as a tinkling cimbal , making a noise and sound of somewhat , but not having the true nature or virtue of religion in it . now will it not be a glorious day , when the spirit of the lord cleanseth away this thick darkness , and causeth the light of his pure truth to arise and appear again ? why there is such a day to be , wherein the true church ( which was reproached and driven into the wilderness ) is to come out of the wilderness again , and her witnesses stand on their feet again , and her seed to spring up in the power of life , following the lamb , who marcheth on fighting with the sword of the spirit ( the words of his mouth ) conquering and to conqeur thereby the corrupted antichristian world , even as he did at first the corrupt heathenish world. the lord will purifie his temple , and cleanse the world , by the plagues of his angels which he hath prepared , making way for the beauty of his truth , and the church of his gathering ; wherein he will bring forth his righteousness , wherein his power shall appear , wherein his presence shall be made manifest , wherein that which shined before in the primitive church , shall shine again in this new-reared building of his , insomuch as men shall be forced to say , this is the church of christ indeed , god is here of a truth ; this is the gosple-jerusalem indeed , which is built upon the holy hill of sion , in which innocency , righteousnesse , truth , love , sweetnesse , peaceablenesse , and the gentle nature and spirit of the lamb lives and reigns ; and the lord bless thee , o habitation of justice , and mountain of holiness . now of a truth this work is begun . the times of refreshment are come from the presence of the lord. the lord hath heard from heaven , pitiying the cries of his seed , and hath visited their souls , causing the light of life ( even the pure light of the everlasting covenant ) to shine upon their tabernacles . but whoever would know these things , and partake of them , must come in at the door , by the guidance of the spirit , through the light which is with him . and he that would enjoy the full light ( even the shinings forth of the sun at noon day ) must begin with its glimmerings , even that in the heart , which discovereth and draweth out of the corrupt state of the world , towards the father . o hear and live . do not dispute about it , but wait to feel it ; upon the feeling of it , despising the shame , and taking up , and enduring the cross , and so bearing the reproach and sufferings of christ in thy age and generation . and as thou obeyest , thou shalt know of its doctrine ; but out of the pure faith and obedience , there is no true , sound , deep-rooted knowledge ; but all of that kind must be parted with , for the knowledge which is of the faith , and which is made manifest and increased in the obedience ; which knowledge is of a far more excellent kind and nature . then that which thou art to part with for it . the lord guide thy mind , and stretch forth his hand to help thee , who from the least touch of a true nature and spirit , desirest after the pure truth and way of eternal life . amen . this testimony ( here held forth ) is faithful and true , and ( i know ) the witness of god in many hearts will answer to it ; and happy is he that maketh a right use of it . for , so doing , his soul will not fall short of the pure living truth , nor set up any thing else for truth which is not . isaack penington . the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a54059-e20310 john 10.1 . 2 pet. 1.20 , 21. jer. 23.28 . john 1.1 . jer. 2.4 , 8. ezek. 1.3 . john 1.14 . rev. 19.13 . heb. 4.12 , 13 luke 1.73 , & 19.15 . john 16.13 . rom. 18.14 . mat. 11.15 . mat. 13.11 . mat. 3.11 . ephes . 4.5 , 6. rom. 6.3 . 1 cor. 12.13 . 2 cor. 5 , 17. john 6.54 , 55 , 56 , 57. acts 4.32 . 1 cor. 10.16 . 1 cor. 10 21. 1 cor. 11.29 . 1 cor. 2.14 . 1 john 3.17 . rom. 8.6 . 2 tim. 3.5 . 1 pet. 3.12 . jam. 5.5 , 6. pro. 15.8 , 29. ex. 40.12 , 13. luke 1.3 . hab. 1.13 . mat. 12.34 job 14.4 . gen. 3.15 . 2 sam. 2.22 . 1 sam. 5.22 . isa . 1.13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. mark 16.25 . amos 3 7 , 8. am 7.14 , 15. gal. 1.11 , 12. 1 cor. 1.17 , 18 , 19 , &c. chap. 2. 2 pet. 1.21 . act. 2.4 . &c. acts 20.33 . 1 thes . 9.6 . as in act. act. 24 5.6 . act. 22.22 . witness the town of cambridge , the wel-head . rom. 7.14 . rom. 4.15 . rom. 8.1 . gal. 5.23 . rom. 8.8 . 2 sam. 23.3 . pro. 28.15 , 16. pro. 25.28 . pro. 29.10 . isa . 14.15 . james 2.9 . hos . 4.18 . hester 3. dan. 1.3 . isa . 23. isa . 5.27 , 28. psal . 82.1 , 3. zeph. 3.3 . hos . 4.18 . mar. 6.17 , &c hest . 3.8 . rom. 13.3 , 4. exod. 4.10 , 11 , 12 , 13. acts 9.5 , 6. 2 thes . 2.4 . jam. 4.1 , 2 , 3. 2 cor. 5.16 , 17. gal. 6.14 . col. 1.18 . mat. 20.25 , 26 , 27. 1 cor. 12.12 , 13. acts 4.32 . rom. 6.4 , 5. rev. 19 rom. 13.7 . 1 kings 19.9 . am. 7.24 , 25 deut. 32.3 . deut. 37.5 . mat. 13.55 , 56 , 57. rom. 8.5 . phil. 2.9 , 10 , 11. psal . 149.8 . rev. 13. rev. 14 , 5. rev. 18.6 . mat. 20.25 . prov. 22.7 . 1 cor. 9.19 . prov. 1.23 . prov. 16.4 . luke . 16 10 20. acts. 17.25 . james . 2.6 . esth . 3. 2 pet. 2.12 . jude . 10. gen. 1.27 . gen. 5.24 . lvke . 4.18 . mat. 10.11 . rev. 21.27 . 1 cor. 15.5 . john. 8.13 . the mischief of sinne it brings a person low / published by thomas watson ... watson, thomas, d. 1686. 1671 approx. 113 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 63 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a65303) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106550) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1108:7) the mischief of sinne it brings a person low / published by thomas watson ... watson, thomas, d. 1686. [10], 115 p. printed for tho. parkhurst, and are to be sold at his shop ..., london : 1671. running title: sin brings a person low. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sin. christian life. theology, doctrinal. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-04 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2004-04 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the mischief of sinne , it brings a person low. published by thomas watson minister of the gospel . isa. 64.7 . thou hast consumed us because of our iniquities . london , printed for tho. parkhurst , and are to be sold at his shop at the bible and three crowns in cheapside near mercers chappel , and at the bible on london bridge . 1671. the epistle to the reader . christian reader , the excess of impiety which hath broken down the banks of common civility & modesty , did at first lead my thoughts to these subjects ensuing . the spirits of men are leavened with atheism , and their lives stained with debauchery . * i know not what to call them , but baptitized heathens . not long since there was a complaint that the springs grew low : sure i am the floods of sin are risen , even to a deluge . there is a generation among us , of whom i may say as oecumenius , they militate against religion ; * they are so prodigiously prophane , that they esteem the bible a fable , and * would jeer all holiness out of the world . the prince of the air , now worketh in the children of disobedience , ephes. 2.2 . in our saviours time , many mens bodies were possessed with the devil , but now their souls are possessed . one is possessed with a blasphemous devil , another with a spightful devil , another with a drunken devil . this is one great sign of the approach of the last day , iniquity shall abound , mat. 24.12 . mens lusts grow fierce and insatiable , and like imps lye sucking them . but o how direful and tremendous will the effects of sin be . my text saith * , they were brought low for their iniquity : sin is such a trade , that whosoever follows , is sure to break . what got achan by his wedge of gold ? it was a wedge to cleave asunder his soul from god. what got judas by his treason ? he purchased an halter . what got king ahaz by worshipping the gods of damascus ? they were the ruine of him and of all israel , 2 chron. 28.23 . sin is first comical , and then tragical . i may fitly apply those words of solomon to sin , prov. 7.26 . she hath cast down many wounded : o what an harvest of souls is the devil like to have ! isaiah 5.14 . hell hath enlarged it self . it is fain to make room for its guests . 't is matter of grief to think , that the dragon should have so many followers , and the lamb so few . cyprian brings in the devil insulting over christ , thus ; as for my followers , i never dyed for them as christ hath done for his , i never promised them so great a reward as christ hath done to his , yet i have greater numbers than he , and my followers venture more for me , than his do for him . some sin out of ignorance , yet even the blind can find the way to hell. but most sin out of choice , they know the dish forbidden , but they lust after it , though in the day they eat thereof , they shall surely die . my design in this small tract , is to give check to sinners , and sound a religious retreat in their ears , to make them return from the hot pursuit of their impieties . if notwithstanding all admonitions , they will run counter to the word , and prostitute themselves to their sordid lusts , they are felo de se , and their blood will be upon their own head . what remains , but that god should say in anger , as zach. 11.9 . that that dieth , let it dye , and that that is to be cut off , let it be cut off . i have at the request of some friends , made this discourse ( imparted formerly to my own family ) publick . i acknowledge it is not rhetorico flatu cothurnatus , embellished with flowers of eloquence . st. pauls preaching was not with enticing words of mans wisdom , but in the demonstration of the spirit , and power , 1 cor. 2.4 . plainness is ever best in beating down sin . when a wound festers , it is fitter to launce it , than to embroyder it with silk , or lay vermilion upon it . reader , that god will bless these few meditations to thee , and make them operative upon thy heart , shall be the prayer of him , who is , thy friend , studious of thy eternal welfare , thomas watson . the mischief of sin , it brings a person low. psalm 106.43 . and were brought low , for their iniquity . if the scripture be a spiritual rosary or garden , ( as st. chrysostom saith ) the book of psalms is a knot in this garden , set with fragrant flowers : luther calls the psalms , parva biblia , a little bible . the psalms make sweeter musick , than ever davids harp did : they are calculated for every christians condition , and may serve either for illumination , or consolation . in this psalm david sets down the people of israels sins . first , in general ; ver. 6. we have sinned with our fathers . the examples of fathers , are not alwayes to be urged . shall we be wiser than our fathers ? fathers may err ; a * son had sometimes better take his land from his father , than his religion . secondly , david makes a particular enumeration of their sins . 1. their forgetfulness of god. ver. 13. they soon forgat his works ; or as it is in the original , they made haste to forget his works * . the lord wrought a famous miracle for them , ver. 11. he drowned israels enemies , and israel drowned his mercies . our sins , and gods kindnesses are apt quickly to slip out of our memory . we deal with gods mercies , as with flowers , when they are fresh , we smell to them , and put them in our bosom , but within a while we throw them away , and never mind them * . they made haste to forget his works . 2. their inordinate lusting , v. 14. they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness . they were weary of the provision which god sent them miraculously from heaven ; they grew dainty , they wept for quailes ; they were not content , that god should supply their wants , but they would have him satisfie their lusts too ; god lets them have their request ; quailes they had , but in anger ; * he sent leanness into their souls , ( i. e. ) he sent a plague whereby they pined and consumed away . 3. their idolatry . ver. 19. they made a calf in horeb. they framed to themselves a god of gold and worshipped it . the scripture calls idolls , bosheth , a shame , hos. 9.10 . for this god disclaimed them from being his people , exod. 32.2 . thy people have corrupted themselves . formerly god called them his people , but now he doth not say to moses , my people , but thy people . 4. their infidelity . ver. 24. they believed not his word , * but murmured . they did not think that god would subdue their enemies , and bring them into that pleasant land flowing with milk and hony ; and this unbelief did break forth into murmuring . * they wished they had made their graves in aegypt ; † when men begin to distrust the promise , then they quarrel at providence . when faith grows low , passions grow high . for these things god did stretch out his hand against them , as it is in the text , and they were brought low , for their iniquity . the words branch themselves into two parts . 1. israels misery . they were brought low ; * some expositors translate it , they waxed lean ; † the hebrew and septuagint render it , they were humbled . * 2. the procuring cause of it ; for their iniquity † . doct. the proposition resulting from the text is , that sin brings a person low . psal. 197.6 . the wicked he casteth down to the ground . sin is a planet of a bad aspect ; as ieptha said to his daughter , when she met them with timbrel and dances , judg. 11.35 . alas my daughter , thou hast brought me very low . so a man may say to his sin , alas my sin , thou hast brought me very low . sin is the great leveller ; it brings a family low : it cuts off the arm , and dissolves the pillars thereof . 1 sam. 2.29 . wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice ? ver. 31. behold , the dayes come , that i will cut off thy arm ; and the arm of thy fathers house , that there shall not be an old man in thy house . which threatning god made good , when he cut off elies two sons , and put by the other sons from the priesthood . sin brings a kingdom low , 1 sam. 15.19 . wherefore didst not thou obey the voice of the lord , but didst evil in his sight ? ver. 28. the lord hath rent the kingdom of israel from thee this day . sin breaks the axletree of church and state , hos. 13.1 . when ephraim spake trembling , he exalted himself , but when he offended in baal he dyed . the tribe of ephraim did carry a majesty with it , and was superiour to the ten tribes . when ephraim spake , he struck an awe and terrour into others ; but when he offended in baal he dyed . when he once fell from god by idolatry , he did inter cuneos residere , degrade himself of his honour ; his strength and glory came to nothing . now every puny adversary would insult over him , as the hare will tread upon a dead lion * . among the many threatnings against sin , this was one , deut. 28.43 . thou shalt come down very low ; and in the text this threatning is exemplified and made good , they were brought low for their iniquity . that i may amplifie and illustrate the proposition , i shall shew 1. how many wayes sin brings a man low . 2. why sin must needs bring a man low . 1. how many wayes sin brings a man low . 1. sin brings a man low in gods esteem . the sinner sets an high price upon himself , prov. 26.16 . but god hath low thoughts of him , and looks upon him with a despicable eye , dan. 11.21 . and in his estate , shall stand up a vile person . who was this spoken of ? it was antiochus epiphanes ; he was a king , and his name signifies illustrious , and by some he was worshipped , yet in gods account , he was a vile person . the psalmist speaking of the wicked , saith , they are become filthy ; in the hebrew it is , they are become stinking . that you may see how low a sinner is fallen in gods account , the lord compares him to dross , psal. 119.119 . to chaffe , psal. 1.4 . to a pot boiling with scumm , ezek. 24.6 . to a dog , 2 pet. 2.22 . which under the law was unclean ; to a serpent , matth. 23.33 . which is a cursed creature ; nay , he is worse than a serpent , for the poyson of a serpent , is what god hath put into it ; but a wicked man hath that which the devil hath put into him , acts 5.3 . why hath satan filled thy heart ? caelius rhodiginus reports of an antient woman , who had alwayes used flattering glasses , by chance , seeing her face in a true glass , fell mad ; * a sinner is well conceited of himself , while he doth dress himself by the flattering glass of presumption , but if he knew how loathsome and disfigured he were in gods eye , he would abhor himself in the dust . 2. sin brings a man low in his intellectuals . it hath eclipsed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the rational part ; darkness is upon the face of this deep . since the fall , the lamp of reason burns dim , 1 cor. 13.9 . we know but in part . * there are many arcana naturae , knots in nature , that are not easie to untye . why nilus should overflow in summer , when by the course of nature waters are lowest ? why the loadstone should rather draw iron , than gold a more noble mettal ? what way the light is parted ? job 38.24 . how the bones grow in the womb ? * many of these are paradoxes that we understand not . the key of knowledge * , is lost in the tree of knowledge . especially , in matters sacred , we are inveloped with ignorance , the sword is upon our right eye , zach. 11.16 . what a little of the sea , will a nut-shell hold ? how little of god will our intellect contain ? job . 11.7 . canst thou find out the almighty unto perfection ? who can fully unriddle the trinity ? or fadom the mysterie of the hypostatical union ? and alas , as to salvifical heart-transforming knowledge , how are we to seek , till gods spirit light our lamp ! 1 cor. 2.14 . 3. sin brings a man low in affliction ; * that is the meaning of the text , they were brought low for their iniquity . adams sin brought him low ; it banished him out of paradise , 2 chron. 28.18 . in those dayes , god cut israel short . sin makes god cut a people short in their spiritual and civil liberties . sin is the womb of sorrow , and the grave of comfort . sin turns the body into an hospital , it causeeth feavers , ulcers , catarrhes . — macies & nova febrium terris incubuit cohors — * sin buries the name , melts the estate , pulls away near relations as limbs from our body . sin is the trojan horse , out of which a whole troop of afflictions comes . sin drowned the old world , burnt sodom , sin made sibon sit in babylon . lam. 1.8 . ierusalem hath grievously sinned , therefore she is removed . sin did shut up gods bowels , lam. 2.21 . thou hast killed , and not pitied . israel did sin , and not repent , and god did kill , and not pity . sin is the great humbler : did not davids sin bring him low ? psalm 38.3 . there is no rest in my bones , because of my sin . did not manassehs sin bring him low ? it changed his crown-royal into fetters , 2 chron. 33.11 . god for sin , turned king nebuchadnezzar to grass , dan. 4.33 . sin is like the aegyptian reed , too feeble to support us , but sharp enough to wound us . jer. 2.16 . the children of noph and tahapanes have broke the crown of thy head . the aegyptians were not a warlike , but a womanish people * , imbecil and weak , yet these were too hard for israel , and made a spoil of her . ver. 17. hast thou not procured this to thy self ? is it not thy sin hath brought thee low ? nay , sin doth not only bring us low in affliction , but it imbitters affliction ; sin puts teeth into the cross. guilt makes affliction heavy ; a little water is heavy in a leaden vessel ; and a little affliction is heavy in a guilty conscience . 4. sin brings one low in melancholy : this is atra bilis , a black humour seated chiefly in the brain . some have strange and dismal conceits , fancying their bodies to be made all of glass , * and that if any one touch them , they shall break . melancholy cloaths the mind in sable ; it puts a christian out of tune , that he is not fit for prayer , * nor praise . lute-strings when wet , will not sound : nor can one under the power of melancholy , make melody in his heart to the lord , ephes. 5.19 . when the mind is troubled , it is unfit to go about work . melancholy doth disturb reason , and weaken faith. satan works much on this temper : it is balneum diaboli ; he bathes himself with delight in such a person . through the black spectacles of melancholy , every thing appears black . when a christian looks upon sin , saith he , this leviathan will devour me ; when he looks upon ordinances , these will serve to increase my guilt ; when he looks upon affliction , this gulf will swallow me up . melancholy creates fears in the mind , it excites jealousies ; and misprisions . i may allude to that psal. 53.5 . there were they in great fear , where no fear was . * 5. sin brings a man low in spiritual plagues . it brings many an one , to a seared conscience , to final induration , isa. 29.10 . the lord hath poured out upon you , the spirit of a deep sleep , * and hath closed your eyes . men are brought low indeed , when the sound of aarons bell will not awaken them , no sermon will stir them . they are like the smiths dog , that can lye and sleep near the anvil , when all the sparkles fly about . conscience is in a lethargy . * when once a mans speech is gone , and his feeling lost , he draws on apace to death : so when the checks of conscience cease , and a man is sensible neither of sin , nor wrath , you may ring out the bell , he is past hope of recovery . thus some are brought low , even to a reprobate sense . this is limen inferni , the threshold of damnation . 6. sin brings a man low in temptation . paul began to be proud , and he had a messenger of satan to buffet him , * 2 cor. 12.7 . some think it was a visible apparition of satan , tempting him to sin ; others , that the devil was now assaulting pauls faith , making him believe he was an hypocrite . satan laid the train of temptation , to blow up the fort of his grace . and this temptation was so sore , that he called it , a thorn in the flesh * , it did put him to much anguish . such temptations do the godly oft fall into . they are tempted to question the truth of the promises , or the truth of their own graces . sometimes they are tempted to blasphemy , sometimes to self-murder ; thus , they are brought low , they are almost gone , and ready to give consent . the devil nibbles at their heel , but god wards off the blow from their head . 7. sin brings one low in desertion . this is an abysse indeed . psal. 88.6 . thou hast laid me in the lowest pit * . desertion is a short hell. cant. 5.6 . my beloved hath withdrawn himself , and was gone . christ knocked , but the spouse was loth to rise off her bed of sloath , and open to him presently , christ was gone . when the devil finds a person sleeping , he enters ; but when christ finds him sleeping he is gone . and if this sun of righteousness withdraws his golden beams from the soul , darkness follows . desertion is the arrow of god , shot into the soul. * job 6.4 . the arrows of the almighty are within me , the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit . the scythians in their wars did use to dip their arrows in the blood and gall of asps , that the venemous heat of them might the more torture the enemy . so the lord did shoot his poisoned arrow of desertion at iob , under the wounds whereof , his spirit lay bleeding . god is called in scripture , a light , and a fire . the deserted soul feels the fire , but doth not see the light . so dreadful is this , that the most tormenting pains , stone , collick , strangury , are but a pleasure to it . all the delights under the sun will administer no comfort in this condition . worldly things can no more relieve a troubled mind , than a silken stocken can ease a broken leg. psal. 88.15 . while i suffer thy terrors , i am distracted . luther in desertion , was like one giving up the ghost , he had no blood seen in his face , nor was heard to speak , but his body seemed dead ; * as one writes in an epistle to melancthon . 8. sin brings many low in despair ; this is a gulf that none but reprobates fall into . * jer. 18.11 . thou saidst , there is no hope . despair is devoratoria salutis , * it is a milstone tyed about the soul , that sinks it in perdition . despair looks on god , not as a father , but a iudge . it refuseth the remedy . other sins need christ , despair rejects him : it closeth the orifice of christs wounds , that no blood will come out to heal . this is the voice of despair , my sin is greater than the mercy of god can pardon . it makes the wound broader than the plaister . despair is a god-affronting sin ; it is sacriledge , it robs god of his crown-jewels , his power , goodness , truth . how doth satan triumph to see the honour of gods attributes laid in the dust by despair . despair casts away the anchor of hope , and then the soul must needs sink . what will a ship do in a storm without an anchor ? despair locks men up in impenitency . i have read of one hubertus who dyed despairing ; he made his will after this manner , i yield my goods to the king , my body to the grave , my soul to the devil . isa. 38.18 . they that go down into the pit , cannot hope for thy truth . they who go down into this pit of despair , cannot hope for the truth of gods promise . and this despair grows at last into horror and raving , — eheu quis intus scorpio ? — 9. sin brings a man without repentance into the bottomless pit , and then he is brought low indeed * . sin draws hell at the heels of it . psal. 9.7 . the wicked shall be turned into hell. not to speak of the punishment of loss , which divines think is the worst part of hell : ( i. e. ) the being separated from the beatifical sight of god , in whose presence is fulness of joy . the poena sensus , the punishment of sense , is bad enough . then wrath will come upon sinners , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to the uttermost , 1 thes. 2.16 . if when gods anger is kindled but a little , and a spark of it flyes into a mans conscience in this life , it is so terrible , what will it be , when he stirs up all his wrath ? psal. 78.38 . how sad was it with spira when he did but sip of the cup of wrath ? he was a very anatomy , his flesh consumed , he became a terror to himself . what is it then to lye steeping in hell ? some may ask , where the place of hell is ? but as chrysostome saith , let us not be inquisitive where it is , but rather let our care be to escape it . * but to satisfie curiosity , hell is some infernal place , it lies low , prov. 15.24 . hell beneath . * hesiod saith , hell is as far under the earth , as heaven is above it . † if sin then brings a man to hell , it brings him low . consider , 1. the plurality of hell torments . in bodily sickness , seldom above one disease at a time troubles the patient ; the stone , or gout ; but in hell there is a diversity of torments . there is , 1. darkness , jude 13. hell is a dark region . * 2. there are bonds and chains . 2 pet. 2.4 . god hath golden cords which are his precepts , tying men to duty ; and iron chains , which are partly his decree , in ordaining men to destruction , and partly his power , in bridling and chaining them up under wrath . the binding the wicked in chains , notes that the damned in hell cannot move from place to place , which might perhaps a little alleviate and abate their misery , but they shall be tyed to the stake never to stir . the wicked could go from one sin to another , but in hell they shall not move from one place to another . 3. the worm that never dyes . mar. 9.44 . this is a self-accusing mind , which is so torturing , as if a worm full of poison , were gnawing at a mans heart . such as would not hear the voice of conscience , shall be made to feel the worm of conscience . 2. the severity of hell torment . it is expressed by a lake of fire , rev. 20.15 . fire is the most torturing element . nebuchadnezzars fiery fornace , was but painted fire to this . it is called fire prepared , matth. 25.41 . as if god had been sitting down to devise some exquisite torment . dives cryes out , o i am tormented in this flame , luke 16.24 . 3. the torments of hell shall be in every part both of body and soul. 1. the body shall be tormented . that body which was so tender and delicate , that it could not bear heat or cold , shall suffer in every part . the eyes shall be tormented with sights of devils , * the ears with the hideous shrieks of the damned ; the tongue that was fired with passion , shall now have fire enough , luke 16.24 . send lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water , and cool my tongue . 2. all the powers of the soul shall be tormented . the mind to apprehend divine displeasure ; the memory to remember what mercies have been abused , what means of grace have been slighted , and what an heaven is forfeited ; the conscience shall be tormented with self-accusations ; the sinner shall arraign himself for stifling , and resisting the motions of the blessed spirit . 4. the wicked shall not only be forced to behold the devil , but shall be shut up in the den with this roaring lion , and he shall spit fire in their faces . 5. the wicked shall hear the language of hell , revel . 16.9 . men were scorched with heat , and blasphemed the name of god. to hear reprobates cursing god , and have ones ears chained to their oaths and blasphemies , what an hell will this be ? 6. the torments of hell have no period put to them . origen fancied a fiery stream , in which the souls of sinful men , yea , devils and all , were to be purged , and then pass into heaven : but the scripture asserts , that whosoever are not purged from sin by christs blood , * are to lye under the torrid zone of gods wrath to all eternity , revel . 14.11 . the smoak of their torment , ascendeth up for ever and ever . this word ever burns hotter than the fire . at death all our worldly sorrows dye ; but the torments of hell are as long-liv'd as eternity , rev. 9.6 . they shall seek death , and shall not find it . alwayes dying , but never dead . * here the wicked thought a prayer long , a sabbath long , amos 8.5 . but how long will it be to lye in hell for ever . — vestigia nulla retrorsum — 7. the pains of hell are without intermission . if a man be in pain , yet while he is asleep , he doth not feel it . there is no sleep in hell. what would the damned give for one hours sleep , rev. 4.8 . they rest not day nor night . in outward pain there is some abatement ; the burning fit is sometimes off , and the sick patient is more at ease than he was . but the damned soul never saith , i have more ease ; those infernal pains are alwayes acute and sharp ; no cooling fits in those inflammations . 8. in hell the wicked shall see the godly advanced to a kingdom , and themselves devoted to misery , luke 13.28 . then shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth , when ye shall see abraham , and isaac , and jacob , and all the prophets in the kingdom of god , and you your selves thrust out . when sinners shall see those whom they hated and scorned , to be set at christs right hand , and crowned with glory , and themselves cast out to the devils ; nay , when the ungodly shall see those whom they censured and persecuted sit as their judges , and join with christ in condemning them , * 1 cor. 6.2 . know ye not , that the saints shall judge the world ? how will this aggravate the misery of those hellish caitiffs , and make them gnash their teeth for envy . 9. in hell the wicked shall have none to sympathize with them . it is some comfort to have friends condole with us in our sufferings , but the damned have none to compassionate them . mercy will not pity them , mercy abused turns to fury . god the father will not pity them , he will laugh at them prov. 1.26 . i will laugh at your calamity . is not this sad , for a damned soul to lye roaring in flames , and have god sit and laugh at him ? jesus christ will not pity the wicked , they slighted his blood , and now his blood cryes against them . the angels will not pity them ; it is a desirable sight to them , to see gods justice glorified . * the saints in heaven will not pity them ; they were continually persecuted by them , and they shall rejoyce when they see the vengeance , psalm 58.10 . nay , such as were their nearest relations on earth will not pity them ; the father will not pity his child in hell , nor the wife her husband ; the reason is , because the saints glorified have their wills made perfectly subject to gods will , and when they see his will is done , they rejoyce , though it be in the damning of their near relations . doth not sin then bring men low , when it brings them to hell ? ezek. 32.27 . they are gone down to hell , they have laid their swords under their heads , but their iniquity shall be upon their bones . thus i have shown you how many wayes sin brings one low . 2. why sin must needs bring a man low . 1. because sin is a disease , and that brings low . take the healthiest constitution , the most sanguine complexion , yet if sickness get into it , it brings the body low , the beauty withers , * the silver cord begins to be loosed . so it is in spirituals , the soul which was once of an orient brightness , the mind angelified , the will crowned with liberty , the affections as so many seraphims burning in love to god , yet by sin is become diseased , * and this disease brings it low . the soul is fallen from its pristine dignity , it hath lost its noble and sublimated operations , and lyes exposed ( without grace ) to the second death . 2. sin must needs bring a man low , because the sinner enters a contest with god. — invadunt martem clypeis , pugnamque lacessunt — he tramples upon gods law , crosseth his will ; if god be of one mind , the sinner will be of another ; * he doth all he can to spight god , jer. 44.16 . as for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the lord , we will not hearken to thee , but we will do whatsoever thing proceedeth out of our own mouth , to burn incense to the queen of heaven * . the same hebrew word for sin , signifies rebellion * . now can the lord endure to be thus sawcily confronted by proud dust ? god will never let his own creature rise up in arms against him , he will pull down the sinners plumes , and bring him low . * psal. 18.26 . with the froward , thou wilt shew thy self froward ; in the hebrew it is , thou wilt wrestle ; and if god once wrestle with the sinner , he will throw him to the ground . when the angel wrestled with iacob , he touched only the hollow of his thigh , gen. 32.25 . but when god wrestles with a sinner , he will rent the caul of his heart , * hos. 13.8 . the apostle saith , it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god , heb. 10.31 . 't is good to fall into gods hands when he is a friend , but it is ill falling into his hands when he is an enemy . 3. sin must needs bring a man low , because the sinner labours what he can to bring god low . 't is true , god cannot lose any of his essential glory , he is so high that no strength of mortals can reach him , but a wicked man doth what in him lies to bring god low . he hath low thoughts of god ; he slights his soveraignty , questions his truth , looks upon all gods promises as a forged deed . the sinner therefore is said to despise god , numb . 11.20 . again , the sinner lessens god , and brings him low in the thoughts of others . ezek. 8.12 . they say , the lord seeth us not , the lord hath forsaken the earth . do but secure your selves from mans eye , and as for gods taking notice of sin , you need not trouble your selves , the lord seeth you not , * he hath forsaken the earth . zeph. 1.12 . they say the lord will not do good , neither will he do evil . if you serve him you must not look for reward , and if you do not serve him , you need not fear punishment . mal. 2.17 . ye say , every one that doth evil , is good in the sight of the lord , and he delighteth in them : or where is the god of judgement ? here they blemish gods sanctity ; god is not so holy , but he bears as much favour to the wicked , as to the good ; and , where is the god of judgement ? here they tax his justice ; as if they had said , god doth not order things right , he doth not weigh matters impartially in an equal ballance ; where is the god of judgement ? thus a sinner eclipseth the glory of the godhead , and labours to bring god low in the thoughts of others . and besides , he doth what in him lies to extirpate a deity ; he wisheth there were no god ; he saith , * cause the holy one of israel to cease , isa. 30.11 . a wicked man would not only unthrone god , but unbee god ; if he could help it , god should be no longer god. now if a sinner be thus impious , as to endeavour to bring god low , no wonder if god brings him low . nahum . 1.19 . i will make thy grave , for thou art vile . i will bring thee ( o sennacherib ) from the throne to the tomb . i will kick thee into thy grave , obad. ver . 4. though thou set thy nest among the stars , thence will i bring thee down saith the lord. 4. sin must needs bring a person low , because sin is the only thing god hath an antipathy against . the lord doth not hate a man , because he is poor , or despised ; you do not hate your friend , because he is sick ; but that which draws forth the keenness of gods hatred , is sin , jer. 44.4 . do not this abominable thing that i hate . now for any one to espouse that which gods soul hates , it must needs undo him at last . is that subject like to thrive , whom his prince hates ? the cherishing countenancing of sin , makes the fury come up in gods face , ezek. 38.16 . and if his wrath be once kindled , it burns to the lowest hell. the psalmist saith , who can stand before his cold ? psal. 147.17 . but rather , who can stand before his heat ? isa. 33.14 . 5. sin must needs bring the sinner low , because it exposeth him to gods curse , and gods curse blasts where ever it comes , deut. 28.15 , 16. if thou wilt not harken to the voice of the lord , all these curses shall come upon thee . cursed shalt thou be in the city , and cursed shalt thou be in the field , cursed shall be thy basket and thy store . the curse of god haunts the sinner where ever he goes ; if he be in the city , it spoils his trade , if he be in the countrey , it destroyes his crop ; gods curse drops poison into every thing . it is a moth in the wardrobe , murrain among the cattel , rot among the sheep . if the flying roul of curses enters into a mans house , it consumes the timber and walls of it , zach. 5.4 . * when christ cursed the fig-tree , it presently withered , mat. 21.19 . mens curses are insignificant , they shoot without bullets , but numb . 22.6 . he whom thou cursest , is cursed . gods curse kills , psal. 37.22 . they that are cursed of him , shall be cut off . if all gods curses are levelled against the sinner , then he must needs be brought low . use 1. informat . 1. branch : see then from hence , that gods punishing either a person or a nation is not without a cause . a father may chastise his son out of an humour , when there is no cause , but god doth never punish without a just cause . he doth it not purely to shew his soveraignty , or because he takes pleasure to bring his creature low , lam. 3.33 . he doth not willingly afflict ; or as it is in the hebrew , from the heart , * but there is some impellent cause , they were brought low for their iniquity . cyprian writes thus , concerning the persecution of the church under the emperour valerian , we must confess that this sad calamity , which hath in a great part wasted our churches , hath risen from our own intestine wickedness , whilst we are full of avarice , ambition , emulation , &c. * jer. 4.17 . as keepers of a field , are they against her round about . like as horses or deer in a field , are so enclosed with hedges , and so narrowly watched , that they cannot get out . so ierusalem was so besieged with enemies , and watched , that there was no escape for her , without danger of life . verse 18. thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee , this is thy wickedness . as we use to say to children when they are sick , this is your green fruit ye have eat , or your going in the snow : so saith god , this is thy wickedness . jer. 30.15 . why cryest thou for thy affliction , because thy sins were encreased , i have done these things unto thee . the sword that wounds thee , is of thy own whetting ; the cords that pinch thee are of thy own twisting ; thank thy sin for all . 1 cor. 11.30 . for this cause many are sick , and weak , and many fall asleep . the church of corinth was punished with corporal death , because of coming unworthily to the lords table , and prophaning the body and blood of the lord. * the abuse of holy things incenseth god. nadab and abihu found the flames of wrath hot about the altar . * so that still there is a propter hoc , a cause why god brings any person low . there is no reason why god should love us , but there is a great deal of reason why god should punish us . they were brought low for their iniquity . 2. see from hence , what a mischievous thing sin is , it brings a person , and a nation low . * hos. 14.1 . thou hast fallen by thy iniquity . sin laies men low in the grave , and in hell too without repentance ▪ sin is the achan that troubles . † it is the gall in our cup , and the gravell in our bread. * sin and punishment are linked together with adamantine chains . sin is the phaeton that sets the world on fire . it is a coal that not only blacks but burns . sin runs men into the briars , job 30.7 . among the bushes they brayed . sin conjures up all the winds ; * all the crosses which befall us , all the storms in conscience , sin raiseth them . never let any one think to rise by sin , for the text saith , it brings him low . sin first tempts and then damns . 't is first a fox , and then a lyon. sin doth to a man , as iael to sisera , she gave him milk , but then she brought him low , judg. 5.26 , 27. she put her hand to the nail , and with the hammer she smote sisera , she smote off his head , when she had pierced and stricken through his temples , at her feet he bowed , &c. sin first brings its pleasures with delight , and charms the senses , and then comes with its nail and hammer . sin doth to the sinner , as absalom to amnon , when his heart was merry with wine , then he killed him , 2 sam. 13.28 . sins last act is alwayes tragical . how evil a thing is sin , that not only brings a people low , but it makes god delight in bringing them low , ezek. 5.13 . i will cause my fury to rest upon them , and i will be comforted . god doth not use to take delight in punishing , judg. 10.16 . his soul was grieved for the misery of israel . like a father that with tears chastiseth his child ; but god was so provoked with the iews , that it seemed a delight to him to afflict ; i will cause my fury to rest upon them , and i will be comforted . * o what a venemous accursed thing is sin , that makes a merciful god take comfort in the destruction of his own creature . 3. see then what little cause any have to wonder that they are brought low . as the apostle saith , 1 pet. 4.12 . think it not strange * concerning the fiery tryal . so , think it not strange , if you be as full of eclipses and changes as the moon . * wonder not , if you are under the black rod. a sick man may as well wonder that he is in pain , as a sinful man wonder that he is afflicted ; do not vapours cause thunder ? is it a wonder after the hellish vapours of our sins have been sent up , to hear gods thundring voice ? sin is a debt , it is set out in scripture by a debt of ten thousand talents , mat. 18.24 . is it a wonder for a man that is in debt , to be arrested ? never wonder god doth arrest thee with his judgements , when thou art so deeply in arrears . sin is a walking antipodes to god , and if men walk contrary to god , is it a wonder god walks contrary to them ? levit. 26.17 . if ye will walk contrary to me , then i will also walk contrary to you , and i even i will chastise you seven times more for your sins . o sinner , do not wonder it is so bad with thee , but rather wonder it is no worse . art thou in the deep of affliction , it is a wonder thou art not in the deep of hell. if jesus christ was brought low , is it a wonder that thou art brought low ? christ was brought low * in poverty . the manger was his cradle , the cobwebs were his curtains . he was brought low in temptation , mat. 4.1 . he was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil . no sooner was christ out of the water of baptism , but he was in the fire of temptation . only his godhead was too strong a bulwark for satans fiery darts to enter . he was brought low in his agonies ; he swet blood in the garden , he shed blood on the cross. if christ was brought low who knew no sin , dost thou wonder thou art brought low , who art so full of sin ? lam. 3.39 . why doth a living man complain , a man for the punishment of his sin ? what a sinner , and wonder or murmur that thou art afflicted ? sin doth as naturally draw punishment to it , as the loadstone draws the iron . 4. see the text fulfilled this day in our eyes ; sin hath brought our nation low . we are cadent , if not morient ; we do not want for sin ; there is a spirit of wickedness in the land. ours are mighty sins , amos 5.12 . bloody sins , hos. 4.2 . the sins of denmark , spain , france , italy , are translated into english ; we have many sodoms among us , and may fear to have the line of confusion stretched over us . by our impieties and blasphemies , we have sounded a trumpet of rebellion against heaven . were our sins engraven upon our fore-heads , we should be ashamed to look up . men invent new sins , rom. 1.30 . inventers of evil things . * some invent new errors , others invent new snares : this age exceeds former ages in sinning . as it is with trades , there may be old trades , but there are some tradesmen now , who are grown more dexterous and cunning in their trade , than they were in former times : so it is with sin , sin is an old trade , but there are persons now alive , who are more skil'd in the trade , and are grown more expert in sin , than those who are dead and gone . sinners in former times , were but bunglers at sin , to what they are now . they are cunning at self-damnation , jer. 4.22 . wise to do evil . the devils mint is going every day , and sin is minted faster than money . people sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ with greediness , ephes. 4.19 . they drink iniquity like water , job 15.16 . they are grown rampant in wickedness , having laid aside the vail of modesty , zeph. 3.5 . the unjust knows no shame . we read nebuchadnezzar had the heart of a beast given him , dan. 4.16 . if all who have the hearts of beasts , should have the faces of beasts , men would grow very scarce . and if sin be so high , well may it bring us low . while the body is in an hectick feavor , it cannot thrive . the body politick being in this paroxysme or burning feavor of sin , must needs waste . hath not sin brought us low ? what wars , pestilences , fires have broken forth among us ? the splendour and magnificence of the city was brought low , and laid in the ashes . sin hath brought us low in our repute , prov. 14.34 . sin is a reproach to any people . time was when god made the sheaves of other nations do obeysance to our sheaf . * but our pristine fame and renown is eclipsed , mal. 2.2 . i have made you base and contemptible . trading is brought low ; many mens estates are boiled to nothing ; their gourd is withered , their cruse of oyle fails , ruth 1.21 . i went out full , but the lord hath brought me home empty . sin hath brought other nations low , and do we think to scape better than they ? salvian observes , that in affrica , when the church of god had degenerated from its purity , the land abounded in vice , and was sick of a pleurisie of sin , then the vandals entered affrica , and the enemies sword let them blood . num. 32.23 . be sure your sin will find you out : as a blood-hound it will pursue you . it may be enquired , what are those sins , that have brought this city , and nation so low ? 1. the first sin that hath brought us low , is pride , prov. 29.23 . a mans pride shall bring him low . pride is ex traduce , it runs in a blood . our first parents aspired after a deity ; they did not content themselves to know god , but they would be knowing as god. st. austin calls pride , the mother of all sin . the persian kings would have their image worshipped of all that came into babylon . * sapor , writes himself brother to the sun and moon , and partner with the stars . caligula the emperour commanded himself to be adored as a god ; he caused a temple to be erected for him , he used to have the most costly fowls sacrificed to him : sometimes he would sit with a golden beard , and a thunderbolt in his hand like iupiter ; and sometimes with a trident like neptune . some persons would be more deserving , if ( as solon saith ) we could pluck the worm of pride out of their head . pride discolours our vertues , envenomes our mercies . the higher we lift up our selves in pride , the lower god casts us down . prov. 15.25 . the lord will destroy the house of the proud . there is , 1. a spiritual pride ; which is threefold . 1. some take a pride in their parts . the lord enricheth them with wit and parts suitable to the places he calls them too , and pride fumes from their heart into their head , and makes them giddy . herod was proud of the oration he made , and assumed that glory to himself , which he should have given to god , * and his pride brought him low ; he was eaten of worms , acts 12.23 . 2. some take a pride in their duties . this worm breeds in sweet fruit . * they have said so many prayers , heard so many sermons ; luke 18.12 . i fast twice a week , * and now they think they have made god amends , he is beholding to them , and they shall be accepted for their religious performances . what is this but pride ? is not this to make a christ of our duties ? the devil destroys some by making them neglect duty , and others by making them idolize duty . better is that infirmity which humbles me , than that duty which makes me proud . 3. some take a pride in their graces . this seems strange , that seeing grace is given to humble , any should be proud of his grace . but pride is not from the grace in us , but the corruption ; not from the strength of holiness , but the weakness . christians may be said to be proud of their grace , 1. when they lay too much stress upon their grace ; thus peter , mat. 26.33 . though all men shall be offended because of thee , yet will not i. here was a double pride . first , that he thought he had more grace , than the rest of the apostles . secondly , in that he did lay such weight upon his grace , making it like the tower of david , on which did hang the shield of his hope . * he leaned more upon his grace , than upon christ. 2. men are proud of their grace , when they slight others which they think are inferiour to them in grace . instead of the strong bearing the infirmities of the weak , rom. 15.1 . they are ready to despise the weak . our saviour saw this pride breeding in his own disciples , therefore cautions them against it , mat. 18.10 . take heed , that ye despise not one of these little ones . 2. there is a carnal pride . i call it carnal , because it is conversant about carnal objects . as , 1. some are proud of their bodies . pride is seen in long and tedious dressings : people spend that time between the comb and the glass , which should be spent in prayer and holy meditation . pride is seen in painting of their faces , overlaying gods work , with the devils colours * * . — gratior est pulchro veniens è corpore virtus — pride is seen in spotting themselves . pimples in the face , shew that the blood is corrupt ; spots in the face , shew that the heart is corrupt . cyprian saith , they who paint and spot their faces may justly fear that at the resurrection their creator will not know them . * and how terrible is that word , i know you not . pride is seen in the strange antick fashions wherewith some people do dress , or rather disguise themselves . * they cloath their flesh like the rain-bow with divers colours . adam was ashamed of his nakedness , these may be ashamed of their cloathing . they are so plumed and gawdily attired that they tempt the devil to fall in love with them . 2. some are proud of their estates . riches are fuel for pride * ezek. 28.5 . thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches . mens hearts rise with their estates , as the boats on the thames rise higher with the tyde . now all this pride will bring a person low . for this sin god strikes many with phrensie , and so levels the mountain of pride . god hath stained the pride of englands glory , isa. 23.9 . he hath stript us of our jewels , prov. 16.8 . pride goes before destruction . where pride leads the van , destruction brings up the rear . — tolluntur in altum , ut lapsu graviore ruant — 2. another sin which hath brought us low , is sabbath-prophanation . the sabbath is given as a distinctive sign between the people of god , and the prophane . exod. 31.17 . and among the primitive saints , when the question was asked , hast thou kept the lords day ? * the answer was , i am a christian , and dare not omit the celebration of this day . the lord hath commanded the observation of the sabbath under a sub poenâ . he hath enclosed this day for himself : he hath set an hedge about it . remember to keep holy the sabbath day . but how is this enclosure made common ? this blessed day which is made purposely for communion with god , is become a day of perambulation . people frequent the fields or taverns , more than the holy assemblies . o that our head were waters , and our eyes a fountain of tears ! that we might weep , * to see men pollute what god himself hath consecrated . if they are to take physick , it must be on the lords day ; if they are to make feasts or visits , it must be on this day . and so in a prophane sense , they call the sabbath a delight . * sabbath-breaking is sacriledge ; 't is a robbing god of his due . * people take that time which should be dedicated wholly to the lord , and spend it in the service of the devil and their lusts : and hath not this sin brought us low ? god threatens jer. 17.27 . if ye will not hearken to me , to hallow the sabbath day , then will i kindle a fire . i observe , the devouring fire which brake out in london , began on the sabbath day ; as if god would tell us from heaven , he was now punishing us , for our prophaning his day . 3. the third sin which hath brought us low , is neglect of family-worship . * religion in mens families , is brought low . no reading of scripture ; they look oftner upon a pair of cards , than a bible . no praying ; * 't is made the note of a reprobate , he calls not upon god , psalm 14.4 . the atheist will be sure his prayer shall not be turned into sin , for he never prayes at all . * the graecians asked counsel of their feigned gods by their oracles , * the persians by their magi , the galls by their druides , the romans by their augures : shall ethnicks pray , and not christians ? creatures by the instinct of nature cry to god , psal. 147.9 . the young ravens which cry . prayer hath no enemies , unless infernal spirits , and such as are near of kin to them . keyes that are often used are bright , but if they be laid aside and never used , they grow rusty : so it is with mens hearts , if they are not used to family-prayer , they will be rusted over with sin . for this god hath brought us low . why did he pull down many houses in this city , but because they were unhallowed houses , there was no prayer in them . how do we think to have a blessing from god , if we never ask it ? then god should do more for us , than he did for his own son. heb. 5.7 . in the dayes of his flesh , he offered up prayers , with strong cryes and tears . 4. another sin which hath brought us low , is covenant-violation . psal. 78.10 . they kept not the covenant of god. ver. 50. he made a way to his anger , he spared not their souls from death . the carthaginians were noted for covenant-breaking . * o that this sin had dyed with them . doth not this poisonful weed grow in our soil ? did not we make a vow in baptism , to fight under christs banner , against world , flesh and devil ? did not we solemnly covenant to be the lords people , to shine in sanctity , going each one before another in an exemplary reformation ? deut. 5.28 , 29. they have well said , in all that they have spoken , o that there were such an heart in them , that they would fear me and keep my commandments ! we have much conforming , but where is reforming ? is not jesus christ opposed in his kingly office ? this is the great controversie , who shall reign , sin or christ ? for this god hath been as a moth to us , and we may fear lest he make good that commination , levit. 26.25 . i will bring a sword that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant . 5. another sin which hath brought us low , is the abuse of the gospel . we are sick of israels disease : they despised manna , num. 21.5 . our soul loatheth this light bread . we did nauseate the bread of life . the gospel is the visible token of gods presence , it is the sacred conduit-pipe , that empties the golden oyle of mercy into us , it is the glass in which we see the face of christ , it is the celestial banquet wherewith god doth chear and refocillate the souls of his people . * but was there not a gospel surfeit in england ? people had itching ears , and knew not who to hear , and hath not our curiosity brought us to scarcity ? god had no better way to raise the price of the gospel , than by abating the plenty . * god surely did bring us low , when darkness did overspread our horison , and the lord suffered so many hundred lights to be at one time put under a bushel . the aegyptian priests of old , told the people when any eclipse happened , that the gods were angry , and great miseries would follow . * what sad catastrophies have ensued this spiritual eclipse , is not unknown . 6. another sin which hath brought us low , is covetousness . * when mens spirits are low , and with the serpent they lick the dust , then god layes them in the dust , isa. 57.17 . for the iniquity of his covetousness , i was wroth and smote him . covetousness is the dropsie of the soul ; men are set upon the world , when god is plucking it from them . covetousness is a key that opens the door to further wickedness . — opes irritamenta malorum — 1 tim. 6.10 . the love of money , is the root of all evil . * a covetous man wil stick at no sin . this made absolom attempt to dethrone his father ; this made ahab stone naboth . * and what is one the better for all his wealth at death ? 1 tim. 6.10 . we brought nothing into the world , and it is certain we can carry nothing out . when the rich miser dies , what scrambling is there ? his friends are scrambling for his goods , the worms are scrambling for his body , and the devils are scrambling for his soul. this sin is most uncomely in those that profess better . they pretend to live by faith , and yet are as worldly and griping as others . these are spots in the face of religion , jer. 45.5 . seekest thou great things for thy self ? for this sin god hath brought us low , he hath made our fig-tree to wither , and suffered the palmer-worm to eat our vine . 7. another sin which hath brought us low , is barrenness under the means of grace , hos. 10.1 . israel is an empty vine ; his juice runs out only into leaves . * we have had much pruning and dressing , the silver drops of heaven have fallen upon us , but we have not brought forth the fruits of humility and repentance ; we can discourse of religion , but this is only to bring forth leaves , not fruit : non-proficiency hath laid us low , and we may fear will lay us waste ; god may pull up the hedge , and let in a forraign wild-boar . ursin tells us , that those who fled out of england in queen maries dayes , acknowledged that that calamity befell them for their great unprofitableness under the means of grace in king edwards dayes . what man will sow seed in barren ground ? if the lord layes out his cost , and sees no good return , the next word will be , cut down the tree , why cumbreth it the ground ? 8. another sin that hath brought us low , is the sin of swearing . christ saith , swear not at all , mat. 5.34 . and a godly man is said to fear an oath , eccles. 9.2 . truly it is a matter of tears , we can hardly go in the streets , but our ears are crucified with hearing of oaths and cursings . * chrysostom spent most of his sermons at antioch against swearers ; we need many chrysostoms now adayes , to preach against this sin . this may well be called the unfruitful work of darkness , * for it is a sin hath neither pleasure nor profit in it . how do men shoot their oaths , as chain-bullets against heaven ? i knew a great swearer ( saith reverend mr. bolton ) whose heart satan so filled , that on his death-bed , he swore as fast as he could , and desired the standers by to help him with oaths , and to swear for him . will the lord reckon with men for idle words , what will he do for sinful oaths ? for every oath a man swears , god puts a drop of wrath in his viall . nay , usually gods judgements overtake the swearer in this life . i have read of a german boy who was given to swearing , * and did use to invent new oaths , the lord sent a canker into his mouth which did eat out his tongue . * but saith one , it is my custom to swear , and i cannot leave it . is this a good plea ? as if a thief should plead to a judge not to condemn him , because it is his custome to rob and steal ; therefore will the judge say , thou shalt the rather dye . this sin hath brought us low , jer. 23.10 . for because of swearing the land mourneth . 9. another sin which hath brought us low , and is like to bring us yet lower , is uncleanness . the adulterers heart is a mount aetna burning with lust . adultery is the shipwrack of chastity , the murder of conscience . it was said of rome of old , it was become a stews , — urbs est jam tota lupanar — i wish it might not be verified of many parts of this land. adultery is a brutish sin , jer. 5.8 . they neighed every one after his neighbours wife . * it is a branded sin ; it doth not only stigmatize mens names , prov. 6.33 . but god makes them carry the marks of this sin in their bodies : it is a costly sin ; it proves a purgatory to the purse , prov. 6.26 . by means of a whorish woman , a man is brought to a piece of bread . there is no coming to an harlot , but as iupiter did to danae in a golden shower . it is a confounding sin . — laeta venire venus , tristis abire solet — the adulterer hastens his own death . * the romans were wont to have their funerals at the gate of venus temple : to signifie that lust ends in death . the adulterer takes a short cut to hell. prov. 26.23.27 . till a dart strike through his liver . * creatures void of reason , will rise up in judgement against such . the turtle-dove is an hieroglyphick of chastity . the stork comes into no nest but his own , and if any stork leaves his mate , and joyns with another , all the rest fall upon him , and pluck his feathers from him . god will chiefly * punish such as walk in the lust of uncleanness . 2 pet. 2.10 . this sin hath brought us low . the fire of lust hath kindled the fire of gods anger . 10. another sin which hath brought us low , is our unbrotherly animosities , mat. 12.25 . a kingdom divided against it self cannot stand . * the turks pray that the christians may be kept at variance ; we have in a great measure fulfilled the turks prayer . — rara est concordia fratrum — what seeds of dissention are sown among us , how are we crumbled into parties ! one is for paul , and another for apollo , but i fear few for christ. our divisions have given much advantage to the popish adversary . when there is a breach made in the wall of a castle , there the enemy enters . if the popish enemy enter , it will be at our breaches . these divisions have cut the lock where our strength lay . * cut off the top of the beech-tree , and the whole body of the tree withers . divisions have taken away unity and amity , here is the top of the beech-tree cut off , and this hath made us to wither apace . * these are the sins which have brought us low , and if the lord prevent not ; are like to bring englands gray hairs with sorrow to the grave . 5. hence i infer , if sin brings a person low , then what madness is it for any one to be in love with sin ? 2 thess. 2.12 . who take pleasure in iniquity . the devil can so cook and dress sin , that it pleaseth the sinners pallat . * but hear what iob saith , job 20.12.14 . though wickedness be sweet in his mouth , it is the gall of asps within him . * herodotus writeth of the river hypanis , that near to the fountain , the water is sweet , but a few leagues off it is exceeding bitter . sin will bring one low , who would love such an enemy ? the forbidden fruit is sawced with bitter hearbs . sin is a serpent by the way that biteth . gen. 49.17 . when you are about to commit sin , say to your soul , as boaz said to his kinsman , ruth . 4.4 . what day thou buyest the field , thou must have ruth with it . so if thou wilt have the sweet of sin , thou must have the curse with it , * it will bring thee low . to love sin , is to love a disease . a sinner is perfectly distracted . solomon speaks of a generation of men , madness is in their heart while they live , eccles. 9.3 . 't is true of those who love sin , sin puts a worm into conscience , a thorn into death , yet that men should love sin , madness is in their heart . there is no creature doth willingly destroy it self but man. sin is a silken halter , yet he loves it . o remember that saying of st. austin , the pleasure of sin is soon gone , but the sting remains . * 6. see what little cause we have to envy sinners , prov. 3.31 . envy thou not the oppressor . men are high in worldly grandeur , god hath given them large estates , and they sin with their estates , but though they build among the stars , god will bring them down , ezek. 28.18 . i will bring thee to ashes . who would envy men ▪ their greatness , their sins will bring them low . deut. 32.35 . their foot shall slide in due time . there is a story of a roman , who was by a court-marshal condemned to dye , for breaking his rank to steal a bunch of grapes ; and as he was going to execution , some of the souldiers envied him that he had grapes , and they had none ; saith he , do ye envy me my grapes ? i must pay dear for them . so the wicked must pay dear for what they have . the prosperity of the wicked , is a great temptation to the godly ; david stumbled at it , and had like to have fallen , psal. 73.2 . my steps had well nigh slip'd , for i was envious at the foolish , &c. we are ready to murmur when we see our selves low , and envy when we see the wicked high . * sinners live in a serene climate , under a perpetual calm , psal. 73.5 . they are not in trouble as other men , their eyes stand out with fatness . * it is said of polycrates king of aegypt , that he never met with any cross in his life . and alexander hearing that parmenio his general had won the victory , and his young son alexander was born the same day , prayed the gods to spice his joy with some bitterness , lest he should surfeit of too much joy . but this prosperous state of the wicked is matter rather of pity , than envy , their sins will bring them low , isa. 14.12 . how art thou fallen from heaven o lucifer , son of the morning . * 't is spoken of the chaldean monarch , who though high had a sudden change befell him , isa. 97.1 . come down and sit in the dust . babylon was the lady of kingdoms , but saith god , sit in the dust . go in pistrinum into the mill-house , ver. 2. take the mill-stones and grind . so will god say to the wicked , come down from all your pomp and glory , sit in the dust , nay , sit among the damned , and there grind at mill. the lord will proportion torment , to all the pleasure the wicked have had , revel . 18.7 . how much she hath lived deliciously , so much torment and sorrow give her . 7. see the great difference between sin and grace , sin brings a man low , but grace lifts him high . sin tumbles him in the ditch , but grace sets him upon the throne , psal. 91.14 . i will set him on high , because he hath known my name . grace raiseth a person four wayes . 1. grace raiseth his projects , his designs are high . he looks not at things which are seen , 2 cor. 4.18 . his eye is above the stars , * he aims at the enjoying of god. a clownish rustick when he goes to the court , is much taken with the gay pictures and hangings , but a privy counsellor passeth by those things as scarce worthy of his notice , his business is with the king. so a carnal mind , is much taken with the things of the world , but a saint passeth by these gay things with an holy contempt , his business is with god , 1 john 1.3 . our communion is with the father and his son iesus . a christian of the right breed doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , aspire after the things within the veyl , his ambition is the favour of god , he looks no lower than a crown ; he is in the altitudes , and trades among the angels . 2. grace raiseth a mans repute . it embalms his name . 1 sam. 18.30 . davids name was much set by ; or as the original carries it , it was precious . * heb. 11.2 . by faith the elders obtained a good report . how renowned were the godly patriarks for their sanctity ! moses for his self-denyal , iob for his patience , phineas for his zeal . what a fresh perfume do their names send forth to this day . a good name is a saints heir , it lives when he is dead . 3. grace raiseth a mans worth , prov. 12.26 . the * righteous is more excellent than his neighbour . as the flower of the roses in spring , as the fat of the peace-offering , as the precious stones upon aarons breast-plate , so is a saint in gods eye . besides the shining lustre of the gold , it hath an internal worth , and is of great price and value : so grace doth not only make a mans name shine , but it puts a real worth into him , he is more excellent than his neighbour . an heart full of love to god is precious . it is gods hephzibah , or delight , * it is the apple of his eye , it is his jewell , it is his garden of spices , it is his lesser heaven where he dwells , isa. 57.17 . i dwell with him that is of an humble spirit . 4. grace raiseth a mans priviledge ; it advanceth him into the heavenly kindred . by it he is born of god , 1 john 3.1 . he is a prince in all lands , psal. 45.16 . ( though in this world like a prince in disguise ) . he is higher than the kings of the earth , psal. 89.27 . allyed to angels . in short , grace lifts a man up where christ is , far above all heavens . * and grace raiseth a nation as well as a person , prov. 14.34 . righteousness exalteth a nation . 8. if sin brings one low , see what an imprudent choice they make , who commit sin to avoid trouble . job 36.21 . take heed , regard not iniquity , for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction . this was a false charge against iob , but many may be indighted of such folly ; they choose iniquity , rather than affliction . to avoid poverty , they will lye and couzen , to avoid a prison , they will comply against their conscience . what imprudence is this , when sin draws such dark shadows after it , and entails misery upon all its heirs and successors . by committing sin , to avoid trouble , we meet with greater trouble . origen to save himself from suffering , sprinkled incense before the idol , and being after to preach , as he opened his bible , he did accidentally light on that text , psal. 50.16 . but to the wicked god saith , what hast thou to do to declare my statutes , or that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth ; at the sight of which scripture , he fell into a passion of weeping , and was so stricken with grief and consternation , that he was not able to speak a word to the people , but came down the pulpit . spira sinned against his conscience to save his life and estate , he chose iniquity rather than affliction ; but what an hell did he feel in his conscience , he professed he envyed cain , and iudas , as thinking their condition more eligible . his sin did bring him low . o what unparallel'd folly is it to choose sin rather than affliction . * affliction is like a rent in the coat , sin is like a rent in the flesh . he that to save himself from trouble , commits sin , is like one , that to save his mantle , lets his flesh be torn . affliction hath a promise made to it , 2 sam. 22.28 . but there is no promise made to sin . * sure then they do ill consult for themselves , who choose rather sin than suffering ; who to avoid a lesser evil , choose a greater ; to avoid the stinging of a gnat , run into the paw of a lion. 9. if god brings his own people low for sin ( israel were brought low ) then how low will he bring the wicked ? david was in the deep waters , and ionah went down to the bottom of the mountains , cap. 2.6 . and ieremy was in the deep dungeon , then what a gulf of misery shall swallow up the reprobate part of the world ? gods people do not allow themselves in sin , rom. 7.15 . they tremble at it , they hate it , yet they suffer ; if they that blush at their failings are brought low , what will become of them that boast of their scandals ? if this be done to the green tree , what shall be done to the dry ? if the godly lye among the pots , psal. 68.13 . the wicked shall lye among the devils . if judgement begin at the house of god , what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel ? 1 pet. 4.17 . if god mingles his peoples cup with wormwood , he will mingle the sinners cup with fire and brimstone , psalm 11.6 . if god thresh the wheat , he will burn the chaff . if the lord afflicts them whom he loves , how severe will he be against them whom he hates ? they shall feel the second death , rev. 21.8 . * use 2. exhortation , 1. branch . 1. if sin brings a person low , then let us fear to come near sin ; it will bring us either into affliction or worse . it s foul face may offend , but its breath kills . sin is the apollyon , the man-devourer . o that we were as wise for our souls , as we are for our bodies ! how afraid are we of that meat which we know will bring the gowt or stone , or will make our ague return . sin is aguish meat which will put conscience into a shaking fit , and shall we not be afraid to touch this forbidden fruit ? gen. 39.9 . how can i do this great wickedness , and sin against god ? when the empress eudoxia threatned to banish chrysostom , tell her ( saith he ) i fear nothing but sin . it was a saying of anselm , if hell were on one side , and sin were on the other , i would rather leap into hell , than willingly commit sin . * love will be apt to grow wanton , if it be not poised with holy fear . no better curb or antidote against sin , than fear , deut. 17.13 . they shall fear , and do no more presumptuously . if we could see hell fire in every sin , it would make us fear to commit it . the fiercest creatures dread fire . when moses his rod was turned into a serpent , he was afraid and fled from it : sin will prove a stinging serpent , o fly from it . most people are like the leviathan , made without fear , job 41.33 . they play upon the hole of the asp. sinners never fear till they feel . nothing will convince them , but fire and brimstone . 2. if sin brings a person low , then when we are brought low under gods afflicting hand , let us behave our selves wisely ▪ and as becomes christians . i shall shew , 1. what we must not do when we are brought low . when our condition is low , let not our passions be high ; impatience is not the way to get out of trouble , but rather to go lower into trouble . what gets the child by strugling , but more blows ? * oh do not lispe out a murmuring word against god. murmuring is the skum which boils off from a discontented heart , psalm 39.9 . i was dumb , and opened not my mouth , because thou lord didst it . * davids ear was open to hear the voice of the rod , but his mouth was not open in complaining . christian , who shouldst thou complain of , but thy self ? thy own sin hath brought thee low . 2. what we must do when we are brought low . 1. let us search the sin which is the cause of our trouble , job 10.2 . shew me wherefore thou contendest with me : lord , what is that sin which hath provoked thee to bring me low ? lam. 3.40 . let us search and try our wayes . as the people of israel , when they were worsted in battel , searched the cause , and at last found out the achan that troubled them , and stoned him to death . josh. 7.18 . so let us search out that achan which hath troubled us . perhaps our sin was censoriousness , we have been ready to judge , and slander others ; and now we our selves lye under an evil tongue , and have false reports raised on us : perhaps our sin was pride , and god hath sent poverty as a thorn to humble us . perhaps our sin was remisness in holy duties , we had forgot our first love , and were ready to fall into slumbering fits , * and god hath sent a sharp cross to awaken us out of our security . we may oftentimes read our sin in our punishment . o let us search the achan , and say as iob , chap. 34.32 . if i have done iniquity , i will do so no more . 2. when we are brought low , let us justifie god. god is just , not only when he punisheth the guilty , but when he afflicts the righteous . let us take heed of entertaining hard thoughts of god , as if he had dealt too severely with us , and had put too much wormwood in our cup : no , let us vindicate god , and say as the emperour mauritius , when he saw five of his sons slain before his eyes , by phocas , righteous art thou o lord in all thy wayes . * let us speak well of god. if we have never so much affliction , yet not one drop of injustice , psalm 97.2 . clouds and darkness are round about him , righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his throne . 3. when we are brought low in affliction , let us bring our selves low in humiliation . * 1 pet. 5.6 . humble your selves under the mighty hand of god. when we are in the vally of tears , we must be in the vally of humility . lam. 3.19 . remembring the wormwood and the gall , my soul hath them continually in remembrance , and is humbled in me . if our condition be low , then is a time to have our hearts lye low . 4. when we are brought low in affliction , let us be low upon our knees in prayer . * psalm 130.1 . ex profundis clamavi — out of the depths have i cryed unto thee o lord. psalm 79.8 . let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us , for we are brought very low . iacob never prayed so fervently , as when he was in fear of his life ; he oyled the key of prayer with tears , hos. 12.4 . he wept and made supplication . one reason why god lets us be brought low , is to highten a spirit of prayer . but what should we pray for in affliction ? let us pray that all our hell may be here . as pilate said concerning christ , luke 23.22 . i will chastise him , and let him go . so pray that god when he doth chastise us , will let us go , that he will free us from hell and damnation . let us pray rather for the sanctification of affliction , than the removal ; pray that the rod may be a divine pencil , to draw gods image more lively upon our souls , heb. 12.10 . that affliction may be a fornace to refine , not consume us . pray , that if god do correct us , it may not be in anger , psal. 6.1 . that we may taste the honey of his love at the end of the rod. let it be our prayer , that god will lay no more upon us , than he will enable us to bear . * that if the burden be heavier , our shoulders may be stronger . 5. when we are brought low , let our faith be high . let us believe that god intends us no hurt . that though he casts us into the deep , he will not drown us . believe that still he is a father ; he afflicts us in as much mercy , as he gives christ to us . he doth by his rod of discipline fit us for the inheritance , col. 1.12 . o let this star of faith appear in the dark night of affliction . ionahs faith was never more in heaven , than when he lay in the belly of hell , ionah 2.4 . 6. when we are brought low in affliction , let us labour to be bettered by being brought low . * pick some good out of the cross ; get some hony out of this lion. the wicked are worse for affliction . weeds stamped in a mortar are more unsavoury . 2 chron. 28.22 . in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the lord. this is that king ahaz . but let us labour to be meliorated , and made better by affliction . * christ learned obedience by what he suffered , heb. 5.8 . if we are brought low in affliction and get no good , then the affliction is lost . when are we battered by afflictions ? when our eyes are more opened , * and we are not only chastned , but taught . psal. 94.12 . wormwood is bitter to the taste , but is good to clear the eye-sight ; then our spiritual eye-sight is cleared , 1. when we see more of gods holiness . he is a jealous and sin-hating god ; he will not suffer evil in his own children to go unpunished , if they make light of sin , he will make their chain heavy , lam. 3.2 . 2. when we have a clearer infight into our selves . we see more of our hearts than we did before ; we see that earthliness , impatience , * distrust of god , which we did not discover before . we never thought we had such a flux of corruption , or that there had been so much of the old man in the new man. the fire of affliction makes that skum of sin boyl up , which before lay hid . when our eye-sight is thus cleared , and both the rod and the lamp go together , now we are bettered by affliction . 2. when our hearts are softned . affliction is gods fornace where he melts his gold , jer. 9.7 . i will melt them and try them . when our eyes are more watery , our thoughts more serious , our consciences more tender , when we can say as job , chap. 23.16 . god makes my heart soft . this melting of the heart whereby we are fitted to receive the impression of the holy ghost , is a blessed sign we are bettered by affliction . 3. when our wills are subdued . * mic. 7.9 . i will bear the indignation of the lord , because i have sinned against him . why doth god bring us low , but to tame our curst hearts ? a wicked man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , when he is brought low he quarrels with god : therefore is compared to a wild bull in a net , isa. 51.20 . if you go to rub a piece of stuff which is rotten , it frets and tears : so when god rubs a wicked man by affliction , he frets and tears himself with vexation , isa. 8.21 . they shall fret themselves , and curse their king and their god. but when our spirits are calmed , and we are wrought to a sweet submission to gods will ; we accept of the punishment , levit. 26.41 . and do in patience possess our souls , luke 21.19 . when we say as eli , 1 sam. 3.18 . it is the lord , let him do what seemeth him good . i know this tryal is in mercy ; god will rather afflict me , than lose me , let him hedge me with thorns , if he will plant me with flowers ; * let him do what seemeth him good : now we are bettered by the affliction . 4. when sin is purged out . isa. 27.9 . this is all the fruit to take away iniquity . our hearts are dreggish and sinful , our gold is mixed with dross , our stars with clouds ; now when affliction consumes pride , formality , hypocrisie , when gods launce lets out our spiritual imposthume , then we are bettered by affliction . 5. when our hearts are more unglued from the world ; what are all these under-moon things ! the cares of the world , exceed the comforts . the emblem that king henry the seventh used , was , a crown of gold , hung in a bush of thorns . many who have escaped the rocks of scandalous sins , have been cast away upon the golden sands . the arabick proverb is , the world is a carkass , and they that hunt after it are dogs . * is not love of the world become almost the epidemick disease ? if the lord bestows a plentiful estate upon men , they are apt to make an idol of it . and therefore god is forced to take that out of their hand , which kept him out of their heart . now when the lord comes and afflicts any of us in that which we most love , he hits us in the apple of our eye , and our hearts grow more dead to the world , and sick of love to christ ; when god hath been withering our gourd , and our affections to it begin to wither , when he hath been digging about our root , and we are more loosened from the earth , then we are bettered by affliction ▪ 6. when affliction hath produced more appetite to the word . perhaps in health and prosperity , we and the bible seldom meet , or if we did chance to read , it was in a dull cursory manner , but the lord by imbittering the breast of the creature , hath made us run to the breast of a promise ; and we can say as david , psal. 119.103 . how sweet are thy words unto my taste ; yea , sweeter than honey . * solomon saith truly the light is sweet . eccles. 11.7 . but we can say , truly the word is sweet , we have tasted christ in a promise , the word hath caused an exuberancy of joy , psalm 19.8 . this is the manna we love to feed upon ; every leaf of scripture drops myrrhe , and as a rich cordial cheers our spirit ; when it is thus , now we are bettered by our tryals , psalm 119.50 . 7. when our title to heaven is more confirmed . in prosperity , we are more careless in getting , at least in clearing our spiritual title . people would be loth their evidences for their land , were no better , than their evidences for heaven . many a mans evidence for glory is either forged or blotted ; he is not able to read any discriminating work of gods spirit , he is pendulous , and hangs in a doubtful suspence , not knowing whether he hath grace or no ; now when we are brought low in affliction ▪ and we fall to the work of self-examination , we see how matters stand between god and our souls , * we turn over every lea● of the book of conscience , we make a critical descant upon our hearts and after a thorough survey o● our selves , we can say , we know the grace of god in truth , col. 1. ● ▪ we have received the holy anointing 1 john 2.27 . our grace will bear the touchstone , though not the ballance , certainly then we have made a good proficiency in the time of affliction , and are bettered by it . 8. when we grow more fruitful in grace . a christian should be like the olive-tree , fair and of goodly fruit , jer. 11.16 . there is a tree in the isle of pomonia which hath its fruit folded and wrapped up in the leaves of it . an emblem of a good christian , who hath the fruits of grace wrapped up in the leaves of his profession . now after pruning , what fruits have we brought forth ? the fruits of obedience , love , self-denial , meekness , heavenliness , longing to be with christ ? if the sharp frost of affliction hath brought on the spring flowers of grace , * which the apostle calls , the peaceable fruits of righteousness , heb. 12.11 . then we are bettered by affliction . a fruitful heart is better than a full crop. 9. when we do really commiserate and put on bowels to such as are in a suffering condition . — haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco — jesus christ having suffered is touched with our infirmity , heb. 4.15 . having felt hunger and cold , he knows how to pity us . before we have drunk of the bitter cup , instead of pitying others in misery , we are ready to despise them . psalm 123.4 . our soul is filled with the scorning of them which are at ease . but when we have been under the harrow , and can sympathize with our suffering brethren , and weep with them that weep ; this is a sign we are bettered by the affliction . in musick , when one string is touched , all the rest sound : so our bowels sound as an harp , isa. 16.11 . 10. when we have learned to bless god in affliction . job . 1.21 . the lord hath taken away , blessed be the name of the lord : many can bless god , when he is giving ; iob blesseth him when he takes away . this is excellent , not only to praise god when we are upon the mountain of prosperity , but in the valley of adversity , deut. 8.10 . when thou hast eaten and art full , then thou shalt bless the lord. but it is a greater matter when we are empty and in want , then to bless him , 1 thes. 5.18 . in every thing give thanks . * but what should we bless god for in affliction ? we are to bless god that it is no worse with us . he might have put more gall in our cup , ezra 9.14 . we are to bless god , that he will choose rather to correct us in the world , than to condemn us with the world , 1 cor. 11.32 . that he hath made affliction a means to prevent sin ; that he proportions our strength to our tryals ; that he gives us any support in our trouble , psalm 112.4 . though he doth not break our yoke , yet he lines our yoke with inward peace , and makes it soft and pleasant . we are to bless god that he deals with us as children , setting his seal of affliction on us , and so marking us for his own ; * we are to bless god , that christ hath taken the sting out of the cross ; that there is an hope of better things laid up for us in heaven , col. 1.5 . when we can upon these considerations break forth into an holy gratitude and triumph in affliction , this is to be bettered by affliction , and it shews a spirit of god and glory rests upon us , 1 pet. 4.14 . to bless god in heaven , when he is crowning us with glory , is no wonder ; but to bless god when he is correcting us , to bless him in a prison , to give thanks on a sick-bed ; not only to kiss the rod , but to bless the hand that holds it ; here is the sun in the zenith , this speaks an high degree of grace , indeed , and doth very much adorn our sufferings . if we can find these sweet fruits of the cross , we may assure our selves the affliction is sanctified ; * and we may say as david , psalm 119.71 . it is good for me , that i was afflicted : and then , god will throw away the rod , and make us glad after the dayes of our mourning ▪ * ezek. 16.42 . so will i make my fury towards thee to rest , and my jealousie shall depart from thee , and i will be quiet , and will be no more angry . 3. if sin brings us low , let us labour to bring our sins low . let all our spight be at sin ; let us pursue it with an holy malice . sin hath brought us even to the dust , and would bring us lower into the abysse of hell , let us then shed the blood of sin , which would shed our blood , col. 3.5 . mortifie your members which are upon the earth , * fornication , uncleanness , &c. we are apt to plead for sin , is it not a little one ? who would plead for him that seeks his life ? we are ready to say to the minister concerning sin , as david to joab concerning absalom , 2 sam. 18.5 . deal gently with the young man. so , sir , deal gently with my sins ; oh be not too sharp in your reproofs ; why ? doth not the traytor sin , seek to take away thy crown of glory , as absalom did his fathers crown ? would it not bring thee low ? if therefore thou art wise , spare it not . do with thy sin , as joab with absalom ; he took three darts in his hand , and thrust them through the heart of absalom ; 2 sam. 18.14 . so take these three darts , the word of god , prayer , mortification , and strike through the heart of thy lusts that they dye . as sampson dealt with the philistins , they brought him low , they put out his eyes , and he never left till he was revenged on them , and brought them low , judges 16.30 . he bowed himself with all his might , and the house fell upon the lords , &c. sampson dyed , we live by the death of our enemies . o that every day , some limb of the old man may drop off . * what is the end of all a christians duties , praying and hearing , but to weaken and mortifie lust ? why is this spiritual physick taken , but to kill the child of sin he goes with ? sin will insinuate it self , and plead for a reprieve , but shew it no mercy . sauls sparing agag , lost him the kingdom , and your sparing sin , will lose you the kingdom of heaven . lastly , let this make us weary of living in the world , for while we live we sin , and sin brings us low . we eat the forbidden fruit , and then are sick after it . how should this make us long to have our pass to be gone , and cry , o that we had the wings of a dove , to fly away , and be at rest . then we shall shake off those vipers which leaped upon us , 1 cor. 3.22 . death is yours . at death we shall have an eternal iubilee , and be freed from all incumbrances . sin shall be no more ; death smites a believer , as the angel smote peter on his side , and made his chains fall off , acts 12.7 . so death smites a believer , and makes the chains of his sins fall off . trouble shall be no more ; this lower region is full of storms . troubles and vexations are some of the thorns with which the earth is cursed . but in the grave , a believer hath his quietus est ; there the wicked cease from troubling , there the weary are at rest , job 3.17 . god will shortly wipe away all tears . rev. 7.17 . how should this make the saints desire to be dissolved , phil. 1.23 . * israels being so oft stung with serpents , made them weary of the wilderness , and aspire after canaan . the discurtesies a prince meets with in a strange land , makes him long to be in his own countrey , when the crown-royal shall be set upon his head . when we are with christ , we shall be brought low no more . we shall never be fixed stars , till we are in heaven . o the felicity of glorified saints ; they have a full-eyed vision of god , and those refulgent beams of glory are darted from his blessed face , as delight , yea , ravish their hearts with ineffable joy . * the birds of the fortunate islands , are nourished with perfumes ; after death the saints shall be for ever nourished with the aromaticks and perfumes of their saviours love. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a65303-e140 * homo ad dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conditus , brutis deterior evasit ; lustra sectatur , in sordibus stercoreque volutatur ; quam turpiter inversa in microcosmo nostro lex illa & politia , quâ corpus animae parêre jubetur . mornaeus . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . aecum . * non percussit ismael fratrem gladio , sed scom mate . calvin . * peccatum transit actu , manet reatu . notes for div a65303-e620 * 2 chro. 29.6 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 theodor. * deus saepe dat iratus , quod negat propitius . aug. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * cum deus ipsa bonitas sit ; ipsae devitiae ; quî fit ut nemo deo inniti possit satis ? mornaeus . * invalidum omne naturâ querulum . seneca . † exod. 16.3 . * depressi fuerunt . vatabl. † marcuerunt . fabrit . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * leoni mortuo & lepores insultant . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gen. 3.14 . * in insaniam delapsa est . zac. 11.8 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : nondum sumus absoluti . calv. * eccles. 11.5 . * luke 11.52 . * psalm 107.39 . * h●rat . * herodotus . * nonnulli humore melancholico corrupti , se bruta animalia esse credunt , quorum ●oces imitantur ; nonnulli vasa fictilia , ideo cuivis obviam venienti cedunt , ne attactu frangantur . vitam sibi acerbam faciunt , ejusque exitum accelerant . baldw. lib. 3. c. 4. de cas. consc. * animae functiones tolluntur in mania , depravantur in melancholiâ . * qui hoc morbo laborant , valdè meticulosi sunt , nè vel aedes in quibus habitant , vel & ipsum coelum ruat , pertimentes . baldw. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * eo insanabile vulnus , cuo insensibile . bern. flores . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. chrysost. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * se captivo comparat , qui in tetrum ac profundum lacum conjectus , miserrimè jacet , nec quicquam spei de vita sua reliquum habet . musculus . * haeret lateri lethalis arundo . * nec calor , nec sanguis , nec vita superesset . * desperare est in infernum descendere . isidor . * tertul. sen. trag. * fovea omnium infima . fabrit . psalm 16.11 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. * inferos credimus certum ac definitum locum esse , quem non frustrà abyssum vocarit scriptura , horrendis & aeternis satanae & impiorum suppliciis destinatum . beza . † infernum est locus subterraneus . tertul. lib. 3. de anim . * per tenebras , scriptura metaphoricè horrendum horrorem designat . calv. in mat. * oculi cruciabuntur aspectu daemonum . * 1 iohn 1.7 . * sic moriantur damnati ut semper vivant , & sic vivent , ut semper moriantur ; ubi nec qui torquet fatigatur , nec qui torquetur moritur . bern. flor. * deus tanto honore dignatus est sanctos , ut eos constituerit totius mundi judices , ( i. e. ) cum christo assessores . calvin . * nec deus , nec angeli , ullâ afficientur sympathiâ . * — languebant corpora morbo — virgil. * isa. 1.6 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . menand . * stat pro ratione voluntas . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * god is called el elim , the mighty of mighties . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pericardio , quo scisso mors obrepit . * irridendum vero curam agere rerum humanarum illud quicquid est summum . pliny . * quem quisque odit , periisse cupit . * maledictio egrediens , est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supplicium , quod antè in coelo & arca dei quasi absconditum latuerat . lap. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * ergo sivit hoc flagellum deus , &c. * neque divinat paulus ide● ipsos plecti , sed asserit rem sibi compertam , dicit igitur multos decumbere aegrotos , &c. ob illum coenae abusum . calvin . * levit. 10.1 , 2. 2. branch * ascensus peccati , descensus poenae . † flagitium & flagellum sunt tanquam acus & filum . * prov. 20.17 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chrysost. * — minuit vindicta dolorem . 3. branch * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * mutat luna vices . * nullificamen populi ; tertul . de resur . phil. 2.7 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; se ipsum exinanivit , gloriam non minuendo sed supprimendo . calvin . 4. branch . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * gen. 37.7 . quest. resp. 1. * brissonius . * laudatas ostendit avis iunonia pennas — * etiam in bonis cavenda est superbia . aug. * gratias deo agit , sed sibi gratulatur . brugensis . * cant. 4.4 . * qui formam quam plasmator finxit , fuco & stibio in aliam transfigurare contendit , nonne deo dicere videtur , cur me fecisti sic ? aug. serm. 247. * opus dei est omne quod nascitur , diaboli omne quod mutatur . cyprian . * non metuis ne cum resurrectionis dies venerit , artifex tuus te non recogn●scat ? non metuis ne judex dicat , imago haec non est nostra , cum te flavo medicamine , & pigmento polluisti , formam quam dederam tibi , mendacio deformasti ? deum videre non poteris , quoniam oculi tibi non sunt quos deus fecit , sed quos diabolus infecit . cyprian . * quanto ornatius corpus foris excolitur , tanto interius anima foedatur . bern. in apolog. ad guliel . abb. * divitiarum comes est superbia . * servasti dominicum ? * ier. 9.1 . * isa. 58.13 . * iustitia suum cuique tribuit . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . theodor. * ier. 10.25 . * homini natura insevit , ut sacrificet . averr . arist. * proclus ex platonis , porphyrii , plotini caeterorumque ejus notae scriptis , hoc eloquium profert , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & dei invocationem , homini convenire , ut proprium apud aristotelem quarto modo , & qui ea careat hominem esse aut dici non posse . * plaut . * isa. 25.6 . * acriora orexim excitant embammata . * quint. curt. l. 4. * pruritus avaritiae est scabies animae . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnium vitiorum metropolin , prisci vocarunt . * cui nihil satis , eidem nihil turpe . tacitus . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evacuans ; quia scil . succum in frondes effundit , ut nil supersit , quod in vvas transferat . corn. lap . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . philo. * ephes. 5.11 . * germ. hist. * in quo quis peccat , in eodem plectitur . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . isocr . * in hispaniola insula arbor est , cujus fructus pyris muscatis persimilis , jucundo odore , esui gratissimus , verum pestiferi succi ; nam indi illo sagittas oblinunt veluti veneno . causs . * ( i. e. ) donec se & anima & corpore perdiderit . cartwr . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * salva autem esse societas nisi amore & custodia partium non potest . senec. lib. 2. de ira . c. 31. * omne divisibile est corruptibile . * dei maledictio graeciae totique orienti incubuit per jugum turcicum : angliae per discordiam . corn. lap . 5. branch * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . basil. * nocet empta dolore voluptas . * non est tantum ab hostibus armatis periculi , quantum â circumfusis undique voluptatibus . liv. lib. 10. decad . 3. * momentaneum est quod delectat , aeternum quod cruciat . 6. brancb * invidus alterius rebus macrescit opimis — horat. ep. 1. * ferunt in italiâ quaedam pascua tam esse pinguia , ut nisi pecudes interdum abigantur , saturitate suffocentur . reyn. orat. segetem nimia sternit ubertas . seneca . * tanquam à tarpeiâ rupe prolapsus es . 7. branch * instar est peregrinae illius avis , quam vocant avem dei , reperitur in novis insulis , pascitur rore coeli , nunquam attingit terram , pedibus prorsus caret . aldrovand . ormitholog . lib. 12. cap. 21. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * apud mortales pietas a tergo rejicitur , nec veluti in lanceam venit ; excellentior veruntamen est justus quovis injusta nobilitate generis , ut qui deum habet patrem ; divitiis , ut qui haeres fit coeli ; sapientia , ut qui sacrosanctam accepit unctionem ; victu , ut qui pascitur coelesti manna ; vestitu , ut qui christi justitia induitur ; cum injustus ne viri quidem nomen meretur . cartwr . * isa. 62.4 . * ephes. 4.10 . 8. branch * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. origen . * prov. 10.29 . 9. branch * horreo vermem mordacem & mortem vivacem . bernard . 1. branch * incipiat tremor , ubi incipit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. branch * vis ferulam igni tradat pater , intumeseit vero tibi cor adhuc . mornaeus . * illorum est hic flagella percipere , quibus datur de aeternitate gaudere . bern. ser. 10. de coen . d. * virtus sine exercitio , similis est taciturnae lyrae . claud. * iustus es domine , & rectum judicium tuum . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chrysost. * premuntur justi , ut pressi clament , &c. * 1 cor. 10.13 . * rosae suavius olent quibus umbelicus est asper . * dolor hic tibi proderit olim . ovid. quest. answ. 1. * scholae crucis , scholae lucis . * natura vexata prodit seipsam . * sinite virgam corrigentem , ne sentiatis malleum conterentem . bernard . * adversa reddunt hominem mansuetum . chemnitius . * mundus cadaver est , & petentes eum sunt canes . * dei eloquia sic faucibus piorum indulcorantur , ut quovis mellis favo suavius afficiant . muscul. * totum diem mecum scrutor , facta & dicta mea remetior , nihil mihi ipse abscondo , nihil transeo . sen. lib. 3. de irâ . * crescit de vulnere virtus — * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in adversis aeque ac prosperis ; quia non minus amoris sigil●um est inopia , quam copia . c. lap . — hinc laudat augustinus veterum sanctorum morem , qui saepe habebant in ore hoc verbum deo gratias . aug. in psal. 132. * tertul. * venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit . seneca . * luctus in laetitiam vertetur , saccus in sericum , cineres in corollas . 3. branch * motus carnis indies repullulant adeoque non uno ictu sed sensim resecanda . corn. lap . * hoc mihi satis est quotidie ex vitiis meis aliquid demere , & errores meos objurgare . sen ▪ de vit . beat . c. 17. 4. branch * quisquis in christum credit , ita debet esse animatus , ut ad nomen mortis caput attollat , laetus nuntio suae redemptionis . calv. * status gloriae , prae aliis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foelicissimus , quando deus humanos angelicosque spiritus , in suo ipsius sinu complectitur , & creati spiritus ab increato refocillantur . nor truth, nor error, nor day, nor night, but in the evening there shall be light, zach. 14. 6, 7 being the relation of a publike discourse in maries church at oxford between mr. cheynel and mr. erbery january 11, 1646. erbery, william, 1604-1654. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a38580 of text r26470 in the english short title catalog (wing e3234). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 54 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a38580 wing e3234 estc r26470 09475518 ocm 09475518 43228 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a38580) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43228) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1308:31) nor truth, nor error, nor day, nor night, but in the evening there shall be light, zach. 14. 6, 7 being the relation of a publike discourse in maries church at oxford between mr. cheynel and mr. erbery january 11, 1646. erbery, william, 1604-1654. cheynell, francis, 1608-1665. [4], 22 p. s.n.], [london : l647. contains only erbery's arguments. reproduction of original in the british library. eng theology, doctrinal. salvation. a38580 r26470 (wing e3234). civilwar no nor truth, nor error, nor day, nor night; but in the evening there shall be light. zach. 14. 6, 7. being the relation of a publike discourse erbery, william 1647 11363 7 0 0 0 0 0 6 b the rate of 6 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-11 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-11 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion nor truth , nor error , nor day , nor night ; but in the evening there shall be light . zach. 14. 6 , 7. being the relation of a publike discourse in maries church at oxford , between mr. cheynel , and mr. erbery . january 11. 1646. printed in the yeer . 1647. to the reader . when the little book was open in the hand of the angel , the angel cryed , as when a lion roareth , and seven thunders uttered their voices , &c. that is , when there was a powerful appearance of the mystery of christ ; when the mystery of god ( which before was sealed , revel. 5. but afterwards to be finished and fully manifested ) began to be opened , and that so powerfully , even to the terror of the christian world , and of the churches also ( for the seven thunders respect the seven churches ; that 's all the christian churches under antichristian apostacy ) i say , when the little book began to be open , john began to write , &c. that 's our weakness ; when any light breaks forth in us , any new discovery of truth be made out to us by the teachings of god in us , we begin presently to be teachers of men , to write , to publish it in pulpit and print , or in our private teachings . this was johns weakness also ; who was therefore commanded to seal those sayings , and write them not , till he had eaten the book , and better digested that heavenly secret , the mystery of god , and of christ ; afterward , he was to preach it , and prophesie to nations , tongues , people , and kings . this is another mystery in the next chapter , where that prophesying begins . those two witnesses who prophesie in sackcloth , signifie a few saints , who yet make a full witness , witnessing christ in spirit , and against the spirit of antichrist : these are the two olive trees as having their teachings immediately from god , zach. 4. 11 , 12. and these are the two candlesticks , the true church in spirit ; for the seven candlesticks were faln , and removed out of their place through the apostacy ; but these two witnesses have the testimony of jesus , which is the spirit of prophecy , revel. 19. 10. which spirit is that fire going out of their mouth , devouring their adversaries , and that spirit of antichrist , appearing in several forms , the dragon , the first beast , second beast , babylon , the great whore , all is but the various appearances of that one spirit of antichrist in the christian church , for there antichrists seat ever was , and is , set up this day , though in a more glorious form , which is but the flesh of the whore , whose flesh is now fairer , and her forms , her array more fine in scarlet , &c. revel. 16. 4. yet these two witnesses in sackcloth ( who were also in former ages ) these few poor persecuted saints still stand up , burning her flesh with fire , and by their prophesying , though in silence , plague men by shutting heaven , that the rain ( or waters from above ) the teachings of god , fall not on their fellowships , and turning their waters into blood , their formal worships , and teachings of men from below , into the blood of a dead man , revel. 16. 3 , 4. and all this those two witnesses do , as oft as they will , which needs must be none else , but christ in them , god in their flesh , coming forth in power and spirit from them , plaguing and tormenting them which dwell on earth , ( i. e. ) earthly christians and churches also . for this , the two witnesses suffer ( their sufferings being shadowed forth by that sackcloth , and bitterness of the book in their belly ) yet all this is but the sufferings of their flesh , and filth of it ( as 't were in the belly ) but yet they suffer with christ , and christ suffers in them ; for they are slain where our lord was crucified , that 's ( spiritually ) fleshly jerusalem , christian carnal churches , where spiritual saints , and christ in spirit is still slain and crucified : but after three dayes and a half , ( that 's a little longer then christ in flesh lay buried ) the spirit of life enters into those dead and unburied witnesses , who rise with christ , and christ riseth in them ; yea , they ascend in glory , a greater glory ( at least in the letter ) then christ ascended ; for none but disciples and friends , were witnesses of his resurrection , and saw him ascend ; but the ascension of the saints , their very enemies shall behold . the sum of all is this , that which this man writes , he writes not as a clear truth to publish to the world , not to put off his earth , that heap of heresie and blasphemy cast upon him by enemies , to bury his name and make it rot ; nay , he is content to lie unburied yet , to the loathing of his person ; that the people who dwell on earth , may look on , rejoyce , and glory over his dead c●●cass , lying in the streets of the great city . 't is well , if truth shall rise in them that read . farewell . the relation of a publike discourse and dispute at oxford , january 11. between mr. cheynel and mr. erbery , who spake thus : christian friends and fellow souldiers , and worthy schollars also ; i am your servant : i am called this day to come here in publike , from my private walkings ; not by my desire or seeking , but as sought out and drawn forth by a twofold cord , a publike charge ; and a private challenge : the charge was publikely given out in a pulpit , of heresie and blasphemy against me ; the challenge was privately sent unto me , by word , and writing also , in a letter from master cheynel , that i should give him a meeting in the schools , or some meeting place in the university ; the place appointed is maries church , where i now present my self to wait on you all , and to answer what shall be objected , or to desire a satisfactory answer to this my quere i am questioned for . that which i have in private , i also profess in publike ; whatever i spake was not spoken as a minister by outward call , though twice i was made one ; nor as a guifted man , knowing christ , though once i was accounted some body by others , and by my self also : but now i am nothing ; know nothing ; and let all men know so of me : that i can neither see nor speak ( as ministers , or gifted men should ) with any clearness in my self , or conviction to others ; but inquiring onely , and seeking the lord our god , and david our king . this is that condition the church shall be brought unto , into a wilderness , where no path nor company shall be to walk with ; but being left alone , the saints shall be all set in a seeking way , as the prophets have foretold , that about babylons destructions , and their deliverance from thence , judah and israel , those who were a divided kingdom in church-fellowships , shall come together in one , to seek the lord their god , and the way to zion ; that i● , not the way to church , as the churches this day are divided about , by a confused preposterous way ; seeking that first which should be last , ( as if they had found the knowledge of the lord god already ) but first seek the lord their god , and then the way to zion ; that is , to know god dwelling in us , and our selves the habitation of god ; for this is zion . another prophet points at a time , that all the saints shall be left for many dayes without a king , and without a prince , and without a sacrifice , and without an image , and without an ephod , and without a teraphim : that is , without all publike worship or ministery , true or false ; false they will not , and true they cannot have , [ not a king , or prince ] that is not meant of crowned men or civil magistrates , but as i conceive , an ecclesiastike , or church ruler , officer , or minister of christ , to go before them ; nor yet a sacrifice or ephod , or any church ordinance among them , no not the least means of knowledge or enquiry left ; for an ephod was the least ordinance under the law ( as all ordinances under the gospel , are legal also : ) by an ephod men that were not ministers or priests might enquire of the lord in doubtful cases , or in a distress as david did , and as men do now a dayes seek by fasting and prayer ; but this also at last shall be taken from the saints , and they shall fit still in submission and silence , waiting for the lord himself to come and reveal himself to them ; then they shall return and seek the lord their god , and david their king , and fear the lord and his goodness in the latter dayes : that is , every saint is yet running about , changing their wayes , and gadding abroad after one of these three , men , means , and self . but the saints after they are wearied out with their whoredoms , shall return to their first husband , to god their maker ; of whom they first proceeded and came forth , and shall see god in their flesh ; that is , david their king . this i have been seeking , and by seeking i finde in the scriptures , these seven things taught by the spirit . first , that christ is a mystery , col. 4. 3. secondly , that the mystery is christ in us the hope of glory , col. 1. 27. thirdly , that the riches of the glory of this mystery was kept secret , since the world began , hid from ages and generations , and not made known to the sons of men , rom. 16. 25. fourthly , that this mystery of christ in us the hope of glory , was manifested by revelation to the apostles , and prophets , and primitive saints by the spirit , ephes 3. 3 , 4. col. 1. 26. fifthly , that what was manifested to them of the mystery of christ , was onely made known in part then to the saints , yea , to the apostles themselves ; who as they knew but in part , and had the knowledge onely as of children , so they knew christ , but as the childe jesus ; that is , they were not come to the knowledge of the son of god , to a perfect man , to the measure of the stature of the fulness of christ , or full age of christ ; that is , in the mystery to know the son of god so in them , and themselves in the son , as tall and high in stature as he , and taken up in the glory of the son , and with him into god himself : for that which was manifested visibly to men in the dayes of his flesh , that christ was made of a woman , formed and conceived in a virgin , brought forth and born into the world , living in judea , dying in jerusalem , rising and ascending into heaven ; all this was the manifestation of the mystery of christ in us the hope of glory , which was a truth from the beginning of the world , though not manifested to the saints , before christ came visibly in flesh : yet then , even before christ was in the flesh of the saints , he was all in all , christ the same to day , yesterday , and for ever ; formed in them , brought forth in them , living in them , and suffering in their flesh , as well as in the saints afterwards . christ in david , was the knowledge and faith of david ; and davids faith and knowledge , was the knowledge of the son of god , and faith of the son of god , who lived also in david , as well as in paul , in whom as christ was speaking so in david also ; yea , as christ was all in all , christ onely acting in them , doing all their works in them , so christ suffered in them as the lamb really slain from the foundation of the world . in abel , the first beleeving saint , christ was slain ; and as paul said of himself , i fill up what is behinde of the sufferings of christ in my flesh : so the saints who were also from the beginning , suffered what was before of the afflictions of christ in their flesh . thus christ hath been the onely man of sorrows , and is still suffering , till he shall rise in us . this neither peter nor paul had attained to , to know christ risen in them : paul knew in part christ , and him crucified , and desired to know also more fully the fellowship of his sufferings ( yet he knew not this so as those , revel. 12 11. who overcame by the blood of the lamb , who saw their sufferings to be the sufferings onely of the son ) but as for christ risen in him , the resurrection of the dead , paul knew not , nor was yet perfect , knowing not himself and the son , one perfect man : neither did peter ( though he suffered for christ , and christ in him ) see the day of christ , or christ as the day star risen in his heart ; no , this was not to be revealed till the last times : when christ should be so conceived and brought forth of a woman ( the weakest saint ) that the weakest saint should see , not onely christ in them the hope of glory , christ formed in them , brought forth in them , living in them , dying in them ; but christ rising in them , and revealing himself so gloriously , as if he should say , i am the root , and the off-spring of david , the bright and morning star . i am he , who was , and is , and is to come ; i was all in all in david before ; i was his root , from whom alone sprang up all that he did , said , or suffered ; all davids fruit and glory rose up from christ in him , and returned to the root , to christ in davids lowest and most dead estate ; so christ is the off-spring also , and is also that to the saints to day , as he was to david yesterday , their substance , strength , and song : but christ in the saints will be as the morning star , and rise in more glory yet , when the new heaven and new earth shall be , and new jerusalem shall come down out of heaven , that is , when god shall dwell with men on earth . sixthly , this mystery of christ in us the hope of glory , of god manifest in man● flesh , which was manifest , and in part made known to the apostles and primitive saints before , hath been hid again from ages and generations , ever since the apostacy and spirit of antichrist came into the world with power , and so hath been kept secret since the ( antichrstian ) world begun , and not made known to the sons of men . this is plainly foretold in the old prophets , and in that last prophet of the new testament , who speaking of things to come in the apostacy and dayes of antichrist , saith , that he saw a book written within , and on the backside sealed with seven seals ; and no man in heaven or earth , nor under the earth , was able to open the book , nor to look thereon , revel. 5. 1 , 3. this book is the mystery of christ , the word of god , and the book of god , in whom both the will and good will of god , are written , and by whom all the counsels , decrees , and deep things of god are declared ; the mysteries of heaven , and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge , are hid in him , yet manifested , as i said , to the apostles and prophets , and primitive saints : but the book was since sealed , and that with seven seals ; that is , perfectly sealed , and sealed from the seven churches ; that is , from all the churches comprised under the number of seven ( for the seven seals hath reference to those seven churches ) now no church ; yea , no man in heaven or earth , or under the earth , none in church-fellowship , or not in fellowship ; no man of never so high apprehension , or deep discoveries of spiritual things could open or read the book , or look thereon , that 's more ; not look thereon , that is since the apostacy ; no man hath had scarce an outward knowledge , not a knowledge of the mystery of christ in the letter , much less in the spirit ; not seen what was written without , much less within . this the old prophets spake by the spirit also , isai. 8 16 , 17 binde up the testimony , seal the law among my disciples : the testimony is the book , the word in the letter , the law is the spirit , the law of the spirit of life in christ ; the mystery of christ both in the letter and spirit of life , were bound and sealed , and that from the disciples of christ ; and therefore as john wept , so isaiah waits for him who hides his face from the house of jacob , and looks for him ; that is , for christ , in whose face the glory of god shines , that was hid from the whole church , the house of jacob . so isaiah 29. 10 , 11. the vision of all is become as a book that is sealed , that neither learned , nor unlearned could read it : neither prophet , nor ruler , nor seer , no prophet in the church , no ruling elder , nor the most seeing spiritual member of the church could see it to the mystery , nor look thereon ; yea , the v●sion of all , nothing was seen , not in the spirit , scarce in the letter , the reason is given , verse 13. because the fear of me is taught by the precepts of men ; that is , the knowledge and worship of christ was taught by mens traditions , forms framed , by old creeds and councels , new catechisms and confessions of churches ( as if the scriptures and spirit , were not sufficient to teach men all the knowledge of god and christ clear enough ) therefore god proceeds to do a marvellous work and wonder , the wisdome of their wise men shall perish , and the understanding of the prudent shall be hid ; that both fathers , doctors , and divines could not read the book , nor look thereon ; yet there is a promise , verse 18. that in that day the ears of the deaf shall hear the words of the book : they that erred in spirit shall come to understanding , and they that murmured , shall loarn doctrine , verse 24. seventhly , that book which was sealed before , shall be open again , and so it is , revel. 10. 1 , 2. there the little book is open . the mystery of christ in us , is called a little book , in opposition to those huge tomes and mighty volumes of fathers , councels , and commentators , treatises , &c. which have been all the dayes of antichrist ; but in the day of christ , when christ shall appear in the saints , then shall the mystery be but a little book ; ' ti● no more then god manifest in mans flesh ; if a man could manifest this mystery to the world , as the apostles could , there would be an end of the church controversie this day ; for without controversie , great is the mystery of godlinesse , god manifest in flesh , &c. but this is that i would say , that the mystery of god shall be more gloriously revealed in the last times , after antichrists destruction and deliverance of the saints from the apostacy , then ever it was by the apostles themselves at first . this i have shewn more fully in our private speakings , and shall , if called to , give a publike account . but now it is enough , that when the seventh angel begins to sound , the mystery of god shall be finished , as he hath declared by his servants the prophets , revel. 10. 7. what is the mystery of god , but the man christ jesus ? — how that man is god ; how god is manifest in mans flesh ; this hath been declared by the prophets more fully , then in the writings of the apostles , excepting john ; and he gives but some hints of that high and heavenly mystery , which the scriptures of the prophets do more gloriously speak out , by whom the mystery is revealed , though not to them , rom. 16. 27. 1 pet. 1. 13. compared . and as the prophets did minister not to themselves , but to the apostles ; so the apostles do minister many things of the mystery of christ , not to themselves , but to us in these last times , to whom the mystery of god shall be fulfilled , which was to them revealed but in part , revel. 10. 7. i date not say , that any thing of this mystery is revealed to me , nor yet dare i deny the teachings of god : but what i have taught , as i would no man to trust me ; so i wish all men to try me , and to hold fast that which is good : this is all that i know of this yet , if yet i know any thing : first , that the son and the saints make one perfect man , and that the fulness of the godhead dwells in both , in the same measure , though not in manifestation . secondly , that the fulness of the godhead shall be manifested in the flesh of the saints , as in the flesh of the son . these two things , which others see as heresie and blasphemy , seems to me as truths , both in scriptures , and by that spirit which speaks in me : if any man can convince me by proofs or power of argument , i shall submit and be silent . but because i am forcibly commanded and called forth to speak in publike , i shall according to the power of god in me , do these two things : first , prove the doctrines by plain scriptures . secondly , then propound my arguments from thence . my proofs for the first are from christ and his apostles , both to me teach this one thing , viz. that the fulness of the godhead dwells in the saints , as in the son , in the same measure , though not in the same manifestation , he being in this last sense anointed above his fellows , and god manifest in flesh ; but seeing we are his brethren , we have the same divine nature , our fathers nature as full in us as he : and we being his body and fulness also , though the oil first appear powred forth on the head , yet it runing down to his hem , all his members are anointed with him ; yea , though the crown be onely put on the head , yet every member is crowned also with it ; and though there shall be but one king in all the earth , yet all the saints shall raign on earth also : how could this be , that so many shall raign at once , and yet but one king , if the saints and the son were not one perfect man ? and that the fulness of the godhead is in both , in the same measure ; christ himself witnesseth in those words , john 14. 1. let not your hearts be troubled : ye beleeve in god , beleeve also in me . the saints before christs beleeved on god in covenant , but not on god in christ ; that was the mystery which moses himself saw not , nor should see the glory of god in the face of christ ; for all that doctrine of free-grace and mercies , &c. was but gods back parts : but now saith christ , ye beleeve in god , beleeve also in me ; that is , beleeve on god by me ; for as christ is onely the way to the father , verse 6. so the father onely is the end and ultimate object of all our christian knowledge , faith , and worship : therefore christ addes this verse 2. in my fathers house are many mansions ; what is the fathers house ? but the father himself , god himself , the fulness of the godhead : there are mansions in it ; there is not onely a mansion for me saith christ , in god , but mansions for you also in him , i go to prepare a place for you : but how doth he prepare a place for them in the godhead with himself ? why , 't was by going to god , going to the father to receive the promise of the holy spirit . why ? christ received the spirit before in the fullest measure ; yea , but not in that full manifestation : he was the son before , but not declared so to be the son of god , but by the resurrection ; god was in his flesh at his first conception , but god was not so manifest in flesh , till he was received up to glory , and received the promise of the spirit , to shed it forth also on every beleever to bring them to god also : for if i go , i will come again , and receive you to my self , that where i am ye may be also . 't is not meant of his coming to judgement in the end of the world , nor of our receiving to himself in the end of our lives after death , as men conceive and comment : but when he should come in spirit , he would receive them to himself , take them up to his own glory , to be in the godhead with him ; that where i am ye may be also : therefore it follows , verily , verily , he that beleeveth on me , the works that i do shall he do also , and greater works then these shall he do , because i go to the father : that is , he that beleeveth on me , as saith the scriptures ; that beleeveth so on the son , that he seeth himself with the son in god , and god in him , as in the son ; he shall do greater works then the son did in the dayes of his flesh : as we see peter did convert more at one sermon , then christ did all his life long ; and the apostles gave the spirit by the laying on of hands , which christ did not whilest he lived in flesh : again saith he , john 14. 18. i will not leave you comfortless , i will come to you , i will not leave you orphanes , or fatherless , you shall have a father as well as i , when i come to you in spirit , ( not his coming at the last day , that was a long time , the apostles should not live to that , but ) yet a little while and the world seeth me no more , but ye see me : the world a carnal christian can see no further then christ in flesh , when that is gone the world sees him no more , but ye see me . how ? because i live , ye shall live also ; that is , ye see me in god , and living in god onely ; and because i live , ye shall live in god also ; for our life is hid with christ in god , as paul saith : 't is in god our life is , and as the son lives , for 't is with christ , though this be yet hid : but in that day ye shall know that i am in the father , and you in me , and i in you , john 14. 20. that is , in the day of christs coming , and appearing in us , we shall know that as he is in the father , and hath his being in god onely , so we also shall see , that we are in him , and he in us ; and that we have the same being in god : we shall appear with him in glory , 1 joh. 3. 2. this is plainer expressed , john 17. 21. in christ his last prayer to his father for those given him ; neither pray i for these alone ; but for them also that shall beleeve on me through their word , ( beleeve in the sense before said ) that they all may be one , as thou father art in me , and i in thee ; that they also may be one in us : one in glory , one in the godhead ; so it follows , john 17. 22. the glory which thou gavest me , have i given them . what 's the glory which the father gave him ? god himself , the father gave himself , as 't is verse 5. and now father , glorifie me , with thine own self , the glory which i had with thee before the world was : that glory was then given , and that glory which god gave the son , the same is given the saints : the glory is given already to them , though they enjoy it not , nor that glory revealed in them , nor the godhead yet manifest in their flesh : therefore christ prayes there , not for the matter of glory , as if that were not yet ; but for the manifestation of that glory . what 's the glory ? first , perfect union ; that they may be one , as we are one ; as perfectly and fully one . verse 23. i in them and thou in me , that they may be perfect in one , that the world also ( as well as they ) may know that thou hast sent me , and hast loved them , as thou hast loved me . that 's the second part of glory ; the same love god bears to the saints , as to his beloved son , as hearty and as high a love , as intense , and eternal for extension also , as full expressions of love go forth from god to the saints , as to the son ; yea , more in the letter is said of them , though it be the same love in spirit with the son also . how do the prophets powre forth all the tender heartedness , and truest love of god on the saints saying , besides many other woing words , that he their maker , is their husband , and they his hephzibah and beula : that there land shall be married also to him ; that is , that he will manifest himself in their flesh , ( that 's their land ) and make it one with himself , then love them as his son : as a bridegroom rejoyceth over the bride , so shall thy god rejoyce over thee , yea , joy over thee with singing too , as another prophet addes , resting in his love . why ? because the lord thy god is in the midst of thee , god in our flesh : this again is a third story of that glory the saints are taken up with the son , not onely perfect union with the father , and sulness of love , but living for ever also with the son in god ; for that 's the meaning of that verse 24. father , i will that they also whom thou hast given me , may be with me where i am ; in the same mansion , in the same place ; that is , ( as i said ) in the fulness of the godhead ; in all the fulness of god , that they may behold this , he sayes , that this may be manifest to them , and the world also ; for the saints sit with the son already in heavenly places , yea , are with him at the right hand of god , and therefore are said to dwell in heaven ; whom therefore the dragon doth blaspheme , even god and his tabernacle , and them that dwell in heaven ; that is , the saints who are the tabernacle of god , in whom god dwells ; and so they blaspheme god in them , calling them for this blasphemers . but let us hear what the apostles of christ can say for this . paul prayes for the ephesians , that they may comprehend with all saints , what is the bredth , and length , and depth , and height ; and to know the love of christ , which passeth all knowledge , that they may be filled with all the fulness of god , ephes. 3. 18 , 19. here 's a great word and wonderful glory , a mystery that hath all dimensions in it ; such a height , that no carnal man can reach unto ; a depth that none can dive into ; a length that none can compass the end thereof ; and such a bredth , that none can comprehend with all their vast understandings ; yet he prayes , that they with all saints of the lowest size , the least capacity may comprehend and know the love of christ that passeth all knowledge ; that is , the love of god in christ , ( as the geneva notes well ) that we may be filled with all the fulness of god ; that is , that all the fulness of the godhead , may be manifest to them and others also : that he prayes for , for they were already filled with all the fulness of god . again , the apostle is plainer in his proof , col. 2. 2 , 9 , 10. where he speaking of the mystery of god , and of the father , and of christ , so we read , but falsly as in other places of this nature ; as if there were first god , the divine nature , then the father , then christ ; whereas 't is in greek , the mystery of that god and father , there 's the first , and then of christ , as also 1 thes. 3. 11. now god himself , and the father ; 't is , now that god himself and father , or as the geneva reads in both places , the mystery of god even the father , that 's the first part of the mystery ; then the mystery of christ is the second , what 's that ? in him dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily . and ye are compleat in him ; compleat , 't is in the greek , ye are filled ; with what ? with all fulness of the godhead , as we shewed before , ephes. 3. for as it pleased the father that all fulness should dwell in the son , so it s his pleasure the same fulness and measure should dwell in the saints ; though the son hath in all things the preeminence in manifestation , yet the fulness of the godhead shall be also manifested in the saints ; which is my second to prove , that the fulness of the godhead shall be also manifest in the flesh of the saints , as in the son . this , john , as he did in his gospel , so in his epistles makes plain to me at least . beloved , now are we the sons of god , but it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear , we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is : when he shall appear , that is , in us , when that glory shall be revealed in us : then we shall be like him , that is , appear with him in glory , in the same glory of the son , we shall be like him : for we shall see him as he is ; the saints under the gospel saw christ in spirit , and the glory of god shining forth in his face , yet onely in a glass darkly ; but after the apostacy , no man at all could see the least glimsp of that glory , or look into the book , the mystery of christ , or look thereon , but after the apostacy ; and falling away being full , the day of christ follows immediately , and then we shall see him as he is ; how is that ? we shall see him in god , even the father , and in us also , and our selves in him , and with him living in god , as i said , the saints shall be seen in the son : this is called by paul , the manifestation of the sons of god : the glorious liberty of the sons of god ; for if the son ( that is in us ) make us free , we shall be free indeed , john 8. 36. therefore , as the first falling away , and apostacy of churches , was in doctrine , not in worship ; so the first doctrine which was darkned with the smoke of the bottomless pit , with the spirit of antichrist , it was the sun : the son was darkned , and so the father also ; for he that denieth the son , the same hath not the father . now here 's the first deceit of antichrist in denying the father and the son , 1 john 2. 22. no protestant or papist denies this , say they : but antichrist is a liar ; though in a form of words father , and son is confessed ; yet in truth , in power , and spirit , they deny both . they deny the father in the son , and deny the son in the saints ; denying god in christ , and the father all in all in his flesh : for god , even the father , the everlasting father , was born and brought forth in that flesh ; god in flesh lived with men , and in flesh god gave his life for men , purchasing the church with his own blood ; 't was god rose , and god ascended in flesh ; yea , the son was nothing , but as he was in god ; the son could do nothing of himself , but the father in him did all the works ; and as god was in christ , and god all in all in his flesh , so christ in us all in all in our flesh ; christ the man-childe is brought forth in us , liveth in our flesh , suffers in us , and shall rise in us , and we shall ascend also with him ; for as the two witnesses ( those few saints who yet are a full witness for christ , and against antichrist ) were killed in the city where our lord was crucified , revel. 11. 8. that 's spiritually in the mystery , being crucified with christ in their flesh ; so those saints are said to rise , verse 11. and to ascend , verse 12. secondly , antichrist denies christ to be come in flesh , 1 john 4. 3. not to come in flesh of the virgin made of a woman ; this all carnal christians confess in their creed : but antichrist denies christ to be come in our flesh , and our flesh to be anointed of god , and with god ; for that 's christ the anointed of god , god manifest in flesh : now god was ever manifest in the flesh of the saints , though they knew it not before ; and the flesh of the saints is the anointed of god , anointed with all the fulness of god ; for so it follows . 1 john 2. 20. ye have an unction from the holy one , whereby ye know all things ; that is , as he that is born of god sinneth not at all , because the seed remaineth in him , there is a principle , the son , the word , the immortal seed is in them : so he that is born of god , in whom god is brought forth , knoweth all things ; because there is a power in him , god in his flesh teaching him all things , that 's the unction . therefore 1 john 2. 27. the anointing abiding in the saints , teacheth them all things , and they need not that any man teach them , &c. that is , while they abide in the anointing , and attend on god in them , and hearken to the father as the son did , as i hear , i judge , and i speak to the world the things i have heard of him : i can do nothing of my self , but as my father hath taught me , i speak these things . thus the son had no tutor or teacher , but the father , god in his flesh ; if the saints saw this fulness in themselves , the fulness of god anointing their flesh , this would free them from that bondage to men , means , and ministers . this is babylons destruction ; first by mutual divisions , isaiah 10. 26. as the churches divided : secondly , by the manifestation of the anointing , the discovery of christ in the midst of the church , god in their flesh : in that day ( the day of christ ) his burden shall be taken from of thy shoulder , and the yoke from of thy neck , and the yoke shall be destroyed , because of the anointing , isaiah 10. 27. this is the glorious liberty of the sons of god , the manifestation of the sons of god , which we hope for , god to be manifest in our flesh , then christ comes in flesh : and thus , if the son shall make ye free , ye shall be free indeed ; but ye are of god , little children ( the least saint is of god , as the son is of the father ) and ye have overcome them ; that is , ( the wisest and most powerful impostors of antichrist ) for greater is he in you ; then he that is in the world ; that is , christ in you , god in your flesh ; who is greater then all ; whose very foolishness and weakness is wiser and stronger , then all the strength and wisdom of men , and whose wisdom and strength shall be manifest also in the most foolish and feeblest saints . this john in the revelation more cleerly yet reveals ; for as he saw the son in the midst of the saints , christ in the midst of the church ; so he shows that all the power of the son , the glory and honor of the son , shall be manifested in the saints . not to speak of the old prophets , who are aboundant in holding forth this glory , the sons of them that afflicted thee , shall come bowing unto thee ; and all they that despised thee , shall bow themselves , down at the soles . of thy feet , and call thee the city of the lord ; that is , the saint in whom god dwells : and therefore , as at the name of jesus every knee shall bow ; that is , to god in him , for that 's his name ; so saith god , to me shall every knee bow , to me in the saints ; and therefore , revel. 3. 9. the lord god saith , i will make them of the synagogues of satan , that say they are jews , and are not , but do lie : behold , i will make them to come and worship before thy feet , and know that i have loved thee ; that is , as the world shall know that the father loves the saints as the son , joh. 17. 23. so the apostatized churches ; that is , the synagogues of satan ; for peter himself was called so , when he savored the flesh , the things of man , more then of god : so the jews , that is , legal church members , who have belied themselves into a liberty they have not , boasting because of their fleshly forms , and fellowships , that they are above other saints ; these false churches shall come down and worship at the feet of scattered saints , who are gathered up into christ , and with christ into god ; they shall worship not them , but god in them , and confess that god is in them of a truth . the spirits power , and honor , and glory , as i said , shall be manifested in the saints . first , his power , revel. 2. 26 , 27. he that overcometh , to him will i give power over the nations , and he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; and as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in peeces , even as i have received of my father . see here the power of the son , manifested in the saints ; for so the second psalm speaks of the son , the kings of the earth , and the rulers , stand up against the lord , and against his christ ; who is christ the anointed of god ? but the saints with the son , verse 3. who would think that poor saints should have such power , yea , such honor have all the saints , as to binde kings in chains , and nobles with links of iron ; and to execute the judgement written of the son , psal. 149. 8 , 9. who beleeves that all the blood shed , and slaughters this day in the world ; the dashings of kings and kingdoms one against another , is done by the saints , though they stir not , but are quiet in the land ; yet the lord goes forth of them , working all , and wasting all by them , by the weakest saints . thou worm jacob , thou shalt thresh mountains , and beat the hills to chaff : that is , as another prophet phraseth it , o jacob , that is , the weakest saints ; for israel is the name of power , but jacob , thou art my battle-ax and weapons of war , with thee will i destroy nations , and dash kingdoms in pieces like a potters vessel : this the saints have done , and do still , god in them doing all in all : though this be not yet manifest in them , nor to the world , yet it shall be , saith the scripture , the saints shall have the same power manifest in them as in the son . secondly , the honor also of the son shall be manifest in the saints ; he that overcomes , shall sit with me in my throne ; as i overcame , and am set down with my father in his throne . revel. 3. 21. what 's the throne of christ , but the honor given him of god , to raign and to judge also ? the saints shall have both , not onely a rod or scepter of iron to break nations , but a scepter of gold , of righteousness to rule nations ; and that nation which will not serve thee , shall perish , and be utterly wasted : who will not serve god in the saints ? but then again , the saints shall judge also with christ ( not by approbation onely , as gentlemen who sit on the bench with the judge ) but the saints as the son shall sit in the same judicial throne : the saints shall judge the world , yea , angels ; not onely the world , common churches , with all their worships , but the angels of churches also the saints shall judge ; as christ judged none more hardly then the priests , and elders of the people . thirdly , he that overcometh shall inherit all things , and i will be his god , and he shall be my son . here 's the glory of the son ; that he is appointed heir of all things , heb. 1. this glory is given to the saints also , though the saints know it not , no more then a crowned childe in the cradle knows he is a king . here 's the mystery of christ , and of a beleeving christian also : who is he that overcometh the world ? but he that beleeveth that jesus is the son of god , beleeveth in that sense i said before . 't is strange , that the saints who dare not judge any man , yet are said to judge all things , and to be judged of no man ; that they who hurt no man , should be said to destroy all men ; that those who have nothing , should be said to be heirs of all , and inherit all things ; how could this be ? but that the son is in them , god in their flesh ; and so he is their god , and they are not onely his sons , but his son . this seems to be a truth in it self , though not manifest to them till they overcome . this overcoming is seven times repeated , revel. 2. and 3. and once more here , revel. 21. 7. there 's a mystery in that also , in this overcoming , what is it , and what is the thing to be overcome ? in a word , 't is the number and name of the beast that the saints must get victory of , revel. 15. 2. but what 's the beast , his name , and number ? 't is the number of a man , that 's more mysterious yet : but sure 't is cleer , that every man is brutish in his knowledge ; and though vain man would be wise , yet man is born but a wilde asses colt ; yea , man in honor understandeth not , but is like a beast that perisheth : so that man is the beast , who counts himself wise , or to have the knowledge of a man , which the wisest man , even agur the prophet would not own , when he was to speak of ithiel , and ucal ; that is , of christ , and god in christ ; for ithiel is the same with immanuel , god with us ; and ucal is a name , signifying power , as christ is the wisdom of god , and power of god : so then , when man sees onely of the humanity in himself , the wisdom of man or power of man , and sees not god all in all , and the godhead in him ; this is the beast , this the number of his name , the number of a man ; when we shall overcome this , this manhood , this self , and submit to the godhead in us ; when we shall see god onely manifest in our flesh , and the flesh nothing , profiting nothing , having no power , nor wisdom ; when thus we deny our selves , follow me , saith christ ; follow him who is our forerunner , and gone before into the holiest , into the fulness of the godhead with him ; then we are said to overcome and inherit all things . god is our god , and we are his son , then this shall be manifest ; for revel. 22. 3. we shall see his face , and his name shall be in our foreheads , as the fathers name with christ , rev. 14 1. so the name of christ also shall be read in our foreheads . men shall see the saints as the son , that 's his new name , which he will write on us ; and we shall be called by another name , by a new name , which the mouth of the lord shall name . mens mouthes have still formed new names on the saints , as from the beginning so of late : in queen maries dayes , the saints suffered as protestants ; in queen elizabeths as professors ; in king james's as puritans ; in king charli's as separatists ; in our days as sectaries , heretikes , and blasphemers : but the lord god will give us a new name shortly himself , when ye shall leave your name as a curse to my chosen ; for the lord god shall slay thee , and call his servants by another name , isaiah 65. 15. so far concerning the proof of those truths , so far as i conceive them to be . now i shall come to the arguments , which are three ; the first from the old testament , the second from the new , the third from both : the first argument is from isaiah 61. thus , those who are the anointed of god with christ , to preach the gospel to the world , whom the world shall own as the onely ministers of god , and honor as the son , they have all the fulness of the godhead as the son : but the saints are the anointed of god with christ , to preach the gospel to the world , and the world shall own them as the onely ministers of god , and honor them as the son . therefore the saints have all the fulness of the godhead with the son . there are four parts in the argument to prove in this chapter . first , the saints are the anointed of god with christ , that 's plain , isaiah 61. 1 , 3. the same spirit or oyl powred forth on the son , is powred forth on the saints , and that in the same fulness : for secondly , they are anointed with him to preach the gospel to the world ; the spirit was on him , that he might preach to the world , and they shall preach to the world also ; for they shall build the old wastes , and shall raise up the former desolations , they shall repair the waste cities , the desolations of many generations , verse 4. what wastings hath war made , not onely in the visible world , but the invisible ? in the inward man are more wastes ; and for many generations , men have been desolated of that glory once given them . now to repair all things in the world visible and invisible , to build up the ruines made , not by rome , but even by the most reformed churches ; to raise up a new building , a city for god to dwell in , this is the work of the son onely , yet the saints shall do it also ; but i beleeve the world shall be a little more wasted first . thirdly , the world shall then own the saints as the onely ministers of god . verse 6. ye shall be called the priests of the lord , and men shall call you the ministers of our god . fourthly , all that see them shall acknowledge , that they are the seed which the lord hath blessed , verse 9. now the blessed seed is christ , gal. 3. 16. he speaketh not of seeds , as of many , but of one , the seed , which is christ . all the saints being many ( in fl●sh ) make up but one christ ( in spirit ) ; yea , god even the father that eternal spirit , shall be manifest in their fl●sh , as in his : that not onely themselves shall see it ; but all men shall say , that they are the seed which the lord hath blessed . this full discourse , and first argument of mr. erbery is set forth , not that any man should approve , but prove it ; not to justifie himself , but to be judged of all . he will not mention any thing in the dispute at present , being content to suffer in silence , and fit still in his own abhorrency , while others walk in their honor , and applause , which he doth not envy them ; for they have their reward , and he his wages , that all men speak evil of him ; yet could he with a few words wipe of all his personal wrongs , but then he should be sprinkle others with some spots and shame , which he is loth to do . let the true god who judgeth righteously , cleer up all mens falshoods ( and truth also ) in his due time . this is all he hath now to say , that as he first professed , he knew nothing , nor maintained any thing as dogmatical , but onely delivering his minde , drawn out to speak , because he should not be silent ; so he confesseth himself not yet carried out of the way of further inquiry , and seeking the truth , that god shall teach him , and not men ; wishing all the saints were in that way , to cease from man , whose breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be accounted of ? especially now , when the number of the beast may be read ( in mens foreheads ) to be the number of a man : and the lord alone to be exalted in that day . well , when wise men erre , and the princes of zoan are become fools , that is , the chief leaders in ( spiritual ) egypt are causing to erre , and wander ; there is a way , a high-way , that wayfaring men , though fools , shall not erre therein . if any man would be wise still , he dares not call him fool ; but as for him who hath found himself a fool already , and sees himself be-wildernessed as a wayfaring man , seeing no way of man on earth , nor beaten path to lead him , let him look upward and within at once , and a high-way , the way is found , christ in us , god in our flesh : waite here a while for that spirit and power from on high to appear in us , walking in the spirit of holiness , love and peace ; and at last , yea , within a little , we shall be led forth out of this confusion , and babylon , wherein we yet are not cleerly knowing , truth nor error , day nor night ; but in the evening there shall be light . cant. 1. 7. tell me ( o thou whom my soul loveth ) where thou feedest , where thou makest to rest at noon . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a38580e-190 revel. 10. 1. verse 2. verse 3. verse 7. verse 4. verse 4. vers. 10. vers. 11. reve. 11. verse 3. verse 4. verse 5. verse 6. verse 8. vers. 11. vers. 12. acts 10. 43. notes for div a38580e-590 jere. 50. 2 , 4. vers. 5. hosea 3 4 , 5. 1 sam. 23. 9. zach. 8. 19. hos. 3. 5. jere. 2. 36. hosea 2. 6 , 7. 1 cor. 13 11. acts 4. 27 , 30. eph. 4. 13. psal. 22. 22. heb. 2. 12 , 13. gal. 1. 16 and 2. 20. and 3. 1. crucified in you . gal 4 19 and 5. 27. and 6. 15. 2 cor 13. 3. heb. 2. 11 , 12 , 13. rev 13. 8 col. 1. 24. isai. 63. 9 1 cor. 2 2. phil. 3. 11 , 12 , 14 2 pet 1. 19. 1 pet. 1. 13. isa. 66 7. jere. 31. 22. rev 12. 5 compared isai. 26. 19. and 60 , 1 , 2. rev. 22. 16. revel. 21. 3. isai. 29. 14. heb. 2. 11. 2 pet. 1. 3 , 4. zach. 14. 9. revel. 5. 10. exod. 33. 18. acts 2. 33. john 14. 3. john 14. 12. joh. 7. 38 and 17. 20 , 21. act. 2. 41 and 3. 19. col. 3. 3. isa. 54. 5. isai. 62. 4 , 5. zeph. 3. 17. revel. 13. 6 , 7. col. 2. 9 , 10. 1 john 3. 2. col. 3 4. john 14. 19 , 20. rom. 8. 18 , 19 : 1 tim. 4. 1. revel. 9. 2. joh. 2. 22. isai. 9. 6. matth. 1. 23. acts 20. 28. 1 john 3. 16. psal. 68. 1 , 17 , 18. john 14. 10 , 20. 1 john 4. 4. john 5. 30. john 8. 28. 1 john 4. 4. zach. 12. 3 , 8. rev. 1. 13 isai. 60. 14. mich. 7. 16 , 17. zach. 8. 23. isai. 41. 14 , 15. jere. 51. 20 , 21. isai. 60. 12. 1 cor. 2. 3. rev. 21. 7. 1 john 5. 5. revel. 13 18. psal. 49. 20. prov. 30. 2 , 3. revel. 3. 12. revel. 22. 4. isa 62. 2. isai 65. 15. isai. 2. 11 , 22. reve. 13. 18. isai. 19. 2 , 13 , 14. isai. 35. 8. to the jews natural, and to the jews spiritual with a few words ro [sic] england my native country, &c. : some sensible, weighty queries, concerning some things very sweet and necessary to be experienced in the truly-christian state : whereunto is added a postscript, containing some queries on isa. 50, 10, 11 ... / by isaac penington. penington, isaac, 1616-1679. 1677 approx. 86 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 37 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a54072 wing p1214 estc r36966 16167774 ocm 16167774 104957 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54072) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104957) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1598:23) to the jews natural, and to the jews spiritual with a few words ro [sic] england my native country, &c. : some sensible, weighty queries, concerning some things very sweet and necessary to be experienced in the truly-christian state : whereunto is added a postscript, containing some queries on isa. 50, 10, 11 ... / by isaac penington. penington, isaac, 1616-1679. [10], 58, [2] p. [s.n.], [london] printed : 1677. added extra t.p.: to the jews natural, and to the jews spiritual ... / written in traveling bowels by isaac penington. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng society of friends -apologetic works. christianity -essence, genius, nature. theology, doctrinal. 2005-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-11 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2006-11 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion to the jews natvral , and to the jews spiritval ; with a few words to england my native country , &c. some sensible , weighty queries , concerning some things very sweet and necessary to be experienced in the truly-christian state. whereunto is added a postscript , containing some queries on isa . 50·10 , 11. a scripture of deep counsel & concern to the darkned and distressed states , of some among those that fear & obey the lord. by isaac penington . printed in the year , 1677. to the jews natvral , and to the jews spiritval ; with a few words to england my native country . whereunto are added two or three queries touching the river and city of god , and the pure stilness , wherein god is known and exalted as also some questions answered concerning the true church , ministry and maintenance under the gospel , & about the lamb's war. written in travelling bowels by isaac penington . truly god is good to israel , to such as are of a clean heart , psalm 73.11 . behold an isralite indeed , in whom is no guile , joh. 1.47 . for he is not a iew that is one outwardly , neither is that circumcision , which is outward in the flesh ; but he is a iew which is one inwardly , and circumcision is that of the heart , in the spirit and not in the letter , whose praise is not of men , but of god , rom. 2.28 , 29. behold , the dayes come saith the lord , that i will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised , egypt , and iudah , and edom , and the children of ammon , and moab , and all that are in the utmost corners , that dwell in the wilderness ; for all these nations are uncircumcised , and all the house of israel are uncircumcised in the heart , ier. 9.25 , 26. printed in the year , 1677. the preface . what a day of distress , and revelation of the righteous judgment of god , is to come upon the wicked and ungodly world ( even upon man , who was created in the image of god , but is now fallen from it , and found out of it , and in another image very unlike it ) the eye which the god of this world hath blinded , and the heart which he hath hardened by sin and transgression , hath no sense of . what a day of distress and misery some in this nation ( and in other parts of the world ) have already met with ; how they have felt the weight of sin upon their spirits , and what a sore thing it hath been to them to feel their souls separated from that god that made them ( who is the husband and father , king and preserver of souls that are found in his image and nature ) how they have been inwardly captivated by a forreign power , and oppressed , and made to serve under sin , and could hear no effectual tidings of his appearance who was able to save , but their spirits were ready to sink , and their hope of redemption , from that which oppressed and captivated them , almost cut off ; this being an inward state and condition , hath been altogether hid from the eye which is outward . how the lord at length appeared unto these ( his bowels having long rowled over them , and he having long waited to be gracious to them , even till the fully acceptable and set time was come ) how his light hath shined in and upon them , how he gathered those dry bones together , and breathed life into them , and made them live ; this is also altogether an hidden thing from the eye of the world. how the lord , who appeared to them , hath exercised and tried them ; how he hath judged them , and how he hath saved them ; what desolations he hath made inwardly in them , and what he hath built up there ; what an hammer , a sword , a fire , &c. his pure word of life hath been in them ; how that birth which could live without god , without his inward life , or upon words and knowledge without life , hath been famished , until by the pain of the famine its very life and breath hath been taken from it , and it crucified with christ , by the pain of the cross of christ ; and what birth hath been raised and crowned afterwards , and beautified with the ornaments of righteousness and salvation , yea , with the endless love and mercy of its god ; and how the lord is with his people , and dwells and walks in them , and how he hath humbled them to walk with him ; and how in fear and humility they do walk with him in the light of the day everlasting , even as god is light , and walks in the light of his own day ; these are very strange and unknown things to the wisest and most prudent in religion at this day , who are not gathered into the mystery of godliness ( nor into the spirit , power and glory of the father ) where these things are revealed in and by the son. what faith the children of wisdom have , in the wisdom and power which hath appeared ; what confidence they have in the lord their god , that he will stand by them in all their exercises and trials , both inward and outward ; and what experiences they have had of the lords standing by them in both ; how his faithfulness doth not fail , and how their faith in him is upheld and preserved by him , that it doth not fail in the stormy time , or hour of greatest distress ; and how their eye is unto him , and their hearts with him in the calms , so that their god is all in all unto them continually ; ( and who knows this , but they that have it ! ) oh who can utter or declare the sweetness and certainty of this , where it is enjoyed ! what love also the lord sheds abroad in their hearts , and how he teacheth and causeth them to love , by often circumcising their hearts , and cutting off that which hindereth the pure love from springing in them ; and how they love others in the love wherewith god ( who is love ) hath loved them ; and how natural it is to them to pray for their enemies , and to bless them that curse them , and do good for evil , but cannot requite evil for evil , being transplanted into and growing up in the root that is good , and sends up good sap and virtue into them , which nourisheth all that is good in them , but is death and destruction to the remainders of evil , as the lord pursueth and findeth it out ; oh how impossible is it for the heart of man to conceive or understand ! now , i also having tasted of the mercy and goodness of the lord , and having been brought out of a state of great misery and sorrow of heart into the redemption and joy of god's chosen ; and having found the lord faithful to me , and giving me faith in the appearance of his spirit and power in me , and true love ( tender love ) not only to my brethren in the truth , but to all mankind springing in me , and divers fruits issuing forth from it , some of them at this time i cannot but publish , and the lord open the hearts of those whom it concerns , that they may find some help , benefit and furtherance by it ; for it is the joy of my heart to receive good from god , to be filled with his blessings , to have my cup overflow , and that others ●ay be helped , refreshed and gladed therewith , and by the sweet taste thereof led to wait for the opening of the same root and fountain of life in themselves , to yield living sap , and send forth living streams in them day by day ▪ somewhat in the love of god to the jews natural , or seed of abraham after the flesh . o the glory of your state outward , who were the people whom god once chose and loved , and manifested his power and presence among , above all people ! whose land was the glory of all lands , to which god brought you out of egypt by an out-stretched arm , through a dreadful vvilderness , wherein ye were tempted , tried and exercised , and the succeeding generation fitted to enter into . o what laws and statutes , and righteous judgments did god give you , such as no nation besides had ! vvhat a temple had ye to appear before god in , and the ark of the covenant , and holy priests , kings and prophets ! and how nigh was god to you , to be enquired of by you ; and how ready to hear your prayers , in all that you called upon him for ! the eternal god was thy refuge , and underneath were the everlasting arms ( the lord was thy rock , and thou wast built upon him ) and he did thrust out the enemy before thee , and did say . destroy . and when the arm of the lord did destroy them before thee , thou didst dwell in safety alone , and the lord was a fountain of living waters to thee , and his heavens did drop down fatness upon thee . happy wast thou o israel , who was like unto thee , o people saved by the lord , the shield of thy help , and who was the sword of thy excellency ! and thine enemies were sound lyars unto thee , and thou didst tread upon their high places : and it might have been still so with thee , hadst thou not been unmindful of the rock that begat thee , and forgotten god that formed thee : for thy glory should not have been taken from thee , but swallowed up in a higher glory , wherein thou mightest have had the first and chiefest share , hadst thou not , by thy almost constant rebellion and unbelief , provoked the lord against thee ; not only often to afflict , but at last utterly to cast thee off from being a people , and chose a people in thy stead , who should bring forth better fruits to the lord of the vine-yard , then thou in thy day hadst done . yet when thy state was thus glorious , it was not a state of the truly-substantial , lasting glory , but a shadowy state or representative thereof . thy day of glory was not the day of the messiah , the day of everlasting light inwardly , wherein the lord alone is exalted , inwardly in the hearts of all , in whom he b●eaks down all that is contrary to the light of his day . thy day was but the day of the outward shadows of the heavenly substance ; but when that day ( the day of the inward substance and glory ) shined , thy shadows or shadowy state was to fly away , and to be swallowed up in the pure substance and spiritual kingdom of the messiah . thy birth from abraham after the flesh ; was not the birth which was to inherit the promise in the kingdom of the messiah : but there is a birth inwatdly born of the spirit , born after abraham in his faith , who travels inwardly , as abraham did outwardly , and seek an inward country & city , whose builder and maker is god : to these the spiritual kingdom and promises belong . thy circumcision was but the circumcision outward , the circumcision of the flesh ; it was not the circumcision of the heart . that i● the circumcision of the inward jew , which indeed the scripture call'd for from you , because there was somewhat near you , which wold have so circumcised you , had ye hearkned and given up to it : but ye , as a people , were not so circumcised , but were a stiffnecked people ( as moses and the prophets were still complaining of you ) uncircumcised in heart and ears , resisting god's spirit , both in your own hearts and in the prophets , until the lord was provoked to take away both vision and prophet from you . the aegypt , in which your fathers were in bondage , and pharaoh who oppressed them , was but the aegypt outward , and pharaoh outward . there is an inward aegypt , wherein the spiritual seed , the inward man , the soul is in bondage ; and there is a spiritual pharaoh , that oppresseth the spiritual seed , in spiritual aegypt . and there is a stretching out the arm of the almighty inwardly , to break the strength of the inward pharaoh , to pierce leviathan the crooked serpent , and to deliver the soul from under his captivity . the wilderness also your fathers were led through , was but the outward wilderness ; where they were tempted & tried by the lord many wayes , that he might do them good in the latter end . but the inward israel , after they are led out of the inward egypt , are tried in the inward wilderness ; where they are judged after the flesh , and that wasted in them ▪ which is not to enter into & inherit the good land , where they are tried in the furnace of affliction , & their filth purged away by the spirit of judgment & burning , that the righteous nation , which hath received the holy inward law , & keeps the truth , may enter into the good land , city and kingdom of the messiah , and inherit the blessed promises of life and salvaton there . moses , your great prophet , was a type of the great , lasting , standing prophet , whom god would raise up like unto moses , who was to give his inward law ; as moses did the outward ; and to lead all the spiritual israel , as moses did the outward israel , and his word was to be heard & stand in all things whatsoever he shall say unto his people : and whosoever will not hear and obey this prophet , shall be cut off from among the holy , spiritual , and inwardly living people . joshuah , who succeeded moses , led but into he figurative rest ; he was but a figure of him , that inwardly leads into the inwad and spiritual rest ; which the true jews , which are inwardly created and formed by god , and made a willing people in the day of his power enter into . the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire in the wilderness , were but figures of the spiritual pillar of cloud and fire , by which the spiritual israel are led and defended in the glorious gospel-day of god's spirit and power , read isa . ch . 4 which speaketh of the gospel-day , and the pillar of cloud and fire to be created therein , and of the defence which is to be on all the inward and spiritual glory . the land of canaan , the outward good land an● kingdom of israel , was but a figure of the inward land and kingdom of the inward israel , in the dayes of the messiah . this is the land of judah , in which the song is sung , because of the inward strong city , where god appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks , which the righteous nation which keepeth the truth enter into , isa . 26. their outward kings in that land , and particularly david , were but types of the spiritual king , the spiritual david , whom god would raise up to the spiritual people , who should seek the lord their god and david their king , who shall be their spiritual shepherd and ruler , whom god hath appointed to fed them in the integrity of his heart , and to guide them by the skilfulness of his hands , who is king of righteousness tnd peace inwardly , and who ministers righteousness and peace to the sheep and lambs of his pastures . their outward priests ( even their high-priests ) were but a representation of the great high-priest of god , who was to be a priest for ever , after the order of melchizedeck , psalm 110. their outward covenant ( made with them from the outward mount sinai , upon the giving of the law , and holy statutes and ordinances , by which they were to live and enjoy god in their outward state ) was but a shadow of the inward and spiritual covenant , the new and everlasting covenant , which god makes with his inward and spiritual people in the latter dayes . their outward law , as 〈◊〉 written & engrav'n in tables of stones , was but a shadow of the inward law , which god puts into the children of the new covenant , insomuch that they need not go outwardly to learn the knowledge of god , or his will or law ; but the inward israel find it inwardly written within . there the isles , who wait for the law of the spirit of life , for the law of the messiah ; receive the ministration of the law ( in the spirit and power of the messiah ) which they wait for . their outward mount zion , on which the outward temple was built , by solomon that wise king , that righteous king , that peaceable king , was a figure of the inward mountain , whereupon the inward house is built in the dayes of the gospel , in the dayes of the messiah . and to this mountain are the spiritual people to come up and worship . and this is the zion and jerusalem ( even inward and spiritual ) from which the law and word of the lord go forth in the dayes of the messiah . and the spiritual house of jacob combind or agree together , to walk in the light of the lord , who sends forth his light and truth , and leads them to his holy hill , and to his tabernacles . their outward tabernacle and temple , sanctified by god for him to dwell and appear in , was a shadow of god's inward dwelling-place in man , i will tabernacle in them . god dwelleth not in houses or temples made with hands , that is not the place of his rest , as saith the prophet isaiah ; but the high and lofty one , that inhabits eternity , whose throne is in heaven , and the earth his footstool , he dwelleth also with him that is of an humble and contrite spirit , to revive the spirit of the humble , and to revive the spirit of the contrite ones . their outward sabbaths were not the lasting sabbath or rest of the gospel , but given them for a sign ; but the day of redemption from sin , the day of resting from sin , the day of ceasing from the works of the flesh , the day wherein god is all , & doth all by his spirit & power inwardly , and wherein he alone is exalted ; this is the day of rest , which the lord hath made for the spiritual israel , and which they are glad of and rejoice in . so their incense and sacrifices were not the lasting incense and sacrifices , but shadows thereof . the prayers of the saints , when god pours out the spirit of prayer and supplication upon them , and they pray to him therein , that is the incense . let my prayer be directed before thee as incense , and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice . and this was the incense and a pure offering , whic● in every place was to be offered up to god's name among the gentiles , when his name should be great among them , as malachy foretels . and what said david of old when god's spirit and the holy vision was upon him ? sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire , mine ears hast thou opened : burnt offering and sin-offering hast thou not required . then said i , lo i come , in the volmn of the book it is written of me : i delight to do thy will , o my god : yea , thy law is in the midst of my bowels . the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit ( rent your hearts nd not your garments , and turn to the lord your god ) a broken and a contrite heart , o god , thou wilt not despise . the offering praise to god from a sincere heart , and the ordering of the conversation aright , these are the sacrifices well-pleasing to god ; for sacrifices were not the thing which god mainly required of outward israel : but this obey my voice : and obedienc is more acceptable then all other sacrifices , and to hearken then the fat of the choicest rams . besides , those outward sacrifices could not remove or take away sin from the conscience , but he that came to do the will , and to put and end to those sacrifices and oblations , which were but outward & imperfect , he doth both wash and take away sins from within , and also bring in everlasting righteousness , where his light shines , and his pure life springs inwardly in the heart . and this is the substance of all the shadows , even the light eternal , the word eternal , the son of the living god ( who is light , as the father is light ) the word nigh in the mouth and heart , the word of the new covenant , the which moses directed your fathers to , deut. 30. and by which the lord speaketh , and hath spoken throughout the world ( psalm 50.1 . ) and teacheth every man that hearkeneth to his voice , to do justly , love mercy and walk humbly with his god , as it is expressed by the prophet micah . now to you jews of the outward line of abraham , whose return to the lord my soul most earnestly desireth after , and for which i have most vehemently and wrestlingly prayed to the lord , are some few weighty queries upon my heart . query 1. how came david to pant so after the living god , like the hart or hind after the water-brooks ? was it not from the quickning virtue of this inward word , which moses the man of god had directed the mind to ? read psalm 119. and see how he breathed for quicknings from this word , on which all depends . and if ye come to experience this word , and the quickning virtue of it , and follow the lord on therein , ye will soon come to know the day of the messiah , and the glory of his kingdom , which is not outward , transitory and of a perishing nature ; but inward , spiritual and eerlasting ( as david well knew , and spake sensibly of , psalm 145. and elsewhere . qu. 2. what are the waters , which every thirsty soul is invited to ? are they not the waters of the messiah ? are they not waters that flow out of the wells of salvation ? isa . 12. do not the spiritual israel draw spiritual water out of the wells of the saviour , in the dayes of the messiah ? what is it to come to these waters ? o that ye experimentally knew ! but this i will tell you , from true and certain experience , that if ye come to take notice of this word of life , which god hath placed nigh in your mouths and hearts , to separate between the evil words and evil thoughts of the enemie's begetting and bringing forth , and the good words and good thoughts of god's begetting and bringing forth , and incline your ear to it , and come from that which it reproves in you , and draws you from to it self ; your souls shall soon come to live , and he that gives you life , will make an everlasting covenant with you , even the sure mercies of david : but ye must still mind him as a witness , and leader , and commander inwardly in your hearts , that ye may be preserved in the covenant , and enjoy the blessings of it . see isa . 55. qu. 3. did not the messiah come at the set time , at the time set by the holy spirit of prophecy ? did he not come in the prepared body to do the will ? and did he not do the will ? and after his obedience to his father , was he not cut off , though not for himself ? and after his cutting off , were not you made desolate ? why were ye made desolate ? why did such a stroke come upon you , as never before ? o consider it . read dan. 9.24 . to the end of the chapter , and let him that readeth understand . qu. 4. what was that curse , and on whom did it light , let their table become a snare to them , &c. psalm 69. was it not on those that gave gall and vinegar to the messiah to drink , whom david was a figure of , and spake in spirit concerning ? whose eyes are alwayes darkned ? doth not the vail lie still on your whole nation ? do ye know the inward mountain , where the vail or face of the covering is destroyed ? in the inward day and light of the messiah it is destroyed . there , that which vails the noble eye of the m●nd is known , and also that which destroyes and re●oveth it . to what purpose is it for you to read moses and the prophets , when the vail is so upon you , that ye cannot see what is to be abolished , and is abolished , by the dawning of the glorious day of the messiah , and what is to remain and never to be abolished ? there is a jewship , there is a circumcision , there is a sabbath , there is a rest , &c. for the inward and spiritual people , which is to remain , and never to be abolished . qu. 5. vvho were those that god would hide his face from , and see what their end should be ; because they were a froward generation , children in whom was no faith ? vvho were they that moved god to jealousie , and provoked him to anger ? and what was the people and foolish nation he would provoke them to jealousie and anger with ? deut. 32. was it not the spiritual , the holy nation inwardly , the true jews , whom god took from among the gentiles , whom he appeared among , and was a god and a father to , when he cast off and forsook the jews outward , and left them to be a desolation ? qu. 6. who are those that shall be hungry , when god's servants shall eat ? and thirsty , when god's servants shall drink ? and ashamed , when his servants shall rejoyce ? are not your souls hungry and parched for want of the spiritual sustenance , which the living god satisfieth his servants with , making 〈◊〉 feast of fat things to them on his inward holy mountain ? and are not ye ashamed of your expectations of the messiah , while the servants of the lord , rejoyce in him their prince and saviour , and witness him daily a leader and commander to them ? what is the people whom the lord hath slain and made desolate ( are not ye a slain people to god , alienated from his life , spirit and power , dead in your litteral notions and observations ? ) and what are the servants of the lord , whom the lord hath called by another name , even a name that ye never knew ? see isa 66. and consider , how all your day god spread out his hand to you and ye were rebellious and would not hear ; and now night is come upon you , and your visitation , as such a people , is and hath been long ended . qu. 7. did not god signifie by the prophet malachy , that he had no pleasure in you , nor would accept an offering at your hand ? and did not he also signifie the choosing of the gentiles in your stead , that the called among the gentiles should be his people , and his name , which ye had profaned , should be great among them , and their incense and pure offering in every place be accepted , even from the rising of the sun , to the going down of the same ? read mal. chap. 1. qu. 8. now the inward people , and the inward covenant , the new covenant are brought forth ; shall ye ever be owned or regarded as an outward people , according to your outward covenant any more ? will not all such expectations fail you for ever ? ye have looked , from generation to generation , for the coming and appearing of the messiah outwardly , after an outward manner : but his coming and appearance is inward ; and he setteth up his kingdom , his everlasting kingdom in his saints , and in their hearts he ruleth inwardly , and the messiah , the seed of the vvoman bruiseth the head of the serpent there . o that ye knew the substatce ! o that ye knew the vvord of life in the heart , and were turned to it , and daily faithful and obedient ! that ye might feel it crushing and dashing the power of sin and corruption in your hearts . this is the consolation , hope and joy of the inward and spiritual israel ! o that ye might be made partakers thereof ; and that your long outward captivity and desolation might at length end in inward freedom and redemption ! amen . somewhat of concern to the jews spiritual , who are of the seed of abraham spiritually , or according to the faith , and gathered , in this day of god's power , to the true and everlasting shiloh . the scepter shall not depart from judah , nor a law-giver from between his feet untill shiloh come , and unto him shall the gathering of the people be , gen. 49.10 . old jacob , in the spirit of prophecy , saw that judah was to have the scepter , the kingly power ; and it was not to depart from him , it was to be his right , and the law-giver was to be between his feet ; till shiloh came ; then the right was shiloh's , to reign and to give laws to his people , whom he should gather out of the kingdom of darkness , and from satan's power into his own inward , spiritual and everlasting kingdom . this was the true king , god's king , whom he would set up on the holy hill of spiritual zion ; and all the holy , inward , spiritual gatherings of all people , scattered from the holy , living power , must be to him . i will overturn , overturn , overturn it , and it shall be no more , until he come whose right it is , and i will give it him . and his dominion shall not pass away , or the scepter and law-giving power shall not pass away from him , as it did from judah , nor shall his kingdom ever be destroyed , dan. 7.14 . but god will give to him the throre of his father david , and he shall reign over the house of jacob forever ; and of his kingdom there shall be no end . qu. but who are the people that shall be gathered to him ? answ . the people that shall he●r his voice , and come at his call , that shall receive the instruction of wisdom , and feel the drawing power and virtue of the father , in the day of his power . it is written in the prophets , all thy children shall be taught of the lord. and every one that is taught and learneth of the father , cometh to the son , cometh to the messiah , cometh to the shiloh , to the word eternal , to the word of life in the heart . qu. was not the messiah promised to the jews , to come of them , and to be appropriated to them ? answ . he was promised to them , and to come of them , but not to be appropriated to them : but he was to be the universal saviour to all that should come under his ensign and banner . he shall set up an ensign for the nations , and he shall sprinkle many nations , &c. and god promised , that he would give his son ( his elect choice servant ) for a light to the gentiles . qu. were the jews then excluded ? answ . no : they were to be gathered to shiloh , as well as others ; nay , the lord had a special regard to them . the gospel was first preached to them . they had the first offer , or the first call to the spiritual glory . they were the children of the prophets , and of the covenant god made with their fathers ; unto whom god having raised up his son jesus , sent him to bless them , in turning away every one of them from their iniquities . and the whole nation , turning from their iniquities , should have been gathered by him , and should have enjoyed the blessing of his day and kingdom : yea , the first gathering was from among them , and the first glorious gospel-church was at jerusalem where the spirit and power of the lord jesus did most eminently and wonderfully break forth ; and great grace was upon them all . but the nation was not gathered to shiloh , nor did come under his scepter and government ; but only a remnant of the nation . so these being gathered , the rest were cast off ; and the ensign was carried among the gentiles , and the great gathering was there among them . qu. how is it manifest , that the great gathering to shiloh , was to be from among the gentiles ? answ . by many expess prophecies of scripture , and promises to the messiah , that he should have the gentiles for his inheritance and possession . vvhen god establisheth his king , the messiah , upon the holy hill of spiritual zion , notwithstanding all the heathens rage against him , and the people of the jews imagining a vain thing ( thinking to keep the body of him in the grave , who was the resurrection and the life ) what saith the lord to him ? ask of me , and i will give thee the heathen thine inheritance , and the uttermost parts of the earth thy possession , psalm 2. the lord said in another place , it is a light thing , that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of jacob , and to restore the preserved of israel ; i will also give thee for a light to the gentiles , that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth , isa . 49.6 . again the lord saith further , from the rising of the sun , even unto the going down of the same , my name shall be great among the gentiles ; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name , and a pure offering : for my name shall be great among the heathen ? saith the lord of hosts , mal. 1.11 . sing o barren , thou that didst not bear ; break forth into singing and cry aloud , thou that didst not travel with child ; for more are the children of the desolate th●n the children of the married wife , saith the lord , isa . 54.1 . who was the married wife , who was the mother in the dayes of the first covenant ? was it not the jerusalem below ; who was then desolate and barren ? was it not another jerusalem , which is free , and the mother of all the spiritual children ? why was she now to rejoyce and sing ? but because she was to break forth on the right hand and on the left , and her seed was to inherit the gentiles , and make the desolate cities to be inhabited , ver . 3. the covenant on mount sinai did bring forth a great people , whereof jerusulem that was below was the mother . the covenant afterwards made , besides that in horeb , whereof the word nigh in the heart and mouth is the foundation ( by which word god circumcifeth ) was , as yet barren , and did not bring forth a people to the lord. but this covenant was to have a time , the jerusalem above was to have a time , wherein her seed should inherit the gentiles ; and the maker the husband should be called the god of the whole earth , ver . 5. read gal. 4. and see how the apostle of the gentiles expounds this mystery , shewing which is the free woman and her free children ; and which is the bond woman , and which the bond children , who are cast out in the day of god , and in the shining of his heavenly light inwardly , and cannot inherit the glorious kingdom of the gospel , with the children of the free woman . and consider , who were the people in the time of the first covenant ? vvho obtained mercy then ? vvere they not the jews ? and who were not a people , and who did not ob●ain mercy , but were left out of the love and mercy of the first covenant ? vvere they not the gentiles ? and did not the lord promise , that he would have mercy on them that had not obtained mercy ; and that he would say to them that were not his people , thov art my people , and they shall say , my god , hos . 2.23 . compared vvith rom. 9.26 . vvas not this once gloriously fulfilled in the first visitation of the gentiles ? and is it not again gloriously fulfilled in his novv visiting them again vvith the fresh sound of the everlasting gospel , as vvas promised , rev. 14.7 . o vvhat a promise is that , concerning the day of god , that in that day there shall be a root of jesse , which shall stand for an ensign of the people , to it shall the gentiles seek , and his rest shall be glorious , isa . 11.10 . is not this the day wherein the holy mountain is known and that nothing can hurt or destroy there ? and doth not the knowledge of the lord cover his land , his earth , as the vvaters do the sea ? and doth not the root of jesse the rock of life and salvation , stand for an ensign , placed so by god , and who can displace it , or shake them that are built on the inward mount zion ? yea , is not the rest of the weary soul , when 〈◊〉 comes hither , found to be very glorious ? and when this ensign is more fully lifted up , shall not the gentiles more abundantly come unto god , from the ends of the earth , and bewail their dead and estranged estate from god ( saying , surely our fathers inherited vanity , and things wherein is no profit , jer. 16·19 . ) and shall they not turn from all their idols , to serve the living god ? thes . 1.9 . and concerning the messiah it vvas promised , that in his name should the gentiles trust , and the isles should vvait for his lavv , and he should bring forth judgment to the gentiles , isa . 42.11 . vvith mat. 12.21 . but vvhat should i mention any more scriptures unto you concerning this thing , vvhenas ye have so large , full , certain and daily experience of it , in that vvhich is pure and living of god , which never deceived nor can deceive any ; for ye are begotten , by his spirit , into his own image and nature , and have received the spirit of adoption , where●n ye cry abba , father , to the father of spirits . he found you , indeed , in a strange land , under great captivity and alienation ftom him . ye have been in egypt , in sodom , in babylon spiritually : but the mercy of the lord hath followed you thither , and the arm of the lord hath reached to you there , and hath cut rahab , and wounded the dragon : yea , he whom the lord hath given for a light to the gentiles , hath shined to you there , in the midst of your darkness . so that god sent among you the prophet like unto moses ( though far above moses ) and hearing him , he led you out of egypt , and by the rod of his power did signs and wonders and valiant acts there , breaking that power , which with a strong hand held you captive there , and oppressed you . and ye have known the travel , trials and temptations in the spiritual wilderness , and the falling of the carcases which were to fall there , and the holy leading by the pillar of cloud and fire through all the entanglements and dangers therein . yea , and the faithful among you , the tried and prepared among you , have passed over jordan ( the river of pure judgment into the good land , and come to witness david and solomon ( who are one in spirit ) your king , who rules in righteousnes , and ministers to you peace everlasting . and ye have an high-priest there , not after the order of aaron , but after the order of melchizedeck , who is made the everlasting high-priest of god , not after the law of a carnal commandment , but after the power of an endless life , whose lips preserve the knowledge of the law for you , in that endless power of life ; who ministers for you & to you in that endless power , and intercedes with power and efficacy , and sprinkles the blood of the covenant upon you , vvhich takes avvay sin from your hearts & consciences . so that ye knovv the invvard jew's state , the invvard holy land and kingdom , the inward circumcision , before ye enter into that land ; and the inward lamb , the inward passeover , the inward mount zion and jerusalem ; the inward sacrifices and incense , the inward tabernacle , temple and ark of the covenant , the inward table of shew-bread , the inward manna , the inward rod that buddeth , the inward candlestick , and the lamps , which are never to go out in god's temple . and what should i say more ? all that that people were to be outwardly , in an outvvard vvay and state , hath god made you invvardly in the substance : and what god would have been to them outvvardly , had they obeyed his voice , and kept his statutes and judgments ; that he is to you invvardly , vvho are the called , and chosen , and faithful followers of the lamb : and ye are the enjoyers of their b●essings and promises inwardly . o the glory of your state , to the eye that is opened to see it ! now somewhat doth remain on my heart unto you . o be daily sensible of the tender goodness and mercy of the lord , which is broke forth among you . what mercy , what love hath the father shewn unto you , that ye should be thus accounted the children of god! that they which were once nigh , should be removed so far off ; and ye whi●h were so far off , should be brought so nigh , and should forever inherit the sure mercies of david ! for , of a truth , the lord will never forsake you ; but his mercy endures forever towards you , and your stakes shall never be removed : but this inward building shall stand forever . this zion is the place of god's rest , where he will dwell forever , whereof the outward zion was but a figure . 2 dly , remember what the lord promised himself concerning you . when he vvas vveary of that people , and continually complaining of them ; o vvhat did he promise himself concerning the people he vvould bring forth , by the spirit and povver of the messiah , in the latter dayes ! did he not promise himself , that they should be an holy people , an invvardly circumcised people , a people that should please him ; sheep that should hear the shepherd's voice , and be healed by him , gathered home to him , and so follovv and learn of him the shepherd ; that they should all know him , from the least to the greatest ; and that he would forgive their sins , and heal their backslidings , and they should not return to folly or backslide any more ; as the children after the flesh alwayes did ? is not this the people , whom indeed god hath formed for himself , who shall shew forth his praise ? 3 dly , remember what a covenant god hath prepared to make with you , as ye incline your ears to him , and are led by him , into the holy agreement with him ; even a cevenant which is not weak , as the old covenant vvas , but is full of virtue and vigour , to enable you to do whatever god requires of you . mark what it contains , putting god's fear into you : not the fear which is taught by man's precepts , vvhich man may get into hi● carnal mind ; but vvhich god places as the trasury of life in the heart , as it is vvritten , the fear of the lord is his treasure , isa . 33.6 . and , o vvho knovvs the preciousness of this treasure ! hovv it cleanseth the heart and keepeth it clean , and will not suffer the mind that is seasoned with it and kept to it , to depart from the living god! it fenceth from unbelief , it fenceth from disobedience , it will not suffer the soul so much as to meddle with any appearance of evil. o precious , glorious , blessed treasure ! happy is the man● that feareth alwayes with this fear ! another precious thing this covenant contains , is . the law written in the heart , that it shall be as near yea , nearer then sin is , in the heart that is made tender , and hath the law of the spirit of life written in it . who knows what it is to have the law of love the law of life , the law of the spirit , the law of faith the law of new obedience livingly written by god in his heart ! surely none can , but they in whom god writes it ! and such cannot but desire to have it written in their hearts , by his blessed finger , daily more and more . but this covenant contains yet more , even the putting of his own spirit within them , to be a fountain of life there , a fountain of strength and wisdom there , to make them more and more willing in the day of his power , and to cause them to walk in his wayes , and keep his statutes and judgments and do them , that the lord their god may bless them and delight in them . o who would not long after , and take up the cross and shame , to enjoy the glory of this state ! o what hath god done for a poor despised remnant among the gentiles ! o who would not desire to keep this blessed covenant with the lord , that he might fully enjoy the lord that the marriage with the maker might be witnessed , in his loving-kindness & everlasting righteousness , and all unrigteousness and uncleanness might be put away , removed and separated from the heart forever . ah the virgin-spirit , which the lamb loves , and delights to marry with ! he that is joyned to the lord is one spirit , and he must part with all that is old , evil , unclean and corrupt in him , that would be joyned to the lord , and become one spirit with him . o who would lose the precious fear of the covenant , which is clean and endureth forever , and keepeth clean and chast to the lord forever ! and who vvould miss of one lavv , which god hath to write in the hearts of his children , when every law is a law of life , and changeth the mind into the nature of the law-giver ! and who would grieve god's spirit , which is our comforter ? or quench that which kindles the pure flame of love and life in our hearts ? much less can any of his dear and tender children be willing to vex him , by manifest carelesness and disobedience , who giveth us to drink of the river of his pleasures ! o my dear friends , ye do not know the great travail of my heart , that all the children of the lord might walk before him in all well-pleasing , that we might come all into covenant , into the full covenant , and walk fully with him in the covenant , that his anger might be forever turned away from us all , and he might never be wroth with nor rebuke any of us any more . it is written on my heart , the breaking forth of this glory would reach the jews . and though they be cast off , as to their outward state , and not so to be owned , or come into that glory any more , yet there is a day of mercy and love for them , as to that inward state of life and redemption , which their outward state typified : and the breaking forth of the full glory of the gentiles , and the manifestation of god's mighty power and presence with them ( they being made by god a people to him , and so walking with god , as none possibly can , but those , who are created anew and so made by him ) this might provoke the jews ( the poor scattered forsaken jews ) to seek after the lord their god , and david their king , inwardly to be revealed in them , and rule among them . the lord god of our life and tender mercies , carry on to perfection this blessed work of his , which he hath so mightily begun , and so mightily hitherto carried on ; and keep us in the sense of his good spirit , and in tender and holy subjection thereto , and in unity together in the life , wherein we have been gathered and preserved , and in pure judgment over all the workings of the enemy every where , and in the gospel-love one to another , and to all men , even our greatest enemies , that we may seek the good of all men , even the rescuing and preserving all out of sin and wrath , as much as in us is possible , that the pure light , wherewith our god and heavenly father hath enlightned us , may shine in us , and the life wherewith he hath ●uickned us , may live in us , and we may feed on nothing but life , and grow in nothing but life and truth , to the great glory of our heavenly father , and to the great joy of our hearts , amen . a few words to england my native country . o land of my nativity , o my dear country-men , the pure power of the lord is upon me , and the springs of life open in me ; and among many other things , i am melted in love and desires after your welfare : and this is in my heart to say to you . if i now testifie to you in truth , of a pearl , a heavenly pearl , an everlasting pearl ; will ye not hear me ? if i tell you , your heart is the field , or earth , wherein it is hid ; will ye not consider of it ? if the everlasting gospel be preached again , which contains true tidings of redemption from sin ; will ye not listen after it ? if the kingdom of god , and righteousness of christ , be to be revealed within ; would ye not willingly learn to wait for it there , and beg of god that the eye may be opened in you , which alone can see it , when it doth appear . indeed god's visitation is upon this nation , in an especial manner ; his light and power is breaking forth in it , against the darkness and power of the spirit of satan , which hath captivated and still captivateth many . ye desire outward liberty , and the enjoyment of your outward rights ; would ye not be free inwardly ? free from the base , earthly , selfish nature and spirit , which man fallen from god , and the glory wherein he created him , is degenerated into ? oh , is not the power of god , and life of christ able to restore man to this ? he that created man at first so glorious , in his own image ; is he not able to create him anew ? oh hear , my dear countrymen ; the power is revealed , which createth anew ; and they that receive it , and are as clay in the hands of the great potter , given up to be formed by it , are daily created ( by the operation of it ) anew , into an holy , heavenly , innocent , living , tender , righteous frame day by day ; and are made willing , daily more and more to be the lord's , in this day of his power ; and do receive power to become sons , and strength against their souls enemies : and the glorious work of redemption , which god hath begun in them , the arm of his strength mightily carrieth on in them , to their comfort , and his everlasting praise . there is a spiritual egypt and sodom , as well as there was an outward ; and there is a spiritual wilderness , and canaan also and the arm of god's power inwardly and spiritually hath been revealed in this spiritual egypt , wilderness and canaan , as really as ever it was in the outward . do ye not read of a jew-inward , and a circumcision-inward , and the leaven-inward , and keeping the feast of unleavened bread , even of bread that is not leavened with sin ? and he that eats of this unleavened bread , it unleavens him of sin , and leavens him with life and holiness : for it is an holy bread , and a living bread. this is the bread which comes down from heaven , which they that feed upon live , and they that live feed upon . and though they be many , yet feeding upon this bread , they become come one bread one living body . consisting of a living head , and living members ; for the same life and pure heavenly nature , which is in the head , is communicated by him to the members . but how shall we find this , may some say ? i will tell you how we found it , and here none can miss of it , that sweep the house and make a diligent and faithful search after it . that in the heart of man , which turns against sin , discovers sin , draws from sin , wherein god ministers help against sin , that is it . that is the pearl hid , that is the kingdom hid , in that is the righteousness of god revealed from faith to faith , in all that receive and give up to this holy leaven . this is of the nature of god and christ , this is a measure of his light , of his pure life , this is the law and commandment everlasting , which god writes in the hearts of the spiritual israel , for the inward jew hath inward tables , where the inward law is w●it , for the inward eye to read . o how nigh is god inwardly , to the inward people , in this our day ! o the pure glory is broke forth ! but , alas , men are in their several sorts of dreams , and take no notice of it . what shall the lord do to awaken this nation ? in what way shall his power appear , to bring down unrighteousness , and to bring up righteousness in the spirits of people ? do ye not think the lord hath been at work , and is still at work ? how could deceit be so wasted inwardly , and truth so grown inwardly , and overspread more and more , and gain ground in the nation , if the hand and power of the lord were not with it , blessing it . o take notice of the handy-work of the lord , ye children of men , and wait to feel truth near , and to partake of the living virtue and power of it ; that ye may feel your hearts creating anew , and the old heavens and earth may inwardly pass away , wherein dwells unrighteousness and the new heavens and the new earth may be inwardly witnessed , wherein dwells righteousness . o that this nation might become a paradise of god! o that every one might be sensible of his presence , and power , and kingdom , and righteous government inwardly in the heart , from the king that sits on the throne , to the begger on the dunghil . surely man was not made for himself ! surely he was not made such a creature as now he is ! but in the holy image of god , with love in his heart to god above all , and to his neighbour as to himself . o what are the religions and professions of several sorts , where this love is not found ! the lord is restoring his image , and bringing forth the true , pure religion again . the pearl , the truth contains & comprehends it . o buy the pearl , o buy the precious truth : sel all that is contrary to it for it ; take up the cross to all that is evil in thee , as the light in thee maketh it manifest , and thou shalt have the free possession of it in thy heart , and feel it a root of life , a treasure of life , a well of life , out of which the living water will be daily springing up in thee , unto life everlasting , amen . the 22d of the 7th mon. 1676. three queries upon three verses of the 46th psalm . verse 4. there is a river , the streams whereof shall make glad the city of god ; the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. query 1. which is the river , and what are the streams thereof , which make glad the city of god ? and which is the city of god which they make glad ? which are the tabernacles of the most high , and which is the holy place of those tabernacles ? o my dear country-men , that every one in this nation did understand and enjoy these thing ! for the lord is ready to beget a will , to beget a thirst in the hearts of the children of men : and whosoever thirsteth , whosoever will , is called to the waters , and may come to the waters , and take of the water of life freely , ( isa . 55.1 . rev. 22.17 . ) yea , to the full satisfaction of their souls . for indeed this is the day of god's power , wherein he doth make his people willing to come to him , and to abide with him the fountain of living waters : and those that do come to him , and abide with him , he abundantly satisfieth with the fatness of his house , and giveth them to drink of the river of his pleasures , psal . 36.8 , 9. mark , god is the fountain of living waters , with him is the fountain of life , a river of pleasures , a river whose streams make glad the whole city , even the holy place of all the tabernacles of the most high : and he giveth his citizens to drink of it ; and whoever drinketh of it , it maketh them glad , it refresheth their life . o that more knew what this means . ver. 5. god is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved : god shall help her , and that right early , or when the morning appeareth , or from the morning appearing . qu. 2. how is god in the midst of this city ? ( is it not more gloriously , in an inward way , then ever he was in the temple in the outward jerusalem , in an outward way ? ) how is she built ? how is she founded and scituated ? how comes it about , that she shall not be moved ? how is god her refuge and strength , and present help in time of trouble ? after what manner doth god arise inwardly and scatter his enemies ? how doth the morning light help her ! after what manner , when the enemy cometh in like a flood , doth the spirit of the lord lift up a standard against him ? ah , blessed are they that know , and experience , and live in the enjoyment of these things . o that this whole nation did so . were it not worth the suffering of much , the denying of much , and the bearing of much judgment to come to this ? ver. 10. be still , and know that i am god : i will be exalted among ( or in ) the heathen : i will be exalted in the earth . qu. 3. what is that stilness , wherein god is known to be god ; not outwardly in notion , but inwardly in the heart ? vvhat is that silence of mind , wherein god teacheth his israel in the new covenant to know him as he is ; even all of them , from the greatest to the least ? how will god come to be exalted in the heathen , and in the earth ? is it not by the light of his day breaking forth and shining in them ? vvhere this day breaks forth in any heart , doth it not bteak down and destroy the kingdom of darkness inwardly ? and doth not the king of glory consume the man of sin , the wicked one that was exalted in the temple before ( which temple belonged of right to god ) with the spirit of his mouth , and destroy him with the brightness of his coming , or appearing , isa . 11.4 . 2 thes . 2.8 . then is the day known , vvherein the lord alone is exalted . o that this day vvere more knovvn , and the lord , vvho is indeed vvorthy , vvere more exalted , and all flesh become his foot-stool forever ! concerning the true church and ministry under the gospel , and the maintenance thereof , some few questions answered in truth and plainness of heart , and left to the witness and testimony of god in other mens consciences . question 1. which is the true church , or the gospel-church , or he church , according to the new covenant ? for ●here was an old covenant , and a church according to that under the law : and there ●s a new covenant , and a church according to that under the gospel . answ . for the clearing of this , to the hearts and consciences of people , let us enquire and consider what the new covenant is , and then it will more easily appear , which is the church according to the new covenant . the new covenant according to plain scripture , and according to manifest experience , ●n this blessed day of the shining of the gospel-light in mens heatts , is a covenant o● god's putting his law in the inward parts o● people , and writing it in their hearts ; and of his becoming their god , & making ●hem hi● people , and of teaching th●m all to know him ( inwardly and experimentally ) from the least to the greatest , and of being merciful to their unrighteousness , and remembring thei● sins and iniquities no more , jer. 31.33 , 34 ▪ heb. 8.10 , 11 , 12. now if this be the new covenant , the covenant of the gospel-church , then they are the gospel-church , who are the people o● god according to this covenant ; who have the law put by god into their inward parts and writ in their hearts ; and so according to this law and covenant , have god to b● their god , and are his people , and are taugh● by him to know him ( as it is written , all th● children shall be taught of the lord , isa . 54.13 & john 6 45. ) and whose unrighteousnes● god hath been merciful to , and whose sins and iniquities he remembereth no more , being washed away from their consciences by the blood of the everlasting covenant , which th● blood of bulls and goats could never do . s● that this is the new testament-church ( o● gospel-church ) a church of jews inward a● the law-church was a church of jews outward : a church of inward worshippers , o● worshippers in spirit and in truth , john 4.23 . as the law-church was a church of worshippers outward : a church of inward circumcised ones , as the law-church was a church of outwardly circumcised ones , rom. 2.29 . a church of such as are inwardly holy , as the law-church was to be a church of such as were outwardly holy : a church of such as offer inward incense and sacrifices , as the law-church was a church of such as offered outward incense and sacrifices : a church of inwardly redeemed ones , from the inward , egypt , from the inward darkness and power of satan , as the law-church was a church of such as were redeemed from the outward egypt , and the povver of pharaoh outvvard : a church that hath the invvard ark , ( rev. 11.19 . ) the invvard presence , the invvard manna , &c. as the outvvard church of the jews had the outvvard . qu. 2. which is the true gospel-ministry , and who are the true gospel-ministers ? answ . those vvhom christ sends forth , in the spirit and povver of his father , to gather and build up this church . christ had all power in heaven and earth given him , even to ths very end , to gather , defend and build up his church . and he bid his apostles vvait for the same povver , and sends forth his ministers in the same povver ; that they may be able ministers of the gospel , vvhich is not vvords but povver , even the povver of god unto salvation , rom. 1.16 . the nevv covenant stands is not in letter , but in spirit and povver and they that are the ministers of it , must receive life , spirit and povver from christ ( the head ) and minister in that spirit , life and povver to the members ; or they cannot nourish and build them up : yea , they must preach and minister to the vvorld in it , or they are not able to gather out of the vvorld into it . christ the lord o● his church , the foundation of life in his church , the everlasting rock , is a living stone , and his church is built of lively stones : and hovv can any minister life unto them , or build them up in the life , spirit and power ; but who a●e in the life , spirit and power , and who receive life , spirit and power from the head , to furthe , quicken and build up the living members with ? the milk , which nourisheth the living babe , is living , which must come pure from the breast of life , and not be mixed with man's vvisdom or brain-inv●ntions , or it cannot yield pure nourishment . vvhat then must the bread and vvine , and vvater of the kingdom be , whereon the children and heirs of the kingdom must feed , or they cannot be satisfied ? and the ministers of the gospel are stewards of this heavenly life , this heavenly spirit , this heavenly power , this heavenly treasure , which they have in the earthen vessels , and which god enables them to bring forth , for the feeding of his lambs and sheep . christ said unto peter , lovest thou me more then these ? peter answered him , yea lord , thou knowest that i love thee . if it be so , feed my lambs , feed my sheep said christ to him . but how should he feed them ? in what should he feed them ? vvith what should he feed them ? all power , saith christ , is given me in heaven and in earth , and i am to ascend to my father , and to receive the fulness of his spirit ; and do ye wait , and ye shall receive abundantly of the same spirit and power , and then in that spirit and power ye shall be able to feed my lambs and sheep , that are begotten and gathered to me in it : but out of it none is able to feed and build them up ; for that is the very thing they are to be fed with , and built up in· indeed a man may be a minister of the letter , a minister of the law , without the spirit and power , but of he gospel he cannot possibly ; for that consists not in letter , but in spirit , 2 cor. 3. and the faith that is to be begotten there , is not to stand in the vvisdom of man , but in the power of god. the gospel-state , the gospel-church , the gospel-building begins in the power , and is carried on in the power , and finished or perfected in the power , and the whole ministry of the gospel is to partake of this power , and minister in it , or they can do nothing in this work . christ jesus our lord begun it in this power , and none can carry it on without this power . the lord god of glory laid the foundation ; behold i lay in zion for a foundation , &c. isa . 28.16 . 1 pet. 2.4 , 5 , 6. and the quickning spirit alone is able to make living stones , and spiritual stones ; and the lord alone is able to build them up , by the operation of this spirit and power ; and they that are the true ministers of the gospel , minister in this : and are to wait for it daily from god , that they may minister in it . qu. 3. what is the maintenance of the ministers of christ , or what is to be the maintenance of the true ministers under the gospel ? answ . christ , who hath sent them forth to minister in his name , hath provided for them ; & they that are his true ministers , are satisfied with what he hath provided for them , mat. 10.10 . being careful not to make the gospel , which is to be an inward blessing , outwardly chargeable to any . the mind of the true ministers is about the service of christ , how they may be faithful to him , gather souls to him , feed them with the bread of life from him ; not what they shall have from men , for so doing ; for such covet no man's gold or silver , &c. some question answered concerning the lambs war. question 1 who is the lamb ? answ . h● that takes away the sins of the world . the word which was in the beginning behold the lamb of god , said john , john 1.1 . & ver . 29. he ●hat was born of the virgin mary after the flesh ; and was also the man-child , born of ●he travelling-church , after the spirit . rev. 12.5 . qu. 2. who makes war with the lamb ? answ all that are in wickedness , in darkness , in sin and corruption , and under the power thereof , who strive to defend and maintain this kingdom against the appearance of his light , spirit and power in them . qu. 3. what strength have they on their side , that make war against the lamb ? answ . the strength of the great red dragon , who hath seven heads and ten horns : and in every one of his heads is wisdom , and in every one of his horns there is power . so that dreadful is the battel that is fought between them , either inwardly in the heart , or outwardly in the vvorld , when christ appears in his light , spirit and power to assault and break down the kingdom of darkness , and to set up his own kingdom , which must be set up , even in the vvorld , dan. 7.14.27 . rev. 11 , 15. qu. 4 did the great red dragon and his army , never ( in no respect ) prevail in this battel ? answ . yes ; for even while the lamb , and his pure life and holy testimony have prevailed , so that the dragon and his army could get no ground over them inwardly ; but salvation ( the wall and bulwark of god's heritage ) and strength , and the kindom of god , and the power of his christ did prevail inwardly ; yet the dragon , even then hath prevailed over their goods , liberties and lives outwardly : and he drove the vvoman , the true church out of her place , as i may say , that she was forced to fly into the vvilderness , he so sorely assaulting her : yea , after that also , he made vvar with the remnant of her seed , and cast some of them into prison , and drunk the blood of those that would not drink his false church's cup , but keep the commandments of god , and have the testimony of jesus , rev. 12. & chap. 2.10 . yea the beast , to which he gave his power ( which had seven heads and ten horns like him , chap. 13.1 . ) made vvar with the saints , and over came them outwardly , though he could not overcome them inwardly ; for he could not make them to worship him , ver . 7 , 8. nay , nor the second beast neither , though he had horns like a lamb , and spake like a dragon , and exercised all the power of the first beast , and did great wonders , and had power to give life unto the image of the former beast , and would kill all that would not worship the image of the beast ; and would suffer none to buy or sell , but such as had the mark or name of the beast : yet neither could this beast overcome the followers of the lamb , as to their inward life and testimony , though it had power to kill and suppress them outwardly , ver . 11. to the end , & chap. 14.9 . to ver . 13. which plainly shews the saints had patience , and kept the commandments of god and the faith of jesus , and would not worship the beast and his image , nor receive his mark , either in forehead or hand . qu. 5. what was the cry up and down nations , when the dragon and the beast thus prevailed , and when the false church carried her cup of fornications up and down through kingdoms and nations , and made the kings and inhabitants of the earth drink thereof ; and who would not drink thereof she would not let them buy nor sel , but impoverish , imprison them , and drink their blood ? rev. 17.2 . & 6. answ . the cry every where was , who is like unto the beast ? who is able to make war with the beast ? indeed , there appeared no power any where , able to withstand or resist this power , which the dragon had , who gave it both to the beast which arose out of the sea , and to the beast which arose out of the earth ; both which joyned together , to persecute all that would not drink of the false church its cup , which was golden without , but full of abomination , and filthiness of fornication ( fornicating from the holy life , spirit and power of the lamb inwardly who is the head of the true church , and true worshippers , rev. 13.4 . & chap. 17.4 5. qu. 6. what is the time of the dragon 's , the beast's and false church thus prevailing against the true church , in reference to the outward , though they cannot prevail against its inward life and testimony ; but that ( through patience and suffering● ) prevails over and reigns inwardly , in the midst of all their cruelty and oppressing of the outward man ? answ . it is the time of antichrist's reign , and sitting in the temple as if he were god , and exalting himself over all that is called god , and which ought to be worshipped . it is the time of the true church its being in the vvilderness , and of the man-child's ( which the true church brought forth ) being caught up to god , which things were to last , according to scripture account , 1260. dayes , or a time , times and half a time , 2 thes . 2.3.4 . rev. 12.6.14 . qu. 7. what will the lamb do , when this time is out ? answ . he will come and make vvar again , he will come with his heavenly armies , armed with spiritual armour , and fight an heavenly battel ; yea , he will judge and make vvar in righteousness , against the unrighteousness of the dragon , and the beast , and the false prophet ; and his heavenly armies shall follow him their captain and leader , on white horses , clothed in fine linnen , white and clean ; who shall fight in his spirit and power , against all that he fighteth against : and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword , that with it he should smite the nations ; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron , and make the spirits of all his opposers bow under him , and fly to shelter themselves from that vvrath which they cannot escape ▪ o who would not kiss the son , that he might not provoke the lamb to vvrath against him , whose vvrath is dreadful ! rev. 19.11 . to the end , psalm 2.11 . qu· 8. what shall the cry be , when god's spirit and power prevaileth over the dragon's spirit and ●nd power , when the lamb gets the victory , when he smites the earth with the rod of his mouth , and with the breath of his lips shall slay the wicked ; when he brings down the dragon , beast and false prophet , and the false church mother of harlots ( which hath drunk the blood of his saints ) with his vials , plagues , woes , thunders , & c ? when babylon the great city falls , which made all nations drunk with her spiritual wine of fornication ? answ . then the power , which doth this , shall be magnified . then it shall be said no more , who can make war with the beast ? but who can withstand this power ? who can make war with the innocent , righteous lamb ( who hath his sword in his mouth ) and with his tender-hearted , faithful followers , and prosper ? who shall not fear thee o lord , and glorifie thy name : for all nations shall come and worship before thee ; for thy judgments are made manifest . great and marvelous are thy works , lord god almighty , just and true are thy wayes , thou king of saints , rev. 15.3 , 4. yea , a great voice of much people in heaven shall say , allelujah , salvation , and glory , and honour , and power unto the lord our god : for true and righteous are his judgments ▪ for he hath judged the great whore , which did corrupt the earth with her fornication , and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her , hand , chap. 19. ver . 1.2 . now doth it not concern all people to consider , which is zion god's holy mountain , and which is the jerusalem of his building , the holy city of god , the holy church of god , the mother of all the truly living children ; for the jerusalem which is above and which is free , is the mother of them all , gal. 4.26 . and also which is babylon , the city built by man , and the spirit of antichrist , in a kind of likeness , but not in the real nature of the true church , that they may wait for and follow god's call to come out of her , and may not partake of her sins , of her sorceries ( rev. 18.22 . ) of her fornication from the pure life , spirit and power , and seting up worships , and compelling people to worship in her forms ( which are out of the life , and out of the power ) that they partake not of her plagues ; which will indeed be very dreadful , such as shall affright any from coming near her , or medling with her spiritual sorceries and fornications any more , rev. 18.4 . & ver . 9 , 10. o therefore let every one consider what the beast is , what his image , what the mark in the forehead what in the right hand ; and take heed he be not found worshipping the beast and his image , or receiving his mark , either in his forehead or right hand ; lest god make him to drink of the wine of his wrath , which is poured out without mixture , into the cup of his indignation , and he be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels , and in the presence of the lamb , and have no rest day nor night , rev. 14.9 , 10 , 11. i had rather run great hazards outwardly , and suffer much affliction and persecution from men , to keep my soul true to god ; in the spiritual worship and testimony , which he hath given me , against all false wayes and invented worships , then expose my soul to the hazard of drinking of this dreadful cup of god's indignation , which the lord god of tender mercies , teach men and give them true vvisdom to avoid and escape , amen . the conclusion . behold my servant shall deal prudently he shall be exalted and extolled , and be very high . as many were astonied at thee ; ( his visage was so marred more then any man , and his form more then the sons of men ) so shall he sprinkle many nations ; the kings shall shut their mouthes at him : for that which had not been told them , shall they see ; and that which they had not heard , shall they consider , isa . 52.13 , 14 , 15 ▪ thou art fairer then the children of men : grace is poured into thy lips ; therefore god hath blessed thee forever . gird thy sword upon thy thigh , o most mighty ; with thy glory and thy majesty . and in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth , and meekness , and righteousness , and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things . thine arrows are sharp in the hearts of the king's enemies , whereby the people shall fall under thee . thy throne o god is forever and ever : the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter . thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness , therefore god , thy god hoth anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows , psalm 45. ver . 2. to 8. strengthen ye the weak hands , and confirm the feeble knees : say to them that are of a fearful heart , be strong , fear not ; behold , your god will come with vengeance , even god with a recompence , he will come and save you . then the eyes of the blind shall be opened , and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped . then shall the lame man leap as an hart , and the tongue of the dumb sing ; for in the wilderness shall waters break out , and streams in the desert . and the parched ground shall become a pool , and the thirsty land springs of water : in the habitation of dragons , where each lay , shall be grass with reeds and rushes . and an high-way shall be there , and a way , and it shall be called the way of holiness , the unclean shall not pass over it , but it shall be for those : the wayfaring men though fools , shall not err therein . no lyon shall be there , nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon , it shall not be found there : but the redeemed shall walk there . and the ransomed of the lord shall return and come to zion with songs , and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness , and sorrow and sighing shall flee away , isa . 35. ver . 3. to the end . blessed be the lord god of life forever , ●hese scriptures and many more , are sweet●y and preciously fulfilled in the hearts of a remnant , in this our day . they were once ▪ in a degree ) fulfilled , in the day of the ap●earance of the word of life , in the prepa●ed body of flesh . they were again mo●e ge●erally fulfilled , in the day of the pouring ●ut of his spirit , and gathering a people to ●im , both from among the jews and gentiles . ●hom he did sprinkle with his holy life , spi●it and power . and they are again fulfilled ●n the hearts of many , after the long night of darkness , and great and large apostacy from ●he spirit and power of the apostles . blessed , o blessed be the lord , the sun of righ●eousness hath again shone forth , and appeared inwardly in a glorious , living , powerful manner , to them that have feared his name ; and he hath been a god of vengeance to the man of sin , yea , to all that was dark , fleshly and corrupt in them ; and a god of mercy and tender bowels , to those which pan●●● after and waited for his salvation : and the healing virtue , from under the vvings of the saviour , and the holy anointing hath dropped upon the eyes of the blind the pu●e eye-salve , and they have been opened ; and the ears of the deaf , by the voice of the son of god , have been unstopped ; and the inwardly and spiriually lame have leaped as an hart ; and the tongue , which could not name god in truth and righteousness , but hath been dumb before him , and before men also , could not but sing , because of the breaking forth of the vvaters and streams of life upon the thirsty land and parched ground , making them a pool and springs of water : vvhich land , which thus is changed from its wilderness and parched state , into an holy , fresh and living state , the dragons do not lodge in , nor is it any more an habitation or cage for unclean & noisom birds ( as great professing babylon the mother of harlots , with all her fleshly , professing-daughters is ) but life dwells there ; the holy one is in the midst of this land , & it brings forth the fruits of life and righteousness , to the righteous & holy one . and here the king of glory's high-way , even the way of holiness is known ; which none , but those whom he makes holy can walk in . let men profess what they will , yet being unclean in heart and coversation , they cannot pass over to come into this way ; but the holy , they which are made holy by god , and keep to , live in , and follow that which is holy , though way faring men , and though otherwise fools ; yet they shall not err here , but be preserved by the holy power , in the holy way , which is prepared and cast up for these . and as for that which would tear and destroy , it shall not be found on all that holy mountain , where these live and feed . yea , here is the house of god , and throne of god , and god the judge of all , and jesus the mediator of the new covenant , and the blood of sprinkling , where the ransomed of the lord enjoy the presence of the bridegroom , whom god hath set king , and who reigns on his holy hill of inward and spiritual zion , and causeth them to sing , who feel him reign ( even the everlasting seed of life to reign inwardly in the heart ) oh , everlasting joy is upon their heads ; they have obtained joy and gladness , and sorrow and sighing flees away , when the joy unspeakable and full of glory is felt springing in the heart , from the sense of the presence and enjoyment of the bridegroom ; for of a truth , the lord hath comforted zion , yea , he hath comforted many of her waste places ( he was angry with her daughters , before their filth was purged away by the spirit ●udgment and burning , since that time his anger hath been turned away , and he hath comforted them , isa . 12.1 . &c. ) and he hath made her wilderness , in many hear●s , like eden , and her desert like the garden of the lord ( even like the garden that he waters ) and how can joy and gladness but be found here , with thanksgiving and the voice of melody ? isa . 58.11 . & chap. 51.3 . thus it is with such of the gathered people and nation of the lord , that hearken and give ear to him , and have known the law of life to proceed out of his mouth , and his judgment to rest for a light , ver . 4. the end . the contents . first , a preface concerning god's visiting and appearing to his distressed people in this and other nations . ii. somewhat in the love of god to the iews natural , p. 1. iii. somewhat in the same love to the iews spiritual , p. 16. iv. a few words to england my native country , p. 31. v. three queries on three verses of psalm 46. p. 36. vi. some questions answered concerning the true church , ministry & maintenance , under the gospel , p. 39. vii . some questions answered touching the lamb's war. p. 45. viii . the conclusion , containing some precious scriptures concerning christ's inward appearance , and his powerful working against his enemies , and in and for his people , with some few words added thereupon . the true way to the tree of life, or, the natural man directed unto christ by fran. roberts ... roberts, francis, 1609-1675. 1673 approx. 245 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 95 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a57386) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57552) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1513:5) the true way to the tree of life, or, the natural man directed unto christ by fran. roberts ... roberts, francis, 1609-1675. [26], 163 p. printed by t.r. for geo calvert ..., london : 1673. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng salvation -early works to 1800. regeneration (theology) theology, doctrinal. 2003-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-06 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-06 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-08 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the true way to the tree of life : or , the natural man directed unto christ . by fran. roberts d. d. pastor of the church of christ at wrington in the county of somerset . john 14. 6. iesvs saith unto him ; i am the way , the truth , and the life : no man cometh unto the father , but by me . act. 16. 30 , 31. — sirs , what must i do to be saved ? and they said ; believe on the lord iesvs christ , and thou shalt be saved , and thine house . bernard . in iubilo , &c. p. 1659. antverp . 1616. jesu , decus angelicum , in auro d●sce canticum , in ore me● mirificum , in corde n●ctar coelicum : desidero te millies . mi jesu , quando venies ? me loetum quando facies ? me de te quando suties ? london , printed by t. r. for geo. cal●ert , at the golden ball in ●uck lane , 1673. the author 's epistolary exhortation , and paternal charge , unto his children . my dear and beloved children , what the apostle paul sometimes said with great affection touching israel , his brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh , that with like affection say i now touching you ; my hearts desire and prayer to god for you all is , that you may be saved a . o , that you might be so happy , as to hear that sweetest sentence of iesus christ at the last day , directed unto you among the rest of his elect sheep at his right hand ; come ye blessed of my father , inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world b . and that you may be where christ is ( which is far the best of all ) to behold his glory , and to be made conform to him in celestial glory for evermore c . but you had need deeply to consider , that there are very many , great , and dangerous impediments unto sinners eternal salvation ; without removal whereof , the salvation of poor souls will be rendered not only difficult , but utterly impossible . a few of these principal hindrances i shall briefly mention unto you for your information and instruction . that you may praise god for your deliverance from some of them : and pray to him for his effectual removal of all the rest in his due time . some grand hindrances of poor sinners salvation are these , viz. 1. the state of sin and misery , in which all mankind is involved by nature , through the fall of adam , the common root of all mankind d , whence , all are , by nature , dead in sins and trespasses , and children of wrath e . so that , they who are in the flesh , cannot possibly please god f . 2. man's general senslessness and ●in apprehensiveness by nature , of the sinfulness and wretchedness of his natural condition . all natural men being children of the night and of darkness g . having the understanding darkned , being alienated from the life of god through the ignorance that is in them , because of the blindness of their heart h . and from this senslesness of their natural malady , it comes to pass , that they are ( till god open their eyes , and awaken their consciences ) altogether regardless of the supernatural remedy . 3. a sinful course of life and wicked conversation , resulting from mens sinful state and condition . so that they walk according to the course of this world , according to the prince of the power of the air , the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience . — fulfilling the wills of the flesh and of the mind i . — and running to all excess of riot k . now these , and like ungodly waies will ( without true and timely repentance ) undoubtedly shut , all that walk therein , out of the kingdom of god for evermore l . 4. habitual hardness of heart and impenitency , which are most dangerous fore-runners of eternal death and destruction m : whereby all hardned and impenitent sinners do treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath , and reve●●tion of the righteous judgment of god n . 5. that grand soul-damning sin of vnbelief in iesus christ. of this the holy ghost peculiarly and principally convincingly reproves the world ; of sin , because they believe not in me , saith our saviour o . this sin he puts before others , saith augustine , as if it were the alone sin : because this sin remaining , the rest are detained ; and this departing , the rest are remitted p . vnbelief rejects iesus christ the onely saviour : how then is it possible the vnbelievers should be saved ? our blessed saviour himself hath declared most plainly ; that , he that believes not shall be damned , math. 16. 6. yea , that he is condemned already , because he hath not believed on the name of the onely begotten son of god. — that , he who believeth not the son should not see life , but the wrath of god abideth on him . iohn 3. 18. 36. & 8. and he placeth the unbelieving in that black catalogue , which shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone , which is the second death . rev. 21. 8. 6. the embracing of any false counterfeit and irreligious religions , whether through corrupt education and evil example of parents q , or through seducement of heretical impostors and false teachers r , or through the just judgment of god , 2 upon them that receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved , sending them strong delusions , that they should believe a lye , that they all may be damned who believe not the truth s . and chiefly such false counterfeit religions , which are most predominant and bear greatest sway in the world , are these four : viz. heathenism , mahume●ism , judaism , and antichristianism . by the poyson of which , it is much to be feared , far the greatest number of people in the whole world are deprived of salvation , and perish . as divers of our learned , orthodox , and religious authors t have demonstrated . 7. the false hypocritical and conterfeit entertaining of the onely true religion , viz. the christian religion , leaves men still in a state of damnation , though thereupon multitudes vainly presume and promise to themselves eternal salvation . as , when men make a profession of christianity , without a sincere suitable practice u : having lamps , without oyle . when they have onely a form of godliness , but deny the power thereof x . having a name to live , but are dead y . when they attain to a temporary faith , believing for a time , but in time of persecution falling away : become partakers of many common gifts and en dowments of the holy ghost , but of no true saving graces of the spirit : so that though they may have some flashes of joy in the use of gods ordinances , and may do many things , yet walk not , as the sincere saints , in all the commandements and ordinances of god blameless z . now such persons , being meer formal , not real christians indeed , remaining ●as most in the visible church do ) without effectual calling , conversion , regeneration , and true sanctification , cannot inherit the kingdom of god , as the holy scriptures do abundantly testifie a . now therefore , my beloved children , i earnestly exhort , charge and beseech you , by the mercies of god , as you tender the eternal welfare of your precious and immortal souls , as you desire to be found in iesus christ , and favour with god when you die , and as ever you hope to be set at christs right hand among his sheep , and to be sentenced by christ with them to his everlasting kingdom at that great and glorious day of his appearing : that you use all possible care , diligence , and endeavours , by the grace and assistance of the holy spirit of god , against all these fore-mentioned impediments unto salvation , and all such like , that they may be removed out of your way to happiness , and not be any hindrances at all to your eternal glory and salvation . and that this may be the more effectually enterprized and performed by you , let these ensuing instructions sink deep into your hearts , and be most studiously , seriously and sincerely pursued and practiced in your lives . viz. 1. be deeply and thoroughly convinced of the extream sinfulness and wretchedness of your natural state and condition in the first adam b . how you were shapen in iniquity , and conceived in sin c . yea , dead in sins and trespasses , and by nature children of wrath , even as others d . and , how from this original and vniversal corruption of your natures , your whole course of life is answerably corrupted also : every imagination of the thoughts of your hearts ( and consequently , every word of your mouths , and every action throughout your lives ) being evil , onely evil , continually evil , so long as you continue in your natural state and condition e . so then , while you remain in the flesh , you cannot please god f : nor can have an● actual hope of salvation g , upon any solid ground . 2. hence , you may evidently see , and must needs conclude ; that there is so great a necessity of a supernatural remedy , against this your natural state of sin and misery , and against all the sinfulness of your natural conversation , by the application of jesus christ unto your souls , and the effectual operation of his spirit to that end upon your hearts : that without such applying of christ by faith unto you h , and the operation of his spirit in and upon you , by effectual calling , conversion , regeneration , renovation and sanctification , you can never enter into the kingdom of god , and be eternally saved i . 3. therefore , see that ye come unto jesus christ by faith without delay , and receive him as your onely all-sufficient saviour , that is able to save you to the uttermost k ; accepting him upon his own terms of denying your selves , taking up your cross daily , and following him l . so iesus christ will be unto you , wisdom , to guide you in the way to heaven ; righteousness , to wash away all your sins by his bloud , and justifie you freely by his spotless righteousness imputed unto you ; sanctification , to furnish you sufficiently with all treasures of grace out of his fullness of grace ; and redemption , to deliver you from all your bondage under sin , satan , the curse of the law , the wrath to come , and all your spiritual enemies m . o , thrice happy , everlastingly happy shall you be , if once iesus christ become yours , and you his ! then you shall be espoused to the best husband in the world n ; the god and father of iesus christ will be your god and father o ; the spirit of christ will be your com●orter p ; the kingdom of heaven shall be your everlasting joynture q ; yea all things , the world , and life , and death , and things present , and things to come , all shall be yours r then , all things shall work-together for good unto you ; sickness as well as health , adversity as well as prosperity , death it self as well as life s . then , nothing in the world shall ever be able to separate you from the love of christ , or from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord t . then , no condemnation shall ever befall you in this or in the world to come u . o happy souls that ever you were born , if you be born again , and christ be formed in you ! christ is the desire of all nations x : let him be the desire of your souls . christ is the chief among ten thousand y : l●t him be the chief of your choice . christs mouth is sweetnesses , yea all of him is desires z : o let your hearts be even ravished with him at all times . say with that faithful minister and martyr of iesus christ , mr. john lambert , as he was now dying in the flames ; none but christ , none but christ a . in a word , i say to every one of you , as sometimes bernard said unto one sweetly ; let iesvs be alwaies in thine heart . — let him be unto thee thy meat and drink , thy sweetness and consolation , thy hony and thy desire , thy reading and thy meditation , thy prayer and thy contemplation , thy life and death , and thy resurrection b . for , christ is all in all c . 4. now , forasmuch as true saving faith in iesus christ is not of our selves , but the free gift of god d ; and ordinarily god is pleased to work it in the hearts of his elect , instrumentally , by the hearing of his word faithfully preached e , efficaciously , by the co-operation of his holy spirit f ; by which means also it is nourished and increased : therefore , be ye all of you diligent and constant hearers of the word of christ faithfully preached , applying things spoken particularly to your selves , treasuring them up in good and honest hearts , and bringing forth the suitable fruit thereof by an vpright practice in your lives g ; and take singular heed , that you never g●ieve , quench , or resist the operations , stirrings or motions of the spirit of god in the use of his word and ordinances , or at any other times h . for iesus christ , by his word and spirit especially , stands at the door of your hearts and knocks , and if any will open unto him , he will come in unto him , and sup with him and he with christ i . 5. for the increasing also of your inward peace , spiritual ioy and comfort , give all di●igence to make your calling and election sure k ; examining your selves frequently and seriously , whether jesus christ be in you yea or no l . but how shal● this be done ? by comparing your hearts , lives and experiences with the written word of god , through the assistance and guidance of gods holy spirit . for , to this end the word of god was written to us , and the spirit of god is given to us , that we may know the things that are freely given to us of god m , and that we may know that we have eternal life n . and for your more ready help in this weighty business , you may make use of many characters , marks , or notes of tryal , which i have at large laid down in sundry of my printed books o , which you have by you . take heed you be not strangers to your own hearts , and spiritual states . 6. as you have received jesus christ the lord , so walk in him : rooted , and built up in him , and established in the faith † . be not christians only in name and outward shew , but inwardly , sincerely , and in good earnest . so live and walk , as christ in his word hath directed you to walk . denying ungodliness and worldly lusts [ even all sins against the first and second table , ] living soberly [ towards yourselves ] , righteously [ towards man ] , and godly [ towards the lord ] , in this present world p . observe and keep all his commandements q . yield and present your selves , both souls and bodies living sacrifices unto him r . whether you live , live unto the lord ; or whether you dye , dye unto the lord ; that whether you live or dye , you may be the lords s . so live and walk also as christ hath given you an example . walk as christ walked t . walk in love , as christ hath loved us , and hath given himself for us , a sacrifice , an offering unto god , for a sweet smelling savour u . walk in love towards iesus christ , as to love him beyond father , mother , sister , brother , or your own dearest lives x : for , he hath loved us , and washed us from our sins in his own blood y . walk in all well doing as christ went about , doing good every where z : and imitate him also in innocent and patient suffering for well doing , commit●ing your selves and your cause to him that judgeth righteously a ; for herein he hath left us an example that we should follow his steps . 7. remember the lords-day-sabbath , the first day of the week , ( unto which the seventh-day-sabbath was translated by the authority of christ as appears by the after observation of that day by the apostles and apostolical churches , ) to keep it holy b . this is the princess and queen of all dayes c , this is the glory of all the week . for , as on this day our blessed saviour rose from the dead d triumphing victoriously over death , grave , sin , and all our spiritual enemies : and thereby assured us of our spiritual and corporeal resurrection by him e . as on this day our saviour vouchsafed many of his apparitions to his disciples , instructing them and giving them commandements concerning the kingdom of god f . on this day the holy ghost was most miraculously poured forth upon the apostles g . on this day the apostles and primitive churches held their solemn assemblies for the publick worship of god h . this is the solemn mart , and market day for furnishing our souls with all manner of spiritual and heavenly provisions . this is that solemn season and sweet opportunity which christ hath afforded and ordained for acquainting us with himself and the mysteries of his kingdom , for maintaining our communion with him in his ordinances , for edifying and perfecting of us in all spirituals . and as in the time of the old testament , the sacrifices of the sabbath-day were to be double to those on the week day i : so our spiritual sacrifices on the lords-days are to be twice so much as on any other day of the week ; especially , in prayer and thanksgiving ; in reading the scriptures , in hearing the word preached , in partaking the lords supper , in catechizing , in shewing mercy to the poor , &c. that so the sacred tincture and impressions of this day may remain fresh and lively upon your hearts all the week following . 8. let every day of the week be managed by you in a christian sort . to that end , be sure to present unto the lord your morning and evening-sacrifice of prayer and praise to god continually : as god of old appointed a morning and evening sacrifice for every day in the week k . holy david and daniel prayed thrice in a day l . every day , open with god in the morning , and shut with god in the evening , by some religious ejaculation or savourly meditation . read daily some portion of holy scripture m , to keep up your acquaintance with god , with iesus christ , and his spirit , and the mysteries of true religion . and then follow the lawful affairs of your honest particular calling , diligently and righteously n 9. do ye remember your creator in the days of your youth , while the evil dayes [ of old age ] come not , nor the years draw nigh , when ye shall say , we have no pleasure in them o . gods eminent saints have sought the lord betimes , and addicted themselves unto godliness while they were young . as , david , that man after gods own heart , while he was but a youth p . josiah , that phaenix . king of iudah , while he was yet young , but sixteen years old , began to seek after the god of david q . and timothy , so highly commended by the apostle paul , knew the holy scriptures from a child , gr. from his insancy r . god , in the time of the law , called for the first ripe fruits of the field , and the firstlings of the flock , to be offered unto him s : to teach his people , how acceptable the first-fruits of our youth and life are to god. o how happy are they , that bear the yoke t of christ in their youth ! hereby , the flower of their age is best improved ! hereby , thousands and ten-thousands of sins are prevented . hereby , they gain the longer time , for walking with god , for growing in grace , for doing of good , for increasing of spiritual experiences , for treasuring up of evidences and assurances of their salvation , and of preparing themselves for heaven and eternal glory . 10. herein alwaies exercise your selves to have a conscience void of offence both towards god and man u . that so living in all good conscience before god x , this may be matter of singular comfort and rejoycing to you , in your greatest afflictions and distresses , the testimony of your consciences , that in simplicity and godly sincerity you have had your conversation in the world y . 11. imploy and improve to the utmost all the times and talents , wherewith the lord hath intrusted you , to his glory , your own or others benefit . that when the time of reckoning shall come , he may both command you and richly reward you , and not condemn and punish you with that wicked sloathful and improfitable servant z . 12. hold fast the platt-form of sound words , in faith and love , which is in christ jesus a . that so you may not be carryed aside with every wind of false doctrine b ; but may be the children of the truth . and to this end constantly retain in your memories the catechisme wherein you have been trayned up now a long time together . for , this is an excellent brevial or sum of the true christian religion , very useful to direct you both in the faith and practice , in the right wayes of god , against error and iniquity . 13. stand not at a stay , much less go backward , in the affairs of religion : but still grown in grace , and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ c . take heed of backsliding d . having put your hand to christs plow , look not back : for then you will be unfit for the kingdome of god e . be stedfast , unmoveable , alwayes abounding in the work of the lord , for as much as ye know that your labour shall not be in vain in the lord f . be faithful to the death , and christ will give you a crown of life g . 14. love god , father , son and holy ghost , over all , with all your heart , soul , mind and might h , and that especially for his own sake love such as are begotten of god , and true christians indeed , chiefly for gods sake , for christs sake i . and see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently k : especially , endeavouring to help and further one another in the way to heaven . 15. finally , set your affection on things above , not on things on the earth : for all the things on earth are meer l vanity and vexation of spirit m , being vanity , they are empty shadows and bubles , that cannot continue , that cannot satisfie , but utterly disappoint you : by their disappointment , they become vexation of spirit , heaps of thorns and briars unto you . but your true , lasting and soul-satisfying treasures are above ; there 's your crown , your kingdom , your glory , your eternal life , your eternal inheritance , your masters joy and pleasures at his right hand for evermore ; there 's your sweetest and most glorious saviour jesus christ at gods right hand , and there 's your god in christ , in whose immediate vision and compleat fruition the supream happiness of heaven will consist for ever . have therefore your conversation in heaven n , though for a while your conversation be on earth : and look for your saviour jesus christ from heaven , to change your vile bodies and make them like to his own glorious body . then there shall be no more sin , sorrow , pain , curse or death . then christ will wipe all your tears away o . then your everlasting jubilee will b●gin but shall never end . o how should we love his appearing , when all those things shall come to pass ! make haste o beloved , and be as the hind or the roe upon the mountains of spices p . even so come lord jesus q . these things , my beloved children , i have earnestly desired to recommend unto you in order to your eternal salvation ; hoping that some of you have a true spiritual sense and relish of them already . now the god of all grace imprint them indelibly upon the tables of all your hearts , that you may still remember them and conform your selves unto them , not onely while i am with you in this land of the living , but also after i shall be taken from you by natures dissolution , and sleep in jesus . and let him bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly-places in christ r for evermore . amen . the natural man directed to christ . a premonition to the natural man reading the ensuing directions . whoever thou art , that unto this present hour remainest still in thy natural state in the old adam , unconverted unto god in christ the last adam ; or justly suspectest thy condition to be such ; and perusest these directions following : read and understand , vnderstand and consider in thine heart , consider and believe the scripture truths therein propounded , believe and put in practise the scripture rules therein recommended unto thee ; lest otherwise , what thou readest and art convinc'd in conscience to be thy duty , hereafter sting thine heart , rise up in judgment against thee , and condemn thee , both when thy death approacheth ; and at the great day , when the lord iesvs shall be revealed from heaven with the angels of his power , in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not god , and that obey not the gospel of our lord iesvs christ 2 thes. 1. 7 , 8. with mat. 11. 20. to 25. and 12. 41 , 42. directions , tending to conduct the natural man to christ . i. direction . a waken and rouz up thy soul and conscience , o sinful wretched natural man , seriously to consider and deeply to lay to heart , how sinful and miserable , the state and condition of all mankind since the fall , and of thine own soul in particular , is , by nature in the first adam . compare together rom. 3. 9. to 21. 1 cor. 2. 14. rom. 8. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. tit. 3. 3. and 1. 15 , 16. eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. 1. the sinfulness of natural man's state ; what words can enough express ! what thoughts of man can sufficiently conceive ! who can understand his errors ? psal. 19. 12. the heart is ●●eeitful above all things , and desperately w●●ked , who can know it ? i the lord search the heart ; i try the reins . jer. 17. 9 , 10. god alone , who cannot sin ▪ e●actly knows man's sinfulness . from his word take a brief discovery of it . the sinfulness of the natural man's condition , consists chiefly in these particulars . viz. 1. in the guilt of adam's first sin , of eating the forbidden fruit , contrary to gods express command , gen. 2. 16 , 17. with gen. 3. 6 , 7. rom. 3. 9. 19. in which eating ; adam's 1 unbelief of gods word ; 2 contempt of gods command ; 3 impious consent of his most free-will ; 4 proud aspiring to be as gods knowing good and evil , gen. 3. 5. 5 apostacy from god ; 6 disobedience of the whole man ; and 7 ruine of himself and all his posterity ; are comprehended a this sin of adam , being the common parent and root of all mankind , ( as st. augustine b well notes ) then virtually and seminally in his loyns , is imputed to and charged upon all his ordinary posterity , even upon all mankind ordinarily propagated form him , rom 5. 12. — 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19. act 17 26. ● cor. 15. 21. 22. 45. 49. as levi , who received tithes is said to ●ay tithes in abraham to melchizedeck , for that yet he was in the loyns of his father abraham when melchizedeck met him . heb. 7. 9 , 10. so then in adams eating the forbidden fruit , all mankind did eat the forbidden fruit ; in adam's sinning , all his posterity sinned ; in adam's disobeying , all mankind disobeyed ; in adam's falling , all his post●rity sell ; in adams dying , all his posterity dyed . and thou amongst the rest . and therefore , in this sense , thou wast a sinner , algrievous sinner before thou wast born , even from the foundation of the world . o thou natural man ! think of this , lay this to heart deeply , was it a small matter for adam , and for thee and all mankind in adam , thus to sin. consider well the many and great aggrevations of this first sin of man ; as 1. the person who sinned : 2. condition and state , wherein : 3. place , where : 4. time , when : 5. law , against which : 6. object , against whom : 7. and finally , the manifold and great evils both of sin and punishment ensuing thereupon ; ( all which i have elsewhere c at large illustrated , ) and then see , if ever sin was perpetrated in this world , ( all things duly considered , ) so sinful , haynous , horrid , inexcusable , and damnable , as this first sin ! 2. in being wholly overwhelmed with original sin , ( so as is thought , it 's called by d augustin ) contracted from lapsed adam by natural propagation , gen. 5. 3. psal. 51. 5. ioh. 3. 6. iob. 14. 4. and 15. 14. this original sin consists especially ● . in the privation or loss ( 1 ) of man's primitive integrity or original righteousness concreated with him gen. 1. 26 , 27. and 3. 6 , 7 , 8. eccles. 7. 29. — all have sinned , and come short of the glory of god , rom. 3. 23. ( 2 ) and of that sweet communion , which , ● in that integrity , he enjoyed with god , gen. 3. 6 , 7 , 8 , 10. whereupon man becomes dead in sin , ephes. 2. 1. 5. with gen. 2. 16 , 17. 2. in the depravation , pollution and corruption of his whole nature : his whole soul and all the faculties thereof ; his whole body and all the parts thereof , being universally defiled . — to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure , but even their mind and conscience is defiled , tit. 1. 15. see gen. 6. 5. ier. 17. 9. rom. 3. 10. to 19. 2 pet. 2. 14. hence , from both these ensue two woful effects . 1. an indisposition , and utter inability , yea an opposition and enmity , unto all good. rom. 5. 6. and 7. 18. and 8. 8. col. 1. 21. rom. 8. 7. and 5. 10. 2. an universal pronity , propensity or proclivity unto all evil. gen. 6. 5. and 8. 21. rom. 3. 10 , 11 , 12. 1 pet. 4. 2 , 3 , 4. original sin , being the root , seed and common spawn of all actual sin in the world iam. 1. 14 , 15. ephes. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. the holy scriptures set forth this original sin by sundry remarkable names or phrases . it is stiled , 2. iniquity wherein we were shapen , and sin wherein our mothers conceived us . psal. 51. 5. in regard of the natural propagation of it . 1 sin. — that they are all under sin. rom. 3. 9. 1 ioh. 1. 8. rom. 7. 14. because it is sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the sin of sins , the mother and nurse of all sins , virtually and seminally comprehending in it all sorts of sins . 3 sin dwelling in us , rom. 7. 20. from the constant inherence , residence and abode which it hath in all , yea even in the regenerate themselves , ( to whom it is pardoned , and in whom it is in some measure mortified ) during this present life , rom. 7. 17 , 18. 4 the sin that doth so easily beset us . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sin easily surrounding us , heb. 12. 1. because it encompasseth soul , body , all our faculties , affections , senses , parts and whole man. 5 the law of sin. rom. 8. 2. and 7. 25. the law of sin in our members , rom. 7. 23. because of the power and strength of sin , which is resident in us : a law is powerful and forcible . 6. the body of sin , rom. 6. 6. because , as a natural body is compacted of many parts , and hath divers proper members set in it , whereby it acts : so sin original hath many limbs , called our members which are upon earth , as fornication , &c. col. 3. 5. 7 our old man , rom. 6. 6. sin is so called , in opposition to the new man , the regenerate part , and in distinction from our humane natures : because our corruption of nature is from the first man the old adam ; as our regeneration is from the spirit of christ the last adam . 8 the old leven to be purged out , 1 cor , 5. 7. called leven , because as leven levens and sowers the whole lump of dow , so sin original levens the whole man , sowers and infects the whole man. old , from old adam . 9. the flesh . ioh. 3. 6. rom. 8. 18. gal. 5. 17. because , as flesh is opposite to spirit , so original sin is opposite to grace . and because as flesh is man's basest and vilest part , phil. 3. 21. so original sin is the vilest evil in man. pause here , o natural man. not only adam's first actual sin is thine , being justly imputed to thee : but this original sin , thence contracted , is thine also , being naturally inherent in thee . it is the disease , the poyson , the plague , the leprosy of thy whole nature . thou art as full of it , as any sink is full of filth , as any serpent is full of venome , as any toad is full of poyson . thou art by nature wholly defiled with it : universally captivated under the dominion of it , and spiritually dead in it . and in this respect thy condition is incomparably worse , than the condition of any fowl , fish , bruit-beast , or creeping thing whatsoever . for , they have no original sin in them , and thou art all full of it . and is this thy natural condition , a state to be rested in by thee● wherein thou art far worse than any dog , toad , serpent , mean or vilest creature under the sun ? remember that of augustine ; every one is damned as generated : none is delivered , but as regenerated e . 3. in the h●ge heaps ●nd swarms of all thine actual sins ( the poysonous fruit of sin original ) into which thou hast broken forth inconsiderately , from thy birth until this very day , the sinfulness of thy natural condition is mightily augmented and aggrevated , o natural man ! think often in thy retired hours , of the ●variety , 2 multiplicity , and 3 extremity or aggravations of thine actual sins . ( 1 ) the variety and several sorts , of thine actual sins ; how manifold are they ? as actual , sins in respect of the subject , are distributed into peccata cordis , oris , operis , sins of heart , word , and work. ● in the heart ; what corrupt imagination , gen. 6. 5. what abominable , vain , atheistical , blasphemous , prophane and polluted thoughts prov. 15. 26. what deadness , stupidity , defilement , s●aredness , &c. in the conscience . tit. 1. 15. 1 tim. 4. 2. what enmity , perversness , crookedness , disobedience , rebellion , &c. in the will ier. 44. 16 , 17. &c. luke 19. 14. what impenitency , hardness , deceitfulness , hypocrisy , earthiness , disorder , confusion , &c. in the heart and affections . rom. 2. 5. 2. in thy words and tongue , what vain-speaking , swearing , cursing , lying , blaspheming , back-biting , slandering , false-witness-bearing , &c. exod. 20. 7. mat. 12. 36. the tongue is a world of iniquity — iam. 3. 6. and every idle word must be accounted for at the day of judgement , mat. 12. 36 , 37. 3 in thy actions and works , though never so religious in appearance , how dost thou miscarry in their ground , matter , form , manner , circumstances and end , 1 tim. 1. 5. tit. 1. 15 , 16. isai. 1. 10. &c. and 66. 3. hag. 2. 14. prov. 15. 8. so that in none of them thou canst please god. rom. 8. 8. yea and even in thy secular actions , thou 〈◊〉 wholly sinful , prov. 21. 4. and 15. 9. and to this distribution of actuals into sins of heart , word , and works ; we may refer that of sins into inward , and outward , sins , in respect of the law or rule violated by sin , are , 1 sins of impiety or ungodliness , contrary to the first table of the decalogue 2 sins of iniquity unrighteousness , or worldly lusts , against the 2 table , &c. rom. 1. 18. tit. 2. 12. of impiety there are many sorts of sins , properly repugnant to the 4 first commandements : of unrighteousness are many sorts also contrariant to the 6 last commandements . and this distribution of sins according to the ten commandements is most accurate . sins , in respect of the parts thereof , are 1 sins of omission , when duties prescribed are neglected ; and this is a taking from gods law. iam. 4. 17. mat. 25. 42. &c. rev. 2. 21. 1 sam. 15. 2 , 3. 8 , 9. &c. 2 sins of commission , when things prohibited are practised , as gen. 2. 16 , 17. compared with gen. 3. 6 , 7. achan's sin , iosh. 7. 1. 15. 20 , 21. 25 , 26. compared with iosh. 6. 17 , 18 , 19. sins , in respect of the object offended and wronged , are ; 1 sins against god , and repugnant to piety . rom. 1. 21 , 22. 28. 2 sins against man , against our neighbour and contrary to righteousness , to equity . pro. 14. 21. gen. 4. 8. 3 sins against a mans own self , contrary to sobriety . 1 cor. 6. 18. prov , 20. 2. touching the two first , see 1 sam. 2. 25. luke 15. 18. touching all the three , see tit. 2. 12. but sin is otherwise against god , then it is against man. against god , as it is a transgression of his law : against man , only as it is a damage or injury . sins , in regard of time wherein they are acted , are 1 sins of youth , psalm . 25. 7. eccles. 11. 9. 2 tim. 2. 22. 2 sins of riper age . isai. 65. 20. sins , in regard of place and cognizance , are ; 1 private or secret , psal. 19. 12. and 90. 8. iosh. 7. 1. &c. 2 publick and open , when sin is perpetrated boldly , impudently , in the view of others . isai. 3. 9. numb . 25. 6 , 7 , 8. 2 sam. 16. 22. sins , in respect of their power and strength , are ; reigning , or not reigning rom. 6. 12 , 13 , 14. hither some refer the distinction of sin , into mortal and venial , not in the popish sense ; but in a sound sense ; viz. as by mortal sin we may understand sin reigning , which not repented of shall never be forgiven . and as by venial sin , we may understand , sin not reigning , but in christ upon repentance forgiven , and not bringing condemnation though it deserve it . rom. 8. 1. sins , in respect of degree , are great , or small , ezech ▪ 5. 6. 8. and 8. 15. ioh. 19. 11. mat 5. 21 , 22. ( 2. ) the multiplicity of thine actual sins ; how innumerable are they ! are they not more than the hairs of thine head ; psal. 40. 12. are they not numberless like the sands ? and who can u●derstand his errors , how many they are ? psal. 19. 12. if in one sin , so many sins are complicated : as in adam's sin f . gen. 3. in judas his sin , mat. 26 if in one day , in one hour , so many sins in thought , word and deed , are done by thee : if in one prayer , &c. so many sinful distractions , distempers , &c. are discovered : what millions , and ten-thousand millions of millions of sins proceed from thee in thy whole life ? ( 3. ) the extremity and aggravations of thy actual sins , how many and great are they , have not thy sins been , haynous , crying sins ? as , i bloodshed gen. 4. 10. 2 sodom's sins gen. 18. 20 , 21. 3 oppression exod. 3. 7. 4 deteyning hirelings wages , iam , 5. 4. according to the antient memorial verse g : which i may thus do into english ; 1 blood , 2 sodom's sins , 3 oppressing tyranny ; 4 detaining hirelings hire , are sins that cry . sins against thine own light ? ioh. 9. 41. luke 12. 47 , 48. iam. 4. 17. sins against the checks of thine own conscience ? mat. 27. 17 to 27. sins against many motions of gods spirit ? act. 7. 51. eph. 4. 30. 1 thes. 5. 19. sins against gods rich means of grace ? isai. 5. 1 to 8. mat. 21. 33 to 45. sins against the precious blood of christ ? 1 cor. 11. 27. heb. 10. ●9 . sins against gods many and great mercys . hos. 2. 8. sins against gods severe judgments ; inflicted on others for thine admonition ? 1 cor. 10 , 11. dan. 5. 22 , 23. &c. or upon thy self for thy reformation ? 2 chron. 28. 22. sins against gods patience and long-suffering , leading thee to repentance ? rom. 2. 4 , 5. rev. 2. 21. sins , wherein thou hast long continued ? isai. 65. 20. deut. 9. 7. 27. sins , which thou hast often re-iterated ? mat. 26. 69. to the end . sins , heightened by such and such circumstances . as of person , time , place , &c. levit. 10. 1 , 2 , 3. numb . 20. 12. 2 sam. 12. 7 , 8 , 9. — numb . 25. 6. ioh. 2. 13. to 18. sins , wherein thou hast shamefully gloryed ? phil. 3. 19. sins , for the effecting of which thou hast been far more diligent and industrious , than ever thou wast for the saving of thy precious soul ? mat. 23. 13. to 34. communion with others in their sins , many wayes . eph. 5. 11. as if thine were not enow to damn thee . oh , thou silly deceived sinful soul ! when for all these sins of thine god shall bring thee to judgement , where shalt thou appear ? psal. 1. 5. oh , what then wilt thou do , when god riseth up ? and when he visiteth , what wilt thou answer him ? ioh. 31 , 14. ii. the w●●tchedness of a natural mans condition , who can enough apprehend or express ! what words can sufficiently declare ! where there 's nothing but carnality and sinfulness , there 's nothing but misery and wretchedness . the natural man's condition , as it is most sinful , without all even the least degree of sanctity : so it is most miserable , without all even the least measure of saving mercy or felicity . and such , o natural man , is thy condition , in sundry respects . for , 1. thou art by nature wholly destitute of ( that paradise on earth , that suburbs of heaven , that handsel of glory , ) sweet communion with god. while adam stood in his integrity , he had sweet fellowship with god , gen. 1. 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30. and 2. 3 , 7 , 8. 16 , 17 , 18. and so to the end . but adam had no sooner fallen but he lost that sweet communion with god : was afraid of gods voice , hid himself from his presence among the trees of the garden : is convented , convinced , and judged for his sin , and driven out of the garden , &c. gen. 3. 9. to the end . and whilst thou art in thy natural state , in the first adam lapsed , thou art without all communion with god also . for , what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? and what communion hath light with darkness ? 2. cor. 6. 14. now god is light , and in him is no darkness at all . if we say , we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness , we lie , and do not the truth , &c. 1. ioh. 1. 5. 6. 7. and every natural man is darkness eph. 5. 8. and habitually walks in darkness , 1 ioh. 2. 9. 11. now , whilst thou art destitute of communion with god , thou dost still remain without all these sweet companions of communion with god. viz. thou art ( 1 ) without all special favour and saving mercy from god. — which had not obtained mercy : 1. pet. 2. 10 ▪ ( 2 ) without any saving relation to god art none of his people nor is he thy god 1. pet. 2. 10. yea . he is ashamed to be called thy god : or to own thee for one of his people . heb. 11. 16. ( 3 ) without christ , the last adam . eph. 2. 12. 1. cor. 15. 45. by whom alone , all saving mercy from god , and all saving relation to god can be obtained . act. 4. 11. 12. ephes. 2. 13. to the end . ( 4 ) an alien from the common wealth of israel . eph , 2. 12. thou art none of his family and houshold none of his mistical body , of his invisible church : but of the synagogue of satan rev. 1. 6. for they that are aliens to christ , the head : must needs be aliens to his invisible church and body . ( 5 ) a stranger from the covenants of promise , touching christ promised under the old testament : and consequently from the covenant of performance , touching christ performed and exhibited in human nature , viz. the new covenant . ephes. 2. 12. laid down heb. 8. 8. to the end . oh what a misery is this ! to have nothing to do with gods covenant , not any the promises ▪ priviledges , benefits or blessings thereof . this is to be shut out of gods grand act of favour and mercy , his act of oblivion , heb. 8. 12. his magna charta , his great charter for eternal happiness in heaven . ( 6 ) having no hope . eph. 2. 12. viz. no true , salvi●ical , well-grounded hope of life eternal in heaven ; or of future felicity in the world to come for thine immortal soul. and such hopeless men are most miserable men , 1. cor. 15. 19. when thou hopeless wretch comest to die , what will become of thy soul ? what wilt thou then say to thy soul ? even as that atheistical pope ; animula vagula h , &c. omy poor wandring blandishing soul , the guest and companion of my body , into what placet art thou now going ? &c. to heaven , or to hell : to the glorified saints , or to the damned reprobates : to joyes everlasting , or to endless torments : to god or to the devil ? ( 7 ) finally , while thou dost remain destitute of saving communion with god , thou art without god in the world , an atheist in the world . i eph. 2. 12. what ? without god ? then , without all true happiness , without the only supream good , and soul-satisfying treasure , such god is , math. 19. 17. psal. 73. 25. 26. 2. thou , in thy natural state , art under the severe curse of the law ; which under pain of the curse , requires of every one , perfect , perpetual , and personal obedience to all things written in the law , gal. 3. 10. which no meer man since the fall of adam can possibly perform . rom. 3. 9. to 29. and 5. 6. and 8. 3. 4. 7. 8. and whom the law curseth , he is cursed indeed , not by man , but by the living god himself . 3. thou in thy natural state , remainest still under the dreadful displeasure , and wrath of god almighty . — art by nature a child of wrath , even as others . eph. 2. 3. under the wrath of god ? oh! who knoweth the power of gods anger , or according to his fear ( i. e. his word the rule of his fear , psal. 19. 9. ) his wrath ? psal 90. 11. if the wrath of an earthly king be as the roaring of a lion , prov. 19. 12. what then is the wrath of god , the king of kings ? our god is a consuming fire . heb. 12. 29. consider the prints of gods wrath , upon the lapsed angels , 2 , pet. 2. 4. fallen adam . — gen. 3. the sinful old world 2 pet. 2. 5. the cities of sodom &c. 2 pet. 2. 6. gen. 19. the beauteous jerusalem , and the jews 2 chron. 36. yea , upon jesus christ the spotless son of god himself , when he stood as the sinners surety , math. 26. and 27. luk. 22. and 23. and then say with the psalmist ; thou , even thou art to be feared : and who may stand before thee , when once thou art angry ? psal. 76. 7. when he is wrath , the heavens drop down , the mountains melt and leap , the rocks rend in pieces , the earth quakes , the sea is dried up , the devils tremble iam. 2. 19. and the whole creation is amazed . oh! think of the terrour of the lord , 2 cor. 5. 11. 4. thou in thy natural state , art in league with the devil himself , the grand enemy of god and mankind , math. 13. 28. 39. 1 pet. 5. 8. that old serpent , revel . 12. 9. and performest thine homage and obeisance unto him , 1 ioh. 3. 8. ioh. 8. 44. as to thy conquer●r , prince , father , and god. satan is , 1. as thy conqueror , leading thee captive at his will , by his powerful temptations , yea by his meer suggestions and snares . 2 tim. 2. 26. and so thou art his meer vassal and slave . 2. as thy prince , ioh. 14. 30. effectually working in the children of disobedience , and in thee as in one of his subjects . eph. 2. 2. 3. as thy father , whose works thou , as his child ; wilt do . ioh. 8. 44. 1 ioh. 3. 8. 12. mat. 13. 38. 4. as thy god , and the god of this world , whom thou , as his creature , wilt serve . 2 cor. 4. 4. 5. thou , in thy natural state , art liable to all sorts and degrees of miseries in this present world , not as to paternal chastisements of a loving father ( the lot of gods dear children . heb. 12. 5. to 12. ) but as to vindictive punishments and curses of an angry god. gen. 3. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19. and 4. 9 to 15. levit. 26. to 40. deut. 28. 15. to the end . psal. 11. 6. these miseries are of many sorts : but may be reduced to 1. miseries incident to thee in thy goods and temporal estate . as , when thy ground is barren , brings forth thorns and thistles , &c. gen. 3. 18. thy cattel cast their young , deut 28. 18. fire consumes thy dwelling , iob. 15. 34. thieves rob thee of thy wealth , iob. 1 , 13. to 18 , extortioners catch all thou hast , psal. 109. 11. &c. 2. miseries incident to thee in thy relations . as , treachery in thy friends iudg. 9. 23. falsness and sloathfulness in thy servants and hirelings , 2 chr. 24 , 25. and 33. 24. alienation in thy kinsfolks , iudg. 9. 5. 24. disobedience and undutifulness in thy children . deut. 28. 18. disaffection , vexatiousness , &c. in thy wife 1 king. 21. 25. deut. 28. 30. 3. miseries to which thou urt exposed in thy good name . as lyes , reproaches , slaunders , back-bitings , &c. the name of the wicked shall rot . prov. 10. 7. 4. miseries , whereunto thou art liable in thy body . as , hunger and want of food , deut. 28. 53. &c. thrist , and want of drink . lam. 4. 4. breaking or dislocating of bones , numb . 24. 8. weaknesses , grievous pains , with sickness and many sorts of diseases ; feavers , agues , pestilences , &c. deut. 28. 21 , 22. cold and nakedness , ezek 16. 39. bonds and imprisonments , deut. 28. 63. to the end . perils and dangers by land and water , &c. in thy whole life thou art exposed to armies of miseries . 6. thou , in thy natural state , art subject to death , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and extremity of all these wordly miseries , for thy sinfulness . rom. 5. 12. and 6. 23. gen. 2. 16 , 17. with 3. 19. die thou must , that 's certain ; but when , where , how , &c. that 's most uncertain : and how small a matter may bring thee to thine end ? the bone of a fish going cross thy throat may choak thee , as it did tarquinius priscus : a raisin-stone may kill thee , as it did sophocles and anacreon : an hair in a draught of milk may end thee , as it did fabius the senator : the tooth of thy comb as thou art combing thine head , entring the flesh , may make thy death's wound , as it befel ruffinus the consul : a needle thrust into thy brest by a child born in thiue arms , may hasten thy death , as it befel lucia , the daughter of aurelius . and when death hath severed soul and body , what shall become of thy soul ? shall it ascend , or descend ? shall it live , or shall it die , &c. o , never think , that thou who livedst and diedst without god in this world , shall after death ascend to god , or live with god , in the world to come ! 7. thou , in thy natural state , canst not escape the damnation of hell , but shalt have part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone , which is the second death , there to be excruciated with torments numberless , easeless , remediless and endless , mat. 23. 33. rev. 21. 8. rom. 6. 23. gen. 2. 17. mat. 25. 41 , 46. iude , verse 7. there , shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth , mat. 25. 30. there , their worm dieth not , and the fire is not quenched , mar. 9. 43 , 44. there , not one drop of water from the top of a finger shall be vouchsafed to cool a tormented tongue , luk. 10. 24 , 25 , 26. there thou shalt have pain of loss , and pain of sense . there thou shalt have plenty and penury ; plenty of torment , penury of comfort . there will be amissio coeli , the miss of heaven , which was often tendered thee , but thou didst refuse : privatio terrae , the loss of earth , which thou hadst , but couldst not keep : positio inferni , the position of hell , which thou shalt have , and canst not be delivered from it . there will be universality , extremity , eternity of unpityed misery upon thy soul and body , without the least alteration , mitigation and cessation . oh wretched natural man ! might thy torments in hell be brought to an end , after so many millions of years as there are stars in heaven , atomes in the air , dust in the earth , drops in the sea , grass-piles on the ground , or as there have been moments of time since time begun ; it would be some comfort to thee in enduring them , some hope of being delivered from , them . but this eternity of death and torments will quite break thy heart ; would make the very stinging of ants and fleas intolerable . eternity is the very hell of hell. one said , k o deadly life ! o immortal death ! what shall i term thee ? life ? and wherefore then dost thou kill ? death ? and wherefore then dost thou endure ? there 's neither life nor death but hath something good in it ; for in life there is some ease , and in death an end ; but thou hast neither ease , nor end . what then shall i stile thee ? even the bitterness of both ; for of death thou hast the torment , without any end , and of life the continuance , without any ease . god hath substracted both from life and from death , all that is good : the residue he hath mixed together , and therewith tempered the torments of hell. o bitter cup , which all sinners impenitent shall drink at gods hand ! this , this , o natural man , is a brief shadow of thy sinful and wretched condition by nature . but the one half , the tenth part , is not told thee . o , how can thine heart hold from breaking , thine eyes from dropping , thy bowels from turning within thee ? how canst thou eat or drink with any comfort ? how canst thou slumber or sleep one night in quiet ? how canst thou possess , or go about any worldly thing with delight , whilst thou art ingulfed in this sinful , and woful , natural condition . ii. direction . be clearly and fully convinced in thy conscio●ce , o natural man , that thou still remainest in this thy sinful and wretched condition , un-converted , un-regenerate , un-renewed , until this present day . that , thou art still in the first adam , and not as yet transplanted into christ the last adam . that , thou art still in thy sinful and miserable state of nature , and not hitherto translated into an holy and happy state of grace . that , thou art in thy sins still , 1 cor. 15. 17. thou art in the flesh still , rom. 8. 8. thou art dead in sins and trespasses still , eph. 2. 1 , 5. col. 2. 13. thou art in darkness , and very darkness it self still , 1 ioh. 2. 9 , 11. eph. 5. 8. thou art an enemy to god still , rom. 8. 6 , 7. col. 1. 21. thou art wholly displeasing to god still , rom. 8. 8. finally , that thou art in thy cursed and damned state still , gal. 3. 10. ioh. 3. 18 , 36. here therefore i shall offer to thee chiefly two things for thy most serious consideration , viz. i. that , it is most necessary for thee , o natural man , to be throughly convinced , that thou still remainest in thy most sinful and wretched state of nature , even until now . for , 1. vntil thou beest throughly convinced , o natural man , that thou still remainest in thy sinful and wretched state of nature , thou wilt be apt to flatter thy self into a fond and groundless imagination , that thou art in a good spiritual state towards god , especially if thou hast been kept by gods common restraining grace , from grosser sins , and hast been exercised in some outward acts of religion and righteousness . thus the un-convinced pharisee , though in his un-justified natural state , had an high opinion of his good spiritual state beyond other men , and beyond the publican , and bragg'd of it even in his prayer to god , because he avoided some gross sins , and practised some outward duties , luk. 18. 9. to 15. thus paul before his conviction and conversion , thought himself alive once without the law , by reason of his outward unblameableness , legal priviledges , and external exercises of religion : but when the commandement came and convinced him , sin revived and he died . compare rom. 7. 9. with phil. 3. 4 , 5 , 6. thus the laodicean angel had an high opinion of his own good estate , till christ convinced him of the contrary , and taught him the right way of bettering his condition , rev. 3. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19. the natural man's self-opinionateness of his good estate , seals him up incurably in his bad estate . many might have attained to a great degree of christianity , if they had not presumed themselves to be christians good enough already . 2. vntil thou art fully convinced , o natural man , that thou still remainest in thy sinful and wretched state of nature , thou wilt never be kindly humbled for , nor become weary of , thy natural state . without conviction , there 's no true sence of sin and misery : without true sence of sin and misery , who will be humbled for it or weary of it ? conviction , how did it humble manasses ? 2 chron. 33. how did it abase paul ? act. 9. who can clearly see his own natural sinfulness and wretchedness , and not abhor himself as in dust and ashes ? zech. 12. 10 , &c. 3. vntil thou beest kindly convinced of thy present sinfulness and wretchedness by nature , thou wilt never seriously and sincerely seek out for supernatural remedy . when peter's hearers were convinced and pricked in heart , then they presently repair to the apostles , saying , men and brethren what shall we do ? act. 2. 36 , 37. when the iaylor's heart was convinced and shaken as well as the foundations of the prison , he presently enquires of paul and silas , sirs , what must i do be saved ? act. 16. 30. there are three steps towards the cure of a sick body , and of a sinful soul , viz. inveuire morbum , to find out and be convinced of the malady ; adire medicum , to have recourse to the physician for direction ; and applicare medicinam , to apply the medicine for the attaining of recovery . who will seek to the physician or apply any remedy , that feels no smart of his malady ? 4. vntil thou art fully convinced , o natural man , that thou continuest still in thy natural sinfulness and wretchedness , thou wilt never repent , and turn from thy sinful estate to god. till the prodigal soundly smarted under sence of his sin and misery , he never came to himself , or to a penitent resolution of returning to his father . but then he comes , and sayes , father , i have sinned against heaven and before thee — &c. luke 15. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 21. here see , how conviction and lively sense of sin and misery , put him upon serious consideration : consideration put him upon penitential resolution , return , repentance , confession , reformation , and humble supplication . 5. vntil thou , o natural man , shalt be throughly convinced of the sinfulness and wretchedness of thy present natural state wherein thou remainest unto this present day , thou never givest an actual entertainment and present welcome in thy soul , unto jesus christ and him crucify'd , as the only remedy against this sinfulness and wretchedness of thy natural condition . 't is the sense of present pain , that makes the patient cry out for means of ease till he find it , and having obtained it , how doth be esteem it and delight in it ? 't is the apprehension of present danger at sea in a storm , that makes the passengers cry to god and man to help , ionah 1. 5 , 6. psal. 107. 25 , 26 , 27 , 28. and if the storm cease , and the sea becomes still , that they can come to their desired haven , oh how welcome and acceptable is the haven unto them ! psal. 107 , 29 , 30. so here ; 't is the conviction of thy present natural sinfulness and wretchedness , that makes thee in thy servent desires even thirst and long after christ , the only redeemer , vehemently ; and upon obtaining of christ , makes thee prize him highly , love him dearly , and delight in him most contentedly : as the penitent soul did , in like case , who washed christs feet with her tears , wiped them with the hairs of her head , kissed them , and annointed them with oyntment , luk. 7. 37. to the end . oh , how acceptable is christs redemption , to them that feel their bondage under sin and misery ! how amiable is christs all-sufficiency for salvation , to them that are apprehensive of their sins damnation ! and how precious , sweet and delectable is christs sin-cleansing and soul-saving blood , to them that are aright convinced of the wormwood , bitterness and gall of their natural sinfulness and wretchedness ! ease is alwayes acceptable ; but double acceptable after tormenting pain : health is alwayes sweet ; but double sweet after long , tedious and tyring sickness : life is alwayes pleasant ; but to have returned from the brink of the grave to life again , is a double life . thus , o natural man , it appears plainly , how necessary and advantageous it is for thee to be convinced , of the sinfulness and wretchedness of thy natural state , wherein thou still remainest even until now . ii. how , and by what discoveries , thou maist be clearly convinced , o natural man , that thou still remainest in thy sinful and wretched state of nature , in the first adam ; comes now to be considered , and to be considered by thee most seriously . know thou therefore , o man , o woman , whoever thou art , that the great god hath , in his faithful word , certainly discovered and declared , every one , and consequently thy self in particular , to be and remain still in the natural state of sin and misery : if these ensuing notes and characters of a state of sin and misery do certainly belong to them and to thee , viz. 1. if thou art without god in the world , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . eph. 2. 12. compared with verse 3. wherein the apostle intimates ; that the ephesians , while in their sinful and wretched state of nature , were without god in the world , and while without god in the world , they were children of wrath , even as others . art thou not without god ? where 's the divine nature ? 2 pet. 1. 4. where gods image ? eph. 4. 24. col. 1. 10. where the life of god ? eph. 4. 18. 2. if thou art still without christ , [ that at that time ( i. e. while in your natural state ) ye were without christ ] eph. 2. 12. with verse 3. christless men are godless men , for it is by christ , as the way , whereby we come unto god as the end , ioh. 14. 6. heb. 7. 25. and godless men are graceless men , sinful , wretched men ; for god alone is the author of all grace , 1 pet. 5. 10. eph. 2. 8. art not without god ? then is christ thine head and husband to guide thee ? eph. 5. 22 , 24. thy lord and king to rule thee ? col. 2. 6. thy christ to annoint thee ? 1 ioh. 2. 20 , 27. thine inhabitant to dwell in thee ? eph. 3. 17. 3. if thou art still without the spirit of god , and of christ inhabiting in thee . remarkable is that of the apostle — ye are not in the flesh , but in the spirit , if so be that the spirit of god dwell in you . now if any man have not the spirit of christ , he is none of his , rom. 8. 9. here the apostle intimates , 1. that , the spirit of god , and the spirit of christ , is one and the same spirit . 2. that , to be christs , and to be in the spirit , amounts in effect to the same thing . 3. that , they who have the spirit of god and of christ dwelling in them , are not in the flesh , ( i. e. in their sinful and wretched state of nature ) but in the spirit , ( i. e. in a spiritual , holy , and happy state of grace . and 4. that , they who have not the spirit of christ , are none of christs , are not in the spirit , but in the flesh , i. e. in their sinful and wretched state of nature . now , they have not the spirit of god , and of christ , ( 1 ) who are unregenerate and unrenewed . for the spirit of god , and of christ is a regenerating spirit , ioh. 3. 5 , 6. 8. a renewing spirit , tit. 3. 5. he renews the whole man , in part . all things become new. 2 cor. 5. 17. ( 2 ) who are unsanctified and unholy . for the spirit of god and of christ is an holy spirit , psal. 5. 111. eph. 1. 13. and 4. 30. the holy ghost 2 cor. 13. 14. tit. 3. 5. 2. pet. 1. 21. 1 ioh. 5. 7. iude vers . 20. and all those that are builded by the spirit for an habitation of god , are by him made an holy temple in the lord , ephes. 2. 21. 22. 1 cor. 3. 16. 17. and this holy spirit is the peculiar and immediate author of sanctification and holiness to all gods elect , 1 pet. 1. 2. a spirit of grace . zech. 12. 10. ( 3 ) who are grossly ignorant of the spiritual things of god , so as not to receive them , but to count them foolishness . 1 cor. 2. 14. eph. 4. 18. for , the spirit of god and of christ is a spirit of truth , leading unto all truth , ioh. 16. 13. a spirit of wisdom and revelation for the knowledge and acknowledging of the god of our lord jesus christ. ephes , 1. 17. &c. ( 4 ) who are not of gods own family , are not his adopted children nor are furnished with filial confidence , fear , love , obedience , and other child-like properties . for , the spirit of god and of christ is a spirit of adoption where he dwells , rom. 8. 15. confirmin●g their sonship , and assuring them of their adopted state , 1. as a witness rom. 8. 16. 2. as a seal , ephes. 1. 13. 3. as an earnest of their inheritance , ephes. 1. 14. and 4. as a first-fruits , rom. 8. 23. 5. who are prayer-less persons , wholly unable with filial faith , zeal and affection , to cry , abba father . for the spirit of god and of christ is a spirit of prayer , a spirit of grace and supplication , zech 12. 10. enabling gods children to cry fervently , abba father , rom. 8. 15. and the spirit helps our prayer infirmities , when we know not what to pray for as we ought . for he maketh intercession for us , ( viz. by enabling us to intercede for our selves ) with unutterable groans , ( i. e. with unutterable desires and longings of soul ) rom. 8. 26 , 27. 4. if thou art still without the immediate , fundamental , and saving effects of the spirits of god and of christ , viz. regeneration , ioh. 3. 3 , 5 , 6 , 8. renovation , tit. 3. 5. new creation in christ , eph. 2. 10. 2 cor. 5. 17. conversion from sin and satan to god , act. 26. 18. effectual vocation , 2 thes. 2. 13 , 14. 2 cor. 6. 1 , 2. ioh. 6. 44. and sanctification , 1 pet. 1 , 2. 2 thes. 2. 13. by which gods spirit brings sinners out of the state of nature : then art still in the sinful and wretched state of nature . 5. if thou art still unbelieving , without faith unfeigned , as by nature all are , tit. 1. 15. 2 thes. 3. 2. and having no hope , no well-grounded hope of salvation and happiness by christ , in this or the world to come , as is the condition of all in state of nature , eph. 2. 12. then thou remainest in the state of nature to this hour . 6. if thou continuest still impenitent and un-reformed to this day , not turned from darkness to light , nor from the power of satan to god , act. 26. 18. col. 1. 13. thou art still in thy sinful and wretched state of nature . for by repentance god brings men unto himself , into a spiritual , supernatural state of life , holiness and happiness , act. 2. 38. and 5. 31. and 26. 18. — repentance unto life , act. 11. 18. ezek. 18. 30 , 31 , 32. 7. if thou dost habitually and primarily mind the things of the flesh . if thy thoughts , contrivances , designs , &c. are chiefly about carnal and worldly things , how to grow great , rich , &c. but seldom or never mindest the things of the spirit , how to obtain christ , how to be saved , how to make thy calling and election sure , how to make heaven sure , how to walk with god , &c. then thou art still after the flesh , rom. 8. 5 , &c. 8. if thy mind and wisdom be enmity against god , and cannot endure to be subject to the law of god , then it is carnal , rom. 8. 7. col. 1. 21. the natural mans mind is so set upon sinful principles and wicked works , that it cannot choose but hate god and his law that utterly condemn them . 9. if thou art not a lover , but a hater of gods people , in whom gods image appears and shines forth . he that hateth his brother , is in darkness , ( viz. in the darkness of a sinful and miserable state by nature ) and walketh in darkness , 1 joh. 2. 9 , 19 , 11. — he that loveth not his brother , abideth in death . whosoever hateth his brother , ( i. e. his christian brother , for god , christ , grace , godliness , &c. in him , ) is a murderer : and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him , 1 ioh. 3. 14 , 15. 10. if thou art under the power of darkness , col. 1. 13. the natural man is not only dark in the concreet but darkness itself in the abstract , eph. 5. 18. he is so dark , that he is all darkness , and nothing but darkness , therefore he is under the raign and power of it , so that he cannot by any ability of his own extricate or deliver himself out of it . the natural man is under the power of a threefold darkness . viz. ( 1 ) the darkness of sin , sins are works of darkness , eph. 5. 11. the state of sin is a state of darkness . such are dead in sins and trespasses : and as dead , they are overwhelmed with darkness , dwelt in darkness . eph. 2. 1. 5. ( 2 ) the darkness of ignorance . this in part is that darkness that blinds the eyes of natural man , 1 ioh. 2. 11. so that he cannot receive the things of god , they are foolishness to him , neither can he know them ; because they are spiritually discerned , 1 cor. 2. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. 14. the gospel is hid to them that are lost , the god of this world having blinded the minds of them that believe not , least the light of the glorious gospel of christ should shine unto them . 2 cor. 3 , 4. ( 3 ) the darkness of misery , by reason of his sinfulness . the scripture frequently expresseth misery under the notion of darkness which is very uncomfortable and dreadful : as , the miseries in this life , psal. 88. 6. and 107. 10. in death , iob. 10. 21 , 22. in hell , wher 's utter darkness , mat. 22. 13. and 25. 30. blackness of darkness for ever iude vers . 13. everlasting chains under darkness , iude 6. the natural man being a child of wrath , eph. 2 , 3. having the wrath of god abiding on him , and being condemned already , ioh. 3. 18. 36 may well be said to be under the power of darkness . 11. if thou art under the power of satan hitherto , thou art still in thy sinful and wretched state of nature . for every man naturally is under satan's power and dominion , till he be supernaturally converted unto god. act. 26. 18. hence satan is called , the father of such , ioh. 8. 44. the prince of this world , ioh. 14. 30. the prince of this power of the air , the spirit that effectually worketh in the children of disobedience , eph. 2. 2. the god of this world , 2. cor. 4. 4. now thou art under the power of satan . ( 1 ) while satan blinds thine eyes , so that the gospel is hid to thee . is a mystry , a paradox , to thee , &c. — left the glorious light of the gospel should shine unto thee . 2 cor. 4. 4. ( 2 ) while thou art an unbeliever , 2 cor. 4. 4. ( 3 ) while thou art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a son , or child of disobedience . gr. of vnpersuadeableness , eph. 2. 2. who are most disobedient to god , christ and his spirit . unperswadeable by his word , promises , &c. to repent , believe , &c. ( 4 ) while thou art acted , and energetically wrought upon by the spirit that is the prince of the power of the a yr . ephes. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit now energetically-working , or effectually working . he effectually works in such , when he prevails with his temptations over them , when he attains his will upon them , &c. ( 5 ) while thou art resolvedly set and determined willfully , to do the lusts of the devil , ioh. 8. 44. ( 6 ) while thou art held in the snare of the devil , and held captive by him at his will , 2 tim. 2. 26. gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , taken alive , it seems to be a metaphor , from captains and conquerors , who in war take their enemies alive , carry them away in triumph , and use them as they please : or from huntsmen , who take their prey wild beasts alive , and do with them as they list . so satan deals with the natural man , while under his power , he wholly enters him , orders him , acts him , by his suggestions as he will. 12. if thou art dead in sins and trespasses , and not as yet quickned by christ , eph. 2. 1. 5. col. 2. 13. thou art hitherto in thy sinful and wretced state of nature . to be dead in sin and trespasses is to be spiritually dead , while thou art naturally alive . and art not thou spiritually dead ? are not the tokens of spiritual death clearly upon thee ? ( 1 ) art not thou quite destitute of the fountain and root of all spiritual life to the soul ? christ is the fountain of all spiritual life , being united to the soul by faith , gal. 2. 20. ioh. 11. 25 , 26. as the soul is the fountain of natural life being u●●ted to the body ▪ the body is dead , when without the soul : iam. 2. 26. so the soul is dead in every natural man , while he is without christ. eph. 2. 1. 5. 12. ( 2 ) art thou not wholly destitute of any spiritual sense rightly to discern and receive the things of god ? 1 cor. 2. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 14. and where there 's no soul , there 's no life . ( 3 ) art thou not utterly destitute of spiritual breath ? viz. the sacred breathings of strong cryes and groans , ●ervent desires and prayers , crying abba father ? this is their breath , that are spiritually alive , rom. 8 , 15. — 26 , 27. no sooner was saul ▪ converted and quickned by christ : but the lord told ananias ; — behold he prayeth , act 9. 11. breath and life come and go together . gen. 2. 7. psal. 104. 29. if thou art without this spiritual breathing , this spirit of prayer , thou art without the spirit of life from christ , and remainest dead in sin. ( 4 ) art thou not without all vital heat and spirit , warmth of heart , desire , love , and all good affections towards god , christ , his people , and his wayes : and even stone-cold as to all matters of religion , devotion , divine worship , as carnal men use to be ? rev. 3. 15 , 16 then thou art not only mortally ●ick ; but quite dead in sin , stretched-out , and ready to be buried in the infernal pit . as where there 's natural warmth in the body , there 's life : where nothing but coldness , there 's death . 13 ▪ if thou art still an habitual worker of iniquity , a tradesman in sin : thou art still in thy natural state and condition . such christ will not at all own , but eternally reject at the last day . mat. 7. 23. ●tis one thing to sin , or slip into sin accidently ; another to trade in sin constantly , habitually , and to yield up his members as tools of unrighteousness unto sin. rom. 6. 12 , 13. &c. 14 , finally , thou art still in thy meer natural sinful state , if in the whole course of thy life thou walkest according to the course of this world ; the lusts and wills of the flesh , the suggestions , temptations and operations of the devil . all such are dead in sin , and by nature children of wrath . see all this most fully in eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. iii. direction . consider often with all ser●●usness , d natural man , that living and dying in this thy sinful and wretched condition of nature , thou 〈◊〉 utterly lost both body and soul for evermore : and caust not expect any other portion after this present momentary life , than everlasting torments in unquenchable fire with the devil and his angels . compare diligently , ephes. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. luk. 13. 3. 5. and ioh. 3. 36. with mat. 25. 41. to the end . luk. 16. 24. iude 7. math. 9. 43 , 44. as was formerly l intimated . here therefore , o sinful and wretched natural man , i beseech thee let these 2 things sink deep into thine heart , viz. 1. that , thou living and dying in this thy natural state , shalt certainly perish both body and soul in everlasting torments in fire prepared for the devil and his angels . math. 25. 41. for , 1. if thou livest and diest in thy natural state of sin , thou livest and diest without christ and without hope , eph. 2. 1. 2. with vers . 12. christless and hopeless . and therefore hopeless , because christless : for jesus christ is our hope , i. e. the sure foundation of all our hope of salvation , 1. tim. 1. 1. what ? christless ? how then canst thou be saved ? who ever was , or can be saved without christ ? act. 4 : 11. 12. and hopeless too ? yes . for , who can once expect or look for salvation by christ , without hope ? 2. if thou livest and diest in thy sinful and wretched state of nature , then thou livest and diest a most cursed creature , gal. 3. 10. and a child of wrath , even as others , eph. 2. 1. 2. 3. what ? cursed ? for what ? for that thou continuest not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them , gal. 3. 10. because thou doest not perform , as is thy duty , perfect , perpetual , personal obedience to all things in gods law , which , nor thou , nor any meer man since adam's fall , could ever perform . ( 2 : ) to what art thou cursed ? 1. to pains of loss and sense , mat. 25. 41. depart ye cursed — there 's pains of loss . depart from christ , from the only redeemer , gal. 3. 13. from the only all-sufficient saviour , heb. 7. 25. from the one only mediator betwixt god and man , 1 tim. 2. 5. from the only way unto the father , ioh. 14. 6. from the hope and consolation of israel , &c. 1 tim. 1. 1. luk. 2. 25. oh! who can so depart from christ , and that for ever , and not be cursed ? 2. to pains of sense : depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels . what , into fire ? what is more sharp and tormenting to the sense , then fire ? into everlasting fire ? then no hopes of relaxation or deliverance thence , after millions and ten thousand millions of years , &c. everlasting , kills the soul. oh! who can dwell with everlasting burnings ? into everlasting fire prepared ? prepared by god. tophet is ordained of old , — he hath made it deep and large , the pile thereof is fire and much wood , the breath of the lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it , isa. 3. 33. and if god have prepared it , whose wisdom , power , justice , wrath , &c. are infinite , how dreadful is that preparation ! no men , angels or creatures , can make such preparation . prepared for the devil and his angels . oh what a dreadful preparation must that needs be ! what ? to be everlastingly racked with the devil and his angels ; the worst of all society ? to be everlastingly tormented in fire prepared for the devil and his angels ? what an aggravation will this be of these infernal fiery torments ? no torments in the world like these torments . ( 3. ) and by whom art thou , and shalt thou be thus dreadfully cursed ? by the glorious and living god , in his word , gal. 3. 10. and by the lord jesus christ , at the great day , mat. 25. 41. o dismal , soul-damning curse ! what natural man , so dying , can escape it , or endure it ? whom god and christ curseth , they are cursed ; whom god and christ blesseth , they are blessed indeed . 3. if thou livest and diest in thy sinful and wretched state of nature , thou wilt be eternally shut out from god , christ , and all the blessed saints and angels , unto the devil , his angels and reprobates ; from heaven , to hell ; from light , to darkness ; from joy , to grief ; from mercy , to misery ; from happiness , to unhappiness ; from life , to death ; from all good , into a conflux of all evil . compare mat. 18. 3. ioh. 3. 3 , 5. 1 cor. 6. 9 , 10. gal. 5. 19 , 20 , 21. with mat. 23. 33. rev. 21. 8. mat. 25. 41 , 46. ii. that , there 's weighty cause why these thoughts and considerations should strike deep into thy heart , and dwell there . for , 1. this life is the only season and seed-time of grace , for obtaining of salvation , and preventing of damnation . behold , now is the accepted time , now is the day of salvation , 2 cor. 6. 2. now is the time of repenting , turning to god , believing in christ , of laying up for our selves treasures in heaven , &c. act. 17. 30. eccl. 12. 1. mat. 6. 20. therefore to day if thou wilt hear his voice , harden not thy heart , heb. 3. 7 , 8 , 15. whatsoever thine hand findeth to do , do it with thy might ; for there is no work , nor device , nor knowledge , nor wisdom in the grave whither thou g●est , eccl. 9. 10. as the tree falls , to heaven or hell , so it will lye till the last day . 2. this present life of thine ( which is the only seed-time of grace and salvation ) is most frail and short . thou hast here no continuing city ; happy wert thou , didst thou by faith unfaigned seek one to come . a city that bath foundations , whose builder and maker is god , heb. 3. 13 , 14. with 11. 9 , 10. we are all strangers before god , and sojourners , as all our fathers were , 1 chron. 29. 15. man born of a woman , is but short of dayes , and full of trouble , job 14. 1. mans life is of no long computation , at most , in ordinary dispensation , but 70 or 80 years , psal. 90. 10. and what 's that to eternity ? thy life is but a few years , job 16. 22. moneths of number , job 14. 5. a f●w and evil dayes , gen. 47. 9. an hirelings day , which at most is but 12 hours , iob 14. 6. as nothing , before god. surely every max at his best estate is altogether vanity , selah , psal. 39. 5. o , with what pathetical similitudes doth the holy ghost represent the vanity and brevity of mans life ! mans life here is but a vapour , appearing and disappearing , iam. 4. 14. a wind , that blows and goes , iob 7. 7. a flower , that flourisheth and fades , psal. 103. 16 , 17. iob. 14. 2. a fable or tale told , almost as soon forgot as told , psal. 90. 9. a flood , speedily flowing night and day , never returning , psal , 90. 5. a watchin the night , but 3 hours long , psal. 90. 4. a sleep , insensibly gone , psal. 90. 5. a shadow , or show , without substance and reality , iob. 14. 2. psal. 39. 6. such is thy life , o natural man , thy day spends apace , thy night hastens wherein thou canst not work . up and be doing : the journey to heaven is a long and difficult way ; to fit thy self for heaven is a great work . lose not an inch , a moment of time , lest it be too late . this day is thy flourishing , to morrow may be thy funeral : so it was with that graceless fool , luk. 12. 20. this night thou sleepest in thy bed , ere many nights come thou maist sleep in thy grave . and then , if thy heavenly work be not done , thou art eternally undone . 3. thy death is sure , heb. 9. 27. iob 14. 5. 2 sam. 14. 14. the dismal winter doth not more certainly pursue the summer and autumn , the darksome night not more infallibly and speedily drive away the day , then thine unexpected death will thy momentany life . thy death is then most certain , and most uncertain thing in the world : most certain that it will come ; most uncertain when , where , how , it will come upon thee . thy last day is concealed from thee , that every day it may be expected by thee . m be alwayes in readiness for god and christ , lest death surprize thee , and so thou be shut out with the 5 foolish virgins , and the impenitent thief , mar. 25. 10 , 11 , 12. luk. 23. 39 , 40 , 41. 4. upon thy death , o natural man , gods impartial judgement , and infernal torments , will immediately pass upon thy soul , heb. 9. 27. luk. 16. 22 , 23 , 24. and upon both body and soul at the great day of the lord , mat. 25. 41 , 46. 2 thes. 1. 7 , 8. and oh how intolerable , incurable , and undeterminable will they be ! as hath been intimated . 5. finally , it were a thousand pities , that thy precious and immortal soul , o' natural man , should ever come into that place of torments . for , 1. was not thy sould a spark of immortality , which no mortals nor meer creatures can possibly kill and destroy ? mat. 10. 28. 2. was not thy soul , in its first creation , the principal receptacle and subject of the blessed image of god ? gen. 1. 26 , 27. 3. is not thy soul still the seat of all thy reason , understanding , sense , motion , strength , beauty , &c. and the very rise and guide of thy whole body , without which it is no better than a dead , senseless , helpless , useless , worthless , organized lump of earth ? 4. is not thy soul thy most precious jewel , of more true worth and invaluable consequence to thee , then any thing in the world , then the whole world besides ? christ who best knew the souls true value , said ; what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world , and lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? mat. 16. 26. and wilt thou hazard this thy precious soul unto infernal torments for ever , for a few rotten pleasures of sin for a season ? now then , o natural man , think seriously of all these things . dost thou believe them ? canst thou really be perswaded in thy conscience , that , living and dying in this thy natural state , infernal torments for ever and ever will inevitably be thy portion ? and is this a condition for thee to rest in ? is this a state wherein thou canst rejoyce , that art every day in danger to tumble headling into hell ? is there so small a distance betwixt thee and death eternal , even a short span or moment of a temporary life , and wilt thou not yet come out of egypt ? o , amend ( said n augustine ) while thou canst ; cry to god almighty while thou hast time ; lament while thou hast space ; repent while thou hast leave ; make hast while thou canst , while thy soul is in thy body , while thou livest seek out for remedy , before the huge deep swallow thee up ▪ and before that woful hell snatch thee away , where there is no indulgence , whence none return to receive remission . from which punishment the gracious god vouchsafe to deliver us . so he , pathetically . iv. direction . daily and deeply revolve in thy mind , how few they are that are effectually recovered out of their natural state of sin and misery , in comparison of the innumerable multitudes that die and perish therein everlastingly . that this is so , is evident ; 1. by the express words of our blessed saviour : enter ye in at the strait gate , for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction , and many there be which go in thereat : how strait is the way which leadeth unto life , and few there be that find it , mat. 7. 13 , 14. what is this broad way leading to destruction , but the sinful and wretched way of the world , the flesh , and the devil ? who are those many which go in thereat , but all those that live and die in their sinful and wretched state of nature ? what is that strait way leading unto life , but the way of god , by christ , through faith ? who those few that find this strait way , but those that are converted from darkness to light , &c. act. 26. 18. so then how few are the saved , in comparison of the multitudes that perish ! 2. by the paucity of those that were saved of old under the old testament , from the dayes of the first adam , till the death of jesus christ the last adam . for , 1. from adam till moses the church of god was only domestical , confined within certain families succeeding one another , as within the families of the 10 patriarchs before the flood , adam , seth , &c. and within the families of the 12 patriarchs after the flood . now during this time , which was above 2400 years , how few were recovered out of their sinful and wretched state of nature ! for , how few were within the church of god , in comparison of them that were without ? and those that were without the church , and so died , may generally be supposed to have perished in their natural state of sin and misery , which were far the greatest number of the whole world . for , 1. when in the dayes of noah , god brought the flood of waters upon the old world , to destroy all flesh that breathed , gen. 6. 13 , &c. and 7. 21 , 22 , 23. the world of the ungodly , ( as peter stiles them , 2 pet. 2. 5. ) was drowned , when only one family of noah , in the whole world , consisting but of 8 souls , were saved in the ark , gen. 6. 18. and 7. 7. with 1 pet. 3. 20. and of these 8 one was a wretched and cursed cham , that mocked at his own fathers nakedness , gen. 9. 21 , 22 , 24 , 25. 2. when god overthrew the cities of sodom , gomorrha , admah and zeboim , he found not 10 righteous persons in all those cities , for then he would have spared all for those tens sakes , gen. 18. 32. only 4 persons , viz. righteous lot , with his wife and 2 daughters , escaped the dreadful showers of fire and brimstone , gen. 19. 15 , 16. and one of these 4 , for looking back , viz. lot's wife , was turned into a pillar of salt ; to season mens unsavoury lusts after worldly things , as augustine o intimates . 3. in iob's time ( iob is conceived to be of abraham by keturah , by p some ; his descent and time is variously reported by others , as i have elsewhere q shewed ; but generally he is thought to have lived in the times of the patriarchs by most ) satan had so over-run the whole earth , that none in the earth , ( i. e. very few , or none in visible and conspicuous manner ) were found righteous , fearing god and eschewing evil , forsaking the idols of egypt , as iob did , iob 1. 1 , 7 , 8. and 2. 2 , 3. 2. from moses till christs death , the church of god became national , but was confined only to one nation , among all the nations of the world , viz. the nation of the iews , which were not moe in number then any people , but the fewest of all people , exod. 19. 5 , 6. 1 pet. 2 , 9. deut. 7. 6 , 7. therefore , few in comparison , were , during that time , recovered out of the state of sin and misery by nature . salvation was only of the iews , joh. 4. 22. and of such few proselytes of other nations as came in and joyned themselves to the people of the god of abraham , psal. 47. 9. all others were as forreigners and strangers they , the commonwealth of israel , and houshold of god , eph. 2. 12 , 13 , 19. all other were reputed no people , as having not obtained mercy ; no special saving mercy , they , the people of the living god , that had obtained mercy , 1 pet. 2. 9 , 10. all others were accounted as dogs ; they , the children , mat. 15. 26. and yet all the jews were not plucked out of their natural state of sin and misery ▪ and saved . for they are not all israel , which are of israel , rom. 9. 6. and though the number of the children of israel be as the sand of the sea , a remnant shall be saved , rom. 9. 27. a remnant is but a small number to the rest . consider well ; 1. all the men of israel , able for war , from 20 years old and upwards , were numbred in the wilderness to be 603550 , numb . 1. 46 , 47. besides the levites ; and all these , save caleb and ioshuah , for their unbelief and murmuring against god , and the promised land , were destroyed in the wilderness , numb 14 1 , 2 , &c. verse 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30. to 39. 1 cor. 10. 10. heb. 3. 17 , 18 , 19. iude 5. 2. many of them also for their other wickedness were overthrown in the wilderness , 1 cor. 10. 5. to 12. 3 in the dayes of the iudges , they , even the generality of them fell away from gods true religion and worship , unto heathenish idolatries , and that frequently , therefore god often gave them up into the hands of several sorts of oppressors , iudg. 2. 11. to 16. 4. in the dayes of ieroboam , 10 tribes of the 12 apostatized from god , and fell to the idolatry of the calves in dan and bethel , and at last were carried captive into assyria for their wickedness ; and the scripture makes no mention of their return , 1 king. 12. 28. to the end , and 19. 14 , 18. 2 king. 17. 3. to 24. 5. the two tribes of iudah and benjamin remaining , grew very wicked from time to time , especially in the reigns of wicked kings : insomuch that at last the face of all things in the church was so corrupt , that both the king , priests and people grew to such an height of impiety , that there was no remedy , and god gave them into the hand of the chaldeans , who destroyed them without pity , and carried them captive to babylon , where they were in thraldom 70 years together , 2 chron. 36. 11. to 22. 6. many of the jews after their return from the babylonish captivity , whereby they should have been reformed , fell into sundry offences in the dayes of nehemiah , which he endeavoured to reform ; as , most oppressive usury , neh 5. 7 , &c. prophanations of the sabbath-day , neh. 13. 15. to 23. marriages with wives of ashdod , ammon and moab , neh. 13. 23 , &c. 7. finally , in the dayes of antiochus , the whole face of religion was miserably corrupted , and the conscientious were cruelly persecuted , 1 mac. 1. 45. to the end . and when our blessed saviour became incarnate , the whole affairs of religion lay miserably prostrate and defaced . see mat. 5. and 6 , and 7 , and 15 , and 23. now , all these things considered , how few can we rationally imagine to have been plucked out of their sinful and wretched state of nature , when iniquity so abounded in the church ! 3. by the scarcity of the truth , life , and power of godliness and christianity , even in the visible churches of christ , now under the new testament : the fewness of those that are effectually recovered out of their natural state of sin and misery may further appear . for , 1. in our blessed saviours dayes , as the scribes and pharisees had in a manner engrossed all religion to themselves , as is none were religious but they , luk. 18. 9. &c. phil. 3. 5. act. 26. 5. so the whole religion of the scribes and pharisees stood in outward forms , hypocritical appearances , &c. rather then in any sincere realities , math. 6. 2. 5. 16. and 15. 2. to 10. and 23 , 2 , to 8 , 13. to 34. and therefore our saviour tells his hearers plainly ; that except their righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees ; they shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven , mat. 5. 20. 2. the apostle paul hath prophecied of perillous times to come in the last dayes , viz. that men shall cloak and shelter their many notorious abominations , under a form of godliness , denying the power thereof , 2 tim. 3. 1 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. 3. in the new testament we are oft informed how rare and precious true religion is . as , that , christs flock is but a little flock , luk. 12. 32. that , of the ten virgins , the one half were foolish , having lamps of profession , no oil of grace in them , math. 25. 1. &c. that , in the flower of the church , as there is wheat , so there is chaff , and more chaff than wheat , mat. 3. 12. that , of four sorts of hearers , there are three naught . mat. 13. luk. 8. and , that it is very observable , if out of the visible church you take away , all the notoriously prophane , all the meer moral and civil honest men , all the gross hypocrites whose hypocrisy half an eye may discern , all the privy close hypocrites who know themselves to be hypocrites , and all formal hypocrites or temporary believers that believe only for a time , luk. 8. 13. mat. 13. 20 , 21. the residue will be very few , in comparison , that are plucked by the hand of heaven out of their natural state of sin and misery , and thereby prepared for eternal felicity . v. direction . earnestly and effectually lay to heart , o natural man , how happy it would be for thy poor soul , to he one of those few recovered out of the sinful and wretched state of nature ; rather then one of those many that live and die and so perish therein eternally , luk , 13. 24. mat ▪ 7. 13 , 14. o , do not follow a multitude to do evil , exod. 23. 2. to walk according to the course of this world ; to do , as most do ; to swim down the common stream ; &c , is the natural man's way and delight , eph. 2. 1 ; 2 , 3. but 't is no safe way . the broad way hath most company , but the worst issue , destruction : the narrow way hath fewest passengers , but the best event , eternal life . mat. 7. 13. 14. will it not be infinitely better for thee , to be converted with afew , then to remain carnal with a multitude ? to be justified , adopted , acquitted at last day , and eternally saved with a few ; rather then to be held guilty , cast out of gods family , condemned at the last day , and eternally tormented with the greatest multitude ? will it be any ease to thy 〈◊〉 , to be tormented with the greater company : when the numerousness of the tormented will but augment and aggravate one anothers torments ? oh it will be far happier for thee , to be in abraham's bosom with one lazarus , then to be tormented in infernal flames with dives and all his five brethren , luk. 16. 23. 28. and with all the ungodly of the world. vi. direction fully be convinced , o natural man , how impossible a thing it is for thee or for any of the sons of adam , to be effectually brought out of this sinful and wretched state of nature , into an holy and happy state of grace , by any ability or sufficiency of our own , or by the sole assistance or influence of any meer creature in the whole world . this is a point of great consequence . for clearing of it i shall endeavour to shew , 1 , what natural man cannot do for delivering himself out of his sinful and wretched state of nature . 2. what he can and ought to do , 3. how , for not doing , what he can and ought to do he shall justly perish for ever . i , natural man in order to his effectual recovery out of his sinful and wretched state of nature , cannot do these things following . o natural man thou canst do none of these things , viz. 1. thou canst not circumcise thineheart from its natural filthiness , deut. 30. 16. nor take away thine heart of stone , canst not remove the natural hardness of thine heart in unbelief , impenitency , and sin : nor free thy self from thy death in sins and trespasses . this is gods peculiar work , ezek. 36. 26. eph 2. 1. 5. 2. thou canst not furnish thy self with the spirit of god , the spirit of grace , of regeneration , of renovation : nor with the principle and habits of grace infused into the soul , as repentance unto life , faith unto salvation , &c. these are not of ourselves , they are the proper gifts of god , see zech. 12. 10. ezek 36. 26 , 27. act. 11. 18. and 5. 31. eph. 2. 8. 3. thou canst not actuate , exert and draw into exercise the principles and habits of divine grace already infused and instilled into thy soul : but by gods special assisting and co-operating grace . turn thou me , and i shall be turned , — surely after that i was turned , i repented — . ier. 31. 18 , 19. — it is god that worketh in us ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both to will , and to do , of his good pleasur● ▪ phil. 2. 13. christ said ; — without me ye can do nothing ioh. 15. 5. paul acknowledgeth ; — not that we are ●ufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves : but our sufficiency is of god. 2. cor. 3. 5. of god we must have preventing grace , that we may will : subsequent grace , that we may not will in vain . in r augustines judgement , they are most sharply and vehemently to be resisted , who think , that without the help of god , by the very force of humane will , they are able either to perfect righteousness , or to profit in tending thereunto . and elsewhere he speaks notably of gods preventing and following grace ; — he prevents us , that we may be healed : he will follow us , that being healed we may grow . he prevents us , that we may be called : he follows us , that we may be glorified . he prevents us , that we may live piously : he follows us , that we may live with him perpetually . for , without him we can do nothing . s 6. thou canst not subdue the reign and dominion of thy sins , casting them as into the depths of the sea , mortifying them and crucifying them , mi● . 7. 19. rom. 8. 13. gol. 3. 5. nor canst thou finally purge and cleanse thy self so compleatly from all incident corruption , that neither spot nor wrinckle nor any such thing may remain . eph. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. these are the singular works of god and of jesus christ by his spirit , with , or without the means of grace . 4. thou canst not by any power of thine own , or by the help of any creature , come unto christ , so as to accept him for thine only saviour ; nor by christ unto god , as thy god in covenant : except god himself , the father of jesus christ draw thee . ioh. 6. 44. but if he please effectually to draw thee , to draw thy mind , thy conscience , t●y will , thine heart and affections , then thou shalt not only come to him , but even run after him . cant 1. 4. 5. thou canst not of thy self seriously and sincerely , so as thereby to please god , so much as will or desire jesus christ , and god in him , in order to thine eternal happiness . for , 't is god that works in us to will as well as to do , phil. 2. 13. 't is gods spirit that puts desires and groans into the heart : for , we know not what to pray for as we ought , what to will or desire as we ought , &c. rom. 8. 26. 27. 2. finally , thou canst not of thyself do that which may be acceptable unto god , nor bring forth fruit unto god , without christs special influence and assistance . ioh. 15. 4 , 5. philip. 2. 13. now then , o natural man , seeing these things are utterly beyond the sphear of thine activity , 1. presume not that thou canst be thine own saviour or deliverer out of thy sinful and wretched state of nature , by any vniversal grace or freedom of will. 2. but deny thy self and all thy self-sufficiencies in this point utterly . 3. seek for recovery out of thy natural state of sin and misery , from the omnipotent god alone . ii. a meer natural man , notwithstanding , is able to do many things and he ought to do them , in order to his recovery out of his sinful and wretched state of nature . o thou natural man god hath furnished thee with sundry talents improvable in some measure to this end : these thou must not hide in a napkin , or bury in the earth ▪ but oughtest to improve to the uttermost . mat , 25. 14 , to 31. with luk. 19. 12. to 28. particularly , 1. thou art able to consider of many things very conducible to thy recovery out of thy natural state , ezek. 18. 27 ▪ 28. luk 15. 17. &c. these thou shouldst take into serious consideration . as , 1. that thy natural state is most sinful and wretched , as was manifested . 2. that every one living and dying in his natural state , shall everlastingly perish without remedy . mat. ●8 . 3. ioh. 3. 3. 5. and 8. 24. act. 4. 11 , 12. 3. that no man can effectually and fully rescue himself out of his natural state , by his own ability , ioh. 1. 12. phil. 2. 13. eph. 2. 1. 5. 4. that , now as during this present life , man is to be recovered out of his natural condition , or never . 2 cor. 6. 1. 2. ecles . 9. 10. heb. 9. 27. 5. that thy soul is most precious : and no treasures of this world , no pleasures of sin , no pinacle of earthly honours , can countervail the loss of thy soul , mat. 16. 26. 2. thou art able in some measure , to search , prove , and examine thy state and wayes , so as to be convinced of the badness of them , and danger of continuing in them , 2 cor. 13. 5. lam. 3. 39. 40. 3. thou hast ability , upon discovery of thy sinful , wretched , and dangerous condition , to humble thy self deeply in the sight of god , for it . manasses in chains , did it , 2 chron. 33. ●1 , 12. the prodigal in misery resolved it ▪ luk. 15. 17. 18. 19. 4. thou canst confess thine iniquities ; upon conviction vilest offendors have done it , as , acham , iosh. 7. 20. 21. king pharaoh , exod. 10. 16. 17. king saul , 1 sam. 15. 24. judas , mat. 27. 3 , 4 , 5. 5. thou mayst in some sort forsake and turn from many iniquities : though not sincerely , nor from all entirely . herod for a while did forbear to put john baptist to death , though he mortally hated him for her●dias sake , mat. 14. 3. to 13. haman vexed extreamly at mordicai's not bowing , yet refrained himself from present revenge , est. 5. 9. 10. pharisees abstained from many outward gross sins , luk. 18. 11. saul , whilst a pharisee , was touching the law blameless , phil. 3. 6. iudas lived so inoffensively among the apostles , that when christ declared that one of them should betray him , none suspected judas more then themselves , mat. 26 , 21. to 26. ioh. 13. 21 , 22 , 23. 6. thou art able to attend upon , and make use of , all the outward means of grace , ordinary and extraordinary . meer natural men , carnal men , have done thus much heretofore , and such may do the like hereafter . canst not thou , o natural man , hear the word of god preached ? when the three bad grounds , the three sorts of bad hearers did , mat. 13. 19 , &c. when herod heard iohn baptist gladly , mar. 6. 20. when scribes and pharisees heard christ , mat. 21. 45. when iudas heard jesus preach often . when simon magus heard philip preaching , act. 8. 12 , 13. canst not thou partake the sacraments ? when simon the sorcerer was baptized , act. 8. 13. when the corinthians came to the lords supper , though many unworthily , and smarted for it , 1 cor. 11. 29 , 30. could they not have come better ? canst not thou pray after a sort ? when the mariners in● ionas's ship prayed in the storm , ionah 1. 5 , 6. when pharisees pray , mat. 6. 5. and luk. 18. 10 , &c. canst not thou sanctifie the sabbath-day ? when scribes and pharisees were so zealous against the breach and prophanation of the sabbath , mat. 12. 1 , 2. ioh. 5 16 , 18. canst not thou humble thy self with fasting ? when ahab did it , 1 king. 21. 27 , 28. when the heathen city nineveh did it , ionah 3. 5. to 10. when pharisees did it often , luk. 18. 10. 11. &c. 7. finally , thou canst o natural man , do much good , perform many religious exercises and christian duties , as our hearing reaped much spiritual benefit by the means of grace . what other meer natural men have done , thou maist do . as , ( 1. ) thou maist give much alms to the poor . so did the carnal pharisees , mat. 6. 1 , 2. so the blinded papists . ( 2. ) thou maist show much kindness and favour to gods people , to christians , &c. so did cyrus to the jews , ezra 1. 1 , 2. artaxerxes to ezra , ezra 7. 11. to 27. ahashuerus to mordecai and the jews , esth. 6. and 7. and 8. and 9. and 10. so maximinus the emperour , under gods heavy judgements , his bowels rotting , innumerable worms crawling from him , &c. ceased his cruel persecutions of christians , and made a law for their peace , liberty and publick meetings . t ( 3. ) thou maist have gods faithful ministers in high esteem , maist reverence them , and hear them gladly . as ioash did iehoiadah , 2 chron. 24. 2 , 4 , &c. herod did iohn baptist , mar. 6. 20. simon magus did philip , act. 8. 13. and as the officers of the chief priests and pharisees sent to take christ , were wonderfully taken with christ , joh. 7. 32 , 45 , 46. ( 4 ) thou maist desire the prayers of gods ministers and people for thee . as pharaoh desired the prayers of moses and aaron , exod. 9. 27 , 28. and 10. 16 , 17 , 18. king ieroboam desired the prayers of the man of god for his withered hand , 1 king. 13. 4 , 6. and simon magus begg'd the prayers of peter and the apostles for himself , that the evils feared might not come upon him , act. 28. 24. ( 5. ) thou maist wish thy self in as happy a condition , especially in death , as gods people . so did balaam , numb . 23. 10. and maist not only wish , but pray to god. so did the pharisees , mat. 6. 5. and 23. 14. luk. 18. 10. ( 6. ) thou maist profess the christian faith and religion . so did the five foolish virgins , who had lamps , mat. 25. 3 , &c. simon magus , act. 8. 13. ananias and saphira his wife , act. 5. 1. to 11. and iulian the emperour for a season , but afterwards became a woful apostate , and cruel persecutor of christians . u yea , thou maist believe for a time , as the hearers resembled to the rocky or stony ground , are said to do , luk. 8. 13. ( 7. ) thou maist also proceed to practice , and do many things . as did herod , mar. 6. 20. nay , what can a true christian do , but an hypocrite ( who is the christians ape ) may imitate it ? yea , the natural man may seem to do , with much zeal and affection . the stony ground heard with joy , mat. 13. 20 , 21. how zealous seemed ioash about repairing of the temple ? 2 chron. 24. 4 , &c. and iehu in rooting out of ahab's house , and destroying of baal's idolatry out of israel ? 2 king. 10. 16 , &c. iii. these things the natural man may do , and ought to do , in order to his recovery out of his natural state of sin and misery . thou therefore , o natural man , if thou dost not these things which thou canst do , and oughtst to do , in order to thy recovery , ( though neither these things , nor any thing else which thou canst do , is sufficient ) thou shalt justly perish in thy sinful and wretched state of nature for evermore . for , 1. all these abilities which god hath furnished thee withall , what are they but as so many talents wherewith the lord hath betrusted thee , that thou shouldst imploy them to thy lord and master's honour , and thine own eternal benefit ? mat. 25. 14. to 31. luk. 19. 12 , 13. now talents are not to be buried in the earth , or hid in a napkin . 2. a day of account will certainly come , when god will reckon with every one , how they have imploy'd their talents , mat. 25. 19 , &c. and happy those souls that shall be able to give a good and clear account at that day . 3. he that diligently and fruitfully imploys his talents received , is in the ready way of having his talents and gifts augmented , mat. 25. 28 , 29. mar. 4. 25. mat. 13. 12. luk. 8. 18. he that faithfully doth what he is able , shall be enabled to do much more . 4. if thou dost not in order to thy recovery what thou art able to do , thou wilt be found willingly , if not wilfully , guilty of thine eternal perdition in thy natural state of sin and misery , ezek 18. 31. and 33. 11. ah! what a crying sin is murder ? gen. 41. 10. what a roaring sin then is self-murder , wilful self-murder both of body and soul for ever ? 5. finally , if thou dost not towards thy recovery what thou art able , if thou improvest not thy talents what thou canst , god will account thee an unprofitable , a slothful and wicked servant , will cause thy talent to be taken from the , and thy self to be cast into outer darkness , there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth , mat. 25. 26 , 28 , 30. now go , o natural man , do to the utmost thou art able towards the rescuing of thy self from thy sinful and wretched state of nature , else thou'●t be guilty of thine own eternal destruction . and yet when thou hast done all thou art able , all this will not fully and compleatly effect thy recovery . vii . direction . great cause thou hast then , o natural man , upon all these foregoing considerations , deeply to humble thy self before the lord , for this thy sinful and wretched state of nature , wherein thou remainest even until this very day . luk. 15. 17 , 18 , 19 , 21. i. hast thou not causes , more then enough , to humble thy self deeply before the lord for this thy sinful and wretched state of nature , wherein thou still remainest ? for , consider ; 1. while thou art in this state of nature , thou art in the state of damnation , ioh. 3. 18 , 36. eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. and thou art posting apace to the place of execution , as fast as the wings of speedy time can carry thee ? and wilt thou go laughing to hell ? thou art condemned already , joh. 3. 18. and will any condemned malefactor go merrily to the place of execution ? was it not agag's folly to come in delicately to samuel , as if the bitterness of death had been past , when he was presently to be hewed in pieces before the lord ? 1 sam. 15. 32 , 33. art thou on the very pits brink of eternal perdition , and but a small puff of breath betwixt thee and hell , and dost thou not tremble ? doth not thine heart ake ? is not thy soul round-beset with sorrow , even unto death ? 2. while thou art un-humbled under this thy sinful and wretched state of nature , thou continuest an un-cured , yea an unconvinced sinner . ( 1. ) an un-cured sinner . for , humiliation usually precedes and procures reformation : as in manasses , 2 chron. 33. 12. to 17. in the prodigal , luk. 15. 17. to 22. in the penitent woman , luk. 7. 37 , 38 , &c. in saul , act. 9. 6 , &c. in peter's hearers , act. 2. 37 , &c. and in most . bruising prepares for healing ; wounding for binding up , luk 4. 18. burdening makes way for easing , mat. 11. 28. godly sorrow works repentance not to be repented of , 2 cor. ● . 10. ( 2. ) yea an un-convinced sinner . ●or , humiliation , as it makes way for reformation , so it presupposeth a previous conviction . so then , conviction works humiliation , humiliation inclines to reformation . o do not thou still continue an un-cured sinner , yea an un-convinced sinner , by remaining an un-humbled sinner . 3. thine humiliation before the lord for thy sinful and wretched condition , will prove , a grateful sacrifice to god , a gainful exercise to thee . 1. a grateful sacrifice to god. the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit , a broken and a contrite heart , o god , thou wilt not despise , psal. 51. 17. see 2 chron. 33. 12 , 13. and 15. 6 , 7. blessed are they that mourn , for they shall be comforted , mat. 5. 4. bruised and broken hearts are fit cures for christ , luk 4. 18. isa. 61. 1 , 2. yea , when sinners lament and grieve for their sins , heaven is filled with joy , luk. 15. 7 , 10. fletus peccatorum , triumphus angelorum , sinners tears , are the very triumph of angels . 2. a gainful exercise to thee . humiliation for thy sinful state , ( 1. ) will help thee to a deeper sense of thy sinfulness and wretchedness . as blots run abroad , and appear far larger , in wet paper . ( 2. ) will somewhat comfort thee , in that thou beginnest to mourn for that wherein thou didst formerly rejoyce ; and to hate what thou didst formerly love , &c. ( 3. ) will notably prepare thee to true repentance and recovery , 2 cor. 7. 10. ii. but when thou humblest thy self before god for thy sinful and wretched natural state , humble thy self rightly , viz. 1. humble thy self secretly , x seriously and sincerely , without hypocrisie . not as once ahab of old did , 1 king. 21. 27 , 29. nor as usually the hypocritical pharisees were wont to do , and after them , the papists in their fastings , mat. 6. 16. only formally : but as penitent manasseh did , 2. chron. 33. 11 , 12. as the praying publican did , luk 18. as the repenting prodigal did , luk. 15. as the relenting woman did , luk. 7. cordially and really . 2. humble thy self unto deepest self-loathing and self abhorrency . consider the infinite holiness of god , isa. 6. 3. hab. 1. 13. the wonderful purity and perfection of his word , psal. 119. 140 , 96. and thine own extream sinfulness , utterly repugnant unto both , rom. 5. 12. psal. 51. 5. ioh. 3. 6. rom. 3. 9. to 19. eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. and then loath thy self , and even abhor thy self as in dust and ashes , ezek. 36. 31. iob 42. 6. accounting thy self , with humbled paul , chief of sinners , 1 tim. 1. 15. 3. humble thy self so for thy sins , as to labour and be heavy laden with them , and quite weary of them , mat. 11. 28. be so pricked and wounded in heart for them , as to cry out to gods messengers , men and brethren what shall i do ? act. 2. 36 , 37. sirs , what must i do to be saved ? act. 16. 30. true humiliation for sin , will make thee earnestly long and desire to be rid of sin . 4. humble thy self reformingly . so as to repent and turn from thine iniquities unto god. as did manasseh , 2 chron. 33. 12 , &c. as did saul , act. 9. 6 , 11 , 20. that 's right humiliation that works reformation . that 's true godly-sorrow indeed , that works repentance not to be repented of , 2 cor. 7. 10. 5. humble thyself continually , till thy god exalt thee and lift thee up with comfort , and restore thee from thy sinful and wretched state of nature , into an holy and happy state of grace . the sinful woman never ceased hmbling herself at christs feet , and washing his feet with tears ; till christ comforted her , and told her that her sins , which were many , were forgiven her , luk. 7. 47 , 48. the prodigal ceased not confessing his sin and humbling himself for it to his father , as no more worthy to be called his son : till the father called for the best robe to be put upon him , and expressed many other most affectionate acts of a most tender paternal love unto him . luk. 15. 21. to 25. viii . direction . however thou art by nature , o natural man , in a most sinful and wretched state , and hast remained therein from thy very birth unto this day , for which thou hast cause to be abased to the very dust : yet know thou for thy comfort , thy case is not desperate , there is hope in israel concerning this ; god hath in this valley of achor , in this valley of trouble , opened a door of hope for thee , and of his mee● love and mercy hath revealed in his covenant of faith in christ , a way how thou mayst be recovered out of this thy sinful and wretched state of nature , into an holy and happy state of grace ; and how all gods elect , though lapsed in the first adam , may be restored in a second adam , tit. 3. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. gal. 3. 21 , 22. rom. 3. 20 , 21 , 22. 26 , 27. i shall illustrate this further to thy singular encouragement and comfort , o natural man , in certain distinct positions . viz. 1. the lord god , of the meer good pleasure of his will , according to his eternal purpose which he purposed in himself , elected a certain number out of mankind unto himself , to the adoption of children , that they should be holy and without blame before him in love , to the praise of the glory of his grace . ephes. 1. 4 , 5 , 6. 2 , though the only wise and righteous god ( who can bring good y out of cvil : else he could not suffer it to be ) permitted adam , the common root of mankind ; and in him , as in his loins , all mankind ; and among them all his elect ; to fall into sin and misery , for the greater manifestation of the surpassing glory of his freedom , mercy , and justice towards mankind : yet hath he not cast away his people whom he foreknew , nor left his elect to perish in that lapsed state , but hath most graciously and wisely contrived a way , how all his elect shall be recovered out of this state of sin and misery into a state of holiness and happiness for evermore . compare mat. 10. 29. 30. act. 2. 23. and 4. 27. with gen. 3. 1. &c. rom. 5 , 12 , 13 , 14. rom. 11. 2. ephes. 1. 4. to 12. col. 1. 19 , 20. 3. god , who is rich in mercy , for his great love wherewith he loved us , was pleased to contrive lapsed man's recovery , out of the exceeding riches of his meer grace and mercy . eph. 1. 3. to 12. and 2. 4 to 10. nothing at all foreseen in lapsed man could move or encline god at all , to contrive his restitution , eph. 2. 8 , 9. tit. 3. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. 4. gods contriving of lapsed mans recovery , is rendered a divine favour so much the more eminent and singularly illustrious , in that god would not vouchsafe the like favour to the lapsed angels , though by nature they were far more noble and excellent creatures , compare psal. 8. 4 , 5. with heb. 2. 16. angels fell z from their happy state , by their own free will without other seducement , and found no mercy : man fell through the malicious and subtile seducement of that old serpent the devil , and found mercy . 5. our ever blessed god hath , immediately upon the fall of man ; and afterwards from age to age in diverse remarkable periods of time , revealed in his precious promises and second covenant , the covenant of faith , enlarged more and more till it came to be most compleat in his new covenant , his most gracious purpose and pleasure of restoring lapsed man again from his state of sin and misery . as these , and like scriptures do abundantly testifie ; viz. with adam gen , 3. 15. noah , gen. 6. 18. 22. with heb. 11. 7. abram , gen. 12. 2 , 3. with 15. 9. to the end . and 17. 1. to 15. and 22. 15 , 16 , 17 , 18. israel , deut. 5. 2. to 22. with exod. 20. 1 , 2. &c. and 24 4. to 9. david , 2 sam. 7. 11. to 17. and 23. 5. with psal. 89 3. &c. and 132. 11. &c. with the jews captived in babylon . ezek. 34. 20. 23 , 24 , 25. and 36. 24. to the end , and 37. 1. 21. to the end. ier. 32. 1. 2. 3. 36. to the end . finally , in the new covenant in christ exhibited , the height and top turret of all gods covenant-expressures with his people , ier. 31. 31. to 35. with heb. 8. 6. to the end of the chapter . all which covenant-expressures i have elsewhere a at large explained , which the diligent reader may peruse . 6. our most gracious god revealing his good pleasure in his second covenant , the covenant of faith , for lapsed man's restauration , hath opened a door of hope , of life and salvation for him , who before was in an hopeless , desperate , dead and damnable condition . for such was the condition of adam , and of all mankind in him , after his fall , until the seed of the woman was promised to bruise the serpents head . compare gen. 2. 16 , 17. with gen. 3. 6 , 7. and 15. rom. 5. 12. and until natural man lay hold upon this promise , and this seed of the woman , ( which is our hope , 1 tim. 1. 1. ) by believing , he remains hopeless still , eph. 2. 12. 7. gods mysterious contrivance of lapsed mans recovery from his sinful and wretched state of nature , brought upon mankind by the breach of the covenant of works , gen. 2. 16 , 17. rom. 5. 12. and 6. 23. and revealing this his recovery in a gratuitous covenant of faith , which faith he promiseth by his spirit to work in them , rom. 3. 27. ezek. 36. 26 , 27. luk. 11. 13. eph. 2. 8. gal. 5. 22. is a mercy of mercies utterly beyond all blessing and praise , that the creature can present unto the lord . ix . direction . jesus christ , the alone eternal son of god , who in the fulness of time became perfect man , is the only meritorious mean and way , by whom lapsed man can be recovered and redeemed out of his natural state of sin and misery , into a supernatural state of grace and glory . compare act. 18. 28. ioh. 1. 41 , 45. mat. 16. 16. gal. 4. 4 , 8. mat. 1. 20 , 21. with luk. 2. 10. 1 tim. 1. 15. iob. 3. 16 , 17. rom. 5. 6 , 8 , 9 , 10. and with act. 4. 11 , 12. 1 tim. 1. 5. consider here , 1. who and what the recoverer of lapsed man is . 2. that this jesus christ is the meritorious mean of lapsed man's recovery . 3. that this jesus christ is the only meritorious mean of lapsed man's recovery . i. who , and what the recoverer of lapsed man is . he is jesus christ , the alone eternal son of god , who in the fulness of time became perfect man. here note , 1. the names . 2. the natures of christ in one person . his names , point out , 1. his office. iesus , denotes a saviour . 2. his qualification for this office. christ , signifies annointed , psal. 45. 7. his natures , divine and humane , declare both his matchless suitableness , and sufficiency for the effectual discharge of his office. 1. his names here expressed are two ; iesus , christ. the first is a hebrew name ; the second greek . he came to redeem and save both iews and greeks , jews and gentiles . ( 1 ) . iesus . he was so called at his circumcision on the eighth day , luk. 2. 21. he was so named by the angel before he was conceived in the womb , luk. 2. 21. mat 1. 21 , 25. iesus , i. e. a saviour . that 's his office. a most sweet and acceptable office. reasons why he was called iesus , a saviour , and in what sort he saves , i have elsewhere b explained . there see . ( 2. ) christ , i. e. annointed . this greek name is of the same signification with the hebrew name messiah , act. 4. 26. from psal. 2. 2. the new testament appropriates this name to him , luk. 2. 26. ioh. 4. 25. mat. 1. 1 , 16 , 18. and 16. 16 , 20. he was so called , because he was annointed with the holy ghost , that oyl of gladnest above all his fellows , and thereby designed and qualified for his office , as i have elsewhere c showed . as also , that this jesus is the true christ , the promised messiah , by ten arguments . 2. his natures in one person are two , viz. 1. divine , and 2. humane . ( 1. ) he is god , the alone eternal son of god , mat. 16. 15 , 16. ioh. 1. 14 , 18. and 3. 16 , 18. 1 ioh. 4. 9. heb. 1. 2 , 3. the names , attributes , works and worship , which peculiarly belong to god , are ascribed to him ; as elsewhere d i have manifested . ( 2. ) he is man. the man christ iesus , 1 tim. 1. 5. the son of man , joh. 6. 27. the son of david , the son of abraham , mat. 1. 1. the son of the blessed virgin mary , of the house and linage of david , luk. 1. 27 , &c. and 3. 23 , 24 , &c. and 2. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , &c. 21. and this jesus christ is god and man in one person , ioh. 1. 14. gal. 4. 4. 1 tim , 3. 16. of , 1. his fitness to become man : 2. the union betwixt his two natures : 3. the oneness of his person : 4. and why it was necessary he should be god and man : 5. the similitudes illustrating this union : and 6. the effects or consequents resulting from it . of all these , see what i have at large laid down elsewhere . e ii. that this iesvs christ god-man , is the meritorious mean of lapsed man's recovery . this will be evidenced abundantly many wayes , viz. 1. by the many promises of christ , under the old testament , as the restorer and recoverer of lapsed sinners . as , gen. 3. 15. gen. 12. 3. and 26. 4. with gal. 3. 16. psal. 110. 1 , &c. isa. 9. 6 , 7. and 11. 1. to 10. and 42. 1. to 10. and 53. 4. to the end : and 55. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. and 61. 1. to 4. dan. 9. 24 , 25 , 26. act. 10. 43. 2. by the many types of christ , representing him as a redeemer , restorer and deliverer of his people . moses and aaron , types of christ , as delivering israel out of egypt , act. 7. 37 , 38. the judges and kings , types of christ , as saving israel from their enemies , iudg. 16 30. psal. 2. the sacrifices slain , and their blood shed and sprinkled , types of christ , who by his death and blood should expiate our offences , &c. heb. 9. 9. to the end . and 10. 1. to 19. 3. by the many names and titles given unto christ , clearly declaring him to be the eminent medium or mean of lapsed man's recovery . he is to this end stiled , a mediator betwixt god and man , 1 tim. 2. 5. heb. 9. 15. a redeemer , isa. 59. 20. rom. 11. 26. redemption , 1 cor. 1. 30. a ransom for many , 1 tim. 2. 6. a sacrifice for sin , offered once for ever , heb. 10. 12. a propitiation for our sins , and for the sins of the whole world , 1 joh. 2. 2. a propitiation through faith in his blood , rom. 3. 25. a reconciler of the world to god , 2 cor. 5. 18 , 19 , 20. we are reconciled to god , when we were enemies , by the death of his son , rom. 5. 10. by whom we have received the atonement , rom. 5. 11. the lamb of god , taking away the sins of the world , joh. 1. 29. the deliverer , that shall come out of sion , and turn away ungodliness from iacob , rom. 11. 26. a saviour , which is christ the lord , luk. 2. 11. who came into the world to save sinners , 1 tim. 1. 15. able to save to the uttermost , heb. 7. 25. the chief captain ( or arch-duke ) of our salvation , heb. 2. 10. an advocate with the father , 1 joh. 2. 1 , 2. with divers such like denominations . 4. by the many saving benefits which he hath meritoriously obtained and purchased of god for us , by his obedience , sufferings and death . as , satisfaction to gods justice for our sins , eph. 5. 2. heb. 10. 5. to 22. 1 tim. 2. 6. redemption from all our spiritual bondage . eternal redemption , heb. 9. 12. reconciliation to god , rom. 5. 10 , 11. 2 cor. 5. 18 , 19 , 20. adoption into gods family , gal. 4. 4 , 5 , 6. remission of sins , and justification , eph. 1. 7. rom. 3. 25. heb. 9. 14. and 10. 12 , 14 , 17 , 18. mortifying and crucifying of our old man , rom. 6. 6 , 7. conquering of death , and him that ( as an executioner ) had the power of death , that is , the devil , heb. 2. 14 , 15. col. 2. 14 , 15. appearing for us , as our advocate , by representing the merit of his blood in heaven , heb. 9. 24. and 7. 25. 1. ioh. 2 1 , 2. making a new and living way for us , through the vail of his flesh , which was rent with sufferings , by his own blood , into the holiest of all heaven it self , heb. 10. 19 , 20. iii. that this iesus christ is the only mediator , the only saviour of sinnetrs , the only meritorious mean of lapsed mans recovery out of his sinful and wretched state of nature . there is one mediator betwixt god and man , the man christ iesus , 1 tim. 2. 5. neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved , act. 4. 12. direct . x. know also , o natural man , that iesus christ hath wrought recovery and obtained redemption for lapsed man from his sinful and wretched state of nature into an holy and happy state of grace , as he is god-man ; testator , surety and mediator of the new testament , executing his mediatory office to this end as prophet priest and king both in his state of humiliation and exaltation . the former direction shows that jesus christ , and he alone , is sinful man's recoverer : this declares , how and in what way he hath effected and obtained man's recovery and redemption . in an abstruse and most mysterious way . viz. 1. as he is god-man in one person . this i have elsewhere f abundantly cleared . there see . 2. as he is testator , surety , and mediator of the new testament , or new covenant . this also see elsewhere g explicated and confirmed , for brevity sake . 3. as he executed his mediatory office in a prophetical , priestly , ( where his satisfaction to gods justice for our sins is at large handled pag. 1607. to 1618. ) and kingly way , both in his state of humiliation and exaltation . all these i have elsewhere h cleared . consult the place : that i may not actum agere . whereby i hope you will not lose your labour . direct . xi . let this sink deep into shine heart , o natural man , that this iesus christ , god-man , the only mediator and saviour's most able , and most willing 〈◊〉 receive and save all lapsed sinners that come unto him , and to god by him . 1. iesus christ is most able and sufficient to save all unto the uttermost that come unto god by him . heb. 7. 25. mat. ●8 . 18. &c. col. 1. 19. he is not an impotent , but an omnipotent saviour , rev. 1. 8. whether we regard his person , or office. 2. iesus christ is most willing to save all that come unto him . both these i have already demonstrated . i consult them there at large , to avoid prolixity here . direct . xii . mark well , notwithstanding , o natural man , that there 's a vast difference betwixt christs obtaining of redemption and recovery for lapsed man : and christs applying of that obtained recovery and redemption so lapsed man. betwixt these , there are two great differences . 1. christ hath obtained eternal redemption for us immediately by his own person , and the merit of his obedience , heb. 1. 3. and 9. 12. eph. 5. 2. 1 tim. 2. 5 , 6. eph. 1. 7 , 8. christ applies this obtained redemption to us immediately by his spirit , effectually working faith and all saving grace in us , that so we may close with christ , have union to him , and communion with him . tit. 3. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. eph. 2. 8 , 9. gal. 5. 22. ezek. 36. 26 , 27. deut. 30. 6. eph. 1. 13 , 14. 1 ioh. 5. 12. 1 cor. 1. 30. 2. christ hath obtained recovery and redemption for his elect joyntly , in fulness of time , by his blood , gal. 4. 4 , 5. eph. 1. 3. to 9. the vertue of his sufferings extending it self to them all from the beginning to the end of the world : as the sun in the meridian line , in the fulness of the day , diffuseth his light , heat and influence backwards towards the east , as well as forward towards the west . eph 1. 10. col 1. 20. but christ applies this recovery and redemption which he hath wrought and purchased , in due time to his elect severally , as he calls them particularly unto the fellowship of his son , 1 cor. 1. 9. 2 thes. 2. 13 , 14. and he calls some in their youth , some in their manly-age , some ( though very few ) in their old age : some at the third hour , some at the sixth , some at the ninth , and some at the eleventh hour of their day , mat. 20. 1. to 17. direct . xiii . no sinner in the world can actually have any saving share or interest at all in the redemption or recovery which christ hath fully obtained for his people : untill he actually accept christ , as his only all-sufficient saviour ; and particularly apply to his own soul that redemption and recovery from sin and misery , which christ hath procured and obtained . 1 ioh. 5. 12. ioh. 1. 11 , 12. and 3. 16. 18 , 36. and 8. 24. and this must needs be so . for , 1. christs obtaining of recovery and redemption for lapsed sinners renders them only salvable , and that possibly they may be saved , which door of hope is not opened at all to the lapsed angels : but sinners particularly accepting of christ , and applying of his merit unto themselves personally , renders them actually saved , and that they are indeed in the state of salvation already . compare diligently these and like scriptures , ioh. 3. 16 , 17. tit. 2 , 14. 1 tim. 1. 15. gal. 4. 4. 5. rom. 8. 3. which point out a possibility of salvation by christ and his death , with ioh. 1. 12. 1 ioh. 5. 12. 1 cor. 1. 9. and such like as denote their actual salvation by christ , who have accepted him and applied him to themselves particularly . 2. non-accepting and non-applying of christ , is so great a sin , that it is threatned with damnation , ioh. 16. 8 , 9. with ioh. 3. 18. 36. and 8. 24. therefore , though christ be never so able and all-sufficient to restore and save sinners : yet none can have benefit by his salvation without application of him and his merits . 3. the promise of effectual and eternal salvation by christ , is still directed to the actual acceptance and application of christ. as , spiritual rest of soul is promised : but to them that come to christ , mat. 11. 28 , 29. eternal life is promised : but to such as believe in him , ioh. 3. 16. but to such as eat this bread of life , viz. his flesh given for the life of the world , ioh. 6. 51. 57. 58. remission of sins is promised : but to them that believe in him , act , 10. 43. now , how shall man he saved according to gods promises , that perform not the condition of the promises ? 4. who ever was restored and saved by christ , till he accepted and applied christ ? not the apostles ; ioh. 16. 30. mat. 16. 16. not the sinful woman , luk. 7. 50. not the convert thief , luk. 23. 43. not the jaylor , act. 16. 31. to 35. who ever was healed by a plaister spread and prepared only , but never applied to the wound and sore ? who ever was comforted with the richest cordial though never so accurately prepared , if it were never eaten or drunk ? and who ever was actually saved by christ , if not particularly accepted and applied ? they that accept not , that apply not christ to themselves , are without christ : and they that are without christ are without hope , so remaining , and go without salvation , eph. 2. 12. 5. all communion with christ in his saving benefits ●lows from union to christ in accepting of him , ioh. 1. 12 1 ioh. 5. 12. rom. 8 10. col. 2. 19. eph. 4. 16. as the ciour hath communion with the stock in its life , growth , fruitfulness , by being united unto the stock , by ingrafting ; or as the wife hath communion with the husband in his name , state , &c. by being united to him in marriage ; or as the members of the natural body have communion with the head and heart in their life , sense , motion , &c. by being united thereunto by joints and hands . 6. till the sinner accepts and applies christ , he is not throughly convinced of the sinfulness and wretchedness of his natural state , and of the great need he hath of christ to deliver him out of it . for , conviction is the first step to application of christ , ioh. 16. 8 , 9. and where there 's not the first step of conviction : there 's no present state of salvation . 7. till the sinner accepts christ , and applies him , he neglects and despiseth him : and he that despiseth christ how can he obtain salvation , yea , how can he escape damnation . see mat. 22. 1. to 3. luk. 14. 16. to 25. heb. 2. 3. direct . xiiii . observe diligently , o natural man , that the proper and peculiar way whereby iesus christ is to be accepted and applied to a man 's own soul for recovery out of his sinful and wretched state of nature , is by true saving faith in iesus christ alone , act. 10. 43. ioh. 3. 16. and 1. 12. act. 13. 38 , 39. and 16. 30 , 31. eph. 2. 8. rom. 3. 22. to 27. i. that , by true saving faith alone peculiarly iesus christ is accepted and applied for recovery out of sin and misery , is evident several wayes . for , 1. the nature of true saving faith in christ , principally consists in the accepting and applying christ for salvation as he is offered in the gospel . thus i have elsewhere described it ; iustifying faith is a saving grace , wrought in the hearts of the elect at their regeneration by gods spirit and word ; whereby they not only know , assent to , and apply to themselves the promises , gospel , and doctrine of iesus christ for gods glory in their justification and salvation ; but also whereby they afterwards walk as becomes justified persons . there see the confirmation and explanation of this description of faith k . so that the nature of saving faith in christ , stands much in applying christ in the gospel and promises , who is the kernel and soul of them . 2. the receiving and applying iesus christ for recovery and salvation , is one of the chief acts of faith , l which thus i illustrate ; the acts of true faith in christ are 1 direct . 2. reflexive . ( 1 ) direct . and these of 2 sorts . 1. primary . as , 1. knowing . isai. 53. 11. ioh. 17. 3. 2. assenting to the truth of gods record , 1 ioh. 5. 9. ioh. 3. 33. 3. applying of the promises , and of christ , ioh. 1. 12. as paul did , gal. 2. 20. as thomas did , ioh. 20. 8. 2. secondary . as , 1. retaining christ received in the heart , eph. 3. 17. col. 2. 6 , 7. 2. purifying the heart , act. 15. 9. 3. refreshing the soul with peace and joy , rom. 5. 1 , 2. and 15. 13. 4. breaking forth into good works , 1 thes. 1. 3. heb. 11. 5. working by love , gal. 5. 6. 6. enlivening the soul , rom. 1. 17. gal. 2. 20. 2. conquering all our spiritual enemies . 1 ioh. 3. 2 , 3. and 5. 4. 1 pet. 1. 9. iam. 4. 7. eph. 6. 16. ( 2 ) reflexive . when faith refle&ing upon its own acts sees it self believing , 1 ioh. 2. 3. 1 tim. 1. 12. by this it appears that the applying act of faith is a very principal act among all the rest . ● or , all the acts before the applying ast , tend to make way for it as preparatory to it : and all the acts after it , result from the applying act especially , as genuine fruits and effects of it . thus the applying act of faith is among the rest , as the sun among the planets , most illustrious . 3. faith is so peculiarly eminent among all the graces of the spirit , in its property of receiving and applying iesus christ , for recovery and salvation of sinners , that it 's set forth to us in holy scripture by sundry emphatical expressions and comparisons . all pointing out the applying act of faith. faith is , 1. a looking upon christ , as the jews did upon the brazen serpent , when stung . ioh. 3. 15 , 16. and 8. 56. 2. a coming to christ. ioh. 6. 35. mat. 11. 28. 3. a receiving of christ. ioh. 1. 11. 12. 4. an embracing of the promises , and so of christ in the promises . heb. 11. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly notes , lovingly-embracing , eagerly-apprehending , and thence signifies saluting : saluting being performed with embracing . 5. eating of christs flesh , drinking of his blood . ioh. 6. 40. 53. 54. 6. having of the son. 1 ioh. 5. 12. 7. harbouring christ so that he dwells in the heart by faith. eph. 3. 17. 4. the doctrine of the gospel reveales recovery and salvation of sinners in and by christ : but as received and applied by faith. act. 10. 43. and 13. 38 , 39. rom. 3. 21. to the end ; and 10. 9. &c. 5. convinced sinners enquiring how they may be saved , are directed to apply christ by believing in him . act. 16. 30 , 31. 6. recovery and salvation of sinners is promised in and for jesus christ and his merit : but then christ must be received and applied by faith. faith is often expressed , alwayes to be understood as the condition of the promise . as , mat. 11. 28. ioh. 3. 16. and 6. 40. 53 , 54. mark 16. 16. act. 10. 43. rom. 9. 33. 1 pet. 2. 6. act. 16. 30 , 31. 7. without faith in christ there 's no salvation . none can be saved , that by believing apply not christ for recovery . ioh. 3. 18. 36. and 8. 24. mark 16. 16. 2 thes. 2. 12. ii. how is iesus christ to be accepted and applyed by faith , in order to the sinners recovery and salvation by him ? answer . jesus christ is to be accepted and applyed by faith , in order to the sinners recovery by him , in such sort as he is offered in the gospel . to accept and apply him otherwise , in any other notion , upon any other terms , &c. then god offers him : is to apply a christ of our own , not the lords christ. gods offer , must be the ground and rule of our acceptance . now the gospel offers christ unto the sinner , for his recovery by him ; and to his faith. 1. as that messiah and saviour of sinners , which from the fall of man was promised , prophecied of , and fore-typified ; and in fulness of time was manifested in humane flesh , for lapsed man's recovery out of sin and misery . gen. 3. 15. and 12. 3. and 22. 18. gal. 3. 8. 16. with act. 8. 10. 43. ioh. 1. 41. 45. gal. 4. 4 , 5 , 6. 1 pet. 1. 18 , 19 , 20. 2. as that only messiah , redeemer , and saviour given among men , by whom alone sinners can be saved , and by none other in the whole world . act. 4. 11 , 12. ioh. 8. 24. 3. as an all-sufficient saviour , able to save fully unto the vttermost all that come unto god by him . heb. 7. 24 , 25 , 26. and 9. 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. and 10 , 11. to 19. ioh. 1. 14 , 15. col. 1. 19 , 20. 4. as god-man , mediator betwixt god and man , ioh. 1. 14. gal. 4. 4 , 5. 1 tim. 3. 16. with 1 tim. 2. 5 , 6. 5. as man's surety , heb. 7. 22. who by his obedience active hath exactly fullfilled the law of god , which we could not perform or keep , gal. 4. 4. and by his obedience passive , to the death , even the death upon the cross , hath endured the curse and penalty of the law for our sakes , which we could neither have endured nor avoided : that so , satisfying gods justice to the uttermost for our sins , we might be eternally released from sin and wrath , and be reconciled to god , justified and saved by christs obedience imputed to us through faith. rom. 5. 18 , 19. and 8. 3 , 4. phil. 2. 6 , 7 , 8. rom. 5. 9 , 10. and 3. 25. gal. 3. 10. 13 , 14. eph. 5. 2. heb. 9. 12. 14. and 10. 10 to 19. 1 pet. 1. 18 , 19 , 20. tit. 2. 14. 6. as the sinners perfect righteousness before god , ●mputed by god unto him , through faith. 1 cor. 1. 30. rom. 3. 21. 22. to the end . and 4. 11 , 12. and 5. 18 , 19. and 10. 6. 9. 10. for which all self-righteousness is to be denied , phil. 3 ▪ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. 7. as christ jesus the lord . the gospel tenders him ; as christ or messiah , i. e. anointed by the spirit above measure for his office , psal. 45. 7. as iesus , i. e. a saviour mat. 1. 21. luk. 2. 20. this denotes his office . as the lord , to rule and raign over us , in us , and for us , over all our enemies whatsoever . as he is a jesus to save : so he will be a lord to rule . thus we are to receive and apply him , as the colossians did , col. 2. 6. 8. as that redeemer , for whom we are to deny ourselves , take up ou● cross and follow him . luk 9. 23. iii. what encouragement may a poor lapsed and lost sinner have , to draw towards iesus christ , to accept and apply him for his recovery and salvation by believing in him . answ. much every way . but especially upon these and like serious considerations . viz. 1. christ himself hath plainly declared that it is the great duty of the sinner , to believe in christ , and so to accept and apply him by faith. this , the work , which god chiefly requires and accepts : to believe in christ. ioh. 6. 28 , 29. 1 ioh. 3. 23. 2. christ most sweetly invites all distressed sinners , and thirsty souls , to come to him for relief , to believe in him . mat. 11. 28 , 29 , 30. ioh. 7. 37. with isai. 55. 1 , 2. rev. 22. 17. 3. christ holds forth the golden-scepter of most great and precious promises , to encourage and allure sinners to approach to him and to apply him by believing . mat. 11. 28 , 29. mar. 16. 16. ioh. 3. 16. 18. 36. and 6. 37. 40. 44. 51. 54. 57. act. 10. 43. rom. 9. 33. 1 pet. 2. 6. 4. christ never did , never will , reject any poor sinful soul , that did but even creep to him by the feeblest faith , ioh. 6. 37. why then shouldst thou fear , that he will not accept and embrace thee ? 5. christ hath most readily , tenderly and compassionately received even greatest and most hainous offendors , upon their coming to him by faith : and all these for encouraging patterns and presidents to all that afterwards shall believe in him , 1 tim. 1. 16. and why should he not in like sort entertain thee , notwithstanding all thy sins , if thou canst believe in him ? remember the reception of the prodigal , luk. 15. 20. to the end : of nicodemus . the ignorant pharisee , ioh. 3. 1 , 2 , 3. &c. of mathew the griping customer , mat. 9. 9. of zachaeus the oppressing publican , luk. 19. 5. to 11. of the notorious sinful woman that washed christs feet with her tears , &c. luk. 7. 37. to the end of saul , that was injurious , a persecutor and a blasphemer , act. 26. 9 , 10. 11. 1 tim. 1. 13 , 14. 16. of the thief upon the cross , that even after his crucifiction had railed upon christ , mat 27. 44. compared with luk. 23. 40. to 44. yea of those that were guilty of his death and blood : yet even some of them christ washed from their sins by the very blood which they shed , m act. 2. 36 , 37. to the end . oh , miracles of christs mercy and compassion to lost sinners ! when christ accepts such ; who would not hopefully come to him ? when christ saves such ; who have cause to despair , that desire truly to repent and believe in him ? xv. direction . power thus to believe in iesus christ god-man , and by believing to accept and apply him for thy recovery ( o natural man ) out of thy sinful and wretched state of nature , thou hast none at all of thy self ; but all thy sufficiency in this behalf is wholly of god : nevertheless thou mayst , and oughtest to do some things for the furtherance of thy faith in christ. i. that , of thyself thou hast no power or sufficiency at all to believe in iesus christ , to receive , and apply him effectually by believing , without the supernatural influence and assistance of god : is plain . for , 1. the testimony of christ and his apostles is clear for it . no man can come to me ( i. e. by believing ) except the father which hath sent me , draw him , ioh. 6. 44. he cannot of himself , or by his own power come and believe : till god influence him and enable him . again ; without me ye can do nothing . viz. nothing in fruit bearing ; either of faith , or any other good spiritual fruit , ioh. 15. 5. that of the apostles is punctual ; by grace are ye saved , through faith and that not of your selve , it is the gift of god , ephes. 2. 8. n 2. true saving faith in christ , and the acting of it unto the accepting and applying of christ , is the special work of god and fruit of the spirit , of the regenerating spirit of god. compare and consider well , ioh. 6. 44. gal. 5. 22. with ioh. 1. 12 , 13. 3. faith in christ is the life of the soul from christ , it is as the vital spirits from him , gal. 2. 20. rom. 1. 17. now , can the soul of natural man , which is dead in sins and trespasses , eph. 2. ● . quicken it self by believing . hence , then , these things must needs follow . 1. that , whosoever do believe in christ truly , and by faith apply him effectually and savingly , they owe all this wholly to the rich grace and meer favour of god. and are to render unto him all the praise thereof . 2. that 't is a piece of gross ignorance and groundless presumption , for any natural man whatsoever , to think he can believe and accept christ at his pleasure . this is impossible . 3. let every natural man take heed he reject not the divine offers of faith unto his soul , nor resist the spirits motions and operations inclining , drawing , and perswading the heart thereunto , 1 thes. 5. 19. act. 7. 51. eph 4. ioh. 6. 44. for , what if the spirit of god draw and move the heart so no more ? and without god , there 's no believing . ii. notwithstanding , though the natural man cannot of himself savingly believe in christ , or apply him , by any self-sufficiency or power of his own , yet something towards it , and towards the furtherance thereof , he may and ought to do , act. 8. 13. luk. 8. 13. for , what a meer natural man hath done heretofore , why may not a meer natural man do again ? now then , o natural man , though thou canst not of thy self believe in christ , and apply him savingly , yet neglect not to do what thou canst do , in order to this believing in christ , and applying of christ to thine own soul. art thou grieved in thine heart thou canst not enough believe in him ? art thou desirous to believe in him alone for recovery and salvation ? i would fain take this for granted . let me then draw thee , thou poor trembling soul , a few steps further towards christ. make use of these few helps and furtherances unto faith in christ jesus . for , this thou canst , and ought'st to do . viz. 1. know , and consider jesus christ well , both in his person , offices , and the effects or acquirements of his offices , as all these are delineated in the holy scriptures . ioh. 17. 3. 1 tim. 3. 16. 1 tim. 2. 5 , 6. heb. 9. 12 , 13 , 14. and 10. 7. to 19. rom. 5. 9 , 10. and assent fully to the record , that god hath given of his son in his word , that eternal life is in his son , 1 joh. 5. 10 , 11. now , knowledge , heb. 11. 3. isa. 53. 11. ioh. 17. 3. assent , 1 ioh. 5. 10 , 11. and application , ioh. 1. 12. gal. 2. 20. make up the nature of true faith. 2. ponder often and earnestly upon the promises of god touching christ , and touching believing in him . as , that whosoever comes to him by believing , shall not in any case be cast out by christ , ioh. 6 35 , 37. shall not be ashamed or confounded , rom. 9. 33. 1 pet. 2. 6. shall not perish , joh. 3. 16. shall never hunger nor thirst more , joh. 6. 35. isa. 55. 1. shall find rest from christ unto his soul , mat. 11. 28 , 29. shall live , though he were dead ; yea , shall never die , joh. 11. 25. yea , shall have eternal life , and be saved , joh. 3. 16 , 17. mar. 10. 16. now these and such like promises , being yea and amen in christ , 2 cor. 1. 20. they are fundamentum & pabulum fidei , the very foundation , whereupon faith is bottomed and grounded ; and the food , wherewith faith is nourished . see rom. 4. 17. to the end . heb. 11. 11. 3. consider well the nature of god , the promiser . for , this will greatly encourage faith to embrace the promises , and christ in the promises . for , gods truth is such : he cannot lie , tit. 1. 2. 't is impossible he should lie , heb. 6. 10. gods fidelity such : he cannot , will not deceive , heb. 11. 11. gods power such : he can fully perform what he hath promised , seem it never so improbable , impossible , incredible , rom. 4. 20 , 21. his love and free grace such : in giving christ for us , ioh. 3. 16 , 17. and offering christ to us , rom. 3. 21 , &c. 2 cor. 5. 18 , &c. that with him he will freely give all things , rom. 8. 32. 4. be diligent and constant in attending upon gods ordinances , whereby faith is bred and nourished . especially be singularly careful and vigilant in hearing the word faithfully and powerfully preached . faith comes by hearing , and hearing by the word of god , rom. 10. 14 , 15 , 17. the word preached is the seed of faith and regeneration , 1 pet. 1. 23 , 25. 5. cherish and make much of every good motion , stirring , striving inclination , operation of the spirit of god in thine heart and soul , tending to thine accepting and closing with christ , 1 thes. 5. 19. eph. 4. 30. act 7. 51. for faith is the proper fruit o● the spirit , gal. 5. 22. 6. forget not the exemplary instances of believers , who , though great offendors , yet have received and apply'd christ by faith , and have been graciously accepted and entertained by him : and all this for the encouragement of thee , and of all that afterwards should believe . as , the jaylor , act. 16. 30 , &c. paul , 1 tim. 1. 13. to 17. act. 26. 9. 10 , 11. the penitent woman , luk. 7. 37. to the end . the thief on the cross , luk. 23. 42 , 43. the 3000 hearers of peter , act. 2. 36 ▪ 37. &c. 7. ask , seek , knock importunately at the throne of grace , for this soul-saving grace . the spirit is promised to them that ask , luk. 11. 13. fly unto christ the author and finisher of faith , heb. 12. 2. and cry , lord increase my faith , luk. 17. 5. lord , i believe , help thou mine unbelief , mar. 9. 24. xvi . direction . question and examine the self often impartially , touching the truth of thy faith in christ for thy recovery and salvation , 2 cor. 13. 5. for , there is a counterfeit and fained faith , luk. 8. 13. act. 8. 13. iam. 2. 14 , 17 ▪ 20 , 26. and there is a faith unfained , 1 tim. 1. 5. 2 tim. 1. 5. 't is the faith unfained that accepts and applies christ , ioh. 1. 12 , 13. act. 8. 37. and will afford thee solid comfort . now faith in christ unfained may be discovered by these and the like characters , which if thou canst really find in thy self , doubtless thou art a true believer . true saving faith in jesus christ , is , 1. a christ-applying faith. if faith be sincere and salvi●ical , it never rests till it bring the soul to christ , till it possess the soul of christ. it is the soul's eye , that beholds christ lifted up , io● . 3. 15. it 's the soul's feet , whereby it comes to christ , mat. 11. 28. ioh. 6. 35 ▪ 37. it 's the soul's hand , whereby it receives christ ; and arms , wherewith it o embraceth christ , ioh. 1. 12. he● . 11. 13. it 's the soul's mouth , wherewith it eats christs flesh that bread of life , and drinks christs blood that water of life , ioh. 6. 47 , 53 , 54 , 55. by all which acts of faith the soul comes to have christ , to possess and enjoy him , and life in him , 1 joh. 5. 12. true faith in christ contents not it self only to know christ , or only to assent to the truth of gods record touching christ , that life is in him ; but it further proceeds to receive and apply christ to the soul , to appropriate him and enjoy him actually to the particular believer . 2. a christ-retaining faith. true saving faith in christ , not only entertains christ , but also retains him in the best room of the soul , the heart . — that christ may dwell in your hearts by faith , eph. 3. 17. the believer's heart , is christ's home : and faith gives christ the acceptable entertainment : 1. as it cleanseth the heart of every thing that might be offensive to him , act. 15. 9. 2. as it ascribes all salvation and sufficiency for it , only unto christ , counting all self-excellencies loss and dung , phil. 3. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. so then , if christ be dwelling in thine heart , faith is there also . 3. a christ esteeming faith. faith most highly esteems christ , accounts him most precious . — unto them which believe he is precious , 1 pet. 2. 7. so precious ; that , he sells all that he hath for him , mat. 13. 44 , 45 , 46. that , he denies all that he hath , yea all that he is , for him , phil. 3. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. luk. 9. 23. and 19. 43. that he disesteems , and as it were , hates all dearest relations , in comparison of christ , mat. 10. 37. luk. 14. 26 , &c. yea , so precious ; that , it sets more store by christ , at his lowest , then by all worldly treasures , at their highest , heb. 11. 26 , 27. if christ be truly precious to thy soul , faith is planted in thine heart . 4. an heart purifying grace . according to that ; — purifying their hearts by faith , act. 15. 9. 1 joh. 3. 3. faith makes the inside clean ; hypocrisie only the outside , mat. 23. 25 , 26. faith purifies the heart ; 1. formaliter , formally , as it is an holy , inherent principle of grace and purity , resisting sin and temptation , gal. 5. 17. 1 ioh. 3. 3. eph. 6 16. to this effect it 's stiled , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , most holy faith , jude , verse 20. p 2. instrumentaliter : instrumentally it purisieth : the heart , by applying thereunto christs imputed purity , phil. 3. 9. christ's blood , which purgeth the conscience from the guilt and power of dead works , to serve the living god , heb. 9. 14. with rom. 3. 25. by applying christ's imputed purity and righteousness . 5. a soul-purifying , and heart-comforting grace . it affords peace with god : which produceth two excellent effects : 1. ioy , in hope of the glory of god. 2. glorying even in tribulation , rom. 5. 1 , 2 , 3. — joy and peace in believing , rom. 15. 13. now , the peace of god passeth all understanding , and keeps , as in a garrison , q the heart and mind in christ jesus , viz. safe and secure , phil. 4. 7. 6. most dutiful and obediential towards god , and this against all interposing difficulties : against reason , against natural affection , &c. as in noah , heb ▪ 11. 7. in abraham ; when he obey'd god , to forsake his kindred , and follow god , he knew not whither , heb. 11. 8. and when he in a sort offered up isaac for a burnt-offering , heb. 11. 17. 7. most abundant and fruitful in all good works , jam. 2. 14. to the end . and this god expects , tit. 3. 8. faith is a most working grace : it is the root of all good works of piety , righteousness and sobriety , 1 tim. 1. 5. hence that phrase ; — the work of faith , 1 thes. 1. 3. a workless faith , is ( as iames intimates to us ) a worthless faith , iam. 2. 17 , 26. 8. a grace that acts and works by love , gal. 5. 6. how by love ? more generally : not by love , as fire works by heat , the formal property of fire ; as if love were the form of faith , as papists say , contrary to that in 1 tim 1. 5. but by love , as an external instrument , ( external or outward , as to the proper nature of faith ) joyned or annexed unto faith , for the exerting of its acts , as the soul works by the brain , eye , ear , hand , &c. more particularly : faith works by love : 1. as it tends to principle and store the heart with the love of christ , 1 pet. 1. 7 , 8. faith is as the captain-grace , that leads on all the rest , 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , 7. 2 ▪ as it actuates and incites love with a more ardent flame towards god , christ , and all goodness . faith spreads open before the soul gods love and christs loveliness , how transcendent , how infinite . so that the soul cannot choose but love them again , ioh. 3. 16 , 17. rom. 5. 5 , 6 , 7 , &c. ioh. 15. 13. 1 ioh. 3. 16 , 19. 3. as it exerciseth r it self in all duties and acts of obedience to god , christ , &c. not in a way of servile , slavish fear , but in a sweet way of love ; because a man loves god and christ , loves the wayes of vertue , loves his commandements , and counts them not grievous , 1 joh. 5. 3. faith makes all obedience and duty come off lovingly , sweetly , chearfully , 1 tim. 1. 5. 9. a growing grace . it encreaseth more and more . — your faith groweth exceedingly , 2 thes. 1. 3. see also rev. 2 19. counterfeit faith , dead faith , is like a painted tree , or painted flower upon a wall , seem it never so fair , it grows not at all . 10. vigorous in resisting , and victorious in conquering , all sorts of temptations , viz. of the world , frowning or smiling , 1 ioh. 5. 4. ioh. 16. 33. of the flesh , act. 15. 9. 1 joh. 3. 3. of the devil , ● pet. 5. 9. eph. 6. 16. 11. fervent , and continuing instant in prayer , even against discouragements ; though prayer seem to be neglected , repulsed , denied . as in the canaanitish woman , mat. 15. 22. to 29. in elijah , who prayed seven times , 1 king. 18. 41. to 46. iam. 5. 17 , 18. 12. valiant in confessing christ , in professing and owning of his gospel , truth and cause , in dayes of greatest danger and persecution , 2 tim. 1. 12. saul converted to the faith , straightway preached christ in the synagogues , that he was the son of god , though to the hazard of his life , act. 9. 20 , 23. the angel of pergamos , held fast christ's name , deni'd not his faith , even there , where satan's seat was , and even then , when antipas was his faithful martyr , rev. 2. 12 , 13. rev. 13. 10. the faith and patience of the saints , is most active and illustrious in midst of antichristian cruelties and persecutions . 13. finally , true faith is constant and persevering . false faith believes but for a time , in time of persecution falls away , luk. 8. 13. true faith holds on unto the end . draws not back unto perdition , but believes unto the saving of the soul , heb. 10. 39. the true believer holds on believing , till he attain the scope and end of his faith , the salvation of his soul , 1 pet. 1. 8 , 9. xvii . direction . repentance from head works , not to be repented of , heb. 6. 1. 2 cor. 7. 10. is an inseparable companion of true faith , s ( the scripture usually coupling them together , mar. 1. 14. 15. act. 20. 21. and 2. 37 , 38. and 26. 18. heb. 6. 1. ) and therefore every one that would approve himself to believe in christ sincerely , must repent of all his sins unfeinedly , as he expects to have his sins remitted freely , and his soul saved eternally . luk. 24. 47. act. 2. 38. and 5. 31. and 3. 19. — act. 11. 18. ezek. 18. 30 , 31 , 32. luk. 13. 3 , 5. to repent , is set forth by two greek words , very significant in the new testament . 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , metanoein , which properly signifies , to have an after-wit , wisdom or consideration ; a return to ones wits and wisdom again . as did the prodigal , luk. 15. 17. this word is used often , mat. 3. 8 , 11. and 9. 13. — to sin , is our folly ; to repent of sin , is our after-wisdom . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , metamelesthai , to have an after-care , to be heedful afterwards . it 's through want of care and heed that men transgress : 't is repentance that makes the offendor more careful to withstand and prevent sin for the future , 2 cor. 7. 8 , 11. this word is used in mat. 21. 29 , 32. repentance is two-fold , 1. initial , fundamental and universal : when a sinner at his first coversion repents of all his sins , original and actual , at once , turning from them unto god , mat. 3. 2 , 8. mar. 1. 14 , 15. act. 11. 18. and 20 , 21. and 26. 18 , 20. heb. 6. 1 , 2. 2. secondary and particular : when a penitent after his conversion lapseth into any sin or sins , and renews repentance for them particularly . as david , psal. 51. tit . &c. peter , mat. 26. 75. here , the former is ●hiefly intended , but the latter not excluded . godly sorrow works repentance not to be repented of , 2 cor. 7. 10. but properly , godly sorrow is not repentance , but an excellent preparative , inlet and harbinger to repentance . the proper nature of repentance stands in , 1. aversion from sin and satan . 2. conversion unto god and all goodness , act. 26. 18. now there are very many cogent motives , that may incline a sinner to this initial , fundamental and universal repentance . for , 1. god himself greatly desires the sinners initial , fundamental and universal repentance . ezek. 18. 23. and 33. 11. and 18. 31 , 32. see how , 1. he commands it , act. 17. 30. mar. 1. 14 , 15. 2. he invites t to it , isa. 1. 16 , &c. and 55. 7. mat. 3. 2. ezek. 18. 23 , 31 , 32. ier. 3. 1. 3. he promiseth great things to the penitent . isa. 55. 7. zech. 1. 3. act. 2. 38. hos. 14. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. ezek. 18. 21 , 22. act. 26. 18. 4. he professeth , yea sweareth , he hath no pleasure in the death of the sinner , but that he should repent and live , ezek. 18. 23. and 33. 11. 5. he receives penitents readily , compassionately , gladsomly , luk. 15. 3. to the end . 2. jesus christ exceedingly endeavours the sinners universal repentance and conversion . mat. 4. 17. mar. 1. 14 , 15. luk. 24. 47. act. 26. 17 , 18. for , 1. he sent iohn baptist his harbinger preaching-repentance , mat. 3. 1 , 2 , 3 , 8. luk. 3. 3. to 15. 2. his first sermon was of repentance , mat. 4. 17. mar. 1. 1● , 15. 3. he directs his apostles first to preach repentance to the gentiles , luk. 24. 47. 4. he shows the necessity of repenting and converting , luk. 13. 3 , 5. mat. 18. 3. 5. he upbraids and laments the impenitent , mat. 11. 20. to 25. and 23. 37 , 38 , 39. 6. he accepteth penitents most compassionately , luk. 7. 37. to the end ▪ and 19. 8 , 9 , 10. and 23. 4 〈…〉 act. 9. 6 , &c. 3. the holy ghost most frequently incites unto repentance in holy scriptures . isa. 1. 16 , 17 , &c. and 55. 6 , 7. ezek. 18. 23 , 31 , 32. and 33. 11. hos. 6. 1 , &c. and 14. 1 , &c. ioel 2 ▪ 12 , &c. act. 2. 37 , &c. and 3. 19. and 17. 30. heb. 3. 7 , &c. rev. 2. 4 , 5. 4. the time [ of the messias coming in the flesh foretold ] is fulfilled ; and the kingdom of god , [ the messiah's new testament-kingdom ] is at hand , yea , as to us , is already come : therefore all should repent and believe , mark 1. 15. why ? that thus they may be fitted and qualified for reception of christ , and of his kingdom , to their salvation . 5. there 's mention made in holy scripture of an whole cloud of sinners initially repenting of their ●ins , and turning from them unto god , encouraging thee to imitate them in this narrow way of life and salvation . 〈◊〉 manasses , ● chron. 33. 12. to 18. iohn baptist's hearers , mat. 3. 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. with mat. 21. 32. the sinful woman , luke 7. 37 , &c. zacheus the publican , luke 19. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. the prodigal son , luke 15. 15. to the end . saul the persecutor , act. 9. 3. to 23. lydia , act. 16. 14 , 15. the jaylor and his house , act. 16. 25. to 35. many gentiles , act. 11. 18. and 15. 19. many at ephesus , act. 19. 17. to 21. the thessalonians , 1 thes. 1. 5. to 11. the thief on the cross , luke 23. 40. to 44. they that crucified , and consented to the death of the lord jesus christ , even 3000 of them , act. 2. 36 , 37 , &c. all these are propounded as examples to allure thee , and cords to draw thee unto initial repentance . 6. impenitency is most dangerous . 1. is rebellion against gods command , act. 17. 30. isa. 1. 16 , 20. 2. the fruit of a blinded mind and hardned heart , &c. ioh. 12. 40. rom. 2. 5. 3. seals up the natural man in his state of sin and misery , exod. 34. 7. god will not clear the impenitent guilty ; and how woful is that state of sin and misery ! act. 26. 18. 4. shuts him eternally out of gods kingdom , mat. 18. 3. 5. treasures up wrath against the day of wrath , rom. 2. 5. 6. renders their condition who live under the gospel , worse then that of heathens at the judgement-day , mat. 11. 20. to 25. 7. exposeth impenitents to all judgements in this present world , lev. 26. 23. amos 4. 6. to 13. and to everlasting damnation in the world to come , luke 13. 3 , 5. ezek. 18. 20 , 26 , 30 , 31. 7. true repentance is most desirable and beneficial to the penitent soul. for , 1. it is never to be repented of , 2 cor 7. 10. 2. it thorowly removes the natural mans sinfulness , though never so great , isa. 1. 16 , 17 , 18. and 55. 7. luke 24. 47. act. 5. 31. and 3. 19. and wretchedness , though never so deep , act. 26. 18. luk. 15. 32. ezek. 18. 27 , 28. 3. it returns the sinner unto god , the only supream good , act. 26. 18. zech. 1. 3. 4. it occasioneth much joy : to the saints on earth , act. 15. 3. to the angels in heaven , luke 15. 7 , 10. and as it were to god himself , luk. 15. 20. to 25. 5. it intituleth the penitent to sundry precious promises . as , isa 1. 16 , 17 , 18. and 55. 7. ezek 18. 21 , 22. zech. 1. 3. act. 26. 18. 6. it is the ready way to life and salvation , act. 11. 18. 2 cor. 7. 10. 7. it puts into possession of the inheritance of the saints , of the kingdom of heaven , even paradise it self . act. 26. 18. mat. 18. 3. luke 23. 41 , 42 , 43. xviii . direction . search out and try the truth of thy repentance , as well as of thy faith , lest in this necessary grace and fundamental duty , thou mistakest a shadow for a substance , an appearance for a reality , and so overthrow the whole fabrick of thy christianity . mock-repentance , counterfeit repentance , is of no account at all with god , nor of any avail for spiritual blessings or eternal salvation . hos. 7. 16. ahab got no spiritual good , 1 king. 21. 27. nor iudas , mat. 27. 3 , 4 , 5. by their counterfeit repenting . sincere repentance may be discovered by the 1. antecedents . 2. constituents . 3. concomitants . and 4. consequents thereof . i. the antecedents , going before true repentance , are ; conviction , illumination , godly sorrow , hatred of sin. 1. conviction of sin , if true and sincere , when it 1. leads a man from sin to sin , from actual to original . psal. 51. 1. to 6. 2. smites the conscience sharply for sin . psal. 51. 3 , 8. act. 2. 37. 3. provokes the soul to seek for remedy . act. 2. 36 , 37. contra mat. 27. 3 , 4 , 5. 2. illumination touching christ , the remedy against sin . act. 26. 18. if true , 1. gives a more clear and perfect insight into the mystery of christ and christianity , then any natural man hath . 1 cor. 2. 6. to 15. 2. melts the heart into love to christ , and tears , or at least , mourning for sin . luke 7. 37. to the end . 3. conducts the soul , like the star , to christ , ioh. 6. 45. 4. inclines the soul to deny , do , and suffer any thing for christ. phil. 3. 7 , 8 , &c. act. 9. 4 , 5 , 6. heb. 10. 32 , 33 , 34. 3. godly sorrow , and contrition , working repentance , 2 cor. 7. 10. if true and sincere , 1. wounds the heart most for sin , as it is against god. psal. 51. 4. as against christ. 〈◊〉 12. 10 , 11. 2. drives the sinner to seek spiritual relief . act. 2. 36 , 37 , &c. luke 7. 37 , &c. 3. deeply humbleth and abaseth the soul. ezek. 36. 31. luke 15. 17 , &c. 4. secretly refresheth the heart that it can mourn for sin . isa. 61. 3. dolet de morbo , gaudet de medicina : l●ments at the malady , rejoyceth at the remedy . 5. is very great . zech. 12. 10 , 11. psal. 38. 3. to 11. 6. is permanent and lasting . psal. 51. 3. 7. at last works repentance not to be repented of . 2 cor. 7. 10. 4. hatred of sin , if sincere , 1. ariseth from true love to god , that cannot endure sin . psal. 97. 10. 2. comes from due esteem of gods word , that detects sin . psal. 119. 113. 128. 3. flows from true love to holiness and righteousness . psal. 45. 7. 4. is chiefly for the sinfulness of it . gal. 5. 17. 5. is universal against every sinful way . psal. 119. 104. ii. the constituents of the proper nature of repentance , aversion from evil , and conversion to god , act. 26. 18. col. 1. 13. 1 pet. 2. 9. discover the truth of repentance , viz. 1. aversion from evil , if upright , 1. is from sin cordially and really hated . psal. 119. 104. 2. is from sin for its sinfulness against god. gen. 39. 9. 3. is consequently from all known sin . ezek. 18. 21 , 30 , 31. 4. is also from his own more peculiar iniquity , to which by natural constitution , calling , temptation , &c. he was more specially inclined . psal. 18. 22. 5. is from the power of sin . col. 1. 13. 1 pet. 2. 9. eph. 2. 1 , 5. with crucifying and mortifying of sin . col. 3. 5. gal. 5. 24. 6. is constant and continuing . 2 pet. 2. 20 , 21 , 22. 7. is joyned with eschewing fellowship with others in their sins . eph. 5. 11. psal. 1. 1 , 2. 2. conversion to god , if sincere , 1. is upon serious consideration , luke 15. 17. to the end . ezek. 18. 27 , 28. 2. is immediately unto christ , the way to god ▪ act. 11. 21. with ioh. 14. 6. 3. is unto god as a reconciled father in christ. lu●e 15. 18 , 19 , 20 , 2 cor. 5. 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. 4. is by the regenerating spirits operation . iohn 3. 3 , 5. eph. 2. 18. 5. is to god cordially and entirely . io●l 2. 13. 1 kings 8. 47 , 48. 6. turneth to god , so as to resign himself to gods power and government . act. 26. 18. col. 1. 13. 7. turneth to god , with fixed resolution never to turn away from him . deut. 10. 20. with psal. 86. 11. and 73. 25 , 26. iii. concomitants , accompanying true repentance , may give some light to the truth of repentance . noscitur ex comite , qui nondignoscitur exse : a man is oft-times better known by his company , rather then by himself . these are concomitants or companions of true repentance , viz. 1. an hearty , impartial , self-abasing and self-condemning confession of sin to god. psal. 51. 17. and verse 1 , 3 , 5 , 14. ezra 9. 6. dan. 9. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. luke 15. 18 , 19. 2. faith in christ : mark 1. 15. act. 26. 18. heb. 6. 1. of which formerly . 3. penitential desires , and these vehement , viz. against sin , that it may be pardoned , subdued , extirpated , &c. and for abundance of grace to these ends . 2 cor. 7. 10 , 11. 4. prayer . act. 9. 11. even the spirit of prayer . zech. 12. 10. psal. 51. 1. &c. iv. consequents of true repentance , a●e 1. more generally , all good fruits and good works , meet for repentance . mat. 3. 8 , 9 , 10. and 7. 19. luke 3. 8 , 9. with gal. 5. 22 , 23. 2. more particularly , these , and such like : 1. vigilant care against sin for time to come . 2 cor. 7. 11. 2. enlarged thankfulness for gods mercies in christ , to the penitent and pardoned sinner . 1 tim. 1 ▪ 13. to 18. luke 7. 37 , 38. 3. vehement and sincere love ; to christ , for his grace , luke 7. 47. phil. 3. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. to his ministers , for their embassey . 1 thes. 5. 12 , 13. gal. 4. 14 , 15. to his members , for his image . 1 ioh. 3. 14. and 5. 1. 4. singular joy in christ , and in all his wayes . acts 2. 46. and 8. 39. 5. chearful new obedience to god in christ. acts 2. 42 , &c. isa. 1 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. 6. compassionateness to other sinners , with desires and endeavours to gain them to christ by faith and repentance . psal. 51. 12 , 13. 1 cor. 9. 19. to 23. luke 22. 32. acts 26. 29. 7. holy zeal to the peace and prosperity of christs church , into which the penitent is now implanted . acts 2. 41. to the end . 1 cor. 9. 19 , &c. psal. 51. 18 , 19. xix . direction . turn now unto god in christ ( o natural man ) by repenting : come now unto iesus christ , and apply him by believing : delay not , tarry not , but make all speed , all present speed , in thy life , in thy health , in thy youth , this day rather then to morrow , as ever thou desirest to make sur● of life and eternal salvation by christ iesus . eccl. 12. 1. heb. 3. 7 , 8 , 13 , 15. 2 cor. 6. 2. to incline thee forcibly hereunto , consider seriously , 1. god calls for the early sacrifices and services to be performed to him . as , the first-fruits of the ground , the first-fruits of dough , the first-fruits of all fruit-trees , neh. 10. 35 , 36 , 37. the firstlings of beasts , exod , 13. 1 , 2. the first-born of man , exod. 13. 1 , 2. the first-fruits of thy dayes : remember now thy creator in the dayes of thy youth , eccl. 12. 1. the first-fruits of thy study , care , diligence , affections , &c. first seek the kingdom of god and his righteousness , mat. 6. 33. and wilt thou put off god with the last ? with the dross and dregs of all ? 2. gods elect have come in to christ , repented and converted speedily immediately upon gods call ; and dost thou still stand off , after so many calls and invitations ? the apostles immediately upon christs call came to him and followed him , mat. 4. 18. to 23. the sinful woman presently relented upon christs preaching that sweet sermon , mat. 11. 28 , 29 , 30. ( her history is thought n next in order to succeed those words ) luke 7. 37 , &c. zacheus the publican was presently converted upon christs coming to him , luke 19. 6. to 11. the thief upon the cross , ( who possibly never saw or heard christ before ) was immediately converted , and assured that that day he should be with christ in paradise , luke 23. 41 , 42 , 43. cornelius and his company were gained to christ , as peter was uttering his sermon , acts 10. 44 , &c. the ethiopian eunuch , upon philip's preaching , instantly believed and was baptized , acts 8. 35 , &c. at one sermon of peter 3000 were brought home to christ , and added to the church , acts 2. 36 , 37 , &c. the hearers of the apostles were speedily converted , about 5000 , acts 4. 4. saul upon christs call instantly believed and repented , so that x of a wolf he became a lamb , of a persecutor a preacher of christ and of his gospel , acts 9. 3 , 4 , &c. 19 , 20 , &c. at paul's preaching lydia's heart was presently opened to entertain christ , acts 16. 14. the jaylor presently believed upon the preaching of paul and silas , acts 16. 30 , &c. the ephesians , after they heard the word of truth , speedily converted to god , eph. 1. 13 , 14 , 15. with acts 19. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. the thessalonians , upon paul's entring in unto them with the gospel , turned from idols to serve the living god , 1 thes. 1. 4 , 5 , 9. and 2. 1. and what shall i say more ? the colossians believed and were converted speedily . y the gospel bringing forth fruit in them , from the very day they heard it , col. 1. 4 , 5 , 6. now this catalogue of early repenters shall rise up in judgement against thee , and condemn thee for thy delay . 3. the present time is of all other the very fittest time in the world for thee , and for every one , to turn from sin by repenting , and close with christ by believing . for , 〈◊〉 god saith , to day if ye will hear his voice , harden not your hearts , heb. 3. 7 , 8. 13. 15. and 4. 7. and dost thou , with the devil , z say , tomorrow ? 2. now is the acceptable time , now is the day of salvation , 2 cor. 6. 1 , 2. hereafter may be the un-acceptable time , the day of damnation . 3. now , god may be found , is near : hereafter god may be afar off , and may not be found , isa. 55. 6 , 7. 4. the present time is the time of mercy : god holds out to the sinner his white flag , his golden scepter of many precious promises . the future time may be the time of judgement , and he may hold forth the red and black flags of blood and death , prov. 1. 24. to 32. isa. 65. 12. and 66. 4. i● . 7. 13. 5. the present time is only thine . time past is irrevocably gone . time to come may never come to thee . the rich fool , that promised himself many years , had not many hours to live ; that night his soul was taken from him , luke 12. 20. and then , if that prove thy condition , what will become of thy impenitent ; hardned , unbelieving , and christless soul ? 4. delays in this case are very dangerous . for , 1. while repentance is delayed , iniquity is daily increased , and sin multiplied . such go on still in their trespasses , psal. 168. 21. 2. while repentance is delayed , the heart will be daily more and more hardned through the deceitfulness of sin , heb. 3. 13. 3. the more the heart is hardned , the more impossible it will be for the sinner to repent , rom. 2. 5. 4. late and long-delayed repentance is seldom true , alwayes difficult . unfit to day , more unfit to morrow . a long festering and rankling sores are hardly cured , if curable at all . true repentance indeed is never too late , but late repentance is seldom true . late repenters do not so much forsake sin , as sin forsakes them . 5. while repentance is delay'd , the sinner treasureth up unto himself the greater pile of wrath against the day of wrath , and revelation of the righteous judgement of god , rom. 2. 5. 5. thy life is short ; but believing and repenting are a great and long work . he that hath much work to do , a long journey to go , had need to neglect no time , but to be up early and doing . for , what is thy life ? b a vanishing vapour , iam. 4. 14. a wind that passeth , iob. 7. 7. a blast , or puff of breath , isa. 2. 22. a flower , flourishing and fading , psal. 103. 15 , 16. a tale told , psal. 90. 9. grass , now growing , now withering , psal. 103. 15. a flood , still flowing away , never returning , psal. 90. 5. as yesterday , when it is past , psal. 90. 4. an hand-breadth , psal. 39. 5. a watch in the night , but three hours long , psal. 90. 4. a shadow , iob 14. 2. a sleep , psal. 90. 5. an image , or show , psal. 39. 6. nothing , and altogether vanity , psal. 39. 5. now , believing and repenting are great and long works . none can believe or repent , but such as are regenerate by the spirit of god , iohn 1. 12 , 13. by believing we must know christ savingly , isa. 53. 11. iob. 17. 3. must assent to gods record touching christ fully , ioh. 3. 33. 1 ioh. 5. 11 , 12. must embrace the promises , and accept christ in the promises , heb. 11. 13. iohn 1. 12. must purifie the heart , acts 15. 9. must conquer the world , 1 iohn 5. 4. must quench the fiery darts of the devil , eph. 6. 16. and must live by it upon christ continually , rom. 1. 17. gal. 2. 20. are these easie things ? repentance turns from darkness to light , from the power of satan to god , acts 26. 18. tends continually to mortifie and crucifie sin , rom. 8. 13. col. 3. 5. and to perfect holiness in gods fear , 2 cor. 7. 1. tit. 2. 12 , 13. 6. death is most certain , that it will come , heb. 9. 27. sam. 14. 14. psal. 49. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. and 89. 98. most uncertain when , where , or how it will come ; whether in youth , man-hood , or old age ; in the evening , midnight , cock-crowing , or day-break watch , mark 13. 35. therefore seeing thou knowest not the year , day , nor hour of thy death , thou hast need to be prepared for it every day , every hour . so true is that verse ; mors certa est , incerta dies , hora agnita nulli ; extremam quare quamlibet esse puta . c i may thus english it ; frail man ; most certain is thy death , uncertain is the day , none knows the hour of his last breath ; then look for it alway . in this respect angustine's d advice is very good ; — let every one wholesomely think of his last day . it is gods mercy that man knows not when he shall die . man's last day is concealed from him , that every day may be observed by him . what housholder is there , that being certainly informed that such a week or such a night , thieves will assault his house , but at what hour is wholly uncertain , will not prepare and watch every night , lest his house be broken thorow and robbed ? or , what condemned malefactor , being assured that in a short time he shall certainly die , on what day he is wholly uncertain , but will make it his serious work to prepare for his death , that he may die penitently ? and wilt no● thou , o sinful mortal soul , who knowest thy death is certain , the time when uncertain , endeavour by speedy and sincere repentance and faith , to prepare for dying well ? especially considering ; that after death , this work of repenting and believing hath no place , no such work is to be done in the grave , eccl. 9. 10. there , thine heart can send forth no sighs , thine eye no tears , thy tongue no confession , &c. in reference to thy sins . there , there , is no knowledge , assent , or application of faith to be exerted in reference to the promises , or christ. but as the tree falls , so it lyes unalterably towards heaven or hell. as soon as a man dies , there is a great gulf fixed , so that there 's no altering of his present condition , from better to worse , or from worse to better . luke 16. 26. 7. finally , o natural man , repent now , believe in christ now , or never . 2 cor. 6. 1 , 2. heb. 3. 7. to 16. isa. 55. 7. eccl. 9. 10. ( 1. ) now embrace the acceptable time , now close with the day of salvation , or never . 2 cor. 6. 1 , 2. for , when the acceptable time is out , when the day of salvation is ended , thou canst expect no acceptation from god any more , no salvation for evermore . prov. 1. 24. to verse 33. ( 2. ) now believe in christ , and repent according to the tenour of the gospel , and ordinances of christ , continued unto thee , mark 1. 15. luke 24. 47. or never . for , if the gospel be taken from thee , or thou from the gospel , how canst thou repent ? how canst thou believe ? ( 3. ) now entertain christs sweetest ●nvitations and offers of grace , with all affectionateness and readiness of mind ; or never . mat. 11. 28 , 29 , 30. iohn 3. 15 , 16 , 17. and 6. 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 50 , 51 , &c. and 7. 37 , 38 , 39. for , christ will not be alwayes inviting the obstinate , alwayes offering grace to them that do reject it . the guests that were bidden to the marriage of the kings son , ( i. e. of christ with the elect ) and rejected the invitation , were invited no more . mat. 22. 2 , 3. and 8. with luke 14. 16. to 25. ( 4. ) now open the door of thine heart unto christ , while he stands at the door patiently , and knocks importunately , by his word , by his rod , by his spirit , &c. rev. 3. 20. or never . for , if christ be still sleighted and repulsed , so that he being weary of standing and knocking , finally depart , he will wait no more , he will knock no more , much less come in unto thee , and sup with thee , &c. ( 5. ) now , while thou art in the land of the living , believe , repent , turn to god , work out thy salvation , &c. or never . for if death surprize thee , if the grave shut her mouth upon thee , all these works will cease for ever . eccl. 9. 10. ( 6. ) now , like a wise virgin , furnish thy lamp of christian profession with the oyl of true grace , that , when jesus christ , the bridegroom , shall come to the solemn marriage with his church , thou maist go forth to meet the bridegroom ; or never . mat. 25. 1. to 14. for if thou , like a foolish virgin , hast thine oyl to provide when the bridegroom shall come , they that are ready shall enter in with him , and the door will be for ever shut against thee , though thou knockest and cryest , lord open , with the greatest importunity . mat. 25. 10 , 11 , 12. then if thou beest once shut out of heaven , thou art shut out for ever ; if once thou art cast out into hell , thou art shut up in it for ever . ( 7 ) finally , now give all possible diligence to enter in at the strait gate , to attain eternal life by christ , and to make thy calling and election sure ; while thou art here on earth , while thou art in this present world under the heavenly deaws of the gospel , mat. 13. 44 , 45 , 46. luk. 13. 24. phil. 2. 12. 2 pet 1. 5. to 12. before thine immortal soul be implunged into the intollerable and everlasting torments of hell-fire , luk. 16. 23 , 24 , 28. mat. 25. 46. or never . for if once thou art cast out into the lake of fire , there is no mercy , no mitigation of torment , no repenting , no possibility of reconcilement with god , &c. and thence is no hopes of redemption or recovery . oh if the damned in hell , could by any tears or importunities obtain liberty , though but for a few months , weeks or dayes , to be on earth again , how diligently would they strive to enter in at the strait gate , luk. 13. 24. how zealously would they attend upon the preaching of the gospel ! how religiously would they sanctifie the sabbath ! how devoutly would they pray ! once more offer christ unto us ; once more touch our hearts and consciences ; once more enlighten us , let us partake of the holy ghost , taste the good word of god , and the powers of the world to come . heb. 6. 4 , 5. once more open the gate of mercy , &c. how deeply with sighs and tears would they lament their sins day and night . how would they endeavour to believe in christ , repent and obey , yea to do or suffer any thing , that they might come no more into that place of torment . but all such hopes are for ever dasht . they had their time and season for all these things , which they neglected and lost , and now shall never enjoy more , so long as heaven is heaven , and hell hell. o that all these things could be seriously thought upon , before it be too late ! but when must it be ? now or never . xx. direction . upon the sincere closing with christ , accepting and applying him to thy self as thine only saviour and redeemer , what fullness of all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in christ , will be heaped upon thy soul. eph. 1. 1 , 3 , 4. &c. what tongue can utter them ; what heart of man can comprehend them ? 1 cor. 2. 9 , 10. be thou careful to walk worthy of them continually . eph. 4. 1. col. 2. 6 , 7. 1. what heavenly relations are presently vouchsafed to thee . thou art a fellow-citizen with the saints , and of the houshold of god. eph. 2. 19. and they all thy brethren and sisters in christ , 1 pet. 2. 17. god is thy father , and thou his child , 2 cor. 6. 18. ioh. 20. 17. christ is thine elder brother and not ashamed to call thee one of his brethren , rom. 8. 29. heb. 2. 10 , 11. christ thine head , and thou his member , 1 cor. 6. 15. eph. 4. 15 , 16. christ thine husband , and thou his spouse , 2 cor. 11. 3. christ thy redeemer and saviour , and thou his redeemed and saved , heb. 9. 12. luke 2. 10 , 11. the holy ghost is thine inhabitant , and thou his temple and habitation , 1 cor. 6. 19. and 3. 16 , 17. ephes. 2. 21 , 22. therefore be thou holy in all manner of christian conversation , 1 pet. 1. 14. to 18. 2. what great and precious promises are thereupon given thee ? 2 pet. 1. 3 , 4. promises ; 1. of the life that now is ; 2. of the life to come ; and what promises canst thou desire more ? 1 tim. 4. 8. now gods promises are not like mans promises , yea and nay , off and on , sometimes performed , sometimes violated , &c. but they are all yea and amen in christ , 2 cor. 1. 20. altogether immu●able , it being impossible that therein the god of truth should lye , tit. 1. 2. heb. 6. 18. having then these promises , cleanse thy self from all filthiness of flesh and spirit , perfecting holiness in the fear of god , 2 cor. 7. 1. 3. what a cluster of soul-beautifying graces are immediately together with faith in christ , instilled and infused into thy soul ! faith is the captain and leading grace , all the rest follow . 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , &c. these are the divine nature , and image of god , whereby the believer resembles the heavenly father , 2 pet. 1. 4. eph. 4. 24. col. 3. 11. these make the kings daughter all glorious within , so that her clothing is of wrought gold , psal. 45. 13. these make the church beautiful , even to the ravishment of christ , cant. 7. 1. to 10. and 4. 1. throughout . labour thou to abound and grow in these graces continually , 2 pet. 1. 8. and 3. 18. and as he that hath called thee is holy , so to be holy in all manner of conversation , 1 pet. 1. 14 , 15 , 16. 4. what eminent priviledges are upon thine accepting of christ , heaped upon thee ● 1. thou art eternally redeemed from all thy spiritual bondage under sin , satan , &c. under which thou wast enthralled , heb. 9. 12. gal. 4. 4. 1 thes. 1. 10. gal. 3. 13 , 14. 2. thou art reconciled unto god , who wast formerly at enmity with him , rom. 5. 10. 3. thou art justified freely through his grace , thy sins being pardoned fully through the blood of christ , and thou art so justified and accepted of god , that thou art become the righteousness of god in him , rom. 3. 24 , 25. eph. 1. 7. 2 cor. 5. 19 , 21. 4. thou art adopted into gods family , and art become one of the houshold of god , and so art made an heir of god , a joynt-heir with christ , gal. 4. 4 , 5 , 6. eph. 2. 19. rom. 8. 15 , 16 , 17. 5. thou hast access with filial boldness , by the spirit unto the father , and maist confidently cry , abba father , eph. 2. 18. rom. 8. 15. 6. thou art brought into sweet communion with god , father , son , and holy ghost , which is even the saints ●eaven on earth , 1 ioh. 1. 3. 2 cor. 13. 14. 7. thou hast a treasury and fountain of all true comfort bestowed upon thee , the holy ghost the comforter dwelling in thine heart , 2 cor. 1. 3. 4 , 5. iohn 14. 16. 8. thou hast in christ a new and most excellent title to all the good things of this present life , 1 tim. 4. 8. matth. 6. 33. 1 cor. 3. 20 , 21. 9. thou art assured , that all things , even the worst of afflictions and persecutions , shall work together for thy good , for thy best , rom. 8. 28. 10. and finally , thou hast well-grounded hopes of eternal happiness in heaven , when this life shall be no more , in the immediate vision and fruition of god in christ face to face , which is far best of all , 1 pet. 1. 3 , 4. 2 cor. 5. 1 , 2 , &c. rom. 5. 1 , 2. ioh. 17. 24. phil. 1. 23. and therefore give all diligence to walk worthy of all these blessed priviledges . enthral not thy self again in the yoke of any spiritual bondage . provoke not god unto enmity by thy renewed sins . blot not , blur not the evidence of thy sins pardon by lapses and falls against thy conscience . behave thy self towards thy god and all his children , as one of the houshold of faith. restrain not prayer , but pray continually , with groans that cannot be uttered , by the assistance of the spirit . have no fellowship at all with sin and satan , nor any needless fellowship with any workers of iniquity , eph. 5. 11. psal. 1. 1. and 26. 4 , 5. psal. 119. 115. walk not disconsolately and dejectedly , but in the fear of the lord , and in the comforts of the holy ghost , acts 9. 31. be abundantly contented in all conditions allotted thee by god. fully expect good by the worst of afflictions that may befall thee ; and be ever carefull to keep thy hopes and evidences for heaven firm and clear , that when thou comest to die , thou maist lift up thine head , and triumph that thy redemption and celestial coronation with christ draweth nigh . xxi . direction . wrastle also most vlgorously , ( o thou that wast natural , but art spiritualized , wast dead , but art alive again ) against all thy sins , spiritual enemies , and their temptations , heb. 12. 4. col. 3. 5. to 12. eph. 6. 11. to 19. for all time to come , that they may none of them in the least measure eclipse any of these thy spiritual priviledges , or embitter any other thy sweet enjoyments . holy david , by his lapses , brought many deep wounds and scarrs upon his conscience , psal. 51. 3 , 8. some of which he probably carried to his grave . loving and confident peter , by his triple denial of his lord and master christ , purchased to himself a torrent of bitter tears , mat. 26. 75. the ephesian angel , by leaving his first love and first works , was so offensive thereby to christ , that he threatned the removal of his candlestick , revel . 2. 4 , 5. the church her self by her carnal sluggishness and security , lost her sweet communion with christ for a season , and was involved in deep spiritual distress , cant. 5. 2. to 9. be thou warned by their examples , which are written for thine admonition , lest through thy spiritual oscitancy and sluggishness , thou bring upon thy self like spiritual calamities , and so far wound thy conscience , as to go bleeding to thy grave . xxii . direction . express upon all good occasions , all possible tenderness of heart , and bowels of compassion , towards those that yet remain in the first adam , in their sinful state of nature , unrege●erate , especially towards thy kindred according to the flesh , using all good endeavours to convince , convert , and gain them to christ , that they , as well as thy self , may be eternally saved . luke 22. 32. rom. 10. 1. and 9. 1 , 2 , 3. acts 9. 20 , with 1 cor. 9. 19. to 23. for , 1. even thou thy self wast sometimes foolish , disobedient , serving divers lusts and pleasures , living in malice and envy , hateful , and hating others , tit. 3. 3. an enemy to god by wicked works , col. 1. 21. yea , dead in sins and trespasses , &c. — and a child of wrath , as well as they . or any of them , eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. but god , who is rich in mercy , hath saved thee by the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost , tit. 3. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. hast thou then experimentally felt the wormwood and the gall of thy natural state of sin and misery ? and dost thou not commiserate such poor souls , as are still in the gall of bitterness , and bond of iniquity ? acts 8. 23. hast thou had the sweet experience of the riches of gods free-grace and love , in restoring thee from death to life , from thy natural state of sin and misery , into a supernatural state of sanctity and felicity ? and do not thy bowels yearn within thee after other lost souls , especially those of thy kindred , that they also may be turned from darkness to light , and from the power of satan unto god ? acts 26. 18. 2. are not their souls , as well as thine own , very precious ? o , consider , 1. their immortal constitution , which no creature can kill or destroy , matth. 10. 28. 2. the invaluable price paid for their restitution , even the most precious blood and death of jesus christ , the only son of god , 1 tim. 2. 5 , 6. 1 pet. 1. 18 , 19. 3. the incomparable and transcendent value which the wisdome of god himself puts upon the soul ; as being of far more worth then the whole world , matth. 16. 26. and then think with thy self ; shall not i endeavour to hinder the eternal loss , and to promote the eternal salvation , of such precious souls ? 3. what advantage will redound in sundry respects , if god bless thine endeavours , to the convincing and converting of their souls to christ ! for , hereby 1. thou shalt save a soul from death , jam. 5. 19 , 20. and what a great , what a glorious work is it , to have an hand in saving a soul from death● 2. thou shalt hide a multitude of sins , jam. 5. 19 , 20. even an heap , a sink , a dunghil of hundreds and thousands of sins , thou shalt hide from the revenging eye of god , by christs righteousness , 2 cor. 5. 20 , 21. 3. thou shalt occasion great joy in heaven , among the blessed angels of god , who exceedingly rejoyce at the conversion of sinners , luke 15. 7 , 10 , 22 , 23. 4. finally , thou shalt hereby not a little further thine own eternal felicity , deut. 12. 3. thou therefore commiserate thy brethren in their sinful and wretched state of nature , as thy god hath in thy like condition had compassion on thee . canst thou lend an hand to pluck a beast out of the mire , or a sheep out of a pit ; and wilt thou not lend an hand to help poor lost souls out of the mire of sin , snares of satan , and pit of eternal destruction ? o , warn them , convince them , counsel them , exhort them , rebuke them , lament them , pray for them , weep over them , do any good for them , that thou maist by any means gain and save their souls . xxiii . direction . yield , with all enlarged thankfulness , all possible praise , love , and obedience , unto god , and unto the lamb ; who hath loved thee of the riches of his free-grace before the world began , who in fulness of time hath ransomed thee by the invaluable price of his death , and in due time hath washed th●e from thy sins in his own blood , a●d in the laver of regeneration , by the renewing of the holy ghost . eph. 1. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. 1 iohn 4. 19. — gal. 4. 4 , 5. 1 tim. 1. 15. and 2. 5 , 6. 1 pet. 1. 18 , 19 , 20 ▪ — rev. 1. 5. tit. 3. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. for , 1. thou oughtest to be thankful for all gods blessings of all sorts , the least of them being beyond , yea contrary to , thy deserts , eph. 5. 20. col. 3. 17. 1 thes. 5. 18. with gen. 32. 10. but especially for those choicest spiritual blessings in heavenly things in christ , eph. 1. 3. psal. 103 1 , 2 , 3. 2. the reality and sincerity of thy thankfulness , will inwardly best approve it self , in thy cordial affection and un●eigned love towards thy gracious god and jesus christ , for all his love , and all the fruits of his love in christ. kindness begets thankfulness , and love breeds love , as fire begets fire , 1 iob. 4. 19. thus , when the psalmist would signifie his great thankfulness to god for his great mercies , he professeth his dearest love to god ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i will love thee dearly , [ heb. i will love thee with inmost bowels ] o lord my strength , &c. psal. 18. 1 , 2 , &c. so psal. 116. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i have loved , because the lord hath heard my voice , &c. 3. the integrity of true love and thankfulness , doth outwardly best discover it self in a chearful and sincere obedience to god and christ , iob. 14. 15 , 21. 1 ioh. 5. 3. such obedience is a real retribution of thankfulness , psal. 116. 12. to the end . then we praise god aright , when we extol him , not only with our hearts and lips , but with our lives . xxiv . direction . zealously endeavour to promote the glory of god , and of iesus christ , in all things , throughout the whole course of thy life ; and to be where christ is , to behold his glory , that so thine inchoate happiness may be compleatly consummate , in the immediate vision , and full fruition of god in christ unto all eternity . 1 cor. 10. 31. and 6. 20. 1 pet. 4. 11. 2 thes. 1. 12. — ioh. 17. 24. mat. 5. 8. 1 thes. 4. 17. rev. 22. 3 , 4 , 5. for , 1. gods glory , and the souls felicity in the full enjoyment of god in christ unto all eternity , are the two principal ends of all , which thou , and every man , should chiefly intend and aim at in his whole life , 1 cor. 10. 31. rom. 11 36. psal. 73. 24. to the end : god● made all things for his glory pro. 16. 4. and all things ought to be levelled to his glory . man is made capable of god. and therefore he is restless till he can fully center in god , in whom alone in christ all his happiness is treasured up . augustine said sweetly e ; — thou hast made us for thee ; and our heart is unquiet till it rest in thee . as the needle once touched with the loadstone , is unquiet till it come to the magnetick center , and point towards the pole. 2. thou , that wast dead in sin , and a child of wrath , but art quickened by god and made a child of grace , of the riches of his grace . eph. 2. 1. 5 , 6 , 7. canst never do enough for this god , and for his glory ▪ and therefore he hath provided heaven for his people wherein they may glorifie him eternally . yet while thou art on earth , glorifie him to the uttermost in thy momentany life , for thy redemption , reconciliation , vocation , sanctification , justification and hopes of salvation : so shalt thou by this heavenly imployment begin heaven on earth and pr●posses● thyself of paradise . 3. if a little taste , a short glimpse of gods favour in christ , breaking thorough the thick clonds of thy manifold frailties here on earth , be so sweet , as to transcend incomparably all subl●nary enjoyments , psal , 4. 6 , 7. cant. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 : then how sweet , how delicious , how ravishing will be the full sun-shine of his love unto thy soul in heaven for ever when all imperfections and infirmities shall be totally and finally done away , eph. 5. 27. act. 3. 19. rev. 21. 4. and 22. 3. to haev communion with christ in this world by grace , is a blessed priviledge ioh. 1. 3. eph. 1. 3. but to be with christ in paradise and to have communion with him in glory is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by much more better . how elegantly ! here being , as it were , 3 comparatives . phil. 1. 23. viz. to be with christ is far the best of all . herein our blessed saviour himself placeth the height of his peoples eternal felicity , that they may be where he is , to behold his glory , ioh. 17. 24. that will be an immediate vision : not as now through a glass darkly , but face to face clearly 1 cor. 13. 12. that will be a perfect vision : for we shall see him as he is , 1 joh. 3. 2. and know even as also we are known , 1 cor. 13. 10 , 12. that will be a glorious vision : we shall behold christs glory , which is infinitely beyond all celestial , angelical , or created glory , ioh. 17. 24. that will be a transforming vision : for , we shall be like him , because we shall see him as he is , 1 joh. 3. 2. phil. 3. 21. that will be a beatifical vision : for the chief blessedness christ placeth in seeing god , mat. 5. 8. that will be a vision with fruition : we shall so see christ , as fully to enjoy him , as our head , as our husband , as our redeemer , as our happiness , as our treasure , as our glory , as our all. that will be an eternal vision and fruition : for , so we shall be ever with the lord , 1 thes. 4. 17. there we shall ( said augustine ) f rest and see ; we shall see and love ; we shall love and laud. lo what shall be in the end , without end . this will be the very heaven of heaven , and glory of glory . unto this eternal bliss , the lord god almighty , and the lamb , bring him that writeth these things , and him that readeth them with an honest heart , in his due time . amen , and amen . sept. 18. 1669. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a57386-e340 a rom. 11. 1. b math. 25. 34. c joh. 17. 24. phil. 1. 23. & 3. 21. d rom. 5. 12 , &c. with gen. 3. e eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. f rom. 8. 8. g 1 thes. 5. 5. h ephes. 4. 18. i ephes. 2. 2 , 3. k 1 pet. 4. 4. l 1 cor. 6. 9 , 10. gal. 5. 19 , 20 , 21. rev. 21. 8. 27. & 22. 15. m ezek. 18. 30 , 31 , 32. luke 13. 3. 5. n rom ▪ 2. 5 , 6 , &c. o joh. 16. 8 , 9. p hoc enim peccatum , quasi solum ●it , prae caeteris posuit : quia hoc manente caetera detinentur , & hoc discedente — caetera remittuntur . aug. in ioan. 16. tract . 95. tom. 9. q 1 cor. 12. 2. r 1 john 2. 26. 2 pet. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2 , 3. math. 25. 24. s 2 thes. 2. 10 , 11 , 12. t bishop andrews , in his preface before his expos. of the x. command●ments , p. 40 , &c. bishop hall , in his serious disswasive from popery , in fol. p. 613. to 624. and in his , no peace with rome . p. 633. to p. 664. dr. willet's synopsis of pop●ry ; throughout . see his first table , shewing how popery militates against the person , and all the offices of christ. dr. whitaker's also is to the like effect . in praefat. ad auditores , ante disput. de s. seriptura . p. 258 , 259. mr. w. perkins , in his demonstration of the p●obleme ; throughout . p. 486 , &c. vol. 2. and in his assertion , that a papist by his religion cannot go beyond a reprobate . p. ●96 , to p. 404. vol. 1. lond. 1626. and in his reformed catholick . p. 556 , &c. vol. 1. u mat. 7. 21 , &c. & 25. 3. tit. 1. 16. x 2 tim. 3. 5. y rev. 3. 1. z luk. 8. 13. mat. 13. 19 , to 23. heb. 6. 4 , 5 , 6. 2 pet. 2. 20 , 21 , 22. mark 6. 2 0. luke 1. 6. a math. 13. 19 , to 23. & 7. 13 , 14 with rom. 8. 30. joh. 3. 3 , 5. math. 18. 3. heb. 12. 14. b rom. 5. 12. c psal. 51. 5. joh. 3. 6. d ep● . 2. 1 , 2 , 3. e gen. 6. 5. f rom. 8. 8. g ephes. 2. 12. h joh. 8. 24. & 3. 16. 18. 36. 1 joh. 5. 12. mar. 16. 16. i rom. 8. 30. math. 18. 3. joh. 3. 3. 5. tit. 3. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. heb. 12. 14. k math. 11. 28 , 29 , 30. act. 16. 30. & 4. 11 , 12. heb. 7. 25. l luk. 9. 23. m 1 cor. 1. 30. n 2 cor. 11. 2. o joh. 20. 17. p joh. 14. 16 , 17. q math. 25. 34. r 1 cor. 3. 21 , 22 , 23. s rom. 8. 28. t rom. 8. 35. to the end . u rom. 8. 1. x hag. 2. 7. y cant. 5. 10. z cant. 5. 16. a acts & man. vol. 2. p. 427. lond. 1641. b bernard . ex for . bo . vitae , ut citatur in ejus floribus . p. 2137. c col. 3. 11. d eph. 2. 8. e rom. 10. 14 , 15. 17. f gal. 5. 22. g jam. 1. 19. to 26. math. 13. 23. & 7. 24 to the end . h eph. 4. 30. thes. 5. 19 , 20. 1 act. 7. 51. i rev. 3. 20. k 2 pet. 1. 10. l 2 cor. 13. 5. m 1 cor. 2. 12. rom. 8. 16. n 1 joh. 5. 13. o as my , believers evidences , &c. communicant instructed . and treatise of gods covenants , &c. † col. 2. 6 , 〈◊〉 p tit. 2. 11 , 12. q joh. 14. 15. and 15. 13. math. 28. 19. r rom. 12. ● s rom. 14. 7 ▪ 8. t 1 joh. 2. 6. u eph. 5. 2. x mat. 10. 37. luke 14. 26 y rev. 1. 5 z act. 10. 38. a 1 pet. 2. 21 , 22 , 23. b exod. 20. act. 20. 7. ●8 . 1 cor. 16. 1. 2. rev. 1. 10. c — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ignat. in ep. ad magnes . d math. 28. ● . to 8. e eph. 2. 5 , 6. 1 cor. 15. 20. to 24. f luke 24. ma●k . 16. math. 28. act. 1. 3. g act. 2. 1. &c. h act. 20. 7 ▪ &c. i numb . 28. 9 , 10. k numb . 28. 3. to 9. l psal. 55. 17. dan. 6. 10. m psal. ● . 1 , 2. act. 17. 11. n 1 cor. 7. 20. 24. eph. 4. 28. thes. 3. 10 , 11 , 12. o eccl. 12. 1. p i sam. 16 ▪ 33. to 38. q 2 chron. 34. 1. 3. r 2 tim. 3. 15. s numb . 15. 20 , 21. and 18. 12 , 13. deut. 18. 4. & 15. 19. t mat. 11. 29. u act. 24. 26. x act 23. 1. y 2 cor. 1. 12. z eph. 5. 15 , 16. mat. 25. 14 to 31. a 2 tim. 1. 13. b eph. 4. 14. c 2 pet. 3. 18. d heb. 12. 13. 15. pro. 14. 14. e luk. 9. 62. f cor. 15. 58. g rev. 2. 10. h mat. 22. 37 , 38. l●k . 10. 27. i i joh. 5. 1. k 1 pet. 1. 22. l col. 3. 2. m eccl. 1. 2. 14. n phil. ● 3. 2o , 21. o rev. 21. 1. 4. p cant. 8. q rev. 22. 2o . r eph. 1. 3. notes for div a57386-e4400 a trelent . just theol. ● . 3. de peccato . b — in quo omnes peccaverunt . rom. 5. 12. — quia secundum propaginem carius in illo ●ramus omnes , antequam nati essemus , tanquam in parente , ●anq●am in radice ibi eramus : sic venena●a ●st ista arbor , ubi eramus aug. de verb. apost . serm. 14 ▪ p. 325. b c. tom. 10. c in my treat● of gods convenants . book . 2. chap. 1 aphor. 6. iv. p. 41. to p. 59. d — ex adam tra●i dicimus originale peccatum , quod per lavacrum regenerationis , non solùm in majoribus , sed etiam in parvulis solvitur . august . retract . 1. 2. cap. 62. p. 60. b. basil. 1569. tom 1. ecce unde tra●itur originale peccatum , ecce unde nemo nascitur sine peccato , ecce propter quod dominus sic concipi voluit , quem virgo concepit . aug. de temp. serm. 45. p. 667. l. 7. m. 10. e omnis generatus , damnatus : nemo liberatus , nis● regeneratus . aug. de verb. apost . serm. 14. p. 325. d. tom. 1o . restat us in illo primo homine peccasse omnes intelligantur , quia in illo fuerunt omnes quando ille peccavit . vnde pecca●um n●scendo 〈◊〉 ▪ quod nisi renascendo non solvivi●●r . august ▪ cont . dua● e●ist . pe●●g . l. 4. c. 4. p. 910. b. tom. 7. f see before p. 1 , 2. and my treat . of gods covenants . p. 36 , 37. p. 41 ▪ to 49. g clamitat aure dei , vex sanguinis ; & s●domorum : vox oppressorum ; mer●●s de●enta laborum . d. prideaux . in seha . theol . syntag. murmonit . 3. p. 13. h animula , vagula , blandula , hospes comesque corporis , tuos nun● abibis in 〈◊〉 &c. i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . eph. 2. 12. k o vita mortifera ! o mors immortais ! et quomodo tandem te appellabimus ? vitam , an mortem ? si vita es , quomodo occidis ? si mors es , quomodo duras ? &c. rob. bellarmin . in conc. 3 de cruciatibus gehennae , part . 2. p. 467. colon. 1626. l in the close of the i. direction . m latet ultimus dies , ut observentur omnes dies . august . hom. 13. p. 441. b. tom. 10. basil. 1569. n dum potes emenda , dum tempus habes clama ad omnipotentem deum , dum datur spacium luge , dum licentia est paeniteas , festina dum potes , dum anima versatur in corpore , dum adhuc vivis futurum remedium require tibi prius , quam te profundum absorbeat pelagus , & prius qu●●m te malignus rapiat infernus , ubi nulla datur indulgentia , ubi nullus regreditur ad veniam . de qua paena pius nos dominus eripere dignetur . aug. de sanctis serm. 40. p. 1249 , &c. tom. 10. basil. 1569. 〈…〉 o denique uxor lot , ubi respexit , remansit , & in salem conversa hominibus fidelibus quoddam praestitit condimenium , quo sapiant aliquid , unde illud caveatur exemplum . aug. de civit. dei , lib. 14. ca. 30. tom. 5. p general view of the holy scriptures , edit . 2. p. 126 , &c. a work like h. broughton's , perfected by t. hayne . q see in my key of the bible , on the book of iob , §. 4. r gratia pr●veniens , qu● velimus : subsequens , nè frustra velimus . d. j. prideaux . lect. 3. de grat. universali . §. 4. p. 39. s — misericordia ejus praevenit nos . praevenit autem , ut sanemur : quia & subsequetur ut etiam sanati vegetemur . praevenit ut vocemur , subsequetur ut glorificemur . praevenit ut piè vivamus , subsequetur ut cum illo semper vivamus , quia sne illo nihil possumus facere . august . lib. de natura & gratia contra pelagianos . cap. 32. tom. 7. t euseb. hist. eccl. lib. 8. cap. 27 , 28 , 29. u theod. hist. lib. 3. cap. 25. x ille dolet verè , qui sine teste dolet . y tanta quippe est omnipotens ejus bonitas , ut etiam de malis possit facere bona , sive ignos●endo , sive sanando , sive ad utilitates piorum coapando atque vertendo , sive etiam justissimè vindicando . omnia namque ista bona sunt , & deo bono atque omnipotenti dignissima , nec tamen fiunt nisi de malis . quid igitur melius , quid omnipotentius eo , qui cum mali nihil faciat , benè etiam de malis facit ? aug. de continent . lib. cap. 6. p. 995. c. tom. 4. basil . 1569. z vide augustinum . lib. de fide , ad petrum . diacon . c. 3. p. 221. a. b. a in my treat . of gods covenants with man , &c. london printed an. dom. 1657. b in my treatise of gods covenants , book 4. chap 6. aphorism 2. p. 1571 , 1572. lond. 1657. c ibid. p. 1582. to p. 1589. d ibid. p. 1572 , 1573 , 1574. e ibid. ● . 1577 to 158● . f in my treat . of gods covenants . book . 4. c. 6. p. 1574 , to 1589. and 1593. to 1598. g ibid. p. 1599 to p. 1641. h ibid. p. 1599. to 1641. i ibid. p. 1662. to 1665. k in my treatise of gods covenants , book 3. chap 3. aphorism 4. quest. 1. p. 576. to 566. l see all these explained . ibid. m quis desperaret sibi donanda peccata , quando crimen occisi christi reis d●nabatur ? conversi sunt ex ipso populo iudaeorum : conversi sunt , baptizati , sunt . ad mensam domini accesserunt : & sanguinem , quem saevientes fuderunt , credentes biberunt , aug. de temp. serm. 74. p. 747. b. tom. 10. basil. 1569. n see , the large english annotations on . eph. 2. 8. and mr. paul bayns in his comment on eph. 2. 8. o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saluting , kissing , or embracing the promises . metaphora , ut videtur , ● navigantibus , qui portum eminus conspicati , laetis acclamationibus salutant , & contingere gand●●t . d. pareus in comment . ad heb. 11. 13. p quo titulo nulla ali● vir●us chris●iana insignitur in sacris literis , quia est fundamentum & causa procreans omnis sanctitatis . phil. pareus in com. ad jud. 20. q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies keeping , as a castle , town or city , is in time of war kept by a garrison , and walls , &c. from the enemy . metaph. à castris , vallo , & fossis undique munitis , ut null● hostium vi vel astutia expugna●i possint . d. pareus in phil. 4 7. r oderun● peccare mali , formidine paen● . oderunt peccare boni , virtutis amore . horat. s as i have elsewhere showed in my treatise of repentance . quest. 2. t non praecipit tantum , sed etiam hor●atur . invitat praemio salutem . tertul. de paenit . c. 4. p. 114. franek . 1597. n see chemnit . harm . evaingel . cap. 57 in ratione ordinis . x missus est ad gentes , ex latrone pastor , ex lupo ovis . aug. de temp. serm. 74. p. 747. d. tom. 10. basil. 1569. y non est procrastinandum auditoribus vangelii , sed ex quo di praedicatur , ●os oportet & credere , & fructus proferre . heb. 3. 8 jo. daven . exposit , ad coloss. 1. 6. z san● diaboli vox est quae dicit , da peccato quod praesens est , deo & evangelio quod futurum est , peccato florem aetatis , evangelio reliquias . jo. baren . exposit . in ep. ad col. 1. 6. p. 40. a qui non est bodie , ●ras minnus aptus erit . b vita vapor , ventus , flatus , f●os , fabula , foenum , &c. c joh. gerhard . in huzin . evangel . cap. 162. p. 226. genevae 1645. d diem ultimum suum quisque salubricer cogitet . misericordia dei est , quia nescit homo quando moriatur . latet ultimus dies , ut observentur omnes dies : aug. homil. 13. p 441. b. tom. 10. basil. 1569. e — feei●ti nos ●d te : & inquietum est cor nostrum , d●nec requiescat in te . aug. conf , lib. 1. c. 1. tom. 1. f ibi vacabimus & videbimus ; videbimus & amabimus ; amabimus & la●dabimus . ecce quod erit in fine , sine fine . aug. de civit. dei , l. 22. cap. 30. sub finem . tom. 5. looke from adam, and behold the protestants faith and religion evidently proued out of the holy scriptures against all atheists, papists, loose libertines, and carnall gospellers: and that the faith which they professe, hath continued from the beginning of the world, and so is the true and ancient faith. herein hast thou also a short summe of the whole bible, and a plaine manifestation, that all holy men who have pleased god, have beene saved through this christian faith alone. alte glaube. english bullinger, heinrich, 1504-1575. 1624 approx. 206 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 58 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a17218 stc 4073 estc s108889 99844541 99844541 9365 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a17218) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 9365) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 121:04) looke from adam, and behold the protestants faith and religion evidently proued out of the holy scriptures against all atheists, papists, loose libertines, and carnall gospellers: and that the faith which they professe, hath continued from the beginning of the world, and so is the true and ancient faith. herein hast thou also a short summe of the whole bible, and a plaine manifestation, that all holy men who have pleased god, have beene saved through this christian faith alone. alte glaube. english bullinger, heinrich, 1504-1575. coverdale, miles, 1488-1568. [12], 100 p. printed by iohn haviland, for thomas pavier, and are to be sold at his shop in ivie lane, london : 1624. a translation of: bullinger, heinrich. antiquissima fides et vera religio. translated by miles coverdale, whose name appears on leaf a2. the first leaf is blank. previous english editions entitled: the olde fayth. identified as stc 5893 on umi microfilm. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books 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characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2005-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-11 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2006-07 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion looke from adam , and behold the protestants faith and religion , evidently proved ovt of the holy scriptures against all atheists , papists , loose libertines , and carnall gospellers : and that the faith which they professe , hath continued from the beginning of the world , and so is the true and ancient faith. herein hast thou also a short svmme of the whole bible , and a plaine manifestation , that all holy men who have pleased god , have beene saved through this christian faith alone . london , printed by iohn haviland , for thomas pavier , and are to be sold at his shop in ivie lane. 1624. to the christian reader . having divers times observed with my selfe ( most christian reader ) that the doctrine of the gospell , which hath beene now freely preached these many yeeres amongst us , in this our flourishing common-wealth , is yet daily and ordinarily , by sundry persons , charged with noveltie , as which being an upstart , were not of sufficient standing or antiquitie : i thought it not amisse in this respect , either for the confutation of the obstinate adversarie , or for the comfort of the weake and simple professour of religion , to publish and set forth this little worke of m r. miles coverdale , who for his integritie of life , and fame in learning , and other excellent gifts , was so renowmed in the church of christ in his age , that i doubt not , but that his onely name will be a sufficient credit , ( with any man , that is not maliciously disposed ) for the full allowance , and well-liking of any such monument of his , as he of pure zeale , and good affection , hath commended to us his posteritie . by which travels of his , as hee hath generally shewed himselfe a notable member in the church of god : so hath he thereby especially well deserved of this his native countrey . wherefore not willing to detain thee from better matter , i wish thee to use this booke to thy profit , and with mee to give thanks to our mercifull father , for this valiant souldier , as also for other worthie martyrs of his time , which after the battell by themselves fought , have ( by gods providence ) left spirituall children , ( i meane their good bookes ) to make a supply , that christs church may bee encreased , to the utter confusion and overthrow of antichrist . farewell in the lord. miles coverdale , to all christian readers , wisheth grace , mercy , and peace from god the father , through our lord and onely saviour iesvs christ . like as the almighty eternall god , three in persons , and one in substance , of his tender mercy and love , not only created man at the beginning after his owne similitude and likenesse , but also when he was lost , most graciously redeemed him , and brought him out of bond age : even so when man ( neither regarding his wonderfull creation , nor his most deare redemption ) gropeth in darknesse , in vice and blindnesse , lieth in the devils prison , and goeth in the way of damnation ; god alway setteth up his light before him , sendeth the message of his word unto him , sheweth him what case he is in , giveth him warning , openeth the prison doore , calleth him out of the devils service , telleth him what danger it is to be his bondman , or servant unto sinne . this doth god alway afore he punish and plague the world . this ( i say ) hath ever beene the worke of god since the beginning , as the stories and prophesies of all the holy bible doe testifie . and though we had no writing of gods acts in times past , yet hath he practised this same his wonderfull worke of mercy upon us . so that like as we must needs confesse , that we are created of god , and redeemed by his only mercy in his deare sonne iesus christ : so can we not denie , but we have heard his holy message , had no lesse preachings and warnings of dangers to come , than other have had afore our daies . yea even the same mercifull god that sent noe to preach righteousnesse unto the wicked world , and converted the ninivites by his word in the ministration of the prophet ionas , hath done even so with us in every condition . and some ( thanks be unto him therefore ) hath bee brought out of darknesse into his wonderfull light , and out of the devils service , into the kingdome of his deare sonne . but alas and woe to this unthankfull world . for like as a great number that be in prison of satan , will not come forth when they are called and the doore set open , but goe on still stumbling in darknesse , when the lanterne of light is offered them : even so if any play a wise mans part , and doe as he is warned by gods word , hee shall have a sort of apish people , a number of dizerds and scornfull mockers , which ( because the man will not dance in the devils morrys with them , nor keepe their company in the bondage of sinne and vice , neither runne with them unto like confusion ( as s. peter calleth it ) laugh him to scorne , and bleare out their tongues at him , even like fooles and cockscombs of the world . and like as when a poore wretch commeth out of prison , he shall have moe to stand gasing and gaping upon him , than to doe him good , or to helpe him to his fees : even so now that god of his mercy hath called us out of satans prison , and from the schoole of false doctrine , my lords foole with his companions standeth staring upon us , and mocketh us , because we sit not still with other prisoners . there goeth a fellow of the new learning ( saith one ) there is one of these new-fangled gospellers ( saith another ) that is one of the new brethren ( saith the third ) he followeth the new faith , &c. wherefore , in consideration hereof i have here set forth this booke : partly because it sheweth the antiquitie and ancient age of our holy christian faith , and partly to give occasion unto all such as have received it , not to be ashamed of it , nor to shrinke from it , for any opprobrious mockage or scornfull derision in this world . the apostle saith , that the preaching or word of christs crosse , is foolishnesse to them that perish , and that the thing which appertaineth to the spirit of god , is foolishnesse to a carnall minded man. whereby like as we may learne that it is no new thing to be mocked and stared upon for holding with the doctrine that maketh so much of christ his death , and the true worshipping of god in the spirit : even so may we see ( to the singular comfort of our conscience ) that no man mocketh us for it , but such as perish and are carnally minded : and that for all their derision and scorning , it is yet the power of god , 1 cor. 1.18 . and belongeth to his holy spirit , 1 cor. 2.14 . and is not our owne doctrine , neither of any other mans making . this is now to us a comfort and consolation . but because the world is angry with us for our faith , and giveth us so euill report for teaching it , it shall be expedient for us to declare what faith is , and what faith we meane , when we make mention thereof . first , because we may not describe it after our owne judgement , we will rehearse the words of the apostle , which writing to the hebrewes , saith after this manner : faith is a substance of things to be hoped for , an evidence or certaintie of things which doe not appeare . by the which definition , it is manifest , that when we set forth or teach this faith , we meane no vaine faith , no false opinion of faith , no fond imagination of faith , no dead faith , no idle faith ; but a substantiall thing , even a sure beleefe of things that are to be hoped for , and a proofe , experience , or knowledge of things that are not seene . this faith then is the instrument , whereby we feele and are certaine of heavenly things , that our corporall eye cannot see . now because none other vertue can so apprehend the mercy of god , nor certifie us so effectually of our salvation , as this living faith doth , therefore hath the scripture imputed our justification before god , only unto faith among all other vertues : not without other vertues following , but without any other worke or deed justifying . this is the faith of christ , which all the scripture speaketh of . this is the faith that s. paul preacheth to justifie in the sight of god : as s. iames teacheth , that works justifie in the sight of men , and that it is but a dead faith which hath no works . this is the faith , without the which it is impossible to please god , and of the which whatsoever proceedeth not , is sinne . this is the faith whereby god purifieth our hearts , and whose end is salvation . this is the faith that worketh by charitie or godly love , & is of value before god. this is the faith whereby the holy fathers which were afore christs incarnation did in spirit eat and drinke & enjoy the same mercy of god in christ , that we are partakers of . to be short , this is the same faith , whereby god saved those his elect , of whō s. paul maketh mention in the foresaid epistle to the hebrewes , and rehearseth many godly fruits of the same in their conversation . this then is no new-fangled faith , no strange faith , no faith invented by mans braine , but even the same that gods holy spirit teacheth in the infallible truth of his scripture , and that adam , abel , enoch , and all the other servants of god were saved in . why doe men therefore either call it a new-fangled faith , or report evill of us , for setting it forth ? why ? i feare me this is one cause : the old faith that all those servants of god had , whom the apostle nameth in the eleventh to the hebrewes , had a life and conversation joyned unto it , which was rich and full of all good works . therefore seeing there be so many bablers and pratlers of faith , and so few that bring forth the worthy fruits of repentance , it giveth the world occasion to report of us , that our faith is but new-fangled . they see us not fall to labour and taking of paines , as adam did : they see not the righteousnesse and thankfulnesse in us , that was in abel : they see us not walke after the word and will of god , as enoch did : they see us not take gods warning so earnestly as noe did : they see us not so obedient to the voice of god , nor so well willing and content to leave our friends , to forsake our owne wils , our owne lands and goods at gods calling , and dwell in a strange country , to doe gods pleasure , as abraham did : they see that wee chuse not rather to suffer adversitie with the people of god , than to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season : they see us not esteeme the rebuke of christ , or trouble for his sake , to be greater riches than all the treasures of this world , as moses did : to be short , they see not in our garden those sweet flowers and fruits of gods holy spirit , which were in them that had the old faith . ashamed may wee be therefore , as many of us as either write , teach , preach , speake or talke of the old faith , if wee endevour not our selves to have those old heavenly vertues that were ever plentifull in all gods true servants , in every one ( i meane ) according to his calling . not that it is evill , to teach or talke of the true old faith , but this i say , because that ( according to the doctrine of s. iames ) they are but deceivers of themselves , that are not doers of gods word , as well as hearers thereof . and through such slender receiving of christs holy gospell , it is now come to passe , that like as we haue need of such an apostle as was holy s. paul , to rebuke this vaine confidence that men put in their workes , and to tell us that no worke of our doing ( but faith of gods working , doth justifie us in his sight . even so have wee no lesse need of such another apostle ( as was holy s. iames ) to rebuke this horrible unthankfulnesse of men , that professing themselves to bee christians , and to hold of christs old faith , are yet dead unto all good workes , receive not the word of god in meekenesse , cast not away all uncleannesse and malitiousnesse , are swift to speake , to talke , to jangle , and to take displeasure ; are forgetfull hearers of the word , and not livers thereafter , boasting themselves to be of gods pure and undefiled religion , and yet refraine nor their tongues from evill , visit not the poore , the friendlesse , and the desolate in their trouble , neither keepe themselves undefiled from this world . reade the first chapter of his epistle . what an occasion might such an apostle ( as holy iames was ) have , to write another , yea a sharper epistle , seeing so many pretending to be of iesus christs old faith , are yet so partiall , have such a carnall respect of persons , are not rich in faith , despise the poore , practise not the law of godly love , talke and jangle of faith , not having the workes thereof , clothe not the naked , helpe not the poore to their living , regard not their necessitie , have but a dead faith , declare not by good and godly workes , the true and old faith of christ , are but vaine beleevers , have not the eflectuous , the working and living faith , that abraham and rahab had . reade the second chapter of his epistle . how would holy iames reprove these bringers up of strange doctrines , blasphemers , backbiters , belie●s of good men , false teachers against gods truth , dissemblers with the same , cary fire ( as they say ) with the one hand , and water in the other : pretend to be learned , and yet bring not forth the workes of good conversation in meekenesse out of gods wisdome , but in frowardnesse , and out of carnall doctrine . how would he take up these , that delight in malice and strife , belie gods truth , are given to earthly , fleshly , and devillish wisdome , are unstable , full of all evill workes , are not in the schoole of gods wisdome and learning , are not given to unfainednesse of heart , are not peaceable , are churlish , uneasie to be intreated , &c. reade the third chapter of his epistle . what would such an holy apostle say to this wicked world , wherein a great number ( pretending to be christian men ) are given so to quarelling and fighting , to voluptuousnesse and inordinate lusts , to envie and indignation , to unlawfull spending and consuming of that they may get , to advoutrie , to the despising of holy wedlocke , to shamefull uncleannesse , either not willing to marry , or else putting away their wives for light occasions , and for satisfying of their owne trifling lusts , falling in love with the vaine friendship of this world , taking part against god : yea whereas by their profession , oath , and allegiance ( which they owe to their most high soveraigne the king of heaven ) they should in a vertuous conversation maintaine all godlinesse , are become even enemies , suppressours and overthrowers thereof , as well through their obstinate and cruell resisting of gods word , as by other wicked examples of their vicious and filthy living ? what would holy s. iames say to such unthankfull bellies , that knowing the truth , live after such a sort ? would he spare them though they were never so rich and wealthie ? reade the fourth chapter of his epistle , and the first part of his fifth chapter , and yee will judge the contrarie . wherefore , most deare readers , whosoever of you hath beene slacke to follow the good life and godly conversation that s. iames , and all the other scripture beside requireth to be in them , which professe the old faith , let them take better hold , turne againe to the truth , and follow that loving exhortation , which holy s. iames maketh in the latter end of his epistle . and if he hath at the first not enclined to gods word , nor received it unfainedly in meekenesse , nor submitted himselfe to be ordered thereby , and to cast away all uncleannesse , &c. but hath haply suffered it , promoted it , set it forth , or taken a pretence of favour and love to it , for some other purpose to obtaine any carnall profit , gaines or libertie by it ; let him not put holy s. iames , or any other true messenger of god , to the paines of rebuking him for so doing : let him rather enter into himselfe , reprove his owne fault and abuse in that behalfe , abhorre it in any wise , be angry , displeased and discontent with himselfe , sorie and repentant for it , shame not to aske god mercie , and by good workes from hence forward to labour , that the glory of god , and worship of his truth , may be preferred and set up , which he by such his unchristian living , hath in times past caused to be hindred . in conclusion : though there be never so many that recant and deny gods holy word , either in their living and conversation , or in their words , writing or preaching , yet as many of us as are entered into the schoole of that wisdome which is from aboue , let us be true scholers of the same , and practise it both in our thought , word and deed : let us even enter into the nature and kinde thereof : which ( as s. iames saith , iam. 3. ) is pure , peaceable , gentle , and easie to be intreated , full of mercie and good fruits , without judging and dissimulation . which thing if we doe , then shall we follow no filthy doctrine nor counterfeited wisdome , then shall we be no breakers of peace , then shall we be as glad to forgive , as we would be forgiven , glad to be reformed , rich and plentifull in the workes of mercie and good fruits of the old faith : then shall we be no quarrell-pickers or dissemblers with any man : then shall wee not only be found the maintainers of peace and all good order , but peaceably also , and in all gentle manner shall we ( both in word and deed ) sow , spread abroad , and shew the fruit of that righteousnesse , which commeth only of god through iesus christ . if any of them that are gone ( of high or low estate , pretending to be maintainers , favourers , setters forth , or scholers of christs doctrine ) hath in any condition dissembled therewith , fallen from god , misbehaved himselfe in the affaires of his prince , misgoverned his houshold , maintained riot , vice and sinne , or brought the good word of god into any evill report by his ungodly conversation ( as i feare me , it be too true ) let us beware by such mens fall . let us not receive the grace of god in vaine . for like as they that harden their hearts at gods word , and spurne wilfully against it , are sure of their damnation , except they repent ; even so they that dissemble withall , shall finde their judgement . wherefore let us that have received the old true faith of christ , not only be content to abide any storme or trouble for it ( yea to be mocked , scorned , persecuted , and put to death therefore , if it so please god ) but also unfainedly every man to his power , in his heart by fervent prayer , in his mouth by good words , and in all his bodie by vertuous conversation and good christian workes , helpe and labour , that the blessed word of god may have the due honour belonging thereunto , and that the same which it hath lost through ungodly behaviour of some , may through the grace and goodnesse of god bee wonne againe in our good living : that god may have of us better servants , our prince truer subjects , and our neighbours more unfained lovers , than many have been before us . amen . an evident declaration ovt of the holy scriptures , that the christian faith hath endured since the beginning of the world , and that through it only all vertuous men pleased god and were saved . chap. i. i svppose plainly that many simple christian men will not a little wonder at this mine enterprise , they are so perswaded , and thinke , the christian faith did first beginne under tiberius the emperour : for as much as out of the gospell of luke it is certaine , that in the fifteenth yeere of tiberius , iohn baptist beganne to preach the gospell , and all histories say with one accord , that in the xviij . yeare of tiberius iesus christ did suffer . now it is true that all the prophecies were then first fulfilled , and the true salvation performed ; yea from that time forth were all the glorious treasures of christ so richly declared and powred out among all people , as they never were afore . notwithstanding the same salvation in christ iesus was promised long afore , and so opened to the holy old fathers , that they have no lesse sight of christ iesus in the spirit than we , and put their trust in him as well as we : though among us it be cleere and open , or performed and fulfilled , that among them was somewhat darker , and therefore looked for with hearts desire , as a thing for to come . moreover it is not i that first bring forth this meaning concerning the antiquitie or oldnesse of our christian faith : for the holy bishop eusebius cesariens . which lived above eleven hundred yeeres agoe , ( and likewise many other christian doctors ) hath also taught and written the same more cleerely before me . for eusebius in the first booke de ecclesiastica historia , saith plainly : all they that in their estate are noted according to their generations , to reckon backward from abraham unto the first man , though they had not the name of christian men , ( for at antioch certaine yeeres after the ascension of christ , was that name given to the faithfull , acts 11. ) yet as pertaining to the religion and substance , they were all christians . for if this word christian , be as much to say , as one that putteth his trust in christ , and through his doctrine fastned unto faith , unto the grace and righteousnesse of god , doth cleave with all diligence to gods doctrine , and exerciseth himselfe in every thing that is vertuous ; then verily those holy men whom we spake of first , were even the same that christian men boast themselves now to be . all these are the words of the foresaid old christian doctors . but to the intent that no man shall thinke that we build upon men , and upon a strange foundation , therefore wee will first declare our minds out of the scriptures , and alleage somewhat more for the better understanding of the matter . chap. ii. of the goodnesse of god , and wickednesse of man. god which hath ever beene sufficient to all perfection , and needeth nothing of the creatures to his perfectnesse , onely of his owne kinde and nature , which is good , ( that is to say , of his owne grace and mercy , yea even because he would doe good ) created man for himselfe : but before he created him , he provided first for him wonderfully , and furnished him with unspeakable riches of his goodnesse . for when he devised the creation of man , and the time was now come , which his godly wisdome and providence had ordained , he first of all appointed a wonderfull lodging for man , and garnished the same yet much more wonderfully . at the beginning ( when the goodly and cleere light was made ) the lord prepared the instruments , which he afterward sundred one from another , and ordained every one to some purpose . over the deepe , that is , over the water and earth ( which yet was in the water ) made he a firmament , and spread out the heaven above as a pavilion . afterward out of the water he called and brought forth the earth , ( as much as served for the habitation of men ) and appointed the water his bounds and markes , which it may not overpasse . and these three things , the water , the earth , and the firmament , ( that is to say , the aire and clearenesse above us unto the height of heaven ) are the essentiall and substantiall parcels of the world , and serve as an house for the habitation of men : neverthelesse as yet all this was but rough and unfinished , and nothing garnished at all : therefore did the wise and faithfull master put forth his hand wider , to performe and pleasantly to garnish that wonderfull worke ; yea not onely to garnish it , but also to make it fruitfull and profitable for man , which was the guest and inhabiter for to come . and first , in as much as man should inhabit the earth , he garnished it aforehand , and cloathed it with a goodly greene garment , that is , with a substance , which hee deckt first with flowers and all manner of herbes , which not onely are pleasant to looke upon , and wonderfully beautified , of a pleasant taste and goodly colour , but also profitable for food and all manner of medicine . to the same also did he first adde sundry trees and plants . then watered hee the earth with faire springs , rivers and running waters . and the ground made he not like on every side , but in many places set it up pleasantly : and hereof have wee the vallies , plaines , mountains and hills : which things all have their due operation , fruit , and pleasantnesse . after this also began he to garnish the heaven and firmament , and set therein the sunne and the moone , the planets and starres : which things all are goodlier and more wonderfull than mans tongue can expresse . as for their office , and the cause why they are set in the heaven , it is to give us light , and ( with their up and downe going , or motion ) to declare the times , yeares , moneths , and daies , dividing the daies and nights asunder . thirdly , he laid his hand likewise in the water , in the which hee had wrought no lesse wonders , than in heaven and upon earth . for in the water ( and especially in the sea ) doe the wonderfull workes of god appeare in the fishes and marvels of the sea , if a man consider the nature and disposition of them . and in the aire also hath hee created and ordained great tokens of his goodnesse , power , and wisdome , even the fowles that pleasantly ( according to divers commodities ) doe sing unto man , and refresh him . at the last endued he the earth yet more richly , and filled it with all kinde of profitable and goodly beasts , and sundred one from another pleasantly . when the lord now had prepared this goodly and rich pleasure , then first after these hee made man , that he might bee lord of all these things . him also endued he above all other creatures , and created him after his owne image . he made him of body and soule , which should have endured for ever , if he had not fallen into sinne . now hath he a fraile bodie , and an immortall everlasting soule . but the first man made he altogether perfect and without blemish , so that verily he was called the image of god not without cause . the lord also was not sufficed in garnishing the earth goodly , but first also builded upon the earth a speciall garden of pleasure , even a paradise : and therein set he man his deare beloved creature . and for as much as he being solitary and alone , could not conveniently dwell without a mate , he appointed him first to plant and keepe the garden of pleasure , and provided for him a wife , even out of the bones of his owne body , that she might bee the mans helpe . thus would the goodnesse of god finish and make man perfect , to the intent that he should lacke nothing which served to a right , wholesome , and perfect life . therefore was it equall , that man , which was endued with reason and high understanding , should shew thankfulnesse and obedience unto god , for such high gifts . yea , god himselfe ( which is not onely good , but also righteous ) requireth the same of him , and that by the meanes of the commandement , that he might eat of all the trees of the garden of pleasure : only he should eschew the fruit of knowing good and evill . and this commandement was not grievous nor unreasonable : onely it required obedience and love of god the maker , unto whom only the creature ( even man ) should have respect , and looke for all good at his hand , and not to take the forme of good and evill out of himselfe , but onely to hold that for evill and forbidden , which god inhibiteth as evill ; and to account that as good and righteous , which god alloweth or forbiddeth not . for a representation , visible token , and sacrament , god shewed him a right visible and fruitfull tree in the garden of pleasure , and forbade him with earnest threatning , that in what houre soever he did eat of the same tree , he should die an everlasting death . but untruly dealt man with his faithfull god , transgressed his commandement , and gave more credit to the perswasion of the woman and of the serpent , than to the true word of god : which was nothing else , but even as much as to take the forme of good and evill out of themselves , or elsewhere , rather than of god , and not to cleave and be obedient onely unto him , as to such an one as wisheth good unto every man. for man being deceived through the woman and the serpent , did beleeve that god was not indifferent , and that hee had withdrawne from him some of his godly wisdome . and for as much as the minde now was departed from god through infidelity ▪ and looked not for all good at his hand , therefore tooke the hand the noisome apple , and the mouth did eat the forbidden meat . and thus thought hee to helpe himselfe to gods majesty , by another meanes , rather than by god , and so to repaire his necessitie which he thought hee had . and so with infidelity , unfaithfulnesse , disobedience and unthankfulnesse , he wrought life , and died the death ; that is , he offended against god , and fell into the punishment of everlasting damnation : yea he made himselfe bound unto the devill , whom he was so diligent , to beleeve , to follow , and to serve : contrariwise he forsooke god , and so came he utterly into the bondage of the devill and darknesse . and thus have we now the goodnesse and faithfulnesse of god. againe , the wickednesse and great unfaithfulnesse of man. chap. iii. the first and right foundation of our holy christian faith . here now had the just god occasion and right to expell man , to destroy him , to damne him , and to leave him utterly to the devill : and the same also did his righteousnesse and truth require . for he had said , in what day soever thou eatest of the fruit , thou shalt die the death . contrariwise , the goodnesse and mercy of god required , not utterly to suppresse man a poore and naked creature . in the meane season was there found a way , whereby the righteousnesse and truth of god should be satisfied , and in the which the mercy of god should specially be exercised and declare it selfe : that is to say , christ iesus , which is given us by the manifest grace of god , was offered for our sinnes , satisfied and recompenced the righteousnesse of god , and so delivered us out of the bonds of the devill . for hee died for us all , in as much as god said : in what day soever thou eatest thereof , thou shalt die the death . therefore died christ for us all , that through his death we might live , and be taken out of the kingdome of darknesse , and be set in the kingdome of the deare beloved sonne of god. this device of gods wisdome ( which no doubt was determinate from everlasting ) was also directly opened unto adam , after the fall , in manner following : when man had eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree , immediatly his eyes were opened ; in so much that he was ashamed , when he saw that he was naked . hitherto had hee lived in innocencie , therefore began he now to cover himselfe , but with simple clothing , which they trusted not much to ( like as it is all unprofitable , that man of himselfe will cover his sinne withall ) saving that they fled from the lord , and hid themselves from him . but the lord followed upon the fugitive , put him in minde of his decay , miserie , and the life that hee was fallen from , and said ; adam , where art thou ? or knowest thou what miserie thou art fallen into from great felicitie ? now should man have acknowledged his fault , but hee shewed himselfe stiffe-necked . and the lord moveth him still , to see if he will acknowledge his sinne , and said : who told thee that thou art naked ? yea , to helpe him in the matter , and to make him confesse his sinne , hee saith moreover ; hast thou not eaten of the tree of the which i forbad thee that thou shouldest not eat ? but man was loth to knowledge his sinne , and laid it first upon the woman his companion ; and the same did he with so froward and unadvised words , that a man may easily see , that secretly in his heart , he wickedly and unreasonably laid the fault upon god. for hee said not onely , the woman gave me of the tree to eat ; but added proudly thereto , the woman which thou gavest me , &c. as though he should say ; thou thy selfe art in the fault ; if thou haddest not given mee the woman , i had not beene deceived . and yet the righteous god gave him not the woman to deceive him , but to bee an helpe to him . therefore appeareth it here againe , that the sinne of man was the more wilfull & grievous . yet for all this did the gracious god proceed further , and would prove whether hee might finde any knowledge of the sinne with the woman , the beginning and occasion of the sinne . but nothing at all could he finde . the one person was as the other , and they both had no power . therefore like as adam put all the fault to the woman , even so laid the woman all the fault upon the serpent , that is , upon the devill . which nature doth yet , to this day , cleave in man. but what man ( which hath well considered this foresaid matter by himselfe ) would now say , or durst thinke , that any part of the promise of righteousnesse and salvation of man were to bee ascribed to his owne power and deserving ? for as much as it is so manifest , how unable and lost a creature man is of himselfe , which doth nothing but heape sinne upon sinne , and disobedience upon disobedience . againe , who is so blinde , but he seeth , that all salvation is to be ascribed to the onely meere grace and mercie of god ? for now followeth it first how god handled this matter . now when all the complaint was made upon the serpent , the lord asketh and examineth the serpent nothing at all , for the deed was open , neither was the serpent created of god to speake , and with the devill was there no truth . therefore doth the lord righteously curse the serpent the devill . unto the bodily serpent also ( whom the devill used as an instrument ) he giveth a sore curse , and saith ; vpon thy belly shalt thou goe , and earth shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life : when this was done , it was ordained now first for man , that ( according to the righteousnesse and truth of god ) he should bee punished also with the curse and with eternall death : but for the causes expressed in the beginning of this chapter , the curse was directed unto christ , who also with cleare words was promised , and so was life in him promised likewise . therefore saith not the lord now ; and cursed bee thou man , because thou hast done against my commandement ; but , and i will put enmitie betweene thee and the woman , betweene thy seed and her seed : the same shall tread thee on the head , and thou shalt tread him on the heele . which is thus much to say ; thou hast used the woman to the destruction of men , so that from henceforth they bring death , and by kinde and nature are damned when they are borne . therefore will i also use the woman , but to salvation : for of the woman shall a seed or childe bee borne , which shall breake thy head , power and kingdome , sinne , damnation and death : howbeit in his manhood he shall be trodden down and bitten . that is , man with his transgression hath deserved eternall death , so that ( after the rigour of my justice ) hee should perish and belong to the devill for ever : neverthelesse i will have mercie upon him , and receive him to grace againe . but to the intent that my truth and righteousnesse may be satisfied , i will cause my sonne to take the verie nature of man upon him . then will i , that hee take upon himselfe the curse and damnation , and die , and with his innocent death to take away that noisome death and curse , and so to set the generation of man out of death into life , out of the dominion of the devill into his owne kingdome , out of darknesse into light . thus the right foundation or ground of our holy faith continueth fast and unmoved : in so much as all the generation of man is whole and cleansed from sinne , and delivered from the curse , from the devill and everlasting damnation , onely through the mercie and meere grace of god by iesus christ . as touching this , paul said when hee wrote to the romans in the 8. chapter ; god sent his sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh , and through sinne , ( that is to say , through the sinne-offering and willing death of christ ) he condemned sin in the flesh . and in the first epistle to the corinthians , the first chapter , the same paul saith , christ iesus is appointed of god to be our wisdome , and righteousnesse , and sanctification , and redemption : that as it is written , who so glorieth and rejoyceth , let him glorie and rejoyce in the lord. but for as much as this is the first promise , and the first sure evangelion , i will now speake of everie word in especiall . first , god calleth his sonne our lord iesus , the seed of the woman . a seed , because of the verie nature of man , and because that our lord should not take upon him a fantasticall , but a verie true bodie . but to these words there is added , of the woman . for our lord was not conceived and borne of mans seed , but of the holy ghost out of the virgine marie . therefore cannot this sentence be understood of eve , but of the virgine marie . now whereas she is called a woman , it is done because of the kinred : for even the daughters also and maidens are reckoned in the womens kinred , and yet continue undefiled virgins . god also hath spoken here distinctly , and said not ; i will put enmitie betweene thee and this woman , but betweene thee and ( haischah ) the woman , understanding some speciall woman , no doubt even such an one as he afterward set forth cleerely by esay , saying ; behold , a virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne , &c. and this word ( seed ) was alway afterward in everie renewing of this promise concerning christ iesu among all the patriarks and prophets , rehearsed , used , and expressed , untill the time of david . of whom the lord afterward was called a flower , the root , sprowting , or blossome of david . the holy apostle paul expoundeth this word ( seed ) clearely and plainly , and saith it is christ , gal. 3. moreover , it serveth to the praise of the lords mother , that god saith , i will put enmitie betweene the woman and thee : for he meaneth the difference of both their natures . the devill is proud , subtill , wicked , false , and untrue : but the mother of christ is lowly , simple , vertuous , faithfull and upright , chaste and cleane . and the same pure virgin and gracious mother hath borne unto us him that trod downe the serpents head . the head of the serpent is the power and kingdome of the devill , even sinne , the curse and damnation . all this hath that blessed seed broken for his faithfull . all which things the holy apostle paul also hath taught with these words : the lord is become partaker of our flesh and bloud , that he through death might take away the power from him , which had the lordship over death , that is to say , the devill ; and to deliver them which through feare of death , were all their life time in bondage . for hee tooke not upon him the angels , but the seed of abraham tooke hee upon him , &c. and to the same meaning doth this also serve that followeth ; and thou shalt tread him on the heele . the heele is the lowest part in man , and here it signifieth the most inferiour thing in christ , even his flesh . this hath the old serpent the devill persecuted and trodden downe by his members caiphas , annas , herod , and pontius pilate . for peter saith , christ hath suffered for us in the flesh : the godhead is impassible , and the soule immortall . but by this treading downe of the lord , hath god trodden downe the kingdome of the devill , that is to say , by his death hath he destroyed death , and brought life againe to all them that beleeve . hereof commeth it that christ saith himselfe , ioh. 12. now is the judgement of the world , now shall the prince of this world be thrust out . and i when i am lift up ( that is to say , crucified ) from the earth , will draw all things to me . at the last saith the lord , that he will put enmitie betweene the serpent and the womans seed . this may wee see in the devill , and his members and acts , how they are contrarie to christ and his members and deeds . but how strong soever the serpent is , yet shall he be trodden downe through christ and his faithfull . hereof commeth it , that paul spake so comfortably to the romans , rom. 16. the god of peace shall shortly tread downe the devill under your feet . and herewithall is the dutie also of the faithfull in christ shortly comprehended . for as touching them that say , is it enough then , and is all well , when i knowledge that i am a sinner , and saved through the blessed seed only ? to them it is here answered and cleerly given to understand , that all they which put their trust in the blessed seed , take upon them the kinde of the seed , and hate the kinde of the serpent , that is to say , sinne and blasphemie , and fight alway more and more against the world and the devill as long as they live , yea and occupie themselves most faithfully about that which is gods will. and hereto now serveth it that followeth after . for when the lord had taken away the everlasting death , he laid upon man a temporall punishment , correction and discipline , in the which hee should be exercised as long as hee lived upon earth . and upon the woman he laid trouble , sorrow , and paine , when she should beare and bring forth children : subjection also and service with feare and obedience , which she oweth to the man. to man , hee enjoyneth labour , for the lord cursed the earth , and said ; with sorrow shalt thou get thy living all the dayes of thy life . yea , in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread . moreover , he layeth temporall death upon them both , and saith ; earth thou art , and to earth shalt thou returne . of the first doth paul speake also , 1 tim. 2. the woman shall be saved by bearing of children , if she continue in faith , and in love , and in holinesse , or cleannesse , and nurture . of the second speaketh the same paul likewise to the ephesians and thessalonians ; let no man undermine or deceive his brother in occupying : and who so hath used falshood and deceit , let him doe it no more , but let him rather labour with his hands some honest thing , that he may have to distribute unto such as have need . and as touching death , paul also saith to the hebrewes in the ninth chapter , how that it is appointed unto men , once to die , and that even so christ iesus was offered up and died once for all . chap. iiii. of the first faithfull christians , adam and eve . and hitherto i trust we have had in the first promise of god the foundation , and the whole summe of our holy christian faith ; namely , that the whole generation of man was but lost through his owne fault and wickednesse , and fallen into death and damnation , so that there remaineth nothing in man but it is displeasant to god : hereof commeth it that there is nothing to be ascribed unto the power and deserving of man , save sinne and malediction . but god of his abundant mercy had compassion on us , and of very grace promised he life unto us againe in his sonne our lord iesus , whom he would to become man , and to suffer death in his flesh , that thereby hee might tread downe the devill , death , sinne and hell . item , he would put enmitie betweene the womans seed and the serpent , that is , he would endue us ( which are the seed , that is to say , the children of adam , if wee beleeve ) with another heart and power , that we might become enemies unto the devils workes , resist his suggestion , and hold our selves fast by the blessed seed , labouring and suffering whatsoever god enjoyneth us to worke and suffer . who is it now , which seeth not herein , all that is written in the whole scripture , of beleefe , of love and innocencie , that is to say , of a christian life and faith ? who so is disposed , let him looke upon the 2.3 . and 4. chapters of paul to the romanes , the first and second to the ephesians : let him compare those chapters toward this summe , and he shall finde it none otherwise . for as much then as adam and eve had faith in god , and stood so toward god , that they knowledged themselves to be sinners , and trusted to be saved only through the blessed seed , giving themselves over willingly into the discipline and nurture , travell and trouble of this time . no man can say contrary , but it followeth , that our first elders were christians . neverthelesse we will declare the same yet more clearely , by moyses words following : and adam called his wife heva , because shee should be the mother of all living . for as soone as he was now strengthned through the promise of god , and beleeved that hee and his posteritie ( which else were children of wrath , of the devill , and of death ) should live through the blessed seed , he turned his wives name , and called her heva , for the remembrance of the matter , and practising of his faith : for he beleeved , that shee now living in the power of the blessed seed , should bring forth , not only quicke men temporally as pertaining to this naturall life ; ( like as we call other creatures living ) but living , that is to say , children of salvation . for adam had lost eternall life from himselfe , and from us his posteritie : but the same is given unto us againe through iesus christ our lord. adam for as much as he beleeved , changed his wives name , like as we finde that for great weighty causes the names of certaine places , cities and men were changed : thus was iacob called israel ; simon , peter ; luthz , bethel . eve had now a name of life , for haiah in hebrew is as much to say , as life . afore was shee called ischa , that is to say , woman , because shee was taken from out of the man , which in the hebrew is called isch , gen. 2. and thus it is manifest , what faith adam had , whereby we may well suppose , that eve had none other faith . but god used his mercy and loving kindnesse yet furthermore , even in the mids of all correction : for when he would now expell man out of paradise into miserie , he doth unto him in every condition , even as a faithfull father , which for some misdeed putteth his sonne away from him , notwithstanding leaveth him not utterly comfortlesse , but provideth him a garment , and comforteth him with friendly words , and then first sendeth him away from him . even thus doth god the father of heaven also . for first he cloatheth adam and eve against the frost and tempest of weather , in as much as ( by the meanes of sinne ) the weather , the earth , the aire , and all creatures , were no more so subject , tame and obedient unto man , as they were afore the fall . therefore even now at this present time whatsoever inconvenience and harme is in the good creatures of god , it commeth by the meanes of our sinnes . afterward doth the lord comfort the miserable wretched man with very loving words after this manner : behold , adam is become like one of us : or , loe , adam shall be as one of us , and it shall happen unto him , as to one of us , and he shall know good and evill . this doth god speake which is one in substance , and three in persons : he prophesieth here unto adam , that he shall know or have experience of good and evill , that is to say , that upon earth he must feele prosperitie and adversitie , miserie and trouble , sowre and sweet , and must suffer necessitie , paine and affliction . yet in all this must he be constant and patient , forasmuch as nothing shall happen unto him , save even the same that shall happen to one of them . and he meaneth the sonne our lord iesus christ the second person in the holy trinitie . with this his passion , and through the same doth he comfort adam . as though he would say : let the paine , sorrow and trouble which thou must suffer upon earth , not vex thee , and consider that one of us also shall take upon him the kinde and nature of man , and that the serpent ( as it is said afore ) shall tread him on the heele , that is to say , he shall die , he shall be opprest and have much affliction and trouble all the daies of his life . in the same meaning also did the holy apostle peter say : christ suffered for our sakes , and gave us an example , that we should follow him , and goe in his footsteps . out of all this is it easie to understand , what faith and knowledge adam had of our lord christ : namely , that he knew in him very godhead and manhood , and that he saw in faith his passion and crosse a farre off . moreover , that the passion of christ once done for all , breaketh the kingdome of the devill , and bringeth life againe to such as faithfully beleeve . secondly , that it is to our living , an example , at the which wee ought to learne patience in adversitie , and daily to die from all evill . and hereto now serve all doctrines of patience , of bearing the crosse , of despising the world , and mortifying or putting off the old adam , which thing is contained and with many and goodly words handled thorowout the prophets and apostles . as for adam and eve , they lacked none of these things , though they had not the matter in writing . for god spake it all to them himselfe , and wrote it in their hearts . moreover , our first elders had no church , rites , nor ceremonies , save only the bodily offering , a representation of the sacrificing of christ , and exercises or tokens of thankfulnesse . for how should cain and abel else have knowne any thing of sacrifice , if they had not received the same at the custome of their father ? who with his wife eva the mother of us all , was saved by none other worke or merit of man , but only through and in the blessed seed our lord iesus christ . chap. v. that the holy patriarks also were christians , and saved by christ . such faith in christ iesus as we now have spoken of , did the holy father adam ( no doubt ) teach his children : that they also might plant in their children the promise of god , his mercy and device concerning the messias or saviour , that was for to come . and truly abel had such a notable faith in god , that the holy apostle paul wrote of him after this manner : through faith did abel offer a greater sacrifice than did cain , and thereby obtained he witnesse that he was righteous . for god bare record to his gifts . in as much then as it cannot be denied , but that all they which are just and righteous , be made righteous through the blessed seed . and abel was justified . it followeth that he was made righteous through faith in iesus christ . in that he did sacrifice , it is a token and fruit of a heart that was thankfull , and feared god. it was no such enterprise , that he would clense and make himselfe acceptable unto god through that outward sacrifice . for certaine it is , that no outward oblation purifieth man within : but the grace of god granted unto us through jesus christ , purifieth us aright . and the outward sacrifices of the old fathers , beside that they were tokens of thankfulnesse , praise , and magnifying of god , ( as it is said afore ) were figures of the only perpetuall sacrifice of our saviour christ . and in this behalfe they were even as much as sacraments of things to come . thus also , and in like understanding have our first fathers done sacrifice , as hereafter it shall follow more largely . now like as in abel there is set forth unto us an example of gods seed , and of a regenerate true faithfull christian man. so is cain a seed of the serpent , a childe of the devill , which despised the inspiration of god , and harkened to the deceitfull serpent . and in these two brethren wee may see what god meaned , when he said : i will put enmitie betweene the seed of the woman and thy seed . as though he would say : there shall be two manner of people , the one shall cleave unto christ , the blessed seed , the other shall cleave unto the devill . and these two generations shall in no wise agree , but be at variance in faith and religion . i will endue my seed , that they shall cleave only unto me , feare me , honour and worship mee , seeke all salvation in me through the blessed seed , live vertuously , honestly , and soberly . then shall the serpent tempt their seed with hypocrisie , not to love me nor serve mee aright , not to hold of mee as they should , not to trust in me , but to love the world , and to follow the lusts and temptations thereof : all this finde wee here in these two brethren , in whom beginneth the first difference of true and false beleevers . for abel was simple , godly , and of a constant faith in god. and in as much as he tooke god for his refuge , he brought him gifts of his best substance , no doubt because he had first given over his soule and all his power unto god , at whom alone hee sought all good without any hypocrisie . he was also innocent , vertuous and friendly , and followed not his owne tentations . and for this faiths sake did his sacrifice please god : but cains pleased him not , for his heart was not right with god : he was a dissembler , greedie and vnfaithfull person , which set his heart and minde upon earthly things , alway despising gods word , and following his owne tentation . which thing was evident in this , that he having no cause ( only of a wilfull heart , and through the temptation of the serpent ) murthered his owne brother : whereby hee hath obtained to be the arch-father of all murtherers , which persecute and murther the seed of god ( that is to say , the true beleevers ) only for their faiths sake . thus became abel the first martyr and instrument of god and of christ in the holy church . for these two brethren have set forth before us , the whole battell and strife , which the world , the citie of the devill , the children and citizens of the cursed citie ( wherein the serpent is head and master , and hath the dominion ) shall make against the citie and citizens in whom christ is the head , unto the end of the world . the freemen of the citie of god and of christ , doe cleave only unto god , serve him with all their heart , build only upon christ . the citizens of the serpent despise god , and yet they boast of god , to whom also they offer and doe service , but not as they ought to doe . now when they perceive that their faith is not right , and that their hypocrisie is espied and misliked , then fall they to murthering , to the which god is an enemie , and forbiddeth it with his word . for cain also exhorted hee from his purpose , and said , thou needest not to arme thee because of thy brother , for thou hast none occasion to be angrie with him . for if thou doest right , thou shalt finde it , and have joy thereof : but if thou dost not right , then is thy misfortune , sinne and trespasse open , and thou shalt shame and destroy thy selfe . thy brother goeth on without fault , he shall doe thee no hurt nor harme : he shall also not be lord over thee , nor minish thy right : yea he shall have respect unto thee , and thou shalt have dominion over him , and so keepe thy birth-right , and still remaine the first borne , although his sacrifice be acceptable unto mee and not thine . cease therefore from thy wicked purpose , and offend not against thy brother . but cain did as all ungodly doe : for he went forth , and slew his innocent brother . and afterward when the lord would have brought him into the knowledge of his great sinne , and pardon him , he despised the voice of the lord with craking and facing . for the which cause the lord was wroth with him , and cursed him . then despaired he first , and went forth and became yet more wicked , dealt altogether ungodly , set first his minde upon earthly things , thought to exalt his name upon earth , and builded the first citie , which he called hanoch : hee begat sonnes and daughters , but little feare of god was before their eyes , in so much that the scripture saith , adam lay with his wife againe , and shee bare a sonne , whom shee called seth. for god ( said shee ) hath given me another seed for abel , whom cain slew . seth also had a sonne , and he called him enos . and then began men to call upon the name of the lord. out of the which words it is easie to understand , that as touching holy adam , hee held no more of cain , than as though he never had had childe . for adam feared god : cain with his progenie despised god , and became the serpents generation . wherefore when adam had gotten another sonne , he was of a good hope , that in abels stead god had given him another sonne , which should doe right , and of whom the root of the blessed seed should spread out afterward . for the which cause also he called him seth , which by vs is called a plant , meaning , that god had set and planted him as a branch , out of which the messias should be borne . for as for cain , hee doubted of him . and from the same seth proceeded the generation of the righteous untill noe , and from him to abraham , and so unto david , and from thence forth unto christ . this seth repaired our holy faith , which received great hurt at the death of abel . this did seth ( i say ) for as much as he being taught inwardly of god , and by mouth or outwardly of adam , learned his children and their seed , to put their trust in god , and to comfort themselves in the blessed seed , and to cleave unto the same . for it is written manifestly : and then began men to call upon the name of the lord. till this time was adam with heva his wife only a true friend and server of god. the generation of cain was now well spread abroad , and come to two hundred and fiftie yeeres and aboue , but the more part lived without the feare of god , unrepentant and ungodly . wherefore in as much as the generation of seth now increased , and the feare of god and right beleefe was among them , the scripture faith well : and then began men to call upon the name of the lord. and by this calling upon , doth the scripture meane the true right beleefe and gods service , that he most alloweth . of the progenie therefore of righteous seth sprang the servants of god , and presidents of our christian faith . as for the cursed generation of cain , and of the ungodly , it was destroyed and drowned with the floud . to the holy genealogie of the true beleevers , pertaineth the patriarke enoch , of whom it is written , that he walked before god , that is , he ordered his life and conversation altogether after the will of god , being constant and upright ( no doubt ) in all that , which god had spoken unto adam . therefore became he also an example of the immortalitie of the soule , and resurrection of the bodie , and that all gods servants shall be saved after this life . for thus saith the scripture ; and in as much as hee applied himselfe to walke after god , god tooke him away , and he was no more seene . the holy apostle paul also in the eleventh chapter to the hebrewes speaketh very excellently of enochs faith , so that no man may doubt , but that hee had respect to the blessed seed , and pleased god through christ . moreover , the enmitie betweene the children of god and of man ( that is , the issue of the serpent ) grew ever more and more : so that on the one side the multitude of god increased , and on the other side the multitude of the devill : yet at the last the multitude of the wicked was greatest . for when the children of god withheld not themselves from the children of the world , but tooke wives and husbands among them , they begat rough people , which had no faith at all , and lived only after their owne lust and temptation , forgat god utterly , and regarded not the hundred and twentie yeeres which god gave them to amend . therefore was god constrained , so to punish the unfaithful world once , that all posterities unto the end of the world might have a terrible example of the just wrath of god : whereby they might learne , how ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse displeaseth god. thus the lord brought the floud upon all the earth , overthrew all that stood up , and destroyed every thing that had life , when the world had stood now a thousand six hundred and six and fiftie yeeres . for so many yeeres finde wee in the fifth and seventh of genesis , where it is written , that noe was six hundred yeeres old , when the floud came upon the earth . now if wee reckon the yeeres of the old fathers in the fifth chapter untill adam , wee shall finde the foresaid summe . and thus the issue of the serpent had an end , and all ungodly and unrighteous living was mightily supprest and destroyed of god. and in this horrible destruction of the ungodly , was faithfull noe saved ( he being the eighth ) and preserved in the arke through the grace and mercie of god. here our holy true christian faith had the victorie , and triumphed . for noe was of our faith ▪ even of the seed of god , and put his trust in the blessed seed our lord jesus . yea , the arke or ship of noe was a figure of christ , as we may easily understand by the words of s. peter , 1 pet. 3. seeing then that noe was preserved through the arke , it followeth that hee was saved by iesus christ , therefore is it manifest , that hee first beleeved in christ . noe also was hee , with whom god first renued the covenant made with adam . for it is but one covenant onely even the foresaid promise and end made by god unto adam . howbeit the same covenant was afterward at certaine times renued by reason of certaine occasions . here might noe have thought that all the world , and all men , should utterly have beene undone , for as much as the lord said , i am determined to destroy all flesh . therefore immediately he addeth moreover , and saith , but with thee will i set up my covenant , that is to say , whatsoever pertaineth to my covenant , and what i have promised adam alreadie , the same will i surely and constantly make good : and though i now destroy the world , yet will i performe my truth through thee . for i will preserve thee alive , that the blessed seed promised afore , may hereafter be borne of thee in his generation . to this did noe trust , and was preserved of god through christ . moreover , when he was come out of the arke he did sacrifice , and thereby declared the thankfulnesse of his heart , and beleeved , how that he knew that he had all good of god , which should also give him a seed , that with sacrificing of himselfe should reconcile and pacific god. for thus saith the scripture , noe builded an altar unto the lord , and tooke of all manner of cleane beasts and fowles , and offered burnt sacrifice unto the lord : and the lord smelled the sweet savour , and said in his heart , i will no more curse the earth for mans sake , &c. so saith paul in the fifth to the ephesians , walke yee in love , like as christ hath loved us , and gaue himselfe for us an offering sacrifice of a sweet savour unto god. whereby every man may learne and see , that the sweet smell of the outward sacrifice of noe did not chiefly pacifie god , and was pleasant ; but rather that through the bodily sacrifice , was figured the sacrifice of christ , and for his sake he was mercifull unto the world . for over christ he said at iordan when christ was baptised : this is my deare beloved sonne in whom i am pacified or reconciled . besides this , the lord gave unto noe certaine lawes , but none other than even such as he had given to his fore-fathers , and written in their hearts . the first pertaineth to mariage and bringing up of children , in the which is comprehended all that is written concerning nurture , cleanlinesse and temperance , of care and bringing up of children in the feare of god , vertue , obedience and learning . the second forbiddeth violence and deceit , namely , that no man shall eat bloud . for it is a figurative precept commanding , that no man get his living by murther , by oppressing the poore , by usurie , by extortion , by falshood and deceit . moreover , all things living were subdued unto him , and all meats were permitted him . in conclusion , whatsoever concerned the love of god and their neighbour , the same is here renued unto noe and his children , and required of them . of noe came afterward all people , yea among his three sonnes iaphet , sem and cham , he had both the seed of god and of the froward serpent , that is , such as had respect unto god , and them also that regarded the devill . of cham came the aegyptians , assyrians , babylonians , by and from whom sprang idolatry , offering to images , and from whom false religion came up first , and was brought in among other nations by the helpe of the old serpent , as among the greekes , romanes , and other people . by this it is good to understand , that our holy christian faith is elder than any other . for here may we see clearely , that after a thousand and certaine hundred yeeres ( almost in the eight hundreth or nine hundreth yeere ) came up the first beginning of the heathens beleefe and offering to images , and yet came it of wicked cursed men . for cursed cham was the beginning of the egyptians , and nimroth the ungodly extortioner and tyrant was the first founder of the kingdom of babylon , which kingdome with the building of a mighty tower , set forth his pride . neverthelesse the hand of god declared it selfe immediatly , as it is read in the eleventh chapter of genesis . finally , in the generation of cham had the serpent great power : howbeit in the posteritie of iaphet also ( of whom the almaines come ) and in the posteritie of sem , he had his issue likewise . of the progenie of sem were borne abraham , isaac , and iacob , gen. 11. and as it is said afore , the sincere faith was somewhat darkned in chaldea : therefore did god call abraham out from the idolatrie , and renued with him the old true christian faith begun with adam , and said , gen. 12. get thee out of thy country and from thy kinred , and from thy fathers house unto the land that i will shew thee , and i will blesse thee , and make a great nation of thee . and in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed . item in the 22. chapter speaketh god yet more clearely , and saith , in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed . this doth paul declare in the third to the galathians , and saith , in thy seed which is christ . therefore was the same now another renewing of the promise of christ the blessed seed . for first was he promised unto adam , afterward was the promise renewed with noe , and now with abraham . and all this now is but one promise , one saviour , and one faith . abraham also beleeved in iesus christ , and was saved by faith . for iesus christ saith himselfe in the eighth chapter of iohn , abraham saw my day , and rejoyced . what is now the day of christ but the clearnesse of the holy gospell ? this light had he not bodily , but saw it with the eyes of faith , and the same made him joyfull and saved him . for christ is the true joy of troubled consciences . thus became abraham the father of all faithfull beleevers , rom. 4. and if we beleeve and doe as abraham did , then are we abrahams children , and shall rest with him in his bosome , even in the kingdome of god , luke 13.28.16.22.19 . mat. 8.11 . paul also to the galathians in the third chapter saith , if ye be christs , then are ye abrahams seed and heires according to the promise . out of this faith in christ , did abraham christian workes ; for with a good will left he his owne native country , all idols and all images : all misfortune , hunger and miserie tooke he patiently : he was not hard against loth his nephew , but did jeopard his body and life for the oppressed : he was liberall , mercifull , and harborous : he praied fervently unto god for the poore sinners : he suffred oppression , violence and wrong , and for gods sake also he thought to sacrifice and offer up his owne most dearely beloved sonne isaac . finally , there is no reasonable good christian worke , but thou seest it in the life of abraham . therefore to us also for an example of our faith and conversation , he is set forth of the lord himselfe & his apostles throughout the new testament . here also is it manifest , that our holy faith is elder than the iewish faith . for the iewes doe boast themselves of the circumcision , and because they are called iewes and israel , and that the law , the priesthood and gods service was given unto them : and yet , gen. 15.6 . and 17.1 . and rom. 4.18 . it is evident , that abraham was gods friend and justified or made righteous , or ever he was circumcised . for when he was circumcised , he was 99. yeere old , gen. 17. now was the promise made unto him many yeeres afore . the scripture also saith plainly : abraham beleeved god , and the same was counted unto him for righteousnesse , gen. 15. so was it many yeeres after , or ever israel and iuda was borne , of whom they have taken their name . the law also was given 430. yeeres after the promise , as paul made the reckoning , gal. 3. it followeth therefore that our christian faith is 2048. yeeres elder than the circumcision , and 2449. yeeres elder than the law , the priesthood and ceremonies of the iewes . for from adam unto the floud , were 1656. yeeres . and from the floud untill the departing of abraham out of caldea 363. yeeres . from that time are reckoned 430. yeeres untill the departing of israel out of aegypt . and on the 50. day after the departing , was the law given unto israel upon mount sin● , exod. 19.20 . and after certaine daies was the priesthood and ceremonies appointed them . whereas god then made a covenant with abraham , when he ordained the circumcision , it serveth more to the confirmation of our holy christian faith , than to the maintenance of the iewish ceremonies . isaac and iacob were abrahams children , not only after the flesh , but also after the spirit . for they had the saith of their father and grandfather abraham , put their trust only in god through iesus christ , and lived a sober and vertuous life . of this doth the scripture beare them record thorowout : yea iacob , whom the lord also called otherwise israel , ( of whom afterward all the people of god received the name israel ) had many visions of the lord christ , as with the ladder that stood upon the earth , the top reaching to heaven , on the which the angels of god went up and downe . for herewith was represented unto him the lord iesus , which is the way unto heaven , the truth and life , without whom no man commeth unto the father . upon the vision of iacob , saith he also himselfe , iohn 1. verily i say unto you , henceforth shall yee see the heaven open , and the angels of god going up and downe upon the sonne of man. and so constant was iacob in remembring the same , that afterward at the commandement of the lord , he set up in the same place an altar , no doubt ( as it is said before ) for a figure of the crosse and sacrifice of christ , and there honoured he and worshipped the lord : he commanded all his people also , that they should forsake strange gods , and give him the idols that they had brought with them out of mesopotamia , and he buried them under an oke that stood beside sichem , gen. 35. and when he would now die , he prophesied very clearely of the lord christ , how he should be borne out of the kinred of iuda , and that hee should be borne the same time that the kingdome should be taken from iuda . which thing also came to passe in herods time . for in the 32. yeere of the reigne of herod , was christ borne at bethleem in iewry . whereof the words of iacob are these : the scepter shall not be taken away from iuda , nor a ruler from his fe●t , till schilo come ( that is to say , the saviour , and he in whom all nations shall be blessed ) and the people shall fall unto him . this stedfast faith of iacob did ioseph follow also , which mortified his owne flesh , declared patience in adversitie and prison , and exercised great justice and equitie in his governance . he was a figure of our lord iesus christ , who also being sold of his owne unto the heathen , preserved his brethren alive . so that from the beginning of the world untill the death of ioseph , the right christian faith endured 2300. yeeres . and thus all holy patriarks before the law , were sawed , not through the law , nor by their owne strength and deserving , but through the blessed seed our lord iesus christ . chap. vi. the law of god given by moses , leadeth unto christ , and maketh mention of all his doings . the israelites after the death of ioseph untill their departing and deliverance out of aegypt , were in the land 140. yeeres . and like as before in the time of noe the dwelling among the wicked became occasion of falling unto the righteous : even so now did the israelites learne idolatry and all unhappinesse of the aegyptians . for the which cause also they were sore oppressed a long season , howbeit there remained yet many excellent men which kept still the old faith , and hated the abhominations of the aegyptians . for of moses ( which was borne 60. yeeres after the death of ioseph ) saith paul : moses through faith when he grew up and was great , refused to bee called the sonne of pharaos daughter : and chose rather to suffer adversity with the people of god , than to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season , and esteemed the rebuke of christ greater riches than the treasures of aegypt , for he had respect to the reward , heb. 11. now can no man desire to suffer with christ , except hee have knowledge of christs suffering . therefore moses in the midds of all persecution had knowledge of christ , and the faith in christ . so is there no doubt , but more vertuous people had this true faith , which were all oppressed and vexed in aegypt , like as afterward the right faithfull beleevers were somewhat more persecuted : as among the heathen in the time of the iudges and kings of iuda and israel : under king antiochus : under the emperors nero , tra●●n●s , domitianus , maximianus , iulianus and other . as for the unbeleevers , they in such miserable times received the reward of their unthankfulnesse , disobedience , idolatry , and blasphemie . but when the appointed time came which god had foreseene & opened unto abraham , gen. 15. he brought the people of israel by moses out of aegypt , with and through great wonders and tokens . by the which he first declared his power , then his loving kindnesse , and mercy toward his owne , and his terrible justice and vengeance against his enemies : whereby all the world might know , that there was none other just and true god save the god of israel , in whose hand only consisteth all things , which also of his meere mercie preserveth his owne , and with right judgement rewardeth his enemies . specially this is most wonderfull , that in this great businesse and worke hee hath so mightily set forth the redemption performed by our lord iesus christ , yea and expressed it to be a very mighty redemption . for the same night ( when they should depart away and be dispatched in the morning ) the lord commanded them to kill a lambe , and with the bloud thereof to sprinkle the doores and posts of the house : so when the angell that in the same night slew the first borne of the aegyptians saw the bloud , hee should doe no harme , and slay no man therein , exod. 12.3 . now testifieth paul , 1 cor. 5.7 . that christ iesus is our easter lambe and passeover . so saith saint iohn , behold the lambe of god , which taketh away the sinnes of the world . therefore were not the israelites spared , because of the bloud of beasts , but for the blouds sake of the blessed seed that was promised for to come . and thus the whole deliverance out of aegypt was a figure of the true redemption , by the which we are delivered from the power of the devill and from everlasting death through iesus christ , and brought into the land of promise , even to eternall joy and salvation , which god promised unto our fathers adam , noe , abraham , isaac , and iacob . now when the lord had caried his people out of aegypt , and brought them thorow the red sea drie shod , and had drowned pharao with all his people , he commanded his folke to prepare and cleanse themselues at mount sina . for he would binde himselfe unto them , receive them as his owne people , and give them his law and ordinance . which thing he also did , and appointed his law himselfe , spake it with his owne mouth , and wrote it with his owne fingers in two tables of stone . in the one and first table hee ordained foure commandements , concerning the worship and love of god ; namely , that wee should take him only for the true and right god , and none else beside or except him : that wee should worship and honour him only , and in no wise to have any other god , comfort , or hope . item , that we should in no wise make any image or picture of any things , and neither to worship them nor serve them . moreover , that wee should not take the name of god in vaine , or lightly . and that wee should hallow the sabboth day . in the other table ordained he six commandements concerning man. and like as the foure first are comprehended in these words : thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , &c. euen so are the six contained in these words following : thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe . the commandements are these : thou shalt honour father and mother . thou shalt not kill . thou shalt not breake wedlocke . thou shalt not steale . thou shalt beare no false witnesse . thou shalt not l●st . in all these commandements is comprehended all that serveth for a godly life , and that any where is written of god , of true serving of god , and of right vertue towards this world . who so now doth well ponder these ten chapters or commandements , and compareth them to the doings and workes of the holy patriarks and old fathers which had no law in writing , he shall finde , that the lord now with this his written law began no new thing , neither ought that was not afore in the world , but rather renewed the old : and the law that he hitherto had written in the hearts of holy men , now when the people had gotten them stony hearts , he wrote the same in tables of stone . for that wee ought to worship and serve god onely , and to have none other gods , the same did the holy fathers so beleeve and keepe , that all their conversation and doing beareth record thereof . concerning images or idols , it is evident , that iacob buried the idols of mesopotamia under an oke beside sichem , gen. 35.4 . we may perceive also by the oathes of abraham , isaac , and iacob , how the name of god was had in reverence among them of old , and not taken in vaine . the sabbath did not the lord ordaine here first , but on the seventh day of the creation , gen. 2.3 . the same did the fathers keepe aright no doubt , iohn 7.22 . whereas cham had not his father noe in reverence , he was cursed for it , gen. 9.25 . advoutry did the heathen rulers forbid under paine of death , as we may see , gen. 26.10 , 11. whereby it is easie to understand , how the blessed friends of god kept holy wedlocke . how contrary the holy men were unto theft and deceit , it appeareth in the parting of abraham and loth , gen. 13.6 , 8 , 9. and in iacobs faithfulnesse and handling with laban his father in law , gen 29.37 , 30 , 33 , 31.6 . lying and false dealing was so farre from the holy fathers , that for keeping their credit and truth , they obtained very great commendation . notwithstanding they were tempted with evill as all men be , but they resisted the wicked lusts . for manifest is the chaste act of ioseph , which would not touch his masters wife , nor desire her . wherefore in these commandements is nothing written or required , that was not also required of the fathers afore the law , and performed through true faith in christ . the lord therefore began no new thing with his people , when hee delivered them the tables of the law : only he would bring into a short summe and set in writing all the law that the fathers had ( but not together , nor comprehended in a summe ) to the intent that they should the lesse be forgotten of the people , which through their dwelling in aegypt among idolaters and false beleevers , were brought into sore offence and slander . this must now be rectified againe after this manner . as for all the lawes and ordinances which afterward were added unto these two tables , they were not joyned thereunto as principall lawes , but as by-lawes , for the declaration and better understanding of the ten chapters or commandements . for the perfect summe of all lawes , the very right rule of godlinesse , of gods service , of righteousnesse , of good and evill conversation , is comprehended alreadie in the two tables . but here might some men make objection and say : if all truth be contained in these ten commandements , how happeneth it , that by no token there is mention made of the blessed seed promised unto the fathers ? hitherto is it declared and promised unto the holy fathers , that they shall be saved through the blessed seed out of the very grace of god , and for none of their owne deservings : but now are written lawes which command and forbid us , as though we through our owne workes and deserving ( as namely if we keepe these commandements ) should be saved and acceptable unto god. where is now christ ? where is the faith of the patriarkes ? here is nothing heard of faith , but much , yea only of workes ? answer . this objection hath deceived many , that they have had no right opinion and faith of the grace of god and our righteous making . therefore will we now give no answer out of our selves , but set forth holy paul , and let him answer , that the answer may be the more sure , and the better esteemed . paul in the third chapter to the galathians writeth after this manner : deare brethren , i will speake after the manner of men ; when a mans testament is confirmed , no man doth lightly regard or despise it , nor addeth ought thereto . now were the promises made unto abraham and to his seed . he saith not , in the seeds , as in many , but as in one : and in thy seed , which is christ . all these are pauls words , and the meaning of them is ; for as much as the testaments or workes of men are of such reputation in the world , that when they are made , ordained and confirmed , no man dare adde ought to them , or minish any thing from them , but every man must let them be as they are of themselves : it is much more reason that gods testament or bequest remaine still , and that nothing be added to it , or taken from it . now did god make a testament or bequest with abraham , and promised him therein , that he would give him a seed , in whom he and his children should be saved . and the same salvation did he expresly appoint in one , and not in many . wherefore wee must adde nothing unto gods bequest , seeing he hath promised vs salvation in christ only , and not in many ( that is to say , in no creature , not in our owne power and workes of the law ) neither must wee thinke , that the law was afterward added to the intent as though christ were not able to save us , or as though we might obtaine salvation by our owne workes out of the law. for thus followeth it in paul word to word : this testament ( i say ) which afore was confirmed to christward , is not disanulled or made of none effect by the law ( which was given beyond foure hundred yeeres thereafter . ) for if the inheritance begotten by the law , then is it not given by the promise . but god gave it freely unto abraham by promise . these are pauls words , out of the which every man may understand , that to the generation of man , salvation is given only of the grace of god through the promise , and through no deserving at all : and that the law of the promise ( that is to say , the bequest and testament of god ) is nothing minished , but that the summe remaineth without blemish , namely , that salvation is given us freely . but here might one aske ; seeing that the salvation is clearely enough expressed afore the law , and is ascribed only unto the grace of god , why would god then adde the law ? why was he not content with the testament alone ? therefore followeth it now in paul : why then serveth the law ? it was added because of transgressions , till the seed came that was promised . these are pauls words , which are thus to be understood : the law was not given because of the promise , to make it of none effect , and to teach that men are saved by workes , and not through the grace and free liberty of god : but it was given because of transgression , that is to say , because that the people of god in aegypt had transgressed the way and truth of their fathers , and knew no more what was sinne , right or unright , wherein stood salvation or damnation : for they were corrupt through the long dwelling among the idolaters of aegypt . therefore did god ordaine them the law , out of the which they might learne the will of god , what sinne , right or unright is , and to know themselves , to goe into themselves , and to consider how that the holy workes which god requireth , are not in their owne power ; for the which cause all the world have great need of a mediator . and thus the law was given to further the promise , namely , that wee through the law might be led only unto christ . for thus followeth it in pauls words : and it was given of angels by the hand of a mediator . a mediatour is not a mediatour of one only : but god is one . is the law then against the promises of god ? god forbid . howbeit , if there had beene given a law , which could have given life , then no doubt righteousnesse should come of the law. but the scripture hath shut up all under sinne , that the promise should come by the faith on iesus christ , given unto them that beleeve . before faith came ( that is to say , iesus christ in whom we beleeve ) we were kept and shut up under the law , unto the faith which should afterward be declared . thus was the law our schoole-master unto christ , that we might be made righteous by faith , &c. by these words of paul may every man understand now for what cause the law was given , and how it is not contrary to the promise of the foresaid seed , but rather bringeth us from our selves , and from all creatures , only unto iesus christ . the law therefore confirmeth the first promise concerning the blessed seed , and teacheth that wee obtaine all salvation in him only . howbeit it is also a rule of our life , informing us what wee ought to doe , and what we ought to leave undone . yet on our side is all unfruitfull , where faith is not . but where faith is , it ceaseth not through love to worke good according to the law : all honour and praise being referred unto god , to men nothing but unperfectnesse . god also among his people wrought many things , whereby hee set the cause of iesus christ clearely afore the eies of the people , as it is expressed afore by the lambe of the passeover . likewise is it where as moses hanged up a serpent in the wildernesse , that all they which were stung and poisoned of serpents , should behold the brasen serpent hanging , and not die , but be saved alive . wheras doubtlesse the outward beholding of the brasen serpent , saved not them that were poisoned : but it was god , which would so declare , that his sonne should be hanged upon a crosse , to the intent that every one which were poisoned and defiled by the old serpent and sinne , should beleeve in the sonne of god , and live in him . for so is it written , sap. 16. they had a token of health according to the commandement . for who so converted , was not made whole by the outward thing which he saw , but by thee which art the restorer of health , and saviour of all . and yet saith christ more clearely , ioh. 3. and like as moses set up the serpent in the wildernesse , even so must the sonne of man be lift up , that whosoever beleeveth in him , should not perish , but have eternall life . and as touching this , the holy apostle paul bringeth in another sentence , 1 cor. 10. and saith : brethren , i would not haue you ignorant of this , that our fathers were all under the cloud , and all passed thorow the sea , and were all baptised under moses in the cloud and in the sea , and did all eat one spirituall meat , and drinke of one spirituall drinke . but they dranke all of the spirituall rocke that followed them , which rocke was christ . besides this , if we consider the declaration of the lawes of the first table ( which teacheth how we shall behave our selves right toward god , to love , worship and honour him , to serve him and to cleave only unto him ) we shall finde in the same first table , the whole cause of christ . for all that afterward was ordained and appointed concerning the tabernacle , the priesthood , and the oblations , pertaineth to the summe of the first table , for as much as the scripture and the mouth of god calleth it his law , precept , commandement , use and statute , ordinance and service . and if thou aske , how can god which is a spirit , be served with outward , visible , and fleshly things , as the foresaid ceremonies of the iewes are ? i answer ; such outward rites of the people of god were sacraments and tokens of heavenly invisible good things , and were not the heavenly riches themselves . wherefore they neither served nor pleased god , that used and did such service without faith and lifting up of the minde . but they that put their trust in god , cleaving only unto him , and lifting up their hearts higher , and remained not in the visible thing , those pleased god. whereas they had but one altar and one place appointed where they should doe sacrifice ; it signified the crosse of our lord iesus christ , and that he should be offered up but once , ( and that in one place ) for the sinne of the world . therefore whereas the high priest also every yeere went into the inward tabernacle with bloud ; it signified , that our lord iesus should come into this world , and shed his bloud once for all , to forgive and cleanse our sinnes , and so to ascend unto heaven . yea all oblations and all sheddings of bloud in the sacrifices of the old fathers , signified the death of our lord iesus christ . nothing was cleansed among them without bloud ; which signifieth , that all the purging of our uncleannesse is done by the bloud of iesus christ . and all the priesthood which was ordained for to teach , to pray , and make intercession , to offer and doe sacrifice , represented the office of our lord christ , which came into this world , to teach us the truth and righteousnesse : then to offer himselfe to the father for our sinnes , and after the sacrifice done , to rise up againe from death , to ascend unto heaven , there to sit at the right hand of god , and even there as a true high bishop to appeare alway in the presence of god , and to pray for us . this is the summe of the rites and ceremonies of the old fathers , the understanding of the figures , and the spirit of the letter : whereof holy paul hath written much in the most excellent epistle to the hebrewes . out of all this is it easie to understand , how that these rites and ceremonies of the fathers were sacraments , and given to the people of god. not that they with the letter and outward visible and corporal thing should sufficiently serve god which is a spirit , but that they should lift up their mindes above the same to the spirituall things , pondering the mercy of god ; out of the which hee being moved , is become gracious unto us . and when he might have damned us for our sins and misdeeds , he spared us for his sons sake , whom he gave unto death , and his innocent death hath he accepted for our sinnes . such a faithfull consideration ( which is the true beleefe ) pleaseth god , and with such a faith is god served , and such a faith would the lord have taught and planted in us , with the foresaid rites and ceremonies . therefore all they that pleased god among the old fathers , pleased him not for the letters sake , but by reason of the spirit . when the sacrifice also and ceremonie was executed after the ordinance of god in the congregation , the beloved friends of god had not only respect unto the outward thing , but much rather beheld they christ with the eyes of faith , and thought thus : behold the will of god hath ordained to do sacrifice for sinne : now are we all sinners and debtors unto god , in so much that he hath power and right over us , that like as the beast which is now slaine and offred , dieth , and hath his bloud shed : even so might god now also kill us all , and condemne us for ever . neverthelesse he hath taken us to his mercy , and promised us a seed , which should thus die on the crosse , and cleanse us with his bloud , and with his death restore us unto life : which thing no doubt shall as surely come to passe , as this beast is slaine and offered now afore our eyes . and like as the bloud is sprinkled over the people , for the bodily cleansing : so shall the bloud of christ be sprinkled upon our soules , &c. and out of such a thought and faithfull consideration of the sacrifices , grew repentance and sorrow for their sinnes , a gladnesse , praise , comfort and thanks-giving unto god the mercifull father . and to this doe serve certaine psalmes , which were made concerning the sacrifices . to this also serve all the rebukings of the holy prophets , and the refusing of the oblations . for the externall pompe and shew of the offerings , without faith in god and the blessed seed , is nothing worth ; yea it is rather abominable unto god , as thou seest in the first chapter of esay . thou wilt aske : might not god have taught and shewed his people the cause of iesus christ & of true beleefe , none other way than through and with such cost , pompe and glory of sacrifices and other gorgeousnesse of the church ? i answer : if the people had not fallen to more wickednesse in egypt through their dwelling among the idolaters , but had constantly and stedfastly remained , as did their fathers abraham , isaac , and iacob , then might they well have continued by the old short simple forme , as it was among the holy fathers . but now had they seene in egypt an outward costly gods service , with temples , altars , sacrifices , priesthood , holy daies , ornaments , &c. likewise the idolatry increased daily in all the world , so that now there was utterly no people , which had not their owne outward ceremonies , wherewith they served god. to the intent then that god might retaine his people within the compasse of faith in one god , and in the blessed seed promised afore : to the intent also that they should shew no outward service to any other gods , or take upon them to serve god after the manner of the egyptians or of other heathen , he appointed an outward gods service , and commanded to doe the same unto him , and else to none , and in the same pleased it him to set forth all the cause of the foresaid seed , till he came and performed all things in deed , that they had figuratively in their sacrifices . moreover , god ( according to his wisdome ) of his speciall mercy and good heart that he hath unto mans generation , would with these outward tokens tender our weaknesse , which of spirituall heavenly things hath better understanding , when they are shewed unto it by corporall visible things . god therefore through such corporall representations , laboured to shew unto that grosse and fleshly people , the heavenly cause of his sonne . neverthelesse the corporall visible things were given for no longer , but untill the time of the fulfilling . but now that christ hath appeared , and fulfilled and performed all that was written and figured of him in the law and the prophets , the figure ceaseth , and the outward sacraments of moses law are of no more value to be exercised and used . thus much be said of the ceremonies . whereas beside the ceremonies , there is much written also in the law concerning civill policie , ordinance , judgement , to live peaceably and well in citie and land : of buying and selling , of warre and peace , of inheritance and proprieties , of lawes matrimoniall , of punishment of the wicked , of the judgement and counsell , of lending and borrowing , &c. it is no newes at all , and serveth altogether for the declaration of the six commandements of the second table , and is comprehended in the words of paul , rom. 13. love thy neighbour as thy selfe : and in the words of christ , that thou wouldest not have done unto thee , doe not thou to another , matth. 7. such lawes and rules to live in peace , in a civill order and in vertue , have also the good holy fathers had from the beginning of the world , written in their hearts by god himselfe . now hath god also caused all to be comprehended in writing by moses , to the intent that the world might have all more clearely and perfectly , and that no man might excuse himselfe of ignorance . chap. vii . the originall of the holy scripture and faith thereof . this matter which i have hitherto treated upon , have i not fained of my selfe , but taken it out of the mouth and word of god. for god stirred up moses to write , and leave behinde him all the matter , for our learning and knowledge . this did now moses with great faithfulnesse , and comprehended all in foure bookes . the first is called the booke of the creation , from the beginning of the world unto his time , of the creation of the world , beginning of all nations , and of the patriarks and old righteous servants of god , of their faith and conversation , of the promises and works of god. the same wrote hee as hee was inspired of the holy ghost , and as he had received of old fathers , and somewhat as he found in the bookes of the aegyptians . for moses was excellently well learned in all wisdome of the aegyptians , as steven doth witnesse of him , act. 7. the other three bookes wrote he of his owne time , according as he himselfe was present , saw , and knew . and specially the second booke , concerning the departing out of aegypt , how the people of god were oppressed in aegypt , how the aegyptians were punished , how israel was delivered , received the law , and set up a tabernacle with a gorgeous serving of god. in the third booke , which is called leviticus , are written the spirituall lawes , namely such as concerne the priests and the priesthood , their office , living , knowledge , sacrifices , solemne feast dayes , rites , ceremonies , and such like . in the fourth , which is called numeri , hee writeth at length , how they went thorow the wildernesse , and came to iordan , with a rehearsall of their order and number , of their murmuring also and punishment , and of certaine victories , with a remembrance of certaine lawes and statutes . beside all this , hee made yet an enchiridion and summe of all the acts of his time , and of the law of god , which is called deuteronomium : the same commanded hee to bee laid in the arke at the motion of god , and that it should be read unto all the people , as it is mentioned , deut. 31. and in these five bookes , given us of god by moses , is the whole ground of our holy faith . for all the prophets afterward grounded themselves upon the same , and wrote thereout , like as afterward our lord iesus and the apostles point unto moses . neither did ever any righteous man of understanding , and that feared god , doubt any thing , or blaspheme such scriptures . and from such true servants of god , have wee hitherto received our matters in writing . thus much have i said concerning the law , how it is no new thing , but even the onely will of god , but now comprehended in writing : moreover , that all the law pointeth unto christ , and that all men of right understanding which lived under the law , were christians . for manifest is it that paul said , rom. 10. christ is the end of the law , to justifie everie one that beleeveth . and galat. 3. or ever faith ( that is to say , christ ) came , we were kept and shut up under the law , unto the faith which should afterward be declared . thus was the law our schoole-master unto christ , that wee might bee made righteous by faith . all this , i suppose , will bee new and strange in many hearts ; neverthelesse , i trust that all they which have understanding , doe see and knowledge , that this is the true , old , right , and godly divinitie and theologie , which ascribeth all honour unto god the father , through our lord iesus christ in the holy ghost . to whom be glorie and praise for ever . amen . chap. viii . all vertuous kings , and the people of israel , trusted unto christ , and not to the law. after that the law was given , and gods service set up , moses the servant of god died , being an hundred and twentie yeeres old : and at the commandement and commission of god , he left gods people to bee ruled and guided by the faithfull valiant iosue , which also was a figure of our lord iesus . for like as it was not moses , but iosue , that brought the people into the land of promise : even so are we brought into the eternall rest , not by the works of the law , nor through our owne deserving , but by grace through iesus christ : like as it is also with many words expressed of holy paul , heb. 4.3 . &c. this iosue , no doubt , did keepe , maintaine and defend gods faith and religion , with the spirit and understanding thereof , and taught other to keepe the same , like as he through gods inspiration received it of the fathers by moses . which thing , though it bee evident in many points , yet is it manifest specially by this , that hee would not suffer the children of ruben and gad , and the halfe tribe of manasse , to set up and have another altar , beside the onely altar that the lord had appointed them . for herein ( as it is mentioned afore ) was figured the vertue and perfectnesse of the onely crosse , death , and sacrificing of iesus christ . therefore would not iosue that any thing should be set cheeke-mate with the crosse and oblation of iesus christ , but that all honour of cleansing and forgivenesse of sinnes should bee ascribed onely unto him . whereas iosue now , and other iudges , rulers , princes and kings of israel after him , used sore and great warre , stroke many horrible battels , destroyed much land and people , and shed mens bloud without measure , he did it as a chiefe head , and as an instrument and vessell of god , at the commandement of god , which would so punish the idolatrie , the great sinne and blasphemie of the ungodly , which he had long suffered , and exhorted them to amendment , but for all his patient abiding , they would not convert : those now did hee root out through the sword of his beloved friends : sometime delivered he his people with the sword of the righteous , and saved them from the hand of their enemies . for because of the sinnes of his people , he gave them over sometime into the hand of their enemies , to nurture and correct them with the rod : then fell the people of god , and fled before their enemies , and were subdued and opprest of the ungodly , till they knowledged their sinnes , called upon god and amended , putting their trust in god onely , through the blessed seed , worshipping him onely , calling upon him , and honouring him according to his word , casting away strange worshipping of god , service of idols , that shamefull , blasphemous and ungodly living . then sent he them his helpe , and delivered them in his power , by the ministration of his appointed captaines . and such warring , delivering and punishing was no fleshly unfaithfull worke , whom no man ought to follow , as some , being wrapped with the unstedfast spirit of the maniches and anabaptists , doe meane . for paul expresseth cleerely ; and what shall i say of gedeon , barach , sampson , and iephtha , david , and samuel , and the prophets ? which through faith subdued kingdomes , wrought righteousnesse , obtained the promises , stopped the mouths of lions , quenched the violence of fire , escaped the edge of the sword , of weake were made strong , became valiant in battell , turned to flight the armies of the aliants , heb. 11. all which works the holy apostle praiseth and commendeth as excellent works of faith . therefore are they no works of the flesh , neither is it now contrarie to the holy faith , if christian rulers deliver their innocent people ( whom god hath subdued unto them ) from wrongfull violence , and defend their libertie , righteousnesse , house and land , or punish the shamefull blasphemers , idolaters , and persecuters of the holy faith , and not suffer them to have all their malicious will. neverthelesse , this must be done by them , to whom god hath committed the sword . for thus saith the lord : who so taketh away the sword , shall perish through the sword , matth. 26. but specially in the battels of gods people and of the unfaithfull , it commeth to passe , and is expressely set before our eyes , that god said to the serpent at the beginning , gen. 3. i will put enmitie betweene thy seed and the womans seed . for the righteous are the seed of christ , the unrighteous and unfaithfull are the seed of the devill . betweene these now see we great discord ; but specially this , that the faithfull doe alway tread the serpent on the head , though they themselves also be bitten in the heele . for the right faithfull beleevers afore the birth of christ in the time of the promise , had no lesse trouble and persecution , not onely because of sinne , but also for righteousnesse and faiths sake , than the faithfull after christs birth in the time of grace and perfectnesse . therefore have they small knowledge of the doings of the faithfull , which say , that the people of old were a victorious people , and governed corporally , but that the people after christs comming are borne to suffer , and to no victorie or governance . neverthelesse in these wonderfull times ( in the which gods people had no victorie , and anon were subdued and oppressed ) the true faith continued upright and unblemished from iosue forth throughout all the iudges , untill the time and reigne of david . david also was a man that suffred much through divers and long trouble , through miserable distresse and vexation , and through sore persecution , without ceasing , being proved , tried and provoked , afore he was king. whereof the bookes of samuel and the more part of the psalmes beareth record . but after that he was promoted unto the kingdom , by god ( which said , i have found a man after mine own heart ) he advanced , set forth , and magnified the true faith right diligently . here also to the honour of our lord iesus christ , will i shortly and by the way declare , what knowledge and faith this noble king and prophet had of our lord iesus . this will i doe with the declaration of the 110. psalme , whose words are these : the lord said unto my lord , sit thou at my right hand , till i make thine enemies thy foot-stoole . in the first verse david knowledgeth the persons in the holy trinitie , the god-head also and the eternall kingdome of christ . thus likewise did our lord jesus christ understand and alleage this verse in the gospell , matth. 22. knowledging two of the persons in the one only godhead , for he saith , the lord said unto my lord. now is it certaine and undeniable , that hee which speaketh , and he to whom ought is spoken , are not one , but two persons . yet is there but one lord and god , and they both ( the father that speaketh , and the sonne to whom is spoken ) are the lord , therefore are they one , of one substance and being , the very true god. neither is the sonne lesse than the father . there can also none be a father , except he have a sonne or a childe . now is the everlasting father god , therefore is the sonne also everlasting . there is also but one only everlasting without beginning . both the father and the sonne are eternall without beginning , therefore are they one only true god with the holy ghost . like as iohn also saith , in the beginning , ( that is to say , from everlasting ) was the word , and the word was with god , and the word was god. and immediatly thereafter , saith he , that the word is jesus christ our lord. for it followeth : the word became flesh . therefore doth david also call the son of god specially his lord , saying , the lord said unto my lord. and therefore calleth he christ his lord , because hee confesseth and beleeveth , that he is his very naturall lord and god , as thomas also did knowledge : my lord and my god , ioh. 20. afterward calleth he him his lord , because that after the nature of man , he should be borne out of his loynes . for thorowout all the scripture is our lord iesus called the sonne of david : and thus doth david knowledge two natures in christ , the nature of god , and the nature of man. that the kingdome of christ shall last for ever , and that the kinde and nature of man shall be exalted aboue all heavens ( as paul saith , hebr. 2. ) david testifieth with these words : sit thou at my right hand , till i make thine enemies thy foot-stoole . for marke saith in the sixteenth chapter : the lord was taken up into heaven , and sitteth at the right hand of god. of this also finde we 1 cor. 15.15 . now must he needs be very god indeed , which reigneth for ever , and to whom all enemies must be subdued , yea cast utterly unto his feet . now followeth the second verse : the lord shall send thy mightie staffe out of sion : thou shalt be lord , even in the middest among thine enemies . here speaketh he of the preaching of the holy gospell , and how the world should be converted unto christ , and christ to reigne in the middest of the world . in the first verse is spoken of the eternall kingdome , that he is very god , living and reigning for ever , not only in this time , but also after this time eternally . but here speaketh hee specially of the kingdome , whereas hee reigneth here beneath through the gospell . for the staffe , the scepter , the rod of christ is the holy gospell , even the power of god , which saveth all that beleeve , rom. 1.16 . which maketh christs enemies friends , and smiteth them downe that will not convert : so that christ hath dominion and victorie even in the middest among his enemies . it is he , that with the spirit of his mouth slayeth the antichrists . this his word also and preachings of the gospell , came forth first from sion or hierusalem , as esay , micheas , and luke doe testifie . now followeth the third verse : in the day of thy battell ( or armie ) shall thy people be well willing : the dew of thy birth is unto thee in an holy maiestie , out of the wombe of the cleare morning . herewith doth david describe the glorious and victorious faith of the christian . for when the gospell is preached , there ariseth a conflict betweene faith and infidelitie , betweene the seed of christ and the serpent , between idolatrie and true godlinesse . and the unbeleevers persecute the lord christ in his members , that is to say , the faithfull : but they are well content utterly to give over bodie , honour and goods , their bloud and life for gods truths sake . for the martyrs and they in the primitive church , being gathered together of the apostles , and after the apostles time , have thus kept truth and faith toward the lord christ , and were willing to die for knowledging him . afterward describeth he also in the foresaid verse , the pure and holy conception and birth of our lord iesus christ . and this doth he with a goodly similitude , and saith : thy birth shall be holy and very excellent , not uncleane as the birth of other men : for like as the dew out of the cleare heaven , and out of the faire morning , is borne as it were out of a mothers wombe : even so also shalt thou be borne holy and cleane , of an undefiled virgin . whereof thou findest more instruction , luk 1.31 . the lord hath sworne , and it shall not repent him : thou-art a priest for ever after the order of melchisedech . in this fourth verse describeth he the office of iesus christ , how that he is ordained of god to be one only priest for ever , which should offer up himselfe for the sinne of the world , and alway appeare in the sight of god the father , and to pray for us . all this doth holy paul declare at large to the hebrewes in the 5 . 7.8·9 . and 10. chapters . and specially in this verse is grounded all that is read thorowout the scripture , of the merits of christ , of the forgiving of sinnes , of righteous making , of being mediatour , and that he alone is the only salvation , advocate , satisfaction and righteousnesse of the faithfull . the lord is at thy right hand : he in the time of his wrath shall wound even kings . this fifth verse teacheth , how god will ever more and more stand on his sonnes side , further his cause , and bring downe and destroy those kings , princes , and lords , that will not amend and beleeve in christ , but will rather provoke his wrath , than desire his grace . which thing herod , nero , domician , maximine and iulian have proved . yet followeth the sixt verse declaring the fifth : he shal iudge among the heathen , and fill all full of dead bodies , and smite the head on the wide ground . christ is also preached unto the heathen , and reigneth among them : but many withstand christ , and them doth he judge . and like as a king overcommeth his enemies with a battell , and covereth the whole plaine with dead bodies , visiteth also and smiteth the head of the warre , and the head citie of the enemies : even so doth christ to his enemies , and destroyeth their power and kingdome . all which things wee have seene in the old unchristian empire of rome , and in many other potentates and powers . but specially he breaketh the head of the old serpent , according to the promise , gen. 3.15 . and at the last shall he come to judge the quicke and dead , and destroy his enemies for ever . out of the brooke in the way shall he drinke , therefore shall hee also lift up the head . finally and in the seventh verse , he describeth the passion of christ and his glorie . in the way ( saith he ) that is , in his life while he is in this misery , he shall drinke out of the brooke , that is , he shall suffer and be overcome . for to drinke out of the cup , is as much as to suffer . but to drinke out of the brooke , is to be altogether full of trouble , to be vexed and tormented without victorie , and utterly to be overwhelmed with a brooke and strong streame of troubles . thus was it his minde to declare the passion of christ . after the passion , followeth the glory with the resurrection and ascension . paul , philip. 2. speaketh of both , and saith , christ humbled himselfe , and became obedient unto death , even the death of the crosse . wherefore god hath exalted him , and given him a name , which is aboue all names , &c. thus much be spoken of this psalme , and of davids understanding , which hee had of christ iesus and of the christian faith . upon this i marvell , if ( after so evident testimonies ) there be yet any man , which perceiveth not , that davids faith and understanding of christ , was even one faith and understanding , with the faith that we knowledge and say : i beleeve in one god father almightie , &c. as it is in the twelve articles of the christian faith . for the holy trinitie in one god-head doth he knowledge , not only here , but also in the 33. psalme , saying , through the word of god were the heavens made , and all their power through the spirit of his mouth . for certaine it is , that there is but one only god , maker of heaven and of earth : but here is the trinitie called lord or god , word and spirit . neither is there any thing in the articles of the beleefe concerning the god-head and man-hood of christ , of his conception , birth , passion , crosse and death , of the resurrection , ascension and judgement , but it is cleerely comprehended here in this psalme . the articles of the holy church , of forgiving of sinnes , resurrection of the flesh , and an everlasting life , are contained in this psalme , and are treated upon yet more clearely , and with many mo words very substantially in other psalmes of david . therefore had he our holy faith , and knowledged the same , was saved therein , and of all holy men was called the father of christ with high commendation , because of the promise that was made unto him . moreover , all the holy prophets following , had respect unto david , as to another moses , and tooke many things out of his writings . for there is scarce any other , that so clearely wrote of the cause of christ as this prophet david , and therefore hath he honour and praise aboue other in israel : of whom thou readest also , eccles . 47.2 . such faith and confidence in god through iesus christ , had david out of the holy ghost , and out of the doctrine of his prophets samuel , nathan and gad , and of other his priests , which also had the same of god , and of the holy fathers , specially of moses . and no doubt , hee desired the honour of god and of his sonne , not to keepe it only himselfe , but also much rather to require it of all his people . wherefore no doubt he set up and furthered this his faith and religion among all his men of warre , kinsfolke in all his court , dominion , before the whole congregation , and all his kingdome : so diligently , earnestly , and fervently , that afterward certaine hundred yeeres , they which beleeved right and lived well , were praised for walking in the waies of david their father . they also that did evill , & set not forth the true faith , of them is it written : they walked not in the waies of david their father . of this hast thou many examples in the bookes of the kings , and in the chronicles . many things also were forgiven the kings and all the people of iuda , for davids sake , that is , for the promise sake made unto david , even for iesus christs sake , whom ezechiel calleth david . in the first booke of the kings , the fifteenth chapter , it is written thus : the heart of abia was not right toward his lord god , as was the heart of david his father . and for davids sake did the lord give him a light at hierusalem , so that at hierusalem he set up his sonne , and preserved him . for david did that , that was right in the fight of the lord , and all the daies of his life did not he shrinke from any thing that he commanded him , except in the matter of vrias the hethite . thus readest thou also of ezechias , 2 reg. 18. afore iosias was there no king , that was like him , which turned himselfe so unto the lord with all his heart , with all his soule , and with all his power , according to all the law of moses . and afterward came there none like him . but in the second booke of the chronicles , the 34. chapter , standeth the declaration of the foresaid place after this manner : iosias reigned at hierusalem one and thirtie yeeres , and did that which pleased the lord , and walked in the waies of his father david , and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left . for in the eighth yeere of his reigne while he was yet but young ( even sixteene yeeres old ) hee began to seeke the god of his father david . thus much be spoken concerning this , that israel and all the vertuous kings of iuda trusted unto christ , and not to the law of moses . who so desireth the number of the yeeres , he findeth 1 reg. 6. even 480. yeeres , from the departing out of aegypt untill the fourth yeere of the reigne of salomon . and from that time untill the captivitie of babylon , are reckoned 419. yeeres , or thereabouts . all together make 899. yeeres . chap. ix . all holy prophets doe point unto christ , and preach salvation only in him . somewhat yet will we now declare further , concerning the times of the kings of iuda and israel , which in a manner were even as the times of the iudges of israel . for like as in the first yeeres of iosue , god gave great victorie and honour , and afterward rest and peace : even so were the israelites very victorious and triumphant under david , and had great rest and peace under salomon . but like as after the death of iosue the honour of israel decreased , and the departing away from god followed with one persecution upon another ( though in the meane time they had peace and deliverers , as othoniel , ehud , barack , gedeon , iephtha , sampson , &c. ) even so did the worship of israel decrease after salomons time . for the ten tribes of israel fell away from the house of david , only iuda and bejamin held salomons sonne roboam for their king : the other made hieroboam king. and so of one kingdome were made two , the kingdome of israel , and the kingdome of iuda . the kingdome of israel ( through the perswasion of hieroboam ) chose them another manner of serving god. not that they utterly denied and refused the god of their fathers , but they served him after a strange heathenish manner of their owne imagining . but afterward they fell the longer the more and further into grosse idolatrie , so long , till the lord suffered them to be rooted out , and carried away by the king of the assyrians , and scattered abroad among all the heathen . the kingdome and the kings of iuda were somewhat better , howbeit they had some also which excelled the kings of israel and of the heathen in ungodlinesse . for they likewise went forth so long in unrighteousnesse , till nabuchodonosor the king rooted them out , and caried them away unto babylon . but afore , we see that there was a wonderfull combrance in the civill policie , and in the religion . sometime was all righteousnesse and true religion opprest , and violence and idolatrie used . sometime gat righteousnesse up againe , and the right true faith had the victorie , all unright and idolatrie being put downe . this came to passe also in israel under helias and king iehu . yet was the idolatrie and wrong rather punished , than any amendment following . like as it came also to passe after the birth of christ , that there were vertuous kings and emperours , which ( according to the prophecie of esay in the 49. chapter , verse 23. ) did all righteousnesse , set up the faith of christ , and put downe all idolatrie . againe , there came other , that set up all unrighteousnesse and idolatry , persecuted the truth , and at the last receiued their reward convenient . so weightie a matter is it to have good or evill rulers . but in these wonderfull alterations , and thorowout all the time of these governances of both the kingdomes , god alway sent his servants the holy prophets , to rebuke wrong and idolatry , and to teach all righteousnesse and true serving of god. and first after the time of david and salomon ( under whom there was a great multitude of learned and holy prophets ; for david also and salomon were excellently endued with the spirit of wisdome and prophecie above other men ) these were the chiefe , most famous , and oldest prophets , of whom the bible maketh mention with worship : semeias , which lived under roboam king of iuda : ahias the silonite under hieroboam . azarias the sonne of obed , which lived under asa king of iuda , and iehu the sonne of anani , whom baasa the king of israel slew : helias the great prophet , and micheas the sonne of iema , lived under achab and iosaphat . now like as in the time of david there was a great number of learned men ; even so testifieth the second booke of the chronicles in the 17. chapter , that in the time of iosaphat there were many learned levites and prophets . heliseus was in the time of king iehu , and zacharias the sonne of ioiada , was under ioas , under whom also he was stoned . neverthelesse we have no bookes written and set forth by these : only we have the prophecie of abdias , which wrote his prophecie under achab. afterward under vzzia , iothan , achas and ezechias kings of iuda , lived the most part of them , whose bookes are abroad . for under these preached and wrote ionas , oseas , isaias , ioel , nahum , amos and micheas . afterward under king manasses wrote abacuck . vnder the holy king iosias , wrote sophonias , baruch and hieremie , in whose daies israel had such misfortune , that hierusalem with the temple was destroyed , and the people that remained over and perished not , were caried away captive into babylon . in the same captivitie did ezechiel and daniel write their prophecies . and after the captivitie when israel was delivered againe , and came home to hierusalem , then preached and wrote esdras , haggeus , zacharias , malachias and nehemias . beside these prophets no doubt there were other moe , of whom no mention is made . but these are the chiefe , by whom it pleased god to open unto us all that appertaineth to our salvation . and though we had also the writings of the other , yet should we reade no other thing in them , than we finde in our owne prophets , for as much as these whom we have , agree so together all in one . now whether they be our own prophets , whose writings we have , or the other whose writings we have not , yet have they all preached the summe of the doctrine and knowledged the faith that wee spake of afore , and wrote in one summe , which faith adam , noe , abraham , moses and david had : and this did they the more evidently , because they applied themselves to open the law , and to drive away the misunderstanding , which was risen up among and in the people : therefore point they every where from the letter unto the spirit , from the outward sacrifice unto christ iesus , from all idolatry unto the onely god , which saveth us through his mercy onely in the blessed seed , and through none of our deservings . this did paul see , and therefore said he , rom. 3. through the workes of the law shall no man be iustified in the sight of god. for through the law commeth the knowledge of sinne . but now is the righteousnesse of god declared without the law , for as much as it is allowed by the testimonie of the law and the prophets . the righteousnesse of god commeth by the faith of iesus christ unto all , and upon all them that beleeve . so saith peter also in the third of the acts : all the prophets from samuel , and thenceforth ( as many as have spoken ) have told of these daies . and in the 10. chapter : to this iesus christ give all the prophets witnesse , that whosoever beleeveth in him , shall through his name receive forgivenesse of sinnes . who so now is learned in the writings of the prophets , knoweth well , that there is nothing read concerning the lord in the new testament , which the prophets have not prophesied of afore . he that is then any thing instructed in the prophets , hath no doubt considered this in the new testament , that the apostles prove all their doctrine of the lord iesus , out of the law and the prophets : yea that the lord himselfe confirmeth his owne doings with the scriptures of the prophets , and that the euangelists thorowout the holy gospell , set unto the doctrine and miracles of christ , these words : and this was done , that it might be fulfilled , which was spoken by the prophets . neverthelesse for their sakes that are not yet instructed , i will now declare the principall articles of our lord iesus christ , out of the holy prophets . as touching the true godhead and manhood of our lord iesus christ , and that he should be borne at bethlehem , in the land of iewry , of a pure virgin and maid , out of the kinred of david , the prophets testifie after this manner . esay in the seventh chapter saith ; behold , a virgin shall conceive and beare a sonne , and shall call his name emanuel ( that is to say , god with us . ) micheas saith in the fifth chapter : though thou bethlehem ephrata art too small to be reckoned among the principall cities of iuda , yet out of thee shall there come one unto me , which shall be ruler in israel , whose forth-going is from everlasting . in the ninth chapter of esay it is written : vnto us is a childe borne , and to us is given a sonne , upon whose shoulders the kingdome shall lie , and he shall be called after his owne name ; even the wonderfull counsell-giver , the mighty one of israel , the eternall father , the prince of peace , his kingdome shall increase , and of his peace there shall be no end , and he shall reigne upon the seat of david his father . in the 23. of hieremie it is written thus : behold , the time commeth ( saith the lord ) that i will raise up the righteous blossome of david : he shall be king and reigne , and prosper : iudgement and righteousnesse shall he execute upon earth . in his time shall iuda be saved , and israel shall dwell without feare : and this is the name wherewith he shall be named , even god our righteousnesse . concerning the comming of iohn the baptist , which was the forerunner of our lord christ , and prepared the people for him , hath malachy written in the third chapter after this manner : behold , i will send my messenger , which shall prepare the way before me : and the lord whom yee long for , shall shortly come to his temple , and the messenger of the covenant whom yee would have . behold , he commeth , saith the lord zabaoth . and afterward : behold , i will send helias the prophet afore the comming of the great and fearefull day of the lord. of christs preaching , of the grace of god , of the forgiving of sinnes , of the wonders also and tokens of the lord , speaketh esay in the 61. chapter , after this manner : the spirit of the lord god is upon me , and therefore hath the lord anointed me , to preach the gospell to the meeke hearted hath he sent me , to heale the broken hearted , to preach deliverance to the captive , to open the prison to such as are in bonds , to proclaime the yeere of gods gratious will , and to bring consolation to all them that are in heavinesse . in the 34. chapter of ezechiel it is written thus : over my sheepe will i raise up one onely shepherd , which shall feed them , even david my servant , which shall feed them , and he shall be their shepherd . i the lord also will be their god , and david shall be their prince , even i the lord have spoken it . in the 35. chap. of esay it is written thus : say unto them that are of a feeble heart : be strong and feare not , behold , our god commeth to take vengeance , and to reward : god commeth himselfe , and will deliver you . then shall the eies of the blinde be opened , &c. then shall the lame man leape as an hart , and the tongue of the dumbe shall give praise . of the kingdome of christ , in the which he himselfe alone is king , all the world being subject unto him , declaring his dominion and royall majestie , writeth esay thus in the second chapter : and it shall come to passe in the last time , that the hill of the house of the lord shall be exalted upon the height of mountaines above all little hils , and all nations shall come together unto him , the people shall goe to him and say : come , let us goe up to the mount of the lord , even to the house of the god of iacob , that he may shew us his way , and we will walke in his paths . for the law shall come forth from sion , and the word of god from hierusalem . in the 7. of daniel it is written thus : i saw a vision in the night , and behold there came one in the clouds of heaven like the sonne of man , which came to the old aged , and they brought him before his presence . and he gave him power , glory , and the kingdome , and all people , nations and tongues must serve him : his power is an everlasting power , which shall not be taken from him , and his kingdome shall not perish . esay saith in the 62. chapter : and the heathen shall see thy righteousnesse , and all kings thine honour , and he shall call thee by a new name ( o sion ) and the mouth of god shall give thee the name . and thou shalt be a crowne of glory in the hand of the lord , ad a royall crowne of the kingdome in the hand of thy god. and soone after it followeth : make ready , make ready the way , gather up the stones out of the street , and hang out the banner unto the people : behold the lord hath caused it to be proclaimed unto the end of the world . tell the daughter sion : behold the saviour commeth , loe , his treasure and his reward bringeth he with him , and his deeds goe before him . and they that are redeemed of the lord , shall be called the holy people . zacharie saith in the ninth chapter : reioyce o daughter sion , be glad o daughter hierusalem : behold thy king commeth unto thee , even the righteous and saviour : meeke and simple is he , he rideth upon an asse , and upon a young colt of the shee asse . he shall preach peace unto the heathen , his kingdome also shall reach from the one sea to the other , and from the river unto the uttermost part of the earth . of the death and passion of christ speaketh daniel in the ninth chapter after this manner : and after two and sixtie weekes shall christ be slaine and put to death , and yet shall they have no true testimony , that he is guilty of death . esay in the 50. chapter saith thus : the lord god opened mine eare , and i refused it not , neither went i backward : i gave my bodie to the smiters , and my cheeks to the nippers , and my face have i not turned from their shamefull intreating and spitting upon me . the lord god also shall helpe me , therefore shall i not be confounded . and therefore have i hardned my face like a flint stone , and am sure that i shall not be confounded . in the 53. chapter there is written of christ after this manner : he shall have neither beauty nor fairenesse , we shall looke upon him , but we shall have no desire unto him . he is despised and contemned of men , a man of trouble , and one that hath had experience of infirmitie . he is so despised , that we shall hide our faces from him , and have him in no estimation . and yet hath he borne our unperfectnesse , and felt our sorrowes . we also thought , that he should be wounded , smitten , and punished of god. but he was wounded for our sinnes , and slaine for our wickednesse sake . and the punishment whereby we have peace , is laid upon him , and through his wounds are we made whole . all we have gone astray like sheepe , every one of us hath had respect unto his owne way , and the lord hath laid all our sinnes upon him . violence and wrong was done unto him , he hath beene evill intreated , and yet opened he not his mouth . he shall be lead as a beast to be slaine , and as a sheepe dumbe before the shearers , so shall he not open his mouth , &c. the whole chapter describeth all the cause of christ so clearely , that holy hierom said not in vaine : esay is not only a prophet , but also an euangelist . zacharie describeth the priesthood and sacrifice of christ , and testifieth , that with the same only oblation he hath obtained grace for all sinne ; and therefore seven ( that is to say , all ) eyes shall have respect unto him , and shall seeke peace and rest of their consciences in him , and shall finde it . heare now o iosue thou high priest , thou and thy companions , that sit before thee , seeing yee are men of examples . for loe , i will bring my servant , even the blossome . for behold the stone which i have laid before iosue , will i bring , to the same only stone shall seven eyes looke . behold , i will digge it up and disclose it , saith the lord zabaoth , and the sinne of the earth will i take away in one day . and in that day shall every man call his neighbour under his vine and figge tree . the buriall and resurrection of our lord iesus christ , hath the prophet ionas figured very excellently . for thus saith our lord christ himselfe : like as ionas was three daies and three nights in the whales belly , so shall the sonne of man be three daies and three nights in the heart of the earth . of the ascension of iesus christ and sending of the holy ghost , hath ioel also written in the second chapter , and it is alleaged of s. peter , act. 2. of the calling and gathering together the heathen , and of every thing pertaining to the holy church , doth esay write in the 49. chapter , and so forth to the end of his prophecie . thus hast thou , that the prophets also in their time , did preach iesus christ , and pointed not the people to trust unto the works of the law and their owne deserving , but unto christ , of whom they prophesied every thing that followed after . therefore did peter speake right , 1 pet. 1. saying : ye shall receive the end of your faith , even the salvation of your soules . after which salvation have the prophets inquired and searched , which prophesied of the grace that should come unto you , searching when or what time the spirit of christ ( which was in them ) should signifie : which spirit testified before , the passions that should happen unto christ , and the glory that should follow after . vnto the which prophets it was also declared , that not unto themselves only , but unto us they should minister the things , which are now shewed unto you , by them which have preached unto you the gospell through the holy ghost , that was sent unto them from heaven , &c. in the which testimonie the holy apostle peter had a speciall respect to the prophecie of daniel ; which did not only record the passion and glory of christ , but also pointed to the time , in the which christ should come . for like as god in greatest perils , dangers and alterations , hath alway renued and more clearely expressed his promise concerning the blessed seed : as in the time of noe when the world was destroyed : in the time of abraham , when god would prepare himselfe a new people : in the time of moses , when god received his people and caried them out of egypt , to bring them into the land of canaan : in the time of david , when all things stood so well , and it must needs be avoided , lest any man should thinke david were the blessed seed : before the captivitie of babylon also , and in the time of the prophets , which ( as it is said afore ) preached and wrote , that no man should doubt in gods promise , as who say they were given up and cast away , though the temple were broken , the citie burnt , and though the people ( of whom christ should be borne ) were led into captivitie . even so now also in the captivitie , when the faithfull might almost have thought , that the promise of god concerning the messias , were cleane gone , even then did god shew his servant daniel a more cleare vision of christ , after this manner : the people shall be let goe againe out of captivitie , and shall come home to hierusalem , build the temple and citie againe , but with a sore time . and after that the citie is builded , unto the time of christ , shall be 62. weekes , that is , 483. yeeres . and even so was it from the third yeere of darius histaspes or artaxerxes , in the which the citie was builded , nehemie 15. untill the 42. yeere of the empire of augustus , under whom christ was borne , luke 1. the angell also gave daniel farther information of christ , how that his owne people should slay him , and finde no fault in him , and how that the sacrifice with the ceremonie should cease . and a strange people ( saith he ) shall come from farre , and make the temple with the citie an horrible abomination , yea they shall destroy and breake downe all together . all which things were afterward fulfilled in the last weekes , that is , within 70. yeeres , or thereabout . for within 30. yeeres did the lord grow to teach and to suffer . for when he was 30. yeere old , iohn baptised him . afterward within three yeeres was he put to death , and within 40. yeeres followed the destruction of hierusalem by titus and vespasian . all the time now and yeeres from the captivitie of babylon to christs birth are 616. yeeres . for the captivitie of babylon endured 70. yeeres . in the first yeere of cyrus were they delivered , in the second yeere began they to build the temple , and builded 46. yeeres , even untill the 6. yeere of darius . in the 32. yeere of darius was the citie finished , which maketh 143. yeeres : adde now hereto the 483. yeeres out of daniel , and thou hast the foresaid summe even 626. yeeres . in the said yeeres had our holy faith sore conflicts , and the seed of the serpent pressed sore upon the seed of god , as the babylonians at babylon , and the persians , when the people of god was come home againe . neverthelesse the truth had ever the victorie , and was the more clearely testified by daniel , haggeus , zacharie , esdras , nehemias , and malachy . afterward were they specially opprest by the ungodly king antiochus in the time of the machabees . when as the times were ever the longer , the more full of perils and adversitie , untill aulus gabinus , pompeius and crassus , captaines of rome conquered the land , and the true old religion was utterly gone ; in so much that out of the old serpent there arose in israel all manner of sects and symonie , whom our lord iesus christ with his comming in the world resisted , and called them the serpents generation , as the holy euangelists testifie . notwithstanding , in the middest of such mischiefes in israel , there were also godly vertuous people , which sought god and his anointed ( though the errour was great ) among whom no doubt was specially the priest zacharias the father of iohn baptist , elizabeth his wife , and godly simeon . when zacharias had knowledge of the lords comming , hee sayd with a joyfull heart : praised be the lord god of israel , for he hath visited and delivered his people , and set up the horne of salvation in the house of david his servant , according as he had promised afore by the mouth of holy prophets , &c. for his words are read . luc. 1. simeon when he saw the child iesus in the temple , and had taken him in his armes , he sayd : now lord let me dye in peace according to thy word . for mine eyes have seene thy saviour , whom thou hast prepared before the face of all people , that he might be a light to give light unto the heathen , and the glorie of thy people israel , luke 1. loe , thus the hearts of all righteous in the old testament from adam unto christ ( even 3974 yeers ) have stood onely upon christ , in him was their comfort , upon him they trusted , it was hee whom they longed for , and in christ iesus were they saved . therefore hath our christian faith endured since the beginning of the world , and is , and continueth still the onely true , old , undoubted and fast grounded faith . chap. x. of the time of the grace of christ , and how that he himselfe testifieth , that the salvation of all the world standeth only in him . hitherto have i set forth the time of the promises , in the which god ( through the promised seed our lord iesus christ ) comforted , cleansed , and preserved all his servants and deare friends . there have wee learned and seene , that the christian faith , which hath endured since the beginning of the world , is the eldest , undoubted , right and true faith , which all holy patriarks had , and in the which they served god , and pleased him , as adam seth , enoch , and noe : item abraham , isaac , and iacob : likewise the excellent and highly endued prophet , yea the father and foregoer of all prophets , even great moses his brother aaron , the holy priest eleazar , and phinees : the excellent dukes and iudges , iosue , gedeon , and other moe : even so likewise the kings , david , ezechias , iosaphat , and iosias : the dearely beloved of god , and excellent prophets , samuel , helias , isaias , daniel , zacharias , and all the other . this holy faith also had all righteous , and such as were of godly understanding in all the congregations of israel from the beginning : in this were saved all they that from the beginning were preserved and ordained to salvation : wherefore , whatsoever they can alleage against this faith ( whether it be concerning holy men , old age , multitudes , learned men , generall councels , convocations of parliaments , fathers , acts , statutes , tokens and wonders : ) it is all nothing worth , and is not to be reputed in comparison of our holy faith , as every one that hath understanding may see in this treatise before . and though my purpose be now finished , even declared out of the scripture , that the christian faith hath endured since the beginning of the world , yet will i adde a short instruction concerning the time of grace , and performing of all promises , and i will declare , that god now also through the appearing of his sonne , would bring into the world and set forth none other religion , none other faith , neither any other salvation , than even the same which was shewed to the old fathers : saving that now all things are more evident , more clearely practised , accomplished , fulfilled and performed : for the which cause also all figures , sacrifices and ceremonies doe cease . for in christ is all perfection . yet shall we not therefore cast away the old testament ( as some ignorant , unlearned and foolish people doe ) but have it in greater reputation , for as much as wee know now through christ , what every thing signifieth , and wherefore every thing was thus and thus ordained , used , and spoken : now shall every man first have a courage to reade the law and the prophets , when he seeth whereupon every thing goeth . and thus also at the beginning did the holy apostles preach christ unto the iewes , out of the law and the prophets , as it is oftentimes mentioned in the acts of the apostles . and our lord himselfe , when hee went with the two disciples toward emaus , and preached so unto them , that their hearts burnt within them , he began at moses , and went thorow all the prophets , and opened unto them the old scriptures , and shewed them , that so it behoved christ to suffer , and to enter into his glory . this is the cause also that the scriptures of the new testament hang altogether , and referre themselves to the scriptures of the old testament : so that these cannot be rightly understood without the other , no more than the glosse without the text . the text is the law and the prophets , the exposition are the euangelists and the apostles . now will wee see what the worke of grace of the new testament is . in the two and fortieth yeere of the empire of augustus , after the beginning of the world 3974. yeeres , was iesus christ the blessed and promised seed , borne of the undefiled virgin and maid mary , at bethleem in the land of jewrie . and though he as a very man was wrapped in cloathes , and laid in the crib , yet appeareth the angell of the lord in great clearenesse unto the shepherds , and saith , feare yee not , behold , i bring you tidings of great joy , which shall happen unto all people . for this day is borne unto you the saviour , even christ the lord in the citie of david . the first newes and tidings of the comming of our lord iesus christ , must the angell bring and give , to the intent that it might be the more accepted of all the world . all the holy men from the beginning of the world , did hitherto long sore after the promised seed . therefore saith the angell now , that he bringeth them tidings of great joy : no doubt to them that were gone , dead and past , to them also that now lived , and to them that were to come afterward . the joy is this , that iesus christ the saviour is borne , even the promised seed , which should save all the world from the power of the devill , cleanse them from sinne , and deliver them from damnation . therefore saith the angell moreover : which shall happen unto all people . for unto abraham it was said , in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed . the same ( saith the angell ) is borne in the citie of david , even out of davids kindred , out of the which the prophets testified that he should be borne ; which prophets also , for the same cause , called him david , and the blossome of david . and this is now the grace of god , that whereas wee poore sinners belonged unto death , and were in the devils bonds , hee sent his sonne to loose and deliver us out of captivitie . this is the new testament . for hieremie also testifieth hereof , and saith , this is the testament that i will make , i will be their god , and they shall be my people , i will be mercifull to their unrighteousnesse and sinnes , and will thinke upon them no more , hier. 31. this full and perfect forgivenesse is not therefore called the new testament , as though there had beene no remission of sinnes among the old fathers , but because the promise made long before unto the fathers , is now confirmed and renewed : and the old figures that represented the same are abrogate . thus the lord iesus alone is set forth for the only salvation of all the world , so that not only we , but all they which before or after his appearance or incarnation beleeved on him , were saved . and at the birth of christ there commeth to the foresaid angell , the whole heavenly hoste , which praised god , and said , glory and praise be unto god in the height , and peace upon earth , to men a good will. and by this they teach us what the dutie , thankfulnesse , and knowledge of men is or ought to be in this behalfe , that god hath done so great good for man : namely , how that they ought to praise god , to have a sure trust in him , and to be friendly and loving one to another . and the fulfilling of the law , is love from a pure heart , out of a good conscience , and of an undissembled or unfained faith , 1 tim. 1. in the fifteenth yeere of the empire of tiberius ( from the beginning of the world 4004. yeeres ) came the word of the lord to iohn , the sonne of the priest zachary , in the wildernesse , and he went and preached unto the people of israel , amendment of life , and forgivenesse of sinnes in iesus christ : to whom he bare record , that he was the fulfilling of the law and the prophets , very god and man , the only and ever-living saviour , which with the sacrifice of his own bodie , should cleanse the world from sinne ; yea hee pointed unto him with his finger , and said , behold , this is the lambe of god , that taketh away the sinne of the world : and so perfectly and wholly hangeth hee all salvation only on christ iesus , that he saith plainly , out of his fulnesse have all we received grace , &c. ioh. 1. item , who so beleeveth in the sonne of god , hath everlasting life : who so beleeveth not in the sonne , shall not see life , but the wrath of god abideth upon him . therefore did he also send all his disciples from him , and commanded them to cleave unto christ . he maketh no mention at all of any ceremonies , figures or oblations , as necessarie points to salvation , but preacheth christ purely and clearely . this is manifest , ioh. 1. and 3. matth. 3. and luk. 3. the lord himselfe also came unto iohn , and was baptised ▪ and when hee had received baptisme , the heaven opened , and the holy ghost appeared in the forme of a dove , and there was a voice heard from heaven , saying , this is my beloved sonne , in whom i am pacified : to the intent that all the world should have witnesse of christ the true saviour , not only now by the angels , and by iohn the holiest man of all , but also from heaven , and of god himselfe : and that we might be the bolder to commit our selves wholly unto him . when hee had received the testimonie , he went into the wildernesse : and like as our disease began in paradise by temptation ; even so at the temptation in the wildernesse began the lord our health : and like as the father of us all did eat the forbidden meat ; so did the lord not eat the meat that hee might have eaten , but fasted fortie daies and fortie nights . afterward came hee among the people , and began to preach salvation , saying , the time is fulfilled , and the kingdome of god is at hand ; repent , and beleeve the gospell . herewith hath he healed all sores , driven out devils , and raised up the dead , testifying so by his acts , that he is lord of all things , and the true saviour : and of them whom hee healeth , asketh he nothing : hee commandeth them not to build him a temple , neither to give him blocke or stocke : hee requireth no bodily thing , but onely stedfast faith and confidence . and to them whom hee hath healed , hee saith , goe thy way , and sinne no more , take heed that a worse thing happen not unto thee . and herewithall doth hee teach , in what thing the substance of true religion lieth , even in a right true faith , and in an innocent life , that in all our conversation wee keepe our selves from all filthinesse : yea the thing that some man taketh for gods service , refuseth hee , as long babling prayers , vaine-glorious fasting , and like almes giving . hee nothing regardeth mens traditions , diversities of sects , long garments , outward appearance , their cleansing , nor all their hypocrisie . he goeth into the temple , overthroweth , casteth downe , powreth out every thing that is to bee sold in the temple : he driveth the buyers and sellers out of the temple with a whip . for the temple was ordained for generall prayer , thanksgiving and preaching , and not for chopping and changing , or other such like things . these three points doth hee teach vs diligently to observe : first , that wee obtaine remission of sinnes , true righteousnesse , and everlasting life , onely through him , and by his passion and death , and else by none other meane . for hee is the onely mediatour , priest , intercessour , comforter , the onely righteousnesse , satisfaction , ransome , sanctifying , the onely perpetuall sacrifice , the suretie of grace and salvation . speciall testimonies hereof hast thou iohn 3.6.14 . and 16. secondly , that wee cannot serve and please god with exteriour sacrifices or any outward pompe ▪ but with such workes as proceed of love , and mercie . and thirdly , that all the children of god are bound to keepe themselves from the workes of darknesse , and to apply them to live in righteousnesse , and in the light . and herein also is comprehended all godlinesse , that is , all right good christian workes . so when hee had taught all righteousnesse , and disclosed and overthrowen all hypocrisie in religion , he offered up himselfe upon the crosse for the remission of all our sinnes . for willingly and patiently put he himselfe into the hands of his enemies and of his betrayer , suffered himselfe to be taken , to be bound , to be led from one iudge to another , to be laughed to scorne , cried out upon , to be spitted on , and at the last to be adjudged unto death , to be scourged , and to be crowned with a crowne of thorne . hee himselfe bare his owne crosse to the place of execution , where hee was crucified , and hanged up betweene two murtherers . then lived hee in great paine from the sixth houre untill the ninth . at the last he cried ; it is finished , father , into thy hands commend i my spirit : thus offered he himselfe for our sinnes , and died , that wee might live . but soone after followed the things whereby the fruit of christs passion might bee perceived . for the vaile , which in the temple separated the holy from the most holy , did rent from the top to the bottome ; whereby christ testified , that now with his death , all ceremonies and figurative things were at an end , and no more of value : that the way to eternall salvation was opened : that all things significative in the tabernacle , in sacrifices , rites , and observances , were now fulfilled and abrogate : that now the bare and onely crosse of our lord iesus christ , is altogether unto the faithfull : that the heele of the virgins seed is well trodden upon , and his flesh well rent and slaine : but that yet also in the meane season he hath trodden the serpent upon the head . therefore did the dead also arise , and appeared vnto certaine at hierusalem . for the death of christ is our life . the earth quaked , the stones burst asunder . for the preaching of the death of the sonne of god hath altered the whole world , and many hard stonie hearts are moved to repentance , faith and good works . but when the side of the dead bodie of christ was opened with the speare , and the rocke ( as zacharie saith ) was digged up , there ran out water and bloud , declaring manifestly thereby , that unto us out of the death of christ , followeth life and purifying . for water cleanseth , in the bloud is the life of man. and with the bloud of christ is all bloud stanched , and now is christs bloud only available , being sprinkled through faith in our hearts . this oblation and passion of christ ( the ransome for the sinne of the whole world ) was done in the 18. yeere of the empire of tiberius , reckoning from the beginning of the world 4007. yeeres , the 25. day of march. so the whole bodie of iesus was taken downe from the crosse , and honourably buried , and on the third day after hee rose up againe : so that his soule came againe to the bodie , and his verie flesh was raised up from death , howbeit now no more mortall and passible , but glorified . for hee is the first in the resurrection of the dead . for like as by one man came death , so by one man must come the resurrect on of the dead . and like as in adam wee all died in bodie and soule , so shall wee be all together restored againe to life in christ iesus . this hope unto life , would the lord print substantially in us with the resurrection . and therefore after his resurrection , hee continued fortie dayes with his disciples , that hee might well instruct them of his resurrection , and that they should haue no doubt therein . so when he had shewed and declared unto them his verie resurrection divers wayes , and had performed al that the father commanded him to finish , hee ascended up unto heaven with bodie and soule from mount olivet in the sight of his disciples , and is set at the right hand of god , there to remaine corporally untill the last day , in the which hee shall come againe bodily , to judge the quicke and dead : and all such as have walked in faith , shall he take to him with bodie and soule into heaven , like as hee himselfe is received into heaven : and shall with bodie and soule condemne all them , that have walked in the way of the old serpent , and have no● converted from unrighteousnesse to the righteousnesse in christ . and thus shall salvation bee perfectly finished , and gods children shall live eternally with god , through iesus christ . to whom be praise for ever . amen . chap. xi . that also the elect apostles preached this old faith ▪ and declared that all salvation is onely in christ . thus through christ iesus is all fulfilled , that the prophets prophesied of him before , thus to become the salvation of all faithfull beleevers , even the lambe of god , which hath beene sacrificed since the beginning of the world ; that is , this is he , whose power and deliverance hath cleansed all them that ever put their trust in god through the blessed seed . herein now is the right true salvation , this is the summe of the right and perfect religion . who so perverteth this , from him shall god turne himselfe : who so addeth ought unto this , to him shall god adde his wrathfull hand : who so taketh therefrō , his life shall god minish . but blessed are they , which walk in this simplicitie & cleannesse , and continue so unto the end ; even they that heare gods word , and doe thereafter , whose onely hope is iesus christ . this only true and ever during salvation would hee to bee shewed and declared to all nations , which came to save all nations : but he would it should be declared by the preaching of the holy gospell , and through the ministration of the holy sacraments : and therefore by his life time hee did chuse apostles , whom he received to bee witnesses of all his doctrine and miracles , informing them diligently , and held nothing backe from them . for hee saith unto them ; yee are my friends , if yee doe all that i command you , i will henceforth call you no more servants , for a servant woteth not what his lord doth . but i have called you my friends , for all that i have heard of my father , have i opened unto you , ioh. 15. but for as much as they yet lacked understanding , and were forgetfull , and had ever strange imaginations of the kingdome of christ , therefore when hee now ascended unto heaven , hee charged them not to depart from hierusalem , but to wait for the holy ghost : whom he also gave unto them upon the fiftieth day after his resurrection ; that is , upon the tenth day after his ascension , even the fifteenth day of may : by the which holy ghost they being illuminate , spake with all manner of languages , and were mindfull of all that the lord had commanded them afore . for the holy ghost did not endue them with a new doctrine , but it that the lord had taught them out of the law and the prophets , the same did hee bring to their remembrance , and illucidate all things , and printed them more clearly in their hearts . for so saith the lord in the gospell : the comforter , even the holy ghost , whom the father will send in my name , he shall teach you all things , and bring all things to your remembrance , that i have said unto you . therefore so long as the lord was with them , and told them all the matter of his passion , they were sorrie , and could not beare away all that he said unto them . but after that he was taken up from the earth into heaven , he sent the holy ghost , even him , whom the prophets also had before , and that led them into all christian veritie . so when they were endued with the holy ghost , they began ( according to the lords commandement ) to preach in all the world the foresaid matter of salvation purchased and obtained onely by christ , and gotten by true faith . for hee had said ; goe your way into all the world , and preach the gospell unto all creatures , whoso beleeveth and is baptized , shall be saved , &c. and therewith comprehendeth he both the points , which the apostles used and practised , even the preaching of the faith in iesus christ , and of the ministration of the sacraments . and how the apostles doctrine was , it is manifest out of the acts of the apostles . but shortly and in a summe , they preached amendment of life , and remission of sinnes through iesus christ : that is to say , how that the whole generation of man lay in the dominion of the devill , and in the bonds of sinne , cursed , and damned : but god had mercie on us all , and sent his sonne into this world to die , and with his death to restore us unto life , and to wash us with his bloud , that whosoever beleeveth in him , should not perish , but have eternall life . all this declared they out of the law and the prophets , and proved , that iesus christ whom they preached , is the blessed seed promised unto the fathers . whoso is desirous to have a perfect example of this declaration , he findeth two sermons of the famous apostles peter and paul , the one in the acts of the apostles , the second chapter , vers . 14. the other in the 13. chapter , vers . 16. there doth the holy apostle open the mysterie of our holy faith , verie excellently , declaring it from the time of abraham unto david , and from him unto iohn the baptist . thereupon sheweth he , how christ suffered , died , was buried , and rose againe from death . all this confirmeth hee with the scriptures of the prophets . at the last he concludeth the sermon after this manner ; be it knowne unto you therefore , ye men and brethren , that through iesus is preached unto to you forgivenesse of sinnes , and that by him all they that beleeve , are justified from all things , from the which yee could not bee justified by the law of moses . to this agreeth now also the sermon of peter : yea , all the scriptures of the apostles doe finally accord to the same effect : hereout also bring they the doctrine of repentance and amendment of life , the rebuking of sinne , consolations , exhortations , and drawing to all manner of good works , that follow out of faith . the speciall sacraments , which the lord did chiefly institute , and command the apostles to practise in the church , are holy baptisme and the blessed supper of our lord iesus christ . concerning the first , hee saith thus , to mee is given all power in heaven and in earth : therefore goe your way , and teach all people , and baptize them in the name of the father , of the sonne , and of the holy ghost , and teach them to keepe all that i have commanded you . the other did hee institute at the last supper . for thus is it written in the holy gospell : when they were eating hee tooke bread , and when hee had given thanks , he brake it , and gave them saying ; take , eat , this is my bodie , which shall be given for you : this doe in the remembr●nce of mee . so tooke hee also the cup when ●hey had supt , and said ; drinke yee all out of this , this is my bloud of the new testament , which shall be shed for the remission of sinnes . with such sacraments , through outward visible formes ( for our infirmities sake ) pleased it the lord to shew and set before our eyes , his heavenly and invisible grace : not that we should continue still hanging in the visible thing , but that wee should lift up our mindes , and with a true beleefe to hold fast , to print sure in our mindes , to worship , and to enjoy the things that faith sheweth us by the outward sacraments . with these outward sacraments also hath it pleased him to open , declare and shew unto us his grace and loving kindnesse : namely , how that he giveth unto us himselfe and all his riches , cleanseth us , feedeth and moystureth our soules with his flesh and bloud , that he is at one with us , and wee with him , so that wee use and practise the sacraments with a true faith . for the outward enjoying of the sacraments of it selfe alone , doth not reconcile us with god : but if they bee used with faith , then ( as s. peter saith , acts 15. ) through faith doth god purifie the hearts . with the sacraments pleased it him , to leave behinde him a remembrance of his gifts and benefits , to the intent that wee should never forget them , but praise and thanke him therfore . moreover , with visible sacraments was it his will to gather us together , and to marke us in his church and people , and to put us in remembrance of our dutie , how we are one bodie together , and ought to apply our selves to all righteousn●sse : all which things are found at length in the scriptures of the apostles . as for the apostles , they ministred the sacraments diligently , purely , and simply ; and so ( without any addition ) distributed them unto the people of god. touching baptisme , there are many examples in the acts of the apostles . the supper of iesus christ had the corinthians somewhat altered . and when paul pointed them againe to the true ordinance and right use , he taketh the simple words and institution of iesus christ without any more addition , and layeth those before them , commandeth them to follow the same , and holdeth him therewith well content , 1 cor. 11. and thus did the holy ▪ apostles gather together all the heathen people , through the preaching of the gospell , and ministration of the sacraments in the church , whose head is christ , in whom they are builded and preserved . moreover , they did not load them sore with any ceremonies . for in the acts of the apostles the second chapter , where as a perfect shape of a right christian congregation is described , wee have first the sending of the apostles , among whom peter did first preach the gospell , that is to say , repentance and forgivenesse of sins in christ iesus . then baptized hee them that were become the people of god. afterward followeth it , that they which were become christians , continued in the doctrine of the apostles , in prayer , in breaking of the bread , & in the fellowship : here are the right substantial points of the christian church sufficiently expressed : the doctrine of amendment of life , and remission of sinnes , baptisme , the continuing and increasing in christs doctrine , prayer , the holy supper of the lord , and the fellowship , that is , love , kindnesse , and workes of mercie . now whereas acts 15. it is ordained that the heathen should eat no blood nor strangled , it endured but for a time , & their meaning was thereby to avoid offending of the weake . otherwise have the apostles everie where ( especially paul ) verie earnestly exhorted men , to continue by the doctrine that was shewed and delivered them , and to be at a point in themselves , to avoid such learning as was new and brought up by men , because they lead men farre from the truth , as we finde , col. 2.6 . philip. 3.15 . 1 tim 4.6 . and 6.2 . and tit. 1.9 . and thus it is manifest , that the apostles taught all nations no new nor strange thing , but even the same that they had received of the lord. chap. xii . a conclusion , that this faith is the right true old faith , which alway shall stand sure . this holy undefiled faith which the lord planted and set up in all nations by the apostles , immediatly after the apostles decease , was sore attempted by sundry uncleane persons , which brought up false customes and misbeleefes , and made perillous sects . beside this also was it sore persecuted with the sword of tyrants . but in all such dangers the truth overcame and had the victory . for though the citizens of the devils citie ( according to the disposition of their patriarke cain ) did murder , and although false prophets brought up evill counsell , yet the citie of god triumpheth , and the bloud of innocent abel and his brethren speaketh yet . but after that the persecution was somewhat ceased , and the persecutors sore and horribly punished for their bloudshedding ( the heresies also being well brought downe by faithfull shepherds ) in the same rest also was our holy faith not a little hurt . for rest put away feare , brought idle felicitie , voluptuousnesse , and fleshly seeking of riches and dominion : and so through covetousnesse and ambition , there was powred great poyson into the church , whereby religion sore decaied . for while the ministers of the word laboured more after riches , than to performe their of●●ce and charge , and to edifie the church , they were pleased with superstitiousnesse in stead of true religion . of this then followed it farther , that the singlenesse of faith was forgotten , new lawes made , the old rites and customes either perverted , or else utterly overthrowne and abused : whereby men came farre from the doctrine and christian ceremonies , from the way of truth into errour foolishly , and partly into ceremonies of idolatry . hereof commeth it , that we have now the abomination of the popes power , of pardons , of masses for the dead and quicke , of merits , power and intercession of saints in heaven , of worshipping their bones upon earth , of idols , and vaine ornaments , pompe and pride of the church , of hired singing and praying in the temple , and of the whole swarme of idle religions . all which things , with other moe like fondnesse , are nothing but new alterations , pervertings , and contrary to all old ordinances , having no ground in gods word , and are cleane against god , though many hardnecked people are yet in a fury and brawle for such things , and will make all the world beleeve , that this their foolishnesse , alteration , and perverting of gods ordinance , is the old faith . and yet wote they , or will not know , that their babling hath very little ground , and that they ( if they considered the matter as it is ) are very naked and miserable . and though this papisticall religion hath endured , prevailed , and triumphed now certaine hundred yeares , yet hath god alway sent his faithfull servants , and had a little holy flocke of his owne , like as afore-time in the dayes of the iudges , of the kings of iuda and israel , and in the captivity of babylon , though it was almost at the worst afore , and at the comming of christ . like as it is also with us , the nigher the second comming of christ , the worse it is in the world . neverthelesse ( as i said afore ) god alway set forth his word , and doth yet . contrarywise , the pope with his multitude , and mahumet with his ( as it seemeth and becommeth very antichrists ) have hitherto undertaken to suppresse the old religion , and to set up his owne ordinance ( unknowne to our fathers of old time ) to bring it into possession , and under the name of god and his holy church , to spread it upon all christendome . for out of the acts and statutes of the pope and his wanton spiritualty , and out of the lawes of mahumet , it is manifest what the one hath taken in hand and done now more than 600. yeeres , and the other upon a 900. yeeres . it is evident yet also even now , whereto his generall councels and parlamenrs doe extend . but not regarding how he threatneth and faceth , and how he garnisheth his new and wanton religions with false ( but dissembling ) titles , boasting of many hundred yeeres , many generall councels , fathers , holy men , doctors , vniversities , cloisters , singing , praying , fasting , almes-giving , displying , and telleth such like : all his bragging set aside , let us cast his religion from us , and take upon us unfainedly the true old religion , which hath endured since the beginning of the world , by the which all holy men have ever loved , worshipped and served god , and knew nothing utterly of the popes religion . and if we must for this cause be hated and persecuted of the world , well , it hapned even so unto all holy prophets before us likewise , and specially unto iesus christ our lord : which shall come shortly to judgement , and utterly destroy the kingdome of antichrist , whom he now killeth with the spirit of his mouth . our possession is not here upon earth , the kingdome of heaven is our native country : from thence looke we for the saviour iesus christ our lord , which shall raise up our mortall and miserable body , that he may make it like his excellent and glorified body , according to the power , whereby he may subdue all things unto himselfe . to him be honour and praise for ever and ever . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a17218-e130 the accustomed goodnesse of god. god hath shewed no lesse kindnesse to us than he did to the old world . they that follow gods word are laughed to scorne . the doctrine of christ his faith is no new thing . 1 cor. 1.18 . 1 cor. 1.14 . none but reprobates deride the truth of gods gospell . to us which are saved , it is the power of god. what faith is . hebr. 11.1 . rom. 3.28 . gal. 2.16 . ephes . 2.8 . phil. 3.9 . iaco. 2.14 . heb. 11.6 . rom. 14.23 . act. 15.9 . 1 pet. 1.9 . gala. 5.6 . 1 cor. 10.3 . heb. 11.4 . heb. 11.4 , 5. iames 1 ▪ 21 would to god we had many such as iames the apostle was . iames 1. o unthankefull world . iames 2.25 . saint iames would not spare to rebuke such . iames 3 17. iames 4.1 . against such grosse vices would not saint iames spare to speake . iames 4. iames 5.19 . let every man take the paines to rebuke his owne fault . iames 3.17 . we must put on the nature of gods doctrine . let the workes of god , which are past , be a warning to us . notes for div a17218-e1030 the christian faith is elder than 1600. yeeres . eusebius . acts 11.26 . the first creation of heaven and earth . the garnishing of heaven and earth . the office of t●e creatures in t●● firmament . fishes . fowles . beasts . the creation of man. the creation of the woman . the request of the commandement . the unthankefulnesse ●nd w●ckednesse of man. the righteousnesse and mercy of god. gen. 2.17 . the way of satisfaction before god is christ . sinne. the frowardnesse of man. why god gave the woman unto man. grace . we all are loth to knowledge our selves guiltie . punishment . genes . 3.14 . the promise . genes . 3.15 . the serpents head . the ●●re foundation of our faith . rom. 8.3 . 1 cor. 1.30 . the gospell of iesus . genes . 3.15 . esay 7.14 . gal. 3.16 . a praise of the virgin marie . heb. 2.14 . genes . 2.15 . christs heele . 1 pet. 4.1 . ioh. 12.31 , 32. rom. 16.20 . object . answ . gen. 3.17 . gen. 3.19 . 1 tim. 2.15 . 1 thessal . 4.6 . ephes . 4.25 . heb. 5.17 . gen. 3.20 . adams faith . gen 2.23 . comfort , helpe and loving kindnesse in the mids of correction . gen. 3.22 . comfort and patience in christ . 1 pet. 2.21 . adams faith . heb. 11.4 . outward sacrifice was a token of thankfulnesse . cain the father of wickednesse . the first division in rel●gion , when it began . abel the first martyr . the world the citie of the devill . the difference of true and false faith . the first decay of the faith was by cursed cain . genes . 4.25 . adam was not of the faith of cain . seth the fir●● re●●●e● of the true faith . the reparation of our fa●th . gen. 4.26 . adams life . to call upon the name of god , what it is . hebr. 11.5 . the number of the wicked ever greatest . the wrath of god upon the wicked . noes floud . the first triumph of faith in noe. 1 pet. 3.21 . genes . 6.18 . the sacrifice of noe. genes . 8.20 . ephes . 5.2 . outward sacrifice the figure of christs oblation . matth 3.17 . the commandements given unto noe. through noe was the world replenished . c ham the first idolater after the floud . the fa●th ●f heathen ●s idolatry 〈…〉 gen. 10. ● . gen. 11 ● ▪ gen ▪ 11.10.27 . faith d●●kned after the floud . gen. 12.1 . genes . 22.18 . galath . 3.8 . the promise renewed to abraham . abrahams faith . iohn 8.56 . rom. 4.16 . galath . 3.29 . abrahams christian workes . the f●i●● of the iewe● gen. 17 ▪ 24. gen. 15.6 . gal. 3.17 . h● wold the christian faith i● . exod. 19.20 . gen. 32.28 . o● israel came the israe●●●●s . gen. 28. iacob saw that christ onely is the way to heaven . iohn 1.51 . gen. 35.2 . gen. 49.10 . the faith of ioseph . ioseph a figure of iesus . the continuance of faith before the law. heb 11 ▪ 24. the faith of moses . gen. 15.13 . the easter lambe . iohn 1.29 . the del●verance out of aegypt a figu●● of our redemption by christ . the gi●ing of the law . the first table . matth. 22.37.39 the second table . the law written in stone 〈◊〉 no n●w thing . the first commandement . 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. gen. 39.8 . the law written in stone was fulfilled afore . the lawes given after the ten commandements were by-lawes . objection . answer . galath 3 ▪ 15 gods testament . galath . 3.17 . salvation by grace , not by desert or workes . objection . answer . galath . 3.19 . why the law was given . the law was given to further the promise . gal. 3.19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24. the law is the rule to live by . wisdom . 16.6 , 7. the brasen serpent a figure of christ . iohn 3.14 , 15. 1 cor. 10.1 , 2. christ is the rocke . question . answer . one altar w●at i● signified . note this well . why the ceremonies of the law were given . the godly consideration of the fathers . question . answer . w●y g●● 〈…〉 among the 〈◊〉 . god tendreth our weaknesse . lawes iudiciall . rom. 13.9 . matth. 7.12 . the five originall b●●kes of holy scripture written by moses . the first b●oke of moses . acts 7.22 . the second booke of moses . the third booke . the fourth booke . the fifth booke . the originall scripture of our faith . the law written is no new thing . rom. 10.4 . gal. 3.23 . the death of moses . iosue was a figure of christ . iosue fought at gods commandement . an heresie of the anabaptists . heb. 11.32 . rulers must punish . matth. 26.52 . gen. 3.15 an errou● . of king david . acts 15.22 . psalm . 110.1 . the holy trinitie . matth. 22.44 . iohn 1.1 . iohn 1.14 . matth. 22.24 . the faith of david in christ . iohn 20.20 . psalm . 110.1 . marke 16.19 . psalm . 110.2 . the spirituall kingdome of christ . acts 1.8.12 . psalm . 110.3 . a battell . the birth of christ . psalm . 110.3 . psalm . 110.4 . the office of christ . psalm . 110.5 . christs cause shall forth . psalm . 110.6 . christ shall destroy his enemies . psalm . 110.7 . philip. 2.8 . psalm . 133.6 . the article of the holy trinitie . david was called christs father . matth. 9.27 . the waies of david . 1 kings 15.3 , 4 , 5. king abia. 2 kings 18.5 , 6. 2 chro. 34.1 , 2 , 3. 1 kings 6.1 . the departing of israel from iuda . king iehu . god alwaies 〈…〉 p●●phets the oldest prophets . the prophets preached the old faith . rom. 3.20 , 21 , 22. the law and the prophets allow the righteousnesse of god that commeth by faith . act. 3.24 . act. 10.2 , 3. matth. 21.4 . the godhead and manhood of christ ▪ esay 7.14 . mich. 5.2 . esay 9. ● ▪ ierem. 23.5 , 6. the righteous blossome . mala. 3.1 . iohn baptist . mala. 4.5 . esay 61.1 . the office of christ . ezech. 34. christ is called david . the miracles of christ . esay 2.2 . dan. 7.13 . the kingdome of christ . esa . 62.2 . esay 62.10 . zach 9.9 . the death of christ . dan. 9.26 . esay 50.5 , &c. esay 53.2 , &c. the sacrifice of christ . zacha. 3.8 . the buriall and resurrection of chri●t . matth. 12.40 . the ascension . the vocation of the heathen . 1 pet. 1.9 , &c. the prophets sought salvation in christ . a prophesie told unto daniel . the number of the yeeres . faith assailed and religion suppressed . antiochus . god had eve● some vertuous men . zacharie . luk. 1.68 . simeon . luk. 1.29 . all gods elect were saved by christ . the old testament is not to be refused . luke 24.13 . the new testament declareth the old . the birth of christ . luke 2.10 . tidings of christs birth . luke 2.10 . genes . 12.3 . the grace of god. ierem. 31.33 . note well . chr●st the only salva●io● of all the w●r●d . luke 2. the dutie of us . 1 tim. 1.5 . iohn baptist . iohn 1.29 . iohn 1.26 . 1 iohn 3.36 . matth. 11.2 . matth. 3.13 . matth. 3.17 . note this similitude . matth. 4.1 , 2. matth. 4.17 . the substance of true religion . the speciall points of christs doctrine . the patient suffering of christ . iohn 29 30. luke 13.46 . the fruit of christs death . water and bloud . the time of christs passion . the buriall of christ . the power of christ saveth all . iohn 15.14 , 15. christ held nothing back● from his apostles . the holy ghost b●ough● no new doctrine . iohn 14.26 . marke 16.15 . acts 13.38 . baptisme . matth. 28.18 , 19. the supper of the lord. matth. 26.26 . acts 15.9 . the fru●t of the sacraments . 1 cor. 11.17 . acts 15 28. the apostles did not overcharge the people with ceremonies . acts 2.1 . acts 15.20.29 . the apostles would not offend the weake . note . the decay of christs religion . what inconvenience followed . note . the pope and mahumet strive against christ . let us doe as our o●dest fathers have done long b●fore us . philip. 3.20 , 21. the way to the city of god described, or, a plain declaration how any man may, within the day of visitation given him of god, pass out of the unrighteous into the righteous state as also how he may go forward in the way of holiness and righteousness, and so be fitted for the kingdom of god, and the beholding and enjoying thereof : wherein divers things, which occur to them, that enter into this way with respect to their inward trials, temptations, and difficulties are pointed at, and directions intimated, how to carry themselves therein ... / written by george keith in the year 1669 ... : whereunto is added the way to discern the convictions, motions, &c of the spirit of god, and divine principle in us, from those of a man's own natural reason, &c. keith, george, 1639?-1716. 1678 approx. 322 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 119 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a47199 wing 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a47199) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 99261) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1552:1) the way to the city of god described, or, a plain declaration how any man may, within the day of visitation given him of god, pass out of the unrighteous into the righteous state as also how he may go forward in the way of holiness and righteousness, and so be fitted for the kingdom of god, and the beholding and enjoying thereof : wherein divers things, which occur to them, that enter into this way with respect to their inward trials, temptations, and difficulties are pointed at, and directions intimated, how to carry themselves therein ... / written by george keith in the year 1669 ... : whereunto is added the way to discern the convictions, motions, &c of the spirit of god, and divine principle in us, from those of a man's own natural reason, &c. keith, george, 1639?-1716. [16], 181, [5] p. s.n.], [aberdeen : 1678. place of publication suggested by wing. errata: p. [1] at end. imperfect: advertisement pages lacking; p. 178-end of book from defective harvard university library copy spliced at end. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng society of friends -apologetic works. theology, doctrinal. 2003-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-03 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2003-03 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the way to the city of god described , or , a plain declaration how any man may within the day of visitation given him of god , pass out of the unrighteous , into the righteous state : as also , how he may go forward , in the way of holiness and righteousness , and so be fitted for the kingdom of god , and the beholding and enjoying thereof . wherein divers things , which occur to them , that enter into this way , with respect to their inward trials , temptations , and difficulties , are pointed at , and directions intimated , how to carry themselves therein : and how to apply themselves to the works and exercises of religion , so as to find acceptance with god. with divers other weighty particulars , which may be of service to inquirers and beginners . written by george keith , in the year 1669. in the time of his being a close prisoner in the tolbooth at edinburgh . whereunto is added , the way to discern the convictions , motions , &c of the spirit of god , and divine principle in us , from those of a man 's own natural reason , &c. written in the time of his confinement in aberdeen , in the year 1676. with a preface to the whole , written this year . printed in the year , 1678. isa. 62.10 . — cast up , cast up the high-way , gather out the stones , &c. & 57.14 . — cast ye up , cast ye up , prepare the way , &c. & 40.3 . — prepare ye the way of the lord , make straight in the desart a high-way for our god. 1 ioh. 2.6 . he , that saith he abideth in him , ought himself also so to walk , even as he walked . 1 ioh. 3.2 . — but we know , that when he shall appear , we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is . ioan. picus mir and. conclus . qui perfecte in animam redierit , primae formae suam formam aequaverit . englished thus . he , that shall perfectly return into his own soul , shall make his own frame [ or mould ] like unto the first . friendly reader , if thou art brought unto any sense of thy inward state , and art come to feel thy absolute need of christ , so as nothing less can satisfie thee than the true and real enjoyment of him in thy heart and soul ; and thou canst no longer content thy self with the bare report of christ , until thou feel the vertue of his blood to sprinkle thy conscience from dead works , to serve the living god : and , if thou breathest for life , and to have the living knowledg of god , and art weary of all that knowledg , which thou hast gathered by bare hear say , or reading , while thou wast ignorant of the life of christ in thy heart : and if thou desirest holiness it self more than a naked form or profession of it , and hungrest and thirstest after righteousness , and so art a true inquirer after the kingdom of god : to thee i hope this small treatise will be acceptable , and of service , and indeed to such as thee it was mainly directed and intended . i wrote it some years ago , when i was by an outward restraint for divers months separated , for most part , from the company of all men , for my testimony to the truth . but the lord was near unto me , and in the enjoyment of his presence i had more satisfaction , than all worldly things could afford me . and being made use of by some in manuscripts , to whom it was serviceable , they desired it might be made publick for a more general good , and the rather , because there was little or nothing , after the manner of controversie with any particular adversary in it , but that for the most part it was practical and experimental ; ( which some , who have not a desire to read controversie , are willing to read ) and that the whole aim and scope of it was to help and assist such , who desire sincerely to live a godly life in their journey and travel , as the title of it imports , which is , a description of the way to the city of god , for thither should all our endeavours and labours tend , for we have here no abiding city . and , seeing , without holiness none can see god , and unless a man be born again , he cannot enter into the kingdom of god : therefore this whole treatise doth hold forth divers necessary and useful things , concerning the nature of regeneration , how , and after what manner , it is begun , and carried on . so that the various steps of the spiritual traveller , are set down from the beginning , until a good growth and progress be attained in the new birth or life of holiness it self . and who are thus far advanced , they are more s●fe , and more out of danger to miscarry and miss their way , than beginners are : and therefore it is mainly intended for beginners , and such as have made no great progress as yet in this divine travel . what i have here delivered of the practical part , or of experience , is my own ; and my spirit and soul have travelled , in some measure , in all these steps , herein mentioned : and i have found the experimental good and advantage of all those advertisements , cautions , warnings and considerations delivered in the same . and , because it was not fit to burthen the understanding or memory of readers with many things , i have only aimed , for the readers good , to set down some clear and plain directions , concerning the most needful things ; and those , which although they be most necessary , are most neglected , and especially to call back transgressours to the heart , according to isaiah , 46.8 . as the hebrew hath it ; or as otherwise it is rendred , but to the same purpose , return unto the heart , o ye transgressours ! and that is the import of the word [ introversion ] which is a turning-in to find and feel after god and christ in the heart , to wait to see him , as he appears there , and to hear him , as he speaks there , and to be sensible of his walkings , goings , and movings , as he is found there ; as he hath promised , i will dwell in them , and walk , in them , saith the lord , lev. 26.12 . 2. cor. 6.16 . for we are to seek after wisdom , as silver , and to search for understanding , as hid treasures , prov. 2.4 . which seeking and searching , in the first place , must be in our hearts , and inward parts , for there hath god placed this hidden treasure , which is christ jesus , to wit , a measure of his divine spirit , life , and light : and , if thou findest it in thy self , thou wilt then find it in others , and also thou wilt savour of that divine life and spirit , both in the scriptures , and also in all writings , that in the least measure , have proceeded from the same spirit in others . and whatever testimony hath , at any time , proceeded from him , and remaineth upon record , the same witnesseth unto that testimony in all , unto all , to whom it cometh ; and all , who have a sense of that divine spirit and life in themselves , can , and do fell and discern that it hath proceeded of god , and is owned by him . and to such the scripture , or any other writing , that hath been written , in the least measure of a divine motion , or drawing are no dead letter , but a living testimony in ●heir place and order : for to none is the testimony of truth a dead thing , but to such as are de●d , and are alienated from that life , which gave it forth . yet thou art not to rest in any sense or savour of life , that thou feel'st in the outward testimony , but by the same thou art to be led in , into thy own heart and soul , to wait for the arising and springing up of it , within thy self , for thou needst life to be nearer thee , than in any outward testimony , that thou mayst enjoy it , as a fountain , and well of living water , springing up unto eternal life , in thy belly and inward parts ; and , as this fountain springs up in th●● it will flow forth into all thy senses , and into all the powers of thy soul , and make them alive , and it will quicken thy understanding and memory , as also thy will and affections , and give life unto thy thoughts and meditations ; and it will cause thee , when , at any time , thou readst the scriptures , as this living fountain opens in thee , to read them livingly , and with a living sense and understanding ; a●● , when thou hear'st them read , to hear with life also , and in a living sense ; and when thou dost meditate upon them , or upon the things declared in them , as upon the love of god , and christ jesus , and what christ hath done and suffered for thee , and how he died , and rose again , and is gone to heaven , there to appear in the presence of god for us , and that he is to return again to judge the quick and the dead , and to give the reward of everlasting life to all that have served him , but to punish with everlasting destruction all , that have not believed in him , nor been obedient unto his gospel , or whatever other things , recorded in the scriptures , the fountain of life in thy self will give life unto all those meditations , as thou wait'st for the free openings of it ; and they will be living and sweet unto thy soul , yea , sweeter than the hony and the honey-comb , and thou wilt be truly edified , refreshed , and strengthened , in the scriptures testimony . but , if thou goest about to seek life in the scriptures , as the iews did of old , and in the mean time neglect to come unto christ , who is the life , and the fountain of it , thou canst not expect to find life in the scriptures , or any blessing of god in thy reading or meditating in them . for , as none can enjoy the light and good of the outward sun , that shineth without , or abroad , who shut their eyes against it , and let it have no place in them ; so no more canst thou enjoy the light and good of christ jesus , that sun of righteousness , if thou shut'st thy inward eyes against his light , that shineth in thee . moreover , i must inform thee a little further , why i have not , in this treatise , insisted upon , or scarcely so much as mentioned , many particular duties , that are altogether necessary unto every true christian , as , giving alms to the poor , visiting the sick and imprisioned , the widow and fatherless ; nor the many respective duties , that we owe to one another , as we stand related together in the world : nor have i set down a particular enumeration of all the commands , prohibitio●s , promises , and threatnings of god , contained in the scripture : nor have i mentioned all the christian vertues , far less defined or described them , in a particular manner : nor have i set ●own a catalogue of all the sins and vices , recorded in the scripture : nor have i recommended unto people the reading of the scriptures , conference , and meditation upon them , nor frequenting the assemblies of god's people , where the lord is waited upon , the word of god is preached , and living worship , prayer , and thanksgiving is offered up unto him in spirit and in truth . now , the reason , why i have not so particularly mentioned these things , was not any wilful omission or neglect , as if i did not lay any weight upon these things , or made any ●light of any of them : nay , all this was , and is , far from me ; but my design being only in short , and as briefly , as well could be , to point at some general things , and also at these particulars , which are the main , and are the most necessary , for the right and acceptable performance of those other things , above mentioned . my great care was to l●● the foundation well , and to put my reader in mind of the first and most necessary things , which i ●id find so much neglected by most of professors of christianity : my end singly being , that people might be brought to have the true nature , life , and spirit of christianity to abound , and have place in them , and then all these other things will easily and naturally follow . and i could not well mention these things , without having insisted more largely upon them , than the nature of so small a treatise would admit . for i did not design a compleat system of practical divinity , but only , as it were , to put a primar or rudiment into the hands of a young beginner . and as for many of the above mentioned particulars , they are generally acknowledg'd among all , that profess the name of christ. but yet the right hearing , the right reading , the right meditating , the right preaching , the right praying , and singing , either private or publick , the right giving of alms , the right visiting of the sick , the prisoner , the fatherless , and widow , and the right practising of all other christian duties , is a great and rare thing , and few there are , among those , called christians , who do indeed rightly practise them , and go about them . now , though all these , and other particulars be not expresly mentioned in this treatise , yet the right manner and way , how they are to be gone about and performed , is not only expressed here , but it is the main design of the whole , and that is , that people may come to know the true life of god , and of godliness to live in them , and the true spirit of christ , and of christianity to reign and rule in them , and in all things to order and guide and inable them , that so , whatsoever they do , they may do it in the life , in the spirit , in the power , in the light , and in the love of god , and then they do it in the name of god , and of christ , and in faith , and so they do it aright , and it is acceptable unto god , and serviceable unto men . there is one thing further , which i cannot well omit , and that is , to answer an objection , which may be strong in the minds of some , who have not experience in the case . that , whereas i recommend so much the place of silence , and of being so passive , still , and quiet , to wait for and attend unto the divine working and moving of god and of christ , by the holy spirit in the soul , it is like some will be ready to say , that obj. such a thing leadeth into a stupidity or lethargy of mind , if not into something worse ; for the mind of man , striving to bring it self into such a composure and quietness , and not attaining unto it , is the more disquieted , and this may be feared to turn into rage , or natural distemper ; for which c●●se some have both had a great aversion unto such a thing , and also have disswaded others from attempting it , and some have concluded it , as an impossible thing , to attain unto a perfect silence from all our own thoughts , seeing it is as natural to the mind to think , as it is for the fire to burn , or the light to shine . answ. to the last part of this objection i answer , that by a perfect silence from all our own thoughts , do not understand , that the soul is to be without all sense , or remembrance , or thoughts of all kind : for i distinguish of thoughts , thus , there are thoughts , which are brought forth in us , without any divine or supernatural concurrence , motion , and assistance of the holy spirit , which are but the bare and meer product of our own minds . also there are thoughts , which arise in us from suggestions of satan , and of the flesh , which when we consent unto them , and entertain them , may be called ours . and thirdly , there are thoughts , that are begotten and excited in us by a divine and supernatural motion , concurrence and assistance of the holy spirit , which l●st kind of thoughts are only profitable unto the souls spiritual growth and progress : but the former , especially the second kind , which are too frequent , are hurtful and evil . now , when i say , the soul , or mind of man should be silent from all its own thoughts , i mean , all thoughts of the first and second kind , which are meerly natural , carnal , and devilish ; and , when all these thoughts are silenced , the other thoughts , which may be well called divine thoughts , as having a divine original , to wit , the divine spirit , life , and light of christ in the soul , do instantly spring up , and abound , which are unspeakably sweet , refreshing and pr●fitable . and therefore we perswade none to abst●in from such divine thoughts , or shut them out , but , on the contrary , we exhort all to entertain them , and abound in them , as much as possible : in order to which , they must diligently abstain from all their own thoughts , especially such as arise in them , from satan and the flesh , for they are contrary to one another , and wa● against one another in the soul. and whatever thoughts are most loved , received , and entertained in the soul , these do most prevail , and bear sway , to the excluding the contrary . again , of divine thoughts there are sundry kinds , as when we meditate upon any subject in words , and propositions that are mental , or when we discourse mentally , as the divine spirit doth move and assist us ; which kind of thoughts are very precious and useful unto us . but there is also another kind of divine thoughts , which is many times wholly abstract from all words , terms , propositions , argumentations , so much as mental , and are simply divine sensations , as seeing , hearing , smelling , tasting , and feeling , whose object is not words , nor discourse in the mind , but simply the divine spirit , power , light , and life of god , and his divine goodness , love , mercy , kindness , and compassion , revealed to us in christ iesus : and this kind of divine thoughts ( if so be it is proper to call them thoughts , for they are as real sentations , as the outward and natural sentations are ) are the more excellent of the two , and , when they do most abound in the soul , they , as it were , swallow up the former , as the greater light and glory doth the lesser . and to the first part of the objection i answer , that the blessed experience of many thousands at this day , who are come to such a silence , and silent waiting upon the lord , is testimony sufficient unto the contrary , who have found , and do find continually the unspeakable advantage of it , on a spiritual account , and that it is so far from having any real tendency to work a natural distemper upon the mind , that we , who have tried and experienced it for many years , never found any thing more profitable unto us , to work a right and solid natural composure and settlement of mind , as well as spiritual , whereby our very natural strength is renewed , and we made more fit for outward occasions and affairs , than by meat , drink , sleep , or any other bodily refreshment whatsoever . and to our experience we can add the experience of the holy men of god , recorded in scripture , especially the prophets and apostles , to whom the word of god came immediately , and in w●om the lord did immediately appear , and who , on that account , waited in silence for the same , as habakkuk said , i will stand upon my watch tower , and will watch to see what he will say in me , hab. 2.1 . and psal. 85.8 . i will hear what god the lord will speak , said david : and said jeremiah , it is good both to hope , and quietl● [ or , in si●ence ] to wait for the salvation of god , lam. 3.26 . and , though such a posture of mind be exceeding tedious , unpleasant , and irksome to the carnal part , yet let us hear further what the prophet saith , ver . 27. it is good for a man that he bear the yoak in his youth , he sitteth alone and keepeth silence , because he hath born it upon him . and by bearing the yoak , in this particular ▪ as well as in other things , many can say , it is now become light and easie unto them , the carnal part , that made it so uneasie , being overcome . and we are not ignorant how all seriousness , and indeed the whole practice of self-denial , and mortification of the deeds of the flesh , is equally liable to the same exceptions . ( which yet hath no just ground ) for do they not readily object , when any man becomes serious , and effectually sets about the work of mortification , such a man i● become melancholick , he is in some distemper , and is in hazard to turn fool , ●o● , or distracted ? and indeed to forsake our own thoughts ( which the scripture saith are all only and continually evil , gen. 6.5 , 12. ) and to kill and crucifie them is no small part of true mortification . for what is a man 's own thoughts , but the product and fruit of a carnal mind ? and therefore they are but flesh , which must die and be crucified . but to prevent all hazard of receiving any hurt , i say unto all , who desire to attain unto the said silence , that they apply themselves diligently unto outward affairs , in a sober way , and in the fear of god : for nothing is a greater enemy or hinderance to the true silence or peace of the soul , than to be idle , and have no business or labour : whereas to be honestly and soberly exercised in business , and to labour with the hands is a great help and furtherance to attain unto it . and let none strain , or use any violence or force to nature , to compass it , for no m●n , of himself , can attain unto it , but as he is assisted and enabled of the lord , who is near at all times , to help the travelling soul , but yet there are some times more especially , wherein the lord doth give more abundant access and opportunity unto the soul , which every one is to observe within himself , and improve the same . let none therefore strive , or wrastle , in their own will , or natural strength , to attain to this silence , but let them be faithful to god , in what they know to be his will , and be diligent in some honest and lawful imployment , and carefully attend the meetings of the faithful , when they meet together to wait upon the lord , and speak the word of the lord to one another , as they are moved , and to worship and call upon him in spirit and in truth . for the life of the faithful and of such , as are near unto the lord , who are become strong men in christ , hath an exceeding great influence upon the weak , to help them , and gather them to the true silence , and the presence of the lord is more abundantly manifest , where the faithful meet together in his name , as ●e hath promised , whereunto many can set their seal . and thus every one , who is sincere and faithful to what they know and have received , will naturally , and , as it were , by a natural growth in the truth , attain by degrees more and more unto such a state , until they perfectly come to enjoy and possess it , so as to see jerusalem a quiet habitation , and to behold the king in his beauty , and see his goings in the sanctuary : which will cause the soul to sing with david , and to say , as it is psal. 84. ver . 1 , 10. how amiable are thy tabernacles , o lord of hosts ! for a day in thy court is better than a thousand . but of this i warn thee , that , if thou hast time enough to spare , as thou think'st , to rest from all outward affairs , that thou mayst , the more abundantly , apply thy self to this silence , and silent waiting : yet thou mayst exceed ▪ through a wrong and blind zeal , and so mayst indanger and hurt thy self . for such a silence , as doth not allow us to mind and be employed in our honest and lawful affairs , is not alwaies required of us , but at certain times , that we set apart unto that end , either in private , or publick , as the wisdom of god doth teach us , and his spirit doth move . which times , although they be frequent , yet ordinarily are not to be of long continuance : for it is the will of god , that , so long as we are in these earthly tabernacles , we be exercised in bodily and external actions , whereof christ himself gave us an example , who went about doing good , and at times retired with his disciples , and sometimes alone , to watch and to pray , and again returned unto the people to minister unto them , both in soul and body , what they had need of . nor doth the moderate use and exercise of the body in lawful affairs hinder , as is said , the true silence , in some degree , that is sufficient for the present time , but doth rather help and contribute unto the same : but the highest degree of it is neither alwaies required of us , nor is indeed at all times possible to be performed by us , for unto all things there is a measure , and what is within measure is good , but to exceed is hurtful and dangerous . george keith . in the prison of aberdeen , the 15 of the 4 month , 1678. the way to the city of god. chap. i. holding forth certain doctrinal principles of the trvth , whereof a m●n being convinced by the spirit of god , it contributes much to his making a right entrance into the way of holiness . a man doth not ( nor can he ) enter into the way of holiness , but he must first have his understanding some way opened by the spirit of truth , so as to receive some convincement of certain principles of truth . for how can a man enter into a way , and know nothing thereof , neither more nor less ? it is the usual method and order of the spirit of god , first to convince a man of divers things before he proceed further , so as to convert him into the way of holiness , or carry him on wards therein . therefore i shall in the first place lay down a few certain principles , the knowledg of which is of great advantage unto beginners for their first entrance into holiness : and i shall at this time but name , and suppose them as known , rather than prove them , referring their probation to other treatises . and though i may not say that none ever attained unto any measure of holiness , without the clear , distinct and explicit knowledg of all these principles hereafter delivered ; yet i am very free to say , that the knowledg of them all doth very much conduce to beginners for their entrance into holiness , and the ignorance of them hath been a grievous let to many a soul , which , though it hath not made the entrance absolutely impossible , yet hath it made it extream difficult , even much more by far than it is indeed and in truth , or is found to be by those , whose understandings are well informed in these principles . i. that all men in their natural and unregenerate state , are unholy and unrighteous altogether , and so as such , unable to do any thing acceptable to god , and unfit for fellowship and communion with him . ii. that god hath not left men wholly in this condition , but hath given unto all and every one of them an occasion in a day or time of visitation , whereby it is possible for them , to come out of their first state of unholiness and unrighteousness , which is also a state of spiritual blindness and death , into a state of holiness and righteousness , which is a state of enjoying spiritual light and life of god. iii. that this occasion is ministred unto every one , through jesus christ , who is freely given of the father , unto every man that comes into the world for salvation , as attainable by every man through him . iv. that the coming of jesus christ into the world both outwardly and inwardly , was necessary unto mans salvation , so that the one is not to be understood in opposition to the other , for that both have their great uses and blessings unto men . hence all , who are saved , are saved no less by the benefit and grace of his outward coming , in his becoming man , suffering , dying and resurrection , then by that of his inward coming as a light , and quickening spirit , &c. yet that the knowledg of his inward coming is that which is the more needful , and in the first place , as being that , by which the true and comfortable use of his outward coming is alone sufficiently understood . v. that the lord iesvs according to his inward coming , is come a light into the world , lightning every man that cometh into the world , that all through him might believe , and by believing might have eternal life . vi. that his coming in the inward is in a divine and heavenly seed , which the father hath given from heaven unto every man , and hath sown in the heart of every man. in , and through which seed , the divine light , life and power or vertue and glory of jesus christ , is only revealed unto men in a saving way , by the holy spirit . vii . that this seed in the hearts of unholy men , is the least of all seeds ; but as the mind comes to be turned towards it , in faith and love , it grows up to become greater and greater , till it be the greatest of all . viii . that according to the arising and growth of this seed in mens hearts , the divine light and life , &c. of jesus christ comes more and more to be revealed , and made manifest even unto the perfect day . ix . that there is some manifestation and revelation of the divine light and life in this heavenly and divine seed in the hearts and minds of the most unholy and unrighteous , unto their salvation , in a day or time of visitation given them of god. x. that the nature of this seed is so unchangeable , holy , pure , and incorruptible , that it can admit no unclean thing to enter into it , nor unite therewith , nor can it be defiled with any uncleanness of the spirit of man , but worketh alwaies against the uncleanness , and every unclean , unholy and unrighteous thing in man , through that divine vertue and power , that is in it , to destroy and consume the same , and work it out of the heart and mind of man. xi . that the manifestation , revelation , and shining of the divine light in this divine seed in unholy men , is not of the same manner and kind , as in the holy ; for in the holy the divine light shines in the immediate manifestation of the love , joy , peace , goodness and glory of god , which doth ( after a manner unconceiveable to unholy men ) refresh and comfort the souls of the holy , and doth admit them to approach thereunto , and unite therewith , so as to live and walk therein , and have the fruition thereof . but the divine light shineth in the unholy , but in remote manifestations of the love and mercy of god , and that also but as it were by glimpses and flashes , and as through a vail . the manifestation of the divine light in an immediate way , that is proper unto unholy and unrighteous souls , being that of judgment , reproof , convictions and condemnation , the divine word working in them , as a hammer , a sword and a fire , even as the refiners fire and the fullers sope ▪ for their mortification and cleansing . xii . now it is fit , that in this place i should give some description of holiness , seeing it is improper to declare of the way of attaining unto holiness , and yet not to declare what holiness is . therefore at present ( referring the more large description of it , to what will be afterwards more fully treated of ) i shall only in these few words describe it . holiness ( as a man can be partaker of it ) is a mans being like unto god , so far as he can receive a likeness unto him , which is by receiving the image of god in its compleat form , and having his heart , soul , mind and spirit , with the understanding , will , affections , and all the powers thereof , according to the capacity of each , impressed or stamped therewith . so that the whole soul , in all its powers answer unto this holy image , as the wax answereth unto the seal , or as the cloth that is put into the diers fat , answereth in colour or die unto that , in which it is dipped , which is the baptism that saveth , not the putting away the filthiness of the flesh , but the answer of a good conscience , or mind , towards god , as aforesaid . xiii . this divine image is ( according to the lord 's ordinary way of working in the hearts of his people ) not found or begotten in an instant , but raised up by degrees from the divine seed ; the formation of which , as it requires the divine and supernatural concurrence of god as a father , and as the principal cause and worker , so doth it also require the concurrence of the soul on the other hand ( so to speak ) as the mother to conceive it in its most inwards ( as the mother conceiveth the child in her womb ) which is a divine birth , and in scripture is called christ formed within , and , the flesh and blood of christ , because his divine light and spirit dwelleth and tabernacleth therein , and there through conveigheth the manifestation of it unto the soul. xiv . now a mans regeneration is not simply the having this divine image raised and formed in him , but it is somewhat consequential thereunto ; for it is by this image , through the mighty operation of god therein , that the soul comes to be regenerate : and so the regeneration of the soul is distinguishable therefrom , as the effect from the cause ; yet where ever this image is raised or formed , in any measure , in a mans heart , that man in some measure proportionable , is thereby regenerated and renewed ; for the divine image is no sooner formed in any measure , but it doth in some measure effigiate or impress the soul , and infuse its pure tincture , blood and spirit into all its powers , which the soul drinking in , it becometh assimilated or l●kened thereunto , yet still retaining its own original essence . a very plain and clear example whereof we have in cloath , which being dipped in the diers fat , drinketh in the tincture or die , even substantially , and yet it retaineth its own essence , so that it is the same cloath still , only hath another die and colour from the tincture , which it hath drunk in , and substantially got it incorporated in it self . xv. but before this divine image can be formed in the soul , or that the soul can be tinctured or leavened therewith , the soul must be cleansed and purified from the pollution and defilement it hath received from the contrary image , which is that of the serpent ; even as ( according to the former example ) before the cloath can receive the die , it must be washed and made clean ; also the image of god and of the devil , are of so contrary natures , that they cannot live in one and the same place of the soul , wherefore there must be some room prepared in the soul in its most inwards , out of which the serpentine image must be expelled , before the divine can spring up : and there must be some place in the soul cleansed and purified for it to be conceived in , for it cannot be conceived nor grow , but in a clean and pure matrix or womb , according to which doctrin it 's evident , that mortification must go before regeneration , in some measure . but i do not say , that the mortification must be total , and pass ove● the whole soul , and all sin and unrighteousness in it , before it attain unto any measure of regeneration , for that is contrary unto all experience , for that we find both the images having some place in us for some time , but they cannot have one and the same place to live in , because of their exceeding contrariety : and indeed the mortification and regeneration of the soul go on proportionably , so that where the regeneration is but in part , it is because the mortification is but in part , and where the mortification is become whole , there the regeneration becometh whole also : for that which hindereth the image of god to spring up in its whole growth and statu●● readily and speedily , is the contrary image , which will let , till it be taken out of the way . xvi . and the divine power and spirit appeareth in the divine seed , and worketh therein , even in the souls of those who are wholly unholy and unrighteous , in whom satan's image possesseth the whole place : first to mortifie some place in the soul , and to cleanse and purifie it , and to expell the serpents image out of it , that so the divine image may begin to be formed and conceived . the divine seed therefore ( through the divine power , which worketh therein ) must first destroy and consume its contrary , before it can take root , and plant it self , and spring up in the heart , which is diligently to be observed , and of this the seed of god in the outward , viz. israel after the flesh was a type , for before they could plant themselves in the land of canaan , they behoved to destroy their enemies , which inhabited the same , and gradually as they consumed their enemies , they planted themselves in it , and took root , till they filled it all over , like a great tree over-shaddowing the whole land with its branches , and filling it with its fruits . i shall not add more particulars at present , being unwilling to burthen the weak understanding of a beginner with many things at the en●rance . there are many more doctrinal principles , but they will come in time enough afterwards . these well known and understood will satisfie to begin with : of the truth of which things let none imagine they can be sufficiently certified through this declaration , or any other that can be outwardly given , only it may be an occasion for them to observe the truth of these things , sprung up in their own understanding , from a measure of the same spirit , from which they are declared . chap. ii. shewing , that the soul converting it self unto god in the divine seed within its self , through the influence of the divine power upon it , for that effect is the very first thing that is requisite unto it , in order to its entring into the way of holiness . i say the very first thing , the soul is to do in order to its entring into the way of holiness is , to convert or turn it self unto the divine presence of god , and of jesus christ , as revealed in the divine seed ; for this was the message which paul received to declare unto the gentiles , to turn them from darkness unto light , and from the power of satan unto god. so he preached god near , even unto them , who were yet in darkness and unbelief , as among the athenians , who were idolaters . him ( said he ) whom ye ignorantly worship , i declare unto you , &c. who is not far from every one of us , for in him we live , and move , and have our being , &c. also unto the lycaonians , who were idolaters , he preached after this manner , that they should turn from their vanities unto the living god. now it is that , which generally passeth among people , that men should turn unto god , and that conversion is a turning unto god and unto jesus christ. but that they are to turn unto him , as he doth inwardly manifest and reveal himself by his holy spirit in mens hearts , this they have not been instructed in , for that generally all of them , except those called the mysticks , deny that there is such a thing in these daies , as the immediate revelation of god in mens hearts ; and as for the mysticks , though they grant that the divine presence doth immediately reveal it self in mens hearts , and that men are to turn in their minds unto it , which they call introversion ; yet they deny that men are to do this at first , as while they are polluted in their gross abominations and lusts , to turn in unto the divine presence , they judge a thing both presumptuous and vain ; presumptuous , because it is altogether unsuitable and unbecoming , that a soul polluted in its gross abominations and lusts , should approach and draw near unto god , and vain , because though they should attempt to do it , they will find it as impossible , as for a bird that is tied with a strong cord to the earth , to flee upward to heaven from earth . wherefore they require that the soul have attained unto some qualifications and dispositions , which cleanse it from its gross impurities , particularly the abnegation of all creatures , and of its own self , before it adventure to convert or turn it self inwards unto the divine presence . but this proceedeth from a great mistake in them , for that they do not judge aright of the divers manifestations and workings of god in the souls of men , according to their different states and conditions , for though the presence of god be one , yet it hath its manifestations , after different manners , in the unholy and unclean , and in the holy and clean souls , as is somewhat above declared , for in the holy , he revealeth himself immediately , in great love , peace , joy , meekness , sweetness , and beauty , and suffereth the soul to approach so near unto him ▪ as even to join in an union with him ; after a ma●ner unconceiveable to unholy souls . and indeed for unholy souls to approach unto god , so as to find him after this manner , i confess , were both presumptuous and vain , as aforesaid . but in the unholy and unclean , yea , even in the worst of men , who are most averted from god , the lord is present in them in such a manifestation , as is not unsuitable to his glory , nor improper to their present conditions , whose merciful and gracious visitation reacheth towards all men in jesus christ , even the worst , in a day , or time , given them of him for their conversion and turning unto god , according to which paul said , that god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself . which manifestation of god in them , in jesus christ , is in wrath and judgment , yet mixed and qualified with mercy , so that the lord doth appear in them , in the divine seed , as in a fire , not simply to consume and destroy them , but to consume and destroy the corruptions and evils ●hat are in them , to kill and destroy sin in them , even that birth and body or sin and death , which is in every unholy man , and is the image of the serpent and of satan , yea , and is that serpent , whom the seed of the woman bruiseth in the head , and destroyeth . for , as is formerly said , this serpentine image and the image of god , cannot live together in one place in the soul , nor can they flourish both in one and the same soul , because of their enmity , for they are in continual strife , waring against each other , and as the one loseth ground , the other gaineth , and on the contrary . the first thing therefore that a man is to do , after he is convinced of the truth , that god in iesus christ , is so near him , as to be in him in a seed , as in fire , for his cleansing and delivering of him from this woful image and from the impressions and dispositions it hath wrought in him through satan ) is to turn his soul and mind inwards unto god , and christ , as he doth there manifest himself . even as the father of the child ▪ which was bodily possessed with the devil , brought him unto christ , that he might cast him out , so the soul is to come unto christ , who is spiritually present in it , that he may cast out this devil out of it ; for this woful image is a very devil , and by it the devil possesseth the souls of the unholy . the soul must not bethink with it self that because it is so unclean and sinful , that therefore it ought not to come unto christ , for indeed one main end of christ his coming into the world , is to do good unto such , to cleanse the unclean , and to save the sinful from their sins . therefore let not the consideration of thy uncleanness and naughtiness prevail , to let or hinder thee from coming ▪ or turning inwards to him . perhaps the soul may say , i do not find god or christ in me , how then can i turn unto him whom i cannot find ? if i could once but plainly find him , i would think it a great step . answ. dost not thou find somewhat in thy very heart discovering the evils and pollutions thereof in some measure ? is there nothing in thee , that in some measure manifests thy condition to be evil and naught , and gives thee some knowledg of it , upon which thou art made at times to say , oh! i am unclean , unclean and evil ? yea further , dost not thou find somewhat , secretly stirring in thy heart , and moving in thee against particular evils , which are under thy observation , and in some measure pricking , and smiting thee ? and yet further , hast thou never observed it drawing thy heart inward , unto it self , though faintly and weakly ? also are there not times , wherein thou canst observe this to manifest it self more strongly , then at other times ? yea , are there not times that thou find'st it lie as a burden and load upon thy very heart ? yea , wouldst thou not think thou feltst something in thy heart cutting it , and making gashes therein , yea , and that as a fire burning in it , which greatly paineth and afflicteth thee , so that at such times no outward pleasures can comfort or ease thee ? furthermore , dost thou not find at times somewhat arising as it were in the midst of thy heart , and sending forth a secret vertue , whereby it seeketh to pierce thy whole heart , and so far as it pierceth or entreth , it somewhat softeneth thy heart , and worketh some little relenting in thee ; but because of the badness of thy heart , it is hindered from entring so far as it essayed to do ? sure i am there is no man , however bad , but hath had some experience , more or less , of these and such like workings in him : thou may'st say , i find indeed somewhat working in my heart , after the manner as is declared , and that frequently ; but most especially when i am most quiet , and still in mind , but i never apprehended this to be any other thing then the light of nature checking me in my conscience , as i have been alwaies informed by my teachers . but i say unto thee , therein thou hast been mis-informed , as in many other particulars ; for this thing that worketh in thee , after the aforesaid manner , is the very seed of god , or the divine seed , in which god in iesus christ is really present in thee , and in , and through the seed worketh in this manner in thee , for the salvation of thy soul : neither ought'st thou to think it so strange that he worketh , in thee , in such a small and weak manner of manifestation , for this is in great part because of thy weakness , for thou art not able to bear great and powerful workings and manifestations in this state . and seeing that the way which the lord taketh for the saving of souls , is after the sort of a real generation ( such as regeneration is ) it is most proper to begin it from a seed , and it were an easie thing for the lord to appear in this seed , by such manifestation of power , as on a sudden to remove all impediments , and instantly to cause it to spring up into its full stature , growth and proportion . but it hath pleased him to do otherwaies , for he can bring glory to himself the more in the creatures salvation , that he beginneth it , yea , and carrieth it on in a weak and foolish appearance to the natural eye . now this is it which christ himself taught , that the kingdom of god in man , at first is like unto a grain of mustard-seed , the least of all seeds , but after it is grown up , it becometh the greatest of all herbs . wherefore despise it not , though it be a very little thing in thee , for as little as it is , it is the kingdom of god , for god and christ is present in it , and manifesteth his power therein , as a king doth in his kingdom . and because the seed is little , therefore the power of god worketh but in little and small manifestations , to bear a proportion unto the seed , and according to the growth and increase of the seed , by the same proportion the divine power becometh greater and greater in its manifestation . but how small and mean soever the working of the divine power in this little seed doth appear , yet it is abundantly sufficient to begin the work of thy salvation , and still where more power and more powerful working from god , is needful to carry on this work , it will be seasonably afforded . but a man may readily object , that he doth essay to convert or turn himself unto god , but cannot get it done , because of his weakness and impotency , finding himself bound , as with a strong iron chain , yea , with many chains , which doth so avert and hold him back , that he cannot convert himself . answ. to require any man to convert himself , as by himself , without power given him from god for that effect , were to lay a burden upon the soul , too grievous to be born ; but indeed the lord , who is present in this little seed , sendeth forth at times , yea , very frequently , some secret divine influence and vertue upon the soul , through the seed , to enable it to convert or turn unto him , and he toucheth the bonds and fetters , in which it is bound , at times , and shaketh them off , so far , that the soul may turn unto god ; yea , the lord is the chief and principal worker here , and man but the instrumental . so that the soul its converting it self , is through the lord's converting it , that is to say , inclining it , by a divine and gracious touch , and influence upon its will , to convert ; and in a manner i may call it , upon the souls part , rather a suffering it self to be turned by the lord , according to these words , in the scripture , turn thou me , and i shall be turned . but now many , when the lord toucheth them , and by his touch infuseth a certain secret vertue , sufficient to turn them , or whereby they may turn , yea , when he draweth and pulleth them very sensibly , do resist and continue in their aversion , and of such the scriptures say , they draw back , and that they resist the truth , and resist the holy ghost , whose damnation is just , seeing he would have healed them , but they refused . be not therefore discouraged , or driven into despair , because thou find'st such weakness and inability to convert thy soul unto god , as aforesaid ; nor yet because thou find'st so little vertue or power administred unto thee , from the divine influence , for thy enabling ; for , by what is from the lord administred unto thee , it is possible for thee , to convert , though at first , and for a considerable time afterwards it will be difficult , for strait is the gate , and narrow is the way , that leads unto life . this converting the soul , after the manner declared , unto the divine presence , is the true faith and believing in god and christ , so much required in scripture , in order unto salvation ; which is the soul 's coming unto god and christ , as he said , come unto me , &c. and the soul 's taking hold of him and cleaving unto him . and indeed the latine word credo doth significantly express it , which is as much as to say , a giving the heart unto god. and how doth a man give his heart unto him , but by turning it towards him ? which conversion , or believing , is not simply of one power of the soul , but of both , viz. the understanding and will , yea , of the whole soul , with all its powers , when the conversion is through and total . chap. iii. shewing , how the soul ought to persist and continue in its conversion towards god and christ : and of the effects , which follow at first thereupon : as also of the inward trials and troubles it usually meeteth with therein . now after the soul hath got it self converted or turned inwards , by the divine influence and assistance , unto the divine seed , and to god and christ present therein ; then it is to be careful that it persist and continue in its conversion : and the lord , who by his divine grace hath enabled it to convert after the former manner , doth , and will also enable it to persevere therein . for it is in the soul 's persisting and continuing in its conversion , and application unto the divine word , light , and life in the divine seed , that it comes to receive and be partaker of the blessed effects thereof . an outward example whereof we have very plain in our holding any thing to the fire , which if suddenly we remove again , it scarce produceth any effect in it : as if we would purifie or refine any metal from its dross , by the fire , we must not only apply it intimately to the fire , but hold it in it a good time , that it may melt , and the dross may separate from it . so thou must not only turn thy soul to this fire of god in thee , but must persist and continue in so doing , and by that means thou wilt quickly begin to be a partaker of its blessed effects . some of which effects , as they follow at first upon the soul 's converting unto this divine principle , i find it with me to mention . as first : thou wilt by thy conversion thereunto , receive a more clear and full convincement and discovery of thy sins , and sinful polluted nature , then formerly ; so that thou wilt come to see sin to be exceeding sinful , and how thou art compassed about with it , as with a thick cloud , which hinders thee from enjoying the sweet and comfortable presence of god ; yea , thou wilt come to feel thy poor soul imbodied or incorporated in a very body of sin , having many members , and how near and dear they are unto thee , some as a right eye , some as a right hand , &c. then thou wilt know that such things are sins , which have place in thee , more than by any words , even of scripture ; for the manifestation of the spirit and light of christ in the little seed , will greatly convince thee thereof , and let thee see thy sins , and the nature or root that brings them forth , in their monstrous and hellish forms and shapes . ii. thou wilt also feel and perceive how the displeasure , wrath and indignation of god , is against every sin in thee , even all ungodliness and unrighteousness , the whole body of it , with all its members , root , and fruit and branches : and how also the wrath of god is against men , because of sin , to which they are joined . and so thou wilt find how all men , in a sinful and unrenewed condition are miserable , as being under the wrath and displeasure of god , and how sin is the root and fountain of the whole misery of man , and how man stands before god , in a state of judgment and condemnation while in sin , imbodied and drowned in it ; as it were over head and ears . iii. thou wilt have occasion to observe the mercy of the lord , in the midst of all this wrath and judgment , after a wonderful manner , which will raise in thy mind amazing and astonishing thoughts , whereby , thou wilt wonder and admire , that thou art not consumed in the midst of all this wrath : yea , then thou wilt be made to see somewhat like that of moses , how the fire burnt in the b●sh , and it was not consumed . iv. thou wilt find that this fire is only sent down from heaven to burn and consume that beastly and sinful nature , wherewith thou art inwardly cloathed as with a body ; and that the fruit of all this burning and kindling is to take away thy sin , and purge away thy filthiness and dross . v. and so as thou remainest and continuest introverted , or converted towards that divine principle , aforesaid , thou wilt find it as a sword , a fire , and a hammer , in thee , knocking down , and killing and consuming this body of sin with its members ; yea , a flame will issue forth from it , and will enter into the body of sin , killing and burning so far as it entreth . vi. by the operation of this heavenly fire thou wilt find a very sensible and grievous pain in thy inward man , as verily , as if the outward fire were burning in thy outward body . so thou mayst conceive how thou wouldst be affected , if the tenderest and most sensible part of thy outward body were held close unto a burning flame ; even such sensible and grievous pain wilt thou find inwardly : for indeed thy soul dwelleth as really in the body of sin , and is united with it , as it doth in the outward body . therefore it is sensible of whatever hurteth it , and findeth pain , till it have put it off , and then it hath no more sympathy with it . vii . great fear and terrour will take hold upon thee , because of these things , which thou wilt have occasion inwardly to observe , the like whereof before thou wert never acquainted with ; for this doth answer unto the ministration of the law by moses upon mount sinai , where the appearance of god on the top of a mountain was dreadful , in clouds , and darkness , and fire and the sound of a trumpet , and a voice , that did shake the earth , where the sight was so terrible , that moses said , i exceedingly fear and quake . for all these things had a signification of the inward ministration of the spirit , in its first workings in mens hearts . hence are these quakings and tremblings , which are witnessed to come upon many , through the inward dread and terrour , which ariseth in them , through the workings of the spirit of god upon them in this state and condition . now the fear and terrour is a most certain and infallible effect , in all , who do truly convert or turn in their minds unto the appearance of god in them , as aforesaid . but as for the bodily tremblings , some may have them in a great measure , others in a less , and some have none at all , so as to fall under outward observation , and yet the work of god in them may be as real and true , as in others , who have them most . for it is much the same with bodily tremblings , as tears , some will be made to shed tears in abundance , others but little , and others perhaps none at all , where the work may be real , even as much as where they are most abundant . viii . also this heavenly and divine fire , as thou continuest in the application of thy mind and heart unto it , will kindle in thee some beginnings of true and real repentance towards god ; for even as the fire melteth the wax , and softneth it , and maketh it to run and flow , so will this divine fire melt and soften thy heart into a true tenderness , and thou wilt find a true sorrow and grief in thee to arise , because of thy degeneration from god. also thou wilt even loath and abhor thy self in the presence of god , and count thy self most unworthy of his mercy and favour , yea thou wilt judge and condemn thy self , because of thy sins and sinful nature , so as to reckon the most grievous afflictions and punishments from the lord ( should he inflict them upon thee ) to be less , than thy deservings . also thou wilt become humble in thy own sight , and be apt to judge thy self as bad , or worse than any ▪ yea thou wilt be greatly ashamed of thy self , seeing and beholding thy self imbodied in such a monstrous and filthy body , as the body of sin is . furthermore , thou wilt be made even to hate sin in its body and members , root and fruit , as a most vile and abominable thing , so that an indignation will rise in thee against it , and the very sins , which have been dear and pleasant unto thee , as thy right eye and right hand , thou wilt willingly devote them , and give them up unto the devouring flames of this heavenly fire , and sacrifice them before the lord , as a sacrifice of a burnt offering . as i remember it is reported of one of the martyrs , who having shrunk from his testimony , and afterwards recovered strength to own it , and so was condemned to be burnt , he stretched forth his right hand ( which had subscribed some paper against the truth ) and with a certain holy indignation thrust it into the fire . so thou wilt even find to do the same with thy lusts , which the apostle calls the members upon earth , to devote and give them up to the fire , that they may be mortified and consumed , sparing none of them more than another : yea and some tender breathings and desires will arise in thee towards the lord , that he may yet more discover and pursue iniquity in thy heart , and kill it , sparing nothing , no not a hoof ; yea thou wilt even desire to be dissolved , and freed from the whole body of sin , with all its members , saying in thy heart , miserable man that i am , who shall deliver me , &c. and thus thou wilt find in thee some beginnings of a true aversion from sin , so that thou wilt witness a change both in thy judgment and will , in relation to sin , so as to have contrary thoughts of it to what thou hadst formerly , and thy affections to run and flow in another path and channel than formerly . ix . also thou wilt begin to find some true and real beginnings of mortification , or of a spiritual death unto sin , whereas thy heart was formerly wholly filled with sin , which oppressed and burthened the divine seed , and hindered it to conceive , or bud in thee ; thou wilt now begin to find some little and small emptyness in thy heart , even in the most inwards of it , called by some the fund of the soul , that is to say , the ground or bottom of it , and there will be some little room or place in thy heart mortified and purified , through the operation of the power of god in the divine seed , which , through its mortification and purification from sin , becometh a fit and prepared matrix or womb for the divine seed to conceive and bud therein , an to receive some formation . for , as is said , the seed cannot conceive but in a pure matrix and womb . indeed it may be as a fire , and is so in that part of the heart , which is unclean , but it can never grow , bud or conceive in it as a plant , till it be cleansed . therefore is it , that it worketh as a fire in the heart , as aforesaid , to the end it may prepare some place for it self to take root in , and therein to bud and conceive , that it may spring up and blossom , and bring forth its precious fruit . x. and as the heart and mind persisteth in its conversion aforesaid , there will be by this time , some tender buds of the divine and holy seed appearing , so far as way is made for them , through the purification or mortification aforesaid , and some real and true beginnings not only of some , but of all christian virtues will appear , such as of love , joy , peace , gentleness , meekness , patience , temperance , &c. and other fruits of the spirit ; for even as it is frequently in natural operations , so in this spiritual it is also , that after the destruction of one thing , immediately followeth the generation of another , life hastening as swiftly after death as possibly as can be conceived , so that no distance or space of time is admitted betwixt them . thus i have briefly pointed at divers good and precious effects , which do follow upon the souls converting unto the divine presence , and the light and power thereof in the holy seed , and upon its continuing or abiding therein . if there be any other not expresly mentioned , they may be reduced unto them , or implicitly understood in them , which are particularly mentioned ; of all which the soul must expect at first , yea and for some considerable time afterwards , but some certain beginnings , which will increase and become more and more observable , according unto its continuance in the conversion aforesaid . and much of all these effects , excepting somewhat as to the latter , do answer rather unto the ministration of the law , than of the gospel , yet we must not too nicely or subtilly distinguish them , far less divide them , for the ministration of the law in the spirit is never administred in that rigour or severity by the lord , unto men , in order to their salvation , but it hath somewhat more or less of the gospel mixed with it , even as in the midst of wrath he remembreth mercy : and so as law and gospel , iudgment and mercy are mixed and complicated together , in like manner the effects are mixed also , partaking of both , but most of the former at first , and for some considerable time following . now these and such like effects , as do follow upon the souls first converting unto god , in the divine seed , we do usually comprehend under this term the work of iudgment . and as the spirit of the lord hath its divers names , according to its divers workings , so in this it is called the spirit of iudgment and of burning , as in isa. 4.4 . others also not unfitly ( if rightly understood ) have called it the work of the law , and legal ministration in spirit : also it may be called repentance , or the baptism of repentance in spirit and by fire . and tho i have mostly insisted upon comparing the operation of the spirit in this administration , unto fire , which similitude is most used in scripture , yet it is not to exclude other resemblances , as that of water and of soap , mentioned also in scripture : and it is also likened unto that of a hammer and sword , and that also of a cross very significantly : in relation to which term , the work of the spirit here is fitly called a crucifiction or being crucified , oft also used in scripture ; and mortification , which , tho it taketh its beginning from the law , yet is consummated or perfected by the gospel . as touching the inward trials or troubles , the soul usually meeteth with , in this state , they are divers , proceeding partly from its own weakness , partly from its corruptions , and partly from satan . first , from its own weakness , for the soul entring into a new way , it knew nothing of formerly , and meeting with many strange and wonderful things , with which it was never acquainted heretofore , cannot but occasion great inward trials and troubles unto it , even as if in the outward a man should be brought unto some violent bodily death , as burning , or crucifying , &c. yea , it is represented in the scripture , under such terms , as of the suns losing his light , the moons becoming black , the stars falling from heaven , the earth shaking , and such like dreadful and astonishing things . 2. from its corruptions , which beginning to be assaulted and set upon , for their destruction , will combine all their forces , to avert and turn back the soul from its progress in this new way : also they will call in for the aid and assistance of flesh and blood , which in its corrupt state is a very great impediment to the poor soul in this way , whereof flesh and blood has no liking at all , for it perceiveth it will be greatly straitned and restrained from its wonted liberty it rrceived by sin and corruption , and put to endure great and many hardships , through the souls entring into the way of mortification and holiness . 3. from satan , who , as the strong man , has formerly kept the house in peace , and now another coming to cast him out , he will use many methods and waies with the soul , to turn it aside and divert it from it's new way , that he may keep his place in it ; for it is as torment to him to be cast out , and lose his usurped possession . he will suggest unto the soul the novelty of its way , the difficulty of it , and how few take such a course : also he will alledge unto it , that it may get to heaven , by easier means ; yea he will endeavour to perswade the poor soul , that the light within is but some fancy or imagination , or at best some insufficient thing , and that the very works the soul feels begun in it , by and through the power of that light , are but melancholick imaginations , and that the fire the soul finds kindled in it , is but the heat of the fancy , or sparks of its own kindling : or if he cannot prevail that way , but that the soul still persists in its conversion unto this sacred and divine fire , then especially , when he perceives that the souls feels it great force , he will be tempting to despair , telling it that god has kindled this fire in it , for its utter destruction and torment . and if he cannot prevail thus , then he will tempt it with hard thoughts of god , as if the lord were too severe and rigid , in using such waies with it . also he will endeavour to stir up in it impatience , grudging and fretting , weariness and discontent , and a longing to return unto the flesh-pots of aegypt , even to its former evil and licentious way of life in sin . these and many such like troubles and trials will the poor soul meet with , besides many outward occasions from the world , both of pleasures and afflictions , to divert it and turn it aside from its persisting in its conversion unto god , in the divine seed . by reason of these and such like inward trials and troubles , divers after some measure of a real and true application and conversion of their minds unto god and christ in the divine seed , have turned back again , and not continued in their begun conversion , even like some unwise and cowardly patients , who at first give themselves up unto the physian , to be lanced and tented and scarrified , but afterwards finding the pain and anxiety thereof , shrink back and chuse rather to remain in their wounds and distempers , though it should cost them the losing of their life , then indure a little trouble and pain for their cure . therefore it 's said , in relation to this , mal. c. 3. v. 2. who may abide the day of his coming , and who shall stand when he appeareth , for he shall be as the refiners fire and fullers soap ? which words do import , that some may receive his first appearance , but not abide it , nor stand it out , nor indure unto the end of the fiery trial , which comes by it ; for to abide and to stand are words signifying continuance and persisting . but notwithstanding all these things , thou must persist and continue therein , with a stout and bold resolution , which will be given thee of the lord , if thou be not wanting on thy part to receive it , and if thou persist not , the work of thy salvation will be stopt . it is much better for thee to indure these inward trials and difficulties , then to lose thy own soul , and be cast into endless torment hereafter for thy negligence and carnal ease : better thou go maimed into heaven , losing a right eye , a right hand , then that thy whole body should go into hell fire . the cure is worthy all the pain and much more : a woman when she is in travail hath sorrow and pain , but after she hath brought forth her man-child , she remembreth it no more , for her gladness swalloweth it up , so that she doth not rue nor repent of her travel and labour she indured . now methinks i ( as it were ) hear some poor souls objecting after this manner , which indeed hath been of the objection of my own heart , and i know also of others . oh! ( say they ) that we could find this divine fire kindled in us for the consumption of our sins , and the purification of our souls therefrom ; we are so weary of sin , and have such a desire to be rid of it , that we would rejoyce with great joy , to feel this sacred fire burning in us , tho it should pain us , as if our outward bodies were cast alive into outward flames ! we find ( say they ) somewhat as light from god in our hearts , letting us see many vile and abominable things in them , but as for this fire , we do not as yet find it ! to which i answer , that ye find that which discovereth and maketh manifest these evils in your hearts , is matter of encouragement , for that is indeed the true light , eph. 5.13 . joh. 3.20 . now turn in or convert your minds unto it , and persist therein , as aforesaid , and ye shall find in due time that this light shall become a fire in you , according to these words , which i may well apply at least by way of analogy unto this matter , isa. 10.17 . and the light of israel shall be for a fire , and his holy one for a flame , and it shall burn and destroy his thorns and his briars in one day . for this self same light of god , which ye find in your hearts , hath in it the vertue and property of fire , no less than of light , yea much more at first , and for a good time following : but the reason why ye do not find its operation of fire to burn and consume the evils in your hearts , as ye find that of light to discover them , is , because your hearts are not so nearly and intimately applied and converted thereunto , as is requisite , even as it is in relation to the outward fire , for if we stand at a distance from it , and but look to it afar off , it will only make us perceive its light , so as to give us a discovery of things , but we will know nothing of its fieriness , more than if it were not fire at all ; but if we come nearer unto it , so as to hold our hand or any other member of our body , nigh unto it , we will then find it to be a fire , and be very sensible of its fiery operation , so that if we take not away the member applied , the fire will kindle in it , and consume it , which is a plain and fit example of this thing , to represent it by . therefore it thou wouldst find this divine principle , and the appearance of god and of christ therein , to be as a fire in thee , turn in thy mind and heart unto it yet more nearly and intimately , and persist therein , and thou wilt find it not only to be in thee a shining light , but a burning light also , yea at first and for some time following , rather burning than shining . wherefore turning in and converting not only thy understanding unto it , but thy will and affections ; thou wilt find its power , even to kill and destroy the evils of thy heart , no less than to discover them , and hereby thou wilt receive , not only an informed judgment and understanding , but a reformed will and affections . and this divine principle will work mightily in thee , to work out the errours , as well out of thy will , as out of thy judgment , for the errours are great in both . and now many are greatly deficient in this matter , who do somewhat apply their understanding unto the divine light , and thereby they receive some discoveries of things , far beyond others , but they do not apply their wills unto it , and so they remain as bad and evil in heart , as the most ignorant , yea many times they are worse , for what they know naturally as brute beasts , they corrupt themselves therein , these are they who hold the truth in unrighteousness , more then any others , they imprison it in their understandings , but will not permit it to sink down into their hearts , and diffuse it self into their wills and affections . these are they also , of whom the apostle speaks , who receive not the truth in love : they would have it to shine in their heads , but cannot endure it should burn and diffuse its sacred flames in their hearts , yet the knowledg of all such persons , though even from the openings of the principle of truth , is not the solid , substantial , pure knowledg , which those have , who receive this divine principle into their hearts , and suffer it to diffuse it self into their wills and affections , as aforesaid , for the solid , substantial and holy knowledg is only received from the light of that life , which is seated and implanted in the most inwards of the will and affections , and from thence diffuseth it self into all the powers of the soul. chap. iv. shewing how the soul , after its converting unto god and jesus christ in the divine seed , must , in its persisting and continuance therein , stand in great passi●eness , stillness and quietness , bearing and forbearing , before it enter upon its operative exercises . i say the soul , after its first converting unto the divine presence in the divine seed , must , in its persisting and continuance therein , stand in great passiveness , stilness or qu●terness ( otherwise called silence ) for that its place , at present , is more to be passive than active , yea , excepting only its simple act , or acts of conversion , for sometime , as much as possibly it can , to be wholly passive . the reason of which is very evident and demonstrative , as i do thus make appear : if it would be active , and give it self unto operative exercises , as to matters of holiness and religion , it must first be somewhat delivered and freed from the positive impediments and lets , which hinder all such actions and operative exercises , which belong , or pertain unto holiness . 2. it must be cloathed or endued with such a power , as whereby , it is impossible for it , in some measure , more or less , to perform them , as for example , i cannot perform the operations of sense , but i must be endued with the ●ensual powers , as i cannot see , but i must be endued with the power of seeing , also i cannot walk , or go but i must be endued with the loco-motive ●aculty or power , without which also i can not move my hands to write , or do any other bodily occupation ; also without the power of speech i cannot use my tongue , to express or declare my mind : moreover , i cannot exercise my self in operative acts of reason , unless i be endued with the power of reason : hence it is , that a tree cannot perform the sensual operations of a beast , because it hath only the life of vegetation , and not of sensation : therefore , tho by its growth it can shoot upwards , from the vegetable life , yet it cannot remove its whole body from the place it stands in , for that it wants the sensual life and loco-motive power . again , among these creatures , who are endued with the sensitive and loco-motive powers , we find a great difference , as to their motions , and bodily exercises ; some are beasts , which go upon all four , and some creep upon the belly ; others are fowls flying in the air , and others are fishes swimming in the sea and rivers . now , tho the beasts , such as the horse and ass , can move upon four , and run with a good pace , yet they cannot fly , as the fowls of the air : neither can the fishes move upon dry land ? and we would judge it a most unnatural and ridiculous thing , to observe a horse essaying to mount up into the air , and fly like a fowl , or a fish to move on dry land : the reason of all which , is , because these motions are of different kinds , and proceed from different powers of the sensual life , and require different organs , for their performing , as the fowl its wings , the fish its fins or scales , &c. beasts their four feet or leggs . furthermore , a beast cannot perform the natural operations of man , even as a natural man , such as to build , plant , write , speak , discourse , for these are the operations proceeding from the reasonable power , which beasts want . now as to the other part , to clear it also by example , suppose i have the locomotive power , and organs , yet if there be such strong impediments , as do universally hinder either the one , or the other , i cannot move , as if the body were in some lethargy , or swarf , or universal gout , which stops the power of motion , or if the power were free , yet if some external impediment be on the organ , as the hands , or feet bound with fetters , they cannot move , &c. i have the more fully insisted on these examples , because they do very pertinently hold forth the thing in hand , for indeed as impossible as it is for a man to perform the works and operations of holiness , without he be endued and cloathed with the life and power of holiness , and receive the organs requisite thereunto , as it is for a tree to walk , or an horse to flie like an eagle , or a fish to run upon dry land , or for a brute to understand and discourse the things of reason , like a man : for the life and power of holiness standeth in a region above the life of the natural reason and the natural powers of man-hood , as much i● not more , as the life and power of natural reason and man-hood standeth in a region above the sensual life and powers of brutes . now man in his natural , or unrenewed , or unregenerate state , doth not live the life of holiness , is but a natural man , and not a saint . therefore it is as impossible for him , to do the works of a saint , as it is for a beast to do the works of a man. indeed a natural and unrenewed man may counterfeit the works of the saints , speak and do something like them , as to outward appearance , but they cannot truly perform ; there is as great a difference betwixt the actions and motions of the one and the other , as betwixt the flight of a living dove , which comes from a principle of life in her , and the flight of that mechanical dove of architas , which he is reported to have made flie , from some inward mechanick springs and devices very artificially composed : the motion of the one being living and natural , and that of the other dead and artificial : so it is , as to the motions and works of the saints , and those who are not saints ; the saints works and motions are living , and do savour of that holy and precious life , which produceth them , but the motions and works of the unholy and unrenewed , are dead , having no savour , nor vertue of the holy life in them . every man acteth , according to that principle and power of life , with which he is indued ; ●o the holy man acteth from the power and life of holiness , which endueth and cloatheth him , and putteth a seal or impression of it self upon every work , more or less , which proceedeth therefrom , that he , which hath the spiritual eye , can read , without any difficulty ; but the unholy man , the life and power of unholiness enduing and cloathing him , and being predominant over all in him , all his works and operative exercises are unholy , and have their seal and impression also ; vnholiness is written in great lette●s upon them all , let them preach , pray , confess , or do any other work , as to religion , all is unholy and unclean , and so are neither accepted of god , nor profitable to themselves , nor any other . yea , they are so far from being profitable unto him or them , who use them , that they are a great hurt and impediment , which will let them from their entrance into a holy life , or making progress therein ; for whatever works of that kind they produce , it s from that principle , life and spirit , which is contrary unto the principle of god , and therefore choaks and burdens it : also the soul being so inwardly converted to this evil principle , through its workings thereby and therefrom , cannot so convert it self , or persist in its conversion , till it come to passiveness , or forbearance . so from all this i● is manifest , that the soul ought to be passive , and forbear its workings , and operative exercises , until , at least through its conversion unto the divine presence in the divine seed , and i●s cont●nuance therein for some time , it come to be endued and cloathed with the power and life of holiness in some measure , which it drinketh in from these divine touches of god and christ present in it , in the divine s●●d , as it abideth in its conversion thereu●●o , even as the needle , by its being touched by the load-stone , and being for some time applied thereunto , drinketh in a magnetick power , and vertue , whereby it moveth toward the north , and tho by some violence it should be moved out of its line , it returneth to it again , through the innate i●clination begot in it , by the vertue it hath drunk in from the load-stone , wherewith it was touched . now such is the state of the soul , before it hath drunk in this vertue and power of an holy life , from the divine presence in the divine seed in it , that it not only wants altogether these powers , whereby it can move in holy actions , but it is also cloathed with many powers of a contrary life , which in no wise would permit it to move truly in any holy action , tho we could suppose it otherwise to have both the powers and organs requisite thereunto . there is a body of sin and death , with many members , which hang upon it , and cover it all over , and lies so heavy upon it , even as so many talents of lead , that it cannot move in holy actions , more than a body , that hath an hundred stone weight of iron , loading it , can walk : indeed with these weights of sin it can move swiftly and vigorously in unholy actions and exercises ; also it can use legerdemain , and by hypocritical tricks and knacks , counterfeit holy actions , but it cannot perform them by any means , till it begin to receive some measure of deliverance from these powers of sin , which hold it in bondage ; its tongue is bound , that it cannot speak the holy language , so is its heart , that it cannot meditate or conceive holy thoughts , nor exercise it self in these operative exercises of the will and affections , which holy souls have power to do . now in the souls being thus passive and quiet , standing still in a cessation from all its operativeness , but simply persisting in its conversion , the divine fire receiveth a great opportunity more and more to enkindle it self in the soul ▪ and so to kill and consume the lusts and evils , that are in it , for by its activeness and operative exercises it quencheth this divine fire , and hindereth it to burn , and by its doings and workings , it is like unto a man , who coming unto a chyrurgion , to get some infectious member of his body cut off , when the chyrurgion comes to cut off the member , or grate it off with his tool , be it a leg , or an arm , should with all his power struggle and work to resist the man he comes unto for his cure , whereas he should be passive and still , and busied in nothing , but in holding the infectious member steadily and stoutly unto the chyrurgions hand , bearing patiently the pain of the cure , and forbearing all these things , which do any waies hinder its more speedy accomplishment . so shouldst thou come before the lord , and convert or turn thy infectious members of sin , which hang upon thee , towards the lord's hand , and arm of power revealed in thee , to destroy them , yea thou shouldst stand as passively , and receive the stroke , as the condemned person , to have his head cut off , standeth , or applieth himself quietly , without wrangling , or moving , to receive the blow : and it will be a great happiness for thee , so to be killed and slain by the lord , for if he kill thee ▪ it is but as unto sin , which separateth thee from enjoying him , that he may make thee alive unto holiness , so as to live in him , and with him , in blessedness everlasting . besides , the souls being so operative doth not only weaken , and quench the divine fire , that is ki●dled in it , for its mortification , but doth also strengthen the life of sin and unrighteousness , for even as the fire goeth out , if it be hindred from its motion , and the life of any thing dieth , if it be not suffered to breath , or perform its vital actions , but if it have scope and liberty to act and move , it gathers strength , so the life of sin is greatly strengthened by its being permitted to act , for its actions are like unto the pouring of oyl upon a flame , which causeth it to burn more vehemently . wouldst thou have therefore this unholy fire to be extinguished in thee , then keep oyl from it , that is to say , keep thy self from thy operative excesses , as aforesaid , which , in this thy present state , are but the works of th● unholy life and power , the holy life not yet being formed or begotten in thee . behold how a fowl keeps it self up in the air , by its motion , and waving of its wings , whereas , if it ceased to work , and wave , as it doth , it would suddenly fall down to the earth , or water . now thy thinkings and willings and doings keep thee aloft in that unholy and impure air , where satan hath dominion , cease but from them , and as the bird falleth down , so thou shouldst find thy self , after a wonderful manner , to sink , and fall out of that element , thou wert in , into another , even into a river of living water , which killeth every unclean thing , but afterwards reviveth and quickeneth it again , with a pure and holy life ; by which river i understand the divine power and spirit , that is nearer unto thee , then the air , thou breathst in , but because of thy impurity at present , thou ca●st not enjoy the sweetness and glory thereof ; thou must first fall into it , and die ere thou canst live . but perhaps some may say , is not conversion a being operative , how then dost thou require us to convert , and cease from being operative ? the answer to this is plain , for the conversion of the soul to this divine fire and principle in it , is so simple and so little operative upon the souls part , that it is rather a being ( so to speak ) passive , then active : and if it offend , or seem harsh unto any , that i bid them convert , in the active mood , then it may be converted into the passive , as peter said unto the jews , be converted , saith he ; so i say , i thou canst not convert thy self , be converted , or suffer the divine power to convert thee unto it self ; and whether the first step of conversion be active , or passive , or whether most of the two , this is certain , that by the touch and attract of the divine power upon any soul , were it never so impotent and lame , it is possible for it , to convert or turn thereunto , and may be able to convert it self , by such a simple act , by the divine and gracious touch , and yet at that present not able for any other acts . the example of the needle and the loadstone will here be of use , for though the needle , before it be touched by the loadstone , cannot direct or move it self , towards the pole , albeit being influenced by the stone , it be brought near unto it , yet in vertue of that influence it can convert it self unto the stone . thou mayst perhaps say , it doth not convert it self , but is by the load-stone drawn or attracted to it . but be it so , the matter is not much : for whether it be said , that , the soul in the first step of its conversion , doth not actively convert , but is converted by the divine touch or influence : o● that she is both passive and active , in that step ; passive as being touched or influenced by the divine grace ; active as receiving and drinking it in , and so may be understood to have that inclination begot in it , by which it can actively convert or turn it self unto god. the matter , i say , is not much , for the children of light have large experience of it , that they find an ability given them many times , to perform simple acts of conversion , when they are not able to do others , as to speak , or pray , or meditate divinely , or spiritually ; yea when we find an inability , as to these things , and some impediment in our way , or any hurt or blemish , by converting or turning in our minds unto the divine power , we will find our strength renewed , and ability given us to do these things , which formerly we could not , and the impediments removed , and the hurt or bruise taken away , and so in like manner proportionably , it may be with beginners . again , it may be objected , that the soul would willingly come unto this passiveness and forbearance and silence of mind , but it cannot at●ain unto it , the powers of nature and sin so strongly set it upon working . answ. indeed the difficulty is great , because both the powers of nature and sin work strongly , and joyn their forces together unto acting and doing ; and besides , nature is so unacquainted with such a thing , that it is very impatient of it , yet , i say , it is not impossible , and if thou dost rightly perform the simple acts of conversion , turning thy mind still nearer and nearer unto the divine prefence in the holy and divine seed , thou wilt find by degrees thy heart to come into this passiveness and forbearance , and to continue or persist therein for a time . chap. v. shewing , how the soul , after its conversion unto god , and continuance therein , in passiveness and forbearance , for some small time , becometh a partaker of the holy and divine life , and the powers thereof , in some measure , through some beginnings of a spiritual death and regeneration , by which it attaineth unto some measure of union with god and christ , and thereby is put in some capacity for operative exercises of holiness , unto which it ought to apply ; and that any other way of entring upon these exercises is but freigned and hypocritical . [ operari sequitur esse , that is to say ] working followeth being , is a maxime in naturals ; it holdeth as much in spirituals . so that , before a man can do the works of ●olines● , he must be a partaker of the life and power of holiness , and that not in a notion , or imagination , but in substance , or being : and before that a man can work his works in god , he must have a being in god , in some measure , through his attaining an union with him ; for even as the body cannot co-operate with the soul , in natural actions , unless it be a partaker of the soul's life , and be in union with it , so nor can the soul co-operate with god , in spiritual and holy actions , till it be a partaker of his life , and attain unto some union with him . now i have shewed above , that the soul , through its converting unto god , and continuance therein , in passiveness and forbearance , as aforesaid , were it but for a very small time , becometh a partaker of some beginnings of a spiritual death and regeneration . for , when the soul converteth unto god , and christ , in the divine seed , and persisteth , were it but for a little , therein it beginning to feel the divine fire to inkindle in it in the divine seed , which mortifieth and purifieth some place in the heart , whereby it becometh a fit matrix or womb for the divine seed , to take root in and for to spring up , and p●t forth some tender buds and beginnings of a holy and spiritual life , which do no sooner appear , but they do impress and endue the soul , in some measure , with their powers and vertues , by which it is put in some capacity for operative exercises of holiness , unto which it ought to apply . it is generally granted , that faith is , as it were the root of all holy and spiritual actions ; and the scriptures do hold it forth plainly that , faith or believing is the first step unto a holy life , and the very entrance thereinto , and that fa●●h , by a natural order , is to go before works , for for without faith it is impossible to please god , though men should do never so many things ; for it is faith , which , drawing spirit and life from god , infuseth the same into works , which maketh them living : and therefore , as the apostle iames said , — faith without works is dead , so it is no less true , works without faith are dead . faith without works is dead , because , if it want works , it is an infallible sign , that it is but a dead and false faith , for the true and living faith is operative and working , and cannot forbear , but it must be breathing forth its life in holy actions . works without ●aith are dead , because it is faith , which , drawing life from god , infuseth it into them : and , as i have shewed above , this faith is the soul 's converting or turning unto god , through the divine and gracious touch and influence of the spirit of god upon it , in the divine seed , by which a man cometh to be partaker of holiness and right●ousness ; according to which the ungodly are said to be justified , not by working , but by believing , which is to be understood unquestionably of these works , which men endeavour and go about to perform , in the natural and unconverted state , whereby they seek to work themselves into holiness , which is impossible , for that were to invert the very order of nature , both in naturals and spirituals , which setteth the being of a thing before its operation , but not the operation before the being , as who would say , the fruit makes the tree , whereas on the contrary , it is the tree which makes the fruit. and hereunto will agree these words of augustin , bona opera non praecedunt justificandum , sed sequuntur justificatum , that is to say , good works go not before the making of a man righteous , but do follow a mans being made righteous . also when the jews came unto christ , asking , what they should do , that they might work the works of god , he bid them believe , this , saith he , is the work of god , that ye believe in him , whom he hath sent . furthermore he said unto them , while ye have the light , believe in it , that ye may become the children of the light. and thus peter exhorted them , who were come to be partakers of the precious faith , add unto your faith vertue , &c. whereby it appears , that faith ( which is the mind 's turning in unto god , with both its understanding , will , and other powers ) is the first step or entrance into a holy life . and when these jews , acts 2. inquired of him what they should do to be saved , he bid them repent and be baptized ▪ and p. 3.19 . he said again unto others , repent and be converted . so that faith ( which is one and the same with conversion ) and repentance a●e the two first principles of the doctrin of christ and his apostles , and are plainly so called , heb. 6.1 . and are said to be the very foundation or first beginning of the christian life , of which foundation or ground-work iesus christ is the foundation ; for the word foundation signifieth sometimes the ground , whereon a house is built , and in this sense christ is the alone foundation : other whiles it signifies the ground-work , or , as it were , the first beginnings of the building on the foundation , and in this sense faith and repentance are the foundation or fundamentals of a christian life . now repentance is the soul 's entring not only into a sorrow for sin , and an aversion therefrom , but also into a spiritual death unto sin , and a regeneration into a new life : and so much doth the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( which is rendred into english , repentance ) plainly import , for it s as much as to say , as a change of the mind , which change is nothing else but its dying into sin , and becoming alive unto holiness , which is also the true spiritual baptism , that christeneth or maketh a christian in spirit and in truth . and of these two principles , to wit , faith and repentance , faith is the first , in the order of nature , for by it repentance comes to be wrought in the heart , as is above declared , how that by the soul 's converting unto god , in the divine seed , and turning it self unto the light of jesus christ , therein it cometh to find that light to become a fire in it , which , by its operation , produceth some beginnings of a spiritual death and holy life , as aforesaid . but notwithstanding that faith and repentance , are commonly acknowledged both by papists and protestants , to be the foundation or ground work of a christian life , as also that faith is the first step unto a holy life , and as it were the spring and root of holy actions ; yet how contrary unto this acknowledgment is , not only the common practice , but also the common principle , that goeth currant among them , whereby they set the unbelievers and ungodly , who have not so much as tasted of the least beginnings of true faith and repentance , upon working and operative exercises of the christian religion , such as to pray and to sing psalms , which are holy and spiritual exercises , and can only be performed by a holy life , and no otherwise . their principle is this , that even unbelievers and ungodly , who have not the least measure or grain of saving faith and holiness , should pray and sing psalms , in the very state and frame they are in , and that this is a probable way to attain unto holiness , wresting and abusing that scripture , to prove it by , the fathers will give the holy spirit to them , who ask him : ask and ye shall find . but it is neither here , nor elsewhere said in scripture , that the father will give it to them , who ask in unbelief , but plain contrary iames saith , let not him , that asketh not in faith , think that he shall receive any thing of the lord. indeed i willingly acknowledg all unbelievers and ungodly should pray , and worship god , but i say it should be in the order and way commanded of god , and not as they practise , viz. they should convert and pray , repent and pray , believe and pray , &c. for god hath joyned these together , and forbids that any man should attempt to separate them , yea they cannot be separated . this woful errour both in their principle and practice , is a most grievous let and impediment unto peoples attaining unto holiness , for as much as their praying and singing , or any other exercises in relation to the service of god , are not the true and real practices of religion , but a meer counterfeit formality and shew , or imitation of these things ; for true prayer and thanksgiving can only commonly proceed from the true and real power of a holy life , even as singing and writing naturally can only proceed from the power of a natural life . and besides , they most lamentably cheat their own souls , for by these and such like operative exercises and practices , which are but hypocritical formalities and shews , as is said , and through their continuance therein , they acquire a certain natural habit or disposition more and more and easily and finely to perform them , which natural habit they set up in their hearts , as it were , as the great power of god or godliness , and many , no doubt , apprehend it to be so , so that when at any time they are acted or enabled to perform such and the like exercises somewhat more finely and easily , than at first , and with some heat perhaps in the imagination and inferiour powers of the soul , they impu●e it to the very principle of godliness , and look upon themselves as grown or advanced christians in the way of godliness , for by the power of this acquired habit , they will find many times thoughts spring up into their understandings , of god and christ , which will seem unto them as divine contemplations and acts of true adoration . also by the same the affections will be stirred sometimes greatly , and as it were a fire kindled in them , yet it is but the sparks of their own kindling , and not that true divine and sacred fire aforementioned , which cometh down from heaven , however it may appear to them so to be . such men are not unfitly by some called habitualistae , or habitualists , who go about to frame or form unto themselves the power of godliness , whereby to perform holy exercises , through working themselves into a habit , by such counterfeit and hypocritical actions , as aforesaid . but true and real holiness is not attained unto , by the frequent workings ( tho never so sublime ) of the meer natural powers of the soul , neither is it a habit produced of these workings , but is a spiritual and supernatural power springing up from the divine seed , as it comes to take root and bud in the soul. yet if we shall take an impartial view of that , which is called and accounted holiness amongst professors commonly , we shall find it to be no other but such a habit , as is demonstrable from these two or three instances . 1. how have they come by this holiness ? was it by a true or real converting or turning in their minds unto the light and power of iesus christ inwardly revealed in them in the divine seed , by which they felt the divine fire kindled in the very ground or bottom of their hearts , which purified a place in them for the divine seed to conceive and bring forth the buds of a holy life and the powers thereof ? nay , such a way they have not known , and they commonly call it fancy , errour , and what not ? or did they attain unto their holiness by falling instantly upon working and operative exercises , as their parents , or masters have taught them ? being nothing acquainted with these waies of inward conversion or recollection of mind unto a divine principle in their souls objectively present , never expecting nor looking after it , as judging it to be ceased . if so , then i say , there is no difference betwixt their praying or plowing , or writing or singing common musical songs or common purposes ; for the power of doing both the one and the other is but an habit acquired by natural working , for such kind of actions , as to plow , write , sing , require no other principle but the natural powers of a man , which at the first can begin to do a little , and so by degrees , through repeated acts , acquire a habit , which becomes a power in them , to enable them the more readily and finely to perform them , and with greater ease . a second instance is this , that this power , whereby they exercise themselves in the operative exercises , as in praying , singing , preaching , or the like , they can use in their own wills and times , they have it wholly at their own dispose , and can command it as they list , pray when they will , meditate and preach when they will : which is an in●allible instance that it is but a habit , meerly acquired by the on●y workings of the natural powers of the soul ; for the supernatural power to do these things is never subject unto mans command and will , but alone unto the will and command of god. and thus we find it to be in our experience , as did the holy men of old , who spake and preached ▪ and prayed and wrote declarations of the truth , as they were moved of the holy ghost , so their using this power stood in the will of god ▪ and not in their own . a third instance is this , that this power in them , judged by them to be the power of godliness , in its greatest growth and heighth is very compatible and consistant with many evil thoughts , desires , words and actions , yea , it can very easily be reconciled unto many sins , and hath not so much as an appearance of enmity at such sins as are not contrary unto these acts , which have produced it : as ye shall find , that a man who hath got a strong habit or custom of praying twice or thrice a day , if he omit this practice at a time , how will he be troubled for it ? and what is the matter of his trouble ? his habit strongly inclines him to it , and gives him no peace nor rest till it be done ; and this inclination he may readily judge to be from the spirit of god ( whereas it is but from his own habit ) and so be the more troubled , as supposing he resisteth the spirit by this forbearance : but now if he omit the necessary performance of other things he is not accustomed to , he will not be troubled at all . and thus how many care not to omit the duties of faithfulness and righteousness towards their neighbours , who are at a great care to say their prayers . but verily that power in man , which inclines him to some things good in themselves , and not to all other good things and practices , and which is not as a fire , a sword and a hammer in him against every evil way and work , yea , the least evil motion in the mind , is not the true power of godliness ; it may well be a habit , as aforesaid . yet by what is said let none suppose that i judg all , who have not in such a clear , distinct and explicit way , been acquainted with these aforesaid steps of inward conversion to the light , continuance therein , and passiveness and forbearance above-mentioned in the said continuance , as if they were utterly devoid of the power of godliness , having nothing but a natural habit , in the room of it . for as i am fully perswaded that many , or most , have no other but the natural habit , so i verily believe there are some hidden ones ( hidden many waies ) who are truly partakers of some measure of the power of godliness , which at times stirreth and moveth hiddenly in them , and by which they act divers practices of religion , as by a certain secret instinct , as it were , unknown to themselves : but they are such babes ( poor souls ! ) who know not the right hand from the left , that is to say , cannot distinguish plainly betwixt the true power of godliness , and that which is but the natural habit , and so act sometimes from the one , and sometimes from the other , yea , more from the habit , then from the true power , ten or an hundred to one perhaps : and many times that , which they are aptest to judg to be the true power , is but the natural habit ; for the habit is great and strong in them perhaps , but the true power is a weak and tender thing , even as a smoaking flax and bruised reed , to which the habit is an enemy always in its actings , and the devil seats himself in the habit , and fights against the true power in the soul , by the acts of the habit , he concurring therewith . and truly ere the true power can become strong in the soul , so as to have the dominion , the habit , or habitual power , must be broken down , for it is but an image of the beast . and glory to the lord for ever , who is giving to a remnant the victory over this image , and raising up the power of his own holy life over it , to its brusing and destroying . now albeit such souls have not ( as to a distinct reflection and knowledg of the way of their attaining unto these small beginnings of the true power of holiness ) passed through these steps of inward recollection , conversion , passiveness and forbearance ; yet after some secret and hidden manner unknown to themselves , in some measure , they have no doubt flid through them , the darkness so far prevailing , that they could not observe their way : but surely where one hath got through this way , a thousand have missed , stuck at the entrance , and never got truly into it . therefore i may warrantably say , the want of the plain and clear understanding of these steps , hath made the way unto holiness , if not altogether impossible , yet very difficult , and much more , then it is in deed and in truth . chap. vi. wherein divers things , needful to be known by them , who do , or would , enter into the way of holiness , in relation to the nature of conversion , regeneration , of the life and powers of holiness , and of vnion with god , are opened ; and the gross mistakes of most professors , touching these things , discovered and cleared . great and woful have been the mistakes and misconceptions of the professors , whether of one sort or another , touching these tings , which have occasioned great hurts and impediments both unto their entrance into holiness , and progress therein ; the clearing of which would be of great use and profit . therefore i find it with me to declear somewhat touching them , according to the understanding given me of god : not that any thing said by me , can suffice simply to the clearing of any , it being the spirit of the lord who only can do that ; yet the declaration hereof may be an occasion , as the lord shall bless it , for them to weigh and consider these things in the true light , whereby they may come truly to judg of them . i. as touching conversion and regeneration , it is supposed simply to consist in the lord 's infusing certain supernatural habits of grace into the soul , which sometimes they express under this term , the seed of grace or the seed of god : so that that they judge that instantly at the infusing of this seed the soul is converted ; and that all these souls , into whom this seed is infused , are instantly converted and regenerated , which is a gross errour . ii. they suppose that conversion and regeneration is wholly done in an instant , and that at the very first instant the seed spreads it self , or is spread and diffused through every power of the soul wholly , which is another great error . iii. they suppose that god works so irresistibly in all men , in whom this seed is sown or infused , that it is impossible for them to resist , but converted or regenerated they must be , which is a third . for though the lord can so work , or may do so in some , yet it is certain , he doth not so in all , but in this they contend among themselves . iv. they judg that this seed of god is only some supernatural accident or quality , but not a substance ; and that the life of grace or holiness is no substantial life , such as the vegetative , sensitive or rational life or soul is , which is a fourth error , and is indeed the foundation of all the other three above-mentioned , otherwise it might be thought no materal thing , nor worth the while to contend whether the seed and life of grace and holiness , be a substance or accident , it seems rather to be a question of philosophy , and so not needful to be determined the one way or the other by them , who meddle not in such matters . but i say , this makes the thing the more needful to be opened , because the other three errours , and divers others , are built on it ; for say they , if the seed of god be an accident , it cannot be in the soul , but it must denominate it according to its own qualities or properties , so that the soul must be holy , righteous , pure , &c. because the seed is such . also , it cannot be in the soul but it must be in union therewith , because the essence or being of every accident , consists in its being in union with its subject . but , say they , the seed of god is an accident , therefore , &c. now the first proposition of this argument is certain , and cannot be denied ; but the second is false , which is the foundation of divers other gross errors , and so their whole superstructure false . and for the refutation of it , and the confirmation of the truth , viz. that the seed of god is a substance , and the life of holiness and grace is substantial , i shall no● enter into philosophical niceties , but produce a few plain arguments , obvious to any clear and sound understanding , as 1. even as we do infer from the variety and nobility of the operations of the rational life and soul , that it is a substance , and no accident ; so both from the great variety , and also the great nobility ( much greater than that of the rational soul or life ) of its operations , we conclude that it , to wit , the seed of god , is a substance . 2. it is the root and sp●ing of the spiritual senses , whereby we see , hear , tast , savour , and feel spiritual and heavenly objects , therefore it is a substance . 3. and seeing it is commonly granted that the life of vegetation , the life of sensation , the life of reason are all substances , shall we deny that the life of grace or holiness , which is far above all these lives , and doth passingly excell them , yea is the very crown and glory of man , is a substance ? 4. when god made man , he made him according to his own image ; and this was mans dignity above the beasts , that he was made capable to receive the impressions of this divine image , which the brutes were not . now this image is the holy and spiritual life , by which as by a s●●l , he doth impress , or effigiate the soul of man , therefore it is a substance . for it were absurd to say , that the soul of man , or man himse●f was made according unto or after the pattern of an accident . 5. this seed , and that by which it is nourished , god giveth from heaven , as the scriptures do plainly declare , therefore it is a substance : for , if it were an accident , it could not come from heaven , because the maxime is an accident cannot pass from one subject into another . 6. it is called oft in scripture the body of christ and his flesh blood , which the soul feeding upon , it becometh cloathed therewith , as with a body , and thereby dwelleth in christ , and liveth in him , as the branch in the vine ; therefore it is a substance , and hath a substantial life and spirit : for what an absurd thing were it to call the body of christ an accident ? 7. the saints feel it in them as really to be a part or particle of the very substance of heaven , viz. of that spiritual and invisile heavens where the saints live , as they do feel the body of their outward man to be a part or particle of the sustance of this outward world . 8. it receiveth the names of all these things which are substances , but never the name of an accident , in scripture , therefore , &c. but some may say , that by this it would appear , that we judg the s●ed and divine birth , as we call it , not only a sub●tance , but that it is a composed substance of body and spirit . to which i answer : yea , it is so : for its body is the vehicle or vessel of its spirit ; for as every natural seed and birth hath its body and pirit , so hath this spiritual seed , and it is the body that is the vessel , which containes or conveighs the spirit . and so the seed of corn hath its spirit or vertue in its body ; and so every other seed and herb and tree of the field , as the apple-tree , the vine-tree , whose fruit have both body and spirit . as wine hath its spirit , and so any other liquor , which evaporated or extracted , leaves its body dead : so this spiritual seed and vine hath its body and spirit , containing in it manifold most noble and excellent powers and vertues , which spirit is a measure of the spirit or soul of christ the heavenly man. and thus having got through this particular , i pass unto another , which is to shew that regeneration is not simply the infusion of the seed of god into the soul : for indeed as it is in natural seeds and births , so is it here in the spiritual . now in naturals the seed is not the birth , nor is a thing said to be generate , when its seed is sown ; the seed of an apple-tree is not ●he tree it self , but a principle , out of which the tree with its spirit , life and powers doth spring : and the seed of a man is not a man , yea the seed may be cast into the womb , and by some impediment no conception follow , and in the very conceiving may be marred : and indeed the words of christ are plain , how that the seed of the kingdom , after it is sown , springeth up like the corn , which may be choaked by impediments ; but where it is not choaked , it springeth up first to the blade , then the ear , then to the full corn , and that is its g●●●ration . now ●hen a thing is but in the see● , the life , spirit and powers or vertues of its nature are hid , and as it were buried within the body of the seed , which , because the seed hath not a body so large , nor so organized , as they require ; therefore they do not appear , till it have received , in some measure , a larger and organized body , and the more the body groweth up , and becometh organized , its spirit life and powers do manifest themselves more and more , which in the seed lay as it were dead and buried , and altogether unable to perform their operations , as being confined , as in fetters in so narrow a room . yea further , their being is so little and diminutive , that , though they had room , they could not perform the operations of their nature , till by their more through generation and formation they be encreased and augmented . and thus the little embryo or conception in the womb , be it of man or beast , cannot perform the operations of a man or beast , nay , though the child be born and come into the world , how little do the powers of manhood appear in it ? but as the body of the child groweth up , the powers of manhood do more and more appear , as of vnderstanding , speech , memory , and the like . and so it is much what , in some manner as to the divine and spiritual seed : or if the soul doth not receive it and convert unto it , as aforesaid , and that it be not permitted to take root and plant it self in the soul , its life and powers will not be generated or raised up . and so the spiritual generation of the seed is the raising up of its life and powers , and bringing them into manifestation in the soul , which the soul drinking in , it comes to be regenerated or renewed thereby , and still more and more , according to the growth and increase of the seed , endued therewith . now the powers of the seed of god , which proceed or flow from its life and spirit , are these noble and heroick christian vertues , enduing both the understanding and will , yea , and all the other powers of the soul , according to the capacity of each , such as love , joy , peace , gentleness , meekness , temperance , righteousness , fortitude , patience , and holy wisdom and understanding , and the like ; upon the distinct and particular enumeration of all which , i shall not now insist . these are the powers of the holy life , which are as natural to it , as the natural passions and affections are unto the natural life and soul , and by these powers man can only perform the exercises and practices of holiness and righteousness , which powers , and the life , which is their root , are not in all men , though the seed of them be in all , as is said , and is elsewhere demonstrated . now it is through the generation of the holy life and powers thereof in the divine seed and birth , that the soul cometh to have union with god ; for the divine birth with the life and powers or vertues thereof , is that noble chain , which tyeth and joyneth the soul unto god , being of a middle or mean nature , betwixt god and the soul , and so the more apt for such an effect . for as it is inferiour unto the godhead , so is is superiour unto the soul , being christ the image of god , according to which the soul is made , and by it enobled and dignified . and the excellency of this holy life and seed above the soul appears greatly in this , that , whereas the soul can corrupt and degenerate with all its gowers , this holy life can never in the least admit of any corruption , for it ever abhorreth all sin , it may indeed be killed or crucified by it , but never corrupted . and so it is a most fit medium or mean to unite the soul unto god , and the powers and vertues thereof are as so many chains , whereby the lord doth unite the pure and righteous souls unto him . ye must understand therefore the soul's union with god , is not simply immediate but mediate , through this seed , for no man , nor soul , save jesus christ alone , by his soul and manhood conceived by the power of the holy ghost , in the womb of the virgin mary , hath this dignity to be immediately united with god ; for which cause god hath highly exalted him , even the whole manhood of our blessed lord and saviour jesus christ , above every creature , not only men , but angels , that at the name of iesus every knee may bow , to whom be glory , power and dominion for ever . this union of the soul with the seed , and the holy life and powers thereof ( through which the soul becomes united unto god ) is gradual , and becometh more and more intimate and near , as the soul advanceth in holiness and righteousness , and , until the leaven of the holy life hath diffused its pure vertue through the whole soul and all its powers , the union cannot be total nor through , but in part , even until all sin and iniquity be wrought out , for there can be no union with that which is holy with that which is unholy . wherefore if there be but a part of the soul , as it were , purified only , that part receiveth union with the holy seed and with god therein . therefore the first step and degree of the soul's conversion unto the holy seed , and to god and christ therein , is not , to speak properly , union , for the soul at its first step of conversion , bringeth it self or converteth unto god , as it is , viz. all filthy and unclean with sin , yea , it bringeth its sins and sinful members unto god , that he may kindle his fire in them , for their destruction ; but there is no union , until the soul be cleansed in some measure : but when the soul converted unto god , in that part or measure of it which is purified , its conversion so far may be called , and is truly , an union with god. furthermore , it is to be observed , that the soul's union with god , consisteth not simply in meer acts , as when it exerciseth acts of conversion towards god , these and other acts of the soul , by the powers of the holy life , do contribute and conduce unto this union , and begets it , yet the soul enjoyeth a more constant and permanent union with god , then by acts whether of one or all its powers : for if the soul's union consisted only in acts , then , when it did not act , but were wholly suspended in its actings towards god , the union should cease , which is false , for when a righteous man sleeps , so that perhaps his soul exerciseth no acts , yet his union remaineth with him : bu● , because the soul enjo●eth an union with god , by its acts of conversion , as aforesaid , proceeding from the holy life and its powers , therefore this union enjoyed by acts , may be called actual vnion , and the other , which abides without acts , or while acts are suspended , may be called potential , because the soul remains in union with god , simply through its powers , being as it were glewed unto or cemented with the powers of the holy life . now any sin , which the soul committeth , doth certainly break off its actual union with god , but though the infinite mercy and grace of god , doth not quite break off the potential , though it weaken , and many sins weaken it much , yea , some sins may break it quite off ; but the● it hath been but partial and not through and total , for if it had been total , the soul could not have committed such sins , as could occasion the breaking it quite off . moreover it is to be noted , that , when at times we say god is the life of the soul as to its spiritual actions , and at other times , the life of the soul is begotten of god from a seed , we understand this in different respects ; as thus , god is the life of our souls , as an efficient c●use of life , and that originally and immediately , but not as the informing or formal cause thereof , such as the holy life begot of the holy seed is , which is , even the formal cause of it . chap. vii . shewing how the soul is to reflect upon it self , and enter into trial and examination of it self , whether it hath truly passed through the aforesaid steps of conversion , and continuance therein in passiveness and forbearance : and whether it hath attained unto any beginnings of the divine and holy life , and the powers thereof , before it enter upon other operative exercises , and how , or by what rule or touch-stone it may infallibly know the same . the service which the lord requireth of us , and which we ought to perform unto him , is our reasonable service , as the scriptures declare , and expresly call it ; which ( beside other things , which might be mentioned ) doth import this especially , that , whatsoever service or work we go about to do unto the lord , we do it with a true and certain knowledge that we are indeed serving him , and not our selves , nor any other . for , if i do any work , and yet do not know certainly to whom i am working , my work cannot be called reasonable , for to do a thing reasonably is to do it with a certain knowledg and judgment ; and herein is man's excellency above the other creatures , which are unreasonable , that , whereas they work only according to that , which either inwardly or outwardly moves them , not knowing what they do , so as to make a judgment of discretion betwixt causes and cau●es , man is to do all his works with such a discretive judgment and understanding , that he certainly knoweth both the end , unto which he worketh , and also the principle from which , otherwise his work is rather brutal than rational . and so , as we are required to praise the lord with understanding , as the scriptures declare , so we ought to serve the lord in every particular step with understanding also , so as to be able to give a rational account of our service , that it is indeed unto the lord ; and this we cannot do , unless we certainly know that what we do is by the power of his holy life and spirit assisting us , for it is the lord , who giveth us both to will and to do , and without him we can do nothing , not so much as say that iesvs is the lord , but by the holy ghost divinely and supernaturally assisting us : indeed we may repeat the bare words without any supernatural assistance , but here they are no wise regarded of the lord ; for , if they be not expressed with the supernatural assistance of his spirit , as aforesaid , they are but dead and empty of that life and vertue , which renders them acceptable unto him . and so any other work , if we do not work it in him and by him supernaturally assisting , we do it not to him , and if we know not that we do so , it is not our reasonable service , which he requires . moreover , whatever we do as a service unto the lord , we ought to do it in faith , but , if we do not certainly know from what principle or power we do any thing , we are left in a suspense and doubtfulness , and have nothing but conjecture at best to build upon , which is far from faith . also he that doth a thing doubtfully , doth both displease the lord , who forbids it , and brings weakness and confusion upon himself , for he , that doubteth , is damned , as saith the scripture . now to the end that a man may know whether the work , or works , which he is about to do , be indeed unto the lord , he is to reflect upon himself , and to enter upon an impartial examination and trial of his own soul , whether he hath passed truly through the aforesaid steps of conversion and continuance therein in passiveness and forbearance , and so whether he hath attained unto any true beginnings of the divine and holy life and the powers thereof , and that before he enter upon other operative exercises , because that , unless in some measure he hath truly passed through these steps , he cannot perform any work rightly and acceptably unto god. and this examination and reflexion is the more needful , for that even these steps may be counterfeited , no less then other things . a soul may even seem to it self to have converted or turned it self inwards unto the divine presence , &c. and yet not have truly converted thereunto . yea i will say a great word , but that which is a very certain truth , many do inwardly convert as unto god , but it 's not to the true god , but a false , even an image of their own framing and deviseing , and as unto christ , but indeed it is unto anti-christ . and surely this is , as it were , the very beginning of the working of the mystery of iniquity , when satan putteth on the appearance of god , and anti-christ of christ , sitting down in the temple of god , and being axalted above every thing that is called god. now to open this a little more , we are to consider , that all men have some notion or image of god in their minds , by which when they speak hear , or read of him , they some way think , and form their thoughts and conceptions of him , according to that objective notion or idea with which they are acquainted . now though it is also certain , that there is in some measure a true objective concept or idea of god put or planted by god himself in every man's mind , which is in and of the divine seed , sown in every man , yet the usual knowledg that men commonly have of god , doth not proceed from this true idea in the divine seed , nor is it the pattern or example , according to which they usually frame the thoughts and conceptions of their minds , when they usually speak , read , hear , or consider of him in their minds , forasmuch as the divine seed , in and through which the true idea is received , in most men , yea in all wicked men and unconverted , is greatly burthened and oppressed , through the lusts and iniquities , which prevail in them ; whereby it comes to pass , that frequently that true object concept or idea or manifestation of god in the divine seed , which in scripture is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that which may be known of god , is vailed and clouded in them , so that the soul doth no more apprehend it , then if it were not . and when by the power of the lord in his visitation upon the soul this objective concept , as aforesaid , is brought into some measure of manifestation , yet the soul is so intently taken up with its sinful lusts and pleasures , that it doth little observe it , and many times not at all ; even as if some friend passed by before me in my view , yet i being much taken up with looking at some other persons or things , should know nothing of his being so near : and indeed it is even so as to this matter , the lord doth often visit the soul , and passeth by it , and so far draweth by the curtain or vail , that he maketh somewhat of himself plainly manifest in the soul , calleth , yea pusheth and pricketh it , as it were , with a sharp pointed goad , that it may be made sensible and convert the intention of its mind unto him , which calleth and toucheth it ; and if at any time the soul converteth or turneth it self towards him , that so calleth and toucheth it , how speedily doth it turn back again ? for it liketh better to be taken up with its sinful pleasures , then to remain in its conversion to hear the lord expostulate with it , by the reproofs and convictions of his spirit . whereby it may appear , that it is a great matter for the soul to convert unto the true and real appearance of god in the divine seed , for sometimes it is so vailed , that it cannot perceive at all , as is said , and at other times , when it is made manifest in some measure , it is so intent upon other objects , that it doth not observe it , tho it could . and thirdly , though at sometimes it be made to observe it , even will it , nill it , yet it is so unpleasant and ungrateful a thing , to convert or turn unto it , that it is very unwilling , even more than the school-boy , whom his master findeth at his play , and calleth him back to be reproved or whipped therefore . but now as for that image or idea , which the soul hath framed unto it self of god , the god of its own making , which it hath made like unto it self , the soul can without difficulty convert or turn it self unto such a god , and continue in its conversion therewith long enough , and so be taken up with the contemplations of it , that it , as it were , standeth in great passiveness , and forbearance from all these exercises which would avert it from the contemplation thereof . so that with great reason and wisdom the lord put this , as the first of all the commandments engraven in stone with his own finger , thou shalt not have any other god before me , and this the second , thou shalt not make unto thy self the image or likeness of any thing , which doth plainly import , that among all sins , which men are readiest to commit , the very first is to have some other god then the true , and to make and frame a god like unto themselves . and though many do not this outwardly , as others who are more gross , yet how many do it inwardly ? so that the object of all their contemplations and adorations is in no wise the true god , but an idol : and in this idol satan seats himself , as god , yea he hath helped the soul to form it after a very sublime and artificial manner ; and truly this is the god , whom many in their conversions do contemplate and adore , and with whom they do converse at times with great intentness of mind , yea are , as it were , so occupyed with their interior recollections towards him , as if they were wholly taken up therewith , and stood in a total passiveness and silence and forbearance as to other things . again , the soul may be altogether defective in the way and manner of its converting it self , even while it endeavours to do it unto the true god , as if it labour to perform its acts of conversion simply by its own natural powers , which is impossible for it to do : for only when the lord visiteth and calleth it , and moveth and toucheth it inwardly , is it put into a capacity to convert and turn truly , and unto the true god , as aforesaid , which times of the lord's visitation are frequent enough within the day of their continuance , yea many times in one day , or one hour , yea they are so frequent , that they cannot be numbred , or particularly determined by us , how often they come , and how long they continue , being much what like unto the lightning , which often appeareth and disappeareth in a short space . some may say , if these things be so , then who can be saved ? we are almost quite discouraged , to hear of these difficulties and hazards of being deceived in the very entrance . answ . this is no more but what christ hath taught himself , strait is the gate , and narrow is the way , which leadeth unto life , &c. yet these things are not mentioned for the discouragement of any poor soul , but indeed to be an occasion unto it , that it may apply unto these steps , with the more diligence and circumspection , and may get the more safely into the true way , and not divert into some by-path . and for thy more encouragement ( poor soul● ) i have this to tell thee , the entrance though somewhat difficult , yet is not impossible for thee , yea it is very possible , and on some account very easie and plain , forasmuch as he , who offers himself to be thy guide and leader , is the lord strong and mighty , even immanvel , god with us in iesus christ , whose spirit is given even unto the blind , and to those who are out of the way , to lead them into it , and no less to begin them in the way of holiliness , then to carry them on therein . and yet for thy further encouragement , i say unto thee , many have found this way , and have got a safe and sure entrance into it , and do walk safely and surely therein , who at first were as unacquainted with it , as thou art now , yea as blind and dark , and as weak and indisposed every way , as thy self . and seeing the same help is administred unto thee , which was unto them , why mayst thou not find it , and enter thereinto as well ? but thou mayst say , are there not some signs and marks , whereby i may discern whether i have truly converted unto the true god , and to his true appearance in his own seed , yea or nay ? as also , whether or not i have passed truly through the other steps aforesaid , in some measure ? and , whether i am become a partaker of the holy life , and powers thereof , yea or nay ? answ. yea , there are certain infallible signs , which , if thou canst truly and plainly read them , will discover unto thee , if thou hast truly converted unto the true and real presence and appearance of god in his own seed , and these are the aforesaid effects and consequences of the true conversion , which are particularly mention'd in the 3 chapter . and if thou hast truly these effects in any measure , thou mayst be sure thou hast truly converted or been converted , and passed truly through the aforesaid steps , in some measure . but thou mayst reply , that yet the difficulty remains , how the soul may know that it hath such effects wrought in it , yea or nay , seeing there may be counterfeit resemblances and likenesses of these effects wrought in the soul , by its own hammerings and toolings , and the sparks of its own kindling , the enemy concurring therewith . answ. indeed this is a very weighty objection , for there may be counterfeit effects , insomuch that the lord scarce doth any thing in the soul , but satan labours to counterfeit it , that he may deceive the soul : therefore it is said in the revelation , that he shall work lying and false wonders , and cause fire to come down from heaven , videlicit , in appearance , to deceive them who dwell upon the earth . yet we have a plain and ready answer to this objection , which is this , the presence of the lord in the soul , in the divine seed , doth send forth such a manifestation of his own light and spirit in it , which discovereth infallibly the works and deeds , which are wrought in the soul , whether they be of god , yea or nay ; and putteth the soul into a capacity infallibly to discern them , and to know whose they are . and though the enemy be never so near in his subtle workings to deceive thee , the lord is as near , and nearer , to reveal him . but as for them , who deny immediate revelation in these days , they leave the soul at an utter uncertainty , that it cannot know the work of god in it from the work of the enemy . for , seeing they deny that the operations of his spirit are objective and objectively manifest , they are but as certain blind or blank lines and impressions drawn upon paper , which no man can read or perceive . but having shewed this at more length elsewhere , i shall not further proceed in it at present . now , if thou wouldst desire to know the truth of thy conversion , by a way prior to that of effects , which is needful , yea , it were needful for thee to know in the very first instant , in which thou setst about to perform thy acts of conversion , whether they be true , yea , or no ; also whether that be the true presence or manifestation of god , unto which thou dost convert , or but that false and framed god above-mentioned , or satan transforming himself into the likeness of god ; thou shalt know thus : if it be the true god and the true christ , he doth manifest himself so to be , for god is light , and christ is the light of the world , which lightens every man that comes into the world , that they may believe and turn unto god. now as there is no way to know the light ( even that which is outward ) but by it self , and the manifestation that comes from it , so there is no other way , so certain , to know god and christ , but by the light and spirit of manifestation which proceed from them . and of this i am verily perswaded , that there is no man upon the face of the earth , but that there is some manifestation of god so plainly and evidently set before him , as that he cannot but be convinced that it is the lord , and that frequently , whose appearance in the heart is so far different from every false appearance of satan , or any god or image of him , which the soul makes to it self , or can make , that it may very plainly and infallibly distinguish the one from the other , and needs not to be deceived , unless it wittingly and wilfully give up it self to be deceived . and if thou ask , wherein doth the appearance of the one from the other so far differ , that it may be so easily discerned ? i answer , in this , the true appearance of god and christ jesus is against every sin more or less in thee , whether of flesh or spirit , and by it thou art reproved of every sin in some measure , yea , and it worketh ( as fire against the bria●s and thorns ) against every sin in thee , and the body and root of it , though at first thou wilt not be so sensible of it , as to have a particular observation of all thy sins , yet thou wil● find it working against them all , as it were , in a heap , sparing none of them , nor reconcileable to any of them . so that , what ever particular sin is brought under thy particular observation , thou wilt find the appearance of christ against it , as much as any . but now the false god , which a man maketh unto himself in his mind , is very reconcileable to many sins , which thou art plainly convinced to be sins , and he can dwell with them , and let them flourish and grow largely in the heart , and not be a devouring fire against them , yea , the false and counterfeit god is an enemy t● no sin at all , and would never reprove or disswade thee from any sin , but o 〈…〉 thee . and this is the hypocri●es 〈◊〉 , and the high flown notionists god , whom they in some sort stand in awe to offend , as to some ●ross outward acts , or even some inward also , because they have shaped him in such and such a form , as is contrary in appearance to such and such sins . but as for thee , love him that reproves every sin in thought or desire , word or work , and is dreadful unto every transgressour more or less , yea , is as a devouring fire against them , for that is the true god. now this appearance of god thou shalt observe to manifest it self in a little small seed , the least of all seeds , in the very inwards of thy heart , which is meek and holy , and pure and harmless , and is contrary unto nothing but sin , can be reconciled with any thing save sin , but with no sin in any measure . i have found it with me the more to insist on this particular , for that i certainly know , there are many , who are wofully bewitched with a mystery of iniquity , in relation to this matter , being like capernanum exalted to the heavens , as it were , in their notions about god , so as to think they daily contemplate and enjoy him : and yet it is but an idol , and by the children of light they are seen and felt to be it ▪ darkness , and the seed is felt to suffer in them , and to ●e in the very bonds of death , notwithstanding all their high and lofty imaginations . now , if the seed be raised in thee , so that the holy life and powers thereof become formed , though but a little , thou wilt feel it and its powers as manifest to move , stir and spring in thee , as ever the mother felt the child to spring in her womb ; so that thou canst no less doubt of the one , then she can of the other , and so by the stirrings and movings thereof thou wilt begin to be acquainted with the spiritual refreshments and joyes of the children of god. chap. viii . wherein divers advertisements and cautions are given unto the soul , in relation unto its applying it self unto works , or operative exercises , inward or outward , through the holy life and the powers thereof . we are his workmanship ( said the apostle ) created unto christ iesus unto good works , that we should walk in them . so that the lord giveth not unto any man the being of a holy life , with its powers in vain , or for no effect , but that he should make use of it and them , to bring forth good works , even as the husbandman planteth his vines and other trees , that they may bring forth fruit. we must improve and make use of our masters money , to profit withal , that our talent may encrease to the honour of him , who hath given it unto us , and to our own happiness and comfort : and unto this that maxime in naturals doth well answer , esse est propter operari , being is for working , for to that end hath every thing received its being and powers of a natural life , that it may reduce them into act , and perform the operations , which are proper unto them . so if we shall take a survey of the whole creation , and of all things in it , in the heavens , the earth , and the other elements , we shall find them all upon motion , and working the works , which belong unto the powers of their natural being . and thus the crea●ures do in some sort resemble their maker , who not only wrought the creatures into a being by creation , but continueth still working , to preserve , uphold and govern them , according to which the lord said , my father worketh hitherto and i work . now if thou hast in any measure passed through the aforesaid steps of conversion and continuance therein in passiveness and forbearance , were it but for a very small time , thou art by this time become a partaker of the holy life and its powers in some measure , and so art entred at ●east into the way and path of holiness , and art come unto a true and sound beginning , being come unto chri●t , who is the beginning and the end , both the alpha and the omega , the way , the truth , and the life , the door into the sheep-fold and house of god. so having entred by him , thou art no intruder , no thief , nor robber , but a true servant of the house of god ; wherein thou art to work the works of god , and having received christ , so must thou walk in him ▪ being now planted into him , as the branch into the vine-tree , and made a real partaker of the vertue of the root , and hereby joyned to the tree as a natural branch thou must now bring ●orth the fruit of good works , and being come to live in the spirit , thou must also walk in the spirit , and work and do all thy works in him and through him . but some may say , according to this method and way of proceeding , a man is kept long off from working , for it may be a long time ere he pass through these steps , and so during this time ( suppose it were a years time , or more ) shall he proceed to no operative exercises of religion , but remain as a cypher or blank , till he has got through these steps ? may it not be said unto him , why standst thou so long idle ? answ. this is an objection , which is much with many , and hath deep place in the minds of some newly convinced ones , and who are but beginning , they would fain be a doing and working , as others , yea and the hypocritical part and spirit , which hath its life in dead performances and works , will still be dogging and pricking them forward unto the doing of things before the time . now learn a parable of a fruit-tree , be it an apple-tree , or the like , into which a graft is imped , being cut off from another tree , where it did grow as a natural branch , and did bud green , and flourish , and bring forth fruit , but such fruit as was naught . now suppose that such is the good nature of the tree into which it is grafted , that it makes the graft bring forth other sort of fruit than formerly , even good fruit and that in abundance : it 's true it is not so with the common trees in the outward , for they do not change the grafts , imped on them , into their own nature , but rather the imp changeth the sap and vertue of spirit of the tree , that it causeth the tree to bring forth fruit , according to the kind of the graft it self . but it is otherwise betwixt ch●ist and us men , for we being planted or grafted into him , he changeth the nature of our fruit , from evil to good , otherwise the comparison holds very well . now when the graft is cut off from its natural stock , it was very g●●en and full of life , yea suppose it was full of blossoms or fruit , yet when by the hand of the husband-man it is cut off from its natural stock , and grafted into another , it doth not instantly spring , and green , and flourish , as before , far less bear new fruit , but first of all dyeth , its greenness and flourish withereth , and its fruits fall off , so that it remaineth very bare and empty-like for some time : yet the powers of nature are not altogether idle in it , for by little and little the power of life in the tree , into which it is ingrafted , doth infuse and insinuate it self into it , by which it uniteth and knitteth the graft to the tree by a natural union , and then in process of time the graft beginneth to green and flourish again , and bring forth fruit , both much better and more abundant , as is said . and here we may observe somewhat of all these steps in a similitude , which the graft passeth through , before it cometh to bear fruit , as 1. the power of the life in the tree insinuating it self into the graft taketh hold of the faint and dead powers of nature in the graft , and conve●teth or turneth them into it self . 2. the graft being thus turned or joined to the tree not by any outward bonds , but by the influence of the tree continueth and persisteth therein , which if it did not , it could not receive life from the tree . 3. in this continuance it remaineth very passive , doing nothing , but secretly drinking in the vertue and power of life from the tree , into which it is grafted ; and so by this means it becomes in due time as a natural branch of the tree , and brings forth its fruits , as aforesaid : now such is the discretion of the husband man , that he requires not present fruit from the tree , neither is he offended with it , that it yields not present fruit , but patiently waits for the fruit in the season of it . even such is the discretion of the lord ( yea and much more ) towards men , that if they convert and turn into the true vine and tree of life , not resisting the power of life therein , but suffering it to work in them , to kill the unholy life , by which they live and bring forth fruit unto sin ; and if they continue thus converted , in a passive and forbearing way , suffering the spirit and power of god in the divine seed in them , to do in it what him pleaseth , this is acceptable unto the lord , even thus to die in him , and blessed are such , for their works shall follow them in due time . and this is according to what our lord taught himself , vnless , said he , a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die , it remaineth alone , but if it die , it bringeth forth much fruit : this he spake in relation to himself , but it holds good also in relation to others . wouldst thou indeed bring forth the fruits of good works unto the lord ? then thou must fall into the ground and die like a grain of wheat , and afterwards thou wilt live again , and spring up , bearing friut both good and abundant , and the lord , who is the husband-man requireth not fruit of thee before the season , but patiently waiteth for it . yet the time is not so long betwixt the time of the first converting and the season of bearing fruits , and producing good works , as thou maist think , if thou pass truly and faithfully through these few steps , thou maist come to bear some fruit , that is to say ; to be able and fit to do some good works in a very short space , much less than a year , yea much less than a month , yea what if i say , than the space of one day ? nay i add further , it may be possible for thee within an hours space , and yet less , after thou hast truly converted unto the lord , and touched , as it were , the hem of his garment , and drunk in vertue therefrom , to do some good works , in a true measure of acceptance unto the lord : yea the time may be so short , wherein , after thy conversion , thou maist be put into a capacity to do something both inwardly and outwardly , that we cannot determine the least bound or limit of it , for it is an easie thing for the lord to raise his holy life in thee in an instant , or the twinkling of an eye . and indeed the waies of the lord , with men , in this respect , are very wonderful and past finding out , as in many others : in some he raiseth life , as it were , instantly , in others he taketh a longer time to do it , in others yet a longer , &c. for he is the unlimitted holy one of israel , who limiteth us , but will not , nor ought he to be limited by us . and tho he may raise this life sooner in one than another , where that other is no more wanting , as to the aforesaid steps , than his neighbour ; yet usually these , who with most diligence and faithfulness cleave unto the lord in his appearing in them in his own seed , do most readily and speedily find the holy life raised in them , and the powers thereof sensibly moving in their inward parts . now i find it with me yet more particularly to point at some advertisements and cautions in relation unto the souls applying it self unto works and operative exercises , after it hath attained unto some measure of life and power , whereby it is put in some capacity to perform them , which i may not call rules and prescriptions , as proceeding from me , ( tho herein i know the mind and counsel of god ) but advertisements , being only of use to point the soul inwards unto the manifestations of truth in the springings up of life in its own particular , where it will see the use and need of these things , more than what it can hear or read of them , from anothers declaration . and truly they are such things , that the want of the true knowledg , sense and observation of them has been a grievous block in the way of many in their pro●ress in holiness , yea has hindred them from growing up to any considerable pitch or perfection in holiness , that they have continued as weaklings and babes there-through , whereas otherwise they might have been strong men in christ. i. having now attained unto a measure of the holy life and the powers thereof , so that thou findst the powers of this life in thy heart , as it were a wheel within a wheel , or as a soul within a soul , ( yea it is truly so ) and that also thou findst thy soul in a measure of pure union with it , and every power of thy soul affected and touched with the powers of this holy life in pure embraces , every one , as it were , kissing each other ; and hereby thou wilt feel thy self strong , in some measure , to do some things pertaining unto a holy life , yea thou wilt even so find it with thee , as if thou wert cured of a bodyly lameness , or as if thy tongue were loosed , which was formerly bound : then thou art to stand in great fear and reverence , and be very cautious that thou fall not upon doing any thing , or things , less or more , at all adventures or hand over head , as they use to say , as to set about any performance in thy own natural and selfish will , because thou findest strength in thee , as thou conceivest , to perform it , for if thou so do , thou wilt provoke the lord , and grieve that holy life , which hath sprung and appeared in thee , not at all to be ruled or led into any action by thy will , but by the will of the lord alone . and if thou goest about to do any thing in such a manner , though thou findst both clearness and strength of mind with thee at first , yet afterward thou wilt , to thy great loss , feel weakness and confusion to enter thee , and a thick cloud of darkness will come betwixt the eye of thy soul and that pure light of life , which shined in thee , yea a vail of death will come over the tender life in some measure : and thou wilt find the pure life in thee burthened and oppressed , which will occasion pain and grief of soul unto thee , which cannot be uttered . and of these things we have had experience divers times , so that had not the lord in tender mercy recovered us , we had gone down into the grave , after some measure of quickening . the reason of all this is , because of man by his own will usurping and presuming to lead forth the holy life , which usurpation it cannot endure , so as to yield or consent unto it : therefore it withdraweth its holy powers of light and life from the powers of the soul , concentring them within its own particular being . and thus the soul is left in darkness , confusion and weakness , and the tender life is both grieved and burthened , as aforesaid : for whatever seeketh to move it from its perfect unity with the will of god , doth hurt it , for it standeth for ever incorruptible with the divine will , and that which seeketh to move it to the contrary may well bruise and wound , yea kill it , while it is but young and tender , but it can never draw it to consent . when therefore at any time thou findest it well with thy soul , and thy heart is strengthned as with bread , or with some strong cordial or liquor by the springings forth and effusions of the streams of this holy life in thee , then thou art to stand in a passiveness and forbearance , waiting upon the will and motions of this holy life , which is for every one with the will of god , that thou mayst do such or such things , which that life requireth of thee , and then whatever thou sets about to do , not in thy own natural will , but in the will of this which is the will of god , thou shalt find thy clearness , thy peace and strength , which formerly thou hadst , not only to be continued with thee , but to be multiplyed and abound . ii. and yet more particularly know , or consider it , that thou art to do nothing without a clear and infallible knowledge of thy warrant , and that from this inward guide , the holy life of christ , and his blessed spirit now raised and formed in thee . for this is he , whom the lord hath given thee for a leader and a commander , and he is worthy to have this place , for that he is an infallible guide , instructor , counsellour , and teacher , which never sinned , nor can sin ; and him hath the father given unto thee for a head that in all things thou shouldst obey him , and do nothing but in his will. even as it is in the natural body and life and powers thereof , for the powers of life , which are in the head and heart being supream over the powers , which are in the other members , do rule and command them , and the members , in which they are . and so it should be here : and where the inferiour powers of the natural life do not obey the superiour powers of the same , there is confusion and disorder in nature , as indeed it hath fallen out through mens disobedience to this holy life , because man's supreamist power of life , videlicet , his will hath not stood in subjection to the powers of this holy life , which is its supream ; therefore hath its power been taken from it in great part , that it cannot rule its inferiour powers , as of the natural passions and affections ▪ but they often rebell against it . so that many times a man is led by his very animal passions into things against his very will , which would not be so , were his will brought into a perfect subjection unto the will of this hol● life , its supream and higher power , for then it would give it a perfect victory and dominion over them . now when i speak of the absolute need , that the soul hath , to know its warrant from its inward guide and leader , viz , this holy life , and god , who is so therein , and so in conjunction therewith that , when i speak of the one , it is never to be understood but in conjunction with the other . by this warrant , i say , i do not conceive that the soul for every thing it doth , is to have an absolute and possitive command ? nay , but it must have either that , or at least an inward felt permission , allowance or liberty given to it , in and from the same ; and where this is clearly and distinctly received and known , it is warrant sufficient unto such , who have it . and whosoever do any thing , or things , in this inward and felt liberty of the holy life and spirit of jesus christ , do the same in true faith , and gruonded upon the known will of god , either mandatory , or permissory . and if this permission or liberty be not granted unto thee , thou wilt sensibly feel in thy heart the holy life , with its powers repugnant thereunto , so that it will sensibly move and stir in thy heart against the thing , thou hast before thee to do . iii. and as thou art not , forwardly or rashly in thy own will , to do any thing without the warrant aforesaid , of the holy life , mandatory or permissory ; ●o thou art to be as careful that thou be not backward , negligent , or unwilling to answer the will of this holy life , in doing those things , which it moves and inclines thee unto , and requireth of thee , for the hurt is one and the same in both , viz. in going about to do a thing , or things , contrary to the will of god , and forbearing to do that , or those things , which he requireth of thee ; the one is the sin of commission , the other is the sin of emission , both of them the sin of disobedience against god , and so both of them provoke the lord , burthen and grieve his holy life and spirit , and both of them bring weakness , con●usion , deadness and darkness upon the soul. iv. do nothing doubtfully and with unclearness and confusion of mind , but exercise a perfect passiveness and forbearance as to all these things , which are not cleared up unto thee to be the mind and will of the lord. the right knowledge , use and observation of this , is of both great comfort and advantage unto the soul , as we have often found by great and good experience . 1. it is of great comfort , for it signifieth the great lenity and moderation of the lord towards us , that , if we be singly given up in our minds , having a willingness of heart , in simplicity and uprightness to know the will of god perfectly in all things , if some things ( even of great importance ) be unclear unto us , he spareth to charge the guiltiness of disobedience upon us ( till we be clear ) tho we be ●ound in the forbearance of them , which is great gentleness upon the lords part . 2. again , it is of great advantage to us , for first , it riddeth us of many superstitious fears , which others have , whilst one while they suppose they should do this ; other while the contrary , and still imagin god to be angry with them one way or other , which begetteth most woful superstitious fears in the soul ; and indeed i may say , the ground of all superstition is the unclearness and confusion of mind as to the understanding the will of god , one while over-rating things , and judging it self bound in things , wherein the lord hath left it free ; and then again , imagining ( but both doubtfully ) to please the lord , in things he doth not regard . secondly , it reduceth our whole work , as it were , within a narrow or small compass , and yet not narrower than the lord alloweth ; for according to this advertisement concerning the many things , that come before us as duty by way of consideration , if we stand in a true and single resignation unto the will of god in all things , or truly aim thereat , we may thus reason with our own hearts . either such a thing is made clear unto me from the lord , by the manifestation of his holy life in my heart , or , after singly waiting upon him , it is not as yet made clear unto me : if the former , then it is my work to do it , and i must not forbear , whatever trouble from the enemy without , or within , i meet with , in the practice thereof : if the latter , i have nothing more to do with it , at present , but to wait upon the lord , if he shall afterwards clear it up unto me , and so i may let it alone , with a quiet and peaceable conscience . and thus ye may see there is a great difference betwixt doing and forbearing ; for unclearness of mind in the thing may be a ground for me to forbear it , but i must not do any thing upon the ground of unclearness . a third advantage is , that thereby our minds are kept clear , and pure , and open , even like a free and clear air , which doth with readiness receive the light , that shineth in it , and every impression made in it thereby : whereas doing things in the unclearness , and doubtfulness confuseth and disordereth the mind , yea maketh it muddy and gross , bringeth darkness and death over it , for he , that doubteth , is condemned in his own heart . fourthly , it giveth us an opportunity to cut short the work in righteousness , touching the doing or forbearing of divers things , which are called in question and debated among people in this day . but now for the further opening of this particular , i find it with me to add somewhat more , as 1. when i say do nothing doubtfully , i do not understand it so , that thou art not to do a thing , if there be any objections , which thou findst arising against it , either from thy carnal reason , or unbelieving part , till thou get rid of them : for notwithstanding them , thou maist find a good clearness in thy mind , which shuts them out , or puts them under . and so thou maist proceed upon thy clearness from the lord in thy mind , notwithstanding these objections , altho' thou canst not give them any direct and positive answer , but this , that thou art clear of the lord to the contrary : yet if the objections should so far prevail , as quite to cloud thy clearness , so that thou losest sight of it , this is indeed thy sin so to have permitted them to do , yet , till thou get them in some measure removed , and clearness in some measure be given thee from the lord , thy safety is to forbear . again : whereas some wrong spirits may take an occasion from this unjustly to shelter themselves under a cover , in their omissions and neglects of those things , which the lord requires , saying , they find not clearness to do them , therefore i must add this also , that if thy unclearness proceed from a wrong and deceitful part of thy heart , which is unwilling to be cleared , because it is unwilling to obey , it is another case , for then thy forbearance is thy sin , though thou be unclear , because thou mightst have been clear , hadst thou stood singly , and yet if thou dost things in this unclearness , thou sinst also . thou maist say then , what shall i do ? for this is a strait ●●se . i answer , come unto the light , and turn to it , in singleness , and that will clear thee , and so thou art to do them . v. be careful to keep thy heart and mind in a sense and feeling of the holy life and powers thereof , at all times , as much as is possible . i know , at first , and for some time , it will be hard for thee ; yea at times , till thou witness a further growth , and become more inwardly acquainted with the enemies workings , thou wilt , as it were , lose much what all and clear and distinct sense , feeling and discerning of the life , as if it were not in thee . but this is , as it were , a fit of a lethargy , a fainting or falling into a swarf , for even the spiritual life suffers these things at times , especially when it is young and tender , no less than the natural . but now as one live in the natural life , doth what in him lies to be kept out of such fits , which bereave him of the present use of his natural senses , and doth greatly desire alwaies to have the free and lively use of his natural senses , which are very needful unto him , for his preservation from outward dangers , even so one , who is come to live in the spiritual life , and hath once received the powers of of the spiritual senses , whereby to hear , see , taste , smell , and feel heavenly objects , as also to have a sense of what hurteth from the contrary life and powers thereof , he will and ought to be very careful to preserve the free and lively exercise of them , for they are given unto him both for his comfort , and also to be helps unto him , whereby he may know things good and evil , profitable and hurtful unto his spiritual condition , that so he may chuse and imbrace the good , and refu●e the evil . now if he run out from the inward sense and feeling of the holy life and its powers , till he be restored again into the sense thereof , he is out of any true capacity to know either the things he should do , or the manner how to do them . therefore it plainly appears how needful it is unto a man , who is come to be a partaker of the holy life , to be very careful to live alwaies in the sense and feeling of the same , and the powers thereof , and this he shall the more readily attain unto by the due and right use and observance of the former advertisements , and those which yet remain to be mentioned . this particular is contrary unto the doctrin , that passeth generally among the professors , who are taught to say , that they should not seek to live by sense , but by faith , alledging the apostle's words ; but this is a meer abuse of his words , for he doth not say , we walk by faith , and not by sense , but thus , and not by sight , whereas a man may have the exercise of divers other senses , and yet at present have not the exercise of his sight . now there are divers other spiritual senses besides the sight , whi●● is the clearest manifestation , and it 's true that many times the children of the holy life can believe , when in some sort they do not see , yet i altogether deny , that any can believe without some inward spiritual sense or another , whereby that which they should believe , is proposed unto them objectively , for otherwise it were a groundless faith . also by these works , we walk by faith and not by sense , may be understood the outward senses , or the inward , which reside only in the lower parts of the soul , which are wrought upon by natural and outward objects : by these we are not to walk , nor expect to have the lord to propose himself unto us , in order to satisfie us , by our outward senses , or by the inward sensible affections in the lower parts of the soul , for it is the excellency of a christian life , that gives us to walk with god , both confidently and comfortably , to follow him in the waies of obedience , when we have nothing from these inferiour senses , to help or encourage us , but many times to the contrary . and as for that , which they call sensible devotion , which some say , we must not much seek after , if by sensible devotion they understand that , which only affecteth the inferiour sensible powers of the soul , such as the phancy and imagination , whereby the inferiour affections of love , joy , fear , grief , &c. are moved and stirred , which can be do●e by some pathetick discourse or de●cription of things by a form of words , i agree unto what they say . but if by sensible devotion they understand that , which moveth the very spirit and will of man with the supream affections of the soul , by the workings of the holy life and the powers thereof , upon its spiritual senses ; i say this , devotion is most needful in some measure , and is to be sought after , by all , for it is the highest and noblest kind of devotion , and the most rational , even that we have a real sense and feeling upon our hearts , of the power of the holy life , of the only and true god , when we worship him , so as to be inwardly melted into a holy tenderness before him , through what we feel and taste , and savour of his divine power and goodness . and if the inferiour powers and affections of the soul be also therewithal moved , and with the words , which proceed therefrom , it is a good thing and comfortable in its place , but not too much to be looked after . but we are to be careful that we keep them in such stedfastness , as not to suffer them to be moved simply , or barely by meer words or outward works , when the holy life doth not move upon them , and that principally , for all such motions are hurtful , and not profitable . it is the coal from the altar , that is to say , such a heat or warmth , that comes from the holy life , th●● doth only work the true impressions on the affections , whether by words or without them , or doth only qualifie and concoct them , ( so to speak ) after the right manner , working out the evil , crude and beastly humours and dispositions out of them . vi. thou art also to know , that , though thy present condition admit thee to do some things , yea , divers works , both inward and outward , pertaining to a holy life , as being come in measure to be a partaker thereof , yet thou art in this time of thy weakness and childhood in the spiritual life , more to be passive than active , except as to the simple acts of conversion , wherein thou art constantly , so much as possible , to be found : for thereby thou wilt be still drinking in from the living fountain the waters of life , by which thou wilt live and increase more and more in the holy life , so as to grow up from childhood unto youth-head , and from that unto a perfect man in christ iesus . therefore it will be altogether fit and needful for thee , to be often repeating these former steps of conversion , and persisting therein in great passiveness and forbearance , not only from all evil things , but even from these , which are not clear unto thee to be good , or at least harmless and innocent . and as thou knowst that the several ages and states of a man , of infancy , childhood , youth-head , and perfect man-hood , have their several works and exercises proper unto them ( beside what is proper unto all these four ) so it is much what here : for indeed the spiritual man also hath his four states , as , his infancy , his child-hood , youth-head , and perfect manhood . now if thou be yet but in the infancy of a spiritual life , thou canst do but little , unless to turn thee to thy mother's breast , which hath conceived thee , that is to say , to the divine and holy life , and abide in thy conversion thereunto , drinking in the sincere milk of the word , that thou mayst grow thereby . and if thou be come up to a state of childhood , as out of infancy , yet thou canst as yet not do many , nor great things ; but this is a good time for thee to go unto the school of the holy ghost , and learn the things of god , in his immediate teachings , so as to drink in a solid sound and digested knowledg of them , in some measure , before thou much speak of them to others , being swift to hear , but slow to speak . but if thou be come up to the state of a young man , yet thou canst not do all those things , which a man of perfect age can , neither is it given , nor required of thee . vii . be very mindful to regard thy own measure of life , so that thou be not drawn forth , or lifted up to do greater things , or any things , in a greater or higher strain , then thy present ability of life permits ; for if thou bend , or screw , or wind up the powers of thy soul too high , above thy measure , yea , if in any thing above it , it will much mar and spoil the work that thou art about , and displease the lord , and grieve his holy spirit and life , even as the winding of some string or strings , on a musical instrument , above what may keep in true concord with other strings , doth quite spoil the harmony , and render it ungrateful unto discerning ears . yea , many hereby have suffered great loss , and brought many grievous burthens upon that holy life , and also upon their own souls in so doing . and let not the greater measure of another be an occasion to draw thee forth from thy own , as seeking to do things equally with him , or to go beyond him ; also to mind and reflect by an inward observation , when the life or powers thereof begin to cease or shut up , that so thou mayst therein also follow them , so as to cease at their ceasing , to be shut up with them , and opened with them , and keep time and measure and touches with them , that thou mayst not be left doing alone ; for if so , thou art not doing the lords's work but thy own . viii . thou art to learn to distinguish betwixt the powers given thee from the holy life to do such and such things , and the exercise of that power ; for , though the power may be said , after a sort alwaies to remain with thee , while the life it self remains , yet thou hast not the exercise of this power at thy will and dispose : and so thou mayst observe a great difference betwixt thy exercising thy natural powers , and these spiritual , for the natural thou canst use , when thou wiltst , as to speak , write , sing naturally , &c. but thou canst not use the spiritual powers ( though they be in thee ) in thy own will. therefore thou art to wait upon the lord , that he may give thee the use of them , by the new and actual influence of his spirit upon them , which is , as it were , the key , which opens them , otherwise they are shut up and locked . ix . and lastly , watch against the enemy , who lieth near thee , in all thy workings , one way or other , to mar them . for indeed so long as the body of sin lives in thee , in any measure , so far hath satan a place in thee ; for this body with its members , and powers of its unholy life , is the very kingdom and throne of satan , in which he lives and rules , after a sort , as the lord doth in his kingdom , which is the heavenly body and birth with the members and powers thereof : and as the lord doth work mightily in his own kingdom and place , which he hath gained in the soul , and strongly moveth the soul with its powers , to concur and cooperate with him : so the enemy worketh strongly in opposition to the lord , and also moveth the soul with its powers , to concur and co-operat with him . and thus the poor soul is set , as betwixt two contrary streams , the one seeking to carry it one way , and the other to carry it to the contrary : and on this account it is , that the soul sometime obeyeth the one , and sometime the other ; sometime it is carried forward , and sometimes backward , yea , and sometimes it doth the lord's work , and sometimes the work of the enemy ; and at other times the works , which it doth , are ( so to speak ) mixed , or standeth in a mixture , so that one part of its work may be of and in the lord , and done in his power and spirit , and the other part may be of the enemy ; yea , the soul may begin to do something well , and in the spirit , and yet end it in the flesh , through its weakness and inadvertency . nevertheless we must not conceive any such mixture possible , as if what the lord doth in the soul , and what the soul doth with him and by his power and spirit , could be corrupted and defiled by the enemy . nay , for the work of the lord is still pure , so far as it goeth . but now the soul giving way to the enemy he enters , and so putteth a stop to the lord's work at that time , but he can never defile or corrupt it . and thus the lord's part of the work is still his , and the enemy hath no share in it , nor any influence upon it , so as to defile it , but he may stop it , as the lord permits him , and as the soul gives him way so to do . now one may readily object , according to this , it would seem , that so long as sin hath any life or power in the soul , it being as is said , the devils kingdom , it were impossible for it to do any work unto the lord , and in him , from fi●st to last , but that it should be marred , and stand in the mixture as aforesaid , for the very state and condition of the soul being in the mixture , as partly the holy life and its powers having place therein , and partly the unholy life and its powers , how can it be , but that the work it self should stand in the mixture also , and that proportionally , according to the mixture of the souls own state and condition ? for while the soul is working that , which is good , by the powers of the holy life , in and with the lord , will the powers of the unholy life be idle and asleep , or rather will they not work in opposition ? yea , will not the devil move strongly in them , to resist and mar the work of the lord ? answ. this objection indeed doth evince , that the things is somewhat difficult , but not impossible ; it 's true , the powers of the unholy life , do of their own nature , incline to work in opposition to the work of the lord , and satan will never be wanting , as much as he can , to move and stir them up ; but this answers it plainly , that , as the soul turns unto the lord , and breaths unto him , through the powers of his own life and spirit , for preservation , and continueth thus inwardly , turned and converted unto him , in fear , watchfulness , and singleness , the power of the lord god cometh over the unholy life and its powers , yea , and over the whole power of the enemy therein , and doth bind and captivate them , that they can no more prevail , to hinder the soul from doing the work of the lord , in purity and perfection , in a measure , then if they had no such place in it . even as in the outward , if i were doing a piece of work , and some strong bodied man , had a resolution to stop or mar me , yet if a stronger than he come , and bind him up , i may do the work compleatly , maugre him , he may fret , and make a noise , like a mad dog , or lion upon a chain , but he can do no more . and truly we have found the truth of this many times in our own experience , that , as we have kept diligent nigh unto the lord , with our minds towards him , in tender breathings and desires , that we might be preserved , we have found him chained as aforesaid . but when we have but a little become remiss , and suffered our minds to slide back from that diligence and watchfulness , as was requisite , then the lord suffered the enemy somewhat , as it were , to break loose upon us , and use his strength , in some measure against us , to the end that thereby we might be stirred up unto the more watchfulness . and indeed many times we find it so with us , in this matter , as it was with the jews , at the rebuilding of the city , who were so put to it ; that , while they builded with the one hand , they behooved to fight against the adversary with the other . thus ye may see that there is a time , wherein sin and its powers may be captivated , before it be utterly slain , and the strong man may be bound , before he be utterly cast out . chap. ix . shewing how that , though works can have no great influence upon the very first beginnings of a holy life , that being only received through a receptive faith , yet they do greatly conduce unto the growth and continuance thereof , also unto the killing and mortification of the sinful and unholy life , with its powers more and more , till it be utterly slain : where also the distinction of a twofold property of faith , viz. receptive and operative , is somewhat opened . work out your salvation ( said the apostle ) with fear and trembling : it is observable , he did not bid them begin their salvation with works , but that they should work it out , or proceed in it through works ; which is a manifest proof , that works have a great use and service , promoting and carrying on the salvation of the soul , though they cannot begin it ; and concerning the great use they have unto this effect , paul the same apostle said again , rom. 8. if ye live after the fl●sh , ye shall die , but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body , ye shall live . wherein these two things are plainly implied . 1. that carnal and evil works ( that is , a living after the flesh , occasion death upon them , who are come to some measure of spiritual life : evil and unholy works are deadning and killing , they are like a canke● , which eat out the life of the soul. 2. that good and holy works serve not only to preserve the measure of the holy life already attained , but to increase and improve it . and this same the parable of the talents doth plainly hold forth , for he , who received but two talents , yet improving the same , and putting them to use , they became multiplyed into four , so he , who received the five , by using them gained other five . many other scripture exa●mples could be brought to prove the tr●●● of it , but these shall at present suffice . moreover the very nature of the thing doth also demonstrate it , for it is here the same as to the spiritual life , as it is in the natural , for the natural life and the powers thereof become stronger and stronger , the more it is upon motion and exercise , as we see by dayly experience , but there is this difference , that the natural life , after it hath come to its heighth , doth decay , and even spendeth or consumeth it self , in its motions or workings , for it is but a temporary thing . whereas the spiritual life is eternal , and doth never at any time decay , or diminish through its workings , but is thereby perpetuated . it is such a good plant , that it ever groweth and flourisheth , and bringeth forth twelve manner of fruits every month , where it is well occupyed or improved , and never of its own nature decayeth , or waxeth barren , but the more abundant fruit it bringeth forth this month , or year , the yet more abundantly it bring forth the next . yea its life is so much in working , and bringing forth fruit , that if it be hindered in its movings and workings , it dyeth , even as the fire goeth out , if it be stopt from burning , and the water dyeth , if it be kept from running . besides , the lord is so well pleased in the soul , that is diligent in good works through his own holy life and spirit , that he doth reward it with a further measure , and taketh delight to water the soul , that is fruitful therein , the more abundantly , with his heavenly vertue and spirit , even as the husband-man doth his garden , which yieldeth him good fruit . but the vine-yard , which bringeth not forth good grapes , but the sowr and bitter grapes of evil works , see what he doth to it , isa. 5. i will lay it wast , saith the lord , it shall not be pruned nor digged , &c. i will also command the clouds , that they rain no rain upon it . but it may be said , is not faith a work ? and is not believing working ? and yet thou grants , that the soul comes to attain unto the first beginning or beginnings of a holy and spiritual life through faith and believing . unto this i answer , that there is a twofold property of faith. 1. receptive , or receiving . 2. operative , or working . now the soul doth not attain unto the beginning of a holy life , through the property of faith , which is opperative , but through that , which is receptive . and least any should think this distinction too nice or subtile , i shall prove it from the express words of scripture . 1. that faith is operative , is clear from that scripture , where it is said , faith worketh by love ; and where it is said to purifie the heart , and do a great many good things , in many other places . 2. that it is receptive , i shall go no further then ioh. 1.12 . for proof , to as many as received him , to them gave he power to become the sons of god. and that this receiving christ is a believing in him , is plain from the words immediately following , even ( said he ) to them , that believe in his name . so here is the receptive faith , for receptive is as much as to say in english , receiving . nor are there many examples wanting in natural things , to shew that a thing may have the receptive power , when as yet it hath not the operative , yea that the receptive maketh way for the operative , as to instance in some . 1. the needle of the compass must first receive its vertue from the load stone , being touched with it , before it can direct it self towards the pole . 2. the branch , that is cut-off from its own natural stock , and grafted into another , it first receiveth life and vertue from the stock , into which it is grafted , and drinketh it in , before it proceed to send forth either leaves or flourish , or fruit . 3. the womb first receiveth seed , before the powers of nature in it proceed in their operation , for its conception and formation . 4. the stomach first receiveth the meat into it , before by the powers of nature therein , it digest and turn it into the nourishment of the body . and indeed this last example doth with great clearness hold forth the thing in hand . for suppose now a man through hunger were even faint , and as it were , dead , so that he were able to do nothing , yet receiving a little food , the vertue of it doth suddenly revive him , and gives him natural strength , whereby he may do and work , as formerly . and thus the soul receiving and drinking in that divine vertue of life that is in the divine seed , is thereby quickened and strengthened to do the things , that pertain unto an holy life , in some measure . all which examples , and many more , which could be adduced , prove , that a thing may have a receptive power , and not the operative , yea that the receptive maketh way for the operative . and to this purpose , these words of christ are observable , he that believes in me , ( saith he ) though he were dead , yet shall he live : which imports , that a soul , though it be dead , may believe , that is to say , receive the seed and principle of life into it ; for this divine principle is of an insinuating and penetrating nature , it doth make way for its own reception in the heart , insinuating , and , as it were , winding it self thereinto , as the fire doth into wood , or any combustible matter . but now when this principle doth labour to work it self into the soul and its powers , the soul may resist , and doth so many times , whereby it remaineth dead , though otherwise it might have lived , by giving way unto , or receiving this divine principle and seed . and thus that subtle objection may be answered , which is thus : believing , or faith is an act of spiritual life , indwelling in the soul , and can only proceed from the soul , that liveth a spiritual life . for as a dead body cannot walk or move , so nor can a dead soul believe . from this it is inferred , that the soul must first live , before it can believe , or have faith , and consequently , that none others can have faith , but they , who are already partakers of a spiritual life , which is contrary to what ye say , that it is possible for all men to believe , while yet ye grant , all men are not spiritually alive . but this is answered by the former distinction of the twofold property of faith. therefore unto that proposition , on which the whole strength of the objection lieth , viz. that faith is an act of spiritual life indwelling in the soul , i thus answer : that the operative faith or believing , is an act of spiritual life indwelling , i grant : but as for the receptive property of faith , through it the soul is made a partaker of the spiritual life , by which it comes to indwell in the soul , and therefore the soul cannot be conceived to live spiritually , before the receptive faith. this receptive faith is the same with the soul 's converting or turning , or being converted or turned inwardly by the lord , unto the divine seed and principle in it , and to the divine presence of god and christ jesus therein , whereof i have said somewhat , chap. 4. and whether the soul be supposed only to be passive in this receptive faith , or partly passive and partly active , the matter is not much , provided it be acknowledged , that it cannot so much as believe , even according to the receptive faith , but as it is enabled and assisted , after a supernatural manner , by the lord. also some may object , this doctrin seemeth contrary to what ye seem to hold , when ye say , that it is possible for all men to do the things , that god requires of them , and that no man perisheth for want of power to do the will of god. answ. there is no contrariety herein , for when we say , it 's possible for all men to do the things , that god requires of them , we understand not this simply and absolutely , but conditionally , to wit , upon their believing : for they , who believe , receive power to do the will of god , whereas the unbelievers want this power , because of their unbelief , and forasmuch as it 's possible for all men to believe , at such times when the lord doth visit them , and touch their hearts , by the gracious influence of his holy spirit , therefore we do justly say , that all men may do the will of god , according to the restriction aforesaid . chap. x. of the great influence , that the coming of our lord iesus christ in the outward , in his birth , life , doctrin , works , sufferings , death , resurrection , ascension , glorification , &c. hath upon our mortification to sin , and regeneration unto holiness , even unto perfection : and after what manner we should improve the same effectually , in order thereunto . great and excellent are the benefits , which do come upon men , through the coming of our lord jesus christ , even in the outward , but through a spirit of deceit and hypocrisie ; which hath deeply entred the most of professors , and leavened them . great and woful are the abuses , which they have put both upon his outward coming , and the benefits thereof , while they do both grievously misunderstand and misapply the end of his coming . for , whereas the main and principle end of his coming is , to reconcile men unto god , and make peace betwixt them , through his purging their consciences from dead works , taking away the sins and pollutions of their hearts , and defacing and blotting out that unholy image of satan , begot in them , through unrighteousness , and enduing them with the heavenly and righteous image of god ; they on the contrary have supposed , or dreamed , that his end , in coming , was to reconcile them to god , and justifie them , while remaining in their sins . yea , and so far they have proceeded herein , as to imagine , that there is no need of holiness at all , for iustification and reconciliation , but only for making them meet for heaven , as they term it . whereby it would seem , they suppose , that , whereas heaven can be at no peace with unholy men , yet god can ; as if god were more reconcileable with iniquity than heaven is . but surely neither heaven , nor the god of heaven ( much less ) can ever be reconciled , or at peace , with unholiness , or those , who live in it . now the ground of this their supposition is an unfound ●otion , they have drunken in , that christ is come , or put in their stead , to fulfil the law of god , for them , in his own person , both actively and passively , by which they are wholly justified ●n the sight of god , through his satisfaction , though they remain in much sinfulness and unholiness in their own particular . but tho we do truly acknowledg the full and perfect satisfaction of christ unto the father , both in his doings and sufferings ; yet we deny that notion of it , as unsound and unscrip●ural . for the true sense of the satisfaction of christ , both as we read it outwardly in the scriptures testimony , and feel and know it inwardly , in the work and testimony of his spirit , light and life in our hearts , is after , and according to the manner , as follows . i. when man sinned against god , and became corrupt and unclean in his heart before him , through transgession , the peace betwixt god and him was broken ; and so man , who in his innocent state was justified and at peace with god , now through his sin became unjustified , and the wrath of god kindled against him both in his soul and body , in great measure . ii. this wrath of god would have burnt , in such a violent and forcible manner , had not he provided a way in his infinite mercy , in some measure , to abate and qualifie it , that it would have sunk man into endless and irrecoverable torment and misery . but god prepared a way both to qualifie this wrath , and also in due time wholly to quench it , and bring man into perfect peace and reconciliation with god , as at the beginning , yea and to establish him therein for ever . iii. now the way and remedy , he provided , both for the qualifying it at first , and afterwards for the total quenching of it , was the coming of the lord iesus christ his only begotten son in a holy seed , conception and birth , out of which should spring such a gentle , meek , and qualifying spirit and life , that it should stand up in the way betwixt the wrath of god and men , first to abate and qualifie the wrath towards men , even while they are in their sins , but not to remove it , and that for a certain time or day of visitation , given them of god , to repent and come out of their sins and sinful nature and spirit , into holiness and the nature and 〈◊〉 thereof ; and then quite to remove and quench it , at their being made free from sin , an● perfected in holiness . and truely this great and unspeakable benefit from christ have all unholy men , in the day of their visitation , that through his sweet and quallifying life , the wrath of god is in a great measure born up , from falling upon them , to the uttermost , which if it did , would instantly sink them into the pit , from whence there is no recovery . nevertheless the wrath of god abideth upon all unholy men , but through the meek life of christ in the holy seed , it is greatly suspended or born off . iv. now that the lord jesus might be , the more universally and throughly , a saviour unto man , for his recovery out of the misery and bondage and vanity , into which he had thrown himself , it pleased the father , yea and the son both , that he should come ( to wit , christ ) in a holy seed both inwardly , and outwardly , for the deliverance of both the inward and outward man , yea and for the deliverance of the whole outward creation , from the vanity and corruption it was made subject unto , through the sin of man. and thus even from the beginning , yea upon mans fall , god was in christ reconciling the world to himself , and christ was manifest in the holy seed inwardly , and so stood in the way to ward off the wrath from the sinners and unholy , that it might not come upon them to the uttermost , during the day of their visitation . for even at man's fall , the seed of the woman was given , not only to bruise the serpents head , but also to be a lamb or sacrifice , to atone and pacifie the wrath of god , towards men . and this is the lamb , that was slain from the beginning of the world. v. and through the coming of jesus christ thus in the inward , even before he was outwardly come , or manifest , many were saved , and attained unto perfect peace and reconciliation with god in their souls , yet not in unholiness , but in departing therefrom , and becoming holy and sanctified unto god. now , tho from the beginning he was not outwardly come , nevertheless his purpose of coming outwardly was from the beginning : and also he had a certain fore-knowledg and sense of what he was to suffer , and how he was to be delivered up into the hands of sinners , to be so dealt with , as it came to pass in the fulness of time . and according to this in a true sense it may be said , that he bore the weight of his outward sufferings , in great measure , from the very beginning . as even among us men , what we do certainly foresee of sufferings or trials to come upon us for the future , doth affect us with no less weight many times in the foresight of them , then in their accomplishment , yea sometimes more , as every one knoweth by some experience . and that he was given up and resigned in the very beginning to come into the world outwardly , and suffer those indignities and cruelties with many other deep trials , was certainly a sacrifice of a sweet smell before the lord , and was very acceptable and satisfactory unto him . vi. and thus according to the plain and genuine sense above mentioned , obvious to the weakest capacity , we may truly say , that all the benefits and blessings , which come upon men or have come upon them from the very beginning , for either their justification or sanctification , have a spiritual relation and respect unto jesus christ , both in his inward and outward coming , and his doings and sufferings in both , by which he gave perfect obedience unto his father ; and thereby he hath obtained the free gift to come upon all , unto justification of life . therefore we are not too nicely to distinguish betwixt the influence of his inward and outward coming and the effects thereof , but rather to take them conjunctly , as in a perfect conjunction , having a perfect influence upon all mankind , for their reconciliation and renovation unto god , as obtaining that measure of light and grace from god unto all and every one , whereby it is possible for them in a day to be saved . vii . and indeed we do very freely and willingly acknowledge , that the 〈…〉 aforesaid by his obedience and suff●●●ngs , even in the outward , hath by his satisfaction un●o god obtained it , that man may come into justification and favour with god , but not any otherwise , but upon these terms , viz. upon their faith and repentance , mortification or dying unto sin , and living a new life of holiness and righteousness unto god , otherwise all p●etence unto justification , by christ his satisfaction , is but a deceit , and a cloak for men to sooth and gratifie themselves in their sins and lusts : for the lord justifieth only his own seed , and them , who are begotten and born of it , in whom the righteousness of the law is fulfilled through the power , life and spirit of christ manifest in them , who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit , to whom there is no condemnation . and these terms , videlicet , faith and holiness are very gentle and easie , forasmuch as christ is freely given of the father unto all men , to enable them to the full performance thereof . also here is another great errour and mistake among professors generally , that they do not conceive that christ did really suffer , for , and by mens sins , but only at his outward coming ; which mistake is grounded upon this other mistake , that christ had no being , as man , but at his coming into the outward , and consequently could not suffer ; which consequence behoved to be admitted , if the ground on which it was built were true : but it is utterly false , for it is most certain from the scriptures testimony , that he suffered all along by mens iniquities , as where it is said , i am pressed under them , &c. amos 2.13 . and that he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world , yea that he endured the old world with much long-suffering , and many other places . for even from the beginning he was mediator : therefore he is said to be the beginning of the creation of god , the first-born of all creatures . and why might not christ suffer in men , before his outward coming , as he doth now suffer in them , long after it ? even as paul speaketh of the sufferings of christ , which remained to be accomplished in him , for the seed ( which is christ , according to his participation with the creatures ) hath been the same in all ages , and hath had its sufferings under , by , and for the sins of men , in them all , for the removing and abolishing of them . this outward coming of the lord jesus and his conception , birth , life , sufferings , death , resurrection and ascension , &c. is one of the greatest and profoundest mysteries of the christian faith , and hath an exceeding much deeper sense and consideration , than most apprehend , or than any can apprehend , but as it is opened unto them in the life , light and spirit of christ in their own particulars . and therefore i do admonish and warn all , yea i obtest them , in the power and spirit of jesus christ , that they do not make any slight account of it , or undervalue this great and glorious mystery , that shall be the eternal object of the saints contemplation , for which ( as among other things ) they shall eternally adore , and admire the infinite goodness , wisdom , mercy , and power of the lord in and over all his works . and if the mystery be not opened unto them , as aforesaid , let them be silent , and hold their peace , not meddling to measure the mysteries , nor this mystery of god , with the weak and shallow capacity of their own apprehensions . and seeing the lord has given me some in-sight and knowledge thereof in a measure , and that by the revelation of the spirit and life of his son in my heart , i may not forbear to mention and declare somewhat of it unto others , which i warn and admonish all , that shall read or hear of it , to beware of judging of the same , but in the express sense , feeling , and opening of the same life and spirit in their own particulars . it hath been commonly taught and supposed , that the coming of iesus in the outward , and his becoming man , had no further in it , but that the word , which was from everlasting , did assume the true nature of man in soul and body ●nto an immediate union with it self , ( commonly called the hypostatical or personal vnion ) and that this manhood of chri●t was conceived in a miraculous way , by the power of the holy ghost in the virgins womb. all which is willingly granted , and truly and cordially believed by me . but i say , there is yet a further thing in it , than they yet speak of , or apprehend , and it is this , that even that holy birth and conception , as it had the real and true nature of man , so it had much more , viz. a certain divine perfection , ( as i may so call it , through the wisdom given me of god ) whereby it was not only the whole and intire nature , or birth of manhood , but was more , yea much more than a man. it 's true , it is commonly granted , that christ was more than a man , yea both god and man , which is true : but yet they do not apprehend the thing , whereof i speak . for , tho they grant christ was both god and man , yet they do not apprehend nor acknowledge , that that birth had any thing of its own nature , more than the birth of any other man , which , i say , it had , according to the revelation of god given me , concerning it . and this is demonstrable also from scripture : ● but i shall soon put an end to both these reasonings , and yet also speak or declare freely that which is given me concerning the same , ( and in plainness so far as the nature of the thing can admit . ) i say then , that neither is the god-head it self conceived or born in this birth , nor yet is it a particle or portion thereof . for i confess , to say either of these two , were very unsound , and is altogether contrary unto and inconsistent with the dignity and glory of god. and as for the god-head ( to speak properly ) it is not discerpible into particles . and thus i have plainly cleared my self of the least ground of suspicion of blasphemy or unsoundness , as to the nature and dignity of the god-head , that is , without all variableness or shadow of change . and now to that question , viz. if that birth have in it , ( and that substantially ) and in its very nature somewhat above the common nature of man , what can it be but the god-head it self . i answer : yea it hath , and yet it is not the godhead it self , but a certain middle nature , substance , or being , betwixt the god-head and mankind , that is as far , yea and much farther transcendent in glory above the common nature of man , as the nature of man is above the nature of the beasts ; yea it is even above the nature of the angels . this will be thought the more strange of by many , because they have been commonly taught and have commonly received it , that there is no middle substance betwixt the god-head and us , at least as to the inward ; for they have supposed , that the spirit or mind of a man or an angel , is next unto the god-head , which i deny , for the heavenly or divine substance or essence , of which the divine birth was both conceived in mary , and is inwardly conceived in the saints , is of a middle nature . now this middle nature i call a divine substance or essence , not as if it were the god-head it self , or a particle or portion of it , but because of its excellency above all other things next unto the god-head , as on such an account men do call other things divine ( which are very excellent ) yea some call holy men divine , and some call these , who teach the things of god , divines , as iohn , who wrote the revelation , is called iohn the divine . also , this excellent and intermediate being may be called the divine being , on such an account , as because the god-head is most immediately manifest therein , and dwelleth in it , as in the most holy place , or holy of holies . for thus , even according unto the manner of men , we commonly say , such a place , in the outward , is such a man's being , because of his dwelling or abiding there . and so it may be called the divine essence or being , for that god doth dwell in it , though he dwelleth in himself also , and so did from everlasting . and truly i cannot but in charity construe this to have been intended by some in some other places , who affirmed , that christ as man , was born of the divine essence or substance , for so say i , according to the foresaid explanation , that he was not only born of it , but of the essence or substance of man also , thro' mary . and thus he was both the son of god and the son of man , according to his very birth in mary : and therefore even according to that birth , he hath a divine perfection and virtue , and that substantial , above all other men that ever were , are , or shall be , who is the heavenly man , by vertue of which divine perfection he was united with god in an immediate manner , and replenished with such a fullness of the god-head , as no other man , or men are capable of : yea by vertue thereof the fullness dwelt in him bodily , as the scriptures declare . and this divine and super-eminent perfection of this birth above the common nature of man , yea of angels , is that wonderful nexus , tie , or bond betwixt god and him , through which he hath immediate union with him ; yea it is , and may be called the union , viz. that by which god and man is made one , and such and union as no other creature hath , or ever shall have , for that the union of god with all other creatures is but mediate , whereas this is immediate . wherefore he , and he alone ought to be called iesus christ , both god and man , and no other . and by this divine perfection he carrieth the image of god , in his very outward birth : as also he carried in the same the true nature and image of man , through his partaking of marys substance . and thus he hath our whole , and perfect true nature , as man , being like us in all things without sin , in soul and body , so he hath also somewhat , even as to his soul and body , much more excellent , than all other men , and that substanstially : so that his body hath not only the perfections of our body , but also much more , because of its being generate , not only of the seed of mary , but of a divine seed , and his soul hath all the perfections and properties , which the soul of man in innocency hath : but it hath also much more excellent properties and perfections , and that substantially . and therefore his body tho it could suffer death , yet it could not suffer corruption , and his soul could not sin , nor be corrupted with iniquity , but did ever suffer under it , and by it , which soul of christ is the quickening spirit , as paul hath declared , 1 cor. 15. now because of the wonderful and divine excellencies and perfections of this birth , therefore it is ordained and appointed of god to be that universal balsam or medicine , to cure and restore , not only all these of mankind in soul and body ( who shall receive him inwardly by faith and love ) but also to cure and restore the whole outward creation , from its distempers and corruptions , that are come upon it , through sin . yea this is the little leaven , that shall leaven the whole lump of this visible creation , by its pure , heavenly , and divine vertue , into most wonderful sweetness , purity , vertue , beauty , and glory , whereby all things shall be made new , and that which is but natural , shall be , as it were , spiritual . yea this is indeed that stone of the wise-men , which by its touch shall in due time change , not only the bodies of the saints , but the body of the whole creation , and purge it from all its weakness and impurity . and truly another philosophers stone , even in the outward ( at least to that latitude , as it is commonly defined ) shall men never find , but this , even this holy and divine body and birth , which now 1669 years ago was brought forth , through the power of the holy ghost , in and by the virgin mary . for what can perfectly cure and restore the sick and diseased body of nature , either in man , or other things , but his incorruptible body , through the power of the spirit that dwelleth in it , who said , behold i make all things new , and for whose coming to renew them all , the creation is invited to rejoyce , because of their being to be delivered through the same , from their bondage and vanity ? yet i shall not deny , but that it may be possible for men , through the wisdom of god , to find out such a substance , as may do great cures on the body of nature , but i say it can never perfectly cure it : otherwise the body should become immortal , which never shall be through the vertue of any other body , but that of jesus christ , as is said . and , though such a substance have been found , or may be ( as supposing it , which could turn the other metals into gold ) yet this were not the universal bal●om or stone , for even the purest gold on earth hath its corruptions and distempers , from which when it is refined , it will more excell , what it is now , than it at present doth excell the basest metal , stone , or sand , or turf . and to the end that this excellent body or birth of jesus christ might be the more prepared forsuch an effect , viz. to cure and restore all things , therefore it pleased the father to give him up , both in soul and body , to suffer such deep inward afflictions , sufferings and trials , for by these that hidden divine vertue and perfection , which was in the center both of his soul and body , was raised up and brought forth ( as into the circumference ) even unto its fulness and perfection . according to which it is said in the scripture , that he ( the captain of our salvation ) was made perfect thro sufferings , for so it is indeed as to all other things , which have any perfection or vertue further in them , than is manifest , as it were , hid in the centre , which perfection is raised up and brought into view or manifestation , through its sufferings , as by mortification , calcination , melting it in the fire , heating it , pounding and pressing it , bruising and squeezing , boiling , and many such kind of things , well known to chymists and physicians . and thus was our blessed lord used , both in his soul and body : his deep sufrings in both were like a wine-press , which served to squeeze and press out the hidden wine , that was in his grapes , even that pure and precious water and blood , which came out at his side on the cross , and when in the garden he sweat , that drops of blood fell to the ground , these very drops of water and blood had a most excellent vertue in them , beyond what man's heart is able to conceive of , whereby they entred into the very kernel and quintescence of the whole creation , to its very heart , for its deliverance and restauration . and this was as a seed , that was then sown in the very heart of the outward nature , by which it is blessed of god in some measure , and through which it shall in due time be perfectly delivered and cured of its vanity , corruption , and bondage . therefore it was , that at the sufferings of christ , the whole outward creation fell into a wonderful passion and suffering , in so much that there was a great darkness over all , and the very earth was , as it were , rent , for that secret and excellent vertue , which went forth from him at his sufferings , even in the water and the blood pierced into the heart of the body of the world , and wrought in it , like physick that worketh strongly , against the corrupt humours in man's body , that doth greatly affect the body with sufferings . and thus it was even fit , that the creation should , after its manner , suffer with him , which was to partake of such glorious effects , through his sufferings . and though the outward creation be not yet cured , through the secret vertue of that water and blood , no , nor yet the bodies of the saints , yet in due time they shall , even through and by the vertue of these sufferings . but as i have said above , so do i again repeat it , that it may have the more weight , viz. that we are not too nicely to make a difference betwixt the influence and effects of his outward and inward sufferings , but to understand them in a perfect conjunction , and that the end of his suffering in both was this , viz. 1. both to quench and allay the wrath of god , which was kindled both in mens souls and bodies , and also in the whole body of the creation . and 2. to purifie and cure both men , and also the outward creation , from corruption , vanity , and bondage . and so , in relation to men , this i say , that the sufferings of christ , and his obedience , life and righteousness , both inwardly and outwardly , hath a very blessed influence upon men , both to remove the wrath , and also to remove sin the cause of it , and to bring in everlasting righteousness , to cover the soul with , by a real participation of it , over and beyond all imaginary reckonings and imputation of man , ( though the imputation of god unto man , ●we own . ) and this i say further , that the wrath is no further removed from men , by vertue of christs obedience and sufferings , than sin , that is the cause of it , is removed : and thus justification and mortification , and sanctification , go on equally . and by what is said , way is also made for clearing of that concerning christ , his bearing the wrath and anger of god for us ; to which i say , he did so bear it indeed , that he bore it up from falling upon us , in its full weight , which if it had done , it would have sunk us into an eternal state of misery , and he stood in the way and bore it off , that it did not drown and consume us with everlasting death and destruction ; but that he did bear the wrath of god , either in that manner or measure , which the damned in hell do , or we should have done , had not the lord recovered us , i altogether deny , for he could , and did satisfie the father well and acceptably , without bearing it in that way . but if it be queried , if he suffered by that wrath , when he stood betwixt us and it . i answer , he suffered a trial and chastisement by it , and so it is called a chastisement , but it could never be said , that the father was offended or displeased with him , even while he suffered for us , for the father was satisfied and well pleased in him in his greatest sufferings , which he did bear , in most perfect resignation , love , and willingness , both to please his father , and also to save and reconcile men unto god. and tho the lord did not withdraw that sensible comfort from him , when he suffered on the cross , it was not for any displeasure towards him , but for a trial , and as is said , to raise up and draw forth that excellent vertue and perfection , that was in him , the more . so it pleased the father to bruise him , and press him with sufferings , as in a wine-press , to the end that sweet wine might come forth , that hath the vertue in it to cure men of their wounds , both in relation to wrath and sin . and so when he cryed forth with a loud voice upon the cross , my god , &c. even therein and there through vertue went from him , in that holy breath or spirit which had , and hath , a most effectual influence upon both men and the creation , for their deliverance , as aforesaid , for nothing , that he ever did or suffered , was in vain , or without vertue and influence unto mens salvation . and thus having declared the great influence , which the very outward coming , birth , life , sufferings , and death , &c. of christ , hath upon men , both for their justification and sanctification ; let us now see how and in what manner we should improve the same effectually , in order thereunto : for indeed we shall find how the apostles did greatly improve and make use of it , in order unto mortification , or dying unto sin , and living unto holiness , and making progress therein , unto perfection . as to instance in some few examples . rom. 6.2 . how shall we , that are dead to sin , live any longer therein ? know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into iesus christ , were baptized into his death , &c. see throughout the whole chapter . 2 cor. 5.14 . for the love of christ constraineth us : because we thus judge , that if one dyed for all , then were all dead , and that he died for all , that they which live , should not henceforth live unto themselves , bu● unto him , who died for them , and rose again . 1 pet. 2.24 . who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree , but we being dead to sin should live to righteousness , by whose stripes ye were healed , vers. 21. because christ also suffered for us , leaving us an example , that we should follow his steps . 1 pet. 4.1 . forasmuch then as christ hath suffered for us in the flesh , arm your selves likewise with the same mind . for he , that hath suffered in the flesh , hath ceased from sin , that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh , to the lusts of men , but to the will of god. by all which places , and many other , which could be mentioned , we may observe that the saints made the chifest use and improvements of the sufferings , death , and resurrection of christ , for the mortification of sin , and living unto god , in holiness and righteousness , and that unto perfection ; and did not sooth or please themselves to live in much sin and unholiness , and speaking peace to themselves therein , because of what christ had done and suffered for them . and now i shall sum up in a few words the particular uses and benefits , which the saints receive , in order to a growing and proceeding in holiness , through the improving the coming , sufferings , death , and resurrection of the lord in the outward , through the power and light of his own holy spirit and life , in and by which only they can improve them aright . i. as his coming , birth , sufferings , death , resurrection , &c. are presented and set before us , in the evidence and vertue of his own light and spirit in our hearts , so it is made a great occasion to strengthen both our faith in god , and our love towards him , forasmuch as our lord god the father of our lord jesus christ hath given , by his outward coming , &c. as aforesaid , a very great and large testimony of his love and good will towards all men , for their salvation , and of his patience and long-suffering , in permitting men so to use his own dear son , which was , as if it had been unto himself . yea , herein he gave a most convincing testimony how he had born and suffered , with wonderful long-suffering the iniquities of men , which struck against his inward life and spirit of his son in all ages and generations , before the wounding and crucifying it in them , as now they did against him in the outward . by which men might be greatly convinced , that the will of the lord was their salvation , in so bearing and suffering them , for had he not intended love to them herein , he might have eased himself of his adversaries in a moment , and altogether delivered that tender life and spirit of his son from its sufferings in them , and brought intolerable sufferings upon the transgressors themselves . also herein the lord gave a great testimony of his power to save , in as much as tho he delivered up his son to suffer most deep affliction in and under sinners , yet in due time he raised him up again , even from death , and did manifestly set him over all his adversaries , according to the working of which mighty power he is able to save unto the uttermost all , that come unto god by him . and so these things being inwardly presented and set before the soul in the spirit and light of jesus christ , are indeed very forcible and prevailing to work faith in it , both upon the mercy and power of the lord , and so to rest and stay its faith upon him , for its full and perfect salvation , as also to work and beget love unto him , in the inward sense and feeling of the wonderful love of god , as manifesting it self even so in the outward . ii. and yet more particularly the coming , sufferings , and death of christ , as presented by his spirit in the soul , as aforesaid , have a very special influence to kindle most ardent love in it towards him , in the sense of that love of his so wonderfully manifested in the outward , whereby , for the souls saving from sin and wrath , he so humbled himself by so many steps and degrees , and bore such indignities and sufferings as never any one did ; and all in love to the soul , and for it , and for its deliverance , as aforesaid , and that he should be manifest in the outward body , and suffer so deeply therein , even for the delivering our outward bodies also from sin and wrath ; these things , i say , as presented and set before the soul in his own spirit , as it were , himself telling it in a particular way how he had humbled himself , and what he had done and suffered for it , are strong and prevailing occasions to work most ardent and dear love in the soul towards him and his spirit , and towards the father also , whose free gift of love he is . iii. and they have indeed a great influence , when presented in his spirit , as aforesaid , to work in our hearts true and real repentance from all our sins , yea and a perfect and universal hatred against them , as having a sense that our sins were the occasion of his sufferings , yea his deepest and heaviest sufferings , even in his soul in the outward , was through the burden of our iniquities , which he then did bear , so that the wounds , he got in his blessed body , with the nails , and the spear , and the thorns , and the violent hands of men , were nothing comparable to these wounds he had in his righteous soul and life , through the burden and weight of mens iniquities . but how christ did suffer under the iniquities of men and the spirit and power thereof , can never be understood in any true measure , but by these alone ; who are come to be acquainted with a measure of his righteous life in their own particulars , and to know a measure of redemption from sin thereby ; such will feel how that righteous life of christ jesus suffers by sin , and the spirit and power thereof , so that many times we have felt the life of him in us to be deeply smitten and wounded , and deeply to suffer , through and by iniquity and the spirit of it , even in others , and in a whole country and nation , yea in some measure through the whole world . the reason of which is , because of that deep and near sympathy , that his life in the saints hath with the seed of that life , that is oppressed in others , till it be raised . so that many , in whom this righteous life is raised to reign in perfect dominion over all , its contrary in their own particulars , yet witness many times its deep sufferings , through its sympathy with that seed of its own nature oppressed and murdered in others . so that indeed upon the matter this righteous life in none of the saints will be wholly delivered from its sufferings , till that of its own nature over all the world be raised up in all hearts , to reign with it in dominion , either in full love , or wrath . and truly these deep sufferings of christ under the burden of mens iniquities really felt and witnessed by him , as in the garden , and on the cross , &c. i find the professors know little or nothing of , for they conceive not that christ suffered any other way by the burden of sin laid on him , then in that he suffered the wrath of god , that was due to men for sin , and so they understand his bearing our sins to be only in respect of the wrath of god he did bear , which was not so , for he suffered much more deeply by the sins of the world and the spirit thereof , because of that great and implacable contrariety and enmity , which sin and the spirit thereof hath against his tender life ; which at that time had mustered up all its forces against him , the lord permitting it so to be , that by his patient and meek sufferings , he might overcome it , as indeed he did ; and even upon the cross triumphed over it , and gave the spirit of transgression the greatest blow and wound that ever it got , which shall in due time by the vertue and power of his sufferings be utterly slain , and extinguished in the earth , and it filled with his holy and righteous spirit . and this spirit of iniquity wrought what it could so to eclipse and vail the presence of god from his righteous soul , as to take away that comfort and joy from him , which at other times he had , yet his faith pierced through this cloud , that it did not overcome him , but he overcame it , and signified his faith in god , saying , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? which respected that sensible joy and comfort : yet in the midst of this deep trial the father was with him , in love , and in the power and vertue of that love the wrath became mitigated and qualified towards men . and to speak properly , the wrath was indeed against men , but never on any account directly against christ , who did indeed intervene , and intermediate betwixt it and us , to bear it off , and qualifie it , as is abovesaid ; yet he could never suffer it , as the damned do , for he qualified it both in the father's love , and in his own ; but the wrath which the damned suffer , hath no such qualification . and truly we cannot judg that the father was ( to speak properly ) offended or displeased with him , nay not on our account , nor do the scriptures speak any thing so , only it pleased the father thus to try him , and make him perfect thus by sufferings , to the end he might overcome sin and the spirit thereof , in the more glory , and might be the more fitted to help them , that are under trials , as being touched with the feeling of our infirmities . iiii. being presented in his spirit , as aforesaid , they have also great influence , to raise in our souls most fervent breathings and supplications unto the lord , not only for his pardoning and forgiving grace , ( for and because of his son's blood-shed , his sufferings , and death , &c. by which he procured or purchased it ) but also for his sanctifying and mortifying grace , even for an abundant measure of the life and spirit of grace , whereby we may be enabled to die perfectly unto sin , and live unto god , in perfection of holyness ; so th●t the soul may strongly plead with the lord upon the account of christ , that he may pour forth abundantly of his grace , life , light and spirit , because that the lord jesus hath purchased it abundantly , and hath opened the fountain of the father's love abundantly , by his obedience and righteousness , to the end that all souls may come and draw out of that fulness of his , which he hath purchased , and is in him , even grace for grace , joh. 1.16 . both to justifie and sanctifie , and as much the one as the other . v. also these things presented in the spirit , as aforesaid , and in and thereby applied to the soul , become very strong and forcible motives unto it to war against sin universally , and the spirit thereof , to the utter killing and destroying of it , seeing it is the greatest enemy of that tender life of christ , which suffered so much on this account , even to the mortifying of the soul unto sin , and saving it therefrom , so that if the soul do not diligently apply it self unto a total mortification of sin , it doth nothing answer unto that love and good-will of christ , in his sufferings , nor to the end thereof . they are also of the same force to move the soul to follow after holiness , till it attain unto it , so as to be pure and holy , as christ its beloved and spouse , who gave himself for her , that she might be holy , and to present her unto god , without spot or wrinkle , or any such thing , eph. 5.27 . also how can the soul but be moved to press after holiness , seeing it inwardly feels , that the righteous life of christ is as much eased and refreshed , and delighted in its becoming holy , as ever it was formerly grieved and burthened with its iniquities ? vi. our blessed lord in his outward coming , life , and way of conversation , doctrine , sufferings , and death , &c. is a most noble and perfect example unto us , even the best that ever outwardly was , is , or shall be , that we might imitate his vertues , and follow his steps , in all godliness , temperance , and righteousness , who taught us most excellent documents and instructions of a holy life , both in doctrine and example , and sealed the same with his most holy and blessed sufferings , who knew no sin , yet so willingly suffered death for sin , gave us a most convincing example , that we should die unto it , and suffer it no more to live in us . now it is to be observed and remembred , that in all these steps , the sufferings and death of christ , &c. have these influences upon us , not as they are presented unto us barely in our own spirit , or as we do bring them to our remembrance thereby , and so make a working upon our selves , in our own thoughts and motions , for in so doing we shall never profit our own souls , either in dying unto sin , or living in holiness unto god. indeed we may thereby raise sparks of our own kindling , in the affectionate part , and work some effect in our hearts , which may be a shadow or likeness of these things , but can never be the things themselves , but as they are inwardly presented to the soul in the light , life , and spirit of christ iesus , and applied thereby , and that instantly and continually . for it is his light , life , and spirit alone , which both gives the true understanding of the vse and end of these things , and also gives unto the soul the living sense and feeling of them , and in a living and effectual way doth only , and can apply them unto the soul , and whole powers thereof , for the working such suitable effects and impressions , as are proper thereunto . but some may say , seeing the outward coming , sufferings and death , &c. of the lord iesus christ , as it is known and improved by the soul is so effectual to work faith and love in it towards god , and for its mortification unto sin and living in holiness unto god , would it not therefore seem that the knowledg of the outward coming , sufferings and death of christ , as aforesaid , is of absolute necessity unto every one , for the attainment of these things ? for how can a soul believe that god will be gracious unto it , or is reconcileable with it , but as it looks upon that testimony of his mercy and love , in sending his beloved son outwardly into the world , to suffer and die for our sins , in order unto our reconciliation and peace with god ? also how can it love god with that purity and fervency of love , which is according to the gospel , but as it regards and considers that testimony of his love , in the coming , sufferings and death of christ in the outward ? answ . indeed the knowledg of this outward coming , sufferings and death , is of very blessed use and advantage , and all who have it , should be very thankful unto god , who hath given us this testimony of his love , good-will , long-suffering and power , in the outward coming of jesus christ , for the more abundant helping and enabling us to believe in him and love him . yet this i say , though express knowledg of his outward coming , sufferings and death , is very profitable to beget faith and love in men towards god , as aforesaid , and ought to be highly valued in its place ; nevertheless this express knowledg is not of absolute necessity unto faith and love , forasmuch as the outward coming , sufferings and death of christ may have , and hath a real and true influence upon them , who know it not expresly . for , seeing he hath tasted death for every man , and given his life a ransom for all , it cannot be but that it should have an influence upon all . yea the apostle expresly mentions what it is , rom. 5.18 , 19. how that by the righteousness and obedience of christ the free gift is come upon all , to iustification of life . look then , as many of adam's posterity suffer disadvantage by his disobedience , who never knew it expresly , so why may not many receive an advantage by christ the second adam's obedience , even in the outward , who never knew it expresly ? yea , certainly they have , for how many thousands have been saved before christ's coming in the outward ; who knew it not expresly ? and many , who knew something of it , it was but very darkly and under vails and figures : yea , the very disciples did not for a good time know of his death , so that when he told them of it , they were astonished , and yet they had both faith and love in some measure : seeing then that some had faith and love to god , and were saved , without the express knowledg thereof , before he came outwardly , why not also after his coming , where his coming outwardly hath not been preached nor revealed ? yea has not god a way of saving infants , and the dumb and deaf , who have not that express knowledg ? for now christ is inwardly come in a seed of life ▪ and light in all , which is the word of reconciliation , by which men may be reconciled with god , as they joyn and apply their minds thereunto : and in this the lord god doth give a sufficient testimony of his love , mercy , good-will long suffering , and power unto every man , for his salvation , whereby it is possible for him to attain unto the true faith in god , and the true love towards him , even according to the gospel . and in this holy seed the sufferings of christ , and how he bore the iniquities of the soul , and makes intercession or attonement unto god , may be learned in some measure , with many other things concerning christ , in relation to him and his doings and sufferings in the outward , which was an outward and visible testimony of his inward doings and sufferings in all ages in men and women in the holy seed . and indeed we find , that this is only the true and effectual way of knowing the use and work of his coming , and sufferings , and death in the outward , by turning , and having our minds turned inwards unto himself near and in our hearts in the holy seed , to know by an inward feeling and good experience his doings and sufferings in us , by being made conformable thereunto . in which holy seed as it ariseth in us , such a clear light shineth forth in our hearts , as giveth unto us the true knowledg of the vse of his inward doings and sufferings , hence also such a precious , sweet , and powerful life springeth up from and in the same holy seed , which doth with much sweetness and comfort , enable us to follow his example in the outward , in faith , in obedience , in love , in purity , in patience , in godliness , in righteousness and temperance , and all other things , wherein we are required to imitate him . and this is the great loss we find people at generally , who seek to know the vertue and vse of his coming , doings , and sufferings in the outward , by what they can outwardly hear or read of him , while as they remain estranged from his light , life , and spirit , in the holy seed in their hearts ; and yet they can never know the same but in this . and , oh! at what great pains have many poor souls been to imitate christ in his heavenly vertues , by setting him as their example before him , but meerly as the letter or history declares of him ? by which way yet they can never attain unto the true imitation or following of him , for there is required an inward spring and power of the same life of christ , by which he did these things , to enable them to follow his example , and all imitation , without the soul attain to be endued with this life ( which it attaineth unto , through the arising of the holy seed in it ) is , as if a man would , by much pains , set himself to mount up towards heaven , and fly through the midst of it , like an eagle , or bird of the air , which were impossible for him to do , even so as impossible is it for him to follow christ in his heavenly vertues , doings and sufferings , but by being endued with a measure of his heavenly life and the powers thereof , which are as wings , whereby the soul may indeed mount up as an eagle , and follow christ , flying with him through the midst of heaven , yea , walking with him , and that without wearying , and running without fainting . and therefore this is the true method and order , which we have found greatly blessed of god , which the lord hath taught us to hold forth unto people , whereby they attain unto holiness , to a being made conformable unto the holy life of iesus christ , and come to know the true and great end and vse of his outward coming , viz. in the first place , to point and turn their minds unto the light of iesus christ , who hath inlightened them , and every one , and hath sown a seed of his light , life and spirit in every one , unto which seed they should give the most inward of their hearts , as a ground for it to grow and spring up in , abondoning and forsaking all those things , which hinder its arising : whence then in due time such a measure of light and life ariseth therein , as gives them both truly to know christ and to follow him . george keith . how to discern the convictions , that proceed from the light of faith , or divine principle in us , from those , that proceed from the light of nature , or meer natural and humane reason , assisted by arguments drawn from scripture . this question i find weighty on my heart to answer , for the sake of some , whose minds , through the subtle workings of the enemy , may be perplexed with the same , as my mind was , for a considerable time , after i was in great measure convinced of the truth . the enemy of my soul did exceedingly work in me , to cause me to believe , that i was still , but where formerly i had been , to wit , that , although i had changed my judgment concerning many things , yet the principle , that swayed my judgment , was still but the natural principle , helped with scripture arguments , and so my faith , touching these things , was but meerly humane and natural , not divine and supernatural , and consequently was nothing but opinion still , and that i was still but a natural man , and no true believer , and that , though i should join with the people of god , who have the true divine faith , and should do the things that they do , i could not be accepted of god , my obedience not proceeding from the true divine faith , which is the effect of the true divine light , nor having received the true divine call. this objection did so trouble , perplex , and disquiet me , through the working of satan , as it were , under ground , and hiding himself and his design from me , that none , but the lord alone , did , or could , know the great anguish of my soul ; and , had not the lord , in his wonderful mercy , broken this snare , i had been held in it , unto this very day , and perhaps had died in that sad and lamentable condition . and i do certainly know , the enemy doth assault many in this day , and doth prevail over them by the same tentation , who are truly convinced of truth by the divine light , and principle of god in their hearts , which divine conviction is a sufficient divine call , being alwaies accompanied with a secret divine drawing , to give obedience unto god , in all things , whereof they are convinced . the sense now of such souls condition being brought upon me , my bowels are moved in great tenderness towards them , and my heart is opened by the lord , to say somewhat unto them , that may be of service , to whose hands it may be ordered to come . and the breathing of my soul , in the spirit of lif●●●s , that god almighty may bless it 〈…〉 , and make it effectual . the 〈…〉 between these two principles , and their respective operations in the soul , doth not proceed from this , that they are not in their own nature , widely distinct or discernable to be so , by them , who have the true eye of discerning opened in them , and are come to a clear inward sense and feeling , through a living growth in the truth , for indeed no things in the whole universe do more clearly appear to be of a differing nature , unto those , who have the spiritual senses raised and opened in them , than the two aforesaid principles , or lights , which differ as widely , as heaven and earth : for the one is of the earth , earthly ; the other is of heaven , heavenly ; the one is of the first adam , the other is of the second adam ; iesus christ : yea , the one is meerly humane and natural , the other is purely divine and supernatural . the cause then of the great difficulty to discern betwixt these two principles , and their respective operations , is that darkness and confusion , that is over the hearts and vnderstandings of those , who are but first convinced of the truth , and not as yet really so converted unto it , as to be leavened by the power of it , and transformed into its nature . yea , after some beginnings of true conversion , wrought in the soul , the difficulty doth , in some measure , still remain , but not so great , as formerly . the greatest difficulty therefore belongeth unto those only , who are but beginners , and beginning to travel out of egypt and babylon , and sodom , into the holy land , the land of the living , and the holy hill of zion , with their faces thitherwards . to whom also it is a great difficulty how to distinguish not only betwixt the natural● vnderstanding , and the divine light of faith in them , but to distinguish betwixt the true divine light , and satan transforming himself into the similitude of an angel of light , in all which notwithstanding the difficulty is not so great , as the enemy of the soul doth represent it to be . now to help any distressed or perplexed soul , that may be in doubt concerning this thing . to such i say , since thou art really convinced that god hath given a measure of the true divine light , of his son christ jesus , unto every man and woman , and consequently unto thee ( for to such only at present do i write , who are convinced of this truth , but do question the nature of their convincement ) why shouldst thou question that thy convincement doth only proceed from the natural light and meer natural vnderstanding of thy soul , as influenced by scripture arguments , and other outward helps , and not also from the divine principle of the light , life and spirit of christ jesus ? for certainly this divine principle , which is in thee , is not altogether idle , or without operation , it is of a most active or operative nature , even as fire and light in the outward . can the outward sun shine , and inlighten the earth , and have no operation , nor influence upon it ? or , can the fire burn and have no operation , or influence upon what is next unto it ? nay surely . and therefore no more can this divine principle and light be in any soul , but it must certainly and infallibly have some influence and operation upon that soul , in whom it is , and that in order to salvation , whose day of visitation is not expired . and the most proper operation of it in the first place is to convince the soul of truth , i mean of somewhat of the truth , of somewhat of god , and of his mind and will , of what he doth accept , and is well pleased with , and what he doth reject and abhor . the word of god ( said the apostle , heb. 4.12 . ) is living and powerful , or operative , and sharper than any two edged sword , piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit , and of the ioynts and marrow , and is a discerner ( judge , or reprover ) of the thoughts and intents of the heart . and this word is in all , even in the mouth and in the heart of every man , and is that word of faith , as paul did expound it , rom. 10.8 . now , if it be the word of faith , it is also the light of faith , for in that word is life , and the life is the light of men , and this is the true light that doth lighten every man , that cometh into the world , as iohn declared , 1.9 . now mark the word [ lighten ] which doth import its active and operative influence and vertue in all men , in some measure or degree , really to convince them . and , although there be great darkness over the hearts and souls of all unconverted men and women , that they are said to be darkness , yet as iohn hath declared , the light shineth in darkness , although the darkness comprehends it not , 1.5 . so the light not only is in the darkness , but it shineth in the darkness , and worketh against the darkness to reveal it , and remove it , even as the darkness doth work in the soul , to hide and obscure the light , and as it were , to extinguish and quench it in the soul. and it is a most absurd thing to acknowledg that the natural principle hath its operation in the soul , and is not without its influence and force to move and act the soul , as also that the principle of darkness , to wit , the diabolical or hellish principle , even the very spirit of satan hath its operation and influence in all men , in whom it is , and yet to deny that this divine principle , that is in nature more powerful , and more operative , than either of the other two , hath any influence or operation in them at all . and this i would have thee also to consider , that it pleaseth god in his great condescension many times , together with his divine light and spirit in thy soul , to make use of the scriptures , and arguments drawn therefrom , making them of service in the hand of the divine light and spirit , as also to make use of thy own natural understanding , and the natural principle or light by shining upon it , and raising up in it pure and holy convictions and openings of truth , together with pure and holy desires in the soul , which as they are entertained , become a true beginning of conversion in that soul. but the way of the lord is not one and the same alwaies to the soul in this state , for sometimes as is said , he maketh use of the natural principle it self , to wit , the natural understanding , and reason of man ( by shining upon it ) in a more active way and manner , so as it may seem to be nothing else , but the natural principle it self , helped with scripture arguments and reasons , or some outward helps , that doth convince the soul of those things , which it is forced to acknowledg to be true , while yet it is divine light working in the soul more secretly and hiddenly , that hath the main stroak and hand in the business . at other times the divine light appeareth more immediately in the soul , and more openly , and scarcely at all maketh use of the natural principle or understanding ; further than in a passive way , as when the eye looketh towards an object , or as the ear heareth a voice or sound , wherein the soul is rather passive than active . and sometimes all the natural powers of the soul are drawn into a deep silence , by the mighty , and yet secret working of the power of the divine principle and light , so that the soul by none of its natural or humane powers or faculties doth apprehend what is inwardly revealed in it by the divine light , but they all being silenced , bound , locked up , and as it were , made asleep ( both imagination and reason , or whatever else can be called a natural or humane faculty of the soul being wholly suspended and laid by , as of no present use ) and the soul , as it were , wholly dead for that present time unto them all , as so many dead members , the divine light and spirit doth raise up , and awaken , in that soul , a new sense and power of discerning , of which it formerly had no experience , or at lest made no reflexion upon the same , which is the spiritual sensation of god and divine things , as inwardly revealed by the divine light. but this kind of experience is more rare to new beginners , and to whom it is given , is a most singular and choice mercy and favour of god , which yet is most ordinary to all those , who in any considerable measure , are truly converted unto the truth , and leavened into the nature of it . and if it shall please god at any time to give thee such an experience , who art not yet so considerably converted unto the truth , thou art to receive it , as a singular favor and grace of god , but , if it be denied at present unto thee , god not judging thee worthy of so high a favour , thou ough●st to be content with that other way . and such a convincement is a true divine and spiritual convincement , proceeding originally and principally from the true divine light and spirit of faith , and there is vertue sufficient in that , which doth thus convince thee , to enable thee to believe and joyn unto it , and to obey its requirings , according to the present measure , and that is a true sufficient divine call for the present , which if thou dost slight or neglect , in expectation of a greater , or more clear , thou dost tempt the lord , and provoke his holy spirit . moreover , i would have thee to know , that thou oughtst not to expect that measure or degree of clearness , or clear and distinct discerning , as perhaps thy own mind doth judge to be requisite . god is wiser than thou , and doth better know , what is fittest for thee , than thou dost . and indeed this is no small engine of the enemy , to keep thee in a state of unbelief and disobedience , under a pretence that thou art not so fully and sufficiently clear as is requisite : and , if the enemy can prevail with thee here , he will continually keep thee in it from day to day , yea from one week , month , and year , to another , until thou lose the pretious opportunity and day of thy visitation , to end thy miserable life in this sad estate of unbelief and disobedience : and so , in place of getting more clearness and more distinct and clear discerning of the true divine light , and divine voice and call , thou wilt come to have less , until what thou once hadst be altogether taken from thee , and thou left in great darkness , and deadness , and hardness of heart . therefore thou oughtst to improve that small clearness , which thou hast , and not to despise the day of small things , zach. 4.10 . nor overlook and contemn the little small grain of the kingdom of god in thee , which is as a mustard seed , the least of all seeds . the least measure of the true light , that shineth in the darkness in thee , is a most precious treasure , even when it is but as the light of a star , that shineth in a dark night . some people travel with the help of star light , till the moon arise , and after the moon is risen , they travel on , until the day dawn , and the clear day appear , and the sun rise up , and then they have great comfort , and see much more clearly than before , and many things are clearly discovered unto them , far and near , which they saw nothing of formerly , or but very dimly and obscurely . but he is certainly a very unwise traveller , who , having a great journey before him , which he must accomplish in one day , or else suffer an unexpressible and irrecoverable loss , resolves in himself to lie still in bed till the sun be up , and that he hath not time enough to accomplish his journey : on the contrary the discreet and diligent traveller gets up betimes , and even while it is yet night , sets forth on his journey , and contenting him with the morning or star light , goes on , inexpectation of the approaching day , when the sun will arise upon him , and then his travel will be the more comfortable , easie , and pleasant to him . as it is then in the outward , so ought it also to be in the inward , or rather much more ; for thou hast a great and long journey before thee , ere thou arriv'st at everlasting salvation , and thy time is but short , thou hast but one day , or rather , piece of a day , to travel it in . for all men spend a great part of their day in other travels , yea in travelling the contrary way , which must be all travelled back again , and therefore when thou , whoever thou art , beginst to see and turn thy face to thy journeys end , thou hadst need gird up thy loyns , and travel with all thy might , with all circumspection , making use of every help , thy guide affords thee , for , if thou dost not accomplish it within this one day , or the remaining part thereof , i mean the day of thy visitation , thou art undone for ever . herein only lies the difference 'twixt these two travellers , in the outward , and in the inward . that in the outward , when one hath mispent , slept , trifled , or rioted away his time , how deeply soever he become affected with his mistake , he is past all remedy of getting to his journeys end in that small pittance of time left him . but in the inward 't is quite otherwise , when the lord , by his pure judgments manifested in the soul , awakens her , shewing her that she is even at the brink of the pit of misery , ready , as it were , to drop in , and yet would , did not his mercy prevent : i say , if the soul in a deep sense of her error turn to the lord , flee unto him , lamenting her by past strayings and present miserable state , void of all capacity of helping her self , expecting from him his power and assistance , to carry her through to ●her journeys end . behold ! she will find iesus , that mighty saviour ( who is able to save unto the uttermost all , that come unto him , heb. 7.25 . ) at her right hand to uphold and carry her through . and as the soul comes diligently to wait upon him , in the light , in the true self-denial , forsaking every evil way , and taking up his daily cross , in all things , his light , life , power and vertue will break forth in the soul , and cut short the work in righteousness , and so the soul , in and by , and with his power , and strength , will redeem the time lost . for which cause it was that christ said , work while ye have to day , the night cometh , wherein no man can work , joh. 9.4 . & 12.35 . but if any man will neglect the small measure of light , that jesus hath imparted to him , in the night state , and refuseth to follow and obey it , but saith , in himself , i will stay untill the sun arise , he provoketh the lord against him , instead of giving him more light , to take that from him which he hath already received : for the promises of more light and grace are only to those , who improve what is already given , in how little measure so ever . and now , in what i am further to say unto thee , take heed unto it , and observe it , for it is from the lord , and by the opening and moving of his spirit , light , and life in my heart , i declare it unto thee , which is this . the divine light of god , and of his son jesus christ , which is in thee , hath a true and innate clearness in it , and a self-evidencing power and vertue , whereby it can and doth sufficiently discover it self to be what indeed it is , namely to be a divine light given of god to guide and lead the soul in the way of life and salvation . and it doth at times and seasons sufficiently appear in every soul of man and woman , upon the face of the earth , with a sufficient clearness and self-evidence in some measure more or less , according to the good pleasure of god , whereby to convince every soul , that it proceeds from god and leads unto god : by the innate clearness and self-evidencing power of which light and grace , seed or principle , all men ( fools or idiots , and infants excepted , in whom yet this divine principle is , tho they do not actually understand it , with whom therefore how the lord dealeth , in order to the salvation of their souls , he alone best knoweth , nor is it for us curiously to enquire ) by this divine principle , i say , all men shall be left without excuse , who have not believed therein , nor obeyed it . nor shall their pretence of wanting clearness and evidence sufficient avail them in the day , when god shall call them to an account , for he will then bring to their remembrance the particular times and places , when and where he caused his divine light to shine in their hearts , in such manner and measure as was sufficient to enable them to know , whence it was , what was its tendency , and wherefore it was given them . if then thou be but diligent in thy mind to observe , and give attendance to the inward operations , motions , and shinings of the divine light in thee , and breathings of the divine life , in the silence and quietness of thy soul , out of the many wanderings , vain thoughts , and imaginations of thy mind , thou wilt certainly come to a true measure of clear discerning of the true divine principle , life , and light , and of the operations thereof , so as to distinguish it from all that , which is but natural and carnal , as also from all that is of satan in his cunning transformings . and although in the beginning it will be very hard to thee to attain to that perfect , and absolute inward silence of mind , from all thy own thoughts and imaginations ( which will afterwards become easie and familiar unto thee , as thou dost experience any considerable growth in the truth ) yet , as thou pressest after it , thou wilt find they self helped by the lord , to come into some measure of true silence . and although thou canst not say , that all vain foolish thoughts , and idle imaginations , are put out of thy mind , yet , if a considerable part of them be gone , and evanished , so that thy mind is somewhat more cool , and quiet and still , and empty of such things , than it 's wont to be , here thou wilt find thy self at some advantage , and in some capacity to discern the divine light , and working thereof , even , as it were , in this imperfect state of silence , or half silence , as we may call it . to help thee then a little further in this inquiry and search , that thou mayst come to know , discern , and be acquainted with the true divine light , and working thereof in thee , which is indeed a very necessary knowledg , and without which thou art liable to sit down in a false rest , and build upon a false foundation , as many do at this day , taking the natural light and principle for the divine and supernatural . and so what the socinians and pelagians , are in profession ( who profess no higher principle , in them necessary , than the natural ) these men ▪ are ( whatever they profess of the necessity of having and being illuminated and led by the spirit ) really in practice . therefore that thou mayst avoid this snare , and come to the true knowledg of the divine light and principle of god in thee . i shall briefly point at some distinguishing marks and characters , whereby the divine and supernatural principle , is truly distinguishable from that , which is but humane and natural . as 1. the light , influence , and operation of the humane and natural principle is cold , saint , and dead ; but that of the divine and supernatural warm , living , and powerful , and the warmth , power , and life thereof , reacheth not only the brain or head , or the animal part , and affections ( which the natural can do , and often doth ) but it reacheth also the heart , and most inward parts , even the most inward affections of the soul , and is of a heavenly and divine nature , as the principle is , of which it proceedeth . it is said of christ , when he preached outwardly , he spake with authority or power , and not as the scribes , matth. 7.29 . and he said himself , the words that i speak unto you , are spirit and life : it is the spirit that quickeneth , the flesh profiteth nothing , joh. 6.63 . and thus it is in the inward : what christ speaketh in the soul or heart of any man , or woman , is with power , even with a heavenly power and authority , that raiseth an awe and reverence in the heart , by which the soul is convinced , that it is indeed the voice or word of god , and not of man , by reason of that innate majesty and glory , that is in it , as it is said in psalm 29.4 . the voice of the lord is glorious , the voice of the lord is full of majesty , &c. and , although many souls be so dark , blind , deaf , and stupid , that many times they have no sense of any divine power , or principle , yet , when it pleaseth god to speak in the most deaf and stupid soul , he causeth it to hear , and raiseth up some small sense of the same in it , at that present time , although , soon after , darkness and death doth prevail over them again , and they forget any such experience , as if they had never had it . how did god speak unto cain , and expostulate with him ? we read not that it was by an outward voice , nor is there any need to suppose , that , when god reproved him for his anger against his brother , it was by an outward voice , and not rather by the spirit of god inwardly in his heart and conscience , as he doth reprove men at this day , and as he did strive in man , before the deluge , and did judge and reprove him for sin , gen. 6.3 . my spirit shall not alwaies strive ( or contend ) in man , for so the words should be translated ; and christ promised that he would send the comforter unto his disciples , to wit , the holy spirit , and he should reprove the world of sin , joh. 16.8 . now , although a man by his own reasonings may reprove himself for sin , yet there is a great difference betwixt man's reproving himself , and god's reproving him by his spirit and divine principle , in his heart , that of man being saint , cold , and dead , as is said , but the inward reproof of the spirit of truth , powerful , hot , and living , which goeth to a man's heart , and pricketh him to the quick , woundeth him deeply ; and of this no man but hath some experience , at times , especially before sin be come to such an heighth , and hath power in the soul , that it is become past feeling . now that some are so become , doth plainly imply , that once they had a feeling . again , when a man reproves himself , he doth it too partially , although he will be ready to judg himself , in the general , a great sinner , yet there are many times many particular sins , whereof he is guilty , that he will not reprove himself for , by any reasonings whatsoever , or arguments drawn from scripture , but will rather justifie and defend himself : for the natural light and natural understanding is exceedingly corrupted by the fall , and therefore it cannot impartially witness against sin , but is most ready to call many sins , vertues , and to call many vertues , sins , and so to put light for darkness , and darkness for light , and call good , evil , and evil good , isa. 5.20 . yea , the natural light or understanding is so dim and dark , that it is no where in all scripture called light ; but i find that unconverted men are ealled darkness , in scripture , and that by reason of the darkness of their understandings . it is said in scripture , the carnal mind is enmity against god , and the wisdom from below is carnal , earthly , and devilish . all the natural powers of man's soul are so corrupted by sin , that he is but dark , foolish , blind , and deceived in his most sublime and refined reasonings in spiritual matters . but the inward conviction , judgment , and reproof of the spirit of truth , and divine principle , is wholly impartial , and is a most faithful witness , in man's heart and conscience , against all manner of sin , reproving and condemning those sins in man , which man himself by his corrupt reasonings doth excuse and justifie . 2. the operation of the natural principle in man , as concerning god and divine things , consists only in bare speculation and notion , and mostly , if not wholly , in tedious and laborious reasonings by drawing conclusions from premises , which weary the soul , even as a long and tedious travel doth weary the body . hence ratiocination is not unfitly called discourse , whereby the soul runneth through many things from one to another , before it can come to any certain determination , or conclusion . hence they that go about to prove that there is a god , by the light of nature , or a natural principle , how many tedious syllogisms and argumentations are they forced to make use of , especially against an atheist , if he be of a cunning and subtle wit ? and when a man is inwardly pursued with atheistical thoughts , and tempted in his heart , to think that there is no god , if he go to reason the matter , and essay to overcome that tentation by his meer natural reasonings , he will find the devil a stroug adversary and disputant against him , he will suggest unto him ●any subtle and crafty answers , to the most cunning reasonings , he can invent . not that i judg that it cannot be truly and convincingly demonstrated by reason , that there is a god , but i say , such a conviction and knowledg of god by meer reason , and the hammering and working of the meer natural principle is still but a bare and naked theory or notion , it hath no life in it , it giveth the soul no true sense or feeling of god , no intuitive knowledg of him , but only that which is abstractive and notional , even as the knowledg is , which a blind man hath of colours , or which a deaf man hath of musick and pleasant sounds . whereas the operation of the divine principle , the divine spirit and light in man's heart exciteth and begeteth in him a true living sense and feeling of god , and of his goodness , love , mercy , power , holiness , purity and justice : and this is more effectual , than all demonstration of reason , or of the natural principle , for i cannot doubt of the being of that , which i have a real sense of , which i see , taste , and feel ; nor do i need any exercise of my reason , to perswade me of its true real existence . and although unconverted souls feel little , or have little sense or tast of the lord's love , goodness , and mercy , by reason of their great sins , that do so distemper and corrupt the true capacity or faculty in them , which can have a true sense and feeling of the same , even as a feaver doth corrupt the natural tast of the mouth , that it cannot tr●●ly rellish the sweetness of wine , or honey , but it seemeth unpleasant . yet , in the unconverted and corrupt state , men are truly sensible of the inward work and operation and appearance of god in the divine principle of his light , life and spirit , in judgment , and wrath , and terror , so that they can feel the word of life in them , as it pricketh and woundeth them in their hearts , and is as a hammer , an ax , a two-edged sword , and fire , in their most inward parts , against not only all manner of actual transgression , but against the very habits and habitual inclinations of sin , laying the ax to the root of the tree , and striking at the very nature and being of sin in the heart . blessed is the soul , that , being truly sensible of this inward work of judgment , hath a true love unto the same , and doth patiently lie under the judgment , the pricking , the hammering , the wounding and bruising , and breaking in pieces , vea , the killing and burning , and , as it were , utterly consuming , and destroying the soul , until the life and nature of sin be slain therein , and the soul be throughly cleansed and redeemed thereby ? now whatever soul hath the least experience of this kind , it may certainly conclude , it is the true and infallible effect of the divine light and principle , and not of the natural and humane , for even as the light of the moon has no heat , nor can burn any thing , though never so combustible , but is sensibly cold , even so the natural principle in its utmost extent , has no true heat , to tender or melt the soul , can kindle no true fire in it , to purifie or refine it from sin , or consume truly the least sin hence . 3. the operation of the divine principle , in its very first appearance , by an innate purity and perfect contrariety to sin , doth work in the soul against all sin , and the nature of it , and hath a wonderful antipathy against it , even as good physick doth work in the body against a disease , and this contrariety is most sensibly felt in the soul , and , as it is entertained , causeth powerful and unusual motions to seize upon the soul , and sometimes on the body also , until sin be utterly vanquished and overcome . but the natural principle hath no such perfect contrariety to sin , as being it self exceedingly corrupted and defiled therewith . 4. the divine principle worketh most powerfully and sensibly , when the mind is silent , and doth rest from its own meer natural workings , and especially from its soaring imaginations and lofty reasonings . and , although in the unconverted state it seldom , or never , is perfectly silent , yet , at sometimes , it is more silent , quiet and calm , than at other times ( for even the sea doth not alwaies rage , although it alwaies have some motion . ) 5. the divine principle never worketh at , or in , the will of man , but only in the will of god. whereas the corrupt and depraved will of man can set the natural principle on work , when and how it pleaseth . 6. there is somewhat , that is unexpressible , and cannot be named in words , but can be inwardly felt , both in the divine principle , and all its operations , whereby , through an innate self-evidencing power and authority , it doth really distinguish it self , and may be really discerned , as distinct from the natural and humane principle , and all its workings , as also from the more subtle and cunning transformings of the enemy , if the soul be but diligent and watchful to observe the same , and have a true desire to understand the difference , and clearly to distinguish the one from the other . and indeed , this innate self-evidencing power of the divine principle , is that principally , whereby it can be discerned from the humane and natural ; for , although it is truly distinguishable also by its effects , as christ said , ye shall know the tree by its fruits , yet the question at present relates to the state of those who are but newly convinced , and so have but little experience of its effects in them . also seeing there are counterfeit effects , as a counterfeit holiness , purity , humility , &c. the true effects cannot be infallibly discerned from the counterfeit , which proceed only from the meer natural principle , or together with the same from satans transformings , but as there is a regard unto the principle , from whence the effects do proceed , for the true divine principle , as the mind is duly applied thereunto , doth infallibly discover its own effects , and also the counterfeit workings and effects of the enemy . and therefore all outward rules do fail , and come short , to give an infallible discerning betwixt these two principles , where the inward living discerning , which the true divine principle begeteth , is not attained . but where this inward living discerning is attained and kept unto , in any measure , outward rules may be useful in their place , but they only , who have this discerning , that proceedeth from the principle it self , can sufficiently make a due application of any outward rules , or other outward helps , that can be given in the case . george keith . finis . errata . in the preface , page 6. line 20. after made dele any ; p. 8. l. 18. r. into some ; l. 28. r. i do ; l. 29. r. kinds ; p. 12 l. 20. f. or r. and. in the book , p. 26. l. 18. f. an r. and ; p. 30. l. 27. f. souls r. soul ; f. it r. its ; p. 32. l. 26. f. of r. oft ; p. 39. l. 15. after perform r. them ; p. 44. l. 6. f. excesses r. exercises ; p. 45. l. 22. after here r. also ; p. 48. l. 22 f. beginning r. beginneth ; p. 50. l. 18. f. saith r. said ; l. 31. f. p. r. cap ; p. 66. l. 25. f. or r. for ; p. 69. l. 7. f. with r. of ; l. 30. f. begets r. beget ; p. 70. l. 20. f. though r. through ; l. 22. after weaken r. it ; p. 75. l. 12. f. object r. objective ; p. 85. l. 7. f. unto r. in ; p. 90. f. the r. thy ; p. 103. l. 8. after all dele and ; l. 14. f. live r. alive ; p. 105. l. 4. f. works r. words ; p. 108. l. 29. r. the other ; p. 109. l. 7. f. or . r. and ; l 16. f. powers r. power ; p. 112. l. 9. f. things r. thing ; p. 113. l. 5. r. diligently ; p. 116. l. 4. f. bring r. bringeth ; p 121. l. 17. r. and how and ; p. 134. l. 26. f. and uinon r. an union ; p. 142. l. 21. f. but r. that . the contents . chap. i. certain doctrinal principles of the truth , whereof a man being convinced by the spirit of god , it contributes much to his making a right entrance into the way of holiness , pag. 1 chap. ii. that the soul converting it self unto god in the divine seed within its self , through the influence of the divine power upon it , for that effect , is the very first thing , that is requisite unto it , in order to its entring into the way of holiness , 10 chap. iii. how the soul ought to persist and continue in its conversion towards god and christ : and of the effects , which follow at first thereupon : as also of the inward trials and troubles it usually meeteth with therein , 19 chap. iv. how the soul , after its converting unto god and jesus christ , in the divine seed , must , in its persisting and continuance therein , stand in great passiveness , stilness and quietness , bearing and forbearing , before it enter upon its operative exercises , 36 chap. v. how the soul after its conversion unto god , and continuance therein , in passiveness and forbearance , for some small time , becometh a partaker of the holy and divine life , and the powers thereof in some measure , through some beginnings of a spiritual death and regeneration , by which it attaineth unto some measure of union with god and christ , and thereby is put in some capacity for operative exercises of holiness , unto which it ought to apply ; and that any other way of entring upon these exercises is but feigned and hypocritical . 47 chap. vi. wherein divers things , needful to be known by them , who do , or would , enter into the way of holiness , in relation to the nature of conversion , regeneration , of the life and power of holiness , and of vnion with god , are opened , and the gross mistake of most professors , touching these things , discovered and cleared , 60 chap. vii . how the soul is to reflect upon it self , and enter into a trial and examination of it self , whether it hath truly passed through the aforesaid steps of conversion , and continuance therein , in passiveness and forbearance : and whether it hath attained unto any beginnings of the divine and holy life , and the powers thereof , before it enter upon other operative exercises , and how , or by what rule or touch-stone it may infallibly know the same 71 chap. viii . wherein divers advertisements and cautions are given unto the soul , in relation unto its applying it self unto works , or operative exercises , inward or outward , through the holy life and the powers thereof , 85 chap. ix . how that , though works can have no influence upon the very first beginnings of a holy life , that being only received through a receptive faith , yet they do greatly conduce unto the growth and continuance thereof ; also unto the killing and mortification of the sinful and unholy life with its powers , more and more , till it be utterly slain : where also the distinction of a two fold property of faith , viz. receptive and operative , is somewhat opened . 114 chap. x. of the great influence , that the coming of our lord iesus christ in the outward , in his birth , life , doctrine , works , sufferings , death , resurrection , ascension , glorification , &c. hath upon our mortification to sin , and regeneration unto holiness , even unto perfection : and how , and after what manner we should improve the same effectually , in order thereunto . 121 how to discern the convictions , that proceed from the light of faith , or divine principle in us , from those , that proceed from the light of nature , or meer natural and humane reason , assisted by arguments drawn from scripture , 158 books printed and sold by the assigns of j. sowle , at the bible in george yard , in o linbard-street . a brief account of the rise and progress of the people called quakers , in which their fundamental principle , doctrines , worship , ministry and discipline , are plainly declared , to prevent the mistakes and perversions that ignorance and prejudice may make to abuse the credulous . with a summary relation of the former dispensations of god in the world , by way of introduction . by w. penn. price bound 1 s. the christian-quaker , and his divine testimony , stated and vindicated , from scripture , reason and authority . by w. penn. price bound 2 s. primitive christianity revived , in the faith and practice of the people called quakers . written in testimony to the present dispensation of god , through them to the world ; that prejudices may be removed , the simple informed , the well-inclined encouraged , and the truth and its innocent friends rightly represented . by w. penn. price bound 1 s. a defence of a paper entituled , gospel-truths , against the exceptions of the bishop of cork's testimony ( against the quakers . ) by w. penn. price bound 1 s. an account of w. penn's travels in holland and germany , for the service of the gospel of christ ; by way of journal . containing also divers letters and epistles , writ to several great and eminent persons whilst there . the third impression . corrected by the author 's own copy ; with some answers not before printed . price bound 2 s. tender counsel and advice , by way of epistle to all those who are sensible of their day of visitation , and who have received the call of the lord , by the light and spirit of his son in their hearts , to partake of the great salvation , where-ever scattered throughout the world ; faith , hope and charity , which overcome the world , be multiplied among you . by w. penn. the third edition . price 3 d scripture-instruction ; degested into several , sections by way of question and answer . in order to promote piety and virtue , and discourage vice and immorality . with a preface relating to education . by i. freame price 1 s. w. penn's key in english price 4 d. — french 4 d. a collection of sundry books , epistles and papers written by iames 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them . price bound 1 s. a brief testimony to the great duty of prayer ; shewing the nature and benefit thereof ; to which is added , many eminent and select instances of god's answer to prayer : collected out of the record of holy scriptures . by i. t. one of the people called quakers . with a postscript by i. f. the second edition , with additions . price 6 d. the poor mechaink's plea against the rich clergy's oppression : shewing tithes are no gospel ministers maintenance : in a brief and plain method how that tythes , ( as now paid ) are both inconsistent with the dispensation of the law , and dispensation of the gospel . also , how they were brought into the church many hundred years after christ , and testified against by several ancient christians and martyrs . with several sober reasons against the payment of them . by i. bocket . price 3 d. vindiciae veritatis : or an occasional defence of the principles and practises of the people called quakers : in answer to a treatise of 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and 1667. and now somewhat abreviated . with an appendix , containing the writings of several of the sufferers ; with some notes , shewing the accomplishment of their prophecies , and a postcript of the judgments of god , that have befallen divers of their persecutors . also , an answer to cotton mather's abuses of the said people , in his late history of new-england , printed anno 1702. the whole being at this time published in the said peoples vindication , as a reply 〈◊〉 all his slanderous calumnies . pr. 5 s. angui● flagellatus ; or , a switch for the snake . being an answer to the third and last edition of the snake in the grass . wherein the author's injustice and falshood , both in quotation and story , are discovered and obviated and the truth doctrinally delivered by us , stated and maintained , in opposition to his misrepresentation and perversion . by ioseph wyeth . to which is added , a supplement by g. whitehead . pr. 3 s. 6 d. lux evangellica attestata . or , a further testimony to the sufficiency of the light within . being a reply to george keith's censure , in his book , intituled , an account of the quakers politicks , upon certain passages in my book , intituled , mercy covering the iudgment-seat , &c. for the clearing of truth from g. k's misrepresentations , and satisfying of sober enquirers into the true state of the controversie between us . by richard claridge . pr. stiched 1 s. a dissertation of the small-pox , by daniel phillips , at his comme●cing doctor o● physick in the university of leyden in holland , in the year 1696. translated by t. e. price 9 d. academia caelestis : the heavenly university ; or , the highest school , where alone is that highest teaching , the teaching of the heart . by francis r●use , sometime provost of eaton-c●lledge . a treatise written above threescore years since . the third edition , revised and compared with the latin. pr. 1 s. two treatises of thomas lawson's deceased . the first a mite into the treasury , being a word to artists , espec●ally heptatechnists , the professors of the seven liberal arts : shewing what is therein owned by the people called quakers , and what is denied by them : with several other things touching the divinity of the heathen , and school-titles , habits , degrees , &c. the second , a treatise relating to the call , work and wages of the ministers of christ and antichrist . price 1 s. 6 d. the vail of the covering ●●read over all nations . what it is ; and how removed . with a discovery of that mountain of fat things full of marrow , and wines on the lees well refined . by i. vvebster . price 3 d. the secret soothsayer , or , h●dden sorcerer , discovered by i. vvebster . author of the saints guide , the cloud taken off the tabernacle , &c. price 4 d. an essay towards the improvement of physick . with an essay for imploying the able poor . by j. bellers . price 9 d. musa paraenetica ; or , a tr●ctate of christian epistles , on sundry occasions , in verse by w. m●ssey . price 6 d. a vindication of women's preaching as well ●rom holy scripture and an●ient writings , as from the paraphrase and notes of the judicious i. locke , on 1 cor. xi . by iosiah martin . price 1 s ▪ the clergy-man's pretence of divine right to tithes , examined and refuted . being a full answer to w. w's fourth letter , in his book , intituled , the clergy's legal right to tithes asserted . to which he hath also annexed , a iustification of the divine right , erroniously so called . by i. gratton . priee 6 d. the saints travel to spiritual canaan ; wherein are discovered several false rests , short of the true spiritual coming of christ in his people . with a brief discovery of what the coming of christ in spirit is , who is the alone true rest and center of spirits . by r. wilkenson price 1 s. a treatise concerning baptism and the lord's supper ; shewing that the true disciples of chist are sent to baptise men into the name of the father , son , and holy ghost for the 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downfal of the carnal and anti-christian clergy of these nations . testified from the word of god , to the university congregations in cambridge . whereunto is added , a plain and necessary confutation of divers gross errors delivered by mr. sydrach sympson , in a sermon preached to the same congregation at the commencement , anno mdcliii . by w. dell , minister of the gospel , and master of gonvil and caius colledge in cambridge . price bound 1 s. 6 d. a new discourse of trade , wherein is recommended , several weighty points relating to the companies of merchants . the act of navigation , naturalization of strangers , and our woollen manufactures . the ballance of trade , &c. by sr. iosiah child . price bound 2 s. a few queries relating to the practice of physick , with remarks upon some of them . by h. chamberlen . price bound 1 s. the way to health , long life and happiness : or , a discourse of temperance , and the particular nature of all things requisite for the life of man , &c 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necessary knowledge , capacitating people for the concerns of this life . secondarily , as a testimony against the old serpent , his foolishness with god , his arts , inventions , comedies , or interludes , tragedies ; lascivious poems , frivolous fables , spoiling philosophy , taught in christians schools . wherein , as in a glass , teachers in schools and colledges may see their concern , neither christian ●or warrantable by thomas lawson . a short work , but of greatest concern . by william tomlinson . price 3 d. a collection of the writings and epistles , of our antient deceased friend iohn whitehead . price . 3 s a collection of the several books and epistles of our antient deceased friend charles marshal . price 3 s. the spiritual guide , which dis-intangles the soul ; and brings it by the inward way to the getting of perfect contemplation ▪ and the rich treasure of internal peace . written by dr. michael de molinos . translated from the it●lian copy . 9 d. christ's spirit a 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summary or brief hint of the twelve persecutions sustaind by the antient christians with a compendious paraphrase upon the same . whereunto is added a catalogue of the synods and counsels , which were after the days of the apostles ; together with a hint of what was decreed in the same . by william caton . 1 s. the saints guide ; or , christ the rule . manifested by way of positions , conse●●a●ie and queries . wherein is contained the efficacy of acquired knowledge . the mission and maintenance of ministers . and the power of magistrates in spiritual things . by john webster . the third edition . 6 d. a brief history of trade in england containing , the manner of its birth , growth , and declen●●on ; and the several occasions thereof : with some proper remedies to recover it from its present languishing condition , to its former flourishing estate . by thomas tryon . merchant . 1 s. 6 d. instructions for children and others : by way of question and answer . demonstrating to them , how they may come to know god and jesus christ , whom to know is life eternal . by s. hunt ▪ price 3 d. where may be had also bibles testaments , concordances spelling-books , primers , horn-books ; with writing-paper , paper-books , &c. and marriage certificates on parchment , stamp'd . a fourth letter concerning the sacred trinity in reply to what is entituled an answer to dr. wallis's three letters / by john wallis ... wallis, john, 1616-1703. 1691 approx. 63 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a67390 wing w583 estc r34710 14574201 ocm 14574201 102625 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67390) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102625) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1079:9) a fourth letter concerning the sacred trinity in reply to what is entituled an answer to dr. wallis's three letters / by john wallis ... wallis, john, 1616-1703. [2], 38 p. printed for tho. parkhurst ..., london : 1691. reply to stephen nye--nuc pre-1956 imprints. imperfect: pages stained and with print show-through. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng nye, stephen, 1648?-1719. -answer to dr. wallis's three letters. trinity. theology, doctrinal. 2004-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-11 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-11 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a fourth letter , concerning the sacred trinity ; in reply to what is entituled , an answer , to d r wallis's three letters . by john wallis , d. d. london : printed for tho. parkhurst , at the bible and three crowns , in cheapside , 1691. a fourth letter , concerning the sacred trinity . sir , in a former answer ( from i know not whom ) to my first and second letter ; we had two persons ( a friend and his neighbour ) in one man. of which i have given account in my third letter . we have now an answer to that also . but whether from the friend , or the neighbour , or from a third person , he doth not tell me . yet all the three persons , may ( for ought i know ) be the same man. however , whether it be , or be not , the same man , it is not amiss for him to act a third person ( as of an adversary ) , as being thereby not obliged to insist upon , and maintain what was before said ; but may fairly decline it if he please . the one may grant what the other denies , and deny what the other grants : and still , as the scene changes , the man may act another person . and so i find it is . as for instance : the former answerer , takes it unkindly , and would have it thought a calumny , that i charged it on some of the socinians , that how clear soever the expressions of scripture be for our purpose , they will not believe it , as being inconsistent with natural reason : and though they do not think fit to give us a bare-faced rejection of scripture , yet they do ( and must , they tell us ) put such a forced sense on the words , as to make them signify somewhat else . therefore , to shew that this is not a calumny , but a clear truth , i cited their own words , and quoted the places where they are to be found , wherein themselves say the same things , in as full expressions as any that i had charged them with ; that every one is to interpret the scripture according to his own sense ; and what so seems grateful to him , he is to imbrace and maintain , though the whole world be against it : that he is not to heed what men teach or think , or have at any time taught or thought , whoever they be , or have been , or how many soever : that though , even in the sacred monuments , it be found written , not once only , but many times ; he should not yet for all that believe it so to be : that what plainly appears cannot be ( or , as was before explained , what he thinks so , though all the world beside think otherwise , ) is not to be admitted ; even though in the sacred oracles it appear to be expresly affirmed : but those sacred words are to be interpreted , ( though it be by unusual ways or tropes , ) to some other sense than what they speak : that ( because it seems to him absurd ) he must ( with augustine's good leave , and of the rest who think as he doth ) put a force ( how great soever ) upon paul's words , rather than to admit such sense . that , if our reason dictate to us ought otherwise than the scripture doth ; it is an errour to say , that in such case we are rather to believe the scripture . now our new answerer ( though he would still have it to be a calumny ) shuffles it off with this , he is not concerned , that socinus , or any other author , has dropt imprudent words , and leaves it to the socinian to answer , pag. 10. ( for he is now to act the arian , pag. 11 , 12 , 14 , 16 , 17. ) this point therefore i look upon as yielded ; concerning the slight opinion which ( some of ) the socinians have of scripture , in competition with humane reason . again ; when i had spoken of our immortal soul , in its separate existence after death , as of an intellectual being ; ( but , with an if at lest those who deny the blessed trinity will allow that there are such beings : ) to shew the suspicion intimated , was not groundless ; i cited socinus's own words , where he expresly tells us , that the soul after death doth not subsist ; nor doth so live as to be then in a capacity of being rewarded or punished , ( that is , in effect , it is no more alive , than is the dead body , not sensible of pain or pleasure . ) which i think is ground enough for such a suspicion , without being uncharitable . nor doth this new answerer clear socinus , or himself , from this suspicion . onely tells us ( pag. 10. ) it is an insinuation , as if they believe not angels . which is nothing to the purpose of the soul 's separate existence , ( which is that i insisted on ) nor doth he so much as tell us , that he doth believe angels ( much less that he doth believe the souls separate existence , ) so that the ground of suspicion still remains . i had shewed him how different socinus's opinion is , from that of st. paul ; when he desired to be dissolved , or to depart hence , and to be with christ , as much better for him , than to abide in the flesh , phil. 1. 23 , 24. and , to be absent from the body ( which must be after death , and before the resurrection ) and to be present with the lord , 2 cor. 5. 8. and this new answerer , though he takes notice of the charge , doth not so much as tell us , that he is not of socinus's opinion herein . which ( if it be so ) he might reasonably have told us upon this occasion . i might have added that of christ , mat. 10. 28. fear not those who kill the body , but are not able to kill the soul : whereas , if the soul after death be as insensible as the body , that is as much killed as this. and that of christ to the converted thief on the cross , luk. 23. 43. this day shalt thou be with me in paradise . for surely by paradise he did not mean purgatory ; nor yet , that he should be with him in hell , amongst the devils and the damned ; nor that his soul should be in a condition as senseless as his body : for paradise doth not sound like any of these . i might have added also that of lazarus and the rich glutton , luk. 16. 23 , 24 , 25 , 28. for though parables are not strongly argumentative , as to all the punctilio's of them ; yet , as to the main scope of them , they are : ( else , to what purpose are they used . ) now here we have that glutton represented as tormented in hell , and lazarus at rest in abraham's bosom ; and there comforted , while the other is tormented : and all this , while yet he had brethren upon earth , to whom he desires lazarus might be sent . all which is not agreeable to a condition not capable of reward or punishment . and upon the whole , we have reason to suspect , that socinians may have some other odd tenents , which they think fit rather to conceal , than to deny . so that i look upon this point as gained also ; that socinus ( uncontrouled by this answerer ) doth deny the subsistence of the soul after death , as then capable of reward or punishment . another point which i look upon as granted , is concerning that place , joh. 1. in the beginning was the word ; and the word was with god ; and the word was god ; and the word was made flesh , and dwelt amongst us . concerning this place , we were come to this issue with our former answerer , ( at his p. 9. ) if by word be meant a person , ( pre-existent to christs incarnation by the virgin mary ; ) and , by god , be meant the true god , or god almighty ; then this place is to our purpose ; for else ( he tells us ) st. john writes nonsense . now , that st. john writes non-sense , i suppose he will not say ( whatever he thinks ) because he pretends a great reverence for scriptures ( and doth not take it kindly that i should suspect the contrary . ) whether of the other two points he would stick to , he did not think fit to tell us ; for indeed his business was not to tell us what he would have , but what he would not have ; and concludes nothing thereupon , but that the place is obscure ( he knows not how to make it serve his turn ; ) and ( that it may so seem ) he indeavours to cast what dust he can into the spring , and then to say , the water is not clear . i have given him my reasons ( and i think they be cogent ) why i judge the place clear enough , as to both points . and should i admit ( as i think i may ) that , by word , is meant somewhat else ( as he tells us ) in forty other places : this is nothing to the purpose . for we are not here enquiring , what by the word logos is meant in aristotle , or what in plato , or what in forty other places ; but what is meant , by the word , in this place : nor what , by gods , is meant in psal. 82. 6 , 7. i have said ye are gods , but ye shall die like men ; but what by god is here meant , where it is said , the word was with god , and the word was god. nor is here any need of a rhetorick lecture , to inquire , by what trope , or figure , or with what allusion , christ is here called the word ; it is enough that 't is christ who is here so called . and , after all his toil , i do not find , that himself hath the confidence to deny ( though he doth not think fit to grant it ) but that here , by the word , is meant christ ; and that god here mentioned , is god almighty ; and consequently , if st. john do not write non-sense ( as he is pleased to phrase it ) the place is to our purpose . now our new answerer , seems to me , to quit the first of these points ; and chooseth rather to act the arian , than the socinian , as taking that to be more defensible , pag. 11 , 14 , 17. and doth admit that , by the word here , is meant the person of christ ; and pre-existent to his incarnation ; as by whom the world was made , at least as by an instrument ; and doth allow him to be god , though not the same god ; but that the father and the word are two gods ; ( p. 17. ) and can allow him the character of being over all , god blessed for ever ; and can so be as liberal of the title of god , to christ , as any trinitarian whatever ; p. 16. so that now the dispute is reduced to this ; when it is said , the word ( meaning christ ) was with god , and the word was god ; whether by god , be meant the true god , god almighty . of which we are to say more anon . another grant we have , pag. 3. where he doth admit , that a thing may be unum and tres ( one and three ) in several respects : and that 't is true indeed , he cannot say , that there is a contradiction in holding , that there may be three persons in god. and , in granting this , he grants what i undertook to prove . for he knows very well , that the business which i undertook , was not , to discourse the whole controversy at large ; but so stated the question , as to confine it to this single point , whether it be an impossibility , or inconsistence with reason , that there may be three somewhats ( which we call persons ) which are but one god ? and when he grants me , that there is in it no contradiction , or inconsistence with reason ; all the rest is beside the question . i know very well , that both this and the former answerer have made it their business to change the state of the question : and if what i bring to prove what i undertake , do not prove the task they set me ; they glory as if they had the better . but the lawyers tell us , that , when issue is once joined ; if we prove the thing in issue , we carry the cause ; and what is more than so , is over and above , or to spare . and a mathematician , if he prove what he proposeth , concludes with quod erat demonstrandum , ( he hath proved what he undertook to prove ; ) if he prove more than so ; 't is more than he was obliged to do . and if a logician prove ( propositionem negatam ) the proposition which is incumbent on him to prove , he hath done his work ; and if he prove more than so , it is more than he need to do . and accordingly , when this answerer doth acknowledge that i have proved what i undertake to prove , ( that there is no impossibility , there is no contradiction , nor inconsistence with reason , that three somewhats may be one god ) he ought to acquiesce therein , and acknowledge that i have done my work. for when the controversy was divided into two branches , whether the thing be true , and whether it be possible ; and it was the latter of the two that i undertook : if i have shewed , it is not impossible , ( which this answerer doth grant that i have done , ) i have done the work that i undertook . and if this be once agreed , it goes a great way as to the other branch , that the thing is true. for i find the last result of our adversaries , ( when they are close pressed , ) is commonly this , it is impossible , it is absurd , it is non-sense , it is inconsistent with reason , and therefore it cannot be true. and that therefore a force , no matter how great , must be put upon the words which do , how expresly soever , affirm it ( to make them signify somewhat else than what they plainly do signify ) then to admit it . and if i have ( as is now confessed ) destroyed this last reserve , let them press this point no more . or , if they will retract this grant , let the next answerer keep to this point , to prove it impossible , or inconsistent with reason , and not ramble out into other discourses , which are nothing to the purpose of what i proposed to prove . amongst his other concessions , i shall reckon that in pag. 14. where he argues from joh. 16. 13. that there is between the father , son , and holy ghost , a distinction so great , as that they may not unfitly be called three persons ( where i observe also , that he owns the personality of the holy-ghost , as of the father , and of the son. 't is true indeed , he seems to make the distinction between them , greater than i do . but i thus far agree with him , that there is , in truth , a distinction ; and that more than imaginary , or what depends only upon our imagination ; and greater than that of what we call the divine attributes . and therefore we reckon the persons to be but three ; but the attributes to be more . and we do admit , amongst the persons , a certain order or oeconomy ; such as in the scripture we find assigned to them . but do not own the distinction so great as to make them three gods. and that also of p. 13 , 14. where he argues , that christ is indeed god , ( not only a dignified man : ) that god in christ was tempted , suffered , and died ; not man only . that the merits thereof are founded on the godhead . in plain terms , ( saith he ) if christ were only a man , extraordinarily assisted by god , and thereupon merited by his sufferings and death : 't was the man redeemed us by his blood , and not god. and p. 16. the like from rom. 9. 5. of whom , as concerning the flesh , christ came ; who is over all ; god blessed for ever . and asks , if i ever knew an unitarian , especially an arian , deny him that character ? and from heb. 1. 8. to the son he saith , thy throne , o god , endureth for ever ; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom , &c. he argues , that it is not the humanity of christ that is here spoken of . for what ! is the humanity of christ called god ? is the humanity preferred before angels ? or did the humanity frame the world ? indeed ( he says ) they are apt to clog it with a limitation , ( as not acknowledging him co-equal with the father . ) but under that restriction , they can be as liberal of the title of god to christ as any trinitarian whatever . where i take what he grants : and , as to the co-equality , shall discourse it afterwards . more of this kind i shall have occasion to mention afterward . yet do not blame him for taking this advantage ( of shifting the person ) where he sees cause to grant what was before denied . but our new answerer hath yet another art. when he seems to cite what i say ; he takes the liberty very often to vary therein ( according as he thinks fit ) both from my words , and from my sense . and therefore i desire the reader not to take all as mine , which seems to be cited as such ; but so much only as he finds to be truly cited . it would be too long to mention all the places where i am so used . i shall only give instance in some of them . he tells us , pag. 4. that i indeavour to illustrate the trinity by an example in a cube , or die : and so far he says true . but not so in what follows , where three sides , he says , make one cube ; and which cube , he says , is not to be made without all the three sides . but certainly he can no where find these to be my words . i confess i am no great gamester at that sport : but i always thought ( till now ) that a die had six sides , and not only three . i have said indeed , that in a cube , or die , there be three dimensions , ( length , breadth , and thickness ; ) but i never called these , the three sides of a cube ; nor have i any where said , that a cube hath but three sides . i am represented , pag. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. as maintaining three personal gods. but he knows very well this is not my language ; but , that the three persons are one god ; not three gods , nor a council of gods , as he calls it . so , where he would ask the doctor , p. 17. whether these two gods , to wit , the father and the word , be one . he knows my answer must be , that these two , ( not , these two gods , ) are one god. and that i do no where call them two gods , but one and the same god ; according to that of christ himself ; i and the father are one. so , where he talks of adding several persons to our one god , pag. 3 , 8. for he knows , that is not my language , but these three are god ; not that they are added to god : much less that bacchus and venus &c. may be thrust into the number . and p. 8. one of your gods : we have but one god. 't is he and his arian , that own two gods , p. 17. not we . another there is which runs through most part of his whole discourse ; wherein he willfully mistakes the state of the question : and then , what is brought to prove one thing , he mis-applies as brought to prove another ; and then makes a great out-cry , that it doth not prove , what it was never brought to prove . and this he calls cross purposes . he knows very well , that the question was by me clearly stated ( not as to the whole doctrine of the trinity at large , but ) as to the possibility . that ( whatever the socinians pretend ) there is no impossibility , non-sense , or inconsistence with reason , that three somewhats ( which we call persons ) may be one god. and this he owns to be the state of the question , p. 1. to prove the same agreeable to the common notions of humane reason . and it is done by shewing that , according to the common notions of humane reason , nothing is more common than that what in one consideration are three , or many , is yet in another consideration but one. thus in one cube there be three dimensions ; length , breadth , and thickness . so the understanding , will , and memory , in one soul. so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a power to know , to will , and to doe , in the same intelligent agent ; and the like . 't is therefore not inconsistent with reason ( and this answerer doth allow it ) for one to be three ; nor is it non-sense to say , these three are one ; or i and the father are one ; or that three somewhats may be one god. the former answerer complains of these resemblances , as impossible to be apprehended by the common people ; and desires some more familiar parallel ( than that of a cube , or die ) that the tankard-bearer may apprehend ( in his p. 8 , 9. ) yet i believe his tankard-bearer is not so dull of apprehension , as he would have us think . for if he have ever seen a die ( as most of them have , ) or shall now be shewed one , he may be able to apprehend , ( without a metaphysick , or mathematick lecture ) that in a die , there is length , breadth , and thickness , ( and that it is as broad as it is long , and as thick as either ; ) and yet it is not three dies , but one die. however , to gratify his request , i have given him some other ; as that the same man , may have three dignities , or three kingdoms , and sustain three persons , or three relations , without thereby becoming three men ; with other like . with this , our new answerer is not pleased . he is ashamed , he doth blush for me , &c. ( how much am i obliged for this his great compassion ! ) but all this is but banter , ( it is not argument , ) and no sober man will be more of his opinion for this language : and much less for that of st. john's writing non-sense , of a lying revelation , of a three-headed monster , p. 3 , 5. and other such indecent language of god and the scripture . but , why so displeased with these simile's ? these are too mean , too familiar ; he expected somewhat higher , somewhat more distinct , p. 5. ( i see it is as hard a matter to please my two answerers , as to serve two masters . the one complains my simile's are not familiar enough ; the other that they are too familiar ; he expected somewhat more sublime ▪ ) these do not prove , that a trinity in unity is necessary to the perfection of the godhead , p. 6. true : these alone do not prove that there is a trinity in unity in the godhead ; much less do they prove , that a trinity in unity is necessary to the perfection of the godhead . nor were they brought to prove it . they were brought to prove , there is no inconsistence , but that there may be a trinity in the unity of the godhead . and if they prove thus much , ( he perhaps may have cause to be ashamed , but ) i see no reason why i should be ashamed , ( or any one for me . ) now , that they prove thus much ; he hath already granted , that a thing may be one and three , in divers respects : and that 't is no contradiction , to hold , that there may be three persons in god. they have proved therefore , what they were brought to prove . but , says he , p. 5. our debate is not , whether there may be three persons in god. yes ; our debate is , whether there may be . not , whether there be. and he knows the question was so stated by me ; and so acknowledg'd by himself ; upon this single point , whether there be any impossibility in it . ( and so owned by himself , p. 1. ) not whether it be so ( for this , i had before said , was not to be argued upon the topick of reason alone ; ) but whether it be agreeable to the common notions of humane reason , that it may be so . and if this were the question , ( as he owns ; ) and this be proved ( as he owns also ; ) then i have proved , what i undertook to prove . and have no reason to be ashamed , either of the undertaking , or of the proof . 't is our new answerer ( who doth wittingly and willingly mis-state the question ) that is at cross purposes ; while he applies those arguments to one point , which he knows were brought to prove another , ( which point himself grants to be proved ; he cannot say , there is a contradiction in it , pag. 6. ) and then complains , that they ( alone ) do not prove what they were never brought to prove . of like nature is that other point ; where he tells us , that we do now venture , to prove it to be agreeable to the common notions of humane reason ; that is , not inconsistent with it . and we do so . but he would have it thought , that it is but now of late that any have presumed to this confidence , pag. 1 , 2. and would have us content , modestly to acknowledge it a meer mystery ; and to rely upon the authority of the church , and tradition ; without pretending , that it is agreeable to reason . now , that there is in it a mystery , we readily grant , ( and so there is in the whole doctrine of our redemption ; god manifested in the flesh , &c. 1 tim. 3. 16. ) as that which , without revelation , we could not have found out by meer reason ; and , that it is above reason , ( that is , more than what reason alone could have taught us : ) but not that it is against reason , or inconsistent with it . this is not the doctrine of the trinitarians ; nor ever was that i know of . nor is it tradition only , or the church's authority ; but the authority of scripture that we rely upon ▪ which is a true , not a lying revelation . nor is it ( as he pretends ) a new doctrine ▪ not raised till several hundred years after christ , ( as if the doctrine were to be dated from the time of penning the athanasian creed ; ) but ( as old at least as the new testament ; ) and never contested ( that i know of ) till several hundred years after christ , when the arians arose . but here again my answerers are not agreed : ( so hard it is to please them both ; ) while one complains , 't is but of late ; the other tells me , 't is old-fashioned , ( in his p. 9 ▪ thus dr. wallis may see , that his notions concerning the trinity are old-fashioned ; not of a new mode . ) and truly i take him to be more in the right ; that 't is not a new quirk , but old-fashioned doctrine ▪ and i like it never the worse for being so . as to what i have said of joh. 17. 3. it is more than forty years , ( and well towards fifty , ) since i first preached it in london , on that text , ( as i have since done , there and elsewhere , more than once ; ) and i did not then take it to be new , but what i had been always taught . and as to that of the three dimensions in a cube , it is forty years or more , since i first discoursed it at oxford , with dr. ward , then astronomy-professor there , and since bishop of salisbury ; and as to the doctrine in general , ( of three persons in one god , ) it is no newer , than the new testament . but here again our answerer forsakes the question : for the question is not , whether it be a new , or old , adventure : but whether it be inconsistent with reason , that three may be one : or ( as he words it , p. 3. ) that a trinity in unity is absurd . another piece of the same art it is , where my word of personality is by him changed for personation , p. 5 , 6. for which i would not have quarrelled with him , if by changing the word , he had not meant to change the sense also . for to personate a man , ( he tells us , p. 6. ) is but to compose ones actions in likeness of him ; and that one cannot personate three together , but one after another . but my personality ( he knows ) is more than this personation . it is not only acting a person , but being a person . a man may successively personate , or act the person of , a king , and a father ; without being either this or that : but when the same man is both a king and a father ( which he may be at the same time , as well as successively , ) this is more than only to act them . and if by personation he mean no more than acting a person , i wonder how he can tell us , p. 5. that personation is the greatest perfection of being ; and that he never could apprehend any other real unity but personation . what ? no real unity but acting a person by imitation ? sure there is . the bottom , and top , and middle of a mountain , are one mountain : yet i do not take mount atlas to be a person , or to act a person ; much less to become one mountain by personation , or acting a person ▪ of like nature is it , where ( to do me a kindness ) he will state my cube more to my purpose ; p. 5. ( meaning the contrary . ) but how ? in a marble cube may be two accidents , hardness , and coldness . there may be so . but what then ? then , ( he says , ) here are three cubes more for me . he would have it thought , i suppose , that i had before discoursed of three cubes ( whereas i spoke but of one cube , under three dimensions ; ) and he will now help me to another three . but he is out again . for the cold cube , the hard cube , and the marble cube , are but one cube , not three cubes . 't is the same cube that is cold , and hard , and marble . it would have been much the same , if , instead of a cube , he had taken a marble bowl , or ball ; and then told me , 't is cold , and hard , and round . true. and yet it is but one bowl , not three bowls : one ball , not three balls . and what is there in all this of inconsistent absurdity ? it seems to me very consistent ; not absurd : and it suits my notion very well . but , says he , p. 5. not to suppose the simile altogether impertinent , ( very well ! ) yet it is in our case . why in our case ? for our debate ( he says ) is not , whether there may not be three persons in god. yes : that is our debate : and the true state of the question . all his other excursions are beside the question . but the simile , though not impertinent , is yet ( he says ) most absurd , because not adequate ; and it is a general rule with him ( p. 6. ) where he brings a simile , to have it adequate , that it may really prove the matter designed . now that my simile's are not adequate ( so as to prove all that is to be said of god , or the blessed trinity ) i had told him at first , and more than once ; and that they were not intended so to be ; ( and i tell him now , that i did purposely make choice of such as were a great way off , that it might not seem as if i would have them thought to be adequate , as to all that is to be said of the trinity . ) and as to the rule he goes by ; perhaps it may be his method , where much is to be proved , to prove it all at once , ( and take all arguments to be absurd , which do not at once prove all. ) but we who are conversant in cubes and demonstrations ( as he phraseth it ) think fit sometimes to use another method : and , where much is to be proved , to proceed by steps . we first propose one thing , and prove that : then another , and prove that : and so on . and if what be brought to prove the first step , do prove what it is brought to prove ; we do not say , the argument is absurd , because it doth not prove all at once : but , that it is a good argument so far . and , i think , ( if he will here give me leave to use a simile which is not adequate , ) it is a method used by other men , as well as mathematicians . for , if a man be to mount a pair of stairs ; we do not say , the first step is absurd , because that alone doth not bring him to the top : or , if to go a journey , that the first step is absurd , because it doth not bring him to his journeys end : but the first step brings him so far ; and the second , somewhat farther ; and so on , till ( step by step ) he comes to the top , or to his journeys end. now , there being divers points concerned in the doctrine of the trinity ; i stated my question , not so as to prove all at once ; but singled out this one point , that it is not inconsistent with reason ( or , to use his own words ; it is agreeable to the common notions of humane reasoning , ) that what in one consideration are three , may in another consideration be one ; and , that there may be three somewhat 's , which are one god. but , whether indeed there be so , is another step ; and whether these somewhat 's may fitly be called persons , is yet another . now , if i have made good my first step ; my argument or simile , is not only not altogether impertinent , but neither is it most absurd , yea not absurd at all ; because it proves what it was brought to prove . and , that so it doth , himself allows ; and tells us plainly , p. 3. he cannot say , there is a contradiction , in holding , that there may be three persons in god. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but i find , he would fain be upon another point , p. 4. and draw me to it . a point not to be argued upon the topick of reason only , ( for , reason alone , can go no further than to prove it possible , or not inconsistent ; ) but to be argued from scripture , and divine revelations , whether indeed there are three somewhats ( which we call persons ) that are but one god. but this , i have told him already , is beside the question which i undertook . and , in this , it is he that is the aggressor , not i : and i only upon the defence . yet , because he is so desirous of it , i am content to go somewhat out of my way , to wait on him ; and to hear what he hath to say , why we should think that is not , which he confesseth may be without any contradiction to natural reason . and i shall take notice as i go along , what it is wherein we agree , as well as wherein we differ : that so we may not quarrel about what is agreed between us . he begins with the first commandment , p. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. and seems mightily to dread the guilt of idolatry , in admitting more gods than one : ( our case is , we are afraid of idolatry , p. 9. ) contrary to this commandment , of having no other god. ( and so i would have him be . but we shall find this fear will be over with him by and by . ) what ( says he ) was that commandment made for ? what! to prevent polytheism . why , how is that to be done ? by denying many gods. if it be not made to deny personal gods , 't is made to no purpose . and soon after ( with some indignation . ) what! is the divinity of christ implied in the new testament ? 't is denied in the first commandment . and , p. 9. pray , what scripture shall we regard , in competition with this commandment , written by the finger of god , and one of the only precepts he himself immediately delivered ? now i am so far from disliking his zeal for the first commandment ; that i do perfectly agree with what i find in that commandment ; i am the lord thy god ( the lord god of israel ) thou shalt have no other god but me. ( and this i shall desire him to remember by and by . ) he may add that of deut. 6 , 7. ( for in this i agree also ) hear , o israel , the lord our god ( the lord god of israel ) is one lord. and that of mat. 4. 10. thou shalt worship the lord thy god ( the lord god of israel , ) and him only shalt thou serve . and that of 1 cor. 8. 6. to us there is but one god. ( and as many more places , as he pleases , to that purpose . ) and from all these i do agree , that we are to have but one god and no more ; ( not two gods. ) no other god than the lord god of israel : that we are to worship him alone , and none else ; ( not sathan , not the god of ekron , not any god , or man , or angel , who is not the lord god of israel . ) for all this i grant to be there fully taught . and i am willing to put as great weight upon this solemn set precept of the first commandment , as he doth , ( and perhaps more . ) he would have us shew ( if we can ) p. 9. where this commandment is abrogated . i say , no where . it was never abrogated : never repealed : it remains ( i grant ) still in its full force . and therefore we own no other god , but the lord god of israel . and this lord god of israel , we say is one lord , one god , and no more gods than one. we say indeed , there is a wise god , a powerful god , an almighty god , an eternal god , a just god , a merciful god , god the creator , god the redeemer , god the sanctifier ; a god who in the beginning created the heaven and the earth , a god who in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth , and the heavens are the work of his hands , a god of abraham , a god of isaac , a god of jacob , a god who brought the children of israel out of egypt , a god who brought them out of the north country , a god who is our mighty redeemer , a god who is a saviour of all that trust in him , a god who doth create in us a clean heart , and doth renew a right spirit within us , a god who gives us a heart of flesh , a god who gives us a new heart , who putteth his fear in our hearts , who writes his law in our inward parts , a god who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins , a god who hath visited and redeemed his people , and hath raised up a mighty salvation for us . but we say , the lord god of israel is all this ; and , in being all this , he is but one god ; and , that there is no other god but one. and we grant , that whoever owns any other god as a true god , or worships a false god , breaks this commandment . i do not know what he would have us grant more upon this commandment . i wish he do not think we have granted too much . he says , p. 3. we vitiate this commandment , by bringing in new persons , by adding several persons to our one god. no : we add no persons to our god ; we say , that god the creator , god the redeemer , god the sanctifier , ( or , in other words , the father , son , and holy-ghost , ) are this one god ; not added to him . nor are they new persons added to god ; but , are god ; and ever were so . he would have us think , p. 17. that the father only , ( and not the son , or holy-ghost ) is the only true god ; because of joh. 17. 3. the words are these , this is life eternal , to know thee ( not only thee ) the only true god ( to be that god , beside which there is no other true god , ) and jesus christ whom thou hast sent . and we say the same that is here said . the father is the only true god ( the lord god of israel , beside whom there is no other true god ; ) the son is also , not another god , ( as the arians say , and this answerer , p. 17. ) but the same only true god ( the lord god of israel ; and he is expresly so called , luk. 1. 16 , 17. ) and the holy-ghost likewise , ( for these three are one , 1 ▪ joh. 5. 7. ) and the words ( without any force put upon them ) may be thus read , to know thee ( and whom thou hast sent , jesus christ ) to be the only true god. for the word only is not a restrictive to thee , but to the true god. and this is not only a new querk or criticism ( which is the only answer he gives to this defence , ) but is the true sense of the place . for the same writer doth ▪ in another place , say the very same thing of god the son , 1 joh. 5. 20. we are in him that is true , even in his son jesus christ ; this is the true god , and eternal life . now if scripture must interpret scripture , ( as he tells us , p. 16. ) certainly s. john in his epistle ( 1 ▪ joh. 5. 20. ) understood what himself said in his gospel ( joh. 17. 3. ) and that , what he said of the father's being the only true god , was not exclusive of the son ; to whom himself gives the same title , this is the true god , and this is eternal life . and this i think is a full answer to what he would urge from this place ; or from ( what he joins with it ) 1 cor. 8. 4 , 5 , 6. to us there is but one god. which is no more express to his purpose , than this is : nor doth he pretend that it is ; but puts them both together , p. 17. there is one place more , which comes under consideration , which ( because he finds it pinch ) he would fain shake off , p. 17. it is that of joh. 1. 1 , 2 , 10 , 14. in the beginning was the word ; and the word was with god , and the word was god ; the world was made by him ; all things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made which was made ; and the word was made flesh , and dwelt amongst us . the former answerer would fain shuffle off this place ( in his p. 9. ) upon one of these three points ; ( for , otherwise , he grants , it is for our purpose ; ) either that by the word is not meant christ ; or , by god , not the true god ; or else that s. john writes non-sense . now the last of the three , i suppose our new answerer will not say ; because he pretends a great reverence for scriptures . the first he quits ; and doth admit ( according to the arian sense , which he looks upon as more defensible than that of the socinians ) that , by the word , is here meant the person of christ ( who was afterward incarnate of the virgin mary ; ) and that he was pre-existent to his incarnation ; as by whom the world was made , at lest as by an instrument . and that he was with god ( the true god ) at least in the beginning of the world ( if not sooner ; ) and that he was god. all the doubt is , whether these two gods ( for so he calls them ) to wit the father and the word , be one , p. 17. now , if he be god ; he must be either a true god , or a false god. that he is a false god , methinks they should not say . and , if he be a true god , he must be the same god with the father ; who is the only true god , joh. 17. 3. that he is to be worshipped with religious worship ; both the arians and the socinians do allow . and if he be god ( as the arians and this answerer do affirm , ) this worship , must be divine worship . and he must be then the lord god of israel ; or else they break that precept , thou shalt worship the lord thy god ( the lord god of israel and him only shalt thou serve , mat. 4. 10. if he be the lord god of israel , but not the same lord god of israel : how doth this agree with that , deut. 6. 4. hear , o israel ) the lord our god is one lord ? and if he be another god ( whether true or false ) then do they break the great and first commandment , thou shalt have no other god but me ; ( no other god , true or false , great or little , equal or unequal ; but the lord god of israel . ) on which commandment this answerer doth ( deservedly ) lay so great a stress ; as we heard before . what was it made for , if not to prevent polytheism ? how shall it be done , but by denying many gods ? if not to deny personal gods ; it is made to no purpose . how is it consistent with that first commandment , ( that solemn and set precept of the first commandment , that was delivered by god himself ; written by the finger of god ; and never abrogated ; ) to bring in new persons ; to add persons ( one or more ) to this only god , though particularly prohibited , and not break it ? what! is the divinity of christ implied in the new testament ? it is denied in the first commandment ( if he be not the same god who is there meant : ) and pray , what scripture shall we regard in competition with this commandment ? with more to the same purpose . whether he will make use of the popish distinction of latria and doulia , ( for his two gods , not co-equal ) i cannot tell . but the commandment says expresly , thou shalt have no other god , but me , equal or unequal . nor doth this error end here ( as he proceeds : ) for our adversaries are not always so lucky as to see consequences . for should some revelation ( such as , he says , is not impossible ) deify more men than ever the heathen did ; here 's no fence left . ( here 's room enough to thrust in his jupiter , bacchus , venus , &c. of which he tells us , p. 8. ) and 't is in vain ( he tells us ) in such a case , to pretend that the number would be of offence to us : for if we consider aright , there is no more reason for one number than another . and he thinks , that if there be more than one , it is more honourable they should be infinites ; because all between one and infinite , is imperfect . with much more of like nature . of all which i know not what better to think , than that he had forgot all this , when afterwards ( at p. 17. ) he will have these two gods ( as he calls them ) to wit , the father and the word , not to be one , but two and separate . nor will it excuse the matter to say , that this other god , is not co-equal with the father . for , at this rate , the polytheism , or many gods of the heathen , would be excused , as out of the reach of this commandment . for they did not make all their gods co-equal to their great jupiter ( nor perhaps any of them equal to our god. ) but jupiter was their god paramount , and the rest were either middling gods , or lesser gods. but yet this did not excuse them from polytheism and idolatry , within the reach of the first commandment . for that commandment ( that unrepealed law ) forbids all other gods , whether equal or unequal : the leeks and onions in egypt ( which are said to have been there worshipped ) as well as the calves at dan and bethel . nor is it less idolatry , nor less within the reach of this commandment , to worship the god of ekron , because not co-equal to the god of israel . we therefore chuse to say , that christ is indeed god ( as he is expresly called , joh. 1. 1. the word was with god , and the word was god ; and hebr. 1. 8. thy throne , o god , endureth for ever : and in many other places : ) and not only a man , extraordinarily assisted by god , ( as this answerer grants also , at p. 14. ) that he was in the beginning , and in the beginning was with god ; joh. 1. 1 , 2. ( and therefore was pre-existent before his incarnation ; and did not then begin to be. ) that he was in the beginning , and all things were made by him , and without him was not any thing made that was made ; that the world was made by him ; joh. 1. 3. 10. ( and is therefore the same god , who in the beginning created the heaven and the earth , gen. 1. 1. ) that of him it is said , thou , lord , in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth , and the heavens are the works of thy hands , heb. 1. 8 , 10. cited out of psal. 102. 25. ( and is therefore the same god , to whom that long prayer , psal. 102. was made ; and of whom so many great things are there said ▪ and which cannot belong to any but the supreme god : ) and no doubt but , when this was there said by the psalmist , he meant it of that god , who in the beginning created the heaven and the earth , gen. 1. 1. that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the being above all things ( or the supreme being , ) god blessed for ever ( or , the ever-blessed god ) rom. 9. 5. ( which are titles too high for any lower than the supreme god. ) that what is said of god indefinitely ( as contra-distinguished from christ in particular ) rev. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , from him which is , and which was , and which is to come ( or which shall be ) and from jesus christ , &c. ; is particularly applied to jesus christ as his character , ver. 8. i am alpha and omega , the beginning and the ending , saith the lord , ( he that liveth , and was dead , and liveth for evermore , ver. 16. ) which is , and was , and is to come ; the almighty . that he is the true god , 1 joh. 5. 20. ( and therefore the same god with the father ; who is the only true god , joh. 17. 3. and no other true god but what he is . ) that he and the father are one , joh. 10. 30. that the father , and the word , and the spirit , these three are one , 1 joh. 5. 7. and christ , not another god , but the same god , manifested in the flesh , justified in the spirit , seen of angels , preached unto the gentiles , believed on in the world , received up into glory , 1. tim. 3. 16. now i know not well , what could be said more ( at least , what more need be said ) to make the point clear : or , what character he can reasonably desire more , by which to describe the almighty supreme god ; and the same god with the father . he is god ; the true god ; the only true god , ( for there can be but one god , that is the only true god ; ) one with the father ; one with the father and holy-ghost ; the eternal god , ( who is , and was , and shall be ; who , when the heavens and the earth shall wax-●old as a garment , he is the same and his years shall not fail ; ) the almighty ; the mighty god ; the eternal father ; the god who in the beginning made the world ; who made all things ; and without whom not any thing was made that was made ; who in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth , and the heavens are the works of his hands ; who is the son of god , the begotten of the father ; the only-begotten of the father , ( and therefore of the same nature with the father , however not the same person , or not under that consideration . ) nor can he say , this is impossible , a contradiction , or inconsistent with reason , and that therefore , though the words be clear and plain , yet we must seek out some other sence to be forced upon them : for this point is already gained ; and he doth confess it , p. 3. that there is no contradiction , in holding that there may be three persons in god. and , if there be no contradiction in it , why should we be afraid to say , what in scripture is said so plainly ? or , why should we set up two gods where one will serve , and when the scripture says , there is but one ? he 'll say perhaps , god made the world by christ. and we say so too . but not as by a tool or instrument , ( as he would have it , p. 17. ) but rather as by his power or wisdom . but the power and wisdom of god , are not things diverse from god himself ; but are himself . ( much less are they different gods from god himself . ) and , even amongst us , the power and wisdom of a man , are not things distinct from the man ; ( in that sense wherein the words thing and mode are contra-distinguished ; ) much less are they distinct men from the man whose power and wisdom they are . the man and his wisdom ; the man and his power ; are not distinguished ut res & res , ( as the schools speak ) but ut res & modus . and power and wisdom ( in the same man ) ut modus & modus . for though a man may subsist without wisdom ( but god cannot ; ) yet wisdom cannot subsist without somewhat that is wise ; nor this man's wisdom without the man ; and therefore this wisdom ( according to the school-distinction ) must be modus ▪ and not res. ( and the like of power . ) so that if we say , that christ is the power of god ; or the wisdom of god ( as he is called 1 cor. 1. 24. ) and that god , by his power and wisdom , made the world ; it doth not follow , that this power , or wisdom of god , is another god from god himself : but god and his wisdom , or god and his power , are god himself . consonant to this it is , where it is said , col. 2. 3. in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge . and perhaps it is this divine wisdom , who tells us , prov. 8. 22 , 23 ▪ 27. the lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways ; i was from everlasting , from the beginning ; when he prepared the heavens , i was there ; and much more to the same purpose . so the holy ghost is called the power of god , luk. 1. 35. the holy-ghost shall come upon thee , and the power of the highest shall over-shadow thee . now shall we say , ▪ because god is wise in heart , and mighty in strength , job 9. 4. or because by his wisdom and power he made the world ; therefore his wisdom and his power are distinct gods from himself ? or if we should say , that god as the fountain of being , may be called the father ; and the same god , as the fountain of wisdom , be called the son ; and , as the fountain of power , be called the holy-ghost : there is nothing of this that is inconsistent with reason , but very agreeable with the common notions of humane reasoning ; and yet all these ( however under divers considerations ) are but one god. but here i must caution again ( for i find people are willing to mistake , or mis-apply what i say . ) that i do not set down this as the adequate distinction between the three persons ( for this i do not pretend throughly to understand ; ) but only that it is not inconsistent with reason , that it may be so : and that there is no necessity , upon this account , to set up another god ▪ or we may say ( much to the same purpose ) that god by his word , and spirit , made the world ; and yet that his word , and his spirit , are not therefore distinct gods from himself . and we have them all mentioned in the story of the creation . god created the heaven and the earth , gen. 1. 1. the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters , ver . 2. and god said , ( or spake the word ) let there be light , &c. ver. 3 , 6 , 9 , 11 , 14 , 20 , 24. and ver. 26. let us make man. and psal. 33. 6 , 9. by the word of the lord were the heavens made ; and all the host of them by the spirit , or breath of his mouth : he spake and it was done , he commanded and it stood fast . ( and to the like purpose , psal. 148. 5. job 26. 13. ) yet are they not three gods ; but rather three somewhats which are but one god. i have insisted the longer on this ; because i do not know , but that ( through the grace of god ) such a discourse as this , may have a like effect on him ( or some of his party ) as that of wittichius had on his friend sandius . and i have argued it calmly . i have used no scurrillous language ; nor given any reproachful terms . i do not oppress him with the authority of fathers , or councils ; but with scripture only ▪ and plain reason . and it seems to me so clear , that if they cannot see it ; it is from some other reason than from want of clearness . as to what i have said for explication of the athanasian creed ( though i cannot expect he should approve of that creed , while he retains his opinion , ) i do not find that he takes any great exceptions to what i say of it . he doth not like the words trinity in unity , as foreign and unscriptural , p. 19. he may ▪ ( if that will please him better ) put it into plainer english , and call it three in one : and then the words are scriptural ▪ these three are one. the possibility of gods being incarnate , he doth not deny . only he likes the arian incarnation better than ours . he seems well pleased , p. 19 , 20. that i do not possitively affirm , this creed to be written by athanasius : that i do not anathematize the greek church : that i do not damn all children , fools , madmen , and all before christ ; ( as , he tells us , some rigid irinitarians , i know not who , have done too often : ) that i own the word person to be but metaphorical , ( which at p. 7. he did not like : ) which , i will not disoblige him , by unsaying . where it is that i have blamed the fathers , i do not remember . for i think the fathers do concur in this ; that there is a distinction between the three ( which we call ) persons ; greater than that between the divine attributes ; but not such as to make them three gods : and , that by calling them persons , they mean no more . and i say the same . i shall conclude with this observation upon the whole . he was at the beginning of his discourse , a direct socinian ; dreading the guilt of idolatry in having more gods than one ; as contrary to the first commandment : ( and therein i agree with him : ) but denied the divinity of christ ; as the socinians do . and thus he continues till toward the end of p. 10. but then begins ( silently ) to tack about ; and , after a while ▪ doth with as much earnestness affirm the divinity of christ , as he had before denied it ; that christ was god from the beginning , before the world was ; that he was afterward incarnate and became man ; and , as god and man , redeemed us , &c. ) and here he is orthodox again . but then tells us , that this god is not the same god , or co-equal with the father , but another god. and at length tells us plainly , that there are , at least , two gods , to wit the father and the word : ( for now the fear of having more gods than one , is over with him : ) and is by this time a perfect arian . and he who , from a socinian , is thus turn'd arian , may at the next turn ( for ought i know ) turn orthodox . in order to which , i would advise him to keep to the sound part of his first opinion , while he was a socinian , namely , that we ought to acknowledge and worship but one god : and the sound part of his second opinion when he was turned arian ; namely , that christ ( the word ) was god , from the beginning , ( before the world was ; ) that he was afterward incarnate , and so became god and man ; that , as such , he suffered , died ▪ and wrought out our redemption ▪ ; that the merits of his sufferings are founded on his godhead ; which otherwise would not have been meritorious , if he were only a man ▪ however extraordinarily assisted by god. and when he hath so joined these two together , as to make them consistent : he will be therein orthodox . and if , to these two , he add a third ( which he owns also ) namely , that there is no contradiction , in holding , there may be three persons in god : he will then be able to answer all the cavils which either the arian or the socinian shall bring against it . finis . a second defence of the learned hugo grotius, or, a vindication of the digression concerning him from some fresh exceptions / by h. hammond. hammond, henry, 1605-1660. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a45462 of text r30725 in the english short title catalog (wing h599a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 49 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 10 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a45462 wing h599a estc r30725 11415365 ocm 11415365 47753 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45462) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 47753) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1463:11) a second defence of the learned hugo grotius, or, a vindication of the digression concerning him from some fresh exceptions / by h. hammond. hammond, henry, 1605-1660. 17 p. printed by j. flesher, for richard royston ..., london : 1655. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. eng grotius, hugo, 1583-1645. apologetics -early works to 1800. apologetics -history -17th century. theology, doctrinal. a45462 r30725 (wing h599a). civilwar no a second defence of the learned hugo grotius, or, a vindication of the digression concerning him, from some fresh exceptions. by h. hammond, hammond, henry 1655 7803 3 60 0 0 0 0 81 d the rate of 81 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2006-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a second defence of the learned hvgo grotivs , or a vindication of the digression concerning him , from some fresh exceptions . by h. hammond , d. d. london , printed by j. flesher , for richard royston at the angel in ivy lane , 1655. a defence of the learned hvgo grotivs . 1. what hath newly been suggested , in an epistle dedicatorie to the oxford-heads , by way of reply to my digression about the learned hugo grotius , will receive punctual answer within the compasse of very few leaves . but for the readers thrift and ease , i shall first set down the words , wherein the suggestion is delivered . 2. from thence , whence in the thoughts of some , i am most likely to suffer , as to my own resolves , i am most secure . it is in meddling with grotius his annotations , and calling into quaestion what hath been delivered by such a gyant in all kinds of literature . since my ingagement in this business , and when i had well-nigh finished the vindication of the texts of scripture commonly pleaded , for the demonstration of the deity of christ , from the exceptions put into their testimonies , by the racovian catechisme , i had the sight of dr. h's apologie for him , in his vindication of his dissertations about episcopacy , from my occasional animadversions , published in the preface of my book of the perseverance of the saints . of that whole treatise i shall elsewhere give an account . my defensative as to my dealing with grotius his annotations , is suited to what the doctor pleads in his behalfe , which occasions this mention thereof . this very pious , learned , judicious man ( he tells us ) hath fallen under some harsh censures of late , especially upon the account of socinianisme , and popery . that is , not as though he would reconcile those extremes , but being in doctrinals a socinian , he yet closed in many things with the romane interest : as i no way doubt , but thousands of the same perswasions with the socinians , as to the person and offices of christ , do live in the outward communion of that church ( as they call it ) to this day ; of which supposal i am not without considerable grounds , and eminent instances for its confirmation . this ( i say ) is their charge upon him . for his being a socinian ( he tells us ) three things are made use of to beget a jealousie in the minds of men of his inclinations that way . 1. some parcells of a letter of his to crellius . 2. some relations of what passed from him at his death . 3. some passages in his annotations . it is this last alone wherein i am concerned . and what i have to speake to them , i desire may be measured and weighed by what i do promise . it is not that i do entertaine in my self any hard thoughts , or that i would beget in others any evill surmises of the eternal condition of that man , that i speak what i do . what am i , that i should judge another mans servant ? he is fallen to his own master . i am very slow to judge of mens acceptation with god , by the apprehension of their understandings . this onely i know , that be men of what religion soever , that is professed in the world , if they are drunkards , proud , boasters , &c. hypocrites , haters of good men , persecutors and revilers of them , yea if they be not regenerate and born of god , united to the head christ jesus , by the same spirit that is in him , they shall never see god . but for the passages in his annotations , the substance of the doctors plea is , that the passages intimated are in his posthuma , that he intended not to publish them , that they might be of things he observed , but thought farther to consider : and an instance is given in that of col. 1. 16. which he interprets , contrarie to what he urged it for , joh. 1. 1 , 2 , 3. but granting what is affirmed as to matter of fact , about his collections , ( though the preface to the last part of his annotations will not allow it to be true ) i must needs abide in my dissatisfaction to these annotations , and of my resolves in these thoughts give the doctor this account . of the socinian religion there are two main parts ; the first is photinianisme , the latter pelagianisme . the first concerning the person , the other the grace of christ . let us take an eminent instance out of either of these heads : out of the first , their denying christ to be god by nature . out of the latter , their denyall of his satisfaction . for the first , i must needs tell the apologist , that of all the texts of the new testament and old , whereby the deity of christ is usually confirmed , and where it is evidently testified unto , he hath not left any more then one ( that i have observed ) if one , speaking any thing clearly to that purpose . i say , if one , for that he speaks not home to the business in hand on joh. 1. i shall elsewhere give an account : perhaps some one or two more may be interpreted according to the analogie of that . i speake not of his annotations on the epistles , but on the whole bible throughout , wherein his expositions given , do for the most part fall in with those of the socinians , and oftentimes consist in the very words of socinus and smalcius , and alwaies do the same things with them , as to any notice of the deity of christ in them . so that i marvell the learned doctor should fix upon one particular instance , as though that one place alone were corrupted by him , when there is not one ( or but one ) that is not wrested , perverted , and corrupted to the same purpose . for the full conviction of the truth hereof , i refer the reader to the insuing considerations of his interpretations of the places themselves . the condition of these famous annotations , as to the satisfaction of christ , is the same ; not one text of the whole scripture , wherein testimonie is given to that sacred truth , which is not wrested to another sense , or at least the doctrine in it , concealed , and obscured by them . i do not speak this with the least intention to cast upon him the reproach of a socinian : i judge not his person : his books are published to be considered and judged . erasmus i know made way for him in most of his expositions about the deity of christ but what repute he hath thereby obtained among all that honor the eternal godhead of the son of god , let bellarmine on the one hand , and beza on the other , evince . and as i will by no means maintain or urge against grotius any of the miscarriages in religion , which the answerer of my animadversions undertakes to vindicate him from ; nor do i desire to fight with the dust and ashes of men ; yet what i have said , is , if not necessary to return to the apologist , yet of tendency , i hope , to the satisfaction of others , who may inquire after the reason of my calling the annotations of the learned man to an account in this discourse , shall any one take liberty to pluck down the pillars of our faith , and weaken the grounds of our assurance , concerning the person and grace of our lord jesus christ , and shall we not have the boldness to call him to an account for so sacrilegious an attempt ? with those then , who love the lord christ in sincerity , i expect no blame or reproach for what i have indevoured in this kinde ; yea that my good will shall find acceptance with them , especially if it shall occasion any of greater leisure and abilities farther , and professedly to remark more of the corruptions of those annotations , i have good ground of expectation . the truth is , notwithstanding their pompous shew and appearance ( few of his quotations , which was the * manner of the man , being at all to his purpose ) it will be found no difficult matter to discusse his assertions , and dissipate his conjectures . for his being a papist , i have not much to say ; let his epistles ( published by his friends ) written to dionysius petavius the jesuite , be perused , and you will see the character which of himself he gives : as also what in sundry writings he ascribes to the pope . 3. the first thing that i am here to clear , is the meaning of plain words . i said that grotius was sometimes calumniated , as a socinian , sometimes as a papist , and as if he had learnt to reconcile contradictories , or the most distant extremes , sometimes as both of them together . and here i am told that the harsh censures under which he hath fallen , are not as though he would reconcile those extremes — and sure i never said , or intimated they were , but that the socinian and popish doctrines were so contradictorie one to the other ( the one affirming , the other expressely denying the eternal divinity and satisfaction of christ , and many the like ) that it was impossible for the same man to be both socinian and papist , without being a greater artificer then yet ever was in the world , one that had learnt to reconcile contradictories &c. i. e. ( if i must farther construe plain words ) to believe together things most incompetible , and impossible to be believed together by the same person , the affirmations and the negations of the same enunciations , that christ was , and was not eternal god , made , and made not satisfaction for our sins ; for this work of wonder , above what either nature or divine power can extend to , is necessarily required to the verifying of that part of the calumnie . 4. the 2d is , his stating the jealousie , as far as it is own'd by him , viz. that h. grotius being in doctrinals a socinian , he yet closed in many things with the romane interest ; where the distinction being made between doctrinals and interest , it is visible , 1. that this doth not so much as pretend that he was a papist , for it is the doctrines onely ( such is that of the popes supremacie , &c. ) which can give any man that denomination , and for closing in many things with the romane interests , the anabaptists and other such sectaries , the most distant from poperie , may and oft are as guilty of that , as any . 2. there is no colour for this suggestion , as far as grotius's writings give us to judge ( and farther then those i have no perspective to examine his heart ) for the fomenters of the divisions in christendome , being the only persons whom he profest to oppose , the irreconciliabiles , and qui aeterna cupiunt esse dissidia , t is consequent , that the pacificatorie interest was the onely one espoused by him , and pursued most affectionately ; and i could never yet discerne by any pregnant indication , that this is the romane interest . 5. the 3d is , his manner of proving his thus stated suggestion . 1. by his bare affirmation , without the least tender of proof for the truth of it ; 2. by his confident undoubted assurance , that thousands of the same perswasions with the socinians , as to the person and offices of christ , do to this day live in the outward communion of the church of rome . whereas , 1. this could have no force to infer the conclusion , as it concerned grotius , who never lived a day , or died in the communion of the church of rome , nor is by his most unkind adversaries affirmed to have done so , but is known to have profest his willingness to communicate with the church of england ; and 1 t is not imaginable how any one doctrinal socinian , should after his having espoused those doctrines , if his practices be consonant to his perswasions , live in outward communion with the church of rome , if by living in the outward communion , be meant either joying in the offices , or receiving the sacrament with them , when ( beside many other obstacles in the way , the athanasian creed , and the like ) the very * receiving the eucharist kneeling , is by socinus defined to be idololatrical , and most strictly required by the papists from every communicant . fourthly , when he hath premised his profession that he would not beget in others any evill surmises of the eternal condition of that man ( who is ( blessed be god ) out of the reach of such darts ) with a [ what am i , that i should judge another mans servant ? ] and yet addes in the next words [ he is fallen to his own master , ] i cannot but think these words so far contrary to his profession , as may be apt to beget evil surmises in others . the foregoing words are evidently taken from rom. 14. 4. and judging there , and here , is used in the sense of condemning , which is , at the best , surmising of the eternal condition , and [ falling to his own master ] is in like manner taken from the same verse , and so marks by the italick letter , and [ falling ] there evidently signifying that lot , to which the precedent [ judging ] determines it , and to which the subsequent [ standing ] is opposite , what can this regularly infer , but that he which is fallen to his master , is fallen under condemnation ? but if by [ fallen ] he meant no more then death , as i yet hope , and desire the reader in charity to believe he did , i heartily wish , he would hereafter be more carefull in using of scripture style in a sense so distant from the known importance of it in scripture , without any character to discriminate it ; and withall , that when he speaks of so nice a point , as is the eternal salvation of one that is dead , he will not deliver his mind in such general aphorismes , as those ( which the jealousie or mallce of any man may interpret , to the inferring the most sanguinarie conclusion ) that the men of what religion soever , if they are drunkards , proud , &c. shall never see god . for though i have all reasons to believe that this learned man was regenerate and born of god , and united to the head jesus christ by the same spirit that is in him , and withall , neither lived , nor dyed , in any one or more of those wasting guilts ( i hrartily wish all men living were as guiltlesse as he ) yet who knows what surmises may be infused into those , that are willing to believe ill or have no grounds of knowledge to pronounce any thing that is good , of him , when they find such aphorismes as these ( comprehending so many sorts of sinners , which shall never see god ) made use of to conclude a discourse , which purposely treated of that person , and cannot discern with what proprietie , they could be directed to that place , if they did not relate to him . 7. fiftly when he saith , that the praeface to the last part of grotius's annotations will not allow that to be true , which i said of his posthuma , viz. that they had not been formed by him , or fitted for the publick , &c. i answer , that that preface of the publisher , if it be supposed to have set down the whole truth , hath yet nothing contrarie to what i said . it saith the opus integrum was by the author committed and earnestly commended to the faithfull care of {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . but what was the opus integrum ? not that last part or volume of annotations thus completed , and so made integrum intire by his own hand ( though for as much as concerned the apocalypse i think it had received from his own pencil , by occasion of the contests he met with about his tract de antichristo , the very lineaments and colors , wherein it appears ) but opus integrum , the whole volume , or volumes which contained all his {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} adversaria on the new testament , which it seems were thus committed to a friends hands , or else they had never come to ours . and this is perfectly consonant to what i said , and ( i suppose ) exemplyfied , and evidenced concerning those annotations . 8. sixtly when he saith , that h. grotius hath not left any more then one text of the new and old testament whereby the deity of christ is usually confirmed and where it is evidently testified to ] i refer him briefely to one place in his annotations on s. john's gospel , which alone will be able to discover , what weight there is in this affirmation . there having by way of preface observed , that s. john did more expressely , then any other of the evangelists and more early in the very first words of his writing , set down the divine nature of christ , ipso initio dei nomen ei assignandum — existimans , in the very beginning of his gospel assigning him the name of god , accordingly , in his explication of the first verse , he makes the [ {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} in the beginning was ] an expression of christ's eternity , applying to it the place in the proverbs concerning wisedome c. 8. 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26. 27. the lord possessed me in the beginning of his way , before his works of old , i was set up from everlasting , from the beginning , or ever the earth was , when there was no depths i was brought forth , when there were no fountains abounding with water , before the mountains were setled , before the hills was i brought forth , while as yet he had not made the earth nor the field , nor the highest part of the dust of the world , when he prepared the heavens , i was there — ( and in his notes on the old testament , prov. 8. 27. he expressely refers to this , joh. 1. 1. and by so doing manifestly defines that eternal wisdome to be christ ) and on this occasion he brings the most expresse affirmations of the antients justine and athenagoras , the former affirming christ's praeexistence before the word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , and p. 851. {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , he was god before the worlds ; the latter his eternity , and that from the beginning god being an eternal mind {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . then out of the old testament from the chaldee paraphrast he brings several places where god is interpreted by god and his word , making and founding the heavens and earth , isa. 45. 12. and 48. 13. and according and consenting thereto , 2 pet. 3. 5. which again are so many more evidences set down by him , of christs eternal deity , and then on v. 3. to testifie that all things were created by this eternal word , he appeals to the place , which before i produced from him , col. 1. 16. by him were all things created — 9. this i hope without farther search , may suffice to prove , that he hath left more then one text of the old and new testament speaking home and clearly to this purpose ; for what can be more clear and home , then this , that christ was god before the world was ( whereas socinians make the beginning joh. 1. 1. to be the beginning of the gospel ) and that by him the whole world was created . 10. in a word , if one text acknowledged to assert christs eternal divinity , will not suffice to conclude him no socinian in that point , who was not so atheistical , as to doubt of the truth and authority of that one place , and so cannot be doubted to believe , what from one place ( if there had been no more ) he did believe ; 2 if six verses in the proverbs , two in isaiah , one in s. peter , one in s. paul , added to many in the beginning of s. john , will not yet amount to above one text ; or lastly , if that one may be doubted of also , which is by him interpreted to affirme christ eternally subsistent with god , before the creation of the world , and that the whole world was created by him , i shall despaire of ever being a successefull advocate for any man . 11. and then how , still , he that affirmed positively that he hath not left more then one , and presently addes his doubting of this one [ not more then one , if one ] and after [ not one , or but one , ] can first inlarge the catalogue , that [ perhaps some one or two more may be interpreted according to the analogie of that one ] and then presently contract it again , that [ his expositions alwaies do the same things with socinus and smalcius ] who it is certain do not permit that one to be understood of christs eternal divinity , and yet at length professe , that he speaks not with the least intention to cast on him the reproach of a socinian , or to urge against him any of those miscarriages in religion , which the answerer of his animadversions undertakes to vindicate him from ( and socinianisme was , one of them ) acknowledging that erasmus made way for him in most of his expositions about the deity of christ , ( which is to make him an erasmian , rather then a socinian ) and after that still adhere , that his attempt is sacrilegious , even to pluck down the pillars of our faith — concerning the person and grace of our lord jesus christ , how , i say , he can reconcile , all these contrary appearances , i have not the skill , and therefore shall not have the curiosity to divine , or conjecture . 12. seventhly when he marvels the doctor should fix upon one particular instance , as though that one place onely were corrupted by him ] i answer that he misinterprets my words , and misrepresents my designe and aime in producing that particular instance ; it was not to give example what place of scriptures those notes had corrupted , or misinterpreted , but to evidence that those annotations , under his name , agreed not with his sense , of which as this was one eminent and pertinent instance , interpreting this place , col. 1. 16. after his death , to the socinians mind , which in his lifetime he had interpreted expressely against it , and as one instance thus explicite , is as concluding to this matter , as many more could be , so elsewhere i have added many instances more to the same purpose , which i shall not here collect unseasonably . 13. what places in the old testament , wherein the deity of christ is evidently testified to , are corrupted , wrested or perverted by this learned man , h. gr. i professe not to divine , nor shall , it seems , come to the full conviction of the truth thereof without reading over this , whole ( which is a great ) volume where their confutation lyes scattered , and is not , as i discern , put together in any part of the work , save onely in the title page , and to this larger travaile my prospect doth not invite me , having already by what i have recited from grotius's notes on joh. 1. compared with this authors suggestions , a competent {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , what i am to expect from any farther inquiry . in lieu hereof , i shall onely adde these two suppletory considerations . 1. that the word of god , being all , and every part of it equally of undoubted truth , that doctrine , which is founded expressely on five places of divine writ , must by all christians be acknowledged to be as irrefragably confirmed , as a hundred expresse places would be conceived to confirme it . 2. that this charge of disarming the church of her defences against the adversaries of the faith , by diverting those places of scripture , which have formerly been used to assert the great mysteries of salvation , to other and inferior ends , though it be a very popular one , and that which is most apt to divolve an odium on him , which shall be represented guilty of it , and may therefore probably be chosen , as the field of declamation against grotius , by any that can gladly expatiate on that subject , yet will it upon inquiry be found in some degree , if not equally , chargeable on the learnedst and most valued of the reformers , particularly upon mr. calvin himself , who hath been as bitterly and unjustly accused , and reviled , on this account , ( witness the book entitled calvino-turcismus ) as ever erasmus was by bellarmine or beza , or as probably grotius can be . 14. 8thly . for the doctrine of the satisfaction of christ , and the interpretation of those scriptures , that belong to it , i cannot imagine any surer measure can be taken of grotius's sense , then by that perspicuous and judicious treatise which he hath written purposely on that subject , against socinus himself , and which i believe will be found a surer antidote against that poyson , among considering men , then hath been mixed by any other the most skilful hand , since that controversie hath been agitated in this last age , more especially the places of scripture are by him there vindicated from the perversions of socinus , and a great cumulus of texts brought forth to testifie to the doctrine of satisfaction , which i shall not recite , that i may leave on the reader an ingagement to survey the book , and commit the judgement to his own eyes . 15. onely because i have heard the signal place isa. 53. taken notice of by some , as that wherein his annotations are most suspected , i shall there fasten a while . from 1 pet. 2. 24. having inferred that christ so bare our sins , that he freed us from the punishment of them , and so that we are healed by his stripes , he at length urges as parallel to this , isa. 53. 11. my righteous servant shall justify many , and shall bear their iniquities , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} iniquity saith he , signifying the punishment of iniquity 2 kin. 7. 9. and {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} to bear , the bearing of punishment , and thence concluding , desertè ergo hic dicitur christus laturus poenas eorum qui justificantur , it is therefore here distinctly said , that christ shall bear the punishments of those who are justified , and according to this specimen he gives the mystical sense of that whole chapter ( and refutes the socinian arts of evading it ) and at last from v. 12. concludes the punishments which christ indured for our sins to be the foundation and merit of his dividing the spoile , and interceding , decere enim ut is qui peccata multorum tulerit , jus habeat pro iis intercedendi , for it was fit that he that bare the sins of many , should have the right of interceding for them ; and ' much more to the same purpose , defining positively against all the adversaries {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , that peccata ferre patiendo , at que ita ut inde liberentur alii , aliud indicare non potest quàm poenae alienae susceptionem , to bear sins by suffering , and so that others may be freed by that means , cannot signifie any thing else , but the undergoings of other mens punishment , annexing isa. 53. 6. the lord hath laid on him , the iniquity of us all — and refuting all the evasions , that wete there interposed by socinus . 16. and when to this , and the * many pages more which are there subjoyned for the vindicating that one chapter , and the several expresse testimonies therein , i shall adde two things more for preventing all possible mistake or jelousie of his after-change in this matter , i shall have no motive farther to inlarge this consideration . 17. first , the annotations of that learned man on the old testamen , published a little before his death , are very brief , and especially respect the first and literal interpretation ; as in the prophets , where there is one immediate completion of each prophecy among the jewes of or neer that time , wherein it was written , another more remote and ultimate concerning christ , or the times of the gospel ( this might be exemplified in several instances , applyed by the new testament to christ , having had before a literal completion [ out of aegypt have i called my sonne ] and many the like ) there generally his care is , to set down most distinctly the first , or literal sense , as that is terminated in the immediate completion ( and this , i suppose , because it was most neglected by other interpreters , who were more copious in rendring the mystical notation ) and accordingly on isa. 53. conceiving the jewes usage of the prophet jeremie , and gods regard to him , to be literally predicted there , he interprets every verse of that chapter to that sense ( which was not so easily discoverable , or vulgarly taken notice of ) omitting to inlarge on that other , more sublime completion in christ , which the new testament had so clearely exprest , all commentators enlarged on , and himself in the tract de satisfact. . so evidently set down , and vindicated , that all that was needfull to be added , was easily said by him by way of introduction to that whole chapter , in these few words , hae notae in jeremiam quidem congruunt priùs , sed potiùs , sublimiúsque , saepe & magis {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} in christum . these characters agree indeed first to jeremie , but to christ more principally and eminently , and oftentimes more according to the very letter or diction . 18. the 2d thing that i have to adde for the clearing of his constancie , or no change in these doctrines , will be such , as i think will leave no place of jealousie , his own expresse words protesting his opinion , when he was accused of changing it . this he hath publikely done in his disscussion ( written a little before , and not published till after his death ) p. 17. by setting down the occasion and author of that defamation , and for the removing of it , referring the reader to what he had in many places of his annotations on the gospels written coucerning the eternity of the word , the blood of christ given for our redemption &c. and this i have before my eyes at this time , more clearly testified under his own hand in a letter of his written to a friend of his of this nation , who then held a correspondence with him , in these words , poteris autem , vir optime , omnibus , qui nos norunt , affirmare , me de iis quae contra socini admiratores defendi , non modo nihil discedere , sed & illorum aliquos meâ operâ adductos ad meliorem sententiam . quo magis gratias tibi habeo de edito nostro libro de satisfactione christi , in quo argumento illos à proprietate verborum tam multorum in sacris literis , & à manifestissime antiquitatis consensu , positionibus quibusdam inanibus abstractos non dubito . giving him authority to assure all that know him , not onely that he hath no whit departed from what he had maintained against the socinians , but also that some of them had by his indevour been reduced from the socinian errors , charging them with the vanity of their positions , and departure both from the propriety of many words in the scriptures , and from the most manifest consent of antiquity , and expressing himself very well pleased that his book de satisfactione was reprinted at oxford . and all this long after the publication of crellius's book against him , which is the thing supposed to have wrought the change in him . upon these plain words i shall adde no descants , but leave them that have intertained contrarie surmises , to consider them : 19. 9thly . for the character given of this person , with whose dust and ashes he yet desires not to fight , viz. that few of his quotations are at all to his purpose ; and the grounds of that character , the words of voetius disputing against him , and affirming that it was customary with him to indulge too much to his own authority in citing authors or relating speeches or facts ] i shall say but this , 1. that these two things are different , to miscite , which was the thing voetius spake of , and not to cite to the purpose ; a false citation is one thing , an impertinent or unseasonable citation , or such as is not at all to his purpose , is another , and so this citation from voetius is guilty of the infirmity it accuseth , is not to his purpose that cited it . 2dly . that adversaries testifications of the faults of those , whom they find it usefull to asperse , are not valid testimonies , nor competent to affixe ( or justifie ) ill characters on any , and that voetius was such , is known to many , and , i doubt not , to him that cited him . 3dly . that whosoever shall be willing to profit by that mans writings , will find that as he writes with great consent , so is he observable to bring the most pertinent testimonies of any man , and seldome to omit any , which the most diligent observer shall take notice of . and if in so large a field he be found sometimes to have mistaken , or miscited a testimonie , there are so many innocent wayes to such kind of errors , that untill it appear that his were not such , they cannot with reason affixe an ill character on him ; and 4thly . that if this character were true , it yet infers not the point in hand , that he was either socinian or papist , those two sects having not the inclosure , or monopoly from all other sects , of writing or quoting what is not to their present purpose . 20. lastly , for the little which he hath to say to prove him a papist , and 1. for his epistles written to dionysius petavius a jesuite , and in them the words set in the margine , i answer , 1. that it being willingly acknowledged that he wrote five very short epistles to dionysius petavius , which are put together in the two last leaves of his epistles ad gallos , there is this obvious account to be given of it , which will no way reflect ill upon him . 21. petavius was both a very learned , and a very moderate papist , fit to be joyned with jac. sirmundus , a jesuite also , yet both these of such abilities and affections to the good of learning , of such diligence in the search and study of antiquity , and withall of so much temper above what is generally expected from that society in other kingdomes , that it can be no prejudice to him who so earnestly desired , and laboured to advance the peace of the universal church , to have a particular respect unto , and acquaintance with one of these , and as his living so long in paris , where petavius was an eminent person , makes it no miracle , that he should be thus acquainted with him , so his pacificatory design could not but render it profitable and desirable , he must have been an unskilfull manager , if intending to reconcile distant interests , he did not acquaint himself with the utmost of both their pretensions ; and what means was more commodious to that end , then this , of receiving advertisements from petavius . 22. the words of grotius himself , when he was by rivet accused for commending jesuites , are here worth reciting , jesuitas non omnes laudavit grotius , sed quorum & mores & eruditio laudem merentus , eos verò qui in galliâ sunt , pro talibus habet , quales eos reges galliae volunt existimari , i e. pro bonis civibus , & quid magis necessarium est pacem ecclesiasticam restituere cupienti , quàm eruditorum audire consilia , eorum maximè quibus & praesens ecclesiae status & antiquior historia percognita sunt . he commends onely those jesuites whose manners and learning deserve praise , the french jesuites , whom he takes to be such as the kings of france account of them , i. e. good subjects to their prince — and what can be more necessary to one that desires to restore the peace of the church , then to hear the advises of those especially who have the perfectest knowledge of the present state of the church , and of antient historie . and to the same purpose again , p. 91. affirming that he had great reasons to believe that some of that society , petavius no doubt , were seriously willing as well as able to contribute very much toward the peace of the church . 23. 2dly , for the words here cited from his epistle , that if there were any thing in that answer to rivet , which agreed not with catholike doctrine , or were otherwise distant from truth , or ( which he addes in that place , but is here left out ) minus idoneum ad pacem , less fit for peace , he desired to be admonished by petavius . ] the result is no more then what all his controversie with rivet professes , that he was one , that desired the returne of all catholike truth and peace into the christian world ( and he must renounce his part in christ's legacie [ peace i leave with you ] that is not in this particular affected like him ) and then what wonder he should desire to be admonished by a sober learned man of the romish communion , if he wrote any thing which was not ordinable to that end ? 24. the same designe , and way of pursuing it , will be yet more visible in the 200th epistle , where he hath these words to the same petavius , liceat mihi tuâ ope addere , demere , corrigere quae opus erit ad verum pacémque promovendam , give me leave by your helpe to adde , to take away , to mend what is needfull toward truth and the advancing of peace , viz. such an advancement of peace , as was perfectly consistent with truth . 25. the 2d and last suggestion in this matter is taken from what grotius hath said in sundry writings concerning the pope ] to which i have already spoken somewhat in the answer to the animadversions , as sar as concerned that passage in his discussio , which i discerned to be most accused of inclination to the popes interest . as for the papal power , whatsoever passage can be brought from him , must sure be interpreted by analogie with those rules , which he premiseth in his discussio , requiring that it may be confined and limited sec . canones , according to the antient canonical rights allowed the pope by the councels , and so as the authority of scripture , the rights of the catholike church , of councels , of patriarchs of the east , of primates , and metropolitanes , and other bishops be preserved intire , as also all the just rights of all christian princes in their own dominions . see discuss . riv. apol. p. 18 , 19 , 20. and against this , or on this head , here being no one place produced , to support this indefinite charge , i cannot reply by divination , and so have thus briefely discharged my present undertaking . 26. what is briefely toucht on with reflexion on my self in the end of that dedication , of the softness and gentleness of the leaves of my answer to his animadversions , of the illness of my cause , wherein i am ingaged against him , and the illness of my principles in managing a good cause , in the treatise of schisme and some others ( which he hath not pleased to name ) i am no way qualified to judge of , till his severer sheets instruct me , by discovering the infirmities of my cause , and till by his managery of a dispute with a romanist , he shall approve his principles to be such as will hold out against all gainsayers . at the present having no more to adde , i willingly take leave of him . the end . errata . pag. line . read . 2 14 premise 3   the marginal note belongs to p. 2. l. 32.   7 absolvig 4 4 sol :   9 voet : 6 7 2   26 lest 8 25 world   25 {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a45462e-140 jam verò sciendum est , multo quidem citius , quàm nunc d●mum temporis eam resumi absolvóque potuisse , & quominus id jampridem factum sit , per eum non stetisse virum , cujus fideli curae opus integrum ab authore ipso primum creditū fuit & sedulò commendatum . praemon : ad lect. * grotius in lib. 5. de veritat . relig. in notis r. sel. aben ezra & onkelos adducit , sed alienis oculis hic vidit , aut alienâ fide retulit ( fortè authoribus illis aut non intellectis , aut propter occupationes non inspectis ) aut animositati & authoritati suae in citandis authoribus , & referendis dictis aut factis , ut ipsi hoc usui veniebat , nimium in scriptis theologicis indulserit . vet : disput : de advent : mess. reverende domine , saepe tibi molestus esse cogor , sumpsi hanc ultiman operam , mea antehac dicta & famam quoque à ministris all●tratam tuendi , in eo scripto siquid est , aut catholicis sentent●is discongruens , aut caeteroqui à veritate alienum , de co abs te viro eruditissimo &c. cujus judicium plurimi facio moneri percupio . epist : grot ; ad dionys : petav : epist : 204. * sedendo vel stando potest celebrari . geniculari est idololatricum . socin : deus : & fin : coen : dom : p. 115 : * edit. lugdun . p. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , &c. * p. 12. from p. 12. to p. 18. * discuss . p. 61. two letters of advice i. for the susception of holy orders, ii. for studies theological, especially such as are rational : at the end of the former is inserted a catalogue of the christian writers, and genuine works that are extant of the first three centuries. dodwell, henry, 1641-1711. 1672 approx. 418 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 179 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a36258 wing d1822 estc r16080 12952230 ocm 12952230 95950 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a36258) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 95950) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 735:22) two letters of advice i. for the susception of holy orders, ii. for studies theological, especially such as are rational : at the end of the former is inserted a catalogue of the christian writers, and genuine works that are extant of the first three centuries. dodwell, henry, 1641-1711. [54], 299 p. printed by benjamin tooke ..., and are to be sold by joseph wilde, dublin : 1672. errata: prelim. p. [54]. signed: h.d. includes bibliographical references. "a catalogue of the writings of such christian authors ...": p. 135-159. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng clergy. theology -study and teaching. christian literature, early -bibliography. 2005-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-04 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-05 melanie sanders sampled and proofread 2005-05 melanie sanders text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion imprimatvr : having perused the following advices , i conceive them suitable and convenient for the use of the persons concerned respectively ; and i do accordingly recommend them to the use of such young students in the university as design the study of divinity , or the susception of holy orders ; and to all others that shall desire to engage themselves in that holy function . and that they may be communicated with more advantage , i do hereby license them to be printed and published . ja : armachanus . two letters of advice , i. for the susception of holy orders ▪ ii. for studies theological , especially such as are rational . at the end of the former , is inserted , a catalogu● of the christian writers , and genuine worke that are extant of the first three cent●rice . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . s. chrysost . de sacerdot . l. vi. dvblin , printed by benjamin to●k● , printer to the kings most excellent majesty ; and are to be sold by joseph wilde mdclxxii . to the most reverend father in god , james , by divine providence lord archbishop of armagh , primate and metropolitane of all ireland , and vice-chancellor of the vniversity of dublin . my lord , you are so many wayes entitled to the patronage of the ensuing advices , as i do not know how i could be just in omitting this oc●●sion of a publick acknowledg●●ent of it . for whether the subject be considered , as relating either to conscience or learning , you have a right of judging all concernments of either kind : the former as metropolitane , and consequently as the supreme guide of conscience under god in the church of ireland ; the later as vice-chancellor of our vniversity , in which regard you are most justly interessed in the fruits and seeds of your own cultivation : or the persons concerned , they are all of them such as depend on your direction , and therefore the rules for whose behaviour ought most properly to be communicated to them by your recommendation : or my self , as you have upon all occasions given evidences of your favour to me , so more signally in this affair , by first advising this publication , and after honouring it with your own license and approbation . however presumptuous the attempt might seem , in other regards , yet to a judge so candid and favourable , as i have alwayes found your grace to be , the innocence and sincerity of my design for restoring christianity to her primitive splendor , may suffice to excuse , if not expiate , appendent imprudences . for your grace already understands too well to be informed by me , how vain it is to attempt a reformation of the laity whilest the clergie is not held in that reputation by them which might provoke them to an imitation of their example ; and how little hopes there are of retriving that reputation without a reformation of their lives and a restitution of their discipline , which would prove the most expedient means to let such persons who either cannot , or will not , distinguish betwixt the sacredness of their office and their personal demerits , understand the unexpressible usefulness of their calling being piously and conscientiously discharged in order to the most momentous and most noble ends of mankind . and that a preconsideration must needs prove more successful in promoting this industry in practice , which would , by way of obvious consequence , restore their honour , than any postnate advices as being likely to prevent the engagement or admission of such persons who would not afterwards be capable of such impressions ; and that it is more secure for the persons concerned to let them understand the personal and habitual qualifications necessary for rendring their duty performable by them than afterwards to admonish them concerning particulars , when it is too late to retire , how unsuitable soever the practice prove to their personal qualifications , will not , i think , be doubted by any intelligent considerative person . this is my design in the former of the subsequent letters , the usefulness and convenience whereof is further cleared in the letter it self , and has not , that i know of , been attempted by any other . if it had , i should very willingly have spared my own pains . my manner of performance also has been at once to shew the ad●●ces rational and to have been designed by our church , that so it might be fitted for all sorts of concerned readers , both such as are able to judge it themselves , and such as are not . i have therefore ordered the whole in such a series of discourse as that the sequel must needs be admitted by him who has granted the principles lay'd down at the beginning ; and the first principle is that which the church her self first enquires into , even a providential call from god , or a motion of the spirit , as far as that may be credited without danger of enthusiasme ; and accordingly the inferences have generally been examplified in such instances as have been approved by our church since her reformation , that so i might , as well as i was able , prevent objections against my design from the inconsiderableness of my person , an artifice too usually , as it is weakly and unreasonably , made use of for the defeating the most commendable projects . the objection in it self is in truth so very little momentous as that i should not think it worthy to be taken notice of , if i were not more solicitous for my cause than my person . but seeing it is so obvious in the way of persons that may be concerned to cross my design , and withall so taking with the vulgar , i doubt it will concern me even in prudence to crave your graces patience for a brief apology . omitting therefore my own justification , which i confess a task too great for my weak abilities ( though if i did undertake it on a publick account , i might for an excuse of such immodesty , urge the example of the great apostle , who , out of tenderness for his cause , was ( as himself confesses ) necessitated to such a folly ) yet i conceive it undenyable that the merit of the cause is abundantly sufficient to compensate the demerit of my person , and for my part , so that the cause may not be prejudiced , i shall very heartily submit the choice of instruments to the pleasure of god himself . besides further that it is extreamly unreasonable to urge personal demerits against a cause . indeed if the cause had been recommended on personal regards , the disparagement of the person might have invalidated such a recommendation . but considering that nothing here is pretended , but the solidity of the reasons submitted to an impartial examination ; none can say that they are the weaker for being propounded by an unworthy person . neither indeed is the supposal true , that even in point of authority any thing here is recommended onely by my private person ; for having shewn it in every particular approved and designed by the church , it must needs be supported by her authority , which may well be presumed sufficient for the design intended , the general reformation of her clergie . but i must thankfully acknowledge that your grace has in a great measure freed me from these personal odium's by undertaking the patronage of these otherwise despisable attempts . for none can now pretend themselves unconcerned in the advice of a laick or a private person when the supreme metropolitane has not onely thought it convenient , but recommended it . this is the reason that necessitated me to take sanctuary in your graces patronage , wherein i dare more confidently promise my self a kind reception because you have encouraged it . yet am i not herewith satisfied ; but as necessitous persons are usually emboldened to new requests by past concessions ; so , in order to the desired success of these papers , i further beg a favour , greater and more efficacious than the greatest munificence of the most potent temporal princes , though less impoverishing , and that is your fatherly blessing and prayers for these and the other studies and endeavours of your graces most obliged and obsequious servan● h. d. a praeface to the reader , containing some necessary advertisements preparatory to the ensuing discourses . how much the reputation of religion is concerned in the honour of its relatives , especially the persons teaching and professing it , as it has been the sense of all prudent nations , so it is too evident from the experience of ours . for if we seriously reflect on that irreligion and atheism which has lately so overrun that part of the gentry who have had that freedome of education as to discern beyond the grosser superstitions of the credulous vulgar , and yet wanted that depth and solidity of judgment , or that industry and diligence , which had been requisite for a positive satisfaction , concerning the true measures of things ; i think there cannot be a more probable original assigned for it , than this of the contempt of the clergie . for when upon pretence of a maintenance of their christian liberty , some persons of a better meaning than information , were seduced by their more subtilly-designing leaders to resist some indifferent constitutions of their superiors ; they found themselves obliged in pursuance of their principles to call in question their whole authority . for considering that they were not any particular abuses of a just authority , not any bare inexpediency in the ceremonies already established ( for which governours , not subjects , had been responsible , and for which a redress ought to have been desired by subjects in a modest and peaceable way , which , if denyed , could not have justified a separation , seeing that nothing under sin can excuse that , and a condescension to superiors in confessed inexpediencies cannot be proved a sin ) but the very authority by which they had been established ; and finding further that this authority was of that kind that was indeed intrinsecally involved in all exercise of government , so that it was impossible to plead and exception of duty upon supposal that their superiors had transgressed the bounds of their just power ; they perceived themselves reduced to this extremity to justifie their own disobedience by a renunciation of their authority . for indeed all government must needs prove useless that is denyed a power of imposing temporary obligations , and that power must needs be denyed where all things necessary are supposed antecedently determined , and what is not so is thought uncapable of any just determination . having therefore thus devested the clergie of all power properly so called , yet that they might seem to attribute something to the eminency of their place in the church , they were willing to allow a power of perswading such as were willing to obey , onely with this difference ( that i can perceive ) from the meerest laick , that laicks might perswade others to piety , but clergiemen must ; that it was charity in them , but duty in these ; that it was onely the general calling of those , but the particular of these ; that the laity might discharge it privately , but the publick performance of it was onely permitted to the clergie . this seems to have been the uttermost design of their most ancient patriarchs , none of them , that i know of , ever enduring to hear of any laical encroachments on the calling it self . but whilest they were so studious in opposing their established superiours , and so careless of better provisions for that unsettlment themselves had introduced into the church , or the ill consequences of their own attempts ; they unawares undermined their own foundations , and exposed themselves to the same encroachments from the laity which themselves had attempted on their settled governours . for least any veneration of their calling mi●h● render their perswasions themselves so awful as not to admit of any easie contradiction , which might still preserve some discipline and dependence of the laity upon them ; themselves had furnished the usurping laity with such pretences as that , that reverence it self must needs prove very inconsiderable . for first , they had opposed professedly all difference betwixt the clergie and laity , and indeed all relative holyness , as popish and antichristian , and tending to the usurpation of a lordship over gods heritage ; so that now there was nothing left to the clergie that might as much as challenge a respect of the laity but their personal skill in the objects of their profession , which both left the unskilful clergie destitute of any pretence of challenging reverence ; and was no curb to the more skilful laity ; and indeed in the event made them perfectly equal , seeing that the skilful laity might as well challenge respect from the unskilful clergie , as the skilful clergie from the unskilful laity , their order being indeed no ingredient in the ground of such a challenge . besides secondly , their making the scriptures an adequate rule for all prudential establishments , and obliging the laity to a particular enquiry into the merit of ecclesiastical constitutions , even in probable , as well as certain , senses of the scripture , not as much as advising a modest acquiescency in the judgment of the clergie even in things they do not understand , nor indeed letting them understand their incompetency in any case where they might hope for the assistance of a more able guide ( for indeed that pretence of understanding the scripture by its internal light , or by the spirit whereby it was written , or by prayer without urging the use of ordinary means , the methods of expounding the scriptures so celebrated among them , seem extremely to favour enthusiasm , and to supersede the necessity of an exterior guide ) these pretences , i say , seem to deprive the clergie of the authority even of proponents , which is the least that can be imagined , and therefore of all respect on this regard , and therefore must needs degrade them to 〈…〉 with the laity , in all which way of proceeding every later sect argued rationally and consequently from the principles of the first innovators . the laity therefore having such specious consequent pretences for their independence on the clergie , and yet the clergie still insisting on their original claim , it was obvious to conceive with what jealousie and partiality their proceedings herein must be censu●ed by the laity now conceiving themselves as adversaries concerned to maintain their liberty against the conceived usurpations of the clergie . and finding the clergie to be interessed in the controversies , both as to the honour and obedience challenged by them , and as to that affluence of temporal fruitions which had been conferred on them by devout persons as suitable expressions of that honour ; they did not make that use thereof , which in reason they ought , to enquire first , whether that private interest it self of the clergie , were not coincident with the publick of the church ; or secondly , whether it were not coincident with the truth , whereof if neither could appear upon a sober scrutiny ; but that the arguments for the contrary were found either evident or more probable , then indeed , and not till then , it might be presumed that interest might have an influence in their determination . but , as the vulgar is very willing to censure , and yet very loth to undergo the trouble of a laborious enquiry , so they have made the cler●ies interest a prejudice against their cause ; so that now their arguments are either not heard ( they not being presumed competent advocates for their own cause , and others not being concerned for them , as not being concerned with them ) or if they be heard , yet with no indifferency , the interest of the clergie being thought inconsistent with that of the laity : a way of proceeding not onely very unjust but very unreasonable , it being every way as weak to conclude a cause false as true on no other pretence but that of private interest . however this argument , such as it is , being by prophane persons taken for granted from the concessions of the religious laity , and they withall further discovering the unreasonableness of those persons who , upon pretence of honouring religion had brought a contempt upon its principal professors and defenders ; it was easie for them to conclude religion it self dishonourable and suspicious from this repute of its chiefest champions ; for if what make ; for the interest of the clergie must immediately be condemned or suspected without any further enquiry , which is the unreasonable practice of the vulgar , then the prophane person finding religion in general conducive to this purpose , and being brought into suspicious thoughts of the clergie by the pretended discoveries of the greatest pretenders to religion ; it is obvious to conceive what consequences he will be likely to deduce thence to the prejudice of religion in general . especially considering that this dishonour of the clergie was like to invalidate the use of all coercive means for inducing the laity to a practice of their duty , and so to leave them intirely to the influence of their own good natures , which though at first they might be heated into a zeal by way of antiperistasis from the opposition of their adversaries ; yet upon their disappearing , that zeal which had onely been inflamed by aemulation , must , like rome upon the demolition of carthage , decay , and so their former li●entiousness will return with a violence proportionable to their former restraint . and when men are come to this extreme they will then be as much concerned that those threats of the clergie which awaken their consciences , and make them nauseate and disrelish the ploasures of their sins , should be false , at least should be believed so by themselves ( which belief though false , may serve to stupifie their present sense ) as they pretend the clergie interessed in their truth , and therefore may be presumed as partial . and when men are willing and interessed to disbelieve religion , how very weak reasons are sufficient to induce them to it , themselves acknowledge when the case is not immediately applyed to themselves ; there being no disparity to exempt disbelief from being as obnoxious to interest as that credulity so much decryed by them . indeed any one that would consider the persons ( that they are such usually as are not seriously addicted and though pretending to be w●●s , yet not deeply considerative ) or the weakness of the reasons , either tending to direct scepticism , or undermining their own foundations , or arguing an unwillingness of conviction , would suspect this to have been the gradation of their disbelief . as it has therefore thus appeared both from reason and experience that this contempt of the clergie does naturally tend to atheism and irreligion ; so on the contrary the best prevention of these horrid consequences will be their restitution to their due respect and honour ; which will best be performed by a praemonition of persons designing this calling , that they may neither engage in what they are not able to effect , nor endeavour a reformation of inconveniences when it is too late . this is the design of these papers , which i hope all they who ground their hopes of present or future prosperity on their love of our jerusalem , will conceive themselves obliged to further by their prayers or powers as god shall enable them . but besides this first use which is very suitable to the necessities of this present age , there is also another of no small moment , the satisfaction of our well meaning separating brethren . for whatever other weak reasons are pretended ( as indeed i think they would seem very weak to any prudent judicious indifferent persons that were convinced of the heinousness of that sin of schism which they are produced to excuse ) yet i think they are the lives and unseriousness of some of our conformable clergie , that are indeed their decretory arguments ; for this indeed seems to be the great reason that makes them fancy our ministery less edifying than their own , because they come possessed with irreverence to their persons ( for i do not perceive that themselves pretend the same difference in hearing such of ours for whom they have entertained a greater respect ) and that negligence of 〈◊〉 and unserious way of preaching seem to be the true grounds of that irreverence . now my way of defence is not the least to justifie their ●ices or imprudences , or to defend their persons against publick justice ( as they seem to misunderstand us , when they charge us with the patronage of prophaneness upon account of these persons ) but to let them understand how little our church is indeed concerned in their defence . for if the character of a clergieman here described answer the true design of the church ( as i have shewn that it does by injunctions and canons produced from her since her reformation ) then it will appear that such persons are so far unconformable as they are disliked ( for it is plain the person here described can neither prove impious in his life , nor imprudent or trifling in his preaching ) and sure themselves will not think it equitable that our church should be charged with the errors of non-conformists . the onely thing therefore that may seem blameworthy here is that the canons of the church are not executed on such persons with due severity . but neither will this excuse their separation ; for first , they are not concerned to see this justice done so as to be obliged upon neglect of it to withdraw from our communion . for neither do they suffer in a personal regard , the ordinances administred by the irregular or imprudent clergie , whilest permitted , not depending on their personal sanctity or prudence , and therefore being as efficacious to the well-disposed recipients as otherwise ; nor are they entrusted with a publick charge , so as to be responsible for publick miscarriages when irremediable by them ; and therefore secondly , all the blame of such connivances is to be layd , not on the government , whose standing established rules oblige them to a severer care , but on the governours , who may also be charged with non-conformity when they do not act according to the rules prescribed by them ; and therefore it will be very unjust for these personal neglects to separate from their government and communion ; especially considering thirdly , that separation on these regards is so far from preventing the inconvenience or remedying it , as that indeed it does but transfer the blame from the governours to such separatists ( though they think to avoid it ) by affording an apology , by them unanswerable , to governours for such personal neglects : that the delinquents cannot be perswaded to reform themselves , and that a power of perswading onely is allowed them by these separating brethren ; that even as to that coercive power challenged by themselves , yet it is not prudent to exercise it without any probable hopes of success , that being the way to expose it to contempt , which in a power which has nothing to render it coercive but the sacredness of its esteem in the opinion of the delinquent , may endanger the whole authority , as the loss of that will occasion a general impunity , a much greater evil than any single inconvenience . and seeing the multitudes of sects and communions ready to receive a punished delinquent , and the disparaging opinions introduced by them concerning authority , may th●● , upon their principles , ex●use governours from the execution of the canons , where the blame will afterwards ly themselves may understand without any suggestion of mine . i shall beseech them to bestow some serious and unprejudiced thoughts upon it . now though the following advices be calculated principally for the use of the clergie , who are more entrusted , and therefore more obliged to caution on the account of the multitude who depend upon their conduct as well as themselves ; yet are there several things proportionably useful for the laity . for there is as much truth in that pretence of our brethren for equalling the laity to the clergie as there was in that of the rebellious congregation of corah , that all the people of god is holy , that christians , as well as the israelites , are called the a lords heritage , that christ has made us all b priests to god and his father , that we are built up a holy c priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ . and accordingly common christians are obliged to the same offices to the heathen common world as the clergie are to the laity : thus they are to shew them a good example , to be lights in the world , to reprove and exhort delinquents , and to offer up rational sacrifices for the whole world. and if they were to be received adult to the profession of christianity , there would be the same care for purity of intention in laicks as there is now in clergiemen . thus in the primitive times none were received to this profession , but they who had first given some evidences of their sincerity , either by enduring some rigorous initiatory penances , as was usually practiced in admissions to pagan mysteries . thus three moneths fast was prescribed in the time of the d author of the pseudo-clementine recognitions , and the quadragesimal fast was appointed before the most ancient anniversary for baptism , easter ; and arnobius was not trusted till he had written in defence of the christian religion , and st. cyril of hierusalem in his e homilies to the competentes is very earnest in urging the necessity of a sincere and cardinal intention ; and from this great caution of admitting heathens to an intuition of their mysteries , it was that after all indications of their sincerity even adults were not admitted without the testimony of susoeptors or godfathers , persons of approved gravity and sincerity . and the same obligations are in reason incumbent now on those who are adult , though baptized in their nonage . if i were not unwilling to be tedious , it had been easie to have shewn in all the other qualifications how even private christians are in their proportion obliged , though not in so eminent a degree , and rather excused from that by its impossibility to their circumstances , than its unnecessariness . but that which i shall at present especially recommend to the perusal of the laity , is letter i. numb . xxvi . where they may find such prescriptions as may prevent many disconsolations in the practice of piety to which the neglect of them does expose many seriously devout persons . it has also by some worthy friends been thought requisite for rendring the present attempt more useful for our britannick churches , to recommend to the persons , concerned in these advices , the study of their publick records , the homilies and articles and books of ordination and common prayer , and canons and constitutions since the reformation , though this indeed is easily reducible to that head of skill in all those controversies that divide communion ; for this seems to have been the adaequate design of the church herein to shew what she thought necessary to be believed , or , at least , not factiously contradicted by such as were to be admitted to her communion . and for the better understanding her true sense in this affair , and its vindication from the misunderstandings of her adversaries , it were very requisite to read the whole history of the reformation , and to observe the sentiments and temper of the principal persons engaged therein ; and by what kind of mediums her proceedings have been justified in the several ages , and against the several adversaries , respectively . by this means you will best understand the difference betwixt her impositions ; which of them were intended as conditions of catholick communion , that is , as fundamentals ; and which onely of her particular , that is as prudent and probable , and not obliging to an internal assent but onely an exterior peaceable acquiescency ( for certainly the church intended some of both kinds ) and the late way of requiring an external assent onely to the articles indefinitely , without prescribing any prudential limitations , how far that is to be extended , and admitting a liberty of straining the articles in favour of our own opinions , without any consideration of the controversies therein designed by the church , may be expounded so licentiously as to open a gap for the most pestilent haeresies . in the second letter , i confess many things in the improvement of the proposals there laid down , and in the catalogues of books , might have been more accurately enlarged , but that i conceived these sufficient to initiate a novice , which i have there signified to have been my uttermost design , and i doubt whether it would be prudent to discourage beginners with the prospect of too greater a task . in my censure of school divinity , there is one fundamental defect omitted , which i look on as so very considerable , and of so extremely fullacious consequence to them that rely on it , and yet never observed , that i know of , that i thought it worthy a particular mention here . that is , that the greatest and most sacred ▪ mysteries of the trinity and iucarnation are explained as to their theological consequences from the principles of the peripa●etick philosophy as borrowed by them from the modern translations and commentaries of the arabians . it is plain that all the use of philosophy in affairs of this nature cannot be to discover any truth anew , but onely to explain the sense of the authors delivering it , and that that philosophy alone can be useful to this purpose , whose language was observed by them ; and that not aristotle but plato was then generally followed not onely by the generality of the philosophers of that age , but in accommodation to them his language observed by the scriptures themselves ; especially st. john i. and by the generality of the fathers , those of greatest repute in both the occidental and oriental churches , the pretended areopagite and st. augustine himself , to whom the schools are most beholden , st basil , both st. gregories nazianzen and nyssen . st. chrysostome &c. so that this way of proceeding is lyable to two very fundamental mistakes ( which should be studiously avoided in affairs of so great concernment ) first of explaining platonick language by peripatetick philosophy ; secondly of explaining the ancient peripatetick philosophy by the present expositions of the modern arabians . these with the other defects there mentioned would methinks invite some generous advancers of learning to review the whole foundations of our modern school-divinity which would be an attempt becoming the ingenuity and inquisiti●eness of the age we live in . and seeing i have taken this occasion of mentioning such a design ; it may be it may not prove altogether unacceptable , perhaps something necessary to clear my meaning , to propose such a way of managing it , as i conceive most convenient , which i most willingly refer to the censures of persons more skilful and experienced . that i think would be first to distinguish accurately betwixt such questions as are to be decided by reason , and such whose principles are either wholly or principally derived from revelation . in the former the schoolmen may be more securely trusted , their excellency lying in the closeness of their discourse . but here it self , it were well that their principles were reformed ; especially in such an age as this is , care should be taken that nothing be taken up precariously upon the authority of any however celebrated philosopher ( a practice too frequent among them ) but what might sufficiently recommend it self by its own nature and intrinsick reasonableness . and then for those which are derived from revelation it is plain that their whole decision must be derived from testimonies either of scripture or ecclesiastica●l authors , the producing whereof seems to be the principal dosign of the master of the sentences ; though some things are added in the sums concerning prophesie and the ceremonial law. concerning these therefore it seems to me expedient that some excellent persons skilled not onely in ecclesiastical but rabbinical and philosophical learning , and indeed generally in oriental philo●logy , would undertake a historical account of them ; wherein he should first shew historically how the whole article was believed and taught in the several ages of the church , what forms of speaking were used by the fathers concerning it , how it was expressed , and how much concerning it believed in its first simplicity , how afterwards additional explanations were introduced and by what degrees : what was the first occasion of the several controversies , who were their principal haeresiarchs , how they were disposed in their manners and how addicted 〈◊〉 the studies , wherein their haeresies 〈◊〉 truly consist , whether in the perniciousn●● of their doctrines , or their factious mann●● of propagating them to the prejudice 〈◊〉 the churches peace . if in the perniciousness of their opinions ; then it were we● it were shewn first what those opinion were as near as could be from the haeretick own words ; and secondly upon what ●●casion first entertained ; and thirdly 〈◊〉 what degrees promulged ; and fourthly by what arguments deseaded , and among them which were principal , and which onely secondary and accessary ; and fifthly by what success 〈◊〉 , by whom seconded , and by whom 〈◊〉 sixthly by what degrees 〈◊〉 first by what fathers , secondly by what 〈◊〉 , and thirdly by what 〈…〉 ; and how all their proceedings were ●esented by the catholick church 〈◊〉 and in all these degrees of 〈…〉 first how far both parties 〈…〉 , and wherein they 〈…〉 secondly as to their differences , to shew what was condemned as pernicious ( and among them what was counted more and what less pernicious ) and what onely as improbable , for it seems plain that many errors of haereticks were not counted haeresies ; and thirdly the degrees of unanimity in the church in her censures : what censures were generally received and confirmed by the catholick church 〈◊〉 ; what onely by her representative , in general councils ; what onely by particular churches in provincial ; what onely by particular persons , how numerous or 〈◊〉 soever ; and ●ou●thly the arguments alledged in defence of the ecclesiastical censures , especially such of them on which the churches resolution was principally grounded , and of which her champions were most confident ; and indeed if these were judiciously chosen , i think it would not be amise if the weaker were quite omitted , both because they are perfectly unnecessary as depending entirely on the conclusiveness of the others , and involved in the same success ; and because with some cavillers who are glad of any occasions of carping they might prejudice the principal cause , there being no more politick way for betraying the truth in so 〈◊〉 an age as this than to offer to defend it by unconclusive arguments . and the same way of proceeding may be proportionably applyed to theological questions of meaner concernment . when thus the matter of fact had been thus plainly represented , it would then be seasonable to proceed to a positive judgment according to these historical evidences . and in order hereunto it would be further expedient to consider the first originals of every 〈◊〉 , what foundation every article had in the actual belief of the persons to whom it was revealed , antecedently to the revelation , and therefore how the revelations were likely to be understood by them ; which being discovered , then to examine in the second place what might be deduced concerning the whole article from such originals , whether pagan philosophy , or opinions or practices prevailing among the rabbinical jewes , or the hellenists , for whose use the scriptures were principally designed . when this is done , then it would be convenient , thirdly to compare the article so explained with the scriptures as understood by the primitive fathers , to see how far it was approved , and where corrected and amended by revelation . and this may be proportionably applyed , not onely to the primitive doctrines of the church , but also , to her later explications and modes of expressions opposed to the several haereticks opposing it . concerning which the method of accurate enquiry would require that first it were examined whether onely the doctrine were pretended derived from their ancestors , or also their own explications and phrases of expressing it . if onely the doctrine , then to examine whether indeed the expressions of the ancients concerning it were aequivalent with their own . if also the individual expressions , then to examine the sense of the ancients concerning such expressions and the authors that used them by the rules already propounded concerning the decrees of the church against h●ereticks ; and whether they used them in the same sense as afterwards . when materials were thus prepared , and the truth thus discovered , which must needs suppose a considerable volumin●usness , and probably some difference of opinion in the diversity of auhors requisite to be employed on so great a task ; then it would be further seasonable toar● some judicious and prudent persons should reduce the whole to a compendium , ( which might serve as a text for scholastical disputes , instead of lombard ) with references to the larger treatises that they might be more readily consulted on occasion . and the best way of contriving this would , i think , be to distinguish this compendium into two parts : the former of natural , and the later of revealed theology , where every thing might be reduced to its pr●●ter principles . many other expediencies hereof might have been mentioned , as present i shall onely mention one which i conceive m●re considerable . that is , that hereby persons might not be invited to meddle beyond their abilities ; for the principles of these two parts have so little mutual dependence on each other , and the natural endowments requisite in the persons that should undertake them are so very different , and so rarely conjoyned in one person ( a rational judgment without much reading being sufficient for that divinity which is purely natural ; and much reading and a tenacious memory and a philological critical judgment being requisite for that which is revealed ) that it is no way convenient that every one who might attempt the rational part , though with very excellent success , should immediately , without consideration of his own abilities , presume himself fit to venture on the other that concerns revelations . and indeed any sober considerative person may easily observe how untoward the rotionalists of this age who dee●y book-learning prove when they are engaged on a subject that requires reading , what improper notiors they impose on terms they do not understand , how strangely they misrepresent their adversaries meaning , disputing many times against 〈◊〉 of their own brains , how difficully they yield to that which would not once be scrupled by skilful persons , how in answering they propose such possible cases as are perfectly destitute of all actual probability . and a propor●ionable slightness is ordinarily 〈…〉 in the rational discourses of great 〈…〉 though i confess some very excellent persons have been accurate in both ; but such instances , being more rare , cannot prejudice the general rules we are now discoursing of . then in both parts it were well ( in imitation of origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ) to premise first what propositions in every article were to be taken for unquestionable , as being evident from reason or revelation as explained by tradition ; and it would be more useful if it were distinctly shewn what kind of evidence agreed to every proposition particularly . for thus what were self evident from natural reason might be relyed on in disputes against even atheists that are not sceptical ( and they that are destroy all discourse as denying all principles ) what were clearly consequent from the notion of a deity and providence , would be of force against our modern pagan theist●s , and all persons admitting such a thing as religion ; what were clear from old testament revelations could not be denyed by the jewes , especially if so expounded , and that unanimously by their own rabbins , what were clear from the new testament must be owned by all christians that admit of it , even those that extend its perfection to all indifferent puncti●●●● ; what were clear from it as expounded by primitive catholick tradition , might be taken for granted against all such as were willing to stand to that tryal ; and lastly that which had no other evidence than the actual definition of the church how groundlesly soever , could onely be made use of against such persons as are for a blind obedience to such a church without examining the reasons of such definitions . and in all these instances it were well to note what were indeed evident from such principles , and what were also admitted for such by the persons acknowledging such principles , which would be f●rther ●ery considerable in order to the success , seeing many things may be indeed rational , yet not a knowledged such by the persons concerned ▪ yet i do not intend that every person should be permitted to dispute each of the●e things publickly as professing his own diss●●●faction concerning them , but that they who are called to it p●●videntially ( as in this age frequent occasions will occ●r ) in order to the satisfaction of o●hers may have a ready pr●m●tuary to have recourse unto in time of necessity . otherwise the church ought , as a church , to prescribe the belief of some things as a necessary condition of her communion . when these principles were th●s methodically disp●sed , it would then be seasonable to improve them in the controversies whose free discussion might be tolerated among good and peaceable christians , if among these a caution were had for the retrenching such as were unnecessary and unedifying . this way , if it were prudently managed would not onely afford solid principles for the schools , but also lay the most probable foundation for the reunion of christendome . for if things were thus accurately enquired into , i verily believe , governours would find a necessity of remitting their rigour in several impositions , and subjects would discover the great necessity of obedience and the no-necessity of those reasons produced for their separation . but i must confess the work is too great to be attempted by private persons how considerable soever , and therefore would require not onely the patronage but also the cencurrent industry of governours ; and by how much the greater the authority were that countenanced it by so much the more likely it would be to thrive . for great freedome were requisite in the correction of present , errors , and that could not be so safely trusted to the management of private persons , and would be received with less envy and faction from the church , and would not prove a precedent for any factious innovations . onely i must confess that the doctrine of infallibility whilest maintained will hardly be reconcileable with a candid review of what has been already , though never so erroneously , received . but first even among them , it were well they distinguished what had been decided by the church from what had not been so ; and secondly even among them abuses , never so universally received , if not canonically decided , might be reformed ; and thirdly considering that a preservation of their authority and a prevention of innovations , which they conceive effectually performable onely by that pretence , seem to be their principal inducements to it , may be thus provided for by being themselves the authors of such reformation ; it may be they might not 〈◊〉 it so inexpedient to yield even this which seems to be the principal cause that makes our breaches irreconcileable . and certainly if it would please god to inspire governours with a serious and industrious , and candid , yet active spirit for the service of the church much more might be done , that is , for the restoration of religion , and unity , and the prevention of those daily scandalous , both o●inions , and practices , which all good christians do so seriously deplore ; and that he would be pleased to do so their con●ederated prayers and endeavours might be very available . letter i. contents . the introduction . numb . i. the design of the following advices . ii. the danger of miscarriage in the clerical calling , the consequent necessity of a call from god for undertaking it ; how we are to judge of this call in a rational way , the general requisites thereunto . iii. the first requisite , a pure intention , what it is , and how to be tryed . iv. v. vi. the second requisite , natural gifts , how we may hence conclude a calling . vii . why these gifts are called natural . what they are that necessary in regard of knowledge . all theological knowledge not simply necessary for every ordinary parochian , but what is more immediately practicall . men are to be fitted for further knowledge by the practice of what they know already . viii . the great use and probable successfulness of this method in reducing hereticks or schismaticks . ix . the knowledge of a clergieman ought to be not onely that of a practitioner , but that of a guide . hence is inferred , first a necessity of knowing and understanding fundamentals wherein all agree , as of the apostles creed . from whence is also further inferred a necessity of understanding , first the scriptures , and therefore the originals wherein they were written , especially the greek . x. xi . secondly , the fathers of the first and purest centuries . the necessity of this . xii . the expediency of it . xiii . secondly , a necessity of skill in such controversies as divide communions . xiv . thirdly , a skill in casuistical divinity . the insufficiency of pulpit-reproofs , and the necessity of dealing with particular consciences in order to the reformation of particular persons . xv. xvi . xvii . requisites for inducing the people to a practice of their duty , when known : first a skill in the ars voluntatis . xviii . secondly , boldness and courage in telling them of their duty . how necessary this qualification is , and how much to be tendered . how it may be best performed without offending on the other extreme of petulancy . xix . thirdly , a sweet and sociable , yet grave and serious , conversation . how these two seeming contradictory extremes may be reconciled . xx. fourthly , a holy and exemplary life . xxi . that their lives may be exemplary , two conditions are necessary ▪ first , that they be excellent . xxii . secondly , that their excellency he conspicuous . how this conspicuity may be so contrived as that it may not hinder humility and modesty ▪ xxiii . the last requisite , a firm and stable resolution . how to be tryed . xxiv . these advices seasonable for such as have already undertaken orders , as well as such as onely design them . that these personal qualifications will supersede the necessity of particular rules . xxv . two things further requisite for a nearer accommodation of the forementioned qualifications to practice : first , that an observation of them from a principle of divine love and on a rational account , is more expedient both for personal comfort and publick edification . xxvi . second , some general rules in managing a parochial cure for bringing the people to a ruleable temper . xxvii . the catalogue of the writings of such christian authors as flourished before the conversion of the romane empire to christianity . pag. 131. letter . ii. contents . the introduction , and heads of the ensuing discourse . numb . i. what is meant by scholastical divinity . what to be observed in oratory . the light and certainty of the rational faculties supposed anteedently to all theological proof . ii. a method of managing reason most advantageously in theological controversies . iii. the usefulness of reason and school-divinity . in what principal controversies they are especially seasonable . iv. a censure of school-divinity , and how it is to be used . v. the most accurate way of finding out the sense of the scripture . the use of philological learning in general in order hereunto : particularly , first of those tongues wherein they were originally written ; secondly , the idioms of those tongues ; thirdly , the idioms of the writers ; fourthly , the antiquities : the customes of the zabij , chaldaean and phaenician ; their history , chronology and geography . the way of judging the testimonies of the fathers concerning traditions . vi. the use of saecular philosophy in order to school-divinity . vii . the use of saecular learning to the text of the holy scriptures , of the ancient greek poetry ; of the greek , especially the stoical , philosophy . an apology for it . viii . the means for unriddling the mystical senses of the ancient poets and philosophers , and publick idolatries of the heathens : the oneirocriticks and hieroglyphicks . an apology for their use in expounding prophetick books of scripture . ix . the authors to be read for initiating a young student in each of the particulars advised . x. the method to be observed for preventing distraction in so great a variety . xi . errata : the most material errata that might prejudice the sense , or prove any other way inconvenient , are already corrected with the pen. some others there are of less momen● , which upon occasion of this vacancy are here presented ; as pag. 18. l. 14. for advant ag●ously read advantagiously . p. 22. l : penult . for especially r. especially . p. 51. l. penult ▪ for besides r. besides . p. 54. l. 25. for i ● . r. in . p. 55. l. ● . for he p r. help . p. 231. r. 131. p. 163 : l. 11 for oppotunities r. opportunities . p. 179. l● ult . for wholy r. wholly . letter i. a letter of advice to a young student designing the susception of holy orders . sir , i. having got that opportunity of fulfilling your requests since your departure , which i wanted when you were present ; ( because , besides the gravity of the subject whereon you have employed me , and my own natural aversness from such insignificancies , and the necessity now , if ever , of plain dealing ; i believe your self would rather have it bestowed on material advices , ●●an empty complements ; ) i shall therefore , like the downright and truly just areopagites , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , make use of it , without any further ceremonial addresses . ii. first therefore , when you desire advice for your behaviour in that holy function you design to undertake ; i hope you do not intend that i should be prolix in insisting on particulars . for both that has already been performed at large by many others ( particularly you may , if you please , consult our late excellent vice chancellour's visitation rules * , where you will find most capacities provided for , or , among the ancients , who usually speak more from the heart , and experience of piety , than our modern , though otherwise more accurate , authors , st. chrysostome de sacerdotio , or st. gregories pastoral , or st. hieroms 2d . epist . ad nepotianum : entire treatises concerning it , though some of them more peculiarly relate to the episcopal or sacerdotal order ) and my own little experience in the world , and none in the circumstances considerable in managing a clerical life , may sure be sufficient to excuse me from such a task ; besides that it must needs prove both tedious and burthensom to your memory , and intricate to your prudence , to make application of innumerable rules to circumstances yet more infinite that can never be foreseen . my design therefore shall be , onely to propound such advices as may capacitate you for the discharging of your function to the advantage of the publick where you shall be entrusted , as well as your own soul , and enable you more advantagiously to judge concerning particulars , than you can by rules ; and those grounded on such sure principles , and such excellent ancient precedents , as that , i hope , you shall have no reason to complain that they are unpracticable , because they are not calculated from present experience . iii. to which purpose , before you are actually ordained ( if you be not already ) i must conjure you by all that is dear unto you , to consider what it is , and with what design you undertake it ? that , as it is indeed the nob●est employment to be subservient to the supreme governour of the world , in order to his principal designs , to which the world it self , and consequently the vastest empires and the greatest princes , and whatever else is counted glorious in the esteem of inconsiderate mortals , are subordinate by god himself in a capacity as ignoble as is that of the body to the soul ; so , the hazard is proportionable : the miscarriage of those noble beings for whose redemption nothing but the blood of god was thought sufficiently valuable ; and consequently accountable according to the estimate god himself has been pleased to impose upon them : that therefore you remember that you stand in need of greater natural abilities and providential auxiliaries , as it is more difficult to take care of a multitude , than of a single person ; that if supernatural assistances be necessary for the salvation of the most able private person , much more they must be so to one not pretending to the greatest abilities in a personal regard when engaged in publick ; that ●herefore you never venture on it without probable presumption of the divine assistance ; that that cannot possibly be presumed if it be undertaken rashly ( god never having promised to succour us in dangers voluntarily incurred by our selves ) that it is rash if undertaken without a call from god ; ( i hope you will not understand me of an enthusiastical unaccountable one , but a rational and providential , which you may observe the * church her self to have taken care of in the very office of ordination ) that you cannot prudently presume a call but upon these principles : that you are principally created for the divine service in the improvement of mankind ; that you are engaged in gratitude to perform your duty in it for the many benefits by him conferred on you ; that you cannot approve your self grateful unto him unless you love him , nor veraciously pretend to love him unless you most desire what you conceive most pleasing to him ; whence it will follow that you must addict your self to that course of life which is most pleasing to him , if you find your self qualified for it , for this is the onely truly rational providential call , which can without enthusiasme be expected and judged of . now these qualifications must be a pure intention , natural abilities , and a firm immoveable resolution ; for if any of these be wanting , you can never be secure of your own endeavour , much less of the divine assistance , for avoiding so imminent a danger . iv. but because i am not considering these qualifications under a meerly natural or moral notion , but as they may ingratiate you with god , and so intitle you to that assistance , without which , as has been shewed , you cannot securely venture on a state of life so extremely dangerous ; i conceive it therefore necessary to warn you what it is you may safely trust in this enquiry . first therefore , for the purity of your designs , you may observe that purity implies a freedom from mixture of what is more base with what is more noble , whether that which is base be predominant or onely equal . and therefore that your designs may be pure , you must take care that 1. you design this course of life for those ends alone , which indeed do onely render it worthy being designed by you upon a rational account ; for this must needs be that which is most excellent . 2. that you do not design this most excellent for any thing less excellent as a more ultimate end : nay , 3. that you do not design any thing less excellent as an end even coordinate with the more excellent , but onely as subordinate . the latter points are those wherein you may be most easily mistaken , and wherein it will be most difficult to satisfie your self of your own sincerity . at present you may take this rule : if you find your self so affected with the less noble end as that without it you have reason to think that you should not undertake such a difficult duty for the more noble end alone , you have reason to suspect that the more noble end is onely subordinate , and the less noble truly ultimate ; and if you find that your desires of the less noble end are such , as that , if you should fail of it , you would find less complacency in your duty , though you were sure thereby to attain that which is supposed more noble , you will have reason to suspect your designs of the less noble end to be , at least , partial and coordinate . both designs are sinful ; but with this difference : that the designing the more noble end for the less noble , argues the will perfectly depraved , and implies no volition , but onely a ve●●eity , for that which is more noble , and therefore can no way entitle such a person to the divine favour ; but the making the less noble end coordinate , argues indeed a volition , but so imperfect , as cannot move the divine favour , who cannot choose but take ill such a dishonourable competitor , and who will by no means yield any of his honour to another ; nay , who has further declared it his pleasure , either to have the whole heart , or none ; who will by no means partake with his adversaries , but nauseates and abhors the lukewarm person . but though , where this is expresly designed , it can no way deserve his love , yet , where it is irreptitious and by way of surprize , it may , at least , incline his pity , upon the same account as other sins of infirmity , to which the ordinary life of mankind is supposed obnoxious , and for which allowances are made in the very stipulations of the gospel . yet will not this consideration suffice to excuse your neglect of it ; for both , negligence will make it cease to be a sin of infirmity ; and besides the consequences of it ( whatever the occasion may be ) are so pernicious , as may make you either less serviceable in your office , or less acceptable in your performances of it ; and are therefore , with all possible caution , to be avoided . v. but that i may descend , and speak more plainly and particularly to your case ; you may perceive that that which onely renders the clerical calling rationally desireable , is that to which it is upon a rational account useful , which can be nothing in the world ( the design of this calling being to teach men how to despise and easily to part with all such things the world calls good ) but onely the service of god in a peculiar manner ; and that this service is to fulfill his will as far as you are capacitated for it by this calling , which onely aims at the sa●vation of the souls of mankind . be sure therefore that the service of god , and the salvation of souls be intirely your design . and do not trust your saying so , but make some experiment of your affections ; for it is by their habitual inclinations , and not by some warm lucid intervals of reason , that your course of life is like to be determined ; and you are to remember , that your choice is irrevocable , which must oblige you to a serious consideration of what you do before you undertake it . place therefore your self by frequent meditation in such circumstances wherein no other end were attainable . suppose the church were in a state of persecution , which is not onely the warning , but also the promise , of the gospel ; or that your flock were assaulted by the malice of any cruel , or the scandalous example of any great , but powerful , sinner ; or many other such hazardous cases which may fall out though the church be countenanced by the saecular government ; would you here follow the example of the true a shepherd , or the hireling ? could you by your own example let your flock understand that your self did seriously believe what your calling must have obliged you to have taught and urged to them : that b the world and all its allurements and menaces are to be despised , that c all things are to be accounted loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of the cross ; that d tribulations upon this account were glorious , and e being counted worthy to suffer for the name of christ peculiarly honourable ; that f persecutions and reproaches , and bitter calumnies suffered for so good a cause were matter of exultation and exceeding joy ? could you even in these difficulties repeat your choice if it were reiterable ? or , if you were desporate of any other portion in this life , would you not either wish it undone , or even actually undo it if you could with honour ? do not think this case romantick even now ; for both this will be the securest way of passing a faithful judgment concerning your own temper , especially of that which is necessary for this calling ; and this is one of the chief duties and uses of the calling it self , that you be ready g to assist your flock in the time of necessity , and h to lay down your life for them , when it might prove for their advantage ; and , believe it how prosperous soever you may fancy christianity to be among us , you would find it to be actually true , in a high degree , by the odium you must needs incur by a conscientious discharging of your duty : in admonishing scandalous persons , openly , and others , secretly , of their vices , and suspending such as would shew themselves incorrigible from the communion ; in freely , and sometimes openly , rebuking the great ones as well as the mean , nay sometimes more , inasmuch as their example is more pestilential ; in generally weakning the hands and hearts , and disappointing the designs , of impious persons , by shaming them out of countenance , by reducing their companions , and generally awing them by a constantly grave and severe behaviour . vi. and by this experiment you may also perceive whether any less noble end be ingredient in your designing this calling : whether it be to gratifie the humours of your friends , or a vainglorious shewing of your parts , or a more honourable condition of life even in this world , or a more plentifull maintenance , or a politick design of making your self considerable in gaining a party for your own designs , though , i confess , the humour of our protestant laity is generally so self-confident , and so little dependent on their ministers ( if they do not despise them ) as that this last temptation cannot now be very dangerous . for if you can as cheerfully serve god in the absence of these temporal encouragements as with them ; if you can for your own sake patiently bear with the succeslesness of your performances , and satisfie your self in the conscience of having performed your duty ; if you be as industrious and careful of a cure less temporally advantagious , as of one that is more , and of persons that cannot , as well as of those that can , reward you ; if you know , with the apostle , how to be abased , as well as how to abound ; if you can praise god as cheerfully in a low , as in a prosperous condition ; nay more , as having then a title to many blessings of which your prosperous condition is uncapable ; if you can find your affections so disintangled from the world , that you are , like i st. paul , careless of living , upon your own account , but onely for the divine service ; then indeed , and not till then , you may be securely confident of the integrity of your intentions , and venture your self in this warfare , as the clerical calling is expresly called by st. paul , 2 tim. ii. 3 , 4. and as it were certainly most secure that your affections were thus generally alienated from these more ignoble designs , that you may satisfie your own conscience of your own freedom from the suspition of them ; so , because the heart is so intolerably deceitful as that its inclinations cannot be certainly discerned till the objected be vested with advantagious particular circumstances ; and these cannot be so prudently foreseen in general ; it will , at least , concern you to make the experiment full in such cases as you are by your own inclinations obnoxious to , and whose circumstances may very probably and frequently occur , and therefore may rationally be expected . remember that this enquiry be performed , as in the sight of god , to whom you must return an account of this stewardship , and whom it is impossible to deceive ; and for your own sake , whose interest is not meanly , but , greatly and eternally , concerned in it : not onely for your personal prejudice which you may incur by your imprudence herein , but also those mischievous consequential miscarriages , which will involve you deeply in the guilt of the ruine of as many souls as shall be engaged therein by the example , or imprudence , or negligence of their guide , who should have been exemplary to them . it were well if you made this the subject of a communion-exercise before you take orders ; for when you have devested your self of all worldly designs , and have god alone before your eyes , and spiritual considerations ; and have acknowledged your own insufficiency to discern the deceitfulness of your heart , and have therefore humbly implored the divine assistance , and intirely placed your confidence in him , and his inspirations , not extraordinary and enthusiastical , but , providential and moral : that he may be pleased to clear your understanding from all prejudices of your will ; that to your understanding , thus prepared , he would suggest the securest motives ; that he would enable you with a prudent and distinguishing spirit in passing your judgment , and making your election of them ; when , i say , you have done all this , you will then have the greatest moral probability that is possible , that your judgment ( if you can satisfie your self of your sincerity in observing these rules ) is the judgment of right reason , and consequently , in the way we are now speaking of , the will of god. vii . but neither is this purity of design alone sufficient ( unless you have abilities for it ) either to presume a call from god , or to venture securely and prudently on it . not the former ; for gods designing men for particular callings , is , in a providential way , to be concluded from his gifts , which are the talents he intrusts us with , and therefore obliges us to improve , and that after the most advantagious way ; so that where god has given natural gifts peculiarly fitting a person for a particular calling , and where it is withall evident , that either they fit him for no other calling , or , at least , not so advantagiously , or to a calling not so advantagious ; there , if he follow the dictate of right reason ( which is the onely providential voyce of god ) he must needs conclude himself in prudence obliged to follow this , rather than any other . but you may be here mistaken , if you consider either your gifts , or your calling , partially . your gifts you are to consider universally , in regard of themselves , or their effects , which may with any great moral probability be foreseen , whether natural , or accidental : whether , as some of your gifts do fit you for the clerical calling , so , they may not equally fit you for another ? whether , if they fit you onely , or peculiarly for this , yet , you may not have other qualifications that may make it dangerous ? whether , if you have such as may render it dangerous , the danger be greater , or more probable to come to pass , than the advantage ? whether , if you have none , yet , you have not onely some , but all , the qualifications for this calling ? whether , if some be wanting , they be either fewer , or less considerable than those you have ? so also , concerning the calling it self , you are to consider whether , all things being allowed for , it be likely to prove more advantagious , or disadvantagious , to you ? whether it be more necessary , or onely more convenient ? whether , if more necessary ▪ it be also more secure , especial●y in regard of your greater interest● ? and concerning all these enqui●es , you may fall into great mistakes , if you have not before rectified your intention , and so fixed on a right end , from whence you may deduce faithful measures o● things . it will therefore here concern you to use all possible prudence and caution ; and you cannot be excused if you use less than you would in a case wherein all your secular fortunes and your life it self were deeply hazarded , seeing these things are incomparably less trivial . viii . i hope you will not so far suspect me of pelagianism as to put me to the trouble of an apology for calling these qualifications natural . my meaning is not , that these natural qualifications alone are sufficient for discharging the clerical calling ? or , that those auxiliaries that are superadded are onely natural ; but onely , that all superadded auxiliaries are grounded on the improvement of such as are natural , not as merits rigorously obliging god in point of justice , but as motives mercifully perswading and inducing him , who is of himself already munificent ; so that the principal and original ground of expecting these supernatural auxiliaries , which can onely be hoped for by them who are peculiarly called , can antecedently ( as it is plain that the ground of their hope must be antecedent ) be grounded on nothing but what is natural . to let this therefore pass ( that this whole discourse may be deduced home to your case ) it will be necessary to shew what these qualifications are , which will best be understood by their accommodation to the design for which you intend them . that therefore i suppose to be the taking of a particular charge upon you of the souls of a particular congregation ; so that according to the several wayes of the miscarriage of such souls , you ought to be contrarily qualified for their security . and the miscarriage of their souls being occasioned by their non performance of their duty , your qualifications must consist in such requisites as may induce them to that performance . and these will , in general , be reduced to two heads : such as may be necessary for informing them in their duty , and such as may induce them to practice it● for in both these put together their security does adaequately consist . and in order to these two ends you must be endued with two requisites : knowledge , for convincing their understandings ; and prudence , for perswading their wills . by knowledge i do not so much mean that which is speculative and scholastical , as that which is more immediately practical . for i suppose your charge to consist principally of the illiterate multitude , and that if you have any intelligent learned laick that may be capable of higher things , yet that it is more rare and casual ; and that in these qualifications , i am speaking of , we are not so much to consider what is rare and extraordinary , as what is frequent and usual ; what is useful and convenient , as what is absolutely necessary . for both those extraordinary occasions cannot so much oblige to a peculiar provision , especailly in those multitudes which are necessary for these services of the church , all which cannot be expected capable of them ; and those cases , being extraordinary , may be supplied by a few peculiarly gifted that way , seeing it is gods usual way thus to distribute those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which are indeed convenient for the edification of the catholick church in general , but not absolutely necessary for every particular charge . for these ends therefore , wherein your other studies of more necessary concernment , or the aversion of your own genius , may not incline you , or afford you opportunity , or enable you , to attain such skill your self as were convenient ; it will be sufficient that you hold correspondence with such as have it , whom you may consult with as occasion shall require , and so not be altogether unprovided even for these extraordinary occurrences . but that which will more peculiarly and indispensably concern you , is that more immediately practical knowledge , which all are some way bound to observe , and of which none , which act prudently in their common concernments of the world , may be presumed uncapable . and it were well that you would reduce all other speculative knowledge to this , as it is certainly designed by god. my meaning is , that you would not begin with notions in instructing others , but that you would first stir them up to practice such duties as are by all parties acknowledged to be essentially obligatory under the state of christianity ( as , god be praised , principles sufficient for most of these are admitted by all considerable parties that violate the peace of christendom , however otherwise disunited among themselves ) and so by that means bring them to a carefulness of their wayes , and a tenderness of conscience , and an inquisitiveness after their duty universally whatever it may be ; which will prepare them for what other instructions they may afterwards prove capable of ; and will be of excellent use , both for rendring your advice acceptable and useful to them , when they first sensibly experience its necessity before it be communicated ; and for preventing the infusion of any frivolous and unprofitable notions , which are very dangerous to popular capacities ( who are usually more passionate than judicious , and are too prone to impose their own private sentiments in things , they do not understand , as well as those they do , on others , and so to make them the badges and characteristicks of subdividing parties ) and will be the best measure for suiting and proportioning their knowledge to their capacities ; for they are certainly capable of so much knowledge whose usefulness they are capable of apprehending ; and no more is necessary , if i may not say , expedient , to be communicated to them . ix . i could have shewn you , in many regards , how incomparably more advantagious this way is , even for the reduction of hereticks and schismaticks , than that which is ordinarily made use of , an abrupt disputation : for by this means you will find that the onely true causes of heretical and schismatical pravity , obstinacy and perversity of will , and prejudices of the world , and the vain desire of applause and victory , and their preingagement in a party , and that shame and unwillingness to yield ( even to truth it self , when it appears their adversary ) which unawares surprizes the most innocently meaning men , will be removed before your reasons be propounded , which , if by them they be thought more convincing , they must , upon these suppositions , needs prevail ; and that the want of the removal of these is that which ordinarily makes disputations so successess ; nay that the conversion it self of the persons without the purgation of these prejudices , might indeed enlarge our party ( a design too vain to be aimed at by any peaceable pious christian ) but would never be advantagious to the persons themselves ( the charity to whose souls ought to be the principal inducement to a rational and prudent person to engage him to endeavour their satisfaction ) because it were hardly probable that the truth it self could be embraced on its own account , and so for virtuous motives , whilest these humors were predominant ; and to receive the truth it self for vitious ones were a desecration and prostitution of it , which must certainly be most odious and detestable in the sight of god , who judges impartially of the secret thoughtss and intentions , as well as the exteriour professions , of men ; that , i say , these things are true , if reason do not , yet sad experience will , prove a full conviction . besides their receiving the truth it self upon humour . ( and it cannot be judged to be upon any other account where it is not embraced upon a pious sensse of its usefulness ) would both be scandalous to those that might perceive it ( as hypocrites cannot alwayes be so cautious in their personations , but that sometimes the asses ears will appear through the lyons skin ) and would render them as uncertain to any party as the cause that makes it . nay if , after you had reduced them to this good pliable temper , you could not prevail on them in perswading them to an assent to what you say , either through the weakness of their understandings , or your own unskilfulness in pleading for a good cause with advantage ; yet you must needs conclude them invincibly ignorant , and therefore excusable before god in this regard , as well as positively acceptable in others ; and therefore must be as charitable in your demeanour to them , as , you believe , god will prove favourable in their final sentence ; which must needs be a great secondary satisfaction and comfort ( that their errors themselves are innocent ) to such as are more intent on the improvement of christianity it self than any subdividing denomination ; for it god himself , though he desires that good men should attain the actual truth in order to the peace of ecclesiastical communion , be yet pleased to admit of some anomalous instances of his mercy , whose failing thereof shall not prove prejudical to them ; if , i say , god may do thus , and may be presumed to do so by you ; i do not see how you can excuse your self ( if you dissent ) from forfeiting the glory of uniformity and resignation of your will to god , which are they alone which make your other services acceptable , or from incurring the blame of the envious murmuring servant , of having k your own eye evil because your masters is good . nay , for my part , i believe , that if you can here ( as you ought to do in all cases ) be satisfied in an expectation of a future reward from god ; your patient and confident acquiescing in the will of god , even when your endeavours prove successess as to the end immediately designed by your self , will be so far from being a discouragement , as that it will indeed intitle you to a greater preportion of spiritual comfort ; both because you may then best satisfie your self in the integrity of your intertien for god when you can readily acquiesce without any gratification of your self by a victory in your discourse ▪ and because the present little fruits of your labours may justly encourage you to expect a more plentiful arrear behind . yet , i believe , this preparation of your auditors for your discourses by a sense of piety will not minister much or frequent occasions of dissidence even of the event , no● consequently of the exercise of these passive graces , as well in regard of the divine assistance , you may then hope for , as your own abilities . for when the person has thus rendred ●imself worthy of the favour and has implored the divine goodness for its actual collation ; there can 〈◊〉 reason to despair of the divine assistance , so far as it may not violate the ordinary rules of providence : such as are the suggesting such motives to your mind as are most proper to prevail on the capacity of the person with whom you deal : the fitting you with advantage of proper and persuasive expression ; the suiting all to the circumstances and apprehension of the person , and the like , which when they concur cannot frequently fail of the desired event . but that which does especially recommend this method , is , that these moral dispositions of the will are so frequently taken notice of in the gospel it self as the qualifications that prepared its auditors for its reception . for these seem to be the l the opening of the ears , the m touching of the heart , the n sheeplike disposition , the o preparation for the kingdom , the p ordination to eternal life , the q true israeliteship , which are everywhere assigned as the reasons of the conversion of many of them . but this onely by the way . x. that i may therefore return to the subject of my former discourse , you may hence conclude , that all that your people are obliged to practice , that , at east , you are obliged to know ; and that not onely as a practitioner , who may be secure in knowing his own duty , in the simplicity of it , with such reasons also of it as may be useful for rectifying his intention , which is the onely thing that can rationally be conceived to render a duty acceptable to god ; but also as a guide , who should also be acquainted with the nature of the duty it self , and the reason why it is imposed by god , and how it may contribute to the improvement of mankind , and what influence every circumstance considerable may have on the morality of the whole duty ; for without these things you can never be able to make a true estimate of those infinite cases that may occur , having to deal with persons of different complexions , and different callings , and different habitual inclinations . upon which account it will concern you first to have studied all those fundamentals , which are generally esteemed so by persons of all persuasions ( such are those contained in the r creed commonly ascribed to the apostles ) not that i conceive it necessary that you deduce all consequences that may be inferred from expressions used , even by approved authors , even in these affairs themselves ; but that you may be able , from your own judgment , to give an account what concerning them is necessary to be believed , and for what reasons , that so you may be able to satisfie an inquisitive laick , and maintain the honour of your place , which is to preserve the keys of knowledge as well as discipline ; and , believe it , in this knowing age , it is more than ever necessary . but for these things i would not have you too much trust the schoolmen , or any modern collectors of bodies of divinity , who do too frequently confound traditions with opinions , the doctrines and inferences of the church with her historical traditions , the sense of the ancient with the superadditions of modern ages , and their own private senses with those of the church . if therefore you would faithfully and distinctly inform your self herein , i do not understand how you can do it with security to your self that you do not misguide your flock , in affairs of so momentous a concernment , without having recourse to the originals themselves ; wherein you should cautiously distinguish what is clearly , and in terms , revealed by the apostles , and what onely is so virtually and consequentially ; for it cannot be credible that god has made the belief of that necessary to salvation , which he has not clearly revealed ( so as to leave the unbelievers unexcusable ) and that cannot rationally be pretended to be clearly revealed , which is neither so in terms , nor in clear and certain consequences . now these originals are the scriptures as the text , and the fathers of the first and purest centuries as an historical commentary , in controverted passages , to clear its sense . first therefore the reading of the scripture is a duty , in all regards , incumbent on you ; for these are they that s are written that we might believe , and that believing we might have life in the name of christ ; that t are certainly to assure us of those things wherein we have been catechized ; that are able to make us u wise unto salvation . and particularly , in reference to your calling , the scriptures are said to be necessary for making x the man of god ( an appellative especially proper to the clergie 1 tim. vi . 11. ) perfect in teaching , in reproving , in correcting , in discipline ( so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies ) acts also peculiarly belonging to the clerical calling . and accordingly our y church does oblige the clergie to read two chapters , at least , every day , concerning which , according to the old rules , they might have been examined by the bishop , as also in erasmus's paraphrase ; which seems to have been instituted to make amends for the length of the romane offices ( injoyned by them on their clergie under pain of mortal sin ) above that of our liturgie ; as conceiving the skill of the clergie in the scriptures of more moment for the discharge of their duty to the publick than their prayers themselves . besides your skill herein is looked on as so necessary as that it is one of the severest charges laid on all in the very collation of their orders , that they be z diligent in reading the scriptures . xi . but you must not think this charge satisfied in beginning to do so from the time of your ordination . for you must remember that you are then to be a teacher , not a scholar ; besides that you cannot pass a prudent judgment of your own abilities till you have already experienced them , and thereof 〈◊〉 must have begun before . as you therefore read the scriptures , it were well that after reading of any chapter you would mark the difficult places , at least in the new testament , and , when they may see●● to concern any necessary matter of faith or practice ( for you must remember that i am now speaking of the meanest qualifications that may be expected in him who would prudently take this calling on him ) afterwards consult commentators , such as are reputed most excellent in their kind ; and read them , not cursorily , but carefully , examining their grounds to the uttermost of your capacity ; seeing that you are to enquire , not onely for your self , but also for as many as are to be led by you . first therefore , after you have read the commentator , either in writing , or , if that bee too tedious , in meditation , recollect the sum of his discourse , by reducing them to propositions ; then apply the proofs to the propositions they properly belong to . then examine the pertinency of his proofs so applyed , if they be reasons , from the nature of the thing ; if testimonies , from the authors from whom he borrowes them , by which means alone you may understand whether they mean them in the sense intended by him . and at last see how his sense agrees with the text it self , by comparing it with the cohaerence , both antecedent , and consequent . and for this occasional use of expounding scripture , it were necessary to be skilled in the originals ; for all translations being performed by fallible persons , and being capable of such aequivocations which may frequently have no ground in the originals ; the sense , as collected from such translations , may very probably be misunderstood , and therefore cannot be securely trusted . but , of the two originals , the greek is that , which can with less security be neglected upon the principles already praemised . for , supposing that your obligation is chiefly for matters of faith , and so transcending natural means of knowledge ; and moral duties , not evident , nor deducible , from the light of right reason , as being special degrees , peculiarly due to those manifestations of the divine love in the gospel , greater than could have been expected from the divine philanthropy , as it appears from reason alone ; both of these are proper to the gospel-state , and therefore are onely to be expected from the new testament , which , though in other things it may require the hebrew , for understanding the hellenistical s●ile ; yet in these things , being so peculiarly proper to the gospel-state , and being many of them merely new revelations , it cannot be so extreamly necessary , and therefore the greek may be here sufficient . yet i must withall needs confess , that ( for the government and governours of the church , and the rituals adopted into christianity by the positive institution of the gospel , the two sacraments and other solemnities of the service of god ) the knowledge of the jewish antiquities is very necessary for clearing some things of so momentous a consideration , and so ordinary practice , as that you may not be able , without them , to give a fall satisfaction to your parochia● cure , in doubts that may nearly concern them , which will therefore require a skill in the rabbins , if not in the hebrew tongue wherein they are written . xii . and upon the same account , i do not , for my part , see how you can well have neglected the fathers of the first and purest centuries , especially those that are , by the consent of all , concluded genuine , and that lived before the empire turned christian , who consequently were free from those secular enjoyments , which , in a short time , sensibly corrupted that generosity and exemplary severity , which were so admirably conspicuous in the infancy of christianity . for , though it be confessed that the scriptures are indeed clear in all matters indispensably necessary to salvation ( which are the onely subjects of my present discourse ) yet i conceive that perspicuity to have been mainly accommodated to the present apprehensions of the persons then living , many of the phrases being taken from doctrines or practices then generally prevailing among them , and obviously notorious to all , the vulgar , as well as persons of greater capacities . but that all things , that were then clear , might not , as other antiquities have done since , in a long process of time , contract an accidental obscurity by the abolition , or neglect , of those then notorious antiquities on which that perspicuity is supposed to depend ; or that , supposing this perspicuity still to depend on such antiquities , providence should have been obliged to keep such antiquities themselves unchanged , or any other way notorious than by the monuments still extant of those ages ; cannot , i conceive , with any probability be presumed : either from the nature of the thing ; or the design of the scriptures , which both seem to have been written in accommodation to particular exigences , and on particular occasions ; and rather to intimate , than insist on , such things as were already presumed notorious , and must needs have been either more intricate , if brief ; or more tedious and voluminous , if accurate , in explaining so numerous particulars . now , if this perspicuity were accommodated to the apprehensions of them to whom they were , more immediately , revealed ; then certainly the holy ghost must needs be presumed to have intended such senses as he knew them ready and likely to apprehend ( especially in such cases wherein the terms were taken from something already notorious among them , and wherein they could have no reason to suspect their misapprehensions , much less , ordinary means to rectifie them ) and therefore , on the contrary , what we can find to have been their sense of the scriptures , in things perspicuous and necessary , that we have reason to believe verily intended by the revealer . besides that this is the usual practice of our most accurate criticks , to expound their authors , where difficult , by comparing them with other writers of the same time , or sect , or subject , which mention the thing doubted of more clearly ; and therefore cannot prudently be refused here , where we are speaking of the ordinary moral means of finding out the true sense of the scriptures . i do confess that the fathers do not write in a method so accurate and fitted to the capacities of beginners as our modern systemes , but withall , i think , it cannot be denyed but that they are , even upon that account , more intelligible than the scriptures , so that they who are obliged to be skilful in the scriptures cannot , upon any account , be presumed uncapable of understanding the fathers . nor ought it to be pretended that the writings of the fathers are too voluminous and tedious a task for a young man to undertake before his entring into the clerical calling ; for both i do not see how that way can be counted tedious , which is necessary , and onely secure , how long soever it may be ; nor is it indeed true , that the fathers of the first three centuries were a task so very tedious ( for as for others afterwards , the more remote they are , the less competent also they must be for informing us of the sense of the apostles in an historical way of which alone we are now discoursing ; nay seeing that the later writers can know nothing this way , but what has been delivered to them by the former , it will follow that they cannot be able to inform us of any thing new , after the reading of their predecessors , and therefore , though it might be convenient , yet , after the primitives , the reading of the later fathers cannot be so indispensably necessary ) especially if the counterfeited authors and writings be excepted , together withall those that are lyable to any just suspicion , and are reputed such by learned and candid men ; and if their time were improved , as it might by most , and would by all , that would undertake this severe calling upon these conscienti●us accounts i have been already describing . besides i do not know why they should complain for want of time either before , or after , the susception of holy orders , when as we see other callings require seven years learning before their liberty to practice , whereas a much less time well improved would serve for this , even for ordinary capacities , that were grounded in the necessary rudiments of humane learning ; and they have afterwards a maintenance provided for them without care , that they might addict themselves without distraction to employments of this nature . all things therefore being considered , i do not see how this requisite ( how much soever it may amuse some by its seeming novelty ) is either unnecessary or unpracticable . xiii . besides these reasons from necessity , i might produce others of conveniency why young practicioners of divinity should deduce their doctrine more immediately from the fountains . as first , that by this means they may be best able to judge impartially , when they are less possessed with the favour of a party ; whereas it is , i doubt , too frequently , the practice of those that do otherwise , first espouse a partly , afterwards to see with no other perspectives than what prejudice and interest will permit , not so much to enquire what does indeed appear truly derived from the apostles , as what these conveighers of apostolical tradition say in favour of their own , and discountenance of their adversaries faction . and secondly , this would certainly much contribute to the infusing a peaceable spirit into the catholick church ( a blessing vigorously to be prosecuted and prayed for by all good christians ) which certainly could not chuse but considerably contribute further to the actual peace of christendome , whose principles might undoubtedly in many things be better accommodated , if their spirits were less exasperated . this it would do , partly by the inevidence of the reasons , when examined ; for it is generally the unexperienced confidence that is most bold and daring ; partly in deriving principles of accommodation from those fountains which all do so unanimously applaud , and wherein therefore they are most likely to agree , if ever providence reduce them to a reconciliation : and partly because by this means they will be less likely to broach any offensive doctrines , seeing that for this end , not onely the church of rome , but our mother the church of a england , has required that no other expressions of scriptures be urged publickly but such as are agreeable to the doctrine of the fathers : your observation of which canon i do not see how you can secure without knowing what they hold , nor know what they hold without reading them . besides thirdly , that the very conversing with such admirable monuments of piety , where most of their very errors seem to have proceeded from a nobly designing excessive severity , and their practices rather exceeded , than fell short of , their doctrinal severity , must needs , like the conversation of god with moses in the mount , affect them with a proportionable splendor : to see them devoring all their worldly interests for the service of the church , exposing their lives and fortunes for the faith of christ , i do not say , willingly and patiently , but even joyfully and triumphantly , b wearying their judges cruelty , and blunting their executioners axes , with the multitudes of such as , without any enquiry , offered themselves , crowding and thronging to the catastae , the vngulae , the stakes and gridirons , and other the most terrible executions that were ever heard of , with as much earnestness and emulation as was ever shewn in the olympick exercises , impatiently striving for the honour of that which the world thought penal and calamitous . and lastly that they must needs from hence make a truer estimate concerning the real design and duties of christianity , from those times wherein it was undertaken upon choice and a rational approbation , and against all the contrary aversations of worldly interests , merely for its own sake , and when it was preached in the simplicity of it , without any compliances or indulgences gratifying either the humours or pretended necessities of a worldly conversation ; than now when fashion and education and worldly interests are the very inducements inclining many to profess themselves christians , who otherwise take not the least care of fulfilling their baptismal obligations , and wherein the vitious reserves of the world have prevailed so far as to corrupt their very casuistical divinity , and to make them believe those things impossible , and so necessarily requiring the divine favour to excuse them , which yet were then universally performed . and to see how peculiarly the clerical calling was then honoured : that none were chosen to it but either such as were designed by the more immediate inspiration of the c holy ghost to their ordainer ; or by the general suffrages of the d people concerning their unspotted lives , when that extraordinary way failed ; or by some extraordinary experiment of their excellent spirits : such were e renouncing all their possessions , and resigning them to the common use of the church , or some f exemplary suffering for the faith of christ ( which though not extending to death was then called g martyrdom ) besides that zeal and incessant diligence in providing for the necessities of their cure , and those persecutions which were sometimes as peculiarly their lot as they were gods , must needs imprint a sacred awe and reverence for the calling , which , if measured by present either precepts or precedents , cannot be deservedly esteemed . xiv . but to proceed . besides this knowledge of the prime necessary fundamentals it will also be necessary for to be skilled in all such controversies as separate any considerable communions of christians . for these also your flock , illiterate as well as learned , are obliged to practice . for it is certain that they must be obliged to make use of the sacraments as the ordinary channels where grace may be expected , and therefore must communicate with some church ; and seeing every church does not onely assert its own , but censure other communions differing from her , and therefore will not permit any person that enjoyes her communion to communicate with any other ; it will follow that they must all be concerned , as far as they are capable , to understand a reason , not onely of their communion with ours , but their consequent separation from other churches . for seeing schisme is a sin of as malignant an influence to souls as many others which are more infamous in the vulgar account ; it must needs be your duty to secure them from that , as well as other sins . now the formal imputable notion of schism as a sin being the no-necessity of its dividing the churches peace ; that any party of men may be excusable from it , they must be satisfied : either that not they , but their adversaries , were the causes of the division ; or that , if themselves were , yet it was on their part necessary ; which it is impossible for you to do even to your own prudent satisfaction , if you do not understand the true state of the controversies , and the full force of what is produced on both sides . and for knowing the true state of the controversies , you must remember , that the obligation incumbent on you for knowing them does not concern you as they are the disputes of private doctors , or even tolerated parties , but as they are the characteristicks of communions ; and therefore they must be the councils and canons , or such other publick authentick records of the churches , or their acknowledged champions as explaining their churches sense , and not their own ▪ and the conditions practiced among them without which their communion cannot be had , that you must be presumed skilful in . i do not think it so indispensably necessary that you be skilled in all the particular controversies of meaner concernment even betwixt different churches themselves , but those that are mutually thought sufficient to separate communion ; nor in all those themselves , but in any . for as , for joyning in a communion , it is necessary that all the conditions prescribed for it be lawful ; so on the contrary , if onely one be unlawful , it is enough to prove the separation not unnecessary , and so not culpable , nay , that it is necessary and obligatory ; and so sufficient to satisfie him in as much as he is concerned to practice . your skill in these things will every way be obligatory on you : for their sakes that are capable , that you may satisfie them ; for those that are not , that you may secure them , ( who , by how much they are less able to he●p themselves , must consequently more rely upon your conduct , which will therefore lay the blame of their miscarriages heavily on you , if they be occasioned by your negligence ) and for the reducing such as are misled , a duty too generally neglected among the poor superstitious natives , though expresly required by the h canons of our church ; so that you are obliged , not onely to be able to teach your flock , but also i to resist gain sayers , to k rebuke them with all authority , l to stop their mouths , to convince and perswade the modest , and to confound and shame the incorrigible . but , in dealing with adversaries , it were fit , that , in accommodation to the method already prescribed , of fitting them for rational discourses by first bringing them to a conscientious sense of their duty ; you would therefore fit your motives to those preparations , by insisting not onely on the truth , but the piety , of embracing what you would perswade them to , and the impiety of the contrary ; how directly , or indirectly , it countenances or encourages licentiousness ; at least of how mischievous consequence the sin of schism upon such an account would be , and how inconsiderable the contrary palliations are for excusing it : that schism is a breach of peace , and so a violation of the very testament of our lord ; of love , and so a disowning the characteristick badg whereby christians are peculiarly distinguishable from the infidel-world ; a subdividing the church into factions and parties , and consequently chargeable with the guilt of the scandal of the common adversaries , who by these means are induced to dishonourable thoughts of the institutor of so confounded a profession , and are by these mutual exasperations enabled to see the infirmities of all parties by their mutual recriminations ; and so their minds become exulcerated and impregnably prejudiced against all the rhetorick of the gospel , and uncapable of those ends designed by god in it's publication ( and oh how heavy an account will such dishonour of god , such frustrating of his evangelical designs , and the miscarriage of such a multitude of souls , so dearly purchased by him , amount to ! ) besides the internal mischiefs following from it : a weakning the common strength by dispersing it into multitudes of inconsiderable fractions , singly considered , and so disabling it for any generous designs of taking care of that great part of the world which never yet heard of the gospel , besides the dissolution of discipline , the contempt of the authority , and weakning it , and so the great liberty made for all the vices and scandals of wicked men by a consequent impunity . i would heartily recommend this consideration to our conscientious dissenting brethren who are affrighted from our communion by the scandalous lives of some of our pretended conformists , how much themselves contribute to the calamities they so seriously deplore by bringing a disrespect on that authority which should , if entertained with due veneration , either reform them , or make them cease to be scandalous by their perfect exclusion from her communion . xv. but that which you can least of all want , is a study too much neglected , because too little experienced , among protestants , that of casuistical divinity . for unless your general sermons be brought home and applyed to particular consciences ; i do not know how you can be said to have used your utmost diligence for the salvation of particular persons , and therefore how you can clear your self from particular miscarriages . i am sure , this is the way the apostle st. paul vindicates himself from the blood of all men . act. xx . 26. that he had not spared to declare unto them the whole counsel of god , v. 26. and that , not onely publickly , but also , from house to house v. 20. nay that for three years , night and day , he ceased not to warn euery one with tears ; which expressions do certainly denote a greater frequency than that of their publick synaxes , where their preaching was in use ; besides that the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , used for every one , cannot be understood of them collectively , but distributively and singly . there is a remarkable saying quoted by clemens m alexandrinus from an ancient apocriphal work : that the companion of a good man can hardly perish without involving the good man himself in a participation of the blame ; which is certainly , in a more severe sense , verifiable of a person engaged in the clerical calling , because of the charge with which they are peculiarly intrusted . the charge it self you may read in ezech. xxxiii . ( a passage i conceive very well worthy some serious thoughts before you undertake orders ) if the destruction come , and take away any of your charge , whosoever he be , he dyes in his sins ; but you , if you have not warned him , are responsible for him . now i do not see how you can be said to have warned him , when you have not taken the pains to inform your self of his condition ; for considering that you are not now to expect revelations , but to judg a posteriori , by the appearances and ordinary course of things ; you cannot warn any of danger but such as appear in a state of demerit , to whom god has threatned it , and that , how culpable it is , cannot be judged without examination of particular circumstances . for do not believe that the pulpit-denunciation of judgments can suffice , or that it can reach the end of these warnings , the terrifying men from their sins , so as not onely to make them entertain some struggling velleities against them , but also to endeavour an effectual relinquishment of them . for either they are indefinite and hypothetical , involving ●deed all sinners in the danger , but not telling who are such , so that the application ( which is of the most effectual influence for the reduction of any particular person ) is left entirely to the too-partially-affected disposition of the person himself ( whose very judgment being either diverted or depraved by his vices , so that he is unwilling or unable to discern them to be so , and his very conscience by that means either actually or habitualiy seared ) he can be never likely to condemn himself , unless he be reduced by a particular consideration of his own , for which he is not beholding to the ministery ; or they are so managed as that indeed no man can have reason upon that account to be particularly terrified . for considering that those denunciations that are general do concern those remainders of sin which are as long-lived as themselves in the most pious persons ; and accordingly that the publick confessions of sins , wherein the pious as well as the impious are concerned to joyn , and that without dissimulation or falshood , are such as are confessed , in the very same forms , to deserve the penalties so denounced , and yet it is most certain that no condemnation does belong to them ; nay , though they constantly commit the like sins , and therefore periodically have need of reiterating the same confessions , as not being encouraged to believe it possible to relinquish all such sins , but onely to strive against them ; by this means persons are accustomed to confess themselves sinners , nay , and great ones too , and to deserve the severest of these comminations , and yet all this without any terrour , supposing all this to be common to them with the holyest men living , to whom undoubtedly no terrour does belong ; these things , i say , being considered , they cannot hereby be obliged to believe themselves actually in danger of these threats , and therefore cannot , for fear of them , be obliged to relinquish utterly their endangering demerits . i doubt many a poor soul does feel this experimentally , who , though they have lived for many years under a terrible ministery , yet never have been thereby actually terrified from those vices to which themselves acknowledg the curse of god to be due , especially if they were secret , and so might escape the censures and particular reproofs of men . besides that by this means of onely pulpit-reproofs you cannot pretend to say that you have warned such persons as either through irreligion , or prophaneness , or contrary perswasions ( occasions too frequent now a dayes , and comprehending multitudes of souls ) forbear the church , or consequently clear you from being accountable for them . but , though in publick preaching sins were particularized more than they are , and charged with that peculiar severity they deserve ; yet you must remember that they are very few that can prudently be so dealt with : such as generally prevailed , and such as were notorious ; so that for all others that are not reducible to these heads , ( many of which may prove of as dangerous consequence to the concerned persons themselves as these , if they perish in them . ) i do not see how you can chuse but be responsible , if you do not reprove them by a more close and particular address . xvi . i know the degeneration of our present age is so universal herein , and that men are naturally so disingenuous , as that rather than they will acknowledge themselves faulty , they will strain their wits for palliations and apologies , especially when countenanced by the practice of men of an otherwise severe conversation ; that you may not admire if you may find some who may conceive me severe in this point . but you must remember the liberty i have designed in this whole discourse , not to flatter any one in affairs of so hazardous consequence ; and i do not doubt but that even those my opponents themselves will believe this way , though more severe , yet certainly , more excellent and more secure , and therefore though it were onely doubtful , yet it were more conveniently practicable . but for my part , i think it so little doubtful , as that , laying aside that unwillingness that either interest , or the surprisal of a novelty , may create in many against its reception ; i think there can be little pretended that may cause a rational scruple to an unprejudiced understanding person . for if a general denunciation of gods anger against impenitents had been sufficient , and no more particular application had been necessary to have been made than what had been the result of the guilty consciences , or the good natures , of the persons themselves , or the peculiar providential preventions of god ; i do not see what necessity there had been of the prophets , as watchmen , of old ; or of preachers now . for that god is a rewarder and punisher of the actions of wicked men , none ever yet denyed that held a providence , much less such as owned any written revelations , which were able more distinctly to inform them what these rewards were ; and we know it is the reply of abraham to dives , that if moses and the prophets were not able to assure them of the certainty of these future rewards on supposition of their impenitency , neither would they be convinced though a preacher were sent them from the dead , so that upon this account the sending of prophets must have been needless , especially of such as were distinct from the penmen of the canonical books , and were sent on provisional messages , for concerning such alone i am at present discoursing . besides the credibility of these rewards depended on the credit of the law it self , which was antecedent to the mission of prophets , as being that by which they were to be tryed , and therefore could not in any competent way be proved by their testimony ; which will appear the rather credible when it is remembred that temporal calamities were the usual subjects of these ordinary prophetick messages . the onely thing therefore that they must have been sent for must have been a particular application to the parties concerned . and accordingly this is their method still to deliver their message to the persons themselves : when to the people , as it was most frequently , in their publick assemblies ; when to their princes , or to other particular private persons , still their practice was accordingly . nor did they ever excuse themselves ( as too many are apt to do now ) when persons apprehended themselves particularly concerned , by pretending that the application was none of theirs ; but still they owned it , and were ready to suffer the inflictions of those whom they had thus exasperated . and accordingly we find it reckoned among the principal qualifications of a prophet even by the jewes themselves , that he be , not onely wise , and rich , but also valiant . and jeremy is thus encouraged to harden his face like brass , and that he be against the jewes like n an impregnable fortress , that he should not o fear their faces neither p be dismayed ; and esay , as a type of our saviour , hardens his face like flint , isa . l. 7. which i do not know of what peculiar use it could prove in this case , unless it were to embolden them that they might not fear the threats or malice of the great ones in the performance of their duty , which they had not been in such danger of without this application . besides , if this application were not the peculiar employment of an ordinary prophet , i do not understand what it was that was blamed in the false prophets , who q preached peace when there was no peace . for that ever any of them was so impudent as to deny the truth of gods denunciations against sinners indefinitely is no way credible ; or that doing so , they could find credit in a nation so signally convinced of a providence . their crime therefore must have been , that they flattered the wicked , and either made them believe their faults to be none at all , or not so great as indeed they were ; or that god would either excuse them particularly , or not punish them in this life , or not suddenly , or not severely . and accordingly also in the new testament we find r s. stephen and the s apostles charging their crimes home on their persecutors ; and to this end endued with an admirable t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , among other gifts of the holy ghost then dispensed for capacitating them for their office . and that this particular application was not grounded on such particular revelations whereby those extraordinary persons might have been enabled to judge particularly of their cases , for which we , who have none but humane fallible means of knowing the wickedness of mens hearts , may now be thought less sufficient ; may appear from the frequent mention of this use of particular reproof as an u ordinary qualification for the clerical calling , and from the like practice of the most ancient fathers and martyrs , who every where x freely inveigh against the particular scandalous persons of their times , and their persecutors . but these things are in themselves obvious , and are a subject too copious to be insisted on at present . xvii . supposing therefore this necessity of a particular application , it will be easie to deduce hence the necessity of your skill in casuistical divinity . for if you must particularly apply you must particularly know the state of the conscience you have to deal with . and that you may judge it when known , you must know the means of acquiring all virtues , and of avoiding all vices and sins , and the stress of all lawes , and the influences of all circumstances considerable , and the way of dealing with all tempers ; that you may never judge rashly , that you may advise pertinently and successfully , that you may so provide for the present as that you may foresee dangerous consequences , that you may not run consciences on perplexities by making one duty inconsistent with another ; all which do some way or other belong to casuistical divinity . especially it will concern you to be some way skilled in all lawes more immediately relating to conscience : the law of nature , and the positive lawes of god and the church , which are to be your rules in affairs of this nature . and , because the law of nature intirely , and all other lawes as to their particular influences and applications to particular cases , as indeed also all useful humane learning , do some way depend on the accurateness of your method of reasoning ; therefore here it were convenient that you be provided with those requisites for ordering it which are mentioned in my letter of advice for studies ; for without this your inferences will be same and imperfect , and not secure to be relied on by a person in your dangerous condition . xviii . xviii . but besides these qualifications of knowledge , for informing people concerning their duty there are also other practical requisites for inducing them to the observation of it . such are an experience and prudence in the ars voluntatis ( as nierembergius calls it ) an undoubted courage and confidence in enduring all difficulties that may , and undoubtedly will , occur in the performance of your duty ; a sweet and sociable behaviour that may win , yet grave and serious that may awe , the hearts of men ; but above all , even for the sake of your cure , as well as your own , a holy and exemplary life . of these in their order . first therefore your first qualification of skill in the ars voluntatis , the art of y catching men , that i may speak in the language of our saviour , and s. paul , will require both experience in the nature of these mental diseases , for your information ; and prudence in the application of their cure ; for without these you can with as little rational confidence venture on their cure as the physician that were neither skilled in symptomes or diseases or the virtues of herbs and minerals which are their usual remedies ; and were as responsible for their miscarriage under your hands as the law makes empiricks and unskilful persons . for understanding the nature of these mental diseases , you must remember that , as virtue is the improvement , so , vice is the debauching of the rational faculties , and therefore you cannot expect to prevail on mens interests and inclinations by a bare representment of the unreasonableness of their actions ; for it is clear that reason is no measure of the actions of brutes ; and therefore whilest men live not above the brutal principle , that which is animal and sensual ; reason is as little valued by them as the richest indian gems by the dunghill cock in aesop . so that indeed your work must be first to make them reasonable before you propound your reasons to them ; and it is half done when you have made them capable of hearing reason . whilest therefore they are unreasonable , you must deal with them as we do with children ( it is a similitude excellently urged and illustrated to this purpose by z maimonides ) first allure them by motives proportioned to their present capacities , to perform the material actions of virtue , till by use they be confirmed into a habit , which when it is well rooted , it will then be easie by shewing the rational advantage of them ( which they will then be capable of understanding and perceiving ) both to endear their duty , and rectifie their intentions , and so to make them formally virtuous . and the prudent managements of this affair are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , mentioned by a socrates , the b wise charming in the psalmist , the c serpentine wisedom commended by our saviour , the craft and catching with guile mentioned by d st. paul. now for this it will be necessary , in point of experience , that you be acquainted with those difficulties in your self ( for thus our saviour himself is observed , by the author to the hebrewes , by his e fellow feeling of our infirmities , to be qualified for his being a merciful high priest , and being able to succor them that are tempted ) and in others ; both as to their tempers , and habitual inclinations , and callings , and daily conversations , and the temptations likely to occur : to know the material virtues they are inclined to , and to lay hold on the mollia tempora f●ndi , their good humours , and lucid intervals , and providential impulses ; for without these things you cannot know either how to win them , or how to keep them , and secure them from apostacy especially if of a fickle and variable humour , as most men are in their spiritual resolutions . besides prudence will be necessary as to all its requisites : circumspection , to discern the whole case as to all the precepts and prohibitions to which the action may be obnoxious ; all the inclinations , and those many times very different , if not contrary , in the same persons ; all the circumstances accusing or excusing , of which allowance is to be had ; caution , in a foresight of all dangers , which upon the aforesaid considerations may be probably expected , and in allowing for future probable contingencies : iudgment , in accommodating the lawes , and the actions , and the inclinations of the patient in a due proportion , and providing for their seemingly-contradictious necessities . xix so also , that boldness and courage is another qualification for this purpose , seems clear , not onely from the old testament passages intimated formerly concerning prophets , but also , from the new testament where it is usua●ly mentioned as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the spirit that was to fit them for the discharge of their clerical calling . thus the confidence of st. peter and st. john was admired by the sadducees act. iv . 13. which is intimated to have proceeded from the spirit ▪ v. 8. and accordingly this was also prayed for for the future v. 29. and this is also observed concerning st. paul after his addresses to the exercise of his office , that he was strengthned in his disputations with the jewes , acts. ix . 22. which is paraphrased by his speaking boldly in the name of jesus v. 27. and this i conceive to be that f preaching with authority mentioned concerning our saviour ; and that g preaching with power , in the evidence and demonstration of the spirit , concerning the apostles . and indeed without this you can never expect to be able to undergo the difficulties you must engage in , in the performance of your duty . for how can you tell the great ones of their scandalous sins , or reprove gainsayers , or shame the guilty , or destroy the confederacies of the wicked , without exasperating many vitiously disposed minds against you ? and if you fear shame , or the spoyling of your goods , or the pain of your body , or death it self ; you must needs fear those in whose power it is to inflict them on you ; and if you do so , then , considering that they are so fondly enamoured of those things that tend to their ruine as that they bear their deprivation with impatience , and , like madmen , prosecute their benefactors with detractions and hostilities ( so little sensible they are of the favour conferred on them , in disswading and restraining them from them ) you can never , upon those terms , be able to rescue them from their danger . this is a qualification , though now extremely neglected , of so very momentous consequence , as that i shall beseech you to be tender of it , for your flocks sake , if not for your own . for , believe it , their everlasting welfare depends more nearly on the fidelity of your admonition ; and it is to little purpose for you to keep the watch if you do not give warning at the approach of danger ; or , with the dog , to observe the flock , if you do not bark when the wolf is ready to devour them . let not therefore the pretence of youthfull modesty , or the danger of petulancy or unmannerliness , or the accusation of incivility , or a slavish comp●iance with the ceremonies of the world , or whatever other pretences may be produced by such as are either willing to apologize for their neglect in this kind , or are conscious of something in themselves that may deserve the exercise of this dreaded severity ( as men are generally too ingenious in palliating the occasions of their own ruine ) rob you of a jewel wherein the security of so many souls is so nearly concerned . you may , i believe , think it difficult , how to bring your self to it , and when you have it , how to beware of offending on the opposite extreme , of being petulant and impertinent , and rendring your self unsociable . for acquiring it i should advise you to take care of spending your tyrocinium under the wings of a patron , at least such a one as would be offended with your freedom ; but rather in a management of an inferior little family . 1 tim. iii. 4. 5. and this may serve for acquiring an habit of confidence . but then for the reason of it , if i may take you for the person the former qualifications have supposed you to be , you cannot be unprovided : for he who values not any worldly enjoyment as great , can never be awed by any worldly pomp ; and he that undervalues even death it self , the king of terrours , can never be affrighted by the means of any mortal , how great soever , whose power can extend no further , from the performance of his duty . but then for avoyding the other extreme of petulancy ; believe it first , that , if you could not avoyd it , yet it were much the safer excess both for your flock , and for your self : for your flock , who must needs be less prejudiced by being charged with fau●ts they are not guilty of , or unseasonably , than by being permitted in a total ignorance of such as are unquestionably dangerous , a false alarm being sometimes more secure than none at all ; and for your self , your imprudences in this kind being alleviated by many commendable ingredients , a zeal for god , and a conscientious sense of your duty , and a good intention , and the preservation of a vigilant and active spirit , which is more frequently useful in your profession than its restraint . but secondly , for avoyding it , if you take care that neither your self , nor the person concerned , be in a passion when you advise him , you will both find him more tractable , and your self more ruleable , and more steady , in observing the prescriptions you have resolved on before . and then for furnishing you with such rules of restraint of anger other ordinary books may be sufficient ; and therefore i forbear . xx. so also for your conversation , that it must be sweet and winning , may appear from the supposals already premised . for , considering that the persons , you have to deal with , are not as yet supposed capable of reason ; and your very prescriptions themselves , bluntly proposed , are sufficient to make them averse from hearkning to you , and so to frustrate your whole design by an unseasonable precipitation ; you must therefore first allure them , not by the reasons of the duties themselves , but by that great good will you are to shew to them , whereby they may be induced , as children are , upon account of their parents , or other friends they are fond of , to believe that you would never advise them such things if you were not very confident that they would effectually conduce to their good . now to convince them of this your good will , you must condescend to their childish apprehensions as far as is lawful , that is , you must shew it by a sweet and willing readiness to promote that which themselves conceive to be for their good where it may not prove really inconsistent with it , by an avoyding all needless occasions of offending them , and by that means shewing an unwillingness to impose any thing on them to which they are averse , without a great conviction of its being useful for their greater interests . but for this end you need not imitate them in all their actions ; for that were not to reach them out of the ditch , but to fall in your self for company . but you must bear with their impertinencies , and still ( as near as you can ) proportion their present duty to their present habitual abilities , not discouraging them in their faylings , but rather thence taking occasion to stir them up to a greater future diligence ; and have a care of making them entertain harsh and unworthy notions of religion : that it is a state of life , melancholy and sad , and a perpetual valediction to all joy and comfort ; that it renders a man burdensome to himself , and troublesome to all the society with whom he does converse ; that it is so wholly designed for future hopes as that it can have no portion in present enjoyments . rather let them know by your doctrine and behaviour , that it is not an exchange of joy for sorrow , even in this life but of inferior , baser , less solid and less lasting ones for such as are incomparably more valuable and more secure ; and that it is so far from disturbing or embittering societies as that , on the contrary , it obliges both to love and to be worthy to be beloved , to do all the good we can to all mankind , which must needs mutually endear them ; and qualifie them for a mutual renunciation of their own wills in complyance with each other , and that indeed , not onely by way of complement . by all means therefore be chearful before company , that you may not bring an ill report upon the pleasant land of promise , like the murmuring spies h but take a special complacency in seeing others chearful as well as your self ( it was recorded as a saying of our saviour in the interpolated gospel according to the nazarenes : nunquam laeti sitis nisi cùns fratres in charitate videritis ) and do not willingly give any offence to any , but where justice and their own greater interest require it ; and even then , take care that their offence rather be , at their own guilt , than your way of admonition , at least beware that they may have no just reason to do so . but especially take care to behave your self chearfully in your exercises of austerity that they may understand that there are indeed other joyes besides those of sense , and that they are chiefly then to be expected when the mind is freest from worldly solaces . but that which will be a special endearment of you to society , will be neither to speak evil of any behind their backs your self , nor to hearken to such as would ; to prevent all quarrels before your presence , which will be easier , either by preventing the occasion or increase of passion , which will be also so much easier if it be taken before it grow unruleable ; or by diverting the discourse , or withdrawing one from the other ; or , if they be already fallen out , by endeavouring their reconciliation , and a good understanding among them for the future ; to be the common preservative of peace among your flock , and the arbitrator of their differences . yet you must withall take heed that this complyance be not prejudicial to that gravity and seriousness which is necessary for preserving that sacrd respect to your office primarily , and to your person in regard of your office , which is necessary for deterring many , even in a mute way , from their sins , by virtue of those unobliterated impressions of conscience and modesty , and that slavish honour of virtue and shame of vice , which naturally seize on the most debauched persons imaginable . and seeing that the whole recommendation of your doctrine is , as i said before , in accommodation to these childish apprehensions of the vulgar , resolved into their esteem of your person ; you ought above all things to be tender of those requisites that are necessary either for acquiring this esteem , or its preservation . and this seeming contradiction that seems to be betwixt this complyance and awfulness may thus conveniently be reconciled , if you observe , that your complyance be in your censures , but your awfulness in your practice ; by being a mild judge of other mens actions , but a severe censurer of your own ; condemning onely evil things in others , but the very appearances of it in your self ( as you must needs do if you would be exemplary , and you must be exemplary if you would awe ) for in order to your own practice , you must consider , not onely the nature of the thing , but the decorum of your person ( which , because it is so necessary for capacitating you for the discharge of your calling , you must be obliged to observe under pain of sin ) so that that may be lawful for a laick , which cannot be so for you . for your own persons sake therefore you are to forbear , not onely such things as are unlawful in their own nature , but such as are inexpedient ; not onely such as are inexpedient , but such as are indecent ; not onely such as are indecent for others , but such as are so for you ; not onely such as are so , but such as may appear so ; not onely such as may appear so on just and reasonable grounds , but such as may be thought so by others , and so may engage them in sin , though unjustly and unreasonably . nay , even in things that were lawful for you , it were well that , it they be any thing light and trivial , as exercises & recreations , or telling of merry stories : that they were either not done before the vulgar laity ; or if they be , that they be managed with such sparingness and abstemiousness , that it may appear that they are rather used for their profit than their pleasure , and therefore that you be neither tedious nor eagerly concerned in them . but most of all you are to take care of jeasting with the inferior laity themselves , who , as they are less capable of reason , and so more awed by these ceremonial distances , are also more apt to despise you , when they see them transgressed by you . xxi . but that which is the first second and third requisite for this calling , as the orator said concerning pronunciation in rhetorick , is a holy and an exemplary life . for seeing that the vulgar is thus to be decoyed to embrace your doctrine , not for its reason , but for the respect they are first to entertain for its preacher ; as you must maintain your own credit among them , that they may be ready to believe what is taught them by you , so you must also let them understand that what you teach them is indeed believed by your self , and they can have no reason to believe you do so unless they see you practice it . for do not the same duties oblige , and the same menaces belong to you , as to them ; and cannot you ( even by your own confession ) expect a more favourable hearing ( if you may not fear one more severe for the reasons already mentioned ) and is hell and damnation the acknowledged reward of those actions you are guilty of your self ? if you were fearful that this were true , certainly you would not venture on them ; if you be not , how is it credible that you do believe them ? if you do not believe them your self , how can you perswade others to believe them for your sake , who are ( as i said before ) uncapable themselves of judging of your solid reasons . how little solid soever this way of arguing be in it self , yet assure your self , it is that on which the practices of the vulgar , to whose apprehensions you are to accommodate your self in this affair , are mainly grounded . i might have shewn you also further , what influence this would have in procuring the qualifications already mentioned , that belong to morality . for experience ; you must needs be better acquainted in dealing with other mens conditions , when you had first tryed their weaknesses in your self . this would inform you how tender a thing conscience is , and yet how ticklish ; how many misunderstandings it is obnoxious to , and how it is influenced by the difference of mens humours and constitutions . and this must , at least , make you tender and cautions in dealing with them . for prudence also , that being nothing else but the impartiality whereby right reason is able to judge concerning circumstances ; and the rectitude of reason consisting in the immunity of the understanding from all prejudices , either intellectual or moral ; holiness of life contributing to this immunity , removing those moral prejudices which are of greatest concernment here , must also be considerably advantageous for enabling it to judge prudently . so also for courage and confidence , how can he fear the faces of men who undervalues all that for which they fancy themselves so very terrible , even death it self with whatsoever aggravations ; who has the encouragement of glorious future hopes , and present visitations ; who is fully confident of the good will of god ( from whom he receives them , when incurred in his service ) that his tribulations shall be proportioned to his abilities ; and accordingly that , if they be great , his consolations shall be the more , which are so much valuable beyond them , that the severest tribulations prove in the event the greatest blessings , as intitling him to them ? so also it has been already shewn how a sweet and sociable , yet grave and serious , behaviour is either the express duty of religion it self , especially that of a clergieman , or a necessary consequence from that excellent temper religious exercises are likely to bring its practitioners to . xxii . now because this sanctitie of life , as in you , must also be exemplary , it will therefore be necessary that it have two qualifications : that it be excellent , and that it be conspicuous . for an example must be understood , in regard of them to whom it is propounded , to have the notion of a rule ; and a rule must be able to rectifie the actions that are to be ruled by it ; which it cannot do if either there be any obliquity in it self , or if its rectitude be unknown to the party concerned in it . it s excellency must be necessary in respect of the vulgar , who are concerned to imitate it ; and therefore must exceed the strict duty of a laick ; for usually learners do allow themselves a liberty of falling short of their copy , and therefore if ever the laity do reach the severity of their pastor ; either they must thence forward not make his practice their precedent , or be incurious of a further progress . the former i have already intimated , how disproportionable it is to their ordinary apprehensions . and how dangerous the later is , every mans experience may inform him ; that whilest he growes negligent , he looses what he has , as well as fails of the gains he might have made ; and besides that is never likely to reach to that perfection , at which , it is the duty of a laick , as well as a clergieman , to aim . and you must remember with what savour they are likely to judge their own having reached your example . besides , you should consider that they will not measure their own perfection by the multitude of duties , but the excellent manner of performing them ; and that they are all sensible ( of what is truth whether they were so or not ) that you are obliged to some duties in which they are not any wayes concerned ; and that therefore they discharging their own duties as well as you do yours , though they be fewer , yet that they are equal with you . you must therefore so behave your self as to neglect no part of your duty : whether as to your general , or your particular calling ; as a christian , or as a clergieman , that may be subject to the observation of men ( for this kind of perfection is acknowledged possible by all protestants ) and that , not onely in omitting no duty , but in performing all the good that may be expected from your profession . otherwise how can you i silence blasphemers with confusion and shame whilest they may have any just occasion of carping at you ? how can you k adorn your profession , and bring even infidels to an acknowledgment of the glory of god by the excellency of your conversation . remember that these expressions now mentioned from the apostles are set down as the duty of private christians ; and what severity must then be necessary for them who are to be patterns , not onely to the world ; but also to those who are to be their precedents ? and besides your greater duties , it will concern you to be punctual even in small things ; in fulfilling your duty , and performing your promises , how frivolous soever the matter were ; for this was it that gained the pharisees such a reputation of sanctity , and yet not blamed by our saviour ; but their hypocrisie in observing these minute things with a scrupulous severity , but neglecting the weightier matters of the law without reluctancy . but especially it will concern you to be cautious and severe in such virtues as concern a moral civil conversation , and in matters of worldly interest , for these are the peculiar objects of the love , and consequently of the jealousie of the vulgar , and therefore here you may expect to find them most severely critical . and if these virtues be taken care of , you may expect to find them more favourable in censuring vices of the spirit ; for this is that which so ingratiates the quakers and other ent●usiasts with them , whose other vices of uncharitable censoriousness , and spiritual pride , and imperious dogmatizing , are so far from being noted by them as that , when they gain proselytes it is not upon rational accounts ( which they disclaim under the opprobrious name of carnal reasonings ) but by a recommendation of their persons , upon account of their severe observation of secular justice . xxiii . but it is also further necessary that this excellency be conspicuous . and this qualification , though of excellent use for your flock , may prove of dangerous consequence to your self , if not discreetly managed . the use of it for the good of others appears from those passages of scripture , wherein christians are called l the salt of the earth , m the city that is placed on a hill , and cannot be hid , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n the luminaries of the world , o not to be concealed under bushels , but placed in candlesticks ; and where they are commanded p to let their light so shine before men , that they might see their good works , and glorifie their father which is in heaven ; many of which are spoken indeed to private christians as well as others ; but especially concern the clergie , who are to be luminaries to the commonalty as they are to the gentile world. and upon this account ( the necessity of the church requiring it ) st. paul himself q becomes a fool ( it is his own expression ) even in publishing the materials of his own praise : the sufferings , and miracles , nay the revelations which were such as might not onely prefer him before the false apostles , but equal him to the true ones themselves . and most expresly he perswades them r to provide for things honest , not onely before god , but also before men . accordingly the bishops by the ancient canons were not to go any where without the attendance of some of their clergie that might be able to give testimony of their behaviour ; and st. ambrose , s that severe distributer of his time , prohibited none for coming to him at any time , though he supposed that persons would not be so unmannerly as to disturb him unnecessarily when they saw him better employed , as st. augustine witnesses ; and another bishop , in t sozomen is mentioned to have kept open house that any might at any time surprize him if engaged in any indecent action . you must not therefore think that when our saviour reproves the pharisees for doing their actions so u that they might be seen of men , and on the contrary seems to prescribe such a secrecy as that x the right hand may not know what the left hand does , that it is in all cases forbidden that our good actions be known , or that we are alwayes obliged to conceal them ; but that it is expedient that we conceal them when their publication may not be peculiarly serviceable for the edification of others ; not to publish them for any complacency we are to take in them our selves , but merely for that service to god for which we may be enabled by our reputation among men . i confess the publication of virtues is very disadvantageous in several regards for the person : partly because experience shewes that the heats of religious passions themselves , as well as others , evaporate by being vented ; partly because it exposes us more to the inspection and censures of men , which , whatever they be , may prove dangerous to us if they be intended by us . for it is hard to intend them without some complacency and concernedness in them , which , whether it be for god's sake or our own , is alike dangerous . for if we be concerned , then we must needs be discouraged if they fall contrary to our expectations ; or if they prove favourable , it will be very hard to distinguish what is useful for the service of god , and what onely gratifies our own humours in the object of our complacencies ; which difficulty is by so much the more dangerous , inasmuch as it is more spiritual , and less easily discernible , virtues either supposed or real being its most dangerous temptation ; which is a deplorable case , to be at the expence of denying our selves , and suffering all the difficulties of materially virtuous actions , and yet to loose the reward of them by seeking it unduly and preposterously . but on the other side , the conveniences of having your resolutions and several of your actions known , are : that exposing your self hereby to publick censure , you may , if true , take them for warnings and admonitions ; if false , for tryals and exercises of your patience ; that you may therefore terrifie and awe your self into a greater caution , when you remember so many critical eyes ready to observe your lapses ; that you may avoyd many impertinent temptations which all will be ashamed to motion to a person unlikely to entertain them . and assure your self that it were much more beneficial for the edification of your flock , that you were hypocritical than licentious ; and that it is the safer extreme to e●r in professing too much than too little , as long as it does not appear that your profession is not real . for the hypocrite onely perishes himself , but may notwithstanding save others though himself be reprobate , as the apostle does y imply , and he honours religion even in counterfeiting it , which must needs alleviate his condemnation . but the scandalous licentious person is like the dragon in the revelations , z that involves the very stars in his own ruine , or like him in the gospel , who not onely breaks the evangelical prescriptions himself , but also teaches others to do so too , who though he do it in the most frivolous instances , yet our saviour himself threatens that he should be the least in the kingdom of heaven , that is , none at all , as it is usually understood s. matth. v. 19. though , for my part , i had rather understand by the kingdom of heaven , the gospel-state ( for this seems to be the notion of it s. matth. iii. 2. iv . 17. x. 7. xi . 11. xiii . 24. 31. 33. 41. 44. 45. 47. 52. xviii . 23. xx . 1. xxii . 2. xxv . 1. and of the kingdom of god s. matth. xii . 28. xxi . 43. mark i. 15. iv . 26. 30. luk. iv . 43. vii . 28. viii . 1. x. 9 , 11. xi . 20. xiii . 18. 20. and accordingly the gospel it self is called the gospel of the kingdom , and they who are interes●ed in it , the sons of the kingdom , upon several occasions ) and by the being least therein , the least participation of its priviledges , according to which the meaning will be : that he who teaches men to despise the least injunctions of the gospel ( who yet may still own himself a professor of it , which cannot justly be pretended of him that teaches to despise the greatest ) shall enjoy least of the gospel priviledges , whether it be in a diminution of his reward , or a mitigation of punishment , or in enjoying exterior priviledges onely in opposition to the interior . i have the rather mentioned these perswasions because i verily believe the fear of being noted of singularity and hypocrisie & affectation does dete●r many , not onely of the laity , but the complying clergie themselves of our church , from making an exterior profession of what they do most conscientiously practice in private ; to whose consideration i shall onely at present recommend that severe threatning of our lord , that of them who are ashamed of him before men he will also be ashamed before his father and his holy angels . now that you may accommodate these difficulties together , and so let your other virtues appear , as that their appearance may not prove prejudicial to your modesty ; you must take heed that that publick applause do not provoke you to think better of your self than you really deserves which you may have reason to avoyd , if you remember : that whatever men think of you , yet you are really no greater than god knowes you to be , and that by this measure you must expect your reward ; that men are fallible in their judgments , judging according to fondness , or affection , or charity , which will not onely provoke , but oblige , them to judge well when they find no reason to the contrary , though indeed there be ; by which means good men themselves may be mistaken in judging too favourably of you , and that commendably , in reference to themselves ; and in their informations , knowing nothing but the bare action , but not the intention from whence all its morality is most properly , and most securely , estimable . be sure therefore that this shewing your works to others be like the a cloud in the wilderness , which on the one side enlightned the israelites , but on the other darkned the egyptians . so let their excellencies appear outwardly , that they may stir up your spectators to the praise of god , and the emulation of your example , as that , at the same time , onely their imperfections may appear inwardly to your self , which may prostrate you to as low a humiliation . besides , it were well that besides what they knew , you would reserve some greater excellencie unknown , for which you might onely have regard to god , who sees in secret what he will openly reward . for if you can do any excellent action for which you can have no motive or design in this world , then it will be clear that , even in those whereby you may gain secular applause , yet that is not your either onely , or ultimate , motive . and in general , where you find their commendations exceed your merits , let it stir you up to a virtuous shame of being less worthy than you seem . xxiv . but that without which all these qualifications will not suffice , if separated from it , and without which you cannot prudently venture on such a dangerous calling , is a resolution of persisting in them all firmly and unmoveably for the future . for this is the prudent consideration of the builder so much commended by our saviour , ( and you must remember that the analogie holds very well in the clerical calling , for as himself is called an architect , 1 cor. iii. 10. so his employment is called edification , not onely there , but also rom. xv . 20. gal. ii . 18. 2 cor. x. 8. xii . 19. xiii . 10. eph. ii . 20. 21. iv . 11. 12. ) that built his house upon a rock , against which neither the rainy torrent , nor the violent rivers , nor the tempestuous winds , were able to prevail . s. matth. vii . 24. 25. for you must remember that not to maintain your building is as great an inconsideration as not to finish it ; though indeed , final perseverance being the onely accomplishment of this building , it cannot be finished if it be not maintained . you must therefore besides the former qualifications , which are requisite to this purpose , remember that the calling , you are undertaking , will oblige you for your life , and therefore your choice , if imprudently made , will therefore be of worse consequence , because it is irrevocable ; so that your chief care must be to foresee whether you be able to persevere afterwards in maintaining what you have begun , and that for your whole life . and for this end you must consider your qualifications themselves : whether they have appeared onely in single acts or in habits ; or if in habits , whether they be newly acquired or strongly confirmed and rooted by custome ; for you cannot trust any other habits for their duration for so long a time . besides you must consider whether your temper be fickle , or stable ; if it be fickle , you can trust no habits themselves longer than you persevere in the same humour , or till they may decay gradually according to the method of their acquisition . then also you must consider the difficulties you may have occasion to conflict with , which if they be less than those you have already dealt with or equal , you may hope to persevers but if greater , you cannot conclud● that , because your habits have bee● so confirmed as not to yield to smaller difficulties , therefore they would be able to hold out in greater tryals . and for those you must not onely foresee such as you are likely to encounter at your first entrance upon this holy calling , but such as you may probably meet with in the course of your whole life , but still with regard to the proficiencie you may make in confirming those habits you have against the time you may have occasion to meet them in , if you be not deficient to your self . nor would i have you think that i herein make your future hopes of the grace of god a cypher , in requiring you to foresee all future difficulties , and to measure them by ●roportion to your present strengths ; or you see i do not deny the ne●essitie of the grace of god for ●ringing you to this excellent frame ●f spirit i have been hitherto des●ribing ; nor all such hopes of grace ●or the future as may be grounded ●n covenant-conditions , your cooperation and improvement of what you have at present ; so that the onely grace whose hopes i have seemed to exclude , is that which is extraordinary and uncovenanted , such as is all that which is necessary for overcoming those difficulties , which you have voluntarily incurred your self , and which were not likely to befall you in an ordinary course of providence , nor are brought upon you by an extraordinary . but as for other difficulties , which cannot be foreseen , but are merely casual in respect of second causes ; you need not be so anxious , but leave them confidently to that providence which has prohibited your carefulness for them ; and do not fear your being disappointed in such dependences as are not rash and imprudent , as long as you are otherwise careful● of performing those duties on which your title to these promises does depend . xxv . if you be already engaged in orders , as this discourse suppose● you not to be , you may be tempted to think all that has hitherto been said digressive and unseasonable . but you will find no reason to do so after a little recollection . for as , if you be not , there will be no occasion for such a surmise ; so if you be , yet it will be useful to you , if not as a warning to shew you what you are to do , yet at least as an information , both what you ought to have done before , and what you ought therefore to be penitent for , if you hitherto have neglected it , and upon what you are to lay out your whole endeavours for the future . but , to proceed , supposing now that you are the person i have been hitherto describing , you cannot stand in need of any particular rules ; for if you be thus called by god you shall be taught by him in the performance of the duty to which he has called you ( i mean this teaching as well as the call in an ordinary providential sense , which is that wherein the prophesies concerning it are verified under the gospel ) for both this prudence and other abilities will be able to guide , and this piety to suggest , what is fit to be done upon all particular exigencies ; and as those themselves are gifts of the spirit , so their improvement will intitle you to greater , so that their direction and influence is rather to be imputed to god than man , though it be true , that now by virtue of the evangelical covenant they are usually conferred in the use of ordinary means , and this reaching particular circumstances must needs make all rules unnecessary . if you do not understand this coherence , you may more clearly by this chain of principles : first , the providential teaching and direction of god is that of right reason , so that they that are led by it are led by god ; secondly , that we may be led by right reason two things are necessary , and these two are perfectly sufficient : first , that the rational faculties be rectified ; and secondly , that the lower appetite and other executive faculties be in a ready disposition of being obedient to reason . and both these must needs have been supposed in the qualifications now mentioned . for the rectifying of the rational faculty does require onely : that nothing be taken for granted precariously , and that the understanding be not diverted from its ordinary natural course of examining things to the full ; for it is from the first principles of reason impossible that the understanding taking no principles for granted but such as deserve to be so , and proceeding orderly in deducing consequences from them , should be mistaken . i do not mean that the understanding proceeding thus is alwayes infallible as to the nature of the thing , because it may mistake some principles for self-evident that are not so , merely upon an account of that natural dulness it contracts from the body ; but it is alwayes infallible as a rule of morality , that is , the lower faculties conforming to it can never be guilty of any immorality , because the error , if any be , must needs be invincible , and so inculpable . and upon this account god , who does not undertake , nor is concerned , to direct the understanding any further than it is necessary for the saving of the person , cannot be reasonably conceived to have any other infallibility in his design than this moral one , at least , is not obliged to have it . now for the rectifying of the rational faculties you are first , supposed to have used means for informing it by your skill in those several studies which have been hitherto advised ; you are secondly , disswaded and prevented from imbibing any prejudices , or any corrupt affections for one party by your immediate recourse to the originals themselves ; you are thirdly , advised for the most accurate improvement of your judgment in a clear and advantageous method of reasoning ; and fourthly , in the use of all these means you have been shewn how you may in an ordinary way be confident of the assistance of divine providence in such cases as you cannot secure your self in by your moral diligence : whether for removing such prejudices as you could otherwise hardly discover to be so ; or by providential placing you in such circumstances wherein those reasons may offer themselves to your cognizance which you could otherwise never have discovered ; or by capacitating your judgment for a more equal censure concerning them ; whether by improving your natural capacity to a more than ordinary perspicuity ; or by rendring intellectual objects more intelligible by your greater experience , and familiarity , and fixation of your mind upon them ; or by fitting them to such times when your judgment may be less distracted , and consequently more quick and apprehensive ; and by giving his holy spirit by virtue of which they are to be discerned . now when all these things are thus secured , certainly there cannot be more probable humane means thought on for finding even the truth it self , and therefore the rational faculties must have the greatest security they are capable of , and to greater they cannot be obliged . and then , considering that natural reason thus purified is b the candle of the lord , and that the spirit which may thus be expected is the c spirit that leadeth into all truth , and the d divine unction that teaches all things ; i do not see why it may not be said as truly here as it was falsely said of e herod , that the judgment of reason thus rectified is not the voice of man , but of god. and then for the second thing required to this rectitude of reason , the subjection of the lower appetite to the superior part of the soul thus rectified , that is the whole design of a good life , a qualification already sufficiently recommended , which therefore needs not to be further spoken of at present . xxvi . so that , if you be already ordained , you see , that according to these principles , your main duty will be , either seriously to set your self to the acquiring these qualifications , if you have hitherto neglected them ; or , if you have not , to take a care of keeping your garment that none may see your shame , and reteining your first love ( the very warnings of our saviour himself to those of your profession rev. iii. 18. ii . 4. ) to persevere in those excellent dispositions that you have so happily begun , and from thence to deduce rules for your following practices . for rendring these requisites a little more useful , i shall onely add two things more , and so put an end to your present disturbance . the first shall be concerning the manner either of acquiring , or exercising th●se gifts , especially relating to practice , that may be most beneficial both to your self , and the publick ; the second concerning the manner of dealing with your parishioners that may make them capable of your instructions . concerning the former , it has been already intimated before , that the most proper way of perswading mankind is first to allure them to the performance of actions materially virtuous , and by a frequent repetition of them to beget an easiness and delight , and a rooted habit , which , when acquired , and that averseness and sensuality , which before had rendred men uncapable of good counsels , being removed , you may then propound your reasons with success , and rectifie their intentions , and render them formally virtuous . that therefore which will most concern you for the publick as well as your own soul , is , the rectifying your intention . seeing therefore right intention is to be measured from the due end , you must take care that all your religious actions in general be designed with an intention so habitual and deeply rooted , as that all particular ones may , according to the degree of deliberation they proceed from , partake of the same either virtually and interpretatively , or explicitely and particularly . now the proper end of religious actions being the service and pleasing of god , you must take care that they be performed with that design which you know to be most pleasing to him : and that is the doing them purposely for his sake ; and that they are so done you may best satisfie your self by examining whether they proceed from a principle of divine love . exercise your self therefore daily to bring your self to this habitual sense of the divine love , which will even in this life abundantly recompence the pains you may be at in acquiring it . for both in respect of your self and of your flock you shall find it advantageous . to your self the advantages will be : that by this means you shall best secure the reward of your virtuous actions , when you do not onely perform them , but perform them upon a virtuous motive ; that by this means your duty shall become , not a task , but , a real pleasure , proceeding from such a pleasing and endearing principle ; and having the omnipotence and good will of god to secure you from the fears of disappointment when your desires are reasonable ; and as a sure refuge and sanctuary to have recourse to , when they are not ; and that you will not be subject to the slavery of such desires themselves , which are the originals of all misery even in this life ; and your performance of your duty will be more universal ; not onely in things agreeing with your humour , but even in those which are most contradictory to it , which will be so much the more acceptable to god by how much it is less so . to our selves . besides , it were well that you would endeavour to render your love as rational as you can , and as little dependent on the passions of the lower appetites ; for by this means your tranquillity will be continual , and not depend on the vicissitudes of humours ; seeing , if you be led onely by reason , that being alwayes true , must consequently be alwayes seasonable ; and that the reason whereby you judge concerning your own condition were rather grounded on your actions than your affections , so as never to think better of your self when you find your affections warm , if your actions are not correspondent ; nor the worse , when your affections flagg , your actions still continuing conformable . this rational rectifying of your intention would still oblige you to keep an habitual attention and watchfulness over your actions , and yet would make attention it self less necessary by being habitual , and make it less affected . it would make it less necessary , because virtuous habits , as well as vitious , would breed a facility and inclination to virtuous actions even antecedently to deliberation . it would make it less affected , because piety would appear in such actions where affectation could not take place , as well as where it might ( for indeliberate actions are not capable of affectation ) and because it would make an uniformity in all actions of your life , which were remarkable . which must needs make your life exemplary with more advantage to your self , as well as to the vulgar : to your self , because observing of rules could not be practiced but in actions deliberate , which are but few , and must be handled more tediously ; whereas this way of securing acts by habits and habituallyright intentions , would at once provide for all , by diminishing their number , and by directing such as would remain : to the multitude ; who by this means must better be convinced of the truth and sincerity of their pastor , when their most accurate inspection could discern no affectation , and that by all appearances it seemed real , not hypocritical . xxvii . for. managing your cure it were well that you would constantly allot some time daily from your studies for visiting them , when you shall think them best at leasure . and because the particular persons may be more than you may be able to deal with in an ordinary way , therefore for their ordinary cure you should first win parents and masters of families to a sense of piety , which being once performed , you may then easily induce them to a care of the souls of their f children and servants , by shewing them how their religion would conduce to their verry secular interest ( that hereby their servants would prove more faithful , and their children more obedient and comfortable to them ) that therefore they should keep up their family duties constantly : their morning and evening prayers ; that occasionally they would instill an instruction in their duties , by having some good book read to them all , especially the whole duty of man , according to the method of the partitions therein prescribed , every sunday one ; that they would , by your advice prescribe some select g passages of scripture fitted for their practical use , to be gotten by heart by them ; to instruct them , as they find them capable , in the art of holy meditation and mental prayer ; to stir them up to a frequent communion , and to desire your advice upon occasion of any important scruple , whether in order to the sacrament , or upon any other occasion ; and to influence them all by their word , and example , and exhortation , and peculiar encouragement . then endeavour what you can , to abolish the nurseries of vice and publick debauchery , not by imploring the magistrates assistance ( that becomes secular persons rather than your self , and would be apt to harden the hearts of the persons concerned against you ; when they should find your exhortations backed with no better arguments ) but by perswasions ; partly by disswading the multitude of such callings as are interessed in mens vices , ( such are taverns and ale-houses , especially the most debauched of them ) to give over that kind of calling , and betake themselves to something more profitable for the commonwealth , and more secure for their own souls . concerning this you may make use of the advice and assistance of your more able parishioners , who may be best experienced in the commodities of the countrey , and may be able to employ them even in raising new advantageous arts of trading , if it be necessary . but for those trades that are directly unlawful , if they be not able to undertake any other , it were better that they were maintained on the publick charity than that they should be suffered to return to their former employments . you may see for this st. cyprians epistle ad eucratium l. j. ep. 10. so also it were well that those taverns and ale-houses , which might be permitted after the detraction of their superfluous number , were confined to inns who by their paucity might gain sufficiently and virtuously a convenient maintenance . and to this purpose you might perswade them to keep small drink , that none may be necessitated to use their strong ; and to take care of either tempting or permitting any to drink beyond their measure , as they would tender the security of their own souls from a participation of their sins . then it were well , in the next place , that you frequented the schools , if there be any , and according to the authority the law allowes the clergie in such cases , examined the care and method of their masters , and especially to take care of a method of instilling piety into their children , which their masters may practice them in ; h or , if their masters be negligent , you should allure and encourage them your self . do not despise this mean employment ; for both you will find them more capable of virtue than such as are confirmed in vitious habits , by a more inflexible age , and longer custome ; and by this means you may more easily secure the hopes of the next generation , which you may live your self to see grown up according to your own desire . then for giving them more particular prescriptions you should stir them up to a particular confession of their sins and temptations , according as our mother the i church of england and k ireland approves it , but to give them no formal absolution till a long experience has let you understand their stability in keeping their resolutions , which will both keep them careful in their daily practices , when as yet they are uncertain of their condition ; and will come with more comfort , either in a time of spiritual dejection , or the hour of death , when they shall find that you are neither precipitant nor favourable in judging concerning them ; ●esides that their pardon before god in order to the sacrament will be never the less valid because you do not assure them of it . and , in doing this it were well that , with advice of your ordinary , you would retrive the canon of this church of l ireland for tolling your parish bell the evening before the eucharist , and waiting for such in the church as are desirous to confess themselves , or ask your ghostly counsel , withall warning them of those crimes which you are not obliged to conceal , that they may not think themselves betrayed under pretence of religion . besides , you should be ready to take all occasions of peoples seriousness and melancholy , whether for temporal discontents , or for fear of death , and upon such occasions to warn the spectators to beware of deferring the care of their souls to such exigencies , who will then most probably be affected , and so to behave your self to the person principally concerned as that the standers by may understand the ground of his comfort to be rather his past life than any indications he can give of his present penitence . and upon occasion of your visitation of sick persons , you should remember what the rubrick of the office requires you to put them that are rich in mind of laying up a good foundation for the time to come 1 tim. vi . 17. 18. 19. of shewing their gratitude to god who has blessed them by paying him an acknowledgment out of their gains ; and shewing themselves not to be proprietors but faithful stewards , especially if the riches be justly gotten ; otherwise you must refuse their very oblations , till they have first made satisfaction to the persons injured by them . but what is justly gotten , and may be lawfully accepted , it were better bestowed in a considerable summe ( for houses of correction for maintaining idle vagabonds , and raising them to do something profitable for a livelihood ; for educating and raising necessitious persons to an honest calling ; for helping those who are reclaimed from a scandalous course ; for all those good uses , which in the primitive church were supplyed out of the common treasures of the church ) than in transient almes . many other things might have been added , but that , you may remember , i did not promise you an enumeration of all particulars of this kind . onely these seem more necessary for reducing your people to a ruleable temper , without which your other care will not be so significant . i hope you will excuse the freedom i have taken ; for my own part i thought i could not have discharged the duty of a faithful friend , if i had not done so . otherwise i have been so far from imposing on you , that i have not advised any thing , which either is not evident , or has not its reason insinuated with it in the body of my discourse ; and so may freely be judged of either by your self , or any other whom you shall make use of either for its correction or improvement . whatever the event may prove , assure your self , it was undertaken with a good intention , by your assured well-wisher , especially in such christian services , h. d. ad num. xii . xiii . because i have there shewn the necessity of studying the fathers of the first and purest centuries , as a qualification for the susception of orders ; it has been by some friends , that perused it , conceived convenient for the instruction of novices , for whose use this advice was principally calculated and designed , that i should adjoyn a catalogue of the christian authors and writings , such as are genuine , during that period , till the conversion of constantine to christianity , together with good editions where they might find and furnish themselves with them . i was soon satisfied of the reasonableness of this request , and have accordingly endeavoured its performance , wherein if i may seem decretory in resolving positively somethings controverted among learned men , without producing my reasons ; i desire that it may be remembred that my design was not to prejudicate against skilful dissenters , but to advise such as were unskilful ; and that even in regard of them , the reason why i do not produce my reasons is not that , by concealment of my evidence , i might oblige them to depend on my authority , but partly to avoyd prolixity , and partly because i do not conceive such unskilful readers competent judges of them , and partly because such as are , may consult many others who have undertaken it professedly ; and that , though the reasons be not produced , yet the degree of assent , whether certain , or doubtful , or probable , is warned , which was the most cautious way i could imagine of dealing with such persons , especially these things themselves not being delivered from my own private sense , but of such as have most learnedly and impartially managed this subject . i do not intend as much as to mention such authors or writings which i conceive undeservedly to pretend to my prescribed period ( what my thoughts are concerning such may be sufficiently concluded from my not mentioning them ) nor to explode such works as are falsly inscribed to the particular persons whose names they bear , if upon other regards they may seem genuine in respect of the time intended , that is , if it be probable that their authors who ever they were flourished within the period intended , about the time wherein they are ranked , that so they may be presumed competent testimonials of the state of the church in those ages , which is the end for which i produce and recommend them . nor shall i trouble my self to recount such genuine truly-inscribed works themselves , as either are not at all extant at present , or extant onely in fragments quoted at the second hand from other antient authors ; for these will be in order met with in the places from whence they are respectively produced , and references to those places will generally be found in their good and accurate editions . nor lastly do i pretend to give an account of such histoans as have described the acts of the martyrs , and are conceived ancient ; for both many of them are anonymous , concerning whom it would be very hard to resolve on their particular age ; and it is a work particularly undertaken by it self by surius , lippomannus , &c. in those authors therefore which shall , after these deductions , remain proper for my purpose , i shall signifie the time they flourished in ( which is most necessary for my present design of discovering their testimonial authority ) not by years , which would be obnoxious to many further disputes , but by the beginning , middle , or end , of their respective centuries since the incarnation . a catalogue of the writings of such christian authors as flourished before the conversion of the romane empire to christianity . i. clemens romanus . his i. epistle to the corinthians , undoubted . his 2. ep. to the same , though question'd whether his , yet certainly is of an author very ancient ; flourishing within the period intended . edit . of a fragment of the later , and the former almost entire , by patricius junius at oxford , anno. dom. mdc . xxxviii . ii. i gnatius . his vi . ep. of primate vsher's latine , and isa ac vossius's florentine greek editions , viz. ad ephesios . ad magnesianos . ad trallianos . ad smyrnaeos . ad romanos . ad philadelphienses . questioned onely , i think , out of interest by the presbyterians , because he is decretory against them . his epistle ad polycarpum is thought by isaac vosfius in his notes , undeservedly questioned by our primate . edit . by primate vsher at oxford , partly an. do. mdcxliv . partly mdcxlvi . iii. barnabas . his epistle , if not of the apostle , yet certainly written about this time , seing it is quoted under his name by clemens alexandrinus strom. ii . p. 273. 274. 285. 290. 300. v. 417. 421. and origen . l. 1. cont. cels . l. iii. periarch . and others . edit . together with ignatius's epistles by isaac vossius a. d. mdcxlvi . or alone by hugo menardus . paris . mdcxlv .. iv. esdras . his iv . book apocryphall counterfeited by some judaizing christian about these times . v. hermes trismegistus . his poemauder thought to be a christiancounterfeit , by casaubon , exercit . i. in baron . num . x. edit . the best by hannibal rosellis colon. agrip . mdcxxx . fol. vi. polycarpus . his epistle to the philippians , undoubted . edit . with ignatius by primate vsher as aforesaid . vii . ecclesiae smyrnensis epistola , concerning the martyrdome of st. polycarp &c. larger than in eusebius . edit . the same . viii . jvstine martyr . his undoubted works . paraeneticus . oratio adversùs graecos . apologia i. ad antoninum pium &c. apologia ii. ad marcum antoninum &c. dialogus cum tryphone . epistol . ad zenam & serenum . his works , though doubted , yet most probably genuine . de monarchiô , not much questioned . epistol . ad diognetum , questioned , i think , onely by sylburgius . edit . paris . mdcxv . graeco-latin . ix . hermas . his pastor in iii. books undoubtedly ancient , and about this time , at least , as appears by the antiquity of the authours that quote it . edit . bibliothec. patr. colon. agrippin . mdcxviii . tom. i. p. 27. x. pius the i. his iii. and iv. epistles in the order of blondells edition not much questioned . edit . david blondell . epistol . pontific . genev. mdcxxviii . xi . a thenagoras . his works , though mentioned by none of the ancients yet never questioned that i know of . legatio pro christianis . de resurrectione mortuorum . edit . with st. justine martyr as aforesaid . xii . tatianus . undoubted ▪ oratio ad graecos . edit . with s. justine martyr , as aforesaid . diatessaron , thought to be the same with . harmonia evangelica extant under the name of ammonius alexandrinus . edit . biblioth . patr. edit . colon . agrip. tom. iii. p. 22. xiii . theophilus antiochenus . undoubted . lib. iii. ad autolycum . edit . with st. justine martyr as aforesaid . commentaria or allegoriae in evangelia , somewhat doubted of by st. hierome in cant. who quotes them . edit . biblioth . patr. colon. agrip . tom. ii. xiv . i renaeus . undoubted , adversùs hereses . l. v. edit . the most compleat that i have seen is that of fevardentius , having ( besides as much of the original text in greek as could be had from the quotations of ancient authors ) v. whole chapters restored at the end not extant in any former . his notes tend rather generally to abuse the protestants than to explain the sense of his author . it is in fol. colon . ag. mdxcvi . i hope we may , ere long , expect a better edition from oxford . xv. oracul . sibyllin . l. viii . a counterfeit christian author , quoted by st. justine martyr and theoph. antiochenus , but not reduced into the form wherein we have it now till about the time of the emperor commodus at least . edit . opsopoei parisijs , mdcvii . xvi . testamenta patriarcharum counterfeited by some ancient judaizing christian , about this time at the uttermost ; for it is quoted by origen , in genes . edit . biblioth . patr. colon. agrip. tom. i. p. 173. xvii . clemens alex andrinus . undoubted . protreptic . paedagog . l. iii. stromat . l. vii . the viii . book as also the greek eclogae annexed at the end of it , thought to belong to his hypotyposes , the main body whereof is long since lost . edit . parisijs mdcxl . his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; published under the name of grigen's xx. homily on jerem . is accordingly extant in mich ghislerius on jerem . tom. iii. p. 262. comment . in i. ep. s. petr. in epist . s. judae in ep. canonicas s. joh●nnis . are probably the same accounted his by cassiodore , div. l. by whom they are all recounted excepting that of s. jude . they seem rather to have been collected out of his works , especially his hypotyposes now lost , than drawn up in this form by st. clement himself . edit . of the comment . bib. patr. tom. i. p. 1235. ed. secund. xviii . recognitionum l. x. ad jacob. fratrem domini , translated by ruffinus , and by him dedicated to one gaudentius . i do not suppose it to be the genuine work of clemens romanus whose name it bea●s ; for it is certainly later than bardesanes syrus , a discourse of whose quoted from him by eusebius pr. evang. l. vi. c. 10. is here transcribed at large ; and yet considerably ancienter than origen , philocal . by whom it is attributed to clemens romanus himself , which is the reason why i place it about this time . edit . colon. agrippin . mdlxix . by lambert gruterus . xix . celsus . his altercatio jasonis & papisci . a preface to it is extant under the name of st. cyprian ad vigilium de judaicâ incredulitate . edit . tom. iii. of s. cyprian's works according to pamelius's distinction . but the work is ancienter than origen , by whom it is quoted , l. iv. advers celsum epicuraeum . xx. tertullianus : undoubted . de pallio : apologeticus : de testimonio animae . ad scapulam . de oratione : ad martyras : de spectaculis . de idololatriâ . de habitu muliehri . de cultu faeminarum l. ii. ad vxorem suam l. ii. de coronâ militis . de velandis virginibus . ad nationes , l. ii first published by jacobus gothof●edus in 40. genev. mdcxxv . & therefore not to be expected in former editions . adversùs judaeos . de praescriptionibus adversùs haereticos . de baptismo . adversùs hermogenem . adversùs valentinianos . de anima . de carne christi . de resurrectione carnis . de fugâ in persecutione . de pudreitiâ . de patientiâ . adversùs asar●ionem , l. v. carminum adversùs eundem , l. v. scorpiacon adversùs gnosticos . adversùs ? r axeam . de exhortatione cas●itatis . de monogamiâ . de j●junto adversùs psychicos . a●● th●se are in ludovicus a cerda's edition , paris . mdcxxiv . &c. in three volumes fol. with notes . or if you would have an edition of an easier price , get that of franeker , mdxcii . rather than many others , though later . books probably his , or of some other of his age. de poenitentiâ , edit . as aforesaid . genesis . sodoma . ad senatorem conversum . these three last are in verse , and are usually extant both among tertullian & st. cyprian's works , being ascribed to both of them . books conjectu●ed by 〈◊〉 to be his , from the likeness of their style . ad amicum agro●●● . de 〈◊〉 circumcisio●e . 〈…〉 . of s. hierome's works . edit . basil. mdliii . the former at pag. 36. the later at pag. 119. xxi . epistola de cibis judaicis . not tertullian's , though ascribed to him , but of some bishop , who probably flourished about this time . some think of novatian the schismatick . edit . with tertullian as aforesaid . xxii . 〈◊〉 aduersùs graecos inscripta contra platonem , de vniversi caus● . a fragment of it published by david hoeschelius in his notes upon photius's bibliotheca , ad p. 15. by him attributed to a christian josephus , by our primate vsher to caius , about alexander the emperour's time . wh●ever he was that was author of it , he seems to have flourished within our period , and to have been a platonizing christian . xxiii . m●●ucius foelix . his octavius , undoubtedly his since discovered by fr. balduin . edit . lugdun . batav . mdclii . with notes . xxiv . hippolytus ●ishop & martyr , commonly called portuensis , if they be the same ; whether they were or no , yet they seem to have flourished about the same time , and have the same works indiscriminately ascribed to them such are : de antichristo , & consummatione mundi , though questioned by several , yet most probably genuine , seing it is mentioned as such by st. hierome de script . eccl. whose authority i conceive alone sufficient to countervail all those suspicions rather than 〈…〉 against it from the matter . edit . bibliothee . patr. graeco . latin. tom. ii . p. 342. canon paschalis not doubted that i know of . edit . joseph . scalig . lugd. batav . mdxcv . books probably his : de deo trino & uno & de mysterio incarnationis , contra haeresius noëti . edit . gerard. vossis in miscell . sanctor . patrum ad ●in . gregor . 〈…〉 & helicem haereticos . edit . heur . canisii tom. v. antiq. lect. part. 1 p. 153. both of th●se , if his , are probable to have been fragments of his work against h●resyes mentioned by the ancients . demonstratio contra judaeos . edit . possevin . apparat. verb. hippolytus . xxv . origenes adamantius . his undoubted works : 1. such as are extant in greek : cont. celsum . lib. viii . philoca●●a , 〈…〉 his works by st. 〈…〉 st. gregory edit . 〈…〉 viii . comment on st. matth. and on st. joh n●w . commentaryes on jerem. formerly published by the 〈◊〉 of st. cyrill . of alexandria , restored to origen , together with several parts of philocalia 〈…〉 to the scriptures to which they relate , &c. edit . in 2 vol. fol. by petr. dan. huetius , together with large and learned prolego●●na . a fragment of his epistle ad julium affricanum concerning the book of susanna . edit . by d. haeschelius augus● . vindelic mdcii . p. 86. we may , i hope 〈◊〉 long , expect more of his tractates in greek in an edition by themselves by the same hu●tius . 2. such as are extant in latine , in a tomes , according to genebrard's edition , mdciv. genuine in tom. 1. in genes . hom. xvii . in exod. hom. xiii in levitic . hom. xvi . though formerly attributed to s. cyrill , yet undoubted since their restitution . in josu● hom. xxvi . hom. ii . in cantic . canticorum , interpret . s. hieronymo . in isaiam hom. ix . in jeremiam hom. xiv . in ●zechielem hom. xiv . periarch●u l●v. genuine in tom. 2. in lucam hom. xxxix . in epist. ad roman . lib. xxxvi . cont. celsum l. viii . philocalia collected , as aforesaid , out of his works . epist. ad jul. affrican . entire in latine . other works probably his , and onely doubted of because of the liberty taken by 〈◊〉 in translating them , of adding frequently interpolations of his own : in num. hom. xxviii . in judi● . hom. ix . in lib. reg●or . hom. i. hom in ps. xxxvi xxxvii xxxviii . in cantic . canticer . hom. iv . cum 〈◊〉 . in divers . hom. i. iii. iv . v. vi . ix . x. note that learned men do not r●●y so confidently on any thing 〈◊〉 by ruffinus because of the difficulty of distinguishing the original text from his interpolations . xxvi . jvlius affricanus . his epistle to origen concerning the story of susanna , undoubted . edit . with origen's answer to him , in greek in haeschelius in latine tom. 2● . of origen's latine works , as aforesaid . a great part of his chronography extant from eusebius in georg. syncellus edit . paris . mdclii . from whence , not being then published , it was borrowed by scaliger in his edition of eusebius's chronicon in greek . xxvii . gregorius thaumaturgus . his undoubted works . charisteria or panegyric . ad origen . graeco-latin . metaphrasis in ecclesiasten , extant onely in latine . epistola canonica in latine onely in vossius , but in greek also in balsamon , edit . graeco-latin . parisijs , mdcxx . p. 902. his confession of faith recited by st. gregory nyss●n in his life , as revealed to him by st. john baptist . graeco-lat . such as cannot be easily disproved : de animâ ad tatianum . in annunciationem b. virginis , sermones iii. sermo in s. theophaniâ . edit . of them all by gerard. vossius praepos . tungrens . mogunt . mdciv . xxviii . ammonius alexandrinus the matter of origen . undoubted . canon , or harmonia evangelica mistaken by victor capuanus for tatianus 's diatessaron . edit . under the name of tatianus , bibl. patr. colon. agrip : mdcxviii . tom. ii . p. 183. xxix . cornelius romanus , undoubted . two epistles to s. cyprian , among st. cyprian 's epistles , xlvi . xlvii . ep. ad lupicinum edit . among blondell's ep : pont. doubtful . xxx . cyprianus carthag . his undoubted works : all the epistles , lxxxiii . according to pamelius's distribution , who has placed them according to the time wherein they were written , are certainly his , and the other author 's , to whom they are inscribed . de disciplinâ & habitu virginum . de lapsis . de vnitate ecclesiae . de oratione dominicâ . contra demetrianum . de vanitate i●lolorum . de mortalitate . de bono patientiae . de opere & eleemosynis . de zelo & livore . books most probably his , and thought certainly to be so by pameliu● . libri iii. testimoniorum ad quirinum , quoted by st. hierome . de exhortatione martyrij . de laude martyrij ad moysem & maximum & catero● confessores . de spectaculis . de disciplinâ & bono pudicitiae . ad novatianum haereticum , quòd l●psis spes veniae non sit deneganda . books , if not his , yet certainly of ancient authors about his time . de singularitate clericorum . de aleatoribus . de moutibus sinâ & sion . adversùs judaeos qui insecuti sunt dominum nostrum . edit . s. goulartij mdxciii . the names of authors whose certainly genuine works are extant among st. cyprian's , for the direction of young students , who might otherwise meet them quoted , and not know where to find them . donati ep. i. somwhat doubted of , cleri romani ad clerum carthaginiensem , ep. iii. ad cyprianum ep. xxxxxxi . confessorum universorum ad cyprianum , de pace lapsis danda . ep. xvii . caldonij ad cyprianum ep xix . ad clerum carthag . ep. xxxix . celerini ad lucianum ep xxi . luciani ad celerinum . ep. xxii . moysis & maximi & caeterorum ad cyprianum rescript . ep. xxvi ▪ l ▪ synodi affrican . ad cornelium , ep. liv. firmilian . ad cyprianum ep. lxxv . nemesiam ad cyprianum , resp. ep. ●xx●iii . 〈…〉 ad cyprian . resp . ep ▪ lxxix . felicis & caeterorum ad cyprianum resp . ep. lxxx concilium carthaginiense sub cypriano , concerning rebaptization of haereticks . xxxi . pontius diaconus his life of st. cyprian , undoubted . edit . with s. cyprians works as aforesaid . xxxii . an author about that time against rebaptization of haereticks . edit . among the notes of rigalitus , in his edition of st. cyprian . xxxiii . dionysius alexandrinus . his undoubted works : epist. canonica ad basiliden . edit . with balsamon on him , apud balsamon . edit . as aforesaid , p. 879. ep. adversùs paulum samosatenum , translated by urrian . edit graeco latin . mdcvi● . latin. bibl. patr. colon. agrip. tom. iii. p. 67. xxxiv . methodius bishop of olympus , & afterwards of tyre , commonly called patarensis by the greeks . undoubted works : excerpta ex libr. de resurrectione . ex lib. de creatis , ex lib. de symposijs , ex lib. contr . porphyrium , &c. all these improved above what had been extant of them formerly in epiphanius , photius and damascen . liber de libero arbitrio . oratio in simeon . & annam . oratio in ram●s palmarum , most probably his , though by some formerly ascribed to st. chrysostome . edit fr. combesis cum amphilochio &c. graeco-lat . paris . mdcxliv . xxxv . de trinitate , a work ascribed by some to tertullian , by others to novatian the haeretick ; but of an author later than either of them being certainly after the rise of sabellius the haeretick whom he mentions , and yet in all probability before arianism . edit . with tertullian , as aforesaid . xxxvi . arnobius afer . undoubted . l. vii . contra gentes . edit . lugd. batavor . mdcli . with notes . xxxvii . lactantius firmianus . undoubted : divin . instit . l. vii . de irâ dei. de opificio dei. epitome in libros suos . edit . lugdun . batavor . mdclxiv . xxxviii . petrus alexandrinus . undoubted : epistol . canonica . edit . balsamon . p. 887. xxxix . pamphilus martyr . apologia pro origene , i verily believe genuine , notwithstanding what st. hierome objects against it . for eusebius himself pretends the assistance of pamphilus in his writing that apology of his , hist , eccl. l. vi ▪ c. 36. ●at . 〈◊〉 graec , edit . christophorson and it is observed by photius ●od● xviii . who tells us ▪ that the first v books had the assistance of pamphilus , the vi nly after his martyrdome composed by eusebius alone ; so that the contrary testimony of eusebius produced by st. hierome , that pamphilus wrote nothing but some few epistles , if it were rightly quoted ( for it doe , not appear , i think in eusebius as extant at present ) was in all likelyhood to be understood of such works as he alone was author of , whereas in this he had the assistance of eusebius himself . this is the onely objection insisted on by st. hierome . out of st. hierome it appears , that this was onely the first book of those v. wherein it appears from photius , that eusebius had the assistance of pamphilus ; so that it seems , that this alone was selected by ruffinus out of the whole work , because this , as it should seem , was alone employed in vindication of the opinions of origen , the rest , as may be conjectured from their contents mentioned in photius , spent in a historical elogy , and vindication , of his life . i have the more particularly insisted on this , and given my reason why i believe it genuine , because the authority of st. hierome has swayed the generality of the learned world in this particular . edit . usually in origen and st. hierom's works . note that for the understanding and judging of these authors and their works , it would be very expedient to read the ecclesiastical history of eusebius , where also many more considerable fragments of the authors already mentioned , and several others not mentioned , will be found , very well worthy perusal in order to the design intended . letter ii. a letter of advice for direction of a young student in divinity , especially such as is rational , related to in the former , numb . xvii . sir , 1. i am sorry that your bashfulness has hitherto denyed me the more familiar oppotunities of your acquaintance during your residence among us ; but am withall glad that these present disadvantageous circumstances themselves of time and place have now at length , though unexpectedly , emboldened your modesty to such a welcome , and never●unseasonable , motion . but neither the interest of friendship , nor my own inclination , nor the copiousness of the subject wherein you have employed me , nor my little leasure for things so unsignificant , will permit me to retaliate your complements ; and therefore , i hope , you will excuse me though i be abrupt in my addresses to the resolution of your proposal . and that i may avoyd that generality and unpracticableness and obscurity to which immethodical discourses are very obnoxious ; and may contrive my thoughts in as few words and as little time as the ordinary frequent avocations of my other studies will allow me , and withall more usefully and distinctly to your purpose : i conceive it most convenient to shew 1. the design of scholastical divinity , and the general requisites thereunto ; and thence secondly , the more particular influence of saecular learning in order to it ; and thirdly , some few books to initiate you herein , and general directions that are adviseable in your studies of them ; and lastly , the order wherein i conceive them most successfully intelligible ; in prosecution of which method you will have , not onely my counsel , but my reasons , which i most willingly submit to your censure to be followed or rejected as you shall find them more or less convincing . ii. for the first , that i may prevent a mistake which i believe you will be ready to take up because of the ordinary signification of the term , it will be necessary to forewarn you , that by scholastical divinity i do not intend that onely which is rigorously so called , but more largely all , wherein there is required skill for the deduction of inferences ; whether for the resolution of controversies , or doubts of conscience● as it comprehends that which is textuary as well as what is purely rational in opposition to that which is practical and inartificial , as oratory . for concerning this later , affectation being a vice most repurgnant to its end , which is serious perswasion ; and to which scholars are usually too much addicted for this very reason of their too critical observations of the rules of art ; i conceive it most expedient that it be contrived as natural as is possible , to which it will be necessary that all things which may have an influence on your particular end be prudently considered , your subject , and your auditory and your own genius , and your very manner of delivery , to which every thing may so agree as if they had been your onely incentives , and what you said had been without any deliberation ; and to this purpose though you may read ancient and late authors that are respectively commended in their kind , i should not advise you the imitation of any particularly , but let your own disposition chuse for it self without any designed reflections . but this onely by way of digression , though i believe pardonable , because possibly pertinent to your purpose . scholastical divinity in the sense now explained is that which i conjecture more principally intended by you ; and to which i shall therefore confine my future discourse . it s design therefore being for the clearing of such propositions as , although they be necessary for faith or practice , yet their evidence depends upon the explication of such terms as are not obviously intelligible by the vulgar : the most convenient way for determining the requisites of this will be by shewing the nature of those principles from whence it deduceth its particular conclusions . for whatever is requisite for understanding the true sense of them , must also be so to the certainty of their illations ; and therefore religion objectively taken being a revelation of the divine will as the measure of ours , whereby we may be competently informed of our duty in order to happiness ▪ the difference of these principles which are per se nota in their kinds must arise from the different lights under which they are manifested , that matters concerning religion are discovered by a supernatural divine light as exceeding that of our natural reason , the onely measure of all our natural knowledg ( which yet is not to be understood , as some dangerously conceive , of the light of the faculty , as if reason were not able certainly and evidently to know the credibility , at least , of what is so propounded ; nor of the light of the formal object of assent , as if that were not alwayes proportioned to the faculty ( which if it were not , it were both impossible to be discerned , and unsafe to be assented to , seeing many things may and do very falsely pretend to such a plausible title ) but rather in regard of the material object , which sometimes has a natural connexion with the formal , and sometimes onely by voluntary institution ) for so , that i may clear my mind by an instance , when we know god from the creatures , this whole light is natural , not onely in regard of the faculty , nor of the creatures which have a natural proportion to it , but also of the naturally-dependent connexion of the creatures on god , who is known by them , but when we know the trinity from divine revelation propounded by men , and attested by miracles , although both of them are natural in the two former senses ; yet neither this humane proposition nor these attesting miracles have any natural or necessary connexion with the doctrine of the trinity , which is propounded as credible by them ; but with the supernatural will of the divine proponent , upon which account also this light in relation to this object is called supernatural . these things though possibly as yet you may not see the use of , yet hereafter you may perceive to remove the very material misunderstandings of most schoolmen in this question , and to be very fundamental to what we shall hereafter advise consequentially to these principles . iii. seing therefore that from hence it appears in general that the light of the faculty is absolutely necessary for the improving all that is objective , whether natural or supernatural ; i conceive it very convenient to exercise frequently your discursive faculty in theses upon some difficult question which you may meet with in your studies , and especially in such as are intricate and subtle ; for these will best enable you to conceive aright in others of a like nature , though of a different matter . the time for this , if you shall think fit to design a particular one , were i believe fittest in the morning , when the spirits are more clear and subtle , and your thoughts more composed , and so every way more apt for contemplation . in the performing hereof i would not have you insist on your authors method . ( for which purpose it were well your morning-thesis concerned a question you had studied the night before ) but rather endeavour upon full deliberation of what has been produced for both opinions , to deliver your own conceptions , and to exercise your own invention as much as is possible ; and withall in your method , not to mind onely the private concernment of the difficulty you are then handling , but also the general of others of the same kind , so as that your experience in this may capacitate you for others : as to consider the true sense of the terms , if there be any material ambiguity that is suspicious of being misunderstood by the contradicting parties ; but not to spend time on them when they are obvious and trivial , and of none or little moment for determining the principal question ; and then faithfully to enquire into the true state of the question , which you were not to think you understand , and so not to define your own thoughts concerning it , before you have first candidly examined the true sense of both adversaries , the want of which you will find to be an original of most of those logomachyes which are so frequent in the schools , and i believe generally received in very many of those controversies which divide the communion of whole churches ; whence it proceeds that many of the arguments of both parties need no other solution than the clearing of their adversaries meaning , which being once performed , they are found impertinent and unconclusive , and for the attaining of this i would not have you rely on violent bigots , or the followers of factions , who speak onely by roat , and besides the design and reason of their masters , and are resolved , nay and many times obliged , to defend them in whatever they say , though never so paradoxical , and are frequently put to their shifts to invent defensible glosses , how expresly soever the author has explained his meaning , and where he is the least obscure , are much more favourable to what is more easily defensible ; nor on the bare words of the first authors , it being ordinary for controvertists to over-speak themselves , and to bring in many things ex abundanti , which though they might think probably true , yet might well be spared without prejudice of their cause ; and much less from the partial relations of their adversaries : but rather from the rise and occasion of the question , from the design and disposition of themselves and their adversaries , where , if on either side you will allow any thing for violence , you will have more reason to suspect it of the later assailant than the first proponent , who , no adversary appearing , may reasonably be presumed to have delivered his mind with less design , and more simplicity ; and from the connexion with their other principles . and never satisfie your self of your success in this enquiry till you have found out some great verisimilitude that might very plausibly perswade a judicious and ingenuous man to your adversaries opinion , if swayed with his prejudices ; for it is hard to be so generally uncharitable as to believe that there are not some such that maintain all much received opinions . and to this purpose i conceive it very convenient that you be conversant with other works of the author from whom you dissent , that you may thence perceive what principles he does otherwise much rely on , and what his moral disposition is , for this may be very effectual for swaying him when the main arguments used are popular and declamatory ; and of that nature are most of those questions which divide great and numerous ecclesiastical societies , as were easie to instance and evince if i were not affraid of being tedious . when you have thus gained the true sense and use of the question , your nearer approaches to its resolution you may make in this order : first to consider the nature of the prejudices , for though in some cases they may contribute , yet they are never to be the onely motives for determining your assent ; and therefore you are to see that first , they never hinder you from embracing a contrary evidence more convincing than that on which themselves are grounded ; nor secondly , from impartially considering the force of that which does onely pretend it , though in the event it do not prove so ; but onely thirdly , when upon full inquiry you find the contrary but equally probable with what you do at present believe , there you may securely submit your self to providence , that has placed you in such circumstances as thus incline you rather than hazard your present peace for an onely equal contentment in the contrary , so that it be done modestly , without any censorious reflections on such as dissent from you ; and that you would consider what they are distinctly , and if you find your self partially affected to either of them , there to be cautious that it do not betray you to any thing unreasonable . and in general , for the avoyding of them all , i conceive it very adviseable that you be not too prodigal in uttering your thoughts concerning any theological question of moment before a multitude with any concernedness and vehemence before you have first examined it by these forementioned prescriptions . after this , for the most faithful discovery of the nature and force of the proofs , you should distinguish from their differences those things wherein both parties are agreed , and on which as on common principles they ground their arguments . for these you will find to be of very great use for judging the particulars , unto the which , if you be satisfied with them , you may descend more closely , assuring your self that , however their opinions may , yet , it is impossible that their reasons should , be really contrary : that you may therefore find distinctly how far they are conclusive , and to whether opinion they are more favourable ; it were well that first omitting that multitude of particular ones that are produced for both , the whole force were summed up in one a priori ; wherein you might at one view perceive the whole series of their principles : and then that you divide them into so many propositions , disposed in the order wherein they follow from each other , which when you have done , you may then examine first , the absolute truth of these principles distinctly ; and secondly , their consequence from each other ; and then thirdly , the truth of these premises relatively : what sense is requisite to be true that these consequences may be inferred from them ; and whether they be indeed true in these particular senses that are requisite ; and by these means you will most probably find the true and faithful measure of discerning how far they are conclusive , which you may then compare with the true sense of the contrary opinion as you have formerly explained it , and so of the contrary proofs with this , and an you find them exactly agreeing so you may determine . these rules i have the more particularly insisted on , because , as they are rarely taken notice of , and more rarely observed by our modern controvertists , so , to me they seem the most successful for the avoyding those mistakes and fallacies which are too frequent among them ; for by this means you will more probably understand the question , your proofs will be more directly levelled against your adversary , and his main objections will be supposed resolved before you are determined , and for others which stand in need of more particular answers ( they being weaker ) you may be less solicitous . nor do i think all of these necessary in all questions to be distinctly considered , but principally for the most important ones of divinity ; and some , at least , to be necessary to all of what nature soever ; and that such regard be had of those which are not , that before you neglect them you be assured that they are indeed impertinent . and in the management of the whole , especially where you do endeavour self-satisfaction , it were well you were as brief , as clear , as distinct , and as methodical , as is possible . iv. having thus shewn you the form of managing reason in general , i believe you do expect that i should descend particularly to direct your studies that you may be furnished with materials . and this i shall attempt in pursuance of my formerly designed method , in both those kinds of principles , by which , as i said , all theological controversies are to be determined . for the first , those which are rational , i would commend that too much decried study among most protestants of school-divinity : for considering that the very foundations and principles of all religion are natural , that all supernatural revelations are but accessory complements to these , where nature was actually debauched , or originally insufficient , but never undertake to give a compleat digest of them ; and indeed do either not mention them at all , or where they do , yet not professedly , but upon occasion of others ; and then it self they are rather supposed than prescribed , or , where prescribed , yet rather as to the circumstances of their exercise than as to their moral and universal obligation ; so that here , reason is wholy left even by god himself to the evidence of its own inquiry ; and this not onely as to those particulars which are so plain and obvious as that they even offer themselves without inquiry , and it is impossible to be ignorant of them without a gross negligence , or a resolved obstinacy , but such wherein some great philosophers themselves have been mistaken , as the universal providence of god over mankind , which not onely epicur●s . but for any thing that i know , the jewes themselves did hardly believe , by whom we find god's care of the salvation of the gentiles admired at as a m strange and incredible thing , and a great argument of his not being an n accepter of persons , as it seems they had thought before , and their most favourable sentiments concerning them seem to have been , that god had indeed appointed o tu●elary angels for other nations , but that himself was their own president● that their own souls onely were p immortal , and that none others had any portion in the world to come ; that therefore their proselytes were truly q transubstantiate , whence those phrases of being r born again , and s of the spirit , wherein our saviour wonders at the ignorance of t nicodemus , as being notorious among the rabbins ; and yet the whole old-testament seems so particularly designed for their commonwealth as that they have little occasion for mentioning god's providence over other nations ; but especially also in secondary instances of the law of nature , which though it appears that they have been for time and place dispensed with , and therefore their universally-obliging reason being more circumstantial , is less easily discernible ; yet their severe penalties without any new positive prohibition , and their having been looked on as abhominable in the very gentiles , show that the church reputed them unlawful for this very reason , as in the question of polygamy , of marrying the brothers relict , and of vsury , and other instances wherein i believe i should not be unwarrantably consident if , notwithstanding what others have endeavoured concerning them , i should say that they cannot be clearly disproved by any particular prohibition in the new testament . and the general indefinite way of propounding those which are moral and those which are not in the old testament , and the new one never descending to particulars , but onely in general teaching us that what was typical must needs disappear at the real exhibition of what they signified , and that all accommodations even in what otherwise was moral , must now under larger grace , and greater means , and clearer revelations , in all reason be evacuated ; the onely way of determining here any thing particularly must be , omitting all testimonies , to examine the nature of the precepts themselves , and thence to discern whether the reason of their obligation be temporary or eternal . to which i may add , that many counsels are urged in the scriptures , many things in complyance to the present circumstances , and some indulgences to present prejudices even in the new testament , and this without particular provision for future observance , which are not any other wayes distinguishable but by reason . and of the same necessity it is for all cases of conscience , and many other emergent difficulties which you will frequently encounter in the practice of divinity : and it were easie to shew how very useful it is for the most important controversies that divide the communion of christendome ; and how its greatest adversaries , those of rome , do ground themselves mainly on it in their exigencies ; as in the necessity of a visible judge of controversies , in their detaining the cup from the lait● , which themselves cannot deny to have been granted them in the first and purest centuries , and in the doctrine of the resolution of faith ; so in the remonstrant and jansenist opinions , in all with the socinians , and most with the sectaries , which are such instances wherein our men prove it unreasonable to expect particular proof from scripture ; and the same , i think , might be proved concerning most of the definitions of the church against the enemies of the trinity and incarnation , as to particular expressions whereby she disowned their innovations , that they were grounded on these so tragically declaimed-against theological reasons , if i were not affraid of being redious . but in short , if it be considered that hither all controversies are finally resolved , even all authority into the reason of its credibility ; that all other wayes of arguing are plausibly excepted against by some parties ; but this cannot , there being no opposing it but by it self , which is a contradiction ; that this at length when all is done will be found most satisfactory , these will sure be sufficient prejudices to invite you , till you shall find something as plausible alledged for the contrary . v. but in the study of this rational divinity i would not perswade you to imitate the schools themselves any farther than as they are rational ; for i must confess that one fundamental defect seems to me generally ingredient in their discourses ; that they seem rather to endeavour the outwitting of their adversaries than their own satisfaction : which may be very suspicious both from their making use of reasons which themselves confess unsufficient for the conviction of infidels , which yet they take for strong consolations of believers , which might indeed be tolerable if the efficacy of such proofs depended on any proper principles which were admitted by believers and not by infidels , but depending on pure philosophical reasons , as most of these do , which are produced by aquinas , who speaks for them l. i. cont. gent. c. 9. they seem less excusable ; but principally their determining the question by , and conforming their reasons to , some authority , and that sometimes very contemptibles as of some heathen philosophers , or late doctors , or at the uttermost particular fathers ( for they seldome meddle with councils ) and their laying too much stress upon their very forms of speaking , though not mentioned in the scriptures , to the very decision of articles of faith , as , i think , might easily be proved in the question concerning the procession of the holy ghost from the son against the greeks , nay often on their very mystical expositions , without the least examination of their design , or sense , or credibility . nor is it needful to mind you how very unsufficient they had been for it though they had attempted it ; partly because of their ignorance in the greek fathers , and so being necessitated to rely on ignorant translations for those they had ( for greek learning was continually decaying in the latine church from the time of the removal of the empire , an early but very remarkable instance whereof ( that i may not now particularize others ) we have in that famous cheat put upon the whole general council of u ariminum by valens and vrsacius and some few other eastern bishops of reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the decree of the nicaene council ; but especially after the open breach betwixt the romane and constantinopolitane patriarchs , whereby intelligence with the orientals was exceedingly interrupted , long before the rise of the schoolmen ; but mainly because of their great unskilfulness in critical learning , to know their original , and their sense in other places , which yet had been necessary to their design . and therefore i should advise you to be more ingenuously rational than they are , in the proof of your principles as well as in the inference of your conclusions ; that you do not strain your wit to make any testimony desensible before you are otherwise convinced of its credibility , and at least let it not be as a principal motive of your determination ; that you never trouble your self much with those reasons themselves which , as they are onely propounded as probable , so they , are confessed to be unnecessary ; but first , consider the nature of the question , whether the arguments , whereon the whole stress of its assent can onely be surely grounded , and which if they be weak the definition cannot be certain , be reason , or authority ; and if it be reason grounded on authority ( as most of the school-questions are ) that then you urge the reason no farther than the authority will warrant you ; and remember that a less will suffice , when all the use of reason is for rendring the conclusion it self defensible , for that proceeds on particular evidences whereby it appears to us , and therefore does not require a real , but every-way apparent , credibility ; but where the reasons grounded on these phrases and manners of expressing the article are drawn to the direct proof of its real truth , or are taken as principles for the probation of others ; it were then reasonable to have recourse to lombard's text , and to examine first , whether that doctrine be really taught by that father , who is by him quoted for it ? and secondly , whether it be delivered by him as his own private opinion , or as the sense of the church ; and whether dogmatically , or in heat of controversie ? if as the sense of the church , then thirdly , what was the ground of it , whether the evidence of universal tradition , or aequivalencies in the scriptures ; or the general sense onely of the learned ? and whether they took it up for the evidence of its proper reason , or originally from the authority of some private person , who was commended in these controversies , and from whom it was derived by the rest without any new examination ? for in some of these things you will find most of lombards principles to be deficient , they being for the much greater part transcribed from st. augustine . but it may be a more direct way for knowing the rational modes of expression , whereon the church grounded her arguments ( in those articles which are generally and surely believed for revelation , and wherein ancient and universal authority may be presumed more securely expressive of the genuine sense of tradition than our private reasonings , as in the trinity and incarnation ) will be by examining what principles of this kind are supposed in her discourses with the ancient hereticks in the first general councils , most of her definitions there being , as i formerly said , grounded on theological reason . and therefore i would advise you in general before your particular enquiries , to satisfie your self how far your resolution is to be grounded on particular reason , that so , if they should fail , as they will certainly in many things which yet upon other accounts are very reasonably credible , you may not presently condemn the conclusion as simply false because of the falshood of their improper principles . and what questions are onely determinable by reason you have several instances in the beginning of the former paragraph . vi. but it remains , for the accomplishment of this first part of my task , that i proceed to the second sort of principles , namely such as are known by divine revelation . and here seeing the resolution of no parties is against the plain words , or at least the sense , of the scriptures ; and it is farther agreed that the bare grammatical signification of the words is of no other force for expressing the speakers mind than as it is ordinarily reasonable to presume that he intended this where there are not particular suspicious of believing otherwise ; therefore for the bringing these things home to the decision of our present controversies , it will be requisite to enquire first , what sense of them is aequivalent with the conclusions to be proved by them ? and secondly , what reason there is to believe that this sense was designed by the speaker ; and where this is ambiguous and both of them seem applicable without absurdity , the onely way for determining which of them was intended by him must be by examining all those things which may be supposed as notorious to that auditory to whose understandings he was to accommodate himself , and what was onely likely to prove efficacious in reference to his design . and though this later be to be performed by reason . by examining their misapprehensions ; and then considering what were in prudence most proper for their correction , and which particular sense is most rationally reducible to this design ; yet the former will be most satisfactorily resolved by philological learning : by enquiring how the same author used the same expression in other clearer parallel places ; how the auditors themselves usually understood it , and so to examine the idiomes either of the place or country from other their contemporary writers ; and if the notoriousness of the speech depended on a matter of fact , to which it alluded , and of which none of them could probably be presumed ignorant ; then the most sure way both for understanding that particular phrase and all other discourses whatsoever of the same subject , will be by clearing the thing it self , and poynting at those instances , in allusion to which those expressions might have been occasioned , which had been otherwise unintelligible . and to this end you may more easily discern first , the necessity of the tongues wherein they were originally written ; for it is very possible , either by reason of the affinity or homonymy , or for want of answering words in the other tongues , for translations to be mistaken , at least , not to be so secure as to ground arguments , which may be very much endangered by the very uncautiousness of the expression ; and secondly , the idiomes of those tongues , which are frequently occasions of mistakes in them that rely on translations that render them verbatim , without considering their importance in the originals , as is usual both in the reputed lxxii and the vulgar latine , which were generally followed by the greek and later latine fathers , and many perplexities might be instanced which are raised by them from thence , which have no difficulty in the originals . and for this it will be convenient to be acquainted , not onely with the sacred text it self ( which , especially in the old testament , are all the records remaining of the purer ancient hebrew , and therefore can give little light to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also with those tongues , which seem at first derived from it , as most of the orientals are ; but those especially into which it afterwards degenerated after the ruine of their government , by reason of their mixture with other conquering nations . such was the chaldee , on occasion of the babylonian captivity , as appears from part of jeremy , daniel and ezra , and those parts of the chaldee paraphrases which are truly inscribed to jonathan and onkelos ; and syriack in the time of our saviour , as is observed by learned men from most of these hebrew words mentioned in the new testament , by mixture of the syro-macedones after the prevalency of the grecian monarchy ; for in these it seems more probable that the words which were afterwards imposed in stead of the genuine hebrew without any interruption where the things were practiced , and whilest the notions were fresh in memory , did more exactly answer them than those that wanted these advantages ; and thirdly , the idiomes of the person himself , of his wit , of his country , of his education ; for it is clear that the style of the scriptures is very different : either lofty , or low ; or eloquent , or rational , in accommodation to the writers natural abilities . for thus the new testament writers have many hebraisms , and st. paul some cilicianisms , as you may find instanced by st. hierome ad algas . q. 9. and origen on the romanes . and these are of great moment both for varying the signification of the same phrases , and making them more or less-accurately intelligible in grounding arguments on them ; and fourthly , the antiquities alluded to ; and these not onely such as are directly aimed at , and with approbation , but also such as are purposely opposed ; for thus maimonides x conceives the rites of the zabij very beneficial for giving light to many positive levitical precepts , which now , for want of them , seem strange and impertinent ; and it would doubtlessly much contribute to the clear distinction of those which were moral or judicial , grounded on temporary or eternal reason , to have known all the ceremonies of the chaldaean and phaenician idolatry , though , i think there are no very great assistances for it in our now-extant writers ; and what is related occasionally either by the credulous greeks or ancient talmudists , or the later arabians , being exceedingly intermixed with fabulous and conjectural assertions , will need a very prudent and judicious sagacity to separate what is credible from what is not so . but for what may be performed from our present assistances in this subject , i shall refer you to the excellent discourse of our famous antiquary mr selden de dijs syris . and for the better understanding of these , and the main design of historical or prophetical writers , and those very considerable seeming differences even in the circumstances of what is onely upon several occasions related in themselves as well as in exotick authors , and this not onely in some frivolous instances , but in such wheron depend the greatest arguments for religion ; the accomplishment of remarkable promises and prophesies whose truth was to warrant very considerable alterations , as in the lxx year's captivity , and daniel's weeks , whence is derived one of the strongest grounds of christianity ; neither of which can be determined without the auxiliaries of the heathens ; it will be necessary to study and compare their history , and chronology , and geographical descriptions of those countreys . and for the traditional doctrines of the old testament , because the best means for their discovery seem to me to depend on saecular learning , i shall therefore defer them to their proper place . in the mean time for particular and occasional expressions of the new , it were convenient to be acquainted with the first haeresyes , and the conveyance of its traditional doctrines in their plain , and genuine , and unmixed practice , which will be the best way of making them applicable to our present controversies , will be most probably derivable from the fathers of the immediately succeeding centuries ; which is the design i would have you principally aim at in reading them . and concerning those general cautions to be observed in following them , i presume you have before your departure heard my thoughts in some of our colledg-exercises ; and therefore i shall not need to be large in them , onely in general , you may observe a vast difference betwixt what they deliver either as their private thoughts , or as a generally-received opinion , and what they assert as the doctrine of the catholick church delivered to them from the apostles ; and here it self betwixt what they reputed such from some judicial inferences of their own , and what they were more competent judges of , in that pure historical evidence which must have been obvious to them without any , or at least any difficult , illations , and this with vincentius lerinensis's rules ; in all times , all places , and all ecclesiastical societies that were founded by apostles or apostolical persons . for in the former i then endeavoured to shew their fallibility from that unaccurate way of arguing which prevailed generally among them ; and those unsecure principles on which they relyed , which though i then onely touched , as willing to consine my discourse to the time allotted for it ; yet possibly they might be of some use in your reading of the fathers , inasmuch as that to some of them i believe you will find most of those errors which in many instances , by the confession of all , prevailed in the first three centuries , to be easily reducible . other rules were advisable for the discovery of these testimonial from judicial traditions , but because the mentioning of my own thoughts concerning them together with my reasons , would engage me in many and great controversies which cannot possibly be dispatched in few words , and that i have already insensibly exceeded my first designed brevity , i forbear . vii . and now , concerning the second particular formerly propounded , namely the influence of secular learning in order to those mentioned designs of the study of divinity , i shall insist on the method already observed in that . and though it were easie by an induction in all humane sciences whatsoever , to shew this serviceableness ; yet because so large a task might possibly discourage you , as not being attainable in one life ; and their usefulness is very different in its degrees , some being onely convenient , and some absolutely necessary ; some necessary for your own satisfaction , and some for the information of others ; some for more rare and casual , and some for your ordinary auditories : and you will find their use in your observation of these , and may accordingly more or less engage your self in them as you shall find your self invited by your own genius , or curiosity ; i shall therefore mainly meddle with such as are introductory and general , and are of use for the most necessary ends ; your own satisfaction , and that of your ordinary auditory . and first , for that which is rational , and rigorously called school-divinity , most of the terms wherein its questions are expressed being philosophical , the use of philosophy , especially that of the modern peripateticks , which in later ages has so universally prevailed in the schools , is so obvious as that i cannot suspect you ignorant of it . but yet , i believe you may be desirous to be informed of the distinction of those parts which are necessary from those which are not ; that so you may know at present where to fix your thoughts more closely in subserviency to your future studies . for your satisfaction herein , i think x you may securely give over your reading it distinctly by way of course , and apply your self more immediately to the study of school-divinity ; for the school-men allowing themselves that liberty of largely discussing philosophical questions on the summes and sentences ; as you shall by this means want none of them that are necessary , so you will be disengaged from many of them that are purely heterogeneous . but because they do frequently use this liberty licentiously , therefore it will be convenient to determine more distinctly what parts are necessary , and to what ends . first therefore , for that natural divinity which is supposed true antecedently to divine revelation , and which is therefore onely intelligible by reason ; it being commonly reduced to two main principles : the divine nature and existence , and the soul's immortality ; and the nature of its faculties and the manner of its operations , in accommodation to which all the divine precepts and auxiliaries are designed ; the former will be best advanced by physical arguments drawn from the nature of the caelestial motions , and the necessity of an universal ordinator of the second causes both to their own ends , in th●se that are inanimate , and at least to that of the universe , in those that are not ; &c. which as they are evidently more perswasive and sensible , and of a more general accommodation to ordinary capacities , and such as we find principally made use of by st. paul himself , not onely in his popular discourses rom. i. 20. but even in his disputes with the philosophers , act. xvii . 27. 28. and xiv . 17. so i do really conceive them more strong than those metaphysical ones , that have been lately again urged and improved with the general applause of our late philosophers , by the famous des cartes . and there is one question , which as i confess exceedingly intricate , and yet omitted by most that i have seen of our late ingenious authors that handled the argument , at least not considered with that accuracy it deserved ; so i conceive it very necessary for the conviction not onely of atheists ( which yet the unhappiness of our age has rendred not altogether unseasonable ) but also of some subdivided christians , those especially of the romane communion , and that is the distinction of true from counterfeit miracles , which will require natural philosophy , wherein the notion of a true miracle , by the confession of all , requiring that it be above the power of natural agents , for the determining of that it will be necessary to shew how far that does extend ; and because it is yet farther agreed , that all sensible effects of created substances must depend on matter and motion ; therefore this will require two things to be examined ; their utmost efficacy in general ; and then particularly the uttermost efficacy of those that are present at the production of the supposed effect that is to be tryed ; the knowledg of which i presume you are not ignorant to be the very design of natural philosophy ; wherein notwithstanding you are not now to be confined to the peripatetick principles , but may more ingenuously examine others , and accept what you your self shall conceive most satisfactory . but the investigation of the particular divine attributes will be best performed by metaphysicks , wherein all the terms requisite to this way of arguing are prosessedly handled : the nature of entity and bonity in general ; the notion of those perfections , which are called simpliciter simplices ; and the examination of what are particularly such by their compatibility with others greater than themselves , and which are not reducible to any other sciences , from whence it has even in y aristotle himself the name of natural divinity . and from hence also depend all those terms whereby even supernatural revelations are made reconcileable with natural reason , and upon which most of those objections depend that are indeed material , and necessary to be answered ; for the whole force of these relyes on such principles as are universally conclusive in all sorts of entityes ; for otherwise the confessed analogical participation of the same perfections in god and the creatures will be sufficient to invalidate all inferences drawn to him from particular experiments in other creatures , which are the uttermost that all other sciences are able to reach . and to these ends you will find the general part very necessary ; and the particular , where it goes no further than the perfect explication of their nature , and confines it self within it own most immaterial abstraction . and therefore you may observe this part most taken notice of by protestants , and you will find it most generally serviceable to the whole design of school-divinity . but then for the other part that concerns the nature of the soul , and of its operations ; the supernatural assistances being proportioned to them , it will be necessary to know them for the understanding this proportion . and because some of these assistances are extended as well to the nature of their acts as their morality : and the moral manner of the operations is most answerable to the nature of the agent , and accordingly best intelligible by its relation : therefore it will be convenient to know them , first physically , as they are handled in aristotle's books de animâ and there especially the rational and intellectual degree , and others no otherwise than as they conduce to the better understanding their present organical dependent way of operation , and that discourse de animâ separatâ which you will find adjoyned at the end by some authors ; and then morally , in ethicks , from whence you are directly to deduce all those obligations that are purely moral ; and the necessity and design of those that are positive and supernatural , and generally all those universal rules , on which depends the prudential practice of casuistical divinity . for controversie logick i mention nothing , because i believe there is little in it necessary to your purpose but what is borrowed from metaphysicks , or some few things concerning faith and opinion and demonstration , which you will find sufficiently to your purpose discussed on the summes and sentences . and as it will be thus serviceable in general to know the main design of those sciences , and their influence in divinity , for discerning the necessity of particular questions , how far they are reducible to it ; so in particular you may consider , first , whether it was first raised from any theological occasion , accordingly to the rules formerly prescribed ; or whether it be capable of being used as a principle for the deciding any theological controversie ? and if it be , then secondly , whether that theological controversie it self be of any moment ? and then thirdly , whether that philosophical principle be capable of any certain resolution , and especially in that sense that is requisite for this decision ? but for the improvement of principles of this kind in proving the immortality of the soul ( not now to reflect upon the piously-designed attempts of several ingenious persons in this regard ) for my part , how convincing soever they may prove in the event , i can discern no great necessity of having recourse unto them , or relying on them . for though indeed the existence of god cannot be proved by revelation , it being so antecedent to it as that he that doubts of it cannot admit of revelation to prove it by ; yet is there not the same necessity here , seeing the soul may really be immortal , though its immortality could not be made out from any natural appearances falling under our cognizance ( daily experience furnishing us with instances of most certain truths which are yet uncapable of being proved from such appearances ) in which case we may yet be assured of it by revelation . for our doubting concerning the proof of the souls immortality by reason does not upon any rational pretence oblige us to question the existence of revelations ; and supposing that the real immortality of our souls is attested and revealed by god , our own antecedent ignorance of it upon natural accounts cannot ground the least suspicion of the divine infallibility concerning it ; nay it is from our prime a●tions of such a being most certain that infinite truths are evident to him which are not obvious to our grosser observations , and it cannot be disproved that this is one . supposing therefore that god has revealed the immortality of our souls ; and that he is in this , as well as in other revelations , veracious ; and that he certainly does , though we do not , know the truth even in this particular affair ; it must needs follow that we must be obliged to believe it upon account of such divine revelation , though antecedently we could never have known it by natural discoveries . this i have onely observed by the way , to shew the no-necessity of insisting on such proofs , and to let atheistical irreligious persons understand how little indeed religion is concerned in their weakness ; though , i think , i might have added that deserting this way of proof , and insisting onely on revelation in this case is not onely more secure , but in many regards more convenient and more aggreeable with the principles of christianity , and better sitted for solving difficulties which are less intelligible on other principles . but what i have to say to this purpose is both subject to be misunderstood , and too tedious for my present design , and therefore i forbear . viii . but then for that part of divinity that is textuary , besides the knowledg of the tongues and phrases , which will be gotten by reading ancient authors in their own words upon other occasions , and for which your own experience will hereafter be your more satisfactory directory ; for the understanding of the doctrinals of the old testament ( which you will find very necessary for the new , there being nothing pretended to be revealed in the new , but what was at least mystically presigured in the old , and there being many doctrines at that time generally believed by the jewish church which were not so clearly expressed in the old , which as they seem to be connived at by our saviour , so they seem generally to have been received without any new revelations by the primitive christians ( and yet the way is certainly as fallible in some instances as true in others , and therefore ought to be accurately distinguished ) the onely way will be to examine the credibility of doctrines that pretend to be originally jewish traditions . and for this you are not onely to trust the rabbins , both for their notorious fabulousness , and their little antiquity , and their plain imitations of the graecian philosophers even before our saviour's time , upon occasion of their acquaintance with them by the macedonian conquests , whom yet together with philo and josephus . i would recommend to you for the historical relation of those opinions and practices that afterwards prevailed , and are frequently alluded to in the new testament ; but that which is the main design of the primitive christian apologies , what the graecians had either preserved entire from the division of babel , or in after-ages derived from the jewes , which yet are both more numerous and more ancient than those that are now extant of the jewes themselves ; for by this means as you shall discover much of that truth which was mystically involved in the old testament , though otherwise certainly intended , where otherwise there is no clear mention of the immortality of the soul , of the resurrection of the body , or the future judgment , which are the very foundations , not onely of christian , but of all rational , religion ; but also the original of many errors both among the later jewes and christians . for this therefore i conceive it convenient to read the ancientest greek poets together with their greek scholiasts , and that you do not look on them barely as idle romances , but as grave philosophers and historians ; for such they were reputed not onely in their own times , but also by all their followers , as involving divine , and natural , and historical notions of their gods and heroes under mystical and parabolical expressions . thus the name was used for makers of lawes , for establishers of commonwealths , for discipliners of youth and women , as you may see proved from the testimonies of homer himself and others by the excellent heinsius in his prolegom . ad hesiod . hence they were after imitated by the oracles , and accounted sacred , and prophetical , and inspired with a divine fury , as were easie to prove if i had leisure . but yet because those things are related on the faith of much later authors , and are mingled with their own inventions , and are expressed in dark , and designedly-obscure , resemblances ; therefore two things will be requisite to be inquired into : first , whence they originally proceeded , whereby will appear both how far they are credible , and what was after superadded by the graecian affectation of vain glory ; and secondly , what was their distinct sense . for the former , i confess the ancient graecian barbarism , their late incorporations into civil societies , their then it self being divided into little republicks , which could not chuse but continually allarm them with perpetual factions and mutual jealousies of one another , and leave little time for incouragement for studies , and their late invention of letters , or of any means for communicating tradition to posterity , make me unwilling to advise you to trust them for any thing ancient that is historical . and therefore i believe your best way were to examine with what other ancient learned nations they had commerce , from whom they might probably derive their philosophical or theological learning , and particularly concerning such notable persons as were acknowledged to have had some especial influence in their improvement ; such were orpheus for the old , and pherecydes syrius for the later theogonyes ; whether they were indigenae or forreigners , whether they travelled , and to what nations ? and because the ambition of the later greeks has endeavoured to suppress those testimonies that might seem to make them beholding to other nations for what they gloried themselves to be the first inventors of ; either by confounding forreigners of the same name with their own , and by that means arrogating the glory of their actions to themselves , or by deriving their original from their gods , and those such as were historically many or uncertain , as they do with orpheus , when they make him the son of apollo and calliope , it were well to collect out of creditable authors what is mentioned concerning them , that so you may from other circumstances conjecture whence they did most probably derive their learning . and there are three nations especially , who , by reason of their undeniable antiquity , and their established government , and their estimation of learning , and their encouragement and opportunities , and publick deputation of some orders of men for that end , might be very credible for the conveyance of the traditional divinity , and who , by reason of their familiarity with the jewes , might easily have corrected themselves where they had been mistaken : the chaldaeans , the phoenicians and the aegyptians ; whereof the two later must needs have been known to them as anciently as their ancientest inventions : the phoenicians by occasion of their notorious trafficking at sea ; and the aegyptians , as appears both by the affinity of their tongues and letters , from the graecian apis , whether the sicyonian or argive , supposed after his death to have been canonized in aegypt , from the stories of aegyptus and danaus in aegypt , of tithonus and memnon and phaëthon in aethiopia , mentioned by the most ancient graecian mythologists , from the testimonies of very many of themselves , if i had leasure to produce them ; and especially in that most of their gods and rites and mysteries were thence borrowed , as is clear , besides others , from that full confession of z diodorus siculus related also by a eusebius . but that all of them were frequented by the later philosophers is abundantly proved by the primitive christian apologists . and therefore it will also concern you to be acquainted with the opinions of the philosophers , those of them especially that are traditional , and who are known themselves to have travelled to these countreys : for the later subdivisions seem generally to have been built on the private wits of particular factious persons ; concerning whom , especially the stoicks , what my thoughts are you may easily discern from my prolegomena to my dear tutor's book de obstinatione : that if their rational discourses be considered as conversant about such instances as are uncapable of solid demonstrations from purely natural principles , such as the platonick notions of the trinity , and the hierarchyes of good or evil daemons , and the state of the soul after death , and the rewards and punishments of the other world ; these will further admit of a twofold consideration , either as to that use and authority that may be grounded on their reasons , and that cannot be acknowledged very considerable , both because the cases are supposed such as are uncapable of any solid proof of that kind ; and the reasons they produce are therefore at the best onely conjectural , and frequently captious ; and they are unnecessary for us christians , who have securer arguments from divine revelation ; and for affairs of this nature their antiquity gives them no special advantage over us , and they are more clearly and closely managed by later authors : or as to that purely historical use which may be made of their opinions , how weak soever their reasons are , for explaining those passages of scripture , which are expressed in their language and allude to their sense , whether as approved or rejected . and thus howsoever conjectural the proof of such propositions might have been supposed formerly , yet it might merit a confident assent as grounded on the surer word of prophesie ; nay though they be rejected in the scripture as false , yet so it self they may help us to understand those very scriptures that were supposed to condemn them . for the terms being supposed philosophical , the philosophers themselves must needs be presumed fittest to explain their own sense of them ( which is most likely to be the sense intended by the holy ghost ) and by understanding the terms we come to understand the propositions resulting from them , so condemned ; which being apprehended will help us further to discover what is necessary for bringing such a discourse home to the purpose , which must needs be very advantageous for discovering the design of the holy ghost in it , as that is also for judging of consequential modes of expression , of which kind are many provisional definitions of the church , and doctrines of the schoolmen . but then supposing the rational discourses of the philosophers conversant about affairs within their own reach , whereof they might be presumed competent judges , they may again be two wayes considered : either as to their intrinsick conclusiveness , or as to the actual reputation they had gained among the jewes , and those other nations among whom they were dispersed , for whose use the scriptures were primarily designed , and to whose defects they may therefore be presumed to have been originally accommodated . in the former regard their discourses will have so much and no more credibility than what a particular examination of their solidity will afford to a person competent to judge of it ; or than the fame of their skill and integrity in affairs of this nature , might have been conceived sufficient to perswade to such as were unskilful themselves , and so exposed to a necessity of relying on their bare authoty . but in the later , their authority may be much greater as far as it may be thought to have been further confirmed and approved by the holy ghost himself . for the holy ghost undertaking in an extraordinary way to supply the defect of ordinary means in the discovery of such truths or falshoods as might prove necessary or pernicious in order to the salvation of mankind ; it is to be presumed that wherein he did not offer a correction , there he presumed the use of ordinary means sufficient . and then the onely ordinary means of discovering their present duty and their future interests ( especially for the vulgar for whose use revelations were principally calculated ) being natural reason as managed by its ablest professors , the philosophers , they having no other light antecedently to revelation ; it will further follow , that nothing taught unanimously by such philosophers , if uncorrected by the holy ghost , was by the holy ghost himself thought dangerous to the salvation of persons obliged , in prudence , to rely on such an authority ; nay that all things so unanimously agreed on , in matters necessary to be resolved in order to salvation , if the holy ghost did not undertake a new resolution , were supposed by him to have been already resolved rightly by the philosophers themselves , which no less than divine approbation of such discourses must needs add more than a bare humane authority to them . this is the sum of what i have more largely discoursed and proved in the forementioned place , which you may perceive principally to concern such philophers as are professedly moral , who as they are also generally applauded by scholars for the generosity of their temper and principles ; and their aggreeableness to christianity ; so they are not indeed guilty of that unpracticableness wherewith they are charged by some less considerative persons . it is true indeed that they thought the soul alone to be the essential man , and the body the organ and prison of it , and indeed praeternatural to it , upon which account they made its imprisonment here a consequence , if not a punishment , of its degeneracy , and its restitution to its primitive prosperity to consist in its compleat purgation from all corporeal faeculencies . but this is not so to be understood as if they had thought the soul incorporated ( upon what account soever ) to be as free from being affected with corporeal impressions , as the musician is from those of his instrument , or the prisoner of the place of his captivity ; or had accordingly perswaded the soul to her duty by a naked proposal of its reasonableness without any prudential praescriptions for making her capable of reason . for it is plain that they themselves conceived the soul to be more than locally united to the body by virtue of the nephesh as the jewes ; or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( in opposition to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) as the platonists and primitive christians , and it may be st. paul himself ; or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the chaldee oracles , or the umbra , as virgil , calls it ; which being thought of a middle nature betwixt material and spiritual beings , and participating of the qualities of each , was thought to bind the soul inseparably to the body , and to subject it to a sympathy in corporeal passions . thence that forgetfulness of all its old notions , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or flagging of her wings wherewith she could formerly freely mount at her pleasure , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the unreasonableness of matter , the drunkenness with the cup of lethe represented by cebes , which made their so frequent exhortations to be sober and vigilant , imitated also by the apostle himself so very necessary . and in complyance hereunto it was that they held that the truth it self was undiscoverable and unintelligible by impure persons , and accordingly they were as solicitous in concealing the secrets of their philosophy from the prophane vulgar as the pagan priests were in discovering their idols to uninitiated persons ; and as the revealers of the mysteries of the gods were punished with death , so hipparchus the pythagorean had a monument erected for him by those of his own profession signifying his death in a moral sense for divulging their acroamati●ks . so that , though they held not the body to be any part of the man , yet they held so near a connexion with it as was conceived sufficient to render it uncapable of pure and naked reason ( which would indeed have proved unpracticable to such persons ) and were therefore as well obliged by their principles , as they did observe it in their practice , to accommodate their perswasions to the opportunities and abilities of the persons concerned , which being considered must needs make them practicable . all this might have been shewn and proved at large if it had now been seasonable . nor is this practice proceeding on the principles of the philosophers , repugnant to the formal and fundamentally-virtuous motives from whence onely actions are denominated supernaturally-good in the sense of christianity : such as humility , and a sense of our own weakness , and a perpetual actual dependence on the divine favour , and a pure and primary intention of his glory , and no satisfactory reflections on our own condition here ; but a resolute preparation to endure anxieties of mind , and deprivations of the divine comfortable presence , and the peace of our own conscience , and solicitous apprehensions concerning our eternal welfare , and frequent occasions of disquietude in the rational soul , as well as in those outward goods of the body or of fortune . for it might have been easily shewn how that all these things as far as they are truly subservient to the designs of christianity are admitted and applauded by the philosophers themselves , and that which is indeed disapproved by them is not approved by our christian revelations . that humility , and a sense of our own weakness , and a perpetual dependence on the divine favour , must needs have been owned by the philosophers , appears from what i have said to evince their acknowledgment of the necessity of the divine assistance in all good performances , in my proleg . sect. lv. lvi . lvii . lviii . lix . to which i shall add nothing more at present . and if doing good actions for the glory of god , be first , to do them out of a sense of our duty of obedience to his commands , and a subjection to his providence ( however notified to us , whether by the light of nature and conscience , or by positive revelations , can make no difference , if the light of nature and conscience be owned for the voice of god ) and secondly , to testifie by them our honourable sense of the wisdome and goodness of god in his providences even where they seem to carnal sensual judgments most absurd and rigorous ; and thirdly , not onely to entertain and manifest this honourable opinion in our selves , but also to endeavour by such our actions to propagate the like honourable opinions to others ; and fourthly , to renounce all vain glory of our own , whether as it signifies a complacency in other mens opinions ; or an ascribing to our selves those actions which had been indeed performed by the divine assistance ; if , i say , these things be meant by acting for the glory of god ; then these philosophers , how rarely soever they mention the word , most certainly have owned the thing , concerning which alone learned and candid persons would be solicitous . and it may be they who would make more necessary would find it more difficult to prove than to assert . so also for our unsatisfiedness with our condition here ; if thereby be understood a murmuring and repining at the condition allotted us by providence , however ungrateful it may seem to flesh and blood ; that is so far from being commendable in the repute of christianity as that it is indeed a very great rebellion and perverseneses against the divine dominion . but if by our unsatisfiedness here that alone be meant ( which onely can be meant the former sense being excluded ) an opinion of the unsufficiency of sublunary fruitions for the satisfaction of our more noble and capacious souls ; the way of bringing men to such an opinion seems to be the principal ; if not the adaequate , design of this moral philophy i am now discoursing of . the greatest seeming paradox is how to explain how philosophy does dispose persons for enduring the deprivation of those good things of the mind which have an intrinsick moral goodness , such as anxieties of mind , a senselessness and dulness in the performance of duties , and the other instances already mentioned . and the difficulty here seems the more considerable because the two fundamental principles of these persons in this affair , seem , if not utterly false , yet , very unsecure : first , that god never exercises good men with the loss of any thing that is really good ; and that such are all , and onely , the goods of the mind , which is the onely seat of happiness . for by this means persons are taught not to expect evils of this kind , which must needs both render them more secure and unprovided for their reception , and the unexpectedness of such evils would also aggravate , their vexatiousness . and secondly , that it is in the power of good men to avoyd even all surprisals to any thing indecent that might deservedly procure by way of punishment any intervals of divine displeasure , wherein all their disappointment must tend to their further disquietment . besides that by the former principle , god never inflicting spiritual evils on arbitrary accounts , but in case of demerit ; and this demerit , by the later , never agreeing to a good man ( seeing its very supposition does ipso facto make him cease to be such ) good men will not seem obliged to expect it , and therefore not to be provided for it . but notwithstanding all this , i conceive it certain first , that understanding all these things concerning him whom the philosophers call a wiseman , and we christians a perfect man ( though they , as well as we , did question the actual existence of such a person , as i have already shewn in my aforesaid prolegom . sect. lxii . ) yet i say supposing such a person , all that they say on this subject would be true concerning him ; he would never be obnoxious to disturbances of this kind , as never deserving them , and therefore would need no defensative against them . but then secondly , for those other ordinary persons who do most frequently occur in ordinary practice , i do confess that to apply these principles to them would indeed be subject to the mentioned inconveniencies ; but i must withall profess that i think it never was their design to make such an application ; and therefore they must needs have been far from diverting others from such expectations , or from providing against them . for these weaker persons therefore , it is plain first , that they did acknowledg such not to act rationally , and therefore unlikely to be moved by rational arguments ; so that their discourses on this account could not have been unpracticable as if they had onely shewn them their duty , but not considered their abilities for practicing it . and secondly , that in persons acting so irrationally , passions were not so avoydable , nor their irrigularity easily separable from themselves , nor their demerit from their irregularity , nor consequently that th●se dissatisfactions and punishments necessarily-consequent to such demerit so hardly separable from such passions ( such as are most of those mentioned ) could be easily avoiedd . for first they acknowledged a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resulting necessarily from the mere mechanical impressions of exterior objects , in the inferior soul ; and secondly , a sympathetical influence of the inferior on the superior soul , upon account of the praeoccupation of sense and sensitive judgments and performances during the minority of reason , which , according to their principles , might by virtue of the former impression , incline the judgment it self to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , to believe the things really correspondent , to their appearances , to be such as they seem , which must needs infer a parity of resentment in the rational , which had before possessed the sensitive appetite . and thus much they do not deny concerning their wiseman himself , of the second order , such as was conceived existent in this life . but further thirdly , in weaker inferior persons they thought this sympathy so naturally-consequent to those exterior impressions as that it could not be prevented by particular ordinary reflections , but by long exercises , and solemnly-premeditated resolutions . so that to sensualists or weakly religious persons they both allowed reasons to expect such disturbances of mind , and the same latitude of providing against them as could have been advised by any other prudence whatsoever . for though indeed they might say that god would not permit any real evil to befall religious persons , yet they never undertook ( ●ay they warned the contrary ) that no apparent evil should do so too ; or that imperfectly virtuous persons should alwayes value things according to their real worth , and not be seduced sometimes to mistake their appearances for realities ; or that doing so , they , as well as others , would not prove lyable to dissatisfactions of mind , was never intended to be affirmed by them . and it might have been shewn how most of the disturbances now mentioned are imputable to the mistakes of weak understandings , and either are no realities at all , or , at least , not really such as they are conceived to be . thus those anxieties of mind , and dulness and distraction in the performance of spiritual duties , which are usually represented as so discouraging to piously designing persons , are no more originally than a meer revolution of their humours and complexions , and mistakes adequately occasioned by the indisposition of the recipient , not by any malignity of the things themselves . for indeed what reason is there to conclude their condition bad because their complexion is clouded with melancholy , a thing as little in their power , and as obnoxious to vicissitudes , as the vainest of those exterior fruitions so solemnly renounced by all pious persons ? and what else but complexion can be the reason why they are within a while ( without any accession of new guilt ) disquieted with jealousies and scrupulosities concerning that which not long before in a mature process of judging they had pronounced perfectly innocent , and recover periodically , when the cloud is over , without any further rational conviction ? yet this is that which melancholy persons miscall the fruition or desertion of the divine internal visitations . for if it were a real consciousness of demerit that were the reason of such an alteration of judgment concerning their own condition , either the demerits must be supposed frailties and inadvertencies , and those are known unsufficient to put us out of a state of grace ; or they are great and habitual , and such cannot agree to persons supposed pious , who onely , according to the principles of these philosophers themselves , are entitled to solid joy and comfort . and the same untowardness of complexion seems to be the principal , if not the onely , cause of that unquietness of conscience of which such persons do complain , for if the guilt were rationally grounded , they could not be the persons we are supposing them . so also for solicitousness concerning perseverance , it is certain that by the promises of christianity , he that does improves his present grace shall not be left destitute in any future exigences , but shall either have his abilities enlarged , or his temptations proportioned to his present abilities ; which he that believes ( as he must who professes to believe christianity ) can have no reason for solicitousness , and a solicitousness without reason can be imputed to nothing but complexion . so that the most likely means of prevailing on such persons practicable in pursuance of their principles , are ; both to perswade the persons that their present actings are unreasonable and erroneous , and to remove such prejudices as may immediately be removed upon conviction , and to comply with such as cannot till in process of time they may be made more capable of better impressions , and in the mean time prescribing such rules and exercises as may at once make their present condition most tolerable , and put them in a state of most probable proficiency for the future , the onely thing therefore that may be complained of in this moral philosophy is , that it wants those advantageous arguments for comforting persons which are afforded by christianity ; which will be no reason of neglecting , but improving , it by such auxiliary superadditions . and it may be that want of complyance which is complained of , may upon thorough consideration be found to be , not such as may so minister comfort for the present as that it may withal tend to the conviction of his error , but such as might nourish and confirm it , and detain the person perpetually in so imperfect a condition , an inconvenience to which novices in a religious life are too frequently obnoxious . for certainly a state of religion prudently managed would be obnoxious to fewer disturbances of the rationally superior soul than now we find it , if indeed to any at all . and lastly it might have been said , according to sense of the mystical divines as well as the stoicks , that these visitations , which are so eagerly aimed at by beginners in devotion , are meerly indifferent , and no real rational excellencies , neither as making the persons enjoying them better nor more honourable , nor as arguing them more acceptable to god , both because of the difficulty of distinguishing divine consolations from diabolical illusions , and because they dare not say that true consolations themselves are distributed in proportion to their personal excellencies , but many times greater to the weaker , who need them more for their encouragement , and lesser and fewer to more excellent persons ; so that still the doctrine of these philosophers may hold , that good men are not arbitrarily exercised with the loss of any thing truly excellent ; nor are the remedies of these philosophers onely so stupefactive as they are by some conceived , as if they were onely addressed against the pungency , but did not eradicate the malignity of the distemper , the same way as a natural bold complexion , nay sometimes distemper of the brain , does free from the sense of evil at present , which notwithstanding on sober thoughts will prove as afflictive as ever in this life , besides the more severe consequential inconveniences . for it was their profest doctrine that virtue was the onely solid security of happiness , which must needs have obliged them not to accept of any other indolency but what must arise or be conformable thereunto , which no prudent considerate person will deny to be not onely a solid cure of present maladies , but also a secure prevention of future miscarriages . and it is really a mistake of the true sense and design of these excellent persons to think that they made their present satisfaction so adaequately the end of their philosophical performances as that they should make no conscience of committing those vices which were less liable to present molestations , or of acquiring those virtues which were either contrary or not contributive to present happiness , and that solid purity was hardly intended by them , they being more solicitous for sensual than spiritual purity ; for purity in exterior appearance , than in the intention . for it is plain that happiness was by them thought necessarily consequent to virtue , and misery to vice under their very formal notions , which , whatever sensualists might think , could not leave them any ground of such a distinction of any virtues that were at present afflictive , or , vices that might advance any present real satisfaction , which must have obliged them to a prosecution of all virtue , and a detestation of all vice , without any exception . and then the advantages they proposed to themselves being onely grounded on the intrinsick nature of the duties themselves , and not being thought the least promoted by other mens opinions , must needs have made such duties desirable independently on common fame ; besides that they did expresly decry , and teach men to despise , other mens opinions , than which nothing can be thought more effectual for the eradication of all vain glory and hypocrisie and conceitedness , of which uncandid censurers ancient as well as modern have been so forward to condemn them . i will not undertake to justifie their persons in these particulars ; but i think i may very justly except against this way of proceeding to censure their principles from their practices , both because affairs of this nature concerning their secret intentions are impossible to be known by men who cannot discern their hearts , and in such cases common humanity as well as charity obliges to believe the best ; and because there were some of them so wary as that they never appeared guilty of the least affectation as far as humane observation could discover them , nay gave evidences of the contrary ( it had been easie to have produced instances if i had not been afraid of being too tediously digressive ) and if the uttermost for which any shew of proof can be pretended were granted , that they had been vain glorious and been so universally ; yet what is that to discredit the goodness of their principles , ( for the defence of which alone i am concerned ) the best professions of the world being apt in their own case to think themselves hardly and unkindly used , if their principles should be condemned for their unconformable practices ? and i have already shewn that such practices , if they had been , must needs have been unconformable . thus much may suffice at present for vindicating the rational use of these ancient morallists . for as for that pedantick use which some less prudent persons seem mainly to design in reading them , that they may upon occasion produce them as patrons of sentences in themselves , so intrinsecally rational as that they need no patronage , i think it needless to warn considerative persons of its insignificancy , of which the generality of scholars are by this time sufficiently convinced . ix . but then for the discovery of those mystical senses which were designedly thus involved by the poets and philosophers , and withall for unridling their publick idolatries , the ground of these intricacies being that language of the gods mentioned by homer , and instanced in many particulars by clemens alexandrinus strom. iv. the best means , where there be any regular ones possible ; will be to examine what these were both among themselves , and other nations from whom they received them . and these , according to the two wayes whereby the gods were thought to have revealed themselves to men : either by visible representation of things whose natures had some analogy with what they intended , or more directly and familiarly by way of voice ; may seem also to have been twofold . for the former , you may , i believe , get much advantage from that otherwise reputed late and unprofitable as well as superstitions , learning of the graecian oneirocriticks , which as they were evidently thought divine , and the main instance of that sort of revelation among all ancient nations ; so they had incomparably greater advantages for their conveyance to posterity than any other kind of learning . and the graecians being confessedly none of its first authors , but the asiatick telmissij ( whether those of caria or of the city telmissus in lycia ) as a tatianus and b clemens relate , i suppose on greek testimonies , it seems evident that they derived it easterly . and for the lycian telmissus , it being , according to suidas , founded by antenor's posterity , it is impossible that they should be its first inventors , seing that from homer it appears that it was practiced by the graecians themselves before that ; and for the other , most of those asian colonies being acknowledged to have proceeded easternly ( for most , if not all the graecian colonies , that were there , were planted there after the destruction of troy ) may probably give much light for discovering the secrets of the eastern learning , and of those nations especially that were anciently famous for it , the chaldaeans , and the phaenicians , from whom in all probability they derived most of their traditions . and another advantage of this , above all other , sorts of mystical learning is , that , whereas the explication of others was either reserved with the priests themselves , or afterwards communicated to some few initiated persons after very severe and rigorous tryals of their secrecy , as you may see in lucas holstenius's notes upon porphyry de vitâ pythagorae , which it is probable very few would undergo , & might therefore be more obnoxious to corruption or forgetfulness , which i suspect to be the true reason of those corruptions among the graecians themselves , till they were again repaired by the philosophers by a new intelligence with those nations from whom they had originally derived them ; the ordinary practice and profession of this made its explication also not at all subject to those inconveniences . so also you will , i believe , get much assistance from the aegyptian hieroglyphicks ( though that also be thought by many an unprofitable learning ) for understanding the ridiculous * statues of their gods , and their sacrifices , and vivaria of sacred animals , and their mystical caeremonies which afterwards even they themselves that were initiated knew not , and many of the pythagoraean symbols , and the mystical philosophy . for that this was a sacred manner of expressing themselves , besides many others , c origen expresly affirms ; and that circumcision was necessary for initiating them that were desirous to learn it is very probable , upon which account pythagoras may be thought to have endured that rite , according to d clemens alexandrinus ( and probably that opinion of many mentioned by e st. ambrose , making him a natural jew , contrary to the general consent of others who make him a tyrrhenian , or of asia , might hence have had its original , whereas it is evident not onely from the former testimony of origen , but also from f aristophanes and g herodotus , which later place is also quoted by h josephus , nay from the very instance of appion himself , that notorious and bitter enemy to the jewes , who is yet reported by the same josephus to have dyed of it , that circumcision was afterwards derived to many other nations , and particularly to the aegyptians from whom celsus thinks the jewes to have borrowed it apud orig. l. i. ) and he could not legally have retired to his gentile course of life , if he had been circumcised by the jewes , it being onely administred by them to their proselytes of justice whose recidivation was counted as piacular as that of the natural jewes themselves ; which by the way being appropriated in the scriptures to the jewes so as that the uncircumcised and the gentiles are used synonymously , yet being , before the travels of the philosophers , borrowed by other nations , will give a strong suspicion of their conveying their doctrines together with their caeremony of initiation . this observation may indeed confirm the vulgar opinion concerning the phaenicians , both because it hence appears that they did not use circumcision anciently , nay seem to have abhorred it , which made themselves abhorred by the jewes , and therefore their receiving it afterwards seems to argue them better affected to the jewes , from whom upon that account it seems probable that they received it ( besides that their good affection to the jewes appears from the very friendly league of david and solomon with hiram , that i may not mention the marriage of ahab with jezabel the daughter of ithobalus , and that uncircumcision is never , that i remember objected to them in the scripture after the time of saul ) so that together with that it is not improbable that they might receive other things to which they were less averse , especially if any credit may be given to the pretended sancho●●athon . but for the aegyptians and aethiopians , i do not think it so easily proved that they received their circumcision from the jewes . for first , i know no ground of believing it an innovation among them , the scripture it self never upbraids them with uncircumcision . and secondly , the circumcision it self was differently practiced among them from the customes of the jewes . it was not as with the jewes administred the eighth day , nor as with the arabians in imitation of ismael , the thirteenth year , but to persons fully adult ; such as was appion when he dyed of it ; nor to all persons of their nation or superstition , but onely to some eminently qualified persons that were sit to be initiated in their mysteries ; not onely to men , nor indeed to any but such a● i have already mentioned , but also to women , and that rather for a natural cause proper to the women of those countreys , as physicians conceive , than any matter of religion , whatever is pretended at present to the contrary ( for i look on the fable of maqueda their pretended queen of sheba's institution of it related by zaga zabo in damianus a goes as not worthy to be taken notice of ) so that at least in regard of them this argument for their deriving other things from the jewes together with their circumcision will not hold . nor do i think the customes of the modern aethiopick abyssens , though they may indeed argue a judaizing disposition in their first converters to christianity , sufficient to argue any communication of theirs with the jewes in the time of their paganisme , which is the onely thing i am at present discoursing of . for the other way of expressing the mind of their gods to them articulately by voice , as some of them seem to have been seigned purposely for their obscurity ; so i believe you will find very many of them significant in other tongues . and for this purpose i conceive it convenient that you were acquainted with the theory of the ancient magick ; for , besides that the ancient philosophers did by all means aim at the nearest and most familiar conversation with their gods , and that the name was not then , as it was after , counted infamous , and even after it was , they are strongly suspicious of their too good affections to it from the strange stories of apollonius tyaneus , prophyry , and jamblichus , and those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they s● much speak of ; many of the primitive haereticks , who exactly insisted on their footsteps as their patriarchs , as tertullian calls them , did plainly practice it , as simon , and menander , and marcus , and basilides , and most of their names of their aeones , and some of their sacred rites mentioned in irenaeus , are merely magical . and as the true religion was by degrees perverted into idolatry , so magick in the bad sense seems to have been nothing but a further degeneration of ancient idolatry . onely the notion is creater here than among the graecians , that they being applyed onely to such whom they thought properly gods : the several virtues of him that is supreme , or the influence of the stars , or the president daemons ( not to the inanimated elements of nature ) or canonized heroes ; most of them are exotical ( which is the reason of their strangeness in the greek ) nay in oriental tongues which have an affinity with the ehrew , and may therefore the more probably give light to the idolatry of those nations that are alluded to in the old testament ; that these people were especially inquisitive in all religions , for the names of their most powerful gods , and so sometimes of the true as well as false ; for thus i am apt to suspect those imitations of the tetragrammaton to have been derived to the occidentals ; thus the name jovis among the romanes , which from suidas and ennius and iucius ampelius , and most ancient authors , appears to have been the nominative case , whence they derived their vejoves and dejoves , and , which brings it yet closer to my purpose , as i remember , varro in st. augustine , makes him worshipped by the jewes . so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which you may see instanced and excellently discoursed of by mr. nicholas fuller in miscel . sacr. l. ii . c. 6. and iv . c. 13. 14. which author i shall recommend to your reading on vacant occasions , and the god 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by i diodorus siculus also said to have given the law to moses . and that these names were divulged by the magicians , besides the words of origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( produced out of a greek m s. by the forementioned k mr. fuller , though now not extant , that i know of , nor by what appears after the diligent search of petrus l daniel huetius the author of the late collection of origen's greek commentaries , nor any thing , as i remember , answering it in the latine translation of russinus , who yet is not famed for rendring the greek exactly , nor does himself pretend to it ) confirming my conjecture ; will be reasonable to believe : whether we consider that there is no plausible author pretended for it , none of the philosophers ; or those wicked uses it was put to in the rites of bacchus and apollo , or that commendation given it by the devil himself in the oracle of apollo clarius , wherein he confesses , m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sure for some such mischievous purpose . so also the god of abraham isaac and jacob is mentioned by n origen as invoked by magicians , nay and the name of jesus himself , not onely in him , o but also by the sons of sceva in the acts. p to which i might add that security of conveyance in them , their superstition forbidding them the liberty even of a translation , which was a great reason of their strangeness among the graecians , and yet is professedly maintained as reasonable by q jamblichus , as great an enemy as he seems to magick , and it seems to have been the opinion of the stoicks defended by origen . l. i. p. 20. and for this you may see the necessity of the oriental tongues , which if you cannot spare time for your self , i would advise you to be acquainted with some that is excellent in them , whom you may consult upon occasion . but that which i believe would be most serviceable for this design among the greek idolatries , is the coptite or ancient aegyptiack , from whom , as i said formerly , they borrowed very many of them , wherein though both the likeness of the character , and the signification of many of their words , may be easily discernible ; yet both in some , the idiomes of the tongues will make the difference more apparent , and where they do not , it would at least concern you to know their convenience , for the historical enquiry , whether among the others there was any thing proportionable ? and possibly you will find some assistance this way for the understanding those hard mystical words used by the romans , mentioned by r arnobius , though seeing tages , and the hetrurians the reputed indigenae , were thought to be the inventors of most of those sacred rites wherein they were used , i conceive the right knowledge best deducible from the ancient hetrurian tongue before it was corrupted by those numerous greek colonyes that overspread afterwards a great part of italy . and for this your best conjectures will be drawn from those obsolete old latine words in ennius , plautus , festus , varro &c. and other later antiquaries and grammarians . and in this whole way of deriving unknown words to their primitive originals , you must allow many variations , either for want of answerable letters , or the ignorance of later transcribers , wherein , that you may not be irregular , it would concern you to be critically acquainted in both tongues , the borrower , and the borrowed , that by comparison of both you may conjecture what alterations were likely to happen . but besides this use of oneirocriticks and hieroglyphicks and the other pagan mystical arts of concealment for understanding the hidden senses of their poets and philosophers , and their publick idolatries ; i have observed another use made of them by some very learned persons , for explaining the prophetick books of scripture , which because it may seem something strange at the first sight and is not cleared particularly 〈◊〉 those ingenious authors that use it , and may withall be very apposite for the use of a scholastical divine ; it may be seasonable on this occasion to give some account of it ▪ first , therefore i suppose that god did intend that these prophesies which were committed to writing , and enrolled in the publick canon of the church , should be understood by the persons concerned in them . for otherwise it could not properly be called a revelation , if after the discovery things still remained as intricate as formerly , and it is not credible that god should publish revelations onely to exercise and puzzle the industry of humane enquiries , or as an evidence of his own knowledge of things exceeding ours ( though indeed that it self cannot be known by us unless we be able to discern some sense which otherwise could not have been known than by such prophesies ) or to give occasion to enthusiasts and cunningly designing persons to practice seditions and innovations under the pretence of fulfilling prophesies , without any possibility of rational confutation by the orthodox , who , upon this supposal must be presumed as ignorant of them as themselves ; and there is no prudent way of avoyding this uselesness and dangerousness but by rendring them intelligible to the persons concerned . and secondly , the persons concerned in these kinds of revelations , cannot be the prophets themselves or any other private persons of the ages wherein they were delivered , but the church in generall also in future ages . for as prophesie in general is a gratia gratis data , and therefore as all others of that kind given primarily and originally for the publick use of the church , so certainly such of them as were committed to writing , and designedly propagated to future ages , must needs have been of a general and permanent concernment . and thirdly , the church concerned in those prophesies , cannot onely be those ages which were to survive their accomplishment , but also those before ; and therefore it cannot be sufficient to pretend , as many do , that these prophesies shall then be understood when they are fulfilled , but it will be further requisite to assert that they may be so before . for the onely momentous reason , that must be conceived concerning these , as well as other , revelations , must be some duty which could not otherwise have been known , which must have been something antecedent , for all consequent duties of patience and resignation are common to them with other providences , and therefore may be known in an ordinary way . now for antecedent duties , such as seem to be intimated in the prophesies themselves where any are mentioned , nothing can suffice but an antecedent information . besides to what end can this post-nate knowledge serve ? for satisfying christians of the divine prescience upon the accomplishment of his predictions ? this is needless ; for they already profess themselves to believe it . is it therefore for the conviction of infidels ? but neither can this be presumed on a rational account . for how can it be known that a prediction was fulfilled when it is not known what was predicted ? or how can it be known what was predicted when the prediction is so expressed as to be capable of many senses , and no means are acknowledged possible for distinguishing the aequivocation ? nay will not such a design of ambiguity seem to such a person suspicious of that stratagem of the delphick oracles , to preserve the reputation of a prophetick spirit by a provision beforehand for avoyding the danger of discovery ? for indeed this kind of prophesie will be so weak an argument for proving divine inspiration , as that indeed it may agree to any natural man of ordinary prudence . for in publick affairs ( the subject of these prophesies ) which proceed more regularly and are less obnoxious to an interposition of private liberty , the multitude who are the causes of such evolutions generally following the complexion of their bodies , and therefore being as easily determined , and therefore , predicted from natural causes as such their complexions ; it will not be hard , at least , very probably , to conjecture future contingencies from present appearances of their natural causes . and then by foretelling them in ambiguous expressions he may provide that if any of those senses , of which his words are capable , come to pass , that may be taken for the sense intended , so that a mistaking in all but one would not be likely to prejudice his credit . and at length if all should fail , yet a refuge would be reserved for the superstitious reverencers of his authority , that themselves had rather failed of understanding his true sense than that had failed of truth ; especially if among a multitude of attempts , but one hit in one sense ( as it is hard even in a lottery that any should alwayes miss , much more in matters capable of prudential conjectures ) that one instance of success would upon those accounts more confirm his credit than a multitude of faileurs would disparage it ; because in point of success they would be confident of their understanding him rightly , but in miscarriages they would lay the blame , not on the prediction , but their own misunderstandings . now seeing this way is so very easily pretended to by cheats beyond any probable danger of discovery , it cannot to persons not already favourably affected ( who onely need conviction ) prove any argument of a divine inspiration ; and therefore will , even upon this account , be perfectly useless . supposing therefore that it is necessary that these predictions be understood before , as well as after , that they are fulfilled ; it will follow fourthly , that where they were not explained by the prophets themselves , there they were intelligible by the use of ordinary means , such as might , by the persons to whom the revelations were made , be judged ordinary . for that they should be explained by new prophets to be sent on the particular occasion , there is no ground to believe ; and if these prophesies were so expressed as that they needed a new revelation for explaining them , they must have been useless , and indeed could not have deserved the name of revelations , they still transcending the use of humane means as much as formerly . for if they had been revealed formerly what need had there been of a new discovery ? and if this need be supposed it must plainly argue that the former pretended revelation was not sufficient for the information of mankind in the use of ordinary means , and that which is not so , cannot answer the intrinsick ends of a revelation . this therefore being supposed that old revelations are thus intelligible without new ones , it must needs follow that their explication must be derived from the use of ordinary means . and then for determining further what these ordinary means are that might have been judged such by those to whom these revelations were made , i consider fifthly , that this whole indulgence of god in granting the spirit of prophesie was plainly accommodated to the heathen practice of divination . this might have been exemplyfied in several particulars . thus first , the very practice of revealing future contingencies , especially of ordinary consultations concerning the affairs of private and particular persons , cannot be supposed grounded on reason , ( otherwise it would have been of eternal use , even now under the gospel ) but a condescension to the customes and expectations of the persons to whom they were communicated ; and secondly , that an order and succession of prophets was established in analogy to the heathen diviners is by a very ingenious person s proved from that famous passage of deut. xviii . 15. 18. to which purpose he also produces the concurrent testimony of origen cont. cels . l. i. and thirdly , that the sense of the platonists and other heathens , concerning divine inspiration , its nature and parts and different degrees , and distinction from enthusiasm does very much agree with the notions of the rabbins concerning it , will appear to any that considers the testimonies of both produced by mr. smith in his excellent discourse on this subject . hence it will follow sixthly , that as this divination of which they were so eager , was originally heathenish , so they were most inclinable to make use of those means of understanding it to which they had been inured from the same principles of heathenism , especially where god had not otherwise either expresly provided for it , or expresly prohibited the means formerly used , and those means , others failing , were most likely by them to be judged ordinary . and that oneirocriticks were the proper means among the heathens for explaining their divinatio per somnium answering the jewish degree of prophesie by dreams ; and indeed the principal art of the harioli and conjectures concerning visions as far as they held analogy with those representations which were made to other less prepared persons in their sleep , will not need any proof . it might have been shewn how the principal rules of the jewish cabbala 〈◊〉 among the heathen was a curious mystical kind of learning contrived for maintaining a conversation with their gods ● wherein they were im●●ated by the gnosticks , so they were derived from the heathen occult philosophy . and certainly it is most likely to have been some kind of expressing and explaining prophesies , and some kinds of learning subservient thereunto , which was so solemnly studied by the jewish candidates for prophesie in their schools and colledges , and which made it so strange that persons wanting that preparation , such as saul and amos , should be by god honoured with it ; besides that we find the punctual fulfilling of several predictions of the chaldaeans by virtue of their oneirocriticks ( those most eminent transactions of the conquests of cyrus and the death of alexander the great were thus foretold ) plainly implying that god himself as he designed those dreams to be divinatory , so he observed the oneirocritical rules in their signification ; for it is not probable that revolutions managed by such special designs and signal interpositions of divine providence could have been foreknown or signified by the devil , he being frequently put to his solemn shifts of aequivocation for concealment of his ignorance in affairs of greater moral probability , and consequently of easier prediction . and it cannot seem more strange that god should observe the rules of oneirocriticks and hieroglyphicks in his responses when made use of with a pious design by his own people , than that he should answer the heathens themselves in their own practice . thus he observed the sign proposed by the philistines for discerning the true reason of their sufferings 1 sam. vi . 2. 9. 12 and met balaam in the use of his enchantments numb . xxiii . 4. 16. and revealed our saviours nativity to the magi by the means of a star. and particularly for oneirocriticks , their suitableness to this purpose will not be scrupled by them who admit the testimony of trogus pompeius t who ascribes the first invention thereof to the patriarch joseph , which will be very congruous to that prevailing opinion among the fathers and many late excellent authors , that all arts were derived originally from the jewes . besides daniel who was so famous for expounding dreams , though he was thought by the heathens to do some things by the inspiration of the holy gods dan. v. 11. yet had chaldaean education , chap. i. 4. and was a great proficient in it v. 17. and was accordingly included in the decree for killing the chaldaeans dan. ii . 13. and was therefore after his miraculous interpretation of nebuchadnezars dream , promoted to be master of the magicians , astrologers , soothsayers and chaldaeans . dan. v. 11. and therefore certainly was thought in things not exceeding the power of the art to have proceeded according to its prescriptions ; that is , in the interpretation , though not in the discovery of the dream it self . and they as well as the jewes being concerned in the event of his prediction must also have been so in the understanding of them . so also moses being expresly affirmed skilful in all the learning of the aegyptians , must therefore be presumed skilful not onely in their hieroglyphicks , for which they are so commonly famed , but also in oneirocriticks to which they were also addicted as appears gen. xli . 8. and methinks that challenge made in the revelation u concerning the name of the beast , that here is wisedom , and that he that hath understanding should exercise himself in counting the number thereof , ( as it seems plainly to allude to the cabalistical way of finding out names by numbers , whereof we have among the heathens a precedent in x martianus capella who thus sits the names of mercury and philology to shew the congruity of their marriage besides very many more in the gnosticks in st. irenaeus , so ) seemes to imply that it was , though hardly , in the exercise of this art , discoverable even by humane wisedome . certainly st. irenaeus understood him so when he attempted to unriddle him by finding out names , whose numeral letters , in the greek tongue wherein the challenge had been made , might amount to such a number . i do not , by all that has been said , intend that all prophesies are explicable by any rules of art or suitable conjectures . i know many of the heathen oracles themselves were not . the oracles expounded by themistocles , curtius , nebrus &c , did not depend on art but luck ▪ my meaning is onely concerning the prophetick visions , and onely those of them which are left unexpounded by god himself ; for that these are to be presumed sufficiently intelligible in the use of ordinary means , may thence be conjectured , that seeing that , according to the jewes , this is made the characteristick distinction betwixt true prophesie and enthusiasme , that though both of them ( the gradus mosaicus of prophesie onely being excepted , which is extraordinary ) do imply a mixed influence of the intellectual and imaginative facultives , yet that in enthusiasme the imaginative were predominant , but in prophesie the intellectual ; whence also they further inferred that though enthusiasts might have prophetick instincts as little understood by themselves as others , yet true prophets perfectly understood their own condition , and made prudential reflections , and were inquisitive after the sense , and were therefore importunate with god for a further revelation of what they understood not , and therefore what they did not enquire after , nor consequently was not upon such their solicitations revealed to them , was in all probability to be supposed already rightly understood by them without revelation , and therefore in the use of ordinary means . indeed it might so fall out that what was in the use of ordinary means intelligible might yet actually not be understood , and god might for that time be pleased that it should not be so , especially where no duty antecedent might be prejudiced by such a concealment ; yet is not so late an understanding of such prophesies grounded on their obscurity , but that of the event , which when come to pass will be found , without any new revelation , exactly correspondent . besides all this for the discovery of tradition i think it would very much conduce to be conversant with the heathen oracles , especially the * chaldaean and magical ; for from them you will most probably understand their sense , and from them the ancients , plato and pythagoras , seem to have borrowed their opinions , and porphyry professedly did gather from them a body of philosophy in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by st. augustine and o and for your more clear and satisfactory proceeding in these enquiries , it would , it may be , be very available to know the common opinions that generally prevailed in the world upon the decaying of idolatry , when the mysteries began to be divulged , and the philosophers themselves to speak more plainly , and by the former prescriptions to examine how far they were intended by the ancients , and from history , and the manner of their expressing it , from what nation it is probable they derived them , and what means those nations had either for preserving them from the beginning , or after of learning them from the jewes , and alwayes presume that nearer the original you shall find them more pure from after invected superadditions . this method many may think something strange , and i do confess i dare not warrant it all upon my own experience , and therefore i have not at all been decretory , and have withall insinuated my reasons , and i believe no candid scholars will censure them without a tryal , and if upon examination they be found unsatisfactory , i here profess my self very willing to be corrected by those that are more experienced and judicious ; and you shall find the main design of them to be the same with that of the learned fathers for the first centuries , onely with some additional directions for their further improvement . but i proceed . x. the third particular then concerned the necessary books , and general directions for their management , in pursuance of these studies . and here first concerning that part of divinity which is purely rational , i do not conceive it necessary for you to trouble your self with variety of authors , but with those onely that are commended for their ingenious managing it , or who proceed on different principles ; and for the greatest part of it you shall find it intermingled with school-divinity , and therefore will not need any different prescriptions . for school divinity therefore , according to the principles already laid down , for the testimonial part on which it is grounded ( and the same you may also understand of the canon law : for burchardus , ivo , and gratian , are guilty too of relying on inconsiderable , and counterfeit , and corrupted authorities , for the which in gratian you may read the emendations of the excellent antonius augustinus ) i advised you after the text of lombard , to read the fathers and councils , for the use i told you formerly , but principally for the historical discovery of new testament . tradition , especially the earliest of them ; those that are counterfeit as well as what are genuine , if they be truly ancient . and your best order in reading them will be to begin with the apologeticks against the heathens ; for these will advance your humanity studies , and will shew you their design in divinity ; and will be best intelligible by you as least depending on ecclesiastical learning , and are most accurately penn'd as being designed against the graecian wisedom , and the saecular philosophy . and the names of those pieces of this kind , according to their succession as near as i can ghess ( for it were convenient that you read them continually and in order , both for your own memory ( for the later usually transcribe the former ) and for your better comparison of their conveniences and differences together ; and possibly you may not know them ) are these : st. justine martyr , his paraenetick , apologies i. and ii. de monarchiâ confutation of aristotle , if his . athenagoras , his legatio pro christianis , de resurrectione mortuorum , an excellent rational piece . tatianus , his oratio ad graecos . theophilus antiochenus , ad autolyc . lib ▪ iii. clemens alexandrinus , his protreptick , the greatest part of his stromat●● , wherein his main design seems to be to prove the principal tenets of christianity by the testimonies of poets and philosophers , though mingled with many excursions against the gnosticks who seem to be the greatest enemies of the old philosophy . this author i would have you read attentively , both because his stile is intricate , and he is full of quotations , which will otherwise be hardly remembred , & he is one of the most learned that managed that cause . tertullian , his apologetick , ad nationes lib. ii. ad scapulam , de idololatriâ , de spectaculis . minucius faelix , his octavius . st. cyprian , his de vanitate idolorum , put of which is out of minucius faelix , transcribed verbatim ; ad demetrianum ; ad senatorem conversum , either his or tertullian ' sin verse de vit . laps . carm. origen , his cont. celsum . lib. viii . arnobius , his cont. gent. lib. vii . lactantius , his divin . institut . l. vii . besides that most of his other works tend that way . eusebius caesariensis , his excellent collections de praeparatione evangelicâ , l.xv. to be read with all diligence . contra hieroclem . athanasius m. his contr. gent : julius firmicu● maternus his de erroribus profanarum religionum . st. gregory nazian l. his steliteutic . in julian . st. ambrose , cont. symmach . aur. prudentius , his contra symmachum , and several passages in his peristephan●n occur to this purpose . st. chrysostom , his oratio adv : ●●nt . st. augustine his de civitate dei l. xxii . an excellent work . st. cyrill of alexandria cont. julian . l. x. theodoret. therapeutic . a fair edition of the apologists has been promised from leiden , but they have not , that i know of , performed it in any more than minucius faelix and arnobius , & lactantius with notes . these are all that i can at present remember , together with those two jewes , josephus cont . appion . and several pieces of philo. the writers also of the saecular history of the romanes from the time of our saviour , which may contribute much to the understanding them are suetonius , tacitus , and the writers of historia augusta usually bound together , herodian , xiphiline , dio cassius , and afterwards ammianus marcellinus , and zosimus . for understanding their ecclesiastical writings , and their full design , and how far what they say is to be taken for the sense of the church , it will concern you to know the condition of the writers : both how they were qualified for knowing it , and how affected for following it ? what violence they used in their stile , and therefore what regular abatements were to be allowed ? and really , i think , you shall find no doctrines firmly relyed on by them as the sense of the church catholick but such as were opposed by some of the then extant haereticks , as you may see in the account given of it , by origen in his praeface to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in pamphilus his apology for him , by y st. irenaeus , z tertullian & alexander alexandrinus in his encyclical epistle against arius , before its augmentation on occasion of that haeresie , by st. cyril of hierusalem also and st. epiphaniue , and ruffinus . for this end therefore it will be requisite to read first those ecclesiastical historians that are ancient : eusebius with the additions of ruffinus , socrates , sozomen , theodoret , evagrius , and the collections of theodorus lector , as you shal , find them together bound in one graeco-latine folio , or in the translations of cassiodorus and epiphanius scholaris in the tripartite history ; but especially take notice of eusebius , both because the rest do not meddle with what he handles , but onely begin where he leaves of ; and because you shall find i● him fragments of many ancient and excellent fathers whose works are otherwise lost ; and because the ages described by him are the most considerable in this affair . and then nicephorus callistus , who though himself otherwise late , and mingled with many counterfeits , and so of no considerable authority alone , yet very likely had truer copies of the authors followed by him that are extant , and the assistance of some that are not . then for understanding the arian controversies , which were the principal that employed the fourth century , you may read gelasius cyzicenus , and philostorgius the arian epitomized by photius , more largely than in his bibliotheca , and published by gothofredus . these are the principal historians for the first four centuries and upwards within the time of the first general councils , into which i would have you principally to enquire , this being the uttermost period that is owned by the dissenting communions of christendom as the most aequal arbitiator of their controversies . but the sullest account of this as also of what authors deliver concerning it , and a discussion of the historical controversies , and most of what can be desired in this kind you will find in the learned cardinal baronius . but for his mistakes , either through oversight or prejudice ( for he is extremely addicted to the driving on the papal cause ) besides what casaubon and bishop mountague , and others of both parties have performed , you may read that useful and elaborate piece of the protestant magdebur genses , though written before him , and examine both their quotations , and determine impartially as you shall judge reasonable . next , for understanding the haeresies , besides what you must be presumed to have met with in the historians , they that handle them professedly are : st. irenaeus , in his first book . tertullian , contra valentinianos , & in the appendix to his praescriptions , if it be his . epiphanius . philastrius . s● . augustine . theodoret. leontius byzantinus in his schola . theodorus presbyter de incarnatione , and others . after this the workes of the fathers themselves that are genuine , and those that are not according to theire true antiquity ; which that you may know and distinguish ( besides those ancients : st. hierom , who transcribes most that he has from eusebius , only translating him , and gennadius &c. ) i shall referr you to erasmus and others in the editions themselves , to possevine's apparatus , bellarmine de scriptor . eccles . cocus , rivet's critica sacra , and gerhard , which it were well that you had by you to consult upon occasion as you are reading them . and what i have here advised you for the four first , after you have observed them , you will your self be able to improve farther in the later centuryes , my design at present is only an introduction . for the councills ( which i would advise you to read before their contemporary or later . fathers , both because their authority is greater , and will be necessary to understand the allusions of particular fathers to them in opposing the haereticks condemned by them , and what fathers are most to be relyed on in what controversies ; for that is not to be determined by their greater personal learning , but rather by their approbation in the church as her chiefest campions . such were st. athanasius against the arians , st. cyril against the nestorians , st. augustine against the pelagians &c. ) you may make use of the same praescriptions proportionably applyed , for knowing which are counterfeit , and which are genuine ; which oecumenical , and which onely provincial : which are very fundamental enquiries to what must be grounded on them ; for which you will find an account , for the papists , in binius's tomes who usually borrowes what he has from baronius and bellarmine ; and for the protestants , from the aforesaid centurists , who through every age bestow a chapter on that purpose . the greater fathers you will find by their names , but for those that are less voluminous , you must have recourse to the bibliothecae : both graeco-latine and latine , especially in the last editions , though you may find some in the first that were afterwards expunged out of the later by the popish party . for the schoolmen , i should rather counsel you to read the prime authors than the abettors of parties , unless it be , when you have satisfied your self of their sense , for the closer prosecution of their arguments ; for they are indeed very much improved by their ingenious commentators . for aquinas , you need hardly read any thing but his sums , which you will find to contain the sum of his works ( which mount to that voluminousness they have , very much by repetitions ) as well as of divinity , and that with this advantage , that these were his last and most praemeditate thoughts , seeing he dyed before he compleated them . these you may read with cajetane . then scotus on the sentences together with lychetus ; and for the nominalists occham and ariminensis , if you can get them ; if not , biel , who is more easily procurable . if you would read any more of the ancient schoolmen , let them be such as are not addicted to factions , or those that are moderate ; such are bonaventure , durand , gerson , almain , aliaco and cameracensis . for critical learning you are to take notice of the unusual or ambiguous phrases of authors , and mark them on the margents of the books themselves , if they be your own , and when you shall meet with any thing parallell , compare them together , and , if they be rarely observed , note them in mss. prepared for that purpose . for the antiquities of the old testament , and the jewish customes in the new , you may read the talmud , the chaldee paraphrasts , the old rabbins , with josephus and philo. for the new testament sects , the pharisees , sadduces and essenes , besides what you will meet in the authors already prescribed and epiphanius , who had himself been formerly a jew , you may read the trihaereses of scaliger , serarius , and drusius ; and others upon baronius's apparatus . but the praxis of all matters of this nature is sufficiently contained in those late editions of the polyglotta and criticks , that i need not trouble my self to give you an inventory of any more authors , than what you will find quoted upon several occasions . the knowledge of the old aegyptian divinity and tongue you may have from herodotus , plutarch de isid . & ostride , and aristotle , the prodromus , oedipus and thesaurus of athanasius kircher ; the phaenician from sanchoniathon in eusebius de praep. evang. from those fragments of pherecydes syrius in ancient authors ; for he is said to have borrowed them hence by suidas , though possibly with alterations of his own , and the works of porphyry who was their countryman ; the chaldaean from their magick oracles bound up with a collection of all the rest of what nature soever , with the greek scholia of psellus and pletho by opsopaeus , and jamblichus de myster . aegyptior . & chaldaeor . for the lives and histories of the ancient poets you may satisfie your self from gerardus johannes vossius de poetis and gregorius giraldus in his dialogues , concerning the same subject . the lives and opinions of the ancient philosophers you may read in diogenes laërtius , plutarch de placitis , the greek lexicographers , and very many other ancient authors , particularly in what is remaining of porphyry's work on that subject , his v●●a pythagorae and of plotinus , and very much of that eastern , both babylonian and indian learning in the expeditions of apollonius tyaneus written by philostratus , and the late mr. stanley ; especially for their opinions you may consult the excellent collection of stobaeus . and though all the three sects of philosophers , both jonick , italick and eleatick , seem originally to have been derived from the barbarians , ( as you may see learnedly discoursed by clemens z alexandrinus ) and so would be beneficial to your design ; yet i think there are hardly any professed works remaining of any of them but the pythagoraeans and the platonists . for the former you may read the golden verses with hierocles , and his symbols with giraldus on them , usually both bound together with hierocles's works , together with the late collection of pythagoraean authors and fragments at cambridg , mdclxx . for the later , you may have plato's works and doctrine cleared by marsilius ficinus , and others that have endeavoured to reconcile him to aristotle . the mystical senses of the poets ( besides what you shall meet with commonly in the ancients ) you have explained by n●talis comes , vossius de idololatriâ , and giraldus de dijs gentium , and among the ancients , by phurnutus and palaephatus professedly . their oracles i have already mentioned . for their oneirocriticks , there are artemidorus and achmedes alone , and astrampsychus at the end of the forementioned edition of the oracles . for their historians and geographers , i refer you to bodinus his methodus historiae , at the end whereof he has a catalogue of them , and an account of the times which they lived in , but above all to their late princes : scaliger and petavius for the one , and ortelius and bochartus for the other . and this may serve for your initiation in these studies , which is , at present , my uttermost design . xi . but the way for avoyding confusion and distraction in such a variety of them , which will belong to the fourth particular of my propounded method , will be to shew which of them are not necessary to be studied at the same time , but in order ; and for them which are so , what times distinctly are most seasonable . for the former , you may , from what has been said , perceive what studies are requisite for others , and therefore necessary to be first prosecuted ; and besides what are more necessary for your present uses , and what may as yet be more conveniently omitted : onely it were well you would endeavour to overcome the rudiments of whatever you design as soon as you can , though they be not of present use , for you will find them more tiresome when you are older . of these therefore it will be unnecessary to speak any more . that therefore , in those that are at present to be followed , you may avoyd distraction , and yet loose as little time as is possible : you may distinguish them into such as are more easily apprehended , and entertained with more present and sensible pleasure , and so leave a more tenacious impression on the memory ; and these you may apply your self to immediately after your recreations , and afer a little reflection , you may proceed to those that are more serious , and require a greater recollection : for such i esteem history and geography ; for which i would have you begin with the ancients in their own tongues , with the annotations of noted criticks , who both may put you in mind , and satisfie you in difficulties which you had not otherwise expected , and refer you to parallel places in other authors , where you may find that which probably you may sometimes be desirous of , some things discussed more largely which in your present author are more briefly intimated , which it will be very beneficial to read immediately whilest the other things are more fresh in your memory ; and when you are so far skilled in them , you should have your paper books by you , to note , and compare , and exercise your own conjectures concerning what is singular , and worthy of especial observation ; or such as will more exercise your judgment , and require a mind more composed and serious , and therefore afford less pleasure in reading , and upon that account will require more meditation : for such i intend school-divinity , for which i think it were well you allotted your morning-studies wholly , allowing onely some time before dinner for meditation ; wherein also i would have you not onely exercise your memory in reflecting on what was produced by your author , but also your judgment , in examining what means may be used for the determination of the whole controversie . and the same way you may take at night which is another convenient time , in preparing materials for your morning thesis according to the praescriptions already mentioned . the rest of the afternoon you may design for the apologies , and your other humane studies . and i think it very commendable if you would employ the praxis of your grammatical studies for the understanding of the scriptures , and therefore that you would with them , together with your devotions , begin and conclude your morning and evening studies , but so as that you may afterwards draw from them some moral and practical observations that may be of use for the ordering or examination of your behaviour for the whole day . and the same advantage you may get by reading the lessons at publick prayers in your greek or hebrew bible , and noting in the margent with black-lead the unusual idioms , or obscure passage you may meet with , that so , if afterwards you remember , or find , any thing that may contribute to their explication in your other studies , you may know whither to refer them . and thus , i think , i have gone through all the particulars of your present proposal : both how to order your studies to divinity , what were most conducing to that end , and what first to be taken in hand , as briefly , as was possible , conveniently , though , i confess , very much more largely than i had originally intended , and i must ingenuously acknowledge that , as i have already professed my self willing , so i am my self suspicious that it will be necessary , that i be corrected in some instances , wherein i cannot pretend to any considerable experience . i believe you may your self easily guess what they are , for i cannot now stay to enumerate them particularly ; and as i should be willing my self , so i shall advise you to consult men whom you know to be skilled in each of them severally ( if you have any conveniency ) before you practice them . but if in any of the rest , wherein i am able , or in any of your particular studies , you shall meet with any important difficulties , i hope you will use the ingenuity of a scholar in freely communicating them to your very affectionate friend and servant , h. d. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a36258-e1580 a 1 s. pet. v. 3. b rev. ● 6. v. 10. xx . 6. c 1 s. pet. ii . 9. d rec●gn . i. iii. & vi. e pras. & catech iii. notes for div a36258-e12910 * bishop taylor . * do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the holy ghost , to t●ke upon you this office and ministration , to serve god for the promoting of his glory , and the edifying of his people ? answ. i trust so . ordering or deacons . a s. joh ▪ x. 1● . 12. b s. joh. xvi . 33. 1● . joh. xi . ●5 ▪ c phil. ●● ▪ 8. d acts ix . 15 , 16. e acts v. 41. f s. matth. v. 11. 12. g jer. xxiii . 2. ezek. xxxiv . 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. h s. joh. x. 11. phil. ii . 17. i phil. i. 23 , 24 , 25. k s● matth. xx . 15. l isa . xlviii . 8. l. 5. m acts xvi . 14. n s. john x. 14 , 16. o s. luke ix . 62. p acts xiii . 48. q s. john 47. r that this is the sense of the church concerning this creed , appears , in that this is required of all persons to be baptized , in the office of baptism ; of all persons dying , in the office of visitation of the sick ; of all persons thought fit to be confirmed or communicated , in the church-catechism . s joh. xx . 31. t luk. i. 4. u 2 tim. iii. 15. x 2 tim. iii. 16. 17. y also that every parson , vlcar , curate , chautery , priest , and stipendary , being under the degree of a batchelor of divinity , shall provide and have of his own , within three months after this visitation , the new testament both in latin and english , with the paraphrase upon the same of erasmus , and diligently study the same , conferring the one with the other . and the bishops and other ordinaries by themselves or their officers in their synods and visitations , shall examine the said ecclesiastical persons how they have prostred in the study of holy scripture . injunct by k. edward vi. anno 1547. 〈◊〉 . 11. of dr. sp●r●ow p. 6 7. also that every parson , vicar , curate , and 〈◊〉 priest , being under the degree of a master of art , shall provide and have of his own within three months after this visitation , the new 〈◊〉 both in latin and english with parap●ra●es upon the same , conserring the one with the other . and the bishops and other ordinaries by 〈…〉 or their officers , in their synods and 〈◊〉 , shall examine the said ecclesiastical persons how they have prfited in the study of holy scripture . injunct by q. elizabeth , anno , 1559. p. 72. 1. 16. i shall read daily at the least one chapter of the old testament , and another of the new , with good 〈◊〉 , to the increase of my knowledge . pro●●●●● to be made , promised and subscribed by persons to be admitted to any office , room or cure , or other place ecclesiastical , among the articles of q. elizabeth , anno , 1564. p. 127. z in the 〈…〉 thire orders a imprimis verò videbunt , ne quid unquam doceant pro concione , quod a populo religiose teneri & credi velint , nisi quod con●entaneum sit doctrinae veteris aut novi testamenti , quodque ex il●â psà doctrinâ catholi●i ●atres & v●teres episcopi 〈◊〉 lib. quo●und canon . an 15●1 . ed. ii. d. sparrow p. 238. b tertul . ad scapul . c dr. hammond on i. tim. 1. 18. d lamprid . in alexan. severo & ibid. casaub . s. cyprian . ep. 34. e so s. cyprian . pont. in vit . cyprian . f so aurelius s. cyprian . ep. 33. celerinus id. ep. 34. numidicus ep. 35. g vid. pamel . in ep. 9. s. cyprian . & b. rhena . & ali●s ad tertul a● martyr . h can. of the church of ireland xl . i tit. i. k tit. ii . 5. l tit. i. 11. m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . trad●e . sub nomine s. matthiae apostole apud clem. alex. strom. vii . p. 537. edit . lugd. bat. 1616. s. luke . xvi . 31. n jer. i. 18. vi . 27. xv . 20. o v 8. p v. 7. q jer. vi 14. viii . 11. r act. vii . 51. 52 s act. ii . 36 iii. 13. 14. 15. iv . 10. xiii . 10. 11. t act. iv 13 29. xlii 46. vid nam . xix . u 2 tim iv . 2. tit. ii . 15. x ●s . justin . martyr against crescens a cyni●k . philosopher , and the romanes apol. and tertullian ad scap. & apol. s. cyprian ad demetrian , &c. y mat. iv . 19. mark. i. 17. 2 cor. xii . 16. z port. moss . edit . oxoniens . 1655 p. 38. 139. 140. &c. a apud pl●ton . in phaed. b pl. lviii . 5. c s. mat. x. 16. d 1 cor. xii . 16. e heb. ii . 17. 18. f mat. vii . 29. mark. i. 22 luk. iv . 32. g 1 cor. ii . 4. h num. x●ii . xiv . i s. pet iii. 16. k tit. ii . 10. i. pet. ii . 12. l s. ma. v. 13. mark. ix . 50. luk. xiv . 34. m mat. v. 14. n phil. ii . 15. o mat. v. 15. mark iv . 21. luk. viii . 16. xi . 33. p mat. v. 16. q 〈…〉 . r rom. xii . 17. 2 cor. viii . 21. s augustin . lib. vi . confess . c. 3. t acacius berae●rs soz●m . eccl. hist . lib. vii . c 27. ni●eth . cal. lib. xii . c. 17. u s. ma. vi . 2. 5. x ib. v. 3. y 1 cor. ●● . ●7 . z 〈…〉 . 4. mar. vii . 38. luk. ix . 26. a exod. xiv . 14. b prov. xx . 27. c joh. xvi . 13. d 〈◊〉 joh. ii . 20. 27. e act. xii . 22. f this was required from all ecclesiastical persons : item , that every holy-day throughout the year , when they have no sermon , they shall immediately after the gospel , openly and plainly recite to their parishioners in the pulpit , the pater noster , the credo , and the ten commandments in english , to the intent that the people may learn the same by heart , exhorting all parents and housholders to teach their children and servants the same as they are bound by the law of god , and in conscience to do . injunct ▪ by k. edward vi . in the collect. aforesaid p. 23. injunct . by q. elizabeth a. 1559. p. 69 ib. item , whether they have charged fathers and mothers , masters and governours of youth , to bring them 〈◊〉 in some virtuous study or ▪ occupation . arti●l . of visitation by archb , cranin , under eow . vi . p. 26. g this was enjoyned on all teachers of children : 41. item , that they shall accustome their scholars reverently to learn such sentences of scripture as shall be most expedient to induce them to all godliness , injunct . by q. eliz 1559. p. 78. h 41. item , that all teachers of children shall stir & mobe them to a love and due reverence of gods true religion , now truly set forth by publick authority . injunct . by queen elizabeth 1559. p. 78. et quoties habebitur sacra concio , e●s vel emittent , vel deducent a● templum , ut statim a teneris incipiant erudiri ad pietatem &c. lib. quoru●d . canon . an. 1571. p. 240. & can. lxxix . an. 1603. i church of england visit . of the sick can. cxiii . an. 1603. k ibid. & can. xix . lxiv. l can. xix . so also the injunct of k. edward vi . p. 10 , the articl . of v●sit . by arch● , cr●●mer p. 20. injunct . by q. eliz an. 1559 n ●● . p. 74 articl . of visitat . an. 1559. p. 178. notes for div a36258-e25220 cent. i. mid . and end . cent. 1 mid . and end . cent. 2. beg . cent. 2 beg . cent. 2. beg . cent. 2. beg . cent. 1. end . 2. beg . mid . cent. 2. aft . mid . cent , ● mid . 〈…〉 cent. 2 mid . cent. 2. aft . mid . cent. 2. aft mid . cent. 2. aft . mid . cent. ● . near the end . cent. ● . near the end . cent. 2. cent. 2. near the end . cent. 2. near the end . cent. 2 near the end . cent. 2 near the end & 3. beg . ce●● . 3. beg . 〈…〉 cent. 3. beg cent. 3. 〈◊〉 . cent. 3. beg . mid , cent. 2 beg . cent. 3 mid . cent. 3 beg . cent. 3 mid . cent. 3 mid . and after . cent. 3. aft . mid . cent. 3. aft . mid . cent. 3. ast . mid . cent. 3. ast . mid cent. 3. near the end . cent. 3. end . cent. 3. en● . 4 ●eg . cent. 3. end . 4. beg . cent● 3. end . 4. beg . it may be he had it from his iii books de vita pamphili , now lost . notes for div a36258-e32900 m act. xi . 18. n act. x. 34. o ra● . israel de a●●m . c. xxv . p 〈◊〉 : sy●agog . juda c. c. ●ip . 25. q rab. isr . disp . cab. de anim. c. 21. & ibid jos . voysin . in not. d. hammond on s. john ii● . 5. r john iii. 3. s ib. v. 5. 6. t ib. v. 10 , u st. hieronym . adv . luciferiferian . & alij . x more nebok . part. iii. c 29. &c. in commonit . x this aduice was addressed to a graduate , who was therefore to have been presumed to have read over his course already once . this is warned that others to whom it does not belong , may not imprudently apply it to themselves . y metaph i. vi . c. 1. text. 2. z biblioth●● . l. i. p. 86. ed. graeco lat. a praep. e● . l. x. c. 8. a orat. in graec. b strom i. p. 224. * so cellu● : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c in rom. c. ii. & cont cels l. i. d strom 1. p. 221. e ep. 6. ad iren. f a charnens . g enterpe● c. 36. 104. h l. i. ●ent . appion . i bibliothee . i. i. par● . 1. k i. iv. c. 13. l origen●an . m apud macrob. sat. l. i. c. 18. n cont . cels . l. i. & l. iv . p. 183. 184. o ib. i. i. p act. xix . 13. q de myster . r l. vii . adv . gent. s dr. stilling-fleet or. sacr. l. ii. c. iv . n. 1. t ●omniorum primus intelligentia● condidet . trog ap● justin hist . l. xxxvi . u rev. xiii . 18. x l. ii . * that these also are mystically to be understood , we have the word of origen : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( sayes he ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cont 〈…〉 . iv . p. 189. y adv. hae. li. c. 2. z de 〈◊〉 . c ● . & ad praxeam c. 1. & de 〈…〉 c. 1. z strom 1. a golden chaine of divine aphorismes written by john gerhard doctor of divinitie and superintendent of heldburg. translated by ralph winterton fellow of kings colledge in cambridge loci communes theologici. english gerhard, johann, 1582-1637. 1632 approx. 407 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 284 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a01638 stc 11769 estc s103039 99838798 99838798 3187 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a01638) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 3187) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1237:07) a golden chaine of divine aphorismes written by john gerhard doctor of divinitie and superintendent of heldburg. translated by ralph winterton fellow of kings colledge in cambridge loci communes theologici. english gerhard, johann, 1582-1637. winterton, ralph, 1600-1636. cecil, thomas, fl. 1630, engraver. [32], 389, [1] p. printed [for richard royston, london] by [thomas buck and roger daniel] the printers to the vniversitie, [cambridge?] : 1632. based on gerhard's "loci communes theologici". printers' names from stc. with an added title page, engraved, "the marrow of diuinitie or a golden chaine of diuine sentenses .. london printed for ri. royston in ivie-lane 1632" (the date changed in pen to 1633), signed "t. cecill sculp.". reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2004-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-10 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-11 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2004-11 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the marrow of divinitie thomas or harris a golden chaine of diuine sentenses written by iohn gerhard doctor of diuinitie and superintendent of heldburg . buy the trueth ▪ prov. 23.23 . london printed 〈…〉 1632 〈…〉 a golden chaine of divine aphorismes written by john gerhard doctor of divinitie and superintendent of heldburg . translated by ralph winterton fellow of kings colledge in cambridge . printed by the printers to the vniversitie 1632. to the right worshipfull his most worthy friend and benefactour sir john hanburie of kelmersh in northamptonshire , together with his sonne and heire edward hanburie esquire , & mary his daughter lady to sir miles sandys of brimsfield in glocestersh . and all that are descended from them , gerhards interpreter wisheth what temporall happinesse this world can afford , and eternall happinesse in the world to come . sir , from me perhaps you expected physicall aphorismes , rules and directions for health , as from a physician ; rather then theologicall aphorismes , doctrines of salvation , as from a divine . and , i confesse , considering my profession , it had been more proper for me to have sent over such unto you . but such is the nature and condition of man , whilest he lives here below , under the clouds , that no profession can priviledge him from storms and tempests , and from injuries of weather : insomuch that even physicians themselves many times become patients . the great world is a theatre in which are acted nothing but tragedies of humane miseries : every man hath his intrat , as soon as he is born : he acts ( if i may call it acting , and not rather suffering ) all his life : he findes no exit , till he descends into the chambers of death , to put off his dresse . i may truely call the great world , the common school of patience ; and every societie , a private ; and every person in each societie being a little world within himself , an epitome , or module of the great . to school we must , to learn patience : and where should a man learn christian patience but in the school of christ ? and where is that but in the scripture and books of devotion ? i for one have been so exercised in a world of sufferings , that it hath driven me to the school of christ to learn patience , and according to the counsell of the apostle , in all estates to be content , and troubled at nothing whatsoever can happen to me from without , considering that nothing comes to passe without a divine providence . apollonius , as philostratus reports , being asked if he did not tremble at the sight of the tyrant , made this answer , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 god which hath given him a terrible countenance , hath given also unto me an undaunted heart . and it is the saying of saint chrysostome , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not so much the nature of things , as the weaknesse of persons . troubles happen alike to all : but all are not alike troubled . fire is one and the same for nature : but for effect it is not alwaies the same . it consumes wood and cole : but it purifies gold and silver . the sunne softens wax , and hardens clay . the light is comfortable to the sound , but troublesome to the diseased . the saying of apollonius i may apply thus unto my self , though god hath suffered storms and tempests to arise and to be stirred up against me , yet he hath not suffered me to be removed or cast down . though fortune frown upon me , yet ( i thank god ) having a chearfull heart i can smile upon her . and the saying of saint chrysostome i may thus apply , though troubles have come upon me , yet ( i thank god who hath given me patience ) i have not been troubled . but amongst many crosses nothing hath more afflicted me then the death of him who truely honoured you in his life , and was truely beloved by you to his death , my deare brother francis winterton late one of her majesties privie chamber . vnhappy man ! but shall i call him unhappy in his death , who was most happy in his life ? that i cannot : he that lived well , certainly could not but die well ? shall i call him unhappy , because he died in a strange countrie ? nay rather happy in this , because he died for his countrie . shall i call him unhappy in this , because he is taken from me ? this were to love my self more then him , and to envie his happinesse . or shall i grieve that i my self was not with him to take care for him for things necessarie in time of life , and for his funeralls after death ? he wanted neither comfort in life , nor honourable buriall after death . ever let my tongue be tyed and my hand dried up , if i do not as a poore scholar serve him with both who was so carefull for him , i mean that most heroicall worthie , ( with the splendour of whose titles and greatnesse i dare not presume to set a lustre on so small a work as this , but shall ever admire , and proclaim his vertues & goodnes ) who of his innate and noble disposition loved all his followers in generall , as his fellow-souldiers , and my brother in speciall ; who to his power provided for all , as for his own familie , but made much of him in health , as a faithfull servant ; took care for him before his death , as for a friend ; lamented for him a● his death as for a brother ; and after death , saw him honourably buried , as a souldier . i will not then lament his death , who is translated to a better life : neither will i weep for him , that is in joy : nor put on mourning clothes for him that is clothed with immortalitie . if it was any unhappinesse for him to die , it is his friends not his . i wept for him when he was alive : and then he seemed to me to die when i left him on shipboard at graves-end . the next news i heare , he lies buried at custrin in silesia . whom sea and land and death hath parted , i hope blessed eternitie shall at length bring together again . so i leave him and return to you . sir , i hope you will pardon this digression , or rather count it no digression at all , to speak of him whom i know you dearely loved . but i was speaking of my troubles : for which still i finde a remedie in the sanctuarie . for my manner is , when troubles seize upon me , presently to retire my self into my studie , and take in hand some book of devotion . so presently after i parted from my brother i took in hand drexelius his enchiridion of eternitie : and since , upon a new occasion offered , i renewed my acquaintance with doctor gerhard . it were fit that i should present my service unto you my self in mine own person , considering my many obligations to you , and your kinde invitations of me . but being otherwise hindred i have sent gerhard in my place , who dedicates himself and his best service to honour you and your progenie . concerning whom i may truely say thus much , if you make him your counsellour and companion , you shall never be without a walking library : so full is he of scripture fathers and schoolmen . concerning my self i can say no more but this ( for i know not how to complement ) i am and ever shall be in all hearty affection your servant ralph winterton . ¶ to the translatour of gerhards aphorismes . do ; let the antichristian clergy keep their owl-ey'd laitie pris'ners in the deep and horrid shades of everlasting night , whil'st thy cleare beams , & more illustrious light disperse these clouds of language , and display the close-drawn curtains of thy new-born day : shine forth ( bright lampe ) & chase these shades of night : truth seeks no corners ; errour baulks the light . ed. benlovves ¶ to the reader , concerning the authour and interpreter of this book . behold choise aphorismes here like rings beset with pearls lockt up in this rich cabinet . if worth not number doth commend the store , viewing but one , me thinks i need no more . yet in this volume many hundreds dwell : and every one 's a volume to live well . each leafe's a perfect book : each line is such , each part 's enough , yet not the whole too much . gerhard his aphorismes like starres do shine : thou giv'st them lustre ; let me call them thine . most bright themselves , by thee they shine most bright : as if the sun had borrow'd greater light . apollo needs not to renew his fame , who twise is made immortall by thy name . dove williamson , fellow of kings colledge . upon the golden chain of divine aphorismes . as no such maladie , so no such balm like that which can the souls distempers calm what soul is not diseas'd ? how hard to finde a salve to cure diseases of the minde ? this , winterton hath found . who but he knew that such an herb in ger●ards herball grew ? ( no empirick , no chymicks daring heart , who sets poore nature on the wrack of art , descri'd such med'cines ) sure in this he can approove himself a true physician . each aphorism's an antidote to thee 'gainst the old serpents sting : the book may be a garden richly stored ; in which place grows the true hearts-ease , and the herb of grace . these now translated are : because t is guest that plants translated oft times thrive the best . he then undoubtedly thrice happy is , who being immur'd from men , can chuse out this ▪ garden to be his prison . who would disdain thus to be fetter'd in a golden chain ? robert nevvman , fellow of kings colledge . most men that put forth books have thi● main art , first for their credit , then their better mart , with title faire , with fine inscription to deck their work their onely minion . this man forsooth with amalt●ea's hor● doth of his book the frontispice adorne : this writes , a honycombe : a third doth call his works the pandects , as comprising all . the muses here the reader waiting stand : there is an enchiridion for his hand . such titles serve to please the readers eye , and strangers do invite the books to buy . but yet ( alas ! ) within what do they finde ? scarce ought that can content or ease the minde . the pandects having all , cannot the will ; the enchiridion scarce the hand doth fill . the hony cloyes : the horn is quickly drie : at best the muses do but sweetly lie . take then into thy hands gerhard divine who saving doctrine hath in every line : he in his text more truth doth comprehend , then others titles vainly do pretend . in him all authours are both new and old , fathers and school-men faithfully enroll'd . if all these authours severally do please : how then shall he who joyntly hath all these ? henry whiston , fellow of kings colledge . who list to glance a gentle look upon the golden chain this book , as in a crystall first , may see the secrets of eternitie . such as in time should come to passe , decreed by god before time was : such as transcend the hearts desire , and onely silence can admire . but next doth entertain the sight an emblem of our wofull plight , he that ere long heav'ns darling was , gods archetype , mans looking-glasse , which being dim'd , nature no more to its first brightnesse could restore : he that enjoy'd so rare a blisse , made happy with a paradise : behold him now cast out from thence , disrob'd of milky innocence . poore naked man ! naked alas , who onely cloth'd with fig-leaves was ! but jesse's branch our souls arraid , and wrapt our sinnes in mercies shade : since when is ceast that fatall strife of tree of knowledge and of life . one book contains them : let one breast reade , know , enjoy eternall rest . thomas page , fellow of kings colledge . ¶ the translatour to the reader . this book when first i read ; it pleas'd me well : i sought another ; there was none to sell. when others read it ; they were of my minde : they sought as i ; for what they could not finde . had not it been by me interpreted , for ought i know , it might have perished . was 't not great pitty that a book so good by english men should not be understood ? i challenge nothing but what is mine own : had not one been , i never had it known . 't was mr. carew that did give it mee . i , in plain english , reader , give it thee . ( he lov'd good books , and often turn'd them ore : i think no young man of his time had more . he liv'd as if he lookt alwaies to die , and died to passe to immortalitie . i flatter not : a dead man i commend , who godly liv'd , and made a godly end . he 's now with god in blest eternitie : but late was one of our societie . he was my friend , whilst we did live together : and , once my friend , he is my friend for ever . ) reader , this book was gerhards , carews , mine : now 't is a common good ; and therefore thine . the contents of this book in verse . before time was , ●ere are divine decrees , fulfill'd in time ; and after , p●omises to be fulfill'd , when time shall cease to be , and in its place succeed eternitie . reader , behold the worlds nativitie , and adam in his happy infancie . he was created at the first upright ▪ his understanding filled was with light , his will with god's did hold conformitie , and his affections kept good harmonie . yet such ●e was that he might stand or fall . he fell ; we feel 't : in him we perisht all . his understanding , will , affections : all lost what they had at their originall . his understanding was depriv'd of sight , and darknesse did succeed in place of light : his will fell from the first conformitie , and tended altogether to obliquitie : his jarring did affections disagree , and discord did break off their harmonie . his body , which disease none knew before , let in diseases now at every pore . his body made immortall for to be , became now subject to mortalitie . and thus he was depriv'd of end●esse joyes , and plung'd into eternall miseries . by nature such are we which from him come , blinde , crooked , froward from our mothers wombe conceiv'd in sinne ; borne in iniquitie ; acting in life a sinnefull tragedie . we for our parts deserve no other due but death ; and that of soule and body too . but god of his meer mercie promised , the womans seed should break the serpents head ▪ he gave his law , a glasse for man to see his spots and stains , and his obliquitie : he gave his law , a rule for man to be , that he thereby might learn conformitie . he gave his law , a light for man to see t●e way to life , and blest eternitie . do this : and live . do this : and life is due . but no man living ever this could do ; no man but one : and , that ●e this might do , as he was man , so was ●e god most true . god sent his sonne , as he had promised , according to the time determined . he was conceiv'd and borne , and liv'd and died , all without sinne : and we are justified . he did fulfill the law , which none could do , and freed us from the curse to us most due : he by his life for us hath merited eternall life to be inherited : and by his death , which he once suffered , from death for ever us delivered . but that we may these benefits partake , we must repent , and all our sinnes forsake . we must by faith in christ be justified , and by the holy spirit sanctified . now to this end christ left his testament , the gospell , and a twofold sacrament : and sent his spirit for to sanctifie those whom hereafter he will glorifie . heare , and obey christs will and testament , wash and be clean , receive his sacrament : obey the inward calling of the spirit , be constant : and eternall life inherit . reader , i have presented to thine eye the summe of gerhards whole divinitie . the contents of each chapter in this book . the first chapter containeth the summe of all the rest . chapter . concerning page . 2 the holy scripture . 1 3 god , and his attributes . 18 4 the person , & office of christ. 33 5 the creation , and the angells . 52 6 the providence of god. 66 7 election , and reprobation . 81 8 the image of god in man before his fall . 91 9 originall sinne . 105 10 free-will . 122 11 the law. 136 12 the gospell . 150 13 repentance . 174 14 faith. 197 15 good works . 217 16 the sacraments . 239 17 baptisme . 260 18 the lords supper . 283 19 the church . 306 20 the ecclesiasticall ministerie . 324 21 the civill magistracie . 345 22 wedlock . 361 23 our latter end , or the foure last things . 37● chap. i. a description or representation of the theologicall places , or heads of divinitie , contained in this book , together with their order and connexion . 1the onely and proper principle of divinitie , is the word of god. 2 for god came forth from the secret throne of his majesty , and manifested himself unto men , in the word . 3 at sundrie times , and in diverse manners god spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets . in these last dayes he hath spoken unto us by his sonne , and his apostles . hebr. 1.1 , 2. 4 that word of god was first preached by the prophets and apostles : and afterwards the chief and necessarie heads of divine revelation were penned by them , according to the will of god. iren. lib. 3. cap. 1. 5 therefore the undoubted word of god cannot at this day any where be found , but in the writings of the prophets , and apostles . 6 from this word of god floweth theologie , and is busied about it , propounding unto us the oracles of god. rom. 3.2 . 7 now theologie is , as the name it self imports , a doctrine concerning god. 8 and by this doctrine men are instructed , concerning the essence and will of god , unto their salvation . 9 and this is life eternall , to know the onely true god , and jesus christ , which came in the flesh . john 17.3 . 10 the doctrine concerning the essence of god , is absolved in this question , what god is : to wit , jehova elohim , one in essence , three in persons . 11 for god hath so manifested himself ; that in the divine essence being but one , and that undivided , there are three persons , neither more nor lesse , to wit , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost . 12 the father is the first person , neither made , nor created , nor begotten , nor proceeding . 13 the sonne is the second person , not made , nor created , but begotten of the father from all eternitie . 14 who in the fulnesse of time took upon him our humane nature , in which and through which he payed the price of our redemption . 15 the holy ghost is the third person , not made , nor created , nor begotten ; but proceeding from the father and the sonne from all eternity . 16 we must judge of the will of god , by his decrees made from all eternitie . 17 whereof there are two more principall , the decree of creation , and the decree of reparation : or ( as the greek words signifie ) creation and recreation ; formation and reformation . 18 what those decrees were , the fulfilling of them in time doth declare . 19 for what god doth , and in what manner he doth in time , the same thing , and in the same manner he decreed to do from all eternitie . 20 the reason of which assertion depends upon the immutabilitie of gods will. 21 creation made in time , is the manifestation of the decree , concerning the creation of all things , made from all eternitie . 22 and it is the production of the angels , men , and all other creatures in the six first dayes of the world , wrought by god the father , through the sonne , in the holy ghost , to his own glorie . 23 a great part of the angels fell away from god : the rest being confirmed in goodnesse , do laud and praise god , and are ministring spirits for the good of men . 24 our first parents , adam and eve , in like manner , at the instigation of satan , transgressed the law of god , which was written in their hearts , and proclaimed by the mouth of god. 25 so then by this fall of theirs the image of god was quite defaced in them , and their nature was corrupted with sinne . 26 whereupon their posterity also were and are to this day born stark-naked of originall righteousnesse , and in a miserable manner corrupted with sinne . 27 through the contagion whereof all the powers and faculties in the soul of man are so infected , that there is little or no light of reason left , and scarce any power at all in the will , even about external things . 28 god who is omniscient could not but know that our first parents would fall : and therefore of his infinite mercie , he made a decree , concerning the reparation or redemption of man , from all eternity . 29 what that decree was , the fulfilling of the same in like manner doth declare . he sent in time his sonne to be our redeemer and mediatour : therefore he decreed to send him , from all eternitie . 30 god by his word offereth the benefits of a mediatour unto all , and applieth them unto those that beleeve : therefore from all eternitie he decreed to offer them unto all by the word , and to apply them unto those that beleeve . 31 this decree , in scripture is called predestination : of which we must not judge but ( à posteriori , that is ) by the manifestation thereof . 32 for the fulfilling of the decree , concerning the reparation of man , god hath appointed the word and the sacraments . 33 the word is reduced to two chief heads , the law and the gospel . 34 the law is , the doctrine of works : therefore it manifesteth unto us the corruption of our nature ; it terrifieth us , and prescribeth unto us the rule of well-doing . 35 the gospel is , the doctrine of faith : which pointeth at christ our mediatour , who hath made satisfaction for our sinnes , and raiseth up the conscience of man. 36 the practise of the law and the gospel consisteth in true repentance . 37 whereunto there is required contrition , to be wrought in us by the law ; and faith , by the gospel . 38 faith apprehendeth the righteousnesse of christ offered in the word of the gospel : by which man , after contrition wrought in him by the voice of the law , is justified before god , and beginneth to be renewed by the receiving of the holy ghost . 39 for by faith our hearts are purified . acts 15.9 . 40 therefore the fruits of true repentance are good works . 41 for , faith worketh by love. gal. 5.6 . and christ giveth unto us not onely his righteousnesse , but also his holy spirit , which beginneth to renew our nature , and bridle in us the concupiscences of the flesh . 42 of good works there are three ranks : some have respect unto god , some unto our selves , and others unto our neighbours . 43 for the summe of pietie and christian religion is this , that we live soberly , righteously , and godly in this present world . tit. 2.12 . 44 the sacraments are the seals of the word , appointed for the confirming and strengthening of our faith : and they are the visible word . 45 such in the old testament were , circumcision and the paschal lambe : and such in the new testament are , baptisme and the lords supper . 46 by the audible and visible word , god gathereth together his church here on earth . 47 whereof there are three hierarchies , ranks or orders : the ecclesiasticall , politicall , and oeconomicall . 48 of the ecclesiasticall hierarchie the pope of rome makes himself monarch and head. 49 but inasmuchas he setteth himself against christ , he makes himself antichrist . 50 the ministerie of the word , or the ecclesiasticall hierarchie is ordained at this day by a mediate vocation . 51 the politicall hierarchie comprehendeth magistrates both inferiour and superiour . 52 vnto the oeconomicall hierarchie belongeth matrimonie , which is , ( as i may so call it ) a certain seminarie or nurserie of the church . 53 god in this life puts his church under the crosse : and that for many waightie and urgent reasons . 54 but at length he will glorifie it in the life to come , being delivered and freed from all enemies ; from all evills , perills , and dangers . 55 death , and the last judgement , without going through any purgatorie , is to the godly and those that beleeve , the entrance into everlasting life . 56 but the ungodly and unbeleevers shall at length be cast into everlasting fire . chap. ii. wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the holy scripture . 1 the onely principle of theologie is , the word of god contained in holy scripture . 2 by the name of holy scripture properly and strictly taken , we understand the books of the old and new testament , which undoubtedly are propheticall and apostolicall ▪ 3 which also are called canonicall : because they are a full and perfect canon or rule of the knowledge of god and his worship . 4 such in the old testament are , genesis , exodus , leviticus , numbers , deuteronomie , joshua , judges , ruth , two books of samuel , two of the kings , two of the chronicles , ezra , nehemiah , esther , job , the psalmes , the proverbs , ecclesiastes , the song of solomon , isaiah , jeremiah , lamentations , ezechiel , daniel , hosea , joel , amos , obadiah , jonah , micah , nahum , habakkuk , zephaniah , haggai , zachariah , malachi . 5 the rest of the books of the old testament are called by s. jerome apocrypha : because they were neither wrote by the prophets , nor received by the jews for canonicall 6 again , they want the testimonie of christ and his apostles . 7 moreover , by the most approved councells ▪ and fathers , they are reckoned without the canon . 8 and besides , there is to be found in many of them places either expresly repugnant to the canonicall scripture ; or else peccant against the truth of historie and chronologie ; or else contradictorie one to the other . 9 in the new testament those are called canonicall which at all times , and by all the churches have been received without doubting for apostolicall , truely and certainly so called . 10 such are , the gospell according to s. matthew , mark , luke , and john ; the acts of the apostles ; the epistle of s. paul to the romanes , two to the corinthians , one to the galatians , one to the ephesians , one to the philippians , one to the colossians , two to the thessalonians , two to timothie , one to titus , one to philemon , the first of peter , and the first of john. 11 the rest have not been heretofore received by all with such a common consent as the former : in which respect they are called by some apocrypha . 12 such are the epistle to the hebrews , the epistle of james , the second of peter , the second and third of john , the epistle of jude , and the revelation of john. 13 but forasmuch as most of the ancients do not so much doubt of their primarie authour , which is the holy ghost , as of their secundarie authours : therefore for their authoritie i willingly suffer them to be equall with the canonicall ; neither will i contend with any man about this matter . 14 all scripture is given by inspiration of god. 2. tim. 3.16 . and holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost . 2. pet. 1.21 . neither spake they onely , but they wrote also . 15 the same word of god which with a lively voice was preached , and preserved unwritten for a long time in the old testament , and likewise in the new testament ; but not so long : the same word , i say , was afterwards by the will of god written , and became scripture . iren. lib. 3. cap. 1. 16 therefore between the word of god preached , and the word written , we make no reall difference . 17 for it is but an accident unto the word of god , either to be preached , or to be written . 18 but although the prophets and apostles moved by the holy ghost have not wrote their whole sermons : yet they have made such a choice of what they wrote , that it is sufficient for the salvation of those that beleeve . august . tract . 49. in joan. 19 and therefore we say that the holy scripture is perfect , and containeth in it all things necessarie for those that strive for the prize of eternall life which is set before them : both for the instructing of them in the faith ; and the informing them in life . 20 that it is perfect , it is proved by evident testimonie . 2. tim. 3.16 , and 17. where it is said that the holy scripture is profitable for doctrine , for reproof , for correction , for instruction in righteousnesse : that the man of god may be perfect , throughly furnished unto all good works . and therefore also the holy scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation . 2. tim. 3.15 . 21 seeing therefore that which is profitable , in relation to indigency and want , is taken two wayes : either for that which of it self alone is all-sufficient , excluding all want ; or else , for that which is but in part profitable , and not sufficient of it self without the help of something else : it is manifest that the apostle here speaketh of that which is profitable taken in the first sense . 22 by those things which are written we may be taught to beleeve on christ. john 20.31 . and , ●e furnished unto all good works . 2. tim. 3.17 . and the brethren of the rich glutton by hearing moses and the prophets in the scriptures might have escaped the torments of hell. luke 16.29 . 23 whereupon it follows without forcing , that the perfection of the holy scripture is such as we assigne unto it : for whosoever beleeveth on christ , and is furnished unto all good works , and made partaker of eternall life , what can he desire more ? 24 this also is an argument worthie our consideration , that the apostle saint paul declared unto the church of ephesus all the counsel of god ▪ ( to wit , concerning our salvation ) acts 20.27 . again , the same apostle said none other things then those which the prophets and moses did say should come . acts 26.22 . therefore in moses and the prophets is contained all the counsel of god concerning our salvation . 25 now if the scripture be perfect ( as indeed it is ) away then with traditions , which some would thrust upon us to be received with like affection , and to be beleeved with like authoritie as the scripture . 26 for they are full of doubts , and sometimes also contradictions , being very apt to be corrupted , and many waies subject unto errour . 27 the eccl●siasticall historie witnesseth that in the time of the primitive church under the name of apostolicall traditions many falsities were broached : and that men of great note have been deceived in former time by the opinion of traditions . 28 furthermore , seeing that the holy scripture was by god given unto men to this end , to instruct them unto salvation : from hence we conclude , that the scripture is perspicuous . 29 what ? could not god which made both minde & tongue speak plainly and perspicuously ? yea certainly he used great care and providence that all men might understand what he spake unto all men . lactant. lib. 6. div. institut . cap. 21. 30 ought not that which is to instruct the rude and ignorant , and make them wise and learned , ought not that , i say , be perspicuous ? 31 it is perspicuity which is fit to teach and instruct , not obscurity or perplexitie . 32 yet , when we say that the holy scripture is perspicuous , we would not have it so understood , as if we meant , that whatsoever is contained any where in scripture , were so easy and plain , that any man at the first sight may understand it . 33 but this is our meaning , that the perspicuity of scripture is such , that from thence a man may learn sure and infallible grounds and principles of religion ; the knowledge whereof is necessary unto every man , toward the attainment of everlasting salvation . 34 the books of the prophets and apostles are the integrall parts of holy scripture : and that both those are perspicuous , it is proved by good testimonies . if the parts of scripture then be perspicuous ; how can the whole be said to be obscure ? 35 the propheticall word in the old testament is compared unto a lamp , light , or lantern . psalme 119.105 . and , as much is said of the apostolicall word . 2. pet. 1.19 . and again , if our gospel be hid , it is hid to them that are lost . 2. cor. 4.3 . whereby it appeareth , that if the scripture be obscure , and hid , it is so onely by accident : but of it self , and by its own nature it is perspicuous . 36 seeing therefore it is demonstrated that the scripture is perfect and perspicuous : it follows , that it is and ought to be the certain , infallible , and onely rule and judge of all controversies , that are moved about points of christian religion . 37 what david saith concerning the apostles , psal. 19.4 . their line ( or , their rule , or direction ) is gone out through all the earth : the fame , paul applies to the doctrine of the apostles , rom. 10.18 . their sound went into all the earth . but the apostles wrote & taught the same things . 38 christ also and his apostles for determining controversies of faith , appealed unto no other judge , went by no other rule but the holy scriptures ; and they send us also to search the scriptures : and what sheep will not follow christ his shepherd and leader , and the apostles his followers ? 39 the word of christ contained in the holy scriptures propheticall and apostolicall shall judge all men in the last day . john 12.48 . rom. 2.16 . revel . 20.12 . what hinders then , but that it may be unto us in this life a perfect rule ? 40 for if there be any part of celestiall doctrine not contained within the canonicall books : how shall the judgement which shall be passed hereafter according unto them , be entire ? 41 furthermore , seeing that it is not onely permitted , but also commanded to all christians to try the spirits , 1. john 4.1 . to beware of false prophets , matth. 7.15 . to prove all things , 1. thess. 5.21 . and thus it lies upon them to discern between divine truth and humane dreams : certainly the rule of truth , that is , the holy scripture belongeth unto all men . and therefore , the common people ought not to be debarred the reading of the scripture . 42 what the spirit of god approveth and commendeth , let not any man say , it is forbidden : but the bereans are commended for this , that they examined pauls sermon by the rule of the scriptures . acts 17.11 . the elect , strangers scattered throughout pontus , galatia , cappadocia , asia , and bithynia , 1. pet. 1.1 . are commended for attending unto the word of prophesie as unto a light . 2. pet. 1.19 . and , coloss. 3.16 . the diligent study in the scripture is commended to all christians . 43 and seeing that the common people are altogether ignorant of the hebrew & greek tongue , wherein the books of the old and new testament were written ; and yet are bound to reade the scriptures : therefore their pains is to be commended , who have translated the holy scriptures into the vulgar tongues . 44 but yet the hebrew text onely in the old testament , and the greek in the new testament , is authenticall : because they were both written in those tongues . 45 whatsoever floweth not from those fountains , hitherto hath not , cannot , neither must it be accounted canonicall : seeing that it is not inspired by god. 46 therefore that vulgar interpretation , which may sooner be said then proved to be saint jeroms , is without cause exalted to that high throne of authenticall authoritie . 47 for there are in it many faults both graphicall , ellipticall , chronographicall , and dogmaticall : faults in writing , in leaving out many things , in chronographie , and in points of doctrine . 48 they have a corrupt judgement , that say that the hebrew text is corrupted . 49 neither do they love pure truth , who say that the fountains do not flow pure . 50 the end and use of holy scripture is attained by the true and lawfull interpretation thereof . 51 seeing that the scripture is perfect , and perspicuous : therefore it is to be interpreted of it self , and by it self . 52 for that which is perfect , ought not to be patched with things of another kinde : and that which is perspicuous of it self , doth not stand in need of anothers light . 53 yet notwithstanding the scripture is of it self perspicuous ; the blinde eyes of our understanding are dazled at the light of it . 54 whosoever therefore will take in hand to interpret scripture : let him with earnest prayers and grones desire to have his understanding enlightened by the holy ghost . 55 let the glory of god , and the instruction of men unto salvation , be the supreme law of interpretation . 56 and seeing that every head of celestiall doctrine is in scripture , in one place or other : therefore let the interpretation of other places be conformable unto it . so shall the analogie , or proportion of faith be kept . rom. 12.6 . 57 observe diligently the naturall significations of words . 58 in matters of doubt have recourse unto the fountains : the hebrew in the old testament , and the greek in the new. 59 have respect and regard to the scope of every word , to the circumstances , to that which goes before , and that which follows after . 60 let the obscurer , and fewer places of scripture be expounded by those that are more cleare , and more in number . 61 depart not from the letter ▪ in articles of faith especially : unlesse the scripture it self sheweth some impropriety of speech , and also expound it . 62 use the writings of the fathers for an help to leade thee by the hand as it were , in the interpretation of the scripture : but see that thou usest them aright . 63 yet count them not for canonicall , but examine them by the canonicall . what in them is agreeable unto the authoritie of divine scripture , embrace with due commendation of them ; what is not agreeable , by their leave reject and refuse . august . lib. 2. cont . cresc . cap. 32. chap. iii. wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning god. the chief end of all the scripture is , to know god , and worship him being known . 2 from him alone are all things : and , to him alone are all things . 3 that there is a god , even the book of nature sheweth : for , the world is the school of the knowledge of god. basil. in hexam . 4 the leaves of this book are especially three , heaven , earth , sea , and all things therein contained , as clemens alexandrinus speaketh . 5 but there is a more certain , evident , and perspicuous knowledge to be fetcht out of the book of holy scripture . 6 the eyes of our understanding are blinded by our fall : and from thence it is that we cannot so readily make progresse and proficiency in the book of nature . 7 the end of that naturall knowledge of god is according to the apostle , to seek the lord , acts 17.27 . 8 nature herself confesseth that her book is imperfect : and therefore she must , as it were , leade us by the hand , to finde out a more perfect revelation in the church . 9 the essence of god transcendeth all created things : therefore the perfect knowledge of god surpasseth all understanding ▪ god is incomprehensible : so saith damascen , lib. 1. orth. ●id . cap. 1. 10 and from hence it follows , that as god is a spirit above all , and cannot properly be found out , or comprehended by any understanding : so likewise he cannot be defined or determined by any definition . august . de cogn . ver . vit . cap. 7. 11 we cannot in any words so fully expresse what god is , as by confessing our ignorance , that we know not what god is . scal. exerc. 365. sect. 2. 12 what therefore god would have hidden from us , that must we not search into : but yet notwithstanding so much as he hath manifested unto us by revealing of himself , we must in no wise neglect ; for fear lest we be found on one side more curious then is lawfull , & on the other side damnably ingratefull . ambros. 1. de vocat . gent. cap. 7. 13 god gave being unto all things : therefore he is the first , chief and independent being . 14 he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , he hath his being from himself . scal. he is a being above all beings . dionys . lib. 1. de divinis nom . cap. 1. 15 he is the essence of all essences , the creatour of all creatures , the life of all lives , the cause of all causes . 16 he it is that giveth all unto all , but receiveth not ought from any . 17 above him , is nothing ; without him , is nothing ; beneath him , is nothing : vnder him , is all ; in him , is all ; with him , is all : from him , are all things ; by him , are all things ; in him , are all things . aug. de spec. cap. 33. 18 between the essence of god and the essence of the creatures there is an infinite difference : gods essence is after a singular , peculiar , and supereminent manner . 19 god is a spirit , john 4.24 . a spirit hath not flesh and bones . luke 24.39 . therefore god is incorporeall . 20 whatsoever corporeal things are attributed unto god , they are to be understood as it beseemeth the majestie of god : not properly spoken , but by ( an anthropopathie ) a figure by which that is improperly said to be in god , which properly belongeth unto man. 21 god condescendeth unto us , that we may ascend up unto him : and seeing that we are men , he vouchsafeth to speak unto us after the manner of men . 22 the scripture by things corporeall teacheth us spirituall , and likewise by things visible , things that are invisible . 23 so god is said to have eyes , which are over the just ; an hand , by which he giveth food unto all flesh ; feet , whose footstool the earth is : all these are in god in effect , not in affect . bern. serm. 4. sup . cant. 24 he is therefore all-eye ; because he seeth all : all-hand ; because he worketh all : all-foot ; because he is every where . august . sup . psalm . 136. 25 god is eternall , without beginning or end : from him are all things ; but he is from nothing : he is subject to no change or succession : he alone it is that can say , i am that i am. exod. 3.14 . 26 if god had a beginning , then he should be subject unto change : but he is uncreated , without time , without beginning , without end , not subject to alteration : therefore he is truly eternall . 27 but if god be without change or alteration ; he is also void of all composition whatsoever . 28 he alone is truly and properly simple : besides him all things else are compounded . ( at least ex actu & potentia , ex esse & essentia ) as the school speaks ? 29 the essence of god is not onely most simple , but also most infinite , and immense . god is present with all things : not onely by his power , by which he conserveth all things ; but also by his essence , by which he is present with all things created , after a more neare and intimate manner then they are with themselves . 30 in those words , in which it is said , that god is every where by his essence , we are to beleeve that there is more contained , then any living man is able to conceive . lomb. 1. sent. dist. 37. 31 neither yet must we conceive that god is as it were diffused through space of places by any corporeall substance , so that he is half in one part of the world , and half in the other ; and all in all : but he is all in heaven , all in earth , every where all in himself , and contained in no place . august . epist. 57. ad dard. 32 neither yet suffereth he mixture with other things , nor is infected by other things : but he is within all creatures , and yet not included ; without all creatures , and yet not excluded . 33 the goodnesse , wisdome , and power of god is understood by his providence over the creatures ; his mercie , justice , and truth , by the government of the world : whereby those which were more wise amongst the gentiles were brought to acknowledge all these . 34 in the book of scripture , concerning these and other attributes of god , there are testimonies extant for number more , for authoritie more waightie , and for perspicuitie more cleare . 35 forasmuch as god is immutable : therefore these attributes of god are not qualities in god ; but they are the very essence of god. wisdome is not any thing superadded unto gods essence , but his very essence . 36 there is nothing in god , which is not god himself . bern. serm. 80. sup . cant. 37 let us understand if we can , and as farre as we are able , that god is good without qualitie , great without quantitie , creatour without indigencie , present without position of place , containing all things without habit , every where all without place , everlasting without time , making all things mutable and yet himself immutable , and suffering in nothing . august . 5. de trin. cap. 1. 38 that there is one onely true god , the catholike church beleeveth & professeth , being taught it of god himself in the holy scriptures . 39 with this vnitie of unities ( that i may so speak ) in the divine essence , the trinitie of persons doth well agree without repugnancie . the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost are that one onely true god. 40 we say that there are three persons ; but not to the prejudice of the vnitie in essence : we say that there is one god ; but not to the confounding of the trinitie . bern. lib. 5. ad eugen. 41 doest thou demand how this can be ? let it be sufficient for thee to beleeve that it is so : to make search beyond the bounds and limits of the word , it is rashnes ; to beleeve that it is so as it is said , it is pietie ; to know it , it is life eternall . bern. l. d. 42 the essence of the father , of the sonne , and of the holy ghost is all one : but to be the father , and the sonne , and the holy ghost , is not all one . 43 i and my father are one , saith the sonne , joh. 10.30 . in that he saith one he hath respect to the vnitie of essence ; and delivereth thee from arius : in that he saith are , in the plurall number , he hath respect unto the distinction of persons ; and delivereth thee from sabellius . august . lib. 5. de trin. c. 9. 44 neither must we so think upon one god , as to forget the glorie and brightnesse of the three persons : nor must we so distinguish the three persons , but that still we have our thoughts upon one god. nazianz. serm. de sacr. bapt. 45 let us beleeve one divinitie without separation of confusion distinct : so that we neither think that there is a single person in the trinitie , nor a threefold substance in the unitie ; but so assigne a pluralitie unto the unitie , that we take not an equalitie from the trinitie . august . serm. 29. de temp . 46 the father is made of none ; neither created , nor begotten , nor proceeding . the sonne is of the father alone ; not made , nor created , but begotten . the holy ghost is of the father and of the sonne ; neither made , nor created , nor begotten , but proceeding . athanas. in symb. 47 we must so avoid , in these divine matters , the name of diversitie ; that we take not away the vnitie of essence : we must avoid the name of separation and division ; that we take not away the simplicitie of the divine essence : we must avoid the name of disparitie ; that we take not away the equalitie of persons : we must avoid the name of alienietie or discrepancie ; that we take not away the identitie of essence : we must avoid the name of singularitie ; that we weaken not the deitie , which being but one , is common to the three persons . 48 we must so avoid termes of vnitie ; that we take not away the number of persons : we must so avoid termes of confusion ; that we take not away the order of persons : we must so avoid the name of solitarie ; that we take not away the fellowship of the three persons . th. p. 1. q. 31. art . 2. 49 it is well said by s. augustine , that the essence is predicated of the father , of the sonne , and of the holy ghost ; but neither as a genus of his species , nor as a species of an individuum , nor as the whole of its parts ; but after another ineffable , and incomprehensible manner . 50 we must not therefore denie the sonne to be eternall ; because he is begotten of the father : for he is begotten from all eternitie . 51 the eternall father begetteth the eternall sonne . 52 we must understand the begetting of the sonne without passion , without time , without flowing , without separation . damasc. lib. 1. orthod . fid . c. 8. 53 notwithstanding the sonne is properly said to be begotten . the word is properly the sonne of god : and therefore he is truely & properly begotten of the father . 54 but observe both here and elsewhere , whatsoever is translated from the creatures unto god , is first to be purged from all imperfections : and then at length that which is perfect is to be attributed unto god. zanch. 6. de trib . elohim , cap. 7. 55 the sayings of the ancients , that the sonne proceeded out of the intellect or minde of his father , are not bitterly to be inveighed against : for they intended chiefly to shew his impassibilitie in that he was begotten . nazianz. orat. 2. de filio . basil. sup . 1. joan. 56 neither yet are these things to be stretched too farre ; but piously they ought to be expounded 57 to speak worthily of the persons , it surpasseth the strength of reason , and goeth beyond the wit of man. what it is to be begotten , what it is to proceed , i professe i know not . rob. holcoth . q. 10. determin . referent . biel. 1. sent. dist . 13. q. un . 58 let us gather from what hath been said , this definition : god is a spirituall essence , simple , intelligent , eternall , true , good , just , holy , chast , mercifull , most free , of infinite wisdome & power : another from all creatures of the world , and all bodies : the father eternall , who of his own essence from all eternitie begot the sonne his substantiall image ; and the sonne begotten of his father from all eternitie ; and the holy ghost proceeding from the father and the sonne : creatour and conserver of all things redeemer and sanctifier of the church , one onely true god blessed for ever . 59 in brief thus : god is jehovah elohim , that is , one divine essen●e of three persons : the holy and undivided trinitie in vnitie . chap. iv. wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the person and office of christ . 1 as saving as the knowledge of christ our saviour is : so acceptable ought the explication of the doctrine of christ be unto us . 2 christ is ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) true god and true man. 3 therefore , whether a man denie christs divinitie , or christs humanitie , it is a matter of like danger . 4 he is god , by eternall generation of the father : he is man , by assumption of the flesh , from his mother . 5 for the word brought not flesh with him down from heaven , but assumed the true humane nature from the bloud of marie being purified . 6 this assumption farre exceeds the course of nature , and the reach of mans understanding : for it was wrought by the holy ghost after a peculiar manner . 7 not after the manner of men : but by a wonderfull overshadowing . 8 that a virgin should conceive without the seed of man ; that a virgin should be the mother of a most holy ofspring ; that a virgin should bring forth god : this exceeds the bounds of nature , but not the operation of the holy ghost 9 the word assumed the humane nature , not onely true but also entire ; that is , both perfect and free from all stain of sinne . 10 but he assumed it into the vnitie of his person : and therefore the assumption of the flesh , is the very personall vnion of the word and the flesh. 11 one person did not assume another : but the second person of the trinity assumed the humane nature . 12 therefore in christ god is not one , and man another : but one and the same is god and man. 13 in christ there is not ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) one person and another , that is , two persons : but ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) one thing and another , that is , two natures . 14 for so must we hold a du●litie of natures , that we deny not the most neare and indissoluble vnitie of person . 15 it is said by the ancients , that the person onely of the sonne was incarnate . 16 in which manner of speaking the name of person is not opposed to the divine nature of the sonne ; but to the person of the father and the holy ghost . 17 for elsewhere it is said , and that truly , that all the divinitie was incarnate ; but yet onely in on● of the persons . 18 the person of the word ▪ & the divine nature of the word , do not really differ . 19 the divinitie is entire and perfect in each person . 20 therefore inasmuchas one of the persons was incarnate , all the divinitie is said truly to be incarnate : to wit , in that one person of the word . 21 the vnion of the divine and humane nature in christ is personall , but not of persons : it is an vnion of natures , but not naturall . 22 it is also an vnion inseparable , both in respect of time and place . 23 for the flesh which the word once assumed , he shall never put off . 24 the nature which he once united unto himself , that doth he never put off . 25 the humane nature assumed doth neither consist by it self , nor subsist of it self : nor is it without subsistence , but having a subsistence in another . 26 it hath a subsistence after no ●light manner , being supported in the word , but by a most plenarie communication of the whole person of the word . 27 therefore since the incarnation , neither must the person of the word be said to be without the flesh , nor the flesh without the person of the word . 28 what god hath joyned together , and what is joyned together in god , let no man separate , or put asunder . 29 neither must we judge it to be a bare and naked peristasis , approximation , or neare position of the united natures , but a most intimate and neare perichoresis , conjunction or vnion . 30 to note the vnitie of person the ancients say , that this vnion was made indivisibly , inseparably , indistractibly . 31 to note the dualitie of natures they say , that this vnion was made without confusion , without conversion , without alteration , without mutation . 32 the flesh remains finite even in this vnion : therefore there is not an exequation , or coextension of natures . 33 the flesh is made partaker of an infinite subsistence by the vnion : therefore there is no separation of the natures through distance of places . 34 by reason of this hypostaticall vnion it is truely said , the sonne of god is the sonne of mary ; and again , the sonne of mary is the sonne of god : god is man ; and man is god. 35 and these propositions are fitly called personall . 36 for their foundation consisteth in the personall vnion : and all their force , veritie , proprietie , and connexion is to be judged by the personall vnion of the two natures . 37 neither can they , neither ought they to be referred to logicall rules : seeing that the incarnation of the word farre exceeds the understanding of men and angels . 38 these are not therefore regular propositions : for they go farre beyond the rules of reason and logick . 39 neither are they to be called figurative : for the sonne of god is the sonne of man , not in a figure , but truely and properly . 40 upon the personall vnion follows the communication of properties . 41 for seeing that the deitie and attributes of god are the self-same thing ; and the humanitie hath its own properties nearly pertaining to its nature : therefore the vnion of the divine and humane nature in christ brings with it a certain communication of properties . 42 for the two natures do not subsist apart one from the other : but they are united into one person . 43 therefore neither do they apart or alone each what is proper to its own nature : but the person doth all according to the properties of each nature . 44 hence it is that the properties of one nature are attributed to the person , in the concrete . 45 the ancients call this communication of properties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and most usually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a mutuall reciprocation , when each makes that its own which is proper to the other . 46 the name of the person is put in the place of the subject in these propositions : to vindicate the unitie of the person . 47 and words of distinction are added in the praedicate , sometimes expressely ; but they are alwaies implied , and to be understood : to prove the distinct properties of the natures . 48 these propositions are reciprocall , that is , as well that which is divine is praedicated of man , as that which is humane is praedicated of god. 49 for the vnion is equall : the humane nature is as well united unto the divine ; as the divine nature unto the humane . 50 the sonne of man is creatour of heaven and earth : the sonne of god suffered . both these are most true . 51 creation is not competent to the humanitie assumed , by condition of nature : but yet it is most truely attributed unto the sonne of man , by reason of the identitie of person . 52 suffering , in like manner , is not competent to the divinitie , by condition of nature : but yet by reason of that intimate , and ineffable vnion of natures it pertaineth to the sonne of god no lesse then if the divine nature it self had suffered . 53 for the word , by assuming the humane nature into the vnity of person , appropriated personally unto himself all the properties thereof . 54 that is expressed thus by vigilius ( lib. 2. contr . eut. ) god suffered , not in the propertie of nature , but in the vnitie of person . 55 again , that personall vnion was made for the office of the mediatour . 56 in which , one nature doth not rest idle , or else privately worketh , and apart , the other doing nothing , or somewhat else : but each nature worketh by communication with the other . 57 from hence it is that the names of this office are competent to christ , and are praedicated of christ according to both natures . 58 for the actions of both natures do concurre to one common effect or perfection : and the action is , of both god and man. 59 the ancients call it a coenopoeia , or a making common , and a periphrasis or circumloquution . 60 thirdly in the office of mediatour the humane nature doth not onely the actions of the humanitie ; but because it is enriched with divine energies by reason of the most pure vnion unto the word , therefore it both is , & also is called the organ or instrument of the deitie , not separated or divided , but personally united ; in which , with which , and by which the word worketh in the office of the mediatour . damasc . 3. orthod . fid . cap. 17. 61 the divine nature in christ , inasmuchas it is most perfect , was nothing enriched in this union : but there was a great addition made unto the humane nature , inasmuchas besides , above , and beyond its own essentiall properties , it hath received divine excellencies in and from this hypostaticall union , which excellencies it retaineth for ever . 62 the ancients call it super-exaltation , glorification , participation of divine dignitie , participation of divine power , melioration , riches , ascent . 63 that this collation of excellencies upon christ was according to the humane nature , the scripture doth evidently witnesse , and all the godly of old with great consent approve . 64 when as therefore such things are said to be conferred by the father upon the sonne in time : we must understand that they are conferred according to the humane nature . 65 that so the relation may be between the father giving and the sonne receiving in time , not in respect of the divine nature , according to which he is essentially one with the father , and doth likewise the same things that the father doth , joh. 5.19 . but in respect of the humane nature , which is capable and hath need of these things . 66 now there are conferred immense and infinite gifts indeed , to wit , all power , divine glorie , all the treasures of wisdome , a quickning efficacie , power to execute judgement , present rule in heaven and earth . 67 neither yet must we here once think of , or imagine a naturall effusion of divine properties : but as the vnion is personall , so likewise is the communication personall . 68 the divinitie of the word suffred no falling off of its own properties : neither are those properties made proper to the flesh by this communication . 69 but the divine nature of the sonne retaining its own properties within the most neare complexure of the person , and notwithstanding assuming the humane nature unto the communion and vnitie of the person , assumeth also the same nature unto the communication of the divine properties ; that is , in and with the humane nature , and by it as by an hypostaticall organ or instrument , exerteth , or sheweth forth its properties . 70 therefore the foundation of that communication consisteth properly in the assumption . 71 for the humane nature did not assume the divine : but the word is the person assuming ; and in it , and by it is the humane nature assumed . 72 the union of the natures is equall : but so , that in this union the word is truely said to assume , and the flesh to be assumed . 73 and therefore although the union of the natures is equall , yet the condition of the natures united is unequall . 74 that the flesh is glorified by the majestie of the deitie assuming ; that i know , and confesse : but , that the deitie suffred any injurie by the flesh assumed ▪ that i deny . august . cont . fel. c. 11. 75 to conclude , that communication was made in the very first moment of the incarnation , forasmuch as it is an essentiall consequent of the union . 76 yet the state of his exinanition , or emptying of himself , interceded for us and for our salvation . 77 for christ our mediatour , that he might suffer and die for us , in the dayes of his flesh shewed not forth the full light of the glorie and majestie communicated unto him according to his humane nature . 78 i say , he did not shew it forth , and yet i do not say that he was altogether without it : he emptied himself , not by laying aside his glorie and power altogether , but by withdrawing the use of his splendour and glorie . 79 to this state of his exinanition or emptying of himself pertain his conception , his being born in the wombe , his nativitie , his increase in age , and wisdome , his obedience in the form of a servant even unto the death of the crosse , and , after that , his buriall . 80 after the exinanition followed christs glorious exaltation : to which pertain his descent into hell , his resurrection from the dead , his ascending into heaven , and his sitting at the right hand of god. 81 all which pertain to the office of mediatour : for which that wonderfull vnion was made , of the divine and humane nature , and which also christ fulfilleth according to both natures . 82 the diversitie ( or dualitie ) of natures in christ , and the vnitie of person was available unto this , that what was needfull for the redemption of man , if the humane nature could not , the divine might effect ; and what was not beseeming the divine nature in any wise , that the humane nature might do or suffer . 83 and so he was not to be one and another ; but one and the same both perfect god , and perfect man : that by the humane nature he might pay what was due ; and by the divine nature effect what was expedient . anselm . 2. cur deus homo . cap. 18. 84 bare man could not satisfie ; and god owed nothing : therefore god was made man , that he which owed nothing for himself might make satisfaction for us . 85 this office of a mediatour christ so executeth , that he is unto us both a prophet , a priest , and a king. 86 the propheticall office consisteth in the revelation of the gospell , and in the institution and conservation of the ministerie . 87 the parts of his priestly office are satisfaction and intercession . 88 the kingdome of christ is considered either in this life , or in the other . 89 in this life is the kingdome of power and grace : that is his generall rule over all things ; but this comprehendeth the speciall works of his grace in the church . 90 in the other life shall be the kingdome of glorie : into which all the elect being raised out of the dust shall be received . of which kingdome christ make us partakers , who is our king blessed for ever . chap. v. wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the creation , and the angels . 1 god who by nature is invisible , that he might be made known by things visible , wrought a work , which by the visibilitie thereof might manifest him whose work it is . ambr. in cap. 1. rom. 2 this work of god wrought in time is , & is also called , creation . 3 which is nothing else but the production of the whole vniverse out of nothing , in six distinct dayes , being wrought by god through the sonne in the holy ghost , for the glorie of god , and salvation of men . 4 the authour then of creation is god , one in essence , three in persons . 5 moreover that creation of all things , is the immediate work of god alone . 6 the father created all things by the word : which , as the evangelist teacheth us , is to be understood of the hypostaticall and consubstantiall word of god. joh. 1.1 . 7 the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters , gen. 1.2 . that , as the psalmist sheweth , is to be understood of the breath of his mouth psal. 33.6 . that is , the hypostaticall and consubstantiall spirit of god. 8 therefore , where moses calleth the creatour elohim : it is rightly referred to the trinitie of persons . 9 whereas it is said , that the father by the sonne , in the holy ghost created all things : we must beware , that we understand it not of inequality of essence , or power in the work of creation . 10 for what things soever the father doth : the same doth the sonne likewise . john 5.19 . 11 but all this ought to be referred to the reall distinction of persons and the order of working in works ( ad extra , or ) externall , which results from thence . 12 the father therefore created by the sonne , not as by one that worked not , or an instrument separate , but as by his coëternall , and consubstantiall image . 13 and he created all things out of nothing . 14 some things indeed immediately , but other things mediately . damasc. 2. orth. fid . cap. 5. 15 and all in six distinct dayes : whence it is , that the ancients call creation the six dayes works . 16 that all things were created in a moment it seems indeed agreeable unto reason : but it is against the mosaicall scripture . 17 on the first day were created the heaven and the earth , that is , the matter of all things to be made , rude and without form . 18 light also was created , to dispell the darknesse of the deep , and to inchoate or beginne the vicissitude or intercourse of day and night . 19 that light without doubt was something obscure : and therefore the question concerning the nature thereof is also obscure . 20 on the second day was the firmament made , that is , the whole system or comprehension of the celestiall bodies . 21 above which that there are waters , the holy spirit speaketh expressely : to what use , that onely knows he which made them . 22 let us herein beleeve the scripture , whose authority is greater then the capacitie of mans understanding . august . 2. de gent. ad lit . cap. 4. 23 on the third day at the command of almighty god were the waters under the heavens , gathered together unto one place , and the dry land appeared . gen. 1.9 . 24 and what are the bases or foundations of the earth ? what are the banks of the sea ? they are the almighty word of god. 25 neither would god have the earth to be unfruitfull ; but caused it to bring forth every kinde of herb . gen. 1.12 . 26 and yet , not all for the food of man ; but yet all for the use of man. 27 one the fourth day god set the greater and the lesser lights in the firmament of heaven . gen. 1.17 . 28 which are nothing else but as it were the chariots of the light which was first made . 29 the starres , as well those that are fixed , as those which are called planets , or erraticall , do work upon these bower bodies , by their motion , light , and influences . 30 what these influences are , it is very obscure and past our finding out . 31 we must beware therefore that we do not ascribe unto the starres the causes of humane wickednesse : seeing that he which made the starres is free from all wickednesse . 32 he that is wise shall have dominion over the starres : understand this of true and divine wisdome , which consisteth in the fear and sincere worship of god. 33 it is not therefore to be called mathesis but mataeologie , not skill in astrologie , but vaniloquie , to go about by the starres to foretell humane actions and events . scal. exerc. 251. 34 on the fifth day was the water replenished with fishes , and the aire with fowles , gen. 1.22 . 35 out of water god produced the things which cannot live within the water , and the things which cannot live but in the water : which is an argument of his almightie power and wisdome . 36 the sixt day was the birth-day to all terrestiall living creatures , and to man himself likewise , gen. 1.24 , 25 , 26 , 27. 37 all which were created for man ; and man for god. 38 no creature had ever been hurtfull unto man ▪ yea rather all the creatures had been at mans service , had not man sinned . august . lib. 3. de gen. ad lit. cap. 15. 39 man by not doing his bounden duty and service to his creatour , lost the dominion which was given him over the creatures . 40 god being about to create man , called as it were a councel before hand : because he was to create a living creature capable of reason and counsel . 41 after that all other things were created , god in the last place created man : because he was to be the epitome , centre , abridgement , complement , and perfection of the whole vniverse . 42 man was made in the earth , and of the earth , but not to the earth , and for the earth : but he was made to heaven , and for heaven . 43 god which is the creatour of heaven and earth would end his work in man : therefore he rested when he had made man. 44 he made all things , i say , for man : insomuch that the very angels themselves farre superiour both for nature and dignitie , do at gods appointment minister as servants unto man. 45 and what wonder is it , that god made all things for man , when as for man even god himself was made man ? 46 moses describeth not the creation of the angels : but ye● notwithstanding he doth not exempt them from the number of the creatures . 47 there is more subtiltie in enquiring , then fruit in finding , on what day they were created . 48 in respect of their nature which is incorporeall , they are called spirits : and in respect of thei● office they are called angels . 49 they are indeed spirits : but yet they are not simple , as god is . 50 for their ( esse and essentia , actus and potentia ) nature and actions are in them distinguished . 51 sometimes they appeare in bodily shapes , and yet they are not corporeall : for they are but the forms assistent and not forms informant of the bodies which they assume . 52 the angels understand by species as well connate as superadded . 53 which knowledge of the angels is called vespertine : unto which is added that which is called matutine ; by which in the light of the word they are said intuitively to know all things . 54 but what can the intellect of poore man that crawleth upon earth know or conceive concerning the intellect or understanding of the angels ? 55 alas ! we know not the manner of our own knowledge : and why do we begin to babble like children about the knowledge of the angels . 56 neither are the angels endued onely with understanding , but also with power : and therefore they are called vertues and powers . 57 but yet this power of theirs is finite , as is also their essence . 58 they are finite , not by circumscription of any bodily place , but by designation of a certain vbi . 59 some say that the eternity of god is the measure of the angel● . scal. exerc. 359. sect. 7. 60 this is to be understood of the measure of perfection and not the measure of duration . 61 that there are certain hierarchies or orders amongst the angels , we deny not : but that we are able to know what they are , that we deny . 62 the order of the angels is onely known unto him that did ordain them . 63 whom we shall hereafter behold face to face , when we shall be equall unto the angels . luke 20.36 . 64 all the angels were created by god , good and perfect : for from him which is good and perfect nothing can proceed but that which is good and perfect . 65 but some , yea a great part of them by a voluntary fall fell away from that goodnesse in which they were created . 66 which fall of the angels , what it was , seeing that the scripture sayes nothing of it , who shall declare it ? the ancients dispute that it was either pride , or envie . 67 the evil angels fell without all hope of recovery : but the good angels are confirmed in goodnesse , and freed from all fear of falling . 68 which confirmation of theirs was not the adequate and due reward of any merit ; but the free gift of god rewarding beyond all condignitie . 69 from the confirmation of some of the angels in goodnesse , and the obstinatenesse of others in malice , there arise contrary works on both parts . 70 the good angels are praising and lauding god , and sent as ministring spirits for the good of men . 71 the angels are present with us , for good : to protect us , and to fight for us . bern. serm. 10. in psalm . 92. 72 the number of the angels is innumerable , as concerning us . 73 how the angels conferr● and discourse one with another , let them discusse and determine , who are present at their conferences and discourses . 74 the divels by the subtiltie of their nature , and their experience for time , and also by superiour revelation may foreknow some things , but yet not all . 75 they may do many things to be admired : but they cannot work miracles properly so called . 76 they do what they can , by gods permission : they do not , what otherwise they can , at gods prohibition . 77 and this is , such as it is , the description of the first work of god , which was wrought in time , that is , the creation : whereof there can be no other moving cause given but onely the superabundant riches of his goodnesse . damasc. 2. orthod . fid . cap. 2. 78 for god wrought his works not out of any indigencie , but of his meere beneficencie : nothing is added unto him by our praises ; but he is manifested unto us by his works . euch. lib. 1. in gen. 79 he is the finall cause of the vniverse in respect of his goodnesse ; the exemplarie cause in respect of his wisdome ; and the efficient cause in respect of his power . thom. 1. q. 46. art . 1. 80 therefore the glorie of god is the vltimate and chief end of creation : and the good of men is the mediate and secundary end . 81 god which is good , yea goodnesse it self , did all things well , and made all things good , whatsoever he made . to him be praise honour and glory for ever and ever . amen . chap. vi. wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the providence of god. 1 god which is almightie is not onely the creatour of the vniverse , but also the vpholder , conserver , and governour of the same . 2 he did all things well , and doth guide and govern all things well whatsoever he at first made . 3 as nothing was made but by gods creating essence : so nothing is able to stand or endure but by his conserving power . ansel. in monol . 4 gods upholding , supporting , and governing all creatures , is usually called gods providence . 5 concerning which , nature it self giveth an evident testimony : but the holy scripture giveth a testimonie much more evident . 6 the laws therefore of true religion do proclaim it , that all things have their being and existence , and are governed by the providence of god. euseb. 6. de praepar . evang. cap. 5. 7 now the providence of god consisteth in these three things , his foreknowledge , his purpose , and his administring and governing all things . 8 which is expressed by hugo ( de sancto victore ) after this manner : in the providence of god we must consider his knowledge directing , his will commanding , and his power exequuting . 9 his foreknowledge is , a most present and cleare sight of all things past , present , and to come . 10 god in a moment , fixed , and not sliding ; stable and immoveable , and not successive , beholdeth all things clearly alltogether all at once . 11 god by the propertie of his eternitie excludeth all space , and distinction of time . 12 as god is not said properly to remember that which is past : so neither is he said properly to behold afarre off the things which are to come . for to him all things are present . 13 the things which are known are mutable , transitorie , and successive : but the vision of him that knoweth , knoweth no change , alteration , or succession . polycrat . lib. 2. cap. 21. 14 by this knowledge all things are known unto god , better then they are unto themselves . 15 god beholdeth himself in ●imself , and all other things likewise in himself : for from him and in him are all things . 16 this knowledge of god is immutable : but yet notwithstanding some things unto which gods knowledge extends it self are in themselves mutable . 17 all things are necessary by a necessitie of consequence , but not by a necessitie of the consequent . 18 for it cannot be unknown unto god , who is omniscient , which way the force of action , in causes or agents working contingently and freely , will incline . 19 yet god by this his vision doth not inferre upon them any absolute necessitie : for then should they not be free and contingent agents . 20 it is a most greivous and hainous sinne , to make the providence of god to be the authour and cause necessitating man to sinne . 21 if gods foreknowing a man will sinne , be the cause why man sinneth ; then gods foreknowledge , is not of mans sinne , but of his own : which is impious once to imagine . 22 god doth not onely foresee ( the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) things to be done ; but also ( the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) the cause and manner of doing . 23 he foreseeth things ; he foreseeth the causes of things : what things therefore are from their causes voluntarie or contingent , notwithstanding gods providence , cease not to be such as they are of their own nature . 24 how should the order of causes , which is certain in the foreknowledge of god , be the cause that nothing should be in our will , when as even our wills have place in the order of causes ? august . 5. de civ . dei , cap. 9. 25 neither is the providence of god a bare foreknowledge ; seeing that god is not an idle spectatour of things : but also ( a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , predestination or purpose ) a will and decree to use providence , and take care for all things . 26 it is the part of him that is provident , not onely to have knowledge , but also a will to provide for , and to do good , 27 that eternall purpose , after a most exact manner hath respect unto the actuall administration and governing things in time . 28 for whatsoever god doth , and after what manner soever he doth in time , by way of this administration ; that , by his purpose he decreed to do , and in the same manner , from all eternitie . 29 gods administration , is his actuall and temporall supporting and governing all things : by which he guideth and directeth all things well , wisely , freely , and powerfully . 30 this administration extendeth it self to all things , at all times , and in all places : it reacheth from one end to another mightily , and sweetly doth it order all things . wisdome 8.1 . 31 for if it be no injurie or shame to god to have made the least and meanest things that are : then certainly it is not unbeseeming gods majestie to govern them being made . ambros. 1. de offic. cap. 13. 32 all things were made of nothing : all things again would return to nothing , did not that chief and true being sustain and uphold all things . which conservation is nothing else but the continuation of their existence and being . scal. exerc. 135. sect . 1. 33 as the being of the sunne●eams dependeth on the sunne , and the being of the shadow , on the body : so the being of all creatures dependeth on the providence of god conserving them . raim . de sabaud . in theolog. natur. cap. 16. 34 neither doth god onely conserve things created , but also he doth guide , govern , and direct them . 35 and although all things are under gods guidance and governance : yet he hath a care of mankinde after a more speciall and peculiar manner ; and yet after a more speciall and peculiar manner he hath a care of his church which he gathereth out of mankinde . 36 according to this his providence , god ordinarily conserveth the appointed course of nature . 37 for god so administreth and governeth all things , that he suff●rs them to exercise their own proper motions . aug. 7. de civ . dei. cap. 30. 38 gods providence ordinarily worketh by means : but yet our trust and confidence must not relie upon them . 39 for there is no efficacie of the second causes , which descendeth not from the first . 40 and yet the providence of god is not so tied to means , but that he can work without means . 41 the vertue of all second causes is eminently and causally in the first . 42 therefore the defect of second causes may be easily supplied by the vertue of the first . 43 suppose the second causes were in act : yet notwithstanding the divine providence can change and hinder their effect . 44 but the second causes cannot work without the influence of the first . 45 moreover the divine providence can by the second causes produce another manner of effect , then that which is agreeable to their naturall properties . 46 he which gave the laws , and order of nature , is not bound to the laws and order of nature . 47 the very brute beasts themselves by a kinde of naturall instinct have a sense of this providence , by which they are sustained and directed . 48 god hath a peculiar and speciall care of man in the whole course of his life : in his ingresse , progresse , and egresse . 49 thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about . job 10.8 . and again , thou art he that took me out of the wombe . psal. 22.9 . 50 god doth so govern our whole life , that not so much as one hair of our head doth at any time fall without his will and providence . matth. 10.30 . luke 21.18 . act. 27.34 . 51 he hath appointed man his bounds that he cannot passe . job 14.5 . 52 yet the divine providence doth so guide and govern man in the whole course and end of his life , that it doth neither exclude the second causes , neither yet is tied unto them . 53 hence we may learn , that marriages are in such manner fatall , that notwithstanding they prove sometimes fatuall . 54 and , that the bounds of mans life are appointed which he cannot passe : but yet , not by any law or decree of the ( parcae , or ) fatall sisters , nor by any stoicall necessitie . 55 as the divine providence governeth mans life , so all his actions . 56 but yet god concurreth to good and bad actions after a farre different manner . 57 actions civilly good he doth govern in such manner , that he doth not onely conserve the naturall agent , and furnish him with abilitie and power for action ; but doth also approve and set forward the actions themselves , and in a speciall manner sometimes moveth men unto them . 58 actions spiritually good he doth both command and approve in such manner , that he effecteth them in us and by us , by his holy spirit . 59 as for evil actions he neither commandeth , nor willeth , nor furthereth , nor inciteth or moveth unto them . 60 for in evil we are not to seek so much the efficient cause , as the deficient . august . 14. de civ . dei , cap. 7. 61 because it is rather a defect from gods work , then any work it self . august . 14. de civ . dei , cap. 11. 62 god who is a most perfect and pure act , cannot be deficient : therefore he cannot be the cause of evil . 63 gods providence concurreth in evil actions , by foreknowing them , sustaining and upholding the nature of the agent , permitting , forsaking , delivering to satan , setting bounds , and drawing good out of them . 46 he hardneth negatively , that is , by not softning ; privatively , that is , by taking away such softnes as there is ; traditively , that is , by delivering a man unto himself and unto satan to be hardned ; materially , that is , by showing signes and wonders ; and dispositively , that is , by ordering and directing the induration or hardnes to a good end . 65 hereupon saith suidas out of the ancients , god doth administer all things according to his dispensation & his good will & pleasure , in that which is good : and by way of permission onely , in that which is ●vil . 66 this permission is not as of one imprudent , or simply unwilling , or not caring , or idly looking on , or opening a wide field to the plots and machinations of men and satan : but it is the permission of a most just judge and avenger , and also a most wise ruler and governour . 67 god doth in such manner punish sinnes with sinnes , that yet he is not the cause of sinne . 68 and seeing that the divine providence doth not exclude the second causes , neither change their qualitie , according to the ordinarie manner : hence it is that in respect of the particular causes some things may be said to be fortuitous and casuall , which yet come under the order of the vniversall cause . 69 chance and fortune are the voice and words of humane ignorance . august . 5. de civ . dei , cap. 9. 70 the holy meditation upon the divine providence may effect thus much in us , that we be neither lift up in prosperitie , nor cast down with despair in adversitie . 71 let us wholly commit our selves , and all that is ours , unto his care , who hath such a care of every one of us , as if he had but one to take care of ; and such a care of all , that he forgets not to take care of every one . chap. vii . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning election and reprobation 1 predestination is a certain peculiar act of the divine providence , about the salvation of men . 2 by it the reasonable creature is directed to an end which exceedeth its proportion , to wit , unto eternall life . 3 in which sense predestination is made part of the divine providence . thom. p. 1. q. 23. art . 1. 4 the doctrine of predestination is not to be involved or concealed in the cloud of silence , seeing that it is in scripture evolved or revealed by the holy ghost . 5 but we must handle it soberly , reverently , and prudently . 6 let us speak ; not what , and as much as the curiositie of mans heart desireth : but what , and asmuch as the holy ghost teacheth . 7 predestination or election is called , the enrolling , registring , or writing of our names into the book of life . 8 but yet this book of life serveth not to put god in minde of some , lest he forget them : but it signifies the predestination of those which shall inherit everlasting life . aug. 20. de civ . dei , cap. 15. 9 as therefore none of those that are elected do perish : so of those that have their names written in the book of life , none are ever blotted out . 10 but they are properly , and according to the phrase of scripture said to be written in the book of life , who cleave unto christ by faith and perseverance . 11 election as well as creation is the immediate action of one and the onely true god alone . 12 which belongeth also to the sonne of god , not onely as he is one with the father and the holy ghost , but also as he is appointed to be the mediatour . 13 in which sense we are said to be elected not onely by christ , but also in christ. ephes. 1.4 . 14 and it is an action , not emanant but immanent . 15 and it is also ordinate : whence it is , that the elect are said to be ordained to eternall life , act. 13.48 . 16 the reason and manner of this order is made manifest unto us by the gospel : by which the mystery of our salvation , which was kept secret since the world began , is now made manifest . rom. 16.26 , 27. 17 in which sense we are said to be elected according to the purpose and foreknowledge of god , ephes. 1.11 . and 1. pet. 1.2 . 18 that purpose is the counsel and good pleasure of god concerning the salvation of men , by faith on christ. 19 gods election is meerly of his grace , not according to any merits of works foreseen . 20 the onely cause and foundation of this grace , is christ. in him the beloved we are freely beloved . ephes. 1.6 . 21 but inasmuch as christ profits no man without faith : therefore the mention of christ in this businesse doth include the action of faith. 22 in which sense we are said to be elected not onely in christ , but also through faith. 2. thes● . 2.13 . 23 again , because the end of faith ( i do not mean such faith as is temporarie , and endureth but for a time ; but that which persevereth and continueth unto the end ) is eternall life : therefore , when we name faith , we understand perseverance also . 24 the end of election in respect of our selves , is sanctification in the kingdome of grace , and glorification in the kingdome of glory . 25 the end of our election in respect of god , is the glory of god , and the cleare manifestation of his mercy . 26 god willeth and earnestly willeth the life of a sinner : but he willeth also his conversion by the word and the holy spirit . 27 if the sinner refuseth and rejecteth the word , and resisteth the holy spirit , and so is not converted : then god willeth the death of the sinner , and that most justly . 28 these things are not repugnant , the one to the other ; but do manifest unto us the wonderfull temper of gods mercie and justice . 29 what some produce , concerning the hidden will of god , contrary to his will revealed in his word : that inasmuchas it is not revealed , is not without just cause hidden from the godly . 30 neither doth god in word onely testifie unto us that he earnestly desireth the salvation of all men ; but also in deed and in truth . 31 the first adam was created after the image of god : whereof immortality was a part . 32 all men were in the loins of their first father adam : therefore in him they may be all said to have been created after the image of god unto immortalitie . 33 what christ by his precious bloudshedding purchased for all , that the holy ghost in the precious treasure of the word offereth unto all . 34 the gospel is offered unto all ; and in the gospel , the benefits of christ ; and in them , the grace of god ; and in that , eternall life . 35 and thus the love of the father , the satisfaction of the sonne , and the calling of the holy ghost are allwaies joyned together . 36 that calling in it self , and of it self , in respect of god which calleth , is vniversall : for it is his good will and pleasure that the gospel should be preached unto all . 37 but it is made particular by the fault of men , who by their detestable contempt of the word rob themselves and their posteritie of so great a treasure . 38 in which sense such are said to judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life . acts 13.46 . 39 if we descend unto particulars : we confesse that there are many things yet obscure , which hereafter shall be made manifest unto all in the light of glory . 40 neither is the grace of god , which calleth all , to be depressed : nor the power of freewill accepting grace to be extolled . 41 let the salvation of men be acknowledged to be the meere gift of gods grace : but let the damnation of men be attributed meerely to their own fault . 42 the judgements of god we must allwaies acknowledge to be just , allthough they are not allwaies manifest unto us . 43 gods grace preventeth and prepareth us before we can be able ; it worketh in us , that we may be able ; and it worketh with us , whensoever by his gift we are enabled to do any thing that is good . 44 as god in time doth justifie men and save them : so also from all eternitie he decreed to justifie them and save them . 45 the action of god in time is as it were a glasse wherein we may behold his decree concerning that action made from all eternitie . 46 the reason whereof is , the immutabilitie of his divine will. 47 therefore as god saveth all those and onely those that with perseverance beleeve on christ in time : so also he purposed from all eternitie to save all those and onely those that with perseverance unto the end shall beleeve on christ , that is , he elected them unto eternall life . 48 therefore let us with sobrietie beginne the doctrine and meditation of predestination from the wounds of christ. 49 in the light of the word there shineth unto us the true light which is christ ; and in christ , the love of god electing us unto salvation . 50 without the path and light of the word , whatsoever we can think or imagine in our hearts , whatsoever we can speak or utter with our lips , is but darknesse and errour . 51 but on the other side if we follow the light of the word , we shall neither decline to the right hand of presumptuous temeritie , nor to the left hand of carnall securitie . chap. viii . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the image of god in man before his fall. 1 the creation of man , after the image of god , in time , followed after the decree of predestination made without time . 2 i could wish that this image of god , in the first man , were so obvious to our understanding , as it was sometimes glorious , to the procuring of grace and favour to the whole stock of man. 3 but alas ! ( to our grief we may speak it ) the knowledge of that is quite fled from our understanding , the possession whereof we lost long agoe . 4 and our discourse concernning that , is not unlike unto theirs , who being prisoners in a dark and deep dungeon make enquirie after the excellencie of the light which is altogether unknown unto them . 5 that image of god , according to the apostles exposition , is the image of righteousnesse and true holinesse . ephes. 4.24 . 6 the image of god is repaired in those that are regenerate and born again , by the renewing in knowledge . coloss. 3.10 . 7 that light of divine knowledge is not a propertie created together with the soul of man after the fall : but it is the conformitie of the regenerate unto god by the gift and illumination of the holy ghost . 8 whereupon it follows , that the image of god is not to be defined by those things which essentially may be found in the soul of a man unregenerate . 9 that primitive righteousnesse and holinesse in which the apostle placeth the image of god , doth comprehend the light of divine knowledge , in the minde ; full conformitie unto the law of god , in the will ; and rectitude of all the powers and affections of the soul , in the heart . 10 man was a lively mirrour of divine wisdome , goodnesse , charitie , righteousnesse , holinesse , and puritie . 11 his reason was perfectly subject unto god ; his will , unto his reason ; and his affections and other powers , unto his will. 12 there was in man no servile fear , no sorrow ; but blessed rest and perpetuall exultation in god his creatour . 13 he had the knowledge of god , not onely from without , in the book of the creatures ; but he had also within himself inward impressions and lively characters of divine knowledge . 14 man bore the image of god , as a sonne doth his fathers , to whom he oweth duty and love ; as a servant his masters , to whom he oweth reverence and fear ; as a souldier his captains , to whom he oweth obedience and fidelitie ; as a steward his lords , to whom he is bound to give an exact account of his stewardship . 15 mans outward nakednesse was a signe of his innocencie , and inward puritie : his dwelling in paradise did manifest his inward rest and felicitie . 16 there was no motion in his body , whereof he needed to be ashamed : he thought there was nothing in him stood in need to be covered , because he felt within himself nothing that stood in need to be bridled . august . 11. de gen. ad lit . cap. 1. 17 it cannot stand with the perfection of the first man , that we should attribute unto him any discord or jarre of the superiour and inferiour powers of his soul. 18 neither do they teach sound doctrine , that say , that any disease or maladie was cured or repressed in the first man by the antidote of originall righteousnesse . 19 they deserve to be hated of god , whosoever dispute and hold , that any evil concupiscence and such as was odious unto god , was to be found in man at the first , considered in his pure naturals , by reason of the matter whereof he was made . 20 to hold and say that from the condition of the matter whereof man was made , any concupiscence of it self evil did arise in him , is injurious to the god of nature . 21 neither can it stand with the wisdome and power of god , that beside his intent any evil concupiscence should arise from the condition of the matter . 22 for who can with patience heare the works of god thus blasphemed ? we looked for an amphora ; the wheel went round about : in stead of look't for amphora ; a pitcher there came out . 23 what can arise beside his intent , without whose intent nothing can arise ? 24 those reliques of the divine image , which , such as they are , are still in man ever since his fall , are naturall unto him . therefore certainly that originall and primitive rectitude was naturall unto the first man. 25 for in those things which are homogeneall , or of the same kinde , we argue truly from the nature of the part unto the nature of the whole . 26 the image of god might have been propagated ( if man had stood ) unto his posteritie by naturall generation : and now those things which are propagated naturally , are themselves also naturall . 27 from all which it is apparant , that the image of god was not any externall & supernaturall ornament of the first man , as a virgins garland or sampsons strength , but a kinde of beauty internall , and created together with him . 28 and yet it is not the very substance of man , or any essentiall part of him . 29 man is said to have been created after gods image : therefore man himself is one thing , and the image of god in him is another . 30 holinesse and righteousnesse are onely in god by way of essence ▪ in man they are not but by way of inherence . 31 immortalitie was a part of that divine image : for god created man to be immortall , and made him to be an image of his own eternitie . wisd. 2.23 . 32 that death of the body unto which we are all subject , since the fall of adam , is not the naturall condition of man : but it is derived upon us as a punishment , for the wickednes of his transgression . 33 it is not a debt due unto our nature as it was at first created by god : but it is our just merit and wages for falling away from god. 34 at what time man opened the gate of sinne unto satan knocking , death entred in upon him , and so passed upon all men . rom. 5.12 . 35 that immortalitie unto which man was created , as likewise the whole image of god was a naturall and internall propertie of the humane nature . 36 in the body there was a most exact harmonie of all the qualities , and it was governed by the soule , which was created after the image of god unto immortalitie . 37 as therefore since the fall , vvee are by nature the children of wrath , ephes. 2.3 . so before his fall , the first man was by nature the son of grace and life . 38 but the degree of immortalitie , which was in our nature at the first institution , and the degree that shall be at the perfect restitution are farre different the one from the other . 39 the immortalitie of the first man was , that hee had power not to die : but the immortalitie of the elect shall be hereafter , that they cannot die . august . 6. de gen. ad lit . cap. 25. 40 and further seeing that immortalitie is a part of the divine image , from hence it is apparant , that even in the body of man there is some glimpse of the divine image . 41 the comlinesse of the clay did argue also the beauty of the soul. bern. serm. 24. sup. cant. col. 564. 42 if any one ask whether eve was made after the image of god , or no : we answer that the name of image is taken two wayes . 43 primarily and properly the image of god was resplendent in the conformitie of the soule and all the powers & faculties of man with the law of god : which was common to both sexes , saving the diversitie of degrees . 44 secundarily , the image of god was resplendent in that externall priviledge of dominion and rule , the eminencie whereof properly belonged unto the man. 45 and that there might be nothing wanting to mans felicity ; beside the grace of soule and body , god added also the grace of place : for he gave him his dwelling-place in paradise . 46 man was created by god partly spirituall and partly corporeall . therefore god gave unto him also a twofold paradise , both a spirituall and a corporeall . 47 the corporeall or terrestriall paradise , was a type and school of the spirituall and celestiall paradise , that is , great tranquillitie and joy in the minde of man. 48 if any man be desirous that we should show unto him , in what part of the earth the corporeall paradise was situate : that we will doe , if he will first plainly show unto us the situation of the earth as it was before the floud . 49 that the garden of paradise is yet extant and to be seen : then will wee beleeve , when any man can bring us a bough or a branch from thence , or else demonstrate it unto us upon a good foundation . 50 it is certain that henoch and elias live in paradise : but in what paradise ? not the terrestriall , but the celestiall , where christ promised the good thief that hee should be . luk. 23.43 . 51 there were two trees especially , which were a great grace to the garden of paradise : to wit , the tree of life , & the tree of knowledge of good and evill . gen. 2.9 . 52 in the tree of life there was set before man a preservative against sicknesse and old age , as also a type of eternall beatitude . 53 the tree of knowledge was mans temple and altar : and the service which he was to have performed unto god was , to abstain from the fruit thereof . 54 after mans fall it was so called from the event : for by tasting of the fruit thereof man learnt by wofull experience , what a great good he had deprived himself of , by reason of his sinne ; and what a great evil he drew upon himself by his disobedience . 55 as concerning the question about the production of souls whether by way of propagation , or by a dayly and immediate creation : we do not dislike the modestie of those , which say , that it is sufficient for them to beleeve and know whither they shall come by living a godly life , although they be ignorant from whence they came . august . 10. de gen. ad lit . cap. 23. 56 let me be ignorant of the originall of my soul , if so be that i can come to the knowledge of the propagation of originall sinne , and the redemption of souls . aug. epist. 157. ad optat. 57 if by the image of god we understand , according to the scripture phrase , true righteousnesse and holinesse , the holy ghost witnesseth that we have lost it , and we finde it true by wofull experience . 58 for what is originall sinne , but the losse and want of the di●vine image , which succeeded in the place of originall righteousnesse ? 59 this doctrine concerning the image of god leads us as it were by the hand , that so we may come to the knowledge of gods mercy , and our own misery : and further establisheth our hope . 60 all laud and praise be given to god the father , god the sonne , and god the holy ghost : to the father , which created us in adam after his own image ; to the sonne , which merited for us the renewing of that image ; and to the holy ghost , by whom this image beginneth again to be renewed in us . chap. ix . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning originall sinne , that is , the fall of our first parents , and the corruption of nature which followed thereupon , and is propagated unto their posteritie . 1 the first man continued not in the integritie and perfection wherein he was created : and therefore it descended not upon his posteritie by any right of inheritance . 2 he followed the deceitfull perswasion of the serpent , and so fell into sinne and the transgression of gods commandment . 3 in that naturall serpent the infernall serpent lay lurking . 4 so then the serpent , which by his subtiltie deceived our first parents , was disguised : for there was a divell in the shape of a serpent . 5 he sets upon the woman first being the weaker , and not to be compared with man for the gift and endowment of wisdome . 6 by a treacherous and deceitfull question , about the meaning of gods commandment , he sollicits her to a very dangerous kinde of doubting . 7 outwardly with a faigned voice he propounds a question unto her : inwardly he wounds her soul with venomous darts , and inspires into her the poison of doubting . 8 afterwards being grown more audacious and bold by reason of his successe , he turns eve● doubting into an open deniall . 9 he accuseth god of envie and malice , being himself more malicious : by a faigned pretence and promise of divine excellency and wisdome he deceived her , being himself most remote from divine wisdome . 10 the causes then of our first fathers fall were , the devill seducing , and himself freely and willingly consenting . 11 we must not in any case make god to have an hand or beare a part in mans fall : because god is good , and the authour of nothing but that which is good . 12 as god created man at the first , so it was his will that he should alwaies have continued : and therefore god did not by any secret decree or command force him to fall . 13 god is not the authour of that thing , whereof he is the punisher and avenger : the iniquitie which he punisheth is not of his doing . fulgent . lib. 1. ad monim . 14 god gave unto man , before his fall , a perfect power that hee might have not fallen ; and an entire will that , if he would , he might have had no will to fall : and further he added a most severe commination of death , that so he might have been kept from falling . 15 man was not created that he should have a will to sinne ; and yet he was set in that libertie that he might have a will ; but he was also furnished with such light , that , if he would , he might have had no such will. 16 for god hath no need of the righteousnesse of the upright and straight , or the iniquitie of the crooked and perverse . august . 11. de gen. ad lit . cap. 7. 17 no perfection is added unto god by his externall works , which are but the prints and footsteps of his inward perfection . 18 incredulitie and unbelief , according to the order that moses hath set down in his description , was the first sinne of man. 19 as long as the word and faith is retained in the heart , there is no proud swelling or lifting up of ones self against god. 20 whatsoever was first for order of internall intention : certainly incredulitie was the first sin for order in the act of externall commission . 21 neither had the minde of man , being illuminated with such divine light as it was , ever turned away from god by pride , unlesse first it had made a secession or revolting from the word . 22 the apostle denies that adam was deceived . 1. tim. 2.14 . which wee must understand , of the manner and order of being deceived . 23 though wee should grant that adam was not deceived by another ; yet he was deceived by himselfe . 25 it is an idle question , to ask whether of the two sinned more grievously , adam or eve. they sinned both , unlike indeed for sex , but alike for pride . aug. 11. de gen. ad lit . cap. 35. 26 the opening of their eyes , which followed immediately upon their fall , was nothing else but the sense of their sin , and the sting of a terrified conscience . 27 they saw that they were naked , that is , bestripped of the robe of integritie & innocencie , with which they were invested at their first creation . they knew before their fall that they were naked : but their nakednesse was such as was neither shamefull nor disgracefull . 28 they felt after their fall , that their flesh was incited to lust , and that the law of their members was shamefully repugnant to the law of their minde . 28 what great darknesse seized upon their understanding presently after their fall , it is apparant from hence , in that they thought with fig leaves to hide themselves from his sight , whose eyes are much clearer then the sunne . 29 fain would they have been concealed from him , from whom nothing can be concealed : and hide their flesh from his sight , who is the beholder of the heart . august . 11. de gen. ad lit . cap. 34. 30 with their blindnesse of minde there was also joyned the trembling of heart : for they were affrighted with the shaking of a leafe ; who before were delighted with the presence and conference of god. 31 they are called before gods tribunall , or judgement-seat , and before him their cause is examined : and so punishment follows close upon their sinne . 32 this sinne of our first parents corrupted and putrified the humane nature , which was all in them , and no part in any other . anselm . conc . virg . cap. 2. 33 adam was , and in him were we all : adam was undone ; and in him are we all undone . ambros. in cap. 15. luc. 34 if the parents lands be confiscate , their children lose their inheritance . 35 from a corrupted root spring forth evil fruits ; from an impure fountain flow forth filthy waters ; and of parents which are leprous , children also are begotten which are leprous . 36 even so , of our first parents being destitute of originall righteousnesse , and infected with the pollution of sinne , such children are begotten as they themselves ; that is , destitute of righteousnesse , and infected with sinne . 37 for adam begat a sonne : not after the image of god ; but in his own likenesse , that is , corrupted with sinne . 38 the personall sinne of adam corrupted his nature , and the corruption of nature is by carnall generation propagated unto the person of his ofspring . 39 adam sinned ; not as a private man : but as the lump , masse , and head of all mankinde . 40 as his nature ; so likewise the corruption of his nature is propagated unto his posteritie : as his sinne ; so also the guilt , which is a consequent of his sinne . 41 and this is that which we call originall sinne : which whosoever they be that deny or extenuate , they detract exceedingly from the grace of god. 42 they which plead so much for nature , are enemies unto grace . 43 concerning this originall sin not onely the most cleare oracles of the holy ghost beare witnes , but also all actuall sins , & the grievous weight and burden of divers calamities , and death it self , and likewise regeneration which is necessarie for all men towards the attainment of eternall life . 44 therefore vain and frivolous is that which is said by pelagius , that sinne came into the world by imitation , not by propagation . 45 for death , which is the wages of sinne , raigned even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of adams transgression . rom. 5.14 . 46 and we are by nature the children of wrath and not by imitation , as the apostle teacheth ephes. 2.3 . 47 this sinne is called originall not from the originall of the universall nature , or the humane nature , but from the originall of every person descended from adam since his fall . 48 moreover it is called originall in reference to actuall sinnes , whereof it is the common head and fountain . 49 as for the quidditie of the thing , it is not onely the privation of originall righteousnesse , but it is also the position of a vitious qualitie , and guilt which is a consequent or follower of them both . 50 hence it is , that from ou● parents we are damned before we are born . bern. in med. cap. 2. col. 1190. 51 evill concupiscence , in which the power and force of originall sinne doth chiefly appeare , is not onely the punishment and cause of sinne , but it is also sinne it self . 52 for there is in it disobedience and rebellion against the dominion and law of the minde . august . lib. 5. contra julian . cap. 3. 53 neither hath the veice of evil concupiscence place in the inferiour faculties of the soul onely , but also in the superiour . 54 for the will of a man not yet regenerate is prone to evill and to vanities . 55 amongst the works of the flesh these are reckoned , heresies , idolatrie , strife , variance , &c. gal. 5.20 . 56 from whence we may gather evidently , that the flesh is to be taken for the whole man , such as he is since the fall without the grace of god and regeneration . 57 by originall sinne the whole nature of man was most intimately and inwardly corrupted : but yet we must distinguish between the vice , and the very substance of man. for the substance of man is the good work of god and nature . 58 sinne is an evil adjunct , or evil present with me , saith s. paul rom. 7.21 . therefore it is not any thing consisting or subsisting of it self . 59 men are conceived in sinne : therefore they are not very sinne itself . 60 the whole man is the subject of originall sin , with all the powers of the soul and members of the body . 61 originall righteousnesse was not onely an equall and just temperament of the body , but also a rectitude of all the powers of the soul , and an intrinsecall ornament . 62 so originall sinne , which succeeded in the place of originall righteousnesse , is not any diseased qualitie of body , but an infection of all the powers of the soul. 63 for , habit and privation are to be considered with reference to the same subject . 64 this evil is propagated by carnall generation . 65 therefore man since the fall , is flesh , because he is born of flesh . john 3.6 . he is by nature the childe of wrath . ephes. 2.3 . by being born then he contracts sinne , for which he becomes the childe of wrath . 66 whosoever therefore are born of parents according to carnall generation , are also guilty of originall sinne . 67 therefore even the children of the faithfull , and those that are born again , bring this originall sinne and pollution with them into this world . 68 for it is regeneration , and not generation that maketh christians . august . 3. de peccat . merit . & remiss . cap. 9. 69 men are made , and not born christians . tertull. in apol. cap. 17. 70 onely he was born without sinne , who without the seed of man was conceived by the holy ghost in the wombe of the virgin . 71 he is not infected with the pollution of sinne , who was born holy and sanctified from the sanctified wombe of the virgin. 72 to the participation of this priviledge and dignitie ( that is , to be free from originall sinne ) we do not admit the blessed virgin herself . 73 we say , that the glorious virgin mary conceived by the holy ghost ; not , that she was conceived by the holy ghost : we say , that a virgin brought forth ; not , that she was brought forth of a virgin. bern. epist. 174. ad lugdun . 74 some effects of originall sinne are onely punishments : some are both punishments and sinnes . 75 punishments are both temporall and eternall : as sundry calamities , innumerable swarms of diseases , temporall death , the wrath of god , & eternall damnation . 76 punishments and sinnes both , are evil motions of concupiscence , damnable desires of the heart , and an heap of actuall sinnes . 77 the pravitie of originall sinne draws us headlong into vice ▪ cassiodor . in psalm . 118. 78 the number of these actuall sinnes , are in respect of us altogether numberlesse . for who can understand his errours ? psalm . 19.12 . 79 the bloud of jesus christ cleanseth all those that beleeve , from all sinne , both originall and actuall . 1. john 1.7 . 80 with which we are sprinkled in baptisme , which is therefore called the holy and saving laver , or the washing of regeneration . tit. 3.5 . 81 unto which regeneration , renovation , or renewing , is added as an inseparable companion : though it be not altogether absolute and perfect in this life . 82 for if there were a perfect renewing in baptisme , then would not the apostle say , that the inward man is renewed dayly . aug. 2. de peccat . merit . & remiss . cap. 7. 83 knowing therefore the extreme corruption of our nature , let us send up our prayers and sighs unto christ our physician , to renew us every day more and more , till at length we be perfectly renewed in the life to come which is eternall . chap. x. wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning free-vvill . that is , the power which is left in man since the fall . 1 the poyson of originall sin hath quite overrun , and inwardly infected all the powers and faculties of man. 2 whereupon there must needs follow great detriment and decrement , or losse and decay in them all . 3 the powers and faculties of man are chiefely to be estimated by the reasonable soule , which was created after the image of god. 4 the faculties of the reasonable soul are two ; a mind , to know and understand ; and a will , to elect and choose . 5 from the concurse of these two faculties ariseth that which is commonly called free-will . 6 which is a facultie both of the minde and the will : for the arbitrement or judgement is of the minde , and the freedome or libertie is of the will. 7 libertie or freedome is attributed unto the will , first having a respect unto the manner of working , which is free and voluntarie . 8 for it is not compelled or violently carried away by any externall motion , neither doth it work onely by a naturall instinct , but it hath an internall and free principle , or cause , of its owne motion . 9 this libertie is a naturall and essentiall propertie of the will. 10 and therefore it was not lost by the fall . 11 for the will did not cease to be a vvill by reason of the fall . 12 this libertie from coaction or necessitie , is called interior libertie , or libertie in the subject . 13 therefore the vvill of man in this respect is alwayes free , though not alwayes good . august . in enchirid. cap. 30. 14 but yet the will of man is so free , that still it must needs acknowledge the all-ruling power of god. 15 and therefore it is not free from law and obligation . 17 for god hath imprinted in the minde of man certain naturall motions , the light and leading whereof the vvill must follow . 17 if it follows them , it is free . 18 for the true libertie and freedome is , to serve god , and to obey his law. 19 in which sense tullies saying is very good , in his oration for cluentius , vve are servants to the lawes , that so we may be freemen . 20 therefore , as in respect of libertie or freedome from coaction man hath allwaies free-will , yea since his fall : 21 so in respect of libertie or freedome from obligation man hath never free-will , neither had he before his fall . 22 againe this libertie or freedome of the vvill is estimated , in respect of the object , which is either good or bad . 23 this is called libertie unto the object , and interiour . 24 what this libertie or freedome of mans will is , it will best appeare from the consideration of the divers states of man. 25 the libertie in man before his fall , was a facultie of his reason and his will , by which he might sinne , or not sinne , stand or fall . anselm . de lib. arbitr . cap. 7. 26 for his will , even then , was not immutably determined to that which is good . 27 the will of man was set as it were between two pathes : there was set before him life and death . ecclus. 15.17 . 28 in his minde there shined the light of wisdome ; in his will there was conformitie to the will of god : but yet notwithstanding there was left in him a libertie , either to persevere in the goodnesse wherein he was created , or to fall away from it . 29 this may be called a libertie of rectitude , a libertie from servitude and miserie . 30 but it was not any essentiall propertie of the will , but a separable accident . 31 for as by falling it might be lost : so too truely may we speake it , and not without griefe , it was lost . 32 man abusing his free-will lost both himself and it . august . in enchir . cap. 30. 33 in which respect the will of man is no longer free , but servile and captivated . 34 vvhosoever committeth sin , is the servant of sin . ioh. 8.34 . 35 the image of god being lost by the fall , the libertie of rectitude and power of choosing good was also lost . 36 in place whereof there succeeded extreme corruption of the faculties and powers , and an unbridled propension and greedinesse to that which is evill . 37 hence it is , that the will of man since the fall is onely free to that which is evill ; which is a wretched and miserable kind of freedome . 38 or rather it is to be accounted a most heavy and grievous kind of servitude . 39 the apostle calls it a freedome from righteousnesse . rom. 6.20 . for man refusing to be a servant unto righteousnesse , became subject to the yoke of sin and iniquitie , and so a servant to an ill mistresse . august . de verb. apost . serm . 12. 40 the soul of man , under this voluntarie , and unhappily free necessitie , is held both as a bond-woman , and a free. 41 a bond-woman for necessitie , but for will free . bernhard . ser. 81. sup. cant. 42 the will of man since the fall is prone to that which is evil ; and yet it ceaseth not to be free : because it is not forced by compulsion to that which is evil , but doth freely and willingly chose and embrace it . 43 from whence it appeares , that the inward libertie of vvill may consist and stand together with the servitude of sinning . 44 as the libertie doth consist with the immutabilitie of doing ●ood , and with the confirmation in ●oodnesse . 45 whereof the former is onely ●elonging unto god , and the latter ●nto the good angels . 46 there remained therefore ●n man , yea after the fall , freedome ●f vvill : but we must understand it of freedome from coaction . 47 the freedome of will pe●ished in man : if we understand it of the power of choosing good , and ●schewing evill . 48 for in the place of light , which shined in the understanding of man being created together with him , there succeeded dark●esse . ephes 5.8 . 49 wherefore the understanding of man , as concerning the sa●ing knowledge of god , is not onely blinde , but quite obscured and ●ut out . 50 the will is become subject unto the tyrannie of sin , and waiteth upon it as a slave . 51 in which respect men are said to be dead in their sins . colos● 2.13 . 52 because by nature they ca● doe nothing , but lye rotting and stinking in the grave of their sins . 53 wherefore conversion is the work of god alone , in which worke man is meerely and altogether passive . 54 it is god which openeth the heart of man at his conversion : it is he which doth soften it , circumcise it , and renew it . 55 it is god that worketh in us both to will and to doe , of his good pleasure . philip. 2.13 . 56 man indeed hath an externall power , freely to move himselfe from place to place , and so may performe some civill act of justice : 57 which of itself indeed , as it ●s an act , is no sin : but because the person is not yet reconciled unto god , in another respect , is a ●in . 58 so that the saying of the a●ostle stands firme and sure : whatsoever is not of faith , is sin . rom. 14. ●3 . 59 for , that works may be ●ruely good , and that in the sight of god : it is necessarie , that they be ●one after a good manner , by those ●hat are good , and to a good end . 60 although then , as concer●ing outward actions belonging to ●he life of man , or the outward ●xercise of religion , there is left ●ome libertie to the will of man : 61 ( for , as the apostle wit●esseth , the gentiles which have not ●he law doe by nature the things con●ained in the law. rom. 2.14 . ) 62 yet , as concerning the begin●ings of spirituall motions , and the performing of acceptable service unto god , man hath no power lef● unto him ; no , not at all . 63 for , we are not sufficient o● our selves to think any thing that i● good , as of our selves : but our sufficiencie is of god. 2 cor. 3.4 . 64 therefore every good though● every godly resolution , every go●● purpose , every good motion of will i● from god : by whom we are abl● to do something that is good ▪ bu● without him , nothing . august . 〈◊〉 dogm . eccl. cap. 17. 65 and yet that libertie in externall works and actions of this pre●sent life , is not without some hi●●derance and impediments . 66 men often take counsell to●gether , but god which guideth and governeth all things , ofte● bringeth it to nought . isai. 8.10 ▪ 67 we may propound ; it 's go● that doth dispose : we wish for what we should not 〈◊〉 god knows . 68 moreover great is the tyrannie of satan , who by gods permission draweth , whither he listeth , the wills of the reprobate being intangled in the cords of their sinnes . 69 the weight and burden of sundry businesses doth often disturb the judgement of the understanding , and the arbitrement of the will. 70 unto which externall impediments is also added an internall weaknesse in the powers of man , even in externall things , arising from sinne . 71 with which weaknesse there is also joyned a disorder of the affections , which like a torrent oftentimes carries away the will , and perverts the judgement of the understanding . 72 which consideration of our powers in spirituall things altogether abolished , and even in externall things much weakened , sets before us the greatnesse of gods grace to be acknowledged by us in our conversion and salvation , driveth securitie out of our hearts , pulleth down the crests of pride , and maketh us more diligent in praying , and keeping the gifts of the holy ghost . 73 after conversion , the will of man being freed is not idle , but through power given from above is made operative , and a fellow-worker with god. 74 the holy ghost , without us , worketh in us to will that which is good . and when we will , and will after such and such a manner , it is he that worketh together with us , to enable us to work . 75 for the children of god are so moved to working , that they also have a part in the working . august . de corrept . & grat . cap. 2. 76 this may be called libertie or freedome from the service of sin : for where there is the spirit of god regenerating and illuminating a man , there is libertie or freedome . 2. cor. 3.17 . 77 but yet that libertie or freedome of the will being freed standeth still in need of the aid and guidance of the holy ghost . 78 for seeing that even in the regenerate the flesh lusteth against the spirit , and the spirit against the flesh . gal. 5.17 . therefore they are not fully free from all sinne . 79 in the spirit of the regenerate there is a free servitude , and in the flesh of the regenerate there is a servile freedome . 80 in the other life at length the regenerate shall obtain full and plenarie libertie or freedome of will , by which they shall be freed not onely from the service of sinne , but also from all manner of sinne , from all miserie , and from all fear of falling . 81 which may be called a libertie or freedome from sinne and mu●abilitie . 82 by which they shall not onely not sinne , nor onely have power not to sinne , but also have no power to sinne at all . to that libertie & freedome christ bring us , who is the authour of our libertie and freedome . chap. xi . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the lavv. 1 the word and the sacraments serve for the repairing of man , being soveraign antidotes and preservatives against the poyson of sinne , and our spirituall diseases . 2 the word is reduced to two chief heads , the law and the gospell . 3 by the law we come to the knowledge of our diseases : and by the gospell we are directed to our physician . 4 for the law was given by moses , but grace and truth by jesus christ. john 1.17 . 5 the law which was given by moses is divided into the morall , the judiciall , and the ceremoniall . 6 the morall law was onely repeated by moses , by a solemn promulgation : for it was at first ingraven in the heart of man. 7 and it is the glasse of gods eternall justice ; the glasse of natures perfection , such as it was before the fall ; the glasse of sinne and the inward corruption of nature since the fall ; the glasse of obedience , which the regenerate are to perform ; and the glasse of perfection , which shall follow in the life to come . 8 they which would have this law to be thrust out of the church , deserve themselves to be thrust out of the church . 9 for they gainsay christ , who began his preaching from the expounding of the law. matth. 5.6 , 7. 10 they gainsay the apostles , who preached repentance and remission of sinnes in the name of christ. 11 the law is indeed a glasse to behold sinne , but it is not a remedie to cure sinne . 12 but yet unlesse we first come to a sight of our sinne , we can have no desire or will to seek for a remedie . 13 for they that be whole need not a physician . matth. 9.12 . that is , they that think themselves to be whole : for indeed all men are not onely sick , but even dead in their sinnes . 14 the law was given , that we should seek for grace . august . d● spir. & lit . cap. 15. 15 what the law commands , faith obtains . idem homil. 29. in joan. 16 by the law sinne is made known unto us , and by faith it is abolished . ambros. in 3. cap. rom. 17 and therefore the ministerie of death was in this regard necessarie : that we might desire and seek for life in christ. 18 god poureth not the oyl of of mercie but into the vessell of an humble and contrite heart . bern. serm . 3. in annun● . col. 113. 19 god doth not pardon , unlesse thou dost first acknowledge thy sinnes : neither doth he cover them , unlesse thou dost first lay them open : neither doth he send comfort , unlesse thou beest first grieved for them . 20 the law is the perfect way to eternall life , but it was weak through the flesh . rom. 8.3 . and therefore it is not available for us unto eternall life . 21 the law is spirituall . it requires intire obedience of body ▪ of soul , and spirit , inward and outward , throughout all the parts of our life : it requires that our thoughts words and deeds be spirituall : it requires soundnesse and perfection of nature every way . 22 but we are carnall . rom. 7.14 . we are born flesh of flesh . john 3.6 . neither are we altogether freed from the old flesh in this life . 23 therefore we cannot fulfill the law in this life . 24 there is no man that sinneth not . 1. kings 8.46 . now we know that , to sinne , and to fulfill the law ▪ these are contrarie the one to the other : therefore there is no man that can fulfill the law. 25 that every mouth may be stopped , and all the world may become guilty before god ▪ rom. 3.22 . 26 god by the word of the law hath concluded all under sin . rom. 11.32 . galat. 3.19 . 27 the rule of the affirmative precepts , or commandments , is tha● first , of the loving and fearing god above all things . 28 the rule of the negativ● precepts , or commandments , is that last , of not coveting . august . de perfect . just . 29 therefore the affirmative precepts , or commandments , are not satisfied or fulfilled by the love and fear of god begunne in us , in any kinde whatsoever . 30 neither are the negative precepts , or commandments , satisfied or fulfilled by our abstaining from outward offences in any kinde whatsoever . 31 though we should begin our outward obedience in never so great a measure , and eschew outward offences : yet still we should fail in the first and last commandments . 32 therefore in the decalogue ▪ or ten commandments , there is expresse mention made of the outward and grosser offences : that the minde of man may conceive by the judgement of god , what to judge of the grievousnesse of inward offences . 33 before god he is an adulterer , not onely that lies with another mans wife , but whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her . matth. 5.28 . 34. before god he is a thief , not onely that takes another mans goods from him by force , but whosoever doth usurp them , by coveting them in an unlawfull manner . 35 gods laws and commandments do not onely binde the hand and the other outward members , but the whole man. 36 who can say , i have made my heart clean , i am pure from sinne , my heart is free from concupiscence ? prov. 20.9 . who then can boast , that he is not a transgressour of the law ? 37 therefore the promises of the law profit us nothing . 38 but , in christ , all the promises of god are yea , and amen . 2. cor. 1.20 . 39 for , what the law could not do , god sending his sonne hath done for us . rom. 8.3 . 40 but , if righteousnesse come by the law , then is christ dead in vain . gal. 2.21 . 41 and if the regenerate do perfectly fulfill the law , why do they pray dayly , forgive us our trespasses , according as they are taught by christ ? matth. 6.11 . 42 if there be no trespasse committed , why is forgivenesse required ? 43 moses hands are heavy , and the yoke of the law is unsupportable . exod. 17.12 . bern. serm . 3. in cant. 44 moses face shineth so , that we are not able to look on it . exod. 34.29 . 2. cor. 3.13 . 45 moses is of a slow tongue , his words are harsh : we cannot heare and obey them ▪ exod. 4.10 . 46 the tables of the commandments are of stone : exod. 24.12 . they break our hearts in pieces , but they do not cure them . 47 it was not moses , but joshua , that brought the children of israel into the promised land : it is christ and not moses that leadeth us unto eternall life . 48 the law is the hammer of death , the flashing of hell , and the thunderbolt of gods vengeance . 49 this profit the law brings with it , that it convinceth a man of his infirmitie and weaknesse , and compelleth him to sue unto christ for the medicine and remedie of grace , to strengthen him . august ▪ epist. 200. ad asell . 50 let us therefore learne to know the voyce of the law , that so we may come to know the comfortable voyce of christ our shepherd . 51 whatsoever sheweth unto us sinne , vengeance , and death , it is in the place and steed of the law , and doth the office of the law , whether it be in the old testament or in the new. 52 we must not therefore appropriate the law to the old testament , and the gospell to the new. 53 there was indeed a solemne promulgation of the law , made in the old testament , and of the gospell in the new. 54 but yet the doctrine as well of the law as of the gospell sounded in both testaments . 55 neither in the new testament onely , but also in the old , come we to the knowledge , of sin by the law , and the abolishing of sin by christ. 56 the ceremoniall and judiciall lawes in the old testament , are abrogated . 57 for the ceremoniall were but shadowes and types of christ : and therefore at the coming of christ they expired . 58 the judiciall were fitted for the common wealth of the jews : which god would have to be kept within such bounds untill the coming of christ. 59 but yet the ceremoniall and judiciall laws are so abrogated , that whatsoever in them is morall , still abideth . 60 and the mosaicall ceremonies , by an allegoricall exposition , may be fitted to serve for our edification . 61 so much of the law in generall . now we are to make enquirie in speciall concerning the decalogue , or the ten commandments , and concerning images . 62 the number of the commandements is certaine , but the order of them is not so certaine . 63 as concerning their order then , it is but a matter of question , and not a matter of faith . 64 we must not therefore move unnecessarie stirres , and contentions about it , to the disturbing of the peace of the church : neither must we suffer our christian libertie in such things to be captivated by our adversaries . 65 christian libertie admitteth of historicall images : but as for idolatrous , superstitious and lascivious , them the law of god abolisheth : and as for such as truely cause scandall , charitie taketh them away . 66 as often therefore as there accreweth unto them an opinion of worship , insomuch that divine honour is given unto them ; or , that they are thought to have in them any peculiar sanctitie ; or , that men imagine that god is so tyed unto them that he is there present in a more peculiar manner , and heareth mens prayers more effectually there then elsewhere : the use of them is no longer indifferent . 67 neither yet doe i commend the saying of that greek pelusiote , in the seventh synod , to this purpose ; that , a temple unles it were adorned with statues , images and pictures was nothing worth , and not to be regarded . 68 for my part , i like not the multitude of sumptuous and costly images . for feare lest it come to passe , as bernard complaineth , that whilst the church shines gloriously in the wals , it looke pitifully in the poore ; lest , whilst the stones are covered with gold , the children starve for want of clothing ; and whilest rich mens eyes are pleased , poore mens purses be exhausted . 69 as therefore in other things which we call indifferent , so also in this there is a christian prudence required , that we give no scandall to ou● weake brethren , by the unseasonable use thereof : neither yet must we give place to those , which come in privily to spie out our libertie which we have in christ jesus , that they may bring us into bondage , gal. 2.4 . 70 he which heretofore wrote his law in tables of stone with his own finger , write them likewise in our hearts by his holy spirit . chap. xii . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the gospell . 1 the gospell is parallell to the law. 2 the doctrines of both have a celestiall originall . 3 in both , there is life eternall promised : but in a different manner . 4 in the law it is promised to those that performe perfect obedience : but in the gospell it is promised to those that truely beleeve on christ. 5 the doctrines of both are to be propounded unto us in the church . 6 for both of them are of necessarie use in the conversion of man. 7 both of them are most nearely joyned together in the heart and practise of a christian man. 8 but yet they are so conjoyned , that notwithstanding they are accurately to be distinguished . 9 for if we either take quite away , or else weaken the difference which is between them , we pull downe the very tower or pillar of christianitie . 10 neither yet must we make them so contrarie the one to the other , as that the one should destroy the other . 11 for , the law is not against the promises of god. gal. 3.21 . 12 but , the law is established through faith . rom. 3.31 . 13 what the law requireth of us , that hath christ fulfilled for us : as it is declared unto us in the gospell . 14 for christ is the end , and fulfilling of the law for righteousness● to every one that beleeveth . rom. 10.4 . 15 the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us by christ. rom. 8.4 . 16 moreover faith kindled in our hearts by the holy spirit , through the voice of the gospell , worketh by love . galat. 5.6 . 17 and love is the summe , or fulfilling of the law. rom. 13.10 . 18 and thus the law is written in our hearts . jerem. 31.33 . 19 but yet this love is not perfect in this life . 20 and therefore we cannot perfectly fulfill the law. 21 our obedience here is but inchoate , or begun : it shall be complete and consummate in the life to come . 22 the gospell , according to the etymologie of the greeke name in●erpreted , signifieth , a good message , or good tidings . 23 for it brings unto us the good ●idings , how that by the counsail of the most sacred and holy trinitie , christ both god and man was appointed to be our media●our , and redeemer . 24 and againe , how that christ by his most holy obedien●e hath perfectly fulfilled the law for us ; and merited the grace of god , remission of sinnes , the gift of the holy spirit , righteousnesse , and life eternall for the whole world . 25 and againe , how that those benefits obtained by christ are applied unto those that beleeve , and are bestowed meerely of grace . 26 therefore , because the preaching of this doctrine bringeth with it most plentifull matter of ●oy , the prophets and apostles , the better to expresse it , have made choyse of these two words bisser and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifie good tidings . 27 some derive bisser from basar signifying flesh , which signifieth , to declare fleshy and soft things . 28 others give another reason of the name : because bisser signifies , to declare joy unto all flesh . 29 that so the condition and nature of this doctrine may be declared· how that in it all good things are freely offered unto us . 39 and againe , that the condition of the hearers thereof may be expressed : how that they are flesh , and so subject to many infirmities ; and therefore must not in any case neglect this so great salvation offered by god. 31 bisser and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , words of good tidings , are commonly used , when we heare of enemies put to flight , from whome there was great feare of imminent and apparent danger ; and likewise when it is declared that peace is restored . 1 sam. 4.17 . 1 sam. 31.9 . 2 sam. 1.20 . 2 sam. 4.10 . 2 sam. 18.19 . 32 so the gospell declareth unto us , that god hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies . luk. 1.74 . that he hath delivered us from the power of darknesse . colos. 1.13 . that he hath spoiled principalities and powers , and made a shew of them openly , triumphing over them . col. ● . 15 . 33 bisser and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are also used , when tidings are brought that a child is borne . jerem. 20.15 . 34 so in the gospell good tidings are brought unto us : vnto us a child is borne , unto us a son is ●iven . isai. 9.6 . as many as received ●im , to them gave he power to be●ome the sons of god , even to those that ●eleeve on his name . ioh. 1.12 . that ●o through him we might receive the adoption of sonnes . galat. 3.5 . 35 again these words are used ▪ when deliverance is declared unto captives , and consolation to those that mourn . isai. 61.1 , 2. 36 so in the gospell it is de●clared unto us , that christ hath sent forth the prisoners out of the 〈◊〉 wherein is no water . zach. 9.11 . 37 hence is that most joyful● acclamation , isai. 40.1 . comfort 〈◊〉 comfort ye my people , saith your god ▪ 2. speak ye comfortably to jerusa●lem , and cry unto her , that her warre●fare is accomplished . 38 hence also flow these swe●● elogies & appellations of this doctrine , to wit , that it is the gospe●● of the grace of god. acts 20.24 ▪ the knowledge of salvation . lu● ▪ 1.77 . the word of the kingdome matth. 13.19 . the power of god 〈◊〉 to salvation to every one that bele●●veth . rom. 1.16 . the word of lif● acts 5.20 . philip. 2.16 . the wo●● of eternall life . john 6.68 . the word of salvation . acts 13.26 . the word of reconciliation . 2. cor. 5.19 . the law of the spirit of life . rom. 8.2 . the gospell of our salvation . ephes. 1.13 . the promise of inheriting , or heirship . rom. 4.13 . a well of water springing up into everlasting life . john 4.14 . green pastures , still waters . psal. 23.2 . a table prepared , a cup that runneth over . 5. a rodde , and staffe . 4. the savour of life unto life . 2. cor. 2.16 . 39 therefore that joyfull voice of the gospell is not to be changed into the voice of the law accusing and terrifying . 40 which thing they do , whosoever dispute that the law delivereth imperfect precepts onely concerning outward works , to be performed out of fear : and that the gospell sets before us precepts more severe , more excellent and perfect . 41 as if the law were not long ago a yoke , which our fathers were not able to beare . acts 15.10 . the yoke of burden , the staffe of the shoulder , the rodde of the oppressour . isai. 9.6 . insomuch that we stood in need of another lawgiver . 42 therefore we are to seek out other differences of the law and the gospell , which the scripture expresseth thus . 43 the law is in some sort known by nature . rom. 2.14.15 . the gospel is a mysterie altogether hidden from our reason . rom. 16.25 . 1. cor. 2.7 . ephes. 1.9 . coloss. 1.26 . 44 the law is the doctrine of works , and preacheth unto us what we are to do : the gospel is the doctrine of faith , and preacheth unto us what is already done , that is , declareth unto us , that christ hath performed for us what the law requires . rom. 8.4 . 45 the law requires of every man perfect obedience to all gods commandments : but the gospell requires faith , teaching us to beleeve on christ our mediatour . 46 the law hath concluded all under sinne . galat. 3.22 . that all the world may become guilty before god. rom. 3.19 . the law worketh wrath . rom. 4.15 . it makes us subject to the curse . galat. 3.10 . therefore it is the ministerie of death and condemnation . but the gospell is the word of salvation , peace and reconciliation . 47 therefore the doctrine both of the law and of the gospell is busied about sinne , but yet in a different manner . 48 the law layeth open , accuseth , and condemneth sinne : but the gospell pointeth at him , which made satisfaction for sinne . and therefore it covereth , taketh away , and remitteth sinne . 49 the promises of the law require perfect obedience of works : but the promises of the gospell are of free grace . 50 hereupon it is , that the promises of the law do nothing profit us , by reason of the weaknesse of our flesh . rom. 8.3 . but in christ all the promises of god are yea and amen . 2. cor. 1.20 . 51 the law sheweth unto us what are good works , but it doth not give us strength and power to do them . the gospell containeth the promise of the spirit of renovation , which writeth the law in our hearts . jerem. 31.33 . 52 both these benefits therefore , to wit , of justification and renovation belong unto the gospell : grace , and the gift by grace , the imputation of christs righteousnesse , and the donation of the holy ghost . 53 but yet they are not to be confoun●ed : neither is justification to be placed in renovation : for renovation is the consequent of justification , and not the cause . 54 for god doth not receive us into grace , and justifie us , for our renovation or inchoate obedience : but being justified and received into grace , he reneweth us by his holy spirit , that our obedience , according to the law , may be inchoate . 55 which inchoate obedience although it be imperfect , and many waies polluted and defiled : yet the gospell teacheth us that it pleaseth god , in as many as are justified by faith in christ. 56 the law is to be thundered out to those that are secure , and unto hypocrites : but the gospell is to be preached to those that are contrite , and broken in heart . 57 the law bridleth and keepeth in the old man : but the gospell keepeth the new man under grace . 58 and because the regenerate are not altogether freed from the old flesh , but there remaineth still in them a fight between the flesh and the spirit . galat. 5.17 . therefore also they stand in need of the ministerie of the law. 59 and that for a twofold end : that the flesh or the old man may be in them kept under : and that the new man may learn , in what works to exercise himself . 60 but it is very worthy to be noted and observed , that the promises of the gospell are vniversall in a twofold respect : both in respect of the time ; and also in respect of the object . 61 by the vniversalitie of time we understand , that it is one and the same gospell by which all the saints , of all ages from the beginning of the world , are saved . 62 jesus christ the same yesterday , and today , and for ever . hebr. 13.8 . therefore the passion of christ was usefull and profitable , before he suffered . 63 for he is the lamb ●lain from the foundation of the world . revel . 13.8 . that is , in respect of gods eternall decree , in respect of his promises , in respect of the types , and in respect of the efficacie . 64 therefore we beleeve with the apostle , that through the grace of our lord jesus christ we shall be saved even as our fathers . act. 15.11 . 65 neither onely in the new testament , but also in the old , as many as seek for righteousnesse and salvation in the works of the law are under the curse . galat. 3.10 . 66 presently after the fall there was a promise made , that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head . gen. 3.15 . which was the first gospell , by which our first parents were supported and sustained . 67 how this promise was in after times more clearely expounded and repeated by divine revelation made unto the patriarchs and prophets , it is excellent well declared by chemnitius part . 2. loc . pag. 579 , &c. 68 and as the gospell is one , so is faith one , and the way and meanes of attaining righteousnesse and salvation is also one . 69 and therefore it is but a meere fiction , and without any ground of truth , that men were saved in the time of moses , by the law of nature ; after the time of moses , by the leviticall law ; and in the new testament , by the evangelicall law. 70 and that likewise is false , which is said by some , that the latitude of the law with the old testament , and the gospell with the new , is equall : if the meaning be this , that whatsoever is propounded in the old testament appertaineth unto the law , and whatsoever is propounded in the new appertaineth unto the gospel 71 for the gospel was promised before by the prophets in the holy scripture . rom. 1.2 . and to him give all the prophets witnes , that through his name , whosoever beleeveth in him shall receive remission of sinnes . acts 10.43 . 72 in a word , whatsoever the prophets foretold should come to passe , the same do the apostles declare to be fulfilled . 73 by the vniversalitie of the object we understand , that the promises of the gospel belong unto all men . 74 but here we must distinguish between the promise , and the application of the promise . the promise belongeth unto all men , but the application of the promise is onely made unto those that do beleeve . 75 for the question is not here , whether all men are actually made partakers of the benefits of the gospell , which by the preaching thereof are offered unto all : for it is too manifest to be denied , that all men are not partakers of them . 76 but the question is , whether the promises of the gospell , of themselves , and in themselves are universall , or else so restrained that by the counsell and decree of god they belong not but to some certain men absolutely chosen , by the good will and pleasure of god , before others . 77 for answer hereto we say , that god doth seriously desire the salvation of all ; that christ made full satisfaction for all ; and therefore that god doth by the gospell seriously offer the benefits of christ unto all . 78 christ commandeth his apostles to go and preach the gospell to every creature . mark 16.15 . therefore it is his will , that they preach the gospell every where all abroad unto all , and offer it unto all ; and in the gospell , the benefits of his death and passion ; and in them , remission of sinnes ; and in remission of sinnes , the grace of god ; and in the grace of god , salvation , and everlasting life . 79 whosoever therefore beleeveth ( that is , whosoever by faith , which by the preaching of the gospell the holy ghost worketh in all those that heare , and do not stubbornly resist ) receiveth the benefits which are offered unto him , he shall be saved . mark 16.16 . 80 therefore god offereth the gospell unto all to this end , that by the hearing thereof , they may conceive faith , whose forerunner is contrition , and whose followers are good works , which are the fruits of renovation , and faith kindled by the holy ghost . 81 but by the consequent and judiciall will of god , the preaching of the gospell becomes unto some the savour of death unto death . 2. cor. 2.16 . 82 concerning this vniversalitie of object , it is to be marked and observed , that it doth not exclude faith , but rather include it . 83 for faith and the promise are as correlates , they have relation one to the other . 84 whereupon the doctrine of the gospell is called the word of faith. rom. 10.8 . 1. tim. 4.6 . and again , gal. 3.2 . it is called , the hearing and preaching of faith. 85 which condition of faith is not aitiologicall , or shewing the cause ; as the promises of the law are conditionall : but it is syllogisticall , or shewing the instrument : for the manner and instrument is expressed by which we come to embrace the good promises . 86 the voice of the law is , if thou shalt perform perfect obedience , thou shalt be saved : here the condition is aitiologicall , or causaell : because perfect obedience is the cause for which eternall life is promised to those that keep the law. 87 but the voice of the gospell is , if thou doest beleeve , thou shalt be saved : here the condition is syllogisticall , or instrumentall : because the gospell pronounceth that we are justified before god , and saved , not for faith , but by faith. 88 by the definition of the gospell it is easy to be understood , whether , to speak properly , the gospell be the preaching of repentance or no. 89 when the gospell is taken generally for all the doctrine preached by christ and his apostles , it is most true , that the gospell is the preaching of repentance . 90 moreover , the gospell doth onely declare the grace of god to those that repent , that is , to those that are humbled through the acknowledgement of their sinnes , and the sense of gods wrath . 91 and inasmuch as it pronounceth that salvation is to be sought for onely in christ , it presupposeth that without christ all is concluded under sinne . 92 besides , the gospell doth demonstrate and expound unto us many places in the law , which we cannot easily and evidently gather from the law it self . 93 in this sense therefore and in these respects the gospell may be said , and truely understood to be the preaching of repentance : but yet we must know that the proper doctrine of the gospell is about the free remission of our sinnes through jesus christ. 94 thou wilt say perchance , faith is by the gospell : therefore unbelief is reproved by the gospell : for the law knew not christ to be the mediatour . 95 i answer : the law bids us beleeve all the word of god. the gospell propoundeth unto us this word , that christ dying on the crosse for our sinnes is become our righteousnesse before god. let the law conclude : therefore beleeve this word of god. 96 the law reproveth all sins : therefore also unbelief : the gospell declareth by the antithesis thereof , that not to beleeve on christ the mediatour is a sinne and the head of all sinne : as chemnitius teacheth . p. 2. loc . pag. 570. the law concludeth : therefore for this sinne thou art accused and condemned . 97 in this sense said holy luther , that the law and the gospell , in the practise , are more nearely conjoyned then any mathematicall point . 98 and yet the proper work of the law remaineth , which is , to reprove sinne , to work wrath , and to condemne : but the proper work of the gospell is , to comfort , to raise up , and to save . 99 when the law propounds the major , whosoever stealeth , is under the curse : the conscience of the theef assumeth the minor , but i have stollen . hereupon the law inferreth the conclusion , therefore thou art under the curse . 100 here the whole syllogisme accusing and condemning is a●tributed to the law , although the conscience of the theef make the assumption . 101 so again the law propoundeth this major , whosoever is under sinne , is under the curse : the gospell propoundeth the minor , but whosoever doth not beleeve on christ , is yet under sin , and the wrath of god abideth on him . joh. 3.36 . hereupon the law inferreth the conclusion , therefore he is under the curse . 102 here again the whole syllogisme accusing and condemning is attributed to the law , although the gospell make up the assumption . 103 the law concludeth all under sinne . galat. 3.22 . whosoever therefore doth not beleeve the gospell , which pointeth at christ , he is under the curse of the law , and over him doth the law exercise the office of accusing and condemning , with all severitie and rigour . 104. therefore the accusation of vnbeleef belongeth to the law , as it is illustrated by the light of the gospell . 105 hereupon holy luther writing upon genesis , cap. 22. f. 303. saith thus , that the work of faith on christ , and the sinne of unbelief opposite unto it , are reduced to the first commandement . 106 the lord jesus by the voice of his gospell lift up our hearts , and uphold us in all tentations , and specially in the houre of death . amen . chap. xiii . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning repentance . 1 the practise of the law and the gospell consists in repentance . 2 for it is not enough for us to know what is the office of the law , and what is the office of the gospell : but the practise of them both is required at our hands . theologie , or divinitie , is a practicall doctrine . 3 repentance is attributed either unto god , or unto men. 4 it is attributed unto god after the manner of men , not that it is in god : it is in god figuratively , not properly ▪ in effect , not in affect . we see the effects of it : god feeleth no such affect , or passion in himselfe . 5 for as the anger of god is no perturbation of his minde , but the judgment by which he inflicts punishment upon sinne : so the repentance of god is his immutable disposition of things mutable . august . 15. de civitat . dei , cap. 25. 6 gods thoughts are not as mans thoughts , as if he at any time altered his purpose ; neither is he angry as one that is mutable : but these things are therefore written , that we may thereby learn the grievousnesse of our sinnes . ambr. lib. de arca , & n●ah , cap. 4. 7 repentance is attributed unto men in a farre different sense then it is to god. for god is not a man , that he should repent . 1 sam. 15.29 . 8 repentance , as it is attributed unto man , is in scripture taken two wayes , either totally or partially . 9 totally , for the whole act of conversion : partially , for contrition onely . 10 the force and meaning of the word doth incline rather to the latter sense . for to repent , is as much as to be ashamed and grieved for some thing committed . gell. 17. cap. 1. 11 but , as it is used in scripture , and received by our churches , it is to be taken rather in the former sense . 12 wherefore some of the ancients , in stead of repentance thought it fitter to use the word resipiscence , which signifies amendment , returning unto ones self again , and after going astray coming into the right way again . tertull. 2. contra marc. lactant . 6. instit. cap. 24. 13 the hebrews call it by a most apt and fit name theschubah , which the greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and we call conversion . 14 phavorinus expounds this well after this manner , that it is a conversion from sinnes and offences unto the contrarie good . 15 understand goodnesse it self , and the true and chief good . 16 but damascene expounds it exceeding well , that it is , a returning from that which is against nature , unto that which is according unto nature , and from the divell unto god. 2 de orthod . fid . 30. 17 that which we call penitence or repentance , is by the greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is grief for what is past , & change of minde for the time to come . 18 but yet so , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( which is griefe of mind not mixed with faith . heb. 4.2 . ) doth answer penitence or repentance , which is taken for contrition onely : and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( which is repentance unto salvation not to be repented of . 2 cor. 7.10 . ) doth answer penitence , or repentance as it is taken generally . 19 and yet this difference is not alwaies constant , and every where to be found , as it appeareth out of matth. 21.29 . and heb. 12.17 . 20 but yet most an end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth true and saving repentance ; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , false repentance , and such as leadeth to destruction . 21 that false repentance is twofold : one is hypocriticall , and counterfait consisting meerely in outward shew and appearance , which the prophet calleth theatricall , to be seene of men : which christ himselfe expresseth in the 6 of matth ▪ vers . 1. where he forbiddeth to do almes before men to be seene of them . and , in the 16 verse , he saith that some fast & are of a sad countenance , that they may appeare unto men to fast . 22 the other is but lame repentance and by the halfes , deploring sinne , but without grace and faith . 23 but true and saving repentance consists in serious contrition and faith. 24 some call it evangelicall : but here we must adde this explication , that in respect of the better part , that is , faith , which is from the gospell , it is so called . 25 true repentance is a motion of the heart , kindled by the holy ghost , by which a man coming to the knowledge of his sinnes and the wrath of god , doth earnestly grieve ; and by faith in christ , who made satisfaction for his sinnes , is again raised up , being certainly perswaded , that for christ his sake his sinnes ar● forgiven . 26 for repentance is a kinde of conversion from darknesse to light , and from the power of satan unto god. act. 26.18 . 27 therefore the term from whence , is our sinnes ; from the consideration whereof there ariseth contrition : and the terme unto which , is god ; unto whose mercie we have accesse by the merit of christ. 28 as many kindes of celestiall doctrine as there are , by the ministerie whereof god preacheth unto men repentance and remission of sinnes , and worketh the same in men ; so many are the essentiall parts thereof : but there are two kindes of celestiall doctrine , to wit , the law and the gospell . therefore also there are two parts of repentance . 29 each of these doctrines hath its proper and peculiar effect in the conversion of man : the law striketh fear and terrour , whilest it manifesteth sinnes , and the wrath of god against them : the gospell giveth comfort , whilest it sets before the man that is cōtrite , christ the mediatour , that lambe of god which taketh away the sinnes of the world . 30 these effects of the law and the gospell , although they be distinct , yet they both concurre in this , to make up the complement and perfection of repentance . 31 we do not call good works , or new obedience , a part , but the fruits worthy of repentance , as the scripture witnesseth . luk. 3.8 . acts 26.20 . 32 some dispute , that there are two parts of repentance , to wit , mortification of the flesh , and vivification of the spirit . 33 for my part i am not against them , if by mortification they understand contrition or griefe conceived upon the acknowledgement of sinnes , and the sense of gods wrath : and by vivification likewise , consolation ▪ which is from faith. 34 but if they understand that perpetuall studie of the converted and regenerate in mortifying the old man , & following the fruits of the spirit : then i say it belongs to new obedience . 35 which forasmuchas it is not perfect in this life , therefore the whole life of a christian man is called a continued act of repentance . luther . in prim . suis propos . de indulg . th . 1. 36 those three parts of repentance according to which it is divided into contrition of heart , confession of mouth , and satisfaction of work , have no place in that saving and inward conversion unto god , by which we return unto god : but they have place onely in that publike and ecclesiasticall pe●ance used by the ancients . 37 for in time past those which by their publike offences had given ●●and all unto others , and were therefore excluded out of the communion of the church , were required to give publike testimonie and signes of their repentance , beside inward contrition of heart , to wit , by their sorrow , confession , and begging pardon and forgivenesse , &c. to give the church satisfaction . b. rhe●anu● , 〈◊〉 schol. ad tertull ▪ d● poenit. 38 therefore they abuse that division ▪ whosoever say that those are the parts of that saying repentance , by which we return unto god. 39 for from that can faith by no means be excluded : for without faith , repentance cannot be repentance unto life . act. 11.18 . 40 teares are good , if thou doest acknowledge christ. ambros . in cap. 24. luc. 17. 41 but that which is annexed is farre worse , if those actions of the penitent or repentant are made to have the force of an element or the materiall not onely signifying , but also causing and effecting remission of sinnes , in the sacrame●● of penance : and the voice of the confessor absolving be added thereunto as the formall . concerning which there is wonderfull great difference amongst writers . 42 for thus we should attribute unto our owne endeavours and merits , that remission of sinnes which the scripture appropria●eth unto christ , and his merit apprehended by faith. 43 contrition is required in our conversion , not as the cause & merit of our reconciliation with god , out in respect of order . 44 christ preacheth the gospell , but it is to the poore ; he healeth , but it is the humble in heart ; he preacheth libertie , but it is to the captives ; he preacheth sight , but it is to the blinde ; he preacheth binding-up , but it is to the broken in heart . isai. 61.1 . matth. 11.5 ▪ to the broken in heart , that is , to those that know and acknowledge their own spirituall povertie , captivitie , and blindenesse , and therefore are contrite and broken in heart . 45 to this contrition belong , acknowledgement of sinne , sense of gods wrath , grief and anguish of a terrified conscience , detestation and ●light of sinne ; as also outward signes of contrition , teares , fasting , beating of the breast , sackcloth , &c. 46 but there is a great difference between the contrition of the good and godly , and the contrition of the hypocrites and vngodly . 47 the contrition of the godly ariseth from the speciall operation of the holy ghost : but the contrition of the vngodly and hypocrites ariseth for the most part from the old man , & from the naturall powers of free-will . 48 the godly in the terrours of conscience have an eye unto the principall object of sinne , that is , god himself ; and are onely grieved that they have offended him : but the hypocrites contrarily are more afraid of the judgement of their own mindes and the judgements of other men , and they are vexed more with the consideration of the punishment , then of the sinne . 49 the godly have an eye not onely to their actuall sinnes , but also to originall the fountain of all actuall ; not onely to outward offences , but also to their inward corruptions ; not onely to the punishments of this present life , but also of the life to come : but the hypocrites make confession onely of their outward offences , and that in a negligent manner ; and for the most part they think onely upon the punishments of this present life : but if at any time their thoughts be bent upon the consideration of eternall punishments , they are carried headlong into the gulf of despair . 50 the godly confesse and acknowledge god to be just , and that his judgements are just : but it is the propertie of hypocrites to extenuate their sinnes , and to challenge gods justice . 51 but yet , we must beware that we make not one contrition legall , and another evangelicall . 52 for even that contrition of the godly ( which they call evangelicall ) is of the law , and not of the gospell . 53 unto the preaching of the law , god sometimes addes reall and ocular preaching concerning the greatnesse of sinnes and his wrath , to wit , publike and private calamities , both upon our selves and others . 54 for to this end doth god send upon us punishments in this life , that he may bring us to the acknowledgement and detestation of sinne . 55 the doctrine of contrition is perverted , if it be denied to be a part of repentance , and terrour conceived from the threatnings of the law : and if it be further averred , that it is a grief for sinne voluntarily apprehended . 56 and again , if men teach such doctrines as these , that a man yet in the old flesh doth work together with god truely in his conversion ; that contrition doth especially belong unto the gospel ; that it is the cause of remission of sins ; and that the purpose of leading a good and godly life is included in it . 57 for all these are averred and maintained , contrary to the truth of the holy scripture . 58 what the schoolmen dispute concerning grief and sorrow in the highest degree , appreciatively and i●●ensively : and how that the grief and sorrow for sinne should exceed or equall the joy and pleasure conceived in sin , &c. this i say tendeth to the butchering and slaughtering of souls . 59 the contrition that is required must not be hypocriticall , and superficiall ; but serious , and from the heart . 60 god forbid that we should say that it can be correspondent or unswerable to the greatnesse of sinne , gods wrath , and ●he punishments deserved . 61 god which is offended , is an infinite good : the sinne ▪ which is committed , is an 〈…〉 the punishment which is prepared , is likewise infinite . 62 how then can god who is infinite , whose justice is infinite , whose wrath is infinite against sin , be appeased and satisfied by a finite contrition ? 63 as concerning confession , take notice of these errours : that a man after diligent premeditation and strict examination , is bound by the law of god to make confession of all his sins that he can call to minde , together with their severall circumstances , in the eare of the priest : and , that by such confession a● this , sinne is blotted out : and , that by a little confusi●● of face for the present , which those that confesse their sinne● before the priest do s●ffer 〈◊〉 they are delivered from that great confusion which they should otherwise suffer at the day of judgement , &c. 64 but yet there is a great deale of variance and dissension betwixt those that stand for this confession : for some extend this precept to veniall sinnes , as they call them ; and others restrain it onely unto mortall . some seek the originall thereof in the law of god ; and others seek it in the constitutions of the church . some extend the force of contrition to the remission of the sinne ; others restrain it to the remission of the punishment , either in whole or in part . vid. de hac . tota reomn . biclem 4. sent . dist . 17. q. 1. 65 we say that private confession is very usefull and profitable , both for the minister of the church , and for those that do confesse . 66 for by this means order may be taken , that those which are unworthy be not admitted unto the participation of the lords supper ; those that are delinquent may be corrected ; those that are negligent may be stirred up ; to those that are terrified , remission of sinnes may be preached ; to those that are doubtfull counsell may be given ; and that the ruder fort may be instructed . 67 well therefore saith d● . philip. in his explication of the gospell ( miser . ) on the first sunday after easter , which he delivered to his auditors the last yeare of his life , in these words . love that custome of private absolution : for if that custome be abolished , what will the church become ? yea , saith he , that custome is a testimonie that in the church there is remission of sinnes . 68 neither do we mislike the reckoning up of certain sinnes , especially those which most trouble the conscience . 69 but yet we altogether deny that the reckoning up of all sinnes is necessarie by the law of god. 70 neither do we acknowledge any merit of confession for the obtaining of remission of sinnes . 71 some indeed there are that teach such a kinde of satisfaction by which a man may satisfie either for the sinne or at least for the temporall punishment due unto it ; and that by indulgencies he may be freed and delivered from it : but if he do not fully satisfie , that then he is to sweat it out in purgatorie . 72 but we acknowledge no other satisfaction but the satisfaction of christ : and we say that sinne is forgiven to the penitent freely for that satisfaction of christ. 73 the calamities which god sends upon the godly after their reconciliation with him , are not properly to be called punishment● as of an angry and severe judge , but rather fatherly castigations . 74 which castigations are not therefore imposed upon them , 〈◊〉 if by suffering them they could make recompense and satisfaction for their sinnes : but that they may more and more detest sinne ; that the fear of god may increase in them ; that they may shake off securitie ; that they may mortifie the flesh with the lusts thereof ; that thereby they may understand that otherwise they should perish for ever , were they not received into grace through christ their mediatour ; that they may be humbled under the powerfull hand of god ; and that others may be put in minde of gods judgement against sinne . 75 in a word , that there may increase in them patience , hope , desire of eternall life , prayers , mortifi●ation of the old adam , &c. 76 admirable well speaks nazianzen of the calamities of the godly , that they are bitter arrows sent by the sweet hand of god ▪ in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 77 thus much concerning repentance , which we may very well call the haven of salvation , with lactantius 6. div . institut . cap. 24. god , saith he , knowing our great weaknesse and infirmitie hath in his pittie opened unto us the haven of salvation , that the medicine of repentance might remedie the necessitie , whereunto our frailty is subject . 78 which that we deferre not , many things there are which ought to invite us : there is no accesse unto the grace of god , but by the way of repentance . 79 the impenitent heart treasureth up unto it self gods wrath : and an impenitent life is the slaverie of the divell . 80 we are not certain that we shall live till to morrow : why then do we deferre our repentance till tomorrow ? 82 late repentance is seldome true : and they which persevere in their sinnes even to the end of their life , are not said to leave their sinnes ; but their sinnes are said to leave them . 83 convert us , o lord ; and we shall be converted : and what we cannot do of our selves , that work thou in us by thy holy spirit . amen . chap. xiv . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning faith . whereby we are justified before god. 1 faith is not onely a knowledge & assent but also a sure confidence . 2 that it is a knowledge , it is manifestly shewed by these appellations , whereby it is denoted unto us in scripture , of science , wisdome , vnderstanding , light , &c. 3 neither can sure confidence of heart be carried to an object not knowne to the understanding . 4 away then with that implicite faith , by which we are freed from this labour to try the spirits , whether they be of god or no. 1 ioh. 4.1 . and , to beware of false prophets . matth. 7.15 . 5 away with that fiction & new invention , that faith is better defined by ignorance them by knowledge . 6 for though faith be not a knowledge drawn from principles of reason , and built upon them : yet it is the light of knowledge arising from the revelation of god by the gospell . in this light do we see light . psalm . 36.9 . 7 manifest it is , that faith is ●n assent , and approbation : for it is not sufficient to know what god hath revealed , but we must also give assent and approbation to what god hath revealed . 8 that faith is a sure confidence , it is manifestly shewed by these appellations whereby it is denoted unto us in scripture , viz. substance . hebr. 11.1 . assurance . hebr. 10.22 . confidence . ephes. 3.12 . boldnesse . heb. 16. and in many other places . 9 the same also is declared by the practicall descriptions of faith. the faith of abraham is thus described : that he against hope beleeved in hope . rom. 4.18 . that he was not weak in faith. 19. that he staggered not at the promise of god through unbelief , but was strong in faith , giving glory unto god. 20. that ●e was fully perswaded tha● what he had promised , he was also able to perform . 21. 10 the faith of the woman which was troubled with the issue of bloud , which christ so commendeth , is thus described : that she said within her self ▪ if i may but touch his garment , i shall be whole . matth. 9.21 . 11 the faith of the canaanitish woman , the greatnesse whereof christ proclaimeth , is thus described : that she fought and struggled within herself , against the tentation about the deferring of help , the particularitie of the promises , and her own unworthinesse . matth. 15.22.23 . &c. 12 so faith receiveth christ. ioh. 1.12 . it is the spirituall food of the soule . ioh. 4.14 . ioh. 6.35 . revel . 21.6 . it is the seale of divine promises . ioh. 3.33 . it is the beholding of christ hanging on the crosse . ioh. 3.15 . these things certainly cannot be attributed to a bare knowledge . 13 adde hither , that they are opposites under the same next g●nu● : unto faith there is opposed not onely ignorance and darknesse of understanding , but also little faith , and feare . matth. 8.26 . wavering or doubting . matth. 14.31 . feare . luk. 8.25 . staggering through unbeliefe . rom. 4.20 . 14 the adequate object of faith in respect of knowledge and assent , is the word of god contained in the propheticall and apostolicall scripture . 15 whatsoever is without the spheer or compasse of this object , cannot be a foundation or ground of faith. 16 therefore farre be it from us to beleeve , or to be perswaded that traditions are to be received of us with the like affection and pietie as the written word of god. 17 neither can humane reason be the measure and rule of faith ; but it is to be conformed according to the prescript of the word . for every thought is to be brought into captivitie , to the obedience of christ. 2 cor. 10.5 . 18 the adequate object of faith in respect of confidence , is christ the mediatour and redeemer , or , which is all one , the promise of the gospell concerning the satisfaction and merit of christ. 19 but yet we deny not but that faith also doth apprehend the promises concerning other spirituall and corporall goods : yet in this respect it doth not justifie . 20 for it is necessarie that firs● it rely on christ , and seek reconciliation in him and by him , before it can apply unto it self the other promises of god. 21 for in christ alone are all the promises of god yea & amen . 2 cor 1.20 . 22 but faith doth justifie , inasmuchas it apprehendeth the merit of christ offred unto it in the word of the gospell . 23 those things which in scripture are set before us to be beleeved are indeed of divers kinds : but yet christ as concerning his office of mediatourship is the scope and end of all scripture ; as in the volume of the book is written of him . psal. 40.7 . 24 so also faith doth in such manner assent unto the whole word of god , that chiefly it hath respect unto the promise of grace propounded in the gospell . 25 now if faith be a sure confidence , relying on the merit of christ : it followes , that a man which doth truely beleeve on christ may & ought certainly resolve , that for christ his sake his ●innes are forgiven him ; that god is mercifull unto him ▪ and that he shall be made an heir of everlasting life . 26 and this , the firmenesse of gods promises , the certainty of his oath , the truth of the holy spirit witnessing and sealing the infallibilitie of gods promise concerning the hearing of our prayers ; and the propertie of true faith , do evidently prove . 27 hither may we adde very ●●tly that most excellent pla●e of saint bernard ( serm. 3. de fragm . sept . miser . ) where he saith thus , i consider three things in which all my hope consisteth ; to wit , gods love in my adoption , the truth of his promise , and his power of performance . therefore let my foolish cogitation murmure , as long as it list , saying , who art thou ? and , what is that glorie ? or , by what merits doest thou hope to attaine it ? for i can answer with sure confidence , i know on whom i have beleeved , and i am certaine , that in his love he adopted me ; that he is true in his promise ; and that he is able to performe it . this is the threefold chord , which is not easily broken , which god letteth down from heaven unto us into this prison , which i pray god we may apprehend and firmely hold ; that it may raise us up , and draw us unto the sight of the great god of glorie . 28 this true and saving faith is the free gift of god. ephes. 2.8 . phil. 1.29 . the operation of god. colos. 2 . 1● . whose authour and finisher is christ. h●br . 12.2 . 29 therefore fai●h is not the merit of works foregoing , but the foundation of works following . 30 neither doth god immediately worke it in our hearts : but the holy ghost by the word of the gospell , as by an heavenly light , doth kindle the light of faith in our hearts , which by nature are altogether darke . faith cometh by hearing , and hearing by the word of god. rom. 10.17 . 31 unto the word there are also added the sacraments , which serve for meanes to beget and nourish faith in us . 32 therefore to looke for heavenly raptures , without and beside the word of god , is the propertie of those that will not be contented with the meanes that god hath instituted and ordained . 33 true faith is not dead . jam ▪ 2.17 . for the spirit of god worketh it in our hearts by the lively word of god. 34 yea rather it is operative and working . galat. 5.6 . 35 that energie or working of faith is twofold : one , by which it relieth on christ the mediatour declared in the word of the gospell , and apprehendeth and layeth hold on his benefits ; and another ▪ by which it worketh through love . 36 when as we say the● , that faith doth justifie , and faith alone : we are to expound these two propositions . 37 faith doth justifie ; not in respect of the excellencie or dignitie thereof , nor in respect of the latter energie or working : but because it apprehendeth and layeth hold on christ the mediatour . 38 therefore there is no reall difference betweē these , whether we say that faith doth justifie , as some say , instrumentally ; or , as others , formally . 39 in the former acception , it is taken for the gift of god , kindled in the heart by the gospell , or the faithfull heart : and so it is an instrument by which christ is apprehended . 40 in the latter acception , it is taken for the very apprehension of christ by faith : and so it is the formall cause , that is , the reason and manner of our justification . 41 neither is there any reall difference , whether we say , as some doe , that faith doth justifie formally ; or , as others , that it is christ ; or , as others , that it is christs merit . 42 for it is all one , as if you should say , faith , which apprehendeth christ , doth justifie ; or , christ being apprehended by tr●e faith is 〈◊〉 justification ; or , the merit ●f christ through faith is imputed unto us to justification . 43 for the proper object of saving faith is christ with his merit : and again christ doth nothing profit us , unlesse through faith his righteousnesse be imputed unto us . 44 to speak properly then , the formall cause of our justification is christs righteousnesse , that is , his active and passive obedience apprehended of us by faith , & by god imputed unto us . 45 god in his judgement doth exact of us an account of all his gifts bestowed upon us , that is ▪ of that perfection and integritie in which we were created after his image . 46 but he found not in us that integritie , wisdome and righteousnesse wherein we were created ; but in stead thereof sinne and iniquitie : for which by the 〈◊〉 which is the rule of justice , we are accused and condemned . 47 but here the free mercy of god steps in unto judgement , and exhibiteth unto us christ our mediatour and redeemer : he taketh from us that which is ours , that is , sinne and iniquity ; and bestoweth upon us that which is his , that is , his obedience which he performed unto the law. 48 from this foundation , god who is both mercifull and just , by a most excellent temper of his mercie and justice , imputeth no● unto us our sinnes , but imputeth unto us christs righteousnesse , through faith , which resteth and relieth upon christ , as the onely propitiatorie . 49 this imputation of christs righteousnes unto us through faith , is as true and reall , as it is true that christ took upon him our iniquities . isai. 53.5 . 50 remission of sinnes is grounded on christs righteousnesse : for god doth not remit sinnes out of errour or ignorance , levitie or negligence , but for christ apprehended by faith. 51 and thus the justice and mercie of god shew themselves in our justification . his justice shineth in that most perfect satisfaction which christ made for our sinnes ▪ his mercie appeareth in his acceptation of christs satisfaction , and the applying of it unto us through faith. 52 again , the imputation of christs righteousnesse is made , in that our sinnes are remitted : for the guilt of the person cannot consist with the imputation of christs righteousnesse . 53 therefore , as originall sinne is not onely a want or privation of originall righteousnes , but also an evill concupiscence : so likewise our justification before god , consisteth in the remission of sinnes , and the imputation of christs righteousnesse . 54 with this remission of sins , imputation of christs righteousnesse , regeneration , and adoption , there is allwaies joyned renovatio● by an inseparable union : for christ doth not onely bestow upon us his righteousnesse , but his spirit also , which reneweth our nature . 55 but yet our justification before god doth not consist in both these joyned together . 56 but renovation is a consequent of justification : and , because through the imbecillitie and weaknesse of our nature it is never full and perfect , therefore we cannot attribute unto it the glory of righteousnesse , as if it were able to subsist before gods judgement . 57 and this is it which we labour to shew , when we say that we are justified by faith alone . 58 where the word alone doth not determinate faith the subject , as if justifying faith were at any time alone , and separate from charitie , and other christian vertues . 59 for true faith is a lively faith , & not a dead faith : it worketh by love , and is not without works . 60 but that exclusive particle , or word alone doth determinate the predicate ; because the righteousnesse of christ alone ( the power of apprehending whereof belongs to faith alone , and not to works ) is imputed unto us to justification . 61 we do not deny then that the holy spirit doth kindle new motions in the regenerate , and that those that are justified do walk in good works . 62 nay rather we say plainly , where there are not those new motions stirred up by the holy spirit , neither is there true faith as yet kindled . we say plainly , that good works must follow in those that are justified . 63 but this it is which we deny , that either these new motions are habituall righteousnesse of force before god ; or that these good works are actuall righteousnesse , on which we may rely before gods judgement . 64 but indeed all the certitude of our confidence is in the precious bloud of christ. august . in meditat . 65 for woe unto men even of the best and most laudable life , if god setting aside his mercie , proceed to their examination in his justice . 66 we therefore urge exclusive particles in matter of merit , in application , and in form of justification . 67 for fear lest that works should seem to be set up , either as the merit , or means , or form of our justification before god. 68 but it is the grace of god onely , which through christ alone by faith alone apprehended , doth justifie us . 69 the end of this saving faith is the salvation of our souls and life everlasting . 1. pet. 1.9 . 70 for by faith we have not onely acc●sse unto grace , but we also stand in grace . rom. 5.2 . and we are kept by the power of god through faith unto salvation . 1. pet. 1.5 . 71 but yet , notwithstanding faith can be no more separate from love and charitie , then the rayes from the sunne , and the heat from the fire : farre be it from us to say , that faith is formed by love and charitie . 72 for faith without works is said to be dead , not as if works were the life thereof ; but because that profession and boasting of faith which hath not the testimonie of good works , is no better then an image or karkeise altogether without life . 73 therefore works do testifie that there is true faith , as breathing doth testifie that there is life : but yet they are not the life of faith. 74 as good fruits do testifie that the tree is good , but do not make & constitute the tree to be good . 75 justly therefore is it reckoned amongst those causes for which good works are to be done : that faith and the holy spirit be not shaken off . 76 for the scripture witnesseth both by word and by example , that those which through faith in christ are justified before god , if they afterwards cherish & make much of their sinnes contrarie to conscience , they do both lose faith , and consequently also the grace of god , righteousnesse , the holy spirit , and eternall life , and also incurre eternall damnation , unlesse by true repentance they return again unto god. 77 therefore let these admonitions of the apostles alwaies sound in our eares , and sink into our hearts : work out your salvation with fear and trembling . philip. 2.12 . let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall . 1. cor. 10.12 . give diligence to make your calling and election sure . 2. pet. 1.10 . examine your selves whether you be in the faith , prove your own selves : know you not your own selves , how that jesus christ is in you , except ye be reprobates ? 2. cor. 13.5 . 78 the lord jesus the authour of our faith , be also the finisher thereof . hebr. 12.2 . to him be glorie for ever and ever . amen . chap. xv. wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning good works , that is , renovation of the man that is regenerate by faith in christ. 1 with regeneration and adoption by faith in christ , is renovation alwayes joyned as an inseparable companion . 2 for even as a man by carnall generation , is made partaker of naturall life , after which do follow naturall motions : 3 so he that is borne againe of the holy spirit by regeneration , is made partaker of life spirituall , after which doe also follow motions spirituall . 4 neither generation , is without life : neither life , is without motion . 5 this inward renovation is oftentimes denoted unto us by the name of good works , and that by a figure which is called synecdoche . 6 for renovation consists not onely in outward good works , and actions transient , but also ( and that more principally ) in the inward renewing of the mind , will , and all the faculties of the soule . 7 from this inward renewing flow forth good actions : and outward good works beare witnesse of it . 8 but it pleased the holy ghost by the name of good works to describe renovation , and that for our sakes : because outward good works are better knowne unto us ▪ then inward qualities of the minde , and affections of the heart . 9 moreover , all the praise of vertue consisteth in action : therefore we are renewed by the holy ghost within , that the fruits of the spirit may appeare without . 10 and last of all , by this meanes deceitfull hypocrisie is excluded , which is a counterfeit shew of inward pietie : which indeed is none at all , unles it be also demonstrated by good works . 11 as therefore faith the queen hath contrition for her vsher or forerunner , so she also hath good works for her waiting maids or followers . 12 for good works do not goe before justification , or before a man be justified ; but they follow after justification , or when a man is justified . it is the saying of s. augustine , cap. 14. de fid . & operibus . 13 but , where good works appeare not without , neither will i beleeve that there is faith within . it is the saying of john husse . 14 neither is it any hard matter to assigne the cause of this neare union , and indissoluble knot , which is between true faith and good works . 15 for this is the nature of true faith , that it doth demonstrate it selfe by love and charitie . 16 he that beleeveth is borne of god. ioh. 1.13 . he will therefore resemble the nature of his spirituall father . now god is love. 1 ioh. 4.8 . and , he that loveth not , knoweth not god. 17 faith is an inward , saving , and efficacious knowledge of god : how then can that chiefe good choose but be beloved , if it be once truely knowne ? if any man love mee , he will keepe my words . ioh. 14.23 . he that hath my commandments ( saith our saviour ) and keepeth them , he it is that loveth mee . 21. 18 from hence the apostle concludeth : hereby we do know that we know him , if we keep his commandments . 1. ioh. 2.3 . and again , he that saith , i know him , and keepeth not his commandments , is a liar , and the truth is not in him . 4. 19 faith is the spirituall light of the soule : but , if there be light within , it will shew forth the rayes without . matth. 5.16 . let your light so shine before men , &c. 20 by faith christ dwelleth in our hearts . ephes. 3.17 . where christ is , there is the holy spirit ; and where the holy spirit is , there also are seene the fruits of the spirit . 21 our faith is the victorie which overcometh the world. 1 ioh. 5.4 . and , what is the world ? the lust of the flesh , the lust of the eyes , and the pride of life . 1. ioh. 2.16 . where these are cherished & made much of , there the world is not yet overcome ; and therefore there is not true faith. 22 that faith is saving and most true , which living is and conquering too . 23 our hearts are purified by faith. act. 15.9 . therefore they which live in securitie , and delight themselves in filthinesse and impuritie ; how can they have inward puritie of heart ? for , out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh . matth. 12.14 . 24 these things were thus plainly to be expounded , that we might not onely be freed from the tridentine accusation , as if we preached onely confidence and assurance remote from all pietie ; but also that all vain opinion and perswasion of faith might be taken away from all sinners that live in securitie . 25 we may make answer to them out of s. james , 2.26 . as the body without the spirit , ( that is , without breathing ) is dead : so faith without works is dead also . 26 neither onely doe good works proceed from faith ; but , to speak the truth , there are no good works unles they proceed from faith. 27 seeing therefore faith hath respect unto the word as unto its correlate : therefore the law of god , or the ten commandments are the rule of good works . 28 therefore superstition and will-worship pleaseth not god but those works onely which are done according to the canon and ; rule of the morall law comprehended and contained in the ten commandments . 29 and we are to understand the commandments , according to the exposition of the prophets , of christ , and his apostles . 30 moreover , seeing that faith doth not arise from any naturall power of free-will , but is the gift of the holy ghost : therefore ●rom what we said , that works must proceed from faith , we inferre further that there are no works good indeed done by men , except they be regenerate by the holy ghost . 31 for men by nature are dead in sinnes . ephes. 2.5 . coloss. 2.13 . 32 as therefore those which are not yet regenerate have no spirituall life : so also they haue no spirituall works pleasing god. 33 rightly therefore disputeth s. augustine , and with much vehemencie : those works , which seeme to be good , if they be without faith , they are no better then sinnes , or , at best , but shining sinnes . lib. 3. ad bonifac. cap. 5. as also in many other places . 34 anselme disputeth thus , that all the life of infidels and unbeleevers is sinne : because without the chief good nothing is good . vpon the 14 chapter to the romanes . 35 which opinion of his whosoever hold to be cruell , they themselves are cruell against the truth , cens. colon. pag. 29. 36 a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit . matth. 7.18 . so neither can a person not reconciled unto god be accepted of him , neither can his works please him . 37 from this conclusion , that it is necessarie that those works which are truely good proceed from faith , we might gather many other things . for from thence it followes , that good works , although they reach not to that high pitch of perfection , which is prescribed in the law , yet they are pleasing unto god. 38 christ apprehended by true faith , makes a man and his works done in faith acceptable before god. 39 and thus is that to be understood , which is said in our churches , that faith is the form of good works . 40 for this is not our meaning , that christs satisfaction is so imputed to our works , that for those works of ours we are justified before god. 41 for seeing that they themselves stand in need of justification ( as i may so speak ) certainly they cannot justifie us . 42 but this we say , that those good works are therefore & from thence acceptable and pleasing unto god , because the person reconciled by christ worketh good works through faith. 43 the good works of the regenerate do please god , but they do not appease god. 44 to conclude : because good works proceed from faith , we are not therefore by them and for them justified before god. 45 for what we have already obtained by faith in christ , what need have we to seek for by good works ? 46 when the question therefore is moved , whether we be justified by good works , and so merit salvation : let us diligently examine the terms , and words of the question . 47 good works are the works of those that are already justified : therefore they are not works ( if i may so speak ) justifying . even as fruits are good : because they are the fruits of a good tree ; but do not yet make the tree good . 48 i know the common answer : it is by way of distinction , between the first and second justification . 49 but beside other things , even this one thing doth take away quite that distinction ; whereas the apostle denyes that abraham in the very midst of his good works was justified before god by his works . rom. 4.1 , 2 , 3. if any where , then certainly in abraham , that second justification by works ( if there were any such ) should have found place . 50 moreover all places of scripture , which deny that we are justified by works , overthrow that difference . 51 our good works are due debts unto god : luk. 17.10 . therefore we merit nothing by them . 52 our good works are imperfect and unclean , forasmuchas our renovation it self is not altogether absolute and perfect in this life : how then can we by them merit eternall life ? what are all our merits to so great glory ? bern. serm . 1. in annun . col. 106. 53 good works are the fruits of the spirit leading and drawing the regenerate , and working effectually in them : therefore man is so farre from meriting by them any thing at gods hands , that he is rather indebted to god for them . bern. ibid. 54 if good works could merit eternall life , then they ought and might be done to that end and with that intent , that thereby we might obtain the reward of eternall life : but works done with such intent are not truely good works . for true love is not mercenarie , although it never be unrewarded . 55 so much for the subject of the question . i come now to the predicate or attribute , which is , to justifie , and to merit eternall life . 56 but if righteousnesse be by christ , then is also salvation by christ : for , he that beleeveth on the sonne , hath everlasting life . john 3.36 . 57 the nature of a merit requireth , that the work by which we merit be freely performed by us , and in no wise due from us unto him to whom it is performed : but whatsoever we do , it is but a part of that duty and service which we owe unto god : and therefore no merit . 58 again , the nature of a merit requireth , that it be profitable & usefull for him , at whose hands we are to merit : but god standeth not in need of our goods : and therefore they are not meritorious . 59 last of all , the nature of a merit requireth , that the thing offered by us , for worth and price , be equall unto the thing which we are to receive in lieu of it : but what proportion is there between our works and eternall life ? and therefore they cannot merit . 60 eternall life is the free gift of god. rom. 6.23 . therefore it is not the merit of our works . 61 thou takest from grace , whatsoever thou givest unto merit : away therefore with that merit , which excludeth grace , bern. serm . 67. in cant. 62 we cannot merit at gods hands so much as a crust of daily bread , but we are compelled to pray unto god every day , give us this day our dayly bread . how ▪ then can we merit eternall life ? 63 let others , if they will , seek ●fter merit : but let us study to finde grace . bern. serm . in nativ . mat. col. 213. 64 if , what some call merits , we will call by their proper names : they are the seminaries of faith , the incentives of cha●itie , the tokens of secret predestination , the presages of future felicity , the wa● to the kingdome , but not the cause of raigning there . bern. tract . de grat. & lib. arbitr . sub finem . 65 although yet good works are not necessarie to merit justification and salvation : notwithstanding , they are necessary for the regenerate . first , in respect of god : secondly , in respect of our neighbours : and lastly , in respect of the regenerate themselves . 66 in respect of god , they are necessarie many wayes . 1 because it is gods will and commandment , that the regenerate should walk in good works . 2. because he is our father , and we are his children ; and therefore we ought to be like unto him . 3. because we were created to this end . 4. because we are redeemed by christ. 5. because we are regenerate , and sanctified by the holy ghost , to walk in good works . 6 ▪ because we are to glorifie god by our good works . 7. that the most holy name of god and his word be not for our sakes evill spoken of . 67 in respect of our neighbours , they are necessarie . 1. because we are to help them according to our abilitie . 2. because we are to edifie them by our good example . 3. because we are to avoid scandall . 4. because we are to stop the mouths of backbiters and slanderers , by doing good . 68 in respect of the regenerate themselves , they are necessarie . 1. because they are to testifie by newnes of life , that they are a new creature in christ. 2. to prove by their walking as children of the light , that they are delivered out of darknesse . 3. to shew forth the true fruits of faith , and to make their calling and election sure . 4. to avoid the suspicion of hypocrisie . 5. to escape paines temporall and eternall , which are the rewards of evill works . 6. that by sin they do not shake off faith , grieve the holy spirit , and lose the grace of god. 7. that they may obtaine of god rewards corporall and spirituall . 69 faith is exercised in good works , and by them increaseth , and as it were waxeth fat . luther . in cap. 17. gen. 70 these things are o●ten to be urged , and earnestly insisted upon , that we entertaine not once any such thought , as if remission of sinnes , and justification by grace , were any priviledge for ungodlinesse . 71 when as god of his meer goodnesse unto us in christ doth receive us into grace , that he may have a peculiar people zealous of good works . tit. 2.14 . 72 where the apostle , in the verse next but one going before , maketh three rankes or degrees of good works . for he requireth that we live soberly , righteously , and godly in this present world . 73 to live godly , hath respect unto the worship due unto god , according to the first table of the commandments : and it comprehendeth the love & feare of god , confidence in him , true invocation , confession , and giving of thanks . 74 to live righteously , or justly , hath respect unto our neighbour ▪ and it comprehendeth all good offices of humanitie due unto our neighbour , according to the second table of the commandmēts , to wit , that we give all due obedience and reverence to our superiours , that we afford counsell and help to our equals , and that we defend and instruct our inferiours . bernard . serm. 3. de adv . domini . 75 to live soberly , hath respect unto our selves : and it requireth the keeping of our bodies under , and the moderating of our passions . there is no victorie more glorious then for a man to overcome himself . 76 after the same manner doth our saviour , ( being about to shew the manner of doing good works , contrarie to the practise of the hypocriticall pharisees ) he doth , i say , make three kinds of good works : almes , prayer , and fasting . 77 by the name of almes , ( by a figure called synecdoche , by which , a part is put for the whole ) we are to understand all offices of love and charitie due unto our neighbour : from whence proceedeth the difference between corporall and spirituall almes , comprehended in these verses : visito , poto , cibo , redimo , tego , colligo , condo : consule , castiga , solare ▪ remitte , fer , ora. in english thus : to visit sick , and prisoners : to give drinke to the drie : to feed the hungrie : to redeem men in captivitie : to cover them that naked are : poore strangers to invite : the harbourles within thy house to lodge with thee at night . to counsel such as counsel need : the faultie to chastise : to comfort such as comfort want : to forgive injuries : to beare with such as froward are in their infirmitie : to pray for such as are cast down in their adversitie . 78 by the name of prayer likewise we understand all religious & devout service which we owe unto god : for , that our prayers may be accepted of god , and be pleasing unto him , it is necessarie that they proceed from true faith , feare , and love of god. 79 by the name of fasting , we understand the keeping of our bodies under : for we are so to nourish our flesh , that it may serve us ; and so to tame it , that it wax not proud , and lift up the heel against us , according to the counsel of hugo . 80 from what hath hitherto been said , we gather this definition . good works are the actions of men regenerate commanded by god , and done to the glorie of god , through faith in christ , according to the rule of the divine law. 81 that we may be rich in them ▪ god of his infinite mercie grant unto us , for christ his sake who is the authour and finisher of our faith & good works : who together with the father and the holy ghost is to be blessed and praised world without end . amen . chap. xvi . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the sacraments . 1 unto the word of the gospell god hath added the sacraments , which are the visible word . 2 and , the visible signes of invisible grace . august . libr. 19. contr . faust. cap. 16. 3 for by the sacraments is represented unto our eyes , what by the preaching of the word we heare with our eares . 4 the word sacramentum ( which we translate sacrament ) is exta●t indeed in scripture : ( i meane in the vulgar latin ) 5 but not in that sense in which it is here used . 6 and yet we are not to interdict or forbid the church the use of the word , as carolstadius would have us . 7 for it were a miserable servitude , absolutely to be forbidden the use of all words unwritten . 8 amongst profane authours this word sacramentum is used first for mony layd ( in deposito ) in the hands of the pontifex , by the plaintiffe & defendant , by way of caution , that he which was overcome in judgment should forfeit his mony , and he which overcame should againe receive his owne . 9 againe it is used for that solemne oath , which souldiers take according to a prescript form of words , to bind them to their allegiance and fidelitie to the state , and governours thereof . 10 from whence afterwards it came to signifie generally any kind of oath . 11 in the scripture , according to the latine interpreter , sacramentum is that which the greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the chaldees rasa , and the hebrews sod . 12 ecclesiasticall writers by the name of sacrament understand a ceremonie of divine institution , by which the good promises of the gospell are offered and applyed to those that beleeve . 13 these our sacraments are holy and undefiled mysteries , as damascen speaketh ( 4. orth. fid . cap. 14. ) or , as out of the ancients speaketh jeremie patriarch of constantinople ( resp. 1. ad theol. wirteh . ) mysteries to be trembled at . therefore not without just cause is the name of sacrament given unto them . 14 by the sacraments we are bound unto god , to beleeve on him , and to obey him ; as souldiers are bound unto ●heir generall , by an oath . by the sacraments we are also bound to love one another , as they which contended in judgement , having first laid their money ( in deposito ) in the hands of the pontifex . 15 furthermore , the word sacrament is properly and most frequently taken for the whole sacramentall action : but sometimes improperly , and by a synecdoche it denoteth one essentiall part of the sacrament , to wit , the outward and visible signe ; or ( as ireneus speaketh , lib. 4. cap. 34. ) the terrene matter . 16 so also the matter of the sacrament , or the sacrament as concerning the thing , denoteth the saving fruit of the sacrament : and sometimes the other essential part of the sacrament , to wit , the heavenly matter . 17 but the sacraments are to be defined by actions : for wheresoever the sacraments are instituted , there are certain actions prescribed and required ; neither have the sacraments their essentiall integritie unlesse those actions prescribed by god be also added . 18 now these actions are sacred and solemn ; because instituted by god : because in them god worketh with us ; and in them we have to do with god. 19 god it is , who not onely at the first did institute the sacraments , and commend them unto his church : but also doth even to this day dispense heavenly benefits by them , by the mediation of mans ministerie . 20 the sacramentall dispensation doth consist in giving and receiving . 21 the giving , doth denote the action of him that doth administer , prescribed by god : the receiving , doth denote the taking of the sacrament . 22 in both , we must distinguish between the thing , and the manner of the thing . giving and receiving are simply necessarie : but the manner of giving and receiving admits of some libertie . 23 to god alone is the power of instituting sacraments to be ascribed 24 for it is one and the same , who doth conferre grace , and institute the means of grace . 25 well therefore saith thomas ( p. 3. q. 64. art . 2. ) the vertue of the sacraments is from god alone : therefore god alone is the institutour of the sacraments . 26 where also he addeth these things worthy our remembrance : the apostles and their successours are gods vicars , as concerning the regiment of the church instituted of god by faith and the sacraments of faith : wherefore , as it is not lawfull for them to constitute another church ; so neither is it lawfull for them to deliver any other faith , or institute any other sacraments . but the church of god is said to be built and constituted by the sacraments which flowed from the side of christ hanging on the crosse. 27 god also doth dispense the sacraments , not immediately , but ordinarily by the ministers of the church . 28 for they are the dispensers or stewards of the mysteries of god. 1. cor. 4.1 . and , labourers together with god. 1. cor. 3.9 . 29 seeing then the minister is here an agent not in his own name , but in gods name : therefore his worthinesse or unworthinesse can nothing adde to or take from the efficacie of the sacraments . 30 the sacraments for vertue are the same : although the minister be too too blame . 31 the ministers work here but as instruments . now we know that instruments work not according to their own proper form , but according to the vertue of him that moves them . thom. p. 3. q. 64. art . 5. 32 from whence are these similitudes of the ancients . how that the life of the minister doth no more take away the benefit of the sacraments ; no more , i say , then a dunghill or dirty place , by which the sunne passeth , doth pollute and defile the light thereof . and again , how that it matters not whether the water be conveyed through a pipe of stone , or a pipe of silver . and again , how that the figure and impression of the seal is all one , whether it be made with a gold ring , or one of iron . august . tract . 5. in joan. lib. 3. de bapt. cap. 10. & nazianz. orat . de bapt. 33 and this also we adde concerning the intention of the minister , that it is not absolutely & necessarily required to the perfection and fruit of the sacrament . 34 for that non-intention ( if i may so speak ) is a species of blemish or malice in the minister . what then is true of the genus , is also true of the species . 35 furthermore the sacraments were instituted onely for men , and such men as are living : therefore they are onely to be administred unto such . 36 two things are required unto a sacrament : the word , and the element or outward visible thing . 37 let the word be added unto the element , & it becomes a sacrament . aug. de cat . c. 3. tract . 80. in joan. 38 by the word is understood , 1. gods institution , by which the element ( having received the calling of god as ir●neus speaketh l. ● . cap. 34. ) is separated from common use , & destinated to a sacramentall use : 2. the proper promise of the gospell which is to be applyed and sealed by the sacrament . 39 and therefore we must judge of every sacrament , by gods institution , or ( which is all one ) by the proper place in which gods institution is described and set down . 40 and , because every sacrament hath its own peculiar institution , therefore also it hath its own peculiar administration , as its proper form . 41 and therefore the substantiall words of the institution of the sacrament are in no wise to be altered or changed . 42 the sacraments in the old testament are two , as likewise also in the new : 1. circumcision in the old , unto which answers baptisme in the new ; and the paschall lambe in the old , unto which answers the supper of the lord in the new. 43 if any other be added unto these , they want either gods institution , or the outward element , or the proper promise of the gospell . 44 the ends of the sacraments are many : but two onely are principall ; the rest are subordinate , and lesse-principall . 45 the first principall end is , that the sacraments may be the instruments , means , and conveyances , or conduits by which god exhibiteth offereth and applieth unto those that beleeve , the proper promise of the gospell concerning remission of sinnes , justification , and life everlasting . 46 whatsoever is competible and agreeable unto the word , that also is not to be denied unto the sacraments , which are the visible word : but the word of the gospell is such an instrument : and therefore also the sacraments . 47 by the sacraments we are received into the covenant of god , and are preserved in it : but that covenant , is the covenant of grace : and therefore the sacraments are instruments of grace and salvation . 48 therefore we dissent and depart from those , who derogate and detract from the sacraments , making them onely bare signes signifying grace . 49 the ancients indeed some times call the sacraments , signe ▪ but they understand signes sealing or ( as it is expounded in augus . confess . art . 13 ) signes testifying co●●cerning the grace of god toward us . 50 in which sense the wor● signe or token used in gen. 17.11 the apostle expoundeth by th● word seal . rom. 4.11 . 51 so also sometimes the out●ward element of the sacrament i● called a signe ; yet not barely signi●fying an heavenly thing absent : bu● offering and delivering an heavenly thing present , and sacramentally united unto the element . 52 for it is a signe that signifieth or signeth the invisibilitie of the thing signified or signed ; but presupposeth not the absence thereof . 53 a signe , is a thing beside the species which it representeth to our senses ; and of it self causeth us to call to minde somewhat else . august . 2. de doctr . christ. cap. 1. 54 therefore they that from hence , that it is a signe , do gather that one essentiall part is absent , do it certainly for lack of wit , and want of learning . 55 we dissent and depart likewise from those also who attribute too much unto the sacraments ; in that they affirm and averre , that they conferre grace ( ex opere operato ) even upon the outward act and administration thereof . 56 which their position , or opinion they expound thus , that there is not required any good motion in the receiver , but that the sacraments have a supernaturall vertue in themselves , by which they are the cause of grace , as fire is the cause of heat . 57 but as the word profits not , not being mixed with faith. hebr. 4.2 . so neither do the sacraments , which are the visible word . 58 neither doth it profit any thing , to have a benefit offered , unles there be one to receive it : the word and the sacrament : are gods hands , by which he offereth unto us : but it is the hand of faith , which must receive what is offered . 59 well saith hugo ( 5. de sacrament . pag. 9. cap. 2. ) the spirituall gifts of grace , are as it were certaine invisible antidots : in the visible sacraments they are as it were in certaine vessels offered unto man. now , as that which is in the vessell is not of the vessell , but is drawn with it : so grace is not from the sacraments , or , of the sacraments , but is derived from an eternall fountaine ; and is sucked from thence by the soule , in the sacraments . 60 and seeing that the sacraments in generall have assigned unto them this end : from hence it may be gathered , that we are to attribute the same unto the sacraments of the old testament . 61 for unto circumcision was added that promise , of being received into the covenant of grace , which is emphatically set down in those words , i will be a god unto thee , and to thy seed after thee . gen. 17.7 . which words are to be expounded out of leviticus ▪ 26.12 . jerem. 31.1 . matth. 22.32 . and it will appeare that in them is contained a promise of gods grace , his speciall inhabitation , or indwelling , and eternall life . 62 therefore we dissent and depart from those , who dispute , that the sacraments of the old testament were not instrumentall causes of grace : as if they had not some vertue from the passion of christ , &c. 63 the lesse-principall end of the sacraments is , to be signes and seales of gods love towards us , instituted and ordained for the confirming and strengthening of our faith. 64 for the apostle calles circumcision , a seale of the righteousnesse of faith. rom. 4.11 . and the proper use of a seal is , as we know , to testifie , confirm , and seale that thing unto which it is annexed . 65 whereupon the godly of former ages in time of danger did fetch solid comfort and consolation out of circumcision . 1 sam. 14.6 . and again , 1. sam. 17.16 , 36. 66 moreover , what is said of the end of circumcision , that also is rightly referred to the other sacraments : for all the sacraments agree in their efficient , and finall genericall cause . 67 from hence it is that baptisme is said to be a good conscience's going unto god for counsell . the word by which it is expressed is in greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which the septuag●nts in the old testament do use , when there is signified asking counsell at the mouth of god. oecumenius , by this word understands an earnest or pledge . 68 the meaning then is , th●t baptisme doth testifie unto our consciences , and confirme the grace of god. and here observe that the foundation of this obsignation or ●ealing consists in the resurrection of christ : for ( as it is , rom. 4.25 . ) he was raised again for our justification : upon which followes peace of conscience , or peace with god. rom. 5.1 . 69 hither do we referre that place . 1 iohn 5.8 . there are three that beare witnesse in earth , the spirit , and the water , and the bloud . the paraphrase of which place , according to the scope of the text , and the analogie of faith , is this , that the holy spirit in the ministerie of the gospell ( which is the ministration of the spirit . 2 cor. 3.8 . ) and the water in baptisme ( which is the washing of water , by the word , ephes. 5.26 . ) and the bloud ( which in the lords supper is offered unto us to drink ▪ 1 cor. 11.15 . ) do testifie and beare witnesse concerning the fatherly goodnesse , and love of god towards us . 70 hereupon tertullian ( libr. de poenitent . ) calleth baptisme the obsignation or sealing of faith : and augustine ( de catech. rud . cap. 26. ) calleth the sacraments , seales . 71 we dissent then and depart from those , who deny that the sacraments are seales sealing unto us the promise of grace . 72 secundarie and lesse-principall ends of the sacraments we may reckon up many : as , that they are the very nerves and sinewes of publike societie , concord , and agreement ; that they are the badges and cognizances , by which the church is distinguished from other assemblies ; that in them we are tyed & bound unto god , to faith and to obedience ; that they are the types and resemblances of vertues , but especially love , &c. 73 the schoolemen dispute , that in , or by some sacraments there is a character imprinted . 74 which they describe after this manner , that it is a spirituall stampe imprinted by god alone in the soule of man at the receiving of the initerable sacrament , ( that is , the sacrament of baptisme which is not to be reiterated or repeated ) remaining indelible , ordinarily . 76 about the quidditie , subject , and end of this character , we might reckon up their wonderfull strange and miserable jarrs & contentions . 77 but we conclude with biel ( 4. sentent . dist . q. 2. ) that neither necessarie reason doth demonstrate , not evident authoritie prove , that we are to hold any such character . 78 for all the authorities brought out of dionysius , augustine , damascen and lombard , are expounded truly , and more pertinently unto the minds of their authors , of the sacrament or sacramentall forme of baptisme , then of any character imprinted really in the soule . this saith biel. 79 therefore that character of theirs is indelible indeed : because it is not written at all . 80 and thus much concerning the sacraments in generall . out of that which hath bene said we gather their definition , after this manner , the sacraments are sacred and solemne actions instituted by god , in which god , by the ministerie of man mediating , doth dispense a certaine thing , instituted by his peculiar word , to offer , apply and seale unto those that beleeve , the proper promise of the gospell . 81 of which that we may worthily partake , and to our salvation , god grant unto us who is the onely authour of them , blessed for ever . amen . chap. xvii . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the sacrament of baptisme . 1 baptisme is the porch , or first gate of grace , the entrie into the church , the key of the kingdome of heaven , and the investiture of christianisme , or the putting on the robe or liverie of christianitie . 2 and therefore being the first sacrament of the new testament , it is for that cause called the sacrament of initiation . 3 baptisme , generally taken , signifieth any washing , dipping , or dying , whether it be done by immersion , ●ffusion , or aspersion . 4 it is taken metaphorically in scripture , for the crosse and calamities . matth. 20.23 . for the visible and large effusion of the gifts of the holy ghost . acts 1.5 . for the miraculous passing of the israelites through the sea . 1. cor. 10.2 . 5 it is taken synecdochically , for the doctrine , and indeed the whole ministerie of john the proto●baptist , that is , which first baptized . matth. 3.11 . 6 specially and by way of excellencie , yea and by the common use of the church it is taken for that solemne mysterie of initiation , to wit , the first sacrament of the new testament . 7 which , in respect of one of the essentiall parts thereof , is called water . john 3.5 . in respect of its essence , the washing of water , by the word . ephes. 5.26 . in respect of the effect thereof , the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost . tit. 3.5 . in respect of the type thereof which wen● before circumcision made without hands . coloss. 2.11 . 8 the prime authour of baptisme , and therefore the proper and principall cause , is god. 9 for god by his prophets in the old testament did preach by types and prophecies concerning this saving laver or washing of baptisme . 10 the types are , noahs ark in the floud . 1. pet. 3.20 . circumcision . coloss. 2.11 . the passing of the israelites through the red sea . 1. cor. 10.2 . waters mixed with the bloud of the bird that was killed , which cleansed the leprosie , levit. 14.6 , 7. the water of expiation , or separation , whereinto were strewed the ashes of the red heifer . numb . 19.17 . &c. divers washings , ablutions , and aspersions used by the jews . heb. 9.10 . the water of jordan , by which naaman was cured of his leprosie . 2. king. 5.14 . 11 the prophecies consist partly in proper words , and partly in words allegoricall . the lord sitteth upon the floud . psal. 29.10 . there is a river , the streams whereof shall make glad the citie of god. psal. 46.5 . the gentiles shall bring thy sons in their armes . isai. 49.22 . i will sprinkle clean water upon you : and you shall be clean from all your filthinesse . ezech. 36.25 . it shall come to passe that every thing that liveth , which moveth whithersoever the rivers shall come , shall live . ezech. 47.9 . in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of david , & to the inhabitants of jerusalem , for sinne and for uncleannesse . zechar. 13.1 . a fountain shall come forth of the house of the lord , and shall water the valley of shittim . joel 3.18 . 12 the same god it is , which sent john to baptize , or to baptize with water . joh. 1.33 . from whence it is said , that his baptisme is from heaven . matth. 21.25 . and the pharisees , refusing to be baptized of him , are said to have rejected the counsel of god. luke 7.30 . 13 this divine institution of baptisme , christ after his death and resurrection did as it were renew , by a solemne promulgation , and command to continue the same throughout the whole world . 14 therefore the baptisme of john was the same sacrament with ●he baptisme of christ , that is , which christ administred by his apostles , and doth at this day administer by the ministers of the church : it had also the same efficacie ; neither was it necessarie that , after the baptisme of john , the baptisme of christ should be received . 15 the same causes and the same effects do argue that the sacrament of baptisme , both johns & christs , was the same . 16 yet notwithstanding we do not deny but that with the baptisme of the apostles there was joyned also the visible effusion of the miraculous gifts of the holy ghost : which was wanting to johns baptisme . 17 now god administers this sacrament , not immediately , but by the ministers of the church , unto whom this doth ordinarily belong , as unto the stewards of the mysteries of god. 1. cor. 4.1 . 18 again , forasmuchas they are the ministers of anothers good , their vices do not take away the essence and benefit of baptisme . 19 and therefore even hereticks themselves , if they do observe the substantialls of baptisme , they do administer true baptisme . 20 which also we determine in that case , when the minister of the church privately and secretly doth favour and cherish an heresie contrarie to the truth of baptisme , and the doctrine of the church . 21 but those which are baptized by hereticks without the invocation of the holy trinitie , and afterwards come unto us ; we pronounce that such are to be baptized ; but we do not say rebaptized : for it is not to be beleeved that they were ever baptized , whosoever were not baptized in the name of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost . 22 the externall element of baptisme is water ; water naturall and elementarie . 23 whosoever therefore do either substitute , and use in stead of water any other liquor , or any other externall element ; or else are of opinion that they may be substituted and used in the stead thereof : they depart from gods institution . 24 but yet baptisme is not simply water ; but the washing of water , by the word . ephes. 5.26 . 25 therefore neither water without the word , nor the word without the water hath the nature , force , and vertue of baptisme . 26 that word is the word both of command , and of promise . 27 for the apostles are commanded to goe and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost . matth. 28.19 . and there is a promise added , that he that beleeveth and is baptized , shall be saved . mark. 16.16 . 28 therefore , according to this word , all the holy trinitie , the father , the sonne and the holy ghost are present at baptisme , as at the baptisme of christ , who is the head of the church . ephes. 1.22 . 29 the father , for his sonne our mediatours sake , doth receive him that is baptized , into grace : the sonne by his owne bloud doth cleanse him from all his sinnes : the holy ghost doth regenerate and renew him unto eternall life . 30 and , if all the most sacred and holy trinitie be present ; then also christ god and man is certainly present , and by his bloud washeth him that is baptized , from all the filthinesse of his sinnes . 31 from whence it is , that the ancients say , and luther repeats it , that baptisme is red with the bloud of christ. august . tract . 11. in joan. bed. in psalm . 80. 32 we must not therefore look upon the water of baptisme according to the naturall properties , and use that it hath in common life : but we are to have an eye unto it as it is a sacrament , and means sanctified by the word of god , with which and by which all the most sacred , and holy trinitie doth work in those that are baptized , unto their salvation . 33 the forme of baptisme is , to baptize a man with water , that is , to sprinkle the water upon him , or to dip him in the water , in the name of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost . 34 and forasmuchas it is the forme , which gives being unto a thing : therefore , if this forme of baptisme be changed , it shall be no longer a sacrament . 35 whether the party baptized be sprinkled or dipped thrice , or but once it matters not to the integritie and perfection of baptisme . the usuall rites and custome of the church , in these indifferent things , is to be observed . 36 by the three sprinklings , or dippings , the trinitie of persons is signified ; and by one onely , the vnitie of the divinitie , or godhead . 37 those words , in the name , or on the name of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost , have a great emphasis , which is accurately and frequently to be expounded to the godly and devout auditorie , or congregation . 38 for the minister professeth ▪ that , what he doth in this part , he doth not in his own name , but in the name of god , & at his cōmand . 39 for he declareth that the true god , which is one in essence , and three in persons , is called upon , over him that is baptized . 40 moreover those words do evidently witnesse that every person of the most sacred and holy trinitie is present at baptisme , by the presence and efficacie of grace ▪ to wit , the father for the merit of his sonne doth re●eive him that is baptized , into grace ; and doth seale him by his holy spirit , unto salvation . 41 whereupon those that are baptized are called the sonnes of god , christians , and spirituall men , in respect of the father , of the sonne , and of the holy ghost . 42 whereunto belongeth the collation , or comparing of creation and re-creation , formation , and reformation . for , as the father , by the sonne , through the holy ghost created the first man : so is it at the sacrament of regeneration , where all the most holy and blessed trinitie doth worke in like manner . 43 last of all , by those words , he that is baptized in the name of god , is bound to acknowledge him , and to call upon him as the true god , and serve him all the dayes of his life . 44 for you must be baptized , as we have received , and beleeve , as we are baptized ; and glorifie the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost , as we have beleeved . basil. epist. 78. 45 from this fountaine ●low forth all the prayses which are extant in the writings of the apostles concerning the saving fruit of this mysterie . 46 as for example , that it is the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost . tit. 3.4 . by which the church may be cleansed . ephes. 5.26 . sinnes may be washed away . act. 22.16 . christ may be put on . gal. 3.27 . and , in a word , salvation may be obtained . 1 pet. 3.21 . 47 by way of comparison , it will not be amisse , to consider the baptisme of christ , by which our baptisme is consecrated : for what was done there in visible signes , we must not doubt but that the same is done at our baptisme after an invisible manner . 48 the father for christ his sake receiveth us to be his sonnes : the sonne by his bloud washeth ●s : the holy ghost regenerateth and ●eneweth us , and prepareth him●elf a dwelling-place in us , and openeth the gate of paradise unto ●s . 49 we sticking close to the literall sense of the words ( as we must alwayes do in articles of faith ) do firmly beleeve that bap●isme is an effectuall means by which man is regenerated and re●ewed unto eternall life . 50 which end comprehends ●n it , adoption , remission of sinne , ●ngraffing into christ , sanctifica●ion , and the inheritance of eternall ●ife . 51 but we deny that baptisme doth either imprint an indelible character ; or , conferre grace ( ex ●pere operato ) upon the work done , or outward act of administration ; or that it doth take away , and altogether together blot out both sin and the punishment thereof . for concerning this matter the scripture is silent . 52 furthermore , seeing that in baptisme god doth make a covenant of grace with man : certainly the efficacie thereof endureth throughout a mans whole life . 53 for the covenant of god i● not made of no effect by reason o● our unbeliefe . rom. 3.3 . 54 therefore though we should for our parts go never so farre astray from this covenant , yet by true and serious conversion we may return , and be received agai● into it . 55 unto whom this sacramen● appertaineth and belongeth , we learn even from gods own institution : by which it is commanded that all nations should be baptized . 56 yet the order and manner , which christ there hath prescribed , is to be observed : that is , that they which are of age to heare the gospell , should first be taught , and then baptized . 57 seeing then all are either infants , or of yeares : we must answer distinctly concerning both . 58 those infants are to be baptized who are either born of christian parents , ( it matters not whether one or both the parents be christians ) or else are to be brought up under them . 59 therefore bastards , and children that are found , whose parents are not known , are not excluded from the benefit of baptisme : ( although it be doubted of by some ) nor yet those who at their birth have some externall defect , &c. 60 but those which are no● yet born , are excluded : for a man cannot be born again , unlesse he be first born . and so are also the children of infidells and unbeleevers to be excluded , as long as they are under their tuition . 61 those of yeares are to be baptized , who being instructed concerning christ do professe the christian religion . 62 neither here are women excluded : as it is confirmed by the practise of the apostles , beside other arguments . acts 8.12 . and 16.15 . 63 for the confirming of this our opinion concerning the baptizing of infants , out of scripture serve many things : and it will be usefull for us to consider these following hypotheses or suppositions . 64 first , infants are conceived and born in sinne : and therefore they are by nature the children of wrath . 65 secondly , god would have little children to be brought unto him : for it is not the will of him , that one of the little ones should perish . 66 thirdly , there is no dealing with them by the preaching of the word : therefore there remains onely to them that means , to wit , baptisme which succeeded in the place of circumcision . 67 beware of saying , that baptisme is not profitable unto infants , forasmuchas yet they neither do nor can beleeve : 68 because in baptisme , and by baptisme , the holy spirit doth so work in infants , that it is , no lesse then circumcision , a seal unto them of the righteousnesse of faith. rom. 4.11 . 69 for , although we cannot understand after what manner the holy ghost worketh : yet we must not therefore deny the working of the holy ghost . 70 if a question be moved concerning infants departing without baptisme : we must proceed distinctly . 71 those which are without the church , are left to the judgement of god. 72 but those which being born of christian parents , by reason of some case of urgent necessitie , could not be baptized ; or those which die in their mothers wombe : those , i say , by the prayers of their parents and the church may be commended unto god ; but are not excluded from the fellowship of the kingdome of heaven . 73 it remains now that we speak something concerning certain circumstances ▪ which are wont to be observed at the administration of baptisme . 74 impious and superstitious ceremonies are to be rejected . 75 but what rites and ceremonies are of their own nature indifferent , and of a middle rank , and not repugnant to the analogie of faith , but rather commended by the authoritie of the apostles & the primitive church , and further doe make the action , use , and efficacie , yea the necessitie and dignitie of baptisme more conspicuous to the eyes of the ruder sort : such as these are not simply , and to the scandal● of the church , to be rejected . 76 exorcisme is to be expounded after this manner , that it is a testimony that infants are by natur● under spirituall captivitie in the kingdome of the divel ; that by the vertue & efficacie of baptisme they are translated from the kingdome of satan unto the kingdome of christ ; that the end of the ecclesiasticall ministerie consistet● not onely in the application of christs benefits , but also in a continuall warring and fighting against satan . 77 but the church hath libertie to propose and expound the doctrine concerning originall sinne , the power and kingdome of satan , and the efficaci● of baptisme in other words more agreeable unto scripture . chemnit . part . 3. 〈◊〉 . theolog . pag. 178. 78 it is a most ancient custome , at the baptisme of infants , to have sureties , which we call godfathers and godmothers : whose office it is , first , to pray for them , that god would receive them into grace by baptisme ; secondly , by their answering to repeat that , which christ , as the mouth of the infants , hath witnessed for them ; thirdly , to instruct them in the principles of religion , if their parents be dead . 79 imposition of names is rightly used in baptisme , not onely because it was formerly used in circumcision : but especially , because it puts us in minde , that in baptisme our names are written in the book of life . luke 10.20 . revel . 20.15 . and that our names are enrolled ▪ in the catalogue of christian souldiers , from thenceforth alwaies to fight under the banner of christ. 80 concerning other ceremonies and circumstances , more shall be said in another place : on● thing onely we adde , that it were to be wished that at a full congregation in the church at morning-prayer children were baptized ; that so the administration of this most sacred mysterie might be performed with more attention and devotion . 81 neither yet do we say , that rashly and unadvisedly any man out of his own private fansie may depart from the custome of the church wherein he lives : nor do we prescribe laws for cases of necessitie . 82 from all that hitherto hath been said , we gather· that baptisme is the first sacrament of the new testament , in which a living man is dipped into water , or sprinkled with water , in the name of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost ; that being regenerated and renewed he may be made an heire of everlasting life . 83 god , who by baptisme hath received us into the covenant of grace , keep and preserve us in the same even unto the end ▪ amen . chap. xviii . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the lords supper . 1 the latter sacrament of the new testament is , the lords supper , so called frō the authour & time of the institution thereof . 1. cor. 11.20 , 21. &c. 2 it is also called the lords table , to distinguish it from profane eating & drinking . 1. cor. 10.20.21 , &c. and again , the communion of the body & bloud of christ. 1. cor. 10.16 . because therein consisteth the essence of this sacrament . and again , the testament of christ. luke 22.20 . 1. cor. 11.25 . because therein do appeare all the requisites of a testament . and again , the breaking of bre●d . acts 2.42 . & 20.7 . because by it the bread in the eucharist was prepared of old to be distributed . 3 it was called by the ancients , the eucharist , or giving of thanks . 1. cor. 11.24 . because ●olemne thanks were to be given to christ at the celebration of this sacrament . again , it was called , a synaxis , or coming together . 1. cor. 11.20 . because this holy supper was wont to be celebrated in a full congregation in the church , and was a signe and pledge of their mutuall conjunction in christ. again , it was called , an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or a feast in love and charitie , by reason of holy feasting instituted and made of gifts conferred in common . again , it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or li●urgie : because it is no small part of publike and common service . 4 the name of missa which is taken for the masse , had its beginning from the forme of dismissing the people used by the ancients , when they sayd unto the catech●m●ni , to the possessed of vill spirits , and to the excommunicate , ite : missa est . beat. 〈◊〉 ▪ super. 4. libr. tertull. adv . marc. 5 the types of this sacrament in the old testament are sundrie and divers ; but the best are these : the paschall lambe . exod. 12.27 , &c. 1 cor. 5.7 . and , manna . exod. 16.15 . ioh. 6.49 . the corn● of heaven . psalm . 78.24 . angels food , vers . 25. 6 the authour of this sacrament , who did both institute and commend it unto his church , is christ. matth. 26.26 . luk. 22.19 . 1 cor. 11.23 . 7 who , seeing that he is true god , and one with the father and the holy ghost , omnipotent , true , all-wise , our mediatour & saviour : therefore , if we desire truely to be his disciples , we must without any tergiversation backsliding or unwillingnesse beleeve his words and rest on them . joh. 8.31 . 8 and the sonne it is , who still ●o this day doth exhibite unto us his body and bloud , at the distribution of the bread and wine in the eucharist , to ●e eaten and drunke by us . 9 beleeve ye all therefore that even now th● supper , at which christ sat down , is here celebrated : for there is no difference betwixt this and that : they have both one authour . do not think it is the priest or minister , but christ himself that stretcheth forth his hand unto thee . chrysost. hom. 51. in cap. 24. matth. 10 yet he doth not administer ●his supper now immediately by himself , as he did at the first institution : but it hath pleased him to use the ministers of the church to ●his purpose ; because they are the stewards of the mysteries of god. 1 cor. 4.1 . 11 the eucharist consists of two things ; an earthly ▪ and an heavenly : the earthly is bread and wine ; the heavenly is the body & bloud of our lord. iren. libr. 4. cap. 34. 12 that which we see , is the bread , and the cup , as our eyes declare unto us ▪ but the bread and wine , which we are to look up unto with the eye of faith , is the body and bloud of christ. these therefore are called sacraments ; because in them one thing is s●ene , and another understood : that which is seen hath a corporeall species , or bodily shew ; but that which is understood , hath a spirituall fruit . august . serm. ad neoph. bed. in 1 cor. 10. 13 because therefore bread and wine are by christs own institution ordained and appointed for this sacrament : neither of these elements are to be changed for any other , which may have some resemblance with them . 14 nothing can be better here , nothing more holy , nothing more safe , then for us to be content with christs authoritie alone . 15 but , as concerning the bread , whether it be long or round , great or small ; and as concerning the wine , whether it be red or white : it matters nothing to the integritie or perfection of the sacrament , inasmuchas it detracts nothing from the institution of the sacrament . 16 the nicene canon we exceedingly approve . we take not much , but little : that we may know that these things are not taken for satietie , but for sanctitie . 17 in like manner whether the bread be leavened or vnleavened , we think it not much materiall : neither do we like of that wrangling and jangling about the bread ; which was of old so frequent in the greek and latine churches . 18 but yet we following the custome of the church do use bread vnleavened , for the example of christ , and many good lessons not to be contemned , which the unleavened bread doth afford . 19 to mingle water with the wine in the eucharist we hold it not necessarie , forasmuchas there is expresse mention made onely of the fruit of the vine . matth. 26.29 . 20 but this we hold necessarie , that not onely the bread , but the wine also is to be distributed to all those that come with reverence to this venerable sacrament . 21 either let them receive the sacrament in both kinds , or in neither : for there can be no division of one and the same mysterie without grand sacriledge . 22 eating and drinking i● distinctly instituted and ordained by that wisdom , unto which all humane wisdome concerning the inseparabilitie of the living bloud from the living flesh , must give place : for here we are not to dispute out of humane reason ; but we are to look unto the will of christ , who instituted no imperfect feast , but with the meat added drink also . andr. fric . 4. de rei● . emend . cap. 19. 23 what god hath joyned together , let no man put asunder . matt. 19.6 . 24 we do not dislike searching out divers analogies or resemblances between the bread and the body of christ , and between the wine and the bloud of chrst : but we must beware that we place not therein all the sacramentall office of the bread and wine in the eucharist . 25 for herein doth that consist , that the bread in the eucharist be the communion of the body of christ ; and the cup of blessing , the communion of the bloud of christ. 1. cor. 10.16 . 26 we hold no locall inclosing of the body into the bread , or the bloud into the wine ; nor any impanation , or incorporating into bread ; nor any naturall inexistence ; nor any delitescence , concealement , or lying-hid of the body under the bread ; nor any penetration of two bodies ; nor any capernaïticall creophagie , or eating of flesh which the capernaïtes did hold . 27 for all these are but the dreams of humane reason being too curious to enquire into the manner of the sacramentall presence : and they proceed for the most part from a lust and desire to calumniate . 28 but this we hold , according to the apostle , that the bread in the eucharist is the communion of the body of christ ; and the wine , the communion of the bloud of christ. 29 the forme of this sacrament consists in the blessing of the bread and wine ; and in the distributing of the bread and wine so blessed ; and in the eating and drinking of the bread and wine so distributed . 30 this sacramentall blessing consists not in any magicall conversion of the bread into the body of christ , and the wine into his bloud by any vertue lying hid in the words . 31 but it is a sacred & efficacious destinating or setting apart of the externall elements to a sacramentall use : which is therefore called consecration . 32 when the minister therefore of the church , following the institution of christ & the example of his apostles ( concerning which speaketh gregorie . lib. 1. cap. 63. in registro : and platina in the life of sixtus the first , and many others ) when the minister , i say , doth repeate the words of institution , saying first over the lords prayer : we must not in any case thinke that it is a meer historicall reading of the text. 33 for , first , the minister doth testifie , that he neither doth nor hath any will to do any thing according to his own will and pleasure , or in his own name ; but , that as the lawfull steward of the mysteries of god he doth exequute his function in performing this sacred and solemne action in the name of christ. 34 secondly , he doth by this meanes set apart the bread and wine for an holy use , that afterwards they are no more meere bread and wine , but the sacraments of the body and bloud of christ. 35 thirdly , he doth earnestly pray , that christ would be mindfull of his promise , and vouchsafe to be present at the sacramentall action , and distribute both his body and bloud together with the externall elements , or the bread and wine . 36 last of all , he doth testifie that by vertue of the lords institution and promise , the bread in the eucharist is the communion of the body ; and the cup of blessing , the communion of the bloud of christ : and further doth admonish all those that intend to receive the sacrament , to remember that they are christs guests , to rely on his words with true faith , & to come with due preparation , that so they may receive it unto their salvation . 37 but thus much we must know , that the scripture doth not in any place say , that by consecration or blessing , the bread is turned into the body , and the wine into the bloud of christ. yea the scripture is expressely against it . 38 and transubstantiation , ( a thing barbarous both for name and nature ) gathers little strength from the disputation of some of our moderne writers , who thus expound it , that the body of christ is made of the bread , not as of the matter ; as it was made of the flesh of the virgin marie ; but as from a terme ( à qu● , or ) from whence , as heaven was made of nothing , the night is made of the day , and the wine was made of water . 39 for besides that they digresse from the opinion of their predecessors ( for they held the essentiall conversion of the bread and wine into the body & bloud of christ ) they do also involve and intangle themselves in very great difficulties . 40 for whosoever saith , that one substance is converted into another , when it onely succeeds in the place thereof , he abuseth names . 41 who ever said , that nothing was transubstantiated into heaven , or that the day is transubstantiated into night ? 42 but if the body of christ is made of the bread after the same manner as wine was made of water : it followes , that the essence of the bread is converted into the body of christ ; that the accidents of the bread do perish ; that the masse-priests by the same power do turne the bread into the body of christ , as christ turned the water into wine : and so they become the creators of their creator , and makers of their maker . stella clericorum . 43 it was a sacrament that christ would institute , and not a new creation : it was the communion of his body and bloud by the externall elements of bread and wine , that christ would institute , and not the transubstantiating of them into an heavenly matter . 44 and that it may appeare how little or no foundation there is for transubstantiation in these words of christ , this is my body , we will passe by all others , & heare onely what biel , the compiler of schoole-divinitie , sai●h concerning this matter . 45 thus saith he ( lib. 4. sent. dist. 11. q. 1. art. 3. dub. 1. ) all affirmative propositions , in which the termes signifying bread and wine are put in the nominative case , are false . as , bread is the body of christ ; that which is bread , is , was , shall , or can be the body of christ. ( he disputes upon the hypothesis of transubstantiation ) again , those propositions are true , in which the terme ( à quo , or ) from whence , that is , the bread and the wine is expressed by the ablative case with a praeposition ( ex , or de ) of , or from : or the terme ( ad quem , or ) whereunto ▪ that is , the body and bloud of christ is expressed by the accusative case with a praeposition . so then these propositions ( if they be found in scripture ) are true : of bread is made the body of christ , of wine is made the bloud of christ ; and these likewise are true ( if they be found in scripture ) bread is changed , converted , or transubstantiated into the body of christ ; &c. so saith biel. 46 therefore down falls all their work , which for the rearing up of their tower of transubstantiation , they build upon the words of christ. for there is not any place to be found in scripture , where christ saith , of this bread is made my body , of this wine is made my bloud . 47 upon their transubstantiation , the superstructure is , the reposition , or laying up , circumgestation , or carrying about , adoration ▪ or worshipping of the externall elements . therefore we may passe the same judgement upon them . 48 the second sacramentall action is , the distribution : before which goes fraction , or breaking of the bread . 50 whether the bread be broke before the blessing or after , it matters not much , if so be that it be distributed . 51 for the breaking of the bread doth not constitute a peculiar sacramentall act , but it is an act of the minister preparing it to be distributed . 52 again , it neither addes to , nor takes from the integritie and perfection of the sacrament , whether the externall elements of bread and wine be given into the hands or put into the mouthes of the communicants . 53 for we are alwaies to distinguish between the thing and the manner of the thing , giving and the manner of giving . 54 the third sacramentall action , is eating and drinking : which hath not respect unto the bread onely and apart , or to the wine onely and apart , but unto that bread which is the communion of the body of christ , and to that wine , which is the communion of the bloud of christ. 1. cor. 10.16 . 55 this eating is neither meerly naturall , nor meerly spirituall , but sacramentall , depending on the sacramentall union of the bread and body of christ. 56 as therefore the sacramentall union , by which , in the true and lawfull use , the body of christ is united with the bread ; and the bloud of christ is united with the wine ; so also the sacramentall eating and drinking depends on the institution of christ , who is true and omnipotent ; but it cannot be comprehended by humane reason , neither must it curiously be searched into . 57 if then thou opposest the spirituall eating , to the naturall , carnall , physicall , locall , and capernaiticall : then rightly do we say , that the eating of the body of christ with the bread is spirituall . 58 but if by spirituall eating thou understandest that whereof john speaketh in the sixt chapter : that appertaineth to the fruit of the supper , and therefore undoubtedly not to the essence thereof . 59 the end of the holy supper is set down in these words of christ , do this in remembrance of me . 1. cor. 11.24 . 60 which remembrance hath respect unto the words foregoing , to wit , how that body is eaten in the supper , which was delivered to death for us , and that bloud is drunk , which on the altar of the crosse was poured forth for our sinnes . 61 from whence it appeareth , that the primarie and principall end of the holy supper is , the confirming of our faith . 62 which comprehendeth in it these fruits , that in the true and saving use of the holy supper the promise of the forgivenesse of sinnes is sealed unto us ; that the grace received in baptisme is confirmed in us ; that the covenant of friendship and reconciliation between god and man is renewed in us ; that we are again ingrafted into christ ; and , that we are fed with incorruptible food , by faith , unto everlasting life . 63 to speak all in few words , these taken and drunk by us , make christ to abide in us , and us in him . hilar. 8. de trinit . 64 the bread in the eucharist is called by ignatius , the medicine of immortalitie , and an antidote against the poison of sinne . by basil it is called , the viaticum or viand of eternall life , and an apologie which is well accepted before the judgement-seat of god. by damascen it is called , the pledge of the kingdome and the life to come . 65 lesse-principall ends we may reckon up many : for by the use of this sacrament we approve unto god our obedience ▪ unto christ our thankfull remembrance of his great benefit ▪ unto men our repentance , our consent in doctrine , and our earnest studie and desire after love and charitie . 66 but that this mystery is either a propitiatorie , or impetratorie sacrifice , this we utterly deny . 67 for there is but one priest of the new testament , one propitiatorie sacrifice , one oblation . 68 unto the use of the holy supper are to be admitted onely christians , and such christians as can try and examine themselves . 1. cor. 11.28 . 69 from hence is to be understood , what we may judge of notorious sinners , which will not try and examine themselves : and what also of children , and others , which cannot try and examine themselves . 70 this true examination consisteth in the earnest acknowledgement of sinnes , and detestation of the same ; in true faith in christ ; and a stedfast purpose and resolution of amendment of life . 71 he that eateth and drinketh unworthily , eateth and drinketh damnation to himself , not discerning the lords body . 1. cor. 11.29 . 72 for whosoever shall eat this bread ( which is the communion of the body of christ. 1. cor. 10.16 . ) and drink this cup of the lord ( which is the communion of the bloud of christ. 1. cor. 10 , 16. ) unworthily , shall be guilty of the body and bloud of the lord. 1. cor. 11.27 . 73 therefore , as concerning the integritie and perfection of the sacrament , it matters not with what faith a man comes to receive it : but as ●oncerning the fruit and benefit of it , surely it matters very much . aug. 3. contr . donat. cap. 14. 74 concerning the time , place , and other circumstances of the holy supper if we be asked the question : our answer is according to the counsell of the apostle , let all things be done decently and in order . 1. cor. 14.40 . 75 god graunt , that our bodies which are fed with the body and bloud of christ , may at the last day be raised up unto everlasting life . iren. lib. 4. adv . b●r . c. 34. amen chap. xix . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the church . 1 by the word & the sacraments , the holy ghost also working together effectually , god gathereth himself a church here on earth . 2 which church is in greek called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , because it is called out of the whole race of mankinde , and gathered together into an holy assembly . 3 for the church is an assembly or company of men gathered together unto the kingdome of god by the ministery of the word & the sacraments : amongst whom there are alwaies some true godly which persevere in the true faith even unto the end : with whom also are mixed many not holy , but yet agreeing in the profession of doctrine . 4 this assembly or company , because it must alwaies fight under christs banner against the flesh ▪ the world , and the divell , is therefore called the church militant . 5 and because the ministerie of preaching the word , and administring the sacraments is obvious to our senses , it is also called the visible church . 6 but yet again , forasmuchas it is not conspicuous to the eyes of men , who be true beleevers , and godly : in respect of them it is called an invisible church . 7 therefore that distinction of the church into visible and invisible doth not introduce two as it were distinct churches , or divers companies : 8 but it considereth the church , or the companie of those which are called after a diverse respect and in a different manner , that is , inward and outward . 9 the inward beauty and glory of the church doth consist in faith , and renovation , or renewing , with which is immediately joyned the inheritance of eternall life . 10 this spirituall regeneration , and renovation is hidden under the infirmities of the flesh : and this communion or inheritance of eternall life is , by the scandall of the crosse and death , covered as it were with a vail here in this life . and in this respect the church is said to be invisible . 11 the outward beauty and glory of the church doth consist in the sincere preaching of the word , and the profession thereof , and the lawfull administration of the sacraments : in which respect the church is said to be visible . 12 to make a man therefore a true and living member of the mysticall body of christ , the externall profession of the same doctrine , and the participation of the same sacraments is not sufficient : but there is required also , and that necessarily , inward regeneration ; and the inward dwelling of the holy ghost . 13 but yet we are not to seek for the invisible church without the visible , seeing that it is included within it : for the elect are not to be sought for without the companie of those which are called . 14 neither are we in any nation under heaven to seek for that invisible church of the elect , pure , unspotted , undefiled , outwardly separate from all hypocrites . 15 for here in this life the jebusites , and they of jerusalem dwell together ; in the same garden ▪ the nettle and the myrtle , in the same wood the low shrub and the lofty cedar grow together ; in jacobs flock the white and the speckled , the lambs and the kids feed together ; in peters net fishes good and bad are caught together ; in the lords field the lillies and the thornes spring up together ; in the lords floore the corne and the chaffe are mingled together ; in christs cellar the wine and the oyle have both their lees and dregs ; in noahs ark there were beasts vnclean as well as clean. 16 this companie of the elect , this church , is by the holy ghost in scripture adorned with most honourable titles . 17 for it is called , the body of christ , the spouse of christ , the kingdome of god , gods peculiar , gods beloved people , &c. 18 but all these titles and appellations are to be understood by a synecdoche , as not belonging to all in the church : for they are attributed unto the church for the truely regenerate and elects sake , which are in and of the church . 19 for there is a manifest and evident difference between the truely regenerate , and the hypocrites , which are onely joyned unto the chuch in an outward profession . 20 the truely regenerate are true and living members of the church , because from christ their head they draw both spirit and life ; the hypocrites , are but rotten and dead members : those belong unto the church internally ; these , onely externally : those , in heart ; these ▪ onely in outward shew : those , in deed ▪ these , in thought onely : those , in the judgement of god ; these , onely in the judgment of men : those , as true and sound parts of the body ; these , as scabs and ill humors : those , to speake properly , are of the church ; these , are onely in the church . august . in brevic. collat. collat. 3. in ioan. tract . 6. de bapt. lib. 3. cap. 18. &c. 21 the church , in the creed , is called , one , holy , catholike , and apostolike . 22 it is called one , for the unitie of the spirit , which the apostle expounds , ephes. 4.3 . &c. there is one body and one spirit , even as ye are called in one hope of your calling : one lord , on● faith , one baptisme : one god and father of all , who is above all , and through all , and in you all . 23 it is called holy , because it is sanctified of christ , by the spirit and the word : which sanctitie , or holines consists , in this life , in the imputation of christs sanctitie , and the studie of true sanctitie ; but at length it shall be made perfect and absolute in the life to come . 24 it is called catholike , in respect of the catholike faith , which is to be estimated by the common consent of all the godly , and their agreement in the true doctrine , at all times , and in all places , whether they lived in former ages , or whether they be at this day yet living . 25 but it is necessarie that this consent be grounded on the catholike writings of the prophets and apostles , which are the onely foundation of the church . 26 it is called apostolike in respect of the doctrine of the apostles ; because it began in the new testament to be propagated by the apostles ( which taught none other things then those which the prophets and moses did say should come . act. 26.22 . ) and because it is yet at this day gathered together by the doctrine of the apostles sounding in the scriptures . 27 from whence it may be easily gathered , what are the true characters and signes of the true church , to wit , the pure preaching of the word , & the lawfull administration of the sacraments . 28 for seeing that the church is nothing else but a companie of such as professe the true doctrine of christ publikely , and use the sacraments lawfully ; and there is no surer note of a thing thē its forme : therefore we conclude that these and no other are the true proper and genuine characters , tokens , and cognizances of the church . 29 if there be assigned any other ; as the catholike name , antiquitie , duration , amplitude , succession of bishops , temporall felicitie , &c. i say , these are common to other societies and companies as well as to the church ; neither are they of any force to prove a true church , unles they exactly agree , and are joyned with the other notes before mentioned by us . 30 wherefore we thought good to note the words of stapleton ( in relect . princ . fid . controv. 1. quaest. 4. art. 5. pag. 113. ) even as , saith he , little children do distinguish a man from a beast , by the externall lineaments of body , and outward figure of a man ; because they are led onely by their sense : and those which are of riper yeares and have the use of reason , but yet are rude and unlearned , do it by operations of life & functions which are onely proper to a man ▪ as to speak like a man , to walk like a man , &c. but they which are wise & prudent whose judgement pierceth deeper , do it by prudence and understanding , and other endowments which are proper unto man after a farre more excellent manner . 31 so the church of christ is by those that are wise and spirituall , ( such as are the teachers and pastors of the church ) known by the sound do●trine and the right use of the sacraments : but as for those which are unlearned , weak , and little in faith , who are not able to judge of the doctrine it selfe considered in its causes , principles , and meanes ; as also those which are without faith , who know little or nothing of the church : they judge onely by the outward face and appearance , and by the multitude of the people which beleeve , and their pastors . 32 this similitude or comparison of stapletons , we thought worthy to be noted . for from hence it may be concluded , that our notes of the true church are proper , genuine , & well beseeming spirituall men ; but theirs are doubtfull and uncertaine . 33 the outward shew and face of the church shadowed ou● by lineaments , we willingly grant unto them : but as for the soule thereof , that must they leave unto us . 34 hither belongeth that which bellarmine himself openly confesseth , that by those notes and markes by him assigned , it is not prov●d evidently to be true , that the church of rome is the true church of god , but yet it is made eviden●ly credible . libr. 4. de eccl. cap. 3. col. 210. 35 furthermore seeing that the gospell is not preached , nor the sacraments administred with like sinceritie in all particular churches ; but the ●eaven of humane traditions and inventions is mixed with the pure masse of gods word : therefore in this respect , and in this sense , the church is said to be more pure , or more impure , comparing one with another . 36 so christ would have the scribes and pharisees to be heard , sitting in moses chaire . matt. 23.2 . that is , delivering the doctrine which moses delivered ( according to the interpretation of biel. 4. sent. dist. 1. quaest. 4. art. 3. ) but withall he gives an item , to beware of the leaven of the pharisees , that is , their false doctrine . mat. 16.6 . 37 god can even by a corrupt ministerie beget spirituall children unto himself . ezech. 16.20 . 38 the eares of the hearers are many times more pure then th● lips of the teachers . 39 so the popish church is not a true and pure church : but yet in former ages under poperie did god gather , and even at this day still doth gather unto himself a church . 40 our churches are gone out of the romish babylon according to gods command . jerem. 15.19 . they have taken forth the precious from the vile ; they have accepted , and do still professe and maintain the writings of the prophets and apostles , and the doctrine which is conformable and agreeable unto them , separating them from the leaven of humane traditions . 41 can any one then deny that our church is apostolike ? such as the doctrine is , such is the church : the doctrine is apostolike ; and therefore our church is also apostolike . 42 let them therefore either convince us , out of the writings of the prophets and apostles , to have departed from the doctrine of the prophets and apostles : or let them not deny unto us the name of catholike and apostolike church . 43 and here we would have it accurately to be observed , what the acts of the dyet at ausburg ann. 1530. do witnes , how that the chiefest of our adversaries there confessed that the confession of our faith could not be refuted out of scripture . 44 hither will we adde out of s. augustine ( epist. 166. ) that , in the scriptures we have learned christ ; in the scriptures we have learned the church· and , why then do we not in them retaine both christ and the church ? 45 and againe , we have another saying out of s. augustine ( de unitat . eccl. cap. 2. ) which makes against them : between us , saith he , and the donatists ( the romanists ) the question is , where the church is . what then shall we do ? shall we seek it in our owne words , or in the words of our lord , which is the head of the church ? in my judgement , we ought rather to seek it in his words , who is truth it self , and best knows his own body . 46 and further we urge upon them that exclusive particle of saint chrysostome ( hom. 49. oper . imperf . in matth. ) they which would know which is the true church of christ , can know by no other means but onely by the scriptures . 47 the word of god , which this day is not extant but in the writings of the prophets and apostles , is the seed , the foundation , and , as it were , the soul of the church : if the church departeth from the tract thereof , it departeth into errour , and that so much the more grievous , by how much the more remote and distant from the sinceritie of the word . 48 from whence it may be easily gathered , what we are to determine concerning that question whether the church can erre or no. 49 for we are to distinguish be●tween the catholike church , and particular churches . 50 againe we are to distinguish between errours overthrowing the foundation , and stubble buil● upon the foundation . 51 and againe we are to distinguish between the visible church , and the invisible . 52 the romanists ; after long and tedious disputation about the infallible judgement of the church , bring us at length to the pope alone . the infallibilitie , saith bellarmine ( 4. de pointif . cap. ● . ) is not in the assembly of the counsellers , or in the councell of the bishops , but in the pope alone . 53 the faithfull people erre not , as long as they follow their pastors ; the pastors erre not , as long as they follow their bishops ; the bishops erre not as long as they follow the pope . therefore according to them , the immunitie of the church from errour descendeth from the pope alone . 54 what they attribute unto the pope , that do we attribute un●christ , who teacheth his church by the scriptures and in the scriptures : the church doth not erre as farre forth & as long as it follows the voice of christ , and is ruled by the holy ghost . 55 to conclude , to this end doeth god gather himself a church , that he may have an assembly or company to acknowledge , to praise , and to glorifie him aright , both in this life and in the life to come . 56 the militant church here on earth is the seminary of the church triumphant in heaven . unto which christ bring us , who is the head thereof : to whom be glory for ever and ever . amen . chap. xx. wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the ecclesiasticall ministerie . 1 there are in the church three states or orders , instituted all by god : the ecclesiasticall , politicall , and oeconomicall : the first , of the church ; the second , of the common-wealth ; the third , of the private familie . 2 they are commonly called three hierarchies . 3 the ecclesiasticall order is called in scripture ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) the ministerie , and service . 4 therefore it is not any despoticall or lordly dominion . 5 in this ecclesiasticall ministerie , we are to consider the lawfull vocation thereunto , and the faithfull discharge thereof . 6 vocation is certainly necessarie for ministers of the church , and that such as is lawfull . 7 for , how shall they preach , except they be sent ? rom. 10.15 . 8 the power and right of calling ministers is gods own : it is he , who as the lord of the harvest sendeth forth labourers into his harvest . matth. 9.38 . 9 now god calls the ministers of his church both immediately , and mediately . 10 immediately he called the prophets in the old testament , and the apostles in the new. 11 which manner of calling the apostle , gal. 1.1 . describeth thus , that it was neither of man , nor by man , but by jesus christ , and god the father who raised him from the dead . 12 with which description this is nothing repugnant , that sometimes by some prophet or apostle , or else by lot , this immediate vocation or calling of god is outwardly declared . 13 the immediate vocation or calling is alwayes accompanied with some extraordinarie testimonies and gifts of god. 14 but yet by testimonies and gifts we would not have miracles to be understood . 15 for john the baptist did no miracle . joh. 10.41 . and yet it is certain that he was immediately called . 16 but by these testimonies of immediate vocation , we understand the peculiar declaration and manifestation of the spirit , and the singular power and efficacie of their ministerie . 17 the doctrines of those which are immediately called by god , forasmuchas they speak as they are moved by the holy ghost , are simply and absolutely to be beleeved . 2. pet. 1.21 . 18 whereupon we are said to be built upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles . ephes. 2.20 . 19 they which are called after this manner , have this priviledge , that they are not tied and bound to any certain and particular church , but they are furnished with power & authority to preach every where . 20 from whence it appeares that this immediate vocation hath especially place , either in the constituting of a church , or in the purging of it from errours . 21 the mediate vocation is also the calling of god : but it is by fit men , according to the canon and rule expressed in the word of god. 22 where we must very accurately observe , that the mediate vocation also as well as the immediate belongeth unto god. 23 for it is god that hath set in the church , not onely prophets , apostles , and evangelists , but also pastors and teachers . 1. cor. 12.28 . ephes. 4.11 . 24 the ministers of the church of ephesus are said to be made by the holy ghost , although paul by the imposition , or laying on of hands commended the ministerie unto them . acts 20.28 . 25 the holy ghost even at this day reproveth the world of sin , by those which are called by a mediate vocation . john 16.8 . 26 god , when he calleth by a mediate vocation , useth the ministerie of the church . 27 for unto the church hath he committed the pledge of his word . rom. 3.2 . he hath delivered unto her the sacraments , and unto her as to his spouse he hath given the keyes of the kingdome of heaven . matth. 18.18 . 28 so then the church hath power and right to call ministers : but it is from god , and it must be in such manner and order as is expressed in the scriptures . 29 what manner and order of calling we here understand , it is declared by the precepts and practise of the apostles . 30 whomsoever you shall approve by your letters ( saith the apostle , 1. cor. 16.3 . ) them will i send . a bishop must have a good report . 1. tim. 3.7 . lay hands suddenly on no man. 1. tim. 5.22 . suddenly , that is , before thou hast the testimony & consent of the church . 31 adde hither also the practise of the apostles . at the ordination and election of deacons , the apostles speak after this manner , brethren look ye out among you seven men of honest report , full of the holy ghost and wisdome , whom we may appoint over this businesse . acts 6.3 . and again , elders were ordained in every church by suffrages , or voices acts 14.23 . 32 whereupon were made those old canons . no reason it is that any should be suffered to be reckoned and accounted amongst bishops unlesse they be elected by the clergie , desired by the people , and consecrated by the bishops of the same province with the judgement of the metropolitane . ( c. null . dist . 62. ex leon. episc. rom. ) 33 item , let them be desired by the people , elected by the clergie , and ordained by the judgement of the bishops . 34 item , whosoever are to be made priests , for such let a postulation be made unto the bishops , let them have the hands of clergie-men of good credit , and let them also have the testimonie and consent of the people . 35 that place of cyprian ( lib. 1. epist. 4. ) is e●pecially to be noted , where it is said , the people especially have power of electing such as are worthy , and refusing such as are unworthy to be priests , and we see apparantly that it descends by authority from above , that the priest be elected in the ●ight and presence of the people , and be approved and thought worthy by publike judgement and testimonie . 36 wherefore seeing that the power and right of calling ministers belongs unto the whole church : neither let the presbyterie alone , nor the magistracie alone , nor the rest of the multitude alone , usurp & challenge to themselves this power . 37 for what concerns all , that must all have a care of . 38 but let all things be done decently and in order . 1. cor. 14.40 . 39 the publike and solemne testification of this mediate vocation , is the rite of ordination , by which in the sight of god and in the presence of the whole church , the person lawfully called is separated from the rest of the multitude to this charge and office , and is commended unto god by prayers , and hath a publike testimonie of his foregoing vocation . 40 we deny that ordination is a sacrament , if the word be properly and strictly taken . 41 for it wants the outward element expressely instituted by christ himself in the new testament : it wants also the promise of application and obsignation of grace proper to the gospell . 42 before ordination there goes diligent examination of the party to be ordained , by which enquirie is made concerning his confession , learning , aptnesse to teach , and order of life . 43 the rule of this examination is set down unto us 1. tim. 3.2 ▪ &c. tit. 1.6 , 7 , 8 , &c. 44 in which places such vertues are required of him , that hath committed unto him the office of teaching in the church , as are either common to him with other true godly , or else are proper and peculiar unto him . 45 the common are these , that he must be blamelesse , the husband of one wife , vigilant , s●ber , of good behaviour , given to hospitalitie , not given to wine , no striker , not greedy of filthy lucre , but patient , not a b●awler , not covetous , &c. 1. tim. 3.2 , 3 , 4 , &c. tit. 1.6 , 7 , 8 , &c. 46 now the reason , why the apostle maketh mention of these common vertues , is : because integritie of life is required of ministers not onely for the same causes for which they are required of other private christians ; but also in a peculiar name : that their ministerie be not calumniated , reproached , and ill spoken of , and so the fructification of the word be hindred . 47 the apostle requires that a bishop be the husband of one wife , to stop the mouthes of heretikes , which speak against their marrying : shewing thereby that marriage is no impure thing , but so honourable , that it is no hindrance to a man from ascending up unto the bishops chair . chrysost. in cap. 1. tit. 48 therefore the ecclesiasticall order , or the clergie are not by gods law forbidden marriage . 49 for the temperance or continencie which the apostle requires in a bishop ( tit. 1.8 . ) cannot be proved to be understood of the vow of continencie , or living unmarried ; untill it be first shewed that there is no temperance or continencie in the married life of the godly . ecclesiasticus 26.22 . galat. 5.23 . 50 neither doth the apostle hereby hinder those from the ministerie , who after they have buried one wife , have lawfully married another . 51 but he forbids those to be chosen unto the ministerie , who in any sort sinne so against the ●eventh commandment , that they are not the husbands of one wife . 52 as for example , if they live in adulterie : if at the same time they have more wives then one : if putting away and divorcing from them a lawfull wife ( except it be in case of adulterie ) they marry another , or choose unto themselves one that is divorced from another . 53 neither yet doth he prescribe marriage unto all ministers of the church as a thing absolutely necessarie : but he leaves it as a thing arbitrarie , either to marry or not to marry ; and makes married ministers subject unto the laws of matrimonie established by god. 54 the proper and peculiar vertues , which the apostle requires of the ministers of the church are these , that they must be apt to teach . 1. tim. 3.2 . that they be furnished and instructed with the gift to teach , & be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gain-sayers . tit. 1.9 . 55 so much concerning the lawfull vocation or calling unto the ministerie : now follows the faithfull discharge of the same . 56 by the faithfull discharge of the ministerie , we understand all duties of ecclesiasticall ministration , according to the apostle . 1. cor. 4.1 . let a man so account of us as of the ministers of christ , and the stewards of the mysteries of god. and in the 2. verse , moreover it is required in stewards , that a man be found faithfull . 57 which faithfulnesse consists in this , that the things of the church wherewith the minister is entrusted by god , be ordered and administred according to the prescript will of god. 58 the things of the church either concern doctrine , or the sacraments , or discipline . 59 the office then of a minister , is contained in these three things ▪ the lawfull administration of doctrine , the sacraments , and discipline . 60 the administration or discharge of the ministers office as concerning doctrine consisteth in the confirmation of the truth , and the refutation of errours . 61 the rule both of doctrine and reproofe is the onely word of god. 2. tim. 3.16 . 62 unto doctrine pertaineth the interpretation of the holy scripture , and the applying of the same unto the use and benefit of the church . 63 in the administration of the sacraments we are to consider both the object , and the manner . 64 by the name of object we understand that provident care of the minister , by which he is held to have regard and foresight unto whom the sacraments are to be administred , and who are to be kept backe from them . 65 and this is the chiefest cause why private confession and absolution are still held in some churches , although there are not wanting many other reasons . 66 by the name of the manner is understood that all things are to be administred according to the prescript rule of christ , and , as the apostle saith , decently and in order . 1 cor. 14.40 . 67 the ecclesiasticall discipline is exercised in correcting faults , and passing ecclesiasticall judgement and sentence . 68 faults are to be corrected according to the order & degrees prescribed by christ. matt. 18.15 . 69 let private and publike admonition and warning go before : and if those will not serve the turne , let the severe administration of ecclesiasticall judgement and sentence succeed in the place thereof , which consisteth in excommunication . 70 excommunication ( the latter part of the keyes ) is either that which is called the lesser , or else that which is called the greater . 71 the lesser is that , by which the sinner is interdicted the participation of the lords supper for a time . 72 the greater , is that by which , lawfull knowledge going before , the obstinate and contumacious sinner is excluded from the societie of the church , and is delivered up unto satan . 73 the first is called ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or ) excommunication of separation for a time : the second is called ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ) excommunication of execration . 74 it were to be wished that in this last & worst age of the world the reignes of ecclesiasticall discipline were held with a stiffer hand , then commonly they are . 75 the power of excommunicating belongeth unto the whole church , and is pronounced by the minister in the name of the church . 76 therefore the expresse or silent consent of the church is required . when ye are gathered together ( saith the apostle 1 cor. 5.4 , 5. ) and my spirit , with the power of our lord iesus christ , deliver such a one unto satan , &c. 77 the pope of rome as he offends against the lawfull vocation of ministers : so also he offends against the administration of ecclesiasticall discipline . 78 for he derogates too much from the magistracie , & from christian people in taking from them the right and power of electing ministers : and arrogates too much unto himself , in taking upon him to give the sole power unto bishops , and reserving it more especially unto himself . 79 he boasts and glories that he is the monarch , the head , and bridegroome of the church . 80 but by this and many other marks we know him to be the very antichrist . 81 for what markes soever the scripture hath given to know antichrist by , they all meete together in the pope of rome , as histories do witnesse , and experience teacheth . 82 in like manner the pope of rome offends against the administration of ecclesiasticall discipline , many wayes . 83 for he challengeth unto himself the supreme power of excommunicating , absolving , dispensing with , reserving cases , conferring indulgences , benefices , and such like , of propounding lawes , of determining , punishing , and governing the ecclesiasticall hierarchie , &c. franc. vargas . de jurisdict . episc. 84 he boasts and glories that this power is seated in himself as in the head and fountaine , and that it is derived from him unto the bishops as unto the armes and streames . 85 he puts the presbyterie in subjection under the bishops , and grants unto them farre lesse power of jurisdiction . 86 this also is to be disliked in the papall excommunication , that he thunders it out against whole cities , whole provincies , yea whole kingdomes , for one , or some few mens sake . 87 neither doth he exercise excommunication against atheisme and notorious offences : but , as histories do witnesse , it proceeds for the most part from private hatred , levitie , ambition , and desire of domineering . 88 for he confounds the ecclesiasticall discipline with civill punishments : for after that he hath excommunicated kings and emperours , he thrusts them out of their kingdomes and empires , he absolves their subjects from their homages and services , and from their oath of allegiance , and exposeth their goods unto all men for a pray . 89 what the end of papal excommunication is , let us consult with histories , but especially let us have recourse unto rodericus z●morensis ( in speculo vit . human. lib. 2. cap. 3. ) and nicholas de cleman . ( lib. de ruin. & reparat . ecclesiae ) whose testimonie is most true on this part . 90 by these and the like abuses without doubt it is so come to passe , that the most wholesome part of ecclesiasticall discipline is at this day fallen to decay and come to ruine . see other causes thereof in luthers commentaries ( supr . 3. joel . tom. 4. jen. fol. 801. &c. ) reade them and perpend them . 91 o christ thou which thrustest forth labourers into thy harvest , thrust in thy sickle , and reape : for the time is come for thee to reape : for the harvest of the earth is ripe . revel . 14.15 . and the grapes are fully ripe . 18. whosoever loveth thee , let him say , come . amen . chap. xxi . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the politicall order , or the civill magistracie . 1 the goods , not onely of the life to come , which are eternall , but even those of this life , which are temporall , the hope of fruition whereof man lost by his apostasie and falling away from god , are by god restored again to mankind for the merit and intercession of the sonne . 2 by the ministerie of the word god gathereth unto himself a church , by which he may be rightly and duely acknowledged and praised , in the true members whereof he may restore his decayed image , and inchoate or begin eternall life . 3 but , because this gathering together of the church , and the restoring of the divine image is wrought in this life : therefore god hath instituted and ordained the politicall order or the civill magistracie , to be as it were an hedge to the church . 4 for to this end hath god appointed kings , and all that be fet in authoritie , & given them rule and power , that under them we may leade a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honestie . 1 tim. 2.2 . 5 the church is gathered together out of mankinde . mankinde being miserably corrupted since the fall cannot possible consist without civill government . therefore was it necessarie for the churches sake , that the politicall order , or civill magistracie should be instituted and appointed . 6 the parts of the politicall order are two : the magistrates and the subjects . 7 the magistrates rule ; the subjects obey . 8 the magistrates are either supreme or subordinate . submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the lords sake : whether it be to the king , as supreme ; or unto governours , as unto them that are sent by him . 1. pet. 2.13 . 9 the supreme magistrate hath soveraigne and full power and authoritie , under god : the subordinate is so set over others , that he is still set under the supreme . 10 both are gods own institution : for there is no power but of god. rom. 13.1 . 11 therefore a christian man is not forbidden to be a magistrate , and to beare rule and authoritie . 12 the gospell doth not take away civill government : neither do gods institutions overthrow one another . 13 god calls men unto the magistracie either immediately or mediately . 14 examples of immediate calling we have in moses , david , &c. for god by his own voice called them immediately and extraordinarily unto the rule and governing of his people . 15 mediate calling is especially two waies , either by hereditarie succession , or by mens election : unto these two waies of calling may all other be referred . 16 they which are called unto the magistracie mediately , are no lesse to be accounted as instituted and appointed by god , then those which were called by the voice of god himself immediately . 17 for whereas peter calleth them the ordinance of man. 1. epist. 2.13 . he doth it not therefore , as if they were onely an humane ordinance : but because they are ordained by men , because they are men , and because they are made and appointed for the good of men , and common benefit of humane societie . 18 the office of a magistrate is seen or considered , either in peace or warre . 19 in the time of peace let him administer justice and judgement . 20 by justice we understand externall obedience to both tables of the commandments . 21 for it is the magistrates charge and care , to see that both the tables of the commandments be kept and observed , as farre as it concernes externall discipline . 22 he may and must hinder false and blasphemous opinions from being spread abroad : he may and must punish those which are seducers of soules , especially such as are seditious : he may and must hinder the profanation of the sabbath . 23 but yet he must not take upon him authoritie and power over the consciences of men , whereof god onely is king. 24 therefore neither must the magistrate compell the subjects to any false religion , neither must the subjects obey , if he goes about to compell them . 25 unto the administration of justice , there belongeth also the power of making civill lawes , to be the determination of the law of nature . 26 for christian commonwealths are not simply tyed and bound to the judiciall lawes of moses . 27 unto the same also belong contracts , which are to be moderated by charitie & equitie : from whence it is easily gathered , what we may determine in the question , about vsurie . 28 the scripture simply forbiddeth vsurie : but what be contracts of vsurie , that we must learne from the end of the law , which is charitie ; and from the description of the prohibition , as also from the incorrupt judgement of the prudent . 29 by the name of judgement forementioned , we understand the defending of the good , and the punishing of those which do that which is evill . rom. 13.4 . 30 to which end and purpose were judiciall lawes invented , for the hearing & judging both civill and criminall causes . 31 therefore a christian man is not forbidden to go to law , so he do it in a lawfull manner . 32 the punishment which the magistrate inflicteth upon the transgressours of the lawes , and the troublers of humane societie , must be correspondent to the fault committed . 33 for it is not free for the magistrate at his pleasure , to let delinquents and offenders , especially such as are in any enormous crime , escape and go unpunished . 34 yet sometimes equitie and moderation of the rigour of the law is to be used : but still with a respect unto the delinquent or offender , and the offence it self . 35 as extreme rigour of the law is sometimes , extreme injuries : so likewise extreme indulgence and remissenesse doth dull the edge of the law and much diminish the power and authoritie of the magistrate . 36 here a question is moved about heresie , theft , and adulterie , whether the punishment thereof ought to be capitall . 37 whosoever doth maintaine an heresie privately , or else doth spread it abroad but not seditiously : we deny that such a one is to be put to death . 38 other wayes of sowing , and spreading abroad heresies , we leave unto the magistrate to punish . 39 to say that the punishment of simple theft ▪ especially if it be but of a light and petty matter , ought to be capitall : that 's very hard . 40 yet we do not mislike that the rigour of the law should be executed upon such as are common robbers , breakers into houses , and such as have often escaped for stealing , and yet steal againe . 41 the law of god hath adjudged adulterie to be punished with death . 42 in the time of warre let the magistrate be mindfull of his office and duty , that he wages warre lawfully . 43 for neither is the magistrate forbidden to denounce warre , nor the subjects to take up armes : if the warre be lawfull . 44 the conditions of a lawfull warre are these , that it be undertaken upon authoritie of superious , upon a good cause , and with a good intention . thom. 2.2 . q. 40. 45 warre is not warre but robberie , if it be undertaken without lawfull authoritie of him that denounceth it . 46 the just causes of warre are three , either just defence , or just punishment , or recovering what is unjustly taken away . 47 there must also be added an intention of a fit and convenient end . the will must be for peace , and warre is not to be undertaken but upon necessitie : the end of going to warre is or ought to be the procuring of peace . august . epist. 205. 48 to a right intention we referre also the lawfull manner of waging warre . 49 it was worthily spoke by aurelianus to a certaine tribune of souldiers , if thou wilt be a tribune , if thou wilt live , hold thy souldiers in , that they cōmit no outrages . let none of them st●ale an hen , take away another mans sheepe , pull of a grape , ●read down the standing corn , exact oyle , salt , or wood , but let them be content with their owne wages : if they go a forraging and boothaling , let them do it in their enemies countrie and not in the countrie of their friends and allyes . 50 for it can never be hoped , that those souldiers should be prosperous in warlike enterprises , and feats of armes , which at their departure carry away with them curses and teares for their viaticum to feed upon by the way . gregor . lib. 6. histor. cap. 12. 51 let them try their strength against their enemies : but even against them let the stratagems of warre which they use be lawfull . 52 but yet it behooves a magistrate to try all courses before he goes to warre : for he may not do it , but when the extreme necessity of the commonwealth calls for it . as physicians are wont to do , when other remedies will not serve , at length to come to searing and lancing . 53 as in playing at dice , when mony is laid once at stake , it is a question upon the cast whose it shall be : so is it in warre , the chance is doubtfull ; what the event will be , it is uncertain : the king and the countrie lies at stake . 54 the other part of the politicall order , or civill state , is made up by the subjects , which are relatively opposed to the magistrates . 55 and they are either meere subjects , or else they are joyned also in some power . 56 the subjects owe unto their magistrates honour , fear , fidelitie , obedience , tribute , and prayers for them . 57 this honour must be performed in heart and minde , in mouth and word , in work and deed . 58 we must look upon the magistrates as the ordinance of god : neither must we detract from them with a black mo●th , nor deny unto them outward reverence . 59 the obedience which is to be performed hath certain bounds and limits : for those subjects which also themselves are joyned in some power , may inhibit the magistrates from usurping too much power and authoritie over them . 60 yea those also which are meerly subjects are not bound to obey the magistrates in all things : that is , if they shall command any thing against pietie and honestie . 61 subjects are to fear their own kings ; for they have rule and authoritie over them : but kings also must fear god ; for his kingdome ruleth over all . psalme 103.19 . 62 we must fear god rather then man : god , whose commands are alwaies just , rather then man commanding that which is unjust . 63 if any thing be commanded , which seems hard and grievous to be born , yet we must beare it : but if that which is commanded be impious and unjust we are bound not to obey it . 64 we owe tribute unto kings and magistrates : because they labour for us ; because they rule and govern us ; and because they defend us . 65 but here a due moderation is required : for the tribute must be such as the subjects are well able to pay , and such as the necessitie of the commonwealth requires . 66 here the question is moved , whether that place 1. sam. 8. is to be understood of right or custome . it may be answered , by distinguishing between the necessitie of government , and the pleasure of the king. 67 prayers also are a due which subjects are to pay unto kings and those that are in authoritie , as the apostle teacheth expressely . 1. tim. 2.2 . 68 it was well said by b●genhagius , that if we were as ready to pray for the magistrates , as we are to d●●ract from them , then certainly things would go better with us , and it would be the better for us . 69 the hebrew rabbies have such a saying as this , wo unto tha● people which bury their own lords . rabb . solomon jar ▪ in comment . hos. 1. 70 and antigonus after his death is often digged up again by his subjects . 71 and thus much concerning the politicall order , or civill state. that which remains concerns the politicall doctrine . 72 god who establisheth kingdomes , grant unto all christian kings princes and governours peace and tranquillity both in body and minde here in this life , and eternall salvation both of body and soul in the life to come . amen . chap. xxii . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning wedlock , or marriage . wedlock is a state which was ordained by god even then when man stood in his integritie , and before his fall . 2 marriage is honourable in all , and the bed undefiled . heb. 13.4 . 3 but to speak properly and accurately , it is no sacrament , according to the definition which is given unto baptisme , and the lords supper . 4 for it wants the externall and visible element according to gods institution , and likewise it wants the promise which is proper to the gospell . 5 but if we speak generally and in a large sense , so it may be called a sacrament , that is , a signe of an holy thing . ephes. 5.32 . 6 the proper place and seat of the doctrine concerning marriage is to be found in gen. 2.18 , &c. 7 unto which christ calling us back , matth. 19.5 . sheweth that the answer and solution of all questions and doubts concerning marriage is to be fetcht from that place . 8 there it is taught that marriage is the lawfull & indissoluble knot and joyning together of two onely , to wit , the man and the woman . 9 there , digamie and polygamie , that is , having two wives or more is against the institution of marriage . 10 digamie is not , when a man after the death of the first woman marrieth a second , but when a man at the same time hath two wives . chrysost. in 1. tim. 3. 11 for neither are second marriages , nor third , nor more then these forbidden by the holy ghost , if so be that those that marry marry in the lord. 12 again , the woman after the death of her first husband may be married again as before , and yet oftener . 13 god tolerated in the fathers in the old testament polygamie or having many wives , but he no where commanded it . 14 god tolerated it , i say , not for unbridled lusts sake , but for propagating of the church , and promoting the promise concerning the blessed ●eed . 15 and so god used that , which was evill in them , to a good end . 16 that the marriage-knot may be lawfull , there is required the mutuall consent of both parties . 17 therefore there must be no violence used , neither must there be any errour , especially such as toucheth the substantialls of marriage . 18 the consent which is required must be lawfull , honest , just , free , full , and sincere . 19 but , though we said there must not be any errour , yet if the faith be once pledged , and the promise of marriage once made , it is not to be broken upon every errour . 20 neither is the contract to be made void and of none effect , for want of every condition which is required in the consent . 21 and further the consent of the parties is without force and efficacie , if there be not also the consent of their parents . 22 and therefore we say that the consent of the parents is as well required as the mutuall consent of the parties , and that not onely for honesties sake , but also for necessitie . 23 and this we say following the authoritie of the divine , naturall , and civill law . 24 which also some canons of the pontificiall law , especially the more ancient , do approve . 25 if the parents forget the duty which they owe unto their children , or if they will abuse their power : the magistrate is to succeed into the place of the parents . 26 unto the lawfull joyning together in matrimonie this is also required that the degrees of kindred be not violated . 27 who may lawfully be joyned together in matrimonie , and who are forbidden we are taught in leviticus , chapt . 18 , and 20. by an expresse limitation of degrees both of consanguinitie and affinitie . 28 which texts we say are to be taken and understood not onely of the persons , but also of the degrees . 29 and we expresly and plainly affirme that these are the constitutions of the law of nature . 30 in these therefore there is no place for dispensation . 31 to these divine lawes , not without good and wholesome counsell and advice , for greater reverence , there are also added by godly magistrates prohibitions even to the third degree of an unequall line . 32 ▪ which we also hold fit to be observed ; but yet so , that upon a good and probable cause they may be relaxed . 33 but still there must be a proviso , or care had , that dispensation be not turned into dissipation . 34 in the computation or reckoning of the degrees , we follow the disposition and order of the canon● . 35 not that we acknowledge our selves to be bound unto the canons of the pontificiall law : but because herein it is sound and good . 36 in a right line there is given this rule : as many as the persons are ; so many are the degrees , excepting one . 37 in a collaterall equall line this rule is given : as many degrees as one person is distant from the stock ; so many degrees is it distant from the other . 38 in a collaterall unequall line , in what degree the person more remote is distant from the stock , in that likewise it is distant from the other . 39 in respect of affinitie also some there are which are not to be married together . 40 but this affinitie , which hindreth marriage , doth not stretch it self farre . 41 for betweene the kindred of the husband and the kindred of the wife , there is no such affinitie but that they may marry one another . 42 but betweene the wife and the kindred of the husband , as also between the husband and the kindred of the wife , there is such affinitie that they may not marry one another . 43 therefore , according to the constitutions of all lawes , in a right line prohibition extends it self infinitely . 44 in a collaterall line , by the provinciall lawes , prohibition is extended to the third degree . 45 and it respects not onely consanguinitie but also affinitie . 46 and it is good counsell which is given by ictus , that in joyning together in matrimonie , we are not onely to consider what is lawfull , but also what is honest . 47 the principall end of marriage is the propagation of mankind , and of the church consequently . 48 the lesse-principall ends are , that the man and the wife may be mutuall and faithfull helps the one to the other , and that they may be a type of christ and his church . 49 the accidentall end is , the avoiding of fornication . 50 for what before the fall was instituted for an office or duty , after the fall became an help or remedie . 51 before matrimonie , not without good reason , there must go betrothing . 52 which is the promise of future marriage . 53 after betrothing , there may be a separation , for sundrie causes ▪ which are to be judged in the consistories by godly learned and prudent men . 54 in generall , we say that refusalls may be made for more causes and reasons , then divorces may . 55 for many things may hinder matrimonie to be contracted , which cannot dissolve it when it is contracted . 56 matrimonie is dissolved by death and by adulterie . 57 by adulterie the very knot of matrimonie is dissolved , insomuch that the party innocent may marrie againe . 58 jerom thinks that the adulteresse may not be retained : augugustine thinks that she may not be dismissed , and put away : but we go in a middle way . 59 if one partie forsake the other and go away out of malice : the magistrate doth well in providing and taking care for the partie innocent . 60 but still we must remember christs exclusive , that there is no other just cause of divorce but onely adulterie . 61 a statute speaking exceptively is not extended to other causes . bald. lib. 28. c. de adult . 62 inhabilitie of body for the use of matrimonie doth not make a divorce , but it shewes that no true matrimonie went before . 63 it is proved by this argument : because that inhabilitie hapning after marriage doth not admit of a divorce . 64 we may judge the like concerning any errour in the substantialls . 65 violence is counted equall to desertion . 66 that matrimonie is to be dissolved for heresie , we do not hold , neither do we grant it . 67 virginitie is subordinate to wedlock : for chastitie in both states is pleasing unto god. 68 the apostle preferres virginitie before wedlock , to wit , in idoneous and fit persons , which have the gift of continencie : not absolutely , but in some respect ; by reason of troubles , which follow those that are married , and the circumstances of times . 69 the yoke of virginitie is not to be imposed upon any against their wills : for all are not able to beare it . 70 therefore it is free for all to marrie : but , as for those that burne , it is necessarie . 71 if the spirit voluntarily make thee a virgin , then art thou a virgin indeed : there is no need of a vow , or any coaction . 72 if thou art a virgin upon coaction , before god thou art no virgin : neither doth thy vow profit thee . 73 virginitie of body without virginitie of minde is but hypocriticall 74 which is not to be compared with holy wedlock , but is to be put farre after it . 75 it profits nothing to keep the body impolluted without , and to have the minde fuming and flaming with lusts within . 76 what doth it profit to have the flesh sound , and the minde corrupted ? 77 and yet what one of a thousand is there of those that vow virginitie , which keeps his body altogether impolluted ? 78 but certainly there is not any that hath his minde free from the burning of lust within . 79 paul himself that great apostle would here make no law , nor cast a snare upon any man. 80 it were to be wished therefore that they which cannot containe themselves , would not give up their names to virginitie , and vow to live a single life : it is a sumptuous tower , and a great word which all cannot receive . bern. serm. ad cler. 81 i know no woman , and yet i am no virgin. ( cassianus cites this saying out of basil. lib. 6. de spir. fornic . ) 82 a good man useth wedlock well : but an evill man useth neither wedlock nor virginitie well . 83 christ , who is the bridegroome of the church , be present by his grace with all those that are married , that they may leade a godly life ; and vouchsafe at length to bring us all unto the celestiall marriage . amen . chap. xxiii . wherein are contained theologicall aphorismes concerning the foure last things : death , the resurrection , the judgement , and the place either of eternall joy , or eternall torment . we have seen the estate of christs church militant here on earth . it remains now that we lift up our mindes , and elevate our thoughts to the consideration of the church triumphant in the heavens . 2 the passage of the godly out of the militant church into the church triumphant is by the gate of death . in which consideration gregorie nyssen in his oration concerning death , wittily compareth it to a midwife which brings us forth into another world unto a life truely so called . 3 after death follows the judgement : whose forerunner is the vniversall resurrection . it is appointed unto all men once to die , but after this follows the judgement . hebr. 9.27 . 4 they that have done good shall come forth , unto the resurrection of life : and they that have done evill , unto the resurrection of damnation . john 5.29 . 5 foure things there are which are called a mans last ; the consideration whereof should never depart out of our memorie : and these are they , death , the resurrection , the judgement , and the eternall mansion , and habitation , of the godly in heaven , and the damned in hell. 6 by the name of death here we understand not the continuall miseries of this present life . 1 cor. 15.31 . nor the death of the soule in trespasses and sinnes . ephes. 2.5 . nor that blessed death by which being dead unto sinne , that is , freed and delivered from the dominion thereof , and so from damnation , we live unto god. rom. 6.2 . nor that eternall death , or second death of the damned . revel . 2.11 . 7 but we understand the death of the body , which is the separation of soule from body , the privation of carnall life , and the passing away of the little world. 8 he that dies unto vices , before he dies the death of the body , doth not die an eternall death , when he dies the death of the body . sphinx phil. cap. 36. 9 by the gate of sinne death entred into the world , and so passed upon all men . rom. 5.12 . 10 which death is not the dissolution and reduction of the soule into nothing , but the departing of the soule out of the house of the body . the soule cannot be destroyed . matth. 10.28 . 11 the scripture maketh mention but of two receptacles of soules separated from their bodies : the one , of the godly ; the other of the wicked . 12 away then with purgatorie ; away with that [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ] night and sleeping of soules , betweene the day of death and the day of judgement : away with pythagoras his ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or ) transmigration of soules ; away with apparitions of soules . 13 for there is no middle place , where one can be out of punishment , if he be not in the kingdome : no place , where one can be out of the divells companie , if he hath not fellowship with christ. august . de pecc . mor. & remiss . cap. 2. 14 before the vniversall resurrection , the greater world shall passe away : and after that shall follow the vniversall judgement . 15 many of the ancients were of opinion that the world should passe away , by the change of qualitie onely , and not by the abolition of substance . 16 but the scripture useth words very emphaticall . heaven and earth shall passe away . matth. 24.35 . luk. 22.33 . 17 the key which is to open our graves , and the pledge of our resurrection , is the resurrection of christ our head. 18 the resurrection of our bodies is confirmed by manifest testimonies of the holy spirit in the scripture , and they are often repeated . 19 the preludes , or forerunners of our resurrection are the particular examples of those which were raised up againe to life in the old and new testament : whom tertullian calls the candidates of immortalitie . 20 man was at the first both in body and soule created for immortalitie : the body is the soules instrument , by which it worketh in actions good or bad . the body of the godly is the temple of the holy ghost : yea our bodies are fed with the quickning body and bloud of christ. and how then can they alwayes remaine in the grave ? 21 god is the authour of our resurrection : but christ is the finisher thereof , in and with his humane nature assumed . 22 not onely all flesh , but even the same flesh that was , shall be raised up againe . 23 their change in a moment , which shall be found alive upon earth at the last day , shall be to them in stead of death and resurrection from the dead . 24 neither shall christ onely raise us up , but he shall be also our judge . joh. 5.27 . the father hath given him authoritie to exequute judgement . 25 christ , when he cometh to judge the world , shall appeare in the same nature , which he united unto himself by his incarnation . that flesh shall sit & judge , which stood before the judge : that flesh shall judge , which was it self formerly judged . 26 this vniversall judgement gods truth & justice do require . 27 the exact forme , manner , and proceeding in judgement at the last day , experience it self will then better teach , then any humane understanding can now conceive . 28 let us , whilst we are here , pray unto god with sighes and grones , to be delivered from the sentence of condemnation in that day : let us now heare the voice of invitation , that then we may heare the voice of consolation . 29 after sentence is once passed , immediately followes execution . then shall they , which are set at the right hand of the judge , enter into life everlasting , and they which are on the left , shall be cast into everlasting fire . matth. 25.34.41 . 30 the blessednesse of eternall life comprehendeth in it the privation and absence of all evill , and the presence and fruition of all good. 31 wee shall be freed and delivered from all sinne , and from all punishment due unto sinne . 32 our vile body shall be fashioned like unto christ his glorious body . philip. 3.21 . but there shall be great difference in glorie . 33 we shall see god without end , we shall love him alwayes without loathing , and praise him evermore without being wearied . august . 22. de civit. dei cap. 30. 34 vision shall succeed in the place of faith , fruition in the place of hope , and charitie here onely inchoate , shall be there consummate . 35 god shall be fulnes of light to the vnderstanding , superabundance of peace to the will , and continuance of eternitie to the memorie . bern. serm. 11. super. cant. col. 519. 36 the saints shall rejoyce for the pleasantnesse of place , which they shall possesse ; for the sweet companie , with whome they shall raigne ; for the glorie of their bodies , which they shall put on ; for the world , which they have contemned ; and for hell which they have escaped . bonavent . in dioet . cap. 50. 37 let us then pant and breathe for earnest desire after that life , whose king is the trinitie , whose law is charitie , and whose measure is eternitie . 38 neither shall our being be subject unto death , nor our knowledge unto errour , nor our love unto offence . sphinx phil. pag. 5. 39 we shall see god face to face : we shall heare him speake immediately unto us . 40 the elect shall have wisdome in the highest degree ; righteousnesse in full perfection ; joy which is everlasting ; and shall sing prayse and glorie unto god without end . 41 all the elect salvation shall see : but glorie in a different degree . 42 it hath not at any time entred into the heart of man to conceive , what glorie god hath prepared for his elect. 1 cor. 2.9 . and if his heart is not able to conceive it , much lesse is his tongue able to expresse it . 43 to the eternall life of the blessed is opposed the eternall death of the damned , which in the revelation is called the second death . 44 the life of the damned shall be , to be alwayes dying : and the death of the damned , to be alwaies living . if it be life , why doth it kill ? and if it be death , why doth it endure ? 45 the damned shall so live , that they shall be alwayes dying , and so dye that they shall be alwayes living . bern. in med. devot . cap. 3. col. 193. 46 in the flesh shall they be tormented with fire , and in the soule with the worme of conscience . ibid. 47 it is the eternitie of the punishments which beyond all measure increaseth their torments , laying upon them a weight unsupportable . 48 for to be tormented without end , this is that which goes beyond all the bounds of desperation . isidor . clar. orat. 12. 49 grievous is the torment of the damned for the bitternesse of th● punishments : but it is more grievous for the diversitie of the punishments : but most grievous for the eternitie of the punishments . dionys. in 18. apocalyps . fol. 301. 50 the gate shall be shut upon them . matth. 25.10 . understand the gate of indulgence , the gate of mercie , the gate of hope , the gate of consolation , and the gate of good works . 51 to be for ever deprived of the beatificall vision of god , goes beyond all the punishments in hell. 52 being squeezed under the unsupportable weight of punishments they shall wish they had no being : but it shall be all in vaine . they shall desire to die ; but death shall ●lee from them . revel . 9.6 . 53 they shall roare for the very disquietnesse of heart ; they shall rage for madnesse , and gnash their teeth : there shall be weeping for griefe , and gnashing of teeth for madnesse . bern. ser. 8. in psal. 91. 54 of all which some have a tast even in this life . 55 the companie of the divells , and the qualiti● of the place do exc●edingly increase the torments of the damned . 56 neither shall the torments of the damned be onely eternall , but they shall also be without all intermission at any time . the smoake of their torments ascendeth up for ever and ever . revel . 14.11 . 57 as in heaven one is more glorious then another : so likewise in hell one shall be more miserable then another . august . in enchirid. cap. 3. 58 we are very curious to know where hell is : but we are not so carefull to learne how we may escape it . our thoughts were better spent in meditating upon it . 59 when we sit downe to eat and drink , and when we rise from table againe ; when we lye downe to sleepe , and when we rise up againe : at all times , and in all places , it is very good to thinke upon hell. 60 for , to thinke upon hell preserves a man from falling into it . chrysost. hom. 44. in matth. 61 doest thou think to quench the flames of hell by not speaking of it ? or , doest thou think thou kindlest the flame thereof by speaking of it ? whether thou speakest of it or no , the flame is alwayes there alike . idem in homil . 2. in 2. thess. 62 he deliver us from eternall death , who himself died for us : he bring us unto eternall life , who himselfe is the prince of life blessed for ever . to whome with the father and the holy spirit be all honour and glorie world without end . amen . finis . the fountaine of free grace opened by questions and answers proving the foundation of faith to consist only in gods free love, in giving christ to dye for the sins of all, and objections to the contrary answered by the congregation of christ in london, constituted by baptisme upon the profession of faith, falsly called anabaptists : wherein they vindicate themselves from the scandalous aspersions of holding free-will, and denying a free election by grace. saltmarsh, john, d. 1647. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a61014 of text r38050 in the english short title catalog (wing s483). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 43 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a61014 wing s483 estc r38050 17163657 ocm 17163657 106078 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a61014) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106078) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1099:20) the fountaine of free grace opened by questions and answers proving the foundation of faith to consist only in gods free love, in giving christ to dye for the sins of all, and objections to the contrary answered by the congregation of christ in london, constituted by baptisme upon the profession of faith, falsly called anabaptists : wherein they vindicate themselves from the scandalous aspersions of holding free-will, and denying a free election by grace. saltmarsh, john, d. 1647. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a61014 of text r38050 in the english short title catalog (wing s483). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread [32], 160 p. reprinted for giles calvert ..., london : 1648. attributed to saltmarsh by wing and dnb. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. eng grace (theology) election (theology) theology, doctrinal. a61014 r38050 (wing s483). civilwar no the fountaine of free grace opened by questions and answers proving the foundation of faith to consist only in gods free love, in giving chr saltmarsh, john 1648 8270 34 0 0 0 0 0 41 d the rate of 41 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-10 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2006-10 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the fovntaine of free grace opened by qvestions and answers : proving the foundation of faith to consist only in gods free love , in giving christ to dye for the sins of all , and objections to the contrary answered by the congregation of christ in london , constituted by baptisme upon the profession of faith , falsly called anabaptists . wherein they vindicate themselves from the scandalous aspersions of holding free-will , and denying a free election by grace . being the second edition corrected and amended . london , reprinted for giles calvert , at the black spread eagle at the west end of pauls . 1648. to the impartiall reader that desireth truth only for the love of it , grace and peace to be multiplyed in this life with happinesse , and salvation in the life to come , through jesus christ . it is not a thing altogether unknowne to th●se that are any whit read in controv●●sies , that many striving against the errours of others ▪ have sometimes denied some 〈…〉 es , and given their opposers thereby much advantage to have a conceit of the goodnesse of their cause , whilest they saw the manifest truth denied by those that contended against them ; the which thing hath fallen out without all doubt with the armini●ns of late , who notwithstanding they have bin found to hold forth many notorious errou●s , raising the very foundation of christian faith : to wit , denying originall sin , holding free will and falling away : yet in asmuch as in confuting them , the manifest truth hath bin denied for the most part : viz. christs suffering for the sinns of all : those adversaries have rather bin emboldened then informed , or convicted , because they conceived , that their adversaries were driven to deny the manifest truth , therfore they themselves were in the truth and on the other side , these erronious persons have glossed their errors under the pre●ence of being direct consequences of christs suffering for the sins of all ( whereas indeed and in truth it is no such matter ) the which thing not being so warily weighed , nor so dilligently searched , as it ought , hath caused many to think evill of this doctrine , and of us professing the same , conceiving that wee cannot be the church of jesus christ , whilst we ( in their conceivings ) maintaine such errours : whereas we having more narrowly searched the same , and by seaching have found not only that it is a truth , but such a truth as is the very foundation of saving faith . doe therefore conceive , that wee , ought to be so farre from shuning the doctrine in respect of the ill esteem it hath from others ; as that we ought rather to owne it more deare to us then our lives , and also to seek by al meanes possible that may be , to make the same known to others , and for this end serves this following discourse , partly to cleare this doctrine from those evil consequences that are supposed undenyably to follow upon it ; and partly to manifest the excellent worth of this truth to our selves & others , it being so far from making us not to be the church of christ , as it is indeed the very doctrine upon which the church of christ is founded . courteous reader , therefore lend thy dilligent search of this ensuing discourse with the quotations therunto annexed and if thou finde the profit by it , that is intended , give god the glory , and let us have thy prayers , and we shall ever rest thine in any service of love to our power , the church of christ in london falsly called anabaptists . the fovntaine of free grace opened . q what meanes hath god provided for mans salvation ? a. god so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believeth in him , should not perish , but have eternall life , john 3. 16. q. is it the duty of all mankind to believe in him for salvation ? a. yea. q and why ? a. because eternall life is promised to whosoever doe believe in him , and eternall death is threatned to them that doe not believe . q. are not all under the penalty of everlasting damnation though there were never a christ to be believed on ? a. yes surely , for so it doth appeare , rom 3. 9. 23. ch. 3. 12 , 16 , 17. 18. 19. q why then is eternall death threatned to mankind for not believing in him ? a. for two causes : first , for that christ having suffered the punishment of our sins , we should not suffer if we believe in him ; the want of which therefore causeth our sins to rest upon us still : and secondly , because the not believing in him is the neglect or contempt of mercy offered , and so a grevious sin , and doth deserve condemnation more then any other sin of any other kind , john 3 18. heb. 2 3. 4. q. hath chrict then suffered the punishment due for the sins of all mankind ? a. yes surely , for so it is written 2 cor. 5. 15 , heb. 2. 9 1 tim 2 6. isa. 53. 6. iohn 1. 29. and 3. 16. 17. 2. john 2. 2. john 6. 51. & 4. 42. & 12. 47. ob. then all mankind must needs be saved , or else god be unjust in punishing our sins in christ , and in us also . a. it doth not follow , for though our sins are punished in christ , yet they are not pardoned in us unlesse we believe : hence it is that we are justified by faith in christ , not without : for he that believeth not shal be damned mar. 16. and the reason is , because else christ hath not the honour of mediatourship as means of pardon of sins . and secondly , he that trusts not in christ trusts in himself , & must be tryed according to his trust whereon he leaneth . obj. but yet it seemeth god is unjust in punishing christ , and us also . a. not so : for christ did not suffer for any such end , as to free us from punishment without faith in him : but that those that believe might be saved ioh. 3. 16. and the rest left without excuse ioh. 12. 47. 48. which could not be if he had not suffered the punishment due for the sins of all . obj. but yet then it seemes that christ suffered in vaine . a. not so : for in that those that believe in him are saved , and those that believe not have no excuse to make for themselves why they believe not in him , therefore he suffered not in vaine . q. could not christ have effected , that all should have believed . a. he could if he would , but his suffering for all doth not necessarily enforce that he must worke faith in all , he was free in the giving of himself to suffer . ioh. 10. 18. and he is free also in quickning the soules of whom he will ioh. 5. 21. obj. why doth christ say math. 23. 37. how oft would j have gathered thy children together , and ye would not . a. it was not to shew that any thing was impossible or too hard for christ to do , but only to shew the aversnes of those people to the means of grace afforded . q. shall every one that believeth in christ be saved ? a. yea surely , for so it is writren iohn 3. 16. acts 16. 31. q. what is that thing that is to be believed by all ? a. that which christ hath commanded to be preached to all , rom. 16. 26. q. what is that ? a. the gospell which is glad tydings of good things , mar. 16. 15. rom. 10. 15 , 16. q. vvhat are those glad tydings ? a. peace and remission of sins by christ , rom : 10 15. ephes. 2. 17. luke 2. 10. 14. & 10. 5. 24. 47. acts 13. 38. q. ought al men to believe remission of sins in christ ? a. yea surely , in as much as christ hath required remission of sins to be preached to all in his name , and nothing is required of any to be made partakers of that remission but only faith to believe it , rom. 3. 28. gal. 2. 16. q. are all mens sins then remitted in christ , as a truth to be preached to , and to be observed by al though men be not yet believers . a , not so , but the matter and meanes of remission of sins is true in christ for all , 1 iohn 2. 2. but then only formally remitted when the former truth is preached in the name of christ and believed , john 1. 12. 13. gal. 3. 26. q. ought men to believe that their sins are pardoned yea or no ? a. yea , john 11. 26. q. but ought we not to believe that our sins are pardoned by a direct act of faith , in christ , or ought wee to reflect upon our faith for the ground of our beliefe in that particular ? a. not the latter , but the former , because by the same faith by which christ is understood to be the meanes of the remission of sins , by the same he is understood to be such an effectuall meanes as nothing is needfull to be added thereto ; seeing his death is our life , for by his stripes we are healed isa. 53. 5. and he that doth truly believe , that christ god man hath suffered for his sins , cannot but believe , that his sins are pardoned , and that he shall not suffer for them : as on the other side it is impossible that any should groundedly believe the the latter , that doth not upon true grounds believe the former . q. ought all to believe , that all sins are pardoned past , present and to come ? a. yea , col. 1. 21. 22. & 2. 13. 14. ephes. 2 , 13 14. 15. rom. 3. 22. 23. q. why then doth christ teach us to pray , forgive us our sins ? a. because forgivenes of sins is by faith in christ , and though all ought , yet all doe not believe in christ ; and those that do , do not so fully believe as they ought , and therefore ought to pray , that god would give and increase in us the believing in christ the forgivnesse of sins , and remove from us tho se evills that a 〈…〉 ends our unbelief q are there any evills that attend the unbeliefe then of gods own people ? a yea surely , for god doth rebuke , chastise , and judge them for it , with temporall judgments , helping them therby as his children to mortify the sin that remaineth in them , keeping them by this meanes from eternall damnation . 1 cor. 11 23. heb , 12. 5. 10 11. rev. 3. 19. q. are not all the sins of all believers washed away in the blood of christ ? a. yes and of all unbelievers too : as a truth to be believed by all . rom. 3 , 22. 23 24 25 joh. 1. 29 & . 12. 47. chap. 3. 16. 17. q. is not the sinne of unbeliefe washed away in the blood of christ . a. yes as a truth to be believed or else believers themselves could have no certainty of salvation . q. why then are not all saved ? a. because they that believe not have no part in christ nor his sufferings . q. but are not the sins of believers washed away otherways then in unbelievers ? a. yes surely , and so they are otherwais washed away in a glorified believer , then in one yet remaining in the state of grace not glorified . 1. cor. ●3 . 9. 10. 11. 12. col. 3. 3. 4. 1. joh. 3. 2. rom. 8. 23. q. are not all the sinnes of all believers so washt aaway as that the guilt doth not remaine at all against them ? a. yes , so as they shal never come into condemnation . joh. 5. 24. but not so , but that as yet they need mortification : and in that respect are subject to rebuke , chastisement , & temporall iudgements as meanes to help them therein . 1. cor. 11. 22. heb. 12. 5. 10. 11. rev. 3. 19. which the glorified saints need not . q. but whether doth god in these rebukes , chastisements and temporall iudgements exercised upon his saints intend therein the satisfaction of justice by that meanes ? a. not so , for that is satisfied in christs sufferings which they partake of by faith effectually to the justification of their persons from condemnation , but not for the justification of their evill actions which god doth as much dislike , and is displeased with in his own people as in others , and doth in love to their persons shew and manifest his displeasure against those evil actions , by chastisments and temporall judgements , in his own children more then in others . q. hath christ then suffered for all the sins of all though they be unbelievers ? a. yes surely , and that doth appeare : first because that is the plaine doctrine of the scripture 2. cor. 5. 14. 15. 19. 21. joh. 1. 29. & 3. 16. 17. & 4. 42. & 6. 51. & 12. 47 , 1 tim. 2. 6. heb. 2. 9. & 9. 26. 1. john 2. 2. 2. because christ hath appointed remission of sins in his name , and by his death to be preached to all unbelievers , luke 10. 5. & 24 47. mar. 16. 15 ephe. 2 17. act. 13 : 38. 3. because else there is no meanes that an unbeliever should become a believer by : for how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard , rom. 10. 14. 4. because it is the greatest sin in an unbeliever , not to believe that christ hath suffered for all his sins . joh. 3. 19. & 12 , 47. 48. & 16 9 2 thes. 1. 8. & 2. 10. heb. 2 3. & 10. 29. 1 joh. 5. 10. ob. true it is , and may be granted , that christ suffered for all to procure an outward and temporall benefit , but not for justification and salvation . a. some there be , that doe enioy no more then an outward and temporall benefit , it is true ▪ and it had been good for such they never had enioyed it . mat. 36. 24. because they received not the love of the truth , by believing the forgivenesse of their sinns in the sufferings of christ , that they might be saved , as the scriptures next before mentioned doe shew , with luke 10. 11. acts 13. 46 , rom. 2. 4. 5. 2. pet. 3. and secondly , this overthrowes the office of the gospell and faith , because what soever christ suffered for , must be preached & believed , & no more , 1 cor. 15. 2. 3. and that is remssion of sins , act 13. 38. 39. now then if he suffered to procure an outward temporall benefit , and not for iustification and salvation , then that must be preached and believed and no more , and what need that be preached or believed either if , that were all , seeing all doe enioy that though it be neither preached nor believed . obi. but christ saith , john . 17. 9. i pray not for the world : therefore surely he did not dye for the sins of all the world . a. christs prayer is to be destinguished in respect of the thing prayed for ( to wit ) some things were speciall only belonging to the saints , ver. 9. compared with v. 11. 15. & 17. and some things are common to all , and so for such things christ did pray for the world as ver. 21 23. though not in respect of the things in speciall belonging only in peculiar to the saints . obj. but christ saith , i know that thou hearest me alwayes . a. true , and therfore christ was hard in praying for the world ; for he only prayed for the unity of the faithful , as a means tending to cause the world to believe , as his suffering for all is of the same nature , whether men believe ▪ it or not : and thus the sufferings of christ and his prayer for all is of equal extention , as a meanes tending to cause them to believe , and if they do not , they are left without excuse . obj. but christ saith , john 10. 15. i say downe my life for my sheep . a. true , & so doth not the hireling , & this is his meaning in so saying , and not to exclude any person , as such for whom he hath not laid dwone his life . ob. it is said luke 1 , 68 , mat 1. he hath redeemed and shall save his people . a. in the old testament israel were in special caled his people , and so these places meane , the one being spoken by zachary , the other to joseph , both isralites , for the comfort of that people in speciall in the time while that dispensation lasted , yet not so then as to exclude others , as appears , luk 2. 30. 31. 32. john 11. 50. 51. 52. act 13. 46 47. isa. 49. 16. therfore this hinders not , but that christ suffered for the sins of all . obj. it is said isa. 53. 12. he bare the sins of many : therefore not of all . a , it doth not follow , seeing many is opposed to a few , not to all , as appeares in rom 5. 19. by one mans disobedience many were made sinners , that is all : and also in dan. 12. 2. obj. it is said ephe. 5. 25. christ loved the church and gave himself for it : therefore not for all , a. it doth not follow , seeing paul saith , 1 tim. 2. 6. he gave himself a ransom for al : therfore by saying he gave himself for it , it is not to exclud any for that were to make the scripture to contradict it selfe , but only to shew that the church did partake of such love from christ as a pattern to husbands towards their wives . and it may aswell be concluded , because paul said christ , loved me and gave himselfe for me , that he gave himselfe for no other , as because he loved the church , and gave himself for it : therfore not for all . ob. but christ saith iohn 15. 13. greater love then this hath no man , when any man b●stoweth his life for his friends : therefore christ suffered nor for the sinnes of all . a. it doth not follow , for such love is found in christ to his enemies , rom. 5. 10. col. 1. 21. 22 therefore there is in christ found greater love , then any that is among men . obi. but it is said in rev. 5. 9. & 14. 3. 4 some were redeemed from the earth from among men : therefore he suffered not for the sins of all . a. we must destinguish redemption in respect of price , and in respect of the end and application : now the price is paid for all , heb. 2. 9. 1 tim. 2 6. and the end is . that persons should no longer live to themselves ( as formerly they with others the men of this world have done ) but unto him that hath paid the price for them , 2 cor. 5. 15. and this only they performe that have faith given unto them , whereby they doe apply the benefit of this price ; in which latter respect they only are said to be redeemed : yet in respect of price , christ suffered for the sinnes of all : obi : but christ doth not call all , for he saith mat 9. 13 : i am not come to call the righteous , but sinners to repentance : therfore he suffered not for the sins of all . a : god admonisheth all men every where to repent . acts 17 : 30 : and therfore christ in saying , i am not come to call the righteous , doth not intend that any were righteous , and thereby such as were excluded from his call , but only this , that so farre as any thought themselves more righteous then others , so farre forth they doe necessarily exclude themselves from the call of christ more then others . obi. but it seemes by . rom. 5 : 9 : 10 : that all that christ died for , shall be saved . a. not so , neither doth paul so intend , but only that we have more manifest grounded reason to believe salvation by him now he hath suffered for us , then we had before . obi. but paul saith rom. 8. 32. he that spared not his own son , but gave him up for us all , how shall he not with him freely give all things also : but god doth not give all things freely unto all , universally : therefore he suffered not for all . a. al things are so inseperably united unto christ , that unto whomsoever christ is offered , all things are offered with him , and whosoever receiveth christ , receiveth all things with him , iohn , 13. 20. mat : 10 : 40 : luke 10 : 16 : 1 tim 4 8. mat. 6. 3. and whosoever denyeth or refuseth christ , refuseth all things with him , lu. 12. 8. 9. & 9 : 26 : 2 tim. 12. mat. 10. 33. mar. 8. 38. 2 thes. 2. 10. 12 and to whomsoever god gives faith , and so christ , by which only christ properly becomes ours ephe. 3. 17. which god only gives to his elect , tit. 1. 1. ro. 8. 28. 29 , 30. to them he gives with that faith , and that christ freely all things , 1 cor. 3. 21. but this hinders not but that he suffered for all , though faith , and christ by faith , be not given to all : and this appeares in that some for whom he is given do deny him , 2. pet. 2. 1. mat. 21. 42. john 1. 11. obj. but in heb. 9. 13 , 14 it is said that the blood of christ doth more abundantly purge the conscience , then the blood of buls and goates did purifie the flesh : but the blood of buls and goates , and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the uncleane sanctified to the purifiing of the flesh : and all have not their consciences purged by the blood of christ : therefore he suffered not for all . a. true it is , that the blood of christ is of a purging nature for all , but some tread it under their feet and count it common or unholy , heb. 10. 29. and do not by faith ( as with a bunch of hysop ) sprinkle it upon the conscience , and no marvell though they remain unclean still : and so if the beasts were slain , yet unlesse the blood were sprinkled on the unclean , they would remain so in their flesh stil : yet this hinders not , but that christ suffered for the sins of all , that whosoever beleeveth in him being thereby purged , may be saved . q is there any power in man by nature to believe this doctrine ? a. no surely , because he cannot know it , for it is a foolish doctrine , & enmity to the wisedom of every naturall man , 1 cor. 1. 23. & 2. 14. rom. 8. 7. 8. and the light and understanding thereof , is only had by the power of the spirit of god , 1 iohn 4. 13 , 14 and all men naturally are more averse unto this then unto any other thing , iohn 5. 40 , 44. matt. 23. 37 : q. why doth god promise eternall life only to those that beleeve , and threaten eternall death to those that doe not , seeing it is not in their own power by nature ? a. first that he might by means of those promises and threats work us to that which by nature we are averse unto , 2 cor. 5 : 11 : 20 : 2. that we might appear more inexcusable , when neither promises nor threats will move us to imbrace free mercy , acts 13 : 46 , 51 : & 18 : 6 , 7 : 3 : that the grace of god might as well appear in giving power to beleeve , as in giving christ and in him forgivenes of sins to be beleeved , rom. 9. 16. & 11. 5 , 6 , 7. psal. 2 , 13. 4. that we might apply our selves unto god in the use of those meanes , that he hath appointed , for the working of faith in us , john 6. 27. isay 55. 3. 5. that we might wholly deny our selves , and search , and by searching find in the covenant of grace matter of free conveyance of power to beleeve , whatsoever is required to be beleeved , ro. 10. 17. john 5. 39. psal. 119. 9. 98 , 99 , 104 , 105. rom. 3. 24. & 4. 16. gal. 3. 2. q. can it stand with the iustice of god to require persons to beleeve with penalties annexed thereunto , seeing it is not in their power by nature ? a. yea , see in the matter of free conveyance of power is offered in the covenant of grace , which would be conveyed thereby were it not opposed , acts 13. 46. or despised , acts 7. 51. rom. 2. 4. heb. 10. 29. or neglected , as , heb. 2. 3. and in many other places of scripture it appeares . q. but whether doth it not follow from hence that gods grace is subiected unto man , whether he will oppose , despise , or neglect the same yea or no ? true , so far as to leave man inexcusable for so doing , seeing the opposing dispising , or neglecting is wholy mans evill work , but not so , but that the receiving , esteeming , or improving the same power must be considered to proceed from the covenant it self originally , and not from man , it must needs therefore be attributed to god only , who proportioneth the dispensation thereof effectually according to his own decree of election . q. ought every one to beleeve then that christ dyed for all the sins of all ? a. yea surely , or else how shall each person beleeve he suffered for their sins ? ob. but it seems incongreous , that one should be required to beleeve what christ did for others ? a. not so , for if the benefit of christs sufferings be to be preached unto others , it is then necessary to beleeve what we preach for truth , to be truth , and that to them to whom we preach the same . and secondly , if there be nothing to distinguish me from others , as the truth is , before faith ther is not , then the question is , if he have not suffered for all , how shall i find that he suffered for me ? but if he hath suffered for all as the truth is he hath . heb. 2. 9. then i beleeving that doe necessarily believe that he suffered for me . ob. but if this be saving faith to beleeve that ch●●st suffered for all , then who is it but will be saved ? for all men will say● that christ suffered for all . a. not so , for all that object to the contrary do not say it . secondly , all that do say it , do not truly beleeve it ; and whosoever do beleeve it , do necessarily beleeve that there is the matter of eternall death in all , 2 cor : 5 : 14 : and do necessarily beleeve an infinite love extended to all , iohn 3 : 16 : and all persons thus beleeving will necessarily be constrained to love god , and all things according to god , 2 cor : 5 : 14 , 15 : 1 iohn 4 : 10. 14 , 19 : 〈…〉 sts yo● is easie in the nature of it , mat. 11 : 3● : and that is it that makes it most hard and difficult to our nature , mat. 7 : 14 : foolishnes to the learned grecians , & a stumbling block to the iewes who cannot endure , that the unlearned vitious publicans and harlots should be free by the grace offered in the gospel , luke 7 : 39. & 15 : 2. by their beleeving that christ suffered for all , should therby only be saved . ob. but it sufficeth to saving faith , that christ be beleeved to be the son of god , and was sent and came into the world to save sinners indifinitely though not al ? a not so , if any be excluded : because that takes away certainty of faith from any in respect of christ , for if any be excluded , i may be the person as soon as any other , and i have no ground to the contrary . ob. but i may be certain if i beleeve ? a. this is to make the foundation of faith to stand in my beleeving , and not in christ & also to make my first believing without any certain truth to ground it self upon , and is a supposition of an impossiblity , ( to wit ) of a firme beleeving that which cannot be known whether it be true or not : wheras on the contrary it being a revealed truth , that christ did cast death for every man , heb. 2. 9. each person hath a ground in that word of truth to beleeve , that he dyed for him , and none hath any excuse that doth not beleeve it . q is this then the subject matter of the gospel , that christ hath required to be preached to the world : to wit , that christ suffered for all the sinnes of al . a. yes surely , for without this no man hath any thing to preach to the world , no gospell of glad tydings , no remission of sins , no doctrin of reconciliation , no grace ●peace at all . obj. but it may be preached that christ dyed for beleivers , a. that is no glad tydings to the world , which do not yet beleeve : neither wil such a doctrine work faith , whereas christ hath appointed a gospel of remission of sins by his death to be preached to the world , to the begetting of persons to the faith of that truth , rom. 10. 14. 17. & 1. 16. & 16. 26. secondly , such a doctrine doth suppose persons to be beleevers before christ dyed for them , or at least before it may be preached unto them , that christ dyed for them , & so by consequence before there be any thing to be beleeved : & so by the same consequence impossible there should be any beleever , for how shall they beleeve on him of whom they have not heard , rom. 10. 14. obj. but men must first feare god , or have some work of god wrought in them , acts 13. 26. before it may be lawfull to preach the gospel to them . a , not so , for then it cannot be said , that any are begotten by preaching , if persons must have a life & being in godlinesse before : which is contrary to these scriptures , i●m . 1. 18. 1 cor. 4. 16. 1 pet ▪ 1. 23. secondly , then it is unlawfull to preach the gospel to all nations , even to them that doe not feare god , which is contrary to these scriptures , mar : 28 18. mar. 16. 15. acts 8 5 & 9 29 , & 13. 45. 46. 50. and 17 32. and many other . thirdly , the meaning of acts 13 : 26 , is but to distinguish the proselites from the naturall iewes by the appelation of fearing god : and when he saith , to you , that is you jews , both by nature & religion , to you in the first place accordiug to the commission of christ , luke 24 47. as therein offering mercy to them , and they re 〈…〉 sing the same , were left inexcusable : as , ver. 40. 41 , 45 46. q. but how is it proved that the subject matter of the gospel required to be preached to the world , is that christ suffered for the sins of al ? a. first , because christ and the prophets and apostles did so teach , isa : 53. 6. john 1 : 29 & 3. 16 , 17 : & 6. 51 & 12. 47. 48. 1 cor : 153 , 2 cor. 5. 14 , 15 , &c. secondly , christ required them so to preach , mat : 28 18 ; 19 : mar : 16. 15. luke 10. 5. & 24. 47 : rom : 16. 26. thirdly , the saints are commended for beleeving so , iohn 4 44. 1 iohn 4 14. fourthly , because it is a condemning sin in any hearing the gospel not to beleeve so ( to wit , that christ dyed for their sins , joh. 3. 18 , 19 & 12. 47 , 48 & 16 : 9 : 1 iohn 5. 10 : q. but why is such a doctri●● required to be preached to the world ; to wit , that christ suffered for all the sins of all ? a. for the working of the beleefe thereof in all , in whom the doctrine prevaileth , and for the inexcusablenes of the rest , 2 cor. 2. 14 , 15. 16 & 4 , 3. 4 : & 6. 1 , 2. & 10. 4 , 5 , 6. 2. thes. 1. 8. & 2. 10. heb. 2 , 3. q but will it not from hence follow , that man hath free-will ? a. no surely , for if the gospel must work faith , then it flowes not from the inclination of the will , but from the gospels inlightning the under standing , ephes. 4. 20 : 23. gal : 3. 2. rom 1. 16 , 17. & 10 : 17 : and as for the inexcusablenes of the rest which doe not beleive , it doth not betoaken a freedome of wil to beleeve , but doth bewray a blind mind , and an hard heart , and a rebellious disposition , that will not beleeve the truth , though it be declared unto them , acts 13. 41. iohn 5. 40 , 44. ephes. 4 : 18 : rom : 2 : 7 , 8 , 9 : q. have not all persons a rebellious disposition to the beleeving of the gospell ? a. yes surely , untill the preaching of the gospel prevaile , and then , and by that meanes the rebellious disposition is cast down & subjected , and the persons brought unto the obedience of christ , 2 cor. 10. 5. and when it prevailes not , it heaps up vengeance against the disobedient , ver. 6. q. but hath god elected some persons before the world began , which only shall be saved . a. yea certainly , rom. 8. 30. or else the events of things in time should come to passe , without or by some other ordering cause then the councell & decree of god , which were impiety once to imagine . q. but doth not the doctrine of christs dying for all contradict this doctrine ? a. no surely , because it is the means to worke faith effectually in the elect according to the eternall decree , 1 thes. 1. 4 , 5. rom. 8. 30. and to leave the other absolutely inexcusable in the effecting their own destruction by their refusal to beleeve in the sufferings of christ preached and that accoring to the same eternall decree , 1 pet. 2 ▪ 8. iude 4. rom. 8. 33. q. why then it seems , that christs suffering for all the sins of all ought freely to be preached to all , and not to be limited by any consideration of the doctrine of election ? a. surely that must needs be so , first , because it is the commission of christ , mar. 16. 15. secondly , because we doe not know who is elected no otherwise then by the event . thirdly , because it is as true doctrine to them that are not elect , as to the elect , whether they beleeve it or not . fourthly , because god hath his end in christs suffering for the sins of all , and in the doctrine thereof to all as well when it is not beleeved , as when it is beleeved , luke 2. 34 1 cor. 23 24 2 cor : 2. 14 , 15 , 16. 1 pet. 2. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. fiftly , because else it is not a direct meanes to work faith in any at all . sixtly , because else unbeleevers ▪ are not by that meanes left inexcusable . ob. but if this be the doctrine and faith to be preached , and beleeved , may it be concluded from hence , that none have saving faith but those that beleeve this doctrine ? a. it is certaine , there is no saving faith without beleeving in the sufferings of christ ; neither have any true ground to beleeve that he suffered for them any otherwise , then he is declared in scripture to have suffered for all ; yet here we must distinguish , some do not so distinctly understand it to build their faith upon it as others do , who therfore have a weaker faith then others have : ye● this is out of all doubt , that no saving faith stands in opposition to it , though some persons weak in the faith possibly may 〈…〉 ▪ ob. but some persons who do appeare very godly doe oppose it ? a. true , but many persons who do appear very godly are not so indeed . secondly , many godly persons are enemies to the truth , and to themselves too , mat. 16. 22 , 33. mar. 8. 33. thirdly , such opposition proceeds not from their faith , but from their ignorance and sinfull corruption . question . but may we safely beleeve that christ suffered for the sinne of all , and so for us , and therein our own salvation , before we know whether we bee elected or not ? a. yea surely , for so we are directed , rom : 10. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. and yet neverthelesse by this call of god to this knowledge & beleife , we may be sure that he hath chosen us unto salvation . rom. 8. 30. q. but why is this belief required ? a. that we may thereby partake of union with christ , and thereby reconciliation , adoption , iustification , sanctifica●ion , and glorification , ioh : 1. 19 : gal : 2 : 16 : 2 cor : 5 : 20 : gal : 3 : 26 : rom : 8 : 28 : 29 : 30. acts 26 : 18 : & 10 : 43 : & 15 : 9 : eph : 3 : 17 , 18 : q : are not the elect iustified before they doe beleeve ? a : no surely for they are without christ strangers from the covenant , without hope or god in the world : dead in sinnes : children of wrath as well as others : in a state of condemnation : john 3 : 18 : eph : 2 : 1 : 3 : 12 : ob but the scripture in many places doth manifest iustification to be by the blood of christ , and doth not mention fai 〈…〉 rom : 3 : 24 : & 5 : 9. 18 , 19 : rev : 1 : 3 : heb : 9 : 14 , 26 : 1 john 1 : 7 : ephes : 1 : 7 : and besides , faith is a beleeving of remission of sinnes , and consequently iustification , which therfore must be before the beleeving of the same . a. true it is that the matter of our iustification is the blood of christ shed for all , to be beleeved by all : and faith hath no other obiect : but yet he that beleeveth not his own iustice and life in the death of christ shall never see light , but the wrath of god abideth on him : ioh. 3. 36. and we are justified by faith : not without : rom. 3. 28. & 5. 1. gal. 2 16. nor yet before we beleive , for it is counted for righteousnesse , not another thing : ron. 4. 3 , 5 9 11 , 12 , 16. 13 , 22 , 24 , gal. 3 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. 11 , 14 , 22 , 24 , 26. and the reason is because by it only we partake of christs death and sufferings ▪ joh. 1. 12. & 3. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 33. 36 , & 8. 24. & 3. 11. 25. 36. & 12 , 46 , 47. 48. joh. 16. 9. q. but are not the elect justified in the purpose of god from all eternity ? a. no more then they are called and glorified from al eternity , and that is only predestinated and appointed from all eternity to be called & justified in such a time , and by such a meanes as faith in christ-rom . 8. 28 , 29 , 30. eph. 1 , 4 , 5. & 2. 8. 2 thes. 3. 13 , 14. and therby preserved to glory in the end . here we must distinguish betwixt the decree of god and the execution of the same decree : the appointment to do a thing , and the doing of the same according to appointment : god did appoint for to justifie his elect in time , and when the time is come , god doth accordingly effect the same by giving them faith , therby making them partakers of union with christ , and therby of reconciliation , adoption and justification . q. but when persons doe ( according to the gospel ) beleive that christ suffered for all the sins of all , and so for them : by which faith they partake of , or are one with christ , and thereby of reconciliation , adoption , and iustification : doth god require any further means to be by them used tending to salvation , yea or no ? a. yes surely , because it is necessary that this beleife be preserved & encreased , and the fruits therof : and the power of sin mortified , which is done by degrees . 2 pet. 3. 18. 1 thes. 4. 1. 10. and god hath appointed means to be used for that purpose by the saints . q. what meanes is that ? a. surely the preaching and hearing of gods word , which is as necessary for edification as for conversion : and the administration of the sacraments , and prayer , and the discipline of the true church : all which ought conscionably to be used according to gods word by al true believers as the meanes of perseverance and encrease of faith , until we come to the end of our faith the salvation of our souls . 1 pet. 1. 9. eph. 4. 12 , 13. matth. 26. 28. acts 2. 38 , 1 cor. 5. 5. six propositions , for doctrine agreed on as a necessary foundation , without which we at first did not begin the practice of baptisme . first , that iesus christ gave himself a ransom for all men , 1 iohn 2. 2. 2. cor. 5. 15. rom. 5. 18 ▪ heb 2 , 9. secondly , that remission of sins ou●●t to be preached to all men , luke 24 47 & 10. 〈…〉 & 2. 10. acts 10. 36. & 13. 38. eph. 2. 17. mar. 16. 15. thirdly , that every one ought to beleeve the forgivenes of his sins through iesus christ , rom. 3. 25. acts 3. 26. 1 john 5. 10 , 11. mar. 1. 15. acts 17. 30 fourthly , that no man hath power by nature to beleeve in christ . eph. 2. 5. 8 ▪ 10. 1 cor. 2. 14. phil. 2. 13. john 6. 44 , 65. rom. 8. 8. fiftly , that nothing can be done by us , to cause god to chuse us . john 15. 16. rom. 11. 5 , 6. 7 , chap. 9. 11 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 23. 1 cor. 1. 27 , 28 , 29. 1 cor. 3. 5. sixtly , that whosoever hath precious faith are give served by the power of god to salvation , 1 pet. 1. 3 : 4 , 5. joh. 13. 1. rom. 8. 39. ier , 32. 40. john 5. 24. finis . the main principles of christian religion in a 107 short articles or aphorisms, generally receiv'd as being prov'd from scripture : now further cleared and confirm'd by the consonant doctrine recorded in the articles and homilies of the church of england ... / by tho. adams ... adams, thomas, fl. 1612-1653. 1675 approx. 366 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 109 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a26345 wing a493 estc r32695 12746426 ocm 12746426 93261 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26345) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93261) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1028:3) the main principles of christian religion in a 107 short articles or aphorisms, generally receiv'd as being prov'd from scripture : now further cleared and confirm'd by the consonant doctrine recorded in the articles and homilies of the church of england ... / by tho. adams ... adams, thomas, fl. 1612-1653. [2], xv, [7], 191 p. 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whiles in my retired condition , i was lately devising , how i might do some good to the place of my nativity , i had a strong apprehension , from the affections many of you have express'd to my fathers family , that some of the labours of my dear brother mr. thomas adams , now with god , would be very acceptable to you , for the edification of your souls ; and thereupon as most generally useful for you : i resolv'd to be at the charge of printing this catechetical explanation of his. 't is well known amongst you , that my grandfather mr. richard adams was rector of your church , and then by his purchase patron of the perpetual advowson , six of his line and name since all devoted to the ministry of the gospel , viz. mine honoured father mr. charles adams , and uncle mr. randal adams ( yet i hope alive in ireland ) , my self , and three brothers , peter , thomas , and charles adams were born in the personage-house a . my dear mother ( who also bore two other of my brothers , viz. iames and iohn there too ) the daughter of a worthy gentleman was likewise born in your parish . my reverend father and uncle did some short part of their time exercise their ministry amongst you ; and all of us brethren in the ministry , have preached an occasional sermon or more to you , though none of us could be setled with you , to spend our selves and be spent amongst you . however , we that are alive and at a distance from you , do often bear you upon our hearts , and earnestly desire that you may be saved in the day of our lord iesus christ. some of you cannot but remember , whiles my dear father had the charge of your souls , he did preach the gospel to you , both in season and out of season , beseeching you to be reconciled to god , who soon took him off from that work with you , to his eternal rest . and i do assure you , my brother ( whose sound and wholesome fruit you may here taste ) was very solicitous , and so are those who yet survive , that you may be acquainted with the truth as it is in iesus . in order whereunto , i do now present and heartily recommend to you , this short manual of christian doctrine . i pray you be pleased to receive it kindly , and entertain it friendly ; not only out of love to the author or donor , but to the truth . it is proverbially said amongst you [ cheshire chief of men ] , there having anciently been valiant ones born and bred there : let not now any prophet of the lord have occasion to complain of you , that none are valiant for the truth b ; which none can be as they ought , unless well-trained , instructed , or cateehised ( as abrahams brave ones c were for the war ) in the mysteries of the gospel ; for lack of knowledg wherein , a professing people will be destroyed d being alienated from the life of god through the ignorance that is in them , because of the blindness of their heart e . he that made them will not have mercy on them , and he that formed them will shew them no favour f . to prevent this mischievous ignorance , and help your understandings that you may rightly know god and do his will. such as i have , give i you . let none then despise this small token of my love , which i do in the name of iesus christ send to you . others of their plenty have formerly given to the meaner sort of you milk and bread for the body , and lately means for the instructing the minds of your children in the rudiments of learning ; now i do offer a mite out of my penury , to establish your hearts in religion ; g spiritual milk h , and bread i , which i know you have need of . it comes not to eat your bread , but to distribute something of the bread of life to every family . i expect you should bid it welcome , and not distaste it , as the gaderens for the sake of their hogs , did the company of christ himself , wishing him to leave their coasts k . lest coming in kindness to you all at this day , it should be a testimony against any of you at the great day l . believe me ! i would not have it as the flying roll in the prophets vision , to consume any house whereinto it doth enter m ; but to warn every person and every family of you , in this crooked generation , to flee from the wrath to come , and meet god by repentance . i confess it would trouble me to come into any of your houses ( or have tydings thereof ) and find this little book , designed for your good , to be carelesly thrown up and down , and given to little ones to play with , and tear in pieces ; or the leaves cut out with a knife , and burnt , as the book n that baruch wrote from the mouth of the prophet ieremiah was misused ; and mostly for the sake of those careless and untoward ones . yet if one sinner be reclaimed by it from the error of his ways , built up in faith , and love , and brought really to obey the gospel , that will answer all my cost , and be abundant matter of much joy . but if our gospel be hid , it is hid to them that are lost o . however i may in some sort say with the apostle for his countrymen , brethren , my hearts desire and prayer to god for you , is , that you may be saved . p i shall therefore take the freedom upon this occasion to enlarge something under these three following heads , viz. 1. concerning the necessity of instructing , and being instructed in the doctrine which is according to godliness . 2. the import and advantage of this book before you , and how you may particularly use and improve it . 3. some general rules consonant to scriptures , and the materials of this book grourded thereon , to help you all in your practise . i. the necessity of instructing , or catechising , both as it respects those who teach , and those who are taught q , is evident from the injunction of the supream lawgiver , who doth frequently charge superiours to teach , and inferiours to learn r . which strongly obligeth those who have others under their authority , to do it as they are able ; and ( if they cannot read themselves ) to put those who have learn'd to read upon the work , and see them do it to the utmost of their power for edification . to strengthen this charge of so great and useful importance , the spirit of god doth highly commend the practice according to it , as that wherein he much delighteth ; and therefore makes it necessary to us , who should be solicitous to please him ; yea in the families wherein we live , as well as in the congregation ; as a part of that solemn service he hath appointed in his word , with prayers and praises . unless persons learn the principles of christian doctrine s , they will not be able to hear sermons with profit , nor understand clearly and distinctly the nature of faith , repentance , iustification , &c. nor to give a reason of the hope that is in them , which they are required to do . and the rather that they may withstand fundamental errors , as well as resist evil practices ; which was memorably seen in the very children of merindol , who made a solemn confession of their faith from scripture , amazing and confounding their persecuting adversaries . that shining star luther , in the dawning of the reformation , used to say his catechism was parva biblia , the little bible , meaning a short sum of that heavenly doctrine which the very son of god did publish from the bosom of his eternal father , and which the holy spirit did reveal by the prophets and apostles for the salvation of our souls . this might move him , reforming the church from the dregs of idolatry and superstition , to carry his catechism always along with him , to read and peruse it almost every day , as he did ; affirming seriously , that he always learned something from it , which he did not ( at least so practically ) know before . agreeable whereunto , in our age , said laborious , holy , and zealous mr. ioseph alleine concerning catechism , if any think themselves above it , 't is from their pride or ignorance , for my part i account my self a learner . and therefore a sum of christian principles , methodically digested and explain'd , ought to be sought after and embrac'd by us , as a precious treasure , yea for the elder to have recourse to ; but more especially for the younger , who almost from their very cradles may learn something of it as the apostle speaks t , that as new-born babes they may receive the sincere milk u of the word , that they may grow thereby * . upon this account i earnestly intreat you who can justly claim a superiority in your own houses , that you would bethink your selves what an authority you are entrusted with from god , who requires you to exercise it with an holy zeal , and maintain it with all christian prudence , without lordliness and rigour , endeavour to be well skill'd in the scripture x ; consult the several tempers of those within your doors ; allot fit and stated seasons for the getting of these principles by heart ; and watch over them daily with care , both as to their set task , and practice answerable to these principles ; keeping them seriously to mind both the business of religion in their general calling , and of their distinct worldly employments in their particular callings . suffer not your selves and houses to go hurrying to hell , by opposing gods most wise government of the world , which he carries on orderly for the safety and comfort of his servants , by well-instructed families ( such as abrahams was ) who became instrumental to carry down the knowledg of god in all peaceableness to posterity ; so as to leave an expectation of gods blessing upon them , whose welfare nature it self doth move us to promote . the truth is , my friends , if we did but remember our selves , as we are christians , dedicated to god by baptism , expecting benefit by the purchase of christ , we should consider we are not our own , but bought with a price , under the greatest obligation to live to him that hath bought us ; and should take all possible care that we and ours might be his. do then i beseech you , all you can to save your selves and others . oh! pity their poor souls defiled by sin , and expos'd to misery . oh! let them not perish through your carelesness , lest any of them say in hell , as cyprian brings in children saying , their parents were their murderers ; 't is long of you that we lye in easeless torments . bewail the corrupted sad estate of your children , as descending and deriving pollution from you . let them timely know the only remedy ; bring them to reverence the holy god , and read his word with greatest awe ; shewing them the danger of breaking his commandments , the benefit of ordering their lives according to his mind , that they may truly glorifie and enjoy him . charge them to take heed they be not carryed away with an inordinate love to the profits , pleasures , and honours of this life ; but learn the great lessons of self-denial and cleaving to the lord jesus with full purpose of heart , bearing patiently whatever he is pleas'd to try them with . and be sure you neglect not seasonably and duly , to admonish and correct them y , that their iniquities be not their ruine . do you who are inferiours willingly submit . oh! take heed of refusing instruction , or opposing the means which is used to bring you acquainted with god and your selves ; lest you be found guilty of shutting out the light of the glorious gospel of christ , who is the image of god , that it may not shine into your hearts . ii. concerning the import and usefulness of this small book i do here put into your hands and houses ; praying the spiritual matter of it may reach to , and abide in your hearts . you see here be under four chief heads or chapters an 107 short articles ( which also are answers to the questions in the margin ) now generally received . these a.'s are as so many entire sentences , or distinct propositions and aphorisms ( the commandments are ten of them ) without depending for their sense upon any question ; containing the fundamentals of christian knowledg and practice ; so that the learner may by committing them to memory , lay up in his heart the sum of christianity ; and make a profession , confession , or repetition of it when call'd , in a continued speech , or else answer to any part of it , particularly when the questions in the margin are used by another , making enquiry into his knowledg . these several articles you find have plain proofs from scripture at large , to shew that these necessary matters of faith and obedience are surely founded upon the never-failing word of god ; whose supream authority should be of force to awe our consciences , and engage our hearts to the practise of those things which do appear to be our indispensable duties . unto divine warrant , for further illustration and confirmation , here are the testimonies brought from the authentick records of reformed religion amongst us , i mean the articles and homilies of the church of england , as agreeing with , and clearing or strengthening of the several propositions ; yea and very consonant to the main body of the materials in the short catechism which is in the common prayer book , to be learn'd by every child , before he be confirm'd , or admitted to receive the holy communion . for the four chief heads there , are the creed , or things to be believed ; the ten commandments , shewing our duty to god and our neighbours ; the doctrine of the sacraments ; the things contain'd in the lords prayer . and there they who present children at baptism , are charged to call upon them to hear sermons , and chiefly provide that they may learn the creed , the lords prayer , and the ten commandments in the english tongue , and all other things which a christian man ought to know and believe to his souls health . all which are ( as in so short a room can be well expected ) methodically presented to you in this book . wherein lastly you have our departed friend's endeavours in a short and easie explanation , to make the principles plain to be understood . now for the use and improvement of it , and the advantage you may have by it ( supposing you will first read this epistle of mine to you ) , i would advise you who have the charge of families especially , and can read , or have those in your house or neighbourhood who will do it for you ; unless your own prudence dictate somewhat better for any of you in your circumstances : ( 1 ) distinctly and treatably to read over , the articles or answers , without taking any notice then of the questions ; and require those under your charge to attend diligently thereunto . i suppose you may go over ( if not all ) one half of the a. s ( which are printed in a large letter ) at one solemn reading ; then the next time the rest , beginning where you left . but if any of you think the task too large for once or twice , divide it into four or three readings . if according to chapters , you may read each day ( that you set apart for this purpose ) one ; if into three , according to chapters , or chief heads , for distinction of matter , you may the first one day , the second another , and the two last on the third . if according to articles for five days , on the first day read nineteen articles , on the second nineteen more , ending with the thirty-eighth article , on the third twenty a. s more , ending with article sixty-two , on the fourth twenty-two a. s more , ending with a. eighty-five , on the fifth twenty-two a. s more , to the end . ( 2 ) your next reading of these principles or articles over , should be with the texts of scripture that prove them , and the testimonies of the reformed church of england , attesting and in a sort opening , or some way clearing each proposition . ( 3 ) the last reading ( if not dispatch'd at once with the second ) should be the explanations of the author , enlarging more upon each article , and so making it more plain and clear , even to the meanest understanding , who will be attentive and considerate . to which purpose , those who govern in each family , should be always watchful to see there be an attendance to it without noise . but you should at the beginning , after the first reading , set in with those under your charge to get the articles or answers without book ; ( and if by friends i understand the poorer sort will in good earnest learn them by heart , likely i may procure the a. s printed in one sheet by themselves to give to them ; those who are more able will i suppose buy them ) . then you may hear them repeat what they have learned ; and proceed those days you catechise them , especially every lords-day ( you who have not better helps ) to read some portion of the explanation , so much at least as was learn'd the week before , engaging them by small rewards and punishments , to hearken with all seriousness , and to do that with all their might which is evidently prov'd to be their duty . this conscientiously and constantly perform'd , will i hope through gods blessing turn to a good account for you and me . 't is only for the sakes of some i am thus minute . give me leave then particularly to mind those who have not yet exercised themselves to prayer ( as they should have done ) , how this book may be helpful , and improv'd to a solemn performance of that duty , and an attainment of a gift therein ; by having variety of orderly and fit matter upon all occasions , from a distinct knowledg of our sins and wants . as for instance , a. 98. you have the nature of prayer described , which you will do well to read , pause upon , and consider how it is prov'd by scripture-testimony , and how attested by our forefathers ; then read our authors explanation of it , whereby you will come to understand the parts of prayer ; and in whose name it is to be offered to god , for which see also a. 21 , 25. now for you who are a learner , to frame your self to pray orderly and pertinently , you may look into , and meditate upon a. 4. compar'd with a. 100 , 101. for a preface . then pass on to confess your original sin , by considering ( and if you will you may take your pen and write out particulars prayer-wise ) a. 14 , 15 , 16. compared with a. 13. then you may particularize your actual transgressions , by considering what is forbidden in every commandment of the law , and acknowledging those sins , which by looking into that glass you find your hearts to upbraid you with , a. 47 , 51 , 55 , 61 , 65 , 69 , 72 , 75 , 78 , 81. then you may see their aggravations , a. 83 , 84. with their explanations . then the consequents or punishments due to transgressors , a. 17 , 18 , 19. hereupon consider the gospel requires faith and repentance , a. 86 , 87. then come to the next part of prayer , viz. petition . here you may have directions to pray for the spirit , working in effectual calling , a. 29 , 30 , 31. pleading christs mediation , a. 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28. and seeking particularly , that god would give what he requires in his holy commandments , a. 46 , 50 , 54 , 57 , 64 , 68 , 71 , 74 , 77 , 80. compar'd with a. 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , and a. 33 , 34 , 35 , 36. still collecting and compacting such materials out of these articles , and the scriptures proving of them , with what follows ( where it is needful ) in the explanation more briefly or largely , as every ones present condition and circumstances require . now for the remaining part of prayer , which is thanksgiving , you will better know what you are to give thanks for , by seeing what sins or evils god hath kept you from ; and what good things he hath bestow'd upon you . and this you will materially discern , by considering well what you have confess'd and petition'd ; then it will be further helpful to meditate upon a. 9 , 10 , 12 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 31 , 32 , 85 , 88 , 89. for conclusion read a. 107. with the scriptures and explanation . turn to these articles , as you see them noted here thus minutely for the sake of you ( who need such direction ) and yours , some of whom possibly you may engage to write what you shew them in this order , or when you read to them , for the teaching of them to be more methodical , in learning to pray , and that longer or shorter , as occasion requires , for their own and others edification . but still remember , it is the spirit likewise that helpeth our infirmities , rom. 8.26 . so that our prayers through christ may be truly acceptable to god , and a means of our sanctification . i do not urge you in every prayer to insist on every head here , or restrain you to these , only shew you a way how to use these ; neither would i tye you to this way , but advise you to exercise your spiritual senses to discern , and have regard to your own occasions , and the enlargement of your own hearts , that out of the abundrnce of them , in faith and humility you may express your minds to god in scripture-language , from a feeling of our own wants . thus i have took the freedom to suggest something of help in this kind , to those who may either desire or need it . but i impose nothing upon any one , which god hath left free . i hope none that know me well , will judg me to be so narrow-spirited . i have only offered a guide to the weaker , for to bring to their mind needful matter , under the three main parts of prayer , viz. confession , petition , thanksgiving . it may be some will begin with petition or thanksgiving , and then confession , or vary and use them interchangeably , as in prudence they think best for that season , or are moved by the holy spirit to omit , or but touch on one , or the other part , and slay most on the third , which may do well . the great care to be took , is that the party praying perform this necessary duty with hearty and sincere devotion . but i humbly conceive , it were of great advantage , for one or more serious persons in a neighbourhood , who have better understanding ( after the reading this i now write to you ) to shew unto those of meaner abilities , the import of this advise for the use and improvement of this small token for their knowledg and practise . perhaps the school-master may think it expedient to do it for some of his scholars in the highest form. however i could perswade my self some unexperienc'd in praying ( especially towardly young ones ) will rejoice to be directed . i have latele known some who have been much changed and wrought upon by the serious reading of such a book as this , given and heartily recommended to them . it would do well in your family-reading of it , if some of the house would turn to the bible , and find out the texts , that you may with your own eyes see them there as cited . i doubt not but you will find them , unless possibly by the error of the printer ( which yet i know not ) there may be somewhere a failure ; but then you having the words , a little searching of the scripture will soon amend that ( if it should be so ) . but i fear in being thus particular for your profit ( which i aim at ) i shall run my self beyond my projected bounds . it remains i should subjoin something of , iii dly , some short general rules , consonant to scripture , and grounded mostly upon these cited in this little book which may be of concernment to all ; to help both superiors , inferiors , and equals , in the practice of godliness . wherefore that you may by this mannual grow better , which i humbly beg of our good god. ( 1 ) keep your end in your eye , and think much on the means prescrib'd to attain it , and how you may best use them . you must make religion your business ; and that requires you to aim at the glorifying of god , and the enjoying of him , the saving of your own souls , according to the rule god hath given you in his word . in all your employments , whether in your general or particular calling ; and all your enjoyments , whether spiritual or temporal , magnifie the name of god , extol his excellency and perfection in thought , word , and deed . endeavour to carry your selves so agreeable to his mind , that you may please him , and be accepted of him . 't is a small matter then how you are censur'd in mans judgment . 1 cor. 6.20 . mat. 16.26 . rom. 11.36 . psal. 50.23 . mat. 5.16 . psal. 144.15 . 1 cor. 13.12 . 2 tim. 3.15 , 16. 2 cor. 5.9 . 1 cor. 4.3 . ( 2 ) bethink your selves , who god is , and that you your selves are dependants upon him . oh! labour to have right notions of him who is wholly a spiritual , invisible , independant being of himself infinite in all perfection , as none else is or can be , a most gracious and merciful rewarder of all those that diligently seek him . who is but one , yet distinguished into three persons , or subsistents , all equal in power and glory ; and doing all things most wisely and powerfully . remember by him you were made and are govern'd ; in him you live , move , and have your beings ; and can do nothing without him , who is every-where , and will every-where be worshipped in spirit and truth . iob. 4.24 . iob 10.4 . exod. 3.14 . ioh. 11.7 , 8 , 9. heb. 11.6 . 1 tim. 2.6 . 1 iob. 5.7 . psal. 104.24 . iob 1.3 . act. 17.28 . neh. 9.6 . ioh. 15.5 . luk. 12.26 . 2 cor. 3.5 . 1 chron. 28 9 , 10. ier. 23 23 , 24. 1 cor. 3.16 , 17. ( 3 ) consider well what an happy state man was in , when he came first out of gods hands ; and into what a sad plight of sin and misery you and all other meer men and women are faln . be sure no blessing can be expected , but a curse , so long as you abide in a state of corrupt nature , unregenerate ; tribulation and anguish do attend every mothers child of you , both here and hereafter . yet , psal. 8.4 , 5. gen. 2.7 . iob 35.10 , 11. mat. 10.28 . eccles. 12.7 . — 7.29 . rom. 3.9 , &c. — 5.19 . gen. 3.6 . — 6.5 . eph. 2.1 , 2 , 3. ier. 4.22 . tit. 3.3 . gal. 3.10 . ioh 3.3 . lam. 3.39 . rom. 2.9 . ( 4 ) hearken attentively to what is done and and offered by our gracious redeemer for your restoration . what offices he hath of priest , prophet , and king , both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation . oh be affected with the glad tidings he brings , who came to save his people from their sins ; and is the great peace-maker , and only mediator betwixt god and man , ready to save to the uttermost all poor sinners that come unto god by him , in that new and living way which he hath consecrated for us , through the vail , that is to say his flesh . mat. 1.21 . act. 4.12 . ioh. 1.14 , 48. eph. 2.14 , 15. 1 tim. 2.5 . mat. 11.28 , &c. ioh. 6.37 . heb. 10.20 . ( 5 ) ponder throughly upon , and readily receive what help the holy spirit is pleas'd to afford in working of effectual grace , and see the necessity of it . he is a most free agent , and stands ready to enlighten the mind , and convince of sin , righteousness , and judgment , to encline the will , soften the heart , and put a principle of grace within it , or else it would remain strong under all the rebukes and exhortations of the word . ioh. 3.5 , 6. eph. 2.8 . phil. 2.12 . ioh. 16.8 . act. 16.14 . heb. 4.12 . 1 cor. 6.17 . rom. 8.28 . 2 thes. 2.13 , 14. ezek. 36.26 . 2 cor. 3.3 , 6. ( 6 ) look your selves often in the glass of gods holy law , and therein take notice of your own deformities . see how much you fall short of what god calls for , and how much you do of that which he forbids . this will be a means to come to a distinct sight of your own vileness and sinfulness ; as also if you are renewed , how you ought to walk ; but that you can never merit gods favour by the best works of the law. yet you ought mightily to oppose the first motions and risings of any corruption in your hearts , and carefully to avoid all such occasions as are likely to give advantages to those corruptions , and betray you into their hands . mal. 4.4 . iam. 1.23 . rom. 7.7 . gal. 3.10 , 22. iam. 2.10 . — 3.2 . 1.25 . mat. 5.18 , 19. 1 tim. 1.8 . rom. 4.2 . gal. 2.16 . luk. 17.10 . iam. 1.14 . — 4.7 . 1 thes. 5.22 . mat. 13.37 . mat. 26.41 . ( 7 ) hereupon , enter into your closets , be convinc'd of , sigh and mourn over your own impotency , inability , and unwillingness to come to christ , till you are effectually drawn . alas ! you find by comparing your selves with the law , that you are neither able nor willing of your selves to keep the commandments , but do daily break them in thought , word , and deed ; yea and with aggravating circumstances in the sight of god , deserving his wrath and curse both in this and the future world : which may make you sit down and bemoan your low estate , and cry out , what shall we do to be saved ? then , ioh. 6.44 , 45 , 65. — 5.40 . 1 king. 8.46 . ecclss. 7.20 . prov. 20.9 . col. 1.21 . gal. 5.17 . 2 cor. 10.5 . isa. 46.8 . act. 2.37 . — 16.30 . ( 8 ) look up to christ by an eye of faith , trust to him alone , and repent of your sinfulness , which keeps you from god. consider him who hath satisfied divine justice , as he is offered in the promises ; and give credit unto them , which are in him yea and amen . put your affiance in him alone , who is the saviour , for acceptance of your persons , remission of your sins , and obtaining of eternal life . god was in christ reconciling the world unto himself ; your great great concern then is , to receive him who saves his people from their sins ; resign up your selves unto him as mediatour , and through him unto god. be sorrowful after a godly sort , for all that which offends him , which is not only an outward forbearance of sin , but a particular inward loathing and hatred of all sin as sin , striving against it , and endeavouring to mortifie it . act. 6.31 . — 2.38 . — 3.19 . 1 ioh. 5.13 . phil. 3.7 , 8 , 9. ioh. 3.14 , 15. — 6.29 , 47. act. 13.38 , 39. isa. 28.12 . prov. 3.5 . 2 cor. 5.19 . ioh. 1.12 . rom. 5.11 , 17. mat. 1.21 . zach. 12.10 , &c. act. 5.31 . psal. 119.104 . — 97.10 . iam. 4.8 , 9 , 10. act. 8.22 . col. 3.5 . ( 9 ) be careful to observe the institutions of christ , and all his ordinances as he hath prescrib'd . hear , read , receive the sacraments as he hath appointed , waiting for the spirit , who makes all means effectual . oh! delight to meet god in publick ordinances , and give up your selves to be ruled and directed by him therein . and therefore take a very especial care for the due observance of the lords-day , which is appointed for the more solemn worshipping of god , and the benefit of man to refresh him with heavenly things . this you should spend in the lords-work , and not in worldly pleasures or profits . i can assure you , the author of this explanation did make great conscience hereof , and express'd much distaste of those who did sleight or prophane it . the last sermons he preach'd were to urge a due observance of the lords-day . and on the lords-day-morning * a little before he departed hence , he told us , he was going to keep a sabbath in heaven , and here strangers did not intermeddle with his joy . mat. 28. ult . isa. 63.5 . psal. 19.8 . ioh. 5.39 . act. 26.18 . rom. 10.13 . 1 cor. 3.7 . — 12.13 . ier. 31.31 , &c. col. 3.16 . mark 16.16 . luk. 22.19 , 20. mark 2.27 . isa. 56.6 . — 58.13 . ( 10 ) and lastly , be much in prayer to god , through christ , in the spirit ; which indeed should go before , accompany , and follow after daily mercies , other duties and enjoyments . you should constantly perform this duty with all intention of mind , and heartiness both in publick , and your families at all praying-seasons , and more especially in secret ; which if you rightly do , from a pure heart , a good conscience , and faith unfeigned , according to the rule to measure our requests by , to the honour of god , in the name of his beloved son ; will keep up the life of religion , and be prevalent for a blessing upon all you take in hand and enjoy . mat. 26.41 , 42. col. 4.1 . phil. 4.6 . mat. 6.6 . ioh. 15.16 . — 16.23 , 26. psal. 66.18 . 1 ioh. 5.14 . heb. 4.16 . rom. 8.26 , 27. psal. 92.1 , 2. — 50.15 . thus , my friends ! i have as briefly as i could , laid before you these ten directions , to help you in your christian practice , agreeable to the materials more largely spoken to in the book it self . i earnestly intreat you , to work them upon your hearts , and set in heartily to practise by the prudent use of these helps . i have unto them affixed texts of scripture , which do abundantly prove them . it may be some of you will not only turn to them in your bibles , and read therein the proofs confirming each direction , ( grounded for the main upon the articles , as these are upon scripture ) , but will take the pains to write out the scriptures at large in a paper-book , as they fall under the general heads , which would be a notable means to imprint them in your minds , and deeply affect your hearts with the things , and engage you to do as god in his word requires that you may all consent to wholesome words , even the words of our lord iesus christ , and to the doctrine which is according to godliness . fear god and keep his commandments . be happy in knowing and doing of these things is that i aim at . and believe it , friends ! if i my self do not in some measure endeavour , through christ enstrengthening me , to live agreeable to these directions i have now given to you , i must expect the wrath of god should abide upon me . and if you remain heedless and careless after you have received or rejected this token of my love to your souls , it will be a witness against you . but beloved ! i am perswaded better things of you . that the god of heaven may make you all wise unto salvation , and bless these and all other endeavours for your spiritual , temporal , and eternal welfare , is the unfeigned prayer of your friend and remembrancer from , and unto god , ri. adams . aug. 3. 1675. to the reader . christian reader ! to promote that knowledg without which the mind is not good , and holiness without which no man shall see the lord , i acknowledg my self to lye under the greatest obligations . in order whereunto , considering the necessity and usefulness of instructing souls distinctly , in the principles of christian doctrine , i. e. those fundamental truths on which life or death doth depend , and wherein the very essentials and vitals of christianity do consist ; and having by me this short and easie explanation of those catechetical articles of religion most generally received amongst us , i thought good to publish it . more especially for the sakes of some in a remote corner ( whose souls welfare i greatly desire ) where they want those helps some others enjoy ; many are poor , others unacquainted with , or loth to buy good books ; and where this particularly for the sake of the author ( who drew his first breath there ) may likely be received with greater kindness , and read with better care . i am not ignorant that others have done well before , both formerly and lately , in o●e and another way , for the explication of these common , but greatest matters , collected out of holy scripture , and laid together in a small room by men of skill in the truest method , that the weak may soon understand and remember them , which i heartily rejoice in : yet had i been more timely considerate enough , this might have appeared abroad e're some of those larger and much commended , were published . however now it cannot be unseasonable in this debauching age , to contribute a further aid , for the sound principling of hopeful youth . here likely will be some advantage either for matter or manner suggested , which others have not took notice of , for the opening or evidencing of truth , and recommending particulars as at one sight to our prospect . besides , some may receive satisfaction , and take pleasure to see here the harmony and fair agreement of these principles with those our forefathers zealously profess'd to hold at the beginning of our reformation from popery in king edward the sixths and queen elizabeths days . 't is plain , from a view of what is here annexed , and presented to us , as attesting these several aphorisms or propositions ; that the articles and homilies of the english church under the particulars speak the same things . these then are such institutions of a christian man , as are consonant to holy writ , the sober and wholesome doctrines of those protestants who liv'd in these kingdoms before us , and i hope will find entertainment with our posterity when we go to rest with our fathers . for i suppose it is easie to discern through all disingenuous aspersions ; that whoever drew them up in our age , and by what warrant , they are so far from being novelties to reformed english men , that they materially had in the former age the authority of a convocation and an act of parliament . be sure the most learned and godly primate usher soon after their first publication did highly value them thus digested by several learned divines in the order they be here explain'd . and another very reverend and holy person yet alive , in the confession of his faith , printed twenty years ago , cap. 2. s. 3. did declare , he heartily approv'd of this form of sound words , and of all therein contain'd ; affirming , that he took it for the best catechism that ever he saw , and the a. s contained for a most excellent sum of the christian faith and doctrine , and a fit test to try the orthodoxness even of teachers themselves . such testimonies might perhaps occasion this labour in the explanation of them . which i do here present to you , as the author lest it penn'd for his own private use in his catechetical teaching of those committed to him . i liked not to make any addition or alteration ; though had he liv'd , and ever thought of publishing it , ( as it is not unlikely he might have done , for the same charitable use it is now design'd ) no question but it would have been all better proportion'd , enlarg'd , and alter'd , yea and ( if needful ) put into a more comely dress . this i conceive was the only draught of it ; which i the rather intimate , that if any defects or mistakes be found in this explanatory comment , there may be no unkind reflection made upon him who went to heaven some time since . and whiles upon earth shew'd himself , both in the university and elsewhere , to be one of good learning , and true holiness , a fervent preacher and real practiser of the duties herein explain'd , and particularly of so sweet and peaceful temper that his moderation was known unto all those who did familiarly converse with him . there be other notes of his ( with these , left to my disposal ) and some of those practical sermons upon some texts of scripture , on which i find not any in the late printed catalogues , or but few to have treated ; which as they are desired earnestly by some , so if they are by more thought useful , may in time come abroad . this , such as it is , will i hope be no disparagement to him that is gone , but give us to understand , he had clear notions of the main points of religion , which he made his own business , and which if they ( peculiarly young ones ) into whose hands it shall come , be inclin'd cordially to embrace , by the heedful reading and perusing hereof , it will help to perpetuate the memory of the just deceased ; and be matter of rejoicing to his surviving brother , who is really desirous to serve you in love , r. a. aug. 2. 1675. in the principles of religion are considerable , the i. end , gods glory , and mans happiness , a. 1. c. i. ii. means , or rule scripture , a. 2. requiring , a. 3. i. faith concerning god in his essence , a. 4 , 5. subsistence , a. 6. operations , which are his decrees , or purposes , a. 7. the execution of them , by creation respecting all , a. 9 , 11. providence respecting man , a. 10 , 12. man created by god , a. 13. faln by sin , describ'd in general , a. 14. special , from its act , a , 15. subject , a. 16. effects , sinfulness , a. 17 , 18. misery , a. 19. restored by grace where of the covenant of grace , a. 20. redeemer , who is described , a. 21. who became man , a. 22. who executeth offices , a. 23. of priest , a. 24. of prophet , a. 25. of king , a. 26. both in his state of humiliation , a. 27. & both in his state of exaltation , a. 28. participation of the benefits of redemption , by the spirit , a. 29. in effectual calling , a. 30. where of the nature of it , a. 31. benefits , a. 32. in this life primarily , justification , a. 33. adoption , a. 34. sanctification , a. 35. secondarily , assurance , &c. a. 36. at death , a. 37. resurrection , a. 38. ii. obedience to gods revealed will , a. 39. c ii. in the law , summ'd up in the ten commandments , a. 40 , 41 , 42. wherein of the preface , a. 43 , 44. the precepts i. a. 45 , 46 , 47. ii. a. 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52. iii. a. 53 , 54 , 55 , 56. iv. a. 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62. v. a. 63 , 64 , 65 , 66. vi. a. 67 , 68 , 69. vii . a. 70 , 71 , 72. viii . a. 73 , 74 , 75. ix . a. 76 , 77 , 78. x. a. 79 , 80 , 81. mans impotency to perform this duty , a. 82 , 83 , 84. gospel , requiring and enjoining c. iii. graces , a. 85. faith , a. 86. repentance , a. 87. ordinances , a. 88. word , how effectual , a. 89. read , heard , a. 90. sacraments , how effectual , a. 91. describ'd , a. 92. divided , a. 93. baptism , what , a. 94. to whom , a. 95. lords supper what , a. 96. how received , a. 97. prayer , described , a. 98. c. iv. ruled by the lords prayer , where in the preface , a. 100. petitions , i. a. 101. ii. a. 102. iii. a. 103. iv. a. 104. v. a. 105. vi. a. 106. conclusion , a. 107. principles of christian religion , in an 107 articles , with a short and easie explanation . chap. i. of things to be believed , comprehended in the apostles creed : or a brief sum of christian doctrine , which ought to be received or believed . articles of religion , 1562. artic. 8. for they may be proved by most certain warrant of holy scripture . a. 1. mans chief end , is to glorifie god a , and to enjoy him for ever b . homil. 3. of salvation . — above all things , and in all things to advance the glory of god , of whom only we have our sanctification , justification , salvation , and redemption . expl. 1. in which a. there are these four things to be explain'd : ( 1. ) what we are to understand by a mans end . and the answer is , that by a mans end we mean that which a man doth intend or aim at in all his actions ; or that which he does propose to himself as the reason of what he does ; ex . gr . when you see a man bu●lding a house , if you ask him the reason why he builds a house , or what he intends in so doing ; his answer will be , to dwell in it : and here , his dwelling in his house , when he hath built it , is his end in building his house . so again , when you see a man going to church , if you ask him what he goes to church for ; he 'll presently tell you , to hear a sermon : now this being that which he does design in going to church , sc. to hear a sermon , it may very well be called his end in going to church . but then 2 dly , it is next to be explained , what is meant by a mans chief end : now a mans chief end , is that which he doth principally aim at in all his actions . as to keep to the last instance , though it be a mans end ( in going to church ) to hear a sermon ; yet that is but a lower end , and that which he does only design in order to his chief end , which is to glorifie god , and to enjoy communion with god , by hearing his word : this question therefore ( what is the chief end of man ? ) is ( q. d. ) what is mans chief errand into the world ? or what did god make man for ? or what is the great business that should take up the greatest part of a mans time , thoughts , cares , affections , and endeavours , whilst he lives in the world ? or what is it that a man is principally to drive at in all his words , thoughts , and actions , in all his duties both to god and man , and in all his dealings with the world ? now this is that which should be his general drift in all , sc. to glorifie god , and to enjoy god both in this world and a better . and this is the plain meaning of those scriptures which are here made use of as proofs . but ( alas ) is it not sadly to be lamented , that the corrupt generality of people , have quite forgotten what errand they were sent about into the world ; whilst some make worldly honours and preferments their chief end , as the ambitious ; others make worldly gain and profit their chief end , and that which they mainly drive at , as the covetous ; and others do make their carnal pleasures , delights , sports , and pastimes their chief end , as if god had put them into the world , as the psalmist reports of the leviathans being put into water , to play therein : and this is the case of the younger sort generally of vain and wicked people , who either do not know , or will not consider , that the end of their creation was to honour and enjoy their creator , both here and hereafter . 3 dly , what it is to glorifie god , may be thus explained ; namely , it is to live according to his will revealed in his word ; or , it is to think , speak , and do according to the rule of his word . ( 1. ) we glorifie god in our thoughts , or in our hearts , when we dare not allow our selves to think any thing that is not stampt with gods authority and allowance ; and more particularly , when our thoughts of god , of his works , words , and all that relates to him , are such as do become his excellent greatness . so when we fear , love , admire , trust , and desire him above all . ( 2. ) we glorifie him in our words , when our speech is not corrupt , vain , and idle , but seasoned with grace . ( 3. ) in our actions , when we make his word our rule , and his glory our great and general end in all our actions . 4 thly , what it is to enjoy god ; we may best conceive of it , by what it is to enjoy a friend : now this is , we know , to have his presence , company , and converse , and to take delight in his society . so to enjoy god , it is to converse with god , to be well-pleased with his gracious presence , and not only to have him to be our friend , or father , but to entertain this king of glory in our hearts and affections . or as wicked men do look upon the greatest part of their enjoyment to consist in ( that which they miscall ) good-fellowship ; so the christians enjoying of god , is to have fellowship with him : truly our fellowship is with the father , and with his son iesus christ. and to maintain and keep up this fellowship with god for ever , it is to enjoy him for ever ; which in reference to a christians enjoyment of god in glory , is called a being for ever with the lord , 1 thes. 4.17 . a 2. the word of god ( which is contained in the scriptures of the old and new testament c ) , is the only rule to direct us how we may glorifie d , and enjoy him e . artic. vi . in the name of the holy scripture we do understand those canonical books of the old and new testament , of whose authority was never any doubt in the church . homil. 1. unto a christian man there can be nothing either more necessary or profitable , than the knowledg of holy scripture ; for as much as in it is contained gods true word , setting forth his glory , and also mans duty . — as many as be desirous to enter into the right and perfect way unto god , must apply their minds to know holy scripture , without the which they can neither sufficiently know god and his will , neither their office and duty . — let us willingly search for the well of life in the books of the old and new testament , and not run to the stinking puddles of mens traditions , ( devised by mens imagination ) for our justification and salvation . expl. 2. when the written word of god is here called a rule , we may understand it thus ; that as an artificer , suppose a mason or bricklayer , in raising a wall , or a carpenter in squaring a piece of timber , makes use of his rule , and by applying this to his work , comes to know whether it be streight or crooked : so the christian , who would order his spiritual building or conversation aright , so as to glorifie and enjoy god , he must lay every stone in this spiritual building by this rule ; he must square all his thoughts , words , and actions by this line and level , and thereby he may come to know what is right and what is wrong , what is sin and what is duty , what is true and what is false ; and so accordingly may cease to do evil , and learn to do well ; believe that which is true , and reject that which is false ; nor is the old testament alone this rule , nor the new testament alone , but both together ; and both together they are the only rule of christianity ; neither is there any other ordinary , sufficient rule to direct a christian , either how he may serve god acceptably , or enjoy god eternally , but this written word . ( 1. ) the pagans rule , or light of nature , or what may be known of god by the things which are made , is not sufficient to this end , because it cannot discover christ to us , which is the only means of salvation . ( 2. ) the papists rule of tradition is no good rule , because fallible and contradictory in many things to the rule of scripture . and ( 3. ) for the very same reason , the quakers rule is no good rule , i mean their light within , because opposite to the light of the word without ; and therefore it remaineth that the written word is the only rule . a. 3. the scriptures principally teach , what man is to believe concerning god , and what duty god requireth of man f . artic. vi . holy scripture contains all things necessary to salvation ; so that whatever is not read therein , or prov'd thereby , is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith , or be thought necessary or requisite to salvation . homil. 1. in holy scripture is fully contained what we ought to do , and what to eschew ; what to believe , what to love , and what to look for at gods hand at length . expl. 3. there are two things principally which man is to believe concerning god , and they are the two main foundations of the christian religion , in the practice of it : ( 1. ) that god is , or that there is such a being who is in and of himself absolutely perfect , and who gives being to all his creatures . ( 2. ) that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him , namely , in and through christ , heb. 11.6 . or that it is not in vain to love , serve , and obey this god. and there is but one thing , in the general , which god requires of man , namely , a free and full compliance with his will , whether in the doing or suffering part of religion . a. 4. god is a spirit g , infinite h , eternal i , and unchangeable k , in his being l , wisdom m , power , holiness n , justice , goodness , and truth o . homil. xvij . it passeth far the dark understanding and wisdom of a mortal man to speak sufficiently of that divine majesty which the angels cannot understand . considering the unsearchable nature of almighty god , — to reverence and dread his majesty , — excellent power , — incomparable , wisdom , — inestimable goodness , — to take him for god omnipotent , invisible . expl. 4. g a spirit ] ( i. e. ) a being which has not flesh and bones as we have , luk. 24.39 . has not hands , or feet , or any bodily parts , no nor any bodily properties neither , as length , breadth , heigth , depth , thickness , shape , or colour ; such a being as is not , cannot be ( as god ) the object of any of the five senses ; for no man has seen god at any time , &c. but is invisible , and absolutely perfect , because he does not depend upon any thing else , either for what he is , or for what he does . h infinite ] i. e. without any limits or bounds to his perfection , an unconfined essence , absolutely free from all measure or determination of time , place , or degrees . i eternal ] i. e. without beginning or end of days , or succession of duration ; always the same , before and after time , ever present , infinitely above all circumscription of motion , according to former and latter . k vnchangeable ] ( i. e. ) he can never cease to be what he is , ( the true god ) nor can he alter at all , so as to be more or less god than he is , nor more or less perfect ; for saith he , i am god , i change not . l in his being ] for when the son of god , who is very god , became man , he did not cease to be god. m in his power ] for this being infinite , it is not capable of an alteration , either by adding to it , or taking from it . and the same may be said concerning his wisdom , for the very same reason ; for how can he be more or less wise than he is , who is infinite in wisdom and knowledg ? n in his holiness ] i. e. he cannot be more or less holy than he is ; or be more or less inclin'd or obliged to act suitably to the perfection of his own nature , than he is already . o in iustice , goodness , and truth ) i. e. he cannot be more just , good , and true than he is , nor less just , good , and true than he is , because he is justice , goodness , and truth it self ; and is all these , and has all these in infinite and absolute perfection , and therefore he is unchangeable in these . a. 5. there is but one only p , the living and true god q . artic. i. there is but one living and true god , everlasting , without body , parts , or passions ; of infinite power , wisdom , and goodness , the maker and preserver of all things , both visible and invisible . expl. 5. ( i. e. ) there is but one only absolutely supreme and perfect being , who is the maker and governour of all things ; for as for magistrates , though they be called gods , i have said ye are gods , psal. 82.6 . yet they are so only by way of representation , only because they do represent god in his authority and government : and for idols , though they be called gods , as there be of this sort gods many , yet these gods of the heathen they are false gods , and upon that account are every-where disparaged in scripture . and though the devil himself be called the god of this world ; yet 't is only because he is gods ape , ruling and working in the children of disobedience , eph. 2.2 . ( but by gods permission ) as god does in his own children . so that it still holds good , that to us there is but one god , of whom , and by whom are all things , 1 cor. 8.6 . a. 6. there are three persons in the godhead , the father , the son , and the holy ghost r , and these three are one god , the same in substance , equal in power and glory s . artic. i. and in unity of this godhead there be three persons , of one substance , power , and eternity , the father , the son , and the holy ghost . expl. 6. in this a. there are three things to be explained ; as , ( 1. ) the meaning or nature of a divine person . ( 2. ) how they are said to be three persons . ( 3. ) how distinguisht from each other . for the understanding of the first , we are to know , that by a person in the general we mean a substantial compleat being ( whether visible or invisible ) , having understanding , will , and subsistence by it self , and distinguished from any thing else by some peculiar property that belongs to it , and to nothing else besides it self ; as there is something peculiar in every one man to distinguish him from another ; this for a person in general : but now for a divine person , ( or a person in the godhead ) , 't is a substance that is undivided , and absolutely perfect in being , understanding , will , and manner of subsistence ; yet actually , really , and eternally distinguished from any other person , by some relative property that belongs to it , and not to that person . ( 2. ) for the number of the persons in the godhead , they are three ; not only in the reckoning of man , or according to humane apprehension , but also in reality , and in gods account ; whether men should reckon them so or no , and are therefore called a trinity of persons . yet ( 3. ) though they be so distinguished one from another , as that the father is not the son , and the son not the father , and the holy ghost neither father nor son ; yet they are not , cannot be divided or separated one from another , because the whole and single godhead is wholly , coequally , and coessentially in all three , by virtue whereof 't is said , these three are one , ( i. e. ) one god. a. 7. the decrees of god , are his eternal purpose , according to the counsel of his own will , whereby for his own glory , he hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass t . artic. xvij . — everlasting purpose of god , whereby ( before the foundations of the world were laid ) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel , secret to us , &c. expl. 7. in this a. we have ( 1. ) the nature and properties of gods decrees , they are like himself from everlasting ; whatever god did purpose and determine to do , or permit to be done , he did thus purpose from eternity . ( 2. ) here is the rule of gods decree , the counsel of his own will ; and yet nothing that he decrees can be any other than reasonable and good , because by reason of the infinite perfection of his nature , his will is essentially just and holy , and cannot be otherwise . ( 3. ) the matter of his decrees , is , whatsoever comes to pass , though there be never so much of that which we call hap-hazard in them . ( 4. ) the end of his decrees , for his glory ; for god neither does nor designs any thing but for the highest end , and that is his own glory . a. 8. god executeth his decrees , in the work of creation u , and providence w . homil. xvij . — praise of almighty god , — in the consideration of the marvelous creation of this world , or — conservation and government thereof , wherein his great power and wisdom might excellently appear , to move us to dread and honour him . expl. 8. here is shew'd , how god doth bring to pass , what he hath purposed . ( 1. ) in the work of creation ; by which we are to understand , not only gods making the world and all things therein in six days , but also gods producing or bringing into being every thing else that came into being since that time to the worlds end , whether it became a being in an ordinary way , and by means , as in the natural generation of things ; or in an extraordinary way , by the immediate or miraculous power of god. ( 2. ) in the work of providence , which is not only to be restrain'd to what is naturally good , as every creature of god is , but also reaches to what is naturally evil , as affliction , and to what is morally evil , as sin . a. 9. the work of creation , is gods making all things x , of nothing , by the word of his power y , in the space of six days , and all very good z . to. 2. hom. viij . god through his almighty power , wisdom , and goodness , created in the beginning heaven and earth , the sun , the moon , the stars , the fowls of the air , the beasts of the earth , the fishes in the sea , and all other creatures for the benefit and use of man. hom. xij . among all the creatures that god made in the beginning of the world , most excellent and wonderful in their kind , there was none ( as the scripture beareth witness ) to be compared in any point almost unto man , who in body and soul exceeded . expl. 9. by the work of creation , we are to understand gods making of the world in time ( or in the beginning ) according as he had purposed from eternity , or before all beginning of time : and here it is observable , ( 1. ) that this work is ascribed only to god , the true god , in opposition to idols ; yet is not so to be ascribed to any one person in the godhead as to exclude the other ; for all the three persons , sc. father , son , and holy ghost , being one in essence or godhead , they must necessarily be one in working , or as it were joyn hand in hand in all external works , whether of creation or providence . and therefore when the creation is ascribed ( in the apostles creed ) to the father almighty , it doth not exclude the son or holy ghost from being almighty , or from joining with the father in the work of creation ; but only because the father is the first in order of the three persons when we conceive of them , and because there might be in the church an outward distinction made ( but no real separation ) among the three persons , in those works which are more eminently and peculiarly affirmed of each person , as that the father creates , the son redeems , and the spirit sanctifies . ( 2. ) that he did not , as an artificer , begin his work upon or out of materials , which is beyond the skill of art and power of nature . ( 3. ) without any instrument or help ; for ( 1. ) there was nothing then in being when he began his work , therefore no instrument . ( 2. ) he needed none , being infinite in power . ( 3. ) to have used any , would not have been so consistent with the glory of his wisdom and power . ( 4. obs. ) that he did his work in six days , that we might see it was a work of wisdom and counsel , and not of chance ; and to set us an example , to work six days , and rest the seventh . ( 5 ly , ) that he made all very good , in their nature , in their order and in their end . a. 10. god created man , male and female , after his own image a , in knowledg , righteousness , and holiness b , with dominion over the creatures c . homil. xij . he was made after the similitude and image of god , endued with all kind of heavenly gifts ; he had no spot of uncleanness in him , was sound and perfect in all parts , both inwardly and outwardly , his reason was uncorrupt , his understanding was pure and good , his will was obedient and godly ; he was made altogether like unto god , in righteousness and holiness , in wisdom and truth ; to be short , in all kind of perfection . — god made him lord and ruler over all the works of his hands . — homil. viij . whom also he had created to his own image and likeness , and given him the use and government over them all , to the end he should use them in such sort as he had given them in charge and commandment , and also that he should declare himself thankful , &c. expl. 10. god created man male and female ( i. e. ) , in both sexes ; man out of the dust of the earth , and the woman of the rib that he took out of the mans side ; which creation is to be understood concerning the bodies of both , not of the soul of either of them , for the soul was not made of any materials at all , but the reasonable soul was immediately infused into their bodies when god breathed into them the breath of life ; so that the soul is , q.d. the breath of god. there is a twofold image of god , ( 1. ) that which is in god , and so christ the second person in the trinity is said to be the express image of the person of god the father , because in him the fulness of the godhead dwells bodily . ( 2. ) there is the image of god which is out of god , or external to him ; and such an image of god was man in his first creation . ( 1 st , ) in respect of his soul , and that more generally , in the nature of it , god is a spirit , and so is mans soul ; god's immortal , so that : but more particularly , ( 1. ) in knowledg of what was necessary to be known by him in order to gods glory or his own happiness . ( 2. ) in righteousness or uprightness , ( i. e. ) his will did freely and fully comply with the will of god , the law of god being written in his heart . ( 3. ) in holiness , or with a power to do gods will perfectly . ( 2 dly , ) in respect of his body , wherein he did resemble the majesty ( not the spirituality of god ) for there was so much of majesty especially in mans countenance , that the inferior creatures did stand in awe of him . ( 3. ) in respect of the whole man , because in his dominion over the creatures , he did resemble his creator in his dominion over the world . a. 11. gods works of providence , are his most holy d , wise e , and powerful preserving f , and governing all his creatures , and all their actions g . homil. xvij . — conservation and governance of the world , — of liberal goodness , which he daily bestoweth on us his reasonable creatures , for whose sake he made the whole universal world , with all the commodities and goods therein . — take him for god omnipotent , invisible , having rule in heaven and earth , having all things in subjection , and will have none in counsel with him , nor any to ask the reason of his doing ; for he may do what liketh him , and none can resist him , dan. 11. for he worketh all things in his secret judgment to his own pleasure , yea even the wicked to damnation , saith solomon , prov. 16. — god hath not so created the world that he is careless of it , but he still preserveth it by his goodness ; he still stayeth it in his creation . — to make our humble suits in prayers to his fatherly providence . expl. 11. by gods actual providence we are to understand his ordering of all things in time , according to his eternal purpose , or the counsel of his own will ; or in plain english , 't is his doing what he will in the world , whether it be in heaven or earth . for further explanation of this matter , we are to know , ( 1 st , ) that ( according to our apprehension ) there are these distinctions and kinds of providence , ( 1. ) we have his eternal providence , or his decreeing , purposing , designing providence , which is nothing else but that frame , method , or order of government which was in the mind of god from everlasting , before there was a world , or any creature in it to be govern'd , ( and of this was spoken before ) . ( 2. ) his actual providence , which he hath exercised ever since he made the world ; as , ( 1. ) in the conservation of things in their beings , so that of all the species or kinds of creatures which he made he has lost none . individuals indeed do dye and perish , and return to their dust , but the species or kinds of creatures do not ; men dye , ( this and that and t'other individual person ) in reference to their bodies ; but man does not , or rather mankind does not . ( 2. ) in the actual government of all things by his wisdom , which he doth preserve by his infinite power ; for god does not do by the world as the ship-carpenter by the ship , build and leave it , and never look after it more ; but he doth look after the preservation of it as the owner , and the government of it as the pilot. other distinctions there are of providence ; as , ( 2. ) that it is either mediate and ordinary , as where god makes use of means and second causes , and therein does observe the order which he has set in nature , as hos. 2.22 . and this order in nature is called the law of nature : or else immediate and extraordinary , when in the works of providence , as well as of creation , he works without means , as in the preserving of daniel in the lyons den. ( 2 dly , ) for the matter and extent of providence , it reaches to all creatures , even to the sparrows , and to the hair of the head . ( 3 dly , ) for the manner ; and this ( 1. ) holy , or most perfect , or in a way suitable to the perfection of his nature . ( 2. ) wise , for he does not only do all in the best way , but for the highest end . ( 3. ) powerful , for he brings to pass what he will have done with an almighty easiness , and without any difficulty to himself . a. 12. when god had created man , he entred into a covenant of life with him , upon condition of perfect obedience h , forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledg of good and evil , upon pain of death i . to. 2. homil. xxi . god , as soon as he had created man , gave unto him a certain precept and law , which he ( being yet in the state of innocency , and remaining in paradise ) should observe as a pledg and token of his due and bounden obedience , with denunciation of death , if he did transgress and break the said law and commandment . — in the which obedience if man had continued still , there had been no poverty , no diseases , no sickness , no death , &c. expl. 12. the wise and gracious creator having made man a reasonable creature , and having also stampt his own image upon him , and thereby rendered him fit for and capable of happiness in the enjoyment of himself ; and there being no other way to this enjoyment , but by union and communion with himself , he was most graciously pleased in order thereunto , to make a covenant with man , ( giving a law to him as soon as he had made him , ) and in him with all his posterity ; wherein he promised life to him , and in him to all mankind , upon condition of perfect and personal obedience . and that god might try him , how he would carry it , being now brought within the bounds of this covenant , he was pleased to lay this particular positive precept upon him , that he should not eat of the tree of knowledg of good and evil , &c. upon pain of death ; which precept he having broken , became liable unto death , or to the curse of the law. this covenant which god entered into with the first adam was in paradise , a covenant or law of works , do this and live : but that covenant which god hath establisht in christ the second adam with all believers ( since the fall ) whether in the old or new testament , 't is a covenant of grace ; and the grand condition of this covenant on mans part , or the qualification whereby he is fitted and capacitated to receive the benefit of this covenant , 't is the righteousness of faith ; for it runs thus , believe and live ; not that the covenant of grace ( whether in the old or new testament ) does not require new obedience , but that it does not require this in order to justification ; for this new obedience , or this obedience of faith , it is rather the fruit or effect , than the instrumental cause , means , or condition of justification . but more distinctly , amongst those many differences which are wont to be assigned by divines betwixt the covenant of works and the covenant of grace , we may take notice of these : ( 1. ) the covenant of works was made with man before the fall , before he had sinned against god ; the covenant of grace , afterward . ( 2. ) the covenant of works did not promise pardon upon repentance ; the covenant of grace does , because christ the mediator of this covenant has purchased pardon for all penitent sinners , who have but a hand of faith to receive it . ( 3. ) the covenant of works was without a mediator , for till man had sinned he needed none to mediate peace betwixt god and him ; but the covenant of grace is established in the hands of a mediator , sc. christ jesus , perfect god and perfect man , that he might make a reconciliation betwixt god and man. ( 4. ) in the covenant of nature ( or works ) adam was only the son of god by creation ; but in the covenant of grace , those who were children of wrath , do through faith become the children of god by grace and adoption . ( 5. ) the covenant of works had for its seals of confirmation , or for the sacraments of it , the tree of life , so called because it did sacramentally confirm the promise of life upon condition of perfect obedience ; and the tree of knowledg of good and evil , which was so called from the event , because man having sinned in eating the forbidden fruit , he presently came to know by a sad experiment , what an infinite good he had lost in losing gods favour , and what misery and mischief he had brought upon himself . but now the seals or sacraments of the covenant of grace were under the old testament circumcision and the paschal lamb , and now under the new testament , baptism and the lords supper . ( 6. ) in the covenant of works there was no place at all for gods further exercising of his patience , grace and mercy ; but in the covenant of grace his mercy most is signally display'd ; yea and that which is a mystery as well as a miracle of divine wisdom , here we may see mercy and justice kiss each other , in the satisfaction that christ has made . and as the covenant of grace and the covenant of works do differ in the foregoing particulars ; so doth the covenant of grace under the old testament differ from the covenant of grace under the new testament ( though these are not two but one covenant in substance ) in clearness ; for till the law , or from adam to moses , the promise of grace was more obscure ; under moses more clear ; from moses to the prophets , yet more clear ; from them to iohn the baptist , yet more clear ; and from him to christ , yet more clear ; and under the preaching of christ , whilst he was fulfilling the promises , yet abundantly more clear than under iohn ; but most clear of all when christ had finished the work of redemption by price , and was ascended into heaven , and had sent down his spirit upon his apostles , in that plentiful effusion of the spirit at the time of pentecost , act. 2. a. 13. our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will , fell from the state wherein they were created , by sinning against god k to. 2. hom. xiij . par. 2. when our great grandfather adam had broken gods commandment , in eating the apple forbidden him in paradise , at the motion and suggestion of his wife , he purchased thereby not only to himself , but also to his posterity for ever , the just wrath and indignation of god , who according to his former sentence pronounced at the giving of the commandment , condemned both him and all his to everlasting death , both of body and soul. expl. 13. here , for explanation sake , we may observe : ( 1. ) that our first parents were created with freedom of will ; ( i. e. ) if they would have continued in their obedience they might , for they had a power to obey god perfectly ; and if they would sin they might , god left them ( and that very justly ) to themselves , he being not bound to hinder them ( though he could ) from sinning against him . ( 2. ) that by their sinning against god they lost this freedom , and with it all that happiness which did belong to a state of innocence and integrity ; for by their fall they were so bruised in all their powers and faculties , that they became unable to serve god ; and so bemired with the guilt and pollution of sin , that they were altogether unfit to enjoy god. a. 14. sin is any want of conformity unto , or transgression of the law of god. l expl. 14. this description of sin doth agree to sins of all sorts , original or actual ; and these whether in thought , word , or deed , whether of omission or commission , of ignorance or of knowledg , of infirmity or presumption ; and to sins of all degrees and sizes , whether great or small ; for in all sin whatsoever ( whether it be of men or devils ) there is a want of conformity to the law of god , and a violation of his just will , as well as a repugnancy to the holiness of his nature . neither is it improper to place the nature of sin in a privation or want of conformity ; for it is that which doth deprive and rob the rational creature of the rectitude or moral perfection of his own nature , which doth consist in his being like to god , and in being conformable to his will. a. 15. the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created , was their eating the forbidden fruit m . homil. xij . this first man adam , who having but one commandment at gods hand , namely , that he should not eat of the fruit of knowledg of good and evil , did notwithstanding most unmindfully , or rather most wilfully break it , in forgetting the strait charge of his maker , and giving ear to the crafty suggestion of that wicked serpent the devil . expl. 15. in this a. there are two things remarkable , ( 1. ) that our parents by sinning lost that state of perfection which they had in paradise ; and ( christ only excepted , whatever some quakers dream ) there was never any man perfectly innocent , or free from sin , since the fall . now that state of perfection which our first parents lost ( and we in them ) did consist ; ( 1. ) in their conformity to god , or in having his image stampt upon them , in knowledg , righteousness , and holiness . ( 2. ) in their perfect capacity and fitness to enjoy god their creator . ( 2 dly , ) that the sin whereby they fell was direct disobedience , in eating the forbidden fruit ( whether an apple , or whatever else ) , and that against a particular positive express precept , thou shalt not eat of it ; which sin of theirs was a big-belly'd sin , and carried in it , ( 1. ) pride and ambition , to be as gods in the devils sense , ( i. e. ) in knowledg , or know as much as god himself . ( 2. ) ingratitude , for their priviledg and liberty to eat of all other trees of the garden . ( 3. ) infidelity , not giving that credit and belief to god which he did to satan . ( 4. ) this forbidden tree was the seal of the covenant of life , and therefore to eat of it was to tear off the seal . a. 16. the covenant being made with adam not only for himself , but for his posterity n , all mankind , descending from him by ordinary generation , sinned in him , and fell with him in his first transgression o . homil. xij . the judgment of everlasting death , — fell not only on him , but also on his posterity and children for ever ; so that the whole brood of adams flesh should sustain the self-same fall and punishment which their fore-father by his offence most fully had deserved . exp. 16. we have here two things to be considered : ( 1 ) that adam was not only the root of all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation , he being the first that god created of that species ; but also the representative of mankind , and did as a publick person stand for all his posterity in that covenant of life which god made personally with him ; hence that common phrase , that we were all in his loyns , ( i. e. ) naturally , as descending from him ; and legally , as represented by him . not but that we were also in the loyns of eve ▪ but that man being first created , and of the more noble sex , is principally taken notice of both in the covenant and in the transgression . for ( 2 dly , ) we are here to observe , that all mankind ( christ the son of god only excepted ) did sin in adam ; by one sin entred into the world upon all , for as much as all have sinned . some explain this by the example of levi , who is said to pay tythes in abraham , though levi was not born some hundred years after abraham did thus pay tythes : so all adams posterity ( which proceed from him in the ordinary course of nature ) may be said as well to sin in adam , though some of them might not be born some hundreds or thousands of years after him . we know that the bonds and compacts of parents may reach the children ; else they could not be liable nor capable of enjoying their estates , to pay their debts ; and the treason of the parent doth legally taint the son , till it please the prince to take it off . and then further , as the righteousness of christ the second adam , and his obedience , is imputed to all that believe ; so the disobedience of the first adam is reckoned to the score of all his posterity , because they were legally in him , and one with him when he sinned . a. 17. the fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery p . homil. ii . p. 1. iob having in himself great experience of the miserable and sinful estate of man , doth open the same to the world , chap. 14. expl. 17. in this a. 't is observable , that the fall did not only put our first parents actually under misery , but it did instate all his posterity in misery , and did entail sin upon them , as ancestors do entail their lands upon their posterity ; and if the second adam had not by an act of infinite grace and wisdom cut off this entail in the behalf of believers , all mankind must for ever have continued not only heirs and children of wrath ( as we are all by nature , ) but also actually under the wrath of god for ever . for this was all the estate that our first parents left to their posterity , sc. sin and misery . a. 18. the sinfulness of that estate whereunto man fell , consists in the guilt of adams first sin q , the want of original righteousness r , and the corruption of his whole nature , which is commonly called original sin s , together with all actual transgressions , which proceed from it t . artic. ix . original or birth-sin is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man , that naturally is ingendred of the off-spring of adam , whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness , and is of his own nature inclin'd to evil . expl. 18. there are four particulars in this a. ( which do all suppose that adam sin'd as a common representative of all mankind . ) as , ( 1. ) that the guilt of that single act of disobedience which adam was guilty of , is very justly imputed to all the degenerate and sinful race of adam ; for that covenant which was made with him being made with us also in him , when he transgressed by eating the forbidden fruit , we his posterity are to be looked upon as accessaries , and consenting to the fact ; and when he thus sinned , it was as much as if all his posterity had sinned in their own persons . ( 2 ) the want of original righteousness , or the want of power and ability to do the will of god which man had by creation ; for god made man upright , that is , in a capacity and with ability to do the whole will of god ; which ability was not taken away from man till he had foolishly and wilfully thrown it away . ( 3. ) the corruption of the whole nature of man , and that in every mothers child of us ( the child iesus only excepted ) . for every one of us may truly say with david , one by one , behold i was shapen in iniquity , and in sin did my mother conceive me : it being impossible that a clean thing should come out of an unclean . now because this corruption of nature is the fountain of all manner of sin , both in thought , word , and deed , therefore it is called original sin . and then , ( 4. ) all those corrupt streams which do proceed from this corrupt fountain , are called actual sins ; by which i understand any action of a man , whether it be an internal action of the mind and soul ; or external , of the body , which is not conformable to the law of god ; as also the neglect and omission of any action ( whether internal or external ) which the law requires . a. 19. all mankind by their fall , lost communion with god u , are under his wrath and curse w , and so made liable to all miseries in this life , to death it self , and to the pains of hell for ever x . homil. xij . as in adam all men universally sinned ; so in adam all men universally received the reward of their sin , i. e. they became mortal , and subject unto death , having in themselves nothing but everlasting damnation both of body and soul. — o what a miserable and woful state was this , that the sin of one man should destroy and condemn all men , that nothing in all the world might be lookt for , but only pangs of death , and pains of hell. expl. 19. concerning this a. 't is observable in the general , that mans losses by the sall , do reach as far as the guilt of that first disobedience whereby he fell , namely , to all mankind ; yet more particularly , ( 1 st , ) adam lost ( and we in him , and with him ) communion with god ; and the loss of this is a treble loss , ( 1. ) of gods sweet and gracious presence and company , and that in a most immediate manner , as one friend is personally present with another . ( 2. ) of converse with god ; for whilst god and man were together in paradise , and man continued innocent , their society was not like that of the quakers in their silent-meetings , but there would have continued such familiarity betwixt them , as is betwixt two loving friends , they would have walked together , and talked together ; for if god did use that familiarity with moses , exod. 33.11 . since the fall , much more would he have continued it with adam and his posterity , if they had never fal'n . ( 3. ) from this sweet company and converse would have sprung up in the heart , a continual satisfaction and delight to the soul of man ; for man yet continuing like god , he could not but love him , and delight himself in this sweet intercourse . ( 2 dly , ) the sinful posterity of adam ( till interested in christ ) are actually under the wrath of god , for god is angry with the wicked every day ; and actually under the curse , because under the law , not under grace . ( 3 dly , ) man in this state is continually liable to have the curse executed upon him every moment , and has no protection at all either against the miseries of this life , or the pains of hell . a. 20. god having out of his meer good pleasure , from all eternity , elected some to everlasting life y , did enter into a covenant of grace , to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery , and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a redeemer z . artic. xvij . predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of god , whereby ( before the foundations of the world were laid ) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us , to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in christ out of mankind , and to bring them to everlasting salvation , as vessels made unto honour . homil. xij . behold the goodness and tender mercy of god , — he ordained a new covenant , and made a sure promise thereof , namely , that he would send a messias or a mediator into the world , which should make intercession , and put himself as a stay between both parties ; to pacifie the wrath and indignation conceiv'd against sin , and to deliver man out of the miserable curse , and cursed misery whereinto he was fal'n head-long , by disobeying the will and commandment of the only lord and maker . expl. 20. in which a. we have ( 1 st , ) gods eternal purpose , and absolute decree , whereby he hath singled out or chosen some of mankind , upon whom he is resolved to bestow eternal life , and that out of his meer free grace , without any foresight of faith , obedience , perseverance , or any other condition , as a cause or motive inducing him to make this choice ; nay , the decree it self is not founded in the merits of christ , but purely in the love of god ; though as for all the blessed effects of this decree ( as reconciliation , pardon , justification , adoption , sanctification , salvation , &c. ) are actually received and enjoyed , by the elect , only upon the consideration of the merits , righteousness , and satisfaction of christ. yet more distinctly , and for order sake , we may conceive of these two things in gods decree of election , ( 1. ) gods most wise design , to advance the glory of his free-grace , in bringing many sons to glory . ( 2. ) that god of his free grace had singled and culled out a certain distinct number of persons for the enjoyment of this glory . now this very act of gods picking and culling out those particular persons whom he designed to save , is that we call very properly election . neither did this grace of god only appear in making this choice , and then in leaving his chosen ones to get eternal life and heaven as they could ; but ( 2 dly , ) he did also pitch upon an effectual means , or contrive a way whereby his chosen people should effectually and infallibly obtain eternal life ; and this was by entring into a covenant of grace , with christ the second adam , and the mediator of the new covenant ; and in christ with all believers , that whosoever should believe on the son of god , he would give unto them eternal life ; and that they should never enter into condemnation . hence i infer , ( 1. ) that it is the free grace of god , and not the free will of man that maketh one man to differ from another , paul from iudas . ( 2. ) that the praise and glory of this difference is to be ascribed not unto man , but unto god , not unto us , o lord , &c. a. 21. the only redeemer of gods elect is the lord jesus christ a , who being the eternal son of god , became man b , and so was , and continueth to be god and man , in two distinct natures , and one person c , for ever d . artic. xviij . they also are to be had accursed , who presume to say that every man shall be saved by the law or sect which he professeth , so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that law and the light of nature . for the holy scripture doth set out unto us only the name of jesus christ , whereby men must be saved . hom. x. p. 2. — reprobates perish through their own default — christ jesus as he is a rising up to none other than those who are gods children by adoption ; so is his word , yea the holy scripture , the power of god to salvation to them only that do believe it . expl. 21. there are three things to be noted in this a. ( 1. ) that the redeemer of gods elect is god as well as man. ( 2. ) man as well as god. ( 3. ) both god and man in one person . ( 1. ) he is god , for he is the son of god , not by creation ; as adam was ; nor by natural generation , as we are all the children of adam ; but by eternal generation , so as that god the father , who begat him , was not before him in time : and he was god , that his godhead might keep his humane nature from sinking under infinite wrath when he suffered for our sins , that he might have power to raise himself from the grave , and rescue himself out of the jaws of death , that the dignity of his person might render his sufferings , obedience , intercession , and satisfaction of infinite value and efficacy , for the procuring of eternal life for his people , and that he might be in a capacity to bestow his spirit upon them , and to conquer all their enemies for them . ( 2. ) he must be man as well as god , that he might perform obedience , suffer , satisfie , and intercede for us in our nature ; that he might be a merciful high-priest , and have a fellow-feeling of our infirmities . ( 3. ) both god and man in one person , that he might be a fit mediator betwixt god and man , to make up the difference betwixt them , which sin had made . for as sin is the only make-bate , so christ having taken our nature into union with the godhead , is the only person that is in a capacity to make peace betwixt an offended god and offending man ; and that he might perform ( in the great work of redemption ) whatever was requirable of both natures jointly in one person ; or whatever he was to do as head of the church . a. 22. christ the son of god became man , by taking to himself a true body e , and a reasonable soul f , being conceived by the power of the holy ghost , in the womb of the virgin mary , and born of her g , yet without sin h . artic. xv . christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things , sin only except , from which he was clear void , both in his flesh and in his spirit . artic . ii. the son , which is the word of the father , begotten from everlasting of the father , the very and eternal god , of one substance with the father , took mans nature in the womb of the virgin mary , of her substance : so that two whole and perfect natures ▪ that is to say , the godhead and manhood , were joined together in one person , never to be divided ; whereof is one christ , very god and very man , who truly suffered , was crucified , dead and buried , to reconcile his father to us , and to be a sacrifice not only for original guilt , but also for actual sins of men . homil. xij . as truly as god liveth , so truly was jesus christ the true messias and saviour of the world , even the same jesus which was born of the virgin mary , without all help of man , only by the power and operation of the holy ghost . expl. 22. when it is here said , that christ the son of god became man , we are not to imagine that christ did then lay down his godhead , or that he did cease to be god , when he honoured mans nature so far as to take that upon him : for though he then began to be what he was not before , man ; yet he did not cease to be at his incarnation what he was before , namely , god ; it being impossible altogether that the godhead should admit of any change , because of its infinite perfection ; for every change is either for the better or for the worse , but the godhead was infinitely ( as well as independently ) perfect , and consequently without all variableness or shadow of changing ; so that all the change which was in christ at his incarnation , it was in his humane nature only ; and that change was indeed for the better , for it was for the highest advancement , honour , and perfection that our nature was capable of . but christ , though the son of god , and therefore truly god , became man , ( 1. ) not by being like unto man only in outward appearance , and to the outward senses , as a phantasm , an apparition , or a ghost that doth appear in mans shape , as those hereticks of old call'd the marcionites did fancy : no , he became man , ( 2. ) by taking the real body of man , or by taking flesh , blood , bones , nerves , sinews , hands , feet , and all other integral parts of the very same kind with those of mans body . his body was such , that it did grow in stature from that of a child to that of a man , and was subject to the touch or feeling . ( 3. ) by taking a reasonable soul , or a soul furnished with the very same powers and faculties that ours have , for the kind , as understanding , will , affections , memory , &c. and was capable of the improvement of these , as of growing in wisdom and knowledg , according to his humane nature . ( 4. ) by being conceived of the holy ghost , i. e. in a manner supernatural , or above nature , and not in an ordinary way of natural generation , but by the immediate and omnipotent operation of the spirit the third person in the trinity , who did in a way altogether unexpressible by man , and without the help of man , frame the body of the holy child jesus in the virgin maries womb , wherein this blessed babe continued the space of nine months , as other children do in their mothers womb , and then was born into the world in fulness of time , as they are ; but yet without sin , as they are not . a. 23. christ as our redeemer , executeth the offices of a prophet i , of a priest k , and of a king l , both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation . expl. 23. by this word redeemer , we are to understand the same with mediator , and by both the second person in the trinity , as he was ( upon covenant and contract made with the father ) to mediate peace betwixt god and man , and to manage the whole work of redemption , in order to the justification , sanctification , and salvation of the elect ; and that not only whilst he was here upon earth to be our king , priest , and prophet ; but now that he is in heaven , he ever lives to make intercession for us , and doth still guide , and teach , and govern his church by his word and spirit . a. 24. christ executeth the office of a prophet , in revealing to us m , by his word n , and spirit o , the will of god for our salvation . hom. xvij . by this our heavenly mediator do we know the favour and mercy of god the father , by him know we his will and pleasure towards us , for he is the brightness of his fathers glory , and a very clear image and pattern of his substance . it is he whom the father in heaven delighteth to have for his beloved son , authorized to be our teacher , whom he charged us to hear , saying , hear him . expl. 24. when christ is here called a prophet , we are not to restrain this part of his office only to his foretelling all such things as should befall his church , or the enemies thereof , though this he has done in prophetical scriptures , so far as he thought necessary for the good of his church : but he is principally called a prophet ( and that prophet ) because of that power , commission , and ability which he has , and doth exercise , in revealing and declaring ( both outwardly by his word , and inwardly by his spirit ) the whole mind and will of god , which was necessary to be known by man in order to salvation . and for this reason he is called in scripture the word ( and the word was made flesh ) , and his name is [ the word of god ] , because that as a man does make known what his mind and will is by his words , either written or spoken ; so god the father doth make known unto man by christ what he would have men to believe and do in order to salvation ; and that either mediately , by committing the word of christ unto writings , as in the scripture ; or immediately , by the spirit of truth , as he did communicate and speak his mind to moses , the prophets , and apostles . a. 25. christ executeth the office of a priest , in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfie divine justice p , and to reconcile us to god q , and in making continual intercession for us r . homil. xx . p. 1. we having nothing of our selves to present us to god , have need of a mediator for to bring and reconcile us unto him , who for our sins is angry with us . the same is jesus christ , — to pacifie his wrath . — for he alone did with the sacrifice of his body and blood , make satisfaction unto the justice of god for our sins . to. 1. hom. iii. p. 2. we must trust only in gods mercy , and that sacrifice which our high-priest and saviour christ jesus the son of god once offered for us upon the cross , to obtain thereby gods grace , and remission as well of our original sin , as of all a ●●●al sin , — if we truly repent and turn unfeignedly unto him . to. 11. hom. xi . reconciled to gods favour , we are taught to know what christ by his intercession and mediation obtaineth for us of his father , when we be obedient to his will ; yea , attributeth that unto us and to our doings , that he by his spirit worketh in us , and through his grace procureth for us . expl. 25. in this a. we have both the parts of christs priestly office , as , ( 1 st , ) satisfaction , and this twofold , ( 1. ) to the whole law , in fulfilling all righteousness , in the perfect performance of what the law required from him . ( 2. ) to the iustice of god , in undergoing the curse of the law , for the elect ; and this he did by his sufferings , but especially when his soul was made an offering for sin , or when he was sacrificed for sinners . in which offering he was , ( 1. ) the priest , for he offered up himself , or he laid down his life of himself ; and he was the priest as god-man . ( 2. ) he was the altar , principally according to his divine nature , because the altar was to sanctifie the gift offered , and therefore was to be more excellent than the sacrifice it self . ( 3. ) he was also the sacrifice , for he offered the sacrifice of himself , ( i. e. ) according to the humane nature properly , and this therefore is called the sacrifice of his body and of his blood ; and all this , that there might be some kind of compensation made , or satisfaction given to god , for that wrong which we had done to him . ( 2 dly , ) we have the intercession of christ , which is the other part of christs priestly office , whereby christ doth present himself continually before the father , pleading his blood and merit for the satisfaction that he has made to divine justice , and for the reconciliation of god to the sinner . and his intercession is rather by way of plea at the bar of justice , than by way of prayer and supplication at a throne of grace ; and therefore it is that he is called our advocate . a. 26. christ executeth the office of a king , in subduing us to himself s , in ruling and defending us t , and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies u . to. 2. homil. xiv . he sitteth on the right hand of his heavenly father , having the rule of heaven and earth ; reigning as the prophet saith , psal. 17. from sea to sea , — he hath overcome the devil , death , and hell , and hath victoriously gotten the better hand of them all , to make us free and safe from them . homil. xvij . p. 3. to this our saviour and mediator hath god the father given the power of heaven and earth , and the whole jurisdiction and authority to distribute his gifts committed to him , — and thereupon to execute his authority committed , after that he had brought sin and the devil to captivity , to be no more hurtful to his members , he ascended up into heaven again , and from thence sent liberal gifts to his well-beloved servants , and hath still the power to the worlds end , to distribute his fathers gifts continually in his church , to the establishment and comfort thereof . expl. 26. yet more fully christ doth execute his kingly office , ( 1 st , ) by his authority , in setting up a government in his church , which in the outward form or administration thereof is to be managed by such officers , and according to such laws , ordinances , and censures as he hath appointed in his word . ( 2 dly , ) by his power , as ( 1. ) that of his almightiness , whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself , and to make his very enemies his foot-stool . ( 2. ) of his grace , whereby he doth subdue the hearts of his chosen people to himself , and makes them a willing people in the day of his power . ( 3. ) of his spirit , whereby he doth sanctifie his people , and fit them for heaven , as also support , guide , and comfort them under all the afflictions they meet with on earth . ( 4. ) by his iustice , in punishing his and his churches adversaries . a. 27. christs humiliation consisted in his being born , and that in a low condition w , made under the law x , undergoing the miseries of this life y , the wrath of god z , and the cursed death of the the cross a , in being buried , and continuing under the power of death for a time b . hom. iii. p. 3. — hath given his own natural son ' being god eternal , immortal , and equal unto himself in power and glory , to be incarnated , and take our mortal nature upon him , with the infirmities of the same , and in the same nature to suffer most painful and shameful death for our offences , to the intent to justifie us , and restore us to life everlasting . hom. xij . he did hunger and thirst , eat and drink , sleep and wake , — preach his gospel , — weep and sorrow for ierusalem , pay tribute for himself and peter , suffer death . expl. 27. in the general , christs humiliation doth consist , in all that which did befall him from the first moment of his conception in the virgins womb , to the very time of his resurrection from the grave : ( 1. ) he was humbled in his conception ; that he who was god equal with the father , should according to his humane nature have a body framed for him in the womb of a virgin , and should continue ●●ose prisoner there for the space of about nine months , whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain . ( 2. ) humbled in his birth , in that he was born of a woman , and that not an empress or princess , but a woman of a mean rank and low estate , though a virgin ; that he who was the son of god , and the father of eternity , or himself the everlasting father , should in fulness of time be born in the form of a servant , made under the law , not only in a state of subjection to the commands of it , but also liable , to the curse of it , which was due only to us , and not to him , but only as he was our surety , and all this that we might receive the adoption of sons , who deserved not to be called servants . that he who was heir of all things , and made this great house the world , should be so unfurnisht with houshold goods , as to have no better cradle than a manger . ( 3. ) in his life he humbled himself to the infirmities of our nature , as hunger , cold , nakedness , poverty , &c. to undergo with admirable patience , the unkindnesses and forsakings of his friends , the reproaches , indignities , and persecutions of his enemies ; yea and to be tempted by that great enemy of mankind the devil . ( 4. ) in his death , that he should dye at all , who is the author of natural , spiritual , and eternal life ; and besides , could he not , if he would , have translated himself from earth to heaven ( as enoch was translated ) without dying at all ; but then that the king of glory should dye the ●ost shameful death , that of the cross , and in the basest company , betwixt two theeves . ( 5 ) after death , in having his body laid in the earth , who had before made the heavens , and laid the foundation of the earth . and last of all , that he should continue under the power of death & the grave for three days , who could ( if he would ) within less than three moments , yea in less time than a moment have raised his body from the grave . o incomprehensible humiliation ! and that which should fill us all with grateful and astonishing admiration at it , that all this was for sinful man ! a. 28. christs exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day c , in ascending up into heaven , and sitting at the right hand of god the father d , and in coming to judg the world at the last day e . artic. iv. christ did truly rise again from death , and took again his body , with flesh , bones , and all things appertaining to the perfection of mans nature , wherewith he ascended into heaven , and there sitteth until he return to judg all men at the last day . to. 2. hom. xiv . after this world judg as well of the living as of the dead , to give reward to the good , and judgment to the evil . hom. xvij . p. 3. by him hath almighty god decreed to dissolve the world , to call all before him , to judg both the quick and the dead ; and finally , by him shall he condemn the wicked to eternal fire in hell , and give the good eternal life , and set them assuredly in presence with him in heaven for ever more . expl. 28. christ is here exalted , ( 1 st , ) in his resurrection ; and here ( 1. ) the glory of his power was exalted , for he raised himself by his own almighty power , and thereby declared himself to be the son of god. ( 2. ) the glory of his truth , for he raised himself , as he had foretold , within three days . ( 3. ) the glory of his authority , for he rose as a publick person , and thereby declared himself head of the church . ( 4. ) the glory of his mercy , for he rose again for our justification ; for if he had not received a discharge from his father , and had he not been released from the prison of the grave , it would have been an evidence against us , that our debt was not paid . ( 2 dly , ) he was exalted by his ascension , ( 1. ) if we consider the manner of it , it was with glorious triumph over hell and death . ( 2. ) his ascension was into heaven , namely , into the heaven of heavens , that which is called paradise and the third heaven , whether enoch and elias went. ( 3. ) in his bounty and grace , he ascended that he might give gifts to men . ( 3 dly , ) exalted in his sitting , &c. for his session at the right hand of the father , doth declare him to be supreme head of the church . ( 4 thly , ) in judging the world , he will be exalted , ( 1. ) in his authority . ( 2. ) in his righteousness . a. 29. we are made partakers of the redemption purchased by christ , by the effectual application of it to us f , by his holy spirit g . artic. xvij . — they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of god ( viz. election ) be called according to gods purpose , working in due season ; they through grace obey the calling ; be freely justified , &c. expl. 29. in this a. is plainly laid before us the manner how , and means whereby all that christ has done and suffered for sinners ( as mediator ) , and all that he is now doing in heaven for them , doth become effectual to the compleat redemption , and eternal salvation of all true christians , sc. by the real and actual application of all this unto them . for though christ , the great physitian of value , has made the healing plaister of his blood sufficiently broad enough both to cover and to cure all the wounds that sin hath made in all the men in the world ; yet the far greater part of the world do dye and perish of their wounds , because they will not suffer this soveraign plaister to be apply'd to them , in the sound preaching of the gospel , neither will they abide to have their wounds searched in order to cure : now for the manner how , and the means whereby this plaister is apply'd ; i answer , ( 1. ) it is outwardly , by the ministers of the gospel , unto all those that do believe , as when they preach this doctrine , that whosoever believeth shall be saved . ( 2. ) inwardly , by the holy spirit , who does not only lay on the plaister in a work of conviction , but doth make it become effectually healing in a work of conversion and sanctification . for the means , see the next a. a. 30. the spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by christ , by working faith in us h ; and thereby uniting us to christ in our effectual calling i . homil. ii. of the passion . as it profiteth a man nothing to have s●lve , unless it be well-applied to the part infected ; so the death of christ shall stand us in no force , unless we apply it to our selves , as god hath appointed . almighty god commonly worketh by means ; and in this thing he hath also ordained a certain mean , whereby we may take fruit and profit to our souls health . homil. xvi . p. 2. the holy ghost is a spiritual and divine substance , the third person in the trinity , distinct from the father and the son , and yet proceeding from them both , — doth regenerate ; which the more it is hid from our understanding , the more it ought to move all men to wonder at the secret and mighty working of gods holy spirit which is within us : for it is the holy ghost , and no other thing , that doth quicken the minds of men , stirring up good and godly motions in their hearts , which are agreeable to the will and commandment of god , such as otherwise of their crooked and perverse nature they should never have . — who is the only worker of our sanctification , and maketh us new in christ. expl. 30. here we have the particular means or instrument which the holy spirit makes use of for the applying of the redemption purchased by christ , to all those whom he has redeemed by his blood . not that the spirit may be said to believe in the elect , but that he doth work that faith in them whereby they ( as members ) are united to christ their head , and so do mystically and spiritually ( but really ) become one with him , for they that are thus joined to the lord , are one spirit ; and so being one with christ , what was done for them by christ as their mediator , head , and husband , is accounted as done by themselves ; he having pay'd their debt as their surety , they receive their discharge , and shall never come into condemnation , or be cast into prison , after they are once thus one with christ , and effectually called by the spirit . a. 31. effectual calling is the work of gods spirit k , whereby convincing us of our sin and misery l , enlightning our minds in the knowledg of christ m , and renewing our wills n , he doth perswade and enable us to embrace jesus christ freely offered to us in the gospel o . artic. x. the condition of man after the fall of adam is such , that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith , and calling upon god : wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to god , without the grace of god by christ preventing us , that we may have a good will , and working with us when we have that good will. hom. ii. of alms , p. 2. the good deeds of man are not the cause of making him good , but he is first made good by the spirit and grace of god , that effectually worketh in him , and afterward he bringeth forth good fruit . — god of his mercy and special favour towards them whom he hath appointed to everlasting salvation , hath so offer'd his grace especially , and they have so received it fruitfully , that though by reason of their sinful living outwardly , they seemed before to have been the children of wrath and perdition , yet now the spirit of god mightily working in them , unto obedience to gods will and commandments , they declare by their outward deeds and life , in the shewing of mercy and charity , which cannot come but of the spirit of god , and his especial grace , that they are the undoubted children of god , appointed to everlasting life . expl. 31. that we may the better know what effectual calling is , we are to consider of a double call , which doth many times prove ineffectual ; as , ( 1. ) outward , in the preaching of the word , and the voice of the rod , or any providence whatsoever , which doth call men to repentance , faith , and holiness ; but notwithstanding all these outward calls , there are millions in the world who turn the deaf ear to god , and will not return to him by repentance , nor come to christ by faith . ( 2 dly , ) there is an inward call , which is no less ineffectual than the former , and it is the spirits call , as when he proceeds no further than that which divines call a common work ; as ( 1. ) common illumination , or some kind of floating knowledg in the head , concerning the word of god , and spiritual matters ; and no doubt but many men who have wicked hearts , and lead bad lives , may be well stored with gifts of this kind ; as iudas for one . ( 2. ) some kind of flashy affections excited and stir'd up in the soul towards good things , called foretasts of the powers of the world to come ; and such was in herod and balaam . ( 3. ) some kind of faint languishing inclinations in the will to obedience , such as herod had when he did many things . ( 4. ) some kind of sense of sin , both in its guilt and horrour , such as iudas had ; and yet notwithstanding all this inward work of the spirit , his call may be ineffectual . and if all this may be without success , then no wonder if the arminians call , that of moral suasion , or of arguments , do prove no better . but then ( 2 dly , ) there is another inward call of the spirit , which is effectual to the elect ; sc. that whereby the spirit doth not only call , but enable them to come at his call , as when he doth renew the mind , and change the will , sanctifie the heart , purifie the conscience and affections ; and doth work a lively faith in such persons , and repentance from dead works . a. 32. they that are effectually called , do in this life partake of justistification p , adoption q , sanctification , and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany , or flow from them r . artic. xvij . — they through grace obey the calling ; they be justified freely , they be made sons of god by adoption ; they be made like the image of his only begotten son jesus christ ; they walk religiously in good works , and at length by gods mercy they attain to everlasting felicity . expl. 32. into the nature of these particular benefits of effectual calling , there will be occasion to enquire hereafter ; but as to the certainty of the thing , that all that are effectually called shall partake of these , is evident from these grounds : ( 1. ) in that christ did purchase these benefits , not for himself , but for them ; nay , he had never laid down such a price in his fathers hands , but for the sake of believers . ( 2. ) the tenour of the covenant of grace doth ascertain this , for when god the father and son did treat together concerning the redemption of the elect , it was upon these terms , sc. that upon the sons undertaking to satisfie both the law and justice of god , and upon the full performance of this undertaking , all those that do believe in christ ( though by nature they had been children of wrath as well as others ) should upon their believing , be justified , adopted , sanctified , and saved . ( 3. ) upon their believing they do receive christ , and he gives himself freely to them ; and how shall they not with him , have all things else they stand in need of . a. 33. justification is an act of gods free-grace , wherein he pardoneth all our sins s , and accepteth us as righteous in his fight t , only for the righteousness of christ imputed to us u , and received by faith alone w . artic. ii. we are accounted righteous before god only for the merit of our lord and saviour jesus christ by faith , and not for our own works or deservings . to. i. hom. iii. because all men be sinners and offen-ders , and breakers of his law and commandments , therefore can no man by his own acts , works , and deeds ( seem they never so good ) be justified and made righteous before god ; but every one is constrained to see for another righteousness — and this which we so receive of gods mercy and christs merits embraced by faith , is taken , accepted , and allow'd of god for our perfect and full justification . part 3. our works do not merit or deserve remission of our sins , and make us of unjust , just before god : but god of his own mercy , through the only merits and deservings of his son jesus christ , doth justifie us . nevertheless , because faith doth directly send us to christ for remission of our sins , and that by faith given us of god , we embrace the promise of gods mercy , and of the remission of our sins ( which thing none other of our virtues or works properly doth ) therefore the scripture useth to say , that faith without works doth justifie ; or only faith doth justifie . — not through the merit of any virtue that we have within us , or of any work that cometh from us ; therefore in that respect , — we forsake ( as it were ) altogether again faith , works , and all other virtues . for our own imperfection is so great , through the corruption of original sin , that all is imperfect that is within us , faith , charity , hope , dread , thoughts , words , and works , and therefore not apt to merit and deserve any part of our justification for us . tom. 2. hom. iv. it is of the free grace and mercy of god , by the mediation of the blood of his son jesus christ , without merit or deserving on our part , that our sins are forgiven us , that we are reconciled and brought again into his favour , and are made heirs of his heavenly kingdom . expl. 33. this word [ justification ] doth signifie , not only to make just or righteous , but also to make a man appear so ; ( yet not by infusing or working grace or righteousness in the soul , for this is the meaning of that word sanctification ) , or it signifies the believing sinners being reputed or accounted righteous in the sight of god , in and through the righteousness of christ imputed to the sinner , or accounted as his own ; for as condemnation doth suppose a man guilty , because the just god doth not condemn men for nothing ; so justification doth suppose a man discharged from guilt , and so not obnoxious to the penalty or curse of the law ; now because the sinner cannot expect to receive this discharge by vertue of his own personal righteousness , because all his righteousness is imperfect , or as a menstrous rag ; therefore he must be found not having on his own righteousness for his justification , but the righteousness of christ. but more particularly in this a. we have ( 1. ) the principal author , or prime efficient cause of justification , and this is god ; who is he that condemneth ? it is god that justifieth . god the father , as accepting of what christ has done for sinners ; and god the son , as procuring our discharge ; and god the holy ghost , as applying the merits of christ to us , and working faith in us , whereby we receive so great a benefit . ( 2. ) the inward moving cause , free-grace ; and not any foresight of faith or obedience in the sinner , to move him to it . ( 3. ) the matter of justification , or in reference to what the sinner is justified ; namely , the guilt of sin and curse of the law. ( 4. ) the manner , which consists in a legal discharge of the sinner from his former obligation to punishment , here called the pardon of his sins , and accepting of him as righteous . ( 5. ) the meritorious cause , only for the righteousness of christ imputed to the believing sinner . ( 6. ) the instrumental cause , or condition , sc. faith ; for the sinner through the means of his faith , or upon the condition of his believing , is thus justified . a. 34. adoption is an act of gods free-grace x , whereby we are received into the number , and have right to all the priviledges of the sons of god y . tom. 1. hom. iii. p. 3. — so making us also his dear children , brethren unto his only son , our saviour christ , and inheritors for ever with him of his eternal kingdom of heaven . hom. x. p. 2. he is a rising up to none other than those which are gods children by adoption . hom. xi . p. 2. by their obedience they declare openly unto to the sight of men , that they are sons of god , and elect of him unto salvation . expl. 34. more plainly , adoption , it is gods taking of those into his care and family , as his children by grace , who were by nature the children of wrath , and by practice the children of disobedience ; and all that they may enjoy the honour , advantages , and priviledges of his children ; as ( 1. ) they bear their fathers name and likeness , or his badg and cognizance , whereby they are known to belong to him , and that is their holiness . so that those who are afraid to be accounted godly , they are afraid to be god-like , and so disown their father , as if ashamed of him . ( 2. ) they are all heirs of god , and joint-heirs with christ their elder brother , to an heavenly inheritance . ( 3. ) they have the spirit of his son given to them , whereby they are inabled to call god father , and to come to a throne of grace with the boldness of children . ( 4. ) they are under gods fatherly protection , so that nothing can harm them . ( 5. ) they are provided for by him , and therefore can want no good thing . ( 6. ) they have a sanctified use of the creatures , and of all temporal good things , yea afflictions themselves are for their good . a. 35. sanctification is the work of gods free-grace z , whereby we are renewed in the whole man , after the image of god a , and are enabled more and more to dye unto sin , and live unto righteousness b . hom. ii. p. 2. the holy apostle calleth us saints , because we are sanctified and made holy by the blood of christ through the holy ghost . hom. xvi . p. 1. — it is he which inwardly worketh the regeneration and new birth . — the more it is hid from the understanding , the more it ought to move all men to wonder at the secret and mighty working of gods holy spirit which is within us . for it is the holy ghost , and no other thing , that doth quicken the minds of men , stirring up good and godly motions in their hearts , which are agreeable to the will and commandment of god ; such as otherwise of their own crooked and perverse nature , they should never have . that which is born of the spirit is spirit . as who should say , man of his own nature is fleshly and carnal , corrupt and naught , sinful and disobedient to god , without any spark of goodness in him , without any virtuous or godly motion , only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds as for the works of the spirit , the fruits of faith , charitable and godly motions , if he have any at all in him , they proceed only of the holy ghost , who is the only worker of our sanctification , and maketh us new men in christ jesus . — such is the power of the holy ghost to regenerate men , and as it were to bring forth a-new , that they shall be nothing like the men they were before . expl. 35. as for sanctification , it is no less a work of free-grace than justification and adoption ; and in scripture-phrase it is the new man , new creature , and a mans being created a-new in christ jesus unto good works ; in which and the like expressions is plainly set before us , the large compass , extent , and comprehension of this work ; for herein all things must become new ; the nature renewed , or changed from its corrupt and carnal state , to a state of real and true holiness , though imperfect in this life ; the mind renewed in saving-knowledg ; the will renewed , by being subdued and made pliable to the will of god ; the affections renewed , by being spiritualized , or fixed upon spiritual good objects ; and so the memory , conscience , phancy , &c. as also the life , because in this change a man becomes a new man. the particular parts of which sanctification are , ( 1. ) mortification , or a believers being dead unto sin , ( i. e. ) in his inclinations , thoughts , cares , affections , endeavours , all which were before lively and strong towards sin . ( 2. ) vivification , or a living unto righteousness , ( i. e. ) being holy in all manner of conversation . a. 36. the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification , adoption and sanctification , are assurance of gods love , peace of conscience , joy in the holy ghost c , increase of grace d , and perseverance therein unto the end e . to. 1. hom. ix . p. 2. all those therefore have great cause to be full of joy , that be joined to christ with true faith , stedfast hope , and perfect charity , and not to fear death nor everlasting damnation . — but rather contrariwise , their godly conversation in this life , and belief in christ , cleaving continually to his mercies , should make them so long sore after that life that remaineth for them undoubtedly after this bodily death . to. 2. hom. xij . released from the burden of sin , justified through faith in his blood , and finally received up into everlasting glory , there to reign with him for ever . expl. 36. by this [ first priviledg of assurance ] we are to understand , not meerly a believers probable guess or conjecture , or his hope and expectation to be saved ; but an infallible certainty , or that which is called in scripture the full assurance of faith , concerning the love of god , and the believers eternal salvation ; which certainty is built , ( 1. ) upon the infallible certainty of gods promise to save those who do believe or accept of christ , as he is tendered in the gospel . ( 2. ) upon the unquestionable evidence of the truth and reality of those graces unto which the promise of salvation is made . ( 3. ) upon the necessary connexion which there is betwixt the means and the end , betwixt true and saving-grace and salvation it self . ( 4. ) and upon the sure testimony of the spirit of adoption , witnessing with the spirit or conscience of this or that particular believer by name , that he is a child of god. concerning which assurance these three things are to be noted , ( 1. ) that there may be a true saving-faith , where there is not the full assurance of faith . it doth belong to a believer only , but not to every believer . ( 2. ) that it is every believers duty to look after this assurance , to use his utmost endeavours to make his calling and election sure . ( 3. ) though this assurance may be darkened , diminished , and interrupted through sin or temptation , yet it is ever accompanied with so much secret support to the soul , as that it does keep the soul from total and final despair . and so there is room left still for [ the second benefit , sc. ] peace of conscience ; in which there is , ( 1. ) something privative , sc. a very comfortable freedom ( not perfect and universal ) from that which divines call trouble of mind , arising from the apprehension of guilt and of the wrath of god ; and though in one who has this assurance , the peace of his mind may be disturbed , yet it is but disturbed , and not absolutely lost ; as the peace of a state is not lost by every tumult whereby it is disturbed . ( 2. ) there is something positive in this peace , sc. that sweet calm and satisfaction which there is in the mind upon the attaining of this assurance . [ third benefit , sc. ] ioy in the holy ghost , sc. a joy springing up in the soul from the comfort and certainty of his testimony , and for the sweetness of his presence . [ fourthly , growth of grace ] if not so observably in the leaf and fruit , yet in the root , like a plant in winter . [ perseverance in grace ] not depending upon the mutability of mans will , but upon the immutability of gods decree and purpose to save the believer , upon the unchangeableness of the fathers love ; upon the purchase , merit , and intercession of the son ; upon the abiding presence of the holy ghost , together with the victorious efficacy of his grace in the soul ; and upon the stability of the covenant of grace , which is ordered in all things and sure . a. 37. the souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness f , and do immediately pass into glory g , and their bodies being still united to christ h , do rest in their graves i , till the resurrection k . artic. xxij . the romish doctrine concerning purgatory , pardons , — is vainly feigned , and grounded upon no warrant of scripture , but rather repugnant to the word of god. hom. vij . of prayer , p. 3. the soul of man passing out of the body , goeth straightways either to heaven or else to hell ; whereof the one needeth no prayer , and the other is without redemption . — the scripture doth acknowledg but two places after this life ; the one proper to the elect and blessed of god , the other the reprobate and damned souls . expl. 37. at death believers are made perfect in holiness , ( 1. ) negatively , i. e. they sin no more from that very moment , but are freed from sin for ever . ( 2. ) positively , ( 1. ) the image of god is then perfect in the believers soul ; and the full bent of his will is to do the will of god as the angels do it in heaven , perfectly , and without all reluctancy . ( 2. ) it doth immediately enter into eternal life , when it leaves the body , and not into any middle state , as that of purgatory . ( 3. ) their bodies , though separated from their souls for a time , yet they do still remain unseparated from christ , and therefore do remain under his care whilst they sleep in the grave , so that he will not lose any one member of them . a. 38. at the resurrection , believers being raised up in glory l , shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment m , and made perfectly blessed in full enjoying of god n , to all eternity o to. 2. hom. xiv . the truth of this most christian article ( of the resurrection ) which is the ground and foundation of our whole religion . — o most comfortable word , evermore to be born in remembrance ; he dyed ( saith st. paul , 1 cor. 15. ) to put away sin , he rose again to endow us with righteousness , — by his resurrection hath he purchased life and victory for us , — opened the gates of heaven , to enter into life everlasting , — to enjoy an inheritance immortal , that never shall perish , which is laid up in heaven for them that are kept by the power of god through faith , — set with himself among the heavenly citizens above . — if thou hast received christ in true faith , with repentance of heart , and full purpose of amendment , thou hast received him for an everlasting gage , or pledg of thy salvation . — rising with him by our faith , we shall have our bodies likewise raised again from death , to have them glorified in immortality , and joined to his glorious body , having in the mean while his holy spirit in our hearts , as a seal and pledg of our everlasting inheritance . expl. 38. at the resurrection of a believer , ( 1. ) there is a re-union of a soul which is free from corruption or sin , to a glorified body that is incorruptible . ( 2. ) these two parts being thus re-united , in the very same individual person to whom they did belong before death , will be actually capable , at the resurrection , of all that eternal bliss which christ hath purchased and prepared for them . ( 3. ) then christ will openly acknowledg , own , and approve every true christian to be a part of his body mystical , and that before his father and all the holy angels . ( 4. ) the believer then shall receive his general discharge and acquitment in a most solemn , publick , and triumphant manner , from all manner of guilt whatsoever , so as that none shall be able to lay any thing to the charge of gods elect . for though a believer does receive his private discharge from all his sins at his death , and as it were under the privy seal ; yet his discharge is ratified , confirmed , and as it were enter'd into the publick records at the day of judgment . chap. ii. of things to be done in the ten commandments ; with a short explanation of 46 a. from 38 to 85. a. 39. the duty which god requireth of man , is obedience to his revealed will. p to. 1. hom. v. the good works god hath commanded his people to walk in , are such as he hath commanded in the holy scripture ; and not such works as men have studied out of their own brain , of a blind zeal and devotion without the word of god : and by mistaking the nature of good works , man hath most highly displeased god , and hath gone from his will and commandments . to. 2. hom. x. p. 3. mark diligently what his will is you should do , and with all your endeavour apply your selves to follow the same . expl. 39. by obedience to the revealed will of god , we are in the general to understand , the conformity of our wills , affections , words , and actions to the preceptive or commanding will of god ; for all this is comprehended in that one scripture , fear god , and keep his commandments , for this is the whole duty of man. it is the will of gods command which doth declare and require what is our duty ; but as for the secret will of gods eternal purpose , though it be a rule to himself , whereby he acts , yet it neither is nor can be the rule of our actions , because not known to us , nor indeed curiously to be enquired after ; nor is it barely the revelation of gods will that makes it our duty to observe it , but the revelation of it to this very end and purpose , that man do willingly conform to it . a. 40. the rule which god at first revealed to man for his obedience , was the moral law q . to. 2. hom. x. let us esteem the holy table of gods word , — appointed by him , to instruct us in all necessary works , so that we may be perfect before him in the whole course of our life . to. 1. hom. 1. p. 3. such hath been the corrupt inclination of man , ever superstitiously given to make new honouring of god of his own head , and then to have more affection and devotion to keep that , than to search out gods holy commandments and to keep them . — which we should know , to separate or sever gods commandments from the commandments of men . — in keeping the commandments of god , standeth the pure , principal , right honour of god , and which wrought in faith , god hath ordained to be the right trade and pathway to heaven . expl. 40. when it is here said , that the moral law was at first , i. e. in a state of innocency , revealed to man , i. e. to our first parents in paradise ; we are not to understand , that this revelation was visible to the eye , as afterwards the writing of it was in two tables of stone ; nor to be heard by the ear , as when it was first given by god in mount sinai : but it was at first revealed inwardly . i. e. it was imprinted in the hearts and minds of our first parents , ( except that positive prohibition of eating the forbidden fruit ) ; yet being in a great part blotted out , was afterwards written in two tables of stone . a. 41. the moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments r . ham. v. christ rehearsing the commandments , declared , that the laws of god be the very way that doth lead to everlasting life , and not the traditions and laws of men . so that the works of the moral commandments of god , be the very true works of faith , which lead to the blessed life to come . to. 2. hom. ii. — containing the immutable law and ordinances of god , in no age or time to be altered , nor of any persons , of any nation , of any age to be disobey'd . expl. 41. by a law in the general , we are to understand , the will of the lawgiver requiring duty : but here by the moral law we are to understand , ( 1. ) more generally , the revealed will of god , of what man is to believe and do in order to salvation . ( 2. ) more particularly , the decalogue , which is the sum of all moral laws , which are scattered up and down in the scripture . and this decalogue ( or ten words , or ten commandments ) may be called moral , ( 1. ) because of the universality of it ; for the decalogue doth oblige all mankind , it being that very law , for substance , which was written in very legible characters in the heart of adam , and is not quite blotted out of the minds of the veryest gentiles in the world . ( 2. ) it doth oblige at all times . ( 3. ) the whole man , for it requires as well the internal obedience of the soul , and all its powers and faculties , as outward obedience of the body . a. 42. the sum of the ten commandments , is to love the lord our god with all our heart , with all our soul , with all our strength , and with all our mind , and our neighbour as our selves s . hom. 5. p. 3. mark diligently what gods will is that you should do , and with all your endeavour apply your selves to follow the same . 〈◊〉 , you must have assured faith in god , and give your selves wholly unto him , love him in prosperity and adversity , and dread to offend him ever more . then for his sake love all men , — cast in your mind , how you may do good unto all men to your power , and hurt no man. expl. 42. the sum of these ten commandments , or ten words , we may take in one word , and 't is love , for love is the fulfilling of the law ; and this love is threefold , ( 1. ) to god , and this must be in the highest degree , or more than we are to love either our selves or neighbours ; yea this later love , in comparison of that we ought to have unto god , should be as no love at all comparatively , for he is to have all our heart , soul , strength , mind ; yet ( 2. ) our love to our selves must have the next place ; for though our love of charity to others must be real , yet this charity must begin at home : however ( 3. ) we are to love our neighbour as our selves , not for the degree , but for the kind of our love , it must be real and hearty , and without dissimulation . a. 43. the preface to the ten commandments is in these words , i am the lord thy god , which have brought thee out of the land of egypt , out of the house of bondage t . to. 2. hom. ii. — before he came to the matter that he would specially warn them of , and as it were for a preface to make them to take the better heed unto it . hom. xxi . p. 6. — the bishop of rome , — left the poor people should know too much , he would not let them have as much of gods word , as the ten commandments wholly and perfectly , withdrawing from the second commandment , that bewrayeth his impiety by a subtile sacriledg . expl. 43. whereas in this preface , god makes use of rational motives to the obedience of his commands , this doth discover , ( 1. ) the infinite condescention of god , who is pleased to inform our judgments of the reasonableness of his commands , before he lays his commands upon our persons . ( 2. ) that men should not be unreasonable in their commands ( as suppose parents or other governours ) , sith god is here pleased to add reason to his soveraignty . a. 44. the preface to the ten commandments teacheth us , that because god is the lord , and our god and redeemer , therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments u . to. 1. hom. v. p. 2. christ , — reprov'd the laws and traditions made by the scribes and pharisees , which were not only for good order of the people ( as the civil laws were ) , but they were set up so high , that they were made to be right and pure worshipping of god , as they had been equal with gods laws , or above them ; for many of gods laws could not be kept , but were fain to give way unto them . this arrogancy god detested , that man should so advance his laws to make them equal with gods laws , wherein the true honouring and right worshipping of god standeth , to make his laws for them to be left off . god hath appointed his laws , whereby his pleasure is to be honoured . — they were not content to have them called by the name of other temporal laws ; but called them holy and godly traditions ; and would have them not only esteem'd for a right and true worshipping of god ( as gods laws be indeed ) , but also for the most high honouring of god , to which the commandments of god should give place . and for this cause did christ so vehemently speak against them . expl. 44. in the matter of the preface we have these things observable , ( 1. ) that god is therefore the supreme lawgiver , because he is the supreme lord of the whole creation . as god by vertue of his soveraignty may himself do with his creatures what he will , by the same right he may command them to do what he will. ( 2. ) that god can easily enable men to do what he commands them ; for that very power that commands his creatures into being , can also command them into action . ( 3 ) that the bonds of the covenant should be as the cords of love , and the bands of a man , sweetly to draw men to obedience ; when once we are listed into the number of gods people by baptism , we are under a more special obligation to obey god not only as our creator , but as our father . ( 4. ) that deliverances call for duties ; and if a corporal deliverance of the israelites was an obligation upon them to obey the god of israel , much more should that spiritual deliverance from the egyptian slavery of sin be an obligation upon them to obey god. rules to be observed for the understanding of the moral law , or the ten commandments . 1 rule , that christ the lawgiver is the best interpreter of moses ; or that the gospel is the fullest and clearest interpreter of the law. the writings of the prophets are many times good expositions of the law of moses . but the writings of christ and his apostles are far more clear and full . in reference to christ we have a known instance in the 5 th of mat. passim . and the apostles frequently in their epistles , as when we are commanded to shun all occasions of evil , to love the lord jesus in sincerity , and our neighbour without dissimulation , and not to defraud him any way , &c. 2 rule , that the law is perfect , psal. 19.7 . as ( 1. ) in it self , not admitting of any additional precepts in the gospel , which are generally obliging to all christians which were not obliging before that christ came in the flesh . for as for those three precepts of the gospel , for a man , ( 1. ) to deny himself . ( 2. ) to take up his cross ; and ( 3. ) to follow christ ; they are rather interpretations and instances of that honour and love we are to have for christ as god , which is required in the first command , than any additions obliging , which did not oblige before ; nay david himself did in some respect deny himself , take up his cross , and follow christ ; the middle of these had place when he said , the reproaches of those who reproached thee are faln upon me ; and so moses deny'd himself , and caleb and ioshuah followed the lord fully . ( 2. ) the law is perfect in its extent and comprehension , in regard of the subject , for it doth command the whole soul in all its powers and faculties ; for it doth require the understanding to know , the judgment to approve that which is good ; the will to chuse it , the memory to retain it , and the affections to pursue and enjoy it ; and upon this account it is said , that the law is spiritual . 3 rule , whatever the law commands , it doth forbid the contrary ; as when it commands us to honour our parents , it doth forbid us to dishonour them ; and whatever the law forbids it commands the contrary ; as when it forbids us to take the name of god in vain , it requires us to use any of the names , or titles , or ordinances of god with reverence . 4 rule , when the law commandeth a duty , ( as suppose to worship god ) it doth require us to make use of means , occasions , motives and encouragements to it : and when the law forbids ( ex . gr . worshipping of images ) , it doth also forbid the occasions , appearances and inducements of any evil . 5 rule , where a promise is annexed ( ex . gr . that the days may be long in the land , &c. ) there the contrary threatning is included ; and where a threatning is annexed , there the contrary promise is included . 6 rule , that the duties of the second table must give place to the indispensable and necessary duties of the first table , when they cannot both be performed together , as the love of parents must yield to the love of god ; but in things ceremonial , the duties of the first table must yield to the moral duties of the second ; as sacrificing to works of mercy towards man. a. 45. the first commandment is , thou shalt have no other gods before me . expl. 45. these words are the first command , and not those , i am the lord thy god , ( as some would have them ) in which there is nothing commanded , but only a declaration , who and what that god is who does command . a. 46. the first commandment requireth us to know w , and acknowledge god to be the only true god , and our god x , and to worship and glorifie him accordingly y homil. ii. p. 3. let us take heed and be wise , o ye beloved of the lord , and let us have no strange gods , but one only god , who made us when we were nothing , the father of our lord jesus christ , who redeemed us when we were lost , and with his holy spirit doth sanctifie us . homil. v. p. 3. have an assured faith in god , and give your selves wholly unto him , love him in prosperity and adversity , and dread to offend him ever-more . to. ii. hom. xvij . what availeth it the wisemen of the world to have knowledg of the power and divinity of god — where they did not honour and glorifie him in their knowledges as god ? hom. vi. whom we are to love with all our heart , i. e. that our heart , mind , and study be set to believe his word , to trust in him , and to love him above all other things that we love best in heaven or on earth . expl. 46. in the first commandment there are these 4 things required , ( 1. ) knowledg of god , as namely , that he is the creator and governor of the world , being the supream lord and law giver ; as also , that he is infinitely perfect in his nature , attributes , word , and works . ( 2. ) faith , which doth consist in our owning and acknowledging him to be such a god as he is held forth in his word , and in a relyance upon him as such . ( 3. ) obedience , ( which in reference to this command , doth principally consist in the conformity of man's will to the will of god. ( 4. ) love to god implyed in these words [ before me ] . a. 47. the first commandment forbiddeth the denying z , or not worshipping and glorifying the true god as god a and our god b , and the giving that worship and glory to any other which is due to him alone c . to. 1. hom. viii . whoever in time of reading gods word , studieth for the glory and honour of this world , is turned from god , — and hath not a special mind to that which is commanded and taught of god ; is turned from god , although he doth things of his own devotion and mind , which to him seem better and more to gods honour . to. 2. hom. xvi . p. 2. it may be boldly and with a safe conscience pronounc'd of the bishops of rome , namely , that they have forsaken and daily do forsake the commandments of god , to erect and set up their own constitutions . expl. 47. more particular , this commandment doth forbid these and the like sins ; as ( 1. ) ignorance of god , when men either do not know , or will not consider who god is , and what he would have them do . ( 2. ) atheism , both in judgment , when men are wavering and doubting about the being of god , and therefore disputing against it ; and in practise , when men live as if there were no god. ( 3. ) idolatry , which consists either in the worship of a false god , or in worshipping the true god in a false manner , by mingling the corrupt traditions or fancies of men in the worship of god ; or in worshipping more gods than that one god who made the world , and is father , son , and holy ghost , god blessed for ever . ( 4. ) mens being ashamed of , or being negligent in the profession of the true religion . ( 5. ) the wilful omission of any known duties of religion , as prayer , meditation , praising god , &c. ( 6. ) wilful infidelity , when men do not believe god , or take him upon his word , or do reject and contemn his commands , promises , or threatnings . ( 7. ) all blasphemous and misbecoming thoughts of god whatsoever ; as also all errors and misapprehensions concerning god , or any of those revelations he has given of himself . ( 8. ) all disobedience to his revealed will. ( 9. ) all unsuitable affections to himself , or any thing that bears his stamp , as his ordinances , day , providences , and people . ( 10. ) all unmindfulness and forgetfulness of god. ( 11. ) all carnal presumption , pride , tempting of god , relyance upon and seeking to unlawful means for help in any distress , this being accompany'd with the forsaking of and apostacy from the true god. ( 12. ) all impatience and discontent under any evil ; as also mens ascribing that which is good to any thing besides himself , who is the fountain of all good . a. 48. these words [ before me ] in the first commandment teach us , that god who seeth all things , taketh notice of , and is much displeased with the sin of having any other god d to. 2. hom. i. the eternal and incomprehensible maiesly of god , the lord of heaven and earth , whose seat is in heaven , and the earth is his footstool , — calleth upon his people , to mark , and take heed , and that upon the peril of their souls , to the charge which he giveth them , — thou shalt worship the lord god , and him only shalt thou serve . adjoining penalty to the transgressors , and reward to the obedient , — to move to obedience and observing this the lords great law , — which might ingender fear in our hearts of disobedience herein , being in the lords sight so great an offence and abomination . expl. 48. here is further clearly intimated , ( 1. ) that god would have the first room in our estimation . ( 2. ) in our affections , i. e. that we prize and love him above all . a. 49. the second commandment is , thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image , or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above , or that is in the earth beneath , or that is in the water under the earth ; thou shalt not bow down thy self unto them , nor serve them : for i the lord thy god am a jealous god , visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation , of them that hate me , and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me , and keep my commandments . to. 2. hom. i. the scriptures use the two words ( idols and images ) indifferently for one thing alway . they be words of divers things ( gr. & lat. ) , but one in sense and signification in the scriptures , and matters of of religion . — wherefore our images , if publickly suffer'd in temples and churches , be indeed none other but idols , as unto which idolatry hath been , is , and ever will be committed . — hath it not been preach'd unto you since the beginning , &c. how by the creation of the world , and the greatness of the work , they might understand the majesty of god , the creator and maker of all , to be greater than that it should be express'd or set forth in any image or bodily similitude . and that in the first table , and the beginning thereof , — is this doctrine aforesaid ( not briefly touch'd , but ) at large set forth , and that with denunciation of destruction to the contemners and breakers of this law , and their posterity after them . expl. 49. we have here principally observable , ( 1. ) the order ; ( 2. ) the matter of the commandment . from the order , we are to observe , that god doth prefer the inward worship of the heart , which is required in the first command , to the outward worship of the body , which is here principally directed , that the later , or that of the body , without the former is but hypocritical ; and the former without the later but partial ; so that god is to be worshipp'd with all our bodies and spirits . those therefore who do present their bodies in idol-worship ( as that of the mass ) and yet plead they keep their hearts for god , are here condemned . ( 2. ) the matter , or argument and scope of the command , i. e. to prevent all miscarriages and abuses in bodily worship , and to instruct men how they may present their bodies as well as their souls a living sacrifice , holy and acceptable to god. yet to prevent mistakes about what is forbidden in this command , we are to note these two things . ( 1. ) that not all making of images or pictures , or likenesses of the creatures is here forbidden ; for then it would follow , that a man might not so much as frame an idea in his own fancy of one mans being like another , contrary to the very notion of truth , which is nothing else but a conformity betwixt the mind and the object . ( 2. ) nor is all civil use , or historical representations of things to the eye ( which is so helpful to the understanding and memory ) here forbidden . a. 50. the second commandment requireth the receiving , observing e , and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances , as god hath appointed in his word f . hom. ii. p. 3. let us honour and worship for religions sake none but god ; and him let us worship and honour as he will himself , and hath declared by his word , that he will be worshipp'd and honoured , not in , nor by images or idols , which he hath most straitly forbidden ; neither in kneeling , lighting of candles , burning of incense , — to believe that we should please him for all these be abomination before god ; but let us honour and worship god in spirit and in truth , fearing and loving him above all things , trusting in him only , calling upon him , and praying to him only , praising and lauding of him only , and all other in him . hom. xx. he requireth a sincere and pure love of godliness , and of the true worshipping and serving of god , i. e. that forsaking all manner of things that are repugnant and contrary to gods will , we do give our hearts unto him . expl. 50. in the general , is here required that the bodily worshipping of god be performed only in such a manner , both for substance and circumstances , as god doth require or allow , or at least is not expresly and consequentially contradicted in his word . more particularly ▪ ( 1. ) it doth require our utmost and constant care and endeavour , to observe and preserve all holy ordinances , and external church-priviledges in their purity and freedom from all manner of corrupt mixtures in any kind , whereby god is provoked ; fasting , prayer , thanksgiving , hearing , reading the word , singing of psalms , administration and participation of gospel-institutions , as the sacraments , swearing , the discipline and censures of the church , maintenance of gospel ministers , &c. ( 2. ) all outward decency in such external rites and ceremonies as are warrantably used in religion , especially in publick . ( 3. ) all outward reverence in gesture , speech , and behaviour , in the worship of god. ( 4 ) all disapproving , detesting , and loathing all manner of idolatries , will-worship , superstition , together with all the monuments , and occasions , and appearances thereof . a. 51. the second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of god by images g , or any other way not appointed in his word h . to. 2. hom ii. p. 1. lest the doctrine against images should not be marked or remarked , the same is written and required not in one but in sundry places of the word of god , — neither could the notableness of the place , being the very beginning of the very loving lords law , make us to mark it . — so that if either the multitude or plainness of the places might make us to understand , or the earnest charge that god giveth in these places move us to regard ; or the horrible plagues , punishment , and dreadful destruction , threatned to such worshippers of images or idols , setters up or maintainers of them , might ingender any fear in our hearts , we would once leave and forsake this wickedness , being in the lords light so great an offence and abomination . — p. 3. images and image-worshipping were in the primitive church ( which was most pure and incorrupt ) abhorr'd and detested as abominable , and contrary to true christian religion . — p. 3. idolatry cannot be separated from images any long time , but as an unseparable accident , or as a shadow follows the body when the sun shineth , so idolatry followeth and cleaveth to the publick having of images in temples and churches . — it is not possible to keep men from idolatry , if images be suffer'd publickly ; — the images of god , our saviour , the virgin , the apostles , martyrs , and others of notable holiness , of all others most dangerous . expl. 51. more particularly this command forbiddeth ( 1. ) absolutely and altogether the making of any kind of images of god , or of any person in the trinity ( at least ) as god. ( 2. ) it forbiddeth all making of images in order to the worshipping of god in them or by them , or any way abusing them in the true religion , as conceiting the presence of god to be in or with an image in a more especial manner than elsewhere . ( 3. ) all the means and direct occasions of idolatry , all inventions , traditions , and corruptions of men in gods worship , or about the worship of god. ( 4. ) all manner of witchcraft , or consulting those that have familiar spirits . ( 5. ) all worshipping of images , as well as of god before them , together with all that religious respect that is given to them , as in shrining , cloathing them , &c. ( 6. ) all prophaning , neglecting , opposing , or contemning of the worship and ordinances of christ ; as also all kind of simony and sacriledg . a. 52. the reasons annexed to the second commandment , are gods soveraignty over us i , his propriety in us k , and the zeal he hath to his own worship l . hom. ii. p. 1. concerning none other matter did god give more , or more earnest and express laws to his people than those that concern the true worshipping of him , and the avoiding and fleeing of idols , and images , and idolatry , for that both the said idolatry is most repugnant to the right worshipping of him , and his true glory , above all other vices , and that he knew the proneness and inclination of mans corrupt kind and nature , to that most odious and abominable vice. expl. 52. the reasons here annexed are such as are attempered and suited to those two affections in man ; namely , [ fear and hope ] which are the two hinges upon which all religion doth turn ; for ( 1. ) here is a severe threatning to move and stir up that passion of fear which may prevent or restrain our disobedience to this command , or at least to scare us from continuing in any kind of idolatry , superstition , &c. which it doth forbid . and in this threatning , we have ( 1. ) the hainousness of the sin forbidden ; for 't is here intimated spiritual whoredom , because god is here represented as jealous over his people that are entered into a marriage-covenant with him ; under the notion of a husband that is inraged with jealousie in reference to the unchast behaviour of his wife . ( 2. ) in the punishment threatned , the grievousness of the sin is intimated ; when god doth threaten to punish this sin to the third and fourth generation . ( 3. ) 't is here implyed , that this sin is a hating of god , when 't is said ( of them that hate me ) in reference to idolaters . ( 2 dly , ) we have here a gracious promise for the encouraging of hope to the careful observers of this command ; and in this promise there is observable , ( 1. ) gods love to them in shewing mercy to thousands of them . ( 2. ) their love to god in keeping his commands ; and consequently the love of the world or any thing more than god is flat idolatry , and the apostle doth call covetousness by that name . a. 53. the third commandment is , thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain , for the lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain . hom. vii . almighty god , to the intent his holy name should be had in honour , and evermore be magnified of the people , commandeth that no man should take his name vainly in his mouth , threatning punishment unto him that irreverently abuseth it by swearing , forswearing , and blasphemy . expl. 53. the infinitely wise god very well knowing that if any seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue , that man's religion is vain ; he doth therefore in this command lay a restraint upon man's tongue , that it may not any way break forth to the dishonour of his great name ; for although god does give a particular command for the direction of the tongue in reference to our neighbour , sc. the ninth command , yet he doth provide for his own honour first in this third command . a. 54. the third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of gods names m , titles , attributes n , ordinances o , word p , and works q . artic. 39. as we confess vain and rash swearing is forbidden christian men by our lord jesus christ and iames his apostle : so we judg , that christian religion doth not prohibit , but that a man may swear when the magistrate requireth in a cause of faith and charity , so it be done according to the prophets teaching , in justice , judgment , and truth . — thus an oath ( if it have with it these three conditions ) is a part of gods glory , which we are bound by his commandments to give unto him . expl. 54. in this 't is observable , that when the abuse of gods name in any kind whatsoever , is here forbidden ; the religious and reverent use of it is thereby commanded . now by gods name we are in the general to understand that whereby he is in a peculiar manner made known to us , and distinguished from all false gods whatsoever , just as a man is made known by his name , and distinguished from all other men ; not but that more men may have the same name , but that there doth belong some peculiar property to a man of such a particular name , whereby he is known from every body else : and so though there be gods many , and lords many in name ; yet to us there is but one god , who by something or other in his titles , attributes , words and works is distinguished from all other gods : ex . gr . when we call god ( wise ) we are to understand that he is infinitely so ; and consequently distinct from all his creatures hereby . then next for his ordinances , word , and works ; they must be holily and reverently used ( that is , with a serious sense of his divine majesty ) whether these be used in our thoughts , words or actions ; but most especially this command requireth , that when we take oaths or make lawful vows , we do it from such principles , in such a religious manner , and to such right ends , as that the name of god be thereby honoured . a. 55. the third commandment forbiddeth all profaning , or abusing of any thing whereby god maketh himself known r hom. vii . he forbiddeth all vain swearing and forswearing , both by god and by his creatures , as the common use of swearing , in buying , selling , and our daily communication . — when men do swear of custom , in reasoning , buying , and selling , or other daily communications ( as many be common and great swearers ) , such kind of swearing is ungodly , unlawful , and forbidden by the commandment of god , for such swearing is nothing else but taking of gods holy name in vain . to. 2. hom. x. p. 2. let us not be scorners , jesters , and deriders of the scripture , for that is the uttermost token and shew of a reprobate , of a plain enemy to god his wisdom . expl. 55. here is forbidden in the general , all manner of prophanation , or abuse of any name of god , as any of his titles , as wise , good , holy , &c. any of his works , as those of creation or providence ; his word written or preached ; any of his ordinances , as prayer , preaching , sacraments ; as when we make any unhandsom reflection upon any of these in our words or carriage ; or do not use them at all when we should , and when we do not as we ought : more particularly here are forbid ; ( 1. ) all rash oaths , whether before a magistrate , or in a mans private passion . ( 2. ) all horrid and prophane oaths , as when men swear wounds , blood , &c. and use their dammees and sinkmees . ( 3. ) all blasphemous oaths , ex . gr . all such wherein the name of god , or christ are prophanely abused . ( 4. ) all mincing or contracting of oaths ; and here some tell us , that i marry , is but the contracting of i by st. mary , though some use it only as an expletive . ( 5. ) all mock-oaths , or apeing of them . ( 6. ) all injurious and perjurious oaths . ( 7. ) all cursing , &c. ( 8. ) all violation of lawful oaths , vows , covenants . ( 9. ) all wilful forbearing of oaths in necessary cases . ( 10. ) all prophane scoffing , &c. a. 56. the reason annexed to the third commandment is , that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men , yet the lord our god will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment s . to. 1. hom. vii . the most holy name of god being commonly used and abused , vainly and unreverently talk'd of , sworn by , and forsworn to the breaking of gods commandment , is the procurement of his indignation . p. 2. and though such perjur'd mens falshood he now kept secret , yet it shall be open'd at the last day , when the secrets of all mens hearts shall be open'd to all the world . — almighty god will be a swift witness against them , — and the curse shall enter into the house of the false and perjur'd man. expl. 56. in the reason of the command 't is intimated . ( 1. ) that god in a special manner is the avenger of those that abuse his name . ( 2. ) the certainly of this vengeance . ( 3. ) that men are apt to be remiss in punishing this sin. a. 57. the fourth commandment is , remember the sabbath-day to keep it holy . six days shalt thou labour , and do all thy work ; but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god ; in it thou shalt not do any work thou , nor thy son , nor thy daughter , thy man-servant , nor thy maid-servant , nor thy cattel , nor the stranger that is within thy gate . for in six days the lord made heaven and earth , the sea , and all that in them is , and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the lord blessed the sabbath-day , and hallowed it . expl. 57. this command being the fourth in order , is the last of the first table , or of those commands which do concern piety towards god , and in the amplification of it , doth require charity and mercy towards man , especially towards inferiours , ( as son , daughter , servant , &c. ) and therefore in requiring both duties of piety and mercy , it doth as it were glew both the tables of the law together . as to the matter of the command , ( 1. ) here is a preface to be noted , remember ; as if god should have said , though you should forget all the other nine commands ( which i would not have you to do neither ) , yet be sure you forget not this . in which [ remember ] there is imply'd , ( 1. ) the importance of the command , that it doth import no less than the whole religion and duty of man towards god , and therefore to be remembred . ( 2. ) the aptness of men to forget this command , both because the doctrine of it is not to be learnt from the light of nature ( at least not so clearly as the other commands ) , and because the duties of it do much cross the grain with corrupt nature . ( 2 dly , ) the thing to be remembred is the sabbath-day , or that day of rest ( which god has appointed ) from all manner of employment and business , except works of duty to god , charity to man , and of absolute necessity , relief , or mercy towards the inferiour creatures . how it is to be remembred , we have in the next a. a. 58. the fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to god such set-times as he hath appointed in his word , expresly one whole day in seven , to be a holy sabbath unto himself t to. 2. hom. viii . it appeareth to be gods good-will and pleasure , that we should at special times , and in special places , gather our selves together , to the intent his name might be renowned , and his glory set forth in the congregation and assembly of his saints . — and therefore by this commandment , we ought to have time , as one day in the week , wherein we ought to rest , yea from our lawful and needful works . expl. 58. 't is in this a. expressed in the general , how the sabbath is to be kept holy , as also any other day ( as suppose ) of fasting or thanksgiving , which man doth appoint according to gods will. now to sanctifie a day ( and particularly the sabbath ) is to employ it wholly and solely to that use for which it is sanctified , or set apart by god , whether it be in reference to the publick or private exercises of religion . and it must be the whole sabbath-day ( yet with a merciful respect to nature and the constitution of mens bodies , for god will have mercy and not sacrifice ) beginning at the dawning of the day , because christ the sun of righteousness then rose , and it is to continue till midnight , for so long was paul engaged in sabbath-exercises , act. 20. 7 , — 10. this is the time required by this law , but if men have not strength of body to continue so long , so there be in them a willing mind , god will accept of what strength they have , and not what they have not . a. 59. from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of christ , god appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath u , and the first day of the week ever since to continue to the end of the world , which is the christian sabbath w to. 2. hom. viii . remember saith god , that thou keep holy the sabbath-day , upon which day , as it is plain in act. 13. the people accustomably resorted together , and heard diligently the law and the prophets read among them . and albeit this commandment doth not bind christian people , as touching the precise keeping the seventh day , after the manner of the iews ; for we keep now the first day , which is our sunday ( dominical or lords-day ) and make that our sabbath , i. e. our day of rest , in honour of our saviour christ , who as upon that day rose from death , conquering it triumphantly ; yet notwithstanding , whatsoever is found in the commandment appertaining to the law of nature , as a thing most godly , most just , and needful , for the setting forth of gods glory , it ought to be retained and kept of all good christian people . — if we will be children of our heavenly father , we must be careful to keep the christian sabbath , which is the sunday , ( i. e. dominical or lords-day ) , not only for that it is gods express commandment , but also to declare our selves to be loving children , in following the example of our gracious lord and father , — this example and commandment of god , the godly christian people began to follow immediately after the ascension of our lord christ , — chusing a standing day , not the seventh , which the iews kept ; but the lords-day , the day of the lords resurrection , the day after the seventh day , which is the first day of the week . expl. 59. the old sabbath ( as we see by this a. was the seventh day of the week in order , that is , the iews did observe our saturday ; for their seventh-day-sabbath , and the reason of it is expressed in the command ; sc. god rested from creation-work that day . but the morality , or indispensable and perpetual obligation of this command doth not necessarily require the seventh in order , for that is ceremonious and abrogated together with the iewish sabbath : but it doth necessarily require the keeping holy of a seventh day for number , or a seventh part of the week to be spent in sabbath-duties , which seventh part is now by the resurrection of christ upon the first day , and by his own immediate authority ( or by that which he gave to his apostles ) fixt upon that first day , ( now commonly called our sunday , or dominical , i. e. lords-day ) and no other even to the end of the world . though there be no express mention made of this change from the last to the first day in scripture , there being no question moved about it that we read of in the apostles time , yet by consequence the matter of fact is clear . a. 60. the sabbath is to be sanctified by an holy resting all that day , even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days x , and spending the whole time in publick and private exercises of gods worship y , except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy z . to. 2. hom. viii . god hath given express charge to all men , that upon the sabbath-day , which is now our sunday ( i. e. lords-day ) they should cease from all weekly and work-day labour , that like as god himself rested and consecrated it to quietness and rest from labour , so gods obedient people should use the sunday ( i. e. lords-day ) holily , and rest from their common and daily business , and also give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of gods true religion and service . — thus it may plainly appear , that gods will and commandment was to have a solemn time , and standing day in the week , wherein the people should come together , and have in remembrance his wonderful benefits , and to render him thanks for them , as appertaineth to loving , kind , and obedient people . — st. iohn saith , rev. 1. i was in the spirit on the lords-day . since which time gods people hath always , in all ages , without any gain-saying , used to come together upon the sunday , to celebrate and honour the lords blessed name , and carefully to keep that day in holy rest and quietness , both man , woman , child , servant , and stranger . expl. 60. as to the particular manner of the sanctification of the sabbath it is there expressed to be ( 1 ) by an holy rest , by which we are not to understand that brutal and sluggish rest whereby men do indulge themselves in sloth and laziness , ( as if their bodies were not to move though it be to the church ) upon this day ; but this rest must be from all kind of imployment , whether it be of body or mind which doth any way indispose a man for or distract him in the service of god ; whether such actions , thoughts or words be in themselves sinful , which men ought to forbear and rest from at all times ; or in themselves lawful , as the cares , thoughts , and business of a mans honest calling , they are to be forborn this day , and much more all kind of recreations , whether lawful or no. ( 2 ) by exercising our selves unto godliness , not only in those duties of religion which we perform on other days either alone , or with others , as prayer , reading scripture , and other good books , holy conference , but in those duties also which are more peculiar to this day , as hearing , meditation , receiving of the sacraments , singing of psalms , &c. and thus the whole day is to be spent , except so much of it as is to be taken up in works of such eminent necessity as is brought upon men by the providence of god , and not such necessity as men make for their own gain or pleasure , and in works of mercy . a. 61. the fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance of the duties required a , and the profaning the day by idleness , or doing that which is in it self sinful b , or by unnecessary thoughts , words , or works , about worldly employments or recreations c . to. 2. hom. viii . for the transgression and breach of the sabbath-day , god hath declared himself much to be grieved , as num. 15. but alas ! the wicked boldness of those that will be accounted gods people , who pass nothing at all of keeping and hallowing the sunday ( i. e. lords-day ) — they , though there be no extream need , must drive and carry , — row and ferry , — buy and sell on the sunday ( i. e. lords-day ) , they use all days alike . the other , though they will not travel , nor labour , as on the week-day , yet they will not rest in holiness , as god commandeth ; but they rest in ungodliness and filthiness , prancing in their pride , pranking and pricking , pointing and painting themselves to be gorgeous and gay ; they rest in excess and superfluity , in gluttony and drunkenness , like rats and swine ; they rest in brawling and railing , in quarrelling and fighting ; they rest in wantonness , in toyish talking , in filthy fleshliness : so that it doth evidently appear , that god is more dishonoured , and the devil better serv'd on the sunday ( i. e. lords-day ) than upon all the days in the week beside . — the beasts which are commanded to rest on the sunday ( i. e. lords-day ) honour god better than this kind of people ; for they offend not god , they break not their holy days . expl. 61. more particularly this command forbiddeth ( 1 ) all unpreparedness for the sanctification of the sabbath . ( 2 ) all forgetfulness of the day or duties of it , and both these in that one word [ remember . ] ( 3 ) all negligent omission or performance of any sabbath-exercise , as prayer , hearing the word , meditation , &c. ( 4 ) all direct prophaning of the sabbath by doing nothing , or by bodily sloth ; for on this day we are in an especial manner to glorifie god with our bodies and spirits which are gods. ( 5 ) all manner of words , thoughts , affections , cares , designes , and actions which do directly tend to : ( 1 ) worldly profit and gain , as journeys , fairs , markets , and all manner of buying and selling , except of that of which there is a real and present necessity towards the sustenance of mans life . ( 2 ) to sensual pleasure , as all manner of gaming , bowling , idle talking and walking , and all such kind of visits as have more of complement than of real necessity in them , more of recreation in them to the body or carnal mind , than of religion towards god , or of charity towards our neghbour . ( 6 ) all manner of servile works , not only in reference to supeperiors and governours , but also in reference to those that are under their care and charge , for that all excuses for worldly or sinful employment may be taken away from all persons : 't is said neither , thou , nor thou , &c. a. 62. the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are , gods allowing us six days of the week for our own employments d , his challenging special propriety in the seventh e , his own example f , and his blessing the sabbath-day g . to. 2. hom. viii . like as it appeareth by this commandment , that no man in the six days ought to be slothful or idle , but diligently to labour in that state wherein god hath set him . — so god doth not only command the observation of this holy day , but also by his own example doth stir and provoke us to the keeping of it . wherefore , o ye people of god! lay your hands upon your hearts , repent and amend this grievous and dangerous wickedness , stand in awe of the commandments of god , gladly follow the example of god himself , be not disobedient to the godly order of christs church , used and kept from the apostles time to this day . fear the displeasure and just plagues of almighty god , if ye be negligent , and forbear not labouring and travelling on the sabbath-day or sunday ( i. e. lords-day ) , and do not resort together , to celebrate and magnifie gods blessed name , in quiet , holiness , and godly reverence . expl 62. the reasons are here ranked under three heads , ( 1 ) the equity of the thing commanded , god allowing us six days for our honest and ordinary employments we may well give him one in seven , and be content to spend that cheerfully in his service , ( six days shalt thou labour , &c. ) ( 2 ) from gods propriety in this day , this is the day which the lord hath made , or instituted and appointed , psal. 118.23 . and may he not do what he will with his own , may he not enjoy it to be spent in his service if he please . ( 3 ) from gods example in resting the seventh day ; not that we are therefore to rest on the seventh day in order , because god did so after he had created the world and all things therein ; but that we are to spend ( according to the tenour of this command , a seventh day which is now our dominical , or sunday , in an holy rest unto the lord. ( 4 ) from gods end in blessing , and sanctifying this day , or in setting it a-part to holy uses , namely that we should so use it , and thereby receive the blessing of the sabbath from the lord of the sabbath . a. 63. the fifth commandment is , honour thy father and thy mother , that thy days may be long in the land which the lord thy god giveth thee . expl. 63. this command which is here called the fifth , is by the apostle called the first commandment with promise , ephes. 6.1 , 2. ( i. e. ) to which this promise of long life is expresly made , it being also the first command of the second table . a. 64. the fifth commandment requireth the preserving the honour , and performing the duties belonging to every one in their several places and relations , as superiors h , inferiors i , or equals k . to. 1. hom. v. p. 3. obey all your superiours and governours , serve your masters faithfully and diligently ▪ as well in their absence as in their presence , not for dread of punishment only , but for conscience sake , knowing that you are bound so to do by gods commandments . hom. x. p. 2. every degree of people in their vocation , calling , and office , hath appointed them their duty and order ; some are in high degree , some in low ; some kings and princes , some inferiors and subjects , ministers and people , masters and servants , fathers and children , husbands and wives , &c. expl. 64. here is requir'd ( 1 ) something in general of all , that they give to all that honour which is due unto them in their different places and relations , whether they be superiors in age , parts , gifts , or authority , who are there so called by that obliging name of parents , that men may yield what is due unto such with all child-like and filial respect , and because in the beginning parents were magistrates ; or supeperiors in power ; or whether they be equal to us or our inferiors image , power , &c. for in both these capacities there is due to them love , gratitude , and such offices of christianity , civility , or friendship which are suitable and proper to them . ( 2 ) something in special is required from children to be given to their natural parents ; and 't is all expressed in this one word ( honour ) . and 't is observable that the command is laid on all children , of both sexes , and of what age , or rank soever though they be children of princes and nobles ; and the honour due unto natural father and mother , or to those who are in their stead , as father and mother-in-law , grand-father or grand-mother , uncle or aunt , guardian , tutor , &c. it is ( 1 ) the honour of respect or love , both in heart , words and behaviour ; for this law on children is a law of love , and as it requires that they love one another , so also that they love their parents . ( 2 ) the honour of reverence , ( i. e. ) children must fear as well as love their parents , they must stand in awe of them as being under their authority , and that thereby they may be kept from offending their parents . ( 3 ) the honour of obedience which proceeds from both the other ; 't is love or fear that makes children obey . now in order to this obedience the rod of correction is a scepter so needful in parents hands , that solomon reckons that parent to hate his child that doth not use it , prov. 13.24 . ( 4 ) the honour of help or recompence , ( i. e. ) as parents need help , and the child is able or hath opportunity to do it , he or she must thankfully requite thereby their labour of love . a. 65. the fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting , or doing any thing against the honour and duty which belongeth to every one in their several places and relations l . to. 1. hom. v. p. 3. disobey not your fathers and mothers , but honour them , help them , and please them to your power . hom. x. st. paul threatneth no less pain than everlasting damnation to all disobedient persons , to all resisters . — p. 2. yet let us believe undoubtedly ( good christian people ) that we may not obey kings , magistrates , or any other ( though they be our own fathers ) , if they would command us to do any thing contrary to gods commandments . p. 3. and here let us take heed , that we understand not these , or such other like places ( which so straitly command obedience to superiours , and so straitly punished rebellion and disobedience to the same ) to be meant in any condition of the pretended and coloured power of the bishop of rome . for truly the scripture of god alloweth no such usurped power , full of enormities , abusions , and blasphemies . — he ought therefore rather to be called antichrist , and the successor of the scribes and pharisees , than christ's vicar , or st. peters successor . expl. 65. but more particularly in reference to natural parents ( or those who stand in their room ) these miscarriages are forbidden to children . ( 1 ) all manner of contempt of the persons of parents , especially when by reason of old age , sickness , or natural infirmities , they are not able to manage their parental authority either as they ought , or have done , or when by the providence of god their repute or estate is low in the world . ( 2 ) all slighting of their good instructions , example , counsel , directions , reproof and correction . as god would not have his own chastening and instruction despised , so neither that of parents , and therefore he calls that child a fool , ( by the mouth of solomon ) a scorner , and bruitish , who is guilty hereof . ( 3 ) all slighting of parents commands , and of their pleasure whether in reference to duty to be performed by them , whether in matters civil or religious ; or in reference to the disposal of themselves in marriage , or in any calling , place and employment . ( 4 ) all slighting of the tenderness and watchfulness of parents , by doing that on purpose which doth either disturb their passions , or disquiet their minds . ( 5 ) all mocking , deriding , or imitating their weaknesses and misbehaviour , or any way disgracing them , as absalom did his fathers government , and as cham did in discovering his fathers nakedness . much more ( 6 ) here are forbidden all cursing of them , and bitter railing at them . ( 7 ) all such carriage in children as does not redound by way of reflection , as well as what does not tend directly to the parents honour . a. 66. the reason annexed to the fifth commandment is , a promise of long life and prosperity ( as far as it shall serve for gods glory , and their own good ) to all such as keep this commandment m . to. 1. hom. x. p. 3. by obedience to our superiours , shall we please god , and have the exceeding benefit , peace of conscience , rest and quietness here in this world , and after this life enjoy a better life . to. 2. hom. xxi . p. 3. good and obedient subjects are in gods favour , and be partakers of peace , quietness , and security , with other god's manifold blessings in this world , and by his mercies through our saviour christ , of life everlasting also in the world to come . expl. 66. in the general , we have one great reason from the promise of prosperity and long life , particularly annexed to this command ; in which promise there are two things , ( 1 ) the peculiarity of the blessing promised to the obedience of this command , for obedient children may be sure of the blessing promised , when it may be a blessing . ( 2 ) the greatness of the blessing , for of all temporal blessings 't is the greatest , sc. life ; and then here is that which is so sweet to nature in this life , 't is long life and prosperous withal , otherwise it would not be a blessing . yet more particularly , obedience to parents is indispensable , because ( 1 ) god requires it in the next place to that which he claimeth for himself ; and has therefore plac'd this law next to the commands of the first table . ( 2 ) the law of nature doth in a peculiar manner require this in all nations , even the most blind and barbarous ; yea instinct of nature in the brute creatures doth teach them some kind of respect to their sires and damms . a. 67. the sixth commandment is , thou shalt not kill . expl. 67. the fifth command did concern special duties to special persons , sc. the obedience of children towards their parents ; but this command doth reach all persons in general ; and the end of it is not only to preserve mans life , but humanity it self , and therefore this [ thou ] in the prohibition doth forbid murder to all persons . a. 68. the sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life n , and the life of others o . hom. v. p. 3. cast in your minds , how you may do good unto all men , unto your power , and hurt no man. — oppress not , beat not , neither hate a 〈…〉 ; but help and succour every man as you may ▪ yea , even your enemies that hate you , that speak evil of you , and that do hurt you . hom. vi. cherish good and harmless men , — and encourage with rewards to do well . expl. 68. now in order to this end , these things may be very helpful , ( 1 ) humanity , or a general respect of kindness towards all , whether in offices of love or of pity . ( 2 ) a slowness to anger , after the example of god , whom we so much provoke ; and this is called lenity , or meekness of spirit , for which moses was so eminent . ( 3 ) a study to be quiet , both outwardly from all brawling and contention ; and inwardly from all revengeful thoughts , purposes , passions ; as also a diligent care in outward demeanour , to avoid all occasions , temptations , and practices which do tend to stir up wrath . ( 4 ) placableness , or an easiness to be reconciled , and to forget and to forgive injuries and affronts . ( 5 ) a readiness to use all lawful and proper means to defend our own or neighbours life , as we are called to it by the law of nature , humanity , and religion , as we are in a capacity to do it . ( 6 ) such a chearfulness of spirit as tends to the health of the body . ( 7 ) christian temperance and moderation in the use of the creatures , in bodily labour , and lawful recreations . ( 8 ) a conscientious care to use such physick ( as is prescribed by those who are skilful therein ) which is either for the preservation or recovery of health . ( 9 ) care to save our own and others souls . a. 69. the sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life p , or the life of our neighbour unjustly q , and whatsoever tendeth thereunto r . to. 2. hom. xxi . p. 3. robberies and murthers of all sins are most loathed of most men , being against the second table of gods law. to. 1. hom. vi. delay not rebukes and punshments of those that offend , but give them in due time , lest they fall headlong . expl. 69. here ( 1 ) negatively , this command forbids not ( 1 ) all kind of war , for some is lawful . ( 2 ) nor the execution of publick justice in capital punishments upon capital offenders . ( 3 ) nor self-defence , against violence in some cases . ( 4 ) nor moderate anger , where there is just cause , as ex . gr . in the case of reproof , and upon the like warrantable occasions . but ( 2 ) positively , here is forbidden , ( 1 ) self-murther , both direct , as a mans hanging , drowning , stabbing , &c. himself ; indirect , as surfeiting , drunkenness , and the neglect of any lawful means for the preservation or repair of health ; as of meat , drink , physick ▪ &c. ( 2 ) murder of our neighbour , ( 1 ) directly , when wittingly and out of hatred ( and without a just call ) a man doth either by himself , or by means of another , take away the life of his neighbour . ( 2 ) murtherous thoughts , and hatred of him without a cause . ( 3 ) all inhumanity and unmercifulness , or want of compassion . ( 4 ) all neglect of , or the withdrawing of our lawful defence . ( 5 ) all quarrelsom broyls and brawlings . ( 6 ) all duels , because in this case men wrest the sword of justice out of the magistrates hand , that they may carve out justice ( or rather revenge ) for themselves . ( 7 ) all provoking speeches and behaviour . a. 70. the seventh commandment is , thou shalt not commit adultery . hom. xi . by the which [ adultery ] , although it be properly understood of the unlawful commixtion or joining together of a married man with any woman beside his wife , or of a wife with any man beside her husband ; yet thereby is signified also all unlawful use of those parts which be ordained for generation . expl. 70. as the former precept did concern the life , so this doth concern the chastity of our neighbour . and as natural and regular self-love should be the rule and standard of our love to our neighbour , according to which we are to act in the preservation of his life ; so that love we ought to have to our selves , and that care we ought to have for the preservation of our own chastity , we ought also to have for the preservation of our neighbours chastity , otherwise we do not love our neighbour as our selves . a. 71. the seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own s , and our neighbours chastity t , in heart u , speech w , and behaviour x . to. 1. hom. xi . christ doth not only establish the law against adultery , and make it of full force ; but teacheth us an exact and full perfection of purity and cleanness of life , both to keep our bodies undefiled , and our hearts pure and free from all evil thoughts , carnal desires , and fleshly consents . expl. 71. here is ( 1 ) something required in the general , and that is the utmost endeavours to preserve chastity amongst all persons , and that honourable state of marriage from all the lusts of uncleanness , for as well the bodies of others as our own , are , or should be , the consecrated temples of the holy ghost , and therefore are not to be defiled by the sacrilegious and abominable lusts of filthiness . ( 2 ) in particular , for this chastity is required ( 1 ) in heart , or soul , as it comprehends all the powers and faculties thereof , with all the inward actings of these ; as , ( 1 ) that in the understanding the thoughts be pure , chast , and clean ; and that whatever things are honest , in order to the preservation of chastity , we think on these things . ( 2 ) that the will do make its choice accordingly . ( 3 ) that the memory be a faithful register only of the rules , and laws , and examples of modesty and chastity , and not to keep the records of lust , nor to be master of the rowls to the spirit of uncleanness . ( 4 ) that nothing be represented upon the stage of fancy , but what doth become godliness and honesty . ( 5 ) that the affections do hug and embrace nothing that is defiled with the impurity of lust . ( 2 dly , ) here is required chastity in speech , that mens discourse and communication be such as doth tend to promote and preserve good manners , to credit the gospel , and to give good example to others ( especially the younger sort of people ) , as the holy ghost ( that spirit of purity ) has left us an example of purity in speech , when he speaks only of that ( which considered in it self ) has nothing of guilt , but only something of that natural shame upon it which was bequeathed to us by our first parents ; ex . gr . he knew her , he covered his feet , &c. iudg. 3.24 . 1 sam. 1.19 . ( 3 dly , ) in behaviour , that our gestures , postures , garb , apparel , company , dyet , and whole demeanour be such both before god and men , as becomes the purity of that gospel which does not only teach to deny worldly , but also to abstain from all fleshly lusts , to avoid the appearance of them , and to hate the very garment spotted with the flesh . a. 72. the seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchast thoughts y , words z , and actions a . to. 1. hom. v. p. 2. commit no manner of adultery , fornication , or other unchastness , in will , nor in deed , with any other mans wife , widow , or maid . hom. xi . here is whoredome , fornication , and all other uncleanness forbidden , to all kinds of people , all degrees , and all ages without exception . expl. 72. ( 1 ) by unchast thoughts , we are to understand all impure and unchast motions of the soul in any of its faculties , as also all the cherishing and indulging of these inwardly and secretly , as by consent , allowance , keeping them in mind with delight , and acting them in the fancy . ( 2 ) in unchast words is here forbidden , all kind of ribaldry , bawdry , balladry , romances , and love-songs , and all such wanton discourses as are either plainly unchast , or at least immodest , and such as do not become the tongues or pens of those who profess godliness ; or at the best are such as have a direct tendency to the violation of modesty , if not of chastity . ( 3 ) by actions we are to understand not only all acts of uncleanness , as adultery , fornication , sodomy , bestiality , self-pollution , &c. but also all that which doth open a gap to any lusts of uncleanness , as polygamy , unlawful marriages , divorces , and dispensations ; all stews and naughty houses ; all undue delays of marriage where there is not the gift of continence ; all wanton dalliance , dancings , plays , and all such painting of the face , or pampering of the body , which have a natural tendency to inflame , or provoke filthy lust . a. 73. the eighth commandment is , thou shalt not steal . expl. 73. this command concerns the goods as the next does the good name of our neighbour . a. 74. the eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of our selves b , and others c . hom. v. bestow your own goods charitably , which you get duly , as need and case requireth . hom. vi. bear good will and heart unto every man , to use our selves well unto them , as well in words and countenances , as in all our outward acts and deeds . expl. 74. as in all the commands which concern our neighbour , the grand principle is to be love to him ; so in all ( but especially here ) the rule of our duty must be that golden rule of righteousness , do as you would be done by . now next to the promoting of our own estate or welfare in the world , we must endeavour our neighbours welfare , we must not only love him as our selves , but we must in the general be careful to promote or preserve his estate as our own by all honest and lawful means ; more particularly here is required , ( 1. ) personal cared about a mans own estate or goods , for charity begins at home . ( 2. ) truth and faithfulness about what is committed to our charge by others . ( 3. ) commutative justice between man and man , in bargaining contracting , buying and selling , and in rendring to every one his due , and in due time ; as also in borrowing , bartering , chaffering and changing . ( 4. ) restitution of what we wrongfully detain of anothers goods , either to the person from whom they are detain'd , or to his heirs and executors if we be able , or else to acknowledg our fault to them , and to beg their pardon . ( 5. ) lending freely and not looking for any thing again , especially where interest is to the impoverishing of our neighbour . ▪ 6 ▪ charity to the relief of the poor . ( 7. ) hospitality to strangers . ( 8. ) diligence and faithfulness in an honest , calling not only that a man may provide for himself or his friends or family , but that he may have to give to him that needeth , ( 9. ) that all this be done with singleness of heart as to the lord christ , and with love to others as to our selves . a. 75. the eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth , or may unjustly hinder our own d , or our neighbours wealth , and outward estate e . to. 2. hom. xxi . thefts and robberies are most pernicious to society . hom. xvii . p. 2. so many as increase themselves by usury , by extortion , by perjury , by stealth , by deceits and craft , they have their goods of the devils gift . expl. 75. this command in the general doth forbid all that doth hinder the end of this command , which is the preservation of livelihood , in order to the sustentation of life , whether our own or others , and consequently all that which doth hinder the performance of the foremention'd duties doth directly tend to the neglect of them . particularly it doth forbid ( 1. ) inwardly ; and that ( 1. ) all covetous desires of what is not our own , heart-deceit , cheating contrivance , though never executed . ( 2. ) all overvaluing worldly things . ( 3. ) envy at the prosperity of another , because he is richer than we . ( 4. ) all over-eager pursuit of worldly things , confidence in them , distracting cares about them , and inordinate grief for the loss of them . ( 5. ) all discontentedness with our present lot and condition . ( 2. ) outwardly ; ( 1. ) all kind of robbery and stealth whether by force or fraud ; and hither may be refer'd , ( 1. ) that common practise amongst some of men-stealing , as also the enticing away of servants from their masters . ( 2. ) the receiving and buying of stoln goods ; the receiver is worse and the buyer little better than a thief , when he knows or suspects them to be stoln . ( 3 ) false weights , measures , lights , removing of land-marks &c. ( 4. ) all monopolies to raise the price . ( 5. ) all kind of cheating by game , and here many times the sin is double , sc. the game it self and cheating by it , or any such like jugling by sleight of hand . ( 6. ) all cosenage in words . ( 7. ) all acts of unfaithfulness in contracts , bargains , or in matters of trust publick or private . ( 8. ) sacriledg , or the taking away of that which is devoted to pious uses , together with all unjust alienations . ( 9 ) needless protracting of law-suits . ( 10. ) all such engagements as ( by suretiship , &c. ) are to a mans own prejudice . ( 11. ) all forestalling of markets , and hoarding up against a dearth to the prejudice of the publick . ( 12. ) all injustice in any kind , whether by griping , usury , oppression , or any other unlawful way . a. 76. the ninth commandment is , thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour ? expl. 76. for the government of the tongue in reference to god we have the third commandment , and for the guidance of it in reference to our selves and others we have this commandment , for though our neighbour here be only mention'd yet our selves must not be exclued , and therefore regular self-care for our own good name is to be the rule of our care to preserve his good name . a. 77. the ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man f , and of our own g ▪ and our neighbours good name h , especially in witness bearing i . to. 1. hom. xii . p. 3. if we be good and quiet christian men , let it appear in our tongues . if we have forsaken the devil , let us use no more devilish tongues . expl. 77. the scope and drift of this commandment most directly and expresly is the preservation of truth , but in subordination to the preservation of love to our neighbour , there being nothing that doth tend more to the violation of this affection , than the belying of him . the general duty therefore which this commandment requires in reference to our neighbour is to speak the truth in love , yet more particularly as this command is broken , so it is to be kept both inwardly and outwardly : ( 1. ) inwardly , and then it doth require ( 1 ) love , both to the truth and to our neighbour ; because this twofold love is a good means for the preservation of our neighbours good name . ( 2. ) an high and just value and esteem of our neighbours credit and reputation . ( 3. ) charitable thoughts concerning him , 'till we have grounds to the contrary . ( 4. ) willingness to hear well , and unwillingness to hear ill of him . ( 5. ) a hearty rejoicing at good , and sorrowing for evil reports of him . ( 2 dly , ) outwardly , is required , ( 1 ) silence concerning our neighbour , or the not revealing of secrets , when either his good name , or a mans own good conscience is in danger to be prejudiced thereby ; for to reveal a secret ( where the concealing of it is not either much to the damage of others , or of the party who would have it kept a secret ) would be a violation both of christian fidelity , and of humane society , and of the laws of friendship . ( 2. ) here is outwardly required our just defence of our neighbour , by speaking well of him , ( 1 ) so far as the truth of the matter will bear it . ( 2 ) as we have a fit opportunity . and ( 3 ) a due call to speak on his behalf , but especially in witness bearing before a magistrate ; for in such a case a man is to say the whole truth , or all that is material ( even in circumstances themselves ) for the just vindication of his neighbours good name ; and nothing but the truth , not that which is partly true and partly false . ( 2. ) to do ( as well as speak ) what we can according to our place and capacity , and to use our utmost interest for his defence , though there might be something of pains , charge , or hazzard in such christian and neighbourly endeavours . ( 3. ) that a man do discourage and rebuke tale-bearers , flatterers , slanderers , and false accusers , especially when we observe that what they say is from malice , prejudice , and bitterness , and hath very little of probability in the matter . a. 78. the ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth k , or injurious to our own l , or our neighbours good name m . to. 1. hom. xii . p. 3. he that hath been a malicious slanderer , now let him be a loving comforter . — he that hath abused his tongue in evil speaking , now let him use it in speaking well . all bitterness , anger , railing , and blasphemy , let it be avoided from you . expl. 78. more particularly , here is forbidden something ( 1 st , ) inwardly , as ( 1 ) all uncharitable and censorious thoughts concerning our neighbour ; for we are to love our neighbour , and charity thinketh no evil . ( 2 ) all supercilious and disdainful thoughts , as of the meanness of his person , the weakness of his parts , gifts , &c. ( 3 ) all ungrounded suspitions and over-credulousness , or a readiness to open the ear to any body that shall but open his mouth against him . ( 4 ) all such inordinate passions as ( hatred , wrath , &c. ) are suitable to such a bad and unchristian temper of mind . ( 2 dly , ) outwardly , is here forbidden , ( 1 ) false testimony against him , whether privately unto some private person in our discourse , or publickly b●fore a magistrate , when a man is to speak or to swear in truth , judgment , and righteousness . ( 2 ) the suborning or procuring of others to be false witnesses against him . ( 3 ) pleading for an evil cause , for this is to defend injustice , and to be the devils advocate . ( 4 ) uncharitable censures . ( 5 ) unjust verdicts and sentences . ( 6 ) any kind of endeavours to suppress or hinder the course of justice and truth by undue silence . ( 7 ) speaking the truth unseasonably , especially when it tends to detraction , reproach , and slander ; for to report the sins of others without just cause , is really a reproach , as from the reporter , though the matter be true ; if it be done without malice , and in order to his reformation , such report is not sinful , because here only a less good is neglected for procuring a greater . yet is it no defamation to speak of anothers mans failings , when they are the common talk of publick fame , or markt out by the sentence of the judg , or the notoriety of the fact . ( 8 ) forgeries , whether of writing or tales . ( 9 ) harsh misconstructions and interpretations of other mens words , intentions , or actions . ( 10 ) flattering , and undervaluing of others . ( 11 ) all malicious aggravations , or unjust excuses and extenuations of others faults . ( 12 ) all such whisperings , reviling , and rash speaking , whereby either truth , charity , or the good name of others is wronged . ( 13 ) all raising and receiving false reports , and the rejoicing in the disgrace of another . ( 14 ) all mental reservations , and jesuitical equivocations , or any other way whereby our own good name , or credit and conscience , and the good name of others , as well as truth it self and religion , is wronged ▪ a. 79. the tenth commandment is , thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house , thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife , nor his man-servant , nor his maid-servant , nor his oxe , nor his asse , nor anything that is thy neighbours . expl. 79. this command doth concern the frame and temper of the inward man , whether it be in reference to god , to our selves , or to others ; and the main scope of it is to preserve heart-purity , yea to bring faln man ( if it were possible on this side the heavenly paradise ) to that primitive rectitude and original righteousness wherewith he was created , and which was not only the perfection but the glory of mans nature . a. 80. the tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition n , with a right and charitable frame of spirit towards our neighbour , and all that is his o . to. 1. hom. v. p. 3. covet not wrongfully , but content your selves with that which you get truly , and also bestow your own goods charitably , as need and case requireth . expl. 80. this command requires in the general , yet in a more direct and express manner internal obedience to all the other nine commands ; or a universal regularity in mans nature , principles , inclinations , inward motions and affections towards god and man. obj. but will some say , this command therefore seems to be needless , or supernumerary , because every other command doth require that holy and regular frame of heart which is suitable to it self , and the duties which it requires from the outward man. answ. this command is added not only as a universal declaration , but also as an universal confirmation of what god requires ( as to the rectitude or due temper of soul ) in all the other commands together , and therefore 't was necessary to be added to all the rest ; so that this command is of a further reach than all the former , being it requires universal rectitude , or original righteousness towards god and man. obj. but then this law would require that which is impossible . answ. the law must not cease to be perfect , because man is impotent , or not able to perform . man has wilfully lost this power ; yet the law must not therefore lose its purity or perfection . yet ( 2 ) this frame of soul is not impossible to mans rational nature , though to corrupted nature . ( 3 ) though the rigour of the law doth still require perfection , yet the grace of the gospel doth accept of sincerity in and through christ. but more particularly , ( 1 ) this command requires distinction of propriety , or that a man should know what belongs to him as his own . ( 2 ) contentedness of mind with a mans present condition and lot , till god is pleased in his good providence to make his way plain before us , for the alteration or bettering of our condition ; now gods way of providence is known by this , that it never contradicts his revealed will in his word , and in that it never destroys the eternal principles of righteousness and justice betwixt men . ( 3 ) it requires a charitable frame , i. e. that we be so far from envying him , or coveting what is his , that we rather wish and pray heartily , that both he and his may prosper , as well as we , or what belongs to us . a. 81. the tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate p , envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour q , and all inordinate motions and affections to any thing that is his r . to. 2. hom. xxi . p. 3. coveting or desiring of other mens wives , houses , lands , goods and servants , willing to leave unto no man any thing of his own . expl. 81. this command forbiddeth all manner of lust or concupiscence , whereby the nature or heart of men is polluted and defiled , so that original lust or concupiscence which paul had not known to be sin but by this law , is plainly forbidden by this law , thou shalt not covet , rom. 7.7 . neither is only the fountain-lust , or the depraved inclination of corrupt nature here forbidden , but also all the streams that proceed from it ; as the lusts of the flesh , as luxury , or the lust of the eye as gain , or the pride of life as glory , scil . vain-glory . yet further , here is forbidden ( 1 st , ) discontentedness of mind , when men repine and murmure at gods providence , as if he did wrong , those complainers , when he gives either more or better of this worlds goods to others than he does to them ; which wicked temper doth arise , ( 1 ) from mens covetousness . ( 2 ) from pride , which would pull down other mens estates to a mans own level ; but these two levelling principles being destructive to propriety as well as society , are here forbidden . ( 3 ) from a double mistake : as ( 1 ) concerning the nature of these things , as if a mans happiness did consist in the abundance of these things . ( 2 ) concerning gods government of the world , as if he did not govern the world in wisdom and righteousness . qu. but may not a man lawfully desire more of this worlds goods than he has already ? answ. yes ; provided ( 1 ) his desire of what he wants be without murmuring and repining . ( 2 ) with cheerful submission to the will of god. and ( 3 ) with subordination to gods glory ; neither is contentment of mind , at all inconsistent with such regular desires . ( 2 dly , ) envying at the prosperity of others is here forbidden : for ( 1 ) this is against charity , which requires we should love our neighbours as our selves , and which should rather rejoice than grieve at the good of others . ( 2 ) and that golden rule of righteousness , do as you would be done unto . ( 3 ) against the example of god himself , who rejoiceth in the prosperity of his servants . ( 3 dly , ) here is forbidden all inordinate motions and affections towards worldly objects ; as love , delight , zeal , &c. in or for the enjoyment ; and impatience , vexation , immoderate grief for loss or disappointments . a. 82. no meer man since the fall , is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of god s , but daily doth break them in thought t , word u , and deed w . artic. xiii . works done before the grace of christ , and the inspiration of his spirit , are not pleasant to god , forasmuch as they spring not of faith in jesus christ ; neither do they make men meet to receive grace , or ( as the school-authors say ) deserve grace of congruity ; yea , rather for that they are not done as god hath willed and commanded them to be done , we doubt not but they have the nature of sin . hom. iii. p. 2. we have neither faith , charity , hope , patience , chastity , nor any thing else that good is , but of god , and therefore those virtues be called the fruits of the holy ghost , and not the fruits of man. — truly there be imperfections in our best works . — let us therefore not be asham'd to confess plainly our state of imperfection ; yea , let us not be ashamed to confess imperfection , even in all our best works . to. 2. hom. xvii . the holy company ( of saints in heaven ) confesseth constantly , that all the goods and graces wherewith they were endued in soul , came of the goodness of god only . it is meet therefore to think , that all spiritual goodness cometh from god only . expl. 82. when 't is said no meer man since the fall , &c. 't is clearly imply'd that before the fall man had power to keep the law of god perfectly ; but now since the fall he has not this power in this life , neither ( 1 ) in his corrupt estate before conversion , nor ( 2 ) in his regenerate after conversion . ( 1 st , ) not in his corrupt estate , for though men unconverted either to christianity ( as the gentiles ) or to christ ( as all prophane christians ) may by the power of nature , and freewill ; or by the help of common grace , be able to do some things contained in the law , which in themselves considered are good for the matter ▪ yet not in a right manner , because not from a right principle , true grace ; and not to a right end , gods glory , nor by a right rule , the law of god in the spiritual meaning of it . nor ( 2 dly , ) in his regenerate state here in this life ; for ( 1 ) his knowledg of his duty is but in part , and how can he do it perfectly when he does not know perfectly ? ( 2 ) his grace imperfect , ex. gr . faith , love , &c. because mingled with more or less of the opposite corruption . a. 83. some sins in themselves , and by reason of several aggravations , are more hainous in the sight of god , than others x . hom. v. p. 3. christ saith , wo be unto you , for you devour widows houses under colour of long prayers , therefore your damnation shall be greater . — you make them children of hell worse than your selves be . hom. viii . p. 2. children of unbelief of two sorts , who despair and presume ; and both these sorts of men be in a damnable state ; as the one should believe the promises , so the other the threatnings ; not over-boldly presume of gods mercy , and live dissolutely . expl. 83. if we consider sin only with reference to the infiniteness of gods majesty who is thereby provoked , in this respect all sins are equally hainous , because all against an infinite majesty ; but if we consider them either in their own nature as transgressions or in their several circumstances , then some sins are greater , or more hainous than others ; for though every sin be a transgression of the law of god , yet every law of god , doth not equally , and so directly and immediately concern the glory of god and the salvation of man ; neither is every law so clearly promulgated , or made known : besides , there are some aggravations in the sin it self , as when it is not only in the heart , but in word and deed ; so the greater the scandal , the greater the means to prevent it , the greater the person by whom , and against whom , the greater the sin ; as also it may receive its aggravations from many circumstances , as time ; when a man is drunk upon the lords day ; place , as to cut a purse in the church , or at the bar before the judg ; company , as to be debauch'd in civil , or prophane in religious company . a. 84. every sin deserveth gods wrath and curse , both in this life , and that which is to come y hom. xx. p. 1. we do daily and hourly by our wickedness and stubborn disobedience , horribly fall away from god , thereby purchasing unto our selves ( if he should deal with us according to his justice ) eternal damnation . expl. 84. every sin being a breach of the law deserves the curse of the law , or the penalty which is due to the sinner upon every the least sin , and that penalty is death ; not only temporal , but spiritual and eternal ; or the wrath of god to be inflicted upon the sinner both here and hereafter . obj. but if every sin deserve hell , then this would seem to take away the difference in punishments ? answ. no , for this doth not ly in the duration of the punishment , for that will be eternal to all who come into that state where the worm never dyes , and the fire never goeth out ; but it will be in the degrees of the punishment ; some belike shall lose more good , and endure more evil or torment than others . chap. iii. of things to be practis'd , according to the gospel : or the ordinances of the gospel , particularly of the two sacraments , in 13 articles , with their explanation . from a. 85. to 98. a. 85. to escape the wrath and curse of god due to us for sin , god requireth of us faith in jesus christ , repentance unto life z , with the diligent use of all outward means whereby christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption . a hom. xx. p. 1. — we have here a perpetual rule appointed unto us , which ought to be kept at all times ; and that there is no other way whereby the wrath of god may be pacified , and his anger asswaged , — which no man is able to abide , but is mov'd by repentance to obtain mercy . — and with a full purpose of amendment of life , fleeing to the mercy of god , taking sure hold thereupon , through faith in his son jesus christ , there is an assured and infallible hope of pardon and remission , — and that we shall be received into the favour of our heavenly father . to. 1. hom. viii . p. 2. if we turn to him with an humble and a very penitent heart he will receive us to his favour and grace , for his name sake , for his promise sake , for his truth and mercies sake , promised to all faithful believers in jesus christ his only natural son. expl. 85. there were never any more than these two ways prescribed by god unto man , for his keeping or obtaining of that happiness which doth consist in the favour of god. ( 1 ) perfect and sinless obedience to the whole will of his creator , and this was prescribed in innocency , for his keeping in favour with god. ( 2 ) faith in iesus christ ; which was prescribed immediately after the fall , for the recovery of the favour of god which he had lost ; for we are to look upon god not only as the party offended by transgression , but also as the supreme lawgiver , and great governour of the world ; and therefore god as the supreme governour was bound ( by vertue of the perfection of his own government , and for the preservation of the honour of his law and justice ) not to treat with man , in order to his being received into favour again , but only in and through a mediatour ; and because infinite wisdom could not find out a fitter than he who was god-man , god was therefore pleased in the riches of his grace and mercy , to pitch upon this way of recovering lost man , sc. by faith in christ , who is mediator between god and man : and although the law of works did not accept of repentance upon the breach thereof , yet the law of faith doth , or the covenant of grace doth as well require repentance toward god , as faith in our lord jesus christ. but then this , repentance must be qualified ( as is exprest in the a. ) sc. it must be repentance unto life , not a dead repentance , but such as brings forth suitable fruit , namely , that which is unto holiness , and the end everlasting life : and then , in the next place god requires a diligent use of all the means of grace , these being the conduit-pipes whereby christ , and grace , and the spirit , and all the spiritual benefits of our redemption are ordinarily communicated unto us ; for though the want of these may not damn any ( but other sins ) where those that want them are not in the fault that they want them ; as those that want the means of grace , and have only the light of nature , will not be condemned for what they want , but for not glorifying god according to what light they have , though it be but from the dim candle of nature ; so those that have these means and neglect them , will have the greater damnation ; for , this is the condemnation , that light is come into the world , and men loved darkness rather than light , io. 3.14 . from all which may be infer'd , ( 1 ) that the light of nature , or the dim candle of corrupt reason is not sufficient to guide a man to heaven ; for if it were , faith would have been superfluous , and gospel-revelation concerning our redemption by christ needless . ( 2 ) that in order to salvation , it is not enough for a man to believe the truth of the gospel ; but he must also accept of the terms of the gospel , or christ in the gospel ▪ sc. faith and repentance . i. e. he must accept of christ in all his offices , and accordingly yeild subjection to him ; and he must repent of all his sins , so as to bring forth fruit meet for repentance ; for a fruitless or a dead repentance will never carry a man to heaven . ( 3 ) that christ is communicative of his grace , for therefore hath he appointed means of grace for the conveying of grace to his members ; he is not a fountain sealed , but a fountain open'd . ( 4 ) that it is the duty of christians to attend diligently upon the ordinances of christ , for not only the necessity of the end requires it , there being no other ordinary way for the obtaining of the end , but by these means , but also the obligatory power of gods command . ( 5 ) that those therefore are enemies to their own salvation and redemption by christ , that do wilfully neglect the use , or deny the necessity of christs ordinances . ( 6 ) that if christians be never the better for christ , and by what he has done for sinners , they may thank themselves , for god has prescribed means whereby they may reap benefit from the undertaking of christ ; if then they do miss of life and salvation , 't is because they will not come to him that they may have life . ( 7 ) that christians had need to beg of god , that his good spirit may move upon the waters of the sanctuary , that in and through christ they may prove effectual for healing . a. 86. faith in jesus christ is a saving-grace b , whereby we receive c , and rest upon him alone for salvation d , as he is offered to us in the gospel e . hom. iv. p. 1. of faith. it consisteth not only in believing that the word of god is true . — but it is also a true trust and confidence of the mercy of god through our lord jesus christ , — hanging only upon him , and calling upon him , ready to obey and love him . — it being the first coming unto god whereby we are justified . p. 2. by faith only , not that the said justifying faith is alone in man , without true repentance , hope , charity , dread , and the fear of god , at any time or season . — but to take away clearly all merit of our works , — and wholly to ascribe the merit and deserving of our justification unto christ only , and his most precious blood-shedding . this faith the holy scripture teacheth us ; this is the strong rock and foundation of the christian religion ; this doctrine all old and ancient authors of christs church do approve . this doctrine advanceth and setteth forth the true glory of christ , and beateth down the vain-glory of man. this whosoever denieth , is not to be accounted for a christian man , nor for a setter forth of gods glory , but for an adversary to christ and his gospel , and a setter forth of vain-glory . — not that this our own act , to believe in christ which is within us , doth justifie us . ( for this were to count our selves to be justified by some act or vertue that is within our selves ) but we must renounce the merit of faith , &c. and trust only in gods mercy , and that sacrifice which our high priest and saviour , christ jesus the son of god , once offer'd . to. 2. hom. xi . unfeigned faith is the only mean and instrument of salvation required on our parts . expl. 86. in this description of faith there are several things observable , as ( 1 ) concerning the object of it ; and this is jesus christ , not only as god , though therefore he is to be believed because truth it self ; nor only as god-man , though the word being made flesh he is to be believed because he is the revealer of his fathers will concerning mans salvation , but as being god-man he is constituted mediator betwixt god and man , and by vertue of his mediatorship doth execute the office of a king , of a priest , and of a prophet , in order to the salvation of all those who do believe in him , or do heartily receive and embrace him for their alsufficient saviour upon the terms of the gospel ; and thus considered he is proposed as the object of saving faith ; yet because without shedding of blood there is no remission , and because we are said to have redemption through his blood , therefore christ crucifi'd is the most peculiar object of this faith . ( 2 ) concerning the act of this faith 't is to be noted , that doth not barely exert or put forth it self in a firm assent only to the truth of the gospel , nor yet in a particular full perswasion that i shall be undoubtedly saved in and through christ , for true saving faith may be without this full assurance , but 't is exercised in a free consent of the will that this saviour shall be our saviour upon those terms he is offer'd ; namely , cheerful submission both to his scepter and to his cross , and hereupon the affections those everlasting gates of the soul , as love , joy , delight , &c. are set open that this king of glory may enter in and find entertainment there . a. 87. repentance unto life is a saving grace f , whereby a sinner out of the true sense of his sin g , and apprehension of the mercy of god in christ h , doth with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto god i , with full purpose of , and endeavours after new obedience k . hom. xx. of repentance . which is a returning again of the whole man unto god , from whom we be faln away by sin . — we must return from those things whereby we have been withdrawn , pluckt , and led away from god. — unto whom alone we must return , — not to the creatures , or the inventions of men , or our own mercies , — by jesus christ , — who hath made satisfaction to the justice of god , — with our whole heart , — forsaking all that is contrary to gods will , — out of a sincere love of godliness , — a purpose of our selves by gods grace to renounce our former wicked life ; and a full conversion to god in a new life to glorifie his name , &c. we must beware and take heed , that we do in no wise think in our hearts , imagine or believe , that we are able to repent aright , or turn effectually unto the lord , by our own might and strength , for this must be verified in all men , without me ye can do nothing , ioh. 15.5 . again , of our selves we are not able as much as to think a good thought , 2 cor. 3.5 . expl. 87. this repentance is called repentance unto life , because the fruit thereof is unto holiness , and the end everlasting life , and concerning this repentance several things are to be noted ( 1 st , ) concerning the nature of it that ( as well as faith ) it is a saving-grace , because it is a part of sanctification , and not a common work of the spirit which is reckon'd up amongst those things which do not accompany salvation , as every part of sanctification doth . ( 2 dly , ) concerning the immediate spring of this repentance , and that is a true sense of sin , ( i. e. ) such a sense of sin as doth break the heart for sin , and that in a kindly manner with grief , or godly sorrow not with despair ; this latter sense of sin may be found in a iudas , but only the former in a paul ; for whether it be in reference to the guilt of sin , a true penitent does not despair of pardoning mercy ; or whether it be in reference to the punishment of sin , he hopes to be deliver'd from the wrath to come ; and therefore this true sense of sin , and a lively apprehension of the mercy of god in christ are here joyned together . ( 3 dly , ) we have here the inward acts of repentance , as ( 1 ) grief of heart for sin , called therefore a being pricked at the heart , and a being contrite , and broken in spirit ; which is when a mans heart is ready to bleed and melt , and tremble within him because he has broken the holy law of god , and has thereby foolishly exposed himself to the curse and penalty of the law. ( 2 ) hatred of sin whereby a man doth disrellish , and dislike sin , and can roul it as a sweet morsel under his tongue no longer ; when he does not only not love sin , but he abhors it , the very thoughts of it are grievous and ungrateful to him ; and therefore ( 3 ) he turns from it , not only does as one who turns away his face that cannot endure to behold it , but his feet , for he hastens as far from it as he can , and that he may secure himself from the danger of it he turns from it to god. ( 4 ) with resolution not to return to his old beloved any more . ( 4 thly , ) we have here the outward effects of repentance ( called its fruits ) active , constant , universal endeavours to lead a new life . a. 88. the outward and ordinary means whereby christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption , are his ordinances , especially the word , sacraments , and prayer l , all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation . hom. 5. p. 3. apply your selves chiefly , and above all things , to read and hear gods word ; mark diligently therein what his will is you should do , and with all your endeavours apply your selves to follow the same . expl. 88. 't is here supposed in the a. that there are inward and extraordinary means whereby christ can and sometimes probably does communicate the benefits of redemption , there being salvation in no other name than that of jesus , where persons are not made capable of this salvation in an ordinary way , and in the use of means , there is no other way left but that which is extraordinary ; and so we read of those that have been sanctified from the womb . but the ordinary means are the standing ordinances of the gospel , sc. the word , sacraments and prayer ; the word to inform and reform us , sacraments to confirm our faith , and prayer to beg a divine and effectual blessing upon both ; and all these three are included in that one great ordinance of the gospel , a gospel-ministry , unto which christ hath promised his presence unto the end of the world , because till then the mystical body of christ will stand in need of being edified in its most holy faith , for if the unction of the spirit had taken away the use of preaching why then did the apostles use to preach ? a. 89. the spirit of god maketh the reading , but especially the preaching of the word , an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners m , and of building them up in holiness and comfort n , through faith unto salvation o . hom. i. p. 2. if we lack a learned man to instruct and teach us , yet god himself from above will give light to our minds , and teach us those things which are necessary for us , and wherein we are ignorant . — mans humane and worldly wisdom , or science , is not needful to the understanding of scripture ; but the revelation of the holy ghost , who inspireth the true meaning into them , that with humility and diligence do search therefore . to. 2. hom. xvii . p. 1. let us in faith and charity call upon the father of mercy , by the mediation of his well-beloved son our saviour , that we may be assisted with the presence of his holy spirit , and profitably on our parts , demean our selves in speaking and harkening to the salvation of our souls . hom. xvi . p. 2. and he of his great mercy so work in all mens hearts , by the mighty power of the holy ghost , that the comfortable gospel of his son christ may be truly preached , truly received , and truly followed in all places , to the bearing down of sin , death , the pope , the devil , and all the kingdom of antichrist . hom. xvii . p. 3. we should not be able to believe and know these great mysteries that be open'd to us by christ , but by the holy ghost . st. paul says , that no man can know what is of god , but by the spirit of god ; as for us ( saith he ) we have received , not the spirit of the world , but the spirit which is of god , for this purpose , that in that holy spirit we might know the things that be given us by christ. expl. 89. in this a. there is ( 1 ) something supposed ; ( 2 ) something asserted : here it is supposed ( 1 ) that sometime the reading of the word doth prove effectual for the spiritual and eternal good of the soul , and hence it is that christ commands us to search and read the scripture , and doth charge mens ignorance and error about soul-matters , upon their negligence herein . ( 2 ) that reading of scripture at home doth not at all excuse people from hearing the word in the solemn assemblies where it is preached , for there is an especially here fixed on the word preached as to the efficacy of it , either for conviction , conversion or comfort . ( 3 ) that the word whether read or preached ( except the spirit , go along with it ) is but a dead letter , till the angel ( i. e. ) the spirit of god move upon this water of the sanctuary no healing is to be expected from it . and therefore ( 2 ly , ) 't is here asserted ( 1 ) concerning the word read , ( 2 ) concerning the word preached that the spirit of god doth make it effectual ( 1 ) for the opening of blind eyes , so as to discover to men the things that concern their peace and their duty . ( 2 ) for the turning of sinners unto god from the error and evil of their ways , from darkness unto light . ( 3 ) for the building of men up in their most holy faith , because hereby is laid the first stone , for faith cometh by hearing ; hereby is laid the last , for 't is by the ministry of the word that the christian is made an habitation of god through the spirit , or a temple of the holy ghost . ( 4 ) for the perfecting of holiness in the fear of god. ( 5 ) for comfort , for this is that brook in the way of which the christian traveller drinketh , and so is able to run the ways of gods commands and not be weary , to walk and not to faint . a. 90. that the word may become effectual to salvation , we must attend thereunto with diligence p , preparation q , and prayer r , receive it with faith s , and love t , lay it up in our hearts u , and practise it in our lives w . hom. i. p. 1. the scriptures have power to turn through gods promise , and they be effectual through gods assistance ; and being received in a faithful heart , they have ever an heavenly spiritual working in them . — in reading gods will he profits most , that is most turn'd into it , that is most inspired with the holy ghost , most in heart and life chang'd into that thing which he readeth . — read it humbly with a meek and lowly heart , to the intent you may glorifie god , and not your self , with the knowledg of it ; and read it not without daily praying to god , that he would direct your reading to a good effect . — let us hear , read , and know these holy rules , instructions , and statutes of our christian religion , and upon that we have made profession to god at our baptism . let us fear and reverence , lay up ( in the chest of our hearts ) these necessary and fruitful lessons . let us night and day muse , and have meditation and contemplation in them . expl. 90. this a. doth inform us of the right manner of using and managing the word ( whether read or preached ) with profit as ( 1 st , ) our attendance upon the word must be with diligence , now this doth imply ( 2 ) things , ( 1 ) the intention of the mind , that when a man is reading scripture , or hearing a sermon , he do seriously mind what he is about , do not suffer his mind and thoughts to be roving upon other things ; and the reason of this intention of mind is because he knows that the eye of god is intent upon him . ( 2 ) an holy sollicitude , or a mans being concerned in the issue of the duty , he being sensible that he is now engaged in the use of that means for eternal life that god has prescribed , he now reads every chapter , and hears every sermon , as if it were ( as indeed it is ) for his life ; so in this diligent attendance there is something wherein the outward man is concerned , sc. a devout , reverent and serious composure of the outward man to the work . ( 2 dly , ) preparation , and this doth imply ( 1 ) a mans laying aside all worldly cares , affairs and business , sports or recreations which might any way hinder him in such holy and heavenly employment , that so he may attend upon it without distraction . ( 2 ) a mans laying aside all worldly affections , as love of the world , &c. or his putting away all superfluity of naughtiness . ( 3 ) a mans putting himself into the presence of god , or a pressing upon himself the sense of gods authority , majesty and holiness , as well as of the truth and importance of his word . ( 3 dly , ) prayer , that gods word may do us good ; and here we are to pray ( 1 ) for the minister , that he may preach as becomes the word of god , and an ambassadour of christ. ( 2 ) for our selves , that we may receive it as the ingrafted word which is able to save our souls ; yet more particularly ( 1 ) that we may mingle it with faith , it being that which deserves the most firm or the highest degree of assent that we are able to give to any thing . ( 2 ) that we may receive it with love ( 1 ) to god the author of it , and because 't is his word . ( 2 ) to the preacher as sent by god ; ( 3 ) to the word it self , because for the matter 't is that which doth so highly import our happiness . ( 4 ) we are to give reception and entertainment not only in the porch of our ear , but in the best room of our hearts ; yea it being a precious treasure , better than gold and silver , it must be our care , ( 1 ) to lay it up as treasure in our hearts , to hide it there as david did . ( 2 ) as treasure to be improved , to lay it out , now this cannot be done any other or better way than by a mans taking heed to his ways , according to gods word , for he that thus ordereth his conversation aright shall see the salvation of god. a. 91. the sacraments become effectual means of salvation , not from any virtue in them , or in him that doth administer them x , but only by the blessing of christ , and the working of his spirit in them that by faith receive them y . artic. xxvi . the effect of christs ordinance is not taken away by the ministers wickedness , neither the grace of gods gifts diminish'd from such as by faith and rightly do receive the sacraments ministred to them , which be effectual because of christs institution and promise , although they be ministred by evil men . nevertheless it appertaineth to the discipline of the church , that enquiry be made of evil ministers , and that they be accused by those that have knowledg of their offences ; and finally , being found guilty by just judgment be deposed . expl. 91. here we have it expressed , ( 1 ) negatively , how the sacraments do not become effectual , &c. as ( 1 ) not from any virtue in themselves ; for as the word is a dead letter of it self , so the sacraments are dead signs ; for can it be imagin'd in reason , that the soul which must live for ever , can be feasted , fed , and nourished to eternal life by a morsel of bread and a sup of wine ? ( perishing elements ) , or that the spiritual defilement of the soul can be wash'd off by a few drops of water sprinkled upon the face . ( 2 ) not from any virtue in the minister , as neither ( 1 ) his piety , because this can be no meritorious or procuring cause of a blessing in the minister ; ( 2 ) nor his good intention , for then the blessing would not only depend upon the power , but also upon the will of man ; but the efficacy of sacraments depends ( 2 dly , ) affirmatively , ( 1 st , ) upon christs blessing grounded on his own institution and appointment , for he will not be wanting to his own ordinances . ( 2 dly , ) upon the working of the spirit , or his application of them to the soul in a spiritual manner , and thereby bringing to the mind of the receiver , ( 1 ) the author of sacraments , christ ; ( 2 ) the impulsive cause , his love ; ( 3 ) by representing and sealing the righteousness of christ to the soul ; ( 4 ) by objective excitation of suitable affections , as love , gratitude . ( 3 dly , ) their efficacy doth depend on the receivers faith , not as a meritorious cause , but as a necessary condition , without which christ will not bless them . a. 92. a sacrament is an holy ordinance , instituted of christ , wherein by sensible signs , christ and the benefits of the new covenant are represented z , sealed , and applied to believers a . expl. 92. in the general , all sound divines do agree , that a sacrament hath these two parts , ( 1 ) an outward sign , such as are the objects of sense , and especially of seeing ; for though bread and wine be objected or presented to the taste , as well as to the eye ; and water to the touch , yet the representation or the resemblance of christs body broken and his blood shed , is in seeing the bread broken and the wine poured out ; and the spiritual washing of the soul represented to the eye of faith , by that washing of the filth of the flesh which is visibly done before the eye of the body . ( 2 ) invisible grace ; for the internal application of christs benefits to the soul being of a spiritual nature , cannot be seen by the eye of the body ; yet more particularly , in this a. we have the nature and quality of a sacrament , 't is a holy ordinance , ( 1 ) it has holiness to the lord stampt upon it , and so is spiritual in its nature . ( 2 ) it is instituted by christ the holy one ; it is not his holiness at rome , or rather that man of sin , that can institute a sacrament , though he hath taken the boldness to add five sacraments to those two which christ hath appointed . the holiest man upon earth cannot appoint a sacrament ; it is priviledg enough in man to celebrate it when it is instituted by god. ( 3 ) it is a means for the promoting of sanctification and holiness , for it is an obligation upon a christian to holiness , and though it be not a means to work conversion ( ordinarily at least ) , yet it doth excite , quicken , and confirm grace . ( 4 ) it is the seal of a holy covenant , wherein ( as by a deed of free-gift ) all the benefits of christs redemption are made over and applyed to believers , and wherein all the promises are yea and amen through christ unto such . ( 5 ) it is an ordinance that in a most eminent manner is accompanied with the assistance , influence , and comforts of the holy ghost , because at such a time the spirit in a most remarkable manner is concerned to execute his office , as the spirit of adoption witnessing together with the spirits of believing receivers , that they are the children of god. and doth not all this holiness wherewith this sacrament is attended , require on the communicants part a holy and solemn preparation ? a. 93. the sacraments of the new testament are baptism b , and the lords supper c . artic. xxv . there are two sacraments ordained of christ our lord in the gospel , i. e. baptism and the supper of the lord. — confirmation , pennance , orders , matrimony , and extream unction are not to be counted for sacraments of the gospel . to. 2. hom. ix . sacraments instituted by our saviour christ to be received and continued of every true christian in due time and order , for such purpose as he willed them to be received , as visible signs expresly commanded in the new testament , whereunto is annexed the promise of free forgiveness of our sins , and of our holiness , and joining in christ , there be but two , namely , baptism and the supper of the lord. expl. 93. there are but these two , not only as generally necessary , but as only necessary to salvation , for who was fitter to judg of the necessity , or to appoint the number of sacraments , then he alone who had the sole power to appoint any sacrament at all ; now ( 1 ) in the new testament we find only these two of christs appointment . ( 2 ) these two are sufficient to the end to which they are appointed . sc. to seal the covenant of grace . ( 3 ) though there were more extraordinary , yet there were but two ordinary sacraments under the old testament , sc. circumcision and the passover . ( 4 ) only these two forementioned do correspond to these two of the old testament ; and so do not pennance , matrimony , orders , &c. ( 5 ) only these two are directed as to the manner of participation in the new testament . ( 6 ) christs ministers have only these two , and no more in their commission to administer and to celebrate as sacraments , sc. baptism and the lords supper . a. 94. baptism is a sacrament , wherein the washing with water in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost d , doth signifie and seal our ingrafting into christ , and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace e , and our engagement to be the lords f . artic. xxvii . it is a sign of regeneration or new birth , whereby ( as by an instrument ) they that receive baptism rightly , are grafted into the church ; the promises of forgiveness of sin , of our adoption to be the sons of god by the holy ghost , are visibly signed and sealed . expl. 94. in this a. we have ( 1 ) the general notion of baptism ; it is a sacrament ( i. e. ) a seal of the righteousness of faith , and so is every other sacrament which is a seal of the covenant of grace , whether under the legal or evangelical dispensation . ( 2 ) we have here the description of baptism , and therein the difference of baptism from the lord's supper . ( 1 ) in the outward signs or elements in that water in this bread and wine , and god having been so particular and distinct in appointing these , we should be as strict and careful in the use of them ; not adding to them the corrupt inventions of men , as the papists do add to water , cream , salt , oyl and spittle , &c. nor diminishing from the other , as they do when they deprive the people of the cup. ( 2 ) they differ in their order , for baptism is the first sacrament of the gospel , because it is to be administred when a christian ( or the infant of one or both believing parents ) is solemnly to be admitted a member of christ's visible church , but the lord's supper is to follow this . ( 3 ) in frequency , baptism is to be administred but once , because a man can be born but once spiritually ( as well as naturally ) and this sacrament is a seal of this spiritual birth , when the inward baptism of the holy ghost , is accompanied with the outward of water , which by the way being both inward and outward , may be called the doctrine of baptisms ; but the supper being to represent and exhibit christ as spiritual nourishment to the soul , may and must be often , because we often stand in need of it . ( 4 ) in the form of administration , baptism being in the name of father , son , and holy ghost ; because we are to be baptized into all the three persons in the godhead ; but the supper in these words , take , eat , this is my body , &c. ( 5 ) in baptism is sealed to us and represented our dying unto sin , and living unto righteousness ( especially in those of years-that are baptized ) but in the other sacrament , christ dying for our sin is represented and confirmed to us . ( 6 ) baptism doth seal us a title to all visible church priviledges and ordinances of the gospel , and the lord's supper doth suppose this title both to these and all the benefits and advantages of the covenant of grace . ( 7 ) in baptism we solemnly engage to be the lords , and to be entirely his ; and in the supper we renew this engagement , and not only our renewal of our vow , but our baptismal vow should be frequently and seriously considered , especially in a time of temptation and apostacy . a. 95. baptism is not to be administred to any out of the visible church , till they profess their faith in christ , and obedience to him g , but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptized h . engl. artic. xxii . the baptism of young children , is in any wise to be retained in the church , as most agreeable with the institution of christ. expl. 95. 't is here observeable that baptism is not to be administred ( 1 st ) to infidels or unbelievers ( whilst such ) as jews , turks , and pagans ; for those are not to be solemnly admitted into the visible church , who have no precedent right by virtue of the covenant of grace to such admission , but ( 2 dly , ) 't is to be administred to these two sorts of persons . ( 1 ) those who have not yet been baptized , and do make a credible profession of their faith in christ , and obedience to his gospel : which was required of converted gentiles in order to their baptism , and will be of converted jews when they are to be re-ingrafted into the true olive ; yet is this no plea for the practice of anabaptists , who defer the baptism of their children till they can make a profession of their faith , where one or both the parents is a visible member of the church . for ( 2 ) infants of visible professors are to be look'd upon as members of the church visible , and there are to enjoy this church priviledge ; else such infants would be in a worse condition now than formerly . a. 96. the lords supper is a sacrament , wherein by giving and receiving bread and wine , according to gods appointment , his death is shewed forth i , and the worthy receivers are not after a corporal and carnal manner , but by faith made partakers of his body and blood , with all his benefits to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace k . artic. xxviii . it is a sacrament of our redemption by christs death . insomuch that to such as rightly , worthily , and with faith receive the same , the bread which we break is partaking of the body of christ ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of christ. transubstantiation ( or the change of the substance of bread and wine ) in the supper of the lord , cannot be prov'd by holy writ ; but it is repugnant to the plain words of scripture , overthroweth the nature of a sacrament , and hath given occasion to many superstitions . expl. 96. when 't is here said the lord's supper is a sacrament , we are to understand no more by a sacrament , then that 't is a seal of the righteousness of faith ; so that those persons who do run to the righteousness of works , or or of the law in order to justification , they run out of the tenour of the covenant of grace , in which only the righteousn●ss of faith is sealed to the believer . more particularly in this great gospel-ordinance of the n. t. we have ( 1 ) the sacramental signs , bread and wine ; not bread only , or wine only , but both , hereby noting that we have in christ whatever is needful ( whether for support or comfort ) to life everlasting . ( 2 ) the thing outwardly represented by these two elements , sc. christ's body and blood ; by the bread his body ; so that the papists who stick so close to the letter , might with as much shew of reason conclude that christ's body was turned into bread , as that the bread was turned into his body . and by the bread broken , is signified his body being wounded and broken ; and by the wine his blood , and by the pouring forth of the wine , the shedding forth of his blood , without which no remission . ( 3 ) the sacramental actions , sc. giving and receiving , whereby is noted not only that he gave himself for sinners , but that he gives himself to believers ; and that as by the bodily hand they receive the bread and wine , so by a hand of saith they receive and accept of christ as he offereth himself in the gospel . ( 4 ) the spiritual signification of the whole , sc. the righteousness of christ , and all the benefits of his mediatory undertaking , made over and sealed to them in the covenant of grace , who do by faith apply these to themselves ; so that every worthy communicant may say , christ dyed for me , &c. ( 5 ) the authoritative design of all this to this very end and purpose by christ himself , who alone can appoint gospel sacraments ; because he alone can bestow that grace of which sacraments are but the conduit pipes . ( 6 ) that worthy receivers are partakers of christ's body and blood , not in a gross and corporal , but in a spiritual manner , for if the bread were the real body or flesh of christ which we eat in this sacrament , then it would be no sacrament at all ; because the sign and thing signified would be really the same . ( 7 ) the advantages hereof , are the pardon of sin sealed , assurance of god's love , spiritual joy , comfort , refreshment , nourishment and growth in grace . a. 97. it is required of them that would worthily partake of the lords supper , that they examine themselves of their knowledg , to discern the lords body l , of their faith to feed upon him m , of their repentance n , love o , and new obedience p , lest coming unworthily , they eat and drink judgment to themselves q . artic. xxviii . the body of christ is given , taken , and eaten in the supper only after an heavenly and spiritual manner ; and the mean whereby the body of christ is received and eaten in the supper , is faith. to. 2. hom. xv. we must certainly know , that three things be requisite in him which would seemly , as becometh such high mysteries , resort to the lords table , i. e. first , a right and worthy estimation and understanding of this mystery . secondly , to come in a sure faith . thirdly , to have newness or pureness of life to succeed the receiving of the same . p. 2. newness of life , and godliness of conversation , as fruits of faith , are required in the partakers of this table . we may learn by eating of the typical lamb , whereunto no man was admitted but he that was a jew , and was circumcised , and was before sanctified . expl. 97. by worthiness we are only to understand fitness ; for in order to a christian's practice of this ordinance , he must examine himself in these two things . ( 1 ) as to his right and title , for if a man has no right to or interest in the righteousness of christ , when he receives this seal , he has it only to a blank . ( 2 ) as to fitness , called in scripture the wedding garment , for he is no more fit to be a guest at christ's table who wants this garment , than he is to feast with a prince at his royal table , who is cloathed with nothing but rags and nastiness ; yet more distinctly he must examine himself , ( 1 st , ) in point of knowledg , whether or no he be competently acquainted with the terms of the covenant of grace , of which this sacrament is a seal , and with the necessary principles of religion , and with the indispensable duties of the gospel ▪ and with the greatness of the love of christ in dying for sinners ; for he who is grosly ignorant of these things , as also of the difference between the sacramental elements , and actions , and what is spiritually intended by them , can never be able to discern the lord's body ; but above all he must be sure to know practically and experimentally christ crucified in this sacrament . ( 2 dly , ) he must examine his faith , as , ( 1 ) whether he be in a state of faith , ( a believer ) which he may know by his being a new creature . ( 2 ) whether he do upon this particular occasion exercise the grace of faith ; but especially whether he doth heartily assent to the truth of the gospel ; and whether he does heartily close with christ in the gospel . ( 3 ) his repentance , whether it be such as doth break his heart as well from sin as for sin , which hath broken and crucified the body of his dear redeemer . ( 4 ) his love whether this doth fill him ( 1 ) with admiring thoughts of the love of christ in dying for him , greater love than this hath no man seen . ( 2 ) with readiness and resolution to suffer , yea dye for christ if called to it . ( 5 ) new obedience , which may be known to be such . ( 1 ) by the spring from whence it doth flow , the grace of god ; or the new nature . ( 2 ) by the manner of its being performed , sc. in a spiritually-natural way with delight and zeal . ( 3 ) by the rule of it , the law spiritually interpreted . ( 4 ) by the end of it , the glory of god ; and that person who finds himself thus qualified , may come and welcome to the lord's table ; so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. chap. iv. of things to be pray'd for , in the lords-prayer , in 10 articles , with their explanation . from a. 98. to the end . a. 98. prayer is an offering up of our desires to god r , for things agreeable to his will s , in the name of christ t , with confession of our sins u , and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies w . to. 2. hom. vii . p. 1. — prayer is necessary for all men , at all times , and in all places . — be fervent in prayer , assuring our selves , that whatsoever we ask of god the father in the name of his son christ , and according to his will , he will undoubtedly grant it . p. 2. in all our necessities , direct our prayers to him , call upon his holy name , desire help at his hands , and at none others . — he is able , — will help us , — hears , understands better than our selves , what we lack , and how far we have need of help . hom. ix . — be sure that in all prayer your minds be devoutly lifted up to god , else your prayers are to no purpose . hom. xvii . all good things came down to us from the father of light . — jesus christ his son and our saviour , is the mean , by whom we receive his liberal goodness , — in the power and virtue of the holy ghost we be made able to receive his gifts and graces . expl. 98. concerning prayer there are two things to be noted , ( 1 ) the name , ( 2 ) the thing it self . the name of that which is here described is prayer , a term more comprehensive than invocation , which is only vocal prayer , for it doth comprehend in it , invocation , petition , confession , thanksgiving , supplications , and intercessions , whether expressed in words or only pent up in a devout breast . ( 2 ) for the thing it self , we have ( 1 ) the necessary requisites of prayer . ( 2 ) the ordinary sorts and kinds of it . necessary requisites are ( 1 st ) that it be an offering up of our desires to god , and this is essential to all prayer , that there be a holy motion of the will towards god in pious and devout desires though these should never be framed into words ; internal or heart-prayer in some cases is all that god requires , and therefore he will graciously accept of it : but this spiritual sacrifice must be presented only to god ; for ( 1 ) he only knows , and can supply our wants . ( 2 ) faith and prayer must go together , and faith is only to be in god. ( 3 ) the lords prayer doth only send us to god and no other . but then , &c. [ see expl. 99. ] a. 99. the whole word of god is of use to direct us in prayer x , but the special rule of direction , is that form of prayer , which christ taught his disciples y , commonly called the lords prayer . to. 2. hom. vii . p. 3. what better example can we desire to have than of christ himself , who taught his disciples and other christian men , first to pray for heavenly things , and afterwards for earthly things , as is to be seen in that prayer which he left unto his church , commonly called the lords-prayer . expl. 99. ( 2 dly , ) 't is essentially necessary to prayer that it be only for things agreeable to gods will. ( 1 ) the whole will of god in general ; as men must not make their lust their end , in begging any thing of god ( for those who ask that they may consume what they ask upon their lust , do ask amiss for the end ; ) so neither their fancy their rule , for then they ask amiss for the manner and matter both . ( 2 ) and more particularly , the lords prayer ; for this may be used not only as a prayer it self , luk. 11.2 . but also as a pattern for all other prayers , not so much for method and order , for we are not so strictly tyed to that ; as for matter in which we are not to deviate from this so comprehensive directory in the matter of prayer , mat. 6.9 . ( 3 dly , ) in the name of christ , ( i. e ) ( 1 ) by virtue of his warrant and authority , because he doth command us to pray . what is done by his authority , is in his name . ( 2 ) making use of him as our mediator or intercessor , or great master of requests in heaven ; for we are strangers to god and enemies to him naturally , and so must make use of the name of christ , and not of our own . ( 2 dly . ) the ordinary kinds or parts of prayer , are ( 1 ) confession of sin , either expressed or implyed , for when we beg or petition for any mercy , we are to own our unworthiness of it , which we cannot well do without confession of sin . ( 2 ) thanksgiving , for there is something of the nature of prayer in such acknowledgments , scit . our desire that god would accept of our sacrifices of praise , and christ has taught us in our prayer to praise god , for thine is the kingdom , &c. a. 100. the preface of the lords prayer , which is , our father which art in heaven ; teacheth us , to draw near to god with all holy reverence z , and confidence a , as children to a father , able and ready to help b , and that we should pray with , and for others c . hom. xvii . consider his great power to make us dread and fear ; — high wisdom , — inestimable goodness , to take good heart again to trust well unto him , — being assured to take him for our refuge , our hope and comfort , our merciful father , in all the cases of our lives . expl. 100. the preface teacheth many lessons . ( 1 ) solemn preparation , that we come not rashly to pray , but bethink our selves before-hand to whom we are to pray . ( 2 ) reverence , as the name father doth import . ( 3 ) access with boldness , that we may go to god as freely in and through christ , as children can go to their natural parents . ( 4 ) confidence of speeding all the while we ask aright for the matter , and manner , and end ; for when men do not speed , 't is because they ask amiss , i. e either what they should not , or as they should not , or wherefore they should not . ( 5 ) gods readiness to hear and help , therefore called our father ; none more ready to help a child than the father of ●t . ( 6 ) gods pity and compassion towards his children , which does move him to help them ; as a father pities his children , &c. ( 7 ) that great article of our creed , communion of saints ; for all true christian supplicants have one common union in that one common relation of children unto god , and therefore called our father . ( 8 ) compassion , that we do pity and pray one for another , being all of us children of the same common father . ( 9 ) that though god is present in all places , yet heaven is in a more especial manner the habitation of his holiness ; because he doth there more immediately , gloriously , and fully communicate of himself to the angels and spirits of just men made perfect . ( 10 ) that man ( being a sinful supplicant ) should know his distance from the great god , and with all humble and thankful admiration acknowledg gods condescention towards him , in that he is willing to receive any petition from him . a. 101. in the first petition , which is , hallowed be thy name ; we pray , that god would enable us and others to glorifie him in all that whereby he makes himself known d , and that he would dispose all things to his own glory e . to. 2. hom. vii . p. 3. — we are taught whensoever we make our prayers unto god , chiefly to respect the honour and glory of his name . expl. 101. this is not only the first petition in this prayer , but the first of those petitions wherein we are taught to beg good things ; for the two last petitions in this prayer are deprecatory against evil . now from the shortness of all these petitions in general , we may observe , that the efficacy of prayer doth not consist in the multitude of words , but doth most shew it self in a holy fervency and ardour of affections . in this petition there is , ( 1 st , ) something supposed , as the ground of this petition , as ( 1 ) that man ought to make the glory of god his chief end in all his designs . ( 2 ) that by his natural power , and without the grace of god , he is not able to glorifie god. ( 2 dly , ) we have the matter of the petition ( hallowed be thy name ) . in which words we do pray in the general , that all the attributes , titles , ordinances , words , and works of god ( whereby he is made known ) may be heartily and highly valued , and esteemed , and magnified in the world . more particularly , we beg . ( 1 ) that god would give us hearts . ( 2 ) grace , to shew forth his glory in all our words , thoughts , actions , and capacities . ( 3 ) that he would prevent or remove all that sin especially whereby the lustre of his glory in the world is most eclipsed , as atheism , ignorance , idolatry , oppression , &c. ( 4 ) that he would so lay the scene of his providence in the government of the world , that he may still get to himself a glorious name , whether it be in works of power , wisdom , justice , or mercy ; for though he will do this whether we beg it or no , yet ( 1 ) it is our duty , because commanded . ( 2 ) hereby we shew our love to god , by this zeal for his glory . ( 3 ) to our own souls , for his glory and our happiness are twisted together . a. 102. in the second petition , which is , thy kingdome come ; we pray , that satans kingdome may be destroyed f , that the kingdome of grace may be advanced g , our selves and others brought into it , and kept in it h , and that the kingdome of glory may be hastened i . to. 2. hom. xvi . p. 2. he of his great mercy so works in all mens hearts , by the mighty power of the holy ghost , that the comfortable gospel of his son christ may be truly preached , truly received , and truly followed in all places , to the beating down of sin , death , the pope , the devil , and all the kingdom of antichrist ; that like scattered and dispersed sheep , being at length gathered into one fold , we may in the end rest altogether in the bosome of abraham , isaac , and iacob , there to be partakers of eternal and everlasting life , through the merits and death of jesus christ our saviour . expl. 102. by kingdom we are to understand in the general , gods rule and dominion and power , that he exerciseth in the world , both over all his creatures , and particularly over men . now in reference to the wicked , god doth exercise the kingdom of his power and justice in restraining or punishing them ; and thus to pray that this kingdom may come amongst wicked men , is to pray , that the interest , power , and dominion of sin , satan , and antichrist in the world may be destroy'd ; for in this petition we do acknowledg our selves to be by nature subjects of the prince of darkness , and therefore we are to pray , that this iron-yoke may be taken off ▪ and that we may take upon us the easie yoke of christ. but in reference to the elect , gods kingdom is either , ( 1 st , ) a kingdom of grace in this world , and then we pray , the scepter of this kingdom may rule in the hearts and lives of gods elect : now this scepter being the gospel , we are to pray , ( 1 ) that this may be dispersed all the world over , in order to the gathering of the dispersed iews which do belong to the election of grace , and to the fulness of the gentiles . ( 2 ) that where the means of grace and knowledg are enjoyed ( together with all gospel-ordinances and gospel-order ) they may prove effectual for the begetting and growth of grace and saving-knowledg , and for the spiritual comfort and support of weak christians . ( 3 ) that to this end and purpose god would bestow his holy spirit upon his people , as the spirit of truth to lead them into all necessary truth , as a spirit of holiness to sanctifie them , and as he is the comforter . ( 4 ) that the power of the civil magistrate may be laid out for the good of the church ; and that god would still furnish his church with such officers , both spiritual and civil , as may most promote the interest of christs spiritual kingdom ; and all this we are to beg of god alone , ( 1 ) because he alone can check and restrain whatever does oppose his kingdom . ( 2 ) because he alone can effectually grant what we beg herein . ( 2 dly , ) and for the kingdom of glory , we are to beg the hastening of it for the elects sake , by christs second coming , because hereby , ( 1 ) god will be most glorified . ( 2 ) the kingdom of grace will be perfected , when christs loyal subjects shall reign with him in glory . even so come lord iesus , come quickly . a. 103. in the third petition , which is , thy will be done on earth , as it is in heaven ; we pray , that god by his grace would make us able and willing to know , obey m , and submit to his will in all things l , as the angels do in heaven m to. 2. hom. xxiii . as god the creator and lord of all things , appointed his angels and heavenly creatures , in all obedience to serve and honour his majesty ; so was it his will , that man his chief creature upon the earth , should live under the obedience of his creator and lord. expl. 103. in this petition we have two things observable , ( 1 ) the matter of our obedience , it must be what god requires . ( 2 ) the manner , it must be according to the pattern in the mount , sc. as it is done in heaven . for the matter , 't is only gods will which must be the rule of mans duty ; not the wills , or fancies , or traditions , or corrupt customs of men ; we owe obedience no further to men in what they require from us , than it is agreeable to the will of god , and especially in the duties of religion , because god alone , who is the searcher of the heart , is lord of the conscience , when-ever therefore what is required of us as matter of duty comes accompany'd with a thus saith the lord , either in the plain words , or in the plain sense of scripture , we must not dispute , but obey . yet to prevent mistake , we are to know , ( 1 ) there is the secret will of god , called the will of his counsel and purpose ; but though this be the rule he himself walks by , yet 't is not the rule of our obedience , and we are no further to pray that this will may be done , than as it seems good to his infinite wisdom ; and that we may with patience submit to it , and in all events ( though they may cross our wills never so much ) acknowledg the holiness and rectitude of it , and nothing may displease us that pleaseth him . but ( 2 dly , ) there is his revealed will , as ( 1 ) in his promises , and here we are to pray , that they may be fulfilled . ( 2 ) in his threatnings towards the implacable enemies of his church , that these may be executed , and this in subserviency to the former petition , that his kingdom may come . ( 3 ) in his prophesies , that they may be accomplished . ( 4 ) and principally in his commands , that these may be obey'd and performed above and before any thing else , or that these be done whatever else be left undone ; and that ( 2 dly , ) for the manner , as it is done in heaven by angels and the spirits of just men made perfect , i. e. perfectly ; not that we can be perfect in holiness here on earth , but that we should be aiming at it , and be perfecting holiness in the fear of god ; in which are these two things , ( 1 ) the renouncing our own wills , as they do oppose the will of god. ( 2 ) actual , real , constant , cheerful , universal compliance with the holy will of god. a. 104. in the fourth petition which is , give us this day our daily bread ; we pray , that of gods free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life n , and enjoy his blessings with them o to. 2. hom. vi. [ our daily bread ] i. e. all things necessary for this our needy life . hom. vii . p. 3. when we have sufficiently pray'd for things belonging to the soul , then may we lawfully and with safe conscience pray also for our bodily necessities , as meat , drink , clothing health of body , deliverance out of prison , good luck ( i. e. success ) in our daily affairs , &c. according as we shall have need . expl. 104. the former petitions did respect god ; and this is the first of those which doth concern our selves . in which petition ( 1 ) somewhat is imply'd , as ( 1 ) that we depend upon god for the necessities of life . ( 2 ) that these are only to be desired so far as they may help us in the doing of his will. ( 3 ) that the frailty of our natures is such , that they stand in need of daily supplies of these necessaries . ( 4 ) that our care in reference to these things is neither to be immoderate , for we are to ask but for bread , i. e. necessity ; nor to look far , as is imply'd in that word day . ( 5 ) that having food and rayment we be therewith content . ( 6 ) that however men in their honest callings do take pains for necessaries , yet they are the free gift of god. ( 2 ) in the petition we are to ask , ( 1 ) necessaries of life , called in scripture food and rayment , and here bread . ( 2 ) all means and helps to obtain these . ( 3 ) a blessing upon them ; for these three things are included in this one word [ bread ] . a. 105. in the fifth petition , which is , and forgive us our debts , as we forgive our debtors ; we pray , that god for christs sake would freely pardon all our sins p , which we are the rather encouraged to ask , because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others q to. 2. hom. ix . dissention and discord interrupt prayer . — for the lords prayer hath not only a respect to particular persons , but to the whole universal , in the which we openly pronounce , that we will forgive them which have offended against us , even as we ask forgiveness of our sins of god. hom. vii . p. 2. what if we be sinners , shall we not therefore pray unto god ? or shall we despair to obtain any thing at his hands ? why did christ then teach us to ask forgiveness of our sins , &c. expl. 105. in reference to the petition about forgiveness , there is ( 1 ) something imply'd . ( 2 ) the matter of the petition , and ( 3 ) the illustration of it . 't is imply'd , ( 1 ) that man is naturally a guilty creature , and under the condemnation , and consequently obnoxious to the curse of the law , both by reason of original and actual sin . ( 2 ) that of himself he cannot make satisfaction to divine justice , nor any other for him ( christ only excepted , who is god as well as man ) . for if man , or any other creature for him , could satisfie gods justice , he might then stick to that plea , and stand at the bar of justice ; whereas he is now forc'd to the throne of grace . ( 3 ) that god only can forgive sin , for man is here directed only to god. ( 4 ) that confession of sin , and petition unto god for pardon , is the way to obtain this pardon in and through christ. ( 2 dly , ) the matter of the petition , or that we pray for , 't is directly and expresly remission ( or forgiveness ) of sins , and then consequently the imputation of christs righteousness to us , by virtue whereof we may find acceptance with god the father , in and by and through the merit of the righteousness of his son christ. for as by bread in the former petition we do by a synecdoche understand all the necessaries of this corporal life ; so in this petition , by forgiveness we may understand that which is so necessary to eternal life , christs righteousness to be imputed to us ; or in one word , in this petition we beg justification of our persons , as in the next we beg sanctification of our natures , hearts , and lives . in short , sith there is forgiveness with god that he may be feared , we who are so many condemned malefactors must make our application and our supplication to him , and to him alone for pardon ; for sin is such a burden , and of such intolerable weight , that 't is only omnipotent mercy that can remove the guilt of it from the consciences of men , it being an opposition to the holiness of gods nature , who is infinite ; as well as a violation of that law which is exceeding broad ; and therefore , by the way , sin may very well pass for the greatest of evils , sith ( 1 ) only the righteousness of christ is broad enough to cover it , that the shame of the sinners nakedness may not appear ; ( 2 ) only the mercy of an infinite god could pardon it ; ( 3 ) sith 't is a down-right defacing of the image of god in man , and instead thereof drawing the black lines or image of satan upon mans soul ; ( 4 ) and is consequently the greatest enemy to mans happiness and perfection ; ( 5 ) it doth procure for the impenitent unpardoned sinner , the eternal wrath of god and flames of hell . q. but it may be here demanded , why our sins are called debts ? for an answer we are to know in the general , that they are not so properly , but metaphorically , with allusion to those debts that are contracted between man and man ; for god is not to be consider'd properly as a creditor , but as a governour ; so that in strict sense our obedience ( rather than our sin ) is our debt to god , and such a debt as we owe to him by the law of our creation ; so that our sins are called our debts only because sin doth make punishment to become a debt which we owe unto god , and 't is our just debt , and of the two it is punishment which man doth suffer for sin that comes nearer to the nature and notion of a debt than sin it self , this being a due debt to gods justice , as obedience is to his authority , however we cannot pray that this debt of punishment be remitted , except we beg that guilt ( which is an obligation to punishment ) be first removed . ( 3ly ) we have the illustration of the matter of this petition , by an apt similitude or resemblance , sc. as we forgive our debtors ) , which words with reference to god , are not to be considered either as a rule that god should proceed in the same manner , to forgive us as we do others , or as a standard that god should measure out so many pardons to us as we give to those who do offend us , but ( 1 ) as an argument , ( 2 ) as an evidence . the argument proceeds from the jess to the greater ; that if we who have ( but as it were ) a drop of mercy , can forgive others , how much more will god ( who is an ocean of free-grace and love it self ) forgive us ; not that our forgiving others is meritorious of gods forgiving us . ( 2 ) our forgiving others , when 't is done freely and heartily and universally , 't is a fruit of the love and mercy of god shed abroad in our hearts , an evidence of true grace in the soul , or of sanctification , and those whom he has sanctified he has also justified . a. 106. in the sixth petition , which is , and lead us not into temptation , but deliver us from evil ; we pray , that god would either keep us from being tempted to sin r , or support and deliver us when we are tempted s to. 2. hom. ix . — must crave continually of god the help of his holy spirit , so to rule their hearts , left hatred and debate do arise , — brawlings , tauntings , — cursings and fightings . which are from the ghostly enemy , who taketh great delight therein . — they are compassed by the devil , whose temptation if followed must needs begin and weave the web of all miseries and sorrows . — they will not consider the crafty trains of the devil , and therefore give not their thoughts to pray to god , that he would vouchsafe to repress his power . expl. 106. in this petition there are two things necessarily suppos'd , as ( 1 ) the wickedness or perversness of mans nature to sin , for when we beg that god would not lead us into temptation , we do own a proneness to fall into it . ( 2 ) the weakness of mans nature to resist temptations , or to come off without any final damage when we are tempred , for therefore do we pray to god to deliver us from evil ; that if the wise god , in his wise and just providence , for holy and just ends , do so order things , that we be assaulted by the devil , the world , or the flesh , yet that god would so powerfully support and assist us by his grace and spirit that we be not overcome , but that we may recover as a bird out of the snare of the fowler . we do not absolutely pray against afflictions ( though these are also tentations ) and lead us not , &c. but we do absolutely pray to be delivered from the evil of sin , and this by god alone , who can bring good out of evil . a. 107. the conclusion of the lords-prayer , which is , for thine is the kingdom , and the power , and the glory , for ever , amen ; teacheth us , to take our encouragement in prayer from god only t , and in our prayers to praise him , ascribing kingdom , power , and glory to him u and in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard , we say , amen w to. 2. hom. ix . [ amen ] which word is as much as to say , as truth , that the blessing or thanksgiving may be confirm'd . expl. 107. in this conclusion we are taught , ( 1 ) self-denial , and the renouncing of all worth and merit in our selves ; for we are not to say , lord do thus and thus , for i am worthy , for whom thou shouldst do so and so , but for thine is the kingdom , &c. i. e. thou who hast commanded us to pray for what we need , hast power to give us what we beg , though in our selves never so unworthy . from that word therefore [ lord ] we may note , ( 1 ) that answering of prayers is a special part of gods providence in governing the world , which he will have every supplicant to own and acknowledg . the belief of a providence is very necessary to the offering up unto god the sacrifice of prayer . ( 2 ) from those words [ and the power ] we may note , sc. that what god may do as governour of the world , in answering prayers by virtue of his supreme authority , that he hath strength and ability to execute and perform . ( 3 ) from those words [ and the glory ] observe , ( 1 ) that god looks upon it as one of his titles of honour , to be a god hearing prayers ; ( 2 ) that therefore in our prayers ( as well as in any other part of divine worship ) we should principally aim at the honour of god ; and 't is one of the greatest arguments we can have of hope to speed , when our design is rather to gloririfie god than to gratifie our selves . ( 3 ) that the kingdom and power of god , and that honour which does redound to him from both these are everlasting . ( 4 ) that praise should accompany prayer . ( 5 ) that whatever we ask of god in the name of christ , according to his will , believing we shall receive , for that 's the meaning of that word which doth seal up this prayer , amen ; because so it is , or so be it , or ( in the words of christ ) be it unto thee even as thou wilt ; a greater encouragement than which unto prayer no rational supplicant can desire , for 't is no more than ask and have , that your joy may be full . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a26345-e230 a psal. 87.5 , 6. b ier. 9 3. c gen. 14.14 . d hos. 4.6 . e eph. 4.18 . f isa. 27.11 . g act. 3.6 . h 1 cor. 3.2 . heb. 5.12 . i mat. 4.4 . amos 8.11 . k luk 8.26 , 37. — 9 , 5. — 10 , 11 , 12. l mat. 10.14 , 40 , &c. m zach. 5. n ier. 36 : 23. o 2 cor. 4.3 : p rom. 10.1 . q gal. 6.6 . r deut. 11.18 , 19 , &c. — 6.6 , 7 , 8. — 4.9 . eph. 6.4 . isa. 28.10 . ex. 13.8 . psal. 78.5 . prov. 22.6 . — 29 ▪ 3. — 10.1 . — 1.10 . — 4.1 , 2. col. 3.11 , 12. gen. 18.18 , 19. 2 tim. 1.5 . with 3.15 , &c. s 1 tim. 4.3 , 4 , 5. ioh. 8.29 . t 1 tim. 3.5 . u 1 pet. 2.2 . isa. 55.1 , 2. * sir edwyn sands observed eighty years ago , that this was a notable means for the growth of the reformed religion . x deut. 17.18 , 19. y prov. 29.15 , 17. with 4. 1 sam. 2.23 , &c. — 3.13 . luk. 12.47 , 48. prov. 1.24 , 25 , &c. * decemb●r , 1670. 1 tim. 6.3 . eccl. 12.13 . joh. 13.17 . phil. 4.13 . 1 cor. 9.23 , 27. mat. 10.13 , 14 , -40. luk. 10.16 1 thes. 4.8 joh 12.25 , 48. notes for div a26345-e5910 prov. 19.2 . heb. 12.13 . 1552. 1562. artic. xxxv . 13 eliz. c. 5. 1655. dec. 11. 1670. notes for div a26345-e8640 what is the chief end of man ? a 1 cor. 10.31 . whether therefore ye eat , or drink , or whatsoever ye do , do all to the glory of god. b psal. 73.25 . whom have i in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that i desire besides thee . 26. my flesh and my heart saileth , but god is the strength of my heart , and my portion for ever . what rule hath god given to direct us how we may glorifie and enjoy him ? c eph. 2.20 . and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets , iesus christ himself being the chief corner-stone . d 2 tim. 3.16 . all scripture is given by inspiration of god , and is profitable for doctrine , for reproof , for correction , for instruction in righteousness . e 1 joh. 1.3 . that which we have seen and heard , declare we unto you , that ye also may have fellowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is with the father , and with his son iesus christ. what do the scriptures principally teach ? f 2 tim. 1.13 . hold fast the form of sound words , which thou hast heard of me , in faith and love which is in christ iesus . what is god ? g joh. 4.24 . god is a spirit , and they that worship him , must worship him in spirit , and in truth . h job 11.7 . canst thou by searching find out god ? canst thou find out the almighty unto perfection ? i psal. 90.2 . from everlasting to everlasting thou art god. k jam. 1.17 . the father of lights , with whom there is no variableness , neither shadow of turning . l exod. 3.14 . and god said unto moses , i am that i am ; and he said , thus shalt thou say unto the children of israel , i am hath sent me unto you ▪ m psal. 147.5 . great is our lord , and of great power , his understanding is infinite . n rev. 4.8 . holy , holy , holy lord god almighty , which was ▪ and is , and is to come . o exod. 34.6 . the lord , the lord god , merciful and gracious , long-suffering , and abundant in goodness and truth : 7. keeping mercy for thousands , forgiving iniquity , and transgression , and sin , and that will by no means clear the guilty . g joh. 4.24 . god is a spirit , and they that worship him , must worship him in spirit , and in truth . h job 11.7 . canst thou by searching find out god ? canst thou find out the almighty unto perfection ? i psal. 90.2 . from everlasting to everlasting thou art god. k jam. 1.17 . the father of lights , with whom there is no variableness , neither shadow of turning . l exod. 3.14 . and god said unto moses , i am that i am ; and he said , thus shalt thou say unto the children of israel , i am hath sent me unto you , m psal. 147.5 . great is our lord , and of great power , his understanding is infinite . n rev. 4.8 . holy , holy , holy lord god almighty , which was , and is , and is to come . o exod. 34.6 . the lord , the lord god , merciful and gracious , long-suffering , and abundant in goodness and truth : 7. keeping mercy for thousands , forgiving iniquity , and transgression , and sin , and that will by no means clear the guilty . are there more gods than one ? p deut. 6.4 . hear , o israel , the lord our god is one lord. q jer. 10.10 . but the lord he is the true god , he is the living god , and an everlasting king. how many persons are there in the godhead ? r mat. 28.19 . go ye therefore and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost . s 1 joh. 5.7 . for there are three that bear record in heaven , the father , the word , and the holy ghost , and these three are one . what are the decrees of god ? t eph. 1.11 . being predestinated , according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. 12. that we should be to the praise of his glory . how doth god execute his decrees ? u rev. 4.11 . thou hast created all things , and for thy pleasure they are and were created . w dan. 4.35 . he doth according to his will , in the army of heaven , and among the inhabitants of the earth . what is the work of creation ? x gen 1.1 . in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth . y heb. 11.3 . through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of god ; so that things which were seen , were not made of things that do appear . z gen. 1.31 . and god saw every thing that he had made , and behold it was very good , and the evening and the morning were the sixth day . how did god create man ? a gen. 1.27 . so god created man in his own image , in the image of god created he him , male and female created he them . b col. 3.10 . and have put on the new man , which is renewed in knowledg , after the image of him that created him . eph. 4.24 . and that ye put on the new man , which after god is created in righteousness , and true holiness . c gen. 1.28 . and god blessed them , and god said unto them , be fruitful and multiply , and replenish the earth , and subdue it ; and have dominion over the fish of the sea , and over the fowl of the air , and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth . what are gods works of providence ? d psal. 145.17 . the lord is righteous in all his ways , and holy in all his works . e isa. 28.29 . this also cometh forth from the lord of hosts , which is wonderful in counsel , and excellent in working . f heb. 1.3 . upholding all things by the word of his power . g psal. 103.19 . his kingdom ruleth over all . mat. 10.29 . are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father . what special act of providence did god exercise towards man , in the estate wherein he was created ? h gal. 3.12 . and the law is not of faith , but the man that doth them shall live in them . i gen. 2.17 . but of the tree of knowledg of good and evil , thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day thou eatest thereof , thou shalt surely die . did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created ? k eccl. 7.29 . god hath made man upright , but they have sought out many inventions . what is sin ? l 1 joh. 3.4 . whosoever committeth sin , transgresseth also the law ; for sin is the transgression of the law . what was the sin whereby our first parents sell from the estate wherein they were created ? m gen. 3.6 . and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food , and that it was pleasant to the eyes , and a tree to be desired to make one wise ; she took of the fruit thereof and did eat , and gave also to her husband and he did eat . 7. and the eyes of them both were opened , and they knew that they were naked . 8. and adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the lord , among the trees of the garden . did all mankind fall in adams first transgression ? n gen. 1.28 . and god blessed them , and god said unto them , be fruitful , and multiply , and replenish the earth . gen. 2.16 . and the lord god commanded the man , saying , of every tree in the garden thou maist freely eat . 17. but of the tree of the knowledg of good and evil , thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die . o rom. 5.18 . by the offence of one , judgment came upon all to condemnation . into what estate did the fall bring mankind ? p rom. 5.12 . by one man sin entred into the world , and death by sin , and so death passed upon all men , for that all have sinned . wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereunto man fell ? q rom. 5.19 . by one mans disobedience many were made sinners . r rom. 3.10 . there is none righteous , no not one . s eph. 2.1 . you hath he quickened , who were dead in trespasses and sins . psal. 51.5 . behold , i was shapen in iniquity , and in sin did my mother conceive me ? t mat. 15.19 . for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts , murders , adulteries , fornications , thefts , false-witness , blaspemies . 20. these are the things which defile a man. what is the misery of that estate whereunto man fell ? u gen. 3.8 ▪ adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the lord god , amongst the trees of the garden . 24. so he drove out the man. w eph. 2.3 . and were by nature , children of wrath , even as others . gal. 3.10 . cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them . x rom. 6.23 . the wages of sin is death . mat. 25.41 . then shall he say unto them on the left hand , depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels . did god leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery ? y eph. 1.4 . according as he hath chosen us in him , before the foundation of the world . z rom. 3.21 . but now the righteousness of god without the law is manifested , being witnessed by the law and the prophets . 22 : even the righteousness of god , which is of faith by iesus christ , unto all , and upon all that believe . who is the redeemer of gods elect ? a 1 tim. 2.5 . for there is one god , and one mediator between god and men , the man christ iesus . b joh. 1.14 . and the word was made flesh , and dwelt among us . c rom. 9.5 . whose are the fathers , and of whom as concerning the flesh , christ came , who is over all , god blessed for ever . d heb. 7.24 . but this man , because he continueth ever , hath an unchangeable priesthood . how did christ being the son of god , become man ? e heb. 2.14 . for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood , he also himself likewise took part in the same . f mat. 26.38 . then saith he unto them , my soul is exceeding sorrowful , even unto death . g luk. 1.31 . behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb , and bring forth a son , and shalt call his name iesus . 35. the holy ghost shall come upon thee , and the power of the highest shall over-shadow thee . h heb. 7.25 . such a high-priest became us , who is holy , harmless , undefiled , separate from sinners . what offices doth christ execute as our redeemer ? i act. 3.20 . moses truly said unto the fathers , a prophet shall the lord your god raise up unto you of your brethren , like unto me , him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you . k heb. 5.6 . thou art a priest for ever , after the order of melchisedec . l psal. 2.6 . yet have i set my king upon my holy hill of sion . how doth christ execute the office of a prophet ? m joh. 1.18 . no man hath seen god at any time ; the only begotten son , which is in the bosom of the father , he hath declared him . n joh. 20.31 . these things are written , that ye might believe that iesus is the christ , the son of god ; and that believing ye might have life through his name . o joh. 14.26 . the comforter which is the holy ghost , whom the father will send in my name , he shall teach you all things . how doth christ execute the office of a priest ? p heb. 9.28 . christ was once offered to bear the sins of many . q heb. 2.17 . in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren , that he might be a merciful and faithful high-priest , in things pertaining to god to make reconciliation for the sins of the people . r heb. 7.25 . he is able to save them to the uttermost , that come unto god by him , seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them . how doth christ execute the office of a king ? s psal. 110.3 . thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power . t isa. 33.22 . the lord is our iudg , the lord is our law-giver , the lord is our king , he will save us . u 1 cor. 15.25 . for he must reign , till he hath put all his enemies under his feet . wherein did christs humiliation consist ? w luk. 2.7 . and she brought forth her first born son , and wrapped him in swadling-clothes , and laid him in a manger . x gal. 4.4 . god sent forth his son , made of a woman , made under the law. y isa. 53.3 . he is despised and rejected of men , a man of sorrows , and acquainted with grief . z mat. 27.46 . and about the ninth hour , iesus cried with a loud voice , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? a phil. 2.4 . he humbled himself , and became obedient unto death , even the death of the cross. b mat. 14.40 . as ionas was three days and three nights in the whales belly , so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth . wherein consisteth christs exaltation ? c 1 cor. 15.4 . and that he was buried , and that he rose again the third day , according to the scriptures . d mark 16.19 . so then , after the lord had spoken unto them , he was received up into heaven , and sat on the right hand of god. e act. 17.31 . he hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the world in righteousness , by that man whom he hath ordained , whereof he hath given assurance unto all men , in that he hath raised him from the dead . how are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by christ ? f joh. 1.12 . as many as received him , to them gave he power to become the sons of god. g tit. 3.5 . not by works of righteousness which we have done , but according to his mercy he saved us , by the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost . which he shed on us abundantly through iesus christ our saviour . how doth the spirit apply to us the redemption purchased christ ? h eph. 9.8 . by grace ye are saved through faith , and that not of your selves , it is the gift of god. i eph. 3.17 . that christ may dwell in your hearts by saith . 1 cor. 1.9 . god is faithful , by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his son iesus christ. what is effectual calling ? k 2 tim. 1.9 . who hath saved us , and called us with an holy calling . l act. 2.37 . now when they heard this , they were pricked in their hearts , and said unto peter , and to the rest of the apostles , men and brethren , what shall we do ? m act. 26.18 . to open their eyes , and to turn them from darkness to light , and from the power of satan unto god. n ezek. 36.26 . i will take away the stony heart out of your flesh , and i will give you a heart of flesh . o joh. 6.44 . no man can come unto me , except the father which hath sent me , draw him . 45. every man that hath heard , and hath learned of the father , cometh unto me . what benefits do they , that are effectually called , partake of in this life ? p rom. 8.30 . moreover whom he did predestinate , them he also called ; and whom he called , them he also justified ; and whom he justified , them he also glorified . q eph. 1.5 . having predestinated us to the adoption of children by iesus christ unto himself . r 1 cor. 1.30 . of him ye are in christ iesus , who of god is made unto us wisdom and righteousness , and sanctification , and redemption . what is iustification ? s eph. 1.7 . in whom we have redemption through his blood , the forgiveness of sins , according to the riches of his grace . t 2 cor. 5.21 . for he hath made him sin for us that knew no sin , that we might be made the righteousness of god in him . u rom. 5.19 . as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners , so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous . w gal. 2.16 . knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law , but by the faith of iesus christ , even we have believed in iesus christ , that we might be justified by the faith of christ. what is adoption ? x 1 joh. 3.1 . behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us , that we should be called the sons of god! y joh. 1.12 . as many as received him , to them gave he power to become the sons of god , even to them that believe on his name . rom. 8.17 . and if children , then heirs , heirs of god , and joint-heirs with christ. what is sanctification ? z 2 thes. 2.13 . god hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation , through sanctification of the spirit . a eph. 4.24 . and that ye put on the new man , which after god is created in righteousness , and true holiness . b rom. 8.1 . there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ jesus , who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit . what are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from iustification , adoption , and sanctification ? c rom. 5.1 . being justified by faith , we have peace with god through our lord iesus christ. 2. by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand , and rejoice in hope of the glory of god. 5. and hope mak●●● not ashamed , because the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts through the holy ghost which is given unto us . d prov. 4.18 . the path of the just is as the shining light , that shineth more and more unto the perfect day . e 1 joh. 5.13 . these things have i written unto you that believe on the name of the son of god , that ye may know that ye have eternal life . what benefits do believers receive from christ at their resurrection ? f heb. 12.23 . and to the spirits of just men made perfect . g phil. 1.23 . having a desire to depart , and to be with christ. h 1 thes. 4.14 . them also which sleep in iesus , will god bring with him . i isa. 52.7 . he shall enter into peace , they shall rest in their beds , each one walking in his uprightness . k job 19.26 . and though after my skin , worms destroy this body , yet in my flesh shall i see god. what benefits do believers receive from christ at the resurrection ? l 1 cor. 15.43 . it is sown in dishonour , it is raised in glory . m mat. 10.32 . whosoever shall confess me before men , him will i also confess before my father which is in heaven . n 1 joh. 3.2 . when he shall appear , we shall be like him , for we shall see him as he is . o 1 thes. 4.17 . and so shall we ever be with the lord. what is the duty which god requireth of man ? p mic. 6.8 . he hath shewed thee , o man , what is good ; and what doth the lord require of thee , but to do justly , and to love mercy , and to walk humbly with thy god. ? what did god at first reveal unto man for the rule of his obedience ? q rom. 2.14 . for when the gentiles which have not the the law , do by nature the things contained in the law ; these having not the law , are a law unto themselves . 15. which shew the work of the law written in their hearts . where is the moral law summarily comprehended ? r deut. 10.4 . and he wrote on the tables according to the first writing , the ten commandments . mat 19.17 . if thou wilt enter into life , keep the commandments . what is the sum of the ten commandments ? s mat. 22.37 . thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , and with all thy soul , and with all thy mind . 38. this is the first and great commandment . 39. and the second is like unto it , thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self . 40. on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets . what is the preface to the ten commandments ? t exod. 20.2 . what doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us ? u deut. 11.1 . thou shalt love the lord thy god , and keep his charge , and his statutes , and his judgments , and his commandments alway . luk. 1.74 . that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies , might serve him without fear . 75. in holiness and righteousness before him , all the days of our lives . what is the first commandment ? what is required in the first commandment ? w 1 chron. 28.9 . and thou solomon my son , know thou the god of thy father . x deut. 26.16 . thou hast avouched the lord this day to be thy god , and to walk in his ways , and to keep his statutes , and his commandments , and his judgments , and to hearken to his voice . y mat. 4.10 . thou shalt worship the lord thy god , and him only shalt thou serve . what is forbidden in the first commandment ? z psal. 14.1 . the fool hath said in his heart there is no god. a rom. 1.20 . so that they are without excuse . 21. because that when they knew god , they glorified him not as god. b psal. 81.11 . but my people would not hearken unto my voice , and israel would none of me . c rom. 1.25 . who changed the truth of god into a lye , and worshipped and served the creatures more than the creator , who is blessed for ever . what are we especially taught by these words [ before me ] in the first commandment ? d psal. 44.20 . if we have forgotten the name of our god , or stretched out our hands to a strange god. 21. shall not god search out this ? what is the second commandment ? what is required in the second commandment ? e deut. 32.46 . set your hearts unto all the words which i testifie among you this day , which ye shall command your children to observe , to do all the words of this law. mat. 28.20 . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i have commanded you . f deut. 12.32 . what thing soever i command you , observe to do it ; thou shalt not add thereto , nor diminish from it . what is forbidden in the second commandment ? g deut. 4.15 . take ye therefore good heed unto your selves ; for ye saw no manner of similitude in the day that the lord spoke unto you in hor●● . 16. lest you corrupt your selves , and make you a graven image . h col. 2.18 . let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility , and worshipping of angels , intruding into those things which he hath not seen , vainly puss't up by his fleshly mind . what are the reasons annexed to the second commandment ? i psal. 95.2 . let us come before his presence with thanksgiving , and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms . 3. for the lord is a great god , and a great king above all gods. k psal. 45.11 . he is thy lord , and worship thou him . l exod. 34.14 . thou shalt worship no other god ; for the lord whose name is jealous , is a jealous god. which is the third commandment ? what is required in the third commandment ? m psal. 92.2 . give unto the lord the glory due unto his name . n rev. 15.3 . great and marvelous are thy works , lord god almighty , just and true are thy ways thou king of saints . 4. who shall not fear thee , o lord , and glorifie thy name ? o eccles. 5.1 . keep thy feet when thou goest to the house of god , and be more ready to hear , than to give the sacrifice of fools . p psal. 38.2 . i will worship towards the holy temple , and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness , and for thy truth 's for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name . q job 36.24 . remember that thou magnifie his work which men behold . what is forbidden in the third commandment ? r mal. 2.2 . if ye will not hear , and if you will not lay it to heart , to give glory unto thy name , saith the lord of hosts , i will even send a curse upon you . what is the reason annexed to the third commandment ? s deut. 28.58 . if thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law , that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name , the lord thy god. 59. then the lord will make thy plagues wonderful . which is the fourth commandment ? what is required in the fourth commandment ? t deut 19.30 . ye shall keep my sabbath , and reverence my sanctuary . i am the lord. deut. 5.12 . keep the sabbath-day to sanctifie it , as the lord thy god hath commanded thee . which day of the seven hath god appointed to be the weekly sabbath ? u gen. 2.3 . and god blessed the seventh day , and sanctified it , because that in it he had rested from all his work , which god created and made . w act. 20.7 . and upon the first day of the week , when the disciples came together to break bread , paul preached unto them . rev. 1.10 . i was in the spirit upon the lords day . how is the sabbath to be sanctified ? x lev. 23.3 . six days shall work be done , but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest , an holy convocation ; ye shall do no work therein . y psal. 92.1 . a psalm or song for the sabbath-day . it is a good thing to give thanks unto the lord , and to sing praises unto thy name , o most high. 2. to shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning , and thy faithfulness every night . z mat. 12.11 . what man shall there be among you , that shall have one sheep , and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath-day , will not he lay hold on it , and list it out ? 12. how much then is a man better than a sheep ? wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath-day . what is forbidden in the fourth commandment ? a mal. 1.13 . ye said also , behold what a weariness is it ? and ye have snuffed at it , saith the lord of hosts ; and ye brought that which was torn , and the lame , and the sick ; thus you brought an offering , should i accept this at your hands , saith the lord ? b ezek 23.38 . they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day , and have profaned my sabbaths . c isa. 58.13 . if thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath , from doing thy pleasure on my holy day ; and call the sabbath a delight , the holy of the lord , honourable , and shall honour him , not doing thine own ways , nor finding thine own pleasure , nor speaking thine own words . what are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment ? d exod. 31.15 . six days may work be done , but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest . 16. wherefore the children of israel shall keep the sabbath . e lev. 23.3 . ye shall do no work therein , it is the sabbath of the lord in all your dwellings . f exod. 31.17 . it is a sign between me and the children of israel for ever ; for in six days the lord made heaven and earth , and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed . g gen. 2.3 . and god blessed the seventh day , and sanctified it . which is the fifth commandment ? what is required in the fifth commandment ? h eph. 5.21 . submitting your selves one to another in the fear of god. 22. wives submit your selves unto your own husbands , as unto the lord. eph. 6.1 . children , obey your parents in the lord. 5. servants , be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh . rom. 13.1 . let every soul be subject to the higher powers . eph 6.9 . and ye masters do the same things unto them , knowing that your master also is in heaven . k rom. 12.10 . be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love , in honour preferring one another . what is forbidden in the fifth commandment ? l rom. 13.7 . render therefore to all their dues , tribute to whom tribute is due , custom to whom custom , fear to whom fear , honour to whom honour . 8. owe no man any thing , but to love one another . what is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment ? m eph. 6.2 . honour thy father and thy mother ( which is the first commandment with promise ) . 3. that it might be well with thee , and that thou mayest live long on the earth . which is the sixth commandment ? what is required in the sixth commandment ? n eph. 5.28 . so ought men to love their wives , even as their own bodies . 29. for no man ever yet hated his own flesh , but nourisheth and cherisheth it . o psal. 82.3 . defend the poor and fatherless . 4. deliver the poor and needy . job . 9.13 ▪ the blessing of him that was ready to perish , came upon me . what is forbidden in the sixth commandment ? p act : 16.28 . paul cried with a loud voice , saying , do thy self no harm . q gen. 9.6 . whoso sheddeth mans blood , by man shall his blood be shed . r prov. 24.11 . if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death , and those that are ready to be slain . 12. if thou sayest , behold we know it not , doth not he that pondereth the heart , consider it ? which is the seventh commandment ? what is required in the seventh commandment ? s 1 thes. 4.4 . that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour . t eph. 5.11 . and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness , but reprove them rather . 12. for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret . u 1 tim. 2.22 . flee also youthful lusts , but follow righteousness , faith , charity . w col. 4.6 . let your speech be alway with grace , seasoned with salt . x 1 pet. 3.2 . while they behold your chast conversation with fear . what is forbidden in the seventh commandment ? y mat. 5.28 . whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her , hath committed adultery with her already in his heart . z eph. 5.4 . neither filthiness , nor foolish talking , nor jesting , which are not convenient . a eph. 5.3 . fornication and all uncleanness , let it not be once named amongst you . which is the eighth commandment ? what is required in the eighth commandment ? b rom. 12.17 . provide things honest in the sight of all men . prov. 15.23 . be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks , and look well to thy herds . c lev. 25.35 . if thy brother be waxen poor , and faln in decay with thee , then thou shalt relieve him . phil. 2.4 . look not every man on his own things , but every man also on the things of others . what is forbidden in the eighth commandment ? d 1 tim. 5.8 . if any provide not for his own , and especially for those of his own house , he hath denyed the faith , and is worse than an infidel . prov. 28.19 . he that followeth after vain persons , shall have poverty enough . e prov. 21.6 . the getting of treasures by a lying tongue , is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death . job 20.19 . because he hath oppressed , and hath forsaken the poor : because he hath violently taken away a house which he builded not . 29. surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly . which is the ninth commandment ? what is required in the ninth commandment ▪ f zech. 8.16 . speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour . g 1 pet. 3.16 . having a good conscience , that whereas they speak evil of you , as of evil-doers , they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good conversation in christ. act. 25.10 . then paul said , i stand at cesars judgment seat ; to the iews have i done no wrong . h 3 joh. 12. demetrius hath a good report of all men , and of the truth it self ; yea , and we also bear record . i prov. 14.5 . a faithful witness will not lye . 25. a true witness delivereth souls . what is forbidden in the ninth commandment ? k rom. 3.13 . with their tongues they have used deceit . l job 27.5 . god forbid that i should justifie you ; till i dye , i will not remove my integrity from me . m psal. 15.3 . he that backbiteth not with his tongue , nor doth evil to his neighbour , nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour . which is the tenth commandment ? what is required in the tenth commandment ? n heb. 13.5 . let your conversation be without covetousness , and be content with such things as ye have : o rom. 12.15 . rejoice with them that do rejoice , and weep with them that weep . 1 cor. 13.4 . charity suffereth long , and is kind ; charity envieth not ; charity vaunteth not it self , is not passed up . 5. doth not behave it self unseemly , seeketh not her own , is not easily provoked , thinketh no evil . 6. rejoiceth not in iniquity , but rejoiceth in the truth ▪ what is forbidden in the tenth commandment ? p 1 cor. 10.10 . neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured , and were destroyed of the destroyer . q gal. 5.5 . let us not be desirous of vain-glory , provoking one another , envying one another . r col. 3.5 . mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth ; fornication , uncleanness , inordinate affection , evil concupiscence , and covetousness , which is idolatry . is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of god ? s eccles. 7.20 . for there is not a just man upon earth , that doth good , and sinneth not . t gen. 8.21 . the imagination of mans heart is evil from his youth . u jam. 3.8 . the tongue can no man tame , it is an unruly evil , full of deadly poyson . w jam. 3.2 . in many things we offend all . are all the transgressions of the law equally hainous ? x joh. 19.11 . he that delivered me unto thee , hath the greater sin . what doth every sin deserve ? y gal. 3.10 . cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law , to do them . mat. 25.41 . then shall he say unto them on the left hand , depart from me ye cursed , into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels . what doth god require of us , that we may escape the wrath and curse due unto us for sin ? z act. 20.21 . testifying both to the iews , and also to the greeks , repentance towards god , and faith towards our lord iesus christ. a prov. 2.1 . my son , if thou wilt receive my words , and hide my commandment with thee . 2. so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom , and apply thine heart to understanding . 3. yea , if thou cryest after knowlèdg , and liftest up thy voice for understanding . 4. if thou seekest for her as silver , and searchest for her as for hid treasure . 5. then shalt thou understand the fear of the lord , and find the knowledg of god. what is faith in iesus christ ? b heb. 10.39 . we are not of them who draw back unto perdition , but of them that believe , to the saving of the soul. c joh. 1.12 . as many as received him , to them gave he power to become the sons of god , even to them that believe on his name . d phil. 3.9 . and be found in him , not having mine own righteousness , which is of the law , but that which is through the faith of christ , the righteousness which is of god by saith . e isa. 33.22 . the lord is our iudg , the lord is our law-giver , the lord is our king , he will save us . what is repentance unto life ? f act. 11.18 . then hath god also to the gentiles granted ●epentance unto life . g act. 2.37 . when they heard this , they were pricked in their hearts , and said unto peter , and to the rest of the apostles , men and brethren , what shall we do ? h joel 2.13 . rent your hearts , and not your garments , and turn unto the lord your god , for he is gracious and merciful , slow to anger , and of great kindness , and repenteth him of the evil . i jer. 31.18 . turn thou me , and i shall be turned , for thou art the lord my god. 19. surely after i was turned , i repented ; and after that i was instructed , i smote upon my thigh , i was ashamed , yea , even confounded , because i did bear the reproach of my youth . k psal. 119.59 . i thought on my ways , and turned my feet unto thy testimonies . what are the outward and ordinary means , whereby christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption ? l act. 2.41 . then they that gladly received his word were baptized . 42. and they continued stedfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship , and in breaking of bread , and in prayer . how is the word made effectual to salvation ? m psal. 19.7 . the law of the lord is perfect , converting the 〈◊〉 ; the testimony of the lord is sure , making wise the simple . n 1 thes. 1.6 . and ye become followers of us , and of the lord , having received the word in much affliction , with joy of the holy ghost . o rom. 1.16 . i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ , for it is the power of god unto salvation , to every one that believeth . how is the word to be read and heard , that it may become effectual to salvation ? p prov. 8.34 . blessed is the man that heareth me , watching daily at my gates , waiting daily at the posts of my doors . q 1 pet. 2.1 . wherefore laying aside all malice , and all guile , and hypocrisies , and envies , and evil speakings . 2. as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word , that ye may grow thereby . r psal. 119.18 . open thou mine eyes , that i may see wonderful things out of thy law. s heb. 4.2 . the word preached did not profit them , being not mixed with faith in them that heard it . t 2 thes. 2.10 . they received not the love of the truth , that they might be saved . u psal. 119.11 . thy word have i hid in mine heart , that i might not sin against thee . w jam. 1.25 . but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty , and continueth therein , he being not a forgetful hearer , but a doer of the work , this man shall be blessed in his deed . how do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation ? x 1 cor. 3.7 . so then neither is he that planteth any thing , neither he that watereth , but god that giveth the increase . y 1 pet. 3.21 . the like figure whereunto , euen baptism , doth also now save us ( not the putting away the filth of the flesh , but the answer of a good conscience towards god ) by the resurrection of iesus christ. what is a sacrament ? z gen. 17.10 . this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you , and thy seed after thee , every man-child among you shall be circumcised . a rom. 4.11 . and he received the sign of circumcision , a seal of the righteousness of the faith , which he had yet being uncircumcised . what are the sacraments of the new testament ? b mark 16.16 . he that believeth , and is baptized , shall be saved . c 1 cor. 11.23 . for i have received of the lord , that which i also delivered unto you , that the lord iesus in the same night in the which he was betrayed , took bread , &c. what is baptism ? d mat. 28.19 . go ye therefore and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost . e rom. 6.3 . know ye not , that so many of us as were baptized unto iesus christ , were baptized into his death . f rom. 6.4 . therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death , that like as christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father , even so also we should walk in newness of life . to whom is baptism to be administred ? g act. 2.41 . then they that gladly received his word , were baptized . h gen. 17.7 . and i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed after thee , in their generations , for an everlasting covenant , to be a god unto thee , and to thy seed after thee . 10. this is my covenant which ye shall keep , between me and you , and thy seed after thee , every man-child among you shall be circumcised . act. 2.38 . and peter said unto them , repent and be baptized every one of you , in the name of iesus christ , for remission of sins , and ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost . 39. for the promise is to you , and to your children , and to all that an afar off , even as many as the lord our god shall call . what is the lords supper ? i luk. 22.19 . and he took bread , and gave thanks , and brake it , and gave unto them , saying , this is my body which is given for you , this do in remembrance of me . 20. likewise also the cup after supper , saying , this cup is the new testament in my blood , which is shed for you ▪ k 1 cor. 10.16 . the cup of blessing which we bless , is it not the communion of the blood of christ ? the bread which we break , is it not the communion of the body of christ ? what is required in the worthy receiving of the lords supper ? l 1 cor. 11.28 . but let a man examine himself , and so let him eat of this bread , and drink of this cup. 29. for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily , eateth and drinketh damnation to himself , not discerning the lords body . m 2 cor. 13.5 . examine your selves whether ye be in the faith. n 1 cor. 11.31 . if we would judg our selves , we should not be judged . o 1 cor. 11.18 . when you come together in the church , i hear there be divisions among you . 20. when ye come together therefore in one place , this is not to eat the lords supper . p 1 cor. 5.8 . therefore let us keep the feast , not with old leuen , neither with the leven of malice and wickedness , but with the unlevened bread of sincerity and truth . q 1 cor. 11.27 . wherefore , whosoever shall eat this bread , and drink this cup of the lord unworthily , shall be guilty of the body and blood of the lord. what is prayer ? r psal. 62.8 . trust in him at all times , ye people ; pour out your hearts before him , god is a refuge for us . s rom. 8.27 . and he that searcheth the hearts , knoweth the mind of the spirit , because he maketh intercession for the saints , according to the will of god. t joh. 16.23 . whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name , he will give it you . u dan. 9.4 . and i prayed unto the lord my god , and made my confession . w phil. 4.6 . be careful in nothing , but for every thing , by prayer and supplication , with thanksgiving , let your requests be made known to god. what rule hath god given us , for our direction in prayer ? x 1 joh. 5.14 . and this is the considence that we have in him , that if we ask any thing according to his will , he heareth us . y mat. 9.6 . after this manner therefore pray ye ; our father which art in heaven , hallowed be thy name , &c. what doth the preface of the lords prayer teach us ? z isa. 64.9 . be not wrath very sore , o lord , neither remember iniquity for ever ; behold , see we beseech thee , we are all thy people . a rom. 8.15 . for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear , but ye have received the spirit of adoption , whereby we cry , abba father . b luk. 11.13 . if ye then being evil , know how to give good gifts unto your children , how much more shall your heauenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him ? c eph. 6.18 . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit , and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints . what do we pray for in the first petition ? d psal. 67.1 . god be merciful unto us , and bless us , and cause his face to shine upon us . 2. that thy way may be known upon the earth , and thy saving health among all nations . 3. let the people praise thee , o god , let all the people praise thee . e rom. 11.36 . for of him , and through him , and to him are all things , to him be glory for ever . amen . what do we pray for in the second petition ? f psal. 68.1 . let god arise , and let his enemies be scattered ; let them also that hate him , flee before him . g psal. 51.18 . do good in thy good pleasure unto sion ; build thou the walls of ierusalem . h 2 thes. 3.1 . finally brethren , pray for us , that the word of the lord may have free course , and be glorified , even as it is with you . rom. 10.1 . brethren , my hearts desire and prayer to god for israel is , that they might be saved . i rev. 22.20 . he which testifieth these things , saith , surely i come quickly , amen . even so come lord iesus . what do we pray for in the third petition ? m psal. 119.34 . give me understanding , and i shall keep thy law , yea , i will observe it with my whole heart . 35. make me to go in the path of thy commandments , for therein do i delight . 36. incline my heart unto thy testimonies . l act. 21.14 . and when he would not be perswaded , we ceased , saying , the will of the lord be done . m psal. 103.20 . bless the lord ye his angels , which excel in strength , that do his commandments , hearkening unto the voice of his word . 22. bless the lord all his works , in all places of his dominion . bless the lord , o my soul. what do we pray for in the fourth petition ? n prov. 30.8 . remove far from me vanity , and lies ; give me neither poverty nor riches , feed me with food convenient for me . o psal. 90.17 . and let the beauty of the lord our god be upon us , and establish thou the work of our hands upon us , yea the work of our hands establish thou it . what do we pray for in the fifth petition ? p psal. 51.1 . have mercy upon me , o god , according to thy loving-kindness , according to the multitude of thy tender mercies , blot out my transgressions . q mat. 6.14 for if ye forgive men their trespasses , your heavenly father will also forgive you . what do we pray for in the sixth petition ? r mat. 26.41 . watch and pray , that ye enter not into temptation . psal. 19.13 . keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins , let them not have dominion over me . s psal. 51.10 . create in me a clean heart , o god , and renew a right spirit within me . 12. restore unto me joy of thy salvation , and uphold me with thy free spirit . what doth the conclusion of the lords prayer teach us ? t dan. 9.18 . we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness , but for thy great mercies . 19. o lord , hear ; o lord , forgive ; o lord , hearken and do , defer not for thine own sake , o my god. u 1 chron. 29.11 . thine , o lord , is the greatness , and the power , and the glory , and the victory , and the majesty ; for all that is in the heaven , and in the earth , is thine . 13. now therefore our god , we thank thee , and praise thy glorious name . w rev. 22.20 . amen , even so come lord iesus . a plain discourse upon uprightness shewing the properties and priviledges of an upright man / by richard steele ... steele, richard, 1629-1692. 1672 approx. 237 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 95 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a61396 wing s5392 estc r33855 13584986 ocm 13584986 100513 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a61396) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100513) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1049:26) a plain discourse upon uprightness shewing the properties and priviledges of an upright man / by richard steele ... steele, richard, 1629-1692. the second edition. [15], 176 p. printed for e. calvert, and are to be sold by john williamson ..., london : 1672. imperfect: pages stained. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large 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some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng christian life. theology, doctrinal. 2002-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-07 john latta sampled and proofread 2002-07 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-08 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion imprimatur , rob. grove r. p. d no episc. lond. a sac dom. a plain discourse upon uprightness . shewing the properties and priviledges of an upright man. by richard steele , m. a. and minister of the gospel . john 1. 47. jesus saw nathanael coming to him , and saith of him . behold an israelite indeed , in whom is no guile . the second edition . london , printed for e. calvert , and are to be sold by john williamson , at the sun and bible in the new buildings on london bridge . 1672. the epistle to the reader . friendly reader , this small book hopes for thy acceptance , meerly for its honesty and plainness , which i have chiefly studied all along ; a plain discourse being fittest upon plainness of heart . i am not ignorant of the various & excellent tractates upon this subject ; unto which matter and variation of method is super added , which i hope you will find in this piece in hand . moreover there are such swarmes of litigious books of controversies , which scorch up all true love and zeal , and greatly grieve such as love peace , that may perhaps make such discourses as this concerning the vitals of genuine piety , to be very necessary . for certainly if our ends were right , and our hearts upright with our god ; if christian magistrates , ministers , and people were plainly and truly bent to promote the honour , love and fear of god , and the indubitable wayes of holiness , we should soon agree , or else charitably indulge one another in these lesser things ; 't is hypocrites on all sides that make our wound incurable . surely where the mind is sound , and the heart sincere in the main , grains of allowance should be granted for some errors of the understanding and failings in the conversation ; lest we deal with others , as we would be loath to be dealt with , either by god or men. the consideration hereof , as also of the scarcity of sincere christians , to the plenty of hypocrites in the world , may make some tolerable apology for this small tract ; which i do most earnestly recommend , first to the blessing of the lord , and then to your diligent perusal . read and think , and read and pray , and then through his grace it shall be useful to you . and i beseech you for the lord jesus sake , and for the love of the spirit , strive together with me , in your prayers to god for me a miserable sinner , that i may be upright and useful till i dye , whereby you will abundantly recompence these indeavours of your servant in the gospel r. s. octob. 1. 1670. the contents . chap. i. of the uprightness of man. sect. 1. the context . page 1. sect. 2. the text opened . 4 sect. 3. doctrine . where god doth find an upright man , he shews himself an upright god. 8 sect. 4. what is uprightness . 9 its scripture names . 1. truth . ibid. 2. sincerity . 10 3. singleness of heart . 11 4. integrity . 12 sect. 5. uprightness distinguished into 1. uprightness of heart , where 14 1. the ground of it . 15 1. total receiving of christ. ibid. 2. total resigning to christ. 17 sect. 6. 2. the nature of it . 20 1. single without division . ibid. 2. sound without rottenn●… . 21 3. pure without mixture . 23 4 perfect without reservation 25 5. plainness without guile . 26 sect. 7. 3. the object about which it is conversant . 28 1. inward religion . ibid. 1. obtaining invisible graces . 29 2. performing invisible duties . 31 3. avoiding invisible sins . 32 sect. 8. 2. universal religion . 33 1. hating all sin. 34 2. loving all duty . 35 sect. 9. 3. constant religion . he walks 39 1. before god. 43 2. with god. 44 3. after god. ibid. 4. like god. 45 sect. 10. an inference , viz. the necessity of regeneration . 46 sect. 11. ii. uprightness of life , where 1. necessity of it . 49 sect. 12. 2. description of it . 1. in simplicity . 52 2. in purity . 53 3. in perfection . 55 4. in plainness . 56 sect. 13. 3. the object of it . 1. in words , being opposite 58 1. to flattering . 59 2. to lying . 60 3. to equivocations . 61 4. to promise-breaking . 63 sect. 14. 2. in deeds , being opposite 65 1. to craftiness . 67 2. to time-serving . 68 3. to defrauding . 70 4. to all injustice . 72 sect. 15. an inference , viz. the paucity of upright men . 75 chap. ii. of the uprightness of god. 78 sect. 1. god shews himself upright . 1. why. it s agreeable to his 1. nature . ibid. 2. method . ibid. 3. honour . 79 4. promise . ibid. 2. how. 1. overlooking their infirmities . 80 sect. 2. 2. defending their persons . 84 sect. 3. 3. strengthning their graces . 89 sect. 4. 4. hearing their prayers . 93 sect. 5. 5. comforting them in their straits . 98 sect. 6. 6. directing them in their doubts . 103 sect. 7. 7. clearing their integrity . 106 sect. 8. 8. stablishing them to the end . 110 sect. 9. 9. bestowing outward blessings . 114 sect. 10. 10. crowning their integrity , 1. with internal peace . 118 2. with eternal glory . 120 chap. iii. the application . 123 sect. 1. use 〈◊〉 . information . 1. the equity of god. ibid. 2. the misery of hypocrites . 124 hypocrites pleas answered . 1. general approbation . 127 2. singular obedience . 128 3. quiet of conscience . 129 sect. 2. use 2. repr . 1. those that distrust an upright god. 2. those that distast an upright man. 133 sect. 3. use 3. exam. 1. the necessity of tryal . 137 sect. 4. 2. the marks for tryal . an upright man , 1. really approves himself to god. 141 2. chiefly loves god. 143 3. willingly obeys god. 145 4. judiciously appeals to god. 146 5. trades not in presumptuous sins . 148 6. keeps himself from his iniquity . 150 sect. 5. use 4. exhortation . 1. to the upright , 1. praise the lord. 152 2. proceed in your integrity . 153 sect. 6. 2. to such as doubt of their uprightness . 1. sit not down quiet in this uncertainty . 155 2. set about the means of assurance . 156 sect. 7. 3. to those that want uprightness . labour for it . 1. motives . 1. it s amiable . 158 2. it●… comfortable . 159 3. it s necessary . 160 1. to good duties here . ibid. 2. to salvation hereafter . ibid. sect. 8. 2. means . 1. study humility . 161 2. be faithful in self-examination . 162 3. get an hatred to hypocrisie , and a love to uprightness . 163 4. attend a scarching ministry . 164 5. be instant in prayer . 166 sect. 9. use 5. consol. of the upright . their doubts resolved . 1. from allegations of satan . 168 2. from the censures of men . 169 3. from the cry of conscience . 170 4. from sad experience . 171 1. of dryness in secret duties . ibid 2. of decayes . 172 3. of inconstancy . 173 5. from the deceitfulness of the heart . 175 a plain discourse upon uprightness . psal. 18. 25. — with an upright man thou wilt shew thy self upright . chapter i. of the uprightness of man. section i. he that would be wise , let him read the proverbs ; he that would be holy , let him read the psalms . every line in this book breaths peculiar sanctity . this psalm , though plac'd among the ●…rst , was penn'd among the last , ( as the ●…reface assures us ) and is left as the epi●…me of the general history of davids life . it is twice recorded in the scripture , ( 2 sam. 22. and in this book of psalms ) for the excellency and sweetness thereof ; surely that we should take double notice of it . holy david , being near the shore , here looks on his former dangers and deliverances with a thankful heart , and writes this psalm to bless the lord : as if each of you that are grown into years , should review your lives , and observe the wonderful goodness and providence of god , towards you ; and then sit down , and write a modest memorial of his most remarkable mercies , for the comfort of your selves and your posterity . an excellent practise : what a comfort would it be for you to read how good your god was to your father , or grandfather , that are dead and gone ? so would your children rejoyce in the lord , upon the reading of his goodness to you , and you cannot have a better pattern for this , than holy david who wrote this psalm , when he was threescore and seven years old : when he had out-liv'd most of his troubles , and almost ready for his journey to his father in heaven , he resolves to leave this good report of him upon earth . and i pray mark how he begins ; he set●… not up trophies to himself , but triumphs in his god. i will love thee , o lord my strength . as the love of god is the beginning of all our mercies , so love to god should be the end and effect of them all . as the stream leads us to the spring , so all the gifts of god must lead us to the giver of them . lord , thou hast saved me from sickness , i will love thee ; from death and hell , i will love thee ; on me thou hast bestowed grace and comfort , i will love thee , o lord my strength . and after he had heaped on god all the sweet names he could devise , vers . 2. as a true saint thinks he can never speak too well of god , or too ill of himself , then he begins his narrative . i. of his dangers , verse 4 , 5. snares of death , flouds of ungodly men , sorrows of hell. hell and earth are combin'd against each holy man , and will trouble him sufficiently in this world , if they cannot keep him out of a better . ii. of his retreat , and that was earnest prayer to god , verse 6. i called upon th●… lord , and cryed unto my god. [ when our prayers are cryes ardent and importunate then they speed ] my cry came before him , ●…ven into his ears . the mother trifles , while the child whimpers , but when he raises his note , strains every nerve , and tries every vein , then she throws all aside , and gives him his desire . while our prayers are only whispers , our god can take his rest , but when we fall to crying , now will i arise , saith the lord. iii. of his rescue , verse 7. to 20. by the powerful and terrible arm of the lord , who is in a lofty strain , brought in to his servants help , as if he would mingle heaven and earth together , rather than leave his child in the lyons paws . iv. of the reason of this gracious dealing of god with him , verse 20 , &c. he was a righteous person , and he had a righteous cause . and thereupon he turns to god , saying , thou hast dealt with me just as thou art wont to do ; for with the merciful , thou wilt shew thy self merciful ; and with the upright man thou wilt shew thy self upright . section ii. and so we are arriv'd at the text itself , which being resolv'd , is an intire proposition , containing 1. a subject , a●… upright man. 2. a predicate , or what is spoke of him ; to or with him , god will shew himself upright . for explication with ] or , before him , unto him . an upright . ] the same word is oft translated perfect , hec's good throughout , though not throughly ; not one that personates religion , but that is a religious person . he is perfect , because he would be so . so noah is termed , gen. 6. 9. noah was a just man , and perfect ( i. e. upright ) in his generation : he was a good man in a bad age. he was like a glowing spark of fire in a sea of water , which is perfect goodness : and therefore the holy ghost doth so hang upon his name , as if he could not give over . it is an excellent preachers observation , verse 8. but noah was a just man , and perfect in his generations , and noah walked with god. and noah found grace in the eyes of the lord. these are the generations of noah . noah begat three sons : noah , noah , noah , i love the sound of thy name , and so are all your names precious to god , though hated by men , if the name of god be dear and sweet to you . 't is also sometimes translated plain , gen. 25. 27. jacob was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a plain , that is , an upright man dwelling in tents . esau was a cunning hunter , but jacob was a plain man without welt or gard : you might know his heart by his tongue , save once when rebeccah put a cunning trick into his head , otherwise he was a most upright , downright man. and the plain meaning of it is , a simple cordial , unfeig●…d and exact man , this is the man we are looking for . man ] this substantive the hebrews use to drown in the adjective , but here the holy ghost exhibits a word , and a choice one too , signifying a strong valiant man ; the same word , psal. 45. 3. o mighty man ! that 's meant of our lord christ , who was a most strong and valiant man , that could meet the wrath of god , the malice of the devil , and the sin of man in the face , and come off with triumph . and so the dutch translate this clause in 2 sam. 22. with the right valiant person , thou behavest thy self upright . in short , if the words were literally translated , they run thus [ a man of uprightnesses ] that is , every way you behold him , an upright man : like an even dye , cast him which way you will , he will be found square and right . a stiff and strong man to tread down both lusts within , and temptations without . an athanasius contra mundum , a luther contra romam ; this is a man of an an excellent spirit , and such is our upright man. thou wilt shew thy self upright ] or , wilt be upright with him , for one word in the hebrew makes all these six , thou wilt upright it with him . if men will deal plainly with god , he will deal plainly with them . he that is upright in performing his duty , shall find god upright in performing his promises . it is gods way to carry to men , as they carry to him . if thou hast a design to please him , he will have a design to please thee ; if thou wilt eccho to him , when he calls , hee 'l eccho to thee , when thou call'st : on the other side , if a man will wrestle with god , he will wrestle with him ; if thou wilt be fast and loose with him , and walk frowardly towards him , thou shalt have as good as thou bringest ; if thou wilt provoke him with never-ending sins , he will pursue thee with never-ending torments : if thou wilt sin in tuo eterno , thou must suffer in suo eterno ; and every man shall find like for like . sect . iii. and now 't is time to be gathering something for our instruction , and let this be the lesson hence to be learn'd namely , doctrine . where god doth find an upright man , he shews himself an upright god. true , he finds none but whom he makes , he finds them of his own making ; but where-ever such a man is found , on the throne , or in a prison , or on a dunghill , he shall find a god of his own , that will deal uprightly with him . however , he is an upright god , let men be what they will ; whatever contrary motions the lower spheres have , yet the primum mobile keeps its even and constant motion , and is never diverted out of its course at all : so is it with our god , let vain hypocrites walk never so crookedly , yet the holy god will be justified when he speaketh , and clear when he judgeth . he will be upright with you in executing his threatnings , if you hinder the current of his uprightness in performing promises . the filthy dunghill cannot infect the glorious sun that shinesall day upon it , nor can any mans evil , cause him to cease from being good. but the meaning of the point is , to the upright man he shews himself a graciously upright god ; a true-hearted man on earth , shall find a true-hearted god in heaven . the most proper and profitable way i ●…an think of , for the handling of this doctrine , within the intended limits is , 〈◊〉 . by shewing wherein stands the upright●…ess of a man. 2. by declaring how god ●…hews himself an upright god. 3. by draw●…ng out some inferences and uses thereof . and first , of the first . section iv. there are four words ( especially ) whereby uprightness is exprest 〈◊〉 scripture , which being considered , will give us some view of this orient ●…ewel . 1. it is called truth , 1 sam. 12. 24. — serve him in truth . now truth moral is ●…he conformity of the mind and heart , to ●…hings said and done ; when therefore the ●…eart prayes with the tongue , when the ●…eart obeys with the hand , when we do ●…he things of god heartily as to the lord. ●…his is to serve him in truth and up●…ightly . and this sure is the sense of that , heb. ●…0 . 22. let us draw near with a true heart . ●…t is our sin and folly to keep at distance ●…rom god , both in and out of his service , afraid , or loth to come up . it is gods w●… that we should draw near , and nearer ye●… and that with a true heart : a true-hearte●… man at a prayer does the work , when m●…ny of great appearances do but beat t●… air. so when we come to men , 1 john 3. 1●… let us not love in word , or in tongue [ only but in deed and in truth ; having a princip of unfeigned love in our hearts to ever●… body , and thence producing words an●… deeds of pure charity . this is an uprig●… man , whose heart within doth not give t●… lye to his word and actions . survey h●… duties to god and men , they are pious , ju●… and charitable ; open his heart , piety , rig●… teousness , and love are written there like him that professed , if he might ha●… had the molding of himself , light shou●… have been his body , and truth should ha●… been his soul. 2. another word for this is sincerity . 〈◊〉 word taken from pure honey , that is , si●… cera , without wax , unmingled . when th●… new man hath as little as may be of th●… old man mingled with him . this word 〈◊〉 us'd phil. 1. 10. that ye may be sincere . th●… greek word there signifies , that which 〈◊〉 sun-proof ( as wares , that can abide to 〈◊〉 tryed between you and the sun ) su●… 〈◊〉 an upright man , bring him to the scrip●…ure he is sound ; bring him to any solid ●…arks , he can stand before them ; put ●…im into the scales , he is weight , however he is right gold , though he may want some grains of allowance . he is of a right eagle breed , though haply young or weak , yet he can look at the sun , ●…nd not be daunted . an hypocrite can ●…ook men in the face , but an upright man , ●…he can look god in the face . as for me , i will behold thy face in righteousnoss . this ●…one but a righteous upright man can ●…do . 3. there is another word of this import , and that is , singleness of heart , acts 2. 46. they did eat their meat with gladness , and singleness of heart , that is , with a cordial chearfulness and bounty : and to this referrs that , luke 11. 34. when thine eye is single ( when thy heart is singly bent to honour and serve god , then the whole life will relish of that principle ) the whole body will be full of light : but if the heart double with god , the life will be no way uniform with men . and this is taken to be the meaning of the oneness of heart promised , ezek. 11. 19. whereas the hypocrite hath an heart , and an heart , and an heart , and an heart , for every lust an heart . a double minded man is unstable in all his wayes . he is unresolved in the end he drives at , and so unfixed in his desires and actions that tend thereunto . now the upright mans heart is one , he goes all one way , he is what he seems , one intention , one delight , one face , one tongue ; in a word , he is all but one man , psalm 103. 1. bless the lord , o my soul , and all that is within me praise his holy name . and to this purpose is the fourth word , that signifies uprightness and that is integrity , 1 kings 9. 4. and if thou wilt walk before me , as david walked , in integrity of heart and in uprightness . — and that is when all the soul in every faculty is resolv'd , and bent for god and his glory . in an hypocrite the judgment is against the will , the conscience against the affection , the reason against the appetite , but in the upright , all the faculties agree , and combine within themselves , and the opposition is onely outward , against a common enemy . he is a whole man , for the whole will of god. so then you see an upright man is a true hearted , a sincere-hearted , a single-hearted , and a whole-hearted man. sect . v. this uprightness 1. respects god. 2. respects man. the former may be called uprightness of heart ; the latter uprightness of life ; and both these must be explained , and where they meet , there we find an upright man. concerning uprightness of heart , we must assert , that it is not so much a distinct grace , a grace by its self , as it is all grace , t is that which stamps a reality on every other grace : without it , nec amanda est ipsa charitas , nec ipsi fidei fidendum , nec bene sperandum de ipsa spe . we cannot believe our faith , nor love our love , nor hope well of our hope it self . uprightness and watchfulness are catholick graces , of a general necessity ; the former , to wit , uprightness , to the being and truth of grace , and the latter , to wit , watchfulness , to the preservation and exercise of grace . and belike on that account , sincerity is called a girdle , ephes. 6. 14. having your loyns girt about with truth . religion is to many as a cloak , ( though it will prove the dearest cloak that ever was worn ) which they can put on abroad , when it serves their purposes , and put off at home when it troubles them in their lusts ; but now sincerity is like a girdle , that ties it close to us . this makes all our garments sit close to us , and to be ungirt here is to be unblest . and may be thus described . uprightness of heart is that grace , or gracious temper , whereby the soul is unreservedly resigned to god , and heartily bent to walk with him without guile . in short , when one is a man after gods own heart : for truth is nothing but an agreement of things with their first principles , so that the heart agreeing plainly with the heart and will of god , is an upright heart . the same thing is meant by an honest heart , luke 8. 15. that is resolved to carry squarely towards god ; as there in the hearing of gods word , when the heart is clearly carried with the stream of gods will , without exception or dissimulation . as you know an honest man is ruled and swayed by reason and equity in a business , without squinting at his own opinions and ends , even so an upright heart honestly yields his reason and will captive to the will of god , though it cross his own conceits and ends . and thus he is a man after gods own heart , is as like him ( humane frailty considered ) as ever he can look . now this blessed uprightness may be considered , 1. in the grounds of it . 2. in the nature of it . 3. in the object of it . i. the ground and root of uprightness of heart , stands in the total receiving of christ by the heart , and the total resigning of the heart unto him . this done , and there 's a good foundation laid for sincerity of soul. 1. there must be a total receiving of jesus christ tendered in the gospel , when you do take hold of the lord jesus , and cleave to him with purpose of heart . as barnabas prest them at antioch , acts 11. 23. many have a months mind of christ , some velleities and wouldings , but wilt thou have him , and cleave to him , and that with purpose of heart ? this is sincerity , to receive a whole christ with a whole heart . not christ the saviour or refuge only , so most would be willing ; but christ the prince and portion also in the land of the living . so david could say , psal. 142. 5. o lord , i said thou art my refuge , and my portion in the land of the living . how many would fain have the lord jesus christ for their refuge , when conscience pinches , affliction presses , or death stares them in the face , but how few will choose him for their portion and happiness in the midst of their outward comforts ? the hypocrite dare not dye without him , the upright saint cannot live without him . cant. 1. 4. the upright love th●… , and love cannot live contentedly without fruition . to be content of a christ , because of some present need of him is one thing , is nothing , if that be all : but to chuse him as the fairest of ten thousand , and that with an intire heart ; to have mind , will , conscience and affection , all of a mind , and this mind to be set on christs yoke as well as his crown , his spirit as well as his merit , his rule as well as his righteousness , here goes the upright heart : whereas an hypocrite he hath some fancy for jesus christ , but will not have him , this pleases him , but that likes him not , and so he dodges endlesly , and parles with him through the window , but bolts the door , and keeps him out for ever . o that ever an holy , just , and offended god , should follow such miserable sinners with a bleeding christ in his arms and that ever such wretches should put a refusal upon him . 2. there must be a total resignation of the heart unto the lord jesus christ , wherein you do cordially , deliberately , and freely give up your souls and bodies to him and to his service ; which is called ingageing the heart to approach to the lord , jer. 30. 21. who is this that ingaged his heart to approach unto me , saith the lord ? and thereupon that happy covenant is drawn in the next verse ; ye shall be my people , and i will be your god. who is this , saith god ? who in the world ? who in this congregation ? who in this family ? who in this seat ? where 's the man ? the woman ? the child ? o let each answer quickly , it is i. but you must ingage , not only hanker , incline , desire , purpose , but ingage ; 't is not bidding but buying , will make this pearl your own . alas it is the ordinary guise of people to stand off and treat only ; but sirs , will ye ingage , is 't a bargain , and will ye stick to it , get or lose by christ you will have him ? and then 't is the ingagement of the heart , you did subscribe your hands in baptisme , this very covenant was sealed in your name and behalf , when you were children little , and your not revoking it , doth assert it ; but now we come for your hearts thereunto . where 's the mind , the conscience , the will ? o where 's the will that submits , resolves , and ingages to be the lords ? happy this day , this word , and happy you , if hereupon , one shall say , i am the lords , and another shall call himself by the name of jacob , and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the lord , and surname himself by the name of israel , isa. 44. 5. you are the lords by your christian names already , o when will you be his by your surname also . this is the gospels great design , this is our errand here , we come for you and are loth to go without you . we beseech you by the mercies of god , to make a present of your selves , as a living sacrifice to god. poor sinners are like rebels besieged , whom christ jesus will either win , or starve . his ordinance is mounted , and it batters . a breach is made in the judgment , but the sinner will not yield ; another in the conscience , yet is he loth to yield ; the white flag of mercy is set up , but of a long time the sturdy sinner will not treat : the red flag is hung out , divine wrath is on the march , and a storm is preparing . the ordinance of god replanted again , and now if it hit right , and a breach be made upon the will , then christ is victor , the city is won , and the sinner yields . and then his note is changed , psal. 116. 16. o lord , truly i am thy servant , i am thy servant : mark how the psalmist redoubles it , i am , i am , truly i am . redoubled refusals call for redoubled submissions . i will neither be my own master , nor my own servant . i here make a deed of gift of my whole self to thee , without reservation , and without power of revocation . it is not enough to say this in a pang of kindness , or in a complement , as we do to men : what 's more common with us , than your servant sir ? but it s a servant without service , and such servants hath god a great many , his servants , but their own masters ; but holy david was not such a man , i am thy servant , truly i am thy servant , i am resign'd to thee , i am resolv'd for thee , thou hast boar'd my ears , psal. 40. 6. and oblig'd me to thee for ever . i will be thine both totally and finally . when you thus give your own selves to the lord , 2 cor. 8. 5. this is the ground and root of uprightness . sect . vi. ii. the nature of this uprightness of heart , is best discern'd by those expressions us'd by the holy ghost concerning it , which have been partly observ'd already , and shall be reduc'd to these five following . it is 1. single without division . 2. sound without rottenness . 3. pure without mixture . 4. perfect without reservation . 5. plain without guile . 1. an upright heart is single without division . unto an hypocrite , there be gods many , and lords many , and he must have a heart for each : but to the upright there is but one god the father , and one lord jesus christ , and one heart will serve them both . he that fixes his heart upon the creatures , for every creature he must have an heart , and the dividing of his heart destroyes him , hos. 10. 2. worldly profits knock at door , he must have an heart for them ; carnal pleasures present themselves , he must have an heart for them also ; sinful preferments appear , they must have an heart too ; necessariorum numerus parvus , opinionum nullus . of necessary objects , the number is few , of needless vanities , the number is endless : the upright man hath made choice of god and hath enough . a single christ is enough for a single heart ; hence holy david prayes , psal. 86. 11. unite my heart to fear thy name , let me have but one heart and mind , and let that be thine . as there are thousands of beams and rayes , yet they all meet and center in the sun ; so an upright man , though he hath a thousand thoughts , yet they all ( by his good will ) meet in god. subordinate ends , he hath many , to procure a livelihood , to preserve his credit , to provide for his children , but supreme end he hath none , but god alone . hence , that steadiness in his resolutions , that undistractedness in his holy duties , that consistency in his actions , and that evenness in the frame of his heart , which miserable hypocrites cannot attain . 2. an upright heart is sound without rottenness , psal. 119. 80. let my heart be sound in thy statutes , that i may not be ashamed . the more sincerity the less shame . integrity is the great author of confidence . every frost shakes an unsound body , and every tryal shakes an unsound soul. an upright man hath not alwayes so pure a colour as an hypocrite may have , but his colour is natural , it is his own , it is not painted , his constitution is firm . the hypocrites beauty is borrowed , the fire of tryal will melt it off . an upright man hath his infirmities , his diseases , but his new nature works them out , for he is sound within . a leprosie overspreads the hypocrite , but he hides it , psal. 36. 2. he flattereth himself in his own eyes , until his iniquity be found to be hateful . he endeavours to hide himself from god , more from men , most from himself ; he would fain be in with himself howsoever , and this trade he drives , till his iniquity be found to be hateful . but now an upright man , he is alwayes sifting and trying himself ; am i sound ? am i right ? are my services rightly done ? are my infirmities consistent with integrity ? and the like . an upright saint is like an apple with rotten specks , but an hypocrite is like the apple with a rotten core . the sincere christian hath here a speck of passion , and there of worldliness , and there of pride ; but cut him up , anatomize him , he is sound at heart , there christ and christianity live and reign . now an hypocrite is like an apple that is smooth and lovely on the outside , but rotten within : his words exact , his duties devout , his life blameless , but look within , and his heart is the sty of sin , the den of satan . 3. an upright heart is pure without mixture . not absolutely pure , that happiness is reserv'd for heaven , but compared with that pollution and base mixture , that constitutes an hypocrite . though his hand cannot do all that god bids , yet his heart is sincere in all he doth . his soul is bent for perfect purity , and so he hath his name from that , mat. 5. 8. blessed are the pure in heart . in his words he sometimes fails , and so in his thoughts and deeds ; but open his heart and there is a love , a desire , a design and an indeavour after real and absolute purity . not legally pure , that is , free from all sin ; but evangelically pure , free from the reign of all sin , especially of hypocrisie , which is so flatly contrary to the covenant of grace . and in this sence the upright man is the scripture puritan , and so 〈◊〉 further from hypocrisie than any other man. he is really glad that god is the searcher of hearts , for then he knows , that he will finde his name and nature in his own . and yet , the most upright man in the world hath some hypocrisie in him , prov. 20. 9. who can say i have made my heart clean , i am pure from my sin ? but this he detects , resists , and hates , and so it cannot denominate him an hypocrite in this world , nor damn him for one in another . his ends are generally purely at the glory of god , his frame of heart and thoughts pure , and generally better than his outside ; the farther you trace him the better he is . pure from dishonesty in his dealings , purer yet in his family from all appearance of evil , purer still in his closet , and purest in his heart : though there be sin there , yet there is also there an antipathy against it , that it mingles not with it . the hypocrite chooses sin , the upright man would have no sin if he could choose . the traveller ( its true ) meets with dirt in his way , but he keeps it off as well as he can , mingles not with it , and if he be soil'd , he rubs it off as soon as may be : but the swine delights in it , cannot be well without it . 't is just so between the upright man and the hypocrite . the most upright saint on earth , is bemir'd with sin sometimes , but he did not design it in the morning , nor sleeps he with it at night ; but an hypocrite he designs it , he delights in it , he is never so well contented as in sin . in a word , the hypocrite may avoid sin , but no man can abhor sin save the upright man. 4. an upright man is perfect and intire without reservation , psal. 37. 37. mark the perfect man , and behold the upright , you may see them both at once . his heart is intirely devoted to the will and wayes of god. the hypocrite he hath ever some exceptions and reservations . such a sin i must not leave , such a grace i cannot love , such a duty i will not practise ; thus far i will yeild but no farther , thus far i will go , it is consistent with my carnal ends , but all the world shall not perswade me farther . the judgement of the hypocrite will drive beyond his will , his conscience beyond his affections , he is not intire , his heart is parted , and so he is off and on . the upright man hath but one happiness , and th●…t is the injoyment of god ; but one rule , and that is his holy will ; but one work , and that is to please his maker ; and thereupon he is intire and certain in his choice , in his desires , in his wayes , and contrivances . and though there may be some demurs in his prosecution of his main business , yet there is no hesitancy and wavering between two objects , for he is intirely fixt and resolv'd therein , and so may be said to be perfect and intire , wanting nothing . there is in every hypocrite some one fort , or strong hold , that hath never yielded to the soveraignty and empire of gods will : some lust castles it self in the will , but where integrity enters , it brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of christ. lord , saith he , i am wholly thine , do what thou wilt with me , say what thou wilt to me , write what thou wilt upon me , other lords have had dominion over me , but by thee onely will i make mention of thy name , isa. 26. 13. here is the upright man. 5. an upright heart is plain without guile , psal. 32. 2. blessed is the man to whom the lord imputeth not iniquity , and in whose spirit there is no guile . here is a blessed word indeed . alas ! we have great and many iniquities , were it not happy for us to be as if we had never sinned ? why ; non-imputation will be as well for us , as if there had been no transgression ; sins remitted are as if they had not been committed : the debt-book crost as good as if never entred . but who is this blessed man ? in whose spirit there is no guile , that is , 1. no fundamental guile ; that hath not deceitfully covenanted with his god. 2. that hath no approved guile , to approve and yeild to any way of wickedness ; that doth not juggle with god or men , or with his own conscience ; that hides not his idols under him , when god is searching his tent , but as it follows there verse 5. acknowledges , and hates , and leaves his sin . when the upright man confesseth his sin , his heart akes and he is deeply troubled for it , he dissembles not : the hypocrite proclaims open war , but maintains secret intelligence with his lusts . when the upright man prayes for any grace , he earnestly desires it , and he takes pains to compass it too , for he is in good earnest , and dissembles not : the hypocrite is afraid in his prayers to be taken at his word , for he loves not the image , or grace of god at all . and so in every thing else , there is nothing but guile in him , he that will dissemble with god , will dissemble with any man in the world . see the wide difference between saul and david . saul is charged with a fault , 1 sam. 15. 14. lie denies it , the charge is renewed , verse 17. still he minces the matter , looks for fig-leaves to cover all . but plain-hearted david is another man ; he is charg'd and he yields , one prick opens a vein of sorrow in his heart , he tells all , he makes a psalm of it , and therein concludes this , psal. 51. 6. behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts . the plain-hearted man , sayes god , is for me , with the upright man i will shew my self upright . sect . vii . iii. and thus you have the nature of uprightness a little opened ; and now let us consider the object about which this uprightness is conversant . and the great business of the upright heart is about , 1. inward religion . 2. universal 3. constant 1. he is a student and practitioner of inward religion . diligent he is in the outward acts of it also , but that he hath common with the hypocrite , but his greatest study is to be good within , rom. 2. 28 , 29. for he is not a jew , which is one outwardly , [ that is , he is no jew as to the esteem and acceptation of god , or as to the spiritual priviledges of the covenant ] neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh , [ to wit , that is not the circumcision , which god chiefly looks at , and which a man is chiefly advantag'd by ] but he is a jew which is one inwardly , [ that is , a saint in soul ] and circumcision is that of the heart , in the spirit and not in the letter . it is not water on the face , but blood on the heart which makes a saveable christian. o sirs , what change hath there been on your spirits ? what fear , and love , and sanctity is there in your hearts ? look to this , or else you will break like bubbles . and then it follows , whose praise is not of men , but of god , that is , whose aim , and whose honour it is not to be prais'd of men , but of god. the upright man trades in invisible things . 1. the upright man studies to obtain invisible graces . psal. 45. 13. the kings daughter is glorious within . in the hidden man of the heart , is the beauty of an upright man. to be drest with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit , with a compos'd and serious spirit , with a penitent and believing spirit . ah beloved ! how like are many of us to the river which athenaeus mentions , whose upper waters are sweet , but brackish at the bottome ; like fine clothes , silk without and canvas within : a smooth carriage , and an unpolish'd uncircumcis'd heart ; the upright man would not be so . he looks not at things that are seen , but at things that are not seen . grace and glory are the study and ambition of the inward christian. the hypocrite may be forward for unsanctified gifts . simon magus would give money for such , o the time , and cost and strength that many men spend to attain the gift of knowledge , of prudence , of language , of elocution , of memory , and such like , that never spend a serious thought , to attain the grace of repentance , faith , self-denial , sincere love to god and godliness ! but this is the great design in the upright heart , o that i may be stored with the saving knowledge of my god , and of my self ! here 's an ordinance , o that i may have my faith increased , my love inflamed , the back of my patience strengthned by this holy duty ! these are the pearles our merchant seeks for . 2. the upright man studies to perform invisible duties . there is an outside and an inside in religion . the bended knee , that 's the outside in prayer ; the broken heart that 's the inside : to hear gods word , that 's the outside ; to meditate of it , that 's the inside : to read each day two or three chapters in the bible , that 's the outside ; to feel the efficacy of it that 's the inside ; to reprove another that 's the outside ; but to watch over thine own heart , that 's the inside : to draw out thy purse to a poor man , that 's the outside ; but to draw out thy heart in pitty to him , that 's the inside of the duty . the hypocrite may , and oft doth excell in the former , the upright man is diligent and careful in the latter . he can pray in secret , and is no stranger to self examination , meditation , ejaculations , and soliloquies these retired acts of religion , nay in these is his excellency ; he is a saint in secret , the holiest alone , a busie man in an ordinance . he wrestles as well as makes supplication , and sweats at that which others sleep at . the pharisee , luke 18. had the larger oration , but the publican had the more penitent heart . the scribe might have more dealing with the law , but the apostle delighted in it , in the inward man , rom. 7. 22. and so doth every upright man. his best wares are within out of sight . as you know its the tradesmans custom , all his wares shall be vendible and good , but behind in his warehouse and closet are his choicest things : even so the upright man , he will be exact and diligent in all his ordinary and visible duties , but his master-pieces they are within . he performs invisible duties . 3. the upright man studies to conquer invisible sins : those that he might go to his grave with , and no body aware of them ; yet these he labours to rout horse and man. an hypocrite on the contrary prunes off the sins that will shame him , but nourishes the sins that will damn him . open drunkenness , uncleanness , oppression , profaneness , these an hypocrite disdains ; but mean while he lives perhaps in some of these secretly , or at least he takes no pains to subdue proud , wanton , envious , and other inward motions that do as much war against the soul , as other sins . the hypocrite shaves the hair , but the upright man plucks it up by the roots , 2 cor. 7. 1. let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit . there is a filthiness of the spirit , which he that would perfect holiness will be cleansing himself from ; such as the habits of unbelief , impenitency , hardness of heart , pride of spirit , dulness in gods service , and such as atheistical , loose , impertinent thoughts , wandering in the worship of god , envy at his neighbours riches or reputation , and carnal contrivances to satisfie t●…e lusts of the flesh ; these cost him warm water , break his sleep , and fill his prayers , which never cost the hypocrite , nor secure world ; one penitent thought . it was tertullians cry , ad leonem extra , potius quam ad leonem intra . the upright man knows , that as the filthiness of the flesh will may make him a beast , so the filthiness of the spirit will make him a devil , and therefore he assaults his invisible sins . sect . viii . 2. an upright man endeavours after universal religion . there is a counterpane of the will of god in his heart ; that agrees with the scripture in every thing . 1. he hates all sin , with an hatred of abomination , of aversation , of opposition . dress it with what disguises you will , and press it with what motives , ends or advantages you can , the upright man hates it in his heart , psal. 119. 1 , 2. blessed are the undefiled in the way , they walk in the law of the lord. they also ( they for their part ) do no iniquity , they walk in his way . there is a party in him that would be tampering with it , but he likes it not . o , saith god , do not this abominable thing that i hate , jer. 44. 4. no , lord , saies he , for i hate it as well as thou . his heart is on gods side against sin : and particularly against his own iniquity , psal. 18. 23. i was also upright before him , and i kept my self from mine iniquity . mine iniquity ; every man hath some sin of his own , which he is most inclinable to , least able to resist , and lothest to leave . thus he drags each prayer before god , and cries , lord , if thou lovest me , strike here . this sin he prosecutes with prayers and tears , and all good means beside , forelaies it in cool bloud , and with continual preventing contrivances disappoints , crosses , intercepts , and by degrees starves it to death . and as no sin is so dear as to ingratiate with him , so no sin so small , but his stomack rises at it ; and hence it is that the upright man hath not so wide a swallow , as other men of large and strained consciences , and so meets with many an hypocrite in his dish ; because he would hate the appearance of evil , as he hates the appearance of the devil , but still he hates his own sins more than others , and those as much as any , which no body sees but himself . 2. he loves all his duty , he is neither afraid to know , nor ashamed to own all his duty : by this the lord measures integrity 1 king. 9. 4. and if thou wilt walk before me , as david thy father walked , in integrity of heart and in uprightness , to do according to all that i have commanded thee . here 's the just standard of sincerity . for can the holy , wise , and just god appoint any thing unreasonable or uncomfortable for his own creature , his dear child to perform ? alas ! all his wayes are mercy and truth , and all his laws tend to his servants good . what harsher law in appearance than that matth. 5. 29. if thy right eye , if thy right hand offend thee , pluck it out , cut it off . and yet if any of you had an eye that were alwayes leading you into pits and precipices , to drown and destroy you , would not you have it out ? if you had an hand that were alwayes running into the fire , and you could not keep it out , would not you hack it off ? why , it is no other eye or hand , the gospel hath a quarrel with , but those that would lead into ruine , run you into hell : and how reasonable and necessary is it to be rid of such ? the upright man is convinced of this , and so he knows nothing in religion but what he likes . some things may grate upon his carnal appetite , yet he loves them dearly . now an hypocrite is quite another man , like a sorry scholar in a hard chapter , he skips over the hard words , and makes nothing of them ; whereas the well taught scholar , will spell , and labour at them , and rather venture a whipping , than skip over them : so is it between the hypocrite and the upright in the duties of christianity . an hypocrite runs smoothly on in divers religious exercises , till he meets with some costly , hard , or hiddén duties , and there he stands stock-still ; he considers that there is no credit or profit , but only pains or peril , to be got , and presently skips over these hard words , and neither loves nor obeyes : whereas the upright man finding his duty , bides by it , dwells upon it , and will deny himself ere he will deny his duty . if god will have me love mine enemies , i will love them : if he wil have me forsake this company or course that i am taken with , i will freely leave them : if he will have me pray , yea and fast too , no duty shall be so hard , but i will do it ; no sin so sweet , but i will leave it , with my whole heart and my whole soul. we have both these in that trying verse , psal. 119. 128. therefore i esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right , and i hate every false way . each word is a sacred touchstone . [ therefore ] it is said , ver . 126. wicked men make void the law. that 's so far from carrying the upright man down the stréam , that therefore he loves it the more : he knows it cannot but be excellent , that such men hate . is the sabbath generally broken ? he is stricter in observing it . are oathes more frequent ? he abhors them the more . is true piety hated and hist out of the world ? his heart and house shall more throughly imbrace it . [ i esteem ] i cannot observe thy precepts as i would , but i do dearly value them . the least of thy laws is more unto me , than thousands of gold and silver . [ i esteem thy precepts ] i do not only esteem the truths of the bible , the histories in the bible , the promises of the bible , but i esteem thy precepts , those that cut out my work , as well as those that hold out my reward . ( and all these ) those that are against my nature and interest and custome , as well as those that are agreeable to my nature and custom and subservient to my interest . they are all wise , holy and good . thy word is very pure : therefore thy servant loves it . and i esteem all thy precepts ( concerning all things to be right ) those precepts that give rules for my bargains , as well as for my hearing ; that controule me at my meat , as well as those that direct me in my prayers ; they are all right and good . ( and i hate every false way . ) i do not say , i escape and miss them all ( happy if i could ) but i hate them , and he that hates sin , will avoid it as much as he can . and that every ( false way ) i see they are false wayes , neither directed by my god , nor leading to him , and therefore i hate them all . and this is an upright man , he is universally religious . sect . ix . 3. an upright man labours after constant religion . his sanctity is a second nature in him , now that which is natural is constant ; there is great difference between the natural heat of an healthy man , and the praeternatural heat of an ague ; such is the difference between the true saint and the hypocrite . an hypocrite may have some fits of piety , but they are adventitious , they flow from some outward cause , and accordingly they last but for a while ; and when that cause ceaseth , ( suppose some sharp judgement fear'd or felt , some qualm of conscience , or shallow sermon-sickness ) then a cold fit follows , as bad or worse than before : alas , it is praeternatural , it was no habit , but the upright man hath a constant heat , he fears alwayes and maintains constant duty , though he cannot keep equal heat therein . and here 's the difference between the inconstancy of an upright man and of an hypocrite ; the inconstancy of the hypocrite is in the substance of the duty it self ; one while he prayes , another while he restrains prayer ; one while he is strict and cautious ; and shortly loose and careless ; whereas the upright man keeps on in the course of his duty , though he cannot do it alwayes alike ; he prayes , and would not b●… hired from it , though the thread of his prayers be uneven : there may be remisness in it , but not an intermission of it : there 's constant religion , though not equal religion . the hypocrite makes a cloak of his religion , which he puts on , and off , as it serves his purpose ; the upright man wears it as his every day cloathes , and puts not off his integrity , till he dye . there may be some parentheses in his holy course , wherein vanity and sin may be written , ( too many of these god knows in the best mans heart and life ) but still the sentence runs current ; the sence and scope of his heart runs heaven-ward : whereas on the contrary , the full sence of an hypocrites heart is to please or promote himself ; though there may be some parentheses of religion , no part of the scope of his soul : you have their character , psal. 78. 36 , 37. nevertheless they did statter him with their mouth , and they lied to him with their tongues : for their heart was not right with him , neither were they steadfast in his covenant . no greater sign of a rotten heart , than a fundamental unstedfastness in the covenant of god , when a man is rul'd by times and companies to shew good or evil , this mans heart is not right with god. it s true , a tempest may bend the boughs of a living tree , or perhaps the tree it self , if the storm be great ; but they return to their straightness , they come to themselves , but the rotten sticks and branches are broken and overturn'd ; just so , some strong temptation may drive an upright man out of his honest way , but he soon returns , and by mending his pace , makes amends for his stumbling . three scriptures give the upright man his character , concerning this matter . proverbs 28. 14. happy is the man that feareth alwayes . to be alwayes afraid looks like a miserable life among men ; but to have a waking eye , and careful heart for fear of sin , is no more a misery , than to walk , or ride , with a vigilant regard to prevent a fall . this fear is not troublesome or vexatious at all , he 's an happy man that uses it , and no wise man will count the other hapy for going , running , riding without fear or wit in danger every moment to break his bones . again , hos. 12. 6. keep mercy and judgement , and wait upon thy god continually . the whole life of a sincere saint is a continual waiting upon god ; whatever his work be , whoever his company , wherever he goes , whenever he eats or drinks , yet in all these he waites upon his god , and serves the will of his heavenly father . and agreeable to this is the other passage , prov. 23. 17. be thou in the fear of the lord all the day long . most emphaticall both for the duty commanded , and for the term of the duty , both most apposite to set out an upright man. the fear of the lord , that is universal religion , be thou in th●… , more than if he had said , let the fear of the lord be in thee ; be surrounded with it , swallowed up in it . and then , this all the day long , not only a fit of religion at thy prayers in the morning and another at night , but work and walk , eat and drink in it all the day long , yea all thy life long , which is but a long day . the religion of an hypocrite is like a tireing horse , which may go apace in the morning , and shew much mettal for a while ; but the upright man , though more soberly , yet goes more constantly ; and in this sense that is most true , prov. 10. 9. he that walks uprightly , walks surely . you shall finde this man with savoury thoughts in his heart at noon , with ejaculations at his work , and there is a coherence between his duties and his life . in a word , and so i 'le end this point , the upright man hath four walks towards god , which will set him forth to the life . 1. the upright man walks before god. gen. 17. 1. walk before me , and be thou perfect , or upright . and that is whereby the upright man habitually alwayes , and actually as much as in him lies , sets the lord alwayes before him ; and still thinks , and speaks , and acts , as if he lookt on , weighing not only the matter but the manner , and motives of his wayes , acquitting himself still to his god , 2 cor. 2. 17. as of sincerity as of god , in the sight of god speak we in christ. happy for ever that minister , that can call god to record on his soul , that as no errours corrupt his doctrine , so no base ends corrupt his heart ; but that he preaches christs will sincerely , as if the lord himself look'd on . 2. the upright man walks with god. so enoch , gen. 5. 22. and enoch walked with god. that is , so to live , as if the holy god were in person walking with you on earth , or as if you were walking with him in heaven . if god should visibly walk with you on earth , as he was a while with abraham , o with what humility , sanctity , watchfulness , love , and fear would you continually live ? what an humble and serious regard would you have towards him ? much more if you were to walk a while with him in heaven : what a frame would you there be in ? why this sence hath walking with god , which no man hath skill in save the upright man ; he is constantly religious . 3. the upright man walks after god , deut. 13. 4. ye shall walk after the lord your god , and fear him , and keep his commandments , and obey his voice . where he can see his god walk before him , like a dutiful child , he will , though not aequis passibus , walk after him as fast as he can . this was the praise of caleb , numbers 14. 24. that he followed god fully . that word i am the lord thy god , makes every thou shalt of his , and every thou shalt not , acceptable to an upright man. come sayes god , here 's a work i must have done , here thou must give , here forgive , here 's a saint must be loved for his own sake , here 's a sinner must thou love and pity for my sake . ready ( lord ) saith the upright man , by thy grace it shall be done , this is to follow god fully , this is to walk after god. 4. the upright man walks like god , 1 john 2. 6. he that saith he abideth in him , ought himself also so to walk , even as he walked . now , how did our lord , jesus walk when he was upon earth ? why , a mirrour and pattern of all humility , justice , charity , meekness , self-denial . think often when you are eating , how did christ order his meales ? do i give thanks like him ? discourse at table like him ? think often when you are hearing and praying ; did he hear and pray in such a manner as i do ? how would he carry himself among such neighbours ? how would he instruct and guide this family ? how would he bear and improve these reproaches , wants and troubles ? how would he appear for god is in such company ? how would he sanctisie the sabbath ? how would he deal with such parents , such children , if he were in my place ? how quiet , when provok'd ? how chast , when tempted ? how just and true in his dealings ? how cautious of others names , and how content with his own estate ? put him often into your case and remember , if ever you will live with him , you must live like him . and by this fruitful and good life you shew , that god is upright , and that there is no unrighteousness in him , psal. 29. last : section . x. and thus i have opened in some poor measure an upright heart . by all which ( dearly beloved ) you may see the absolute necessity of regeneration : i mean , the through change of the heart , from the state of nature to the state of grace . for certainly mans heart by nature is false , and far from this uprightness described . how can the soul receive christ jesus as he is offered in his gospel , or resign it self to him without regeneration ; how can the heart of a sinful child of adam , be either single , or sound , or pure , or perfect , or plain without regeneration ? what man will study , or practise inward , universal and constant religion till he be regenerated ? who will walk before god , with god , after god , like god , before his heart be changed ? alas these things are neither conceived by the mind , nor received by the will of a natural man : he is ignorant in them and an enemy to them . o sirs , you must be new creatures , else all our treatie stands for nothing : we must still begin here , and can parly no further with you , unless you yield in this . will ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind ? would you give all the world for a new heart ? till then you are but rotten at the heart , you walk in a vain shew : for all your talk against hypocrites , you are errand hypocrites , and shall be condemned as such , when those you have so reproach'd , shall be your judges and openly honoured before angels and men . those poor mordecaies shall be royally arrayed , and you like proud haman shall see it to the breaking of your hearts . to prevent this , o learn this one lesson , sound conversion , which is but restoring that image you lost in adam . your bones were all put out of joynt by that fall , this is the painful pluck that puts them in joynt again . would not any man abide a painful pluck to set one bone in joynt ? o sirs , abide one pluck to bring all your soul into frame again : you must be new men , else you cannot be upright men ; you must be in christ before you can walk like him . your religion is but skin deep till the holy ghost hath made an holy change . and therefore , for the lords sake , and for your souls sake , study this point into practise . give no sound sleep to your eyes while you are such near neighbours to hell ; your temperate , just , and honest behaviour may make your fall the softer , but without holiness you must never see the lord ; and a carnal heart can never be holy and upright without regeneration . and so far concerning the first part of uprightness , which respects god , uprightness of heart . sect . xi . the second part of uprightness respects man , which is uprightness of life ; which 1. must be with the former ; else the other is but like a candle in a dark lanthorn , which burns away to no purpose . this is the very sinew of humane society , and makes men happy in one another . it is such an excellent thing that they who never practise it , yet alwayes pretend to it . the veriest knaves abhor to be so called , and would be reputed and stiled honest and upright men . and that must needs be amiable which all men commend , and necessary which no society can subsist without : so that there abides a crown of honour for a downright heathen , as well as a crown of glory for an upright christian : and there will be an easier punishment for those ( i may call them ) christian-pagans , than for abundance of our pagan christians . 2. this uprightness of life is not sufficient without the former . 't is good but not good enough . to be a fast friend to men , and a broken bow to god , will yeild you little comfort . yet how many sit down here , and think themselves well ? would not steal a shoe latchet from their neighbour for a world , and yet make no conscience of stealing from god his honour and his day . that would not wrong their brethrens name by any reproach for a world , and yet make no bones of wronging the name of the great god , and take it in vain day by day . the squareness of your actions may crown you with reputation ; but the rottenness of your hearts will leave you in condemnation , by that god that trieth the hearts and reins . as in the law , without bloud there was no remission , so in the gospel , without oyle there is no admission into the kindome of heaven . civility and sanctity are two things . 3. this uprightness of life cannot be without that uprightness of heart . it loseth in truth its name and nature for want of a principle . for that which is truly good must have all its causes , which this wants . it is a common experiment , that water will not ascend above its spring without a violence upon nature ; and it is as true , that no mans actions can carry a higher level than the fountain of them ; so that to make the life upright , you must begin at the heart , and first make the tree good and then the fruit will be good also . now this uprightness of life is the exact agreement of a mans words and actions with an honest and upright heart . when the life is the picture of the heart , and there is a blessed harmony between the frame of the soul within , and the course of the life without ; when a man doth not frame his life , to gratifie the company , or serve the times he lives in , or the corrupt humours of other , or any carnal ends of his own , but his heart is sincere , and so are his words and deeds . not that we expect an absolute exactness here ; the uprightest man on earth hath enough to humble and afflict him ; but for the main , there is no known ordinary and willing swerving of his course from his frame within , or of that from the holy will of god. and herein also we shall consider , 1. it s essence . 2. it s object . sect . xii . i. the nature or being of uprightness of life shines 1. in simplicity . prov. 28. 6. 18. better is the poor that walketh in his integrity , than he that is perverse in his wayes , though rich . the word for wayes in both places is dual , and intimates two wayes . an hypocrite is a man with two wayes . the one he goes in , the other he seems to go in . the poor upright man hath but one way , and that 's better than them both . 2 cor. 1. 12. for our rejoycing is this , the testimony of our conscience , that in simplicity and godly sincerity , not with fleshly wisdom , but by the grace of god , we have had our conversation in the world . when this apostle was traduc'd by men , yet this afforded him not only content , but joy , to wit , the testimony of his conscience . an hypocrite may have quiet in his conscience , but an upright man hath a testimony in his conscience : he carries every where letters testimonial in his bosom . and why all this joy ? that we have had our conversation in simplicity . as our ends have been single in preaching the gospel , so our lives have not been double : the drift of our preaching and lives hath been the same : happy that preacher that can here subscribe his hand . this simplicity of an upright man , makes him sometimes the subject of loss , and sometimes the object of scorn . job 12. 4. the just upright man is laughed to scorn , and many a simpleton he is called ; yet he goes on and carries it in the end . his great consideration is , what is my duty , according to that prov. 4. 25. let thine eyes look straight on , and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee . that is , without squinting at events , or how it will please , or whom it will lose , he is resolved to live and dye in his duty . mistake me not , as if prudence and integrity could not dwell together ; certainly they may and ought . his simplicity only excludes the subtlety of the fox , which stands in being cunning to do mischief , not the wisdom of the serpent , which stands in carefully avoiding it . 2. uprightness of life stands in purity . prov. 16. 17. the high-way of the upright , is to depart from evil . his usual road is as far from the broad way as ever he can : and his care herein sometimes carries him rather too far , upon which account his conscience breeds more scruples then other mens , that can swallow any thing that comes to hand : but his integrity in other things apologizeth for him to all wise men , and at least brings him off with peace and comfort . and this very thing hath brought upon very many of these upright men , the badge of a puritan , which is by too many applied to subvert sincere holiness , and to cast an odium on downright christianity , and the practise of that we all profess . sure i am , the scripture opens heavens gates to none , but those whose lives are pure and holy , psal. 24. 4. who shall ascend into the hill of the lord ? and who shall stand in his holy place ? he that hath clean hands and a pure heart , &c. hence , the upright man dare not mingle with those vain fooleries , vitious excesses or suspicious recreations that men of devasted consciences are drowned in ; nor can all the good nature that 's in him , nor importunity of neighbours , or kindred , draw him to such company , or courses that would sting his conscience when he should sleep ; except god leaves him to himself sometimes , to try and humble him . 3. this uprightness of life , shines in the perfection of his life . understand a perfection of parts ; each part of him is sincere . see that , isa. 33. 14. fearfulness hath surprized the hypocrite : who among us shall dwell with devouring fire ? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnnings ? that is , stand before the holy just and upright jehovah : who can approach him , when he executes judgements here , or passes final sentance hereafter ? when all hypocrites shall be in a fright , when their cobweb-coverings shall fall off , and they must stand naked , ( like so many cheats on a pillory ) before god , angels and men : who then shall stand with comfort and confidence ? mark verse 15. he that walketh righteously , ( his feet walk uprightly ) and speaketh uprightly , ( carries an upright tongue ) despises the gain of oppressions ( keeps an upright heart in him ) that shakes his hands from holdding bribes , ( both his hands are upright too ) that stops his ears from hearing of bloud ) his ears are tipt with integrity ) and shuts his eyes from seeing evil , ( he looks with an upright eye . ) thus you see he is upright all over . let him deal with friends or enemies , with godly or ungodly , with wise or foolish , you may trust him , for he stands in awe of his god , and of himself . he hath not one heart for his religion , and another for his bargains and calling : but studies the scripture and drives his life into it , as near as he can . this is to obey gods voice indeed . and from this perfection flows an excellent evenness of conversation , so that queen elizabeths motto well becomes his life , semper eadem , still the same . 2. this uprightness shines in the plainness of his life . there are few criticisms in the life of an upright man. he 's plain and that 's his prayer , psal. 27. 11. lord lead me in a plain path , that 's my desire . he hath no quirks , or tricks of legerdemain . if he cannot stand by plain dealing , he 'l fall by it : when he trades and bargains , though he be discreet and careful , yet he is plain : when he reproves a fault or advises , he is sober , wise and affectionate , but still he is plain : his discourse and sermons though elaborate , yet still plain . among his very enemies though he be cautious and considerate , yet there he is plain also : lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies . he is like him , that wisht his body were made of chrystal , that his sincerity might be transparent . such was that martyr , whom the persecutors requir'd to discover his companion , whom they were prosecuting , promising to him his own life for the discovery , and so either by denying his knowledge of the place of his friends abode , or by betraying it , he might have saved his own life ; after a little pause , breaks out into these words , mentiri non possum , prodere nolo , i cannot lye , and i will not betray him ; and so laid down his life , to save one of the brethren . here was an upright man , that would not tell a lye to save a life , that had rather dye than lye . he will be plain , though he suffer for it . but how generally is this plainness banisht out of the world ? every man almost walking in a vain shew , disguizing their intentions , looking one way and rowing another , that the tropicks are not more distant , than most mens intentions are from their actions . and so i come to the object about which this uprightness of life is conversant . sect . xiii . ii. the object of an upright life follows , which is 1. words . 2. deeds or actions . 1. the upright man is sincere in his words , ps. 15. 2. he walketh uprightly and speaketh the truth in his heart . his heart is inditing a good matter , and thereof his tongue is the pen of a ready writer . and indeed that is the genuine use of words , to be the interpreters of the heart and mind . and therefore that is a black brand set on our neighbour nation , that they use not to sing as they prick , nor to read as they write , nor to speak as they think ; which if true , would render their society more intollerable , than the brutes themselves . the upright man perhaps cannot speak elegantly but he can speak truly ; he cannot flourish his letters , but he can write a plain secretary ; and his words you may believe , more than others oathes . if you would see a fuller view of him as who would not delight in such asight ? these foyles will set him off . 1. an upright man is a greater hater of flattery . he cannot abide to be either active or passive in it . he rather desires to know the worst of himself than to hear the best ; for that open rebuke is better than secret love , and he knows that unjust praises are more dangerous than unjust slanders . and then for others , if he might get all the town by it , he cannot give flattering titles to any man , or extol any thing in any body , for his own ends . how fair an opportunity had micaiah , to have gain'd his liberty , and the favour of two potent kings , if he could have sooth'd ahab in his vanity ? but prison or no prison , he could not flatter . how easily might paul have come off before foelix , with a smooth oration , if he had learn'd to have courted him and his drusilla with a panegyrick of praise ? but he rather chose to speak of temperance , righteousness and judgment to come ; so to save them , rather than sooth them in their sins . 't is true , he loses many an one by this plain dealing , whom he might have kept by his flattery ; but these are better lost , than kept , job 32. 22. i know not , saith elihu , to give flattering titles , in so doing my maker would soon take me away . these acts are below a man , much more below a christian ; and generally there is unsoundness in the heart , or baseness in the ends of those that use them . it s true , a man may without any breach in his uprightness , give another his due praises , when there is just occasion so to do ; but to exceed bounds herein , and that out of any base design , of procuring the like again , or for worldly profit , is very far from true sincerity . a false heart and a flattering tongue usually go together . prov. 26. 23. burning lips and a wicked heart , are like a potsheard cover'd over with silver dross . no man so likely to have a tongue , and a tongue , as he that hath an heart , and an heart . 2. an upright man is a great hater of lying . a sin that is directly contrary to the nature of sincerity . i may not inlarge upon the kinds or aggravations of this sin : whole sermons , yea volumes are little enough to overthrow it , it is so common and so dangerous . if a lye will save their credit , few will lose it ; if a lye will gain any thing , few will sit down by loss ; if a lye will shelter one from anothers anger , thousands will venture the displeasure of the eternal god , before that of a silly worm ; and chuse to have their head broken , that their helmet may be spared . o the woful havock of mens consciences by this sin ! now an upright man abhors a lye , he knows that the god of truth desires truth in the inward parts , and hath in him a particular antipathy to this sin . dress it in what clothes you will , call it a jesting lye , an officious lye , what lye you will ; he likes it not , his heart rises against it , psal. 119. 163. i hate and abhor lying , two words for failing , to shew his great hatred of this sin . be it with him or against him , the upright man will speak the truth . whereas an hypocrite as he is nothing else but a lye , so he can swallow them as fast as occasion serves . poor man ! thou wouldst not speak it , if the man that stands by thee saw into thy heart , and how darest thou speak it , when the holy and true god sees into thy heart , and can choke thee with thy dissembling words ? 3. an upright man hates all equivocations and mental reservations . that is , he speaks his words in a sense that he would have them construed in , and keeps no part of a sentence in his mind , to contradict what he pronounced with his mouth , especially with an intent to injure another . such was that jugling trick we read of cydias , that being betrusted by archetimus with a sum of mony , afterwards flatly denies it . there being no witness to prove the truth , cydias is summon'd to his oath before the altar , and a great assembly ; he quilts the mony in his staffe , and going to take his oath , gives archetimus his staffe to hold the while , and then confidently swears he had given him back his money : but this deceit lasted not long , for archetimus seeing his perjury , in a rage throws down his staffe ; it breaks and the fraud is found . and such is the usual issue of such equivocations . the upright man hath no skill at this ; he knows if the plain truth will not bear him out , these cunning shifts never can . my brethren , it beseems not the plain-heartedness of a christian to speak like the delphian oracle , to be understood in two contrary sentences . the romans themselves would not so much as hear those embassadors that were painted , saying , how shall we believe them whose very face and looks do lie ? an upright man if he do not speak all his heart , yet will speak according to his heart . he loves not to walk with a dark lanthorn , much less to deal with false lights but plain genuine are his expressions without , and fair and candid is his heart within . 4. an upright man greatly hates promise breaking , whether it be to god or men . a great note of integrity in jephthah , judg. 11. 35. i have opened my mouth to the lord , and i cannot go back it was a rash vow , but conscience of the obligation brake all other considerations , which in his case might have been many , and he chose rather to have his very heart broken , than his word . it is enough for a subtile polititian , to have distinctions and evasions ready to help himself out of the straightest bonds , the upright man delights not after vows to make inquiry . well advised every man should be , before he binds himself in any thing to the lord , but when his soul is fast , let him be very well advised , how he releases himself : for there is nothing doth more prostitute the conscience , and utterly undo men , than being fast and loose with god in sacred vows and promises . the same abhorrence hath the upright man of breaking his word with men ; and thereupon his word is as good as his bond . if he bids so much for a commodity , he seldom shrinks but gives it ; if he bargain to his prejudice , yet he changes not : the scarceness of the thing , the rising of the market cannot prevail with him , to rescind his punctual agreement ; whether he gain or lose , he will not lose his honesty nor his reputation . o what a golden age would return unto us , if men were but plain in their dealing , and punctual in their performances ? and unworthy is it for a man , a christian man to be so vile , that no body can believe him , nor trust him . how will that atilius regulus rise up in judgment and condemn this generation , who being prisoner at carthage , and assur'd of his own death , if he fail'd in his negotiation ; was set at liberty to effect a peace at rome , upon the single security of his own word , to return if he fail'd to procure it : but such was his publick spirit , that he effectually disswaded his countrymen from a peace , assuring them of a certain conquest ; and such the integrity of his spirit , that after this , he fairly return'd and accepted of a cruel death , rather than infringe his word . ten thousand pities such heroick acts should be lost , for want of a right principle ; and ten thousand shames , that christians should break their word for a groat , while pagans will not do it for their lives . sect . xiv . secondly , an upright man is sincere in his deeds or actions , isa. 33. 15. he walketh righteously , as well as speaketh uprightly . as his words are a true commentary upon his heart , so his actions are a true exposition upon his words . whatsoever office or relation he stands in , he adorns it with integrity . the upright judge , when he puts on his robes , puts off his worldly relations . the upright justice of the peace disdaining to be drawn by favour , or driven by fear besides his duty . the upright counsellour will not plead , when his tongue is confuted by his conscience . the upright juror , without all by respects , esteems the least grain of evidence more weighty than a talent of ophirs gold the upright atturney , when he perceives the cause to be a drop blown up by malice into a bubble , sounds a retreat to his client , though he lose thereby . the upright physician will rather go with an empty purse , than torture either the body or purse of his patient without cause . the upright tradesman will be upright in his words , upright in his weights , and upright ( in his wares , and upright in his rates ) and the upright minister will put on his thummim , ( that is , uprightness , a word derived from that in my text ) as well as urim , and rather lose the love of ten by his plain dealing , than the soul of one by dissimulation and unfaithfulness . thus uprightness like a silver thread is drawn through the whole course of the sincere christian : and he that is upright , is upright every where : and that i may set out this holy course by its most proper opposites , 1. an upright man is a great enemy to craftiness or subtlety . though he studies to be wise , yet he delights not in cunning. craft is wisdom degenerated , it is wisdom devested of honesty . a tang of this was in that practise of rebecca , gen. 37. 35. to procure the blessing for jacob by a wile . but it cost him many a sweating day , and many a frosty night : guile and guilt go hand in hand , job 15. 5. thy mouth utters thy iniquity , and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty . carnal policy was never friend to inward piety ; though it sometimes wears lambs wool without , yet it is alwayes lin'd within with the foxes furre : but the true and holy god disappoints the devices of the crafty , and drives the counsels of the froward headlong , job 5. 12. an upright man is clear in his thoughts , and though discreet , yet candid and fair in his dealings . and i doubt not to affirm , there is no lawful calling under heaven , but may be managed without this sinful craftiness . away then with that idle pretence , that without it few tradesmen can subsist . cursed is that trade that cannot stand without sin , saith worthy mr. capel . better beg than sin , better starve than damn . well fare the integrity of those noble athenians , who in their war against the rest of greece , were told by themistocles , that he had a stratagem against their enemies , but it was not to be told publickly : so they wisht him to tell it to aristides . he tells him it was to set the arsenal on fire , where all the ships of the grecians lay . aristides presently told the people , his design was indeed profitable , but not just ; and thereupon it was exploded by them all . certainly the greatest wisdom in the world is to be a right honest man. 2. an upright man is a great enemy to time-serving . there is a wise and faultless observing the times ; the men of issachar it should seem were good at it , 2 chron. 12. 32. they had understanding of the times to know what israel ought to do . not only meant of weather-wisdom by rural observations ; but also that by deduction from former , they could make directions for future times : and so he is compar'd to an ass , gen. 49. 14. for the strength of his back , not the stupidity of his head . a point of great wisdom to know what to do , according to the will of god , in every turn of providence , or change of condition , and in every company we come in . but there is a culpable temporizing when a man hath so master'd his conscience , and reduced it to that ready flexibleness , that for worldly ends he can think , and speak , and act , one way , this day , this month , this year , and next day , next month , next year another way ; can set his sails to every wind , please every body , to profit or preserve himself : can turn , return , overturn , any turn to serve his own turn . and this temper is directly opposite to that uprightness we are describing . the upright man is deliberate in chusing and setling his principles , but a thousand worlds shall not alter him without clear evidence in his conscience . he is not a twining willow , but a sturdy oak ; and whether the point he differ in , be small or great , if a matter of conscience , though he will not be factious , troublesome , or uncharitable ; yet all the rhetorick or rigour on earth , will not remove an upright man from his course , till god do make the business clear upon his conscience . how far the blast of temptation may , for a time , bend or bow a sincere christian , or how long , no man can determine : the best are frail enough , and they who are most censorious of others warpings , would perhaps fall more foully , if they lived under their temptations : but this base obsequiousness is no part of the mans uprightness , when the snare is broken , the sincere man will come to himself , and there abide . 3. an upright man is a great enemy to defrauding of others . he that studies that most righteous law , mat. 7. 12. whatsoever ye would that men should do to you , do ye also to them , and hath it written in his very heart , as that heathen emperor had it written in each room of his house , will abominate this most wretched practice . for which of you would be cheated , or defrauded by another ? would you think it well to have a crack't estate offered to you ? an unsound beast , or unproveable wares , imposed upon you ? a blear-eyed leah instead of a beautiful rachel put upon you ? you would condemn and dislike it . open the book of your own consciences , they will tell you that it is hateful therefore , to deal so with another . the upright man considers , that he is not born only to promote his own profit ; that he should love his neighbour as himself ; that all his bargains and doings in the world , will be tryed again , and therefore let others do as they will , so will not he because of the fear of god , neh. 5. 15. he is one that hath laid this law upon himself , rather to suffer the greatest injury , than to do the least : and that because he sees more evil in the least sin , than in the greatest suffering . besides the remembrance he hath , and the dread of that 1 thes. 4. 6. that no man go beyond or defraud his brother in any matter , because the lord is the avenger of all such . the conscience of his duty , and rooted liking of truth and equity , doth above all things steer him in these matters . he knows that there is as much honesty in stealing the money out of his purse , or robbing him by the way , as in a wilful cheating or defrauding him , and therefore he will not do it in any matter . that god who will stay for his own worship , till a man hath undone his injury , mat. 5. 23 , 24●… leave thy gift at the altar , &c. will never accept our most zealous service while we sleep with such unjust gain . alas ! estates so rais'd are like that eagles nest , that was consum'd with fire , by the coal that cáme with the meat she stole from the altar ; there is a fatal curse comes with such gain , that at length destroys all the rest of a mans well-gotten goods . now uprightness stands in a direct opposition to such indirect courses . he knows that he who hath clean hands , shall be stronger and stronger , job 17. 9. when on the other side ( to use a great statesmans proverb ) frost and fraud shall end in foul. 4. an upright man ( to finish the rude draught of this divine portrait ) is an enemy to all manner of injustice : whether in respect of distributive , or commutative righteousness . if the lord place him in authority , he is the greatest hater of bribes , and the least respecter of persons , isa. 33. 15. he shaketh his hands from holding of bribes , as if he were afraid to be burnt in the hand with them . he will never revenge his private injury by the publick execution , nor heed the merit of the pers●… against the merit of the cause . it was the encomium of fabricius that famous roman , that one might perswade the sun from its course , as soon as divert him from his upright and honest dealing . such is our upright man in office , blind to faces , deaf to cries , and dead to threats and promises . and then for commutative justice and dealing between man and man , you have his character before ; he indeavours to cleave an hair , and doth exercise himself to have alwayes a conscience void of offence , towards all men , acts 24. 16. and so he raises an estate slowly , but he builds surely , as he goes , and the generation of the upright after him shall be blessed . and thus you see his profession and his practise are in the same tale . god helps him to spin an even thread throughout . he is the same in the camp below , for the main , as in the mount above , and there is a looking-glass in his words and actions , through which you may see his heart . it s true , this unbyassed and steadfast course occasions him often much trouble in the world , and he goes for a singular , a precise , an obstinate man with them that know him not . and because he will humour none , he is often box't on both sides , and finds livies observation true , media via nec parit amicos , nec tollit inimicos ; his impartial honesty neither finds friends , nor abates his enemies ; [ the uprightest arbitrators please neither party , ] yet for all this , the comfort of his conscience feasts him , and before the scene be taken down , he shall lose nothing by his integrity , psal. 37. 37. mark the perfect man , and behold the upright : for the end of that man is peace . mark heedfully this man , i but how can we know him ? uprightness is a character written out of mans sight and reading ; why thus , where ever you find a mans words and wayes upright , you are bound to think his heart is upright also . this is the law of charity , this is the law of equity . but what will be the end of him ? the end of that man is peace . he may meet with disquiets in his beginning , and troubles in the middle , but the end of that man is peace : yea there is no end of that mans peace . for that god that will not , that cannot lye , hath said it , with the upright man will i shew my self upright . and thus at length you see wherein stands the uprightness of a man. sect . xv. and , now sirs , if all this goes to make an upright man , what shall i say ! where dwell these upright men ? how very few is the number of them ! the wise man was in the right , prov. 20 6 , 7. most men will proclaim every one his own goodness : but a faithful man who can find ? it is a general course for most men to blow their own trumpet , and fetch about most of their stories and discourses to end in themselves , and to set out their own goodness ; but a faithful true right man , who can find ? the next verse will shew him you , the just man walking in his integrity . that 's the man in the bible , if we could match him in the world. i doubt not but there are many such in the world , but verily there are few such in comparison ; so resign'd to god , resolved for god , such single-hearted , sound-hearted , sincere-hearted , whole-hearted , plain-hearted men ; such inward , universal and constant christians ; persons of that simplicity , purity , perfection , and plainness of life and conversation ; such enemies to flattery , lying , equivocation , promise-breaking , craftiness , time-serving , defrauding and injustice . good lord ! how rare are these on earth in this age. we are faln into an age of atheists , scorners , brutes , hypocrites , and we may sadly say with the prophet , mic. 7. 4. the best of them is a bryar , the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge . innocent religion , and sober piety is hooted out of the world ; and upright men derided , who if they were throughly known , would rather almost be adored . my brethren , there are but few folks that bid likely for heaven , if this be an upright man. the judgment of charity is one thing , but when gods judgment of verity comes , the case will alter . very , very few will hold weight by this ballance , and as i need not , so i know not that i have made more adoe than needs , or cut the way to heaven narrower than it is . it is reported of pachomius the famous abbot among the ancients , that the 1300 monks he governed , he divided according to the greek letters into four and twenty classes or ranks , and sorted each to that letter that hinted his condition , as under iota the plain single-hearted person , and under xi the close intricate person , &c. if we should rank christians thus , how many would be crowded under the last letter , and how few under the first ! and what need then ( trow you ) had we to mourn for the fewness of upright men , and to judge our selves exactly , lest we should be found to be none of them . and thus we are brought to the second point to be handled , and that is , how god shews himself an upright god to such a man. chap. ii. of the uprightness of god. that with an upright man , god will shew himself upright , is evident , for 1. it is agreeable to his nature , psal. 25. 8. good and upright is the lord. he is an upright god , and therefore loves uprightness . how can he chuse then but shew himself upright to an upright man ? simplicity is gods first attribute , and simplicity is the upright mans chief property ; there must needs therefore be a singular kindness between these two . 2. it is agreeable to his method . all stories divine and humane shew thi●… to be his usual way . witness noah , he was upright in a rotten age , and the lord was not behind with him : witness abraham , who walked before him and was upright , and god though he was long , yet he was sure in rewarding him ; so to caleb , so to job , so to david , to all : no man can come out , and charge god with neglect , or unfaithfulness towards him herein . 3. it is agreeable to his honour and interest . it is a princes honour and interest to stick to his faithful and upright servants , or else he will quickly have none such about him . he would rather lose a world than lose his honour ; and therefore in this psalm he is brought in , overturning the earth rather than leave upright david to his enemies . if fidelity and kindness will win him servants , satan shall have but a few . he can boldly implead all the world , much more his people , mic. 6. 3. o my people what have i done unto thee ? testifie against me . he would scorn to deal by his servants as satan doth , drive them into a snare , and there leave them ; promise them a world , and pay them with an hell. 4. it is agreeable to his promise , psal. 97. 11. light is sown for the righteous , and joy for the upright in heart . however this seedness may be wet and sad , yet they shall have a joyful harvest . if any man on earth can lay claim to the promises , it is the upright man. what an unspeakable comfort is this , to lay the finger of faith on any promise in the bible , and say confidently this is mine ? say no more i am weak and useless and sinful , art thou upright ? his word is past , and there 's an end , all the promises in this blessed bible are in travail to be delivered into thy heart . to the upright man he will shew himself upright . and that in these particulars . sect . i. i. in over-looking his infirmities . this was hezekiahs prayer at that famous passeover , 2 chron. 30. 18 , 19 , 20. the good lord pardon every one that hath prepared his heart to seek god , though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary . and the lord hearken'd to hezekiah . there were divers really upright , yet not rightly and fully purified as you may see , 2 chron. 29. 34. for the levites were more upright in heart to sanctifie themselves , than the priests . here were upright levites , yet not sufficiently purified , but hezekiah obtained for them a pardon of course , for they had done what they could , and the lord had mercy on them . a very great comfort for ministers or people , that through straits of time , or any unavoidable hindrance , are not rightly sitt●…d and furnished for their respective duties ; and are afraid to come , and more afraid to stay away ; the good lord will pardon such a one , it was an oversight , the heart was sound at the bottom , and god will never break with any of his for an infirmity . compare saul and david , saul had foolishly ( at most covetously ) spared agag , and a prey , and he is cast off for it and loseth his kingdom . david defiles the wife , and then kills the husband , and he is spar'd : he is , its true , sorely beaten , but not turn'd out of doors . again , take peter and judas . judas through covetousness betrays his master , and peter through fear denyes and forswears him . judas is sent by the gallows into hell , and peter is receiv'd into mercy . and why this different dealing ? why , david was in the bent of his heart upright before god , and saul in the bottom of his heart was for himself ; peter resolved to lose his life before he would forsake his saviour , and judas never followed him but for the bag . and therefore the lord graciously pardons the unwilling infirmities of his people , for he sees the integrity of their hearts . as a faithful husband is more satisfied with the bewailed failings of his poor wife , than with the studied observances of an adulteress ; so the lord our god he can better connive at , and bear with the mourn'd for infirmities of his dear children , than with the fain'd compliance of rotten hypocrites . and what a treasure of comfort is this for you that fear god ? and let none else meddle with it ; your infirmities are many , and your fear great , lest they should sink you for ever : you have such raging passions , brutish lusts , frequent distractions , base distrust , un-heavenliness of heart out of ordinances , and dulness in them ; these are your burden , these your fear : now all these are within the grant of pardon made in the cov●…nant of grace , and you that are upright in heart , if any in the world , have an undoubted interest therein ; and so are forgiven in heaven , and will be forgiven in your consciences , so far as is good for you , and shall be forgiven at the last day . and you have gods word for it , psal. 32. 1 , 2. blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven , whose sin 〈◊〉 covered . but who is he that may claim this blessing ? verse 2. in whose spirit there is no guile , that is an upright man , that is no hypocrite . when therefore you have fallen into sin , do not sit poring and questioning your eternal state , but speedily and seriously set about the work of repentance and faith in the blood of christ , that you may be made whole . indeed after some great fall , or extraordinary fit of spiritual slumber , it is not amiss to clear and resettle the ground work , ( so far may the building be decayed , that it may be easier to build anew , than to repair the old . ) but it is neither wisdom nor duty upon every slip to condemn your state , or to conclude , that because you are wounded or sick , therefore you are dead . question your act , but not your state , condemn your acts of sin , but do not condemn your state of grace , nor brew more tears than you need to drink . for supposing you to be true men to god , resign'd to him , resolv'd for him , and walking with him , to your power , he hath graciously promised to pardon iniquity , transgression and sin , sins of all sorts and sizes of them that fear him and hope in his mercy . and mark it for your com●…ort , that it belongs to gods truth and uprightness to pardon such a sinner . 1 joh. 1. 9. if we confess our sins , he is faithful and just , to forgive 〈◊〉 our sins , and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness . it is happy for us that we can plead mercy to god for pardon , but when we do uprightly confess and forsake our sins , we may plead his justice and faithfulness . o lord , as thou art just and faithful , bestow a pardon on me , i beg it in the uprightness of my heart , bestow it in the uprightness of thy word . for thou hast said , with the upright man i will shew my self upright . sect . ii. ii. the lord will shew himself upright to an upright man , in defending his person . he is made sometimes the butt of malice . hell and earth conspire against him , as in this psalm , vers . 4 , 5. snares of death , flouds of ungodly men , sorrows of hell all bent against him . a plain argument of the sad de●…eneracy of mankind , to be so desperately set against the image of god in man , and hate those that never did them wrong , and that for his sake that alwayes doth them good ; yet so is the case , the most innocent man cannot escape by them unto heaven , without many onsets ; they bend their bow and lay their snares , can hardly sleep for rage . wrongs and scorns , and fines and prisons are their usual charity ; he that departs from evil , ever makes himself a prey . the generality of the world are alienated from the life of god , and enemies in their minds to all that live it ; and o that i could speak and write it in tears of grief and compassion ! a drunkard , a swearer , a whoremonger may live quietly by them . he that never read the scriptures , that never prays with his family , shall have all their good will , and go quietly by them into destruction : but if a mans conscience be once awakened , if he retrive his course , and fall to earnest prayer , change his company and sinful courses , dare not prophane the sabbath , or take gods name in vain , or swear as before , then up do all his neighbours rise against him , watch him , censure him , malign him , and ( if possible ) ins●…are him ; while he ( poor heart ) thinks them no hurt , prays for them , and only strives to save his own soul , and others if he can . but here you may rest safoly , prov. he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly ! the buckler covers the souldier , and god cove●… the upright man. they must shoot through god , that can wound you to your 〈◊〉 . they hit him in the eye , that aim at you ; and they that will incounter him , meddle not with their match , exod. 19. 4. i bear you on eagles wings . other fowls bear their young in their claws , so that the fowler may kill the young , and the old one be safe ; but the eagle carrie●… her young on her wings ; so that who wounds the young , must shoot through the dam : so doth god carry his upright ones ; god will suffer before them , the lord will suffer with them , deu●… . 32. 11. as the eagle — spreadèth abroad her wings , taketh her young and beareth them on her wings ; so the lord , &c. that is a sweet word , psal. 7. 10. my defence is of god , which saveth the upright in heart . thou hast perhaps no great friend to shelter thee , nor great estate to ranso●…e thee , but thou hast a great god for thy defence , whose work and care it is to save the upright in heart . i am thy shield , saith god to abraham , fear not : if omniscience be able to see , and omnipotence able to help , thou art sure enough . and therefore fear not thou worm jacob , and ye men of israel : i will help thee , saith the lord , isa. 41. 14. a worm is a poor creature that few love , and none fear , so are the seed of jacob persons that few love , and none fear , and such are most obnoxious to dangers ; yet sayes god , fear not thou werm . a worm in the hand of god can withstand a world ; and the gates ( the utmost power and policy ) of hell shall not prevail against one upright man , prov. 13. 6. righte●…ness keepeth him that is upright in the way ? his inno●…ence is his shi●…ld , and the eyes of the lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth , to shew himself strong , in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him . his all-seeing eye , his all-ruling provid●…nce is imployed in finding out all the designs of your enemies , to frustrate them or over-rule them , and to secure you whose hearts are perfect or upright before him . how secure would you be against a subject by such a word from a king ? and may you not rest more on his word , who is the king of kings ? if you have his pass you may go safe enough , even through armies of aliens . observable is that story in josephus , of gods special providence this way . the emperor caligula commands petronius , his deputy in judea , to set up his image in the temple . the jews ( ever since their captivity , ●…een against idolatry ) b●…g and crave , and at length offer their necks and lives to him , rather than admit such a profanation . petronius pities their condition , and forbears to execute his masters command . but the emperor is inraged , and sends his deputy a letter to slay himself , the usual doom of such persons . but caligula shortly dyes , and his letter meeting with some delay , was not brought unto petronius , till just after he had received the news of his death ; and thus he escaped . behold the admirable providence of god to those that stand upright . go forth therefore in your might , consider your duty and faithfully do it . take no sollicitous care what shall befall you . study not events , but study your work ; not what man or devils will do , but what you ought to do , and not an hair of your head must fall to the ground . wickedness proceeds from the wicked , but with the upright man he will shew himself upright . sect . iii. iii. the lord will shew himself upright to this man , in strengthning his graces , and prospering him in his soul. his graces are weak , his bones dried , his soul is poor and needy . he is poring a whole week by times to find one plain evidence , one evident grace of god ; but having an upright heart , and being a plant of gods planting , they shall increase and grow up as the calves of the stall . the child painted on the wall , that grows not , unless it grows more dim ; but the child in the bosome , that hath a principle of life ; though it cryes it grows ; though sick sometimes yet grows , and at length grows a strong and lusty man : so in this case , the painted hypocrite hath no cubit added to his stature ; no , he grows worse and worse , his varnish wears off , and nothing remains at length but a sepulchre without paint . but an upright man though he groan he grows ; though he have some qualms , and doubts , and troubles , yet he gets ground , and ( though insensibly ) gathers strength . it cannot be , but that a sincere heart who is diligent in the means of grace , must be changed from glory to glory , mic. 2. 7. do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly ? certainly they do ; he receives good , though he perceive it not . as a living man , that feeds heartily , must needs gather strength , unless he have some predominant disease upon him ; though perhaps he perceive not at every meal renewed strength : so an upright man , being truely alive to god through jesus christ , and careful in the use of all gods ordinances , must needs increase his spiritual strength , though perhaps he sees no present profit by this prayer , or that sermon , unless he lye under the tyranny of some imperious sin for a time , prov. 10. 29. the way of the lord is strength to the upright ; which most properly may dignifie , that religion secures an upright man , according to the last point ; but it is most true in this sence , the wayes of god and godliness are strength , and bring strength to the upright . he that is planted in the house of the lord , shall still bring forth fruit . — to shew that the lord is upright , psa. 92. 13 , 14. it is one thing to be placed in the house of the lord , so many a carnal gospoller is , hath a seat there and appears there from one years end to another ; but it is another thing to be planted there , to have a root of knowledge , repentance , and uprightness , and such must needs grow , and go from strength to strength . be not therefore discouraged , o ye of upright heart , for your grain of mustard-seed will become a tree ; though your graces seem weak , they shall be strong : to him that hath shall be given , and he shall have abundance . you have a little faith and love , habenti dabitur . god hath said it , you shall have abundance : despise not the day of small things , ply your oars , the ship is passing though you think it stands still , and you will be at the shore ere you be aware , ephes. 6. 24. grace be with all them that love our lord jesus christ in sincerity . here 's that blessing that reaches even you . [ grace ] all grace , of all sorts and sizes , [ be with ] it may be with you , though it appear not to you , [ with all ] in all ages of the church , and in all places of the world , [ that love our lord jesus christ ] perhaps thou canst not preach for christ , write , nor consult , nor fight for christ , nor but thou canst love jesus christ. thou canst love him as a lord to rule thee , as a jesus to save thee , as a christ to teach thee : why , here 's grace in the promise , in the blessing for thee . but christ must be loved ( in sincerity ) jesus christ , himself , and jesus christ for himself . and then be assured that grace shall be multiplied to such a soul. as it is gods judicial method when men are resolv'd to go on in sin , to give them up , rev. 22. 11. he that is filthy let him be filthy still : so when a man is uprightly bent to serve him , he spurs them on with his word and spirit , saying , he that is righteous let him be righteous still , and thus herein to the upright man , he shews himself upright . sect . iv. iv. the lord shews himself upright to the upright man , in hearing his prayers , prov. 15. 8. the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the lord : but the prayer of the upright is his delight . no musick so sweet to men , as sincere prayers are to god. the upright man delights to pray , and the upright god delights to hear . how pleasant is the childs first language to the father ? he had rather hear it than an elegant oration ; and the reason is , first , it is his own child , and secondly , it speaks ( poor thing ) as it thinks ; there is no colour upon its words , nor dissimulation in them : even so the prayers of the upright man are most welcome to god his heavenly father , for the child is his own , and then his prayer is the counterpane of his heart . he cries against his sin , and also he hates it : he sues for grace , and he doth heartily long and indeavour for it : and hearts can come into heaven , when words must stand at door . he gets out of the hearing of many a starch't oration , but psal. 145. 18. he gets nigh to them that call upon him , to them that call upon him in truth . o when confessions are the sad note of a bleeding heart ; when supplications are the real breath of an hungry soul , the lord listens to such melody . there is a vast difference between the formal note of a young beggar , and the sensible cries of him that is half starved : we neglect the former , and are ready to serve him only with reproof ; but when the other cries that begs in truth , his face cries , his rags cry , his tears cry , the whole beggar cries , then we draw out our heart and hand unto him ; even so doth our gracious god , he slights and hates affected words , coming from an unaffected heart ; but when the heart comes up with them , then he comes , and brings his alms with him , and his reward before him . o what incouragement should this give to an upright heart ! thou hast an ear for god , and he hath an ear for thee . thou art ready and quick in thy obedience , he is as quick and ready in his audience ; thou art punctual to yield to him in any thing , he is punctual to yield in any thing unto thee . in a word , thou art resolved to do his will , he is resolved to do thine . hence l●…ther boldly , fiat voluntas mea quia tua est , let my will be done , because it s thine . thine are broken prayers , but they are upright prayers . there is no rhetorick in them , ●…but there is logick in them , there are arguments that will conquer god himself . there is no argument on earth like integrity , nor in heaven like the blood of christ. object . ah , but then i fear my state , and doubt of my sincerity , in that i have pray'd long for such a child , for a better memory , for strength against some sins , and have received no answer ; and so may conclude my self a very hypocrite . answ. 1. god often delights in prayer , when he seems to deny it , and never denies his servants but when the deni●… is better then a grant . you must distinguish between delaying and denying : our god delayes , to try us , not to deny us , to make us cry the louder ; so he put off jacob to whet him on the more ; seem'd to be weary of his company , but he would not pass so ; lames him , yet hee 'l pray , and wrestle on one leg rather then give out : so the woman of canaan . drink is more welcome , when very thirsty ; and when the lord sees you cannot be without a mercy , you shall have it . and then the greatness of the mercy , shall pay for the length of its stay ; and like money at interest , so your pray●…s which have been long on the file , shall bring the greater increase back again . answ. 2. god often hears our prayers , when we perceive it not . in this sence he speaks once and twice , yet man perceives it not , psal. 138. 3. in the day when i cried , thou answeredst me , and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. on the same day that his letter was sent , he had an answer , and what was it ? why , he was strengthned with strength in his soul. if he were not answered in the letter , yet he was answered in the better . he often gives gold , when we ask for silver . if he denied abraham for ismael , he gave him isaac . he denies moses canaan , but gave him heaven . sometimes our thirst for more , makes us think we have received none . as rich covetous people never have enough , because their desires are insatiable . when you are arrived at heaven , you shall see that the lord did book every petition and answer it , in the best manner for you . it may be you are denied for one child , but god gives it you for another ; or perhaps the grandchild reaps the prayers that you sowed for the father . the lord gives you not a stronger memory , but yet bestows on you a softer heart ; you discern no strength against some sins , yet you have deeper throws of repentance for them . still this is a truth inviolable , that the upright mans prayer , when it is put up in christs name , for things agreeable to gods will , is graciously heard and answered in mercy . let not therefore your fathers seeming denials trouble you ; for our wise god sometimes yields to the suits of satan himself , while he demurrs upon the supplications of his own servants , i had almost said of his own son. compare job 2. 5. and luke 8. 32. with gen. 17. 18. and mat. 26. 39. but then his grants to satan are for his greater confusion , and his denials to his children are for their greater consolation . sect . v. v. the lord shews himself upright to the upright man , in comforting him in his straits , psal. 116. 6. the lord preserveth the simple , ( that is , the upright ) i was brought low and he helped me . his integrity freeth him not from the common infirmities of mankind , as wants , sickness , prisons , losses , crosses , unkindnesses , and death it self at last : but his god takes special care to support and comfort him , and at length deliver him . in all these storms he is sure of sunshine , and you know the sun-beams when it shines , do guild every drop that the clouds pour down , and make the storm as a calm : so the face and favour of god , doth refresh the upright in heart , for psal. 11. 7. the righteous lord loveth righteousness , his countenance doth behold the upright . and unworthy is that man of heavens glory , that prefers not the sharpest sickness , the darkest prison , the heaviest cross with the light of gods countenance , before the riches of egypt with his frowns . this made paul and silas sing in prison , when foelix trembled on the throne : and they say , the apostle james was so chearful at his martyrdom , that one that drew him to the tribunal , was converted by it . for death that king of terrours , that dismounts the proudest spirits , the most effectual refuter of all atheists , and surprizer of hypocrites , is disarm'd of all its terribleness by an upright heart . isa. 57. 2. he shall enter into peace , they shall rest in their beds , each one walking in their uprightness . the bed of an hypocrite is a grave , wherein he lyes rotting in his sins ; the grave of an upright man is a bed of spices , wherein his body is at rest , whose soul hath walked before god in his uprightness . o be of good chear then all ye single-hearted ones : the handkerchief of gods love shall wipe away your tears , his cordials shall stay your faintings . the lyons shall roar , and the young lyons suffer hunger , but they that fear the lord shall want no good thing . if wants be good for you , look for them ; if sickness be good for you , be content with it ; if prisons , if losses , if crosses come , they shall do you no hurt : a summo bono nil nisi bonum . every stream of providence , how fierce soever , is turn'd through that promise , all things shall work together for good to them that love god. his properties , his promises , his providences do all smile on the true-hearted man. poor men , your straits may be great ; poor women , your pangs may be sharp ; but all 's for good , yea for the best . god is with you , the great , wise , and holy god. and is this nothing ? are the consolations of god small with you ? if he give quietness , who then can make trouble ? heaviness may indure for a night , but joy cometh in the morning . the story alwayes ends well to the sincere-hearted man , psal. 112. 4. unto the upright ariseth light in the darkness . dark providences may well be born , when clear promises are sealed upon the heart . this was noble hezekiahs comfort , when all forsook him , isa. 38. 3. remember now , o lord , i beseech thee , how i have walked before thee in truth , and with a perfect heart . i have done uprightly with thee , now deal uprightly with me ; now remember , and the lord hath too good a memory to forget such a man in his needs ; he gives him a lease gratis of fifteen years both of life and kingdom . who would not intirely love and serve such a god ? the poor mans friend , the sick mans doctor , yea and bed-maker , the prisoners companion , the true-hearted , the unwearied , the everlasting god , a very present help in trouble . name that strait , wherein god hath not supported or relieved his people ask thy fathers and they shall tell thee , how in six troubles and in seven he hath been with them . all the patriarchs can prove this , abraham , and job , and daniel . speak we only with david , was he not very poor , when he sent to crave of nabal ? god gave him content , and at last plenty : was he not in dreadful hazard in keilah , in gath , in mahanaim ? but he came off well , and dyed in his bed : was he not upon a time very sick , so that some said , an evil disease did cleave to him ? yet god remembred him , and made him safe and sound . all the saints will bear witness for god , that he is no flincher of his friends ; yea at last all men shall say , psal. 58. 11. verily there is a reward for the righteous ; verily he is a god that judgeth in the earth . though things seem to go cross with his poor children , yet take one thing with another , he deals very uprightly with them . in very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me . if they want a fuller table , yet they have a lighter heart ; if they have not such costly clothes , yet they have more healthful constitutions ; if they reach not such vast treasures , yet they can injoy the light of gods countenance , which is far better . artabazus thought himself wrong'd , when cyrus gave him a golden cup at a feast , and to chrysantas only a kiss of respect ; deeming thereby , that he had a lesser portion of kindness , than the other : and shall not we much more value his glorious smiles , above the greatest earthly gifts ? let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth : for his love is better than wine . though you be not delivered from your straits , yet being upheld in them , you are well . it was all one to the three worthies to be kept in the fire , as to be kept out of it . one way or other light shall spring to the righteous , and joy to the upright in heart . sect . vi. vi. the lord shews himself upright to the upright man , in directing him in his doubts , prov. 11. 3. the integrity of the upright shall guide them . many an upright man is under great doubts , and knows not what to believe or what to do . arguments and pleas on both hands , great men on one side , and good men on another , ( for seldom are they both on a side ) likely reasons court his assent either way . the commands of men sometimes countermanded by his conscience , and he wants parts , learning , and judgement to cleave an hair , and state the case exactly , either of faith or fact. now in this case , when he hath us'd the means of resolution , that he is capable of , the integrity of the upright shall guide him . his plain honest heart is neither suspicious of more evil to be in men , or things , then evidently appears ; nor on the other side , doth he study extricating salvo's , or subtle evasions to sleep with a whole skin , and salute the upper party : but according to his best knowledge , he fixes his faith and orders his actions by the rule of gods word , which he knows will best bear him out . an upright man sometimes meets with doubts in matters of faith ; but herein he stands fairest for that promise , which christ hath made , to lead his into all truth . though his integrity may not secure him from error , that it will not ; yet 't will secure him from being an heretick . he hath doubts sometimes about things to be done ; towards god in his worship , towards men in his life . in the former , he studies the will of god in his word , knowing that nothing which is offered to him , will please him , unless directed by him . and for men , he is relieved in most of his doubts by that golden rule , mat. 7. 12. what soever ye would that men should do to you , do ye to them . and lastly , he is perplexed with some doubts about the love of god , and the salvation of his soul ; but here also his integrity so guides him , that he is far from presuming , though he be loth to despair , and the lord gives him comfort from his sincerity , though he want the joyes from assurance . and is not uprightness a choice jewel to lay claim to this guidance ? psal. 25. 8. good and upright is the lord , therefore will he teach sinners in the way . this conducting a poor sinner in the way , flows from his goodness and uprightness , and therefore as long as there is a drop of goodness , or a dram of uprightness in god , the penitent sinner shall never lack a guide . and to this refers that promise , isa. 30. 21. of a voice behind you saying , this is the way , walk ye in it , when ye turn to the right hand or to the left ; alluding ( as some think ) to a schoolmaster prompting his scholar over the shoulder , how he should pronounce his words , when he ( poor child ) is puzzled and knows not what to say : even so will god lead his upright ones in the way that he shall chuse , when they are in the dark ; and you shall find that scripture true , prov. 13. 6. righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way : but wickedness overthroweth the sinner . resolve then in such cases , after you have us'd the means of illumination , as jehoshaphat in another , o lord , i know not what to do , but mine eyes are unto thee . i perceive the blindness of my eyes , but thou seest the uprightness of my heart , i would do thy will if i knew it ; teach me thy way , and i will walk in thy truth : consider my weakness , and neither leave me in perplexing doubts , nor suffer me to erre from thy will. and be sure god will not forsake thee , for it is plain that many an honest heart is preserved in the way of truth , when many of great , but unsanctified parts , have fallen into damning errors : with the upright man he is us'd to shew himself upright . sect . vii . vii . gods uprightness will yet appear , in clearing his integrity . sincerity hath the sweetest visage , but bad men put on it often the foulest vizard , and many a dear saint wears the note of an hypocrite to his grave . though you see that no man is so far from hypocrisie as this man , no sin he hates more , yet this character is usually fastned on our plain-hearted man. it is the subtlety of satan to charge the saints with those sins whereof he is sure they can hardly clear themselves till the day of judgment : and those are commonly these two , 1. covetousness . 2. hypocrisie . both which , for the nature of them , lye so within , that it is almost impossible to refell his charge . hence the apostle is driven in the former to make his appeal to god , 1 thes. 2. 5. for neither at any time us'd we flattering words , as ye know , [ for this you can clear us ] nor a cloak of covetousness , god is witness , [ herein god only can purge us . ] and the like the latter , rom. 1. 9. for the lord is my witness , whom i serve with my spirit , &c. and the upright lord will clear up these mens integrity , first or last . holy david lay under many heavy charges , and that for a long time . how long will ye turn my glory into shame ? naught he was , not fit to live in his own native country , he hatch'd treason against saul , and undermin'd his government , and religion he had none , but at length his righteousness did shine as the noon-day ; saul himself was convinc●…d of his integrity , and acquitted him , though thereby he condemn'd himself . so upright job past for a notorious hypocrite among his enemies , for he was accounted no other by his friends , but the lord brought out his justice , as a lamp that burneth . and what is more common in the world , than to brand every one for an hypocrite , that is but serious in his religion ? if any man do humbly and conscientiously indeavour to live according to his covenant in baptism , do set himself against the world , the flesh , and the devil , and deny the pomps and vanities , wherein the generality of men do wallow ; presently his envious and carnal neighbours , when they can tax him with nothing , condemn him for an hypocrite : his outside is smooth , but inwardly he is an arrand hypocrite : but his upright god , that knows his heart , will clear him sooner or later ; at furthest at that great day of setting things at right . the lord jesus will come with his thousands of saints , jude vers . 15. to convince the ungodly world of all their hard speeches , which ungodly sinners have spoken against him . see here you implacable wretches , this is the man , this the woman , whom you condemn'd for hypocrites ; they were praying for you , while you were cursing them ; i knew their uprightness and will now declare it , thus shall it be done to those i delight to honour , and you must go with a curse into eternal torments . rejoyce in the lord therefore , o ye righteous , and be glad all ye of upright heart . be not dismay'd at mens rebukes , these reproaches do but adde to your crown : and god permits them , to make you search your hearts the more . though these be poor commodities , yet you may make a trade of them , and live the better for them . they charge you with the foxes pranks , and you have the foxes nature . they charge you with one fault , and thereby you find out another ; they write hypocrite , and you subscribe formal , dead , secure , and chief of sinners . and know for your comfort , that your names shall have a resurrection as well as your bodies ; and you shall shine in glory , when your enemies shall only shine in flames . and even in this world your god doth justifie you in their consciences ; the most of them could wish their souls in your souls stead , for all their talk ; at least when pale death stares them in the face , then o let me dye the death of the righteous , and let my latter end be like his . it is not oft that an hypocrite goes undiscovered to his grave ; nor very oft that an upright man dies without the testimony of the centurion , even from men ; certainly this man was a dear child of god. sect . viii . viii . the lord shews himself an upright god to the upright man , in stablishing him to the end : its elementary fire that goes out , the coelestial ever burns , prov. 10. 29. the way of the lord is strength to the upright . he only is the persevering man. the fixed stars appear but small , the blazing star looks far greater ; but the former abide from age to age , and the latter being but exhalations , compounded of corruptible matter , are spent and consumed to nothing ; they had perhaps more eyes fixed on them than on the others , but they waste away : even so an hypocrite may make a greater blaze in his profession , may be more admired and talk't of in the world ; but the real saint is fixed , he abides , no tempest can shake him , he is built on a rock and abideth for ever . the way of the lord is strength to the uprighs : every prayer strengthens him , every sermon strengthens him , yea every temptation ( like the wind to a well-rooted tree ) causeth his roots to spread , and stand the stronger : moved he may be , but not removed , fall he may , but not fall away : and yet an upright tree ( you know ) falls not so soon as that which leans . an upright man never makes a right apostate , psal. 25. 21. let integrity and uprightness preserve me : for i wait on thee . two good props to a weak christian. he may say , lord , i have but weak graces to preserve me , i have no parts or learning , i have few friends to hold me up in thy wayes ; but i have ( thou knowest ) a sincere desire to please and serve thee ; o let integrity and uprightness preserve me , and the rather for that i wait on thee : i wait in the use of the means of perseverance , and i wait by faith upon thy promise . if sincerity will not hold me up , i must fall . he that walks in a narrow way , must not reel ; if he reel he is in danger to fall . the true christian goes in such a way , leaning is next to falling . the upright man walks uprightly , and therefore surely . he hath liv'd to see great scholars , great professors , and great preachers , dwindle to nothing , but by grace he stande . sirs , this is a great comfort , and security to a poor soul ; my stock is small , yet i hope i shall never break . i drive but a mean trade , but i perceive i go not backward : better 〈◊〉 be a mean saint , than a great hypocrite : my heart is sound , i have no secret reserves , i know nothing by my self . i cannot run so fast as others , but i am in the way , that will certainly bring me to gods holy hill , job 27. 5. till i dye i will not remove my integrity from me . my righteousness i hold fast , my heart shall not reproach me as long as i live . among the many needless fears of the servants of god , this is one that disquiets the soul , when god stands only looking on ; namely , shall i hold out ? i am a very weak creature , the fall of one tree shakes another , i have seen great cedars fall ; they were once as confident as i , if tryals come , what will become of me ? study and believe that excellent scripture , jer. 32. 40 , 41. i will make an everlasting covenant with them , that i will not turn from them to do them good . make a stand here poor soul. the eternal true and upright god is entred with thee , even with the weakest and youngest believer , into an everlasting covenant , that for his part notwithstanding all thy infirmities , he will never ( mark ) never turn away from doing thy soul good . o but my fear is , ( saith many an upright heart ) that i shall forsake him , and turn from him , there is my fear . mark what follows then , but i will put my fear in their hearts , that they shall not depart from me . so then as god will not turn from thee , so thou shalt not depart from him , and how then shouldst thou fall away ! and all this is in his everlasting covenant , that ●…annot be disannulled . when therefore your fears come cold upon your hearts , concerning your perseverance , plead this scripture with god , fasten it on your souls , fear not your falling off with a fear of dissidence ; you are allow'd a fear of caution , that will make you stand the faster , but beware of a fear of dissidence , that will make you fall the sooner . look you to the rise , root , and beginning of your religion , and god will look to the end of it . though thy grace was but like a grain of mustard-seed , yet it shall come to be a great tree . job 8. 6 , 7. if thou wert pure and upright — though thy beginning was small , yet thy latter end shall greatly increase . he that hath taken root in christ , can never wholly wither . sect . ix . ix . god will shew himself upright to the upright man , in bestowing outward blessings upon him , prov. 28. 20. a faithful man shall abound with blessings . to these he can make the clearest claim ; of these 〈◊〉 hath the truest tenure : alwayes provided that they be for his good . prov. 14. 11. the house of the wicked shall be overthrown ; but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish . the eyes of the lord are upon him and his house to do him good , from the beginning of the year , to the end of the year . health , wealth , peace , and full contentment shall be heaped on him ; so far as they are good for him . that upright caleb , whose title of honour it was , that he followed god fully , numb . 14. 24. had a double portion ( so the learned say ) in the land of canaan . he that hath the soveraignty over the world , and all that therein is , loves them ; and he that loves gives , and that liberally , prov. 15 : 6. in the house of the righteous is much treasure . we count our friends tokens among our treasure : every loaf of bread , every shilling in his purse , every corn , yea every grass-pile in the field is a friends token to the upright man , so that in his house there is a world of treasure . the upright god doth ( in effect ) say to his angels every day , recommend me to such a child this morning , and carry him from me his daily bread , this or that mercy that is good for him . hence that ample promise , psal. 84. 11. for the lord god is a sun and shield : the lord will give grace and glory : no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly . o blessed promise ! dost thou want direction ? he is a sun : dost thou want protection ? he 〈◊〉 a shield : dost thou want grace ? he will give grace : wouldst thou have glo●…y ? he will give that also : hast thou ●…eed of other good things for thy comfort in this life ? no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk upright●…y . sit down now and think , what thou ●…anst wish or need that is not here promised . and this from that god that cannot deceive , able and resolved to make good his word . put all the worldlings lands , and palaces , and bonds , and bags ●…nto one scale , and this one verse into the other , and try whether will weigh down : you will quickly discern they are lighter than vanity , and this one verse of more weight , than the whole world . rest your weary hearts in this , if health were good for me , i know i should have it : if riches were good for me , i should have them : for i have my upright god in a bond , that he will with-hold no●… good thing from me . nay once more see●… psal. 112. 2 , 3. the generation of the upright shall be blessed : wealth and riche●… shall be in his house , and his righteousness endureth for ever . thy great care and fea●… is about thy posterity ; loe , here 's a promise for them also : the generation of th●… upright shall be blessed . though we cannot certainly be assured of this to every upright mans child , yet this promise gives the upright man more ground o●… hope , than any hypocrite or wicked ma●… in the world hath . there is a stock of your prayers going in heaven , and there is a stock of god promises in the bible , why then shoul●… you distrust ? sooner or later your post●…rity will certainly reap them , either i●… temporal or spiritual mercies ; he ma●… be long , but he will be sure ; the cove●…nant is made with you and yours , an●… the generation to come shall fare the better for your integrity . abraham he hardly injoyed one foot of that land , which fell to him for his true-heartedness , but his posterity had it all . and many an upright man lives and dyes but with an ordinary estate , for he dare not do wrong to grow rich , but the lord remembers his posterity , and his seed shall be mighty in the earth , the generation of the upright shall be blessed . hold on therefore in your integrity , you are in the way of preferment , prov. 21. 21. he that followeth after righteousness findeth life , righteousness and honour ; he finds more than he lookt for : 't is true , the vilest men may be exalted , and the posterity of evil men may be both great and good ; but they have no such promise for it , as you have . they may have fairer houses , finer fare , costlier clothing , but they have a curse with it , and a sad reckoning to come . o therefore for your healths sake , for your estate sake , for your posterities sake , but above all for your souls sake , for an upright gods sake study integrity : be true-hearted , sincere-hearted , and whole-hearted men for god. sect . x. x. god will shew himself upright to his upright ones , in crowning their integrity ; 1. with internal peace : melchizedek was first the king of righteousness , and then king of salem , king of peace ; and where christ hath ingraven sincerity , which is the true righteousness , then follows peace and joy in the holy ghost . there 's no rest but in religion , nor any sound peace but in piety . others may have quiet of conscience , but the upright man hath the testimony of his conscience , that is quite another thing . theirs is but a truce , a dayes sickness will break it . the hypocrite hath a conscience pacified , but what 's this without a conscience puri fied ? it is righteousness and peace that only will kiss each other . the quie●… of most mens consciences , is from thei●… blindness , not from their goodness ; thus the beasts are well , because they know n●… better , fear no worse : thus millions ly●… still and dye like lambs . if these had mor●… knowledge , they would have less quiet . they are like the malefactor in a dungeon , that sees not his misery , or as the bird busie at the chaff , when the net 's unseen : one thundering threat set on by the spirit of bondage , will spoil all their mirth . there can be no true peace , where sin is suffered in quiet . it were well for such as you to be frighted ; cries were your best musick , and tears the best nectar you could drink : you must be let blood or dye , such is your disease that you must be lanc'd or lost . but now , when true grace comes in , after that spiritual conflict that breaks the heart of sin , the conscience hath a sweet peace , or at least ground for it . the law charges , the devil charges , conscience in christs blood , that discharges . he that makes conscience of sin , hath his conscience quit from sin . now i can eat and sleep and go in the dark , my conscience bearing me witness in the holy ghost , though the earth be removed , and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea , yet here 's tranquility . in the world ye shall have tribulation , but in me , saith christ , ye shall have peace ; and this is the fruit of uprightness , isa. 32. 17. and the work of righteousness shall be peace , and the effect of righteousness , quietness and assurance for ever . while francis spira kept on in his upright way , he had a heaven of peace ; but after his sinful compliance , he had not one day or hour of quiet in his soul. and it is recorded that cicero , when dying and reflecting on his warping and temporizing , he cried out , o me miserum , o me nunquam felicem , &c. sincerity and serenity live and dye together . and 2. with eternal glory . there he payes home the upright man for all . when his god leads him into the land of uprightness , psal. 143. 10. there he shall meet with all gods hidden ones , of whom the world was not worthy . ah poor hypocrite ! he knows not what to do , when he dyes ; each step he takes is towards hell ; the longer he lives , the nearer his destruction , job 27. 8. for what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gain'd ( wealth , repute , &c. ) when god hath taken away his soul ? their very hope , which is all the comfort that 's left them , will flee away and leave them in the bryars . but then the upright man shall be some body . here he is a prince unknown , there he enters his kingdom . here he is under a cloud , there the righteous shall shine as the sun for ever and ever . as he that hath an estate in reversion , though he live poor a while , yet the estate will fall , an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away ; and this as sure as god is in heaven , and thy name in the bible , genes . 17. 1. walk before me , and be perfect : i will be thy exceeding great reward . who can desire more than him that is alt ? it will be merry , when the upright god and the upright man , do meet . art thou he that receiv'd my dear son , and resign'd thy heart so freely to him ? art thou he that gave inward , universal , and constant obedience to my will ? art thou he that stuck to me in such and such times and tryals ? art thou he that walked righteously , and spake the truth in thy heart ? come up hither , angels put on his crown , sing an authem ye sons of the morning at my upright servants coming home . come enter thou into the joy of the lord. here live , and love , and rejoyce for ever . psal. 140. 13. surely the righteous shall give thanks to thy name : the upright shall dwell in thy presence . now many a poor upright heart hath hardly a house to cover his head , scarce a bed to rest on , here he must not dwell , and there he must not dwell ; but there is but one life between him , and a glorious palace , whereof the spangled firmament is but the floor . he hath an house pav'd with rubies , and fill'd with saints and angels , like so many suns , and there he shall dwell and sing among them world without end . into that corporation all upright men may come , and their greatest enemies will never follow them . seeming saints will be in the church , none but sincere saints must come into heaven . mat. 5. 8. blessed are the pure in heart , for they shall see god. rejoyce therefore in the lord , o ye righteous , and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart . o what a shout will there be in heaven , when all this blessed tribe meet together , and have christ among them ? and then you shall see , how the righteous lord loveth righteousness , and his countenance doth behold the upright . then shall you be paid for every drop of blood , for every drop of tears , for every step , for every thought that you have laid out for his name . and thus you have the second general point , in my poor manner opened to you , namely , wherein god shews himself upright to the upright man. chap. iii. the application . sect . i. the third thing follows , which is the application : what may we gather hence for the bettering of our minds or manners ? to inform the former , and to reform the latter . use information . for the former . 1. this doctrine proclaims the equity of god. to an upright man he will shew himself upright ; why then his wayes are equal . though clouds and darkness be round about him , [ his wayes be hidden ] yet judgment and righteousness are the habitation of his throne , [ they are alwayes holy , just and equal . ] psal. 97. 2. he that hath a cause to be tryed for land or life , counts it a priviledge that he shall have justice ; and that at least , every man may expect from god. his wayes are equal , though our wayes be unequal , psal. 99. 4. the kings strength ( and who is that but god ? ) loveth judgment , thou doest establish equity . so he doth by his rule and by his example . conclude therefore whatever his dealing is with you or others , that he is righteous in all his wayes , and holy in all his works . the subject cannot alwayes see the reason of his princes method , no nor a child his fathers ; but when they come to the knowledge of them , they magnifie what before they were ready to misconstrue : even so perhaps you understand not the wayes of god towards you or his church ; but be silent before him , for you shall see at the long run , that with righteousness doth he judge the world , and the people with equity . 2. this doctrine pronounces the misery of all hypocrites . for it follows by the rule of contraries , that with such froward pieces , god will show himself froward . he that walks contrary to god , shall have god to walk contrary to him . the way of hypocrisie , as well as of impenitency , is a way of contrariety to god , whose holy law the hypocrite casts behind his back ; it is a way of contrariety to jesus christ , his prophetical chair , his priestly cross , and his kingly throne ; and certainly god will walk contrarily unto them . he will out-wit the subtlest , and overthrow the stubbornest hypocrite on earth . he taketh the wise in their own craftiness , and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong . he that will wrestle with god , shall feel it first or last . the vain hypocrite hopes to over-reach god , to carry his contrivance cleanly ; but let him not be deceived , for god is not mocked : as a man sows , so shall he reap , job 8. 14. his hope shall be cut off , and his trust shall be a spiders web . you see a spiders web to be a very curious work , but its original is from a spiders bowels , and its design to catch poor flies ; and though she be as secure in it as in a castle , yet when the broom comes , down they go . the thread that an hypocrite spins is very fine , but it hath no higher principle than self , nor greater end than to deceive . and though he bless himself in his heart , and sit like a queen in the web that he hath spun , yet when gods besome comes , down he falls into hell , and great is the fall of him . quest. but you will say , who or what i●… an hypocrite ? answ. he is one that hath no affection to the nature of religion , and yet hath an affectation of the name , and reputation of religion : that professes the hatred of sin , and yet cordially loves it : that pretends to love piety , and yet inwardly distasts it ; this is an hypocrite and woe be to him . the keenest scriptures , the sharpest judgments , the hottest torments are the portion of his cup. the very next verse is enough to overwhelm him , with the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward . when infinite patience grows froward , there will be infinite frowardness . none so true a friend , and none so fierce an enemy . proud men , atheists , and hypocrites , god hath a peculiar quarrel with , and they shall feel the weight of his indignation . alas ! sirs , you drive the maddest trade on earth : your profession of piety hazards the losing of this world , and your practise of hypocrisie loseth you the other ; and thus you lose two worlds for want of one upright heart . repent therefore quickly of this your wickedness , & change your course . if holiness be bad , why do you pretend it ? if it be good , why do you abhor it ? what man of reason will put on the shape of one he hates , when thereby he gets only the applause of a few , and loses the love of many ? alas ! you lose the respect of the most on earth by your outside , and of the best in heaven by your inside . o therefore cleanse your hands ye sinners , and purifie your hearts ye double-minded . abominate that course , that besides its own vileness , loseth both god and men , and your selves at last . but as when cheats are lookt after●… they slip away and hide themselves in the throng , so the hypocrite when threatned , will not be convict , and therefore alledges these things . object . 1. general approbation . i am well esteemed , and that among the best : if i were rotten , sure they would find me out . i love good people , and they love me , and how can i then be an hypocrite ? answ. they judge of thee by the judgment of charity , but god will judge thee with the judgment of verity : they neither can , nor will , nor dare be censorious ; but do guess thee to be sound within , because thou art smooth without . their great work lies in assuring their own salvation , and not in questioning others ; and so thou maist go by them to hell unsuspected as judas did by the disciples ; they never dream'd of his hypocrisie , but rather suspected themselves , but this made not his case the safer . and then that you love the people of god , will be difficult to be proved . you like their company ( perhaps ) for some natural , moral , or acquired excellencies in them ; they are well temper'd , civil , learned , intelligent , or perhaps of some use or stead for you ; but alas ! you hate their holiness , and least like them when they are in their most religious frame . you care not for their talk of heaven , when you are pleas'd with their news or discourses upon things on earth . he that loves an holy man for his sanctity , loves them all as far as they are holy , and so the holier the person is , the better you will love him . object . 2. singular obedience . i have perform'd abundance of duties , and have forgone divers sins , and have continued so to do a great while , and can an hypocrite do so ? answ. is there no known duty that lies by you undischarged ? and do you delight in the duties you perform , as well as do them ? do the precepts of the law please you , as well as the promises of the gospel ? and do you live in no known sin with purpose , pleasure and perseverance ? its true , an hypocrite will not alwayes call upon god , but its hard to say how long he may ; certainly , while any of his base ends draw him on . indeed when sharp troubles come for religion , then generally such are weary of it , and utterly deny that which they never delighted in . canst thou now say in the midst of thy multiplied duties , that thou hadst rather do them , than not do them ? dost thou only use prayer , or chuse prayer ? dost thou only avoid sin , or abhor sin ? that is something , or else that pharisee , luke 18. shall be justified , as soon as thou . object . 3. quiet of conscience : my own heart condemns me not , that is most privy to my own estate , and would be ( surely ) most faithful to me in this weighty case ; nay , it is more against an hypocrite , than any other sinner . answ. remember that a conscience pacified , is not alwayes a sign of a conscience purified . if conscience be not blinded , it will see ; if it be not bribed , it will speak ; if it be not brawny , it will feel : but if it have been curb'd and silenc'd , and sinn'd against , it may let you alone ( even as god doth ) and never bark till it bite , and make its teeth to meet . there are that deceive others , until at length they be deceiv'd themselves : that have deceived their own hearts so long , till a deceived heart hath turned them aside , that they cannot deliver their souls , nor say , is there not a lye in my right hand , isa. 44. 20. and yet if one should refer it to thee , dost thou think in thy very conscience , that thou art an upright saint , and a sincere servant of jesus christ ? dost thou not know that by thy self , which is inconsistent with integrity of heart ? what is that which makes thee tremble at death ? in a fright at thunder , in pain at a searching sermon ? afraid at the reading or hearing of any sisting marks or signs ? and then for bearing a great hatred to hypocrites , that 's nothing , for one proud man may hate another for standing in his light , and rotten hearts are usually most suspicious and censorious of others . thy best evidence would be to loath thy self ; and thy only cure , to be pricked at the heart . sect . ii. ii. use. the second improvement of this point is for reprehension : 1. of those that disturst an upright god. 2. of those that distast an upright man. 1. that distrust an upright god. no greater trouble to an upright man , than to be suspected and distrusted , to have his word question'd , and his wayes misconstrued . good and upright is the lord , and he cannot indure to be called in question . they that know him will take his word , for more than this world is worth , psal. 9. 10. they that know thy name , will put their trust in thee . but alas ! how few are these ? if we run over those very particulars wherein he shews himself upright , you shall find much distrust in the world , yea in the very best . if we be in danger , how sew can quiet themselves in gods promise of succour ? if we have fallen into temptation , how long ere we can heartily believe our pardon sealed in the blood of christ ? when we begin to pray , which of us believes , that as sure as we ask , we shall receive ? how difficult to relye upon the grace of god for perseverance , or on the promise of god for all good things in this life , and for a crown of glory in another ? o the wretched distrust of mans heart ! whence else do men run to unworthy means , to attain their desires every day ; and lean no more on him , or on his word , than on a weak staff , that we dare not trust ? you can trust a man when he hath money in his hand , you should trust god when he gives money in the promise . the world should know we serve a god , whom we dare trust . the promise is ever as good , as the thing promised . he is no flincher with whom you deal . to distrust him , is to devest him , and that of his dearest attribute , his truth . when we distrust god , we make him man ; when we trust in man , we make him god. how many experiments have you read , nay how many experiments have you had of his uprightness to you ? and must they all stand for nothing ? what man can come out and say , i was under such a promise , but i never had the benefit of it ? i trusted jacobs god in vain ? and must you be the first instances of his unfaithfulness ? god forbid . to instance ; what disquieting thoughts have we , sometimes , about provision for our children ? they 'l be left succourless , and quite forsaken , ( and unworthy courses are sometimes taken to prevent it ) and yet we know they will fall wards to god , and that the generation of the upright shall be blessed . and because here perhaps you may reply , that herein you do not so much question gods uprightness , as your own , therefore see in another instance , what perplexities are gods servants in for his church , when it is rent with schisms , eclips'd with errors , oppress'd with troubles ? and yet he hath undertaken to rule the world for his churches good , and that the gates of hell ( stronger than armes on earth ) shall never prevail against her . o silence then and charm down your unbelief , and credit this word , to the upright man , he will shew himself upright . 2. this reproves those that distast an upright man. he that is unlike god , cannot but dislike both him and his likeness . wonder of wickedness , that ever any reasonable creature should hate his makers picture ; dislike the men that are after gods own heart , and the better the man , the worse to hate him . it was so in the beginning , is now , and will be world without end . 1 sam. 29. 6. surely ( sayes achish to david ) as the lord liveth , thou hast been upright ; nevertheless the lord favours thee not . let a man be never so honest , charitable , unblameable , yet if he discover his integrity by reproving sin , by a strict watch over his words , by a peaceable demurring at a thing he is unsatisfied in : there 's some of you though you never saw him , were never disoblig'd by him , yet out of an inveteracy against god ( it can be nothing else ) you dislike and declaim against him . if this man have an hundred excellent qualities , and but one defect or fault , all his good qualities are buried , and he goes with you under the notion of his single sin . but on the other hand , let a man be never so ignorant , unclean , swearer , drunkard , atheistical ; yet divers of you can imbrace him , delight in his company , or at least he shall live quietly by you , and ( if he do not personally affront you ) no magistrate shall ever be inform'd of him , that he might reform him . and ( to see your equity ) if this man have an hundred ill conditions , and but some one good quality , as perhaps of an obliging carriage , all his faults are silenced , and he obtains a favourable character from this single vertue ; which shews clearly , that your spite is at the good man , as he is good , or else you would cry down other mens faults as well as his , and lend to them a mantle as well as to others . if pride be bad , or covetousness , or passion , why do you not blame them , where-ever you find them ? object . perhaps you 'l say , they are bad ( its true ) in any , but they are intollerable in one that professes more sanctity than others . answ. his sanctity or profession are neither faults nor faulty , but these you have an aking tooth at : and though they do aggravate his sins before god , yet i hope with men he may pass better , that hath but one or two faults , than he that hath an hundred . and if you be not haters of god , you ought to love him better that hath a few errors , and those bewailed , ( for so all upright men do , though you see them not ) than him that abounds in them , and rather glories in them , than mourns over them object . i know your usual saying , you dislike none but hypocrites , an upright man you could love in your heart . answ. can you prove all them hypocrites , whom you distast ? and can you justifie your suspicion , where you can make no proof ? i think there is no greater a sign of an hypocrite , than easily to judge others so . but for all your professions , i am perswaded , if christ himself were now on earth , and should be so severe in his life , as never to laugh ; so impartial in reproof , as to spare neither prince nor priest ; so heavenly in his discourse , as alwayes to draw it to some spiritual matter ; abundance of christians would utterly dislike him , never consort with him , but pursue him to his cross again . alas ! it is integrity and honesty you hate , and the affront is to god more than to men herein . and is not this hatred without a cause ? is not this to rage at beauty , and to have an aversion to innocency it self ? are not these men ( such as i have describ'd ) the best husbands , the best parents , the best children , the best servants , the best subjects , publick goods , prov. 11. by the blessing of the upright the city is exalted : but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked . o relent towards them , and let your love and pity run in the stream with gods. carry your selves to them , as you think david , paul , or christ would do if they were here ; and judge in your own consciences , whether they would sort with vile swearers in an alehouse , or with upright mourners in a chamber : you cannot have a better coppy than him in the text , and therefore with the upright man , shew you your selves upright . sect . iii. the third use of this doctrine leads unto tryal and examination of our own selves . i report me to your own consciences , how needful this is . needful for your comfort here , needful for your salvation hereafter . and pray be exact and serious herein . 1. because mans heart by nature is false and froward . deceitful above all things , and desperately wicked , jer. 17. 9. the nature of god , the love of christ , and the heart of man , are things inscrutable . it s true , eccl. 7. 29. god made man upright at first . our faces were directly upon god , our hearts uniform , but we got a fall , and now the whole man is turn'd quite another way . he that sayes , i have ever had a good heart , that man never had a good heart : we are estranged from the womb from our god , and from our best selves . no cheat so cunning as the heart of man , 't will cry out as the pharisee , i thank god i am not as other hearts are , when seven abominations are therein . and not only false but froward ; in other diseases the diseased party is called the patient , and patient they are to abide the physicians order , but here the patient is the greatest disease . quid miserius misero non miserante seipsum ? what greater misery than a miserable man not commiserating himself ? having to do therefore with such a piece , what need have you of the strictest care , that you may not be bankrupt , before you feel your decay , and broken for want of bruising ? 2. a man may proceed very far , and yet prove rotten at the heart . he may go nineteen steps , and for want of going one other step , fall short of heaven , mat. 19. 20 , 21. that young man had gone far in keeping six commandments : where is the young man that can come forth and truly say the like ? yet one thing was lacking , and that lost all the rest . consider well how many changes may pass upon th●… heart without a through saving change . a moral change from debauchery to civility , a formal change to the profession of godliness , a partial change , a temporary change ; but uprightness of heart lyes in a hairs breadth ; you may hit the butt , and yet miss the mark , and by considering how far herod , saul , judas , and others of our acquaintance have gone , and yet fallen away , we see need to sift our selves to the bran , and put our integrity to the tryal . 3. a man may verily think he 's upright , and yet not be right , prov. 30. 12. there is a generation [ that is , abundance in all ages ] that are pure in their own eyes , [ shine illustriously , as the hebrew word signifies , in their own opinions and judgments ] and yet are not cleansed from their filthiness : were never truly regenerate . that river of god , the blood of christ , never run through their hearts : you have heard , he that long deceives others , at last deceives himself , deceiving and being deceived . plain in the foolish virgins , mat. 25. who thought their case was good , till the gate was shut . a dreadful case ! to be damn'd just at heaven gates , and to feel a hell , before we fear it : how blank would a man look , that hath a sum of money to pay , and when it comes to the touch , it proves all counters , all his money counters ? even so will many a formal hypocrite look at the last day , when all his graces prove spurious ; 〈◊〉 name to live , but dead at heart . when the great judge of heaven and earth shall come with his mene tekel , &c. put this glistring professor into the balance , alas he is too light ; weigh that mans faith , then his repentance , then his love in the balance , they are all too light . alas ! thy kingdom is departed from thee , thou art 〈◊〉 lost man world without end . now i say , if a man may verily think he 's upright , and yet prove naught , it is high time to come to tryal . and though the description which you have had , wi●… much supersede this work ; and that whe●… all is said , a man that is really upright may most clearly by reflection , and spiritual sensation , find and feel the integrity of his heart , as the mother knows she i●… with child , when she feels it leaping i●… her womb ; yet for your further assistanc●… i shall here with much plainness and br●…vity ( the which i study ) give you som●… clear characters of uprightness , and s●… hasten to an end ; with this advertisement , that if you can lay a sound claim to any one of them , though you should labour to find them all , you may rest with comfort in the safety of your condition , though at present you may not discern the rest ; for that , where there is one integra●… member of the new man , there is the whole , though not apparent . but let not one character pass your eye , without a faithful tryal ; is it thus with me ? that you may know your own selves , that jesus christ is in you , and then you are not reprobates . sect . iv. i. the first character of an upright man is , he really approves himself to god , 2 tim. 2. 15. study to shew thy self approved to god. this is the care and business of every upright man. in all business and companies , his chiefest care is , that the words of his mouth , and the thoughts of his heart may be pleasing to him . famous is that story of bernard , who after a curious sermon , among the general applause , was found dejected and in his dumps : and after a more sincere plain discourse , the day following exceeding chearful ; told one of his friends , that inquir'd the reason , heri bernardum , hodie jesum christum praedicavi , yesterday i preach'd bernard , but to day i have preached jesus christ. when you can say , lord , others know my actions , but thou knowest my ends ; others may lift me up too high , or cast me down too low ; but i am satisfied , if thou art pleased with me : for not he that commendeth himself is approved , but whom the lord commends . and this is to walk worthy of the lord , in all pleasing : when a mans great aim is at god , and not to please , or exalt himself or others . whereas an hypocrite he is quite another man , mat. 23. 5. for all their works they do to be seen of men : and therefore they chose trumpets to distribute their alms with , and corners of streets ( streets would not serve , but corners of streets ) that so two full streets might view them in their prayers : and so ( poor creatures ) they paid themselves before the great pay-day , verily , i say unto you , they have their reward . their thought is , how will this or that man like this word or action ? if such and such commend me and applaud me , i have enough . but the upright man looks at god , and a smile from him gives him content . he may endeavour to compass the good opinion of men , but he will serve god first , and hate any base courses to procure the praise of men . it s part of his character , rom. 2. 29. whose praise is not of men , but of god. ii. the second mark of an upright man is , he chiefly loves god. to love the lord our god with all the heart , with all the soul , with all the strength , is an infallible character of an upright man. when it comes to be a disputable case between god and mammon , god and the belly , god and relations , god and a right eye or hand ; if thou cannot find ( at least for the most part ) thy soul determining for god , over-ruling the case in his behalf , and that thy love to him can make thee contemn the world , and all that is in it ; fear nothing , thou hast an upright heart . try now , do you use the world to enjoy god , or do you make use of god to enjoy the world ? do you love him for himself , do you love him like himself , in every thing , above every thing ? object . but how should i know i love him best ? answ. hath he , if not the most , yet the heartiest of your thoughts ? when your ends are raffled to the bottom , do they end at him , or self ? * do you love the hours and duties that tend towards him ? are not you troubled that you can love him no more ? is not heaven it self desirable to you on this account , because there you will love him and hate sin , perfectly , and eternally ? can you delight in your mercies , when you fear they come not in love ? can you live contentedly , under the sence or fear of his absence or displeasure ? in a word , doth that please you best , that tends and ends in his honour , though it shame your persons , or cross your other designs ? do you dearly affect his blessed word , and those parts thereof that have nothing to commend them to you , but their holiness ? not only the histories of the bible , but the doctrine , the precepts of the bible : can you taste more sweetness in a sermon of christ , an epistle of paul , the hundred and nineteenth psalm , than in any human writings in the world ? doth the remembrance of your communion with god , and communication from him , more refresh you than the review of other delights ? cant. 1. 4. we will remember thy love more than wine , the upright love thee . that is a sign of love , this is a sign of uprightness . iii. a third sign of an upright man is , he willingly obeys god. 1 chron. 28. 9. and thou solomon my son , serve thou the god of thy fathers , with a perfect heart , and a willing mind . what he does , his will is in it . he will do what he can , yea more than he can . an hypocrite doth more than he would . he acts not , but is acted by profit , credit , and the like ; and when this wind blows not , he stands as the windmill , stock still . love to god oyls the wheel of obedience , and then a man runs the way of his commandments , when the lord hath inlarged his heart , psal. 119 32. amor meus , pondus mcum . happy for ever that man , whose principle of motion is within . an hypocrite he hath no hearty good will to the very duties he performs ; he prays , but he hath no good will to prayer ; he gives , but his will is another way , his obedience is against his mind ; his interest draws him one way , his mind goes another ; and what a wretched life must he live , the generality of whose visible actions go against the frame of his mind , and so neither god , nor himself hath pleasure in them ? 2 cor. 8. 12. if there be first a willing mind , it is accepted according to what a man hath and doth . try your selves therefore ; do you find that your wills are prest for god ? do you obey your master , as your servants should obey you , with good will , doing service as to the lord , and not to men ? 't is true , you will find another law , another will drawing the other way , but if you can say with paul , rom. 7. 22. i delight in the law of god after the inward man , your hearts are upright : you grieve for your unwillingness , you bring your wills to every ordinance , and use the means to make them better ; and cordially desire to do his will on earth , as it is done in heaven . the crossness of your will is your greatest burden ; and you are getting ground herein , are you not ? then your case is good . iv. the fourth character of an upright man is , he can judiciously appeal to god. i call god to record on my soul , saith holy paul. and this not only in a crowd , and before others , but in secret in his closet . after consideration of the law of god , and after the survey of his own heart , an upright man ( if there be no eclipse upon his spirit ) can appeal to the all-searching god , in his closet , concerning the uprightness of his heart ; and this i think few hypocrites can reach to do . thus peter could say , john 21. 17. lord thou that knowest all things , thou knowest i love thee . i appeal from satan and the world to thee , whether i do not love thee above all the world , and above my self ; if my heart were open'd , whether thou wouldst not find jehova , and jesus , and holiness to the lord , written there . the just man dare appeal to the severest judge , and a sincere saint to an all-seeing god. psal. 139. 23 , 24. search me , o lord , and know my heart , try me and know my thoughts ; and see if there be any wicked way in me , and lead me in the way everlasting . so if you can say , lord , look at me every way , try me by the light of thy word , search me to the quick , i appeal to thee , thou knowest i am gold , not gilded , i am thine , thy name is on me , and thy nature is in me , thou that knowest all things , knowest i love thee : no plainer sign of a cheat , than unwillingness to come to tryal ; but he that dare bring his heart to the most trying books , to the most searching ministers , to the all-searching god , is sound at heart , and a saint within . i should have nam'd no more , but that i find two more signs within the ●…ken of my text , with which i shall con●…lude this use. v. the fifth mark of an upright man is , he trades not in presumptuous sins . psal. 19. 13. keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins , let them not have dominion over me . then shall i be upright — the tyranny of sin is one thing , the dominion of sin is another . it is the opinion of divines , that though a child of god may have a darling sin , one sin to which he is more inclin'd then another ; yet he hath not a reigning sin , that is , ( i suppose they mean ) no sin hath the absolute command of the whole soul : no , there is a seed of god in a sanctified heart , that cannot so yield to sin . so that the difference between the sin of an upright man and another , lies not so much in the nature and kind of the sin committed , as it lies in the heart of a sinner . that may be an infirmity in one , that is a grosser sin in another . a less sin chosen , is worse than a greater sin fallen into without choice : a less allowed , than a greater disallowed . the presumptuous sinner adds the contempt of god to his sin , and so is said to si●… with an high hand , numb . 15. 30. ( th●… first place ( i take it ) that speaks of such ) but the soul that doth presumptuously , r●…proacheth the lord , and shall be utterly o●… off , and no sacrifice admitted for him : which interprets that , heb. 10. 26. if we sin wilfully , after we have received the knowledge of the truth , there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin . and both opposed to sinning ignorantly , n●…d yet not every sin of knowledge , a presumptuous sin : but when a man knows it , but cares not , heeds not god , or his will , but lifts up an high hand against him , and will venture . it is one thing to sin willingly , another thing to sin wilfully . there is of the will in most sins , but not the whole will. there is a predominant motion of the will toward it , but there is in it an habitual hatred of it . rom. 7. 20. now if i do what i would not , it is no more i that do it , but sin that dwelleth in me . there is in every sin an interpretative contempt of god ; but i conceive to create a presumptuous sin , there must be actual presumption and contempt of god ; whereof certainly that man was guilty , that was stoned to death for gathering sticks on the sabbath day ; and thereupon his tragedy is related immediately upon the law against presumptuous sinners , numb . 15. an upright man hath a radical hatred of sin , and he that hates sin , can scarce sin presumptuously . vi. the sixth and last character of an upright man is , he keeps himself from his own iniquity . you have this in the next verse but one before the text. i also was upright before him : — prove it — i kept my self from mine iniquity . every man hath some sin of his own . we are capable of every sin , but we are not inclin'd to every sin . our constitutions usually do chuse our darling sin , our condition of life or calling may nurse it up . this sin is the tryal of our sincerity . an hypocrite chides it before folks , but keeps it under his tongue , cordially favours it , and so makes provision for it ; in effect prefers it before christ and heaven . 't is this sin that sends most men to hell . they 'l part with many ; but skin for skin , yea soul and all will a man give for the life of this . and there is no wickedness too great to wade through to the fruition of it . now an upright man , had at his conversion , the deepest prick in this vein . the dearer the sin , the dearer it costs in repentance : and thereupon he keeps a jealous eye upon it , and is whetted also with an holy revenge against it , for displeasing such a god as now he finds him to be , and for hindring so much the comfort of his soul ; that he mainly hates this sin , and indeavours to prevent and crucifie it . he most hates it , though he can least vanquish it . and thereupon he faithfully makes use of all the means he knows to mortifie it , and carefully avoids all occasions that may further it , he grieves bitterly for his relapses into it , and gives no rest to his god , or his soul , till he see the funerals of it ; he is resolv'd to dye in the conflict , before he will make a peace . now feel your pulse for the lords sake , and deceive not your own souls . these signs will state your case , if you will but prove your own selves . the explication of them is ours , the application of them is yours . do not shut the book , till you have opened your hearts , and found either the name of a saint , or an hypocrite . why do you retreat ? it is not your enemy , but your physician that is at door . to try your case can do no hurt . if all be right , you may have the comfort ; if all be naught , yet you may have a cure . rush not blindfold into hell. put us not to our best skill in describing characters , and then let them alone as you found them , for want of pains . if this work not , remember we have told you that the clearest sign of an hypocrite is , he dare not come to tryal . sect . v. the fourth use is by way of exhortation : have you made a faithful scrutiny ? then upon tryal , either you find the characters of sincerity , or else you find them not , or else you hang in doubt , whether you be upright or no. and accordingly i shall direct my exhortation three wayes . first , to those that are upright with god ; and you i exhort , 1. to praise the lord , and be thankful . psal. 33. 1. rejoyce in the lord ye righteous : for praise is comely for the upright . you of all men have cause to be merry ; praise becomes no bodies mouth but yours . be chearful in your selves , and thankful to the lord. what a●…les you to be lean from day to day , that are kings sons ? who can lay any thing to your charge ? it is god that justifieth . what can dishearten you , seeing the root of the matter is found in you ? turn your plaints into praises . stand still and admire the distinguishing mercy of god to you , that among so many heathens the lord should ma●…e you christians ; that among so many hypocrites , the lord should make you upright . adore electing , admire converting grace ; say , lord , who am i ? naturally a very pagan , an errand hypocrite , that thou shouldst crown me with truth in the inward parts — and then kneel down and offer him an hecatombe of praises , charm up all the daughters of musick , thy best affections , and tune up thy note with angels , blessing and honour and immortality be given to him that sitteth on the throne , and to the lamb for evermore . and let heart , and lip , and life keep tune ; and where thy words fail , let thy deeds extol his holy name . o lord , do but tell me which way i may honour thee , and thou shalt see , thy grace assisting , that no service shall be too hard for such a wretch to such a god. 2. proceed and walk on in your upright way . hear david , psal. 26. 1. o lord , i have walked in mine integrity — ay , but are not you weary on 't , david ! o no ; hear him , verse 11. but as for me , i will walk in my integrity ; i have don 't , and i will do it again . it is enough for sinners , to be weary of their wayes : but as for me , i will walk in my integrity . improve in your uprightness . job 17. 9. the righteous also shall hold on their way , and he that hath clean hands , shall grow stronger and stronger . get ground of your hypocrisie , and weed it out of your hearts and duties day by day . a little sin is a great burden to him that hath a great deal of grace , as a little spot is to a very cleanly man. purge out therefore the old leaven , and keep the feast with that daint●… fare , the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth . let nothing byas those honest hearts of yours . answer your temptations , that you can do any thing but lye , and temporize , and sin against god ; that crowns cannot see you to betray christ , or wound your consciences ; that you fear no body but god , and nothing in the world but sin . a man of uprightness must be a man of strength . the more uprightness , the more communion with god ; the more uprightness , the more confidence with men ; the more uprightness , the more comfort in your own souls . 1 chron. 29. 17. i know also my god , that thou tryest the heart , and hast pleasure in uprightness . o do him a pleasure then by walking in your integrity , and resolve with that upright champion , job 27. 5 , 6. till i dye , i will not remove my integrity from me , — my heart shall not reproach me so long as i live . sect . vi. secondly , to those that are in doubt , whether they be upright or no. it is better indeed to doubt with a cause , than to be confident without a cause : and better to begin in doubts , and end in certainties , than to begin in certainties , and end in doubts . but take advice ; 1. sit not down quiet in this uncertainty . who that 's charg'd with forgery , will be quiet till he be cleared ? in the authority of gods unerring word , i charge all men by nature with rottenness , corruption , and hypocrisie . if you be true men , clear your selves , and hang not ( as the papists place one of their small friends ) between heaven and hell. who that 's going a journey would be content , whilst he is ignorant whether in the way or out ? you are going a long journey , quite to eternity ; for your own comfort sake be at a point whether you be in the way to the holy , or to the miserable eternity . you 'l be at cost to clear and settle your outward estate . o be not worse to your souls , than you are to your lands : you cannot imagine how far you might go in this work in one moneths time , nay in the spare hours of one moneths time . it is a sad case that is threatned , deut. 28. 66. and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee , and thou shalt fear day and night . o but what is it then , to have everlasting life hang in doubt before a man , the soul daily taking wings , and you know not whither ! o sit not down quiet with this uncertainty . 2. set about the means to clear up your condition . knock at each ministers door that 's near you , and borrow light from the wise. when you have a doubtful distemper , you run to the physician ; when you have a knot in your deed , you run to the lawyer : you are at a demur concerning the state of your souls , o run to the minister . put on boldness and fear not ; he deserves not the name of a preacher , that is not gladder of your company , than of the greatest mammonist within his charge . open your mind freely , sir , i am in a great dismay about the state of this my soul ; this i can say for my self , and this against my self : deal truly with me , and give out a perfect lot . be take your selves to the most searching books , try your selves by the above-named marks ; but above all , to the law , and to the testimony . but be not hasty to conclude upon the reading any of these , either for or against your selves , without good advice ; lest you rush on the rock of presumption , or be swallowed up in the quicksand of despair . get into the right method , and then spare not for a little pains . he must give diligence , that will make his calling and election sure . this course hath been found useful to some , namely , single out some trying scripture , as for instance , that psal. 119. 140. and spend your spare minutes in one day , or week , to know the true meaning of it : the next day or week compare your selves by it , with all faithfulness : spend another day or week in urging all such objections you can justly find against your plea : and a fourth day or week in a sound reply unto them . and then lay them before god , and joyn your earnest prayer , to the searcher of all hearts , to clear and settle you . and when this is done , try another , and a third . the comfort will pay the trouble . the answer of a good conscience is worth some serious thoughts , or else it is worth nothing . sect . vii . thirdly , the exhortation runs to them that want it , labour for uprightness : buy this truth and sell it not . for the love of god be not hypocrites . consider three things . 1. uprightness is amiable . 1. in the eye of god ; you see that in 1 chron. 29. 17. he hath pleasure in uprightness . you that displease him by your infirmities , had need to please him by your integrity ; cant. 4. 7. thou art fair , my love , sayes christ , there is no spot in thee . this makes you all fair in his eyes . all the beauty of heaven and earth doth not please god as an upright man : no creature like the new creature . and on the contrary , no sight so odious to him as an hypocrite . he that counterfeits the kings coyn , dyeth the same death with a rebel . a lukewarm christian makes christs stomach to rise , rev. 3. 16. and 2. uprightness is amiable to men . where enmity to god hath not quite raz'd out all reliques of reason and honesty , every man seems to be pleas'd with integrity ; and will speak for such as they think in their consciences mean and speak uprightly . few would hurt us , if we could more sincerely be followers of that which is good . but an hypocrite is odious to all men , like those proto-hypocrites , 1 thes. 2. 15. they please not god , and are contrary to all men . he makes an ill choice that imbraces a course , that god and man are agreed to abhor . 2. uprightness is comfortable . a sound upright good conscience , is a continual feast . in troubles , reproaches , sickness , death , no comfort like an upright heart . this will support the spirits , supply with new spirits the weather-beaten christian , and make him sing in prison , when his enemies shall tremble on the throne . this gave the apostle paul that boldness before princes , that he lived in all good conscience . then shall i not be ashamed , when i have respect to all thy righteous judgments . and on the contrary , a man hath no comfort from hypocrisie , none at all . what joy can a man have , when he knows his heart is rotten ? what comfort in a velvet patch , when it only covers a filthy ulcer ? what content , when a man dare not commune with himself ? he that is not welcome unto his own conscience , can be merry no where in the world . 3. uprightness is necessary . 1. to every good duty here . without it , preaching is but a tinkling cymbal , prayer but as the howling of a dog , religious discourse but the prating of a parrot . nothing acceptable without it , goats-hair a rich present with it . a sincere sigh of him that joyns , more worth than the fained eloquence of him that makes the prayer . the two mites of the good widow , more valuable than the great sums cast in by pharisees . our duties are not numbred , but weighed ; they are not measured by their length or breadth , but by their prosundity . if they be hearty , sincere , the right stamp upon them , they are current in heaven , or else they are but the cutting off a dogs neck , the offering of swines flesh , and god abhors them . 2. necessary to our eternal-salvation hereafter , psal. 24. 4. who shall ascend into the hill of the lord ? he that hath clean hands and a pure heart . a man may go to heaven without parts , without riches , without gifts , but there is no coming there without uprightness ; that is , the land of uprightness , it is there all in fashion . the great question at those gates will be , man , woman , where 's thy oyl ? though men may be deceived , god will not be mocked . he that sowes the wind , shall reap the , whirlwind . in the darkest corner of hell there lye the hypocrites . o the rage , horror and torment of an hypocrite in hell ! when his hope is like the giving up the ghost . o the confusion and shame that will cover him , when his fellow-professors shall see him so unexpectedly packt into hell ! and what brutish madness is it to make others believe , that thou art going towards heaven , and that while thou steal into hell ! o sinner , it is absolutely necessary to salvation , that thou be upright . and therefore in the name of god , inquire the means to obtain it , and set about them . — well , will you faithfully use them ? then they are these . sect . viii . i. study humility , hab. 2. 4. behold his soul which is lifted up , is not upright in him . pride hath a great influence into hypocrisie , and humility into uprightness . he that takes a pride in being counted great or good , no wonde●… that he will put on the vizard of more goodness than he hath . and on the other side , he that is content of an ordinary reputation , will study to be sound , and not play the white devil , to get applause . the humble man concludes , i am a very weak creature , and i am a very great sinner , and what care i for a golden name , and know i have but a leaden heart . do but study the pure law of god , and then study thy impure heart , and be proud if thou canst : where a truer heart than in paul ? yet he for his part is of saints the least , of sinners the chief , although the lord reckoned him greater than the greatest of the former , and less than the least of the latter . humility and integrity are born and dye together . ii. be faithful in self-examination . psal. 77. 6. i communed with my heart , and my spirit made diligent search . and for this end , let your consciences be heard ; for the spirit of man is the candle of the lord , to search the innermost parts of the belly . you think all 's right , but when matters come to tryal you 'l find all 's naught . while the sun is under the cloud , you can see no motes in the room ; but when its beams shine in , you may see thousands . how do young people live in the dark , and little feel or fear the plague that is upon them ? but when once the light of saving knowledge , self-knowledge breaks in , then ephraim bemoans himself , and paul cryes out , o wretched man that i am ! for shame , live not so long strangers at home . if a man do not know himself , he knows nothing . commune with your own hearts , and be still . you commune with god in religious duties , you commune with men in your civil callings , but when do you commune with your selves ? go to the law , try your selves by every command . luther going about this , and beginning at i am the lord thy god , profess'd that he was so overwhelm'd thereby , that he could go no further . alas ! your confidence flows from your ignorance ; one saving sight of your woful state , would go far in your oure . o lose not your souls , for want of one serious thought . iii. get an hatred to hypocrisie ; and a love of uprightness : behold them both in their own colours . read mat. 23. that glass will shew you the face of the one , and psal. 119. will shew you the features of the other . if you would put the worst badge in the world upon a man , you call him hypocrite : if you would give any man the most advantageous title , you write him an honest man , an upright man. and when once you hate hypocrisie , you will flee it : when once you really love uprightness , you 'l take pains to procure it . shall i yield to that my soul hates ? dwell in an house that i abhor ? i le never do it . may so rare a jewel as sincerity be had , and shall i live without it ? shall it be offered me and i deny it ? no , whatever it cost me i will not live or dye an hypocrite . shall i be a dunghill covered with snow ? how odious shall i be , when my snow-white mantle will be stript off ? speak man of reason ; is simulation lovely ? is dissimulation amiable ? why wilt thou wear that ugly vizard ? for a name in this world , lose a soul in another ? for a shadow of religion , lose the substance of salvation ? a serious hatred of hypocrisie , is not only a means to conquer it , but is a conquest of it . a hearty love to integrity , is integrity . iv. attend a searching ministry , 1 pet. 2. 2. desire the sincere milk of the word . he that would attain sincerity , must desire gods sincere word . a searching ministry will make a sound professor ; a plain minister , will make a plain christian. lay your naked heart under the naked truth of god , and let him write on that blank paper , what he pleaseth . for the word of the lord is quick and powerful , and sharper than any two-edged sword , piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit , and of the joynts and marrow , and is a discerner of the thoughts , and intents of the heart . such a sword rightly welded will cleave an hair , and give a man as little rest in formality , as in prophaness . the word of truth , is the way to create the grace of truth ; the sincere word , a sincere heart . the babe draws spirits with the milk , and that nourishes . and in the word truly dispensed , the spirit is conveyed ; and if the spirit of truth step in with the word of truth , then the work is done , psal. 143. 10. thy spirit is good , lead me into the land of uprightness . this good spirit will take you by the hand , and not only shew you , but bring you into the land of uprightness . and go not so much to judge the minister , as to be judged by the sermon . let the most of your severity be imployed upon your selves , and the largest of your charity upon the preacher . the humble sincere hearer doth mostly go home with the benefit , when the censorious person goes away with the talk . and remember this ; that as it requires more grace to hear and profit by a weak or offensive preacher , so a warm and serious spirit will infuse heat and vigour into the most cold general sermon , if not into the minister . v. be instant in prayer . every good gift and every perfect gift is from above , and cometh down from the father of lights . this is a good and perfect gift , o seek it from the father of lights . the matter of such a prayer pleaseth him , and the mediator pleaseth him , and so nothing can frustrate it , but the man or the matter . add faith and forveney , and the manner is sure . and then let not your suit fall for your own fault , nor lose a prayer for up . rightness , for want of an honest heart . beg also the prayers of others : he may hear job , that will not hear his friends . pray and wrestle till this blessing come . o lord , i have heard such a character of uprightness , that i misdoubt my self , i seel much amiss , i fear all 's amiss , i tremble at my condition : i am a christian by profession , but i am an hypocrite by nature ; thy word hath found me out , and i am lost . create in me a clean heart , o god , and renew a right upright spirit within me . and know that the god of heaven will give grace more freely , than an earthly father will bread . good and upright is the lord , therefore will he teach sinners in the way . and thus you have the means , and do you mean to use them ? what are directions , if you will not be directed by them ? o let not these words stand here to be your accusers , but your monitors ; and remember that practise is the end , the crown of preaching . sect . ix . v. the fifth and last use is for consolation to all upright ones . you are blessed men in the mouth both of law and gospel , psal. 119. 1. blessed are the undefiled in the way , that walk in the law of the lord. mat. 5. 8. blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see god. you may be crost by men , but you shall be blest by god : you may not see the desire of your hearts in this life , but you shall see god in life everlasting : you may live poor , but you shall dye rich . prov. 19. 1. better is the poor , that walketh in his integrity ; than he that is perverse in his lips , and is a fool . he that 's poor in his wealth , but rich in his integrity , hath coyn that will pass in the other world . uprightness and blessedness are inseparable companions . o but sir , that 's my fear , that my heart is rotten at the core , my wayes crooked ; and your discourse hath increas'd my doubts , that i fear i have not one dram of sincerity . and my fears are increas'd upon such grounds as these . doubt . 1. the allegatiòns of satan . see , saith he , thy rottenness after such a duty , in such a temptation , thou hast but a shew : and these accusations he follows with fears and terrours in my spirit , that my soul is sometimes weary of my life . resol . 1. there are roots of hypocrisie in the sincerest heart ; as of all other sins , so of this . that 's remarkable , luk. 12. 1. jesus began to say to his disciples first of all , take heed and beware of hypocrisie . christs own disciples were in danger of this leaven . all the stock below the grass is perfect crab-tree . this you may grant with grief , and yet retain your integrity with comfort . 2 satans bills are void in law , for he is the accuser of the brethren right or wrong : he had a face to accuse upright job , that had his maker for his compurgator . and then the accusation of a condemned person is no proof , in any court of record ; yea his terrors may be your evidences , for he seldom or never troubles his own house : while his prisoners are quiet , he holds his peace ; but when they are broken from him , he shakes his chain after them . but then hold up a crucified christ before his very face , ( with worthy gesner ) and say , huic offendi non tibi , vince hunc & me vinces ; it 's this christ that i have offended , ( thou fiend of hell ) i never sinn'd against thee ; conquer him and then thou conquerest me . doubt . 2. the censures of men : my friends whisper it , my foes proclaim it , and the minister meets me in every sermon . i may be partial to my self , but others will speak plain . resol . 1. the censures of others should make us more severe in trying our selves . to doubt of sincerity , is one thing ; to try it , is another . when they charge the state of hypocrisie upon us , we should mourn for the habits of hypocrisie in us ; and bless god that their opinion for substance is not true ; they do but say what you might have been . and when your estate is question'd never so unjustly , 't is a good way to pass a fine upon it , and make it surer . and so you will be gainers not losers by such surmises . 2. while your heart is right with god , heed not the censures of men . who more upright than job ? yet hypocrisie was his charge , an hypocrite was his badge ; so david , so our dear lord jesus himself . the malicious world will be sure ( as was said ) to charge those faults on you , whereof there is no clearing in this life . resolve with paul , 1 cor. 4. 3. but with me it is a very small thing , that i should be judged of you , or of mans judgment , but he that judgeth me is the lord. we shall at last fall to an equal sentence , and till then we have reason to rejoyce , that we are counted worthy to suffer this reproach for his names sake . nazianzen saith , we must be dung'd with reproaches , that we may be more fruitful . doubt . 3. the cry of my own conscience : and if a mans heart condemn him , who can acquit him ? this hath alwayes been my fear , and who can clear him that is condemn'd of himself ? resol . 1. you must distinguish between hypocrisie dwelling , and hypocrisie reigning : where it only dwells , it is as gr●…vel in the shoe , as the mote in the eye , as the souldier in his quarters , you are weary of it , it makes you halt , you give it no rest , you are very sick of it : where it reigns you cannot indure to be touch'd or search●…d , and it orders your life and actions ; your main design is , to cloak with god , and to cheat the world . 2. conscience rightly inform'd may go far in this decision : but conscience is not regula regulans , but regula regulata . it s like the dial that must be set by the sun of gods word , and rightly determines only by vertue of that . and sometimes , such pangs and terrors overwhelm the conscience , that then it is not a competent judge of the cause . if every man whose conscience pricks him , were an hypocrite ; god help the greatest part of conscientious christians ! doubt 4. my sad experience , 1. of my dryness in secret duties . i am better in the assembly , than in my family , better in my family , than in my closet , and there an upright man is best . he that is enlarged and enlivened with others , and straitned in his own bowels , cannot be upright . resol . 1. the more company we have in ordinances , the more inlargement we may expect , and yet upright withall . our saviour himself when he saw the multitudes , it opened his mouth , mat. 5. 1. and we read but few such sermons from him as that was : for besides , that the numerousness and seriousness of others , is a rational means to quicken us that are about the same work ; we may expect more of the manifestations of the divine presence , where the persons and graces of so many are , that are dear to god. 2. but yet every upright man will be serious and hearty in secret , and earnest withall . he would not be hired out of his secret devotions : and a little truth and zeal in a closet , is more than the larger expressions of them with a multitude ; what is done in secret , provided you do it of choice and in conscience to god , hath more genuine features of real integrity ; than much more in publick , for that must needs proceed from the love of god and of his service . o but 2. i have experience of decayes in my soul , and no growth . the path of the just is like the shining light , that shines more and more to the perfect day . i ●…eel my self rather worse every way , but not better . resol . 1. it is not easie to determine of spiritual growth or decayes ; for its object is various : some grow more visibly in zeal , others in knowledge , others in stability , some more in the roots , some more in the bulk , some more in fruit . and then to discern growth , is a work of time : our progress in grace , is not so discernable as our entrance ; for the change here is specifical , there only gradual ; and the younger children are , the more is their growth discerned . 2. a sensible sight of your decayes , is a true sign of growth ; the clearer the sight , the less motes are discerned , when there is joyn'd withall a grief for our defects . descendendo ascendimus , we grow higher in gods esteem , by growing lower in our own . corruption doth not usually discover corruption ; nor decayes , decayes . if therefore you find , that you hate sin as heartily , and can wisely prevent it , that you can be fully as serious and spiritual in your duties , as wise in reproofs , though perhaps not so frequent as heretofore ; you have no just cause to charge your self with decayes , much less with dissembling in religion . yea , but 3. i have experience of inconstancy ; my soul is in a perpetual ague , one while burning hot , another while key-cold ; unconstant in avoiding evil , and more unconstant in the performance of what is good ; and this is an hypocrites temper , and this is mine . resol . 1. a perfect setledness is not to be expected in this life . our day will have a night ; our sunshine will have eclipses ; suavis hora , brevis mora , hath been an old complaint . grace that dwells in such a soul , a soul that dwells in such a body , a man that dwells among such variety of business , companies and temptations , cannot escape much variableness and daily alterations . though thou art upright in the way , yet thou art but in the way , viator not comprehensor . heaven is the only state of invariable holiness and happiness . 2. the inconstancy of an hypocrite i●… about the choice of the end , about the very object of the soul ; whether he shall chus●… christ or corruption , god or mammon . the upright man is fully resolved in this , and his inconstancy is only in the use of means ; not whether he should pray or not pray , meditate or no , but he hath not alwayes the same degree of love to them , heat and delight in them , and comfort from them . and this must be mourn'd for here , but can be cur'd only in heaven . doubt . 5. the deceitfulness of the heare ; this is so great , that after all my tryal i may be mistaken ; there are lamps that may delude a man even to the gates of heaven . and i am sure my heart is one of the worst of the kind , and so most likely to deceive and be deceived . resol . 1. though the heart be deceitful in its self , yet it is discernable by the help of gods spirit . jer. 17. 10. i the lord search the heart ; and he can and will lead every diligent self-searcher into the darkest corners thereof . god and man together may find out it . indeed a carnal careless eye sees it not , but he that would know himself , shall know himself . no man is deceived herein , but he that is willing to be deceived . 2. your holy jealousie as it is a good sign of uprightness , so it is a good antidote against hypocrisie . he that detects a cheat , is not then of his party ; and he that knows he hath a proteus to deal with , will be vigilant over him . he that hates and bewails hypocrisie , and most in himself , will never dye an hypocrite . and therefore be of good comfort ye upright ones . your matter shall stand , your tenure is good , notwithstanding the suits commenc'd against it . these shaking fits do but confirm your health . the greatest tempest hurts not the tree that 's well rooted , its roots will spread the more . the pinching trying frosts strengthen the sound man , and every thing doth good to him that is good and upright in his heart . however you may be reputed or used in this world , whatever condition concludes you here ; yet in life , in death , in judgment , and in eternity , integrity will be a cordial . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a61396-e3150 sect. 1. the context & coherence . sect. 2. the text opened . sect. 3 the d●ctrine . sect. 4. the names of uprightness . sect. 5. uprightness described and distinguished . §. 6. the nature of uprightness . §. 7. the object of an upright heart , viz. inward religion . v●…niet verbum domini & submittem●…s ●…i sexcenta sinobis essent colla . baldaz . ad oecolampadium . §. 9. constant religion . §. 10. an infe●…ence con●…erning regenera●…on . §. 11. uprightness of life ; its necessity . §. 12. the nature of upright●…ess of life . exo. 19. 5. §. 13. the object of an upright life viz. words . §. 14. uprightness in actions , concilia callida prim●… speciè laeta , tractatu dura , ev●…ntu tristia . liv. plutarch in arist. like theophilus bishop of alexandria , who was nam'd euripus for his ebbing and flowing in matters of rel●gion : for a bishoprick he would swear to the nicene council , and then to keep it , he would for swear it again . al●…x . s●…verus . §. 15. an interence concerning the paucity of upright men . §. 1. overlooking his infirmities . §. 2. defending his person . §. 3. strengthning his graces . §. 4. hearing his prayers . qui palmâ militat lentius pugnat , qui pug●…o ferit , palmam fert . dr. arro . the ly●…ness leaves her young , till they have almost kill'd themselves with roaring , and returns to them at last gasp , to teach them courage . §. 5. comforting him in his straits . §. 6. directing him in his doubts . §. 7. clearing his integrity . §. 8. stablishing him to the end. §. 9. bestowing outward blessings on him . §. 10. crowning their integrity . ibi nec malitia nec militia , nec poena nec poenitentia , nec peccatum nec perditio . ibi rex veritas , lex charitas , possessi●… eternitas , sermo non valet exprimere , experimento opus est . prosper . §. 1. information . iob 5. 13 they that make the queen believe that i counterfeit with her , cannot make god believe that i counterfeit with him . earl of essex to sr 〈◊〉 . b●…con . like that p●…rk warbeck who counterfeited to be one of k. ed. 4. sons , so long that at length he really believed he was the duke . §. 2. reproof . semper ●…liena virt●…s form●… dolosa 〈◊〉 o qua●…tus est in populo christia●… ho●…or christi , ubi religio ignobilem facit & mali coguntur ●…obiles 〈◊〉 viles habeantur . salv. §. 3. examination . §. 4. characters of an upright man. psal. 19. he love●… thee little , o lord , that loves any thing with thee , which he loves not for thee aug. * luther at a signal mercy writes on the wall , tambach ( the place where then he was ) est mea phanuel ibi apparuit mihi d●…minus . sin is never said to be done with an high hand , but when there is a full convincement a fie●… consent , and absolute allowance , and this never after conversion . mr. capel . §. 5. exhortation to the upright . §. 6. exhortation to the doubtful . the road to resolution lyes by doubt : the next way home's the farthest way about . quarles . rever●… dr. rob. harris in dayes of his strictest examination , used to set down his evidences for salvation in writing : now in propositions from the scripture , now in syllogisms ; these he oft subscribed in a book , kept for that purpose . in vita . §. 7. exhortation to those that want uprightness . p●ssima creaturarum visibilium est homo degener ; pessimus hominum pseudo-christianus ; christianorum vero pessimus est nequam verbi minister , dr. arrows . §. 8. means for the attaining of uprightness . §. 9. consolation . satan tempts to sin , and then tempts for sin . sed christus diabolnm vicit , & pro te vicit , & in te vicit . aug. scutum conscienti●… contra gladium linguae . we may hear that by way of reproach from an enemy , that was but faintly whispered by a friend . sir fr. bacon . dr. the. goodwin . we are like benumbed limbs , sometime●… have life in us , but feel it not . mr. cap●…l . in a perfect soul there is no interest but gods , in a sincere his interest is highest . mr. ●…ax . the christians a.b.c., or, a christian alphabet contayning grounds of knowledge vnto saluation first propounded in alphabeticall forme, each proposition being seconded with some solid reasons : secondly repeated by way of question and answer, with the proofe of euery particular point of doctrine, acquainting the reader with the most select texts of scripture, whereupon our christian faith is grounded / by i.p. b. of d. phillips, john, d. 1640. 1629 approx. 245 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 139 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a09597) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 28202) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1882:6) the christians a.b.c., or, a christian alphabet contayning grounds of knowledge vnto saluation first propounded in alphabeticall forme, each proposition being seconded with some solid reasons : secondly repeated by way of question and answer, with the proofe of euery particular point of doctrine, acquainting the reader with the most select texts of scripture, whereupon our christian faith is grounded / by i.p. b. of d. phillips, john, d. 1640. 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reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the christians a. b. c. or , a christian alphabet , contayning grounds of knowledge vnto saluation . first propounded in alphabeticall forme , each proposition being seconded with some solid reason . secondly repeated by way of question and answer , with the proofe of euery particular point of doctrine . acquainting the reader with the most select texts of scripture , whereupon our christian faith is grounded . by i. p. b. of d. heb. 5.12 . when for the time ye ought to be teachers , ye haue need that one teach you againe , which be the first principles of the oracles of god. ¶ london , printed by tho. harper for fulke clifton , and are to be sold at his shop on fishstreet-hill . 1629. to the right worshipfull , the maior and the ●urats his brethren : and to the communaltie of the town and port limme of feuersham in kent . i.p. wisheth the foundation of sauing knowledge , in this life , and the perfection thereof in the life to come . right worshipfull & beloued : it is a knowne truth , that in all acts , there are certaine principles or grounds , vpon which they rest , as vpon a sure foundation . and in that regard , all students in any kind of literature , doe in the first place settle themselues vpon that rest , conceiuing it ( and that rightly ) to be the most compendious way to attain knowledge , and the best art of memory to retaine it . this being an vndeniable truth in the light of humane reason , is much more preualent in diuine learning . see we not that the best instructor doth intimate so much by his own briefe methode of teaching ? for doth he not conclude all morall duties in one short decalogue , that is , as moses speakes , in tenne words ? haue wee not a perfect patterne of religious deuotion , giuen vnto vs of our lord , comprizing all the requisites of true prayer , in a briefe forme , consisting but of sixe or seauen petitions ? what else import all those titles in sacred scripture , the forme of knowledge . the pattern of wholesome words . the first principles of the oracles or word of god. the principles of the doctrine of christ , or the word of the beginning of christ , t●rmed by the apostle , the laying of the foundation ▪ doth he not there reduce all to sixe heads , viz. repentance , faith , baptisme , imposition of hands , resurrection of the dead , and eternall iudgement ? is there not a common rule of christian religion , which we call the apostles creed , according to which whosoeuer shape not their profession , we ●ffoord them not so much as the name of christianitie ? and though they professe it in word , yet if they hold not the truth in the antique sense of it , doe wee not iustly taxe them of vnsoundnes ? looke into the coure and practise of the christian church in all ages , and w● shall finde that they did not giue to babes in christ , strong meat by and by : but did first feede them with the milke of catechisticall instruction . hence it is , that we reade of the catecumeni in the primitiue church , that they were held so long in the schoole of instruction , as it were in the threshold of christianitie , lest they should enter the sanctuary , and arriue at the summitie or top of christian prosession vnseasoned ; or being not well grounded , might easily fall away from the truth , in those dangerous times of triall . it is greatly to be desired , that this course might be constantly continued , both in the teacher and in the hearers , that the one may the better lead the way , and as the psalmist speakes , guide them with his owne eye of knowledge . and that the other may the better follow their good guides with stayed iudgement , receiuing the truth , not as the word of man , but as it is in deed the word of god. let it be obserued what aduantage the common aduersarie hath gotten by their pettie pamphlet , in this kinde : who though they keepe their blindfold followers in so palpable darkenesse , that they neither suffer them to looke into the light of gods word , nor so much as to vnderstand their liturgies , mass●s , prayers , or other seruices in their publique assemblies , yet they politikely hold them in by this strong band , insinuating vnto them , that resting vpon the implicite faith of what their church beleeues , it is sufficient for their saluation , that for faith , they can repeat their credo : for deuotion , that they can turne their beads , say the pater-noster , the aue maria , &c. for morality , if they know ●he seauen deadly sinnes , the eight beatitudes , the comandements of the church , the workes of mercy gh●stly and bodily , together with the decal●gue , prouided alwayes that they bawke the second commandement , lest thereby their abhominable idolatry should be detected . againe , note we to our griefe ( if wee haue any feeling of the state of our church ) what disparagement this vnskilful , or at least incautious building must needs be vnto vs , when our teachers doe not with s. paul as a wise master-builder , lay the foundation : which did they respectiuely obserue , both in their priuate course of study , and publique imployments , neither should they themselues so easily diuert from the infallible rule of diuine truth in holy writ , and from the sound doctrine and tenet of their deare mother , the church of england : nor prostitute the soules committed to their charge , to the daily seducement of romish impostors , and insinuations of subtile schismaticks . great is the praise of our christian church of england herein , not only in that it doth propound orthodox principles , whereunto it requires the vnanimous consent of all her clergy ; but doth withall enioyne , that there be a constant course of acquainting the people therewith , by way of catechisme . and well did his most excellent maiestie king iames of blessed memory , second this good worke , by his royall charge giuen in speciall letters directed to the ministery of england , for the respectiue handling of the grounds of religion euery sunday in the after-noone . neither hath our princely and pious king charles beene herein wanting , as we may see by his royall and religious care in causing the articles of religion to be reprinted : besides other expressions both of his owne constancy in the truth , and desire that the discreet and painefull ministery , teaching piety towards god , and loyalty to their soueraigne , should bend their force against the common enemy . amongst others , i haue for my part endeauoured in all sincerity of heart , according to the measure of grace giuen vnto me , to set forward the building of gods liuing temple . and my labour herein ( blessed be the name of him that giueth the successe ) hath nor bin in vaine . i haue b●ene a seruant and labourer in the lords vineyard by the space of 30. yeares . whereof i haue arriued at the 24th . yeare amongst you . in all which time my speciall care hath beene to ground you in the maine principles of christian religion . among other methods , which i haue vsed , to allure you with variety , this alphabeticall forme hath been one . i haue found it very aeceptable vnto you , and much desired that it might come into the light . and my desire is , that you would accordingly accept it , as a second token of my loue and due respect vnto you all . for the warrant of this method , wee haue the expresse word of god : there are all these alphabeticall psalmes . viz. ps. 25.34.37.111.112.119.145 . besides the lamentations of ieremy , and the catechisme or instruction , which solomons mother taught him , her lemuel . my only sute vnto you is , that you would not let this little booke be a curranto , or as an almanacke for a yeare , but in your families make daily and constant vse of it , to the building you vp to a perfect house and temple of our lord iesus christ , to whose gracious protection recommends you , your louing and ancient pastor , iohn phillips . a table of the matter contained vnder euery letter of this alphabet . a of the knowledge of god in generall . b of faith in one god. c of the trinitie , or three person 's in one god. d of the distinction of the persons in trinitie . e of the attributes or properties of god. f of the creation of the world . g of gods prouidence in gouerning and preseruing all things . h of one god onely to bee worshipped . i of man in his first creation . k of the image of god wherein man was created . l of the fall of man and losse of gods image . m of the miserable estate of all mankinde through adams fall . n of man his deliuerance by christ onely . o of our receiuing christ , to saluation , by faith only . p of the preaching of the word , the meanes of faith . q of the inseparable properties of faith r of the meanes of encreasing faith and all other graces . s of sacraments in generall . t of the sacrament of baptisme . v of the sacrament of the lords supper . w of the state of all men dying , in respect of the soule , and of the resurrection of the body . x of the day of iudgement . y of the execution of the sentence of damnation . z of the execution of the sentence of saluation . a acknowledge a god as hee hath b reuealed himselfe in his written word . for no man can be saued without the knowledge c of god , neither can a man knowe god vnto saluation d but by the scriptures . b beleeue in e one only god. for to f vs christians there is but one god ▪ and they that haue many gods , haue no god at all g but the deuill . and to beleeue that there is one god , and not to beleeue in him is no better then the h faith of deuils . c conceiue in this one god , i three persons , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost . for so it hath pleased god to k reueale himselfe from heauen : and l in this name euery christian is baptized : and it is the forme m of christian blessing . d distinguish the persons in the god head , but neither confound them , nor diuide the substance . for the father is of none , n but of himselfe : the sonne is o begotten of the father : the holy ghost p proceedeth from them both . and euery person q distinctly by himselfe is god : yet ar● they not three gods , but r onely one god , s coeternall , t coequall . e u eternall , x infinite , y immutable , z invisible , a almighty , b most wise , c holy , d good , e mercifull , f and iust , is this one god. for thus god is g pleased to describe himself vnto vs in his word : because otherwise no man h can see , or know the nature of god. f framed and i made was the whole world , by k the word of god , and that of l nothing , m in six dayes , n and all very good . for nothing o can make it selfe : neither p can bee without some cause : nor q can bee euill , being made of god. g r gouerned and s preserued are all things by the prouidence of god. for otherwise t satan and wicked u men might doe what they list : yea , and euery x creature would perish in a moment . h he , euen this god alone y is to be worshipped and z called vpon : and that onely a in the name of christ , b with vnderstanding , c and as himselfe hath commanded . for thus d euer did the true church of god : and to worship and pray vnto any other , e is to giue gods glory to a creature . i in the beginning god made f man , consisting g of soule and body : the body of the h dust , in it selfe mortall , yet i possibly immortall , if man had not sinned : the soule of spirituall substance , k immortall in it selfe : in both a l most excellent creature , aboue all others , except the angels . for he was created in the image m or likenesse of god : and had dominion and n rule ouer all other creatures in the world . k o knnowledge , righteousnes , p and true holinesse are the chiefe things , wherein q the image of god doth consist . for otherwise the word of god would not cal● vpon vs to r renew that image in christ : and without these graces man had not beene fit to rule the creatures , s nor ▪ et himselfe . l learne , that man t hath lost that image of god , wherein hee was created , u by the si●ne of adam the first man , x in eating the forbidden fruit . for adam hauing power y not to sinne if he w●u●d , being seduced by z the woman , and the woman a by the serpent , b which is the deuill , did c willingly yeeld to the temptation . m mankinde being d tainted by adams sinne , is become most e wretched and miserable , both in respect of sin and punishment . for hereby all men are f conceiued and borne in sinne , and are so g corrupted with sinne h both in soule and body , that they cannot i perceiue , k thinke , l will , m speake n or doe any good thing : but are become o subiect to sinne , p satan , the q wrath r and curse of god , to s death , and to t eternall damnation . n no meanes can free vs from that damnable estate , but v onely iesus christ , the x eternall sonne of god. for he being both y god and z man , hath a perfectly saued vs : in that he tooke b our nature vpon him , being c conceiued by the holy ghost , d borne of the virgine mary : liued in perfect e obedience , to god : f suffered the cursed death of the crosse : g rose againe the third day : ascended h into heauen : i sitteth at the right hand of god : and all for vs. o k only by faith , l receiuing iesus christ into the heart , euery man that with a m contrite heart n confesseth his sinnes to god , and truly o repenteth , p is pardoned all his sinnes , and so doth stand iustified before god. for we can merit q nothing with god , our best works being r imperfect . and the promise of god is ● onely made to them s that beleeue : being t elected of god before the world was . p preaching of the word of god is the ordinary meanes to worke u repentance and x faith . for god y that giueth all grace , and so z repentance and a faith , worketh outwardly by b the word , as by an instrument , and inwardly by his c spirit . q qvalities of faith inseparable vnto it , are these : to d vnite vs to god in christ. to e assure vs of gods loue in him : to f purifie the heart : and to g worke by loue . for vntill we beleeue , wee h are without god , without christ , and without hope : but when i once wee beleeue , wee haue peace with god : and cannot but k be fruitfull in all good workes . r remember that faith , and so all other graces are increased and confirmed by the hearing of the word of god l preached , as also by m reading , n meditation , o conference , p practise , q prayer , and r sacraments . for as god requireth of euery christian a daily s increase of grace , so he hath appointed these t meanes to that end . s sacraments are outward visible u signes of the couenant and promise of god in christ , x ordained by christ himselfe ; to y signifie , and to seale or z confirme , and as instruments or meanes , to a conuay sauing grace to euery b true beleeuer , and to bee as badges or tokens of our christian c profession . and they are in number onely two , d namely , baptisme and the lords supper . for such helpes our weake e faith doth require : and these f only hath christ ordained , and no more : being answerable to the two sacraments vnder the law , that is , circumcision and the passouer : and are alone in that kinde sufficient both for the beginning and continuing of sitting grace . t the sacrament of baptisme is , when the persons baptized , professing g repentance , and h faith in iesus christ , and the i children of such are by the minister k of the word washed with water , l in the name of the father , the sonne and the holy ghost : being thereby admitted into the communion m of the body of christ , which is the church : assured of the n remission of their sinnes : do o vow and promise , and are by baptisme confirmed in grace , p to beleeue in iesus christ , and to liue no more in sinne , but in newnesse of life . for baptisme is the signe of our regeneration , q or new birth : and therefore is once onely to bee receiued , as it is sufficient to be once bor●e and yet the virtue of baptisme is r perpetuall . v vnderstand that the sacrament of the lords supper , is when bread and wine s representing the body t and blood of christ , broken and shed for vs , being by the minister taken and blessed , is broken and poured forth , and so deliuered to all the faithfull pr●sent : u and of them receiued , by eating the bread and drinking the wine , in x remembrance of christs death , as also to y communicate vnto vs the very body and blood of christ spiritually by faith : z and so to confirme our faith in christ and a loue one to another . for this sacrament is the signe of our new life , b as baptisme is of our new birth . and therefore as we haue neede of often nourishment , so wee ought to receiue c often , and that with due preparation . d w we must know and beleeue , that all men e dying the f soules of the godly goe immediatly to heuenly ioy , the wicked to hell torments : and all of them shall g at the last day rise h againe in their i owne bodyes , by the k power of christ , the godly to life l eternall , the wicked to euerlasting damnation . for christ came m to destroy death for vs : and is himselfe n risen from death , that wee o might rise with him : and if there were no resurrection , the preaching of the word , p and our faith should bee in vaine . x exceeding glorious in it selfe , ioyous to the godly , and fearfull to the wicked , shall be the day q of iudgement : wherein christ r sh●ll call to account , and iudge all s men , of all t things done in thi● life , v according to the●r works . for he shall come with glory x in the clouds , accompanied with innumerable angels : and sitting vpon his throne of maiestie , shall vpon y due triall of euery mans workes ( the z bookes being opened ) pronounce the sentence a of saluation to the godly , and of damnation to the wicked . y you that are wicked , shall by the power of the voyce of christ , b goe away into c hell : being d separated from god , e consorted with the deuils , f depriued of all comfort , punished with vnspeakable g torments both in soule and body , h according to your sins , and that i eternally without case or end . for it is iust with god , k so to punish the wicked , and that they who haue liued heere in the pleasures of sinne , should be recompenced with answerable torment . z zealous godly men , the iudgement being ended , shall immediatly goe l with christ into heauen , hauing in him immediate m communion with god , who shall be all in all n vnto them : and so shall be freed from o ; all euills , and possessed of all good things , as perfection p of grace , brightnes q of glory , and fulnesse of r ioy , in their seuerall s degrees , and that t vnspeakable and u euerlasting . for it stands with the certainty of gods x election ; with the y truth of his promise ; and with his z iustice for the merit of christ , thus to a reward the faithfull : that so all their sorrowes may bee turned into b ioy . the second part of the christian alphabet : containing the grounds of knowledge repeated , by way of question and answer , with the proofe of euery particular point of doctrine . a of the knowledge of god in generall . q. rehearse the first letter of the christian alphabet , that is , the letter a. a. acknowledge god as hee hath reuealed himselfe in his written word . for no man can bee saued without the knowledge of god : neither can a man know god to saluation , but by the scriptures . 1 q. how proue you that there is a god to bee acknowledged ? a. that there is a god to bee acknowledged of all , is euident , both by the light of nature , and of grace : as also by the workes of god. q. how may it appeare by the light of nature , that there is a god ? 1 a. it is manifest by these euidences . 1. because in the very heathen there is the worke of the conscience . 2. because they haue , by naturall instinct , an inclination to some kinde of religion . 3. in that they haue the vse of an oath . 4. in that they make obseruation of gods vengeance against sinne . q. proue that in the heathen , there is the worke of the conscience ? a. the apostle doth affirme so much , 1 rom. 2.15 . that the gentiles shew the worke of the law written in their hearts , their conscience also bearing witnesse , and their thoughts the meane while accusing or excusing one another . this worke of the conscience is a manifest euidence , that there is a god , who is aboue the conscience : according to that in 1 ioh. 3.20 . if our heart condemne vs , god is greater th●n our heart , and knoweth all things . q. proue that the heathen haue naturall inclination to religion ? a. it is euident , 2 not onely by the word of god , but by experience in the most barbarous nations , who will rather worship an idoll , or the deuill himselfe , or any thing . yea , an vnknown god , then no god at al. q. how may that appeare ? a. it is apparent by that appeale of s paul to the corinthians , 1 cor. 12.2 . ye know , saith he , that ye were gentiles , carried away vnto these dumbe idols , euen as ye were led . and by that complaint against israel , psal. 106.35 that they were mingled among the heathen , and learned their workes , and serued their idols : yea they offered their sonnes and daughters vnto deuils . thus the men of lystra , act. 14.11.13 . were ready to sacrifice to paul and barnabas , saying , the gods are come downe vnto vs , in the likenesse of men . and paul at athens , act. 17.13 . found an altar , with this inscription , to the vnknowne god. 3 q. proue that the heathen haue the vse of an oath ? a. both experience and scripture plainely teach it . for instance , we read : that the heathen king , abimelech , required an oath of abraham , and performed the like to him , gen. 21.23 . sweare vnto me here by god , saith hee , &c. againe , verse 31. abraham is said to call that place beersheba , that is , the well of the oath , because there they swore both of them ; the like we reade of abimelech and isaac , gen. 26.28 . now this conscience of an oath proueth euidently , that they w●re perswaded of a diuine power , who is the auenger of all falshood and periury . q. proue that the heathen are obseruant of gods vengeance against sinne ? a. we may see it in the example of the philistims , 4 1 sam 5.7 . who being smitten with emrods , acknowledge● , that the hand of god was sore vpon them and vpon d●g●n th●ir god a●●i●e , act. 28.4 . when the barb●rians saw the ●iper hang on p●u●s hand , they said among themselues , no doubt , this man is a murtherer , whom , though he hath escaped the sea , yet vengeance suffereth not to liue . thus the very heathen acknowledge ●● god of vengeance . 2 q. how proue you by the light of grace , that there is a god ? a. it is euident in three respects . 1 in regard of the subiect or matter of the scriptures . 2. in respect of the maiestie of god shining therein . 3. if we consider the scope and drift of the scriptures . 1 q. how is it proued by the m●tter of the scriptures ? a. in that the scripture , the word of gods grace doth euery where teach , not onely that god is , but also how wee may know and serue the true god : as s. paul noteth , act. 17.23 . whom , saith he , 2 ye ignorantly worship , him declare i vnto you . q. how may it appeare by the maiestie of god shining in the scriptures ? a. in that the holy scripture , written in so plaine and familiar a stile , yet being read , opened , and applyed is so expresse a caracter or note of the diuine maiesty , that it conuinceth the conscience of the hearer , in so much , that as it is said , 1 cor. 14.25 . the secrets of his heart are made manifest , and so falling downe on his face , he will worship god , and say plainely , that god is in you indeed . q. how is it proued by the scope and drift of the scriptures ? 3 a. in that the scripture directeth vs , to this very point , as one of the first principles of christian religion ; namely , that there is a god , heb. 11.6 . hee that commeth to god , must beleeue that he is , and that hee is a rewarder of them that diligently seeke him . q how proue you , 3 that there is a god , by his workes ? 3 a. it is manifest , by the worke of creation ▪ by the worke of prouidence , by the worke of gods iudgements , by his workes of wonder ; and of his foretelling things to come . q. proue it by the worke of creation ? 1 a. it is written , rom. 1.20 . the inuisible things of him , that is , his eternall power and godhead are seene by the c●eation of the world , being considered in his workes , and psal. 19.1 . the heauens declare the glory of god , and the firmament sheweth his handy workes . q. proue it by the worke of prouidence ? 2 a. it is said , act. 14.17 . that hee l●ft not hi●selfe without witnesse ; in that ●e did good , and gaue vs raine from heauen , and fruitfull seasons , filling our hearts with food and gladnesse , and ch●p . 17.27 . that euen the very heathen should seeke the lord , if happily they might f●ele after him , and finde him , though he be not farre from euery one of vs , for in him wee liue , and moue , and haue our being . q. proue it by gods works of iudgement ? a. the psalmist expresly teacheth this , 3 psal. 9.16 . the lord is knowne by executing iudgement : the wicked is sn●●ed in the worke of his owne hand ; and psal. 58.11 . men shall say , ve●il● there is fruit for the righteous : doubtlesse there is a god that iudgeth the earth . q proue it by gods works of wonder ? a. by this argument the d●ity is inuincibly proued , 4 psal. 86.10 . thou art great , and dost wondrous things thou art god alone , and ps●l . 72.18 . blessed be the lord god , the god of israel , which onely doth wondrous things . q. proue it by his foretelling things to come ? 5 a. vpon this ground , all idols are proued to be in gods , isai. 41.21.23 . stand to your cause , saith the lord ; bring forth your strong reasons , &c. shew the things that are to come hereafter , that wee may know that you are gods : and by the same reason , the deitie of the true god is confirmed , isai. 44.6.7 . thus saith the lord , &c i am the first and i am the last , and besides me there is no god. and who is like m●e , that shall call , and shall declare it , and set it in order before me , since i appointed the ancient people ? and what is at hand , & what things are to come ? let them shew vnto them . q. you haue proued that god is , proue now that we ought to acknowledge god ? a. it is written , prou. 3.6 . in all thy waies acknowledge him , and hee shall direct thy pathes ; and it was dauids instruction , which he gaue to his sonne salomon vpon his death bed , 1 chro. 28.9 and thou salomon my sonne , know the god of thy father , and serue him with a perfect heart , and with a willing minde : for the lord searcheth all hearts , and vnderstandeth al the imaginations of thoughts : if thou seeke him , hee will be ●ound of the● : but if thou forsake him , hee will cast thee off for euer . q. proue that we must acknowledge god , as he hath reuealed himselfe in his written word ? a. it is written , 3 deut. 29.29 . the secret things belong to the lord our god , but those things which are reuealed , belong vnto vs , and to our children for euer , that we may doe all the words of this law ; and rom. 15.4 . for whatsoeuer things were written aforetime , were written for our learning , that we through patience a●d comfort of the scriptures , might haue hope . q. why can no man be saued without the knowledge of god ? 4 a. because our saluation consisteth in the knowledge of god , witnesse our sauiour , ioh. 17.3 . this is life eternall , that they know thee the onely true god , and iesus christ whom thou hast s●nt . and the apostle sheweth , that without this knowledge , there is nothing to be looked for , but certaine damnation ; 2 thes. 1.8 . the lord iesus , saith he , shall be reuealed from heauen , with his mightie angels in flaming fire , taking vengeance on them that know not god. q. why can we not know god vnto saluation , 5 but by the scriptures ? a. because , as s. paul teacheth , 2 tim. 3.15 . the holy scriptures are able to make vs wise vnto saluation . and christ hath commanded , ioh. 5.39 . search the scriptures , for in them yee thinke to haue eternall life , and they are they which testifie of mee . b of faith in one god. q. rehearse the letter b. a. beleeue in one onely god. for to vs christians there is but one god , and they that haue many gods , haue no god at all , but the deuill . and to beleeue that there is one god , but not to beleeue in him , is no better then the faith of deuils . q. proue that there is but one god ? a. it is written , duet . 6.4 . heare o israel , the lord our god is one lord , and isai 44.6 . thus saith the lord , i am the first , and i am the last , and besides me there is no god. q. proue that to vs christians , there is but one god ? a. it is written , 1 cor. 8.4.5.6 . wee know that an idol is nothing in the world , and that there is none other god but one , for though there be that are called gods , &c. yet to vs there is but one god , and eph. 4.5.6 . there is one lord , one faith , one baptisme , one god and father of all . q ▪ proue that they that haue many gods , haue no god at all but the deuill ? a. it will manifestly appeare , if we compare two places of scripture together ; the one is , ephes. 2.12 . where the apostle saith , that being gentiles or heathen , they were at that time , without god in the world : the other place is , 1 cor. 10.20 . where he saith , that the things which the gentiles sacrifice , they sacrifice to deuils , and not to god. q. what is it to beleeue in god ? a. to beleeue in god is not onely to beleeue that there is a god : or , to beleeue god , and to giue credit to him , by assenting to his word : but to put our whole trust & confidence in him , as our god & father . q. how may this appeare to be true ? a. it is euident in that we finde this to be the faith of the fathers in the old testament , psal. 22.4 . our fathers trusted in thee ; they trusted , and thou diddest deliuer them : and dauid for his particular saith , psal. 11.1 . in the lord put i my trust , and psal. 25.2 . o my god , i trust in thee , let mee not be ashamed . and in the new testament the apostles taught this faith , 1 tim. 6.17 . charge them that are rich in this world , that they be not high minded , nor trust in vncertaine riches , but in the liuing god. q proue that to beleeue one god , but not to beleeue in him , is but the faith of deuils ? a. by this very thing , s. iames doth conuince the hypocrites and counterfeit christians , iam. 2.19 . thou beleeuest , that there is one god , thou doest well : the deuils also beleeue and tremble . c of the trinitie , or three persons in one god. q. rehearse the letter c. a. conceiue in this one god , three persons , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost . for so it hath pleased god to reueale himselfe from heauen : and in thi● name euery christian is baptized : and it is the forme of christian blessing . q. prove that we must conceiue in one god , three persons . a. wee are so taught , 1 ioh. 5.7 . there are three that beare witnesse in heauen , the father , the word , and the holy ghost , and these three are one . q. proue that god hath so reuealed himselfe from heauen ? a. the euangelist noteth so much , luk. 3.21.22 . that iesus being baptized and praying , the heauen was opened : and the holy ghost descended in a bodily shape like a doue vpon him , and a voyce came from heauen , which said , thou art my beloued sonne , in thee i am well pleased . here is the sonne baptized : the holy ghost descending vpon him : and the father speaking from heauen . q. proue that in this name euery christian is baptized ? a. it is the constant practise of the church , according to the command of christ , matth. 28.19 . goe yee , and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of ●he father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost . q. proue that this is the forme of christian blessing ? a. so we reade , 2 cor. 13.14 . the grace of our lord iesus christ , and the loue of god , and the communion of the holy ghost , bee with you all . amen . d of the distinction of the persons in trinitie . q. rehearse the letter d. distinguish the persons in the god-head , but neither confound them , nor diuide the substance . for the father is of none , but of himselfe ; the son is begotten of the father , the holy ghost proceedeth from them both . and euery person distinctly by himselfe i● god : yet are they not three gods , but onely one god , coeternall and coequall . q. how may it appeare that the p●rsons are thus to be distinguished , and not confounded ? a. that they are to be distinguished , and not confounded so that the one is not the other is manifest by diuers euidences grounded vpon the word of god. 1 the first whereof is , because they are expresly shewed and said in scripture , to bee in number three , and are there noted distinctly by their peculiar denominations or names , as before is shewed , both by reuelation from heauen ; by the institution of baptisme ; and by the words of ioh. 1.5.7 . there are three that beare witnesse in heauen , the father , the word , and the holy ghost . q. what is the second euidence , that the person● are so distinguished and not confounded ? a. the second euidence is grounded vpon the incommunicable properties ascribed distinctly to each person : 2 as that the father is of none , but of himselfe , begetting the sonne . the sonne is begotten of the father . the holy ghost preceedeth from them both . all which may appeare by these scriptures , 1 cor. 8.6 where s. paul calleth the first person , the father , of whom are all things ; and rom. 11.36 . he saith , that of him , and through him , and for him are all things , psal. 22.7 . thou art my sonne , this day haue i begotten thee . ioh. 1.14 . christ is said to bee the onely begotten son of the father , and ioh. 15.26 . christ saith of the holy ghost the third person , when the comforter shall come , whom i will send vnto you from the father , euen the spirit of truth which proceedeth of the father ▪ he shall testifie of me . q. what is the third euidence ? 3 a. the third euidence is taken from the consideration of the distinct effects or workes attributed to each person : as , the worke of creation to the father : redemption to the sonne : sanctification to the holy ghost . for though being outward workes , they be common to the whole deitie , yet in respect of personall order , and of the manner of working , they are distinct : the father working by the sonne , and by the holy ghost ; but the sonne and the holy ghost working from the father , as being the fountaine of euery action . q. what is the fourth euidence ? a. the fourth euidence to proue that the persons are distinct and not confounded , 4 is grounded vpon certaine termes , which doe not● personall difference ; as ioh. 1.1 . the word was with god ; and ioh. 5.17 . my father worketh hitherto , and i worke . so of the holy ghost it is said , isai. 48.16 . the lord god , and his spirit hath sent me ; and where it is said , 1. cor. 12.6 . that it is the same god that worketh all in all ; it is added , psal. 8. &c. by the spirit , and by the same spirit , often repeated : which termes of difference were meerely in vains , if the persons were not distinct . q. why must not the substance be diuided ? a. we must not diuide the substance , because the god head of the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost is all one : for we must conceiue in the deitie another and another person , but not another and another thing : that is , a diuersitie or distinction of persons , but not a diuision of the diuine nature : so the father is god , the sonne is god , and the holy ghost is god , yet they are not three gods , but one god. q. proue that euery person distinctly by himselfe is god : and first that the father is god. a. it is written , ephes. 4.6 . there is one god , and father of all , who is aboue all , & through all , and in you all ; and 1 cor. 15. 24. christ is said to haue deliuered vp the kingdome to god , euen the father . q. proue that the sonne is god ? a. the god-head of the sonne is plentifully confirmed in scripture . saint iohn speaking of our sauiour christ , ioh. 1.1 . saith , in the beginning was the word , and the word was with god , and the word was god ; and 1 ioh. 5.20 . that the sonne of god iesus christ , is true god , and eternall life ; and ioh. 20.28 . that thomas beleeuing , answered and said vnto iesus , my lord and my god. q. proue that the holy ghost is god ? a. the god head of the holy ghost may appeare , amongst many euidences by that saying of saint peter to ananias , act. 5.3.4 . that , in that hee did lie vnto the holy ghost , he lied not vnto men , but vnto god. againe , the deitie of the holy ghost , may be gathered out of isa. 48.16 . where the prophet saith ; and now the lord god , and his holy spirit hath sent me . and act. 13.2 . where it is said , that as they ministred vnto the lord , and fasted , the holy ghost said , separate me barnabas and saul , for the worke whereunto i haue called them . so act. 20.28 . s. paul telleth the elders of the church , that the holy ghost had made them ouersee●s , to feede the church of god. all which could not bee said of the holy ghost , if hee were not god. q. proue that though there be three persons , yet they are but one god ? a. it is manifest that the three persons , are not three gods , but only one god , because there can bee but one infinite , one eternall , one almighty , and so consequently but one only god , as was proued before . and s. iohn doth expressely affirme , 1 ioh. 5.7 . these three are one . q. proue that they are coeternall ? a. the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost must of necessity bee coeternall , one as well as the other , that is , the father eternall , the sonne eternall , and the holy ghost eternall ; because they doe all subsist in one and the same diuine nature , and are all three , one and the same god. for the sonnes eternitie see ioh. 1.2 . the same was in the beginning with god , all things were made by him . and ioh. 17.5 . now o father , glorifie thou me with thine owne s●lfe , with the glory which i had with thee before the world was . and thē coeternity of the holy ghost with the father and the sonne is noted , in that hee ioyned with them in the creation of all things , gen. 1.2 . and the spirit of god moued vpon the face of the waters . q. proue that they are coequall . a. being one and the same diuine nature , they must also needs be coequall . of the sonne it is said phil. 2.6 . that being in the forme of god , he thought it no robbery to be equall with god. so againe the disposing of spirituall gifts is equally attributed to the holy ghost , a● well as to the father and the sonne , as being god coequall with them : 1 cor. 12.4.5.6.11 . e of the attributes or properties of god. q. rehearse the letter e. a. eternall , infinite , immutable , invisible , almighty : most wise , holy , good , mercifull , and iust is this one god. for thus god is pleased to describe himselfe vnto vs in his word : because otherwise no man can see , or know the nature of god. q. proue that god is eternall ? a. that god is eternall , without beginning or ending , i● euident , psal. 90. ● . before the mountaines were made , and before thou hadst formed the earth and the world : euen from euerlasting to euerlasting thou art god. and 1 tim. 1.17 . to the king eternall , immortall , inuisible , the only wise god , bee honour , and glory for euer and euer amen . q. proue that god is infinite ? a. that god is infinite , 2 filling all places , and present euery where , see ier. 23.23.24 . am i a god at hand , saith the lord , and not a god a farre off ? can any hide himselfe in secret places , that i shall not see him saith the lord ? doe not i fill heauen and earth , saith the lord ? and ps. 139.7 . whither shall i goe from thy spirit ? or whither shall i flee from thy presence ? q. proue that god is immutable ? a. that god is immutable , 3 without change , see iam. 1.17 . where god is said to be the father of lights , with whom is no variablenesse , neither shadow of turning . and mal. 3.6 . i am the lord , i change not : therefore ye sonnes of iacob are not consumed . q. proue that god is invisible ? 4 a. it is manifest by that hath beene said before , 1 tim. 1.17 . that as god is eternall without beginning and immortall without end , so he is also invisible . and col. 1.15 . christ is called the image of the invisible god. and ioh. 4.24 . it is said , that god is a spirit , and therefore without bodily or visible substance . q. proue that god is almighty ? 5 a. it is written gen. 17.1 . i am the almighty god , walke before me and be thou perfect . and reu. 15.3 . great and maruelous are thy works lord god almighty . whereupon it is said , mark. 10.27 . that with god all things are possible : q. proue that god is most wise ? a. it is written , ps . 147.5 . 6 great is our lord and of great power , his vnderstanding or his wisdome is infinite . and 1 tim. 1. 17. he is called the onely wise god. q. proue that god is most holy ? a. it is the voyce of the seraphims , 7 or angels , isa. 6.3 . who cry one to another , saying holy , holy , holy , is the lord of hosts . and reu. 15.4 . who shall not feare 〈◊〉 o lord , and glorifie thy name , for thou only art holy. and 1 p●t . 1.15 . as he which hath called you is holy , so be ye holy in all manner of conuersation . q. proue that god is good ? a. that he is absolutely good in himselfe , 8 our . sauiour sheweth , matth. 19.17 . when hee saith , there is none good but one , that is god. and that he is good to his creatures , read psal. 145.9 . where it is said , that the lord is good to all . and matth. 5. 45. he maketh his sunne to arise on the euill and the good , and sendeth raine on the iust and vniust . q. proue that god is mercifull ? 9 a. it is written iam. 5.11 . that the lord is very pittifull and mercifull . and psal. 145. 8.9 . the lord is gracious and full of compassion : slow to anger , and of great mercy , and his tender me●●y is ouer all his workes . and luk. 6.36 . be ye therefore mercifull , as your father also is mercifull . q. proue that god is iust ? 10 a. it is said deu. 32.4 . that he is a god of truth and without iniquity ; iust and righteous is he . psal. 145.17 . the lord is righteous in all his wayes . psal. 11.7 . the righteous lord loueth righteousnes . and therefore he is called 2 tim. 4.8 . the righteous iudge . q. proue that god would be so described ? a. it is euident in his appearing to moses , exod. 34.6 . where it is said , that the lord passed by before him , and proclaimed , the lord , the lord , mercifull and gracious , long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth , reseruing mercy for thousands , forgiuing iniquity , and transgression , and sinne , and not making the wicked innocent , &c. q. proue that god is so described because otherwise no man can see god. a. it is written , ioh. 2.18 . no man hath seene god at any time : and 1 tim. 6.16 . that god dwelleth in light , which no man can approach vnto , whom no man hath seene nor can see . and therefore this is rendred as the reason why god did so proclaime himselfe to moses , exo. 33.18.19.20 . because no man can see the face of god and liue . f of the creation of the world . q. rehearse the letter f ? a. framed and made was the whole world , by the word of god , and that of nothing , in six dayes , and all very good . for nothing can make it selfe : neither can bee without some cause : nor can be euill , being made of god. q. proue that god made the world ? a. it is written gen. 1.1 . 1 in beginning god created the heauen and the earth . act. 17.24 . god made the world and all things therein . and col. 1.16 . by him were all things created , which are in heauen , and which are in earth , things visible and inuisible . q. proue that the world was made by the word of god ? a. so it is in the psalme 33.6 . 2 by the word of the lord were the heauens made , and all the host of them , by the breath of his mouth . and psalme 148.5 . he commanded , and they were created . see this in the history of the creation , gen. 1.6 . q. proue that god made all things of nothing ? a. it is said hebrewes 11.3 . 3 through faith we vnderstand , that the worlds were framed by the word of god , so that things which are seene , were not made of things which doe appeare . q. proue that god made all things in six dayes ? 4 a. it is manifest in the story of the creation , gen. 1.31 . and is repeated in the fourth commandement , exod. 20.11 . in six dayes the lord made heauen and earth , the sea , and all that in them is . q. proue that god made all things very good ? 5 a. so god himselfe testifieth , gen. 1.31 . and god saw euery thing , that he had made , and behold it was very good . q. proue that nothing can make it selfe ? 6 a. it is brought as a reason to proue that god made man , and so consequently all other creatures , psal. 100.3 . know ye that the lord hee is god , it is hee that hath made vs , and not wee our selues . q. proue that nothing can be without some cause ? a. it is euident in the light of nature : 7 and it is the reason of the apostle to proue that god made all things . heb. 3.4 . for saith he , euery house is builded of some man : but he that built all things i● god. q. proue that nothing made of god can be euill ? a. it is manifest because ( as is shewed before ) god is good , 8 yea goodnesse it selfe . and psal. 5.4 . no euill can dwell with him . and therefore he cannot be the author of euill , who is the fountaine of all goodnesse , as is proued iam. 1.17 . euery good gift , and euery perfect gift is from aboue , and cometh downe from the father of lights . g of gods prouidence in gouerning and preseruing all things . q. rehearse the letter g ? a. gouerned and preserued are all things by the prouidence of god. for otherwise satan and wicked men might doe what they list : yea , and euery creature would perish in a moment . q. proue that all things are gouerned by the prouidence of god. 1 a. it is written pro. 15.3 . the eyes of the lord are in euery place , beholding the euill and the good . and mat. 10.29.30 that one sparrow shall not fall on the ground without your father : but the very hayres of your head are all numbred . q. shew some instances or examples of gods prouidence , gouerning and ordering all things ? a. it is euident by many examples in the word of god , that nothing doth come to passe by fortune or chance , but that all things are ordered by the will and prouidence of god : therefore it is said ps. 135.6 . whatsoeuer the lord pleased , that did he , in heauen and in earth ; in the sea and in all deepe places . q. shew some instance of things in heauen ? a. it is said psal. 29.3 . 1 the god of glory maketh it to thunder . psal. 135 7. he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth , hee maketh lightenings for the raine : he bringeth the winde out of his trea●ures . iob. 37.6 . he saith to the snow be thou vpon the earth , likewise to the small raine , and to the great raine of his power . therefore it is said psal. 147.7.8 . sing vnto the lord with thanksgiuing , which couereth the heauen with cloudes , and prepareth raine for the earth . q. giue some example of gods worke in the sea ? a. it is written isa. 51.15 ▪ i am the lord , 2 thy god , that diuided the sea , whose waues roared . and psal. 107.23.24 . they that goe downe to the sea in ships , see the workes of the lord , and his wonders in the deepe . 25. for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth vp the waue● thereof . and againe ver . 29. hee maketh the storme a calme , so that the waues thereof are still . q. shew some instances of gods prouidence in ordering things vpon the earth ? a. first all things both good and euill are ordered by gods prouidence , 3 see isa. 45.7 . 1 i forme the light and create darknesse : i make peace , and create euill : i the lord doe all these things . iob. 5.18 . hee maketh the wound and bindeth it vp : hee smiteth and his hands make whole . and 1 sam. 2.6 . the lord killeth and maketh aliue : he bringeth down to the graue , and raiseth vp . q. giue a second instance of gods prouidence in things vpon the earth ? a. secondly it is said dan. 2.21 . 2 that he changeth the times and seasons : hee remoueth kings , and setteth vp kings . and psal. 75.7 . god is the iudge , he putteth downe one , and setteth vp another . q. giue a third instance of this prouidence ? a. 3 thirdly it is said pro. 16.1 . the preparations of the heart in man , and the answere of the tongue is from the lord. and ver . 9. a mans heart deuiseth his way ; but the lord directeth his steps . and prou. 21.1 . the kings heart is in the hand of the lord , as the riuers of waters , he turneth it whithersoeuer he will. q. giue a fourth instance of this prouidence ? a. fourthly , the prouidence of god doth so order all things , 4 that there is nothing so casuall to vs , but it is infallibly certaine in the decree of god. see pro. 16.33 . the lot is cast into the lap : but the whole disposing thereof is of the lord. q. proue that all things are preserued by the prouidence of god ? 2 a. it is written psal. 36.6 . o lord thou preseruest man and beast . and psal. 145.15 . the eyes of all waite vpon thee , and thou giuest them their meat in due season . psal. 119.91 . it is said of all gods creatures : that they continue euen to this day , by thine ordinances : for all are thy seruants . q. proue that satan cannot doe what he list ? a. it is euident iob. 1.11 . and 2.5 . 3 because satan could not touch iob , either in his substance , or his children , or his person , without gods permission . and mat. 8.31 . the deuils could not enter into the heard of swine , without the leaue of christ. q. proue that wicked men cannot doe what they list ? a. it is manifest in that christ said to pilate ioh. 19.11 . 4 thou couldest haue no power at all against me , except it were giuen thee from aboue . and act. 4.27 . it is said , that herod and pontius pilate , with the gentiles , and the people of israel were gathered together , to doe whatsoeuer the hand and counsell of god determined before to bee done . q. proue that without gods prouidence euery creature would perish in a moment ? 5 a. it is euident , act. 17.25.28 . in that it is said , that he giueth to all , life , breath and all things : and that in him wee liue , and moue , and haue our being . and deu. 8.3 . man liueth not by bread onely , but by euery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god. h of one god onely to bee worshipped with religious worship . q. rehearse the letter h ? a. he , euen this god alone is to be worshipped and called vpon : and that onely in the name of christ , with vnderstanding , and as him selfe hath commanded . for thus euer did the true church of god : and to worship and pray vnto any other , is to giue gods glory to a creature . q. proue that god onely is to be worshiped ? a. it is written matth. 4.10 . 1 thou shalt worship the lord thy god , and him onely shalt thou serue . and reu. 22.8.9 . s. iohn saith , i fell downe to worship before the feete of the angell : but he said vnto mee , see thou doe it not : for i am they fellow seruant , and of thy brethren the prophets , and of them which keepe the words of this booke : worship god. q. proue that god only is to be called vpon ? 2 a. god himselfe saith ps. 50.15 . call vpon me , in the day of trouble ; i will deliuer thee , and thou shalt glorifie me . and luk. 11.2 . our sauiour teaching the most perfect forme of prayer , saith . when ye pray , say , our father which art in heauen , &c. q. proue that we are to call vpon god , only in the name of christ ? 3 a. christ himselfe saith , ioh. 1● . 22 . verily , verily , i say vnto you , whatsoeuer yee shall aske the father in my name , he will giue it you . and 1 tim. 2.5 . there is one god , and one mediator betweene god and man , the man christ jesus . therefore he is called , heb. 12.24 . the mediator of the new testament . q. proue that we must worship , and pray to god with vnderstanding ? 4 a. so saith the apostle in the name of euery good christian ; 1 cor. 14.15 . i will pray with the spirit , and will pray with vnderstanding also : i will sing with the spirit , and will si●g with vnderstanding also . and our sauiour sheweth the reason , why we ought so to doe , ioh. 4.24 . because , god is a spirit , and they that worship him , must worship him in spirit aud in truth . q. proue that we must worship and call vpon god onely as himselfe hath commanded ? a. it is written , 5 deu. 12.32 . what thing soeuer i command you , obserue to do it , thou shalt not adde thereto , nor diminish from it . and isa. 29.13 . god complaineth , that their feare towards him , is taught by the precept of men . and christ saith matth. 15.9 . in vaine they worship me , teaching for doctrines the commandements of men . q. proue that the true church did euer thus worship , and pray vnto god onely . a. it will manifestly appeare , if wee take a view of all ages from the beginning of the world ; 6 both before the law ; vnder the law ; and after the law , vnder the gospel , in the time of christ and his apostles . q. prooue that before the law , god onely was worshipped and called vpon ? 1 a. the sacred history of gods word from the first man adam vnto moses , doeth manifestly prooue it . and it is expresly said , gen. 4.26 . at the restitution and reformation of religion , formerly corrupted by the posterity of cain ▪ that then men began to call vpon the name of the lord. q. prooue that vnder the law god onely was worshiped and called vpon ? 2 a. the trueth of this may euidently appeare , in that by the law all religious seruice and sacrifice was offered vnto god onely . and it is sayd psal. 22.4.5 . our father 's trusted in thee , they trusted , and thou diddest deliuer them , they called vpon thee and were deliuered , they trusted in thee , and were not confounded . q. proue that after the law in the time of the gospell , god only was worshipped & prayed vnto ? a. it is euident in that christ did so teach ; 3 the apostles did both so preach and practise . againe , a good christian is stiled or sayd to be , a worshipper of god , or one that calleth on the name of the lord. and such are called the true worshippers . q. prooue that christ did so teach ? a. that our sauiour christ did so teach and maintayne , 1 may appeare euidently , both by his combate with satan mat. 4.10 . where he proueth by the scriptures , that religious worship and seruice is to bee done vnto god onely . and matth. 6.9 . teaching his disciples , and in them vs , to pray , hee sayth , after this maner therefore pray ye , our father which art in heauen , &c. q. prooue the apostles did both so teach and practise ? 2 a. that the apostles did so teach , see phil. 4.6 . be nothing ca●efull , but in all things let your requ●sts bee shewed vnto god in prayer and supplication , with giui●g of thankes . and that they did so practise , and that all the ●aithfull did the like , accordin● to their doctrine and example , is manifest by all the formes of prayer recorded in the new testament ; and specially by that of the apostle , eph. 3.14 . i bow my k●e●s vnto the father of our lord iesus christ &c. q. proue that a good christian is stiled a worshipper of god ? a. it is euident in that speech of the blinde man cured by christ , 3 io. 9.31 . ye know , sayth hee , that god heareth not sinners : but if any man be a worshipper of god , and doth his will , him heareth he . where wee see , hee calleth a good christian or godly man , a worshipper of god. and 2. tim. 2.19 . in stead of saying , let euery christian , s. paul sayth , let euery one that calleth on the name of christ , depart from iniquity . q proue that such as worship god onely , are the true worshippers ? a. that such as worship & call vpon god onely , 4 are the true worshippers , may be gathered by the words of christ to the woman of samaria , io. 4.22.23 . ye worship , sayth hee , ye know not what ; we know what wee worship , &c. but the houre commeth , and now is , when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in trueth : for the father seeketh such to worship him . q. how proue you , that to worship or pray vnto any other , is to giue gods glory to a creature ? 7 a. because the prayse of hearing all prayer , of all creatures , belongeth to god , see psal. 65.1.2 . prayse wayteth for thee , o god , in sion : and vnto thee shall the vow be performed . o thou that hearest prayer , vnto thee shall all flesh come . and isa. 42.8 . i am the lord , that is my name , and my glory will i not giue to another , neyther my prayse to grauen images . i of man in his first creation . q. rehearse the letter i ? a. in the beginning god made man , consisting of soule and body : the body of the dust , in it selfe mortall , yet possibly immortall , if man had not sinned : the soule of spirituall substance , immortall in its selfe : in both a most excellent creature , aboue all others , except the angels . for hee was created in the image or likenesse of god , and had dominion and rule ouer all other creatures in the world . q. what is to bee vnderstood by the word man ? a. by the word man is meant both sexes , man and woman ; as we may see gen. 1.27 . & 5.2 . where god being sayd to make man , it is added immediatly , male and female created he them and blessed them , and called their name adam , or man , in the day when they were created . q. why did god at the beginning make one man and one woman ? a. god made one man and one woman , not only for propagation , as it is gen. 1.28 . be fruitfull and multiply , and replenith the earth ; but also that by making onely one man and one woman , hee might establish holy mariage , and lawfull procreation of children . which our sauiour proueth , matth. 19.4.5 . haue you not read , sayth he , that he which made them at the beginning , made them male and female ? and thence concludeth , that two shall be one flesh . the like is in mal. 2.15 . and did not hee make one ? yet had hee abundance of spirit : and wherefore one ? because he sought a godly seed . q. proue that man doth consist of soule and body ? a. that man doth consist of these two parts , soule and body , is euident in the story of the creation , gen. 2.7 . as also by many instances else where in the word of god : as for example . matth. 10.28 . feare not them which kill the body , but are not able to kill the soule : but rather feare him ▪ which is able to destroy both soule and body in hell . 1 cor. 6.20 . glorifie god in your body and in your spirit , which are gods , and 1. thes. 5.23 . i pray god your whole spirit , and soule , and body bee preserued blamelesse vnto the comming of our lord iesus christ. q. proue that god made the body of the dust ? a. it is written , gen. 2.7 . that the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground . and 3.9 . dust thou art , and vnto dust thou shalt returne . this made abraham confesse with great humility , gen. 18.27 . i am but dust and ashes . and it is alleaged by dauid as an argument of gods pity , psal. 103.13.14 . like as a father pitieth his children , to the lord pitieth them that feare him . for hee knoweth our frame : hee remembreth that we are dust . q. what is the difference betweene the creation of man and woman ? a. the difference is this ; first the man was made before the woman , to note his authority & her subiection : as saint paul reasoneth , 1 tim. 2.13 . for saith he , adam was first formed , then eue. as also to shew the neere affinity betweene man and man : seeing , as it is acts 17.26 . god hath made of one blood all nations of men , for to dwell on the face of the earth . q. what is the second difference ? a. secondly man was made of the dust primarily , the woman secondarily ; in that she was taken out of him , who was made of the dust : for she was made of the rib of adam . gen. 2 22. not of the head , nor of the foot : to shew , that god would neither haue her a ruler nor a seruant to her husband , but a companion , as shee is called , mal. 2.14 . againe it was a type of the church , the life and saluation whereof issued by water and blood , out of the side of christ , as the woman receyued her being out of the side of the man. q. proue that the body of man was made possibly immortall ? a. the body of man was in its selfe mortall , yet by the appointment of god , were it not for sinne , had beene possibly immortall . for god gaue vnto man possibility not to sinne , and so consequently not to die ; as may be gathered by his generall threatning , genes . 2.17 . the day thou eatest thereof , ( that is , of the tree of the knowledge of good and euill ) thou shalt surely die . and by the speciall sentence of bodily death , gen. 3.29 . dust thou art , and vnto dust shalt thou returne . so ro. 5.12 . it is said , by one man sinne entred into the world , and death by sinne . and ro. 6.23 , the wages of sinne is death . q. proue that the soule is of spirituall substance , immortall in its selfe ? a. that the soule of man●s of spirituall substance , immortall in its selfe by nature , existing as well out of the body , as in the body , and giung life to the body , it is euident both in the creation , gen. 2.7 . where it is said , that god breathed into his nostrils the breath of life , and man became a liuing soule . as also by the parting of soule and body in death , eccles. 12.7 . then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was ; and the spirit shall returne to god , who gaue it . else christ could not haue said of the patriarchs deceased , matth. 22.32 . god is not the god of the dead , but of the liuing . and matth. 16.26 . what shall it profit a man , though hee should winne the whole world , if hee lose his owne soule ? q. proue that man was made a most excellent creature , aboue all others , excep● the angels ? a. that , next to the angels , man excelled all other creatures in the world , see psal. 8.4.5 . what is man that thou art mindfull of him ? or the sonne of man , that thou visitest him ? for thou hast made him a little lower then the angels , and hast crowned him with glory and honour . q. proue that man was created in the image of god ? a. that god made man in his own image and liknesse , is specially noted in the creation , more then onee , as it is written , gen. 1.26 . god said , let vs make man in our image , after our likenesse . and verse 27. so god created man in his owne image , in the image of god created he him : male and female created hee them . q. proue that man had dominion and rule ouer all other creatures ? a. it is granted to man in his first creation , gen. 1.26.28 . to haue dominion ouer the fish of the sea , and ouer the fowle of the aire , and ouer euery liuing thing that moueth vpon the earth . and the grant is humbly acknowledged , psal. 8.6 . thou madest him to haue dominion ouer the workes of thy hands : thou hast put all things vnder his feete ▪ k of the image of god , wherein man was created . q. rehearse the letter k ? a. knowledge , righteousnesse , and true holinesse are the chiefe things wherein the image of god doth consist . for otherwise the word of god would not call vpon vs to renew this image in christ : and without these graces man had not beene fit to rule the creatures nor yet himselfe . q. proue that the image of god doth consist in knowledge ? a. the apostle noteth so much col. 3.9.10 . where speaking of the christians renewed estate i● christ , he saith , ye haue put of the old man with his deeds ; and haue put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge , after the image of him that created him . q. proue that it doth also consist in righteousnesse and true holinesse ? a. that the image of god in man doth not onely consist in knowledge , but also in iustice and in sanctity or holinesse , may appeare by that of saint paul to the ephesians , 4.24 . put on the new man , which after god is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse . q. how is man said to bee thus made in the image of god ? a. man is said to bee thus made in the image of god , not that he is the very stampe and representation of the deity ; for the infinite and invisible god cannot be resembled in the person of a sinite creature : but in respect of some kind of similitude or likeness● ; therefore when god said , let vs make man in our image , it is added , after or according to our likenesse : the later words expounding the former . for this is the peculiar priuiledge of christ iesus the eternall sonne of god , who alone is so called , 2 cor 4.4 . the image of god. and col. 1.15 . the image of the inuisible god. and heb. 1.3 . the brightnesse of his glory , and the expresse image of his person : because he is one and the same god eternall with his father . q. doth the image of god consist onely in knowledge , righteousnesse , and holinesse ? a. knowledge , righteousnesse , and true holinesse are the chiefe , but not the onely image or resemblance of god in man : for in that god made man ruler ouer all creatures in earth , man doth therein represent the soueraignety of god , who is lord of all things . againe , besides those gifts of true knowledge , righteousnesse , and holinesse , god gaue vnto man diuers excellent representations of the deitie both in his soule and body . q. what other resemblances of god are there in the soule of man ? a. in the soule of man ( besides those heauenly graces of diuine knowledge , righteousnesse , and holinesse ) god gaue man excellent wisdome , and vnderstanding , whereby he did know the nature and property of all things : as may appeare in that adam was able to giue to euery creature a name according to the nature of it . gen. 2.19 . where it is said , that god brought them vnto adam , to see what he would call them : and whatsouer adam called euery liuing creature , that was the name thereof . q. is there any resemblance of god in the substance of mans soule ? a. the very essence and substance of mans soule doth in some respects beare the image or likenesse of god : as namely , in that the soule of man is a spirituall nature , invisible and immortall . againe the soule , being onely one , is endned with diuers properties , as vnderstanding , memory , will : which after a sort ▪ doe shadow out and resemble the vnity of the godhead and the trinity of persons . q. is there any part of the image of god , in the body of man ? a. the whole man both soule and body , was made in the image of god : as may appeare by these euidences . first , god saith , gen : 1.26 . let vs make man ( not the soule onely , or the body onely ) in our image . secondly , sinne being the contrary to gods image , is seated not onely in the soule but also in the body . rom. 6.12 . thirdly , the renewing of gods image , which is our sanctification , is as well in the body as in the soule , see rom. 12.1 . 1 thes. 5.23 . fourthly , god forbidding murder , doth vse this reason , gen. 9.6 . for in the image of god hath hee made man. q. how is the image of god in the body of man ? a. the image of god is not said to be in the body as it is a body , or in respect of the shape , and parts , or limbs ▪ for god is an infinite spirit , incorporaell , and inuisible ; but in these respects . 1. as the body vnited to the soule , in which the image of god , doth chiefely consist , d●●h constitute the whole man. 2. as the body like a microcosme or little world doth expresse in euery part , the wonderfull worke of the creator . 3. as those excellent graces of wisdome , sanctity , and iustice principally seated in the soule , doe expresse themselues in the body , and ( as solomon speaketh ) make the face to shine : according as we see the light of a candle shine through the lanterne . q. proue that the word of god doth call vpon vs to renew this image in christ. a. that the word of doth call vpon vs to renew this image of god , consisting in knowledge , righteousnesse , and holinesse , and so consequently prouing that herein the image of god doth chiefely stand , see ephes. 4.22.23.24 . where the apostle saith by way of exhortation , that yee put off concerning the former conuersation , the old man , which is corrupt , according to the deceitfull lusts . and be renewed in the spirit of your minde . and that yee put on the new man , which after god is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse . q. proue that without these graces man was not fit to rule the creatures , nor yet himselfe ? a. it is euident , in that man hauing lost these graces , is said to become like the very brute beast , as it is psal. 49.20 . man that is in honour , and vnderstandeth not , is like the beasts that perish . l of the fall of man and losse of gods image , by reason of adams sinne . q. rehearse the letter l ? a. learne , that man hath lost that image of god wherein hee was created , by the sinne of adam the first man , in eating the forbidden fruit . for adam hauing power not to sinne if he would , being seduced by the woman , and the woman by the serpent which is the deuill , did willingly yeeld to the temptation . q. shew how and in what respect man hath lost the image of god ? a. man hath lost the image of god , not in respect of the substance of soule and body , which doe yet remaine the same , which essentially they were in their first creation : nor in regard of the faculties of reason ; will and affection , without which we were not men , but brute creatures . but the image of god which man hath chiefely lost , is that conformi●y to the will of god , consisting in the true knowle●ge of god , in righteousnesse and holinesse . q. proue that this heauenly knowledge , righteousnesse and holinesse is the image which man hath lost ? a. it is manifest , by that exhortation of the apostle , ephes. 4.24 . where we are exhorted to renew that image wherein man was created after god in righteousnesse and true holinesse . which exhortation were needlesse , if man had not lost this image : and if this were not the image of god , which man hath lost . q. proue that this image of god was lost by adams sinne ? a. it is euident in that the scripture speaking of adam , saith , rom. 5.12 . that by one man sinne entred into the world . and verse 18. by the offence of one , the fault came on all men to condemnation . and verse 19. by one mans disobedience many were made sinners . q. proue that it was by eating the forbidden fruit . a. it is apparant in the history : partly by the charge , which god gaue vnto adam , gen : 2.16.17 . the lord god commanded the man saying , thou shalt eat freely of euery tree of the garden . but of the tree of knowledge of good and euill , thou shalt not eate of it . partly by the threatning , in the words immediatly following , for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death . partly by the sentence of curse denounced against man after hee had sinned , gen. 3.17 . q. proue that adam had power not to sinne if hee would ? a. it is manifest in that god made man so excellent a creature . whereupon it is said , eccles. 7.29 . that god made man righteous and vp●●ght . neither could it haue ●ood with the iustice of god , to require that of man which he was not able to performe , or to punish him , hauing by his creation no power to obey . q. proue that adam was seduced by the woman ? a. it is so written , gen. 3.6 . that the woman gaue also vnto her husband with her , and he did eat . it was adams excuse , verse 12. the woman which thou gauest to be with me , she gaue me of the tree , and i did eat . and it is alleaged to humble that sex , 1 tim. 2.14 . that adam was not deceiued , but the woman being deceiued , was in the transgression . q. proue that the woman was deceiued by the serpent . a. it is said by the apostle , 2 cor. 11.3 . that the serpent beguiled eue through his subtilty . and the story gen. 3.1 . doth shew the manner how it was done . q. proue that , that serpent was the deuill ? a. that the serpent was the deuill , or rather the deuill in the serpent , see reu. 12.9 . where it is said , that the great dragon was cast out , that old serpent , called the deuill and satan , which deceiueth the whole world , and chap. 20.2 . the dragon , that old serpent , which is the deuill and satan . q. proue that adam did willingly yeeld to the temptation ? a. the history doth shew it , by expressing adams owne confession and excuse , before cited . and eccles. 7.29 . where it is said , that god hath made man vpright , it is presently added , but they haue sought out many inuentions . m of the miserable estate of all mankinde through adams fall . q. rehearse the letter m. a. mankinde being tainted by adams sinne , is become most wretched & miserable , both in respect of sin and punishment . for hereby all men are conceiued and borne in sinne , and are so corrupted with sinne both in soule and body , that they cannot perceiue , thinke , will , speake or doe any good thing : but are become subiect to sinne , satan , the wrath and curse of god , to death , and to eternall damnation . q. proue that all mankinde is tainted by adams sinne ? a. it is manifest that the tainture of adams sinne hath seized vpon all his posterity , inasmuch as all mankinde doth stand guilty thereof before god , see ro. 5.12 . where the apostle saith , that by one mans sinne , death passed vpon all men , for that all haue sinned , or in whom all haue sinned . againe verse 17. by one mans offence , death reigned by one . verse 18. by the offence of one , iudgement came vpon all men to condemnation . for verse 19 , by one mans disobedience many were made sinners . q. what is the reason of this guiltinesse ? a. the reason why all men are guilty of adams sinne , is because adam being as it were the root , out of which all mankinde doth spring , did receiue whatsoeuer good hee had by creation , not onely for himselfe , but also for his posterity , and so againe lost all , as well for them , as for himselfe . in regard whereof , all men are truely said to sinne in adam , as leui is said to haue paid tithes in abraham , because being of the posterity of abraham , he was then in the loynes of abraham his father . heb. 7.9.10 . q. proue that mankinde is becom● most wretched and miserable ? a. the wretched and miserable estate of all mankinde , may appeare by that lamentable outcry of the apostle , romans 7.24 . o wretched man that i am : who shall deliuer me from the body of this death ? q. proue that all men are conceiued and borne in sinne ? a. it is euident by the confession of dauid , psal. 51.5 . behold , i was borne in iniquity , and in sinne hath my mother conceiued me . and it is said , ioh. 3.6 . that which is borne of the flesh is flesh : and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit . q. how then could christ bee free from sinne , seeing hee was true man ? a. christ iesus was true man , descended of adam as we are , in all things like vnto vs , but yet sin excepted . for he was not a m●ere man , but was also god , and againe as he was man , he was not so by naturall generation , as we are , but by the supernaturall worke and power of the holy . ghost was conceiued in the wombe of the virgin mary . q. proue that all men are corrupted with sinne ? a. it is written , rom. 3.9 . that all both iewes and gentiles are vnder sinne . 1 kings 8.46 . there is no man that sinneth not . and 1 ioh. 1.8 . if we say we haue no sinne , wee deceiue our selues , and the truth is not in vs. and this corruption of sinne is n●t by example or by imitation only , or meerely of some euill custome , but by propagation and naturall generation , all men being conceiued and borne in sinne , as is shewed before . q. proue that all are corrupted both in soule and body ? a. it is euident by the apostles prayer , 1 thes. 5.23 . the very god of peace sanctifie you throughout : and i pray god that your whole spirit and soule and body may bee kept blamelesse vnto the comming of our lord iesus christ. for , what need he to pray for the sanctification of the whole man both soule and body , if all and euery part were not corrupted ? q. proue that man by nature cannot perceiue any good thing ? a. the apostle doth expresly auouch so much in 1 cor. 2.14 . that the naturall man perceiueth not the things of the spirit of god : for they are foolishnesse vnto him , neither can he know them , because they are spiritually discerned . and 2 cor. 4.4 . he saith , that the god of this world hath blinded the mindes of the infidels , that the light of the glorious gospell of christ , which is the image of god , should not shine vnto them . q. proue that man by nature cannot thinke a good thought ? a. it is written , gen. 6.5 . god saw that the wickednesse of man was great in the earth , and that euery imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only euill continually . therefore the apostle taketh it for granted , 2 cor. 3.5 . that we are not sufficient of our selues to thinke any thing as of our selues : but our sufficiency is of god. q. proue that man cannot will , desire , or effect any good thing by nature ? a. it is manifest , in that it is said , rom. 8.7 . that the wisdome of the flesh is enmity against god : for it is not subiect to the law of god , neither in deed can be . whereupon it is inferred , verse 8. so then they that are in the flesh cannot please god. therefore it is that the apostle saith , phil. 2.13 . it is god which worketh in you , both to will and to doe of his good pleasure . q. proue that man cannot by nature speake any good thing ? a. saint paul noteth so much speaking of all men in the corruption of nature , rom. 3.13.14 . their throat , saith he , is an open sepulchre , with their tongues they haue vsed deceit , the poyson of aspes is vnder their lips . whose mouth is full of cursing and bitternesse . q. proue that man cannot do any good thing by nature ? a. it is euident by that which we read in psal. 14.1.2.3 . where it is said , they are corrupt , they haue done abominable works , there is none that doth good . the lord looked downe from heauen vpon the children of men : to see if there were any that did vnderstand and seeke god. they are all gone aside , they are altogether become filthy : there is none that doth good , no not one . which tex● the apostle citeth , rom. 3.10 . to proue that all men are vnder sinne . q. proue that hereupon all men are subiect to sinne ? a. that all men are subiect i● sinne , as very seruants , or slaues , is plainely proued by the apostle ▪ rom. 6.16.17 . know yee not that to whom yee yeeld your selues seruants to obey , his seruants ye are to whom ye obey : whether of sinne vnto death , or of obedience vnto righteousnesse ? but god bee thanked that yee were the seruants 〈◊〉 sinne : but yee haue obeyed from the heart that forme of doctrine which was deliuered you . and our sauiour saith , ioh , 8.34 . whosoeuer committeth sinne , is the seruant of sinne . for as it is in 2 pet. 2.19 . of whosoeuer a man is ouercome , euen vnto the same is he in b●ndage . q. proue that man is , by na●ure co●rupted , become subiect to satan ? a. it is euident in that satan is called , ephes. 2.2 . the spirit that work th●in the children o● disobedience . and 2 tim. 2 26. it is said , that they may recouer themselues out of the snare of the deuill , who are taken captiue by him at his will. againe , 2 cor. 4.4 . hee is called , the god of this world , that hath blinded the mindes of them which beleeue not . q. proue that man is by nature subiect to the wrath of god ? a. the apostle saith , ephes. 2.3 . that wee all were by nature the children of wrath , as well as others . and ioh. 3.36 . it is said , that he that beleeueth not the sonne , shall not see life : but the wrath of god abideth on him . q. proue that man is by sinne subiect to the curse of god ? a the curse was pronounced vpon adams first sinne , gen. 3.17 . it was repeated against the breach of the law of god , deut. 28.15 . mal. 2.2 . and is noted by the apostle , gal. 3.10 . cursed is euery one that continueth not in all things which are written in the booke of the law to doe them . vnder this burden of the curse vpon man for sinne , euery creature is said to groane . rom. 8.22 . q. proue that all men are subiect to death , by reason of sinne ? a. so saith the apostle , rom. 5.12 . by one man sinne entred into the world , and death by sinne : and so death passed vpon all men , for that all men haue sinned . and rom. 6.23 . the wages of sinne is death . q. proue that all men are subiect to eternall damnation for sinne ? a. it is manifest by that which is said , 2 thes. 1.8.9 . that they that know not god , and that obey not the gospell of our lord iesus christ shall be punished with euerlasting destruction , from the presence of the lord , and from the glory of his power . and 2 thes. 2.12 . that all they might be damned who beleeued not the truth , but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse . n of man his deliuerance by christonely . q. rehearse the letter n ? a. no meanes can free vs from that damnable estate , but onely iesus christ , the eternall sonne of god. for hee being both god and man , hath perfectly saued vs : in that hee tooke our nature vpon him , being conceiued by the holy ghost , borne of the virgin mary : liued in perfect obedience , to god : suffered the cursed death of the crosse : rose againe the third day : ascended into heauen : sitteth at the right hand of god : and all for vs. q. proue that we are saued only by i●sus christ ? a. so we read , acts 4.12 . neither is there saluation i● any other : for among men there is giuen none other name vnder heauen , whereby we must be saued . and ma●th . 1.21 . the angell saith , thou shalt call his name iesus for he shall saue his people from their sinnes . q. proue that iesus christ is the eternall son●e of g●d ? a. it is written , ioh. 3.16 . g●d so loued the world , that he gaue his only b●gotten son●e , that who●●euer beleeueth on h●m , ●●ould not perish , but haue e●erlasting life . a●● 1 ioh. 5.20 . we know that the sonne of god is come , &c. that is the true god and eternall life . and rom. 1.4 . that he was declared mightily to be the sonne of god. q. proue that iesus christ is both god and man ? a. that he is god is manifest isa. 9.6 . where hee is called the mighty god. and rom. 9.5 . god ouer all , blessed for euer . and it is said , ioh 1.1 . in the beginning was the word , and the word was with god , and the word was god. that he is also mvn , is proued , 1 tim. 2.5 . where hee is called , the man christ iesus . and 3.16 . god manifested in the flesh . and ioh. 1.14 . the word was made flesh , and dwelt among vs , and wee saw the glory thereof , as the glory of the only begotten sonne of the father full of grace and truth . q. proue that christ hath perfectly saued vs ? a. so it is expresly written , heb. 7.25 . that he is able perfectly to saue them that come vnto god by him . and heb. 10.14 . that by one offering he hath perfected for euer them that are sanctified : and thereupon is inferred verse , 18. that where remission of sinnes is , there is no more sacrifice for sinne . q. proue that iesus christ therefore tooke our nature vpon him . a. that he did assume or take vnto his godhead the nature of man , is euident , heb. 2.16.17 . for verily , saith the apostle , he tooke not on him the nature of angels , but he tooke on him the seed of abraham . wherefore in all things it behooued him to bee made like vnto his brethren , that hee might bee a mercifull and faithfull high priest in things pertaining to god , to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people . q. was it of necessity that christ should become man ? a. it was by gods decree necessary that christ should take vnto his deity the nature of man , that without it mans redemption could not be procured , for these reasons . 1. hee must bee man , that hee might be fit to suffer death for vs , in regard that his godhead being immutable , could not suffer , and being immortall could not die . 2. it was requisite that the same nature that had offended should satisfie the iustice of god. 3. hee must also be god , that hee might be able to ouercome . see all this in that one text , heb. 2.14 . q. proue that iesus christ was conceiued by the holy ghost . a. it is the voice of the angell to mary , luke 1.35 . the holy ghost shall come vpon thee , and the power of the highest shall ouershadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be borne of thee , shall bee called the sonne of god. and to ioseph hee sayd , matth. 1.20 . feare not to take vnto thee mary thy wise , for that which is conceiued in her , is of the holy ghost . q. proue that he was borne of the virgin mary ? a. it was so prophesied , isa. 7.14 ▪ behold a virgin shall conceiue and beare a s●nne and shall call his name emmanuel . it was effected ▪ math 1. ●8 . now the birth of iesus christ was on this wise ; when as his mother mary was espoused to ioseph ( before they came together ) she was found with child of the holy ghost . and it was proclaimed by the angell , ioh. 2.11 . vnto you is borne this day in the city of dauid a sauiour , which is christ the lord. q. proue that christ liued in perfect obedience to god. a. it is written , phil. 2.8 . that he humbled himselfe and became obedient vnto the death , euen vnto the death of the crosse . heb. 7.26 . for such an high priest became vs , who is holy , harmelesse , vndefiled , separate from sinners , and made higher then the heauens . for , saith the apostle , rom. 5.19 . as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners , so by the obedience of one shall many bee made righteous . therefore christ saith , ioh. 17.19 . for their sakes sanctifie i my selfe , that they also might bee sanctified through the truth . q. proue that christ did suffer for vs ? a. it is written , isa. 53.5 . hee was wounded for our transgressions , hee was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was vpon him , and with his stripes wee are healed . q. proue that hee suffered death for vs ? a. it is written , 1 pet. 3.18 . for christ also hath once suffered for sinnes , the iust for the vniust , that he might bring vs to god , being put to death in the flesh , but quickened by the spirit . q. proue that hee suffered the cursed death of the crosse ? a. so it is in the story of his passion , matth. 27.38 . and it is said , 1 pet. 2.24 . that hee his owne selfe bare our sins in his owne body on the tree , that we being dead to sinnes , should liue vnto righteousnesse , and gal. 3.13 . christ hath redeemed vs from the curse of the law , being made a curse for vs : for it is written , cursed is euery one that hangeth on tree . q. proue that hee did rise againe the third day for vs ? a. it is written , rom. 4.25 . who was deliuered for our offences , and was raised againe for our iustification . and 1 cor. 15.3.4 . that christ died for our sinnes , and that he was buried , and that hee rose againe the third day , according to the scriptures . q. proue that hee ascended into heauen for vs ? a. it was so prophesied , psal. 68.18 . thou hast ascended on high : thou hast led captiuity captiue : thou hast receiued gifts for men . and it was performed , luke 24.51 . and it came to passe while hee blessed them , hee was parted from them , and carried vp into heauen . q. proue that christ sitteth at the right hand of god for vs ? a. it is written , col. 3.1 . if ye then bee risen with christ , seeke those things which are aboue , where christ sitteth at the right hand of god. and rom. 8.34 . it is said , that christ is at the right hand of god , and maketh intercession for vs. and acts 3.21 . whom the heauens must receiue , vntill the time of restitution of all things . o of our receiuing christ , with all his benefits , to saluation , by faith only . q. rehearse the letter o? a. only by faith , receiuing iesus christ into the heart , euery man that with contrite heart confesseth his sinnes to god , and truly repenteth , is pardoned all his sinnes , and so doth stand iustified before god. for we can merit nothing with god , our best works being imperfect . and the promise of god is onely made to them that beleeue : being elected of god before the world was . q. how , and in what sense are we said to be iustified by faith ? a. we are said to be iustified by saith , not for the dignity and merit of it : not as it is an inward and inherent quality or virtue : not because it hath charity adioyned vnto it , and worketh by loue : nor because it receiueth any force or power from charity to iustifie ▪ but because , by faith , as by a hand or instrument we receiue christ , by whom we are iustified . q. proue that we are iustified only by faith ? a. that wee are iustified by faith only , may appeare by these euidences following , whereof the first is , 1 in that iustification and acceptance of a man with god vnto eternall life , is positiuely and absolutely ascribed in scripture vnto faith . this is the very argument of the apostle , alleaged to the same purpose out of the prophet habakuk , 2.4 . the iust shall liue by faith . and he expresseth it in his owne person , as an instance of the state of euery good christian , gal. 2.20 . i liue , saith he , by the saith of the sonne of god , who loued me , and gaue himselfe for me . q. what is the second instance , that we are iustified by faith only ? 2 a. secondly , the scriptures doe expresly exclude all workes in vs , touching the point of iustification , by manifest exclusiue notes or tearmes ; being equiualent with the exclusiue particle only , or alone . as for example . gal. 2.16 . knowing that a man is not iustified by the workes of the law , but by the faith of iesus christ. and rom. 3.28 . therefore we conclude , that a man is iustified by faith , without the deeds of the law. and verse 24. being iustified freely by his grace . q. what is the third instance of iustification by faith onely ? 3 a. thirdly , there is a manifest opposition noted in scripture betweene grace and workes : so that if iustification be freely by grace , then it cannot be of workes at all . see rom. 11.6 . if by grace , then it is no more of workes : otherwise grace is no more grace . but if it be of workes , then it is no more grace : otherwise worke is no more worke . and rom. 4.4 . to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace , but of debt . but to him that worketh not , but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly , his faith is counted for righteousnesse . q. what is the fourth instance of iustification by fayth only ? a. fourthly , 4 they that sought righteousnesse not by faith only , but by the workes of the law , are said , for that very cause not to haue attained righteousnesse . see rom. 9.31.32 . but israel which followed after the law of righteousnesse , hath not attained to the law of righteousnesse . wherefore ? because they sought it not by faith , but as it is were by the workes of the law. and chap. 10.3 . for they being ignorant of gods righteousnesse , and going about to establish their owne righteousnesse , haue not submitted themselues to the righteousnesse of god. for christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse , to euery one that beleeueth . therefore paul though he was blamelesse before men , touching the righteousnesse which is in the law , yet he counted all but dung , that hee might bee found in christ by faith . phil. 3.6.9 . q. what is the fifth instance of iustification by faith only ? 5 a. fiftly , the brazen serpent was a type of christ , now as when the israelites were stung by the fiery serpents , they were preserued aliue only by looking vpon the serpent of brasse : so when wee are ●●●eng to death by sinne , there is nothing required of vs for the cure of our soules , but only that wee fixe the eye of our faith vpon christ. see this very proportion obserued by christ himselfe , ioh. 3.14.15 . as moses lift vp the serpent in the wildernesse , so must the sonne of man be lifted vp , that whosoeuer beleeueth in him , should not perish , but haue eternall life . q. what is the sixt instance of iustification by faith only ? a. sixtly , 6 there are many graces accompanying saluation in a christian soule , as faith , hope , charity , wisdome , patience , humility , the feare of god , repentance , and the like ; and euery grace hath some excellent vse : but of all these , none is sit as a spirituall hand to receiue and apply christ and his righteousnesse to the iustification of a sinner , but faith only . q. in what sense then are we said to bee iustified by faith only ? a. not that faith is solitary or alone , without other graces : for it is said , gal. 5.6 . to worke by loue . and 1 tim. 1.5 . that charity doth proceede out of a pure heart , and of a good conscience , and of faith vnfained , as the fountaine of all other graces . but as the eye is not alone , but there are with it many other members and parts of the body , and yet the faculty of seeing is only in the eye : so faith , though it bee not alone , yet it only hath power to apprehend christ to iustification . q. proue that by faith wee receiue iesus christ into the heart ? a. that by faith wee receiue iesus christ , may be gathered out of those words of the euangelist , ioh. 1.11.12 . he came vnto his owne , and his owne receiued him not . but as many as receiued him , to th●m gaue hee power to become the sonnes of god , euen to them that beleeue on his name where wee see that to receiue christ and to beleeue in him is all one . againe , that we receiue christ into the heart or soule , as the fittest receptacle , is euident by the apostles prayer , ephes. 3.16.17 . that ye may , saith he , bee strengthened by his spirit in the in ward man , that christ may dwell in your hearts by faith . q. proue that a contrite heart is required ? a. it is written , psal. 51 17. the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit : a broken and a contrite heart o god thou wilt not despise . and ioel 2.13 . rend your heart , and not your garments and turne to the lord your god. q. proue that confession of sinnes to god is required ? a. there is an absolute necessity of confessing our sins to god , if euer wee will obtaine pardon : therefore it is conditioned , 1 ioh. 1.9 . that if wee confesse our sinnes , he is faithfull , and iust to forgiue vs our sinnes ▪ and we may see the experience of it , psal. 32.5 . i said i will confesse my transgressions vnto the lord , and thou forgauest the iniquity of my sinne . as for confession to man it is onely respectiue or conditionall , as namely , in case of wrong done by one man to another see iam. 5.16 . confesse your faults one to another , and pray one for another : or in regard of some publike hurt or scandall to the whole church , as in the example of achan , iosh. 7.19.20 . and the like . q. proue that true repentance is required ? a. true r●pentance , which is not onely a contrition or sorrow for sinne , and a confession of it , but also a conuersion of the whole man , with the whole heart , vnto god , from all his sinnes , is specially necessary for the obtaining of pardon ; this is intended in math. 3.2 . repent , for the kingdome of heauen is at hand , and luk. 13.3 . except ye amend your liues , ye shall all likewise perish , and act. 11.18 . it is said , that they glorified god , saying , then hath god also to the gentiles granted repentance vnto life . q. proue that our iustification consisteth in the pardon of sinnes ? a. it is so written , rom. 4 6.7 . euen as dauid declareth the blessednesse of the man , vnto whom god imputeth righteousnesse without workes : saying , blessed are they , whose iniquities are forgiuen , and whose sinnes are couered . blessed is the man to whom the lord imputeth not sinne . q. proue that we can merit nothing with god ? a. the apostle proueth it , by the example of the father of the faithfull , rom. 4.2 . if abraham were iustified by workes , hee hath wherein to reioyce , but not with god : for what saith the scripture ? abraham beleeued god , and it was counted to him for righteousnesse , psal. 130.3 . if thou lord shouldest marke iniquities , o lord , who shall stand ? and psal. 143.2 . enter not into iudgement with thy seruant , for in thy sight shall no man liuing be iustified . q. proue that our best workes are imperfect ? a. it is the confession of the prophet , isa. 64.6 . but we are all as an vncleane thing , and all our righteousnesse are as filthy rags , and luk. 17.10 . when ye haue done all those things which are commanded you , say , wee are vnprofitable seruants . q. prou● that the promise is made onely to them that beleeue ? a. it is written , gal. 3.22 . that the scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne , that the promise by faith of iesus christ , might bee giuen to them that beleeue , and act. 2.39 . for the promise is vnto you , and to your children , and to all that are a farre off euen as many as the lord our god shall call . q. proue that they were elected of god , before the world was ? a. that the ground of our iustification , and saluation by christ through faith , doth stand in gods free election , and therefore cannot be attained by any merit of our owne , is manifest , act. 13.48 . where it is said , that as many as were ordained to eternall life , beleeued . and ephes. 1.3 . blessed be the god and father of our lord iesus christ , who hath blessed vs with all spirituall blessings in heauenly things in christ , according as he hath chosen vs in him , before the foundation of the world . p of the preaching of the word , the ordinary meanes of faith . q. rehearse the letter p ? a preaching of the word of god is the ordinary meanes to worke repentance and faith . for god that giueth all grace , and so repentance and faith , worketh outwardly by the word , as by an instrument , and inwardly by his spirit . q. proue that preaching of the word is the ordinary meanes to worke repentance ? a. it is euident , in that repentance was the subiect matter of christs preaching , matth. 4.17 . iesus began to preach , and to say , repent , for the kingdome of heauen is at hand , and in that s. paul saith , act. 17.30 . speaking of the preaching of the gospell , that god now commandeth all men euery where to repent ; and act. 20.20 . i kept backe nothing that was profitable , but haue shewed you and taught you publikely , and from house to house , both to the iewes , and also to the gentiles , the repentance toward god , and faith toward our lord iesus christ , q. proue that preaching of the word is the meanes of saith ? a. so we reade , rom. 10.14 . how then shall they call on him in whom they haue not beleeued ? and how shall they beleeue in him , of whom they haue not heard ? and how shall they heare without a preacher , and verse 17. so then faith commeth by hearing , and hearing by the word of god , q. proue that god giueth all grace ? a. it is written , iam. 1.17 . euery good gift , and euery perfect gift is from aboue , and commeth downe from the father of lights . and 2 pet. 1.3 . according as his diuine power hath giuen vnto vs all things that pertaine to life & godlinesse , through the knowledge of him , that hath called vs to glory and vertue . q. proue that god giueth repentance ? a. we may learne so much by s. paul his exhortation to timothy , 2 tim. 2.25 . where he aduiseth him , to instruct with meekenesse , those that oppose themselues , prouing if god at any time will giue them repentance , that they may know the truth . and it is said , act. 5.31 . that god hath lift vp iesus christ with his right hand , to be a prince and a sauiour , to giue repentance to israel , and forgiuenesse of sinnes . q. proue that god giueth faith ? a. it is expresly affirmed , eph. 2.8 . for by grace are ye saued through faith , and that not of your selues , it is the gift of god. and phil. 1.29 . for vnto you it is giuen for christ , that not onely you should beleeue in him , but also suffer for his sake . q. proue that god worketh by the word , as by an instrument . a. that the word of god is the outward meanes , which god doth vse as an organe or instrument , is manifest , iam. 1.18 . of his owne will begat he vs , with the word of truth , that wee should bee as the first fruits of his creatures . and 1 pet. 1.23 . being borne anew not of mortall seed , but of immortall by the word of god ; and verse 25. this is the word which is preached among you . q. proue that god worketh inwardly by his spirit . a. it is euident by these arguments . first , it was so prophecied and foretold , ioel 2.28 . and it shall come to passe afterward , 1 that i will powre out my spirit vpon all fl●sh , and zach. 12.10 . i will powre vpon the house of dauid , and vpon the inhabitants of ierusalem , the spirit of grace and of supplication , and they shall look vpon me whom they haue pierced . q. what is the second argument to proue that god worketh inwardly by his spirit ? 2 a. secondly , the prophesie was accomplished and effected accordingly , as the apostle peter noteth , acts 2.16 . this , saith hee , is that which was spoken by the prophet ioel. and at his sermon , acts 10.44 . it is said , that while peter yet spake these words , the holy ghost fell on them all which heard the word . q. what is the third argument to proue that god worketh inwardly by his spirit ? a. thirdly , 3 it is euident that all spirituall gifts are wrought by the spirit , as it is in 1 cor. 12.11 . all these , saith the apostle , worketh that one and the selfe same spirit , diuiding to euery man seuerally as hee will. insomuch as the outward meanes without this inward worke of gods spirit is of no force . whereupon it is that paul saith , 1 cor 3.6.7 . i haue planted , apollo watered , but god gaue the increase . so then neither is he that planteth any thing , neither hee that watereth : but god that giueth the increase . q. what is the fourth argument to proue that god worketh inwardly by his spirit ? 4 a. fourthly , god acknowledgeth none for his , that haue not his spirit working in them . see 1 cor. 3.16 . know ye not that ye are the temple of god , and that the spirit of god dwelleth in you . and rom. 8.9 . if any man haue not the spirit of christ , he is none of his . this is so euident a truth , that the apostle doubteth not to affirme , that no man can so much as say that iesus is the lord , but by the holy ghost . 1 cor. 12.3 . q of the inseparable properties of faith . q. rehearse the letter q ? a. qvalities of faith inseparable vnto it , are these : to vnite vs to god in christ : to assure vs of gods loue in him : to purifie the heart : and to worke by loue . for vntill we beleeue , wee are without god , without christ , and without hope : but when once wee beleeue , wee haue peace with god : and cannot but be fruitfull in all good workes . q. proue that it is the property of faith , to vnite vs to god in christ ? a. this quality or property of faith , namely to vnite vs vnto god in christ , 1 is expresly noted by the apostle , eph. 2.13 . but now in christ iesus , ye who sometimes were farre off , are made nigh by the bl●od of christ. and verse 19. now therefore ye are no more strangers , and forreiners , but fellow citizens with the saints , and of the houshold of god. q. proue that it is the quality of faith to assure vs of gods loue in christ ? 2 a. it is manifest in that it is said , rom. 5.2 . that by christ wee haue accesse by faith into the grace wherein wee stand , and reioyce in hope of the glory of god. and verse 5. hope maketh not ashamed , because the loue of god is shed abroad in our hearts , by the holy ghost which is giuen vnto vs. therefore faith is thus described , heb ▪ 11.1 . faith is the substance , or ground , and assurance of things hoped for , and the euidence of things not seene . q. shew it yet more fully and plainely ? a. it may appeare more fully and euidently by that confident acclamation , and protestation of the apos●le in the behalfe of euery christian , rom. 8.35 . who shall separate vs from the loue of christ ? and verse 38.39 . for i am perswaded , that neither death nor life , nor angels , nor principalities , nor powers , nor things present , nor things to com● , nor height , nor depth , nor any other creature , shall be able to separate vs from the loue of god , which is in christ iesus our lord. q. proue that it is the property of faith to purifie the hart ? 3 a. the apostle peter , speaking of the calling of the gentiles , saith , act. 15.8.9 . that god which knoweth the hearts , beare them witnesse , giuing them the holy ghost , euen as he did vnto vs. and put no difference betweene vs and them , purifying their hearts by faith , and 1 tim. 1.5 . it is said , that the end of the commandement is charitie out of a pure heart , and of a good conscience , and of saith vnfained : where wee see that vniting vs to christ , is the cause of the puritie of the heart . q. proue that it is the propertie of faith to work by loue ! a. it is obserued as a speciall propertie o● faith by the apostle , 4 gal. 5.6 . where hauing said , that we through the spirit , waite for the hope of righteous●esse , by faith ; h●e presently addeth these words , for , saith hee , in iesus christ , neither circumcision auaileth any thing , nor vncircumcision , but faith which worketh by loue , therein noting faith to be the proper efficient cause of loue , and loue to be the proper effect of faith . q. proue that till we beleeue , we are without god , without christ , without hope ? a we may see the tru●h of this by the apostles description of the state of the ephesians before their cōuersion , eph. 2.12 . at that time , saith he● ye were without christ , being aliens from the common-wealth of israel , and strangers from the couenants of promise , hauing no hope , and without god in the world q. proue that when once we beleeue , we haue peace with god ? a. it is so written , rom. 5.1 . that being iustified by faith , wee haue peace with god , through our lord iesus christ , and chap. 8.1 . there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ iesus , who walke not after the flesh , but after the spirit . q. proue that once beleeuing , wee cannot but be fruitfull in all good workes . a. that when once we beleeue , wee cannot but be fruitfull , our sauiour himselfe teacheth by the similitude of the vine , whereunto he doth resemble himselfe , and the beleeuers , that are in him by faith , to the branches , ioh. 15.5 . i am the vine , ye are the branches . he that abideth in me , and i in him , the same ●ringeth forth 〈…〉 without me yee 〈…〉 thing , apo‑ 〈…〉 2.14 . that christ 〈…〉 se for vs , that hee 〈…〉 from all ini 〈…〉 rifie vnto himselfe 〈…〉 ople , zealous of 〈…〉 . r of the meanes of encreasing faith and all other graces . q. rehearse the letter r. a. remember that saith , and so all other graces are increased and confirmed by the hearing of the word of god preached , as also by reading , meditation , conference , practise , prayer , and sacraments . for as god requireth of euery christian a daily increase of grace , so he hath appointed these meanes to that end . q ▪ proue in generall , that saith and all other graces are increased and confirmed by these meanes ? a. so much may be gathered in generall by the words of the e●angelist , act. 2.41.42 . where speaking of those that were conuerted to the faith , he saith , then they that gladly receiued his word , were baptized , and they continued in the apostles doctrine , and fellowship , and breaking of bread and prayers ; noting thereby how being conuerted , they did continue , and were increased and confirmed in the state of grace by those meanes . q. more particularly proue that preaching is a meanes to increase and confirme grace ? a. it is manifest , in that the apostle peter speaking of the word preached , saith , 1 pet. 2.2 . as new borne babes desire the sincere milke of the word of god , that yee may grow thereby ; and act. 14 . 21.2● . it is said , that paul and barnabas returned , &c. confirming the disciples hearts , and exhorting them to continue in the faith , and 1 cor. 14.3 . hee that prophecieth ( that is , preacheth and expoundeth the word ) speaketh vnto me● , ●o edification , and exhortation , and comfort . q. proue that reading is a meanes to increase and confirme faith , and all other graces ? a. therefore it is , 2 that in 1 tim. 4.13 . paul exhorteth timothie to giue attendance to reading , as well as to exhortation and to doctrine , and 2 tim. 3.15 . commendeth him , that hee had knowne the holy scriptures of a childe , which are able to make him wise vnto saluation , and rom. 15.4 . he saith , that whatsoeuer things were written aforetime , were written for our learning , that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might haue hope . q. proue that meditation is a meanes to increase and confirme in vs the sauing graces of god. 3 a. it is euident in the example of dauid , psal. 119.97 . o how loue i thy law ! it is my meditation all the day . and to shew what increase and confirmation of heauenly grace he receiued by this his religious exercise of meditation ; he addeth immediately , verse 98. that it made him wiser then his enemies , verse 99. that hee had more vnderstanding then all his teachers , and verse 100. that hee did vnderstand more then the ancients . q. proue that conference is a meanes to increase and confirme grace ? 4 a. thus the godly , meeting together , strengthened one another , mal. 3.16 . where it is said , that , then they that feared the lord , spake often one to another , and the lord harkened and heard it , and a book of remembrance was written before him , for them that feared the lord , and that thought vpon his name . to this end are those frequent exhortations in scripture , as in 1 thes. 5.11 . comfort your selues together , and edifie one another , euen as also you doe . and heb. 3.13 . exhort one another daily , while it is called to day , lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sinne . q. proue that practise is a meanes to increase and confirme grace ? a. therefore it is that dauid saith , 5 psal. 119.100 . i vnderstand more then the ancients , because i kept thy precepts : hereupon our sauiour affirmeth , ioh. 7.17 . that if any man will doe his will , hee shall know of the doctrine , whether it be of god or no. now we know , that to be able to discerne of doctrine , is a note of great increase and strength of grace . nay our sauiour placeth the happinesse of knowledge in practise ; see ioh. 13.17 . if ye know these things , happy are ye if ye doe them . q. proue that praier is a meanes to increase faith and all other graces ? 6 a. prayer is the conduit pipe to conuey gods graces vnto us , therefore luk. 17.5 . the apostles said vnto the lord , increase our faith ; and dauid prayeth , psal. 119.18 . open thou mine eyes , that i may behold wondrous things out of thy law . and paul , col. 1.9 . ceased not to pray to god for them , that they might be fulfilled with the knowledge of his will , in all wisedome and spirituall vnderstanding , and increasing in the knowledge of god , strengthened with all might , &c. q. proue that the sacr●ment are meanes to increase and confirme grace ? a. it is manifest in that they are called signes to signifie , 7 and seales to confirme : as circumcision is called , rom. 4.11 . the signe of circumcision , and the seale of the righteousnesse of faith . and 1 pet. 3.21 . baptisme is called the figure that now saueth vs , because it signifieth , and sealeth or confirmeth our saluation by christ. q. proue that god require●h of euery christian a daily encrease of grace ? a. it is written , 2 pet. 3.18 . grow in grace , and in the knowledge of our lord and sauiour iesus christ. and heb. 5.12 . they are reproued , that when as concerning the time , they ought to be teachers , yet they had neede againe to bee taught the first principles of the word of god. and chap. 6.1 . they are exhorted to goe on vnto perfection . q. proue that god hath appointed these meanes to that end : and first the preaching of the word ? a. it is euident that the ministery of the word was therefore ordained , ephes. 4.12 . for the perfecting of the saints , for the worke of the ministery , for the edifying of the body of christ : till wee all come into the vnity of the faith , and of the knowledge of the sonne of god , vnto a perfect man , vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of christ : that wee henceforth , bee no more children , wauering and carried about with euery wind of doctrine , by the sleight of men , and cunning craftinesse , whereby they lie in wait to deceiue : but following the truth in loue , in all things grow vp into him , which is the head , euen christ. q. proue that god hath appointed reading to that end : and first publique reading ? a. god so commanded , 2 deut. 31 11. 1 when all isra●l come to appeare before the lord thy god , in the place which hee shall choose , thou shalt read this law before all israel , in their hearing . and verse 12. gather the people together , men , women , and children , and the stranger that is within thy gates , that they may heare , and that they may learne , and feare the lord your god , and obserue to doe all the words of this law. q. proue that god appointed reading priuately in the family ? a. it is written , 2 deut. 6.6.7 . these words which i command thee this day , shall bee in thine heart , and thou shalt rehearse them continually vnto thy children , and shalt talke of them , when thou tarriest in thy house , and as thou walkest by the way , and when thou liest downe , and when thou risest vp . q. proue that god appointed reading solitarily , euery one by himselfe , first in the old testament ? 3 a. it is manifest , deut. 17.19 . in that euen the king himselfe is commanded to read in the law of god all the dayes of his life , 1 that hee may learne to feare the lord his god , and to keepe all the words of this law. and to ioshuah , the like charge is giuen , iosh. 1.8 . this booke of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth , but thou shalt meditate therein day & night , that thou mayst obserue to do according to all that is written therein : for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous , and then thou shalt haue good successe . q. proue that god appointed reading solitarily euery one by himselfe , in the new testament ? a. it is the expresse c●mmandement of christ , 2 iohn 5.39 . se●rch the scriptures , for in them yee thinke to haue eternall life , and they are they which testifie of me ▪ and col. 3.16 . let the word of god dwell in you richly , in all wisdome , teaching and admonishing one another , &c. and acts 17.11 . the bereans are commended , in that they receiued the word with all readinesse of minde , and searched the scriptures daily , whether those things were so . and of the booke of the reuelation , which is the hardest to be vnderstood of all the rest , it is said , reu. 1.3 . blessed is hee that readeth , and they that heare the words of this prophesie , and keepe those things which are written therein . q. proue that god appointed meditation to that end ? a. it is euident in that charge 3 before mentioned , which the lord gaue vnto ioshuah , namely , that hee should meditate in the booke of the law day and night , ios. 1.8 . and it is prop●u●ded , as the way to happinesse , psal. 1. blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsell of the vngodly , nor standeth in the way of sinners , nor sitteth in the seat of the scornefull , but his delight is in the law of the lord , and in his law doth hee meditate day and night . q. proue that conference was appointed to that end ? 4 a. therefore it is , that they are commanded , deut 6.7 . to talke of the word of god , in the house , in the way , lying down , and rising vp ; and therefore the apostle hauing said , heb. 10.23 . let vs keepe the profession of our hope without wauering , addeth immediately the meanes appointed of god to that end , verse 24.25 . and let vs consider one another ▪ to prouoke vnto loue , and to good works , not forsaking the assembling of our selues together , as the manner of some is , but exhorting one another . q. proue that practise is appointed to that end ? a. therefore our sauiour requireth the condition of practise , 5 of euery man that will be able to iudge of truth and error , and to withstand seducers , see ioh. 7.17 . and the apostle directeth , heb. 5.14 . that through long custome ( which standeth in experience and practise ) men haue their wits exercised , to discerne both good and ●uill , and the lord himselfe saith , psal. 50.23 . to him that ordereth hi● conuersation aright , will i shew the saluation of god. q. proue that god appointed prayer to that end ? a. it is included in the generall 6 promise , math. 7.7 . aske , and it shall be giuen you , and verse 8 , for whosoeuer asketh , receiueth . againe , ●ro . 2.3 4.5 . if thou criest after knowledge , and liftest vp thy voyce for vnderstanding : then shalt thou vnderstand the feare of the lord , and finde the knowledge of god. q. proue that god appointed sacraments to that end ? 7 a. that sacraments were ordained for our confirmation , see gen ▪ 17.10 . concerning circumcision , which is therefore called the couenant , because it did signe , seale and confirme the couenant , as the apostle noteth , rom. 4.11 . the like is said of the passeouer , exod. 13.9 . so vnto vs christians . baptisme was to that end ord●ined , math. 28.19 . and the lords supper , luk 22.19 . s of sacraments in generall . q. rehearse the letter s ? a. sacraments are outward visible signes of the couenant and promise of god in christ , ordained by christ himselfe ; to signifie , and to seale or confirme , and ( as instruments or meanes ) to conuay sauing grace to euery true beleeuer , and to bee as badges or tokens of our christian profession . and they are in number onely two , namely , baptisme and the lords supper . for such helpes our weake faith doth require : and these only hath christ ordained , and no more : being answerable to the two sacraments vnder the law , that is , circumcision and the passouer : and are alone in that kinde sufficient both for the beginning and continuing of sauing grace . q. proue that sacraments are signes of the couenant ? a. that sacraments are signes of the couenant & promise of god , is manifest in circumcision , which is called the couenant , because it was the signe of the couenant ; conferre gen. 17.10 . with verse 11. this is my couenant , which ye shall keepe betweene mee and you , and thy seede after thee . againe , see act. 2.38 . where the apostle peter exhorting them to be baptized in the name of iesus christ , alledgeth this reason , for , saith he , the promise is made to you and to your children , &c. thereby intimating , that to whomsoeuer the couenant doth belong , to them belongeth the signe and seale of the couenant , which is baptisme . q. proue that the sacraments are ordained by christ ? a. the lord god is the sole and onely author of all sacraments ▪ for as it is only in his power , to make the couenant , and to conferre grace : so he only hath authority to ordaine and appoint the signes and seales of the couenan● of grace . thus did hee both enter the couenant with abraham and his seed for euer , gen. 17.7 . and also appoint the signe of circumcision , verse 10.11 . the like hee did concerning the passeouer . exod. 12. and 13. in the same manner , our sauiour christ being eternall god with his father , did institute baptisme , matth. 28 19. goe teach all nations , baptizing them , &c. and the lords supper , luk. 22.19 . doe this in remembrance of mee . whereupon saint paul saith , 1 cor. 11.23 . i haue receiued of the lord , that which i also haue deliuered vnto you . q. to what end or vse were the sacraments ordained ? a. the end or vse of sacraments is diuers : first , sacraments are ordained to signifie , shew and represent vnto vs the grace offered in the couenant , 1 in which respect they are called signes , because they are as it were tokens and resemblances of gods grace and fauour towards vs. so circumcision is called the signe of circumcision , ro. 4.11 . & the signe of the couenant , gen. 17.11 . baptisme is said to be the figure , that now saueth vs. againe of the celebration of the passeouer , the lord saith , exod. 12.14 . this day shall bee to you a remembrance . and of the lords supper , christ saith , doe this in remembrance , luk. 22.19 . and the apostle 1 cor. 11.26 . yee shew the lords death till hee come . q. what is the second end or vse of sacrame●ts ? a. secondly , 2 sacraments are appointed of god to seale or confirme the in●a●●ible certainty of his couenant of grace in christ made with his church , that thereby the faythfull may more firmely belieue , and rest vpon it by faith : as ciuill contracts are ratified , and made authenticke by their seales annexed . therefore it is , that the signe of circumcision is by the ap●stle , rom. 4.11 . c●ll●d , the seale of the righteousnesse of faith . q. what is the third end or vse of sacraments ? a. thirdly , 3 sacraments are ordained to bee as instruments or meanes to conuay grace to euery true beleeuer , which is euident for baptisme , in that christ is said , eph. 5.26 . to sanctifie and cleanse his church , with the washing of water , by the word . and tit. 3.5 . god is said to saue vs by the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost and for the lords supper , see 1 cor. 10.16 . where the apostle calleth the cup of blessing , the communion of the blood of christ , and the bread , the communion of the body of christ , because in the right vse of these outward elements , the faith full doe communicate with christ himselfe , and all his benefits . q. proue that grace is conuayed , not to all receiuers , but onely to euery true beleeuer ? a. that grace is not conuayed to euery one that is partaker of the outward elements , but only to the faithfull , is manifest in that our sauiour christ , mark. 16.16 . doth not say simply , hee that is baptized , but hee that beleeueth and is baptized , shall bee saued . and saint peter , acts 8.21.23 . said of simon magus ( notwithstanding that he was baptized ) that his heart was not right in the sight of god , but that he was in the gall of bitternesse , and in the bond of iniquity . and the apostle saith , 1 cor. 11.29 . that the vnworthy receiuer , eateth and drinketh his owne damnation . q. what is the fourth end or vse of sacraments ? a. fourthly , 4 sacraments are appointed to be as badges or tokens of our profession , that thereby the true worshippers of god , and their religion , might be discerned from the false and counterfeit . thus circumcision and the passeouer did distinguish the iewes from all other nations . hereupon it is , that those that were not of the iewes religion , who were then the only true church and people of god , were termed in disgrace , the vncircumcised , see 1 sam. 17.26.36 . this vncircumcised philistine . and isa. 52.1 . the vncircumcised and vncleane . and of the passeouer it is said , exod. 12.48 . no vncircumcised person shall ●at thereof . as being also peculiar to the church . q. proue that our sacraments are badg●s to vs christians . a. it is manifest , in that whosoeuer will become a christian , is exhorted , acts 2.38 . to be baptiz●d in the name of iesus christ : as the ●●dge and token of his entrance ●o his christian profession . and therefore the eurac● becoming a christian , and knowing the sacrament of baptisme to be the badge of christian religion , desired to be partaker of it . acts 8.36 . see , here is water , saith he , what doth let mee to be baptized ? and as baptisme is the badge of our entrance , so is the lords supper of our continuance . therefore both together are made effectuall signes of our coniunction with christ in one body , 1 cor. 12.13 . and 10.17 . hereupon the sacraments in their right vse , doe not only distinguish christians from heathen , but also the true christian from the counterfeit . q. proue that there are only two sacraments ? a. that the sacraments of the new testament are only two , properly so called , that is to say , baptisme , and the lords supper , may plainely appeare , 1 not only by the institution , there being no mention made of any more but these two , matth. 28.19 . and luk. 22.19 . but also in that our sauiour christ , whom it behooued to fulfill all righteousnesse in performing euery good duty , both legall and euangelicall , did only communicate in these two , as sacraments of the couenant of grace , see mat. 3.13.14.15 . and 26.26 . q. how else may it appeare that there are only two ? 2 a. it is mystically shewed by the water and blood which issued out of the side of christ at his death , ioh. 19.34 . whereunto saint iohn alluding , saith , 1 io. 5.6 . this is that iesus christ that came by water and blood , not by water only , but by water and blood . 3 againe , the apostle noting how the fathers before the comming of christ were vnited vnto him , as well as wee christians since his comming , alludeth to these two sacraments , as the only symboles or signes of that vnion . 1 cor. 10.2.3.4 . they were all , saith he , baptized vnto moses in the cloud and in the sea , and did all eat the same spirituall meat , and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke . q. proue that our weake faith doth require such helps ? a. if we were altogether spirituall , and in a state of perfection , we should need no such helpes , as these outward elements : but the soule being compassed about with this flesh of ours and seeing nothing , but as it were out of a prison , in an obscure manner ; wee are constrained to vse these supports of our weakenesse , as old and weake sights vse spectacles . thus much the apostle intimateth , 1 cor. 13.9.12 . that because we doe but know in part , wee now see therefore through a glasse darkely . q. is not the word of god sufficient without these outward signes ? a. we reade , heb. 6.17 . that god , willing more abundantly to shew vnto the heires of promise the stablenesse of his counsell , bound himselfe by an oath , that by two immutable things , wherein it is impossible that god should lie , wee might haue strong consolation . in which wo●ds we may plainely see , that the word and promise of god , ( specially being confirmed by oath ) is in it selfe most sufficient ; yet seeing it hath pleased god , to adde the sacraments to the word , it is an euident argument , that our infirmitie doth stand in need of such helpes , beside the word . q. proue that christ hath ordained th●se two sacraments onely , and no more . a. that christ neuer ordained any more sacraments , as signes and seales of the couenant of grace , but onely baptisme , and the lords supper , is most euident , in that concerning these outward elements of water , bread and wine onely , and ●one other , hee solemnly pro●●●●ted these words of institution , m●th . 28 . 1● . goe , t●ach all na●ions , baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost ; and the like of the lords supper , math. 26.26.27 . &c. againe , concerning the administration of these onely , did our sauiour christ giue order to the apostles , and in them to all the ministers of the gospell , to the end of the world : whereupon the apostolike and primitiue church obserued onely these two sacraments , act. 2.38.42 . q. what then are wee to thinke of those other fiue sacraments , vsed in the romish church ? a. those fiue , commonly called sacraments , that is to say , confirmation , penance , orders , matrimony , and extreme vnction , are not to be accounted for sacraments of the gospell in asmuch as they want those things that should giue them the true nature , life , and being of sacraments , that is , the institution of christ ; the outward and visible signes , that all sacraments haue , and the end and vse of sacraments ; namely , to signifie , seale , and confirme the couenant of grace , to all the faithfull , vnto the comming of christ. q. shew particularly why they are no sacraments ? a. confirmation is no sacrament , because it hath no outward visible signe ordained by christ to any such end , 1 as sacraments are appointed vnto ; onely thus it came in vse among christians , immediately after the time of the apostles . the extraordinary gifts of the holy ghost , conferred by the laying on of the hands of the apostles being ceased : there was in imitation thereof , a custome tak●n vp in the christian churches ▪ that they that had beene baptized , and had learned the catechisme , were by the laying on of hands and prayers of the bishops , commended vnto god for the confirmation and increase of the ordinary gifts of the holy ghost in them . q. why is penance no sacrament ? 2 a. penance is no sacrament , not only because it hath no visible signe , nor institution of christ to be such : but for that it is onely a religious exercise of another kinde , as prayer , meditation , examination of the conscience , and the like are : all which , as well as penance or penitence are to be renewed euery day , and may be , without any presence or ministeriall assistance of a priest , or minister : though it be good sometimes to vse the helpe , counsell and ministeriall power of such . q. why is order no sacrament ? a. order is no sacrament , 3 not onely because it hath nothing in it , to giue it the nature of a sacrament : but for this speciall reason , because it doth onely concerne the orders , degrees , and offices ecclesiasticall ; and so is peculiar onely to the ministerie : whereas sacraments are common to the whole church and people of god. q. proue that matrimony is no sacrament ? 4 a. matrimony is no sacrament , because all christian sacraments are peculiar onely to the christian church , as badges and tokens of it , to distinguish it from all other societies . but matrimony was instituted of god in paradise , before the f●ll of man ; and that not as a sacramentall signe , but to serue for the honest and lawfull propagation of mankinde . and was , is , and euer shall be common , both to iewes and gentiles , christians and heathen of all nations . q. proue that extreme vnction is no sacraments ? 5 a. extreme vnction , whi●h is the annoynting of the sicke with oyle , is also no sacrament , because the places of scripture alledged for this purpose , doe warrant no such thing : for the annointing spoken of there , is meerely miraculous , and was onely for that time , when miracles were wrought for the confirming of the doctrine of the gospell , at the first planting of it . and the ●nd or vse of that annointing was farre different from this in the romish church ; for that was for the recouerie of the sicke , this is onely vsed , when they are thought to be past recouerie , see mark. 6.13 . i●m . 5.14 . q. shew that our two saments are answerable to the two sacraments vnder the law ? a. it is apparant by this , in that as circumcision was the sacrament of their entrance into couenant with god : so baptisme is to vs. and as the passeouer was the sacrament of their preseruation : so the lords supper is the sacrament of our confirmation and continuance in the state of grace and saluation . q. proue that these two sacraments are alone sufficient ? a. that they are alone sufficient for the beginning and continuing of sauing grace , it is manifest , in that there being no other grace but beginning and continuing grace : and baptisme seruing for the one , and the lords supper for the other , that there need no more sacraments but these . t of the sacrament of baptisme . q. rehearse the letter t ? a. the sacrament of baptisme is , when the persons baptized , professing repentance , and faith in iesus christ , and the children of such are by the minister of the word washed with water , in the name of the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost : being thereby admitted into the communion of the body of christ , which is the church : assured of the remission of their sinnes : doe vow and promise , and are by baptisme confirmed in grace , to beleeue in iesus christ , and to liue no more in sinne , but in newnesse of life . for baptisme is the signe of our regeneration , or new birth : and therefore is once onely to bee receiued , as it is sufficient to be once borne , and yet the virtue of baptisme is perpetuall . q. proue that the persons baptized must professe their repentance . a. those that are of yeeres of discretion ought to professe their repentance , 1 before they bee admitted into the church by baptism● . therefore iohn baptist is said mark. 1 45. to preach the baptisme of repentance . and it i● added further , that they were all baptized of him , confessing their sinne ▪ so the apostle peter dire●ted those that were to become christians , act. 2.38 . repent , saith he , and bee baptiz●d euery one of you , in the name of iesus christ. q. proue that the baptized must professe faith in christ ? 2 a. this the profession of faith in christ is also required of such , may appeare by the answere of philip to the eunuch , desiring to be baptized , act. 8.37 . if , saith he , thou beleeued with all thy heart , thou mayest . and in the example of the ●alour , act 16.31.33.34 . who was by paul and silas directed to beleeue , and beleeuing was baptized with all his house . and it is said , act. 8.12 . that when they beleeued , they were baptized both men and women . q proue that the children of such are to be baptized ? a. the parents , or at least one of them , beleeuing and being baptiz●d , their children are al●o to be baptized . therefore the apostle saith , 1 cor 7.14 . that such children are holy . the reason is , because 1. they are within the couen●nt . see gen. 17.7 . god is the god of ab●aham and h●s ●●●d . and it is ●aid , acts 2.39 . the prom●se is made to you and to your ch●ldren . 2. baptisme is to vs christians , as circumcision was to the iewes : and therefore as their children were circumcised , so ours are to be baptized . for otherwise christian children were in worse condition then the children of the iewes . q. what is the outward element in baptisme ? a. the outward element or signe in baptisme is , and ought to be water , and only water ; and that naturall , common , pure and cleane water . therefore we read , matth. 3.6 that iohn baptized in the riuer iordan . and ioh. 3.23 . that he was baptizing in enon , neere to salim , because there was much wa●er there , and speaking of his baptisme , matth. 3.11 . he saith , i baptise you with water . and acts 8.36 . the eunuch trauelling vpon the way , said to philip , see here is water , what doth let me to bee baptized ? q. what is the action or ceremony vsed about water ? a. the action is washing , which is done either by dipping the parties baptized into the water , or by sprinkling the water vpon them . so the apostle alluding to baptisme , saith , heb. 10.23 . hauing our hearts sprinkled from an euill conscience , and our bodies washed with pure water . and● . cor. 6.11 . but ye are washed , but ye are sanctified . the same allusion is in 1 pet. 1.2 . where it is said , that they were elect through sanctification of the spirit vnto obedience , and sprinkling of the blood of christ. q. what is the inward grace signified by the washing with water ? a. the inward grace represented vnto vs by the washing with water in baptisme , is the spirituall washing away of our sinnes by the blood of christ through faith . therefore it is said , 1 io. 17. the blood of iesus christ cleanseth vs from all sinne . q. what is the forme of words to be vsed in baptisme ? a. the forme of words ought to be according to the institution of christ , as it is in matth. 28.19 . baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost . which words doe intimate thus much , namely , that the party baptized is receiued into the fauour of god : and into the seruice and worship of this only true god : who is one in essence , and three in person , the trinity in vnity , and vnity in trinity . q. who are to administer the sacrament of baptisme ? a. they only are to administer baptisme , to whom the commission is granted , that is , the apostles and their successors , the pastors and ministers of the church is the end of the world . see the commission , matth. 28.19.20 . where our saui●ur christ hauing said , all power is giuen vnto mee in heauen and in earth , doth vpon the ground of that authority , presently adde these words , containing the tenour of the commission . goe ye therefore and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost . teaching them to obserue all things , whatsoeuer i haue commanded you . and ●●e , i am with you alway , euen vnto the end of the world . q. what is the end or vse of baptisme ? a. the maine end and vse of baptisme may be reduced to these few h●ads . first , by baptisme we are admitted into the communion of the body of christ , 1 which is the church , or congregation and company of gods faithfull people ; and thereby become partakers of christ and all his benefits to our eternall saluation . therefore the apostle saith , gal. 3.27 . as many of you ●s haue beene baptiz●d into christ , haue put on christ. and 1 cor. 12.12.13 . as the body is one , and hath many members , and all the members of the body , whi●h is one , though they be many , yet are but one body euen so is christ. for by o●e spirit are wee all baptized into one body , whether we be iewes or grecians , whether we be bond or free . q. what is the second end or vse of baptisme ? 2 a. secondly , by baptisme wee are assured of the pardon of our sinnes . whereupon it is that peter said vnto them , acts 2.38 . amend your liues and bee baptized euery one of you in the name of iesus christ , for the remission of sinnes . and therefore ananias said vnto saul , act. 22.16 . arise and bee baptized , and wash away thy sinnes , in calling on the name of the lord. q. what is the third end or vse of baptisme ? 3 a. thirdly , in baptisme wee vow , couenant , and promise our saith and obedience to god. so the lord said of circumcision , gen. 17.10 . this is my couenant , which ye shall keepe betweene me and you . and of baptisme it is said , 1 pet. 3.21 . that it is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh , but the answere of a good conscience toward god. therefore as was shewed before , when any were to bee baptized they professed their faith and repentance , and tooke the sacrament vpon it , as thereby vowing , and couenanting so much with god. q. what is the fourth end of baptisme ? a. fourthly wee are by baptisme confirmed in grace , 4 both to beleeue in iesus christ , as also to liue no more in sinne , but in newnesse of life for that which is said of circumcision rom. 4 11. that it was the scale of the righteousnesse of faith , is true also of baptisme tovs christians : it being to vs as circūcision was to the iewes . and for regeneration , see rom , 6.3.4 . know ye not , saith paul , that all we which haue beene baptized into iesus christ , haue beene baptized into his death , we are buried then with him , by baptisme into his death that like as christ was raised vp from the dead , by the glory of the father , so we also should walke in newnesse of life . q. proue that baptisme is the signe of our new birth ? a. that baptisme is the signe of our regeneration or new birth : and therefore is but once to be receiued ▪ as it is sufficient to be once borne , is euident in that our sauiour alluding vnto baptisme , ioh. 3.3.5 . saith , except a man be borne againe of water and if the spirit , he cannot enter into the kingdome of god : where we see , that christians in their baptisme are resembled to children new borne , and therefore are fuly called , 1 pet. 2.2 . new borne babes . q. proue that the vertue of baptisme is perpetuall ? a. the apostle intimateth so much , eph. 5.26.27 . where hee saith . that christ gaue himselfe but his church , that hee might sa●ctifi●●● , and clea●se i● by the washing of water through the word ▪ that hee might make it vnto ▪ himselfe a glorious church , not hauing spot or wrinckle , or any such thing ▪ but that it should be holy ▪ and without blame : now wee know , that this perfection is not attained in the very act of baptisme , but is then onely begun , and after daily increased to the end of our life . and the apostle referreth our death of sinne , and n●wnesse of life , which is daily to be exercised of vs , vnto the vertue of baptisme . v of the sacrament of the lords supper . q. rehearse the letter v ? a. vnderstand that the sacrament of the lords supper , is when bread and wine representing the body and blood of christ , broken and shed for vs , being by the minister taken and blessed , is broken and poured forth , and so deliuered to all the faithfull present : and of them receiued , by eating the bread and drinking the wine , in remembrance of christs death , as also to communicate vnto vs the very body and blood of christ spiritually by faith : and so to confirme our faith in christ and loue one to another . for this sacrament is the signe of our new life , as baptisme is of our new birth . and therefore as we haue neede of often nourishment , so wee ought to receiue often , and that with due preparation . q. why is this sacrament called the lords supper ? a. this sacrament is called the lords supper for these reasons : first a supper , partly in regard of the time when it was instituted and celebrated : which was in the euening , before the day wherein christ was crucified : partly in respect of the thing it selfe , because it is a sacred feast or banquet , appointed of god , not for the body , but for the soule . and it is called the lords supper , both in regard of the author , who is the lord iesus himselfe : as also in respect of the end , which was in remembrance of him . q. what is the outward signe in the lords supper ? a. the outward signe in the sacrament of the lords supper , doth consist of two elements , that is , bread and wine ; for so our sauiour did institute , not one onely , but both : to shew , that in him wee haue perfect nourishment vnto eternall life : and the better to expresse the giuing vp of his body , and the shedding of his bloud for vs , which either the bread alone , or the wine alone , could not present vnto vs in so liuely manner . againe , it is answerable to the type , gen. 14.18 . that as melchisedech , so christ should nourish and refresh his church with bread and wine . q. what is the thing siguified by the bread and wine ? a. the thing signified is the body and bloud of christ broken and shed for vs : this we may see by the first institution , luk. 22.19.20 . this is my body , which is giuen for you . this cup is the new testament in my bloud , which is shed for you ; againe , 1 cor. 11.24 . this is my body which is broken for you , &c. and verse 26. as often as ye eate this bread , and drinke this cup , yee doe shew the lords death till he come . so the sacrament is not simply the representation of christs body and bloud contained in it , but of his dead and crucified body , and of his blend out of the body , shed vpon the crosse. q. who is to administer this sacrament ? a. this sacrament as well as baptisme , is to bee administred onely by the ministers of christ , who are therefore called , 1 cor. 4.1 . the stewards or disposers of the mysteries of god ; as wee may see by the institution of christ himselfe , math. 26.26.27 . and the repetition of it by the apostle , 1 cor. 11.23 . where is shewed , what is to be done both by the minister , and by the people . q. what is to be done by the minister ? a. the action o● the minister is foure-fold : 1. to take the bread and wine into his hand , signifying how god did take and set apart his sonne to be our redeemer . 2. to consecrate or blesse them : noting how god did in the fulnesse of time , consecrate and send forth his sonne , to worke our redemption . 3. to breake the bread , and poure out the wine , representing the breaking of the body , and the shedding of the bloud of christ for vs. 4. to distribute the bread and wine , signifying how god doth offer his sonne to all , and effectually giue him to the faithfull , to be their sauiour . q. what is to be done by the people ? a. there is a double action to be performed by the people , that doe communicate : the first is , to take the bread and wine into the hand , signifying , their apprehension or laying hold on christ by faith . the second is , the eating of the bread , and drinking of the wine , representing their speciall application of christ , and all his benefits , by faith for their spirituall nourishment vnto saluation . q. what is the end or vse of this sacrament ? a. the end or vse , for which this sacrament of the lords supper was ordained , was first for the perpetuall retaining of the memory of christs death . 1 so it is commanded , luk. 22.19 . doe this in remembrance of me , and 1 cor. 11.26 . the apostle saith , a● oft as you shall eate this bread , and drinke this cup , yee shew tho lords death , till he come . q. what is the second end or vse of this sacrament ? 2 a. secondly , it was appointed as an instrument or meanes to communicate vnto vs , the very body a●d bloud of christ spiritually by faith ; therefore it is , that the apostle saith , 1 cor. 10.16 . the cup of blessing which we blesse , is it not the communion of the bloud of christ ? the bread which we breake , is it not the communion of the body of christ ? and this is that feeding vpon christ , that eating of his flesh , and drinking of his bloud , spoken of , ioh. 6.29.35.47.51 . &c. namely , when by beleeuing , we are made partakers of him , which is done in this sacrament , in a speciall manner . q. what is the third end or vse of this sacrament ? 3 a. thirdly , the lords supper was ordained for the confirmation of our faith in christ , and loue one to another . for when in the sacrament , together with the word which wee heare , iesus christ is euidently set forth before our eyes , and as it w●re crucified among vs , and in our sight , as paul speaketh , gal. 3.1 . insomuch , that the sacrament , which is called the visible word , doth seeme to speake vnto vs , as christ did to thomas , ioh. 20.27 . come see and feele my wounds , and be not faithlesse , but beleeuing : how can it but greatly nourish and strengthen our faith in the lord iesus , who hath thus suffered for vs. q. how doth the sacrament confirme our loue ? a. againe , when in the sacrament we consider , that there are many graines in one bread , and many grapes in one wine , representing vnto vs , as it is in 1 cor. 10. 17. how we being many , are one bread and one body , for we are all partakers of that one bread . how is it possible , but that we should be thereby nourished and confirmed in the deerest loue and affection one christian to another ? and out of that ground of loue , bee ready to doe all the good we can , as being members of the same body , whereof christ is the head , 1 cor. 12.12.13 . q. how is the lords supper the sacrament of our new life ? a. as baptisme is the sacrament of our new birth , because by it we are regenerate and borne againe , ioh. 3.3 . so the lords supper is the sacrament or signe of our new life , because by it our soules are continually nourished , in feeding vpon christ by faith , as bodily foode doth nourish the body . therefore it is , that our sauiour saith , ioh. 6.55 . my flesh is meat indeed , and my blood is drink indeed : that is , spirituall meat , and spirituall drinke , as it is , 1 cor. 10.3.4 . yea , such as doth nourish vnto eternall life , not as manna , which was but bodily and mortall food , ioh. 6.57.58 . q. proue that wee must receiue often ? a. the sacrament of the lords supper , being to our soules , as bodily foode is to our bodies , reason it selfe doth teach , that it is to bee receiued often , as our bodies stand in need of often nourishment . besides , our sauiour christ in the first institution of this sacrament , did manifestly expresse his intention for the frequent vse of it , in that he did apoint it to bee done for the continuall remembrance of his death till his second comming . whereupon saint paul , who deliuered nothing to the church , but what hee receiued of the lord , saith , as often as yee eate this bread , and drinke this cup , yee doe shew the lords death till he come . 1 cor. 11.26 . q. proue that it ought to be receiued with due preparation ? a. that we ought to receiue this sacrament with due preparation , the apostle teacheth , 1 cor. 11.28 . where he giueth this strait charge , and doth second it with diuers forcible reasons , let a man examine himselfe , and so let him eate of that bread , and drinke of that cup. but if there were no such speciall charge , yet the serious consideration of so sacred a mystery , should stirre vp all men to a religious and reuerent estimation of it : specially recounting , with what sanctified preparation the iewes did celebrate their passeouer , which was to them as this is to vs : but yet farre inferiour both in excellency and vse , to our sacrament . w of the state of all men dying , in respect of the soule : and of the resurrection of the body . q. rehearse the letter w ? a. we must know and beleeue , that all men dying the soules of the godly goe immediatly to heauenly ioy , the wicked to hell torments : and all of them shall at the last day rise againe in their owne bodyes , by the power of christ , the godly to life eternall , the wicked to euerlasting damnation . for christ came to destroy death for vs : and is himselfe risen from death , that wee might rise with him : and if there were no resurrection , the preaching of the word , and our faith should bee in vaine . q. what shall become of all men , after they haue liued here in this world for a time ? a. all men , of what degree , state , and condition soeuer , yea , as well the godly as the wicked , must depart this life , by death , which is the separation of the soule from the body . for sinne hath brought this euill vpon all mankinde , as is shewed before out of rom. 5.12 . whereupon , in the iust iudgement of god , it is appointed vnto men that they shall once die , and after that commeth the iudgement , heb. 9.27 . and thence is that challenge , psal. 89.48 . what man liueth , and shall not see death ? shall hee deliuer his soule from the hand of the graue ? q. how is it that the godly die , seeing death is a curse , and a punishment of sinne , which to them is pardoned ? a. death is not to the godly a curse , but a blessing , it is not a punishment , but a benefit , and an aduantage through the death of christ , by whom the sting of death is so taken away , that it cannot hurt them . yet the godly must die , for diuers causes . 1 that there may bee an end of all their sorrowes , labours and miseries which they endure in this world : in which respect death is called a sleepe and rest . 2 that they may be freed from sinne , and so fitted for heauen : because flesh and blood corrupted , cannot inherit the kingdome of god. 3 that by death as by a gate , or way they may passe into life . as the corne that is sowne is not quickened except it die . q. what shall become of the soules of men when they die . a. when man , who is dust , shall returne to the earth as it was : then , saith solomon , eccles. 12.7 . the spirit shall returne vnto god who gaue it . that is , to gods disposing , either to ioy or torment . this our sauiour teacheth , ioh. 5 , 24. he that heareth my word , and beleeueth in him that sent me , hath euerlasting life , and shall not come into damnation , but hath passed from death vnto life . and as it is said before , reu. 14.13 . they rest from their labours . example hereof we may see in the death of the richman and lazarus , luk. 16.22.23 . the one went immediately to heauenly ioy , the other to hall torments . q. what shall become of the bodies of men when they die . a. the bodies of men when they are dead whether they lie in their graues , or be in the sea , or wheresoeuer , shall rise againe to life . so our sauiour teacheth , ioh. 5.29 . that all that are in the graues shall come soorth . and in the reu. 20.12 . it is said , i saw the dead small and great stand before god. and verse 13● the sea gaue vp the dead which were in it , and death , and hell or graue deliuered vp the dead which were in them . it was saint pauls faith and assured hope , see acts 24.15 . that the resurrection of the dead shall be both of iust and vniust . and he doth proue it at large in 1 cor. so that hee cannot bee a good christian that beleeueth not this article of the christian faith . q. when shall the dead rise againe ? a. the time when the dead shall rise againe , shall bee at the last day , that is , at the end of the world , when christ shall come to iudgement . this martha did acknowledge concerning her brother lazarus , ioh. 11.24 . i know that hee shall rise againe in the resurrection at the last day . with the comfort of that day christ incourageth to doe good to the poore . luk. 14.14 . and herewith the apostle doth both comfort himselfe that had now almost runne his race , and finished his course , and incourage others to doe the like . because there is laid vp a crowne of righteousnesse , which the lord the righteous iudge shall giue at that day . 2 tim. 4.8 . q. with what bodies shall the dead rise ? a. all shall rise with their owne bodies , that as the apostle speaketh , 2 cor. 5.10 . euery man may receiue the things which are done in his body , according to that he hath done , whether it bee good or euill . in this was iob confident , and comforted himselfe with in his affliction , iob 19.26.27 . though after my skinne , wormes destroy this body , yet in my flesh shall i see god : whom i shall see for my selfe , and mine eyes shall behold , and not another . q. by what power shall the dead be raised ? a. the dead shall rise againe by the power of christ , at the hearing of his voice , and sound of the last trumpet . see ioh. 5.28 . the houre shall come , in the which all that are in the graues shall heare his voyce : and they shall come sorth &c. againe , 1 cor. 15.52 . in a moment , in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet : for the trumpet shall blow , and the dead shall be raised vp , &c. q. to what end is the resurrection of the dead ? a. the end of the resurrection is that the whole man both soule and body may bee presented before the tribunall of christ ; the godly to receiue the ioyfull sentence of life , as the reward of their piety : the wicked to heare the dolefull doome of death and condemnation , as the recompence of their sinne . so saith our sauiour , ioh. 5.29 . that they that haue done good shall rise vnto the resurrection of life , and they that haue done euill , vnto the resurrection of damnation . q. proue that christ came to destroy death ? q. that christ came to destroy death without which victory there could be no resurrection , it was prophesied , hos. 13.14 . i will redeeme them from the power of the graue , i will deliuer them from death . o death i will be thy death : o graue i will be thy destruction . and the apostle alledging this prophesie , doth triumphantly praise god for it , 1 cor. 15.54 . &c. death is swallowed vp in victory , o death where is thy sting ? o graue where is thy victory ? &c. but thanks be to god , which hath giuen vs victory through our lord iesus christ. q. proue that christ is risen from death ? a. the apostle doth inuincibly proue it by many arguments in 1 cor. 15.13 ▪ 14. &c. concluding verse 20. in this manner , but now , saith hee , is christ risen from the dead , and was made the first fruits of them that sleepe . for as hee reasoneth there , if there be no resurrection of the dead , then is christ not risen . but seeing he is risen , and that for vs , it followeth nececessarily , that there must needs bee a resurrection . q. proue that christ is risen that wee might rise with him ? a. it is said , 1 thes. 4.14 . if we beleeue that iesus is dead and ●is risen , euen so them which sleeepe in iesus , will god bring with him , and 1 cor. 15.21.22 . for since by man came death , by man came also the resurrection of the dead : for as in adam all die , euen so in christ shall all be made aliue ; therefore it is , that hee is called the first fruits of them that sleepe . q. proue that if there be no resurrection , then the preaching of the word , and our faith is in vaine ? a. it is the apostles argument , to proue the resurrection , 1 cor. 15.14 . that if there be no resurrection , and so consequently christ is not risen , then saith hee , our preaching is vaine , & your faith is also vaine , and wee are found also false witnesses of god ; and verse 19. if in this life onely we haue hope in christ , we are of all men the most miserable . x of the day of iudgement . q. rehearse the letter x. a. exceeding glorious in itselfe , ioyous to the godly , and fearfull to the wicked , shall be the day of iudgment : wherein iesus christ shall cal to account , and iudge all men , for all things done in this life , according to their works . for he shall come with glory in the clouds , accompanied with innumerable angels : and fitting vpon his throne of maiestie , shall vpon due triall of euery mans workes ( the bookes being opened ) pronounce the sentence of saluation to the godly , and of damnation to the wicked . q. proue that there shall be a day of iudgement ? a. it is written , act. 17.31 : that god hath appointed a day , in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse ; and salomon telleth vaine young men , eccles. 11.9 . that they must know , that for all these things god will bring them to iudgement ; , yea , it is a mayne article of our creed , & reason doth teach , that seeing the godly liue here in much affliction , the wicked in great pleasure , there must needs be a day of iudgement , to right all . q. when shall that day of iudgement be ? a. the day of iudgement is not knowne to any creature in heauen or earth , but to god onely ; see math. 24.36 . but of that day and houre knoweth no man , no nor the angels of heauen , but my father onely ; and mark ▪ 13.32 . is added , neither the son himselfe , that is , in respect of his humane nature , or as he is here in this world in the state of humiliation ; or to reueale it to vs , whom it doth not concerne to know it ; as is said , act. 1.7 . it is not for you to know the times or the seasons , which the father hath put in his owne power : yet there are signes foretold whereby wee kn●w the approaching of this day of iudgement . q. what are the signes foreshewing the day of iudgement ? a. the signes are chiefly these ; 2. the preaching of the gospell through the whole world . 2. great calamities , persecutions , troubles , wars , famine , pestilence , and the like . 3. a generall apostasie or falling away , and departing from the faith and puritie of religion . 4. the comming and reuealing of antichrist , the head of that apostasie , who shall take vpon him , to be the head of the church , by sitting as god in the temple of god , aboue all that is called god , or that is worshipped : 5. many deceiuers , false christs , and false prophets , that shall seduce many . 6. generall corruption of manners , and abundance of all iniquitie . 7. great securitie , as in the dayes of noe , mat. 24.37 . 8. the calling or conuerting of the iewes , rom. 11.25.26 . 9. strange signes in the heauens , in the sunne , moone , and starres : on the land , earthquakes : in the sea roaring & tempestuous storms 10. the burning of the world with fire : and the comming of christ in glory . q. why is the day of iudgement concealed from men ? a. that day and houre is hidden and vnknowne to men , and shall therefore be as the comming of a thiefe in the night , or as the trauaile of a woman with childe : to the end that wee should waite and watch euery day and houre , and be prepared for the lords comming , see math. 24.42 . watch therefore , for you know not what houre your lord commeth , and verse 44. therefore be yee also ready : for in such an houre as ye thinke not , the sonne of man doth come , and mark. 13.37 . and what i say vnto you , i say vnto all , watch. q. why is the day of iudgement so long deferred ? a. the lord doth deferre the day of iudgement for diuers , causes : 1. that he might shew his patience toward vs , in giuing so large a time of repentance . 2. that all the elect , both of iewes and gentiles , might be gathered together , their number compleat , and so all israel may bee saued . 3. that he might try and exercise the patience of the faithfull , who suffer so much at the hands of wicked men for the truth . 4. that the vngodly , and impenitent , abusing the patience and long suffering of god , which leadeth to repentance , might bee left without excuse , and be the more seuerely punished . q. who shall be the iudge ? a. he shall be the iudge , who is our sauiour , euen the lord iesus christ , see act. 17.3 1. where it is said , that god will iudge the world by that man whom hee hath appointed , and rom. 2.16 . in the day when god shall iudge the secrets of men by iesus christ ; for , saith he , ioh. 5.22 . the father hath committed all iudgement to his sonn● yet at the day of iudgement , the godly shall also be as iudges , in assisting and consenting to the iudgement of christ ; therefore the apostle , saith , 1 cor. 6.2 . doe you not know , that the saints shall iudge the world ? q. who are they that shall be iudged ? a. all men , of what condition soeuer , that haue beene , are , or shall be from the beginning to the end of the world , must come to iudgement : so we reade , 2 cor. 5.10 . that wee must all appeare before the iudgement seat of christ , and rom. 14.12 . so then euery one of vs shall giue account of himselfe to god ; for the apostle had said before , verse 10. wee shall all stand before the iudgement seat of christ. and this must be , that as the wicked haue ioyned in sinne with the apostate angels , that is , the deuils : so they may be conioyned with them in iudgement ; who are reserued in chaines of darkenesse , vnto the iudgement of that great day , 2 pet. 2.4 . iud. 6. then shall antichrist , as a chiefe head of all impietie , receiue the doome of his eternall destruction , 2 thes. 2.8 . q. of what things shall all men be iudged ? a. euery man shall be iudged of all things done in this life , both good and euill ; the good shall bee approued , the euill condemned , so it is said , eccl. 12.14 . that god shall bring euery worke into iudgement , with euery secret thing , whether it be good or euill , and 2 cor. 5.10 . that euery one may receiue the thing● done in his body , according to that he hath done , whether it be good or bad . q. how , and how farre shall men be iudged , for their euill workes ? 1 a. all men , that in this present life , before their departure hence by death , haue not laid hol● on christ and his merits by faith , for the satisfaction of gods iustice , but dye in their sinnes and impenitencie , shall giue account to god for euery sinfull thought , word and worke . 1. for euery thought though secret and hid from men : therefore it is not onely said , that god will bring euery work to iudgement , but withall , euery secret thing , and rom. 2.16 . in that day , god shall iudge the secrets of men . 2. for euery word , yea euery idle word , that men shall speake , they shall giue account thereof at the day of iudgement , math. 12.36 . 3. for euery act or deed committed much more : as before is shewed , that god will bring euery worke to iudgement , and euery one shall receiue the things done in his body . q. shall men giue account for the omission or neglect of good ? a. men shall not onely account , 2 and be iudged for the euill which they haue committed , but also for the good which they haue omitted and neglected , for god hath commanded , psal. 34.14 . depart from euill , and doe good , and isai. 1.16 . cease to doe euill , and learne to do well . therefore the accusation of the wicked , at the day of iudgement , is thus propounded , math. 25.42 . i was an hungred , and ye gaue me no meat : i was thirsty and ye gaue me no drinke : i was a stranger , and yee tooke mee not in : naked , and yee clothed me not : sick , and in prison , and ye visited me not . for this cause iohn baptist , for the auoiding of the wrath to come , directeth , matth. 3.8 . to bring forth fruits meet for repentance : because , euery tree which bringeth not forth good fruit , is hewen downe and cast into the fire : though it bringeth not forth euill fruit . q. why must iudgement be giuen according to works ? a. that euery one shall bee iudged according to his workes , gods word is plaine euery where , 2 cor. 5.10 . euery one shall receiue according to that hee hath done . so it was reuealed to saint iohn , reu. 20.12.13 . that they were iudged euery man according to their works . the reason is , because workes are the fruits of faith , by which it is discerned , as the tree by the fruit ▪ and therefore it is said according to workes , not for the merit of them , vnlesse it bee the works of sinne , which doe worthily merit damnation . againe the triall by workes , is the fittest way to conuince hypocrites . q. shew that the comming of christ shall be glorious ? a. that iesus christ shall appeare in great glory , at the day of iudgement , whether we respect the manner of his comming , with the attendance of such a multitude of angels ; or his sitting in maiestie vpon his tribunall seat , we may see matth. 25.31 . where it is said briefely , that when the sonne of man commeth in his glory , and all the angels with him , then shall hee sit vp on the throne of his glory . q. why shall it bee ioyous to the godly ? a. christs comming to iudgement cannot but hee most ioyous and comfortable to the faithfull , partly because hee that commeth thus gloriously to be their iudge , is their sauiour ; partly for that they shall then receiue their full redemption and reward of their pietie : and on the contrary , shall behold all their enemies vanquished , and trod vnder their feete . therefore doth the spirit of god euery where comfort the godly with the consideration of this day : and therefore that day is called the time of refreshing , acts 3.19 . q. why shall it be fearefull to the wicked ? a. it cannot but be most fearfull to all wicked men , to behold the lord iesus come to iudgement , in such glorious manner , whom they haue so pierced with their sinnes , reu. 1.7 . the rather in regard that he shall come in flaming fire to take vengeance on them , 2 thes. 1.8 . and to execute iudgement vpon all , and to conuince all that are vngodly of all their vngodly deeds , which they haue vngodly committed , and of all their hard speeches which vngodly sinners haue spoken against him , iude 15. q. what shall be the forme or manner of the last iudgement ? a. the forme and manner of the last iudgement is not to bee expressed : only the word of god for our better vnderstanding , doth set it forth by a similitude or resemblance of an earthly iudge ; shewing the manner of disposing the persons conuented ; the order of triall and euidence : together with the sentence of the iudge : and the execution thereof . q. how will hee dispose of all men at the barre of iudgement ? a. first the disposing of all men conuented at that barre , is noted by the euangelist , math. 25.32 . before him shall bee gathered all nations , and he shall separate them one from another , as a shepheard separateth the sheepe from the goates : and he shall set the sheepe on his right hand , and the goates on the left . q. what is intended by setting some on the right hand , and some on the left hand . a. the intention and meaning is , that at the day of iudgement , the godly , who like sheepe haue heard the voice of christ their shepheard , and haue led an innocent life in this world , shall then be aduanced : and the wicked , who haue here expressed the nature of filthy goates , by satisfying their vngodly lusts , shall then bee deiected . and that whereas in this life they were mingled together , and did many wayes annoy the flock of christ : then at that day there shall be a perfect separation , to the ioy of the godly and terror of the wicked . q. how shall the triall be ? a. the triall shall be according to the rule appointed of god for that end . which is partly the law of nature : partly the law written , both morall and euangelicall : as we may see by the scriptures following . rom. 2.12 as many as haue sinned without law , shall perish without law : and as many as haue sinned in the law , shall be iudged by the law . the reason is , verse 15. because they haue the law written in their hearts . ioh. 12.48 . he that reiecteth me , and receiueh not my words , hath one that iudgeth him : the word that i haue spoken , the same shall iudge him in the last day . q what shall bee the euidence ? a. the euidence is said in the word of god to be certaine bookes . this iohn was shewed in a vision , reu. 20.12 . i saw , saith hee , the dead , both great and small stand before god , and the bookes were opened , and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes . which is not to bee vnderstood properly , that there shall bee materiall bookes , but by way of similitude or resemblance , because all things are as certaine and manifest to god , and shall then be as plainely laid open before angels and men , as if they were recorded in a booke or register . q. what are these bookes ? a. there are foure sorts of bookes , which shall then be opened , for the discouery of all the actions of men . that is , 1 the booke of gods prouidence , whereof the psalmist speaketh in psal. 139.16 . in thy booke were all things written . 2 the booke of the creatures , spoken of in ioh. 20.27 . the heauen shall reueale his iniquity , and the earth shall rise vp against him . 3 the booke of the conscience , of which see rom. 2 15.16 . their conscience bearing witnes , and their thoughts accusing or excusing one another : in the day when god shall iudge the secrets of men by iesus christ. 4 the booke of life , reu. 20.12 . which is the decree of gods election , wherein whosoeuer is not found written , is cast into the lake of fire , verse 15. q. what shall bee the sentence ? a. the sentence shall bee twofold : of saluation , and of condemnation , matth. 25.34 . then shall the king say to them on his right hand , come yee blessed of my father , inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world . and verse 41. then shall he say also vnto them on his left hand , depart from me ye cursed , into euerlasting fire , prepared for the deuill and his angels . y of the execution of the sentence of damnation . q. rehearse the letter y ? a. you that are wicked , shall by the power of the voyce of christ , goe away into hell : being separated from god , consorted with the deuils , depriued of all comfort , punished with vnspeakable torments both in soule and body , according to your sinnes , and that eternally without ease or end . for it is iust with god , so to punish the wicked , and that they who haue liued heere in the pleasures of sinne , should be recompenced with answe●able torment . q. proue that there is a place of torment called hell ? a. that there is a hell , or place of torment , so called , the word of god doth witnesse euery where , we reade math. 5.22 . of the danger of hell fire , so verse 29.30 . of the whole body cast into hell fire , so math. 10.28 . feare him which is able to destroy both soule and body in hell , so math. 23.33 . how can ye escape the damnation of hell ? this hell the prophet resembleth by topheth , which is in the valley of hinnon , where the israelites offered vp their children in fire to the idoll molech ; see in isa. 30.33 . the description of it . topheth is ordained of old ; yea , for the king it is prepared , hee hath made it deepe and large : the pile thereof is fire and much wood , the breath of the lord like a streame of brimstone , doth kindle ●t . q. where is the place of hell ? a. the situation or locall being , and place of hell , cannot for any thing we reade in scripture , be certainely determined ; onely this in generall is certaine , and out of all question ; that hell is in respect of the heauen of the blessed , ( called the third or highest heauen ) an inferiour or lower place , exceeding farre remote and distant from it ; which may be gathered , by that which we reade of the damned rich man in luk. 16.23 . that in hell he lift vp his eyes being in torments , and s●eth abraham a farre off , and verse 26. it is said to him , betweene vs and you there is a great gulfe fixed . but it is better for vs , leauing all curiositie , to learne to auoid hell , then by experience to finde where it is ; remembring that in pro. 15.24 . the way of life is aboue to the wise , that he may depart from hell beneath . q. proue that the wicked shall by the power of christs voyce goe into hell ? a. the wicked , that here in this life , will not heare the voyce of christ , shall then be constrained , will they , nill they , by the power of that voyce , to goe away into hell , this is euident , math. 25. if wee conferre together the 41. and 46. verses , where wee may see , that when christ had said , depart from me ye cursed , into euerlasting fire : it is added withall , and these shall goe away into euerlasting punishment . q. proue that the wicked shall then bee separated from god ? a. they that in this life say vnto god , depart from vs , for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes : to them it shall be said at that day , i neuer knew you : depart from me ye that worke iniquitie : for this must be one chiefe part of the punishment of the reprobate , to be excluded out of the glorious presence of god , and of his angels and saints , so wee reade , 2 thes. 1.9 . that they shall bee punished with euerlasting perdition , from the presence of the lord , and from the glory of his power . q. proue that they shall bee consorted with the deuils ? a. in this life , wicked men doe preferre the deuill before god ; for , as our sauiour saith , ioh. 8.44 . they are of their father the deuill , and the lusts of their father they will doe : therefore as here they ioyne with the deuils in sinne , so there they shall be consorted with them in punishment , according to the sentence and iudgement giuen , math. 25.41 . depart from mee yee cursed , into euerlasting fire , prepared for the deuill and his angels . q. proue that they shall be depriued of all comfort ? a. that the wicked being in hell , shall be destitute of all ease and comfort , wee may see by the example of him , who refusing to giue one crumme of refreshing , could not receiue so much as one drop of comfort . and indeed , what comfort can there bee , where there shall be not●ing but weeping and wailing , and gnashing of teeth ; when the wicked shall see abraham , and isaac , and iacob , and all the prophets in the kingdome of god , and themselues thrust out , luk. 13.28 . q. proue that they shall bee punished with vnspeakeable torments ? a. the exceeding greatnesse of their torments , may appeare in that they are said to be in the lake that burneth with fire & brimstone , reu. 19.20 . where their worme dyeth not , and the fire is not quenched , mark. 9.44 . to bee cast out into vtter darkenesse , math. 8.12 . and into a furnace of fire , math. 13.42 . which epithets or termes , the spirit of god doth vse to note how fearefull and intollerable the paines of the damned shall be . q. proue that their punishment shall bee proportionable , and according to their sinne ? a. the punishment of the damned reprobates , shall be proportioned according to the quality , degree , and measure of their sinnes : they that haue had the meanes of grace and repentance , the word of god , and haue neglected or contemned it ▪ shal be more seuerely punished , then they that neuer heard it ; therefore it is said , math. 10.15 . that it shall be more tollerable for sodome and gomorrha , and math. 11.22 . for tyre and sidon at the day of iudgement , then for such . againe , sinnes of knowledge shall be punished with more stripes , then sinnes of ignorance , luk. 12.47.48 . and hypocrites receiue the greater damnation , math. 23.14 . q. proue their torments shall be eternall without ease or end ? a. the torments of the wicked in hell , shall continue without ease or end , to all eternitie , as the salamander , burning in the middest of the fire , and not consuming ; therefore hell torment is called , math , 25.41.46 . euerlasting fire , and euerlasting punishment , and 2 thes. 1 , 9. euerlasting destruction , and it is said , r●u . 20.10 , that they shall be tormented day and night for euer and euer . and it is agreeable to the rule of iustice , because the sinne committed is against an infinite and eternall maiestie . q. proue that it is iust with god , so to punish ? a. the apostle speaking of the day of iudgement , 2 thes. 1.6 . saith , it is a iust thing with god to recompence . and ro. 2.5 . that day is called , the day of the declaration of the righteous iudgement of god. therefore it is said , luk. 16.25 . remember that thou in thy life time receiuedst thy pleasures , and likewise lazarus paines : now therefore is he comforted and thou art tormented . and hence it is that christ saith , luk. 6.25 . woe vnto you that now laugh : for ye shall mourne and weepe . z of the execution of the sentence of saluation . q. rehearse the letter z ? a. zealous godly men , the iudgement being ended shal immediatly goe with christ into heauen , hauing in him immediate communion with god , who shall be all in all vnto them : and so shall be freed from all euills , and possessed of all good things , as perfection of grace , brightnesse of glory , and fulnesse of ioy , in their seuerall degrees , and that vnspeakable and euerlasting . for it stands with the certainty of gods election ; with the truth of his promise ; and with his iustice for the merit of christ , thus to reward the faithfull : that so all their sorrowes may bee turned into ioy . q. proue that the godly shall immediatly go with christ into heauen ? a. it is the first part of the execution of the sentence of saluation : as we may see matth. 25. if wee conferre verse 34. with 46. for when christ had said , come ye blessed of my father , inherit the kingdome prepared for you , it is added accordingly , that the righteous shall goe into life eternall : as vpon the contrary sentence of damnation , the wicked are to goe into euerlasting paine ; and that immediately . q. proue that they haue immediate communion with god ? a. in this life the faythfull behold god , and after a sort , enioy his presence , by certaine meanes , as the word , sacraments and the like : but in the life to come they shall haue immediate communion with him . therefore it is said , 1 cor. 13.12 . now wee see through a glasse dark●ly : but then face to face ; now i know in part , but then shall i know euen as also i am knowne . and 1 thes. 4.17 . that the faithfull shall bee caught vp together in the clouds , to meete the lord in the ayre , and so shall euer be with the lord. according to the prayer of christ , for the vnion and communion of the faithfull with god in him , axd through his mediation ; ioh. 17.21 . that they may be all one , as thou o father art in me , and i in thee : that they also may bee one in vs. q. proue that god shall be all in all vnto them ? a. the blessed estate of the godly shall bee such in the kingdome of heauen , that they shall need no such meanes or helps as here in this world they cannot be without : but hauing communion with god , and enioying his presence , they shall in him haue supply of all : for he shall bee all in all , that is , in stead of all vnto them . they are the expresse words of the apostle , 1 cor. 15.28 . that all things shall bee subdued vnto him , that god may be all in all . and therefore in spirituall helpes there shall be no want . reu. 21.22 . there is no temple : for the lord god almighty , and the lambe are the temple of it . againe , there shall be no want of temporall meanes , reu. 21.23 . no need of candle , sunne , or moone , for the glory of god doth lighten it , and the lambe is the light of it . there is the riuer of water of life : there is the tree of life . reu. 22.1.2 . q. proue that the godly shall be there freed from all euills ? a. here in this world , the euills and afflictions that the faithfull endure , are great and many : but in the life to come , they shall be deliuered out of them all : as it is said , reu. 21.4 . god shall wipe away all teares from their eyes : and there shall bee no more death , neither sorrow , nor crying , neither shall there be any more paine : for the former things are passed away . q. proue that they shall be possessed of all good things ? a. the godly shall there enioy whatsoeuer good thing may tend to their happinesse . so that whereas in this life the graces of god are imperfect in them , there they shall haue perfection of grace . whereas here they are obscured , in so much , that it doth not appeare what they are : in the life to come , they shall haue brightnesse of glory : and whereas in this world they are filled with sorrowes ; there they shall possesse all fulnesse of ioy . q. how shall they haue perfection of grace ? a. first they shall haue perfection of knowledge , see 1 cor. 3.12 . now wee see as through a glasse darkely ; but then face to ●ace , now i know in part ; but then shall i know , euen as i am knowne . secondly they shall haue perfection of sanctity or holinesse , see ephes. 5.26.27 . where it is said , that christ gaue himselfe for his church , that hee might sanctifie and clense it , that he might present it to him●selfe a glorious church , not hauing spot or wrinckle , or a●y such thing : but that it should be holy and without blem●sh . which ●erf●ctio● w●e kno● can●ot be ●●th● life . thirdly they shall haue 〈◊〉 slo●e : in which respect loue is for the continuance of it , preferred before faith and hope , 1 cor. 13.13 . now abideth faith , hope , and loue , euen these three , but the chiefe of these is loue . q. shew that the godly shall haue brightnesse of glory ? a. secondly they shall haue brightnesse of glory . 2 the apostle telleth the faithfull , col. 3.4 . your life is hid with christ in god , when christ which is our life shall appeare , then shall yee also appeare with him in glory . dan. 12.3 . it is said , that they shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament , and as the starres for euer and euer . and matth. 13.43 . then shall the iust men shine as the sunne in the kingdome of their father . q. in what part of man shall this glory be ? a. the whole man , both soule and body shall bee thus glorious in the life to come . the soule , for it is said , matth. 22.30 . that they shall be as the angels of god in heauen . in body , for the apostle saith , that christ shall change our vile body , that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious body , according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things vnto himselfe . q. proue that the godly shall haue fulnesse of ioy ? 3 a. so much the pasmist noteth , speaking prophetically of christ , and of himselfe as the type , and so proportionally of all the faithfull , psal. 16.11 . thou wilt shew me the path of life ; in thy presence is fulnesse of ioy , at thy right hand there are pleasures for euer more . q. proue there are degrees of glory ? a. we may gather so much by the words of the prophet , dan. 12.3 . they that are wise , saith he , shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament : and they that turne many to righteousne●●e as the sta●res . and 1 cor. 15.41 . a● on● starre differeth from another in glory , so also is the resurrection of the dead . againe wee read , luk. 19.16 . &c. that the seruant , who with his masters piece of mony , had gained ten pe●ces , was made rul●r ouer ten cities : and hee th●t had gained fiue , had authority giuen him ouer fiue . thus the lord doth proportion the reward according to the m●as●re and imployment of his graces giuen vnto vs. therefore the apostle saith , 2 cor. 9.6 . hee that soweth sparingly , shall reape sparingly : and he that soweth bountifully shall reape bountifully . q. proue that this happinesse of the godly is vnspeakable ? a. it is said , 1 pet. 1.8 . that the faithfull reioyce with ioy vnspeakable , and full of glory . and 1 cor. 2.9 . eye hath not seene , nor eare heard , neither haue entred into the heart of man , the things that god hath prepared for them that loue him . q. proue that this happinesse is eternall ? a. the apostle affirmeth so much , 2 cor. 4.17 . in that hee saith , that our light affliction , which is but for a moment , worketh for vs , a ●arre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory , and 1 pet. 1.4 . it is called an inheritance incorruptible , and vndefiled , and that fadeth not away , reserued in heauen for vs , and therefore it is said , 2 tim. 1.10 . that our sauiour iesus christ hath abolished death , and not onely brought life , but immortalitie to light . q. proue that it stands with the certainty of gods elect●on ? a. the godly ca●not faile of this their happinesse , because it is grounded vpon gods election , see 2 tim. 2.19 . the foundation of god standeth sure , hauing this seale , the lord knoweth them that are his , and rom. 8.30 . s. paul groundeth mans glorification vpon gods predestination and election : whom god did predestinate , them he also called ; whom hee called , them hee also iustified : and whom he iustified , them hee also glorified . q. proue that it stands with the truth of gods promise ? a. christ saith of his sheepe , ioh. 10.28 . i giue vnto them eternall life , and they shall neuer perish , neither shall any plucke them out of my hand , and ioh. 3.16 . that whoseuer beleeueth in him , shall not perish , but haue euerlasting life , and r●u . 2.10 . be thou faithfull vnto the death , and i will giue thee the crowne of life . q. p●oue that it stands with the iustice of god ? a. it is manifest , that it stands with the iustice of god for the merit of christ , in regard that he hath purchased mans saluation by his death , 1 cor. 6.20 . and 7.23 . yee are bought with a price , and 1 pet. 1.18.19 . the price is said to be , not siluer and gold , but the precious bloud of christ ; therefore it is said , 1 tim. 2.6 . that christ gaue himselfe a ransome for all men . q. proue that thus eternall life becomes the reward of the faithfull ? a. eternall life becomes a reward to the faithfull , and that of due debt in respect of the merit of christ , which is meerely in him , and not in vs : for god hath made him to be sinne for vs , who knew no sinne , that wee might bee made the righteousnesse of god in him , 2 cor. 5.21 . but in respect of vs , who can merit nothing , because our worke● ●re imperfect , it is a reward of fauour , and not of debt , as the apostle reasoneth . rom. 4.4.5 . to him that worketh , is the reward not reckoned of grace , but of debt : but to him that worketh not , but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the v●godly , his faith is counted for righteousnesse . thus of the free grace and mercy of god , and for the merit of christ , euery good worke shall haue a reward . math. 5.12 . and 6.4 ▪ 6. and 10.41.42 . q. proue that then all the sorrowes of the godly , shall be turned into ioy ? a. so did christ foretell his disciples , and in them all goo● christians , ioh. 16.20 . ye shall weep and lament , and the world shall reioyce : and ye shall sorrow , but your sorrow shall bee turned into ioy . and in that regard he pronounceth the godly happy , luk. 6.21 . blessed are yee that weepe now , for yee shall laugh . q. to conclude , what doe we owe vnto god for so great a blessing ? a we doe owe , and are bound with the apostle , col. 1.12.13 . to giue thankes vnto the father , who hath made vs meete to bee partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light : who hath deliuered vs from the power of darkenesse , and hath translated vs into the kingdom of his deare sonne . and therefore we all with one heart say , as it is in iud. 24.25 . now vnto him ▪ that is able to keepe vs , that we fall not , and to present vs faultlesse before the presence of his glory with ioy , that is , to god onely wise , our sauiour , be glory and maiestie , and dominion and power , both now and for euer , amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a09597-e170 rom. 2.20 . 2 tim. 1.13 . heb. 5.12 . heb. 6.1 . heb. 5.13.14 . psal. 32.8 . 1 cor. 3. ●0 notes for div a09597-e1350 a pro. 3 6. 1 chro. 28.9 . b deu. 29.29 . ro. 15.4 . c io. 17.3 . 2 thes. 1.8 . d 2 tim. 3.15 . io. 5.39 . e deu. 6.4 . isa. 44.6 . f 1 cor. 8.4.5.6 . eph. 4.5.6 g eph. 2.12 . 1 co. 10.20 h iam. 2.19 i 1 io. 5.7 . k luk 3.21.22 . l math. 28. m 2 cor. 13.14 . n 1 cor. 8.6 ro. 11.36 . o psal. 22.7 ioh. 1.14 . p io. 15.26 . q eph. 4.6 . 1 cor. 15.24 . io. 1.1 . 1 io. 5.20 . act. 5.3.4 . r 1 io. 5.7 . s io. 1.2 . and 17.5 . gen. 1.2 . t psal. 2.6 . 1 cor. 12.4.5.6.11 . u psal 90.2 . 1 tim. ● . 17 . x ier. 23.22.24 . psal 139 7. y iam 1.17 . mal. 3.6 z col. 1. ●5 . io. 4.24 . a ge. 17.1 . reu 15.3 . b ps. 147.5 . c isaiah . 6.3 . 1 pet. 1.15 . d math 19.17 . psal 145.9 ▪ e psal. 145.8.9 . iam. 5.11 . f due . 3 2.4 . psal. 145.17 . g exod. 34.6 . h 1 tim. 6.16 . exod. 33.18 . &c. i gen. 1.1 . act. 17.24 . col. 1.16 . k ps. 33.6 . and 148.5 . l heb. 11.3 m gen. 1.31 . exo. 20.11 n gen. 1.31 . o ps. 100.3 . p heb. 3.4 . q ps. 5.4 . iam. 1.17 . r pro. 15 3 matth. 10.29.30 . ps. 135.6 . s ps. 36.6 . and 145.15 . t iob. 1.11 . and 2.5 . mat. 8 . 3● . u io ▪ 19.11 . act. 4 27. x act. 1.7.25.28 . ps. 119.91 , deu. 8.3 . y matth ▪ 4.10 . reu. 22.8.9 . z ps 50 15 luk. 1● . 2 . a io. 16.23 1 tim. 2.5 . b 1 cor. 14.15 . c deu. 12 . 3● . mat. 15.9 . d gen. 4.26 . ps. 2 4.5 . mat. 6.9 . phil. 4.6 . eph. 3.14 . io. 9.31 . io. 4 2● . 13 e isa. 4● . 8 . f gen. 1.27 and 5.2 . g gen. 2 7 mat. 10.28 h gen 39 and 18.27 . i gen 2.17 . rom 5.12 . k eccl. 12.7 . matth. 16.26 . l ps 8.4.5 m gen 1.27 . n gen. 1.26 28. psal. 8.6 . o col. 9 8.10 p eph. 4.24 q or likenesse . gen 1.26 . for christ onely is the substanti●ll image of god. 1 cor 4 4. col. 1.15 . r eph. 4 . 2● . &c. s p● . 49.20 . t eph. 4. ●4 . u rom. 5. ●8 . 19 . x gen. 2.16.17 . and 3 17. y eccl. 7.29 . z gen. 3.6.12 . 1 ti 2.14 . a 2 cor. 11.3 gen. 3.1 . b reu. 12.9 . and 20.2 c eccl. 7.29 . d ro. 5.17 18.19 . e ro. 7 24. f ps. 51.5 . g 1 io. 1 8. h 1 thes. 5.23 . i 1 cor. 2.14 . k gen 6.5 . l ro. 8.7 . m rom. 3.13 14. n ps 14.1.2.3 . o rom. 6.16.17 . p 2 tim. 2.26 . q eph. 2.3 . r gal. 3.10 s ro. 6.23 . t 2 thes 2.12 . v act 4.12 mat. 1.21 . x io. 3.16 . 1 io. 5.20 . y ro. 9.5 . z 1 tim. 2.5 . a heb. 7.2 . 〈…〉 and 10 14. b heb 2.16 17. c luk. 1.35 . matt. 1 20. d isa. 7 1● . mat. 1 18. e phil. 2.8 ro 5.19 . f isai. ●3 . 5 . 1 pet. 3 18. and 2 2 4. gal. 3.13 . g ro. 4 2● . 1 cor 15.3.4 . h ps. 68.18 . luk. 4.51 . i col. 3.1 . ro. 8.34 . act. 3.21 . k hab. 2.4 . gal. 2 . 2● rom. 3 23. and 11.6 . l io 1 11 12. eph. 3.17 m ps ●1 17 n ps. ●2 5. o luk 1● . 3 p ro. 4.6.7 q ro. 4.2 . ps. 130.3 . r isa. 64.6 . lu 17.10 . s gal. 3 22 act 2.39 . t act 1● 48 eph. 1.3 . u mat. 4.17 act. 20.20 x ro. ●0 . 14.17 . y i● ▪ 1.17 . z 2 tim. 2.25 . a eph. 2.8 . b iam. 1 18 c 1 cor. 12.3.11 . d eph 2 . 13.1● . e ro. 5.2 5. heb. 1 1. ro. 8.35.38.39 . f act. 15.8.9 . 1 tim. 1.5 . g gal 5.6 , h eph. 2 12 i ro 5.1 . and 8.1 . k io. 15.5 . tit. 2.14 . l act. 1.41 42. 1 pet. 2.2 . m 2 ti. 3.15 . n ps● 11. ● . 97. &c. o mal. 3 16 heb. 3 13. p io. 7.17 . q col. 1.9 . ps. 119 18. r ro. 4.11 . 2 pet. 3.21 s 2 pet. 3.18 . heb. 5.12 . t eph 4.12 deu. 31 11 io 5.39 . col. 3.16 . reu 1.3 . ios. 1.8 . psal. 1.1 . heb. 10.23 24.25 . ps ▪ 50.23 . mar. 7.7 . pro. 2.3.5 . gen 17 10 ro. 4 11. u gen 17.10.11 . x mat. 28.19 . luk. 21.19 y gen. 17.11 . 1 cor. 11.26 . z ro. 4.11 . a eph. 5.26 tit. 4.5 . 1 cor. 10.16 . b mar. 16.16 . 1 cor. 11.29 . c act. 2.38 41. d io 19 34 1 io. 5.6 . e 1 cor. 13.9.12 . f mat. 28.19 . and 26 27. g mar. 1.4.5 . h act. 8.37 i ge. 17.8 . act. 2 39. k mat. 28.19.20 . l mat 3.11 m 1 cor 12.12.13 . n act. 22.16 o 1 pet. 3.21 . gen 17 10 p ro. 4.11 . q io. 3.35 . 1 pet. 2.2 . r eph 5.26.27 . s mat. 26.26.29 . t 1 cor. 11.24 . luk. 22.19.20 . u mar. 14.22 23. x 1 cor 11 26. y 1 cor. 10 16. io 16.29.35.47 51. z gal. 3.1 . io. 20.27 . a 1 cor. 10.17 . b io. 6.55 57.58 . c 1 cor. 11 26. d 1 cor. 11.28 . e heb 9.27 ps. 89.48 . f eccl. 12.7 luk 16.22 23. g io. 11.24 . 2 tim 4 8. h io. 5.29 reu 2● . 12 . act. 24.15 1 cor. 15. i 2 cor. 5.10 . iob. 1● . 26 . k io. ●● 28. l io. 5 . 2● . m hos. 13.14 . 1 cor. 15.54 . n 1 cor. 15 13.14.20 . o 1 thes. 4 1● . 1 cor. 15.21.22 . p 1 cor. 15 14. q act 17.31 r ro. 2 16. s ro 1.12 t eccl● . 2 . 1● . v r●u . 20 . 1● . x mat. 25.31 . act. 3.19 . iud. 1● . y ro. 2.12 . io. 12 48. z reu. 20.12 . ps. 139 16 iob 20 27 ro. 2.15 . reu. 20.2 a mat. 25. ●4 . b mat 25.41 46. c mat. 5.29 30. and 1● . 28 . isa. 30.23 d 2 th●s 1.9 e mat. 2● . 41 . f luk. 15.24 and 13.28 g r●u 19. ● . mar. 9.44 . h mar. 10.15 . and 23.14 . i 2 thes. 1.9 reu 20.10 k 2 thes. ● . 6 . rom 2.5 . luk. 16.25 l mat. 25 : 34.46 . m 1 thes. 4.17 . n 1 cor. 15.28 . reu 21.22.23 . o reu. 21 4 p 1 cor. 13.12 1● . q col. 3.4 . mat 1● 43 r ps. 16 . 1● . s 1 cor. 15.41 . dan. 12 3. t 1 cor 29. u 1 cor. 4.17 . x 2 tim. 3.19 . ro 8.20 . y io. 3 16. reu. 2 10. z 1 cor. 6 . 2● . 1 pet 1 . 1●.19 . a ro. ● . 4.5 . b io. 1●●0 luk. ● . 21 . notes for div a09597-e6700 acknowledge god 1 that there is a god. proued diuers waies . 1 proued by the light of nature . 1 in the worke of the conscience . 2 by naturall inclination to religion . instance thereof . 3 by the vse of an oath . 4 by obseruation of gods vengeance 2 proued by the light of grace . 1 in regard of the matter of the scriptures . 2 of the maiestie of god shining therein : 3 of the scope of the scriptures . 3 proued by the workes of god. 3 proued by the workes of god. 1 of creation . 2 of pro●idence . 3 of iudgment . 4 of wonder . 5 of foretelling things to come . god ought to be acknowledged . 3 as he is reuealed in the word . 4 without knowledg● no saluation . 5 no knowledge to saluation without the word . there is but one god. to vs christians . to haue many gods , is to haue no god. due . 32.17 . ps 106.37.38 . to beleeue in god , what ? it is to trust in god. proof that it is to trust in god. to beleeue god , but not in god , is the deuils saith . three persons in one god. so reuealed from heauen . so are all baptized . so blessed . three persons distin●t , not confounded . 1 euidence 2 euidence . 3 euidence . 4 euidence . the substance not diuided . the father is god. the sonne is god. the holy ghost in god. yet not three gods , but one god. they are coeternall . they are coequall . god is 1. eternall 2 infinite . 3 immu●table . 4 inuisible 5 almighty . reu. 4.8 . 6 most wise . 7 holy. le. 28.36 . le 11 44. and 19.2 . 8 good. 9 mercifull . 10 iust ▪ god would be so described . because none can see god. 1 god made the world . 2 by his word . 3 of nothing . 4 in six dayes . 5 all very good . 6 nothing can make it selfe . 7 nor be without some cause . 8 nor be euill being made of god. 1 all governed by gods prouidence . exampl●● many . 1 in heauen . 2 in the sea . 3 in the earth . 1 instance 2 instance of things in earth . 3 instance 4 instance 2 all preserued by gods prouidence . 3 satan cannot do what he list . 4 wicked men cannot doe what they list . 5 without gods prouidence all perish . leu. 26.26 eze. 4.16 . and 5.16 . isa. 3.1 . and 14.13 . 1 god only is to be worshiped 2 he only is to be called vpon . 3 only in the name of christ. 4 with vnderstanding . 5 only a● he hath commanded . 6 so it was in all ages . 1 before the law. 2 vnder the law. ☜ 3 af●er the law . ☜ 1 christ did so teach . ☞ 2 ●he apostles did so preach & practise . ☞ 3 a worshipper of god is the title of a christiā . ☜ 4 the worshipper of god only , is the true worshipper . 7 otherwise gods glory is giuen to a creature . man , what it signifieth why god made one man and one woman . man consists of soule and body , the body is of the dust . 1 cor. 15.47 . the difference of man and womans creation . a second difference . io. 19.34 . man body possibly immo●tall . the soule is immortall . man a most excelent creature . created in the image of god. had rule ouer all creatures . t●e image of god consisteth in knowledge also in righteousnesse and holinesse . ☜ not in substance , bu● in s●mblance . gen. 1 ●6 , ☞ knowledge , righteousnesse , and holinesse are not the only image of god. but in the whole man , soueraignty . ☞ in the soule wisdome . ☜ in the very substance of the soule inuisibility , immortality . s. augustine : vnity and trinity . ☞ in the body gods image shineth . ☞ not in the shape or parts , but otherwise . the word of god calleth on vs to renew it . without it man not fit to rule . image of god how farre ●ost . 2 cor. 11.7 o●●ly in respect of knowledge , righteousnesse and holinesse . and that by adams sinne . in eating the forbidden fruit . hauing power not to sinne . was seduced by the woman . she by the serpent . that serpent was the deuill . man did willingly yeed . all tainted by adams fall . as guilty of his sin . are become most miserable . conceiued and borne in sinne . christ only excepted . luk. 3.23.38 . heb. luk 1.34.35 . mat. 1.20 . all corupted with sinne . both in soule and body . cannot perceiue any good thing . nor think a good thought . nor will any good thing . nor speak any good . nor doe any good . but is subiect to sinne as a slaue . als● to s●tan . to the wrath of god. to the curse of god in 〈◊〉 whole life . to death . to eternall damnation . man saued only by christ. he is the sonne of god. he is both god and man. he hath perfectly saued vs. by taking our nature which was of necessity . heb. 2.14 . he was conceiued by the holy ghost . borne of the virgin . liued in perfect obedience . he suffred . he died . on the crosse . he rose againe . he ascended into heauen . he sitteth 〈…〉 how we are iustified by faith . that we are iustified by faith only . 1 instance . 2 instance 3 instance 4 instance 5 instance leu. 21.9 . 6 instance how wee are iustified by faith only . by faith we receiue christ. a contrite heart is requisite . so is confession to god. specially true conuersion . iustification is in the pardon of sinnes . we can merit nothing with god. our best workes are imperfect . the promise is onely to beleeuers . elected before the world was . preaching the means of repentance . preaching the means of faith . god the giuer of all grace . the giuer of repentance . the giuer of faith . god worketh by the word . god workes by his spirit . 1 argument . 2 argument . 3 argument . 4 argument . properties of faith . 1 to vnite vs to god. 2 to assure vs of gods loue shewed more plainely . 3 to purifie the heart . 4 to wo●● by ●●ue . till we beleeue , wee are without god , christ , hope . but once beleeuing , we haue peace . beleeuers are fruitfull . faith and all other graces how increased . particularly , 1 by preaching . 2 by reading . 3 by meditation . 4 by conference . heb. 10.23 24.25 . 5 by practise . 6 by prayer . 7 by sacraments , god requires encrease . meanes to that end appointed 1. preaching . 2 reading 1 publique . 2 priuate . 3 soli●arily . 1 in the old testament . 2 in the new testament . 3 meditation . 4 conference . 5 practise 6 prayer . 7 sacraments . sacraments are signes of the couenant . gen. 17 7. god is the only author of sacraments . the end or vse of sacraments . 1 to signifie . 2 to s●a●e or confirme . 3 to conuay grace . but to the faithfull only . 4 to be a● badges of our profession . so to the iewes . so to vs christians there are only two sacraments . 1 by the institution and practise of christ. 2 by the water and blood out of his side . 3 by saint pauls allusion . our weaknesse requireth sacraments . the word is not sufficient to vs. christ ordained onely two sacraments . the other fiue are no sacraments . why no sacraments . particularly , 1 confirmation is no sacrament . act. 8.14.15.17 . hieron . aduers . luciferia●os cap. 4. an nes●●s etiam ecclesiarum ●●nc esse morem , &c. 2 penance is no sacrament . it may be without a priest or minister , which a sacrament cannot be . 3 order is no sacrament . 4 matrimony is no sacrament . 5 extreame vnction is no sacrament . our sacraments answerable to the legall . they are alone sufficient . baptisme requires 1 profession of repentance . 2 profession of faith . ch●ldren are t● b● b●ptized . the outward element is water . the action is washing . the inward grace , what . the forme of words ▪ what . who must administer baptisme . the end or vse of baptisme . 1 end. 2 end. 3 end. 4 end. baptisme is the signe of regeneration . the vertue 〈◊〉 it is perpetu●ll . rom. 6.3.4 . the lords supper why so called . the outward signe is bread and wine . the thing signified is the body and bloud of christ crucified . who is to administer the sacrament . the action of the minister . ioh. 3.16 . and 6.27 . the action of the people . ioh. 1.22 . 1 cor. 10.16 . the end or vse of this sacrament . 1 for remembrance of , christs death . 2 for communion with christ. 3 for confirmation of our faith and loue . how our faith in christ. how our loue one to another it is the signe of our new life . it is often to be receiued . with due preparation . all men must die . death to the godly is a blessing . 1 cor. 3.21 22. phil. 1.21 . 1 cor. 15.55.56 . 1 thes. 4.13.14 . reu. 14.13 . rom. 6.7 . 1 cor. 19.30 . 1 cor. 15. ●6 . the soule goeth immediately to heauen or hell . the bodies of all shall rise againe . at the last day . euery one with his owne body . by the power of christ. the end is to life or death eternall . christ came to destroy death . christ is himselfe risen . that we might rise with him . if no resurrection , preaching and faith is vaine . a day of iudgment shall be . the time is onely knowne to god. the signes what ? mark. 13.10 . math. 24.14 . math. 24 : 6.7.9.10 . 2 thes. 2.3 1 tim. 4.1 . 2 thes. 2.3.4.8 . 1 ioh. 2.18 . math. 24.5.11.24 . math : 24.12 . 2 tim. 3.1.2 . isai. 59 20. math. 24.29 . mar. 13 8.24 . 2 pet. 3.10 . math. 24.30 . why the time is concealed . 1 thes. 5.2.3 . the day why deferred . 2 pet. 3.9 ▪ math. 24.22 . rom. 11.26 . r●u . 6 11 i●m . 5.7 rom. 2 1.4.5 . the iudge is christ. the godly 〈◊〉 ●ssistant . math. 19.28 . all men must be iudged . of all things . 1 committed , as thoughts , words , wo●kes . eccl. 12.14 ▪ 2 omitted according to their workes . christs comming shall be glorious . ioyous to the godly . fearfull to the wicked psal. 50 , the manner of the last iudgement . the disposing of all men . on the right or left hand , why ? io. 10.27 . 1 thes. 4.17 . luk. 23.30 reu. 6.16 . eccles. 34.18 . &c , matth. 13.29.30 . the order of the trial the euidence is certaine bookes . the books are 1 of gods prouidence . 2 of the creatures . 3 of the conscience 4 the booke of life . there is a hell. math 18.9 luk. 12.5 . 2 kin. 23 , 10 ▪ where it is . christs voyce detrudeth the wicked into hell . they are separated from god. iob 21.14 . math. 7.23 . luk. 13.27 they are consorted with the deuils . they are depriued of all ioy . luk. 16.24 their t●rmen●s intollerable . reu. 21.8 . isa. 66.24 . their punishment proportionable to their sinne . eternall paine , easelesse , endlesse . it is iust with god. the godly goe immediately to heauen . they haue immediate communion with god. he shall be all in all vnto them reu. 22.5 . they shall be freed from all euills . psal. 34.19 possessed of all good things . as , ● perfection of grace . 2 brightnesse of glory . both in soule and body . 3 fulnesse of ioy . degrees of glory . vnspeakable happinesse . happinesse eternall . it stands with the certainty of election with the truth of his promise . 1. io. 2.25 . 2 cor. 1.13.20 . with the iustice of god , for christ. it is the reward of the godly . so all sorrow is turned into ioy . the praise ●e giuen to god. an abridgement of the whole body of divinity extracted from the learned works of that ever-famous and reverend divine, mr. william perkins / by tho. nicols. perkins, william, 1558-1602. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a54381 of text r36667 in the english short title catalog (wing p1560). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 211 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 108 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a54381 wing p1560 estc r36667 15868725 ocm 15868725 104646 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a54381) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104646) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1154:9) an abridgement of the whole body of divinity extracted from the learned works of that ever-famous and reverend divine, mr. william perkins / by tho. nicols. perkins, william, 1558-1602. nicols, thomas. [10], 204 p. printed by w.b. for will. hope ..., london : 1654. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. eng theology, doctrinal -17th century. a54381 r36667 (wing p1560). civilwar no an abridgement of the whole body of divinity extracted from the learned works of that ever-famous and reverend divine, mr. william perkins / perkins, william 1654 39555 48 25 0 0 0 0 18 c the rate of 18 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-08 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2004-08 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an abridgement of the whole body of divinity , extracted from the learned works of that ever-famous , and reverend divine mr. william perkins . by tho. nicols , ❧ london , printed by w b. for will. hope , at the blue anchor , on the north-side of the royal enchange , 1654. friendly reader . for thy benefit i have here taken the pains to abreviate the body of mr. perkins divinity ; what before thou couldst not have but in a large volume , and at a great rate ; here , thou hast substantially in short for the bettering of thy knowledge , for the directing of thy life , and for thine obedience in what ever is thy duty ; take it , & as thou dost thereby reape profit , so lift up thine eys to heaven , and return god thanks to whom alone its due , & i shall still endeavour thy best good , wishing to thee thine everlasting reward , and labouring to live , and die , a sure friend to thy soul's happiness . july 27. 1654. tho. n. contents of the first part of this treatise . 1. of god . pag. 1. of the life of god . pag. 4. his names nature pag. 2. glorie and blessedness . pag. 10. of the persons of the godhead . pag. 11. contents of the second part of this treatise . of gods works and his degree . pag. 14. 15. 16. 18. 19. 20. 21. of man and his state . pag. 22. 23. of the fall of angels . pag. 24. the fall of man . pag. 26. 27. 28. of sin by participation . pag. 28. original sin . pag. 28. actual sin . pag. 33. 35. punishment of sin in this life . pag. 35. of tentation pag. 36 37. 38. 39. of election and its foundation . pag. 42. 43. the degrees of its execution . p. 136. 144. 147. elect their estate at the last judgement . pag. 181. gods covenant of works and grace . p. 42. 43. 127. of the moral law . pag. 43. the use of the law . pag. 125. of the first commandment . pag 43. of the second commandment . pag. 48 48. idolatry and superstition . pag. 52 68. effects of hypocrisie . pag. 53. of magick pag. 54. 55. 59. of covenants with the devil . pag. 57. divining . pag 58. necromancy . pag. 58. pythonisme . pag. 59. enchantments . pag , 60. charms . pag. 60. third commandment . pag. 61. its affirmative part . pag. 61. its negative part . pag. 66. of oaths . pag. 62. 64. asseveration , what it is . pag. 63 palmestry . pag. 69. astrology . pag. 69. 70. 71. 73. 74. effects of the sun and moon . pag. 72. of the fourth commandment . pag. 75. affirmative part of it . pag. 75. negative part of it . pag. 79. sabbath how it was ceremonial . pag 77. how it is moral . pag. 77. of the fifth commandment . pag. 80. affirmative part of it . pag. 80. negative part of it . pag. 83. of the sixth commandment . pag. 84. affirma . nega . part of it . pag. 85. 90. truces , the lawfulness of them . pag. 86. duels unlawfull , and why ? pag. 93. of the seventh commandment . pag. 95. affirmative part of it . pag. 95. negative part of it . pag. 99. fornication , what it is . pag. 100. adultery , what it is . pag. 101. lust the occasions of it . pag. 103. eight commandment . pag. 104. affirmative part of it . pag 104. negative part of it . pag 109. contentation , what it is . pag. 105. thriftness , what it is . pag. 105. pledges are not to be exacted . pag. 107. just covenants must be performed . p. 108. vnjust dealing in heart and deed what it is . pag. 109. 110. oppression in bargaining , its kindes . p. 111. oppression by vsury . pag. 112. punishment of theft . pag. 115. ninth commandment . pag. 115. affirmative part of it . pag. 115. negative part of it . pag 119. to labour for a good name by godliness is lawfull . pag. 117. how one man may lawfully judge another . pag. 119. tenth commandment . pag. 122. affirmative part of it . pag. 123. the negative part of it . pag. 124. motions of the heart , their kindes . pag. 123. motions of the heart upon the work of faith , what they be . pag. 140. sacraments . pag. 129. 131. 133. how they differ from sacrifices . pag. 132. declaration of gods love , its degrees . p. 136. 144. 147. 177. members of christ whom they are . p. 138. effectual calling the means of its execution . pag 139. hammers to break a stony heart . pag. 139. 140. rules to know true faith by . pag. 143. priviledges by adoption pag. 146. inherent holiness its parts . pag. 148. 149. 150. 151. illumination what it is pag. 148. repentance and its fruits . pag. 152. self-denial . pag 169. new obedience . pag. 153. 154. 171. 173. 175. a christian combat , what it is . pag. 154. 155. assaults in it pag. 157. 158 161. vnjust anger and wrath , remedies against them pag 164 165. covetousness , its remedies . pag 165. desires of the flesh , their remedies . p. 166. patience how to strengthen it . pag. 169. of alms. pag. 167. death , remedies against the fear of it . pag. 178. eternal life , what it is . pag. 182. its fruits . pag. 183. 184. perfect glorie , what it is ? pag. 183. reprobation , its decree . pag. 186. execution of it . pag. 187. 188. 191. 192. reprobates their state after death . pag. 194. their condemnation . pag. 195. the manner of it . pag. 195. predestination , the application of it . p. 197. luthers saying . pag. 201. the corolary . pag. 185. 196. of theologie . theology is the science of living blessedly for ever . blessed life ariseth from the knowledge of god and of our selves . the parts of the theologie are : 1. of god . 2. of gods works . that there is a god is evident . 1. by the course of nature . 2. by the nature of the soul of man . 3. by the distinction of things honest and dishonest . 4. by the terrour of conscience . 5. by the regiment of civil societies . 6. by the order of all causes which have ever recourse to some former beginning . 7. by the determination of all things to their several ends . 8. by the consent of all men . the names of god . the names of god , are . jehova . elohim , exod. 6. 2. 3. jehova declareth gods nature . elohim his persons . the nature of god . the nature of god is his most lively , and most perfect essence . the perfection of the nature of god is that , where by he is wholely compleat in him self , exod. 3. 13. act. 17. 24. the perfection of gods nature is the simpleness and infinitnes thereof . the simpleness of gods nature is that , whereby he is void of all logical relation in arguments . that is , god hath not in himself either subject , or adjunct , joh. 5. 26. and 14. 6. in god to be , and to be just , and mighty , are all one ; but in the minde of man , it is not all one to be , and to be mighty , or just : for the minde may be destitute of these virtues and yet a minde . the nature of god is immutable and spiritual . gods immutability of nature is that by which he is void of all composition , division and change , jam. 1. 17. malach. 3. 6. gods nature is spiritual , in that it is incorporal , and therefore invisible , joh. 4. 24. colos. 1. 15. 1 tim. 1. 17. so much for the simpleness of gods nature . the infinitness of gods nature is either his eternity , or his exceeding greatness . gods eternity is that by which he is without beginning , and ending , ps. 90. 2. rev. 1. 8. his exceeding greatness is that , by which his incomprehensible nature is every where present , both within and without the world , ps 145. 3. 1 king. 8. 27. jer. 23. 24. of the life of god . by this it doth plainly appear . 1. that god is one , and indivisible and not many , as ephes. 4. 5. 1 cor. 8. 4. 2. that god is the knower of the heart : for nothing is hidden from that nature which is within all things , & without all things , which is included in nothing , nor excluded from any thing , as 1 king. 8. 32. psal. 139. 1. 2. the life of god is that by which the devine in nature is in perpetual action , living and moving with it self , psal. 42. 2. 2 heb. 3. 12. these three following attributes do manifest the operation of the divine nature towards the creatures . 1. gods wisdom . 2. gods will . 3. gods omnipotency . the wisdom and knowledge of god is that , by which god doth by one eternal and immutable act of understanding , distinctly and perfectly know himself , and all other things though infinite whether they have been , or not , matth. 11. 27. heb. 4. 13. psal. 347 5. gods wisdom is his foreknowledge and his counsel . gods foreknowledge is that , by which he most assuredly foreseeth things that are to come , act. 2. 23. rom. 8. 29. gods counsel is that , by which he doth most rightly perceive the best reason of all things that are done , prov. 8. 14. so much of the wisdom of god . the will of god is that , by which he doth most freely and justly will all things with one act , rom. 9. 18. epb. 1. 5. jam. 4. 15. in god there are two wills . 1. a will whereby god determineth what shall be done concerning us , or in us . 2. a will whereby god determineth what shall be done off us . the first of these wills is called predestination : and therefore it is , that predestination is commonly defined to be the preparation of the blessing of god , whereby they are delivered which are delivered . the second of these wills is the gospel . predestination determines , who who , and how many are to be saved , and hereupon christ saith , i know whom i have choosed , john 13. 18. the gospel which is the second will of god , determines what kinde of ones they are that shall be saved , and how they must be qualified . predestination which is the first will of god , is gods decree it self . the gospel which is the second will of god , is an outward means of the execution of this decree of predestination . in the will of god there are three actions . * 1. an action whereby god doth absolutely will any thing , and delight in it . 2. an action whereby he doth wholely , and absolutely nill a thing . 3. a remiss action , which is as a mean between the two former actions , as when a thing is remissely , or in part both willed and nilled . god willeth good by approving it . god willeth evil , because it is good that there should be evil . for this cause god doth voluntarily permit evil . but as it is absolutely evil he wills it not ; but doth dissalowe and forsake it , act. 14. 16. psal. 81. 12. the will of god in respect of divers objects , is called diversly by divers names , as by the names of love , hatred , or of grace , justice . the love of god is that , whereby he approveth , first himself ; and then all his creatures as they are good without their desert , and doth take delight in them , 1 joh. 4. 16. joh. 3. 16. rom. 5. 8. his hatred is that , whereby he disliketh and detesteth his creature offending for his fault , 1 cor. 10. 5. psal. 5. 5. and 45. 7. gods grace is that , whereby he freely declareth his favour to his creatures , rom. 11. 6. tit. 2. 11. the grace of god is his goodness , or his mercie . gods goodness is that , by which he being also absolutely good , doth freely exercise his liberality upon his creatures , matt. 19. 17. & 5. 45. gods mercie is that , whereby he freely assisteth all his creatures in their miseries , esai 30. 18. lament. 3. 22. exod. 33. 19. gods justice is that , by which he in all things willeth that which is just , as psal. 11. 7. and 5. 4. gods justice is either in word , or deed . gods justice in word is that truth , by which he constantly , and indeed willeth that which he sayeth , or hath said , ( rom. 3. 4. matth. 24. 35. ) this is the justice of god in keeping his promise , 2 tim. 4. 8. 1 john 4. 9. gods justice indeed is that , by which he disposeth , or rewardeth gods disposing justice is that , by which he as a free lord , ordereth all things rightly in his actions , psal. 145. 17. his rewarding justice is that , by which he rendereth to his creature according to his work , 2 thes. 1. 6. 1 pet. 1. 17. jer. 51. 56. again , the justice of god is either his , gentlenes , or his anger . gods gentlenes is that , whereby he freely rewardeth the righteousness of his creature , 2 thes. 1. 5. matth. 10. 41. 42. gods anger is that , by which he willeth the punishment of the creature offending , rom. 1. 8. joh. 3. 36. so much concerning the will of god . gods omnipotency is that , whereby he is most able to perform every work , matth. 19. 26. gods power is either absolute , or actual . gods absolute power is that , by which he can do more than he either doth , or will do , matth. 3. 9. phil. 3. 21. gods actual power is that , by which he causeth all things to be which he freely willeth , ps. 135. 6. of the glorie , and blessedness of god . gods glorie and majesty , is the infinite excellencie of his most simple , and most holy divine nature , heb. 1. 3. nehem. 9. 5. in which we may see that god can onely know him self perfectly , joh 6. 46. 1 tim. 6. 16. exo. 33. 20. the manifestation of gods glorie is either obscure as here on earth , or apparent as in heaven . the obscure manifestation of gods glorie , is the vision of gods majesty in this life , by the eys of the minde , through the help of things perceived by the outward senses , as isai 6. 1. exod. 33. 22. 1 cor. 13. 12. the apparent manifestation of god , is the contemplation of him in heaven , face to face . this concerning his glorie . gods blessedness is that , by which god is in himself , and off himself all sufficient , genes . 17. 1. collos. 2. 9. 1 tim. 6. 15. of the persons of the god-head . the persons of the god-head are they , which subsisting in one god-head , are distinguisht by incommunicable properties , 1 john 5. 7 genes . 19. 24. john . 1. 1. the persons are coequal , and distinguisht not by degree , but by order : there is a trinity of persons , but a unity in essence , for the three persons are but one infinite essence . the communion of the persons , or rather the union of the persons ; is that by which one of them is in the rest , and with the rest , by reason of the unity of the god-head ; and therefore every each one doth possess , love , and glorifie another , and work the same thing , joh. 14. 10. and 1. 1. and 5. 19. prov. 8. 22. 30. the persons of the god-head are three , matth. 3. 16. 17. the father is a person without beginning , from all eternity begetting the son , joh. 1. 3. 10. in the generation of the son we must note these properties . 1. that he that begetteth , and he that is begotten are together , and not one before another in time . 2. he that begetteth , doth communicate with him that is begotten , not some one part of his essence , but his whole essence , so that this communion is not a communion , but a union . 3. the father begot the son not out of himself , but in himself ; the incommunicable property of the father is to be unbegotten , to be a father , and to beget . the father is the beginning of actions , and beginneth every action of himself , and effecteth every action by the son , and by the holy spirit , 1 cor. 8. 6. rom. 11. 36. the son is the second person begotten of the father from all eternity , joh. 1. 3. 10. 1 joh. 1. 1. 2. the son in regard of his essence is of and by himself * very god . but in regard of his filiation and sonship , as he is a person , and the son of the father , he is not of himself , but from another , for he is the eternal son of his father ; and thus is he truely said to be very god , of very god . for this cause he is said to be sent from the father , joh. 8. 42. and this sending taketh not away the equality of essence , and power , but declareth the order of the persons , joh. 5. 18. phil. 2. 6. the property of the son is to be begotten ; his proper manner of working is to execute actions from the father by the holy ghost , joh. 5. 19. 1 cor. 8. 6. the holy ghost is the third person , proceeding from the father and the son , joh. 15. 26. rom. 8. 9. job . 16. 13 , 14. the incommunicable property of the holy ghost is to proceed . the holy ghosts proper manner of working is to finish an action , effecting it as from the father and the son . the second part of theologie . of gods works and his decree . the works of god , are all the world , and all the things contained therein . the end for which all things are created , is the manifestation of the glorie of god , rom. 11. 36. the decree of god is that , by which god hath freely from all eternity determined all things , eph. 1. 11. 4. matth. 10. 29. rom. 9. 21. the execution of gods decree is that , by which all things in their time are accomplisht , according as he foreknew them , and decreed them . the decree of god is the first , and principal working cause of all things , and it is also in order and time before all other causes . this first , and principal cause doth not take away freedom of will in election ; nor the nature and property of second causes ; but it bringeth them into a certain order ; and it directeth them to their determinate ends , and hereupon the effects , or events of things are either , contingent , or necessary . — — even as the nature of the second cause is ; and thus christ according to his fathers decree , died necessarily , ( as act. 17. 3. ) but yet willingly . joh. 10. 18. and if we respect the temperature of christs body , he might have prolonged his life , and therefore in this regard he may be said to have died contingently . gods foreknowledge is conjoyned with his decree ; and in regard of us it is before his decree , but not in regard of god . the branches of the execution of gods decree are his , operation , and his operative permission . his operation is his effectual producing of all good things , which either have being , or moving , or which are done . gods operative permission is that , whereby he onely permitteth one , and the same work to be done of others , as it is evil ; but as it is good he doth effectually work it , gen. 56. 20. & 45. 7. isai 10. 5. 6. 7. god permitteth evil by a certain voluntary permission , in that he forsaketh the second cause in working evil . and he doth also forsake his creature , either by detracting the grace it had , or by not bestowing that which it wanteth , rom. 1. 26. 2 tim. 2. 25. 26. and in this we must not think god unjust , for he is indebted to none , rom. 9. 15. it is in gods pleasure to bestow how much grace , and upon whom he will , matth. 10. 15. that evil which god permitteth in respect of god is good , whither it be as a punishment , or as a chastisement , because he can , and doth produce good out of it . gods decree as it concerneth man , is called predestination . predestination is a decree of god , by which all men are ordained to an everlasting estate ; either of salvation , or condemnation , 1 thess. 5. 9. the means of accomplishing gods predestination , was the creation and the fall . the creation is the world , and the inhabitants in the world . the parts of the world , are the heaven and the earth . the heavens are three fold , 1. the air , 2. sky , 3. the invisible heaven . heaven in a large acceptation , is all that is above the earth . all which , is distinguisht into three heavens . the first heaven is the space betwixt the earth , and starry firmament . the second heaven containeth the sun , moon , & stars . the third heaven is the invisible heaven , this is the place in which the blessed do behold the majesty , and glorie of the almighty . the inhabitants of the world are angels , men , and all other creatures . in angels there are these things to be considered . 1. their nature ; they are spiritual , and incorporeal essences , heb. 2. 16. and 1. 7. 2. their qualities , * first they are wise , secondly , they are of great might , 2 thes. 1. 7. 2 sam. 24. 17. 2 kings 19. 35. another quality of them is , thirdly , that they are swift , and of great agility , isa. 6. 6. dan. 9. 21. 3. their number they are innumerable , dan. 7. 10. hebr 12. 22 4. the place in which these good angels are , and that is in the highest heaven , for there they do ever attend upon god , and have society with him , matth. 18. 10. mark . 12. 25. psal. 68. 17. 5. their orders , or degrees , which what they be , no man can certainly say ; but there are arch-angels spoken of in scripture , 1 thes. 4. 16. and angels , matth. 18. 10. and cherubims , & seraphims , esai 6. 6. but it concerneth us not to search this ; neither may we curiously enquire after it . 6. there office which is to magnify god , and perform his commandments , psal. 103. 20. 21. the angels were created within the six days , as appeareth , gen. 2. 1. the knowledge that the angels have , is either : 1. natural , 2 revealed , 3. experimental . the ministry of the angels is three fold , either to adore , or to praise , or to glorifie god continually , to this purpose do they stand in the presence of god , ever more ready to do his commandments ; as isai 6. 2. luke 2. 14. rev. 5. 11. 12. ps. 103. 20. dan. 7. 9. 10. part of the ministry of angels respecteth the church , for they are ministring spirits sent forth of god , to minister for the good of those that shall be heirs of salvation , heb. 1. 14. for the good of all these , they minister first in this life , 2. in the end of this life , and 3. in the last judgement . in this life they watch for the good of their bodies , and for the good of their souls , and that from the beginning of their days to the end of them , psal. 34. 7. in the end of this life , they carry the souls to heaven , as they did the soul of lazarus , luke 16. 22. in the last judgement they do gather all the elect together , that they may come before christ , and so enter into eternal fruition of glorie , both in body and soul , matth. 24. 31. another part of their ministery concerneth gods enemies , and it is to execute judgements upon his enemies at his command . of man and his state . man was made after gods image , and resembling god in holiness . in the excellent state of mans innocency , these things are to be considered . 1. the place in which he was set in his innocency , and that was the garden of eden , that pleasant place . gen. 2. 15. 2. the integrity of mans nature , he was created in righteousness , and true holiness , eph. 4. 24. there are two parts of mans first integrity , 1. wisdom , for he had a true , and perfect knowledge of god and his will , as far as it was to be performed of him ; and of the counsel of god , concerning all creatures , genes . 2. 19. 2. secondly , justice , which was a conformity in his will , affections and powers of his body to the will of god . 3. man's dignity , which consisted in these things . 1. in man's communion with god , god rejoyced in man made in his own image , and man did fervently love god ; and this appeareth by god's familiar conference with adam ; genes . 1. 29. secondly , in his dominion over all the creatures of the earth ; gen. 2. 19. psal. 8. 6. thirdly , in his decency , comeliness , and dignity of body ; for though he was naked , yet was he cloathed with the best and excellentest roabs , even with innocency ; there was imprinted upon him by god a princely majesty , so that there could not then be any thing in him unseemly ; gen. 2. 25. psal. 8. fourthly , in his labour of body , which was without pain , or grief ; gen. 3. 17. 19. 4. man's subjection to god , for he was bound to perform obedience to these commandments of god . he was not to eat of the two forbidden trees . the commandment concerning the trees was as a proof , and a trial of man's obedience . the tree of life was a sign to man , to confirm to him his perpetual abode in the garden of eden , if he did continue in his obedience ; rev. 2. 7. the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , was a sign of death to him ; if he did transgress gods commandment ; gen. 2. 17. 5. man's calling ; which was to obey god's commandments , and to dress the garden of eden ; gen. 2. 17. and 2. 15. 6. his diet , which was the herbs of the earth ; and the fruit of all the trees , save of the tree of life , and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil , and all the other creatures ; gen. 1. 29. 30. and 9. 3. his free choice to perform , or not perform these commandments . thus were our first parents created in perfect innocency : but mutable . and thus it pleased god to prepare a way to the execution of his decree . of the fall . the fall was of man and angels . angels fell by leaving that good state , wherein god had placed them . jude 6. in their fall may be observed , 1. their corruption arising from their fall ; by reason of which they are full of malice and hatred , and hatred , and by reason of this they do set themselves against god , and insatiablely desire to destroy all mankinde , and that they may do this as much as in them layeth , they do neglect neither force nor fraude to act it withall ; 1 pet. 5. 8. eph. 6. 12. joh. 8. 44. their degrees and diversity for one of them which is called baalzebub , is chief ; and prince of the rest of the devils ; and he is far above the rest in malice ; matth. 25. 41. rev. 12. 7. he is also called the prince of this world , and the god of this world ; 2 cor. 4. 4. eph. 22. 3. their punishment ; god after their fall gave them over to perpetual torments , without any hope of pardon ; jude 6. 2 pet. 2. 4. by this we may see what great punishment they deserved , and that grievous sins will be grievously punished . their punishment was first their dejection from heaven ; 2 pet. 2. 4. and the shortning , and limiting of their power , job 1. 12. secondly , a grievous pain and torment in the deep , which is endless , and infinite in time and measure , luke 8. 31. matth. 25. 41. rev. 20. 10. of mans fall . the fall of man was his revolting from his obedience to sin . sin was his transgression of gods commandment , or mans fall was his disobeying of gods commandment , in eating the forbidden fruit , wherein these things are to be considered . 1. the manner of mans fall . the devil having immediatly before fallen himself , perswaded our first parents that both the punishment for eating the forbidden fruit was uncertain , and that also god was not true in his word unto them : having done this he blinds the eyes of their understanding ; and they being thus blinded straight began to distrust god , and to doubt of gods favour ; and when he had brought them to a doubting , he moved them to behold the forbidden fruit , which so soon as they saw in its beauty , upon his motion of them to this purpose ; he then stirred them up to desire it ; and from the desire of it , he moved them to satisfie their desires ; and so the woman pluckt the fruit and did eat , and gave it to her husband and he did eat , gen. 3. 1. to the 8. thus did they willingly fall from their integrity , god for just causes suffering it . 2. the greatness of their transgression , which appeareth by these trespasses that they committed in that action of disobedience . 1. they doubted of gods word . 2. they being bewitched with the devils promises , cease to fear gods punishment , and thus become puffed up with presumption , and enflamed with the desire of greater dignity , and will no longer believe gods threatnings . 3. they forsake gods word , and seek after other wisdom . 4. they are proud , and seek to magnify themselves , and to become like god . 5. they contemne god , and against their own consciences sin against his commandment . 6. they prefered the devil before god . 7. they are unthankfull , and drive out the holy spirit of god from dwelling in them , and thus despised that everlasting blessed union . 8. they murthered both themselves and their progeny . 3. the fruits and effects of it , upon it there arose a state of unbelief , and by it we are all included under sin , rom. 11. 32. of sin . sin is threefold . 1. a participation of adam's transgression and guiltiness , by being in his loyns when he offended ; as heb. 7. 9. 10. it is said of levi that he paid tythes in abraham , because he was in the loyns of abraham when abraham paid tythes . 2. original sin which ariseth out of the former transgression ; original sin is a corruption engendred in our first conception , by which the faculties of soul and body are prone , and disposed to evil ; psal. 51. 5. the remnant of god's image which man retained after his fall , were certain notions concerning good and evil ; as that there is a god , and that he doth punish sin , and that there is an everlasting life ; and the like ; all which serve to make men without excuse in the sight of god ; rom. 1. 20. from the fall our mindes receive ignorance , by it we were deprived of knowledge in the things of god ; by it we were made ignorant of his sincere worship and eternal life ; 1 cor. 1. 14. rom. 8. 7. by it our mindes are disabled to understand spiritual things , though they be taught us ; luke 24. 45. 2 cor. 3. 5. from the fall our mindes received vanity , for we think falsehood truth , and truth false-hood ; eph. 4. 17. by it we have gotten a natural inclination to conceive and devise onely that which is evil , genes . 6. 5. jer. 4. 22. the increase of sin in the understanding is either a reprobate sense . as when god withdraws the light of nature , joh. 12. 40. rom. 1. 28. or , 2. the spirit of slumber , as rom. 11. 8. or , 3. spiritual drunkenness , isai 29. 9. or , 4. strong illusions , as 2 thess. 2 11. the remnant of gods image in the conscience , is an observing and watchfull power , like the eye of a keeper , reserved in man partly to reprove ; and partly to repress the unbridled course of his affections ; rom. 2. 15. from adam's fall the conscience hath received impureness ; titus 1. 15. this impurity worketh these effects . 1. it causeth man to excuse sin , or cloak it , as when a man by his outward service of god doth excuse his inward impiety ; mark . 10. 19. and it excuseth intents not waranted by gods word ; 1 chron. 13. 19. 2. it doth accuse and terrify us for doing good , and this we may see in idolaters and superstitious persons , who are grieved when they do omit to perform idolatrous and counterfeit worships to their gods ; col. 2. 21. 22. isai 29. 13. 3. effect which it worketh , is when the conscience doth accuse and terrify for sin , as genes . 50. 15. joh. 8. 9. impureness encreased in the conscience , is such a sensless numdness as that it can hardly accuse a man of sin ; eph. 4. 19. 1 timoth. 4. 2. this senslesness springeth from a custom in sinning , 1 sam. 25. 37. or else from some grievous horrour and terrour of the conscience , as gen. 4. 14. the symptomes of this disease are blasphemies , trembling of body , fearfull dreams ; act. 24. 26. dan. 5. 6. the remnant of god's image which remaineth in man's will since the fall is a free choice , either in natural actions , as to nourish , to engender , to move , to perceive ; or , in humane actions that are common to all men , whither they concern manners , families , or common-wealths . in all these outward actions man hath free-will , either to choose , or to refuse them , though it be but weak , as rom. 2. 14. by adams fall the will received impotency , insomuch as it can not will , nor lust after that which is indeed good , and which doth please god , and is acceptable to him , 1 cor. 2. 14. rom. 5. 6. phil. 2. 13. and it received by adams fall an inward rebellion , whereby it doth utterly abhor that which is good ; and will , and desire onely that which is evil . the will in the first act of conversion to god is not an agent , but a patient , as it doth appear by this . for , the affections have by adams fall received a disorder , and by reason of this disorder they do eschew good ; and pursue that which is evil ; rom. 1. 26. 1 kings 21. 4. the body by adam's fall hath received a fitness to begin sin , for it bringeth in all objects and occasions of sin to the soul ; genes . 3. 6. and the body hath received a fitness to execute sin , even so soon as the heart thinketh it . rom. 6. 13. 16. of actual sin . 3. actual sin ariseth from original sin ; actual sin is either inward , or outward . inward actual sin , is in the minde , will , and affections . the actual sin of the minde is the evil thought assented to , or the evil resolves , purposes , and intents thereof . examples of these actual sins are these , as when a man thinks that there is no god , ps. 10. 4. and 14. 1. or , that there is neither providence nor presence of god in this world , ps. 10. 11. an immagination of safeguard from peril , and yet there is a course of sinning ; ps. 10. 6. rev. 18. 7. better esteem of a mans self then ought to be , and worse esteem of others than ought to be , rev. 18. 7. luke 18. 11. when a man thinketh that the gospel of god's kingdom is meer foolishness , 1 cor. 2. 14. and when a man thinketh uncharitablely and malitiously of such as serve god sincerly , matth. 12. 24. when a man putteth the day of death far off , isai 28 15. when a man thinketh to run on in sin , and yet that he can eschew the pains of hell , isai 28. 15. when also a man thinketh that though he hold on his sins , yet that god will defer both his perticular judgement , and the last judgement ; luke 12. 19. 45. when as god doth open our eys , we do see these evil thoughts rebelliously rising in our mindes even as sparckles out of a chimney ; yet in this will carnal men pretend a good meaning . these are the examples of the actual sins of the minde . the actual sins of bothwill , and affections , are all wicked motions , inclinations , and desires , gal. 5. 17. of outward actual sin . outward actual sins are all those in the committing of which , the members of the body do joyn with the faculties of the soul to act them . such sins as these are infinite , psal. 40. 12. outward actual sins are either sins of omission , or of commission , both which are either in word , or deed . the degrees of the sin of commission are these , jam. 1. 14. 15. 1. temptation when as the devil offereth to the minde that which is evil to allure a man to sin , john 13. 2. act. 5. 3. 1 chron. 21. 1. and this is also effected by occasion of external objects , which the senses perceive , job 31. 1. of tentation . tentation hath two parts . 1. abstraction . 2. inescation . abstraction is the first thought of committing sin ; by it the minde is withdrawn from gods service , for which it should be always ready prest , luke 10. 27. * inescation is an evil thought conceived , and for a time retained in the minde , and it being thus kept in the minde , it doth by delighting the will and affections , lay a bait for a man to draw him to consent . 2. the second degree of sin of commission is conception . conception of sin is , when the heart consents and resolves to commit sin , psal. 7. 14. 3. the third degree of it is the birth of sin . that is the very acting and committing of sin ; as when the faculties of the soul , and the powers of the body joyn together to act sin . the fourth degree of the commission of sin is the perfection of sin ; that is when sin by custom is made perfect , and ripe ; and then it bringeth forth death and damnation ; and this is all that the sinner reapeth by his sin , an example of this we have in pharo . the differences of sins of commission are these : 1. to consent with an offendour and not actually to commit sin , eph. 5. 11. this a man doth . 1. when he doth in judgement allow the sin of another , num. 20. 10. 12. 2. when the heart approveth in affection and consent ; as do ministers and magistrates , when they do conceal and winck at offences , 1 sam. 2. 23. 29. 3. when sin is done indeed by counsel , presence , or inticement , as rom. 1. 13. mark 6. 25. 26. act. 22. 20. 2. the second difference of sin of commission is . sinning ignorantly , that is , when a man doth not expresly and distinctly know , whither that which he doth be a sin , or not , or if he do know it , he doth not acknowledge and mark it , 1 tim. 1. 13. numb. 35. 24. 1 cor. 4. 4. ps. 10. 13. 3. the third difference of sin of commission ; is , when any man sinneth upon knowledge , but yet of infirmity , as when a man fearing some eminent danger , or when a man amazed at the horrour of death , doth against his knowledge deny that truth , which otherwise he would acknowledge and embrace : such was the fall of peter , arising from the rashness of his minde , mingled with some fear . thus do men offend by the strength of the corruptions of their flesh , provoking them to that which their heart doth detest , rom. 7. 19. the fourth difference of it is , presumptuous sinning upon knowledge ; as psal. 19. 13. of this kinde is . 1. every sin committed with an high hand , or in contempt of god , numb. 15. 30. secondly , presumption of gods mercy , though we do evil , and run on in it , eccles. 8. 11. rom. 2. 4. 5. the fifth difference of sin of commission is , sinning upon knowledge , and out of self malice against god . of this kinde is the sin against the holy ghost . the punishment of sin . man is punisht for sin , first in this life , either 1. in body . as 1. by care for the provision for his body , and by trouble for the things of this life , genes . 3. 17. secondly , by proneness to diseases , matth. 9. 2. joh. 5. 14. deut. 28. 21. 22. thirdly , by shame of nakedness , genes . 3. 7. fourthly , by pains as are in women in travail , and child-birth , genes . 3. 16. 2. in soul . as 1. by a trembling of conscience . secondly , by care . thirdly , by trouble . fourthly , by hardness of heart . fifthly , by madness , deut. 28. 28. 3. in both body and soul . as first , by a fearfull subjection to the regiment of sathan , colos. 1. 13. heb. 2. 14. secondly , by a seperation from the fellowship of god , and a trembling at his presence , eph. 4. 18. gen. 3. 10. 4. by divers calamities and damages in his goods , deut. 28. 29. 5. by the loss of dignity , and lordly authority , which he had over all the creatures ; and by the vanity , weakning , corrupting , and abating of the excellencie , virtues , and powers of the creatures , as rom. 8. 20. 21. 6. or in his name ; by infamy and ignominy before , and after his death , jer. 24. 6. all these things come alike to all , yet doubtless it is by reason of sin , by adams fall , and since that , by our improvement of our original and actual corruptions . secondly , man is punisht for sin at the last gasp . first , by death , or 2. by a change , like unto death , rom 6. 23. thirdly , man is punisht for sin after this life , by an eternal separation from the presence of god , and from his exceeding excellent glory , 2 thes. 1. 9. of election and his foundation of it . predestination hath two parts . 1. election . 2. reprobation , 1 thes. 5. 9. election is the decree of god , concerning the salvation of some men , to the praise of the glory of his grace , eph. 1. 4. 5. 6. this decree of god is the book of life wherein the names of the elect are written , rev. 20. 12. 2 tim. 2. 19. the execution of this decree is gods effectual working of all those things which he purposed for the salvation of the elect , by the same means with which he purposed to do it , rom. 18. 29. 30. the foundation of this decree is christ jesus , heb. 5. 5. isai 42. 1. eph. 1. 4. the means of accomplishing this decree is gods covenant , and the seal thereof . gods covenant is either the covenant of works , or of grace . gods covenant of works is the moral law , or ten commandments . gods covenant of grace is his free promise of christ and all his benefits to man , if man will repent him of his sins , and by faith receive christ . the seals of the covenant are the sacraments . gods covenant of works , which is called the moral law , decalogue , or ten commandments , is devided into two tables . the first table containeth four commandments . the second table containeth six commandments . every commandment is both affirmative and negative . that is , it doth both command and forbid . as it is affirmative it bindeth at all times , but not to all times . as it is negative it bindeth at all times , and to all times . under one vice expresly forbidden are comprehended all of that kinde ; yea , the least cause , occasion , or inticement thereto are forbidden , joh. 3. 15. matth. 5. 21. the first commandment . thou shalt have no other gods before me . in this first commandment are these affirmatives . first that we must acknowledge god . secondly , that we must acknowledge no other god but him . the marks of the true love of god are these . 1. to hear his word willingly . 2. to speak often off him . 3. to think often off him . 4. to do his will without irksomness . 5. to give body , and all for his cause . 6. to desire his presence above all , and to bewail his absence . 7. to embrace all such things as appertain to him . 8. to love and hate that which he loveth and hateth . 9. to seek to please him in all things . 10. to draw others unto the love of him . 11. to esteem highly of such gifts and graces as he bestoweth . 12. to stay our selves upon his connsels revealed in his word . 13. to call upon his name with affiance . the negative part of this commandment is this . we must not account that god which is not god . in this negative part of this commandment we are forbidden these things . 1. ignorance of the true god and of his will . 2. atheism , which is a denying of god , or of his attributes ; as off his justice , wisdom , providence , presence , ps. 14. 1. 3. errours concerning god , or concerning the persons of the diety , or concerning gods attributes . here helenism , or the adoring of a multiplicity of gods is forbidden . 4. the setting of our hearts and affections upon any thing else but one god . the heart is drawn from god by these means . 1. by distrusting of god , heb. 10. 38. from this distrust ariseth . first , impatiency in suffering afflictions , jer. 20. 14. 13. 18. secondly , a tempting of god , and this is when the man that distrusteth and contemneth god , seeks an experiment of gods truth and power , matth. 4. 7. 1 cor. 10. 9. 10. 3. a desperation , genes . 4. 13. 4. a doubting concerning the truth of god , or concerning his benefits , either present , or to come , ps. 116. 11. 2. by confidence of creatures , as 1. when a man putteth trust in the strength of the creatures , as jer. 17. 5. or 2. in riches , matth. 6. 24. eph. 5. 5. or 3. in defenced places , jer. 40. 16. or 4. in pleasures , or dainties , and who so trusteth in these doth make his belly his god , phil. 3. 19. or 5. in physicians , 2 chron. 16. 12. or 6. in the devil and his works . thus magicians trust in the devil : and witches , and all such as seek help at their hands , levit. 20. 6. 3. the heart is drawn away from god , by loving the creature too much , and more than god , matth. 10. 37. joh. 12 ▪ 43. and by self love , 2 tim. 3. 2. 4. by hatred and contempt of god , as when a man declining from god , doth fly from god , and is angry with god when he punisheth sin , rom. 8. 7. and 1. 30. 5. by want of the fear of god , ps. 36. 1. 6. by fearing the creature more than the creatour . 7. by hardness of heart and carnal security , as when a man will neither acknowledge gods judgements nor his own sins , rom. 2. 5. luke 21. 34. 8. by pride , and presumption , as when a man ascribeth that to his own industry and merit , which is onely due to god , 1 cor. 4. 6. 7. genes . 3. 5. the highest stair of prides ladler , is that fearfull presumption of men , of climbing rashly into gods seat of majesty , as if they were gods , act. 12. 22. 23. 2 thes. 2. 4. the second commandment . thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image , or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above , or that is in the earth beneath , or that is in the water under the earth . thou shalt not bow down thy self to them , nor serve them : for i the lord thy god am a jealous god , visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children , unto the third & fourth generation of them that hate me . and shewing mercie unto thousands of them that love me , and keep my commandments . the affirmative part of this commandment is this . thou shalt worship god in spirit and in truth , joh. 4. 24. here we are first commanded to use the ordinary means of worshipping god : as 1. the calling upon the name of the lord . first , by humble supplication , 1 tim. 2. 1. 2. by harty thanksgiving . 3. by reading , hearing , talking , and continually meditating on the word of god . 4. by the use of the sacraments , as act. 2. 41. 42. and 20. 7. secondly , we are here commanded to use these means holily , that is , as god in his word hath commanded to use them , matth. 28. 20. 1 cor. 14. 40. eccles. 5. 1. ps. 26. 6. furtherance of gods worship are leagues of amity , with those that truely fear god , and serve him according to his word , 2 chr. 19. 2. malaeh . 2. 11. and such covenants as the magistrates and people make together with god , for the preservation of christian religion , 2 chron. 15. 12. 14. the negative part of this commandment is this : thou shalt neither worship false gods , nor the true god with false worship . here we are forbidden these things . first , to represent god by any image , similitude , likeness , or figure whatsoever , deut. 4. 15. 20. for all idols are lies , habak. 2. 18. zach. 10. 2. jer. 10. 8. secondly , we are here forbidden the least approbation of idolatry , hosea 13. 2. gen. 48. 10. and therefore all processions , plays , feasts , that are consecrated to the memorial , and honour of idols , exod. 32. 6. 1 cor. 10. 7. thirdly , all relicks , badges , and monuments of idols , exod. 23. 13. isai 30. 22. fourthly , we are here forbidden all society with infidels : as 1. marriage with them , genes . 6. 2. deut. 7. 3. 4. malach. 2. 11. ezra 9. 14. 2 kings 8. 18. 2. all leagues and confederacy with them in war , either to assist them , or to receive assistance from them , and that for these causes . 1. because it doth obscure gods glory , and maketh him in appearance either unwilling , or unable to aid his church . 2. because in so doing we shall without doubt infect our selves with their impieties and idolatries . 3. because we are thus endangered to be made partakers of their punishments , 2 chron. 19. 2. with idolaters we are also forbidden all traffick in such wares , as we know may further the service of their idols . we are also forbidden with idolaters all trials in law , before judges that are infidels , when christian courts are open , and may be frequented , 1 cor. 6. 6. but if christian courts be not open , we may according to st. pauls rule appeal from one court of infidels to another ; so from festus he himself appealed to caesar , act. 25. 11. such necessities as these do make traffick , and other things to be frequently used , which otherwise are unlawfull . we are here also forbidden all worshipping of the beast , and receiving of his mark , revel. 14. 9. fifthly , we are here forbidden all will worship , or worship of god after our own fancies , in wayes which are not waranted by the word of god , though we do pretend good intention for the doing of it , collos. 2. 23. 1 sam. 13. 9. 10. 13. whither it be by superstitions , sacrifices , meats , apparel , observing ceremonies , gestures , or by our gate , conversations , pilgrimage , or by building of altars , pictures , or idols , and the like ; or by temples , or by strange consorts of musick , or by monastical vows of single life , or of poverty , 1 cor. 14 15. 1 cor. 7. 9. 1. such vows as these are altogether repugnant to the law of god . 2. they are greater then mans nature can perform . 3. they do disanull christian liberty , and make such things necessary as are indifferent . 4. they do renew judaisme : 5. they are idolatrous , because they make them part of gods worship , and esteem them meritorious . 6. they are hypocrisie , for they are but an outward shew of gods worship , matth. 15. 7. the effects of hypocrisie are these . first , to make a glorious shew of serving god , and yet to seek nothing else by it , but the pomp and glory of the world . secondly , to observe and take notice of other mens faults , and behaviour , and not to see , or minde our own . thirdly , to be more zealous , and curious in the observation of the ancient traditions , then of the statutes and commandments of almighty god . fourthly , to strain at a gnat , and swallow a camel ; or to omit serious affairs , and the weighty matters of gods word , and to hunt after trifles , matth. 23. 24. fifthly , to do all things to be seen of men , matth. 6. 5. and 23. 5. sixthly , to fast with an opinion of merit is hypocrisie , and to make a distinction of meats for the same ; the like also is all external abstinence from meats , if it be without an internal abstinence from sin , and unlawfull desires , isai 58. 5. 6. 6. we are here forbidden all contempt , neglect , and intermission of gods service , revel. 3. 15. 16. 7. we are here forbidden all corrupting of gods worship , and of that order of government , which he hath ordained for his church ; and this we do when we either add to gods worship , or diminish it , or mangle it , deut 12. 32. 8. we are here forbidden all religious reverence of the creature , revel. 22. 8. acts 10. 25. 9. we are forbidden all worship of devils , under which is comprehended all kindes of magick . magick is a mischievous art , accomplishing wonders by the assistance of the devil . the devil effects wonders and merveils , not by making a new thing which was not at all before , but by moving , transporting , and applying natural things diversly , by making a thin body thick and foggy , and by bewitching and holding of mens senses . the foundation of magick is a covenant with sathan . and this covenant is such a contract , as doth make , men mutually to have to do with the devil : the original of this mutual contract is this . first , sathan , or the devil makes choice of such men to be his servants , as are by nature , either notorious bad persons , or else very seemingly silly , or indeed , silly souls . then doth he offer to them divers means , either by magicians , or by their writings , or by teaching and instruction from himself . the means which the devil offers for this purpose , are such as are used for the producing of such an effect , as by their own nature they were never ordained for : nor is there any word of god for the doing of them , but against it . these satanical means are obscure words , and words of scripture wrested and abused ; holy water , sieves , seals , glasses , images , bowings of the knee , and such like divers gestures , the use of which according to his own will , and to his own purpose , he teacheth sometimes by secret whispers , or suggestions ; and sometimes , either , by the words , or writings of magicians . and when they have embraced these means , and do declare their satanical confidence by their earnest endeavour to use , and practise this kinde of wickedness by these means , the devil standeth ready to assist them , and he alone it is that doth by these means , which are void of all such vertue as is supposed , effect that which his wicked instrument intended . then having brought them on thus far , the devil counterfeits god , and makes as though he was god . and as god hath his word and sacraments , and faith ; so likewise the devil hath his characters , gestures , & sacrifices , which are as it were his sacraments , by which he doth signifie to his devilish magicians ; his own devilish pleasure , and by the use of the same they do testifie their obedience to him . and as god is delighted with his servants calling upon him . so likewise the devil is delighted with the magical ceremonies of his servants , and with their invocations . the covenant with the devil is either secret , or express . the secret covenant with the devil is , when the party doth not expresly compact and covenant with the devil , but yet in heart doth allow of his means , and doth assuredly believe that by the using of such means wonders may be effected . express covenant with the devil is when the party doth not onely trust in him , but also covenant with him , and give himsel holely to him upon condition that he may by the observing of certain ceremonies accomplish his desires . magick is either divining , or working . divining is a foretelling of things to come by the help of the devil . prediction , or foretelling is done either with means , or without means . prediction , or foretelling of things by means are chese . 1. sooth-saying , or divining by the flying of birds , deut. 8. 10. 2. divination by looking into the entrails of beasts , ezek. 21. 22. 3. necromancy , or conjuring , this is , an asking counsel at the dead , the devil doth appear to them that thus ask counsel , in the form of the dead man , as appeareth by the story of the witch of endor , 1 sam. 28. 11. 13. 14. divining , prediction , or foretelling without means , is called pythonisme . pythonisme is ▪ when one is possessed with an unclean spirit , and doth immediatly use the help of the same spirit to charm with , or to reveal , and discover secrets by . such a one was the damsel pythoness , spoken of by the acts , that by her spirit of divination brought her master much gain , acts 16. 16. concerning this kinde of divination there is mention made , isai 29. 4. where god threatning his judgements upon jerusalem , saith , thy voice shall be out of the ground , like him that hath a spirit of divination ( or a familiar spirit ) and thy talking , or speech shall whisper , or peep , or chirp out of the dust . working magick , or magick operative hath two parts . 1. jugling , which is when as the devil doth work by his conveyance , many things which seem great and hard , as exod. 7. 10. 11. 12. 2. enchantments , or charmings , by these kinde of charms , beasts , young children , and men of ripe years are offt enfected , poysend , hurt , bounden , killed , and otherwise molested . by charms the devil doth also offt cure diseases : as 1. by mumbling up some few words . 2. by making certain characters and figures . 3. by framing of circles . 4. by hanging amulets about the necks , and other parts of the body , a thing too frequently used now adays for the curing of diseases , which physicians call a curing of diseases by occult , and specifick qualities of remedies . 5. by the abuse of herbs and medicines to this purpose . to such as these it is that solomon , speaketh in eccles. 10. 11. saying , surely the serpent will bite without enchantment . those that do consult with magicians do also worship the devil , for they do revolt from god to the devil ; howsoever , they do plaster up their impiety with untempered morter , as that they seek gods help though by the means of magicians , 1 sam. 28. 13. levit. 20. 6. isai 8. 19. 20. the third commandment . thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain : for the lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain . the affirmative part of this commandment is this . here we are first commanded to be zealous for gods glory , above all things in the world , numb. 25. 8. ps. 69. 9. secondly , to use gods titles onely in serious affairs , and that with all reverence , deut. 28. 58. rom. 9. 5. thirdly , to celebrate the praise of god , which we see brightly shining in his creatures , jer. 5. 22. to this part of this commandment an oath doth belong , the parts of which are these . 1. confirmation of a truth . 2. invocation of god alone , as a witness of the truth , and a revenger of a ly . 3. a confession that god is a revenger of perjury ; when he is brought in as a false witness . 4 a binding over unto punishment , if in it deceit be used . the form of an oath is this . 1. we must swear truly , least we forswear . 2. justly , least we swear to that which is wicked . 3. in judgement , least we swear rashly , or for a trifle , jer. 4. 2. isa. 48. 1. there are some persons whose oaths binde them not , as the oaths of those that swear in their drink ; and the oaths of frantick , furious men , fools , and children binde them not . the end of an oath is to confirm some necessary truth in question , as heb. 6. 16. rom. 1. 9. 2 cor. 2. 23. an oath is either publick , or private . a publick oath is , when a magistrate without any peril to him that sweareth , doth upon just cause desire a testimony under the reverence of an oath . a private oath is that , which two , or more in serious affairs take privatly , as did jacob and laban , and as did boaz and ruth . an asseveration is like an oath , but is no oath . an asseveration is nothing else but an earnest assertion of our meaning , the name of a creature being sometimes used in it . an asseveration without the use of the name of the creature is this of christ . verily , verily , i say unto you , joh. 10. 1. an asseveration with the use of the name of the creature , is this of david : indeed as the lord liveth , and as thy soul liveth , 1 sam 20. 3. though it be unlawfull to swear by creatures , yet thus far may we use them in an oath , as to make them pledges , and as it were cognisances of gods glory . an oath that a man makes of a lawfull thing must be performed , though with great difficulty , psal. 15. 4. or it might be redeemed , as numb. 27. 2. the oath of maids under the jurisdiction of parents , might by the father of the maid be disallowed in the day that he heard it ; and so likewise the oath of a married woman by her husband in the day that he heareth it , num. 30. 3. 6. if a man swear to perform things unlawfull , either out of ignorance , errour , infirmity , or any other way , his oath is to be recalled , for we must not add sin to sin , 1 sam. 25. 21. 22. 33. here we are commanded to sanctify gods creatures , as meats , drinks , works , callings , marriage bed , by the reverent use of the holy name of god . as by calling upon his name for a blessing on them , or returning thanks to his name for the benefit of them . the means of the sanctification of creatures are two . 1. the word of god . 2. prayer , 1 tim. 4. 4. the word teacheth us how to use the creatures to the glorie of god , ps. 119. 24. prayer is a petition by which we do obtain of gods majesty assistance by his grace , to make an holy use of his creatures , and ordinances , eph 5. 18. prayer is used upon particular occasions : as sometimes for a prosperous journey , act. 21. 5. sometimes for a blessing upon meat , or drink , joh. 6. 11. sometimes for good issue of child-birth , 1 sam. 1. 12. sometimes for good success in business , genes . 24. 12. thanksgiving is the magnifying of gods name through christ , for his grace , aid , and blessing , in use of the creatures , phil. 4. 6. 1 thes. 5. 18. it is also used after meat , deut. 8. 10. sometimes after the loss of outward wealth , job 1. 21. for deliverance out of servitude , exod. 10. 18. sometimes for obtaining of children , gen. 29. 35. sometimes for victory , 2 sam. 32. 1. sometimes for good success in domestical affairs , thus abrahams servant did , gen. 24. 48. the negative part of this commandment is this . 1. here perjury is forbidden , that is , when a man sweareth to do a thing & doth not perform it , matt. 5. 33. perjury containeth under it . 1. either lying unto god . or lying , or invocation on gods name to confirm a ly . and contempt of gods threatnings . 2. we are here forbidden to swear any thing that is false by the name of god ; for this is to make god like the devil , joh. 8. 44. zach. 5. 4. 3. to swear in common talk , matth. 5. 37. 4. to swear by strange gods , or by that which is no god , jer. 12. 16. and 5. 7. 5. blasphemy , that is , a reproach of , and against god ; and a contempt of his majesty , levit. 24. 15. 16. 6. all cursing of enemies , or of our selves in any kinde what ever . 7. all use of gods name carelesly in our common talk , phil. 2. 10. isai 45. 23. 8. here is forbidden the abuse of gods creatures , whither it be by deriding gods workmanship , or his manner of working ; for in all things we must give god his praise and glory , 1 cor. 10. 31. ps. 191. 9. here is forbidden the abuse of lots , because the disposition of them doth immediatly come from the lord , and the proper use of them is to decide great controversies , prov. 16. 33. and 18. 18. the land of canaan was devided by lots , joshua 14. 15. the priests under the law were commanded to choose the scape goat by lot , levit. 16. 8. 10. the use of lots we may also read of in these places of scripture , joshua 7. 13. to the 19. 1 sam. 10. 20. 21. 22 23. acts 1. 26. 10. here is also forbidden superstition , that is , an opinion conceived of the works of gods providence contrary to gods word , and to the course of nature . examples of this superstition are these . to think it unlucky to have salt fall toward a man , or have a hare cross the way before him , or to have the right ear burn , or to think it good luck to finde old iron , or to have the left ear burn , or to have drink spilled upon a man . or to pair the nails upon some day of the week , or to dream of some certain things , or to think that beasts may be tamed , by verses , short prayers , or other charms , or to think that the repetition of the creed , or lords prayer can infuse into herbs , or other things , a faculty of healing diseases . palmestry is a superstitious thing of this kinde . such abominations as these are all detested of god , and ought also to be detestable in the eyes of gods people , as appeareth , deut. 18. 10. 11. 11. here is also forbidden astrology ; whither in the calculating of nativities , or used in prognostications , for in these regards astrology is nothing else but the abuse of the heavens , and off the stars . for the imaginary twelve houses are made o● the fained signs of a supposed zodiak , in the highest sphear , which is commonly called the first moveable , and truly , because it is thus high , therefore can no man certainly know their influence and vertues . this art can not arise from experience , because the same position of all stars never happen twice , and if they did , yet there could be no observation made of them , because the influencies of the stars are all confusedly mixt , both in the air , and in the earth , even as if all herbs were mingled together in one vessel . by this art , mens mindes are drawen from the contemplation of gods providence , when as they shall hear that all things fall out by the motion , and position of the stars . stars were not ordained to foretell things to come , but to distinguish dayes , moneths , and years , genes . 1. 14. isai 47. 13. thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsellours , let now the astrologers , the star-gazers , and prognosticatours , stand up and save thee from the things which shall come upon thee , dan. 2. 2. books of this kinde they were that for zeal of gods glory , and love to the truth were burned by the faithfull , in the days of the apostles , such as these were the curious arts those books treated off , act. 19. 19. all astrological predictions are conversant , or busied about such things , as do either simplely depend on the will , or dispensation of god , or about such things as do depend upon mans free-will , ( and so are altogether contingent , and therefore can neither be foreseen nor foretold , ) and not upon the heavens . it is impossible by the bare knowledge of such a cause as is both common to many , and far distant from such things as it worketh in , precisely and infalliblely to set down particular effects . the stars have indeed a great force , but such as doth manifest it self onely in the operation , which it hath in the four principal qualities of natural things , as in heat , cold , moisture , driness . the stars can not at all force the will , or give the least inclination to it . it is beyond the reach of man to define how great the force of the stars is . the effects of the sun and of the moon , are apparent in the constitution of the four parts of the year . but the effects of the planets and of the fixt stars , though they be of great force , and innumerable , are not so manifest unto us . and now , because a man can know but some stars onely , and their operations , and not all the stars , and all their operations and forces , he can not certainly foretell future things , or things to come ; yea , though they did depend on the stars . for though the position of certain stars do demonstrate such an effect to ensue , yet the aspects of such stars as we know not may hinder those effects , and produce the contrary for ought we know . that part of astrology which concerneth the alteration of the air , is for the most part of it false and frivolous , and therefore all manner of predictions grounded upon the doctrine of it , are nothing else but toys and delusions . and that part of astrology which concerneth nativities , revolutions , progressions , directions of nativities , elections of times , and the finding again , of things lost , is very wicked ; yea , it is very probable that this art , is of the same brood with implicite magick , and that for these reasons . 1. because the word of god reckoneth astrologers amongst magicians , and adjudgeth them both to the same punishment . 2. because the precepts of that part of this art which concerneth predictions are rediculous ; and therefore such things can not be told by them , but by a secret suggestion from the devil , or instinct of the devil . augustine , lib. 5. cap. 7. de civitate dei , saith the same , for saith he , if we weigh well all those things , we will not without cause believe , that astrologers , when they do wonderfully declare many truths , work by some secret , instinct of evil spirits , ( which desire to fill mens brains with dangerous and erroneous opinions concerning starry destinies ; ) and not by any art derived from any inspection and consideration of the horoscope , which indeed is none . 12. here is also forbidden popish consecration of water and salt , to restore the minde to health and to chase away devils . 13. here is also forbidden making jests of the scripture , isa. 66. 2. 14. also , all setting-light of gods judgements , which are seen in the world , matth. 26. 34. 35. luke 13. 1. 2. 3. 15. here is also forbidden all dissolute conversation , matth. 5. 16. 2 sam. 12. 14. the fourth commandment . remember the sabbath day , to keep it holy . six days shalt thou labour , and do all thy work . but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god : in it thou shalt not do any work , thou nor thy son , nor thy daughter , thy man servant , nor thy maid servant , nor thy cattel , nor thy stranger that is within thy gates . for in six days the lord made heaven and earth , the sea , and all that in them is , and rested the seventh day : wherefore the lord blessed the seventh day , and hallowed it . the affirmative part of this commandment is this : we do keep it holy if we do cease from sin , and from the works of ordinary callings ; and if this being done we do also perform spiritual duties , which god doth require of us . as a preparation to the sanctification of the sabbath day , we must rise in the morning , and pray privately . thus did christ the day before the sabbath : mark . 1. 31. 39. thus they were want to do under the law , exod. 32. 5. 6. aaron proclaimed , saying , to morrow shall be the holy day of the lord ; and the people rose up early the next morning . the sabbath must again be sanctified , by frequenting the assemblies where we may hear the pure word of god , act. 13. 14. 15. and by meditation upon gods word and his creatures , psal. 92. act. 17. 11. by exercising of works of charity by visiting the sick , by giving alms to the needy , by admonishing those that fall ; by reconciling those that are at difference , nehem. 11. 12. the sabbath is either ceremonial , or moral . it is ceremonial . 1. in respect of its strict observation . 2. as it is a type of the inward rest of the people of god , that is , of their continual resting from the work of sin , ( exod. 31. 13. ezek. 20. 12. ) and of the blessed rest of the faithfull in the kingdom of heaven , heb. 4. 10. isa. 66. 23. and as it was observed the seventh day after the creation of the world , and was then solemnized with other ceremonies , numb. 28. 9. but in the light of the * gospel the ceremony of the sabbath is ceast , colloss. . 2. 16. 17. the sabbath was by the apostles translated from the seventh day to the day following , ( act. 20. 7. 1 cor. 16. 1. 2. ) and this day is called the lords day , because our saviour rose again there on , rev. 1. 10. the sabbath is moral , as it is a certain seventh day to preserve , and conserve the ministry of the word , and the solemn worship of god in the holy assemblelies of the church , and for this cause , we as well as the jews are upon this day enjoyned rest from our vocations , isai 58. 13. it is also moral , because servants and cattel are on this day freed from their labours . in this commandment we are not forbidden any holy things , or things of present necessity , as the preservation of life , or the maintaining of the glory of god , or a sabbath days journey , act. 1. 12. or journeys unto the prophets , or places appointed unto the worship , and service of god , 2 kings 4. 23. or works of mercy in the securing , either of life , or goods , matth. 12. 12. or provision of meat , or drink , matth. 12. 1. or watering of cattel , luke 13. 15. or curing of diseases , as did christ and his apostles by praying , and calling upon the name of god . or the necessary voyages of marriners . or the tending of a flock by shepherds . or the necessary imployments of medicines , mark . 2. 27. the negative part of this commandment is this . we must not pollute the sabbath of the lord , matt. 24. 20. lament. 1. 7. levit. 19. 30. we are here forbidden the works of all ordinary callings , and all unnecessary things , exod. 16. 29. as fairs on the sabbath day , nehem. 13. 19. all manner of husbandry , plowing , sowing , reaping , mowing , and bringing in of harvest , exod. 34. 21. all jests , scurrility , sports , revellings , all manner of prophanes , and hypocrisie . the fifth commandment . honour thy father and thy mother : that thy days may be long upon the land , which thy lord thy god giveth thee . the affirmative part of this , is this . here is commanded reverence , or civil respect to the aged , and gray hairs where it is found in the way of holiness , levit. 19. 32. wisdom 4. 8. 9. prov. 16. 31. obedience to the lawfull commands of parents , rom. 1. 30. eph. 6. 1. 1 pet. 2. 9. and relief of them when they stand in need , 2 tim. 3. 3. here we are commanded to obey superiours , yea , though cruel , but not in wickedness , rom. 13. 1. 2. 1 pet. 2. 13. 14. 18. act. 4 19. 1 pet. 2. 19. 20. genes . 16. 6. 9. colloss. 3. 23. 24. rom. 13. 1. 2. and to pray for superiours , for elders that rule well , and for such as are in authority , 1 tim. 2. 1. 2. and 5. 17. we are here commanded to salute one another with holy signs , 1 pet. 5. 14. rom. 16. 16. thus did moses salute jethro , exod. 18. 7. jacob the shepherds , genes . 29. 4. and boaz the reapers , ruth 2. 4. here superiours are commanded to carry themselves as brethren to inferiours , deut. 17. 20. as did iob to his servants , as did naaman to elisha , 2 kings 5. 13. 14. they must be as lights to shine before others by good example of a blameless life , tit. 2. 2. 3. 1 pet. 5. 3. phil. 4. 9. they must rule in the lord , deut. 17. 19. collos. 4. 1. they must provide good things , both for the bodies & souls , of those that are under authority , rom. 13. 4. isai 49. 23. psal. 13 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. they must punish light faults by rebukes , and great faults by correction . first , in punishing . they must make a diligent enquiry and examination concerning the fault committed . secondly , they must discover to the parties offending the grievousness of their crimes , that they may be sensible of the evils they have done . thirdly , they must defer , and omit punishment , in hope of amendment , eccls. 7. 23. 1 sam. 10. 27. fourthly , they must punish in gods name , and not in their own ; and that with an holy reverence , deut. 25. 2. and as did joshua achan , josh. 7. 19. 25. fifthly , in their punishing they must aim onely at the glory of god , and the best good of the soul of the party offending , as prov. 20. 30. parents are here commanded to provide for the good estate of their children . 1 tim. 5. 10. cruelty must not be used in punishing , eph. 6. 4. 9. jam. 2. 13. here we are commanded as concerning our selves , to preserve the gifts and graces god hath put into us , phil. 4. 8. men do offend against themselves , when they do extinguish the gifts of god , matth. 25. 2. 26. natural parents and superiours are no otherwise to be obeyed , but in the lord , eph. 5. 1. 1 pet. 2. 9. by parents here is meant natural parents , magistrates , ministers , elders , and such as excell in gifts of god . to the four first of these , men do ordinarily give honour , and they receive it as their due , joh. 5. 44. but christians faithfull men , and true believers , are by the command of christ forbidden to call any man father upon earth , matt. 23. 9. or to esteem of themselves one greater then another , or to go about to take upon themselves any authority , or dominion one over another , matth 18. 4. and 20. 25. 26. the negative part . here contempt of superiours are forbidden , genes . 9. 22. prov. 30. 17. exo● 117. and disobedience . rom. 1. 30. 2 tim. 3. 2. gen. 6. 2. & 28. 8. 9. parents are here forbidden cruelty to their children , either in correction , threatning , or provocation , eph. 6. 4. 9. servants are here forbidden stubborness , titus 2. 6. and deceitfulness , tit. 2. 10. to fly from their masters , 16. 6. 9. to resist lawfull authority , 1 pet. 2. 20. and to obey unlawfull commands , gen. 39. 12. act. 4. 19. here is forbidden ; the rebellious disobliging of children , their lawfull duties to parents , matth. 15. 4. 5. 1 tim. 5. 4. and the disobliging of such as are now subjects . their lawfull obedience to princes , as 1 sam. 26. 8. 9. here we are forbidden to offend our equals , either in word , or deed , matth. 20. 20. 21. 24. the sixth commandment . thou shalt not kill . the affirmative part of this , is this . here we are commanded to preserve the wellfare of our neighbour , both in body and in soul , rom. 12. 15. job 29. 15. 2 cor. 8. 3. joh. 11. 25. isai 24. 16. to help him in his straights , to the utmost of our powers , and that speedily , prov. 3. 28. levit. 19. 17. to help him to bear his troubles by taking part with him , & sharing with him in his adversities , ps. 119. 136. isai 24. 16. rom. 12. 15. joh. 11. 35. we are here also commanded to abstain from anger upon small occasions , numb. 12. 3. prov. 19. 3. and not to continue wrath , nor to remain in anger , or displeasure , eph. 4. 26. and freely to forgive injuries , and not to avenge our selves , eph. 4. 32. here we are also commanded in the wants and infirmities of our neighbours to avoid occasions of stirring them up , and laying them open , gen. 13. 8. and 27. 44. 45. and to part with our own right rather then do wrong , matth. 17. 25. 26. 27. and to appease anger that is kindled . 1. by overcoming evil with good , rom. 12. 21. 2. by seeking and following after peace , 1 pet. 3. 11. 3. by courteous answers , prov. 15. 1. 1 sam. 1. 14. phil. 4. 5. 4. by passing by words , and infirmities in mens words , and deeds , prov. 19. 11. 5. by covering them with silence , prov 17. 9. for he that covereth a transgression seeketh love , and love covereth a multitude of faults , 1 pet. 4. 8. 6. by taking every thing if it be possible in the best part , 1 cor. 13. 5. here is shewed the lawfulness of truces , covenants , and agreements concerning peace made to maintain love , and to avoid injuries . 1. whither in the maintaining of antient bounds . 2. or to procure security in traffick , and 3. to maintain possessions and journeys , and 4. to maintain pensions , and commons for cattel . or 5. liberties of hunting , fishing , fowling , and getting of fewel , or other necessaries for publick commodities . truces and covenants in this kinde , if there be no unlawfull conditions , that is , such as are unwarantable by the word of god joyned to them , are lawfull , and may be made not onely with christians , but also to maintain peace with infidels . for , that which is godly to be performed , is likewise godly to be promised ; and it is a note of true godliness , to be as much as may be at peace with all men , rom 12. 18. these examples we have for the practise of this . abraham , ( genes . 21. 22. 23. 24. 27. ) covenanted thus with abimelech . jacob with laban , genes . 31. 44. 45. we are here commanded to preserve the life of our neighbour . by ministring to him food and raiment , matth. 25. 45. by helping him out of all bodily dangers , 1 joh. 3. 16. we are here also commanded to shew our desire of the good of his body by burying it when it is dead , as did abraham the body of sarah , genes . 23. 19. thus did the apostles and disciples to the body of stephen , act. 8. 2. the want of which was heretofore accounted a curse , as jer. 22. 19. moses was buried by the lord him self , deut. 34. 5. 6. burial must be used without immoderate mourning , john 11. 34. 35. 36. and without superstition and foolish ceremonies . without superfluous pomp and ostentation of pride , isai 20. 15. 16. we are here also commanded to suffer any man to satisfie his hunger either in our vineyard with grapes , or in our corn field with ears of corn , deut. 23. 25. matth. 1 2. 1. and to leave also besides this the gleanings of our vineyard , and of our corn fields for the poor , levit. 23. 22. ruth . 2. 8. as concerning his soul , we must endeavour by all means to win it to the faith , 1 cor. 10. 33. heb. 10. 24. we must live towards it without offence , 1 cor. 10. 32. and 8. 13. the light of our good life must be as a lanthern , to direct the ways of our neighbour , act. 24. 14. 15. 16. we must admonish him if he offend , 1 thes. 5 14. we must encourage him to go on in the ways of gods commandment . to this affirmative part may be referred . recreation in the fear of the lord , deut 12. 7. as wholesom and discreet riddles , judge 14. 12 13. 14. searching out of the virtue of creatures . contemplation of gods works , 1 king. 4. 33. a recreating study of physicall and medicinal things . he that useth medicine , if he mean to be truly cured of his distemper by it , he must first labour to cure himself of his sins by repentance , matth. 9. 2. 6. joh. 5. 5. 8. 14. 2 chron. 16 12. we may avoid an injury offered by a private person . — — and a mans defending of himself is faultless , if in the doing of it he doth neither purpose his own revenge , nor his enemies hurt , but onely his bodily safety from so imminent danger . the nagative part . here we are forbidden . 1. in heart . these things . hatred against our neighbour , 1 joh. 315. unadvised anger , matth. 5. 22. envy , rom. 1. 29. grudging against him , jam. 3. 14. want of compassion and sorrow at the calamities of our neighbour , amos 6. 5. 6. frowardness , rom 1. 30. desire of revenge , ps. 5. 6. 2. in word . these things . bitterness in speaking , prov. 12. 18. reproaches and railing , as to hit a man the teeth with his sins , or wit his infirmities , matth. 5. 22. 2 sam. 6. 16. contentions , gal. 5. 19. eph. 4. 31. brawlings in any conference . exclaiming against our adversary . complaints to every one of such as offer injuries , jam. 5. 9. 3. in countenance these things . malitious provoking gestures , matth. 27. 39. genes . 21. 9. in this place of genesis , derision is called persecution , and gal. 4. 29. and mocking , or derision . 4. in deeds these things . to fight with , or to beat , or maim our neighbour , levit. 24. 29 20. to procure the death of our neighbour by sword , famine , or poyson , genes . 4. 8. to exercise cruelty in punishment , deut. 25. 3. to use any of gods creatures hardly , prov. 12. 10. deut. 22. 6. to make our neighbours infirmities , an occasion of our recreation in a discourteous way , levit. 19. 14. 2 kings 2. 23. to injure the impotent , feeble , poor , strangers , fatherless , widdows , exod. 22. 21. 22. deut. 24. 14. these are thus injured : 1. if the labourers hire be not paid him , deut. 22. 21. 22. 2. if the pledge be not restored to the poor , exod. 22. 26. 27. 3. if corn be with drawn from the poor , prov. 11. 26. that magistrate killeth and murdereth that doth kill him , that deserveth not killing , as when he shall take away the life of a man upon a small occasion , as for the stealing of things of no moment . or when he shall save him that deserveth to be killed , as in any malitious murther , numb. 35. 16. 33. here is forbidden duels , as unlawfull . 1. because they are not equal means ordained of god to determine controversies . 2. because by such combats he is offt the conquerer before men , who indeed is guilty before god . here is also forbidden sanctuary , or protection for wilfull and malitious murther , exod. 21. 14. here we are also forbidden , 1. to be a scandal , or offence to the soul of our neighbour , either in life , or doctrine , matth. 18. 7. 2. to minister occasions of strife and discorde , as 1. when we will not remit of our own right , rather then offend our neighbour . 2. when we shall return him snappish and crooked answers . 3. when we interpret every thing a miss , and take it in the worst part , as did nabal , 1 sam. 25. 25. and hanun , 2 sam. 10. 3. 1 chr. 19. 2. 4. 3. here ministers sin against their neighbours , even to a killing of them . 1. when as they do not preach the word of god to their charge , and when they do not instruct them in the right ways of truth , and of life , prov. 29. 18. isai 56. 10. ezek. 3. 18. 2. when they do not preach to all , or when they preach negligently , jer. 48. 10. rev. 3. 16. isai 62. 6. act. 20 28. 1 pet. 5 2 , 3. ministers may be absent from their charge in the case of sickness . for the necessary and publick good of the church , colloss. 1. 9 and in the violence of persecution , when it is enforced particularly against his own life , and there is no danger nor discouragement to his people by it . here we are also forbidden to sin against our selves . 1 either by hurting our selves ; or , 2. by killing our selves ; or , 3. by endangering our selves , matth 4 6. and yet all this doth not hinder us from obeying this command of christ , viz. if any man will come after me , let him deny himself , and take up his cross and follow me , matth 16 24. for saith christ learn of me , for i am meek and lowly of minde , and you shall finde rest unto your souls , matth. 11. 29. the seventh commandment . thou shalt not commit adultery . the affirmative part . here we are commanded chastity in body and minde . chastity is the purity of body and soul . the minde is chaste , when it is free from fleshly concupiscence . the body is chaste , when it doth not put in execution the lusts , and concupiscence of the flesh , 1 thes. 4. 5. 1 cor. 7. 34. modesty and sobriety do preserve chastity . modesty is a virtue , which keepeth in every work a holy comelines . modesty is seen in the countenance and eys , when as they do not express , nor excite the concupiscence of the heart , job 31. 1. genes . 24. 56. prov. 7. 13. modesty is also seen in a mans words , when as his talk is holy decent and comely , gen. 4. 1. ps. 51. 1. isai 7. 20. judge 3. 24. matt. 12. 19. prov. 10. 19. it is the note of an adulteress and strumpet to be a giglot , and loud tongued , prov. 7. 11. modesty is also seen in apparel , as when it is worn in a holy comeliness , tit 2 3. holy comeliness is that which expresseth to the eye the sincerity of the heart , and the godliness , temperance , and gravity , either of man , or woman . sobriety is a virtue , which consisteth in the holy use of food . rules to be observed in the use of diet ; 1. the chiefest at the banquet , or table , ought to consecrate the meat to god by saying grace , 1 sam. 9. 13. mark . 6. 39. 41. act. 27. 35. 2. we may furnish a table with store of dishes for necessitie , and for good entertainment of a friend , and for delight , luke 5. 29. joh. 2. 2. and 12. 2. ps. 104. 15. 3. at feasts we must chuse the lowest romes , luke 14. 7. 10. prov. 25. 6. 4. we must eat at due times , and not at unseasonable hours , eccles. 10. 16 , 17. 5. we must eat and drink moderately , that is , to strengthen the body , and for the refreshing of the soul , to perform the actions of godliness , luke 21. 34. prov. 23. 29 , 30 , and 25. 16. and 31. 4. 6. we must especially think of these things when we eat at great mens tables , prov. 1. 2 , 3. 7. at meat we may use godly mirth , act. 2. 46. 8. table talk must be such as may edify , such as was christs talk at the pharisees table , luke 14. 1. 16. matth. 9. 10 , 15. 9. after meat we must not cast away the residue , joh. 6. 12. 10. at a feast we must eat sufficient , and leave the rest , ruth . 2. 14. chastity is double , single life , wedlock . those that are single must first have a care to keep their affections and bodies in holiness , psal. 101. 9. 1 joh. 2. 13. 14. eccles. 12. 1. 2. they must fast often , 1 cor. 9. 27. 3. they must take heed they burn not in lust , 1 cor. 7. 9. chastity in wedlock is , when the holy and pure use of wedlock is observed , hebr. 13. 4. cautions for preserving purity in wedlock . 1. contracts must be made in the lord , and with the faithfull onely , malach. 2. 11. 1 cor. 7. 39. deut. 7. 3. 2. both parties must separate themselves at the times of a womans disease , and at the times of fastings , ezek 18. 6. 1 cor. 7. 5. 3. wedlock must be used rather to suppress , than to satisfie the corrupt lusts and concupiscence of the flesh ; and mainly , and chiefly for the enlarging of gods church by an holy seed , rom. 13. 14. 4. it must be used with prayer and thanksgiving , 1 tim. 4. 3 , 4. the negative part . here is forbidden the lust of the heart , or the evil concupiscence of the flesh , matth. 5. 28. colos. 3. 5. burning in the flesh , that is , an inward servency of lust , whereby the godly motions of the heart are hindred , overwhelmed , and as it were burnt up with a strange and contrary fire , 1 cor. 7. 9. all strange pleasures about generation , which are forbidden in gods word . all pleasure with beasts , levit. 18. 23. all pleasure with devils , such as witches by their own confession say that they have ; and why may not a spirit have society with a witch , as well as eat meat ? all pleasure of lasciviousness with one of the same kinde , or sex , levit. 18. 22. this is a sin which they commit , whom god hath given over unto a reprobate sense , rom. 1. 26 , 27. this was the sin of sodom , and from its being so commonly used there , it was called sodomy . all carnal pleasure with those that be within the degrees of consanguinity , or affinity , are here forbidden , levit. 18. 6. all fornication , that is , the lying carnally with a maid that is not his wife , that lyeth with her , deut. 22. 28 , 29. 1 cor. 10. 8. for this sin with the idolatrous moabitish women , there were in one day of the israelites with a plague twenty three thousand men slain . all adultery , that is , all carnall pleasure with one that is married , or betrothed , deut. 22. 22. to the 24. adultery is a marveilous great sin , as may appear in that it was punisht with the punishment of idolatry , rom. 1. 23. prov. 6. 29 , 32. adulterers break gods covenant of marriage , prov. 2. 16. 17. adulterers abuse their own bodies , and dishonest them , 1 cor. 6. 18. they do bereave their neighbours of a great , and irrecoverable benefit , namely of chastity . by the law of god , the children of adulterers were excluded the congregation of the lord , till their tenth generation , deut. 23. 2. the adulterer maketh his family a stews . davids adultery was punisht in absoloms abuse of his concubines , 2 sam. 16. 21. a mans posterity feeleth the smart of the sin of adultery , this is a fire which shall devour to destruction , and which shall root out all mine encrease , job 31. 11 , 12. though adultery be never so secretly committed , yet god will reveal it , numb. 5. 12 , 23. adultery hath usually acompanying it a dulness of heart , or a marveilous horrour of conscience , whoredom and wine take away the heart , hos. 4. 11. the patriarchs poligamy cannot be defended , but it may 1. be excused , because it served for the encrease of mankinde , when as yet , there were but few upon the earth : and 2. because it served for the propagation of gods church . here also men are forbidden to abuse their liberty , as by knowing their wives in the time of their flowers , ezek. 22 10. levit. 18. 19. and ezek. 18. 6. here are also forbidden unchaste thoughts . effeminate wantonness , and seeking of occasions to stir up lust , gal. 5. 19. occasions of lust are these : 1. eys full of adultery , that is , eys which take delight in , and hunt after lascivious objects , 2 pet. 2. 14. 2. idleness , 2 sam. 1 1. 2 , 3. 3. riotous , and lascivious attire , 1 tim. 2. 9. isai 3. 16 , 23. riotous , and lascivious apparel , or attire is a lavish and prodigal wasting of gods benefits , that might be employed upon better uses . it is a testimony and ensign of pride , by which a man would have himself better esteemed than others . it is a note of great idleness and slouthfulness , those that use it cannot endure to take pains , & neglect other business ; it is a sign of levity , and puts men upon the invention of new fashions , and upon the imitation of them . it maketh a confusion among degrees , and callings of men , so that the one can not be known from the other . here also we are forbidden an immoderate , or insatiable fulness of bread , or of meat , for they provoke lust in such immoderation , ezek. 16. 49. luke 16. 19. rom. 13. 13. and corrupt , and dishonest , and unseemly talk , i cor. 15. 33. and vain love-songs & ballads , interludes and amorous books . and lascivious representations of love-matters at any time , ephes. 5. 2 , 4. undecent , and unseemly pictures , 1 thess. 5. 22. lascivious dancing of men , and women together , mark . 6. 22. and all society , and company keeping with lascivious , and effeminate persons , prov. 7. 25. the eight commandment . thou shalt not steal . the affirmative part of this commandment is this . here every man is commanded to imploy the gift that god hath given him , and the temporal blessings which he hath bestowed upon him . 1. for gods glory . 2. for his own good . 3. to his neighbours good , 1 cor. 7. 24. 1 pet. 4. 10. gal. 5. 13. in the use of the things of this world is required contentation , and thriftiness amongst all men ; and a common enjoyment of all worldly things amongst the faithfull , and true believers , as act. 2. 45. contentation in every man is a virtue , whereby he is well pleased with that estate wherein he is placed , 1 tim. 6. 6 , 7. phil. 4. 11. heb. 13. 5. thriftiness , or frugality is a virtue , whereby a man doth chearfully , and without prodigality and profuseness , and riotousness use , and employ temporal , and worldly blessings freely , both for his own refreshing and commodity ; and likewise to the refreshing , and commodity of others , prov. 5. 15 , 16. joh. 6. 11 , 12. here we are commanded to speak the truth from our heart , and to use harmless simplicity in all our ways ; psal. 15. 2. genes . 23. 15 , 18. and to deal justly with all men , ●thes . 4. 6. those that buy , or sell , or lett , or hire farms , tenements , or lands , or that use marchandize , must not rack , but must keep a just , and true price . 1. such as these must keep an equality , and a proportion in all contracts ; and in the valuing of things , they must not onely consider their own pains , but the buyers profite also ; levit. 25. 14. to 16. they must square their dealings according to the law of nature , as christ teacheth ; matth. 7. 12. those that are enrich'd by the lawfull gain of another mans goods have a naturall tie , or obligation upon them , to make recompence in some proportion above the principal . for nature commandeth to do good for good . goods , or temporal things ought to be imployed for the good of others ; 2 cor. 8 13. in sale , wholesom things , substanstial things , and things fit for use are to be sold . here are commanded just weights , and just measures ; deut. 25. 13. ezek 45. 16. mich 6. 11. he that hireth must not onely pay the appointed hire , but also make good that which is hired if that any evil come to it through his default ; exod. 22. 15. but if 〈◊〉 come to it , and he be in no 〈◊〉 ●●ringing the evil , he is to be 〈◊〉 and it must go for its hire ; exod. 22. 15. a pledge , or pawn , is to be restored , if he that borroweth standeth in need of it , and that presently ; exod. 22. 26. deut. 24 6. pledges in those that are to receive them are not to be exacted , but are to be such as the person borrowing offereth ; deut. 24. 10. to the 13. a man is bound largely , and freely , to the utmost of his power to help all , but not to make himself a surerety for any ; deut. 15. 7 , 8. prov. 11. 15. and 17. 18. and 22. 26. and 6. 1. to the 5. just covenants and promises , though they be to our hinderance , must be performed ; all promises binde , if they be lawfull , so far forth as he will , to whom we make the promise ; psal. 15. 4. prov. 25. 14. judge 1. 24 , 25. he that lendeth must do it freely , and chearfully ; 〈…〉 5. he that borroweth 〈◊〉 be carefull to make restitution , if need be , with the sale of his goods , 2 kings 4. 2. to the 7. here we are commanded to restore that , which is committed to our custody , without delay ; matth. 21. 41. but if the thing committed to our custody be not lost by any default of ours , we are not to be urged to repay it , nor is there any binding of us at all to repay , exod. 22. 7. 8. that which a man findeth he may keep in his own hands , if the true owner cannot be heard of : but if he be , he must restore it , deut. 22. 1 , 2 , 3. in all injuries done unto men , they must ever have respect to the law of charity , and not so much endeavour to maintain their own right , as to recall an erring brother into the right way ; matth. 5. 39. 40. jam. 5. 20. the negative part of this commandment is this . here we are forbidden stealing . to steal is to conveigh any thing from another closely , unawares , or by fraud ; genes . 31. 20. here is also forbidden inordinate living , or idle living ; 2 thes. 3. 11. gen 3. 19. 1 tim 5. 8. and unjust dealing , either in heart , or deed . unjust dealing in heart is covetousness ; matth. 15. 19. covetousness is idolatry , ephes. 5. 5. it is the root of all evil , and that which nourisheth all kinde of sin , 1 tim. 6. 10. unjust dealing indeed , is either in bargaining , or out of bargaining . 1. unjust dealing in bargaining , is to sell that which is not saleable , 1 thes. 4. 6. as what ever is unprofitable , or pernitious , either to the church , or common-wealth . or to think to buy the gift of the holy ghost for money , act. 8. 18. to the 20. 2. it is unjust dealing in bargaining , to use coloured forgery . as forged cavillation , luke 19. 8. or to sell that which is counterfeit for good , as copper for gold , or to mingle bad with good , amos 8. 4. to the 6. or to falsifie measures , and weights , deut. 25. 13. levit. 19. 35 amos 8. 4. 3. it is unjust dealing in bargaining to conceal the goodness , or fault of a thing . or to blindfold the truth with counterfeit speeches , matth. 7. 12. prov 20. 14. 4. it is unjust dealing in bargaining . to oppress in buying & selling , as by raising the just price of things ; it is not lawfull in bargaining to purse a penny , without giving a penny worth , matth. 7. 12. or by sale upon a set day , which is , when a day is given that the price may be inhanced , for this is to sell time , and to take more of a mans neighbour than is right . or by engrossing , which is , when a man buyeth all commodities into his own hands , that he may sell it at his own price , when as no man hath any of it but himself . or by breaking , or becoming bankrupt , that thou mayest enrich thy self by the damages , and goods of others . it is unlawfull also to oppress , by not restoring that which was lent , pledged , or pawned ; or that which is found , if the owner can be heard of ; ezek. 18. 7. or to oppress by delaying any kinde of restitution from one day to another ; prov. 3. 28. ps. 37. 21. deut. 24. 14 , 15. levit. 19. 13. or to oppress by practising usury ; exod. 22. 25. deut. 23. 19. levit. 25. 36. usury is again exacted by covenant above the principal , onely in lieu and recompence of the lending of it ; usury is quite contrary to gods word ; exod 22 14 , 15. ezek. 18. 8. psal. 15. 2 cor. 8. 13. this usury is altogether unlawfull , and disallowed . cautions in lawfull use . 1. a man must exact nothing , but that which his debter can get by good and lawfull means . 2. a man must not take more than the gain ; nay , not all the gain , nor that part of the gain , which drinketh up the living of him that useth the money . 3. sometimes a man that lendeth must neither take gain nor principal , as when his debtour is by just and inevitable casualties brought behinde hand , deut. 5. 2. and when it is apparent that he could not make any advantage of the money borrowed . here we are also forbidden to oppress , by detaining the labourers wages ; deut. 23. 14. jam. 5. 4. unjust dealing out of bargaining is to pronounce false sentence for a reward , either proffered , or promised . this is a grievous sin , which lawyers and judges must beware of ; isai 1. 23. it is also unjust dealing out of bargaining to feed men that are stout , and lusty , and are offered employment , and yet will take no pains at all , 2 thes. 3. 10. socrates , in the tripatite history , saith , that the monk which laboureth not with his hands , is no better than a thief . it is also unjust dealing out of bargaining not to employ him , who is knowing and able for employments , and desireth to be employed ; yea , and also not to further and assist those who do employ themselves in employments lawfull , and warrantable by the word of god , that so they may improve their labours and endeavours both for publick good , and also for their own particular good , and for the glory of god . gaming for money is here also unlawfull ; for we may not enrich our selves by impoverishing our brethren in any kinde . here also is unlawfull , the use of unlawfull arts , thereby to get money , whither it be magick , judicial astrology , or juglings , or stageplays , as is evident , by these scriptures , eph. 4. 28. deut. 18. 11 eph. 5. 3. 1 thes. 5 22 here is also forbidden stealing ; yea , though great good be intended by it ; mark 10. 19. rom. 3. 8. and all removing of bounds , or land-marks ; prov. 22. 28. deut. 27. 17. and all stealing of servants , or children , or to rob , or commit sacriledge ; 1 tim. 1. 10. josh. 7. 19. 1 cor. 6. 10. and to conspire with robbers , or thieves , either in advising them , or countenancing of them for this purpose , prov. 29. 24. theft by the law of god was not to be otherwise punish'd , but by enlarging the restitution ; exod. 22. 1. 2 sam. 12. 6. the ninth commandment . thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour . the affirmative part of this commandment is this . here we are commanded to rejoyce at the good name repute and esteem of our neighbour ; gal. 5. 22. rom. 1. 8. and to acknowledge the goodness which we see in any , tit. 3. 2. and to desire , and receive , and believe the good reports concerning our neighbours , act. 16. 1 , 2 , 3. but so as we must in no kinde approve , allow , or countenance them in any of their wickednesses , or vices , which we see , or know , 2 chr. 25. 2. and 27. 2. in doubtfull cases we are here commanded to interpret them in the best part , 1 cor. 13. 5 , 7. genes . 37. 31. to the 33. matth. 1. 19. we must not be too credulous , for then we shall oft be over taken with the belief of lies , joh. 2. 24. for this cause we must be ware of evil reports that run abroad amongst people by whisperers , and tale-bearers , ps. 15. 3. jer. 40. 14 , 16. it is good for a man to shew himself angry , and displeased , with such flattering tongues , and whisperers , prov. 25. 23. here we are commanded to conceal , and keep secret , our neighbours offences of weakness , and imperfection , prov. 10. 12. matth. 18. 15. and knowing them we must admonish him , that we may mend him , gal. 6. 1. jam. 5. 19. 21. if concealing of his sin , and admonition will not move him to forsake his sin , then , out of love , and charity to him , we must declare it to those that may remove , and amend the same , gen. 37. 2. 1 cor. 1 11. matth 18. 16. by godliness we must seek to get a good name , and when we have so gotten it , we must likewise by godliness strive to maintain it , prov. 221. eccles. 7. 1. phil. 4. 8. a good name is to be laboured for thus : 1. by seeking the kingdom of god before all things , by repenting of sin , and earnestly desiring to follow after , and to embrace righteousness . this is the right way to seek the kingdom of heaven , prov 10. 7. mark . 14. 9. 2. by having a care to judge , and speak well of others , matt. 7. 2. eccles. 7. 23. 24. 3. by abstaining from all kinde of vice , and wickedness ; for evil men will make use of one vice of a man to obscure his good name upon all occasions , eccles. 10. 1. yea , and they will openly , and secretly labour to bring him into sin , that they may have occasion of doing this . 4. by seeking onely the glory of god in all things , and not our own glory , matth. 6. 5 , 6. joh. 17. 18. when we thus seek the glory of god , and have the praise of good men for the doing of it , we must not despise , nor contemne their testimony , and commendation . and if we thus seek the glory of god , and they praise us not , nor commend us , yet we must take this in good part , and rejoyce that god is glorified ; for , to him 〈◊〉 indeed doth belong all the praise , and glory of all our actions , 2 cor. ● . 12. and 10. 13. 1 cor. 1. 31. psal 16. 5. 6. the negative part of this commandment is this . here we are forbidden envy , disdain of others , or desire of a mans own glory , deutr. 19. 17. 1 pet. 2. 1. matth. 12. 15. and evil suspitions , 1 sam. 17. 28. act. 28. 4. and hard censures , and sinister judgement against our neighbour , matth. 7. 1 , 2. we must not interpret indifferent things in the worst part . we must not out of evil will make a small offence great . in judging others we may use three ways , and not sin 1. by the word of god when we see a sin , we may judge it sin , and reprove it . 2. the magistrate may judge . 3. a friend may judge and admonish , by wishing to abstain from evil company , and by giving warning to beware of sin , iniquity , and vice . here we are forbidden to give the bare words spoken for the full intention of our neighbour , when as we neither know the sense of them , nor the meaning of our neighbour , matt. 26. 59. to the 61. joh. 2. 19. and to ly . and unjust sentence in judgement . an to suborn , or rest in a witness to accuse another wrongfully . and to betray a mans cause by collusion , or winking at it , 1 kings 21. 12. deut. 17. 6. and openly to raise hurtfull , tales , and reports of our neighbour , or privily to devise the same , levit. 19. 16. 1 tim. 5. 13. and to spread abroad flying tales , or to feign and add any thing to them , prov. 26. 20 , 22. and to believe the reports of others , exod. 23. 1. 1 sam. 24. 10 and to accuse a man out of malice to his enemy , as doeg did abimelech , and david to saul , ps. 52. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. 1 sam. 22. 9. and to declare the secrets of our neighbour , or his sins of infirmity , prov. 11. 13. matth. 18. 15. and all babling talk , and bitter words , eph. 5. 3 , 4. joh. 9. 34. and jestings , and all scurrility : and that — — — for these causes . 1. because quips , or jests are like the stings of scorpions , serpents , and locusts ; for by this means the devil stingeth those that are jested upon , girding them with these offences ; and netleth , or tickleth those with pleasure , which take delight in the hearing of them ; and this is his way by which he doth charm , and insensibly sting them also , even as he doth the other to their trouble . 2. because a christians godliness and gravity can not stand , or agree with such behaviour . and if any object here , that salt and tart speeches have been used in scripture , as when eliah mockt the priests of baal , 1 kings 18. 27. and when isaiah mockt the king of babylon , isai. 14. 4 , 9. yet such must be thus answered , that these speeches were not to please any withall . but they were reproofs sharply denounced against gods enemies for his glory . here we are forbidden flattery , that is , to praise our neighbour above that we know in him , prov. 27. 6 , 14. act. 12. 22. — — this is a grievous sin in ministers , 1 thess. 2. 5. jer. 6. 13 , 14. rom. 16. 18. here we are forbidden foolish over-confident boasting , pro. 27. 1. and to accuse , or witness against any falsly , 1 kings 21. 13. deutr. 19. 17. the tenth commandment . thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house , thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife , nor his man servant , nor his maid servant , nor his ox , nor his ass , nor any thing that is thy neighbours . the affirmative part of this commandment is this . we are commanded here to labour , to keep our hearts pure towards our neighbour , 1 tim. 1. 5. and to endeavour that the cogitations , thoughts , and motions of our hearts may be holy , and our spirits free from such vanity . to this purpose was pauls prayer for the thessaloniaus , 1 thes. 5. 23. eph. 4. 23. and to fight against the evil affections , and lusts of the flesh , rom. 7. 12 , 24. 2 cor. 12. 7. to the 9. cogitations , thoughts , or motions of the heart are of three kindes . 1. a glancing , or suddain thought suggested to the minde by sathan , this doth suddenly vanish away , and is not received of the minde ; this is no sin , it was in christ himself , when as he was tempted by the devil , matth. 4. 1 , 3. 2 a more remaining , and abiding thought , or motion , which doth as it were tickle , and mingle the minde with some inward joy . a thought , or motion , which draweth from the will and affection a full assent to sin . to covet is to think inwardly , and to desire any thing , whereby our neighbour may be hindred , although there doth ensue no assent of the will to commit that evil . there is a concupiscence , or coveting which is evil , as when any man doth desire that which is anothers , with his loss , damage , and injury . and there is a concupiscence , or a coveting , or a desire which is good , as when a man doth desire meat and drink for the body . and the desire of the spirit when it lusteth , fighteth , striveth , and strugleth against the flesh , gal. 5. 17. the negative part of this commandment is this . here is forbidden concupiscence it self , that is , original corruption , because it is hurtfull to our neighbour , jam. 1. 14. and all sudden corrupt cogitations of the heart , which spring out of the bitter root of concupiscence , gal. 5 17. luke 10. 27. and all suggestions of sathan , which after the first offer are entertained , and received into the closet of the heart . and the entertaining of all tickling cogitations , and motions of the heart that do thus delight it , as to say with prejudice to any , i would such a house was mine , or such a living , or such a thing . and all unchaste dreams , which do arise from the force of concupiscence , or from the strength of any lustfull desires , which man doth suffer his heart to be possest withall the use of the law is this ▪ 1. in un-regenerate men it layeth sin open , and makes it known to them , rom. 3. 20. 2. in unregenerate men it doth encrease sin , and that because of the flesh , and this is the cause that men do decline from the commandment , and encline to that which is forbidden them , rom 7. 8 , 9 , 10. 3. it is to denounce eternal damnation for the least disobedience , without offering any hope of pardon . this sentence the law doth pronounce against offendours ; and by it , it doth reign and rule over a man , partly by threatning him , and partly by terrifying him , rom. 3. 19. gal. 3. 10. 2 cor. 3. 7 , 8. the end of the reigning of sin in men , is to urge sinners to fly unto christ , rom. 11. 32. gal. 3. 22. 24. the continuance of the power of the law is for ever , unless a sinner doth repent . the very first act of repentance doth so free a sinner ; as that , immediatly upon it , he is no more under the law , but under grace , as we may see by david , 1 sam. 12. 13. rom. 6. 14. if we mean to have eternal life , we must examin the course of our lives by the square of gods law ; we must set the course due unto our sins before our eys , and bewail our miseries , and have a holy despair of our own powers , and renounce our selves , and sue unto christ jesus . this is the use of the law , in unregenerate men and women . the use of the law in regenerate men , is , — — to guide them to new obedience in the whole course of their lives , and this new obedience is acceptable to god through christ ; rom. 3. 31. psal. 119. 24. 105. of the covenant of grace . the covenant of grace is gods free promise of christ , and his benefits to every repentant sinner , that will receive him by faith , hosea 2. 18 , 19 , 20. ezek. 33. 11. to the 15. and 36. 25. to the 27. malach. 3. 1. this covenant is called a testament , because it is confirmed by the death of the testatour ; heb. 9. 16 , 17. this covenant is like a man's last will and testament , it is not for the profit of the testatour , but for the benefit of the heir ; we do here receive from god , and not promise , or offer unto god . in substance the old and new testament is the same . the old covenant , or testament prefigured christ in types , & shaddows , who was then to come . the new testament declareth christ , already come in the flesh , and sheweth him apparently in the gospel . the gospel is that part of god's word , which containeth the welcome message of christ , and of the benefits that do come to mankinde by him ; joh. 3. 14. act. 10. 43. the gospel doth manifest that righteousness in christ , by which the whole law is fully satisfied , and salvation attained , rom. 1. 16. 17. the gospel is that instrument , or conduit-pipe , by which the holy ghost doth convey faith into the soul ; 1 cor. 1. 21. act. 11. 19. to the 21. joh. 4. 28. to the 42. and faith is the hand by which we do apprehend christ and his righteousness ; joh. 6. 63. the sacraments are appendants to the word . a sacrament is that , whereby christ and his saving graces are signified , exhibited , and sealed to a christian by certain external rites ; genes . 17. 11. rom. 4. 11. the parts of a sacrament are the sign , and the thing signified . the sign is the visible , and sensible matter . the thing signified is christ . the matter , or signs of the sacrament have no inherent force , or efficacie at all in them to make any that receiveth them holy ; this is the alone work of the holy spirit , which indeed doth ever accompany the signs when at any time they are received by faithfull , and believing souls . so that the sign doth onely signify grace , either already received , or to be received , and doth not give it . the thing signified is , 1. christ , 2. his graces . the action about christ is spiritual , and it is , 1. either of god , or 2. of faith . the action of god is the offering , and application of christ , and his graces to the faithfull . the action of faith is the consideration , desire , apprehension , or receiving of christ in the lawfull use of the sacrament . by a figure called a metonymie , one thing is put for another in the sacrament : as the sign for the thing signified , joh. 6. 51. 1 cor. 5. 7. and 10. ●7 . and the name of the thing signified , is given to the sign , 1 cor. 11. 24. matt. 26. 28. exod. 12. 11. and the effect of the thing signified is given to the sign , as circumcision is a covenant , genes . 17. 10. act. 7. 8. luke 22. 20. tit. 3. 5. and that which is proper to the sign , is attributed to the thing signified ; deut. 10. 16. joh. 6. 53. the ends of the sacrament are 1. to confirm our faith . 2. to be a badge , or note to distinguish the true church of god from other congregations . 3. it is a means to spread abroad the doctrine of the gospel . 4. it doth binde the faithfull to continue loyal , and gratefull to their lord god . 5. it is a bond of mutual amity betwixt the faithfull . the covenant of grace is absolutely necessary to salvation ; for a man must be within the covenant , and receive christ the substance thereof , or he cannot be saved . but a sacrament is not absolutely necessary to salvation ; for it is onely a stay for faith to lean on , whilest that it doth assure to us that which god hath bestowed on us . the want of the sacrament condemneth not , but the contempt of it doth . for in the * neglect of a sacrament , true repentance will obtain pardon of god . m. p. 72. unbelievers receive onely the sign , and not the thing signified , and therefore it doth not profit them ; rom. 2. 25. onely true believers do receive the sacraments with profit . sacraments and sacrifices do thus differ . in a sacrament god doth bestow his graces on us . in a sacrifice we return thanksgiving , faith , and obedience unto god . the sacraments of the two testaments thus differ . the sacraments of the old testament were many . but the sacraments of the new testament are but few . these pointed at christ to come . these shew him to be come . they belonged properly to the posterity of abraham . these are common to all the church , called out of the jews and gentils . the sacraments are two , baptism and the supper of the lord . the fathers had these sacraments , the first of the corinth . 10. 1. to the 4. baptism belongeth to all the faithfull , even to all the promised seed . it belongeth to infants whose parents are believing , or which have but one believing parent ; 1 cor. 7. 14. rom. 11. 16. genes . 17. 7 , 13. act. 16. 31. it belongeth to all , even young and old that believe ; act. 8. 36 , 37 , 38. matth. 3. 6. exod. 12. 48. baptism signifieth our regeneration by the holy spirit ; titus ▪ 3. 5. and assureth , or sealeth to us our engraffing , and incorporating into christ ; gal. 3 ▪ 27. 1 cor. 12. 13. the parts of baptism , or of washing , are three . 1. a putting into the water , to signifie that all our sins are washt away by the bloud of christ , and that his righteousness is imputed to us ; act. 22. 16. 1 cor. 6. 11. it doth also signify the mortification of sin , by the power of christ's death ; rom. 6. 3 , 6 , 7. 2. continuance in the water , which signifieth to us the burial of our sins , and a continual encrease of mortification in us by the power of christs death , and burial , rom. 6. 4. 3. a coming out of the water , which signifieth unto us our regeneration , or spiritual vivification , or a newness of life , or quickning in holiness and justice , which we do obtain by the power of christs resurrection ; rom. 6. 4 , 5. the once administring of baptism is a sign of the washing away of all sins , both past , present , and to come , 1 pet. 3. 21. and this may be a good encouragement to all those that through infirmity fall into sin . the lord's supper is a sacrament , by which , in the signs of bread and wine , is signified the nourishment of our souls through christ , by the holy spirit ; 1 cor. 11. 23. to the 25. the receiving of the bread , and wine , signifieth the receiving of christ , joh. 1. 12. the eating of the bread , and drinking of the wine , signifieth the applying of christ to our selves by faith , that so we may finde our communion with him dayly increased , and perceive our union with him ; 1 cor. 10. 16. the whole scope and intention of the lord's supper , as it was instituted by our lord , was for no other end , but to be a remembrance of him ; 1 cor. 11. 24. luke 22. 19. men must not , because of infirmities abstain from the lord's supper , but they must use it to confirm them , and to strengthen them . so much for the outward means , whereby the decree of gods election is executed . the degrees of the execution are two . 1. the love of god , whereby he doth freely love us in christ jesus , who in our selves are corrupt ; 1 joh. 4. 19. rom. 5. 8 , 10. 2. the declaration of god's love . god doth declare his love , either in a secret way by his holy spirit , as to infants ; 1 cor. 12. 13. luke 1. 35. to the 80. jer. 1. 5. or to men of ripe years , and that more manifestly ; as rom. 8. 30. 1 cor. 1. 30. as first , by an effectual calling , in which god separateth a man from the world , and doth entertain him into his own family , eph. 2. 17 , 19. and for this cause it is , that the world do hate the faithfull ; joh. 15. 19. in this calling god doth give us to christ ; eph. 5. 21. 33. joh 17. 2 , 6 , 7. and 10. 29. isai 9 ▪ 6. rom. 8. 32. and hence ariseth the admirable union betwixt christ and his members , which is the engraffing of a man into him ; joh. 15. 1 , 2. and 17. 20 , 21. eph. 2. 20 , 21 , 22. and 5. 30. this union , or communion , conjunction , or engraffing , is wrought by the operation of the spirit , which is an infinite essence , and therefore sufficiently able to conjoyn those things which of themselves are far distant , even as the soul of a man joyneth all his members together , and doth cause them all to grow and move , and live together ; eph ▪ 2 ▪ 22. 2 ▪ pet. 1. 4. phil. 2. 1. by this union it is , that we are said to be crucified with christ , to die with him , to be buried with him , and to be quickned , raised and placed in heaven with him ; rom. 6. 4 , 6. eph. 2. 1 , 5. and by this union , as we all are said to sin in adam , so we may be all said in christ to fulfill the whole law of god . of the members of christ . the members of christ are either members outwardly , and before men , which are onely out of charity so called , as externally professing the faith . or members in the sight of god . which are , 1. either decreed so to be , as being elect from all eternity , though not yet born , or not yet called , joh. 10. 16. or 2. actually so already , and these are first either actual living members , as being engraffed through faith by the holy spirit into christ , and therefore grow in the power of holiness , or 2. actual dying members , or decaying members , that is , such as have not the feeling of the power of the quickning spirit in them , though they be truly engraffed into christ , of this sort are all those that are yet dead in their sins , till such time as they be again quickned , and regenerated . god doth execute effectual calling by these means . 1. by the preaching of the word , and by hearing of it , ezek. 16. 6. isai 55. 1. joh. 1. 12. by the law god doth shew a man his sin , and the punishment thereof , rom. 7. 7. by the gospel god doth shew salvation through christ , to such as do believe . and whilest the word is preaching , god doth inwardly enlighten the eys of the minde , and open the heart , and the ears , that the word heard , may be truely understood , 1 joh. 2. 27. act. 16. 14. psal. 40. 6. joh. 6. 44. isai 54. 6. 2. by mollifying the heart , and making it fit to receive his saving grace into it , when he offereth it , ezek. 11. 19. the hammers by which a stony heart is bruised , and broken , are these . 1. the knowledge of the law of god . 2. the knowledge of sin original and actual , and of the punishment due unto them . 3. compunction , or a pricking of heart , that is , a sense , or feeling of the wrath of god for sin , act. 2. 37. 4. an holy desperation of our own power in the obtaining of life , luke 15. 17 , 18 , 19. mark . 15. 24. thirdly , effectual calling is executed : by faith receiving christ , and by the operation of the holy spirit in applying him , joh 1. 12. 6. 35. rom. 6. 38. 1 cor. 2 12. zach. 12. 10. rom. 8. 16. eph. 1. 13. 2 cor. 1. 22. in the work of faith there are five motions of the heart linked . 1. knowledge of the gospel by the illumination of gods spirit , isai 53. 11. joh. 17. 3. to this knowledge in those that are truely humbled is joyned a serious meditation of the promises in the gospel . — — which meditation is stirred up by a sensible feeling of their own beggery . and after this knowledge there doth arise a general faith in all such as are enlightned , whereby they subscribe to the truth of the gospel , heb. 4. 2. 1 tim. 1. 19. and 2. 4. which knowledge , so soon as it is full and perfect , it is called {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , that is the full assurance of understanding , col. 2. 2. rom. 14. 14. luk. 1. 1. 1 thes. 1. 5. 2. hope of pardon , by which a sinner believeth that his sins are pardonable , though he doth not yet feel them certainly pardoned , luke 15. 18. 3. hungring and thirsting after grace , which is offered to us in christ jesus , joh. 6. 35. and 7. 37. revel. 21. 6. matth. 5. 6. 4. an approching with boldness to the throne of grace , that so we flying from the terrour of the law , may take hold on christ , and finde favour with god , heb. 4. 16. this approching of the throne of grace is done , 1. by an humble confession of our sins in the presence of god , as did david , psal. 32. 5. 2 sam 12. 13. luke 15. 19. 2. by a craving earnestly to god for pardon of our sins , and by perseverance in fervent prayer for the same purpose , luke 15. 21. act. 8. 22. rom. 8. 26. hosea 14. 2 , 3. 3. an especial perswasion imprinted in the heart by the holy ghost , by which every faithfull man doth apply all the promises of the gospel to himself , matth. 9. 2 ▪ and 15. 28. gal. 2. 20. this perswasion is , and ought to be in every one , before he have any experience of gods mercie , matth. 15. 22 , 27. joh. 20. 29. heb. 11. 1. in natural phylosophy we do first see things true by experience , and afterwards assent unto them ; thus we are perswaded that water is hot , because we perceive the heat by putting our hand into it . but in the practise of faith , we must first stedfastly believe , and then the experience and feeling of comfort will follow , 2 chr. 20. 20. it is therefore very ill done of any , that they should doubt of their salvation , because they do not always feel the especial motions of gods holy spirit in themselves . the lowest degree of faith is {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , that is , a weak faith , or a little faith , like to a grain of mustard-seed , or to smoaking flax , which cannot flame nor give out heat , but onely smoak , matth. 8. 25. 26 and 7. 20. isai. 3. 4 2. faith may be then said to be feeble , when either the first of the five motions , or the last of them is weak and feeble ; yea , though the other three motions do remain strong , rom. 14. 2. 3. rules to know this kinde of faith by , are these . 1. a serious desire to believe , and endeavour to obtain gods favour , is the seed of this faith , matth. 5. 6. rev 21. 6. psal. 145. 19. 2. an earnest use of means to encrease the least spark of faith , that so it may get growth by little , and little , luke 17. 5 , 6. faith is stirred up by earnest prayer , and meditation , and by making progress , and going on in the ways of perfection , and in the exercise of godliness . the highest degree of faith , is called {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , or full assurance , by this a man doth find in himself a certain perswasion and assurance , that god doth love him , & will together with christ , and all his graces give him eternal life , rom. 4. 20. and 8. 38. 1 sam. 17. 36. ps. 23. 6. a man doth not come to high degree of faith , till after a sense , and long experience of gods love , and favour . 2. the second degree of the declaration of gods love is justification . by this , through the obedience of christ , true believers are accounted just in the presence of god , 2 cor. 5. 21. 1 cor. 1. 30. rom. 5 19. the parts of justification are , 1. remission of sins , with a freeing from the guilt , and punishment of them , and that through the satisfaction made to god for them by christ , collos. 1. 21 , 22. 1 pet. 2. 24. 2. imputation of christs righteousness , by this , those that believe have the guilt of their sins covered , and are accounted just in the sight of god , phil. 3. 8 , 9. rom. 4 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. the obedience of christ is called the righteousness of god , and of christ , of god , because it is of god . of christ , because it is out of us , and in the humanity of christ , as in a subject . to justification is joyned adoption . by adoption we do receive power , to be actually accounted the sons of god by christ , eph. 1. 5. priviledges that come unto us by adoption are these . 1. by it we are made heirs apparent to god , rom. 8. 17. 2. fellow heirs with christ ; yea , kings and priests , rom. 8. 17. revel. 1. 6. 3. by it all our afflictions ; yea , even our wants and offences are turned to trials , or fatherly chastisements inflicted upon us for our good , rom. 8. 28 , 36 , 37. psal. 89. 32 , 33. 2 cor. 12. 7. 2 sam. 7. 14. 4. by it we have dominion over all the creatures ; yet , so as that in this life we have onely right to the thing , but after this life we shall have right in the same , 1 cor. 3. 22 , 23. heb. 2. 7 , 8. 5. by it we have the angels ministring spirits for our good , heb. 1. 14. psal. 34. 7. the faithfull alone have the true use of creatures . 1. because their persons are made acceptable unto god in christ , and in him they have restitution made them of the right use of creatures , which was lost in adam , so that they may use them freely , and with a good conscience . the third degree of the declaration of gods love is sanctification . by it we are delivered from the tyranny of sin , and by little and little renewed in holiness , & righteousness , 1 joh. 3. 9. rom. 8. 1. the parts of sanctification are first mortification . by this the power of sin is abated , and sin is killed in the faithfull , rom. 6. 2 , 3. 4. gal. 5. 24. mortification is wrought in us by the power of the holy spirit , abolishing sin in us , and regenerating , or renewing our spirits . 2. vivification . by this inherent holiness is begun in us , and by little and little augmented , and inlarged by the power of the holy spirit . for first we do receive the first fruits of the spirit , and then by degrees we have a continual encrease of them , eph. 2. 21. and 4 ▪ 23 , 24. gal. 2. 20. rom. 8. 23. vivification is a benefit that springeth unto us by the resurrection of christ , and is wrought in us by the holy spirit , phil. 3. 10. it is this that createth holiness in the heart of the adopted ones of god , rom. 8. 9 , 11. job 33. 24 , 25. inherent holiness is distinguish'd according to the several faculties of the body , and soul of man , 1 thes. 5. 23. the parts of inherent holiness are these . 1. an illumination of the minde to know , and understand the will of god ; which illumination is both the holiness of the minde , and the renewing of it , colos 1. 9. 1 cor. 12. 8. illumination of the minde is , 1. either spiritual understanding , by which it acknowledgeth the known truth of the word of god , 2. or spiritual wisdom , by which the same truth is applied to the good ordering , both of particular things , and of particular actions , as persons , place , and time require . the effects of spiritual understanding , and of spiritual wisdom are these . 1. to discern betwixt good and evil , heb. 5. 14. phil. 1. 10. 2. to discern spirits , 1 joh. 4. 1. 1 thes. 5. 21. act. 17. 11. 3. to meditate upon the words , and works of god , ps. 1. 1. and 119. 33. 4. to know , and acknowledge a mans own inward blindness , psal. 119. 18 , 33. 2. a sanctification of the memory , by which it is inabled to receive a good thing offered to the minde , and to keep it ; and remember it as there is need , psal. 16. 7. 119. 11. luke 2. 51. 3. sanctification of conscience , this is a grace of god , by which a mans conscience excuseth him for all sins , after they are once pardoned in christ , and also of his upright walking in the whole course of his life , 1 tim. 1. 19. 1 cor. 4. 4. act. 23. 1. and 24. 16. ps. 26. 1 , 2 , 3. 1 joh. 3. 21. the inward peace of god doth arise from this sanctity of conscience in all godly men ; yea , and the outward alacrity and chearfulness of countenance also , phil. 4. 7. prov. 28. 1. job 33. 24 , 25. 4. sanctification of will , by which through the renewing of the affections by the holy spirit , a man doth begin to will that which is good , and to refuse evil . this is such a state , as that the will is partly freed from bondage , and partly in bondage to sin , phil. 2. 13. rom. 7. 18. to the 22. 5. sanctification of affections , by this , in the power of the holy spirit the affections move well , and rightly , 1 thes. 5. 23. rom. 7. 24. the chief affections are these . 1. hope , by this , with sighings we look and wait for the accomplishment of redemption , rom. 8. 23. this hope , when it is grown strong and lively , hath its {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , that is , it s full assurance , even as faith hath , heb. 6. 11. 1 pet. 1. 3. 2. fear of offending god , because of his mercy , 1 pet. 1. 17. psal. 130. 4. 3. a contempt , or a base account of all worldly things , in respect of christ jesus , phil. 3. 7 , 8. 4. a love of god in christ , which is as strong as death , and as a fire that cannot be quench'd , cant. 8. 6. 5. an fervent zeal to gods glorie , rom. 9. 3. 6. an anguish of minde for our own sins ; and also for the sins of others , psal. 119. 136. 2 pet. 2. 7 , 8. 7. an exceeding great joy in the holy ghost , rom. 14. 17. the sixth part of inherent holiness , is sanctity of body . by this in the power of the holy spirit , the body is made a fit instrument for the soul to accomplish that which is good by it , rom. 6. 19. of repentance , and fruits thereof . repentance doth follow faith and sanctification , and yet in such as are converted it doth first manifest it self . repentance is when a sinner turneth to the lord , act. 26. 20. ezek. 33. 11 , 19. 1 joh. 3. 3. repentance is then true , when as any one , by the motion and instinct of the holy ghost , doth purpose , will , desire , and endeavour , to forsake his sins , and to turn unto the lord , and to become a new man , psal. 119. 112. act. 11. 23. the fruits of repentance is christian conversation , in which we bring forth fruits worthy amendment of life , matth. 3. 8. a christian conversation is such a course of life , as in which we do follow christs example , & through the power of his spirit dwelling in us , perform new obedience to god , matth. 11. 29. 1 pet. 4. and 2. 21. and 3. 10 , 11. of new obedience . the parts of new obedience are these . 1. the denial of our selves , matth. 16. 24. 2. the profession of christ . the denial of our selves consisteth . 1. in christian warfar . 2. in the patient bearing of the cross . the parts of christian warfar are . 1. the preparation to the battel . 2. the combat . the preparation to the battel consisteth in the use of the compleat armour of god , eph. 6. 13. the pieces , or parts of the compleat armour of god are these . 1. truth , eph. 6. 14. 2. justice and righteousness , eph. 6. 14. 3. evangelical obedience , which is the shoeing of the feet with the shooes of the preparation of the gospel of peace , eph 6. 15. 4. faith , ( eph. 6. 16. ) as the shield whereby we must quench all the fiery darts of the wicked . 5. the sword of the spirit , which is the word of god , eph. 6. 17. 6. the helmet of salvation , eph. 6. 17. 7. continual , and fervent prayer with watching and fasting , eph. 6. 18. 1 pet 5. 8. the combat is a mutual conflict of them that fight spiritually . the combatants , or warriours are the tempter , and the christian souldier , eph. 6. 12. the tempter is the prince of the power of the air , that is , the devil and his angels , which are spiritual wickedness in high places . their helpers are the flesh and the world . the conflict of all these enemies is temptation , by this they do provoke a man to commit such wickedness , as is hurtfull to the salvation of his soul , 1 pet. 2. 11. in the souldier we must consider his resisting , and his fall . resisting is an action , whereby the souldier through grace working inwardly in him , doth withstand temptation , 1 john 2. 14. 1 pet. 5. 8. eph. 6. 16. psal. 91. 13. the souldier must strengthen , and confirm himself with these preservatives . 1. when a man is tempted to sin , he must not onely abstain from it , but also earnestly love , and follow after the contrary , viz. righteousness , and holiness , 1 pet. 5. 9. eph. 4. 27. jam. 4. 7. 2. he must never consent to sathans words , whether he speak truth , ( mark . 1. 24. ) or accuse falsly , ( joh. 8. 44. ) or flatter dissemblingly , act. 16. 17. 3. he must look for one temptation after another , and then especially when his enemy seemeth to be at rest with him , as though he had made a truce with him . for , sathan is such an enemy , as will never make an end of his malice , 1 pet 5. 8. the fall of the souldier is then , when he fainteth through infirmity , and as being subdued by the power and violence of his enemy , gal. 6. 1. the remedy for the restoring a man thus fallen , must be by instructing him in the spirit of meekness , gal. 6. 1. here for encouragement every man may remember this for his comfort . 1. that in whomsoever there is a willing heart , that man shall be accepted for that grace which he hath , and is manifested in the willingness of his heart , & not for that which he hath not , 2 cor. 8. 12. 2. he that will live godly in christ must always remember in all these things , that the power of god is made perfect through our infirmity , 2 cor. 12. 9 , 10. of the assaults in this combat . 1. the devil assaults a man about his effectual calling . the temptation here is this . the devil striveth to blinde a mans minde , and to harden his heart , least the word of god should work in him to salvation , matth. 13. 4. to the 19. this temptation must be resisted by giving ear , and endeavouring to receive the word , that so through the spirit of god it may be grafted in our hearts , and spring in us , luke 8. 15. heb. 4. 2. jam. 1. 21. preservatives for the resisting of this temptation are these . 1. meditate on the power , and use of the word , eccles. 1. 17. and 5. 1. 2. attend diligently unto it with thy minde , acts 16. 14. 3. hunger after it with the longing desires of the heart , joh. 7. 37. 4. labour to be pure in life , psal. 26. 6. 5. cast away evil affections , jam. 1. 21. 6. be doers of the word , jam. 1. 22. 7. consent always to the truth of the word preached , act. 2. 37. 8. with david hide , or treasure up the word of god in your hearts that you sin not , psal. 119. 11. 9. reverence , and tremble at the presence of god in the assembly of the church , isai 66. 2. act. 10. 33. in the hearing of the word the fall is coldness in hearing , or receiving of it , or else a falling into errours . the remedy here is to restore by the spirit of meekness , and that , because we our selves are also subject to be tempted , and thus doing is to bear one anothers burthens , and to fulfill the law of christ , gal. 6. 1. 2. the second assault . the second assault is concerning faith . the temptation here is this , the devil putteth it into the heart of a godly man that he is not elect , that he is not justified , that he hath no faith , and that therefore he will be condemned for his sins , matt. 4. 3. to weaken a mans faith , the devil will take occasion to tempt him . 1. from his adversities , dangers , losses , persecutions , and grievous offences . thus he dealeth with david , psal. 73. 12. and job 13. 23 , 24 , 25. 2. from the remembrance of sin past , job 13. 26. 3. from a feeling of death , even already at hand . here resistance must be thus made . in the power of true faith , we must apply christ , and all his benefits to our selves . thus i assuredly believe that i shall not be condemned , that i am elected , and justified in christ , and i am out of all doubt that all my sins are pardoned , isai 53. 11. rom. 8. 38 , 39. in this temptation the preservative from the fall is stedfastly to look unto , and rely upon christ , the object of our faith , phil. 3. 12. to the 14. joh. 3. 14. the fall upon this temptation is doubtfulness , and distrust of gods mercy , and of our own elections , as in david , ps. 76. 6 , 7 , 8. and 21. 1. the remedies to recover this fall are 1. the powerfull operation of the holy spirit in encreasing faith , and stirring of it up , phil. 1. 6. luk ▪ 17. 5. 2. holy meditations , as 1. that it is the commandment of god that we should believe in christ , 1 joh. 3. 23. 2 that the promises of the gospel exclude none , but those that exclude themselves , isai 55. 1. matth. 11. 28. joh. 3. 15. 3. that doubtfulness , and despair are most grievous sins . 4. that with abraham we must under hope believe against hope , rom. 4. 18. 5. that the mercies of god , and the merits of christs obedience do belong unto all those that believe , isai 54. 10. ps. 103. 11. 1 joh. 2 , 1. 2. ps. 130. 7. 6. that god measureth the obedience due unto him more by the affection , and true desire of the heart to obey , than by the external act , and outward performance of obedience , rom. 8. 5 , 7. and the 7. 20 , 21 , 22. malach. 3. 17. 7. that when one sin is forgiven , all ▪ the rest also are forgiven ; for , forgiveness being once given without any limit of time , is given for ever , rom. 11. 29. act. 10. 43. 8. that grace and faith are not taken away by sins of infirmity ; but they are hereby declared , and made manifest , rom. 5. 20. 2 cor. 12. 7 , 8 , 9 9. that god works by contrary means , and his power is made perfect through weakness , 2. 12. 9. the third assault . the third assault is concerning sanctification . here the temptation is a provoking to sin . the devil provoketh to sin according as he findeth a mans disposition . secondly , as occasion offereth it self , thus he provoked david to number the people , 1 chron. 21. 1. and judas to betray christ , john 13. 2. here the devil to further his temptation will diminish the sin , that he would have a man commit , and that 1. either by closely objecting to us gods mercie . or 2. by covering and hiding from us the punishment due to sin . helps by which the devil furthereth himself in his temptations , are 1. the flesh . the flesh lusteth against the spirit , 1. by getting evil motions and affections , 2. by overwhelming and oppressing good intents and motions , gal. 5. 17. to the 21. jam. 1. 14. 2. the world . the world helpeth the devil by its pleasure , profit , honour , evil examples , by which the devil laboureth to bring men into disobedience and sin , ephes. 2. 3. 1 john 2. 16. these temptations may be resisted by desire of the holy spirit , for it worketh good motions and affections in the faithfull ; and it doth drive forth evil motions , gal. 5. 22. 26. we may strengthen our selves in resisting thus : 1. if we count no sin light , or small , gal. 5. 9. rom. 6. 23. 2. if we do avoid all occasions of sin , 1 thes. 5. 22. judge 23. 3. we must accustom our selves to subdue the less sins , that so we may the more easily overcome the greater , rom. 13. 4. 4. we must ever employ our selves in employments , good and warrantable by the word of god . 5. we must oppose against the rebellion , and loosness of our flesh . 1. the law . 2. the judgements of god . 3. the last judgement . 4. the glorious presence of god , and the like , prov. 28. 14. gen. 39. 9. remedies against unjust anger , and against private desire of revenge are these . 1. if we do consider that injuries happen unto us by the appointment of the lord for our good , as david speaketh of shemei cursing him , 2 sam. 16. 10. 2. if we consider that god of his goodness forgiveth us more sins than it is possible for us to forgive men . 3. if we consider that it is the duty of christian love to forgive others . 4. if we consider that they are the redeemed of christ as well as we , and that therefore we must not desire to destroy them . 5. if we consider that we are in danger of the wrath of god , if we suffer our anger to burn against our brother , matth. 6. 14. 6. if we consider that we do not rightly understand the circumstances of the facts , or what the minde , or purpose was of those against whom we swell . remedies , or bridles against wrath are these : 1. if we do imitate the lord in mercy , who doth bear long with the wicked , matth. 11. 29. 2 pet. 3. 9. 2. if we make a pause , or a delay betwixt our anger and the execution of it . 3. if we go out of the place where those are with whom we are angry . 4. if we endeavour to avoid contention , both in word and deed . 5. if we will but oft meditate on this , that he shall have judgement without mercy that sheweth no mercy , and that mercy rejoyceth against judgement , jam. 2. 13. remedies against desires of riches and honour are these : 1. if we consider , that in famin god doth quicken and revive those that fear him , psal. 33. 18 , 19. 2. that godliness is great gain , 1 tim. 6. 6. 3. that we are not to make our abode upon the earth , but travelling through the world to heaven , and waiting here for the resurrection , and inheritance of eternal life . 4. that we are here servants of god , and that he therefore will provide us conveniencies . 5. that ambition and pride blindeth a mans minde , and thus maketh his downfall greater . an ambitious man feareth to be humbled , least he should not be exalted . 6. that pride , and ambition brought ruin upon mankinde even in paradise . 7. that he robs god of his honour , that taketh that glory to himself , which is onely due to god . remedies against the desires of the flesh are these : 1. if we consider , that none can be christs disciples but those that live in a continual self denial , luke 9. 23. 2. that those that are of the spirit ought always to savour the things of the spirit , rom. 8. 15. 3. that those which walk after the flesh , shall die , rom. 8. 13. 4. that , even here ; for holiness and righteousness , we ought to walk as citizens of the kingdom of heaven , phil. 3. 20. 5. that our bodies are the temples of god , 1 cor. 3. 16. 6. that our members are members of christ , 1 cor. 6. 15. 7. that we must not grieve the spirit of god which dwelleth in us , 1 cor. 6. 16. rom. 8. 9. eph. 4. 30. in these temptations by the flesh the fall is , any offence through infirmity , which a man by these temptations of sathan is overtaken withall , gal 6. 1. in these falls sathan will much aggravate , and make greater the offence committed than it is . and he will also terrifie the offendour with the judgements of god , matt. 27. 3 , 4 , 7. here the remedy is to renew our repentance . the beginning of this repentance is godly sorrow , or sorrow towards godward , 2 cor. 7. 9 , 11. the fruits of this repentance are seven . 1. a purpose , and endeavour to live according to the rule of gods word . 2. confession of sins before god , and an earnest entreaty of pardon for the offence at his hands , ps. 32. 5. 2 sam. 12. 3. 3. an holy indignation against a mans a self for his offence . 4 a fear , not so much because of the punishment , as least god should be highly displeased with the sin , ps. 130. 3. 5. a desire to be delivered from sin , and to be fully renewed in life . 6. a fervent zeal to love god , and to embrace , & keep his cammandments . 7. a holy revenge , which a man must take of himself for the taming , & subduing of his flesh , least afterwards he should again fall into the same offence . the second part of self-denial is , the patient bearing of the cross . the cross is nothing else but that measure of afflictions , which every faithfull man , by the will of god , passeth under , in his travelling through the world to heaven , matth. 16. 24. colos. 1. 24. no man is to seek affliction , or to multiply his own troubles , but when god layeth affliction upon a man , he is to bear it willingly , and patiently , colos. 1. 11. luke 21. 19. patience is thus strengthened . 1. by the holy ghost , phil. 4. 13. and 1. 29. 2. by holy meditations . as 1. that afflictions come not to a faithfull man by chance , but through the counsel and providence of god , gen. 4 5 ▪ 4 , 5. 2 sam. 16. 10. psal. 119 71. the afflictions of the godly are inevitable , act. 14. 22. matt. 7. 14. joh 16. 33. 2 tim. 3. 12. secondly , that though they be grievous , yet they are good and profitable , in that by them we are humbled for our sins before god , and obtain peace , and holiness of life , 2 cor. 1. 9. isai 26. 16. hos 5. 15. psal. 78. 34. jer. 31. 18. heb. 2. 10. and 12. 11. ps. 30. 5. joh. 15. 2. 1 pet. 1. 6. 2 cor. 1. 4. rom. 5 ▪ 3. afflictions in the godly are signs of their adoption , heb. 12. 6 , 7. it is a praise for the godly to do well , and for it to suffer evil patiently at the hands of the wicked , 1 pet. 2. 20. they are a godly mans high-way to heaven , jam. 1. 12. 2 cor. 4. 17. thirdly , that god hath promised favour and mitigation of punishment , his presence in them , and deliverance from them , 1 cor. 10. 13. phil. 1. 29. 2 sam. 7. 14. ps. 50. 15. and 121. 4. isai 43. 2. fourthly , that in all our troubles and afflictions , we do but take part in that which christ our lord hath suffered before us , 1 pet. 4. 13. 2 cor. 4. 10. colos. 1. 24. fifthly , that in all our afflictions we have angels ministring for our defence and comfort , ps. 34. 7. 2 kings 6. 16. the prophet elisha saw the mountain full of angels for his defence . so much for the denial of our selves . the second part of new obedience is the profession of christ . this profession doth concern either christ himself , or us his members . the profession of christ , which doth directly concern christ from us , is , 1. either continual , or 2. in time of danger . 1. our continual profession , which doth directly concern christ , is the calling upon the name of god ; this is a duty that is always required of us in the name of him our mediatour , 1 cor. 1. 2. act. 9. 14. colos. 3. 17. gods name is called upon , 1. by prayer , or 2. thanksgiving , phil. 4. 6. prayer hath two parts , 1. petition , 2. assent . petition is an asking things necessary at the hands of god in the name of christ , according to the rule of gods word , 1 joh. 5. 14. in every petition we must express a sense of our wants , and a desire of the grace of god to supply those wants , 1 sam. 1. 10 , 15 , 17. dan. 9. 4 , 20. ps. 130. 1. and 143. 6. by assent we do believe , and profess before god our belief , that he in his due time will grant us our requests , which we have made unto his majesty , 1 john 5. 14 , 15. matth. 6. 1. though the faithfull may discover many infirmities in their prayers , yet they have a notable sense of gods favour , psal. 6. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. and 8. 9 and 16. 7. and 20. 5. and 3 5. 9 , 8 , 20. and especially when they do pray zealously , jam. 5. 16 ) and when they do pray often to the lord . examples of infirmities discovered in prayer . zacharias feared when he prayed , luke 1. 13. jonah was displeased and angry , jonah . 4. 12. thanksgiving is a calling upon gods name , by which we do with joy and gladness of heart praise god for his benefits ; either received , ephes. 5. 20. or promised , psal. 36. 8 , 9. collos. 3. 16 , 17. this for the continual profession of christ . 2. our profession of christ in time of danger , is either , 1. in word , or 2. in deed . profession of christ in word , is called christian apology , or the confession of christ , as rom. 10. 10. psal. 22. 22. christian apology , or profession of christ in word is , when with fear and meekness we are always ready to confess the truth of christian religion as often as need requireth , and that in the presence of unbelievers , that the name of god may be glorified , 1 pet. 3. 15 , 16. act. 7. 1. to the end . we are not bound to make this confession of our faith before unbelievers that are past all hope of repentance ; for holy things must not be given unto dogs , matt. 7. 6. profession of christ in time of danger indeed ; is called martyrdom . martyrdom is an undergoing of the punishment of death , for the profession of christ in the doctrine of faith , and for justice , and for the salvation of the brethren . for justice , john baptist was beheaded of herod , mark . 6. 18. 27. 28. christ laid down his life for us , so ought we , if need require for the brethren , 1 john 3. 16. for maintaining the doctrine of faith , stephen was stoned , act. 7. 59. and yet this doth nothing let christians the using of all holy security , for the safety of their own lives . for ( as christ hath shewed in the gospel . ) it is lawfull for christians in times of persecution , if they finde themselves not sufficiently resolved , and strengthened by the holy spirit to stand , to fly from place to place for the security of their lives , matt. 10. 23. joh. 10. 39. this christ did , and advised his disciples to do the like . upon such occasions as these , paul fled to tarsus , act. 9. 30. and upon like occasions eliah fled for his life from jezabel , 1 kings 19. 3 , 4. thus much for the profession of christ , which concerneth christ himself . the profession of christ , which concerneth his members , is , either , 1. edification , or 2. alms. edification is every particular duty of us towards our brethren , which may further them in their growing up in christ , and unite them more surely to him , rom. 14. 19. to edification belong these things : 1. to give good example , matt. 5. 16. 1 pet. 2. 12. 2. to exhort , heb. 3. 13. rom. 1. 12. 3. to comfort , 1 thes. 5. 14. and 4. 18. jam. 5. 16 , 20. 4. to admonish , rom. 15. 14. 1 thes. 5. 14. they do observe a holy manner of admonishing , who do ever admonish in the spirit of meekness , and so , as if they themselves were guilty of the like infirmities , and of such faults , as they do certainly know by them whom they admonish out of gods word , gal 6. 1. matt. 7. 5. 2 tim. 4. 2. matt. 18. 15. rom. 15. 14. levit. 19. 17. alms , or relief is that , whereby the rich out of their abundance ought freely , largely , and with open hands to supply the wants of the poor , and that to the utmost of their ability , and sometimes beyond it , 2 cor 8. 3. acts 2. 44 , 45. in the days of the apostles all those that were converted to the faith by the powerfull operation of the holy spirit , esteemed no worldly thing they had their own , but held all their worldly store , treasures , and inheritances in common ; yea , they sold their possessions and goods , and parted them to all men as every one had need . so much for edification & alms. the fourth degree of the declaration of gods love , is glorification , rom. 8. 30. glorification is the perfect transforming of the saints into the image of the son of god , phil. 3. 21. 1 cor. 15. 14 , 49. psal. 17. 15. glorification is begun in this life , and exceedingly enlarged at the day of death , and will be fully , and throughly perfected at the general resurrection in the last day : death of the faithfull is a sleep in christ ; in this sleep the soul is for a time severed from the body , 1 cor. 15 ▪ 17. act. 7. 60. the body lieth in the earth and seeth corruption , and at length is raised to greater glory than at first it had , 1 cor. 15. 36. the soul is severed from it , that being fully sanctified it may immediatly upon its departure from the body be transported to heaven , luke 13. 42. ●3 . rev. 14. 13. remedies against death , or the fear of it are these : 1. if we consider that it is nothing else but a freeing of the faithfull from the tyranny of the world , flesh , and devil , and a placing of them safe under the shadow of the wings of christ . 2. if we consider that death , and the grave are sanctified to us through the death of christ . 3. if we do consider that christ is gain unto us as well in death as in life , phil. 1. 21. 4. if we consider that the pains of death are nothing to the comforts after death . 5. that we shall see god in the brightness of his glory and majesty , and be received into the company of glorified spirits , in heaven . 6. that our souls shall be clad with glorie instead of our bodies , 2 cor. 11. 5. 7. that we are by it free from all the power of the serpent , and of the sting of death , 1 cor. 15. 55. heb. 2. 15. 8. if we do not so much think of our death as exactly , and diligently consider our life ; for he that liveth well cannot die ill , and he that liveth ill doth seldom die well . 9. that the angels of god are ready to carry our souls into heaven , so soon as they do depart from our bodies . and our souls being by them brought into heaven shall there magnify the name of god ; and shall there wait for , and pray for the consummation of the kingdom of glorie , and for the full and perfect felicity of body & soul , rev. 5. 8 , 9. and 14. 2 , 3. and 6. 10. the estate of the elect at the last judgement . the manner of the last day is this . 1. immediatly before the coming of christ , the powers of heaven shall be shaken , the sun and moon shall be darkened , the stars shall fall from heaven , matth. 24. 29 , 30. then the elect and faithfull seing this , shall lift up their heads and rejoyce . but at this sight the reprobate shall fear and tremble , luke 21. 26 , 28. 2 tim. 4. 8. 2. the heavens being on fire , shall suddenly pass away with a great noise , and the elements shall melt with fervent heat , and the earth , and the works therein shall be burned up , 2 pet. 3. 12 , 13. at the same time when all these things shall come to pass , the sound of the last trumpet shall be heard sounded by the arch-angel , matt. 44 31. 1 thes. 4. 16. then shall christ the lord come suddenly in the clouds with power and glory , and great train of angels , matt. 24. 30. 1 thes. 4. 17. 3. at the sound of this trumpet all the dead shall rise . and those that are found alive shall be changed in the twinckling of an eye , which change shall be in stead of death , 1 cor. 15. 51 , 52 , 53. then shall all the bodies of the elect and faithfull be glorified , and made glorious like the body of christ ; then , their bodies shall be spiritual , immortal , glorious , and free from all infirmity , 1 cor. 15. 43 , 44. 4. they being all thus gathered together before the tribunal seat of christ , he will forthwith place the elect at his right hand , and the reprobate at his left hand ; then will he say , come ye blessed , to the elect , and they shall be taken into heaven , and he will say , go ye cursed , to the reprobate , and they shall be cast into hell , matth. 25. 33. 1 thes. 4. 17. rev. 20. 15. the state of the elect after the last judgement . the last judgement being finish'd the elect shall immediatly enjoy an everlasting blessedness in the kingdom of heaven . blessedness is that , whereby god himself is all in all his elect , 1 cor. 15. 28. this is the reward of the good works of the faithfull , their works being accepted of god for the merit of christs righteousness imputed to them , rom. 6. 23. 2 tim. 4. 8. rev. 22. 12. blessedness doth consist in eternal life , and perfect glory . eternal life is that fellowship with god , by which himself is life unto the elect , through the lamb christ jesus , john 14. 23. 1 john 4. 15. rev. 2● . 3 , 23. and 22. 2 , 5. for , in the kingdom of heaven they shall neither need meat , drink , sleep , air , heat , cold , physick , apparel , or the light of the sun , moon , or stars . but in the stead of all these they shall have in them gods holy spirit , by which they shall immediatly most gloriously be quickned for ever , revel. 21. 3 , 23. and 22. 2 , 5. 1 cor. 15. 45. rom. 8. 11. perfect glory . — is that wonderfull excellency of the elect , by which they shall be in a far better state than any tongue can utter , or any heart can here wish , or think . this glory consisteth in these things : 1. we shall see god face to face , we shall ever behold his face ; which is , his glory and his majesty , rev. 22. 4. psal. 17. 15. 2. we shall be most like to christ , that is , we shall be just , holy , incorruptible , glorious , honourable , beautifull , strong , mighty , nimble , 1 joh. 3. 2. phil. 3. 21. 3. we shall ever inherit the kingdom of heaven , for the new heavens and the new earth shall be our inheritance , 1 pet. 1. 4. matth. 25. 34. revel. 5. 10. and 2● . 7. the fruits of this blessedness are : 1. eternall joy . 2. the perfect service of god , ps. 16. 11 , 36 , 8 , 9. the parts of this service are : 1. praise , 2. thanksgiving , rev. 5. 12 and 19. 5 and 11. 17. the manner of performing this service is this : we shall immediately worship god , by god himself ; for in heaven there is neither temple , ceremony , nor sacrament ; for god and the lamb is the temple thereof , and god himself together with the lamb shall supply all , rev. 21. 22. and this service shall be dayly , for ever , and without intermission , rev. 7. 15. a corolary , or the advantage , over-plus , or last conclusion . god in thus saving the elect , doth clearly set forth his justice and his mercy . his justice appeareth in , that he punisheth the sins of the elect in his sons own person . his mercie appeareth , in that he pardoneth their sins for the merits of his son , ephes. 1. 18 , 19 , 20. and 3. 18. 19. these things the lord hath thus decreed , and in his good time he will accomplish them , to the glorious praise of his name , pro. 16. 4. the lord hath made all things for himself ; yea , even the wicked for the day of evil . of the decree of reprobation . the decree of reprobation is that part of predestination , by which god , according to the most free , and just purpose of his will , hath determined to reject some to eternal destruction and misery , and that for the praise of his justice , rom. 9. 21. 1 pet. 2. 8. jude 4. 1 thes. 5. 9. in the scriptures , cain and abel , ishmael and isaac , esau and jacob are propounded to us as types of mankinde partly elected , partly rejected . the decree of damnation is not here absolutely set down , as that we should think that any man is condemned by the meer , and alone will of god , without any causes inherent in themselves . the decree of god is secret , it doth arise onely from the good pleasure of god . it is unsearchable and adored by the angels . it is not known , but by that which followeth it , namely by the effects therof . of the execution of the decree of reprobation . the beginning and the foundation of the execution of this decree of reprobation is the fall of adam . he by his fall made himself , and his posterity subject , both to sin and damnation , rom. 5. 12 , 13. rom. 6. 23. and 11. 32. god so hath decreed to condemn some , as that notwithstanding all the fault and desert of condemnation remaineth in themselves , for they fall into sin , and god hateth them for their sins . this hatred which god hath to man cometh by adams fall ; and it is neither an antecedent , nor a cause of gods decree , but it follows the decree as a consequent . reprobates are some of them called , by an uneffectual calling , and some of them are not called at all . in those that are called by an uneffectual calling gods decree of reprobation hath three degrees in its execution . 1. an acknowledgement of gods calling . 2. a falling away again . 3. condemnation . 1. the acknowledgment of gods calling is , when reprobates do for a time subject themselves to the calling of god , which calling is workt by the preaching of the word , matth. 22. 14. there are of the acknowledgement of gods calling five degrees . 1. an enlightning of their mindes , whereby they are instructed of the holy ghost , that they may understand and know the word , heb 6. 4. 2 pet 2. 20. 2. the second degree of the acknowledgement of gods calling , is a certain kinde of penitency , by this penitency the reprobate do acknowledge their sins , as did the children of israel , deut. 1. 41. and are pricked with a feeling of gods wrath for sin , as was cain , gen. 4. 13. and they are grieved for the punishment of sin , as was ahab , 1 kings 21. 27. and do confess their sin , as did judas , matth. 27. 3. and do acknowledge god to be just in punishing of sin , num. 23 ▪ 10 and do desire to be saved , as baalam , numb. 23. 10. and do in their misery and afflictions promise repentance , saying , we will sin no more , psal. 78. 32 , 33 , 34 , 35. 3. degree of the acknowledgement of gods calling is : 1. a temporary faith , for a reprobate is content with a general faith , he doth confusedly believe the promises made in christ , but he doth never apply the promises of god to himself ; nay , he hath no purpose to desire , or endeavour to apply the same ; he hath no wrestling , or striving against security , carelesness , or distrust , he believeth that some shall be saved , but not particularly that he himself shall be saved , jam. 2. 29. matt. 13. 20 , 21. joh. 2. 23 , 24. 4. the fourth degree of the acknowledgement of gods calling is : a tasting of heavenly gifts , as of 1. justification , 2. of sanctification , 3. of the powers , and virtues of the world to come . this tasting of heavenly gifts is a sense in their hearts , by which they do feel and perceive the excellency of gods benefits , but they do not enjoy the same ; for they do not feed on these banckets , nor are they nourish'd by them , but they do onely taste of them , heb. 6. 4 , 5. 5. the fifth degree of the acknowledgement of gods calling is : 1. an outward holiness of life for a time , under this is comprehended a zeal in the profession of religion , 2. a reverence and fear towards god , 3. an amendment of life in many things , as it was in herod , mark . 6. 20. and in simon magus , acts 3. 13. 2. degree of the execution of the decree of reprobation in those that are called by an uneffectual calling is : a falling away again after calling , this cometh to pass after this manner . 1. the reprobate is deceived by some sin . 2. his heart is hardened by the same sin . 3. his heart being hardened becometh wicked , and perverse . 4. upon this followeth unbelief , so that he will not consent unto gods word , though he heareth it , & knoweth it . 5. there doth immediatly upon this unbelief follow an apostasie , or a falling away from faith in christ , heb. 3. 12. 13. 1 tim. 1. 19. apostasie is sometimes a sin against the holy ghost ; the sin against the holy ghost is so called , because it is done contrary to the illumination of the holy ghost : it is a set , and a stubborn , obstinate malice done knowingly , against god and against christ , and that after illumination , or enlightning by the holy spirit , heb. 10. 29. it is a general , or totall defection , and apostasie from god , after enlightning by the holy spirit , out of meer stubborness , and malice of heart , heb. 10. 29. and 6. 5 , 6. it is hard to know when a man committeth this sin , 1. because the root of it , which is malice , lurketh secretly in the heart , and therefore it cannot be easily discerned . this sin is not found in all the reprobates , because many of them die before they are enlightned by the holy spirit of god . those that commit this sin do never repent , and therefore can never receive pardon . the elect cannot commit this sin , therefore those , who do feel in themselves a sure testimony of their election need never dispair . after apostasie followeth pollution , which is the very fulness of all iniquity , and it is altogether contrary to sanctification , gen. 15 16. he doth not apostatise , nor sin against the holy ghost ▪ that in time of persecution doth either rashly , or for fear deny christ , for peter thus for fear did deny christ , matth. 29. 73 , 74 , 75. he that doth ignorantly persecute the church as did paul , doth not sin this sin , 1 tim 1 13. and as did the jews , act. 3. 17. and 2. 37. 3. the third degree of the execution of the d●cree of reprobation in those that are called by an uneffectual calling is : damnation , by which they are delivered up to eternal punishment . the execution of damnation beginneth in death , and is finish'd in the last judgement , luke 16. 22 , 23. the execution of the decree of reprobation in those which are not called ▪ is this : 1. they have by nature ignorance and vanity of minde , eph. 4. 18. 2. hardness of heart followeth this , by which they do become void of all sorrow for their sins , ephes. 4. 18. 3. there doth follow this hardness of heart a reprobate sense , that is , an extinguishing of the natural light of reason , or of the judgment of good & evil . and 4. when the heart doth cease to sorrow for sin , there doth follow a committing of sin with greediness , eph. 4. 19. 5. upon this followeth pollution , which is the fulness of sin . and then 6. a just reward is given to all these , viz. fearfull condemnation , eph. 4. 18. rom. 1. 28. the estate and condition of reprobates when they are dead , is this 1. their bodies being dead lie in the earth . 2 their souls are tormented in hell , luk. 16. 25 1 pet. 3 19. 2 pet. 2. 4. and in the last judgement their bodies and souls being united shall be cast into the most fearfull , and terrible fire of hell , matth 25. 41. reprobates when they die do become sensless , and astonish'd like unto a stone , as did nabal , 1 sam. 25. 37 , 38. or else they are overwhelmed with a terrible horrour of conscience , and with a despairing of their salvation , as if they were overturn'd and swallowed up , as with a gulf of the sea , as judas , matth. 27. 5. their condemnation is this : at the sound of the last trumpet they that are alive shall be smitten with horrour , and with fear , and they shall be changed in a moment , and those of them that are dead shall rise again , and their bodies shall then be made immortal , and cast into eternal torments , matth. 25. 41. joh. 5. 29. 1 thes. 4. 16. 17. christ will pass this sentence of go ye cursed upon them , and this being by him pronounced against them , immediatly everlasting death shall follow . the manner of which is this : 1. they shall be separated from the glory , and presence of god , 2 thes. 1 9. 2. they shall be punish'd with eternal confusion , and with bitter reproaches ▪ for , all their secret wickedness and sins shall be revealed , 2 thes. 1. 9. isai. 66. 24. 3. their fellowship shall be with the devil , and his angels for ever , matth. 25. 41. 4. their bodies and souls shall be tormented with horrour , and exceeding great anguish , through the sense and feeling of gods wrath , which shall be poured out upon them for ever , isai 66 ▪ 24. and by reason of their great tortures , their punishment is called hell : fire , a worm , weeping , and gnashing of teeth , and outer darkness . rev. 21. 8. matth 13. 42. isai 66. 24. a corolary , or the advantage , over-plus , or last conclusion . in this , which hath been spoken concerning reprobation , the justice of god in punishing sin doth appear . and from it ariseth gods glory , which is the end of punishment . for this cause also every good christian must in all things propound gods glory , as the end of all his actions , rom. 9. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. 1 cor. 10. 31. the application of predestination . how to discern , and judge of our own predestination . rules : 1. all the elect in gods good time are assured , and sure of their election in christ to eternal life , rom. 9. 14 , 16. john 15. 5 , 18 , 19. 1 cor. 2. 12. 2 cor. 13. 5. 2. the elect do come to the knowledge of their election by the effects of their election . 1. the effects of election are the testimony of gods spirit , rom. 8. 10. 2 the works of sanctification , 2 pet. 1. 5. to the 10. 3. if any doubt of this testimony , it may be known whether it doth come from the spirit of god , or from her own carnal presumption , thus : 1. by a full perswasion which they shall finde in themselves , for the holy ghost will not onely say it , but perswade them that they are gods children . and the flesh can in no wise do this . 2 by the manner of this perswasion , the holy ghost doth not perswade men that they are elect by reasons drawn from their own works , or worthiness , but by reasons drawn from the free grace , love , and favour of god . and this perswasion doth exceedingly differ from that which satan useth . 3. by the effects of this testimony , or perswasion ; for if this perswasion cometh from the holy ghost , it is lively and stirring . but if it doth arise from carnal presumption , it is a dead and liveless perswasion . for all such as are truely perswaded that they are elected , and adopted children of god , will love god , and trust in god , and call upon god with their whole heart . 4. if the testimony of gods spirit be not so powerfull in the elect , then they may judge of their election by their sanctification , which is an effect of the holy ghost , even as we may judge by heat , that there is a fire , though we see no flame . 5. we may know whether we be predestinate , or elect , or no , by these notable effects of sanctification . 1. by feeling our wants , and by bewailing , in the bitterness of our hearts , our offending of god by our sins . 2. by our continual striving against the flesh , by our resisting and hating the godly motions thereof , and if with grief we do think them burthenous and troublesom . 3. by an earnest and fervent desire of the grace of god , and of the merit of christ , that thereby we may obtain eternal life . 4. by a true esteem of it when we have obtained it , even as a most precious jewel , phil. 3. 8. 5. by our love to christians , to ministers , to brethren , and by our readiness to lay down our lives for them , and with them if need so require , matth. 10. 42 1 joh. 3 16. 6. by our earnest and fervent calling upon god , and that with hearty tears , in the sensible perceiving of those sins which we commit to his dishonour , and therefore may have just cause to think he may be displeased with them . 7. by a desire and love to the coming of christ , and to the day of judgement , that there may be an end of the days of sin , 1 joh. 4. 17. 8. by our flying all occasions of sin , and endeavour seriously to come to newness of life . 9. by our perseverance in such good actions and endeavours , and in such good thoughts as these , even to the last gasp of our lives . luther saith , he that will serve god must believe that which cannot be seen , and hope for that which is deferred , and love god even then when he sheweth himself an enemy , and thus he must remain to the end . 6. if so be that the godly finde all these notable effects of the spirit feeble in them , and their faith weak and faint , yet they must not doubt of their election ; but they must know that god doth thus try them , and therefore they must not be dismayed : for a weak faith is sufficient to engraf them into christ . 7. he that as yet feeleth none of these effects in his heart , must not upon this conclude himself to be reprobate , but he must endeavour by the reading of the word of god , and by the use of the sacraments , and chiefly by fervent and earnest prayer to come to an inward sense of the power of christ drawing him to himself by his spirit , and thus to come to an assurance of his redemption by christs death and passion . 8. no man can certainly say of himself , or of any other that he is reprobate , for god doth oftentimes prefer those to be in his kingdom , which in the sight of men seem to be most estranged from his favour ; and above them also which in outward appearance , and in the judgement of men are the children of the kingdom ; thus were the publicanes and harlots , preferred before the pharisees by christ , matth. 21. 31. and many a man is called even at the eleventh hour . matth. 20. 6. a notable example of this we have in the thief upon the cross ; luke 23. 40 , 43. the uses of this doctrine for instruction be these : 1. there is no justification by works , nor any works of ours that are meritorious . for election is by the grace of god , and therefore justification also . in the work of salvation , grace challengeth all to it self , rom. 11. 5. 2 tim. 1. 9. phil. 1. 29. rom. 3. 24. tit. 3. 5. ezek. 36. 27. rom. 6. 23. 2. hence we learn that judicial astrology , or the foretelling of what men will be by the casting of their nativities is false : for this doth determine such and such men shall be like in life and conversation , whom god in his predestination hath made unlike ; as for example , jacob and esau were born of the same parents , and almost in the same moment of time , and yet they were most unlike in disposition , and had divers events the like we may see in all twins born at the same time . 3. hence we learn that god is most wise , omnipotent , just , and mercifull , rom. 11. 33. eph. 1. 5. here we are advised , 1. to fight against all doubtings & distrust of our salvation , because it doth not depend upon our works , but upon gods grace luke 10. 20. rom. 8. 33. 2. to humble our souls under the mighty hand of god , because we are in his hand , even as clay in the hand of the potter , rom. 9. 20. 21. 3. to give all the glorie to god , as to whom alone it is due , 2 thes. 2. 13. 4. to bear crosses , or afflictions patiently , rom. 8. 29. and that because by this means we are conformed to christ , and made like unto him , phil. 3. 10 5. to do good works , and that because god hath created us in christ jesus unto this purpose , eph. 2. 10. to whom with the son and holy spirit be all glory , honour & praise , now and ever , amen . the end of the sum of divinity . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a54381e-1390 joh. 17. 3. simplenes of the nature of god . see aug. l. 6. c. 4. de trinitate . gods nature . its immutability . its infinitness . gods wisdom . gods will . quid vult . fieri de nobis , or in nobis . quid vult . fieri a nobis . m. p. pag. 295. * ( i. e. ) v●lendo , velle . nolendo nolle , or penitus nolle . decretun dei non tell it libertatem voluntatis sed ordinat . so m. p. gods omnipotencie . gods glorie . gods blessedness . * {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} notes for div a54381e-3520 the creation . 2 cor. 12. 2. * 2 sam. 14. 17. their knowledge . ministery . of man . the place of his first habitation . his integrity . the fall of angels . their corruption . degrees . punishment . mans fall . the manner of it . the greatness of it . fruits and effects of it . of sin by participation . original sin . the remnant of gods image in the minde after the fall . increase of sin what it is . the remnant of gods image in the conscience ▪ the effects of the impureness of the cōscience by adams fall . the remnant of gods image in the will . actual sin . examples of actual sin of the minde . actual sin of the will and affections . outward actual sin . degrees of sins of commission . tentation . abstraction . * inescation . ( i. e. to take by a bait . conception . the birth of sin . perfection of sin . differences of sin of commission . consent , sin of ignorance . sin of knowledge . presumptuous sin . sin of knowledge with malice . punishment of sin in this life . punishment of sin at the last gasp . election . the execution of the decree of election . gods covenant . the seals of the covenant . covenant of works . first commandment . affirmative part of it . negative part . second commandment . affirmative part of it . negative part of it . idolatry and superstition . effects of hypocrisie . magick ▪ a wicked art . the foundation of magick is a contract with the devil . the covenant with the devil is either secret , or express . divining . necromancy . pythonism . working magick . enchantments . charms . third commandment . affirmative part . an oath . its parts . its form . an asseveration what it is ? oath of maids . negative part . superstitions . palmestry . astrology . m. p. p● ibidem . astrology draws mens mindes from the contemplation of gods providence . effects of the sun & moon . m. p. p. 44 ▪ astrology concerning nativities is wicked . astrologers how they are reckoned of in scripture . fourth commandment . affirmative part . ceremonial sabbath . * how the sabbath is moral . negative part . fifth commandment . affirmative parts . negative part . sixth commandment . the affirmative part . the lawfulness of truces and covenants . m. p. p. 56 m p. p. 58 negative part . duels are unlawfull . the seventh commandment . the affirmative part . rules to be observed in the use of diet . rules for chastity . cautions ●or pre●●rving ●urity . the negative part . fornication what it is . adultery what it is . occasions of lust , what they are . eight commandment . affirmative part . contentation . thriftiness . pledges are not to be exacted . just covenants must be performed . the negative part . of unjust dealing in heart . of unjust dealing in deed . the oppressions in bargaining their kindes , oppression by usury . cautions in use , if it be at all lawfull . punishment of theft . ninth commandment . affirmative part . it is lawfull to labour for a good name by godliness . negative part . how we may judge others . objection ▪ tenth commandment . affirmative part . the kindes of the motions , or thoughts of the heart . the negative part . vses of the law . the covenant of grace . of the sacraments . m. p. p. 73 the ends of the sacraments . m. p. p. 72 * ( i. e. ) though a man hath never used the sacraments . sacraments & sacrifices how they differ . the sacraments are two baptism . the parts of baptism . the lords supper . the degrees of the execution of election . 1. the first degree of the declaration of god's love is effectual calling . the members christ . effectual calling the means of its execution . the hammers by which a stony heart is bruised . the five motions in the heart upon the work of faith . rules to know true faith . the second degree of the declaration of gods love . priviledges by adoption . the third degree of the declaration of gods love . the parts of inherent holiness . illumination . 2. part of inherent holiness , is sanctification of memory . 3 part. sanctification of cōscience . 4. part. sanctificaton of will . 5. part. sanctification of affections . the chief affections . 6. part. sanctification of body . repentance . its fruits . new obedience . parts of self-denial . 1. part of christian warfar . the compleat armour of god . a christians combat . the combatants . confirmation of the souldier , consisting in three things . assaults in the combat . the second assault . the third assault . remedies against unjust anger , against wrath . against covetousness . against the desires of the flesh . second part of self denial . to strengthen patience . afflictions are the godly mens high way to heaven . the profession of christ . continual profession . infirmities in prayer . profession in time of danger ▪ profession of christ , as it concerneth his members . alms. fourth d●gree of the declaration of gods love . glorification . remedies against death . the state osf the elect at the last judgment . the state of the elect after the last judgement . eternal life what it is . perfect glory what it is . the fruits of eternal life , and perfect glory . notes for div a54381e-27570 a cororaly . the decree of reprobation . the execution of this decree . there are three degrees of the execution of gods decree of reprobation . 1. degree of the execution of the decree of reprobation is the acknowledgement of gods calling . 2. degree of the execution of the decree of reprobation is a falling away after calling . 3. degree or the execution of the decree of reprobation is damnation . the exec●●●●n of this decree , in those that are not called , & the state of reprobates whilest they live . their estate when they are dead . their condemnation . the manner of it . a corolary . rule . rule ▪ rule ▪ rule . rule ▪ luthers saying . rule . rule . rule . the uses of this doctrine . the 〈◊〉 of the doc●● the wells of salvation opened, or, words whereby we may be saved by thomas vincent. vincent, thomas, 1634-1678. 1668 approx. 284 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 88 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a64998 wing v451 estc r27043 09619289 ocm 09619289 43849 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64998) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43849) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1344:31) the wells of salvation opened, or, words whereby we may be saved by thomas vincent. vincent, thomas, 1634-1678. [2], 162 p. printed for thomas parkhurst, london : 1668. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng salvation. theology, doctrinal. 2003-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-08 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-09 john latta sampled and proofread 2003-09 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the wells of salvation opened : or , words whereby we may be saved . by thomas vincent , minister sometime in maudlins milk-street , london . act. 16.29 . then he called for a light , and sprang in , and came trembling , and fell down before paul and silas , vers. 30. and brought them out , and said , sirs , what must i do to be saved ? v. 31. and they said , believe on the lord iesus christ , and thou shalt be saved , and thy house . v. 32. and they spake unto him the word of the lord , and to all that were in his house . london , printed for thomas parkhurst , and are to be sold at his shop at the golden bible on london-bridge . 1668. to the citizens of london . i have sounded two trumpets of iudgement in your ears , the former signifying gods terrible voice to the city , in the late terrible iudgements of plague and fire which have devoured so many inhabitants and habitations , as the space of many ages ( should the world so long continue ) would not blot out the remembrance of ; the later signifying gods terrible voice to the world , at the second appearance of christ to the last and universal iudgement of all the children ▪ of adam , which is both sure and near ; the dreadfulness of which iudgement to the wicked , no tongue is able to express : the chief intent of both my treatises concerning the late , and future iudgement , hath been to awaken sleepy sinners out of their carnal security , and to prepare them for the great salvation purchased by iesus christ , and proclaimed , proffered and promised in the gospel ▪ therefore having at first purposed , and in my last book of christs appearance to iudgement , promised to treat more largely of salvation than in the close of a vse i could do ; i have here endeavoured to fulfill my promise , in telling you words whereby you may be saved . we read 1 tim. 1.15 . this is a faithful saying , and worthy of all acceptation , that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners . and heb. 2.3 , 4. that this salvation began to be spoken of by the lord , and was confirmed by them that heard him . the lord speaketh to you from heaven by his spirit in his word and ministers , that you would accept of this salvation : see then that ye refuse not him that speaketh ; for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth , much more shall not ye escape if ye turn away from him that speaketh from heaven , heb. 12.25 . they that seek this salvation diligently , shall finde it certainly ; but they that refuse or neglect it , must needs perish unavoidably , and be miserable eternally . that this little piece may be blessed by the lord , and made use of as a means to promote your salvation , is the prayer of him whose great desire is , that you might be saved . thomas vincent . words whereby we may be saved . act. 11.13 , 14. and he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house , which stood and said unto him , send men to joppa , and call for simon whose sirname is peter , who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved . wee read in the second and third verses of this chapter of the contention which some of the circumcision had with the apostle peter , because he had gone in to , and eaten with such as were uncircumcised . whereupon peter giveth an account to them of his reason , and the occasion of his so doing ; rehearsing the matter more briefly from verse 4. to the 18th . which is related more largely in the whole foregoing tenth chapter . first he telleth them of his trance at ioppa , and the vision which himself had of the vessel descending from heaven with unclean beasts in it ; and the command from heaven to eat , not calling that common and unclean which god had cleansed ; the lord hereby giving him to understand , that like as under the law , though there were divers kinds of meats forbidden , and therefore unclean , and unlawfull to be eaten ; yet under the gospel , that prohibition being taken off , and the meats sanctified by the word of gods command or allowance , believers might freely eat of them without sin : so also , though under the law , before the coming of christ , the people of god in the nation of the iewes , where only the church of god was to be found , were to separate themselves from all heathen nations as unclean , and it was unlawfull for them to go in and eat with heathen or gentile persons , lest they should be defiled and enticed by such familiar converse with them , unto their superstitions and idolatries ▪ yet god having before foretold and promised the accession of the gentiles unto the church ; and under the gospel having sent his son , who brake down the middle wall of partition between the iewes and the gentiles ; and having sanctified the gentiles by his spirit and faith ; they were no longer to be accounted unclean , and therefore it was as lawfull for the believing iewes to eat and converse with them as one with another . moreover he he telleth them of the circumcision of the vision which cornelius a gentile had of an angel , and the command , which he had from the lord by the angel to send for him , to preach the gospel of salvation unto him ; together with the effect of his preaching namely the falling of the holy ghost upon the gentiles , as upon themselves at the beginning ; and therefore that it would have been no less than a withstanding of god himself for him still to have kept at a distance from the gentiles . which answer of peter gave such satisfaction , that it did not only put to silence them which contended with him , but also caused them to glorifie god in behalf of the gentiles . my text is a brief rehearsal which peter giveth of cornelius his vision which he had from his mouth . and he shewed us , how he had seen an angel in his house , which stood , and said , send men to joppa , and call for simon whose sirname is peter , who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved . i might present you with divers doctrines from the words , but because i intend to handle but two , i shall mention but two , which to me are the most observable . doct. 1. that god doth make use of ministers to preach the gospel rather than angels . doct. 2. that ministers are to tell people such words whereby they may be saved . it is the latter of these which i intend chiefly to insist upon ; yet the former lying in the way , and being so worthy of note , and may be of such use , i shall spend a little time about it . sect . i. doct. 1. that god doth make use of ministers to preach the gospel rather than angels . the angel appeareth to cornelius , doth not preach the gospel to cornelius , but from the lord directeth him to send to peter , to peter , who was one of christs ministers , and he should preach unto him , and tell him such words whereby he and his should be saved . the angel could have told him such words himself ; he could have set forth the lord jesus christ in his divinity , and eternal abode with god ; in his humanity , with which he cloathed and vailed himself , and abode for a while here amongst men ; in his life so holy , his works so powerfull , his love so great , his death so painfull , his resurrection so soon , his ascension so wonderfull , his session and intercession at the right hand of god ; and the glory which he hath with the father in heaven , however he had been vilified by some men when he was upon the earth . the angel could have preached the law with such thunder and lightning , as should have made the conscience of cornelius to tremble , even as the israelites did when the law was given by their ministration on mount sinai . he could have shot the arrows of the almighty so deep into his spirit , as no balm on earth should have been able to heal his wounds : the angel could have represented the god of heaven in a more terrible way than man can do , as lord of an innumerable host of mighty angels , of which he was but one , and as set in battel-array against christless sinners ; and told cornelius what dreadfull threatnings were denounced , and what heavy curses did belong unto such as had broken gods law ; and hereby could have put him into such terrors and consternation in reflection upon the least guilt , as should have sunk him down to the very brink of the burning lake in his own apprehension , and forced him in the anguish of his spirit to cry out , o what shall i do to be saved ? and then he could have represented the lord jesus christ unto him as the only , and an all-sufficient , and most mercifull saviour of mankinde , who had undertaken the office of mediatour and advocate , and was faithfull . he could have described his beauty and excellency in such high expressions , and invited cornelius to come to christ with such sweet words and pressing arguments , as never proceeded out of the mouth of any man. but the angel had no commission to preach the gospel to cornelius ; only to speak to him from god , that he would send men to ioppa , and call for peter , and he should preach the gospel unto him . and as it was in the beginning , so it is still , god doth not send angels down from heaven to preach christ , and salvation by christ unto the people ; but he sendeth ministers , men whom he qualifieth and commissioneth for the work . the reasons why god doth make use of ministers to preach the gospel rather than angels , may be chiefly these three . 1. because of our infirmity . 2. for the honour of the ministry . 3. that he might secure his own glory . reas. 1. because of our infirmity . we could not in this state of darkness , weakness , and sinfulness , bear the preaching of angels that are so holy and glorious : our eyes would be dazled , our spirits would be amazed , and hearts sink within us at the voice of angels , should they appear unto us in their glory . manoah thought he should dye when an angel came to him , and foretold him of a son which should be born to him , iudg. 13. zacharias was sore troubled at the appearance of an angel with the like message , l●k . 1. the shepheards in the field were exceedingly afraid when the angel came to them to bring tidings of the birth of our saviour , luk. 2. and christs disciples were no less afraid when the angels brought news to them of his resurrection . and if holy men could not bear the appearance of angels , much less could the unholy and wicked , whose guilt and defilement would make them a thousand-fold more fearfull . if an angel should immediately descend from heaven into this place , and taking my room should preach unto this auditory before me ; would not fearfull thoughts arise in the hearts , and paleness get upon the checks of the best amongst you ? but what dread would there seize upon the spirits of such of you as are graceless and profane , who are yet in your sins , and have not made your peace with god ? how would you shrink and croud out faster than you crouded in , as not being able to endure ? when moses had been forty dayes upon the mount with god , and had seen only his back-parts , yet his face did shine with such lustre by reflexion of the beams of gods majesty upon him , that the children of israel could not look upon his face without a vail : and if angels who continually behold the face of god in heaven , should come down and appear and preach , men would not be able to hear and bear : therefore god maketh use of ministers to preach the gospel , men of like passions and infirmities with our selves , for our infirmities sake : men who will not affrighten us with their glory , whom we may look upon without dazling our eyes , whom we may speak unto , and converse with familiarly , without dread and terrour . as elihu said of himself to iob , chap. 33.6 , 7. so it may be said of ministers , they are in gods stead , and yet formed out of clay , and their terrour shall no● make us afraid . reas. 2. for the honour of the ministery . jesus christ himself the son of god was a minister when he was upon the earth , and his employment was to preach the gospel ; and the highest spiritual honour that can be conferred upon any , is to be christs embassadours , representatives , and to succeed him in this office and work of the ministery , which honour he hath conferred upon some men rather than angels . i am not of their opinion , who think , that gods people are exalted to a higher dignity than the angels ; neither do i think the consequences to be right from heb. 1 . 1● . on which this notion is grounded : are they not all ministring spirits ( speaking of angels ) sent forth to minister for them which shall be heirs of salvation ? it doth not follow , because angels do minister to the saints , therefore they are inferiour to the saints : for jesus christ himself did minister to them , though he be their lord and king ; when he washed his disciples feet , in which act he appeared so like a servant , yet then he calleth himself their lord and master , ioh. 13.13 . ministring to others doth not imply inferiority , unless it be such as doth withall imply dependency , but rather the contrary ; our saviour telleth his disciples , when he perceived them to be ambitious of greatness , that whoever would be the greatest amongst them should be their minister , math. 20.26 . indeed our humane nature in christ is exalted above angels ; but in other respects we are inferiour to angels . the angels are above us in regard of spirituality , they are all spirit , we are partly flesh , and but partly spirit : in regard of immortality , they never dye , we cannot escape death long : in regard of purity , they have not the least tincture of sin ; the most holy persons on earth are not without some remainders of defilement : in regard of neerness unto god , they dwell with god in heaven , and behold his face continually ; we are on earth , and see but his back-parts , and what we see it is but darkly and thorow a glass : in regard of power , wisdom , and many excellencies which we may be ignorant of , for who doth perfectly understand the nature , and all the properties of angels ? yet although in these and the like respects the angels are above the saints on earth , the lord hath given this honour to ministers rather than to angels , to preach the gospel of salvation by jesus christ. we read of three thousand converted by one sermon of peter , act. 2. but where in the whole scripture do we read of the conversion of any by angels ? reas. 3. and chiefly for gods glory it is that ministers are made use of to preach the gospel rather than angels , that the efficacy of the gospel preached in the conversion and salvation of people might appear to be from god alone , and so the glory might be ascribed in whole unto himself , and nothing unto the creature . if angels were employed to preach and convert souls , people would hardly be withheld from idolizing , and giving that worship to them which is gods due ; they would be ready to glory and boast in the angels should they be wrought upon by their preaching , instead of glorying in god. if the corinthians did so in their teachers when they were men of great eminency for gifts , i am of paul , i am of apollos , i am of cephas ; much more would christians be apt to glory in angels , if they were sent to be their teachers : i am of michael , happily one might say , it was he convinced and awakened my conscience when fast asleep in sin and security , and o with what thundering words did he speak , enough to pierce the ear of such as are dead ! another , i am of gabriel , it was his sermons which perswaded me to repent and believe , and o what arguments did he use , such as would have moved a stone ! and thus instead of looking to , and admiring gods free grace , people would be apt to look to and admire the angels , and give them the praise which is due to god alone . therefore god maketh use of ministers to preach the gospel , rather than angels , that he might hedge in all the glory of mans salvation to himself ; that if any sinners be converted and saved by such weak instruments , they may say , it is the lords doing ; it is the lords work and free grace , and it is marvellous in our eyes . god will not make use of the wisdom of men in preaching of the gospel , lest the faith by such preaching should stand in the wisdom of men , and not in the power of god , 1 cor. 2.4 , 5. and this may be one reason why god doth not make use of the wisdom of angels in preaching the gospel , lest the faith produced hereby should stand not in his own power , but in his angels wisdom . god maketh use of the foolishness of preaching ( so accounted by the world because plain ) by foolish ministers ( men of little esteem amongst such as are not able to discern reall worth ) to save them that believe , 1 cor. 1.21 . god dealeth forth treasures out of earthen vessels , that the excellency of the power might be of god , and not of men , 2 cor. 4.7 . sect . ii. vse 1. for reproof , doth god make use of ministers to preach the gospel rather than angels ? this then may reprove , 1. such as take upon them to preach , and are no ministers . 2. such as take upon them to be ministers , and are no preachers ? 3. such as blemish their ministry by an ungodly conversation . 4. such as will hearken to the devil rather than to ministers , though god doth employ them to preach rather than angels . 1. this reproveth such as take upon them to preach the gospel , and are no ministers . and here let none mistake me , as if i spake against the preaching of any that are true ministers of jesus christ , whether they be set apart for the work and office in the episcopal or congregational , or presbyterian way : but i speak against the preaching of them which are no ministers , and have no call nor commission for this work . the angel is sent here to cornelius , but he doth not preach the gospel to him ; yea he did not dare to do it , because he had no commission ; for if the angel had received a commission to preach , he would not have dared to have forborn : none will d●ny that the angel had gifts sufficient , if that had been commission ; but because he did not preach , it is a sign he had no commission ; and if the angel did not dare to preach when he was not commissioned , how dare uncommissioned men to do it ? i speak not only of the preaching of such as are lamentably deficient in gifts ( except in their own conceit ) but also of the preaching of them which have good gifts ( which might well and regularly be made use of in a private way ) but they are of other callings in which they are commanded to abide , if they would abide with god , 1 cor. 7.24 . how dare they to entrench so far upon the office of the ministry , as to do that which is one of the chiefest parts of the work of the ministry , namely , to preach the gospel ? if any such should read these lines , and have an honest design in what they do , and suppose they do well herein ; let them seriously consider whether they be not under a temptation of the devil , and think of these sad consequences which have been , and may be the fruit of such mens preaching . 1. the bringing of the ministry of christ into disesteem . do not such persons themselves for the most part , do not their hearers slight true ministers ? and will not this one day be accounted a slighting of jesus christ himself , whose ambassadours and representatives they are ? and will such be able to give a good account hereof , who have been the occasion ? 2. the weakening the hands of christs faithfull labourers , whom all should endeavour to encourage and strengthen in their arduous employment . i could tell you of a lay-man , one mr. bernard in wiltshire , who hath been eminently instrumental to bring much light into a corner which before was very dark , where some thousands do relish the word and ordinances , so that they will travail many miles to hear good sermons , and it is judged that some hundreds in those parts have been really converted ; and this work hath been effected not by mr. bernards preaching himself ▪ though in gifts he do exceed many who intrude upon the ministerial employment , but by calling able ministers to preach , and standing by them , which hath ( through gods blessing ) exceedingly promoted the work ; whereas , if he had entrenched upon the office of the ministry , and taken upon him to preach himself , i am perswaded he would have had as ill success as others ; and we should not have had that cause of glorifying god for him , and for what hath been done by his means . 3. the encouraging of ungifted persons to preach , who in their own conceits have as good gifts as themselves , and may plead as good authority : as also the encouraging erroneous persons privily to broach false doctrines unto the corrupting of the mindes of the hearers ; and by consequence the introduction of confusion , and tearing the church of christ , which in the issue may prove its de●●ruction . i know that lay-preachers will plead the practice of the apostle paul , who wrought in his trade of tent-making , whilest he was a preacher of the gospel . i grant that paul was a tent-maker , but he was called and ordained to be a minister ; and though he did practise his trade after this , yet i do not remember that he did it more than once , which was amongst the corinthians , and that upon a special occasion , that he might preach the gospel freely , and be like some false teachers who boasted herein : but when did he do it again ? did he not receive maintenance from other churches without working for his living ? besides , he had extraordinary gifts by immediate inspiration , which none now may hope to obtain without the use of ordinary means . but whatever pauls practice was , he doth never make mention of it for an example , which other ministers should imitate him in ; for when he writeth to timothy a minister , he enjoyneth him from the lord to spend his whole time about his ministry , and not in any other calling ; he exhorteth him to give himself to reading , and meditation , and doctrine , to be in these things wholly , as the original word doth signifie . moreover , the other apostles , however they were at first fisher-men by trade , yet when they were called to be fishers of men , they leave their nets , and after christs ascension they would not so much as take upon them the work of deacons to minister unto widdows , why ? read the reason , act. 6.4 . that they might give themselves continually to prayer , and ministry of the word . surely then it is the will of god that such as take upon them to preach , should give themselves to the ministry of the word , and not follow other callings . they have work enough to do in the ministry , if they employ themselves therein conscienciously , for their whole time , had they more time than they have , they had not need to be diverted by worldly businesses ; they finde it hard enough to attend upon the lord without much distraction , that have none of these secular employments : what an unsutable frame must they be under that follow another calling all the week , and come reeking from the world , and engage to speak to people in an extemporaneous discourse ? is the lord pleased with such ministrations ? if the lord doth not strike such persons dead , who do thus presume to entrench upon the levites office , as he did vzzah , who might have pleaded a greater seeming need of his help when the ark did shake , and was ready to fall , than they can do , 2 sam. 6.6 , 7. yet they are in danger of a greater spiritual judgement than natural death , namely of being smitten with spiritual deadness ; some wither strangely within , when they make a glorious outward flourish . yet god forbid that the door of employment in the ministry should be shut against all those that at first have been bred up in other callings ; for if any l●y-men that be holy , and knowing , and have gifts and hearts for this employment , do leave their other calling , and dedicate themselves wholly to the work of the ministry , and be tryed , and set apart according to the rule , i should not be against their preaching ; but i am verily perswaded that such transgress the rule , that take upon them to preach whilest they follow other callings . let such examine themselves wherefore it is that they continue in their other callings ; is it not from a carnal and worldly motive ? is it not because worldly emolument cometh in this way ? but would it not be more for their advantage , if by breaking off their trade they gained less estate for themselves , and more souls for jesus christ ? let them either leave their other calling , or leave their preaching ; if they have not a livelihood but by their trade , why may they not trust god for provisions as others have done ? hath not the lord appointed that people should maintain their ministers , and communicate unto them in carnal things who receive spiritual things , things of more worth from ministers ? but some will pretend an extraordinary commission and call from god to preach , and this they think will bear them out in their preaching though they be no ministers ; b●t let such take heed they be not under a delusion of sathan herein : to caution such therefore against such delusions , i shall give you a relation which mr. vavasir powel did s●nd in a letter to a friend of his in the city , when himself was in prison ; the words which i transcribed my self out of the letter written with his own hand are these . concerning that delusion in kent ( a relation of which i had and still should have in the countrey in writing , under the godly mans own hand and some other brethren ) though i do not remember all the circumstances , yet the substance of it was this . there was one iohn moody a godly man , under bapt. ( i suppose first joyned to mr. kyff ▪ in london ) being in bed one night there appeared a great light in his chamber , and a voice spake to him thus : iohn moody , arise , and go preach my gospel in the west , for my people perish for want of knowledge there . to which iohn moody answered , i am not fit to preach , i want gifts . the voice answered again , i will give thee gifts , and fit thee ▪ moody replyed , i am a poor man , and have no means to maintain me therein . the voice said , meet me at such a place ( and so nam'd both time and place ) and i will supply thee with silver and gold , and so departed . the next day iohn moody acquainted one or more of his christian acquaintance ; and they fearing it was a delusion , advised him to be very carefull what he did , and disswaded him from going , counselling him if it came again , he should ask who he was , and particularly , whether he was iesus of nazareth ( for it was he that had power to send out ministers . ) the devil came again either the next night , or within few nights after , in the same manner , asking him , why he did not go upon his message . iohn moody asked him who it was that sent him ; the voice answered , i am god. but saith he , art thou iesus of nazareth . the voice said again , i am god. then iohn moody resolutely answered , if thou be not that iesus that suffered at ierusalem , and that sits at the right hand of god in heaven , i will not go . thereupon the devil departed , making a great noise , and taking part of the top of the house away with him . this was the substance , and the thing undoubtedly true . thus far are the very words of mr. powels letter . now if this man had not questioned this thing , but gone into the west to preach , he and others who heard the relation , might have judged that it was an extraordinary call and commission which this man had from heaven , and that with seeming greater grounds than what others pretend for their extraordinary commissions ; whereas upon further search , you perceive it was the devil was sending a good man out of his way ; if he being no minister had then preached upon this sending , he had been a messenger of the devil , and not a messenger of jesus christ. for my part , i cannot believe that any are called and commissioned by christ to preach , unless they can show their call and commission in the scripture ; take heed then ( my beloved ) especially you which are young , that if gifts encrease you be not puffed up with pride , and begin first to undervalue christs ministers , and think you can do their work better your selves , and so venture to transgress scripture-rules by preaching without commission and scripture-warrant ; very dangerous may the consequences of such preaching be , as i could give some instances . god hath appointed one office for this work of preaching , and that is the office of the ministry ; and though he have angels about him full of wisdom and knowledge in the mysteries of salvation , yet he doth not employ them in the work , but qualifieth and calleth some men unto it ; and if angels which are not ministers of the gospel must not preach , much less may men do it who are not ministers . 2. this reproveth such as take upon them to be ministers , and are no preachers . god maketh use of ministers to preach the gospel rather than angels , therefore they ought to preach , or they are unworthy to be ministers . such as call themselves ministers , but are ignorant and unskilfull in the work of preaching , which ministers are called unto ; such as take upon them to be teachers of others , and have need to be taught themselves which be the first principles of the oracles of god , and are children , yea babes in understanding , being unacquainted with the word of righteousness and mysteries of salvation : such who know not how to divide the word of god aright , and give every one his portion ; whose sermons are like wood , and hey , and stubble , without any silver , or gold , or precious stones of spiritual , heavenly and soul-saving doctrine ; who give men chaff instead of corn , and stones instead of bread ; who fill their sermons with frothy wit , or husky quotations of authors , or knotty school-notions , and distinctions , or secret , bitter invectives , and scorpion-slings and lashes at the power of godliness , instead of convincing , soul-edifying truths , which may administer grace unto the hearers ; they will have a fearfull account to give unto the great shepheard , when he shall appear to make inquiry concerning the flock committed to their charge , and shall charge upon them the guilt of the blood of so many souls as have perished through their neglect . are there not many such ministers at this day in england that can neither pray without a book , nor preach without a book ; i do not speak of those ministers who road their own notes which they have studied in their closets , but of them which read others notes , as if they were their own unto the people . it is not long since i spake with a bookseller , who hath sold many manuscript sermons unto such , who signified plainly enough unto him the use they intended to put them unto . yea some have been so audacious as to preach out of the printed books of others , as is well known both in the city and other places ; yet , however such as cannot make their own sermons are not fit to be ministers of the gospel , they may by reading good wholsom sermons of others be more beneficial to the people , than those who without acquaintance with the word , preach their own , but it is such raw , crude , indigest●d , unprofitable matter , as raiseth blushes in the cheeks of the judicious , and rendereth them ridiculous unto the most that hear them . surely , no angel from heaven would have directed a cornel●us to send for such ministers to preach the gospel unto him . 3. this reproveth such who blemish their ministry by an vngodly conversation ; when god honoureth ministers so as to imploy them to preach the gospel , rather than angels , god doth expect that they should be angelical in their doctrine , and angelical in their lives ; some there are that be so in their doctrine , but their lives are so loose and intemperate , that they both cast a blot upon their function , and invalidate their doctrine , yea are hereby instruments of hardening the wicked more effectually than if they could not preach at all . i have heard of a woman who sate under the ministry of one who preached very powerfully , but lived very wickedly , whereupon she was tempted to atheisme ; of which she gave this reason to him upon demand of the cause , that it was from himself , that when she heard him preach so like an angel , and saw him live so like a devil , she was thence prone to believe that there was no god. we read of the wickedness of eli's sons , who were priests , which made the offering of the lord to be abhorred , 1 sam. 2.17 . and so the drunkenness , uncleanness , covetousness , oppression , and profaneness of many in our dayes , who call themselves ministers , maketh the administration of gods ordinances by such persons to be abhorred by many serious and sober-minded christians . none are more honourable than such ministers as tread in their masters steps , as are holy and exemplary in their conversition : but wicked ministers of all others are the vilest and most contemptible ; they are spots and blemishes in the body of the church ; they are the scum , the filth , and off-scouring of the pot ; the foam and froath of the water ; they are trees without fruit , salt without savour , candles without light ; they are a deep pit , full of mire and dirt ; they are clouds without rain , for whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever . 4. this reproveth such as will hearken to the devil rather than to ministers , though god employeth them to preach the gospel rather than angels . 1. and first this reproveth them that hearken to the devil when he perswadeth them to sin , and will not hearken unto ministers who perswade them to accept of jesus christ : such as readily open the door when sathan knocks , though he be their enemy , and intend their ruine ; but shut the door , and deafen the ear against the calls of ministers in the name of christ , though they be their friends , and seek their salvation : such are perswaded by the devil to wound themselves by sin , to drink sweet po●son which will introduce eternal death , and suffer themselves to be drawn in the chains of sathan , in the broad way to hell , but will not hearken to ministers , who are spiritual physicians , and would endeavour the cure of their deadly wounds , who are spiritual guides , and would lead them in the way to heaven . none in the world are such fools as those persons who are satans slaves , and led captive by him in the cords of their own lusts : they are blinded and deluded , the devil putteth the greatest cheat upon them , and beguileth them ( worse than children are beguiled ) of such things , that when their eyes are opened at the last , and they perceive what they have lost by their sins , which the devil hath drawn them unto , and that their loss is irreparable ; and when they are awakened to feel the pain and torment which the devil by sin hath brought them unto , and they see that now it is unavoidable , and though so intollerable , yet will be eternall ; they will then be ready to tear themselves to pieces for their folly and madness , that they should hearken to the devil , and not hearken to christs ministers : that when the devil proffered only counters , but ministers gold , that which is more precious than fine gold ; when the devil proffered pebbles , ministers the jewel of the greatest price ; when the devil proffered pictures , such as all worldly vanities are , but ministers proffered deeds of conveyance to a great inheritance , even a conveyance of the eternal inheritance by the deed of the king of heaven . o the folly and sottishness of sinners ! that they should choose the former , and refuse the latter ; that they should sow the windes all their dayes , grasp a shaddow , pursue a f●ather , follow lying vanities , through satans perswasions , and hereby not only neglect and miss of mercy which ministers brought to their doors ; but also run headlong into the flames of everlasting burnings , when ministers warned them so frequently hereof , and entreated them so earnestly to close with christ , who alone could deliver them ; they will then perceive too late and rue to no purpose their desperate madness in complying with satans temptations , and neglecting the calls and counsels of christs faithfull ambassadours . 2. it reproveth such as hearken to the devil when he perswadeth them unto damnable errours , and will not hearken to christs ministers , who would teach and establish them in the soul-saving truths of the word . satan doth appear many times like an angel of light , 2 cor. 11.14 . not as the angel did to cornelius , to direct men unto christs ministers , but to draw them away , endeavouring the subversion of the ministry and ordinances of christs institution . satan hath his ministers , who appear like ministers of righteousness , when indeed they are wolves in sheeps cloathing , who by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple , rom. 16.18 . who are deceived themselves , and labour to deceive others : first endeavouring to prejudice them against christs ministers , and then privily bringing in damnable heresies , wresting the scripture to their own and others destruction . where people do turn away their ears from the truth , and open them to their errours and delusions , when they forsake and cannot endure the sound teaching of christs ambassadours , but with itching ears are delighted with the pretended new discoveries of false teachers , and greedily drink in the poyson of their false doctrines , and follow the p●rnicious waies of such as are given up to the efficacy of errour to believe lyes ; they chuse the devil for their teacher , instead of jesus christ by his ministers , and then you may easily guess whither he is like to lead them . sect . iii. vse 2. for exhortation 1. of ministers . 2. of people . 1. for exhortation of ministers : doth god make use of ministers to preach the gospel , rather than angels ? it is a great honour the lord hath put upon us , and there is great duty which the lord doth expect from us . let this consideration 1. q●icken us to diligence and faithfulness in preaching . 2. engage us to a blameless and exemplary conversation . 1. let us be diligent and faithful in preaching the gospel . let us be instant in season and out of season to reprove , rebuke , exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine , 2 tim. 4.2 . in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves , if peradventure the lord will give them repentance , 2 tim. 2.25 . let us fulfill the ministry the lord hath entrusted us with , col. 4.17 . serving the lord , and the souls committed to our charge , with all humility of mind , and faithfulness ; keeping back nothing which is profitable for them , that we may keep our selves pure from the blood of all men . let us testifie repentance towards god , and faith towards the lord jesus christ , and open the treasures of the gospel , and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven , with all plainness and perspicuity , dealing forth wholesome food unto hungry souls , as faithful stewards of the manifold grace of god. let us not use deceit , or guile , or flattering words , or a cloak for covetousness or uncleanness , or boasting words , but as we are allowed of god to be put in trust with the gospel ; so let us speak and preach , not as pleasing men , but as pleasing god , who searcheth the heart ; being so affectionately desirous of the salvation of souls , as to be willing to impart unto them our souls with the gospel if we could , and it would do them good . and let us not count estate , or liberty , or life it self dear to us , that we finish our course with joy , and the ministry we have received from the lord , act. 20. 1 thes. 2. 1 pet. 4. 2. let the honour the lord hath conferred upon us , engage us unto a blameless and exemplary conversation . let our conversations shine with holiness , as well as our sermons shine with truths : let us teach by our life , as well as by our doctrine : let us be examples to the believers in word , in conversation , in charity , in spirit , in faith , in purity , 1 tim. 4.12 . let the way to heaven be read in our steps : let us be blameless , and harmless , the sons of god , and ministers of christ without rebuke in the midst of a crooked generation , amongst whom let us shine as lights , as we hope hereafter to shine like stars : we are employed to preach rather than angels ; let us live as if we were angels on earth , and as those who hope to live with angels in heaven . 2. for exhortation of people . doth god make use of ministers to preach the gospel , rather than angels ? be exhorted then 1. to love and esteem your ministers . 2. to hear your ministers . 3. to believe your ministers . 4. to obey . your ministers . 1. esteem and love your ministers , 1 thes. 5.12 , 13. we beseech you brethren , that you know them which labour am●●gst you , and are over you in the lord , that you esteem them very highly in love for the works sake . how beautiful should the feet of them be that bring glad tidings of good things ? how welcome should their voice be that preach the gospel of peace ? rom. 10.15 . we read of some who had so great love to the apostle , that they could have plucked out their eyes , and given to him , yet his affection was greater , for he could have plucked out his heart and given to them . how should people love their ministers , who are their spiritual fathers , and nurses , and physitians ? love them , they are your soul-friends , and therefore your best friends : esteem them , they are christs embassadours and representatives . the galatians received the apostle paul , notwithstanding his infirmities , as an angel of god , even as christ jesus , gal. 4.13 , 14. give them reverence as those which stand in the room of christ , and are in this honoured above angels to be employed by the lord to preach the gospel . give them countenance ; do not forsake them when they fall into trouble for the gospels sake : give them maintenance ▪ they impart their spirituals unto you , and you ought to impart your carnal things ( far beneath in worth ) unto them , and this by the lords ordination , 1 cor. 9.11 , 12 , 13 , 14. give them audience , which is the second thing . 2. hear ministers . wo be to them if they do not preach the gospel , when they are commissioned to the work , rather than angels ; and wo be to you , if you do not hear the gospel which they preach : he that heareth them , heareth christ , luk. 10.16 . and they that turn away their ears from hearing them , it will be more tollerable for the land of sodom in the day of judgement , than for such persons , vers . 11. 3. believe ministers , what they preach out of the word of god ▪ it is not their own , but is of divine authority , and therefore is true infallibly . believe in christ whom they tender to you by the preaching of the gospel ; they call you to repentance , hearken unto them ; they hold forth christ , believe in him , close with him by faith . if you do not repent and believe by their preaching , you will not by any other means , no , though god should send some out of the other world to preach unto you . if a dives should come from hell to his wicked brethren , and tell them what torments he felt , and must endure there for ever for such sins as they lived in the practice of , and that they were like to come to the same place if they did not repent , this might affrighten them , but it would not convert them : if they believe not moses and the prophets , neither would they be perswaded though one should rise from the dead and preach unto them , luke 16.31 . suppose that god should send unto you which are wicked from hell , and let loose one of your wicked companions out of the dark prison , where he hath been filled with unexpressible anguish under the sense of gods immediate wrath , which hath immediately been laid upon him ; and he should appear to any of you who are going on in a course of such sins as once he joyned with you in , and should come , and should appear to you in the dark , silent night , and awaken you out of your sleep with a hideous noise , and there roar out before you under the sense of the pain which he doth endure , crying out of his drunkenness , his uncleanness , his swearing , and sabbath-breaking , and should tell you that for such sins he is tormented most horribly , and must be tormented eternally ; and that your sins unrepented of will certainly be punished with the like plagues . this might startle you , and scare you ( it may be ) out of your wits , but it would not convert you from your sins . if you be not perswaded to repent by the preaching of ministers , who as certainly foretell you of the same eternal judgements out of the word of god , which are prepared in hell for the impenitent , and with whose preaching god hath promised his blessing , which alone can make any means effectual for working repentance ; surely the other means without his blessing , which he hath no where promised , would be ineffectual . or suppose that an angel should come down from heaven , and tell you what he hath there seen and enjoyed , and how happy all true believers departed are in the vision and fruition of god , and should set forth the joyes of heaven with such words as no man can utter ; and withall should invite sinners unto christ , that they might through him have a title unto , and at length share in this glory and happiness ; yet if they do not believe , and will not be perswaded to come to christ by the preaching of ministers , which is accompanied with the holy ghost sent down from heaven , 1 pet. 1.12 which is more than if an angel should be sent down from heaven ; they would not be perswaded by the preaching of an angel. 4. obey ministers , heb. 13.17 . obey them which have the rule over you , for they watch for your souls , 〈◊〉 they that must give an account . and you also must give an account ; what they command you out of the word of god , obey , as if god spake to you with an audible voice from heaven ; and what they forbid out of the word of god , forbear , as you wi●●● answer it at the great day . sect . iv. doct. 2. that ministers are to tell people such word● whereby they may be saved . in handling of which point i shall first shew what salvation is here meant , and what it is for a people to be saved . 2. what words ministers are to tell people whereby they may be saved . 3. how they are to tell the people such words . 4. why ministers must tell people words whereby they may be saved , where i shall give the reasons of the point . 5. and lastly , make some application . 1. the first thing is to shew , what salvation is here meant , and what it is for a people to be saved . negatively , we are not here to understand any temporal salvation ; not a salvation from numerous , potent and furious earthly enemies , which come forth against gods israel to destroy them ; not a preservation from a senacharibs host , or an ethiopian myriad , ●r the confederate bands of moab and ammon , and ●lount seir , who joyn together to cut off the name of gods people from the face of the earth ; not a ●escuing from egyptian bondage , or babylonian capti●ity , or turkish vassallage ; not an opening of prison doors , a pulling out of deep dungeons , and ●nocking off strong iron chains and shackles ; not a sheltring of houses from fire , when in danger of being ●onsumed , or of persons from the evil arrows of pe●tilence , when they fly thick about the ears ; not a ●eliverance from sore pain of body , or violent sickness , or any outward calamity which might render the life grievous , and keeping off for a while the ●ruel stroke of temporal death , which none can long ●scape . but positively , by salvation here we are to understand spiritual and eternal salvation ; and a people may be said to be saved in the sense of the text , 1. when they are saved from the wrath and displeasure of an angry sin-revenging god , who is the most potent and furious enemy against whom there is no lifting up the hand to defend , when he lifts up the hand to destroy . the whole world of mankind is guilty of sin before god ; our first parents sinned , and ●n them all their posterity , who are conceived and born in sin , and unto all of whom sin is natural , un●ill the nature be renewed . and , as when the angels ●inned , they were cast out of heaven , and became devils ; so when our first parents sinned , they were cast out of paradice , and since all sinners are out of favour ; yea , they lye under gods anger and displeasure , until they be reconciled : all the children of men are by nature the children of wrath , eph. 2.3 . and god is angry with the wicked every day ▪ psal. 7.11 . they have a natural enmity in their hearts against god and his law , rom. 8.7 . and god is an enemy unto them ▪ yea , hath a hatred in his heart against all the workers of iniquity , psal. 5.6 . god is an enemy unto the wicked , because of their sins ; and this is worse ten thousand degrees , than 〈◊〉 they had all the creatures in the world their enemies ▪ because of the power of his anger , which none ca● resist , when once he suffers it to break forth . we read of the stout-hearted , and men of might , th● chariot and horse cast into a dead sleep at one o● gods rebukes , and who can stand in his sight wher● once he is angry , psal. 76.5 , 6 , 7. and god is coming forth with armed vengeance against his enemies ▪ he hath prepared instruments of death ; he hath whe● his sword , and girt it upon his thigh ; yea , drawn it forth , and lifted up his arm to strike ; he hath bent his bow , and made ready his arrows upon the string , and sinners can neither fly from him , nor defend themselves against him . then a people are saved indeed , when they are saved from gods displeasure , when his anger , and the guilt of their sin , which is the cause , is removed ; when their peace is made with god , through the mediation of jesus christ , when god forgiveth all their sins , and accepteth of them as perfectly righteous in his sight , through the imputation of his sons righteousness unto them , and so puts up , and layeth aside his sword , unbends his bow , and casts it behind his back , and receiveth them into favour , as if they had never offended him . 2. when they are saved from the slavery of the devil , and their own lusts . all the wicked are spiritual slaves and vassals , they are in worse than egyptian bondage , their thraldom and captivity is greater , than that of the iews once to the babylonians : the devil hath his fetters upon their hands and feet , and leadeth them captive by the chains of their own lusts at his will , 2 tim. 2.26 . they are shut up as it were in prison , and lye in a deep dark dungeon , where no light doth shine ; they are fallen into a horrible pit , and their feet stick in the miery clay ; they are sunk into deep waters , and the stream is gone over their soul ; they are fallen into a deadly sickness , and a loathsome disease hath seized upon their spirits ; they are full of boils , and blains , and putrifying sores , all this and a thousand times worse is their condition , through the power and reign of sin in them ; then a people are saved in a spiritual sense , when they are redeemed from sin and satan , when the lord jesus christ doth rescue them out of the devils chains , when he leadeth captivity captive , spoileth principalities and powers , and snatcheth them like a prey out of the teeth of the roaring lion , when he delivereth them from the power of darkness , and translateth them into the houshold and family of god , when he brings them out of the house of bondage , and leads them out of egypt through the red sea of his own blood , in which he drowneth and destroyeth their egyptian lusts which do pursue them , when he openeth the prison doors , and pulls them out of the deep dungeon , and knocks off the chains from their feet , when he breaks the bonds of the devil , and sin , and brings them forth into freedom and enlargement ; when he takes them out of the pit , and draws them out of the water ; when he healeth their sickness , cleanseth and cureth their putrifying sores ; i mean , when he delivereth them from the power of sin which entangled , overwhelmed and defiled them , and was more dangerous than any sickness of body could be unto them : then they are saved , when satan is taken off , and sin hath no more dominion over them , and the throne of christ is erected in their hearts , and his graces implanted there , which do beautifie them instead of lust , which did besmear and deform them ; when being made free from sin and satan , they are become the servants of god , and yield up their members as instruments of righteousness , rom. 6.13 , 22. when they are enabled to overcome the devil and his temptations , and to crucifie the flesh with its lusts and affections ; when the old serpent is wounded in the head , and cast out , and the old man is wounded in the heart , and its reigning power taken down , and they are made victorious through christ the captain of their salvation who loveth them . 3. when they are saved from the law ; not only from the yoak and bondage of the ceremonial law , which the iewish church of old was under , which required many burdensome , expensive , and more carnal services , but also from the rigour , irritation , curse and malediction of the moral law. the law is like the egyptian task-masters , who required brick of the israelites , but gave no straw ; it requireth duty , perfect obedience , but giveth no strength ; it discovereth sin , but giveth no power to overcome it ; and it enjoyneth service , but it giveth no ability to perform it ; therefore the law is said to be weak through sinful flesh , rom. 8.3 . yea the law when it breaketh in with a full spiritual light and conviction of sin upon the spirit , forbidding heart concupiscence , and the least motion or inclination of the soul to sin , and pressing to spiritual and heart-purity and obedience ; it is so far from beating down and killing the power of sin , and from strengthening the soul , and enabling it unto obedience , that it doth revive the power of sin , which seemed to be dead before in the soul , and occasionally doth irritate and provoke to all manner of concupiscence ; the discovering it awakens the enmity of the heart against it self , which lay before dormant . as the apostle doth complain , rom. 7.5 . for when we were in the flesh , the motions of sin which were by the law , did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death . and v. 7 , 8. sin taking occasion by the law wrought in me all manner of concupiscence ; for without the law sin was dead , but when the commandment came , sin revived , and i dyed . moreover , the law doth curse all the children of men that are within its power and reach , because of their sins , which none are wholly free from , gal. 3.10 . for as many as are of the works of the law , are under the curse : for it is written , cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them . people are saved from the law when they are delivered from the rigorous yoak of the moral law , which is called the law of sin and death , as it occasioneth sin , and threatneth death for it ; or discovereth our death and utter insufficiency of our selves to obey its injunctions ; and have instead thereof , their necks put under the sweet and easie yoak of the law of christ , which is called the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus , because life and strength is given by the spirit of christ , to yield obedience thereunto : as rom. 8.2 . for the law of the spirit of life in christ iesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death . and vers . 3 , 4. for what the law could not do , in that it was weak through the flesh , god sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh , and for sin condemned sin in the flesh ; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit . the law could not give strength against sin , because of the strength of the flesh ; the law discovered sin , but it could not subdue sin ; but god sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh , in which flesh he suffered and offered a sacrifice for sin , by which sin , or sin-offering ( as the word sin doth elsewhere signifie ; as hos. 4.8 . they eat the sins of my people , that is , the sin-offerings of my people ) he condemned sin in the flesh ; sin was hereby judged and condemned to lose its power in his people ; it was condemned to death , which death or sin-offering of christ hath vertue and influence upon sin to kill it , to crucifie it , like as christ was crucified for it ; and so gods people are said to be delivered from the law , from the irritating and provoking power of it unto sin , that being dead wherein they were held , and whereby the law did stir up such motions , that they might serve in newness of spirit , rom. 7.6 . that they might yield the fruits of new obedience , that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in them , sin having lost its strength , they have strength from the spirit of christ to yield such obedience to the law , as through christ shall be accepted : and with this deliverance of people from the rigour and irritation of the law is conjoyned their deliverance also from the curse and malediction , by jesus christ , who was made a curse for them ; instead whereof the blessing of abraham the father of the faithfull , is given unto them , as it is expresly said , gal. 3.13 , 14. christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law , being made a curse for us , as it is written , cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree , that the blessing of abraham might come upon the gentiles through faith. 4. when they are saved from the eternal damnation of hell ; all unbelieving sinners are under the sentence of damnation , ioh. 3.18 . he that believeth not is condemned already ; they are condemned by the great judge unto an utter exclusion from the glorious presence of the lord in that place of joy and happiness which is above , and to endure most horrid , extream and endless anguish and torment in soul and body , in the place of utter darkness which is beneath , where their worm shall never dye , and where the fire shall never be quenched : this sentence is dreadfull , and all unbelievers are lyable every moment to the execution thereof upon their souls . so soon as god shall give commission to the serjeant death to arrest them , and clap up their bodies into the prison of the grave , then their souls being found guilty will be delivered into the hand of the devil the jailor of hell , whither he will drag them , and where they must remain full of anguish , through sense of gods immediate wrath wherewith they will be filled , and bound up in chains of darkness and wo untill the judgement of the great day ; on which great day the lord jesus christ will be sent by god to judge the whole world together , and they shall be brought forth in chains to his barre , and having reassumed their bodies shall be judged by him soul and body unto the flames of everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels ; and o the dread and horrour which will then possess them : o the howlings and bitter lamentations which then they will make , when the god of heaven shall execute the fierceness of his anger upon them for their sins , in the extream and remediless torments of hell which shall never have an end . the sentence of eternal damnation which all unbelievers , whilest such , are under here is dreadfull , yet whilest here it is reversible , whilest the reprieve of execution lasteth , a repeal of the sentence may be obtained , by an appeal from the court of the law , to the court of chancery , from the barr of gods justice to the throne of grace , by application of themselves unto christ to be their advocate , and of his righteousness to themselves by faith , whereby justice hath been satisfied , and they may be acquitted . people are saved from eternal damnation , when through an interest in christ they obtain pardoning mercy , and so are freed from all obligation to punishment by their sins ; hence it is said that there is no condemnation to them which are in christ iesus , rom. 8.1 . and they that believe , are not condemned , joh. 3.18 . and that because jesus is their saviour , and hath delivered them from the wrath which is to come , 1 thess. 1.10 . believers have a title to eternal salvation here through their title to christ ; it is sure , and they may be assured of it ; but hereafter they shall actually obtain it at the day of judgement and perdition of the ungodly , when the wicked shall be condemned , and thrust into the place of torments , they shall be acquitted , saved , and received into heavenly mansions , prepared by their redeemer for them in his fathers house , where there is fulness of joy , and pleasures for evermore , and so they shall march along with him unto the zion which is above with shouting and the voice of triumph , with songs in their mouths , and unspeakable delight in their hearts ; they shall then obtain everlasting joy and gladness , and sorrow and sighing shall flee away , and no place be found for it to dwell , where they shall take up their eternal abode . this is the salvation which is here meant , and which god hath promised to shew unto them who believe , and order their conversation aright : and thus you see what it is for a people to be saved . sect . v. 2. the second thing is , to shew what those words are which ministers are to tell people whereby they may be saved . and here i shall for the present speak only of those words which the apostle peter told cornelius , whereby he and his house were saved ; there was great power and vertue which went along with them , for it is said , whilest he was speaking of them , the holy ghost fell upon the gentiles unto whom he preached , as upon the apostles themselves at the beginning , chap. 10.44 . and therefore they are worthy your serious regard ; possibly you that are unconverted in the hearing or reading these words , may have the holy ghost fall upon you , and feel such a wonderfull power going along with them , as shall draw you unto christ , and bring you out of the estate of spiritual death and damnation in which you are by nature , into a state of life and salvation ; whilest i am speaking to your ears , god may speak to your hearts , whilest i am presenting these words before you , and holding forth the light unto you , god may open your eyes , and give you by his spirit such a spiritual discerning of these things as you never had before , and so affect your hearts , as no word of man is able to do : hear then a sermon of god out of the mouth of the apostle peter , which hath been effectual for conversion , and who knoweth but it may produce the same effect in some of you in the repetition and explication of it , as it did in the gentiles in the first preaching of it ? it is said , the holy ghost fell upon all them which heard these words when peter preached them ; o that the holy ghost might fall upon some of you whilest i am preaching them ! the gentiles had extraordinary gifts of the holy ghost given unto them in their hearing peter , o that you might have a true work of conversion by the holy ghost given in the hearing of me ! they are the words of god , receive them as his words , which may effectually work to your salvation , if the lord give faith in the hearing . look up then to the lord for his blessing , on which the efficacy of the word doth depend . the words are in act. 10. from the 34th to the 44th vers. i shall first read them , and then open these words of salvation to you . after that cornelius had sent for peter to ioppa , he sent for many of his friends to his house , and when they were come together , and peter was come , and had a relation from cornelius of his ●ision , and they had told him , that they were all there present before god , to hear the things which were commanded him of god. vers. 34. he begins his sermon . then peter opened his mouth , and said , of a truth i perceive , that god is no respecter of persons ▪ but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him . the word which god sent unto the children of israel , preaching peace by iesus christ ( he is lord of all ) that word ( i say ) ye know , which was published throughout all judea , and began from galilee , after the baptisme which john preached : how god anoynted jesus of nazareth with the holy ghost , and with power , who went about doing good , and healing all that were oppressed of the devil , for god was with him . and we are witnesses of all things which he did , both in the land of judea , and in jerusalem , whom they slew and hanged on a tree : him god raised up the third day , and shewed him openly ; not to all the people , but to witnesses chosen before of god , even to us who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead . and he commanded us to preach unto the people , and to testifie , that it was he which was ordained of god to be the iudge of quick and dead . to him gave all the prophets witness , that through his name , whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins . this sermon of peter's , which is the first sermon which was preached unto the gentiles after the partition-wall was broken down , is but brief , but it hath much sweet and soul-saving doctrine in it , and it is likely that the scripture doth b●t briefly rehearse the heads of that which the apostle discoursed of more largely unto them ; and therefore i shall endeavour to open this sermon unto you , which is like a rich cabinet of most precious treasure , wherein is to be found the pearle of the greatest price , which the wise merchant-man will sell all that he hath to obtain , because it is not only desireable to enrich him , but also necessary to save him ; i mean the lord jesus christ whom the apostle doth describe and hold forth unto the gentiles . we read , luk. 24.31 . that the disciples hearts burned within them , whilest our saviour spake to them by the way , and opened to them the scriptures , and o that you might feel your hearts burn within you , whilest i am opening unto you this scripture , which doth relate peters sermon . the sermon of peter may be reduced to four general heads . 1. concerning god. 2. concerning the word . 3. concerning iesus christ. 4. concerning the way of salvation by christ. sect . vi. 1. the apostle speaks unto the gentiles concerning god , v. 34. and 35. of a truth i perceive that god is no respecter of persons , but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him . two things he gives them to understand concerning god. 1. his gracious disposition to accept of men. 2. his good will towards the gentiles . 1. he lets them know how gracious god was in being willing to accept of men , of any men , without respect of persons , whatever their sins had been , so that they did turn from them , in his fear , and wrought righteousness for the future . this is needfull for sinners to know , that they might be encouraged to seek after salvation : for if they apprehend god only as he is holy , and just , and jealous , if they are told only that he is powerful and furious , and a sin-revenging god ; when they reflect upon their guilt , they will be ready to fly away from him , under a slavish fear of punishment , and in discouragement and despair go on in the practice of sin as long as they can : therefore ministers must represent god unto sinners as gracious and merciful , slow to anger , and of great kindness , pardoning iniquity , transgression and sin , as he sets forth himself to moses , exod. 34.6 , 7. they must tell sinners , that god is gracious , and ready to accept of all those that fear him , and turn from their evil waies , and resolve to work righteousness for the time to come , and that he will be found of , and give a reward unto all such as diligently seek him , heb. 11.6 . he that cometh to god , must believe that he is , and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him . o that you who are going on in sin , were perswaded of this , how gracious and merciful the lord is , whom you do so highly offend by sin , and how ready he is to accept of you , if you would but turn from sin : he hath given us ministers commission to tell you , that there is an accepted time , and a day of salvation for your souls , which he yet lengthens out unto you : yea , we are sent as his embassadours to entreat and beseech you that you would be reconciled unto god , 2 cor. 5.20 . and when god declares by us that he is so willing to accept of you , that he desires you to accept of his salvation , and beseecheth a reconciliation , when he can so easily avenge himself upon you , and glorifie his justice and wrath in your destruction , and standeth in no need of you , only for your own sake entreats you to be reconciled , that you might not be destroyed , that you might not even force him to punish you , which he will do with a witness , and with a vengeance , if you refuse : methinks this amazing condescention and kindness of god should astonish you , and stop you in the way of sin , and make you tremble , and let fall your weapons out of your hand , with which you have been fighting against him , and cast your selves with shame and self-loathing at his feet , grieving at the very heart , that ever you offended a god of such infinite loving kindness . 2. peter tells them further of gods good will towar●s the gentiles , that in every nation whoever feared him should be accepted with him . they were gentiles whom he preached unto , and they might have feared that salvation was only to be found amongst the jews ; and that however god were gracious and ready to receive men unto favour that feared him , yet that god having made choice of but one nation in the world to be his peculiar people , and they being none of that nation , that no grace or mercy was attainable by them , who were heathens , who are called the people of his wrath . therefore peter gives them to understand , that however god had set narrow bounds to his church formerly , and confined his mercy to one nation , yet that now the hedge and middle wall of partition was broken down , and any nation might find acceptance . this was the first appearance and breaking forth of gods mercy towards the gentiles , in that he declares himself now to be no longer a respecter of nations , but that other nations should taste of his favour as well as the iews . this was intended from the beginning by god , and foretold long before by the prophets . see isa. 49.18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 23. lift up thine eyes ( speaking to the church ) round about ; behold all these gather themselves together , and come to thee : as i live , saith the lord , thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament , and binde them on thee , as a bride doth ; the land shall be too narrow ; the children which thou shalt have after thou hast lost the other , shall say in thine ears , the place is too strait for me , give place to me that i may dwell . then shalt thou say in thine heart , who hath begotten me these , seeing i have lost my children , and am desolate ? and who hath brought up th●se ? thus saith the lord , behold i will lift up mine hand unto the gentiles , and set up my standard to the people , and they shall bring thy sons in their arms , and thy daughters shall be carryed upon their shoulders , &c. and chap. 54.1 , 2 , 3. sing o barren that didst not bear , break forth into singing and cry aloud , thou that didst not travel with child , for more are the children of the desolate , than of the married wife , saith the lord. enlarge the place of thy tent , and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations : spare not , lengthen thy cords , and strengthen thy stakes ; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand , and on the left , and thy seed shall inherit the gentiles , and make the desolate cities to be inhabited , &c. and the apostle paul writing to the gentile romans , which were converted to the christian faith , makes mention of divers prophecies together , of gods good will which he intended to shew unto the gentiles , through his lord jesus christ ; as you may read , rom. 15.9 , 10 , 11 , 12. and that the gentiles may glorifie god for his mercy , 〈◊〉 it is written , for this cause will i confess unto thee amongst the gentiles , and sing unto thy name . and again he saith , rejoyce ye gentiles with his people . and again , praise the lord all ye gentiles , and laud him all ye people . and again isaiah saith , there shall be a root of iesse , and he that shall rise to reign over the gentiles , and in him shall the gentiles trust . and this he writes for their encouragement and comfort , that they might be filled with all joy and peace in believing , vers . 13. now the time was come for the fulfilling of these prophecies , when christ was come , who had reconciled unto god both jew and gentile in one body by the cross , breaking down the middle wall of partition between them , and destroying that which was an occasion of enmity , even the law of commandments contained in ordinances , for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace , ephes. 3.14 , 15 , 16. therefore he gave commandment to his disciples , after his resurrection , to preach the gospel unto all nations , and here sends peter to cornelius , and them that were with him . this is ground of singular comfort and encouragement unto us who are gentiles , that the lord hath good will for us , and hath sent his gospel to be preached amongst us by his ministers , which may give further hopes of your attaining salvation , when god hath given you the means , and sends his ministers to preach to you such words whereby you may be saved . sect . vii . ● . peter speaks to them concerning the word which god sent unto the children of israel ; and he tells of a twofold word sent to them by god. 1. the word of repentance , which he calls the ●aptism which iohn preached unto them . 2. the word of peace which was preached unto them by iesus christ. 1. he tells them that god sent a word by iohn to the children of israel , and that was a word and baptism of repentance which he preached . iohn was christs ●orerunner , who went before his face to prepare his way , and to make the people ready for the entertainment of christ : he came to level the mountains of pride , and to straighten crooked dispositions , and to smoothen rough spirits ; his doctrine was a doctrine of repentance , luk. 3.3 . he came into all the countries about iordan , preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins . and in mat. 3.1 , 2. it is said , iohn came preaching in the wilderness of iudea , and saying , repent ye , for the kingdom of hea●en is at hand . iohn preached the law to convince men of sin , and to awaken them unto repentance ; he telleth sinners plainly , that they were a generation of vipers ; doth not spare the hypocritical pha●isees , who boasted so much in their priviledges , but were grosly deficient in moral duties ; he telleth them of gods ax which was laid to the root of the tree , ready to cut them down if they did not ●epent ; he telleth of the unquenchable fire which they should be cast into , if they did not reform . the word of repentance is a necessary word unto salva●tion , and therefore is necessary to be preached to all and what iohn the baptist cryed in the wilderness , would cry in your ears this day , repent . repent if yo● would have remission of sins . repent if you woul● be prepared for the entertainment of jesus chris● repent , or else you will all certainly perish , luk. 13.3 repent , or else iniquity will be your ruine , ezek 18.30 . repent , or else ye cannot be saved . when th●● jews who had crucified the lord of glory , heard peters sermon , which ripped up their sin , and they being pricked in their hearts , cry out to peter and the rest of the apostles , men and brethren , what shall we do ? act. 2.37 . we have committed a great sin , and what shall we now do ? what course shall we take that we may be saved from that eternal wrath and death which we have deserved ? the apostle directs them to repent for the remission of sin , vers . 38. and will not conscience accuse you of the guilt of sin ? are there no drunkards in this place ? no swearers ? none that have committed adultery , and been unclean in secret places ? no unrighteous persons that have defrauded their neighbour ? no sabbath-breakers , nor profane persons ? no lyars nor covetous persons ? and are not the most civil and morally honest of you all that are out of christ , guilty of many heart-sins , yea and lip-sins , and some gross slips in your life , which conscience doth sometimes twinge you for ? are not you guilty of impenitency and hardness of heart , and unbelief , and want of love to god , and his son , and neglect of your own salvation ? let me tell you all that have not yet repented , that unless ye repent , and that speedily , ye shall all perish certainly , and ye shall be miserable everlastingly . repent of your sins , mourn for sin , and turn from sin , or else you will weep for sin hereafter to no purpose , and burn for sin for ever . loath sin , and leave sin , or else christ will disdain you at the last day , and sentence you to depart from him into everlasting fire . confess sin , and forsake sin , or else you will finde no mercy here , nor end , or the least asswagement of misery in the other world . drunkards , repent of your sins , you have felt ( after your revellings , and excessive carousings ) your heads ake , and have vomited up your drink sometimes , o that you could now feel your hearts ake , and that you would vomit up your sin by repentance . swearers , repent of your sins ; you have taken gods name in vain , yea even torn it in pieces by your oaths , o that you would hallow gods name in confessing your sin , and that you would rend and tear your hearts with sorrow for the affronts you have by your oaths offered to the highest majesty . adulterers and unclean persons , repent of your sins ; you have tasted sweetness in your ●oul sins , o labour to taste bitterness in grief for your sins , that you may not feel the bitterness of hell torments , which without repentance will certainly be your portion . unrighteous persons , lyars , covetous persons , repent , or you will not escape gods righteous judgements . sabbath-breakers , get your hearts broken for your sins , or else god will break you to pieces with his iron rod. prophane persons , and all ye that have sinned more grosly , repent , and humble your selves before the lord the more deeply : the most crimson and scarlet ●ins may be washed away ; those who embrewed their hands in the blood of christ were forgiven upon repentance ; and there may be hope of remission for the worst of you if you repent . and you that have been more civil , yet under the power of some sin which hath reigned in your hearts , though it hath not broken forth so notoriously in your lives , and have moreover lived in the neglect of christ , and your own salvation by him , not perceiving your need so much of him . let me tell you , as our saviour told the scribes and pharisees , that sometimes publicans and harlots , the vilest and most notorious come into the kingdom of heaven sooner than you , because they are more readily awakened , and humbled , and made sensible of their need of christ , than the civil and fair dealing men and women who are very apt to lean and trust to their own righteousness , without such earnest seeking of the righteousness of christ to justifie them : therefore let me warn you also to repent of your sins , of heart-sins , and gospel-sins , which are the greatest sins , and will certainly sink you without repentance . look upon your own righteousness as filthy raggs , and cast it away , and loath your selves , and be perswaded , that if ever you be pardoned and saved , you must be as much beholding to free grace as the vilest sinner . 2. peter tells them that god sent a word of peace , which was preached by iesus christ. it is said , ioh. 1.17 . the law was given by moses , but grace and truth , and i may add peace too , came by iesus christ. the law which came by moses , was given for this end to lead men ; yea , it was a school-master to whip men to christ ; and god did enjoyn those legal services upon his people , that they might look to christ in them , and look for christ who should deliver them from that yoak of bondage . the law , which was from mount sinai , gendereth to bondage , and was given with thunderings and lightnings to awaken men ; and in preaching of the law god giveth a spirit of bondage to work men to fear and repentance : but christ came in a more mild way , and in a more soft and still voice preached peace , and the gospel of reconciliation . the word of peace was that which the angels preached unto the shepherds at christs birth , luk. 2.14 . glory be to god in the highest , on earth peace , and good will towards men . peace was that which christ preached in his life , ephes. 2.17 . he came and preached peace to you which were afar off , and to them which were nigh . peace was that which christ purchased by his death , col. 1.20 . he made peace by the blood of his cross. peace was that which he spake to his disciples at his appearance after his resurrection , ioh. 20.19 . iesus came and stood in the midst of them , and said , peace be unto you . peace he left with his disciples behind him as a legacy , when he was to go away from them , ioh. 14.27 . peace i leave with you , my peace i give unto you . and peace he commissioned his disciples to preach unto the world , mark 16.5 . go ye into all the world , and preach the gospel unto every creature : which gospel is a gospel of peace , containing glad tidings of good things , rom. 10.15 . christ preached peace , not peace with men ( though this also he would have his disciples endeavour after , as much as in them lyeth , to live peaceably with all men , rom. 12.28 . and to follow after peace with all men , so far as it consisteth with holiness , and a pure conscience , heb. 12.14 . ) for he tells his disciples , luk. 12.51 . suppose ye that i am come to give peace on earth , i tell you nay , but rather division . whatever peaceable disposition he taught , and his gospel doth work in the heart where it prevails , yet accidentally it causeth division , and stirreth up to opposition in those that will not yield obedience thereunto ; and therefore the world hate and contend with his disciples , because he hath chosen them out of the world ; wicked men have an enmity in their hearts against believers , and will not be at peace with them . but christ preached peace with god. christ came from heaven to bring this glad tydings to earth , that the god of heaven was willing to be at peace with sinfull men . it would not have been an easie thing to have made sinners believe ( especially if they had been convinced of sin , how heinous it is in its own nature , how highly it affronts and provokes the highest majesty ; if they had been awakened with a sense of the dreadfulness of the punishment which god hath threatned , and they had deserved for their sins ) that so great and holy a god should be willing to put up all affronts , and forgive all iniquities , and be at peace with sinners ; yea , that he should seek after it : they might have questioned not only how this could be , but also how any could have known it : but to put all out of doubt , christ the eternal son of god hath come forth from heaven , declaring what he hath heard of the father , and hath made known this , that god is willing to be at peace with us . christ was sent from the king of glory upon the embassage of peace , and he preached peace therefore unto men ; not unto all men , for isa. 57.21 . there is no peace to the wicked ; that is , to such as are impenitent and senseless of their sins , and go on still in their trespasses . christ threatned the wicked as severely as iohn baptist ; he tells the impenitent that they should perish , luk 13.3 . and the unbelievers , that they should die in their sins , ioh. 8.24 . and he calls the hypocritical pharisees ( who persevered in their opposition of him and his waies ) serpents and vipers that could not escape the damnation of hell , matth. 23.33 . but christ preached peace to all that repented , were troubled for their sins ; that mourned and turned ; that believed and yielded up themselves to the obedience of the gospel . he preached the gospel to the poor , to the bruised and broken , that is , such as were sensible of their sins , and their need of a saviour , luk. 4.18 . and we ministers have commission from the lord to preach peace to the children of men ; we are ministers of the gospel of peace ; unto us is committed the word of reconciliation , 2 cor. 5.19 . indeed we must sound the trumpet of war from heaven in the ears of secure sinners to awaken them ; but we are to hang out the white flag , and to come with olive branches of peace from god to them that tremble at gods word , and are humble for their sins . sinners , are there any among you , whose hearts the lord hath touched and bruised for sin , yea broken to shivers , and melted , and filled with grief and sorrow for a life of past-wickedness , that have not only legal terrours , but true evangelical repentance : i have a word of peace to deliver to such of you from the lord. god is willing to be at peace with you through his son : there is an advocate with the father , who is ready to make up the breach which sin hath made between god and your souls ; and god doth call you to lay hold on his strength , that you may make peace with him , and he promiseth that you shall make peace with him , isa. 27.5 . thus concerning the word of repentance and peace which peter tells cornelius , and them which were with him . sect . viii . 3. peter speaks to them of the lord jesus christ , by whom this peace was purchased , and the word of peace preached , and that , 1. concerning his vnction . 2. concerning his life . 3. concerning his miracles . 4. concerning his death . 5. concerning his resurrection . 6. concerning his ordination to be the iudge of the world. 7. concerning his mission of them to preach . 1. peter speaks to them concerning the vnction of christ. he tells them that god anointed jesus of nazareth with the holy ghost , and with power . god poured forth his spirit without measure upon christ , which qualified him for his offices , and he gave him power and authority to execute them . there is a threefold office which christ was anointed unto . 1. the priestly office. 2. the p●●phetical office. 3. the kingly office. 1. christ was anointed to the priestly office ; who offered up sacrifice to god , even a sin-offering and peace-offering , ●o make reconciliation for sin ; not the sacrifice of bulls and goats , or lambs , or rams , which could never of themselves take away guilt ; but he through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to god , he offered the sacrifice of himself for a sweet-smelling savour , and shed his own blood for the remission of sins , by which blood having obtained eternal redemption for his people , he entered into the holy place not made with hands , which was but figurative , but into heaven it self , there to appear in the presence of god , to make intercession for them . christ is the great high priest , not after the order of aaron , who were many , and mortall , and sinfull , and their priesthood changeable ; but he is a high-priest for ever after the order of melchisedec ; hath an unchangeable priesthood , therefore is able to save all those to the uttermost that come unto god by him , seeing he ever liveth to make intercession in their behalf , heb. 7.25 . moreover , v. 26. he is holy , harmless , undefiled , seperate from sinners , and yet very tender and compassionate towards sinners , being touched with the feeling of our infirmities , and knows how to pity them which are tempted ; he is mercifull and he is faithfull too in this office which the lord hath anointed him unto . having therefore such an high-priest over the house of god , sinners have encouragement to draw neer unto god , with full assurance of acceptance through him , hebr. 10.21 , 22. 2. christ was anointed to the prophetical office : christ is that prophet whom the lord promised to raise up to his people like unto moses , deut. 18.15 . but is far greater than moses , who came down from heaven to preach the gospel of salvation to lost sinners ; who revealed the counsels of the father , which were hid from ages and generations , and kept secret untill his time , from the foundations of the world ; who discovered the purposes of gods love , and the promises of his grace , and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel . christ is the great prophet anointed by the father to teach his people by his word and spirit , who opens the eyes of the understanding which naturally is dark and blinde , and leads his people into all truth , who of themselves would wander into errour , without whose teachings there can be no saving light , nor spiritual discerning and relish of gospel mysteries . 3. christ was anointed unto the kingly office : peter in his sermon calls him lord of all . god hath given him a name above every name ; he hath exalted him above all principalities and powers , and might and dominion , both in heaven and earth , and hath put all things under his feet , and all power into his hand , and appointed him to be head over all unto his church . he is the king of saints , whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom , and whose scepter is a scepter of righteousness ; he hath given laws to his people with great wisdom , and ruleth in their hearts with great power , and whosoever will not submit to his scept●r to be ruled by his laws , he will break them in pieces with his i●on rod. thus concerning christs v●ction to his offices . 2. peter speaks to them concerning christs life ; that he went about doing good . his life was holy , free from sin , he did no evil , no injury to any man , he was harmless , his whole employment was to do good . never was there such a man living upon the face of the earth , who never committed any sin in his life , neither in thought , word , or deed . some indeed have said they had no sin , but they have lied ; for no man liveth that sinneth not : but christ was born without sin , and lived without sin ; he was perfectly good and righteous , and he did good . his life was exactly according to the rule ; he fulfilled the law not only by his passive , but also by his active obedience . 3. peter speaks to them concerning christs mi●acles , whereof they were witnesses : instance is given of his casting out devils , likely he told them of more , of his calming the winds and sea with a word , his feeding five thousand with five loaves , his opening the eyes of them which were born blinde , his raising the dead that had been buried several dayes , and the like ; which works were a testimony of his divinity , and that he came from the father . 4. peter speaks to them concerning christs death . him they slew and hanged upon a tree . christ humbled himself not only to take upon him our humane nature , to be born of a mean virgin , and live in a low condition , when he was lord of all , and god equall with the father , to take upon him the form of a servant ; but he humbled himself further , to become obedient unto death , even the death of the cross , phil. 2.6 , 7 , 8. it was a cursed , disgracefull , lingering and painfull death , which he endured , and however it was inflicted upon him by the hands of cruel , blood-thirsty men , yet it was according to the fore-appointment of god , for the satisfaction of gods justice , for the expiation of mans sin ; it was not only for an example of suffering to men , but in the room and stead of sinners , who otherwise must all have unavoidably perished ; and for the ratification of the new testament and covenant of grace : so that the salvation of man from sin and hell , and the inheritance of glory and happiness doth depend upon the death of christ which was the purchase hereof . 5. peter speaketh to them concerning christs resurrection . him hath god raised from the dead , and shewed openly . though christ dyed and was buried , yet the bands of death could not hold him , and the holy one did not see corruption ▪ his body was not so long in the grave as to put●●fie , but within three dayes he arose again from the dead , and was seen of mary magdalen first , after of two disciples as they went unto immaus , after of peter and all the apostles , after of above five hundred brethren at once . he was declared to be man by his death , he was declared to be the son of god with power , by the spirit of holiness in him , which raised him from the dead ; forty dayes he remained upon the earth after his resurrection , and then was caught up to the throne of god in the presence of his disciples , and there he that was dead is alive , and lives for evermore ; whose resurrection as it hath an influence upon the spiritual resurrection of his people from sin , who when dead in sin are quickened by the same spirit which raised him up : so it is the first fruits of the resurrection of his people from the grave , who in their order and gods appointed time shall be awakened out of their long sleep of death , and come forth of the dust , and be caught up to meet him in the air at his last appearance to judge the world , which is the next thing peter speaketh of christ. 6. peter speaketh to them concerning gods ordination of iesus christ to be the iudge of quick and dead . god hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness , and hath ordained jesus christ to be the judge ; who will so soon as the mystery is finished , and the elect are gathered , come down from heaven where now he is , with a great shout , and the sound of a trumpet , and awaken all the dead , and summon the whole world to his barr , and render unto all according to their works ; to them that have repented and believed , and by patient continuance in well-doing , have sought for glory and honour , and immortality , he will give eternal life ; but to them which have been impenitent and hard-hearted , and disobedient to the gospel , he will give indignation and wrath , tribulation and anguish , and sentence them to eternal death . 7. peter speaketh to them concerning christs mission of them to preach . he sent the apostles to preach repentance and remission of sins in his name ; and he hath appointed the office of the ministry to continue to the end of the world , for the calling and conversion of those which belong to the election of grace , and the building up and perfecting the saints which are called , untill they all come into the unity of the faith , and of the knowledge of the son of god , unto a perfect man , unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of christ , eph. 4.12 , 13. thus the apostle peter preacheth christ unto cornelius , and them which were with him . sect . ix . 4. and lastly , peter speaks to them concerning the way of salvation by christ , vers . 43. to him gave all the prophets witness , that through his name whosoever believeth in him should receive remission of sins . there is no name under heaven whereby we can be saved , but the name of christ , act. 4.11 . and there is no salvation by christ but by faith. when the jaylor with trembling enquired of paul and silas , what shall i do to be saved ? they tell him , believe in the lord iesus christ , and thou shalt be saved , act. 16.30 , 31. there are three arguments which will evidently prove , that all such as truely believe in christ do receive remission of sins , and consequently are in a state of salvation : the first may be drawn from christs satisfaction : the second from christs intercession : the third from the promises of the new testament . i. first from christs satisfaction . if christ hath fully satisfied gods justice for the sins of men , and this satisfaction be accepted by the father in the behalf of sinners ; and this satisfaction be imputed unto all them that truely believe in christ , as if they bad made it themselves : then all those that truely believe in christ , do receive remission of sins ; inasmuch as guilt being an obligation to punishment , and where satisfaction is made , this obligation is removed . ( 1. ) but first christ hath made satisfaction to gods justice for the sins of men ; he only was qualified to do it , and he hath actually done it . 1. christ only was qualified to do it ; no meer man could make it , because gods justice being infinite requireth an infinite satisfaction , and all creatures are finite : but christ was more than a creature , he was god and man in one person . it was necessary that he should be a creature , because otherwise he could not have suffered , the deity being impassible ; it was necessary he should be man , because gods justice required , that the same nature which did commit sin , the same nature should suffer punishment for it , gen. 2.17 . in the day thou eatest thereof , thou a man shalt die . therefore christ took not upon him the nature of angels , but the seed of abraham , heb. 2.16 . and it was necessary that he should be god ; because otherwise he could never have born up under , nor have got loose from that dreadfull punishment which was inflicted upon him : it would have sunk the whole creation under its weight : because otherwise his merits would not have been of infinite value , and fully satisfactory to gods justice : therefore he was god and man in one person , and so duly qualified to make satisfaction . 2. christ hath actually made satisfaction to gods justice for mans sin : he hath born the punishment which their sins did deserve , 1 pet. 2.24 . who his own self bare our sins , that is the punishment of our sins , in his own body on the tree , isa. 53.5 . he was wounded for our transgressions , and bruised for our iniquities , and the chastisment of our peace was upon him . and ephes. 5.2 . he hath given himself for us , an offering and sacrifice to god for a sweet smelling savour ; which leadeth to the second particular . ( 2. ) this satisfaction which christ hath made unto gods justice , is accepted in the behalf of sinners : there might be sufficiency of value in christs sufferings and sacrifice to make satisfaction for the sins of the whole world , and yet god might have required the satisfaction from the offending party , and received the debt from none but sinners themselves that owed it : but god hath accepted christs satisfaction , as is evident , 1. from gods eternal covenant with him , that if he would make his soul an offering for sin , he should see his seed , and should prosper in his work , isa. 53.10.2 . from his sealing and setting him apart for the office and work of mediatour , ioh. 6.27 . him hath god the father sealed . 3. from his mission or sending him into the world for this very end , ioh. 3.16 . gal. 4.5 . 4. from his owning of him when he was sent , and that both by a voice from heaven , saying , this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased ▪ and by his large effusion of the spirit upon him , which did appear in his life so holy , his doctrine so pure , his miracles so powerfull . 5. from his raising him up from the dead on the third day , where he must have continued for ever , if having undertaken to satisfie , he had not done it , and it had not been accepted . 6. from his receiving him up into glory , and setting him at his right hand , and hearing his prayers in the behalf of sinners ▪ all which arguments do abundantly prove gods acceptation of christs satisfaction . ( 3. ) the satisfaction is as really imputed unto true believers , as if they had made it themselves . forasmuch as faith doth appropriate christ and his righteousness , and therefore christ is called ( speaking of believers ) the lord our righteousness , ier. 23.6 . and we are called ( through the imputation of the merits of his death by faith ) the righteousness of god in him , 2 cor. 5.21 . christs righteousness is made over to believers by faith as if it were their own . if then christ hath fully satisfied gods justice for the sins of men ; and this satisfaction is accepted by the father in behalf of sinners , and imputed unto all true believers , then all true believers are absolved from the guilt of sin ; and that not only upon the account of mercy , but justice too , which cannot require a double satisfaction ; therefore god is said , as he is just , to justifie them which believe , rom. 3.28 . ii. the second argument to prove , that all true believers do receive remission of sins , may be drawn from christs intercession . if christ doth intercede for the remission of sins , and this intercession be prevalent with the father , and all true believers have an interest in this intercession , then all true believers do receive remission of sins . 1. but first christ doth intercede for the remission of sins , heb. 7.25 . heb. 2.17 . he intercedeth for reconciliation , therefore for remission of sins . 2. this intercession is prevalent with the father . whatever christ prayed for on earth he obtained , ioh. 11.42 . surely then his intercession in heaven is prevalent , which might be made further evident from his neerness and interest in the father , from the dear love of the father unto him ; and because his intercession for remission of sins , is for that which he hath purchased by his death , and what the father hath purposed and promised , and is for his glory to give . 3. all true believers have an interest in christs intercession : having by faith an ▪ interest in christs person , they have an interest in christs intercession . iii. the third argument to prove that all true believers do receive remission of sins , may be drawn from the promise of remission of sins in the new testament , heb. 8.12 . i will be merciful unto their unrighteousness , and their sins and ●niquities will i remember no more . which new testament is of full force through the death of christ the testator , heb. 9.16 , 17. and believers have an interest in , and by faith do apply the promises to themselves ; therefore true believers do receive remission of sins . thus concerning peters sermon to cornelius , and them which were with him , and the words which he spake to them whereby they were saved . sect . x. 3. the third thing is to shew , how ministers must tell people words whereby they may be saved . now this must be done 1. sincerely . 2. plainly . 3. convincingly . 4. boldly . 5. compassionately . 6. warmly . 7. earnestly . 8. frequently . 1. ministers must preach the words of salvation sincerely , and that both as to the matter , and as to the design . 1. as to the matter , the doctrine of salvation which they preach , must be sincere ; in doctrine they must shew uncorruptness , sincerity ▪ sound speech , which cannot be condemned , tit. 2.7 , 8. the apostle complains of many who corrupt the word , 2 cor. 2.17 . the word is corrupted when the scripture is wrested , and the sense perverted , when errours and damnable opinions are broached and vented for truths , and mingled with some truths of the word , which will bring destruction and not salvation to them that receive them , 2 pet. 3.16 . ministers must draw forth the pure waters of the sanctuary out of the fountain of the scripture , and the sincere milk of the word out of the two breasts of the old and new testament , 1 pet. 2.2 . they must deal forth the wholesome food of sound doctrine , which is according to godliness , called words of our lord jesus christ , and words of faith whereby the receivers may be nourished , 1 tim. 4.6 . chap. 6.3 . 2. as to the design , ministers must have a sincere design in preaching the word of salvation ; like the apostle paul with his fellow-ministers , 2 cor. 2.17 . but we are of sincerity as of god , in the sight of god speak we in christ. they preached neither corrupt doctrine , neither had they corrupt designs , but were sincere in their preaching , as of god , as sent of god , as embassadours of god , the great king of heaven ; as in the sight of god , who searched the heart , and could discern what their aims were unto whom they endeavoured to approve themselves ; as in christ , as in the room of christ , as christ preached when he was upon the earth ; or as in christ , as those which were ingrafted into christ , and had an interest in christ themselves , and therefore did sincerely endeavour the bringing of others to him . the chief design of ministers in preaching , should be the glory of god , and the salvation of them that hear them . 1. the glory of god above all should swey with them , not their own glory and esteem , nor of men sought we glory , 1 thes. 2.6 . they must sincerely endeavour the magnifying , not of their own name , but the name of god ; and the promoting not of themselves , but of their master in the esteem of men : if some kind of discourse would advance their lords name and honour , though their own reputation should hereby be lessened amongst some , they must use it ; and if on the contrary they could gain much honour to themselves by some kind of preaching wherein they might appear in great flourish of words , and give delight to the fan●y by the ostentation of their wit and ingenuity ; but their masters were not like to be glorified , nor the souls of their hearers soundly edified , they ought herein to deny themselves . 2. ministers must design in their preaching , the salvation of their hearers ; they must not use the word as a clo●k for covetousness , and design the gain●ng of filthy lucre to themselves ; but the gaining of souls to jesus christ ; they must not endeavour to make a gain of their hearers ; a gain of their souls they ought to endeavour after , but not a g●in of their estates , as the pharisees , who made long prayers , that they might devour widdows houses ▪ they must not chi●fly seek any profit , or earthly emolument unto themselves , but the profit of their hear●rs , that they might be saved . when the apostle was crafty , as he tells the corinthians , 2 cor. 12.16 . he was sincere ; and when he used some kind of gu●le , it was to catch them from destruction , unto which they were hastening ; it was in spreading the gospel net most cunningly to draw them out of that stream of sin in which they were swimming towards the ocean of gods wrath . 2. ministers must preach the words of salvation plainly , not with wisdom of words , as 1 cor. 1.17 . not with excellency of speech , or of wisdom , or with enticing words of mans wisdom , chap. 2.4 . but with plainness of speech , such as is most intelligible and edifying , such as is most likely to attain the end of preaching most effectually ; some kind of wisdom of words doth both obscure and enervate the sermons that are stufft with it , and therefore should be forborn . not that all wisdom of words , or humane wisdom is to be forborn : for , 1. it is lawfull for ministers in preaching to make use of the most apt , proper and significant words : there are some words which are more ponderous and weighty , which carry a greater force and evidence , and perspicuity than others ; which ministers should make use of for the more effectual clearing and pressing their matter ; and of all words those which we finde in the scripture are the most weighty , which having oftentimes more significancy in the original than in the translation , therefore ministers should be acquainted with the original tongues , that they may have the more full understanding of the meaning of god in his word , themselves , and that they may the better explain it to others . 2. it is lawfull for ministers to use some kinde of eloquence in their preaching . it was the commendation which the scripture gave of apollos , that he was an eloquent man , act. 13.24 . variety and fluency of expression in explaining and proving , in applying and pressing the truths of the word , is of singular use . there is much rhetorick and divine eloquence , especially in some parts of the scripture , which ministers in preaching may make use of and imitate . 3. it is lawfull for ministers to make use of philosophy and humane reason in preaching the gospel ; logick is needfull for the regulating of thoughts , the methodizing of discourse , the distinguishing between things that differ , the defining and explaining of things that are obscure , the ordering , deciding and determining of controversies : ethicks , physicks , especially metaphysicks are very usefull unto a minister , for the refining of his understanding , and enabling him to speak the more clearly and edifyingly to others , and to defend the truth against such as do oppose it . but there is a wisdom of words which may not be used by ministers in preaching . 1. ministers must not in preaching shew more wisdom in their words than in their matter ; and study more for outward shew than for inward substance ; more that their sermons be well worded , than that their doctrine be well proved ; more that their sentences may have a handsome close , than that their arguments be conclusive : it ill becomes thin and weak sense to be cloathed with fine and neat speech : ministers must take heed that their matter be not drowned and lost in the stream and abundance of words . such whose wisdom and art doth shew it self in gathering a bundle and heap of the finest words together , neglecting substantiall matter , their wisdom is but folly , and pains to little purpose . words may fill the ear ; things soak and sink into the soul to edification . 2. ministers must not ordinarily in preaching make use of words of another language which the people do not understand ; nor fill their sermons with quotations and allegations out of fathers , school-men , and other authors , which doth but stun and amuze ordinary and the generality of hearers , and savours mostly of ostentation , but tends to little edification . though the apostle could speak with more tongues than any beside , yet in the church he chooseth to speak five words in the known tongue to edifie , than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue , 1 cor. 14.18 , 19. indeed original words sometimes may be mentioned with their interpretation , as the tongues were to be used in the church , 1 cor. 14. and authors may be quoted , when there is real need , so it be done rarely and soberly ; but for ministers to enterlard their sermons all over with greek and latine , and sayings of men , they must needs leave out much of the word of god which they might use , and it cannot be so profitable for the hearers . 3. ministers must not use such words and speeches as gender strife , i mean the perverse disputings which sceptical philosophy will put them upon , whereby they may be spoyl'd , and deceive both themselves and others , through the errors and mistakes , which hereby they may run into . 4. ministers must not use in preaching too much neatness of speech , and humane eloquence : the most excellent , and enticing words of mans wisdom the apostle did forbear , 1 cor. 2.4 . it is not needfull for a minister to read all heathen poets and orators , that he may fill his sermons with their fancies and rhetorical expressions ; but he should chiefly fetch his rhetorick from the bible ; indeed apollos was commended for his eloquence , act. 13.24 . not humane eloquence but divine . it is not said , he was mighty in other learning , but mighty in the scriptures ; not mighty in the writings of heathens , but mighty in the writings of god ; his eloquence was drawn from the word , which is most persuasive . the lord doth not require that his ministers should preach the gospel neatly , but plainly ; the former may make them esteemed as the better scholars , but the latter wil● make their hearers the better christians : that way of preaching th●y should use which is most intelligible and profitable , not that which is most learned and scholastical , melius est ut nos reprehendant grammatici , quàm non intelligant populi ; saith one , that could speak in an eloquent strein . it is better that grammarians should reprehend us , than that the people should not understand us : and he desired that since the vulgar could not ascend so high as to understand a more refined language , that learned men would stoop so low as to accommodate their speech to their capacities . thus ministers must preach the gospel , not with wisdom of words , but with plainness of speech . there is a light in the gospel , the purest and most glorious that ever shined ; wisdom of words doth darken and obscure this light , it doth ●ully the truths which shine most when they are naked without such ornaments : it is like a bright cloud between us and the sun , which keeps off the greater light , like painting of a diamond or a beautifull face . there is a power go●th along with the word preached to convert sinners . heb. 4.12 . the word is compared to a sharp , two-edged sword , piercing and separating between the joynts and the marrow , between sin and the soul , which are more neer than marrow is to the bone ; but wisdom of words , or humane eloquence doth guild as it were the edge of the sword , which takes away its sharpness ; or is like to a rich scabbard , which delights the eye , and pleaseth the fancy , but keeps the sword from entring the bowels and wounding the conscience : it is in plain preaching that the sword is drawn forth naked , which makes the sinner slie or yield . plain preaching is the most effectual means to pull down the strong holds of sin and satan , and to draw men unto a closure with jesus christ. humane wisdom usually puffeth up both them that use it , and those that hear it . humane wisdom is apt to beget an humane faith , which standeth in the wisdom of men ; plain preaching begetteth faith which standeth in the power of god. there is no such edification as in plain preaching : in plain preaching , the bread of life and wholsom food of the word is distributed ; but humane wisdom is like hey and stubble , which is food for horses and not for men ; so humane wisdom may please and best agree with natural and bruitish men , but true christians cannot feed upon it ; it is no more suitable to their spiritual appetite than hey and stubble is to their naturall . it is like pictures in learn●d books , which may delight children , a scholar doth not regard the pictures , but the writing ; the word of god doth feed and edifie a gracious heart when it is preached plainly and homely ; humane wisdom , or wisdom of words in preaching , doth take away much of the taste and relish , and doth hinder its vertue and operation . the word is compared to milk , which must be sincere , to food which must be simple and uncompounded , that it may nourish and strengthen the body : it is compared to wine that must be unmixed that it may chear and refresh the spirits ; wisdom of words is like water , or rather like some fulsome liquor mingled with the wine , which doth much invalidate and render it nauseous unto the appetite of the new creature . ministers therefore must preach the word plainly , that they may do it edifyingly : they must not use wisdom of words , which will evacuate the cross of christ , and render their preaching ineffectual , and put a cloud between the light and the eye , especially of the ordinary hearers ; much less may they use mysteriousness of words , dark sayings , and high-●lown notions , that shall puzzle the mindes of the wisest to guess at the meaning of : they must not in preaching make plain things difficult by their way of expressing them , as many do , but make more difficult things plain , they must preach plainly . i have been more large in this head , i shall be more brief in the rest . 3. ministers must preach the words of salvation convincingly . they should preach so as to convince the judgement of truth , and to convince the conscience of sin , and therefore they should preach in the evidence and demonstration of the spirit , 1 cor. 2.4 . 1. ministers should labour to speak so as to convince the judgement of the truth which they preach . they must not only assert truths , but prove them ; they must hold forth the word of faith with a clear evidencing light , and hold fast the word in a strenuous defence of it against opposers , and with sound doctrine they must not only exhort but also convince gainsayers , tit. 1.9 . ministers should make manifest the words of salvation which they preach , that they are the words of the god of truth , with whom dwells no errour or falshood : they should prove by undenyable arguments that the scriptures are of divine authority , and therefore as full of truth as the sun is full of light ; and then they should prove the doctrine which they preach by the word , and that with such reason for the belief of it , that no reason may be left to contradict it . ministers should be shining lights in the places where they live , dispersing abroad the bright beams of gospel-truths with such power and conviction , as may be sufficient through the concurrence of the spirit to vanquish and dispell all those clouds of ignorance which the minds of men naturally are filled withall . 2. ministers should preach so as to convince not only the judgement of truth , but also so as to convince the conscience of sin ; and that they may do this , they must not rest in general discourses of the nature of sin , but particularly apply themselves to their hearers , and reprove them homely and sharply for their particular sins : they must not sow pillows under the elbows of secure sinners , and deal gently , fearing to touch the soars of some , lest they lift up the heel against them ; but with all faithfulness they must tell all of their sins , and endeavour to awaken them by discovery of their danger ; their words must be like nails and goads which will prick unto the quick ; they must lance and rip up the soars , that they may be healed ; they must cry aloud and spare not ; they must lift up their voice like a trumpet , and cause the people to know their iniquities ; they must bend the bow , and shoot the arrows of bitter and sharp reproof into guilty consciences ; they must draw forth the sword of the spirit , which is the word of god , and therewith lay about them in gods name , and as those which are in gods room , and lash and wound sinners to the very heart , that have been so audacious as to break gods law ▪ they should endeavour to make the sword enter into the soul with such a force that sinners being convinced , judged , and condemned , may with trembling fall down , and in perplexity cry out , as those did whom peter had convinced of their great sin in crucifying the lord of glory , act. 2. men and brethren what shall we do ? 4. ministers must preach the words of salvation boldly : this the apostle desires prayers for himself to the lord that he might be enabled to do , eph. 6.19 , 20. and for me , that utterance may be given unto me , that i may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel ; for which i am an ambassadour in bonds , that therein i may speak boldly as i ought to speak . ministers should deliver their message with all boldness and authority , as being the ambassadours of the king of glory ; they should speak boldly without shame and without fear . 1. they should speak boldly without shame , as paul , rom : 1.16 . i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ , for it is the power of god unto salvation , unto every one that believeth ; the preaching of the gospel is accounted folly by some of great account in the world for wisdom ; and the preachers of the gospel are accounted fools , and despised : some reproach them , others mock and deride them , especially when they preach in such plain language as is most easie for all to understand ; but ministers must preach boldly , notwithstanding all the scoffs of the ungodly and profane ; and in a good sense they may glory in their shame ; for indeed that which the wicked do make the matter of scorn and shame , is matter of the greatest glory ; it is the honour of ministers to preach the gospel of salvation , such an honour as the lord hath not conferred upon the angels ( as hath been shewn ) and therefore they should preach boldly without shame . 2. ministers should preach boldly without fear , they must deliver the message they are entrusted withall by god , without fear of the face of men . 1 thess. 2.2 . we were bold in our god , to speak unto you the gospel of god with much contention . though the wicked contend with them , and oppose , though they persecute and do what they can to hinder them ; though they command them to preach no more , and would stop their mouths , and threaten imprisonment , banishment , death ; yet being intrusted with the gospel , they must preach the gospel with all boldness : this was the practice of the primitive ministers when they were threatned for preaching , act. 4.29 . and now lord , behold their threatnings , and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word ; and this is the duty of all ministers , if god open to them a door of opportunity to preach , they should open their mouths boldly to declare the mysteries of salvation , whatever danger they may incurr of sufferings hereby . men may say , wo be to you , if you do preach the gospel ; but when god saith , wo be to you if you do not preach , they have reason to fear and obey god rather than men. 5. ministers must preach the words of salvation compassionately . the apostle paul writes to the corinthians with many tears , 2 cor. 2.4 . and he preacheth to the ephesians with many tears , act. 20.19 . o what tender bowels of compassion should ministers have towards poor souls in preaching the gospel of salvation to them ! how should they pity sinners that lie w●ltring in their blood , that have no pity for themselves , that are cruel to their own souls , that are wounding themselves , as being more distracted than the man we read of , who tore his own flesh , and cut himself with stones ? mark 5.5 . how should they commiserate sinners that are wounding their consciences by sin , not knowing what they do , and are posting on in the broad way unto destruction and eternal misery , not knowing whither they go , that are running against a rock , which will dash them to pieces , and ready to leap into flames , where they must burn for ever ? ministers should weep and bleed over such , and with the greatest tenderness tell them of their danger , and shew them the inevitable ruine which is before them , and beseech them to turn from their evil wayes , that iniquity may not be their ruine , and accept of jesus christ , by whom they may attain salvation . ministers should be ready to beseech sinners upon their knees ( if that would do ) that they would not destroy themselves : o turn ye , turn ye , why will you die ? and be ready to lay their hands under their feet , ( if that would move them ) to put their feet into the narrow way of salvation . 6. ministers must preach the words of salvation warmly ; and that both with a warm love to the souls they preach unto , and with a warm sense of what they preach upon their own spirits . 1. they must preach with a warm love to souls , as the apostle with other ministers to the thessalonians , 1 thess. 2.8 . so being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of god only , but also our own souls , because ye were dear unto us , ministers should preach the gospel with such ardent affection to souls , and thirsting desires after their salvation , so as to be willing to pluck out their hearts , and give them to their hearers , if this would promote their salvation ; they should be ready to spend themselves and be spent , and not think much to consume themselves with fervour of heart towards , and for the good of poor souls . 2. ministers should preach with a warm sense of what they preach upon their own spirits , as those that have been under the impressions of the word , and have experienced the powerful operations thereof unto their own salvation . moreover , they should get their hearts affected more and more with the words which they preach , that they may preach the more feelingly ; that they may speak as if they were in earnest , as those that believe and know those things to be true which they deliver unto others . cold or lukewarm preaching usually makes little impression upon the hearers ; when the word doth little affect the heart of the minister , it doth seldom affect the heart of the people . when ministers preach sermons as scholars speak orations , in which they have no concernment , only to shew their good language and ingenuity , they may possibly gain applause amongst some of a slight and trivial spirit , but they are not like to gain souls ; the word must come from the heart that is likely to reach the heart . ministers must preach warmly if they would preach affectingly . 7. ministers must preach the words of salvation earnestly . ministers must be very earnest in their preaching with souls to endeavour after their salvation ; they must use all the persuasive arguments and motives they can think of that they may prevail ; tell them of the necessity hereof , of the manifold advantages , of the honour they shall attain hereby , and the unspeakable pleasures ; tell them of the great evils they are under , and the greater evils they are exposed unto whilest they are out of a s●ate of salvation : and then they must urge arguments as fully , and press upon them as homely as they can ; and use the greatest importunity with them , as if they were begging for their own lives , as if their own salvation and happiness were bound up with their hearers ; they should take no denyal , if possibly a grant may be obtained , they must call and cry , and pray , invite and wooe , and intreat that sinners would come to christ , that they may be saved by him . 8. and lastly , ministers must preach the words of salvation frequently ; they must lay hold on all opportunities to call sinners to christ , they must be instant in season and out of season , 2 tim. 4.2 . on the sabbath-day , on the week-day : in the morning they should sow the seed of the word , and the evening they should not with-hold their hand , because they do not know which the lord will prosper . thus you see how ministers are to tell people words whereby they may be saved . sect . xi . 4. the fourth thing is to shew , why ministers must tell people words whereby they may be saved . reas. 1. because they have a commission to do it . mark 16.15 , 16. and he said unto them , go ye into all the world , and preach the gospel unto every creature ; he that believeth and is baptized , shall be saved ; he that believeth not shall be damned . they are the words of our saviour , who being the king and head of the church , had power to make church-officers , and to give commissions ; he commissioneth his apostles in the first place to preach the gospel of salvation , and in them all his other succeeding ministers unto the end of the world , with whom he promiseth to be , so long as the sun should endure , math. 28.20 . ministers they are christs ambassadours , 2 cor. 5.20 . and they have a commission from heaven to declare the glad tydings of salvation , to give notice to the world out of the word , of the saviour which god hath provided for fallen , lost sinners , and the way of salvation by him ; to make known the covenant of grace which the lord hath made with men through his son , and the exceeding great and precious promises of pardon , and grace , and salvation ; all which promises are yea and amen in christ , who hath purchased with his blood whatever is promised in the covenant . ministers have a commission to preach the gospel , and they may do it authoritatively , and they ought to do it , it being their duty , and the great work they have to do in the world. reas. 2. because the lord hath qualified them for this work , not only by bringing them into a state of salvation , but also by pouring forth his spirit more plentifully upon them , and bestowing ministerial gifts upon them , utterance in preaching , prayer , &c. for this end , that they might shew men the way of salvation . reas. 3. because they must give an account of the souls which are committed to their charge , and wo be to them if they do not preach the gospel , 1 cor. 9.16 . ministers that neglect to shew men the way of salvation will have a fearfull account to give , they draw upon themselves the guilt of the blood of souls . they are the lords watchmen , and if they do not blow the trumpet , and tell sinners of their sin and danger , and how they may be saved by jesus christ , sinners indeed will dye in their sins , but their blood will the lord require at the watchmans hands , ezek. 33.8 . knowing therefore the terrour of the lord , we perswade men , saith the apostle , 2 cor. 5.10 . knowing the terrour of the lord , not only in respect of the people which we preach unto , how terrible the lord will be unto them at the last day , if they be found under the guilt of sin ; but also knowing the terrour of the lord in respect of our selves , how terrible the lord will be unto us , ●f we be found unfaithfull , we perswade men to endeavour their salvation , and to flee from the dreadfull wrath which is to come . reas. 4. because by telling people words whereby they may be saved , ministers may be instrumental not only to save themselves , but also to save them that hear them . god is most glorified in the salvation of souls , and it is the greatest glory of ministers to be made instrumental herein ; it is better to be the father of one soul , than to be heir to the largest revenues upon the earth : but if they be instrumental to turn many to righteousness , they shall receive a crown of glory which fadeth not away , at the appearance of the great shepheard , 1 pet. 5.4 . they shall shine not only as the brightness of the firmament , but also like starrs for ever and ever , dan. 12.3 . sect . xii . vse 1. are ministers to tell people words whereby they may be saved ? hence learn what a priviledge such people enjoy , that have liberty to hear such ministers as are faithfull in declaring the glad tydings of salvation . we read of some temporal blessings which render a people subordinately happy , psal. 144.12 , 13 , 14 , 15. when their sons spring and grow up like pleasant plants in their garden ; when their daughters are like the polished corner-stones of a palace ; when their garners are full and replenished with all manner of store ; when their sheep increase in their fields by thousands and ten thousands ; when their oxen are strong to labour , when there is a hedge about their substance without any breaches ; when there is no complaining in the streets through wrong and injury ; happy are the people saith the psalmist that are in such a case ; but far more happy are the people that enjoy spiritual priviledges , that hear the joyfull sound of the gospel , that have ministers to shew them how they may be saved from eternal death and wrath which they have deserved , and by sin are exposed unto . moreover , you may here learn the reason why so many people , especially those who most seriously and earnestly desire and endeavour their salvation , choose to hear ministers preach rather than others ; because they are commissioned by the lord to preach the word of salvation , and their ministry is most likely to be effectual : others may preach without a commission the same words and do no good , for want of gods blessing ; it is not the bare speaking the words of salvation that will bring salvation , but the revelation of gods arm and operation of his spirit with the ministry of the word : as when our saviour raised lazarus from the dead , he cryed with a loud voice , lazarus come forth , and he that was dead received life , and came forth , ioh. 11.43 , 44. others could have spoken the same words as our saviour , and cryed over the grave with as loud a voice , lazarus come forth , but with no effect ; the dead man would have remained still in the state of the dead , whatever any man could have spoken or done ; but when our saviour spake the words , the dead man was quickened ; there went forth a vertue and efficacy , a divine power and spirit with our saviours words which raised him from the dead ; so uncommissioned persons may entrench upon the work of the ministry , and preach the gospel , speak words of salvation , and cry to sinners to leave their sins , to arise from their spiritual death , to come forth from their graves , they may exhort them to repent and believe , that they may be saved , and yet none of their words be likely to take impression , and effect a saving change in the heart , because being out of gods way they cannot expect gods blessing ; but ministers are qualified and commissioned for the work , and through gods blessing there is a life and power goeth along with their preaching , which maketh it effectual for salvation : no wonder then if such as are led by the spirit do choose to hear ministers preach ( refusing others ) that they may be safely guided by them in the way of life and salvation . sect . xiii . vse 2. for reproof 1. of ministers . 2. of people . ( 1. ) are ministers to tell people words whereby they may be saved ? this then reproves such ministers , 1. as do not preach at all : 2. as do not preach soul-saving truths : 3. as do not preach in such a way as is likely to do good . but my business being chiefly to speak unto people , i shall pass by this use. ( 2. ) people are here to be reproved , unto whom the lord sends faithfull ministers to tell them such words whereby they may be saved . 1. it reproves such as persecute such ministers ; that are of such a spirit as the wicked iewes of old spoken of , 1 thess. 2.15 , 16. who both killed the lord iesus and their own prophets , and persecuted us ; and they please not god , and are contrary unto all men ; forbidding us to speak to the gentiles , that they may be saved , to fill up their sin alway , for wrath is come upon them to the uttermost . some there are that persecute ministers with the tongue , by reproaching of them , others persecute ministers with the hand by imprisoning of them , and many other wayes afflicting of them , seeking the extirpation of them , as persons not fit to live upon the face of the earth ; thus ungratefully they endeavour the ruine of them that desire and seek their salvation , and foolishly endeavour to blow out the light which would shew them the way to heaven . 2. it reproves such , who if they do not persecute ministers , yet hate them , bear a secret spight and enmity in their hearts against them ; and the reason is because they testifie that their works are evil , upon which account our saviour was hated , ioh. 7.7 . they hate them because they reprove them for their sins , and disturb their consciences sometimes , by sounding peals of judgement in their ears , that they cannot sin with that freedom and security as they desire : poor souls , how will they endure the pains of hell themselves , that cannot endure the sore-thoughts of them , and hate them which bring such sad thoughts into their mindes , though it be in order to their escape ? would any of you hate a neighbour that should cry aloud in the dead of the night , fire , fire , and bounce at your doors , and awaken you out of your sleep , to warn you of a fire drawing neer to your habitation , which if not prevented would burn house and goods and persons together ? and what do ministers more than cry fire , fire , and tell you of your near approach to everlasting burnings , in which without some speedy course taken for prevention , will certainly seize upon you , and consume you everlastingly ? and have any reason to be troubled and offended , and hate ministers for awakening them upon such an account as this , when their souls lie at stake , and are in such danger ? a physician of the body is not hated , that tells his patient that his disease is dangerous , which if let alone without taking such a remedy will certainly be his death : and have any reason to hate ministers who are physicians of the soul , because they tell men of the disease of sin , which if not cured by the blood of christ will certainly and may suddenly bring eternal death ? 3. it reproves such , who if they do not so deeply hate ministers , yet will not be perswaded to hear them ; such as are so drencht in the world , and so over head and ears in worldly business , that they minde nothing else . if any could tell them of a good bargain , or some notable way of thriving in their estates , such a one they would visit and hear , and o how would they relish such discourses ! but though ministers give notice of the best bargain that ever was made , and bring tydings of the most notable way of thriving , namely of the way of thriving in spiritual and heavenly riches , and shew men how they may gain pardon , and peace , and the favour of god , and the graces of the spirit , and escape future misery , and attain salvation and everlasting happiness ; yet like gallio they minde none of these things , they will not step over the threshold to hear ministers preach the gospel of salvation ; and how shall they escape who neglect so great salvation ? heb. 2.3 . 4. it reproves such , who if they do hear ministers , yet do not understand them ; that are so dull of hearing , that they know not what ministers say , nor whereof they affirm ; that gather about a minister as beasts about a man that sounds a trumpet , and stare upon him , but know not what the meaning of the sound is ; so they hear ministers , and look and stare upon them , some strange things are brought to their ears , which they know not the meaning of , and are like words of another language to them , because their eyes are closed , and they want spiritual sense and discerning ; and a great reason is , because they do not desire , and will not take pains to get an understanding in these things , by beginning first with the principles of religion in the catechisme , and begging earnestly for the teachings of the spirit , and readiness to do according to what they already know . 5. it reproves such , who if they have some notional knowledge of the doctrine of salvation preached by ministers , yet they do not believe the doctrine : their words seem to them like idle tales , or some cunningly devised fable ; they do not receive it as the word of truth , as the word of god , which effectually worketh in them that believe , 1 thess. 2.3 . they feel no effectual operation of the word in the change of their hearts , and the change of their lives ; they that were filthy are filthy still ; and they that were unjust are unjust still ; and they that were drunkards , and swearers , and the like , go on still in their sinful course , whatever notion they have of sin , and whatever discovery of their danger , and saviour , and way of salvation by him ; which is an evidence that they do not believe ; and this unbelief is the great god-provoking and soul-damning sin ; such make god a lyar , 1 ioh. 5.10 . but they will find him to be true to their cost and pain . 6. it reproves such , who if they have some notional knowledge , and historical faith , yet do not relish the words of salvation which are preached by ministers ; 1. those that do not relish the things , who make no account of salvation , as if there were no desireableness therein : 2. those that if they desire salvation from hell-torments and future misery , yet they do not relish the terms , they do not like the lords yoak , they will not bear his cross , they will not be perswaded to deny themselves , to mortifie the deeds of the body ; they could like to be saved from hell , but they do not like to be saved from sin ; they could like to have christ to be their high-priest and advocate , but they will not have him to be their king and lord , and will not have him to reign over them : to part with all sin , and to be universally holy , to lay down estate , liberty , life it self , at the lords feer , and be resolved to suffer the loss of all , if they stand in competition with christ ; are such hard sayings that they cannot bear : but how hard will it be for them to bear the loss of heaven and happiness , and endure the dreadfull , eternal wrath of god in hell , as they shall certainly do , who will not accept of salvation upon the terms of the gospel . sect . xiv . vse 3. are ministers to tell people words whereby they may be saved ? i shall then endeavour to put in practice this duty of ministers , in telling you words whereby you may be saved . in order to your salvation , i shall speak , 1. some words to try you whether you be in a state of salvation . 2. some words to move you to endeavour after your salvation . 3. some words to guide you in the way to attain salvation . 1. the first words shall be to try you , whether you be in a state of salvation ; and here i must put you upon the tryall of your selves , wherein i may give you some help ; take the exhortation of the apostle , 2 cor. 13.5 . examine your selves , whether ye be in the faith , prove your own selves . examine your selves by the rule of the word : and because these words are chiefly intended in order to the salvation of such as have not yet attained it ; to prepare them for the following motives and directions , which , if they mistook themselves to have already attained to a state of salvation , would likely do them no good : therefore i shall briefly out of the word of god give some characters of such as are not in a state of salvation . 1. ignorant persons are not in a state of salvation . see this isa. 27.11 . it is a people of no understanding , therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them , and he that formed them will shew them no favour : those that are grosly ignorant of the fundamental truths of religion , concerning god and christ , the lost estate of man since the fall , the way of salvation , repentance , faith , the resurrection from the dead , the last judgement , and the future rewards and punishments in heaven and hell , and the like principles of religion , which are necessary to be known in order to salvation , they cannot for the present be in a state of salvation ; the meanest understanding is capable of knowing these things by the teachings of the word and spirit , therefore such as do neglect the means of instruction , and do not search the word , and cry to god for it , but nuzzle up themselves in an affected ignorance in these things , are inexcusable in their fault , and will bring unavoidable destruction upon themselves , hos. 4.6 . my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge . 2. negligent persons are not in a state of salvation , i mean such as neglect their salvation . heb. 2.3 . how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? such as do not value and prize this great salvation purchased by christ , and published in the gospel ; such as never were made sensible of their need hereof ; such as never had any great desires after it ; such as never took any pains in the use of means to obtain it ; all which are evidences of their neglect , they cannot escape the dreadfull punishment of hell , which is prepared for such persons . such as are diligent to make provision for their bodies , but neglect the salvation of their souls ; if they persevere in this negligence they must needs miss of salvation . 3. impenitent persons are not in a state of salvation . luk. 13.3 . except ye repent , ye shall all likewise perish . all are guilty of sin original , and actual , and have matter for repentance ; such as have an obdurate and impenitent heart , which never was broken , and melted , and humbled ; which never was affected with true evangelical sorrow for sin ; but on the contrary , can commit sin with delight , rolling it as a sweet morsel under their tongue , which they will not part withall , they must needs perish everlastingly , if they should die in this estate ; the word is express , that iniquity will be the ruine of the impenitent , ezek. 18 30. 4. vnregenerate persons are not in a state of salvation . ioh. 3.3 . except a man be born again , he cannot see the kingdom of god. such as never had a gracious change wrought in their hearts , that are asleep in sin , and never were awakened ; as are dead in sin , and never were quickened ; such as have old natures and old hearts , and never were renewed ; that never put off as concerning their former conversation the old man which is corrupt , according to deceitfull ●usts , and put on the new man , which is created in righteousness and true holiness , eph. 4.22 , 24. they are uncapable whilest such , of this salvation , there is no entrance for them into the kingdom of heaven . 5. christless persons are not in a state of salvation , 2 cor. 13.5 . know ye not your own selves , that iesus christ is in you , except ye be reprobates . such as have not christ , and are not themselves in christ , they are for the present in a state of reprobation ; it is christ only can save ; those that are without christ , that are not united to him by faith and the spirit , that are unbelievers without faith , and carnal without the spirit , they cannot , whilest such , be saved . 6. vnsanctified persons are not in a state of salvation . heb. 12.14 . without holiness none shall see god. such as are unholy , such as live after the flesh shall die , none but those that through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body shall live , rom. 8.13 . 7. and in a word , disobedient persons are not in a state of salvation . heb. 5.9 . he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him , to none else ; and eph. 5.6 . the wrath of god cometh upon the children of disobedience . such as walk in a course of disobedience , as live and allow themselves in the practice of known sins , whatever they be , they are children of wrath because children of disobedience . the scriptures are so plain , that i need without many words of mine , only lay them before you , as a glass wherein you may discern your spiritual state . try your selves by these places , these texts will reach all that are not in a state of salvation . sect . xv. ii. the second words shall be to move you to endeavour after your salvation . the motives to stir up you to endeavour your salvation may be drawn , 1. from the consideration of your selves , whom you should endeavour the salvation of . 2. from the consideration of the salvation which you should endeavour to obtain . 3. from the consideration of the damnation of all such as do not obtain salvation . motive 1. from the consideration of your selves , whom you should endeavour the salvation of : it is the salvation of your selves , which i would press you unto ; it was the exhortation of the apostle , phil. 2.12 . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling , and this is my exhortation of you this day , labour after your own salvation : if i were to perswade you to do some great kindness for another , were it a difficult thing and like to cost you much labour and trouble , i should not likely prevail ; but when i am perswading you to do a kindness for your selves , and the greatest kindness in the world , even to endeavour after the salvation of your selves ; methinks the natural love which you bear to your selves should induce you to hearken and do whatever is requisite in order hereunto , though it cannot be done without difficulty and trouble . how far will carnal self-love carry carnal men ? what difficulties will they go thorow ? what expences of time and pains and strength will they be at ? how will some rise up early and sit up late , deny themselves food and rest and many comforts of this 〈◊〉 ? how will others comp●ss sea and land and hazzard life it self , and all to get an estate in the wo●d for themselves ? and should not spiritual 〈◊〉 , which is the only reall self-love , carry y●● n●●●ow difficulties ? should you think much of ex●●●nding time and pains that you may get salvation for your selves ? carnal self-love will bring destruction and misery upon such as are swayed by it , and in the issue will prove self hatred ; as you really love your selves , as you would escape the most dreadful misery , and obtain the chiefest happiness for your selves , labour after salvation for your selves . your self , your persons do consist of two parts , namely , soul and body ; it is the salvation of both , which i exhort you unto . 1. consider , it is the salvation of your souls which i would have you endeavour after , the salvation of your precious souls ; your souls are more precious than your bodies , and they are more precious than the whole world . 1. your souls are more precious than your bodies , they are by far your more excellent part : the original of your soul is more immediately from god : he formeth the spirit of man within him , zach. 12.1 . they are beams , they are streams that issue forth immediately from god ; moreover they carry more of the impress and image of god upon them as they are invisible , spiritual , rational , free , immortal ; they have also more high and excellent operations than the body is capable of , as of the understanding , conscience , memory , will , affections ; and i may add that if there be any lustre upon the body , it doth receive it from the soul , when the soul is gone , the beauty is gone ; whatever motion or use there is in the body , it doth depend on the soul ; when the soul is departed , the body can neither hear , nor speak , nor see , nor walk , nor do any business ; the body is a rotten stinking carkass without the soul ; and whilest the soul doth abide in it , the body is the inferiour part , the body is but the cabinet , the soul is the jewel ; the body is but the house of clay , the soul is the living inhabitant ; the body is as it were the beast ( as one saith corpus homini jumentum ) which the soul doth make use of to carry it from one place to another ; the body is the servant , it is the soul that rules , o labour then after the salvation of your souls , which are your most excellent part ; what care do some take to preserve their bodies ? much more reason have you to endeavour the salvation of your souls : when london's fire was burning the houses , those who could not save all their goods , took care to save those which were the most precious , especially their money and jewells ; o whatever become of your bodies here , whatever sickness or hardship they be exposed unto , labour to save your jewels , your precious souls ; the cabinet will be spoilt , the clay and mudd-wall will be broken down , and the soul will survive the body ; o take heed that when your souls come forth of their houses of clay , that they be not cast into the deep and dark prison of hell. 2. your souls are more precious than the who●e world ; our saviour esteem'd them so , and he best knew the worth of souls , who knew the mak●ng of them , and made purchase of so many lost souls , see matth. 16.26 . what is a man profited , if he shall gain the whole world , and lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? suppose that you had your hearts-desire in the world , that your baggs should throng in your coffers , till there were no more room ; your gold and silver should encrease without number ; suppose you had great possessions abroad , large revenues , stately houses , fruitful gardens and orchards , pleasant groves and walks , spacious fields and meadows , which as the poet saith , would weary the wings of a kite to fly over in a day , suppose that you had sweet and beautiful wives at home , like loving hindes and pleasant roes unto you , like fruitful vines about your houses , that you had towardly and hopeful children like olive-plants round about your tables ; that you had most kind and faithfull friends of most pleasant conversation ; that you had servan●s , horses , chariots , coaches , doggs , hawks , and all sorts of serviceable and delightful creatures , the best and in the greatest number at your commands to attend your pleasure : suppose you were cloathed with purple , wrapped in fine linnen , adorned with gold and silver , and pretious stones , and had the most rich and glorious attire that the greatest cost and art could make for you : suppose that your food were most delicious , that aire , earth , and the sea were ransack'd to provide dainties for your table ; that your courses were served up with the most rich and generous wine , the most sweet and harmonious musick : suppose that you were laden with titles of honour , and had all the crowns and scepters of the earth laid at your feet , and that the whole world had you in the highest esteem , and were in willing subjection unto you ; yet what would it profit you to gain all these things , or any thing else that the heart of man could desire in the world , and lose your souls , which are a thousand fold more pretious : the gain of these things are but for the body , and but for a while ; whereas the loss of the soul is for ever ; and when the soul is lost , all is lost ; when the soul leaveth the body , a period is put to all earthly enjoyments ; and the more you have of these things , the more grievous will it be to part with them ; think with your selves that you must dye certainly , and may dye suddenly , and then , if not before , you will acknowledge the worlds vanity and the preciousness of your souls , which are of longer duration than the age of ten thousand worlds put together , and what is the gain of the world which is so transitory and temporal , in comparison with the loss of the soul which is immortal , and whose loss is irrepairable : a loss in the estate may be recovered , riches may fly away upon the wing , and sometimes return upon the wing again , as in the case of iob ; but the loss of the soul can never be recovered ; when once the soul hath taken wing and is fled into the lower regions , it will never find wings to return again to its former estate : o therefore whatever you lose , take heed you do not lose your souls , your souls are very precious , seek after their salvation . 2. it is the salvation also of your bodies which i would have you endeavour after : i do not mean the salvation of your bodies from sufferings , which religion doth sometimes call you unto ; nor a salvation of your bodies from sickness and temporal death , which religion doth not exempt any from ; but the salvation of your bodies from perpetual death and pain of hell ; you may pamper your flesh for a while on earth , which may make it a more fit bait for the worms in the grave , and your bodies after death may be at rest , and take a sweet sleep for many years in the dust ; but there is a morning approaching after the long night of death and many hours of darkness , in which the graves will be opened and the dead will be awakened , and then your bodies will come forth of the dust ; and they will be adjudged by christ unto most horrid and endless torments in hell , to burn for ever in unquencheable fire , if you be found under the guilt of sin : o therefore labour after the salvation of your bodies ; when your bodies now are sick , you endeavour to get them cured , when they are full of pain , you use means to get the pain removed ; and you will fly as fast and as far as you can from natural death , and you will do much to lengthen out and strengthen the thred of your life , though do what you can , it will in time be cut asunder , and death which hath you upon the chase will overtake and overcome you whatever resistance be made ; o labour to get deliverance from the pains of body which are prepared in hell for the damned : fly , o fly from eternal death and the strokes of gods wrath which will come upon the bodies of the wicked hereafter ; if you would not have those faces scorched , those eyes and tongues and hands rosted , and that flesh broiled and fearfully tormented in the flames of hell fire , labour after salvation . as you love then your selves , your souls and bodies , seek after your salvation . sect . xvi . motive 2. from the consideration of the salvation which you should endeavour to obtain ; and here i shall set before you some properties of this salvation to move you the more effectually to seek after it . 1. it is a great salvation . 2. it is a rare salvation . 3. it is a necessary salvation . 4. it is a possible salvation . 5. it is a neer salvation . 6. it is an evident salvation . 7. it is a free salvation . 8. it is a sure salvation . 1. it is a great salvation , and that both in regard of the thing it self , and in regard of the causes of it . ( 1. ) it is great in regard of the thing it self . as in motion , so in salvation there is the terminus à quo , and the terminus ad quem , the term from which , and the term to which ; that which people are in salvation delivered from , and that which in salvation they attain unto , both which are exceeding great . 1. that which people in salvation are delivered from . there are six great evils which those that are saved are delivered from . 1. from sin , the greatest evil of all , from the guilt of sin , eph. 1.7 . and the power , the reigning power of sin , rom. 6 14. 2. from sathan the greatest enemy of all , from his power and tyranny , col. 1.13 . 2 tim. 2.26 . 3. from the law , the evil which it occasioneth , namely , the provoking to concupiscence and disobedience , rom. 7.5 , 6. and the evil which it denounceth , namely gods curse , gal. 3.10 , 13. 4. from the world , not in regard of their place , but in regard of their course , gal. 1.4 . ioh. 15.19 . ioh. 17.16 . 5. from death , the sting of death , and the fear of death , at least the grounds of fear , heb. 2.14 , 15. 6. from wrath , the wrath of god which is to come , 1 thes. 1.10 . 2. this salvation is great in regard of that which in salvation people do attain unto . all the priviledges of the gospel are wrapt up and included in the word salvation . election is the foundation of it ; effectual calling is the begining of it , justification , adoption and sanctification are contained in it , and glorification is the consummation of it . this salvation then is great in regard of the thing it self . ( 2. ) this salvation is great in regard of the causes of it . 1. efficient . 2. meritorious . 3. instrumental . 4. finall . 1. this salvation is a great salvation in regard of the efficient cause , and that is god the father : salvation is ascribed to him as the author , tit. 3.5 . according to his mercy he saved us . god is the cause of our salvation , 1. as he hath chosen us unto salvation , eph. 1.4 . as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world : which election being of free grace , we are said to be saved by grace , eph. 2 5. 2. as he hath sent his only begotten son into the world , to purchase salvation for us , joh. 3.16 . god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life . gal. 4.4 , 5. when the fulness of the time was come god sent forth his son , made of a woman , made under the law , to redeem them which were under the law , that we might receive the adoption of sons . 3. as he revealeth this salvation unto us by the preaching of the gospel , for which end he qualifyeth and sends his ministers upon this embassage to make known the glad tydings of salvation . 4. as he conferrs salvation actually upon us in our effectual calling , justification , adoption , sanctification and glorification , all these are from god. now that must needs be a great salvation which is effected by the great god , especially if we consider that it is the greatest and most glorious of all his works in the world , and unto which all his other works have some kind of tendency . 2. this salvation is a great salvation in regard of the meritorious cause , and that is the lord jesus christ , the excellency and greatness of whose nature , office and sufferings do demonstrate the greatness of this salvation which was purchased by him . the sufferings of christ were most properly the meritorious cause of mans salvation , and they were the greatest sufferings that ever were endured , insomuch as 1. they were the sufferings of the greatest person ; as man he was the head of the creation in regard of dignity , he was a greater king than solomon , matth. 12.42 . a greater prophet than moses , heb. 3.3 . a greater priest than aaron , even a priest after the order of melchisedec , heb. 7. moreover he was god as well as man , god manifested in the flesh , 1 tim. 3.16 . and though the godhead could not properly suffer , yet through its union in the same p●rson to the manhood , it put an efficacy in his suffering , and strengthened the humane nature to undergo greater sufferings as to the value of them in that short space of time , than all the angels and men in the world ( had their strength been united together in one person ) could have endured , if the greatest extremity of misery had been layd upon such a one unto all eternity : for 2. the sufferings of christ were equivalent unto eternal death , and ●he torments of the damned in hell , yea they were far exceeding , as is evident , because gods infinite justice is hereby fully satisfied , and there is sufficiency of merit in them for the redemption of the whole world not only of believers , but also of unbelievers , not only of men but of devils too : christs sufferings were of infinite value , not in regard of the sufferings , but in regard of the divine nature so closely united unto the humane nature : therefore the salvation purchased by these sufferings must needs be a great salvation . 3. this salvation is a great salvation in regard of the instrumental cause , and that is faith ; faith is a grace of great worth and excellency , insomuch as it doth not spring from any root or power of nature , but is wrought by the power of god , and requireth such exceeding great power in the effecting of it ; we read of the exceeding greatness of gods power towards them that believe according to the working of his mighty power , eph. 1.19 . which shews that the salvation is great which is effected by this grace of faith. 4. this salvation is a great salvation in regard of the final cause , and that is the manifestation of gods glory : 1. the glory of his wisdom in contriving such a way for mans salvation , which no created understanding could have tho●ght of : 2. the glory of his justice which is as fully satisfied through christs sufferings , as if all believers had been eternally punished : 3. and chiefly the glory of his free grace and mercy , which is set forth and magnified so eminently in all the degrees of mans salvation , that nothing may be ascribed unto man , but all unto god alone . thus you see , that this salvation is a great salvation in regard of the thing it self , and in regard of the causes of it . it is so great salvation as it hath no comparison , and is beyond expression , therefore labour to attain t●is salvation ; some endeavour to get a great estate , others to get great friends , others to get great honour and repute in the world , do you labour to obtain this great salvation which doth exceed all in greatness , it is a high and noble design , and is worthy your uttermost care and diligence in seeking after it ; other things are but small things , meer toyes and trifles in comparison ; nothing in the world hath the least degree of worth , compared with this so great s●lvation . i shall be more brief in speaking of the other properties of this salvation . ii. this salvation is a rare salvation : i mean , that few do obtain it ; many are called , few are chosen , matth. 20.16 . many are damned , few are saved : there are many troops of sinners that are posting in the broad way of destruction , it is but a thin scattered company that are pressing forward in the narrow way of life and salvation ; this is evident from the answer of our saviour upon the question propounded unto him , luk. 13.23 , 24. then said one unto him , lord are there few that he saved ? and he said unto them , strive to enter in at the strait gate , for many i say unto you will seek to enter in , and shall not be able . in which words he doth in eff●ct say , that few , very few should be saved , for he tells them plainly , that the gate of salvation is a strait gate , and many cannot pass thorow a strait gate ; and although many should seek to enter in at this gate , yet they should not be able ; and if many that seek to enter in shall not be able , then it follows , that none of those which do not seek to enter in shall be able : hence then we may gather a strong argument to prove , that very few shall be saved ; if the most of men and women in the world do not seek salvation at all , and they cannot possibly attain it , and many that seek salvation shall never finde it , then there are but few that shall be saved ; but the most in the world do not seek salvation at all , to say nothing of the heathen world which is by many degrees the far greater part of the world , who sit in darkness , and from whom the gospel of salvation is hid , and therefore are expresly said to be lost , 2 cor. 4.3 . even in the christian world where the light of the gospel doth shine , the most of men and women , that bear the name of christians , are ignorant , or profane , or only civil and morall , and live in the total neglect of the salvation of the gospel , and such cannot possibly attain salvation that do not at all seek after it : and of them that make some profession of religion , and do something in order to salvation , many shall not be able to attain it ; our saviour saith , that many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able , because they do not seek in a right manner , because they do not seek salvation chiefly ; they seek the satisfaction of their lusts , before the salvation of their souls ; because they do not seek it diligently , they are careless and formal in the use of the means of salvation ; they seek , but they do not strive to enter in at the strait gate ; they do not press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling , and therefore they fall short and miss of it ; there are but few that strive to enter in at the strait gate , that strive as wrestlers in wrestling , or racers in running , or warriours in fighting , as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth signifie ; few that seek their salvation above all other things , and with all their heart and might , few that are resolved for salvation whatever it cost them , whatever they do , or suffer for it , unto which resolution and endeavour all must come , or else they cannot be saved , and these being so few , certainly there are but few that shall be saved . more plainly our saviour speaks to the same purpose , math. 7.13 , 14. enter ye in at the strait gate , for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction , and many there be which go in thereat ; because strait is the gate and narrow the way which leadeth unto life , and few there be that finde it . the gate and way of sin which leads to death and hell , are wide and broad , and the most in the world are passing thorow this gate , and walking in this way ; the course of the world is a course of sin , the end of which course is destruction , and the reason why so many go in at the gate of sin , which is the outer gate of hell , is , because strait is the gate , and narrow the way which leadeth unto life ; because of the difficulties in the way of life and salvation , which require much pains and diligence if we would go thorow them ; we must give all diligence , if we would make our calling and election sure , 2 pet. 1.10 . we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling , if we would attain salvation , phil. 1.12 . we must labour if we would enter into rest , heb. 4.12 . we must strive if we would enter in at the strait gate , luk. 13.24 . we must run if we would obtain the prize , 1 cor. 9.24 . we must fight the good fight of faith if we would lay hold on eternal life , 1 tim. 6.12 . the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence , saith our saviour , and the violent take it by force , math. 11.12 . we must lay siege to heaven , if we would take it , and wi●h force and violence overcome those potent enemies , the devil , the flesh , and the world , who would draw or drive us away from the walls and gates of the new ierusalem . it is not an easie thing to be saved , the way to heaven is narrow , and it lyeth up hill , our endeavours for heaven especially at the first , are like climbing up a steep hill , like hewing a way thorow hard rocks , like swimming against a strong stream , like cutting hard wood against the grain ; and because of the opposition and difficulty in the way of salvation , therefore there be but few that finde the path thereof ; most choose a broader and easier way . it is evident then from what hath been said , that this salvation is rare and scarce , the consideration whereof should not discourage you , but quicken you unto the greater diligence in your endeavours after it ; the rarity of it sheweth the worth and excellency of it ; jewels and precious stones are rare and hard to be got ; what difficulties will some goe thorow ? what dangerous voyages unto the uttermost parts of the earth will some undertake , to bring home some rare things ? but especially the consideration withall of the necessity of salvatio● ( of which in the next particular ) should quicken you to seek after it . think with your selves ( my beloved ) think seriously , and think frequently , that there are but few that shall be saved ; and then examine , what reason you have to think that you are in the number of those few : when our saviour told his disciples that but one of them should betray him , they looked one upon another , and every one asked him , lord is it i ? there was none of them without their fears which made them so inquisitive , and they seem to be in pain untill they are resolved ; what then would they have thought and said ? how fearfull would they have been , if our saviour had told them that the most of them should have betrayed him , yea that all of them should betray him , but one ? may not i without uncharitableness say , that not one in twelve , no nor one in twenty , no nor one in a hundred in this city and nation shall be saved ? if i should tell you that hear me this day , that some of you will be damned , yea that many of you will be damned , yea that most of you will be damned , and that but few of this great company will be saved , should i be a false prophet ? i will not say it will be thus , neither can i do it , because this is gods secret ; much less do i desire it should be thus , for the end of my preaching is , that you all might be saved ; but let me tell you , that i fear that many of you here present will be found in the number of those many our saviour speaketh of , that shall seek to enter in at the strait gate , and shall not be able ; our saviour told his auditors , that flocked to hear him , thus , and are you better than they ? you all seek to enter in at the strait gate , by coming into this place where the gospel is preached , and where the gate is set open before you ; but are there not many amongst you that seek in a careless and negligent manner ? may not i say of all the seekers here , that there are but few that strive to enter in at the strait gate ? do you all , or the most look as if you had your eye upon the mark and glorious prize before you , and were pressing with all your might towards it ? do you hear as if it were for your lives , as if you might hear words this day whereby you may be saved ? do you pray and seek as if you were in earnest , as if you were resolved to take heaven by violence , and whatever you were denyed in , would not be denyed your salvation ? such as do not strive shall never get thorow the strait gate . think with your selves , it may be that many in this place shall be damned , and then say , shall not i ? shall not i ? and o what a miserable wretch shall i be if i should be damned ! if i should get only to the gate of heaven , and not get thorow ! if i should come only to the borders of the heavenly canaan , and dye in the wilderness ! if i should be found in the number of the negligent seekers which will miss of salvation ? what grounds have i to think that i shall be saved ? there are but few , can i think that i am in the number of the few ? methinks this consideration of the rarity of salvation should awaken you to give earnest heed that with the most that seek it , you may not miss of it . 3. this salvation is a necessary salvation : the great difficulty of obtaining some precious things discourageth the endeavours of the most in seeking after them , especially when they may be well enough without them ; but this salvation is necessary , you cannot be without it ; it is of absolute and universal necessity ; some things you may have , this you must have ; without it you are undone , you will be irrecoverably and eternally miserable ; there is no medium , no middle condition between salvation and damnation ( of which more by and by ) : some things are necessary to the body , but salvation is necessary to your happiness , without it there is no possibility ( in this fallen state ) of obtaining the chief end , the chief good which you are capable of ; without this no coming neer to god in whom your chiefest happiness doth consist , no vision or fruition of him either in part here , or in full and eternally hereafter . some men have need of one thing , and some of another , but all the men and women in the world have need of salvation , because all are sinners , all are children of wrath by nature . there is not one person amongst you all but have been guilty of sin , for the whole world is guilty before god , rom. 3.19 . and every moment of your lives you are exposed unto the punishment of sin in hell , unless you are brought into a state of salvation . it is necessary therefore that all of you should above all things seek after your salvation . 4. this salvation is a possible salvation ; though there were never so much worth and excellency in , never so much necessity of this salvation , yet if there were an impossibility of obtaining it , all arguments would be used in vain to press any to endeavour after it ; but this salvation is possible , it is possible that you should attain it , that the meanest of you , the vilest of you , yea that every one of you that hear these words may attain it . 1. the meanest of you may attain this salvation , and that 1. such of you as are of the meanest parts , though you have neither humane learning , nor capacity or ability for it ; though your judgement be shallow , your fancy and invention dull , your memory weak , and so could never understand and retain the many arts and sciences in philosophy , and the divers kinds of languages , which learned men have written their books in ; yet you are capable of being made the schollars and disciples of jesus christ , and he can teach the dullest and shallowest of you all the deep mysteries of salvation by his spirit , yea and he can give you a greater understanding in them , than the wisest and most learned men that are without the spirit do attain unto ; for he hideth those things from the wise and prudent which he revealeth unto babes , matth. 11.25 . and the natural man , let him be never so learned a man , receiveth not the things of the spirit , neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned , 1 cor. 2.14 . and therefore when not many wise men af●er the flesh are called , god chooseth the foolish things of the world to exalt the riches of his free grace in their salvation , 1 cor. 1.26 , 27 , 31. surgunt ind●cti & rapiunt coelum , quum nos cum omni doctrinà in gehennam detrudimur , saith one . the unlearned arise , and take heaven by violence , when we with all our learning are violently thrown down into hell. so that you who are of no learning , and but mean natural abilities , have encouragement to seek after this salvation of the gospel , seeing the lord can teach you by his spirit , and it doth better suit with his design of glorifying his free grace in bestowing it upon such as you , rather than on the wise and learned men of the world , who would be apt to ascribe the glory unto themselves . 2. such of you as are not only of the meanest parts , but also of the meanest condition in the world , may attain this salva●ion ; the poor have the gospel preached unto them , matth. 11.5 . if with poverty in regard of estate , you are also poor in spirit , the riches of grace and salvation are tendered freely unto you ; read for your encouragement what the apostle saith , iam. 2.5 . hearken my beloved brethren , hath not god chosen the poor of this world , rich in faith , and h●irs of the kingdom , which he hath promised unto them that lo●● him . if you were to seek some great favour from an earthly prince , your mean attire and condition might keep you at a distance ; and you might have no regard given to your request , should it have a hearing ; the petitions of the great and rich are heard in courts on earth , when the poor and mean are despised : but the king of heaven doth regard the rich no more than the poor , iob 34.19 . and if you seek diligently after this salvation , you may have as free access to the lord as any , and your petitions shall be heard in the court of heaven , and you shall certainly obtain this salvation which you seek after . 2. the vilest of you all may attain salvation ; some of you it may be have been notorious sinners , your consciences do accuse you of such great sins , with such hainous aggravations , that you may be discouraged and out of hope that such as you should be saved ; you have offered such high affronts and indignities unto the highest majesty that you think he can never put them up ; you have run so deep and so long upon the score , that you think the scores can never be wiped off ; if they had been smaller faults , or more ordinary slips , or you had sought after salvation sooner , you might have hoped to speed , but now you fear the door of mercy is shut , and the day of grace is spent , and there is no pardon and salvation for such vile sinners as you : but let me tell you that the vilest of you all may attain salvation , the door of mercy is not so fast shut as yet , but by knocking hard it may be opened ; and so long as the day of your life is continued , and the means of grace are continued , you cannot say that the day of grace is quite 〈◊〉 ; there is salvation attainable by the worst of you all , if you will look after it ; our saviour tells us of publicans and harlots that entred into the kingdom of heaven sooner than the pharisees who boasted in their own righteousness , matth. 21.31 . he conversed with , and called the worst of sinners to repentance , matth. 9.11 , 13. inde●d when the apostle maketh mention of notorious sinners , he telleth us , that such whilest such , could not be saved , 1 cor. 6.9 , 10. know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god , be not deceived , neither fornicators , nor idolaters , nor adulterers , nor ●ffeminate , nor abusers of th●mselves with mankind , nor thieves , nor covetous , no● drunkards , nor revilers , nor extortioners , shall inherit the kingdom of god. those that are such notorious sinners , and continue in the practice of such sins without repentance , they cannot be saved ; but withall he addeth in the 11. verse , that some of them had been such sinners , but were now in a state of salvation through their interest in jesus christ , and the operation of the spirit of god upon their hearts , and such were some of you ; but ye are washed , but ye are sanctified , but ye are justified in the name of the lord iesus , and by the spirit of our god ; they were justified , their sins pardoned and persons accepted , in the name of the lord jesus , through the imputation of his righteousness unto them , and they were washed and sanctified by the spirit of god , through infusion of grace by the spirit into them : i might add further inst●nces of notorious sinners who have been saved , as manasses , mary magdalen , paul , who before conversion calleth himself the chiefest of sinners , yet obtained mercy and salvation ; and let me tell you moreover , that if you repent now and apply your selves to christ , the greater your sins have been , the more will gods glory be illustrated in your salvation , and the abounding of your sins will make way for the super-abounding of his grace . 3. all of you that hear these words may obtain salvation , it is possible that every one of you in this place may be saved ; it would be a rare thing , but it is a possible thing : indeed there are but few that shall be saved ; but who knoweth but all of you may be found in the number of those few ; and o how would it rejoyce my heart to see all those faces in heaven whom i see here this day to hear the words of salvation . be encouraged to seek after your salvation by the possibility of obtaining . now salvation is possible for all of you that have not as yet attained it ; but let me add , that it will not be possible long for you all ; whilst you are in the land of the living it is possible , though you be condemned to hell for sin whilst unbelievers , ioh. 3.18 . he that believeth not is condemned already ; yet the sentence of condemnation is traversible , you may appeal from the court of the law , to the court of chancery ; you may fly from the bar of gods justice , unto the throne of grace ; and if you heartily repent of sin , and by faith lay hold on christ , you may obtain pardon and salvation : whilst the reprieve of your life lasteth , salvation is attainable ; but when once your life is come to an end ( which you know not how soon it may be ) and you be found in a state of impenitency and unbelief , then the percullis will be shutt down upon you for ever ; then the black flag will be hung out ; then the talent of lead will seal up the measure of your wickedness ; and your condemnation will be irreversible ; when the day of your life is spent , the day of grace will be spent too , and the door of mercy will be shut upon you for ever ; and it will be impossible for any of you that have not attained , then to attain salvation . 5. this salvation is a neer salvation . say not in your heart , who shall ascend up into heaven to learn what it is there ? or who shall descend into the deep to bring notice of it from thence ? or who shall take the wings of the morning , and fly into the uttermost parts of the earth thence to bring tydings of it to you ? for the word of salvation is near unto you , it is brought home to your own doors , it is that word which is now sounding in your ears , even the words which we ministers preach unto you : read what those words are which are brought so nigh , rom. 10.8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. the word is nigh thee , even in thy mouth , and in thy heart , that is the word of faith which we preach , that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord iesus , and shalt believe in thy heart that god hath raised him from the dead , thou shalt be saved : for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness , and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation . for the scripture saith , whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed : for there is no difference between the iew and the greek : for the same lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him : for whosoever calleth upon the name of the lord shall be saved . heretofore salvation was only amongst the jews , and whoever of other nations would be saved , they must travel to ierusalem , and worship the lord in his temple , and enquire for salvation in that place : then salvation was afar off from the gentiles , especially from these brittish isles ; but now since the revelation of jesus christ , as those which were afar off are made nigh by the blood of christ ; so the word of salvation is brought nigh unto us ; you have many messengers of peace , which bring the glad tydings of salvation near unto you , and this may further encourage you to seek after it . 6. this salvation is an evident salvation : i mean , that it is more clearly and evidently made known unto us , than it hath been in former ages unto any , or than it is in other places unto many . in former ages this salvation was not made known so clearly unto any , i mean in the ages before the coming of christ : the prophets themselves who prophesied of it , did not fully understand what the spirit in them did signifie , when it foretold of this grace which should come unto the church in after ages , 1 pet. 1.10 , 11. and therefore the first preaching of the gospel of salvation , is called a revelation of the mysterie which had been kept secret since the world began unto that time , rom. 16.25 . and a manifestation of that mysterie to the saints which had been hid from ages and generations , col. 1.25 , 26 , 27. the gospel of salvation was indeed revealed in the dispensation of the law upon mount sinai by moses , but it was more obscurely ; it was wrapt up in types and figures ; and as there was a vail before moses his face , so there was a vail before the truths of salvation , so that the children of israel could not stedfastly look unto the end of those things which were after to be abolished , 2 cor. 3.13 . but this vail is done away in christ , v. 14. when christ suffered upon the cross , the vail of the temple , which kept the people off the holy of holies , was rent from the top to the bottom of it , and then the way into the holy of holies was made manifest , and christ by his appearance abolished death , and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel , 2 tim. 1.10 . then darkness did pass away , and the true and marvellous light did shine upon the church , 1 ioh. 2.8 . and now with open face believers do behold as in a glass the glory of the lord , 1 cor. 3.18 . the scope of which places is to shew the obscurity of former revelations , and the clearness and evidence of the revelation of the gospel in these latter daies . in other places this salvation is not made known so clearly unto many ; it is not made known at all unto the most in the world ; a thick darkness of ignorance doth overspread the greatest part of the face of the earth , and even amongst those that call themselves by the name of the church of christ : there are in many places such fogs and mists of errour and heresie , that the truths of salvation are darkened , and peoples minds are blinded ; but now unto you this salvation is made so clear and evident ; the thing and way of it is made so manifest , that it is a great encouragement to seek after this salvation . 7. this salvation is a free salvation ; it will cost you no money , you may have it for nothing , you may have it for accepting : if you were taken captive by men , if you were slaves to the turks , possibly you might not be delivered without some considerable summ for your ransom ; but you may be delivered from the slavery of the devil , and your own lusts , you may be saved from sin and hell without money : indeed a price hath been paid for your ransom , not silver or gold , but that which is ten thousand times more precious , and that was the blood of jesus christ , which was shed upon the cross for you ; yet though your salvation cost christ dear , it is free unto you , it will cost you nothing ; pardon is free , and grace is free , and eternal life unto you is a free gift ; you are invited to come unto the waters , and to buy wine and milk , but it is without money and without price , isa. 55.1 . the spirit saith , come , and the bride saith , come , and whosoever is a thirst let him come , and take of the waters of life freely , rev. 22.17 . there is sufficiency of grace in god for the salvation of you all , and you may come and partake of this grace in your salvation freely : you may have it without money , if you be poor , the gifts of god cannot be bought ; and you may have it without merit ; if you conceit that you deserve any thing , you shall be sure to have nothing ; if you are sensible of your unworthiness , and apply christs merits and righteousness , through him you may have salvation freely . 8. and lastly , this salvation is a sure salvation ; you have the promise of god for it , and there can be no greater certainty of a thing than the word of god , especially if you consider that god is infinite in power , and therefore can do whatever he will , and that god is infinitely true , and therefore will do whatever he hath promised : god is most powerful , and therefore able to save you ; there is strength sufficient in his almighty arm , to bring salvation unto you ; and god is most faithfull in the promises of salvation , which he hath made in the covenant of grace ; if you get faith to apply the promises , you shall certainly have the thing : there is an uncertainty in every thing else in the world , but there is a certainty in this salvation , that there is such a thing is certain from the revelation of the word of god , who cannot lye ; and that you may have it if you will accept of it , is certain from the nature and firmness of the promises ; and when you have attained unto any degrees of this salvation , the perfecting of it will be most sure ; for he that hath begun a good work in you , will perform it until the day of jesus christ , phil. 1.6 . thus i have laid before you the properties of this salvation ; it is a great salvation ; it is a rare salvation ; it is a necessary salvation ; it is a possible salvation ; it is a near salvation ; it is an evident salvation ; it is a free salvation ; it is a sure salvation ; all which being laid together , may be a strong motive and inducement to you to labour that you may attain a share in this salvation . sect . xvii . from the consideration of the damnation of all such as do not obtain salvation . the damnation of all such persons will be dreadfull and certain . ( 1. ) the damnation of such as are not saved will be dreadful . 1. the day of their damnation will be dreadful . 2. the sentence of their damnation will be dreadful . 3. the execution of their damnation will be dreadful . 1. the day of the damnation of such as are not saved will be dreadful , and that is the last day , the day of judgement : o how dreadful will this day be to you that are wicked and ungodly , when the heavens shall be opened , and the lord jesus christ , the judge of the world shall descend with a shout , with the voice of the arch-angel , and the loud sound of a trumpet ; when the earth shall be opened , and you shall be raised out of the dust , and summoned to appear before christs tribunal ; and the books shall be opened , and all your sins shall be made manifest before the whole world ; when the heavens shall be on fire , and melt down upon you , and pass away with a great noise ; and the earth shall be on fire , and burn under you ; and every mountain and hill shall flee away before christs face ; and christ shall be on fire , and come in flames of anger to take vengeance upon you for your sins . think , o think how dreadful this day of damnation will be unto all such of you as shall not then be found in a state of salvation ! o what dread will seize upon you so soon as your eyes are opened , and you find the predictions of the word which you formerly slighted to be true , and perceive that now indeed the day of gods wrath is come , when you shall be dragged like so many malefactors before the judgement-seat , and there stand naked horribly lashing your selves in the reflections of conscience upon your fore-past wickedness ; how will you be ready to tear your selves to pieces for your folly and madness , that you did not provide for this day , and flee from this wrath of god , which then you will not be able to escape ? how willingly would you creep into some rock , or under some mountain , or abide still in your grave , or cast your selves into the sea , if possibly any place could be found to hide you in this terrible day , but shall be able to finde no hiding-place for your selves ? think what hideous thoughts , what sinking fears , what horrible perplexity of mind you will on this day be filled withall , it will be a dreadful day . 2. the sentence of the damnation of such as are not saved will be dreadful ; when the books are opened where your sins are recorded , and you are convicted by the judge ; then he will proceed to pass sentence upon you . depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels , matth. 25.41 . o dreadful words ! the voice will be loud with which they will be pronounced , such as shall reach the ears of all the wicked together of all generations , and how will they all quake and tremble at the sound thereof ! you may cry it may be to the lord for mercy , but it will be in vain ; you may say , lord open to us , and receive us into thy kingdom , that we may participate in the joyes thereof ; but he will say unto you , depart from me , i know ye not all ye workers of iniquity : but if you must depart , you may wish for his blessing , as esau , though it were but an inferiour blessing ; no , depart ye cursed , depart with a curse : if then you must depart with a curse , you may wish for some convenient place of abode , and good company , as cain , when he went forth from the presence of the lord with a curse , he built a city to dwell in , and took some comfort , it may be in his habitation , and wife , and children ; no , depart into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels ; you must dwell in devouring fire , and inhabit everlasting burnings , and your companions will be the devil and his angels , and fellow-damned sinners , in whom you will not find the least comfort , which leads to the third particular . 3. the execution of the damnation of such as are not saved , will be dreadful , and this will be in hell ; when the irreversible sentence of damnation is passed upon you , immediately the execution will follow , and you will be haled from the judgement seat , and the everlasting doors of the prison of hell will be lifted up , where a horrible fire is burning , which can never be quenched , into which you must enter , and be shut down , and shut in to take up your eternal abode in that place of torment ; there every part will be tormented , every member of your bodies , every faculty of your souls , and that in the highest degree of extremity beyond your now capacity , and your torments will have no intermission , neither will you have any hopes of their conclusion . i have already treated in my book of judgement of the universality , extremity , and eternity of the torments of the damned , and therefore shall not here inlarge . from what hath been said , you may evidently perceive , that the damnation of such as are not saved will be dreadfull , which should awaken you to endeavour after your salvation , especially if withall you consider , ( 2. ) that the damnation of such as are not saved will be certain ; where there is no salvation there will be unavoidable damnation , because between these two hereafter there will be no middle condition ; such as are not saved will most certainly be damned ; heaven or hell , eternal happiness , or eternal misery will be the portion of all the sons and daughters of adam . i might shew , that gods justice , and holiness and truth , doth require the damnation of all such as do not obtain salvation by jesus christ , so that either god must prove unholy , and unjust and false in his word , which is impossible , or you which are not saved must be damned , therefore this is most certain , there is no escaping of the damnation of hell by such as neglect the great salvation of the gospel , heb. 2.3 . and methinks by this time i should hear some of you cry out as the iews when peter preached , or the jaylor , o what shall we do to be saved ? sect . xviii . iii. i am to tell you words to guide you in the way to attain salvation . and here i shall 1. direct what things you must do , that you may be saved . 2. shew what means you must make use of to help you in those things . 1. what things you must do that you may be saved . take this in these ten directions . 1. you must see your selves lost . 2. you must mourn for sin . 3. you must turn from sin . 4. you must believe in iesus christ. 5. you must get a new nature . 6. you must lead a new life . 7. you must resolve upon sufferings for christ , if called . 8. you must study and apply the promises of the covenant of grace . 9. you must give up your selves in covenant unto god. 10. you must be stedfast and persevere in the wayes of god unto your lives end . direction 1. you must see your selves lost , if you would be saved ; luk. 19.10 . our saviour telleth us , that he came to seek and save that which was lost . you must be lost if you would be found : we read luk. 15. of the lost sheep , the lost groat , and the lost son , all which were found again , and that with joy . when sinners perceive themselves to be lost and undone , and know not what to do , then they are neer to be found and saved by jesus christ : o then as ever you expect salvation by christ , you must see and be sensible of your lost estate , whilest you are in a state of nature : and for this end you must get a conviction , 1. of your sin . 2. of the punishment you have deserved for your sin . 3. of your insufficiency to satisfie gods iustice. 4. of your inability to make resistance , and defend your selves . 5. of the impossibility of your fleeing and escaping gods wrath . 6. that as yet you have no interest in christ , who alone is able to deliver you from the wrath to come . 1. that you may be sensible of your lost estate , you must get a conviction of your sin , your eyes must be opened to see your selves guilty of sin before god , and your mouths must be stopped , so as to have nothing to say if the lord should condemn you . you must not only understand the nature of sin in the general , that it is a transgression of the holy , and righteous , and good law of the holy and glorious god of heaven and earth ; but also you must be particularly and thorowly convinced , that you have transgressed this law of god ; you must be convinced of your particular sins : as to the kinds of your sins , you must 1. see your selves guilty of original sin , of adams first transgression by a just imputation , you being in his loyns , and parties in the first covenant : and then you must see what inherent sin there is in your nature , that you were conceived and born in sin , that you are a viperous brood , a se●p●ntine generation , a seed of evil doers ; that the toad is not fuller of poyson , than your natures are full of sin ; that your natures are contrary unto the nature of god , and have an enmity in them against the law of god , rom. 6.7 . you must be convinced , how your natures are depraved , being wholly destitute of original righteousness , empty of all good , and inclinable wholly unto evil ; that they are a polluted fountain , from whence can proceed nothing but what is unclean ; that they are a bitter root , from whence doth spring forth such cursed fruits of sin in your lives ; and you should look upon your sin of nature to be the worst , because the original of all actuall transgressions . 2. you must be convinced of your actual sins , how you have broken gods law in thought , word and deed , you must see your sins of omission , and your sins of commission , against the first and second table of the law , and take notice of the number of them , so far as you can remember , together with their aggravations ; if they have been committed through ignorance when you have had means of knowledge , if against light of nature and the word , if against the reluctance of natural conscience , if against many warnings and reproofs , if they have been committed with security , hardness of heart , delight , greediness , pride , presumption , obstinacy , and the like ; and that you might be convinced of the gu●lt of sin , you must look into the law , in which as in a glass you may see your natural face , and all the spots thereof ; the law will discover the sin of your natures , as it requireth perfect conformity thereunto in habit , disposition , and inclination , and forbiddeth all evil byasses of the will and heart to sin , as well as external transgressions ; moreover the law will discover to you your actual sins ; but then you must look beyond the head precepts of the law , which are but ten , for you must take notice of the several branches belonging to every head , which are many ; as for instance , if you would finde out whether you are guilty of adultery , you must not only look upon the precept as forbidding only the gross outward act , thou shalt not commit adultery , but as reaching to the inward desires and inclinations , and so our saviour , math. 5.28 . interprets this precept , that whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her , hath committed adultery with her already in his heart ; and so in the precept , thou shalt not kill , it is murder not only to take away the life of another by violence , but also to be angry with our brother without a cause ; and so in the other precepts . and as you must look into the law for conviction of sin , so you must also look into your own consciences , and read what is there registred , and compare your hearts and lives with the law ; and you should call to minde the places you have lived in , the busin●sses you have been employed about , and the circumstances of your lives may bring to remembrance many sins committed long ago , with their aggravations . you must get thus a conviction of the guilt of your sins , especially if you have fallen into any grosser sin in your life , as adultery , drunkenness , theft , if you have been guilty of swearing , sabbath-breaking , profaneness , or the like ; you must see the heinousness of them , and withall you must see that every sin which you have committed is heinous , as it is a dishonour to the highest majesty , who is infinitely more exalted above the greatest earthly kings and potentates , than they are exalted above the meanest worm , or flie ; and for such as you to dishonour and affront him by sin , is very heinous . this is the first thing , a conviction of your sins , which you must endeavour after . 2. that you may be sensible of your lost estate , you must get a convic●ion of the punishment which god hath threatned , and you have deserved for your sins ; will the lord put up the affronts which are offered to him by his creatures ? will he bear the dishonours of his great and glorious name by sin , without punishing the sinn●rs ? no surely , his holiness will not permit it , his justice hath been offended , and must have satisfaction , and therefore he threatneth to punish the offenders most severely ; god threatneth temporal calamities and death , as the wages of sin ; and because through patience he forbeareth to punish many transgressions so remarkably in this life ; and the most dreadfull temporal judgements which he inflicteth upon any , are no wayes proportionable to the desert of their sins , and the demands of his infinite justice ; therefore he threatneth eternal punishment in hell ; look into some places of scripture , where the lord doth denounce severe threatnings against sinners , gal. 3.10 . cursed in every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them . rom. 1.18 . the wrath of god is revealed from heaven , against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men . eph. 5.6 . because of these things cometh the wrath of god upon the children of disobedience . 2 thess. 1. 8 , 9. christ will come in flaming fire , taking vengeance on them which know not god , and obey not the gospel , who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord , and the glory of his power . rom. 2.6 , 8 , 9. god will render unto every man according to his deeds , to them who are contentious and do not obey the truth , indignation and wrath , tribulation and anguish on every soul of man that doth evil . that you may see and be sensible of your lost estate , you must be convinced not only in the general of the justice and equity that such judgements should be inflicted on sinners , because god himself hath denounced them in his word , who cannot be unjust toward his creatures ; and because sin hath deserved them , being the breach of his law , which is holy and just and good ; and an offence of an infinite majesty , whose justice is infinite , and must be satisfied with a proportionable punishment unto the offence : but also you must be convinced that you are such sinners ; that you have committed such and such sins , that you have broken the law in such a point , and such a point , and in every point ; that you are guilty of fornication , or drunkenness , or theft , or covetousness , or lying , or profaneness ; and it may be of all these , and more than these : the first is the conviction of the law , the second the conviction of the fact , then follows the third conviction which is of the state , that therefore you are under the curse , that you are condemned , that the wrath of god hangeth over your head , and that you must be tormented for sin most horribly and eternally in hell : it is the conviction of the dreadfull punishment of hell which god hath threatned , and unto which you are exposed for sin , that will awaken you to a sense of your lost state , when the conviction is imprinted deep upon you by the spirit ; when you believe that hell is no fiction , but a reality , as certainly prepared for the wicked , as god is above preparing places in heaven for his people ; and you have a peep-hole ( as it were ) into hell , and imagine something of the torments which the damned there do , and shall endure for such sins as you have committed ; how they roll and tumble in flames of brimstone , how they are lashed by an accusing conscience , tormented with and by the devil , and even consumed by the wrath of a sin-revenging god , how they cry , roar and howl , how they weep and wail , and gnash their teeth , and that this must be their condition for ever ; and when withall you think that you are walking upon the brink of this pit , and hastening towards the place of these flames , that hell doth belong to you , that you are in the number of the cursed crew , some of whom have already taken up their lodging in hell , and that you are like to come thither shortly , that you are lyable every moment to drop into the burning lake , then you will perceive that you are lost and undone . 3. that you may be sensible of your lost estate , you must be convinced of your insufficiency to satisfie gods iustice for your sins ; if you could do this , you might do well enough ; but this you cannot do , gods justice is infinite , and requireth infinite satisfaction , which you being finite are insufficient to give ; what can you offer to god ? thousands of rams , rivers of oyl , mines of silver , mountains of gold , rocks of pearl , yea the whole creation , if it should offer it self to be annihilated , could not make compensation to gods justice for one sin , nothing less than infinite must be the satisfaction ; and therefore this should make you further sensible of your lost estate in your selves . 4. you must get a conviction of your inability to resist and defend your selves against god , who hath threatned so severely to punish you for sin ; as gods justice is infinite , and therefore you cannot satisfie it ; so his power is infinite , and you cannot resist it ; who can stand in his sight when once he is angry ? who can defend himself against an omnipotent arm ? if god whet his glittering sword , and his hand take hold on vengeance , what powers of earth are strong enough to make resistance ? read how god expresseth himself concerning such as set themselves against him , isa. 27.4 . who would set the bryars and thorns against me in battel ? i would go thorow them , i would burn them together . look upon your selves as briars and thorns , yea as dryed stubble before a consuming fire , which hath no power to resist the flame ; and therefore that you are lost and undone in your selves because of your sins . 5. you must get a conviction of the impossibility of your fleeing from and escaping gods wrath , which hath you in pursuit ; whither can you go from his presence ? or whither can you flee from his anger and indignation ? see amos 9.2 , 3. though they dig into hell , thence shall mine hand take them ; though they climb up into heaven , thence will i bring them down ; and though they hide themselves in the top of carmel , i will search and take them out thence ; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea , thence will i command the serpent , and he shall bite them . you cannot flee into any place but god will follow you ; you cannot hide your selves in any place but god will finde you ; there is as little hopes of escaping gods wrath , as of resisting his power . see psal. 21.8 , 9. thine hand shall finde out all thine enemies , not only some , but all sinners , thy right hand shall finde out them that hate thee : thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger , the lord shall swallow them up in his wrath , and the fire shall devour them . by this time sinners , methinks you should perceive your selves to be lost and undone ; all refuge now fails you , there is no escaping for you . 6. but lastly , that you may fully know that you are in a lost estate , you must get conviction , that as yet you have no interest in christ , who alone can deliver you from the wrath of god , which is to come upon the ungodly . indeed christ can and doth deliver his people from wrath , and the punishment their sins have deserved ; but when you know that you are out of christ , then you may know you are in a lost estate ; if you suppose that you have an interest in him without good grounds , you are like to be lost irrecoverably , and not know it till it be too late ; therefore you must know that as yet you have no interest in him , that all your pretensions to him have been presumptuous conceits ; that so you may be lost in your own apprehensions . can you think you have an interest in christ , that never truly mourned for sin , that never hungred after christ , that have no true faith to apply him ? have you interest in christ that have no true love to christ , and never yielded subjection to christ ? have you interest in christ that have no influence from christ ? have you union to christ that have no communion with him ? no , no , all you that are unbelievers , and have persisted hitherto in a sinfull course , are strangers unto christ , and therefore be convinced that you are in a lost estate : and o how should fear and trembling possess you through the apprehensions of the dreadfull wrath of god ? how should you go up and down like condemned malefactors , that are condemned to hell , and know not how soon they may be dragged to execution ? o what reason have you to lye down in terrour , and rise up in terrour , and feed upon terrour all the day long ! such thoughts as these are suitable to the condition of such as you . it may be the next step i take , i may step into hell : alas ! alas ! i am in a state of damnation , and did not know it ; i have been dancing about the brinks of hell , and did not perceive it ; i have been affronting god all my daies by my sins ; now i see that god is highly offended with me for those sins i made light of : i am the covet●us person whom the lord abhorreth , psal. 10.3 . i am the deceiver whom he curseth , mal. 1.14 . i am the adulterer whom he will judge , heb 11.4 . i have greatly sinned , and now i see god is greatly angry , and his anger burns like fire ; he frowns , and his frowns are most dreadfull , and i fear he will cast me to hell , and make me feel the power of his anger in my everlasting ruine ; i fear i must dwell with devouring fire , and take up mine eternal abode with the devil and my fellow-damned sinners : o i fear i am damned ! i am damned ! o happy is the dog and the h●rse , yea the worm and the toad , who ere long shall be anihilated ; but i am cursed , and i fear that i shall eternally be tormented : o i am lost , i have lost my god , and i fear i am lost , and shall be lost for ever ! o i am undone ! undone i vile and miserable sinner ! o wo be to me that ever i was born ! that ever i sinned , and provoked god to such displeasure ! but is there no spark of hope yet ? is there no escaping , no reconciliation attainable ? o what shall i do to be saved ! i cannot save my self , and no creature can help me ; but is there no other way ? thus you must see and be sensible that you are lost in your selves if you would be saved . direction 2. you must mourn for sin , if you would be saved ; except ye repent , saith our saviour , ye shall all likewise perish , luk. 13.3 . those that laugh and rejoyce now in a way of sin , shall mourn and weep for it for ever to no purpose , luk 6.25 . but blessed are they that mourn for sin now , for they shall be comforted and saved , matth. 5.4 . the seed time of repentance accompanied with the showers of tears , will return with the harvest of salvation , and sheaves of joy and comfort , psal. 126.5 , 6. they that sow in tears shall reap in joy ; he that goeth forth and weepeth , bearing precious seed , shall doubtless come again with rejoycing , bringing his sheaves with him , therefore see what the apostle exhorteth unto , which is necessary to your salvation , iam. 4.9 . be afflicted , and mourn , and weep ; let your laughter be turned into mourning , and your joy into heaviness . humble your selves in the sight of the lord , and he shall lift you up . sinners , you have delighted your selves in sin , you must now be afflicted for it ; sin hath been sweet in your mouth , it must now be bitter to your heart : god calls you to salvation by his son , but withall he calls you to weeping , and mourning , and deep humiliation in order hereunto ; not that your tears can wash off the guilt of your sins , nothing can do this but the blood of christ ; not that god delights in your griefs and sorrows as such , but because mourning is needful for you to prepare you for christ , and salvation by him ; whilst sin is sweet unto your taste , you will roll it under your tongue , and hug it in your bosom ; you will spare it , and nothing will perswade you to part with it ; but when you taste the bitterness of sin in compunction and sorrow for it , then you will spit it out ; when you perceive the gall and the wormwood , then your mouth will be put out of rellish , then you will desire no longer to suck at the breast of sin ; whilst you are insensible of sin , you will be insensible of your need of a saviour : none but sick persons do prize and send for the physitian , and none but such as are sick of sin , and groan and mourn under the burden of this sickness , do prize a christ who is the soul-physician , matth. 9.12 . were you made sensible of sin indeed , you would eagerly enquire after christ , and greedily hearken unto the glad tydings of salvation which he hath purchased ; what shall i do to get an interest in christ ? where is he to be found ? how is he to be received ? what are his terms ? what are his commands ? do any thing , part with any thing , you would not then think much to lay down your selves , and all that you have at his feet , so you might have him ; none but christ , none but christ would you then desire ; and if you might have all the world without him , you would not be contented . sinners , would you be saved by christ , get your hearts affected with godly sorrow for sin , and that you may mourn deeply and kindly , you must get not only a conviction of the guilt of sin , and the punishment which is due for it , which you cannot escape ; but you must look further into the nature of sin , and get a sight and sense of the evil of sin ; you must look not only to the consequential evil of sin , but also to the intrinsecal evil of sin ; not only to the hell which is like to follow upon it , but also to that hell which there is in it ; look to the evil of sin not only as it is like to burn you , but as it hath black● and smutted you ; as it hath depraved and deformed your souls , which are of heavenly original , as it hath degraded and debased yo● , polluted and defiled you . but chiefly look upon the evil of sin as it reflecteth dishonour upon god , upon god that is so holy and glorious , and that is so good and gracious , as it displeaseth that god that made you , that hath exercised so much patience towards you , when he could so easily have cut you off in the act of sin , and appointed you your place and portion amongst the damned in hell long ago ; and that hath moreover been so bountiful to you , though sinners and his enemies , that he hath maintained you at his cost and charges all your daies ; but especially see the evil of sin , as it offendeth that god who is ready to be reconciled , and hath made such provision for reconciliation , which you could never have thought of , namely , through the death and mediation of his son , whom he hath given for you , and proffers to give to you ; and in him doth treat with you , and by us ministers doth send intreaties to you , that you would accept of this reconciliation , lay down your weapons , and be reconciled unto him , 2 cor. 5.20 . break , break ye rocky hearts at this , what is god willing indeed to put up such high affronts ? and to forgive such great sins ? and doth he stoop to entreat and beseech such mean creatures , and wretched sinners as you to be reconciled ? o be filled with astonishment and admiration , and go cast your selves down at his feet with self-loathing and abhorrency at the hideous nature , and monstrous ingratitude , and baseness of your sins ! let your hearts melt within you like wax , or snow , when the sun shineth upon it with heat and brightness ; let your eyes drop down tears , as the morning doth drop dew upon the flowers : what! have i affronted such greatness ? dared such power ? trampled upon such patience ? and abused such goodness too ? and after all doth god beseech me to be reconciled ? was it such a god whom i offended ? vile wretch ! o that i had never committed such sins ! o that i had never been drunk , or unclean , or profane ! o that i had never sworn , nor lyed , nor stoln , nor offended god in any of my actions ! it repents me , it grieves me at the very heart that i have sinned , and that i can grieve no more for it . direction 3. you must turn from sin , if you would be saved ; see psal. 7.11 , 12 , 13. god is angry with the wicked every day ; if he turn not , he will whet his sword ; he hath bent his bow , and made it ready ; he hath prepared for him the instruments of death . and god threatneth , psal. 88.21 . that he will wound the head of his enemies , and the hairy scalp of such as go on still in their trespasses : therefore men must turn from all their transgressions , otherwise iniquity will be their ruine , ezek. 18.30 . they must cast away their sins as a menstruous cloth , saying unto them , get ye hence , if they would be received into favour , isa. 30.22 . they must not only confess their sins , but also forsake them , if they would find mercy , prov. 28.13 . the wicked must forsake his way , and the unrighteous man his thoughts , and turn to the lord , and then he shall have pardoning mercy abundantly , isa. 55.7 . when men cease to do evil , and learn to do well , then , though their sins have been as scarlet , they shall be white as snow ; though they be red like crimson , they shall be like wo●ll , isa. 1.16 , 17 , 18. sinners , turn from your evil waies , you have done iniquity , do so no more ; you have gone on hitherto in a way of sin , proceed no further , it is the way to hell , turn out of it : let him that hath stoln , steal no more ; and him that hath been filthy , be filthy no more ; and him that hath been unjust , be unjust no more : drunkards , forbear your drinking ; swearers , refrain swearing ; lyars , teach your tongues to speak truth : break off your course of sin ; turn from all gross sins as to the practice , and turn from all sins as to the affection . direction 4. you must believe in the lord iesus christ , if you would be saved : this is the direction which paul gave to the jaylor , when under conviction of sin he came in to him and cryed , what shall i do to be saved ? he saith to him , believe in the lord iesus christ and thou shalt be saved , act. 16.30 , 31. so in peter's sermon , act. 10.43 . to him gave all the prophets witness , that through his name , whosoever believeth in him should receive remission of sins . there is no saviour but by christ ; and there is no salvation by christ b●t by faith , and therefore we are said to be saved through faith , ephes. 2.8 . as faith is the instrument to apply the merits and righteousness of jesus christ. let me then exhort you to get faith , which is absolutely necessary unto salvation : get faith of the right kind ; there is a general , common , historical , temporary , hypocritical , dead and ineffectual faith ; but do you labour after a special , lively , unfeigned , eff●ctual , justifying and saving faith ; and that you may not be mistaken in this great point on which your salvation doth depend , i shall describe that faith which is of the right kind , and will certainly save you if you obtain it . faith is a grace wrought in the heart by the spirit of god , whereby a poor sinner being made sensible of the guilt and power of his sins , and the utter insufficiency of himself , or any creature in the world , to give him any help or succour ; and having in the g●spel a discovery and proffer made unto him of the lord iesus christ , as an all s●fficient , most merciful and faithful advocate and saviour , doth go quite out of himself , and acc●pt , lay hold , rely , and rest vpon him , and him alone , for pardon , and grace , and e●erlasting happiness . or more br●efly thus , faith is a grace of god wher●by the humil●d sinner doth accept and rely upon christ alone for salvation , as he is held forth in the promises of the gospel . if you would attain this grace of faith , take these directions . 1. you must be fully perswaded that the scriptures which reveal christ , are indeed the word of god ; this is the foundation of all faith , therefore i shall briefly suggest some arguments to prove the divine authority of the scriptures : as 1. because of that majesty , purity , holin●ss , heavenliness which doth app●ar in the s●r●ptures beyond all other writings . 2. because of the design and drift of the scriptures to debase man , and exalt god and his glory above all . 3. because of the admirable contexture , and contrivance , and sweet harmony of the scriptures in all the parts thereof , though written by so many several men in several ages and places , which sheweth that they were all acted by the same spirit of god. 4. because of the wonderfull work of mans redemption there set forth at fi●st more darkly , afterwards more clearly , which no mortal b●ain could have invented , much less could any created power have effected . 5. because of the great power which this word hath to convince , convert , and comfort . 6. because of the confirmation of the scriptures by miracles . 7. because of the acknowledgement of the scriptures to be gods word in all ages . 8. because of the many millions of martyrs , who have sealed the truths of the word with their blood . 9. because of the witness of the spirit in and with the word , which doth bear testimony to the hearts of gods people , that the scriptures are his word , and were indi●ed by his spirit . whence it followeth , that the scriptures are true , because god , the author of them , is true , and cannot lye ; and whatever is there revealed , is as certain as those things which are most demonstrable to sense or reason : this is the first step to your believing in christ who is made known in the scriptures , to believe that the scriptures are gods word . 2. if you would attain a saving faith in christ , you must be convinced and fully p●rswaded of your lost estate without christ , and your absolute need of him , of which before . 3. you must be perswaded , that it is not in your own power to believe , that it is not of your selves , but is the gift of god , ephes. 2.8 . and therefore must apply your selves to god , that he would not only give you his son , but also give you the hand of faith to lay hold on him , that he would work in you this grace of faith by his spirit . 4. you must consider those arguments of scripture which encourage faith : as for instance , i shall mention four heads of arguments for faith , from the consideration 1. of god. 2. of the promises . 3. of christ. 4. of the saints . 1. from the consideration of god , who hath given his son to save sinners ; it is an encouragement to ●aith , to consider , 1. that god is mercifull , and therefore willing to pardon and save , otherwise he would not have sent his son ; he doth not delight in the death of sinners , ezek. 18.23 . but delighteth to shew mercy ; see micah 7.18 , 19. exod. 34.6 , 7. psal. 103.8 , 9 , &c. 2. that god is faithfull in his promises of salvation , which he hath made through his son in his covenant of grace : god needed not have made the covenant , nor promised mercy to any sinners ▪ but having made the covenant , he is eng●g●d to make it good . 3. that it is for his glory to save sinners through his son , the glory of his free grace , yea and justice too , which hath been fully satisfied by christs death . 2. you have encouraging arguments for faith , from the consideration of the promises , which are , 1. large , made to all sorts of persons , and all sorts of sinners , none are excluded . 2. full , they extend to all sorts of sins , though never so many and great , isa. 55.7 . 3. free , nothing is required on your part but accepting . 4. sure , being the promises of god in christ. 3. you have encouragement to believe in christ for salvation , from the consideration of christ , the proper object of faith : 1. the quality of his person who is god and man in one person , that he might reconcile man unto god. 2. the merit of his sufferings , which ( as hath been shown ) was of infinite value , and sufficient for the redemption of men . 3. his alsufficient power to save those that come to him , heb. 7.25 . 4. his mercy and faithfulness to make reconciliation , heb. 2.17.5 . his interest with the father . 6. his continual intercession at the right hand of god , heb. 7.25 . 4. you have encouragement to believe in christ for salvation , from the consideration of the saints , the experience which they have had of salvation by christ , some of whom have been as vile sinners as you : you have as good grounds to come unto christ , and believe in him for salvation , as the most holy men alive before conversion . 5. if you would attain this grace of faith in jesus christ , you must labour to act it , looking up to god for help herein ; endeavour to cast and roll your selves upon christ , to apply christ and his merits , and to rely upon him and his righteousness : it is in your endeavour that god doth work ; and h●re you must endeavour again and again against all opposition which you find from the d●vil and your own evil heart of unbelief , which will be ready to carry you away from christ. so much for the 4th . direction . direction 5. you must get a new nature , if you would be saved : you must be made partakers of the divine nature , if you would be made partakers of this salvation : you have brought unholy and impure natures into the world with you , which must be changed and renewed after the image of god , in knowledge , righteousness , and true holiness , before you can be in a state of salvation , and see the kingdom of god : this new nature , which is absolutely necessary un●o salvation , is begun in the work of regene●ation , and carried on in the work of sanctification : in regeneration the work of grace is begun , the habits of grace are infused ; a new principle of sp●ritual life is put into the soul ; and sin ( which before l●ved , and had dominion over the man , imploying all his members as instruments of unrighteousn●ss , to make provision for the satisfaction of its affections and l●sts ) doth receive its deaths wound , and loseth its ●●●ce and r●igning power : in sanctifi●ation , the work of grace is c●r●i●d on , the habits of grace are strengthned and en●●eased ; the n●w man doth grow , and the old man doth decline and de●ay ; there is a vivification or quickning more and more of grace , by the influence of the word and spirit , and a mortification or subd●ing more and mor● of ●em●●ning iniquity . what our saviour tells n●●●demus , ●●h . 3.3 . ex●ept a man be born again , he cannot see the kingdom of god : i may tell you , that unless ye be born again , unless ye be regenerated , ye cannot be saved , no possibility of entring into the kingdom of h●aven , without yo● get this new nature : a man must be born the first time , before he can poss●ss a temporal inheritan●● ; and a m●n m●st be born again , before he can possess the eternal inh●ritance : you m●st be children b●●ore you can be heirs , rom. 8.17 . children not only by a●option , but also by regeneration : ye must b● sun●● , before meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the s●ints in light , col. 1.12 . you must have the new nature , before you can enter into the new ierusalem : you must be made like to god in holiness , before you can be admitted to live with god in the place of everlasting happiness ; god doth suffer the wicked that are unclean and unholy , to live before him in the out-house of the earth ; but he will not permit any except such as are sanctified to live with him in the palace of h●●ven . o then labour after a work of grace upon your heart ; be perswaded of the worth of grace , that 〈…〉 and precious j●w●l , that the l●●st measure of grace is of mere worth than ten thousand world● ; be sensible of your want of it , that naturally you are without it , that it doth not grow in natures garden , that you have no good nature in you before god , till your nature i● renewed ; be ready to receive the ●eed of grace , which drops down from above whilest people are attending upon gods ordinances ▪ be ready to hearken and yield to the spirits motions , whereby this work of grace is effected : and having the work begun , o cherish the grace you have got , and as new-born b●bes d●sire the sincere milk of the word , that ye may grow th●reby ; and labour to cleanse your selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit , that ye may perfect holiness in the fear of god , 2 cor. 7.1 . dir●●●i●n 6. you must lead a new life , if you wo●ld be saved , see wh●t k●nd of life the grace of god wh●ch bri●●●th s●lvation doth r●q●●re and 〈◊〉 nam●ly ▪ to 〈…〉 and w●rldly 〈…〉 and godly in this present world , 〈…〉 you must d●ny ungo illness and worldly last , you must put off concerning the 〈…〉 the old m●n which is corrupt 〈◊〉 to d●c●i●full 〈…〉 . and not fashion your selves according to the former lusts , in your ignorance and unregeneracy , 1 pet. 1.14 . not running with others unto the same excess of riot , 1 pet. 4.4 . not walking according to the course of a profane and ungodly world , eph. 2.2 . but saving your selves from an untoward generation , act. 2.40 . as he that hath called you is holy , so you must be holy in all manner of conversation , 1 pet. 1.15 . you must live soberly , righteously , and godly in this present world ; soberly in regard of your selves ; righteously in regard of others ; and godly in regard of the lord. 1. soberly , in regard of your selves ; which implyes , 1. temperance in eating and drinking , you must take heed of gluttony and drunkenness : 2. chastity , you must take heed of adultery and uncleanness , in thought , speech , look , and act . 3. moderation , you must be sober in your desires after these earthly things , and take heed of inordinate affection to any thing . 2 you must live righteously in regard of others : you must give to every one their due , and do to others as you reasonably can desire that they should do unto you , you must take heed of unrighteousness either in regard of commutative justice in your buying and selling , borrowing and lending ; and in regard of distributative justice in dispensing of rewards and punishments ; you must beware of oppr●ssing , afflicting , injuring any , of going beyond or defrauding any , of withholding dues , keeping back wages from those that have done you service , knowing that if they cannot , god will be the avenger of all such . 3. you must live godly in regard of the lord ; you must especially shew your new life in the immediate worship of the lord , and that publickly in his house , privately in your families , secretly in your closets ; you must worship god in the ordinances of his own appointment ; and this you must do with reverence , having an awe and dread of god upon your spirits , with whom you have more immediately to do ; with sincerity , having a sincere respect to gods glory therein , and that you might be accepted by him , and meet with him ; with vigilancy watching the sittest time in regard of the thing , and the temper of your bodies and souls , and the breathings of gods spirit ; with humility , sensible of your sinfulness , unworthiness , weakness , emptiness , neediness ; with diligence , before to prepare your hearts , and in ordinances to engage them , and resist the devil and the contrary workings of the flesh ; with frequency , laying hold on all the opportunities as you can , without neglecting other businesses , which for that time you may be more necessarily called unto ; with fervency , getting your hearts if you can raised and enlarged , labouring that they may burn within you with love to god ; with delight and complacency in god , and above all with faith in jesus christ , through whom alone it is that you can have strength to perform duties , and that you can have any acceptance in them by the father . direction 7. you must resolve upon sufferings for christ , if called , if you would be saved ; you must bear the cross , if you would wear the crown , rem●mbring that if the cross be weighty it will work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory , 2 cor. 4.17 . you must re●kon upon sufferings for christ before hand , and resolve that you will stick to him and his wayes , though you should lose esteem by it , and become the drunkards song , and be reproached amongst men ; though you lose liberty by it , and be thrust into prison ; though you should lose estate by it , and be brought to pinching want ; though you should lose friends by it , and have none to stand by you ; though you should lose life by it , and be cut off in the midst of your years ; otherwise you cannot be christs disciples indeed , and obtain this salvation which he hath purchased . see the terms which our saviour propounds , luk. 14.26 , 27. if any man come unto me , and hate not his father and mother , and wife and children , and brethren and sisters , yea and his own life , he cannot be my disciple . this we are to understand , that a man must choose to displease father , mother , wife , children , the nearest and dearest relations , and part with any thing in the world , yea with life it s●lf , rather than to displease and part with jesus christ ; and that we must resolve to bear the cross , whatever it be that god hath allotted for us , otherwise we do not accept of christ upon gospel-terms ; you must resolve to be partakers of the affliction of the gospel , if you would obtain the salvation of the gospel ; you must resolve to suffer with christ , and for his sake when called , if you would reign and be glorified together with him . whatever profession you make of christ and his wayes in time of peace and prosperity , when the sun of persecution doth 〈◊〉 upon you with burning heat , you will wither and fall away , and turn fearfull apostates , and then your last estate will be worse than your first ; and as your sin will be greater here , so your punishment will be more dreadfull hereafter in hell , where you will confess that the light sufferings which you have declined for christs sake here , are not worthy to be compared with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of wrath which you must endure for your apostacy unto all eternity . direct . 8. you must study and apply the promises of the covenant of grace , if you would be saved ; without the covenant of grace there had been no possible salvation for any of the fallen children of men ; the covenant of works which god made with man at the first , being broken by sin , it doth condemn all that are under it , it is by vertue of the covenant of grace that any are brought into a state of salvation ; therefore study and apply the promises of this covenant : now you must know that all the promises of the gospel , which are scattered up and down the scripture do belong unto this covenant ; but i shall spread before you those few more general promises which the apostle doth make mention of , where he treats of the new covenant , heb. 8 10 , 11 , 12. for this is the covenant that i will make with the house of israel after those dayes , saith the lord , i will put my lawes into their minde , and write them in their hearts , and i will be to them a god , and they shall be to me a people ; and they shall not teach every man his neighbour , and every man his brother , saying know the lord , for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest ; for i will be mercifull unto their unrighteousness , and their sins and iniquities will i remember no more . here are four great promises which the lord hath made to his people , which i shall explain ( though not in the order of the text ) that you may the better understand and apply them . 1. god promiseth that he will be to them a god , and they shall be to him a people ; this includes all the rest : it is a full and sweet promise that god will be our god , it hath a great deal more in it , than we can conceive ; we may look and look again , and though our faith have never so piercing an eye , never so large and deep reach , yet we cannot look to the bottom , and fathom the depth of this promise ; we may suck and suck again at this breast , and though we draw never so hard , we can never draw forth all the sweetness that is in this promise . to have god to be our god , it is very great , it is very sweet : indeed god is the god of all his creatures , yea of his enemies , and the vilest sinners ; but to be our god in this place sounds and signifieth more than that which is common to all ; it speaketh a peculiar relation , a special interest and propriety in god ; in this promise god doth make over himself and all that he hath to us , so far as we are capable of receiving ; he giveth himself to be our portion , he engageth his power , wisdom , goodness , mercy , love , and all his attributes to be employed for our good , he promiseth to be our god here , and to be our god for ever ; it signifieth that he will be our father to love and cherish us , to preserve , and provide for us whilest we live , and to take our souls to himself when we dye , and to raise up our bodies at the last day , and make both perfectly glorious and happy in heaven , when time shall be no more . he promiseth also that we shall be his people ; we cannot make our selves so , but he promiseth that he will make us so ; he will make us his children , he will adopt us , he will regenerate us , give us the title , and give us the disposition of children ; all this and much more is contained in this promise , that god will be our god , and we shall be his people , even the whole work of our salvation from our effectual calling unto our eternal glorification . 2. a second great promise of the covenant of grace is , that god will be mercifull unto our unrighteousness , and that he will remember no more our sins and iniquities ; it is a promise of mercy in the free pardon and forgiveness of all our sins , this is an exceeding great and precious promise , without which there were no access for us unto god , no attaining eternal happiness , no escaping eternal misery , guilt would shut us out of heaven , and sink us into hell without a pardon . this promise is of vast extent , it reacheth to all sort of sins , unrighteousness , sins , iniquities ; no sin is too great for god to pardon , if the sinner doth believe . 3. a third promise of the covenant of grace is , that god will give us the knowledge of himself ; they shall not teach every man his neighbour , and every man his brother , saying , know the lord , for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest ; they shall not teach one another the knowledge of god , that is , they cannot , or they shall not be able to do it ; they may and ought to teach one another instrumentally ; it is the duty of some to teach , and the duty of others , and they have need , to learn , but they shall not be able to teach effectually ; they may give instructions to one another concerning god and his wayes , but they cannot give light ; they may set the light before them , but they cannot set up the light in them ; they may open truths , but they cannot open the understanding ; this is the work of god only to do , and this he hath undertaken by promise to do , they shall all know me , they shall be taught of god by his spirit the knowledge of himself ; he teacheth by men instrumentally , but he will teach us by his spirit effectually . 4. a fourth promise of the covenant of grace , is , that god will put his laws into our hearts , and write them in our minds : the law was written before on tables of stone , but here he promiseth to write them on fleshly tables of the heart ; which is done not with pen and ink , but by the spirit of the living god , 2 cor. 3.3 . this promise is very comprehensive , it includes not only the giving of a spiritual discovery of the minde and will of god , but also the giving of spiritual dispositions , affections , and strength to perform it ; and by consequence the removal of indispositions , the purging out of corruptions , the mortifying of lust , the taking away the heart of stone , and giving a heart of flesh , the giving a new heart , the putting the spirit within us , and causing us to walk in his statutes , and to keep his judgements and do them , as this promise is branched forth , ezek. 36.25 , 26 , 27. these in brief are the chief promises of the covenant of grace , labour to understand them , and apply them that you may be saved . direct . 9. you must give up your selves in covenant to god , if you would be saved ; god hath put his hand and seal to the covenant which he hath made through his son with you , and you should put your hand to the covenant and engage your selves unto the lord ; you were dedicated to the lord by your parents when you were b●ptized , then you understood not what was done ; now you are arrived to years of understanding , you should make it your own act , and dedicate your selves to the lord : and the more solemnly you enter into covenant with god , the more strong obligation it may be upon you to walk closely with god all your dayes : some have directed to do it under hand-writing , subscribing the name , and some have put words into your mouths , which you may do it , in if you are not so well able to express the terms your selves ; you have this done in mr. guthry and mr. allen's books , if those books be not at hand , i shall set before you this platform , which you may make use of in entring solemnly into covenant with god. i a.b. do acknowledge my self to be the creature and subject of the great and glorious majesty of heaven and earth , in whom i live , move , and have my being , and from whom i receive every good thing which i receive ; and therefore am obliged to conform my minde , will and affections , to order my words , wayes and whole conversation according to his most wise and good , most righteous and reasonable laws : besides which natural obligation , however born in sin , and thereby disenabled , yet being born in the church , and baptized in the name of the father , son , and holy ghost , and by my parents dedicated unto god when i was an infant ; i am further obliged by covenant to be the servant of the lord. but having proved a rebel and traytor against the highest maj●sty , breaking his laws , and covenant-ties which have been upon me , spending years of my life in a state of strangeness and enmity to god , in the service of the devil and my own lusts , i do now solemnly re●ew my covenant with god , that the breach may be made up which sin hath made between god and my soul. being in the first place convinced of the guilt of my sins , whereby i have affronted and offended the highest majesty , whose iustice must be satisfied ; and withall convinced of my own utter inability to make the least satisfaction either by doing or suffering , and that my righteousnesses are as filthy rags , and therefore altogether insufficient to procure for me the pardon of sin , the favour of god , and the peace of conscience ; as also fully perswaded that no meer creature is able to give unto me any help and relief in this case . and being informed by the word of god what the lord iesus is , hath d●ne , and suffered for poor sinners , that there is no name und●r heaven given amongst men whereby we can be saved , but only the name of iesus christ ; that he is able to save all them unto the uttermost that come unto god by him , seeing be ever liveth to make intercession for them ; that he is a mercifull and faithfull high-priest in things pertaining to god , to make reconciliation for the sins of the people ; that whosoever cometh unto him , he will in no wise cast out : and finding a promise in the covenant of grace that god will be mercifull unto our unrighteousness , and that our sins and iniquities he will remember no more ; which covenant is of full force through the death of christ the testator thereof : and having christ set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood , and his righteousness declared for the remission of sins which are past through the forbearance of god ; and this christ freely tendered unto me , and being invited earnestly , yea entreated that i would be reconciled unto god through him ; and by the spirit being perswaded of the truth of these things , and hereby encouraged to apply my self unto christ , and the promises through him unto my self : i do now ( grieving that i have offended god , groaning under the burden of sin , renouncing all my own righteousness , hungring after the lord iesus christ and his righteousness ) upon the bended knees of my soul come unto him , and cast my self wholly upon him ; i cho●se him for my only advocate to plead my cause in the court of heaven , to procure for me pardon and reconciliation , that being justified by faith , i may have peace with god through my dear lord iesus christ. next , repenting from the bottom of my heart of my sins , grieving that i have such a sinfull nature , such a deceitfull heart , that i have so adulterated my affections , and gone a whoring from god to the creatures , that i have so indulged my flesh , and satisfied its irregular desires , that i have given ear to the devil , and complyed as i have done with his temptations : i now renounce all allegiance and service to the world , to the flesh , and to the devil , these enemies of the lord , and of my peace , which warr against my master , and against my own soul ; covenanting and promising never to give away my heart any more from the lord unto any person or thing in the world ; to refuse the world for my portion and chief happiness ; to deny my flesh its sinfull desires and demands ; to resist the devil and his temptations ; not to live and allow my self in any known sin , and to make use of all the known means which the lord hath prescribed for the crucifying of the world , for the mortifying and utter extirpation of sin , for the resisting and overcoming the devil . and being perswaded of the power and interest , the subtilty and deceitfulness of these enemies , and withall sensible of my own imprudence , folly , weakness and inconstancy , i humbly and earnestly implore and beseech the highest majesty , who is infinite in wisdom , power , and goodness , that he would give me counsel and discretion in the use and management of all means and helps that i may not neglect any , nor through sloth and imprudence s●ffer a lesser duty to justle out a greater , that he would give me courage , strength and constancy in the maintaining my spiritual warfare against these my spiritual enemies unto my lifes end . and if ever i should fall through unwatchfulness and weakness , ( which the lord grant i may never do ) i do promise in the strength of the lord to arise again by faith and repentance . and because of the body of sin within me , and remaining corruptions , i shall be subject ( during my abode here ) unto daily failings and infirmities ; i do promise to pray , watch and strive against them , beseeching the lord to strengthen me herein , and grant that my sinfull infirmities may be lesse every day than other ; in the mean time looking upon those disallowed miscarriages contrary to the settled bent and resolution of my heart , as insufficient to make my covenant void . furthermore , being convinced of the vanity , emptiness , and utter insufficiency of any or all the creatures in the world , to make me happy , had i the most desireable enjoyment of them ; and having a discovery of the infinitely blessed god made unto me in his works , chiefly in his word , as being the chief good of man , and withall a promise in the covenant of grace that he will be our god , yea our father through christ , and that we shall be his people , his sons and daughters : i do here with deep veneration of soul , and chief estimation of minde , choose the thrice blessed iehovah for my portion and chief good , beyond all persons and things in this world ; and do avouch him this day to be my god. i humbly accept of the relation of a servant and a son , or daughter , which he hath called me unto . i put my self under his wing , and commit my self to his care and tuition ; and henceforth shall be bold through my dearest lord to call him , and look upon him to be my god and father ; and humbly shall expect from him protection and provision in his way and work , correction , audience of prayer , and the fulfilling of all those promises unto me , which he hath made unto his children . moreover , being perswaded that none can come unto the father , but by the son ; nor share in any spiritual priviledge , but through christs death and intercession , and being perswaded of the infinite amiableness of christs person , the greatness of his love and affection unto the children of men , as also of his infinite desireableness in regard of those offices , and relations which he hath vouchsafed to take upon him , and enter into for the good of his people : i do avouch the lord iesus christ to be my only saviour , and choose him in all his offices and relations . i choose christ to be my high-priest , to intercede , and procure for me daily pardon , access unto god , acceptance of my person and service , audience of my prayers , and supply of all my wants . i choose christ to be my prophet , to teach me by his word and spirit the will of the father . i choose christ to be my king to rule and govern me , to command my whole man into the obedience of himself . i choose christ to be my captain , to go before me , and to tread down my spiritual enemies under my feet . i choose christ to be my friend and brother , to counsel and advise me , to stand by me in all the difficulties and straights of my life . i choose christ to be my husband and beloved , humbly accepting of this near and sweet relation which he calleth me unto . i joyn and espouse my self unto the lord iesus ; and do promise to be for him only , and with full purpose of heart to cleave unto him , to love , honour and serve him , never to deny nor leave him whatever reproaches and distresses i may meet withall for his sake ; though persecution should arise , and that even unto death , i do promise to own his name , and cause , and truths , and wayes , so long as i have breath in my body : but knowing that i am utterly insufficient to do any of these things in my own strength , therefore upon the knees of my soul , i earnestly beseech that i may have strength for all these from himself alone . further , because god my father is invisible to the eye of sense , and incomprehensible by the grasp of reason ; and because my dearest lord iesus christ , who alone hath declared him , in regard of his bodily presence is now in heaven , absent from his people ; and because whatever spiritual light or life , grace , comfort , or spiritual communion with the father , and with his son , is vouchsafed unto the people of god , it is by the holy spirit , who is appointed by office hereunto , and graciously promised unto them in the word : therefore i avouch and choose the holy ghost to be my teacher and guide , to be my sanctifier and comforter , to help my infirmities in duties ; to strengthen me with might in my inner man against sin and satans temptations ; to cleanse me from all filthiness of flesh and spirit ; to heal me of all my spiritual distempers ; to revive me under all my faintings ; to supply me with all graces as to kinde and measure , as shall be needfull for me in my place and work ; to testifie gods love to my soul ; to give me earnests of glory , and to seal me up unto the day of redemption : and o that i might have the presence and abode of the spirit of god with me , and never grieve , quench , resist , and drive away the spirit any more ! also , because the holy scriptures are the word of god , endited by the holy ghost , the epistle of iesus christ , wherein he hath given notice of his love and will ; because they are the only sufficient , and in themselves a perfect rule for faith and a holy life , and so fully do declare the way and means unto everlasting happiness : therefore i choose the word of god to be the rule of my faith and life ; and the ordinances of god therein prescribed to be the means of my acquaintance and converse with my god so far as i am capable of , and he shall vouchsafe ; and to be the means also of preparing of me for the full and perfect enjoyment of him beyond my present capacity . and , because the ordinances are but dark glasses to see the lord in ; because ignorance and unbelief do exceedingly vail god from mine eyes , flesh and corruption do damp my love to god , and my spiritual ioy in him , and interrupt my communion with him ; because of the sins , sorrows , temptations , and afflictions which i cannot be wholly free from , and therefore cannot be perfectly happy here in this world ; and having life and immortality brought to light by the gospel ; a discovery and promise of eternal life made unto me in the word , and withall a command of my lord , to lay up my treasure in heaven : therefore i choose heaven for my treasure and inheritance , for ever to live there in the company of all the holy angels and saints , in the blessed sight , love , and enjoyment of the infinitely blessed god , to see and share in the glory of my dearest lord iesus christ , whither i hope my soul shall be transported by the angels , so soon as it is separated from my body ; and that my vile body , when awakened and raised in the morning of chris●s coming , shall be fashioned like unto christs most beautifull and glorious body , and both inherit the kingdom prepared and promised by my father . lastly , being perswaded of my duty , and encouraged by gods promise of assistance and acceptance ; i now dedicate and deliver up my self fully , freely , and for ever unto the lord ; i yield and resign up my soul with all its powers and faculties ; my body with all its senses and members to be the instruments of righteousness unto god : i resign up my minde to think upon the lord , and those things which concern his interest and glory , to receive , embrace and maintain his truths ; i resign up my memory , to be a store-house and receptacle chiefly of the great things which do belong to his kingdom , and other things of a more inferiour rank , as they may have a reference unto his glory . i resign up my conscience to receive light and purity from his word and spirit , and desire that it may act faithfully as the lords deputy . i resign up my will unto the will of god , to submit to his precepts , to embrace his promises , to oppose what he hath forbidden , to comply with all the dispensations of his providence towards me , to be willing that i should be , and do , and bear , and choose and lose what god would have me . i resign up my heart and affections to fear and reverence the lord , to believe and trust in the lord , to desire and seek after the lord , to love and delight in the lord , and desire to put them all under his government , and to have them exercised according to his will. i resign up my fancy to be governed and employed by my reason in the service of my master . i resign up my sensual appetite after meat and drink , sleep , and any pleasures to be subs●rvient to my rational appetite , and no further to have satisfaction , than will tend to the glory of the lord. i● sign up my hands to work for god , my feet to walk for god , my ears to hear for god , my eyes to see for god , my tongue to speak for god. i resign up all my graces , all my gifts , all my talents , to be used for the glory of my lord and master ; and my whole man to be ruled and governed by his laws : promising , though my flesh do contradict and rebell , that i will endeavour to order my whole conversation according to his word ; humbly looking up to him for strength so to doe , that i may be enabled by him to every duty . and now i look upon my self no longer my own , or that any thing i have is at my own dispose ; but i wholly belong unto the lord : and therefore , blessing , and praising , and giving thanks unto the lord , for vouchsafing to enter into covenant with me , and enclining my heart to enter into covenant with him ; bending my neck under the feet of the most glorious iehovah , i subscribe my self , witness my hand and seal . the devoted servant of the lord , a. b. direct . 10. you must be stedfast , and persevere in the wayes of god unto your lives end , if you would be saved : and here you must be stedfast , 1. in the wayes of truth . 2. in the wayes of gods commandements . 1. you must be stedfast and persevere in the wayes of truth ; in the belief of the truths of the word , without turning aside into wayes of errour ; there are wayes of errour which will lead you as certainly , and more securely to hell , than the wayes of open profaneness . the apostle tells us of damnable errours , as well as open , damnable sins , 2 pet. 2.1 . and we read of some that are damned for believing a lye , that their delusion hath been the cause of their damnation , 2 thess. 2.11 , 12. the devil leads as many as he can in the cords of more gross and known sins towards the place of endless misery ; but if any of them begin to perceive their thraldom and danger , if their eyes be a little opened , and conscience awakened , and hearts affected , and they are perswaded to look after their salvation , then he endeavours to draw them into wayes of errour , he hath his agents and ministers , who are very subtle and crafty , and lye in wait to deceive , who with good words and fair speeches insinuate poysonous doctrines ; and pretending more glorious discoveries , higher and more excellent wayes , draw them out of the way of the word and ordinances , into paths of darkness , where they wander and lose themselves for ever ; where they are tossed up and down , and beaten to and fro with every winde of doctrine unto the shipwrack of their faith and their souls . as you hope for salvation , you must take heed of errour ; diligently inquire after truth ; search for it as for silver , and digg for it as for hidden treasures ; digg for it in the golden mines of the scriptures , let the word of god be the only rule of your faith ; and having found the truth , keep it , hold it fast , labour to fix it in your mindes , let it be as a girdle about your loins ; lay it up in your heart , let it be rooted there ; apply your selves to christ as a prophet to lead you by his word and spirit into all truth , and to keep you from being deceived and deluded ; and keep close to the ministery and ordinances of christs institution , which the lord hath appointed to continue unto the end of the world , for the edifying establishment , and perfecting of the saints , eph. 4.11 , 12 , 13 , 14. 2. you must be stedfast , and persevere in the wayes of gods commandements ; you must patiently continue in well-doing , if you would obtain immortal glory , rom. 2.7 . you must endure to the end if you would be saved , matth. 10.22 . you must be faithfull unto the death , if you would gain the crown of life , rev. 2.10 . it is absolutely necessary unto salvation , that you hold out in the wayes of god ; none but such which come to the end of the race will obtain the prize ; the gate of heaven lyeth at the further not the hither end of the holy path ; therefore you must stedfastly persevere in this way ; if you should fall down , you must rise again , and go on ; if you should fall back or through mistake turn aside , you must return again , and make the more haste ; but if you should fall off , if you should fall away ( as some have done who have seemed very zealous and forward christians as to the outward profession ) you are lost , you are cast-awayes , and you will tumble and fall down into the bottomless pit , from whence there is no returning . be not then followers of them that draw back to perdition , but of them that believe to the saving of the soul , heb. 10.39 . be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises , heb. 6.12 . it is a glorious inheritance that is before you , that is promised and prepared in heaven , let this encourage you to diligence and perseverance unto the end ; i shall conclude with the words of the apostle , 1 cor. 15.58 . therefore my beloved brethren be stedfast , unmoveable , alwayes abounding in the work of the lord , for asmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the lord. thus i have given you directions , what things you must do that you may be saved . sect . xix . ii. the second and last thing for your guidance in the way of salvation , is , to shew you what means you must make use of to help you in these things . there are ten means to be used in order to the attaining of salvation : 1. self-examination . 2. reading the word of god , and other good books . 3. hearing the word preached . 4. meditation . 5. prayer . 6. christian-conference . 7. watchfulness . 8. sanctification of fasting-dayes . 9. sanctification of sabbath-dayes . 10. improvement of sacrament-dayes . means 1. self-examination . you must examine your selves , if you would see your selves lost ; you may read the mistake of the laodiceans , rev. 3.17 . thou sayest , i am rich , and encreased in goods , and have need of nothing ; and knowest not that thou art wretched , miserable , and poor , and blinde , and naked . you must examine and prove your spiritual state , that you may have a right judgement thereof , that you may perceive how poor , and wretched , and miserable you are whilest you are in a state of nature . you must examine your selves , that you may get a sight and sense of sin : ier. 8.6 . i hearkned and heard , but they spake not aright , no man repented him of his wickedness , saying , what have i done ? every one turned to his course , as the horse rusheth into the battel . you must examine what you have done , if you would repent of your sins ; you must search and try your wayes , if you would turn from your evil wayes ; you must commune with your hearts , and come to your selves , with the prodigal , if you would return unto god , and turn your feet unto his testimonies . be serious then in this great duty of self-examination ; and that you may be so , i would advise that you would set apart time for it , when your thoughts are most free , and affections most sedate and quiet ; get out of the hurry of the world , and lay aside other business for a while ; and withall separate your selves from company , and retire into secret , where you may be free from external disturbances and interruptions ; whatever indispositions and withdrawments of heart you finde , force your selves to the work ; resist satan , who will endeavour to divert and discourage you : set your selves in the presence of god ; desire him to search you ; beg his help in the duty ; labour to keep your minde close to it ; if vain thoughts arise , and would hurry you away , look up to christ to rebuke them , and to bring them into captivity and obedience unto himself . and then sit down , and seriously consider what you have done ever since you came into the world , and withall think with your selves what you will do when your life and this world shall come to an end . take a review of your sins ; they are noted down upon the book of your consciences , peruse this book ; and if you extracted a catalogue of your sins , it might be a help to you . note down your original sin ; your actual sins ; your transgressions of gods law , in the first and the second table thereof ; your disobedience to the gospel ; the aggravations of your sins . means 2. reading the word of god , and other good books . the rule whereby you are to examine your selves is the word ; this is like a candle , which will give light in dark corners ; this is like a glass , which will discover spots in the face ; you must search the word , and try your selves her●by , if you would have knowledge of sin , and your spiritual state ; and you must search the word , if you would have knowledge and acquaintance with god and his will. you may arrive to some knowledge of god by reading the book of nature ; the whole world is full of god , and every creature doth represent him ; but the world is full of sin too , and the more immediate representations of the creatures are sensitive things , which our sense layeth hold on first , and is apt there to stick , without further piercing and searching to finde out god ; and where we have one provocation from the creatures to love and serve him ( through the bewitching temptations of the world , meeting with the worldly lusts of our hearts ) we have a thousand incitements and allurements from them to sin against god ; but the word is full of god , and no incitement there to sin , full of perswasives to holiness and obedience ; god is to be seen more easily , and he setteth forth himself there most conspicuously ; in the book of the scriptures you have the most glorious discoveries of god , in his greatness , majesty , power , holiness , love , mercy , and the like ; and the way made known of acquaintance and communion with him ; if you would be acquainted with god in christ , you must acquaint your selves with the scriptures : read the scriptures daily , and search them ; ioh. 5.39 . read not only the history of the word , but labour to understand the mystery of godliness therein revealed , 1 tim. 3.16 . endeavour after a spiritual discerning of the things of the spirit , 1 cor. 2.14 . when you meet with doctrines in your reading the word , labour to understand and believe them ; when you meet with precepts labour to obey them ; when with prohibitions and threatnings , be cautioned against sin by them ; when you meet with promises , labour to apply them , to draw vertue from them . read this book as the word of god , and hide it in your heart ; lay it up there , as a choice treasure , get your hearts cast into the mould of it ; get it written upon your hearts , and let it have an influence upon your whole conversation ; and that you may the better understand and apply the truths of the word , read as you have time other good books , which open the scriptures , and treat of needfull points of religion , especially such as direct in the great work of conversion , and give rules out of the word for the ordering of your whole conversation ; but above all books read and study the scriptures . means 3. hearing the word preached . it is by the foolishness of preaching that god saveth such as do believe , 1 cor. 1.21 . however the preaching of the word is to them that perish foolishness , yet unto believers it is the power of god unto salvation ; therein god doth put forth his power , and maketh bare his arm , in bringing salvation to lost souls . hear and thy soul shall live , isa. 55.3 . faith cometh by hearing , rome . 10.17 . lydia's heart was opened whilest she attended upon the word preached by paul , act. 16.14 . attend therefore diligently upon the word preached by christs ministers , as an ordinance of his own institution for the working and increase of grace : look upon ministers as christs ambassadours ; he that heareth them heareth christ , and he that turneth away his ear from hearing them , turneth away his ear from christ , who by his spirit in them speaketh from heaven unto men , and how impossible it is for such to escape the wrath of god , see heb. 12.25 . much more shall not they escape that turn away their ear from him that speaketh from heaven . hear the word with reverence , as the word of god , as if the lord should speak to you from heaven with an audible voice ; hear the word with diligence and attention as for your lives , as for the salvation of your souls ; hear the word with faith and love , without which it will not profit and work effectually in your hearts ; and in hearing look not so much for those things which may please , as for that which may edifie ; i mean , do not regard so much mens fancies , as the wholsom truths of the word , which tend most to conviction , edification , to the killing of sin , quickning and increase of grace , and nourishment of the spiritual life . means 4. meditation . the word like food must be digested by meditation , that it may turn to spiritual nourishment ; you must ponder and consider in your mindes the truths of the word , that you may both understand them , and get your hearts affected with them , and your lives ordered by them . meditation is a great help in heavens way , such as are remiss herein cannot walk so steddily , nor chearfully ; accustome your selves unto this duty , set apart time for it ; i know that some complain of barrenness in their thoughts , when they endeavour to meditate ; such i would advise , if they have not that fruitfulness of thoughts themselves to supply them with matter , that they would make use of others help ; let them meditate on the scriptures they read , on the sermons they hear ; moreover i would offer some general heads for meditation , which you may make use of . 1. sometimes meditate on god , his attributes , his infinite majesty , power , holiness , omnipresence , omniscience , eternity , unchangeableness , his infinite wisdom , truth , faithfulness , justice , goodness , mercy and loving-kindness ; his councels , especially his eternal decree of election , which is of most sweet consideration to believers ; his works of creation and providence . 2. sometimes meditate on christ ; his near relations , of friend , brother , husband ; his needfull offices of priest , prophet , and king. 3. sometimes meditate on the spirit , his way and workings on the minde and heart , how he enlighteneth , enliveneth , strengtheneth , comforteth , &c. 4. sometimes meditate on the covenant of grace , and the rich , free , suitable , sure promises of pardon , grace , salvation therein . 5. sometimes meditate on the gospel , and its priviledges , justification , adoption , sanctification , assurance of gods love , peace of conscience , joy in the holy ghost , communications of grace , &c. 6. sometimes meditate on the four last things , namely , death , judgement , heaven and hell. 7. sometimes meditate , and that frequently , daily , of such arguments as tend to the mortifying of your particular sins , which are most strong and prevalent , and to the strengthening of your graces which you finde most weak and deficient . means 5. prayer . pray secretly ; retire your selves from company into your closets , or some private place , and there confess your sins , and make known your requests to god , that seeth and heareth in secret , and hath promised an open reward to such as secretly and sincerely seek him . pray frequently , be often upon your knees , give your selves unto prayer ; begin the day , conclude the day with prayer , and recover some other time to visit and speak to god ; at least mingle ejaculatory prayer with every other work ; and labour that your minds may be always in a praying frame ; and do not withdraw , but be glad when an opportunity offereth it self to come to the throne of grace . pray fervently , pour forth your hearts before god in the duty ; wr●stle with god in prayer like iacob , be earn●st in your petitions as for your lives , be instant and importunate , take no denyal , follow hard after god ; stir up your selves to take hold on him , use arguments in prayer , to plead with him . pray believing●y , mingle your prayers with faith ; make use of the name and mediation of jesus christ ; and make application of the promises which god hath made to his people , which he hath made to faith , and which he hath made to prayer . means 6. christian conference . take heed of the company of the wicked ; from such turn away ; if ●● and when you are there , labour to mourn for sin , which hath pierced the lord ; to hunger after his righteousness ; to receive him by faith ; to apply the promises of the covenant of grace , whereof the sacrament is a seal ; endeavour after a burning love to him whose love hath been so great as to dye for you ; and let your hearts be filled with joy , and your mouths with praises , and deliver up your selves in covenant unto the lord in this ordinance ; after you come from the lords table , reflect upon your carriage towards the lord ; if you have been straitened , endeavour to find out the cause , mourn , and by after-pains and application of christ , endeavour to get some benefit , and prepare better against the next time ; if you have been enlarged , be humble , be thankfull , be watchfull , live up to obligations ; draw vertue from christs death for the cr●●cifying more and more of your flesh , with its aff●ctions and lusts ; and fetch influences of grace and spiritual nourishment ▪ that you may encrease with the encreases of god. finally , be diligent in the use of these , and all other means and helps , and so at length you shall attain the ultimate end , for which they are appointed , even your salvation and eternal happiness . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a64998-e420 motive 3. a just and sober vindication of the observations upon the thirtieth of january, and twenty ninth of may by j.g.g. gailhard, j. (jean) 1694 approx. 148 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 40 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a41513 wing g122 estc r24345 08149369 ocm 08149369 40938 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a41513) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 40938) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1230:5) a just and sober vindication of the observations upon the thirtieth of january, and twenty ninth of may by j.g.g. gailhard, j. (jean) 73 p. printed, and are to be sold by ric. baldwin, london : 1694. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng church year. theology, practical. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-02 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a just and sober vindication of the observations upon the thirtieth of january and twenty ninth of may. now let them put away their whoredoms , and the carcases of their kings , far from me , and i will dwell in the midst of them , john 43. 9. answer not a fool according to his folly , least thou also be like unto him . answer a fool according to his folly , least he be wise in his own conceit , prov. 26. 4 , 5. by j. g. g. london printed . and are to be sold by ric. baldwin at the oxford-arms in warwick-lane , 1694. a just and sober vindication of the observations upon the thirtieth of january , and twenty ninth of may. i not out of any peevish humour , but in my judgment , being dissatisfied with some yearly practises , not about trifles , but such matters as i conceive the honour of god and wellfare of the nation to be concerned in , as not to defile the worship of god with any mixture of the creature , and to remove such things , as being made standing monuments , do continue , and will perpetuate divisions and animosities , have taken the freedom to publish my thoughts thereupon , without design of wronging any man , as i hope i have not , but have spoken forth the words of truth and soberness : yet it seems what i have written , hath somewhere lighted upon a sore place , which cannot endure to be touched ; and this hath made the party not only to start , but to fly out ; a sound part can suffer to be handled , when an unsound one doth not ; and sometimes one wasp makes as great a noise as the whole nest. well , the matter was combustible , therefore no wonder if it so easily hath taken fire , and hath broken out into a flame , like those fire-brands by samson put to the fox's tail , all intended to ruin and to destroy , as those did in the field ; but these shall do no harm , except it be at home , and upon the contrivers : some vapors from the spleen and low parts , do sometimes cause great fumes and disturbances in the head , as do exhalations from the earth in the middle region of the air , but at last after some lightning and noise of thunder and wind , they return and fall upon the earth in hail , rain or snow : so that windy and stormy noise in the head , after a while ceaseth , and , to make use of solomon's words , is as the cracklings of thorns under the pot. though the pamphlet in question be not in any thing worth a reply , and the pamphleteer deserves to be answered otherwise than with a pen ; yet for it i am content to stand the judgment of any rational and impartial man : but least he should be pussed up ( as many of that spirit are apt to be ) with a conceit of himself , and least some people should think the worse of the cause for my silence , i must say something in answer to it , and if he hath any thing to write against my reasons , let him do it as a gentleman and as a scholar ( though his pamphlet proves him to be neither ) and then i hope in god to cut him work more than he shall be well able to compass . reason and experience do teach us , how in this world all men cannot be of one mind , no more than all have the same features : rational men will discourse and make use of arguments to find out the truth , yet without coming to sword and dagger ; the striking of two flints one against another doth produce lights , so sometimes debates and disputes bring out truth , and make it known ; nay , with greater light and certainty than it was before ; as the sun appears brighter and more glorious after it hath dispersed clouds that stood between it and our aspect . for my part i declare , i love not dispute for dispute sake , but to find out the truth : i am always , and so every rational man ought to be , ready to receive better information ; and if any one convinces me to be in the wrong , i will thank him and follow the truth , if made appear to me ; and if in any thing i be otherwise minded , with st. paul i hope god will reveal it to me . i most fully am perswaded of the truth of what i have written ; and though i do not believe there is in any one man or society , a spirit of infallibility ; yet i am most sure , the rule i endeavour , as much as god enableth me , to follow , namely his word , is infallible ; there i stick , if any one out of it doth convince me , i shall yield to the conviction , or else continue to assert my opinion : and in this case , what the emperor charles the fifth used to say in another , i assert , fortune and i , said he , against any two : so upon a much better account , say i , truth , that is the word of god , and i , against any two adversaries whatsoever . but must in this world the will of one man be the rule of another man's will ; and the judgment and opinion of one , be the measure of that of another : i declare i have not such an implicit faith , ( that is the prerogative of god's will ) and because i will not yield to it , must my throat be cut for that ? or at least , must i be reviled with ill language ? it argues a very bad cause that needs being defended by such means , let arguments and not ill words be used , for commonly they who employ injuries and fly into passion , do want reason ; arguments as hard as you please , but soft words ; certainly they who do otherwise , in the opinion of moderate men , do prejudice their cause : against such our blessed savionr hath put the word in my mouth , if i have spoken evil , bear witness of the evil. shew me out of the word of god the falsity and fallacy of my arguments ; doth a man think it below him so to do ? or rather , doth he not find he cannot do it , that he betakes himself to slanders and injuries : truth wants no such help , and by the grace of god i am neither ashamed nor afraid to own it . none ought to be ashamed of the gospel of christ as st. paul was not , nor of the truth of the gospel which is the same , though some in these corrupt times , would put god's people out of countenance , and make them afraid of owning the gospel . some men in the world do little think upon that precept of st. paul let your moderation be known unto all men , and the reason is , the lord is at hand , to observe and to judge : violency and impetuosity , too strong in some , is much opposite to that calmness required not only in a christian but also in a reasonable man ; they who so highly do act contrary to this , and make themselves drudges and slaves to their wrath or passion , do not deserve to converse with or enjoy the society of the civilised world , but only that of brutes as their most proper company : if that be an effect of their temper and constitution , they ought to strive against and endeavour to overcome it , or else they must expect sometimes to hear of it : high storms do commonly leave behind some marks where they have been , and grounds of complaints too : 't is but a word and a blow with some , but the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of god. if here i would take advantage of the law talionis , and requit , it would carry one very far ; but i have rather out of scripture , whence i endeavour to draw my rules and comfort , to obey the apostles precept , let all your things be done with charity ; whereof 't is an act sometimes to redress those than wander in a wrong way , provided there be nothing of hatred or vengeance in the heart ; solomon doth direct us how to do it , when he saith , answer not a fool according to his folly , that is , in the same extravagant manner and degree , least thou be like unto him , for if thou dost , thou shalt be as fool as he , and be look'd upon as such : however , answer a fool according to his folly , least he be wise in his own conceit ; consider him and not thy self , something must be done or said to him , least he groweth proud and vain , for such are apt to abound in their own sence and not see their folly ; wherefore shew him his error , and that he is no wise nor good man , ( for in solomon's stile , a fool is a sinner or a bad man ) though he fancieth himself to be wise and good : it is a higher degree of folly in one to proclaim himself such , and to publish it abroad , than if he could confine it within his own doors ; and if one through infirmity cannot master it , yet he is to endeavour in some degree to curb and keep it from breaking out : however answer him , saith the wise man , though not according to his folly , and as severely as he deserves , yet he must not go unanswered , least he should think he hath done well and failed in nothing . and if when one is about such a work , the man should happen to vex , and fret , and fly out , as 't is usual with such , it were proper to put to him the same question as the apostle did to the galatians , am i therefore become your enemy , because i tell you the truth . the chief and i may say the only end i herein propose to my self , is to bear record unto the truth , and to such a truth as deserveth in a special manner to be regarded : but in order thereunto , i would have men to shoot at the mark and keep to the point , and not to go straggling here and there , and so miss the aim : let us search into the merits of the cause , laying aside all by and cross questions and discourse , except they do contribute to the clearing of the matter we are about ; and when that is over , in god's name we may proceed to new things , but let us make an end with one before we begin with the other , and that 's the likeliest way to clear the truth ; on and off , fast and loose , cannot do it , but sticking to the point can ; but ever forbearing to give ill language . if i wanted a witness for some things i said in the observations , i have him now , and is seasonably come in from amongst our adversaries , by his own example to demonstrate what manner of spirit some of them are acted by ; i leave those whom this belongs , to apply it to themselves , how little salt and how much mercury there is in them , how fierce , fiery and violent a temper they are of ; and i refer it to the judgment of sober and impartial men ; such principles , if reduced into practise , are enough to work confusion and ruin , and to overturn whole nations and kingdoms : these , in imitation of papists , they would with all their heart promote with fire and fagot , whereof too many have had a sad experience , which hath afforded continual grounds of complaint : and this i desire the moderate reader to take notice of , and consider whether lives , or any thing else we have , could be safe , if it should again be in the power of such men to persecute , of such men i say , for i am not so unreasonable as to father it upon all . we know how those that amongst them are moderate , and will not come up to that violence as themselves are for , they be angry against and revile them with the names of trimmers and the like : so that a pen between the fingers of such hot-spirited men , is as a sword in the hand of a furious person , who striketh on all sides , and spareth neither friend nor foe , except to a hairs breadth they come up to what they would have them . how brave and generous champions of the church are these , the honour and ornament thereof ? with how much credit do they promote and maintain that cause ? revilings , injuries and false aspersions are their weapons ; in their whole carriage they be very angry , yet without any ground but their own temper , which must needs be very cholerick : against such solomon gives a necessary warning , make no friendship with an angry man , and with a furious man thou shalt not go : but in this world we sometimes meet with that kind of company , as there is now an instance in the case . i am sure such an unhandsome and uncharitable carriage , cannot be justified either by gospel or law , no not that of the land ; but them we leave to their competent judges , who are or certainly ought to be concerned in such loud miscarriages , and to the judge of the whole earth , who hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness , by that man whom he hath ordained ; and he is no excepter of persons . but we must examine what is written against the observations , and so shall by the grace of god begin with the title page , which is so stuffed and filled up , that the pamphlet should be very bulky , if it held a proportion with the title ; but 't is like that sort of trees that have more bark than body : so that take away the abusive language and nonsence , it will remain very empty : and as we all ( as our blessed saviour saith ) shall be judged and condemned by our words , so i shall make use of the author 's own words , for he puts them into my mouth . his title is , the reformer rack'd : a man who so much pretends to the law , would bring in a thing which the law of the land doth not admit of ; but tyrannical spirits can find no bounds to their cruelties , he brings in a patient , that 's the reformer , the act racking ; he must give us leave to find out the agent , and that 's himself which he cannot deny : to rack and put men to the torture , is the office of the hang-man , and whosoever puts men to the rack , doth act the part of the executioner , who is ever paid before-hand when he is to do execution ; whether our man hath his fee , some good preferment already ; or whether he intends to deserve it or more , we do not therein concern our selves : however like another demetrius , he makes a tumultuous noise for his diana , which is no more in danger than was that of ephesus : here is our man who would extort things , and force out that which is not , for the violence of the torment , makes sometimes men say that which is not true , nor was ever intended ; so men may find my writing hath been put to the rack : the very name of racks and tortures sound very ill in the ear of a true christian : we read of those that were tortured , and had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings , of bonds and imprisonment : this very same , england hath cause to remember , when it was in the power of such men as our adversary to persecute their brethren : but these things of new date and fresh memory we leave off , by the by to mention things of an older standing ; thus john hus , jerom of prague , and thousands more of faithful witnesses were rack'd to death ; our wickliff , forty one years after his death , his bones were taken out of his grave , and were rack'd as far as they were capable of : and i am apt to believe upon good ground , that if calvin , and others of the first instruments of reformation ( for indeed god was the reformer ) were now alive , and should fall into the hands of our rackers , they would have rack'd them to the purpose ; they would not have been better used than if they had been in the hands of the romish inquisition ; if they had not been burn'd , they had at least been hang'd : oh such spirits , such principles , dispositions and cruel practises , should be left for the whore drunken with the blood of martyrs : what kind of hearts do some men discover to be in them , as if possessed with rage and fury : our blessed saviour saith well , out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks : cruel men , and tyrant's brains , are so full of idea's of torment , tortures , racks , fire and sword , that they can hardly think or speak of any thing else . now we must come to the patient : the rack is not for those who deform , but for the reformer : doth not this here justifie what i said in my observations , how there are some who hate not only the thing , but also the very name of reformation , reformed and reformer , for this is pointed at as an odious name , and as a common enemy to his party , though it be a scripture word which speaketh of a time of reformation : some of them are bred with an hatred of godliness , and of the professors thereof : we have too many of those who hate reformation in doctrine , worship and discipline , in the heart which is most necessary , and in manners and conversation ; thus they will say , what need we reformation ? we are whole and so need no physician , we are righteous and so no need of repentance : let us see what a character god gives , and consequently what will be the doom of those who hate reformation , but to the ungodly , saith god , why dost thou preach my laws , and takest my covenant in thy mouth , whereas thou hatest to be reformed ? but to the purpose of our reformation here , i must not omit mentioning , how a parliament being holden in the thirteenth year of queen elizabeth's reign , some prelates and others were sent from the convocation-house , to exhibit her a subsidy according to custom : the queen took occasion to speak well and favourably of the good of christ's church , affirming , she had heard of many things in the church which 't was necessary should be reformed , and which if she came but to understand , she would not give sleep to her eyes till she set up reformation , and would never give over till she had done it indeed : and if they , being the eyes , would not reveal the truth , let the blame and blood be upon them . but they , instead of answering so good and pious a motion , for a work so worthy of so excellent a princess , put a false gloss upon things , disguised the matter , and said omnia bene , all was well : and thus they put a stop to that which was their duty to have promoted ; thus ever the church of rome was afraid , and hated to hear of reformation in head and members , so loath are all worldlings to part with any thing of their pomp , pride , power and pleasures : however we must know that the best kings of judah were the reformers , and that reformation was not the work of one day or of one man , but was wrought by degrees and at several times ; and as nothing in this world is so perfect , but that at one time or other abuses happen to creep in , so 't is the duty of those that are concerned , to see abuses reformed : and if god had not been pleased to infuse that good spirit of reformation into the hearts of some princes , and of pious and learned men , we had still continued in the darkness , ignorance , idolatry and superstition of popery ; and some men in the world are little thankful for so great a mercy which so many of our predecessors sealed with their blood and lives , yet to many reformation is a noli me tangere , come not near , why ? because they love themselves , their ease and pleasure , more than the glory of god and the good of his church , if they can but quietly enjoy them ; that 's their chief desire in this world , with peter saying , 't is good for us to be here , but they no more than he at that time , know what they say , when they talk as if there was no need of reformation ; would to god it was true , but there is a great need of it ( as it hath been proved at several times ) and now as much as ever , as upon occasion it may plainly be demonstrated : it is strange , yet too true , that a name which ought so sweetly to sound in the ears of true christians , should in the ears of some strike a kind of horror and a hatred in their hearts ; may be they are possessed with the pharisaical and popish opinion of a perfection in this life . we read how hainously a pope took it , when one day a minister of the emperor charles the fifth speaking against transferring the council of trent to another place , made use of the word to protest , because those who in germany withdrew from him had before used it ; but 't is a sad case , that antichrist should be imitated by some who pretend to be fallen out with him : 't is true they agree about the ground , and they all have the same reasons , namely their interest ; o that interest , the god of this wicked world ; there is at this time too much cause to repeat st. paul's complaint , how most , if not all , care for themselves , love this present world , but few care for the things of god : can any one deny the great and general apostasie in these late times , from the power and practise of godliness ? can any one deny the corruption that is in the sanctuary as well as in other bodies of the nation ? and that bad examples and ill rules too , come from whence we might look for better ones . at a diet at worms , where luther appeared before charles the fifth , his protector the elector of saxomy asked erasmus , then in the same publick room , what he thought of luther's books ; he in his jesting way said , luther was to blame : the prince replied , wherein ? because , said erasmus , he hath meddled with two very nice and dangerous things , namely , the pope's mitre , and the priest's belly ; if that had been let alone , said he , a way of accommodation might have been found out . thus if reformation would not be extended upon the power , jurisdiction and authority of our churches heads and governours , and the fat livings , and a more equal distribution of church preferments and incoms , and a bringing in a laborious preaching and praying , and well-living ministry , which flow bellies and lazy labourers do not like ( this , let it be spoken with relation only to some ) then proposals about reformation might happen to meet with a better reception . 't is a sad case when they would make men ashamed for speaking scripture-phrase as predestination , presbytery and now reformation ; it seems if one would speak to them the language of the beast , they could better understand it . but why should i any longer stand upon so copious a matter , which affords so much of consideration , into which a thinking man may see very far , things being so palpable and visible to an unprejudiced eye ? and there may be an occasion in the continuation of my discourse to take notice of it , and to own , that though reformation be some mens aversion , yet there is a just necessity for it , as in several instances and particulars it may easily be made to appear . thus much for the poor rack'd reformer , whose limbs must need , after this terrible execution , be quite broken , or at least wholly out of joynt . to return to our racker , whose head runs so much upon martyrs and confessors ( which we may interpret king charles martyr for hierarchy , and the late king james confessor for popery ) that he can hardly , save ill language , speak any thing else : when he talks of the reformer's confession , to which we might say , what , of faith or of fact ? he hath done well to explain himself , or observations considered , for we are so dull , as not well to apprehend things at the first sight ; yet we know what we must expect , for in the very title he declares his writing to be a reflection , taken , as i conceive , in a bad sence , for 't is an invective , but he saith 't is a brief one , for one long-breathed , as he is in such matters , and nothing else , but a reflection : well , reflect , but i will not say , and be reflected upon for we have not so learned christ. to which is added a new discovery of old england : a new coat made of an old cloak ; whilst we could wish these old things to be made away and buried in oblivion , they would daily revive , to what good purpose i cannot see ; he declares himself to be an additioner ; if it was only to titles of books , one would not mind it ; but additions to institutions and ordinances of christ we must not admit of , and that 's one of our greatest complaints that they do it . the authority of his quotation with the two greek half words ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . is apocripha to us ; i never said any thing that may give offence , relating to the person which the words quoted , are by some attributed to ; neither will i concern my self whether or not he be the author of it , 't is but a dispute de lanâ caprinâ , about a trifle , whereby old grudges are revived , which indeed i am very sorry to see , and wish men would once for all leave off these things . before i proceed farther , i declare i would never in this way have medled with these matters without a very just cause ; but who can forbear , after the high and continual provocations they give us ; they kill men , yet would not have them to cry out murther ; let them hold their hand and tongue , and we shall stop our mouth : here in one respect they would use us worse than the damned shall be in hell amidst their torments ; leave shall be given them to complain , but they would deprive us of it ; as long as they still follow that trade , and yearly preach and print such passionate , violent , uncharitable and seditious sermons , they must look for returns , and expect that one or other will answer them : they are not content to do amiss in that , but also for want of reasons , they vindicate it with slanders and injuries : who would ever have thought , that one of them , may be , after racking of his brains to find out a title for a pamphlet , would make choice of a metaphor drawn from the office of a hangman , who is a man of blood , applied perhaps to a clergy-man , of whom the saying is , ecclesia non novit sanguinem , the church meddleth not with matters of blood. my design was to speak against a practise which i not only take to be unlawful , but also attended with dangerous consequences : the occasion of that design was given , by so many bitter and violent sermons published every year : i gave my reasons against those anniversaries , and i answered what i hear and read to be spoken for it , and proceeded to some of the near and remote causes of such abuses ; and as this keeping of such days is a ceremony , so 't is obvious from that species to proceed to the genus , and to go up to the spring whence that stream is derived ; so that effectually to say something against that ceremony in particular , it was very proper to speak somewhat about ceremonies in general , though the former was the immediate subject of my book : hence i deduce this argument , that if no ceremony of that kind in general ought to be introduced into the worship of god , consequently this keeping of a holy-day must not be admitted into the church ; and at the very beginning i declared i would not insist upon the civil but the religious part of keeping those days . now any ingenious man that had been dissatisfied with my notions , if he had had a mind to meddle , would have gone about to convince me with reasons and arguments that i am in the wrong ; but the author of the pamphlet against my observations , as if in him had been a store-house of bombs , granadoes and carcasses , and whatsoever else is more combustible , took fire ; and from the beginning doth as good as say , i will hear none of your arguments , you are a rogue and a rascal , i would stab you if i could ; and the hand that strikes being invisible , he curseth it and bites the stone . god knows i had no other end or interest , but to bear record for the truth . in answer to him , we shall , by the grace of god , first of all take notice of his phrases , how prettily , wittily , judiciously and christian like , he expresses himself ; afterwards we shall proceed to some material things ; those we shall divide into several classes , the first shall be about his mean and unbecoming language , having from the very beginning sung his triumph over his antagonist , as he calls him , whom he affirmeth to be sure to be worsted for his pains ; for proof thereof , he sends us to lincolns-inn-fields , where we do not trifle our time , as may be he doth his amongst the mob : methinks , saith he , they might have learned from the wrastling of lincolns-inn-fields , page 2. much to be learned there indeed . he speaks of the levitical augaeus , a proper mixture of scripture , and heathenish fables , ibid. in his postscript-advertisement he speaks of assassines , which name doth belong to himself , for he saith , the author of the reproachful observations deserves the deepest stab from a poyniarding ; a word of his own coining ; scurrility , a rare piece of rhetorick , page 3. and it is pity , saith he of another , but he had his teeth and brains dashed out of his head , page 16. o excellent frame of a christian : he to shew himself more and more to have the nature and office of the executioner , talks of flame and smoak in palace-yard , page 4. formerly it might have been so , and would be so still , but i thank god we live in better times , and are not under his power . in another place he talks of ropes , page 17. and of a gallows , page 34. all these smell of a hangman ; alas if we were in his power , he would kill us all with the jaw-bone of an ass. elsewhere he talks of sacred ashes to caper in the air , and of bagpipes and tunes , p. 5. surely we shall not say to him as festus did to paul , much learning makes thee mad ; neither are we afraid of his blocks , halters , gibbets , p. 18. the second classis is about his immodest and unclean language , the impudentest crack-brothel-house-pander , is able to match pimping and prostitution with her : it is the bawds own jealousie that makes her cry whore first , p. 20. and in another place , after this rate a ladies beauty must not be commended , least he twit us with romish adoration ; whereas no question but the flattering letcher could smuggle up a buxom sister with his holy kisses , and vow his closer imbraces and debauch , &c. p. 20. these lines of his do much edisie a reader ; one who hath the fear of god can but nauseate , wherefore there we leave it off : hath the man never read what st. paul saith , but fornication and all uncleanness , lei it not be once named amongst you as beccmeth saints , neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting , which are not convenient , but giving of thanks ; and let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth . the third is concerning his ridiculous language , as thus , his living may be his delphos , and his pluralities his tripos , p. 9. countries tolly polly , hoite cum toite , p. 14. swing a swang a , p. 32. the story of the cock and the glass , ibid. he should have said of a cock and a bull. their whole service is stuffed like beef , and larded like bacon , p. 23. mastiffs of law and divinity , p. 25. dick the butcher : run the risk of a dozen broken heads : their bear-garden adventures , and the ho go ; hoggish and nasty reformation , p. 2 , 3. his dissentership has not been the subject of one oxford jest and laughter yet , p. 14. what ? is oxford famous for jesting and laughing ? or do they jest or laugh any way different from what is done in other places ? he ought to be ashamed to give such a character of a famous university , of jesting and laughing at serious things ; he thereby discovers himself to be an oxford scholar , so he would make himself the representative of the whole university , the scum whereof he must needs be , and he would have us to take his scurrilous language to be the sence of the famous university of oxford ; such a plant is of no credit and honour to the university , no more than to the church . another expression of his is , tantivee who-o-o-up , p. 42. other words he hath , as contrasto's , cargo , p. 19. querpo , p. 10. capricios , p. 13. lurdans , p. 11. rhodomantade heaven , sancha pancha . he hath read don quixot , or heard of him , so no wonder if he hath such romantical extasies and so right notions of things ; once at least let him speak as a christian : his whole pamphlet is nothing else but a mixture of bedlam and billingsgate language , which puts a man to a stand whether to laugh at or to pity him , for certainly in his brain , as well as in his heart , things are out of order , he acts the part of an insipid buffoon upon the stage , his notions and expressions are so much unbecoming a serious matter . the next is , his scurrilous reviling and slandering language , as a fool-hardy fellow , p. 2. fanaticks , p. 4. but those who make the word of god the rule of their faith , of their life and conversation , and of gods worship , are no fanaticks ; they are such who follow their own inventions and fancies , schismatical squeak , p. 5. tantony-pig-israelite , p. 5. all one to him a pig and an israelite : presbyterian scriblers , p. 11. myrmidons or emmets of presbytery , p. 12. reveries and enthusiastick convulsions , p. 6. banditi , raparies of religion , p. 12. the predecessors of his jack-catch-kidney . and there is much more bumbast p. 5. singular chymera's , subtile maggoticism , zealous phrensies or whimsies , p. 13. the presbyterian cant , passionate folly , spleen of malice , billingsgate scold and railery , p. 3. here indeed , to make use of his own words , he calls whore first ; i leave any impartial reader to judge , whether i said any thing that may be called scold and railery , but 't is all one to him , whether or not i have said it , he magisterially will have it to be so ; but why should i any longer trouble my self with quoting such speeches of his , his pamphlet is wholly stuffed with it : these and more things hath he said and done , but saith god , i will reprove thee , and set them in order before thine eyes . he is not content with this , but like a furious man strikes on all sides abroad as well as at home ; geneva rant , p. 3. the scotch eloquence , p. 5. the brawlers of amsterdam cut , p. 10. he dutchifies , p. 25. so he proclaims war , and sets at defiance all the world , except the dear sister popery ; he spareth not that which is most honourable amongst us , when he saith , the waggish jacks were at that time mightily taken with the pun , burn it , burn it : he knows well enough in what place this was said , so should not be wanting in his respect ; but he would not lose his jest , let it cost what it will , p. 4. he is not content with all this , his sweet language he turns upon a more honest man than himself seems to be , mr. st — ns , who hath set his name to what he said , page 7 , 8. then upon mr. dan. b — s , whom he uses alike page 11 and 25. and in the next page he , without any ground , bringsin and falls foul upon mr. par — es , whom he calls a state prophet , a chimney augur , must foretell a smoaking disaster . quousque ? how far ? how long ? shall there be no end of all this ? here lies the sore ; any one who said or acted any thing in the late happy revolution he cannot endure ; jacobitism and popery are his darlings : let him remember who slanderers and false accusers are , they are devils : by st. paul 't was foretold , how in the last days men , amongst other evil things , would be false accusers , devils is the word of the original ; and the same speaking how old women ought to be in their behaviour not false accusers , not devils : here is a great name purchased god knows at what rate , let those who do , seriously think upon it : the devil is a liar from the beginning , and the father of lies , and they are his children who take pleasure in telling lies . but we must come to some instances of his impious and prophane language , braying in predestinarian ecstasies for whining raptures : i take no notice of p. 5. providence hoising the sails — convinced our statists that he was predestinated neither to be drowned nor to be hanged , p. 34. where he addeth , it is pleasant pleading a divine or eternal decree for an exemption : here is another , preach mince-pies and custards to his babes of infallible grace , p. 24. they use to reprobate whatsoever we elect , p. 42. inigos lanthorns squeeking , it is not so , in a dispute with his puppet in a bartholomew fair , may be a very satisfactory and decisive answer to a discourse of scripture , p. 8. his gods mighty intimate and chrony , or election , huckster to his cullied disciples , p. 11. to trick and bilk god's waking vengeance , as a cullied coach man is sometimes served ; what an ingenious comparison ? p. 3. how high doth he rise , and how soon and low doth he fall ? let us suppose for example , the word egg in a text of scripture , the presbyterian would interpret it an hen-egg or goose-egg , p. 26. is this to ridicule the word of god ? and in another place squeeze us to death and reprobation , p. 24. and gormandize on our saviour , p. 30. but i am weary and sick of these evil things ; who is that true christian which will not be moved with such detestable prophanations , as if we were allowed to jest with god , and mock at his works and attributes ? thus he jests at holy things , providence , grade , decrees , predestination , election , reprobation ; a wiser man than he said long ago , fools make a mock at sin : he must give us leave to offer him a looking-glass to see himself in , and these rhetorical speeches of his : i let all the rest go , but this , this deserveth the lash ; what will become of religion , if these things are allowed of , and suffered to go unpunished ? if men do not punish it god will , for our blessed saviour saith , we shall give an account of every idle word in the day of judgment . how many idle and evil words is this man accountable for ? there are strange dispositions in the world , the bee makes honey out of every flower , but the spider turns every thing into poison : this man seems never to have read what st. paul saith , let your speech be alway with grace , seasoned with salt , that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man ; not with revilings , injuries and slanders ; for if we must believe solomon , he is no wise man that uttereth a slander . passionate expressions and injurious language , argue an ill and a boisterous temper , god was not in the great and strong wind , nor in the earth-quake , nor in the fire , but in the still small voice : but satan was in the great wind , as we read in the book of job : high , blustering and violent spirits , often do themselves and others harm , but never no good : but however unhandsomly and uncharitably they behave themselves against their neighbour , let them have a care how they meddle with god : this very consideration stopt the rage and malice of the jews ; surely they who thereby will not be wrought upon , must needs be worse than they were . now this rubbish and dung being laid out of the way , we must come to something else ; all his spirits he hath spent in ranting , huffing and hectoring , bare words , nothing besides , but we are not afraid of words ; when he reviles he speaks his own language , but we have not learned it ; he sometimes speaks in such a strain as none but himself can understand , and i much doubt whether he understands every thing he saith : i expected such a man would fairly have refuted my arguments , and opposed my reasons , which are still in force , his rough wind could not blow them off : as to the solid part he hath given his cause for lost : i thought in things of this nature , he would have made use of scripture , the only judge in such matters , to have shewed i am in a mistake and in an error ; but i perceive the word of god is to him an unknown land which he hath not travelled into , except upon mount ebal to learn to thunder curses ; he draws nothing out of scripture , but instead of it borroweth much out of fables and stories , but with us upon such an account that 's no currant money ; and doth he think we are so credulous , as to take his bare word with a magister dixit ; if once we give over rambling , and come to close in the solid part , he is no dangerous adversary , periculum fiat , we shall soon try by the grace of god ; but he , instead of answering any reasons , flies off , and starts aside like a broken bow ; he falls upon a general accusation of reformers and reformation ; he ought first to have answered my charge , and then brought in his ; his manner of proceeding makes me call it charge , though i intended nothing else , but in the spirit of meekness , to represent the necessity of laying aside those things that prove a stumbling-block and hinder union and reconciliation in the land. his fit is long and dangerous , for it holds him from the beginning to the latter end of his pamphlet , as any one that will give himself the trouble to peruse it shall find ; in some of the first leaves after his vaporing and threatning , the smatterers in controversie , whose condition must needs be desperate , seeing they can or are likely to have no hope to escape the lash and baffle of a church of england pen , which can do them no harm , as long as it is in such hands as his ; however he must sing high atchievements , how often the non con's ( how often nonsence ) have been encountred by our irrefragable clergy ; and beaten to dust ; he means so , but quae genus aut proavi aut quae non fecinus ipsi — vix ea nostra voco . therefore do not attribute to your self the exploits of those invincible predecessors ; however let me tell you , that all other reasons to convince were short and deficient , the strongest weapons , for want of better , were made use of at last with a witness ; if you will not be convinced , believe and do as we would have you , we shall beat it into your brains , or dash them out of your head ; and what our reason , such as it is , cannot do , the cannon shall ; therefore you doughty antagonist , fool-hardy fellow , fling off the belt , or thou shalt come off with the foil , and thrown out in the struggle . there is indeed cause to fear this great disputant , who hath found out a new way of deciding controversies , namely , with his ill language to hector men out of their principles ; he may bark , but cannot bite nor fasten , for his teeth are broke ; however he loves to talk of bears , lyons whelps , foxes cubs , hogs , which he makes adjectives to reformation , a fair jewel for such a ring ; 't is pity these geneva rants , or aetnean eruptions and distractions at home ( whereby he means he is distracted within himself ) should trouble his heart and head so much , for vexatus toties , saith he , to some tempers those vapors of the lake leman , the exhalations of mount aetna , are very dangerous ; wherefore to ease himself , he must now , like mount vesuvius , break out , not into two words of juvenal , nunquamne reponam , but into a roaring noise and emission of smoak , flames , cinders and stones : after this evacuation our poliphemus will somewhat be at ease ; but what must one look for , that stirs up these humours ? what can be expected from an injured loyalist , 't is a fault in the printer , for he meaned loyolist , for we know him by his spirit to be a son of father ignatius , and if we doubt of it , here is the proofs he is known by , his language , a disturbed privado , this is loyola's motherly tongue , for he was a spaniard , and more and more to justifie his genealogy , in his father's dialect he speaks of stabbing and poyniarding , not only private men , but also kings have in a manner been made away by that generation of vipers . this stuff is contained in his first , second and third pages , but for variety sake we shall see some change in the scene , a sweat abates the hot fit , and at last tears allay the fume , for a just yearly tribute of streaming tears must be paid to the memory , &c. yet the hot fit is not off , for in the next page 4. revenge and tears must burst from his compassionate and vexed soul : this soul of his , no doubt , suffers under these two passions of vengeance and sorrow , which makes him look upon things with a multiplying glass , for he fancies to see a hundred things where others see but one ; for in the same page his imagination represents unto him mines full of powder , and fire to kindle it , to blow up mitres and a thousand churches , just so many and no more : but i doubt the fault of this multiplication of objects doth lye in his organ more than in the glass : however , after these streams of tears , we must surely dance intentionally to the tune of tings and twangs of clashing destruction . only i find he likes not the musician nor the instrument , jack presbyter's merry bag-pipe , nor the musick ; for , saith he , they would sing us a joyful elevated venite exultemus instead of a sobbing air , sad obit : and no other certainty of or ground for this elegant discourse , but 't is cross and pile . however sir , give us leave to say , that though you deny in some other place , any thing of a papist to be in you , your speech bewrayeth you , you bring into the church an unknown tongue , which you know is thrown out : cannot you say , come let us sing unto the lord , which every one may understand , and not venite exultemus , which is the language of the romish beast : so you do give us in latin the title of every psalm , is it not as good in english ? except you would have it in the original hebrew : i let the obit alone , but you know whose language are the words matins , vespers and anthems : this in p. 5. in the same page he makes an elegant and pathetick description of his new fiddling modeller , as he calls him , but his words are no slanders , with his saying , this is he that would , not slander and falsly asperse , as you do , nor damn to the pit of hell those that are not of his mind , as you if you could : but by gods grace he is one who hath learned to wish no man no ill , nor to render evil for evil , or railing for railing , nor to think ones whole drift centers wholly to subvert those things which he daily prays god to preserve ; who wishes for reformation of abuses , and not for destruction of good things , all for the glory of god according to the only rule of his word ; may be you do not know how charity thinks no evil , though sometimes it suffers from such enemies to it as you are ; we are surely to blame for bringing you to so sad a dilemma , as you cannot solve whether we would throw the church out at the windows , or turn her admirable , not ( as in our good-natured reveries and enthusiastick convulsions ) superstitious constitutions topsie-turvy , like passus 's picture of the horse in lucian with its heels upon a bank , p. 6. pray sir , give me leave to ask you a question , those comparisons , do you bring them to prove or only to illustrate your discourse , for certainly they are a great ornament to it ? specially being drawn out of so pure a spring as lucian is , and be not angry if i ask you a second question , whether , may be , you do not read those sort of vertuous books more than the holy bible ? for some things , besides which i find in the pamphlet , do represent the question as reasonable ; for my part i humbly conceive it very improper in such matters as relate to the worship of god , to make use of lucian and the like authors ; and i declare i would be very sorry , in any serious matter , to admit of such impertinent comparisons , illustrations , enlargements and explanations , of which the whole pamphlet is a rapsody : i can want no instance for what i say , i do not go far , for 't is just but two lines below the name of your lucian , by you quoted more than once , this is it , it is a monstrous imagination or wonderful fancy of his , with him all monsters and wonders , to represent the vicar and his parishoners as one great incorporated centaur : where is here the imagination and fancy , in himself who brings a chymera , a non ens , in his word centaur , or in me who speak of nothing but real things and beings ? our pamphleteer , saith he p. 6. for i am his as he is mine , hath done his good old cause infinitely more hurt than good , by his impertinent ramble and cobweb-reasoning : surely i am very happy to be hugged and embraced with such arms ; well , if i be such an one the better for you , if you can take advantage of my senseless and breathless discourse , but sometimes men are mistaken in their notions , as of two men fighting , one having an high opinion in handling of his weapon , is so intent upon the ruin of his enemy , that he neglects his own preservation , and therein gives an advantage against himself , laying his body open to his enemies sword , or rashly running upon the point of it , let not him that girdeth on his harness , boast himself , as he that puts it off , let no man sing a triumph before he hath gotten the victory ; so let none say he hath the better , before the dispute be ended , habemus fatentem reum ; for in your postscript you say , you leave it to some persons more hawk sighted than your self . this extraordinary man i would endeavour to please , but 't is a hard thing , and i cannot tell how to effect it ; i said i believe no anniversary should be kept for king charles ; then he flies at me , and would tear me to pieces if he could ; and when i affirm on the other side , that the fact or putting him to death was unlawful , and horrid murther , &c. then for my pains i hear this from him , that what i say is dissembling innuendo's of my charity , p. 6. he doth protest i am an ugly squinting wide-mouthed fellow ; how long a train of titles he gives me , well , my mouth and face are as god pleased to make them , therewith i must be content , i own 't is better such as it is , than i deserve at god's hands ; afterwards p. 6. he doth quote my words , how i believe god shewed him mercy ; that the taking away of his life was an ill thing , &c. this as he saith is as good as if i had called him a rogue and a rascal , and arraigned him for a malefactor : what can we say or do to this ? well , as i hinted something a little before , here he gives me a very great advantage against himself , which i must not lose , for 't is of too high a concernment for me ; he quoteth my words in page 1 , 3 , 5. about the fact , which though they be as positive as can be , yet in his page 43. he affirmeth i say , the martyr was guilty , and that justice was executed on him : how can these two things agree , the former words i own , the last i never said or thought : it is matter of fact , and what would it be if it was upon matter of my life or death ? well , i shall unriddle the business , and shew where the mistake lies ; mistake i call it , or over-passionateness , for i thank god i have for him more charity than he hath for me ; others would call it a rank malice , but i call it a mistake , but a very gross one ; for what in my book i say of justice executed upon the guilty , of his death , that is upon his judges , he would in his book make me speak it of king charles ; at this let him blush and be ashamed : now we may see who , he or i , be guilty of imputations as scandalous as false , as he expresseth p. 43. god forgive him : and to declare my mind more in general upon such points , i say two things , first , when a man suffers , though never so unjustly , yet in relation to god he hath nothing to complain of , for as david saith , god is just in all his ways , and holy in all his works . secondly , i say , the righteousness of god never excuseth the wickedness of men. after he hath as it were tired himself upon me , and may be in his opinion made me very sore , black and blue , he leaves me for a while , as it were to feel my pains , sentiat se mori ; for variety sake , like a famous runner at tilt , having disabled one , he is ready for , and falls upon the next ; so the next turn is mr. st — ns , to whom he imparts some of his caresses in the same kind as to me , but the tender mercies of some are cruel . he begins with taking notice of much dust , like a cloud , beat out of the cushion at st. mary lebow , and doth not mind the dirt and dung of his , which he is in over head and ears ; we could say more if we did but see him thoroughly , that spring must be very corrupt , whence proceed such stinking streams , the very breath whereof is so loathsome ; pray let us hear his rhetorick upon the subject , his sermon 's , foul and false aspersions , sound more like the accents of rotten eggs : what , eggs in a sermon , and rotten too , they stink , away with it . i think mr. st — ns will say nothing but what he can justifie , but is withall too wise to trouble himself with answering a giddy-brain'd fellow , who would have every one else to weep or laugh when he doth , or else will be very angry if they will not fast on the thirtieth of january , and feast on the twenty ninth of may ; and would upon those days force men to church whether they will or not , only because he goes himself : we read of one who always laughs , and of another who ever wept , this man would act both parts , and be one day democritus and on the other heraclitus . others look for better grounds than he hath to do so ; he speaks unworthily of that person when he saith , i leave him to play fast and loose with his function , perhaps may be his interest , p. 9. this man is very little or not at all acquainted with wise solomon , for he breaks many of his rules , one of which is this , strive not with a man without cause , if he hath done thee no harm : he is of a provoking spirit , i would have him give a good reason why he thinks such a one is lead by interest and not by conscience ; and p. 25. he declares , he is of opinion that we might stop any of their ( nonconformists ) mouths with a bishoprick : i shall not say he is mistaken in all , but i dare say in some he is ; this interested people are apt to judge of others by themselves , but they measuring themselves by themselves , and comparing themselves amongst themselves , are not wise : so against the rules of prudence and charity this man judgeth rashly of others , though our blessed saviour said , judge not that ye be not judged : of david did his brother eliab judge unjustly , when he said to him , i know thy pride , and the naughtiness of thine heart : that same was a man according to god's own heart ; and yet his brother pretended to see into and be the searcher of his heart , a right which god hath reserved for himself ; when god at that time had sent him to destroy the philistine , and be an instrument of deliverance to israel ; was not this a very hard and an unjust censure , and that from a brother : to make application of this , i leave it for those whom it may concern , si accusare sat est quis erit innocens ? who can be innocent , if to accuse be enough to make one guilty ? this i must say , the man hath not yet learned the apostles lesson , to speak evil of no man : at last at his parting with mr. st — ns , he declares why he is angry with him , because he seems not to be over passionately concerned for his k. ch — 's death ; 't is very unreasonable that he would have others to be so because he is ; to be over-passionate is his quality we know , but 't is contrary to reason and religion , 't is a dangerous excess to be avoided . seeing , as he saith , that digression is pardonable in all the rules of complaisance , we will pardon it : what , now talk of rules , and talk of complaisance ? alas , quantum mutatus ab illo , he is no more the same man ; but can the aethiopian change his skin , or the leopard his spots : now he hath shook hands with our cousin-german , he will presently be upon us ; but he also hath a compliment for our eldership , how kind he is , i never expected so much from him , may it please his eldership , would it not have been rude , not to have passed a compliment upon so near a relation of his by the way . sir , i thank you for your love ; but between the two acts there must be an intermede of something comical to make people laugh , for which i refer the reader to his page 10. after the perusal of two or three more of his pages , i begin indeed to be concerned that i am to deal with one , whom upon reasonable grounds i look upon as much out of order , i speak seriously and in earnest , there are shrewd symptoms of it , for though i would not mind those frequent strange notions and expressions of his , yet we must take notice how in maximis , and things of the highest as of the lesser nature , he strikes all alike ; his idea and knack of things is not very commendable : his page 11. he begins with saying , he is amazed at the negligence of our most orthodox clergy : 't is true some are so , but all like him are very heterodox , he wonders others are not as mad as he ; thus all are fools in the opinion of a self-conceited man , that are not altogether as he : nay he seems somewhat to be angry at , and calls it a levitical slug : what manner of man is this , that gives the name of unlearned to asserters of all opinions but his own , nay , scandalous both to the palace and see , doth he mean of rome ? at first he talks of triumphant , now of a militant vigilance , all this to give a character of himself ; as first , that he is a statesman , for he takes care of the interests of the palace ; he is a church-man , for he minds the concerns of the see ; a solder , by his talk of military vigilance , and a great scholar too , seeing he speaks of defeating the illiterate force of a few presbyterian scriblers ; so that to defeat the force , are terms of war , illiterate presbyterian scriblers , terms of art ; so he would promiscuously be a jack of all trades ; but 't is past my skill to find how these few presbyterian scriblers should form a numerous and formidable rapparism , there my politicks fail , and i would desire him to help me out , for , if their mobility , saith he , once get a head , 't will be hard to disperse them ; this is to speak like a man of experience and a great general : but a question i would ask , why he doth speak so figuratively , and in a manner different from that usual way of other men ? when others speak , 't is to signifie their thoughts , and with a design to be understood , but he speaks to puzzle other men ; unhappily mr. daniel b — s lies in his way , so he must have a flurt at him : thus i remember to have seen children , when they had nothing else to do , with a stick to strike at every stone that laid not only in but also out of their way , nay , they a purpose stept out of their way to do it , not out of any necessity , but only to please their humour and fancy . our man is very kind , not to deny those spirits of faction , the gracious and pacificatory favour of the state ; but we thank him for nothing , he leaves that which he cannot carry away ; but then let their preachments move within their own orb , and the sweet singer of israel humm and buz within his own sphere : and let fools hold their peace , for better to say nothing than to speak amiss : but to speak in solomon's words , every fool will be meddling , because as he saith in the same book , it is a sport to a fool to do mischief : so let mr. par — es look to himself , for some-body is a coming upon him , but that is not worth minding , and nothing to the rare discourse he makes in his page 12. towards the latter end of which he would have the dissenters called by the sweet names of banditi , moss-troopers and rapparees of religion , and their overtures , or capitulations for surrendring themselves to our conquering communion and winning liturgy , very proper epithets , to be accepted ; his greatest utinam should be utinam saperem , for then with solomon we might tell him , if thou be wise , thou shalt be wise for thy self : but if thou scornest , thou also shalt bear it : but his utinam is , that he were able to book that glorious pacificatorium or happy eirenicon which may heal our breaches beyond relapse : i would be glad to hear he is willing to a reconciliation which he detests when we proposed it , but he would have it wholly upon his own terms ; so he would both divide and chuse the spoil , and at last with the lyon have all under several notions . upon his considerations , p. 13. he could not hold for magging his finger in this quarrel : what , for a man so zealous for the cause only to wag his finger , is but a small thing , except he thinks his little finger stronger than another man's loins ; he thought with wagging his finger to make all his enemies afraid ; his own words i make use of , here is a quarrel , here is the approach of an enemy , here is an army of our church , here is himself a scout of that army ; all this vision is but an effect of a wounded imagination , he makes in one place use of sancha pancha's name , and here i bring in his master don quixot , whose opticks were so disturbed , that he took a wind-mill for a gyant , and a flock of sheep for an army of men ; our scout will have us to know what he hath done ; is he not like the fly upon the coach-wheel crying out , see what a dust i raise : yea , and such as may fly into his own eyes : yet he saith , what he doth is to excite some nobler soul ; he would have us to know his soul is noble , though there be nobler in the hierarchy ; but to what purpose ? what is the dust he would excite ? a warmer discourse upon this topick ; wiser he should have said , for warmer it cannot be , for it is seven times scorching-hot : in this same page he gives a taste , as of his charity , so of his inspired language , omnium gatherum , hotch potch , humble jumble , risum teneatis ; how much pageantry , how much pedantry from first to last ? all along he hath a mind to quarrel , for he cannot give over renewing old grudges , which we all , if there be in us any true principle of christianity , love and charity , ought to forget and forgive , and allay those heats of hatred and vengeance which continue boiling in some mens veins ; and though hitherto i have been silent , upon the account of our former unhappy troubles , yet here , upon a new occasion , i cannot avoid taking notice of his breaking loose upon those who acted therein ; he calls them page 14. a hub-bub of massanello's or mob of mechanicks , mole-workers , handicraft-men , the fraternity of the sanctified awl , or louce-stabbing launce , the qualifications of religious button-makers , and the wits of the company of inspired manufacturers , which at last slingingly sneak into an auger-hole , cobler's stall , or loomshop . is not this the language of a hater and despiser which is unworthy of any answer ? no better refuted , than with silence and contempt ; and truly to make his spirit better known , i wish with all my heart every sober and serious man would give himself the trouble of perusing his pamphlet : i cannot forbear once more to say , have we not reasonable ground to think , such a man is in a gall of bitterness , and in the bonds of iniquity ? however something i must say to him , how he is mistaken in his intention and in his assertion ; in the first , for he doth , as we use to say , whip a horse to make him kick , but the horse will not , his words do not wound : in the second , i say 't is true , several men of low quality in the world were engaged in that cause , but in that we ought not to despise men : when samuel was to anoint david , and he thought eliab to have been the man whom god had chosen , god said unto him , look not on his countenance , or on the heighth of his stature , because i have refused him , for the lord seeth not as a man seeth : for man looketh on the outward appearances , but the lord looketh on the heart : this was upon the account of a calling to a temporal office ; and so 't is in relation to a spiritual calling ; a thing of a transcendent nature , if we must believe st. paul , for you see your calling , brethren , how that not many wise men after the flesh , not many mighty , not many noble are called . in things of this nature we do not depend upon any high flown notions , but do bring our proofs out of god's word ; i wish our author would have done so , for then that method would have produced instruction , comfort and edification , instead of heats , wranglings and injuries . but withall , i must tell him he is highly mistaken in talking as he doth , for several of the prime of the nobility and gentry in both houses , and many considerable persons besides , for parts , quality and fortune , in the nation , were concerned in that unhappy quarrel . in his 15 , 16 and 17 pages he goes on at random , fluttering at his old rate of passion and railing , which i do not mind , being already pretty well used to it , only shall give a touch that is not digressive as he calls his , and as indeed they are : he saith , no bishop , no king , is a maxim might be written in indelible purple : this is for the present a thing out of my purpose , therefore shall avoid entring upon it ; however thus much i say , a bishop domineering over his brethren or his flock , that minds fleecing more than feeding it , and neglects taking care of the souls committed to his charge , such a one , i say , i have no value for ; but for such a bishop as doth faithfully and carefully perform his pastoral office , and is such as st. paul mentions ; i declare i highly honour , value and esteem such . but as to the maxim , i think it ought rather to be thus , no king , no bishop , for the bishop must depend upon the king , and not the king upon the bishop , for he is the king's creature as all england knows . and here i must explain that saying of mine , which our author hath done what he could to wrest , and give it a sence contrary to my intention , for when i said , they are the king's creatures , i never intended to assert it ought not to be so , but thereby i meaned to shew , that bishops , as diocesan bishops , are not jure divino , because they are a man's creatures , for the king makes them , which i take to be undeniable . i am weary ( and so i suppose my reader to be ) of the drudgery i hitherto have been at , to follow this man thorough stinking dirt and mire ; not that i thought the work to be worth my pains , but only to give a true light of his spirit and principles ; a desperate man indeed , who is not only for racking , burning and hanging , but who would go thorough every part of a hangman's office : but now we are come to his digressive touches , which go so much out of the way , as hardly any more to come in ; we must prepare to find such stuff as we had before ; for uniformity-sake all must hang together : this man hath a singular gift of mistaking , whether it be out of malice or otherwise , i am not so positive as to determine : i already have given one instance , now there is another , he is so blinded with passion , and so impatient , as not to allow himself time , well to understand what he reads , thus he slumbles at the very beginning of my observations , he quotes the words , yet wholly mistakes the sence , my words are these , for either it , that is , the occasion of the day , looks upon the act of some men against the living , or upon what others have done , and still do , for the dead ; the former is unlawful , and the latter contrary to true religion . here we must put the fescue in his hand to point at a thing as visible and obvious as can be : he cries out first , why unlawful ? and then giddily runs on with invectives , which he illustrates with a comparison of a sermon against high commoding and top knoting stomachs , my lady all pride ; and so goes on at that rate not knowing where , as far from the point , as east is from west ; he quarrels at my expression , the thing hath two several aspects , and knowing how fabulous he is in his discourse , i wonder he doth not compare it to janus ; but to come to the thing , the occasion of the thirtieth of january is this , either to remember the act of some men upon the living , which king charles was when by some men put to death , which is unlawful : the other part is , what the living do , that is , to keep an anniversary for the dead : and this i believe to be contrary to true religion , this is very clear , yet that which is spoken of one , he doth misapply to the other , page 18. what he saith in two or three pages following is meer trash and not to the purpose ; i give reasons why i think the day ought not to be kept ; the answer he gives is , speaking of me , his resolve is , to be no longer an any-thing arrian , but a thorough-paced dissenter ; and this he backs with a silly story of a town-fool : when i say , it were better to forget those things , than to renew the memory of them which continues divisions ; his answer is this , is this christian logick ? whether or not it be logick , i am not concerned , but i take and maintain it to be christian doctrine , though may be not to such christians as he , for there are such in the world , who have a form of godliness , but deny the power thereof ; there are such in the world , that profess that they know god , but in works they deny him : to forget and forgive is the second commandment of the law , by our saviour expressed in the gospel ; this is the great thing we are commanded to practise ; we have with us the whole scripture , and out of it he hath nothing at all against us ; but observe his reason why he would not obey herein , were it better , saith he , to wrap up our gospel-talents in an idle napkin of silence and oblivion , than to preach and evangelize the jews out of the pale of the christian church . so then their talent is to preach the jews out of the christian church , when the commission of ministers is to invite all unbelievers to come into it : this indeed is a ministry , to turn out those whom christ hath commanded to call in ; we know well enough whom he means by the jews , but we do not stand upon his calling us so ; for in another place he calls us miscreants , he calls us so , because we will not own and believe king charles to be a martyr , and an anniversary-day to be kept for his death , and another for the birth of his son : whence screwed he this article of his faith ? who gave him authority upon such grounds to proclaim us unbelievers and miscreants ? which doth not make us such : however let us be jews , though thorough god's grace baptised in the name of christ : did not peter preach to some of those very jews , who had taken , and by wicked hands curcified our saviour , and he afterwards baptised them ; and at another time invite those who denied the holy one and the just , and desired a murtherer to be granted unto them : and who had killed the prince of life , to repent and be converted : o shame ! o scandal ! to say that the gospel-talent doth consist in preaching jews or others out of the pale of the christian church ; is there but a day , two , or few more to preach , and nothing else to be preached , no sins but that in the nation ? he saith the truth , when he speaks of wrapping their gospel-talents in an idle napkin ; there are , i fear , too many of those unfaithful servants who hide the talent ; a gown and a surpliss are sometimes the napkins wherein the talents are hid ; if they will not improve it , they should suffer it to pass into better hands , of those that would : the talents of prayer are too often buried ; but hark our master of divinity , for i think in this case i may well retort , remember that at one time or other you shall be called to an account for those talents which some of you do sometimes bury in idleness and vice. another answer of his is this , the sequel is , we must never hope to proselite them by reproof , or telling them of their sins . whether you hope or not 't is your duty , therefore do it ; but hitherto no answer to my argument , whom they cannot proselite by reproof , they would destroy by force . something is said page 20. what divisions can this day of humiliation enlarge or continue , but those the espousers thereof dethroned and vanquished majesty to a grave . these are the same we desire should cease , they that were guilty of the fact are all dead , and a new generation is come on , though some of this generation have in matter of ceremonies , worship and the like , a conformity with the opinion of those that are dead ; yet king charles's death is a thing of another nature , wherein they who are now alive had no hand : why do you involve them in the guilt , as if they were to answer for the faults of their fathers ; and as if , like so many toads , vipers and spiders , they had brought venom from the womb ? do not you think it to be a provoking thing , for men every year to be told , your fathers , uncles , grand-fathers and other relations were rogues , traytors , rebels , murtherers , &c. grant this to be true , which yet cannot be said of all , you may think such things are not pleasant but cause heats , hatreds , enlargeth divisions ; and that this is the subject of discourses from the pulpits , and the proper work of the day , i appeal to those many sermons that have been published , full of invectives , abusive language , and railing accusations , as if ministers had nothing else to say , repentance , union and charity they ought to preach , and not such things so contrary to the rules of true christian religion : there are those who have had the face to preach them before the honourable and famous assemblies of the nation , whose hearts , we hope god will move to see the present evil , and prevent for the future the dangerous consequences of such sermons preached and published : if some are so bold and confident to speak at that rate before their governours and judges , what do you think may be said up and down in so many corners of the kingdom ? the reasons i have given for my judgment in these things , arise from a principle , and tends to an end of peace , union and quietness ; for i humbly conceive , that to keep such a day for ever , may happen to prove an occasion of much evil. but saith he , our tears , somewhat sincerer than the crocodile's , may perhaps avert the judgment which hath not yet discharged it self in plague or fire upon the present fautors of that rebellion . how can men act before they have a being ? can a man be accessary to a thing ( for such are all fautors ) before he be born ? or can a natural effect exist before its causes ? you speak of tears , i dare say there are not many shed upon those days , there is more fire than water in the case ; and give me leave to say , that men of your principles , so violent and so bitter enemies as you profess to be against those whom you think to be the present fautors of that rebellion , do not meet upon such days to pray to god to avert his judgments from those same fautors ; neither what you write nor what they preach , can perswade me you have so much charity for them ; whatsoever we are with men , let us be sincere with god , not to pretend one thing and intend another , for i know , saith god , the things that come into your mind , every one of them : and , all things , saith paul , are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do : and there is not , saith david , a word in my tongue , but thou knowest it altogether . in answer to these words of mine , after acts of oblivion for such things are passed , the memory thereof ought to be forgotten : he saith p. 21. is he assured that that act is ingrossed in the book of life ? or that an omniscient mercy hath recorded our indemnity ? by what angel ? yea , sir , i am assured of god's infinite mercy , he is slow to anger , ready to forgive , and plentious in mercy ; and if we doubt of it , we are unbelievers ; he is a god , forgiving sins and passing by transgressions ; and when he hath given us repentance unto life , whereby we are delivered from eternal death and damnation , surely if he thinks it good for us , he will also deliver from temporal punishments : but the ready way to have the act ingrossed and the indemnity recorded , is to put on bowels of charity , and leave off hatred , variance , emulations , wrath , strife , and other works of the flesh : we have an instance of god's mercy in a case of murther , infinitely more abominable than yours , i mean the death of his son the lord jesus , who is god blessed for ever ; god ingrossed in the book of life , the act of pardon , and his omniscient mercy , recorded the indemnity of many of those who had crucified the prince of life : this god hath declared , but with much assurance i can say , that if you continue in your hatred and desire of vengeance , there is no pardon for you ; and if you ask me by what angel i came to know so much , my answer is ready , by the angel of the covenant , who hath declared in the case of the servant who would shew his fellow no mercy , wherefore he was delivered to the tormentors ; so likewise shall my heavenly father do also unto you , if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses . let us but have a care to forgive those by whom we think our selves to have been offended , and trust god's mercy ( provided you do not become unworthy of it ) for your pardon , for god is not angry for ever , he visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children , but unto the third and fourth generation : but have a care not to take any pretence to continue in your animosity , or do any thing tending to superstition : you would require of men more than god doth , namely , to repent of a sin which they have not committed ; i already said , those who put king charles to death are dead themselves , they that now are had no hand in it ; if in some things they differ from you , know your carriage towards them is in part the cause of it ; but have a care not to attribute to the work of that day , any thing whereat god may be offended : repentance ought to be daily and continually , and not anniversary ; of the first we have a command , and we have sins enough of our own and national to mourn for , but of an anniversary repentance we have no president in the word of god , which in such things ought to be our rule . he asks p. 2. is the sin expiated ? is the crime attoned for ? i suppose he meaneth of the guilty , for god never punisheth the innocent for the gullty ; for the soul that sinneth , it shall die : it were contrary to his justice to think otherwise ; so they that are innocent are in no danger , as to that they need no expiation nor attonement ; but for the guilty , either they now have or shall never have it ; a temporal judgment hath been executed upon several of them ; how after this life god hath dealt with them , we are not to inquire after , nor concerned . but , must future ages have no nobler tradition of his goodness and justice , than what execution can convey , p. 22. why , raise monuments and mausolees , write his history , get his statues in brass and marble , medals of him in gold and silver , his head ingraved on precious stones , several of his pictures copied and dispersed abroad ; by that means the memory of alexander and of the cesars hath been transmitted to posterity : i suppose what he seems most to lament , is his loss , and not for the sin of those who condemned him to death ; if it be his loss , he might have been killed in a battel , died in his bed of sickness or of age , he was not immortal ; we ought in that case as we must in this , have submitted to the will of god ; he is happy , better in heaven than upon earth ; why so much and so long to fret and vex , and be ingenious to torment our selves and others ; and be angry with those that will not weep as long or as much as we ; parents , relations and friends must be content with the loss of any thing near and dear , when it pleaseth god it should be so . st. paul would not have the thessalonians to sorrow for those that are asleep , as others which have no hope . i think , that after all these considerations , to continue such an anniversary , is to retain occasion of trouble , and matter of division . i find something i said makes him uneasie , for he repeats it more than once , 't is this , to mourn for king charles 's death once had been enough . he saith , his tongue tyed malice would not let him speak out , to have celebrated the martyrdom with a devotional remembrance . i thank god i am thus far able to command my tongue , as not to let it speak against my mind ; 't is not out of malice , for i speak of him and his memory as reasonably as may be expected from one who is not doting upon a dead man ; but for me to have said , celebrated the martyrdom , &c. it had been a lye , and contrary to my thoughts ; i own no martyrdom , much less with a devotional remembrance ; my devotion is only , wholly and directly for my god , he is graciously pleased to allow me coming to him at any time , without any introductor or master of ceremonies : i declared i thought his death unlawful , i approved once mourning for it , and one humiliation-day , but not for ever . but why not twice , saith he : nay for once or twice more i would not stand out with him , if only occasionally , but once every year at a certain fixed day turneth it into abuse , once is no custom , one act may be harmless , when an habit makes it a sin , and of all sins the customary ought to be avoided . but why once for all , saith he . my answer is , once , because our nature may be allowed to vent out her sorrow ; 't is an infirmity of humane nature , to be grieved for losses and crosses , and it easeth one to unload himself of that affliction whereby the heart is affected : thus a father or a friend may express a trouble for the loss of a dear son or of another relation , as i instanced in the case of jacob and joseph : but once for all , because all excesses must be avoided , afflictions ought not to be immortal , when once we have paid the memory of friends that tribute , we ought to mind better things ; we are not placed in this world evermore to sorrow for the death of others , though never so sensible to us , either in it self or for the manner of it , but to fit and prepare our selves for our own ; or rather , as much as in us lies , to promote the glory of god ; and as far as god will enable us , to work our own salvation with fear and trembling ; and when we have a mind to mourn , there is in us cause enough for it , namely , our sins . i do not mind his taxing me with repetitions , what he calls so , are but enlargements and explanations , which being a new charge , makes him concerned thereat . now are we come to that which is most material in the point , how it is contrary to true religion to keep the thirtieth of january : let us take notice how he answers , this is the scare-crow that keeps the rook out of our vineyard : 't is just as a nurse cries to the child , pah , pah , doth he take us for a company of silly giddy larks , or weather cocks , unstable rushes , this call sounds sweetly , like the hyena's voice , &c. at this rate he fills up a whole page , which no doubt is very convincing , only i must own he saith , this grand charge he groundlesly advances , when page 11. and from my page 27 till 40. i give reasons , and chiefly discourse upon that matter which i must not trouble my self to repeat ; what follows is as convincing as what went before , king charles hath with a judicious foresight given a brave counter-cuff to our round head disputant : that authority , he thinks , can frighten us all out of our wits , there it lies , whereupon he brags thus , here is a rowland for his oliver ; and i say , here is a david for his goliah , who comes indeed with a sword , with a spear , and with a shield , when we come in the name of the lord of hosts : i mean his word , whence we draw our weapons and our strength ( which he neither doth nor can do , ) to decide these matters , i do not mind what k. ch. and he do say , but what god saith : for a further answer to the charge , within six lines he gives us an hercules and his foot , a lyon and his paw , a jackall , and a monkey with her young ones , besides mince-pies and custards , and the battlements of heaven which is so easily unbuttoned , a saw-pit , daniel 's den , his tipling hostess , railing against candles and burnt-claret ; then comes the cowardly bully , roaring , hectoring and fighting . who can or dares answer these convincing arguments , delivered with an affected singularity , in a language of his own ? and more of that kind , to prove how keeping the thirtieth of january is not contrary to true religion : this is all we are like to have of him in the point . but that which ought undisputably to decide the question is this , that the words he hath quoted out of the book of his new gospel , i mean the royal portraiture , are the words of a king , a scholar , and an orator , but for my part i am for the words of the king of kings and lord of lords , who saith by the mouth of a prophet , which hath something more of weight and authority than the pamphleteer , that which is much to our purpose , and admirably fits our case . now let them put away their whoredom , and the carcases of their kings far from me , and i will dwell in the midst of them for ever : these carcases of their kings were some monuments of idolatry erected to manasseh and amon , who in his own house had been killed by his servants : in the seventh verse god takes a special notice of the carcases of their kings in their high places : and in the eighth verse he complains , they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed , wherein ? in their setting their thresholds by my threshold , and their posts by my post , that is , their idols by his worship , and the wall between me and them , for there was but a wall between it , for which god was so angry with them , wherefore i have consumed them in mine anger : but you will say they committed idolatry about the carcases of their kings which we do not ; i do not say you do , and hope you do not ; in the text idolatry is not so much as named , but may be implied in the word abominations ; but you see the ground of god's complaint is , their setting their thresholds by his threshold , and their posts by his post , as if he had said , why do you bring these carcases near me ? the carcase and idol are nothing to god , they neither hurt nor influence him , but he saith he will not have it so , nor any thing like it ; is it not just he should be obeyed ? hath not god honoured us with great lights against idolatry and superstition ? hath he not declared himself to be a jealous god , why then do we provoke him with bringing an idol of jealousie into his house ? nay , in one respect we do worse than the jews , for there was a wall between their thresholds and his threshold ; but we bring in the carcase bare-faced within the wall of god's house , where we have a pulpit standing as it were between mounts gerizim and ebal , with blessings , panegyricks and flatteries of one side , with injuries , revilings , threatnings and curses on the other ; besides , as i noted in my observations , we have a collect an epistle and a gospel , as well as upon christmas and easter . god indeed is a most gracious god , but he taketh vengeanee on mens inventions : yet for all this they will not own they do ill , they scorn it , but no reason they give for it , sinegare sat est quis erit reus ? if to deny it be enough , who can be guilty ? but we must proceed , in his page 25. he is pleased to say , yet this i must say for the champion of dissention , that he is no coward or faint heart : with one arm he would throw me down , and with the other lift me up . i leave any impartial reader of my observations to judge , whether all along i am not pushing for moderation , quietness , union , reconciliation , peace and truth : it is usual with the remoraes of reformation , which must be the basis of re-union , to cry out with open mouth , that reformers are troublers of the state : thus ahab called the prophet a troubler of israel , but he was in the wrong : i think zephaniah was no troubler of the state , in putting on josiah to cut off the remnant of baal and the name of the chemarins ; and did our saviour disturb either church or state , when he whip'd the buyers and sellers out of the temple . beza did in 1572. write queen elizabeth a letter for a thorough reformation , which was kindly received ; and though some about the queen were not pleased with it , yet she took well the advice ; and though thorough other mens suggestions she did not follow it , yet she did not look upon him as a disturber of the peace of her kingdom : but anon i shall , by the grace of god , say something more to this charge , in the mean while i will have them to know , that we desire the word of god , not man's fancies and inventions , to be the rule of the reformation we have been speaking of ; and that our religion comes to be good , pure and evangelical , because 't is grounded upon the gospel ; he calls it conventicle-religion , he knows we were driven out of churches , and had no more liberty in publick to serve god , than the former christians had under the roman emperors , and of late than the poor protestants in france : they cannot be ignorant how their severe persecution did drive us into corners and by places to serve god , for fear of being fined and dragged into prison . the word presbytery , as i perceive out of his page 26. is to him as loathsom as that of reformation ; and though this is a matter copious enough , and which i , having other things more to our purpose , am unwilling to engage in , yet a few words i must bestow upon it , least he should think we avoid it . they misinterpret the word presbyterian in the fathers : methinks the true fathers of the church , such as peter , paul and luke , speak clearly of it ; the first calls himself a fellow-elder or presbyter ; and paul left titus in creet to ordain elders in every city ; and the gift that was in timothy was given him , by laying on of the hands of the presbytery . luke tells us , how st. paul , from miletus , sent to ephesus , and called the presbyters , which is translated elders of the church ; and the same which in that verse are called elders , in the 28th he calls overseers , or bistops , in the original , and pastors or feeders of the flock ; where it appears those elders , bishops and pastors , though under different names , to be the same persons , exercising the same office : st. paul doth mention two sorts of elders , some who rule , others who besides do labour in the word and doctrine ; so some teach and others govern : thus some of the fathers he means , as cyprian , austin , jerom , &c. interpret the word presbyter , and thus far have i been led out of my way ; but to prove our misinterpreting the word presbyter , julius cesar , with his positis speculis , not to be understood of perspective-glasses , but his watch or sentinel , are brought in for witnesses ; nay , castor and helena , the lacedemonians , with the word egg in a text of scripture , which the presbyterians would interpret an hen egg or goose-egg ; all this with mr. selden's facetious and comical table talk , with two doublets , one plain , that is mine , the other fringed , that is his , for he and i are now the actors upon the stage ; and the conclusion of this learned debate is , that 't is plain we have both a doublet , and we might happen both to have given a doublet to our souls , but he saith , 't is not taylors work to take measure of our souls . all these , i say , in this pretty and ingenious discourse , are brought in to evidence we misinterpret the word presbyter in the fathers . what a pretty part am i , with this nonsence , put to act upon this stage ? i intended to have answered him in a more serious way , but one who converses with men that are singular , must out of complaisance sometimes comform himself to their ways . after these irrefragable and convincing arguments , is he not in the right to ask , will they still persevere in ignorant obstinacy , and differ from us in religion and unity of performance ? p. 27. and this attended with his usual flourishes of eloquence a-la-mode du pareè , a geneva starchness : i thank god out of this barren field he brings us into one that is more copious , which is , bowing to the altar : as for a time i am his humble servant , so i must follow him wheresoever he goes , as i perceive he would by his saying , how gladly would he malice us into popery , so that here i shall fix for a while , and neither the jangling of a pair of tongs , nor the harpsicles , nor his organ , nor the blind fidler's tunes , shall draw me off the more , because page 29. he speaks of a great many joynt stools , as i guess , for me to rest upon ; now we must be more serious . take notice i never did nor do i now say you are papists , i am neither so rash nor so uncharitable as you are , or as you take me to be : but this i affirm , that you retain popish rites and ceremonies ; and though i had no mind to meddle , yet seeing you put me upon it , i hope to make it out , for all your flashy wit in your page 30. stay till last of all to declare me a lunatick , a mad misrepresenter , with my bedlam observations ; 't is not your insipid jest , that if ye eat plum-pudding and roast-beef in a cooks shop , we may perhaps call it a papistical ordinary : it seems he always hath a good stomach , for great part of his talk is about kitchin-stuff , bacon , sugar , plums , mince-pies , custards , &c. however i say , if ye eat that which is sacrificed to idols , i may call things by their name , and say you eat that which is sacrificed to idols ; and if you know it , according to st. paul's rule , you ought not to eat : these matters are not to be ridiculed , for no wise men would do so . i shall begin with the tale of the country-man in spain who would not pray to st. nicholas's image ( he is one of your saints , as of papists ) he might as well have called him st. neptune , because he knew it was made of his own plum-tree ; yet i have known picture-drawers , who in the church have fallen upon their knees before pictures of their own drawing ; what the spanish country-man would not do , yet some of yours do , bow to , though they pray not to the altar ; i do not say you adore a moulding carcase , but if you bring it , or a picture of st. george on horse-back , or a cross into the church , and do bow , kneel , or shew any such respect to it ; i say you therein do countenance idolatry , or at least superstition : doth not the second commandment positively forbid to bow down before any image , or likeness of any thing in heaven , in earth , or in the water , whether it be of st. george or of a cross 't is all one , god forbids it , will he have me to believe his story of the country-man , against two ( for i have no less ) places out of god's word ; the carpenter , he heweth him down cedars , and taketh the cypress and the oak : then shall it be for a man to burn ; for he will take thereof and warm himself ; yea he kindleth it and baketh bread : yea , he maketh a god and worshippeth it , he maketh it a graven image and falleth down thereto : he knoweth what it is , namely , his workmanship , yet he boweth to it : o sad ! they have not known nor understand : for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see , and their hearts that they cannot understand , v. 18. my second instance , to shew he goes upon a wrong principle , when he saith , do you think there is in us such an ignorant rusticity , that we should bow either to king charles's carcase or to the altar ? we have no such design or intention , i will believe it , in the mean time they bring those carcases into the church , which you are forbidden to do , and bow to that altar ; 't is no matter what your intention be , whilst you perform external acts of worship : do you think the children of israel in the wilderness could believe the golden calf to be the god that brought them out of egypt , no certainly , for they had given aaron the golden ear-rings of their wives sons and daughters , out of which the calf was made ; yet for all this they worshipped it , not terminatively , for they said , these be the gods , o israel , which brought thee out of the land of egypt ; and there was a proclamation , to morrow is a feast unto the lord , they worshipped god under the figure of a calf , yet 't is known what an abominable idolatry it was ; and this was by jeroboam followed , when he made the two golden calves : o let us keep to the rules in a religious place as is the church ; or upon any religious account not to bow to an altar : matter of god's worship is a nice thing , his directions must be followed , and nothing of man's devising brought in . as good to bow to him that made the altar as to the altar it self , for it may be accounted a civil respect , but to the altar 't is a religious one ; yet there is as much reason to bow to the pulpit as to the altar , for from thence the word of god is preached to us ; herein we are not to give the altar the preference , except with papists we believe there is the true body of christ either kept under a wafer , or made at the pleasure of a priest. i would willingly know , wherein the reverence we pay to the altar , doth differ from that which papists with bowing their heads and putting off their hats , do render to the cross : if upon or under those altars , there were relicks , they might say that honour of bowing is directed for the relicks ; but by good chance they have not the relicks of many saints and martyrs to place there , or else they might happen to do it . some of their authors do not disapprove of relicks , for dr. burgess * upon the argument out of a carthaginian council , how certain altars erected for the memory of martyrs should be abolished , and all monuments of idolatry be utterly destroyed ; he with his friend answereth , because those altars were noted to be destitute of the relicks of martyrs ; but addeth , that by those altars destitute of such things , the church was mocked : would not a papist give the same reason ? well , the same cause , though by different persons , must be defended by the same reasons : thus , provided there be relicks according to his opinion things are well enough : how far into dirt and mire do men tumble themselves over head and ears , when once they are engaged in the defence of a cause , not mattering whether or not it be good , true and just. i hope none will deny that god's precepts ought to be the rule and measure of our obedience ; what god immediately commanded must be obeyed , though it should seem unreasonable and contrary to his other revealed will , i mean in man's apprehension ; as in the case of abraham to sacrifice his son , of ezekiel to make himself bread with man's or cows dung , and of hosea to take unto him a wife of whoredom ; so must that be obeyed which the lord hath immediately commanded by the ministry of his servants ; and as he likes the service we render him with heart and sincerity , with a willing mind in obedience to what he hath commanded ; and this indeed in st. paul's words we may call our reasonable service ; so he likes none of the services he hath not commanded , but are only a production of man's brain and fancy ; so are all ceremonies in question , and this in particular , whereby the upholders of them give papists so great an advantage even against themselves ; as we see in a book i was lately reading , wherein the author doth handsomly and ingeniously handle the charge of idolatry against the church of rome ; but the papist-priest doth intangle him in this point of bowing to the altar , with this argument , the church of england-men do bow to the altar , and yet they say they worship not the altar , but god before the altar . so say papists , we worship god before images , but not images : what an intricate labyrinth doth this bring him unto , only to defend an idle and superstitious ceremony , not to speak worse ? papists and they do the same thing , for both bow to the altar , and both give the same reason , they do not bow to the altar but to god , so their case is but one and the same : this argument of the papist doth ingage them in so many distinctions as are superfluous and not directly to the point ; if they would but part with that ceremony , that objection would soon fall and cease ; but they have rather to bring upon themselves nettling difficulties , than to part with an unwarrantable ceremony . the wisest amongst the heathen pretended they look'd not upon their images as gods , but as symbols of that being to which they gave divine worship ; our church-men will not own they render the altar any worship , this would be openly to declare themselves idolaters to worship the creature , as none can deny an altar is ( as they after the roman stile are pleased to call it ) or the communion-table ; nay 't is less , for 't is but the work of the creature , so a creature in the lowest degree ; by the bowing down forbidden in the second precept , is signified any manner of religious worship , or service to any creature whatsoever : the distinction of civil and religious , is idle and superfluous ; for here the question is about religious worship : the altar is in the church , which is god's house , the place appointed only for his service : to say not the altar , but god before the altar is worshipped , and to give for reason , they believe not the corporeal presence , are but bare shifts : as well as they , we know how reverence is due in going in and coming out of god's house ; but if every time one passeth before the altar , though never so many , as sometimes there is occasion for some of them to do it , is not that to have a special regard to that very place ? for else why not as well to bow to the pulpit , except they would make the holy word of god , that makes the sacrament , to be less than the sacrament , for the one is preached from the pulpit , the other administred at the communion-table : let then our man confess there is something remaining of the old leaven of popery , they deny transubstantiation , but herein they act as if they believed it , and they make the altar the holiest part of the church , which is all equally holy , because wholly appointed to an holy use , namely , the worship of god : this is to look east and west , and so bring us back to the ceremonial law. is not the whole church the local circumstance of worship , seeing the whole is the place for it ? this is to carry us back into the tabernacle where was the sanctuary and the holiest of all ; thus we make the church the sanctuary , and the altar railed about the holiest of all ; but this while we do not consider how by christ's death the vail of the temple was rent , and the partition pulled down : 't is to no purpose for them to say there is an invisible object of worship , when all christians know that the only object of worship is invisible ; we also know , that god requireth of us a bodily as a spiritual one , though this chiefly ; but god doth not require we should be stinted to a certain place within the church , according to the fancy and prescription of men , this were a bondage indeed : but papists do always worship towards the altar , except when sometimes they go about to kneel before some image : 't is to make a ridiculous parallel to say , it may be objected men worship their hat , because at church in prayer they hold it before their face ; there is no such canon to command or commend praying with the hat before the face , 't is a free act left to a man's liberty , and who knows not , 't is to prevent having ones thoughts distracted and diverted by objects , and to recollect all the spirits with more fervency and application to perform the duty one is about . the same arguments they bring against papists in point of idolatry , we make use of against them about altar-worship , for they say that external acts of worship are capable of idolatry , however the intention of the mind be directed , as i observed not much before ; is not this appliable to them as to papists , about bowing to the altar ? why should they herein be more priviledged than papists are ? this external act , let the intention be what it will , is capable of idolatry , or at least of superstition , in them as 't is in papists ; god hath revealed his will about outward acts of worship , and we must consider the revelation he hath made of his will in this matter , for since god hath the power to determine our duty , and he knoweth best what makes for his honour , it is but just and reasonable , that we should judge of these things according to his will : this argument is certainly good , as against papists , so against protestants that bow to the altar . our saviour's rule , thou shalt worship the lord thy god , and him only shalt thou serve , doth forbid all external acts of worship applied to any besides god : bowing to the altar is always , upon all occasions , to that place , and to none else ; so it must needs be applied to it ; 't is soli , semper & omni , which the philosopher calls proprium quarto modo , the most essential propriety and attribute . now that which is sin in one , in heathens and papists , is sin in another , though protestant : to say , for such a one to lie with another man's wife , is adultery ; but for me , 't is not so ; is to be much in the wrong : and to make idolatry and superstition depend only upon the inward intention , is all one as if one should say , adultery is to lie with another man's wife , with an intention to cuckold the husband ; but if a man commits that wickedness out of love to her person , then 't is not adultery . a rare doctrine indeed ! so to worship the altar , whereof to bow is an external act , though not with an intention to worship the creature , is still a worshipping of the creature . this outward act of bowing , forbidden of god to be done to any creature , must need be appropriated to the altar . 't is not enough to deny to clear themselves from it ; else papists denying they worship images , would be a good excuse . we cannot judge of man's intentions but by his actions . in god's words to elijah , quoted by st. paul , rom. 2. 4. two things are observable to good purpose : i have reserved seven thousand men ( he saith not , they reserved themselves ) who have not ( he doth not say worshipped in their heart , but ) bowed the knee to baal . the intention is not mentioned , but the outward act is , which god takes special notice of . to compare the circumstance of worshipping towards the altar , to that of the jews worshipping towards the ark , where were the cherubims , is to make a very lame parallel , till they can prove two things : first , that as the cherubims , by god's special command , were about the ark , in such a place of the tabernacle ; so the altar is with them , by the same authority , in such a place of the church , facing such a point of the compass , and rail'd about . secondly , that god hath commanded them to worship towards their altars , as he did the jews to worship towards the ark ; which we defie them ever to do . but i am in this point gone further than i intended ; though more might be said upon it , and upon cross and surplice ; but this is enough to shew , that the author hath no cause to be angry ; for we do him no injury , when we say they have amongst them the practice of some popish ceremonies , which in the other points i can clearly demonstrate ; and i take him to be one of those , who have been heard to say , they would sooner be papists than presbyterians ; but that against some other time . now i find him in an extasie , and doting upon , or admiring at some places of the royal portraiture ; but with us , that 's no argument to prove the keeping an anniversary : i love to read good things , and to make a right use of them , only in every thing we do , let us keep within bounds . he bestows his pag. 27. upon these quotations ; but as i speak not against the person , so i say nothing against the book ; let it be whose it will , i am not concern'd , though i believe 't is for him a cause of great grief , that others cannot have of both the same opinion he hath ; but he must excuse us , for i live by rules more than follow examples . this point i have spoken my mind about , in my observations , so at this time shall trouble my self no more concerning it ; i do not , nor ever intended , to wrong the reputation of any man , dead or alive , god forbid . i do not think that king charles's rest and credit doth in the least depend upon that book , being his or another man's ; and when i speak against his anniversary , i think not in the least to derogate from his memory ; for that 's not his act , and so hath nothing to do in it . 't is not any thing i have against that king that makes me dislike the keeping that day , but only because we believe god is thereby offended . now , i thank god , he begins to draw towards an end , and then one would think his venom should be somewhat spent ; but upon the account of the other anniversary , which he doth begin to speak of pag. 34. we find the contrary , as foolish and violent as ever ; but we are already well used to his ways ; nay , we observ'd it from the beginning ; for in him hath been verified solomon's saying , a fool's wrath is presently known . here he continues his old way of arguing , first , as good as this : except this birth and restoration be kept , all proceedings in westminster hall , as the act for the attainder of several persons guilty of his father's death , are repealed and reversed : a rare consequence from the premises ; then he is very liberal as usually of his ill language against parties and persons , all which we might forgive him if he would stop there , and not spue out his venom against heaven , which certainly shall fall upon his face , and arraign god himself for his decree , and ridicule that adorable counsel of his predestination , as he doth in the same page , and which i took notice of before , seeing he hath a mind to be unjust and filthy , let him be unjust and filthy still ; but upon his account with david we must say , the works of god are very great , and his thoughts very deep , a brutish man knoweth them not , neither doth a fool understand this . 't is not i but the spirit of god that saith so : for a further ornament of his discourse , and setting forth that rational argument of his just now mentioned , he brings in one of his usual stories , of a surly rogue that hath been lick'd , &c. if he would and could he might well have observed in my page 11. and other places , we are not against but for days of humiliation and thanksgiving , attended with such due circumstances as are consonant with the word of god , wherein these thirtieth of january and twenty ninth of may in my observations i proved to be deficient ; i love not to rake out things , for i made it appear , i am for acts of oblivion , specially relating to dead men , for i know it to be contrary to the will of god , and to the rules of charity and prudence ; i meddle not with persons , only i speak of things : i know king charles ii. had some good things in him , and as the good things that are in a man shall never make me to approve of or commend the evil that is in him ; so the evil things that are in a man , never make me condemn the good that is in him , let blame and praise attend their due objects ; but withall , the greatest admirers of that king must own , that as he was a man so he had his failings ; those that arise out of humane infirmity may be excused , if they are of such a nature as to admit it , or at least to be pittied , but truly those that are effects of a strong corruption in nature , presumptuous , willful , and contracted into an habit , must no ways be approved , flattered or commended ; these last things i speak of as modestly as can be , and the whole nation knows what i mean ; but those strong and different streams of vice which i complain to have overflowed the nation , are not slander nor meer fancy , being obvious to the eyes of all people ; and i think it to be no sin to desire it may be restrained and suppressed , as i do again and again ; i do not , as he falsly accuses me , libel that king at random , god forbid , if that had been my design , which never was , i had gone on in a contrary way to that i have taken , but i have forborn naming so much as one instance of many which several in the nation know of : if our author's edge had been turned another way , then indeed we could have heard of many things with enlargements , but the world may know he and i go upon different ground and opposite principles ; for , as far as god is pleased to enable me , i follow good examples and avoid bad ones : but because he presses me so much with blackest scandals , &c. he forces out of me a thing which i was willing to be silent in , though so publick as the whole nation knows , that he stained the latter end of his reign with shedding innocent blood , which perhaps , for i adore all dispensations of divine providence , was the cause of his days being shortned : as to what he saith of his great clemency and kindness after his restoration , to those who had been against his interest , who , he slanderously saith , hypocrited their actions and dissimulated a joy. i must tell him , he is grosly mistaken , for his own friends , before he was restored , dared not to appear , if i may so say , they might not lift up their hands any where but at the bar ; those who had been for the parliament were the great and chief instruments to bring him in , whose names are well known , and we very well remember that which those of his party may not forget , of the attempt to bring him in not long before he was , wherein many ventured their lives , and some lost them , which at that time in the printed gazettes was , to my certain knowledge , called bellum presbyteriale , the presbyterian war ; and that king himself after , in one of his first speeches in parliament , inviting them to settle things , said thus , my lords and gentlemen , except ye help me to disperse the fear which possesses the hearts of people , you will hinder me from performing my promise , without which neither you nor i had been here ; wherefore let us not deceive those that brought us together , or suffered us to meet here : this authority is authentick for the man , and i know where that speech is to be seen . after this i shall not trouble my self with the very few foolish lines remaining of his pamphlet , nor with his impertinent new discovery or vision , he hath enough surfeited up another way , only i add , let him if he can , disprove what in my pages 13 and 14 , i say of charles ii. as to the point of anniversaries , i shall very briefly bring in a new matter to the charge , 't is about a third anniversary which once we had , and should have had continued , if one man , now in france , and been here still , that is , the sixth of february , called the king's-day , or king james's coronation day , a man , who being a professed papist , was thereby become a declared enemy to our religion ; it was attended with the same materials and workmanship as the other two , that is , collect , epistle and gospel , as we have it in the prayer-books printed in his time ; these anniversaries are of a good breed , of a multiplying nature , within thirty years or thereabouts we had three , and no doubt if things had held in that channel , a kind of a miraculous birth of a supposed prince of wales had been a just ground for another , for such a signal mercy of an heir male to the crown , surely would have deserved an yearly thanksgiving-day ; thus the prayer-book had been swelled with new rubricks , collects , &c. and the nation been overgrown therewith , and so from time to time we had never wanted occasions or pretentions of multiplying to an infinite . i dare say our author is an observer in private of that sixth of february ; thus there had been no end , for superstition will not be kept within bounds or measures ; and here i must make the author , who in several places doth unjustly brand us with innovations , see how such anniversaries are innovations , for here we had no such thing before king charles's restoration , wherefore let there be no more such a scuffle about dead bodies . now , with the help of god i must proceed to some few observations , and that as briefly as i can : first , he hath not returned me one text of scripture for so many i have given ; yet the word of god is to be judge of these controversies ; but indeed his way of discoursing is altogether inconsistent with that holy word ; then i say , most of my reasons are untouched , and hardly any thing answered , and nothing to the purpose ; nothing said against my position , that for such anniversaries there is no precept nor president in scripture , the three pretended out of the old testament i refuted , and not one word of the refutation taken notice of , nor nothing said either to excuse or justifie that violent spirit in those sermons i complained of , only this , their gospel-talents must not be wrap'd up in an idle napkin of silence and oblivion ; which how satisfactory an answer it is , i leave any rational man to judge ; and indeed he had no room for sober and serious discourse , his being wholly stuffed with invectives ; i could instance several other particulars in my observations , which he hath not taken notice of in the least , whereby one may see he hath lost his cause : but not to trouble my self any longer as to this , i leave it to any impartial reader to compare his book with mine , which i do earnestly desire , and it will be found in many things he quite flies off from the matter , and seeing i now am upon my confession , i declare i could never have thought there could in one man meet so much of ill nature , of ill breeding , and so much of brutishness , that one should be so unreasonable and unrational , for he ceaseth to be a man , and a christian too , if ever he was such ; he would bite and devour if he could , but cannot , and 't is hardly worth throwing a stone at him : i am sorry he hath so much forced me out of my way of writing , which ever was , as every honest man's ought to be , with moderation and meekness , not with ferocity and brutishness , as i found his to be . but there is worse than this , for he strives in the most odious terms he can , to traduce us as enemies to church and state , but believe him not , for i find he is used to lye : as to the first we subscribe , to the doctrinal part of the thirty nine articles , and are for a government and discipline in the church , for a ministry by way of office and in a lawful calling , contrary to his false aspersions page 6 and 24. we say doctrine is the soul whereby the church liveth , and discipline the sinews by which feeling and motion is conveyed , and the church thereby maintained ; and yet we find some , as this man , who hate discipline , except it be their own , without considering whether or not it be christ's , and the very name of it , as they abhor reformation ; discipline keeps things in order , and reformation restores them to a due state after abuses and disorders : so that whosoever is an enemy to reformation , proclaims himself to be such to order and discipline in the church , and is thereby a favourer of confusion ; and 't is not enough for one to pretend to it , for good desires signifie nothing without earnest endeavours ; do ye the work and leave the success to god ; and first begin at home : is the heart affected ? do you speak feelingly ? do you make conscience of your ways ? if so , then let me say , as long as we have such members , and such governours of a church , we shall be sure not to want order and discipline in it . as to the things wherein they and we do differ , let us , according to the several rules about it we have in the new testament , in charity and the spirit of meekness , endeavour to instruct and inform , but chiefly to edifie one another , and not put out one anothers eyes , or have no other terms but the law of the conqueror over the conquered ; we shall be ready to meet you in that spirit , and though we were the strongest , it were unreasonable if we should attempt to prescribe you any thing , we never pretended to give any frame of worship or government but what are set down in the word of god , that indeed we stand for , and desire to have nothing settled in the church but what is according to the rule of scripture ; let there be nothing but what there is a warrant for out of it : in order thereunto all our desire is , that cause with cause , ground with ground , and matter with matter , be compared and determined , not to see things managed with partiality , faction and interest , as in the council of trent , for then that which is intended for a remedy strengthneth the disease ; and to speak with nazianzen , dissolveth not , but fixeth evil ; at first a council by emperor and princes asked of popes was a terror , chiefly a free one , for 't is certain a guilty man will never be , if he can help it , for coming to his tryal for fear of being condemned ; so they that are conscious to themselves of abuses and corruptions , will , as long as they can , avoid coming to a reformation , which is desired in a quiet and peaceable way , the word of god alone being the judge . we are content in the enjoyment of the indulgence which they envy us , and some have preached against before the highest assemblies , and , as we ought , give god thanks for it , if they will but let us alone , and not go about as they do to provoke the superior powers against us , by means of those violent sermons they preach every year upon those anniversaries , when for fear old divisions should be forgotten , they renew the memory of them with a witness . in several places he charges us with hypocrisie , the plague of the heart , whereof god alone is the searcher and ought to be the judge : this is between god and us , and not between us and him : but the objection i answered in my observations page 41. he breaks loose upon us with so much bitterness , as to call us champions of dissention , p. 25. miscreants , p. 33. assassines in the postscript-advertisement , and fathereth upon us , slander , rebellion , lyes , perfidiousness , villanies , treacherous conspiracies , and what not ? any thing that comes into his head , in his eye we are the horridest monsters in nature , not to be suffered to live , as bad if not worse than the devil , who if god gave him leave would not blacken us so much as he doth , as it appears out of his method , when before god he suggested what he did against job . thus were the first christians misrepresented by their enemies , such picture-drawers deserve not to be allowed a pencil in the hand , for they never make the copy to resemble the original . such language as this , and such sermons as we complain of , we have reason to look upon as so many bartholomew bells rung for a massacre : in things we differ about , let us argue like men , and not tear like beasts . but 't is not enough to make us enemies to the church , the design is to proclaim us such to the state ; first , as if we were innovators , which in some places he would charge us with , in relation to church as to state , as in page 9. if by novelties in church he means reformation , we own we desire that innovation as was from the ceremonial law to the gospel , such an innovation as hapned when the gentiles forsook their idols to serve the living god and believe in christ ; such as when our fathers came out of romish babylon , such innovations and reformation we are for , and of what remaineth amongst us of that spiritual sodom , we are for ; to desire to go to the spring is no innovation ; we are for that good old way mentioned in scripture , for that which was from the beginning , as 't is our saviour's method in his sermon upon the mount , to reform and bring things to the old channel , and to what they were at first ; one said well , illud verum quod primum : but all innovations against the doctrine of christ , or of his apostles , were much against , and look upon them as pernicious ; so when there creeps any abuses into the state , we could heartily wish to have them redressed in a legal and parliamentary way ; and we think it not blameworthy , when in a due course 't is asked by those that have a right to do it . to make us odious to authority , they call us commonwealth-men , we own it in some sence , that is , for the common publick good , in opposition to private interest ; and we think he is not an honest man , who is not of that principle , but a democratical and meerly popular government , or any contrary to that settled by the laws we are against : they say we are not for monarchy , not for such as overthrows the laws , illegally dissolves charters , invades the subjects properties , openeth popish chappels all the nation over , sets up papists in those places which by law they are excluded from : in a word , a tyrannical and absolute monarchy we do not love , but such a one wherein the king hath his just prerogative , parliaments their privileges , and people their rights and liberty ; and the law of the land is the standing rule of government ; such a monarchy , with hearts , hands and purses , we will stand , live and die for : and none but villains will call us , as page 33. implacable and impenitent adversaries to monarchy and present majesty ; and to be for a fantastick anarchy , p. 34. another thing , and that is very important , we must speak of , he hath not been satisfied to abuse us in relation to things already mentioned , he hath , as it were to defie god himself , reviled our holy faith ; i am apt to believe , one word which drop'd from my pen , and that is arminianism , hath hit him to the quick , for now and then he is spewing out his venom concerning those points against grace , about those matters which i look upon to be so fundamental to true christian religion , if there was an occasion he should find me very severe , but that is a large field not to be entred upon at this time : the place wherein he chiefly foams out his rage is page 11. the stander by may see us thrown , at their will and pleasure , into socinianism , arrianism , anabaptism , calvinism , commonwealthism , or any other hereticalism . methinks pelagianism might well have come in and made a rhime with the rest ; but he hath his reason to the contrary , he must not bring in one of his ancestors amongst hereticks , for pelagius was arminius's grand-father , for arminians are semi-pelagians , this is no place to speak of that genealogy : calvin he placeth amongst hereticks , and makes his opinions as abominable heresies as socinians , &c. this man who pretends to such a tenderness for the memory and reputation of the dead , doth here clearly shew us , how to say is one thing , and to do another ; that eminent instrument of reformation from popery , hath a name settled amongst all reformed ( except arminian ) churches , beyond the reach of some despicable wretches in the world ; 't is well known how high a value and esteem , as might appear by several instances , our first reformers here had for him , but i want room for the present to vindicate his person and doctrine ; it may very well be said of him , what st. paul speaks of another , the brother , whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches . it cannot be said that he was socinian , arrian , pelagian or anabaptist , for he hath powerfully written against those heresies : if he was an heretick , seeing he will have him to be one , he must call him an augustinian , for in matters of grace , none can deny but that he goes hand in hand with austin is not this a pretty return of the man to what i said , that some of our church-men would , in my opinion , do better , instead of being so hot upon a dispute about a book whose it is , to write against socinianism , which is riding in triumphantly . i know a worthy , and one of their chief members , hath written something well upon that subject , but another hath done it in such a way , being ambitious to tread new paths and be singular , as hath started up disputes between him and some brother of his , who is , upon good reason , for keeping in the old way ; i do not say that our author should concern himself against socinians , for what affinity he may happen to have with them , i cannot tell , i am sure some of his arminian gang have ; but in case he had not , he would not be proper for it , in that he hath no convincing way ; he answers arguments only with ill language , he would rant and hector , and if he could bring down fire from heaven to consume whom he loveth not , we have a fresh experience of it , and amongst other places in his p. 13. as i perceive , this man hath undertaken to be the champion not only of the church of england , but also of that of rome , for indeed in this very thing he takes up the cudgels for them against all that are withdrawn from her communion ; and this is the cause of all protestant reformed churches : what is meant by calvinism , i conceive it to be the doctrine and opinions of calvin , and do not all protestant churches beyond sea , except lutherans , which have transubstantiation and ubiquity ; nay , do not we our selves agree in the doctrinal part with calvin ? let us peruse the body of the several confessions of faith of those forreign churches , and compare them with our thirty nine articles , as to the doctrinal part , and we shall find they all agree in doctrines of faith : is not this to bring in popish batteries amongst us , and plainly to betray the protestant cause ? is not this to help our enemies and the wicked ? we know how jehoshaphat was reproved for having joyned with ahab , after he was returned in peace to his house , jehu the son of hanani the seer , went out to meet him , and said to king jehoshaphat , shouldest thou help the ungodly , and love them that hate the lord ? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the lord. this man calls calvin an heretick , but doth he make it appear , he saith but doth not prove , we are not sworn to his words , doth he think we will take his bare word for it , there is no reason , principles of truth we stand upon , but he understands it no more than pilate , who asked what it was . i say this false accusation is a libel against other protestant churches , he doth erect himself into a goliah , who despiseth and defieth all the armies of the lord : this is highly and openly to appear for the romish canse , after this rate down with all protestant churches and up with popery , o! tell it not in gath , publish it not in askelon , least the daughters of the philistines rejoyce . what a joy for papists , both at home and abroad , to hear one in london hath in print condemned for the worst of hereticks all churches that are withdrawn from that of rome , is it not a shame to hear it ? and will it not be a greater shame to suffer it ? it is very well worth the pains of those that are concerned to look to it : the laws do forbid all commerce with the romish church , and 't is treason to be reconciled to it , or to seduce others to do so , to write against that churches enemies is to write for it , to write for it , is to go about to seduce people to be reconciled to it , which is punishable by the laws ; this is too much to favour rome : did the greatest stickler of the church of rome ever call our holy religion worse than heresie ; herein he justifies the more violent papists , amongst whom have been many , who in this case had more moderation and less impudence than he ; we call heaven and earth to record , and do solemnly declare the protestant cause to be herein perfidiously betray'd . there are those in the world , who being so hard-hearted as never to be willing to forgive them that really , or in their opinion only , have offended them ; when they say the lord's prayer , do leave out the fifth petition , because they are not willing to forgive them that trespass against them , though they would have god to forgive them their trespasses ; but our blessed saviour , in his divine wisdom , hath so twisted them , that they must go together : there is no pardon for us , except we forgive others . thus our author , as we may reasonably believe , doth not joyn with the church , though a pretended high church-man , in that prayer of the common-prayer-book , wherein we pray god to forgive our persecutors and slanderers ; may be he will give the reason why he doth not ? that he hath not nor ever had , as to himself , occasion to use that prayer , for he never was persecuted or slandered , having always been , and desirous to be , on the persecuting and slandering side . this man i produce as a witness to prove what i said of the violence of the spirit , and the principles of some of them , and i think his evidence speaks home , and what i also said of their practise against dissenters : in my weak apprehension this learned pen had done better and a more praise-worthy thing , to have written against socinians , but them we do not mind , they are our friends , and to make use of his words , herein we are in a levitical slug , but as soon as a nonconformist's book , exhorting to union and reformation , comes out , then tooth and nail against it , and would condemn it to the fite . the long and the short of the business is this , they are for vengeance , we are told p 3. something we must expect from an injured , or so thinking himself , loyalist , and disturbed privado : they are not for peace or reconciliation , as p. 13. trespasses of the first magnitude must not be forgotten , nor petty injuries forgiven , p. 17. 't is no christian logick , to say it were better to forget those things than to renew the memory of them which continues divisions ; for , their gospel-talents must not be wrapt up in an idle napkin of silence and oblivion , they must preach and evangelize the jews ( and miscreants , and exquisite impostors , and assassines , or such furious assailants as presbyterians are , as they call us p. 33. and 43. ) out of the pale of the christian church , p. 19. schismaticks and factious , ibid. we are for clashing destruction in church and state , p. 5. in short , we are rogues , murtherers , enemies to the government , infected with seditious doctrines , p. 23. and what else worse can be conceived of men : he saith much , but proveth nothing at all ; he hath learned the maxim , calumniare fortiter & aliquid haerebit : do but slander boldly and something will stick : if he had given any grounds , which he cannot , for such things , we would have endeavoured to answer him ; but our true and short answer to such men is this , formerly made use of by another , mentiris impudentissimè , thou art a most impudent lyar. in such a case , when reason doth not prevail , these are the last weapons to be made use of , we are for peace , but when we speak they are for war. hereupon we have cause to make a serious reflection , we are traduced for what we are not ; they themselves declare they breath out after our ruin and destruction , and we cannot but see what we must expect from them , if ever it was in their power to undo and murther us ; this is clear out of several places of the pamphlet , if there be any secular care of the scepter , if any pious regard for the mitre , if there be any security for their present majesties , p. 3. whence doth all this arise , and to what doth it tend ? see page 25. i am afraid , he would say , i hope , e're long they will both , that is , both divided church-parties , be upon the bear , that is , the dissenters . this is a healing spirit , a hellish one rather , which is the author of jealousies , divisions and animosities ; this threatning noise would awake us if we were asleep , but latet anguis in herbâ : for what we know there is a design to work troubles , thereby to make way for a beloved king james ; they had rather popery and tyranny should come in , than that we should be at peace and enjoy our liberty ; quietness we are for , and they for war , for which i appeal , as before , to all their sermons upon such days ; nay , we must be a sacrifice to love and loyalty , honour and honesty , courage and constancy , p. 4. herein all is right , and nothing amiss : the wise man often speaks of a fool , one of the characters he gives of him is this , the way of a fool is right in his own eyes . to speak such language , is it not to move sedition , to foment division , to blow the trumpet of civil war , and to be a firebrand ? 't is indeed to have a virulent tongue ; well hath the spirit of god spoken of and described such a one , the poison of asps is under his lips , his mouth is full of cursing and bitterness , and the ways of peace hath he not known . i am apt to believe , this occasion about anniversaries is but a pretence to vent out malice , for 't is hardly possible for a man to be so idolizing and doting upon the ashes of one whom likely he never saw , and may be never heard much of , but by means of byassed tongues and pens : observe him well , and it will easily be found out , how all this zeal of his , hath for object the living more than the dead ; that all his affections are concentered in one male remaining in the family , and that there is a king james in the bottom ; for one that hath but common sence and reason , may perceive , how most if not all these high-flown church-men are jacobites , and shelter their hatred of the present government under that pretence . they now see , how of themselves they are not able to bring him back again , therefore they would , if they can , cause disorders and put things in a convulsion , that confusion may accomplish their ends , and they to fish the better in troubled water : but we hope , from the prudence of those that are concerned , they shall not carry the point to the prejudice of those who once were so cruelly used by the means and influences of that abdicated king , that between him and them , there is necessarily an unreconcilable enmity : so that upon the account of and in conformity to their hearty affection and interest , they will ever be ready with lives and fortunes , and whatsoever is near and dear unto them , to oppose the popish tyrannical interest of that man , and of all his adherents , amongst whom , i think upon reasonable grounds , we may reckon our author , who no doubt is not alone , but there be many more that are of his principles , though many be not so as he seems to undertake for . now i have done with him , and leave him to his keeper . i once more declare my grief , that i have sometimes been engaged to speak plainly ; indeed hard words are quite out of my way , and contrary to my nature , but necessity and the rack have extorted them from me : however the party that brought it upon himself , may happen to be the better for it ; and it may prove to be no injury , to pull a man by the hair , to save him from the fire or drowning . finis . instead of raking old tales , as he doth in his new discovery , &c. which i am not concerned to take notice of , and which only doth exasperate old wounds and soars : i here set down something more to the purpose , namely , the opinion of a sensible and moderate gentleman , whom i declare i neither know nor he me , as i think , concerning our author's pamphlet and behaviour . of the divisions and animosities we speak of , we have but a very late instance in two pamphlets lately published , viz. some observations upon the thirtieth of january and twenty ninth of may ; and the answer to it under this title of , the reformer rack'd , &c. i shall not presume to enter into the merits of the cause , and whether such days ought to be kept in aeternum , the publick authority that ordered their observance , is the best judge of it : but i must confess that i cannot but be grieved to hear from the pulpit on those days ( generally speaking ) nothing but invectives , railing accusations and abusive language , instead of christian exhortations to repentance , union and charity : i appeal to all the sermons that have been published on that subject — such i may call the two pamphlets i have but now mentioned , though i make a great difference between them too : the author of the former , though very much mistaken in several of his notions , and especially in church-ceremonies , seems to be a good man ; but the author of the latter , has broken all bounds and rules of humanity with mankind ; and perhaps never was there in a pamphlet so much nonsence , and so much of abusive language , as in this ; but what can be expected from a man , who in his second page looks upon calvinism as an heresie , as damnable as socinianism , arrianism and anabaptism ? such a champion of our church deserveth , i am sure , to be taken notice of some other way than by an observator , &c. observator vol. 7. numb . 24. saturday june 30. 1694. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a41513-e210 judges 154. 5. eccles. 7. 6. phil. 3. 15. yo y la f●●tina contra dos otros . john 18. 23. phil. 4. 5. james 1. 20. 1 cor. 16. 14. prov. 26. 4 , 5. gal. 4. 16. prov. 22. 24. acts 17 31. acta 19. heb. 11. 35 , 36 rev. 17. 6. luke 6. 45. and matt. 12. 35. heb. 9. 10. luke 5. 31 , 32. psal. 50. 16 , 17. luke 9. 33. sleidan . phil. 2. 21. page 2. acts. 26. 24. italians say , la lingua và dove duole la b●cca . one doth scratch where it itches him . eph. 5. 3. 4. & ch . 4. 29. psal. 50. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 2 tim. 3. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , t it 2 3. john 8. prov. 14. 9. matt. 12. 36. col. 4. 6. prov. 10. 18. 1 kings 19. 11 , 12. chap. 1. acts 5. 39 , 40. deut. 11. 29. matt. 26. 73. 1 pet. 3. 9. 1 cor. 13. 5. 1 kings 20. 11. k. charles . psalm 145. 17. prov. 12. 10. prov. 3. 30. 2 cor. 10. 12. matt. 7. 1. 1 sam. 17. 28. tit. 3. 2. prov. 20. 3. ch●p . 10. 23. prov. 9. 12. acts 8. 23. 1 san. 16. 7. 1 cor. 1. 26. 1 tim 3. 2 , 3 , 4. & ●it 1. 7 , 8 , 9. 2 tim. 3. 5. tit. 1. 16. matt. 22. 39. acts 2. 23. ch. 3. 14 , 15 , 19 matt. 25. ezek. 11. 5. heb. 4. 13. psal. 139. 4. psal. 103. 8. gal. 5. 20. acts 2. 23 , 41. & 3. 15 , 19. matt. 18. 35. ezek. 18. 20. 1 thess. 4. 13. 1 sam. 17. 45. ezek. 43. 9. 2 kings 21. 23. psal. 99. 8. 1 kings 18. 17. zeph. 1. 4. matt. 21. 12. 1 pet. 5. 1. tit. 1. 5. 1 tim. 4. 14. acts 20. 17. 28. 1 tim. 5. 17. 1 cor. 12. 28. exod. 20. 4 , 5 isa. 44. from 13 to 20. exod. 32. * in his rejoynder for dr. morton . gen. 22. 2. ezek. 4. 12. hos. 1. 2. matth. 4. 13. prev . 12. 16. rev. 22. 11. psal. 92. 5 , 6. job 1 & 2. 2 cor. 8. 18. 3 cro● . 19. 1 , 2. john 18. 38. 2 sam. 1. 20. psal. 120. 7. prov. 12. 15. rom. 3. 13 , 14 , 17. yea and amen: or, pretious promises, and priviledges spiritually unfolded in their nature and vse. driving at the assurance and establishing of weak beleevers. by r. sibbs d.d. master of katherine hall in cambridge, and preacher of grayes inne london. reviewed by himselfe in his life time, and since perused by t.g. and p.n. sibbes, richard, 1577-1635. 1638 approx. 277 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 223 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a12210 stc 22521 estc s102402 99838187 99838187 2552 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a12210) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 2552) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1083:04) yea and amen: or, pretious promises, and priviledges spiritually unfolded in their nature and vse. driving at the assurance and establishing of weak beleevers. by r. sibbs d.d. master of katherine hall in cambridge, and preacher of grayes inne london. reviewed by himselfe in his life time, and since perused by t.g. and p.n. sibbes, richard, 1577-1635. goodwin, thomas, 1600-1680. nye, philip, 1596?-1672. [2], 429 [1] p. printed by r. bishop for r. dawlman and are to be sold by humphrey mosley at the princes armes in pauls church-yard, london : 1638. t.g. and p.n. = thomas goodwin and philip nye. numerous mispaginations; pagination deduced from signature collation. signatures: a¹ b-s¹² t¹¹. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng christian life -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2002-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-02 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2003-02 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion yea and amen : or , pretious promises , and priviledges . spiritually unfolded in their nature and vse . driving at the assurance and establishing of weak beleevers . by r. sibbs d. d. master of katherine hall in cambridge , and preacher of grayes inne london . reviewed by himselfe in his life time , and since perused by t. g. and p. n. london , printed by r. bishop for r dawlman and are to be sold by humphrey mosley at the princes armes in pauls church-yard . 1638. yea and amen . or , pretiovs promises , layd open out of 2 cor. 1. 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23. but as god is true , our word towards you was not yea and nay ; for the sonne of god , iesus christ , who was preached among you by us , was not yea and nay , but in him was yea . for all the promises of god are in him yea , and in him amen , unto the glory of god by us . the blessed apostle , that he might have the better place in the hearts of his hearers , endeavours here with all diligence to wipe off any imputation , which they might have against him , that so his doctrine might come home to their soules , and have the freer accesse to worke upon their consciences . we have therefore in these words s. pauls apologie , for not comming unto the chorinthians according to his promise . wherein hee alledgeth that it was not from any inconstancy in him ; but indeed from corruption in manners among them . verse 23. i call god to record , that to spare you i came not . the apostle as a man , and as a holy man , might promise many things common to this life , and might lawfully vary afterwards , upon the appearance of reall impediments . but the things which he promiseth , and speakes of as an apostle , they admit of no such uncertainty . therefore his care is to decline all thoughts of wavering therein , and to maintaine the credit of the gospell , which hee had taught to the uttermost : knowing well , how ready false teachers would be to perswade the people , that paul was as light in his preaching , as he was in keeping his word with them , therefore our word is true , as god is true , saith he . there is the same ground of the certainty of evangelicall truths , as there is of god himselfe . iesus christ whom i preached among you was not yea and nay , saith the apostle , but yesterday and to day , and the same for ever . whence may bee observed : that the object of preaching now in the time of the gospell , is especially iesus christ. this is the rock upon which the church is built . christ should be the subject matter of our teaching , in his nature , offices , and benefits , in the duties which we owe to him , and the instrument whereby we receive all from him , which is faith . if wee preach the law , and discover mens corruption , it is but to make way for the gospels freer passage into their soules . and if we presse holy duties , it is to make you walke worthy of the lord jesus . all teaching is reductive to the gospell of christ , either to make way as iohn baptist did , to levell all proud thoughts , and make us stoop to him , or to make us walk worthy of the grace wee receive from him . the bread of life must be broken , the sacrifice must bee anatomized and layed open ; the riches of christ , even his unsearchable riches , must bee unfolded . the sonne of god must be preached to all , and therefore god who hath appointed us to bee saved by christ , hath also ordained preaching , to lay open the lord iesus , with the heavenly treasures of his grace and glory . but to go forward . iesus christ who was preached among you , by me , and sylvanus , and tymotheus , was not yea and nay . here observe : that the consent of preachers in the mysteries of salvation , is an excellent meanes to strengthen faith in their hearers : not in regard of the truth it selfe , but in regard of men . so it pleaseth god to condescend to our weaknesse , in adding sacraments and oath unto his promises , thereby to shew the more stablenesse of his counsell towards us . by yea here is meant certaine , constant , vnvariable . the times vary , but not the faith of the times . the same fundamentall truth is in all ages . sometimes indeed it is more explicated , and unfolded ; as we have in the the new testament divers truths more cleerely revealed than in the old. there is not a new faith , but a larger explication of the old faith . divine truth is alwayes the same . if there hath beene a church alwayes , there hath ever beene a divine truth . now it is an article of our faith in all times to beleeve a catholike church , certainly then there must bee a catholike truth , to be the seed of this church . therfore we should search out , what was that yea , that positive doctrine in those apostolicall times of the churches purity before it was corrupted . the church was not long a virgin , yet some there were that held the truth of christ in all ages . our present church holds the same positive truths , with the apostles before us . therefore we say , our church was before luther , because our doctrine is apostolicall , as also is our church that is continued thereby , because it is built upon apostolicall doctrine . put the case we cannot shew the men as they rediculously urge ; what is that to the purpose ? from an ignorance of particular men , will they conclude us to be ignorant of the church of christ , which hath ever beene . hence the true church may easily be discerned : the points of religion wherein our adversaries differ from us , be but patcheries of their owne , they were not yea . in the apostles times , their purgatory , invocation of saints , and sacraments , of divers kindes were devised by themselves afterwards . and indeed for a thousand yeeres after christ , many of the differences betwixt us and the papists were never heard of ; neither were they ever established by any counsell , till the counsell of trent . our positive points are grounded upon the holy scriptures ; we seek the old way , and the best way , as ieremy adviseth us . there was no popish trash in abrahams time , among the blessed patriarches , nor in christs time . no , nor many hundred yeares after ; they came in by little and little , by humane invention , for their owne advantage ; a meere policy to get money and abuse the people . indeed they hold many of our truths , but they adde something of their owne to them ; they adde necessity of tradition to the scriptures , merits to faith ; they adde saints to christ in divine worship : they have seven sacraments to our two . they may safelier therefore come to us , than we to them ; we hold all that they should hold , onely their owne additions wee hold not , we leave them to themselves . so much for that . to touch only another point , that borders a little upon it . divine truth is of an inflexible nature ; this crosseth another rule of theirs ; for they hold , they may give what sense of scripture they will : and that the current of the present church , must judge of all former counsels . what ? doth the truth vary according to mens judgements ? must we bring the strait rule to the crooked timber for to be measured ? shall the judgement of any man , be the rule of gods unerring truth ? shall present men interpret it thus , and say , it is so now ? and shall others that succeed after say , what ever it was then , now it is thus : and must we beleeve all ? god forbid . this declareth , that no man can dispence with gods law : this written word is alike in all : truth is truth , and errour errour , whether men think it to be so or no. reason is reason , in turkes , as well as amongst us . the light of nature , is the light of nature , in any countrey as well as here . principles of nature vary not as languages doe : they are inbred things . and if principles of nature be inviolable , and indispensable , much more is divinity . filth is filth wee all confesse : opinion ought not to bee the rule of things , but the nature of the thing it selfe . therefore what is against nature , none can dispence withall . god cannot deny himselfe . what is naught in one age , is naught in another , and for ever naught . there is no monarch in the world can dispence with the law of nature , or with the divine law of god. for the opinion of any man in the world , is not the rule which hee may comfortably live by , but the undoubted light of christs written word . i speake this the rather to crosse their base practices , who when god cals them to stand for his cause and truth , they will bend and bow the sacred truth , which is alwayes yea and amen , to their owne by ends and base respects . as if the opinion of any man in the world were the rule of their faith and obedience . this is to make god no god. is not right , right ? is not the law the law ? is not the word of christ a word that alters not , but remaines stedfast to all eternity ? assure your selves there is a truth of god , that we must maintaine to the death , not onely in opposing heresie , but resisting of impiety wheresoever we meet it . iohn baptist was a martyr when hee stood out against herod and said , thou must not have thy brother philips wife . he would not be meale-mouth'd in reprooving his sinne , but cried out against the unlawfulnesse of it , though it cost him his life . men ought to suffer for the truth , and not for base ends deny the least word of god , because it is a divine sparkle from himselfe . for all the promises of god , in him are yea , and in him are amen . this comes in after this manner : the word that i preached ( saith paul ) is unvariable , because christ himselfe is alwayes yea , and i have preached nothing but jesus christ among you ; my preaching then must needs be a certain and immutable truth . there are divers readings of the words , but the most materiall is ( as this translation and the best expositors have it ) all the promises of god in christ are yea , ( that is , ) they are certaine and constant in him . and then they are amen , that is , in christ they are fulfilled . in him they are made , and in him they are accomplished . the whole carriage of the promises are in christ : for his sake they were first given , and in him they shall be performed . as christ himselfe was yesterday , and to day , and the same for ever : so are all gods promises made in him , undoubtedly , eternally , and unchangably true to all posterities . here are divers truths which offer themselves to our consideration . first take notice , that since the fall of man , it hath pleased our good god to establish a covenant of grace in jesus christ , and to make him a second adam , by whom we might be restored to a better estate , than ever wee had in the first adam . in which happy condition there can be no intercourse betwixt god and man , without some promise in his christ : so that god now deales all by promises with us . the reason is this , how can poore dust and ashes dare to challenge any thing of the great majesty of heaven , without a warrant from himselfe ? how can the conscience be satisfied ? ( conscience you know is a knowledge together with god. ) how can that rest quiet in any thing , but in what it is assured comes from god ? and therefore for any good i hope for from god , it behooves me to have some promise , and word of his mouth for it , this being his constant course of dispensation to his people . while we live in this world we are alwayes under hope . we rejoyce in hope of the glory of god. now hope lookes still to the promise , whereof some part is unperformed . how doth heaven differ from earth ? but in this : heaven is a place all for performances : here we have some performances to encourage us , but are alwayes under some promise not yet accomplished . and therefore the manner of our apprehension of god in this world , exceedingly differs from that in heaven . here it is by faith and hope , there it is by vision : vision is fit for performance . faith and hope looke alwayes to a word revealed : god therefore rules his church in this manner for their greater good . alas what can we have from god , but by the manifestation of hiis own good will ? may we look for favour from god for any thing in our selves ? it is a fond conceit . againe , god will have his church ruled by promises in all ages , to exercise the faithfull in prayer and dependance upon him . god will see of what credit is amongst men , whether they will rely upon his bare promise or no. he might doe us good , and give us no promise ; but he will try his graces in us , by arming us against all difficulties and discouragements till the thing promised be performed to us . promises are ( as it were ) the stay of the soule in an imperfect condition , and so is faith in them , untill our hopes shall end in full possession : and wee must know , that divine promises are better than earthly performances . let god give man never so much in the world , if hee have not a promise of better things , all will come to nothing at the last . and therefore god supports the spirits of his servants against all temptations , both on the right hand and on the left by sweet promises . hee will have them live by faith , which alwayes hath relation to a promise . this is a generall ground then , that god now in christ jesus hath appointed to governe his church by way of promises . but what is a promise ? a promise is nothing but a manifestation of love ; an intendment of bestowing some good , and removing some evill from us . a declaring of a mans free engagement in this kinde , is a promise ; it alwayes comes from love in the party promising , and conveighs goodnesse to the beleeving soule . now what love can there be in god to us ( since the fall , ) which must not be grounded on a better foundation than our selves ? if god love us , it must be in one that is , first beloved ; hereupon comes the ground of the promises to be in jesus christ : all intercourse between god and us must be in him that is able to satisfie god for us . the almighty creator will have our debts discharged before he enters into a covenant of peace with us . now this christ hath perfectly done , and thereby reconciled lost sinners ; hereupon the promise immediately issues ( from gods love in christ ) to beleeving soules : he must first receive all good for us , and we must have it at the second hand from him . the promises in christ are as the spirits in the body , they runne through al the ages of the church ; without him there is no mercy nor comfort to be had . god cannot look on this cursed nature of ours out of christ ; and therefore whosoever apprehends any mercy from god , he must apprehend it in christ the promised seed . to make it clearer ; our nature since the fall is odious to god , ( a sinfull cursed nature remaines in the best of us ) and therefore that god may looke peaceably upon it , he must looke upon it in him that hath it undefiled , & in him whom he loves , even his only son , like unto himselfe , that hath taken our nature upon him . now our nature in christ must needs be lovely and acceptable ; and if ever god love us , it is for christ alone , who was predestinated before all worlds , to be a sacrifice for us , to be the head of his church : he was ordained to doe us good , before we our selves were ordained . christ is the first beloved , and then we : god loves us in his beloved one : this is my beloved sonne in whom i am well pleased . as if the lord had said , i am pleased in him , and in all his , in his whole mysticall body . christ is the son of god by nature , we by adoption ; what ever good is in us , is first & principally in him . god conveighs all by the naturall son to the adopted sonnes : therefore all the promises are made to us in christ , he takes them from god for us . he himselfe is the first promise , and all are yea and amen in him : they are not directed to us , abstracted from him ; but we are elected in christ , sanctified in him , acquitted frō sin through him : by his stripes we are healed . if christ had not satisfied the wrath of god , by bearing our iniquities upon the crosse , wee had beene liable every moment to condemnation . if he had not been free from our sins , we had for ever lyen under the burthen of them . you are yet in your sinnes ( saith saint paul ) if christ be not risen . we are freed from our debts , because christ our surety is out of prison ; he is in heaven , and therefore we are at liberty . the promises are a deed of gift , which wee have from and by christ , who is the first object of all the respect that god hath to us . why are the angels attendants on us ? because they attend upon iacobs ladder , ( that is , ) upon christ , that knits heaven and earth together . so that the angels because they attend upon christ first , become likewise our attendants : we have a promise of eternall life : but this life is in his son ; god blesseth us with all spirituall blessings in him , and makes us sons in him the naturall sonne : whatsoever prerogative we enjoy , it is in christ first , and so belongs to us , but no further than we by faith are made one with him . how darest thou think of god who is a consuming fire ? and not think of him as he is pleased and pacified with thy person in christ , who tooke thy nature upon him , to be a foundation of comfort , and a second adam ; a publique person satisfying divine justice for all that are members of his body ? wee may think upon god with comfort , when wee see him appeased in his christ. as long as hee loves christ , hee cannot but love us . never think to have grace , or salvation , or any thing without christ. doth god love mee , doth hee doe good to my soule for my owne sake ( abstracted from his sonne ? ) no surely : then should i flie from his presence . but he looks upon me in his beloved , and in him accepts of my person , therefore our saviour prayeth , i desire thee bles sed father , that the love wherewith thou lovest mee , may be in them , and i in them . this should direct us in our dealing with god , not to goe directly to him , but by a promise , and when wee have a promise , look to christ in whom it is performed ; if we ask any thing of god in christs name , he will give it us ; if wee thank god for any thing , thank him in christ , that wee have it in him . what a comfort is this , that wee may goe to god in christ , and claime the promises boldly ? because he loves us with the same love he beares to his only beloved sonne . if we get fast hold on christ , and cleave there , god can assoone alter his love to him , as alter his love to us ; his love is every whit as unchangeable to a beleeving member , as to christ the head of the body . the promises are as sure as the love of god in christ is , upon which they are founded , and from which nothing can separate us . for promises being the fruit of gods love , and gods love being founded first upon christ : it must needs follow , that all the promises are both made , and made good to us through him . if a prince should love a man , and his love should be founded upon the love he beares to his own son ; surely such a one may have comfort , that love will never faile him : because it is an affection naturall , and therefore unalterable , he will alwayes love his sonne , and therefore will alwayes delight in him , in whom his son delighteth . now christ is the everlasting sonne of the father ; his deare and only sonne , in whom hee is ever well pleased , and through whom he cannot be offended with those that are his . so surely as god loves christ , so surely hee loves all that are united to him . there is nothing in the world can separate his love from his owne sonne , neither is there any thing able to separate his love from us that are one with him . god loves christs mysticall body , as well as his naturall body ; hee hath advanced that to glory at his right hand in heaven , and will hee ( think you ) leave his mysticall body the church in a state of abasement here on earth ? no certainly : god loves every member of his son ; for as he gave us to christ , so him hath he sealed and annointed to be a saviour for his people . this is the reason why god looks upon us with a forbearing eye ( notwithstanding the continuall matter of displeasure hee finds in us ) hee looks on us in his sonne , his love to us is grounded on his love to christ. and hereupon comes our boldnesse with god the father , that wee can goe to him in all distresses with comfort , & say , lord look on thy son whō thou hast given for us , and in him behold his poore members now before thee : in our selves we have dread , but in thy dearly beloved wee have joy in thy presence . if we come in the garments of our elder brother , wee are sure to get a blessing , but in our selves god cannot endure to behold us : if we bring benjamin to our father ; if wee carry christ along with us , then come and welcome . upon what unchangeable grounds is the love of god and the faith of a christian builded ? how can the gates of hell prevaile against the faith of a true beleever , when it is carried to the promise , and from the promise to gods love ? the love of god to christ shall as soone faile , as the faith of a sincere christian shal be shaken . the promises else should bee of no effect , they should be yea and nay , and not yea & amen . if the promises could bee shaken , the love of god and christ should be uncertain . overturn heaven and earth , if we overturne the faith of a true persevering christian. there is nothing in the world of that firmnesse as a beleeving soule is , the ground hee stands upon makes him unmoveable . our union with the lord jesus makes us like mount sinai , that cannot be shaken . but wee must know there are three degrees or steps of love , whereof a promise is the last . 1. inward love . 2. reall performance . 3. a manifestation of performance intended before it bee done . love concealed doth not cōfort in the interim ; therfore god who is love , doth not only affect us for the present , and intend us mercy hereafter : but because hee will have us rest sweetly in his bosome , and settle our selves on his gracious purposes , hee gives us in the mean time many rich and pretious promises . hee not only loves us , and shewes the same in deeds now , but he expresseth his future care of us , that wee may build on him , as surely as if we had the thing performed already . by this wee see how god loves us , he hath not only an inward liking and good wil to us in his brest , but manifests the same by word ; hee reveales the tendernesse of his bowells towards us , that wee may have the comfort of it before-hand : god would have us live by faith , and establish our selves in hope , because these graces fit us for the promise . if there were no promises , there could bee no faith nor hope . what is hope , but the expectation of those things that the word saith ? and what is faith , but a building on the promise of god ? faith looks to the word of the thing , hope to the thing in the word . faith looks to the thing promised , hope to the possession and performance of it . faith is the evidence of good not seene , ( making that which is absent as present to us ) hope waits for the accomplishment of that good contained in the word ; if we had nothing promised , what need hope ? and where were the foundation of faith ? but god being willing to satisfie both , ( that wee may bee heavenly-wise , in relying upon a firme foundation ; and not as fooles , trust in vanity ) in mercy gives us promises , and seales them with an oath for our greater supportment . that love which ingaged the almighty to bind himself to us in pretious promises , will furnish us likewise with grace needfull , till wee be possessed of them . he will give us leave to depend upon him , both for happinesse and all quieting graces which may support the soule till it come to its perfect rest in himselfe . now these gratious expressions of our good god may be reduced into divers rankes . i will but touch some few particulars , and shew how wee should carry our selves to make a comfortable use of them . first , there are some universall promises for the good of all mankinde , as that god would never destroy the world againe , &c. secondly , there are other promises that more particularly concerne the church , and these are promises . 1. either of outward things . 2. or of spirituall and eternall things of grace . and glory . in the manner of promising , they admit of this distinction . all the promises of god are made to us , either absolutely , without any condition ; so was the promise of sending christ into the world , and his glorious comming againe to judgement : let the world be as it will , yet christ did come , and will come againe with thousands of angels , to judge us at the last . or 2. conditionall . as the promise of grace and glory to gods children that he will forgive their sinnes , if they repent , &c. god deales with men ( as wee doe by way of commerce one with another ) propounding mercy by covenant and condition : yet his covenant of grace is alwayes a gratious covenant . for he not onely gives the good things , but helpes us in performing the condition by his spirit , he workes our hearts to beleeve and to repent . thus all promises for outward things are conditionall : as thus , god hath promised protection from contagious sicknesse , and from trouble and warre , that he will be an hiding place , and a deliverer of his people in time of danger , that he will doe this and that good for them . but these are conditionall , so far forth as in his wise providence he sees they may helpe to preserve spiritual good things in them , and advance the graces of the inward man. for god takes liberty in our outward estate , to afflict us or doe us good , as may best further our soules welfare . because do what we can with these bodies , they will turn to dust and vanity ere long . we must , leave the world behinde us ; therefore he lookes to our main estate in christ , to the new creature ; and so farre as outward blessings may cherish and increase that , so farre hee grants them , or else he denies them to his dearest ones . for we cannot still enjoy the blessings of this life , but our corrupt nature is such , that ( except we have somewhat to season the same ) we shall surfet , and not digest them ; therefore they are all given with exception of the crosse , as christ saith , hee that doth for him any thing , shall have a hundred fold here , but with persecution , be sure of that , whatsoever else he hath : let christians looke for crosses , to season those good things they enjoy in this life . to come now to some use of the point . are all the promises of what kind soever , whether spirituall and outward , temporall or eternall , are they all made to us in jesus christ ? and are they certainly true , yea and amen in him ? then i beseech you get into christ betimes , strengthen your intrest in him by all meanes , out of whom we have nothing that is savingly good : rest not in any thing abstracted from him , so as to be accepted with god. but you will say , doth not god doe many good things to them that are out of christ ? doth not the sunne shine , and the raine fall , upon the just and the unjust , upon the evill , as well as the good ? doth he not cloath , and feed , and protect wicked men daily ? he doth indeed , it cannot bee denied ; but are they blessings ? are these favours to them ? no , but as god saith by moses , if thou sin against me , cursed shalt thou be in thy basket , and thy store . cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land , the increase of thy kine , and the flocks of thy sheep : cursed at home , cursed abroad : they are cursed in their very blessings . a gracelesse brutish person , though hee swim with worldly pleasures , and have never such revennewes , and commings in to maintaine his bravery , is yet an accursed creature in the midst of all . for what are we made for , think you ? to live here only ? oh no : then we were of all others the most miserable : there is an eternity of time a comming , wherein ( after a few dayes spent in the flesh ) we shall live either in perpetuall blisse , or unspeakable torment . the very best things beneath have a snare in them , they rather hinder , than further our eternall welfare . how doth that appeare ? because for the most part they make men secure and carelesse in the worship of god , so as to despise the power of godlinesse , and follow iniquity with greedinesse ; wee may see by mens conversations that outward things are snares to them . they are not promises in christ for then they would come out of gods love only , which alone makes mercies to be indeed●o ●o us , and without which , ●he best of blessings will prove but a curse in the end . if i have any thing in this world ( any deliverance from evill , or any positive good thing ) i may know it is for my benefit , when my heart is made more spirituall therby , so as to value grace & holinesse at the highest rate , i esteeming my being in christ above all transitory things whatsoever ; above riches and honour , and the favour of great persons , which at the best is fading . our intrest in him will stand by us , when all these things are withered and shrunk to nothing , christ is a fountaine never drawne dry , his comforts are permanent : the good in the creature soone vanisheth , and leaveth the soule empty ; therefore get into christ speedily , it concernes thee neerely . for this purpose attend upon the meanes of salvation , and beg of god that he would make his owne ordinances ( by his spirit accompanying the same ) effectuall to thy soule , that he would open the excellencies of christ to thee , and draw thy affections to close with him . how are we in christ ? when by knowing of him , our knowledge carries our hearts unto him ; when our wils cleave to that which we know to be excellent and necessary for us : when i firmely adhere to christ , as the only good for me , then i love him , then i rest on him , then i have peace in him . i may discerne that i am in christ , if upon my knowledge of him , my heart is united to him , and i find peace of conscience in him . faith hath a quieting and establishing power . if i be in christ , my soule will be cheered and satisfied with him alone . i know all is yea and amen in him , therefore my soule rests securely here . how ever our outward condition bee various and perplexed , yet our estate in christ is firme and constant . what is a man out of christ ? as a man in a storme that hath no clothes to hide his nakednesse , or to shelter his body from the violence of the weather . as one in a tempest , that hath not house nor harbour to cover him . as a stone out of the foundation , set light by , and scattered up and downe here and there . as a branch out of the root ; what sap is there is such a thing ? it being good for nothing but to be cast into the fire . a man that is not built up in christ , planted in him , nor clothed with him , is the most destitute , despicable creature in all the world ; and if we look with a single eye , we shall so discerne him : such a mans case is deepely to be bewailed : had wee but hearts to judge righteously , we would preferre the meanest condition of gods childe , before the greatest estate of any earthly monarch , be their flourishing felicity never so resplendant . oh the miserable and wofull plight that all prophane wretches are in , who neglect grace and the mysteries of christ to gratifie their base lusts : such an one , there is but a step betweene him and hell , he hath no portion in the lord jesus . i ac count all dung and drosse ( saith st paul ) in comparison of christ to be found in him , not having on mine owne righteousnesse . happy is that man at the day of judgement , who thus appeares . againe , if so be that all promises are yea , and amen in christ , then here take notice of the stability of a christian , that hath promises to uphold him . compare him with a man that hath present things only , with an esau that abounds with worldly goods , and how great is the difference ? god gives them their portion here as he saith to dives , thou hadst thy good things , that thou chiefly caredst for , thou hadst them here , but lazarus had paine , misery , and poverty : now therefore the case is altered , he is advanced , and thou art tormented . a beleeving christian enjoyes the sweetnesse of many promises in this life ( for god is still delivering , comforting , and perfecting of him ; renuing of his spirit , and supplying him with inward peace ) but the greatest part is yet to be accomplished ; perfection of grace and glory is to come , he is a child , he is a sonne , the promise here is his chiefe estate . another man hath present payment , and that is all he cares for , hee hath something in hand , and fwells with a conceit of happinesse thereby ; alas , what are we the better to have a great deale of nothing ? solomon that had tryed all the world , resolves it to vanity and vexation of spirit . all things below are uncertaine , and wee are uncertaine in the use of them ; if we have no better a life than a natural one , eternal joy appertaines not to us . take a christian and strip him in your thoughts , frō all the good things in the world , he is yet a happier man than the greatest worldly favourite out of christ , for the one hath nothing but present things , with a great deale of addition of miserie , which his ease and contentment , makes him more sensible of , as being more tender and apprehensive of an evill than other men . the other though hee want many comforts of this life , and enjoyes not present performances , yet hee is rich in bills and bonds , god is bound to him who hath promised hee will never forsake him , but be his por tion for ever . hee hath a title to every communicable good , godlinesse hath the promise of this life , and that which is to come . a happy man ; what ever is most usefull for his safe conduct to heaven , he is sure to have it ; he that will give us a kingdome , will not denie us daily bread ; hee that hath prepared a country for us , will certainly preserve us safe , till we come there . besides that wee have here in performance , wee have many excellent promises of a greater good in expectation , which in christ are all yea & amen . they are certaine , though our life be uncertaine , and the comforts of our life ( lesse then life it selfe ) mutable and perishing ; if life the foundation of outward comforts bee but a vapour , what are all the comforts themselves think you ? it is a christians rejoycing in the midst of all changes beneath , that hee hath promises invested into him from above , that are lodged in his heart , and made his owne by faith , which have a wondrous peculiarizing vertue , to make that a mans owne , that is otherwise generally propounded in the gospell ; a christian , take him at all uncertainties , he hath somwhat to build on , that is yea and amen , undoubtedly sure that wil stick by him . i speak this to commend the estate of a beleeving christian , to make you in love with it , seeing in all the changes and varieties of this world , hee hath somewhat to take to . in all the dangers of this life , he hath a rock , and chamber of providence to goe unto , as it is esay 26. god hath secret roomes to hide his children in , in times of publike disturbance , when there is a confusion of all things . god hath a safe abiding place for thee : i have many troubles ( saith david ) but god is my defence continually . hee i● my shield and strong tower , whatsoever i want , i have it in him . what a comfort is this ? a christian knowes either hee shall be safe here or in heaven , and therefore rests securely . he that dwells in the secret place of the most high , shall abide under the shadow of the almighty ( that is ) in the love and protection of god above ; as moses saith , lord thou hast binour habitation from everlasting to everlasting ( that is ) thou art our sure help in the greatest extremity that can befall us in any age of the world . therefore build on his promise : for god and his word are all one . if wee have nothing to take to when troubles come , woe unto us : in our selves considered , wee are even as grasse , and as a tale that is told , soone vanishing . but our estate in god is durable ; wee have here no continuing citie , sicknesse may come , and death may environ us the next moment , happy are they that have god for their habitation , wee dwell in him , when we are dead ; when we leave this world , wee shall live with god for ever : the righteous is not troubled for evill tydings , hee is not shaken from his rock and stay , he feares no danger , because his heart is fixed . what a blessed estate is it to be in christ ? to have promises in him to be protected , and preserved , not onely whilest wee are in this vale of teares , but when this earthly tabernacle shall bee dissolved , even to all eternity . if our hearts be fixed on god , let us heare evill tydings of warre , or famine , or pestilence , let it be what it will , blessed men are wee . every word of god is tryed as silver in the fire ( saith the psalmist ) the promises are tried promises ; wee may safely rest upon them : but if we have nothing to take to when troubles arise , we are as a naked man in a storme without any shelter , incompassed round with distresse and misery . the promises are our inheritance , yea our best inheritance in this life ; though the lord should strip us naked , and take away all things else , yet if the promises remain ours , wee are rich men ; and may say with the psalmist , my lot is fallen into a good ground , thy testimonies are better unto me , than thousands of gold and silver . for the promises are as so many obligations , whereby god is bound to his poore creature ; and if wretched men think themselves as rich as they have bonds ( though they have never a peny in their purses ) much more may a true christian , who hath the promises of christ for his security , esteeme himselfe a wealthy person , as having many bonds whereby ( not man but ) god is engaged to him , & that not only for temporall good things , but for heavenly favours and spirituall blessings , for all which hee may sue god at his pleasure , and desire him to make good his word of truth . there is little difference betwixt a poore christian , and him that abounds in this worlds riches , onely this , the one hath wealth in his owne possession , the other hath it in gods bond , the one hath it in hand , the other in trust . as for the worldling , he hath but a cisterne when he hath most , wheras every faithfull soule hath the spring head , even god himselfe to flye unto in all distresses , who will never faile him , but be a sunne and a shield , to defend us from all evill , and preserve us in all goodnesse all our dayes . but i go on . now he which stablisheth us with you in christ , and hath also anointed us , is god. here observe , that the christian needs not onely converting but establishing grace : he that hath begun any good worke in us must perfect it : the god of strength must give us his promise to support our weaknesse , without which we cannot stand . peter was in the state of grace , and yet when god did not stablish him , wee see how he fell . the weakest beleever with the establishing grace of god will stand : and the strongest christian , without divine assistance , wil sink and fall away . whence this may bee further considered , that the life of a christian is a perpetuall dependant life : he not only lives by faith in his first conversion , but ever after : hee depends upon god for protection and strength throughout his whole course . god doth establish us in christ ; the ignorance of this makes men subject to backsliding for when we trust to grace received , and seek not for new supply , we are straight of peters condition , though all for sake thee , yet will not i , which occasioned his shamefull fall ; he had too much confidence in grace received . god is therefore faine to humble his children to teach them dependance . and usually , where any speciall grace is bestowed upon sinners , god joynes something therewith to put them in minde that they do not stand by their own strength . peter makes a glorious confession , thou art christ the sonne of the living god ; and christ honoured him exceedingly , saying , vpon this rock will i build my church ; but yet by and by , we see he cals him , satan , get thee behind me ; to teach us that wee stand not by our owne power : when wee are strong it is of god , and when we are weake , it is of our selves . iacob wrest led with the almighty , and was a prevailer , but he was fain to halt for it ; though he had the victory , and overcame at last , yet he was stricken with lamenesse all his dayes . god did this to mind him , that he had that strength whereby he prevailed out of himselfe . a christian then should set upon nothing in his owne strength : hannah saith comfortably , no man shall bee strong in his owne might , god is all our sufficiency : man naturally affects a kinde of divinity , and will set upon things in confidence of his owne abilities , without prayer and seeking of gods help ; hee thinkes to compasse great matters , and bring things to a good issue by his owne wit and discretion . oh delude not your selves , this cannot be . acknowledge god in all thy wayes , and hee shall direct thy paths : seeke unto the lord in every enterprize thou goest about ; acknowledge him in the beginning , progresse , and issue of all thy employments : what doe we but make our selves gods , when wee set upon businesse without invocation and dependance ? a christian is wondrous weake , even vanity of himselfe ; but take him as he is built upon the promises , and as he is in god , and then he is a kind of almighty person ; ●e can doe all things through christ that strengthens him . a christian is in sort omnipotent , whilst hee commits his wayes to god , and depends upon the promise ; otherwise he is weaknesse it selfe , the most impotent creature in the world. let god therefore have al the glory of our establi shing , and depend on him by prayer for the same . as all comes of his meere grace , so let all returne to his meere glory ; not to us lord , not to us , but to thy name he given the praise ; it is the song of the church militant on earth , and it is the song of the church triumphant in heaven ; that all glory is to god in the whole carriage of our salvation . the promises are in him ; hee only made the covenant , and he must performe it to us : without him we can doe nothing , labour therefore to be wise in his wisdome , strong in his strength , to be all in all in christ jesus . how shall wee know that a man hath establishing grace ? his assurance is firme , when his temptations are great , and his strength to resist , little , and yet notwithstanding he prevailes over them : sathan is strong and subtill , now if we can stand against his snares , it is a cleere evidence of greater strength than is in our selves . in great afflictions , when go● seemes an enemy , and clouds appeare betweene him and us , if then a mans faith can break through all , and in the midst of darknesse see god shining in christ upon him , and resolve , though thou kill me , yet i will trust in thee ; here is a strong establishing . in the times of martyrdome , there was fire and faggot , and the frownes of bloudy men ; but who were the persons suffering ? even many children , old men , and women , the weakest of creatures : notwithstanding the spirit of god was so strong in these feeble ones , as their lives were not pretious to them ; but the torments and threatnings of their cruell persecutors were cheerfully undergone by them , as heb. 11. here was gods power in mans infirmity . if we have not something above nature , how is it possible wee should hold out in great trials ? meanes to obtaine stablishing grace . by what meanes may a christian obtaine this stablishing grace . first , labour for fundamentall graces : if the root be strengthened , the tree will stand fast . humiliation is a speciall radicall grace ; the foundation of religion is very low ; abasement of spirit is in all the parts of holinesse : every grace hath a mixture of humility , because they are all dependances on god. humility is an emptying grace , and acknowledgeth that in our selves there is nothing . if god withhold his influence , i am gone ; if he withdraw his grace , i shall be like another man , as sampson was when his haire was cutoff . selfe-emptinesse prepares for spirituall fulnesse : when i am weak ( saith blessed paul ) then i am strong ; that is , when i feele and acknowledge my weaknesse , then my strength encreases ; otherwise a man is not strong when he is weake , but when he is sensible and groanes under the burthen of his infirmities , then is he inwardly strong . another fundamentall grace , is dependance upon god ; for considering our owne insufficiency , and that faith is a grace that goes out of our selves , and layes hold of the righteousnes of another to justi fie us , nothing can be more necessary to quiet the soule : beleeve and you shall be established : as the promises are sure in themselves , so should we repose firme confidence in them . but how doth god establish us by faith ? by working sound knowledge in us ; this is life eternall to know thee , iohn 17. when we know the truth of gods word aright , we have a firme ground to depend on : for the more a man knowes god in covenant , the more hee knowes christ and the promises , the more he will trust and rely upon them . they that know thy name will trust in thee ; saith the prophet . therefore labour for certainty of knowledge , that thou maist have a certainty of faith : what is the reason our faith is weak ? because wee are carelesse to increase in knowledge . the more wee know of god , the morewe shall trust in him . the more we know of a man that he is able and just of his word , the more safely we put confidence in him . so the more our security is in gods promises , as his bonds encrease , so our trust will be strengthened . thirdly , if thou wouldst have stablishing grace , beg it earnestly of god. our strength in him is altogether by prayer , bind him therefore with his owne promise ; beseech him to do unto thee according to his good word , he is the god of strength , desire of him the spirit of strength ; alledg to him thy own weaknesse and in ability without him , & that if he helps not , thou shalt soone be overcome : lay open thy wants in gods presence , shew him how unable thou art of thy selfe , to withstand temptations , to beare crosses , to performe duties , to doe or suffer any thing aright , turne his gracious promises into prayers , desire god that hee would stablish thee by his grace , that he would prop and uphold thy soule in all extremities . what is the reason that christians are so daunted and flie off in time of danger ? they have no faith in the promise . the righteous is as mount sinah that shall not be moved , hee builds on a foundation that can never be shaken , for the heart is never drawne to any sinfull vanity , or frighted with any terrour of trouble , till faith lets goe its hold , out of god , there is nothing for the soule safely to stay it selfe upon . no marvell to see men fall that rest on a broken reed : alas ! whatsoever is besides god , is but a creature , and can the creature be other than changeable ? the comfort that we have in god never fadeth , it is an abiding lasting comfort , such as contents the soule , and satisfies all the wants and desires of it , which things beneath can never accōplish . wee see that the heavens continue , and the earth ( without any other foundation ) hangs in the midst of the world by the bare word of the almighty , therefore well may the soule stay it selfe on that , when it hath nothing else in sight to rely upon . in this case christians should look , 1. that their principles and foundations be good : and secondly , builded strongly upon them , for the soule is as that which it relies on ; if upon empty things , it selfe becomes poore and empty ; which the devil knowing , strives to unloose our hearts from our maker , and draw us to rely upon false objects . hee sees full well , that whilest our soules cleave close to god , there is no prevailing against us by any malice , or subtilty of men or devils . the saints in him , are bold , and undaunted in the midst of troubles and torments ; indeed the sweetest cōmunion with god is , when we are beaten off from other helps ; though misery upon misery encounters us below , yet there is still succour issuing from above to a beleeving soule ; if god hath it in heaven , faith will fetch it downe , and enjoy the sweetnesse of it here . that man can never doe amisse , that hath his dependancie upon the almighty , there being no communion like that of a faithfull heart with the lord. it is the office of faith to quiet our soules in all distresses , for it relies upon god for heaven it self , and all necessary provision , till we come thither ; strengthen faith therefore and you strengthen all ; what can daunt that soul , which in the sorest affliction hath the great god for his friend ? such a spirit dares bid defiance to all the powers of darknes : sathan may for a time exercise , but hee can never wholly depresse a gracious heart . true beleevers can triumph over that which others are slaves unto ; they can set upon spirituall conflicts , and endure fiery tryalls , which others tremble to think of ; they can put off themselves , and be content to be nothing , so their god may appeare the greater , and dare undertake or undergoe any thing for the glory of their maker ; considering they are not their owne , but have given up themselves unto christ , they count not their lives , or any thing that is theirs deare for him . hee that stablisheth us with you , is god , who hath annointed us , &c. messias signifies annointed ; our nature is enriched in christ with all graces . hee is annointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes , for us , that wee might have a spring of grace in our owne nature , that god and christ being one , and we being in the lord jesus , might have all our annointing of the first annointed , for of his fulnesse we receive grace for grace . what are those graces which wee receive from christs fulnesse ? first , the grace of favour and acceptance , for the same love that god beares to christ , he beares to all his , though not in so high a degree . secondly , the grace of sanctification answerable to the grace of sanctification in him ; every renued work in us comes from christ. thirdly , the rich priviledges and prerogatives , that issue to persons sanctified ; wee have dignity for dignity , favour for favour , gracious qualifications for gracious qualifications in christ. god annoints us all in his sonne , as the oyntment that was powred upon aaron , ran downe to the skirts of his garment ; so the weakest christian is stablished with grace by christ , grace runnes from the head to poorest member , the hem of the garment ; every one that doth but touch christ , drawes vertue and strength from him . why is it called here an annointing ? because as the holy annointing , exod. 30. was not to be applied to prophane uses , so neither are the graces of the spirit , god being the author of them , to be slighted and undervalued by the professors of them . what are the vertues of this oyntment ? first , it hath a cherishing power , it revives the drooping soule , and cheares a fainting spirit , when men are ready to sink under the burthen of their sins : this easeth them . 2. annointing hath a strengthening power , it makes our limbs vigorous , so doth grace fortifie the soule , nothing more . our life is a combating life wi●h sathan , and temptations of all sorts , therefore wee need continuall annointing to make us nimble , and active in resisting our enemie ; oyle hath a suppling quality , so the spirit of god makes pliable the joynts of the soule , it supports us with hidden strength , and enables us to encounter great oppositions , & to be victorious through christ over all . grace is little in quantity , but it is mighty in operation , it carries the soule through difficulties , nothing can stand in the way of a gracious man , no not the gates of hell. the spirit of grace that is in a christian , is stronger than he that is in the world , a graine of mustard seed , the very least measure of true holinesse , is stronger than the greatest measure of opposition . a christians strength lies out of himselfe : he never overcomes by his owne power , hee can doe all things through christ assisting him , otherwise hee is a most impotent creature , unable to doe or suffer any thing , ready to give over at the least trouble , and sink under every pressure of affliction . againe , ointment doth exceedingly delight and refresh ourspirits ; as wee see the box in the gospel , when it was opened , the whole house smelt of it . so grace is a wondrous sweet thing . before wee are anointed with the spirit of christ , with stablishing grace , what are we but a company of nasty abominable persons in the eyes of god ? all things are accursed to us , and we are accursed in what ever we doe . god cannot look on us but as loathsome creatures , as the prophet saith , i would not so much as looke on thee , if it were not for iehoshaphats sake . that which makes a man , sweet is grace ; this makes our nature that is noisome and offensive in the nostrils of the almighty , in it selfe , to become pleasant and amiable . a wicked man is a vile man , an ulcerous deformed creature : grace is of a healing nature wheresoever it is : this cures our spiritual distempers , beautifying the inner man , and making the whole frame of a christians carriage , sweet and delectable . first to god , who loves the sent of his own grace wheresoever he finds it . secondly to angels ; the conversion of sinners rejoyceth them , when our custody is committed to their charge , how are they delighted with the beauty of holinesse shining in us ? the graces of god in his saints are a feast to them : the very name of a godly and gratious man , is as a sweet ointment every where . holy men when they are read of in stories , what a savour doe they cast in the church : so far as a christian is a new creature it makes him in love with himselfe , scorning to be so undervalued as to defile himselfe with base services : so farre as a man is gratious , he gives himselfe to honourable imployments ; being a vessell of grace he improves his abilities to glorious uses , esteeming things below too meane for him . grace is a wondrous pleasant thing , offensive to none , but to wicked men , that have no savour of god or goodnesse , it sweetens the soule , makes it delectable for christ & his holy spirit to lodge in , as in a garden of spices ▪ a gracious man that hath subdued his corruptions , is wondrous amiable both to himselfe , and to the communion of saints ; his heart is as fine silver , every thing is sweet that comes from him : grace is full of comfort to a mans own conscience , the sense of which enlargeth the soule to all holy services . fourthly , an ointment hath another property , it consecrates persons to holy uses ? anointed persons are raised above the ordinary ranke . the graces of gods spirit elevate men above the condition of others with whom they live . anointed persons are sacred persons , they are inviolable . touch not mine anointed , and doe my prophets no harme : we wrong the apple of gods eye , we offer indignity to christ himselfe , if we hurt these . indeed nothing can hurt them , but god by his over ruling power turnes all for their good . lastly , an ointment is a royall liquor , it will bee above all ; so the graces of gods spirit where they are , will be uppermost , they will guide and governe all . as if a man have excellent parts , grace will rule these , and make them serviceable to christ , his truth and members . if we have weaknesse and corruption , grace will subdue it by little and little , and never leave conflicting till it hath got the victory . what are our souls without gods anointing ? dead stinking , offensive to god , to good men , and to our selves : we cannot see with peace the visage of our owne soules : who can reflect seriously into his heart and life without horror , that hath no grace ? a man that sees his conscience awakened without this anointing , what is he ? surely as the body without the soule : it is not all the excellencies of the soule laid upon a dead body , or all the goodly ornaments that bedeckt it , can keep it from stinking and being a loathsome object , because it wants the soule to quicken and enliven it to good imployments : of it selfe it is but a peece of earth : all the vigor and life that the body hath , is communicated from the soule , they are beholding to our soules for many things . put the richest ornaments whatsoever upon the body , and not the spirit of grace upon the soule ( to cherish and refresh the same that it may appeare lovely in gods sight ) all is to no purpose . likewise this anointing hath relation to the persons anointed , kings , priests , and prophets . christ is primarily anointed , and all our grace is derived from him ; hee teacheth us divine things by a divine light . the poorest christian in the world ( whose heart is right with god ) sees good things with such convincing love , that he imbraces them , and ill things with such a convincing hatred , that he abhors them . a man that lives without god in the world , may talke , but he cannot doe ; he may speak of death , but he dares not die , he trembles to thinke of the last tribunall , and of resigning his soule into the hands of his maker : such an one may discourse of suffring , but when it comes to the point , his heart failes him : oh how he shrinkes when danger approacheth , what indirect courses will hee take to save his skin ? how hardly is corrupt selfe brought under ? how heavily doe men come off in this point , of doing and suffering for christ , laying downe all at his feet , and resolving to be disposed of at his pleasure in every thing ? men speak much of patience , and selfe-deniall , but they do not practise them , these vertues shine not forth in their conversation , which is the shame of religion : only a true christian hath the right knowledge of the doing of things , and is able to speak a word in due season , to reprove , to admonish , to comfort every member in the communion of saints , hath some qualification for the good of the whole body . a faithfull man is likewise spiritually anointed a priest , to stand before god almighty , he poures out his soul for himself & for others , having gods eare open at all times to his suits every sincere christi an is a favourite in heaven , he hath much credit there which hee improves for the welfare of the church here below . and hee keepes himselfe as a priest unspotted of the world : a true christian is taught of god , and knowes the meaning of that law of his which prohibiteth priests so much as to touch defiled things ; therefore he studies innocency , he runs not after the course of the multitude , neither is carried away with the streames of the times : he will not converse familiarly with those that may staine him , ( but so farre as his calling leads him ) lest he should therby contaminate his spirit . a christian priest hath his heart alwayes to the holy of holies , that so he may offer up thankes and praise to god , and offer up himselfe a sacrifice to him ; his endeavour is to kill and slay those beasts ( those lusts ) that lurk in his heart , contrary to the almighty . lastly , he that is anointed by the spirit , is a king , in regard of his great possessions , for all are ours , things present , and things to come , life and death , prosperity , and adversity , all help us to heaven . evill things are ours in advantage and successe , though in disposition they be not ours , but have a hostil disposition in thē . god over-powers the evil of things , and gives a christian a living principle of grace , to suck sweet out of sowre , & draw good out of evill . what a king is this , that even the most terrible things are at his command and work for the best unto him ? he conquers and brings under his greatest enemies , and feares neither death or judgement , nor the vengeance to come , knowing god in christ to bee his reconciled father , he rests assured , all things else will be will be at peace with him . others have kingdomes out of themselves , but in thēselves they are slaves , every lust leads them away captive : a christian is such a king , as hath a kingdome within himselfe , hee hath peace , and joy , and rest from base allurements , and terrours of conscience , hee walks by rule , and therfore knowes how to governe all ? the glory of his maker is the chiefe thing hee eyes , and to that hee referres every action . who hath annointed us , and sealed us . annointing and sealing goe together , the same god annoints us , doth also seale us . both are to secure us of our happy condition . now christ is the first sealed , iohn 6. him hath god the father sealed : god hath set christ a part from others , hath distinguished him , and set a stamp upon him to be the messiah , by the graces of the spirit , whereof he was richly beautified ; and by many miracles , whereby he shewed that he was the sonne of god ; by his resurrection from the dead : by his calling of the gen tiles , and many other things . christ being sealed himselfe , he sealed all that he did for our redemption with his bloud , and hath added for the strengthening of our faith , outward seales , the sacraments to secure his love more firmly to us . but in this place another manner of sealing is to be understood . for here is not meant the sealing of christ , but the sealing of us that have communion with him . the same spirit that seales the redeemer , seales the redeemed . what is the manner of our sealing by the spirit ? sealing we know hath divers uses . first of all , it doth imprint a likenesse of him that doth seale : when the kings image is stamped upon the wax , every thing in the wax answers to that in the seale , face to face , eye to eye , body to body . so wee are said to be sealed , when we carrie in our soules , the image of the lord jesus , for the spirit sets the stamp of christ upon every true convert , there is the likenesse of christ in all things to be found in him : as the child answers the father , foot for foot , finger for finger in proportion , but not in quantity . so it is in the sealing of a beleever , there is a likenesse in the soule that is sealed by the spirit to the lord jesus , there is understanding of the same heavenly supernaturall truthes ; there is a judging of things as christ judgeth , a loving of that which he loves , and a hating of that which hee hates , a rejoycing to doe that which he delights in , and a griefe to commit any thing that displeaseth his majestie ; every affection of the soul is carried that way , that the affections of our blessed saviour are carried in proportion , every thing in the soule is answerable to him in its degree . there is no grace in christ , but there is the like in every christian in some measure : the obedience of christ to his father , even to the death , is to be found in every true christian . the humility whereby christ abased himselfe , it is in every renued heart . christ works in the soule that receives him , a conformity to himselfe . the soule that beleeve ; that christ hath loved him ; and done such great things for him , is ambitious to expresse christ in all his wayes . being once in christ , we shall delight to be transformed more and more into him . to beare the image of the second adam upon our breasts , to make it appeare that jesus christ lives in us , and that wee live not to our selves , but to him that died for us , to be meeke and heavenly minded as hee was , talking and discoursing of spirituall things , going about doing good every where , active for god , fruitfull in holinesse , doing & receiving all the good we are able , drawing others from this world to meditate of a better estate , labouring for the advancement of gods kingdome , and approving our selves to him ; this is one use of sealing , to imprint a likenesse . a second use of a seale is distinction ; sealing is a stamp upon one thing among many , it distinguisheth christians from others , as we shall see after . againe , it serves for appropriation ; men seale those things that are their owne ; merchants we see set their stamp on those wares which they have , or meane to have a right unto : it pleaseth god thus to condiscend unto us , by applying himselfe to humane contracts . hee appropriates his own , to shew that hee hath chosen and singled them out , for himselfe to delight in . sealing further serves to make things authenticall , to give authority and excellencie : the seale of the prince , is the authority of the prince : this gives validity to things answerable to the dignity and esteeme of him that seales . these are the foure principall uses of sealing . and god by his spirit doth al theseto his . 1. he stamps his own image upon us , he distinguisheth us from others , even from the great refuse of the world . god by his spirit appropriates us to himselfe , hee makes us to be his , and shewes that we are his , hee likewise authorizethus , and puts an excellencie upon us , to secure us against all temptations ; when wee have gods seale on us , we stand firme in the greatest triall : who shall seperate us from the love of god ? wee dare defie all objections of sathan , and accusations of conscience whatsoever . a man that hath gods seale , stands impregnable in the most tempestuous season . for it is given for our assu rance , and not for gods , the lord knowes who are his , hee seales not because he is ignorant , but for our comfort and establishment . whether is the spirit it selfe this seale , or the work of the spirit , and the graces thereof wrought in us ? i answer , the spirit of god where it is , is a sufficient seale that god hath set us out for himselfe , for whosoever hath the spirit of christ , the same is his . he is the author of our sealing , so that except you take the spirit for that which is wrought by the spirit , you have not the comprehension of sealing , for , that which the spirit worketh , is the seale ; the spirit goes alwayes with his owne mark and impression ; other seales when they are removed from the stamp , the stamp remaines still ; but the spirit of god dwells , and keepes a perpetuall residence in the heart of a christian , guiding him , moving him , enlightning him , governing him , comforting him , doing all offices of a seale in his heart , till hee hath brought him to heaven . the holy ghost never leaves us , it is the sweetest inhabitant that ever lodging was given to ; he doth all the saving good that is done to the soule , and is perpetually with his own work in joy and comfort ; though he seeme sometimes to be in a corner of the heart , and is not easily discerned , yet he alwayes dwels in his sealed ones . what is that stamp , that the spirit seales us withall ? the spirit works in this order for the most part ; first of all , the spirit doth together with the word ( which is the instrument , and the chariot wherein it is carried ) convince us of the ill that is in us , and the misery attending on us for the same . it convinceth us of sinne , and the fearefull estate we are in by that , and abaseth us thereupon , therefore it is called the spirit of bondage , because it makes a man tremble and quake , till he see his peace made up in christ. when hee hath done this , then he convinceth us of righteousnesse , by a sweet light discovering the excellencies of the lord jesus , and the remedy in him provided for sinners . god opens the eye of the soul , to see the all-sufficiency of his sons sanct●fication , and inclines the heart to cast it selfe by faith upon him . when we are throughly convinced of the ill that is in us , and of the good that is in christ , and are moved by the holy ghost , to go out of our selves and imbrace reconciliation in the lord jesus , then a superadded worke is vouchsafed unto us ; for the spirit daily perfecteth his owne work ; he addes therefore after all , his seale , to confirme us ; which seale is not faith : for the apostle saith , after you beleeved , you were sealed , where we see the work of faith and sealing distinguished : first the soul is set in a good estate , and then followes assurance and stablishment . but what needs confirmation when we beleeve ? is not faith confirmation enough ? when a man may know by a private reflect act of the soule , that he is in the state of grace ? this act of ours in beleeving is oft terribly shaken ; and god is wondrous desirous that we should bee secure of his love ; hee knowes hee can have no glory , nor we any solid peace else : therfore when we by faith have sealed to his truth , he sees that wee need further sealing that our faith be currant and good ; for all is little enough in the time of temptation , the single witnesse of our soul is not strong enough in great assaults . for sometimes the spirit is so tossed and disquieted with temptations , that we cannot reflect aright on our selves , nor discerne what is in our own brests without much adoe ; therefore god first workes faith to apply the promise , whosoever beleeves in christ shall be saved . i beleeve in christ , therefore i shall be saved , and then sealeth this beleefe with an addition of his holy spirit ; for this sealing is a work upon beleeving , an honouring of faith with a superadded confirmation . how shall wee know that there is such a spirituall sealing in us ? i answer , when we truly beleeve , the spirit of adoption , reveales unto us that we are the sonnes of god , by a secret whispering , and intimation to the soule , ( which the beleeving heart feeles better than i am able to expresse ) saying , be of good comfort , thy sins are forgiven ; there is a sweet kisse , vouchsafed to the soule : the lord refresheth it with the light of his countenance , and assures it , that all enmity is now slaine : i am thy salvation , thou art for ever mine , and i am thine ; because thou beleevest , behold thou art honoured to be my child . againe the spirit of adoption quickens and fils the soule with heavenly ejaculations to god , it stirs up servent supplications to cry abba father . the soule when it truly beleeves , hath a bold and familiar speech to god. there are two things in the prayer of a christian that are incompetible with a carnall man : there is first an inward confidence , and secondly , an carnestnesse in the soule , whereby he goes to god as a child to his loving father , not considering his owne worthinesse or meanes , but the constant love that is bore to him . this spirituall speech of god to the soule , and of the soule to god , is an evident demonstration of our truth in grace , because we can do that which no hypocrite in the world can attaine to . thirdly , this sealing of the spirit after wee beleeve , is knowne by the worke of sanctification which it effecteth in us ; the holy spirit seales our spirits , by stamping the likenesse of christ upon us ; so as when a man finds in his soule , some lineaments of the heavenly image , he may know therby , that hee is translated from death to life ; when he finds his heart subdued to humility and obedience , to such a holy and gratious frame as christs was ; he may cleerely discerne that he hath something more than the old man in him : when a man can say , naturally i am proud , but now i can abase my selfe ; naturally , i am full of malice , now i can love , and pray heartily for my enemies ; naturally i am lumpish & dead-hearted , now i can joy in the holy ghost ; naturally , i am apt to distrust the lord , and be discontented with my condition , now i can rest securely upon his promise and providence : sin hath been my delight , now it is my sorrow and heart-breaking , i finde somewhat contrary to corruption in me . i carry the image of the second adam about me now : i say , whosoever hath this blessed change , may rest assured of his right to happinesse . know you not that christ is in you , except you be reprobates , saith the apostle . a christian that upon a through search finds something of christ alwayes in his soule , can never want a sweet evidence that he is sealed to the day of redemption . the fourth way is by the joy of the spirit , which is the beginning of heaven as it were , and a possessing of glory before our time ; there are few of gods children , but in the cours of their pilgrimage , first or last , have this divine impression wrought in them , enlarging and ravishing their soules to joy in the almighty . yet this is especially seene after conflict , when the soule hath combated with some strong corruption or temptation , to him that overcomes wll i give of the hidden mannah , saith christ , and a white stone which none can reade but he that hath it , that is , hee shall have assurance that he is in the state of grace , and the sweet savour of goodnesse it selfe shall be his portion ; usually god gives comfort after wee have conflicted with some sinfull disposition and have got the victory , as we see in iob , after god had exercised that champion a long time , at the last hee discovered himself in a glorious manner to him . in the midst of afflictions , when a christian is under great crosses , and god sees hee must bee supported with spirituall strength , or else he sinks , then he puts in with supply from above : when the creature cannot help us , the creator of all things will. thus paul in the midst of the dungeon being sealed with the spirit , sang at midnight when he was in the stocks : and so david in the midst of persecution : daniel in a lions den : the three children in the fiery furnace , &c. god doth as parents , smile on their little ones when they are sick and dejected : hee reserves his choisest comforts for the greatest exigents : when god hath a great worke for his children to doe , or some sharpe suffering for them to undergoe , as an incouragement before-hand , hee oft enlargeth their spirits that they may be able to go through all . as our saviour christ had iames and iohn with him upon the mountaine , to strengthen thē against his ensuing suffering . let us then examine our selves by that which hath beene delivered : hath god spoken to thy soule and said , i am thy salvation , thy sinnes are remitted , and thy person received into my favour : doth god stirre up thy spirit to call upon him , ( especially in extremity ) and to go with boldnesse and earrestnesse to his throne ? surely this is an evidence of the seale of the spirit , for who ever wants this , cannot look god in the face , when distresse is upon him : saul in this case goes to the witch , and achitophel to desperate conclusions : iudas in extremity , we see what becomes of him ? so every one that hath not this sealing of the spirit , ( to whom god speakes not peace by shedding abroad the love of christ in his heart ) must needs sinck as lead in the bottome of the sea , which hath no consistence , till it come to the center , to hell. did you ever feele the joy of the spirit in holy duties , after inward striving against your lusts , and getting ground of them ; this is a certaine signe that god hath sealed you . but you will say , how can that be a seale ? a seale continues with the thing , but the joy of the spirit comes after the work of the spirit , and abides not with us ? i answer , though wee have not alwayes the joy of the spirit , yet we have the spirit of joy , which though it be not knowne by joy , yet may be discerned by its operation and working . a christian may have a gracious work of the spirit in him , and yet want the delight and joy of the spirit ; therefore when that failes , look to thy sanctification , and see what resemblance of christ is formed in thee . see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heart be humble and broken , if thou have a heavenly disposition like to thy saviour ; when the joy of the spirit ceaseth , goe to the work of the spirit , and from the work of the spirit , to the voyce of the spirit ; canst thou cry to god with strong supplications ? or if thou canst not pray with distinct words , canst thou mourne and groane ? the spirit helps our infirmities , when wee know not what to ask . this sighing & groaning is the voyce of gods spirit , which hee will regard wheresoever he finds it . this made iob in his distresse , to swim above water . if one be in the midst of extremity , and can seriously seek to god , it is an undoubted signe that such a one is sealed , especially when the corruption of his soule joynes with sathans temptations the more to afflict him ; for a sinner in the midst of stormes & clouds of darknesse , then to cast anchor , and quiet his soule in christ , argues great faith : so when a temptation closes with our corruption , and affliction yeelds ground to further the temptation , then to pray and rely securely upon god , is a gracious signe ; for sathan useth the afflictions we are in , as temptations to shake our faith ; as thus , canst thou be a child of god , and be so exercised ? so vilified , so persecuted ? didst thou belong to christ , would ever these crosses , & losses , and miseries have befallen thee ? deceive not thy selfe : thus affliction is a weapon to temptation , for sathan to help his fiery darts with , he having such a dangerous party in us ( as our own corruption ) doth us the more harme continually . how shall a man know whether god hath a part in him ? i answer . if he can run against the streame ; if he find his soule resisting sathans temptations , & raising him above afflictions , standing out , and combating with corruptions to the uttermost ; whē he can check his carnal heart that drawes him downwards , saying : why art thou cast downe , o my soule , and why art thou disquieted within me : it is a good signe . david found inward corruptions , and outward afflictions joyning with sathans temptations , to depresse his spirit , hereupon he chides his owne soule . why is it thus with thee , why art thou dejected in this manner ? and then he layes a charge upon it , trust in god. whatsoever hardship wee meet with in the world , yet there is hope in god still ; though we can find little comfort below , yet there are rivers of consolation above ; it argues a gracious heart to quiet ones selfe in god in the worst times . i beseech you let us labour to have our soules sealed with the spirit of god , to have further and clearer evidence of our estate in grace ; it is a blessed thing to have christ live in us , the enemies of our salvation are exceeding many , and how soone death or judgement may ceaze us , wee know not , god will set none at his right hand , but his sheep , those that have his owne image on them ; his best sheep have no outward mark , but an inward ; the world sees not their beautie , the kings daughter is all glorious within . how comfortably will the soule commend it self to christ , when it finds it selfe stamped with the spirit of christ ? when he can chearefully say , lord jesus receive my soule ; thou that hast redeemed me by thy bloud , and sealed me by thy spirit , acknowledge thine owne likenesse in me , though it be not as it should be , yet there is somwhat of thine in me . beloved , wee must not give false evidence of our selves , as wee must not against others ; what a comfort hath a sealed soul in the houre of death , and in all extremities ? what a difference is there betweene such a soule , and others in the time of affliction , as in the time of pestilence , warre , and persecution for christ ? the soul that is sealed knowes that hee is marked out for happinesse in the world to come . whatsoever befalls him in this life , hee knowes that god in all confusion of times knows his own seale ▪ and that his destroying angell shal spare and passe over those that are marked , ezech. 9. and though our bodies escape not , yet our soules shall . iosias wee see was taken away from the evill to come , and lot was delivered from the judgement of the sodomites . if wee partake not of the sinnes of the wicked , wee shall never partake of their plagues ; god hath a speciall care of his little ones in this life , and if hee take them away , yet their death is pretious in his sight ; hee will not part with them but upon speciall consideration : he sees if they live it will be worse for them , their pretious soules are in continuall danger ; hee sees it is best for them to be gathered to god , and the soules of perfect ones in heaven , therefore hee provides a shelter to free them from all stormes on earth . and as hee hath an eye over them in regard of outward miseries ; so in respect of spirituall corruption and infection ; as revel . 7. gods holy ones were sealed , so many of such a tribe , and so many of such a tribe , to signifie , that god hath alwayes some that hee will keepe and preserve from the leaprous contagion of sinne , and antichrist ; even in evill times god hath his little flock still . in the obscure ages of the church , 900 yeares after christ , when there was little learning and goodnesse in the world , and egyptian darknes had over-spred the earth . god had alwayes sealed ones , marked out for himselfe , whom he preserved from the danger of dark times ; why then should wee be afraid of evill tidings ? let any affliction or death it selfe come , christ will know his own stamp in us , he hath a book of remembrance , for those that are his , and when hee gathers his jewells , they will bee highly set by . god in common calamities suffers his luggage , ( wicked men ) to goe to wrack , but he will secure his jewels , his darlings , what ever come of it ; labour therefore to bee a sealed person . but you will say , what shall i account of my self , if there bee but a little signe of grace in me ? be not discouraged , you know in wax , though the stamp be almost out , yet it is currant in law notwithstanding . put the case the stamp of the prince be an old coyne , is it not currant though it bee crackt ? suppose the mark of the spirit , should bee dim and blurred , scarce discernable in us , ( this ought to bee our shame and griefe ) yet some evidences of grace are still remaining ; there are some sighes and groanes against corruption , which may continually support us : if we mourne in our spirits , and doe not joyne with our lusts , nor allow our selves in them , this is a divine impression , though it bee ( as it were ) almost worne out : the more comfort wee desire , the fresher she should keepe this seale of comfort . and labour to grow in faith and obedience , that we may reade our evidence cleerely , that it be not over-growne with the dust of the world , so as we cannot see it . sometimes gods children have the graces of the spirit in them , yet they yeeld so much to feares and doubtings , that they can read nothing but their corruption . when we bid them puruse their evidences , they can see nothing but worldlinesse , nothing but pride and envie , because they grieve the holy spirit by their negligence and distrust . though there be a stamp in them , yet god holds the soule from it , and gives men up to mistake their estates , for not stirring up the graces of his spirit in them . honour god by beleeving , and he will honour thee by stamping his spirit more cleerely on thee , what a comfort is it to have the evidence of a gratious soule at all times . when a man carries about him the marke of the spirit , what in the world can discourage such a soule ? on the contrary , if a man have not something above nature in him , when death & judgement comes , how miserable is his condition ? if a man be a king or an emperour of the world , and have not an interest in christs righteousnesse , ere long he shall be stripped of all , and adjudged to eternall torments . oh the excellency of mans soule , a jewell more to be prized then a princes diadem . it is the solly of the times to set up curious pictures , but what a poore delight is this in comparison of the ambition of a true christian , to see the image of christ stamped in his soule , to finde the joy of the spirit , and god speaking peace to his inner man. the transforming of our selves into the image of christ , is the best picture in the world ; therefore we should labour for the new creature , that as we grow downeward one way , we may grow up towards heaven another ; that as the life of nature decayes , so the spirituall life may bee more active and working . it should be our daily study while we live in this world to attain that holinesse , without which no man shall ever see god. there is besides the common broad seale of god , his privie seal . what is the reason that many proud hearted persons are damned ? the truth is , they are all for externall contentments , and despise the ordinances of god : for though they stand upon their admission into the church , upon the common seales and prerogatives ( which in themselves are excellent ) yet relying on these things overmuch betrayes many soules to the devill in the time of distresse . it is an other manner of seale than the outward seale in the sacrament , that must settle peace in the conscience . when once the beginnings of faith are wrought in us , then wee may with comfort thinke upon our receiving of the communion , but the speciall thing to be eyed , is the hidden seale . if the externall meanes work no inward sanctificatiō in our hearts , we shall be the worse rather than the better for them : yet we must not be so prophane as to think slightly of gods ordinances , they are of great consequence . for when satan shakes the confidence of a christian , and saith , thou art an hypocrite , god doth not love thee ; these help us to hold out : why saith the soule , i can speak by experience that i have found the contrary ; the lord hath removed my feares , he hath pardoned my sinne and accepted my person , he hath given me many pretious promises to support my spirit . here is the excellency of the sacrament , it comes more home to me , it seales the generall promises of god particularly to my selfe : for finding the inward worke of the spirit in my heart , and god having strengthned my faith by the outward seale , i can defie satan with all his accusations , and look death in the face with comfort . we should labour therefore to observe gods sealing dayes , when he uses to manifest himselfe to his people ; which though it may be every day ( if wee be spiritually exercised ) yet it is in the lords day more especially , for then his ordinance and his spirit go together . now there is a sealing of persons , and of truths , besides the sealing of our estates , that we are the children of god ; there is a sealing of every particular truth to a christian. for where there is grace to beleeve the truth , god seales those truths firmely to that soule by the comforts of his spirit . for example , this is a truth , whosoever beleeves in christ , shall not perish but have everlasting life . now the same spirit that stirs up the soule to beleeve this , seales it fast upon the conscience even to death ; there is no promise , but upon our beleeving the same , it is sealed by god upon us : for those truths only abide firme in the soule which the holy ghost sets on . what is the reason that many forget their consolations , the reason is they heare much but the spirit settles nothing on their hearts . what is the reason that lettered men many times stand out in their profession to blood , whereas those that are more able and learned , yeeld to any thing . the reason is , the knowledge of the one is set fast upon the soule ; the spirit brings his seale and this mans knowledge close together : whereas the learning and abilities of the other , is only a discoursive thing swimming in the braine without any sollid foundation ; their knowledge of truths is not spiritual : they see not heavenly things by heavenly , but by a naturall light . those that would not apostatize , must have a knowledge sutable to the things they know ; they must see spirituall things by the spirit of god. therefore when we come to heare the word , wee should not come with strong conceits of our owne , to bring all to our wits , but with reverent dispositions and dependance upon god , that he would teach us together with his ministers , and close with his ordinances so as to fasten truths upon our soules , else shall wee never hold out : for that which must stablish and quiet the soule , must bee greater than the soule . in time of tentations when the terrours of the almighty encompasse us , when god layes open our conscience , and writes bitter things against us , those truths that most satisfie the soule at such a time , must be above the naturall capacity of the soule , therefore saith the apostle , it is god that establishes , and god by his spirit that seales us up unto the day of redemption , because divine truths of themselves in the bare letter , cannot stirre up the heart ; it is only the blessed spirit , which is above our spirits , that must quiet the conscience in all perplexities ; the lord can soone still the soule when he settles spirituall truths upon it : therefore go to him in thy distresse and trouble of minde ; send up ejaculations to god , that hee would seale the comfort revealed in his word to thy soule , that as it is true in it selfe , so it may be true to thee likewise . this is a necessary observation for us all . oh we desire in the houre of death to finde some comforts , that bee standing comforts , that may uphold us against hell and judgement . know that nothing will do this but spirituall truths spiritually knowne , but holy truths set on by the holy ghost upon the soule . oft therfore enter into thine heart and examine upon what grounds and motives thou beleevest ; consider well what it is thou beleevest , and upon what evidences , and withwhat light , otherwise expect not to find sollid peace . what course may a christian generally take when hee wants comfort and inward refreshing . there are in 1 iohn 5. three witnesses in heaven , & three in earth , to secure us of our estate in grace : the three witnesses in heaven are , the father , the word , and the holy ghost : and the three witnesses in earth are , the spirit , the water , and bloud : and these three on earth , and those three in heaven agree in one . now by the spirit here is meant the feelings and sweet motions thereof , the water may well be the laver of sanctification , & by bloud is understood the sufferings of christ for our justification . when therefore wee find that extraordinarie seale i spake of before ( the joyes of the spirit of god ) that it is not in us . what shall we doe ? shall wee despaire then ? no , then goe to the water ; when the witnesse of the spirit is silent , goe to the work of the spirit , see what gracious dispositions are found in thee . i , but what shall we do if the waters be troubled in the soule , as some times there is such a confusion , that we cannot see the image of god upon it in sanctification . then goe to the bloud , there is alwayes comfort ; goe to the fountaine set open for iudah and ierusalem to wash in , that is never dry . if we find much sinne upon our consciences , and no peace in our hearts ; apply the bloud of sprinkling , that will give rest . when thou findest nothing but corruption and filthinesse in thy soule , when thou seest neither joy nor sanctification of spirit , goe to the lord jesus , and hee will purge thee from all guilt , and wash thee with clean water . but to goe on . who hath sealed us , and given us the earnest of his spirit in our hearts . this is the third word , borrowed from humane contracts , to set forth gods gracious work in the soule : annointing wee had before & sealing ; now here is earnest . the variety of expression shewes , there is a great remainder of unbeliefe in the soule of man , which causeth the blessed spirit to use so many words to manifest gods mind , and assure the soule of salvation , stablishing , annointing , sealing , and earnest . and indeed so it is , howsoever we in the time of prosperity ( when all things goe well with us ) are apt to presume our estate is good , yet in the houre of death when conscience is awaked , we are prone to nothing so much as to call all in question , and beleeve the lies and doubts and feares of our owne deceitfull hearts , more than the undoubted truth and promise of god. therefore the lord takes all courses to establish us , he gives us rich and pretious promises , hee gives us the holy spirit to confirme us in those promises , he seales us with that spirit , and gives us a comfortable earnest thereof , and all to settle these wretched & unbeleeving hearts of ours . so desirous is god that wee should be well conceited of him , that hee loves us better than wee love our selves ; hee prizeth our love so much , that he labours by all meanes to secure us of our eternall welfare ; as knowing , that except we apprehend his love to us , wee can never love him againe , nor delight in him as we ought to doe . now the spirit is an earnest of our inheritance in heaven , wee are sonnes here indeed ; but wee are not heires invested into the blessed estate we have title to ; god doth notkeep all our happinesse till another world , but gives us somewhat to comfort us in our absence from our husband ; hee gives us the holy ghost in our hearts , as a pledge of that glorious condition , which wee shall one day have eternally with him ; this is the meaning of the words . but to shew you more particularly , in what regard the spirit is called an earnest . first of all , you know an earnest is used , for security of a contract . so the holy spirit doth secure us of the blessed estate , we shall have in heaven for ever . secondly , an earnest is part of the bargaine , a part of the whole which is secured , though it be a very little part , yet it is a part ; so it is with the spirit of god , in its gracious work upon our hearts , the joy of the spirit is a part of that full joy and happinesse , which shall bee revealed hereafter to us . thirdly , an earnest is little in comparison of the whole ; so the spirit in the work and graces therof , is little in regard of that fulnesse which wee shall have in heaven ; but though an earnest be smal in it selfe , yet it is great in security ; a shilling secures a bargaine of a thousand pound we see ; wee value an earnest not for its owne worth , so much as ( for that which it is a pledge of ) for the excellent bargaine and rich possession which it doth interest us unto : so the spirit of god with its blessed effects in the soule , the joy and peace of the spirit , chearing and reviving perplexed sinners ; this earnest , i say , though it be little in it selfe , yet it is great to us in respect of the assurance that we have by it . againe , it hath the terme of an earnest , because an arnest is given rather for the security of the party that receives it , than in regard of him that gives it ; so god gives us the earnest of his spirit , grace and comfort in this life , not so much for god , for hee meanes to give us heaven and happinesse , when wee are dissolved : as he hath passed his promise , so hee will undoubtedly performe the same ; hee is lord and master of his word , hee is jehovah that gives a being to his word , as well as to every other thing : but notwithstanding having to doe with mistrustfull , unbeleeving men , hee is pleased to condiscend to our weaknesse , hee stoops to the lowest capacity , and frames his speech to the understanding of the simplest soule ; for which purpose this terme of earnest is here borrowed . in these respects the spirit of god together with the graces of it , and the comforts it brings ( for they are not divided ) is called an earnest . and thus having cleared the point , we will observe this doctrine for our further instruction . that a christian ought to be , and may be assured of his interest in god , because ( as i said before ) an earnest is given not so much for gods sake , as for our sakes ; this then must needs follow from hence , either none have this earnest , or else those that have it , may be assured of their comfortable condition . otherwise god is fickle , and playes fast and loose with his children , which is blasphemy to affirme . besides , if none have this earnest , then the apostle speaks false , when he saith , god hath stablished us , and given us the earnest of his spirit , which is horrible impiety once to conceive . if this be so , then either such as have this seale and earnest of the spirit , may be assured of their estate in grace or not ; and if not , where is the fault ? will not god really and truly vouchsafe unto his people this earnest of the spirit in their hearts ? vndoubtedly he will , he is desirous that wee should be perswaded of his love in all things , and therefore we may and ought to bee assured of his favour towards us : s. iohns whole epistle containes little else , but sundry markes & evidences how we may know that wee are the children of god : wherefore was christ himselfe sealed of the father to the office of mediatour ? wherefore did he die and rise againe ? and wherefore doth hee still make intercession for us in heaven ? that wee should doubt of gods love ? ( when as he hath given us that which is greater than salvation , yea greater than al the world , even his owne sonne . ) no certainly ; can we desire a more ample testimony of his favour , than he hath already bestowed upon us ? is it not the errand of all gods mercies to bring us neerer to him selfe ? that we should not doubt of his love , but rest securely upon him : why then doe we distrust the almighty , who is truth it selfe , and never failed any ? yet we must know that christians have not at all times alike assurance of their interest , for there is an infancy of grace , where in we are ignorant of our own condition . and there is a time of desertion , when as god to make us looke better to our footing , leaves us a little , as if he would forsake us quite , when indeed hee onely withdrawes his assistance for a while to make us cleave the closer to him . there be also certain seasons , wherin though we are assured of gods favor , yet we have no feeling or apprehension of the same which differeth in christians much , according as they are more or lesse sensible of their estates . some againe use not that care and diligence in the use of meanes which god requires , whereupon they are justly deprived of that inward peace and comfort which others enjoy . there is a difference likewise in growth and continuance in christianity , some are strong christians , and some weak , answerable whereunto is the difference of assurance of gods love usually in the hearts of his people . nay , it s possible that for a long time , the lords iewels ( his redeemed ones ) may want this blessed comfort . for wee must conceive there is a double act of faith . first , an act , whereby a poore distressed sinner casts himselfe upon god as reconciled to him in christ. secondly , there is a reflect act , whereby knowing that wee rely upon the truth and promise of the almighty , we have assurance of his favour . now a man may performe the one act , and not the other : many of the saints sometimes can hardly say that they have any assurance , but yet notwithstanding , they will daily cast themselves upon the rich mercy and free grace of god in jesus christ. besides , there are many things which may hinder this act of assurance , because ( together with beleeving ) god may present such things to my minde as may so damp and disquiet my soule , that i cannot have any definitive thoughts , about that which god would especially have mee to thinke upon . as when god will humble a man , he takes not away the spirit of faith wholly from him , but sets before such a sinfull creature , his anger and sore displeasure , together with the hellish torments and paines of the damned , as due to his soule ; which makes him for the present to be in an estate little differing from the reprobate : so that he is far from saying , he hath any assurance at that time : yet notwithstanding he doth not leave off nor renounce his confidence , but casts himselfe upon gods mercy still ; though the lord kill him , yet will he trust in him , although he sees nothing but terror & wrath before him . this god doth to tame our presumption , and prepare us for the enjoyment of his future glory . if we feele not sense of assurance , it is good to blesse god for what we have . wee cannot denie but god offers himselfe in mercy to us , and that hee intends our good thereby : for so we ought to construe his mercifull dealing towards us , and not have him in jealousie without ground . had wee but willing hearts to praise god , for that which we cannot but acknowledge comes from him , he will bee ready in his time to shew himself more cleerely to us . we taste of his goodnesse many wayes , & it is accompanied with much patience : and these in their natures should leade us , not only to repentance , but to neerer dependance on him : we ought to follow that which god leads us unto , though he hath not yet acquainted us with his secrets . these things we must observe , that we give not a false evidence against our selves , though wee have not such assurance as wee have had , yet alwayes there is some ground in us whereupon we may bee comforted , that wee are gods children , could we but search into it . let us not then be negligent in labouring for the same , and in the lords good time we shall certainly obtaine it : it is the prophanenesse of the world that they improve not those helpes which god hath afforded for this purpose . nay they had rather stagger and take contentment in their own wayes , saying ; if god will love mee in a loose licentious course , so it is , but i will not give diligence to make my calling and election sure : i will never barre my selfe of such profits and delights , nor forsake all , chiefly to minde spirituall things . whereas wee ought constantly to endeavour for assurance of grace , that god may have honour from us , and we the more comfort from him againe ; that we may live in the world above the world , and passe cheerefully through the manifold troubles and temptations which hefail us in our pilgrimage . a man in his pure natu rals will swell against this doctrine , because he feeles no such thing , and thinks what is above his measure , is hypocrisie . he makes himselfe the rule of other christians to walke by , and therefore values and esteemes others by his uncertaine condition : but the heart of a christian hath a light in it , the spirit of god in his soule makes him discerne what estate he is in . in a naturall man all is dark , hee sees nothing because his heart is in a dungeon , his eye being dark , the whole man must needs be in blindnesse . all is alike to him , he sees no difference betweene flesh and spirit , and therefore holds on in a doubting hope ; in a confused disposition and temper of soule to his dying-day . but a christian that labours to walk in the comforts of the holy ghost , cannot rest in such an unsetled estate ; he dares not venture his eternall welfare upon such infirme grounds : what ? to depart this life , and be tossed in uncertainty , whether a man goes to heaven or to hell ! what a miserable perplexity must such a soule needs be in ? therefore he is still working out his salvation , and storing up of grace against the evill day . and well may this condition challenge all our diligence in labouring for it : because it is neither attained nor maintained without the strength and prime of our care , for the sense of gods favour will not bee kept , without keeping him in our best affections , above all things else in the world besides ; without keeping of our hearts constantly close and neere to him , which can never bee done without keeping a most narrow watch over our loose spirits , which are ever ready to stray from him , and fall to the creature . it cannot be kept without exact walking , and serious selfe-deniall . but what of that ? can wee spend our labours to better purpose ? one sweet beame of gods countenance will requite all abundantly . a christian indeed undergoes more trouble and paines ( especially with his own heart ) than others do , but what is that to his gaines ? one day spent in communion with god , is sweeter than a thousand without it . what comforts so great as those that are fetched from the fountaine ? oh woe to him that savours not these heavenly , but lingers after carnall comforts . it cannot but grieve the holy spirit , when the consolations of the almighty are either forgotten , or seem nothing to us . but why doth the spirit thus establish and seale us , and conveigh grace to our soules ? why doth that doe all ? because since the fall we have no principles of supernaturall good in us ; and there must be a principle above nature to work grace in our barren hearts . againe there is still remaining in us an utter aversnesse to that which is spiritually good in the best , therefore there must bee somewhat to over-power their corrupt disposition . but why the spirit rather than the father or the sonne ? hee comes from both , and therefore is fit to witnesse the love of both ; the holy ghost is in the breast of the father and the sonne , hee knowes their secret affection towards us . a mans spirit is acquainted with his in most thoughts : the blessed spirit is privie to the hidden love of god , and of jesus christ to us poore creatures , which we are strangers unto , therefore none so fit to cheere and revive us . indeed the love originally is from the father , but in regard of application of what is wrought by the sonne , all proceeds from the holy ghost ; he receives grace from christ for us . it must needs be so , because no lesse than the spirit of god can quiet our perplexed spirits in time of tentation . for when the conscience of a guilty person is affrighted , what man can allay its feares ? that which must settle a troubled spirit , must be a spirit above our owne . it being no easie thing to bring the soule and god together after peace is broken : we have both wind and tide against us in this businesse , grace being but weak , and corruption strong in the best of us . we should labour therfore for heavenly spirits , & get somthing more than a man in us . there can never be any true peace attained , till the spirit from above settle it in our souls . an unsanctified heart is an unpacified heart . if there be a neglect of holinesse , the soule can never bee soundlyquiet ; where there is not a cleare conscience , there cannot be a calm cōscience , that is a generall rule . sinne like ionas in the ship will raise continuall stormes both within and without a man. take away god once , and farewell all true tranquillity . spirituall comforts flow immediatly from the spirit of comfort , who hath his office designed for that purpose . but how shall we know that we have the spirit ? how may a man know that hee hath a soule ? by living and moving , by actions vitall , &c. even so may a man know hee hath the spirit of god by its blessed effects and operations : it is not idle in us , but as the soule quickens the body , so doth the spirit the soule . every saving grace is a signe that the spirit is in us . wheresoever the spirit dwells , hee transformes the soule , & changes the party ( like himselfe ) to be holy , and gracious , this is an undoubted symptome of the spirits habitation . secondly , all spirituall graces are with conflict , for that which is true , is with a great deale of resistance of that which is counterfeit ; the flesh still lusts against the spirit , and satan cannot endure to see any man walk cōfortably to heaven . what , thinks hee , such a base creature as this is to have the earnest of salvation , to live here as if hee were in heaven already , and to defie all opposite powers ; sure hee shall have little peace this way , i will disquiet and vex his spirit ; if he will goe to heaven , hee shall go mourning thither . this is the reasoning of the cursed spirit , whereupon hee labours to shake our assurance , and follow us with perplexities . the grace and comfort of a christian , is with much conflict and tentations , not only with satan , but with his owne heart ; which so long as guilt remaines , wil ever be misgiving and casting of doubts ; there must therfore be a higher power , than the soule of man to quiet and allay its owne troubles . thirdly , the spirit enables us to the practise of those duties , which by nature wee are averse unto , as to love an enemie , to overcome our revenge , to be humble in prosperity , and contented with any estate . it drawes our affection heavenward , and makes us delight in god above all , as our best portion . hee that hath the spirit , joyes in spirituall company and imployment ; he hates sinne as being contrary to that blessed earnest which hee hath received . he looks on things as god doth , and approves of the same , as hee is made more or lesse spirituall thereby , and so is brought neerer to that fountaine of goodnesse , god himselfe ; by them he esteemes his best being to be in christ , and therefore labours more & more to be transformed into his likenesse . he values nothing in the world further than it conduceth to his spirituall welfare . if all be well for that , hee accounts himselfe happy whatsoever else befalls him . indeed where the spirit hath taken up his firme abode , that soul will little set by any outward change . nothing can be very ill with a man that hath all well within him . but that i may not distract your thoughts , you shall find divers properties of the spirit of god in romans 8. which i will briefly touch . first , it is said that the spirit where it is , dwells in that heart , as in an house , it rules where ever it comes . the holy ghost will not be an underling to our lusts , it repaires and makes up all our inward breaches . the spirit prepares his owne dwelling , he begets knowledge and acquaintance of god within us ; hee is not in us as hee is in the wicked , hee onely knocks at their hearts , but hath not his abode there . secondly , when the spirit comes into a man , hee subdues whatsoever is cōtrary to it , and makes way for it self by pulling down all strong holds which oppose it ; therefore wee are said to mortifie the deeds of the flesh , by the spirit , ver 13. those that by help of the spirit have got the victory of sinne , can in no wise be led as slaves by the flesh : as on the contrary , he that cherishes corruption , and crucifies it not ( by spirituall reasons , but out of civill respects to be freed from aspersions , and to uphold his reputation or the like ) is a meere stranger to the holy ghosts working . thirdly , as many as are led by the spirit of god are the sonnes of god. as the angell went before the israelites from egypt into canaan ; so the spirit of god goes along with his in all their wayes , remooving all lets , and strengthening against all impediments in their christian race . it conducts us sweetly , not ( violently ) as the devill doth those that are possessed with the spirit ; wee are led strongly indeed , because it is against corruption within us , and opposition from without us , but yet sweetly to preserve the liberty and freedome of the soule still . we are all by nature like children or blinde men , wee cannot lead our selves , the spirit must be our conduct , or wee shall wander and goe aside presently . those therefore that enjoy the same , submit themselves to its guidance , and direction in all things . again , the spirit stirres up sighes and groanes , that cannot be expressed . when we are not able to pray , or lay open the griefes of our soules , if wee can but send out sighes & groanes to heaven , they shall bee accepted ; for god will heare the voyce of his own spirit , from whence these sobs & complaints come . how should wee be overwhelmed with despaire , did not the spirit support us ? those therefore that in extremity have nothing to comfort them , yet are able to send forth holy desires to the lord , may certainly conclude that the spirit is in them . again , the spirit makes us mourne , and wait for the adoption of sonnes , the same spirit that sanctifies a sinner , witnesses to his soule , that god is his . worldlings grieve not for their absence from christ , neither at all long they for his blessed appearing , because their heaven is here . they mourne not for the hidden distempers , and secret impersections of their soules , whereas the godly are much in condemning thēselves , for that which no creature can tax them of ; want of cōmunion with their maker , straitnesse of spirit , distraction in dutie , that they cannot obey as they would ; these exceedingly deject them , yet wait they will without despaire , till god have finished their course ; there is such a divine power in faith , as a very little beam of it , having no other help than a naked promise , will uphold the soule against the greatest discouragements , and keepe it from utter sinking . indeed , waiting is a difficult duty , both in regard of the long day , which god usually takes before he performes his promise , as also by reason of the untowardnesse of our natures , being ready to be put off by the least frown , did not god by a spirit of constancie preserve the soule immoveable in all conditions , whether present or to come , so as it failes not before him ; and why ? because it knowes full well , that god in whom it rests , is unchangably good . alas , we are at the best but light and vaine creatures , till the divine spirit fix and settle us : the firmer our union is here , the surer will be our standing in all danger ; for what can daunt that soul , which in the greatest troubles hath made the great good to bee his owne ? such a person dares chearefully encounter any opposition , as having a spirit higher than the world about him ; and seeing all ( but god ) farre beneath him ; though i might name more , what a many sweet evidences are here to manifest a soule truly ●●ted ▪ and led by the spirit of god ? how may a man obtaine this blessed guest to lodge in his soule and rule over him ? first attend upon the teaching of the gospell . received ye the spirit , by the hearing of the law , or of faith preached ? saith the apostle ; the spirit it usually given , with a cleare unfolding of christ. secondly , omit likewise no meanes wherein the spirit is effectuall , for as a man walking in a garden ( though he think not of it ) drawes a sweet sent of the flowers . so the word of god being dictated by the spirit , leaves a heavenly favour in such as converse with it . the spirit of a man is like water that runnes through mineralls . wee see baths have their warmth from mineralls that they runne thorough . so it is with the soule in its holy imployments . when it hath to deale with good books and good company , it draweth a spirituall tincture from these things , and is bettered by them . withall , take heed that thou grieve not the holy ghost , for that will cause an estrangement of his presence in thy soule . how is that done ? by cherishing contrary affections and lusts to his blessed motions , as when we heare the word , but resolve never to obey it ; when god knocks at our hearts for entrance , oh how readily should wee set open those everlasting doores to receive him ? if christ be willing to give us his spirit , it must needs be our owne fault if wee remain carnall . there being nothing in a manner required to bee spirituall , but not to resist the spirit ; what greater indignity can we offer to the blessed comforter , than to preferre our base lusts before his motions , leading to happinesse ? what greater unkindnesse can a man doe his friend , than to slight his loving direction , and embrace the counsell of a professed ene mie ? the holy ghost presses such forcible reasons upon us of heavenly n indednesse , and de spising earthly things , that it is more than evident , none are damned in the bosone of the church , but those that set a bar against the spirit of god in their hearts ; such are damned , because they will bee damned , that ( say the preacher what hee will ) think it better to bee as they are , than to entertaine such a guest as will marre , and alter all that was there before . take heed therefore of resisting the spirit in the least kind , sad not his blessed motions , but make much of the same by yeelding subjection thereunto ; lay thy soule often before the spirit , suffer thy selfe to be moulded and fashioned by his gracious working ; oh consider how high the slighting of a gracious motion reaches , even to the contemning of god himselfe ; certainly as we use these , so would we use the spirit himselfe were he visible to us . and converse not with carnall company , for what wilt thou gaine there but sorrow to thine heart , if thou belongest to god : and as holy lot vex thy righteous soule with the uncleane conversation of these sodomites , it is an undoubted signe of a man destitute of grace , not to care at all what company he frequents . fourthly , seeing the holy ghost is promised to them that aske it , beg earnestly for it at gods hands ; this is the good th-ing that god gives . christ seemes to insinuate as much , saying , what can i give you better than the holy ghost ? yet this will i bestow on them that ask it : for indeed that is the seed of all grace and comfort . a world of promises are included in the promise of giving the spirit . labour therefore above all gettings to obtaine this high prerogative : the comforts of the spirit are above al earthly comfort , and the graces of the spirit enable to incounter the greatest tentations whatsoever . a man that hath this , stands impregnable . god may withdraw his favour for a time to humble us , but to quench the worke of the spirit ( once wrought in the soule ) all the power of all the devils in hell cannot stirre it . this will carry us through all oppositions and difficulties in our christian race . let a man never baulk or decline a good cause for any thing that hee shall suffer : for the seale and earnest of the spirit is never more strong than when we are deprived of all other comforts save that alone . what makes a man differ from himself and frō other men , but this ? take a christian that hath the earnest of the spirit , you shall have him defie death , satan , the world , and all : take another that is carelesse to increase his earnest , how weak and feeble will you finde him , ready to be overcome by every tentation , and sinck under the least burthen . the apostle peter before the holy ghost came upon him , was astonished with the voice of a weak damosell , but after , how forward was he to suffer any thing . labour not then to bee strengthned in things below , neither value thy selfe by outward dependances . alas all things here are perishing . if thou hast grace , thou hast that which will stand by thee when these faile , the comforter shal never be taken away . what are all friends in the world to the holy ghost ? this will speake to god for us when no creature dares looke him in the face . the spirit will make requests with sighes and groanes in our behalfe , and wee may be sure we shall bee heard , when that intercedes for us . what prison can shut up the spirit of god ? oh gaine this what ever thou losest , preferre it to thy chiefe treasure . the very earnest of the spirit is far more pretious , than the creatures full quint essence . if the promises layd hold on by faith , quicken and cheare the soule , what shall the accomplishment of them doe ? if the giving a taste of heaven so lift our souls above all earthly discouragements , how glorious shall we shine forth , when the spirit shall be all in all in us ? this will make us more or lesse fruitfull , more or lesse glorious in our profession , and resolute in obedience through our whole course . if we want this we can never be thankfull for any thing , for it is the love of god that sweetens every mercy to us , ( and indeed is more to be valued than any blessing we enjoy besides ) which if we eye not or are ignorant of , what can we expect but wrath and displeasure in all that befals us ? oh it is sweet to see favours and benefits issuing from grace and love : they doe not alwayes proove mercies which men oft times esteeme to be so . we can have no sollid comfort in any condition , further than god smiles upon us in it . what a fearefull case must that then be , wherein a man cannot be thankfull for what he hath . every condition and place we are in , should indeed be a witnesse of our thankfulnesse to god ; we must not think life was given onely to live in . our life should not be the end of it selfe , but the praise of the giver thereof . it is but fit that we should refer all that is good to his glory , who hath joyned his glory to our best good , in being glorified in our salvation , which while we question and doubt of , it is impossible ever to bee cheerfull towards him . besides , how can a man suffer willingly , that knowes not that god hath begun any good work in him ? how lumpish and dead is he under the crosse without this assurance ? it is worth the considering , to see two men of equall parts under the same afliction , how quietly and calmly the one that hath interest in christ will beare his grievances , whereas the other rages as a foole , and is more beaten . a man will endure any thing comfortably when he considers it proceeds from his fathers good pleasure . this breeds a holy resigning of our selves to god in al estates ; as eli , the wil of the lord be done ; his will is a wise will , and ever conduceth to his peoples good . fearest thou danger , cry unto god , i am thine , lord save me ; i am the price of thy sons blood , let me not be lost , thou hast given me the earnest of thy spirit , and set thy seale upon me for thine owne , let mee neither lose my bargaine nor thou thine . hence it is , that gods childe can so easily deny himselfe in tentations and allurements which others sinck under . oh saith he , the holy ghost hath sealed me up to the day of redemption , shall i grieve and quench the same for this base lust ? it is a great disparagement to preferre husks before the provision of our fathers house : when we give content to sathan and a wretched heart , wee put the holy ghost out of his office . againe , without this we can never comfortably depart this life : hee that hath the earnest of the spirit in his heart , may laugh sathan in the face and rejoyce at deaths ap proaching , as knowing there will be an accomplishment then of all the bargaine ; then the marriage will bee perfectly consummate , then shall be the great yeare of iubilee , the sabbath of rest for ever : hee that lives much by faith will finde it no hard matter to die in it . but let a man stagger and doubt whether hee belong to god or no , what a miserable case will he be in at the time of dissolution ? death ( with the eternity of torment after it ) who can looke it in the face without the assurance of a happy change ? this makes men that see no greater pleasure than the following of their lusts , resolve of swimming in worldly delights still . alas say they , i had as good take this pleasure as have none at all : what shall become of me hereafter , who knowes ? finis . the priviledges of the faithfvll . rom . 8. 28. also wee knew that all things work together for the best to them that love god , even to them that are called of his purpose . there are three things especially that trouble the life of a christian , or at least should trouble the same . the first whereof is sin , with the guilt and punishment thereof . the second , is , the corruption of nature , which still abidesin him , even after his vocation and conversion to christ. the third , is , the miseries and crosses of this life , which doe follow and ensue both upon sinne , and the evill thereof , as also by reason of that corruption of nature still remaining in him , after his recovered estate in grace . for the first , the guilt of sinne , which doth bind men over to death and damnation , that is forgiven to all beleevers in christ jesus the second adam . the second , which is the corruption of nature , which cleaves so fast to us , that is daily mortified and crucified in the saints by the word and spirit of god. for the third , which is the grievous crosses and afflictions , which doe accompany and follow the guilt of sinne and the corruption of nature still remaining in gods children , however they are not taken away , yet they are made to have an excellent issue , for all things work together for the best unto them that love god : so that these words of the apostle do afford us . 1. a ground of patience . 2. a ground of comfort in the former part of this chapter , the apostle had told us , that we know not how to pray as we ought , but that the spirit it selfe doth teach us how to pray , and makes requests for us with sighes that cannot be expressed . and therefore how ever our corruptions and miseries in this life , are not quite taken away , yet the evill of those evils is removed : god teaching and directing us by his spirit , to seek by prayer unto him , for grace to profit by them . and this is the co-herence of these words with the former . the parts here to bee handled may be these . an excellent prerogative . all things work together for the best . secondly , the persons to whom this prerogative belongs . to them that love god , and whom hee doth call . thirdly , the main cause of this blessed prerogative . those that love god have this priviledge , belonging to them , because they are effectually called by his word , according to his purpose . we know ( saith the apostle ) that all things work together for the best to these ; he doth not say , we hope , or wee conjecture , but wee know it assuredly . we have the scriptures of god for it , david saith , that it was good for him that he was afflicted , for therby he had learned to reform his wayes : hee knew by observation that all things would tend to his future happinesse . for hee had seen in the example of iob , that notwithstanding his sore afflictions , yet he had a blessed issue out of all ; he knew this many wayes , he knew it by faith , as also by experience , that every thing should further the saints wel-being . we know , that is , we only know it , who are led and taught of god , and none but wee can be assured hereof , which excludes the wicked , who shall never know any such thing ; but what is it that paul is confident of here ? namely , that all things work together for the best , to them that love god. and this may serve to be a prevention of a question , which weak christians might move in their troubles , and say , never was any more afflicted than i am ? why , saith the apostle , bee it so ? yet neverthelesse all things whatsoever , all thy crosses , vexations , and 〈◊〉 shall work together , and joyne issue ; though they bee averse one to the other , and opposite to the good of gods children , as herod and pilat were ; yet all things thus contrary notwithstanding , shall work for the best unto them ; there is 1. a good of quality . 2. a good of estate . now therefore what kind of good is this the apostle meaneth ? he doth not here mean the naturall or civill good estate of them that love god , but their spirituall condition in grace , and their glorious estate for the life to come ; for the furthering whereof , whatsoever befalls them in this life , shall help forward still . and thus much for the words themselves . the first point to bee spoken of , is , the excellent priviledge of gods children , that all things shall work together for the best ; both good and evill shall turne to their happinesse . the reason stands thus ; all things shal work together for the best to them that love god. therfore all afflictions , crosses , and vexations , whatsoever that betide such persons , shall work together for their good ; and for this cause all gods servants must learne patiently to beare , and cheerefully to undergoe , poverty , or riches , honour , or dishonour , in this world . that all good things do work for the best to gods servants , is most apparent by daily proofe and experience . to begin with the first chiefe good of all ; which is god the father , who is goodnesse it selfe , and unspeakably comfortable to all his : doe not all gods attributes conduce to our eternall welfare ? is hee not set forth in scripture , under the sweet name of a father ; of a shield and buckler , of a tower of defence , of an all-sufficient & almighty god , just , wise , provident , mercifull , full of boundlesse compassion , and all to support his poore creatures from failing before him ? as he is our father , he is carefull of us above the care of earthly parents to their children ; as he is a shield , so he shelters us from all wrongs ; as he is god almighty , and all-sufficient , so his power and bounty serve to sustaine us in this world , and reserve us for ever safe in the world to come ; his wisdome makes us wise to prevent the politick plots of the devill or wicked men ; his justice and providence , they serve to defend us in our right ; to provide for us in all our wants , and prevent the evills of the ungodly intended against us ; his power is ours to keep us , his providence , to dispose all things for our advantage ; every thing in god shall co-work to provide and fore-see all good for us , and mercifully to impart and bestow whatsoever is behoovefull upon us ; so that god being our father , we have right and title to his lov , emercy , power , justice , truth , faithfulnesse , providence , wisedome , and all-sufficiencie . all which shall ever work together for the best , to them that love his appearing . so for iesus christ , the eternall sonne of god. all his glorious titles and attributes , serve like wise for the everlasting comfort of his poore saints on earth : hee is called the husband of his church , to cherish and maintaine the same . his love unto his church is farre above the love of any husband to his wife ; hee is called the saviour of the world , because hee so loved the world , that hee gave his life for it , and hath promised , that whosoever beleeveth on him , shall not perish : he is called the fountaine of life , the well of life , the water of life , the bread of life , the way , the truth , and the life , because that in him is our life , and by him wee are fed and nourished to eternall life ; here in him wee obtain the life of grace , and in the world to come , shall for ever enjoy the life of glory . so likewise for the holy ghost ; what heavenly attributes are ascribed to him in the scriptures ? he is called the comforter of gods servants ; the sealer of the redemption of gods children in their hearts ; he teacheth the elect to call god father ; hee beareth witnesse with their spirits , that they are the sons and daughters of god ; he teacheth them to pray , as they ought , hee fills them with peace that passeth all understanding ; and refreshes their spirits with such unspeakable joy , as eye hath not seene , nor eare heard the like . he that is instructed by the spirit , knoweth the things of god , which a naturall man is ignorant of ; the holy ghost doth call to rememberance the doctrine of god taught unto his servants , & writes the same in their hearts ; so that the operations of the blessed spirit , are all appropriated to them that love god , and they alone have their right in them ; the direction , comfort , teaching , and guiding of the spirit of god , doe serve entirely and peculiarly , to order and work all things together for the best to the godly . yea , the angels themselves are called messengers and ministring spirits , appointed by god to attend and wait upon his servants , hee gives his angells charge over these , to serve them in all their wayes , and to pitch their tents round about them ; whensoever god pleaseth to call any of his out of this world , the angels are a safe conduct , to carry their soules into abrahams bosome ; and at the last judgement , the lord shall send forth his angells to gather his elect , from one end of the world to the other , that they may fully enjoy that which they have long waited for , even eternall blisse and glory . vnder the angels all other creatures are likewise made serviceable for his peoples good . princes in authority , are called in scripture nursing fathers and nursing mothers unto the church of christ : the end of all magistracy being , that we might live religiously and peaceably in all the wayes of god. ministers also are stiled in the word by the names of watchmen and seeds-men , and spirituall fathers , to beget men againe to the kingdome of heaven ; they are called gods husbandmen to manure and till his ground . they are called gods lights , and the salt of the earth , both to enlighten the church with the light of the glorious gospell whereof they are ministers : and to season them with such savoury and sweet instructions , as may make them wise to salvation ; this being the very end of all gods giving gifts to men , that they might build up the church of christ here below . so also the word of god is called the savour of life , & the power of god unto salvation : it is the seed of god , which being sown in the hearts of gods children , springeth up in them to everlasting happinesse : gods word is a light and a lanthorne to guide and direct us in all his wayes : it is the sword of the spirit , to arme us against sin , and to maintaine us in grace . the sacraments likewise are the seales of life , and pledges of our salvation in christ : and ex communication though it bee rough , and the extreamest censure of the church ▪ ( and therefore ought to be undertaken upon weighty grounds ) yet the end of it is , to save the soules of gods people , and to make them by repentance turne unto him . so all outward gifts , as beauty , strength , riches and honours ; these are given by god to serve for the good of his children . as the beauty of hester was an instrument of her preferment , whereby she became a preservation to gods children , and an overthrow of her and their enemies : iosephs outward honours and wealth were made by gods disposing hand , a meanes of the preservation & nourishment of the israelites in the time of their great extremity and famine : the like may be said of learning and other naturall acquirements , all which do often tend to generall and publike advantages . yea , the outward gists of god which are bestowed upon reprobates , are still for the good of his : for they who had skill and knowledge to build noahs ark , though they themselves were not saved therein , yet were they the meanes of noahs preservation : and so it many times falleth out , that men of excellent parts and great abilities without grace , though themselves are not profited thereby , yet god so useth them as their gifts much conduce , to further and build up the church of christ. even outward favour of princes , oft tend to gods servants good . a just man ( as the heathens could say ) is a common benefit . and so a true christian , whatsoever good he hath it is communicable to all the faithfull : and therfore s. paul saith of him selfe , that he was a debtor to all men , both iewes and gentiles , and that hee became all things to all men , that he migh twin some . but here the maine question will be , and the difficulty arises , how all ill things can work together for the best to gods children ? i shall therefore demonstrate , 1 the truth of this , how it can be so ? 2 the reasons , why it is so . 3 observe a caution , that it be not abused . 4 let us see the sweet and comfortable use of this doctrine . that this may the better appear , we must know that all evill things are either 1 spirituall evill things . 2 outward evill things . and for spirituall evill things , they are either first , sinne. secondly , that which hath a reference to sinne , as being evils following after sinne . the first sin of all which hath gone over whole mankinde , and is spread abroad in every one of us , this by gods mercy and our repentance , prooves to al beleevers a transcendent good : for the fall and sin of the first adam , caused the birth and death of the second adam , christ jesus ; who notwitstanding he was god , took upon him the nature of man , and hath made us by his comming , farre more happy than if we had neverfallen : neither would god have suffered adam to have fallen , but for his owne further glory , in the manifestation of his justice and mercy , and for the greater felicity of his servants in christ their mediatour . the next spirituall evill is , the corruption of nature remaining in all mankinde , howsoever broken and subdued in the lords deere ones , this worketh for the best to them after this manner . first it serveth to make us see and know we are kept by god , how that we are not the keepers of our owne selves , but are kept by his power through faith unto salvation . for were it not that god upholds and sustaines us , our corruptions would soone overturn us : but the sight of corruption being sanctified to the soule , causeth us to ground our comfort out of our selves in christ , and no whit to rely on any thing that is in us . our corruptions are also good , to abase the pride of our natures , and let us see the naughtinesse of our spirits that we may be humbled before god. and it is good we should have something within us to make us weary of the world ; else , when wee have run out our race , we shal be unwilling to depart hence . now our bondage to this naturall corruption serves exceedingly to make us mourne for our sinfull disposition , and hunger after our god to be joyned with him , as we see in s. pauls exam ple , rom. 17. where finding the rebellion of his nature , and the strise that was in him , the flesh lusting against the spirit , and the spirit against the flesh , he cryes out , saying , oh wretched man that i am , who shall deliver me from this body of death , and seeketh to god in christ for mercy strait . sometimes god suffers corruption to break out of us , that we mayknow our selves the better : and because corruption is weakned , not only by smothering , but many times by having a vent , whereupon grace stirs up in the soule , a fresh hatred and revenge against it , and lets us see a necessity of having whole christ ; not only to pardon sinne , but to purge and cleanse our defiled natures . but yet that which is ill it selfe , must not be done for the good that comes by it by accident ; this must be a comfort after our surprizals , not an encouragement before . it is our great consolation , that our nature is perfect in christ , who hath taken our nature upon him , and satisfied divine justice , not only for the sinne of our lives , but for the sin of our natures , who will finish his owne worke in us , and never give over , till by his spirit he hath made our natures holy and pure as his owne ; till he hath taken away , not only the reigne , but the very life and being of sinne out of our hearts . to which end he leaves his spirit and truth in the church to the end of the world , that the seed of the spirit may subdue the seed of the serpent in us , and that the spirit may be a never failing spring of al holy thoughts , desires , and endeavours , in us , and dry up the contrary issue and spring of corrupt nature . lastly , it is good that corruption should still remaine in us , that the glory of god may the more appeare , when as satan that great and strong enemy of mankinde , shall be foiled and overturned by a weak and poore christian , who is full of corruptions , and that through the strength of faith , though mixed with much distrust : for a christian in the state of sinne and corruption to overcome the great adversary of mankinde , what a wonderment is it ? it tendeth much to the shame and dishonour of that fiery dragon , that weake and sinfull man should be his conquerour . oh how it confounds him to think , that a graine of mustardseed should bee stronger than the gates of hell , that it should be able to remove mountaines of oppositions and temptations , cast up by satan and our rebellious hearts betweene god and us . abi meleck could not endure that it should be said , a woman had slaine him : and it must needs be a torment to sathan , that a weake child , a decrepid old man , should by a spirit of faith put him to flight . a third kinde of spirituall ill ●f sin , are the things that issue out of this cursed stock , and those are either inward , or outward . for inward sins , they are eithers errours or doubt ings , or pride , or wrath , or such like . and first for doubtings of the truth : this makes gods servants often more resolute to seek and search out the same , and to stand afterwards more firme and couragious for it . for if wee doubted not of things , we should not afterwards bee put out of doubt , nor seek to be better grounded and instructed in them . the corinthians doubted once of the resurrection , but were ever after better resolved in that doctrine , the benefit whereof hath much redounded to the churches good ever since . thomas had the like wavering disposition , but this doubting more manifested the truth . luther being a monk at the first , and not fully grounded in the doctrine of the gospell , did therefore suspect himselfe the more , and wished all men after him to reade his writings warily . the doctrine of the trinity hath formerly been much doubted of , and therefore hath bin with the greater paines and study of worthy men ( then living in the church ) more evidently prooved . and when the pelagians grew into heresies , they were by s. augustine gainesayd , and very strongly withstood . so the doctrine of the church of rome , being branched into divers erronious opinions , and broached to the great hurt and prejudice of christians , hath occasioned the truth of god against them to bee the more excellently cleered and made knowne . for when religion is oppugned , it is time then to hold fast , as the apostle s. iude saith , with both hands , the word , and to fight for the faith : that so wee may know both what to hold , and upon what ground we oppose heresie . now for inward sinnes . as anger , covetousnesse , distrust , and such like ; these often proove advantagious to the saints : their corruptions are a meanes of their humiliation : paul and barnabas having a breach betweene them , were so exasperated , that they forsook each others company , by which means it came to passe , that the church was more instructed than before . and hence wee may see what the best men are in themselves . if luther had had no infirmities , how would men have attributed to him above measure ? as we see , they were ready to sacrifice to paul and barnabas , which shewes us , that even the distempers and weaknesses of gods servants , are disposed by divine providence to their eternall welfare . yea , god often suffereth his children , to fall into some outward grosse sinnes , that by meanes thereof they might bee humbled and abased , and in the end be cured of that provoking sinne of being proud in spirit . the falling of gods children doth much deject them and bring them upon their knees with shame . it makes them gentle and meek in the reprehension of their brethren ; for having slipped out of the way themselvs , and being by repentance recovered , they learne to restore others with the spirit of meeknesse , as the apostle speakes . a man humbledby experience of sinne in himselfe , will soone relent at the fall of others . those often times prove the most excellent instruments in the church who have formerly beene overtaken with some grosse sinne , by meanes where of they have ever after beene much abased in their owne eyes . we see david , paul , and peter , fell grievously , but being afterwards raised againe , and finding comfort themselves , they were a great meanes of strengthning others : for he which teacheth out of his owne experience and feeling , is the fittest and best teacher of all . so it was with ionah , when by casting him into the sea , god had humbled him , he was fit to preach repentance to niniveh . this is a most certaine truth , that never any of gods elect fell grievously , but he was the better all the dayes of his life for his fall . david having beene thorowly humbled for sinne , when shimei his subject cursed him to his face , how patiently did hee beare the same ? so peter having denied his master , and afterwards recovering himself again , we see how zealous he was for his lord christ , & suffered death for him . furthermore , not only the sins of gods children which they themselves commit , do work for their best , but also the sinnes of others of the saints , with whom they converse and live , doe much tend to their good and welfare . do not the fals of david peter , manasses , and paul , comfort the distressed and despairing soules of such as languish , and are ready to faint under the burthen of their sins ? and do not the registry of their sins in scripture , give hope to us that god will be mercifull to our sins also : we may not think it is gods will , to set upon perpetuall record , the sinnes of his servants for their shame , disgrace , and punishment , but for our comfort , who live and remaine to the end of the world . and the faults of the saints have two excellent uses , whereof the one is for comfort , the other for instruction . the use in regard of comfort , is this : god hath shewed mercy to david , paul , peter , and others , sinning grievously against him , and repenting of the same ; therefore if i also shall sinne , and truly repent as they did , surely god is where he was , as full of mercy and readinesse to forgive , now as ever . the second use for instruction is this ; if such excellent and eminent saints by sinne have fallen grievously ? how then much more are we poore weak soules subject to fall , if wee neglect watchfulnesse over our selves ? if a weak christian oft assaulted with tentations , should not see the falls & slips of gods worthier servants , he would be in a wonderfull desperation , and cry out of himselfe , saying , alas , what shall i doe , never was any so assaulted and tempted , so cast downe , and overcome in temptations as i am ; and therefore my case is more fearesull , and worse than ever was any ; but when hee considereth the grievous falls of gods speciall servants , how they have stepped aside foulely , and yet obtained mercy ; by their examples hee beginneth to be revived , and receive inward comfort ; wherby it is evident , that all sinnes whatsoever of gods elect , as vile and as loathsome as they are , doe by gods providence , and our owne serious repentance turne to their good , and the good of those with whom they live . the next spirituall evill , is that which followeth after sinne committed , viz. gods desertion , or forsaking of us , when he seemes to hide his favour from men , after they have sinned against him ; when god manifests himselfe as an enemie to his people , this grieves them more than any thing else in the world beside ; wee see david how hee calls upon god , not to rebuke him in his wrath , nor forsake him in his displeasure , where hee sheweth how grievously he was afflicted with the anger of the almighty . but albeit that god doth seeme sometimes to forsake his servants , it is not for their confusion , but for their consolation ; for by this meanes they come to be poore in spirit , and wonderfully emptied of themselves . and it is very observable , that when such as are thorowly wounded , and afflicted inwardly , come to recover strength and peace againe , they often prove the most cōfortable christians of all others ; walking with more care to avoid offence all their lives after . christ jesus himselfe , though hee never sinned , but onely stood ( as a surety ) in our roome to pay the ransome of our debts , seemed to be forsaken of god his father ; and because hee was thus thus humbled , therefore hee was after most highly exalted above all , both in heaven and in earth . so iob seemed to be forsaken , and doth grievously bemoane his miseries , but this was not because hee had sinned against god , more grievously than others had done , but for the triall of his faith and patience , to give him experience of gods love to him in the crosse , that he might cleave the closer to his maker all his time after . another evill arising from the guiltinesse of sin , is anguish of mind , and a wounded spirit , which ( saith salomon ) who can beare ? but for all this , griefe for sinne , is an happy griefe ; yea , a griefe never to bee grieved for . this wound in spirit breedeth afterwards a sound spirit ; repentance is good , & faith in christ is good ; but what doth prepare us to these happy graces ? is it not a wounded spirit ? who would ever repent of his sinnes , and lay hold on christ for remission of the same , if hee were not pricked and pierced in the sence thereof ; christ professeth himselfe to bee a physitian ; but to whom ? to the lost sheepe of israel . he promiseth ease and refreshment , but to whom ? to them that are weary , and laden with the burthen of their sinnes ; the spirit of the lord was upon him , that he might preach the gospell to the poore , and hee was sent to heale the broken hearted , that hee might preach deliverance to the captives , and recovering of sight to the blind , and set at liberty them that are bruised . againe , divers christians doe walk very heavily and uncomfortably , by reason of inward tentations ▪ & blasphemous imaginations , which oft are suggested , & enter into their minds ; but these sinnes which so vex the soules of poore christians , are a meanes of their humiliation , causing them to sue more earnestly to god for pardon . and these sinfull corruptions doe further serve for a testimony to themselves , that they are not under the power of sathan , but live in the kingdome of grace ; for if they were captived to the devill , and under his government , then would he never molest & vex them , but suffer them quietly to live and die in their sins , but because they are from under his rule and jurisdiction , therefore hee perplexeth & troubleth them all he can : by which it is evident , that all sinnes by gods mercy and our repentance , do work together for the best unto us . yea , the circumstances of sin as continuance therin , which much agravates the sinne ; when such a one truly repents , and is restored to christ , it maketh him more zealous , and watchfull ever after ; as wee see in paul , and the thiefe on the crosse , who finding favour , acknowledgeth his worthinesse of punishment , reprehendeth his fellow on the crosse , & justifieth christ to have done all things well , and so giving glory unto god , and crying for mercy , receiveth a comfortable promise of an heavenly kingdome . all things are possible to god. we can never be so ill , as he is powerfull and good , god can bring contrary out of contrary . he hath promised to poure cleane water upon us , which faith sues out , and remembers , that christ hath taken upon him to purge his spouse , and make her fit for himselfe . further , the very relapses and back-slidings of gods servants into sinne , doe not argue no repentance , but a weak repentance , and therefore when they are againe rebuked and turned from sin , their relapses doe make them set upon the service of god more strongly , and runne more constantly in his wayes . where true grace is , sinne looses strength , by every new fall ; for hence issues deeper humility , stronger hatred of evill , fresh indignation against our selves , more experience of the deceitfulnesse of our hearts , and renued resolutions till sinne bee brought under . adam lost all by once sinning , but we are under a better covenant ( a covenant of mercy ) and are encouraged to go to god every day , for the sins of that day . for it is not with god as it is with men , who being offended will scarce be reconciled , but god offended still offereth mercy . he is not only ready to receive us when we returne , but perswades , and intreates us to come unto him : yea , after backsliding and false dealing with him , wherein he allowes no mercy to bee shewed by man , yet he wil take liberty to shew mercy himselfe , as in ieremiah , if a man have an adulterous wife , and shall put her away , and shee become another mans , he will not receive her any more to him . but saith the lord , thou hast played the harlot with many lovers , yet turne againe unto mee , for i am mercifull , and my wrath shall not fall upon you : i will not alwayes keepe mine anger , though your sinnes be as crimson , they shall bee white as snow , and though they were red like skarlet , they shall bee as white as wooll ; if yee will turne to me , and wash ye , and make ye cleane , and cease to doe evill , and learne to do well . so revel . 2. christ speaking to the church of ephesus , saith , she hath fallen from her first love , but saith he , remember from whence thou art fallen , and repent , and doe thy first works , and i will receive thee to favour ; by which wee see , that the relapses of gods elect , as they doe not finally hinder mercy from their soules , so notwithstanding the same , they are still encouraged to return to god , to renew their covenant by faith and repentance , and cleave more strongly to him . as for outward evils , they are , first , evils of estate , as want and poverty , which oft fals out to be the portion of gods children , yet are they not any whit the worse hereby , but rather the better in their inner man : for the lesse they have in this world , the greater and larger happinesse shall they partake of in another world . what they lose one way , is supplied another . whatsoever comfort we have in goods or friends below , it is all conveyed from god above , who still remaines , though these be taken away . the saints see , that if to preserve the deerest thing in the world , they break with god , he can make it a dead contentment , and a torment to them : wheras if we care to preserve communion with god , we shall be sure to finde in him , whatsoever we deny for him , honour , riches , pleasures , friends , all ; so much the sweeter , by how much we have them more immediately from the spring-head . our riches , and friends , and life it selfe may soon depart . but god never loseth his right in us , nor we our interest in him . every thing beneath , teaches us by the vanity and vexation we finde in them , that our happinesse is not there ; they send us to god , they may make us worse , but better they cannot : our nature is above them , and ordained for a greater good : they can but go along with us for a while , and their end swallowes up all the comfort of their beginning . besides , none have that experience of gods goodnesse and faithfulnesse , as those that are in want and misery : god in his wisdome foreseeing what is best for his servants , knowes , that the more worldly wealth they doe abound in , the lesse their estimation would be of heavenly things : he sees how apt the poore creature is to be carried away with present comfort , and to have his love drawne to the world from better contentments . the poorer they are in worldly riches , the more they seek to bee rich in grace , in knowledge , faith , and repentance , which heavenly treasures incomparably surmount the most transcendent excellency which the creature can yeeld . as for the evill of losing a good name , a thing oft befalling the children of god , to be slandered and evill spoken of . they upon every small disgrace take occasion to enter into themselves and try , whether they be guilty of such hard imputations as are flung upon them . and if upon a serious consideration hee finde himself disgraced for good things , he weares it as a crowne , and as a garland upon his head , rejoycing that he is accounted worthy to suffer for the lord iesus , esteeming the rebukes of christ grea ter treasure than the riches of egypt . a true beleever resignes his good name , and all that hee hath to god. he is assured that no man can take away that from him , which god will give him , and keepe for him . it is not in mans power to make others conceive what they please of us . for the evils of body , such as sicknesse , and diseases of all sorts , which daily attend our houses of clay : god by meanes hereof acquaints his children with their fraile condition , and shewes them what a little time they have to provide for eternity , thereby driving them to search their evidences , & to make all straight betwixt him and them : outward weaknesses are oft a meanes to restraine men from inward evils . god usually sanctifies the pains and griefs of his servants to make them better . the time of sicknesse is a time of purging from that defilement we gathered in our health . we should not be cast down so much for any bodily distemper , as for sinne , that procures and invenomes the same . that is a good sicknesse which tends to the health of the soule : naaman the assyrian , if he had not had a leprousie in his body had continued a leper , both in body and soule all his dayes : his outward grievances made him inwardly sound . the very heathen could say , that we are then best in soule when we are weakest in body , for then we are most in heavenly resolutions , and seeking after god. yea then it appeares what good proficients we have beene in time of health . oh how happy were our conditions , if we were as good when wee are well and in health , as we usually are when we are sick and ill . even death it self which is the end of all , though it be fearefull and irksome to nature , yet it is to gods servants a bed of downe , easing them of all their miseries and putting them in possession of an heavenly kingdome , therefore saith solomon , the day of death is better than the day of birth . god will be the god of his , not only unto death , but in death : death is the death of it selfe , and not of us ; it is a disarmed and conquered enemy to all the faithfull : for which cause s. paul desired to be dissolved and to be with christ , which is best of all . death , albeit it seemes terrible and dreadfull , yet the sting thereof being taken away ( by the death of christ ) it brings everlasting joy along with it ; and is only as a groom-porter to let us in to a stately pallace . whether tend all the troubles we meet with in this world ? but only to fit us for a better condition hereafter , and to assure the soule that when earth can hold it no longer , heaven shall . yea , when friends forsake us , and are false unto us , god is a sure helpe in time of need , he is our refuge from one generation to another ; do we not see that in the decay of worldly comforts , god then manifests himselfe most comfortably to his people : doth he not stile himselfe the comforter of the comfortlesse , and the helpe of them that are in distresses ; and doe not with him the fatherlesse finde mercy ; if men were more fatherlesse they would find more mercy at gods hands . as christ makes us al to him , so should we make him all in all to our selves . if all comforts in the world were dead , we have them still in the living lord. how many friends have we in him alone ? who rather than we shall want friends , can make our enemies our friends . thus it appeares that all miseries are a triall of us to god , and to the world , what we are ; they are a cure of sin past , and a preparation to endure further crosses , they have many excellent uses and ends , and all for the best to gods servants . it is good we should be exercised with present crosses , to put us in minde of the evils we have done long agoe , that so we may repent of them : iosephs brethren being afflicted and imprisoned , called to minde how hardly they had dealt with their brother long before . it should be our wisdome while we remaine here , to consider our warfaring condition , how we are daily invironed with enemies , and therefore ought to stand continually upon our guard against satan , and the powers of darknesse , and as pilgrims and strangers go on in our journey to heaven : not starting at the barking of every dog , nor intangling our selves in worldly things whereby we should be stopped in our way . it is for our best not to bee condemned with the world . afflictions serve for this very end , to make us more prize god , & deny the creature with all its excellencies : are our crosses great here ? let us not be daunted , but beare them patiently , our comfort shall be the greater afterwards . it is not only good for us , that wee should have crosses , but that they should be continued upon us , that wee may the better know our selves ; if all were well with a man wounded , and the sore clean healed , the plaister would fall off it selfe ; so , were wee thorowly cured of our spirituall wants , and in a continuall resistance of every evill way : these afflictions which are the plaisters of our soules , would soone cease and leave us . furthermore , sathan himselfe and all his instruments , when they most set themselves against gods people , and seek their overthrow , then are they working their chief good , the devill when hee thought to make an end of christ by putting him to death , even then , by that very thing , was vanquished himselfe , and the church of god fully ransomed from hell and damnation ; god suffers many heretiques to be in the world , but why ? not that the truth should be held in darknesse , but that it might thereby bee more manifested and knowne . it is sathans continuall trade , to seeke his rest in our disquiet . when hee sees men will to heaven , and that they have good title to it , then he followes them with all tentations and discomforts that hee can . hee cannot endure that a creature of meaner rank than himselfe , should enjoy a happinesse beyond him ; but our comfort is , that christ was tempted , that hee might succour all poore soules in the like case . wee are kept by his power through faith unto salvation . now the causes why all things doe work together for the best to them that love god , are these . viz. 1. it is gods decree . 2. it is gods manner of working . 3. it is gods blessed covenant . 4. it is the foundation of the covenant , christ iesus . gods decree and purpose is , of bringing all his elect unto eternall salvation , and therefore all things in heaven and earth must conduce to bring his servants unto glory . the reason is this , god is infinitely wise , and infinitely strong , provident , and good , therefore by his infinite wisedome , power , providence , and mercie , hee turneth all things to the best for his ; whatsoever is in heaven , earth , or hell , is ordered by god ; neither is there any thing without him ; therefore nothing can hinder his decree ; sathan himselfe with all his instruments , yea the worst of creatures , all must serve gods purpose contrary to their natures , for the good of his children ; the prophet saith , god hath commanded salvation , and he hath commanded deliverance to iacob ; when god hath determined to save any man , all things must needs serve him , that over-rules all things . as it was said of christ when he stilled the seas , who is this that the very wind and seas obey him ? god commanded the whale to serve at his beck to save ionah , and it obeyed . all creatures in the earth are at his disposing , and serve to accomplish his pleasure . the second cause why all works together for the best to beleevers ; is the manner of god working in things , which is by contraries ; he bringeth light out of darknesse , glory out of shame , and life out of death ; wee fell by pride to hell and destruction , and must be restored by humiliation to life and salvation ; christ humbled himselfe being god , to become man for us ; and by his death restored us to life ; when our sinnes had brought us to greatest extremities , even then were we nearest to eternal happinesse . therefore saith the apostle , when wee are weak , then are we strong in the lord. when wee are abased , then are wee readiest to be exalted ; when we are poore , then are we most rich ; and when we are dead , then doe wee live : for god worketh all by contraries , hee lets men see his greatnesse and his goodnesse , that so they may admire his works , and give more glory to him ; he worketh without means , and above meanes , and against meanes ; out of misery hee bringeth happinesse , and by hell bringeth men to heaven . which as it manifesteth gods glory to his creatures , so it serveth for the confusion of mans pride , that hee may discern he is nothing in himselfe , but is all that he is in the lord. the third cause why all things work for the best to them that feare god , is gods covenant with his church ; when once this gracious covenant is made , that hee will be their god , and they shall be his people : that he will bee their father and protectour , must not all things then needs serve for their good ? when as god tells abraham , i am thy god. all-sufficient , only walk before me , & be thou perfect : doth not this engage him to set his power & mercy , his wisedome , and providence , all on work for the happy estate of abraham ? when once god by his promise is become our god , there is a covenant betwixt us and the creatures , yea , and the stones in the street , that nothing shall wrong us , but all conduce to our good . the angels are ours , their service is for our protection , safety , & welfare ; heaven and earth is ours , and all things in them for our behoofe ; christ himselfe , and , together with him , all things else are become ours ; in him we are heires of all . what a wondrous comfort is this , that god hath put himselfe over to be ours ? whom to enjoy , is to possesse all things , and to want , is misery unexpressable . had we all the world without god , it would prove a curse , and no blessing to us : whereas if we have nothing , and enjoy god , we have happinesse it selfe for our portion . if we have no better portion here than these things , wee are like to have hell for our portion hereafter . let god be in any condition though never so ill , yet it is comfortable . he is goodnesse it selfe . and indeed , nothing is so much a christians , as god is his , because by his being ours in covenant , all other things become ours , and therefore they cannot but cooperate for our good . when thou art in the fire , and water , i am with thee , saith god : and thou art my buckler , my glory , and shield , therefore i will not be afraid , though ten thousand of people shall be set me round about , saith david , for salvation belongeth unto the lord. and if god be on our side , who can bee against us ? if god justifie us , who shall condemne us ? can any thing hurt us , when hee is become our loving father ? neither death , nor life , nor things present , nor things to come , nor principalities , nor powers , nor any thing whatsoever , can separate us from his love toward us . a fourth ground , why all things fall out for the best to the saints , is : the foundation of this covenant of god with his church , which is christ iesus , who by his bloud hath purchased our peace , hee being god became man , and is the sole author of all our comfort ; without christ god is a consuming fire ; but in him a most loving father , and ever well pleased . god promiseth in christ his sonne to marry his people unto himselfe for ever , yea ( saith he ) i will marry thee unto me in righteousnesse and in judgement , and in mercie , and everlasting cōpassion . now upon this blessed contract made in christ to his church ; what followeth ? in that day ( saith the lord ) i will heare the heavens , and they shall heare the earth , and the earth shall heare the corne , and the wine , and the oyle , and they shall heare israel , and i will have mercy upon her , that was not pittied ; and i will say unto them which were not my people ; thou art my people , and they shall say , thou art my god. where wee see , what is the reason of all their happinesse , even this , that god will marry them to himselfe . so that this marriage worketh all our blisse ; our conjunction with christ , and reconciliation through his death , is the cause of all our comfort , in him wee have the adoption of sonnes . hence it is , that we are at peace with god , and have freedom from all harmes . christ in his greatest reproach , and deepest humiliation , had his greatest triumph and exaltation ; in his death on the crosse he vanquished death , and entred into eternall life : when christ came into the world , and took upon him our nature , even then the greatest monarch in the world , augustus caesar , was at his command , whom he so ordered , as that by his causing all the world to bee taxed . christ was manifested to be borne at bethlehem in iury. how commeth it to passe , that death which is fearefull in it selfe , cannot hurt us ? the reason is , death is swallowed up in victory by his death . it is christ that sanctifieth all crosses , afflictions , and disgraces to the saints advantage . the evill of them all is taken away by him , and turned to his peoples good . how commeth it to passe that the law cannot hurt us , which pronounceth a curse against every one , that abideth not in all things written therein , to do them ? the reason is , christ was made a curse for us , he was made under the law , that hee might redeeme us who were under the law : and thus is christ a meritorious and deserving cause of procuring all good to us , and removing all ill from us . he doth not only overcome evill for us , but also overcommeth evill in us , and gives us his spirit , which unites us to himselfe ; whereby wee have ground to expect good out of every ill , as knowing , that whatsoever christ wrought for the good of mankinde , he did it for us in particular . in outward favours , grace makes us acknowledge all the blessings wee have to be the free gifts of god , and invites us to returne the glory to him . gods servants take all occasions and opportunities of doing good by those gifts and abilities wherewith they are endowed . when hester was advanced to great honor , mordechay told her , that god had conferred that dignity upon her for his peoples welfare , that she might be a means of their safety . whereas on the contrary , a proud heart destitute of the spirit of christ , ascribes all to it selfe , waxeth more haughty , and growes worse and worse , the more good he enjoyes . a gratious soule upon the sight of the evill of sin in it selfe , is more deeply humbled before god , and with s. paul , crieth out of his wretchednesse . a heavenly minded man being smitten for his wickednesse , laboureth for subjection under the hand of the almighty , and saith , i will patiently abide and endure thy correction , because thou lord hast done it . when the gracious man is held under the crosse , and suffereth bitter things , he saith , it is good for me that i am afflicted , for thereby i am taught to know thee . in all troubles that befall him , hee professeth that it is good for him to cleave unto god. and the lesse outward wealth he hath , the more he seeks for inward grace , making a holy use of all things . vpon these instructions hence delivered , let us take a view of ourselves , and try whether we in our afflictions are such as cleave to god , and are drawne neerer to him thereby ; call to mind the crosses wherewith god hath exercised thee , and the blessings which at any time he hath bestowed upon thee , and see how in both thou hast beene bettered , see what profitable use thou hast made thereof for thy soules comfort . let us see how we have followed the providence of god in his dealing with us : for if we have an interest in his goodnesse , then will wee bee carefull , as god turnes all things for our good , so to follow the same ( together with him ) for the good of our souls . now because things do not alwayes conduce to the good of gods children , as outward peace and prosperity , oftentimes make them worse ; therefore some may object , how can this be true which here the apostle saith , that all things doe worke together for the best to them that love god ? the answer hereunto is , that for the most part the children of god doe take the good of the blessings which god bestowes on them , and avoid the snares of evill which accompany the same ; iob saith , the things i feared are come upon me . by which we see , that iob in the midst of his prosperity did feare , and was jealous over himselfe . but a more plainer answer of the objection is , that if the good things of god , as peace , plenty , and prosperity , doe fall out at the first to their ill , yet neverthelesse they shall prove in the end a great gaine unto them ; for whereas by occasion of these , they formerly fell ( having too high an estimation of the creature , and overprizing the same ) they see now more into their nature , and learne to contemne them . againe the outward good things of this life shew the weaknesse of gods servants , and serve to try what is in them ; and therefore we read of hezekias that god left him , to try what was in him , the outward treasure which he had was a meanes to make knowne to himselfe and others , the pride and vanity of his minde ; the plenty & prosperity of the saints are greater triers of them , than adversities and wants . for many that have comfortably gone through a low condition , have yet foully failed in a full estate ; their corruptions breaking forth to the view of others : prosperity teaches men themselves ; it tries their spirits , and layes them open to the world . therefore it seemeth good to god , to strip his servants of these outward things . they can acknowledge with patience his righteous dealing , knowing that mans happinesse consists not in abundance of these things , but that the blessing of god is riches enough . but some may object and say , i have beene long afflicted , and have had many crosses upon me , and little good doe i finde by them , i am never the better , but rather the worse for all . this may be true thou sayst , but stay a little , and consider the event ; howsoever by reason of the bitternesse and continuance of the crosse , hitherto thou findest little good thereby : yet know that god is all this while but in hammering and working of thy unruly heart , thy good will follow afterwards . we see by experience that sick persons while they are in their physick , are made sicker and sicker , but after that hath done working , then the party is far better than before . it is a folly to think that we should have physick and health both at once : it is impossible that a man should sow and reap both together . we must of necessity endure the working of gods physick . if trouble bee lengthned , lengthen thy patience : when the sick humour is carried away and purged , then we shall enjoy desired health . god promiseth forgivenesse of sinne , but thou findest the burthen of it daily on thee . cheere up thy selfe , when the morning is darkest then comes day : after a fight , victory will appeare . gods time is best , therefore wait cheerefully . oft times gods servants under his crosse are so sore wrought upon , that they have hardly leisure of making a good use of the same , being distracted and dejected for the present , so as they burst out rather into further evill than before . but afterwards when their afflictions are thorowly digested , then they begin to finde the fruit of patience , humiliation , and obedience , and are better for the same ever after : therefore wait contentedly god 's leisure , thou shalt surely finde a sweet calme after the storme is over : though we finde little benefit by afflictions for the present , yet let us not conclude all is naught with us ; for tentations being bitter , will not suffer men in them to lift up their hearts strait : after the extremity & vexation thereof is laid , then ensueth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse . but if all things ( yea sin it selfe ) shall turne to the best to those that love god , what need we then care for the committing of sinne ? the apostle s. paul , ▪ was in his dayes troubled with the like question , therefore observe with what detestation he answers , saying , god forbid , the damnation of such men is just . but to answer more fully and plainly for the satisfaction of weak christians . true it is , that al things , even the sinnes of gods servants shall by gods mercy turn to their good ; yet never the lesse the rule of gods word must be ever regarded , which is this we may not doe evill that good may come thereof . that which is evill in it selfe must not be done ; no , though for the doing thereof we might gaine the greatest good , or avoide the greatest evill whatsoever : as if it were to winne a world , wee might not tell a lye , because it is a breach of gods law ; christ saith to the devill , it is written , thou shalt not tempt the lord thy god. wee may not therefore by sinne tempt god , so to see his goodnesse in working good out of our wickednesse . if therefore upon this ground of doctrine ( that all things shall turn to the good of gods children , yea even their sins themselves ) any of us shal commit wickednesse and displease his majesty , to try what mercy and wisdome is in him , to draw good out of our evill ; this is a provoking of gods goodnes , and those who thus doe , turne the truth of gods word into poyson , and make even that their destruction , which should build them up in grace and holinesse . if we sin through weaknesse and frailty of our flesh , and through strength of tentation , upon repentance we may find grace , but if presuming that god will turne all things to our good , we break his law , what else do we but first of all make god the cause of our evill ; and secondly , vex and scandall the saints on earth : thirdly , we sad the blessed angels in heaven ; and fourthly rejoyce the devils and damned spirits in hell ; putting darts and deadly weapons into their hands to work our ruine and overthrow : nay fifthly , wee grieve the good spirit of god , who continually putteth us in minde of better things ( if wee would hearken to him ) and by whom wee are sealed up unto the day of redemption : sixthly , we slacken grace in our hearts , and whereas we should grow forward in vertue and holinesse , wee weaken the power of godlinesse exceedingly in us : seventhly , all willing sins do abate our affiance in god , and the seeling of his favour towards us : yea , often times by so sinning , many of his deere children have walked heavily without spirituall joy all the dayes of their lives ; for howsoever in regard the lord hath elected us , wee shall never finally fall away and perish , yet wee may want the sweet sence of his favour , and remaine afflicted in spirit all our life long . and then wee shall know that the griefe and trouble which we here undergoe to avoid sinne and subdue it , will be nothing so much as the mischiefe and sosrow ; that sin once committed and yeelded too , will bring on the soule . yea , there is no child of god , but by experience shall one day feele , that howsoever god by his wisedome and mercy , can turne every sinne to our good , yet it will prove bitter as wormwood in the end , the pleasure will never answer the smart and vexation that attends it . the contrition and breaking of thy heart for thy sinnes committed ( if thou be gods ) will more disquiet and trouble thee , than possibly it can bee a trouble to resist and forsake sinne . nay , oftentimes god doth punish the very want of reverence in his servants to him , as also their slacknesse and unfitnesse in good duties , so , as they may easily discerne hee is offended with them for the same . as we may see by the example of the corinthians , who comming unpreparedly to the lords supper , for this very cause were so punished , that some of them were sick , and some weake , and some were struck by death . davids numbring of the people , & hezekias shewing of his treasures to the princes of babell ; howsoever , by some they may be thought small sinnes , yet god scourged them for the same very sharply ; and it is good that gods servants should a little know what it is to offend their maker , for if they will bee so negligent and carelesse in walking with him , it is fit they should reape the fruit of their owne devices . it causeth much relapsing , and backsliding from god , when men have never truly smarted for their sinne . having had knocks in our own wayes , it establisheth us in gods wayes . for we love to wander from our selves , and bite strangers at home , till god by one crosse or other brings us to himselfe , and then wee think of returning to him . nay , it is better for them a thousand fold , that god should so schoole them , then that they should be let alone , and so goe on without controulement from sin to sin till they come to desperation . howsoever therefore that god can , and will turn the sinnes of his servants to their best advantage ; yet better it were for them they had never sinned at all , doe wee not think that david wished hee had never fallen into that sin of adultery ? and would not peter have bin glad , that hee had never denied his master ? the sin of david cost him many a cry for pardon , mercy lord , mercy , against thee have i sinned , forgive mee this haynous crime . and it cost peter many a bitter salt teare too ; howsoever both david and peter after their recovery by repentance , were the better for it , to their dying day . as for all such as persist in sinne , that god may turne all things to their best , let them know that all things shall work together for their bane and utter destruction for ever , which i now come to shew . first of all god himselfe , and his blessed angels , are at enmity with them : and therfore , 2 all the creatures both in heaven and earth are against them . in pharaohs tenne plagues , wee see the creatures were all readie to execute the pleasure of the almighty against him . and the beares out of the forrest were armed by god to devour those scoffing children : this is one part of the burthen , under which the creatures of god do groane , that they serve god against wicked men , and are his armies to punish the rebellious world . 3. even the good gifts of god are turned to the bane of the wicked . absoloms glory , his goodly long locks , were his halter to hang him up by : achitophels wit and policie , brought him to that fearefull end , of being his own hangman . hamans honor , what good did it to him , but only brought him to greater shame ? his greatnesse made him swell in pride , and his pride had a suddaine fall : what became of herods high mind in taking to himselfe the glory of god ? which when foolish people ascribed it to him , was hee not presently smitten , so as the wormes consumed him , and hee dyed a lothsome death ? what became of dives his riches ? did not his abuse thereof plunge him deeper into hell ? wicked men though they abound in this world , yet not being in covenant with god , they have nothing with a blessing . the wicked are but as traytors before god ; and oft it is seene , that great traytors who are by the prince kept in prison , are nourished very liberally , untill their time of execution come : so it is with all gracelesse persons , how ever for the present they have great allowances , yet as traytors ( in the conclusion ) they shall have an hard account to make unto god for all those things they have sinfully enjoyed . and not only so , but they abuse the very truth of god , as shall appeare in divers particulars . first , for the comfortable doctrine of justification by faith alone , they pervert the same to their owne destruction ; saying , wee are justified by faith only , what need wee then care for doing of good works ? alas , they profit us nothing to our salvation . therefore it is to no end to strive to do good . againe , for the doctrine of christian liberty , god having given us lawfull recreations , and plentifull use of his creatures , they turne all into licentiousnesse ; and in stead of moderate refreshment , they make a daily occupation of sports and games ; in stead of a lawfull use of the creatures , they runne into all excesse of ryot , in meat , drink , apparell , buildings , and delights . and for the doctrine of mortality , how do wicked men abuse it , saying , let us eat , drink , and bee merry , for to morrow wee shall die : that which should put thē in mind of spending of their time well , encreaseth their sin . whereas the long suffering of god should lead men to repentance ; the wicked by means of gods patience , runne more securely on in sinne ; treasuring up to themselves , wrath against the day of wrath , and the declaration of gods just judgement , which one day shall ceaze upon them . because hee doth not speedily execute his displeasure , therefore they grow worse & worse . never considering the lamentable condition that sinne brings men into , which did they throughly weigh , they would give the whole world if they were possessours of it , to have their spirits at freedome from this bondage and feare . god will take a course , that his grace shall not bee turned into wantonnesse . first or last , thou shalt find ( who ever thou art ) at what rare thou buyest the pleasure of sin . those that have enjoyed long the sweet of sinne , may expect the bitterest sorrow , and heart-breaking sor it . nay , the greater good things they have , the greater evill they receive thereby by abuse of the same ; the more they are illuminated by the word , their hearts become more rebellious against it ; and the greater authority , wealth , and health they enjoy , the more mischiefe they do with them . those heavenly doctrines , which should build up a good heart unto holinesse , doe they abuse to bring their soules deeper into wickednesse ; shewing themselves like to their father the devill , whose children they indeed are : god hath said , hee would give his angels charge over thee , which is a most comfortable place to a good heart : but how doth sathan abuse this to christ ; that he should fling himselfe headlong from the pinnacle of the temple ; and as the devill , so every wicked man by all instructions of the word , takes occasion to tempt god the more ; turning both grace it selfe , and the doctrine of grace , into wantonnesse . are there not many ●hat heare the word , and know gods mind , who yet profit nothing to amendment of life ? were it not better for these never to enjoy such meanes of heavenly wisedome , than now having the light still to live in darknesse ; their knowledge onely makes their damnation the greater if they continue in sin ; what a lamentable condition is that man in , whose knowledge is only sufficient to damne his owne soule ? but let us see further how all evill things work together for the worst to ungodly persons . and to begin with spirituall ill things , as heresies and errours they serve but to ensnare the wicked ; for instead of making them cautelous , and diligent to search out the truth , they are carried away with every wind of doctrine . so for the ill of good men their fals and sins , the wicked of the world reap no benefit there by , but incourage and hearten themselves the more in a sinfull way , rejoycing thereat , and making it their daily talke : neither doe their owne daily sinnings any whit better them , but are as so many punishments of their former transgressions : god in his justice suffering them still to runne on to the fulfilling of the measure of their iniquities . and for outward evils in this life , those that doe turn to a good mans happinesse , fall out continually to their destruction . pharaohs tenne plagues ( which might have humbled his soule ) made him but worse and worse : therfore saith god , why should i smite you any more ? for even since i punished you ye revolted still . the wicked are like to the smiths-anvill , which by often beating is made harder and harder ; so the more they are corrected , the stubborner and stiffer in sinne they grow . their crosses are laid upon them from an angry god , and are sorerunners of his eternall wrath , which shall seaze upon their soules in hell , where the more they are tormented , the more they shall blaspheme ; and the more they shall blaspheme , and the more they shall blaspheme , the more they shall be tormented without cessation . the cause of all this evil upon the wicked is , first , gods infinite justice , which will not be unsatisfied . secondly , their owne vile hearts , which like a sick man having an ill stomack , digests nothing , but turnes all to poyson . therfore saith the apostle , to the uncleane , all things are uncleane . as poysonsome plants put into a fertile place , doe invenome the ground whereinto they are removed . so the same crosses that turne unto a good mans welfare , prove a bad mans ruine by reason of the corruption within him . another cause is , the devils malicious working by it . he makes wicked men abuse all their parts , both inward and outward to gods dishonour , and their own confusion , endeavouring to conforme them to himselfe . none hath greater knowledge and understanding in the word of god than the devill . yet he turnes all his knowledge unto the sin against the holy ghost : but yet the devill cannot sorce men to wickednesse ; it is their owne sinfull hearts which betray them into his hands . whence we learne that all wicked men in the midst of their happinesse are most unhappy , because they turne the sweetest blessings into bitter poyson ; for all the gifts of god without his speciall gift of using them well , are turned into a curse . as balaam had good parts , but they not being sanctified proved his bane . we see further , that outward prosperity is no mark of the true church . abundance of temporall blessings is no signe that we are in gods favour : neither are learning and knowledge , evidences of spirituall grace : for the devill hath greater understanding and parts than any man : howbeit , sight of sin preserves us from falling into it : and such as shut their eyes against the light , plunge themselves into deeper the misery . now to proceed to further instructions : doe all things work together for the best to gods servants ; then hence we may learne the certainty of the salvation of gods elect . i take my reason from the text it selfe , after this manner . that which nothing can hinder , that is certaine , but the salvation of gods children cannot be hindred , therefore the salvation of gods children is most certaine . if any thing do or can hinder the saints recovery or perseverance , it is sin : but to such as are united unto christ by faith , sinne is so farre from hindring their happinesse , that by gods over-ruling providence it turnes to their best good . the second thing which wee may ground here for the information of our judgement , is this , that as we know , the providence of god is the cause why all things work together for the best to his children : so wee should eye this very particular providence in all that we enjoy , turning the same to our good : there is a working hand of god in every thing towards us , as wee may see in the examples of iob , ioseph , and david , with other of his servants , whose present sorrow and humiliation , was but a meanes of their future glory & exaltation . there is nothing so bad , but hee can draw good out of it when any evill is intended . god either puts barres and lets to the execution of it against us : or else limiteth and boundeth the same , both in regard of time and measure . the god of spirits hath an influence into the spirits of all men , & knowes how to take them off from doing us harme . all the strength of the creature , rests in the great creator of all things , who if hee denies concourse , the arme of their power soon withereth . it cannot but bring strong consolation to the soule , to know that in all variety of changes , and intercourse of good and bad things , our loving god hath a disposing hand . so as all blessings and crosses , all ordinances and graces , nay our very fals , yea , satan himselfe , with all his instruments , being over mastred & ruled by god , have this injunction upon them , to further gods good intendment to us , and in no wise hurt us , which should move us to see his disposing hand in all that befals us . we owe god this respect , to observe his providence in the particular passages of our lives ; considering hee is our soveraigne , and his will is the rule , and we are to be accountable to him as our iudge . we should question our hearts for questioning his care in the least kinde . so long as god sits at the sterne and rules all , wee may bee sure no evill shall betyde us that hee can hinder . thirdly , hence we may learne , that there is not two , but one soveraigne head over the whole world , which is plainly proved by this text of scripture . for all things work together for the best to them that love god : and things which in themselves are contraries , agree together to procure their good ; therefore all things whatsoever , are over ruled by the sole power of the almighty . the devill himselfe although he be called the god of this world , yet he is at christs beck , and could not enter into a few swine , without leave first obtained : hee raiseth up hideous storms and tempests against the saints , but perisheth himselfe in the waves at last ; persecutions and perils may follow us , but they are all limited in the doing of hurt , which plainly demonstrates that there is but one main worker and wise disposer of all things . further , hence observe , that there is nothing in the world , that to gods servants is absolutely evill ; because nothing is so ill , but some good may bee raised out of it , not as it is an evill , but as it is governed and mastred by a supreme cause . sinne is of all evils the greatest , and yet sinfull actions may produce gratious effects , through gods ordering and guiding the same . againe observe , that a childe of god is truly happy in the midst of all misery . to prove this , i reason thus ; in what estate soever the childe of god is , it shall turn to his good : therefore no affliction can make him truly miserable . the proofe of this the apostle sets downe in his owne example , hee was poore , yet made many rich ; he sorrowed , yet alwayes rejoyeed ; he had nothing , yet possessed all things ; he was chastned , and yet not killed : gods children , although to the world they may seeme to be miserable , yet having communion and fellowship with him , they are alwayes happy : the very worst day of gods childe , ●is better than the very best day of the wicked . the worst day of s. paul was better to him , than the best day of nero was to him ; for the wicked , in the midst of their happinesse are accursed ; whereas the godly , in the midst of their miseries are blessed . this doctrine is a ground of understanding divers other places of scripture : as psalme 91. the lord promiseth that hee will deliver his from the snare of the hunter , and from the noisome pestilence : and yet oft times his deere servants are in the hands of the wicked , and taken away by the stroke of his judgements : this truth neverthelesse remaining firme , that all worketh together for their best . so god teacheth us in his word , that he doth make a league betweene his servants and the creatures ; but all such expressions of his love we must bring to this text , and then they are true , else they may seeme to bee false ; the plague shall not come neere thy dwelling place ; but only so far forth as it is for thy benefit . the good prophet was torne in pieces by a lion ; and sundry holy men have received hurt by wilde beasts , whose eternall welfare were furthered thereby . therefore this phrase of scripture ( that the creatures are in league ) is to bee understood , not that they have put off their hostile nature . but that they have the same issue , as those that are at peace with us . here likewise is a direction for us , how to pray for earthly blessings , and the removall of temporall judgements ; often times worldly honours and riches are snares unto gods children , and temporall chastisements ( which wee so earnestly pray against ) work much good unto us . and therefore it falleth out , that when wee pray against temporall calamities , wee pray against our owne good . being therfore afflicted , we should desire not absolutely that god would remove our troubles , but that hee would work his owne good pleasure upon us therby . our prayers for temporall blessings , and removall of temporall crosses , must alwayes be conditionall ; for what good will it bee for us to come out of the fire worse than we were , when wee went into it ? if therefore god in his wisdome see it good for us to have affliction , we should not desire him absolutely to remove the same , till it have done us good ; and then lord deale with us as seemes best in thine own eyes . as for such as affect neither god , nor goodnesse , let them know , that if all things work for the best to the saints , then they may forbeare their successesse endeavours , which they daily enterprize against them ; in going about to hurt the godly , they doe them most good ; for god will benefit them by their malice : their wicked practises shall not only bee made frustrate , but dangerous to themselves ; after the chastisement of his servants for their good , god will cast the rod into the fire . men may know whether they are vessells of mercy or no , by the use they are put to . the basest of people , are fit enough to be executioners . it is a miserable wisedome , when men are wise to work their owne ruine . do not many spin a fine thred , and weave a faire web , when by their turnings and devices they turne themselves into hell ? what ever wee get by sinne for the present , it will one day prove the heaviest businesse that ever wee undertook . god is the onely monarch of the world , and makes all things and persons whatsoever , service able to his owne end , and his churches good . he is higher than the highest : sathan with all his instruments , are but slaves to the almighty , executioners of his will. can we think that gods children who are so neere & deare to him , shall alwayes bee trampled upon by the powers of darknesse . no certainly , hee is interessed in all their quarells , and takes their injuries as don to himselfe . when wee can bee more subtill than the devill , or more strong than god , wee may think to thrive against them . he is a wall of fire round about his church , not only to defend and preserve it , but to consume all the adversaries thereof ; god doth great matters for his servants ; hee rebukes kings and princes , and ruinates empires for their fakes : for the bringing home back againe of the iewes , hee translated the babylonish empire to the persians ; and therefore the wicked must take heed of attempting any thing against gods church ; because the harme thereof will redound upon their owne heads . god delights to take the oppressed parties part , and serves himselfe of all his enemies for his peoples good . they practise against the righteous , and he laughes them to scorne . wicked men cannot do gods children a greater pleasure , than to oppose them , for by this meanes they help exceedingly to advance them . sathan and all his instruments , what get they by their cruelty to the saints ? they doe but encrease their own torment , and doe them the more good ? but this is both against , their knowledge and wills . therefore if they be loath to doe them any good , let them take hee how they attempt any evill against them . and here let all such be admonished how they provoke gods children to cry in their prayers against them : for it is better for the wicked , that they had all the creatures in heaven & earth against them , than the poore saints ; for a few of these wil more prejudice them , than all the world besides . come wee now to the grounds of practise hence to be observed . againe , doth god order all for the best , to them that love him ? let us not then except against any evill that shall befall us , for this our present crosse shall turne to our future comfort . it is the saints happinesse , that their best is in working still , till they be compleat in heaven : but the wicked and men of the world , their worst is alwayes in contriving ; their life is bad , their death is worse , and after death it is worst of all with them . god himselfe , and all under him , work continually for the good of his children , their best is last , their light groweth on clearer and clearer as the light , untill the noone day . but the worldly grow worser and worser every moment : to them that feare god , sinne and sorrow , their very worst , is by gods mercies best for them ; whereas all the best of the wicked by abuse turnes to their worst . observe here the excellencie of the saints comfort , above all other comforts whatsoever : the nature of it is this ; it must be stronger than the grievance of which it is a cordiall : and the reason of spirituall comfort must be more forcible , than any carnall reason can bee to undermine it . now what stronger consolation can a man have than to be assured , that all things ( without exception ) shall work together for his good ; but this is not all . what a sweet refreshment is it , when the soule can say , god will either stop mee from falling into sin , outwardly by afflictions , or else subdue my corruptions inwardly by his spirit , that i shall not bee overthrown by them ; hee will never suffer mee to rot in my sinnes ; but when i do fall , will raise me up again : it beares up a christians heart , that rather than we shall continue in an evill way , god will send some nathan or other to rouse us out of our security . therefore to all thy comforts adde this ; that god will not onely save thee at last , but turne all things to the best whilest thou art here . this is the highest straine of consolation . it is farre stronger to refresh and quicken us , than any grievance can be to afflict us ; it maketh evill things ( in comparison ) to seeme good , as moses counted the rebukes of christ greater riches than the treasures of egipt ; he made more choice of affliction , than he did of the worlds glory . if god bee with us , who can be against us : if he be our shepheard , we are sure to lack nothing . there is such a force of comfort in salvation , that we will rather choose outward evills , than to enjoy outward good things . moses by faith seeing that outward affliction and shame were knit to salvation , chose these , and refused dignity and ease . how ought this to stay the soule under all its heavie pressures ? why should not i be patient in sicknesse , in poverty , in dis graces , or why should i despaire at the houre of death ? am i not under the hand of my god , working my good out of every evill ? it is the subtilty of our arch-enemie to drive us to a stand , that we may doubt of our conditions , and say with gideon , if the lord be with mee , and that i am his child , why is it thus with me ? how is it that all this sorrow and misery hath befallen mee , and lieth so heavie upon my soule ? but our comfort here , is , that god who turneth all things to our best , is stronger than sathan . againe , considering all things conduce unto our good , though in appearance never so opposite ; this comfort ariseth , that if god doe so work this or that , then i must beleeve against beliefe , i must stand firme against contraries ; my faith must answer his manner of working , and beleeve that god can bring me to honour by shame , and to heaven by hell gates : for if it be his course of dealing , first to cast downe , and then to lift up , by disgrace to bring his servants to glory ; then in all my extremities i must rest upon god , who is never neerer unto his to succour them , than when hee seemes to bee furthest off . when ●hee meanes to give victory , he suffer us to be foiled first ; and when hee intends to justifie a poore sinner , he will condemne him first . let us therefore hope against hope , and desire god in our distresses to open our eyes , that wee may see our consolations . hagar had a well by her when she was ready to perish for thrist , and yet she saw it not : and elisha's man had angels to defend him when the aramites compassed him about , but perceived not the same : so the angell of the lord continually pitcheth his tent about the godly though they are not aware of it ; yea , god is then neerest to us when we are in most straights . cordials are kept for faintings . when christ went to cast the devill out of a child , he then most raged and tare him : so likewise satan and wicked men , most rage when they are neerest to their end and destruction . in thy greatest danger never rest on thy friends , but on the lord , who never standeth neerer and firmer to us , than when we are most perplexed and know not what to doe . a distressed soule seeth oft no comfort in outward things , and therefore retireth unto god , in whom it findes whatsoever may make it happy . our strength may faile , and our heart may faile , but god is our portion for ever . when we are weake , then wee are strong ; and when we are most cast downe in our selves , we are neerest to gods helping hand . this carriage of the almighty ought to establish our faith . in all cases of extremity we should have a double eye , one to look upon our grievances and troubles , and another to look upon the issue and event of them . why do men in time of dangerous sicknesse take bitter physick , which is almost death unto them ? why doe they then undergo such things as they loath at other times ? is it not because they rest upon the skill of the physitian ? and shall we then in our distresses dist rust god for our souls , when we will trust a weak and mortall man with our bodies ? if conceit be so strong in earthly things , as indeed it is , then faith is much stronger , when it grounds it selfe upon the truth of the word . when god exercises us with poverty , or other afflictions , this should teach us submission to his providence in any condition , saying , lord do with me what thou wilt , only let this poore soule be pretious in thine eyes . thou hast promised , that howsoever these afflictions lie heavie upon me , yet in the end al shall turn to my good , therefore dispose of thy servant at thine owne pleasure , i resigne all to thee . here is the rejoycing of a christian , which makes him cheerefully passe through any affliction ; he knowes that good is intended in all that befals him : with what alacrity did ioseph say unto his brethren , ye sold me hither , but god hath turned it to the best , that i should preserve and nourish you all , and save much people alive , who otherwise were like to have perished with famine : this made iob so patiently to say , the lord giveth & the lord taketh , blessed be the name of the lord. this is the ground of all true contentation , i have learned , ( saith s. paul ) in all estates to be content , to be rich , and to be poore , to abound , and to be in want , and why so ? whatsoever his estate and condition was , god turned it to the best : shall any man dare to mislike of gods allowlowance ? doth not hee know better what is good for us , than we can possibly imagine what is good for our selves ? this likewise should teach us not to take offence at the reproach and disgrace which is cast upon gods children ; for mark the righteous , ( saith david ) and behold the upright , the end of that man is peace . the issue of their trouble is ever quietnesse : take not one peece of a christian mans life by it selfe , but take it altogether ; and then thou shalt see the truth of this doctrine . to see ioseph in the dungeon and in his irons , we haply may bee offended , and call gods providence in question : but beholding him in his honour and advancement , we cannot but conclude him a happy man. so if we look on iob sitting with sores on the dunghill , there is matter of offence , but to see him restored againe , and blessed with a greater estate than he had before , this is matter of praising god. if we consider of christ abased , & hanging upon a crosse , so there will be scandall , but looke on him exalted to glory far above all dignities and powers , and then the scandall is soone taken away . let us theresore lay one thing to another , when we eye gods people , and we shall see a blessing under their greatest curse . those things which are contrived by mans wit , may argue great folly , if one part be not annexed to the other ; therefore looke to the whole work towards his servants , and then thou shalt never be offended at their condition . this also is a ground of christian boldnesse in holy courses , when a man is fully resolved , that come what will come , god will turne all to his good ; it encourages him cheersully to go through any difficulty : what is the reason of the fearesulnesse and dastardnesse of most men , but only this , that if wee doe this or that duty , or abstaine not from this or that good action ; then this crosse and this displeasure by such and such a person will bee brought upon me . the wise man saith , that the feare of man bringeth a snare , but hee that trusteth in the lord shall be exalted . let us not ( regarding the feare of man ) neglect our duty to god , for he can turne the hearts of the kings on the earth , to seek the welfare of his poorest creature , and make thy very enemies to be thy friends . he that for sinister ends will offend his maker , may well be excluded to the gods whom they have served . go to the great men , whose persons you have obeyed for advantage ; to your riches , to your pleasures , which you have loved more than god or goodnesse . you would not lose a base custome , a superfluity for me , therefore i will not owne you now . such men are more impudent than the devill himselfe , that will claime acquaintance with god at last , when they have carried themselves as his enemies all their dayes . god wants not means to maintaine his , without being beholding to the devill . he hath all helpe hid in himselfe , and will then shew it , when it shall make most for his owne glory . he deserves not to live under the protection of a king , that will displease him for feare of a subject . the three children in daniel said , know o king , that our god can deliver us out of thy hands ; but if he will not , yet neverthelesse we will not fall down and worship thine image . the righteous are bold as a lion ( saith the wise man ) the lord is his strong tower . what need we feare any creature , when wee have him on our side , who hath both men and devils at his beck ? and if god turne all things whatsoever to our good , should not wee through the whole carriage of our lives , chiefly aime at his honour ? god writes our names in his book , he numbers our hairs , and bottles up our teares : he hath a speciall care of us , every good deed wee doe he writeth downe to eternity ; yea , if we give but a cup of cold water in his name , he taketh notice of it : and shall not wee then take speciall occasion to magnifie him in all things ? we pray daily , hallowed be thy name , therfore ought accordingly to observe gods dealing with us . how is it possible that we should give him the glory of his mercies , if we never observe them ? a wicked man considers , this makes for my advantage , and this for my profit , this tends to my ease and wealth , &c. studying how to make friends , and please persons in place above him ; not respecting gods honour and glory in the least kind : whereas the sincere chri stian lookes on all things as they tend to his best happinesse , and therfore , fore-cast thus : if i do this or that good , then i shall grow in grace , & wisdom . and knowledge , but if i neglect it , and be carelesse of well doing , i shall hurt and wound my soule , and break the peace of my conscience : by this company and good acquaintance i shall be furthered in holinesse , become wiser and better in heavenly understanding ; if i fall , they may raise me up , and helpe maintaine a gratious frame within me . where true holinesse is , the soule is sensible of all advantages and disadvantages of good . an indifferency for any company or imployment , shewes a dead heart . this is a main difference to distinguish a childe of god from a prophane wretch that only lives to himselfe , his heart is taken up wholy with the world and matters below ; wheras the godly are all for thriving in grace and increase of godlinesse . the wicked man considers of things as they serve to satisfie his lust ; and if wee have better thoughts at any time , it is but for a start . but a godly mans aimes are alwayes holy , and the strength of his soul is put forth that way . he values himselfe as hee stands in relation to god and a better life ; and esteemes all other things more or lesse , as they further or hinder his spiritual growth , and bring peace and sorrow at the last unto him . but i hasten to the second part of the text , the persons to whom this priviledge belongs , that is , to them that love god. and why to them that love god ? because the apostle speaketh of afflictions ; and wee know that the grace which is most conversant in the saints sufferings , is patience , which floweth from love . also , for that of all other graces is the first and sweetest : it is the first , for whom wee love wee are sorry to offend ; and hate whatsoever is contrary to that we affect : we rejoyce in that we love , & grieve in the absence thereof . it is the commanding affection of all others , and setteth the whole man sweetly a work to attaine its defire . love makes us forward and zealous christians ; all the inward worship of god is in the affections . as thou shalt rejoyce in no god but me , and feare no god but me . all the commandements of god are brought by christ to this duty . againe , love hath a speciall part in this priviledge , of bringing all things to work for our good . for when we love god , wee will make the best use of every thing which we suffer or do . if we love god and eye his glory therein . love makes any burthen easie : it makes us studious of pleasing the party loved ; as we say in the proverb , love me , and doe with me what you will. love is full of inventions , it studies complacencie , and sets the soule a work to honour god in all things . in that the apostle saith , to them that love god , and not to the children or servants of god. wee may observe , that christianity is not a bare title , but it requireth some qualification . therefore the scriptures when they describe a saint on earth , doe not usually say the child of god , but they set him forth by some holy affections or actions wrought in him ; as such as love god , or feare god , and walks in his wayes . hereby shewing that religion is not a matter of complement , but a reall and holy endeavour to please the lord ; and although the scriptures do name but some one particular affection , yet it is all one as if they had named all , for where one is in truth , there all followes . again , in that the apostle here ascribes priviledges to those only that are thus qualified , wee must take heed in applying the promises of god , and these sweet consolations , that we be such persons to whom of right they doe belong ; for all things work for the best , not to every one , but to such as love god : we must not therefore preach comfort to all , but must first labour to make men capable of it : to this end . 1. first , wee will shew the nature of this love . 2. secondly , the exercises of it , and directions unto it . 3. thirdly , some incitements to this holy affection . the ground of love is a considering of god as our owne god , in the covenant of grace , and an acknowledging of our selves , to bee his peculiar children in christ jesus : when wee can say as the spouse in the canticles , i am my beloveds , and my beloved is mine , this is a loving of god ; not as the god of nature only , but as ours peculiar by grace . this union of love , which knits us to christ , impileth another union by faith first ; which is a cleaving to god as my god , and to christ as my christ , whence issues a second conjunction , or cleaving to him in love , as my saviour , my husband , and my head. to come to the nature of this grace , and then to the working of it . the nature of love is seene in foure things : 1. in admiring of some secret good in the thing beloved , which stirres up the soule to make out for it . 2. in a studiousnesse of the contentation of the person beloved . 3. in a desire of union and fellowship with the person we affect 4. in a resting , and solacing of our selves , in the thing wee love . by these let us examine our selves whether we have the true love of god or no ; for it concernes us much to have this grace , it will distinguish us from all others , who feare him not : first , our love to christ commeth from the high esteem of the good things wee see in him : but how shall wee know whether that wee have this admiring of the good things we see in god , and in his word and children ? wee shal know it by our choice , and our choice followes our judgement : would wee know whether our judgement be good ? see what do we choose ( especially ) when things of the world and god come together . and here we want not examples to guide us : the question was , whether that moses should still choose to live in pharaohs court , and hee accounted his sonne in law , or else depart , and suffer adversity with gods children : now moses by sound judgement , had an high esteeme of the excellencie and priviledges of the saints , and therfore chose rather to endure afflictions , than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season . let us then see whether wee can be contented to part with our preferment , or pleasure for god or no. and whether we do esteeme the rebukes of christ greater riches than the treasures of the world ; whether we can lay down our lives and liberties at christs feet , and gladly want all , so we may enjoy him ; if it be so with us , our estate is good . againe , let us see whether wee have a right prizing of the good things in god. doe wee delight to speak much and often of christ , and the benefits we receive by him ? how was saint pauls heart enlarged , and his tongue full of heavenly eloquence , in setting sorth the unspeakable mercies of god , which wee have by christ jesus our lord ? if god be on our side , who can be against us , ( saith he ) what shall separate us from the love of christ : shall tribulation , shall anguish and affliction ? i am perswaded that neither death , nor life , nor any other thing can doe it . another signe to know whether we have a secret admiration of the good things wee see in god , is this , if we doe undrvalue all things else for christ. worldly men are ever admiring of the things below , accounting such men happy and blessed that abound most therein : therefore there is nothing that doth more truly try a man than this : the soul that sees a vanity in the things beneath , and can rejoyce in god only as his true riches , is in a good condition : where there is a true judgement of god and religion , the soule of that man will never stoop to the creature ; the soule so rejoyceth in god , as that it will not yeeld it selfe to any other . adam and eve in their innocencie , were both naked , and were not ashamed ; one reason might be , because their thoughts were taken up with higher matters : in heaven we shall not bee ashamed , of things wee now are ashamed of . a christian soule is so ravished with the enjoying of god , that it mindeth almost nothing but him . the second branch in love , is a desire to doe all things , to the content of the party beloved ; our love to god will frame us to the obedience of his will : obedience is the proofe of love ; if ye love mee , saith christ , keepe my commandements : if wee love god , wee will pray for the enlarging of his kingdome ; where love is kindled in any heart , there is a care to bee approved of him whom we so love . this makes our obedience generall , to all gods commandements , in all places and all things whatsoever . it makes us give our inwards to god , serving him with the soul and spirit . those therefore that nourish uncleane hearts within them , and think it enough to abstaine from the outward act of evill , love not the lord sincerely . the devill himselfe will doe outward things as readily as you , hee will confesse christ to bee the sonne of god ; and say , why art thou come to torment me before my time ? so that if thou dost outwardly only confesse god , what dost thou more than the devill ? in outward duties without sincerity there is no love ; you will pray , the devill will doe as much ; the devill hath a bad end in good actions : so there are many that come to church , & make shew of religion to cloke their evill courses . but such poore wretches , how ever they are pleased with shaddowes , are little better than satan himselfe . againe , if wee be desirous to content him whō wee love , then will , wee suffer any thing for his sake ; therefore the apostles went away rejoycing , and accounted it their glory , that they were esteemed worthy to suffer hardship for christ : and david for dancing before the ark , being by michal mockt , saith : i wil yet be more vile for my god. he cared not for any reproach that could happen to him in a good way : yea , this will make us zealous in his truth ; hee that hath no zeale , hath no love ; if our hearts rise not when god is dishonoured , what love have we to him ? is gods glory and the churches welfare deare to us ? it is a signe we love him : but can we see those things goe backward , and have no zeale , nor be any thing affected therewith , surely then we have no love . againe , if wee have a true love to god , then have we a desire of union and cōmunion with him ; we will be much in meditating of him , in speaking to him , and conferring with him . those therefore that goe on from day to day , without private speeches with god , or solacing of their soules in him , what affection have they to him ? love is communicative ; and what desire of communion can that soule have , that lives a stranger to his maker ? can wee say we love one with whom wee never conferre , or speak to any purpose . againe , if wee love a man , we will advise with him , especially in matters of moment : so if wee love god , wee will take counsell of him in his word , for the guidance of our lives , and stablishing our consciences : if we advise not with god , it is a signe that we either think hee doth not regard us , or else that we count him not worthy to be counselled by . another signe is , to examine what desire wee have to be dissolved , and to be with christ : doe wee love his appearing to judgement ? and are wee now fit for his comming ? surely then it is a plaine signe , that our love is fixed and set upon him : so much as wee doe faile of this desire , so much wee faile in love to christ : what was the reason that the people under the law , were so much afraid at the appearing of an angell unto them ? was it not this , that they were not fitted and prepared for god ? a man may bee a good christian , and yet not at all times willing to die : for as eyes that are sore , cannot alwayes endure the light ; so a soule galled with sinne desires not to heare of the day of jadgement , yet ought wee to thirst after it . another signe of this grace , is our eager and hungry desire after god , when with david we can say , oh god my heart panteth after thee , as the hart panteth after the brookes of waters . when a soule is never at rest til he injoyes his maker , but cryes out still , oh when shall i appeare in his presence , it is a good signe . the last branch or property is a resting and quieting our selves in the love of god above all things whatsoever , saying with david , whom have i in heaven or in earth besides thee , or what doe i esteeme in comparison of thee ; let me enjoy but the light of thy countenance , and it suffices me : demand therefore of thine owne heart , what the things are that trouble thee most ? and what is the cause of thy sorrow and disquietments , whether it be for losses or crosses outwardly , or for want of gods love and the sense and feeling of his favour inwardly . they which grieve chiefly for outward evils , are most carried in their affections that wayes : but if in the confluence of all worldly blessings , wee can grieve for our spirituall wants , it is a comfortable evidence . when a man reckons not his happinesse to stand in the possession of the creature , but in the fruition of the creator , and desires his favour above any thing , it is a gratious signe . david had an abundance , yea , he had a kingdome , yet nothing would satisfie him but the mercies of god. and when hec was in want , what course did he take , but stil comforted himselfe in the lord his god : that which a man sorroweth most for when he wanteth it , that he rejoyceth most in when he hath it : can we in our crosses rejoyce that god is ours ? this is an excellent signe , and plainly discovers , that we place our contentation more in him than in any thing else : can we delight more in the solace of his favour , than in outward prosperity ? it is a heavenly testimony of a renewed condition . when david was in his greatest distresses ; what desires had he then most in him ? why , hee longed after the house of god : when the people were ready to stone him , wherein did he trust , but in the lord his strong ●ower ? in the last place would we know whether we can rest in god or no. let us examine our selves then what endeavours we have every day to cleanse our soules from sinne ; that so god may take pleasure in us , and we againe may delight in him ? let us see how we restraine our affections from running riot after the world and sinful pleasures . and how we set our joy upon god , and frame our selves to do his will ; i beseech you let us deale faithfully with our owne soules in this particular . and if we find that our hearts tell us , ( as peters told him ) lord thou knowest that i love thee , i desire ô lord to please thee above all things , i have set mine heart upon thee , and i joy in thee and in thy love , more than in all things else in the world . if thus i say we can in the integrity of our spirits appeale to god , who only knowes and searches our wayes , and say , truly lord thou knowest that i love thee ; it is a certaine and infallible signe unto us that we are his , and all things shall work for the best unto us . but take we heed how wee deceive our selves in these things ; by love we are christians , therefore labour for sincerity of affection . a reprobate or a castaway may go far in these four signes of love . he may admire and wonder at the good things of god , but he doth it not from any thing within him , but from the outward beholding of them ; he can admire and talk of them , but yet such men are without any rellish or sweet taste of the thing they speak of . so likewise an hypocrite may desire to please god in many things , but not in all things : as we see in herod , he heard iohn baptist willingly , and obeyed in some things , but not in all ; he could not be crossed in his beloved sinne which abode in him , that must not bee touched . then farwell god , and farwell christ and all . so a castaway may desire to be in heaven , as being a place good for him : and hee may have some little taste of those joyes above , as is mentioned in the hebrewes : but hee hath no rellish of them from the love of god , but only from the love of himselfe . and his desire is not such as will draw him on to the use of means for spiritual growth and progresse thereunto : as we see in balaam , hee had a desire to die the death of the righteous , but this could not make him leave his covetous disposition , and find a contentment in god alone . a reprobate may bee content with religion and with gods wayes , so long as peace doth accompany the same , ( as now in this our countrey , christ commeth amongst us with plenty and prosperity , therefore christ is a good christ ) but if the gospell and religion should bee professed with perfecution , and danger , and disgrace , it would soone appeare where mens contentments were . there is a resting not in the truth , because it is truth , but in regard of the good things which follow it . if we desire to approve our selves to god , let us examine our selves about this affection and every branch of it . the deceit is both common and deadly ; and the profession of religion in many christians is not for religion it selfe , but for by ends and sinister respects . to which end consider further these particulars . where there is true love , there will bee a dedesire of union to the beloved object ; so where the love of god is , there will be a desire of the accomplishment of the marriage betweene god and the soule . he that loves a harlot , saith the wise man , is one with her : so he that affects the lord , desires to be one with him ; therefore men have their names from what they love ; if they love the world , they are called worldlings ; if they love christ , they are called christians ; how canst thou say that thou lovest the lord , and doest not desire his presence in his ordinances ? can we say wee love such a man when we care not for his company ? god observes not so much what we do , as from what affection our duties proceed . againe , if we love ; there will bee a desire to give content to the party beloved ; this appeares even in carnall selfe-love : for take a man that loves himselfe , he makes himselfe his utmost aime and end in all his actions : but when once god hath plucked this fleshly love out of our soules , then our affections will be carried to christ only : this made the prophet david say , i love the lord deerly , he is my rock , my fortresse , my deliverer : a christian hath his contentment in god alone ; he findes an all-sufficiency in the almighty , and therfore makes him his resting place . in all his trouble he will make god his deliverer , and finde more true comfort in him , than in all the things of the world besides : therefore if god should take all other things from us , yet if hee leave us himselfe , a christian is well contented be cause he knowes his best being is in god. but how shall i know whether i doe esteeme rightly of god or no ? if we highly esteeme any thing , whether it be of this or a better life , we will be often speaking of them ; it is a signe men undervalue heavenly truths when they discourse little about them ; they much set light by god that have him not in all their thoughts . againe , what we esteeme of , we will choose above other things : it appeares we have a pretious esteem of god when we choose him , and him alone for our portion ; as david when he said , one thing have i desired of the lord , that i may dwell in his courts for ever : where god is truly loved , there will be a fall of all earthly things in that mans estimation : so he may gaine christ , he counts all else but drosse and dung . lastly , if thou lovest god , thou wilt be afraid to offend him , and carefull to please him in all things : god delights not in a proud and haughty spirit , but in an humble and meek soule ; these then should be thy delight . god is wonderfull well pleased with faith , for it is that which bindes him to performe his promise , therefore seek it earnestly : whatsoever god approves ; a christian should take pleasure in : every grace is an ornament to a christian , and god delights to see his owne graces in us . isaac before hee took rebecka to wife , sent her jewels to adorne her ; so christ sends rich jewels to his children , even the graces of his holy spirit , to make us love him , and fit us the more for him . those that live in sinnes against conscience , think we that these love god ? no certainly ; if they did they would love that which he loves , and hate that which he hates : what a pittifull thing is it to see men glorying in that which is their shame , in swearing and prophanenesse , and yet for all this say they love god. is it possible that the love of god and the love of sinne shold ever stand together ? proceed wee now to some reasons and directions , for the attaining of this grace . and first let us not rest in an inferiour degree of this affection , but rise up therin , and labour that it may have full assent . there are degrees of assent , as when we love god because we love our selves : a naturall man may doe so , but this is not enough , for if wee love god for our selves , we make our selves our god. where the heart is truly set upon god , it delights in him only for himselfe , and takes comfort in no condition further than he sees god in it . he never affected christ in truth , that is more taken with the benefits and priviledges that come by him , than with the excellency of his person . what friend will bee content , that a man should only love him because he doth him good ? we must love our selves and all other things in and for god. moses and paul rejoyced to honour the lord , though themselves were accurfed and deprived of happinesse ; and if wee could so love christ , as not to desire heaven it selfe if christ were not there . this were truly to affect him : for indeed if christ were not there , heaven should not be heaven unto us . wee must love our happinesse , no further than we can have with it gods good leave and liking . againe , we shall know our love to god whether it be sincere or no , by our abstaining from sinne ; if wee avoid evill for feare of punishment , or hope of reward only , our love is unsound , but when we so love god that wee will not doe any thing contrary to his spirit : it is a speciall signe . such a man if there were no hell to punish him , nor place of blisse to receive him , yet would not breake with god upon any termes . for the meanes to attaine this love , we must in the first place labour for an humble & empty soule ; blessed are the poore in spirit ( saith christ ) for such only apprehend their misery without christ , and their need of him ; which occasions an holy rejoycing in the lord , and unfained love to him ; what is the reason that some are so ravished with the favours of the almighty ? is it not for that they were so formerly stung with the sight and feeling of their sinnes ? the more loving christian ever the more humble christian. mark it when you will , and you shall find this disposition manifest in every true convert , they are daily humbling themselves for the least offence . a second direction is to tast of the love of god in christ. when the beams of his favour once shine into our hearts , we cannot but reflect upon him againe ; we love him ( saith the apostle ) because he loved us first ; mary therefore loved much , because shee had experience of gods love , in forgiving her many sinnes : when a broken humble soule truly savoureth the goodnesse of the lord , it cannot but be enflamed with desire after him : a christian after hee hath had a taste of the love of god , hath another manner of judgement of justification than before . taste and see ( saith david ) how good and gracious the lord is . a man that rellishes the sweetnesse of a thing , can better judge of it than hee which never tasted it . a third direction is , to see what motives and reasons wee have from the love of god in christ , to exercise our understanding this way . wee know heat commeth from light ; and there is a sympathie betweene the braine and the heart ; the braine must make a report to the heart , before that can bee enflamed with affection ; therefore seriously search into the grounds of thy affection . the first ground is goodnesse in god , god is goodnesse it self ; in whom all good is involved : if therefore wee love other things for the goodnesse which wee see in them , why doe wee not love god in whom is all goodnesse ? all other things are but sparks of that fire , and drops of that sea ; seest thou any good in the creature , remember there is much more in the creator : leave therefore the streames , and goe to the well-head of comfort . another reason of love , is our affinity with god , our father and friend ; who is unto us in all degrees of neerenesse , both our head and our husband ; were not the sonne ours , what fellowship could we have with the father : having such a mediator with god , that is bone of our bone , and flesh of our flesh , why should we feare to go unto him ? he hath taken upon him these comfortable relations of shepheard and brother , to possesse us of his acquaintance with our infirmities , and readinesse to releeve us . for shall others by his grace fulfill what hee calls them unto , and not he that ( out of his love ) hath taken upon him these relations , so throughly founded upon his fathers assignment , and his owne voluntary undertaking ? how doth the tender mother sympathize in the anguish of her child , notwithstanding all its froward aversenesse ; and shall we think there is more bowells in our selves than in god ? can there be more sweetnesse in the streame , than in the spring ? if the well of consolation be alwayes open , and the fountaine of living water , bee never shut up , let us teach our hearts to suck and draw comfort from these rivers of refreshing : what a shame is it , that men should hunger at such a feast ? consider likewise the benefits which wee have bestowed upon us , and the end why god vouchsafes us so much favour . benefits win love even from bruit creatures ; therfore wee are worse than beasts , if we love not god for his benefits ; the oxe knowes his owner , and the asse his masters crib ; what are wee indeed but an heap of gods benefits ? all our faculties of soule and body are the blessings of god ; whatsoever wee have or hope to have , is from him . our breath , life , and being , subsists in god , who hath promised , that heaven and earth , men and devils , crosses and blessings , sinne and death , all shall be turned by his over-ruling power to our good . consider what now we are , & what a happy condition god hath made us capable of hereafter ; is it a small matter that wee should be regarded above the angels that fell ? and that he who knew no sin , should be made sinne for us ? nay , become a curse to free us from the curse ? it was strange that the three children being cast into the hot fiery furnace , should not burne . so likewise it is a wonder that christians being in the midst of the flame of gods love , should be so cold and dead hearted : it is not only the guilt of sin that we are freed from , but the unsupportable vengeance of the almighty due for the same : and is this a small matter ? if we regard the manner of bestowing his benefits , it will much advance gods goodnesse towards us , and raise up our spirits to love him againe . doth not he love us first of all ? and prevent us with his favours ? is not his love full and overflowing ? so as he never leaves us untill he make an end : where he sreeth a man from danger he set ▪ leth him in a good estate , never ceasing till he possesse him of glory ; as it is 2 tim. 4. the lord hath freed me out of the mouth of the lion , and hee will preserve me to his everla sting kingdome . he delivers us srom spirituall evill , and gives us spirituall good . the meditation of these things will warme our hearts . the next meanes is to ●oyne feare with our love to god : whom we love throughly , we will do nothing that shall displease . the feare of god whom we love , will cause us to make conscience of the least sinne against him ; for there is no sinne be it never so little , but it will weaken our affection to goodnesse . when we venture upon any thing against conscience , is there not a decay of our love to god ? and of our sense of his favour towards us : surely sin is the only make-bate in our soules , and weakner of all our comforts . those therefore are the lovingest soules towards god , that are most conscientious in their wayes . carelesse christians have not that feeling of gods love , which humble fruitfull christians have : neither doe they live or die with that comfort as these do . we are the spouse of christ , and he is jealous of our love . our betrothed husband cannot abide that we should set our affections upon strangers . take heed therefore of adulterous and false affections ; the more we love earthly things the lesse we shall esteeme of heavenly ; and as our affection towards the creature increaseth , so our heat towards christ abateth . the next direction to stir up our love unto god is , to exercise the same daily . for true love is not an abstractive affection , but an affection in practise , and we know every thing doth increase by exercise : exercise it therefore in fighting against the love of the world , and all selfe love ; for as there are contrary commands , so there are contrary desires in a christian : as there is the old man and the new man , the flesh and the spirit , so there are contrary affections , one setting it selfe against another in him . when we see a poore christian , the love of god will say unto us , now shew thy love unto christ in succouring one of his members . no saith fl●sh and blood , charity begins at home , thou mayst want thy selfe another day . in doing good likewise wee should say , here is now an occasion offered me of honouring god , and i will imbrace it . oh but saith selfe-love , there is time enough hereafter ; hereby you may run into poverty and disgrace , be not too forward . therefore there must be a perpetuall deniall of our selvs against our whole thwart nature . those that are christians know experimentally what belongs to these things : but take a carnall man or woman , and they are led altogether by their sensuall lusts as bruit beasts : whatsoever ease and selfe-love wils , that swayes their hearts any wayes . and indeed the most sincere christian hath the motions of these carnall and worldly respects , but his love unto god constrains him to deny all , and listen to what christ whispereth in his heart . consider wee a little what may stirre us up to exercise our selves herein . love it is the light of our life ; love we must something , and he lives not that loves not : seeing then we cannot but love , and that the misplacing of our affectiō is the cause of all sin and misery ; what can we doe better than attend to directions , how to love as we should ? to come therefore to the foure things before mentioned being the branches of love . first , we must admire god above all things . and can wee admire any thing with wisdome but god alone ? it is commonly said , that wee cannot be wise and love together , for that this affection is blinde , except it be in god. againe , is there any thing more comfortable then that we give content to god ? is any service comparable to the service of a prince ? we must serve the lord only , and others in and for him , or else all we do is naught . all other services are bondage , this a perfect freedome . againe , is there any thing more worthy our soules , than to be united to god ? can we have a greater happinesse than to be made one with christ ? by loving a thing we come to be like to it . is there any thing that may or ought to challenge our love but christ ? is it not a base thing to unite our soules ( which are the best things under heaven ) to earthly contentments , than which we shall one day find nothing to be worse ? the love of god planted in our hearts , maketh christ and us one . as a pearle in a ring makes the ring more pretious and valuable ; so the soule united unto christ , commeth to bee more gracious and heavenly . the more excellent the soule is , the more loving it will be to god. the holiest saints have ever burned with most affection to christ , as moses and paul. can any thing satisfie us more than god ? know wee not that all things here shall perish ? therefore when wee place our love and joy in the world , do we not lose them too ? we shall leave behinde us the things of this life , our sins only we carry away , which cleave fast unto us , and staine our consciences world with out end : what might more content us than the love of god , which wil endure for ever , and accompany us to heaven when all other loves perish ? consider that every thing thou dost without love , is dead and empty ; love is the life of all actions ; as we say of a gift , the love of the giver , is better than the gift it selfe ; not only our performance is nothing without love , but we our selves are nothing without it ; every acceptable service we doe must proceed from this heavenly flame ; though wee speak with the tongues of men and angels , and have not love , we are like to a sounding brasse and tinckling symball . have wee not much to do and suffer in this life ? and what is it that makes us constant in duty , & carries us through so many oppositions as we meet withall , is it not love ? doth not love sweeten our hearts , and take away every difficulty in our way to heaven . whilest we live here , we must of necessity suffer ill things , and go on in well doing ; neither of which can be performed without love ; this rules our whole lives . beg therefore of god to quicken thee in all cheerefull and willing obedience : pray that the sunne of righteousnesse would enlighten thy heart : wee cannot serve god without god , nor have any holy affection , except by his spirit he work the same in us . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a12210-e190 doct. 1. observ. doct. doct. 4. conscience , what . why god rules his church by promises . reas. 2. the excellencie of divine promises . definition of a promise . 1 pet. 1. 10 mark 1. 11 1 cor. 15. 17. rom. 8. faith and hope what they are , and of what use . heb. 11. 1. division of the promises . temporal promises conditionall . mark 10. 20. vse . object . answ. deut 28. 16. quest. answ. how to get in christ. quest. answ. iohn 17. 3 quest. answ. phil. 3. 8. phil. 3. 8. the stability of a christian having promises . heb. 13. 5. 1 tim. 4. 8 psal. 88. 4. psal. 91. psal. 112. 7 psal. 12. psal. 119. obser. 1. a christian needs stablishing grace . obser. 2. the life of a christian fullof dependancy . mar. 16. 17 , 18 , 19 ▪ vse . 1 sam. 2. 9. prov. 3. psal. 115. object . answ. how to discerne establishing grace . helpes to obt●ine confirming grace . object . answ. psal. 9. 10. sue the promises in prayer . quest. answ. why troubles are so irksome . quest. answ. quest. answ. quest. answ. psal. 105. 15 the spirits sealing . quest. answ. what our sealing is , and the use of it . quest. answ. quest. answ. ephes. 1. 13. answ. quest. quest. answ. quest. quest. answ. quest. answ. psal. 42. 13 vse . psal. 45. psal. 116. quest. answ. quest. answ. quest. answ. in want of comfort what is to be done . quest. answ. why the spirit is called an earnest . quest. answ. god meanes truly in giving his earnest . assurance of our estates not alwayes alike . a double act of faith to work assurance . things hindring our assurance . sense of gods love how preserved . quest. answ. quest. quest. answ. symptomes of the spirits inhabitation , out of rom. 8. quest. answ. quest. answ. how the spirit is grieved . notes for div a12210-e10920 parts of the text. psal. 119. quest. answ. doct. all good things . 1 god the father . 2 god the sonne . 3 god the holy ghost . 4 angells . psal. 34. 5 magistrates . 6 ministers . 7 the word . 8 sacraments . 9 outward gifts . 10 outward gifts of reprobates . 11 favour of princes . 1 sinne. 2 corruption of nature . 3 inward and outward grosse sins 1. doubtings . 2 anger , covetousnesse , &c. 3 〈◊〉 sinnes . 4 carnall sinnes . gal. 6. 6. 5 sins of others of gods children . vse . vse . 4 desertions . psal. 6. 5 wounded spirit . luke 4. 1. 6 blasphemous thoughts . 7 continuance in sinne . 8 outward evils . 9 slanders . 10 evils of body . 11 death . 12 death of friends . afflictions 14 devil and hereticks . causes why all things work together for the best . 1 gods decree . 2 gods maner of working . 3 gods covenant . 4 foundation of the covenant . gal. 4. object . answ. iob 3. 25. 2 chron. 31. 33. object . answ. simile . object . answ. evils not to be done , that good may come thereof . matth. 4. 4 danger of wilfull sinning . note . 1 god. 2 creatures . 3 good gifts . 4 truth of god. 1 iustification . 2 ch●istian liberty . 3 mor ality . 1 cor. 4 gods patience . 5 the word evill things . 1 spirituall ill things . 2 outward evils and crosses . causes vse . vse . obser. 1. salvation certaine . obser. 2. gods particular providence to be observed . obser. 3. observ. 4 observ. 5 2 cor. 6. a ground of understanding the promises . a direction to pray for temporall blessings . vse 1. vse 2. vse 3. psal. 34. psal. 24. double eye . a christians joy . and contentment . vse . 5. holy boldnesse . prov. 29. prov. 28. 1 vse 6. 2 persons to whom this prviledge belongs . excellency of love . christianity , not a b●re title only . comfort not to be preached to all . ground of love . nature of the love of god. 1 branch . triall whether we have made a right choice . 2 triall . rom 8. 3 triall . 2 branch . desire to please the beloved . true love rejoyeeth in suffering . 3 branch . love covets union 2 it adviseth with the party loved . 3 and fits it selfe for his appearing . and hungers after god. psal. 4● . 4 branch . psal. 77. psal. 4. psal. 51. psal. 18. psal. 71. quest. answ. psal. 26. directions unto love . 2 direction . meanes to attaine the love of god. psal. 34. 1 grounds of our love to god. motives to stir up exercise in the love of god. an argument for infants baptisme deduced from the analogy of faith, and [of the] harmony of the [scr]iptures : in which in a method wholly new, and upon grounds not commonly observed bo[th the] doctrine (of infants baptism) is fully asserted, and the objections against it are obviated / by richard burthogge. burthogge, richard, 1638?-ca. 1700. 1684 approx. 264 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 105 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a30628 wing b6148 estc r35796 15562728 ocm 15562728 103760 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a30628) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103760) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1587:18) an argument for infants baptisme deduced from the analogy of faith, and [of the] harmony of the [scr]iptures : in which in a method wholly new, and upon grounds not commonly observed bo[th the] doctrine (of infants baptism) is fully asserted, and the objections against it are obviated / by richard burthogge. burthogge, richard, 1638?-ca. 1700. [32], 174 p. printed for jonathan greenwood ..., london : 1684. imperfect: t.p. stained with loss of print. errata: p. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng infant baptism -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal. 2003-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-03 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-03 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an argument for infants baptisme , deduced from the analogy of faith , a 〈◊〉 harmony of 〈◊〉 ●●●iptures . in which , in a method wholly new , and upon grounds not commonly observed , 〈◊〉 doctrine ( of infants baptism ) is fully asserted , and the objections against it , are obviated by richard burthogge , m. d. london , printed for jonathan greenwood , at the crown in the poultry , 1684. to the excellent lady , the lady anne drake , of place in buckland monachorum , in the county of devon. madam , what is done in the following letters in defence of infants baptism , is so justly your ladyships upon so many titles , that to disown it by dedicating of them to any other , or not to own it by not dedicating of them to your ladyship , would be as great injustice , as , but for your interest in them , to do the last , a presumption . the first of them is a second edition of a former sent my adversary ; in which ( as i thought the return he gave , obliged me to do ) i made such alterations , additions , and emendations , as might illuminate my principal argument ; without engaging me in matters forraign to it . and to his rejoynder unto this as so enlarged , the second is a reply : and those that follow , are defences to both. my argument is founded on that covenant of grace it pleased god to make with abraham , and with his seed : in which , as he gave himself , and all he hath to abraham , and to his seed ; so he requires ( what is most highly reasonable he should ) that abraham , and all he owned , and that abraham's seed , and all they own , should be his : and that in token of being so , both abraham himself shou'd keep the covenant , by wearing the initiating sign thereof himself , and putting it on all his , ( that was capable of it ) and also , that his seed should keep it in like manner . certain it is , the seed of abraham is as much obliged to keep the covenant as abraham himself ; [ thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed after thee in their generations . ] and i have proved the believing gentiles to be that seed ; so that , though the gentiles must believe , to become the seed of abraham ; yet , on becoming his seed , they come also under the obligation to observe the covenant , as much as abraham himself . i have also proved , that the covenant of abraham , is the first solemn formal covenant of grace , for eternal life and salvation , through our lord christ , that , in account and reckoning of the scriptures , it pleased god to make with man ; and consequently , that the first separate and instituted church , was then appointed in the family of abraham : so that , from the very beginning that it pleased god to establish and ratifie his covenant , and to constitute and frame a church , as did or●●●n the signing of the a●●●● ; so he did the singing of infants : therein laying the foundations of the common-wealth of israel in the membership of children , as well as in that of the parents . god never constituted any formal church , until he had made a formal covenant ; and the sign of the covenant , is the rite of initiation into the church : none comes into the latter , but by the former ; and baptism is such a sign . i do not say , that baptism is come in the place of circumcision ; i know too well the use is made of that expression , though in it self , and as meant , it be most innocent and inoffensive : but i say , it cannot be denyed , that as circumcision was the initiating rite and sign before the coming of christ ; so ( that ) baptism is after it : and that , now , to dedicate and give a person to god visibly and solemnly , is , by that sign and rite to matriculate him ; that is , to enter and initiate him into the church . and now , madam , is not the baptism of infants , in the notion i have of it , a thing of high and spiritual nature , and of great significancy ? when it is not meerly baby-sprinkling , and sealing to a blank , as some do phrase it : but done in token of our dedicating of them unto god , and in evidence and token that they are his. all delivery and surrender must pass with some formality , some rite ; and baptism is that formality , that rite , by which we christians do pass over , and assign our selves , and all our children to god. the fair stating and illustrating the mentioned points , in which i beat a path but little trodden , is mainly the business of the letters , of which i make a humble offering to your ladyship : in writing which , next to the zeal and deference that i ow'd to truth , i propounded to my self no greater satisfaction , than the occasion they would give me , of gratifying an ambition i have ever had to publish my self , madam , your ladyship 's most humble and devoted servant , richard burthogge . advertisement to the reader . the concurrence of events , that , at last , prevailed upon me to engage in the controversie of infants baptism , ( managed on my part in the following letters ) was so little ordinary ; that , if any be enough to make a providence , this , reader , were it proper to acquaint thee with it , would , i am confident , even in thy iudgement , be thy perswasion otherwise what it will , appear a great one. the letters themselves do intimate on what occasion originally they came to be written , and also how to be published , and that too without my adversaries ; and therefore , i need not give my self the trouble of writing , or thee the trouble of reading more , in reference to these points . only , it may not be improper to do my self this piece of iustice , to add , that though i do not publish my adversaries letters , ( for that i leave to him , as most proper ) : yet i have not been wanting in mine own , to publish all his arguments that concern me , both in all the strength he gives them , and with all the further inforcement my self could possibly add to them . this , a iudicious reader will easily perceive me to have done ; and this i did , as well for that respect and care i owe to my own reputation , as for that i owe and pay to truth . i am of alexander's mind ; i would not steal a victory ; and truth need not : it is stronger than all things . i acknowledge , i have received a letter from him , since my last ; but that letter ( as others ) so little to the purpose , unless reflections and extravagancies be so , that i do not find my self obliged to any other answer , than what in my last is added and marked thus [ * , ] and that 's but little : and an understanding reader will plainly see , there was not much need of that : it is but one paragraph , and two or three words , by way of illustration . some happily may admire , that in a rich and fruitful subject , as this is , i am so barren in citations ; but they may please to know , that ( seeing a doctrine is not true because a multitude avouch it , any more than a custom good because a multitude follow it ) i do not value authorities in the search and investigation of truth , further than as they are evidences to matters of fact. indeed , on this account i might have cited properly enough , many hundred authors , as witnesses , to confirm baptism to have been of old a jewish ceremony , used in initiation of proselytes , both male and female , adult and infant ; but that was done abundantly before , by the learned dr. hammond , ( as i remember ) in a set discourse of baptism , and incidentally by mr. ainsworth , in his annotations on genesis 17th ; and by many others : and repetition is a dull thing . the argument i go upon , as i do manage it , is not common ; and hath little authority to make it good , beside that of sound reason , and good sense , and that better of the harmony of the holy scripture ; into which , rightly understood , it doth already open no small lights , and may do more , if well improved . to the question , how i came to hit upon it ? i say , i was concerned to see an article of that importance , which infants baptism by most is taken to be of , and indeed is of , to hang on wyres only , and ( as some phrase it ) by geometry : it must , i thought , have sure and solid foundations , and such i could not see it to be owner of , unless it were inlay'd ( as i find it is ) in the very constitution of an instituted church , and in the harmony of scripture . analogy of scripture , is the surest basis of truth , in matters of revealed religion ; as analogy of nature is of truth , in points of philosophy . this argument i have so much spoken to in the following letters , that i think there needs no more to make it perfect , and fully convincing , but to add these few following considerations . first , that baptism or washing was at first a jewish ceremony , and that aaron , and his sons were baptized or washed with water at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation : that the baptizing of proselytes , very probably was done in imitation of that , and the other washings among the jews ; and to signifie the cleansing of them from the defilement of gentilism : and that the christian baptism in the institution of it , had aspect to both these , is also probable ; we gentiles being by baptism sanctified unto god , and made his priests ; which seems very clearly to be implyed by the apostle , when he calls baptism , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a laver , ( washing our translators render ) of regeneration , in allusion certainly to the laver under the law , which was set between the tent of the congregation , and the altar . compare exod. 40. 6 , 12. with tit. 3. 5. again , let it be considered , that as no alteration in the least , in reference to the subject of circumcision , was made by moses , from the rule in the first institution under abraham ; so that under moses it is evident , first , that if a proselyte were master of a family , the giving of himself to god by circumcision , would not suffice to qualifie him for the passover ; except he gave his family too , and that all his males were circumcized . god look'd not on him as a convert , if he gave not all his , as well as himself , exod. 13. 48 , 49. and this is the more remarkable , for that the proselytes were ( as ) the first-fruits of the gentiles . secondly , that those strangers in the family of a jew , who were the masters own , or his property , were on his account admitted to participate the passover ; for he was to give them unto god , as having right and dominion in them ; and therefore might dispose of them : for this only is the reason , why the servant of the jew , who was bought with his money , might eat the passover ; and the hired servant not ; namely , that the former as being bought with his master's money , was his property , his own ; and therefore given with himself to god , and so received god's mark of circumcision , and consequently became capable of the passover : but the hired servant being not his master's , but his own man , consequently could not , without his own consent and free act , be given and disposed of by his master . but if he would ▪ voluntarily be circumcized , and so become partaker of the passover , nothing letted him though he were an hired servant , no more than any other forreigner . see for this exod. 12. 43 , 44 , 45. the next main consideration i would wish to be reminded seriously , is , that in the new-testament no new rule is given either by jesus christ himself , or by his apostles and followers , about the subjects of the sign of the covenant ; which sign now is baptism : and therefore , certainly , it leaves us to the grounds and reasons of the old-testament , [ and to conformable and constant practice in the jewish use of baptism in the admission of proselytes ; ] especially seeing the seed ( which seed believers are in christ ) are under the same general obligation to keep the covenant in the sign , and by the very self-same rule and direction which abraham had himself . and then it is rational to think , that as abraham was made to understand it in circumcision , so we must understand it in baptism ; namely , to take in infants as well as the adult . this is the more probable , because in the gospel-institution we find that baptism went by families and houses , as circumcision did both before the law , and under it ; as also , that in baptizing of proselytes , not only male and female , but ( as i said ) adult and infants were admitted . in the last place ; it would be considered , that in the first sign of the covenant , which was circumcision , though all infants were not taken in directly and actually , yet none of them were excluded from it as infants ; but only as females : for the nature of that sign was such , that , in the actual administration of it , no female was a competent subject : so that , in the first signing by virtue of the covenant ; as much as any adult persons were taken in , so much those that were not adult ; even infants were taken in also : and if then , the females were not actually signed ; so neither in the letter , and by express denomination of them , were they then taken into the covenant . for as the sign was directly given only to the males , so the promise also , in terms , was only to the males , [ abraham and isaac . ] but then , as the females were included in the males , in the covenant and promise , ( which , i think , no body will deny ; ) so , by like reason , they were included also in the sign . if any ask the reason , why the females are not taken notice of in the old-testament , as much as the males ? and why , at first , they were not , as it were , by name taken into covenant , and so signed with the sign of it ; but included only in men , and accounted as signed in them ? there may be many reasons ; but among them , two especially . the first is , that god is uniform in his works ; and that as in the first creation he made adam first , who was then the whole kind , and comprehended the woman in his rib ; and then afterward took the woman out of adam : so in the restoration , or new creation , he would first by name begin with the man , and take him into covenant , and sign him ; and take the woman in but inclusively , as comprehended in man , and as an appendix to him ; which he did in the dispensation , under abraham and moses . but then , afterwards , as he took the woman in the creation out of man ; so under christ , in the new-testament-dispensation , he took the woman in her own name , and put his sign on her too : both men and women are baptized . a second , and perhaps no less effectual reason , is , that the woman had been first ( as the apostle observes ) in the transgression ; she had spoyled the first creation , and the work of god in it ; [ what 's this that thou hast done ? saith god to the woman : ] therefore , as a mark of his divine displeasure , god would not in the institution of his covenant of grace , take her in her own name and person , or otherwise than by inclusion in the man , into the participation of it ; until by bringing forth the lord christ , the great foundation of the new and better creation , she had made him , as it were , some reparation ; and therefore , christ is emphatically said to be made of a woman . methinks the apostle hath an aspect towards both these reasons , in 1 tim. 2. 13 , 14 , 15. but howsoever that is , sure i am , 't is out of question , that before christ , there was no little difference between male and female , in the account of scripture : for if a woman bore a man-child , she was to be unclean but seven days , and to continue in the blood of her purifying but thirty-three days : but if she brought forth a maid-child , then she was to be unclean two weeks ▪ and to continue in the blood of her purifying sixty-six days : so much difference , then , there was between male and female ; for so we read in exod. 12. 2 , 4 , 5 , 6. but , now , the case is alter'd ▪ for under jesus christ there is no difference ; no more now between the male and female , than between the jew and greek ; for so the apostle gal. 3. 28. there is neither iew nor greek , there is neither bond nor free , there is neither male nor female ; for you are all one in christ iesus . a plain text ; wherein the apostle as well implies there was a distinction and difference before , as he affirms that there is none now . as for mine adversary ; though i do not take him to be the greatest clark in the world , or as learned in the learned languages , and human authors , as many others ; and though i take it to have been a piece of vanity in him , to tell me , as he doth , [ that as he remembred , one of the school-men said , &c. ] because i have reason to believe , he understands the school-men , as little hebrew or greek : yet i do not apprehend it any disgrace ( as some would have it , ) to have been engaged with him ; both for that he is a careful , painful , and industrious searching person , much conversant in the present controversie ; and , i believe , can say as much for his perswasion , as any other what ever : as also , for that the point in controversy between us , is not a point of human learning : here ( for the main ) is no need of greek or hebrew , or of the subtilties of school-men , or of exactness of criticisme : it must be decided plainly by good sense , and by the harmony of the scripture ; and an english bible ( to which he doth appeal ) suffices for that . i do confess , i believe that some of the grounds which i have said , will have no little influence toward an alteration in many received schemes : but whether i have laid them right or not , i am no competent iudge . for though i am much confirmed in the verity of them by their undergoing of one kind of test , without any loss ; yet before i do advance them from being points of meer opinion , to be points of some degree of faith , i am willing they should undergo all others . and therefore , reader , they are put into thy hands , ( for i have done with them ) to weigh and iudge them . errata . page 2. line 4. add be . p. 12. l. 20. read by . p. 16. l. 20. dele it . p. 49. l. 27. read to . p. 53. l. 23. dele capable of it . p. 54. l. 14. dele ( ) . p. 99. l. 21. read in way of covenant through christ for grace . p. 102. l. 17. read of all the faithful . p. 103. l. 11. dele now . p. 105. l. 18. read of genesis . p. 110. l. 5. add ) . p. 115. l. 27. dele : p. 128. l. 30. read be understood of that only . p. 129. l. 5. read same . p. 150. l. 20. read is meant . an argument for infants baptism , &c. the first letter . dear sir , i cannot believe my self obliged by the occasional discourse ( which i held almost a year and three quarters ago ) about infants baptism , to ingage any further in that controversie , much less deliberately and solemnly ; yet , having received so large , and so elaborate an endeavour for my satisfaction , and so importunate and iterated requests , to give you the result of my most cool and serious considerations of what you have done in it ▪ i may not be so much wanting in civility to your desires , and in obedience to the call i believe in them , as to decline the incumbence and obligation under which they put me to answer : and so , either to receive my self a further illumination in the point , or ( which is better , and which i hope ) to give it . only , let me have leave to tell you , ( that ) i am sensible enough how difficult a task it is , in it self , to eradicate an opinion grown inveterate by length of time , and perhaps confirm'd by frequent spoyls and trophies over weak opposers of it ; and that 't is more difficult for one in my circumstances , subject to a thousand avocations and diversions ; and who , at the arrival of your letter , thought of nothing less in all the world , than of being engaged in this manner against anabaptism ; and with a person , a great part of whose time hath been imployed in thoughts and study about it . and yet , under disadvantages so great against so great advantages , believing my self in the right ; in that confidence , i have made a resolution to let you know my sentiments ; and the rather , because i take you ( and i wish , i may not be mistaken in it ) to be so unfeign'd a lover of truth , and so candid a one , that you will make allowance for any byass in your mind , in favour of your opinion , which a long prescription may give it ; and that you will not refuse any light that may be offered , if you have no other reasons for doing so , than either that it is new unto you , or that you have not struck it your self . as for my sentiments on this subject , that you may conceive them with the greater clearness , as also for order sake , i will reduce them unto two heads . first , i will let you see the mistakes under which you are , as to your apprehensions of the grounds of my arguments for infants baptism , as deduced from the covenant of abraham . and then , i will display the argument it self in all its evidence and force , as it is bottomed on that basis : and this , without concerning of my self in other arguments insisted on by others , and also touched and reflected on by you . the mistakes you are under in your apprehensions of the grounds of my argument , are two , and very great ones : the first , that you conceive me to raise my superstructure of infants baptism on this foundation , [ that the believing gentiles , and their posterity , are in all respects to be blessed , as believing abraham was ; ] which , say you , is absurd . and well you may ( say so ; ) for indeed , abraham had peculiar blessings appropriated to his person ; as to be the father of all the faithful , and particularly , of believing gentiles , ( the father of many nations ; ) and therefore , instead of abram , he was called abraham . but though all the blessings believing abraham had , did not descend on his spiritual children , or his seed , the believing gentiles ; yet , if any blessing of believing abraham's did descend , as that of the promise did , it must be understood , ( that ) the obligations and duties arising from the nature of the blessing , ( which did descend ) or that are annexed to it , ( if there be any such ) must descend too : and so , that the seed , in that respect in which it is equally blessed with believing abraham , must be equally obliged with him , to all the duties and incumbencies , that are the consequents and results of that blessing . your second mistake is , that you apprehend me to conceive , [ that every child of a believing parent , by vertue of his birth , priviledge , and as he is a natural descendant of such a father or mother , is a true child of abraham , or a believer , ( for that i mean ) or , in your own words , that the natural posterity of believing gentiles , barely as such , are all of them the spiritual seed of abraham , ( or believers ) and consequently such as are entitled ( on the account of being his spiritual seed , or believers ) unto abraham 's covenant and blessing . ] and in opposition unto this , you much enlarge ; shewing the many great absurdities , and ill consequences of it , even to fifteen : arguments , which truly as to any other who hath sense i think , and i am sure as to my self , are all needless , and might all have been spared . certainly , i demand not half so much to enforce the argument i used ; i think not every child of a believer to be a believer himself in any sense ; much less , that saving grace is as original as sin ▪ or that it comes by traduction . all i postulate to build my argument , is , that the ( true ) believing gentile doth not forfeit , by believing , his natural right to his child ; but that the children of true believers now , under the gospel , are as much theirs ▪ and in the same right , as the natural children of abraham were his . this is all the question that i beg , and this sure you will not deny me . only , by the way , i pray you to make no more of my concession , than i intend it for ; for when some pious and very learned men have argued for infants baptism , from the children of believers their being abraham's spiritual seed , they mean not , i suppose , by calling them abraham's spiritual seed , as i do , and as you do ; that they are actual believers , and consequently children of the faith of abraham ; but only , that they are persons of a religious consideration , and ( in some sense ) holy , and related to god. and meaning but so ; though i acknowledge children not to be abraham's seed in the sense i mentioned , as abraham's seed is taken for actual believers , and you have proved by fifteen arguments that they are not , nor can be abraham's seed in this sense ; my concession gives you no advantage , nor do your arguments signifie any thing against them ; who , using the expression in another sense , are nothing concerned ; for if they take spiritual seed in one sense , and you in your arguments take it in another , you do not really oppose them , though you may think you do ; nor are your arguments pertinent ; and the dispute between you , as to that , is indeed but strife about words . thus i have , with all the clearness and fairness imaginable , let you see your two mistakes about the argument i urged ; and therefore , seeing you do not apprehend aright the grounds on which i go ( in it , ) i am only obliged to you for your charitable endeavours towards my satisfaction ; but not ( in the least ) for any effect of those endeavours . it now remaineth , that i perform what i promised in the second place ; which is , to lay out the argument for pedobaptism , as it is founded on the covenant , or blessing of abraham , in all its force and evidence ; which , to do to some purpose , i will demonstrate . first , that the covenant of abraham , which is called the blessing of abraham , or the promise of the spirit , is still in being ; and is that covenant of grace the true believing gentiles are under . secondly , that in respect of that covenant of promise , which is called the blessing of abraham , and the promise of the spirit , or the spiritual promise , all the seed that hath the benefit of it , are under equal obligations to the duty and incumbence arising from it , with abraham himself . thirdly , i will shew , that the duty and incumbence to which abraham was obliged , arising from the covenant , or blessing given to him , was , by way of restipulation , to dedicate and give himself , and all his to god ; and , in token of that dedication of himself , and of all that was his , to wear himself the signe of the covenant , and put it as a cognizance , and badge , and mark of god upon all his that was capable of it . fourthly , i will also shew , that from abraham's dedication of himself , and of all his to god , there arises a distinction of holiness into internal and external , absolute and relative ; and that this distinction ( of holiness ) is evangelical . and having evidenced these four things , i will then proceed , in short , to form my argument . in order to the evidencing of the first particular , which is , that the covenant of promise made to abraham , which is called the blessing of abraham , and the promise of the spirit , or the spiritual and evangelical promise , ( that this ) is still in being , and is the covenant of grace , into a participation of which , the ( true ) believing gentiles are taken : i only premise , that that is the covenant of grace the believing gentiles are under , which is the true ground and foundation of all their hopes , and of all their comforts ; and which , by having a title to it , and interest in it , doth give them a title to , and interest in the coelestial inheritance , the heavenly country , the everlasting mansions in the father's house ; and , in a word , to salvation . and this the mentioned covenant , the blessing of abraham , and the promise of the spirit is , and doth : this is the true ground and foundation of all the hopes of gentile-believers , and of all their comforts ; and a title in this , is the only title they have to the heavenly blessedness and salvation , or ( as the apostle is pleased to stile it ) ot the inheritance . for thus in the third of gallatians , the apostle carries it ; when verse the 16th , he affirms , that to abraham , and to his seed , were the promises made , and verse the 18th adds , that if the inheritance be of the law , it is no more of the promise ; but god gave it ( namely the inheritance ) to abraham by promise : and by what promise , but that ratified covenant of promise , i will be a god to thee , and to thy seed ? as appears by comparing it with verse the 16th . but he asserteth this more clearly afterwards , in verse the 20th ; where he sheweth , both that the only title to the inheritance is heirship , according to the promise ; and that the only way of becoming heirs according to the promise , and so of being interested in it , and entitled to it , is by becoming the seed of abraham to become the children of god ; and the only way of becoming the seed of abraham ( for the gentiles , ) is by putting on of christ through believing : for , saith he , if you be christ's , or the members of christ ; what then ? then you are abraham's seed ; and what if abraham's seed ? what then ? then you are heirs according to the promise . in short , this is the clymax ; if believers , then christ's ; if christ's , then abraham's seed ; if abraham's seed , than heirs according to the promise : for the promise is , i will be a god to thee , and thy seed , and i will give to thee , and thy seed , &c. nor doth it make any alteration in the case , that faith is now the requisite condition of salvation , or that we must believe to be saved : this but evidences the more clearly , that the gospel is but a renovation of the covenant of abraham ; for as it is through faith , that we gentiles do become christ's , and by being christ's , that we become the seed of abraham , and consequently heirs of salvation according to the promise ; so it was through faith , the righteousness of faith , that abraham ( the father of the faithful ) had the promise himself : for so the apostle , rom. 4. 13. for the promise , that he should be the heir of the world , was not to abraham , or to his seed through the law , but through the righteousness of faith. abraham believed god , and we christ ; it was through faith , that abraham had the promise ; and through faith also , that we the believing gentiles have it ; as being children not of abraham's body , but of abraham's faith , rom. 4. 12 , 13 , 16. and if the promise made to abraham , be the ground and foundation of all our hopes , and all our expectations , as we are christians , and it be the true covenant of grace ; to be sure , it is still in being , or we do but beat the air , and are at a loss ; our hope is in vain , and our rejoycing in vain ; which god forbid : and in being it is ; for the law that came four hundred and thirty years after , did not , could not disanul the promise that went before ; and if the law did not , if the law could not , nothing else did , nothing else can disanul it : this the apostle evidences , gal. 3. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18. and surely , the promise to abraham , i will be a god to thee , and to thy seed &c. is a covenant , a ratified covenant , and confirmed by two immutable things , by word and oath , in which it is impossible for god to lie ; and therefore , cannot be disanulled ; and if it be not disanulled , it is still in being . here i thought to have dismissed the first particular , and so ( to ) proceed to the second : but it strikes into my mind , that you may think i have not clearly enough expressed what i mean by the covenant , the blessing and the promise of abraham , which did descend on the gentiles ; which if so , would be matter of a fresh dispute : and therefore , though i think the scriptures i have insisted on already , do sufficiently instruct us in what the promise is ; yet , to leave no room for any further mistakes , i shall be more express in it . by the promise , the blessing , the covenant of abraham , ( for under all these three terms it is represented by the apostle ) i mean that covenant of promise made to abraham , gen. 17. 7 , 8. consisting of two parts ; a more spiritual part , in the 7th , i will be a god to thee , and thy seed ; and a more temporal one in the 8th , and i will give , &c. and i take in both , because i find the apostle saying , that to abraham , and to his seed , were the promises made : the promises ; not a promise , ( which had left it doubtful ; ) but the promises , as speaking not of the one only , i will be a god to thee , and thy seed , which is the spiritual part ; but of the other also , which is the temporal , i will give to thee , and thy seed , &c. thus the covenant of promise involveth and includeth in it two promises ; the one of which indeed is principal , the other but additional ; but both are in the covenant , in the blessing , and consequently both are ratified and established : the promises were made to abraham , and to his seed ; the covenant in both respects descends . i know you take it for a very strong argument , that the covanant of abraham , gen. 17. 7 , 8. cannot be the evangelical and gospel-covenant ; because it is a mixt one , and composed of a temporal ( as well as of an eternal ) bequest : but for that reason , i the rather take it to be evangelical ; for this is gospel , that godliness is profitable unto all things ; that is , in all respects , in respect of this world , and in respect of the other : and why so ? why , it hath the promise ; having ( the ) promise of the life that now is , as well as of that to come : and what is this but a finger , to point you to the covenant of promise ; as the evangelical covenant , the promise , the blessing that did descend on the gentiles ? 1 tim. 4. 8. and indeed , the inheritance promised to abraham , and which in , by , and under him , is descended on the gentiles , is not only a coelestial , but a terrestrial one also : for by that promise , abraham was not only the heir of heaven , but also heir of the world ; and so the apostle stiles him : and the same apostle tells vs , all is ours ; and abraham being constituted by the promise , heir of the world , he and his descendants , according to the flesh , were to take possession of it , and to have livery of seisin given in canaan ; a livery of seisin , which was given indeed , and taken but in part of the world , ( as livery of scisin usually is ) but in the name of the whole . it is true , canaan only was promised in the letter , and was inherited only by the carnal seed and descendants of abraham : but then it must be considered , that in the covenant there is more implyed , than is expressed in the letter ; and that as in the letter it speaketh of the seed which is natural , namely isaac ; yet , in the mystery , it meaneth christ , and that principally : so , though in the letter it speaketh but of canaan , as given for a possession , and enjoyed so by the carnal seed ; yet in the mystery , it means the whole world , of which canaan was a part : in which indeed he took possession , or had livery and seisin given him ; but , as i said , in the name of the whole . abraham was heir of the world ; and so are all believers , as abraham's seed ; for all is ours : but how ? for we are christ's , and christ is god's : and it is , i will be a god to thee , and thy seed ; which seed is christ. this is the believer's title , and this his deed ; his charter , by which he holds all. and having evidenc'd the first particular , that the covenant made with abraham , or the blessing of abraham , the promise of the spirit is still in force , and is that covenant of grace by which believing gentiles , the true seed , now both have and hold their title to heaven , and to earth too . it will not , i suppose , require either much time , or much argument , to secure the second ; which is , that the true spiritual seed of abraham , the believing gentiles , who have the benefit and advantage of that spiritual promise and : blesing , and to whom it is made as well as to abraham , are under equal obligation to the duty and incombence arising from it , or annexed to it , with abraham himself . for it is a common notion , a sentiment approved by the light of nature , that he that reapeth any profit and advantage by a grant ▪ ought to bear the burthen , and answer the duty and incumbence that accompanies it. and indeed , to hope for salvation , and other benefits convey'd in the covenant and charter of abraham , without submitting to the duties and obligations that do arise there-from , or are annexed thereto ; were for a person to claim an inheritance by a deed of conveyance , without holding himself obliged to the covenants and provisions with which it is granted therein . certain it is , as i have shewn already , that the believing gentile claimeth , hath , holdeth nothing , but in , by , and under abraham : he is christ's , and so abraham's seed ; and so heir according to the promise : and he that claimeth , hath , holdeth nothing but in , by , and under abraham , must claim , have , hold , as abraham did , according to the tenor and obligation of the deed of gift , the charter , the covenant of promise , which it pleased god to convey it by , and with the same incumbence and duty . and this remindeth me of the third particular , which i promised to demonstrate ; namely , that the duty and incumbence to which abraham was obliged , arising from the covenant or blessing given to him , was , in way of restipulation , to dedicate and give himself , and all his , to god ; and in token of that dedication of himself , and all his , to put the sign of the covenant , as the cognizance , and mark , and badge of god on all his that was capable of it , as well as to wear it himself . i know it cannot be difficult to you , ( if it can to any other ) to conceive that in restipulation unto god , who had made over unto abraham , not himself only , but all he has , ( that ) abraham correspondently should give himself , and all he had to god : and indeed , this mutual stipulation between god and abraham , [ that god and all his should be abraham's , and abraham and all his should be god's ] is the very essence and substance of the covenant : i will be theirs , and they shall be mine ; i will be a god to thee and thy seed , and thou and thy seed stall keep my covenant . it is true , the covenant doth run in absolute and promissory terms , and therefore is called the covenant of promise ; but yet to be a covenant , as there must be parties , so there must be a mutual stipulation between them : and here , the stipulation on the part of abraham , though it be not so express and literal , is plainly implied in the duty and incumbence god imposes on him , in relation to the covenant , as an obligation and consequence arising from the nature and merits of it : which duty and incumbence , and the consequentialness of it from the covenant , is , gen. 17. ver. 9. thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed after thee in their generations . or , more consonantly to the letter of the original , but to the same sense , ( and in covenant-form , ) i will be a god to thee and thy seed , and i will give to thee and thy seed , &c. and , thou and thy seed shall keep my covenant . in the former , is the stipulation or promise god is pleased to make to abraham , and to his seed : and , in the latter , the obligation and consequence it lies upon them ; and which , therefore , god expects too , as importing their stipulation , and that acknowledgment they owe for his. thou shalt keep my covenant therefore : therefore , wherefore ? therefore , because i have established my covenant , to give my self and all i have to thee ; to give my self , and give canaan , and in canaan the world : therefore , thou shalt give thy self , and all thine to me : and in token of it , ( that thy self and all thine is mine ) thou shalt observe my covenant in the sign of it ; and that so , both as to wear the sign thy self , and to put it upon all thine that is capable of it . this is evident , gen. 17. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , &c. this is my covenant , namely , the sign circumcision , &c. you may here , perhaps , not a little wonder , that i use so general and comprehensive terms ; and that i say , the obligation which lay on abraham from the covenant , was to dedicate and give himself , and all his , to god ; and in token of it , not only himself to wear the sign and token of the covenant , which then was circumcision ; but to put it on all his that were capable of it : i say , happily you may not a little wonder , why i said not all his seed ; but all his : which , if you do , you will no longer have no cause to continue it , than till i tell you , it is to signifie , that the obligation on abraham arising from the covenant , was solemnly to dedic●te and give to god , together with himself , all that he had property in , and title to , and was owner of ; not his natural seed only , the off-spring of his own body , but even his servants or slaves . and here observe ; if abraham by vertue of the incumbence and obligation which the covenant of promise did lay upon him , [ thou shalt keep my covenant therefore ] was not only to circumcize his natural off-spring , but his slaves and servants , ( as he was , gen. 17. 10 , 12. ) it must needs follow , that the putting of the sign and token of the covenant upon children ( even then ) arose not from their being comprehended in the seed , and as god was a god to abraham's seed , and from god's requiring the seed to keep the covenant : for his infant slaves and servants , whom yet he was obliged by the covenant to circumcize , were not of his off-spring and seed . but how , then , did the obligation to circumcize his infant servants and slaves , arise from the covenant ; in which no mention , in the least , of slaves and servants ; but only of seed ? certainly , no otherwise than in the way i have mentioned , ( and this consideration makes it clear ) namely , that abraham in restipulation and answer unto god , was obliged to dedicate and give himself , and all he had to him , as god did give , and convey , and make himself and all he hath to abraham ; and consequently , in sign and token of this , [ that as god hath given and made himself , and all he hath to abraham ; so that abraham must not only dedicate and give himself , but , which is the consequence of it , all is his to god , ] the sign and token of the covenant between them , called god's covenant , and consequently god's sign and mark , must be both on abraham himself , and on all that is his : that is , it is not only to be worn by abraham , to shew that he himself is god's , and that he hath given himself ; or by his children , to shew that they are god's , and that he hath given them : but even by his servants and slaves , to shew that he hath given them too , and consequently all that he hath . and indeed , he that gives himself , gives all that he hath , with himself : he owns nothing , that is not his own . 't is as they were abraham's property , that his infant servants and slaves were circumcized ; and , doubtless , all that was abraham's , capable of circumcision , had it on the same account that any had : and therefore , as the infant slaves were circumcized as his property , and by vertue of what is said to abraham , thou shalt keep my covenant therefore ; so were his children also : and consider it , [ all infants were circumcized by vertue of the same incumbence . ] as to your wonder , why i do express the obligation and incumbence arising upon abraham from the covenant , in these terms , that he was to dedicate and assign himself , and all his ; and , in token of it , to put the covenant in the sign of it , as the mark and cognizance of god upon himself , and on all his that was capable of it . you admire how capable comes in ; but you might with more justice have admired , if it had been left out : for implied it must be ; it could not be his duty to put the sign upon vncapable persons . but your admiration is more the object of mine , after you have granted , that god commanded abraham , ( thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed ) in general terms ; wherein , you say , both sexes may seem to be comprehended , ( and indeed say i , are so ) for if he did command in general terms , that abraham , and all his ( seed you say ) should keep the covenant in the sign and token of it ; and yet afterward did institute circumcision to be that sign and token , which was not competent to all : how can the generality of the precept , ( thou shalt put the sign on all thine ; when circumcision , that is not competible to all , is that sign ) be understood accommodously and conveniently , as it must be , but thus ; thou shalt put the sign on all thine that are capable of it ; and the wearing of it by these , shall be interpreted the putting of it on all. by this time , i believe , you will be inclinable enough to grant , that i have proved sufficiently , that abraham was obliged as to dedicate and give himself , so to dedicate and give all his , his children , and his servants to god , possessor of heaven and earth ; and , in token of it , to put the covenant upon them ( as far as they were capable thereof , ) in the sign of it , namely , circumcision . but you will say ; it seemeth not to be , ( but give me that expression again , for you will be more positive ) it was not done ( you will say ) with any relation unto us believing gentiles , who are not circumcized : and that seeing there is a change and alteration made in the sign , the former obligation ceases ; for if circumcision it self is past , and done away , no duty and obligation that but commenced with it , can now abide and remain . but i pray consider , that not only abraham was under obligation to keep the covenant in the sign of it , but the seed of abraham also ; that is , all those to whom the covenant is made , are equally obliged to the observation thereof , in the sign of it : ( and therefore ) not only abraham was obliged , but his seed too . for , as god is pleased to say , i will be a god to thee , and to thy seed ; and i will give to thee , and to thy seed : so , he says , thou and thy seed shall keep my covenant . thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , ( and not only thou , but ) thou , and thy seed after thee , in their generations : thou ; thou and thy seed . so that , if the believing gentiles be ( as indeed they be ) the true seed , and principally intended in the promise ; for it is seed , not seeds : seed ; speaking but of one , and that one is christ ; and christ not personal only , but mystical , or christ with his members ; for it is of many in one : for the seed , which is to keep the covenant , is to do it in their generations ; not in his generation , but in their generations , and that is plural . i say , if the believing gentiles do become the seed of abraham , ( as they do ) they come also under equal obligation to observe the covenant , with abraham himself : for it is , thou shalt keep the covenant therefore , thou and thy seed . and to keep the covenant , ( as i have evinc'd already ) is for him that is in it , in token of his dedication and assignment of himself , and of all his to god , not only to wear the sign of the covenant himself in his own person , but to put it upon all his that is capable of it ; so to manifest , that he owns not any interest or property at all in any thing , or title to any , but what he returns to god ; and that both himself , and all his , are the lord 's . and think , are not the believing gentiles as much obliged to assign , and dedicate , and give all , as abraham ? yes , doubtless , and are as much bound to shew , and own , and declare they do so , as he. but whereas it may be objected , that circumcision was the sign and token of the covenant then , [ this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you , and thy seed after thee ; every man-child among you shall be circumcized : ] and that circumcision , as being a legal and carnal ceremony , is abolished under the gospel ; and therefore , as all ingagement and obligation unto that , so all ingagement and obligation unto any sign and token by vertue of the command of that , is ceased . i answer , though circumcision , that at first was the sign and token of the covenant , be taken away ; yet it will not follow , that the obligation to observe and keep the covenant in any other sign or token , doth cease with it . and to demonstrate this ; it must be minded , that as the equity and reason of the command doth hold in baptism , as well as in circumcision ; and for any other sign ▪ and token as well as for this ; and to the seed , as well as to abraham ; god being as much a god to the one , as to the other : so also that in the form of the words , the obligation imposed upon abraham , and his seed , is in the first place , to keep the sign and token of the covenant , or to keep the covenant in the sign of it : and but in the second ( place , ) to observe circumcision ; namely , but as it is that sign . so that a plain distinction is mad● between the obligation to observe the sign and token of the covenant , ( or to keep the covenant in the sign and token of it ) and to keep it in circumcision , as that sign and token ; the former arising from the very nature of the covenant , ( thou shalt keep my covenant therefore ) and therefore of as perpetual obligation and existence , as the covenant it self : but the latter is more positive , and secondary . wherefore , tho' there be an alteration in the second , it will not follow that there must be one in the first ; or that the covenant ought not to be observed in the sign and token of it , if , for certain reasons , circumcision be no longer ; but something else be that sign and token : the taking away the second , doth not destroy the first ; for being before it , it may be without it . thou shalt keep the sing of the covenant , that is first ; circumcision is that sign , that is second : and why one in the first place , and the other but in the second , but to shew , the covenant must be kept in the sign of it , even when no longer circumcision , but some other thing is in the counsel of god ordained to be that sign ? and indeed , it is much , that the taking , and the putting of the sign of the covenant , should ( as it is ) be called keeping of the covenant ? must not we now keep god's covenant ? and to the end you may see the harmony of the scripture , and ( with it ) the cogency of that illation , which i make from the form of the words here ; see the like ( form of words ) in the fourth commandment , in relation to the sabbath , bottoming the like illation ; remember the sabbath-day , to keep it holy ; that is first ; and , as it is first , so it is primarily moral , and eternal and unchangeable : but the seventh is the sabbath of the lord ; that is in the second place , and is but secondary and positive . what ? doth the obligation to the first , and that which is primary in the command , cease , because there is an alteration in the second ; and that not the seventh , but the first day of the week is now the sabbath of the lord ? who will say it ? so , though circumcision be no longer the sign and token of the covenant , but another thing be it ; 't will not follow , the covenant is no longer to be observed in the sign and token of it , because not circumcision ; but that other thing is now ( become ) that sign and token : which you will conceive the better , if you bethink that circumcision was not abolished in the gospel , as it was of the fathers , but as it was of moses , ( a distinction christ himself makes ; ) or not as it had relation to the covenant of promise , as the sign of it , as if in that respect it were a weak and carnal thing ; but as it was adopted by the legal mediator , and made a sign of that administration and covenant , in which he had to do ; for afterwards , who so was circumcised , did become a debtor to the whole law ; and therefore , if the law did cease , circumcision could not continue . but remember , it was on an evangelical and gracious consideration , that circumcision did become the sign of the legal covenant or administration : for why was it ? were there not other matters enough to make signs of , but that circumcision , which was a sign of the promise , must be impropriated to be the token of the mosaick covenant ? why was it then ? not truly ( as you may think ) to make an alteration in the promise , in respect of the subjects , to which the sign thereof was to be given , or of any priviledges , or first and immediate duties and obligations of it ; but to establish and confirm the promise . for circumcision , the sign and token of the promise , was , in divine wisdom , annexed to the legal covenant , ( as the sign and token of that , ) for the same reason that jesus christ himself , ( who was the capital seed , to whom the promise was made ) was made the minister of the legal circumcision : ( he was the angel that spake with moses in the wilderness , or that gave the law ; and he , in the days of his flesh , but preached to the jews . ) it was for the truth of god , to confirm the promises to the fathers ; for so saith the apostle , rom. 15. 8. now i say , that jesus christ was the minister of the circumcision , for the truth of god , to confirm the promises unto the fathers . i say , for this reason , as also ( which is an amplification of it ) perhaps to shew , that there was no salvation and inheritance by the works of the law , circumcision , which had been the sign and token of the promise made to abraham , was taken and applied to be the sign and token of the legal covenant , which came by moses ; to become which indeed by the ( capable ) ceremoniality of it in some respects , [ not as it was a sign of the covenant ; for there is nothing like a ceremony in being but that , but as it was confined to one sex , and ( in the execution and performance of it ) to a certain day ] it was very proper and fit. the reason , i say , it was applied to the legal covenant , besides the fitness of it , was for the truth of god , to confirm ; and not either to destroy or alter the promise made unto the fathers ; god taking the token of the covenant of promise , and putting it upon the legal covenant , to be a sign of it , to shew he had his covenant of promise still in remembrance : for doing so , he could never look on , or so much as think on the law , but he must also remember the promise ; the sign and memorial of the promise being thus annexed , and put to the law. [ thus circumcision , the first sign and token of abraham's covenant , though it were adopted into the law of moses , and made a sign and token of that covenant in which he mediated ; it was so but for the same reason , that jesus christ himself was made the minister of it : that is , not in derogation of the promises made to abraham , and his seed , or of any priviledges , and duties and incumbencies arising from them , but in confirmation ( of them . ) it was for the faith of god , to confirm the promises to the fathers . and therefore , though as adopted into the law of moses , and made a part and member thereof , it must consequently be annulled , and cease therewith ; yet , seeing that adoption of it into the law was in confirmation of the promise , the abrogation and cessation of circumcision with the law , as now become a part of it , cannot be understood to be in any diminution of the promise ; it not ceasing as it was a sign and token of the promise , but as it was become a member and part of the law. ] and so much in demonstration of the third particular , ( viz. ) that the duty and incumbence to which abraham ( and the same is said of his seed ) was obliged , as being in covenant , was , by way of restipulation , to dedicate and give himself , and all his to god ; and , in token of that dedication of himself , and of all his , to put the sign and token of the covenant , as the cognizance , and mark , and badge of god upon all his , as well as to wear it himself . it now remaineth , that i manifest what i promised to do in the last place , ( viz. ) that from abraham's gift and dedication of himself and his to god , there arises a distinction of holiness into internal and external ; the former positive and absolute , the latter relative : and that this distinction is evangelical , and as applicable unto our times since the law , as to the times before it , and under it . that from the double dedication the covenant of promise obliges to , and which abraham practised , there arises such a distinction of holiness , is evident ; for to be holy , being to be separated or dedicated to god , as he is a god in covenant : [ for whether it be a person , or it be a people , that is holy , still to be holy is to be dedicated , to be separated , it is to be to the lord their god ; deut. 14. 21. thou art an holy people unto the lord thy god : for a people to be vnto the lord their god , is to be holy ; for as to be blessed or happy , the lord must be a people's ; so to be holy , they must be the lord's . ] and seeing also , that a person may be separated and dedicated to the lord , and so become his as he is a god in covenant , either by a separation and dedication , which is the persons own act ; as when abraham or any other doth devote and give himself unfeignedly and cordially to god ; or else he may be so by a dedication and separation proceeding from another's act , and not his own ; he being another's , and consequently capable of being given and devoted by him . this being so , what can be clearer than that there are two kinds of holiness ; of which , the former ( wherein the person himself is active , and doth dedicate and give himself ) is positive : internal , and saving : the latter , ( in which he is passive , and is but dedicated , assigned , and given by another , whose he is ) is external and relative ; not a holiness in the person , but a holiness upon him . with the former kind of holiness , abraham himself was holy ; but with the latter , his infant children and servants : who , to shew that they were gods , had the mark of god upon them ; as ours , to shew that they are so , have his name . and that this distinction of holiness into external and internal , positive and relative , a holiness that is saving , and a holiness that is not , hath place in gospel-times , is as evident as that it had one under the law , and before the law : to manifest which , i will remind you of a text that hath been much in discourse , and on which , for obvious reasons , i will a little insist : it is 1 cor. 7. 14. for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by or in the wife , and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by or in the husband . where note , one person being sanctified , but not being saved by the relation which it hath to another , it can only be so externally : the believer is a saint , and so internally holy ; but the unbeliever is but sanctified or sacred , ( and that not as a person , a man or a woman , but as a person in such a relation , as a husband or wife ) by the relation which he hath to that : so athanasius makes , or rather notes the distinction . the design and scope of the apostle in the text , is to satisfie a case of conscience , which , it seemeth , had been proposed to him ; and was , whether the bond of marriage contracted between persons , both at the time of that contraction , in a state of infidelity , were obliging afterward , if one of them became a convert ? or , whether the believing husband were not obliged to put away the unbelieving wife , and the believing wife to leave her husband that believed not ; seeing the apostle ( for this likely was the occasion ) had advised them in a former epistle , not to keep company with idolaters and prophane persons ; and they comprehended not how then a believer , a holy person , could hold communion in the matrimonial state with an unbeliever , who is an idolater and unholy . this was the case ; and to this the apostle gives a plain and positive resolution , vers. 12 , 13. but to the rest speak i , not the lord ; if any brother hath a wife that believeth not , and she be pleased to dwell with him , let him not put her away ; and the woman which hath an husband that believeth not , if he be pleased to dwell with her , let her not leave him . then he seconds the resolution and decision which he had made , with a reason that doth expresly obviate the ground and foundation of their scruple , and that in the former part of the 14th vers. for the unbelieving husband is sanctified in or by the wife , and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in or by the husband . in fine , he fortifies that reason by a further consideration , taken from the inconvenience and absurdity that else would follow , if it should not be as he affirmed ; and that in the latter part of the 14th vers. else your children are ( or would be ) unclean ; but now ( or whereas ) they are holy . the sense you give of the apostles reason , ( for of his resolution and decision i know no controversie ) is ; that the bond of matrimony still remains : religion makes no alteration in civil bonds and contracts . the unbelieving husband is as much clean or lawful , that is ( say you ) sanctified to the use of the believing wife ; so that she may now as freely admit his conversation in a conjugal way , as ever before : and the like of the unbelieving wife to the believing husband . for were it otherwise , your children must be illegitimate , and bastards ; whereas they are not so , but lawfully begotten , and of clean blood. for this sense , you argue from divers considerations : one is , that the holiness of the unbelieving parents must be of the same kind with that of the children , and that of the children the same with that of the unbelieving parents ; and therefore , can be only civil . another ; that the apostle , when he saith , the unbelieving husband is sanctified , doth not say by the believing wife , but only by the wife ; and when the unbelieving wife is sanctified , he saith not by the believing husband , but only by the husband : which sheweth , that the holiness is only by the conjugal relation , as one is a husband , the other a wife ; not as a believing husband , or believing wife . and the third is , that in mal. 2. 15. the word holy is taken for legitimate and lawful . but for all this , the sense you give of the apostle's reason , can never be his , as being altogether incongruous , and improper ●o the words he uses : for whereas the apostle says , the unbelieving husband is sanctified in or by the wife , and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in or by the husband ; instead of sanctified in or by , you render it sanctified to ; both against the common use of the particle , and without example . for gal. 1. 16. the text you cite as parallel , must be rendred ( as it is in our translation ) in me : it had been a solaecisme , to have said there , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for to me ; it must have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , answerably to that matth 16. 17. flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and for acts 4. 12. the other ( non parel ) parallel you cite , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there , is not to men , but among men ; no other name is given among men : no other name , no other person among the sons of men ; no name among all their names ; not moses , not herod , &c. is the name or person given of god , in and by which they can be saved ; and yet if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were used in construction with any other word for to , ( as indeed i find it with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 2 pet. 1. 5. of which see beza ad loc. ) it would not follow , that it might be used in that sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , if you do not bring ( as you do not ) an example of it . in the sense you carry it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text , should have been construed with either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) as it is heb. 9. 13. again , how is the unbeliever legitimated in or by the believer ? both are equal in respect of conjugal relation ; one doth not legitimate another , but the law of nature or nations legitimates them both to one another . but here , the apostle saith , the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife , and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband ; and therefore , to be sanctified , is not to be legitimated . and observe , it is the vnbeliever is sanctified by the believer : he saith not , the believer is sanctified by the unbeliever ; whereas , if to be sanctified be to be legitimated , both are equally sanctified by , or rather to one another . but say you ; it is not said by the apostle , that the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife , nor that the unbelieving wife is so by the believing husband : he saith , barely , by the wife , and by the husband ; not by the believing wife , and by the believing husband . as if it were not plainly understood , when he saith of a husband and wife , of which it is supposed one is a christian , a believer ; the other not : that the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife , and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband . certainly , it is the unbeliever is sanctified by the believer ; especially seeing this wife , and this husband , vers. 15. is called the one a sister , the other a brother : and also , that in some copies , particularly that of claremont , believing is added , as beza assures ; and so tertullian also , and athanasius , read it . again , in all the scripture , the term sanctified is never put for civilly legitimated ; and you might as well have said , it signifieth nothing , as that it signifies but that : for as for mal. 2. 15. the term holy is not in the text ; for it is not there a holy seed ▪ but a seed of god , and that according to the usage of the hebrews , who put the name of god to what excels ; as a mountain of god for a high mountain , an army of god for a great army , a lyon of god for a lyon that excels in strength or stature ; and so a seed of god for an honourable excellent seed ; a seed not basely , promiscuously or adulterously begotten ; but according to the law and institution of god , in lawful and orderly matrimony : and if the seed of god be an honourable , excellent , and legitimate seed , will it therefore follow , that the word holy ( a word the prophet uses not ) doth signifie lawful or legitimate ? and whereas you say , [ the seed of god can be understood in no other sense , but that of a lawful seed , in opposition to that born in poligamy ; and so conclude against poligamy from that text : ) i cannot but observe , that you will take for sufficient evidence , in some points , that which is not currant even with you in others . for is not this an old-testament text , as well as gen. 17 ? and yet suffices to conclude against poligamy , though the latter must not for baptism . and tho' more is to be said against the illation you make from the one , than can against that i make from the other . for the seed of god , in the text , is not literally and directly opposed to the issue born in any poligamy , but in adulterous poligamy ; for words must be interpreted according to the scope and subject-matter : and the design and scope of the prophet , is not to argue against poligamy as such , in which there may be no treachery ; but against adulterous poligamy , in which there always is ; it being founded in treacherous putting away : which is evident , in that the prophet concludeth not against the former , but the latter ; therefore , take heed to your spirit ; let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth . deal treacherously ! wherein ▪ in poligamy as such ? no ; but in the divorce , then , commonly in practice ; which was , to put away one wife to take another : or in ( as i called it ) adulterous poligamy , poligamy founded on unjust divorce : for saith he , the lord the god of israel , he hateth putting away . plainly , the treachery lay not barely in poligamy , or the having many wives ▪ for to say it did , is great impiety against the father of the faithful , and against the generation of the just : for did abraham deal treacherously ? or did jacob ? or did david , but in the matter of vriah ? &c. was the church , the true off-spring of god , founded in an ungodly seed ? were not the patriarchs the issue of poligamy ? or can it be imagined , that the father of the faithful , the man after god's own heart , and the father of the twelve patriarchs , should live and die in treachery , perjury , adultery ? and yet they did in poligamy : no , the treachery lay not simply in poligamy , or having many wives ; but , as i said , in adulterous poligamy , or the divorce then in practice , which was , the cruel putting away of one wife , to take another : for this , as christ explains it , is adultery ; and consequently , treachery against the divorced . and if the conclusion be against divorce , that divorce which was in practice in that time , the medium or argument by which he doth deduce it , must be understood accordingly : and what is the medium ? god made one , when the remainder of the spirit was with him , and he could have made more : and why then but one , but that he might have an excellent seed ; which , in direct and literal correspondence to the conclusion , [ therefore deal not treacherously , in putting away , ] must be thus interpreted : he made one ; but one , that he might have an excellent seed ; not a base , dishonourable seed , the issue of adultery and treacherous divorce ; but an honourable , orderly seed , according to his own ordinance and institution of marriage : and therefore , he made one ; but one , that there being but one ( all , ) adam might have no choice of more , and consequently might be uncapable of committing treachery against that one he had , in putting her away to take another . this is plainly the reasoning of the prophet . but though from this medium he but argues , and so doth jesus christ too , against adulterous divorce ; yet seeing the same medium may be used to more than one conclusion , i do not lay any imputation on your argument against poligamy , from the prophet's , that god made but one ; and consequently , adam could not have more than one : no , though it may be said , that the argument would hold as well against successive , as contemporal poligamy ▪ for there being but one woman ( all ) made , adam could no more have one after another , than two at once : and though the holy patriarchs understood it not to be against poligamy , which they practised ; but against adulterous divorce , which they never practised . i hope , you will not understand me here beside my intentions , to offer what i have in favour of poligamy : i know that from the beginning it was not so ; it could not be so ; and that the churches of christ have no such custom : i only offer it , to let you see , how just you are to the old testament , and to consequences and deductions in matters in which you have no prejudice ; and again , how hard in things in which you have any : seeing a well-laid consequence and deduction , from an old-testament text , shall render you impregnable in one case , against the battery of many not unworthy considerations ; but shall not signifie a button in another , though the considerations against it are in no degree so numerous , or so weighty : as if for you , any probability and appearance must be demonstration ; but against you , even demonstrations as good as the nature of the thing will bear , must not have the reputation of being bare probabilities . but this by the way . to return . the sense i have of the apostle's resolution , and of the reason with which he enforces it , is , that notwithstanding the infidelity and unbelief of one of the conjugal pair ; ( yet ) the other might still cohabit , and conjugally converse with him , or with her : for though the person of the unbeliever be not sanctified ; yet the relation is , and the matrimonial use is , and that in and by the faith of the believer ; who , by a dedication of himself , or of her self , and of all he doth , and all he useth , in receiving all , and doing all with giving of thanks , and with a superior reference , doth thereby sanctify , make different and holy , ( namely , relatively and externally ) what without that dedication and superiour reference , was in it self but common , indifferent , and unclean : as 1 tim. 4. 3 , 4 , 5. where mark the limitation ; to him that believeth : and also the manner how sanctified ; by the word and prayer . and the apostle enforceth this reason ; namely , the sanctification of the vnbeliever in and by the believer , as to conjugal acts and uses , by a further consideration , viz. that ( there being the same reason for the unbelieving parent , as for the children that do not actually believe ) if it were not so , [ if the unbelieving husband , as a husband , were not sanctified by the believing wife , but remained common , &c. ] then their children ( which they would not easily grant ) must be also common , and unclean , and as unholy as the children of the meer heathen ; who , being aliens to the common-wealth of israel , strangers to the covenant of promise , and so without god as in covenant , can do no act in reference to him ; that is , no holy action ; and consequently , tho' they might lawfully ( both by the law of nature , and the law of nations ) beget children , which therefore would be legitimate ; yet they could not do it holily , and therefore their children could , not be holy. a heathen may do a thing lawfully ; but only a christian can do a thing holily : that is lawfully done , which is done according to law , civil or divine , natural or positive ; but that only is holily done , which being lawful , is done with reference to god in covenant , and for his glory . and as children are called legitimate , as they are lawfully begotten ; so they are called holy , as being holily begotten . thus it is , as if the apostle had said , if the unbelieving husband be not sanctified by the believing wife , and the unbelieving wife by the husband that believeth ; then are your children still unholy , still unsanctified , and but as the children of meer heathens : for if your children are holy and sanctified , ( as you do acknowledge them ) they be so but by the dedication of the believing parent by word and prayer , with a relative and external sanctity . and thus the unbelieving wife may be sanctified , and is by the husband that believeth ; and thus the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife , as well as your children : every believer sanctifying , dedicating , and consecrating all he hath concern in or with , by prayer applying the word : else were your children common and unclean ; whereas now they are holy. designati sanctitatis , saith tertullian , the candidates of holiness . and thus the unbelieving husband and wife ( as husband and wife ) are holy , as the children are holy , with a relative and external holiness , one and the same sort of holiness . and whereas you think , that in the gospel-administration there is no such thing as a relative and external holiness ; ] i on the contrary am apt to think , there was never more ; and that the ceremonial holiness under the law , did in a great degree but signifie the latitude of this in the gospel : for what is the holiness of our actions , natural or civil , and of the members of our bodies , and that which is on creatures by craving a blessing on them , other than a reference ( in the doing of the former , and in the using of the latter ) to the glory of god ? in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , this reference to god in actions ▪ in the use of creatures , and the use of our members , consists the sanctification of them , to which in all things a believer is obliged : for whether we do eat , or do drink , or what-ever we do , all must be done ( with this reference to god , ] for the glory of god. thus a christian is a person that is entirely to god ; that in all he is , and hath , and doth , is to , and for god : he is a priest , and he is an offering , and he is a temple too : so that , now , holiness is on the bells of the horses , and the pots ( vessels of common use ) are as the bowls before the altar ; all holy and consecrated . no action of a believer , much less his marrying , and giving in marriage , and the consequent actions of that state , must be common , but holy ; and every action of an unbeliever , is common and unholy : to the pure all things are pure , but to the vnbeliever nothing so : even the lawful actions of the unbeliever , who is without god in the world , are unholy . holy christian matrimony , and holy christian use of one another , differs much from unholy and unchristian . infidels do lawfully come together ; but they do not holily : they never think on god in covenant in it . now , in your second thoughts , i pray consider , which of the given senses is the most probable , either that which agreeth not to the text , so much as in the grammar ; but is far fetcht , violent , and forced : or that which is not only natural and genuine , without constraint and violence to the words ; but also agreeth both to the analogy of faith , and to the design of the apostle : as which not only resolves the case proposed ; but , by obviating the ground of the scruple , doth fully satisfie the conscience : a sense not mean and low , as that is which makes the holiness to be but civil , ( to be ) a meer lawfulness ; but a high , lofty , spiritual , evangelical sense : a sense truly worthy of our great apostle , who breatheth nothing but sanctity , nothing but holiness . thus having fortified my premises , i should immediately proceed to deduce my conclusion ; but ( that ) before i do so , it may not be amiss to consider one question ; which is : [ why , seeing the sign and token of the covenant of promise , was the sign and token of it not only on abraham's part , to whom it was made ; but on god's , who made it : why , since it signified , that god did convey , and make himself and all his to abraham , as well as that abraham ought to restipulate , and surrender , and make himself , and all his again to god : that all along i do mention but this , and not the other ? ] to this i answer , that i insist not on the latter , to exclude the former . i well know the sign and token of the covenant , to be a sign and token between god and abraham ; and ●o as much signifie what god hath promised to abraham , as what abraham was obliged to answer . but the reason i insist mainly on the latter , is , that it seemeth mostly ( to be ) imported in putting of the sign upon abraham : for any other sign that god had pleased to have given him , either in the heavens above , or in the earth below , might have been ( as the bow in the clouds ) a confirmation of the truth of god , as covenanting : but it would not , with so much clearness and significancy , have represented abraham's stipulation , and his assigning and giving of himself and his again to god , as now it doth ; seeing ( that ) that in common sense is god's , which hath his sign upon it , and wears his mark. and 't is as observable , that as circumcision was upon abraham , and on all his , in token of his answer and restipulation to god , ( that he did dedicate and assign himself , and all he had , to him ) ; so baptism [ the evangelical , initiating token ] is on the person too to whom god is a god , and signifieth the same restipulation and answer , which circumcision did : the which many learned ( not improbably ) conceive the apostle means , when he says , 1 pet. 3. 21. that baptism is not the putting away of the filthiness of the flesh , but the answer or restipulation of a good conscience towards god : and so beza ( ad loc . ) on second thoughts doth render it ; and tertullian happily doth allude to it too , when l. de resur . car. he tells us , anima non lavatione , sed responsione sancitur . besides , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a juridical word , as may be seen in the glossary : and though ( in classick authors ) it primarily , and in the first place , do signifie interrogation ; yet even thence , it came in the second to signifie stipulation , ( the sense the jurists take it in : ) and the reason is evident ; for in spigelius , stipulatio est firma verborum conceptio , quâ quis aliquid se facturum daturumve promittit alteri super hoc ipsum interroganti ; utpote , promittis mihi te daturum xx philippeos ? alter respondebat , promitto . and thus also surrenders and deditions were antiently made , as is to be seen ( in livy , l. 1. c. 36. and in calepine , ad voc . ded . out of him ) in the dedition of the collatines to the romans . but yet my argument doth not stand and fall with the sense of this text , no more than with that in the 1 cor. 7. well then , i have evinced , that the covenant of promise , which is the blessing of abraham , is the covenant of grace , and that it doth descend upon the ( true ) believing gentiles , i have also evinced . that all who have the benefit and advantage of the blessing of abraham , and are the seed on whom it doth descend , are equally obliged to the duty , office , and incumbence arising from the nature of that blessing , or annexed to it , as abraham himself : and i have evinced , that the duty , office , and incumbence arising from the blessing of abraham , in the covenant of promise , was , in restipulation and answer to god , to dedicate , assign , and give himself , and all he owned , to him ; and , in token of that dedication , gift , and assignment , to put the sign and token of the covenant [ the mark and cognizance of god ] both on himself , and on them . and now take my argument , which is this : that seeing the believing gentiles are the seed of abraham , and consequently are partakers of his blessing in that covenant of promise confirmed afore in christ ; as is evident in the first particular : and seeing the seed of abraham , who are partakers of his blessing , are under equal obligation to the duty , office , and incumbence of that blessing , as abraham himself was ; which is the second particular : and seeing also , that the duty , office , and incumbence lying on abraham , as he had the blessing , was , that he should both dedicate , and assign , and give himself , and all his to god ; and , in token of it , take himself , and put on them the sign of the covenant , ( which is called to keep the covenant , viz. in the sign of it ; ) which is the third . it follows , that the true believing gentiles , who are the seed of abraham , and as much partakers of the blessing in the covenant of promise , as abraham himself , are as much obliged to observe and keep that covenant of promise , in the sign and token of it , ( be it what it will ) as he himself , and his natural seed : that is , in plain words , seeing god is as much a god to the believing gentiles , as he was to abraham , and doth as much give and make himself , and all he hath to them , as he did to him ; it follows , that they are as much obliged , by way of answer , to dedicate and give themselves , and all they have , to him ; and , in token of it , to take the sign of the covenant between god and them , or the cognizance and token of being god's , ( which now is baptism ) upon themselves , and to put it upon all theirs , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( and to be sure , their children are theirs ) as abraham was himself to take circumcision , ( the sign and token of the covenant then ) and to put it also on his. the same reason for both : the seed is as well to keep the covenant ( in the sign , ) as abraham . if it could be denied , that baptism is now the sign and token of the covenant of grace , as circumcision was heretofore ; i should think it easie to be evinced : but i assume it as granted , and that both because baptism is the restipulation and answer of a good conscience to god ; and because it hath the same use now , that circumcision had before , ( viz. ) to be the rite of matriculation , and of assignation : and because else ( which is hard to think ) there is now no such sign and token at all of the covenant : whereas if in circumcision , ( god's sign ) ; in baptism , the name of god is put upon us , to mark us for his. and taking it for granted , and allowing the grounds that i have laid , you may see the reason , why in the primitive times , whole houses were baptized : it is on the same account , and for the same reason , that abraham's whole house was circumcized . thus it is said , act. 11. 14. that peter should tell cornelius words , by which he and all his house should be saved : and act. 16. 15. it is said but of lydia , that she believed ; but of her , and of her houshold , that they were baptized : and in act. 16. 31. it is promised to the goaler , that on his faith not only himself , but his houshold should be saved : believe thou on the lord jesus christ , and thou shalt be saved , and thy house . and 1 cor. 1. 16. paul baptized the houshold of stephanas : and christ himself tells zacheus , on his believing , that salvation is come not to his person only , but his house . i say not , this is demonstration ; but it seemeth something , that ( ordinarily ) when the master , on his believing , hath a blessing given him , his house or family should be joyned with him . certainly , the families of the seed have the same relation to them , that the family and houshold of abraham had to him ; and the incumbence on the seed , is the same as on abraham ; and the priviledge the same . and it seems to me , to answer exactly to the sentiments of some , concerning the promise given to the church under the messiah , that magnificent one ; for so jer. 30. 21. should be rendred , and not in the plural , as we do read it : to the letter , it is not their nobles , as in our translation ; but their magnificent one , or their noble one shall be of themselves , and their governour shall proceed from the midst of them . now say they , the promise is , that when this noble and magnificent one , the shiloe should come out of the loyns of juda , and take the soveraign government and power , and have the chief administration of things in his own hand ; then , in that glorious and evangelical dispensation , their children should be as afore-time ; or to the letter , as of old : their children should be solemnly dedicated , and given up to god , and put into his protection and care ; and , in token of it , be baptized , as of old , in afore-time , they were circumcized : which , though it be not the proper sense of that text , ( for of old may look but to the time of david and solomon , as i am apt to think it doth , because the same word is neh. 12. 46. used in reference to it ; ) yet it is consonant enough to the analogy of faith. for indeed , well may children in the gospel-dispensation be said , in this sense , to be as afore-time , and as of old ; since though the jews are cut off , the gentiles ( which believe ) are grafted in upon the same stock ; not indeed upon the legal branch , but upon the root olive ; which affordeth all the nourishment that either the jews had , or the gentiles have : which root-olive is the covenant of promise ; that covenant , that promise , that was above four hundred years before the law. now , into that state of things , as the covenant of promise then held it so long before the law , we believing gentiles , the true seed , are put : christ himself affirming , that many shall come from the east , and from the west , the north , and the south , [ and those are the believing gentiles from all quarters , ] and shall sit down with abraham , isaac , and jacob : he saith not with moses , and with elias , by whom the law came , and was explained ; but with the fathers , who received the promise : they shall sit with these in the kingdom of heaven , or gospel-church , and in that state of things , when not the law , but the gospel preached unto abraham , did obtain ; god was a god not only to the father , but in and through the father , and for his sake to the children , yea , to all the family ; and the father of the family did not only dedicate and give himself , but all his , his children , and even his servants , all his to god. and so it is now : our children are thus , as they were afore-time , or of old ; else indeed our children were unclean , but now are they holy ; they are god's . the great mistake of antipedo-baptists , is , that they look not back but to the law , when they should ( look back ) a little further , even to the time of the promise , before the law ; a state of things for the long space of four hundred and thirty years : for observe , in jer. 31. from vers. 31 to 34. when god is pleased to promise to make a new covenant , and consequently to abolish and abrogate the old , he maketh old not that covenant made with abraham four hundred and thirty years before the law ; but that which was made with their fathers , in the day he took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of egypt ; which was the legal covenant made on mount sinai certainly , the new covenant , as stated in jeremy , is a renovation of abraham's , or of the promise of the spirit ; i will he their god , they shall be my people ; i will be thy god , and the god of thy seed ; and thou and thy seed shalt keep my covenant : to keep god's covenant , is to be god's . as for ishmael and isaac , those two figures , taking them as figures , and as in the allegory , so they represent not primarily and immediately , ( as you apprehend them ) the state of single persons ; as if the latter should represent the persons that truly , and to all intents and purposes , are spiritual heirs of the promise ; and the former , those that are only so externally , and as they did descend ( according to the flesh ) from abraham : for , if you mind it , this distinction of seeds did take no place , in the antitype and truth , before the law , for all that long space of above four hundred years that did precede it . so that firstly , they do not signifie single persons , but peoples : i say , ishmael and isaac are not primarily and immediately the elect and reprobate , ( as elect and reprobate are commonly taken ) but are jew and gentile : the seed which is of the law , and the seed which is of the faith of abraham : according to rom. 4. 16. there are elect and reprobate among both seeds . yes , ishmael and isaac do signifie but peoples ; ( namely , ) ishmael signifies the jews ; who , being descendants of abraham according to the flesh , were under the bondage of the law ; and so , in the mystery , were children of hagar the bond-woman , as ishmael was in the letter : for hagar answereth unto sinai , where the law was given : and isaac represents the believing gentiles ; who are no longer under the bondage of the law , but under the grace of the promise ; and so , in the mystery , are the children of sarah or of the free woman ; as being the children of the faith of abraham , as others were of his body . hagar and sarah are the two covenants and dispensations , [ sinai and sion ; ] and the jews under the law , and gentiles under the gospel , are the children of them , or ishmael and isaac . so that before the law , no distinction in the antitype or mystery of those two ; for the children could not be , before the mothers were : and therefore , what is this to the state of the promise four hundred and thirty years before ? now , in the gospel being freed from the law , we are put again into the state of the promise , which was before ; christ the seed , the principal object of the promise , being now come . i 'le be a god to thee , and thy seed . thus i have finished my argument : but happily , in evasion of it , ( for it cannot be in solution of , or satisfaction to it ) you will persist to say , as you have already ; that the external administration of the covenant now being vastly different from what it was in abraham's time ; therefore the incumbence is so also : and that therefore , though believing gentiles , who have the benefit of abraham's covenant , and to whom it is made , are under equal obligation to that proper duty and service , which is now required of them , as abraham was to his ; yet it follows not , that their infant-seed are under the same obligation , according to the gospel-institution , till put into the same capacity ( by believing ) with themselves . but how pertinently this is said , i do not see : for to what proposition in my argument can this your answer be adjusted and applied ? besides , it goes upon a mistake much vaster than the difference between the external administration of the covenant in abraham's time , and that in ours : for i know no other difference in respect of the sign of it , but that circumcision then was that sign , and that baptism is now . nor will any difference in the external administration , if it should be much greater , make any as to the argument , from the duty and incumbence which i insisted upon , ( which is , to keep the covenant in the sign of it , as abraham did ) for this incumbence and duty is not bottomed and grounded on the administration of the covenant , which is mutable , and doth differ ; but on the substance and nature of it , which is immutable and everlastingly the same ; [ i will be a god to thee , and to thy seed : ] and god being as much a god to the seed of abraham , as he was to abraham himself ; the seed are as much obliged to the duty , office , and incumbence arising and resulting from his being so ▪ as ever abraham was . ay , you will say ; the believing gentiles , on whom the blessing and covenant of abraham doth descend , are as much obliged to that proper duty and service , which is now required of them , as abraham was to his then ; yet it follows not , ( i use your own words ) that [ their infant-seed are under the same obligation , according to the gospel-institution , till put into the same capacity ( by be ieving ) with themselves . ] and indeed , it follows not , that the infant-children are under the same obligation ; for they are under none : the obligation is not on the children , which are but passive : but it follows well enough for the parents that believe , that the same obligation lies on them , they being the true seed , to keep the covenant in the sign of it , both by taking of it upon themselves , and by putting of it on their children , that did of old upon abraham for himself and his . and this is the proper duty and service required of them , as they are partakers of the blessing of abraham . nor are we to expect any new commands in the gospel dispensation , for duties settled of old on lasting and immutable reasons : the obligation abides , if the reason of the precept abides ; a principle that is the ground of the apostle's reasoning , 1 cor. 9. 8 , 9 , 10. and shall the promise indeed abide , and not the duty which arises from it ? the covenant abide , and not the restipulation , without which it is not a covenant ? this you dare not say . ay , but you will tell me again ; tho' you do acknowledge , that the proper duty and incumbence arising from the covenant , hath an eternal obligation upon all the true heirs of promise ; and in particular , that such are bound by way of restipulation , not only to assign , dedicate , and give themselves to god ; but also , all that is theirs : yet that you do mean , that it must only be in the way that he himself hath appointed , ( and who , i pray , ever meant otherwise ? ) and that is ( say you ) but by prayer and supplication for them , and by educating of them ( as far as they are capable ) in the nurture and admonition of the lord ; and not by the parent 's putting on them any sign of the covenant , as a badge , and cognizance of god , in recognition and testimony of his right and title to them . but all this is but to deny the conclusion , after concession of the premises ; for i have evinced , that the proper obligation of the covenant , and in the way that god himself hath appointed , is , that those with whom it is immediately made , and who are first partakers of the benefits of it , to whom god is firstly and immediately a god , are not only to dedicate and give themselves , and all they have to him ; but to do it in this particular way & manner , by keeping of the covenant in the sign of it ; [ i will be a god to thee , and thy seed ; thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed : ] so that , to dedicate and give our infant-children to god by prayer and supplication , and to educate and bring them up in the fear and admonition of the lord , ( which also must be done , and which abraham also did ) is not to answer the obligation and incumbence of the covenant , if we do not do it also solemnly , by keeping of the covenant in the sign thereof our selves , and by putting of it also on them. god loves solemnity ; it makes for his external glory : he will be owned to be our lord and owner , and the lord and owner of our children , by our taking of his name upon us our selves , and by putting of it on them . and whereas you have said , with a modesty as great as the truth of what you say ; that , if my argument be truly stated , and as ( without wresting ) it ought , the proper language of it will be this ; that abraham being in covenant , was to be circumcized both himself and half his family ; the same covenant descends on believing gentiles : therefore , they are to be signed , and the whole of theirs . but whether such an argument as this , ( this being , you say , the true state of the case ) be convincing or no , you refer to my second thoughts . ] i answer : that i have reason to be at the utmost degree of despair , of ever receiving of any good answers from you , as long as ( from what cause i now enquire not ) you understand an argument no better : for mine ( even in your terms of half and whole ) would run thus : if abraham , and all his seed , must keep the covenant in the sign of it , by taking it themselves , and putting it on all theirs that are capable of it ; then , though abraham , and but half his family , ( for so you compute it ) did keep it in the sign thereof , as long as circumcision was that sign ; yet the seed of abraham , the true believing gentile , and the whole of theirs , must keep it now . now , that baptism is the sign , the sequel is evident : for as but half of abraham's family was capable of circumcision , the sign of the covenant then ; all the off-spring of the believing seed of abraham , are capable of baptism , which is the sign of it now. and observe it ; i argue not from circumcision , as it is circumcision , to baptism ; but i argue , that because the children of abraham , by vertue of the covenant , were signed with the sign of it ; which then was circumcision : therefore , the children of the seed , by vertue of the same covenant , must be signed with the sign of it too ; which now is baptism : for the immediate obligation is not to keep the covenant either in baptism , or in circumcision ; but in the sign of it : now the sign of old was circumcision , and the sign now is baptism . it is true , had it pleased god to have abolished circumcision , the sign before , and not to have instituted baptism , which is the sign now ; it would have been a high presumption in any person , to go about to make one : but when the covenant remains , and the proper obligation of the covenant , is to keep it in the sign thereof ; and god , though he hath taken away one sign , yet hath pleased to institute another ; what can be plainer , than that as to be in covenant is our priviledge , so that to observe and keep it in the present sign thereof is our duty ? thus you have my second thoughts , and make the most of them . so much by way of obviation to what you do object to my argument . i am now to reply to yours ; and it is ad hominem : ( viz. ) either the children of believers are in covenant with their parents , or they are not : if they are in covenant , as you say i affirm they are , because i said the children of believers are holy , not without god in covenant , but given to god in covenant ; then say you , they are the spiritual seed , and as such entituled to the covenant and blessing of abraham , which i formerly denied , and which cannot be for fifteen reasons . but on the contrary , if i say the children of believers are not the spiritual seed of abraham , and consequently such as are not ( you should have added , on that account , ) any wise intituled unto abraham's covenant and blessing ; then neither can they justly pretend to any covenant holiness by vertue of their birth priviledge ; which yet [ you say , but mistakingly ] i make the ground of their admission to baptism , when i say , that god becometh not related unto any ; nor is any related unto god in scripture , so as to be stiled holy , but in and through the covenant . ] thus i am in a dilemma , and driven from corner to corner ; but safe in none . but pray consider , that i never said , either directly or in consequence , that the children of believers are immediately and firstly in the covenant of promise , and as their parents ( are : ) i only said , and still do , that they are dedicated and given by their parents to god , ( who is ) in covenant ( with those parents : ) and yet for all this , even in my opinion , they may pretend [ if that must be the word ] to some holiness by vertue of the covenant of promise ; and this too , though they be not abraham's spiritual seed : for though they be not themselves the spiritual seed of abraham ; yet being the children of those that are , they become , thereby , intituled to the priviledge of being dedicated and sacred to god , by vertue of the covenant ; in the same right , and all , as much as the slaves and natural children of abraham were . abraham's natural children and slaves were intituled on his account ; and the children of believers are intituled on theirs . the true spiritual seed of abraham are obliged to dedicate their children , not as his , but as theirs ; they give theirs , as he gave his. i pray , were not the natural seed of abraham , and his slaves also , some way holy in and through the covenant , by vertue of the dedication and signing which that obliged to ? and as his children and slaves were some way holy , so are ours also . and in this sense of federal holiness , as it is a relative and external holiness , do i ascribe it to our children , in and through the covenant ; namely , as this obliges the parent to assign and dedicate them , and they accordingly are dedicated : and to be federally holy in this sense , they need not sure be the true spiritual seed of abraham , seeing all , even the natural children of abraham , [ though so holy ] were not all accounted for seed . in fine ; observe , that if by vertue of the dedication required of abraham by the covenant made with him , his children were members of the church then , [ old-testament-church , you call it ] it will follow , that by vertue of the same covenant , making the same obligation and incumbence of dedication , ( if it be still in force , as i have evinced it to be ) the children of the seed continue members still , even in the new-testament-church : and well they may , not only for that the church is one , and the same , though the testaments be not ; but for that children were not only members of the jewish or legal church , but of the gospel-church , for above four hundred years before the law : for it was gospel that was preached to abraham , gal. 3. 8. and therefore circumcision was , at first , a gospel-sign . and remember , i make not the childrens being in covenant , the ground of their baptism ; but the parents being in covenant , the ground of their holiness . to be baptized is the children's priviledge ; but it is the parent 's duty to baptize them , and to put the name of god upon them , in token that by their assignment they are his. well ; but you find not any mention of infants-baptism in the apostolical and primitive times ; nor any positive and literal precept for it . ] but do you find any mention , that the apostles themselves , all of them were baptized with any , or any of them with the baptism of christ ? or that women were admitted to the supper of the lord ? or any positive literal precept for either ? and yet , i hope , you believe , both that the apostles were baptized , and that women were not excluded from the holy communion . and if you do not find in so many literal expressions , that infants were then baptized , you may find it in sufficient implication ; for you may find whole houses ( of which ordinarily infants are constituent parts ) affirmed to be so , and that frequently , and without any exception of infants ; which yet ought to have been made , if it had been but for caution , on supposal that it were so dangerous a thing as you would have it be thought , to understand them included . besides , the churches of christ universally have had such a custom , and for ought appears , perpetually : sure we are from immemorial time , which is enough to prescribe from ; and you cannot but know what austin says in the case . now , sir , upon the whole i pray consider , that in all the scripture , as there is no express and positive text , that children must be baptized ; so there is no express and positive text , that doth forbid their baptizing : and therefore , it can be only consequence to evidence , either that they ought to be baptized , or that they ought not . and let be weighed , that antipedo-baptism makes the church of christ but a church vnius aetatis : that it robs the parent of a sensible ground of hope for his child , in case of decease in infancy ; which is , that he hath solemnly given him to god , and made him his care : and it deprives the child of a solemn and powerful motive , when he is of age , to dedicate and give himself : for this is a great one , [ and this it deprives him of : ] i am already solemnly given to god in baptism by my parents , who had right to give me : i am his by their dedication , and that publickly made and attested ; and therefore , i have reason to become so by my own. i am not mine own ; the name of god is upon me ; i am marked for his ; and i must rob god of what is his own already by many rights , and particularly by a solemn act of my parents , if i now refuse my consent , and do not also assign , and dedicate , and give my self to him. and let it also be weighed , that children are no more uncapable of baptism , than they were of circumcision : for if baptism be the sign and seal of the righteousness by faith ; so was circumcision : if then all were not israel , that were of israel ; so it is now , all in christ are not christ : if then circumcision , which was of the fathers , or a sign and token of the promise made to abraham , isaac , and jacob , were taken and put unto the law ; baptism , which was of john , the last prophet , and in use before john , as a rite of initiating proselytes , and administred both to male and female , is taken by christ , and put to the gospel : and if faith be made in the gospel , the ground and foundation of baptism , believe and be baptized ; it was at first the ground and foundation of circumcision : for abraham believed god , and it was accounted to him for righteousness ; and he received the sign of circumcision , the seal of the righteousness by faith ; which he had , being yet vncircumcized . and if the children of abraham were holy , ours are not unclean . in a word : as heretofore there were jews outwardly , and but visibly , as well as inwardly and really ; so now there are christians outwardly , and but visibly , as well as inwardly and really . and is not baptism it self , as external and visible a thing as circumcision ? yes , there is a baptism and regeneration of water , which is external and visible , to make christians visibly and externally , as well as one of the spirit , which is internal and invisible , to make real and true christians : the former , that initiates into the external and visible church : the latter , into the true assembly of the first born : and the subjects of the two baptisms are no more to be confounded , than the baptisms themselves . thus i have given you all the satisfaction , that under a great variety of distractive and surprizing accidents , i was capable of giving ; and i have done it with the temper and moderation that becomes a seeker of truth ; without the common pomp of figures , insolence , and triumph : a thing searce pardonable in the heat and fervency of a dispute ; but which doth very ill become a writer . and yet , if i had used any warmness in the argument , seeing it is in the case of infants , that cannot speak for themselves , it had been somewhat excusable ; and the rather , for that our saviour was so zealous for them himself , that when some ( it may be of your perswasion ) would not have had them brought unto him to be blessed , it is said , he was much displeased with them. but i am not so with you , for that occasion you have given of searching out the truth to , bowdon , septemb. 19. 81. ian. 27. 81. dear sir , your affectionate friend and servant , r. b. the second letter . dear sir , yours of march 16th , came to hand the 20th ; in which the declaration you begin with , that notwithstanding all that i have said , your apprehensions concerning the matter in dispute between us , are the same they were , and that rather you are the more confirmed ; doth no whit surprize me . i assure you , i never had the vanity to hope , to convince a man of your perswasion . i was not the first aggressor : i well knew the confidence , that goes along with conceits of higher administrations ; and i also knew , that some dyes and tinctures of mind , ( of which i took , and do take that of yours to be one ) are as uncapable of being washed out , as those in the skins of leopards and blackamoors . after a smoothing preface , you proceed to ( as you call them ) sober , and ( you hope ) inoffensive reflections ; which yet , to deserve the epithetes you give them , must have been composed of ethicks , as well as of logick ; must have been reflections on arguments only , without any squinting on persons ; and must have consisted of something else , than of ambuscadoes of words , of bold assertions without proof , of evasions in stead of direct answers , of partial repetitions , and of triumphs before the victory . these are the arts and methods of imposture , used to deceive the vulgar ; but very improper in inquiries after truth ; and of no influence , no operation , in the least , on prudent and more judicious discerners . your first reflection is on the caution which i gave you , about mis-improving my concession : and here , after all the evasion , circumlocution , and wood of words , in which you think to hide ; it is certain still , that either those pious and learned men , who prove the baptism of infants from their being the seed of abraham , do by the seed of abraham mean as you and i do , or they do not ; and if they do not , as you do not , you dare not say but they do not ; especially your presbyterian opponents , ( of which i would be principally understood ; ) then should you raise a thousand times more cloud and dust than you have ; yet still it would be visible , that all your fifteen arguments against infants being the spiritual seed of abraham in your sense , and my concession that they are not so in that sense , do in no degree affect those excellent and worthy persons : for they taking spiritual seed in one sense , and you and i in another ; they for persons of a religious consideration , and some way holy , and you and i for actual believers ; though you may think you do oppose them , and also that i do ; yet indeed you do not ; nor i neither : for opposition must be secundum idem . ay! but ( say you ) the sense in which they call infants the spiritual seed of abraham , is a sense the scripture knows nothing of . but , say i , whether that be so or no , is still in question between you ; and were it out of question , as you would have it , what were that to me , who neither did , nor do insist on that argument ? but in question it is , and like to be so for all that you , or any of yours have hitherto said ; nor are they without scriptural grounds . for are not the children of believing parents some ways christ's ? and can they be so , and no ways abraham's seed ? can they be relatively holy , and persons of a religious consideration , or church-members in the gospel-dispensation , ( as the reverend , most acute , learned , and pious mr. baxter hath abundantly proved them , ) can they be so , and no ways christ's ? are not the children of christians , as much christians externally ; as the children of the jews , were jews externally ? and are there not in christ , branches that do not bring forth fruit ? that is , are there not reputed christians , which are so but by external profession , and not by actual faith , and internal , true , spiritual regeneration ? surely , all are not israel , that are of israel ; all are not christ , that are in christ. i say not this , as willing to insist on that argument ; but to evidence , with how much justice , as well as with how great civility , you speak by occasion of it , of my darkning counsel without knowledge : and , with a candour truly yours , and much to the purpose , add ; that a man may make a shift , 't is true , by means of such a distinction , to avoid the dint of his adversaries argument , in his own conceit at least ; but unless the distinction be a well-grounded distinction he cannot pretend so much to subserve the truth , as his own credit thereby . a very sober and inoffensive reflection ! in your next , instead of admiration how capable comes in , you are greatly concerned that it should be thought you said , it must not be in in the major ; and therefore tell me , with some emotion ; that you shall only need to say , and which i my self do know to be true , that you did not at all admire how capable came into my major proposition , &c. but how into the conclusion . ] as if , had it been so indeed , it had been a prodigy in logick , to have a term in the conclusion , that had been in one of the premises . but to answer in your own figure of speaking : you cannot but know , that in the place you animadvert upon , and where i used the term capable , i made no syllogism at all ; and so distinguished not the major , the minor , and the conclusion ; but only interpreted a text , gen. 17. 9 , 10. nor is the argument i make , to be disposed into but one ; it doth consist of many syllogisms : and what is a conclusion in one syllogism , may ( i hope ) be a major proposition in another . but you proceed : whereas you tell me , ( say you ) that my admiration is more the object of yours ; after i have granted , that god commanded abraham , thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed , in general terms , wherein both sexes may seem to be comprehended ; you should have added , to have done well , [ as if i had not ] that which follows also , that yet it is evident , that the males only were to be actually signed : and therefore to say , that the females were vertually and reputatively signed , in the circumcision of the males , is not to the purpose ; for according to that rule , the females should be only virtually and reputatively , not actually baptized . and in this respect therefore , to say as you now do , that the putting of the sign on all those in abraham's family , that were capable of it ; and the wearing of it by those , may be [ i said , must be ] interpreted the putting of it on all ; can be of no advantage at all , in the present dispute . in this paragraph , i have again an ordinary instance of your great candour , and sincerity , which will be very manifest , when i have told you , that notwithstanding a sly insinuation to the contrary , i did add , and that in terms sufficiently expressive , more than once , that the males only were actually signed , with circumcision ; or else , how could i argue as i did , and you grant i did , that the females must be understood to be so reputatively ; for if the females were signed but in reputation , and interpretation , the males only could be actually signed . and to confirm all i have now said , i need but repeat the argument i made before , which was as follows . [ but your admiration is more the object of mine : after you have granted , that god commanded abraham , ( thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed ) in general terms ; wherein , say you , both sexes may seem to be comprehended , ( and indeed , i say , are so : ) for if he did command in general terms , that abraham and all his ( seed , you say ) should keep the covenant , in the sign and token of it ; and yet , afterward , did institute circumcision to be that sign and token , which [ mark this ] was not competent to all. how can the generality of the precept , ( thou shalt put the sign on all thine , when circumcision , that is not competible to all , [ mark that again ] is that sign ) be understood accommodously and conveniently , as it must be , but thus ; thou shalt put the sign on all thine that are capable of it ; and the wearing of it by these , shall be interpreted and understood the putting of it on all. ] thus , as now , the gentiles are counted for seed ; so then , the females were counted for signed . this was the sense i gave , and this the argument with which i urged it : if you approved not the sense , why did you not reply to the argument , and give a sense more congruous ? but if you do approve it , why , in your answer , do you cloud and darken it with words , and make as if you disowned it as a false one ? but a true sense it is , you do not , you dare not deny it . ay , but if true , you say , it is not to the purpose . that , i grant , may be ; not to your purpose , but sufficiently to mine . no , ( say you ) not to that neither ; for then the females should only be reputatively baptized , because they were only reputatively circumcized . ] as if females were not actually to wear a sign they are equally capable of with the males , because they were but interpretatively to wear a sign they were not capable of but so . thus far i have followed you step by step , and written in a fashion not mine own , but yours ; both to make you sensible of the great provokativeness , and of the as great unfitness and undecency of it . but i am weary of this drudgery ; and therefore , in what remains , resolve to content my self with summing up the substance of what you offer ; and that as well without improper reflections , as with all the clearness and fulness i can ; and so return my answers . the first thing offered by you of any moment , is to this sense ; that the immediate obligation which was laid upon abraham , and his seed after him in their generations , was not to keep the covenant in the sign of it in general terms , as i would have it ; but only to keep the covenant in that particular sign of circumcision ; there being ( say you ) no other sign mentioned or implied , but that gen. 17. 9 , 10 , in which the latter words are only exegetical of the former , thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , &c. in the 9th . verse ; and how the 10th . explains , namely in circumcision . and seeing this objection hath something in it very pertinent , ( for i will do you all the right imaginable ) i hold my self obliged in order to the removing of it , and consequently to the further illustrating and clearing of my argument , to shew ; first , that the immediate obligation and incumbence mentioned in the 9th verse , cannot be to keep the covenant in , but circumcision ; and consequently , that what is said verse the 10th , is not meerly exegetical of the obligation in the 9th . secondly , that the immediate obligation and incumbence in the 9th . verse , is to keep the covenant in the sign of it : this is primary : and then , that that which is added in the 10th . verse , is but a secondary institution of a particular sign , for that time . and , thirdly , i will shew , that there is a plain intimation , and consequently more than a meer hint , that some other sign must be observed by the seed , than that of circumcision . as for the first ; that the immediate , primary obligation and incumbence , mentioned in the 9th . verse , cannot be to keep the covenant in circumcision only ; and consequently , that the 10th . is not meerly exegetical of the 9th . is evident : for if the primary and immediate obligation in the 9th . verse , were to keep the covenant in circumcision , then the believing gentile shou'd be as much obliged to keep the covenant so , as the carnal seed and descendants of abraham ; seeing those are equally at least , if not more principally comprehended in the seed , than these . this is evident ; for the subject of the obligation is , in all respects , the same with that of the promise . [ in the promise it is , i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed after thee , in their generations : and in the obligation it is ; thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed after thee , in their generations : the same subject in all respects in both. ] and therefore , seeing the subject of the promise is , at least , as comprehensive of the spiritual , as of the carnal seed , of the gentile that believeth , as well as of the hebrews ; the one is no more to be exempted and discharged from the duty and obligation , than the other : and if circumcision be that duty and obligation , both are equally bound to submit to that . all the seed is in the obligation , as much as in the promise , the same words to express it ; and , i hope , you will not distinguish , nor limit , where the scripture doth not . and if the primary and immediate obligation of the covenant cannot be ( as you may see it cannot ) to keep it in , but circumcision ; it follows , that it is to keep the covenant in the sign of it , in general terms ; and then , afterward , in circumcision , to begin with , as the first sign : so that , this must be the sense of the text : i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed ; and therefore , thou and thy seed shall keep my covenant , in the sign of it : and that sign at first , and for the time being , the present dispensation among those that shall descend from th●● according to the flesh , or be adjoyned to ●hem shall be circumcision . this is a fair , a plain , and easie , and natural sense ; a sense , which no exception from the words themselves can lie against : and therefore , a sense as much to be preferred before yours , as that which is convenient , ought to be before that which is not. and this i evidenced in my former letter , from the very grammar of the text. but besides what i have said in my former letter , in demonstration of the sense given ; that which doth abundantly confirm it to be the true , is , that the limitation of the subjects in the particular obligation to circumcision , ver . 10 , 11. is very different from that in the general obligation , ver . 9. for whereas it was said vers. the 9th ; thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed after thee , in their generations ; when he comes in the 10th . to institute circumcision , he saith not , this is my covenant , which thou shalt keep , thou and thy seed after thee , in their generations : but , this is my covenant , which you ( you ) shall keep between me and you , and thy seed after thee : and the being of it a sign and token , is restrained also ; and it shall be a token or sign of the covenant between me and you : a sign for this time , and people , and administration . he saith not , for you , and for thy seed after thee . if you say , i am too critical ; i say , this is a text that must be understood critically : the apostle was as critical upon it as i , or any man can be , when he observed , it is said seed , as speaking of one , and not seeds : and what he saith , is the proper key to unlock the text. and yet , in regard the text hath been interpreted by very few in this manner , to add some more illumination to the sense i make of it , i propose to be considered , that not only other scriptures , but even this scripture doth make distinction between the family of abraham that then was which in the mistery represented all his carnal descendants , ( between that ) and the children of the promise , which were afterwards to be ; which were signified by the seed , and afterward were typed in isaac the son of the promise ; it being said , in isaac ( not in ishmael , who then was ) shall thy seed be called . now , though god had said in the 9th . verse , thou shalt keep my covenant therefore ; that is , thou shalt keep the sign of my covenant ; thou and thy seed after thee , in their generations ; to signifie , that the children of the promise were obliged to that duty and incumbence arising from the covenant , as well as the children of the flesh : yet , when he comes to institute circumcision in particular , he saith of it indeed , this is my covenant : or , this is the sign of my covenant : but he saith not , this is my covenant , which thou , thou and thy seed after thee , in their generations , shall keep ; but which you ( you ) shall keep : you to whom i speak . thou abraham , and thy natural houshold and family here ; it is you , ( you ) and not the seed , the spiritual seed : for isaac , in whom the seed is called , was not there , he was yet unborn . it is you , ( he speaks to those present ; ) thou abraham , and thy natural houshold and family ; this is the sign of my covenant , which you ( you ) shall keep , as a sign of that covenant which i have made between me and you , and thy seed after thee . me and you ; thee abraham , and thy natural houshold and family here , between me and you , and thy seed after thee ; that seed , which shall be called in isaac , thy spiritual houshold and seed . and what was the covenant , or sign of the covenant , which they ( and not the seed ) were to keep then ? what ? no other covenant or sign , than that of circumcision ? this is my covenant , which you shall keep , every man-child among you ( not among the seed , but among you ) shall be circumcized ; and you shall circumcize the flesh of your fore-skin : [ you still , not the seed . ] and what was circumcision for ? it was for a sign and token of the covenant ; and to whom it was to be so , is clearly implied in the limitation : it shall be a token , a sign of the covenant between me and you. not me and you , and thy seed after thee . it shall be a sign and token of the covenant , in the dispensation of it , which now is between me and you ; not in the dispensation of it , which shall be between me and thy seed : it shall be a token of my covenant , as it is between me and you ; thee abraham , and thy natural houshold and family : but not as it is to be transacted between me , and thy spiritual seed . if you say , ( for i will say for you all i can imagine possible to be said , with any colour ) that the sense should rather be this ; this is my covenant , which you shall keep : that is , which thou abraham , and thy seed after thee , in their generations , shall keep : and this shall be a sign-and token between me and you ; that is , between me and thee , and thy seed after thee , in their generations . ] if you say , this is the sense of the text , i must be plain to tell you , it cannot be so ; and that because he doth so plainly distinguish in it , between you and the seed : this is the covenant , which you shall keep between me and you , and thy seed after thee . so that you , which is so plainly contradistinguished and opposed to the seed , cannot possibly be understood to comprehend it. and it is also considerable , that he saith , this is my covenant , which you shall keep between me and you , thy seed ; not between me and thee , and thy seed : and yet it doth refer to verse the 9th . where it is said , thou shalt keep my covenant , thou and thy seed . but here , you is put instead of thou , to signifie that thou in the 9th . verse , must be understood of abraham not personally only , but collectively ; abraham standing there for himself , and his natural family : thou , and thy seed , is abraham and christ ; both in the mystery . this last consideration minds me of the third particular to be demonstrated ; which is , that another sign besides that of circumcision , is clearly intimated in the text we discourse on , as a thing that should be afterwards . and this is manifest ; for whereas he had said , that the seed , as well as abraham , ( and under abraham i have proved the natural off-spring and family of abraham comprehended , ) was to keep the covenant in the sign , or to keep the sign of the covenant , in the 9th . verse ; and he instituted circumcision , but to be a sign between him and abraham , and abraham's natural off-spring and family ; and to be kept but by them , and not by the spiritual seed : [ this is the sign of the covenant , which you ( not which thou and thy seed ) shall keep ; and it shall be a token of my covenant , [ as ] between me and you ; not [ as ] between me and thee , and thy seed after thee . ] what remaineth , i say , seeing the seed is equally obliged as well as abraham , to keep the covenant in some sign , as was proved before ; and that it was not to keep it in the sign of circumcision , as is evident now ; what remaineth , but that there is some other sign , in which it was to keep it , that should be a token of the covenant in that administration of it , which should be afterward between god and the seed ; as circumcision was of the same covenant , but in the dispensation and transaction of it , then , between god and abraham's person , and natural houshold ? circumcision was the token of the covenant , as administred between god and abraham ; and baptism the token of the same covenant , as administred between god and the seed : if abraham was circumcized , christ was baptized . upon the whole ; let us now review the text , and see it in the entire sense : and thus i paraphrase it . i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed after thee , in their generations , for an everlasting covenant , &c. and therefore thou , thou and thy seed after thee , in their generations , shall keep the sign of my covenant : and this is the sign of my covenant , [ that my covenant , which is between me , on the one part , and you , thou abraham , and thy natural family and houshold , on the other part ; and thy seed after thee , on the third part. ] i say , this is the sign that you , for your part , shall keep as a sign of this covenant , which is between me and you , and thy seed after thee ; every man-child among you shall be circumcized ; and you shall circumcize the flesh of your fore-skin . and this circumcision shall be a special and particular sign and token of the covenant , as it is between me and you ; between me and thee , abraham , and thy natural houshold . but as for the seed , no mention of it , when he saith , this shall be a sign of the covenant , &c. which sufficiently implieth another administration to be with that afterward . and i pray you mark , that where he calleth circumcision the covenant , vers. 10. he saith , you shall keep it between me and you , and thy seed ; because the covenant ( of which circumcision was a sign ) was a covenant between god , and the seed too , as well as between god and abraham , and his natural family . but when he saith expresly , it shall be a sign and token , then he restrains it ; it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you : implying , that though the covenant be also with the seed , and circumcision was a sign of that covenant ; yet it was specially and particularly a sign of it , as transacted between god and abraham's natural person and family ; and so a special and particular sign of that oeconomy in the natural houshold . it shall be a sign between me and you ; [ and not between me and you , and thy seed . ] and so much for the first objection . what you next offer in objection to my argument , is ; that it follows not , that because the substance of the covenant on god's part , is immutably and vnchangeably the same , ( that ) therefore the duty and incumbence is also so on ours : for seeing god hath absolute soveraignty in and over all his creatures , and hath unlimited and boundless right , as to command , so to suspend and alter the instances and duties of their obedience , both as and when he pleases ; that may be the duty of his people at one time , [ you should have added , to make it pertinent ; by vertue of the same covenant and edict , and in the same respect , ] which is not so at another . this you confirm ; because else , you see not how it should come to pass , that for at least two thousand years before the time of abraham , no such duty or incumbence did lie on the patriarchs ; particularly , not on adam , on abel , on enoch , on noah , or on the other antediluvian fathers ; of whom we do not read , that any of them were signed , or that they were obliged to any sign ; though you say , it cannot be denied , that they were in the covenant of grace , and saved by it as much as abraham himself , or any of his. so that here is an objection , and an enforcement and confirmation of that objection . as to the objection , ( viz. ) that it will not follow , ( that ) because the substance of the covenant , on god 's part , is immutably and everlastingly the same ; therefore the duty and incumbence on ours , is also such : i answer . it will follow well enough , if the duty and incumbence on our part , be founded on the substance of the covenant , which is on god's ( part , ) as the duty and incumbence in dispute between us is : it being , i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed after thee , in their generations , for an everlasting covenant , to be a god to thee , and to thy seed after thee , &c. and god said unto abraham , thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed after thee , in their generations . for though almighty god be absolute soveraign over all our persons , and also over all his own transactions and methods , so as he may make at one time to be our duty , that which he doth not another ; and may transact and deal in way of covenant with some , when yet he hath not pleas'd to do so with others : yet if at any time , or with any persons , he pleases to transact in way of covenant , and to confirm that transaction by his word and oath , the two immutable things in which it is impossible that he should lye , and also to bottom the duty and incumbence to which he doth oblige by vertue of that covenant , on that which is unchangably and immutably confirmed in it ; we can no more , without a blasphemous imputation to him of inconstancy and weakness , introduce him making an alteration in the duty , than in the promise it self , seeing the obligation to the duty , is a necessary result and emanation of the reason of it , and consequently , is uncapable of being changed without a change of the covenant , the unchangable promise of god to abraham , and to his seed , is the foundation of the duty lying on abraham and on his seed ; and the same covenant as the same , must alwayes have the same effects , and make the same duties . ay ? but then how came it to pass that adam , abel , enoch , and others the most antient fathers , who were under the covenant of grace as well as abraham and his descendants , god being a god to them as well as to him , did not keep the covenant in the sign thereof , if the duty to keep the covenant in the sign thereof be everlastingly the same , and of an unchangable nature ? this is your confirmation . but to manifest the invalidity of all is said by way of confirmation , i need but to demonstrate , first ; that though all the fathers were saved on the account of iesus christ , and by vertue of the eternal compact and agreement between god and him , he being the everlasting father ; yet ( contrary to what you do suppose ) it did not please god , at least not in the account of the scripture , to transact with all , or any of them , in way of covenant for grace , eternal life and salvation , before he did so with abraham . secondly , that if he had been pleased to transact , with all or any of them in way of covenant for those ends ; yet that transaction could not be the covenant of abraham ; and therefore seeing the believing gentiles do not claim the inheritance , eternal life and salvation from by and under adam , abel , enoch , noah , or any other covenanted person or persons before abraham ( if there were any such ) but only from , by , and under abraham , nor by vertue of any other covenant whatever , made with all or any of them , but only by vertue of abrahams ; it is certain that the termes , which it pleased god to go upon with them in any transaction he had with them ( be they what they will ) are , in account of scripture , as little to us , as those he went upon with abraham are much . and thirdly , that the obligation to keep the covenant , gen. 17. in the sign thereof , though it were not , and indeed could not be observed by all or any of the antients before abraham , yet notwithstanding , that it is in a scriptural sence , and consequently , properly enough , called a duty and obligation of immutable and unchangable nature , and everlastingly the same . the first proposition , ( viz. ) that though all that ever were saved , were saved by vertue of the atonement and propitiation made by the blessed jesus , he being in the efficacy and vertue of his merits and passion , the lamb slain even from the foundation of the world ; yet , that , at least in the account of holy scripture , it did not please god to transact with all , or any of the antient , either the antediluvian or postdiluvian fathers , in way of covenant for grace , eternal life and salvation before abraham , is a manifest verity . for though all the fathers that were saved , were so by some degree and kind of faith ; and were so by jesus christ , and through the eternal covenant ( as divines call it ) of redemption between god and him ; and though they all did worship and honour god in way of sacrifices , in all which the blessed jesus , the true lamb of god , was figured and represented ; and though jesus christ himself saith , before abraham was , i am , yet , that it pleased god to transact with all , or any , or either of them , before abraham in way of covenant or promise for eternal life , and salvation , or , that jesus christ was preached to them , or otherwise exhibited then in types and figures , ( which we are not told they understood ) is no where said or recorded , or so much as hinted in the whole scripture . our saviour saith indeed , that abraham did see his day , but he saith not , nor do the scriptures say that adam , abel , enoch , noah , &c. saw it . what might be preached by the spirit , further then the scriptures tell us , and then the holy ghost is pleased in them to reveal to us , is no proper subject for our now inquiry ; we are now to mind but what is preached by the scriptures , and recorded in them ; remembring , that the very silence of the scriptures is mystical , as is evident in the case of melchizedeck , who though ( whatever learned cunaeus thought ) he were a man , and consequently was not , really , without father , without mother , without genealogy , without beginning of dayes or end of life ; yet for great ends , ( he ) is taken and expresly said to be so ; and that , because nothing , in the least , is written and recorded in the holy scriptures touching him , as to these particulars . and shew me any scripture that but hints a covenant made with adam , abel , enoch , with all , or any of the antient fathers before abraham , or promise made to them , or any of them , of grace , eternal life and salvation , wherein almighty god did pass his word to be a god to them , or either of them , and their , or either of their seed after them . i do not doubt but god was a god to them all , as i doubt not that melchisedeck had a father , mother , genealogy , beginning of dayes , and end of life , but as the holy scriptures do no where mention any of these in relation to melchisedeck , so they no where intimate that god before abraham , was a god to any of the antient fathers , in a way of covenant or promise for grace , eternal life or salvation , and therefore , the least that can be said , if we should be prevailed to acknowledge any such transaction , must be ( seeing the scripture is so deeply silent in it ) that as there is a mistery in the silence of the scripture touching melchisedeck , so there is a mystery in the silence of it touching any such covenant or promise ( if any such were ) to the fathers ; and that as melchisedeck , to be a figure of the eternal priest , must be brought in in scripture as a man dropt out of the clouds , without any mention of father , mother , &c. so likewise , to the end that abraham might be according to the scriptures , what in the divine council he was appointed and set up to be , namely , the father of all the faithful , or express believers in christ , there must be no record in the sacred scriptures of any promise of christ before , as made to any other ; or of any explicit belief and faith in him before for had there been either , how could abraham possibly be understood , in the account of the scriptures , to have been the father , and so the first of all the faithful , of all believers in christ ? he only is first before whom no other is . christ ( i deny not ) may have been preached before abraham , and also promised by the spirit , but he is not revealed in the scriptures so to have been either preached , or promised : the scripture is entirely silent as to any such transaction ; if any such covenant or promise were of christ before , certainly in the account of scripture it is as none , and so must be looked on of us as none ; not the least impression or footstep of any such concern appearing . i acknowledge the old fathers to be said to have had faith in god , but they are not said to have had any in christ , and these faiths are so distinguished , that they may be actually divided ; you believe in god , sayes christ , believe also in me ; the old fathers did believe in god , they believed both that god was , and that he was a rewarder , but abraham did not only believe ( as they did ) in god , but he also believed in christ. if you ask me , but is not god 〈◊〉 a rewarder in and through christ , and not otherwise ? i answer yes , and yet it is possible , they might believe in god , and not believe in christ ; they might believe god to be a rewarder ( as some heathen do ) though they did not know him , and therefore could not believe him to be so but in christ : that god is , and is a rewarder , are points of natural religion ; but that christ is , and god a rewarder in him , are points of revelation . i acknowledge that what you say is commonly taken for granted , ( viz. ) that the promise of christ the seed of the woman , was made to adam ; ] and so much is true , that jesus christ is introduced by the psalmist , as speaking of himself , and saying , that in the volume of the book , or ( as some do render it ) in the head of the book it is written of him , and so ( though happily the psalmist may have aspect upon something else ) i grant it is , gen. 3. 15. for when it is there said , that the seed of the woman shall break the serpents head , &c. it must i confess be understood of christ , at least in the mystery , thus it is written of him , but that christ was promised to adam , is not written ; for what is written in the volume , or in the head of the book concerning christ , is not written there , as spoken by way of promise to adam , but by way of denunciation to the serpent , and is part of the sentence pronounced on him ; which if indeed it were within the hearing of adam , yet the scripture doth not say it was so ; so little doth the scripture concern adam in that transaction , how great concern soever , in reality , he was to have in it . so the text , gen. 3. 14 , 15. and the lord god said to the serpent , &c. what he sayes to adam is verse 17. 18 , 19. and of a very different nature . adeclaration , i acknowledge , there is of christ , from the beginning ; but in the record of the scripture , that declaration is not noted as a transaction between god and adam , by way of covenant or promise ; all is said concerning it , is in what did pass between god and the serpent , and some ad loc chuse to call it a prophecy , not a promise of christ. and it adds no little confirmation to the truth of what i have now discoursed , that after the revelation of jesus christ in what passed between god and the serpent ; we have not for the long space of above two thousand years the least intimation in all the scriptures , that any of the fathers of that time had heard of that revelation ; ( i do not say they had not heard , but i say the scriptures do not so much as hint they had ; ) and though the scriptures tell us , that in that time righteousness was preached by the spirit , yet they do not in the least tell us , that christ was preached by it . and surely , had the declaration made concerning christ in the third gene●●●… been , in the account of the scriptures , a covenant or promise of him to adam , &c. i should much admire that the apostle would insist so highly ( as he doth ) on the being of the promise of salvation by christ for but some hundreds of years before the law , when had this been so , he might have insisted on thousands ; and the apostle peter dates the covenant of grace from abraham , act. 2. 25 , 26. and before him , the psalmist , psal 105. 8 , 9 , 42. but secondly , on supposal that it had pleased god to transact with adam , or any of the old fathers before abraham , in way of covenant and promise for grace , eternal life and salvation ; yet that covenant and promise could not be the covenant of abraham , in which it pleased god to promise to be a god to him particularly , and to his seed after him ; for the covenant of abraham could not be before abraham himself existed : and therefore , seeing the believing gentiles do not claim eternal life and salvation from , by , and under adam , or any other of the antient fathers before abraham ; nor by vertue of any covenant transaction that hath passed between god and them , or any of them , but only from , by , and under abraham , by vertue of the covenant of promise made with him ; it is as clear that the termes , conditions and methods on and in which it pleased god to transact with all , or any of those old fathers , ( be those termes and methods any whatever ) ( they ) are nothing to us , as that the termes , conditions and methods he is pleased to transact upon with abraham in the covenant of promise , are all in all to us . that is , in plain english , that it is nothing in the least to us believing gentiles , whether the fathers before the flood , or after the flood before abraham , were in covenant or not in covenant , were signed or not signed , seeing we claim not from , by , and under them , as heirs to them , but it is much to us , on what termes it pleased god to transact and deal with abraham , and under what conditions , and with what duties abraham did receive the covenant and promise , whether himself and his must be signed or not signed ; seeing it is from , by , and under him , and by vertue of the covenant of promise made with him , that we do claim , and hold . and surely , if we do claim , and hold in , by and under abraham , by the deed and charter made to him , we must also claim and hold as he did , under the duties and conditions in that deed and charter , and now , is it not to deny the conclusion after concession of the premises , for you to deny believers and their children must be signed , when yet you do acknowledge they are under abrahams covenant , which ( as i have proved ) requires such signing . ay! but you will say , the patriarchs were in the covenant of grace before abraham , all as much as we , and yet signing had no use among them ; and therefore the incumbence and obligation to sign and to be signed by vertue of the covenant , being founded not on the substance of it , but on the administration , cannot be immutably and everlastingly the same . ] and , indeed , it must be acknowledged ( that ) signing was not in use among the fathers before abraham , at least not in the account of the scriptures , the scriptures being deeply silent touching any such thing ; but then the scripture is as silent touching any covenant ; transaction made with those fathers , as it is touching signing by vertue of such a covenant ; so that , you are too positive sir , and without book , to affirm them as much in covenant as we , and their children as holy by vertue of a covenant transaction as ours . but supposing though not granting a covenant transaction to have passed between god and the fathers before abraham , for grace , eternal life and salvation through the messiah , and supposing also , no signing by vertue of that covenant , for all that space of time , ( which however , on supposal there was such a covenant is a hardness to think ; ) yet , ( in regard that covenant could not be the covenant of abraham ) though there was no signing then , the obligation to sign and to be signed by vertue of the covenant of abraham , ( which as i have shewed doth indispensibly and necessarily require it , ) is as immutably and everlastingly the same , and in the same scriptural sence , as the very covenant it self is so ; it is for everasting , though not from everlasting ▪ it is everlasting à parte post , though not à parte ante ; i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed after thee , in their generations for an everlasting covenant , &c. everlasting , not a parte ante , as from everlasting , for before abraham was , this covenant could not be between god and abraham , to be a god to him , and to his seed after him , and therefore it must be understood a parte post , as a covenant to everlasting ; and in this sence , the obligation and duty of the covenant is as capable of being everlasting as the covenant it self ; which was the third particular to be demonstrated . what i have discoursed already , might justly supersede any further answer to what you offer in the following paragraph , about the church membership of infants , on occasion of my saying [ that the church is one , though the testaments be not , and that children were members not only of the legal , but of the gospel church , and that , for above four hundred years before the law ; it being gospel that was preached to abraham : ] for you say on that occasion , that the gospel was preached too to adam , at the time that he was told that the seed of the woman should break the head of the serpent . but i have proved that it was not told ( as you express it ) to adam , but to the serpent , as being spoken not by way of promise to the one , but of denunciation of a sentence on the other ; nor , in the account of the scriptures , was the gospel preached to abel , enoch , noah , &c. nor were they , in the account of the scriptures , in and under any covenant of grace for eternal life and salvation , much less in and under the same covenant , with believing abraham , and his true seed ; the covenant of grace , in the promise of the messiah for salvation and eternal life , being in the account of the scriptures , first transacted with believing abraham , and no otherwise . and here , by the way , observe as a matter of no small moment , that almighty god did no sooner , in the account of the scriptures , transact with man in way of covenant for eternal life and salvation , through the messiah , but he obliged those in that covenant , to keep it in the sign , and that from the beginning , as soon as he did institute any sign of the covenant of grace for parents ( which , in the account of the scriptures , was as soon as he established the covenant , ) he did ordain it should be put on the children also , and as much commanded the wearing of it by infants , as by the adult . so that from the very beginning of a covenant transaction for eternal life and salvation , or in the first making of the covenant of grace according to the scriptures , ( and we are to begin our accounts where they do , ) the obligation to keep the sign of the covenant , or to keep the covenant in the sign of it , was laid on abraham for children and infants , as well as for himself and others in age ; and that , by special direction . and now , consider once again if there be no connexion between the substance of the covenant and the obligation ( viz. to be signed ; ) is not the substance of the covenant on gods part , the promise to abraham to be a god to him , and to his seed after him in their generations ? and hath not god said , [ because ] i will be a god to thee and to thy seed , therefore thou shalt keep my covenant , thou and thy seed ? so plainly god hath put together the promise , which is on his part , and the duty and obligation that lyes on ours : and when god hath joyned them , and put them together , what man , or men shall dare to separate , and put them asunder ? again , whereas you say , it is one and the same church for substance , that the old patriarchs before abraham , and that we the believing gentiles as well as believing abraham himself , did and do belong unto . ] i answer , it is one and the same invisible church ; but if we take a church visibly and formally , ( as now we are to take it , when we do speak of church-membership : ) namely , for a corporation or visible society of holy men , framed , and formed under certain special , external and distinguishing laws and institutions , for spiritual ends ; then i say , so taking it , we do not read in holy scriptures of any church , any formal church , any more than of a formal covenant before abraham ; it being in his family that it pleased god to lay the first foundation of the common-wealth and polity of israel , and to form to himself a special corporation and society of men , under visible and distinguishing tokens , and this is properly called a church . for indeed a church is nothing but a company of called ones , visibly associated ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a church is termed so from calling ; now as in the account of holy scripture , abraham and his family were the first that god transacted with in way of covenant , for grace and salvation through the messiah ; so in the same account of holy scriptures , the first visible gathered church , was in abrahams family , abraham being the first that god in the holy scriptures is affirmed to have called out from his own kindred , and his own countrey to another that he knew not , which calling of him from his own countrey to another that he knew not , was a figure ( and by our apostle is interpreted to be so heb. 11. ) of the true spiritual calling of a christian , which is a calling out of , and from the present evil world unto the heavenly country , the new jerusalem that is above . not but that before abraham there were righteous and good men , who in their lives and conversations , divided from the communion of the world ; men that lived justly and righteously , and so were truly called out of the world , but yet they did not ( at least the scripture doth not intimate they did ) actually divide and separate from others into distinct societies , under any external and distinguishing rites before abraham ; yes there were righteous and good men before abraham , divided from the common in the piety , sobriety , and justice of their lives , there were sons of god , distinguished by their piety and righteousness from the sons of men before ; the sons of god took unto them the daughters of men ; the sons of good men marryed the daughters of bad : but they were not actually divided into distinct societies and corporations , under distinguishing rites and ceremonies before , and therefore there was not a visible organical church before . and if what i now assert be true ( as true it is , for the holy scripture no where intimates not in the least any such formalization , incorporation , or distinguishing association of righteous good men for spiritual and holy ends before abraham ; ) then certainly no reasonable man hath any cause to admire that before abraham there should be no signing ; i mean , no use of any initiating rite , and rite of matriculation , or of entring into the spiritual corporation and society of the church ; for no matriculation , no initiation into any corporation or society is to be conceived before the corporation and society it self be constituted and formed ; nor can any rite and ceremony of matriculation or initiation be conceived extant before matriculation and initiation it self be so . no wonder then if no signing before abraham , seeing no formal church before abraham ; but yet assoon as it pleased god in infinite wisdom to ordain the incorporating of holy men into a visible society for holy and spiritual ends , by making a formal covenant with them , and so distinguishing and dividing of them from others , he was then pleased to assume into that society , as members of it , children as well as parents , infants as well as adult ones ; and to ordain , that the sign of the covenant , as the rite and ceremony of their initiation and admission ( visibly and externally ) into the society of the righteous , or into the church , should be put upon them ; and this in deep council , the better to perpetuate his church ; so that from the beginning of the constitution of a church , infants were admitted unto membership in it ; and this is the nursery of the church . what you next tell me , ( viz. ) that there are other signes of the covenant besides baptism ; for instance , as circumcision of old ( i believe you meant the passover of old ; ) so the lords supper now , of which infants are not by vertue of the covenant , or any administration of it , taken to be proper subjects ] this , after what is said already , is altogether impertinent ; ● for the sign we dispute about , is that initiating sign only , which is the rite of admitting persons into the visible organiz'd society of the faithful ( a society afterwards called the common-wealth of israel , ) it being of this only that gen. 17. 9 , 10. ( from which i argued ) can be understood : and this baptism is , as circumcision was . nor was the passover ever such a sign , nor is the lords supper one now . ay! but if infants are capable of being initiated into the church of christ by baptism , then say you , they cannot justly be denyed the proper means of nourishment and growth by being admitted to the supper also . ] but this is a gross non sequitur , for what can be more evident than that the subjects of the ordinance of baptism and of that of the lords supper are very different , as different as those of the ordinance of circumcision , and that of the pascal lamb ( were ; ) for as the institution of the ordinance of circumcision was above 400 years before that of the passover , so even jesus christ himself ; to intimate the same difference , did institute the ordinance of baptism ( for his disciples baptized ) long before his death , whereas that of the holy supper ( being but a commemoration of it ) was not instituted but just before his passion . and these considerations lead me to the last thing of any moment which you offer , a thing on which your whole party do much insist , and is , that as infants are uncapable of self examination , of preparation for the lords supper , and of discerning of the lords body , which are necessary requisites to a due participation of that holy ordinance , and therefore are denyed it ; so they are equally uncapable of faith and of repentance which are the requisite conditions of admission to baptism , and consequently , on equal reason are to be refused both the one , and the other . ] but here you should have proved faith and repentance necessary conditions of all admission to baptism , or initiation into the gospel church ; i grant them to be so to that of the adult heathen ; and so they were before , in some degree , to those of them that would associate with the family of abraham ; and so they were to abraham himself , for abraham himself received the sign of circumcision , or circumcision a sign of the covenant between god and him , as a seal and full confirmation of that righteousness by faith , which he had while vncircumcised ; but then , as abraham was admitted for his own faith , but his family in , by and under him , as dedicated by him ; so now the adult heathen if they be admitted , it must be in a way of faith and repentance for themselves ; but for their families ; those in them that are not yet adult and come to age , and in a capacity of consenting or refusing for themselves ; they must be admitted as such were in abrahams family , viz. in , by and under their parents and heads , who dedicate them . but as to this so much is said by so many others , and so much is hinted also by my self in my former letter , that i do not think it worth the while to stay longer upon it ; only i find in mr. cradock in his harmony of the evangelists , a passage so full in this particular , and so convincing , that i should do you some wrong , and my discourse more , to omit it : first , saith he he gives them a command and commission to goe and disciple all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , the son , and the holy ghost , beginning at jerusalem , [ isa. 2. 3. and 40. 9. psal. 110. 2. ] and declares that , he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved , and he that believeth not shall be damned . for whereas before he confined them to preach only to israel , now they must preach to every creature ( namely , that is fit to be preached to ) that is , to all nations . and such as were converted by their ministry from heathenism to christianity , they were to baptize . so that this is not the first institution of baptism , but an inlarging of their former commission . neither are these words any direction as to that other matter or receiving or admitting infants , or those that were not infants ▪ to baptism : that , we may suppose was sufficiently notified to them before , both by the common practise of their ancestors in the jewish religion , and by the vulgar notion of baptism , whilst it was familiarly used among the jews , both to their own and their proselite children , and possibly by christs special direction also , though not mentioned by any of the evangelists , who set not down all the words of the first institution of baptism , which long preceded this time , as appears plainly from those words , joh. 4. 1 , 2. when therefore the lord knew how the pharisees had heard that jesus made and baptized more disciples then john , though jesus himself baptized not but his disciples . certainly , christ instituted baptism , and gave his apostles commission before they took upon them to baptize any , which we find they did in great numbers ; yet the gospel does not express the words of this first institution , nor the certain time of it , in the course of christs ministry among them ; but certainly it was sometime before that passage of story related in that forementioned place , joh. 4. &c. ] to that assertion of mine , [ that the churches of christ universally have had a custom of baptizing infants , and for ought appeares , perpetually ; ] you tell me with a presumption too big for a greater antiquary , ( so much more easie it is to tell then to do , ) that you could easily give sufficient evidence that the churches of christ universally have not had such a custom : ] and i pray you , if it be so easy , oblige the world , and me particularly , by giving it ; for still i think that in the time ( at least ) of st. austin , the custom was vniversal , and that then , it was taken also , to have been perpetually so ; and this , by an apostolical tradition . but that is more extravagant which you add immediately after , and which may serve for a specimen of your ability to perform the boast you made before , that we do not find any footsteps of infants baptism in the world till some hundreds of years after christ , not till the conceit grew and took place of giving gods grace by it in cyprians time . ] but how learnedly and knowingly this is spoken may be seen in tertullian , who if you know any thing in antiquity , must be acknowledged to have been , in time before cyprian , as being the most antient of the latine fathers , and born in the year two hundred ; and yet he in his book de bapt. c. 18. where for certain reasons ( but i pray you mark , the novelty of the practise is not one of them , ) he doth dehort the baptizing of infants ( as he did also advise the deferring of baptism to the adult , and in both was singular , ) doth by that very dehortation , plainly intimate the common practise of it . itaque saith he , pro cujusque personae conditione ac dispositione , etiam aetate , baptismi cunctatio vtilior est : praesertim tamen circa parvulos , quid enim necesse est , si non tam necesse , sponsores etiam periculo ingeri , &c. so tertullian ; but again , what can you say to irenaeus who was before tertullian , and near the times of the apostles , when he tells us adversus haeres . l. 2. 39. christus venit omnes per seipsum salvare , omnes inquam , qui per seipsum renascuntur in deum ; infantes & parvulos & pueros ; and by renascentia is understood baptism , as is universally agreed by all learned in the fathers . and whereas i affirmed [ antipedobaptisme to make the church of christ a church unius aetatis ; ] you mistook my meaning when you took it to have been that your opinion was but a novelty , ( though that be true too ; ) and that seeing the church of christ cannot be without a true baptism , and true baptism , in your sense of anabaptism , hath been not much above an age or century , particularly since the time of muncer ( whom munster calls monetarius , least he should be thought of kin to him ; ) and since john of leyden and knipperdolling ; that therefore before the arising of these new lights , the true church for many hundred years , had no existence and being . ] for to do my self right , and you no wrong , i meant it not in using that expression ; i alluded in it to l. florus , who speaking of the romans in their civil original under romulus , while yet they had no women , and so no hope of posterity ; sayes , res erat unius aetatis , populus virorum : and i intimated by it , that antipedobaptisme by grubbing up of infants , and throwing them out of the church , doth indeed destroy the nursery of the church , and so , in one age , after the extinction of the old stocks , doth put it in no small hazard of being utterly extirped ; and now having this occasion , i dare , in demonstration of the justice of the hint , almost appeal unto your own experience , if of the children of persons of your perswasion , within the compass of your own knowledge , that are adult , and come to years of discretion , and were not baptized in their infancy by some relation or friend , one almost in ten is any wise baptized , and so entred into any church ( either yours or ours ; ) for growing up , dislike of your opinion for the most part doth keep them from you ; and shame of being baptized in age , ( a thing disused , and as things of that nature commonly are , a thing that makes talk and gazing , ) keeps them from us ; and thus being in no church , are visibly in the state of heathens . in your next remark , [ when i make the denyal of infants baptism a robbing parents of a sensible ground of hope for their children in case of the decease of any of them in infancy , ] you do me manifest injustice to insinuate a meaning of opus operatum , a thing as far from my intentions as words . but i have sufficiently expressed my sentiments in that particular in the paragraph reflected on , to those that are considerate and candid , and therefore , there remains no more to be said of it now . but as to what you offer in the last place , [ concerning the powerful motive to dedicate himself to god , which , i said , antipedobaptisme depriveth a child of ; ] namely , that for your part , you are of opinion that nothing can be a greater hinderance to him than baptism , since he is hereby induced to reckon himself already a good christian , and in a state of salvation , as having had the sign of the covenant already applyed to him in his infant state , without looking after the new birth , and being acquainted with the mystery of spiritual regeneration , &c. ] i profess i was astonisht to read it , both for the scandal and offence it cannot but administer to those of a contrary perswasion ; as also for the ill reflection which , with too much colour , it may be interpreted to imply upon the wisdom and counsel of god , who , both before the law , and under the law , was pleased to institute the signing of children with the sign of the covenant ; which doubtless , had it been an impediment and hinderance to their regeneration , and to salvation , much more if a most powerful one , he , in his infinite goodness and clemency , as well as wisdom and conduct , would never have done . and do you indeed think that the circumcision of children , instead of being a furtherance to the work of regeneration in them , was truly a hinderance to it , and that that which god intended for a meanes of conservation and perpetuation of his church , was really and in effect , a way to destroy it : where was the wisdom of almighty god , if he knew not what means were proper towards the salvation of his creatures ? and where his goodness , if he ordained what he knew improper ? it is certain , if baptism by being put on children in their infancy , in token of their being given to god in covenant , be in it self a hinderance to their regeneration ; circumcision which was put on children in infancy , and in token of their being given to god in covenant , could be no furtherance , and consequently was a means of all others most improper to continue the church , and so , a means equally unworthy both of divine prudence and wisdom , and of his goodness and mercy . thus i have finished my defence of the argument for infants baptism from gen. 17 , and i think , have answered all is capable of being opposed against it , and yet seeing i know not but you may have more , i now offer , that if you have any thing else of any moment to object either against the argument it self , or against what is offered now in the defence of it ; if you propose it , so it be without unnecessary digressions into common places , and without popular trappings , and it be with the candour and sincerity , and with the modesty and temper that becomes a lover and seeker of truth , i shall answer it chearfully , and therein give another instance how much i am . bowdon april 1st . 1682. dear sir , your true friend r. b. the third letter . dear sir , your letter of the 29th . of september in answer to that i sent you the 21st . of april , though put into so good and safe a hand , came not to mine before this 14th . of october , and then open . happily it had occasion to call in on friends ; and many times , the farthest way about is nearest home . however , though late come , i do assure you it is welcome ; for i learn by it that the controversie long depending , and which i fear'd would be eternal , is not likely to continue much longer . and that after all the exclamations of evident and most evident , of plain and most plain , of scriptural , of solid , of substantial and cogent which you make on what you say ; and of chimera's , of repugnant to scripture , of doubtful consequencies and ambiguous uncertainties , of violence to the text , of corruption of scripture , and of addition to it on what i prove . the whole now is to determine on two issues , the one relating to the duty enjoyned gen. 17. 9. the other to the subject of that duty ; [ what is meant by the seed , and what by keeping the covenant : ] as to the first issue which concerns the subject of the duty ( for i will begin with that , ) i have abundantly evinced in my last letter ( and yet you take no notice of it ) that by seed in the 9th . verse , must be understood the spiritual , as well as the carnal seed , and that , because the same seed is meant in the 9th . verse that is in the 7th . and 8th . verses , the same subject in the general obligation verse the 9th . in all respects , that is in the promise , verses 7th . and 8th . and the same subject in the temporal promise verse the 8th . that is in the spiritual verse the 7th : and the subject in the 7th . ( you grant ) doth take in all the seed , the spiritual as well as the carnal , and therefore , so it must be in the 8th . and the 9th . i and in the 10th . also . ay! but say you , the 8th . verse is to be understood only of the carnal seed , and why only ( say i ) unless the 7th . be also to be understood , of that only doth the holy ghost distinguish ? or if he do not , how dare you ? the subjects are the same in both ; the connexion carries it for the same subsects ; and in both the verses there are the ●ame words to express the subject , and why not then the same subjects meant by the same words ? especially in regard the whole is but a continuation of one speech of god to abraham ; i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed , verse the 7th . and i will give to thee , and thy seed , verse the 8th . it it true ( as you suggest ) in the letter , canaan is promised too , and was possessed by the carnal seed , but the litteral is not the only sence , and therefore the litteral are not the only subjects : the mystical and spiritual is the principal sence , and therefore the mystical and spiritual are the principal subjects : thus argueth the apostle , seed ( saith he ) not seeds : seed , and that seed was isaac in the letter , for the promise even of canaan ( mark it ) was not made to ishmael , though he were abrahams seed too , and then alive , and with him , nor to the seed of abraham that should derive from him by ishmael , but it was made to isaac , in isaac shall thy seed be called : and isaac in the letter , in the mystery is christ. he saith not seeds ( saith he ) as comprehending ishmael and isaac , but he saith seed , as speaking but of one , of isaac only , which isaac in the truth is christ mystical . further , consider though canaan only was promised in the letter , verse the 8th , the world is intended in the mystery , and therefore , though it be said in the text , the land in which thou art a stranger , even all the land of canaan , yet the apostle amplifyeth the expression , heb. 11. 13. and saith , they were pilgrims and strangers upon the earth , not in canaan only , but in the earth . and if in the promise which is made of canaan the world be intended , well may believing gentiles be intended in the seed to whom it is made : for how else as they are abrahams seed is all theirs , if all were not some where given to abraham and to his seed , and where is all given to abraham and to his seed , and so to believing gentiles , but here ? read i pray advisedly , what our apostle argues , gal. 3. and in your next take also what i argued in my last , paragraph by paragraph , and so reply to it ; then happily you will see a consequence and cogency that yet you do not , or that you dissemble if you do . remember also that when it is said in verse the 10th , this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and ye , and thy seed after thee , there is no such implication as you conceive there is in this expression [ between me and thee and thy seed ] of the subjects of the duty [ of keeping that covenant , ] but of the parties in the covenant ; which ( as i told you formerly ) are three , and ( mark it ) god is one of them : between me , namely , god on the one part , and ye , thou abraham and thy natural family here present on the other part , and thy seed , isaac in the letter in whom the seed was called , and christ ( typified in isaac , and in him the believing gentiles , children of the promise ) in the mystery on the third part . it is unadvised to inferr that the seed here is obliged to keep the covenant of circumcision by vertue of that expression , the subjects that are bound to keep it are ye , ye shall keep this my covenant , and the [ ye ] are distinguished from the seed , [ between me and ye , and thy seed : ] you may as well say , all the parties are obliged to keep it , and god is one of them , as that , by force of that expression , any one is : those that are to keep it are represented under the term [ ye ; ] and they were to keep it between god and themselves , and the seed , as a sign of the tripartite , ] covenant between them . and to be clear , i understand the same seed in the 7th . 8th . 9th . and 10th . verses ; isaac in the letter , christ mystical in the spirit and mystery . this for the first issue . as for the other which relates to the duty , what can almost be plainer , than that by keeping of the covenant in the 9th . verse , is meant keeping of it in the sign , or keeping the sign of the covenant , for it is , thou shalt keep my covenant , therefore thou and thy seed in the 9th verse , and then immediately is added in the 10th . in one continued speech , this is my covenant which ye shall keep , &c. so that the sence and meaning of the phrase [ of keeping the covenant ] in either verse , is clearly the meaning of it in both ; and therefore to keep the covenant in the 9th . verse , is to keep the sign of the covenant , seeing to keep the covenant in the 10th . is to keep it so , [ in the sign . ] that to keep the covernant in the 10th . verse is to keep it in the sign is manifest , seeing their being circumcised could not be a keeping of the covenant ( as it is plainly intimated in verse the 10th . to be ) but so , ( viz. ) as it was the observation of the sign of the covenant , and thus [ in the sign ] the covenant of god was kept in circumcision , as the passover is said to be kept when the lamb was eaten in memory of it ; so scriptural a way of speaking this is . i say , as the feast of the paschal lamb was not the passover it self , but a sign only of the passing over , and yet the passover is said to have been kept , when that feast was kept ( in sign of it , ) as by comparing num. 9. 2. &c. with exod. 12. 3 , 4 , 12 , 13. &c. manifestly appears . so likewise circumcision , though it were not in it self the very covenant of god , but only the sign of that covenant ; [ abraham received the sign of circumcision , rom. 4. and in gen. 17. ●● . it shall be a token of the covenant between me and you . ] yet the covenant of god ( according to the way of scriptural expression ) might well be said to be kept , when circumcision the sign of it , was observed . the covenant in scripture language is said to be kept , when the sign of it is kept , thou shalt keep my covenant , is , thou shalt keep the sign of my covenant . this is my covenant which ye shall keep , is , this is the sign of my covenant which ye shall keep . and if keeping circumcision then were keeping of the covenant ▪ because circumcision was the then sign of it ; then keeping baptism , now is keeping the covenant , because baptism is now the sign of it . to keep the covenant ●here , is as i have proved to keep the sign . and now consider seriously , how plain and easie a sence this is i have of the words , i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed after thee , between me the lord , and thee abraham , and thy seed isaac in the letter and spirit , to be a god to thee abraham , and to thy seed after thee , isaac in the letter and spirit and i will give to thee abraham , and to thy seed isaac in the letter and spirit , all the land in which thou art a stranger . even the land of canaan in the letter to isaac , in the letter , and the world the whole vvorld in the spirit and mystery , to isaac in the mystery , and therefore thou abraham and thy seed [ isaac in the letter and spirit ] shall keep [ the sign of ] my covenant . ( but ) this is [ the sign of ] my covenant which ye which are now here , thou abraham and ishmael thy son according to the flesh , and the rest of thy houshold here which stand for all the seed according to the flesh as so , this is [ the sign of ] my covenant which ye , for your part , shall keep [ as a sign of the covenant i have made between me and ye , and thy seed isaac the seed of the promise , and not of the flesh ] every man-child among you [ ye the natural family and carnal seed ] shall be circumcised . among you , he doth not say among the seed ; the seed is to keep the covenant in a sign verse the 9th . but the natural family only are to keep it in this sign , in circumcision ; thou shalt keep my covenant therefore [ in the sign of it ] thou and thy seed ; ( but ) this is my covenant which ye shall keep , &c. every man-child shall be circumcised . ay , say you , but in the sign of it is your addition only . not so say i , it is but my explication according to the scripture , ay , but when god did tell abraham , thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed , had no more ( say you ) been added , abraham could never have understood that god intended hereby , this covenant was to be observed in any external sign ; true , say i , had not god explained his meaning , abraham might well have doubted of it ; but why doubt you ? since more is added , and in what is added , god explains himself , and shews that , by keeping the covenant , he meant keeping the sign of it . ay , but a sign is a common separable accident to a covenant ( in general , ) well , but it is not so to this ( in special ; ) other covenants have been ( you say ) without a sign ▪ but to be sure , in this a sign is made necessary ; for to keep the covenant is to keep the sign . ay , say you , but let go this 7th . of genesis which is no more to purpose then the first , and then i will answer what else you have to say . yes , very likely , as you have what is already said , and if i will throw away my weapons you will fight me . in fine , what ( say you ) so important an ordinance to depend on consequence from an old testament text ! yes ( say i ) and on the consequence of this old testament text depends all the new testament doctrine of our inheritance and heirship ; see gal. 3. and now , dear sir , is there not a word , not a syllable ( as you express it ) in the 17th . of genesis , that the spiritual seed of abraham are to keep the covenant in the sign of it ? have not i proved the seed here is isaac in the spirit principally ? doth not god distinguish between ye and thy seed ? is not circumcision enjoyned only on the natural carnal family of abraham in the term ye as it is distinguished from the seed ? is not the same the subject in the obligation in the 9th ▪ verse , that is in the promise spiritual in the 7th . and temporal in the 8th . you cannot deny it , if you read the text. if you design me any satisfaction , it must not be by blending and confounding things that differ , nor by common placing and keeping off in generals , but you must come up close to the matter , and shew why the subject in the general obligation verse the 9th . is , in all respects the same with that in the promise , both the temporal and the spiritual , but the subjects of the obligation to circumcision in particular , which is in the 10th . is altered . it is not there thou and thy seed as all along before , but [ ye ] and [ ye ] is in the letter abraham , and those then with him there : but isaac was not there , he was the promised seed . again , why doth god distinguish [ ye ] from the seed ; between me and ye , and thy seed . in fine , why all along in the 10th . and 11th . verses , both in the imposition of circumcision , and in the intimation of the end and use of it , the holy ghost doth use a restrictive term , and never mentions the seed but ye , ye shall keep &c. and it shall be a token between me and ye ; he saith not thy seed shall keep it &c. nor that it shall be a token to the seed ; he saith thy seed shall keep the covenant in a sign , but doth not say that they shall keep the covenant in this sign ; they must keep a sign but not this sign . clear up these questions and you do something , and without it all is nothing . thus i have briefly stated the issues on which the thing in controversie between us now depends , and i have answered your objections , and am bold to say again that i have done it with the candour and fairness that becomes a seeker of truth . i mince not what you say ; i raise no dust to hide your strength , or blind the eyes of a party . i do not frighten you with the threatnings on diminutions of scripture ; as you do me with those on additions ; such common placing here is out of place , and is fooling . i love not tragical declamations instead of argumentation . nor yet am i by noise and clamour and harangues of words which take with the people , but not with the wise , to be diverted from pursuing advantages . i know where i pinch you ; and yet i hate to cry victoria while the field is disputing . i am a lover of plainness , as well as a seeker of all truth , and therefore use as little artifice in arguing , as i do in professing my self , october 14. 1682. dear sir your real friend r. b. the fourth and last letter . dear sir , in your former letter of september the 29th . you told me , that the words in the 17th . of genesis ●9th . [ thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed , &c. ] do neither express nor give any the least intimation of any sign at all that god intended should be annexed unto the covenant , &c. for there god commands abraham to keep the covenant in general terms only , and doth not say thou shalt keep my covenant in the sign of it , that being ( say you ) my addition only , &c. but in this of december the 15th . which i received the 20th . you tell me , that as far as you can discern , god speaks but of one sign in both verses , [ viz. 9. 10 ] now , how i pray you can he speak of one sign in both verses , if ( as you copiously affirmed ) he speaks nothing in the least of any sign at all in one of them ? who is it now ( to use your own expressions ) that is dazled ? that sees or saw one for two , and two for one ? and yet , all you say is demonstration , 't is solid , scriptural , substantial , and all i say is chymera's , contradictions , unproved dictates , &c. really dear sir , some grains of modesty would do no hurt ; it would at least serve to make your alterations more excusable . but the former , is not the only point ( though mind , it be one of the two issues on which the whole between us must determine , ) in which you are so slippery ; you are as much so in another , and that the second issue ; for in your former letters , all a long , you understand by the spiritual seed as i do , and as you ought , ( viz. ) christ and believing gentiles ( to whom happily , you add believing jews , ) or christ mystical represented in isaac , and indeed , without a softer place in ones head than i am willing to believe you have , it is impossible , seriously , to take it otherwise ; for 't is [ in isaac thy seed shall be called ; ] not [ thy seed shall be called isaac . ] and yet , in your letter now you take the spiritual seed for isaac's person ; a sence of the spiritual seed against sence ; for it is isaac in the spirit only that is the spiritual seed , and isaac in the spirit , is christ mystical ; for so the apostle [ and to thy seed which is christ. ] it is true , isaac was a mystical person as he was a type and figure ; but if you mean but that by his being the spiritual seed , [ that he was the seed of abraham , and was a mystical person , ] then isaac was no more the spiritual seed then ishmael ; ishmael being as much the seed of abraham , and as much a mystical and typical person as isaac ; ishmael a type and figure of the legal carnal seed , as isaac of the believing evangelical seed ; the former representing the jews , the latter christ and believing gentiles . only , as ishmael to be a type and figure of the carnal legal seed , was to be born after the flesh , according to the rule and law of generation in nature ; so isaac to be a type and figure of the spiritual evangelical seed [ who were to be born not of bloods , nor of the will of the flesh , nor of the will of man , but of god ] was to be born after the spirit , ( viz. ) by the power of god according to and in performance of his promise ( made ) to abraham . and to be born after the spirit , with respect to isaac , is not ( as happily , you may conceive it ) to be regenerated and new born spiritually , but to be born as to his natural person not as ishmael was , in the ordinary course of nature by meer carnal coition ; but by promise , in a supernatural way , above the rules and lawes and powers of nature , by almighty power assisting ; even when it had ceased ( as the scripture tells us ) to be with sarah after the manner of women , and when abraham himself also was old . see gal. 4. 23 , 29. what is to be by promise in the one verse , is to be born after the spirit in the other . to start then a sence of the spiritual seed which was not thought of before , and which were not to the purpose if a good one , is doubling ; and a hare is used to double , when near run down . had i been engaged in this controversie with a man unprejudiced , and not with one who , in adherence to an opinion long ago conceived and riveted , is obliged to do all things to maintain it , with one susceptible of light , and not with one that wriggles , and winds , and turns , and all to avoid it ; with one that admits of plain sence , and not with one that will not see , that thrice one makes three ; or , that a covenant between god and you , and thy seed after thee , is a covenant between three parties . i say , had i had the happiness of debating and trying of it with a person indifferent ; and not the misfortune of being ingaged with one so hugely prepossessed , and one not very consistent to himself , or to his principles , the business long ago had been ended ; but who can draw the picture of proteus , or catch a capering will with the wisp ? [ ignis fatuus ] as to your groundless , severe , provocative reflections ( the which you call reproofs drest up ( by all means ! ) in studyed , clean , mild , decent , and christian language , ) i say once for all , that it were easie for me , if i durst allow my self the liberty you take in that kind , and that it were not both undecent and unchristian to sharpen my pen too : but i am resolved not to gratifie your design by any such intemperance . i can better bear then deserve your reprehensions , and i have ( i believe ) too great advantage in the cause , and in my argument , to marr it by so bad example . i alwayes thought it very improper in debates and controversies instead of arguing , to be ( as you phrase it , ) cutting . he is rather a butcher then a good chyrurgion , that delights in cutting , and tearing , and slashing , when there is no need of it . surely , softer words and harder arguments would more become you . but among all your groundless provocations , none is more absurd , nor more unhandsome then the outcry , the tragical outcry which you raise upon a mistake of the transcriber , and that too but in a word , but in a letter , and without marring the sence ; [ in isaac shall the seed be called ] viz. [ the seed ] instead of [ thy seed ] for so in truth , it was in the exemplar , but likely , on a hasty cursory review of the transcript not alter'd , because it stood with the sence . but though it were not in the first exemplar [ the seed ] but [ thy seed , ] and [ the ] indeed were only a mistake of him that copyed it ; yet had you repeated the whole period in which it was inserted , ( but that must be cleanly , meekly , decently , dissembled for the cause , and that you might have matter to work on ; ) it would appear that in that place , and in that manner in which the passage was brought in ; [ the ] was not improper ; no , no more improper then [ thy . ] for thus it stands in the letter was sent — the promise even of canaan ( mark it ) was not made to ishmael , though he were abrahams seed too , and then alive , and with him ; nor to the seed of abraham that should derive from him by ishmael , but it was made to isaac , for in isaac shall the seed be called , and isaac in the letter , in the mystery is christ. ] and who but argus , if even he with all his hundred eyes can spy a fault here ? i , but if it cannot be spy'd , ( happily ) it may be felt , for ( say you ) it is a palpable abuse of scripture in misrendring it . ] and is it so ? but what then , if both [ the ] and [ thy ] too had been omitted , and [ his ] put in ? sure the sence had still been good , and the argument good still , and the scripture not abused . for allegation and application of scripture , even by christ himself , and by his apostles , who i believe , would not abuse it by misrendring , is not ( as might be manifested in a hundred instances ) alwayes ( as you would have it ) to a syllable , and in termes ; but to the sence , and present purpose : and sure i am , that the seed [ of abraham ] should be called in isaac , is to my purpose , and is the sence of genesis 21. 12. * as much as gal. 4. 30. is to the sence of gen. 21. 10. and to the apostles purpose . thus over subtile you be ; without discretion , without judgment , and without candour , and this 't is to be learned in schoolmen , and to have subtle john duns ( scotus ) for a master . but to our business . whereas i had said i have abundantly evinced that by seed in the 9th . verse , must be understood the spiritual as well as the carnal seed ; you reply , that that may be easily evinced which was never controverted : ] as if it had not been in the controversie all along , and been the main of it , and acknowledged to be so in your former letter [ whether the spiritual seed were meant in the 7. 8. 9. and 10th . verses as well as the carnal ? ] and is not this the first issue , in which you have joyned ? well , but whatever it was before , my business now , as you assign it , is to prove ( in your terms ) that isaac quatenus spiritual seed , or ( which i think you mean , or mean nothing to purpose ) that isaac as he represented the spiritual seed or christ mystical , is meant in verse the 9th . and this i think i have sufficiently evinced already , and that ( after your concession ) it needeth no more eviction ; it being indeed a figure of speaking , called in english a bull , to say the spiritual seed is meant as well as the carnal ( as you say , and say it was never controverted , ) and yet , that the spiritual seed as spiritual is not meant , for if the spiritual seed , be not meant as spiritual , then the carnal seed only , and not the spiritual as well as the carnal is meant . this should suffice by way of rejoynder ; but , because ( as you affirm ) this is a foundation stone ( such as it is ) in that structure i have raised , and you are so over confident ( for nature will have its course , ) that i cannot prove by scripture , that the spiritual seed as spiritual , is meant in the 9th . verse ; besides , what i have done already in my former letters , which stands altogether on this foot , and which you have not in the least reply'd to ; and besides , that i cannot conceive if the spiritual seed be meant at all ( as you grant it is ) but that it must be meant as spiritual ( for it is you must tell me , how else , it can be meant ; ) i say , besides all this , you shall have a text , a plain text for it . but before i cite the text , i will assume as certain and agreed between us , to make it come home , what you have asserted very fully in a former letter , and also i have proved ; ( viz. ) that the same subject in all respects is meant in the 9th . verse , that is in the 8th . ; and taking this for granted , i affirm that the apostle sayes all as much as you would have me to prove , when rom. 4. 13 , 16 , 17. he argues in these terms , for the promise that he ( viz. abraham ) should be the heir of the world , was not to abraham , or to his seed by the law , but through the righteousness of faith ; therefore it is of faith , that it might be by grace , to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed ; not to that only which is of the law , but to that also which is of the faith of abraham , [ clearly implying , the promise would not have been sure to all the seed , if it had not been so to both seeds . ] who is the father of us all . but to apply the text. either the promise made to isaac ( for in isaac abrahams seed is called , ) was made to him , and so the obligation lay upon him quatenus , as he represented the seed of the faith of abraham ; or it was made to him , and so the obligation lay upon him as not representing that seed : if you say the promise was made to him , and so the obligation lay upon him quatenus , as he represented the seed of the faith of abraham , then it was made to him , and the obligation lay upon him quatenus , as he represented the spiritual seed ; for the seed of the faith of abraham is the spiritual seed ; but if you say the promise was made to isaac , and so the obligation lay upon him as in his own person only , or only as the legal either mere carnal or believing seed descended from him , then the promise is not sure to all the seed , not to the seed of the faith of abraham under the gospel , because this seed then , is not entituled to it as seed , for it is in isaac that abrahams seed is called , according to gen. 21. and so the apostle ( who makes good their title as abrahams seed , and consequently as they were in isaac , ) was really out of the right , if you be in it . but i have mentioned a concession of yours in a former letter , and make use of it ; least therefore you either should forget it , or should by some evasion which i cannot think of elevate the force of it , and so create me new trouble hereafter , i will cite the passage now , but with this precaution , that i do not say you understand precisely the same persons as i do , to be intended in the 8th . and 9th . and 10th . verses , but i say you grant there , and there make much of it , that the same persons or subjects ( be they what they will , ) are to be understood as meant in the 9th . and 10th , verses , which are so in the 8th . for say you [ god having promised in the 8th . verse to give unto abraham , and to his seed after him the land wherein he was then a stranger , even all the land of canaan for an everlasting possession , and to be their god. in the very next verse he is pleased to proceed to declare the incumbence now to be fastened on them upon the forementioned account , &c. ] so that you grant , the same persons are under the incumbence and obligation that are under the promise , and are so in the same respect , as being in the obligation upon account of their being in the promise , and the apostle is plain , that the promise is to abraham and to all his seed , the seed which is of the faith of abraham , or the believing gentile , as well as the seed which is of the law , or the natural jew ; and i should think the apostles authority as good as any . and now , 't is a proper time to answer your question , and to tell what authors i follow , why , you see , they are scriptural ones , such as paul &c. the same authors the first reformers followed , and the same your predecessors pretended to follow . this is the proof i have that isaac in the spirit , or isaac as he represented christ mystical , and so the believing gentiles , meant in gen. 17. 9. against which , you offer me again what in effect , i have baffled over and over . but because it may afford me a rise of more express declaring what i have said formerly , and also of adding something which i had not such occasion to produce before , i shall consider it again . you say then , that isaac in the spirit , or the believing gentiles cannot be understood by the seed in the 9th . verse , because the seed there mentioned , is expresly commanded in the 10th . to be circumcised . ] which ( say i ) is , in effect ▪ to say it is so , because it is so . to conceive the force of which reply , as well as of your reason , i must have leave to enter into the state of matters , as at present they do stand between us . the 9th . verse is the parting point . you argue that the seed in the 9th . verse , [ thou shalt keep my covenant therefore thou and thy seed ] cannot be understood of the spiritual seed , [ believing gentiles , ] because that seed which is in the 9th . verse , is ( say you ) expresly commanded in the 10th . to be circumcised ; and that that is the meaning of keeping the covenant in verse the 9th . i on the contrary , argue that the obligation in the 9th . verse , cannot be understood determinately , and particularly of circumcision , because the subject of it is the same seed to whom the promise is made ; namely , all the seed , and circumcision was not competent to all ; and that therefore [ ye . ] in the 10th . verse , on which the obligation to be circumcised is laid , cannot possibly include the seed as in the 9th . verse , this is the true state. for you therefore to take for granted that the seed mentioned in the 9th . verse , is included in [ ye ] in the 10th . is as thing so mean and pitiful , that in english , it is called begging , begging the question , for this is one of the points in question between us : but to affirm that the seed in the 9th . verse , is expresly commanded in the 10th . to be circumcised , is worse , for in express terms , it is not [ this is the covenant which thou and thy seed shall keep ] but [ this is the covenant which ye shall keep , ] and what is meant by [ ye ] whether abraham and the seed mentioned before in verse the 9th . or only he and ishmael , and the other persons then present at the institution of circumcision , which god should speak to , is the question . i do confess , the grammar of the text would have carried it well enough for your sence , and it would have run smoothly , [ thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed ; this is the covenant which ye shall keep ] if it had not pleased god to add [ between me and you , and thy seed after thee : ] but yet even then i could not easily have understood how any of the seed could be excused from circumcision . but that then , had been the only difficulty ; but now there is another , and no small one ; for god himself distinguishing in the 10th . verse , between you and thy seed after thee , [ this is the covenant which you shall keep between me and you , and thy seed after thee ; ] and thy seed after thee in the 10th . verse , being in all respects the same expression , without any the least alteration , with that in the 9th , and that also in one continued speech , and consequently signifying the same subjects in all respects , what is plainer then that this distinction must be a key to the whole text , and that to open the text in any wayes without this , will not be to unlock , but force it . and this distinction indeed is that which pinches and amazes you , and makes you so confused that you scarce know what you say , for in one place you say it resolutely , that there is no such distinction but of my making ; but in another , with greater modesty , you say , that as appears to you , god doth not distinguish the [ ye ] from the seed in the beginning of the 10th . verse , except as one was present , the other future . ] and what is all this ? but that he doth distinguish and that he doth not , and that he doth not distinguish except as he doth distinguish , and that as much as can 〈◊〉 distinguished , ( viz. ) as one from many , and present persons from future , ah ! dear sir you seem a little unsettled ; and therefore it is time to give over . but happily , i go too fast , and you will tell me that as you said , that no such distinction is but of my making , so you gave a reason for saying it , ( viz ) that the termes of every distinction must be opposite , else it is no distinction ; ] and there is logick for me : and sweet sir for this i thank you [ that there is no distinction but where opposition , ] it is new , a new light in logick ; former logicians ( poor dark men , they ) never saw it , one of them , and he no small one neither , dully tells us , that diversity is either distinction or opposition ; and not one of them ( so blind they be ) but would tell , that disparates are distinct , and are not opposites ; and indeed dear sir your heart , and tongue , and hand , are things distinct , but ( i hope ) not opposites ; either other logicians ( all of them ) are out of their element ; or you , yet , good sir not come into it . well , but however you express it , your meaning may be good , ye , and thy seed may be conjoyned in one party in the obligation , as you say they are , though by the way , to be conjoyned , they , in themselves , must be distinct . but what you add , is neither good nor true ; ( viz. ) that the seed which i would make a member of the distinction , is a self created term ] so you say , but mean ( i think ) a creature of mine . but i assure you 't is not so ; i am no creator ; i added not these termes [ between me and you , and thy seed ; ] they are the holy spirits , and not mine , and seem even at first sight , to imply a distinction of parties , as well as of persons , and to sound as if the covenant were tripartite , but yet , as i love not skirmishing for words only , call them two parties , or three parties , or four parties if you will , provided you distinguish between god and you , and thy seed , and do not make you and thy seed all one thing , as well as all one party ; i assure you it shall break no squares . but by occasion of your directing me unto the second and fourth verses of the 17th . of gen. to prove the covenant bipartite ; give me leave to observe to you , ( and in the observation to imply an answer , ) that abraham , as he is the subject in the promises in the whole transaction between god and him , doth in diverse places , undergo a diverse consideration , he is considered two waves ; first , he is considered singly by himself , and in his own person , and so he is transacted with , and promises are made to him , verses 2. 4 , 5 , 6. [ i will make my covenant between me and thee , my covenant is with thee ; thy name shall be no more abram , but abraham , i will make thee many nations . ] in all these a covenant is made with abraham , as he is considered singly , and in his own person ; without any mention of his seed , or any concernment of them . but then secondly , he is considered jointly , as concerned with his seed , and so , he is transacted with , and promises are made and ratified to him in the 7th . and 8th . verses ; [ and i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed after thee , &c. and i will give unto thee , and to thy seed after thee , the land in which thou art a stranger ] now the covenant as made with abraham singly , is bipartite ; but as made with abraham as he is joyned with his seed , it is tripartite ; for there a new party , or ( which is as much as i said i would contend for , or be understood to mean ) a new , another person is taken in . again , as abraham had undergone a double consideration in the covenant or promise , and was transacted with both singly in his own person , and also jointly with his seed ; so answerably , in the general obligation verse the 9th , he is expresly and in terms made the subject of it , both singly by himself , and also as joyned with the seed ; [ thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , ] there he is singly ; [ thou and thy seed after thee in their generations , ] there he is joyned : so exact it pleases god to be , even in termes , in adjusting of the subjects in the promise and obligation , and in making of them answering ; all to shew , that those that are included in the one , are equally implyed in the other , and that by the same account and consideration , by which any lay their claim to the former , by the very same consideration , and on the same account they come under the tyes of the latter . on the whole , it is not so absurd if duly weighed , to say ( which yet i do not peremptorily say ) that in that part of the covenant in which abraham is joyned with the seed , he should stand for his natural posterity , as there the seed doth for christ mystical : and so much the text you cite , namely , gen. 9. 9 , 11 , 12. implyes , ( viz. ) that the parents represent and stand for their children ; though in other respects , that text is no wayes parallel to this , gen. 17. 10. nor serves your purpose ; for there it is [ between me and you , and your seed ] but here [ between me and you , and thy seed , not your seed , ] and you have told me , that on every point of the law , mountains of sence do hang. i have proved the distinction [ between god and you , and thy seed ] to be real : and in prospect that i might be able to do so , you have provided me an explication ; which is , that when god saith , [ this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you ] in your opinion , it can be understood no otherwise then thus , [ between me and you ] that is , between me and thou abraham , together with thy son ishmael , and the rest of the family now present with thee ; and not only between me and you now present , but between me and you , and thy seed after thee before expressed . ] but oh ! sweet sir recollect a little here , for i fear you do mistake your self , these are the very words of the paraphrase , the mizmaze paraphrase ; however , it makes me hope we shall agree at last , your off's and on 's , and on 's and off's are good signes of it . no say you , stop there ; for thy seed after thee in the 9th . verse , is included in the first [ ye ] of the 10th . verse , ] but how ( say i ) can that be , if it be excluded the second ; from which in the 10th . it is distinguished ? but to press you the more , i ask you , doth not in your opinion , [ thy seed in the 9th . verse . ] include the present as well as future seed ? you tell me it doth , else how came ishmael under the duty ! i ask again , doth not the first ye ( or you ) in the 10th . verse , in your opinion include the seed in the 9th . ? you tell me it doth . i ask further , doth not the second [ you ] in the 10th . verse signifie the same with the first [ ye or you ? ] here you must be at a stand , for if the first you [ or ye ] include the seed present and future , and the second [ you ] do signifie the same as the first , then the second [ you ] must include the future seed as well as the present , and so the addition to it [ of thy seed after thee ] must be superfluous , and where then , will be the mountains of sence hanging on that word ▪ but on the other hand , if you say the second [ you ] doth signifie the present family only , and the first you [ or ye ] the family both present and future , you make the scripture unintelligible , and god not only to speak ambiguously , but against all the rules of grammar and common speaking , and against good sence , to make a pronoune demonstrative not to demonstrate , and though standing in coherence and relation , yet not to cohere , not to relate . this is my covenant which you [ or ye ] shall keep between me and you ; what you i pray now but the first ? you that are to keep the covenant , are to keep it between me and you . to take the first you [ or ye ] for some persons , and the second for others , is non-sensical : both standing plainly for the same , and therefore if [ between me and you ] be as you say , [ between me and thee abraham , and ishmael , and the rest of the family here present ] the first you [ or ye ] must be understood of them too ; and that 's the whole of the paraphrase . however , i am glad you have found the present family spoken to any where in the text , for that granted , i think my sence above exception , and that it will lye even with all that goes before , and all that followes after ; taking [ thy seed after thee ] for isaac in the letter and spirit in all the verses : i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed ; i will give to thee and thy seed ; thou shalt keep my covenant therefore , thou and thy seed . this is the covenant which you shall keep [ speaking to the present family , abraham being there ] between me and you , and thy seed after thee , [ casting his eye on abraham . ] before i leave this point , i am to mind you of a bold abuse you put upon me when you intimate as my opinion , that baptism is immediately intended in the 9th . verse , whereas ( you know ) i have told you ten times over , that i understand the keeping of the covenant there generally , for keeping of it in the sign of it ( whatever the sign at any time be , ) and not particularly and determinately , for keeping of it immediately either in circumcision , or in baptism ; indeed in that moment , when the general obligation was imposed of keeping the sign , neither baptism nor circumcision in particular was yet instituted ; though circumcision was , in the very next moment . i confess , had the keeping of the covenant in the sign of it , which is the duty injoyned in the 9th . verse , been a keeping of it particularly and determinately , in either baptism or circumcision ; then ( as you object , ) either abraham must have been baptized , if baptism had been intended particularly ; or else , isaac in the spirit [ the believing gentiles , the true spiritual seed ] must have been circumcised if circumcision had immediately and particularly been meant : but that term being understood but generally and indeterminately ; abraham and his seed are only obliged by it to keep the covenant in some sign ; in that sign respectively , which should be the sign of their respective times : and thus abraham did keep it in circumcision , the sign in his time ; and so did isaac in the letter , as the natural off-spring of abraham , in the sign that then was : but spiritual isaac ( or the believing gentiles ) could not keep it in the sign then ; they not having being then , and so no particular sign was ordained for them then ; but when ever they should be , they ( being the seed of abraham ) are tyed by the obligation [ verse the 9th ] to keep the covenant in the sign of it , viz. in that sign which then should be ( the sign , ) when they became seed . and on this occasion it may not be omitted to be noted , that though isaac in his own person , as a natural descendant of abraham , was circumcised , as in that capacity he ought to be ; yet ( being to sustain the person of abrahams spiritual seed , and in the mystery to stand for and be a type of that seed , which is of the saith of abraham ) he was not as ishmael ( who was the type and figure of the seed which was of the law , ) present at the institution of the ordinance of circumcision , designed to be the sign of the legal seed ; ishmael was one of those that god did speak to [ every man-child among you shall be circumcised ] but isaac was not there ; he was unborn : this timing of the institution should be of some significancy . to this i add , for greater illumination of the holy mystery , that even the calling of the natural seed in isaac , and the appropriating of the promises in the letter , to the seed of abraham as it did derive by isaac , was mystical ; and shewed , that as all the promises of god are yea , and amen in christ , so that christians and true believers are in him ▪ the true inheritors of the promise , in the spiritual meaning of it , and indeed , why else , should the seed be called in isaac , gen. 21. 12. were it not for a mystery ? for if by seed , there is meant ( as in the letter it is ) only the carnal seed , one would think , it should have been more proper to have called it in ishmael , the type and figure of that seed , than in isaac who represented another , and so indeed it would have been , if but the carnal seed had been called in isaac , without any relation , any aspect at all unto the spiritual . here also it may not be improper to observe the difference in the several blessings which it pleased god to conferr on ishmael and isaac , gen. 17. 19 , 20 , 21. no mention in the least of any seed in the blessing of ishmael , though in the fruitfulness is promised to him , there be an implication of children , but in that of isaac , there is mention of seed ; the covenant is established with him , and with his seed after him : as if the term seed was mystical and spiritual , and did not only signifie natural children , but spiritual also . judge now , whether isaac be not , both in the promise , and in the obligation too , to be considered as he represents the believing gentiles , the true spiritual seed . all that i have offered hitherto , is on occasion of your first reason to evince , that isaac in the spirit , or isaac as he represented the spiritual seed , is not intended in the general obligation verse the 9th . and that was taken from isaac himself : i will now proceed to the second , ( for so i do reduce to order what you in some confusion have written without any , ) and this is from ishmael ; for say you ▪ it was not under that precise notion that the present obligation verse the 9th . was fastned on him , ( viz. isaac ) there being nothing of this nature mentioned throughout the whole context , but rather as he was descended from abraham according to the flesh , for otherwise ishmael had been excluded from the duty there mentioned , who could pretend nothing of any spiritual relation to abraham , as isaac did , and yet it cannot be denyed but ishmael was included therein , as well as isaac . ] but this requires little answer , as running altogether upon mistakes ; for isaac in the letter is meant indeed , but isaac in the spirit principally . again , there is as little in the whole con-text mentioned of christ , ( and yet i hope you will not exclude him too from being meant , ) as there is of the obligations being fastned on isaac , as he represented the spiritual seed . and as for ishmael , it was abrahams duty to circumcise him , and he circumcised him as he did his slaves , under the notion of his own , his property , and not precisely as his seed . and if ishmael himself was under any obligation to circumcise his ( as i conceive he was , ) it was as he was comprehended in the you , to whom expresly the command of circumcision was given , he was also obliged in abraham . * but that he was obliged to do it , as being abrahams seed , by vertue of the general injunction , gen. 17. 9. i positively deny . for that seed only , and no other is obliged by vertue of the general injunction there , which is the object of the promise before ; that seed only which is in the promise in verse the 8th . is the seed put under the duty in verse the 9th . now ishmael was farr enough from being the object of the promise in verse the 8th . so far , that he is expresly and in termes excluded from it ; the scripture not only saying , in isaac shall thy seed be called , but also , cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son , with isaac , gen. 21. 10. and now bethink also , how can the spiritual seed as well as the carnal in your sence , that is , isaac as well as ishmael be in the promise and the obligation too , as you say they be ▪ if ishmael were not heir of the promise , nor at all in it . and here i had dismissed this point , but that it comes into my mind , that against abrahams standing ( * with ishmael &c. ) in the business of circumcision for his natural posterity , ( which yet is usual in the scriptures for the fathers to do , and is so ( as i noted before ) in the very covenant of noah which you mentioned ; ) you object , how then did he receive circumcision as a seal of the righteousness by faith. ] to which i answer very well ; for the sign of circumcision is annexed to the covenant and promise , as now established ; i will establish my covenant , &c. the promise of canaan , it was made to abraham , and to his seed before , gen. 15. 7 , 8. &c. 18. but now is ratified and confirmed , and in token of its being so , a sign is put to it ; so that the signing of the covenant with circumcision , being in token of its ratification , was a sealing , ( * the sign was a seal ) a confirming of the righteousness by faith ; that is , of the reward of righteousness , or of that inheritance which god , for abrahams believing of his promise to him , ( so improbable , so unlikely , and in nature so impossible , ( viz. ) that he should have seed as the stars ) conferred upon him : for so it must be understood , as will appear most evidently from a view of the whole passage , gen. 15. 5 , 6 , 7. for there we have a relation ; first , of gods promise to abraham , which was of seed as stars , in the 5th verse ; and then secondly , of abrahams belief , and faith in that improbable promise , in the beginning of the 6th . verse , abraham believed the lord ; and thirdly , of the reward the lord gave him for that his great faith ; and this , first , more generally , in the latter part of the 6th . verse , and he accounted it unto him for righteousness ; that is , the lord rewarded him , for so , in the language of the holy scriptures , to account for righteousness is ; it is graciously to give a person the reward of righteousness , for a thing which in it self , is not compleat righteousness ; and then secondly , more particularly , how he rewarded him , and that is verse the 7th . by giving him the promise of the land of canaan . and indeed our faith is accounted unto us for righteousness , as abrahams was to him ; we have by divine grace , the heavenly inheritance for believing in christ , as he the promise of the temporal , * ( though not that only ) for believing jehovah . and now , why might not all this be , and yet abraham * in the business of circumcision represent his own posterity ; ( * though i do not positively say he did ; ) and the rather , because the reward ( * in the letter ) was canaan , which now was sealed and confirmed to him in the sign of circumcision , put to the ratification of that covenant and promise , in which god had before conveighed , and passed it . thus i have proved isaac as he represented christ mystical , or the spiritual seed , to be intended in the obligation , verse the 9th . but it seems i might have saved so much ink and paper , for at last you tell me plainly , that abraham and all his , present or future , carnal or spiritual , were concerned in the obligation as well as in the promise , some way or other . [ that is well , ] in the promises temporal , the carnal seed were concerned , in the blessings temporal and spiritual , the believing seed of abraham were concerned , and both the one and the other [ and what are they , ( say i ) but the natural and believing seed of abraham , ] were also concerned in the obligation , verse the 9th . [ so far you are just , i , but you must not be mistaken , you add , ] ( i. e. ) to be circumcised , for isaac , and all the believing jews , were circumcised as well as ishmael . ] and what , dear sir , was isaac and the believing jews , the only believing seed of abraham ? and doth isaac stand but for believing jews , and not for believing gentiles ? i pray , reconcile your self unto the apostle , gal. 3. 14 , 15 , 16. &c. and 4. 22. &c. to 31. and rom. 4. 18 , 16. and remember , i have clearly proved , in the correct copy of my first letter , that ishmael and isaac are , the former the seed under the law , the latter , believers under the gospel . ay! but what if isaac stand in the obligation , verse the 9th . for the spiritual seed or believing gentiles , what then ? what is this to the baptism of infants , ] i answer , i referr you for a further answer to the corrected copy of my first letter ; there you may plainly see , what it is to infants baptism ; i repeat it not , because it would be endless to go round , and say over again the same things : a circle is infinite ; there is another word for you to whet on , but i hope you will not mistake it for [ god , ] as you did the word eternal in my last for [ in eternity , ] against common use , aeterno sed erunt tibi magna volumina versu . tibul l. 2. the like in cicera , and in seneca , &c. upon the whole , i hope i have most fully asserted the paraphrase i made upon the text in controversie ; the paraphrase do i say , or dare i mention that again ! why that , that is , to you , the most involved , tortious , intricate that ever you heard of , except origens allegorical and mystical commentaries ] and i believe you ; but then , how well the apostle , who is my author , will escape your censure , i know not , but it is well for him , and for me too , that the paraphrase is all this but unto you ; the sizes of humane understanding are very different , and yours is not the measure and standard of good sence , or of judgment ; others more unbyassed , and as judicious persons will not think the worse of the paraphrase , nor the better of you for your calling it names . only , as to the great adoe you make upon the disjunctive particle [ but ] inserted in my paraphrase , i must tell you , that but a grain of either the candour of which you make profession , or of true soundness of judgment , would have prevented it . for that [ but , ] i did not add it unto the text ; i never insisted on it ; i only put it in a pa●renthesis to shew that a particle ( as small as that was ) if understood and supplyed ( as the like is done many times in other scriptures , and must be done to make the sence entire , see job . 16. 5. ) would have put my sence of the text out of question . i but put it in to make you sensible of my meaning ; which conceived , you might leave it out again , for my sence is good without it ; and the connexive particle [ now ] would do as well to my purpose , and one of them , to make the sence compleat , must be understood , if by [ you , ] you mean restrictively , those there present only : in the one [ you ] you do , and therefore must in both , the reason is the same for both , as for one . let it be granted ( as by you it is ) that god doth speak to any in the term [ you ] as present , i may make good my paraphrase against the world , for the supposal of an apostrophe , is all that seemeth harsh and difficult in it ; suppose him to mean but them there present in the first [ you ; ] that is , to mean that in the first , which you your self do grant he means in the second , and the business is ended . but as for your paraphrase , it is too general and loose , and off from the text , and not a paraphrase upon it . what you add in answer to my several questions , is but retailing of what i had before , and have again considered now in gross ; only where you say , that the reason why in the 10th . verse , and afterward &c. the holy ghost useth a restrictive term , ye shall keep &c. is because it would have been improper to have repeated the word seed , ( according to the usual formes of speech generally in custom among men ) it being enough when abraham and his seed had been once or twice mentioned to say [ you ] as there was further occasion to make mention of them . ] i answer , that it is not once or twice , but four times , and that is alwayes all along [ thee and thy seed ] before he came to institute circumcision , which was not competent to all the seed : and why i pray , not humane formes of speech observed before , by the using of [ you ] , after once or twice mentioning , instead of [ thee and thy seed : ] again , shew me , among all the formes of speech generally in custom among men , one such as this is in your sence , where two you's , in the same coherence and relation , shall be understood diversely ; the first of them for one subject , the second for another : this is the covenant which you shall keep between me and you , which you shall keep , meaning some persons ; between me and you , meaning other persons . if this be your grammar , it is new too , and all as new as your logick . in fine , in your sence it would have run smooth , and more according to the formes of speech generally in custom among men , in these termes ; thou shalt keep my covenant , therefore thou and thy seed ; this is the covenant which you shall keep between me and you [ omitting thy seed after thee . ] every man child among you shall be circumcised : but [ thy seed ] being put in with the second [ you ] , and so distinguished from it , clearly implies that it was not intended to be comprehended in the first . but the controversie must , and shall have end ; ( and the sooner , because ( as you do manage it ) it is become a wordy brabling business ; as also , for that you treat me in it but ( as aesop did his masters guests ) with tongue , tongue still , nothing but tongue in several dishes . ) and that it may have end as fairly as it took beginning , seeing we have joyned issue , and have made our arguments ; i propose that you elect some ( two or three ) of your friends , and at any time , in any house at totness within a moneth at your appointment , meet me with the like number of mine , to hear the whole matter , and judge upon it : else the world must , you may do with your papers as you list , i will publish mine , in vindication of . decem. 26. 1682. your affectionate friend . r. b. finis . books printed for jonathan greenwood at the crown in the poultry . instuctions about heart-work , what is to be done on gods part , and ours , for the cure and keeping of the heart , that we may live in the exercise and growth of grace here , and have a comfortable assurance of glory to eternity , by that eminent gospel minister , mr. richard allein , author of vindiciae pietatis ; with a preface , by dr. annesley . compassionate counsel to all young men , especially , 1. london apprentices , 2. students of divinity , physick and law , 3. the sons of magistrates and rich men ; by richard baxter . price bound 1. s. 6. d. a sermon preached at the funeral of the right honourable anne baroness holles , of ifield in sussex , with a short account of her holy life , and patience under all afflictions , from heb. 13. 14. by james waters , domestick chaplain to the right honourable francis lord holles , barron holles of ifield , her late husband . the future state , or a learned and judicious discourse , attempting some display of the souls happiness , in regard to that eternally progressive knowledg , o● eternal increase of knowledg , and the consequences of it , which is amongst the blessed in heaven ; highly approved 〈◊〉 by the learned ; by a country gentleman , a worshipper of god in the way o● the church of england . price bound one shilling . finis . a brief examination of some passages in the chronological part of a letter, written to dr. sherlock in his vindication in a letter to a friend. milner, john, 1628-1702. 1700 approx. 26 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 7 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a50868 wing m2076 estc r37638 16993906 ocm 16993906 105652 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a50868) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105652) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1097:2) a brief examination of some passages in the chronological part of a letter, written to dr. sherlock in his vindication in a letter to a friend. milner, john, 1628-1702. 12 p. printed and sold by randal taylor ..., london : [1700?] attributed to milner by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints; occasionally attributed to samuel grascome. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. bible. -o.t. -nehemiah -criticism, interpretation, etc. theology, doctrinal. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-03 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-03 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief examination of some passages in the chronological part of a letter , written to dr. sherlock in his vindication . in a letter to a friend . london , printed and sold by randal taylor near stationers-hall . a brief examination , &c. sir , as to the letter which i mention'd in my last , i shall only reflect upon some passages in the chronological part of it ; the examination of the whole i leave to the ingenious person , that is more especially concern'd . the gentleman , that writ the letter , manifests in one passage of it , that his chronology doth according to his own judgment depend much upon this , that the sanballat in iosephus is not the same with the sanballat in nehemiah . for pag. 19 speaking of the convocation , ( he says , ) that by making his sanballat ( i.e. iosephus's ) the same with nehemiahs , it appears , that they follow scaliger and calvisius in their chronology : so that whosoever makes him to be the same sanballat that is mention●d in both , he , in this gentlemans judgment , follows scaliger and calvisius in their chronology . of which he gives this account , pag. 18. they begin daniel's 70 weeks in darius nothus his time , and make nehemiah's artaxerxes to be mnemon , instead of longimanus , as the darius mention'd by him , they make not to be nothus , but cod●mannus , and the priest , that nehemiah depriv'd , to be manasses , the same that we read of in josephus . all this ( says he ) scaliger and calvisius are for , and he would persuade us , that the convocation are also for it , but he himself is against it . as to the convocation , i believe they do not say that iosephus's sanballat is the same with nehemiah's ; but telling us out of iosephus , that jaddus and manasses fell at variance , that manasses married sanballat's daughter , and was remov'd from the priesthood , they set in the margin , neh. 13. 28. from whence this gentleman concludes , that they make his sanballat the same with nehemiah's ; and by their so doing ( says he ) it appears that they follow scalig●r and calvisius in their chronology . but against the necessity of this consequence , i argue thus ; if every one that makes iosephus's sanballat the same with nehemiah's , must follow scaliger and calvisius in their chronology , and so make nehemiah's artaxerxes to be mnemon , not longimanus ; how comes it , that so many excellently learned men , bishop montague , functius , &c. do make the same sanballat to be spoken of in both , and yet hold , that nehemiah ●s artaxerxes was longimanus ? if they did not follow scaliger and calvisius ( notwithstanding that they held the aforesaid opinion , touching sanballat ) then this gentleman concluded too hastily , that the convocation did follow them . besides , the only reason which this gentleman gives , pag. 11. why , if we hold nehemiah and iosephus to speak of the same sanballat , it is necessary to make nehemiah's artaxerxes to be mnemon , not longimanus , is because the sanballat , that was the adversary of the iews in the 29th year of longimanus , must have been much above 120 years old in alexander's time . but bishop montague answers readily to this , by giving instances of several persons , that have liv'd to much above 120 years . further , why should not this gentleman have thought that the convocation follow'd sulpitius severus , rather than scaliger and calvisius ? for it is known , that sulpitius , &c. begun daniel's weeks in darius nothus his time , ( long before scaliger did ; ) as also he referr'd nehemiah's building the walls and gates of the city , to the reign of artaxerxes mnemon ; and i believe that the reverend clergy of the convocation , studied such ancient writers as sulpitius , more than they did scaliger , or other neotericks● as to calvisius , they might not have seen his chronology , yea , i question , whether it was extant , when the convocation-book was finish●d , and then there is no reason why they should be said to follow calvisius . i have inlarg'd on this the more , because i conceive that this gentleman hath made too bold with the convocation in this passage , ( as both he and others have done in other things ; ) for by making iosephus's sanballat the same with nehemiah's , it doth not appear , that they follow'd either scaliger or calvisius . to return to that which we were saying at first , since this gentleman 's chronology in his judgment depends much upon this , that josephus's sanballat is not the same with nehemiahs , it will not be amiss to examine what this gentleman hath to say , pag. 11. against his being the same . iosephas ( says he ) describes him by those characters , by which we may be sure that he was not the same sanballat . if you ask what characters they are , ( he says ) first , that this was a chuthaean , of that race from which the samaritans came ; and f●rther , that he was sent to be governour of samaria by the last darius ; whereas this gentleman tells us of this other sanballat , that he was a moabite of horonaim , whom nehemiah found in palestine 100 years before in artaxerxes his time . but first , the scripture doth not plainly say of nehemiahs sanballat , either that he was a moabite , or of horonaim ; it only calls him the horonite , whether from horonaim , or from some other place , is uncertain . but to pass this , secondly , he might be a chuthaean originally , and yet his habitation might have been for the most part at horonaim , and he thereupon call'd the horonite . thirdly , arch-bishop vsher , grotius , and others think that he was toparch , or deputy-governour of the moabites ; and it is in no wise improbable , that the same person , who was constituted governour of the moabites by artaxerxes , should afterwards be advanc'd to be governour of samaria by darius . fourthly , as to that of 100 years , they who hold nehemiah's artaxerxes to be longimanus , must grant that nehemiah found sanballat in palestine 100 years before the time of the last darius , ( and they say that he liv'd to so great an age that that might be , ) but sulpitius severus , and those that follow him , must and do deny it . thus it appears , that we cannot be sure that he was not the same sanballat , either by the characters by which josephus describes him , or by any thing which this gentleman saith . as this gentleman made bold with the convocation , so he also makes bold with the iewish chronologers , though i willingly grant that they deserve not that regard which the convocation doth . he tells us , pag. 14. that they make the whole time of the second temple , till the sixth year of alexander the great ( in which sixth year they say he came up against jerusalem ) to be but 34 years , and for this he cites ganz , pag. 57 , and 64. but indeed the iewish writers differ among themselves about the time of the continuance of the persian empire , after the finishing of the second temple , yet ganz expresses his opinion very plainly , viz that the time of the second temple , to the first year of alexander , was 34 years , but till the sixth year of alexander it was forty years , and so we read in iuchasin fol. 13. 2. that alexander came to ierusalem forty years after the building of the temple . but this gentleman makes more bold with the iewish writers , when he makes them to say of iaddus the high priest , and all the elders of israel , that they made a covenant with alexander , ( though darius was then living , ) for which he cites ganz , p. 59. but these are not ganz his words ; he only says that alexander made a covenant with jaddus , whom he calls simeon the just : and i believe you will be strangely surpriz'd when i tell you from r. abraham f. david his cabala , what that covenant was : he covenanted ( says he ) with the high priest , that every child that was born to any of the priests that year , should be call'd alexander , after his name , and that they should begin their aera contractuum from him . iosephus , l. 11. c. 5 , and 8. acquaints us , that both nehemiah and sanballat liv'd to old age : and of nehemiah , this gentleman saith , pag. 8. no doubt he lived to a very great age , for he was cupbearer to king artaxerxes in the 20th years of his reign . we may suppose him to have been then about 25 years of age ; after that he liv'd to see the high priesthood pass from father to son for four generations : and he saw a fifth coming in view , namely , jaddua , whom we suppose to have been then about 30 years old . all this might very well be , if nehemiah were born 470 years before christ , and writ in the year 347 before christ , then he was about 104 years o●d . there are this gentleman 's own words out of which we must pick his sense as well as we can ; and when we have done our best , i doubt we shall scarce understand , either how the things cohere , or how they prove , that nehemiah liv'd to a very great age . 1. i cannot see the coherence , particularly of that last passage , if nehemiah were born 470 years before christ , and writ in the 347 th year before christ , then he was about 104 years old ; for from the year 470 before christ , to the year 347 before him are 123 years ; so that this gentleman had express'd himself more coherently , if he had said , then he was about 124 years old . some perhaps will say , that 347 is the printer's mistake for 374 ; for this gentleman says , pag 1. that nehemiah writ his book anno 374 , before christ. well , we now then suppose nehemiah to have lived from the year 470 before christ to the year 374 ; but then he would not have been about 104 years old , but about 96 ; so that i despair still of making things cohere . but then : 2. i cannot see how all together proves that nehemiah lived to a very great age ; for 1. they are only suppositions , which make up a great part of what is said , and those can prove nothing . 2. there is nothing certain , but that after nehemiah came from susa to ierusalem , he liv'd to see the high priesthood pass from father to son for some generations ; but unless we were certain for how many generations , whether four or three , or only two ; as also how many years every person enjoy'd the high-priest's function , we cannot prove from thence , to what age nehemiah liv'd . 3. when this gentleman says , that nehemiah saw the priesthood pass from father to son for four generations ; his meaning is , that it pass'd from ioiakim to eliashib from eliashib to ioiada , from ioiada to johanan ; and withal he begins his computation in the last year of ioiakim , and ends it in the first of iohanan ; so that the time of eliashib's and joiada's enjoying the priesthood , being added to the 25 years , which he is suppos'd to have liv'd when he came from susa to jerusalem , is in effect all the time we have to make up nehemiah's age , according to this gentleman . he troubles himself much about the time of nehemiah's writing his book : 1. he affirms , p. 6. that it was writ after the death of longimanus , and in or after the time of his successor darius . this ( says he ) is certain , for in his book he mentions the reign of darius the persian : but why may we not think , notwithstanding this , that the rest of the book was writ before the death of longimanus , and that this touching the reign of darius , and a few other passages , might be inserted by nehemiah , or some other afterwards . 2. he insists upon it , pag. 7. that nehemiah writ , when the reign of darius was expired : the hebrew words ( says he ) shew it , for there ( i.e. neh. 12 . 22. ) it is said , that the heads of the levites , and also the priests were recorded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over or throughout the reign of darius ; our translation hath , to the reign of darius ; other translations , in the reign , &c. but these not favouring , he must , without example or warrant , to serve his hypothesis , translate over or throughout the reign of darius . there is no question , but that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies over , as that is the same with above ; but he should have alledg'd some other text or texts of scripture , in which it signifies over , in the sense of his throughout , or some authority for it ; and when he doth this , he doth something . but let the words signifie what they will , they must be understood as he would have them , which appears ( says he ) by what followeth in the next verse , where it is said , that the heads of the levites were recorded in the book of the chronicles , till the days of johanan , i.e. till he came to be high-priest . yea , rather the contrary appears from thence , if we will acquiesce in archbishop vsher's judgment , for he ( in his annals a. m. 3589. ) makes iohanan to have been high priest in the reign of darius , i.e. nothus ; and if he was so , then these words , till the days of johanan , neh. 12. 23. cannot prove that the meaning must be throughout the reign of darius , v. 22. but ( if any thing ) the contrary . here and elsewhere i press this gentleman with archbishop vsher's authority , because he alledges him so oft in his letter ; and declares his great esteem of his judgment , the most learned primate was as well a great chronologer as a good textuary ; so . pag. 7. and pag 9. when he had told how he supposed iaddus born at such a time in compliance with the most learned primate , he adds these words , i attribute very much to his judgment in these matters . 3. this gentleman makes nehemiah to have writ his book when johanan came to be high-priest , ( see pag. 7. also 9 , and 10. ) but if you demand his proof of this , he only saith , pag. 9. that he hath very good ground for it ; but he is not so kind as to tell what it is . so that by all that he hath said concerning nehemiah's age , and writing his book , he hath only demonstrated , that it cannot be determin'd particularly to what age he liv'd , or at what time he writ . this gentleman also in pag. 7. troubles himself about neh. 12. 22 , 23. he says , that nehemiah in them tells us , that as for the levites , that were in the days of eliashib , joiada , johanan and jaddua , the heads of those levites ; and also the priests , all that were in the reign of darius nothus , were recorded in the book of chronicles : but afterwards the priests were not recorded , but only the heads of the levites , and those only during the high priesthood of eliashib and joiada . by afterwards here , nothing can be meant , but after the reign of darius nothus ; and so the gentleman saith afterwards , i.e. after the reign of darius nothus the priests were not recorded , but only the heads of the levites ; and then , when he adds , and those only during the high priesthood of eliashib and joiada ; it cannot be avoided , but that he makes eliashib to have been high-priest after the reign of darius nothus ; being contrary herein ( that i may say nothing of archbishop vsher ) to himself ; for pag. 10. he makes joiada to have succeeded eliashib five years before the end of darius's reign . but to pass this , the gentleman says , that the heads of the levites were recorded only during the high priesthood of eliakim and joiada , who were then dead , but not of johanan . but if the heads of the levites in the days of iohanan , and so in the days of iaddua were not recorded , i would gladly know why they are named , v. 22. as well as those in the days of eliashib and ioiada . but his giving us both so strange a translation of part of v. 22. and so strange an interpretation of the two verses proceeded from hence , that he thought the darius spoken of , was necessarily darius nothus . thence also proceeded that which follows in the same pag. 7. as for jaddua , he is mention'd both here ( i e neh. 12. 22. ) and before in this chapter , ( i.e. v. 11. ) not as being high priest then , ( how could he be in his father's days ? ) but only as being then living , and heir apparent of the high priesthood ; so the words are understood by the most learned primate : by then , this gentleman means the time when the book of nehemiah was written , which he fansies was when jaddua's father , johanan , entred upon the high-priest's function ; hence is that parenthesis , how could he be in his father's days ? but it hath appear'd already , that it is a groundless fancy , that nehemiah writ his book at that time , and so all this that is buile upon it , falls of it self . as to the primate's judgment , i attribute very much to it ; but this gentleman that takes leave to depart from it when he thinks fit , cannot reasonably deny the like liberty to others . page 12. we are told concerning him that married the daughter of sanballat the horonite , that nehemiah ( ch . 3. 28. ) calleth him one of the sons of ioiada , the son of eliashib the high priest , and that this is plain enough to shew that he was the younger brother of johanan the father of jaddus . but i deny that it is plain enough to shew it , and my ground is from this gentleman 's own words : pag. 5. he says that iohanan the high-priest is called the son of eliashib ( neh. 12 23. ) who indeed was his grandfather , and his father was joiada , neh. 12 , 10. just so here iaddus's brother is call'd one of the sons of joiada , who indeed was his grandfather , and his father was iohanan . 't is usual to call grandsons by the name of sons : so that with the greatest part of the learned men that have writ on this subject , we may still believe not the uncle , but the brother of iaddus to be the person spoken of , neh. 13. 28. and that iosephus his narration concerning manasseh , is an excellent comment upon that text. i willingly acknowledge , that i want some light to help me to discover the necessity of those consequences , pag 9. if jaddus was but 30 years old when he came to be high-priest , then the age of joiakim when he dyed , must have been at least 90 years , his son eliashib at least 62 , his son joiada near 70 , his son johanan near 60 , and each of these it is very probable much more ; and four of these must have been born when their fathers were but 20 years old . how these consequences can be made out , i do not apprehend . it remains that we examine that view of the years of the persian kings , and jewish high-priests , which he gives us pag. 10. and we shall quickly find that his chronology therein is as to a great part of it meerly conjectural , or at the best very uncertain . of the time of nehemiah's writing his book , i have shew'd the uncertainty above . this gentleman tells us , pag. 9. that jaddus might have been born any year before his father johanan came to be high-priest , and that he suppos'd him born 30 years before in compliance with the most learned primate : which primates judgment , he notwithstanding this , departs from in other particulars of this view , ( as to omit other instances ) when the primate re●ers nehemiah's coming from sasa to jerusalem , to the 454th year before christ , this gentleman refers it to the 445th year before him . as to the persian monarchs , the view out of ptolemy's canon , makes darius nothus to have reigned 19 years , artaxerxes mnemon 46 , ochus 21 , arses . 2. but diodorus siculus ( whose authority may at least counterbalance ptolemy's ) gives only 43 years to artaxerxes mnemon , but 23 to ochus , and speaks of arses his third year ( see diod. sic. l. 13. l. 15 , and l. 16. ) sulpitus severus also gives 23 to ochus , and 3 to arses . the same sulpitius severus allots 62 years to artaxerxes mnemon , which plutarch in artaxerxes doth also , and c●esias ( who had the greatest advantages of knowing , how long he reign'd ) gives to darius nothus 35 years : so that the best authors differing thus one from another how can we determine how long they reign'd . i have not ptolemy's canon by me , but take it for granted , that he allots the number of years forementioned to these kings . as for the high priests , the view out of georgius syncellus assigns to eliashib 34 years ; but the chronicon alexandrinum gives him 40 years , as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud scaliger . also doth . it is somewhat strange , that this gentleman should refer the death of ioiakim to an. 445. before christ , and yet refer his son eli●shib's being high priest to the year after : i had thought that the son being heir apparent to the high priesthood , had succeeded immediately upon the father's death . it is the more strange because having said pag. 8. that it appears that ioiakim dyed the same year that nehemiah government began ; he gives this reason for it , for his son eliashib was high priest at the time when the wall of jerusalem was building : for i believe that the wall of ierusalem was building yea , was finish'd the same year that nehemiah's government began . and if so , it is more certain , that eliashib was high priest the same year that his government began ; than it is , that ioiakim dyed that year . yea , but says this gentleman , it is certain , that joiakim was high priest within the time while nehemiah was governour . and this he thinks may be prov'd from neh. 12. 26. where the words are , these were in the days of joiakim , the son of jeshua , the son of jozadak , and in the days of nehemiah the governour . now it is certain from these words , that joiakim was high priest within the time while nehemiah was governour ; it is said in the same chapter , that all israel in the days of zerubbabel , and in the days of nehemiah , gave the portions of the singers , neh. 12 . 47. is it certain from hence , that zerubbabel and nehemiah govern'd for some time together ? i say then , that it is more certain ( particularly from neh. 3.1 . ) that eliashib was high priest the same year that nehemiah's government began ; than it is , that ioiakim dyed the same year . this , sir , may suffice to give you a taste of the gentleman 's chronology . i only add that i am your very affectionate friend and servant . finis . the christian armorie wherein is contained all manner of spirituall munition, fit for secure christians to arme themselues withall against satans assaults, and all other kind of crosses, temptations, troubles, and afflictions : contrived in two bookes, and handled pithily and plainly by way of questions and answers / by thomas draxe ... ; hereunto is adioined a table of all the principall heads and branches comprised in each chapter of the whole treatise. draxe, thomas, d. 1618. 1611 approx. 442 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 192 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a20802 stc 7182 estc s782 22391572 ocm 22391572 25490 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a20802) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 25490) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1775:12) the christian armorie wherein is contained all manner of spirituall munition, fit for secure christians to arme themselues withall against satans assaults, and all other kind of crosses, temptations, troubles, and afflictions : contrived in two bookes, and handled pithily and plainly by way of questions and answers / by thomas draxe ... ; hereunto is adioined a table of all the principall heads and branches comprised in each chapter of the whole treatise. draxe, thomas, d. 1618. [4], 182, [8], 165 [i.e. 167], [18] p. by william hall, for iohn stepneth, and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of s. paul, at the west end of pauls church, imprinted at london : 1611. second part has special t.p.: the second booke, wherein are contained soueraigne and most sweet consolations, directions, and remedies against such inward or outward euils, crosses, afflications, which properly and peculiarly concerne gods church and children. signatures: a⁴(-a1) b-2a⁸ 2b⁴. numbers 33 and 34 repeated in pagination of second part. imperfect: tightly bound; signature a3 lacking. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a 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within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, practical. 2003-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-03 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2003-03 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the christian armorie : wherein is contained all manner of spirituall munition , fit for secure christians to arme themselues withall against satans assaults , and all other kind of crosses , temptations , troubles , and afflictions : contrived in two bookes , and handled pithily and plainly by way of questions and answers : by thomas draxe , bachelar in diuinitie . hereunto is adioined a table of all the principall heads and branches comprised in each chapter of the whole treatise . ephes. 6.13 . take vnto you the whole armor of god , that yee may be able to resist in the euill day ; and hauing finished all things , to stand fast . ¶ imprinted at london by william hall , for iohn stepneth , and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of s. paul , at the west end of pauls church . 1611. not perpetual , and they in the mea●●time , are not exempted frō all euils ▪ and what if in the greatest danger : some iosephs , some daniels , and some hesters , are both fauoured and aduanced ? yet this is very rare and extraordinarie . therfore it behooued euery seruant of god , while she hat● time and meanes , to prepare an● arme himselfe against all future euents and temptations ; and for th● end to put on the girdle of constancie ; and in the truth , to bee ready to confesse the gospell of peace ; to take vnto himselfe the shield of faith triumphant in christ ; to couer his head with the hope of saluation instead of an helmet ; and with the sword of the spirit .i. with testimonies of the scriptures , to offend and foile these spirituall amalekites : and hereunto to adioyne feruent and continuall prayers , without which all this spirituall armour will little auaile . thus doing , hee shall find light in darknes , consolation in tribulation , power in weakenesse , and in all his trials , he shall bee more then a triumpher in christ. and for his further encouragement , let him remēber , that in this warfare , the lord iesus is the generall ; godly kings and princes the coronels ; the nobles , iudges , and iustices , are the captaines ; the ministers of the church , the trumpetters and centinels ; the angels the assistants ; god the iudge , and rewarder ; and eternall glory , the monument & trophy of triumph . this preparation being so necessary , and the comforts so needfull , and so abundantlie set forth in the sacred scriptures ; i haue ( according to my mediocrity ) from thence chiefly , borrowed my spirituall armorie , and haue reduced and contriued the whole doctrine of it , into certaine chapters and pithy grounds & propositions . and to the intent , that the church of god should find cōfort and profit by it , i thought good to publish it . and because you ( most excellent lady ) are the phoenix o● your sexe , a glorious starre in our firmament , and so ful of princely piety , vertue and clemency ; i haue presumed to offer these my labours to your graces view , and to commend them to your graces patronage . for wherein should so noble a lady in her young and flourishing yeares , more labour to excell , then to bee a conqueresse ouer sinne and satan ? for such holie beginnings , cannot but bring forth blessed conclusions . vouchsafe therefore ( most gratious lady ) to pardon my bold enterprise , and to shelter these my meditations vnder the wings of your graces fauour . in humble desire , and comfortable expectation whereof , i commit your grace to the blessed gouernement of the highest maiesty . couentry , march 30. 1611. your graces ready to be commanded in all duty and seruice , thomas draxe . the christian armorie . chap. i. of mans offence and fall . question . how came man , that was originally , and by his first creation , so honourable , holy and happy , to be so sinnefull , vile , and miserable ? answere . by reason of sinne and the transgression of gods commaundement , whereby he fell away from god , and lost his , former dignity , holinesse , and happines . rom. 3.23 . q. what is sinne ? a. it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the breach of gods law ; or , it is a declination , reuolt , and apostasie from the loue , nature , communion , and will of god. eph. 4. v. 18. q. who is the subiect ( or continent ) of sinne ? a. the reasonable creature , that is , many of the angels , ( for they kept not their first estate and purity ) and mankind vniuersally , no man excepted : for all men haue sinned , and are depriued of the glory of god. rom. 3.23 . q. who is the author , or committe● of sinne ? a. not god ; for hee is holinesse it selfe , and there is in him no darknes , nor sinne at all ; for he doth not commaund nor commend , much lesse , instil and suggest sinne , but condemne and punish it , as that which is most aduerse and contrary to his owne will and word : but man onely , who in mind , will , and affections is wholy corrupted with sinne , & by this meanes is become a vassall of satan , and guilty of euerlasting damnation . q. jnto how many kinds is sinne diuided and distinguished ? a. into two kinds principally , namelie , that poisonfull corruption wherein man is conceiued , and borne , which we call , originall sinne ; and that offence of action , which we terme , actuall transgression . q. what is originall sinne ? a. it is the leprous , contagious , & pestilent infection of nature , or an hereditary and naturall corruption , which is successiuely by carnall generation deriued and conueied from adam the roote and common beginning of all mankind , vnto all his posterity . q by what names and epithetes is it called in the scriptures ? a. amongst others , these are speciall names of it . first , it is called sinne ( absolutely ) because it is the fountaine of al sinnes . secondly , it is termed the body of sinne , because all sinnes are included in it , and ( as it were ) in league with it ; for vpon occasion offered they breake out . thirdly , it is named , the law of the members , because of the dominion of it , in , and ouer all our members : for all the parts and powers of our bodies , and soules , before regeneration obey it as a law , and it is intituled rebellion in our members , because it doth by a continuall practise striue and rebell against the law of god. lastly , it hath the denomination of flesh , gen. 6.3 . of the old adam , and of concupiscence , which is an euill and inordinate desire and inclination . q. what are the maine parts of originall corruption ? a. two : first losse and want of the first and originall holines in the whole man : secondly , the presence of euill ; or , a contagion and distempered disposition of all the parts and powers of soule and body . q. what are the causes of originall sinne ? a. thrée ; the one inward , and the other two outward . q. what is the inward cause of it ? a. the very law of nature , passing originally , and conueied by carnall generation from one person to another . q. what are the outward causes of it ? a. two : first , the actuall sinne of adam and eue , the first instruments & foundation of mans nature . secondly , gods iustice , imputing the transgression of our first parents to al their ofspring and posterity . q. doth originall sinne , or concupiscence remaine in the regenerate ? a. yes : for though the guilt and dominion of it be taken away , ( for christ through his bloudy sufferings so hindereth the force and power of it , that it cannot condemne , and by his spirit so lesseneth and mortifieth it , that it cannot tyrannize , nor dominere ouer them , ) yet the corruption doth and will remaine in them vntill death , and hereupon it is called sinne dwelling ( but not raigning ) in the godly . q. why will god haue originall concupiscence to dwel and remaine in those that are iustified and sanctified ? a. first , that they should the better perceiue and feele the efficacy of grace , and of the spirit of christ , who though he suffer this enemie to dwell in them , yet hee doth so kéepe vnder , and captiuate him in them , that he cannot raign in thē , nor destroy them . secondly , that they should find , and certainely know , that they can by no other meanes be iustified in gods sight , then by christs perfect obedience apprehended of them by faith alone . lastly , god will haue them ( for their exercise ) to haue an enemie vnto their dying day , with whom they may alwaies fight and combate , and whom by the grace of christ they might foile in fight , and by foiling they might procure to themselues the greater crowne of glory . q. what vse are we to make of originall sinne ? ans. first , we must diligently mark and obserue the motions & suggestions of it , whether arising from within vs , or occasioned and caused from without vs ; and then we must not be glad , but grieue at them ; neither cherish , but rather kill and crucifie them . let vs therefore keepe this enemy from virtuals , and cherish and strengthen the spirit against him : and let vs watch and warily espie in what part hee assaieth to make a sallie and to assault vs , and there let vs by the contrary weapons resist him . lastly , let vs alwaies flee vnto the throne of grace , through iesus christ ▪ & we shall be releeued and rescued , and in the end gloriously deliuered . q. what was adams fall ? a. a voluntary transgression of the first law and order that god ordained , whereby he fell alway from god , lost his image , and betaine a slaue to sinne and satan , and so exposed himselfe and all ( that were to bee borne of him and succeed him ) to euerlasting damnation . q. what was the matter or obiect of adams sinne ? a. the eating of the forbidden fruit or apple . q. how could the eating of an apple ( though neuer so much forbidden ) deserue so great misery and punishment ? a. wee must not rate and esteeme the offence by the basenesse of the outward obiect , but by the vnconceiueable dignity of gods infinite maiesty offended , and by the high contempt of gods strict prohibition . lastly , this sinne could bee by no other meanes satisfied , nor gods wrath appeased , but by the vnualuable ransom of iesus christ his death and obedience . q. who was the instrumentall cause of adams fall ? a. the diuell , who by the beauty and baite of an apple , and by lying suggestions , entice and drawe him to disobedience . q. what was the formall or inward cause of the fall of adam ? a. the blinding and corrupting of his minde , will , and affections , whereupon he beléeued not gods threatnings , but willingly assented to satans temptation . q. did not god forsake our first parents before their fall ? a. yes vndoubtedly : for god by his power could haue preserued them from fault and fall . q. how did god leaue & forsake thē ? a. first , by withdrawing from them ( for he is bound and indebted to none ) the sunshine of his knowledge & grace . secondly , by denying them strengthning and confirming grace . q. why did god permit their fall ? a that he might draw good out of euill , and might heereby make knowne the glory of his power and iustice in the damnation of the reprobate , and the glorie of his mercy in the saluation of the elect . q. what is the guilt of their sinne ? a. a firme and straite binding ouer , and endangering of himselfe , and all his posterity to eternall punishment . q. how can it stand with gods iustice so to impute adams sinne and fall to all his posterity , that they must be punished and smart for it ? a. it may , and doth stand with gods iustice very well : for first , when adam sinned , all his posterity & ofspring was in his loines , from whom they were by the course of nature to issue , and therfore with him they receiued part of his guilt ; for the sinne of the head ( so farre forth as it is the head ) is deseruedly imputed to the whole body : as we may sée the truth hereof in dauid , who , because he being a king , & ( in the pride of his heart ) would néeds number the people , thréescore & ten thousand of his good subiects perished by the pestilence for it . secondly , quia contrariorum contraria est ratio , wee may euidently sée and obserue the certainety of this point by the contrary . for euen as whatsoeuer christ , as the head of all the elect , and church , suffered and performed for the church , is imputed to it : so whatsoeuer adam as the stock-father , and beginning of mankind lost , is imputed to all his posterity : and no maruaile , seeing that he represented all their persons , and did by his offence , as a certaine gate , conuey all that was euill in him to all that did , or euer should succéed him . lastly , as adam receiued the image of god , that is , illumination , holines , righteousnes , for himselfe , and his posterity ; so he lost it for himselfe and his ofspring : and therefore as they should haue béene heires of his happines , commodities , and rewards if hee had continued in his innocency ; so since his fall , they must be partakers of his guilt , burden and punishment . obiection . but adams sinne was proper to his owne person , how then could it be imputed to his posterity ? a. adam in this action is not to bée considered as a priuate person ( for then he should haue smarted for his own sin onely , ) but hee must bée estéemed as an actiue , and common beginning , yea , & as the roote , head , and first instrument of mankind ; and therefore what good hée receiued frō god , or what euill else where , he receiued it aswell for them that were to come of him , as for himselfe . q. is sinne deriued from the parents to the children ? a. yea verily , for the parents beget them , and their mothers conceiue them in sinne . q. but how doe parents conuey , transfuse , and deriue corruption into all their children ? a. first by the law of generation , whereby one person begetteth another ; or , by the séed and generation of the parents : for this is the instrumēt by which sinne is deriued : and therefore the séede of man being corrupted , so is , and néedes must be the children also . for ( according to the principles of nature ) the begetter doth communicate his nature to the thing begotten . secondly , this birth-infection inuadeth the minde and vnderstanding , and so stretcheth and extendeth it selfe to the whole body . obiection . how can parents by carnal generation infuse into & deriue originall corruption vnto their children , seeing that by warrant of scripture , and the consent of the most excellent diuines , both ancient & latter , the parents do not beget , but god doth daily create new soules in the bodies prepared and fitted for them : but god is iust , and cannot be the author of si●ne ? a. albeit god continually create new soules , and that without sinne , yet hee doth create them in weakenesse , and in the very moment of creation hee forsaketh them and leaueth them , imputing adams sinne vnto them . secondly , the soule receiueth contagion by the body in which it is seated : for as a precious and costly ointment is soone marred and corrupted , ( as daily experience teacheth ) by an vnsweet and a fusty vessel : so is the soule corrupted by the sinfull body . lastly , the soule and body ( by common consent and practise ) bring foorth sin ; for there is so neere a familiarity betwéen them , that the one doth gratify the other . q. but why doth god suffer sinne to dwell and remaine in the most holy and regenerate men that liue in the earth ? a. first , to humble and afflict them . secondly , that they may know what sin bringeth them vnto , and what grace affordeth . lastly , that they may alwaies runne vnto god for helpe and pardon . q. what vse are wee to make of this deriuatiue pollution ? a. 1. vse . we must lay aside al pride and selfe-conceit , and with all humblenesse , acknowledge our vncleannesse . secondly , wee must not so curiously search how the fire of originall sin came , as to be careful how to quench it ; nay we must labour betimes to quench & put out the first sparkles of this fire , lest if preuailing flame out and vtterly consume vs. lastly , we must in this life be regenerate and borne anew of water and the holy ghost , and therefore flee vnto christ our sauiour for pardon of our sinnes , and for further grace , or else we shall neuer enter into his kingdome . q. what is the actuall sinne ? a. euery thought , word , and déede , whether in committing euill , or in leauing good vndone , that is against the wil and law of god. q. whence floweth or proceedeth it ? a. from the fountaine and roote of originall corruption ; for it is a deriuatiue from it , and a fruit of it . q. doth it any way aggrauate and increase originall sinne ? a. yes ; for it daiely encreaseth the guilt and punishment of it , and ( if faith & repentance preuent not ) deserueth , and procureth the greater torment in hell , for as there are degrees of sinne ; so god in his iustice hath accordingly appointed and ordained semblable degr●es of punishment . q what is the cause of actuall sin ? a. the next and immediate cause is mans corrupt minde , wil , and affections : for these are the working instruments and command the action , and therefore as sparkes proceed from the burning coales , as rust from the iron , and venim from the aspe ; so doth actual sin flow from our sinfull and degenerate nature . q. what are the outward causes or occasions of actuall sinne ? a. foure specially : first , the suggestion and temptaton of the diuel , prouoking and enticing men thereunto . secondly , the scandals and bad examples of wicked men offending them . thirdly , troubles and persecutions , through which many men are drawn to vniust practises , yea & to fall away from sound faith and true religion . lastly , profits and pleasures , which drowne men in destruction , and cause them to forget god and themselues . q. how is originall sin to be distinguished from actuall transgression ? a. many waies : first originall corruption is bred and borne in vs and with vs , but actuall sin is borne afterwards . secondly , originall sinne is the roote , but actuall sinne the fruit : originall sinne the cause , but actuall the effect : originall sinne is the mother , but actuall the daughter . lastly , in actuall sinne , the matter doth not remaine but passeth away ( for when a man hath committed blasphemie , adultery , murther , &c. the action foorthwith ceaseth , though the offence of god , and the guilt still remaine ) but in originall sinne , the matter manifestly remaineth ; héereupon we naturally , yea and daily runne and rush into sinne , and are backward and vntoward to the performance of any good thing that god requireth . chap. 2. of the punishment of sinne. question . what followeth sinne ? a. temporall and eternall punishment . q. are the temporall punishments of sinne inflicted vpon mankind , curses , satisfactions to gods iustice , and the forerunners of euerlasting damnation ? a. they are such in their own nature and originall , and such in all the reprobates , yea they are no other then curses to the elect so long as they are vnregenerate and vnder the ministry of the law. for cursed is he that doth not continue in all things that are written in the book of the law to doe them . q. but what are these temporall plagues , and punishments to the beleeuing and regenerate ? a. they are not ( to speake properly ) the punishment of their sinnes , nor part of the eternall curse , and therefore no satisfactions to the rigour of gods iustice : for christ by his death and obedience hath fully satisfied his fathers iustice , remoued from them the curse of the law , yea and deliuered them , which for feare of death were all their life time subiect to bondage : they are therefore not curses , but corrections , not punishments , but preseruatiues vnto them , and not the broad way that leadeth to destruction , but the narrow way that tendeth vnto life . act. 14.22 . q. but seeing that christ hath made satisfaction for sinne , and their sinnes are not imputed to them , but pardoned , why doth not god as well ( & eodem instanti ) take away the chasticement , as the sinne ? a. first , because certaine seedes of corruption , certaine sparkles of concupiscence , and certaine rootes of sinne , in part abide , and will abide in them , so long as they liue in this mortality , which christ the physitian of our soules must needes correct , yea and mortifie by the bitter pilles , and purgations of affliction . secondly , because the bitter memory of sinne committed , remaineth in the minds of them that loue god , which cannot but grieue and molest them . thirdly , the wicked who are satans impes , and gods rods , do alwaies séeke , and if they find , they take any occasion to vexe and trouble gods children . apoc. 12.12 . q. what instruction gather you hence ? a. that mans nature is vile & vnperfect , & that the sinne that ariseth out of it , and from it , is very hatefull , and horrible in gods sight ; for hee will not let it escape , and passe vncorrected in his déere children , no , nor in the sucking infants that are frée from the committing of actuall sinne ; for they are subiect to diseases , paines , and vnto death , as well as men of yéeres . chap. iii. of the crosse or tribulation . question . what is the crosse ? ans. it is that cup or measure of affliction that god doth ordaine and appoint out vnto euery one of his children that liueth in this world . q. is then no child of god exempted and freed from the crosse ? a. no certainely , for euery christian hath the procuring cause of the crosse . 1. sinne in himselfe , whch cannot but much affect & afflict euery child of god , who is troubled at nothing so much as at the offence of god. secondly , vita nostra est bellum , non triumphus , our life is a warfare , and not a triumph . et ( cuiuslibet ) christiani vi●● , qui secundum euangelium vixerit , crux est atque martyrium : that is , the life of a christian , who liueth according to the gospell , is a crosse and martyrdome . q. what shal we iudge of them that haue experience of no crosses , neither inward nor outward ? a. they are bastards , and no sons of god , for god chastiseth euery son whom hee loueth . secondly , god doth not in mercy spare , and exempt them , but distrust them ; neither doth he fauour them but refuse them , and cassiere them as vnprofitable , and vnseruiceable . q. what vse are we to make of this point ? a. wée must neuer vainely dreame of the continuance of outward prosperity and happines ; for this is one of the peculiarities and prerogatiues of the church triumphant in heauen : but we must in our ease and prosperity , looke for trouble , trial , and aduersity , and prepare our selues against it , that when it commeth , wée may more holily and happily vndergoe , and ouercome it . q. then the crosse is good and profitable for gods children , is it not ? a. yes , for god in his loue , mercie and wisedome doth temper , order , and dispose it to their temporall and eternall profite , peace and comfort . hos. 5.15 . ier. 31.18 . heb. 12.11 psal. 50 5. ioh. 15.2 . for it is the schoole of experience , the field of patience , the wrestling place of glory , the life and reuiuing of gods graces , and ( in a word ) the exercise of a conquerour . q. for what speciall ends doth god exercise his children with the crosse ? a. first , if they haue fallen , or committed some grosse sinne , ( as did dauid & others ) god doth correct and chastice them for their amendment , and for the killing of pride , worldlinesse , licentiousnes , and other sins sometime preuailing against them . for hereby the lord remoueth the mist of errour from their eyes , that they may see their former follies and what is acceptable in gods sight : he hereby , as by a fire purifieth their hearts from the drosse of corruption , and by this wind fanneth them from the chaffe of vanity . secondly , he snibbing and displing them for sins committed , doth preuent sinne to come , and maketh them better to looke to themselues for the time to come , lest a worse thing happen vnto them ; yea , and more to depend vpon him for grace , and supportance . and herein god may be compared to a skilful physitian : for as the physitian sometime letteth a man bloud , not that hee should be sicke , but to preserue him from sicknes : so god doth now and then depriue and rid vs of those delights , profites , and pleasures , which would otherwise bée the matter , tinder and nourishment of sinne in vs. thirdly , god doth hereby ( as it were ) bring them vpon the stage and theater , and make knowne to themselues and others , that they may be lights and guids of godlines to the dark and blind world , that they may be mirrours of admiration , " and patternes of constancy and patience to the people : for as the mariners skill is tried and made manifest in a tempest : the captaines valour & wisedome in the battaile : and the physitians experience and cunning in the curing of a desperate disease ; so are the graces and vertues of the godly , and the swéete sent and perfume thereof made knowne in aduersity . afflictions to them are like vnto the spring-showers , which cause the buds and blossoms of gods graces to appeare and shew forth themselues . fourthly , god by afflictions doth exercise , cherish , reuiue , & encrease his graces in them . for crosses are ( by gods gracious disposition ) so many whetstones to sharpen the dul and blunt edge of their affections , so many bellowses to enkindle and encrease in them the gifts and graces of god ; and they are so many a●arams of his iudgements to awaken them out of the sléepe of security , and to prepare them against the spirituall battell . fiftly , god by afflictions & crosses doth seasonably make known the glory of his power , truth , & goodnes in their temporary and eternall helpe and deliuerance . lastly , god doth bring all their troubles to a finall , and to a most blessed issue and conclusion : for hee doth bring them through the red sea of affliction , & through the wildernesse of this worlds temptations , vnto the heauenly canaan , where they haue happy and euerlasting rest . q. but seeing that the most wicked and reprobate doe suffer the same euils and troubles that gods children doe in euery particular ( griefe for sin , and persecution for christ his sake , onely excepted ) why should not the ends , effects and euents be the same in them as in the godlie and elect ? a. first , because the persons of the elect are accepted with god , they are the gold that is not consumed , but made more pure and bright by afflictions fire ; but the very persons of the reprobate are refused , being ordained to hatred , and they are as drosse that is wholly consumed by the sire of affliction . secondly , god did neuer in his euerlasting counsell , purpose and intend to refine and reforme by afflictions the vessels of wrath ( for who then could resist his decree ? ) neither doe the reprobates at any time , by pure meanes , and in an holy manner , endeauour the same . thirdly , the reprobate being void of the spirit of grace and sanctification , doe neuer in right manner acknowledge gods hand that striketh them ; but with the impenitent theef that reuiled christ , they fret and fume , they murmur and repine against god and his iudgements . lastly , the reprobates are made worse by afflictions ; and their corruptiōs hereby more breake out . for as the winde doth not suppresse but encrease the flaming fire , and as the oyle ( though a liquid matter ) doth not coole the furnace , but the more heate it : so affliction and aduersity doth not amend the vnbeléeuers , but ( through their owne fault and corruption ) make them the worse . contrarily gods children by reason of grace preuailing in them , doe in their troubles comfortably call vpon god , they patientlie subiect themselues to his correction : finally , they finde helpe in time of néede and praise god for it . q. what motiues haue we vnto patience ? a. first , we are commanded to possesse our soules by our patience . secondly , wee haue the example of gods saints in all generations for our imitation ; and therefore as god armed thē with patience , so we must not doubt but he wil vs , if we begge it at his hand● . thirdly , heereby we frustrate the expectation of our enemies , and are more then conquerours ouer them ; for in the spirit of zeale and strength , we challenge and defie them . fourthly , wee must remember that our sinnes haue deserued farre greater crosses and corrections ( for euery sinne , séeing it is committed against an infinite maiestie , doth in it owne nature deserue death ) and therefore wee must the more patiently endure smaller crosses . fifthly , we by impatiency highly offend our god , and cause him to handle vs more roughly , then he would otherwise doe . lastly , if wee constantly waite gods leasure , and entreate his helpe , hee will either encrease our strength or decrease our crosse , he wil either amend vs by it , or else end it . q. what heauenly nepenthes or doctrine haue you against the crosse ? a. first , it procéedeth from the speciall prouidence and heauenly disposition of god , for he createth euill ( namely , of punishment ) who is he then that saith , and it commeth not to passe , and the lord commandeth it not ? secondly , the crosse is the ensigne and ornament of gods children , their cup , their part and portion , and the rode way to heauen . thirdly , the crosse doth dead and destroy sinne in vs , and mortifieth euill affections . it is like lightning and thunder to purge the corrupted aire of our hearts and minds . it is a file to scoure away rust from our soules , a purgation to expell ill humors , and like the gold smiths fire , to consume the drosse of vanity in vs. fourthly , it doth exercise and cause to grow and encrease the fruits of the spirit and the precious graces of faith , hope , loue , repentance , patience : for as snow and frost by containing the inward heat in the earth and increasing it , causeth the séede cast into it to spring more prosperously : so the gifts and graces of gods children the more that by the crosse they séeme to be smothered and suppressed , the more they breake foorth and are encreased . fifthly , god will heereby trie the faith of his children towards his maiesty , their loue towards their afflicted brethren , and their patience towards themselues . sixthly , god is with his in trouble , in fire and water , hee comforteth and strengthneth them , he perfecteth his power in their infirmities , and at length turneth their sighes into singing , their mourning into mirth , and their trouble into triumph . lastly , the afflictions of this present life are not worthy of the glory that is to be reuealed . q. what duties are we to performe vnder the crosse ? a. they either respect god , or our afflicted brethren . q. what duties must wee performe towards god ? a. first , we must submit our selues patiently vnto his discipline and correction , otherwise if we striue and struggle against god , we offend him , and so encrease our paine and trouble , no otherwise then he that strugleth with a burden on his shoulders , doth the more afflict and disease himselfe . secondly , we must repose our whole confidence in him , and waite his leasure vntill he haue mercy on vs. lastly , when god hath deliuered vs , we must returne vnto him all the glory and praise of it : for this is the tribute that we owe vnto him , and the impo●● that he requireth at our hands . q. what duties must we performe to our afflicted brethren ? a. first , we must neither iudge wi●ked and vngodly men to be blessed and happy , because they liue ( for the present ) in pompe , pleasure , and prosperity , nor falsely and foolishly censure & condemne the nation and generation of gods children ( that sincerely serue him , and are deare vnto him ) by reason of their presēt aduersities , maladies and miseries : for ordinarily ) the wicked , in whō god hath no portion ▪ receiue all their pleasure and comfort in this life , & the godly here feele all their paine and suffer all their miseries , that the wicked in the world to come may inherit vengeance , and the godly eternall ioy and happinesse . secondly , farre be it from vs to disdaine , despight or despise gods children in tribulation , much lesse let vs aggraua● their afflictions , but let it be our practise to cōdole with them , to pity , pray for and refresh & reléeue them . heb. 13.3 . am. 6.6 chap. iiii. of common crosses , and particularly of warre , forraine and domesticall . question . how are crosses to be diuided and distinguished ? a. they are either such publicke and priuate euils , which are common to gods children with the wicked , or such temptations , crosses and troubles that are proper and peculiar to gods seruants . q. which are those publicke euils to which good men and euill are indifferently subiect ? a. warre , plague , famine , oppression , losses , pouerty , cosenage , or deceit , it . q. with what comfortable perswasions shall wee solace , and support our selues in time of warre ? a. albeit hostility and warre is a sore iudgement , and the sword be more grieuous thē either famine or pestilence , yet gods children want not their consolations . for first , the sword of the enemy commeth not by chance , but by gods direction and appointment , and that not onely for the triall and exercise of gods children , but for the punishment and destruction of his enemies . secondly , the enemies rage and fury is not of a boundlesse extent , but limited , restrained , & ordered by the diuine prouidence for our good . thirdly , though our enraged enemies doe or may sometimes ( yet not without gods permission ) kill our bodies , yet they cannot kill our soules , nor depriue them of gods fauour , and his kingdome . fourthly , neither sword , war , nor persecution can part the godly from their indissoluble vnion with christ , nor take them out of gods handes and protection . fiftly , if our cause bée good , if the defence of our selues be vndertaken by aduise and counsell , and withal we call vpon god for valour , wisedome and victorie , the successe cannot be but good , neither néed wee feare the great multitude against vs ; for the battell is not ours , but the lords . sixtly , though god sometimes , ( to shew his iustice , that he doth not winke at sinne , but punish it ) vseth the enemies malice in the temporall ouerthrow of his children , yet he doth withall shew his mercy in rescuing and sauing many , and in turning the punishment of sinne in his children , into a medicine and soueraigne salue . lastly , god by the euils of warre , wil cause vs more to desire peace and quietnesse , and when wee haue obtained it , the more to estéeme it , and to bée thankefull to god for it . for as the nights darkenes maketh the light of the sunne more desirable ; as vallies set out the mountaines , & the champion country commendeth the woodland : so doth warre declare and make knowne the excellency of peace . q. but what if in a lawfull war and in a good quarrell , we now and then bee foiled and ouerthrowne , how shall wee comfort our selues ? and what course shall we take ? a. first , wee must know that ( by reason of achans sinne that had stollen a babylonish garment , two hundred shekels of siluer , and a wedge of gold , ) the israelites were put to flight by th● men of ai : and the beniamites twice ouercame the israelites that had a good cause , because they fought not in faith , nor repented them of their sins , as they did afterwards : wherefore wée must repent vs of our sinnes ( before we go to war ) and vndertake the iust defence of our selues in humility , and not in presumption of mind . secondly , though once , or the second time , we bee ouerthrowne in warre , yet wee must not bee daunted and discouraged , but onely repent of sinne , and séeke helpe at gods hand , and god will goe with vs , and fight for vs. thirdly , gods children may ( for their correction and triall ) as well be foiled in fighting in defence of a iust cause and quarrell ; as haue ill successe , and be crossed in other matters . fourthly , the experience of our ouerthrowes in battaile , will make vs more expert and aduised for the time to come . fiftly , ( though for the time ) we haue lost the day ; yet we must comfort our selues in this , that we haue not lost our faith , our cause , our wisedome , our vertue , our noble resolution and fortitude , & therefore we must ( against the next encounter ) entreat the lord to go out with our armies , and to guide and prosper vs. sixtly , it is better for vs sometimes , to haue the ouerthrow in warre , then to triumph ouer our enemies : for if all things fall out according to our desires , wée would soone put out of our hearts all feare of god , and grow secure , proud , and arrogant , ascribing all the glory of the victory not to god the onely cause , & the only author of it , ( for he alone is the lord of hostes ) but to the instrumentall causes , and to our selues onely , and therefore god will by some foile and ouerthrow preuent this erroneous arrogancy . seuenthly , though we loose the day , & receiue the ouerthrow in battell , yet we haue not lost the conscience of our good seruice , the liberty of our mind , nor the glory of our skill . lastly , as the barrennes of the earth teacheth the husbandman skill , the often arising of stormes add tempests , maketh the pilot and mariner wise to decline the annoiance of them , and frequent fals maketh the rider wary : so sundry foiles & ouerthrows in battel , make gods children more politicke and prouident , yea , & much more to humble themselues before god , and to implore and entreat his hand and helpe . q what duties must we performe in the time of warre and hostility ? a. first , we are to be expert and old beaten souldiers in the spirituall battell against the world and wickednesse , and against the diuell and death : and if herein wee putting on the whole armour of god , quit our selues like mē , other wars shall neither terrifie nor trouble vs. secondly , we must search the scrip●tures , and by thē examine the lawfulnes of our defiance or resistance , and if ou● quarrell and conscience be good , the issue cannot be euill . thirdly , we must not be carelesse and secure in the greatest peace and prosperity , seeing that wars come many times when they are least dreaded or doubted . fourthly , the captaines and souldiers must bee trained vp in the feates of warre , and in all policies & stratagemes , they must bee valorous : the ministers must exhort them to bee couragious in gods cause , and they must call vpon god , and depend vpon his power and promise for successe , and then al shall go well with them . and what if their bodies bee slaine ? yet the truth still remaineth , and their soules shall liue for euer . lastly , the princes , ministers , and people at home must renue their faith , and repentance , and their couenant with god , and then the enemies shall fall before them . q. how shall the seruants of god comfort themselues against ciuill warre ? a. first , that this euill commeth from god in his iustice : for when the greater sort refuse to make their peace with god , and to reconcile themselues to christ , and when they despise the doctrine of saluation , god doth so forsake them , that they by vprores and mutuall dissensions deuoure and destroy one another . secondly , it is a common euill , and therefore the more patiently to be endured . thirdly , god hath defined and determined the beginning , maner , and end of it , and doth trie and exercise onely those that are his children by it . fourthly , as all worldly thinges are mortall and mutable , so haue cities , and great states and kingdoms their maladies , and diseases , créeping and growing vpon them , wherefore priuate grudges and ciuill warres often befall them . fiftly , in what places now are goodly and faire townes , and cities , there haue beene in times past , woods , forrests , wildernesses , and so may and will be hereafter . lastly , a resolued christian that séeth ciuill warres in their true face and hue , putteth away childish feare , and is no more broken at them , then the house top is with the haile dashing against it . q. what duties are wee to performe in time of ciuill warre ? a. first , let vs not abuse our present peace and prosperity when we enioy it . secondly , it behoueth vs to bewaile , and forsake our sinnes , that bring all these euils into the world . thirdly , we must bee wary and prouident that wee bee not so many firebrands to nourish the flame of ciuill contention , lest we smart for our folly , an● when it is once begun , wee must endeauour by supplication , rebukes , admonitions , threatnings , and promises to suppresse and quench it . fourthly , if wée must , or néeds will take parts , then it is our wisedome , and iustice to take part with the best cause & persons , and to pray vnto god for counsell and assistance : and then god can & will giue victorie ( when it pleaseth him ) as well by a few , as by many . fiftly , let vs beséech the almighty to grant repentance to the authors of it , and to saue our country . lastly , for as much as ciuill warres procéede from the ignorance of christ , & from the contempt and disobedience of the gospell , we must for the ceasing and remoouall of this euill , make our peace with god and entertaine his word with more delight and deuotion . chap. vi. of the plague or pestilence . question . is the plague and pestilence of our time , contagious & infections ? a. yes , questionlesse : for first as the leprosie amongst the iewes infected not onely mens persons , but also their garments , and their very habitations : so doth the plague , as experience proueth it . secondly , although the plague bee gods speciall hand , and his destroying angell , yet it commeth not immediately by the sensible touch of an heauenly angell ; for if it did so come , it were extreame vanity , and madnes it selfe , to shunne the infected persons and places ; but ( ordinarily ) by outward means and occasions : this to bee true , experience teacheth , that very many by declining the infected places and persons , haue béen saued and preserued . thirdly , sundry persons not infected , haue béene so kept by physicke preseruatiues ; and many infected persons haue béene cured by medicines and plasters ; but if god had immediately strucken thē from heauen , ( as he did 70000. of dauids people ) they had all died without recouery . q. but why are not all tainted and infected that liue amongst the visited parties and persons ? a. first , all persons are not ( by reason of their naturall constitution ▪ ) apt to take the infection . secondly , god so ruleth and restraineth the plague , that it shall touch none , nor in any further degrée then god hath appointed . lastly , the execution of charitable duties about the visited , preserueth many , and feruent prayer deliuereth sundry persons . q. is it lawfull for any man to flee the infection ? a. yes : for albeit magistrates , necessary officers , and they that are pastors of the visited congregatiōs may not flee , yet they that eyther are fearefull , or freed from their ordinary calling , ( for they are not bound , being in no publicke , and necessary office ) may lawfully flee : for first a man may preserue himselfe by flight , so that he nothing hurt another , a man may shun dangers of the like nature as warre , famine , waters , fires , and why not then this iudgement ? thirdly , there is lesse danger of infection , when the concourse of people is abated and diminished . 1. obiection . they that flie cannot but distrust gods watchfull prouidence . a. the fault is not in the action , but in the person , because he distrusteth . 2. obiection . ob. but it is offensiue for a man ●o flee . a. the offence is taken and not giuen . 3. obiection . ob. whatsoeuer is against the rule of charity is vnlawfull : but to flee , and so forsake our neighbour , is against the rule of charity , ergo . a. our neighbour is not forsaken so long as he wanteth the helpe neither of magistrate , nor of kinsfolke , and other friends . 4. obiection . ob. but we are to visite the sicke , & that by gods commaundement . a. leprous persons were excepted amongst the iewes , and why not then the plaguie persons in our dayes ? seeing that this disease is no lesse contagious . q. what is the duty of them that flee ? a. first , they must seriously repent of their sins , else god wil correct them in some other kind ( if not in this ) . secondly , they must earnestly entreat the lord by praier to stay his heauy hād , and to be mercifull to the visited . lastly , they must willingly contribute money to the visited . q. what is the duty of them that abide at home ? a. they must not bee secure and desperate ( for oftentimes , gods most excellent seruants are not onely tainted & infected with , but also die of the plague ) but humble themselues vnder gods hand , and endeauour by prayer & repentance to pacifie and put away gods displeasure . secondly , they ought not censoriouslie to condemne , but charitably to iudge of them that flie from infected places and persons : for , many of them are not tied to be resident by any speciall calling , and many ( specially those that liue by their labours and by their trades ) haue no sufficient meanes at home to maintaine them and theirs withall . q. why doth god sometimes in one country , or other , cut downe and destroy so many thousands of men , by the sword of plague and pestilence ? a. first , if god , now and then should not take this strict course , the number of men , ( especially amongst turkes , papists , pagans , ) would exceed : for ordinarily men are faster borne then they die , and heereupon god thrusteth in his reaping hooke , and cutteth down certaine thousands , when the places where they liue and are resident , could not otherwise well containe , much lesse maintaine them . secondly , to snib and controll the pride and presumption of such , who ( with dauid when he numbred the people ) glory and rest in their multitudes & millions : hereupon he to represse their vaine confidence , and to cure generall and desperate sinnes , abateth and lesseneth those numbers and multitudes . q. what meditations are meete for to comfort gods children in the time of a generall infection by the plague or pestilence ? a. first , the plague is not casuall & contingent , but is from god and in his disposition , so that none die and depart this life , sooner or latter , in greater or smaller number then god permitteth and hath preordaianed . secondly , in the time of the old testament , in the time of the apostles , and in euery age since , ( in one place , part , prouince or other ) gods dearest seruants haue felt the contagion and noisomnesse of it , and sundry of them haue died of this visitation . thirdly , it is a more milde , gentle , and sufferable chastisement , then either warre or famine : for in the beginning , progresse and disposition of it , god rather worketh by himselfe then vseth the ministry of men , and who in iudgement remembreth mercy ; but men when they are made the instruments to chastise vs , so follow the violent streame of their owne corrupt affections , that they shew themselues destitute and depriued of all mercy and moderation . fourthly , when god doth by the plague correct vs , he will trie and proue our faith in his powerfull and gracious prouidence : our tender compassion towards our distressed brethren , and our thankefulnesse towards them that either by publike authority , or , of their charitable disposition attend vpon vs , and that minister to our necessities . fifthly , god doth in the greatest infection when the plague most rageth , preserue very many , and especially those that are imploied about charitable offices which concerne the visited . lastly , gods children that die by this visitation are as blessed as they that 〈◊〉 by the common course of nature ; for the angels carry their soules into abrahams bosome . q. what duties are the visited persons to performe ? a. first , they must commend themselues to god , who will for christ his sake , be mercifull vnto them . secondly , they must ( whiles that there is any hope of life , and whiles they haue opportunity ) vse preseruatiues , medicines , physicke , restoratiues , ( for so did ezechias : ) but if they perceiue the fatall houre to be come , they must willingly , and confidently commend their spirits into gods hands . thirdly , if they be parents and masters of families , they must exhort their children , kinsfolke and seruants , to the profession and practise of godlinesse and vertue : for the last words that such vtter , doe ( commonly ) leaue the deepest impression in the harts and minds of their chlidren , friends and seruants . lastly , it they recouer of the plague , they must bee thankfull vnto god , pay vnto him the vowes which their lips haue promised and their mouth hath spoken in affliction ; and for the time to come they must feare afterclaps , and beware lest a worse thing doe heareafter befall them . chap. vi. of dearth and famine . question . what is famine ? a. gods scourge , for manifest and notorious sinnes and enormities . q. who is the inflicter of it ? a. god : for it commeth not by fortune or cha●ce , but god calleth for it , a● may appeare by infinite places of scripture . 2. chron. 7. vers . 13. deut. 28.38 ier. 14.16 . q. what are the outward meanes , causes and instruments of dearth and famine ? a. they are diuers ; as sometimes ba●cennesse of the ground , sometimes drought and heate ( as in iudeo and those easterly countries ) sometimes ( as in our nation of england ) vnseasonable weather and immoderate raine , sometimes the canker , the palmer worme , the grashopper , somtimes haile , storms , whirlewindes , and oftentimes warre and hostility ; lastly , surfetting , drunkenkennes pride , or excesse in meate , drink , apparell in al rankes and orders of men . q. who are principall outward meanes to encrease dearth and famine ? a. amongst the rest , enclosers of ground , when they conuert so much a●able ground into pasture ▪ that there is not ground enough for tillage . secōdly , monopolists or ingrossers . thirdly , badggers & forestallers . fourthly , hoarders of corne. fifthly , transporters of it beyond the seas . lastly , oppressors of the poore , namely such as either denie them their wages , or take and retaine their pawns & pledges , or those that vpon aduantage of the pooremans distresse , buy his land , goods , liuing , &c. q. what is the deseruing and procuring cause of dearth and famine ? a. sinne and disobedience in generall . q. what are the particular sinnes which moue the lord to send dearth & famine ? ans. first , idolatrie and corruption of gods seruice and worship , deut. 28. 11. secondly , atheisme , and the contempt of preaching , ier. 11.21.22 . thirdly , when men being addicted to the world and their own gaine , do altogether neglect the building of gods house , & the reformation of his church . fourthly , periury , false oathes , and the breaking of lawfull oathes . fiftly , couetousnesse , oppression of the poore , and enclosing of the common grounds . sixthly , cruelty towards the poor● and the wronging of them by fals● waights and measures , micah . 6.10 . seuenthly , pride in princes and r●lers , 2. sam. 24. eightly , surfetting and drunkennesse . ioel 1 , 5. lastly , neglect of tith-paying and of maintaining the holy ministry . q. why doth god this way sundrie times trie and chastice his owne children who doe not sinne contemptuously , o● with an high hand as wicked men doe ? a. first , there is naturall corruption in them , which deserueth this chastisment , especially when ( as sometimes it commeth to passe ) it breaketh out into blaines and grosse sinnes . secondly , god by correcting them in their bodies , preuenteth in them more greeuous enormities , and saueth them from eternall destruction . q. what vse is to be made heereof ? a. let the wicked and profane tremble , feare , and betimes returne vnto god : for if god correct small faults so sharpely in his own deare children , how much more will he punish them that sin so presumptuously ? q. what spirituall meditations are necessary to comfort our soules in time of dearth and famine ? a. these ( or the like ) following . first , we must know that it is gods hand , and that it commeth not by the will of man , much lesse by chance : and therefore we must repent and patiently endure this correction . secondly , god by dearth and scarsitie doth preuent his children from committing many sinnes ; such as are riot , excesse , gluttony , drunkennes : for as a physition letteth his patient bloud , to preuent diseases in him : so dealeth god with his children in this chasticement . thirdly , god in the time of dearth doth not pine and starue , but prouide for , and quicken his children and seruants . thus in time of famine , god made ioseph the meanes to nourish his father iacob , and his brethren . thus he fed elias by an angel , yea by a rauenous rauen : thus he multiplied the oile and meale to the poore widow of sarepta : thus for forty yeeres space hee fed the israelites in the wildernesse with manna from heauen : thus god prouided for elimeleks , his wife and children , and for the noble sunamite , and no maruell : for if god féed the fowles of heauen , ye● the young rauens that cry vnto him , how much more will he féed his sonnes and seruants ? fourthly , neither in this , nor any other euill , will god tempt them abo●● their strength , for he intendeth their reformation , and not their ruine : but i● they repent and pray vnto him , he will mitigate , if not remoue the dearth and famine , and in the meane time féed● them . fifthly , if god kéepe them sho●● of these earthly thinges , yet hee giueth them farre greater giftes , namely , faith , hope , charity , assurance of saluation , &c. lastly , if god sometimes permit their bodies to pine , ( as we haue an example in lazarus , and in some of the persecuted israelites , in the time of antiochus ) yet he doth sustaine their spirits with patience and féed their soules to saluation with the hidden manna of his word . q. what duties are there in such ● distresse to be practised ? a. first , we must confes , acknowledge ▪ and bewaile our sinnes , the cause thereof : we must beware that we contemne not gods word , nor abuse his good creatures ; and we must withall intreat the lord to lessen or take away this plague , and ( in the meane time , ) suffer this correction with patience and thankfulnesse . secondly , if all outward helpes faile vs , yet let vs hold fast the hope of mercy and saluation , and then we shall finde ease and refreshment in our troubles . thirdly , ministers and preachers must endeauour to make the people to féele the gréeuousnesse of the calamitie , to stirre them vp to repentance and patience , and exhort the rich to liberalitie . fourthly , rich men must regard , pitie , and reléeue the poore , they must sacrifice on these altars , they must fil these empty vessels , and let the fountaine of their liberalitie runne out vnto them . lastly , magistrates and rulers , must not only prouide against dearth , but also suppresse monopolists , engrossers , badgers , transporters of graine , hoarders of corne , &c. for vae illis , &c. hi sunt mercatores humanarum calamitatum : that is , woe vnto them that enhance the price of victuals , for they are hucksters of humane miseries . chap. vii . of oppression , worldly losses , pouerty . question . what cōfortable theoreme● doth gods word afford vs against wrong , iniury , and oppression ? a. first , it is the part of good men ( rather ) to suffer iniury , then to offer it . secondly , the wrong done , redoundeth to the hurt of him that doth it . thirdly , if men cannot , or will not right vs , yet our god can and will auenge such indignities : and therefore we must commit & commend our cause vnto him , yea and wait his leisure . fourthly , wee haue the saints of god for our companions herein : an● therefore we may not iudge our selues forsaken , as those that are singled out to these abuses . fifthly , if gods people doe but sigh and groane vnder their burthen , he will come downe , yea and ease and deliuer them . sixthly , oppression maketh a wise man mad . seuenthly , oppression of the innocent and the indignities offered to iust men , enter into the eares of the lord of hosts , and cry to heauen for vengeance . seuenthly , they that defraud and oppresse others , must looke to receiue the like measure againe in gods powerfull iustice . eighthly , god will hereby try and proue whether that we will blesse them that curse vs , and he will haue our vertues of loue and patience , to be more eminent and conspicuous . but if we carry a cankred affection , and ( especially ) if we will requite euill with euill , then doth god discouer vnto vs our corruption , which we must labour to pull out , if we will be the masters and conquerors of it . lastly , we must meditate vpon gods gracious promises , and his iust and wise prouidence , which will be a meanes to kéepe vs from all impatience and desire of reuenge . q. what duties are the wronged and oppressed to performe ? a. first , if we would redresse a wrong , we must forget it . secondly ; we must make the iudges , iustices , and christian magistrate , the reuengers of our wrongs : but if they faile vs , we must commit it to god , to whom vengeance belongeth , and he will right vs. thirdly , we must labour to be innocent as doues , we must hurt none , but striue to doe good to all , and the more innocent we are , the more ease and peace shall we finde in our owne soules . fourthly , if in a country we sée the oppression of the poore , and the defrauding of iudgement and iustice , we must not be astonied at the matter : for on● high that is aboue the high taketh notice of it , nay the highest is aboue them , ( that is ) god which is in heauen , and doth excell all mens greatnes , far more incomparably , then the greatest monarch surpasseth the meanest vassall or subiect , and he doth with infinite eyes , behold and view all things . ezech. 1.18 . zach. 3.9 . & 4.9 . lastly , we must , whatin vs lieth , and what wee may with the testimony of a good conscience , defend others frō wrong and oppression , and then god will stirre vp them that shall defend vs. q. how shall a christian in pouerty , and in want of outward necessary things , resolue and comfort himselfe ? a. albeit pouerty is in it selfe , a vile and miserable state of life , by reason of the want of necessary money and riches , yet there are manifold meditatiōs wherin the child of god is to comfort himself , as for example . first , pouerty is to gods child not a bane , but a blessing , not a curse , but a correction : for christ himselfe our blessed sauiour was borne poore , liued poor , died poore , and that to make vs rich ; and shall wée take that lot grieuously , whereby wee may bée made conformable to christ , and grow rich in grace ? secondly , euery christian is rich , & with christ a lord and possessor of heauen and earth , and of all the riches therein contained , and how then can hée bée poore ? thirdly , he that is rich in grace , hath the true treasure of eternall life in his heart , and therefore he cannot be poore . fourthly , wée lie , and liue in great 〈◊〉 and security ; for we are fréed and disburdened from many cares , feares , and dangers : wée néede not feare the hurts of fire and water ; fained friends , and fawning parasites , shall not eate vs vp , ill seruants shall not pilfer , and purloin● from vs , nor run away with our goods , neither shal we stand in dāger of théeues and robbers ; to all which inconueniences the rich are exposed and subiect . fiftly , wee want many occasions of infection , and prouocations vnto euill : for many men are no longer good then they are poore , and therefore god denieth vs riches which wee would abuse to pride , vanity , couetousnes , oppression , and vsurie . sixtly , if wee be content , few things are wanting , for nature is content with a little , it desireth onely bread and water ; and he is not poore that liueth according to nature ; but a couetous worldling alwayes is bare and néedy , and wanteth that he hath . seuenthly , to a rich man all mediocrity is sufficient , for hee is rich being content with his owne : and he is a good scholler and proficient in christ his schoole , hauing learned with s. paul as well to want , as to abound , and that which he wanteth , labour , virtue , and learning will supply . eightly , pouerty is a touchstone , and discouereth who are faithful friends , and who are false : who are hollow , and who are holy : for a poore man is commonly contemned , and he will soon shrink from vs , that séeketh not vs but ours . ninthly , god that giueth vs life which is the principall , will ( for the necessarie sustenance of it ) giue vs dayly bread , which is the lesse principall ; hee is our father , and will féed vs , and hee is our shepheard , and will suffer vs to want nothing that is conuenient for vs. tenthly , christ is our lord , and we are his seruants , and therefore hee will not forsake vs , but furnish vs with things néedfull : for if he prouided for the 12. apostles , his family , when he was in poore estate on the earth ; how much more will he prouide for vs being in glory , and in the actuall possession of heauen and earth ? eleuenthly , wealth is no part of that happy and glorious inheritance that christ hath purchased for the saints : it is none of our own , but another ma●● but if it were simply bonum , it we● bonum commune , wherof wicked 〈◊〉 ordinarily more partake then go●● children . twelfthly , it is better to be counted religious then rich , and poore then pr●phane and impious ; for pouerty , religion , and blessednes , may possibly & happily concurre , but riches cannot make the possessor blessed ; and riches and godlines doe but rarely consort and meet to gether in one and the same subiect & person . thirteenthly , riches commonly doe corrupt and effeminate the mind , they like thornes choake the séede of gods word ; they are the matter and fuell of riot , excesse , couetousnes , and vanity : for they doe not banish them away , but beget them ; nor extenuate them , but increase them ; neither doe they take away necessities , but cause them ; and therfore we haue no such reason to lamēt the lo●● of them , or to be so eagerly set vpon thē , but rather to lament our sinnes , the cause of all our misery . fourtéenthly , what though thou now be poore , yet god may hereafter enrich and aduance thee , ( as he did job , dauid , and diuers others ) for he raiseth the needy out of the dust , and lifteth vp the poore out of the dung , that hee may set him with the princes of his people , &c. lastly , the poorer that we are in life , the more ioyfull shall we be in death : for no man liueth so poorely , that would not desire to haue liued more poorely when he dieth , for he must needs part with al , and render an account to god how hee hath gotten , kept , and disposed all his goods . q what vse are wee to make of pouerty ? or how are wee to demeane our selues in it ? a. first , we must remēber that heauen is our country and kingdome , and that this life is but a pilgrimage , and the earth a place of banishment ; and therfore we must not carke and care , toile , and moile for the things of this world , but séeke the things aboue , and rather labour to be rich in grace , then in goods . secondly , the poorer that we are , let vs be so much the more humble , and by praier and faith purchase and hold 〈◊〉 christ that rich pearle and hidden treasure , whereof we reade in the gospell , ● then we can neuer be poore . thirdly , let vs not contemne , mu●● lesse condemne any person for his pe●ry and pouerty ; for then we shall many times magnifie the wicked & condemne the generation of gods children , wh● ( for the most part ) are poore in these outward things ; yea and we may hereby 〈◊〉 prouoke god to displeasure , that he in his iustice will presse vs with their burdens , and leaue vs heartlesse & helples in our distresse . lastly , if we want outward helps , we must desire god to supply our wants , ● withall apply our wits to those arts o●e● which chance hath no power , and which can neuer be lost ; we must get godlines and vertue ; which wil procure riches , but riches cannot procure them . q. comforts and directions for them that either feele or feare pouerty by reason of the multitude of children . a. first , many poore men haue had many children , and haue maintained a great family , and that competently , and ioyfully . secondly , he that féedeth the birds , fowles , and beasts , will féed parents and children , so they can beléeue and depend vpon him ; and he that giueth life , will not deny daily bread . thirdly , if the bringing vp of many children be troublesome vnto thée , remember that no man liueth without some trouble : and admit thou hadst no children , yet other cares would succéed in and possesse their places . fourthly , if thou want portions to bestow on thy sonnes and daughters , god that is al-sufficient , will in time prouide for them : for as he hath giuen them wit , and meanes to liue , so he will giue them conuenient portions . fifthly , children are thy riches , and how canst thou be poore amongst thy riches and part of thy happinesse ? and hereupon iacob calleth them the children that god of his grace had giuen him : for if thou account thy oxen , shéepe , beasts , bées , menseruants , and maid-seruants for part of thy riches , shall not thy sonnes and daughters much more be thus estéemed and iustly accounted ? sixthly , this is a kind of power and dominion , to haue many children ; and these are like so many arrowes to shoot at their parents enemies , and so many pensioners to defend and guard thy person . seuenthly , good children are the solace and ornament of their parents , the ease of their labours , the renewing of their age : and what if for the present they be poore , they may in time arise to such dignity and promotion , that they ( after the example of ioseph ) may reléeue and nourish their parents , brethren , kinsfolks . lastly , the children of kings , princes , and great potentates , liue not better , longer , more contentedly , nor more safely , holily , & happily then poore mens children : for gentry and greatnes doth not make them better , but many times puffeth them vp , and maketh them more loose and licentious . q. what vse is to be made hereof ? a. first , thou being a poore man , must liue within compasse , and cut thy coat according to thy cloth , and then the lesse will suffice thée . secondly , if thy daughters haue no ioyntures , thou must endeuour to bring them vp in vertue , learning , and commendable qualities in arts , that not so much their mony , as their modesty , their riches , as their religion , nor their wealth , as their wisdome may be desired : for vertue maketh their marriage happy , and then they shal be matched with good men , where they shall liue more honestly and contentedly , then if they were married to kings and princes . lastly , thou must ioy in the number of children , for they are the renuing of immortality , and the preseruation of thy name . q. what comforts are there against basenesse and meannesse of parentage ? a. first , god doth call to the state of grace , yea and ( many times ) to dignity and honour in this world , as well the meane as the mighty , and the ●asely descended as the honourable and noble : for he is no respecter of persons . secondly , a man meanly descended , if he be learned , religious , vertuous , is the cause of nobility to his posterity , which his parents neuer gaue him ; he is the founder of their glory , and his vertues are more conspicuous and eminent . thirdly , vertue only is true nobility , and therefore wee must not séeke from what roote a man springeth , as of what disposition he is of . fourthly , our baptisme and new birth by faith and repentance , maketh vs truly noble and honourable before god , as it did the prophets and apostles and others , and it taketh away all note and imputation of meane birth . q. propound some comforts for a regenerate man that is basely and vnhonestly borne . a. first , some basely descended haue béene blessed and great instruments of good , as iudas , iepta , and constantine the great . secondly , he must liue well , and then he shall die well . thirdly , his first deformity is washed away in the beginning of life , by the sacred water of baptisme ; for he hath god for his father , and the church for his mother . fourthly , his parents sinne doth not corrupt him , except he bee guilty of the same ; for they shall answer for their own sinnes : for god doth not impute the iniquity of the father to the child , nor the iniquity of the child to the father . fiftly , he must seeke for good things in himselfe , and not out of it . sixthly , let him liue more holily and chastely , and he shall couer his parents shame . seuenthly , hee being borne against the lawes , let him doe nothing against them , but doe all things according to them . eighthly , let other men iudge of his descent , he onely shall render a reason of his behauiour and life ; therefore let him beware that hee adde no worse thing to it . ninthly , the sweetnesse of his manners , and the renowne of his life , shall wipe out , not onely the spots : but also all remembrance of his vnhonest birth : for if vertue extoll him , his meane birth cannot depresse him . lastly , seeing that his parents haue blemished and stained his birth , let him liue well and he shall die well : he hath reason to be more humble and not more heauie ; for his owne vertues and religious behauiour ▪ will make him more glorious then the imputation of base birth can make him reproachfull . q. why doth god suffer his deare children to vndergoe so many losses , to be vndone by fires , flouds , inundations , of waters : yea and by theeues , robbers , pyrats , cousoners and ill seruants , to be spoiled and depriued of their goods ? ans. first , to frée them from the loue of money , and of these outward thing● , which otherwise would worke their ruine , for many more haue perished by reason of riches , then by the temptation of pouerty . secondly , god heereby preuenteth many sinnes , into which otherwise they would sinke : for as a father taketh ● sword or a naked knife from his childe , lest he should hurt himselfe , so god by these aboue named meanes bereaueth his children of riches , which they otherwise would peruert to pride , ostentatition , couetousnesse , oppression and vsurie . thirdly , he would not haue them to trust in these transitory trifling and vncertaine things , but to trust in him only , who giueth his all things aboundantly to enioy . fourthly , they ( many times ) suffer , their money to be idle and vnfruitfull ▪ and do no good with their present riches , but make them instruments of euill , and therefore god doth iustly depriue them thereof . fifthly , to weane and withdraw them from worldlinesse and couetousnesse , for it choaketh the seede of the word ; and as for worldly riches , though a man haue aboundance of them ( yet ) his life standeth not in them . lastly , to chastice , and correct them , and to cause them to see and be sorry for their error , for that they in their prosperity , were puffed vp and withall slacke and negligent in reléeuing the necessities of their brethren ; and also ( as all earthly things are changeable and vaine ) to make them more seriously to séeke the things aboue , and that enduring substance that is laid vp for them in the heauens . q. how and wherein shal they comfort themselues that are despoiled of their worldly goods ? a. by considering , first , that all these outward things ( to speak properly ) are none of our own , and none of the true & spirituall riches which can neuer be taken from vs : for they are subiect to the danger of théeues , robbers , fire , shipwracke , and therefore these temporals are to be had in the lesse regard . secondly , they shal nourish no parasites , flatteres , and smel-feasts , and all such vermine and vulturs shall neuer hurt them . thirdly , by the losse of them , they are fréed from all thoughtfull care in getting and in keeping them . fourthly , he that enioyeth them the longest , must of necessity part with them in death , and then he knoweth not what will be come of them , nor into whose hands they will fall . fifthly , god can make vs gainers by our losses , and restore our goods double vnto vs , as he did vnto patient iob. sixthly , al necessities and wants shal be abundantly supplied at the day of the general resurrection , and therefore they must in the meane time possesse their soules by their patience . seuenthly , god hath but taken away his owne , and therefore wee must not be discontent with gods doings , but be patient and thankeful . eightly , ill gotten goods shall not prosper nor long continue in the theeues or robbers hands . ninthly , if they be learned , they must comfort themselues in that , for they carie it about them , and it cannot be lost . héereupon bias wisely said , omnia mea mecum porto . so also their vertues cannot be taken from them : whereupon stilpon the philosopher , when his countrey was taken , and his wife and children perished in the common fire , when demetrius the tyrant asked him whether he had lost ought , he answered , that he had lost nothing : for ( saith he ) all my goods , ( 1. learning & vertu ) are in me . lastly , ( as saith an ancient philosopher ) qui se , ( imo qui christum ) habet nihil perdidit . q. what vses are we to make hereof ? a. first , wee must perswade our selues , that all these losses and dammages fall out for our good , for god disposeth them to the best aduantage of them that loue him . secondly , christ our blessed sauiour was stript of all that he had , and became poore to make vs rich , and therefore let vs not take it scornfully to bee made conformable to our blessed sauiour . let vs learne and practise patience , that after that we haue done the will of god , we may receiue the promise . thirdly , we must looke to receiue euill things from god , as well as good , and to obey god as well when he correcteth vs , as when he comforteth , and bestoweth good things vpon vs. fourthly , let vs not trust in goods , lands , liuings , money , for these wil faile vs , and may soone be lost : but let vs trust in the lord who wil neuer faile , nor forsake vs ; and let vs whiles wee enioy these earthly things ( like good stewards and disposers of gods gifts , with which we are betrusted , ) bestow a good part of them on the poore and needy , and then we shall not loose them . fiftly , the losse of our pretious time , ( which wée ought to redéeme ) and of our good name , should more trouble vs then the losse of our worldly wealth ; and wee must much more bewaile our sinnes , the causes of our miseries , thē our hinderances and losses . sixtly , it is certaine , that the wicked that be the instruments of our decay , or vndoing , shall not long enioy that which they haue vniustly gotten from vs , but pay swéetely for them in the end . lastly , wee must not so much looke vpon the outward instruments of our woe , as vnto god , who doth order & turn all to our solace and saluation in the end . chap. viii . of cosenage , falshood , and deceit . question . how shall they that in bargaines , coine , couenants , promises , are gulled , coosened , and ouerwraught , comfort themselues ? a. first , it is better to be deceiued , then to deceiue , and to bee a patient in this point then an agent : for it is simplicity , rather then sinne , to be deceiued in outward matters . secondly , as it is a signe of a man truely regenerate to haue his spirit without guile , viz. in duties towards god & men : so it is the brand of a wicked man , and of a corrupt disposition to be a deceiuer , and hereupon they are compared in the scriptures to foxes : they are lyars , and therfore children of the diuell , who is the father of lies . thirdly , there is no man , ( especially if he be an honest and a good man ) that is not in this false and cunning world deceiued , beguiled , deluded , for now craft raigneth , deceit dominereth , & faith is fled out of the country . fourthly , the wicked by their cunning fetches , and crafty collusions shew , that they haue no faith in god , nor truth of grace in their hearts ; for in scripture , crafty and deceitfull men are branded and noted alwaies for euill men . fiftly , god neuer blesseth the crafty man , but crosseth and curseth in the end all his vndermining and subtle practises ; whereas contrarily some liue simply , and vse no deceit , and these prosper in all things . lastly , they that deale falsly with vs , were neuer our friends ; for then they would not collogue with vs , nor cosen vs , but deale plainly and iustly with vs , and why then should the displaying of falshood so trouble vs ? q. what vse are wee to make hereof ? a. first , we must striue against the streame of the worlds corruption , our hearts and words must accord , we must not make shew of one thing , and doe another , like him that roweth in a boate , that turneth his face one way , and goeth and is carried another way . secondly , god our heauenly father , is true , plaine , simple in his nature , attributes , words , promises , &c. and deceiueth no man ; therefore as children borne of god , wee must imitate our heauenlie father . farre be it then from vs to conuert that wit and vnderstanding that god hath giuen vs for the good of mankind , to the hurt and vndoing of others : for this is to bée like the diuell , and to become his flaues and schollers . thirdly , the more glosing and deceitfull that men are , the more let vs beware of them , and haue no familiar conuersement with them ; they haue hony in their mouthes , but poison in their hearts , and wiles in their works . fourthly , let vs not beleeue any whose faith is suspected , and by the losse of smaller matters , let vs learne to preuent greater euils . lastly , let vs neuer deale perfidiously nor falsly with others , much lesse lay snares to entrap and entangle them in , lest wee be deceiued our selues , sinke downe into our owne pits , and our feete be taken in the net that wee haue hid . chap. ix . of diuers publicke euils , and common crosses which concerne the body , and namely , of sickenesse , and death . question . what is sicknesse ? a. it is the disproportion of the foure elements , or an ill disposition in the body against the naturall constitution of it , which by the effect of any action , breedeth offence to it , and maketh the vse of the body worse . q. who is the sender or imposer of it ? a. god onely : for it is his scourge , rod , and discipline . q. why doth god send and inflict it ? a. for the triall , chasticement , and amendment of his children , and to kéepe their soules from sinne . q. what is the attractiue , deseruing , or procuring cause of sicknes ? a. sinne , as well originall as actuall : for why doth man suffer but for sinne ? and hereupon our blessed sauiour , before he cured the man that was sicke of the palsie , did forgiue him his sinnes , and then restored him to his perfect health , to teach vs , that sinne was the cause of it . q. what spirituall and speciall comforts doth gods word afford vs against sickenesse , diseases , paines ? a. first , sicknes and paine is one of gods rods to disple and correct vs , with : it is healthfull for the soule : it disswadeth vs from lusts ; it is a mistresse of chastity and modesty . secondly , gods power is and wil be perfected by our infirmity . thirdly , god doth make our bed in our sicknesse , and euery night and morning doth visit vs by his spirit . fourthly , it putteth vs in minds of our mortality , driueth away drowsines and forgetfulnes , and pointeth out our iourney to heauen . fifthly , it is but a temporary and gentle chastisement , leni●●ed , tempered , and disposed by our heauenly father , for our good . sixthly , death wil ease vs of diseases , sickenesses & infirmities , and at the vniuersall resurrection , we shall be glorified euen in our bodies ; therefore let vs be content ( for so short a space of time ) to vndergoe them . seuenthly , it is the narrow way and strait gate that leadeth to life . eightly , all the saints of god haue traced this way before vs. ninthly , this yoake is but easie , and the burthen exceeding light , for the sting thereof is taken away by iesus christ , and yet he beares the burthen with vs , and indeede wholly takes it vpon himselfe . lastly , the infirmities and afflictions of this present world , are not worthy of the glory that is to be reuealed and communicated vnto vs ; for what comparison , betweene finite and temporary infirmities , and infinite and eternal glory ? q. what vse are we to make hereof ? a. first , let vs enter into the house of mourning , and marke the chasticements of the lord vpon others , labouring to stirre vp our bowels towards them , and to weepe with them that wéepe . secondly , we must confesse our sins , the causes thereof , and be sorry for them , and ( earnestly and constantly ) desire and entreat god to pardon them : for as when the sore or wound is cured , the plaster wil fal off , so whē sin is pardoned the affliction wil cease , or ( at least ) work to and for our saluation in the end . thirdly , we must offer and present our soules to the heauenly physition christ iesus to be cured , and then the body will the sooner be healed . fourthly , if our bodily disease , be desperate , or remedilesse , the more we are to ioy and reioice , because wee shall not only haue the strength of the holy ghost to leade vs through , but also bee the sooner deliuered out of the dungeon of our sinnefull bodies . fiftly , let vs all ( with paul ) desire to be dissolued , and to be with christ. let vs pray for the comming of our sauiour that we may be cloathed with our house which is from heauen : for these desires and praiers are spirituall wing● to carry our minds and thoughts into heauen , where is our lord , our countrey , our ioy , our inheritance , and our treasure . lastly , if wee recouer our sickenesse , we must bee more circumspect for the time to come , and beware lest a worse thing befall vs. obiection . q. but my sicknesse is most sharpe , greeuous , and violent , that i thinke that god hath wholly forsaken me . a. iob , dauid , lazarus , and others haue béen in this taking and perplexity , and yet not forsaken , but inwardly sustained , and ( at length ) deliuered . for whom god loueth most , hee correcteth most . secondly , these violent sicknesses are healthfull and wholesome vnto thée , for they are like strong and vehement purgations , to rid and purge thée of thy ill bloud , and corrupt humors of sinne . thirdly , nullum violentum est perpetuum , if they be violent , they will not long continue ; for god is faithfull , and will not suffer thée to be tempted aboue measure , but will giue an issue with the temptation , that thou maiest be able to beare it ; he will either end thy sicknes , or take thée out of this wretched world . for god is a louing and a merciful father , not erring in affection and in the manner of correction ( as earthly fathers often do ) for he doth chastice thée for thy profit , that thou mightest be partaker of his holinesse . fourthly , the issue and euent cannot be but good , for hereby sinne is mortified , grace is encreased , and thou fitted for heauen . fifthly , the smart and paine of sicknesse is not ( in it selfe and simply ) euill , because it is not sinne , and it rather toucheth the outward man , then any way corrupteth the mind and conscience . lastly , heathen men , ( especially their philosophers ) that had no other teacher and direction then the dimme and darke light of degenerate nature , haue patiently endured exquisite torments ; and shall not we christians that haue the lanterne and lampe of gods word , and his blessed spirit for our helper and comforter , be much more couragious and ●●solute . q. what duties must we performe in such an extremity ? a. first , it standeth vs in hand , early and earnestly to cry vnto god for the pardon ( especially ) of all our knowne and grosse sinnes , and then god who loueth the righteous , and who knoweth our hearts , cannot but ( in due time ) spéed our feruent praiers and requests . secondly , we must put on the whole armour of god , and especially the helmet of hope , and the shield of faith that ouercommeth the world , and that quencheth all the fiery darts of satan , and then our paine shall increase our gaine , and the smart of it shall neuer hurt vs. lastly , we must neuer trust in our selues , nor séeke so vnto the physition , that we forget the lord , but we must make god our ( chiefe ) physitian , for he healeth all our infirmities : and we must patiently endure gods hand , and desire his helpe , and then as our afflictions doe or may abound , so he will cause our consolations to abound much more . 2. cor. 1. a second obiection . q. but what if our sicknesse and disease be of long durance , or of many yeeres continuance , how then shall wee stay and comfort our selues ? a. first , our sinnes , whereof wee must seriously repent , haue ( perhaps ) long time preuailed against vs , and therefore the medicine must a long time be applied to it . secondly , our sinnes haue deserued euerlasting paine , and therefore we must patiently endure this which is temporary and tollerable . thirdly , the blessed saints and seruants of god in all generations haue had experience of this temptation , and haue béen our companions and copartners herein . for example sake , iob in the old testament was very long ( no doubt ) sicke , pained , and vlcerous : aza long diseased in his séete : and in the new testament , a poore woman was twelue yéeres long , troubled with a bloudy issue . a daughter of abraham , ( i. a godly and religious woman ) bowed by satan eightéen yéeres ; and a créeple ( whereof we reade in iohns gospell ) was lame , thirty eight yéeres . fourthly , the longer that our afflictions are , the more easie they will be ; for god ( in his compassion ) will either mitigate our paine , or adde vnto our strength . fifthly , if our outward man decay , yet shall the inward ( or regenerate man ) be renewed daily , so that corruptio vnius , is ( by gods mercy ) generatio alterius . sixthly , the temporary ( though long and tedious ) afflictions of this world , are nothing to the eternity and vnmeasurablenesse of glory in the world to come . seuenthly , god will heare and helpe vs , after that we haue béen long humbled , and diligently sought him . lastly , the longer that the deliuerance is delaied , the greater will the comfort be when it commeth prou 13.12 . the third obiection . q. but what if either the violence , or the long continuance of our sicknes bereaue vs of naturall sleep , whereby our life and strength is prolonged and maintained ; how shall we in this case comfort our selues ? a. by these rules and directions following first , sléepe is a resemblance of death , and the image of it , for they differ only in time , sléep being but a short death , and death a long sleepe , and therefore the lesse that we sléepe , the longer doe wee liue . secondly , we may , & must conceiue good hope of procuring naturall sléepe , and rest ; for if sicknes take it away , health may restore it ; and if feare depriue vs of it , hearts ease and quietnes of mind will make vs againe partakers of it . thirdly , we are by our wakefulnesse , and want of sléepe freed from the terrour of dreames , and from many illusions , doubts , feares , wherewith men in their sléepe are assaulted . lastly , god will haue vs to estéeme more highly of the blessing of sleep when we obtaine and enioy it ; and to shew our selues more thankefull for it . q. what course are wee to take that we may procure rest and sleepe ? a. wée must first of all , and most earnestly pray vnto god that giueth his beloued sleepe in peace , and that gaue s. peter ( that was bound with two chains , and betweene two souldiers ) sleepe , to bestow this gift vpon vs , which is many times denied to great monarches . secondly , we must striue to disburden & vnlade our selues of cares & thoughts , and to shake off sicknes ( what in vs lieth ) and then sléepe will come vpon vs vnlooked for . thirdly , in our non rest , wee must read the holy scriptures , and good books ( especially of diuinity , ) and haue them about vs , with whom we may talke and confer , and we shall find much ease and refreshment . psal. 77. v. 11.3.4 . ad 12. lastly , we must in the day time ( especially if our sicknes will suffer vs ) diligently , honestly , and conscionably walke in our lawfull callings , and wee shall haue experience of gods gratious blessing euen this way . the 4. obiection . q. i am ( as it were ) a close prisoner in my earthly house , and i am not able to goe to gods house that i may behold the beauty of it , and visite his temple , how then shall j comfort my selfe ? a. first , though thy body be bound , yet thy soule is at liberty , and kept vnpolluted of sinne and errour . secondly , dauid , ezechias , aeneas , & many others haue ( against their will , ) by sicknes béene kept from gods house . thirdly , god ( in this case ) accepteth the will for the déede , and requireth the heart , and the affection onely . lastly , in this estate thou must reade the scriptures , and godly treatises , and muse and meditate vpon that thou hast heard , read , learned . the fift obiection . q. alas , we want friends , kinsfolks , and good neighbours , to relieue , direct and comfort vs ; what instructions can you yeeld vs ? a. first , our case is not singular , and without example : for iob , dauid , &c. yea and our blessed sauiour in this case were neglected , misiudged , forsaken . secondly , we must learne to beare our friends death , and therefore much more their absence ; for this absence will not appall them , whom death doth notdismay . thirdly , it may be that we in our health made small account of , and were offended at them , and therefore now wee are iustly depriued of them . for as in all things , so in friendship , too much aboundance doth dull the appetite , whereas want doth sharpen it , and hunger is the best sauce . fourthly , though they bee absent in place ( when that their eyes , eares , hands and féet performe not their office , ) yet they may be with vs in their mind , and affection : and thus paul was present with the colossians , and with the corinthians , 1. cor. 5.4 . lastly , let vs not be discouraged , nor faint harted , but trust in the liuing god , and bee content with those thinges that we haue , for hee will neuer faile nor forsake vs. q. what duties are wee to performe in this distresse ? a. first , we must not trust in men , who are lighter then vanity it selfe , they are like a brokē staffe that wil faile them that leane on it , and like a réede that will breake in a mans hand : but wee must trust in the liuing god , ( thogh he should kill vs , ) and liue by faith , and then wee shall haue the recompence of reward . secondly , when god raiseth vp friends and kind neighbours vnto vs , let vs be more thankefull vnto god for them , and haue them in more request and estimation . q. what if the violence and continuance of sicknes , want of friends , and good neighbours , & lacke of sleepe concurre , or ( at least ) we faint vnder some one , or more of them , how then shal we practise patience ? a. by obseruing and practising those instructions and conclusions following . first , that many of gods saints , as iob , dauid , &c. haue encountred with all these temptations , and yet haue by faith and patience ouercome them ; and though these men may seeme vnto vs phoenices and rare birds ; yet we must the rather take notice of them , and endeauour to imitate them . secondly , if our minds bee armed with faith in god , our bodies shall be the better enabled to beare them all , yea , and to ouercome all temptations . thirdly , god is a present helpe in trouble : where mans helpe endeth , there his beginneth , and his power is perfited in mans infirmitie . fourthly , christ our sauiour , god blessed for euermore , endured for our saluation , and that most patiently , exquisite torments of soule and body , yea , the pangs and paines of hell , ( though his soule was neuer in the place appointed for the damned , ) in comparison whereof ours are but light and easie , nay swéete and pleasant , and therefore we may the better endure them . fifthly , we must not iudge of the euill of our paine , by our deceitfull senses , but by gods word , the true touchstone and vnfallible rule of truth . sixthly , if we fret , grieue , and grow impatient , we shall doe nothing but encrease our euill , and to the disease of our body , adde the disease of our soules . sixthly , we haue néed of patience and we in midst of all these euils , must vphold our selues , by our courage and valour , that after that we haue done the wil of god , we might receiue the promise : for yet a very little while , and he that shall come , will come , and will not tary . lastly , let vs in our inward and outward griefes , abstract and withdraw our minds from them , and thinke vpon some other matter , and obiect , that may more please , content , and affect vs ; and when our weake and dazeled eies cannot behold the sunnes bright beames , let vs looke vpon the gréene coate and colour of the earths hearbs , flowers , fruits , leaues , &c. q. may we not fitly number amongst the euils of sicknesse , the paines of women in trauile , and the inconueniences of old age ? a. yea , for they are distempers of the body , caused by mans sin and transgression , and tending to the hurt of the body . q seeing that by many places of scripture , by oft allusions vnto the paine of women in trauaile , and by the testimony of heathen philosophers , ( as aristotle ) no creature hath so sore paines in trauaile as a woman : what comforts can you profound for the sweetning hereof ? a. first , though a womans throwes and paines are bitter , yet are they but short , and therefore they may be the better borne and endured in hope of spéedy deliuerance . secondly , no creature besides , bringeth forth so diuine and excellent a creature as a woman doth , and at the knowledge and experience hereof , she ( for ioy ) forgetteth her paine . thirdly , these paines are to the beléeuing women , no part of the curse , but only fatherly corrections , and the straight way to guide them , and transport them to the heauenly canaan . lastly , to interpret that place of timothy properly as some doe , the beléeuing women shal be saued , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , by the birth & natiuity of christ , which was the beginning of the accomplishmēt of the worke of our redemption . q. what comforts are proper to old age that is religious ? a. first , old age is honourable , if it be found in the way of vertue : for a good thing is ( commonly ) commended for the antiquity of it . secondly , an old man is ( in some sort ) the image and representation of gods eternity ; and therefore the more to be reuerenced . thirdly , let him not grow old in vices and errors , but in grace and vertues , and then he hath more cause of comfort then of complaint . fourthly , an aged man and gray headed , is more like a beautifull swanne , then a crow or rauen ; and though beauty , health , strength , and the vse of bodily pleasures cease , and are out of date , yet grauitie and vertue then most flourish in gods children , and they are often the oracles of god for counsell , ( as iacob , iob , nathan , chuzai , roboams antients are examples ) and in stead of enioying outward pleasures , they behold the beauty of the lord , they visit his temple , they are satisfied with the faines of gods house , and drinke out of the waters of his pleasure , and doe finde maruellous contentment in the desireable meditation of the kingdome of god at hand . fifthly , after the generall resurrection old men shall renew their age , as the eagle doth hers ; yea they shall euer be fresh and flourishing , and neuer decay . sixthly , an old man hath a singular prerogatiue , in that so few attaine vnto his yéeres . seuenthly , an old man hath had a long time of preparation , and tendeth to his perfection , and lifteth vp his head , ( for ioy ) because his redemption is so néere at hand , and they hauing ( by the eies of faith ) séene gods saluation with holy simeon , are desirous to depart this life in peace . lastly , youth is the glasse of folly , and the bait of vanity , apt to be drawn to any euill ; and therfore they may be glad that the rage and intemperate heat of youth is past . q. what duties is an old man to performe , and put in practise ? a. first , hee must purge himselfe of lust , couetousnesse , anger , riot , idlenesse , and the like sinnes , for these vices disgrace old age , and by the dominéering of them in many ancients , youth is maruellously corrupted and infected , that are ready to follow such euill presidents . secondly , he must spend all his time in preparation , and learne to die daily , that so he may be ready for the lord , and enter into his ioy . thirdly , as the body daily decaieth and is posting to his long home : so must the soule and inward man be renewed , and look towards heauen , and not turne backe to the sodome of this world ; that it immediatly ( after that it is loosed out of the body ) may be carried by the angels into the kingdome of heauen . chap. x. of death , of the nature , causes , euils , and benefits of it ; what preparation against it is necessary : how a man may in this life haue a taste of eternall life , and of a right disposition in death ▪ the generall vse of the doctrine . question . what is death ? a. it is the loosing and separation of the soule from the body . q. what is the procuring cause of it ? a. adams sinne , and the sinne of all his posterity . q. who is the author of it ? a. god , as a iust iudge imposing it vpon man. q. what is it in it owne nature ? a. it is the diuels weapon , whereby he séeketh to murder mankind , it is the punishment of our sinne , the enemy 〈◊〉 our soules , and the gulfe of damna●●●on . q. but what is it to gods childre● that beleeue and are regenerate ? a. it is no enemy , but a friend to sou●● and body ; for it is changed , by vert●● of christ his death and obedience , fro● a curse to a blessing : it is golias hi● sword to cut off his owne head ; it is 〈◊〉 the drone that hath lost his sting ( that is ● eternall torment in hell fire ; ) it is ●● sweet sleepe refreshing the body ; it is the accomplishment of our mortification , and fully , and finally , endeth the battell betwixt the flesh and the spirit ▪ and it insteede of being the gate and sub●urbs of hel , is made the ladder of peace , and the entrance into paradise to all beleeuers . q. why doe holy and regenera●● men die , seeing that their sins are forgiuen them ? a. first , because the remainders of sinne are left in them , which cannot be abolished , but by changing corruption into incorruption : and this cannot be performed before the last day . secondly , the law of nature must bèe fulfilled , as well in them , as in any other . lastly , the quality of death is changed in the beléeuers : for it is not death , but a sleepe , and not a punishment , but a fatherly correction , yea and a spéedy passage to eternall life . q. seeing that the soules of the saints are immediately after their departure out of the body glorified , why are the bodies so long kept vnder the power of death , and not iointly glorified with their soules ? a. first , the body did sinne last , and therefore is glorified last , for this standeth with the proportion of iustice ? secondly , god in detaining the body for a time in the earth , which is the first death , doth hereby declare his mercy in deliuering both soule and body frō the second death . thirdly , wee must by death bee made conformable to christ our sauiour , that wee may raigne with him . fourthly , god will hereby shew the truth of that his threatning , thou art dust , and to dust shalt thou returne . fifthly , christ their head and king , who is the resurrection , and the life , and the first fruits of the dead , must of necessity be glorified before the members . lastly , the bodies of the saints , though lying in the graue and consumed there , yet are without sinne , and sense of paine , and they shall arise againe in glory at the last day , and be reunited to their soules , &c. and both together inherite eternall happines through the power of god. ob. but the bodies of henoch , before the law , and of elias in time of the law , neuer died , but were rapt and translated into heauen . a. first , these examples are extraordinary , and therefore they are no common rule to others . for god did not onely hereby signifie to the world in what account he had them , ( though the world distasted and despised their persons , and blessed doctrine ; ) but hee made them types and figures of the generall resurrection . secondly , some diuines hold , that their bodies ( though rapt vp into the aire ) were cōsumed in the aire , because christ in regard of his bodily ascension is said to be the first fruits of the dead . lastly , they died an extraordinary death , such as we the saints that shal be found aliue at christ his comming shall tast of , for their bodies were in a moment changed from mortality to immortality , and from corruption to incorruption . q. but why doe infants ( that are called innocents ) die , seeing that they doe not , and cannot sinne with consent of will , nor of knowledge , as doe men of yeares ? a. albeit they want , ( as yet ) the power , meanes , instruments , to commit actuall sinne , yet they haue the bitter and poisonfull root of originall sinne , in them , and in it they were conceiued and borne , and the wages euen of it , is death , secondly , god will sometimes temporally punish or ch●sten the parents in the death of their children , because they are flesh of their flesh , and bone of their bones , and who ( perhaps ) would ( if god granted them longer life , ) match and equall their parents in sinne . q what are we further to consider in prosecuting this argument of death ? a foure chiefe branches or partes . first , some of the ( principall ) reputed and supposed euils of it . secondly , the benefites of it , both priuatiue , and affirmatiue , or positiue . thirdly , the right preparation against it . lastly , a right disposition in death it selfe . q what are some of the principall ( and so reputed ) euils ? a. thrée : first , the suddennes of it in many . secondly , the violent death of many . thirdly , the vncomfortable , and lamentable effects of it , in that it bereaueth vs of the benefite , company , gifts , prayers , gouernment of many notable , and worthy persons in church , common-wealth , and family . q. now ( to handle euery member of the diuision in his right place and order ) is sudden death , simply euill , and a curse ? a. i must néeds distinguish of suddē death ; for , qui non distinguit , destruit artem . first in it selfe it is not euill ; but because it commonly taketh men vnrepentant , and vnprepared ; otherwise the last iudgement should be simply euill , because it is sudden , seeing that the sonne of man will come in an houre , when wee looke not for him : but this sudden comming of christ is not euil , but good , and happy for gods children . againe , the manner and time of euery mans death , is not in his own dispositiō , but in gods power and hands onely . secondly , we must distinguish of it , according to the persons , vpon whom it seazeth : they are either irrepentant persons , and thus die ; and to these death is hel-mouth , & the beginning of euerlasting torment ; or repentant , and to these it is no curse ; for christ hath ( by his death and passion ) taken away the curse ; but it is a short and vnsensible crosse , and correction , which freeth them from the feare of death , and doth speedily conuey them into the hauen of eternall rest . secondly , it is not sudden to the godly , that long before foresaw it , and waited for it . thirdly , the sooner that they die , the sooner are they blessed : for they rest from their labours , and their works follow them . lastly , many of gods children haue died suddenly , yet they were not hereby defrauded of eternall glory : of this number were iobs children ; meph●hosheth ; the infants that the bloudy butcher herode caused to bee massacred , iohn the baptist suddenly beheaded , &c. but as for wicked , vnbeléeuing , and vnrepentant persons , they liue not out half their dayes , but sudden , ( yea & ordinary ) death is to them a curse , and a swift posting of them into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone , ( as we may see in pharaoh , nabal , and the rich churle , whereof we reade in the 12 of luke . ) q. what vse are wee to make hereof ? a. seeing that death many times stealeth and encrocheth vpon vs so vnlooked for ; wée ought daily to prepare ourselues against it , by prayer , repentance , and the practise of good works , and to thinke euery day to be the last ; for ( as an ancient father saith ) vtiliter latet vltimus dies , vt obseruentur omnes dies , ( that is ) the last day is for our profite kept vnknowne , that all the rest may be obserued . secondly , being prepared and resol●ued before hand , let vs not feare the circumstances of death , more then death it selfe ; but let vs ( for our comfort ) know and be assured , that the sting of euery kind of death is taken away by christs death from the true beleeuers , and no manner of death can diuert and diuorce them from christ their sauiour . lastly , wee must daily commend our soules and spirits into gods hands , as vnto a faithfull creator , not doubting but that hee will receiue and glorifie them ; but as for the time of death , and the warning that god giueth vs of it , we must refer it wholy to his heauenly disposition . q. is it lawfull for a christian to pray against sudden death ? a. yes , when he hath liberty so to doe , or whiles hee hath time and memory . q. but sudden death cannot preiudice his saluation , & there is no expresse forme of prayer against sudden death in all the scripture ; why then should any christian man pray against it ? a. first , because sudden death more often befalleth to the wicked , then to the good . secondly , because fewnes of daies , and suddennes of death is wished to the wicked in way of imprecation , and therfore we may pray for some warning of death approching , that the wicked and prophane doe not rashly censure , iudge , and condemn vs , as though wee died accursed , and out of gods fauour . thirdly , wee cannot otherwise ( by our good confession and prayer ) glorifie god before men in our death , nor giue at all a good example of dying well to our family , or others . lastly , if we being of ability ) die intestate , and without making a will , the poore may be defr●uded of all comfort ; and much contention may ( possibly ) arise about the distribution and disposall of our lands and worldly goods amongst our wiues , children , and kinsfolke . q. what shall wee iudge of gods children that doe perish by the enemies sword , and ( by consequence ) are this way cruelly and suddenly massacred ? a. it hath beene the lotte of gods saints in the old and new testament , and in all ages sithence , thus to end their liues , and they blessed , yea blessed with a further addition of glory , because they died for gods cause . secondly , this kind of death cannot kill the soule , nor separate soule or body from gods fauour and loue . thirdly , they had no ( special ) promise to die quietly in their beds , or in their friends hands , and ( as for their enemies ) they haue preuented themselus frō hauing any further power ouer gods children , for they haue done their worst . finally , non nocet bonis ( si subito ) occidantur , vel si subita morte pereunt . nō enim subito moriuntur qui semper cogitauerunt se morituros ; that is ; it disparageth not good men , if they be ( suddenly ) slain , or if they suddenly die . for they die not suddenly , who alwaies thought that they should die . lastly , right many haue béene by the sword not knighted in earth , but martyred here , and crowned in heauen ; & this besides the pregnant testimonies of sacred scriptures , ) the experience of all times and ages euinceth and verifieth . q. how shall wee arme and resolue our selues against the feare of perishing by the enemies sword , or any such kind of violent death ? a. first it skilleth and mattereth not , whether a burning feauer , the pestilence ▪ or the sword kill vs , or whether the prison be set or broken open . secondly , we are not so much to feare the hand as the wound ; but death doth not so much wound as cure and salue the godly from their sinnes and miseries . thirdly , wee may hereby bee preuented of a more lingring and fearefull death , as to die by famine , and by r●cking , flaying ▪ &c. lastly , wee must remember that it is the lot of gods children oftentimes this way to die and that no kind of death naturall or violent can separate them or vs from the loue wherewith god loueth vs in christ. chap. xi . the third supposed euill of death , in that it depriueth vs of most worthy and excellently deseruing princes , magistrates , ministers , patrons , friends , kinsfolks , &c. question . how shall wee comfort our selues against the vntimely death of any worth● christian , whether magistrate , minister , kinsman , speciall friend , or any priuate christian ? a. by marking and meditating vpon these ( or the like ) propositions and grounds following . first , no man dieth before his time : for it is appointed for all men once to die , and this time not man , but god hath in his eternall certainty appointed . secondly , they are loosed from the bonds of sinne and this earthly misery , and how can this be out of time ? thirdly , they as well as any others , owed a death vnto god , and were ( at gods call ) to make present paiment : now this death is due euery day , how then demanded before the day ? fourthly , these worthy instruments in church and commonwealth , these pillars in gods house , these noble cedars in libanon , these starres in the firmament , these phen●ces , and déere saints and seruants of god , were fitter for heauen then earth and therefore , partly because we were vnworthy of them , and vnthankfull to god for them , partly because they should not see the euils to come , and partly , that they should not be changed and infected with the worlds wickednes , god hath iustly depriued vs of them , but crowned them with the crowne of euerlasting glory . fifthly , a long life is a long labour , and a suspension ( as it were ) of their life from immortality ; and hee that liueth long , what hath he but increase of sins , manifold cares , griping griefes , and distastefull discontentments ? and will he count these his gaines , gettings , winnings and aduantages ? sixthly , they die not suddenly , that soone haue growne old , and haue spéedily sailed ouer the troublesome and tempestuous sea of this world , into the blessed canaan . lastly , if god sée vs truly humbled for the losse of these glorious lights , and earnestly to sorrow for our sinnes and vnthankfulnes , that haue bereaued vs of them ; god can and wil raise vp a new succession in their stead ; he can cause iosua to succéed moses , and iehoshaphat to succéed aza ; salomon to follow next after dauid ; elizeus to execute the office of elias his predecessor , & can ( as he did ) cause very many worthy and vigilant bishops , and faithful pastors to succéed the apostles : and therefore in this , though we ought to be humbled , yet we must hope well , and know that gods arme is not shortned , nor his power abridged . q. what vse are we to make of vntimely death , either in regard of others , or else in respect of our selues ? a. first , in regard of others , we must lament and bewaile our sinnes and vnworthinesse , whereby we haue depriued our selues of them , and that we did not more praise god , nor better serue him when we enioyed them . secondly , we must not enuie at , but congratulate their aduancement and euerlasting happinesse , sed eodem animo ferenda mors , quo nostram expectamus : that is , we must so take their death as our owne . thirdly , it is our duty to pray vnto god to raise vp new in their place ; and if their equals , or those that doe in some good measure resemble them doe succéed , it is our duty more to esteeme them and haue them in the higher account , nam bona nostra , carendo magis quam fruendo cognos●imus : that is , we know good things more by wanting of them , then by enioying of them . fourthly , in regard of our selues , if we ( as we ought ) purpose to doe well , let vs doe it quickly , lest we be preuented ; and if we haue begun to doe some worthy acts , as dauid did , when he made preparation for the building of the temple , &c. god the righteous iudge , will regard and reward not onely our action , but our affection , and our desire as well as our déed . lastly , let vs , laying aside all other works , intend and study this one thing , which is , to die well ; for this is instar omnium , that is , this instead of all , ( for according to the antient prouerbe ) all is well that ends well . q. how shall we comfort our selues when death hath depriued vs of very good benefactors , friends , fauorites ? a ▪ first , you haue not lost them , but sent them before to god : for death hath not consumed them , but eternity shall receiue them . secondly , they liue in their better part ; for though death hath taken away his body , yet not his friendship past ) nor our friends ▪ who are forth comming , and whom we shall see , know , and conuerse with after the day of iudgement . 1. cor. 13.12 . thirdly , their vertues are immortall , and for thy practise and imitation , and the remembrance of them is swéete , delightsome , and comfortable vnto vs. fourthly , it may be when we enioied them , we did not ( as our duty required ) honour , reuerence , and esteeme or them . fifthly , if our friends be remooued hence , and translated into heauen , we must labour by our godlinesse ▪ humility , and weldoing , to gain & get new friends . lastly , if all our chiefe friends and benofactors on earth , be flowen vp into heauen , it must abundantly suffice and content vs , that the whole holy and vndiuideable trinity , god the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost are our friends , fauorites , benefactors , vpholders : for they are all in all , and therefore let vs as well trust in god when our friends faile , as when they abound . chap. xii . particular comforts for them that haue sustained particular losses by the death of kinsfolks , &c. question . how shall a christian man comfort and resolue himselfe , that hath ( by death ) parted with a vertuous and kind wife ? a. indéed thy losse is great , and it is ( as it were ) the cutting away of one halfe of thée ; but thou must remember that she was borne mortal , and that frō adam to the worlds end , all must die , and therefore thou must take it patiently . secondly , all things come to passe by gods prouidence and appointment , who turneth all things to the best to them that loue him . thirdly , god will hereby either correct thy vnthankfulnesse , or try thy patience . fourthly , if she had liued longer , she might ( perhaps ) haue growne worse , and haue béen a crosse and vexation vnto thée . fifthly , thou art hereby fréed from ielosie & suspition , to which good women are sometimes subiect . sixthly , god can make thée a gainer by thy losse , and procure thee a second , as good as shee : as when michal was taken away from dauid , god afterwards prouided for him faire and wise abigail . seuenthly , if thou ( vnder god ) wast an instrument to make her good , thou maiest make the second good by thy instruction and holy example : for though thy wife be gone , yet thou the workman art aliue . eighthly , thanke god that thou so long time , and to thy great contentment , didst inioy so good a wife ▪ and therefore now thou must be content to receiue some chastisement from god , as well as good things in former times . lastly , preserue and honour her memory after her death , and speake well of her : and if thou bee inclined to match againe , pray vnto god that thy second choice may bee matchable to thy first and god will heare thy praier . q ▪ what comfortable meditations and directions can you bring forth for a christian wife , that hath lost a good and a godly husband ? a. first , she is wedded to christ , and therefore she is no widow , nor can want any necessary help and protection . apoc. 12.1 . apoc. 19 7. secondly , death hath not parted husband and wife for euer , but for a time ; for they shall one day ( if they both feared god ) sée and know one the other , ( albeit all respects of marriage shall then wholly cease . ) thirdly , god hath a speciall care of widowes , ( as may appeare by miracles done in their behalfe , and for their reléefe , in the old and new testament ) and he laieth a strait charge vpon magistrates , rulers , and iudges , to sée them righted and prouided for . fourthly , if she truly feare god , and intend a second marriage , he that prouided her a good husband before , can prouide her a second as good : as he prouided faire , vertuous , and wise abigail for dauid . lastly , it may be either she did not respect him ( according to his worth ) and therefore god hath iustly corrected her vnthankfulnes , or else , she too much doated vpon him , and was too fond of him , and therefore god by his death , will heale this sinne in her , and cause her to depend vpon him onely , when the staffe of her outward state is taken away . q. let vs heare some comforts for parents , that by death are bereaued of godly and dutifull children . a. first , we must alwaies remember , that sinne hath deserued death , and that god hereupon in the time appointed , inposeth death vpon young as well as the aged , and his decrée cannot bee preuented or resisted . secondly , herein the saints of god beare their parts with thée and therefore thou must endure these common euils with the greater patience . thirdly , children and young men are but as flowers in god his garden ; and we must suffer god the soueraigne lord of it and them , to crop and gather them when he will. fourthly , the yonger that they died , they were the lesse defiled with corruption , and they departed being not laden with the burthen of many sinnes , which longer continuance of time would haue drawne them into . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . fifthly , if there be a decay , mortality and change in okes and cedars , much more in man , that hath rebelled against his creator . sixthly , it may be , that when wee inioyed them , that either wee were too tender and fond ouer them , and so would haue corrupted them , or else were not contented with them , nor thankfull to god for them : and therefore god ( to remedy and correct both these extremities ) hath bereaued vs of them . seuenthly , if our children led a godly life , and so died , then they are in safetie and forth comming ; their life is not vanished but changed : and though we haue lost them , yet god hath found them , and at the generall resurrection we shall finde them , know and acknowledge them : wherefore let vs in the meane time rest content , and comfort our selues in this blessed expectation : and therefore wee must be so farre from murmuring and repining against god for depriuing vs of them , that we must blesse and praise god for their perfection and glorification . lastly , by their death , wee are fréed from infinite feares of their mis-doing , and from many carking cares of prouiding for their outward estate and maintenance : but if our children proue vntoward and vngodly , then our losse is the lesse to bee lamented , for wee haue none to take notice of our gray haires , none to number our yéeres , none to carpe at our cost , and none to bee discontented at the delay of our death . q. what vse ( in a word ) are we to make hereof ? a. first , we must remember that we being mortall our selues , begat them mortall , and that all men must die ( sooner or latter ) though the time , place , and maner be vnknowne vnto vs. secondly , if we bewaile them being dead , we should ( in some sort ) haue bewailed them as soone as they were born , for then they began to die . thirdly , we must out of heauinesse conceiue matter of happinesse , and kéepe a measure in lamentation , and not lament for euery losse , lest our whole life be filled with lamentation . lastly , we must instruct them , and pray for them whiles that they liue : but when we perceiue death to approach , we must not in vaine striue against god , but willingly suffer him to take his owne . q. how shall poore orphanes , namely , fatherlesse and motherlesse children , comfort themselues , that haue parted with kind , carefull , and most christian parents ? a. by remembring and obseruing these directions and duties following . first , that their parents were borne mortall , and must néeds die : and therefore the children comming of them , cannot be immortall . if the foundation of the building in time shrinke and be shaken , that which is built vpon it cannot endure . the earth their common mother must receiue them all , and at the last day yéeld vp all againe . secondly , their parents are not lost , for god hath found them , and fréed them from all miseries and molestations : and therefore they in this regard must bee content . thirdly , that they shall not returne to their children , but their children goe to them . fourthly , they were borne first , and therefore must die first , and they are not forsaken , but sent before them to blisse . lastly , god hath depriued them of their parents , either to correct their murmuring against them , or their vndutifulnes towards them , or ( at least ) to try how they will depend vpon him , when all earthly meanes faile and are wanting . q. what duties are they to performe ? a. first , they must patiently vndergoe gods correction . secondly , they must heartily repent them of their sinnes , the cause thereof . thirdly , they must follow their vertuous example , and immortalize their memories . fourthly , they must more highly estéeme gods benefits when they inioy them . q. what comforts are fit & seasonable against the death of deere brethren and sisters ? a. first , death is a common correction to gods children , and no person must looke to be fréed from it . secondly , though their life was short , yet it was holy and blessed . thirdly , though their bodies be dead and interred , yet their soules liue , and their vertues ( like so many children left behind them ) are immortall , and the impression hereof ( as of their kindnes and indulgence towards them ) must neuer be blotted out . fourthly , though they want the comfortable company of their brethren and sisters , yet they are not alone , being attended vpon and guarded by so many vertues , and all those that feare god and doe his will , must be their brethren and sisters . vse . first , wee must not vnmeasurably mourne for them , but rather bewaile euil things , that hang ouer our owne heads . secondly , by such examples of mortality , we must be warned to prepare our selues against our latter end . lastly , we must comfort our hearts in this , that wee shall one day to our hearts contentment , inioy for euer their most swéet and blessed fellowship . q. is it not a curse to a religious man to die childlesse and without issue ? a. it is a crosse , rather then a curse . for first , they are not vnder the law , but vnder grace . secondly , christ hath taken away the curse from all true beléeuers . q. by what arguments and reasons shall such a man quiet and comfort his conscience ? a. first , their loosenesse and lewdnesse shall neuer grieue him , and their future miserie shall neuer disquiet him . secondly , he in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or want of children , may ( in his discretion ) adopt such who may proue more kind , louing , and obedient , then those that might haue proceeded out of his owne loines . thirdly , hee néed not trouble himselues about their maintenance : and as for the distribution of his goods and possessions , he hath at hand many poore seruan●s and children of god , amongst whō he may more happily diuide them : for these will pray for him so long as he liueth , and speake well of him when he is dead ; and god wil in goodnes reward all his well doing . neh. 5.19 . fourthly , law may and will supply the defect of nature : for adoption is an act imitating nature , ordained for the sola●e of such who want children . lastly , his children might haue growen out of kind , and haue obscured and blemished his name : and hereupon many had died more happily and contentedly , if they had died childlesse . chap. xiii . of the priuatiue and positiue benefite of death . question . from what euils doth death free gods children ? a. first , from all sinne , and the offence of god , the originall and cause of all euill . secondly , death is to them the medicine , remedy , and physition of al euils ; for it endeth all their imperfections , and finally fréeth them from all sicknesses , paines , crosses , calamities , g●iefes , distresses , euils , errors , enemies . thirdly , it preuenteth all sinne and misery to come , both in this world , and specially in the world to come , for they are wholy and for euer deliuered from all satans assaults , and from damnation , and the horrour of hell . q. what vse is to be made hereof ? a. first , if by death wee would bée freed from all sinne , and the most cursed effects of it , then let vs denie the world and the flesh , and liue in the feare of god , remembring the account that wee are to render vp before god , and the● the second death shall neuer haue power ouer vs. secondly , let vs giue god all possible thanks and praise , for that hee will by death thus ease and disburden vs. thirdly , let vs in the certaine expectation of so great deliuerance at the year of iubily , be willing to goe to god , ( as simeon and paul were ) and in the mean time to sustaine all crosses patiently . lastly , let vs continually waite and pray for this time of our full , and eternall rest and deliuerance . q. is it then not lawfull for gods children in their distresses & extremities ( for their ease and deliuerance ) to hasten their death by laying hands vpon themselues ? a. it is simply and vtterly vnlawful . for , first , this not the way to ease and auoide misery , but to encrease it , yea and to emplunge and engulfe himselfe into the bottomlesse pitte of endlesse torment . secondly , if a man should be entreated by the distressed to kill him , hee might in no wise condescend thereunto , for hée should bee no otherwise accounted and punished then a murderer , much lesse may any person kill himselfe . for he is bound to cherish , and not to kill his owne body and flesh . thirdly , he that in any conceited opinion of enioying present blisse , or in any impatiency , and impotent passion , dispatcheth himselfe out of the way , doth nothing but damne and destroy his own soule : examples whereof wee haue in saul , achitophel , iudas , &c. fourthly , he may not depart out of this earthly tabernacle , nor forsake his standing vntill his heauenly generall , and commaunder god almighty call , and warrant him so to doe : for hée is no absolute lord of his owne body , neither hath he the frée simple of it , but is a tenant at will to god , whose pleasure hée must attend and abide . lastly , he must practice , and put in vre , fortitude and patience , he must not misdread any euill , but trust in the lord to stand fast in his calling , and christ will by faith enable him to ouercom all temptations . q. is death to bee feared or not ? a. a distinction must resolue this point , namely , that it is partly to bee feared , and partly , not to be feared . q. in what respects is it to be feared ? a. in thrée respects . first , as it is the destruction and dissolution of nature : for in this signification iesus christ feared it , when he swet water and bloud in the garden . secondly , as it is a paineful correction , though wee must most feare death the cause of it . lastly , as it is a meane to bereaue vs of many worthy guides and gouernors , lights and pillers in church and common-wealth , esay . 3. v. 1.2.3 . q. is it necessary and good ( in some regards ) not to feare death ? a. yes , for it is not profitable , nor expedient for vs to liue alwaies here , nor is it possible for vs so to doe . q. in what regards then is death not to be feared ? a. first , because ( as hath béene formerly declared ) death doth disburden vs of all sinne , and giueth vs our quietus est from all euill . secondly , as it is the beginning and gate of immortality . lastly , because hereby we are presented blamelesse to our lord and sauiour christ in heauen , and are there solemnly wedded to our heauenly husband and bridegroome the lord iesu. q. how are we to be defended and strengthned against the feare of it ? a. by remembring that christ ( by his death ) hath disarmed and cassiered death , and hath taken away the second death , the sting and strength of the former secondly , god is by his spirit present with his children in the agony of death , and doth support them against the feare of it . thirdly , that god doth hereby bisburden vs of all sinne , and frée vs from all maladies and miseries . fourthly , wee are not to tremble at death , but rather to triumph , because now we haue a speciall time and opportunity to declare our subiection and obedience to god. lastly , death bringeth vs forthwith i●●to gods chamber of presence , where 〈◊〉 shall see him face to face , and enioy 〈◊〉 gratious and glorious presence for eu●● more . q. what are the positiue benefites 〈◊〉 death , or the good things wherewith 〈◊〉 doth possesse vs ? a. they are manifold and mar●●●lous . for first death bringeth vs int● the immediate fellowship of god the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost , 〈◊〉 therefore it may be called the gate of life , and a passage to the father . secondly , it bringeth vs into the heauenly communion & company of many millions of glorious saints and angels , with whome we shall haue perfect rest and security . lastly , it is to vs not onely the consummation of victory against satan , sinne , the world ▪ the flesh ; but doth also inuest vs with glory , and put vs into an actuall possession of the new heauen , and the new earth , and of all good things promised vs , and prouided for vs. heb. 12. ver 22.23 . q. what vses are we to make of these affirmatiue or positiue benefites ? a. first , wee are to distast this present and infectious world , wherin there is no true contentment , nor any thing that can make vs blessed before god , but rather matter of all sinne , griefe , euill , falshood , wrong ▪ &c. and we must let the loue of heauen swallow downe the loue of all earthly things : let vs not linger in this earthly egypt or babylon , but make hast vnto the heauenly canaan , a land not abounding with milk , corn , oil , hony , but abounding in peace , righteousnesse , and ioy of the spirit , where wee shall be satisfied with the fatnes of gods house , and shall drinke out of the riuers of gods pleasures , and that for euermore . secondly , it serueth to comfort vs against all the miseries and maladies of this present life , which shall be so abundantly recompensed with the infinite waight of euerlasting glory . q. whether may a man in this mortality haue a true taste of euerlasting life ? a. yes vndoubtedly , for so had iob , dauid , stephen , paul , the holy martyres and infinite others . secondly , the godly haue ( already ) eternall life , ( viz. in beginning and assurance ) and therefore in time they shall haue the fulnes of it . lastly , they earnestly pray for the comming of gods kingdom , ergo , they haue some taste thereof . q. by what meanes shall hee attaine thereunto ? a. by remembring , considering , and meditating vpon these directions , and conclusions following . q. what things must he consider & weigh ? a. diuers things . first , the sinnefull , miserable , and vncertaine state of this mortall life . eccles. 1.1 . heb. 13.14 . secondly , the blessed and vnspeakable happines of all gods saints by reason of their immediate fellowshippe with god and with christ , from which we are absent so long as we liue in this present world . for by vertue of this glorious and euerlasting communion , wee are not onely perfectly freed from all sinne , afflictions , and all euil things , but possessed with fulnes of ioy , and of al good things for euermore . thirdly , the incomparable difference betwéen the glory , ioy , happines o● this world , and the infinite and eternall glory , ioy , blessednes of the world to come , and the consideration hereof will separate and sequester vs from the loue and affectation of this world , and make vs willing and desirous to goe to god. fourthly , euery mans death is deserued and procured by his owne sins , and that death with all the seueral circumstances of time , place , manner , person , is foreséene and appointed in gods eternal decrée and counsell ; the due obseruation whereof will preserue vs ( when we are dying ) from distrust , impatience , and the ( seruile ) feare of death . lastly , the speciall promise of gods presence and assistance in death , which we must before hand be by faith perswaded of , and hope after , albeit wee see it not , and though all things may séeme desperate . q. what are the properties and effects of this taste and ioy ? a. first , it ariseth from sense & griefe of sinne , and from the knowledge of , and faith in christ crucified . secondly , it bringeth with it sound and swéet peace of conscience . thirdly , it is grounded vpon the holy ministery of the word , sacraments , prayers , and vpon the practise of holy duties . fourthly , it is déepely rooted in the heart , and it continueth for euer . lastly , it causeth vs to loue , looke and long for the life to come . q. how a man must imprint and ground these meditations in his heart . a. hee must abstaine from all impiety and vnrighteousnesse , and practise the duties of holines , and righteousnes : for god will reueale his secrets to the humble , and to them that feare him . psal. 25.11 . gen. 18.10 . secondly , hee must be frequent and feruent in the holy vse of the word , sacraments , and prayer ; for hereby faith and hope are wrought , maintained , encreased . q. why doe gods children die , seeing that their sinnes are not imputed to them , and the image of god ( which consisteth in the knowledge of the sauing truth , and in true holinesse and righteousnesse ) is repaired in them ? a. i answere : first , though sinne bee not imputed to them , and so they cannot be condemned for it ; yet all sinne is not wholy taken away . secondly , regeneration is onely in this life begun , and in dayly progresse . thirdly , god will haue the godly to die ( the temporary death ) as well as the wicked , that they acknowledging the seuerity of gods anger against sin , may learne to hate it . fourthly , that they may lay downe the remnants of sinne , and the adher●nt miseries . and lastly , that they may haue experience of the power of god , who raiseth vp the dead . q. whether that death may be desired and wished for . a. it may not simply and absolutely be desired ; for it is an euill and against nature , and therefore not to be desired , but conditionally we may ( lawfully ) desire death . q. in what respects may it be desired ? a. in two respects principally : first , as it is a way and means to deliuer vs wholy from the burden , bondage , and slauery of all sinne , and to free vs from all the maladies and miseries of this wretched life . secondly , as it is a meanes and instrument to bring vs to the manifest and glorious vision and sight of god , & to the immediate and euerlasting fellowship and communion of the whole trinity , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost . q whether that a christian may lawfully desire life ? a. yes , in some respect , namely , i● we desire to doe further good before wée die , and make the glory of god the end and scope of our life ; for god will bee glorified in vs so long as we liue in this earthly tabernacle . and therefore euery man must obediently walke in his calling vntill it shall please god to remoue and translate him hence ; and hee must rather séeke to honour god , and do seruice to his church then respect his heauenly aduancement . ob. but the longer that we liue the more we multiplie sinne , and offend our god , and therefore wee may not lawfully desire life . a. the argument is not good . for first , gods children sinne , not wittingly and willingly , nor make a trade of sinne as wicked men doe . secondly , their sinnes are couered , and not imputed vnto them . lastly , the good that they be examples and instruments of , is much more pleasing and acceptable to god , and to good men , then their infirmities and imperfections are distastfull . q. what is required that a man may die well and blessedly ? a. two things : first , a preparation against death . secondly , a right disposition in death . q. is preparation against death necessarie ? a. yea ; for first , we must néeds die , for sinne hath deserued and procured it , and god thereupon hath imposed it . secondly , in what state soeuer the day of death leaueth vs , in the same state the day of iudgement shall find vs. thirdly , this preparation cutteth off , and preuenteth much sinne in vs , which wee would otherwise designe and commit . fourthly , death is our enemy , and our last greatest enemy , and therefore we must by faith in our lord iesu , labour and striue to subdue & quell him . lastly , this is our last iourney , and if we dispatch it happily , and according to christ our captaines direction , it will forthwith after our death , conuey vs into heauen . q wherein doth this preparation consist ? a. in sundry meditations and duties . q. what must wee principally meditate vpon ? a. first , we must before hand thinke on our latter end , and not foolishly accuse old age , or nature : for death commeth , & is inflicted from god. secondly , me must betimes thinke on on the right composing and ordering of our liues , namely , whether that wee haue ceased to doe euill , and haue done what good we could : for otherwise death will ouertake vs , & we wil wish that we had done it , ( when it is too late ) luk. 13. v. 35. thirdly , we must know that christ hath abolished eternall death , and made our temporary death an entrance to the father . fourthly , we must contemplate and muse vpon the glorious resurrection of the body , which will much comfort and refresh vs. lastly , we must cast our thoughts vpon that most excellent and eternall waight of glory reserued for vs in the heauens , which doth infinitely surpasse and ouerway all temporall afflictions whatsoeuer . q. what duties must the sicke man performe in generall ? a. thrée duties : first , towards god : secondly towards his neighbour : and lastly towards himselfe . q. what duties is he to perform towards god ? a. he must séeke to be reconciled vnto god , and for this end , he must repaire and renue his faith and repentance , partly , because ( many times ) in temptation , hee looseth somthing ; and partly because hee daily slippeth or committeth new sinnes , which require a new act of faith , and repentance . secondly , he must constantly confesse christ , and proclaime and publish how many wayes god hath beene good to his soule and body . lastly , hee must by the eyes of faith , view , contemplate , & looke vpon christ , the brazen serpent , and then death shall neuer sting him . q. why must hee performe these duties towards god ? a. because ( ordinarily ) sicknesses , paines , and diseases are sent and inflicted of god for a punishment , and for our reformation and amendment , as most clearely appeareth in many places of holy scriptures . lament . 3.39 . math. 9.2 , joh. 5.74 . q. what seruices oweth the sickeman to his neighbour , and what duties is he to performe towards him ? a. hee must performe all duties of piety , loue and righteousnes : and magistrates and ministers must not onely commaund and exhort their people , subiects , hearers , to listen to , and obey sound doctrine , and christ his blessed gospell ; but also they must by all possible means endeauour , that they , after their death may leaue them in as holy and happy estate as they found them . act. 20.28 . 2. pet. 1. v. 5. q. what duties is he to performe to his wife , children , family ? a. first , he must aduise , and perswade them to constancy , and to obedience of the sauing truth ; for his words spoken at such a time leaue the greatest impression in the minds of them that heare him . secondly , he must ( for the peace of his owne soule , and for the preuenting and cutting of many ( néedlesse ) suites and contentions in law that might arise after his death ) in equity and conscience make his last will and testament , and bequeath his goods , lands , liuing , to his wife , children , kinsfolke , friends , and to the poore , as the law of god and man requireth . q. what duties is hee bound to performe towards himselfe ? a. he must by faith in the lord iesu arme himselfe against satans assaults , and against the feare of death and the last iudgement ; and he must not so much feare death , as looke on euerlasting life . secondly , touching the body , he must be carefull to vse physicke , and all other good meanes to preserue and continue life and health , vntill it shall please god to take it away . lastly , hee must continually resigne himselfe , and commend his soule and spirit into gods blessed hands . q. jf all these duties be performed in good conscience , what good wil come thereof ? a. first , god will honour such as feare and honour him ; he ( i say ) will honour them , as well in life as in death . 1. sam. 2.30 . secondly , he will make the name and memory of them pretious after death : for the iust shall be had in an euerlasting remembrance . q what is a right dispotion in death ? a. a religious and an holy behauiour of a mans selfe , especially towards god. q is it necessary ? a. yes : for first , now it is the very time to practise it . secondly , without this disposition and behauiour , our death cannot be pleasant and acceptable in gods sight . q. what are the parts of it ? a. thrée , namely , to die in faith , to die in obedience , and to resigne or surrender vp our soules into gods hands . q what is it to die in faith ? a. to take notice of , and lay hold of gods gracious promises in christ touching remission of sinnes and euerlasting life , and wholly to rely vpon them , as they are reuealed and set forth in the scriptures . q. what benefit shall a man haue who dieth in true faith ? a. he shall be able to kéepe himselfe safe and sound against the temptations and pangs of death , and shall ( forthwith after he hath giuen vp the ghost ) bee made partaker of eternall life and happinesse . q. how is our faith to be expressed ? a , two maner of waies , the one inward , the other outward . first , inwardly by déepe sighes , sobs , and groanes , after a mans redemption . secondly , ( and that outwardly ) by praier , thanksgiuing , and good exhortations , and often communications touching god and godlinesse . q. what is it to die in obedience ? a. it is willingly and gladly , to submit our selues to gods will in bearing the crosse , mat. 27. and without murmuring or grudging , to goe to god , who in death respecteth vs , and will vndoubtedly receiue vs. q. what are they to be compared vnto that die vnwillingly ? a. they ( if they belong to god ) doe , as if a prisoner should delight in his prison and dungeon , and would not goe forth to a glorious palace and perfect liberty when he lawfully might ; either forgetting the slauery and defilements which he leaueth , or the good things to which he goeth . q. how is this duty to bee performed ? a. by learning to die daily , and not through any impatiency , or through the tediousnes of trouble , to wish death , ( as elias did ) for then we discouer pride and disobedience , in that we will not wait on gods leasure , but follow our owne corrupt affections . q. how shall we learne to die daily ? a. by taking vp christ his crosse daily , and if we doe with patience and méeknes buckle with affliction . for euery affliction is a petty death : and if we can endure to vndergo this petty death , we shall the more comfortably vndergoe the great death of all , which is the disiunction or dissolution of the soule from the body . q what is it to surrender our soules into gods hands ? a. to yéeld them vp into his hands , as vnto a faithfull creator , in certaine hope of our present glorification . q. what generall comforts are there against death ? a. first , the sting thereof is taken away by christ his death , and the power abolished : death to the godly is like a drone bée , that kéepeth a buzzing and humming , but hath lost her sting , and cannot hurt . secondly , death is to gods children a gaile deliuery from all sinne , and the miseries of this life , and a passage vnto the euident and manifest sight and presence of god. thirdly , in death god is not only present with his children , by his spirit to instruct , comfort , and assist them , but also sendeth his holy angels to attend vpon them and to saue them , from the violence and vexation of euill spirits , and to carry their soules into heauen , forthwith after that they are separated from their bodies . lastly , by death the soules of the godly shall bee made infinitely more holy and happy , glad and glorious , then euer they were when they were inclosed in the sinfull subiect & prison of the body : and as for their bodies , they ( after that they haue slept a while in the earth ) shall be raised vp againe , immortall , incorruptible , and farre more bright and beautifull then they had euer béen , if man had neuer sinned . q. what is the quintessence of these conclusions ? a. first , we are taught hereby , not to feare to depart out of the ruinous house of our bodies , whensoeuer god doth call vs , knowing that a better life shall follow after death , for they only are blessed that die in the lord : and of this point wee must much thinke and study . secondly , we are aduertised hereby , not to be cast downe nor discouraged at bodily diseases , dolours , deformities : for the resurrection shall put an end hereunto . lastly , we must not vnmeasurably mourne for those that sléepe in the lord , seeing their soules ( which are the better part of them ) liue with god , and their bodies being bought with a price , ( namely the precious bloud of christ ) and being made the temples of the holy ghost , shall at the last day rise againe in glory and incorruption . chap. xiiii . of certaine particular euils , defects , and deformities in the body , and also crosses in the outward state . question . of how many sorts are these particular euils ? a. of two sorts ; to wit , ordinary , and extraordinary . q. what are the ordinary euils ? a. they are either such as are in and about the body , or that haue a mans outward state for their obiect . q. what are those euils and defects that are in and about the body ? a. deformity , lamenes , blindnes , deafnes , dumbnes , &c. q. how shall we comfort our selues against the lothsome deformity of the body ? a. by marking and meditating vpon these conclusions following . first , bodily deformity doth nothing preiudice the estate of gods saints before god , ( as the examples of iob , dauid , mephibosheth , ezechias , aza , lazarus , &c. and of innumerable besides 〈◊〉 demonstrate . ) secondly , they endure but for a time , and ( at the furthest ) end and determine with this life . thirdly , though the bodies of gods saints be ( for the time ) neuer so lothsome and deformed , yet are their sinnes couered by the roiall roabes of christ his righteousnesse , and the soule in the meane time is most holy , perfect , beautifull . fourthly , at the general resurrection , this vile body of ours shall be made conformable to christs glorious body : it shall be no more mortall , but immortall ; no more vise , but honourable ; no more weake , but alwaies strong , no more heauie , but light and nimble ; no more sinfull , but holy : and in a word , no more earthly , and néeding these outward meanes and helps of meat , drinke , apparell , rest , sléepe , physicke , recreation , marriage , &c. but they shall be alwaies spirituall , i. immediately supported by gods omnipotent power , and absolutely subiect and obedient to the spirit . fifthly , god doth not hate the deformity of the body , but of the soule , by reason of sinne , contracted and committed by it and in it . lastly , we must remember , that our bodies are earthly and mortall , and not heauenly and eternall : and therefore we must not be discontent , if rottennes enter into them ; onely let vs prouide , that as the outward man dieth , so the inward man may be renewed daily . q. what comforts against lamenesse ? a. first , lamenesse is naturall , and is caused by sicknes , old age , or otherwise ; and therefore it is to be endured with the greater patience . secondly , the children of god ( as mephibosheth ▪ aza , the créeple , whereof we reade in the fifth of s. iohns gospell , and a daughter of abraham ) haue béen , are , and shall be subiect hereunto , as much as the prophane and irreligious . thirdly , though the bodies of gods saints ( for their correction , trial , and exercise ) be subiect hereunto , yet are their soules holy , sound , and nothing impeached by the lame body . psal. 92. fourthly , death and the last iudgement , which is the time of the restitution of all things , will put an end to it and the body shall rise againe in farre greater integritie then euer it appeared in , when it was in the best plight . fifthly , physicke or surgery may possibly in time recouer the body , and therefore the meanes are not to be neglected . lastly , let our faith & hope be in god , and our soules purified in obeying the truth through the spirit , and lamenesse shall not hurt vs. q. wherein shall a blind man comfort and solace himselfe ? a. in many things . first , that blindnes is a great part of innocency : for the eies ( since adams fall ) are the windowes of concupiscence , and the porters to let in all vices , from which enticements vnto euill , and blind are fréed . secondly , the blind sée nothing to distaste their stomackes , to offend their eies , or to grieue their minds , whereas iust lot endued with the sense of seeing , vexed his righteous soule from day to day , in séeing the vnlawfull deeds of the sodomites , &c. and so it fareth with gods children that are blind , who sée not the euill obiects nor wickednes of the world . thirdly , blindnes is naturall and contracted by old age , sicknes , and the like infirmities , and therefore isaac , bartimaeus , and the blind man in the ninth of iohns gospell , and diuers saints of god in all generations haue borne their parts herein ; therefore this correction is so much the more patiently to be borne . fourthly , though the godly haue no bodily eies to behold the heauens , the earth , and the creatures , which eies the beasts , birds , and creeping creatures haue common with them , yet they haue spirituall and angelical eies , whereby they behold god their creator , and looke vpon christ sitting on the right hand of god his father in heauen . fifthly , the eies are not simply necessary for godlinesse , for god requireth the heart and vnderstanding : and yet notwithstanding they shall be restored , yea and glorified at the generall resurrection . wherefore let vs cléere the eies of our vnderstanding , and cast out of them all beames of selfe conceit , and all dust of error . and because our memories are then most sharpe and retentiue , hauing no outward obiect to blunt their edge , let vs apply them to the learning of the best things , and with patience wait the time of the restitution of all things . q propound some comfortable meditations for a deafe man. a. first , the deafe person cannot be infected with lies and errors , he cannot be deceiued and gulled by flatterers , nor bee possessed with the ingredients of griefe , he cannot be prouoked to wrath , he séeth nothing to disturbe and disquiet him , and ( that which most contenteth him ) he cannot heare gods blessed name blasphemed . secondly , by reading the scriptures , sermons , treatises , catechismes , he heareth god speake vnto him : for god hath no néed of eares , but only requireth a deuout mind . thirdly , that which he formerly learned ▪ the holy ghost bringeth to his remembrance . lastly , his perfect hearing shall , ( if not before ) be restored vnto him at the day of iudgement , and his deafenesse in the mean time cannot separate him from gods loue . q what vse must a man make of his deafnesse ? a. first , whiles we inioy the benefit of our hearing , let vs attend to gods voice in the scriptures preached vs , and let vs treasure vp the word of god in our hearts to bestead vs in time of néed . lastly , though we cannot heare nor discerne the notes of musicke , and the sounds of men and birds , yet we haue the vse of our eies , to behold the creatures , and god the author of them . comforts for a dumbe man. a. men by reason of this want and affliction , are kept from many sinnes , euils , dangers , which many that cannot temper and gouerne their tongue runne into , for they cannot lie , slander , deceiue , they cannot blaspheme god , nor stirre vp the coales of con●ention , the séeds whereof an euill tongue doth cherish . secondly , they are not vndone by their rash & vntemperate words , much lesse are they in danger to lose their liues , as many lewd and slanderous speakers are . thirdly , it is a labour to speake truly : and in silence there is rest . fourthly , if thou hast lost an il tongue , thou art a great gainer by it . fifthly , if thou canst not speake with thy tongue , then speake to god in thy heart ; for god can and doth heare as well when thou art silent , as when thou speakest . lastly , if thou doe but groane , sigh , and cry vnto god , he heareth thée , and that thou shalt féele and finde . for as he that heareth god speake and answer , is not deafe : so likewise he whom god heareth is not dumbe . chap. xv. of ordinary particular euils from without vs , whether at home or abroad . the crosses of euill and bad husbands , wiues , parents , children , masters , seruants , and of a shrewd mother in law . question . how are good women to comfort themselues when they are matched with euill husbands ? a. first , they are not alone . for abigail was crossed by nabal her husband ; and many innocent wiues in moses time , by reason of the crueltie and vnreasonablenes of their husbands , were diuorced from them . secondly , if their husbands in the flesh be euill and shrewd , yet christ their spirituall husband will alwaies intreat them kindly , and louingly visit them by his spirit , if so be that they feare him and beleeue in him . thirdly , they must be of pure conuersation and reuerence their husbands , the hidden man of the heart must be vncorrupt , with a méeke and quiet spirit , and subiect themselues vnto their husbands , and then they shall either win them , or ( at least ) leaue them without iust defence of themselues , or excuse . q how shall good husbands comfort themselues , when they are maried to euill and vnquiet wiues ? a. first , ( it may be ) they were rash in their choice , and did not consult with god by praier , and with good men by conference about it . secondly , dauid , iob , moses , &c. were this w●y somewhat crossed ; and this is almost a common euill , and therefore the more patiently to be vndergone : and if we cannot so well practise patience , we must ( during the tempest of chiding ) absent our selues , and retire our selues into some priua●e place . thirdly , they must acknowledge that they are thus crossed for their sins , and therefore they must the more willingly beare the burthen of their offences . fourthly , if they can endure raine and smoak in their houses , why not then their wiues ? fiftly , they must either by gentlenesse , good perswasions and admonitions reforme their wiues ; for then they make them better ; or else they must beare with their infirmities , and so they make themselues better . sixtly , let their own consciences bear them witnesse , that they faile in no dutie of godlines and loue towards them : & thē let them commit the matter to god ; and what know they whether ( at length ) they shall conuert them or not ? q. how shall good parents comfort themselues that are troubled and crossed with euill and disobedient children ? a. first , goodnes and vertue in children is not naturall , but from aboue , & commeth not from their first birth , but from their second : for that which is borne of the flesh is flesh , & that which is borne of the spirite , is spirit ; and hereupon many good men haue had euill children , as abraham had his ismael , isaacke had his esau , dauid his absolon , and amnon , & hezechias his manasses . secondly , sometimes parents are punished in their children , partly , because they haue beene disobedient to superiours , and to their owne parents , and partly , because they haue béen negligent in teaching , correcting , and bringing them vp . thirdly , all children are not predestinate to saluation , ( as we haue elies sons , hophni and phineas for examples ) and therefore we must not looke to haue all good and holy : for iustification and sanctification followeth onely election , and is not common to all . fourthly , parents must giue their children holy example , and when they are young bend and bow them , & bring them vp in the nurture and information of the lord , and then if they proue not good , their vngodlinesse shall neuer bee imputed to the innocent parents . lastly , though for the present they be euill and desperate , yet hope wel of them , and pray for them , and vse all meanes constantly for their amendment , & then leaue the successe to god the changer of the hearts . q. how shall vertuous children comfort themselues that are crossed with vnkind , euill , and irreligious parents ? a. first , sometimes seuerity in parents , is for their childrens good , who if the parents should not sometimes grow vnkind , they would forget god and themselues . secondly , we must beare , with & excuse their infirmities , ( as farre as wee lawfully and honestly may ) attributing it to old oge● choler , melancholy , &c. and therefore we must either speake gloriously of them , or kéepe silence . thirdly , the more degenerate , and irreligious that they be , the more by our humility , dutifulnes , good exa●ple , and prayers , we must labour to reclaim , and winne them . fourthly , we must note that our parents haue authority & power ouer vs , and not we ouer them ; and therfore we must beare with their manifold infirmities . fiftly , let vs ascribe it to our sins , and want of duety , and reueence to them , that we find them otherwise then wee expected . sixtly , if we faile in no duty towards them , yet wee must remember , that good ionathan was the sonne of wicked saul , ezechias the sonne of wicked ▪ ahaz , and zealous iosias the sonne of idolatrous amon ; who were ( no doubt ) much crossed by , and grieued at their vngodly fathers , yea and tempted by them . q. what comforts are fitte for good masters that are crossed , by euill , and vnfaithfull seruants ? a. first , they must sée and consider whether that they haue giuen them good example , and haue béene carefull to traine them vp in true religion , and godlinesse , otherwise they are as much in ●ault as the seruants ; and if they performe all offices vnto them , they may or will proue like the captains seruants that attended at his becke ; for when hée bad any to come , he came , when to go , he went , and when he bad him do ought he did it . secondly , they must partly by gentle admonitions , and partly by seasonable corrections , labour to reforme their misdeamenours ; if this will not serue , if thou haue hired many seruants , lessen the number of them , and they will the better agrée , and thou shalt not bee enforced to put them away : but if thou haue few , and they be incorrigible , put them away , as sarah turned out hagar , and dauid resolued to haue no slanderer , no proud , no deceitfull , nor lying seruant to abide in his house : and as the lord of the vniust steward expelled him . thirdly , henceforth be more aduised in thy choice , and when thou hast good & faithfull seruants entreat them kindly , and ( according to their good seruice , and deserts ) doe vnto them that is iust , and equall , knowing that thou also hast a master in heauen . q. what comforts and instructions are meete for diligent and dutifull seruants , that either are wronged , misused , or ( at least ) vnkindly entreated by euill lords , and masters ? a. first , many right good and trusty seruants haue béene not onely vnkindly , but also cruelly entreated both of ancient & of latter times . thus was hagar seuerely handled by sarah . iacob collogned withall , and deceiued by laban : joseph put out of seruice , & wrongfully imprisoned by potiphar ; dauid persecuted by saul ; and therefore no strange matter hath befallen them . secondly , the more griefes & wrongs they endure for conscience towards god and for well doing the greater praise and reward shall they receiue from god. thirdly , their hard seruice or bondage , will one day end . fourthly , that they are gods fréemen , for his seruice is perfect freedome . lastly , that god in time will right their wrongs , and requite them that misused them ; for he is no respecter of persons . q. what duties are they to performe ? a. seruants must feare god & vse all good meanes to gaine their fauours , and obey them ( as well in their absence as in their presence ) in all lawfull actions , and doe them seruice , as vnto the lord : & if their masters wil not yet relent they must comfort themselues in their innocency , and recommend their cause to god , whose freemen they are . chap. xvi . of priuate euils that are occasionall and from without vs. question . how shal they comfort and behaue themselus that are crossed with hard and shrewd mothers in law ? a. first , they must content themselues in this , that they haue an heauenly father , and good father in the flesh , and that they haue the church of god for their mother . secondly , she is a woman , and of the weaker sexe , and therfore it is not a part of a valiant man to resist a woman . thirdly , that it is a matter far more glorious and acceptable to god and good men , to passe by & pardon wrongs , then to offer them . fourthly , it must suffice , that the step-mothers loue their fathers , and therefore they must for their fathers sake beare with them , and reuerence them . lastly , the more insolent that their stepmothers are , the more innocent and humble they must be ; they must reuenge the wrongs ( that their stepmothers offer them ) ra●her by not regarding them then requiting them , and the more that the mothers in law hate their sonnes in law , the more must the sonnes loue them ; for then they shall either win them by their well doing , or else leaue them without al excuse or defence of themselues , before god the righteous iudge . q. what comforts are to be ministred vnto them that in iust and law●ull suites receiue many foiles and repulses ? a. first , it is arrogancy and presumption ambitiously to desire to obtain all things that wee néede . for mighty emperours haue béene denied in many things , yea god himselfe ( albeit hee demaund them for our good , and not for his owne , for hee néedeth nothing ) hée requireth many things of vs , which we yéeld him not . secondly , they must perswade themselues , that if their petition had been condescended vnto , it ( perhaps ) had not béene for their good . thirdly , they must not be ouermuch aggreeued , if men denie vnto them small thinges , seeing that god gratiously granteth them thinges of farre greater worth , vse , and excellency . fourthly , if gods children should haue no deniall in worldly things , they would affect the world rather thē gods word , and rather trust in men then in the lord. fiftly , in this world , the mighty are preferred ordinarily before the meane , and great men before good men . lastly , though they receiue a deniall the first , second , or third time , yet if they be patient and constant , they may spéede at last . q. what vse are we to make hereof ? a. first , if wee would haue no repulse , we must craue things honest and possible . secondly , wee must be ready to pleasure others , if wee would haue them to gratifie vs. q. what counsell and comfort is fit for them that are decayed or vndone by rash suertiship ? a. first , it déepely concerneth them to repent of their former vnaduisednes , and be wiser for the time to come . secondly , they must humbly sue to their creditors for fauour , patience , and forgiuenes , or ( at least ) for abasement . thirdly , that which their pouerty cannot pay , they must lay it , and put it on christ , and then god will neuer exact it at their hands . fourthly , it fel out through their selfe-will and voluntary disposition , and therfore they must take it patiently . fifthly , they shall learne by their own hurt , how profitable and pleasant a thing it is to owe nothing , and to liue without bonds and yrons . lastly , if they be onely decaied , and not vndone , it wil make them ( when the worst is past ) alwaies to dread the like daunger , and to feare the like fals . q. what vse are wee to make hereof ? a. first , it behoueth vs to be wary , for whom we become sureties , and for what summes : alwayes remembring that the day of payment will come sooner then wee expect ; and what though for the present , we are able to discharge the debt ; yet wée full little know what losses and empouerishment may befal vs in the meane time . secondly , other mens decaies by suertiship must bee our discipline , and their woes our warnings . lastly , if we be disposed to doe good , let vs rather impart our goods to the poore , then ( otherwise ) to loose our liberty with our liuing . q. what comforts against discontentment conceiued by reason of good seruice towards church and common-wealth , neither respected , nor rewarded ? a. they must take notice of these rules and directions following . first , this procéedeth from mans weakenesse , and forgetfulnesse , and therefore this offence must not bee ouermuch aggrauated . secondly , many worthy men of good parts and seruice , haue béene neglected & reiected in the world ; ioseph was forgotten of pharaohs butler ; dauid an humble petitioner vnto nabal was repelled , and reproched : good iacob a faithful seruant was euill entreated of laban : dauids life was sought of saul , and christ the lord of all , ( yet seruant to all ) was forsaken of all unthankefull men are vngodly vnwise and wicked ; and therfore we must the lesse regard them ; for can men gather grapes of thorns , or figs of thistles ? thirdly , we must alwayes doe good , and looke for our guerdon and reward from god , and not from men . fourthly , the lesse hope and expectation that wee haue of reward from men , ( who are many times vnthankefull , the more reuerend and regardfull is our good seruice before god. lastly , gods children are plaine and simple , and cannot begge , flatter , nor dissemble ▪ and therefore they are not estéemed in the world , much lesse promoted and preferred . q. what duties must wee performe herein ? a. first , we must render to no man euill for euill , but good for euill , and other mens vnthankefulnes must not hinder vs from doing good . secondly , let vs beware , lest whiles wee complaine and crie out of other mens vnthankefulnes , we bee found vnthankefull our selues , especially towards god. lastly , the vnthankfulnes of men must not barre vs from doing good , lest that we forgoe the comfort of a good conscience . q. how shall a man comfort himselfe whose wife is barren , and how shall likewise the woman quiet her selfe ? a. first , they both are freed from euil children , and from the feare of sinne and danger , that they might otherwise fall into . secondly , they are fréed from the contentions of nurses , and the yelling of infants . thirdly , the husband shall bee sure neuer to nourish and bring vp another mans children for his owne . and this is a great benefit ; for if an adulterous wife be a great euill , much more is ●hee that is in this case fruitfull . fourthly , the reproch of barrennesse , maketh the wife more diligent and dutifull : for shee with hannah weepeth , and is silent , when many other women are insolent and imperious . 1. sam. 1.9 . fiftly , god will hereby correct couetous and worldly affections in thē which by the number & multiplication of childrē might be caused and encreased . lastly , in common calamities , especially of the sword , war , and persecution , such shall with more expedition shift for themselues , and haue no cause to mourn and howle for bloudy & vntimely death of their children . q. comforts and counsell for godly and innocent persons , vniustly cast into , and detained in prison . first , many of gods saints , as ioseph , paul , &c. haue beene wrongfully imprisoned , and haue herein been kept in safety from the enemies rage , as paul was , who had a souldier tending on him , and who in prison two whole yeares , receiued all that came in vnto him , and preached gods kingdome , and taught those things that concerned the lord iesu , with all boldnes , no man forbidding him . secondly , many in their imprisonment haue not onely beene preserued from the great euils of the sword , famine and penurie , but haue wrote many famous epistles and works , ( as paul then endited most of his epistles ) yea they haue conuerted many to the lord , and some haue from hence ( as ioseph ) béen exalted to great honour and dignity , eccles 4.14 . thirdly , their mothers wombe was once their prison , and the graue shall be their second prison : and why then do they so much feare the magistrates prison ? fourthly , many of deuotion to god , and because they would be crucified and mortified to the world , haue spent & ended their mortall liues in dens , caues , cloisters , dungeons , and therfore they in prison must carry the same mortified affections , and all will be well . lastly , the day of death , and the day of iudgement wil put an end to it at the furthermost , & therefore they must take their false imprisonment most patiently , and with paul and silas pray vnto god and sing psalmes , and wait also gods good leasure for their deliuerance . q. how shall we comfort them ▪ that are heauy hearted and afflicted , because they are borne downe and oppressed in their lawfull suite ? a. first , we must possesse their minds and hearts with this , that nothing befalleth them but by gods prouidence , and for their good : for hee suffereth this wrong to be done : hee seeth it , and will in time require it . secondly , salomon in his time saw a righteous man perish in his iustice ; and why may not the like happen in our declining dayes ? there are righteous men to whom it commeth according to the work of the wicked . thirdly , god will hereby haue the aduersaries of the iust mans cause ( whether iudges or iustices , lawyers , procters , or apparitors &c. ) to fulfill the measure of their sins , and so ( if they betimes repent not ) to engulfe themselues into the lake of eternall damnation . fourthly , god will haue his people to suffer many wrongs by the wicked , that they should not be corrupted with the flatterie of the world , and so should be condemned with it . lastly , let vs truely and constantly serue our good god , and he will ( partly in this world , and abundantly in the world to come ) comfort , right , and aduance vs. chap. xvii . of the extraordinary euilles , which euen the bodies of gods saints are in this world ( many times ) subiect vnto . question . what are the extraordinarie euils vnto which the bodies of men are subiect and liable ? a. two especially , to wit witchcraft and possession . q. what is withcraft ? a. it is a wicked art or practise , seruing for the working of wonders , by the assistance of satan , so farre forth as god shall in iustice permit . q whether that gods children can be annoied , or hurt by the practises of witches and enchanters ? a. yes , why not ? for first ( as shall be afterwards more particularly shewed in the doctrine of possession ) s●tan transported the holy body of christ from place to place : hee smote job with sore boiles from the sole of the foote vnto the crowne of his head ; he slew his ( religious ) children , job 1.19 . and he bowed together a daughter of abraham eightéene yéeres , so that she could not lift vp her selfe . secondly , all outward things may come alike , both to the good and to the bad . thirdly , god will let his children haue a taste of satans might and malice , that they should beware of his subtill practises , and should desire strength from god , and depend vpon his power and prouidence only . lastly , god doth hereby either manifest and correct spirituall pride , or some hidden sinne in his seruants ; or else hee doth quicken and reuiue the latent and hidden graces of the heart , that they may be thankfull to god for them , and féele them increased and confirmed in themselues . q what vse is to be made hereof ? a. first , hereby it is apparant , that they are wholly deceiued , who haue a strong imagination that their faith is so mighty and perfect , that all the witches in the world , and all the diuels in hell cannot hurt them nor shake it . secondly , it behoueth gods children neuer to presume of outward security from any temptation , but to prepare and arme themselues against it ; and if satan by his instruments at any time ( by gods permission ) afflict and torment them , they must know that it is onely for the triall of their faith and patience , and therefore the end cannot but be good and glorious . q. why doth god suffer his children thus to be tormented ? a. first , that he may ( for the time ) try their faith , and likewise exercise their patience . secondly , that he may at length ( either by life or death ) wholly deliuer them , and then giue satan the greatest soile , when he looketh for the greatest victory and aduantage . q. what vse and application is to be made of this point ? a. first , we must beware that we doe not censure all , or any , thus tormented , with the blacke note and marke of a reprobate , séeing that gods children are liable ( sometimes ) to the hurt of witchcraft , as well as the wicked and profan● people . secondly , we must be content that satan should goe about to winnow vs as wheat , for he shal not preuaile against our faith : well may the chaffe be parted and diuided from the wheat , but the wheat and the sauing grace of god shall neuer be driuen out of our hearts . lastly , the more satan bestirreth himselfe to annoy and displeasure vs , let vs the more v●liantly and vehemently by the word of god , by faith , and praier , resist him , then he will flie from vs , and we shall foile him . q why doth satan by his instrume●ts , endeuor rather to annoy gods children then those that are wicked ? a. because he hath the wicked fast in his hold , and if he should ( ordinarily ) torment them he might possibly estrange them from him , and so lose them . but as for the godly , they haue escaped his hands , and therefore he laboureth to recouer them : they are as the merchants ship , fraught and laden with great riches and pretious commodities and therefore he striueth either to take them , or else to drowne and sinke them . q. what meanes and remedies are there to preuent and cure the practises of witchcraft ? a. there is one soueraigne and principall preseruatiue , and th●● is , to bee within the couenant of grace , made and confirmed in the gospel by the bloud of christ , touching remission of sinnes and euerlasting life ; for to such on one appertaine the promises of the blessed presence of gods spirit , and of the presence and speciall protection of his holy angels , to pitch their ten●s about them , and to preserue their soules and bodies from the power and practises of satan and his instruments , ( namely ) so far forth as is expedient for them . q. how may a man be certified that he is in the couenant of grace ? a. by a liuely faith , applying to himselfe the sauing promises of god in christ and by the fruits of it , in true repentance and obedience . q deliuer some generall restauratiues and remedies against the practises of witchcraft . a. they that are annoied by witches and the practises of withcraft , must practise thrée duties . first , they must note that sinne is the true and proper cause of it , as may appeare in saul vexed with an euill spirit , in hymeneus and alexander , ( for their pestilent errors ) giuen vp vnto satan ; and in the incestuous corinthian , 1. cor. 5.5 . and therefore they must neuer rest , vntill that they haue found out this sinne , and withall wounded and slaine it . secondly , they must shew forth by hearty praier and fasting , their faith whereby they rely on gods méere mercy ; and herein they must pray absolutely for the pardon of their sinnes , but conditionally for deliuerance from the hurts and torments of witches and sorcerers , for they are but temporall euils . lastly , they must comfort themselues in this , that the diuell and his instruments , are but gods executioners , who directeth their practises to his childrens good , and that he being a most wise god , and a louing father in christ , will not suffer them to be tried and exercised aboue their ability , but will in his good time , either in this life , or in the end of this life , by death eternally deliuer them , and put them in present possession of euerlasting ease and happinesse . q. what is possession ? a. it is when the diuell is manifestly present , either in the whole body , or in some part of it ; so that he hath the power and gouernment of it . as for examples sake , when he possesseth the instrument of the voice , as the tongue , and withall maketh the party possessed to speake strange languages , which formerly he neuer either heard or vnderstood , and when he causeth the party possessed to giue notice of secrets , and of things done farre off q. whether is there any possession in th●se daies or no ? a. though possession by euill spirits is in these daies of truth but rare , and of few noted , yet there is , and will be such . and this the writers of the centuries doe record to haue fallen out in euery age , and frequent experience in our own kingdome doth also confirme it . secondly , the causes of possession , namely sinne as the meritorious cause of it , and the demonstration and execution of gods iustice as the finall cause , cease not : for sinne is as rife , yea more raging then euer heretofore ; and god is as iust to punish sinne , as at any time , and then why should there not be possession an effect of it ? thirdly , the proper signes and symptomes of possession , namely lowd crying of the party possessed , renoing of his body , and his lying dead at the point of his dispossession , are in these daies descried and obserued : and why is there not then the thing signified ? lastly , the ordinary meanes of expelling satan , namely praier and fasting remaine , and why not possession ? obiection . q but the miraculous and extraordinary gift of eiecting euill spirits out of the possessed , is now altogether ceased , ergo , there is now no reall and bodily possession . a. the argument followeth not : for though possession in our daies be farre more rare then in christ and the apostles times , & the miraculous gift of casting them out ( by miracle ) be ceased , yet there is an ordinary course remaining and left to the church , namely , praier and fasting ; and not without good reason ; for there is no temptation but god hath prouided a remedy for it , and much more for such an extraordinary affliction . ●nd hereupon when the disciples of christ hauing iointly receiued power and authority to cast out diuels ; and when they assaying to cast out satan out of one of the scribes sonnes , and because satan yéelded not at first , and they beganne to doubt of the sufficiencie of their authority , they had no successe ; for the gift of miraculous faith , was for the time interrupted : hereupon christ referreth them to the ordinary meanes , namely praier and fasting . obiection . but god hath made promises to his children , that satan shal haue no power ouer them . a. all temporall blessings ( whereof this is one ) are promised with condition , namely , so farre forth as may stand with gods good pleasure , and the good of his children , and not otherwise : but it is his decrée , and for his childrens profit , sometimes to be bewitched and annoied by satans instruments . q whether those that were vexed by euill spirits , in the time that christ liued on the earth , or in any age sithence , were onely obsessed and outwardly tormented by satan , or possessed by the substantiall inherence of him in their bodies . a. ( no doubt ) they were tormented both waies . touching obsession , there is no question ; and touching possession , it is apparant by these and the like arguments . first , by a distinct voice heard out of the person possessed , differing from his owne naturall voice . secondly , by the speaking of the hardest languages , which the party possessed neuer formerly vnderstood . thirdly , our blessed sauiour christ cast out a diuell out of a man , and bad him enter in no more . fourthly , the vncleane spirit being gone out of a man , and finding no test elsewhere , purposeth and endeuoureth to returne into his house from whence he came : ergo , he was formerly in it . lastly , ( a few words satisfie men not conceited or contentious ) the experience of most ages , and the iudgement of the most orthodox diuines proueth it . q. whether that gods children may be at any time , or are in these daies possessed by euill spirits ? a. yea truly ; first in these outward things , al may fall alike to the good & bad . secondly , satan by gods permission , had power ouer the blessed body of our sauiour christ , and transported it from place to place , viz. from the wildernesse to a wing of the temple in ierusalem . thirdly , satan infected iobs body with lothsome and pestilent botches and boiles , yea and ouerturned the house wherein iobs children were vpon them , and so crushed and squéesed them in péeces . fourthly , holy and blessed paul was buffeted by satan . fifthly , a daughter of abraham was troubled eightéene yéeres with a spirit of infirmity ; for satan so bowed her , that she could not lift vp her head . sixthly , the woman of canaan her daughter was vexed with a diuell . seuenthly , the child of a true beléeuer was by satan possessed . eighthly , the experience of all ages and times ( more or lesse ) verifieth and iustifieth the truth of this assertion . lastly , fatherly and temporary chas●isements yet remaine ; but possession is ( to gods children ) but a temporary & fatherly chastisement . q. what generall comforts and directions are there against possession ? a. first satans both nature and power is restrained , limitted , and bounded : for touching his nature , he is but a creature , and finite both in knowledge and power . and as touching his power , ( though it be very great ) yet he is so bridled and restrained by the decrée , & will of god , that he cannot put in execution all his naturall power , to the hurt and annoiance of any whatsoeuer . secondly , sundry of gods saints , as iob , and a daughter of abraham , that was bound by satan eightéene yéeres : yea and our blessed sauiours body , was subiect ( for the time ) to satans malice , and yet all happily escaped , and were deliuered : christ by his owne power foiled him , and the other were conquerors in and through christ. thirdly , that in gods children , possession by satan onely annoieth the body , which is as it were the outward wall or the circumference ; but he can neuer win or ouercome the castles of our hearts , nor attaine vnto the center of our conscience . lastly , that possession by euill spirits , is ( to the beléeuers ) but a temporary chastisement , and shall determine in death , ( if not long before ) espe●ally , if publike and priuate praiers and fastings be ( according to christ his ordinance ) vsed . q. what duties are the possessed to performe ? a. they must heartily pray vnto , and call vpon god in christ , to checke satan , and to restrain his power and malice , and ( consequently ) to deliuer them and theirs : and in the meane time , they must patiently beare that particular affliction , and wait gods leasure vntill he deliuer them . iob 13. heb. 11.17 . secondly , they must haue recourse to god in his word , in which he promiseth them his presence , and protection in their greatest dangers . psal. 91.10.11 . zach. 2.51 . esay 66.12 . num. 23.25 . thirdly , there must praier and fasting of the church be vsed for them : for so christ hath ordained and commanded . marke 3.29 . psal. 37.34 . lastly , they must to their holy professions , ioyne practises of good works and newnes of life , and then all things will goe well with them in the end . q. what duties are the friends of the possesed , and his neighbours , and those that attend vpon him , to performe vnto him ? a. first , they must condole and grieue with him , as members of one and the same spirituall body . secondly , they must visit him , and by praiers make intercession to god for him ; for so god hath commanded ; and the praier of a righteous man auaileth much , if it be feruent . thirdly , they must aduertise him that he in no wise send to wizards , nor flie to any vnlawfull meanes ; for this is not the meanes to expell satan , but to entertaine and also to strengthen him . lastly , because in possession , god doth either correct some euill in the party possessed , or make triall of his faith , his friends must endeuor to bring him to repentance for his sinnes , and this being done , to perswade the said party to wait constantly and patiently for the good time of his happy deliuerance . the second booke , wherein are contained soueraigne and most sweet consolations , directions , and remedies against such inward or outward euils , crosses , afflictions , which properly and peculiarly concerne gods church and children . london imprinted by william hall for iohn stepneth . 1611. to the right honourable his very good . lord , the l. harington , baron of exton ; and to the right noble and vertuous the ladie harington his wife , & my singular good ladie , grace , mercy and peace . hauing ( right honourable ) in the former booke treated of such publike and priuate troubles , vexations , losses and calamities that are common to gods children with the wicked ; and hauing ( according to my measure ) sorted out , and set downe such plaine and compendious rules , directions , and consolations , as may seeme most fit and necessary ; i haue in this second booke propounded in order those doubts , distresses , griefes , scandals , trials and afflictions , which did specially and properly concerne gods saints and seruants : ( for many are the troubles of the righteous , and the better christian the more tried and afflicted ) & i haue withall expressed and drawn out of gods booke such certaine resolutions , vndoubted conclusions , and choice comforts , as ( i hope ) will giue good satisfaction and contentment to euery good christian. and hoping that through gods blessing this small worke may doe much good , i haue beene willing to make it common , and for many iust and waighty reasons me mouing , doe deuote and consecrate it to your honours . for , first , your honours being pillers in gods house , and goodly cedars in the lebanon of his church militant , beare your parts in affliction , and therefore the comforts do appertaine vnto you ; you share in the conflicts , and why not in the conquests ? secondly , this my discourse being a subiect and matter of religion and learning , who haue greater interest in it , then such a noble theophilus , & honourable sunamite , who both doe so much fauour , further , and wish well to learning and godlinesse ? thirdly , in whom doe might and meekenesse , honour and humility , greatnesse and gratiousnes , more happily concur , then in your honours ? lastly , hauing receiued so many great and vndeserued fauours from your honours , as the roote , and from your noble ofspring , as the blessed branches ; i could finde no better meanes to manifest my humble dutie , and to testifie my thankfull heart , then by dedicating , and commending these my labours to your patronages . vouchsafe therefore not onely to peruse my meditations , but also to approue them ; that the author may receiue the greater encouragemēt , & the fragrant perfume of your fauourable disposition , may more amply enlarge , and make knowne it selfe . but fearing to bee offensiue and tedious , and assuring my selfe of your honourable acceptation ; i doe here most heartily sue and supplicate to god the father of our lord iesus christ , to blesse the bright morning starre , that princely charge vnder your careful tuition , and herein to respect and reward your faithfull seruice , and watchfull attendance , to remember in goodnesse all your kindnes shewed to his church and childrē , to continue you long in health , to encrease you in all grace and honour , and to replenish your hearts with all hope and comfort . your honours in all dutie , most affectionate , thomas draxe . the second booke . of the soueraigne and most sweet consolations , directions , and remedies against such inward or outward euils , crosses , afflictions , which properly and peculiarly concerne gods church and children . chap. i. question . what are those crosses , troubles and afflictions , that properly and peculiarly concerne gods saints and seruants ? a. they are either inward or outward . q. what are the inward crosses ? a. those spirituall temptations that assault the soules , faith , and sanctification of christians . q. how are they to be distinguished ? a. they are either such temptations which arise from within the mind of gods children , or which are accidentally occasioned and obiected from without them . q. what are those inward temptations and distresses that arise from within the minds of gods children ? a. they are either anguish of mind and distresse of conscience ( in generall , ) or doubts of , and assaults against faith and sanctification ( in particular . ) q. what is distresse of mind ? a. a liuely ●éeling of gods displeasure for sinne committed , whereupon the person distressed is in suspense of gods fauour , and of his saluation , and doth further expect the increase of the same distresse . q. why is it put in the first place ? a. because it is the most bitter and grieuous crosse of all others . q. render some reasons of your assertion . a. first , because they that are hereby tried , exercised , and buffeted , striue not with men , who are weake and mortall , but with god almighty , who is highly offended with them , and is a reuenging god. secondly , no outward act , physicke , counsell , medicines , might or meanes , can possibly relieue and cure such , but onely the word and spirite of god , reuealing and applying the bloud and obedience of christ vnto the party afflicted . thirdly , such distressed soules are more tormented by the coueting and remoouing all sense and feeling of his graces , then if they should be put to all the racks and gibbets in the world , insomuch , that in their symptomes they are moued and drawne sometimes not onely to complaine of god , but to blaspheme him , and to crie out that they are damned . lastly , these temptations and distresses doe of all torments most néerely resemble the paines of the damned , and hereupon dauid saith , that the paines of hell gat hold on him . q. for what ends and purposes doth god oftentimes so t●ouble and afflict the minds and consciences of his children . a. for diuers ends : first , that they finding ( to their griefe ) how odious sinne is in gods sight , may bee the more stricken downe , yea and confounded in themselues , and so be the more mightily stirred vp to godly sorrow . secondly , god will hereby checke & correct spirituall pride in them , by reason of illumination , reuelation , graces , acts done , &c. hereupon paul saith of himself , that lest he should be exalted out of measure by spiritual reuelations , god sent the messenger of satan to buffet him , and the pricke in the flesh to humble and exercise him . god hereby like a good physitian letteth them bloud , and easeth them of all ill humors of pride , worldlines , loosenesse of life , security , &c. and estrangeth them from the friendship , and familiarity of wicked men . thirdly , god will hereby trie and proue , that is , make knowne to themselues and others , their faith , and a traine of most excellent vertues that follow and attend vpon it . fourthly , they hereby , when they are once deliuered , shall be more compassionate to their brethren in the like extremitie . for as one péece of yron cannot be souldred and fastened to another vnlesse both péeces bee made red hote , and beaten together : so one christian member cannot bee soundly affected to another , vnlesse both haue had experience of the same , or the like misery . q. what if temptations and afflictions bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , of long durance , how then shall a christian man hold out , and lose no ground ? a first , by considering that ( besides the long afflictions of iob , dauid , hanna , a daughter of abraham , that was bowed by satan 18. yeares , and the distresses of particular persons in all ages ) the children of israel were long in captiuity in egypt , in caldea , in babylon : the ten generall persecutions were of long continuance , but the end and issue of all , were happy and blessed . secondly , god by the long continuance hereof , doth cure many desperate sins in them , and preuent many euils , into which otherwise they would cast themselues headlong ; these long continuing plasters will fall off as soon as the wounds are cured . thirdly , the lenger that the deliuerance is deferred , the more comfortable will it be when it commeth . lastly , if processe of time rid them not away , yet death will end them . vse . wherefore let vs humble our selues vnder gods mighty hand ; let vs séeke his face , and desire his mercy , which being obtained , let vs sinne no more lest a worse thing befall vs , let vs then beware an after-clap . q. from what speciall causes doth distresse and anguish of minde arise ? a. from two , the one inward & originall , namely , a déepe apprehension , or rather , an ouerrating of sinne committed ; and the other outward , and occasionall , namely , crosses , calamities dangers , distresses , persecutions , and troubles . q. what meditations are good for our restitution , and for the regaining of gods fauour once felt and enioied ? a. we must remember and weigh diuers things . first , that in these desertions , the saints of god in all ages , share and are copartners with vs. secondly , that they are finite , momentany , and sufferable . thirdly , that if they bee weyed in a ballance either with the horrours and torments of the damned , from which christ hath deliuered vs , or with the glorious ioyes of heauen ▪ wherein our lord hath slated vs , they are as nothing , and therefore wee are more patiently , and ioyfully to vndergoe them , 2. cor. 4.17 . heb. 10.37 fourthly , if these temptations , bee great & grieuous , then they ( like strong purgations ) will worke our greatest peace at length . fifthly , we must note , that the way to heauen is not strawed with flowers , and roses , but set with thornes , and therefore we ought to be well shod with the preparation of the gospell of peace , eph. 6. sixtly , god will not long leaue vs comfortlesse , but as the temptation aboundeth , so shall the consolation much more , and the euent shall bee alwaies good . seuenthly , god doth sometimes forsake vs , so that wee sinne greatly , and sometimes that we are hopelesse in our troubles , that gods fauour recouered , should be more estéemed of vs. for as the morning light is more comfortable after the darkenesse of the night , as walking after sléepe , health after sicknes , a calme after a storme , and peace after war : so is gods loue more admired after , and his fauour more desirable & acceptable , when sundry temptations and desertions haue gone before . lastly , god in due season will bring these dolefull desertions to an excellent issue , and to a blessed conclusion . q. what vse are wee to make hereof ? a. first ; we must bée héedfull that wee doe not rashly and vncharitably censure any of gods afflicted children , as though they were finally forsaken . for whom god loueth most hee chastiseth most , and he putteth his chiefest champions and worthies to the greatest hazards . secondly , wee must neuer promise to our selues any immunity from these troubles and trials , but arme and prepare our selues against them . lastly , we must not pine away in our troubles , nor despaire , but wee must liue by faith , and waite vpon our god , vntill he gloriously deliuer vs. q. with what comfortable directions and rules , are the consciences of gods children to bee relieued that are vexed in soule by reason of some grieuous sinne committed ? a. first , they must know that god ( in the matter of our saluation ) worketh by the contraries , and turneth the poison of the sinne of his children into excellent preseruatiues , and restoratiues , & therefore hee sometimes so leaueth them to themselues , that they commit some great sinne that woundeth the conscience , that his grace may be more conspicuous and apparant in their recouery , and that they hauing felt the waight of gods displeasure , may be more watchfull and wary for the time to come . secondly , they must remember that christ his satisfaction to gods iustice is of infinite value and worth , and that if they doe by the hand of a liuely faith apply it to their soules , it will cure the wounds of their soules , be they neuer so great . thirdly , if they debase themselues before god , and strip themselues of all opinion of their own worthines , & withall truely desire to be reconciled vnto god , then god will giue grace to the humble , and accept the will for the deede . fourthly , that doubting , and desperation is like the great monster golias , that defieth the liuing god , and therefore we must not yeeld to it , but resist it , and ( with the fling and sword of gods word ) slay it . lastly , they must meditate vpon gods swéet mercies , past , present , & to come , & laye his pretious promises close to their harts , and they will be so many flagons of wine and apples of comfort to reuiue their fainting soules . q. with what considerations shall gods children comfort themselues , whē god ( for the time ) delayeth either to remoue , or to mitigate inward , or outward afflictions ? a. first , that god is the author of them , and not man onely ( or principally ) and that he turneth them in the end vnto the speciall good of his children . rom. 8.18 . secondly , that gods children of all times are subiect to this temptation and are our companions and copartners herein . 1. pet. 5.9 . thirdly , that the longer that our temptations endure , the more easie will they be ; and that the more violent they bee ( like the blustering and stormie windes ) the sooner they will end ; for nullum violentum est perpetuum ; and god will not ( such is his tender compassion and indulgence ) haue his children tempted aboue their measure and strength . fourthly , that the lord iesu hath long sithence drunke vp the poisoned dregges of affliction , and hath sanctified and swéetned the remainders of it vnto them . fifthly , god is present with his in trouble , he by his spirit doth instruct , direct , comfort and strengthen them , and ●ill ( in good time ) graciously and gloriously , by life or death , frée and deliuer them . q. what is a second , ( though an accidentall and occasionall ) cause that causeth and encreaseth distresse of mind ? a. melancholy . q. what is melancholy ? a. it is ( in regard of the outward matter and original of it ) a kind of earthy and blacke bloud , ( especially in the splene ) corrupted & distempered , which when the splene is stopt , conueieth it selfe to the heart and braine , and there , ( what by his corrupt substance , and infectious quality , and what by corrupt spirits ) annoieth both braine and heart , the seats and instruments of reason , vnderstanding and affections . q. how doth melancholly breed and nourish distresse of mind and conscience ? a. by furthering euill and fearefull conceits : for when the mind of the melancholick person hath imagined , conceiued , and presented to it selfe dreadfull things , then affection worketh vpon it , and then iointly from the mind and affection disturbed and distempered , procéed feares , horrours , desperations . q how is distresse and griefe of mind to be distinguished from melancholy ? a. many waies . first , melancholy may beare sway and preuaile , when the conscience is in a slumber , and no whit disquieted . secondly , distresse of conscience perplexeth the whole man ; but melancholy troubleth the imagination only . thirdly , distresse of conscience ariseth from the knowledge of sinne , and from the feare and féeling of gods indignation ; but the feare and distresse that is occasioned by melancholy , ariseth from pretended and supposed causes . fourthly , he that is distressed in conscience , may , and hath courage in all other things ; but the melancholick person feareth & misdoubteth euery thing . lastly , melancholy is curable by physicke ; but distresse of conscience can by no other meanes be remoued , but by faith in christ his merits and mediation . q. how is melancholy to be cured ? a. first , the melancholick person must be brought not only to an acknowledgement of his sinnes in generall , but of some speciall sinne in particular , that so his melancholike sadnes may be turned into a godly sorrow . secondly , hee must bee distinctly acquainted with the precious promises of god , made to repentant sinners . psal. 97 10. thirdly , hee must touching the outward state of his body , suffer himselfe to be gouerned by his friends and men of skill , or else he must be contained in order by violence . fourthly , he must suffer nothing to enter into his heart that may vex and disquiet him . lastly , the ordinary meanes of physicke must be vsed ; for it serueth to abate the euill humor of the body , and to cure the distemper of it . q. what are the principall and vsuall effects of distresse of soule and conscience ? a. six especially : first , sadnesse and heauinesse : secondly , troublesome and vnquiet dreames : thirdly , wearisomenesse of this present life by reason of daily discontentments : fourthly , desperation of saluation : fifthly , feare of the last iudgement : lastly , feare and expectation of hell fire . q. what comforts and remedies are there against this sadnes and heauinesse ? a. first , in this temptation a christian man must by the feet of his faith , and the wings of his affection come , yea and flie vnto christ , and take vpon him the yoke of his fatherly correction , and then he shall finde rest vnto his soule . secondly , let him looke and long for the lords gracious and fauourable presence , no otherwise then the sea-beaten traueller longeth and looketh for the hauen : and euen as the eies of seruants looke vnto the hands of their masters , and as the eies of a maiden vnto the hands of her mistresse : so his eies must wait vpon the lord his god , vntill hee haue mercy vpon him . thirdly , he must with iacob wrestle with god by praier , and not cease to vrge and importune him , vntill he blesse him , and then he shall ( at length ) preuaile with him , and haue his quietus est . fourthly , he must consult and be aduised by the ministers and preachers of gods word , to whom he hath giuen the tongue of the learned , that they should know how to minister a word in season to the weary , and comfort the foeble minded . fifthly , the greater that his vnquietnesse is , the more must he fasten and fixe his minde vpon christ , in whom alone he shall finde peace . for as he that climeth vp a ladder , the higher that hee ascendeth , the more fast hold he taketh , so the more that a man is oppressed with heauinesse , the more earnestly should he fix and fasten his mind vpon the lord iesu. sixthly , hee must turne and transchange his worldly sorrow into a godly sorrow ; for then his sadnes shall end in gladnes , and his sorrow in singing , no otherwise then after raine commeth faire weather , and after stormes calmes . seuenthly , he must not so muse and thinke vpon sorrowfull and displeasing obiects , much lesse yéeld vnto that sorrow whereof he can render no certaine cause , for then his sorrowes will become vncureable , and kill him : but it is his part to study and ponder vpon the swéete promises of god in christ , made to humbled and repentant sinners ; he must also ioy in , and be thankefull for gods graces and gifts conferred vpon him , which will feast and refresh his soule . eightly , he must vse and take comfort in gods good creatures , of meate , drinke , herbs , plants , and especially solace himselfe in the greene and most delectable spring of the glorious resurrection daily approching , when god shall wipe all teares from his eies , and fill him with vnutterable pleasure . lastly , when he is recouered , he must be truely thankefull to god ; and pity and kindly entreate them that are in like extremity . q what comforts are to be applied to them that are disquieted with fearefull dreames ? a. first , few dreames are true , because they are either equiuocall , or ordinarily false , and therefore not to bee bebeléeued ; and as for all propheticall dreames , they are now ceased . secondly , it is better to dreame of things that are dreadful vnto vs , then those that are delectable and desireable : for the deceit of a dreadful dreame is pleasant , and the issue of a delightsom dreame is many times sorrowful . thirdly , iob dauid , and others haue beene this way afflicted . fourthly , if wee dreame of any euill that may befal vs , as we may not credit it , because it is a dreame , so it is good we should beware of it , and the occasions thereof , and preuent it by praier . lastly , disquiet and feareful dreames procéed ordinarily from cares , vexation and distraction of mind in the day time , and therefore wee must disfurnish and vnlade our selues of them . q. what practises are necessary to preuent fearfull dreames ? a first , moderate and spare diet ; for from a full stomack arise noisome fumes which trouble the braine . secondly , a quiet disposition , and the following of quiet studies in the day time , which will be the cause of quiet repose in the night . thirdly , a carefull and conscionable execution of the works of our christian and ciuill calling . fourthly , before we goe to sléepe , a diligent examination of our selues , and a sorrow for sinne committed , and good omitted , and the exercise of reading , conference , praier . lastly , if our dreames be troublesome , terrible , and from satan , wee must by earnest praier resist him , and bid him anaunt , and we shall finde maruellous comfort after it . q. how much a christian quiet and pacifie himselfe that is weary of this present life , by reason of many crosses , toils , troubles , and discontentments ? a. first , hee must remember that euery man is borne to many crosses , and that no calling is fréed from them : and therefore he must learne to take vp his crosse daily , and to follow christ. secondly , he must as well looke to be chastised of god , as cherished , and to be as well crossed as comforted ; for he must by many afflictions enter into gods kingdome : and therefore hee must encounter with these euils , and vse no vnlawfull euasion to ease himselfe of them . thirdly , hee must reade much , yea muse and meditate vpon the swéete and sugred promises of god , contained in the scriptures : if he delight herein , hee shall not perish in his troubles : psal. 119.92 but be reuiued . lastly , hee must be often conuersant with gods children , and desire their aduice , praiers , counsell , direction , and then they will be like so many ionathans to comfort him , and so many simons to helpe him to beare his crosse. q. what is desperation ? a. it is when a man in his owne sense and féeling , is without all hope of saluation . q. how doth this come to passe ? a. thus , when a man being preuented , falleth into some offence , which satan doth maruellously aggrauate , both by accusing the offender , and affrighting him with the iudgements of god. matt. 27.3 , 4 , 5. q. with what comforts and perswasions shall gods children arme and furnish themselues against this temptation ? a. first , that gods mercies in christ are of an infinite extent , and doe by many degrées excéed and goe beyond all their sinnes whatsoeuer . psal. 103.10 , 11 , 12. secondly , that christ came into the world not to call the righteous , but sinners to repentance , and that they that sée not , might sée : and that they which sée , ( namely , in their owne opinion and conceit ) might be made blind ; and to séeke and saue that which was lost ( namely , in their owne sense and estéeme ) : and therefore afflicted sinners haue no cause of doubting , much lesse of despaire . thirdly , the greater that our sinne is , the greater is gods mercy to them that depend vpon him ; so that where sinne aboundeth grace aboundeth more . fourthly , christ is a continual intercessor for them to god his father , and god heareth him alwaies . iohn 11. fifthly , that to call gods goodnesse , truth , and power into question is a great sinne , and that thereby they offend him as much as by any other sinne . sixthly , that many of gods déerest saints and seruants haue béen ( in a sort ) emplunged and engulfed in the pit of despaire , as dauid , iob , the church in the canticles , &c. yet by praier , by meditating vpon their former experience of gods mercies : ps. 77.10.11.12 . 1. sam. 17.37 . and by waiting gods leasure with patience , they haue happily recouered themselues , and haue béen more confirmed for the time to come . seuenthly , that god , when his children séeme vtterly forsaken and doe conflict with gods wrath , are not wholly nor finally forsaken , but are inwardly with the woman of canaan supported by gods power , who doth in his good time bring iudgement vnto victory , or truth , that is , he wil so iudge and raigne , that at length hee will bee a conquerour . eighthly , that god in this case accepteth the will for the déede , and a desire of reconciliation for reconciliation it selfe : so that this our desire bee matched with a setled purpose , and a full resolution to forsake all sin ▪ and to turne vnto god. luke 15.18 . ninthly , that in the beginning of a mans conuersion , and in the time of some gréeuous temptation , god accepteth of a desire to beléeue for faith it selfe . mat. 8.25.26 . tenthly , that desperation in gods children is but temporary , and therefore curable : for god teacheth them , he loueth them with an eternall loue , he enlightneth and guideth them by his spirit , and hauing begun in them the worke of grace , he will finish it vntill the day of christ. lastly , that all the rules and principles of christian religion are demonstratiue , and certain both in themselues , and also in the minds and vnderstandings of gods children . q. what vse is to be made of all these propositions ? a. first , séeing that desperation is the high way to hell , yea and the mouth of it , let vs not nourish it , and so hereby increase our sinne , and lessen and discredit gods rich and roiall mercies , but rather let vs build and bind vpon them , for the hauen of mercy is prepared for the repentant . secondly , it is our part to beware of doubting , distrusting , and vnbeliefe ; for hereby we stop the current of gods mercy , and shut the doores of our hearts that the sunneshine of his grace cannot enter in vnto vs. lastly , wee in this case must not cast our eies vpon our owne vnworthinesse , as though we should bring a pawne in our hands , and bind god vnto vs by our owne works ; but wee must take notice of the infinite extent of gods mercy and compassion , and striue to beléeue and apply all the promises of saluation . q. how are they to bee comforted , that tremble at and are sore afraid at the remembrance of the last iudgement ? a. first , their feare of the last iudgement ( so that it bee not vnmeasurable and vnreasonable ) is a notable alarum to awaken them out of , and to kéepe them from the slumber of security . hereupon saint paul by the terror of it , endeuoured to perswade men to repentance . and saint ierome ( whether he did eat , drinke , sléepe , study ) thought that he heard alwaies sounding in his eares , arise ye dead , and come to iudgement . secondly , gods children being in christ , and hauing him for their sauiour , friend , mediator , and iudge , shall neuer come into the iudgement of condemnation , but shall heare that comfortable sentence ; come ye blessed of my father , inherit ye the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world . q. what vse ( in a word ) is to be made hereof ? a. we must spiritually imitate the last iudgement , by arraigning our selues before the barre of gods iudgement ; we must indite and condemne our selues for our sinnes , and then the last iudgement shall not minister vnto vs matter of terror , but of triumph . q. js it peculiar to gods children thus to bee sometimes perplexed with doubting of gods fauor , and their owne saluation ? a. yes : for first the wicked and prophane man is not sensible of his owne wants , but is presumptuous and confident , though he be notwithstanding deuoid and destitute of faith and inward holinesse . secondly , that the child of god is subiect to such doubtings and wauerings , it thus appeareth . first , satan desireth to sift them only , and to spoile them of the rich treasure of grace in their minds and hearts . secondly , whosoeuer truly beléeueth , féeleth & findeth in himselfe many doubtings and distrustings , as the whole and sound man perceiueth in himselfe many grudgings of diseases , which if he had not health he could not féele . hereupon we reade how many of gods most worthy seruants haue doubted , yea and almost despaired . the man in the gospel , whose sonne was possessed with a diuel , doubted when he praied christ to helpe his vnbeliefe : iob 3. & 13. dauid , psal. 77.8 , 9 , 10 , 11. and psal. 116.1 . ezechias , esay 38. and many others haue béene brought vnto the pit of desperation . thirdly , gods children onely complaine of , abhorre and resist doubtings and wauerings , yea and pray against them , and therefore they must néeds be subiect vnto them . q. what are the principall meanes to suppresse these ( or the like ) doubtings ? a. the consideration of these meditations following . first , it is gods commandement that we should beléeue his manifold and precious promises , which if wee refuse to doe , wee iustly defraud our selues of gods fauour , and of our owne saluation . hebr. 3.18 . & 19. secondly , the promises of grace are generall to all gods children , and shut out no particular person : and therefore when such offers of mercy and grace are made vnto vs , and confirmed by the sacraments of baptisme and the lords supper , let vs by the hand of faith apply them to our owne soules and consciences . lastly , that by doubting of , and calling the truth of gods goodnesse , & swéet promises into question , we offend god as much almost as by any other sinne ; for hereby we rob god of the glory of his mercy , and make him ( what in vs lyeth ) a lyer , because we will giue no credite to his promises , nor apprehend & lay hold on them . q. what practise is necessary for our helpe and recouery ? a. wee must retire our selues into some secret place , humble our selues before god , make known our wants vnto him , and entreat him to worke faith , and suppresse vnbeliefe in vs , and he wil heare vs. q. comforts and counsell for them that stand in feare , and expectation of hell fire . a. it is good and profitable , euen for the regenerate oftentimes to speake , thinke of , and stand in feare of hell , that they may hereby bee preserued from euill , and confirmed in goodnes . hereupon our blessed sauior thus armeth & exhorteth his disciples against persecution ; feare not them which kill the body , but are not able to kill the soule , but rather feare him that is able to destroy both body and soule in hell fire . secondly , there is no hell to the beleeuers , for the sting of death is taken away by christ , the godly haue eternall life , and are already ( viz. in beginning and hope ) passed from death to life , 1. ioh. 3.14 . joh. 5.24 . thirdly , christ did not onely ( many hundred yeares sithence ) by his death , and soule-sufferings satisfie his fathers iustice for vs , but alwayes sitteth on his fathers right hand to make continuall and effectuall intercession for vs : rom. 8.34 . and how then can we possibly perish ? lastly , our soules forthwith , after that they are loosed from our bodies , are carried by the blessed angels into heauen , and our bodies shall be raised in glory at the general resurrection ; how then can we slauishly feare hell ? chap. ii. of doubting of gods fauour , and loue toward vs. question . whether it be incident to any of gods children to doubt of his loue and fauour ? a. yes verily , and that sundry times . q. for what ends ? a. first , that he should know , that faith , and a ful perswasion of gods mercies is not naturall , or procéeding from the power of a mans owne frée will , but spirituall , and inspired of god by his spirite . secondly , that a christian séeing his owne weakenesse , and how busie satan is to take the aduātage of his infirmity , should by prayer entreat the lord to strengthen his faith , and to ease him of scruples and doubts . lastly , that hereby god might traine and exercise his elect in the spirituall battel ; for they seeing their manifold doubts and ignorances , are hereby prouoked to search the scriptures , and to take notice of gods promises , that by the due application hereof , their faith might bee fortified and strengthned , and the remainders of ignorance and doubting , be by degrees abolished . q. how shall gods children comfort themselues , when by reason of the number and heinousnesse of their sins , they cannot be perswaded that they are gods children ? a. by remembring and laying close to their consciences , these ( or the like ) rules and directions following ; first , it is a great part of our perfection to learne out , and so to lament a mans errours , and imperfections . secondly , god will pardon all sinnes to them that beleeue , and repent , be they as the sands of the sea for number and waight : and hereupon we reade in the scriptures , how that iudas hauing committed incest ; dauid hauing in the pride of his heart numbred the people , and added thereunto adultery and murther ; salomon in his defection giuing a toleration to idolatry ; peter hauing thrice denied his lord and master ; mary the adultresse , paul a blasphemer and persecutor , zacheus an extortioner , diuers con●urers , whereof we read in the acts of the apostles , the incestuous corinthian , repented , and were receiued into grace and fauour with god. thirdly , christ their sauiour came into the world to saue sinners , and for this end gaue himselfe for them ( to be ) an offring and a sacrifice of a swéet smelling sauour to god , & by death hath destroied the diuell that had the power ouer death ; and therefore he will deliuer them which for feare of death are in bondage . lastly , if they doe but hunger and thirst after grace , and in good sadnesse séeke the lord , and the pardon of their sinnes , they shall neuer bee sent away empty , but be filled with good things , and in gods court get their quietus est , luk. 1.53 . apoc. 21.6 . q. what course must a christian take that hee may bee eased and disburdened of his doubting ? a. first , he must be prouident that he doe not minister matter and nourishment to this doubting , by calling the power , truth , and mercy of god into question , and by giuing credite vnto satan , who is alwayes a lyer , and a murderer , and seeketh his confusion ; but hee must against hope , belieue vnder hope , all that god hath promised , and vali 〈…〉 st the diuell , and hee will flée from him . secondly , he must often meditate vpon gods excellent and abundant mercies , and appropriate them to his owne vse , and by faith flie vnto the throne of grace , and then he shall find help in time of need , namely , rest to his soule , & peace to his conscience . psal. 103.9.10.11.12.13.14 15. lastly , hee must not onely conferre with and communicate his doubts and irresolutions to gods ministers , and his christian friends , that may be the organs and instruments of god to perswade and comfort him ; but importune the lord by constant and earnest praier , to send downe his holy spirit , that may teach him al truth , and guide his feet into the way of peace , and then he cannot but speed well . q. how shall a poor distressed christian bee informed and reformed in his perswasion , that doubteth whether that christ be his sauiour in particular , or not ? a. first , he must knew that gods mercies in christ cannot for length , bredth , deepenes , and continuance bee comprehended , and like the sunne so shine vpon all men , and like the running springs , so offer themselues to all sorts , that none are put by , and shut out , but by their owne vnbeliefe and wilfulnes : and therefore hee must entitle himselfe vnto , and make claime of gods generall pardon in christ , and then hee sh●ll neuer miscarrie . secondly , if a man bee teachable and fractable , and doe humbly sue and seeke vnto christ for assurance of faith , he shall vndoubtedly obtaine it . lastly , seeing , that ( in the worke of our redemption specially ) god worketh by contraries , out of darkenes , he draweth light : out of sinne , sanctimonie : out of want , wealth : out of reproch renown : and out of death , life : &c he must with faithfull abraham , contrary to hope , belieue vnder hope , and he shall ( at length ) be assured that christ is his sauiour . obiection . where there is no word of god there is no faith : but there is no particular word of god to ascertain mee that christ is my sauiour in particular , how then can i haue any speciall perswasion of faith ? a. though thy name bee not mentioned and expressed in scripture , yet there is that which is equiualent thereunto , namely , a commaundement to belieue , and a promise of saluation to him that beleeueth , math. 28.18 . & 19. secondly , if thou canst not at first be perswaded that christ is thy sauiour in particular : be a diligent hearer , frequent and feruent in prayer , an ordinary resorter to the lords supper , a conscionable liuer and conferre with thy pastor , and christian brethren , and it shall be said vnto thee , as vnto the woman of canaan , great is thy faith , bee it vnto thee according to thy desire . obiection but hypocrites , heretickes and prophane persons may make an apply of the generall promise , and yet bee farre wide of any true assurance . a. their application is but a meere deceit or illusion , for they make an application presumptuously , hauing neither the hand of faith , nor the seale of sanctification . the diuell plaieth the iugler with them , and maketh them belieue that they see that which they see not , and to be full of faith , when they are starke banckrupts in all sauing grace . but it is farre otherwise with gods children ; for they being indued with the spirit of grace , appropriate gods generall promises to themselues ; for when god in the preaching of the gospell saith , seeke yee my face , they answere , o lord wee will seeke thy face : and when god shall say , thou art my people , they shall answere , the lord is our god. zach. 13.9 . lastly , gods elect when they are adulti , and tall men in christ , they doe firmely beleeue , and so vndoubtedly know it , as a man that holdeth a pretious iewel in his hand knoweth so much , otherwise they should find no comfort in their calamities , nor be thankfull to god for graces receiued . math. 9.2 . math. 15 28. psal. 143.12 . rom. 4.22 . q but my faith is full of weakenes , ignorance , doubting , and therefore i feare that i haue no faith at all . a. ( deare brother , ) you haue no such reason of feare and doubting ; for albeit your knowledge which is the eye of your soule , be somewhat dimme , yet ( blessed be god ) it séeth him that is inuisible ; and though the application of faith in you ( which is the very life of your faith ) is but féeble , yet it is sufficient to touch the hemme of christ his garment , and so to saue you , and as for other parts of it ( such as are confessiō for sinne , godly sorrow for the same , hunger after grace , and earnest desire of pardon ) they are strong , sound and sure , and of such force as the gates of hell shal not preuaile against them , and the least sparke of this faith quencheth all the fiery darts of the diuell , and no maruaile : for christ your blessed sauiour wil not quench smoaking flaxe nor bruise a broken réede , but will perfit the begun work of grace in you . secondly , ( by your owne confession ) a weake faith ( so it hath christ onely , so as he is reuealed in scripture for his onely obiect ) is a very true faith : a weak and sickly man is a true man , so a weak faith is a true faith : and therefore it hath in the scriptures the denomination of faith , and is accepted with god for faith . for as euery graine of gold is gold , so euery quantity of faith is faith , and the imperfections and failings in true faith , doe no more take away the name and nature of it , then a great mountaine of chaffe doth take away the name and nature from the corne contained in it , or the drosse in a great mine of gold , doth take away the name of it , ( albeit the gold be the lesser part ) for god accepteth it for the better part . thirdly , no man is absolutely perfect in faith , for the most regenerate haue but the first fruites of the spirite , i. some small portion of it : and hereupon the apostles themselues besought christ to encrease their faith ; wherefore in this case we must not be daunted nor discouraged , but beséech god to confirme our ●aith , and be frequent in hearing and reading of the scripture : for the word preached that begat it , will encrease and strengthen it . obiection . but my calling is very laborious , and many difficult works offer themselues to bee performed , which i cannot see how i can vndergoe . a. first , god that hath giuen thée thy calling and fitted thee for it , wil blesse thee so long as thou walkst in his waies , hee will prosper thy handy worke , and perfite his power in thy infirmity , 2. cor. 12. secondly , god according to giftes and graces receiued , measureth out to euery man his calling , and the labours thereof ; for he obserueth a geometrical proportion in distributing his temptations according to his seruants strength , and in employing them in seruices answerable . thirdly , the holy ghost is the spirite of strength , who enableth thee to dispatch and absolue the most weighty , and dangerous workes of thy calling ( as he did abraham , dauid , paul &c ) and by the help of him that strengthneth vs , we shall be able to doe all things . fourthly , no excellent worke can be performed , or notable act atchieued at home , or abroad , without labour , paines , diligence , continuance . lastly , god hath promised to blesse and assist vs in the workes of our lawfull calling ; wherefore let vs depend vpon gods commandement , and desire strength of him , and wee shall obtaine our desire . q. but the sacred scriptures are so diuersly , yea and contrarily in sundry points and places expounded , that i cannot be perswaded that they are gods word . a. first , the diuersity or variety of interpretation doth not preiudice the truth of scripture : for many scriptures , as for example the canticles , diuers psalmes of dauid , as the 2. the 45. the 73. the 91. &c haue both a literall and an allegoricall sense . secondly , diuers places may bee diuersly expounded , and yet nothing expounded against faith , hope charity , and then the exposition is not euill . thirdly , they that expound the scriptures in an absurd or contrarie sense , are but meere naturals and carnall men , who ( for want of spirituall vnderstanding ) cannot discerne the things of the spirit . for as the eye in the body cannot see without the light of the sunne : so the naturall man , ( be he neuer so acute and criticall ) cannot without the light of the spirit iudge of heauenly thinges . fourthly , though many parts of scripture be hard & obscure to the most regenerate man : yet this darkenes is not in the scriptures , for they are light it selfe ; but in our blindnes , ignorance , infirmity . lastly , no man vnderstandeth all things , but some man one thing , & some another , according to the measure of grace receiued , and euery day the truth is , and will be more fully reuealed . q. but how can the scriptures bee gods vndoubted word , seeing that by the preaching , interpretation , and application of them , many are offended , and made worse ? a. first , the pure , powerfull , eternal , and holy word of god , is not the cause hereof , for it is in it own nature the wisdome of god and power of saluation , the immortall séed and food of the soule ; but the fault is altogether in the hearers , who either doe not vnderstand it , or belieue it not , or else contemn it : to them alone it is the sauor of death vnto death : they are owles , and cannot endure the light of the sunne ; they are sicke of a burning feuer , and cannot abide the wine of the gospel ; they are filthy swine , and therfore cannot abide this delicious muskadell , but are thereby swelled vnto death . secondly , the vaine and atheisticall hearers , doe conceiue of the scriptures as of a mans inuention , and not ( as it is indeed ) the sauing word of god , & hereupon they being offended at it , are ( accidentally ) made worse . and herein they are like to samuel , who when god began to call him , as he did seuerall times heare the voice of god and not knowing it so to bee , but supposing it to bee the voice of elie , returned to his naturall sléepe and rest : so the greatest sort of them that are outwardly called , because they heare gods word as the word of men , and so estéeme it ; they like dogs and swine returne to their former filth and vomit of their sins . lastly , as we must not contemne nor condemn iewels , pretious stones , artes and sciences , because the ignorant know not their worth , and so regard them not , so though some , or many , ignorantly or contemptuously refuse to be bettered by gods word , we must not be offended at their abusing and despising of it , but rather condemne their madnes , & make benefite of it , and thanke god that hee hath giuen better light and more grace . q. why doth god suffer the faith of his children to labor of so many doubts , wants , and imperfections ? a. first , to bring them to a true touch and sense of their sinne , & that they may perceiue in what need they stand of christ , and of euery drop of his bloud , that so they may sue & seeke vnto christ for recouery . secondly , to correct , abate , and pull downe pride , humour , and selfe conceite in them , to which they are so lyable , and enclinable . thirdly , to traine and practise them , in the daily fight and battaile against sinne , and to make them such expert soldiers , that satan though seeking an occasion to sift them , shall be wholy disappointed of his expectation . fourthly , to perfect his power in their infirmity , he will enable them to performe all , for his grace is sufficient for them . q. what vse are we to make hereof ? a. first , wee must bee thankefull vnto god for the seedes and beginnings of grace , and for the least measure of true faith , lest otherwise wee prouoke god either to depriue vs of , or ( at least to diminish his graces bestowed vpon vs. secondly , we must bewa●le our manifold defects , wants , and back slidings , and diligently vse all holy meanes , to cherish , further ▪ and confirme our begun faith , such as are the ministery of the word and sacraments , preaching praier , conference , meditation , and the holy practise of all good works . lastly , hauing a true faith ( though for the present borne downe with the winter of affliction ) let vs perswade our selues that it will reuiue in the spring of gods graces . chap. iii. of the distresse of mind that ariseth from the sense and seeling of a christians weaknesse and imperfectio● in sanctification , and first of all in praier . question . what course must a christian take to relieue and ease himselfe , that findeth and ●eeleth many imperfections in his praiers ? a. first , hee must acknowledge and bewaile his wants and failings . secondly , he must desire from god a further addition of zeale . thirdly , when he cannot pray as he desireth , let him then sob and sigh vnto god in his praiers , for god who searcheth the hearts , knoweth what is the meaning of his owne spirit ; and no maruel , for these groanes are effects of gods spirit in him , and are ( as it were ) so many glorious beames breaking out from it ; and god accepteth and approueth of them , as may appeare in the examples of moses , of the children of israel , of ezechias , of iehosaphat , and others . fourthly , he must remember that the power of christ remaineth to cure his infirmities , and to remoue his imperfections . lastly , the more imperfections that he findeth and perceiueth in his praiers , the more earnestly must hee labour for the remouall and reformation of them . q. what vse is to be made hereof ? a. first , hereby are met withall and condemned , all such who ignorantly count them the best proficients in praier , who neuer knew what these wants and imperfections meant . secondly , no man must cease from this exercise of praier , because of his wants : for so long as any man liueth here , hee is but in the beginning of perfection . q. but i feele my selfe cold , dull , and drousie in my praiers : how then can i haue any true sanctification ? a. yes , thou maiest well assure thy selfe of the truth of thy sanctification , so thou loue god ▪ and delight to commune with him by praier . secondly , it is good that thou shoulde●t sometimes discouer and discerne the dulnes and deadnes in praier , that thou mightest more earnestly desire this gift : otherwise thou wouldest thinke it naturall , and wouldst attribute the glory of it not to thy god , but to thine own selfe ; for thus thou wouldest offend , if thou couldst alwaies pray according to thine owne satisfaction . lastly , if we can but sigh and sob ( for wee preu●ile more by sighes then by words ) god will heare and helpe vs. for shall an earthly father pitie and regard the groanes and sobs of his sicke sonne , and will not our heauenly father much more regard and pitie vs ? q what vses are we to make hereof ? a. first , when we haue an ability to pray , and a will thereunto , we must be thankfull to god for it . secondly , if the spirit of praier bee weake in vs , we must call and cry vnto god for further grace , and we shall obtaine it . lastly , we must by all good meanes stirre vp the spirit of praier in our selues . obiection . i in my praiers am troubled and disturbed with many euill , idle , worldly , and carnall thoughts , and therefore j doubt that i haue not the spirit of praier . a. ( déerely beloued brother ) though these vaine and sinfull thoughts are so many sparkles of corruption that proceed from the furnace of our vncleane heart , and are like the birds that defiled and disturbed abrahams sacrifice : yet note for thy comfort , that the most regenerate man in earth cannot sound out all the corruptions in his heart , much lesse is hee able to remooue them . for his new birth is onely begunne , and tending towards perfection , but not complete ; and then no wonder though some dregs of corruption yet remaine . q. what course shall we take for our helpe and redresse herein ? a. séeing that prayer is so heauenly an exercise , and so preualent with god , and so offensiue to satan , let vs stirre vp our zeale herein : and for our furtherance heerein , it is good for vs , ( before wee pray ) to talke and conferre reuerentlie of heauenlie things , to reade the scriptures diligentlie , and meditate in them , and then wee shall be possessed with better thoughts . lastly , we must not yéeld to , but resist , and earnestly pray against euill thoughts , yea and intreat the lord of his grace to purge and purifie our hearts , and then these vaine and idle thoughts shall lesse vex and annoy vs. obiection . i haue long importuned the lord by prayer , and the lord will not vouchsafe to attend vnto my praier , therefore i feare i haue not the spirit of praier . a. you haue no cause thus to doubt ; for god doth not deferre you , because he purposeth to deny you , but to cause you to haue his gifts in more high estéeme , and to make you more sound sincere , and more earnest and instant in praier . secondly , it may be that the thing that you desire of god , if it were granted you , would not profit you , but turne to your hurt ; and therefore god in his mercy refuseth to spéed your yéeres . thirdly , dauid , job , the people of god in captiuity , and the church in the canticles , that sought christ in her bed by praier , and that consulted her christian acquaintance , & the ministers of gods word , were long delaied , but at last graciously heard . fourthly , god by putting off your praiers , will exercise and set on worke your faith , patience , constancie : and when he prospereth your petition , he wil replenish you with the greater ioy . lastly , though god heare you not , according to your wil , yet he heareth you for your wealth ; and though he heare you not according to your expectation , yet he heareth you to your saluation , and therefore you must take all in good part . q. when god delaieth and deferreth to grant our praiers , what duties then behoueth it vs to performe ? a. we must not faint in our praiers , but persist therein , and cry vnto god day and night , and then god will heare vs , and we shall preuaile with him as iacob did . our petition shall not be returned non inuentus est , but we shall haue corpus cum causa . secondly , we must look that the things we beg and craue , bee lawfull and conuenient for vs , and then ( if wee with patience wait gods leasure ) he wil spéed our desires . obiection . but i feare that i haue committed that vnpardonable sinne against the holy ghost , because i commit so many sinnes against knowledge . a. thou ( déere brother ) hast no cause thus to doubt , because thou art sory and grieued for thy sinnes . secondly , thou repentest of them : but he that committeth this sinne , neuer sorroweth nor repenteth for so doing . secondly , they that sinne against the holy ghost , tread vnder foot the sonne of god , they count the bloud of the new testament , as an vnholy thing , they despite the spirit of grace , they f●ll away wholly and finally from the reue●led truth of the doctrine of christ , and of their redemption , yea they incessantly blaspheme , deride , and persecute it ; but thou continuest in the approbation , profession , and practise of the truth , and remainest sound in iudgement , and sincere in affection ; therefore thou art farre from this sinne . onely thou art to be aduised , that thou beware of backe sliding , and the occasions thereof , & that thou ( as often as thou sinnest ) so often thou renew thy faith & thy repentance , and so preuenting the beginnings of apostasie , thou shalt neuer come to the extremity of it . q. what if a man finde himselfe remisse , carelesse , and negligent in the duties of praise and thanks-giuing vnto god , can he then assure himselfe that he standeth in the state of grace ? a. yes : for he doth acknowledge his infirmity , and would faine be cured of it , and this is a print of the seale of gods blessed spirit in him . secondly , all gods children are subiect to this sinne , for either they forget , neglect , or losse esteeme gods benefits , then their worth and excellency requireth : but yet they are reuiued and stirred by preaching , doctrine , exhortation , admonition , and gods fatherlie corrections in depriuing them of , or in diminishing his blessings formerly bestowed vpon them . q. what restauratiues are there for a mans recouery ? a. these meditations and practises following . first , that he by nature is depriued of the life of god , and vtterly destitute of grace , and therefore vnworthy of the least of gods mercies . secondly , that the benefits of redemption , and the graces of saluation , do far excell and excéed ( in vse and continuance ) all earthly blessings : for they are transitory , they cannot quiet the conscience , much lesse saue him , or any man , from the wrath to come , or from death & euerlasting destruction : but these spiritual graces & blessings make the possessor of them truly blessed in this life , and perfectly blessed in the life to come . thirdly , that thankesgiuing vnto god is more excellent and acceptable then praier for it sometimes is hypocriticall and constrained ; but thanksgiuing is a frée will offering , a swéet smelling perfume in gods nostrils , and the principall exercise of the church triumphant in heauen , and therefore we must herein imitate it , and giue god all the glory of it . lastly , the forgetfulnesse of gods benefits , whether in sauing vs from euill , or in leading vs into good , is a brand of a prophane man , and a thing most distastefull to the diuine maiesty . q what practises are good for our helpe and furtherance herein ? a. first , we must sundry times and seriously meditate vpon our vowes of repentance and new obedience which we made to god in our baptisme , whereof thanksgiuing is a part . secondly , we must renew our thanksgiuing by the often and holy receiuing of the eucharist or sacrament of the lords supper : for herein is a liuely representation of our redemption , and of the heauenly blessings of christ bestowed vpon vs , and wrought for vs. thirdly , we must wonder at , extoll , and admire gods gracious gifts and blessings ; for this practise wil make vs more thankfull for them . lastly , we must note that many , yea and most kingdomes , countries , nations , prouinces , cities , townes , villages , and in them many millions of people , haue not so much as the outward means of those graces of saluation , wherewith we are ( or may be ) richly adorned : and therefore how thankfull should we be ? chap. iiii. of a relapse into sinne , and of long continuance in it . question . can that man haue any dram or scruple of sauing grace , that falleth eftsoones into one and the same sinne ? a. yes : why not ? for first there is no greater perfection i● the effect , then in the cause , nor in the whole , then in the parts : but the cause of our obedience , i. our faith , and the parts of our regeneration .i. the renewing of our vnderstanding , will , affections , are vnperfect ; ergo the whole must needs bée vnperfect , and therefore no meruaile that a saint of god falleth once , againe , yea , & the 3. time , into one and the same sinne . secondly , abraham lyed twice , and sarah consented : lot was twice drunkē , and so twice committed incest : peter ( through feare ) thrée seueral times denied his good lord & master : and ( to omit more examples ) iohn the euangelist , twice fell downe to worshippe the angell , taking him for christ : but all these were gods deere seruants and repented . thirdly , god would heereby correct presumption of our own strength in vs , and make vs more to pitty our brethren when they fall , because we are subiect to the like infirmities . fourthly , our gracious sauiour is ful of mercy and will infinite times forgiue them that repent and turne to him . fiftly , the true christian at length doth recouer out of his sinne . lastly , christ is a continual , and an effectual mediator for such , and therefore they cannot fall away from grace , nor perish ; for he wil not forsake them for euer , 1. iohn 2.1 , 2. q. what vse are wee to make hereof ? a. first , wée in our anguish and distresse of soule , must set before our eyes the examples of those that haue through infirmity often committed the same sinne , and yet haue béene forgiuen . secondly , wee must bée grieued in our hearts for euery sinne so committed , and sinne no more lest a worse thing befall vs , and lest custome of sin bréede an habite , and so we be hardned in it , and perish . thirdly , wee must not yéeld to the enticements of sinne , ( as adam did to eua ) but we must resist them , as iob did his wife prouoking him to sinne . fourthly , seeing that few such are recouered , let vs willingly make no trade , practise , or occupation of sinne as doe the workers of iniquity . lastly , if wee bee cladde with the glorious garments of christ his imputed holinesse and righteousnesse , wee must beware that wee staine and defile it not by sinnes of knowledge and presumption ; and we must ( for the time to come ) be carefull to auoid all occasions and allurements vnto sinne . q. but what if a christian long sleep and continue in a knowne sinne , how then can hee any way assure himselfe of the truth of his sanctification ? a. yes : he sinning either of some ignorance , or of infirmity , without any delight in sinne , or resolution to sinne ; for grace and a resolution to continue in any knowne sinne , cannot stand together . the reasons that a sanctified person may long continue in a sinne , are , or may be these . first , ( perhaps ) he is not throughly conuicted that it is a sinne . secondly , he is alwaies in battell against sinne , satan , and the world , and therefore may receiue a venue or wound that is not presently cu●●● , but yet his faith cannot faile . thirdly , dauid continued a whole yéere in his murder and adultery , before he repented , and master luther when he began to sée the truth , lay some three yéeres in desperation . fourthly , a regenerate man in his spirituall sight is taken captiue , but full sore against his will ; for hee is gréeued much for it , and from his heart desireth to be deliuered , and therefore by such a temptation , grace and faith are not wholly taken away , but rather declared and made manifest . q. what vse is to be made hereof ? a. first , if a man ( through infirmity ) haue laien long in any sin he must study and striue by all good meanes to get ground of it , and to ouermaster it , and then it shal be laid to satans charge , and not be imputed to him . secondly , séeing that he in the continuall combat against the world , the flesh , and the diuell , cannot possibly escape without some spirituall wounds , ( yet not deadly to the beléeuer ) he must by spirituall medicines salue and cure them . chap. v. the complaint of small profiting by the ministery of the word and sacraments . question . i profit very little , and nothing so much as i would by the word and sacraments , and therefore j feare that my profiting is to no purpose , and my hearing of the word fruitlesse . a. your manner of reasoning and concluding is not good . for first , you bewaile your wants , and withall zealously desire to make better procéedings ; and this is no worke of nature , but of grace . secondly , little increases , as in all naturall things , so in spirituall , are true increases , and many littles make a mickle . thirdly , they that find themselues to make such small and leasurely procéedings , doe hold that which they haue learned by the ministery of the word , farre more surely , and soundly , then they that so suddenly seeme to profite . fourthly , admit that your knowledge be not much encreased by the ministery of the word , yet your affection is much bettered , and your life much more reformed . last●y , albeit you doe not forthwith after the hearing of gods word , and immediately after the receiuing of the sacrament , find and feele the graces of the spirit reuiued , enceased and confirmed in your selfe , yet you must wait gods good leasure , and expect the fruit of it in the time appointed . for as the seed cast into the earth doth not instantly fructi●ie : a purgation doth not forthwith worke , and expresse his vertue : and as an infant groweth not to mans estate in a moment ( but time and space is required to all these : ) so you must not look that the séede of the word will incontinently worke in you , or the manna of the lords supper presently and sensibly encrease your faith , hope and loue to god and your brethren , but let it suffice you , that you grow by degrees , and in truth . q. what vse is to bee made hereof ? a. first , you must beware left by the ignorance of your own estate before god , or by too much complayning of your infirmities , you rob not god of the glory of his graces bestowed on you . secondly , the lesse that you find your selfe to profit , the more diligent you must be in hearing ▪ prayer , conference , &c. q. but j am dull in conceiuing the meaning and vse of gods word preached , how then can i bee a right hearer ? a. first , the apprehension and sense of thy dulnes ( if thou be careful to learn ) wil make thée more capable of the swéet and heauenly influence of god● word , which he that would be partak●r of must lay aside all conceit of his owne wit , vnderstanding , and capacity . secondly , if there be in thee ●ut o●e sparke of heauenly vnderstanding , 〈◊〉 faith , if it be stirred vp by the breath , of gods mouth , will soone take the match and ●inder of familiar and gratious instruction . thirdly , the more dull that thou art , the more attention , sobriety , watchfulnesse , and diligence then must vse , and thou shalt at length preuaile and profite . fourthly , a dull wit and modest , is better then a quicke and desperate , for a dull wit , if it once truely apprehend a point , it will long reta●ne , but a quicke wit will soone forget that which it hath quickly and suddenly learned . lastly , we for the remedy of our dulnesse must pray vnto christ , to open our wits to vnderstand the scriptures , and to enlighten our eyes to behold the wonderfull things of his law , and hee that taught his apostles the whole will of his father , will teach thee all things necessary for thy saluation . q. my memory is very weake , and i remember very little or nothing of so many excellent lessons and instructions tha● are taught me , how shall i comfort and relieue my selfe ? a. first , thou must strengthen , and confirme thy memory by daily exercise : for diligence , indu●●y , and methode , will much helpe memory , and supply the wants of it . secondly , the more weake and vncertaine that thou findest thy memory , the more speedily must thou call things that thou hast heard , to account , an● conferre with thy godly brethren about them . thirdly , thou must be sure to remember the text well , to affect the minister teaching , and to delight in his good doctrine , and this will much further thee . fourthly , thou must remember what vices reproued thou art subiect to , and in what duties vrged by the preacher thou failest : and apply this particularly to thine owne soule , and thou shalt remember more . happy art thou if gods word and minister find thee , and happy likewise art thou , if thou canst ▪ wilt remember that thou art thus found . lastly , thou must pray vnto god to giue thee vnderstanding and capacity , and to sanctifie thy memory for the conceiuing and treasuring vp of the best things , and then god wil heare thée , and send his blessed spirit the comforter to teach thee all things , and bring all things to thy remembrāce that thou hast formerly heard . q. but i am hardhearted , and the word of god little or nothing moueth me ; what course shall i take to soften & mollifie my heart ? a. first , it argueth grace in thee to be sensitiue of this thine infirmity , and to desire redresse of it . secondly , hardnes of heart will alwayes ( plus minus ) steale vpon vs , and haunt vs , therefore let vs arme our selues by the word of god against it , and ( to this end ) let vs not onely endure priuate admonitions , but suffer gods blessed ministers by the hammer of his law and iudgements to worke vpon our hearts , yea and to breake and bruise them . thirdly , thou must by earnest , and continuall prayer , entreat the lord to take the stony heart out of thy bowels , and to giue thée a fleshy and a soft hart , whereupon god may worke by his word , and wherein his spirit may dwell . lastly , thou must bewaile this thine infirmity , and for the remouall of it , and the further sanctifying of thy heart , thou must waite for , and tarry gods leasure , who will in time cure and ease thee . q. what shall they doe , that hauing sundry times receiued the lords supper , doe yet complaine that they perceiue in themselues no encrease of faith , hope , and loue by it ? a. first of all , they must lament , and bewaile their former negligence , & want of preparation . secondly , they must for the time to come , keepe a court and day of hearing in their owne consciences , and better examine and prepare themselues for so holy a sacrament : for thus they are commaunded , and without performance of this duety , there is no worthy receiuing . thirdly , they must not looke at the very instant , or immediately after the receit of the sacrament , to find & féele their profiting : for as a good medicine sheweth not forth his vertue at first , nor the seed straight waies groweth and yeeldeth increase : so the sacrament ( though in faith and reuerence receiued ) doth not alwaies presently yeeld sensible comfort to the receiuer . lastly , they must call vpon god to bestow further grace vpon them , and then they must waite his leasure vntill he speede their desire . q. how are we to prepare our selues before wee come to bee partakers of the publicke . ministerie of the word and sacraments . a. first , we must consider the super-excellent maiestie of him , before whom we appeare , and the most excellent nature , vse , profite , and comfort of the word and sacraments , in faith , and reuerence heard and receiued . secondly , wee must loue the habitation of gods house , and the place where his honour dwelleth , and therfore before wee come thither , wee must wash our hands in innocency , wee must lay apart all filthines and superfluity of mali●iousnes , and receiue the word of god with meekenesse , and with all readinesse , act. 17.11 . thirdly , we must come with a mind to learne and profite ; wee must heare what the lord our god saith vnto vs , and by the hand of faith receiue whatsoeuer he offereth vs. fourthly , we must come to the holy assemblies in the loue of god , and our neighbour , and féeding at gods table , both in the preaching of the word , and in the administration of the supper of our lord , wee must bring with vs the wedding garment of faith and true holinesse : otherwise neither the word nor the sacrament will profite vs , but rather make vs worse , and poison vs. lastly , we must entreat the lord by priuate praier , to teach vs inwardly by his spirite , and to frame our hearts to the obedience of his will. q. how are they to be censured and iudged , and what course must they take for their redresse and comfort , that indeed find in themselues a great desire & zeale to obey , but yet faile often in the act of obedience ? a. first , a godly man is perfect by imputation by christs righteousnesse , ● not by inherent and begun holinesse ; and he is perfite rather in purpose then in his practise : and rather in his desire , then in his déede . secondly , god ( in his children specially ) looketh vnto the heart and affection , and not to outward things . thirdly , it is a signe of a perfect man to find his imperfection ; for this procéedeth not from nature ( that is altogether blind in matters of regeneration ) but from the spirit and grace of god , wherby hee reuealeth to his their estate . fourthly , the more that he faileth in obedience , the more humble must hée be , and desire further grace & strength from god. fifthly , hee must remember , that yet the iebusite and cananite ( 1. sinnes and imperfections ) are in his borders , and therefore he must put on and exercise the spirituall armour , vntill hee hath foyled and subdued them of blasphemous thoughts . q. can they ( possibly ) haue any true sanctification that are often assaulted & encountred with many vile , horrible , & abhominable thoughts ? a. yea vndoubtedly , for satan that séeketh to sift al holines out of them , will violently suggest and foist such thoughts sometimes into their minds . q. how are these thoughts to bee sorted and distinguished ? a. they either arise from within thē , by reason of the corruptiō of their harts , or else they are outwardly obiected and iniected by sathan . q. what if they arise from within vs , what must we doe for the remouing and reformation of them ? a. first , we must not onely not consent vnto , allow , and cherish them , but repent of them , pray against them , stedfastly resist them , and bee carefull by the rule of gods word to order and compose them , and then god will ( in his mercy ) passe by , and pardon them all : but if we neglect and omit these duties , then we shall lie open to all the assaults of the diuell . secondly , we must be frequent in the reading and meditation of the holy scriptures , and entreat the lord to open our eyes to vnderstand them , and frame our hearts to obey them ; and then these wicked thoughts shall either not come into our minds , or else they shall be soone driuen out of possession . lastly , we must bee aduised to make more conscience of holy duties , and ( especially ) of preaching , prayer , and of receiuing the lords supper , then formerly wee haue done ; lest for the omission hereof we be iustly giuen ouer to ill thoughts . q. but what if they bee onely from without , by satan obiected vnto vs , and thrust vpon vs , wee giuing no assent vnto them , how shal we comfort our selues ? a. wee must comfort our selues in this , that our blessed sauiour was thus tempted by sathan , who suggested and iniected due thoughts into his mind ; but christ neuer assented to him , but ouercame him , and hath for vs broken his head , and dissolued all his works , so that hee cannot preuaile against our faith , or preiudice our saluation . q. what course must wee take for our helpe and redresse herein ? a. first , we must not striue against them ; seeking violently to driue them away : for then wee shall be the more entangled with them , and like so many bees buzzing about vs , they will sting vs : but we must let them goe . lastly , if they continue molesting vs , then we must turne to christ and desire his helpe , who hath so conquered them for vs , that they shal neuer get full victorie ouer vs. chap. vi. of those temptations , scandals , and offences that are by tyrants , wicked men , heretickes , apostates , schismatickes , prophane protestants , false brethren , and by the manifest abuse of the law , and ecclesiasticall discipline , accidentally occasioned , or obiected outwardly vnto vs. question . what signifieth this word scandall or offence ? a. it is a borrowed speech , & properly signifieth a blocke or stone laid in a mans way , at which he stumbleth . q. what is it ? a. it is any cause or occasion of grief or offence , whether in word or deed , example , or counsell , whereby a man is hurt or hindered in the course of godlines , or whereby he is hardned , and confirmed in euill . q. why doth god permit it ? a. first , to trie and proue his people whether they will by any occasionall matter obiected in their way , be reuoked from his loue and obedience . secondly , to manifest lewd minded men and reprobates , who are ready to take any occasion of stumbling , sinning , and erring . q. what are the kinds of it ? a. two , active , ( or that which is giuen ) passiue , ( or that which is taken . ) q. what is a scandall giuen ? a. any euill doctrine , word , or work , that is contrary to the loue of god and our neighbour , whereby the godly are grieued , the weake drawne to sinne & errour , and prophane men confirmed & hardened in their licentious courses . q. of how many kinds and sorts is it ? a. of fower kinds : first , when weake consciences are by false doctrine , and the falling away of men from the truth , withdrawne from the simplicity & sincerity of the gospell of iesus christ. secondly , when holy and innocent men are defaced . thirdly , when men are offended by ill examples , especially of the professors of orthodoxe religion . lastly , when by the abuse , or the vntimely , or vnseasonable vse of their liberty , men driue the weake from christianity . q. what vse are we to make of scandals giuen ? a. first , in this generall corruption and wickednes of men , we are to looke for nothing else , but we must arme our selues against it . secondly , let vs beware , that neither through pride , vnseasonablenes , or any preposterous word or déede , wee bee an offence to others , lest wee bring a woe vpon our owne selues . lastly , let vs by our words , works , and behauiour , endeauour to draw others to follow vs in vertue and holines . phil. 2.14 . & 15. q. how shall good christians arme themselues against , and preserue themselues from the gangrene , poison , and pestilence of false and damnable doctrine ? a. first , by remembring that false teachers must of necessity arise , and false doctrine be broached , that they that are approued may be known : but woe be to the authors of it : luk. 17.1.2 . secondly , by considering , that this smoake of the bottomlesse pit doth onely blind their eyes , who despise prophecying , and will not walke and delight themselues in the cleare light of the sacred scriptures . thirdly , they must note that the true sheepe will not follow a stranger , ( i. one that bringeth strange and false doctrine ) but they will ●●ee from him : for they know not the voice of strangers , neither will they bid god spéed to such : but they heare the voice of christ & follow him : for he hath the words of eternall life , and to whome should they goe besides ? ioh. 6.68 . lastly , that it being none of gods plant shall ( at length ) be rooted out , and the clouds of it shall bee wholy dispersed when the sunne-shine of the gospell breaketh out . q. what duties are wee to practise herein ? a. first , seeing that false doctrine is most dangerous and damnable , putting out the sight of our spirituall eyes , and infecting the affections of our harts , we must so much the more beware of it : and for our direction herein heare christ , watch dayly at his gates , and giue attendance at the post of his dores , that we may know gods wil , & grow & increase in the knowledge and obedience of it . secondly , it standeth vs much vpon to shunne the company of false teachers and seducers , lest by their doctrine , disswasion , and ill example , wee be tainted and corrupted : for why should sheepe conuerse with foxes , and lambs with wolues ? lastly , we must hold fast that which wee haue learned , and confirme it by daily hearing and reading of the holy scriptures ; but as for those that are false teachers , which cause diuision and offence , contrary to the truth , and by faire words deceiue the hearts of the simple ; let vs marke them diligently , and auoide them . q. how shall weake christians arme and resolue themselues against a generall declination and apostasie from the gospel of christ ? a. first , the wicked and prophane are the greatest in number , they know not the law of god and are accursed , and therefore we may not in matter of religion make their example a rule & warrant of our faith and practise . secondly , they that reuolt from the professed truth , and from the communion of gods saints , are those that are none of the catholicke church , for then they would haue continued in it , and they are such whose names were neuer written in the booke of life . they are chaffe by the fanne of affliction ●euered from the good corne : they are like the prodigal child that would néeds depart from his fathers house , where he liued blessedly ; but yet they with him neuer reuert , nor repent ; and they are spunges that being pressed with tribulation , soone lose and let goe all the water of gods grace , which they ( in some sort ) had , or ( at least ) seemed to haue . thirdly , these that thus fall away from the soundnesse and sincerity of truth , are such that either did neuer content themselues wi●h the simplicity of gods word , but did , and doe mingle it with the poison of humane traditions , or else did neuer receiue the loue of the truth . fourthly , most of them were ( peraduenture ) neuer rightly informed in the knowledge of the truth , much lesse conuinced of the soundnesse of it in their consciences , no maruell then that they fall from that they neuer knew , and had no other ground for it , but the command of princes , and the example of others . lastly , this apostasie from faith and sound doctrine both in the raigne of antichrist and that which shall be towards the end of the world , was long sithence foretold by christ and his apostles , and therefore we are the lesse to be offended at it . q. what duties must wee in such an apostasie performe ( for our preseruation ) and the cure of others ? a. first , we must attend diligently to the blessed ministry of gods word ( for it is a lanterne to our feet and a light to our pathes , without which wee shall stumble in the darke , and shall not know whither to goe ) and we must liue , loue , and obey it . they that heare gods word , and doe it , are the wise men who build vpon the rocke . secondly , we must ( if we can ) separate our selues from the common infection , or at least mourning for our hard hap , get vs the preseruatiue of faith and a good conscience . thirdly , christian magistrates must maintaine the truth , and banish error and false teachers ( if they can . ) and all faithfull ministers must by the word of truth refute all infectious doctrine , and exhort them earnestly to be constant in the profession and loue of sound and sincere instruction ; and they must more labour by the preseruatiue of wholsome doctrine , to preserue the sound from the pestilence of error , then to cure the infected , which are ( commonly and for the most part ) vncurable . lastly , we must beware of the beginnings of apostasie , for , nemo repente fit turpissimus . q. what comforts and preseruatiues are there against the scandall of false and vniust excommunication ? a. first , it is oftentimes incident to gods children thus to be dealt withall . iohn 9.35 . and 16.2 . secondly , if the pope and his adherents excommunicate vs , we must note that they are hereticks , idolaters , and no true members of a true visible church , and therefore their excommunication i● but like a fencers flourishing , or rather like a leaden dagger , and cannot hurt vs. for the keyes of discipline and doctrine , and the eccle●iastical censures , are proper to the true church of christ , whereof they are no parts nor members . lastly , if any gouernor , officer , or elders of the true visible church , vniustly excommunicate any of gods children , they are so farre from excommunica●ing them from the fauour of god , from the kingdome of heauen , or from being true members of the church , that they ( as an antient father writeth ) excommunicate themselues ; wherefore let vs endeuour to be holy , innocent , and inoffensiue , and then we haue no néed to feare any false or abused excommunication . q. what if wee in the country or kingd●me where we dwell , see the poore oppressed , and innocency defaced , how shall wee then keepe and preserue our selues from being scandalized ? a. first , if we sée in a country the oppression of the poore , and the defrauding of iustice , we must not be astonied at the matter , for the highest séeth and regardeth it . secondly , if we looke for a church or state without spot & taint of error and iniustice , we must seek it in ●eauen only , where all things are established in an absolute and eternall order and perfection ; or else we must get vs into mauqsun , or sir thomas more his vtopia , where we shall finde such a state and policie . thirdly , in this distresse wee must haue recourse vnto the magistrate his helpe , and when one faileth or neglecteth vs , we must séeke to another . lastly , if we sée all outward meanes to faile , we ought to call and cry day and night vnto our god , we must make him our iudge and reuenger , and wait vpon him vntill he right vs , and then ( though hee seeme to vse long patience towards our aduersaries ) he will auenge vs and that quickly . q. why doth god so sharpely censure , and so roughly handle his iust and innocent children ? a. first , no man is innocent before god , for there is no man that sinneth not ; if god straitely marke mans ) iniquity , who shall stand ? and no flesh ( by his owne workes ) can be iustified in gods sight , so that the all-piercing eye of the almighty , that is tenne thousand times brighter then the sunne , and clearer then crystall , can ( if it please him ) find sufficient matter to condemn them in their begunne iustice and innocency : wherefore we must not thinke them to be altogether vncorrupt in this wicked world , as the fish that liue in the salt sea , their own element , nothing sauour of the saltnes of it : but that they ( in part ) are tainted with the worlds corruption . secondly , god will not haue his children peruerted with the worlds sinnes , much lesse perish with them , and therfore hee doth thus seuerely , and that sundry times , scourge and chastice them , for he would haue them with this salt water of trouble , to wash out the spots of sinne . thirdly , man is no equall iudge of mens sinnes , and so of their afflictions , but wee must reserue the censure and iudgement hereof to god onely , for hee onely eyeth mans secret sinnes , and can and doth righteously censure and punish them , but man is so farre from finding out the number and nature of secret sinnes , that hee in the cloudy myst of his owne ignorance can hardly discerne the quality and desert of notorious offences , and those that are already brought to light : but onely taketh notice of certaine outward tracks , impressions , and actions . and therefore wee must not thus without cause complaine , nor picke quarrels with god almighty . lastly , god would hereby affright the wicked , if not reforme them ; for if iudgement begin at the house of god , what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospell ? and if the righteous bee scarsely saued , where shall the vngodly and sinner appeare ? q. what vse are we to make of gods proceedings herein ? a. we blind sinners must not take vpon vs to iudge of the guilt , and to determine of the circumstances of mens sinnes , and of their estate before god ; but we must referre the iudgement hereof to gods all-séeing eye , and to his sincere iustice . secondly , in such hidden and intricate causes and cases , that are vnknowne vnto vs , wee must shut our mouthes and suspend our iudgementes ; for who are we that condemne an other mans seruant ? for he standeth or falleth to his owne master . lastly , if god seem to deale extreamly with vs , we our selues then must s●● the remouall of this imputation , search●● sift into our owne wayes , and call t● our remembrance , what duties commaunded we haue omitted , and what euill things forbidden we haue committed ; and how that god in his strict iustice might condemne vs for the least offence , and then wee shall admire god ; patience that hée handleth vs so gently , and doth in his bottomlesse mercy passe by and pardon so many imperfections and offences in vs. q. but forward men in religion , and many noted professors by their loose life and practises of iniustice , offend many simple hearted men , and weake , yet well affected christians ; what preseruatiue is now to be vsed ? a. the due meditation and practise of these canons and conclusions following , as namely ; first , many professors are not so bad as the world would make them , a mole hill in them is made a mountaine , and a moat is made a beame , their infirmities , like spots in white paper , or fine linnen , are soone espied and noted : but prophane people are not obserued , and their grosse sinnes are silenced and suppressed . secondly , if any , or many , vnder the cloake , and maske of zeale , labour to couer their practises of deceit , couetousnes and iniustice , &c we must know that the visible church of christ is compared to a field , wherein is not onely wheate but tares ; to a garden , wherin are both good herbes , and also wéeds ; and to an house wherein are not only vessels of gold , and siluer , but also of wood and earth ; and therefore if wee looke that all professors should be without fault or infirmity , and all should be good and none euil ; we must looke for them in heauen onely , and not in earth , where are more euill , then good men . thirdly , the diseases and sins of the soule are not contagious as those of the body are ; for the soule is not infected ▪ vnlesse it giue a consent and allowance to other mens sinnes ; and therefore let vs keepe our selues frée from their sins , and then we néede not to bee scandalized at their euill dealings which wee cannot helpe . lastly , euery man must beare his owne burden , and answere for his own sinnes ; and therefore let vs rather correct our owne sinnes then be scandalized at other mens faults : and let vs striue to bee perfect in an euill generation . q. what practises are necessary in such a case ? a. first , we must beware that wee doe not without cause , censure , and condemne such ; and if we find them faulty , and hereupon reproue them , that we bée not as bad and worse our selues . secondly , if many vary much from their sacred profession , and bee workers of iniquity , ( for the preuention of this offence ) wee must know that we are to walke rather by rule then by example , & rather by the canon of gods word , then by custome . lastly , it is our duty to reproue , pitty and pray for such offensiue professors . q. how shall poore and weake christians confirme themselues in the faith , or preserue themselues from defection , when many noted and notable persons that seemed pillars , reuolt from the sincere truth of religion ? a. first , they that fall away from the substance of true religion , and forsake the assemblies and fellowship of the saints in the vse of the word , prayer and sacraments , were neuer well rooted in it : ●or had they beene , no wind or tempest could haue ouerturned them ; they were onely meteors or blazing starres soon extinct , but not true starres , for then they had continued in their firmament , and no night of afflictions could haue put them out ; for if they had béen of the church , they would haue continued in it . 1. joh. 2.19 . apoc. 13.8 . secondly , they neuer receiued the loue of the truth , and were neuer soundly grounded in the principles of christian faith ▪ and therefore they were apt to be seduced with the poi●on and efficacy of errour . for as the fire burneth nothing but that which is combustible , and apt to bee consumed : so heresie infecteth none but such as neglect the means of knowledge , or that denie the power of godlinesse in their hearts and liues . lastly , god will by their reuolting take an occasion the more iustly to damn them , and to trie , and make known the constancy of his children , who neuer doe wholy , or finally fall away from faith . q. what duties are wee to performe to preuent an apostasie in our selues ? a. first , because eminent persons by their fall like oakes beare downe all things that lie in their way ; let vs beware of their company and communication . secondly , let vs beware of the beginning and occasion of apostasie : and for our direction herein , pray for the spirite of reuelation and strength , and in no wise neglect the ministerie of the word & sacraments . q ▪ but how shall a nouice & a weake christian perswade himselfe of the truth of his sincere profession , when hee seeth and heareth that sundry learned men die in defence of idolatry and popery ? a. first , no heretickes ( though they dy in defence of errors ) are martyrs , but all papists are heretikes : for the obstinate maintaining of iustification by works , inuocation and adoration of saints and angels , worshipping of images , and especially of their breaden god , denying the sufficiency of the canonicall scriptures , are so many heresies ; ergo , iesuites , seminaries , and popish priests , that are put to death by the christian magistrate , are no martyrs . secondly , non poena sed causa facit martyrem , they that b●are the crosse , and follow not christ , are no martyres of his : and therefore most damnable is the condition of iesuites , seminaries , who die for treason , and not for truth : and not for testimony of a good conscience , but for the wilfull trangression of christian lawes . thirdly , their suffering is of no account before god , for they want charirity : which appeaeth in this that they are vtter opposites and aduersaries to the gospel of christ and the sound professors of it . fourthly , they being no true members of the church of christ , but rather incurable persecutors of it , and being slaine out of the church , doe not winne the crowne of their faith , but the reward o● their felly . lastly , true martyrs ascribe all the glory of their redemption and saluation to gods mercy in christ onely ; but popish martyrs glory in their owne works ( though neuer so vile & vnperfect ) & they make them exp●atory for sinne , and to me ●t saluation . q what vse are we to make hereof ? a first , wee must distinguish and rightly iudge betwéene true martyrs and false ones , which wee shall be enabled to doe by obseruing these rules following . first , true martyrs die in defence of the substance of pure religion : but false martyrs suffer and die in defence of error heresie , and idolatry . secondly , true martyrs at their execution shew sorth singular patience in their words , testimony , behauiour ; but false martyrs either are outragious and impatient , or ( at least ) by art doe stupifie and dead their flesh , that it may become insensible of paine . thirdly , true martyrs die holily , couragiously , ioyfully , without all feare and doubting of the truth of their cause , or of the certainty of saluation : but popish martyrs die ( many times ) irresolued and astonied . fourthly , true and euangelical martyrs are holy , chaste , innocent , feruent in praier , and diligent in their ciuill and christian callings : but the like cannot be verified of the popish martyrs . lastly , god at the death of true martyrs , hath sometimes wrought strange and wonderfull works , as to speake when their tongues haue béen cut a out , and to be vntouched of the fire b albeit oile were put into it : but in the popish martyrs no such accidents haue fallen out . secondly , let vs sée and be resolued by gods word , that our cause is good , and for christ ; & then let vs suffer as cōfidently , yea much more comfortably and happily , for the truth , then they for antichrist and superstition , knowing that our end shall be blessed . q. when factions , diuisions , schismes , grow and preuaile in the church , what are we to iudge of that church , and how is a christian then to arme himselfe ? a. first , wee must remember that where the truth ( many times ) most ●lourisheth , there satan laboureth to make rents and diuisions , and to sow tares amongst the good wheat . secondly , the church of corinth was a notable apostolicall church , and yet there were many factions in it . thirdly , wee must not separate our selues from such a church , except it erre in the fundamentall points of faith and true religion ; but we must herein comfort our selues , that this schisme is without heresie . fourthly , as long as there is error in iudgement and péeuishnes in affection , wee must looke for nothing else but schisme . fifthly , schismatikes that depart from the communion of the faithfull , and from the participation of the body and bloud of christ , indanger their owne soules . lastly , god permitteth diuisions , factions , and schismes in the church , that the faith and loue of his children might be tried ; now their faith is tried , whiles they stumble not , nor suffer themselues to be seduced : and their loue and charity is tried in admonishing them that are the authors and occasioners of these sidings , schismes , diuisions . q. what vse are we to make hereof ? a. if wee be men in authority , wee must betimes striue to roote out , and remoue out of the church whatsoeuer may iustly minister an occasion heereof . secondly , ministers must by doctrine and writing note and confute those diligently , which cause diuision and offences , contrary to the doctrine which they haue receiued , and auoid them . rom. 16.17 . secondly , if wee be but priuate persons , we must beware of pride and selfe-conceitednes , lest we rashly condemne a true and notable visible church for defects and imperfections in the doctrine and practise of discipline or church policie , and so without sufficient cause make a rent from the same , and hereby disturbe the common peace ; for we must not depart from it , vntill it depart from christ. lastly , we must by praiers , sutes , supplications , teares , and amendment of life , labour to procure better reformation in church and commonwealth : and if we cannot attaine it when wee would , then let vs in the meane be a discipline to our selues , and execute it amongst our families , and let vs passing by the imperfections of a church , bee thankfull for , and make vse of the good things of it ; for it is better to endu●e an inconuenience and couer an infirmity , then by any publike opposition to make a rent in the church . q. how shall a man comfort himselfe that liueth amongst euill , vnquiet , and irreligious neighbours , or what duties must he execute and performe ? a. first of all , hee that hath a good neighbour , hath ( as we say ) a good morrow : but an ill and vnquiet neighbour , is like a beare , a lion , a tiger , a viper ; and therefore some euill , by reason of an ill neighbour : and herein we must learne either to win him , to endure him , or else ( if we can conueniently ) to get our selues far from him . secondly , if we would dwell néere no ill neighbours , we must get our selues into some wildernesse . thirdly , we must beware lest we be as bad or worse our selues ; for euery man is a sharp censurer of others , but he is a p●rtiall iudge of himselfe . fourthly , it may be that a man hath béen harsh and sharpe to his neighbour , and therefore he is iustly plagued with such an one himselfe . lastly , let vs be innocent as dones , giuing no iust occasion of oftence vnto him , but rather praying for him , and endeuouring to winne him by kind offices , but let vs be wise as serpents , to beware he doe no mischiefe against vs. q. how must they arme and comfort themselues that are forsaken , beguiled , abused , and betrayed by their ( reputed ) friends ? a. first they must remember , that the world hath not wanted such euill examples , and pernicious presidents : was not the caitiffe cain false and traiterous to his innocent brother abel . was not achitophel perfidious and treacherous to dauid , ioab to abner , & amasa , yea and iudas to our lord and sauiour ? and the world sithens that time is nothing reformed , but rather generally worse . secondly , vnfaithfulnesse and true friendship are incompetible , and can neuer suite nor consort together , & therefore the losse of such fained and false hearted friends is rather to bee entertained with laughter , thē with lamentatiō . thirdly , their falshood sheweth ; that truth and integrity is good , contratiorum contraria est ratio . fourthly , such fawning , and yet failing , and faithlesse friends are infamous and loathed of all well disposed persons . lastly , such deceitfull friends more hurt themselues then them that trust them : for they onely betray those that put affiance in them , but they vndoe themselues . q. what vse are we to make hereof ? a. first , wee must neuer put any confidence in men , who are lighter then vanity it selfe : but trust onely in the liuing lord , who will neuer faile , nor forsake vs. secondly , that the more falsly , & iudas-like others deale with vs ; let vs ( as becommeth gods children ) be so much the more whetted on to deale faithfully with others , and let our conscience be a l●w vnto vs. la●tly , let vs betimes distrust such , and by smal losses learn to preuent greater ones . q. how shall good and religious princes , peeres , and potentates comfort themselues , that are grieued at , and troubled with disobedient and disloyall subiects and people ? a. diuers wayes : as first , that the most rare and renowned kinges and princes , such as were moses , dauid , salomon , and many in our late memory , ( whereof our late queen elizabeth , our deborah , our hester , our iudith , and of incomparable learning & vertues , was as the moon amongst the lesser starres ) had wofull experience . secondly , they that resist gods deputies and vicegerents , procure to themselues destruction and damnation . thirdly , though their subiects and people vnder them may be stubborn and disobedient to them , ( as they were to dauid in the beginning of his raigne , and somtime afterwards ) yet they may proue louing and loiall at the last , and therfore they are to hope well of them . q. what duties are such princes and rulers to performe ? a. they must seeke rather to be loued then feared , for whom the subiects onely feare , him they hate . secondly , they must not so much look to find their people good , as to make thē good and if they doe shew all possible diligence herein , god will accept and prosper their studies and endeauours . lastly , that ministers of gods word must labour to perswade them to obedience , and if they cannot preuaile , the magistrate must by the sword correct them ( and when néed is , ) cut them off , otherwise the sparing of the wolte is the death of the shéepe . q. how must subiects and people behaue themselues that are il entreated , & much oppressed by euill rulers and magistrates ? a. first , they must acknowledge ( in generall ) that god is iust , and that malo populo malus rex datu , and therefore they must bewaile their sinnes , the procuring cause thereof , and god will ( in time ) relieue them . secondly , the more euill their gouernors are , the more innocent let the subiects he , that they may haue comfort in their suffrings , namely , when they are for true religion , and righteousnesse sake . thirdly , let them pray vnto god , to turn their hearts , and to amend them : 1. tim. 2.1.2 . fourthly , let them obey them and their lawes so farre forth as they may with good conscience , that they minister no iust cause and occasion of offence vnto them , and ( if they be not incurably euill ) they shall at length find them more mild and mercifull , for god hath their hearts in his hands . lastly , the subiects must note and remember well that the life and tyranny of their regents shall not continue alwaies : for god will not suffer the scep●er of the wicked to rest vpon the lot of the righ●eous , lest that they ( through violent courses ) should stretch out their hands vnto iniquity , and therefore they must preuent that by their wisedom , yea , and possesse it by hope & patience , which god and time will worke . q. how shall weake christians bee strengthned that are scandalized , and are ready to be peruerted , either by ignorant , idle , or else by euill ministers ? a. first , if they bee ignorant , and cannot teach , wee must seeke for instruction elsewhere , vnlesse wee would pine and sterue our soules . secondly , if they can teach well , and yet be lazie , and idle , and will not employ their talent , we must louingly ( and yet earnestly ) exhort them to more diligence in their calling , add giue them all good encouragement : and if we cannot this way preuaile , wee must complaine of them , and present them to lawfull authority that may compell them : but if authority fault herein , wee must pray god to amend them , and so leaue them vnto him . thirdly , if the ministers teach well , and diligently , and yet liue lewdly and vitiously , then they must know that god sends them such a scandalous minister for their triall or punishment : and therefore wée must repent vs of our peculiar sinnes , and waite the good time , vntil either god or his deputies remoue or reforme them . but touching their doctrine , seeing it is sound and good , we must heare and embrace that with all reuerence ; we must ( as our lord willeth vs ) obserue what they bid vs , but after their works wee must not doe , lest we with them knowing our masters will , and doing it not , be beaten with many stripes . lastly , when the publicke and ordinarie meanes of saluation are wanting or defectiue , wee must entreat the lord of the haruest to thrust forth more labourers , and ( in the mean season ) plie more often and earnestly the priuate means of reading , conference , and good examples at home . q how shall a christian arme himselfe against the scandall that the weake take at the streame and inundation of sinne , and at the generall corruption in manners ? a. first , that the way that leadeth to life is narrow , and the gate straight , & few there be that find it , and therefore wee must not make the example of the multitude , or of the most , a certaine rule or warrant of his life and p●●ctise . secondly , the greatest sort of people are ignorant of gods wayes , and strangers in the holy scriptures , making custome a rule for conscience , and they more delight in vaine inuentions , then in the knowledge and obedience of the holy gospell of christ. thirdly , sinne hath abounded in all ages , and the greatest number of christians hath béene in many places more licentious then religious , and more prophane then sincere , and the néerer the world groweth to his finall period and consummation , the more atheisme and libertinisme shall abound , for men shall generally giue themselues to surfetting , drunkennes and the cares of this life , men shal bee louers of themselues , despisers of them that are good , louers of pleasures , more then louers of god ; and though many haue a forme and profession of godlines , yet they deny the power of it , so that when christ commeth to iudgement , he shall hardly find faith vpon the earth ; and therefore he is the lesse to be offended hereat . fourthly , when there is a generall corruption in maners , then are the faithfull seruants of god most discerned , and their incorrupt sincerity is most eminēt ; then they shew themselus pure & blamelesse , and without rebuke in the middest of a naughty & crooked nation , amongst whom they shine as lights in the world : noah is iust in his generation , lot is righteous amongst the sodomites : in very pergamus where satan had his throne , were many faithfull and stout christians : and in sardi , ( that was in a manner dead before god ) were a few names that had not defiled their garments . lastly , the more lewd and licentious that the world is , the more wary and strict must wee bee in our conuersation , vnlesse we would perish with the world . chap. vii . of offences passiue , or those that are taken . question . what is a scandall , or an offence taken ? a. it is any wholesome doctrine or counsell , any honest and godly spéech , déed● , example , which through errour of iudgement , péeuishnes of mind , and peruerse interpretation , is turned to an occasion of offence . q. what are the causes of an offence taken ? a. first , blindnesse , and imperfection of mans reason . secondly , corrupt iudgement arising from the ignorance of gods word . thirdly , preiudicate and forestalled opinions . fourthly , hatred of the godly , and their proceedinges . fifthly , distast and dislike of good policy and discipline . sixthly , in the wicked an eager appetite and desire of worldlie gaine and authority , with an earnest affection to hold and maintaine it . lastly , the manifold afflictions of such as feare god. q. who are the persons that vniustly conceiue an offence ? a. first and principally , the wicked , secondly , gods children . q whereat ( in regard of the godly ) doe the wicked take an offence ? a. at foure things especially . q how shall we arm and strengthen our selues against offences , which wicked men vniustly conceiue against vs ? a. first , we must constantly , and chearefully goe forwards in our good purposes & proceedings , much more regarding the kéeping of gods commandements , and a good conscience then the imagined and pretended scandal and offence , that the wicked vniustly take : wherefore let their offence taken , rather hearten vs then hinder vs , and more driue vs forward in good actions , then discourage vs. secondly , the more clamorous and enuious that they are against vs , the more let vs endeauour by all good meanes to draw them to the practise of holy duties . thirdly , if the wicked were falsly and vniustly offended at the excellent person , the rare humility , the heauenly doctrine , the extraordinary miracles , & the sinnelesse conuersation of our most blessed sauiour , so that they reuiled , whipped , persecuted him , and put him to the most ignominious death that could bee inuented : how much more will they bée offended at vs that are sinners , and who many times minister matter of offence ? lastly , let vs ( what in vs lieth ) liue inoffensiuely , and please our neighbours in all thinges , not seeking our owne good , but their saluation . q. what is the second pretended offence , at which the wicked stumble and fall ? a. at the godly for vsing their lawful liberty in things indifferent . q. how shall the godly either preuent or ( at least ) arme themselues against this offence by the wicked , taken , and not by the godly giuen ? a. if they that take the offence bee obstinate enemies , they must not for their pleasure remit ought of their christian liberty , but rather with the apostle paul to vse it : mat. 15.12 . gal. 5.1 . for in this case we are bound onely to auoide the offence of our weake brethren , and not of our incurable enemies , who will neuer be pleased nor satisfied . but if christians that are weake in faith , and not yet fully resolued of points , take an offence at the vse of our liberty in meat , drinke , apparrell , &c. better it is for vs ( for the time ) to yéeld somewhat to our weake brethren , then by the vnseasonable , & inconuenient vse of that which is lawfull ( in it owne nature ) to scandalize them , and so cause them to perish , for whom christ died . therefore let vs doe all to gods glory , and giue offence to none , neither iews nor gentiles , nor to the church of god. 1. cor. 10.31.32 . secondly , we must not for the pleasing of mens humours , and to decline an offence taken ( and not giuen ) temporize with gods enemies , nor frame our selues to all companies and professions : for better it is that all the wicked in the world should be offended at vs , then that we for the preuenting of their ( vnlawful ) offence should be iniurious to iesus christ , or preiudice any part of his reuealed truth ; and therefore we are not to communicate with such in the least things . when therefore the omission of our christian liberty doth either renue errour , or confirme men in it , wee must then neuer dispense with it . thirdly , in matters of faith , and in cases of conscience , wee must walke by the canon and rule of gods word , & not by vnperfite examples : and hauing gottē certaine resolution , wee must stand fast in the liberty wherewith christ hath made vs free and not be entangled with the yeake of antichristian bondage . lastly , it shall be our wisedome to vse our liberty with aduised discretion , and ( what in vs lyeth ) to minister no matter nor occasion of ( iust ) offence to our enemies ; but , if notwithstanding wée cannot auoide their offence without sinning against god , and corrupting our owne consciences : this offence that they take , must neither remoue vs from our sound iudgement in things indifferent , nor from the lawfull practise and vse of our holy and christian liberty . q. what is the fourth offence that the wicked ones & enemies take against the godly ? a. their manifold crosses , tribulations and afflictions . q. how shall , or must gods children arme themselues against this offence ? first , it is giuen to them ( as a speciall priuiledge ) not only to belieue in christ , but also to suffer for him . secondly , the wicked are none of gods children , and therfore he letteth them in this world , ( many times , and for a long season ) to escape vnpunished , that they may at once haue their eternall punishment in hell fire . thirdly , god loueth his children , and therefore he doth rebuke and chasten them ; and therefore none are to take an offence at their troubles , nor to make an ill construction of them : for if they were without all correction , they should be bastards and no sonnes . fourthly , that they are blessed that are not offended in christ , so neither at his word , nor at the contemptible estate , and manifold afflictions of his children : but acknowledge gods prouidence , and admire his wonderfull wisedome , who hath consecrated the prince of our saluation through afflictions : heb 2.10 . and doth by many afflctions bring his childrē into his kingdom . fifthly , the enemies of god , and of his children , either want iudgement , and the spirit of discerning , or else are transported with humour and malice , and therefore wee are not to regard their rash censures , nor their vniust offence . sixthly , the afflictions of the faithfull come not by chance , but by the counsell and prouidence of god , which disposeth all things in a most excellent sort , for their profit and saluation , gen. 45.45 . 2. sam. 16 10. psa. 119.71 . act. 14.21 . lastly , let it bée sufficient for vs , that god accepteth our persons , sanctifieth our afflictions vnto vs , and and highly rewardeth our seruice and sufferings , and therefore though wee bee in no grace and request with the wicked world , whose fauour and friendship can neither helpe vs , nor their false iudgement and contempt preiudice vs , let vs not be moued , nor amated at it . chap. viii . of offences taken by gods children . question . what are the offences that gods children ( in their ignorance or weakenesse ) many times take and conceiue ? a. first , the long life and flourishing prosperity of euill rulers , tyrants , persecutors . secondly , the long impunity , & gods toleration of lewd , wicked , prophane , and villanous persons . the third ▪ is the inuoluing , or inwrapping of holy & innocent men with the wicked in the execution of publicke iudgements . q. how shall gods children arme & comfort themselues against the long life and tyranny of wicked rulers ? a. they must note and consider diuers things : first , that these tyrants and oppressors doe not raigne and dominere without gods holy and prouident disposition , and that either for the exercise of the good , or for the plague and punishment of euill doers ; and therfore they must seeke either by their innocent carriage , and dutifull obedience to pacifie and please them , or else they must learne to endure with patience their tyranny . secondly , that austere and tyrannizing rulers , are sometimes necessary for the common wealth , to restraine vice , & to curbe and kéepe downe insolent and wanton people , who by security and ouermuch liberty grew to this height of prophanenesse ; and therefore , they that know not how to loue , must know how to feare . thirdly , that the excesse of sinne , and licentiousnesse in the multitude , who delights more in pleasure , then in piety , in goods , then in goodnes , and in loue of money , then in true liberty , doth ( if not cause , yet ) increase tyrants and oppressors . fourthly , that euery state and gouernment at one time or other , is subiect to such tyrannicall oppressors . fifthly , that tyrants and oppressors haue their golden fetters , yea , they oftentimes drinke poison in gold : they feare the multitude , as much as the multitude doth them , and they doe not wrong others , altogether without punishment and reuenge , but are mette withall one way , or other . lastly , because nullum violentum est perpetuum : for the more boisterously the winds blow and rage , the sooner will they cease ; and the more that tyrants and oppressors rage and persecute , the sooner god will remoue them , or breake their hornes . q. how must the people and subiects behaue themselues ? a they must first of all performe honour , tribute , reuerence , subiection , and obedience vnto them ; and if they will not this way bee wonne , they must rather endure all euill then seeke priuate and vnlawfull reuenge : but if these tyrants commaund any false worshippe , then the subiectes must take another course ; they must obey god their supreame lord , and not the magistrate , lest otherwise their vnlawfull obedience to man , bee punished as the highest disobedience to the god of heauen . q. how shall the godly cleare gods iustice when they see the most villanous and mischieuous men , long to escape vnpunished in this world ? a. first , they must remember that quod defeitur , non aufertur , forbearance is no forgiuenes . the stiller that the waters are , the more deepe and daungerous are they : god doth not spare the wicked for a time , because hee liketh of their doings ; but he will ha●e their sinnes to grow ripe first , and withall leaue them without all excuse : but he will at length plague and punish them , yea damn and destroy them ; god commeth ( as the prouerb is ) with wollen feet , ( ● . faire and softly ) but he striketh with iron hands & punisheth so much the more seuerely . sinne is in the heart , and vengeance at the heeles . secondly , they are like the fish which hath swallowed the anglers bit , which though it sport it selfe with the baite for a time , yet when the angler draweth his angle rod , it is taken ; and they though they reuell and roist it out , yet they are gods prisoners , alwaies in his sight , and repriued for a time vnto a further doome , their iudgement and damnation sléepeth not , the terrour of imminent punishment cannot bee remoued out of their minds , neither is the image of direfull death conueied out of their sight ; but terrifieth them as the hand writing on the wall did belshazzer , dan. 5.5.6 . lastly , though the children of god , who cleanse their harts , and wash their hands in innocency , bee corrected and ch●istened euery morning , yet god is with his , hee will guide them by counsell , and afterwards receiue them to glory . wherefore let vs rather supplicate for such wicked doers , then bee scandalized at them ; and let vs wait but vntill they haue played their parts , and acted their tragedie , and they will make a ruthfull catastrophe or conclusion , & all men that sée it , shall say , that it is gods doing . q. but why doth god punish sometimes with visible and manifest punishment , some euill doers , and not all ? a. first , god is an absolute lord , and his will is iustice it selfe , and therefore wee must rather reuerence and adore gods iudgements , then rashly to require a reason of them : for shall an earthly prince disdaine to be accountable to his subiects concerning all his procéedings , and shall a master of a family scorne that his seruant shall exact an account of him ? how much more will the diuine maiesty refuse that his actions and counsels should bee called into question ? secondly , a few punished , are a purgation for , and a warning to the rest : so that it is a mild iustice towardes many , which séemeth cruelty to a few . thirdly , if god should visibly , and manifestly punish all euill doers , then nothing would bée thought to bée reserued to the last iudgement , and if none should bee here punished , men would thinke that either there were no god , or ( at least ) no iustice and prouidence . q. how shall gods children in the execution of publike iudgement , iustifie the equity of gods proceedings , or practise patience : when they temporally smart for the sinnes aud idolatries of their fore-fathers ? a. many wayes they are to stay and comfort themselues . first , ( to speake properly ) god doth punish the idolatry and sinnes of the children , and not of the parents : for if they tread in the footesteppes of their parents , and doe not repent of their sinnes , it standeth with gods iustice no longer to put off their correction . secondly ; though in the vniuersall deluge , and in the destruction of sodome , and in the sacking of cities the very infants perished with their parents : yet wee must note that they were not sinnelesse and innocent before god , but borne and conceiued in sinne , the children of wrath , & subiect to euerlasting damnation . thirdly , albeit god correct good men for the bads sake , & inuolue them in the common calamities of warre , famine , pestilence , shipwracke , fires , &c. yet these afflictions are rather preseruatiues then punishments : for as physitians doe by bitter medicines preserue and restore a mans health : so god doth turne the punishments that they haue deserued into a medicine , a trial , a preseruation . fourthly , gods children though they resist sinne and wickednes , yet they in hearing gods word , in praier , and in the performance of the duties of pietie , iustice , charity , faile and are vnperfect ; and therefore they cannot say that god offereth them any wrong , if they with the wicked be included in the same outward and publike euils , as jonathas , iosias , &c. were . fifthly , we are all of vs the children of rebellious and traiterous adam , who hath tainted our bloud , and forfeited his and our estate to god almighty , & there is a chaine of faults reaching from adam to vs , which though wee repent of , yet god may in his iustice punish the remainders of them in our posterity . sixthly , there is ( if not alwaies ) a deriuation of speciall fins from the forefathers to the posterity , yet there is a deriuation of punishment , and therefore god doth afflict herein the parents , and their posterity as one body . seuenthly , as in one and the same person a fault committed in youth , is iustly punished in old age : so god in kingdomes , empires , persons doth punish old and inueterate sinnes , for they are before god ioyned together by an outward fellowship , both in time and parts . lastly , if wee will bee heires to the commodities , and rewards which are due to our ancestors , it is no reason that we should refuse their burdens and afflictions . chap. ix . heauenly meditations and conclusions against generall and particular persecution . question . what is persecution ? a. it is the state and condition , either of the church in generall , or of any member , in particular , whereby the one , or the other , in gods euerlasting counsell and dècrée , are appointed and marked vnto diuers dangers & troubles for the name of christ , and for righteousnes sake . q. is not the church of god at any time or in any age wholy rooted out and subuerted by the enraged violence of persecutors ? a. no : for first , god will alwayes reserue to himselfe a people that shall serue him , yea , and some that shall openly and publikely maintaine and confesse his truth in one place or other . secondly , as in the time of elias there were 7000 holy worshippers of god , that neuer bowed their knées to baal , and yet they were not visibly known to the enemies and persecutors : so god hath a latent church sometimes , and the church is faine to flie into the wildernes , and that partly that she should not be corrupted , & partly that she should be preserued from the enemies rage & malice . lastly , it appeareth by the diuers things to which the church is compared and resembled , that shee neuer ceaseth to bee , nor is euer wholy extinct : for it is compared to a shippe tossed with waues and surges , but not sunke : to moses bush , burning , but not consumed ; to a city daily besieged , but not taken or wonne : to the moon , which is soone eclipsed , and often in the wa●e , but yet often renued : to noahs arke tossed in the waters , but not drowned : and to a woman in trauell , whom the dragon séeketh to deuoure together with her child , and yet both are preserued . q. for what ends doth god suffer his children to bee persecuted ? a. first , that holy and pure doctrine might bee maintained : otherwise all would in persecution disclaime , and forsake it . secondly , that the graces of his children should be encreased and exercised , and that they like spices pouned in a morter , and like swéet wood burnt in the fire , should yéeld a more sweete swell . thirdly , that they by their constancy in the profession and defence of the truth , might be distinguished from hypocrites , who like sodome apples , if a man crush them , fall into chaffe ; and like vnto spunges wet in the water , which if a man presse them , let out all the liquour contained in them . fourthly , god will haue his children to denie themselues , and their own abilities , and to depend wholy vpon his power and promises for their strengthning or deliuerance . fifthly , hée will hereby make them so many lights and guides to direct the blind world in the roade way to heauen . lastly , god will hereby increase their reward and glorie in heauen . q. who are gods instruments herein ? a. satan , and wicked men , in the world , namely , tyrants , heretikes , atheists . q. why doth god in the punishment and persecution of his children , vse the ministerie of wicked men ? a. first , to shew his absolute and vnlimited liberty , for hee is a free agent , and he may correct his children by whom he will. for as a naturall father , doth sometimes make the schoolemaster , or one of his seruants , the instruments to correct his sonne , though hee ( perhaps ) is not ignorant , that they may intermingle their priuate affections : so god , ( and that without any mans iust controlement ) maketh wicked men , who haue their priuate ends and aimes , the rods to whip and correct his children withall . secondly , god suffereth the wicked to stumble at the life , or profession of his children , and to runne themselues out of breath , that they may fulfill the measure of their iniquities , and so incur the waight of his displeasure . thirdly , god by the patience of his children , and by their constant death , & sufferinges , appalleth , and inwardly tormenteth the minds and consciences of the persecutors , and leaueth them without all excuse and defence of their doings , before his iudgement seat . fourthly , he sometimes by the singular patience and sufferings of his saints ouercommeth the enemies harts , and gaineth them to himself , and so they that séemed conquerors are happily conquered to christ , and of his foes are made his friends . lastly , god ( against the wicked mens intentions ) turneth their persecutions to the good of his children : for as an arrow attaineth vnto the archers mark without any sense of his owne : so the wicked though blindfolded , execute gods secret decree : they are gods fullers to whiten his children ; god vseth them as the goldsmith doth lead , to melt and purifie his gold ; for hereby god doth perfite them , and purge them from the drosse and dregs of earthly corruption . q. why doe wicked men so persecute gods children . a. first , because there is a continuall enmity betweene the wicked , who are the seede of the serpent , and betwixt the godly , who are the blessed séed of the woman . secondly , the godly are not of the world ( id est ) they are contrary to it in profession , life and practise , and god hath chosen them out of the world , and therefore the world hateth and abhorreth them . thirdly , gods children professe , preach and confesse gods sincere truth , which the wicked men doe distast and detest , and doe also by the light of their holy life and example checke the deedes of darkenes in the wicked . fourthly , the godly weaken the diuels kingdome ; hence he by his imps and instruments , purposeth and practiseth continually their death and destruction . q. is it not lawfull for the godly to vse all lawfull meanes of preseruing their liues in persecution ? a. yes : for , first they are not bound to make confession of their faith to all persons , as namely , to scorners , open enemies , that haue no authority to demaund a reason of our profession , nor to ignorant persons , that are contemners of good counsell . secondly , it is lawfull to flée from the persecutors ( or to auoide our habitations . ) thirdly , wee may decline the danger of persecution by modest answeres , by concealing part of the truth , when wée are not required thereunto : yea , sometimes by our mony and goods , by the change of our apparrell , by the cutting of our haire , and by setting our aduersaries and enemies at difference amongst themselues . q. is persecution gainefull , & commodious to gods children ? a. yea , and that many waies . first , hereby gods church groweth , and is much enlarged : for being watered by the bloud of martyrs ( which is the séed of the gospell ) it more flourisheth , and it is like camomi●l , the which the more that it is troden vpon , the more it groweth . secondly , christians in their dispersion and banishment sow the séeds of the gospell in other parts and prouinces , countrries , and kingdomes , act. 11. rom. 15. thirdly , reprobates in such a time descrie themselus , and powre forth their venome ; and as for hypocrites , who were taken for true professors , they being indéede nothing but chaffe , ( as the euent sheweth ) are by the fanne of persecution separated from the wheat of martyrs . fourthly , gods power and grace is prooued and perfited in the faithfulls infirmity , and the aduersaries are confuted and confounded , 2. cor. 12.9 . lastly , the godly are hereby humbled and mortified , they are weaned from the loue of this vaine world , and are brought to mind and muze on a better life , and so they obtaine peace of conscience and holinesse of life , heb. 12.11 . psal. 78.38 . hos. 5.15 ioh. 15.2 . q. what good inducements and perswasions are there to moue vs to constancy in persecution ? a. these following , or the like : first , that god exacteth and requireth it at our hands ; which if wee doe not accordingly performe , we are altogether vnworthy the name of christians , and altogether vnméet for the kingdome of god. secondly , if we fall away from the profession , loue , and practise of the sacred gospell of christ , all our former good beginnings shall nothing bestead vs , and all the righteousnesse that wée haue done , shall not be mentioned , but we shall die , and perish in our sinne and apostasie . heb. 10.26.27 . thirdly , the truth is victorious , and triumphant , and like the sunne , the more that it is clouded , the more gloriously it will shine out ; and therefore wee must not betray it . fourthly , we haue a cloud and infinite company of witnesses , confessors , martyrs , for our lights , lampes , guids , and directors , whose holy examples , if we follow , we shall be partakers of their glory and happines . fifthly , shall iewes , heretikes , schismatikes , yea turks , panyms , and pagans , that haue no promise of eternall life , be so stout and stedfast in their profession , and shal not wee christians that haue such comfortable promises of gods assistance , and of euerlasting happines , be much more couragious and constant in defence of gods immortall truth . lastly , we shall by our patience , suffering , innocency ; if not ( as sometimes it commeth to passe ) conuert , yet wee shall daunt , and confound the enemies of the gospell , in that they cannot possibly remoue vs from our confident confession , and in that our persecution gaineth many vnto god. q. what practises are herein necessarie ? a. first , wee must in persecution depend vpon god , & implore his helpe , and then hee will at the very instant suggest vnto vs what to speake , and enable vs to suffer , and perfite his power in our infirmity . secondly , we must be perswaded of the truth of the doctrine for which wee suffer . thirdly , we must neuer make open confession of our faith , but either when wee are called and vrged by publicke authority so to doe , or ( at least ) when there is some hope of doing good ; for wee must not betray our selues , nor cast holy things before dogs , and pearles before swine . lastly , if wee would march valiantly , we must not presume , but suspect all our wayes , and wee must rather feare our selues then flatter them : and we must chearefully entertaine , and diligently put in execution the motions of the spirit . q. what duties are we to performe to persons afflicted and persecuted ? a. first , wée must haue a fellowlike féeling of their misery , and sympathize with them ; otherwise we cannot effectually comfort them : for as iron cannot be ioyned , and fastened to iron , vnlesse both of them bée made red hote , and beaten together : so one christian can yéeld no comfort to another , vnlesse both suffer together , ( if not in action ) yet in fellow féeling . secondly , we must helpe them with our prayers , and be intercessors to the almighty for them , that he would arm them with strength and patience , and direct all their sufferings for their own good , and the aduancement of his blessed gospell . thirdly , we must , ( as we haue any opportunity offered ) assist them with our counsell , and with the wordes of exhortation , cheare , encourage , and embolden them . lastly , wée must ( if wee can ) visite them in our owne persons , or ( at least ) minister vnto their necessities , as obadiah ministred vnto the necessities of an hundred of gods prophets , in the raigne and persecution of ahab and iezabel ; and as onesiphorus oft refreshed paul in prison , and was not ashamed of his bonds and chaines ; and this duety of mercy and commiseration god will neuer leaue vnrecompensed . chap. x. question . how are persecutions to be diuided ? a. into persecutions of the affection , persecutions of the tong and of the hand , or outward action . q. what are the persecutions of the affections ? a. contempt , enuie , hatred , or malice . q. what comforts are to bee imparted to gods children that suffer contempt ? a. first , it is a glorious matter to be contemned for vertue & well doing ; for in this case wee are like vnto christ our blessed sauiour , who was derided of herode and the iewes for his holy life , doctrine , zeale , miracles , &c. and therefore we haue cause to reioice . secondly , we must note , who they are that commonly contemne vs ; they are either enemies of the truth , or prophane worldlings , who cannot discerne of our worth and excellency , and that haue no knowledge and practise of true religion and vertue , and therefore wee are the lesse to care for their censure : for euen as pretious pearles being enclosed and hidden in base earthen shels , are not seene ; and therefore they being not discerned , are not esteemed according to their price and excellency : so the wicked and prophane , looking onely at the contemptible condition of godly mens persons , and not discerning the grace of god in their hearts , take an occasion to despise thē : or else they are scorned & contemned of hypocrites factious & schismaticall persons , who being more humorous then truely holy , and more haughty then humble , and wiser in their owne eyes , then worthy in gods sight , doe distaste and falsly censure their brethren , that are better then themselues ; and hereof blessed s. paul had expe●ience amongst the corinthians . secondly , it is the practise of satan and his impes , thus to depresse and keep vnder gods children , that they who are famous and illustrious by the brightnes of their holinesse and vertues , should bée sullied and obscured by misreports and contempt of their persons : but neuerthelesse , they hereby loose nothing of their inherent excellency : for as a pretious iewel , albeit by hogges and swine troden and trampled vnder féet , abateth nothing of his naturall excellency : so gods children scorned and contemned of the wicked lose nothing of their vertues ; for contempt doth not hurt them but profite them . thirdly , it is an vsuall matter for learned men to bee despised of the ignorant , rare men of the rude , and wise sages to be contemned o● sots ; hereupon seneca saith very well , nondum foelix es , &c. thou art not as yet happy , if the multitude doth not mo●ke thee . fourthly , they that ca●● contempt vpon others ( vniustly ) shall be conte●ned themseluee : for with what measure they mete , it shall be measured ●o them againe . lastly , let it suff●ce that god dignifieth and honoureth vs , and that he hath garnished and embrodered vs with the pretious and princely graces of hi● spirit . q. how are we to carry our selues when wee are misregarded and contemned ? a. first , let it be our ioy and comfort to suffer contempt , and to runne through good report and bad for christ his sake ; for god will in the end , the more honour and magnifie vs. secondly , it behoueth vs by speaking well of all men , by interpreting things doubtfull in the better part , by contemning no person without cause , and by our good seruice and offices towards church and common wealth , to wipe and wash away the myre of contempt flung in our faces , and then in time our contempt will be turned into credite , and our base estéeme into glorie . thirdly , let vs striue to bee that wee would séeme to bee , and also by honest meanes , and by our blessed behauiour seeke to grow into the fauour and familiarity of excellent , famous , and eminent personages , and then we shall not bee despised but dignified , and not be neglected , but notice will soone be taken of vs , and our eminency . lastly , if good men ( through ignorance , misreports , emulation , infirmity ) dislike and despise vs , we must bee content ( with others ) to endure a common euill , and in the meane time to comfort our selues in our honestie and innocency . of envie . q. what is enuie ? a. it is a griefe or sadnes , by reason of another mans outward or inward , spirituall or temporall prosperity and happines . q. how shall a christian arme and strengthen himselfe against it ? a. first , excellent piety and prosperity is euer subiect hereunto . secondly , no friend of sincerity , and vndissembled godlinesse and goodnesse , did euer want this exercise : for as the shadow doth follow them that walk in the sunne : so doth enuie follow and pursue them that are noble and noted for learning , wisedome , and well doing . thirdly , it is better to be hated then vnhappy , and to bee maligned then miserable . fourthly , to enuie greatnes and goodnes in others , argueth a base , raskall , and satanicall disposition : for first , they enuie those good things in others , which themselues want : secondly , they doe but pricke , stabbe , and wound themselues with their owne weapons : thirdly , they hood-winke , or cast dust into their owne eyes , that they may not behold and discerne gods graces in others . fifthly , the enuious person is the cause of greater good to him that is enuied ; for by his carping and deprauing of others , the vertues of the person ●nuied are brought vpon the stage , and made better known : but the spitefull and enuious person doth nothing but some out his owne shame . sixthly , they are tormenters of themselues , and worke their owne ruines : for as the moath doth consume the garment , rust the iron , and the viper eateth out and consumeth the bellie of her that conceiued her : so doth enuie at lēgth and by degrees , wast and destroy the possessor . lastly , the euils that they wish to others , they haue themselues , and encrease vpon themselues . q. what vse are we to make hereof ? a. first , let vs leaue enuious men to themselues , and suffer them to torture and torment their soules and bodies . secondly , the more that we are enuied and maligned for zeale in pure religion , and for well doing , the more let vs bée stirred vp to the practise of religion & vertue ; for wée shall by no meanes so much vexe and torment enuious persons as by our well doing . thirdly , if wee cannot otherwise auoid the tempest and storme of enuie , let vs auoid it by modestie : let vs auoid all ostentation , and for the time separate our selues from the company of the enuious , and suppresse & hide whatsoeuer might make vs to bee noted : for some enemies are no better ouercome then by our humility and obscurity . fourthly , if wee would approue our selues good men , let vs enuy at no mans prosperity ( be he neuer so wicked ) for they shal be soon cut down like grasse , and shal wither as the gréen herbe . lastly , let vs pray vnto god feruently so direct and preserue vs. q. what comfort against hatred and malice ? a. first , the world & the wicked hate vs vniustly ; for they hate vs not for our sins & imperfections , but for the better pa●ts , namely ; because we are separated frō them in profession & life , and because wee séeke the ruinating of satans king●ome , and because they will not bée reproued and conuinced of sinne . secondly , the world is addicted to traditions , and little estéemeth gods blessed word , it is in loue with earthly thinges , and neglecteth those that are heauenlie ; no maruaile then that it so distasteth and maligneth gods children , they loue not god , and then how can they but hate his seruants ? thirdly , abel , lot , dauid , elias , paul , the prophets , apostles , christ himselfe , and his saints in all ages haue béene causlesly hated of the wicked : and this is a pregnant proofe that they were gods children , and that wee are likewise : for , if either they or we had been of the world , the world would loue his owne . fourthly , wee must remember , that wee haue deserued greater euils , and therefore we ought more patiently to endure this . lastly , let it content vs , that we are known , loued and liked of god & good men who loue vs in the truth . and if the losse of the loue of the common people grieue vs , we must note that their loue is light , and without iudgement and discretion : and therefore their loue oftētimes endeth in ill will and hatred . q. how are we to demeane and behaue our selues when wicked men maligne and hate vs ? a. first , seeing that malitious men are good neither actu , nor potentia , ( that is ) neither in act , nor in possibility , and that they doe but sucke the greatest part of their owne poison , seeing they are peruerted in iudgement , and opposite to sincerity : let vs beware how we nourish occasions of hatred , and that we be not too sociable and familiar with them . secondly , let vs loue god and his word , for then we cannot hate mens persons , much lesse any vertues in them . thirdly , let vs decline hatred ( what in vs lieth ) by dutifulnes and good seruice ; for in so doing , we shall eyther gaine and pacifie our enemie , or ( at least ) leaue him without excuse ; for this is to heape coales of fire on his head . q. may we lawfully hate them that hate vs ? a. wee must not , nor may not hate them in regard of their persons , or as they are gods creatures , or in priuate respects : but it is lawfull for vs to hate their vices , and to abhorre them , as they are gods enemies and aduersaries of the church ; but we must not hate them as they hate vs ; namely , our persons , and the better parts in vs : but onely hate their errours and vices , &c. which are contrary to gods nature , will , word and commandements . q. what are the persecutions of the tongue ? a. slander and false imputations . q. how are wee to comfort our selues against slander ? a. first , that the life and profession of the church and saints of god hath beene traduced and slandered in al ages ; and therefore no singular & extraordinary matter befalling vs , it is with more contentment to be endured . secondly , wee herein are like vnto christ , who though he were more holy then all men and angels , yet he was called a wine-bibber , a friend of publicanes and sinners , an enemy to caesar , and he was said to haue the diuell . thirdly , slander cannot make a man miserable , ( for where sinne raigneth there is misery indeed ) nay , it is a matter of honour and glorie to be ill spoken of for well doing : for they hate vs because that we are better then they , and because wee runne not to the same excesse of riot , & the more that wicked men belie , slander and raile at vs , the more in the end will they make our vertues known . fourthly , false imputations cast vpon vs , will not continue long , they are as so many blasts and fumes that will soone be dispersed and blowne away ; for god will at length cleare our innocency as the noone day , and our reproach shall bee turned into the glory of an angell psal 37.6 & 8. fifthly , though the wicked doe willingly derogate from our good name , yet they doe addere mercedi nost●ae , id est , encrease our reward , albeit against their wils : for blessed are wee when men reuile vs , and say all manner of euill against vs for christ his sake ; for then great is our reward in heauen . sixthly , if the titles and attributes of the iustice , truth , power and mercy of god , bee not frée from slanderous imputations : let vs much lesse looke to be exempt and priuiledged from euill tongues : psal. 10.11 . & 12. mal. 3.14 & 15. seuenthly , if the raskall multitude , or the scumme of the people raile vpon vs , and belie vs , wee must note that they doe it rather of humour then of knowledge , and of an ill affection rather then of iudgement and aduisement ; and they will be silent when they haue much barked and bawled : and as for their lying tales and reports , because they arise from false grounds , and trifling occasions , they will soone be dead , buried , extinct . eighthly , the slanderer doth but hurt and discredite himselfe , and foame out his own shame : for his slander , like an arrow shot against a stone wall , or a tennise ball cast against it , redounds vpon the slanderer . lastly , god discrediteth his deare children with the world , & letteth them fall sometimes into the mire of wicked imputations , that they should not bee stained with the corruptions of it . q. how shall wee behaue our selues when wee are thus belyed ▪ and slaundered ? a. first , let vs descend into our own soules , and if we find our selues innocent , then let vs comfort our selues in the witnesse of our owne conscience : neither let vs thinke , that ther is more waight in their detractions , then in our owne testimonies . secondly , in this case , let vs rather looke vnto god who permitteth them , then at the howling , barking , and biting dogs that annoy vs : this course tooke dauid . thirdly , whereas the rude and iniudicious multitude doth cast false imputations vpon vs ; let vs not only with the spunge of honest apologies wipe away these pretended spots , but also labour to haue a precious report , and an immortall memory amongst gods children . fourthly , if wée desire to be well spoken of , let vs not rashly thinke euill of others ; for the better that any man is , the more hardly doth he iudge another to be euill ; much lesse let vs secretly bite and sting them , nor take that in the worse sense , that may bee construed in the better meaning . fifthly , let vs lend no eare , much lesse giue any applause to the slanderer ; but shew our dislike of him , and then he will not willingly speake that which hee shall perceiue to be vnwillingly heard . lastly ▪ slander is a speciall sinne of the deuill , who is a lyar , and the slanderer of the brethren , and therefore let vs beware of it , and abhorre it . q. what are the persecutions in action and in deed ? a. these and the like following ; whippings , taking away of mens goods , banishment , bondage , nakednes , death by the sword , want of buriall , &c. q. what comforts against whippings ? a. first , christ iesus and his apostles were thus dealt withall . secondly , as it was the marke of a true apostle to beare in the body the marks of the lord iesu : so it is the character of a sincere christian to suffer the like in time of persecution . thirdly , christ was whipped , and shed his bloud for vs ; and shall wée sinnefull persons refuse to doe the like , that wee may make knowne our conformitie with him in his suffrings ? fourthly , it is giuen vnto gods children ( as a speciall prerogatiue ) not onely to be whipped for , but to die for the lord iesu. apoc. 12.11 . lastly , the more indignities , and torments that any suffer for christ , or for righteousnesse sake , the more they shall aduance the gospell of christ , and receiue the greater measure and proportion of glory in the world to come . q. how are or ought wee to comfort our selues when wee are violently by the enemie despoiled of all our goods ? a. first , wee must remember that many good men haue fallen into the hands of théeues ( like that man that went downe from ierusalem to iericho , and fell among théeues , who robbed him of his raiment , yea and wounded him , ) and yet haue afterwards recouered their former estate . secondly , christ is our lord and master , and we his seruants , and therefore though we be despoiled of al our worldly goods ; yet , he wil neuer forsake vs , but prouide for vs things necessary : for so he dealt with the samaritane . thirdly , we want not things ( simply ) necessary ; for natura paucis contenta . fourthly , though we be spoiled of our goods , yet we haue not forgone our goodnes , and we retaine our life and liberty , which is the greater blessing . fifthly , god in his iustice will in due time punish and reuenge our wrongs . sixthly , wee must ( after the example of the blessed hebrewes ) suffer with ioy the spoiling of our goods ) knowing in our selues , how that we haue in heauen a better , and an enduring substance . lastly , if wee be patient and content , we may ( in time ) with dauid enioy our enemies ( that are so many nabals ) goods , or by some other prouidence be gainers by our losses . q. what duties are we then to performe ? a. first , we must with holy iob be content to receiue euill things from god as well as good , and to praise god for all ; and with the apostles to forsake all for christ his sake ; yea , and with that heroicall woman in the apocalypse , to tread the moone ( i. all earthly and transitory things ) vnder our féet ; wée must withall seeke the things aboue , & the heauenly ierusalem . secondly , it is our duty to procure wisedome , learning , vertue , godlinesse ; these are our proper endowments , and can neither by fraud nor force be taken from vs. thirdly , let vs ( whiles we enioy the fickle and vncertaine things ) let vs for christ his sake loue his members , and with our worldly goods bountifully relieue them in their néede and necessity , else how dwelleth the loue of god in vs ? lastly , let it suffice vs , that wee are rich in grace , heires of glory , and that we haue in heauen ( our country ) a better and an enduring substance ; and that after this mortall and miserable life is expired , we shall actually enioy the new heauen & the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnes . q. propound some comfortable meditations against banishment . a. first , moses , elias , iohn the euangelist , and infinite more in the primitiue church of the apostles , in the ten generall persecutions , and sithence , haue beene exiled : and shall we refuse to be partakers with them ? secondly , omnis terra commune naturae exilium : id est , euery country is a common banishment of nature , and the whole world is but a strange country vnto vs : ( for in it wee haue no abiding city ) and how then can christians properly be said to bee banished out of their country , when they haue none here ? thirdly , though the godly bee banished from their natiue soile , yet they cannot be banished from the fauour of god , nor from the communion of saints , nor from the kingdome of heauen ; and god , that is by his essence euery where present , is as ready to helpe his childrē in any strange country , as in their own . psal. 105.12.13.14 . fourthly , sundry men haue gotten great honour , and attained vnto great learning and liuing in the place of their banishment . fifthly , here we shall be secured frō enuie : euill men shall not molest vs , but good men shall loue vs , and long for our company . sixthly , as the husbandman remoueth his plantes and trees out of one orchard into another that they may the better prosper : so god for greater good of his church doth translate his children into some other country or coast . lastly , the time of our banishment well spent , will send vs into a farre better , that is an heauenly one . q. what duties must a christian practise in his banishment ? a. first , he must comfort himselfe in the conscience of his righteousnes , which the enemy cannot blot , much lesse bereaue him of . secondly , he must at their strict commandements and enforcement , relinquish and depart out of his natiue soile , and then his departure shall be rather a pilgrimage , then an expulsion , and a benefite then a banishment . thirdly , he must heare god speake vnto him in the scripture , ( for it is his voice ) and hee must speake , and haue familiar speech and conference with our god by prayer , and then hee shall haue god for his companion , and the holy ghost for his comforter . fourthly , he must not delight in their conuersation and company , that deride and despise him , and by abode with whom he cannot receiue any good information , but much defilement : and therfore in this regard he must preferre religion and a good conscience before country and natiue soile . lastly , hee hath the benefite of his priuatenes , and liueth in peace without distraction , or disturbance , and therfore he must by the aduantage hereof , betake himselfe to diuine studies and meditations . q. propound and deliuer some heauenly consolations against bondage and thraldome . a. first , it is the greatest bondage to be captiuated and enthralled to sinne and satan , from which slauery gods children are by grace fréede ; for their consciences are at peace with god , and they are the seruants of god , whose seruice is perfect fréedome . secondly , this bondage is greatly mitigated , yea sugred and swéetned to gods children : for god doth not onely restraine and moderate the enemies malice , but also ( sometimes ) greatly honour , preferre and exalt them : examples whereof we haue in ioseph , jeremie , daniel , sidrack , mesheck , abednego , in hester , mardocheus , and diuers others . thirdly , death putteth a terme and end to this bondage , ( if wee find not deliuerance long before ) and why cannot we a while expect this yeare of our absolute fréedome , and euerlasting iubiley ? lastly , gods children are christs fréemen , being redeemed and ransomed by his bloud , and they are free denizens of heauen , hauing euerlasting life in beginning , and being ( by faith ) secured of the full possession of it , and therefore though for a time they bee plunged in many euils , yet they can neuer perish : for they are afflicted , but not forsaken , tried , but not tired out . q. what is the quintessence or speciall vse of all these propositions and conclusions ? a. first , hence wee may take notice of the miserable estate of wicked worldlings and vngodly men , who though they enioy outward wealth , ease and liberty , yet are they drudges to the world , vassals and slaues vnto sinne , & cursed caitiffes ; for they are locked in golden fetters , and shut vp in the prison of their own sinnefull desires , which is the worst kind of bondage . secondly , let vs serue the lord our god , and not satan , sinne , nor antichrist , and then we are gods frée men , & no bondage can impeach , or hinder our spirituall liberty and happines . thirdly , farre bee it from vs to contemne or misiudge any of gods children for their outward seruitude and bondage , vnto which , tyranny and iniquity of times , doe or may enwrappe them ; but let vs pray to god to furnish them with ioy , and the spirit of long suffering , and in his good time to ridde and deliuer them : wee must also ( by occasion ) freely and franckly contribute to their necessities , for they are our owne flesh and bloud , borne of the same both naturall and spirituall seede , breathing of the same aire ; and seruants to the same god. lastly , when we are thus restrained and distressed , it behoueth vs timely and truely to repent vs of our sinnes , for otherwise we are to expect no mitigation ; much lesse a spéedy deliuerance out of our misery . q. what comforts against violent nakednesse caused by flight , or the enemies vnmercifulnesse ? a. first , christ our blessed sauiour was stript of his raiment , and hath sanctified this euill vnto vs , and hath turned the shame of it into glory . secondly , very many of gods excellent seruants haue béene thus shamefully misused by their enemies . basil saith , that forty martyres were turned out naked to bee starued in the cold of the night , and afterwards to bee burned . thirdly , they must count it for some benefit and blessing , that the enemy doth onely spoile them of their garments , and not of their liues . fourthly , though they endure shame and reproch of the world , yet it maketh them not vnhappy : for christ suffered the shame of the crosse to make them honourable . fifthly , the enemie cannot possibly disrobe , dismantle , and despoile them of the garments of christ , his holines and righteousnesse , wherewith they are clothed , and wherewith their deformities are couered . sixthly , this is but a temporary and fatherly correction , and can neuer separate any of gods children from his loue . lastly , it is not the gay garments but godlines , not outward pompe but piety that maketh men honourable : as for the proud mans honour , it is in his garment and not in his person . q. what vse are we to make hereof ? a. first , let it be a shame to vs to be called naughty , rather then naked . secondly , though gods enemies rob his children of their garments , let vs in our charity cloath them . lastly , let vs by faith put on the lord iesu , and then we shall neuer bee found naked ; for he onely is naked who hath lost christ. q. why doth god suffer so many of his best beloued saints and seruants to be massacred and murdered by the enemies sword ? a. first , we herein must rather reuerence and admire gods secret , yet iust procéedings , then curiously to diue and enquire into the ground and reason of them ; and wée must assure our selues that the end is good , albeit our dulnes cannot so well apprehend it . for gods purposes and decrees attaine vnto their holy and appointed ends , no otherwise then certaine riualets ( though they vanish out of our sight , and are hidden vnder the earth ) are carried and conuey themselues into the sea . secondly , by the effusion and spilling of their innocent bloud , the number of true professors is both manifested & multiplied , and the bloudy butchers and bonners , either conuerted ( albeit most rarely ) or else conuinced and left vnexcusable . thirdly , though the enemies thinke to root out the church , and the name and memory of true christians ; yet god doth and will crosse and curse their designes : for contrary to their expectation the gospell is more published and proclaimed , the innocency of gods children more cléered and testified ; and their madnes and badnes made known vnto all the world . lastly , the sufferings of the martyrs doth procure vnto them a greater measure of glorie in heauen : but tyrants , heretikes , persecutors runne themselues out of breath , and draw vpon themselues the greater damnation . q. how are we to arme and comfort our selues against this kind of death ? a. first , they are blessed that die in the lord , and for the lord ; they are glorious in gods sight , and are arayed in long white robes . secondly , they do not lose their liues but find them , and incomparably better them : luk. 9. thirdly , the sword toucheth the garment of the bodie , but not the soule , nor their faith : for god herein dealeth with his children , as the persians in punishing some noble personage ; for they take away his garment and his hat , and hang them vp in some place , and all to beat them , as though they were the man himselfe : so they ( by gods ouer-ruling hand ) doe not touch our soules and our faith , but beate onely the garment of our persons . fourthly , they that die for christ , receiue some what of death , that it be●al not whol● vnto them . lastly , their innocent bloud which the persecutors haue shed and sucked , crieth like the bloud of abel to the heauens for vengeance against them , and they with the soules in the apocalypse that were killed for the word of god , crie with a lowd voice , saying ; how long lord , holy and true , doest thou not iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth ? and this their crie the iust lord , doth & néeds must heare and regard . q what vse are we to make hereof ? a. first , we must neuer promise to our selues long prosperity , or immunitie from persecution ; but wee must prepare and strengthen our selues against the time of triall and martyrdome : and though it bee not our lot alwaies to die for the lord iesu , and his blessed truth ; yet we must be martyrs in desire and affection , and then god will accept the will for the deed : for there is martyrium sine flamm● , i. a martyrdome without a fagot . secondly , we must not estéeme , nor thinke the firie tryall as some strange thing , but reioyce in as much as wee are ( hereby ) made partakers of christ his sufferings , that when his glory shall appeare , wee may bée gladde and reioice . thirdly , wee must comfort and stay our selues in the expectation of the fearefull end that abideth gods enemies ; they shall soone be cut off , their pompe shall be despised and soon vanish away ▪ psal. 73.19 . they are gods rods to correct and disciplinate his children by , who when they haue done their office , must bée cast into the fire and consumed . lastly , there is no persecution so generall and grieuous , but many shall bée preserued in it , and from it ; and after long wrestling , god will grant a breathing time . q. what if gods children cannot be suffered to bee buried when they are dead , what shall wee iudge of them , or how shall we comfort our selues against this euill ? a. their dead bodies are members of christ , temples of the holy ghost ; and they shall rise againe in glory to eternall life ; therefore we may not iudge them accursed . secondly , the want of buriall doth nothing hurt them , as the performance of it doth nothing profite the wicked : & as for these funerall solemnities , they are rather viuorum solatia , quam mortuorum auxilia , id est . comforts for the liuing , then helps for the dead . thirdly , many of gods saints , yea some most blessed martyres , haue wanted buriall , psal 79.2 . and yet haue béene receiued vp into glory . apoc. 11. ver . 12. fourthly , other euils , ( as death by drowning , by fire , by earthquakes , by the fall of houses , by the cruell rage of wild beasts , &c. ) are as much ( if not more ) to be feared . fifthly , tegitur coelo qui non habet vrnam , the skie is to them in stead of a coffin . sixthly , though some personages be neuer so sumptuously entombed and gloriously buried , yet must the worms ( in the body ) consume the bodies of such . seuenthly , the want of buriall ( though it is a curse to gods enemies , who perish both in soule and body ) yet it is but a fatherly , and fauourable chasticement to his children , and can neuer part , nor diuorce them from him and his loue . lastly , though sometimes the dead bodies of gods saints want buriall , yet they féele no smart ; and their soules in glorie cannot , and do not behold the lothsomnes of their vnburied bodies . q. what vse is to bee made hereof ? a. first , we must not ( so much ) trouble our selues about this matter , but commit the disposition of our dead corps to gods prouidence , and the care of the liuing . secondly , let vs bury our sinnes in christ his graue and sepulchre , and then the want of buriall and funerall solemnities shall neither shame vs , nor harm vs. lastly , if in the heate of personall persecution the bodies of gods saints knowne vnto vs , and neare vs , do want buriall , wee must ( after the manner of those deuoute brethren that buried stephen ) enterre them ; for hereby we do not onely testifie our loue and reuerence towards them , but also declare our good hope of their glorious resurrection . q. by what speciall considerations are we to arme and hearten our selues against persecutions ? a. first , wee know it is the lot of gods children to bee persecuted of the wicked in euery generation , but most notably in the raigne and rage of antichrist . for they that are borne after the flesh will persecute them that are borne after the spirit , and therefore why should wee bee so offended at persecutions , hauing so many compartners , and companions herein . secondly , that we are hereby made con●ormable vnto christ our captaine , leader and guide , and therefore if wee suffer with him , we shal raign with him . thirdly , that gods power and his goodnes doth as much appeare in priuatiue blessings as in positiue : for god is with vs in trouble , he ( when it pleaseth him ) represseth the power , & checketh the malice of the enemy , reformeth and refineth vs , and giueth a ioyfull issue , euasion and euent to our afflictions . fourthly , that persecution is a badge , ensign , and ornament of the true church ; for hereby open enemies take occasion to oppose themselues against gods seruants , and hypocrites ; and time seruers are discouered . fifthly , that persecution is a schoole-master to make vs vnderstand gods will , and a plaine commentary of gods word ; for wee learne that by experience , which we heard by the publik ministery . lastly , persecution is good for gods children whether they escape it , or die by it ; for god doth order it for their profite and happines , and they are gainers by it many wayes . luk. 18.28.29.30 . q. what duties are wee to performe in persecution ? a. first , we are to prepare our selues against it by daily mortification , and by the experience of the swéet and heauenly societie that wee haue with our blessed god that dwelleth in vs , and so we shal learne to die daily . secondly , let vs be assured that we suffer as christians , and not as malefactors , and then wée are not to bee ashamed , but to glorifie god in that behalfe . for we are gods worthies , and his champions , placed in the theatre of the world , and if we fight stoutely & wisely in our lords quarrell and cause , he wil honour and aduance vs accordingly both here , and hereafter . thirdly , because persecution is not onely a triall , but also a correction for our sinnes , wee must entreat the lord to pardon them , and then the flame of affliction shall brighten vs , but not burne vs , scoure vs but not consume vs. fourthly , we must possesse our soules and the graces of god by our patience : we must seeke the lord in our trouble , and he will be found of vs ; and it is our dutie with moses ( for our encouragement ) more to looke vnto the infinite and transcendent measure of reward in the kingdome of heauen , then eyther the sunne-shine of present prosperity , or the blustering windes of persecution . fifthly , persecution doth only touch the vestment and garment of our body , but cannot reach vnto the fort of our faith , nor the hold of our heart , and therefore it ought the lesse to astonish and distract vs. sixthly , let it bee our wisedome and practise in the blustering tempests , and the weltering waues of the worlds persecutions , to adhere vnto , and stand fast vpon christ the rocke ; and then wee shall not néede to feare the waues vnder vs , much lesse dread drowning . lastly , if it please god temporally to deliuer vs , let vs receiue gods precious word with greater ioy : for when men and outward meanes faile vs , it wil be a staffe and stay to vs in all our tribulations , and fill vs full of comfort and hope : for the law of the lord is perfite , conuerting the soule , the testimony of the lord is sure , and giueth wisedome to the simple , the statutes of the lord are right and reioice the heart , the commaundement of the lord is pure , & giueth light to the eyes . let vs praise and magnifie god for our gratious deliuerance , let vs remember ioseph his afflictions , and helpe our persecuted brethren by our goods and money ( if wee can ) : and ( at least ) by our praiers and intercessions : for this euidently proueth that we are feeling members of the same mysticall body , wherof christ is the head . chap. xi . the generall vse and application of the whole treatise . the quintessence of all that hath beene formerly and at large in this treatise handled , may be aptly and pithily reduced to these ●ew conclusions fol●owing . first , that man by his first creation , was pure , holy , innocent , and liued in a most happy and blissefull estate . secondly , that hee by his voluntarie fall , and apostasie from god , and from his former integrity , hath in soule and body corrupted himselfe and all his posterity ; and not onely depriued himselfe & all his sucsessours , of all originall holinesse and happinesse ; but also , wholly subiected them & himselfe ▪ to all plagues and miseries , both temporall and eternall ▪ thirdly , that sinne is very distastefull , odious , and stinking in gods taste , sight , and nostrils ; for otherwise the most iust lord , would neuer so grieuously , nor with such variety of plagues and punishments execute his indignation , not only vpon men of yéeres , but also vpon the very infants that haue committed no actuall transgression . fourthly , the lord , that draweth light out of darknesse , life out of death , and in iudgement remembreth mercy , hath giuen his onely sonne iesus christ to die , to make a perfect satisfaction to his iustice , for the sinnes of all the elect , and to be a perpetuall intercessour for them ; so that they are not onely freed from the guilt , dominion , and euerlasting punishment of sinne , but also entitled vnto , and shall in time certainely possesse euerlasting and vnspeakable glorie and holinesse . fifthly , that christ hath by vertue of faith in his death and merits , transnatured and changed to all his elect , the temporarie and eternall plagues and punishments of sinne , into certaine gentle , momentanie , & fatherlie corrections and chastisments . sixthly , that god hath not left his people , in their crosses , temptations , and afflictions , without hope , helpe , and remedie ; but hath giuen them the sacred and all sufficient scriptures , to instruct , direct , and to confirme and comfort their soules and cosciences in all distresses , inward and outward ; in all afflictions , and against all scandals & persecutions whatsoeuer . seuenthly , god hath prouided for his people , ministers , by their pure preching , and iudicious writings , to resolue them in all doubts ; and christian friends and acquaintance , to solace and support them : wherefore wée must daily blesse god for his infinite mercy in christ ; attend vnto , and consult the scriptures , our pastours and christian brethren . eighthly , wée must make vse of the treatises and volumes of godly learned men , who haue trauelled to good purpose in this kind . ninthly , wée must in our afflictions and distresses , find out , confesse and bewaile , our particular sinnes , and earnestly entreat god , for christ his sake to pardon them ; for they are the meritorious causes of all our miseries . tenthly , we in our miseries and troubles , must not murmurre and repine against god , nor vse any vnlawfull meanes of ease and deliuerance , much lesse despaire of gods gracious mercy & helpe ; but wée ought to commend our soules , bodies , and outward state to gods blessed gouernment and promises ; wee must desire direction , and the spirit of strength and constancie from god , and in hope & patience , waite vpon him , vntill hée haue mercy vpon vs. eleuenthly , wée in our prosperity , must prepare our selues against aduersity ; and wee must with such a sympathy and fellow féeling , remember them that are in affliction , and so endeauour to reléeue and resolue them , as if we were also afflicted in the body . heb. 13.3 . lastly , when we are recouered out of any temptation , or deliuered out of any trouble , we must giue god all the glory of it : and in our rest and prosperity , g●ther grace and strength , & so hearten our selues , against the next temptation . now the god of all grace and consolation , for christ iesus his sake , so direct and instruct vs by his blessed spirit . to performe all these duties , that his maiestie may haue all the glorie , his church and children good examples of imitation ; and we our selues haue ioy and comfort in this world , and eternall saluation in the next : amen . a large table , containing the chiefe points , heads , and particulars , that are handled and applied in both the bookes of this christian armorie . the first booke . chap. i. the originall of mans sinne and miserie . what sinne is . who is the subiect of it . what be the kinds of it . what is originall sinne . the titles and names of it . the parts , causes , and vses of it . why the corruption of it remaineth in gods children . what was adams fall . what was the obiect of it . why the eating of an apple was so grieuously punished . the instrumentall and formall cause of his fall . how god did forsake our first parents . why did god permit their fall . how it can stand with gods iustice , that all adams posterity should smart for his sinne . how can adams personall sinne be imputed to his posterity . how can parents deriue corruption vnto their children . the parents doe not beget the soules of their children , how can they then infuse corruption into them . what vse are we to make hereof . what is actuall sinne . the o●iginall of it . the inward and outward causes of it . the difference betweene originall and actuall sinne . chap. ii. what followeth sinne . whether afflictions and temporall euils be ( properly ) cur●es and satisfactions to gods iustice . how are they qualified to the beleeuers . the sinnes of gods el●ct are forgiuen , and why are not the chastisements with a●l remoud . the vse of the point . chap. iii. what the crosse is . why no ●eruant of god is freed from it . what is to bee thought of them that feele no crosse . the vse of the point . whether that the crosse be good or not . for what ends god doth crosse and afflict his c●ildren . wh● doe not the same ends , effects , and euents appeare in the wicked . arguments to mooue vs to patience vnder the crosse . comfortable conclusions and meditations against the crosse . what duties are to bee performed towards the afflicted . chap. iiii. how the crosse is to bee diuided and distinguished . what comforts are there against warre . comfo●ts and holy counsaile for them that are foiled in battaile . what duties are to be performed in time of war comforts against ciuill warre . what duties are then to be performed . chap. v. whether that the plague be infectious or not . whether a christian may lawfully flee i● the time of the plague . certain obiections answered . the duty of them that flee . the duties of them that abide at home . why god somtimes , doth by the pestilence cut downe and destroy so many thousands . heauenly meditations against the plague . the duties that the visited persons are to performe towards god , themselues and their neighbours . chap. vi. meditations against death and famine . what are the outward causes of it . what vse is to be made hereof . for what speciall sinnes it is sent . duties to be practised . chap. vii comforts against wrong and oppression . the duties of the oppressed . manifold meditations and comforts against pouerty and want . the vse of pouerty . comforts and directions for them that feare pouerty , by reason of a great charge of children . comforts against meannesse and basenesse of birth and parentage . for what ends doth god expose his children to so many losses comforts against the spoile and losse of worldly goods . duties then to be performed . chap. viii . comforts and directions for them that are cosened and defrauded . duties then to be performed . chap. viv . what sicknesse is . who is the author of it . the end why it is inflicted . the procuring cause of it . spirituall comforts against it . duties to be performed . comforts against sharpnesse and violence of sicknesse . how a christian must then behaue himselfe . comforts against the long cōtinuance of sicknes . comforts for them that cannot sleepe . comforts for the sicke that cannot goe out of doores . comforts for them that are in their sicknes , falled and forsaken of their friends and kinsfolke . duties then to be performed . consolations against the concurrence of many euils , comforts against paines in childbearing . comforts against old age . how an old man must behaue himselfe . chap. x. of death . what death is . the procuring cause of it . the imposer of it . what it is in it owne nature . what it is to gods children . why regenerate men die . why are not the bodies of gods saints departed , glorified together with their soules . why the bodies of henoch and elias died not , but were rapt vp into heauen . why infants die . whether that sudden death be a curse . the vse of the point . whether it be lawfull to pray against sudden death or not . comforts against violent death by the enemies sword . chap. xi . of the supposed euils that death bringeth . comforts against the vntimely death of worthy men in authoritie . what vse we are to make of their vntimely deth ▪ comforts against the death of friends , and benefactors . chap. xii . comforts against the death of kinsfolke . comforts for him that hath parted with a good wife . comforts for a wife that hath lost a good husband . comforts for parents that haue parted with vertuous children . the vse that is to be made thereof . comforts for poore orphanes , that want father and mother . their duties . comforts against the death of brethrē & sisters . the vse of the point . comforts for a married man that dieth without children . chap. xiii . of the priuatiue benefits of death . what be the euills that death freeth gods children from . what vse is to be made hereof . wheth●r it bee lawfull for any man to kill himselfe that hee may bee eased of his present paine . whether that death is to be feared . in what respects death is to be feared . in what respects it is not to be feared . how we are to be defended against the fear of it . what are ●he positiue ben●fits of death ▪ whether that a man ( in this mortality ) can haue a tast of eternall life . what considerations and practises are necessary her● unto . how he must ground these meditations in his hart . why do regenerate men die . whether that death may be desired . in what respects . whether it be lawfull to desi●e life . what is required that a man may die well . whether that preparation against death bee necessary . wherein it doth consist . what are the meditations . what duties must the sicke man performe towards god. why so . what duties must he perfo●me ▪ to his neighbour . what duties must he perfo●me ▪ to his owne familie . what duties is he to pe●form towards himselfe . what will follow vpon the performance of these duties . vvhat is a right disposition in death . vvhether that it be necessary . the parts of it . vvhat it is to die in faith . what is the benefit hereof . how is faith to be expressed . what is it to die in obedience . how is this duty to be performed . what it is to surrender our soules into gods hands . comforts against death . what vse is to be made hereof . chap. xiiii . of personall and particular euils . comforts against impotency and deformity of body . comforts against lamenesse , blindnesse , deafenesse , dumbnesse . chap. xv. of outward particular euils , or crosses . comforts against euill husbands . comforts against euill wiues . comforts against euill children . comforts against euill and vnfaithfull seruants . comforts against euill lords and masters . chap. xvi . of priuate euils that are from without vs. comforts against shrewd mothers in lawe . comforts for them that receiue foiles and repulses in lawfull suites . counsaile and comfort for such as are either vndone or much decayed by ●uretiship . comforts for them whose good seruice is neither respected , no● rewarded . comforts against barrennes in wiues . comforts against false imprisonment . comforts for them that are oppressed in their lawfull suite . chap. xvii . of extraordinary euils to which the bodies of men are subiect . what is witchcraft . whether that gods children can be bewitched . the vse of the point . why doth god suffer his children to bee thus tormented . what vse is to be made of the point . why doth satan seeke rather to annoy gods children then the reprobate . the spirituall remedies against witchcraft . what possession is . whether that there be any in these daies . whether there can yet be any possession , seeing that the miraculous gift of expelling them , is ceased . whether the demoniaks in christ his time , were possessed by the diuell , or only obsessed or tormented from without . whether that any of gods children were , are , or can be possessed by satan . generall comforts and directions against possession . the duties of the possessed . what duties are the friends and those that attend vpon the possessed , to performe . the second booke . chap. i. of anguish of mind and distresse of conscience . vvhat distresse of mind is . why of all crosses and troubles it is the greatest . why doth god sometimes try and exercise his children by so great afflictions . comforts against the long continuāce of them . from what cau●es distresse of mind ariseth . vvhat comfortable m●ditations are necessary for the regaining the losse of gods gratious fauour once sweetly felt . the vse of the point . comforts for those that are troubled in conscience for some notable sinne committed . comforts against the long continuance of inward and outward troubles . what melancholy is . how it causeth distresse of conscience . how it differeth from trouble of conscience . comfort against sadnes and heauinesse of mind . comforts against fearefull dreames . practises to preuent it . comforts and remedies for him that is weary of this life by reason of troubles and discontentments . what desperation is . how it is ( ordinarily ) caused . meditations and remedies against it . the vse of the doctrine . comforts against the fear of the last iudgement . the vse of it . comforts against the feare of hell. chap. ii. of doubtings . why god doth suffer his children , to bee persecuted with doubtings . whether that they can be thus distressed . why it is proper to them , to be this way tempted and afflicted . the meanes to suppresse doubtings . what practises are good for this purpose . comforts & resolutions , for them that doubt of their adoption , by reason of the number & greatnesse of their sinnes . what be the meanes to remoue these doubtings . resolution for him that doubteth , whether that christ be his sauiour in particular , or not . whether that hypocrites and prophane persons can , or do , euer soundly apply gods generall promises . whether a weake and a doubting faith , be a true faith , or not . comforts for them that are to encounter with most dangerous temptations , in discharging their particular callings . whether that the diuersitie of interpretation of scriptures , bee any sufficient argument to prooue that they are not gods word . how canne the preaching and reading of them , make some worse if that they bee gods word . why god suffereth the faith of his saints to labour of so many doubts . chap. iii. of imperfections in prayer and sanctification . the duties that a christian is to performe when hee perceiueth many imperfections in his prayers . the vse of them . whether that dulnesse and drowsines in prayer can stand with true sanctification . the vse that is to be made hereof . whether euill and vaine thoughts in prayer can consist with true sanctification . what course a christian must take for his helpe heerin . comforts for them whose prayers god delayeth whether that a regenerate man may bee negligent and remisse in the duties of thāksgiuing . remedies for a mans recouery herein . what practises are necessary . chap. iiii. of often falling into , and continuance of a man , in one and the same sinne . whether that a regenerate man can fall eftsoons into one and the same sinne . the vse of the point . whether a true sanctified man can possibly he long in one and the same sinne . the vse of it . chap. v. of small profiting by the word and sacraments . whether little profiting by the ministery of the word and sacraments , be no profiting at al. the vse of the question . comforts and directions for him that is dull in conceiuing and vnderstanding gods word . directions & comforts for gods child that is troubled with a weake memorie . what meanes are good to cure hardnes of hart . counsaile and directions for them that complaine that they feele no present encrease of faith and comfort by the lords supper . how a man is to prepare himselfe before hee heare the word of god , or receiue the sacraments . what wee must iudge of them that hauing a great desire to obey , faile in the act of obedience . whether gods children be at any time assaulted with blasphemous thoughts . how blasphemous thoughts arising from within vs , are to be reformed , or remoued . how wee must arme our selues against blasphemous thoughts obiected from without vs. chap. vi. of scandales and offences . vvhat a scandall is ? why god permitteth it . what are the kinds of it . what is a scandall giuen . of how many kinds it is . the vse that is to be made of scandals giuen . how a christian shall or must preserue himselfe against the scandall and contagion of false doctrine . what duties he is to practise herein . how a christian may stay and comfort himselfe in a generall apostasie from the gospell of christ. what duties he is to practise at such a time . comforts against the scandal of false excommunication . comforts against the scandall of innocency oppressed . why god doth so seuerely handle holy and innocent men . the vse of the point . comforts and directions for weake christians , that are offended at the loose life , and vile practises of some professo●s . what practises are then necessary . comforts against the apostasie of eminent and famous persons . how we may preuent it in our selues . whether popish martyrs be true martyrs . we may preserue our selues from this scandall . how a man is to arme and comfort himselfe against factions , schismes , and diuisions preuailing in the church . how we must behaue our selues at such a time . consolations against euill & vnquiet neighbors . consolations against false and fained friends . comforts for princes that are troubled with euill and disobedient subiects . comforts for subiects wronged and oppressed . comforts and directions against the scandall of euill , idle , and offensiue ministers . comforts and directions against a generall corruption in manners . chap. vii what is an offence taken . what are the causes of it . comforts against the offence that wicked men take against vs. how shall gods children comfort themselues when wicked men are offended at their lawfull vse of things indifferent . comforts against afflictions of good men . chap. viii . how shall gods children reforme themselues , or resolue their minds , that are scandalized at the long raigne and prosperity of tyrants and persecutors . reasons to remoue gods children from conceiuing offence at the long impunity of euill doers . why god doth not alike punish in this world , all euill doers , but spareth many . why doth god in the execution of publike iudgments , as of warre , pestilence , famine , include the good with the wicked . chap. ix . touching persecution . what persecution is . whether that persecutours in any generation , doe , or can , roote out the church . for what ends god doth suffer his church and children to be so persecuted . who are gods instruments herein . why doth god vse the ministerie of wicked men in the chastising of his children . why wicked men do so persecute the godly . whether that in persecution , gods children may not lawfully vse all good meanes to preserue themselues . whether that gods children be gainers by persecution . reasons to mooue vs to constancie . what practices are necessary for this purpose . what duties are wee to performe towards the persecuted . chap. x. the kinds of persecution . comforts against contempt . how wee must behaue our selues when wee are contemned . what enuie is . how a christian must , or should arme himselfe against it . what vse are we to make hereof . comforts against hatred and malice . whether that wee may lawfullie hate them that hate vs. how are we to behaue our selues , when wee are maligned and hated . comforts against slander . how the belied and slandered , should behaue themselues . comforts against whipping . comforts against the violent taking away of our goods , by the publike enemie . what duties must wee then performe , when we are thus violently handled . comforts against exile and banishment . how must wee behaue our selues , when wee are banished out of our country . comforts against slauerie and bondage . what vse are we to make hereof . consolations against nakednesse . why god suffereth so many of his children , to be deuoured by the sword . comforts against this violent kind of death . what vse is to be made hereof . comforts against the want of christian buriall . what vse is to be made hereof . speciall considerations and consolations , against all kind of persecutions . what duties we must then performe . chap. xi . the generall vse , and application , or the breue and epitome , of the whole treatise . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a20802-e550 1. ioh. 3.4 . rom. 5.14 . 1. ioh. 3.8 . iud. 6. 1. cor. 15.21.22 . 1. io. 1. v. 5. eph. 2. v. 2. psal. 51.5 . gen. 8.21 . ioh 5 2. gen. 6. v. 5. rom. 8.6 . c. 7. v. 13 c. 7. rom. 6.6 . iam. 1. v. 15. rom. 7.17 rom. 3. v. 24. apoc. 3.4 . 1. tim. 4.8 . gen. 3.6 . & 7. gen 3. v. 4.5.6 . rom 9.22 . rom. 5.16 . 2. chr. 21. v. 14. eph. 2.6 . eph. 5. v. 26. & 27. psal. 51.5 . heb. 12. v. 9. zach. 12.1 . simile ioh. 4.4 . ma. 11.24 . luc. 12.47 ephes. 4. vers . 18. luk. 22. ver . 3.4 . luk. 7.1 . matth. 13. vers . 21. ibid. v. 22. 1. tim. 6. ver . 17. rom. 3.11 rom. 7.18 . rom. 6.23 gal. 3.10 . gal. 3.13 . heb. 2. ver 15. heb. 12. ver . 11. 2. sam. 12. rom. 3. v. 25.26 . 2 cor. 5.19 . 2 cor. 7. v. 11. math. 14. v. 5. & 8. rom. 5. v. 14. psal. 75.10 . math. 20.23 . luk. 9.23 . aug. ser. 45. max in ser. de martyr . heb. 12.8 . apoc. 13.19 . gen. 45. v. 4. & 5. 2. cor. 1.9 . 1 cor. 11.31 . psal. 119.67 . ioh. 5.14 . hos. 5.15 . comparisons . hos. 5.15 . psal 30.8 . ioh 9.3 . math. 8. v. 26. 2. cor. 4.10 . act. 14.23 . exo. 3. v. 2. ier. 5.3 . heb. 4.16 . luk. 21.19 rom. 8.37 psal. 37. isa. 45.7 . lam. 3 37. apoc. 3.19 act. 14.22 . similitudes . a similitude . isa. 43.2 . psal 30.11.12 . rom. 8.17 . heb. 10.36.37 . psal 37.7.8.9 . psa. 115.1 . 1. cor. 2.26 . 1. chr. 21.13 . 1 chr. 21.13 . ezec. 14. v. 21. 1 kin. 8.35 36 ▪ math. 10. v. 28. rom. 8. v. 38. 2 ch. 20.15 . ios. 7. v. 21. iud. 20. v. 21. & 25. deut. ●0 . v. 3. & . 4. petrarch . de remediis vtr . fort . ephe. 6.13 iudg 7.3 . deu 20.3.4 . mat 24.6.7 . lipsius de co●st . 2 ch. 14.11 2. sam. 24.17 . 2. sam. 24.15 mat. 25. v. 43. 2. sam. 24. v. 1. & 15. psal. 66. v. 14. psal. 107.34 . psa. 105 16 amos 4.6 . leu. 25.14 . agg. 2.4.9 . esa. 5.9.10.11 . ier. 34. mal. 3.9.10.11 . ps. 33.19 . prou. 10.3 luk. 4.26 . ps. 147 9. luk. 15.17 . psal. 34.19 . heb. 11.37 . ioel 2.13 . neh. 5.10 . 1. thes. 4.6 act. 7.3 . eccl. 7.9 . iam. 5.4 . luk. 18.3 . rom. 12.20 . eccl. 5.7 . 2. cor. 8.9 . apoc. 21.7 phil. 4. v. 12. & 13. pro. 30.8 . psal. 23.1 . psal. 113.7.8 . col. 3.1 . math. 13.44 . psal. 73.15 gen. 33.5 . ezech. 18.20 . 1. tim. 6.17 . luk. 12 , 15 heb. 10.34 luk. 16.11.12 . iob 42.10 . bia● ▪ seneca . 2. cor. 8.9 heb. 10.36 psal. 62. v. 8.9.10 . ecc●e . 11. ver . 1. psal 32.1.2 . ioh. 8.44 . pet. rauen. in quadam epist. psal. 9 v. 15. lam. 3. v. 39. luk. 5.20 . v. 24. & 25. 2. cor 12. psal. 41.3 . lam. 3.23 . apoc. 14.13 acts 14.22 heb. 12.1 . esa. 5.3 . mat. 1● . 28.29 . rom. 12 . 1● phil. 4.13 . phil. 1.23 . 2. cor. 5.2 . ioh. 5.14 . heb. 12.6 . 1. cor 10.13 . heb. 12.10 psal. 119.104 . iam. 5.16 . eph. 6.16 . 1. iohn 5.3 . eph. 6.16 . ps. 103.3 . dan. 9.6 . psal. 73. luke 18. iohn 5.5 . rom. 8.18 . hos. 5.15 . psal. 5.15 . psal. 4 8. act. 12. v. 6 hest. 6.1 . psal. 1. v. 2 eccles. 5. v. 1 psal. 27.4 . psal. 41. esa. 38. act. 9 33. luc. 5.18.19 . math. 27.42 43. col. 2. v. 5. ios. 1.9 . heb. 13.5 . psal. 62.7 . iob. 13.15 . heb. 2.4 . psal. ● . psal. 46. v. 1. psal. 22.1 . luk. 22.41.43.44 . psal. 73.16.17 . luke 21.19 heb. 10.36 , 37. arist. 7. lib. de animal . iohn 16.21 rom 8.1 . 1. tim. 2.15 . leu. 19.32 . prou. 16.31 dan. 7.9 . eccles. 12. v. 1 , 2. &c. psal. 27.4 . psal. 36.8 . luk. 2.28 . luk. 2.29 . gen. 19. 2. cor. 4.16 . luk. 23.43 luk. 16.22 phil. 1.23 . 2. cor. 15.1 . rom. 5.12 . ioh. 11.11 12. 1. thes. 4.13 . rom. 8.17 . gen. 3 19. 1. cor. 15.20 . 1. thes. 4. rom. 5.14 . rom. 6. v. 23. 1. thes. 4.17 . gal. 3.13 . apo. 14.13 luk. 13. math. 14. augustinus . rom. 8.38 psal. 73.19 . math. 5.2 . rom. 8.32 psal 44.22 . rom. 8. v. 2 heb. 9.27 . acts 1.7 . 2. king. 22.20 . esay 57.1.2 . sence . epist. 1. chron 39.2 , 3 , 4 , 5. heb. 12.22.23 . rom. 8.28 . 1. sam. 25.40 , 41 , 42. ps. 10.18 . deut. 24.17.18 . 1. sam. 25.40.41.42 . 2 kings 22.20 . 1. thes. ● . 18 . filius ante diem , patrios inquirit in annos . iob 14.1.2 . 2. sam. 12.23 . mat. 12.48 luke 16.9 . act. 9.39 . esa. 57.2 . 2 king. 22.20 . act. 1. v. 18. & 25. eph. 5.29 . 1 cor. 7. v. 20. heb. 5.7 . luk. 22. v. 44. psal. 30. v. 9. esay 57.1.2 . heb. 2.14 . 2 cor. 5.1 . apoc. 21.7 . rom. 14. v. 17. psal. 36.8 . ● 2 cor. 4.17.18 . rom. 5.1 . ioh. 3. v. 36. apoc. 22. v. 20. 2. cor. 5. v. 5. math. 25. v. 14. psal. 139.15.16 . psal. 39.10 . esa. 63.2 psal. 91 15 ▪ psal. 117.15 . phil. 1. 1 cor. 15.26 . luk 13.35 1 cor. 15. v. 57.58 . 2 cor. 4. ●7 . ios. 24.14.15 . psal. 31.5 . ps. 112.6 . heb. 11.13 gen. 49.18 rom. 8.16 1. king. 18.4 . 1. cor. 25.31 . 1. pet. 4.19 1. cor. 15.55.56 . luk. 16.22 . 2. cor. 5.1 . apoc 14.13 . 1 cor. 6.20 ps. 32.1.2 . phil. 3.20 . 2. cor. 4.16 acts 9.33 . aeneas . luke 18. 2. cor. 4.16 1. pet. 1.21.22 . 2. pet. 2.8 . acts 3.21 . ioh. 14.26 . ps. 119.71 . psal. 52.5 . exod. 3.7 . exod. 14.15 . 1. sam. 25. mat. 19.8 . 1. pet. 3.1.2.4.5 . 1 cor. 7.16 ioh. 3.6 . eph. 6.1 . 2. chr. 18.1 math. 8.9 . gal. 4.30 . psal. 101.5 & 7. luk. 7. ● . col. 4.1 . eph. 6. v. 5 6.7 . pro. 11.15 . pro. 6.1.2.3.4.5 6. gen. 42.37 . pro. ●2 . 26 . math. 24.19 . luk. 23.27 28.29 . math. 25.36 . act. 28.31 act. 3.19 . psal. 123.2 eccl. 5.7 . eccles. 4. ● . 2.3 . eccle. 7.17 c. 8. v. 14. eccles. 3.16.17 . perkins . luk. 13.16 . eccles. 9.2 matth 5.10 , 11 , 12. luk. 22.31.32 . iam 47. psal. 92.10 . num. 23.23 . 1. sam. 15. 1. tim. 1.20 mark. 9 26 mar. 9.24 . mark. 9 . 2● iam 4 7. math. 12.43.44 . eccl. 9.2 . mat. 4.8 . 2. cor. 12.7 mat. 15.21.22 . mat. 17.21 . rom. 12.15 . 1 cor. 12.25 . iam. 5.15 . esa. 8.20 . 2 kin. 1.3 . & 4. notes for div a20802-e27190 heb. 5.7 . iob. 6.2 . & 3.24 &c. 16 12. p●al 6.1.2 3 psal. 116.3 . ● . cor. 12. gen 45.5 . & 6. psal. 51.13 . a similitude . luk. 22 33. pro. 13.12 . ioh. 5.14 . 1. pet. 1.6 . rom. 8.28 . ioh 3.16 . math 24. v. 26 ioh. 20.25.27 . amos. 3.6 rom. 8.27 . ps. 91.15 . vers. 16. perkins . 2. cor. 7.9.10 . psal 34.12 . mat. 11.28 psal. 123.2 . iob 33.23 24. esay 50.4 . a simil●●ude . 2. cor. 7.9.10 . 1. pet. 1.6.7 eccles. 2.24 1. thess. 4.15 . petrarch . de remed . vtrius . fort . eccles. 5.2 . psal. 4.4.8 luke 9.23 . & 24. iob 2.10 . acts 14.22 . cant. 3.2 . & 3. esay 1.16.17 . iohn 9.39 . rom. 5.10.21 . iohn 20.25.27 . lam. 3 3● . mat. 12.11 . matth. 5.6 . acts 11.23 . mat 9.22 . iohn 13.3 . phil. 1.6 . acts 3.19 . heb. 4.1.2 . rom. 4.19 , 20 , 21. 2. cor. 5.11 rom. 8.1 . mat ●5 . 41 . 1. cor. 11.32 . luk. 22.32 . mar. 9.21 . 1. ioh 3.21 . heb. 4.11 . esay 55.1 . 1. iohn 5.10 mat. 10.28 . 1. cor. 15.55 56. ioh. 3.36 . 1 ioh. 2.1 . & 2. apoc. 14.13 . luk. 23. ioh. 6.54 . luk. 17.5 . ioh. 5.36.40 . rom. 7.18 19.20 & 24. psal. 103.10.11.12 . eph. 5.2 . heb 2.14.15 . ioh. 6.35 37. 2 ch. 15.4 ioh. 8.44 . rom. 4.18 19.20.21 . pro 28 13 1 ioh. 1.9 . cant. 3.2 3. lam. 3.32 . psal 130.7 heb. 10.24 & 25. mal. 2.7 . simile . rom. 8.38 . heb. 11.27 . math. 12.30 . a comparison . mark. 9.23.24 . rom. 8.24 luk. 17.5 . psal. 90.17 mat. 25.15 phil. 4.12 . psal. 128.1 psal. 119.105 . 1 cor. 3.13 . rom. 1.16 . 2 cor. 2.16 . 2 pet. 2.22 luk. 22. v. 31.32 . 2. cor. 12.9 . math. 25.28.29 30. rom. 8.25.26 . psal. 51.17 exod. 14.14 ier. 17.9 . cant. 3.1 , 2 , 3. luk. 18.8 . heb. 10.29 heb. 6.6 . apoc. 7. lam. 3.24.25 . heb. 3.12 . luk. 13. luk. 22.32 perkins . psal. 119.11 . 2. sam. 24.10 . luk. 24.45 psal. 119.18 . & 34. act. 17.11 . ioh. 14.26 . psal. 141.5 . ezech. 3.4.26.27 . isay 66.2 . 1 cor. 11 . 2●.29 . 2 chr. 30.19 . eccl. 5.1 . psal. 26.8 . ver ▪ 6. iam 1.21 . psal. 86.11 1 sam. 16.7 rom. 15.7 ad 22. 1 cor. 2.14 . psal. 86.11 mat. 4.3 . & 6. mat. 18.7.8 . 1 cor. 11.19 . apoc 6.13 . apoc. 12.4 . luk. 17.1.2 . 1. cor. 11.29 . apoc. 9.2 . 2. thes. 2.10 . ioh. 10.5 . & 27. 2 epist. ioh. v. 10. & 11. mat. 15 13 pro. 8.33 . 2 pet. 3.18 . apoc. 3.3 . rom. 16.17 . & 18. 1. ioh. 2.19 apoc. 13.18 . luk. 15.13.14 . apoc. 13 8 luk. 18.8 . 2. pet. 1.19 mat. 7.25 . iohn 9.35 eccles. 5.7 . eph. 5.27 . face●è . luk. 18.7.8 2. pet. ● 7. 1 king. 8.46 . psal. 130.3 . psal. 143.2 . dissimile . 1. cor. 11.31 . 1 pet. 4.17 18. rom. 14.4 . lam. 3.39.40.41 . psal. 130.3 math. 13. 2. tim. 2.20 . gal. 6.4 . ezech. 18.20 . rom. 2.1.2.3 . 2 the. 2.10 . cypr. apoc. 14 13 1. cor. 13.3 a a romanus bruno . b b iohn the euangelist . 1. cor. 3.3 , 4 , 5 , 6. 1. cor. 11.3 mat. 7.2.3 , 4 , 5. math. 10.17 . gen. 4. 2. sam. 16. psal. 62. exod. 3 7. & 8. 1 pet. 2.13 14.15.16 . rom. 13. ● psal. 125.3 . col. 4.17 . math 23.3 luk. 12.47 math. 7.14 ier. 5.4 . 2 tim 3.2.3.4.5 . luk 21.34 35. 2 tim. 3.2.3.5 . luk. 18.8 . phil. 2.15 . apoc. 2.13 apoc. 3.4 eph. 5.15.16 ▪ mat. 15.12 13 . 1● . math. 15.12 . act. 4.29 . & 30. math 11.6 . rom. 14.15 . 1 cor. 10.31.32 . gal. 2.5 . gal. 6.16 gal. 5.1 . phil. 1.29 . luk. 16.25 . heb. 12. luk. 7.23 . act. 14 , 22. a similitude . rom. 13 7 a comparison . psal 7● . 13 14. v. ●3 . 24 . ro 20.21 . a similitude . ezech. 18.20 . psal. 51.5 . iob. 14.4 . psal. 130.4 . dan. 9.5.6 7. lypsius . apoc. 11.3 & 4. rom. 11.4 . 1 kin. 19.18 . apoc. 12.7 comparisons . apoc. 12.2.5.6 . comparisons . math. 20.15 . rom. 9.21 22. mat. 23.2 apoc. 11 12. esa. 10.1 gen. 3.15 . ioh. 15.19 . eph. 5.9.12 . ioh. 3.19.20 . 1 king. 19. ier. 38.24.25.36 . act. 13.6.9.10 . a similitude . act. 11.19.20 . luk. 2.35 . luk. 8.13 . 2 cor , 1.4 . luk. 9.23 24. 2 pet. 2.20 & 21. ezech. 18.24 . a similitude . heb. 12.1 . luk. 21.14 . & 15. 1 pet 3.15 & 16. mat 7.6 . amos 6.6 . a similitude . mat. 25.43 . 1 king. 18.13 . 2. tim. 1 : ●6 . 1. cor. 3.3 4. &c. a similitude . seneca de morbis . math. 7.2 . math. 5.11 & 12. 2. cor. 1.12 . 1. ioh. 3.12 comparisons . mal. 3.7 . ioh. 15 18. ioh. 15.19 . rom. 12.20 . 1. pet. 2.3.4 psa. 37.6.8 1 pet. 4.14 augustinus . mat. 5.10 . 1 sam. 25.39 . 2 cor. 1 10. micah . 7. 2 sam. 16.10 . apoc 12.10 . gal. 6.17 . 1 pet. 2 24. phil. 1.16 . apoc. 7.14 ▪ 15.16 . luk. 10.30 psal. 23.1 . luk. 10.33 34.35 . heb. 10.34 2 sam. 25.42 . iob. 2 10. mat. 9.27 . apoc. 12.1 . ioh. 1.3.17 . iac. 2.5 . heb. 10.3.4 . 2 pet. 3.13 . math. 21.33 . heb. 13.13 . psal. 7● . 19.20.25 . & 52.53.54 act. 11.20.21 . ●2 . act. 8.1 . & 4. ioh. 10.27 . ioh. 8.35 . & 36. rom. 5.1 . iob 8.15 . phil. 3.20 . joh 3.25 . ezech. 18.16 . esa. 58.7 . psal. 22.18 . mat. 27.28 heb. 12.2 ▪ rom. 8.38 esay . 58.7 . apoc. 7.13 . aug. de cr● . dei l. 3. c. ● . gen. 4. apoc. 6.10 1 pet. 4.12 . ver . 17. psal. 37.9 . esa. 10.21.22 . apoc. 11.8 iob. 19.25.26 . apoc. 14.13 . rom. 6.3 . & 4. act. 8.2 . apoc. 12.17 . gal. 4.29 . psa. 76.9 . & 10. heb. 5.8 . 1 cor. 15.30.31 . 1 pet. 4.16 2 chr. 15.4 rom. 5.4 . psal 19.7.8 . amos. 6.6 . 1 cor. 12 26. 1 iohn . 2. l. 2. a rational method for proving the truth of the christian religion, as it is professed in the church of england in answer to a rational compendious way to convince without dispute all persons whatsoever dissenting from the true religion, by j.k. / by gilbert burnet. burnet, gilbert, 1643-1715. 1675 approx. 140 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 57 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a30400 wing b5846 estc r32583 12725301 ocm 12725301 66350 this 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a30400) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 66350) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1031:16) a rational method for proving the truth of the christian religion, as it is professed in the church of england in answer to a rational compendious way to convince without dispute all persons whatsoever dissenting from the true religion, by j.k. / by gilbert burnet. burnet, gilbert, 1643-1715. 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proofread 2003-12 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a rational method for proving the truth of the christian religion , as it is professed in the church of england . in answer to a rational compendious way to convince without dispute all persons whatsoever dissenting from the true religion , by i. k. by gilbert burnet . london , printed for richard royston , bookseller to his most excellent majesty , m dc lxxv . to i. k. sir , about two or three months ago a noble lady gave me your book with a letter that addressed it to me , wherein after some civilities i was desired to peruse the book , and made hope i should reap great advantages from it ; and indeed if i had not learned from the inspired preacher that there is nothing new under the sun , or had been easily catched to believe novelties , a title and preface that promised so much should have made me apprehend i had got sent me the philosophers stone in divinity ; and truly so short , so sure , so easie and so general a method as you think you offer for curing and preventing all distempers about religion , deserved to be entertained with equal degrees of joy and astonishment . what a happiness were it to mankind after all the expence of bloud , all the toyl and sweat of care , all the speculations and labours of the learned , and the industry and endeavours of statesmen for resolving the doubts and difficulties about religion , to find a shorter and a safer way to get out of that trouble ? but as the high pretences and promises of the spagiricks make sober people afraid to meddle with them , and do oft bring disesteem and neglect on the medicines , because they are overvalued : so i am afraid your book shall have the same fate with clearer and unpossessed minds . and i must confess my self strongly prejudiced against these hudling methods , so that i always apprehend some legerdemain from them . and the title of your book did very naturally lead me to this thought , it being a form of speech we in england call a bull , a rational way to convince without any dispute , for a rational way of conviction is when upon a full hearing and considering all can be said on both sides of any debate , the evidence of reason determines our perswasion . and to form an opinion after we have only considered the grounds of one side , is as unequal and unjust , as for a judge to pass sentence when he has heard but one party . now disputing is only the considering with an even ballance what all parties say , and the suspending our verdict till they have finished their evidence . it is therefore no rational way but a blind and unreasonable one that bars disputing ; nor can it be a conviction , but only a prepossession when we are led into any opinion , before all that can in reason be said hath been examined by us . but i suppose by dispute you meant the eager and hot contests of wrangling disputants , who espousing a party do with all the tricks and disingenuities of sophistry and the petulant incivilities of rude treatment , manage debates as persons more concerned for glory and victory than for truth ; and rather than confess an escape and disclaim an error , will with all the trifling arts of their embased logick , defend every thing which either they themselves have once said , or that party they adhere to has maintained . but as i passed from your title through your preface to your book , i must freely confess i did not find in it such fair and clear reasoning as you promised ; and i saw you had a great deal of reason to avoid disputing : for nothing but a blind easie yielding to what you delivered could save your book from being rejected . and this seemed to me so obvious , that i judged it needless to engage in any answer to it , and so laid it aside . but a few days ago a worthy and learned friend of mine told me many wished some would be at the pains to answer it , and desired me to do it ; and when i told him how it was brought to my hands , he thought i was under some obligation to send you the reasons that lay in my way and kept me from yielding to this new method of conviction . i was the more easily perswaded to it , that my present circumstances did leave me at a greater freedom of disposing of my time than i have enjoyed for some years . the starched formality of dedications is as much out of esteem with me , as out of date in this freer age ; but it was natural to address this to your self though utterly unknown to me , by any other character than what your book gives of you , and so i am in no hazard of making personal reflections . i shall first give you my sense of your method in all the six points you go through , before i take any notice of what is in your preface , which i shall consider last of all , and with the same breath shall offer a rational way of managing all disputes about religion so , that after a full hearing of what may be said we may arrive at a clear and well grounded conviction in matters of religion . i hope you will consider what i go to lay before you with a mind calm and undisturbed , and believe that in this i am acting the part of one who is sincerely your friend and servant , gilbert burnet . imprimatur , guliel . wigan . feb. 27. 1674 / 5. the contents . chap. i. it is considered if j. k. does prove convincingly that there is a god. page 1. chap. ii. it is considered if j. k. proves convincingly that there must be some true religion . p. 11. chap. iii. it is considered if j. k. proves convincingly that there must be some true revealed religion . p. 17. chap. iv. it is considered if j. k. hath proved convincingly the truth of the christian religion . p. 23. chap. v. it is considered if j. k. proves convincingly that the roman catholick religion is true . p. 33. chap. vi. it is considered if j. k. proves convincingly that every thing the roman church teaches as an article of faith , must be true . p. 57. chap. vii . of the supposed inconveniences j. k. imagines in the want of a true church to judge infallibly , and of the right methods of finding truth p. 65. the introduction . nothing doth give both occasion and nourishment to error and mistake more than the being prevailed on by the heats of fancy without bringing them under the severer tryal of reason ; nor do our imaginative powers in any case more certainly impose upon us , than when they present notions to us which do at once surprise with their novelty , and delight with their apparent usefulness : and none are sooner catch'd with such a bait than men of speculative heads , accustomed to disputes and to the little tricks of logick ; for they being habituated to so many axioms which pass among them for sacred truths , think , if they can found a discourse on some received maxim , all is sure work , and have not distinguished aright betwixt the colours of truth which wit , eloquence and sophistry can by a deceiving perspective cast on the falsest propositions , and the close contextures of reason derived from the common notices of truth which dwell on the minds of all men . the subtleties of the schoolmen did well enou●h in an age that questioned nothing ; but n●w that men are throughly awake , and having thrown off the prejudices of custome and education call for a fuller evidence , they are not the proper men to deal with this age : their ignorance of mankind makes them offer many things as demonstrations , which some even of the most trifling pretenders to wit can undo and bl●w away ; and their being accustomed to their own topicks , not knowing how much they are rejected by men of severer and more searching understandings , makes them often beg the one half of the question to prove the other . therefore whoever would deal with our hectors in matters of religion , must know men as well as noti●n● and books . and as of 〈◊〉 plato thought the study of geometry a necessary preparation to the understanding the higher mysteries of his philosophy : so i have often judged an acquaintance with mathematical arts and sciences a fit and almost necessary preparation for a right understanding and managing theological debates ; since these teach us to distinguish critically betwixt truth and falshood , and practise a man into an exact considering of every thing that is proposed to him . the want of this , or at least a great overliness in it appears in j. k's late book , wherein he thinks he leads his reader in a mathematical method through a great many propositions , every one of which he imagines he has proved , beginning from a very plain unquestioned one , that something is true , and ending it in a very fruitful one , that every thing the roman church teaches as an article of faith must certainly be true. undoubtedly if his method be good , that church is infinitely beholding to him for its support , having offered an easier and clearer method for bringing the world under her authority than any yet thought on . this he concludes as firm and sure of all sides ; and by a clear way of analyticks offers a resolution of any theorem or problem in divinity even to the giving the quadrature of that circle their church is forc'd to run round in , proving her own authority from the scriptures , and the authority of the scriptures from her own testimony . i shall without any further introduction enter into a survey of the six points proposed by j. k. to be proved , without examining the unwariness of his expressions in any of them ; in which though he lies often open , yet it is of so little importance to quarrel about words or forms of speech , that i shall not stand upon them : being also careful to avoid the engaging in any debate that may be personal betwixt him and me , and therefore shall confine my discourse to the six points he has gone through . chap. i. it is considered , if j. k. does prove convincingly that there is a god. j . k. thinks he hath proved the being of a god , by this progression of reason , if something be true , then this is true , that there is something better than another ; which if any man deny he denies himself better than an ass or a block , and so is either a mad man or a fool . now if something be better than other , then there is a best of all things ; and every thing is better as it comes nearer that which is best , and this best of all things is god. des cartes is blamed by many for having left out all other arguments for the proof of a deity , setting up only one , which how strong soever it may be , it is a great injury to the cause he maintains to seem to slight all other proofs may be brought for so sacred and fundamental a truth : yet his establishing that upon a good and solid foundation doth very much qualifie any guilt , which is rather to be imputed to the over-valuing his own notions than a designed betraying the cause he undertook . but upon this occasion the reader may be tempted to sever●r c●●sure , when the foundations of so great a su●●●structure are so ill laid , and both the antecedent and consequent of this argument prove equally weak . and in the first place , how is it proved , that some things are better than other things ? or does any imagine the atheists will admit that ? on the contrary they deny there is any thing morally good or evil , and ascribe all the notions of good and evil to education , custom , the several tempers and interests of men . and indeed did they acknowledge the morality of actions , they should yield the full half of the debate , that men ought to be good ; which would clearly make way for proving all the rest . and these men , will without any hesitation acknowledge themselves no better than beasts or blocks , as to any moral goodness . they will not deny but matter is more refined in a man , the contexture better and the usefulness greater than in other animals : but as to any moral goodness they plainly disclaim it . as though wood be never so neatly wrought in a fi●e and useful cabinet , yet is no better so than when it was an undressed plank as to any moral goodness . thus it appears that i. k's ignorance of men makes him stumble in his first attempt , nor is his next more successful ; for though some things be better , it will not follow there is a best : for of every sort of beings there are some individuals better than other ; but from that it does not follow there must be a best of that rank or order of creatures : because one horse is swifter , one dog better scented , one lyon stronger , therefore must there be a horse swifter than all others , a dog the best scented of any , and a lyon stronger than any other lyon ? this may be applied to all the species of creatures : for all the goodness these people admit , being only a better temper of more nimbly agitated matter , though one thing excel another , it is not because it comes nearer the best of all beings , nor because it recedes further from the worst of all beings , but because it is more wieldy , more apt to serve the several uses and interests of men ; without rising higher to consider any or●ginal and standart goodness . nor w●ll this any more prove the being of one that is 〈◊〉 all , than because some men are sharper sighted , others stronger limb●d , others of a better digestion , and others of a better tempered health ; that therefore there must be one that h●● the sharpest sight of all men , the strongest limbs , the best d●gestion and the most constant health . besides , though an atheist did admit there were some beings morally better and worse , this does not prove there must be a best of all beings ; for he may say that as naturally as colours fit the eye and sounds the ear , so some notions of good are suitable to the minds of men , and their being better and worse is nothing but their keeping more close to these notions , discerning them more truly and following them more constantly : so that as a man sees well when his eye does present objects to him in their due colours and distances , yet this proves no deity ; in like manner a man is better or worse as he discerns and follows these common notices more or less exactly . thus far i have considered this argument , and have found it so weak on all sides , that no weight is to be laid on it at all . but all this while i have been put to act a very unpleasant part , when i did but seem to defend atheism from any objection is brought against it ; but i know nothing that does more prejudice a good cause , than when it is maintained by arguments palpably weak and unconcluding ; for it makes many overly considerers , and more particularly those that are already byassed and partial , imagine it has no more strength in it than what it receives from the arguments by which it was proved ▪ since no conclusion ( as such ) can have more truth in it than was in the premises from which it was deduced . if therefore the proving of a deity be made good , by an argument so fallacious that it must needs appear such at first view , one that is wickedly partial may from that be sortified in his accursed hopes , that there is none , because he finds that so much feared truth is so weakly asserted . but that i do not leave the atheists in a vain triumph , or seem to weaken so good a cause , by blowing away any reasons brought for it without substituting other and better ones in their room , i shall here say a little for the conviction of an atheist . first then , all men are desired to consider there is no argument that can so much as pretend to prove there is no god , or that a supreme being infinitely perfect is impossible ; for all the atheists offer at , is only to weaken those reasons from which the belief of a deity is inferred : so that still it is possible there may be a god. and from this every man will see cause to retire his thoughts inwards to consider what danger he is in , if there be a god and he continue to deny and despise him ; and if it be possible there be a god , for ought he knows there may be one , since he has no reason to be assured of the contrary . if upon this he yield so far as seriously and with even ballances to weigh what shall be offered to him , he is next desired to consider if he find not within himself the secret apprehensions of a supreme invisible being , if the fears of offending him , the desire of his assistance , the joy in the opinion of being acceptable to him , do not often spring up in his mind , and this even after all attempts to stifle and repress them . nor can this be only the effect of education , for every man finds by experience that all other things which he sucked from his breeding can by a little care and attention be so quite forsaken , that no visage of the first impression shall remain . since therefore these thoughts stick closer , there must be somewhat more than education in the case . but this will appear stronger if a man compare the thoughts and common sentiments of all nations and ages as far as either history or writings can lead us up , with these stirring within his own breast ; where finding that all mankind have agreed in the belief of a deity , he must needs be convinced there is some proportion betwixt his soul and these thoughts from which he is not to be shaken , though he meet with some few in this or former ages who have denied or doubted this truth , for these can never be set up against such vast numbers as have agreed in this belief , who have been always the most sober , most serious and considering persons , who have cultivated all arts and sciences , and advanced the good of mankind more than the whole tribe of libertines and ruffians , who having abandoned themselves to their sensual appetites and pleasures , and neglected the improving their minds in any thing that is either great or good , are not to be put in the ballance with the religious . what have they ever done to better mankind ? on the contrary their maxims dissolve all the nerves of government , and all the duties we owe one another ; and they being buried in their brutal lusts , have lost that clearness of discerning which men of more sober tempers have : nor do they ever converse with their own minds , but study to guard against serious thoughts , as effects of the spleen and melancholy ; and the dissoluteness of their lives as it depraves their understandings , so it makes them partial to those notions , that may give them ease and sleep in their licentious practises . and thus he that consults his own thoughts and the common verdict of all mankind , will be made acknowledge a deity . and if he open his eyes to look on the visible world , this will furnish him with many reasons to believe an invisible power that made it . if we consider the revolutions of the heavens , the interchanges of day and night , summer and winter , the figure of the earth , its division into sea and land , by which all nations communicate what they abound in to others , the inequalities of hills and valleys , the lakes and rivers that moisten the earth , and give drink to anim●●● , the many product●o●s of the earth , the great variety of plants and vegetables with their several uses , besides the more inward riches of the earth , mines and minerals : what man of common sense can ascribe all this to fate or chance ? but the structure of animals , the organs of sense , the vessels of concoctions , the various ferments , and the skilfully disposed channels for conveying nourishment to all the parts of the body , raises our wonder higher which , is at its full height when we examine the parts of mans body , which amazed galen , and made him sing a hymn to his maker , upon so astonishing a meditation . if the brain and seat of memory and imagination be considered , what a surprizing thing is it to find such a substance the receptacle of so many various impressions as make up all the words of every language we speak , the figures of all persons , places and things we have seen or considered , and that all these be so well disposed that we can draw them out when we please in so ready and natural an order , and also that all words flow so easily through our mouths ? now this must either be the effect of fate , or chance , or of an intelligent wise being . not of fate , for beside that they cannot explain what that fate should be , every thing that flows from a natural cause must always operate the 〈◊〉 way ; but the great diversities of mens tem●ers , apprehensions and judgments , the difference of their faces , eyes , way of speaking , writing and walking shew that they are not the effects of fate . nor can so much regularity and parts so useful and well ▪ disposed , have run so together by chance , which must needs be unequal and unconstant . so that mans formation must owe its original to a wise being ; and that this is not the wisdom of the father and mother , every one knows : therefore there must be some unseen wise being that created the universe , and did not only at first set the several parts of it in those channels wherein they still run , but does continue to mould this matter according to the designs of his eternal mind . all this receives a further confirmation from the many sudden changes of the course of nature at the command of some extraordinary persons who have forced her out of her common methods and operations , which is an evident demonstration there is somewhat superior to matter and motion , which can over-rule and govern it . this having appeared often in the sight of many thousands of discerning and impartial witnesses , who have both confessed and attested the truth of what they saw and heard , we have no reason to doubt the matter of fact , and as little to question the being of a deity who is master of the world , and can do in it and with it what he will. thus far have i considered upon what true and solid grounds the belief of a deity must rest , which are indeed such that we need not the help of any little piece of sophistry to maintain them ; they require only a serious and thinking temper to examine and weigh things in a fair and rational way , without either the prejudices of education or the partialities of lust and interest . chap. ii. it is considered , if j. k. proves convincingly that there must be some true religion . the next step i. k. makes , is to prove that there must be a true religion , which he defines , a doctrine that teaches men in what manner god will be worshipped by them , and in what matters he will be obeyed by them . now he proves this , for if there be a true god , we ought to worship him in what manner he will be worshiped by , and obey him in what matters he will be obeyed by us , as subjects and servants reverence and ●bey their soveraigns and masters . therefore if god be the best and greatest of all things , we are his subjects and servants , for certainly he is the supreme governour of the universe ; and this he thinks none who grant a true god can deny , and this way of worship must be assigned by god and men must know it . this is the substance of what i. k. says on this head , which is so extremely weak and ill proved that i am amazed he did not see it . for he must remember he only pretended there was a being best of all others . now though that were true , it will not follow from that , that i must worship or obey god , much less that i am his subject and servant : all that will follow being only , that i ought to esteem him the best of all beings ; but why adore or obey him , and why am i his servant or subject ? adoration and obedience can only be exacted as acts either of justice , gratitude or interest . if any have a right to my worship or obedience , they are due to him in justice ; or if he have put such obligations on me that these are but a proportioned return and acknowledgment of them , then they are due in gratitude ; or if he be able to confer extraordinary favours , or inflict most severe punishments , then the avoiding his displeasure and the procuring his favour are necessary on the account of my own interest , and so i must study to please him by worship and obedience : but nothing of all this will follow if it be only proved that there is a best of beings , which is all i. k. attempted . and hence it was that though the epicureans acknowledged such a deity as he thinks he has proved , yet they denying both creation , providence and another state , did throw off the care and thoughts of religion as the effects of fear and superstition . and i. k. defining religion to be a doctrine teaching us to worship and obey god so as he will have us do , goes to prove there must be a religion , because if there be a god , he must be worshipped and obeyed so as pleases him . now this being his definition of religion , and by consequence all one with it , he proves that if there be a god , there must be a religion , thus : if there be a true god , there must be a true religion . and how sophistical a way of procedure this is , common sense , not to say logick , does make appear . and thus he is again unhappy in this his second step . but as in the former section i judged it ne-necessary to substitute some better proofs of a deity than he gave ; so i shall now offer ●ome stronger arguments to prove there must be a religion . and first , if god be the creator of all things and the author of our beings , as was already proved ; then we are his subjects by that right of creation and owe our nature , reason and life wholly to him . therefore as in justice we ought to acknowledge this by our thankful praises and adorations ; so we ought by the same justice to give our selves up to him , and do and suffer what he will have us do and suffer . and this is confirmed by those impressions of awe and reverence which , as was before proved , the greatest and best , nay and often the worst part of mankind feel on their hearts . which with the checks and pangs of conscience for sins , shews how religion is natural to the soul , and proportioned to our faculties . again , if god created the world and all things in it , he must uphold , preserve and govern his own workmanship , which the regular course of nature , with the dayly productions of it , do demonstrate . and it is no less clear from the extraordinary and miraculous interruptions and changes , which by his great power are given to the common course of second causes . now if there be a supreme providence that watcheth over all humane things , and from whose care all the blessings o● this life flow upon us ; then we ought to make returns sutable to such favours , and likewise implore the continuance of them . finally , if there be a god that made and governs all things , ●e must be both so good and so just as to protect and reward all who trust in him and serve him , this being the natural result of justice and goodness ; and there must be some discrimination between those that worship and obey him , and those that do not so . now this is not done in this life ; for often those who fear and love him are in great miseries ▪ pains and troubles , and live and die most uncomfortably , whereas those who dishonour and disobey him ▪ are often in great honour and esteem , and abound in all outward advantages ; nor is there any visible discrimination in this life : yet that being inseparable from the notion of justice and goodness , it must certainly be done at some time or other . since therefore it is not in this life , it must be in another , therefore we must believe our souls shall outlive this state . when likewise we consider , that matter in all its subtilest refinings and nimblest motions gives no discoveries of sense or cogitation , and yet we feel a thinking being within us , which we plainly perceive to be a being different from matter both in its actings and nature , we conclude there is a principle in us that must not necessarily die at the dissolution of this life . which is confirmed from innumerable stories of the apparitions of some rational beings separated from bodies which in all ages and places of the world have abounded , and are as certainly attested as ever any matter of fact hath been . which shews , that there are beings distinct from matter ; and that our souls are such , their subtle reasonings both metaphysical and mathematical do demonstrate . their surviving this body is also gathered from their frequent ascent above material figures and phantasms in their conceptions and inferences ; which shews , they do not so much depend on matter as not to outlive their union with it . in fine ; the common apprehensions which all thinking men , in all ages , have owned , and which appears in the greatest part of all both good and bad at their death , shews the belief of this is among those common notices of truth which are born with the soul. from all which i may fairly assume , that there is another state in which our souls surviving their union with our bodies shall be rewarded or punished as they have deserved well or ill at the hands of the great creator and judge of all men . and therefore if our own interests touch us or prevail upon us , and the apprehensions of future rewards or punishments work on our fears or hopes , we must carefully avoid all dishonouring , disobeying or offending this god ; and with the same care we must study to acknowledge our beings are of him and for him , and that all the blessings of this life are the effects of his bounty , for which we must thank him ; and adoring his blessed attributes and perfections we must dedicate our whole lives to his service : that so we may still enjoy his favour here , and in the next life receive the rewards of good and faithful servants . and thus upon good and solid foundations i have built up this proposition , that there must be some true religion . chap iii. it is considered if j. k. proves convincingly that there must be some true revealed religion . j. k. goes on to prove this religion must be revealed , which he performs thus : how can we know gods will unless he reveal it to us either immediately or mediately ? for natural religion teaches only in general that we ought to worship and obey god , but does not teach the particular manner or matters of this worship and obedience : therefore there is a necessity of this revelation . yea , if god had left this to the choice of every one , yet at least that must be revealed . in this reasoning i. k. hath forgot a very necessary distinction of revelation , into that which is communicated naturally to the soul , and that which is superadded by some extraordinary manifestation or inspiration . in the former sence it cannot be denyed , but it is necessary there be a revelation of religion : but that is not what i. k. drives at . now he must be very ignorant if he does not know that the greatest part of the philosophers believed there were on the souls of all men such inscriptions of truth , that if all should purifie their minds from the defilements lust superinduced upon them , they should then clearly discern every thing that the deity enjoyned them ; and therefore they looked upon inspiration as a degree of madness , which was only incident to weaker minds , whose imaginative powers were too hard for their reasons . and indeed they knew so much of the juglings of their oracles , that no wonder they studied to detract from their authority all they could . now i desire i. k. will review his discourse , and see what strong or good reasons it offers for the conviction of those of this perswasion . so that his argument proving only that god must reveal how he will be worshipped and obeyed , if it be replyed that it is done to all men by those common notices of truth that are born with their souls , he hath furnished us with nothing to prove a further revelation necessary . to make good this therefore against the philosophers , it is not to be denied but if mankind had continued in the purity wherein god did create our natures , their reasons were strong , but they themselves complained of a great depravation of their natures , which they found were much prevailed on by senses and sensible objects , by education , custome , corporeal pleasure , and the power of fancy . and for clearing of this they apprehended another prior state wherein our souls for some trespass had lost their wings and plumes , and so were degraded into bodies . this shews they found some corruption on their nature from which they studied to emerge ; and did indeed attempt most gloriously the recovering themselves to their first original . this being then confessed that our minds are much darkned , and that our bodies , appetites and fancies are too strong for them , it will thence very naturally follow , that as our reasons cannot discover all things to us , so that our way of apprehending of divine things may carry along with it much of a body and gross phantasms . this was evidently demonstrated in that numberless variety of opinions into which all nations were divided about religion ; a great mixture of bodily phantasms , and gross pleasures appearing both in their opinions and practises about religion . nor was this only the fate of the rabble , but both tully and varro have given us an account of the great diversity was among philosophers about the very notion and nature of a deity . and if they differed so much in their thoughts of that primitive and first truth , into how many divisions may we imagine they must have run about the other truths to be deduced from that ? since therefore men did so grope after all the disputes and speculations of philosophers in which there was no certainty , nor had any of them such plenary authority as to oblige others to submit to their decision ; thence i infer the necessity of some clear and certain way for satisfying all mankind in things of so great and universal concern . the speculations of philosophers were neither certain nor ( such as they were ) evident to men of weaker understandings ; the only way therefore to avoid this , was either to make such plain and glorious manifestations of god's presence and pleasure as the iews had on mount sinai and in their most holy place , or to authorize some men by divine inspirations to reveal god's will to mankind now there is no impossibility in the notion of an inspiration . for if we make known our thoughts to one another , either by forming such a ●ound , or writing such characters as shall convey into the ears or eyes of others corporeal impressions from which they may judge of our thoughts , which is a great way about and much more unintelligible ( though we are very sure it is true ) then that a spirit shall communicate its thoughts to our understandings , which it may either do by such outward impressions on our senses as bring the thoughts of other men to our knowledge , or without these outward objects may make the same impressions on our brain . and like to this , are the impressions made on us in sleep , in which we imagine we converse with the objects of sense . or finally , without the means of any corporeal phantasms , a spirit , especiaally the supreme and soveraign spirit , may immediately convey to our understanding its pleasure , as well as our understandings do receive hints from gross phantasms , which is a great deal harder to conceive than this . thus the atheist can propose nothing that will prove there can be no inspiration : but there is great necessity of guarding this both from the juglings of impostors and the more innocent though no less hurtful deceits of our heated fancies , which may obtrude their notions on us as divine ; especially in some in whom the spleen or hysterical distempers may produce strange effects : therefore this must be well proved , and warranted before others are bound to acknowledge or submit to it , nor must the great heats and divine raptures of the inspired person ingage our belief . we know how the sibylls were said to be inspired , and with what bacchick fury many heathen priests delivered some of their impostures ; and it is dayly seen what strange appearances of inspiration are in hysterical persons . therefore it must be accompanied with such other extraordinary characters as can neither be the forgeries of juglers nor the vapours of the spleen or mother ; and these are miracles or prophecies which are certain indications of some extraordinary and supernatural presence with the inspired persons . and thus far i have helped i. k. to prove the necessity of revelation for the ascertaining mankind of the worship and obedience that god requires , and have met with the great objections which deists and other enemies to revelation bring against it . but i now follow him to his fourth proposition about the truth of the christian religion . chap. iv. it is considered if j. k. hath proved convincingly the truth of the christian religion . j. k. goes on in his series of truths , and his next attempt is to prove the truth of christian religion . and indeed the atheism that hath of late broke out in the world and in upon us , hath engaged so many excellent pens of all the parties and divisions of christendom to stand up in vindication of our most holy faith with so much closeness of reason , that it may be justly a problem , whether that pestiferous contagion hath not occasioned as much good to christian religion , by the many admirable treatises have been writ for it upon that account , as it hath done hurt by its own venome . but to see i. k. manage so glorious a cause so poorly and so faintly , after all that light which these books offer , does justly raise indignation ; and it is plain he was afraid to bring out the strongest proofs for it , lest it should appear there was much more to be said for the verity of the christian religion , than can be for the roman : but i. k. being resolved to prove there was no more to be said for the one than for the other , and therefore would manage this cause faintly , that he might maintain the other more strongly , and so it seems cares not with how slender evidence ●e assert the truth of christianity , so that the truth of the roman religion be but as undisputed . his great argument for its truth is , that it hath been miraculously propagated , which could not have been without true and real miracles , and these are manifest proofs of that truth which they confirm . now since christian religion , though it contains mysteries far above the reach of humane reason , and severities contrary to humane inclinations , yet has been propagated without the help of arms or humane enticements , by men of themselves unfit for so great a work , and hath overcome other religions which were both well established and preached liberty and pleasures . then this was either done with miracles or without them ; if with them , it is confessed there were miracles ; if without them , such a propagation must be confessed to be a miracle . this is the substance of what i. k. brings for the proof of the christian religion . but this alone cannot satisfie a considering mind . for it is acknowledged by all who believe any religion , that the power of evil spirits is very great , and far above ours ; so that miracles cannot determine my belief , since there must go somewhat previous to that . therefore moses told the people of israel , that though a prophet by a sign or wonder did amuse them , and upon that perswaded them to go after other gods , they should not hearken to that prophet , but put him to death . and s. paul tells us , that if an angel from heaven should preach another gospel , he must be anathematized . so that miracles or other extraordinary apparitions do not prove a prophet . therefore the first and great argument for the proof of the christian religion is , the purity of the doctrine , and the holiness of its precepts , which are all so congruous to the common impressions of nature and reason ; and this must prove , ( as our saviour himself taught us ) that his miracles were true ones , and not wrought by the prince of devils , since his doctrine is opposite and destructive of his interest and kingdom . and our saviour also asserts the truth of what he said , most commonly from this topick , that he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him , that he sought not himself nor his own honour , but his father's . again our saviour asserts his authority from the prophecies of moses and the other inspired persons of that dispensation , whose predictions of the messias did all agree to him and receive completion in him . and from these our saviour often silenced the iews ; and this is to us still a strong argument , that these books which the enemies and blasphemers of our religion have still kept as sacred , and had among them for some thousands of years , do give such clear and evident characters of our saviour as their messias , as must needs convince every serious and sober enquirer . these are the chief and great proofs of the authority of our saviour , by which we are assured that all the mighty works he did , were by the presence and wonderful assistance of a divine spirit . and for the miracles themselves i. k. would resolve all our certainty concerning them into a miraculous propagation of christianity . so that if there be no other certain way to prove them , then if christian religion had not been so propagated as it was , it could not have been made out that it was true ; and if so , what must have been the strong arguments used for it before it was so propagated ? either these were convincing or not ; if they were not convincing , then it being propagated by weak and unconcluding arguments , we cannot be bound to submit to it or believe it ; if these arguments were convincing , we either know them , or we know them not ; if we know them not , how can we judge they were convincing ? if we know them , then we may be as well convinced by them as those were to whom they were at first proposed . the great argument the apostles offered was , that our blessed saviour wrought many miracles in the sight of the iews , and that he being dead and laid in the grave was raised from the dead , and after a long stay with them on earth they saw him ascend with great glory to heaven ; of all which they were witnesses . now these being matters of fact so positively attested by so many eye-witnesses who were men of great probity , ( that could not be cast on the pretence of their being hired or bribed , there being no interest could lead them to give that testimony but only truth , all other considerations deterring them from it ) there was good reason then , and remains so still to believe this true , whether the world had embraced it or not . and i will ask i. k. what if the gentiles had rejected their testimony as well as the iews did ? yet if these sacred writings had been with a most religious care conveyed down to us , had we not been bound to believe the gospel ? certainly we had , for the apostles were men , who upon the strictest tryal of law must be admitted as competent witnesses ; they were well informed of what they heard , and saw for a tract of three or four years ; they were plain simple men who could not in reason be suspect of deep designs or contrivances ; they in the testimonies they gave do not only vouch private stories that were transacted in corners , but publick matters seen and known of many hundreds ; they all agreed in their testimony , so that the fumes of melancholy could not lead so many into such an agreement of mistakes . their testimonies if false might have been easily disproved , the chief power being in the hands of their enemies , who neither wanted power , cunning nor malice . and in fine , the truth of their testimony appears in their constant adhering to it , from which neither imprisonments , whippings , tortures , no not death it self could divert them . from all which it is as evident as is possible any matter of fact can be , that their testimony was true , and this discourse must hold good whether the world had received and believed their report or not . which was the more fully confirmed by the miraculous operations of the apostles in the name of christ , by which they did cast out devils and cure all manner of diseases ; and to this they appeal in their epistles and acts which were published at that time wherein had the matter of fact not been true , they had been branded as bold and impudent impostors . we have also a series of books in all ages citing the writings wherein these testimonies are contained ; by which we know they were written at that very time . and the apologists for the christian faith in their apologies appeal to the wonders that were still wrought for confirmation of the faith ; nor can we imagine , that men of common sense , not to say modesty and ingenuity , would have appealed to proofs that were slender and false in matter of fact. thus we see that great confirmation of our saviour from his miracles is made good by another way of proof than by the propagation of it , which i do not deny doth very strongly make out the truth of all , yet is rather a consequent confirmation of what hath been said , than an antecedent argument for proving it . so though it be far from my thoughts to weaken this way of confirming christian religion , yet it is plain that an extraordinary propagation will not infer the truth of the doctrine , though it be allowed it was done by miracles ; since we cannot be assured these miracles are wrought by a good spirit till we first consider the doctrines they confirm , whether they be good or not . it doth also appear that the truth of these miracles is made out abundantly to us , abstracting from the way of propagating them . but in end we must a little examine what this way of propagating them was , and we shall find that notwithstanding all the calumnies and lesser persecutions of the iews , of the derision of the philosophers , of the prejudice carnal lusts and appetites laid in the way ; and above all , of the violent oppositions given it by the roman emperors who spared no cruelty for a succession of three ages and ten persecutions that hell or hellish men could devise for destroying it : yet it prevailed , and in a few years did spread to the astonishment of the world ; and all other religions were not only overthrown by the many converts were daily flocking in to the christian church , but by the ruine of these very religions . judaism fell to the ground by the subversion of their temple , and the total ruine and dispersion of their state begun by vespasian and titus , and compleated by trajan and hadrian ; nor could their attempts though cherished by an apostate emperour succeed for the rebuilding their temple , heaven and earth combining to break off the work . heathenism did also receive a mortal blow , by the silencing the oracles upon the beginnings of christianity , which were the great supports of that religion with the vulgar . and the exemplary lives , the heavenly doctrines , the mutual charity , and the noble constancy of the first witnesses and martyrs of the christian faith , wrought not a little on all that beheld th●m , even on such as were very partial and byassed against them . and the christian religion being thus universally received , as it is a very full demonstration that these miracles were no forgeries , but known and approved truths : so also it confirms in us a belief , that there was an extraordinary presence of god in these beginnings of christianity , assisting and animating those converts of all ages , sexes and qualities to adhere to it under all the discouragements and sufferings they were to pass through , whether occasioned by the irregular appetites of their own carnal lusts , or by the outward oppositions they met with . and thus far i have considered how the truth of christian religion can be made out against the opposition of atheists , infidels or deists . hitherto i have waited on i. k. in the survey of these truths about which we are agreed , and i hope , upon a review of what we have both performed , he will not deny but i have strengthened his positions with the accession of many more , and better arguments than any he brought . so that if he be in earnest zealous for these four great truths , he will rejoyce to see such a supplement , to what he had so scantly proposed . but i am afraid ( and perhaps not without reason ) that he knowing how weak his arguments must needs be for the two positions that follow , and yet designing to impose on the reader all the six as equally certain , he would needs disguise the first four , and propose them so weakly guarded , that the proofs of all the six might be of a piece . but i have hitherto helped i. k. henceforth i quit that part , and go to enter in a down-right opposition to him in what remains . chap ▪ v. it is considered , if j. k. proves convincingly that the roman catholick religion is true . j. k. now comes to that which he drove at all along and proves it thus : if christian religion be true , then that religion which has the same proofs that it hath , at least any of them that are solid , must needs be true . since then the miraculous propagation of christianity is a common , solid and evident proof of its truth , therefore the roman catholick religion must be true since it is solidly proved by the like propagation ; for though it contains very hard mysteries in it above the reach of humane reason , as transubstantiation , and some very hard precepts and counsells , as vows , fasts , confession , prohibition for priests to marry , &c. yet it hath been propagated over a great part of the world without the help of arms or humane enticements , by strangers who have converted nations from paganism to embrace the christian faith , as s. austin the monk did in england , and xaverius in the indies , and many others in other places , which can be manifestly proved from history , nor can any exception be made against it , which the enemies of christianity may not make against the same pro●f brought for the christian religion . and to use s. austin's dilemma , this propagation of roman catholick religion was either with or without miracles : if with miracles , it must be true , since confirmed by miracles ; if without them , then no miracle is greater than this propagation . by which it appears , we have as good ground to be roman catholicks , as we have to be christians . by this time i suppose it is clear enough why i. k. would bring no better proofs for the truth of the christian religion ; and now he thinks he has gained his design : but what i said in the former section has undermined this fabrick , since it is made out that the miraculous propagation is neither the only nor the chief proof of christianity , but that before we believe even the miracles of our saviour to be of god , two things were to be made out ; the one that his doctrine was all holy and such as tended to the glory of god ; the other was , that all he said and delivered agreed with the prophecies had gone before . so by the same rule of proceeding we must first see that all the parts of the roman religion are holy and such as tend to the glory of god , and then , that they 〈◊〉 as fully with both the testaments , as our saviours doctrine did with 〈◊〉 and the prophets . if this method be taken i am afraid i. k. will find it a hard task to prove the holin●●s of all the roman doctrines . what a sanctuary for all manner of vice and impiety is the 〈◊〉 ▪ power of dispensing , pardoning and giving indulgences for all sins upon such trifling accounts ? witness the present year with all the favours and indulgences to such as go to the thresholds of the apostles ? what a patrociny to impenitence is their opinion , of a simple attrition being sufficient for the sacrament ? and the whole trade of their penances and absolutions looks like a design to quiet all mens consciences , let them lead as bad lives as they will. besides , who can believe that to be a true religion , that has tolerated a great many casuists who have found out distinctions to excuse men from all the duties they owe god and their neighbour ? and have studied to satisfie men in the most impious and immoral practises ? a woman that entertains common and avowed prostitutes will never be thought an honest woman , though none could prove her self guilty of any base act . so that church that not only entertains but cherishes those who have studied to discharge mankind of all sense of religion and vertue , can never pass for a pure church . nor does the doctrine of that church tend wholly to the glory of god as our saviours did ; for what greater dishonour can be done him than to worship him in a way which himself has so often condemned , and never since allowed , by the representations of pictures and images ? and that instead of addressing their adorations and prayers to him by his son , have found out a great many other mediators both angels and saints and the blessed virgin ? surely this is highly to the dishonour of god , when the souls of people are turned off from their faith , and dependence on him and his blessed son into a trusting to and calling on creatures ; and when instead of that plain simple and rational worship that is sutable to the divine nature and pleasing to him , the mimical pageantry of a thousand little apish practises and an unknown worship are brought into his church . if we likewise consider and measure the roman religion by the second great topick by which our saviour cleared himself , which was his appealing to the scriptures , we will quickly find good reason to suspect them guilty there , since they study nothing more than the suppressing and concealing the scripture , and by all means labour to prove it an incompetent rule to decide controversies by : and yet i am sure , i. k. will give me no reason to prove the scriptures an unproper rule for deciding controversies , and that we must submit to the verdict and decree of the church , that might not with more strength been made use of by the iews against our saviour . and if i carry this consideration as far as it will go , it must necessarily lead me to compare all the doctrines of the roman religion with the scriptures ; and as if our saviours doctrine had been contrary to the law of moses , there had been no reason to have believed him for all his mighty deeds , which in that case might justly have been imputed to evil spirits ; so now should an angel from heaven teach any thing contrary to this doctrine and gospel , he must be anathematized , even though he wrought mighty wonders . therefore we are with the bereans to examine all new doctrines , by their conformity to the scriptures , and till that appear , we are not to look on any thing they do as miraculous . and thus far , i hope , i have said enough to convince i. k. that though what he says of the miraculous propagation of the roman religion were true , it does not from that follow that the religion it self must be true . but i go next to convince him how much he mistook himself in his account , when he asserted that the christian and the roman religion were propagated in the same manner , and shall first examine his grounds . his first branch of the comparison is , that as the christian religion contains some high mysteries in it above the reach of humane reason , so does the roman religion in holding transubstantiation . he did well to distinguish this from the mysteries of the christian religion , for it is indeed none of them ; nor is it above humane reason as he calls it , but contrary to it and not at all to be compared to the mysteries of christian religion , as the trinity , the incarnation and the resurrection . the last of these contains nothing in it that may not be rationally enough conceived as very possible and easy to divine omnipotence ; for the other mysteries that concern god , it is no wonder those be above our understandings , since the divine nature is so vastly exalted above all our depressed notions of things , and therefore is not a proper object for our faculties . so no wonder we cannot frame such clear conceptions of his nature , as to give a distinct account of it to our reasons . but a material object proposed to our senses , is proportioned to our faculties . and therefore we must either believe the clear evidence our faculties give us of the bread and of the wine , after the consecration , or turn scepticks for ever , since full evidence to our faculties is all can possibly be offered for our conviction ; and if that in any case fail , it is in no case certain . so that if our senses fail in this , we have no reason to receive any thing upon their testimony ; for a noted liar in one thing is to be believed in nothing , even though his lie had been discovered by a divine revelation . now if we weaken the evidence of sense , all the authority of the christian religion which it received from the miracles will be weakned , for these were only known by the senses of the spectators . and so far of the first branch of the parallel . the second branch of the parallel is , that as the christian religion enjoyns diverse severities , to embrace crosses , to love our enemies , and to mortifie our passions ; so also the roman teaches very hard precepts and counsels , as vows , fasts , confession , prohibition for priests to marry , to which i. k. adds an &c. the christian religion does indeed command diverse duties contrary to our natural appetites , but those are things of themselves morally good and such as do highly perfect our natures : but the roman religion has made a shift to find means for voiding all these sacred obligations , and to set a great many little trifling performances instead of them which have no tendency to the purifying of our natures or the bettering of mankind . how much they have detracted from the obligation to all the severer , and unalterably moral duties of christianity hath been already ( and shall be more fully ) laid open , if it be called for , though that be needless , it being so clearly done by many better pens ; but for those they have substituted in their room , let us a little consider these i. k. mentions , and to begin with vows . we do not deny that the first design of monasteries in the primitive church was excellent , but it quickly began to degenerate into idleness and superstition , which s. ierome though inclined enough to the severities of that course of life , hath fully told us . but how they did afterwards sink into all the corruptions imaginable , all histories inform us . and whatever may be said for such houses , as either seminaries for the church , or sanctuaries for those that are no more able to labour in it ; yet certainly the entanglements of vows is a yoke which none can be assured he shall be able to bear . we ought to vow and pay our vows unto god , and therefore should be sure to vow nothing but that whereof the execution is in our power . now when we vow to serve god , which we do in the sacraments , we are assured of the aid of the divine grace to assist us in the performance . but to vow things which we are not sure to perform , our tempers being so liable to change , that what agrees with them at one time , becomes an intolerable burden and snare at another , is certainly to cast our selves headlong into many temptations . and what unnatural and brutal lusts have abounded in these houses , we read a great deal more than i am willing to repeat . what a cheat is the pretence to poverty in those orders which have got such vast riches that they are become the envy of the world , as the benedictine , the ca●●husians , and the iesuits ? and for the beg●ing orders , it is both against the rules of chris●i●n religion and all good government to allow , much more to encourage such swarms of idle fellows , who shall always go rambling and begging about , and do not work that they may eat . and for their obedience what a rack it may be under a tyrannical superiour , and what an engine it may prove for sedition and disturbance , i leave to all to judge . in a word , all such severities as tend to the subduing our lusts and passions are good and sutable to the spirit of christianity ; but for overcharging men with new burdens ( which signifie nothing but to create a perpetual trouble and constant scrupulosity ) is to abridge them of their christian liberty without cause , and tends to swell them up with pride , and a lofty opinion of their meriting by such practises and a contempt of others , who though they bear none of these voluntary assumed burdens , yet are more meek , more humble , and more charitable , and in all things more conformable to the life and doctrine of our blessed saviour . and if voluntary severities be a character of a true religion , the priests of baal , the worshippers of diana taurica , the ebionites , the montanists , the e●cratites , and many other heresies might have put in a fair claim since they abounded in them from your vows i go to your fasts . god forbid we should disclaim fasting which our saviour did so much recommend , both by his example and commands : we acknowledge it a powerful mean , both for mortifying all bodily lusts , and for disposing the mind to prayer , and all other spiritual exercises ; and therefore we do not allow these to the roman church as peculiar to them . and i do not believe any of them will justifie the corruptions they are palpably guilty of in the observance of their fasts , which are generally only a change of diet , wherein no severity nor strictness is to be seen . wine is liberally drunk , the most delicate fishes with the most exquisite way of dressing them are sought for , and no other mixtures of higher devotion appear on these weekly or annual returns . for confession , i know no christians that deny the usefulness of it ; but the setting up the necessity of auricular confession , as it hath driven out of their church the primitive and publick confession with all the ancient discipline which was indeed the great glory of those ages , and the chief preservative of piety , and good manners ; so , as they have it among them , it hath been one of the greatest engines of hell for driving out of the minds of men all sense of the duties of a holy and good life . i do not deny but some priests among them make good use of it ; but those being very few , it does give but a small allay to the gross corruptions which even many grave and pious writers of their own communion complain of and condemn . shall i here mention the giving absolution , and admitting to the sacrament upon confession before any part of the penance be performed , the trifling penances are often enjoyned , the taking confessions from persons unknown , the receiving it when it is apparent they are only reciting their sins without any compunction ? and for contrition they confess it is not necessary . now the generality of that church being perswaded that if they confess with a little attrition , and be absolved and receive the sacrament , they stand clear and innocent in the presence of god ▪ whatever their former life have been , or their present temper may be ; is not here a very sure way to defeat the whole design of religion and holiness , when men are taught so ea●ie a way of getting into the favour of god without repenting of and forsaking their sins ? and thus it appears that in the roman church confession is no severity , but a thing very grateful to flesh and blood . the last particular i. k. instances , is the prohibition of priests to marry . truly if to reckon that impure , which the holy spirit of god hath declared honourable in all without exception , be a great sublimity , they may well glory in it . our saviour recommended cellbate only to those who were able to receive it ; but the roman church will force all in orders to receive it whether they can or not . and though s. paul makes it one of the characters of a person fit to be a bishop , that he has been married and educated his children well ( which i shall not stretch so far as either the greek or the russian churches do now ) and does not at all command him to abandon her , and has elsewhere condemned that in all persons without exception , except it be for a time in order to fasting and prayer , and conform to this the primitive church did not require the clergy to abandon their wives , but on the contrary did condemn such as did : yet the roman church has most tyrannically imposed this on all the clergy . and although we read that god will judge whoremongers and adulterers , but no where that he will judge the married ; yet they have been very gentle to these crying scandals which continue to this day , and have allowed the concubinate when they condemned the marriage of the clergy . by which they shew they prefer the traditions of men to the command of god. and thus far i have examined this branch of the parallel i. k. makes between the roman and the christian religion , wherein i have been longer than i intended , but as short as the particulars he named did allow . when he brings the rest of his &c. i doubt not it shall appear they are a sequel of such things which the same or the like considerations will clear . but i must follow his next step , that the roman religion hath been propagated over a great part of the world without the help of arms or humane enticements , by strangers who converted many from paganism ( that allowed liberty ) to their religion , that teaches severities and mortification . to all which i reply , that since the roman church is still christian , i deny not but god may bless the honest endeavours of a great many of that communion , so that their labours may have great success on infidels in converting them to christianity ; herein god blessing them as he did the hebrew midwives whose charitable tender hearts god rewarded , building them houses , passing over their lie . but i. k. must not insist on this as a good argument , otherways he will be driven into great absurdities . did not the arrians by ulphilas his means who was a stranger to the goths ( that were a barbarous cruel and yet vastly numerous people ) convert them both to christianity and arrianism at once ? from whence we find the whole roman empire very soon overrun by arrianism upon the incursion of the goths , vandals , and longobards . philostorgius does also inform us that theophilus an arrian converted the indians to the christian faith. did not the greek church when it was broke from the roman , convert many nations , the bulgars , the muscovites and many other northern kingdoms ? in fine , what will i. k. answer according to his own argument to the great progress of the doctrine of luther and zuinglius , who notwithstanding all the opposition they met , and all the persecutions their followers suffered , yet did so strangely propagate their doctrine , that before half an age went about , the greater half of the roman church fell off from the obedience of that see , to their doctrine which holds all the mysteries of the christian religion , and there was no need of more , and instead of all the juglings the roman priests had brought in , teaching men an easie way to heaven , did preach all the severities of a holy life which our saviour and his apostles taught ? and as they taught a severer course of life to all christians ( i do not speak of the particular severities of some orders in the roman church , but what must be the necessary conditions upon which all may hope for salvation ) so they advanced this without arms ▪ and under great persecutions . and here i. k. must think how he will answer his own dilemma , that either this was done with miracles , or without them : if with them , the doctrine must be true that was confirmed by miracles ; if without them , that propagation was a great miracle : and thus i. k. will find it hard to avoid the dint of his own argument . besides when i. k. speaks of the propagation of the roman religion , he must not prove that from the propagation of christianity by persons of that religion , though the same instruments might at the same time have engaged their new converts to the particular conceits of that church . for ( as it was observed before ) god blessing the sincerity of their labours so that they made converts to the christian doctrine , that has so much to be said for it that it is a wonder all the world did not receive it , it was not strange if those so converted seeing the foundation of the divine mission of iesus christ to be true , did either in humble gratitude to their charitable instructors pay them all the returns of acknowledgment and obedience , or being ignorant of that doctrine which was wholly new to them , did easily receive and imbibe any particular opinions they might infuse in them , and so at the same time became votaries to christ and to rome . but if i. k. will deal fairly and satisfyingly , he must shew us how their religion , as it is distinct from the commonly received truths of christianity , was so miraculously propagated , and that in the points which we chiefly challenge , as the supremacy of the bishop of rome , with his being the universal bishop of the church , the forbidding the use of the scripture to the laicks , and the worship in an unknown tongue , the use of images in the worship of god , the invocating of saints and angels , the belief of transubstantiation , the sacrifice of the mass and the taking the chalice from the people , the belief of purgatory , the treasure of the church and indulgences , with a long &c. i. k. knows well that many have given very particular and full histories of the rise and progress of these abuses with which we charge the roman church , and for which she having obstinately refused to reform them , on the contrary binding them on the consciences of all with new and heavier anathema's , we have separated our selves from her communion . that those are not in the scripture it is plain enough , and we will not decline a tryal upon all hazards by the verdict of the first four ages . it is true , in the fifth century the incursion of the goths and vandals did very much change the face of things , and bring on a black night of ignorance on the greater part of christendom , which made way for gross superstition , and the bold pretences of the bishops of rome : and i. k. is very much out in his accounts , that says the propagation of the roman religion was without arms. was not that dearest part of it , the authority of the popes , the occasion of many long and bloody wars in germany and italy ? and for their conversion of hereticks , the third decree of the council of lateran , and the practises of the inquisitions were the surest means of effectuating it . and what humane enticements were wanting to draw men into their religion ? the cherishing of such kings as were firm to them , and the making over to them the rights of their neighbouring princes , were pretty enticing baits . witness their getting pipin into the throne of france , their inviting him and his son to the conquest of the lombards , with many other instances . and was there ever found out such an enticement for men of carnal tempers , who yet retained some belief of religion , as the power of pardoning , indulging and exchanging of penances ? so that this whole account of i. k's fails him when put to the issue of a severe tryal , though it looked pretty smooth and fair to an overly considerer . but in end i will add a few considerations of the methods of the first propagation of christianity , and from these it will appear how different those were from any thing the roman church can pretend to . first , the propagators of christianity went witnessing the truth of what was publickly seen and known without any other design of their own , either to engross power or riches . now whether this be the method of the roman church i refer it even to their own histories , if their great care hath not always been to get ambassadors sent to rome with the offer of their obedience and great submissions , of which nothing appears in the first conversion of the world to christianity . secondly , the first converters of the world studied to draw mankind to a great acknowledgement of the inestimable blessings we received by iesus christ , and to the making sutable returns by addressing our selves to the father by him and living according to his gospel . now the greatest care of most of the apostles of the roman church was to propagare the worship of creatures , to give patrons to whole nations , and teach them to build churches to those , and above all to the blessed virgin , of which no footsteps appear in the first conversion to christianity : and instead of the strictness of a holy life and an humble charitable temper , they have set up a vast multitude of little observances , which may be received , and yet the life of sin remain still strong and in vigour . thirdly , the first propagators of christianity studied by all possible means to wean people from all kind of idolatry , and to make the● serve the living god , and worship him in spirit and in truth . now how far the roman church hath declined from this is apparent , and that they have studied rather to change than overthrow their idolatry , giving them little pictures , medals and agnus dei's and reliques for their worship . fourthly , those that laboured first to convert the world to the christian religion studied to make all understand what they taught them , gave them the scriptures in their own tongue , and forms of worship which they understood and could well make use of : but the emissaries of rome deny their converts these helps , and so would hood them into a blind receiving of all they shall propose to them , and keep them still under their authority , and so teach them prayers in a tongue they do not understand . fifthly , those that first converted the world did by many miracles wrought in the sight of all convince and convert them to the faith , and these miracles were grave useful actions , as the curing of diseases , the casting out of devils , the procuring them good seasons and other temporal blessings , and all this was done in the name and to the honour of jesus christ. but the roman agents wanting these real miracles have betaken themselves to the shameful forgeries of strange visions and apparitions , and of ridiculous miracles , with so vast a superfetation of them , that few even of their own communion can read these legends of their grand apostles ●ithout a just disdain at such palp●●●● impostures . ●●xthly , the first propagation of christianity was when there was no secular power to support it or those who laboured in it ; so that they exposed themselves to all the dangers of hunger and cold , of scorn and reproach ; being assured of no supply not assistance from men : and yet god appeared so ●xtraordinarily with them , that their success was plainly the work of heaven . but the bishops of rome becoming great princes , sent out agents to make new conquests well furnished and powerfully supported , so that they went like ambassadors from one prince to another to treat an alliance , wherein there was little hazard and great hope of success by the advantageous terms were offered on both sides . and therefore after charles the great had conquered germany , and was become a terror to the northern kings , the bishops of rome sent their agents to labour in their conversion , which was an easie matter and had no difficulty in it . and seventhly , the first conversion of the world to christianity was signally the finger of god ; since though it met with the greatest opposition from the secular powers and was persecuted every where and for many ages , yet it prevailed : and though the first converts were poor mechanical and simple persons , yet great wisdom and constancy appeared in them , to the amazement of the philosophers and other persons of eminence and authority . but this hath not been the method of the roman conversions which begun in a kind of alliance with the prince , who being convinced of his advantage in the change did upon that oblige his subjects to it , not without severely punishing sometimes such as refused it ; so far were they from being persecuted for it . if any one were by a fury or tumult killed , that does not alter the case nor make it a persecution . and thus it is apparent that for all the noise the roman church makes of their conversions , they have managed them in a method very different from the way of the primitive christians . how basely and barbarously it hath been carried on in the west indies the bishop of guatimala did inform the world ; and the bishop of angelopolis did within these few years inform the pope how wretchedly the jesuits continue to manage it to this day . and though we have little reason to believe the accounts given us from the indies , since we see those who publish them are guilty of such impostures in things nearer us and easily discovered , that we have no reason to credit them in things at so great a distance where the forgeries of their account cannot be found out ; yet even from these a great many of the observations made upon the methods of the emissaries of the roman church may be proved . but as for austin the monk i. k. cannot sure be so ignorant as to think we owe our conversion to him ; for whatever truth may be in the story of glastenbury , it is undoubted we received the faith at farthest in the second century ; and that it did overrun our island farther than the roman conquest tertullian witnesses . the rites of our observing easter do also prove we had not the christian faith by any sent from rome ; so that long before the time of avstin the monk this island was converted . and that famed story of the monks of bangor as it proves what footing christianity had then , so it shews how proud and insolently cruel that pretended apostle was . and it is apparent he was a man of an ambitious temper , his great design on those of bangor being to engage them to a subjection to the pope and to comply with their rites in the observation of easter . but if what is delivered by ancient historians of his setting on the king of the northumberlands to destroy these monks be true , he is to be looked on as an emissary of hell rather than an apostle of christ. besides , the king of kent to whom he came was so favourable to the christian faith , that as he had married a christian queen , so he allowed the christians a church near canterbury . and so it is no wonder if a prince so prepared was soon prevailed on . but austins first coming to him with all that pomp of crosses carried before him , has nothing primitive in it , and the fabulous legends of the monks are little to be credited . thus far i have examined i. k's proofs for the truth of the roman religion ; and i doubt not upon a sober review of what hath been said , he himself will acknowledge he must see for other and better arguments , before he can oblige any to believe the roman religion to be the true catholick and apostolical religion . chap vi. it is considered if j. k. proves convincingly that every thing the roman church teaches as an article of faith , must be true . j. k. advances to his last attempt which is the finishing of the whole contrivance to perswade the belief of every thing the roman church delivers as an article of faith ; for if that religion be a true religion , then it is free from all fundamental errors , and does erre against no fundamental point of religion : and if that be acknowledged ▪ then it does not erre against this point that god is not the author of any error or corruption whatsoever , that being unquestionably a fundament●l point . now if the roman religion does not e●re against this , it does not teach that god is the author of any error or corruption ; and if it do not that , then it teaches nothing as an article of faith which is either error or corruption : for whatever it teaches as an article of faith , is teaches as that which hath been delivered by god. this then may be applied to every particular article of faith which the roman church teacheth ; for if that be either error or corruption , it teaching god to be the author of it , makes him to be the author of error or corruption , which is to erre against a fundamental point , and by consequence that religion shall be no true religion . if by true religion i. k. understands a religion that has no mixture of error or corruption in it , then it is needless to prove that if the roman religion be true it hath neither error or corruption in it ; for the proving it a true religion must carry the other along with it . but if by true religion be only meant a religion that holds all the fundamentals of christianity , so that salvation may be had in its communion ; then it is a most wretched inference that it must be true in all it● ▪ definitions of faith. and to confute this i shall for once turn the tables on i. k. and become an advocate for the roman church , to shew they may be still a true church and a true religion , though they have a large mixture of errors and corruptions . and this i do not so much out of love to them , but from a general principle of charity to overthrow this unmerciful opinion that damns all men , as erring fundamentally , for believing any error in a matter of faith. and let me first ask i. k. whether he takes the church of corinth to have had a true religion when s. paul wrote to ▪ it ? this sure he cannot deny if he read but s. pauls first salutation ; and yet in that church there were various parties , some for cephas , some for apollo , some for paul and some for christ , and great difference of opinion there was whether moses law did oblige or not . now these questions concerning circumcision and the law were matters of faith , and in all contradictory opinions one must be true , another false ; those therefore that were of the false side must by i. k's doctrine be all irrecoverably lost , as being in a fundamental error , for each side believed his opinion was of god. but s. paul taught another doctrine , that whoso builds on the foundation jesus christ , shall be saved , though he build upon it wood , hay and stubble . and the distinction he there makes between those who build gold , silver and precious stones , and wood , hay and stubble , can only relate to sound and unsound doctors , the one building good and useful superstructures upon the foundation , the other teaching trifling doctrines that will not bear the tryal ; and yet that both may be saved , is a plain demonstration against i. k. the same apostle also tells us that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availed any thing , and that in the new creature there was neither circumcision nor uncircumcision but christ was all in all , and that one god did both justifie the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith ; from all which it is evident that those of the circumcision might be saved , and by consequence that their religion was a true religion ; and yet that their doctrine of circumcision was an error , can be disputed by none who read the epistles of s. paul ; and it is no less clear that they held it an article of faith delivered to abraham by god. so here it is plain that s. paul in one breath both condemns this opinion as erroneous , and yet allows salvation to such as believed it . with how many errors doth s. iohn charge some of the seven churches ? yet they were still the churches of christ. the church in the second century did generally believe the millennium as a thing revealed by god , which the roman church now calls an error ; yet i hope i. k. will not condemn that church as holding a false religion . the african churches held it necessary for infants to receive the eucharist , from these words , except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man , you have no life in you , and this was approved by p. innocent , and was continued many ages in the roman church , as appears from the ordo romanus , and yet that church has declared that not to be necessary , by which the opinion the former ages had of its necessity is declared an error : but it were a strange thing from that to condemn these as holding a false religion . the franciscans , and dominicans had hot contests about the immaculate conception of the blessed virgin , and both pretended divine authority and revelations , so that one of those must have held an error . the dominicans and iansenists believe predestination and grace efficacious of it self , this the molinists deny ; both vouch scriptures and the definitions of the church . the canonists courtiers of rome and iesuits have asserted the popes infallibility from scripture and councils , the sorbon hath always rejected this . now of all these different opinions the one must be true and the other false , since they stand in the terms of a contradiction ; and they have all vouched god and scriptures for them : therefore those who hold the false side of the contradiction according to i. k's reasoning must be of a false religion ; which i believe when he considers more maturely , he will find he mistook his measures in this . and in fine , his argument will also hold as strong to prove that every individual of a true religion must be exempt from all errors in every opinion whereof he takes god to be the author ; for i. k's argument will be as strong for every thing whereof god is believed the author , as for articles of faith. so that every mistaken sense of scripture will turn one to be of a false religion , since every mistaken exposition is an error ; and yet that being thought the meaning of the place , god is believed the author of that meaning , and by i. k's consequence of the error it self . from all which i may ( i hope even by i. k's leave ) infer the necessary distinction between things that are believed to be errors , and those that are believed to be truths . for the former , to vouch god the author of what we know to be an error and corruption , is certainly so criminal that none of the true religion can be guilty of it . but there be many things which ( though errors , yet ) any one may very innocently mistake for truths . i do not say the mistake does quite excuse the error ; if the error be fundamental the mistake must be so too : but if the error be in a lesser matter , it is a lesser error ; and it will never be made out , that , if one apprehending an opinion true , embrace it , as come from god , and as an article of faith , if he is mistaken , in that he strikes at the divine veracity : for among men , who thinks that any wronged his veracity if another mistook his meaning , and understood his words in a different sense from what he intended and expressed ? certainly he who so mistakes , after the true meaning is cleared , cannot be understood to have fastned any reproach upon the candor of him whose words he mistook , all the blame being to be cast only on his want of right understanding . this were indeed a hard case if all our mistakings of divine revelations did infer a charging god with error or corruption . but the thing is so clear that i am afraid i have spent too many words about it , and this argument of i. k's cannot but upon first reading appear to all that are accustomed to weigh and examine truth ▪ to be a piece of crude ill digested and ill palliated sophistry . thus far have i followed i. k. through those six points he imagines he has demonstrated , and have shewed how true the first four were , but how little reason there was to account them such for any thing he said for their proof , and how false the other two are . and i suppose he will acknowledge that if what is already set down hold true and be founded on good reason , i need not follow him through the rest of his book , it being only a direction to his gentle courteous reader how to manage this method of arguing so as to convince all persons that dissent from the true religion , which he thinks is a mathematical and sure way of proceeding , and such as no man can decline or avoid , and in end must be either convinced by it , or be forced to confess himself no better than an ass or a block , which concludes him a mad man. i will not follow this with a railery that is as obvious as severe ; but i love not to mix matters of sport with such serious purposes : therefore i follow i. k. no more through the rest of his book . but come next to consider the great support of that cause which he manages both in his preface and through the rest of his book , that there can be no certainty neither about the true books of scripture , the decrees of councils or writings of fathers , without there be a true church and religion agreed on , which shall both declare to us what books are true and what not , and shall deliver their true meaning to us : otherwise endless confusions must follow , which plainly appears in the many divisions of the protestants and the uncertainties they are in about all controverted points . from which the necessity of a true church appears , as much as in a well ordered state there is not only a necessity of clear and good laws , but of judges to expound them . chap. vii . of the supposed inconveniencies j. k. imagines in the want of a true church to iudge infallibly , and of the right methods of finding truth . there is nothing about which those of the roman church make more noise than the necessity of an infallible judge , and of the great and visible inconveniencies that appear from the want of it in those churches that have departed from the roman communion . i have not long ago proposed a great many queries to one of i. k's brethren , in which i have set before him , the many difficulties they must needs be involved in by clearing who this infallible judge must be ; and i shall here repeat nothing of what i said then , but shall go on to shew upon what clear and certain grounds we may rest our perswasions about articles of faith and divine truths . all arts and sciences must be acquired by some rules and methods by which a progress may be made from plainer things to those that are more involved and difficult ; and if any would desire to understand any theorem or problem in geometry without beginning at the elements and advancing by euclid or some other such methods , he labours in vain : so also if any would without more ado study to know a secret in chymistry having neither learned to know the terms of art nor the course of a process , he shall not be the wiser though one deliver him their best secrets . in like manner if a man will enter into the knowledge of divine truth without any of those preparations which are necessary , he is in a wrong way ; and the further he engages , he is the more out of the way ; nor can he be ever in the right way till he begin afresh . it may justly seem strange that christian religion was so plain a thing when the apostles first delivered it ; that mean simple people , poor women , and an illiterate company should have understood it , and that it subdued a great part of the roman empire , before men of great learning were converted to the belief of it : and all the knowledge they then had of it was by the sermons and epistles of the holy apostles which remain to this day . and though at this distance from that time , we may have lost the true meaning of some phrases , and we have not so particular a history of the state of the first churches as might help us to understand many passages that seem very dark to us : yet for the main of those books they seem very easie and plain . we have also still so perfect a knowledge of the greek tongue as clearly to understand them . but after all this , christian religion is now become such a strange kind of secret , that men with all their learning and study can scarce understand it . certainly we must have either changed religion from what it was at first , so that it hath now put on a new face ; or we are much mistaken in our methods of enquiring into it , and examining what things are revealed to us by god. s. paul tells us , the natural man receives not the things of god , neither indeed can be for they are spiritually discerned . from which it appears that a renovation of the mind from its natural mould , and its being transformed into a spiritual temper are necessary , as well for the understanding and discerning , as the obeying the things of god. now all natural men may be divided into three classes ; either they are so immersed in senses and sensible things , that all their apprehensions are tinctured with the figures and phantasms which their senses and imaginations present to them , or they rise a little above this , but are so governed by the heats of nature and passion , that either their minds are rendred quite incapable of all serious thoughts , or so distorted in them that they do not discern them truly . but the highest elevation of the natural man is reason , which hath a fairer appearance , and if rightly managed would certainly advance him to a spiritual temper : but being fed only with dry notions and trying them by a false touchstone , does strenghthen our errors , fortifie our prejudices and swell us with pride , and fret us with the itch of an unsatisfiable and useless curiosity . now it will not be ungrateful , it is hoped , to propose the great hinderances all these several modifications of the natural man have given to the right understanding divine truths , and to begin with those of the lowest form . one whose mind is immersed in sense , either believes nothing but what his senses propose to him , or at least tinctures all his notions with sensible objects . thus the atheist believes no god , because he cannot see him ; and those of the heathens over whom the power of their senses was strong , yet not such as to overcome the impressions of a deity left on their souls , did believe the sun , moon and stars were gods , being both dazled with the brighter splendor of the day and delighted with the fainter shinings of the night . and finding both the pleasant lightsomness , the warm benignity and fruitful usefulness of their beams , they did adore them as gods , and seeing strange effects answering some of their positions and aspects , they came to imagine all humane things were governed by them , and so framed an entire theory ( if so ill grounded a thing can deserve that name ) of astrology . others much taken with the greatness and glory of brave commanders and princes , and having some notion of the souls immortality on their minds , did think that after their death they governed this inferiour world ; and to those heroes they assigned stars to dwell in , and those gods they represented either by some ▪ symbols , the chief whereof was fire , or by some statues , pillars or other pieces of sculpture , which at least represented that deity to their senses , if it had not some strangely magical and divine influence united or affixed to it . they did also prognosticate all future things either by the flight or feeding of birds , or by the inwards of animals . here then a religion entirely framed from the conceptions of the natural man , in its lowest depression ; and their gross notions of religion made them both prejudiced against the iews who worshipped nothing but a celestial deity , and more against the christians whom they called atheists because they had none of those sensible representations or ways of worship , but their faith was plain and simple . but as the natural man did thus corrupt the notices of natural religion , it did no less embase the christian religion . when many natural men were engaged in the profession of it , either by education , custom or interest , who loathing its simple purity did study so to dress it up that it might gratifie their natural minds by bringing in the worship of deceased men , and by worshipping them by images , pictures , reliques , and at length making pictures for the deity it self , and by dressing up all the parts of religious worship so as to amuse and delight the senses , by affecting an outward grandeur in processions and other festivals , and in the greatness of their priests , chiefly of their high priest : all which were visibly the effects of minds deeply engaged in sensible things , to whom nothing appeared sacred or solemn without it had been adorned with all the exquisite deckings of art and industry ; and judging of piety by some heats which were raised in the fancy by outward objects presented to it , studied to fill all the parts of worship with such rites as might make either a glorious shew for amusing the worshippers , or some melting tender impressions for cozening them into an opinion of their being divinely elevated . but after that by the blessed providence of god religion was in many parts of the world refined from that dross , yet the sensitive part of the natural man did not give over its attempts for embasing religion ; many still continued to place all their religion in forms , and bestowed that zeal which should have gone to the advancing true piety , holiness of life and brotherly charity , to the adorning and maintaining those . others thought they had pretty well escaped this whole danger , being got into an extream very opposite to it of vilifying all forms ; but the natural man did act in their sensitive powers though in another method : for though they had emerged out of the dominion or influence of their outward senses in matters of religion , yet their inward senses and imaginations , ( which are the rebound of sensible impressions upon the understanding ) prevailed much on them . these therefore came to think a voluble way of pouring out soft words with great heavings of the natural mind , was a mighty thing , and gave themselves wholly to this , so that the conceiving and hearing long prayers and sermons , especially if accompanied with tenderness in the thoughts and great meltings in the fancy , was thought the highest feat and elevation of religion : though it plainly appears to a man of a severe and discerning reason , that all this is but an illusion of the fancy heated by some fervours of the mind . and yet they upon these deceits of their fanciful thoughts have separated themselves from all regular forms of worship , because that gratification of new words was necessary to feed their devotion . another great mischief of this distemper is , that such persons judge that as long as they enjoy these heats , all is as they would have it ; and this will readily continue as long as they are put to do nothing displeasing to them : so that whatever they do , be it never so contrary to the laws of religion ; yet if with that they can but keep up these heats , they judge either that what they do , is not at all a sin , or at most such a sin as being a branch of necessary infirmity , may consist well enough with grace , because it can live with those fervours ; and if any thing quench them , ( which it is like every thing that displeases them may do ) then they throw it off as carnal . thus they measure all things by these fluctuating and inconstant motions , and as that temper is volatile and of all others the most subject to change ; so the inequalities they are in , are looked on as the flowings and ebbings of the divine spirit ; and the heats they feel sometimes being ascribed to the divine spirit , every thought which drops into their minds when under these actuations is taken for a divine revelation , and followed and given out for such ; and the coldness and dulness which must of necessity follow these heats , is thought a withdrawing and desertion of the divine spirit . whence follow sad melancholy and perplexing scrupulosities , which do often mightily afflict some devout but weak minds , and bring up an ill report on religion , as if it were sullen and morose , and led men into dejection , and perpetual anxiety . and this humor as it swells up the mind into a mighty conceit of its own eminent and exalted piety and to a contempt of others , so it doth often carry on those who are imposed on by it , into strange conceits , making them apprehend they are obliged to nothing but as they are inwardly moved to it . and thus they would supersede reason and give themselves up to their fancies under a conceit that they are acted by a divine spirit ; whereas it is but an impulse of some vapours of the grosser and more terrene parts of the natural man rarified by the heats of the brain , and the fumes of melancholy into a thin and nimble agitation . the next power of the natural man , is in his passions and appetites , which being suited to the contexture of his bloud , brain and spirits , have a mighty influence on all his thoughts , and chiefly on those that relate to religion . and first these carrying him with a strong impetus to many irregular desires to which religion if believed must give a stop , he is from that made first to question , then to doubt , and at last to deny there is a god , because his appetites are too dear to forgoe them for the belief of a superiour power or the hopes of another state . and it is an easie thing for any man to bribe his reason to believe what he has a great mind to perswade himself of , either by diverting his thoughts from seriously considering the thing proposed , or by looking only at the oppositions may be made to this belief without examining what may be said for it , and by living in a perpetual disorder , which both darkens the mind and keeps out all serious thoughts from it ; upon all which there may by the just judgment of god follow a searing of the conscience and a blinding of the mind but if the power of religion and the witness god hath in our breast , prove too hard for all this opposition , then the next attempt of passion and lust is to misshape these notices of truth into such a figure as may best agree with their desires . and thus the heathens corrupted all the evidences of natural religion , and set up such deities as were guilty of the most furious passions , and the most ungoverned lusts of all sorts ; and this being once done , no wonder the worship of those gods was of a piece with the opinions they had of them , and that they devised such sacrifices and services as might agree best with those deities . it was also a very natural result of this opinion that they should conform their lives to their gods , and so they were secure of patrociny and protection when they were to commit the basest villanies . and no wonder this prejudiced them at christianity which they saw taught all its converts to be severely vertuous and pious ; and therefore they complained that christians came to disgrace their gods , and to turn them from the religion they had received from their fathers . but afterwards when the world rushed into the church , the passionate and lustful parts of the natural man finding nothing in that faith for their shelter , yet studied to doe the best they could for their own preservation . therefore insensibly men were turned from minding the great things for which christ died , and rose again to place all their care on other thing● which might well be maintained without overcoming a passion or mortifying a lust . some did set up highly for opinions , others for forms , and by a curious improving those hoped that their other faults should be more easily forgiven , both by god and man. afterwards a great many notions were found out , if not for a direct defence of those disorders , yet for palliating them , and allaying the grief for them . a devotion to saints was one great engine ; the opinion of many sins being expiated in purgatory , together with the belief of the popes power of redeeming from it , was an universal medicine for all diseases of conscience . then the dispensing with vowes , covenants , and most of all duties was a great ease to the natural man. there were also some new coined duties of religion which did agree well with their passions , such as fighting for religion against infidels , hereticks and others that were excommunicated by the pope , and a violent persecuting of all , who in any point departed from the received opinions : and their auricular confessions , easie penances , and ready absolutions were sure and infallible means to reconcile them to religion after it was so debased as to meet them more than half way . but when a great part of europe was delivered from those more apparent impostures , the natural man did not for all that give over his practising upon religion to frame it to his own taste ; and a fondness on some reformed opinions , with a reverence for the persons of the teachers , came to be set up by many as all they drave at . but cunninger arts were also found out and some sacred truths did insensibly become so abused as to be made the excuses of sins , especially as they were stretched by the corruptions of men , which were much encouraged by many unwary expressions of some hot divines , who in the eagerness of dispute had said many things that were not to be justified . hence it was that the doctrine of christs dying for sinners , and being their sacrifice , by which the guilt of their sins was expiated and they reconciled to god , was used by many for a security for men to sin as pleased them , so they but trusted to christ ; and because perfection was not attained in this life , it was held unattainable and sin insuperable . nor could men be much afflicted for sin nor guard diligently against it , who believed they were inevitably led and determined to it , especially when that was thought done by god himself ; and fighting for religion against the supream authority was also by many made a great demonstration of their zeal for god and religion , and a surious bitter zeal against all who departed from their opinions whether to the one hand or to the other , was looked on as a great evidence of grace and love to god. and it is plain in many persons religion does not so much mortifie their passions and lusts as palliate and disguise them , or at most change their object but not their nature . men of cholerick dispositions placing all religion in an eager , violent , yea and if need be , a bloody maintaining all their opinions about matters of faith. the melancholy men put it all in abstraction and recluseness , valuing themselves much upon it , and undervaluing others that were not so retired . others of a more sanguine complexion finding either great excuses for all their levities and follies , or if more serious , turning all their thoughts to the dressing up some pretty notion . and thus men not forming their minds by the dictates and precepts of religion , but framing it according to their own tempers , so as might best suit their inclinations , did hold the truth in unrighteousness . and thus again the natural man did adulterate the notions of religion which are spiritually discerned . but the last and greatest ( because both strongest and subtilest ) assault that nature made upon religion was by the misguidings of ill directed and ill managed reason . the former prejudices were more visible and could not be so well defended ; but this was managed with a deeper cunning . and first the great value that the masters and pretenders to learning and reason had of themselves , made them scornfully reject all instruction , stiffly maintain all they had once asserted , and despise every one that differed from them . hence it was that the philosophers broke into so many divisions , being as is apparent mightily swelled in self-conceit , so that they scorned to yield to one another , but employed all their wit and eloquence to justifie their own notions , how absurd soever . now this is the temper in the world the most incapable of instruction ; and this their pride they carried higher , laughing at all inspiration as a kind of madness , which therefore they despised and thought that their reason was able to penetrate into the deepest and secretest mysteries . and as this occasioned a numberless variety of opinions , so it made them despise the first preachings of christianity , in which as there was none of their metaphysical canting ; so poor illiterate men delivering it , they who valued themselves on their learning and their noble generous tempers , rejected it with scorn , which was fed with the contempt they had for the first converts , who were either such as they called barbarians , or men of mean education and employments . but after an age or two many of those were by the prevailing progress of christianity converted to the faith , and did for some ages very good service to it . but diverse of their successors retaining the old temper of the philosophers , the debates about religion begun to be managed with an unyielding ambition , and anathema's were the common sanctions with which they imposed their opinions . and at length one of the bishops assumed to himself and successors the absolute authority of judging and deciding all controversies , which ( though the most unreasonable opinion in the world , and that which destroys the free and right use of reason : yet ) was brought in on the highest pretences of reason , as the only mean to end all disputes . and when a great many errors were visibly got into their church , and some rose who with all the evidence of reason imaginable laid open these and pressed them to disown and reform them , they continued in their stubborness , multiplied their anathema's , and wreathed all their errors in one chain , as s. iames had done the law of god , and imposed all without mercy . and for doing this they brought their janizaries , whom they had educated in nurseries at fencing , cudgelling , and the other discipline of pen-slaughter and ink-shed . these schoolmen who had been well trained to dispute about every thing , and stubbornly to maintain every position how trifling or how false soever with all confidence and earnestness , were brought to give battel , and they as mercenaries who expected good preferments did fight it out most obstinately ; nothing was too disingenious for their confidence , no author was so spurious but they would vouch his testimony , no place of scripture sounded favourably to their opinions but ( though it had been never so plain that it was to be understood in a different sence ) was brought as a certain proof , no maxim of the schools , no old fustian distinction was left out to maintain the fight ; and as some after the greatest defeats have impudence enough to pretend a victory , so that art was not omitted by them , but loud acclamations of victory were made , when all free discerners saw they were quite routed ; and the rudeness they had learned in their cells was brought out with them , for they managed their disputes with all the roughness of expression , the most petulant insultings and the most barbarous railings . nor does this charge fall only on one side of christendom , though one church be most notoriously guilty ; but the disputants of all sides have for the greatest part managed their debates with that acrimony of stile , those severe invectives and the catching up some escapes of inconsiderate pens , as if they were more concerned for glory than for truth . besides that every one swallows down an entire system of that party to which he hath offered up himself ; and all must be defended without that ingenuity which becomes inquirers into divine truth . nor do most men take their opinions from the sacred oracles , but from their educations , and the catechisms and confessions they have been accustomed to ; and being thus prepossessed go to the scriptures to seek proofs for their opinions , being resolved before-hand to defend them and to make the scriptures serve their turns ; which if they will not do easily , they will so stretch them upon the rack by their forced criticisms or consequences , as to make them confess any thing though never so plainly contrary to the clear meaning of the words . and it is evident that men thus blown up with pride are resolved to justifie all they have ever said , though to the cost of throwing off all candid and fair dealing , saying things that no man of common sense would say if he were not strangely byassed . and indeed we dayly see things brought for the proof of many opinions which are so visibly weak and unconcluding , that it is scarce possible to think those believed them that said them ; but that being resolved to stand to what they once asserted , some mist must be raised for keeping up their reputation , and imposing on weaker and more credulous disciples . and thus it must continue as long as men are led by their pride to be stubborn in all their reasonings about religion . another great abuse of reason is a needless curiosity about things that either are of no great importance , or are wrapped in mysterious darkness ; into which if men will penetrate , their conjectures and discourses must turn to impertinent cantings and nonsense . thus the philosophers disputing about the nature of the deity and of the soul , do fall into unintelligible niceties and cabalistical conceits of numbers , of which no account can be given , but that they would seem to say somewhat where they could say nothing . and this curious subtilising carried along another mischief with it , that they rejected every thing of which they could not give a distinct account , and therefore called s. paul a babler when he told them of the resurrection . but when some of the philosophers became converts to christianity , both these effects of this curiosity did appear ; some studying to make out the high mysteries of the faith from their metaphysicks , and to reconcile them to the platonical notions , in which any discerning reader will see a great deal of needless and very ill proved and worse applyed curiosity . this appearing both too curious and ill grounded to others , was no small occasion of their rejecting those mysteries , or at least framing them so as to agree with their conceptions of things ; and both seem to have had too la●g● a share of this oversearching humour , and of not believing any thing but what was made out to their reasons : the one party pretending they did understand the mysteries , and the other denying them because they could not understand them . what subtleties were used in explaining those incomprehensible doctrines any that hath conversed in those writings must needs know , and how they were opposed with the like subtleties . whereas had all sides adored the divine revelations without engaging into these discantings , they had held the simplicity of the gospel , and acted more like true christian philosophers ; since it agrees with the strictest reason to acknowledge our faculties are limited , and so not fit to comprehend the divine nature , nor the operations or the communications of that supream being ; and therefore we must believe with all humility what himself hath been pleased to reveal to us concerning himself , without either doubting the truth because we understand not what is so far above us , or engaging into over curious searching into that which it appears from our limited understandings , and the general terms of revelation god intended should be still a mystery to us . but indeed the schoolmen have thought it below the height of their ●ouring minds and great learnings to stick at the explaining all mysteries , and as far as hard words and unconceivable niceties will go , they have given us a very satisfying account of all mysteries , by which we know neither more nor less than we do without them . whether this may not have led many over curio●s enquirers into the contrary extream , i shall not determine , but this is plainly an abuse of reason on both hands . the humour of enquiring into all subtleties did quickly bring into the church a superfetation of unconceivable mysteries . for every bold conceit that any ( who had so much authority as to be well followed ) took up was presently given out for a mystery , and then it was sacred and must not be touched ; and if any did offer to examine it , he was scared with the bugbear of a mystery . so that transubstantiation , the treasure of the church , the way of the popes infallibility , together with a thousand devised mysteries in all the pieces of divine worship , were cramm'd down the throats of all christians , and many being justly provoked by these pretended mysteries , and seeing the other great mysteries made the engines of obtruding these on the world , were thereupon by an unjustifiable and an immoderate use of the counterpoise led to the other extream of denying all and with how great nicety of argument have even the reformed managed many high mysterious points , as the derivation of adam's sin , the order o the divine decrees , with the nature of the aids and assistances of grace , which have been canvassed with a very searching curiosity ? and as dark as these must be confessed to be , yet they are delivered with as much dictating and imperious authority , as if these authors had been caught up to the third heavens . many other niceties are also found out to exercise their curiosity ; yet if it rested there the hazard were not so great , but these are all made articles of faith , and all who are not satisfied about them , are barred the communion of the church , and so no wonder there be endless heats and debates . the occasion of this curiosity and itch of disputing may be perhaps not unjustly derived from the contentions and endless wranglings of the schools in matters of philosophy ; in which men being accustomed to that game of disputing and subtilising about nothing , and going from those studies to divinity , and carrying that same temper , and fiery edge along with them , they made all that work about it which hath now so long divided the world . they being also by a long practice habituated to many maxims and axioms which were laid down for rules not to be enquired into or denyed , came really to believe those were true , and to carry them along with them to all their theological debates . all which will appear very evident to any that compares their philosophical and theological works , from which many of their strange inferences and positions did take their rise , and i am afraid do still receive their nourishment . thus far i have discoursed of the several prejudices the powers of the natural man do lay in the way of our apprehending and judging aright of divine truths ; and the common notions of the moral philosophy will concur to teach all men that before their minds can be rightly qualified for the understanding any intellectual truth , but most chiefly divine truth , we must abstract from all those figures of things , which our senses present to us , and rise above all grosser phantasms . it is no less necessary that our thoughts be serene , and free of passion , that we may freely and at leisure consider what lies before us , without the byass of preconceived opinions or interests . and it is equally rational with these that we have modest minds not vainly puffed up with an opinion of our own knowledge , but tractable and docile , such as will not stick after clear conviction , to confess and retract an error , and that we proceed in our reasonings closely and on sure grounds , not on vain conjectures and maxims taken up meerly on trust , but by a clear progress advance from one truth to another as the series of them shall lead . a man who is thus prepared must next consider all was said in the first four sections , with a great deal more to the same purpose ; that he be on good grounds perswaded there is a god ; that there is a true revealed religion , & that the christian religion is the true religion . these things being laid down he is in the first place by earnest prayers to beg god's direction to go along with him in all his enquiries , which certainly will not be wanting if he bring with him a sincere & well prepared mind , not byassed nor prepossessed ; and of this we may be well assured both from the divine goodness and veracity . for as he hath promised that whoso seek shall find ; so it is a necessary consequent of infinite goodness to assist all that sincerely seek after life and happiness : but if any come to this study without he be duly prepared , he has himself to thank if he fall into errors and mistakes . the next thing an exact searcher into religion must labour in , is once to observe the nature of christianity and the great designs of it ; and in this he is not to follow the small game of some particular and obscure passages , but to observe through the whole new testament what was the great end of all our saviour spoke and did , and his disciples testified and wrote . if once we comprehend this a right , it will be a thread to carry us through particular disquisitions . for as there be many natural truths of which we are well assured , though philosophy offers us some arguments against them , in the answering which we are not able to satisfie our reasons ; so there may be some divine truths very certainly made out to us , and yet there may be places of scripture which seem so to contradict those truths that they cannot be well answered . again , a serious enquirer will see good reason to believe the scriptures must be plain , evident and clear , since they were at first directed to men of very ordinary parts and of no profound understandings and learning ; therefore he may well conclude those strange superstructures some have reared up for amusing the world , can be none of the articles of faith necessary to be believed . and as the first converts were honest simple men , so our saviour and the apostles spoke in a plain easie stile , therefore all these forced criticisms and inferences by which some more ingenious than candid writers would expound them in a sence favourable to their opinions , a●e not to be received , since these do often represent the divine discourses rather like the little tricks of double-dealing and sophistry for which an honest tutor would severely chide his pupil : words are to be understood in their plain meaning , and not as logick or a nicety of criticism may distort and throw them . if then a man will in this method ( which no honest man can except against ) go to the search of the scriptures with a mind prepared , as hath been already said , he cannot fail of finding out all that is necessary for his salvation . nor is he to be doubtfully anxious concerning the true books ; for none denies but the churches care in all ages hath been the great conveyance of this ; the many various translations of all ages and languages ( nay and different religions ) agreeing in all material points , and the citations out of those books which we find in a series of authors who have lived in the several ages since they were written agreeing likewise with the books themselves , together with many ancient manuscripts which do yet remain of a great many languages , may abundantly satisfie even the most severe inquirer , that these be the very books which the apostles delivered and were universally received by all christians . the matter of fact being thus cleared without any necessity of running to the authority of the church , all those scruples which i. k. with the rest of his brethren would needs raise , do vanish , since they never distinguish exactly between a witness and a judge . for the former nothing is required but honesty and good information , and we have the agreeing suffrages of many witnesses that do all agree in their testimony of these books , who though they differed very much in their expositions of them , yet concurred in their verdict about the books , and were checks on one another in the faithful preserving and transcribing them . in this sence we do receive the churches testimony as the necessary means of conveying these books to us . but an authority sacred and solemnly declared is required in a judge , and this no church can so much as pretend to but from the scriptures . therefore the scriptures being received as divine cannot depend on the sentence of the church as a judge , since all its jurisdiction is derived from scripture , which therefore must be acknowledged before it can be believed . but because there be persons of a meaner condition and not educated so as to make all the inquiry which is necessary in so important a business , there is therefore a shorter method for such , which yet is as morally certain as any thing can be . let then the simplest man in england provide himself of two new testaments , one published by the church of england , another by the church of rome as was that of rheims : now he knows well what animosities be betwixt the divines of these churches , and that they are engaged so hotly one against another , that they agree in nothing , but where the evidence of truth especially in matters of fact does bind them . and yet he comparing these new testaments will find , that though the phrase , the position of words , and in some few places perhaps the sence varies , but upon a survey of the whole he finds that they do plainly agree in all matters of moment . so that from this he is perswaded that both have the same true book which the apostles did deliver to the church ; and the iews agreeing with us as to the old testament , is the same evidence to him that we have those very books which were held sacred by the iews in our saviour's time . and thus by i. k's leave a man may be satisfied what be the true books , without being assured which is the true church or the true religion . being then assured about the books and studying them in the method already set down , he shall be certainly directed by god to find out every thing necessary to salvation ; and this is far from setting up a private spirit to lead us enthusiastically , but is an appeal to the reason and ingenuity that is common to all men . for let me ask i. k. how the decrees and canons of the council of trent are to be understood ? he himself says , the meaning of those is plainly and certainly to be known , yet every reader must expound them to himself in that easie and clear sence which best agrees with the words . is this therefore to set up a private spirit to enterpret these canons ? i know he will say ( and with good reason too ) that it is far from it ; and with the same warrant do i assert that the considering of scripture according to the method proposed , is not to interpret it by a private spirit , but by the clear conduct of our understandings directed by the divine grace which is freely given to all that ask it . if after all this it be replyed , how is it then that there are such different expositors and expositions of scripture ? the answer is plain , by sending back the reader to what hath been said of the corruption of mens minds ; and as long as men live so ill as they do , it is to no purpose to expect they shall think or understand aright . besides , there be a great many things in the scriptures which are not articles of faith , which every man is not bound to know and conceive aright under the hazard of damnation , and about which there may be disputings and different opinions without any hazard . if any set up particular opinions in matters justly controvertible and of less moment , and impose these on all with severe sanctions , and if he have authority to cast all out of the church society that do not agree with him , or if he have not that authority , if he do separate from the communion of the church because they will not receive or hearken to his conceits , he is a schismatick ; for a dogmatizing and dictating spirit , if strengthned with power , doth always lead to persecution , and if it want it , to separation . and thus i think enough is said for proving that the way to salvation is not at all uncertain in our church , since it is no other but that new and living way which our saviour did consecrate through his flesh . but in this we are strongly confirmed , when we find the ancient martyrs , fathers and doctors of the church going in the same method , and by it converting the nations , enduring martyrdome and giving glory to their most holy faith and to its most holy author , whose decrees , when met in councils , and doctrines delivered in their writings do so agree with ours in all matters of faith , that we decline not to put the whole debates between us and them to this tryal . i. k. thinks we cannot know what fathers or what councils to receive , but by first acknowledging a true church which must tell what fathers and councils to receive . but this being a matter of fact , we are to judge of it as of all matters of fact that were transacted some ages ago , and by the evidence of testimonies are to find out the truth concerning the fathers and councils , and their writings and decrees . we have good reason to decline the writers of the latter ages , since we plainly see that upon the overthrow of the western empire by the goths and vandals and other northern nations , and of the eastern empire by the saracens and other mahometans , religion and learning were quickly brought under sad and lasting decays , which is confest by writers on all sides . and what i. k. says , that we may as well expect the whole gospel in the first chapter of s. matthew , as all faith of the church in the first four general councils , is very impertinently alledged . did we ask for all the definitions of the church in the first canon of nice , his comparison might well take place ; but it cannot be fitly used in our case who say we are the true catholick apostolick christians , because we in all things agree with the churches of god , as they were during their greatest purity both in the persecutions , and after those for two ages . certainly if we hold all that faith they then held , and if they were saved , we may be so too ; and you cannot pass a severe sentence on us which will not likewise take hold of them . i. k. cannot deny but they stated the christian faith in very formal creeds , and one of them expresly decreed that no new addition should be made to the creed ; and so we who receive that creed , though at all this distance from them , are really in communion with them , from which those have departed , who have made such vast additions to the creed . and thus it appears we are in the same way which our saviour first opened and in which that glorious cloud of witnesses followed him , and are still in communion with rome as she was when her faith was spoken of through the whole world , and therefore we are in a safe way to salvation . but because christians must live together in unity and charity , and in order to that end must associate together in the worship of god in mutual councils and other necessary parts of government and some external rites for maintaining the visible acknowledgment of the faith , therefore we have rules given in scripture no less express for obeying the civil powers in all their commands that are not plainly contrary either to natural or revealed religion , which is a clear and constant rule by which we may be satisfied if our minds be right prepared and qualified , as was before set down . and if by the disorder of our understandings , through the corruptions of the natural man , we be brought under errors , we have our selves to blame . next to this we are to associate our selves with all who worship god as long as there is not some great corruption in it , so that we can no longer continue in it without sin . if others be formal or guilty in it , that is none of our fault , and can never warrant our departure from that communion of saints in worship . therefore the particular forms of worship are to be agreed on by the guides and pastors of the church , which must still be received by all till they put us to act or assist in somewhat that is evil , or be defective in some necessary part of divine worship . and the great rule by which the guides of the church ought to compose these forms , is the constant and universal practice of the churches of god in their best times ; calculating these as near as may be to the present constitutions and tempers of men , so as to avoid all unnecessary scandal , and to edifie the people by them . therefore we dare appeal to all just and impartial judges , if our church have not observed this rule in all the parts of our worship , to bring things as near as could be to the primitive forms ; and if in some particulars we have departed from them , such as the not commemorating expresly the dead , or receiving gifts in their names in the holy communion , the not using the chrism in confirmation , nor the sign of the cross on all occasions , or if we kneel in churches on sundays , and betwixt easter and pentecost , which are the most considerable things that now occurr to me , in which we are not exactly conform to the primitive church ; these are both things of less importance , and by the following superstition and other abuses were very much corrupted . and it is certain that all things not necessary when much abused , how innocent , nay how useful soever they may be , yet may very reasonably be left out and laid aside as the pastors of the church see cause . if after all this evidence there be great divisions among us , we owe these , next to the corruption or manners , to the daily practises of such as i. k. who ( as is offered to be made out by many ) have under all disguises laboured the renting us to pieces , and our sins are such that these wicked designs prove daily but too successful . but after all the mist and dust any may study to raise , i doubt not but to serious considerers it will appear , that we of this church are in a clear and safe way , and that our doctrine is no other than what our saviour and his apostles delivered , and what the first christians and their successors for many ages believed ; and that we are in the same method of finding out the true faith which they followed : all which i shall conclude with these excellent and divinely charitable versicles of our litany : that it may please thee to give to all thy people increase of grace , to hear meekly thy word , and to receive it with pure affection , and to bring forth the fruits of the spirit . that it may please thee to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived , and that it may please thee to have mercy upon all men . we beseech thee to hear us good lord. the end . a brief catalogue of books newly printed and reprinted for r. royston , bookseller to his most sacred majesty . the works of the reverend and learned henry hammond , d. d. containing a collection of discourses chiefly practical , with many additions and corrections from the author 's own hand ; together with the life of the author enlarged , by the reverend dr. fell , dean of christ-church in oxford . in large folio . a paraphrase and annotations upon all the books of the new testament , briefly explaining all the difficult places thereof . the fourth edition corrected . by h. hammond , d. d. in folio . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or , a collection of polemical discourses addressed against the enemies of the church of england , both papists and fanaticks , in large folio , by ier. taylor , chaplain in ordinary to k. charles the first of blessed memory , and late lord bishop of down and conner . antiquitates christianae , or , the history of the life and death of the holy jesus , as also , the lives , acts , and martyrdoms of his apostles . in two parts , the first part containing the life of christ , written by ieremy taylor , late lord bishop of down and conner . the second , containing the lives of the apostles , by william cave , d. d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . the second part of the practical christian , consisting of meditations and psalms illustrated with notes , or paraphrased ; relating to the hours of prayer , the ordinary actions of day and night , and several dispositions of men. by r. sherlock , d. d. rector of winwick the royal martyr , and the dutiful subject , in two sermons : by gilbert burnet . new. the christian sacrifice , a treatise shewing the necessity , end and manner of receiving the holy communion , &c. the devout christian instructed how to pray and give thanks to god : or , a book of devotions , &c. both written by the reverend s. patrick , d. d. in 12. a serious and compassionate enquiry into the causes of the present neglect and contempt of the protestant religion and church of england , &c. considerations concerning comprehension , toleration , and the renouncing the covenant . in octavo new. animadversions upon a book , entituled , fanaticism fanatically imputed to the catholick church : by dr. stillingfleet , and the imputation refuted and retorted by s. c. the second edition . by a person of honour . in octavo . reflections upon the devotions of the roman church . with the prayers , hymns and lessons themselves , taken out of their authentick authors . in three parts . in octavo . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a30400-e1450 deut. 13 1. gal. 1. 8 , 9. s. mat. 12. 24 , to 31. notes for div a30400-e1900 1 thess. 2. 11. 2 thess. 3. 10. 1 cor. 7. 4 , 5. the invisible world discovered to spirituall eyes and reduced to usefull meditation : in three books : also, the great mystery of godliness laid forth by way of affectuous and feeling meditation : with the apostolicall institution of imposition of hands for confirmation of children, setting forth the divine ground, end, and use of that too much neglected institution, and now published as an excellent expedient to truth and peace / by jos. hall. hall, joseph, 1574-1656. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a45280 of text r25402 in the english short title catalog (wing h387). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 230 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 131 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a45280 wing h387 estc r25402 08951046 ocm 08951046 42064 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45280) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 42064) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1286:2) the invisible world discovered to spirituall eyes and reduced to usefull meditation : in three books : also, the great mystery of godliness laid forth by way of affectuous and feeling meditation : with the apostolicall institution of imposition of hands for confirmation of children, setting forth the divine ground, end, and use of that too much neglected institution, and now published as an excellent expedient to truth and peace / by jos. hall. hall, joseph, 1574-1656. [26], 221, [11] p. printed by e. cotes for john place, london : 1659. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. eng spiritual life -modern period, 1500 sanctification. theology, doctrinal. a45280 r25402 (wing h387). civilwar no the invisible world, discovered to spirituall eyes, and reduced to usefull meditation. in three books. also, the great mystery of godliness, hall, joseph 1659 41273 185 5 0 0 0 0 46 d the rate of 46 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-04 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-04 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the invisible world , discovered to spirituall eyes , and reduced to usefull meditation . in three books . also , the great mystery of godliness , laid forth by way of affectuous and feeling meditation : with the apostolicall institution of imposition of hands , for confirmation of children ; setting forth the divine ground , end , and use of that , too much neglected , institution , and now published as an excellent expedient to truth and peace . by jos. hall , d.d.b. norwich . london , printed by e. cotes , for john place at furnivals inne-gate , 1659 to all them that love our lord jesus christ in sincerity , grace and peace . dear brethren , if i have , in a sort , taken my leave of the world already ; yet , not of you , whom god hath chosen out of the world , and endeared to me by a closer interest : so as ye may justly expect from me a more speciall valediction ; which i do now in all christian affection tender unto you : and , as dear friends upon a long parting are wont to leave behind them some tokens of remembrance , where they most affect ; so have i thought good , before my setting forth on my last journey , to recomend unto you these my two finall meditations ; then which , i suppose , nothing could be more proper for me to give ; or more likely to merit your acceptation : for , if we were half way in heaven already , what can be a more seasonable imployment of our thoughts , then the great mysterie of godlinesse , which the angels desire to look into ▪ and , now when our b●dily eyes are glutted with the view of the things that are seen ( a prospect , which can afford us nothing but vanity and vexation ) what can be more meet , then to feed our spirituall eyes , with the light of invisible glories ? make your use of them , both , to the edifying of your selves in your most holy faith ; and aspire with me , towards that happiness which is laid up above for all those that love the appearance of our lord jesus . withall , as the last words of friends are wont to bear the greatest weight , and to make the deepest impression ; so let these lines of holy advise , wherewith ( after many well-meant discourses ) i shall close up the mouth of the presse , find the like respect from you . oh that i might in the first place , effectually recommend to you the full recovery of that precious legacy of our blessed saviour , peace : peace with god , peace with men ; next to grace the best of all blessings : yet , wo is me , too too long banished from the christian world , with such animosity , as if it were the worst of enemies , and meet to be adjudged to a perpetuall mitrnatition . oh for a fountain of tears to bewaile the stain of gods people in all the coasts of the earth : how is christendome become an universall aceldama ? how is the earth every where drenched with humane bloud ? poured out , not by the hands of cruell infidels , but of brethren : men need not go so farre as euphrates for the execution of turks and pagans , christians can make up an armageddon with their own mutuall slaughter . enough , my dear brethren , enough ; yea more then too much hath been the effusion of that bloud , for which our saviour hath shed his : let us now , at the last , dry up these deadly issues , which we have made ; and with soveraigne balms bind up the wounds we have given : let us now be , not more sparing of our tears , to wash off the memory of these our unbrotherly dimications , and to ppease the anger of that god , whose offended justice hath raised war out of our own bowels : as our enmity , so our peace begins at heaven : had we not provoked our long-suffering god , we had not thus bled ; and we cannot but know and beleeve him that said . when a mans wayes please the lord , he maketh his enemies to be at peace with him ; oh that we could throughly reconcile our selves to that great and holy god , whom we have irritated by our crying sins , how soon would he , who is the commander of all hearts , make up our breaches , and calme and compose our spirits to an happy peace and concord ! in the next place give me leave earnestly to exhort you , that , as we have been heretofore palpably faulty in abusing the mercies of our god for which we have soundly smarted ) so that now , we should be so much the more carefull to improve the judgments of god , to our effectuall reformation : we have felt the heavie hand of the almighty upon us to purpose ; oh that our amendment could be no lesse sensible then our sufferings ; but , alas , my brethren , are our wayes any whit holyer ? our obedience , more exact , our sins less and fewer then before we were thus heavily afflicted ? may not our god too justly take up that complaint , which he made once by his prophet jeremiah , ye have transgressed against me , saith the lord , in vain have i smitten your children , they received no correction : far be it from us , that after so many sad and solemne mournings of our land , any accuser should be able to charge us , as the prophet hosea did his israel , by swearing , and lying , and killing , and stealing , and committing adulterie , they break out , and blood toucheth bloud : wo be to us , if after so many veins opened , the blood remaining should not be the purer . let me have leave , in the third place , to excite you to the practise of christian charity , in the mutuall constructions of each others persons , and actions ; which ( i must tell you ) we have heedlesly violated in the heat of our holy intentions ; whiles those which have varied from us in matter of opinion , concerning some appendances of religion , and outward forms of administration , we have been apt to look upon with such disregard , as if they had herein forfeit 〈◊〉 their christian profession , and were utter aliens from the common-wealth of israel ; though in the mean time , sound at the heart ; and endeavouring to walk close with god in all their wayes : whereas the father of all mercies allows a gracious latitude to his children , in all not-forbidden paths : and in every nation and condition of men , he that feareth god , and worketh righteousness , is accepted with him : beware we ( my dear brethren ) lest whiles we follow the chase of zeal , we out-run charity , without which , piety it self would be but unwelcome : as for matter of opinion in the differences of religion , wherewith the whole known world , not of christians only , but of men , is wofully distracted , to the great prejudice of millions of souls , let this be our sure rule . whosoever he be that holds the faith which was once delivered to the saints , agreeing therefore with us in all fundamentall truths , let him be received as a broth●r ▪ for th●re is but one lord , one faith , one baptism : and , other foundation can no man lay , then that which is laid , which is jesus christ : let those which will be a devising a new creed , look for a new saviour , and hope for another heaven ; for us we know whom we have beleeved : if any man be faulty in the doctrines of superstructure , let us pity and rectifie his errour , but not abandon his person . the communion of saints is not so sleight that it should be violated by weak mistakings : if any man through ignorance or simplicity , shall strike at the foundation of faith , let us labour by all gentle means , and brotherly conviction , in the spirit of meeknesse to reclaim him : if after all powerfull indeavours he will needs remain , obstinate in his evill way ; let us disclaim his fellowship , and not think him worthy of a god-speed . but if he shall not only wilfully undermine the ground-work of christian faith , by his own damnable opinions , but diffuse his her●ticall blasphemies to the infection of others ; let him be cut off by spirituall censures ; and so dealt with by publick authority that the mischief of his contagion may be seasonably prevented , and himselfe be made sensible of his hainous crime . in all which proceedings , just distinction must be made betwixt the seduced soul , and the pestilent seducer , the one calls for compassion , the other , for severity : so then my brethren let us pity and pray for all that have erred and are deceived ; let us instruct the ignorant , convince the gainsaying , avoid the obstinate , restrain the infectious , and punish the self-convicted heresiarch . in the fourth place , let us , i beseech you , take heed of beeing swayed with self-interests in all our designs : these have ever been the bane of the best undertakings , as being not more plausibly insinnuative , then pernicious : for that partiall self-love , that naturally ledges in every mans brest , is ready to put us upon those projects , which , under fair pretences , may be extreamly prejudiciall to the publique weal ; suggesting not how lawfull or expedient they may be for the common , but how beneficiall to our selves ; drawing us by insensible degrees to sacrifice the publique welfare to our own advantage , and to underwork , and cross the better counsails of more faithfull patriots : whereupon , many flourishing churches , kingdomes , states , have been brought to miserable ruine : oh that we could remember , that as all things are ours , so we are not our own ; that we have the least interest in our selves , being infinitely more considerable as parts of a community , theras single persons ; that the main end of our beeing , ( next to the glory of our maker ) is an universall serviceablenesse to others : in the attaining whereof , we shall far more eminently advance our own happiness , then by the best of our private self-seeking indeavors . but withall , it will be meet for us to consider , that , as we are made to serve all , so only in our own station : there can be no hope of a continued wel being without order : there can be no order without a due subordination of degrees , and diversity of vocations ; and in vain shall divers vocations be ordained , if all professions shall enterfere with each other . it is the prudent and holy charge of the apostle , let every man abide in the same calling wherein he is called . we are all members of the same body , every one whereof hath his proper employment : the head is to direct and govern , the feet to walk , the eyes to see , the ears to hear : how mad would we think that man , that should affect to walk on his head , to hear with his eye , to see with his ear ? neither surely is it lesse incongruous for men in d●vine and civill administrations , to offer to undertake , and manage each others function ; in their nature and quality no lesse d●sperate : so then , let us indeavour to advance the common good , as that a pious zeal may not draw in confusion ; and that we may not mistakeingly rear up the walls of babel , whiles we intend jerusalem : not religion only , but policie cals us to encouragement of all usefull professions ; and of the sacred so much more , as the soul is more precious then all the world beside . heed therefore must be taken to avoid all means , whereby the study of learning and knowledge may be any way disheartned ; as without which the world would soon be over-run with ignorance , & barbarism : all arts therefore , as being in their kind excellent , may justly challenge their own rights , and if they shall want those respects , which are due to them , will suddenly languish : but above all , as divinity is the queen of sciences , so should it be our just shame that whiles her handmaids are mounted on horsback , she should wait on them on foot . fifthly , as it is our greatest honour that the name of christ is called upon us ; so let it , i beseech you , be our care , that our profession be not formal , empty , and barren like the jewish fig-tree , abounding with leaves , void of fruit ▪ but reall , active , fruitfull of all good workes , and exemplary in an universal obedien●e to the whole will of god : for it is a scandall never to be enough lamented , that any of those who are saints by calling ( such we all are , or should be ) should hug some dearling sin in their bosome , which at last breaks forth to the shame of the gospell , and to the insultation of gath and ascalon : wo be to us if we shall thus cause the name of our god to be ●ill spoken of : there are two many of those , whom i am loath , and sorry to style heathen-christians ; christians in name , heathens in conversation : these , as they come not within the compasse of my dedication , ( for , alas , how should they love the lord jesus , when they know him not ? ) so i can heartily bewail their condition , who , like gideons fleece , continue altogether dry , under so many sweet shewres of grace ; wishing unto their souls , even thus late , a sense of the efficacy of that water which was once poured on their faces : these , if they run into all excesse of riot , what can be other expected from them ? but for us , that have learned to know the great mysterie of godlinesse , and have given up our name , to a strict covenant of obed●ence , if we shall suffer our selves to be miscarried into any enormious wickedness , we shall cause heaven to blush , and hell to triumph . oh therefore , let us be so much the more watchfull over our ways , as our engagements to the name of our god , are greater , and the danger of our miscariages more deadly . lastly , let me beseech , and adjure you , in the name of the lord jesu , to be carefull in matter of religion , to keep within the due bounds of gods revealed will . a charge which i would to god were not too needfull in these last dayes ; wherein , who sees not what spirits of errour are gone forth into the world , for the seducing of simple , and ungrounded souls ? wo is me , what throngs are carried to hell by these devillish impostures ? one pretends visions , and revelations of new verities , which the world was not hitherto worthy to know ; another boasts of newlights of uncouth interpretations , hidden from all former eyes : one despises the dead letter of the scriptures ? another distorts it to his own erroneous sense . o the prodiges of damnable , hereticall , atheous fancies , which have hereupon infested the christian church ; ( for which , what good soul doth not mourn in secret ? ) the danger whereof ye shall happily avoid , if ye shall keep close to the written word of our god which is only able to make you wise to salvation : as our saviour repelled the devill , so do ye the fanatick spirits of these brain-sick men , with , it is written ; let those who would be wiser then god , justly perish in their presumption ; my soul for yours , if ye keep you to s. pauls guard , not to be wise above that which is written . i could easily out of the exuberance of my christian love overcharg you with multiplicity of holy coun●ses , but i would not take a tedious farewell ▪ may the god of heaven bless these , and all other wholesom admonitions to the furtherance of your souls in grace ; and may his good spirit , ever lead & guide us in all such wayes , as may be pleasing to him , till we happily meet in the participation of that incomprehensible glory , which he hath prepared for all his saints ; till when , farewel from your fellow-pilgrim in this vale of tears , jos. hall . higham neer norwich , nov. 3. 1651. the invisible world , discovered to spiritual eyes , and reduced to usefull meditation . in three books . by jos. hall , d.d.b.n. london , printed by e. cotes , for john place at furnivals inne-gate , 1659 the preface . as those that flit from their old home , and betake themselves to dwell in another countrey , where they are sure to settle ; are wont to forget the faces , and fashions whereto they were formerly inured , and to apply themselves to the knowledge and acquaintance of those , with whom they shall afterwards converse ; so it is here with me , being to remove from my earthly tabernacle , wherein i have worn out the few and evil dayes of my pilgrimage , to an abiding city above , i have desired to acquaint my self with that invisible world , to which i am going : to enter-know my good god , and his blessed angels and saints , with whom i hope to passe an happy eternity . and if by often and serious meditation i have attained ( through gods mercy ) to any measure of lightsome apprehension of them , and their blisseful condition ; i thought it could be no other then profitable to my fellow-pilgrims , to have it imparted unto them : and , as knowing we can never be sensible enough of our happinesse , unlesse we know our own dangers , and the woful mis-carriages of others ; nor so fully blesse our eyes with the sight of heaven , if we cast not some glances upon hell ; i have held it requisite to bestow some thoughts upon that dreadfull region of darknesse , and confusion , that by the former of these , our desires may be whetted to the fruition of their blessednesse ; and by the other , we may be stirred up to a care of avoiding those paths that lead down to that second death ; and to a continual thankfulnesse unto that mercifull god , whose infinite goodnesse hath delivered us from that pit of horrour , and perdition . the invisible world . the first book . sect. i. that there is an invisible world . who can think other , but that the great god of heaven loseth much glory by our ignorance ? for , how can we give him the honour due to his name , whiles we conceive too narrowly of him , and his works ? to know him as he is , is past the capacity of our finite understanding , we must have other eyes to discern that incomprehensible essence ; but to see him in his divine emanations , and marvailous works , ( which are the back parts of that glorious majesty ) is that , whereof we may be capable , and should be ambitious ; neither is there any thing in this world , that can so much import us : for wherefore serves the eye of sense , but to view the goodly frame and furniture of the creation ? wherefore serves the eye of reason and faith , but to see that lively and invisible power , which governs and comprehends it ? even this sensible , and materiall world , if we could conceive aright of it , is enough to amaze the most inlightned reason ; for if this globe of earth , in regard of the immense greatnesse of it , is wont ( not unjustly ) to be accounted a world , what shall we say of so many thousand stars , that are ( for the most part ) bigger then it ? how can we but admire so many thousand worlds of light , rolling continually over our heads ; all made by the omnipotent power ; all regularly guided by the infinite providence of the great god ? how poorly must that man needs think of the workmanship of the almighty , that looks upon all these , but as so many torches , set up in the firmament every evening , only so big as they seem ? and with what awfull respects must he needs be carried to his creator , that knowes the vastnesse , and perpetually-constant movings of those lightsom bodies , ruled and upheld only by the mighty word that made them ? there is store of wonders in the visible , but the spirituall , and intelligible world is that , which is more worthy to take up our hearts ; both as we are men , indued with reason , and as regenerate , inlightned by faith ; being so much more excellent then the other , by how much more it is removed from all earthly means of apprehension . brute creatures may behold these visible things , perhaps with sharper eyes then we , but spirituall objects are so utterly out of their reach , as if they had no being : nearest therefore to beasts are those men , who suffer themselves to be so altogether led by their senses , as to believe nothing but what is suggested by that purblind and unfaithfull informer ; let such men doubt whether they have a soul in their body , because their eye never met with it ; or that there are any stars in the firmament at noon-day , because they appear not ; or that there is any air wherein they breath , because nothing appears to them but an insensible vacuity . of all other the sadduces had been the most dull and sottish hereticks that ever were , if ( as some have construed them ) they had utterly denyed the very being of any spirits ; sure ( as learned cameron pleads for them ) they could not be so senselesse ; for beleeving the books of moses , and being conscious of their own animation , their bosomes must needs convince them of their spiritual inmate ; and what but a spirit could inable them to argue against spirits ? and how could they hold a god , and no spirit ? it was bad enough that they denyed the immortality , and constant subsistence of those angelical , immaterial substances ; an opinion long since hissed out , not of the school of christianity only , but of the very stalls and styes of the most brutish paganisme ; although not very long since ( as is reported by hosius , and prateolus ) that cursed glazier of gaunt , david george , durst wickedly rake it out of the dust , and of late some scepticks of our own have let fall some suspicious glances this way : surely , all that know they have souls , must needs beleeve a world of spirits , which they see not ; if from no other grounds , yet out of that analogy , which they cannot but finde betwixt this lesser , and that greater world ; for as this little world , man , consists of an outward visible body , and an inward spiritual soul , which gives life , and motion to that organicall frame ; so possessing all parts that it is wholly in all , and in each part wholly ; so must it also be in this great universe , the sensible and materiall part whereof , hath being , and moving from those spiritual powers , both supreme and subordinate , which dwell in it , and fill and actuate it . every illuminated soul therefore looks about him with no other then s. pauls eyes ; whose profession it is , we look not at the things which are seen , but at the things which are not seen , for the things which are seen are temporall , but the things which are not seen are eternall . sect. ii. the distribution of the invisible world . i cannot quite mislike the conceit of reuchlin , and his ●abala , seconded by galatinus , that as in an egge , the yelk lies in the middest encompassed round with the white , and that again by a film and shell ; so the sensible world is enclosed within the intelligible ; but withall i must adde , that here is not a meer involution only , but a spirituall permeation and inexistence ; yet without all mixture , without all confusion ; for those pure and simple natures are not capable of mingling with grosse , materiall substances ; and the god of order hath given them their own separate essences ▪ offices , operations ; as for the managing of their own spiritual common-wealth , within themselves , so for the disposing , governing , and moving of this sensible world : as therefore we shall foully misconceive of a man , if we shall think him to be nothing but a body , because our eyes see no more ; so we shall no lesse grossely erre , if beholding this outward fabrick , we shall conceive of nothing to be in this vast universe , but the meer lifelesse substance of the heavens , and elements , which runs into our sight ; those lively and active powers that dwell in them could not be such , if they were not purely spirituall . here then , above and beyond all worlds , and in this materiall , and intelligible world , our illuminated eyes meet first with the god of spirits ; the deitie incomprehensible , the fountain of all life and being ; the infinite and self-existing essence , one most pure , simple , eternal act ; the absolute , omnipotent , omnipresent spirit , who in himself is more then a world of worlds , filling & comprehending both the spiritual & sensible world ; in comparison of whom , this all is nothing ; and but from him had been , and were nothing : upon this blessed object , o my soul , may thy thoughts ever dwell ; where the more they are fixed , the more shall they finde themselves ravished from the regard of all sensible things , and swallowed up with an admiration of that , which they are still further off from comprehending . next to this all-glorious and infinite spirit , they meet with those immateriall and invisible powers , who receive their originall and continuance , their natures and offices from that king of glory ; each one whereof is so mighty , as to make up a world of power alone ; each one so knowing , as to contain a world of wisdom , and all of them so innumerably many , that their number is next to infinite ; and all this numberlesse number so perfectly united in one celestial politie , that their entire communion ( under the laws and government of their soverain creator ) makes them a compleat world of spirits , invisibly living and moving both within and above this visible globe of the materiall world . after these , meet we with the glorified souls of the just , who now let loose from this prison of clay , enjoy the full liberty of heaven ; and being at last , reunited to their then immortall bodies , and to their most glorious head , both are , and possesse a world of everlasting blisse . last of all , may thy thoughts fall upon those infernall powers of darknesse , the spirituall wickednesses in heavenly places ; whose number , might , combination , makes up a dreadfull world of evil angels , conflicting where they prevail not , and tormenting where they overcome ; these , together with the reprobate souls , whom they have captived , are the most horrible and wofull prospects of mischief and misery , which either world is subject unto ; now all and every of these , however in respect of largenesse , they may well passe for so many severall worlds ; yet as we are wont to account the whole globe of heaven and earth , and the other inclosed elements ( though vast in their severall extents ) to make up but one sensible world ; so shall we ( in a desire to reduce all to unity ) consider all the intire specifications of spirits , but as ranked in so many regions of one immateriall , and intelligible world . wherefore let us first silently adore ( that mundum archetypum ) that one transcendent , self-being , and infinite essence , in three most glorious persons , the blessed deity , which filleth heaven and earth with the majesty of his glory , as vailed with the beams of infinitenesse , and hid in an inaccessible light ; and let us turn our eyes to the spiritual guard , the invisible attendants of that divine majesty , without the knowledge and right apprehension whereof , we shall never attain to conceive of their god , and ours , as we ought . but , o ye blessed , immortal glorious spirits , who can know you , but he that is of you ? alas this soul of mine knows not it self , how shall it know you ? surely , no more can our minds conceive of you , then our eyes can see you : only , since he that made you hath given us some little glimpse of your subdivine natures , properties , operations , let us weakly as we may , recount them to his glory in yours . sect. iii. the angels of heaven . their numbers . the good lord forgive me for that ( amongst my other offences ) i have suffered my self so much to forget ( as his divine presence , so ) the presence of his holy angels ; it is i confesse my great sin , that i have filled mine eyes with other objects , and have been slack in returning praises to my god , for the continual assistance of those blessed and beneficent spirits , which have ever graciously attended me , without intermission , from the first hour of my conception to this present moment ; neither shall ever ( i hope ) absent themselves from my tutelage , and protection , till they shall have presented my poor soul to her final glory : oh that the dust and clay were so washed out of my eyes , that i might behold , together with the presence , the numbers , the beauties and excellencies of those my ever-present guardians . when we are convinced of the wonderfull magnitude of those goodly stars , which we see moving in the firmament , we cannot but acknowledge , that if god had made but one of them , he could never have been enough magnified in his power ; but , when our sense joyns with our reason , to force upon us withall an acknowledgement of the infinite numbers of those great luminaries ; now we are so far to seek of due admiration , that we are utterly lost in the amazement at this stupendious proof of omnipotence . neither is it otherwise with the invisible , hoast of heaven : if the power of one angel be such , that he were able at his makers appointment , to redact the world to nothing , and the nature of any one so eminent , that it far surmounts any part of the visible creation , what shal we say to those next-to-infinite numbers of mighty , and majestical spirits , wherewith the great god of heaven hath furnished his throne and footstool ? i know not upon what grounds that ( by some , magnified ) prophetesse , could so precisely compute , that if all men should be reckoned up from the first adam to the last man that shal stand upon the earth , there might be to each man assigned more then ten angels ; ambroses account is yet fuller ; who makes all mankind to be that one lost sheep in the parable , and the angels ( whose chore the great shepheard left for a time , to come down to this earthly wildernesse ) to be the ninety and nine : lo here , wel-near an hundred for one ; yet even that number is poor , in comparison of the reckoning of him , who pretends to fetch it from the chosen vessel rapt into paradise ; who presumes to tell us there are greater numbers of angels in every several rank , then there is of the particulars of whatsoever material things in this world ; the bishop of herbipolis instanceth boldly in stars , in leaves , in spires of grasse . but , sure i am , had that dennis of areopagus been in s. pauls room , and supplyed his rapture , he could no more have computed the number of angels , then the best arithmetician , standing upon an hill , & seeing a huge xerxes-like army swarming in the valley , can give a just reckoning of the number of those heads : surely , when our saviour speaks of more then twelve legions of angels , he doth not say , how many ●ore : if those twelve according to hieroms ( though too short ) computation , amount to seventy-two thousand , the more then twelve were doubtlesse more then many millions ; he that made them can tell us ; the beloved disciple in pathmos , as by inspiration from that god , sayes , i beheld , and i heard the voice of many angels round about the throne , and the beasts , and the elders , and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand , and thousands of thousands ; now the elders were but 24. and the beasts were but four ; all those other thousands were angels ; and if so many were about his throne , how many do we think were about his missions ? before him , the prophet daniel ( betwixt whom and the evangelist there is so perfect correspondence , that we may well say , daniel was the john of the old testament , and john the daniel of the new ) hath made the like reckoning ; thousand thousands ministred unto him , and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him : but bildad the shuhite , in one word sayes more then all , is there any number of his armies ? lo , his armies are past all number , how much more his several souldiers ? so as it may not perhaps seem hard to beleeve dionysius , that the angels of but one rank , are more then can be comprehended by any arithmetical number ; or gregory , who determines them numerable only to god that made them , to men innumerable . o great god of heaven , how doth this set forth the infinite majesty of thine omnipotent deity , to be thus attended ! we judge of the magnificence of princes according to the number and quality of their retinue and guard , and other their military powers ; and yet each one of these hath an equally absolute life , and being of his own , receiving only a pay from his soveraign ; what shall we then think of thee the great king of eternal glory , that hast before thy throne , innumerable hosts of powerfull and glorious spirits of thine own making , and upholding ? and how safe are we under so many , and so mighty protectors ? it might be perhaps well meant , and is confessed to be seconded with much reverend antiquity , the conceit , that each man hath a special angel designed for his custody ; and if but so , we are secure enough from all the danger of whatsoever hostile machinations ; however this may seem some scanting of the bountiful provision of the almighty , who hath pleased to expresse his gracious respects to one man in the allotment of many guardians ; for if jacob speak of one angel , david speaks of more ; he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes : and even those which have thought good to abet this piece of platonick divinity concerning the single guardianship of angels , have yet yielded that according to several relations , each one hath many spiritual keepers : insomuch as the forecited * fornerus , late b●shop of wirtzburg , durst assure his auditors , that each of them had ten angels at least assigned to his custody ; according to the respects of their subordinate interests , besides their own person , of their family , parish , fraternity , city , diocese , countrey , office , church , world ; yet even this computation is niggardly and * pinching , since the abundant store and bounty of the almighty can as well afford centuries , as decades of guardians ; howsoever , why should it not be all one to us , since there is no lesse safety in the hands of one then many ; no lesse care of us from many , then from one ? should but one angel guard millions of men , his power could secure them no lesse then a single charge ; but now that we are guarded with millions of angels , what can the gates of hell do ? but what number soever be imployed about us ; sure i am that ( together with them ) those that attend the throne of their maker , make up no lesse ( as nazianzen justly accounts them ) then a world of spirits : a world so much more excellent then this visible , by how much it is more abstracted from our weak senses : o ye blessed spirits , ye are ever by me , ever with me , ever about me ; i do as good as see you for i know you to be here ; i reverence your glorious persons , i blesse god for you ; i walk awfully because i am ever in your eyes , i walk confidently because i am ever in your hands . how should i be ashamed that in this piece of theology , i should be out-bid by very turks , whose priests shut up their devotions with an precatory mention of your presence , as if this were the upshot of all blessings ; i am sure it is that , wherein , next to my god and saviour , i shall ever place my greatest comfort and confidence , neither hath earth or heaven any other besides , that looks like it . sect. iv. the power of angels . multitudes even of the smallest and weakest creatures have been able to produce great effects : the swarms of but flies and lice could amate the great and mighty king of egypt : all his forces could not free him , and his peers from so impotent adversaries : but when multitude is seconded with strength , how must it needs be irresistible ? so it is in these blessed spirits , even their omnipotent maker ( who best knows what is derived from him ) styles them by his apostle , powers , and by his psalmist , mighty ones in strength : a small force seems great to the weak , but that power which is commended by the almighty , must needs be transcendently great : we best judge of powerfulnesse by the effects ; how suddainly had one angel dispatched every first-born in egypt , and after them , the hundred fourscore and five thousand of the proud assyrian army : and if each man had been a legion , with what ease had it been done by that potent spirit ? neither are they lesse able to preserve then to destroy ; that of aquinas is a great word , one angel is of such power , that be were able to govern all the corporeall creatures of the world : justly was it exploded , as the wild heresie of simon magus and his clients , the meand●ians , that the angels made the world ; no , this was the sole work of him that made them ; but , if we say that it pleases god by their ministration to sway and order the marvailous affairs of this great universe , we shall not , i suppose , vary from truth ; if we look to the highest part thereof , philosophers have gone so far as to teach us , ( that which is seconded by the allowance of some great divines ) that these blessed intelligences are they by whose agency under their almighty creator , the heavens and the glorious luminaries thereof continue their ever-constant and regular motions ; and , if there fall out any preternaturall immutations in the elements , any strange concussations of the earth , any direfull prodigies in the skie , whither should they be imputed but to these mighty angels , whom it pleaseth the most high god to imploy in these extraordinary services ? that dreadfull magnificence which was in the delivering of the law on mount sinai , in fire , smoak , thundrings , lightnings , voices , earthquakes , whence was it but by the operation of angels ? and indeed as they are the nearest both in nature and place , to the majesty of the highest , so it is most proper for them to participate most of his power , and to exercise it in obedience to his soveraignty ; as therefore he is that infinite spirit , who doth all things , and can do no more then all , so they ( as his immediate subordinates ) are the means whereby he executeth his illimited power in and upon this whole created world . whence it is , that in their glorious appearances , they have been taken for jehovah himself , by hagar , by manoah and his wife , yea , by the better eyes of the father of the faithfull . now , lord , what a protection hast thou provided for thy poor worms , and not men , creeping here on thine earth ; and what can we fear in so mighty , and sure hands ? he that passeth with a strong convoy through a wild and perilous desert , scorns the danger of wild beasts or robbers , no lesse then if he were in a strong tower at home ; so do we the onsets of the powers of darknesse , whiles we are thus invincibly guarded . when god promised moses that an angel should goe before israel , and yet withall threatned the subduction of his own presence , i marvel not if the holy man were no lesse troubled , then if they had been left destitute and guardless , and that he ceased not his importunity , till he had won the gracious ingagement of the almighty for his presence in that whole expedition : for what is the greatest angel in heaven without his maker ? but let thy favour , o god , order and accompany the deputation of the lowest of thine angels ; what can all the troops of hell hurt us ? assoon may the walls of heaven be scaled , and thy throne deturbed , as he can be foiled that is defenced with thy power : were it possible to conceive that the almighty should be but a looker on in the conflict of spirits , we know that the good angels have so so much advantage of their strength as they have of their station ; neither could those subdued spirits stand in the incounter ; but now , he that is strong in our weaknesse , is strong in their strength for us : blessed be god for them , as the author of them , and their protection ; blessed be they under god as the means used by him for our protection , and blessings . sect. v. the knowledge of angels . if sampson could have had his full strength in his mill , when he wanted his eyes , it would have little availed him ; such is power without knowledge ; but where both of these concur in one , how can they fail of effect ? whether of these is more eminent in the blessed spirits , it is not easie to determine ; so perfectly knowing are they , as that the very heathen philosophers have styled them by the name of intelligences , as if their very being were made up of understanding ; indeed what is there in this whole compass of the large universe that is hid from their eyes ? only the closet of mans heart is lockt up from them , as reserved solely to their maker ; yet so , as that ●hey can by some insensible chinks of those secret notifications which fall from us , look into them also ; all other things , whether secrets of nature , or closest counsels or events , are as open to their sight as the most visible objects are to ours : they do not ( as we mortals are wont ) look through the dim and horny spectacle o● senses , or understand by the mediation of phantasms : but rather , as clear mirrours , they receive at once the full representations of all intelligible things ; having besides that connaturall light , which is universally in them all , certain speciall illuminations from the father of lights . even we men think we know something , neither may our good ▪ god lose the thank of his bounty this way : but alas , he that is reputed to have known most of all the heathen , whom * some have styled the genius of nature could confesse that the clearest understanding is to those things which are most manifest , but as a bats eyes to the sun : do we see but a worm crawling under our feet , we know not what that is , which in it self gives it a being ; do we hear but a bee humming about our ears , the greatest naturalist cannot know whether that noise come from within the body , or from the mouth , or from the wings of that flie : how can we then hope , or pretend to know those things which are abstruse , and remote ? but these heavenly spirits do not only know things as they are in themselves , and in their inward and immediate causes , but do clearly see the first and universal cause of all things ; and that in his glorious essence ; how much more do they know our shallow dispositions , affections , inclinations , ( which peer out of the windows of our hearts ) together with all perils , and events that are incident unto us ? we walk therefore amids not more able then watchfull overseers ; and so are we lookt thorough in all our wayes , as if heaven were all eyes ; under this blessed vigilancy , if the powers of hell can either surprize us with suddainnesse , or circumvent us with subtlety , let them not spare to use their advantage . but oh ye tutelar spirits , ye well know our weaknesse and their strength , our sillinesse and their craft , their deadly machinations and our miserable obnoxiousnesse ; neither is your love to markinde , and fidelity to your maker , any whit lesse then your knowledge , so as your charge can no more miscarry under your hands and eyes , then your selves . as you do alwayes enjoy the beatifical vision of your maker , so your eye is never off from his little ones your blessednesse is no more separable from our safety , then you from your blessednesse . sect. vi . the imployments and operations of angels . even while we see you not , o ye blessed spirits , we know what ye do : he that made you hath told us your task : as there are many millions of you attending the all-glorious throne of your creator , and singing perpetual hallelujahs to him in the highest heavens ; so there are innumerable numbers of you imployed in governing and ordering the creature ; in guarding the elect , in executing the commands which ye receive from the almighty ; what variety is here of your assistance ? one while ye lead us in our way , as ye did israel : another while ye instruct us , as ye did daniel : one while ye fight for us , as ye did for joshua , and judas maccabaeus : another while ye purvey for us , as for elias : one while ye fit us to our holy vocation , as ye did to esay : another while ye dispose of the opportunities of our calling for good , as ye did of philips to the eunuch : one while ye foretell our danger , as to lot , to joseph and mary : another while ye comfort our affliction , as to hagar : one while ye oppose evil projects against us , as to balaam : another while ye will be striven with for a blessing , as with jacob : one while ye resist our offensive courses , as to moses ; another while ye incourage us in our devotions , as ye did paul , and silas , and cornelius : one while ye deliver from durance , as peter : another while ye preserve us from danger and death , as the three children : one while ye are ready to restrain our presumption , as the cherub before the gate of paradise : another while to excite our courage , as to elias and theodosius : one while to refresh and chear us in our sufferings , as to the apostles ; another while to prevent our sufferings , as to jacob , in the pursuit of laban and esau , to the sages in the pursuit of herod : one while ye cure our bodies , as at the pool of bethesda ; another while ye carry up our souls to glory , as ye did to lazarus : it were endlesse to instance in all the gracious offices which ye perform ; certainly there are many thousand events , wherein common eyes see nothing but nature , which yet are effected by the ministration of angels : when abraham sent his servant to procure a wife for his son , from amongst his own cognation ; the messenger saw nothing but men like himself ; but abraham saw an angel fore-contriving the work ; god ( saith he ) shal send his angel before thee , that thou mayest take a wife thence ; when the israelites forcibly by dint of sword expelled the canaanites , and amorites , and the other branded nations , nothing appeared but their own arms ; but the lord of hosts could say , i will send mine angel before thee , by whom i shall drive them thence : balaam saw his asse disorderly starting in the path ; he that formerly had seen visions , now sees nothing but a wall , and a way , but in the mean time , his asse , ( who for the present had more of the prophet then his master ) could see an angel and a sword . the sodomites went groping in the street for lots door , and misse it ; they thought of nothing but some suddain dizzinesse of brain , that disappointed them , we know it was an angel that stroke them with blindenesse : nothing appeared when the egyptian first-born were struck dead in one night ; the astrologers would perhaps say they were planet-struck , we know it was done by the hand of an angel : nothing was seen at the pool of bethesda , but a moved water , when the suddain cures were wrought , which perhaps might be attributed to some beneficiall constellation ; we know that an angel descended , and made the water thus sanative : g●hezi saw his master strangely preserved from the aramite troops , but had not his eyes been opened by the prophets prayers , he had not seen whence that aid came : neither is it otherwise in the frequent experiments of our life ; have we been raised up from deadly sicknesses , when all naturall helps have given us up ? gods angels have been our secret physitians ; have we had instinctive intimations of the death of some absent friends , which no humane intelligence hath bidden us to suspect , who but our angels hath wrought it ? have we been preserved from mortall dangers which we could not tell how by our providence to have evaded ? our invisible guardians have done it . i see no reason to dislike that observation of gerson ; whence is it ( saith he ) that little children are conserved from so many perils of their infancy ; fire , water , falls , suffocations , but by the agency of angels ? surely , where we find a probability of second causes in nature , we are apt to confine our thoughts from looking higher ; yet even there many times are unseen hands : had we seen the house fall upon the heads of jobs children , we should perhaps have attributed it to the natural force of a vehement blast , when now we know it was the work of a spirit : had we seen those thousands of israel falling dead of the plague , we should have complain'd of some strange infection in the air , when david saw the angel of god acting in that mortality : humane reason is apt to be injuriously saucie , in ascribing those things to an ordinary course of natural causes , which the god of nature doth by supernatural agents . a master of philosophy travelling with others on the way ▪ when a fearfull thunder-storm arose , checked the fear of his fellows , and discoursed to them of the naturall reasons of that uprore in the clouds , and those suddain flashes wherewith they seemed ( out of the ignorances of causes ) to be too much affrighted ; in the midst of his philosophicall discourse , he was strucken dead with that dreadfull eruption which he sleighted ; what could this be but the finger of that god , who will have his works rather entertained with wonder , and trembling , then with curious scanning ; neither is it otherwise in those violent huracans , devouring earthquakes , and more then ordinary tempests , and fiery apparitions which we have seen and heard of ; for however there be natural causes given of the usual events of this kinde , yet nothing hinders , but that the almighty for the manifestation of his power and justice , may set spirits whether good or evil , on work to do the same things sometimes with more state and magnificence of horrour : like as we see frogs bred ordinarily , both out of putrefaction , and generation , and yet ( when it was ) for a plague to egypt , they were supernaturally produced ; hail ; an ordinary meteore ; murrain of cattel an ordinary disease , yet for a plague to obdured pharaoh miraculously wrought . neither need there be any great difficulty in discerning when such like events run in a natural course , and when spirits are actors in them ; the manner of their operation , the occasions and effects of them shall soon discry them to a judicious eye ; for when we shall finde that they do manifestly deviate from the road of nature , and work above the power of secondary causes , it is easie to determine them to be of an higher efficiency . i could instance irrefragrably in severall tempests and thunderstorms ( which to the unspeakable terrour of the inhabitants ) were , in my time , seen heard , felt , in the western parts ; wherein the translocation , and transportation of huge massy stones , and irons of the churches above the possibility of naturall distance , together with the strange preservation of the persons assembled , with other accidents sensibly accompanying those astonishing works of god , ( still fresh in the minds of many ) shewed them plainly to be wrought by a stronger hand then natures . * and whither else should we ascribe many events which ignorance teacheth us to wonder at in silence : if murders be descryed by the fresh bleeding of cold , and almost putrefied carcasses : if a man by some strong instinct be warned to change that lodging , which he constantly held for some years , and findes his wonted sleeping place that night crushed with the unexpected fall of an unsuspected contignation : if a man distressed with care for the missing of an important evidence ( † such a one i have known ) shal be informed in his dream , in what hole of his dove-cote he shall find it hid : if a man without all observation of physical criticisms , shall receive and give intelligence many dayes before , what hour shal be his last , to what cause can we attribute these , but to our attending angels ? if a man shall in his dream ( as marcus aurelius antoninus professes ) receive the prescript of the remedy of his disease , which the physitians it seems could not cure ; whence can this be but by the suggestion of spirits ? and surely , since i am convinced that their unfelt hands are in many occurrences of my life ; i have learned so much wit and grace , as rather to yeeld them too much then too little stroke in ordering all my concernments : o ye blessed spirits , many things i know ye do for me , which i discern not , whiles ye do them ; but after they are done : and many things ye may do more which i know not ; i blesse my god and yours , as the author of all ye doe ; i blesse you as the means of all that is done by you for me . sect. vii . the degrees and orders of angels . heaven hath nothing in it but perfection ; but even perfection it self hath degrees as the glorified souls , so the blessed angels have their heights of excellency and glory : he will be known for the god of order , observeth no doubt a most exact order in his court of heaven , nearest to the residence of his majesty . equality hath no place , either in earth or in hell ; we have no reason to seek it in heaven . he that was rapt into the third heaven can tell us of thrones , dominions , principalities , angels and arch-angels in that region of blessednesse . we cannot be so simple , as to think these to be but one classe of spirits ; doubtlesse they are distinctions of divers orders : but what their severall ranks , offices , employments are , he were not more wise that could tell , then he is bold that dare speak : what modest indignation can forbear stamping at the presumption of those men , who , as if upon domingo gonsales his engine , they had been mounted by his gansaes from the moon to the empyreall heaven , and admitted to be the heralds , or masters of ceremonies in that higher world , have taken upon them to marshall these angelicall spirits into their severall rooms ; proportioning their stations , dignities , services , according to the model of earthly courts ; disposing them into ternions of three generall hierarchies , the first relating to the immediate attendance of the almighty ; the other two to the government of the creature , both generall , and particular . in the first , of assistents , placing the seraphim as lords of the chamber ; cherubim , as lords of the cabinet-counsel ; thrones as entire favourites , in whom the almighty placeth his rest . in the second of universall regency ; finding dominions to be the great officers of state , who , as chancellours , marshals , treasurers , govern the affairs of the world , mights , to be the generals of the heavenly militia : powers , as the judges itinerant , that serve for generall retributions of good and evil . in the third of speciall government , placing principalities as rulers of severall kingdoms and provinces ; archangels , as guardians to severall cities and countreys ; and lastly , angels as guardians of several persons : and withall presuming to define the differences of degrees , in each order above other , in respect of the goodlinesse , and excellency of their nature ; making the arch-angels no lesse then ten times to surpasse the beauty of angels ; principalities , twenty times above the arch-angels ; powers , forty times more then principalities : mights , fifty more then powers : domininions , sixty above mights : thrones , seventy above dominions : cherubim , eighty above thrones : seraphim , ninety times exceeding the cherubim . for me , i must crave leave to wonder at this boldnesse : and professe my self as far to seek whence this learning should come , as how to beleeve it : i do verily beleeve there are divers orders of celestial spirits : i beleeve they are not to be beleeved that dare to determine them : especially when i see him that was rapt into the third heaven , varying the order of their places in his severall mentions of them : neither can i trust to the revelation of that sainted prophetesse who hath ranged the degrees of the beatitude of glorified souls , into the several chores of these heavenly hierarchies , according to their dispositions , and demeanures here on earth ; admitting those who have been charitably helpfull to the poor , sick , strangers , into the orb of angels : those who have given themselves to meditation and prayer , to the rank of archangels ; those who have vanquished all offensive lusts in themselves , to the order of principalities ; to the height of powers , those , whose care and vigilance hath restrained from evil , and induced to good such as have been committed to their oversight and governance . to the place of mights , those who for the honour of god , have undauntedly and valiantly suffered ; and whose patience hath triumphed over evils : to the company of dominions those who prefer poverty to riches , and devoutly conform their wills in all things to their makers : to the society of thrones , those , who do so inure themselves to the continuall contemplation of heavenly things , as that they have disposed their hearts to be a fit resting place for the almighty ; to the honour of cherubim , those who convey the benefit of their heavenly meditations unto the souls of others : lastly , to the highest eminence of seraphim , those who love god with their whole heart , and their neighbour for god , and their enemies in god ; and feel no wrongs but those which are done to their maker . i know not whether this soaring conceit be more seemingly pious , then really presumptuous ; since it is evident enough , that these graces do incur into each other , and are not possible to be severed : he that loves god cannot choose but be earnestly desirous to communicate his graces unto others , cannot but have his heart taken up with divine contemplation ; the same man cannot but overlook earthly things , and courageously suffer for the honour of his god : shortly , he cannot but be vigilant over his own wayes , and helpfull unto others : why should i presume to divide those vertues , or rewards which god will have inseparably conjoyned ? and what a strange confusion were this , in stead of an heavenly order of remuneration ? sure i am , that the least degree both of saints and angels is blessednesse : but for those stairs of glory , it were too ambitious in me to desire either to climb , or know them : it is enough for me to rest in the hope that i shall once see them ; in the mean time , let me be learnedly ignorant , and incuriously devout , silently blessing the power and wisdom of my infinite creator , who knows how to honour himself by all these glorious , and unrevealed subordinations . sect. viii . the apparitions of angels . were these celestiall spirits , though never so many , never so powerfull , never so knowing , never so excellently glorious , meer strangers to us , what were their number , power , knowledge , glory unto us ? i hear of the great riches , state and magnificence of some remote eastern monarchs , what am i the better , whiles in this distance their port and affairs are not capable of any relation to me ? to me it is all one not to be , and not to be concerned : let us therefore diligently inquire , what mutual communion there is , or may be betwixt these blessed spirits and us . and first , nothing is more plain , then that the angels of god have not alwayes been kept from mortall eyes under an invisible concealment , but sometimes have condescended so low , as to manifest their presence to men in visible forms , not naturall but assumed . i confesse i have not faith enough to beleeve many of those apparitions that are pretended . i could never yet know what other to think of * socrates his genius ; which ( as himself reports ) was wont to check him , when he went about any unmee● enterprise , and to forward him in good : for the modern times , it is too hard to credit the report of doway letters concerning our busie neighbour p●re cotton , that he had ordinary conference and conversation with angels , both his own tutelar , and those generall of provinces : if so , what need was there for him to have propounded fifty questions , partly of divinity , partly of policy , to the resolution of a demoniack ? who can be so fondly credulous , as to believe that jo. carrera a young father of the society , had a daily companion of his angell in so familiar a fashion , as to propound his doubts to that secret friend , to receive his answers , to take his advise upon all occasions ; to be raised by him every morning from his bed , to his early devotions ; till once delaying caused , for a time , an intermission ; or that the aged cappuchin franciscus de bergamo ( noted for the eleven pretious stones which were found in his gall ) had for eight years together before his death , the assistance of an angel in humane shape for the performing of his canonicall hours ; or , that the angels helped their s. gudwal , and s. oswald bishop of worcester to say his masse ; or ▪ that isidore the late spanish peasant ( newly sainted amongst good company by greg. the 15. ) serving an hard master , had an angell to make up his daily task at his plough , whiles the good soul was at his publique devotions ; like as another angel supplyed felix , the lay cappuchin , in tending his cattle : or that francisca romana ( lately canonized ) had two celestial spirits , visibly attending her , the one of the order of archangels , which never left her : the other of the fourth order of angels , who frequently presented himself to her view : their attire , sometimes white , sometimes blew , purple more rarely ; their tresses of hair , long , and golden , as the over-credulous bishop of wirtzburge reports from gulielmus baldesanus , not without many improbable circumstances ; these and a thousand more of the s●me branne , finde no more belief with me , then that story , which franciscus albertinus relates out of baronius , as done here at home ; that in the year 1601. in england , there was an angel seen upon one of our altars , ( and therefore more likely to be known in our own island , then beyond the alps ) in a visible form , with a naked sword in his hand , which he glitteringly brandished up and down , foyning sometimes , and sometimes striking ; thereby threatning so long ago an instant destruction to this kingdome . and indeed , why should we yeeld more credit to these pretenders of apparitions , then to adelbertus the german heres●arch , condemned in a councel of rome , by pope zacharie , who gave no lesse confidently out , that his angel-guardian appeared daily to him , and imparted to him many divine revelations , and directions ? or if there be a difference pleaded in the relations , where or how shal we finde it ? this we know , that so sure as we see men , so sure we are that holy men have seen angels ; abraham saw angels in his tent dore : lot saw angels in the gate of sodome : hagar in the wildernesse of beersheba : jacob in the way : moses in the bush of horeb : manoah and his wife in the field : gideon in his threshing flore : david by the threshing flore of araunah : what should i mention the prophets , elijah , elisha , esay , daniel , zachary , ezekiel , and the rest ? in the new testament , joseph , mary , zachariah the father of john baptist , the shepheards , mary magdalen , the gazing disciples at the mount of olives , peter , philip , cornelius , paul , john the evangelist , were all blessed with the sight of angels . in the succeeding times of the church primitive , i dare beleeve that good angels were no whit more sparing of their presence for the comfort of holy martyrs and confessors under the pressure of tyranny for the dear name of their saviour : i doubt not but constant theodorus saw and felt the refreshing hand of the angel , no lesse then he reported to julian his persecutor : i doubt not but the holy virgins , theophila , agnes , lucia , cecilia , and others , saw the good angels protectors of their chastity . as one that hath learned in these cases to take the mid-way betwixt distrust , and credulity ; i can easily yield that those retired saints of the prime ages of the church had sometimes such heavenly companions , for the consolation of their forced solitude ; but withall , i must have leave to hold that the el●er the ●ch grew , the more rare was the use of these apparitions , as of other miraculous actions , and events : not that the arm of our god is shortned , or his care and love to his beloved ones , any whit abated : but for that his church is now in this long processe of time setled , through his gracious providence , in an ordinary way . like as it was with his israelites , who whiles they were in their longsome passage , were miraculously preserved , and protected , but when they came once to be fixed in the land of promise , their angelical sustenance ceased ; they then must purvey for their own food , and either till , or famish . now then in these later ages of the church , to have the visible apparition of a good angell , it is a thing so geason and uncouth , that it is enough for all the world to wonder at : some few instances our times have been known to yield : amongst others , that is memorable which philip melanchton as an eye-witnesse reports . simon grynaeus a learned and holy man , coming from heidelburg to spire ; was desirous to hear a certain preacher in that city , who in his sermon ( it seems ) did then let fall-some erroneous propositions of popish doctrine , much derogatory from the majesty and truth of the son of god ; wherewith grynaeus being not a little offended , craved speedy conference with the preacher , and laying before him the falshood and danger of his doctrines , exhorted him to an abandoning , and retractation of those mis-opinions ; the preacher gave good words and fair semblance to grynaeus , desiring further and more particular conference with him , each imparted to other their names and lodgings ; yet inwardly , as being stung with that just reproof , he resolved a revenge by procuring the imprisonment , and ( if he ●ight ) the death of so sharp a censurer : grynaeus misdoubting nothing , upon his return to his lodging , reports the passages of the late conference to those who sate at the table with him ; amongst whom melancthon being one , was called out of the room to speak with a stranger , newly come into the house ; going forth accordingly , he finds a grave old man of a goodly countenance ; seemly , and richly attired ; who in a friendly and grave manner tells him , that within one hour , there would come to their inne , certain officers , as from the king of the romans to attach grynaeus , and to carry him to prison ; willing him to charge grynaeus , with all possible speed to flee out of spires ; and requiring melancthon to see that this advantage were not neglected ; which said , the old man vanished out of his sight : instantly melancthon returning to his companions , recounted unto them the words of this strange monitor ; and hastned the departure of grynaeus accordingly ; who had no sooner boated himself on the rhine , then he was eagerly searcht for at his said lodging ; that worthy divine in his commentary upon daniel , both relates the story , and acknowledges gods fatherly providence in sending this angell of his , for the rescue of his faithfull servant : others , though not many of this kinde , are reported by simon goulartius in his collection of admirable and memorable histories of our time ; whither for brevity sake i refer my reader . but more often hath it faln out , that evill spirits have visibly presented themselves in the glorious forms of good angels ; as to simeon stylites , to pachomius , to valens the monk , to rathodus duke of freezland , to macarius , to gertrude in westphalia , with many others ; as we finde in the reports of ruffinus vincentius , caesarius palladius : and the like delusions may still be set on foot , whiles satan , who loves to transform himself into an angell of light , laboureth by these means to noursle silly souls in superstition : too many whereof have swallowed the bait , though others have descried the book : amongst the rest , i like well the humility of that hermite , into whose cell , when the divel presented himself , in a goodly and glittering form , and told him that he was an angell sent to him from god ; the hermite turned him off with this plain answer , see thou whence thou comest ; for me , i am not worthy to be visited with such a guest as an angel . but the trade that we have with good spirits is not now driven by the eye , but is like to themselves , spiritual : yet not so , but that even in bodily occasions , we have many times insensible helps from them in such manner , as that by the effects , we can boldly say , here hath been an angel though we saw him not . of this kind was that ( no less then miraculous ) cure , which at s. madernes in cornwall , was wrought upon a poor cripple * whereof ( besides the attestation of many hundreds of the neighbours ) i took a strict and personall examination , in that * last visitation which i either did , or ever shall hold : this man , that for sixteen years together was fain to walk upon his hands , by reason of the close contraction of the sinews of his legs , was , ( upon three monitions in his dream to wash in that well ) suddainly so restored to his limbs , that i saw him able both to walk , and to get his own maintenance ; i found here was neither art nor collusion , the thing done , the author invisible . the like may we say of john spangenberge pastour of northeuse ; no sooner was that man stept out of his house , with his family to go to the bayns , then the house fell right down in the place : our own experience at home is able to furnish us with divers such instances : how many have we known that have faln from very high towers , and into deep pits , past the naturall possibility of hope , who yet have been preserved not from death only , but from hurt : whence could these things be , but by the secret aid of those invisible helpers ? it were easie to fill volumes with particulars of these kinds ; but the main care , and most officious endeavours of these blessed spirits are employed about the better part , the soul ; in the instilling of good motions ; enlightning the understanding , repelling of temptations , furthering our opportunities of good , preventing occasions of sin , comforting our sorrows , quickning our dulnesse , incouraging our weaknesse ; and lastly , after all carefull attendance here below , conveying the souls of their charge , to their glory , and presenting them to the hands of their faithfull creator . it is somewhat too hard to beleeve , that there have been ocular witnesses of these happy convoys ; who lists may credit that which hierom tells us , that antony the hermit saw the soul of his partner in that solitude ( paul ) carried up by them to heaven ; that severinus bishop of colein saw the soul of s. martin thus transported , as gregory reports in his dialogues ; that benedict saw the soul of germanus in the form of a fiery globe thus conveyed ; what should i speak of the souls of the holy martyrs , tiburtius , valerian , maximus , marcellinus , justus , quintinus , severus , and others : we may if we please ( we need not unlesse we list ) give way to these reports , to which our faith obliges us not : in these cases we go not by eye-sight : but we are well assured the soul of lazarus was by these glorious spirits carried up into the bosome of abraham , neither was this any priviledge of his above all other the saints of god ; all which as they land in one common harbour of blessednesse , so they all participate of one happy means of portage . sect. ix . the respects which we owe to the angels . such are the respects of good angels to us ; now what is ours to them ? it was not amisse said of one , that the life of angels is politicall , full of intercourse with themselves and with us : what they return to each other in the course of their theophanies , is not for us to determine ; but since their good offices are thus assiduous unto us , it is meet we do inquire what duties are requirable from us to them . devout bernard is but too liberall in his decision , that we owe to these beneficient spirits reverence for their presence , devotion for their love ; and trust for their custody . doubtlesse , we ought to be willing to give unto them so much as they will be willing to take from us : if we go beyond these bounds , we offend , and alienate them : to derogate from them is not so hainous in their account , as to overho●our them . s. john proffers an humble geniculation to the angell , and is put off , with a see thou do it not , i am thy fellow servant : the excesses of respects to them , have turned to abominable impiety ; which howsoever hierome sems to impute to the jews , eve● since the prophets time , yet simon magus was the first that we finde guilty of this impious flattery of the angels ; who fondly holding that the world was made by them , could not ●hink fit to present them with lesse then divine honour : h● cursed cholar , menander , ( whose errour prateolus wrongfully fathers upon aristotle ) succeeding him in that wicked heresie , as eusebius tels us , left behind him saturnius , not inferiour to him in this frenzie ; who ( as tertullian and philastrius report him ) fancied together with his mad fellows , that seven angels made the world , not acquainting god with their work : what should i name blasphemous cerinthus , who durst disparage christ in comparison with angels ? not altogether so bad were those hereticks ( though bad enough ) which took their ancient denomination from the angels ; who professing true christianity and detestation of idolatry , ( as having learned that god only is to be worshipped properly ) yet reserved a certain kind of adoration to the blessed angels ; against this opinion and practice , the great doctour of the gentiles seems to bend his style , in his epistle to the colossians , forbidding a voluntary humility in worshipping of angels ; whether grounded upon the superstition of ancient jews , as hierom and anselm ; or upon the ethnick philosophie of some platonick , as estius and cornel●us à lapide imagine ; or upon the damnable conceits of the simonians and cerinthians , as tertullian , we need not much to inquire ; nothing is more clear then the apostles inhibition ▪ afterward seconded by the synod of laodicea ; whereto yet theodorets noted commentary would seem to give more light ▪ who tels us that upon the ill use made of the giving of the ●aw by the hands of angels , there was an errour of old maintained , of angel-worship , which still continued in phrygia and pisidia , so that a sinod was hereupon assembled at laodicea , the chief city of phrygia ; which by a direct canon forbad praying to angels ; a practice ( saith he ) so setled amongst them that even to this day there are to be seen amongst them , and their neighbours the oratories of s. mi●hael . here then was this mishumility , that they thought it too much boldnesse to come ●mmediately to god , but that we must first make way to his favour by the mediation of angels ; a testimony so pregnant , that i wonder not if caranza flee into corners ; and all the fautors of angel-worship be driven to hard shifts to avoid it : but what do i with controversies ? this devotion we do gladly professe to owe to good angels , that though we do not pray unto them , yet we do pray to god for the favour of their assistance , and protection ; and praise god for the protection that we have from them : that faithfull patriarch , of whom the whole church of god receives denomination , knew well , what he said , when he gave this blessing to his grand-children : the angell that redeemed me from all evill , blesse the children : whether this were an interpretative kind of imploration , as becanus and lorichius contend ; or whether ( as is no lesse probable ) this angel were not any created power , but the great angell of the covenant ; the same which jacob wrestled with before , for a blessing upon himself , as athanasius and cyril well conceive it , i will not here dispute ; sure i am , that if it were an implicit prayer , and the angell mentioned , a creature ; yet the intention was no other then to terminate that prayer in god , who blesseth us by his angel . yet further , we come short of our dutie to these blessed spirits , if we entertain not in our hearts an high and venerable conceit of their wonderfull majesty , glory , and greatnesse : and an awfull acknowledgment and reverentiall awe of their presence ▪ an holy joy , and confident assurance of their care and protection ; and lastly , a fear to doe ought that might cause them to turn away their faces , in dislike , from us : all these dispositions are copulative : for certainly , if we have conceived so high an opinion of their excellency , and goodnesse as we ought ; we cannot but be bold upon their mutuall interest , and be afraid to displease them : nothing in the world but our sins can distaste them : they look upon our natural infirmities , deformities , loathsomnesses , without any offence , or nauseation : but our spirituall indispositions are odious to them ▪ as those which are opposite to their pure natures . the story is famous of the angell and the hermite , walking together ; in the way there lay an il-sented and poisonous carrion , the hermite stopt his nose , and turned away his head , hasting out of that offensive air , the angell held on his pace , without any shew of dislik : straightway they met with a proud man , gaily dressed , strongly perfumed , looking high , walking stately , the angell turned away his head , and stopt his nosthrils , whiles the hermite passed on not without reverence to so great a person : and gave this reason ; that the stench of pride was more loathsome to god and his angels , then that of the carcass , could be to him . i blush to think , o ye glorious spirits , how often i have done that whereof ye have been ashamed for me ; i abhor my self to recount your just dislikes ; and do willingly professe , how unworthy i shall be of such friends , if i be not hereafter jealous of your just offence . neither can i without much regret , thinke of those many and horrible nuisances , which you find every moment from sinfull mankind : wo is me , what odious sents arise to you perpetually from those bloody murders , beastly uncleannesses , cruell oppressions , noisome disgorgings of surfeits , and drunkennesses , abominable idolatries , and all manner of detestable wickednesses , presumptuously committed every where ; enough to make you abhorre the presence and protection of debauched and deplored mortality . but for us that are better principled , and know what it is to be over-lookt by holy and glorious spirits , we desire and care to be more tender of your offence then of a world of visible spectatours : and if the apostle found it requisite to give such charge , for but the observation of an outward decencie ; not much beyond the lists of indifferencie , because of the angels ; what should our care be in relation to those blessed spirits , of our deportment in matter of morality , and religion ? surely , o ye invisible guardians , it is not my sense that shall make the difference , it shall be my desire to be no lesse carefull of displeasing you , then if i saw you present by me , cloathed in flesh : neither shall i rest lesse assured of your gracious presence and tuition , and the expectation of all spirituall offices from you , which may tend towards my blessednesse , then i am now sensible of the ●nimation of my own soul . the invisible world . the second book . sect. i. of the souls of men . of their separation and immortality . next to these angelicall essences , the souls of men , whether in the body , or severed ●rom it , are those spirits which people the invisible world ●ex● to them , i say ▪ not the s●me with them , not bett●r those of the ancient which have thought that the ruine of angels is to be supplyed by ●lessed souls , spake doubtless without the book ; for he that is the truth it self hath said , they be ( {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) like , not the same : and justly are those ●xploded , whether pythago●eans , or stoicks , or gnost●cks , or manichees , or alma●icus ▪ or ( if lactantius himself were in that errour , as ludovicus vives construes him ) who falsly dreamed that the souls of ●en were of the substance of that god , which inspired them ; these errours are more ●it for ellebore , then for theologicall conviction : spirituall substances doubtlesse they ●re , and such as have no lesse distant originall from the body , then heaven is from earth : galen was not a better physi●●an then an ill divine , whiles ●e determines the soul to be the complexion and temperament of the prime qualities ; no other then that harmony which the elder naturalists dreamed of , an opinion no lesse brutish ; then such a soul : for how can temperamet be the cause of any progressive motion ; much lesse of a rationall discourse ? here is no materiality , no physicall composition in this inmate of ours ; nothing but a substantiall act , an active spirit , a spirituall form of the king of all visible creatures : but as for the essence , originall derivation , powers , faculties , operations of this humane soul as it is lodged in this clay , i leave them to the disquisition of the great secretaries of nature ; my way lyes higher , leading me from the common consideration of this spirit , as it is clogged with flesh , unto the meditation of it , as it is devested of this earthly case , and clothed with an eternity whether of joy or torment : we will begin with happinesse , ( our fruition whereof ( i hope ) shall never end , ) if first we shall have spent some thoughts upon the generall condition of this separation . that the soul after separation from the body , hath an independent life of its owne ; is so clear a truth , that the very heathen philosophers , by the dimme light of nature have determined it for irrefragable : in so much as aristotle himself ( who is wont to hear ill for his opinion of the soules mortality ) is confidently reported to have written a book of the soul separate , which thomas aquinas in his ( so late ) age professes to have seen : sure i am , that his master plato , and that heathen martyr , socrates ( related by him ) are full of divine discourses of this kind . in so much as this latter , when crito was asking him how he would be buried : i perceive ( said he ) i have lost much labour , for i have not yet perswaded my crito , that i shall flye clear away , and leave nothing behind me ; meaning that the soul is the man , and would be ever it self , when his body should have no being : and in xenophon ( as cicero cites him ) cyprus is brought in saying thus , nolite arbitrari , &c. think not my dear sons ▪ that when i shall depart from you , i shall then cease to have any being ; for even whiles i was with you ye saw not that soul which i had , but yet ye well saw by those things which i did , that there was a soul within this body : beleeve ye therefore , that though ye shall see no soul of mine , yet that it still shall have a being . shortly , all but an hatefull epicurus , have astipulated to this truth : and if some have fa●cied a transmigration of souls into other bodies , others , a passage to the stars which formerly governed them ; others , to i know not what elysian fields ; all have pitched upon a separate condition . and indeed not divinity only , but true natural reason will necessarily evince it : for the intellective soul being a more spirituall substance , and therefore having in it no composition at all , and by consequence , nothing that may tend towards a not-being , can be no other ( supposing the will and concurrence of the infinite creator ) then immortall : besides , ( as our best way of judgging ought is wont to be by the effects ) certainly all operations are from the forms of things , and all things do so work as they are : now the body can do nothing at all without the help of the soul , but the soul hath actions of its own ; as the acts of understanding , thinking , judging , remembring , ratiocination ; wherof , if ( whiles it is within us ) it receives the first occasions by our senses , and phantasms ; yet it doth perfect and accomplish the said operations , by the inward powers of its own faculties ; much more , and also more exactly can it do all these things , when it is meerly it self ; since the clog that the body brings with it , cannot but pregravate , and trouble the soul in all her performances : in the mean time , they do justly passe for mentall actions ; neither do so much as receive a denomination from the body : we walk , move , speak , see , feel , and do other humane acts ; the power that doth them is from the soul ; the means or instrument , whereby they are done , is the body ; no man will say the soul walks , or sees , but the body by it : but we can no more say that the soul understands or thinks by the aid of the body , then we can say the body thinks , or understands , by means of the soule : these therefore being distinct and proper actions , do necessarily evince an independing , and self-subsisting agent . o my soul , thou couldst not be thy self , unless thou knew'st thine originall , heavenly ; thine essence , separable ; thy continuance eviternall . but what do we call in reason , and nature to this parle , where faith ( by which christianity teacheth us to be regulated ) finds so full , and pregnant demonstrations : no lesse then halfe our creed sounds this way , either by expression , or inference ; where in whiles we professe to believe that christ our saviour rose from the dead and ascended we implie that his body was ●ot more dead , then his soul living and active ; that was whereof he said , father into thy hands i commend my spirit : now , we cannot imagine one life of the head , and another of the body : his state therefore is ours ; every way are we conform to him : as our bodies then shall be once like to his , glorious ; so our souls cannot be but , as his , severed by death , crowned with immortality : and if he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead ; those dead whom he shall judge , must be living ; for ( as our saviour said in the like case ) god is not the judge of the dead , as dead , but the judge of the living that were dead , and therefore living in death , and after death : and whereof doth the church catholick consist , but of some members , warfaring on earth , others triumphant in heaven ? and what doth that triumph suppose , but both a beeing , and a beeing glorious ? what communion were there of saints , if the departed souls were not ▪ and the soul , when it begins to be perfect , should cease to be ? to what purpose were the resurrection of the body , but to meet with his old partner , the soul ? and that meeting only implies both a separation , and existence . lastly , what life can there be properly but of the soul ? and how can that life be everlasting , which is not continued ? or that continued , that is not ? if then he may be a man ; certainly , a christian he cannot be , who is more assured that he hath a soul in his body , then that his soul shall once have a being without his body : death may tyrannize over our earthly parts , the worst he can do to the spirituall , is to free it from a friendly bondage . chear up thy self therefore , o my soul , against all the fears of thy dissolution ; thy departure is not more certain then thy advantage ; thy being shall not be lesse sure but more free , and absolute : is it such a trouble to thee to be rid of a clog ? or art thou so loath to take leave of a miserable companion for a while , on condition that he shall ere long meet thee happy ? sect. ii. of the instant vision of god upon the egression of the soul : and the present condition till then . but if , in the mean while , we shall let fall our eyes upon the present condition of the soul , it will appear how apt we are to misknow our selves , and that which gives us the being of men ; the most men , how ever they conceive they have a soul within them , by which they receive their animation , yet they entertain but dull and gloomy thoughts concerning it ; as if it were no lesse void of light and activity , then it is of materiality , and shape : not apprehending the spirituall agility , and clearly-lightsome nature of that whereby they are enlived : wherein it will not a little availe us to have our judgements thoroughly rectified ; and to know that as god is light , so the soul of man which comes immediately from him , and bears his image , is justly , even here , dignified with that glorious title ; i spe●k not only of the regenerate soul illuminated by divine inspirations , and supernaturall knowledge ; but also even of that rationall soul , which every man bears in his bosome . the spirit of man ( saith wise solomon ) is the candle of the lord , ( prov. 20.27 . ) searching all the inward parts of the belly . and the dear apostle : in him was life , and the life was the light of men , joh. 1.4 . and more fully , soon after : that light was the true light that lightneth every man that cometh into the world . v. 9. no man can be so fondly charitable , as to think every man that comes into the world , illightned by the spirit of regeneration : it is then that intellectuall light of common nature , which the great illuminator of the world beams forth into every soul , in such proportion as he finds agreeable to the capacity of every subject : know thy self therefore . o man , and know thy maker : god hath not put into thee a dark soul : or shut up thy inward powers in a dungeon of comfortlesse obscuritie ; but he hath set up a bright shining lamp in thy breast : whereby thou maiest sufficiently discern naturall and morall truths , the principles and conclusions whether of nature or art , herein advancing thee above all other visible creatures , whom he hath confined ( at the best ) to a mere opacity of outward and common sense ; but if our naturall light shall , through the blessing of god , be so happily improved , as freely to give place to the spirituall , reason to faith , so that the soul can now attain to see him that is invisible , and in his light to see light , now , even whiles it is over-shaded with the interposition of this earth , it is already entered within the verge of glorie : but , so soon as this va●● o● wretched mortality is done away ; now it enjoyes a clear heaven for ever , and sees as it is seen . amongst many heavenly thoughts , wherewith my everdear and most honoured , and now blessed friend , the late edward earl of norwich , had wont to animate himself against the encounter with our last enemy death ; this was one not of the meanest , that in the very instant of his souls departing out of his body , it should immediately enjoy the v●sion of god : and certainly so it is , the spirits of just men , need not stand upon d●stances of place , or space of time , for this beatificall sight ; but so soon as ever they are out of their clay lodging , they are in their spiritu●ll heaven even whiles they are happily conveying to the locall ; for since nothing hindred them from that happy sight , but the interposition of this earth , which we carry about us , the spirit being once free from that impediment , sees as it is seen , being instantly passed into a condition like unto the angels ; wel therefore are these coupled together by the blessed apostle , who in his divine rapture had seen them both ; ye are come ( saith he ) unto mount sion , and unto the city of the living god , the heavenly jerusalem ; and to an innumerable company of angels , and to the spirits of just men made perfect . as then the angels of god , wheresoever they are ( though imployed about the affairs of this lower world ) yet do still see and enjoy the vision of god ; so do the souls of the righteous , when they are once eased of this earthly load : doubtlesse , as they passed through degrees of grace , whiles they took up with these homely lodgings of clay ; so they may passe through degrees of blisse , when they are once severed . and if ( as some great divines have supposed ) the angels themselves shall receive an augmentation of happinesse at the day of the last judgement , when they shall be freed from all their charge and imployments , ( since the perfection of blessedness consists in rest , which is the end of all motion ) how much more shal the saints of god then receive an enlargment of their felicity ; but in the mean time , they are entered into the lists of their essential beatitude , over the threshold of their heaven . how full and comfortable is that profession of the great apostle , who when he had sweetly diverted the thoughts of himself and his corinthians from their light afflictions to an eternall weight of excelling glory , from things temporall , which are seen , to those everlasting , which are not seen : addes ; for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved , we have a building not made with hands eternall in the heavens ; more then implying , that our eye is no sooner off from the temporall things , then it is taken up with eternall objects ; and that the instant of the dis●olution of these clay cottages , is the livery and seisin of a glorious and everlasting mansion ●n heaven . canst thou believe this o my soul , and yet recoil ●t the thought of thy departure ? wert thou appointed af●er a dolorous dissolution to spend some hundreds of years at the fore-gates of glory ( though in a painless expectation of a late happinesse ) even this hope were a pain alone ; but if sense of pain were also added to the delay , this were more then enough to make the condition justly dreadfull : but now that one minute shuts our eyes , and opens them to a clear sight of god , determines our misery , and begins our blessednesse ; oh the cowardise of our unbeleefe , if we shrinke at so momentany a purchase of eternity ! how many have we known that for a false reputation of honour have rushed into the jawes of death , when we are sure they could not come back to enjoy it ; and do i tremble at a minutes pain , that shall feoffe me in that glory , which i cannot but for ever enjoy ? how am i ashamed to hear an heathen socrates , encouraging himselfe against the feares of death from his resolution of meeting with some fmous persons in that other world , and to feel my self shrugging at a short brunt of pain , that shall put me into the blisse-making presence of the all-glorious god , into the sight of the glorified humanity of my dear redeemer , into the society of all the angels and saints of heaven ? sect. iii. of the souls perpetual vigilancy , and fruition of god . it is no other then a frantick dream of those erroneous spirits that have fancied the sleep of the soul , and that so long and deep a sleep , as from the evening of the dissolution , till the morning of the resurrection ; so as all that while , the soul hath no vision of god , no touch of joy or pain . an errour wickedly rak't up out of the ashes of those arabick hereticks , whom origen is said to have reclaimed : and since that time , taken up ( if they be not slandered ) by the armenians , and fratricelli ; and once countenanced , and abetted by pope john the 22. ( as pope adrian witnesseth , ) yea so inforced by him , upon the university of paris , as that all accesse to degrees was barred to any whosoever refused to subscribe , and swear to that damnable position : the minorites began to finde relish in that poison , which no doubt had proceeded to further mischief , had not the interposition of philip the-then-french king happily quelled that uncomfortable and pernicious doctrine , so as we might have hoped it should never have dared more to look into the light . but , wo is me , these prodigious times amongst a world of other uncouth heresies , have not stuck to fetch even this also ( wel-worsed ) back from that region of darknesse , whither it was sent : indeed who can but wonder that any christian can possibly give entertainment to so absurd a thought ; whiles he hears his saviour say , father i will that they also whom thou hast given me , be with me , where i am ; and that ( not in a safe sleep ) they may behold my glory , which thou hast given me : behold it ? yea , but when ? at last perhaps when the body shall be resumed ? nay , ( to choak this cavill ) the blisse is present , even already possessed ; the glory which thou gavest me i have given to them : it was accordingly his gracious word to the penitent theef , this day shalt thou be with me in paradise : how clear is that of the chosen vessell , opposing our present condition to the succeeding : for now we see through a glasse darkly ; but then ( that is , upon our dissolution ) face to face , the face of the soul to the face of god : the infinit amiableness whereof was that which inflamed the longing desire of the blessed apostle to depart and to be with christ ; as knowing these two inseparable , the instant of his departure , and his presence with christ : else the departure were no lesse worthy of fear , as the utmost of evils , then now it is of wishing for , as our entrance into blessednesse : away then with that impious frenzie of the souls , whether mortality , or sleep in death : no , my soul , thou doest then begin to live , thou doest not awake till then : now whiles thou art in the bed of this living clay , thine eyes are shut , thy spirituall senses are tyed up , thou art apt to s●ort in a sinfull security ; thou dreamest of earthly vanities ; then , only then are thine eyes opened , thy spirituall faculties freed ; all thy powers quickned , and thou art perpetually presented with objects of eternall glory . and if at any time during this pilgrimage , thine eye-lids have been some little raised by divine meditations , yet how narrowly , how dimly art thou wont to see ? now thine eies shall be so broadly and fully opened , that thou shalt see whole heaven at once ; yea , which is more , the face of that god , whose presence makes it heaven : oh glorious sight ! o most blessed condition ! wise solomon could truly observe that the eye is not satisfied with seeing ; neither indeed can it be here below ; nothing is so great a glutton as the eye ; for when we have seen all that we can , we shall still wish to see more ; and that more is nothing if it be lesse their all ; but this infinite object ( which is more then all ) shall so fill and satisfie our eyes , that we cannot desire the sight of any other ; nor ever be glutted with the sight of this ; old simeon when once he had lived to see the lord of life cloathed in flesh , could say , ●ord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation : if he were so full of the sight of his saviour in the weaknesse of humane flesh , and in the form of a servant ; how is he more then fated with the perfection of joy , and heavenly detestation , to see that saviour clothed with majesty ; to see his all glorious godhead ; and so to see , as to enjoy them ; and so enjoy them , as that he shall never intermit their sight and fruition to all eternity . sect. iv. of the knowledge of the glorified . as concerning all other matters , what the knowledge is of our souls , separated , and glorified , we shall then know when ours come to be such : in the mean time , we can much less know their thougths , then they can know ours : sure we are , they do not know in such manner as they did , when they were in our bosomes ; by the help of senses and phantasms , by the discursive inferences of ratiocination ; but as they are elevated to a condition suitable to the blessed angels ; so they know like them : though not by the meanes of a naturall knowledge , as they , yet by that supernaturall light of intimation , which they receive by their glorified estate : whether by vertue of this divine illumination they know the particular occurrences which we meet with here below , he were bold that would determine . only this we may confidently affirme , that they do clearly know al those things which do any way appertain to their estate of blessednesse . amongst which , whether the knowledge of each other in that region of happinesse may justly be ranked , is not unworthy of our disquisition . doubtlesse , as in god there is all perfection eminently , and transcendently , so in the sight and fruition of god , there cannot be but full and absolute felicity ; yet this is so farre from excluding the knowledge of those things which derive their goodnesse and excellency from him , as that it compriseth , and supposeth it : like as it is also in our affections ; we love god only as the chief good ; yet so as that we love other things in order to god ; charity is no more subject to losse , then knowledge , both these shall accompany our souls to and in that other world . as then , we shall perfectly love god , and his saints in him ; so shall we know both : and though it be a sufficient motive of our love in heaven , th●t we know them ▪ to be saints ; yet it seems to be no small addition to our happinesse , to know that those saints were once ours : and if it be a just joy to a parent here on earth to see his child gracious , how much more acession shall it be to his joy above , to see the fruits of his loines glorious , when both his love is more pure , and their improvement absolute ? can we make any doubt that the blessed angels know each other ? how senselesse were it to grant that no knowledge is hid from them , but of themselves ? or can we imagine that those angelicall spirits do not take speciall notice of those souls which they have guarded here , and conducted to their glory ? if they do so , and if the knowledge of our beatified souls shall be like to theirs , why should we abridg our selves more then them , of the comfort of our interknowing ? surely ▪ our dissolution shall abate nothing of our naturall faculties ; our glory shal advance them ; so as what we once knew we shall know better : and if our souls can then perfectly know themselves , why should they be denied the knowledge of others ? doubt not then , o my soul , but thou shalt once see ( besides the face of thy god , whose glory fils heaven and earth ) the blessed spirits of the ancient patriarchs , and prophets , the holy apostles and evangelists , the glorious martyrs and confessors ; those eminent saints , whose holiness thou wert wont to magnifie ; and amongst them , those in whom nature and grace have especially interessed thee , thou shalt see them , and enjoy their joy and they thine : how oft have i measured a long and foul journey to see some good friend , and digested the tediousnesse of the way with the expectation of a kind entertainment , and the thought of that complacency which i should take in so dear ? presence ? and yet perhaps , when i have arrived , i have found the house disordered , one sick , another disquieted , my selfe indisposed ; with what cheerfull resolution should i undertake this my last voyage , where i shal meet with my best friends , and find them perfectly happy , and my selfe with them ? sect. v. of the glory of heaven injoyed by blessed souls . how often have i begged of my god , that it would please him to shew me some little glimpse of the glory of his saints ? it is not for me to wish the sight ( as yet ) of the face of that divine majesty ; this was two much for a moses to sue for ; my ambition only is , that i might , if but as it were through some cranie , or key-hole of the gate of heaven , see the happy condition of his glorious servants . i know what hinders me , my miserable unworthinesse , my spiritual blindnesse . o god , if thou please to wash off my clay with the waters of thy siloam , i shall have eyes ; and if thou anoint them with thy precious eye-salve , those eyes shall be clear , and enabled to behold those glories which shall ravish my soul . and now , lord , what pure and resplendent light is this , wherein thy blessed ones dwel ? how justly did thine ecstatical apostle call it the inheritance of the saints in light ? light unexpressible , light unconceivable , light inaccessible ? lo , thou that hast prepared such a light to this inferiour world for the use and comfort of us mortall creatures , as the glorious sun , which can both inlighten and dazle the eyes of all beholders ▪ hast proportionally ordained a light to that higher world , so much more excellent then the sun , as heaven is above earth , immortality above corruption . and if wise solomon could say truly , the light is sweet , and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to see the sun ; how infinitely delectable is it in thy light to see such light as may make the sun in comparison thereof , darknesse ? in thy presence is the fulness of joy , and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore . what can be wished more , where there is fulness of joy ? and behold thy presence , o lord , yeelds it . could i neither see saint nor angell in that whole empyreall heaven , none but thine infinite self , thy self alone were happiness for me more then enough ; but as thou , in whom here below we live , and move , and have our beeing , detractest nothing from thine all-sufficiency , but addest rather to the praise of thy bounty , in that thou furnishest us with variety of means of our life and subsistence ; so here it is the praise of thy wonderfull mercies which thou allowest us ( besides thine immediate presence ) the society of thy blessed angels , and saints , wherein we may also enjoy thee . and if the view of any of those single glories be enough to fil my soul with wonder , and contentment : how must it needs run over at the sight of those worlds of beauty and excellency , which are here met and united ? lo here the blessed h●erarchy of innumerable angels , there the glorious company of the apostles here the goodly fellowship of the patriarchs and prophets there the noble army of m●rtyrs ▪ here the troops of laborious pastors and teachers , there the numberlesse multitudes of holy and conscionable professors . lord , what exquisite order is here , what perfection of glory ! and if even in thine eyes thy poor despised church upon earth , be so beautifull and amiable , fair as the moon clear as the sun , ( which yet in the eyes of flesh seems but homely and hard-favoured ) how infinite graces and perfections shall our spirituall eies see in thy glorified spouse above ? what pure sanctity ? what sincere charity ? what clear knowledge ? what absolute joy ? what entire union ? what wonderfull majesty ? what compleat felicity ? all shine alike in their essentiall glory but not without difference of degrees ; all are adorned with crowns , some also with coronets , some glister with a skie-like , others with a star-like clearnesse ; the least hath so much as to make him so happy that he would not wish to have more ; the greatest hath so much , that he cannot receive more ; o divine distribution of bounty , where is no possibility of either want , or envy ! oh transcendent royalty of the saints ! one heaven is more then a thousand kingdoms ; and every saint hath right to all : so as every subject is here a soveraign , and every soveraign is absolute under the free homage of an infinite creatour . lo here , crowns without cares , scepters without burden , rule without trouble , raigning without change : oh the transitory vanity of all earthly greatness ▪ gold is the most during metall , yet even that yeelds to age : solomons rich diadem of the pure gold of ophir , is long since dust : these crowns of glory are immarcescible , incorruptible ; beyond all the compasse of time , without all possibility of alteration . oh the perishing and unsatisfying contentments of earth ! how many-poor great ones below have that which they call honour and riches , and enjoy them not , and if they have enjoyed them , complain of satiety , and worthlesness ! lo here , a free scope of perfect joy , of constant blessednesse , without mixture , without intermission ; each one feels his own joy , feels each others ; all rejoyce in god with a joy unspeakeable , and full of glory ; and most sweetly bathe themselves in a pure and compleat blisfulnesse . this very sight of blessed souls is happinesse , but oh , for the fruition ! go now , my soul , and after this prospect , doat upon those silly profits and pleasures which have formerly bewitched thee ; and ( if thou canst ) forbear to long after the possession of this blessed immortality ; and repine at the message of this so advantagious a translation ; and pity and lament the remove of those dear pieces of thy self , which have gone before thee to this unspeakable felicity . sect. vi . wherein the glory of the saints above consisteth , and how they are imployed . such is the place , such is the condition of the blessed ; what is their implement ? how do they spend , not their time , but their eternity ? how ? but in the exercise of the perpetual acts of their blessedness , vision , adhesion , fruition ? who knows not that there is a contract passed betwixt god and the regenerate soul here below ; out of the engagement of his mercy and love , he endows her with the precious graces of faith , of hope , of charity . faith , whereby she knowingly apprehends her interest in him : hope , whereby she cheerfully expects the ful accomplishment of his gracious promises : charity , whereby she is feelingly and comfortably possessed of him , and clings close unto him . in the instant of our dissolution , we enter into the consummation of this blessed mariage : wherein it pleaseth our bountifull god , to endow his glorified spouse with these three priviledges and improvements of her beatitude , answerable to these three divine graces : vision answers to faith , for what our faith sees , and apprehends here on earth ? and afar off as travellers ; our estate of glorification exhibits to us clearly , and at hand , as comprehensors : the object is the same , the degrees of manifestation differ . adhesion answers to our hope ; for what our hope comfortably expected , and longed for , we do now lay hold on as present and are brought home to it indissolubly : fruition , lastly , answers to charity ; for what is fruition , but a taking pleasure in the thing possessed , as truly delectable , and as our owne ; and what is this but the perfection of love ? shortly , what is the end of our faith but sight ? what the end of our hope but possession ? what the end of our love but enjoying ? lo then the inseparable and perpetual sight , possession , enjoyment , of the infinitely amiable , and glorious deity , is not more the imployment then the felicity of saints : and what can the soul conceive matchable to this happinesse ? the man after gods own heart had one boon to ask of his m●ker ; it must be sure some great suite wherein a favourite will set up his rest : one thing have i desired of the lord , which i will require , even that i may dwell in the house of the lord , all the dayes of my life ; to behold the fair beauty of the lord , and to visit his holy temple . was it so contenting an happinesse to thee ( o david ) to behold for a moment of time , the fair beauty of the lord in his earthen temple , where he meant not to reveal the height of his glory ; how blessed art thou now , when thy soul lives for ever in the continuall prospect of the infinite beauty and majesty of god , in the most glorious and eternall sanctuary of heaven ? it was but in a cloud and smoke , wherein god shewed himselfe in his materiall house ; above , thou seest him cloathed in an heavenly , and incomprehensible light ; and if a little glimpse of celestiall glory in a momentary transfiguration so transported the prime apostle , that he wisht to dwel still in tabor : how shall we be ravished with the full view of that all-glorious deity , whose very sight gives blessedness ? what a life doth the presence of the sun put into all creatures here below ? yet the body of it is afar off , the power of it created and finite : oh then how perfect and happy a life must we needs receive from the maker of it , when the beams of his heavenly glory shall shine in our face ? here below our weak senses are marred with too excellent objects ; our pure spirits above cannot complain of excesse , but by how much more of that divine light they take in , are so much the more blessed . there is no other thing wherein our sight can make us happy ; we may see all other objects , and yet be miserable ; here , our eyes conveigh into us influences of blisse ; yet not our eyes alone : but as the soul hath other spirituall senses also , they are wholly possessed of god : our ●dhesion is as it were an heavenly touch , our fruition as an heavenly taste of the everblessed deity ; so the glorified soul in seeing god , feelingly apprehends him as its own ; in apprehending sweetly enjoyes him , to all eternity , finding in him more absolute contentment then it can be capable of , and finding it selfe capable of so much as make it everlastingly happy . away with those brutish paradises of jews , and turks and some judaizing chiliasts , who have placed happinesse in the full feed of their sensual appetite , inverting the words of the epicurean in the gospell : he could say , let us eat and drink , for to morrow we shall dye : they , let us dye , for we shall eat and drinke ; men , whose belly is their god ; their kitchen their heaven : the soul that hath had the least smack , how sweet the lord is in the weak apprehension of grace here below , easily contemns these dunghil-felicities , & cannot but long after those true and satisfying delights above , in comparison whereof all the pleasures of the paunch and palate , are but either savorless or noisome . feast thou thy self , onwards o my soul , with the joyful hope of this blessed vision , adhesion , fruition : alas , here thy dim eyes see thy god through clouds and vapours , and not without manifold diversions , here thou cleavest imperfectly to that absolute goodnesse , but with many frail interceptions , every prevalent temptation looseth thy hold , and makes thy god and thee strangers ; here thou enjoyest him sometimes in his favours , seldome in himselfe ; and when thou doest so , how easily art thou robb'd of him by the interpositions of a crafty , and bewitching world ? there thou shalt so see him , as that thou shalt never look off ; so adhere to him , as never to be severed ; so enjoy him , that he shall ever be all in all to thee , even the soul of thy soul ; thy happiness is then essentiall ; thy joy as inseparable , as thy being . sect. vii . in what terms the departed saints stand to us ; and what respects they bear to us . such is the felicity wherein the separate soules of gods elect ones are feoffed , for ever : but , in the mean time , what terms do they stand in to their once-partners , these humane bodies ? to these the forlorn companions of their pilgrimage and warfare ? do they despise these houses of clay , wherein they once dwelt ? or have they with pharaohs courtier , forgotten their fellow-prisoner ? far be it from us to entertain so injurious thoughts of those spirits , whose charity is no less exalted then their knowledge : some graces they do necessarily leave behinde them ; there is no room for faith , where there is present vision ; no room for hope , where is full fruition ; no room for patience , where is no possibility of suffering : but charity can never be out of date , charity both to god and man : as the head and body mystical are undivided , so is our love to both ; we cannot love the head , and not the body ; we cannot love some limbs of the body , and not others : the triumphant part of the church then , which is above , doth not more truly love each other glorified , then they love the warfaring part beneath : neither can their love be idle , and fruitlesse ; they cannot but wish well therefore to those they love : that the glorified saints , then , above in a generality wish for the good estate , and happy consummation of their conflicting brethren here on earth , is a truth , not more void of scruple , then full of comfort . it was not so much revenge , which the souls under the alter pray for upon their murderers ; as the accomplishment of that happy resurrection , in which that revenge shall be perfectly acted . the prayer in zachary ( and saints are herein parallel ) is , o lord of hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on jerusalem , and on the cities of judah , against which thou hast had indignation ? we do not use to joy , but in that which we wish for : there is joy in heaven , in the presence of the angels for sinners repenting : in the presence of the angels , therefore , on the part of the saints , none but they dwell together . oh ye blessed saints , we praise god for you for your happy departure , for your crown of immortalitie : ye do in common , sue to god for us , as your poore fellow-members , for our happy eluctation out of those miseries and tentations , wherewith we are continually conflicted here below , and for our societie with you in your blessedness . other terms of communion , we know none : as for any local presence , or particular correspondence , that ye may have with any of us , as we cannot come to know it ; so , if we would , we should have no reason to disclaim it . johannes á jesu-maria , a modern carmelite , writing the life of theresia ( sainted lately by gregory 15. ) tels us , that as she was a vigilant overseer of her votaries in her life ; so in , and after death she would not be drawn away from her care , and attendance ; for ( saith he ) if any of her sisters did but talk in the set hours of their silence , she was wont by three knocks at the doore of the cell , to put them in mind of their enjoyned taciturnity ; and on a time appearing ( as she did often ) in a lightsome brightnesse , to a certain carmelite , is said thus to bespeak him ; nos coe●estes , &c. we citizens of heaven , and ye exiled pilgrims on earth , ought to be linked in a league of love , and purity , &c. me thinks the reporter should fear this to be too much good fellowship for a saint ; i am sure neither divine nor ancient story had wont to afford such familiarity ; and many have mis-doubted the agency of worse , where have appeared lesse causes of suspition ▪ that this was ( if any thing ) an ill spirit under that face , i am justly confident ; neither can any man doubt , that looking further into the relation , finds him to come with a lye in his mou●h : for thus he goes on , [ we celestiall ones behold the deity , ye banished ones worship the eucharist ; which ye ought to worship with the same affection , wherewith we adore the deity ; ] such perfume doth this holy devill leave behind him : the like might be instanced in a thousand apparitions of this kind , al worthy of the same entertainment . as for the state of the souls of lazarus , of the widows son , of jairus his daughter , and of tabitha , whether there were , by divine appointment , a suspension of their finall condition for a time ( their souls awaiting not farre off from their bodies , for a further disposition ) or , whether they were for the manifestation of the miraculous power of the son of god , called off from their setled rest , some great divines may dispute , none can determine : where god is silent , let us be willingly ignorant : wi●h more safety and assurance may we inquire into those respects , wherein the separated soul stands to that body , which it left behind it for a prey to the worms , a captive to death , and corruption : for certainly , though the parts be severed , the relations cannot be so : god made it intrinsecally naturall to that spirituall part to be the form of man , and therefore to animate the body . it was in the very infusion of it created , and in the creating , infused into this coessentiall receptacle ; wherein it holds it self so interessed , as that it knows there can be no full consummation of its glory without the other half . it was not therefore more loath to leave this old partner in the dissolution , then it is now desirous to meet him again ; as well knowing in how much happier condition they shall meet , then they formerly parted : before this drossie piece was cumbersome , and hindred the free operations of this active spirit ; now , that by a blessed glorification it is spiritualized , it is every way become pliable to his renued partner , the soul , and both of them to their infinitely glorious creatour . sect. viii the reunion of the body to the soul both glorified . lo then so happy a reunion , as this materiall world is not capable of ( till the last fire have refined it ) of a blessed soul , met with a glorified body , for the peopling of the new heaven ; who can but rejoyce in spirit to foresee such a glorious communion of perfected saints ? to see their bodies with a clear brightness , without all earthly opacity ; with agility , without all dulnesse ; with subtility , without grosness ; with impassibility , without the reach of annoyance or corruption ? there and then shalt thou , o my soul , looking through clarified eyes , see and rejoyce to see that glorious body of thy dear god and savior , which he assumed here below ; and wherein he wrought out the great work of thy redemption ; there shalt thou see the radiant bodies of all those eminent saints , whose graces thou hadst wont to wonder at , and weakly wish to imitate ; there shall i meet with the visible partners of the same unspeakeable glory , my once dear parents , children , friends , and ( if there can be roome for any more joy in the soul , that is taken up with god ) shall both communicate , and appropriate our mutuall joyes : there shall we indissolubly with all the chore of heaven passe our eviternity of blisse in lauding and praising the incomprehensibly-glorious majesty of our creatour , redeemer , sanctifier ; in perpetuall hallelujahs to him that sits upon the throne : and canst thou , o my soul , in the expectation of this happinesse , be unwilling to take leave of this flesh for a minute of separation ? how well art thou contented to give way to this body , to shut up the windows of thy senses , and to retire it self after the toil of the day , to a nightly rest , whence yet thou knowest it is not sure to rise ; or if it do , yet it shall rise but such as it lay down ; some little fresher , no whit better ; and art thou so loath to bid a cheerfull good-night to this piece of my selfe , which shall more surely rise then lye down , and not more surely rise , then rise glorious ? away with this weak and wretched infidelity : without which , the hope of my change would be my present happinesse , and the issue of it mine eternull glory : even so , lord jesus , come quickly . the invisible world . the third book . sect. i. of the evill angels . of their first sin and fall . hitherto our thoughts have walked through the lightsome and glorious regions of the spirituall world ; now it is no lesse requisite to cast some glances towards those dreadful and darksome parts of it ; where nothing dwels but horror and torment : of the former , it concerns us to take notice for our comfort ; of these latter for terrour , caution , resistance . i read it reported by an ancient travailer , haytonus , of the order of the premonstratensis , and cousin ( as he saith ) to the then-king of armenia , that he saw a country in the kingdome of georgia ( which he would not have believed , except his eyes had seen it ) caldel hamsen , of three dayes journey about , covered over with palpable darknesse , wherein some desolate people dwell ; for those which inhabit upon the borders of it , might hear the neighing of horses , and crowing of cocks , and howling of dogs , and other noises , but no man could go in to them , without losse of himselfe : surely this may seem some sleight representation of the condition of apostate angels , and reprobate souls : their region is the kingdom of darkness , they have onely light enough to see themselves eternally miserable ; neither are capable of the least glimpse of comfort , or mitigation . but , as it fals out with those , which in a dark night bear their own light , that they are easily discerned by an enemy that waits for them , and good aim may be taken at them , even whiles that enemy lurks unseen of them : so it is with us in these spirituall ambushes of the infernall powers , their darknesse and our light gives them no smal advantage against us ; the same power that clears and strengthens the eyes of our soul to see those over-excelling glories of the good angels , can also enable us to pierce thorough that hellish obscurity , and to descrie so much of the natures and condition of those evill spirits as may render us both wary , and thankful . in their first creation there were no angels but of light , that any of them should bring evill with him from the moment of his first beeing , is the exploded heresie of a manes , a man fit for his name ; and if prateolus may be beleeved , of the trinit●●ians ; yea , blasphemy rather , casting mire in the face of the most pure and holy deity : for , from an absolute goodnesse , what can proceed but good ? and if any then of those spirits could have been originally evil , whence could he pretend to fetch it ? either three must be a predominant principle of evill ; or a derivation of it from the fountain of infinite goodness , either of which were very monsters of impiety : all were once glorious spirits ; sin changed their hue , and made many of them ugly devils : now straight i am apt to think , lord ! how should sin come into the world ? how into angels ? god made all things good ; sin could be no work of his : how should the good that he made , produce the evill which he hates ? even this curiosity must receive an answer . the great god when he would make his noblest creature , found it fit to produce him in the nearest likenesse to himself ; and therefore to indue him with perfection of understanding , and freedome of will , either of which being wanting there could have been no excellency in that which was intended for the best : such therefore did he make his angels : their will being made free had power of their own inclinations ; those free inclinations of some of them , swayed them awry from that highest end which they should have solely aimed at , to a faulty respect , unto oblique ends of their own . hence was the beginning of sin ; for as it fals out in causes efficient , that when the secondary agent swarves from the order and direction of the principal , straight waies a fault thereupon ensues ( as when the leg by reason of crookednesse , fails of the performance of that motion , which the appetitive power injoined , an halting immediately follows ) so it is in finall causes also , ( as aquinas acutely ) when the secondary end is not kept in , under the order of the principall and highest end , there grows a sin of the will , whose object is ever good : but if a supposed , & self respective good be suffer'd to take the wall of the best , & absolute good , the will instantly proves vicious . as therefore there can be no possible fault incident into the will of him who propounds to himself as his only good , the utmost end of all things , which is god himself ; so , in whatsoever willer , whose own particular good is contained under the order of another higher good , there may ( without gods speciall confirmation ) happen a sin in the will : thus it was with these revolting angels , they did not order their own particular ( supposed ) good to the supream and utmost end ; but suffered their will to dwell in an end of their own ; and by this means did put themselves into the place of god ; not regulating their wils by another superior , but making their will , the rule of their own desires ; which was in effect , to affect an equality with the highest not that their ambition went so high as to aspire to an height of goodness , or greatnesse , equall to their infini●e creatour ; this ( as the greater leader of the school hath determined it ) could not fall into any intelligent nature , since it were no other , then to affect his own not being ; for as much as there can be no beeing at all , without a distinction of degrees , and subordinations of beeings : this was ( i suppose ) the threshold of leaving their first estate : now it was with angelicall spirits as it is with heavy bodies , when they begin to fail they went down at once , speedily passing through many degrees of wickednesse . let learned gerson see upon what grounds he conceives , that in the beginning their sin might be veniall , afterwards arising to the height of maliciousness ; whom salmeron seconds by seven reasons , alledged to that purpose ; labouring to prove that before their precipitation , they had large time , and place of repentance ; the point is too high for any humane determination : this we know too well by our selves , that even the will of man , when it is once let loose to sin , finds no stay ; how much more of those active spirits , which by reason of their simple and spirituall nature , convert themselves wholly to what they do incline ? what were the particular grounds of their defection and ruine , what was their first sin , it is neither needfull , nor possible to know ; i see the wracks of this curiosity in some of the ancient , who misguiding themselves by a false compasse of mis-applyed texts , have split upon those shelves which their miscarriage shall teach me to avoid ; if they have made lucifer ▪ ( that is , the morning star ) a devill , and mistake the king of babylon for the prince of darknesse , as they have palpably done , i dare not follow them . rather let me spend my thoughts in wondring at the dreadfull justice , and the incomprehensible mercy of our great and holy god , who having cast these apostate angels into hell , and reserved them in everlasting chains under darknesse , unto the judgement of the great day , hath yet graciously found out a way to redeem miserable mankinde from that horible pit of destruction : it is not for me to busie my self in finding out reasons of difference for the aggravation of the sin of angel● and abatement of mans ; as that sin began in them , they were their own tempters : that they sinned irreparably , since their fall was to them as death is to us : how ever it were , cursed be the man who shall say that the sin of any creature exceeds the power of thy mercy , o god , which is no other then thy selfe , infinite ; whiles therefore i lay one hand upon my mouth , i lift up the other in a silent wonder , with the blessed apostle , and say , how unsearchable are thy judgements , and thy wayes past finding out . sect. iv. of the number of apostate spirits . who can but tremble to thinke of the dreadfull precipice of these d●●ned angels , which from the highest pitch of heaven , were suddainly thrown down into the dungeon of the nethermost hell ? who can but tremble to think of their number , power , malice , cunning and deadly machinations ? had this defection been single , yet it had been fearfull : should but one star fall down from heaven , with what horrour do we think of the wrack that would ensue to the whole world ? how much more when the great dragon draws down the third part of the stars with his tail ? and lo , these angels were as so many spirituall stars in the firmament of glory . it was here as in the rebellion of great peers , the common sort are apt to take part in any insurrection : there are orders and degrees even in the region of confusion ; we have learned of our saviour to know , there is a devill and his angels ; and jewish tradition hath told us of a prince of devils . it was in all likelyhood some prime angell of heaven , that first started aside from his station , and led the ring of this highest and first revolt ; millions sided with him , and had their part both in his sin and punishment : now how formidable is the number of these evill and hostile spirits ? had we the eyes of that holy hermit ( for such the first were ) we might see the air full of these malignant sp●rits , laying snares for miserable mankinde : and if the possessors of one poor demoniack , could style themselves legion , ( a name that in the truest account , contains no lesse then ten cohorts , & every cohort fifty companies , and every company 25 souldiers , to the number of 1225 ) what an army of these hellish fiends do we suppose is that , wherewith whole mankinde is beleaguered al the world over ? certainly no man living , ( as tertullian and nissen have too truly observed ) can , from the very hour of his nativity , to the last minute of his dissolution , be free from one of these spirituall assailants , if not many at once . the ejected spirit returns to his former assault with seven worse then himself . even where there is equality of power , inequality of number must needs be a great advantage . an hercules himself is no match for two antagonists ; yea , were their strength much lesse then ours , if we be but as a flock of goats feeding upon the hils ; when the evil spirits ( as the midianites & amalekites were against israel ) are like grashoppers in the valley , what hope , what possibility were there , ( if we were left in our own hands ) for saefty or prevalence ? but now alas , their number is great , but their power is more : even these evil angels are styled by him that knew them , no less then principalities and powers , and rulers of the darknesse of this world , and spirituall wickednesses in heavenly places . they lost not their strength when they left their station . it is the rule of dionysius ( too true i fear ) that in the reprobate angels their naturall abilities stil hold ; no other then desperate therefore were the condition of whole mankinde , if we were turned loose into the lists to grapple with these mighty spirits . courage , o my soul , and together with it , victory : let thine eys be but open ( as gehezies ) & thou shalt see more with us then against us ; one good angell is able to chase whole troops of these malignant : for though their naturall powers in regard of the substance of them be still retained ; yet in regard of the exercise and execution of them , they are abated , and restrained by the over-ruling order of divine justice , and mercy ; from which , far be that infinite incongruity , that evill should prevail above god ; the same god therefore , who so disposeth the issue of these humane contentions , that the race is not to the swift , nor the battell to the strong , cowardizeth and daunteth these mighty and insolent spirits , so as they cannot stand before one of these glorious angels ; nor prevail any further then his most wise providence hath contrived to permit for his own most holy purposes . how ever yet we be upon these grounds safe in the good hands of the almighty , and of those his blessed guardians , to whom he hath committed our charge : yet it well befits us , to take notice of those powerfull executions of the evill angels which it pleaseth the great arbiter of the world to give way unto , that we may know what cause we have both of vigilance and gratitude . sect. iii. of the power of devils . no dwarfe will offer to wrestle with a giant ; it is an argument of no smal power , as well as boldnesse of that proud spirit , that he durst strive with michael the archangell : and though he were as then foiled in the conflict , yet he ceaseth not still to oppose his hierarchy to the celestiall , and not there prevailing ▪ he poures out his tyranny , where he is suffered , on this inferior world ; one while fetching down fire from heaven ( which the messenger called the fire of god ) upon the flocks and shepherds of job : another while , blustring in the air , with hurrying winds , and furious tempests , breaking downe the strongest towers , and turning up the stoutest oaks , tearing asunder the hardest rocks , and rending of the tops of the firmest mountains : one while swelling up the raging sea to suddain inundations ; another while causing the earth to totter and tremble under our feet : would we descend to the particular demonstrations of the powerfull operations of evill spirits , this discourse would have no end . if we do but cast our eyes upon jannes and jambres , the egyptian sorcerers , ( in whom we have formerly instanced in another treatise , to this purpose ) we shall see enough to wonder at : how close did they for a time follow moses at the heels , imitating those miraculous works , which god had appointed , and inabled him to do for pharaohs conviction ? had not the faith of that worthy servant of god been invincible , how blank must he needs have looked , to see his great works patterned by those presumptuous rivals ? doth moses turn his rod into a serpent ? every of their rods crawleth and hisseth as well as his ? doth he smite the waters into bloud ? their waters are instantly as bloudy as his : doth he fetch frogs out of nilus into pharaohs bed-chamber , and bosome , and into the ovens and kneading troughs of his people ? they can store egypt with loathsome cattle as well as he : all this while , pharaoh knows no difference of a god , and hardly yeelds whether jannes or moses be the better man ; although he might easily have decided it , out of the very acts done ; he saw moses his serpent devoured theirs ; so as now there was neither serpent , nor rod ; and whiles they would be turning their rod into aserpent , both rod and serpent were lost in that serpent , which returned into a rod : he saw that those sorcerers , who had brought the frogs could not remove them ; and soon after sees that those juglers , who pretended to make serpents , bloud , frogs , cannot ( when god pleaseth to restrain them ) make so much as a louse : but supposing the sufferance of the almighty , who knows what limits to prescribe , to these infernall powers ? they can beguile the senses , mock the fantasie , work strongly by philtres upon the affections , assume the shapes of man or beast , inflict grievous torment on the body , conveigh strange things insensibly into it , transport it from place to place in quick motions , cause no lesse suddain disparitions of it ; heal diseases by charmes , and spels ; frame hideous apparitions , and , in short , by applying active powers to passive subjects they can produce wonderful effects : each of all which were easie to be instanced in whole volumes , if it were needfull , out of history and experience . who then , o god , who is able to stand before these sons of anak ? what are we in such hands ? oh match desperately unequal , of weaknesse with power , flesh with spirit , man with devils ! away with this cowardly diffidence : chear up thy self , o my soul , against these heartlesse fears ; and know the advantage is on thy side . could samson have been firmly bound hand and foot by the philistine cords , so as he could not have stirred those mighty limbs of his , what boy or girl of gath or ascalon would have fear'd to draw near , and spurn that awed champion : no other is the condition of our dreadfull enemies , they are fast bound up with the adamantine chains of gods most mercifull and inviolable decree , and forcibly restrained from their desired mischief : who can be afraid of a muzzled and tyed up mastive ? what woman or childe cannot make faces at a fierce lion , or a bloudy bajazet lockt up fast in an iron grate ? were it not for this strong , and straight curb of divine providence , what good man could breath one minute upon earth ? the demo●iack in the gospel could break his iron fetters i● pieces , through the help of his ●egion ; those devils that possessed him , could not break theirs ; they are fain to sue for leave to enter into swine , neither had obtained it ( in all likelyhood ) but for a just punishment to those gadarene owners ; how sure may we then be , that this just hand of omnipotence will not suffer these evill ones to tyrannize over his chosen vessels for their hurt ? how safe are we , since their power is limited , our protection infinite ? sect. iv. of the knowledge and malice of wicked spirits . who can know how much he is bound to god for safe-guard , if he doe not apprehend the quality of those enemies , wherewith he is incompassed ? whose knowledge and skil is no whit inferiour to their power : they have not the name of daemones for nothing ; their natural knowledge was not forfeited by their fall , the wisdom of the infinite giver of it knows how rather to turn it to the use of his own glory : however therefore , they are kept of● from those divine illuminations , which the good angels receive from god , yet they must needs be granted to have such a measure of knowledge , as cannot but yeeld them a formidable advantage . for , as spirits , being not stripped of their original knowledge , together with their glory , they cannot but know the natures and constitutions of the creatures , and thereby their tempers , dispositions , inclinations , conditions , faculties ; and therewith their wants , their weaknesse and obnoxiousnesse , and thereupon strongly conjecture at their very thoughts , and intentions , and the likelyhood of their repulses or prevailings : out of the knowledge of the causes of things they can foresee such future events as have a dependance thereon . to which , if we shal adde the improvement , which so many thousand years experience can yeild to active and intelligent spirits , together with the velocity of their motitions , and the concurrent intelligence which those powers of darkness hold with each other we shall see cause enough to disparage our own simplicity , to tremble at our own danger , and to blesse god for our indemnity . but if unto all these , we shall take notice of their malice , no whit inferiour to their power , and knowledge , we cannot but be transported with the wonder at our infinite obligations to the blessed majesty of heaven , who preserves us from the rage of so spightfull , cunning , mighty enemies . satan carries hostility in his very name , and answerably in his wicked nature : hostility to the god that made him , as the avenger of his sin ; hostility for his sake to the creature , which that god made good : his enmity did , as himself , descend from the highest , for it began at the almighty , and remains as implacable , as impotent . it is a bold and uncouth story , and scarce safe to relate , which i finde in the book of conformity reported , as cited by a demoniack woman , from the mouth of a certain frier , named jacobus de pozali , in his sermon ; that s. macarius once went about to make peace betwixt god and satan ; that it pleased god to say , if the devill will acknowledge his fault i will pardon him : to which the evill spirit returned answer , i will never acknowledge any fault of mine ; yea , that crucified saviour should rather cry me mercy for keeping me thus long in hell : to whom macarius , ( as he well might ) avoid satan . i know not whether more to blame their saint ( if they report him right ) for too much charity , or for too little grace and wit , in so presumptuous an indeavour : the very treaty was in him blasphemous ; the answer no other then could be expected from a spirit obdured in malice , and desperate in that obdurednesse ; the truth is , he hates us because he hated god first ; and like the enraged panther , tears the picture , because he cannot reach the person whom it represents . he that made him an angell tels us what he is , since he made himselfe a devill , even a man-slayer from the beginning : his very trade is murther and destruction , and his executions unweariable : he goes abous continually like a roaring lion , seeking whom he may devour . it is no other then a marvailous mystery of divine state , too deep for the shallownesse of humane souls to reach into , that god could with one word of his powerfull command destroy and dissolve all the powers of hell ; yet he knows it best not to do it : only we know he hath a justice to glorifie , as well as a mercy ; and that he knows how to fetch more honour to himself , by drawing good out of evill , then by the amotion , and prevention of evill . glory be to that infinite power , justice , mercy , providence , that contrives all things both in heaven and earth , and hell , to the highest advantage of his own blessed name , and to the greatest benefit of his elect . sect. v. the variety of the spiritual assaults of evil spirits . out of this hellish mixture of power , skill , malice , do proceed all the deadly machinations of these infernal spirits , which have enlarged their kingdome , and furnished the pit of destruction . it was a great word of the chosen vessel , we are not ignorant of satans devises : o blessed apostle , thy illuminated soul which saw the height of heaven , might also see the depth of hell : our weak eyes are not able to pierce so low . that satan is full o● crafty devises we know too well ; but what those devises are , is beyond our reach : alas , we know not the secret projects of silly men like our selves : yea , who knowes the crooked windings of his own heart ? much lesse can we hope to attain unto the understanding of these infernall plots and stratagems : such knowledge is too wonderfull for us , our clew hath not line enough to fadom these depths of satan : but though we be not able possibly to descrie those infinite and hidden particularities of diabolicall art and cunning ; yet our wofull experience and observation hath taught us some generall heads of these mischievous practices : divers whereof i am not unwilling to learn , and borrow of that great master of meditation , gerson , the learned chancellour of paris , a man singularly acquainted with tentations . one while therefore that evill one layes before us the incommodities , dangers , wants , difficulties of our callings ; to dishearten us , and draw us to impatience and listlesseness ; and rather then fail , will make piety a colour of lazinesse ; another while he spurs up our diligence in our worldly vocation , to withdraw us from holy duties : one while , he hides his head , and refrains from tempting , that we may think our selves secure , and slacken our care of defence ; another while , he seems to yield , that he may leave us proud of the victory : one while , he tills us on to our over-hard tasks of austere mortification , that he may tire our piety , and so stupefie us with an heartlesse melancholy : another while , he takes us off from any higher exercises of vertue , as superfluous : one while , he turns and fixes our eyes upon other mens sins , that we may not take view of our own ; another while , he amplifies the worth and actions of others , to breed in us either envy or dejection : one while , he humours our zeal in all other vertuous proceedings , for but the colour of one secret vice ; another while , he lets us loose to all uncontrolled viciousness , so as we be content to make love to some one vertue : one while , under the pretence of discretion , he discourages us from good ( if any way dangerous ) enterprises ; another while , he is apt to put us upon bold hazards , with the contempt of fear or wit , that we may be guilty of our own miscarriage : one while , he works suspicion in love , and suggests mis-constructions of well-meant words or actions , to cause heart-burning between deare friends ; another while , under a pretence of favour , he kills the soul with flattery : one while he stirs up our charity to the publique performance of some beneficiall works , only to win us to vain-glory ; another while , he moves us for avoiding the suspicion or censure of si●gularity , to fashion our selves to the vicious guises of our sociable neighbours : one while he perswades us to rest in the outward act done , as meritoriously acceptable ; another while , under a colour of humility , he disswades us from those good duties , whereby we might be exemplary to others : one while , he heartens us in evil gettings , under pretence of the opportunity of liberall alms-giving ; another while , he closes our hands in a rigorous forbearance of needfull mercy , under a fair colour of justice : one while , he incites us under a pretence of zeal , to violate charity , in unjust censures and violent executions ; another while , under pretence of mercy to bear with grosse sins : one while , he stirs us up , under a colour o● charitable caution , to wound our neighbour with a secret detraction ; another while , out of of carnall affections he would make us the pandars of others vices : one while , he sets on the tongue to an inordinate motion , that many words may let fall some sinne ; another while he restrains it in a sullen silence , out of an affectation of a commendable modesty : one while , out of a pretended honest desire to know some secret and usefull truth , he hooks a man into a busie curiosity , and unawares intangles the heart in unclean affections ; another while , he broaks many a sin with only the bashfulnesse of inquiry : one while , he injects such pleasing thoughts of fleshly delights , as may at the first seem safe and inoffensive ; which by a delayed entertai●ment prove dangerous , and inflaming ; another while , he over-layes the heart with such swarms of obscene suggestions , that when it should be taken up with holy devotion , it hath work enough to repell and answer those sinfull importunit●es : one while , he moves us to an ungrounded confidence in god for a condescent , or deliverance ; that upon our disappointment he may work u●to impatience ; or , upon our prevailing to a pride , and over-weening opinion of our mistaken faith ; another while , he casts into us glances of distrust , where we have sure ground of belief : one while , he throws many needlesse scruples into the conscience , for a causelesse perplexing of it ; affrighting it even from lawfull actions ; another while he labours so to widen the conscience , that even grosse sins may passe down unfelt : one while he will seem friendly in suggesting advise to listen unto good counsell ( which yet he more strongly keeps us off from taking ) for a further obduration ; another while , he moves us to sleight all the good advise of others , out of a perswasion of our own self-sufficiency ; that we may be sure to fall into evill : one while he smooths us up in the good opinion of our own gracious disposition , that we may rest in our measure ; another while he beats us down with a disparagement of our true graces , that we may be heartlesse and unthankfull : one while , he feeds us with a sweet contentment in a colourable devotion , that we may not care to work our hearts to a solid piety ; another while , he endeavours to freeze up our hearts with a dulnesse and sadnesse of spirit in our holy services , that they may prove irksome , and we negligent : one while he injects lawfull but unseasonable motions of requisite imployments , to cast off our mindes from due intention in prayers , hearing , meditation ; another while he is content we should over-weary our selves with holy tasks , that they may grow tediously distastefull : one while , he woes a man to glut himselfe with some pleasurable sin , upon pretence that this satiety may breed a loathing of that , whereof he surfeits ; another while he makes this spiritual drunkenness but an occasion of further thirst : one while , he suggests to a man the duty he owes to the maintenance of his honour , and reputation , though unto bloud ; another while , he bids him be tongue-proof , that he may render the party shamelesly desperate in evil doing : one while , he allows us to pray long , that we may love to heare our selves speak , and may languish in our devotion ; another while , he tells us there is no need of vocall prayers , since god hears our thoughts : one while , he urgeth us to a busie search , and strong conclusion of the unfailable assurance of our election to glory , upon slippery and unsure grounds ; another while to a carelesse indifferency , and stupid neglect of our future estate , that we may perish through security : one while , sleighting the measure of contrition as unsufficient ; another while , working the heart to take up with the least velleity of penitent sorrow , without straining it to any further afflictive degrees of true penance : one while , suggesting such dangerous points of our self-examination , that the resolution is every way unsafe ; so as , we must presume upon our strength , if we determine affirmatively ; if negatively , decline towards despair ; another while encouraging a man by the prosperous event of his sin , to re-act it ; and by the hard successes of good actions , to forbear them : one while , under pretence of giving glory to god for his graces , stirring up the heart to a proud over valuing our own vertues , and abilities ; another while stripping god of the honour of his gifts by a causelesse pusillanimity : one while aggravating our unworthinesse to be sons , servants , subjects , guests , almsmen of the holy and great god ; another while , upon some poor works of piety , or charity , raising our conceits to a secret gloriation of our worthinesse , both of acceptance and reward , and gods beholdingnesse to us . shortly , ( for it were easie to exceed in instances ) one while casting undue fears into the tender hearts of weak regenerates , of gods just desertions , and of their own sinfull deficiencies ; another while , puffing them up with ungrounded presumptions of present safety , and future glory . these and a thousand more such arts of deceit do the evil spirits practise upon the poor soul of wretched man to betray it to everlasting destruction : and if at any time , they shall pretend fair respects , it is a true observation of a strict votary , that the devils of consolation , are worse then the afflictive . o my soul , what vigilance can be sufficient for thee , whiles thou art so beset with variety of contrary temptations . sect. vi . of the apparitions and assumed shapes of evil spirits . besides these mental and ordinary onsets , we find when these malignant spirits have not stuck , for a further advantage , to cloath themselves with the appearances of visible shapes , not of meaner creatures only , but of men , both living and dead ; yea , even of the good angels themselves . it were easie to write volumes of their dreadful and illusive apparitions ; others have done it before me , my pen is for other use : the times are not past the ken of our memory , since the frequent ( and in some part , true ) reports of those familiar devils , fayires , and goblins , wherewith many places were commonly haunted ; the rarity whereof in these latters times , is sufficient to descry the difference betwixt the state of ignorant superstition , and the clear light of the gospell : i doubt not but there were many frauds intermixed both in the acting , and relating divers of these oecurrences ; but he that shall detrect from the truth of all , may as well deny there were men living in those ages before us : neither can i make question of the authentique records of the examinations , and confessions of witches and sorcerers , in severall regions of the world , * agreeing in the truth of their horrible pacts with satan , of their set meetings with evill spirits , their beastly homages , and conversations ; i should hate to be guilty of so much incredulity , as to charge so many grave judges , and credible historians with lyes . amongst such fastidious choice of whole dry-fats of voluminous relations , i cannot forbear to single out that one famous story of magdalene de la groix , in the year of our lord christ , 1545. * who being borne at cordova in spain , whether for the indigence or devotion of her parents , was at five yeares age , put into a covent of nuns : at that age an evill spirit presented himselfe to her in the form of a blackmore , soul and hideous ; she startled at the sight , not without much horror : but with faire speeches and promises of all those gay ●oyes , wherewith children are wont to be delighted , she was won to hold society with him ; not without strong charges of silence and secrecy : in the mean time giving proof of a notable quick wit , and more then the ordinary ability incident into her age ; so as she was highly esteemed , both of the young novices , and of the aged nuns . no sooner was she come to the age of 12 or 13 years , then the devill solicits her to marry with him , and for her dowry , promises her that for the space of 30 years , she shall live in such fame and honour for the opinion of her sanctity , as that she shall be for that time , the wonder of all spain . whiles this wicked spirit held his unclean conversation with her in her chamber , he delegates another of his hellish complices , to supply the place and form of his magdalene in the church , in the cloister , in all their meetings ; not without marvailous appearance of gravity , and devotion ; disclosing unto her also , the affairs of the world abroad , and furnishing her with such advertisements , as made her wondred at ; and won her the reputation , not of an holy virgin only , but of a prophetesse . out of which height of estimation , although she was not for years capable of that dignity , she was by the general votes of the sister-hood chosen unanimously , to be the abbesse of that covent : wonderfull were the feats which she then did . the priest cries out in his celebration , that he missed one of the holy hosts , which he had consecrated : and lo , tha● was by her wonted angell , invisibly conveighed to holy magdalene ; the wall that was betwixt her lodging and the quire , at the elevation of the host , clave asunder , that holy magdalene might see that sacred act : and ( which was yet more notorious ) on solemn festivals , when the nuns made their procession , magdalene was in the sight of all the beholders , lift up from the earth , the height of three cubits , as if she should have been rapt up to heaven : and sometimes , while she bore in her arm● little image of the child jesus , new born , and naked , weeping ( like a true magdalene ) abundantly over the babe ; her hair seemed by miracle , suddainly lengthened so low as to reach unto her ankles , for the covering of the naked child ; which so soon as she had laid aside that dear burden , returned suddenly to the wonted length : these and many other the like miracles , made her so famous , that popes , emperour ▪ the grandees of spain wrote to her , beseeching her in their letters to recommend their affairs to god in her powerful devotions ; and in requiring her advise & advertisements in matters of high importance ; as appeared afterwards , by the letters found in her cabinet . and the great ladies of spain , and other parts would not wrap their new-born infants in any clouts or swathing-bands , but such as the sacred hands of abbess magdalene had first touched & blessed : all , the nuns of spain were proud of so great an honour of their order , and such miraculous proofs of their sanctity . at last it pleased god to lay open this notable fraud of the divell ; for magdalene after thirty years acquaintance with this her paramour , having been abbess now twelve years , began to conceive some remorse for her former practises ; and growing to a detestation of her horrible society with that evill spirit , found means freely to discover to the visitors of her order , all the whole carriage of this abominable and prodigious wickedness . although some credible , wise , and learned persons have reported , that she , perceiving the nuns to have taken secret notice of her foul pranks , lest she should run into a deserved condemnation , did ( under the favour of those laws which give pardon to self-accusing offenders ) voluntarily confesse her monstrous villany and impiety . this confession blankt many of her favourers and admirers ; and seemed so strange , that it was held fit not to beleeve it , without strict and legall examinations , and proceedings : magdalene was close imprisoned in her covent ; and being called to question , confessed all this mysterie of iniquity : yet still her moore continued his illusions ; for , while she was fast lockt up in her cell , with a strong guard upon her dores ; the nuns were no sooner come into the quire , towards morning , to say their mattins ; then this deputy-apparition of magdalene , took up her wonted stall , and was seen devoutly tossing her beads amongst her sisters ; so as they thought the visitors had surely freed her of the crimes objected , upon her vehement penitence : but hearing that magdalene was still fast caged in her prison , they acquainted the visitors with what they had seen the morning before : who upon full examination found , that she had never lookt out of the dores of her gaole . the processe was at last sent up to rome ; whence , since the confession was voluntary , she had her absolution . a story of great note and use for many occasions , and too well known to the world , to admit of either deniall , or doubt , and ratified , as by the known consent of the time , so by the faithfull records of zuingerus , bodin , reney , goulartius . lord god! what cunning conveyances are here of the foul spirit ? what subtile hypocrisie ? what powerfull illusions ? enough to make sanctity it self suspected ; enough to shame the pretence of miracles : he can for an advantage be an holy nun , as well as an ugly moore , he can be as devout at mattins , sacraments , processions , as the best : what wonder ? when he can at pleasure counterfeit an angell of light ? in that glorious form did he appear to simeon stylites of old , to girtrude of westphalia , not without the entertainment of her joy and devotion ; till hermanus of arnsburgh descryed the fraud , and taught her to avoid it by a means no lesse advantagious to that ill spirit , then her former devotion : yea , yet higher , to pachomius , and to valens the monk , as palladius reports , he durst appear and call for adoration , and had it , under the form of the lord of life , blessed for ever . how vain is the observation of those authors , who make this the difference betwixt the apparitions of good angels , and evill ; that the good make choice of the shapes , either of beautifull persons , or of those creatures which are clean , and hurtlesse ; as of the shape of a lamb to clement , or an hart to eustace , or a dove to gummarus ; whereas the evill put themselves into the forms of deformed men , or of harmfull , and filthy beasts : as of a goat , to the assembly of witches ; of hogs , in the churches of agatha prophaned by the arrians ; of serpents , dragons , toads , and other loathsome and terrible creatures , to st. hilary and anthony , as athanasius and hierom ( in their supposititious relations ) have reported . and that if at any time he take upon him the shape of a man , yet it is with some notable defect , and incongruity of limbs ; as with a right foot cloven , or with a whole hoof ; never intirely humane : when we see that the very glory of angels escapes not their counterfaisance . we know how easie it is for the almighty to ordain some such mark to be set upon the false shapes of evill spirits , for their better discovery : but why should we rather suppose this to be done in the case of humane bodies , then of heavenly angels ? why more in the resemblance of men , then of all other creatures since their deceit may be no lesse dangerous in either ? but as for these visible devils , they are in these dayes very rare ; and where they have appeared , have wont to work more affright then spirituall prejudice . evil spirits are commonly most pernicious to the soul , when they are least seen ; as not caring so much for our terrour , as our seduction . o god , they are crafty , but thou art wisdome it selfe ; they are malicious , but thou art goodnesse : let thy goodnesse and wisdome ever protect and safe-guard us ; so shall we be , not more wretched , and unsafe in our selves , then we shall be in thee , secure and happy . sect. vii . the vehemence of satans last conflicts . these spirits ( because such ) are neither capable of sleep nor wearinesse : as they are therefore ever busie , and restlesse in their assaults , so their last conflicts use to be most vehement ; whether it be for that , now , the soul is passing out of their reach , as we finde they did most tear and torture the demoniack , when they saw themselves upon the point of their ejection : or whether it be for that the painfull agonies of death yield them more hopes of advantage ; since the soul , whiles it is strugling with those last pangs , must needs have her powers distracted in her resistances . cruelty where it would prevail , will be sure to lay most load upon the weakest : hereupon it is , that holy men have been most carefull to arm themselves stronglyest against those last onsets ; and to bend all the forces of their souls upon their safe dissolution : the holy sister of s. basil , and melania , whom s. jerome magnifies for their sanctity ; beseech god with great fervency , that those envious spirits may not hinder them in their last passage : and devout bernard to the same purpose , when he drew near his end , sues to his friend for his earnest prayers , that the heel of his life might be kept safe from the serpent , so as he might not find where to fix his sting . hence it is that in former times , good souls have been so provident to hearten themselves against the faint pulls of their death beds , with that [ viaticum sacrum ] the strongest spiritual cordiall of the blessed eucharist , which hath yielded them such vigour of heavenly consolation , that they have boldly defied all the powers of darknesse , and in spight of all those assaults , have laid themselves down in peace . o god , i know satan can want no malice , nor will to hurt ; i should be his , if i lookt for favour from him ; he must and will do so much of his worst to me , as thou wilt permit : whether thou wilt be pleased to restrain him , or strengthen me , thy will be done : o lead me not into temptation : and when thou doest so , shew thy self strong in my weaknesse ; arm me for my last brunt , stand by me in my last combat , make me faithfull to the death , that thou mayest give me a crown of life . sect. viii . of our carriage towards wicked spirits , and the wayes of our prevalence against them . we have seen what the carriage of the evil spirits is to us ; it were fit we should ask in what terms we must stand towards them : that we must maintain a perpetuall hostility against them , cannot be doubted ; and what ever acts may tend towards the securing of our selves and the abating of the kingdome and power of darknesse those must be exercised by us , to the utmost justly do we scorn to be beholden to that deadly enemy , in receiving courtesies from him . favours from such hands , are both sins and curses . he that can so easily transform himself , will seem to doe good ; what cures doth he often work ? what discoveries of thefts ? what remedies of diabolicall operations and possessions by the agency of witches , wisards , magicians ? what an ordinary traffique doth he hold of charms , spels , amulets ? ignorance and superstition are willing enough to be befriended by such pernicious helps , whereby that subtile spirit both wins and kills the soul , whiles he cures the body . it is not easie for a man , where he receives a benefit to suspect an enmity : but withall , it is no lesse then stupidity , when we finde a good turn done us , not to enquire whence it came ; and if we finde it to proceed from a mischievous intent of further hurt , not to refuse it . that there have been diseases remedied , wounds healed bloud stanched , thorns pluckt out , serpents stupefied , winds procured by charms , is so notorious , that whoso would doubt of it , should make himself a wonder of incredulity ; now then , by what power doe we think these things done ? naturall it cannot be , for there is no such efficacy in words or characters , ( being but of meer devise and arbitrary imposition ) as may produce reall effects . preter-naturall then it must be ; and if so , then either divine , or diabolicall : of god , it cannot be ; where hath he given warrant to any such practise ? where any promise to concurre with it ? nay , how oft hath he testified his prohibitions , and detestation of these courses ? needs must it therefore be by devilish operation ; whose agents , witches and sorcerers are ; and whose means of working , are these superstitious inventions ; which by a secret compact , receive their force and successe from those infernall powers . let those , then , that have given to satan their souls , take favours from him for their bodies : let us that defie the author , abhor the courtesie . mine enemy offers me a rich garment , i know it is poysoned , else he would not give it me ; shall i take it because it is rich , or refuse it because it is infectious ? let me be sick rather then receive help from such hands ; let my goods be lost , rather then my soul hazarded : let me die rather then owe my life to my makers enemy . sect. ix . how we are to proceed against evil spirits . we may not yeeld to that evill one ; our next thought must be how to oppose him : our skilfull leade● hath prescribed a spirituall panoply , both for defence and victory : the helmet of salvation , the brest-plate of righteousnesse , the girdle of verity , the sword of the spirit ; and above all , the shield of faith , wherewith we may be able both to quench and beat back the fiery darts of that wicked one . these well put on , and well managed , shall both secure us , and foil our adversary . but the art of repelling severall ●emptations is a long work ▪ and wor●hy of a just volume how we ought to deal with evill spirits in their bodily apparitions and possessions , may be seasonable for our present enquiry . whereas , then , there is pretended to be only a double way of proceeding for their ejection ; the one , by pact , the other by command : as the former is disclaymed by all faithfull christians ; so the other is wont to be challenged and practised by some who lay no small claim to holiness : this we call exorcism , or conjuration ; a course so well approved of the churches of the roman correspondence , as that they make this office one of the seven stairs , whereby they ascend to their highest order : but so dis-relished by us , that we ordinarily place conjurers in the same rank with sorcerers and professors of the black and damned arts ; although indeed , upon a strict inquisition we shall finde them far different ; for conjuration or exorcism implyes a kinde of force and violence ; whereas those that are in league with satan , go on , as upon a set match in a way cursedly amicable : this latter is hainously sinfull , as being directly against the divine law , and a professed affront to the majesty of god ; the former unjustifiable , as being without divine warrant . it is most true , that the disciples of christ , and their primitive successors ejected devils by command ; and could rejoyce to see those evil spirits subjected to their over-ruling charge : but withall , the same persons healed all diseases , were perfect poyson-proof , spake divers languages : why should any in these latter times challenge a right of succession i● one of these , and not claim i● in the other ? all these wer● given with one , and the sam● breath , continued by the same power ; called in and stinted by the same providence , with their fellow-miracles : and if still this priviledge were ordinarily left in the church , it were not a work for puisnes , and novices , but for the greatest masters , and the most learned , and eminently-holy doctors , which the times can possibly yield : and if this were really done , as is commonly vaunted by them ; yet with how much difference from the apostolick practise and issue ? with them of old , there was no more but a word of command , and an instant ejection : here , what a world of business ? what sprinkling ? what censing ? what blessing of herbs , and other ingredients of suffumigation ? what variety of direfull ceremonies ? and when all is done , the successe shuts up no otherwise then in just suspicion or censure . not that free scope is given in these last times , without any check to the tyranny of evill spirits : the good providence of the highest hath not left us unfurnished with means of our freedome and deliverance ; whiles we can pray , we cannot be remedilesse : when the disciples power stuck at the dispossession of a demoniack , they heard from our saviour , this kinde goes not out but by fasting and prayer . whence it is plain , that as there are severall kinds of devils , one worse and more powerfull then another , so the worst of them are to be vanquished by prayer , sharpened with abstinence . what a difference then there is of times , and means ? at the first it was a greater work to disposs●sse devils by prayer and fasting , then by command : now , it were far greater to do it by a meer command , then by prayer and fasting : that which was then ordinarily done , were now strangely miraculous ; and that which is the ordinary course now , was then rare and unusuall : the power of an adjuring command we see ceased , the power of fervent prayer can never be out of date . this , and this only is the remedy of both bodily and mentall possession : thus , if we resist the devill , he shall flee away from us : upon the ground of this scripture it was ( as my self was witnesse ) that in our age , mr. dayrel , a godly , and zealous preacher , undertook , and accordingly ( through the blessing of god upon his faithfull devotions ) performed , those famous ejectments of evill spirits both at nottingham and lanoashire , which exercised the press , and raised no small envy from the gain-sayers : shortly , all that we have to do concerning malignant spirits , is , to repay them with hatred , to perswade our hearts of their continuall dogging of us for mischief , to arm our selves with constant resolutions of resistance , diligently to watch the wayes of their tentations , to keep the strongest guard upon our weakest parts , to fortifie our selves by our faithfull prayers , and by the vertue of our faith to make him ours , who is able to strengthen us , and to make us more then conquerors . sect. x. of the wofull estate of the souls of the damned . it is not for our discourse to sever those whom the divine justice will have put together : devils , and damned souls . there is none of those evill spirits which doth not ( wheresoever he is ) carry his hell about him : yet doubtlesse there are degrees of their torture : art thou come to torment us before our time , said those devils to our blessed saviour ; and how do they beg not to be commanded to the deep ? reprobate souls are no lesse partners of their pain , then objects of their fury . no sooner is this living spirit of ours dislodged from the body , then it is presented as in a privy sessions , to her judge ; from whom she receives a speedy doom of life , or death : the sentence is instantly seconded with an answerable execution . the good angels are glad actors in the happy instalment of the just , in their glory : the evill angels seize upon the guilty soul , and drag it to their hell : as for any third place , or condition ; let them take thought that beleive it ; for me , i must professe , i never saw any colour of ground for it in the sacred oracles of god , and shal not easily beleeve that a truth mainly importing us , would have been concealed from our eyes . wo is me , what a dolefull , what a dreadful spectacle is this which is now presented to my soul ? the burning tophet , the bottomlesse pit , the lake of fire & brimstone , the region of horrour and death : wherein there is the perfection of all more then conceiveable anguish , the full consummation of the divine vengeance to sinners ; exquisitenesse , eternity of torment ; despair and impossibility of release , or intermission ; perpetuall dying , perpetuall living in a death that can never end . how are my thoughts at a losse in this place of confusion ? whether shall i more tremble , o god , at the consideration of thy terrible justice , or be swallowed up with astonishment of these infinite and intolerable sufferings ? i should not know thee , if i did not with holy chrysostome beleeve , ●hat the utter l●sse of thy presence alone , is as a thousand hels : to be for ever banished from thy sight , in which is the fulnesse of joy , what can it be lesse then fulnesse of torment ? but alas , this is farre from a meer absence . the very sin of the damned is no small part of their hell ; for as all their powers , parts , faculties , are as so many subjects of their insupportable pain and torture ; so out of that insufferable extremity , they conceive a desperate indignation , and hatred against god ; not as he is in himself infinitely good , ( for goodness can be no object of hate ) but as he is to them , a severe ( though most just ) avenger of sin ; to which is ever added a will obstinately fixed in evill ; whiles they were in their way , they were in a possibility of reclamation , now , that they are ( in termino ) they can be no other then they are ; as therefore the glorified souls are in a condition like to the angels of heaven ; so the damned , are in the state of devils ; not more capable of avoiding torment , then sin ; equally reserved in everlasting chains of darkness to the judgement of the great day . when ( wo is me ) that which seemed little lesse then infinite , shall yet receive a further aggravation of pain and misery : when the addition of the body shall give a further extent to this wofull cru●lation , without all possibility of release for ever . alas , what anguish do i feel in my self to see the body of a malefactour flaming at a stake ? and yet this is but the act of a few minutes ; for the air so vehemently incended , instantly stops the passage of that free breath , which should maintain life , and the flesh , by apposition of that combustible matter , which encompasses it , is soon turned into dead cinders : but , i could conceive of a body frying a whole day in a continued flame : lord how should i be affected with the sad compassion of that intolerable torment & burn inwardly with the sense of anothers pain ? but to think of a whole years broyling in such a fire , how can it but turn our bowels within us ? what then , oh , what is it to conceive of lying in a fire more intense then nature can kindle , for hundreds , thousands , millions , yea millions of millions of years , yea further beyond these then these are beyond a minute of time to all eternity ? where ( besides the indurance ) every thing that makes towards the mitigation of other pains , addes to these . here is society of tortures , but such as tortureth more : those perpetuall howlings , and shriekings , and wailings of so many millions of the damned , were enough to make the place an hell , even to him that should be exempted from those sufferings : here is some glimpse of knowledge of the blessed estate of glorified souls ; enough to heighten their envie , enough to perfect their torment ; even as meat is set before that man which is doomed to famish : shortly , here is exquisite disconsolateness , gloomy darknesse , extreme horror , pain insufferable , hideous ejulations , utter hopelesness , vexing indignation , furious blasphemies , infinite dolour and anguish , without relaxation , without pity , without possibility of remedy , or ease , or end . how can it be otherwise ? o god , if thy mercy have prepared such an heaven for thy poor servants , whose very best works , for their great imperfection , deserve nothing but punishment , what an hell hath thy justice provided for those enemies of thine , that wilfully despight thee , and offend of malicious wickedness ! how infinitely art thou more just then sinners can be miserable ! but it is enough , o my soul , to have lookt into the pit ; enough to make thee lament the wofull condition of those that are there shut up : enough to warne thee to avoid those sinfull wayes , that lead downe to these chambers of death : enough to make thee think no tears can be sufficient to bewail the desperate carelesnesse of wretched sinners , that run on in a known course of wickednesse , without any regard of an insuing damnation : alas , ( so as they are bewitched ) they have not the grace to pity themselves ; and to foresee the danger of their own utter perdition ; which if they could but look into , they would be ready to run mad with horrour : poor souls , could they but recover their reason , they would then think , if a thousand daies pleasure cannot weigh with one hours torment , what do i buy one hours pleasure with the torment of more then ten thousand ages ? how do i dare to dance for a few minutes upon the mouth of hell with the peril of an everlasting burning ? surely , if infidelity had not rob'd men of their wits , they could not resolve to purchase the momentany pleasures of sin with so dreadfull and eternall damnation . sect. xi . a recapitulation of the whole discourse . and now , what is to be done ? surely , as some traveller , that hath with many weary steps passed through divers kingdoms and countries being now returned to his quiet home , is wont to solace his leasure by recalling to his thoughts , a short mentall landskip of those regions , through which he hath journyed ; here conceiving a large plain , there a lake ; here a track of mountains , there a wood ; here a fen , there a city ; here a sea , there a desert : so do thou , o my soul , upon this voyage of thine through the great invisible world ; bethink thy self of what thou hast seen , and so abridge this large prospect to thy self , as that it may never be out of thine eye . think first , that whatsoever thou seest , thou canst not look besides the invisible majesty of thy god ; all this materiall world is his , he is in all , rather all is in him ; who so comprehends this universe , that he is infinitely without it ; think of him as with thee , as in thee , as every where . do thou , therefore , ever acknowledge him , ever adore him , ever enjoy him , ever be approved of him : see him from whom thou canst not be hid ; relye on him without whom thon canst not subsist ; glorifie him without whom thou canst not be happy . next , as those that have their celestial life and being by from , and in him , wonder at the glorious hierarchy of the heavenly angels , blesse him in their pure , and spirituall nature , in their innumerable numbers , in their mighty power , in their excellent knowledge blesse him in their comely orders , in their divine offices , in their beneficiall imployments , in their gracious care , and love of mankind : and ( so far as weak flesh and bloud may with pure and majestical spirits ) converse with them daily , entertaine them ( so thou knowest they are present ) with awfull observances , with spirituall allocutions ; ask of thy self how pleasing thine actions are to them ; receive from them their holy injections ; return to them ( under thy god ) thy thankful acknowledgments ; expect from them a gracious tuition here , and an happy transportation to thy glory . after these represent to thy self the blessed society of the late charge , and now partners of those heavenly angels , the glorified spirits of the just : see the certainty of their immortall being in the state of their separation ; see them in the very instant of their parting blessed with the vision , with the fruition of their god ; see how they now bathe themselves in that celestiall blisse , as being so fully sated with joy and happiness , that they cannot so much as desire more : see them in a mutuall interknowledge , enjoying each others blessednesse : see the happy communion which they hold with their warfaring brother-hood here upon earth , whose victory and consummation they do in a generality sue for to the throne of grace : foresee them , lastly , after a longing desire of meeting with their old , and never forgotten partner , joyfully reunited to their now-glorified bodies , and imploying their eternity of life in continuall hallelujahs to him that sits upon the throne . take up thy rest here , o my soul , for ever , but do not as yet thus end thy prospect ; it is good for thee to know worse things . if in paradise the tree of the knowledge of good and evill were forbidden to our first parents , the act of the knowledge of both is not forbidden to us ; even to know evill in speculation , may avoid the knowledge of it in a wofull experience . see then , o my soul , the best creature falling from good into evill ; in choosing it , see him , by misinclining his own will , apostatizing from his infinite creatour , and hurled down headlong from the height of heavenly glory , to the bottome of the nethermost hell : see the irrecoverable condition , and dreadfull numbers of those precipitated angels ; see their formidable power , their implacable malice , their marvailous knowledge , craft , skill , to do m●schief , their perpetuall machinations of our destruction , especially in their last assaults ; see their counterfaisance in their glorious , and seemingly-holy apparitions , for a spirituall advantage ; and when thou hast recollected thy self to a resolution of defiance , and unweariable resistance , c●st thine eye upon the deplorable condition of those damned souls , whom they have either betrayed by their fraud , or by their violence mastered : and whiles thou doest blesse and magnifie the divine justice in their deserved torment ; spend thy tears upon those , who would needs spend their eternity of beeing , in weeping , wailing , and gnashing ; and lastly , rouz up thy self in this moment of thy remaining life , unto all carefull and fervent indeavours to save thy self , and to rescue others from this fearfull damnation . sect. xii . the comparison of both worlds : & how our thoughts and affections should be taken up with the invisible world . now then , having taken a view of both worlds ; of the materiall world , by the eys of sense and reason ; of the invisible by the eyes of reason and faith ; i cannot but admire god in both , and both of them in god ; but the invisible so much more , as it is infinitely beyond the other ; for god himself is the world of this world : whom , whiles in the materiall world we admire in his creatures , in this immaterial we admire in himself . now , himself must needs be infinitely more wonderfull then many worlds ( if such there were ) of those creations that should proceed from him . as for the parts of the created , but invisible world , it must neods be said , that the lightsome part of it hath more glory , then any piece of the materiall world can be capable of : on the contrary , the dark , and privative region of the invisible world , hath infinitely more horror then the other : for what is the worst and most disconsolate darknesse of this visible world , but a privation of the light of the sun ; which yet can never be so absolute as to exclude all imperfect diffusion of those in sensible glimmerings ; whereas the darknesse of this spirituall world , is an utter privation of the sight of god ; joined with an unconceiveable anguish even in nature , spirituall essences must needs be more excellent then bodily , and earthly ; and of onely spirits it is , that the invisible world consisteth : besides , what vanity and inconstancy do we find every where , in this materiall and elementary world ? what creature is there which doth not exchange life for death ? being for dissolution ? sanity for corruption ? what uproars do we find in the air ? what ●ommotions , and turbulencies upon earth ? the best state of things is an uncertain vicissitude ; the worst , certain desolation , and destruction : whereas , the invisible world is setlted in a firm and steady immutability : the blessed angels and souls of the saints being so fixed in their glory , that they are now no more capable of alteration . shortly , he that saw both worlds , shuts up all in one word , the things that are seen are temporal , the things that are not seen eternal . as then , i can never open my bodily eyes , but i shall see the material world , and i hope , i shall never see it , but i shall praise the power , and wisdome , and goodnesse of the infinite creatour of it ; so shall it be one of the main cares of my life , to blesse the eyes of my soul , with the perpetuall view of the spirituall and invisible world : every action , every occurrent shall mind me of those hidden and better things : and i shall so admit of all materiall objects , as if they were so altogether transparent , that through them i might see the wonderful prospects of another world . and certainly , if we shall be able so to withdraw our selves from our senses , that we shall see , not what we see , but what we thinke , ( as it uses to be in the strong intentions of the mind ) and shall make earthly things , not as lunets , to shut up our sight , but spectacles to transmit it to spirituall objects : we shall lead a life as far rem●ved from those beasts which we see , as near approaching to those angels whom we converse with , and see not . neither shall it be enough for us to know an invisible world , as to consider that all we see , is the least part of what we see not ; unlesse we bee so affected to the unseen world , as we ought ; it is our knowledg that must shew us how to be christians , but it is our affection that must make us so : in the acknowledgment therefore of an invisible glory , and infinitenesse , our hearts must be ever taken up with a continuall awe and reverence if some great prince shall vouchsafe to let me be seen of him , although he please to keep himself unseen of me ; and shall only ( according to the state of some great eastern monarchs ) speak to me behind a vail , or traverse ; or ( as the great prete of the south had wont to grace ambassadours ) shew me only some part of his leg , so as that i may understand him to be present ; i should thinke it concerned me to carry my self in no lesse seemly fashion towards him , then if i saw his face ; for his sight of me , cals for a due regard from me , not my sight of him : since therefore we have so certain demonstrations of the undoubted presence of god and his holy angels ever with us , ( though not discernible by our bodily eyes ) with what fear and trembling , with what reverence and devotion should wee alwayes stand , or walk before them ? making it our main care to be approved of them , to whom we lye no lesse open then they are hid to us . as for the glorified saints of god , who are gone before us to our home ; with what spirituall joy should we be ravished at the consideration of their blessed condition ? who now have attained to the end of their hopes , glory and bliss without end ; ever seeing , ever enjoying him , at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore ; how should we blesse god for their blessedness , and long for our own ? lastly , how should our joy be seasoned with a cautious fear , when we cast our eyes upon those objects of dread , and horrour , the principalities and powers of darkness , not so confined to their hell , as to leave us untempted , and increasing their sin and torment by our temptation ? how should our hearts bleed with sorrow , and commiseration of those wretched souls , which we see daily intangled in the snares of the devill , and captived by him at his will here on earth , and frying under his everlasting torments in the pit of hell ? how should our hearts be pre-possessed with a most earnest and vigilant care to resist all the dangerous assaults of those wicked spirits , and to prevent the perill of our own like-wofull destruction ? if we i shall make this use of our beeing in this visible world , happy are we that ever we came into it , more happy in our going out of it : for having thus used it , as if we used it not , we shall so enjoy the other , as those that shall ever enjoy it , and , in it , all glory , honour , immortality . lo then , o my soul , the glorious world which thou art now aspiring unto ; yea , whereinto thou art now entring ; there , there fix thy self never to be removed : look down upon these inferiour things with an overly contempt ; forget what is past , as if it had never been . bid a willing farewel to this visible world ▪ wherein as thy creatour hath a just interest of glory , for that the substance of it is the wondrous workmanship of his hands ; so satan ( styled he prince of it ) claimeth no small share , in regard of its sinfull depravation . farewell then ye frivolous and windy honours , whose management is ever wont to be in others hands , not in our own ▪ which have ever been no lesse fickle then the breath ye have depended upon ; whose chief use hath been for temptation , to puffe up the heart with a proud conceit of eminence above others ; not requiting in the mean while the danger with any solid contentment . farewell ye deceitfull ▪ riches , which when we have , we cannot hold ; and even while we hold , we cannot enjoy : and if we offer and affect to enjoy , is it not with our spirituall losse ? for what love we yeeld to cast away upon you we abate to him that is the true and all-sufficient good ; more then for necessary use , we are never the better for you , often times the worse , your load is more uneasie , then your worth is precious . farewell pleasures ( if i ever knew what ye were ) which have alwayes wont to afford more sting then honey : whose onely scope hath professedly been , under a pretence of delectation , to debauch and emasculate the mind , and to dis-relish all spirituall comforts , where your expectation hath been somewhat delightfull , your fruition hath been unsatisfiing● , your loose displeasing , your remembrance irksome . farewell friends , some of whose unsteadinesse and unfaithfulnesse hath helpt to adde to my load , which the fidelity of others had not power to ease , whose love might be apt to condole my shipwrack , but could not spare me a plank to swim to the shore : shortly , whose common misery may be more ready to receive , then give comfort . the honour that i now reach at , is no lesse then a crown , and that no fading and corruptible ( as all these earthly diadems are ) but immarcescibly eternall , a crown of righteousnesse , a crown of glory . the riches that i am now for are not such as are digged out of the base entrails of the earth , obnoxious to spoil and plunder , but treasures ▪ laid up in heaven . the pleasures that i now affect ▪ are the fulnesse of joy at the right hand of the almighty for eve more . the friends that i ambitiously sue for , are those that shall receive me into everlasting habitation . lastly farewell vanishing life , and welcome blessed eaernity : even so lord jesu , come quickly . finis . the contents . the first book of god and his angels . the preface . § 1. that there is an invisible world . § 2. the distribution of the invisible world . § 3. of the angels of heaven their numbers . § 4. the power of angels . § 5. the knowledg of angels § 6. the imployment , and operations of angels . § 7. the degrees and orders of angels § 8. the apparitions of angels . § 9. the respects which we owe to the angels . the second book . of the souls of blessed men § 1 of their separation and immortality . § 2. of the present vision of god upon the egression of the soul . § 3. of the perpetuall vigilance of the soul and its fruition of god . § 4. of the knowledge of the glorified . § 5. of the glory of heaven enjoyed by blessed souls . § 6. wherein the glory of the saints above consisteth , and how they are imployed . § 7. in what terms the departed saints stand to us , and what respects they bear us . § 8. the re-union of the body to the soul , and both glorified . the third book . of the devils and damned souls . § 1. of the evill angels . of their first sin and fall . § 2. of the number of apostate spirits . § 3. of the power of devils . § 4. of the knowledge and malice of wicked spirits . § 5. of the variety of the spirituall assaults of evill spirits . § 6. of the apparitions and shapes assumed of the evill spirits . § 7. the vehemence of satans last conflicts . § 8. of our carriage towards wicked spirits . § 9. how we are to proceed against evill spirits . § 10. of the wofull estate of the damned souls . § 11 : a recapitulation of the whole discourse . § 12. the comparison of both worlds . and how our thoughts and affections should be taken up with the invisible world . finis . courteous reader , these books following are printed for john place , and are to be sold at his shop at furnivalls-inn gate in holborn . books in folio . 1. the history of the world , by sir vvalter raleigh knight . 2. things new and old , or a store-house of similies , sentence , allegories , addages , apologies divine , morall and politicall , by john spencer of sion colledge . 3. observations on caesars commentaries , by sir clement edmunds kt. 4. shepparts epitomy of the law . 5. the reports of the learned judge popham , sometime lord chief justice of england . 6. the reports of the learned judge owen , chief justice of the common pleas . 7. londinopolis , or a history of the cities of london and westminster , by james howell . 8. the history of swedes , gothes , and vandals , by olaus magnus bishop of vpsall . 9. the reports of the learned serjeant bridgman . 10. cowells interpreter of hard words in the law , &c. 11. maximes of reason , or the reason of the common law , by edward vvingat ▪ esq late one of the benchers of grays-inn . 12. the history of edward the fourth , of the wars between the houses of york and lancaster , by vv.h. esquire . 13. the minister of state , wherein is shewed the true use of policy , by monsieur de siton secretary to cardinal richlew , englished by sir henry herbert kt. books in quarto . 1. the compleat clerk , or scriveners guide , containing the draughts of all manner of presidents , of assurances , and instruments now in use , as they were penned by the most learned and eminent lawyers . 2. commentaries on the originall writs , in natura brevium , by vvilliam hughes of grays-inn esq. 3. an exact abridgment of the common law , with the cases thereof drawn out of the old and new books of the law , &c. by vvilliam hughes of grays-inn esquire . 4. an exact abridgment of the acts and ordinances of parliament , beginning at the fourth year of king charles , to the year , 1656. 5. declarations and pleadings , &c. in the upper-bench , by vvilliam small of furnivals-inn , late one of the clerks in the upper-bench court . 6. declarations , counts and pleadings in the common pleas , by richard brownlow esquire , late prothonotary ; the second part . 7. a collection of learned speeches and passages in parliament , beginning in the yeare , 1640. and ending in the yeare 1642 , 8. the faithfull counsellor , or the marrow of the law in english , by vvilliam sheppard esquire , now serjeant at law . 9. the dead speaking , or the living man revived , in a sermon preached at the funeral of mr. sam. oliver , by mr chitwind m. a. with two exhortations of mr. thom m. a. 10. the floating island , by dr. strowd , acted at oxford . 11. the tragedy of the fair irene the greek , by gilbert sumhoe esquire . 12. witchcraft condemned , or dr. lamb revived in the unheard of practice of anne bodenham , arraigned at sarum ass●●es . 1653. 13 bethell , or the form for families , by matthew grifith . 1. the jurisdictions of courts , by john k●tch●n of barnards inn 2. books of entries of all manner of judgments in the upper-bench and common pleas . 3. the grounds and maximes of the law , by michael haulke of the middle temple . 4. a perfect guide for a studious young lawyer , by thomas fidell of furnivals inn , gent. 5. the arraignment of the anabaptists , in a dispute at aberg●veny in mo●mouthshire , by john cragge m.a. 6. a cabinet of jewells , wherein gods mercy , mans misery , &c. is set forth in eight sermons , with an appendix of the nature of tithes , and expedience of marriage , by a lawfull minister , by john cragge , m.a. 1. the abridgment of the lord dyers reports , by sir thomas ireland . 2 observations on the office of a lord chancellor , by the lord elsmore , late lord chancellor . 3. the laymans lawyer , or the second part of the practick part of the law , by tho. foster gent. 4. the county-court renewed , or all manner of proceedings there , by william greenwood , studient of furnivals inn. 1. transactions of the high court of chancery , collected by vv. tochell . 2. brookes cases in english , by j. marsh of grays inn barester . 3. poems , by matthew stevenson ▪ 4. perkins of the laws of england . 5. an exact abridgment of dctoor and student . 6. invisible world , and the mystery of godliness , by joseph hall , bishop of norwich . 7. imposition of hands , by jos. hall , bishop of norwich . 8. treatise of phlebotomy , demonstrating the necessity of it in diseases of terms of election , with the use of the cupping-glass , with a treatise of the crisis written in french by da. de. plumis campi chirurgion , now translated into engl●sh , by e. vv. a well-wisher to physick and chyrurgery . 9. the peace-maker , by vvilliam page doctor in divinity . 10. a sermon preached at the funerall of sir james penyman , by allen smalwood . 11. clara stella . by r. heath esq 12. doctor prestons saints infirmities . 13. a comment on the times , or a character of the enemies of the church , by thomas vvall , mr. in arts . 14. a catechisme containg the principles of christian religion , written by moses . vvall . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a45280e-150 prov. 16.7 . jer. 2. hos. 4 ▪ 2. act● 10.35 . jude . 3. ephes. ● . 5 1 cor. 3 11. 1 cor. 7. 2● notes for div a45280e-700 nulla visibil●a nisi per invisibilia v●dentur : telle mentem quae non videtur , & incassum patebit oculus . greg. camer. in act. 23.8 . 2 cor. 4.18 omne tempus quo de deo non cogitat , perdidisse se computat bern. de spec . mon. brigit . l. revelat. 4. dionys . areopag . fo●ner . de cust. ange. serm. 4. mat. 26.53 . rev. 5. 11. dan. 7.10 . job 25.2 . cuique electo ordinarie certum propriumque angelum qui perpetuus sit ejus custos & comes . zanch de operibus create. . l. 3. c. 15. psal. 91.11 . * ex quo fa●ile colligitur , ex vobis unumquemque habere plus quam decem angelos . forner . de cust●d . ang. serm. 5. p. 56. * how scant then is the account of the great & voluminous abulensis , who upon mat. 18. v. 60. determines that the blessed virgin had two angel-keepers ; one , the most noble of the angeli●●ll order , which guarded her all her life , the other gabriel an arch-angell of the second order , who attended her from the time of christs conception , untill his passion . barrad . l 6. c. 10. as also that of degrassalius : that the french king hath two angel-guardians , one in regard of his private person , another in respect to his royall dignity . degrassal . l. 1. jure 20. regal . franciae . m. blunts voyage to the levant . ephes. 3.10 . colos. 2.10 . ps. 103.10 . 2 king. 19.35 . joel 3.11 . gen. 16.3 . judg. 13.27 . gen. 22.14 . arist. me●aph●s . l. 2. * b●navent . vulcan . pra●f●t . in lib. de mundo . l. bacon in his naturall hist. exod. 4. gen. 24.7 . qualiter pueri inter tot infantiae discrimina , &c. gers. serm. de angel . in the churches of foye totnesse , & withicomb . of the same kinde were those prodigious tempests at millain anno 1521. and at mechlin aug. 7. anno 1527. * nestoires prodigieuses de p. boaistuan . cap. 8. of the same kinde was that fearfull tempest which in the 4 year of k. will. rufus , blew down 600 houses in london , and reaving bow church carried away six beams of 27 foot long , and struck them into the earth ( the streets being then unpaved ) so deep , tha● o●ly four foot remained above ground . chron. of s. rob. baker of the reign of will . 2. † m. will. cook , sen . of waltham holy crosse . marc. aurel. antoninus his meditat , concerning himself , l. 1. c. 17. the like he reports of chryses , ibid. vt commensales deo , forner . ser. 4. de cust. a●g. or as cassaneus , cubicularii & servi●utes , throni glor. mund 4 part . forner . de custod . ang. serm. 5. compare ephes. 1.21 . with colos. 1.16 . s. matild . l. revel. c. 54. citat . etiam a forter . * ad nutum & arbitrium fibi assistentis daemonis vel declinabat negotia , vel petebat . minut. foelicis octav. duac . 18. febr. 1627. ex literis pet. rav. forn . ser. 5. ignat. loiol . xavi●r . ●her●si● . isidore . po●ippus ●●r●us . 4 〈◊〉 ma 〈◊〉 anno 16●● . theodor . l. 3. c. 11. goulart . histoir mem'r . ex melanct. in dan. c. 20. bromiard . sum. praedicant . v. humilitas . s. maternus . * one john trelille . * at whitsontide . sim. goular . ex j. manlio . bern. in psal. qui habi●at . rev. 19.10 . hieron. quest ●o●d al●g●s●m . angelici . prateolus ●l●nch . v. angelici . rejecta expositio a pontificiis , ut non modo periculosa sed & falsa . vid. binium in notis in pium pap●n tom. 1. pag. 103. reading it angulos instead of angelos . gen. 48.19 jo. bromiar . sum. pradic . v. superbia . 1 cor 11. notes for div a45280e-4610 ●icero de senectu●e . quicquid est illud quod sentit , qud sapit , quod vult , quòd viget , coeleste & divinum est , ob eamque rem aeternum sit necesse est . tull tusc. quaest. l. 1. lumen aliquod substantiale anim●s habere haud improbe videmur advertere , quando in evangelio legitu● , quod illuminat omnem hominem venientem in mundum : deinde quod in cogitatione p●siti nescio quid tenue , volubile , clarum in nob●s inesse sen●imus , quod respicit sine sole , quod videt sine extraneo tumine : nain si ipsum inse lucidum non esser , ●erum tantam c●●spicientiam non haberet : tenebrosis ista non sicut data ; omnia caeca torpescunt . cassiodor . de anima . cap. 10. calvin in loc. psal. 36.6 . 2 cor. 5.1 . heb. 12.22 . b. andrews in his answer to bellarmine . 2 cor. 5.1 . job . 17.24 . v. 22. 1 cor. 13.12 . c●los . 1.12 . eccles. 11.7 . cant 6.10 . psal. 27.4 . revel. 6. zach. 1.12 . luk. 15.7.10 . job . a jesu . mar l. 5. de vit. there 's . c. 3 nos coelestes ac vos exules amore ac puritati sae derate esse debemus , &c. nos coelites intuentes divinitatem ; vos exules euceharistiam venerantes ; quam eo affectu quo nos divinitatem suspicimus , colere debetis . ibid. notes for div a45280e-5700 fr. haytonus in passagio terrae sanctae . anno 1300. editus a nicol ▪ salcone . isa. 14.12 . naturalia in damnatis angelis manent splendidissima . job . 1.16 . obscientiam nominati . aug. l. 9 de civ● . 2 cor 2.11 gerson de variis diaboli tentationibus . diabolus gloriosa forma , diademate g●mmeo & aureo redimitus , veste regia indutus , apparuit martin . precanti , se christum dicit , cui postsilentium aliquod sanctus : ego christum nisi in illo babitu , formaque qua passus est , nisi crucis stigmata proferentem , venisse non credam ; hînc evanuît . hoc narravit sulpitio martinus ipse , ut refert idem sever sulp. in vita martini . * bodin daemonomania , ubique . * sim. goul. hist. admirables . casstod . reney en ses relation● , zuinger . theatre de vie human . bodin . daemonomania , l. 2. est haec res mirabilis ; nunquam visos esse daemones utroque pede hamano ullibi apparuisse . forner . de ang. ser. 9. j●. leo africk d●scr . ●●t . an account of tythes in general ellwood, thomas, 1639-1713. 1700 approx. 29 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a39297 wing e611a estc r36220 15619283 ocm 15619283 104191 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39297) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104191) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1591:65) an account of tythes in general ellwood, thomas, 1639-1713. 16 p. s.n., [london? : 1700] caption title. signed at end: t.e. [i.e. thomas ellwood] cf. wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints. imprint suggested by wing. formerly e41a. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng tithes -history of doctrines -17th century. theology, doctrinal. society of friends -apologetic works. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-04 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an account of tythes in general . the only command from god , that we read of in holy scripture , for the payment of tythes , was given by moses , to the people of israel , in the time of the levitical law. then god first reserved to himself the tythe of the land of canaan , lev. 27. 30. which he did for this reason , that , intending to take the tribe of levi more peculiarly into his service ( as he did , numb . 3. 6. in stead of , or in exchange for all the first born of israel , ver . 12 , 13 , and 45. and chap. 8. ver . 18. having before reserved and appropriated the first born to himself , exod. 13. 2. ) he might bestow those tythes on the levites , for and towards the maintenance of that whole tribe , as a reward for their service in the tabernacle of the congregation , numb . 18. 21 , 31. and in lieu of , and compensation for , their part or share of and in the land of canaan , which thereupon they were expresly cut off from , ver . 20 , 23 , 24. 2. now although it was grounded on a principle of moral justice and equity , that the levites , thus engaged in a continual attendance on a publick service , and shut out from their share in the inheritance of the promised land , should receive a sufficient maintenance from them for whom they performed that service , and who enjoyed their part of the land : yet the ascertaining of the quota of that maintenance to the exact proportion of a tenth part of the increase of the land , was not grounded on moral justice , but had it's dependance on the ceremonial law , adapted and limited to the polity of that dispensation and people only . and that it might not be extended beyond it's appointed time and bounds , it pleased the divine wisdom , to subject it to such ceremonial circumstances , as plainly rank it amongst those carnal ordinances ( rites or ceremonies ) which were imposed but till the time of reformation , spoken of heb. 9. 10. for as god appointed the levites to be offered for a wave-offering , by moses , in the name and on the behalf of the children of israel , when he said to moses , thou shalt bring the levites to the tabernacle of the congregation , and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of israel together , ; and thou shalt bring the levites before the lord , and the children of israel shall put their hands upon the levites : and aaron shall offer ( in the margin wave ) the levites before the lord , for an offering ( in the margin wave-offering ) of the children of israel ; that they may execute the service of the lord , numb . 8. 9 , 10 , 11. so the tythes , which were assigned for the maintenance of the levites , were to be first offered , by the people , as an heave-offering unto the lord. ( the tythes of the children of israel , which they offer as an heave-offering unto the lord , i have given to the levites , &c. numb . 18. 24. ) and even the tythe of those tythes , which the levites were to yield unto the priests , were to be offered , by the levites , as an heave offering to the lord , before the priests might have them . thus speak unto the levites ( said god to moses ) and say unto them , when ye take of the children of israel the tythe which i have given you from them for your inheritance ; then ye shall offer up an heave-offering of it for the lord , even a tenth part of the tythe . and this your heave-offering shall be reckoned unto you , as though it were the corn of the threshing floor , &c. thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the lord , of all your tythes , which ye receive of the children of israel : and ye shall give there of the lord 's heave-offering to aaron the priest , ver . 26 , 27 , 28. this makes it evident , beyond doubting , that the tythes , which were given by the people to the levites , and by the levites to the priests , under the law , had their dependance on the ceremonial law , as that priesthood had ; and were to stand no longer than that law and that priesthood stood : which was but till shiloh came , and by the offering of himself once for all , had put an end to all the shadowy offerings under that law. 3. this the author of the epistle to the hebrews did so well understand , that he positively declared that the levitical priesthood being changed , there was made of necessity a change also of the law , ( of that law , by which that priesthood and the maintenance of it had stood ) see heb. 7. 12. and 't is also evident from scripture and primitive antiquity , that neither the apostles themselves , nor ( for some ages after them ) any of the christians , did meddle with , or at all concern themselves about tythes ; but let them totally fall as they did the other abrogated part , viz. offerings , &c. and of the ceremonial law of moses . 4. but after that the mystery of iniquity , which in the apostles time began to work ( 2 thes. 2. 7. ) had wrought to that degree amongst some christians , and had drawn them so far from the purity and simplicity of the gospel , as to form and model the church in many things , by and according to the iewish pattern amongst other ceremonial parts of the iewish religion , which had been abolished by the coming and death of christ , tythes were preached up again ( about the latter end of the fourth century , and beginning of the fifth ) by some , at first , under the notion of alms and charity ( because part of the tythee under the levitical law were appointed for th maintenance of the fatherless , the widow and the stranger , deut. 14. 28 , 29. ) and by others , as then still due by the mosaic law , which had required them to be paid to the livetical priesthood . which plea afterwards ( corruptions increasing in the church , and in those especially who were called the church-men , or clergy ) more and more prevailing , the payment of tythes was re introduced , as due by those levitical laws , which had been given to the israelites of old . and upon that bottom , tythes have stood , been claimed , and the claim defended unto this day . 5. now , not only he that thus claims and receives tythes ; but he that consents to , and complies with such claim , by paying tythes thus brought in , and thus claimed , doth thereby implicitly , and vertually ( at least ) deny that christ has put an end to the ceremonial law of moses , and consequently that he is come , and hath suffered in his flesh for mankind . and that this may appear as plain as is possible , i shall draw the matter into an argument , thus : to uphold any thing , as still in force , which was to be taken away , and cease at and by the death of christ , is to deny that christ is come and hath fuffered in his flesh for mankind . but to receive , or pay tythes now , is to uphold a thing , as still in force , which was to be taken away , and cease at and by the death of christ : therefore to receive , or pay tythes now , is to deny that christ is come , and hath suffered in his flesh for mankind . the major must be granted , and the minor i thus prove . whatsoever was a part of the ceremonial law of moses , was to be taken away , and cease at and by the death of christ ; but tythes were a part of the ceremonial law of moses ; therefore tythes were to be taken away , and cease at and by the death of christ : the major here again is unexceptionable ; and the minor is thus proved : every heave offering among the iews was a part of the ceremonial law of moses ; but tythes were an heave-offering among the iews , numb . 18. 24. therefore tythes were a part of the ceremonial law of moses . 6. by this it appears , that without regard had of the person to whom , or the use for which tythes are paid , the paying of tythes ( as well as the receiving them ) being a part of the abrogated ceremonial law of moses , imports a denyal of the coming and death of christ ▪ hence it is , that tythes have been , and are commonly called , antichristian , or against christ : and hence hath arisen that saying ( often used not only by our antient friends , but by some of the martyrs long before ) viz. he that pays tythes , doth thereby deny that christ is come in the flesh. that conclusion could not have been drawn , from the paying of tythes to a wrong ministry , or for a wrong use only , though such payment be evil : nor could any thing justify that inference , but the consideration that tythes , depending on the ceremonial law of moses , which must of necessity and in course fall , and cease when christ suffered ; the paying of tythes , carries in it a supposal , that that law is not yet ceased , but is still in force : and consequently that christ , whose death must needs have ended it , is not yet come , nor has yet suffered in his flesh for mankind . 7. that other objection , not less weighty than common against paying tythes to the clergy , so called , viz. the unlawfulness of upholding a false ministry , to perform a false worship ( being it self so clear and plain , that it needs no illustration ) i shall , in this discourse , no further meddle with , than to observe in my way , how far it may affect those tythes also , which the impropriators claim . wherefore having premised what is said before concerning tythes in general , to what hand , or for what use soever paid , let us now inquire into those tythes , which are called impropriate . of impropriate tythes . 1. that these tythes , which are claimed by the impropriators , are of the same nature , and stand originally on the same root and ground , on which the other tythes stand , which are claimed and exacted by the priests , is evident from hence , that they were all heretofore , these as well as those , claimed by , and paid to some or other of the romish clergy , or their appendices , the religious orders ( so called ) and upon the same foot. that is , these impropriate tythes , were paid to those religious orders or houses , as being due to god , by vertue of the levitic law ; as well as the other tythes were paid to the parish-priests , on the same supposed right , from the same law. but how these tythes came to those religious houses first , and how afterwards from them to the impropriators , is next to be inquired . 2. until the lateran council ( so named , because it was holden in the pope's palace at rome , called the lateran ) in the year 1215. it was in the choice of every man to give his tythes to what church he pleased , so he gave them to some church . and even after that council , the popes , as heads of that church , by their dispencing power , did give leave to such as would sue , and pay for it , to give their tythes from the parish-priest , to such order of religious people ( whether monks , fryers , or nuns ) as they were best affected to . by which means , the parish-priests ( called seculars ) and those of the several religious orders ( called by a general title , regulars ) being left to scramble , as they could , for maintenance , the regulars ( mendicant fryers , and others ) swarming in all places , and pretending , at least , to greater sanctity , and austerity of life , than the parish-priests , prevailed with the people , either living or dying , to give not only very considerable estates in lands , but also the tythes of other lands , and of whole parishes , from the parish priests , to their religious houses or convents . 3. the tythes , or parsonages , so given , were then called appropriations , because they were appropriated to this , that , or the other religious house or convent . and i have read , that there were in england about 3845 parsonages thus appropriated . and as tythes were then held to be due to god and holy church ; and those religious orders were reputed a part of that church : so the tythes as well as the lands thus given them , were continued to them , and possessed by them , till that general storm arose , in k. henry 8. his time , which overturned those religious houses and orders together . and here , by the way , it may be noted , that while those religious houses stood , a great part of the lands which had been given to them , were , by papal authority , exempted from paying tythes : whence it is , that many of those estates , which had belonged to those religious houses , remain discharged from the burthen of tythes still . 4. as tythes were set up here on the authority of the levitic law , and in imitation of the iewish practice , consonant to that law : so while those religious houses stood , and the pope's power prevailed here , not only the seculars or parish-priests , but all those regulars who received tythes , were bound to pay the tenths out of the tythes they received to the head of their church , the pope , as the levites , under the ceremonial law , were required to do to the priests . 5. but after that k. hen. 8. ( upon a quarrel between the pope and him , about his divorce from his first queen catharine , which he earnestly desired , and the pope would not grant ) fell off from the pope ( though not from popery : for after that , he retained the most pernicious doctrines of the romish church , contained in the six articles , and burnt some for denying them ) he threw off the pope's supremacy here , and assumed it to himself ; declaring himself , and being declared , first by the clergy in their convocation , and soon after by lords and commons in parliament , the only supream head in earth of the church of england . this was done by the statute of 26 hen. 8. c. 1. and therein it is enacted . that the king , his heirs and successors , kings of this realm , shall be taken , accepted and reputed the only supream head in earth of the church of england . and shall have and enjoy , annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm , as well the title and stile thereof , as all honours , dignities , praeemences , jurisdictions , privileges , authorities , immunities , profits and commodities to the said dignity of supream head of the same church belonging and appertaining . and shall have full power and authority , from time to time , to visit , repress , redress , reform , order , correct , restrain and amend all such errors , heresies , abuses , offences , contempts and enormities whatsoever they be , which by any manner of spiritual authority and jurisdiction ought , or may lawfully be reformed , repressed , ordered , redressed , corrected , restrained , or amended , &c. by which it is evident , the intention of the parliament then was to transfer , confer and settle unto and upon king henry all the powers , profits and priviledges , which had been before supposed to be in , or belong to , or had been enjoyed or exercised by the pope , while he was received as supream head of the church . 6. and therefore , as the pope , while he retained the supremacy here , had the first fruits ( which are the profits of every spiritual or ecclesiastical living for one year ) upon the advancing of any ecclesiastical person , to such a living ; and also the tenths , that is the tenth part of all the tythes : so these two revenues , as appendant to that supremacy , followed it ; being settled on the king , in the same session of parliament , wherein the supremacy was vested in him . the words of the statute , 26 h. 8. c. 3. relating to the first fruits , are these . that for the more surety of continuance and augmentation of his highness royal estate , being not only now recognized ( as he always indeed hath heretofore been ) the only supream head in earth , next and immediately under god , of the church of england , but also their most assured and undoubted natural soveraign leige lord and king , &c. it may therefore be enacted and ordained by , &c. that the king's highness , his heirs and successors , kings of this realm , shall have and enjoy from time to time to endure for ever , of every such person and persons , which at any time after the first day of ianuary next shall be nominated , elected , perfected , presented , collated or by any other means appointed to have any arch-bishoprick , abbacy , monastery , priory , colledge , hospital , archdeaconry , deanry , provostship , prebend , parsonage , vicarage , chauntry , free-chappel , or other dignity , benefice , office , or promotion spiritual , whithin this realm , or elsewhere-within any of the king's dominions , of what name , nature , or quality soever they be , or to whose foundation , patronage , or gift soever they belong , the first-fruits , revenues and profits for one year of every such arch-bishoprick , bishoprick , abby , monastery , priory , — parsonage , vicarage , &c. then ( after provisions made for finding out the value of those spiritual livings , and for paying , receiving and recovering those first-fruits ) the settlement of the tenths ( that other part of the pope's revenue ) upon the king , follows , in the same statute , in these words . and over this , be it enacted by authority aforesaid , that the king's majesty , his heirs and successors , kings of this realm , for more augmentation and maintenance of the royal estate of his imperial crown and dignity of supream head of the church of england , shall yearly have , take , enjoy and receive , united and knit to his imperial crown for ever , one yearly rent , or pension , amounting to the value of the tenth part of all the revenues , rents , farms , tythes , offerings , emoluments , and of all other profits as well called spiritual as temporal , now appertaining or belonging , or that hereafter shall belong to any archbishoprick , bishoprick , abbacy , monastery , priory , archdeaconry , deanry , hospital , colledge , house-collegiate , prebend , cathedral church , collegiate-church , conventual-church , parsonage , vicarage , chauntry , free-chappel , or other benefice or promotion spiritual , of what name , nature , or quality soever they be , within any diocess of this realm , or in wales , &c. and so goes on to direct the time , place and manner of payment of these tenths , with the penalty for non-payment . 7. thus were these two great pillars of papal supremacy ( first fruits and tenths ) transferr'd from the pope , ( the old head ) to the king , ( the new head of the church , ) to support and maintain that headship in him , as they had done before in the pope . which ecclesiastical headship the king was no sooner possessed of , than he began to exercise it amongst those religious orders , suppressing ( as herbert , in his life , p. 379. rel●tes ) the observant fryers at greenwich , canterbury , richmond and other places , and substituting the augustines in their places . which he did ( says herbert there ) for the finding out how his people would take his design of putting down religious houses : to which he proceeded the next year , beginning with the lesser sort , and suppressing all those monasteries , priories and other religious houses of monks , canons and nuns , which had not in lands , tenements , rents , tythes , portions and other hereditaments , above the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds . by which means 376 of those religious houses being dissolved , a revenue of above thrity thousand pounds a year , besides an hundred thousand pounds in money raised by sale , at low rates , of the goods and chattels , of those houses ( a sum not small in that age ) came to the king , for support of his ecclesiastical supremacy . 8. the statute , which countenanced this proceeding , is the 27 of hen. 8. cap. 28. and a new court , called the court of augmentations , was then erected and settled by parliament , for receiving and ordering these new accessional revenues : the act for which , in our printed statute books , is set before that for the suppression of those lesser monasteries . but though that , for suppressing those monasteries , be , by an hysterosis , set after that for establishing the court of augmentations ; yet it must have been made before it : for it is recited in it . 9. in that statute , 27 hen. 8. c. 28. for suppressing those smaller monasteries , mention is made o● monasteries , abbies and priories , which , with in one year before the making of that statute , ha● been given and granted to the king by any abbot , prior , abbess or prioress , under their convent-seal , or that otherwise had been suppressed , or dissolved . all which were , by that statute confirmed to the king , and to all those , unto whom the king either then before had conveyed , or then after should convey any part or parts thereof ; to hold to them in like manner , stamped upon those rectories , parsonages , and other revenues by tythes , into what hands soever they were passed . and therefore , by the statute of 32 hen. 8. cap. 7. in case of with-holding , or denying to pay the tythes , all persons claiming them ( impropriators as well as priests ) are restrained from suing in the temporal courts , and limitted to the ecclesiastical or spiritual courts only , for the recovery of them . 13. and that they might still have dependence upon the supremacy , care was taken , from the first , by the statute of 27 hen. 8. cap. 27. that none of these estates , which then had come , or should come , from any of those religious houses to the king , should pass from him by grant to any person whatsoever , without an express reservation of a tenth . and in a subsequent statute ( 33 hen. 8. cap. 39. ) complaint being made , that altho' out of those grants , which the king had made to sundry persons , of honours , castles , mannors , lands , tenements , rectories , &c. ( which were under the survey of the court of augmentations ) the tenths had been reserved ; yet the persons unto whom such grants had been made , though they had quietly enjoyed and taken the issues and profits of those lands , rectories , &c. had not paid the reserved tenths to the king : provision was made in that statute , by several forfeitures and nomine-paenae's to enforce the payment thereof . nor was care taken of the ecclesiastical head ( the king ) only , but of the ecclesiastical members ( the clergy ) also : many , if not most , of which had pensions , or portions issuing out of those parsonages , rectories , or other spiritual benefices ( as they were counted ) which the religious orders held : for , besides that upon the increasing of those appropriations , whereby the parish-priests were pinch'd , there had been provision made early , in the time of k. richard the second , for the vicars , as well as for the poor ; the statute of 15 ric. 2. c. 6. directing , that , upon the appropriation of such churches , the diocaesian of the place ( or bishop of the diocess ) shall ordain , according to the value of such churches , a convenient sum of money to be paid and distributed yearly , of the fruits and profits of the same churches , to the poor parishoners : and also , that the vicar be well and sufficiently endowed . which statute ( so far , at least , as concerned the vicars ) was afterwards confirmed by another statute of 4 hen. 4. cap. 12. which expresly ordains , that the statute of appropriation of churches , and of the endowment of vicars in the same , made the 15th year of k. ric. the 2d be firmly holden , and put in due execution : i say , besides these , the stat. of 34 and 35 of hen. 8. cap. 19. takes notice , that the arch-bishops , bishops , arch deacons and other ecclesiastical persons , of both provinces of canterbury and york , having formerly , in right of their churches received out of the late monasteries , &c. divers pensions , and other profits , had after the dissolution of those houses , been disturbed , and denyed of the having , receiving and gathering of the said pensions , &c. whereupon it is , in the said statute , enacted , that if any person or persons , being farmer or occupier of any mannors , lands , tenements , parsonages , benefices or other hereditaments of any of the said late monasteries , &c. by the king's gift , grant , sale , exchange , or otherwise , out of which any such pensions , &c. have been heretofore lawfully going , answered or paid to any of the arch-bishops , bishops , arch deacons , and other ecclesiastical persons abovesaid , do , at any time after the first day of april next coming , wilfully deny the payment thereof , then it shall be lawful for the said arch-bishops , bishops , arch-deacons , or other ecclesiastical persons aforesaid , being so denied ; to be satisfied and paid thereof , &c , to proceed in the ecclesiastical courts , for the recovery thereof . 14. by which statute , all pensions payable to arch-bishops , bishops , arch-deacons , or other ecclesiastical person , that had been possessed thereof , at or within ten years next before the time of the dissolution of the monasteries , out of the parsonages , rectories , or tythes holden by the said monasteries , &c. are confirmed and assured to such arch-bishops , bishops , arch-deacons , and other ecclesiastical persons still . 15. so that , upon the whole , besides what hath been said of tythes in general , with respect to the iudaizing , and denying of christ , by the paying thereof ( which extends alike to all tythes , those claimed by the impropriator , as well as those claimed by the priest ) the impropriate tythes being generally charged , either with some payment to the vicars , for enlarging of their stipends , or with pensions to the arch bishops , bishops , arch-deacons , and other ecclesiasticks : all such of them as are so charged , come under the same objection , that is made against paying to the priest , viz. the upholding of a false ministry , to perform a false worship . and if any impropriation may be supposed to be free from all those charges ; yet all impropriators , as well as priests , being bound to pay the reserved tenths to the king , as supream head of the church ( which were wont before to be paid to the pope , while he was owned for head of the church ) the paying of tythes to an impropriator , is a recognizing , and acknowledging of a man ( bad or good , popish or protestant , as it happens ) to be the only supream head on earth of the church . which is to set an human head to a spiritual body : and to divest and deprive our lord iesus christ of his undoubted right , who the apostle says expresly , is the head of the body , the church , col. 1. 18. and that not of man's making or appointing ; but god ( saith the apostle ) hath given him to be the head over all things to the church , which is his body , eph. 1. 22 , 23. finis . a philosophicall essay towards an eviction of the being and attributes of god. immortality of the souls of men. truth and authority of scripture. together with an index of the heads of every particular part. ward, seth, 1617-1689. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a67569 of text r203999 in the english short title catalog (wing w823). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 162 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 85 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a67569 wing w823 estc r203999 99863739 99863739 115953 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67569) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 115953) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 176:e1322[2]) a philosophicall essay towards an eviction of the being and attributes of god. immortality of the souls of men. truth and authority of scripture. together with an index of the heads of every particular part. ward, seth, 1617-1689. [16], 152 p. printed by leonard lichfield, and are to be sold by john adams and edward forrest, oxford : 1652. anonymous. by seth ward. in part a reply to: hobbes, thomas. leviathan. the words "being .. scripture." are bracketed together on the title page. annotation on thomason copy: "nou. 4.". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng hobbes, thomas, 1588-1679. -leviathan -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. god -attributes -early works to 1800. authority -religious aspects -early works to 1800. a67569 r203999 (wing w823). civilwar no a philosophicall essay towards an eviction of the being and attributes of god. immortality of the souls of men. truth and authority of scrip ward, seth 1652 29445 3 25 0 0 0 0 10 c the rate of 10 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2001-08 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2001-08 tcp staff (michigan) text and markup reviewed and edited 2001-11 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a philosophicall essay towards an eviction of the being and attributes of god . immortality of the souls of men . truth and authority of scripture . together with an index of the heads of every particular part. oxford , printed by leonard lichfield , and are to be sold by john adams and edward forrest , 1652. to the reader . the author of this book although he had never suffered it to be published , had he not been assured that it is not ( for the main ) much liable to just exception , and although he hath no further care of the reception & entertainment of it , then the consequence of it may deserve ( whereof the reader and not himself must be the judge . ) and so he is not moved by the common passions of such as use to make epistles and prefaces , to their readers , yet some thing although but for custome only he was willing to premise , and to acquaint the reader with thus much by way of apology for himself . that this was written divers years since without any purpose of ever letting it go abroad , that the chief end of it was to cleer to himself who is a lover of rationall knowledge , an account of the grounds of his own belief , and to that end to lay in order his scattered notions concerning that subject ; and this he intends as an apology for the homelinesse of the stile . that at the same time when it was written , it was also delivered in a private course of religious exercise , and that will be the excuse for such repetitions as might otherwise seem ill-favoured in the severall sections of it . that at the time of his composing it , he was destitute of the assistance of his bookes , which is one cause that it is not adorned with testimonies and citations out of authors , but comes out naked , being supported onely by the order and plainnesse of reason that it trusts to . that since the composing of this he knows that divers bookes of the same argument have been written by men farre more knowing then himselfe , but that he hath not yet read any of them , nor knows whether he doe agree with them or not , which abstinence hath been caused partly for that he is himselfe satisfied by what is here delivered , and partly for that he had no leisure or minde to alter this which he had done , though possibly it might be for the better . that whereas he speakes of epicures , machiavelians , and the like , he makes use of those names onely in a popular way as they are names of characters well known amongst us , and that he intends not to traduce those authors or cast any contumely upon them . lastly , he must needs acknowledge , that before the edition of this he hath seen m. hobs his leviathan , and other bookes of his , wherein that which is in this treatise intended as the main foundation whereon the second discourse ( of the souls immortality ) insists , is said to imply a contradiction , viz. that there are any such things as immateriall or incorporeall substances . upon which occasion he thought good onely to say , that he hath a very great respect and a very high esteem for that worthy gentleman , but he must ingenuously acknowledge that a great proportion of it is founded upō a belief & expectation concerning him , a belief of much knowledge in him , and an expectation of those philosophicall and mathematicall works , which he hath undertaken ; and not so much upon what he hath yet published to the world , and that he doth not see reason from thence to recede from any thing upon his authority , although he shall avouch his discourse to proceed mathematically . that he is sure he hath much injured the mathematicks , and the very name of demonstration , by bestowing it upon some of his discourses , which are exceedingly short of that evidence and truth which is required to make a discourse able to bear that reputation . that in this case m.h. is onely a negative witnesse , and his meaning in denying incorporeall substances , can rationally import no more but this , that he himself hath not an apprehension of any such beings , and that his cogitation ( as to the simple objects of it ) hath never risen beyond imagination , or the first apprehension of bodies performed in the brain ; but to imagine that no man hath an apprehension of the god-head , because he may not perhaps think of him so much as to strip off the corporeall circumstances wherewith he doth use to fancy him ; or to conclude every man under the sentence of being non-sensicall , whosoever have spoken or written of incorporeall substances , he doth conceive to be things not to be made good by the authority of m. hobs. that whereas very many men do professe an apprehension of such beings , and he in the mean time professes this to be impossible , this author is hard put to it to excuse this from much incivility , and conceives the import of it to amount to thus much , that he conceives himself in the highest and utmost bound of humane apprehension , and that his reason is the measure of truth , and that what he sees not is invisible , i conceive the case in this to be alike , as if whilest two men are looking at jupiter , one with his naked eyes , the other with a telescope ; the former should avow that jupiter had no attendants , and that it were impossible he should have any : the reason why m.h. denies those beings whilest other men apprehend them , is for that he lookes at them with his fancy , they with their minde . many more things he had to say for himself , but he understands not fully the use or benefit of apologies . the contents . part . i. sect. i. preface . sect. ii. of the designe ad definition of religion , the prejudices and pretences against the christian , the sum of what is in controversie deduced to three questions . 1. of the being of god . attributes 2. of the immortality of the souls of men . 3. of the authority of scriptures . sect. iii. of the being of god evicted by way of demonstration from the creatures . pag. 11. sect. iv. of the attributes of god , those likewise evicted from the creatures . pag. 17. part . ii. sect. i. a proposall of the argument for the immortality of the soule , and a manifestation of the major proposition , that incorporeall substances are immortall . pap . 33. sect. ii. a proof of this proposition , that the souls of men are incorporeall substances , by comparing the affections of bodies with those of souls . p. 38. sect. iii. a further proof of it by the generall way of apprehension . p. 43 sece . iv. the same further demonstrated from the severall acts of the soule , from simple apprehensions . p. 51. sect. v. from judgment and discourse . p. 58. sect. vi . an application of the former propositions to the inference of a religion in generall , and a proposall of the third in order to the christian p. 67. part . iii. concerning the truth and authority of our scripture . sect. i. petitions and cautions premised to the question . p. 75. sect. ii. the assertion resolved into two propositions , the former undertaken , that whosoever beleeves the historicall part of the scripture must beleeve the doctrinall . p. 81. sect. iii. the kinds and degrees of the causes of historicall faith in generall . p. 89. sect. iv. an application of those generall grounds to the history of the new testament , and a proof of this assertion , that there is as great reason to beleeve the new testament , as to beleeve any other history in the world . p. 97. sect. v. that there is much greater reason to beleeve the history of the new testament , then any other history . p. 206. sect. vi . that the old testament is the word of god . a proposall of three severall assertions , whereby it is concluded . p. 119. sect. vii . the first assertion proved , that the books of the old testament which we now receive , are the same which the jews doe now receive . p. 124. sect. viii . that the books , which the jews doe now receive , are the same which they have received ever since the consignation of their canon . p. 128. sect. ix . that in our saviours time these books were true , and consequently were the word of god . p. 135. sect. x. that there is no reason to disbeleeve the scriptures . objections briefly proposed and answered : first generall objections against the whole . p. 138. sect. xi . objections against particular parts , briefly proposed and answered . p. 149. part . i. preface . sect. i. although i am not without apprehension , that the discourse which i design may be prejudged unprofitable , as pretending to lay again that foundation which hath long since been layed in the mindes of all that will be readers of it ; yet when i consider those scandals which the loosenesse of our times have offered even to the religious , and the bold and horrid pride and presumption of atheists and epicures , which by a prophane and confident asserting the uncertainty of all things ( undervaluing the abilities of our natures to raise an opinion of their personall excellencies ) have laboured to introduce into the world a generall athiesm , or at least a doubtfull scepticism in matters of religion : and when we consider the nature of our mindes , which is upon any ill suggestions apt still to receive some impression ( those things being of like operation with calumny , which if it be confidently and boldly charged , will be sure to leave some scarre behinde it . ) when we observe this use and inclination in our selves which is in things where we have not a belief of what is spoken , or do not give perfect credit to an accusation , yet to admit of a suspicion that things may be as they are spoken ; and although the strength of our contrary beleef do keep us from a full assenting to the thing in question , yet if it happen that the things concern our selves , and we have happened to crosse our opinions , or our beleef in our way of practise , such is the perversenesse of our hearts , that in such cases they will make use of the beleef of others ( especially if they have the reputation of knowing men ) to oppose against their own belief , and interpose betwixt the lashes of their consciences and themselves . i say the present condition of religion , and the corrupted nature of our hearts being such , i cannot think it uselesse , nay not unnecessary , to raise a discourse of religion even from the common elements and fundamentals , and for a while , neglecting the more knowing party of men , to undertake , so far as the argument will bear , to follow the way of demonstration , and leade on the weakest from such things as they themselves cannot deny , to the acknowledgement of the mysteries of our faith , and to the practice of the laws and injunctions of our religion . sect. ii. of the designe and definition of religion , the prejudices and pretences against the christian , the sum of what is in controversie deduced to three questions . 1. of the being of god . attributes 2. of the immortality of the souls of men . 3. of the authority of scriptures . we may begin with the consideration of the definition ( and the design of our selves in the matter ) of religion ; however the practise of the world may contradict it ; i hope we may take this definition of religion as one that is agreeable to the apprehension which all of us have of it . religion is a resignation of our selves to god , with an expectation of reward ; the designe indeed of religion , however it ought to be meerly obedience to the pleasure and the will of god , and height of it is barely terminated in his glory , ( so that the highest act of it is adoration ) yet i say the designe of mens religion is that it may be well unto themselves , and to bring them to an estate of happinesse . the very definition of religion supposeth a godhead , according to that of the apostle , he that cometh to god must believe that god is . the very designe of it supposeth that both the party worshipping is capable of rewards , and that god likewise doth not neglect his services ( in the following words of the apostle ) that he is the rewarder of those that diligently seek him . again , the resignation of our selves supposeth the resignation of our supreme faculties , those are our understandings and our wils , viz. our wils to an obedience to his will , to a performance of his injunctions , to a submission to his providence ; and a resignation likewise of our understandings to his truth . now it is agreeable to reason , as well as to the apostle , that we cannot practise the will of god , unlesse we know it , and that we cannot know it unlesse it be discovered to us . so then in our profession of religion , there are these supposals . that there is a god ; and that he is a rewarder of those that seek him ( and that supposeth that they are capable of his way of rewarding ; ) that the diligence of our seeking must be exercised in a way conformable to his will ; and that to this purpose we want not rules for this conformity . these are i say the generall suppositions of every religion under heaven . you see that the being of religion is in self-resignation , but the end of that resignation it is reward ( still retaining in minde that caution , that mercenarily to labour for reward is not the supream exaltation of religious acts , but that it is the ordinary degree of mens religion , and an allowable and commendable step , and a degree unto the other ; it being the strong powerfull motive to moses to neglect the momentany pleasures of pharaohs court , because he had respect unto the recompense of reward : ) i say it is the naturall way of reason in every act to look at some or other end , and to undertake no labour without an eye upon reward . now so it is , that some men who account themselves the wisest , observing as they think the design and issue of religion , and comparing the labour and the wages , they with much wisedome as they think , conclude that all the businesse of gain which comes by religion is no way worth the pain and labour . they see that all things come alike to all , there is but one issue to the just , and to the unjust ; nay , they think they see that the successe of things it is not equall to the religious and irreligious ; but that besides the pleasures and enjoyments which religious men doe fondly deny themselves , besides that melancholy life which they by their strictnesse and precisenesse bring upon themselves , they often anticipate and hinder the thriving and successe of their own designes by a dangerous and prejudiciall scrupulosity : whereas the other party besides the pleasure of their lives in private , they carry matters of state , and either by force or fraud they circumvent and overcome the narrow and feeble spirits of the others ; and the successe of things they oft observe to be answerable to this hypothesis , ready they are to say with those in mal. 3. 14. surely it is in vain to serve god , and what profit is it to keep his ordinances , to walke mournfully before the lord of hosts , whereas we see the proud happy , and they that work wickednesse are set up , and they that tempt , god are even delivered ? upon such observations upon the reward , they conclude clean contrary to the suppositions of religion , god is no rewarder of those that seek him ; such as deny themselves the most for him , they have no other reward but sadnesse of soul and debility of body , and exility of fortune : surely if he were a god , he would not thus desert his party , and give them over to the scorn and derision , and miseries of the world : surely therefore there is no god , or surely he sees it not , or tush god cares not for it , and so these mens religion is vain : or else these men they have not hit upon the true way of worship , the rules they go by they are uncertain , that which they pretend to be the word of god , it is not so , but some bundle of impostures , devised by some body , and put upon these simple people to delude them , they indeed flatter themselves with expectations when they are dead , but those are but vain , for who knows that the spirit of a man goes upward , and that the spirit of a beast goes downward ? as a man dies , so dies a beast , wherefore let us eat and drink , for to morrow we shall die . these are the substance of those allegations which by atheists , epicures , and machivillians are set in competition with religion : these are those engines by which the devill hath prevailed to the seduction of many , and to the entertainment of a suspicion by men , otherwise prudent and sober-minded : the main foundations upon which we differ they are these . 1. the being and providence of god . 2. the immortality of the soul . 3. the authority of the holy scripture . before we come therefore to the particular mysteries of faith , it is necessary that these be cleared before we come to settle in particular differences of religion , that we justifie our selves against the petulances of those men that would laugh and scoff us out of all religion ; crying to every party ( as they see the variable chances of the world to give occasion ) where is now their god ? indeed if there were not a god to worship , or if god did not see , and regard , and reward our worship , or had we no rule to work by , we should have none encouragement to religion : nay , upon all that happens to men in this life , we cannot but allow , that , upon their supposition , they conclude not irrationally . concurre we must with our apostle , that if in this life only we had hope , we were of all men most miserable ; but we know assuredly that thou god seest , and that thou hast given us thy holy word to be a light to our feet , and a lanthorn to our paths ; and that though now we see but through a glasse darkly , yet the time is coming when we shall see thee face to face . the state of the controversie then is this , which of the parties is in the wisest way ; the atheist thinks that the religious is a fool ; the religious , that he is a fool that saith in his heart there is no god : the athiest that the souls of men are mortall as the souls of beasts ; the religious , that the atheist is a beast to say so , &c. but such kindes of contests are vain , wherefore let 's see where the truth lies . sect. iii. of the being of god evicted by way of demonstration from the creatures . the question is , whether or no there be a god ? and here first i must entreat that it may be remembred what that party is which defends the negative , and what is the designe that we are upon , that so the following discourse be not thought uselesse or industriously set out of our ordinary road . our enemies are atheists : and that which is to be convinced is the atheisticall pronenesse of men ; so that in the controverted questions it will not be a sufficient way of answering , to say that the scriptures and the spirit of god make it evident that there is a god ; and again that the scriptures are evinced to be the word of god by the spirit of god bearing witnesse with the heart of man . it is true , that the scriptures clearly deliver that there is a god , and as true it is that god by his grace doth work the heart of man to a beleeving of the scriptures : these things they are really true to those who already are beleevers , and each of them conduceth to a confirmation of each other : but to a man that doubts of the godhead , and denies the scriptures , to use those arguments for satisfaction , were to minister a scandall to him , and by circular way of reasoning and assuming gratis the matter of the question ( for they doe no otherwise who only say , we must beleeve the scriptures to be the word of god , because god saies so , and a god we must beleeve because the scriptures say so ) to make them think we have no more to say but this , it is so because it is so : and so confirm them in their atheism and irreligion . it was a certain observation of aristotle , that {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} in every acquisition of knowledge , the understanding doth proceed from premises which were known , to the inference of a new conclusion , which was before unknown : and so was that other aphorism of his , that there is no disputation unlesse upon principles , which are confessed on both sides , and such only are the common principles of intelligence , and the plain discoveries of the senses there where the mysteries of faith are questioned ; it will not be sufficient therefore in the present case , to alledge that saying of the apostle , rom. 1. 20. for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen , being understood by the things that are made , even his eternall power and godhead ; so that they are without excuse : but we must clear , and demonstrate the truth of that allegation , by reasons taken from things visible : however , it may be lawfull for us to make use of the direction of this place , as a canon for our enquiry , although not of the authority of it , as a sufficient argument to enforce a belief from the gainsayer . i say therefore that an eternall power may beevinced from the creation of the world , and that the creation of the world may be demonstrated from the consideration of things visible , so that by reason as well as faith ( though not so readily ) we may be brought to understand that the world was made of things which disappear . i say , that the world was not eternall but created , is demonstrable from things that are visible ; our argument shall be from generation : whatsoever is begotten was begotten of some other , for nothing can possibly beget , or make it self , otherwise it will follow that the same thing is and is not both at one instant , seeing it is both the producer and the thing to be produced : it is to be produced , and so it is not yet , it is likewise a producer , and that supposeth that it is in being : it is therfore in being , and it is not in being , that 's a manifest contradiction : wherefore nothing can generate , or make , or produce it self : wherefore every thing that is begotten , is begotten of some other , and then the other which begat it either was it self in the same manner begotten , or it was not , if it was not , we are already come to the first principle which was unbegotten , and so have discovered a godhead : if it was begotten , either we must follow up the course of successive generation to some first production from a cause eternal , or else we must necessarily say that the course of generations had no beginning , and consequently that infinite successions are already past , which is as much as to acknowledge that an infinite number of successions are past , and if past , then they are at an end ; so we have found an infinite which hath had an end , that is another contradiction . again , if any shall affirm that the course of generation had no beginning , but that the number of them hath been infinite , let us put a case and reason with him : we will imagine the generations of abraham for example , and of joseph , the sonne of jacob , the son of isaack , the sonne of abraham . i demand therefore whether before the birth of abraham , there had past an infinite series of generations or not ? if the series was finite , the work of generation had beginning , which is the conclusion i contend for , if the series past was infinite , then at the birth of ioseph 't is evident that more generations were past , so we have found a number greater then that which was supposed to be infinite , and consequently that was not infinite , so it was both infinite and not infinite , a manifest contradiction : but if we say that abrahams series was infinite , and that so was iosephs also , then it will follow that the number of abrahams was equall to the number of iosephs , but abrahams was but a part of iosephs , wherefore the part is equall to the whole . else admit that abrahams was finite , but when it came to ioseph , that then the number was infinite , it follows then that a finite number added to a finite shall make an infinite , which likewise is against the common light of reason . we see therefore that supposing the eternity of the world , or the infinity of generations doth force the minde to contradictions , and consequently the fiction is vain , and utterly impossible ; and as we have argued in the way of generation , so we may likewise in every thing where there is motion or mutation , that is in all the parts of the visible world , the creation therefore of the world from the visible things thereof , is manifest , which was to be demonstrated , and from the creation of the world we may infer those invisible attributes of the eternity and power , and wisedome , and providence of god , that which rests yet to be demonstrated . sect. iv. of the attributes of god , those likewise evicted from the creatures . that which we are yet upon , it is a generall introduction to religion , and a demonstration of the necessity of it against atheists and epicures , and such as are the despisers of it : that which we pretend is that their rejection of religion cannot proceed from any considerate solid reasoning of their understanding , but from an evill disposition of their affections , which makes them , we beleeve , rather wish , and so give out that their assertions are true , then that themselves beleeve them to be so ; particularly in that grand principle and fundamentall of a god , and of a providence , from whence the rest will freely and naturally follow : we have by plain and easie demonstration evinced , that from the visible things of this world , the creation of it may be evicted : and that the apostle , although to such as were initiated in christianity , he did propose it upon the well attested authority of the spirit of god , by many mighty signs and wonders declared to be with him : although to them he thought it needlesse any more then to referre them to the naturall principles of their understandings : yet that he was not wanting to the infidels , but by designing to them so ready a topike or medium ; from whence to beginne their argument hath not deserved of the unbeleeving that slender estimation which they have been pleased to afford him : there is no action or mutation in any thing visible whatsoever , but it is performed by motion , nor any motion followed home successively through it 's causes , but will force the minde of man to a first mover , which is it self unmoved , and though for some reasons i did propose the argument in the name of generation , yet if in the place of it you should have been pleased to substitute motion in generall , or bodily action ( for either they are formally the same , or consequent at least to one another ) the variation of the terms of the argument would no way have changed the substance of the conclusion : which i intimate to give notice of the sufficiency of that argument , which in it self comprizes a multitude of others more particular , lest any advantage might possibly be made against the want of number in my argument . well , having concluded the creation , and beginning of the world , we see it follows that thence we conclude the eternall power and god-head , that is , the eternity and power of the godhead : to which that we may fully convince our atheist , we will likewise adde the wisedome , and providence , and the immensity , and other attributes of god . and first for eternity , we have by undeniable consequence resolved all motions in the world into the bosome of a first mover , and if we suppose him a first mover , this supposition will evidently conclude , that he is eternall , that is that he is without beginning of essence , or without any term or limit of duration ; for if it had any beginning of essence or duration , that beginning of being presupposeth a priority of not being ( that is , that actuall being is not of the essence of it ) and so that we may without any contradiction , suppose it not to be yet in being , that is we may bring our understanding without error to the apprehension of it as being yet in the state of power only , or potentiall being , so as things are in their causes : so then let us conceit it in this state , and compare this state with the other when it hath a being , and it evident that this passage or transition from want of being to a being cannot be without a motion , nor motion without an actuall mover : but that which moves a thing from not being to a state of being is necessarily a precedent mover to that which from it receives its being : so then that which we supposed to be the first originall mover , it will have a mover which shall of necessity have gone before it , and consequently it will be both a first and not a first mover , that is a plain and evident contradiction . instead of multiplying arguments without necessity , we will only return by the footsteps of our analysis , and so from the being of a first mover conclude the eternity : if it be a first mover , then it had no former mover , and if so , then it never was produced from not being unto being ; and if so , then it never had any beginning of its being , then it is eternall : therefore whatsoever is the first mover it must of necessity likewise be eternall . but from the common affections of things visible we did before demonstrate an originall and first mover , wherefore the visible things of this world they likewise do evict the eternity of the godhead . having demonstrated the eternity of god , the rest of his attributes , such as we are able to comprehend in this life , they all of them will follow , his necessity , independency , infinity , unity , omnipotency , omniscience . and first for his necessity : whereby i mean his necessity of being , not his necessity of operation , so as it is opposed to freedom of will and power to act , or to forbear . i say then , that the godhead is a necessary being , that is , that it is impossible it should fail , and implies a contradiction , that it should not be , that is it which divines mean , when they say it is eternall , à parte post , as well as à parte antè : for if it be not a necessary being , that is , if necessity of being be not included in the essence of the god-head , then it is not impossible that it should lose his being , that is , it is possible that it should lose his being , that is , it is in the power of something to cause it to lose his being : but nothing can passe from being to not being without a change or motion , so then the motion of it is in the power of some other , and consequently this is not the first originall of motion , but that other ; but we supposed this to be the originall of motion , and consequently , it is not possible it should be deprived of its being , that is , it is a necessary being in respect of others , and as impossible it is that it should lose its being of it self . indeed it is a manifest contradiction , that any thing should have a power over its own essence , and needs no further conviction or opposition , seeing the active power of any thing is founded in the essence of it , and consequently cannot exceed the essence or bring it not to be : however the necessity of the existence of god will be evinced from the simplicity and uncompounded property of his nature , and that from his eternity ; for imagine him to be compounded , then it must be of some principles of composition , and if so , then those principles must be presupposed to his being , and precede him in a priority of nature : so then there will be somewhat in nature before that which was before evinced , and now supposed to be eternall : and if he be a simple essence and eternall , he must be purely actuall and nothing potentiall , for if in his essence be any thing potentiall , that is , if it be in any possibility , that possibility relates to some superiour and former cause : whereas we have all this while been reasoning about the first cause and supreme : simple he is therefore and pure , and a simple act out of the bounds of possibility , and of suffering , and so again we have concluded his necessity of being . now as we have demonstrated his necessity , so likewise we may thence collect his independency . we are indeed in a great deal of blindenesse in the contemplation of the god-head , and most humbly crave leave of god to be admitted to enquire and speak after the manner of men : god doth not exact that we should exceed the measure of our understandings in our contemplation of him , or that we should deliver him as he is in himself , or otherwise then he is pleased to reveal himself to our weak and feeble understandings , and so we hope his majesty will not be offended at us , if after the manner of men we labour to deduce one attribute out of another , if withall we take this caution , that upon our dependency of inference , and the precedency and following in our discourse , we doe not conclude that succession or dependency of attributes in god , and imagine that to be in the object which is only in the organ . i could not but take this advantage for this caution now , that from his eternity , simplicity , and necessity i am concluding his independency ; this , to our understanding and discourse may well enough ( as concerning us ) depend upon those other , that is , the supposition of those will force the minde to an acknowledgement of this , but to imagine that order to be in god , were to imagine a contradiction , by putting a dependency upon the attribute of independency : if he be a simple act and pure , it is impossible he should at all depend upon another for his being : for suppose his being to depend upon another , then that other must necessarily be presupposed , and he the cause likewise of his being ; for if it depend upon another for his being , his being cannot be without that other , and so it is presupposed , and therefore it is before this in order , and as in order so in causality , for we speak of a reall and essentiall dependency , not of a logicall or notionall ; wherefore this other , and not the god-head will be a cause and a former cause ; and consequently the god-head , unlesse it be independent , will neither be the first cause , nor eternall ; contrary to that which was before demonstrated . again the simplicity and the impassibility of god will necessarily evict him to be incorporeall , seeing that every body is compounded and passible , nay we may go so farre as to say that corporeity is passibility , for corporeity is quantity , and in the last abstracted notion consists in three dimensions , but quantity is nothing else but divisibility , that is , an aptitude to suffer division , that is passibility ; whatsoever therefore is impassible , that likewise is incorporeall which was to be demonstrated . and if it be incorporeall , then likewise it is unbounded and unlimited by place , for whether place be taken for the surface of some ambient body , or for a space , the very essence of a place consists in relation to a body enclosed ; but that which is no body cannot admit of an enclosure , therefore that which is incorporeall is free from the limits and terms of place , so then it is euident that the first cause is free from the limits and restraints of place , before we proved that it was free from any limits of duration , but in the freedome from time and place consists the notion of immensity , and so the immensity of god is now demonstrated ( or , which is all one , his infinity . ) but if the god-head be infinite , then likewise it is but one , and so we may demonstrate the unity of the essence of the god-head . now that there cannot be two infinite essences we will demonstrate . but first for the help of our imagination , and to render that serviceable to our understandings , we will imagine two bodies infinite , then thus , either the one of those bodies is in all the space wherein the other body is or it is not : if they be both together in the self same space , then that which is the longitude of the one is the longitude of the other , and their latitude is the same , and so likewise their profundity the same , i say not only equall : for as from filling equallity of spaces we must inferre equality of dimensions , so from identity of space we must conclude them to have the same dimensions , but the last and most abstracted notion of a body is mathematically resolved into those dimensions , wherefore those which fill the self same space are the self same body , and so two bodies they will be but one body , which is a manifest contradiction : but if we shall say that where one of these infinite bodies is , the other is not , then there will be some space where one of these bodies is excluded , and consequently it will be limited and finite , which yet we supposed to be infinite ; so then , it will be infinite and not infinite , which is a manifest contradiction : we have demonstrated therefore that there cannot be two infinite bodies , the truth is we ought to demonstrate that there cannot be two infinite essences , but the notion of being and essence is so abstracted and high , that it would strein our understanding to keep it so long intent upon its abstracted object , as were required to goe through a demonstration where infinite simple being should be the subject , and unity the affection to be demonstrated , but if we shall proceed but to other degrees , as for example , of power , or wisedom , or the like , the demonstration will run as clear to the minde , as in the case of bodies it did to the fancy : for either those infinite powers are the same , or not the same ; if they by the same , then it is but one power which was vainly imagined to be two : but if the powers be not the same , then one power is where the other power is not ( not meaning in ubi of place , but of case ) and consequently a case where one of the powers is not , and consequently the power is limited , which yet is supposed to be infinite , there can be therefore but one infinite power , nor any more then one infinite essence , and so we have demonstrated the unity of the god-head . it remains that we demonstrate the omnipotence of god , and his omniscience : and first for his omnipotence , that god was a god of power it was demonstrated then when we found him to be the first cause , and originall mover and the creator of the world , again we demonstrated that he is simple , and free from all manner of composition , purely actuall , and consequently doth not consist of subject and accidents : his power therefore is no accident to his being , but his power is his being , and his being having been demonstrated to be immense and infinite , his power likewise must be illimited , and infinite , and conseqently he is omnipotent . the same argument will prove him likewise to be omniscient , for as he is the first cause of every thing created ; so likewise of all the created knowledge , and consequently all knowledge is derived from him , wherefore it is primitively in him , and then it follows that his knowledge and his essence is the same as well as his power , and his being ; therefore as that is infinite , so is this likewise : and so we have evicted his omnisciency , that is an infinite knowledge , which includes in it the knowledge of all particulars , for if any particular in the world were excluded it were not infinite , but limited ; so then the thoughts of the heart are open to the the view of his omniscience : and thus according to that canon of direction , which we took from the apostle , we have proceeded , and that strictly and warily , according to the laws of demonstration , and from the visible things of this world , enforcing our selves first to an acknowledgement of the creation of the world we have thence ; taking in only the common principles and common notions ( {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ) of intelligence , proceeded higher , to a demonstration of the eternall power and god-head : that is , of those attributes of the god-head , which by the irreligious and atheists have been pretended not to be ; and actually manifested that the invisible things of god may be discouered by those things which doe appear . part . ii. sect. i. a proposall of the argument for the immortality of the soul , and a manifestation of the major proposition , that incorporeall substances are immortall . the second thing which we pretended to demonstrate as a generall ground-work whereon to build a necessity of religion in the generall , it is the immortality of the souls of men ; for if in this life only we have hope , then in the judgement of the apostle , we are indeed of all men most miserable . now the truth is that we have no absolute necessity of much endeavour to clear the immortality of the soul , after so clear and demonstrative a discovery of the essence and the attributes of the god-head , seeing that a bare reflexion either upon the generall way of reasoning , whereby we came to those conclusions , or upon those simple objects of the minde , which were the subjects of every particular enquiry , must necessarily prompt us with undeniable arguments , of the spirituall and incorporeall nature of our minde , from whence will necessarily follow the naturall incorruptibility of it , that which is all that we pretend to when we say , that it is immortall : ( for it is not our meaning , that in the notion of immortality is included a necessity of being , such as relating to the power of god should put it out of a capacity of annihilation . ) yet considering the darknesse of our mindes , and that inability towards a strict and vigorous reflection , which even in those who are most practised in the contemplation of themselves , and in the scruting of the waies of their own internall operations is over-frequent ; and considering how little reason there is to expect it of those who by their way of living are more deeply engaged among things no way exceeding the affections and circumstances of bodies , and bodily motions , and perhaps may think themselves unconce●ned to be busy in the knowledge of themselves : it will be requisite that we insist more particularly upon it ; that so the matter may be cleared even to the most vulgar apprehensions , supposing only that they can but obtain so much of themselves as w●rily to attend to that which is to be delivered . now the substance of all that i shall speak towards the demonstration of the souls immortality shall be summarily comprised in this one syllogism . whatsoever substance is incorporeall it is immortall . but the souls of men are incorporeall substances , ergo , the former of these propositions is indeed in it self undemonstrable , as being a principle evident to a considering minde , and so not resolvible into any former principles , so that all that can be done to a further clearing of it will only be to examine and follow home the terms , to their first originall notions , which they are assigned to represent . indeed the word mortality , as it is usually apprehended , hath alwaies reference to a compounded substance , or to a body which hath in it self some principle and cause of motion , and signifies no more but a capacity of the materiall and passive part , to be deprived of that inward active principle of its motions , as is evident by those things which we use to say may die , or are dead , as men , and beasts , and plants : but when the question is only of that active principle , it cannot so justly be put in the terms of mortality , as of corruptibility , or a naturall tendency to a corruption : so then that which we are to strive for is the true and accurate notion of corruption , and when we have driven it to the highest , we shall finde that corruption is nothing else but a dissolution of things joyned together , and that this dissolution is nothing but a separation , and that separation is nothing but division , and that division is an immediate and â formall act of quantity , and quantity is nothing else but a mode of corporeity , so as you see that corruptibility doth even in the notion of it include corporeity : whatsoever therefore is incorporeall it is incorruptible , which was to be demonstrated . sect. ii. a proof of this proposition , that the souls of men are incorporeall substances , by comparing the affections of bodies with those of souls . but the souls of men are incorporeall substances . that they are substances is evident , seeing that they are subjects of certain properties and affections , which is the very formall notion of a substance . it remains only therefore that we demonstrate them to be incorporeall . now for the clearing of this it is requisite that we consider wherein consists the being of a body , and wherein consists the being of an humane soul : nor can we use any possible means to come to an apprehension of their being , but by considering those primary passions and properties whereby they make discovery of themselves : the first and primary affection of a body is that extension of parts whereof it is compounded , and a capacity of division , upon which as upon the fundamentall mode the particular dimensions ( that is the figures ) and the locall motions doe depend , the figure being nothing but a particular and determined extension of the matter , towards such and such parts , and locall motion being nothing but division , so that whatsoever may possibly be performed by any body , it must have its originall ground-work in divisibility , and its actuall being in division towards which the situation and figure and determined quantity of parts must make the disposition . again for the being of our souls if we reflect upon our selves we shall finde that all our knowledge of them resolves into this , that we are beings conscious to our selves of severall kindes of cogitations , that by our outward senses we apprehend bodily things present , that by our imagination we apprehend things absent , that we oft recover into our apprehensions things past and gone , that upon our perception of things we finde our selves variously affected , sometimes with pleasure or pain for things present , sometimes with hope or despair of things absent , and the like : nay , we are conscious to our selves of objects , which could not by any bodily impressions be wrought in our fancies or our brain ; and of superiour passions answerable to those objects . in one word , we finde that our souls are a kinde of essences which are conscious ( or having a sence ) of things . now then we are to compare together these two properties of a body and a soul , and so conclude either an agreement or a disagreement in the natures of those subjects . and here upon the very first view of a considering minde it will appear that divisibility is not apprehension , or judgement , or desire , or discourse , that to cut a body into severall parts , or put it into severall shapes , or bring it to severall motions , or mix it after severall waies , will not serve to bring it to apprehend or desire ; it is not the hammering and filing , and fitting of the wheels of a watch ; which can make it apprehend the end for which it serves , or comprehend the motion of the sun which it is made to measure , nor is it materiall whether we take an example in things naturall or artificiall , or upon what principles of mixture we proceed , the conclusion will be still the same ; for sence and perception , and apprehension , and desire , &c. they are as great strangers to the obscure notions of heat and cold , and moisture , and drought , and of those elements to which they are assigned , to fire , and air , and earth , and water , as they are to quantity , and scituation , and figure , and motion , and the like , there is no man certainly that can clearly apprehend , that combining any proportion of fire , and air , and water , and earth , should make the lump of it to know or comprehend what is done to it or by it : we see not then any the least inducement in our notion of bodies simple or mixed , or howsoever varied to bring us to an apprehension of cogitation . nor yet will our reflection upon our cogitation bring us to any apprehension of corporeity or divisibility : the truth is our sense and apprehension of bodies cannot infallibly assure us that there are any bodies in the world ; but we must be forced to an higher principle , whereon to ground that assurance , so farre is cogitation , and apprehension , and the like , from involving in its being any corporeity ; nay , we see manifestly , that upon the division of the body the soul remains entire , and undevided : it is not the losse of an hand , or foot , or eye , that can maim the understanding or the will , or cut off the affections : so that we have not any the least inducement under the notion of cogitation to involve division , or under the subject of cogitation to include the subject of division or divisibility , to come then to a conclusion : it doth evidently appear that corporeity consists in divisibility , and that the essence of the soul consists in being a conscious essence , or a cogitative being , to be cogitative is farre different from being divisible or extended : wherefore the essence of the soul is far different from the essence of a body : wherefore the souls of men they are incorporeall essences , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} sect. iii. a further proof of it by the generall way of apprehension . now although the truth and certainty of propositions depends not upon the multitude of arguments whereby they are concluded , and so we have already sufficiently discharged our undertaking ; yet something shall be further added towards the discovery of the spirituality of the soul , to shew that it doth farre exceed the sphere of corporeity , and is not confined by the streightning boundary of sense : this will appear from all the kindes of apprehension of the souls ; that is , from 1. way of apprehending . 2. simple apprehension . 3. judgement . 4. discourse . and first of all from the very way of our apprehensions in the generall , from our apprehensions even of sensible objects , for however we are apt to imagine that those may be performed by bodies , upon an exact scrutiny we shall finde it otherwise : that this may appear we shall do well to observe and take off an errour , which even from our childehood we have taken in : it is a common beleef of ours , that sence is performed in the outward organs , touching , for example in the hand , seeing in the eye , and so of the rest : ( in them , i say , and not only by them ) and then we put our selves to no further trouble , for to know how sence is made , then only to thinke that something hot toucheth the hand , and so the hand feels heat , that the image of some body appears in the eye , and so the eye sees the body ; briefly , that sence is performed either by an immediate contact , as in touching and tasting , or by a resemblance , which by the object is wrought in the organ , and that in the matter of sensible perception there is no exceeding the power of these two bodies , the object , and the organ ; nor any superiour operation to that which may be performed by the application of severall bodies : but to take off this imposture of the sences , i shall need to doe no more , but to demonstrate that all our sense is immediatly performed in the brain , and not in the limbs or organs : we will instance only in the sences of feeling and sight . and first that our feeling is performed in the brain by the mediation of the nerves it is made manifest by our observation of such diseases as take away the sense of feeling , how that the seat of those diseases , it is not in the limbs but in the head , palseys , epilepsies , apoplexes , and the rest : the seat of them is in those parts of the brain from whence doe spring those nerves by which our operations are performed , and the way or remedy for restitution of our feeling , it is to take away those obstructions from the brain , whereupon the effect doth follow ; now all this were needlesse , if sence were performed immediatly in the limbs themselves : indeed it may possibly be imagined , that in those cases we are therefore deprived of sence , because our motion is intercepted , that there is some activity towards sence depending upon the motion of the limbs : although there be no visible strength in this objection , yet there are sufficient instances to take it off , seeing there either are or lately were examples living of such as had no sense at all of feeling , and yet performed their locall motions perfectly . moreover many unquestionable experiments have been made of such as have affirmed that they have felt in such a finger , and such a toe , and after their hands or their legs have been cut off . many other instances and arguments may be brought to prove , that the sense of feeling is not performed in the outward limbs . and secondly , for the sense of seeing , that that likewse is not performed in the eye , it is as evident , the cause why it would seem to be so , is because it is very evident that the images of things do indeed passe thither , and are conveighed after diverse refractions and reflexions through the coats and humours of the eye , to the bottome of that tunicle which is called retiformis . hence it is obvious to conclude that vision is therefore performed within the eye . but if this were so , beside that no reason could be given why with both our eyes and two images of it , we see but one thing : it would necessarily follow that we could not see any quantity bigger then our eye in its naturall scituation , for if images were seen in the eye , they would be seen as they are in the eye , but in the bottom of the eye the images of things are inverted , and consequently the things themselves would seem to be inverted , men would seem to us with their heads below and their feet above , that which is on the right hand would seem to be on the left . now that the images are there inverted , besides the demonstrative reasons that so it must be , we may at any time make experiments to attest to those demonstrations . it is impossible but that the visuall beams of larger objects must intersect each other in the eye , and by that cutting one the other , the scituation of the parts must be inverted , and thus much hath ever been apprehended , and confest by all those that have understood the laws of radiation , but some conceiving that by an inverted species an object could not be seen upright , have with mighty industry devised most ingenious errours concerning waies of refraction , whereby the coats and humours of the eye should come to reerect the image before it comes to the nerve , whereby vision is performed , but time and experience have evicted all those witty speculations to have been nothing but snbtile and fine impostures of the fancies of their authours , aery reasons of a vain and ungrounded supposition : for it is evident to him that will take the pains to take off all the muscles and tunicles , which serve for the feeding and motion of the eye , and clear that part only where the visuall nerve is fastened , then darkening a room , and only leaving an hole sufficient to receive this eye , and will stand behinde it , and look through it ; to such an one it will be evident , that the images of things without are inverted in the bottome of the eye , at the place where is the passage of the visuall nerve , and consequently as feeling was not performed in the hand , so neither is seeing in the eye , but both of them in the brain . but before things are conveighed to the brain all the corporall similitude will quite be marred , the image of a man cannot be carried whole , through the optive nerve into the hollow of the brain , nor the figure , or other quality of that we touch be carried quite along the nerves , from the fingers ends unto the head , and originall of the nerves : but all that can be imagined to be done in the brain , it is some motion and alteration made either by a vellification of the nerves , or by a vaporous and spirituous substance , passing through them which retains no signature or naturall sculpture of those things which are apprehended by them ; all that is done by the bodies , the object and the subject it is utterly of another kinde : there is no naturall similitude betwixt a motion in the forepart of the head , and betwixt an horse which it represents , our apprehensions of things they are farre beyond those means by which they are occasioned , and consequently the subjects of these apprehensions do far exceed the subjects of those poor and grosse productions , that is , the nature of souls is far other and better then that of bodies , which was to be demonstrated . sect. iv. the same further demonstrated from the severall acts of the soule , from simple apprehensions . having demonstrated the souls of men to be incorporeall substances , from the comparison of their properties with the affections of bodies , and therein finding no agreement or correspondency , and moreover from the generall way of our operations , which could not possibly proceed from variety , or subtilest applications of bodily substances . it remains that at this time we consider the severall kindes of the cogitations of men , and from the simple apprehension , judgement , discourse , conclude the immortality thereof . first of all from simple apprehension , which is the first operation of the understanding of man both in nature and time , and is the taking in of simple objects into the minde , and so furnishing it with materials for judgement and discourse ; we shall finde then the souls incorporeity if we shall but reflect upon such simple ideas in it self which represent things in themselves incorporeall , for a corporeall thing can neither be the idea of an incorporeall being , neither can an incorporeall , immateriall be subjected in a materiall or corporeall : we found before that the application of bodies could not perform that which we call the sense of bodies , much lesse then can that produce in us ideas incorporeall , yet such and very many such we finde to be within our souls . we finde in our selves ideas of spirituall substances , as of god and angels and of their simple and incorporeall properties and attributes , it is but returning back and recalling into our remembrances those demonstrations of the severall attributes of the godhead , to which we did arise , even from the visible things of this world , and they will satisfie us in this particular : our endeavour there was to demonstrate the truth of them in themselves , here to consider the way and manner of their objective existence in our apprehensions , and the truth of demonstration which satisfies the souls of men : it is that clear agreement betwixt the understanding and the object , that is , that things be in the understanding as they are in themselves . we clearly then demonstrated god to be an immateriall substance , wherefore we gained an apprehension of a substance immateriall and incorporeall , and of immateriall properties , and consequently the notions of the godhead , and his attributes were in our understandings incorporeally , and so they are incorporeall . it cannot here be denied but that in our ordinary and transient thoughts and discourses , we are very apt together with spirituall beings to draw into our fancies the images of things corporeall ; for example , when we speak of god we are very apt to have in our fancies the visible heavens , and a representation of something sitting or acting in them : when we think or speak of angels we are apt to call to our remembrances the shapes of beautifull winged , aery bodies , and so when we meditate upon eternity , we are apt to reflect upon the image of time , of the revolution of the sun and starres , which are the usuall measures of it , at leastwise of a successive duration of things , and there are diverse of us which terminate our thoughts in these images , and never obtain a flight beyond them , nor ever come to observe in our souls the difference betwixt imagination and intellectuall apprehension ; but yet notwithstanding when we have the patience to stay upon the consideration of these objects , and warily attend to that inward light which we bear about us , we presently reject these images from the essence of god , and angels , and eternity , and by discourse we strip off these materiall and grosse representations , and finde that the causes why upon such occasions as these they come into our mindes , is , because we commonly hear of them together , and because of those symbolicall expressions of these beings which have delivered to us the knowledge of these . god almighty cals himself the ancient of daies , and it is not our custome to imagine any thing but cloathed with circumstances , in some place , and the place that is usually mentioned with god , it is the heavens , and those heavens which are the object of our senses and imagination , it is the place of the sunne , and moon , and starres ; and so we are apt to form to our selves an image of god , or at least through incogitancy to let slip into our thoughts a fancy of some reverend image sitting above the firmament . thus likewise the descriptions of the angels , they are usually made to us in scriptures by such representations : we see nothing fairer then our own kinde , and so we conceive of them in the fairest shapes we can imagine , ( and contrariwise of the devils in the most ugly ) assigning to them wings , because under such forms the notion of of them is veiled to us . and yet at the same time we know , and can perhaps demonstrate evidently , that if god were a body , he could not be a god , that is , that the properties of a bodily substance can no way agree with that notion of the god-head , which is immoveably fastened in the very essence of our souls . we know habitually that the nature and essense of the angels that stood , it is the same with those that fell away ; however we have fair and pleasant imaginations usually when we speak of those of light ; and foul , and ugly , when we think of those that are in chains of utter darknesse : however the name of michael and his arch-angels recall into our mindes the images of the fairest of the children of men , and that of beelzebub the image of a dragon . so likewise the common measure of the duration of things , wherewith we usually converse , they are hours and daies , and moneths , and years , and these are made by the revolution of the sun , and of the starres , and those are attended with severall positions of them in respect of themselves , and us with light and darkness , cold and heat , winter and summer , and those other vicissitudes , and speaking of eternity we presently think of a long continuance , and so call into our imagination a long continued series of these revolutions and vicissitudes ; whereas yet we know that where there is a vicissitude there is a priority , and where there is a priority there must be a beginning , and where there was a beginning that was not eternall : 't is plain that if in eternity there were such parts as daies and years , there must be as many millions of years , as minutes , and so that a minute were equall really to a thousand years , and so it follows clearly that eternity even in our notion is an infinite and undivided unsuccessive duration . these examples are sufficient to shew the difference betwixt the intellectuall apprehension of things , and the imagination which accompanies our superficiall thoughts , our slight and cursory taking them to our mindes and to illustrate that , however in our fancies we may have corporeall representations , attending upon these spirituall beings , yet the idea's whereby the understanding apprehends those simple essences , are incorporeall , and consequently the understanding part of man is incorporeall . sect. v. from judgement and discourse . and now whatsoever of perfection may be evinced to be in the souls of men , from the simple apprehensions of single objects , may much more strongly be concluded from those more perfect operations , exercised in comparing severall things together , and working out the truths , striking forth the light from those collisions . a judgement takes in two severall simple terms , and upon them passeth the sentence of their agreement or disagreement . a discourse takes into consideration two of the judgements already past and decided by the soul , and from those two draws forth a third , and so brings into act those truths which folded in their causes lie in the secret places of the soule concealed from it self . now as the souls of men are conscious to themselves of certain essences within themselves , which neither in their being nor in their operation upon the soul are any way mixed with ought that is corporeall ; and so from thence the incorporeity of the soul was immediatly concluded , so here in these second and third operations of the soul , we have this further advantage , that however the simple objects which are the terms in the matters of judgement may be bodies , yet the acts of judging and discerning and reasoning , they are no bodily acts , nor come within the compasse of bodily motions to be performed , and that even in those things which are most obvious to the outward sences or the inward , the understanding part is yet carried away farre beyond the bounds and territories of the sences , and raises it self into the contemplation of causes of the things it either sees or hears , or otherwise perceives and frames to it self consequences and corrolaries , such as are not sensible but are only discoverable by a diviner light , by this diviner faculty it is that seizing upon any thing whatsoever , and fixing it self steddily upon the contemplation of it , it passeth from the most contemptible of creatures up to the incomprehensible creator , it climbs up by degrees , and passing through the continued chain of causes till it comes to that link which is fastened to the chair of god , it rests not in things below , but soars up steddily to immensity and eternity . it is by this faculty , that upon sight of the causes of things , it doth foresee the effects and consequences : and seeing the effects it makes to it self a conclusion of what must be the causes , and by frequent exercise in these contemplations attains to a kinde of mastery over the works of nature , and produceth things strange and wonderfull in operation , it applies the active powers unto the passive ( as the schoolmen speak ) and so imitates god and nature in great and marvellous conclusions . he observes the properties of a despicable stone , and is carried so farre in the contemplation of the consequences of those properties that he dares adventure himself vpon the huge unruly ocean , under the conduct and direction of it , and he findes experience to answer to his contemplation , he gets the mastery of that unruly boisterous element : he rides securely upon the back of the dark waters : he makes a needle touched with a stone to supply the place of the stars of heaven : when the eyes of heaven are veiled from him amidst the darke waters and thicke clouds of the skey ; he examines all the chambers of the sun , and imitates him in compassing the world , he goes out from the east , and returns again from the west ; returns , and that loaden with the treasures of the world , with the blessings which moses did assign to joseph , deu. 33.13 . the precious things of heaven for the dew , and for the deep , that coucheth beneath , the precious fruits brought forth by the sun , and the precious things put forth by the moon , the chief things of the ancient mountains , and the precious things of the lasting hils , the precious things of the earth , &c. he settles a correspondency betwixt the utmost distants of the world , and opens a traffique betwixt nations opposite in place , in manners and affections , such as had lien concealed from the knowledge of one another , even almost from the time of the ark that floted upon the waters , but what do i speak of these things ? he displays the banner of christ in the regions of death and hell ; he sheds forth the glorious light of the gospel to the people that sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death : what sensible analogy or correspondency is there betwixt the scituation or motion of a stone , and the salvation of mankinde , and yet by various consequences he discovers how by the means of that , this likewise may be effected ; he discovers it , and puts it in a successefull and happy execution . what is there more contemptible then a stone ? hardly any thing that is a substance , and yet it is much lesse contemptible then a shadow , he observes a shadow , and that carries him aloft to a contemplation , and a discovery of that most glorious creature which comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber , and rejoyceth as a giant to runne his course : from the shadow he riseth to the sunne in the firmament , and to a perfect understanding of his course in the ecliptique , and then brings back again his understanding to the shadow , he makes thereby an instrument that shall designe to the eye the daily circuits of its motion : his eye that gave occasion to his minde to discover them in contemplation , and now his minde is impregnated with the light of knowledge , and returns with usury to the senses that occasionall advantage which they afforded it , and gives them the pleasure of the viewing of its practise it gives the eye and hand directions for drawing of lines , which by the regular application of a stick , or wire , stone , or any other body shall discover not only the divisions of the day , the hours that are past , or else to come , but even all the mysteries of the sunnes motion : how it measures out the night , and in what quantity it dispences out the day : how near are his approaches at noon , and how farre distant he is from us at midnight ; by what degrees he draws towards us , and how by eqnall measures he retreats ; how he riseth from his greatest southern declination to the north , and from thence returns again to his chambers in the south , having touched the boundaries that he cannot , he must not passe ; and how in this his continuall progresse he dispenses the severall seasons of the year , what time he enters into every sign , when he beginnes to rejoyce the hearts of any of the nations by his presence , and what time he leaves them in the darknesse : these are but some few and lesse considerable of those wonders which are performed by that which hath no being . to insist upon it how the reason and wit of man hath found out severall arts and sciences , from principles most contemptible , how it ariseth to most admirable speculations , and upon poor beginnings to what issues it brings ; how it can give the height or distance to which it never can approach , how by the application of a piece of wood or other matter to the eye , it can assigne the distances and places and motions , and appearances of the starres of heaven , and foretell the positions and combinations of the planets , the ecclipses of the sunne and moon to the generations to come : how it corrects the judgements of the senses , and demonstrates that to be farre greater then the world , which the eye presents no bigger then a bushell , nay , no bigger then the rowell of a spurre : to insist upon such things as these , were to be prodigall and superarrogate in proving the incorporeall nature of the souls of men , and yet all these are nothing to those more ordinary things which it performs when it assignes and prescribes to it self laws of mutuall signification by things which have no similitude , when it designes notions to sounds , and sounds to letters , and upon hearing the voice soule , or seeing the word man , we call into our mindes the things which i have spoken of him , things which cannot be performed by the collision of atomes , the motions or dispositions of parts or quantities , but must be the issues of spirituall essences : such therefore are the souls of men , and so they are immortall . sect. vi . an application of the former propositions to the inference of a religion in generall , and a proposall of the third in order to the christian . the third thing which i propounded to speak of by way of preparation to the entertainment of the principles of our religion , it was the authority of the holy scriptures , that which we have already demonstrated was of a more generall designe , this comes to be more particular , that was against atheisme and irreligion , this against superstition , and the false religions of the world , the will-worships of the heathen and the jews , and of a party of those that do professe the name of christ . out of what hath already been delivered , a necessity of religion in the generall will result , for it is the first consequence of reason from the consideration of the attributes of god , and the condition and properties of the souls of men , for having by necessary force of argument drawn up the vast number of mankinde to one originall cause , even to god as their creatour , we cannot chuse if we will insist upon that consideration but fall upon a necessity of religion . for if god have created man he must have done it for some end and purpose , seeing he is an intelligent agent , and such agents as work with understanding , they alwaies work upon designe , and propound some good to themselves in all their actions , for they cannot be supposed to work but upon desire , and the object of desire is only goodnesse ; if now we employ all our wit and our invention to discover what good can accrue to the god-head by the creation of man , we can finde none that is imaginable in the way of profit or of gain : that which the psalmist hath layed down is a conclusion following from the light of reason as well as from the speciall revelations of the holy scripture that our goodnesse extendeth not to god , and it was a question , which might with good congruity fall from eliphaz the temanite , job 22. 1. can a man be profitable to god , as he that is wise may be profitable to himself ? is it any pleasure to the almighty that thou art righteous ? or is it any gaine to him that thou makest thy way perfect ? and the matter of gain being excluded from the end of god in our creation , if we runne over all the objects of pleasure which come within the spheres of the souls of men , we shall finde no pretence of reason for any thing of ours to please the almighty , and so to be assigned as an intelligible cause of our creation , but the delight which the god-head might take in the communication of his goodnes , in the explication or unfolding of those glories which lay enwrapped within it self , in having something ( if i may so speak ) without and besides it self , which might be apprehensive of the excellencies of it , might be subject and conformed , and might perform towards it the acts of glorification and praise . so then the glorifying of god is all the end that can be found out why god should ever have created us : and the next thought to this conclusion of our reason must be of the waies and means whereby he may be glorified by us : and there again when we shall have run over all the waies imaginable , we can fasten upon none other then the admiration of his excellency , the adoration of his majesty , the obedience to his will . and these are the acts and performances of religion , so that the consideration of the god-head and his attributes , doe naturally cast us upon a necessity of religion . now as the consideration of the god-head doth naturally enforce a necessity of religion , so doth likewise the consideration of the immortality of the souls of men : for if we shall but consider , that our souls shall never fail of their existence , but continue in being to all eternity , we can hardly avoid the thoughts of the shortnesse of our duration in this world , or the comparison of the time of our duration here , with that other continuance which doth abide for us hereafter : and if we will have the patience in our thoughts to insist upon the proportion of a few years unto an unlimited , and unmeasurable eternity , we shall unavoidably fall upon this judgement , that our condition here is no way comparable to that which shall be : that momentany pleasure bears no proportion to eternall happinesse or eternall misery : that these light afflictions which are but for a moment , are not to be compared either to the joys or miseries which are to be expected , and consequently that our care for this life ought not , nor cannot in common prudence equall our care for eternity . so then whatsoever befals us here we shall conclude it requisite to provide that we be not miserable hereafter , and consequently that we make our selves a friend of him that hath the issues of death in his power , and moderates and dispenses the rewards of eternity : but there is no way to have him propitious to us , but by obedience , no reason to expect that he should satisfie our longing , or fulfill our will to all eternity , unlesse we fulfill his will for our time of triall in this life , and that is by the exercise of religion only attainable . so that the consideration of the souls immortality will likewise enforce us to a necessity of religion . thus farre the common principles of naturall reason will force us , even the first and most common principles of intelligence , such as are grounds of clear , evident , and perfect demonstration ; so that it must be the fool alone , as the psalmist speaks , which can be an atheist , so that they are without excuse whoever glorifie him not as god : thus farre those poor remains of sight which yet is left to the corrupted off-spring of our degenerate parent will serve to leade us , to the generall necessity of religion : but here indeed it jeaves us destitute of the certain waies of pleasing god : and consequently destitute of clear and solid grounds of hope of attaining to eternall happinesse . and here it is that the scoffers and irreligious men take occasion to reason themselves and others to destruction : seeing that nature hath here deserted us , and left us no infallible rules of particular waies of devotion , they contend that ther are none such , and consequently that our religion is vain and uncertain , uncertain in the issue because uncertain in the grounds and principles . and here now against them we pretend that wherein our naturall light hath failed us , the mercy of god hath been pleased to supply us , that god hath not left us without a certain rule and canon of religion , not without a light shining to us in this dark place , particularly that he hath given to us his holy word to be a light to our feet , and a lanthorn to our paths , and that the books of the holy scriptures are that word of god . part . iii. concerning the truth and authority of our scripture . sect. i. petitions and cautions premised to the question . you will doe me the favour to consider that our present controversie is against those that deny the authority of the holy scriptures , so that we cannot have the advantage of those arguments which in every other controversie of religion are the most valid : i mean arguments drawn from the authority of the scriptures themselves , which is the best , if not the only authentike rule of decision of such differences as doe arise ; such as doe indeed arise in the church of god , who all doe agree in a profession of that faith which is delivered in these holy books , this i say they agree upon in these generall tearms , however with wonderfull heat and distance they vary in their judgements whether or no some particulars be of the recommendation of the scripture . it is then the common principle of christians , and the ultimate rule for the judgement of those that are within : but as for them that are without the church they ae likewise out of the jurisdiction of this canon , or judge , and to give over their incredulity ( or rather infidelity ) as some of our divines have done with this ill-interpreted axiome for rejection , that they deny our principles , and so are not worthy to be disputed with , or to referre them only to the {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} of the scriptures , and to the spirit working with the reading and hearing of them , it might be to prove a scandall to them without ; and to such as are weak and wavering within , it were tacitely to imply , that we have no way to gain the question , unlesse our of courtesie the adversary be pleased to yeild it to us , to resolve the motives of our catholique faith into private impulses and particular dictates of the spirit ( arguments of very great credit and reputation due to our selves as particular favorites of the holy spirit , but such as being deserted by the tenor and regiment of our lives , render us dishonourable to that holy spirit whereto we pretend , whilest in the apprehension of men we doe at least obliquely entitle it to such actions as are inconsistent with it , professing we hold our faith by private revelation , and consequently have our understandings taken up by the holy ghost at such time as our wils are guilty of enormous sinnes . ) a fancy that is the mother of diverse prodigies lately broken into the church , as that either god sees no sinne in beleevers , that murther , adultery , incest , sacrilege , ( any thing ) may be committed , and that these are no sinnes in beleevers , arguing thus , that they which have the holy spirit are free from sinne , such as do beleeve the gospel they have the holy spirit , because there is no other motive sufficient besides a private illumination , so then they cannot be guilty of sinne , but yet they may , and doe commit such things as those we mentioned ; wherefore those are no sinnes . thus doth satan transform himself into an angel of light , and act his tragedies in the likenesse of the holy spirit : nay we say , and doe beleeve that the devils also beleeve and tremble , that the kingdome of heaven is like a net which drew to shore fishes of all sorts , some to be put into vessels , and others to be thrown away . we say and doe acknowledge to the glory of god , that the internall light of the holy scriptures is sufficient to make the man of god perfect to salvation , and that in some it is the means of generating faith in men , but that the most of those beleevers who have the happinesse to be trained up from their infancy in any part of the christian church ; by observing the esteem which in their church is had of those holy bookes , they doe betimes upon the reputation of their church receive them with a kinde of veneration , that upon this motive they receive the faith ; and that others doe upon other inducements entertain it , and once for all we say , that besides the secret and free illuminations of the holy spirit , these want not arguments to enforce the reason of unbvassed men to entertain the scripture as the word of god , and that all such as without the engagement of perverse affections shall admit those arguments in their apprehensions must necessarily be of that belief . before i betake my self to the proof of this assertion , i must premise that by the books of the holy scripture , i mean such books of the old and new testament as in the church of england have been accounted canonicall , and that i intend not here to take up the controversie which is betwixt the church of rome , and us concerning the books which are apocryphall , the drift of my discourse being against those who beleeve too little , and not those who beleeve too much . secondly , i must premise that we are not here to expect the necessity of demonstrations , but must content our selves with such arguments as the nature of our subject will admit : there can be no true and perfect demonstration , unlesse the property to be demonstrated do naturally flow from the subject of the demonstration . in matters then depending upon the free election of causes there cannot possibly be any perfect demonstration , and such is the giving of a rule of life in respect of god , so that there cannot be a perfect demonstration of it . so then we must content our selves with arguments falling short of the necessity of demonstration , but such as no man shall be able to deny , without denying some such principles as all men doe acknowledge to be true . sect. ii. the assertion resolved into two propositions , the former undertaken , that whosoever beleeves the historicall part of the scripture must beleeve the doctrinall . 1. to beleeve that these books of scripture are the word of god , there are very great and important reasons . 2. to disbeleeve it there are no reasons , or not any sufficient reasons . and first of all , to prove that those bookes of scriptures are the word of god , it is sufficient if we prove the truth of them , because themselves pretend to be of divine inspiration . all scripture is of divine inspiration , the tenor of the old testament runnes generally so , the lord spake unto moses or other of the prophets , such as were the penmen of the holy scripture , indeed the generall pretence of those that wrote both testaments , is , that holy men did speak and write , as they were inspired by the holy ghost , so then , if this pretence of it be true , it must be true , that it proceeded from the holy ghost , and consequently to prove the truth of it will conclude that it is the word of god . now as concerning the truch of those writings we have 1. the same arguments or as great as for the truth of any writings in the world . nay 2. we have arguments ( morall arguments ) to evince the truth of them , such as no other writings can pretend to . that we may shorten that we have to perform , you may consider that the things delivered to us in the holy scriptures are either matters of history or doctrine , and that these are frequently interwoven in the scripture , so as when saint matthew doth in an historicall narration bring in our saviour preaching in the mount , and delivering there a summary of his doctrine , so that it will appear that if the historicall part of the scripture be undoubtedly true there cannot rationally be any doubt made of those doctrinall rules and precepts which there are delivered . as for the doctrine of any party whatsoever concerning god there is not imaginable any argument so ready to evince the truth of it as god himself , freely attesting to the deliverers of it by mighty signes and wonders , by great and undeniable miracles , such as are instances of the immediate hand of god ; such as by skillfull and knowing men are acknowledged to be no way performable by the praestigatory act of magicians , or by the power of evill spirits . such were the miracles which are delivered to us by moses all along the course of gods bringing the children of israel out of egipt to his own land ; and afterwards wrought by the prophets . and such were the works of our blessed saviour all along the course of his ministry before his passion , and such and more admirable was his resurrection and ascention . whosoever doth beleeve , that there was such a man as moses , that this man moses did professe himself to have received from god a law , which was to be delivered to a people , he may hitherto very well doubt , whether or no he was not deceived , in imagining that he had received such a law . but if withall he shall be assured or stedfastly beleeve , that this man moses , to make good his pretences to gods revelations , could obtain so much of god as , to the eyes and senses of millions of gainsayers and opposers of what he did deliver , to shew great and palpable miracles : whosoever doth beleeve that he did turn a rod into a serpent , and that back again into a rod ; that by stretching forth that rod upon the river nilus he turned their waters into bloud , and slew their fish : how afterwards he brought frogs upon all the land of egipt , even into their kings chambers ; how he brought flies , and caterpillars , and lice , and thunder , and lightning , and mighty hail-stones ; how he brought botches and murrain amongst men and cattell ; how he brought upon all the land of egypt a darknesse that might be felt , and slew their first-born ; afterwards how he divided the red sea for the people to passe through it , and when he had served the turn of his party , how the flouds returned and overwhelmed his enemies ; he that shall beleeve that after this he brought water out of the rock , sweetned the waters of marah , brought quails into the wildernesse , procured manna to fall about their tents all the week , and none upon the sabbath ; how the fire from heaven consumed nadab and abihu , only for adventuring to offer strange fire , otherwise then he had prescribed them ; that the earth opened and swallowed up korah , and covered the congregation of abiram ; that at the time of the promulgation of his laws , god himself appeared visibly , that the glory of his presence overshadowed the mount , how there were thunder and lightnings , and a thick cloud upon the mount , exo. 19. how mount sinai was altogether on a smoak , because the lord descended upon it in fire , and the smoak thereof ascended as the smoak of a furnace , and the whole mountain shaked exceedingly . whosoever beleeves these works to have been done by the same party that professed a revelation from god , cannot avoid the beleif of his profession , unles he can beleeve that god by so great miracles would attest to blasphemy and sacrilegious impostures , a thing which is palpably mad to be beleeved , and is against the light of common sense and reason . so likewise whosoever doth beleeve that in the daies of augustus caesar there was such a man as jesus of nazareth , commonly called christ , and that this man did professe himself the sonne of god , and pretended to deliver to all the world a way of religion , a covenant of life eternall , an abrogation of the ceremonies of the former law , and those other things which he professed , there is no necessity that he should beleeve that either he was the son of god , or that his doctrine was infallible . but if together with these professions he shall take into beleif those things which jesus did , though for his owne sake he see no reason to beleeve him , yet at least he will beleeve for the works sake , if he shall beleeve that god himself did attest to these professions , he will likewise beleeve those professions of his to have been true , and gods attestation he will beleeve , if he shall beleeve that a little before his birth a company of angels appeared to shepherds and told them of it ; that presently after it a starre appeared to wise men in the east , and conducted them to the place of his nativity : that in his life time he did such works as never man did : how he turned water into wine , commanded the windes and the sea : how he cured all manner of diseases with his word , how he gave sight to such as were born blinde● which was never known since the world began , how he cured most obstinate diseases of long continuance meerly by the touching of his garment : how he cast out devils from such as were possessed : how he raised up the dead to life , and every way demonstrated the power and presence of the god-head , how at the time of his crucifixion the frame of nature seemed to be dissolved ; how the vail of the temple rent , and the graves opened , and many bodies of the dead , which slept , arose , and came into the holy city , and appeared to many ; how there was darknesse over all the earth , the sunne eclipsed at the time of the jewish passeover , when the moon was at the full ; and lastly how after three daies he arose again , appeared severall times to his apostles , gave them power to perform the miracles which he had done , and visibly ascended up into heaven : whosoever doth beleeve these matters of fact , must of necessity beleeve the doctrines which he beleeved ; unlesse he will accuse god of bearing false witnesse , or own some such other detestable and odious incongruity . you see then , how the matters of fact being cleared , and the historicall narrations being asserted to be true , the doctrinall parts will follow of their owne accord : and that if we can clear such things to have been performed by moses , and jesus of nazareth , and that such doctrines were delivered by them ; it follows that those doctrines are true , and are the word of god . sect. iii. the kindes and degrees of the causes of historicall faith in generall . it remains therefore , that we make it appear that the sacred histories are true , and that no man , pretending to reason , can justly refuse to admit that principle into his beleef ; there being 1. the same reason to beleeve those histories , that there are to beleeve any histories . 2. more reason to beleeve them then any other . first then , whosoever doth deliberate with himself , about that question , whether or no he should give credit to any history propounded , can possibly finde no other considerations to sway his judgement , then such , as either are taken from the thing it self that is delivered , or from the persons which have delivered the relation , and from such qualifications of them as upon the grounds of reason he can discover , if the matter it self doe involve a clear and evident contradiction to some naturall principles , it is not the asseveration of all the men of the world that can work a beleif in the understanding : it not being in the power of man to entertain a beleif contrary to his knowledge , although it may produce in him a doubting , whether or no he have not suffered any fallacy to be imposed upon him , and so be wrought to runne over the matter again unto himself , and follow it with strict and wary attention backwards and forwards in reference to his principles . but if the thing it self be not incredible , however difficult or strange it be , that which then he doth consider is , the qualities of the relators , and the manner of the relation , and there is not any improbability proceeding from the difficulty or the rarity of the accidents , which may not be outweighed by the known disposition and properties of the relators . those things which men doe consider in the relators of things in order to yeelding of their belief , they relate either to the of the relators , understanding or will and concern either their sufficiency , or integrity . men usually consider whether or no the things be such as may be certainly and evidently known , and whether these parties had sufficient means to come to the certain knowledge of them , and whether they contain themselves in their relations within the bounds of things liable to certain knowledge : thus then those things which may be certainly known they are the outward events of things , whereas the secret causes may lie concealed , the former are such as are the objects of common sence , and come within the cognizance of all : the later are such as are indiscoverable by any man , they being oftentimes made up of a complexion of actions and dispositions of multitudes of men ; or things perfectly to be known , onely of him that sees all things in speculo aeternitatis . if the history ( or relation ) containe it selfe within the bounds of evidence and certainty , the next thing to be considered is , whether or no the party that is author of the relation had sufficient meanes of knowledge ; whether himself were an eye or eare-witnesse of the things which he relates ; or whether the things were so publikely acted and knowne , that he might certainely , and particularly informe himselfe , without any danger of deceit . if the party be of known ability , both in himself , and in reference to the things , the next question will be of his integrity , and whether there be sufficient reason to beleeve , that he would not voluntarily deliver a falshood , in stead of truth , and because it is not reason to beleeve that men will lye , unlesse they either be known to be corrupt or some end be visible of gain to them from their lying . men use to consider these things likewise before they settle upon beleef . these are the grounds and considerations , and inward discourses whereupon men doe proceed to the receiving of historicall beleef , even of any relations whatsoever : and accordingly as all of these conditions be clear or obscure , doubtfull or certain , such is the strength of his belief ; if all of them concurre there remains no reason at all of doubting : if some of them fail , there will follow a debility , answerable in the belief ; seeing that the belief of the conclusion can never exceed the force and evidence of the premisses . that there is or lately hath been such a city as rome , or hierusalem , or paris , there are none of us that doubt , although we have not seen them ; because they are things very easily known , as being the objects of the eyes , because the reporters have been there to see them , and because no end or reason can be imagined why or how men should combine to abuse those that have not travelled . that there have been formerly such cities as corinth , and philippi , and lacedemon , &c. we make even as little doubt as of the former , because the things in their nature are evidently to be known , and they have all of them been mentioned in the books of polybius or plutarch , or a multitude of historians that knew them . that the history of caesars warre against the gaules is true , though written by himself , it is beleeved , because of his abilities to know , and because it makes not things appear to be strained in his behalf , because it might have been contradicted if it had been otherwise , and because he is delivered to us in the complexion of histories as a man of honour that would not write a lye . that the histories of salust are true , it is beleeved because he wrote of things done within the compasse of his time whereof he might well informe himself , he was a man of knowledge and could not gain by any thing that he hath delivered if it were untrue . that all of these histories were written by those that bear the name of them , there is hardly any man that doubts , because there is no improbability in reason : they have been constantly so received in the world , and mentioned successively in authors following one another from their severall generations down to ours . we see the various degrees of qualifications ( some of them ) upon which we build an historicall beleif , that this beleif comes short of the clearnesse of our assent to a mathematicall demonstration is evident , because there is an absolute impossibility that things should be otherwise , there being a contradiction involved in the very tearms , and in adjecto : but here is no impossibility but only an exceeding difficulty which makes up ( not indeed a mathematicall but ) a morall impossibility ; it is possible that all men may combine together to say that they have seen such things as they have not seen , because every man is a lyar : but how they should come to doe it , or to what end is so invisible and inconceivable , that the matter , taken in the grosse , is altogether incredible . it is absolutely possibly that all those writings which we receive as delivered down from ancient times , may have been of late devised by some men to abuse the world , and put upon other names : but to what end , any men should ttke the pains , and how they should fit them with circumstances , and make them all depend upon each other , in a constant succession , agreeing in the mention of persons , places , and actions , is a thing so difficult , as that it would argue madnesse to beleeve , and conclude him to want the use of reason , that should reject the light of all antiquity . sect. iv. an application of those generall grounds to the history of the new testament , and a proof of this assertion , ' that there is as great reason to beleeve the new testament as to beleeve any other history in the world . such madnesse then , and no lesse it were to reject the histories of the holy scriptures ; no lesse madnesse ? nay , it is much greater , and that not only because they are of more concernment to us then the acts of men of former times , but even because of the advantages of the delivery of those histories . we will beginne with those of the new testament . and here first , the books of the new testament were written by those whose names they bear ; that the four gospels were written by the four evangelists , and that the acts of the apostles were written by saint luke , &c. now that these books were written by these men , it is impossible affirmatively to demonstrate ; all that can be said is , that there is as great evidence of it as of any other writing in the world ; that by whatsoever argument it can be made appear that any books have been written by those who are reputed for their authours in antiquity , ( that the works of homer , or plato , or aristotle , or tully are theirs ) by the same it may be made evident , that these have proceeded from our authours . have they been successively delivered ? so have these : have they been continually mentioned under those names ? so have these : have they been acknowledged by all parties ? so have these : those that in the primitive times did oppose the doctrine of christ , yet did it not under the pretence that their books were spurious , neither jews nor pagans had the impudence to make that objection . julian the apostate doth freely acknowledge ( cyrill . 10. grot. 3. ver. ) that the books which by the christians were received under the names of peter , paul , mathew , marke , luke ; they were the writings of those authours . it is true , that there are some book received of the canon of the new testament , whose authors are unknown ; as the epistle to the hebrews , and some others : but concerning them i hope to speake in answering those objections which are made against the scripture . in the mean time we may justly assume it for granted , that those whereof no question hath been made in ancient times they are the writings of those to whom they are ascribed . and now this being supposed , which cannot with any pretence of reason be denied , it follows clearly that the things they have related are to be beleeved : for first , the things which they have delivered they were matters easily to be known ; in respect of the things themselves , they were matters of fact and speeches performed by our saviour or by themselves : secondly , the acts were acted publiquely in the face of the world ; and the speeches which they deliver as spoken by others , they were for the most part spoken publiquely , either in the synagogue , or in the temple , or to the multitude somewhere gathered together , on a mountain , by the sea-side , in publique places : so as they might have easily been contradicted if they should have delivered a falsehood : thirdly , the parties which have delivered them had all the opportunities in the world to know the truth of things ; they were things done either by themselves , or within their owne sight , or hearing for the greatest part ; or at least wise in the times and places where the reporters lived . mathew and john the two evangelists which wrote the history of christ , they were two of his disciples : two that were intimately acquainted with his actions , and his words , more familiar with him then the rest ; the one was the disciple that jesus loved , and used to lean in his bosome , as they lay at meat ; the other was usually taken with him when most of the rest were left behinde ; and hence it follows that they themselves were present at almost all the acts , and speeches which they have delivered . marke and luke the other two evangelists , they lived in the same territories , at the same time , where and when our blessed saviour bestowed his conversation ; and moreover saint marke was ( as 't is very probable ) first a disciple of saint paul , who was miraculously chosen to deliver the doctrine of christ : afterwards he was undoubtedly a disciple and companion of saint peter , who was an apostle of our saviour , did live familiarly together with him , was present at almost all things which marke hath written : and besides whatever is delivered by saint marke is to be found in the writings of the apostles . luke was an individuall companion of paul , and so he might learne of him such things as he delivered ; besides that he saith , that he spoke with those that were eye-witnesses of the things which he delivered , he was borne near hand , he travelled through palestina , might converse with those very men , upon whom jesus had wrought his miracles , such as had seen the life of jesus , his death and resurrection . the acts of the apostles were likewise written by saint luke ; and that book containes some things done by the rest of the apostles ; but the most of it is concerning the actions of paul after his miraculous conversion : the former it was easie for him to know , either from the apostles themselves or others : of the latter he could not be ignorant , because he was continually with paul in all his labours and his journeys , even from the time of his conversion to his imprisonment at rome . as for the matters of fact which are delivered in the epistles of paul , and peter , and james , and john , and jude , they are such , as either were done by themselves , and so they could not possibly be ignorant of them , or by others with whom they held a correspondence , or by our saviour whose apostles they were , all but paul ; or else they are things done by others , publiquely and notoriously known . lastly , as for the epistle to the hebrews and the revelations , though the authours of them be not certainly known in the church , yet thus much is plain , that the authour to the hebrews saith , that the gospel of iesus was preached at first by christ , and confirmed unto him ( us ) by them that heard him , 2. v. 3. and so that he could not be ignorant of that ; nor yet was it possible that the authour of the revelations should be ignorant , whether or no he had those visions which he hath delivered . now these are all the books of the new testament , and it appears , that the authours of them had as much opportunity to know the things which they delivered as is possible to be had : wherefore the businesse is clear in respect of their sufficiency of knowledge ; and all the question which remains , it must be in regard of their integrity . whosoever challengeth or questions the integrity of an historian , and upon that cause refuseth to receive his testimony , it is requisite that he produce the reasons of his suspition , that he charge the authours of corruption , and prove the charge which he hath objected ; or that he discover and manifest the ends , which he might propound to himself , as the reward of his imposture ; that he shew the gain that might accrue , or the losse , or perill , or ignominy that he might avoid ; and manifest that his accusation hath not proceeded from malice , but from judgement , from some grounds of reason , and not from perversenesse , or spight , or any inhumanity . here then it is that we challenge men or devils to produce the crimes , to detect and prove the villanies of these writers ; nay , to assign the ends which they might have in relating falshood , the gain , the pleasure , the glory , the safety , or whatsoever it is that prevails upon the appetites and lusts of men : and let their infidelity and jealousie out-doe the malice of the grand apostate . indeed i think scorn to stand upon this argument , it was the contemplation of these things chiefly that gained from me that second assertion . that there is greater reason to beleeve the scripture then any other writings in the world : the first proposition being already demonstrated that we have as great . sect. v. that there is much greater reason to beleeve the history of the new testament , then any other history . having already demonstrated , that considering the qualifications of the persons who have recorded unto us the new testament of our saviour ; there is as great reason to give credence to their histories as to any other ancient histories in the world , by reason of their means of knowledge , and opportunities for discovery of the truth of those matters of fact , which they have delivered . it follows now that we make good that , which in the second place we propounded concerning them , which was , that we have greater reason to beleeve them then to beleeve any historians whatsoever , and this now will be manifested to us by these arguments following , 1. greater obligation . 2. their sufferings . 3. their miracles . 4. their predictions . first then , they were more powerfully obliged to the delivery of the truth then others , not that others were not obliged likewise to deliver nothing but the truth : there is in the conscience of every soul setled a principle dictating unto him , that he ought not not to recede from the truth in his relation ; but yet this principle is , in the most of men , very much overclouded and overborn ; as is manifest , not only by the fabulous relations of ancient histories , even after the institution of the olympiads ; but by that inclination which we finde , almost in all men , to make their relations handsome ; in order wherunto even the gravest of them , josephus , livy , and the rest of those orders of historians , have often changed the form of circumstances , and varied from the truth , to make a coherence of things according to their fancy , such as might please their owne imaginations . the truth is , that which held in the heathen , so far as they were held within the boundaries of truth , it can be conceived to be no other then a certain magnanimity , and a morall generosity that was actuated and quickned in them by the conceit of a reputation , thereby gained amongst the people , of their own generation , their hopes of perpetuating their owne fame , together with the acts which they recorded , and consecrating them to eternity and immortality ; i do not say , that this was all the motive which they had , but that upon the consideration of them , in the whole complexion of their circumstances , i cannot finde out any more powerfull motive , nor any stronger obligation . but , besides all that these men had to move them , the writers of the new testament had likewise other motives , as farre beyond these , as the heaven is beyond the earth , either in dignity , or situation : a most severe injunction of their master , such as they themselves have delivered , such as they could not , neither durst neglect : their writings abound in precepts of truth and of veracity , and that prescribed under far other conditions , and setled upon a far surer foundation , upon the foundation of truth it self , the originall and the ideall truth of the world ; and propounded to them under far other penalties : they knew full well and taught to others , that of every idle word , which men shall speak , an account must be given at the day of judgement : how dreadfull an account then must they have expected , if they should have delivered falshood in the place of truth , if they should have told a lye for god , or lyes of god , or delivered impostures in the name of god ? nay verily , the necessity which lay upon them , compared to others , doth as farre exceed it ; as the fear of a little disreputation is exceeded by the horrour of eternall torments : and now their practise was also answerable to their obligation , and what they delivered , in their speeches and writings , was fully exampled in their lives . we have before intimated that whosoever will charge an authour with a lye , he must either detect the lewdnesse and corruption of their lives , or at least wise manifest what they might gain by their report ; the former could never be by their sworn enemies detected , nay julian the great apostate could charge them with nothing but simplicity : now then , all the gain that can be , is reducible to the avoidance of evill , and obtaining of good . the goods that are to be obtained are either of body . estate . liberty . reputation . first then , what outward evill did they thereby escape , that so they may be judged to have lyed out of fear ? consider the state of the world at that time , and tell us , whether or no there was danger in speaking , and writing those things , or in the forbearance ? did the roman emperours , or the governours of judea , or the jews , or the presidents of the adjacent provinces , or the multitude threaten them to make them speak , or to be silent ? did they by that meanes put themselves into a condition of ease and pleasure , and soft luxury ? did they treasure up gold and silver , and raise themselves a fortune by it ? had they a greater freedome inward or outward , did it let them into larger principles , or procure them a greater scope to gratifie their inordinate desires ? was it the way to advance them to honour and reputation , either with the governors , or with the people ? nay , instead of bodily ease and pleasure it objected them to pains active , and passive , they were forced to undertake labours , and travels , and watchings , and the inconveniencies of great and painfull industry : they were daily opposed to hunger and thirst , and cold and nakednesse ; nay , to torments and to death : instead of gaining an estate , they were enforced to forsake all that they had to live an ambulatory kinde of life , without any certain being , depending as it were on the ravens , to provide them their meat from one day to another . instead of that same freedome and liberty which men affect , they entred into a straighter and more narrow way then the way of the world , they were forced to deny themselves , even such things as they knew were lawfull , and they were abridged even of the common enjoyments of mankinde , not suffered to converse with freedom , or to breath with safety : they no sooner came to a city , but there they were persecuted and forced to fly unto another . that which saint paul spoke of himself as he was making his last voyage up to jerusalem , might have been the common motto of them all , now i goe bound in the spirit up to jerusalem , not knowing what things shall befall me , only the holy ghost that testifies in every city that bonds and afflictions abide me there . as for the matter of honor and reputation , that was all in the hands of their enemies , the jews , and the greeks : they preached christ crucified , to the jews a stumbling block , to the greeks foolishnesse ; and all the credit which they obtained at their hands was , to be accounted a company of silly men , contentious for a thing of nothing , a question about names , about one jesus which was dead , whom they affirmed to be alive : this was the opinion of the gentiles ; and by the jews they were looked upon as revolters , and so not fit to live : as for this sect we know that it is every where spoken against ; and they were hereby rendred the scorn and derision of the world , the off-scouring of the people : what shall i more say ? they were deprived of all the enjoyments of the world , and cast into all the miseries , or in the words of the authour to the hebrews , they wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins , being destitute , afflicted , tormented ; and all for the delivery of the things contained in those bookes : and if we will sadly consider it we can assigne no cause of this their choice , but the force of truth prevailing on them , and the urging of their conscience , by the continuall instigation of them by that spirit which acted them , making their hearts hot , and kindling a fire within them , a fire in their bosome , which they could not suppresse . we cannot but speake the things which we have seen and heard : they suffered for their profession that , never men did ; and so we have greater reason to beleeve them then any other men . and we have still greater arguments then these , because that god himselfe gave testimony to their words and writings ; and that both in their own times , and the times which did succeed them : in their own times by miracles ; in the succeeding generations by accomplishing their predictions . the apostles then , in confirmation of their doctrine , were endowed with a miraeulous power from on high , and manifested to all the world , that they had received in great abundance their portions of the spirit , from him that had the spirit not by measure : they preached , and as they preached , they confirmed their doctrine by mighty signs and wonders , and evident manifestations of the holy ghost ; so evident , that when they had delivered the relation of them to a gain-saying , a crooked and perverse generation , assigning the times and places , and other circumstances , their spightfull enemies could never detect them of the least imposture ; but were forced , though their teeth gnashed while they spake , to confesse , that indeed great miracles were done by them ; that this was evident and they were not able to deny it ; nay , such was the evidence of the miracles performed by them , that some of them have been recorded in the annals of heathen authours ( phlegon , ) that they were appealed unto by the primitive christians ( in the times next succeeding the apostles ) in all their apologies for the christian faith , in their apologies made to the heathen emperours , they are appealed unto as things commonly known by the world , yeelded without contradiction , which could not with any fore-head be denied ; they were , i say , appealed unto , and that to the greatest enemies of the christians , and that by way of challenge to the triall , and that without any reply as to the falshood of them , and without any recrimination ; nay , which is yet much more , there were not only by these men themselves , but even at their sepulchres when they were dead , great miracles performed , for divers centuries of years , and that so certainly , that it was confessed by the sorest enemies of the church , such i mean , as were of the school of pythagoras , that by magick arts strove to out-doe the performances of christ , particularly by that mad dogge porphyrius , and others . unlesse then , men will deny god the honour due unto him , and make him by his presence , and testimony authorize imposture , there can be no scruple made of the truth of these mens writings , but they must be beleeved before the writings of any others in the world , unlesse they likewise could have done such acts as these have done , unlesse they could have cast out devils by their words , have given the holy ghost by the imposition of their hands , unlesse they could have healed all manner of diseases , the blinde , the lame , the deaf , the dumb , &c. by words , touch , shaddow ; or could have spoke all sorts of languages , or rather at one speaking could have brought to passe , that men of every language should perfectly have understood their speech , as if it had been their own : parthians , and medes , and elamites , and the dwellers in mesopotamia , and judea , and cappadocia , pontus , and asia , phrygia , and pamphilia , egipt , and the parts of lybia , about cyrene , strangers of rome , jews , and proselytes , cretes and arabians , they all heard them speak in their own tongues . nor did it please the lord of the spirits of all flesh , here to stint the dispensations of his holy spirit to them , he gave them not only the power of miracles , but the spirit of prophecy , he unfolded to them the everlasting rolls , and admitted them into his decrees , and would not hide from them the things , which he meant to bring to passe , in the generations to come : he urged them by his holy spirit , and they foretold the fates of the world , they foretold it , and god brought it to passe : i cannot stand to reckon up all their prophecies which they delivered , and shortly after they were fulfilled , of the spreading of that leaven , of the growth of that grain of mustardseed , of the mighty and wonderfull propagation of the faith , and the perpetuall enduring of it , of the rejection of it by the jews , and the receiving of it by the gentiles , of the hatred of the jews , and the torments which were to be undergone by the glorious martyrs , of the destruction of ierusalem , and the calamities of that faithlesse nation : all these make it evident that god was with them ; that there is infinitely more reason to beleeve the writers of the new testament then any other writers . that none can disbeleeve them , without forfeiting his reason , by asserting that god would give testimony to imposture . sect. vi . that the old testament is the word of god . a proposall of three severall assertions , whereby it is concluded . having demonstrated that the books of the new testament are all of them to be received under the authority and credit of the word of god , that the dogmaticall parts are to be received upon the credit of the histories , and the histories upon the common principles of reason , and consequently that no man professing to be guided by reason and judgement can refuse them . it remains , that we demonstrate the same of the old testament , and that we take off those colours , and answer those sophisms , which by some men are urged against the scripture , and so conclude this argument . before i proceed to the former of these , i must call to your remembrance that which , in the beginning , i did premise , that under the title of the books of the old testament , i did comprehend those , and those only , which in the church of england have been admitted , under the name of the books of the canonicall scripture : and that i had no purpose at all to meddle with the controversies , which are betwixt us and the romane church , about the books which are apocryphall : the reason , why the church hath entertained them only , into the canon , is , because they onely were of the canon of the jews beleef , before the coming of our saviour , they only being written in the hebrew tongue , and consigned by esdras at the return of the jews from the babilonish captivity , as is generally beleeved amongst the jewish rabbines , whilest the prophets haggai , zachary , and malachy were yet alive . now although the way to demonstrate the truth of them , considering the question apart , and by ic self , be the same with the way , whereby we did demonstrate the truth of the new testament , by asserting the authours of them to have been those men to whom they were evermore ascribed ; and from the qualities of the things delivered ( in matter of history ) and the characters of those persons , who have delivered the severall parts of it , to demonstrate , that no reason can be imagined , why such men , as those are and must be supposed to be , should deliver such impostures as those must be , supposing them to be impostures ; that no end or motive can be discovered , which they should propound to themselves for their reward , but on the contrary that many reasons are visible , why they should have held their peace , if they durst have concealed those things from the world ; the reasons from safety , gain , glory , and the like , as might either jointly or severally be demonstrated , of even all the books of the law , and of the prophets , which make up the greatest part ( moses together with the law having delivered likewise the shame of himself , and miriam , and aaron . the prophets having been all or most of them hardly used : which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? ) although , i say , this had been the naturall way to demonstrate the matter in question , taken singly and apart by it selfe ; yet partly to avoid the similitude of matter , which renders unpleasant even the most profitable discourses , and partly to make a present dispatch of this argument , i shall content my self to have put you thus in minde , that all those generall arguments , for the truth and credit of those writers , are common to these as well as to the others ; and that there needs no variation of them , being to be applied to the question now in hand , any other then the interchanging of their severall names , their personall relations , and qualities , and other accidents : in a word , that the kindes of the arguments are the same , and the force of reason alike in both , allowing only the difference of gradual and individuall circumstances . this being premised , the summe of what i shall further say is briefly this , that 1. in the time of our saviour , and the apostles , these bookes were true . 2. that since that time they have not been changed . from which two propositions it will follow , that still they are so ; and consequently that the books of the old testament , as well as of the new , are the word of god . as touching these propositions , the truth of them will be inferred by this ratiocination . 1. the books , which we now receive , are the same which the jews do now receive . 2. the books , which the jews now receive , are the same which they did formerly receive , even up to the consignation of their canon . 3. the books , which then they did receive , were true . sect. vii . the first assertion proved , that the books of the old testament which we now receive are the same which the jews doe now receive . that those canonicall books which we receive are the self same with those which the jews at the present do receive , is a case so plain , that it needs no manner of proof , but only this , that it is obvious to every man to compare our english or latine bibles with the hebrew bibles , which are used amongst the jews at present , and daily put forth by the present rabbines , residing in the severall parts and dominions of the world ; upon such a comparison it will be found , that we do own the self same books which they do , without any difference in the number or inscriptions , chapters , or verses of those books : such as do doubt of this , they must take the pains to try , and to resolve themselves by their own experience , or else if they are not able , or not willing to take the pains to make themselves their own resolvers , they must of necessity beleeve the multitude of those , that have already tried it , and finding it to be generally granted , and allowed of all men , and all parties , however differing otherwise amongst themselves , they must upon that account , either beleeve the proposition , or else devise some way how , and for what end it should be brought to passe , that the learned men of all nations , and religions , jews , christians , papists , protestants , turks , pagans , &c. should agree together to impose upon that part of people , that cannot or will not fit themselves , to resolve a question , so easie and of such concernment . now , that all these sorts of men doe thus agree , must likewise be beleeved , untill some one instance can be produced to the contrary : the truth is , the thing being a matter liable to the triall of common sence , and obvious to all the world , there is no more controversie made of it , among the learned , then of a principle in mathematicks . it is true indeed , that as concerning the interpretation of those books , there is , and almost , ever was a great deal of controversie amongst the learned , ( but none as to the number and to the parts of those that are delivered amongst the jews ) and it is likewise true , that the beleif , of farre the greatest number of christians , doth in its kinde depend upon the questionable fidelity of translators , and that fidelity of theirs , if it be to be tried , that must be done by means which are not exempt from question : all therefore which can be said in this matter is that unlesse we can attain to skill sufficient for our own satisfaction in this question , we take into thought the qualifications of translators , in respect of skill and of fidelity ; and impartially that we consider all those rationall heads and grounds , whereon men use to settle their belief , amongst which no greater evidence can be expected then there is in cases where all agree ; and such is the main body of ours , and other translations likewise : this that i have spoken of translations is indeed a digression from the proposition i should demonstrate , seeing when we speak of the sacred authority of the holy scriptures we mean it not of translations , as they are such , but primarily of the originals , and of translations , only so far as they are consonant to those originals . and thus much is indeed sufficient both for the assertion , and explication of that proposition , that the books which we receive , they are the same which the jews receive . sect. viii . that the bookes , which the iews do now receive , are the same which they have received ever since the consignation of their canon . but secondly , the bookes which the jews do now receive , they are the same which they did formerly receive , upwards to the time of our saviour , and his apostles ; nay , beyond them to the very time of the consignation , or sealing up the canon of their beleif , that is , their bookes were never changed nor corrupted . it is not here my purpose to assert , that never any letter or word hath been changed , or formerly read otherwise then now it is in the jewish bibles , ( i am not so far unacquainted with their keri and chetib , or with the notes of the massoreth ) but that there hath not been made any variation so considerable , as to shake the authority of the present coppies . of these various readings i hope to speak in the answering objections . in the interim , i am to demonstrate , that they have not received any considerable depravation . and now this being a negative proposition , common reason doth presently offer it to every ones judgement , that it cannot be positively proved , the very nature of such propositions , contradicting that manner of proof : the arguments then , which are producible , are some of them taken , from the causes why they could not ( morally ) be corrupted ; the other from signs that de facto they have not been so . the first argument then is taken from the multitude of copies , which it was impossible to combine together to corrupt upon design , or that they should accidentally agree together in the same casuall corruptions . it is certainly apparent out of the histories of the jews , that after their first and second captivities , they did store themselves with multitudes of copies of the sacred books , and that both publikely and privately ; that which , before they were dispersed , either was not so necessary to them , or else was not so apprehended by them : so long as the first temple was yet unrazed , we reade but of very few ( if any ) synagogues of the jews in other nations , out of the bounds and terrirores of iudea : but after by their long and wofull captivity , when their confidence in the protection of their law and their temple had , by their sad experience and wofull suffering , worn it self out of their mindes , their temple being utterly demolished , the best of them began to think that it was possible that even the law might fail : ( habbakuk ) and they now bethought themselves , of making use of the rationall means of the preservation of it ; in the mindes of men , and seeing there could not be any readier way thought upon then the erecting of synagogues , and writing many copies , these were the courses which they took , ( they had had experience of the inconvenience of having one only copy , in the losse of that copy , which being found again by hilkiah the priest , made king iosiah to rend his clothes , at the hearing of those things written in the law ) and accordingly we finde , before the coming of our saviour , many synagogues erected in forrain places , and the books of the law , and the prophets in every synagogue , reade every sabbath day ; now every dispersion encreased the number of synagogues and books . and besides the first captivity of the tribes carried into media by the assyrians , we shall finde them , even after they had licence from cyrus to return , continuing still abroad , and upon many new occasions again dispersed : those that reade over sacred histories and prophane , shall finde them seated in most of the eastern countries adjacent iudea , or not farre distant from thence : the macedonians invited them to alexandria , the cruelties of antiochus , the civill warres of the asmonaei , the armies of pompey , and lossius , drove many of them from their habitations : the cities of cyrene , of asia , macedonia , and lycaonia , the islands of cyprus and crete , and divers others , even rome it self , they were all of them furnished with temples and synagogues of the jews : now so it is that the books of all these did agree together amongst themselves , which they could not have done if any , and not all of them should have been corrupted ; and that all of them should either casually or by design be corrupted ( besides that no end can appear to encourage such a designe ) the thing it self makes it impossible . besides , had any such thing been , they must , to make a correspondence , have corrupted likewise the septuagint translation , which for almost three hundred years before our saviour was extant in egipt ; that i speak nothing of the chaldee paraphrase extant before the time of our blessed saviour : so then , as far as the nature of a morall subject will admit , we have shewed , as from the causes , that the scriptures of the old testament could not be corrupted . now as from the signes we have likewise powerfull arguments , that to our saviours time , they were uncorrupted , because our saviour never discovers any corruption of the text , which certainly he would not have spared , at such times as he taxes the scribes and pharisees of making the law of god of none effect , by their traditions . now , that the hebrew canon hath not been corrupted since our saviours time , we have this sign likewise , that never any of the ancient fathers have , in their greatest heat of zeal against the jews accused them of such corruption , though justin martyr complain of wronging the septuagints translation ; and certainly if they should have corrupted them upon design , either before or since , it would have been in all those places which conclude against them , for christ , ( the true messiah , that stumbling stone , upon which they stumbled and fell : ) but those do remain unaltered . the truth is , to them were committed the oracles of god , and they have , by the visible ordination of the providence of god , discovered so much care and diligence that way , as is not to be found to have been bestowed upon any other writings under heaven : witnesse the criticall notes of their massoreth , which gives an account of the numbers of of letters in every book almost , and almost , if not altogether , of every various lection . i conclude then that they have never been corrupted . sect. ix . that in our saviours time these bookes were true , and consequently were the word of god . but we , in our saviours time they were true , and the word of god , as appears by our saviours testimony , and the testimony of the apostles , who still referre to them as being of divine inspiration , as being the truth and word of god , their using the testimony , almost of every particular book , as anthenticall , their disputations founded upon their authority . particulars in this kinde are so many , and so plain , that without any more speaking i will conclude , that we are to receive the old testament upon the credit of the new ; and the new testament ( as i have formerly demonstrated ) upon greater reason far then any other writings in the world ; and consequently that we must receive the books of the old testament upon the same authority . we have already discovered some of those many reasons , whereupon we are to receive the books of the old testament and the new , under the credit and authority of the word of god . besides those whereupon i have insisted there are many more ; some of them taken from the quality of the writers , some from the manner of the writings , the former shewing that those men , from whom they proceeded , were not fit persons to devise such things , they being many if not most of them , simple and unlearned men ; the latter manifesting that such things are not , of their nature , obvious to be devised , because they transcend the wit and invention of man ; the majesty and simplicity of the stile , the concord and harmony , the end and scope , the power and efficacy , the antiquity ; besides the testimony of the spirit in the hearts of men . but the evidence of truth no way depending upon the multitude of arguments or reasons , and all of these being insisted on in some or other of those authours which are obvious , i shall at this time finish what remains , of that which at the first i propounded , which was to shew , that as there are many and important reasons , moving wise men to receive them , so there neither are nor can be any sufficient arguments on the contrary , to make men to refuse them . sect. x. that there is no reason to disbeleeve the scriptures . objections briefly proposed and answered : first generall objections against the whole . 't is true indeed , that many both of old and later times , have refused either all or severall parts of the holy canon , and it is not to be hoped or expected , that they should ever be generally received by all the world : there must be heresies , and amongst the rest there alwaies have been , and sure there ever will be antiscripturians : the greatest part of the world have ever lived according to sence and appetite ; and to prove that de facto it is denyed , is not to manifest that there is reason why it is so ; yet seeing there are of those disputing and theoreticall hereticks , as well as practicall , to conceal or dissemble the arguments , which are alleadged against the truth , it would be to betray the cause that we have undertaken , and give occasion for some jealousie , that their objections are unanswerable . to come then to an issue , some have rejected all , by reason of   impossibilities .       repugnances .       mutations .   parts , accusing them as sine nomine , authoris .       dubitati ,       ab intrinseco , matter those who refuse the whole scriptures , they are some of them atheists , others professe themselves christians , and yet doe deny the authority of the written word , pretending to private and secret illuminations , as the last rule of their actions : the design of my discourse being against the former , i shall only intimate the frenzy of the later . they pretend , that that , which we call the written word , is not the word of god , because 1. the word of god is god himselfe . 2. christ is the word of god . 3. the letter kils . 4. the word of god is spirit and life . these are the arguments which , by some enthusiasts , are used against the written letter . and for answer to them , we may only observe , how , by arguing against the authority of the scriptures , these men do tacitely assert it ; for taking their arguments out of it , and proceeding no further , either by reason or revelation , to the discovery of their antecedents , but barely resting in the recitall of those words which are there written , they do resolve all the power and force of their argument into the authority of those very writings which they would impugne , and consequently they do at once deny and grant , the authority of the scripture ; which is to deserue the epithete , which is given them , of fanaticall enthusiasts . that the word of god is god himself ( taking the word of god for the immanent act of the diuine understanding ) is indeed a truth attainable by other principles , by those i mean from whence the absolute simplicity of the divine nature is attainable . but that christ is the eternall word of the father , and that there is such a spirit and life , as the argument doth imply , and that there is a divine and mysticall meaning of that letter of the word , they either owe their faith unto that word , or else they have not done very charitably in concealing those waies whereby they come to know it , and very improvidently in giving occasion for us to beleeve , that their pretences of illumination are but pretences . now for that other party , who doe reject the scriptures ( the whole bulk of them ) their arguments are these , i. because they deliver things impossible , and consequently incredible , and so they are not to be beleeved . 2. because they deliver things repugnant , and contradictory to one another . 3. because the books of the old testament are doubtfull , by reason of the differences of the text and margent . and the books of the new testament are likewise uncertain , by reason of the various readings of severall copies . 1. those things which the atheisticall partie use to object , against the authority of the scripture as impossible and incredible , they are the miracles performed by moses and the prophets , by christ and his apostles , but if we shall attentively consider them , we shall finde , that they doe include in them no contradiction , nor any absolute impossibility of the performance ; the utmost that can be justly concluded from them , is , that they transcend the ordinary course of the dispensation of that providence , which orders the world , and administers the laws of the government thereof . but , upon the hearing or reading of extraordinary events , presently , ( though they have been sufficiently attested ) to disbeleeve them , upon conceit of reason to the contrary , discovers palpably the want of the exercise of that reason , whereto they so much pretend : for a man to deny , such matters of fact as he is not able to comprehend the reason of , must either suppose the party , to know the causes of all appearances in nature , or conclude him guilty of childish , and ridiculous incredulity . we have before demonstrated the omniscience , and the omnipotence of the divinity ; and that being , as hath been actually proved , clearly and evidently demonstrable , for the contemptible wit , and reasoning of man to prescribe limits , and bounds to that power and knowledge , is no lesse , then to own the acknowledgement of a contradiction , by professing that , to be limited and finite , which the naturall principles of our understandings , will force us to acknowledge of necessity to be immense and infinite . it cannot be thought a thing impossible , that god should either raise the dead , or command the sunne to stand still in gibea , by him that considers , what it is to be the originall of life , or to have created the universe with the word of his eternall power , the things which are impossible with men , they are possible with god : and consequently we having before concluded the vanity and madnesse of atheism , shall need to say no more , to evince the frivolous weaknesse of this argument , from the impossibilities . 2. as for those repugnances and contradictions , which some men vainly please themselves , imagining they have found them in the scripture , if they be well examined , they will be proved to be but so many instances of the weaknesse , or inadvertancy of the objectors those which have been made against the old testament , have long agoe been found by rabbi moses ben maimoni not to have taken in all those conditions , which have been by philosophers discovered to be required to make up a perfect contradiction , that is , that contrary assertions be made of the same thing at the same time , according to the same part , or motion , or apprehension : and the same hath been lately performed by manasseh ben israel , in his conciliator for the old testament . it hath likewise , for the new ; been long since performed by many of the fathers , and of late by diverse of all professions , papists , protestants and their severall subdivisions . the matters of doctrine are easily reconciled by distinguishing the notions of severall terms , so for example , as faith is said by paul to justifie , and works by jame . , by distinguishing of justification ; and the matters of history are reconciled by attending to times , and places , persons , and forms of speech . thus are the differences cleared , which are about the genealogies of our saviour , delivered by saint matthew and saint luke . the truth is , there could never any considerable difference , either in matter of doctrine or history , be urged against the scriptures ; yet if some slight and inconsiderable circumstances should seem to us so to differ that we could not reconcile them , it ought rather to confirme our beleef , then any way to shake it ; seeing it is the custome of those who designe to impose upon mens beleef , so to contrive all circumstances as they may be sure to have no difference discovered . such is , in truth , the agreement and harmony of all these authors , so distant in time , in place , in institution , as is not to be found in any other authours in the world , though of the same sect , either in philosophy , law , physick , or any other faculty ; nor yet in any one man with himself ; as might be manifested , if either this time or place required it . and so instead of an objection to shake us , we have found an argument to confirm us . 3. the third argument or objection against the whole books of scripture is taken from the keri and chetib of the old testament ; and from the various readings of the new ; from those they conclude them to be doubtfull , from these corrupted . now the former of these is answered by the jewish rr isaac jacob of old , elias levita of later times , who do deny the consequence of that argument , and make it manifest that those were added for signification of some mystery , and not because the text was doubtfull : and for proof of their assertion they prove , that the books of haggai , zachary , malachy , daniel and ezra , had those marginall notes added to them by their authours , who all were members of the synagoga magna , and made the consignation of the jewish canon : these could not be doubtfull of the sense of their own writings ; and consequently from those marginall notes , the doubtfulnesse of the old testament can no way justly be concluded . as touching the various readings of some places of the new testament , we cannot deny but that through the failings of some scribes , there are found in the most ancient copies of those books some differences of letters , or some few syllables , or words ; but this we deny , that those are sufficient , from whence to conclude the books not to be credited ; for upon the same reason it will be concluded that no book in the world is to be credited , unlesse they can be manifested to be exempted from the slips and failings of transcribers . nay , the consideration of those various readings , are very strong arguments that the substance of the writings are incorrupted , and that they were never changed upon design , seeing the differences that are do no way inferre any difference , either in the doctrine or history of the testament : it was of the favour and mercy of god to preserve to his church those various readings , that by comparing them together , and likewise with the rest of the holy scriptures , both the true sence and the true reading of them might at once be manifested . sect. xi . objections against particular parts , briefly proposed and answered . now objections , against particular books of either testament , will be found likewise inconsiderable : 't is true that many of them have been either doubted of or rejected by some men , but those who have pertinaciously refused them , have done it rather out of the interest of their passions and corrupt affections , then out of judgement . briefly , ecclesiastes hath been rejected by some as written by solomon in his dotage , placing felicity in sences . but the first of these can no way be proved ; nay , the contrary appears by the whole tenour of it well considered ; and the latter is evidently confuted by the conclusion , fear cod , &c. for god shall bring , &c. the canticles have been taken for a love-song , compiled in a complement to pharaohs daughter ; but it had been but a slender complement to tell her , that her eyes were like fish-pools , and her nose like the tower of lebanon that looketh toward damascus . the prophecy of daniel hath been charged by porphyrius , to have been a history written after the things were done , written in the time of antiochus , and imposed upon the world under the credit of the name of daniel : but , beside the testimony of our saviour , it appears out of history , that that prophecy was shewed to alexander the great , in his advance towards jerusalem , 150. years before antiochus . new testament . hebrews was rejected by the latine ; church because the authour was unknown , and because of some passages especially seeming to favour the novatian herefie . i answer . 1. it is not the name of an authour which gives credit to his writings , but that character of his person which is drawn from his abilities and integrity . now these were never doubted of in that authour . 2. those passages are very well to be understood otherwise , then in favour of the novatians . 3. it was ever received in the greek church , and recited amongst the canonicall books by the councels of nice , laodicea , and carthage . 4. if we are to beleeve , the western church had grounds to doubt of the credit of it , at such time as it did not admit it , we may as well beleeve , that that church had reasons which satisfied them of the authority of it , at such time as they did receive it . the epistles of saint james , 2d of st peter , the second and third of st john , jude , revelations , have all of them been doubted of , for some time ; by some parties whether or no they were indeed written by those authours , under whose names they are now received : but though they were some time doubted by some , they were alwaies received by others ; and those churches which did refuse them , so long as they were unsatisfied , are to be supposed to have been satisfied when they did receive them ; and so we ought to give as great , if not greater cedit to them , then to such others as had not been questioned ; inasmuch as that which hath been deliberated , and debated , and then decided , is to be credited , as well as that which silently hath passed on unquestioned . and now i have with brevity ( as i suppose ) congruous to such an essay as i intended , made evident the last assertion which i undertook , that to disbeleeve , either the whole body of scripture , or any part of it , there is no reason ; or not any sufficient reason . {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a67569e-1420 eternity . necessity . simplicity independency . incorporeality . immensity . unity . omnipotence . omniscience . an end to discord wherein is demonstrated that no doctrinal controversy remains between the presbyterian and congregational ministers fit to justify longer divisions : with a true account of socinianism as to the satisfaction of christ / by daniel williams. williams, daniel, 1643?-1716. 1699 approx. 210 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 67 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66345) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43119) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1320:20) an end to discord wherein is demonstrated that no doctrinal controversy remains between the presbyterian and congregational ministers fit to justify longer divisions : with a true account of socinianism as to the satisfaction of christ / by daniel williams. williams, daniel, 1643?-1716. 132 p. printed for john lawrence and tho. cockeril, london : 1699. running title: peace with truth. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology -great britain. theology, doctrinal -history -17th century. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-01 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2004-01 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an end to discord ; wherein is demonstrated that no doctrinal controversy remains between the presbyterian and congregational ministers , fit to justify longer divisions . with a true account of socinianism as to the satisfaction of christ. by daniel williams . london , printed for iohn lawrence at the angel , and tho. cockeril at the three legs in the poultry . 1699. epistle to the reader . reader ; if arguments might induce christians to peace , 't were enough to say , nothing is more expresly required than christian concord by our lord iesus , or more commended from its heavenly original and happy fruits ; nor scarce any thing more warned against as obstructing the kingdom of christ , advantageous to satan's interest , destructive to religion , yea civil society , repugnant to the very design and spirit of the gospel , with the mutual usefulness of men , than uncharitable and dividing contentions be . the only reason that can be suggested to acquit such contenders from notorious guilt must be , that it 's for the faith of the gospel that they contend . but it 's worth our serious thoughts , that as even this cannot excuse a rigid , censorious , envenom'd spirit , or unhallowed methods in our struggles for truth ; so no other than a direct opposition to the essentials of some fundamental article can warrant divisions , or refusals of communion on the account of meer difference in the faith , provided assent to no real error is imposed on us as a term of union . it 's too obvious to require proof , that if a direct opposition to what is not fundamental , or to whatever remotely belongs to all which is so ; nay further , if opposing by denied consequences what is of the essence of any fundamental article of faith , be a warrant for separation of ministers and churches from each other , then the instituted rules of christian fellowship do not oblige us : the approved instances of communion in the new testament churches ought to be condemned , and all the churches of christ must daily be more and more rended by non-communion and dividing animosities , until the catholick church lose all shew of unity , or be reduced to a single congregation ( and that but for an uncertain moment ) even when vast numbers of christian societies proclaim the advancement of our saviour's conquest . nor is their folly less apparent , who for excuse of this surmise that every error which they ought to rectify in themselves , and by just methods to reform in others , is a bar to communion ; or yet , that separation is one of those just methods in the case fore-mentioned , especially towards such over whom they pretend to no authority . o when will men see that christ's royal prerogative is assumed , when ever other terms of , or bars to communion are invented than what he hath expresly made such , and that in a matter wherein his own honour and his people's interest are concerned next to that of vnion with himself ! but alas ! in contempt of rules so necessary to the churches peace , many ages are filled with instances of assuming a right to account him for a heathen who differs but in trifles , and cannot pronounce their very phrases , tho scrupled because abused to support an error , and the truth designed by them is most expresly owned : a thing so thwarting a christian temper , that athanasius and bazil profess they would break with none who refused the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , so they would by any words declare their soundness in the doctrine of the trinity ; and yet that word had been adjusted by not a few particular authors , but the great council of nice , in opposition to the heresy of arius . i scruple not to say , an antichristian spirit most effectually extinguisheth the like moderation ; and such imposers entrusted with the secular sword , would use it as they do their ecclesiastical , however they condemn severity while themselves are not the persecutors . that there have been of late years great divisions among the dissenters is too publickly know ; i had rather share in the imputation of an accessory , than perpetuate them by the fullest vindication , hoping that a calm season will better fit all of us to reflect , and repent of our faultiness , especially the unchristian management of our debates , and for which we have great reason to pray god would not signally contend hereafter . but blessed be the name of our god , that e'er we be quite devoured by each other , a fit occasion is ministred for our healing ; and tho self-preservation hath been my work ever since my temperate confutation of dr. crisp , ( and then too ) none will wonder i take hold of this opportunity to evidence that further contests will be inexcusable : nor is it a hard province when the united ministers and congregational brethren have so far acquitted themselves : the first by sundry former accounts ( and now more enlarged from any word in which i cannot suspect two will differ ) of their vindication from errors concerning the satisfaction of christ , and justification , which are the only points objected . the last by their declaration against antinomian erros , for which i am too thankful to remark its stings ; and had it come out before my postscript , i durst not have represented their iudgment by the consequences of their objections ( however natural ) as in some few things is done . that the god of peace would give us peace , is the unfeigned prayer of thy servant in the gospel , and brother in the kingdom and patience of our lord iesus , daniel williams . note , the edition of the works of socinus , &c. to which i refer , is that printed in folio at irenopoli , 1656. introdvction . as the too visible progress of antinomianism grieved us , and obliged our defence of the truth , and a gospel-ministry : so we must rejoice in the congregational ministers declaration against antinomian errors , well knowing the infected will more regard the judgment of these brethren , because of their agreement with them in matters of church-discipline . we are sorry they were not a little sooner prevailed with to give this testimony ; for then we had not been forced in the answer to the report , to hint some of the reasons inducing us to think many of them espoused , and the generality of them in this city too much countenanced antinomianism , with its open abettors . nor dare we indulge a temper so devilish , as for party-sake to repine at these brethren acquitting themselves from those imputed errors : but on the contrary , we gladly endeavour to procure peace by this declaration of theirs ; for which desirable end , we shall overlook all the reflections contained therein against us ; and not refuse to acquit our selves once more from all hurtful errors concerning christ's satisfaction , and our iustification ( altho so fully and often done heretofore , that our brethrens insinuation to the contrary doth not a little surprize us ) and , which is principally aimed at , we hope it will appear , that in all that 's material , both our brethren agree with us in our testimony against antinomianism ; and we agree with them in a disapproval of the other extreams . to evidence which we shall repeat , 1. our testimony against dr. crisp's errors , when so many were indangered by his reprinted books . 2. some part of our former declarations against popish , socinian and arminian errors , when our brethren accused us thereof for subscribing the foresaid testimony against crispianism . 3. we shall give an account of our congregational brethrens declaration against antinomian errors . 4. we shall evidence that this taken together and examined with candor , ought to be acknowledged a sufficient vindication of the approvers thereof from all hurtful antinomian errors . 5. we shall add our further testimony against errors about christ's satisfaction and justification . if peace at least must not be allowed us after this , we must bewail a judicial stroke , and expect to be despised by such who perceive our common hurt from these debates , but have not judgment to distinguish between the injured seekers of peace , and the injurious fomenters of trouble . chap. i. the state of truth and errors ( subscribed by near fifty of us ) drawn up and published by mr. williams , in a book called , gospel-truth stated and vindicated , first edition ; anno 16. 1692. truth 1. it is certain from god's decree of election , that the elect shall in time be justified , adopted , and saved in the way god hath appointed ; and the whole meritorious cause and price of justification , adoption , and eternal life , were perfect , when christ finished the work of satisfaction . nevertheless , the elect remain children of wrath , and subject to condemnation , till they are effectually called by the operation of the spirit . error . the elect are at no time of their lives under the wrath of god , nor are they subject to condemnation if they should die before they believe ; yea , when they are under the dominion of sin , and in the practice of the grossest villanies , they are as much the sons of god , and justified , as the very saints in glory . truth 2. tho our sins were imputed to christ with respect to the guilt thereof , so that he , by the father 's appointment , and his own consent , became obliged , as mediator , to bear the punishments of our iniquities ; and he did bear those punishments to the full satisfaction of iustice , and to our actual remission when we believe ; nevertheless , the filth of our sins was not laid upon christ ; nor can he be called the transgressor , or was he in god's account the blasphemer , murderer , &c. error . god did not only impute the guilt , and lay the punishment of the sins of the elect upon christ ; but he laid all the very sins of the elect upon christ , and that , as to their real filthiness and loathsomness ; yea , so , that christ was really the blasphemer , murderer , and sinner , and so accounted by the father . truth 3. the atonement made by christ , by the appointment of god , is that for which alone the elect are pardoned , when it is applied to them . but the elect are not immediately pardoned upon christ's being appointed to suffer for them , nor as soon as the atonement was made ; nor is that act of laying sins on christ , god's forgiving act , by which we are personally discharged . error . the very act of god's laying sins on christ upon the cross , is the very actual discharge of all the elect from all their sins . truth 4. an elect person ceaseth not to be a sinner upon the laying of our sins upon christ ; that is , he remains a sinner , as to the guilt , till he believes , if adult . he is a sinner , as to the filth of sin , till he be sanctified . he is a sinner , as to the charge of the sinful fact he commits , and that even after pardon and sanctification : nevertheless , he is free from the curse when he is pardoned , and shall be purged from all the filth of sin when he is perfect in holiness . and tho christ did bear the punishment of our iniquity , yet it never was christ's iniquity , but ours . error . the elect upon the death of christ ceased to be sinners , and ever since their sins are none of their sins , but they are the sins of christ. truth 5. the obligation of suffering for our sins was upon christ , from his undertaking the office of a mediator , to the moment wherein he finished his satisfactory atonement . the punishment of our sins lay upon christ from the first moment , to the last of his state of humiliation . error . the time when our sins were laid actually on christ , was when he was nailed to the cross , and god actually forsook him ; and they continued on him till his resurrection . truth 6. the god testified his threatned indignation against sin , in the awful sufferings of christ's soul and body in his agony , and suspended those delightful communications of the divine nature to the human nature of christ , as to their wonted degrees ; yet god was never separated from christ , much less during his body's lying in the grave ; neither was the father ever displeased with christ , and far less did he abhor him , because of the filthiness of sin upon him . error . christ was on the account of the filthiness of sins , while they lay upon him , separated from god , odious to him , and even the object of god's abhorrence , and this to the time of his resurrection . truth 7. the mediatorial righteousness of christ is so imputed to true believers , as that for the sake thereof they are pardoned and accepted unto life eternal ; it being reckoned to them , and pleadable by them for these uses , as if they had personally done and suffered what christ did as mediator for them , whereby they are delivered from the curse , and no other atonement nor meriting price of saving benefits can be demanded from them . nevertheless , this mediatorial righteousness is not subjectively in them ; nor is there a change of person betwixt them and christ , neither are they as righteous as he ; but there remain spots and blemishes in them , until christ by his spirit perfect that holiness begun in all true believers , which he will effect before he bring them to heaven . see the 2d truth , and note , it is only dr. crisp ' s change of person is denied , viz. a perfect change which makes us as righteous as he , &c. but not christ's dying in our stead , which in this book is oft asserted . error . every believer , or elect person , is as righteous as christ , and there is a perfect change of person and condition betwixt christ and the elect ; he was what we are , viz. as sinful as we ; and we are what he was , viz. perfectly holy , and without spot or blemish . truth 8. i shall express it in the words of the assembly . the grace of god is manifested in the second covenant , in that he freely provideth , and offereth to sinners a mediator , and life and salvation by him , requiring faith as the condition to interest them in him ; promiseth and giveth his holy spirit to all his elect to work in them that faith , with all other saving graces ; and to enable them unto all obedience , as the evidence of the truth of their faith and thankfulness to god , and as the way which he hath appointed them to salvation . note , reader , that these divines do here join together the covenant of redemption with christ , and the gospel-covenant whereby are dispensed to us the benefits impetrated by christ ; which two distinguished would lead to clearer thoughts . error . the covenant of grace hath no condition to be performed on man's part , tho in the strentgh of christ : neither is faith it self the condition of this covenant ; but all the saving benefits of this covenant , are actually ours before we are born : neither are we required so much as to believe , that we may come to have an interest in the covenant benefits . truth 9. i shall express this in the words of the assembly , and congregational elders at the savoy ( confes. of faith , ch . 14. 2. & declarat . ch . 14. a. 2. of saving faith : ) by this grace , a christian believeth to be true whatever is revealed in the word , for the authority of god speaking therein ; and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth ; yielding obedience to the commands , trembling at the threatnings , and embracing the promises of god for this life , and that which is to come . but the principal acts of saving faith , are accepting , receiving , and resting upon christ alone for justification , sanctification , and eternal life , by virtue of the covenant of grace . error . saving faith is nothing but our persuasion , or absolute concluding within our selves , that our sins are pardoned , and that christ is ours . truth 10. christ is freely offered to be a head and saviour to the vilest sinners , who will knowingly assent to the truth of the gospel , and from a conviction of their sin and misery out of christ , are humbled , and truly willing to renounce all their idols and sins ; denying their own carnal self and merits , and accept of christ as offered in the gospel ; relying on him alone for justification , sanctification , and eternal life . error . christ is offered to blasphemers , murderers , and the worst of sinners , that they remaining ignorant , unconvinced , unhumbled , and resolved in their purpose to continue such , they may be assured they have a full interest in christ , and this by only concluding in their own minds upon this offer , that christ is theirs . truth 11. every man is without christ , or not united to christ , until he be effectually called ; but when by this call the spirit of god enclineth and enableth him willingly to accept of christ as a head and saviour , a man becomes united to him , and partaker of those influences and privileges which are peculiar to the members of the lord jesus . error . all the elect are actually united to christ , before they have the spirit of christ , or at all believe in him , even before they are born ; yea , and against their will. truth 12. tho faith be no way a meritorious cause of a sinner's justification , yet god hath promised to justify all such as truly believe , and requires faith as an indispensible qualification in all whom he will justify for christ's merits ; declaring , that unbelief shall not only hinder mens knowing that they are justified , but that it is a bar to any person 's being justified while he continues an unbeliever . error . the whole use of faith in justification , is only to manifest that we were justified before ; and faith is no way necessary to bring a sinner into a justified state , nor at all useful to that end . in a digression there about repentance is added . truth . altho neither faith nor repentance be any part of the meriting righteousness for which we are justified , and the habits of both are wrought at the same time , and included in the regenerating principle ; and there must be an assenting act of faith before there be any exercise of true repentance : and repentance as consisting in the fruits meet for it , viz. an external reformation and a fruitful life , must follow pardon , as doth also an ingenuous sorrow for sin in the sense of pardon : nevertheless , repentance , as it consists in some degree of humblings and sorrow from convictions of our lost state , and the evil of sin , with a sincere purpose of heart to turn from our sin and idols to god , is absolutely necessary in order to the forgiveness of sin. error . our sins are forgiven before any repentance ; and believers ought not to complain , or mourn , or sorrow for the sins they have committed . truth 13. tho neither holiness , sincere obedience , or good works , do make any atonement for sin ; or are in the least the meritorious righteousness whereby salvation is caused , or for which this , or any blessing becomes due to us as of debt ; yet as the spirit of christ freely worketh all holiness in the soul , and enableth us to sincere obedience and good works ; so the lord jesus hath of grace , and for his own merits promised to bring to heaven such as are partakers of true holiness , perform this sincere obedience , and do these good works perseveringly , and appoints these as the way and means of a believer's obtaining salvation , and several other blessings ; requiring these as indispensible duties and qualifications of all such whom he will so save and bless , and excluding all that want or neglect them , or live under the power of what 's contrary thereto , viz. profaneness , rebellion , and utter unfruitfulness . error . men have nothing to do in order to salvation , nor is sanctification a jot the way of any person to heaven ; nor can the graces or duties of believers , no , nor faith it self do them the least good , or prevent the least evil ; nor are they of any use to their peace or comfort ; yea , tho christ be explicitely owned , and they be done in the strength of the spirit of god. and a believer ought not to think he is more pleasing to god by any grace he acteth , or good he doth ; nor may men expect any good to a nation by the humiliation , earnest prayer , or reformation of a people . truth 14. tho we ought to intend god's glory as our supream end in all our duties , and design therein the expressing our love and gratitude to god for his benefits , with a great regard to publick good : yet we also lawfully may , and ought to strive after grace , grow in it , and perform holy duties and services , with an eye to , and concern for our own spiritual and eternal advantage . error . no man ought to propose to himself any advantage by any religious duty he performeth , nor ought he in the least to intend the profit of his own soul by any christian endeavours ; it being vain and unlawful to do any thing with an eye to our spiritual or eternal good , tho in subordination to god's glory in christ. truth 15. the ordinary way whereby a man attaineth a well-grounded assurance , is not by immediate objective revelation , or an inward voice saying , thy sins are forgiven thee : but when the believer is examining his heart and life by the word , the holy spirit enlightens the mind there to discern faith , and love , and such other qualifications which the gospel declareth to be infallible signs of regeneration : and he adds such power to the testimony of conscience for the truth and in-being of these graces , as begets in the soul a joyful sense of its reconciled state ; and some comfortable freedom from those fears which accompany a doubting christian ; and according to the evidence of these graces , assurance is ordinarily strong or weak . error . assurance is not attained by the evidence of scripture-marks of signs of grace , or by the spirit 's discovering to us that he hath wrought in our hearts any holy qualifications : but assurance comes only by an inward voice of the spirit saying , thy sins are forgiven thee , and our believing thereupon that our sins are forgiven . truth 16. the sins of believers have the loathsomness of sin adhering to them , which god seeth , and accounteth the committers guilty thereby : and they ought to charge themselves therewith , so as to stir up themselves to repentance , and renew their actings of faith on christ for forgiveness . nevertheless , they ought not thereby to fear their being out of a justified state , further than their falls give them just cause of suspecting that sin hath dominion over them ; and that their first believing on christ was not sincere . error . god seeth no sin in believers , tho he see the fact ; neither doth he charge them with any sin ; nor ought they to charge themselves with any sin , nor be at all sad for them ; nor confess , repent , or do any thing as a means of their pardon ; no , nor in order to assuring themselves of pardon , even when they commit murder , adultery , or the grossest wickedness . truth 17. it 's true of believers , that if sin should have dominion over them , they would thereby be subject to condemnation : and tho the grace of god will prevent the dominion of sin in every elect believer , and so keep them from eternal death ; yet true believers may by sin bring great hurt upon themselves in soul and body , which they ought to fear ; and they may expect a share in national judgments , according as they have contributed to common guilt . error . the grossest sins that believers can commit , cannot do them the least harm ; neither ought they to fear the least hurt by their own sins , nor by national sins ; yea , tho themselves have had a hand therein . truth 18. tho god is not so angry with his people for their sins , as to cast them out of his covenant-favour ; yet by their sins he is so displeased , as for them to correct his children , tho he speaks instructions by his rebukes . error . none of the afflictions of believers have in them the least of god's displeasure against their persons for their sins . truth 19. tho the present sincere holiness of believers be not perfect , according to the precepts of the word ; nor valuable by the sanction of the law of innocency ; nor any atonement for our defects ; and we still need forgiveness and the merits of christ , for acceptance thereof ; yet as far as it prevails it's lovely in it self , and pleasing to god , and is not dung or filth . error . the greatest holiness in believers , tho wrought in them by the holy ghost , is meer dung , rottenness and filthiness as in them . truth 20. gospel-preaching is when the messengers of christ do publish to fallen sinners the good news of salvation by christ , to be obtained in the way which he hath appointed in his word , freely offering salvation on his terms , earnestly perswading and commanding men in the name of christ , to comply with those terms , as ever they would escape the misery they are under , and possess the benefits he hath purchased ; directing all to look to him for strength , and acknowledg him as the only mediator , and his obedience and sufferings as the sole atonement for sin , and meriting cause of all blessings ; instructing them in all revealed truth , and by gospel-motives , urging them to obey the whole will of god , as a rule of duty , but especially to be sincere and upright , pressing after perfection . error . gospel-preaching is to teach men they were as much pardoned , and as acceptable to god always , as when they are regenerate ; and while they were ungodly , they had the same interest in god and christ as when they believe ; neither can sin any way hinder their salvation , or their peace ; nor have they any thing to do to further either of them , christ having done all for them , and given himself to them , before any holy qualification or endeavour . truth 21. legal preaching is to preach the law as a covenant of innocency , or works ; or to preach the mosaick or jewish covenant of peculiarity : but it is not legal preaching , to require and perswade to faith , holiness or duties , by promises and threatnings , according to the grace of the gospel , and direct men to fear and hope accordingly . error . legal preaching is to call people to act any grace , or do any duty , as a required means of salvation , or inward peace ; or to threaten them with death , or any affliction , to cause fear if they commit the grossest sins , and backslide , and fall away ; or to promise them any blessing upon their obedience to the commandments of christ , or urge the threatnings , to perswade sinners to believe and repent . chap. ii. a renunciation of sundry errors , anno 1696. a paper called , the second paper , 1696. a proposal made by us , 1697. altho we hoped the caution used in the foresaid state of truth and error , would prevent the imputation of socinianism , and other hurtful errors ; yet finding our brethren dissatisfied , we subscribed with them , anno 1692. ( about seven months after the state of truth was published ) certain doctrinal propositions collected out of the assembly's confession , which we printed anno 1693. with this title , an agreement in doctrinals , &c. but that being too long to be here inserted , we shall confine our selves to the more material parts of what further account we have given of our judgment concerning the doctrines of satisfaction and iustification , which may be seen at large in our answer to the report , p. 3 , 11 , 27 , 33 , &c. anno 1694. in a paper sent to our congregational brethren it 's thus declared : we the united ministers in and about london , do renounce and testify against these following opinions . 1. that there is no definite number of persons elected from all eternity , whom god will by his appointed means certainly save , and bring to eternal life ; leaving the rest who fall under a just condemnation for their original and actual sins , especially for their neglect and contempt of the means of salvation . 2. that christ died equally for all men , not intending the final salvation of some more than others . 3. that men have in their own power , by the use of the natural faculties of their reason and will , unassisted by the special light and grace of the holy ghost , to perform all that is necessary to salvation ; or that his special efficacious light and grace is not necessary to their conversion , perseverance , and final salvation . 4. that any of them whom god hath foreknown , predestinated , and called effectually according to the purpose of his grace , shall fall away either totally , or so as not to be finally glorified . 5. that faith , repentance , a holy conversation , or any act or work whatever done by us , or wrought by the spirit of god in us , are any part of that righteousness , for the sake of which , or on the account whereof , god doth justify any man , or entitle him to eternal life . then follows a testimony against the other extreams , viz. antinomian errors . again , anno 1696. in a paper ( call'd the second paper ) sent to our brethren , we thus give our sense . 1. concerning iustification : that altho the express word of god doth assert the necessity of regeneration to our entring into the kingdom of god , and require repentance that our sins may be blotted out , and faith in christ , that we may be justified , and holiness of heart and life , without which we cannot see god ; yet that none of these , or any work done by men , or wrought by the spirit of god in them , is , under any denomination whatsoever , any part of the righteousness , for the sake , or on the account whereof god doth pardon , justify , or accept sinners , or entitle them to eternal life , that being only the righteousness of christ without them imputed to them , and received by faith alone . 2. of a commutation of persons between christ and us : as we are to consider our lord jesus christ in his obedience and sufferings , as god and man , invested with the office of mediator ; so it is apparent this commutation of persons with us was not natural in respect of either nature , by which his individual substance should become ours , and ours his ; nor moral , in respect of qualities or actions , whereby he should become inherently sinful , and we immediately sinless ; nor was it any change whereby his office of mediator should be transferred on us , but it is to be understood in a legal or judicial sense , as we may call it , viz. he by agreement between the father and him , came into our room and stead , not to repent and believe for us , which the gospel requires of us as our duty , tho he hath undertaken the elect shall in due time be enabled thereto , but to answer for our violation of the law of works , he being made sin for us , that knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of god in him : 2 cor. 5. 21. 3. of god's being pleased or displeased with christ as standing and suffering in our stead . we judg that god was always pleased with christ both in his person , and execution of all his offices , which is exprest most particularly in that of his priestly , iohn 10. 17 , 18. therefore doth my father love me , because i lay down my life ; and no otherwise displeased than as having a dispassionate will to inflict upon him the punishment of our sins , which he had undertaken to bear , that god might , without injury to his justice or honour , pardon and save penitent believers for his satisfaction and intercession founded thereon . note , it was declared , that by the words [ under any denomination ] we exclude all righteousness from being meritorious , or atoning , yea , or a procuring cause of these benefits ; none is at all so but the righteousness of christ : but we intended not to exclude what the gospel requireth in order to our interest in those benefits given for the sake of christ's righteousness . we also in 1697 , delivered our iudgment in this proposal to our brethren . 1. that repentance towards god is commanded in order to the remission of sins . 2. that faith in christ is commanded by the gospel , in order to the justification of our persons before god , for the sake of the alone righteousness of christ. 3. that the word of god requires perseverance in true faith and holiness , that we may be partakers of the heavenly glory . 4. that the gospel promiseth pardon through the blood of christ to the penitent , justification before god to the believer , and the heavenly glory to such as persevere in faith and holiness ; and also declareth that god will not pardon the impenitent , justify the unbeliever , nor glorify the apostate or unholy . 5. that justifying faith is not only a perswasion of the understanding , but also a receiving and resting upon christ alone for salvation . 6. that by change of person , is meant , that whereas we were condemned for our sins , the lord jesus was substituted in our room to bear the punishment of our sins for the satisfaction of divine justice , that whoever believes on him may be acquitted and saved ; but it is not intended that the filth of sin was upon christ , nor that he was a criminal in god's account . 7. that by christ being our surety , is meant , that jesus christ our mediator obliged himself to expiate our sins by his blood , and to purchase eternal life for all that believe , and faith and every saving grace for the elect ; but it 's not intended that we were legally reputed to make satisfaction , or purchase eternal life . 8. that by christ's answering for us the obligations of the violated law of works , is intended , that whereas the law obliged us to die for our sins , christ became obliged to die in our stead ; and whereas we were after we had sinned still obliged to yield perfect obedience , christ perfectly obeyed the law , that upon the account of his active and passive obedience believers might be forgiven , and entituled to eternal life ; but it is not intended that the sense of the law of works should be , that if we , or christ obey'd , we should live , and if christ suffered we should not die , tho we sinned ; nor that believers are justified , or to be judged by the law of works , but by the gospel ; altho the righteousness for the sake of which they are justified , be as perfect as that law of works required , and far more valuable . chap. iii. the state of truth and error published in the congregational ministers declaration against antinomian errors , about december 1698. error 1. that the eternal decree gives such an existence to the justification of the elect , as makes their estate whilst in unbelief , to be the same as when they do believe , in all respects save only as to the manifestation ; and that there is no other justification by faith , but what is in their consciences . error 2. that the elect considered as in their natural estate , or as in the first adam , are not under the denunciation of wrath by the law , as well as other unbelievers and impenitent sinners . truth 1. that there is a difference between the state of the elect whilst in unbelief and when believers , besides what is manifestative to their consciences , p. 13. truth 2. that before they believe they are not personally and actually justified in the court of heaven , p. 13. and none may expect to be pardoned in a state of unbelief and impenitence , p. 47. error . 3. that pardoned sin is no sin , and therefore god cannot see sin in his people to be displeased with them for their sins ; nor doth god express his fatherly displeasure against them by any afflictions laid upon them . truth . that pardoned , yea mortified sins are truly and properly sins ; and god seeth the sins of his own people , and is displeased with them for their sins . error 4. that believers are not bound to confess or mourn over sin , as committed by them , or pray for pardon of sin , in making a daily acknowledgment of a need of it , because it was pardoned before committed ; and pardoned sin is no sin. truth . that when believers do sin , it is their duty to humble themselves , confess their sins , and pray for pardon , p. 19. error 5. that believers ought not to be afraid of committing sin , because their sins can do them no hurt . truth . the sins of believers do hurt them , and they should be afraid to commit them , seeing they impair their graces and comforts , harden their hearts , wound their consciences , hurt and scandalize others , grieve god's holy spirit , expose to his fatherly displeasure , and bring temporal judgments upon them , p. 22. error 6. that they must do no good work or duty for their own benefit , or with an eye to their own salvation . truth . that believers must do good works , expecting blessings in the performance thereof , p. 24. error 7. believers not having in themselves an ability to do good works , are not bound to perform any good duty , unless excited thereunto by a special motion of the spirit . truth . tho believers ability to do good works is not at all in themselves , but wholly from the spirit of christ , yet are they not hereupon to grow negligent , as if they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the spirit , but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of god that is in them , p. 27. error 8. that sanctification evidenced by the spirit of god to their consciences , is not a sign , mark , or evidence of their justification ; and that marks and signs for the trial of a believer's faith are of no use : for faith lying in a full perswasion and assurance that their persons were actually justified and pardoned in christ , it is a sin to question , whether they do savingly believe or no ? truth . saving faith lieth not in a full perswasion and assurance that our sins are actually pardoned ; but marks and signs for the trial of our spiritual estate are useful , and to be sought after ; and sanctification evidenced by the spirit of god to our consciences is a certain sign and mark of sanctification , p. 28 , 29. error 9. that gospel ministers are not to preach the law in its commands and curses to convince men of their need of christ , nor are believers obliged to regard the law as delivered by moses , nor as externally propounded ; nor are they bound when they commit sin to look to the law for further discoveries and convictions of the remaining corruptions that are in them , because by the gospel its obligations are dissolved . truth . that the law delivered by moses continues in its commands and curses undissolved ; and it 's still of use to convince of sin , that we may see a need of christ , and therefore is to be preached and externally propounded , and we are to look unto it , p. 36. and tho there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation , yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation to them that truly repent , which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary . error 10. that ministers of the gospel ought not to propound the offers of salvation unto all those to whom god calls them to preach , seriously inviting them to improve the means of grace that they may be saved , and assuring them in the way of their ministerial duty , of the salvation of all such as believe in christ , because they want ability to close with the offer , and all shall not be saved . truth . that tho men want ability to believe savingly , yet it 's the duty of gospel-ministers to make the offer , and testify unto them that whoever believes and repents shall be saved ; and that it 's the peoples duty to make use of their natural faculties with such external means and workings of the spirit as god affords them , that they may believe , repent and be saved , p. 41 , 42. error 11. that by god's laying our sins upon christ , he became every way as sinful as we , and we every way as righteous as he ; and that therefore persons may expect to be pardoned whilst they continue in a state of unbelief and impenitence ; and that continued repentance and holiness are not in the nature of the thing , nor , by the constitution of the gospel , necessary to our being possessed of eternal life . truth . our sins were not laid upon christ so as to make him every way as sinful as we , and we are not every way as righteous as christ ; and none may expect to be pardoned in a state of unbelief and impenitence ; and continued repentance and holiness are necessary to our possession of eternal life , p. 46 , 47 , 48. chap. iv. it 's made evident , that this declaration of our brethren taken altogether , and examined with due charity and candor , ought to be acknowledged a sufficient vindication of the approvers thereof from all hurtful antinomian errors . to this end , 1. we think that christian charity and candor oblige us to judg of what they have declared by these following rules , and we expect the same for our selves from them . 1. that the omission of any points unmentioned is not to be attributed to a mistaken judgment concerning them , and far less when the things expressed are granted to be truths or errors upon a reason that alike infers what is omitted . 2. that the approvers do truly intend for substance what is declared . 3. that in a body of subscribers some few may be more narrow in their conceptions , and therefore to avoid a breach , must be accommodated in the phrasing of some points beyond what the others , if at full liberty , would either need or chuse . 4. if any thing be a little darkly or suspiciously worded in one part , and more expresly and fully in another , the latter must be the index of their judgment ; upon which account we cite not only their state of error and truth , but refer to the pages containing their explications , and approved authorities , some of which will be mentioned afterwards . 5. that they ought not to be charged with the consequences of any occasional passages which they disown . 2. these just rules being admitted , we shall enumerate the hurtful antinomian errors , as antinomianism is described in the last age ( which in many things differs from what was so called at first ) and under each refer you to the places ( besides the above-mentioned state of error and truth ) wherein the brethren have so laudably vindicated themselves by their declaration . the dangerous parts of antinomianism are reducible to these general heads . 1. as it renders the ministry unapt to its proper ends. 2. as it tends to libertinism in practice . 3. as it hinders a well-grounded assurance , and encourageth presumption . 4. as it reproacheth christ our blessed redeemer . against each of which our brethren bear their testimony . 1. the hurtful antinomian errors which render the ministry unapt to its proper ends , are , 1. unduly limiting the offers of salvation , and decrying arguments to excite sinners to use their endeavours under the assistance of gospel means and common grace . against this see error 10. and from p. 41 to 47. 2. forbidding and branding as legal the preaching of duties and threatnings , and the applying of promised benefits as motives to faith and other duties , whereto those benefits are promised . against which see error 9. and p. 36 , 39. error 6. and p. 25 , 26 , 45. 3. denying that the elect whilst unconverted , are under the curse of the law , and affirming they are united to christ , and justified before god , and pardoned whilst impenitent infidels . against which see errors 1 , 2 , 11. and p. 12 to 18. and 47 , 58. 2. the hurtful antinomian errors tending to libertinism in practice , besides the impediments to a sinner's conviction and conversion under the fore-mentioned head of the ministry , are such as these : 1. that god seeth no sin in his people , accounts them not their sins but christ's , and is not displeased with his people , nor afflicts them for their sins . against which see error 3. and p. 19. 2. that repentance is not necessary to forgiveness , nor are believers to mourn for sin , or to beg pardon , nor to confess it , unless it be to shew , for christ's glory , how many the sins are which are become his . against which see error 4. and p. 19 , 20 , 21 , 47 , 58. 3. that their sins can do believers no hurt . against this see error 5. p. 22 , 23. 4. that we ought not to intend our own benefits by our duties , neither are bound to perform duties unless excited thereto by the spirit , nor are any acts of our obedience rewardable ; and that continued repentance and holiness are not by the constitution of the gospel necessary to our being possessed of eternal life . against this see errors 6 , 10 , 11. and p. 25 , 26 , 27 , 47 , 58 , 59. 5. that justifying faith is a perswasion that christ is mine , and that my sins are pardoned in christ. against this see error 8. and p. 30 , 31. 3. the hurtful antinomian error which hinders a well-grounded assurance and peace , and also encourages presumption , is , that besides the last description of faith , we are not to try our state by marks and signs of sanctification . against this see error 8. and p. 32 , 33 , 34. 4. the hurtful antinomian errors reproachful to christ our redeemer are such as these , that christ is as sinful as we , and we are as righteous as christ. against which see error 11. p. 48 , 57. if the reader consult these places , and compare them with our state of truth and error in the first chapter , he cannot but rejoice in our brethrens agreement with us in a testimony against antinomianism . chap. v. socinian errors concerning christ's satisfaction . also limborg's , with some other arminians concerning christ's satisfaction . socinian errors as to justification . limborg's , with some other arminian errors about justification . with a state of truths opposite to each of these , as also to popish errors . finding our brethren suggest in the preface to this declaration , that after all we have said in cap. 1 and 2. yet still we ought to do more to discharge our selves from hurtful errors about christ's satisfaction and our iustification ; we shall to promote peace renounce several more errors about those two doctrines wherein we are suspected , and tell them what we think to be truths . error 1. punitive justice against sin is no property of god , but only an effect of his will , and therefore there was no need of any satisfaction to be made by christ for sin ; nor is it less than ridiculous to say god was at once just as well as merciful in bringing about our salvation by christ : socin . opera theol. tom. 1. praelect . cap. 16. & tom. 2. de servator . par . 1. cap. 1. prael . cap. 16. wolzog. in mat. 19. 28. crel . resp. ad grot. cap. 1. truth . god is essentially just , and so zealous for the honour of his law when enacted and his government , that sin must not go unpunished ; and therefore if sinners be saved from the punishments threatned by the violated law for christ their mediator's sake , it was necessary that he made satisfaction to punitive justice by enduring the penal effects of god's wrath. error 2. jesus christ is not the true eternal most high god , of the same substance , authority and power with the father . socin . tom. 2. respons . ad iac. vujeki , cap. 1 , &c. truth . jesus christ is the true eternal most high god , of the same substance , authority and power with the father , and in time assumed the human nature , and remaineth god-man for ever more . note , this article is inserted , because the value of christ's obedience and death , for satisfaction and merit , was deprived from the dignity of christ's person as god : and therefore tho the socinians faintly argue , that if christ were the eternal god , it would not render his death a satisfaction ; yet it 's evident their great concern in denying christ's satisfaction is to prevent the unanswerable argument this would be for his deity . the like is also to be seen by their notion of the lord's-supper . error 3. christ did not by his blood acquire or purchase the gospel-covenant , nor was his death an impulsive cause of god's promising to men the blessings of that covenant ; nor did it move him to make such promises : but christ was only the mediator , that is , sponsor of it , who assured men that god would accomplish it , and who in god's name , and by his command , performed such things as belonged to the confirming and executing of the said covenant . socin . tom. 2. 168 , 199. crell . vol. 1. p. 612. and vol. 3. resp. ad grot. p. 19 , 128 , 171. & vol. 1. 612. truth . christ did not only confirm the gospel-covenant to men , and do such things as belonged to the execution of the gospel promises , but god as governor made those promises in consideration of the death of christ , as what vindicated the glory of his government in offering and promising such blessings to condemned sinners , altho as our absolute lord and proprietor he freely purposed within himself , that those blessings should be granted in what method he judged fit . error 4. christ was for no other cause a mediator , nor so call'd , but that he was appointed by god a middle person between himself and men , not that he should appease god towards men , but that he should declare god already pacified to them , and most evidently confirm the same by himself : and as for men who were haters of and enemies to god , them he was to reconcile to god ( i. e. convert ) and be our eternal lawgiver , and faithful interpreter of the divine will to them , by whom they might always have access to god , and obtain eternal life . socin . tom. 1. 788. truth . jesus christ was by divine adjustment a middle person between god and sinners , and as such laid his hand on both ; undertaking to appease god's wrath , and procure salvation for us at his hand ; and also to make god and the way of salvation known to us for our reconciliation and obedience to god : and by him god still imparts his blessings to us , and admits us free access to himself . error 5. christ is called a surety as a sponsor or messenger on god's part to us , but he promised nothing to god for us . crell . vol. 1. p. 612. truth . tho christ was not a joint federating party with us in the covenant of works , yet he was not only a surety on god's part to us , but he was a mediating surety on both parts ; and as such he engaged in the covenant of redemption to make atonement for us , and in the gospel-covenant , that all true believers shall persevere to the obtaining of eternal life . error 6. christ was not an high-priest while on earth , nor was his blood offered by him to god , but it was himself was offered , and that not on the cross , but when he entred into heaven ; yet the death of christ so far belongs to his priesthood , that he was prepared by his death to become a high-priest , and to offer himself a perfect sacrifice for sin in heaven , neither of which could be according to the decree of god , if his death had not intervened . crell . vol. 2. resp. ad grot. cap. 10. vol. 1. 613. vol. 2. par . 1. 162. socin . tom. 1. praelect . theol. cap. 23. truth . christ was an high-priest while he was on earth , and as such upon the cross offered up himself by his bloody death a perfect sacrifice , whereby his blood was a propitiatory offering at the very time it was shed ; and tho in the virtue thereof the saints were saved before his incarnation , and christ for ever intercedeth in the heavens , yet the presenting of himself or it there , makes no addition to the perfection of it as a sacrifice . error 7. there is no use nor place in the priesthood of christ for appeasing god's wrath , or offering any sacrifice , no not in heaven , as a condition of obtaining remission properly as from god , or impetrating the same ; but christ's death is a means of our enjoying that remission from god , and it was indirectly a condition thereof as to be given to us , i. e. it was a condition imposed : on christ , without which , by the divine decree , he was not to obtain authority from god to forgive us our sins ; and it may be called a sacrifice to god's mercy , as of his own free grace reconciled , but not as offended with sinners . socin . tom. 2. 665 , 666. crell . vol. 1. 612. wolzog. in ioh. 3. 16. truth . the first and principal use of christ's priesthood , was to offer on the cross a sacrifice to appease god's wrath against sinners , and to impetrate remission and eternal life , that so god the offended governor might , consistently with the honour of his law , and of all his divine perfections , be at liberty , and inclined as well to give the said blessings , as that we might become actual partakers of them from christ , as authorized to apply them to us : and all the other sacerdotal acts of christ do refer to this . error 8. redemption mentioned in the new testament , signifies no more nor other than a freeing us from the punishment of sin without any proper price intervening . and when it 's said , redemption is obtained by the blood of christ , it 's not meant that the blood of christ could move god , or that god was thereby obliged to grant us deliverance from the punishment of our sins , but that the shedding of his blood ought to intervene , that we might be moved thereby to accept that deliverance when offered to us . neither did christ buy us , but god by christ asserted his right to us ; and tho our deliverance from punishment is gotten as if by a price , yet this is not as if the blood of christ were paid to any . socin . tom. 〈◊〉 . prael . theol. cap. 19. tom. 2. 145 , 147. slicht . in rom. cap. 5. v. 10. truth . redemption by the blood of christ , is that we are bought by his blood as a proper price , and delivered from the curse of the law , and captivity under sin and satan , as by a proper ransom paid to the just governor of the world. error 9. christ by his death did not reconcile god to us , but he reconcileth us to god by his death , i. e. we come thereby to be converted to god , and cease to offend him ; yea , god's anger was so far from being appeased by the death of christ , that thereby it was declared , that god was before pacified to us . socin . tom. 1. 144 , 145 , 665 , 666. crell . vol. 3. resp. ad grot. 154 , 155 , 107. slicht . tom. 2. 214 , 401. & in rom. 5. 10. & 2 cor. 5. truth . we being children of wrath because of our sin , the lord jesus did by his death atone our offended god , who became thereby so reconciled , that he offereth peace to sinners , and requireth and urgeth us by believing aright to accept thereof ; and upon our penitent believing he becomes actually reconciled to us , delighting in us , and dealing with us as objects of his restored favour . note 1. crellius resp. ad grot. cap. 8. part . 3. disputes against this as the error of grotius and the rest of the orthodox , stating it in these words , god was before angry , but being appeased by the death of christ he determined to lay aside his anger , and upon our believing and repenting he doth actually lay aside his anger . 2. grotius de satisf . cap. 7. distinguisheth the actings of the divine will ; 1. as before christ's death is decreed , &c. then god is angry with the sinner , yet so as not to be averse to all methods of reconciliation . 2. vpon christ's death ( as well when fixed as when undergone ) then god not only appoints the way , but promiseth to be reconciled . 3. when a man believes in christ with a right faith , and christ according to the tenor of the covenant presents the believer to god ; then god lays aside his anger , and receives the person into favour ( or is actually reconciled . ) 3. how little do well-meaning antinomians consider , that not only in the third error , &c. but in this last error , they agree with the socinians , and that in a point whence most of their false notions about christ's satisfaction proceed . for , see you not ? they hold that after god's absolute decree to justify us , there 's no wrath in god to appease , the change is only on our part : and no reconciliation but on our side , whom god begs to be reconciled to him , he being already at peace with us . error 10. by christ's dying for our sins as being laid on him , is not meant , that christ according to his sponsion satisfied divine iustice for our sins , or that he paid to god any thing which we owed for our sins ; but when he is said to have died for our sins as they were laid on him , nothing else is meant , but that he died by occasion of our sins , to take them away , i. e. he died to reclaim us from our sins , and to assure us , that if we did leave our sins we should be forgiven ; and besides this , that we might perceive and obtain the fruit of that forgiveness , &c. socin . tom. 2. 153. tom. 1. prael . theol. cap. 18 , 20. crell . vol. 3. resp. ad grot. cap. 9. truth . when it 's said , christ died for our sins as being laid on him , it 's not only to bring about the forementioned ends , and such other purposes as are assigned by the socinians , but they were imputed to him as what he had for our salvation engaged to make satisfaction for : and he did by his death make a real , full and proper satisfaction to god's justice , vindicating the honour of his justice and government , and of the violated law as fully , as if the pardoned sinner had endured the utmost punishment threatned by the said law. error 11. god did not inflict death on christ our mediator to express his hatred of sin , and deter us from it by his death as any instance of divine displeasure against our offences , and therefore our sins were not punished in christ. socin . tom. 1. 577 , 578 , 581. tom. 2. 194. crell . vol. 1. de morte christi p. 611. truth . god did punish our sins in the death of christ , by shewing his real hatred against sin in all the extremities christ did endure ; which extremities and death thus inflicted were not only fit , but truly design'd to deter us from all disobedience , against which god thus testified his high displeasure . error 12. christ did not by his death properly merit salvation or any other thing for us , nor did he by the merit of his great obedience appease god's anger . socin . tom. 2. de servat . part. 3. cap. 6. p. 205. ruari epist. 164. smal. disp. 2. contr . frantz . truth . christ by his death and obedience did properly merit our salvation , and the reconciliation of god to us ; his death being to be considered first as satisfactory , and hen meritorious ; and his obedience first as meritorious , and then satisfactory . error 13. by christ's dying for us , or in our stead ( as some of them sometimes word it , tho they expresly dispute against it ) is not meant , that christ was substituted to die in the room of us who were condemned to die , that god might be pacified , nor that his death was instead of our death , that we for the merit of it might be delivered ; but the meaning is , that christ for our good did by his death come to be crowned with glory and power , whereby he is able to make us meet for pardon , and authorized to give that pardon to us . socin . praelect . cap. 20 , 21. & de scrvat . cap. 8. crell . resp. ad grot. cap. 9. par. 1 , &c. truth . by christ's dying for us , and in our stead , is meant , that whereas we sinners were condemned to die for our sins , our lord jesus , tho he became not a sinner in our stead , yet as mediator , he was substituted to die in our stead , that by his death god might be inclined to forgive us who otherwise must have died ( and by virtue of his death , as a satisfaction to divine justice , we are delivered from death . ) this parenthesis i add to the description grotius gives of christ's dying in our stead . de satisf . cap. 9. limborg's opinion of christ's satisfaction consonant to episcopivs and some few other arminians . error 14. vindictive justice required not satisfaction to be made in order to the remission of sin. limbor . theol. christian. lib. 3. cap. 18. § . 4. truth . vindictive justice for the honour of the divine law required satisfaction in order to the remission of sin , at least after the enacting of adam's covenant . error 15. christ's sufferings were not a full satisfaction to justice , nor was the price of our redemption fully equivalent to the misery we deserved : but god might accept as a redeeming price much or little as himself judged fit , and might be satisfied with any sort of affliction laid on christ. nor did christ satisfy the rigor of divine justice , but the will of god considered at once merciful as well as just ( i. e. mercy abated to christ in the terms of satisfaction , what iustice demanded ) lib. 3. cap. 2. § . 8 , 9. cap. 22. § . 2. cap. 23. § . 6. truth . tho the great mercy of god appeared in his being willing to admit , accept and provide christ our mediator to make satisfaction for our sins , yet god our just governor would have it that the terms of satisfaction proposed to our mediator should be such as strict iustice demanded for the honour of his violated law , and securing the ends of his government ; which terms were no lower than that he should suffer what was fully equivalent to the punishments they whom he was to redeem deserved to endure . and as our lord jesus did suffer in kind much of what we deserved to suffer ; so he suffered ( considering the dignity and innocency of his person ) what was in the intrinsick value fully equivalent to such of our deserved punishments , as he was not capable of suffering in kind . nay the price of our redemption paid by him , was not only equivalent to what the law of works required of us , but it was supralegal , that is , it far exceeded what any sinners were thereby obliged to ; nor see we how a full satisfaction for all our sins could be otherwise made . error 16. our faith and regeneration were not merited by christ. lib. 3. cap. 22. § . 3. truth . considering that our new-birth and faith are the fruits of the holy spirit , whom by sin we had expelled , his return to regenerate and make us believers must be for the sake and with respect to the merits of christ , as what vindicated the honour of god who restored him to us . truth . no penance , pilgrimage , fastings or good works of our own , or other men , can make proper satisfaction to divine justice for the least of our sins as to any part of their fault or guilt . this last we add in opposition to what popish opinions seem to militate against the doctrine of christ's satisfaction . socinian notions of iustification . error 1. in our justification by christ our sins are blotted out , not by christ's death and obedience as any compensation or satisfaction to god for them , but only by god's simple forgiveness and pardon absolutely free in all respects , without any merit of christ's or our own . socin . tom. 1. praelect . theol. cap. 15 , 16. crell . vol. 1. in phil. 3. 9. & in rom. 3. 24. truth . in justification upon our penitent believing our sins are pardoned , and our persons accepted for the sake of christ's death and obedience , as what compensated and made satisfaction for our sins : and tho neither our graces nor works do merit our pardon , acceptance or eternal life , yet these with all other saving benefits were merited by christ. note , the socinians are as much for absolutely unlimited free grace as even our antinomians would pretend to be , if not more . error 2. faith in christ is accepted under the gospel as a perfect righteousness for a perfect sinless obedience : and as this faith expresseth it self in our works , our justification is in it self firmer and surer . crell . vol. 1. p. 110 , 612 , 613. 474. truth 1. tho true faith be a gospel righteousness , yet it is not accepted for sinless obedience ; nor doth the gospel entitle us to salvation upon our believing , as the law did upon a perfect sinless obedience : for the law entitled us to life as of debt for our obedience , as the immediate merit of that reward by the adjustment of governing iustice. whereas the gospel of meer grace ( tho in a way of government ) entitles the believer to life , as what was merited by the lord jesus , and not by our faith or works . truth . 2. tho a dead faith cannot justify us , and our believing consent must be executed if we survive it ; yet are we as truly and firmly justified , and in christ's right entitled to glory when we first believe , as when those genuine fruits of it are produced , which are contrary to that barrenness , ungodliness and apostacy that would subject us to condemnation . we shall provide against limborg's and some other arminians notion of justification ( tho it be none of the five points which constitute arminianism ) and that we in the former papers opposed each of the said points in concurrence with our british divines in the synod of dort. error 3. by faith being imputed for righteousness , is meant , that god graciously for christ's sake will account our obedience which we yield him by faith as if it were perfect , tho it be imperfect . as if a creditor having a debtor who ows him 1000 gilders , should upon this debtor's paying him 100 , forgive him the rest , and graciously impute to him this part of payment for the payment of the whole . lib. 6. cap. 4. § . 39. — 17. truth . tho we are justified by christ believed on , and faith in him be accounted a gospel-righteousness , as it is the performed condition upon which we are by the gospel-promise adjudged to have the righteousness of christ imputed to us as our pleadable security against the curse of the law ; by which righteousness of christ alone our right to pardon and eternal life ( wherein we are personally invested by the gospel ) is merited as well as the blessings themselves . nevertheless our faith in christ is no part of the debt we owed to god by the law of innocency , nor is it , or our sincere obedience proceeding from it , either in themselves , or divine acceptance , a full conformity to the gospel precepts , much less doth god impute to us this faith , or that obedience for the payment of the whole debt owing by the law or gospel , tho he grant us thereupon that pardon , favour and acceptance christ hath procured , so as to deal with us as righteous persons ; and these he doth not suspend until faith produceth the said fruit of obedience , but grants them upon our first true purpose to turn from sin to god , and our acceptation of and trust in christ for doing this , and for obtaining all salvation by him . the common popish notion of justification as stated by andradius in his authorized explication of the decree of the 6th session of the council of trent , whereto bellarmine , and the generality of the papists agree . error 4. the first justification is the renovation of an ungodly man by the infused habit of love , the infusion of which is merited by christ. the second justification is this habit of love producing goods works , by the merit whereof we are further justified , and ex condigno deserve eternal life ; but neither the first nor second justification consists in the forgiveness of sin. note . by preparatory work , the council intend with the school-men , that our wills moved by the spirit do by their natural power prepare themselves to obtain the habit of grace , and ex congruo , merit the infusion of it , which habit is that justifying righteousness , for the merit whereof the sinner is at first absolved from guilt , and accepted to eternal life . truth 1. neither this first nor second justification is the justification described usually in the gospel , which is not the conversion of a sinner , or the progressive holiness of a convert , but a forensick act , viz. god's judicial absolving us from the curse due for sin , and adjudging us entitled to glory for the merits of christ , according to the gospel . truth 2. it is not true , that preparatory works do any way deserve from god the habit of grace at first infused , tho ordinarily the divine spirit doth by knowledg and humbling convictions abate the obstacles to grace in our hearts , and put us upon seeking help from christ ; all which are as truly owing to his more common operations , as saving grace is to his special . truth 3. neither the first infused habit of grace , nor its acts , do merit further grace or holiness ; nor yet any degree of that pardon or acceptance which by divine ordination ensue thereupon . error . 5. christ hath merited that the habit of love should by its virtue extinguish sin in us by good works , and we by these works merit reconciliation with god , forgiveness of sin , and eternal glory , as what do appease his anger , satisfy for our guilt , and are part of the price of eternal glory . note . the popish error concerning satisfaction leads them to this error about justification ; and when justification is considered in a protestant sense , viz. as a forensick act , the true controversy between the papists and us is about the doctrine of the merit of good works . truth . neither repentance , faith , love , nor any good work proceeding therefrom , do in the least merit reconciliation , pardon , or eternal life ; neither did christ merit that we might merit : but reconciliation , pardon , and eternal life were merited only by christ's atoning , satifying , and meriting sufferings and obedience : and therefore the righteousness of christ is accepted and reputed the only meriting righteousness in god's justifying act , altho this act terminates on none ( adult ) besides the penitent believer , and on all such by the ordination of the gospel . note 1. it 's one thing for christ to merit , that we might by our works merit salvation , it 's another thing for christ to merit that salvation it self , which he gives and applies to men on gospel-terms ; the first is popish , the last is protestant doctrine . 2. it 's one thing what our judg in his justifying act accounts to be the thing which appeaseth his anger ( for reconciliation ) makes compensation to justice ( for pardon ) and to be the meriting price ( of eternal life ) to which reconciliation , pardon , and eternal life he now adjudgeth the penitent believer to be entitled . now the thing which our judg accounts to be that which appeaseth his anger , &c. is the righteousenss of christ , and only that . it 's another matter whom our judg in his justifying act accounts and adjudgeth in conformity to the gospel-offer , to be the persons who he therein promised should be actually reconciled , pardoned , and entitled to glory in the alone meriting virtue of what appeased his anger , made amends for sin , and was the price of glory . now this person is the penitent believer , and he is accounted to be such from his having gospel-faith in christ , with true repentance , and as such is adjudged to be under the favour of the foresaid gospel promise of reconciliation , pardon and glory , yet procured and merited not by his faith , but by christ's alone righteousness , as before accounted for , and obtained in his right , who as well had these promised to him for believers in the covenant of redemption , as they are promised by god in christ in the gospel to believers themselves for a personal title to possess them , and to plead the merits of christ for the enjoyment of them . having testified our concord with our brethren , and and added this further account of what we esteem truth and error in the doctrines of satisfaction and justification , we must express our thankfulness to god , that our brethren in the foresaid declaration have testified against ignorant and scandalous persons intruding themselves into the ministry . and tho the vindication of our selves in this matter be needless , when our principles and practice are so well known ; and it 's so notorious , that of the great number of unqualified men who are of late turned preachers , those very few who broke out of any of our congregations in this city , receiv'd no approbation or countenance from us ; and to avoid restraint and discouragement they renounced the name of presbyterians , yea , preach'd against us ; yet to support what we can this present testimony of our congregational brethren , we 'll publish one of the articles agreed to by all of us for strengthening our vnion after our said brethrens recess , which is as follows , 6. that no ministers of the union shall admit , or consent that any person shall preach in their congregations , unless they have been solemnly admitted to the ministry by ordination , or approved by some of the united brethren , or produce a testimony that they have been under proper and preparatory studies to qualify them for that sacred function . chap. vi. some further examination what is socinianism , as to the doctrine of christ's satisfaction , and what is not so ; with a brief account of several phrases used by socinians and by the orthodox in a very contrary sense . a strict observation in how uncertain a sense terms and phrases are made use of , must convince one that errors may be easily concealed from the ignorant , and the orthodox as easily impeached without ground by sagacious persons who design imposing on the vulgar . i shall give an instance in the controversy before me , which makes it evident , that mens explications and main hypothesis must be regarded above words , otherwise their sense will be mistaken . 1. i find the socinians admit and make use of the words which some orthodox divines esteemed most distinguishingly expressive of their own sense , as commutation of persons as well as things for persons , a substitution and surrogation of christ's person in our room . b dying in our stead . c christ was an expiatory sacrifice . d his sufferings were punishments . e our sins were an impulsive cause of christ's death . f god was moved by christ's death to give us forgiveness . g ; yea it was a satisfaction . h christ was made a sinner , yea the chief sinner . and many more such i could mention : but this evidenceth that these very phrases are capable of a very ill sense as well as a good one . ruarus admits christ did in a sense impetrate our pardon by his death . epist. 64. so doth crellius resp. ad got. cap. 9. part . 3. 2. the last chapter gave us such a summary of their assertions as demonstrates they use these expressions in no good sense , but if you consult the places last cited , and in chap. 5. you 'll find them wrested to consist with the fore-mentioned errors ; but because it will be tedious to particularize , i shall enumerate the causes and ends they plainly and truly ascribe the death of christ to . a 1. they assign christ's death to god's meer dominion over him as his entire creature , whom he would reward for it , tho not as merited . b 2. it was an example of patience . c 3. it was a preparation of his sacrifice to be offered to god in heaven for our sins . d 4. it shew'd how much he desired our salvation , tho such great sinners , and how faithful he would be in expiating our sins in heaven , when he endured such dreadful things for our sakes , which god would have chiefly considered in our high-priest . e 5. his death impressed a tender affection and pity towards us , that so he would succour us who were to be so extreamly afflicted , god would not have put mankind in his hands unless he first suffered death for sinners : and that god might render us more assured , that if we obeyed we should have eternal life ; christ should be so fashioned that in a sense it should appear christ had more tenderness for us than god himself , or otherwise it had been as to us alike , that god had saved us immediately , as to have saved us by christ. or , f 6. to establish the new covenant and promises . g 7. to confirm his doctrine . h 8. to come pursuant to god's decree to be crowned with glory and honour , and invested with authority and power to convert , protect , forgive , and give us eternal life . i 9. that there might be greater rewards promised to induce us to repent than there were before k 10. to take away those greater sins which the legal sacrifices were not appointed for . l 11. beget in us a firm hope of life , tho we should die as terrible a death . m 12. that we might not fear death , or the curse , which we see conquered by him . n 13. that we might be induced to leave our sin , when he died that we might be reclaimed from it by such hope of pardon upon leaving of it . o 14. to , make known how highly kind and pacified god was to us . i pass by a compliance with pagan customs . 3. as they limit christ's death in this manner , exclusively of and in opposition to other causes and ends , which the proper satisfaction of christ more directly supposeth , as you see in the fifth chapter . so i could easily shew how they dilute their own seeming concessions , as well as reduce plain scripture-expressions to that insignificancy , that no man can hope by their method to apprehend any kind of words with certainty as to their meaning ; one while an as if ( a quasi ) is all they intend by their large grants , as if a redeeming price , &c. god is as it were moved , and as it were obliged by christ to pardon us : another while all is figurative , as a metaphorical redemption . christ's death was an expiatory sacrifice , i.e. metonymically and synechdocically called so , and it chiefly signifies what by god's decree followed upon it , viz. his entrance into heaven . many more might be heaped of this kind . socin . de servat . par . 2. cap. 2. crell . vol. 1. in rom. 3. 24. vol. 3. resp. ad grot. cap. 8. par . 3. p. 198 , 189. socin . tom. 1. praelect . cap. 20. 4. they sometimes state the difference between themselves and others , and there are some things they still adhere to and secure , however they perplex this controversy with their seeming grants and equivocal expressions . ( 1. ) socinus states this question and denies it : are our sins blotted out by any compensation or satisfaction , or else by forgiveness ? most think they are blotted out , a satisfaction intervening : but we think they are blotted out by simple forgiveness , or a pardon absolutely free . prael . cap. 15. p. 565. he also states the difference with covet , and puts this for the position held by his own party . i judg and think this to be the orthodox determination , that jesus christ is therefore our saviour , because he hath made known to us the way of eternal life ; and in his own person , both by the example of his life , and rising from the dead , hath given assurance of it , and made it evident , as also that he will give eternal life to us who believe him . but i affirm , that he neither satisfied divine justice , by which we sinners did deserve to be damned ; nor was there any need that he should satisfy it . socin . tom. 2. de servat . cap. 1. 121. crellius states this question ; did the redemption wrought by christ include his payment of a true price to god for our sins , which he calls satisfaction ? resp. ad grot. cap. 8. this he denies ; and he and others of them take great advantage of covet's making use of creditor , debtor , and debt , to express their judgment in this controversy . other instances might be given . ( 2 ) the principal things they adhere to are , 1. that christ did not appease god's anger towards sinners . 2. that what christ did and suffered had no meriting virtue ; and so did not merit from god our pardon , acceptance and eternal life , or properly move god to give or promise them . these are the heart of socinianism as to the satisfaction of christ ; and they do exclude what christ performs in heaven , as well as his death on earth , from any proper influence godward as to these things , tho to effect what they call expiation , they ascribe more to christ's abiding on god's right-hand taking care of the church , than to his resurrection , and more to his resurrection than to his death ; these two last being but the decreed intervening way of coming to the other , which they call the expiation it self . hence they always deny any proper redeeming price , and say god quitted his right to punish us without any respect to christ ; and distinguish of expiation on god's part ( which they call his own act ; ) and on our part , which is , say they , christ's giving us eternal life ; wherein as contain'd a full deliverance from the punishment of sin. as to expiation on god's part , that 's in no wise by christ's inclining god to forgive our sins by his sacrifice ; yea socinus tells us god alone expiates sin. and when crellivs blames grotius for making socinus to confine the efficacy of christ's sacrifice to sins future for prevention or pardon , and excluding the forgiveness of sins past , otherwise than as it begets faith , and so turns us from sin. what greater expiating virtue doth he ascribe to it under the notion of an expiating sacrifice ? it's this , it takes away the guilt and punishments of all sins tho past before conversion , and however great : but how and wherein ? he answers , it 's partly by declaring and granting us a right to that thing , and partly by actually taking away divine punishments . but is that right or pardon at all properly procured by this sacrifice ? no , by no means ; that he had denied , and abides by the denial here , and in the following sections . the sum is ; a crucified saviour his being exalted , and in heaven taking care of our salvation , assures us , that we shall be partakers of the pardon appointed and promised before by the meer mercy of god without respect to christ ; and christ as the authorized sponsor on god's part conveys it , and assisted with the divine power fully removes the punishments , or rather god himself doth it : nay , by their scheme you cannot well see them allow less expiating virtue to mens prayers than the legal sacrifices , yea the yearly : for , fay they , we expiate our own sins by those prayers ; and scarce more to christ's sacrifice than the legal , except as to more sorts of sin , and its greater aptness to disswade us from sin by the love of god , and strong grounds of hopes of higher rewards , being more evidenced and assured by this sacrifice of christ , than by those of the law : for this sacrifice of christ is no other than an intervening means , which being performed , that discharge follows by the divine decree , which the self-inclined god , unmoved by any thing christ was to do or suffer , resolved freely to bestow of his meer mercy . to add no more , they carefully distinguish between the impetration of pardon ; &c. with respect to the divine will , and the means of the application of that pardon to the sinner . from the former they exclude christ's satisfaction and merits , and confine their virtue truly altogether to the latter . the thing it self is unprocured as from god , the sinner's obtaining it is subserved by christ by what he perfoms to make us meet for it , and possessing us in the effects of it according to the way decreed , and that only because decreed . socin . tom. 1. praelect . cap. 27. 21 , 22 , 23 , 24. tom. 2. de serv. cap. 4. crell . resp. ad grot. cap. 8 , 9 , 10. 5. it 's very obvious that the socinian controversy lies not in those things wherein some are induced to place them , because of certain phrases sometimes occurring in debates concerning the doctrine of christ's satisfaction . to instance a few . ( 1. ) it 's not whether the sufferings of a sponsor in the stead of the sinner be in so strict a sense a proper punishment , as the sufferings of the delinquem himself would be ? this is nothing with them ; for their question is , were christ's sufferings such an instance of god's rectoral hatred against our sins , and anger against sinners , as that thereby the honour of his justice and injured government and law was provided for , and vindicated , and sinners to be deterred from sin by god's insisting upon such a penal compensation before he would be reconciled to us . punishment under this notion they expresly dispute against . ( 2. ) nor is it about the phrase commutation of persons between christ and sinners , they grant it ; admit a surrogation of the typical sacrifice instead of the sinner , and a substitution of christ in our place . their point depends not on any such mere words . but was christ appointed , and did he consent to endure what the sinner was to suffer , that in virtue thereof the offended god might be appeased , and the sinner delivered ? this is the thing they oppose . crell . resp. ad grot. cap. 9. par . 14. explaining this very phrase . ( 3. ) nor is with them the question , whether christ's sufferings were in part the idem , and in other respects a full equivalent to the punishments the sinner deserved : no , their arguments run against the equivalency , and on that account deny that his sufferings could be a full price of redemption , or a satisfaction ; and well they may , when they call him a mere creature . crell . resp. ad grot. c. 4. par . 2. &c. 6. par . 18. it 's the proportion in the value they most directly militate against . ( 4. ) nor , whether christ was a sinner in judicial esteem , or was he reputed the innocent mediator making amends to iustice for our sins , that we the offendors might be redeemed by his merits , who , to make satisfaction , submitted to be dealt with as if he had been a sinner . the last is enough for their abhorrence ; and tho socinus took all advantages to expose the orthodox , in representing their opinion as to the imputation of sin to christ , yet grants they hold that christ was truly innocent , and reputed so by god even when he was punished as if an offender . de servat . cap. 6. it 's true , sometimes they would force some such consequence on the words of the orthodox , as if christ must be legally reputed a sinner , but that is to furnish themselves with an argument to ridicule the true doctrine of satisfaction . and note , they deny that 2 cor. 5. 21. christ was made sin , to be christ was made a sacrifice for sin ; yea some render it , he was made a sinner , as slicht . &c. god dealt with him as a sinner . socin in loc . ( 5. ) it 's far enough from the socinian controversy , whether christ was immediately obliged by the law of works to die , i. e. did god thus sentence him , thou christ hast sinned , and therefore thou shalt die ? or , was he immediately obliged to die by the govenant of redemption , and mediately by the law of works , i. e. the sentence is to be thus apprehended ? whereas thou my son the mediator , hast with my consent , declared thy willingness to expiate sin , and ransom sinners , justly condemned by the curse of my law to die : and whereas my vindictive iustice , the honour of my law and government , required that i the rector should exact satisfaction and reparation for the crimes of these sinners by thy death , if i agreed to thy redeeming and saving them , and thou hast obliged thy self to die in their stead to redeem them , therefore thou shalt die this accursed , shameful death . this , i say , is no part of the dispute with the socinians , for the last account doth as directly oppose their notions as the former , nay much more ; for it asserts the compact before his incarnation , and consequently the divinity , at least preexistence of christ. ( 6. ) nor yet is it of any moment with them , whether men say sin would be in a more proper sense the immediate meritorious cause of the sinner's dying who committed the sin , than of christ's dying who did not commit the sin , tho he obliged himself to make satisfaction for it in the sinner's stead , that the provoked god might be reconciled to him . the point with them being this , did our sins , notwithstanding god's merciful disposition , retain that demerit in his account , as rendered satisfaction for it by death necessary to reconcile him to sinners ; and consequently did christ suffer death to make that satisfaction which was become thus necessary by sin , and yet impossible for the sinner to make . ( 7. ) it 's true , the socinians usually say our sins were the occasion of christ's death ( yet oft they call them the antecedent cause ) but occasion being more common and agreeable to their hypothesis , i wish others had waved that word to prevent abuse . nevertheless the mere using of that word is far from arguing any man to socinianize , so that he apply it to a sense opposite to what socinians do . this will appear , if we consider in what sense the socinians use it ; they say our sin was an occasion of christ's death , as sin was that which we were to be reclaimed from , and our hope supported against . and the death of christ was that way in which god , who was not unreconciled before , did appoint christ to reclaim us from our sins ; as his death assureth us of the truth of his doctrine and promises , manifesteth god's prior reconciliation , and so his death became an argument to encline us to believe and repent , and also a causa sine qua non ; both of a strong motive to holiness , viz. the endless glory designed in heaven for us ( which was before shut up ) and of that power , authority and care of christ at god's right-hand to bring us into the possession of it . but when others shall call our sins an occasion of christ's death , and explain it thus ; that it was an occasion of christ's death as a penal satisfaction to the iustice of god , and that he endured it to pacify god to sinners ; that god's hatred of sin , and his justice ( yea punitive justice ) might be no less demonstrated in christ's satisfaction , than if the sinners had been damned . and his obedience , and his punishments wherein vindictive iustice was thus glorified , did merit the pardon of our sins , and eternal life , such an explication doth as much oppose socinianism , as if they had used the word meritorious cause instead of occasion . that no person may pretend the reverend mr. baxter's authority in favour of socinianism , because he sometimes calls our sins an occasion of christ's death , i do assure the reader that he explains the word occasion in the last sense , and in the most direct opposition to socinianism : nor can any pretend but the reason he useth this word , as also pro causa meritoria , or instead of a meritorious cause , is only to distinguish christ the sponsor making satisfaction to justice for our sins , from the sinner himself when suffering for his own sins . to evidence which , i have repeated his own assertions under this seventh head , and could easily cite his own words , which agree exactly to what 's antisocinian in the six foregoing heads . see method . theol. par . 3. cap. 1. determ . 11 , 12 , 15. need i add that he says , god declared to the feeling of christ his displeasure against sin , which was the cause of all the miseries which he endured , i. e. saith he , christ bare those punishments which the anger and displeasure of god against sin and sinners caused to be inflicted on him our sponsor . vbi sup . disp. 4. and all this in our stead . det. 10. he made satisfaction for our sins to god as rector , and as the injured party : determ . 14. christ's death answered all the ends of the most proper punishments , and of the threatning of the law : determ . 12. when he calls sin an occasion of christ's death , he there calls it also a remote meritorious cause : determ . 5. and as for a proper meritorious cause as when children are punished for their parents sins : determ . 5. his safaction yielded to our most just rector a sufficient ground on which to forgive penitent believers spiritual and eternal punishments : dis● 2. nay , he sees not , supposing the law of works , how god could forgive our sins without the penal satisfaction of christ : disp. 2. & determ . 15. it were endless to produce the instances demonstrating the orthodoxness of this great man as to the satisfaction of christ against socinianism . and by the way , such as say ▪ christ's penal satisfaction was not necessary to the forgiveness of our sins , do a thousand times more favour socinianism than mr. baxter's notions or words can be wrested to . perhaps others who follow episcopius and some other arminians ( when all must acquit him of socinianism ) may surmise he favoureth their notion of christ's death , as if it were a satisfaction only to the will of god , and not a full satisfaction to the iustice of god. to this i answer , mr. b. distinguisheth satisfaction into that which is the fulfilling the will of a person , and that which is the payment of what was owing by an equivalent otherwise not due . and he affirms , that christ's satisfaction was not a mere fulfilling the will of god ( tho it supposeth his consent ; ) but it was a full equivalent to what punishments we deserved , in that it better answered the ends of divine government , than the sinner's punishment would have done ; it more fully demonstrated the vindictive justice of god , than if the sinner had been damned , and it was a full satisfaction to governing justice , and the end of the law. vbi supra determ . 10 , 11 , 12 , 15. i thought this account necessary not only for the forementioned end , but also that our agreement in opposition to socinianism might not exclude mr. b. and such as approve of his scheme , which would add strength to that heresy , and be injurious to many worthy persons ; nor ought a few words so fully explained be pressed to brand them with that odious title , who could more plausibly fix the same character on persons from things plainly asserted in the socinian sense , and subserving their hypothesis : as christ's death was not necessary to the remission of sin , the promise of forgiveness is no effect of christ's death . repentance under the gospel is an effect of justifying faith in christ. the preaching of reconciliation to sinners , is only to publish to them that god is already reconciled to them , and to call them to be reconciled to god. many others might be instanced ; but i think it were unjust , even upon such grounds , to call any of these socinians . chap. vii . an enquiry into what difference seems to remain concerning the satisfaction of christ , and iustification of a sinner . and this difference reduced below any cause of discord . i think both sides are acquitted from all dangerous errors concerning the satisfaction of christ , and justification of a sinner ; nor can i doubt but the impartial reader must apprehend the remaining difference doth not lie in opinions about these doctrines themselves , but in accommodating some words in opposition to other errors which either side have more especially applied their minds to confute , unless he should also ascribe it to a zeal for sundry received phrases on the one part , and an apprehension in the other part , that more accuracy is become needful since those phrases were received . 1. in both these doctrines the visible spring of what difference remains is a different notion of christ's suretiship . for by this the word imputation , as used in both these doctrines , is governed , viz. how our sins were imputed to christ when he satisfied , and how christ's righteousness is imputed to us when we are justified ; both which depend upon the various conceptions of the suretiship of christ , and the manner of his representing us , which i will begin with . one side thinks him a mediating surety , and distinguishing both as to the matter engaged , and instrument wherein he voluntarily engaged himself , as also the respect he had to us therein . 1. in the covenant of redemption they consider christ agreeing with his father the terms of satisfaction to justice , and impetration of life for sinners , and obliging himself to assume our nature , and therein perfectly to obey the law , die an accursed death , with whatever was equivalent to what by the covenant of works our sins deserved . here they think christ did not covenant strictly in our stead , or as our proxy , tho he covenanted to die in our stead , even strictly so : he transacted as a free interposer tho for our salvation ; we were no federating party , tho we were the persons whose salvation was his promised reward : and therefore we have more reason , since we are become his members , to say we intercede in christ now , than to say that we covenanted in christ then . finally , they account his act of engaging so peculiar to himself , that his non-performance of what he engaged ( which was impossible ) had not made us more guilty , tho it would have left us miserable for our own sins , there being no other way to redeem us . 2. they find christ called a surety in the gospel-covenant made with fallen man , heb. 7. 22. and no where else . this covenant supposeth the former , yea supposeth christ's having executed his engagements by the covenant of redemption to make satisfaction to justice ( i. e. it was at first accepted as if executed ) for this covenant with man doth not adjust the terms of redemption , but the way of conveying the effects of that redemption , and is called the testament of our lord jesus , whereby he bequeaths the blessings he acquired by his atoning death . in this covenant christ is such a surety , as not only assures us all will be performed which is promised to us on god's part , but that undertakes to bring in the elect , and for the perseverance of believers unto eternal life , by his exerting that power and authority he hath received . but here also they apprehend christ a distinct federating party : a mediator treating and obliging himself to make the covenant stand sure , and effect the ends it was designed for : but he binds not himself to believe , repent , or persevere for us ; but that we shall repent , believe and persevere ; nor doth his engagement that we should do so , prevent our personal engagement by covenant to do it our selves , tho in his strength . now our act of engaging is not his engaging act , but an effect of it ; nor is our repenting his repenting act , but the effect of his engaged assistance ; nor is that assistance of his reckoned to be legally our assisting our selves ; nor can we say that we covenanted in christ to bring in the elect , or that believers shall persevere : by which , with other reasons , we are induced to think , that in covenanting he transacts still as mediator ; but he obliging himself to these great performances , in order to our doing what we are personally obliged to do , and our receiving what we are necessitated to receive , if ever we be saved even in a gospel-way ( tho it supposeth him already crucified ) he is properly called a surety of the new covenant , yet still connoting him a mediator . i need not suggest , that if in this new covenant christ's suretyship will not infer our being one foederating party with christ , and hence that we covenanted in him ; it will far less follow we did so in the covenant of redemption , which treated of things so improper to be once propos'd to us as undertaking parties , much less as principals , which to strictly legal sureties always are supposed . but of this i have treated in man made righteous , and in answer to the report , and p. s. to gospel-truth . the other side think christ , with the father's consent , came into the covenant of works considered as a bond , ( as unviolated say some , as violated say others ) and therein became one foederating party with us , ( as elect some say , as believers say others ) even such a surety as made the covenant of works run thus : if thou christ my son , or you the elect ( or believers ) do obey all the law , you shall live : but if they sin , thou or they shall die , or they having sinned , thou shalt die . and they conceiving christ to be as a strict pecuniary surety in this one bond with us , they esteem him one legal person and representative in such a sense as that we did covenant in him , and are legally esteemed to do and suffer what he did , and not only secured of salvation in his right , and for his sake . this may be accounted by some a dangerous difference , and so it were on our part , if we did not own that christ's fulfilling of the law was an article in the covenant of redemption ; and that we are as fully assured of salvation , if we accept of christ , as if we had covenanted in him ; and that he hath engaged the elect should accept of him , tho they did not covenant in him : and that believers have as inviolable an interest in the benefits of christ's death , both in his right and by the gospel-promise , as if they were legally esteemed to suffer what he did suffer . but all this we acknowledg . it would be as dangerous on our brethrens part to say we covenanted in christ , and obeyed in him , if they did not renounce all proud assuming boasts , as if they were as righteous as christ , or stood on terms with god needing no more acts of mercy than that one of appointing christ to be mediator ; but after that they are on terms of strict justice , and above forgiveness , &c. the like danger would ensue their position , if they did not acknowledg the necessity of faith to justification , and this faith to be always accompanied with repentance and persevering holiness . but our brethren renounce the former , and own the latter . matters standing thus , will afford no ground to hereticate each other : we think a mediating surety obliged in a distinct bond to perform the utmost which our brethren affirm christ to have done , doth as well secure our state , and support our faith as if in the same bond , and better account for the sapiential methods of divine government towards man since the fall , with god's judicial procedures towards man as under gospel-offers , and his suspending christ's merited benefits till men believe , as also his recorded pleadings with sinners . the brethren think not that christ did more for our salvation than we allow , but that we did more in christ ; and thence judge our faith more supported , and the law of works more honoured in their way . but did each side perceive all the aforesaid respective ends alike provided for , and evil consequences equally avoided , the notion in debate could for its own sake admit no dispute on either side . and is it not pity to hate each other for mistaking the best scheme , to avoid the same evils which both would prevent , and secure that same good which both honestly aim at by their respective hypotheses ? forbearance is the juster in this point , because it turns upon a solution of this question , when adam is called a figure of christ , rom. 5. 18. is there not some disparity in their representation of men , as well as in those other things there instanced ? our brethren think christ so fully prefigured by adam as a representative , that we as truly obeyed and suffered in christ , as we sinned in adam . we think the figure , as to representation , is to be explained thus : as no man becomes a sinner , or dieth , whose depravedness and death were not procured and merited by adam's first sin ; and tho the pagan sinners who died , did not actually sin against a revealed positive law , as adam did , yet he was the root of death to them as well as to the jews under moses's law : so no men are quickned , justified , sanctified , or saved , but christ is a root of life , grace , justification , holiness , and glory to them ( in all these by his merits , in some also by his spirit and power . ) but yet we conceive christ may as well answer adam's figure here intended , by our being quickned , justified , and saved by christ's obedience imputed to us , without our being esteemed to have obeyed and suffered in him , as christ was condemned and died for adam's sins imputed to him , tho he was not esteemed to have sinned in adam . as he was condemned by our disobedience , so we are justified by his obedience , viz. the first by his own compact with the father , the last by that and the gospel too : he was not condemned by any imputation that made him by the law a sinner , unless he sinned in adam ; neither are we justified by being legally judged sufferers or obeyers in him . it avails not to say christ was legally a sinner , and yet not reputed to sin in adam , because christ was our root ; for tho he was our root as to grace , acceptance , pardon and glory , and whatever else did proceed from him to us , as our saviour ; nevertheless , if he was a sinner , he could not as to this be our root , unless we derive sin from him ; but surely that denomination must have its root , not in him , but in those that were sinners before him , and whose sins were imputed to him : they must denominate that one legal person into which he came , a sinful guilty person ; as he doth that one obeying , satisfying person , into which we are admitted : ( which terms our brethren espousing , i argue from . ) finally , we are enclined to set the foresaid limit to christ's representation by this among many other reasons : for in that rom. 5. 18. where adam is called a figure , the death of those heathens was merited by their own personal transgressions as well as by adam's disobedience . but the elect , even when believers do not , merit life by their own personal obedience ; and therefore we are not represented altogether in the same manner in christ as in adam . 2. from the former another point ariseth referring expresly to the satisfaction , viz. in what sense our sins were imputed to christ. one saith our sins were imputed to christ only as to guilt or obligation , to bear the punishment which we deserved for them ; which punishments tho he obliged himself to endure in our stead to reconcile god to us , yet that did not render him a sinner in god's account , because that title results from the violation of the precept abstractedly from a respect to the threatning ; and conceiving he was not a sinner in our stead , tho he suffer'd in our stead the punishments due to our sins , they think he was esteemed by god what in truth he was , viz. the holy , innocent mediator , punishable by his own consent for the sins he came to expiate , and were not expiable without his dying in our stead . but our brethren think our sins were so imputed to christ , as to give him the denomination and judicial acceptation of a sinner in the esteem of god and the law. yet lest the difference should appear greater than it is , it 's fit i inform you that our brethren deny that christ had any sin or defilement in him , or had any sin of his own : they were our sins , only imputed to him , and he was a legal sinner by being one political person with those sinners whom the law esteemed real sinners , and condemned as such . on the other hand , we own that ( supposing the covenant of redemption ) he was as truly obliged , and god the just rector at as full liberty to punish him for our sins , as if he had been reputed a sinner : nay divine justice required the inflicting those punishments on him , if the sinner was to be redeemed from them for his sake . now , reader , can this difference justify mutual censures or alienation ? what , is a sinner without filth , yea or any fault of his own , above a sponsor obliged to bear the punishments of other mens sins in the stead of the offenders ? and they who acknowledg him to be this , what less say they of him than the others mean , tho scrupulous of that harsher denomination ? at least it would appear strange to revile each other for a different explication of that text , 2 cor. 5. 21. he was made sin for us . one thinks he was made a sacrifice for sin after the hebrew custom : for we find very oft the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signify a sin-offering as well as sin , lev. 7. 1 , 2. and cap. 4. 28 , 29 , 33. and this very apostle follows the same usage , calling an offering or sacrifice for sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rom. 8. heb. 10. 5. the other side will have it meant that christ was made a sinner , but a sinner that 's holy , undefiled , and never offended : which notion of being made sin is too diminutive to admit harsh thoughts of such as entertain it . an unconcerned observer will be apt to say , these who call christ a sinner are intent to renounce socinianism ; and they who call him a sacrifice for sin , are as sollicitous to confute socinianism and antinomianism too , by withholding an advantage which both these errors receive by the use of that word . but where 's the christian charity or prudence of the condemning side , when both contend for what seems the best defence of the doctrine of satisfaction ? the other phrases accounted for in the 6th chapter , admit the same mitigation as this , and upon the same grounds . 3. the third point wherein there appears some difference , refers to the doctrine of iustification . but before i insist on this , permit me to offer a few hints . 1. any difference in this matter seems to proceed from want of an equal consideration of the covenant of redemption , which fixed the terms of satisfaction , and impetration of saving benefits , which christ alone was thereby obliged to perform ; and the gospel-covenant , wherein the method of giving us a personal interest in the blessings impetrated by christ is ordained . by the former , all that belongs to satisfaction and merit are confined to christ , and pardon , adoption , and eternal life put in the hand of our saviour as his reward . by the latter , a way becoming our fallen state and rational nature , is appointed to apply to us a right to the purchased blessings ; nor can the scripture-account of god's calls , pleadings and judicial proceedings be explained without it . i think the not distinguishing these two covenants , or fixing the mind upon either of them , with too little regard to the other , contribute much to our debates . 2. with humility i propose to consideration , whether such can dangerously err as to the way of salvation , and particularly in the doctrine of justification , who do honestly adhere to our foregoing account of christ's satisfaction ; and in subordination thereto , assert a gospel-law or covenant , wherein is enacted a rule by which the saving effects of that satisfaction are given forth : it seems to me highly improbable . for in the account given of satisfaction , we ascribe the whole impetration of pardon , acceptance , and all saving benefits only to the atonement and merits of christ , expresly excluding all our own graces and good works from the least place therein : and by our judgment of the gospel-law , we secure the method and rule of the personal application of these merited benefits , and that conformably to the scope of the bible in its most explained parts , as well as in full consistency with an apt ministry , and a judicial sentence against impenitent infidels , to whom those benefits are not applied , notwithstanding gospel-offers . whereas if we conceived never so fitly and with greatest soundness concerning the satisfaction of christ , and denied a gospel-law ( or what 's equivalent to it ) we apprehend no small danger inevitably to ensue ; and that in no less a matter than mens salvation : for if this gospel prove a rule of iudgment , and that christ gives forth pardon and such merited benefits thereby , will not our ministry be useless and ensnaring to souls , which doth not explain and press the gospel conditions in order to an interest in those benefits ? and must not those secure sinners be destroyed who submit not to those conditions , however confident they be upon orthodox apprehensions of what christ hath done to satisfy justice , and merit eternal life ? the boundaries therefore i would propose to my self are , that christ be not rivalled in his atoning or meriting performances on the one hand , nor rejected in his enacted rules of dispensing his purchased and offered benefits on the other : for he is truly dishonoured , and souls undone by both . but i would not be mistaken , as if this were suggested to reflect on the brethren who are seriously intent upon the first ; for it already appears , and will be more evident that they neglect not the last , but affirm what to this purpose is equivalent to a gospel-law . 3. it is very evident that when protestants express great zeal for christ's alone righteousness imputed to us in justification , against the popish doctrine , the generality of the learned among them do only exclude every thing besides that righteousness of christ , from being meritorious of acceptance , pardon , life , and any other blessing ; and from being any satisfaction or compensation for any sin ; affirming that this alone can atone the anger of god , for the sake of this alone will he absolve us , and nothing below this is perfect enough for us to stand in before the bar of his justice . and therefore the work of faith it self can be no justifying righteousness in that sense they took justifying righteousness ( all which we heartily own ; ) and hence they oft appropriate the justifying aptitude and office of faith mostly to a reliance on that sole meriting righteousness of christ , and its receiving forgiveness , acceptance , and a right to life , of meer mercy , for the sake of christ's alone merits : all which is justly and truly spoken , as they accommodate it to the defence of christ's righteousness , as the only thing appointed or fit for the fore-described purposes , and in opposition to the popish doctrine of merit . the dispute they had with the popish church was about this meriting , atoning , satisfying righteousness ; and you i find them often propose that if the papists would grant that this righteousness was that of christ alone , the great controversy about justification was at an end : but at the same time most protestants , and our homilies do fully grant , that repentance was necessary , and required to forgiveness , and faith to justification , and these blessings promised to those graces , tho they were not led to dispute whether these were to be called a righteousness as qualifying the subject on whom god's justifying act terminated : but whether in that act god regarded any thing as a meriting , absolving , satisfying righteousness , any thing as a satisfaction to justice , any thing as an impelling motive , or valuable consideration , besides the righteousness of christ. to this their debates were confined in their day , and this they were intent to maintain , as all christians ought to be : whereas the reason of debating the name of that by which the subject of justification was determined in opposition to such whom god did not justify , was not so much before them as before others , of later years assaulted by such as went into another extreme from the doctrine of popish merit . nor was this matter otherwise stated by our able divines who contend against such arminians , as affirmed the tò credere , to be our justifying righteousness ; for by righteousness such arminians mean the righteousness which is part of payment , and stands in the place of , and answers the same ends in our justification , as perfect obedience served for to sinless man ; which we have before stated and renounced . were there need , abundant testimonies offer by which this head is easily proved , tho i grant some men may be found to vent some inconsistent expressions . having premised these things , i reassume the difference about justification that seems to continue , which lies , 1. in the manner of the imputation of christ's righteousness . both agree it is imputed , but how , is not so universally assented to : one side thinks the sense of imputing christ's righteousness to be , that god reckons us to have legally done and suffered what christ did , and this to the full satisfaction of justice and the law of works , and therefore are reputed to have perfectly obeyed the precepts of this law , and fully endured its curse ; and for our legally doing so , god judgeth and pronounceth us righteous in full conformity to the law , and therefore entituled to pardon , adoption , and eternal life . if you ask , is this justifying sentence the sentence of the law of works , viz. it s premiant sanction applied to us by god as the righteous judg judging us by the law of works ? they answer , it is the sentence of the law of works , but it is of gospel-grace that god allowed christ to be one person with us in the covenant of works , whereby we are thus accounted to obey and suffer in him . but others think that the righteousness of christ is imputed in the following manner , viz. 1. they consider that the father promised to christ in reward of his obedience and suffering , that they who believed on him should be pardoned , adopted , dealt with as righteous persons who had not sinned , and be eternally sav'd : hence the lord iesus has a right to believers obtaining these things . and as faith describes the persons in this covenant who shall obtain them , so when we become believers , we are accounted and adjudged to be such believers , and such as are to obtain those blessings in christ's right . 2. they consider god in christ for sapiential ends , making in the gospel an offer of pardon , adoption , and eternal life to poor sinners if they believe , and promising these blessings when they believe , and still as blessings bought by christ's obedience and sufferings , and promised to him for believers ; tho withal used in his gospel as motives to inforce his command of faith and calls to it . these things thus considered , we apprehend that when god in christ justifieth us , he doth not only give us pardon , adoption , and life ; but he adjudgeth and sentenceth us to be the persons that by the covenant of redemption were to be pardoned , adopted and saved in the right of christ ; and to whom the gospel by its promise gives a personal right to that pardon , adoption and life as purchased by christ : and he esteems and adjudgeth that the obedience and sufferings of christ in their full virtue , is our pleadable security for the enjoyment of them , whereby we have a right to plead his death and merits with god as what procured these for us , as well as god's fidelity , who promised them to us in his gospel . you see by this account that we rise not so high as to say , we are accounted to do and suffer what christ did , and to be absolved immediately by the sentence of the law of works ; nor fall we so low as a mere participation of the effects of christ's righteousness , but assert an imputation of christ's righteousness it self relatively to those effects . christ's right is applied , and his very obedience reckoned to us , as what pleads with god for those effects , and secures us against all condemning obstacles and challenges . the justifying sentence is not the sentence of the law ; god saith not , you have perfectly obeyed , therefore you shall live ; you have satisfied the curse , therefore you shall not die : yet the righteousness which procured our salvation , and is our adjudged pleadable security of enjoying this promised salvation , includes an obedience as perfect as that to which the law promised life if we had not sinned , and sufferings equivalent to what the curse pronounced against us when we sinned . but because we apprehend not where this law includes such a sentence as this , viz. because christ obeyed , you shall live tho you obeyed not ; and because christ who sinned not , did suffer for your sins , you shall be absolved tho you have sinned ; therefore we rather conceive the justifying sentence to be the sentence of the gospel-law , yet connoting the law of mediation , and presupposing a satisfaction made to the law of works , which we conceive to be to this purpose . thou believing sinner , i judicially esteem and pronounce thee to be one that i promised to my son in the covenant of redemption , to pardon , adopt and glorify in reward of his perfect obedience to my law , and satisfaction to my justice , which i acknowledg he hath performed : as also to be one of those persons to whom i made a promise of pardon , adoption and eternal glory , when i offer'd these blessings to all sinners who would believe on him . thou art therefore in the virtue of the promise made to christ , and the promise made thee , adjudged to receive forgiveness , adoption and glory , and to have a right to plead the righteousness of christ for thy safe and comfortable enjoyment of them in the prevailing efficacy of his merits , who alone procured both these blessings , and that faith upon which thy estate is so much altered . charity obligeth me to think that some well-meaning persons who talk of eternal justification in christ , intend no more than this promise made to christ in the covenant of redemption : and by not distinguishing between this promise , that all who should believe on him should be justified ; and that other article , all the elect shall believe on him ( which is a distinct thing ) they consider not that by the first no man can be justified till he be a believer ; and the last article only assures that the elect will be believers , and by the consequence of the first that they shall all be justified , but yet not before they are believers . isa. 53. 10 , 11. he shall see his seed , and by his knowledg ( or faith in him ) he shall justify many , are not the same thing : the former ascertains the elect shall believe , the latter that they shall be justified when they believe ; nor could it be otherwise even when christ upon the cross paid that for the sake of which these promises were made to him ; he must then pursuant to the compact die , that believers might be justified , and the elect become believers , otherwise the articles of the covenant of redemption must be altered , and not direct his engaged performances and rewards ; nor can i chuse but wonder to see our divines in their dispute against the papists proving that justification is a forensic or judicial act , and yet find many using terms so improper to such an act , and omitting , yea condemning those which are proper . but to digress no further ; you see what is this part of the difference about justification ; yet remember our brethren do not say we our selves did personally obey or suffer , or are reputed so to do , but are reputed to have done it in christ , who was one legal person with us in the account of the law ; nor do they deny the pardon of sin , but own it , whatever others think of the difficulty of reconciling such things ; they do deny also that we can be said to satisfy in christ , tho we died in him , or that we merited in him , tho he merited . further , there 's no difference about the effects of the imputed righteousness of christ , nor yet about the righteousness it self as including both his active and passive obedience , nor the time of its imputation , viz. when we believe . and shall we condemn each other notwithstanding this agreement in almost every thing besides the manner of imputation , and this is about what god accounts us to have done in christ , and not what christ hath done for us ? shall men rend each other , because one thinks there can be no imputation beyond what he grants ; the other suspects it is not an imputation unless it be in his words ; and yet both grant an imputation effectually available to all the same real purposes , viz. the honour of christ and grace , the accomplishment of god's decree , and the acceptance and salvation of believers , as if they had never been unrighteous , with ground of believing hopes about it equally strong and quieting ? 2. the other point undecided is , what title or name we should give to that faith which is required in the person on whom god's justifying act doth terminate : our brethren scruple our calling it a qualification , a condition or a righteousness . others of us think each of these properly ascribed to it , a qualification as it distinguisheth one man described by the word , which declares who shall be justified , from another who , according to the rule of the word , and the incongruity of the thing , is not to be justified , unless the divine perfections and the methods of grace should be reflected on ; for by the gospel-rule he that hath not faith is to abide under wrath. and how unbecoming and of ill consequence would it be to entitle a man to glory , and receive him to favour for christ's sake while he rejecteth christ , and is resolved to tread under foot his blood , tho it 's from god's promise and not any merit of congruity that the accepter of christ should be justified ? they call it a condition , not to signify any merit or compensation , which they abhor , but to connote god's offers of these blessings to more than do accept of them , as also a divine authority injoyning a compliance with the terms on which the blessing is offered , tho that be no more than a meet acceptance . and to shew the manner of god's conferring them upon that acceptation , they think it may be called a gospel-righteousness , not as meritorious of the blessing , no , nor a full conformity to the gospel-precept , but as it is the performed condition of the offered benefit according to the tenor of the gospel promise , which always supposes christ's satisfaction , and his paying the impetrating price of all such offered blessings . and they are more induced to account the performed condition a gospel-righteousness , because the gospel so very often speaks of a subjective righteousness in us , and denominates imperfect men righteous so expresly with respect to that righteousness : they also think that this cannot be from obedience to the law of works unless it were perfect , which it is not , nor yet from full obedience to the precepts of the gospel , which enjoyn no less as a duty than doth the law it self ; therefore they can find no ground of that denomination , besides a conformity to what the gospel-promise appointeth as a condition of the good it entitles a person to ; yet still as a means of giving us in a way of governing grace what was promised to christ for us , as a reward of his full satisfaction to legal iustice. but our brethren think these terms too high , and prefer calling faith an instrument , as many protestants do , who also call it a condition : some chuse to call it a means , i suppose to note a physical influence in opposition to what 's moral , and expressive of any law ; both which by the way we apprehend an ascribing much more to faith than we dare , because it makes faith efficacious from its natural aptitude and activity , without a divine ordination of it to that end by any promise . the reason of any debate concerning these expressions lies in this : our brethren consider all the gospel-duties and benefits as a mere physical order of blessings decreed by god to the elect ; and so one is given before the other , according as the gospel describeth that order : we grant the said order , and should insist on no more were not the benefits offered to more besides the elect , and still used as motives to induce men to submit to those duties , and this by promises of the benefits if the duty be performed , and threatnings of withholding the benefits with additional misery to be inflicted if they be not performed , with an account of judicial proceedings towards men with respect to their performance or non-performance of the said official terms . but things being thus , and so very apparently the indications of governing methods , and the aptitude of our ministry for conversion and perseverance so much depending upon the affecting of mens hopes and fears ; we are forced to own that the gospel is not only a description of the foresaid order , but that it is a law of grace subordinate to the covenant of redemption . yet that none may suspect the difference above what it is , i shall recite what our brethren grant in their declaration . they say , p. 13. we are true owners of iustification at the instant when we believe . p. 15. it must be said that even in foro dei , in god's court , and according to the iudgment in that open court which god hath set up in his word ; and according to the proceedings of his word ( which is the rule he professeth to judg men by , and therein he keeps to the rule of his word ; as christ saith , i judg no man , but the word that i speak shall judg you , ioh. 12. 47 , 48. ) god doth judg ▪ and pronounce his elect ungodly and unjustified till they believe . all these are the words of dr. goodwin , which they approve of , and note that he in vol. 2. of the creatures , lib. 2. cap. 7. p. 51 , to 63. proves at large , that faith in christ is of another kind than the faith required by the law of works . they also say , p. 46. god in the covenant of grace freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by iesus christ , requiring of them ▪ faith in him that they may be saved . note the assembly of divines in westminsier , larger catech. q. 32. add requiring faith as the condition to interest them in christ. and less . cat. to escape the wrath and curse of god due to us for sin , god requireth faith in iesus christ , repentance unto life , &c. and in the savoy confession as well as theirs , cap. 18. s. 2. the true believer's certainty of salvation is not a bare conjectural and probable perswasion grounded upon a fallible hope , but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation , the inward evidences of those graces unto which these promises are made , &c. of all which our brethren have approved . to add no more , they declare p. 47. it 's an error , that continued repentance and holiness are not in the nature of the thing , nor by the constitution of the gospel , necessary to our being possessed of eternal life : and may it not be supposed that nor is put for and ? also that necessary by constitution of the gospel , as distinguished from necessary in the nature of the thing : some of them may mean an authoritative or rectoral constitution , i. e. this order is appointed by christ as our ruler , wherein he hath enacted this connexion , and requireth our compliance . these things being put together , must acquit our brethren from the imputation of rendering faith , repentance , or holiness , needless or useless to salvation , tho they scruple to call it a gospel-righteousness ; and we hope it may encline them to a forbearance towards us , who think these concessions contain for substance all that we intend by the terms , condition , and gospel-righteousness , which we make use of as 〈◊〉 do more exactly , comprehensively , and to some purposes more safely express what we conceive to be the true import of these passages when connected , and which we approve of . yet to put things in a fuller light , i shall represent the matter as it stands by the forecited passages , to all which they declare their assent p. 63. the brethren affirm god in his covenant offering life and salvation to sinners , and requiring faith in him that they may be saved ; and this faith in a mediator commanded by the gospel ( and not by the law of works , as dr. goodwin saith ) with gospel-promises of an interest in christ and his benefits , and these are made to this faith , ( as a condition , saith the assembly of divines ) and this in such a manner , that the believer may have an infallible assurance of the benefits upon an inward evidence of his having this faith , as that grace to which the promise was made , wherein the said benefits were included . and also that this gospel includes that word , which is the rule of iudgment , by which rule god judgeth that man ( tho elect ) who hath not this faith , to be a christless , unpardoned child of wrath ; and him who hath this faith , to be a true owner of christ and pardon : also that repentance is of such necessity to all sinners , that it as well as faith , is required that they may escape , and none may expect to be pardoned in a state of unbelief and impenitence ; yea continued repentance and holiness are necessary to our possession of eternal life . and all this to be necessary , not only from the nature of the thing , but also by the constitution of the gospel . i apprehend this account is so equivalent to a gospel-law of grace for all its great purposes , that i shall not be offended at what name they please to give it ; and did not a fear of offending them prevent me , i would prove it to be all the law of grace which we assert ; especially if they would allow that when they say god requireth faith , that sinners under offers of life may be saved , it 's upon his throne ( tho a throne of grace ) that god in christ requireth it , and from thence directs his offers of salvation to sinners ; and thence sentenceth them who live under gospel-offers by their asserted rule of iudgment . however , we have no reason to contend , especially when both agree the debate is about the instrument of donation , and the qualification of the subject to receive a gift , and not about any thing that meriteth the gift freely bestowed on god's part , and thankfully and humbly received on our part . a low degree of charity would make allowances on both hands , when the difference is so minute . they seem jealous of the honour of free-grace ( yet owning christ's merits : ) we are for free-grace in opposition to all merits besides christ's , but not exclusively of all governing methods in applying the effects of free-grace . they grant faith in christ is required , that we may be saved ; we more expresly say , it 's by a rectoral authority : they grant it so by the law of works ; we say it 's by a gospel positive law , tho we grant when this positive law requireth it , we are obliged also by the general law of nature to yield obedience ; yet not by the law of works , as specified by adam's covenant , which faith in christ was inconsistent with from the essential nature of that covenant ▪ our brethren are watchful against any inherent righteousness of man mingling with christ's righteousness : we , besides avoiding of that , are solicitous lest men come short of salvation by the righteousness of christ , through a neglect of what he requireth in all those who shall be saved by it ; and yet we declare against all things besides christ's righteousness to be any impetrating , satisfying , atoning , meriting or compensating righteousness ; and as faith hath no share or place in this office , so christ's righteousness , tho the sole meritorious cause , is not that which god by the gospel requires of sinners that they may be saved by the righteousness of christ. faith is that commanded requisite , and no more than that ; its place is thereto confined : and therefore here 's no mingling of our righteousness with christ's , because their use , place , and offices be so very distinct . they seem most afraid of popery and arminianism ; and therefore keep to this sense of being justified by faith alone , viz. we are justified only by christ believed on , or the object of faith only is imputed to us for righteousness . we are truly afraid of popery and arminianism , but not only of these , but of antinomianism too ; and therefore are intent to maintain two great truths included in that one sentence , we are justified by faith , viz. 1. that the believer is absolv'd from guilt , accepted into god's favour , and entituled to eternal life in and for christ's righteousness , and neither faith , nor any grace or act of ours make the least recompense to god , or is the least price or merit of pardon or life , or any motive inclining divine justice to promise or accept us into his favour , or to treat us as righteous persons : this from our heart we own , and know that this is what sound protestants intended by it against the papists . 2. yet as god promised to christ in the covenant of redemption , all belivers should be absolv'd , &c. so in the the gospel offer of his grace to sinners , he promised to men , that he would in and for the righteousness of christ , absolve , accept , treat as righteous persons , and give eternal life ( already purchased by christ ) to every true believer ; commanding sinners to believe , and threatning that if they believed not , they should remain condemned , yea become subject to sorer punishments : and that he would judg them by this gospel rule of iudgment . whence we are attentive to a second truth , viz. that god accepts and accounteth faith a performed condition of this gospel-covenant , and upon it acquits the sinner from the charge of damning infidelity , and adjudgeth the believer , qua such , in opposition to infidels , to be , in christ's right , and by his gospel promise , entitled to a present personal interest in the foresaid absolution , acceptance , and gift of eternal life ; yet as procured by christ's righteousness alone , and applied for his sake . to add no more , our brethren in the doctrine of justification almost confine their regards to the satisfaction of christ , wherein christ transacted with the provoked justice of god : we , besides that , consider a propitiated god in christ applying the effects of his redemption to men in a method of governing grace , but without any real difference in the doctrine of satisfaction ; and withal sincerely granting the condition is performed in the strength of christ freely dispensed . yet upon the whole they provide against carnal security , and we against carnal boasting : they are far from designing to eclipse the glory of christ , as king , lawgiver , and iudg ; and we as far from intending the diminution of his glory as a priest. how unreasonable and unhappy would perpetuated contests by where the grounds pretended are of so little weight ? thus i have insisted on what seems most like a difference in the doctrine of satisfaction and iustification . some weak persons may think there is a great controversy , where i see nothing worth our notice , they will say . some think we are justified by one act of faith , viz. reliance . well , but they say justifying faith is receiving christ , &c. as well as a reliance . ay , but a man sees only with his eye , tho more is of the essence of a man : but i say no man sees without that which is of the essence of his eye . another thinks justifying faith as such receives christ only as a priest ; others say , it receives him also as a king and prophet : yet the last say the convinced sinner hath an especial respect to christ's priesthood as most agreeable to his present case ; and the former will say its but an hypocritical faith that receives not christ as prophet and king as well as priest. nay , it s not the true christ , the anointed messias , who is received , unless it be as prophet , king , and priest , even christ iesus the lord. ay , but some say repentance is an effect of iustification ; but there be very few of our congregational brethren of that mind , and i suppose they mean works meet for repentance , and not a change of the purpose of the heart . nay , but several say , faith alone is the instrument of iustification ; others make repentance the condition of forgiveness . what then ? seeing the first grant there is no justifying faith without repentance , and the last grant the aptitude of faith to receive and acknowledg christ ( which i suppose they mean by instrument ) is far greater than repentance . but when both sides consider faith as an ordained condition as well as an instrument , they 'l scarce dispute but that repentance is a condition of pardon as well as faith , unless they would agree to join them together by calling faith a penitent faith , or repentance a believing repentance ; connoting at once a sinner's purpose to return to god by christ the mediator , and his closing with christ the mediator , that he may return to god by him : tho i think the end is first agreed to , before the way or means to that end is resolved on or made use of . obj. but sure there is a vast difference between those who think we are justified by faith only , and those who think we are justified by works as well as by faith. answ. 1. not so very great ; when both mean that we are justified neither by faith nor works , as the word justified is commonly taken : for both agree that we are absolved , accepted as righteous , and entitled to eternal life only for christ's death and obedience , as the only meriting , satisfactory and atoning righteousness . 2. they who say it 's by faith alone that we apply this righteousness , do also grant that faith is not alone in the person to whom god applies the righteousness of christ ; and when they apply it to themselves , repentance , love , &c. are concomitants with faith : and they who think we are justified by works , as they think its god's applying christ's righteousness to us , and not our applying it to our selves , that is the great justifying act ; so they grant god justifieth us as soon as we repent and believe with the heart , and suspends not a justified state , till works meet for repentance or the effects of faith are produced ; yea , should a man dy then , he would be certainly saved . 3. they who say it s by faith alone , acknowledg that justifying faith will certainly produce good works ; and if good works and persevering holiness do not follow , it was a dead faith ; and because dead , it never was a justifying faith , however men flatter'd themselves : also that mens faith , tho not their persons , is justified by their works : yea the most judicious own , that if sin should reign in believers , and they apostatize , they would be condemned , ( tho the promise of perseverance make that impossible ; ) and therefore persevering holiness and good works so far continue their justification , as they prevent what would bring them into condemnation ; and faith is the condition of the continuation of justification . see dr. owen of iustification , p. 207 , 208 , 306. on the other hand , they who say we are justified by works , do account works to be no more but the executing the foederal consenting act of faith ; and so its faith exerting it self by various occasions : and considering that the believer's not only forgiving his enemies , but his persevering in faith and holiness , are plain conditions in many promises made thereto ; and god pronounceth to believers , that he will have no pleasure in any man who drawerh back , and he shall die if sin reigneth in him ; heb. 10. 38. rom. 8. 13. mat. 6. 14 , 15. they conceive that by perseverance in faith and true holiness , they are kept from being chargeable with final and total apostacy , and from obnoxiousness to the evils denounced by the gospel against apostates as such , and are adjudged to be under the influence and safeguard of the promises made to believers as persevering : nevertheless they abhor a thought that perseverance in faith and holiness , or any good work , is any meriting righteousness , or the least compensation for sin , or entitling price of the least benefit ; nor exclude they the need of multiplied and continued pardon , or make they any blessing due of debt ; but they rely wholly on christ's merits for these things , as the only procuring cause ; tho they are affected and governed by these places of god's word , which are directed to believers as part of his rule of iudgment ; well knowing that whatever sentence the said words pass in this life , god executes in part now , and more at death ; but at the great day it will be solemnly pronounced , and perfectly executed . these respective concessions duly weighed , secure those who say we are justified by faith alone from the danger of licentiousness ; and those who say we are justified by works also , from detracting from the honour of christ's righteousness , as having the sole meriting , atoning virtue and efficacy in justification ; and do not only grant perseverance , but think these conditional promises and comminations are apt and designed means of it , in subjects capable of moral government , and whose warfare is unaccomplished . however such different sentiments may appear to others , i lay so little stress upon them , that i had not thought it worth my labour to have printed a sheet against any man who confessed the necessity of saving faith ( as described in the gospel ) to justification , ( repentance and love still accompanying that faith in the object on whom god's justifying act doth terminate ) and the uneffectualness of faith to save any who neglected to perform good works , and to persevere in faith and holiness . such as granted but these things i had never wrote against for scrupling the conditional respect of them to the gospel-law . but dr. crisp's notions i apprehended dangerous ; and they so greatly prevailing , my brethren thought my confuting them necessary at that time : whereas i had no purpose when i wrote against dr. crisp , to intermeddle with these other points ; but some congregational brethren in their attempts against my book , did from a very few occasional expressions therein , accuse us of socinianism , arminianism , and popery : and that they might have some pretence to fix that charge , they turned the controversy into these lesser matters , whereby i was necessitated either to insist on them ( however against my will ) or else abide under the foresaid severe imputation , to the prejudice not only of my own ministry , but also of most of my brethren . chap. viii . an attempt to accommodate the difference between such as say christ's righteousness is imputed only as to effects , and not in se ; and those of us who think it is imputed in se. foreseeing an objection that will be improved against a peaceable forbearance towards a number , however small , and that rigidness may include in that number whomever the objectors shall disaffect , it 's of use to state it . object . granting the forementioned points to be reduced below a cause of dissention , yet the difference cannot be compromised between such as say the righteousness of christ is imputed [ in se ] for justification , and them who say it is not imputed in se , but quoad effectus . answ. i think it may be accommodated ; at least so far as to cut off just pretences for hereticating and dividing from each other : to which end i will consider these several opinions , and then reduce the difference . first , among them who say christ's righteousness is imputed [ in se ] there be two opinions most noted , and whereto all others are reducible : of both these i have already treated so much , that little more is needful . 1. some think the elect are judicially , according to the law of works , accounted to have done and suffered in christ all the law demanded , both as the punishment of sin , and the merit of eternal life . such must hold that christ's death and obedience are the formal righteousness of the elect , and the formal cause of justification , and that from the first moment of their personal subsistence ; yea , and ( except making christ to be their representative ) without any gift of that righteousness , it being imputed not of grace but of legal iustice , as adam's obedience had been if he had finally obeyed , and his offence now is upon his sinning . there are others who are for this judicial reckoning sinners to obey and suffer in christ ; but they hold they are not adjudged to have done this , till they are believers ; and then they are legally just before god , and as such entitled to eternal life . these speak more safely , but less consistently ; they limit the time , from a conviction that the whole scope of the gospel must be contradicted , if unbelievers do not remain condemned , and believers only are justified . but yet it seems hard to apprehend , that god by the law of works accounts the person of a believer to have suffered in christ , and therefore to be absolved , whom yet he did not account to suffer in christ while he was an vnbeliever , and therefore condemned him , and this by that very same law which now acquits him . i know , to make this consist , it 's offered that the elect are not christ's seed till they become believers . but this comes short , for it will thence follow that christ in his death was a strict representative , who personated believers , [ qua ] believers , which will induce ill consequences : and yet further , it is not true , that the persons of believers were seminally in christ when he died , as we were in adam when he sinned ; and so no argument can be brought from that instance . i grant that both the merit and the powerful virtue whereby our persons in time obtain faith , were in christ before we were born ; but that makes not christ the root of our persons at that time , but of that regenerating virtue whereby we become believers ; and therefore tho as to this change of our qualification we may be called christ's seed when we believe , yet it 's not such a seed as it may be said of , we suffered in him , as we sinned in adam who was the natural root of our persons , and thereupon such a representative as his descendents sinned in . what may be said of christ's adopting merit will have no place here , for these authors make adoption to be an effect of justification , and so the imputation is prior . 2. there be others who are for imputed righteousness in se , but cannot approve of the former manner of imputation , among whom there is some variety in wording their conceptions , but they come to one and the same thing , viz. that god adjudgeth the believer to be one whose absolution , adoption and glory were promised to christ in reward of his death and obedience by the covenant of redemption , ( which are promised also to the believer himself in the gospel-covenant ) and for his actual interest and enjoyment thereof , as also acceptance and treatment as a righteous person , against all challenges , god judicially accounts what christ hath done and suffered to be his pleadable security : this we take to be imputation . secondly , by the opinion of those who say christ's righteousness is not imputed [ in se ] but only as to effects ; they in expressions oppose all the forementioned account , denying that the first head is true , and that the second is any imputation of christ's righteousness in se. nevertheless they grant that christ's righteousness is the meritorious cause of our justification by faith , and seem to insist mostly upon its efficacy to that end , as christ's satisfaction was the ground upon which god enacted the gospel-covenant , wherein our faith , tho imperfect , is accounted for righteousness . concerning this opinion i shall offer a few things . 1. none ought to narrow it , as if the authors meant that pardon and eternal life are not merited by the righteousness of christ ; for they affirm , that these and other gospel-blessings are merited by christ as well as the gospel-covenant . pray say not this ; it 's not only the covenant it self , but those very blessings which that covenant conveys , that are the merited effects of christ's death and obedience ; they were his deserved rewards which are dispensed to us upon believing . this i insert , to obviate a conceit too much improved by some , so stupid , or worse , that they will not own this distinction , and still cry out as if their opinion confined the influence of christ's righteousness to the procuring of a law whereby men were to purchase pardon and life by their own faith : whereas they are so far from this , that they affirm these blessings were already accounted purchased , and authority in christ to dispense them before he could enact such a law. 2. they intend not to exclude christ's righteousness from being imputed in any sense ; for they say it's imputed quoad effectus , and therefore should not be charged to deny all imputation , or represented to say , we are pardoned and saved for our own works , without any imputation of christ's death and obedience at all . 3. in all which they affirm concerning justification , they still suppose christ's complete satisfaction , and are sound therein : none can accuse them to differ from the orthodox as to christ's expiating sacrifice , or impetration of eternal life . 4. i could wish a very worthy person of this opinion would review his own account of justification , wherein he saith , it 's that act whereby god imputes to every sound believer his faith for righteousness upon the account of christ's satisfaction and merits , and gives pardon and life as the benefits of it , i. e. of justification , which he further explicates , — through christ's sacrifice the defects of this faith , which is our righteousness , are pardoned , and by his merits that imperfect duty is accounted or imputed to us for righteousness , which it is not in it self . had i thus stated this point , i should ask my self , do not i set pardon too remote from christ's sacrifice as the meritorious cause ? and how can pardon be the effect of imputing faith for righteousness , ( which is justification , ) and yet god cannot impute faith for righteousness unless he first pardon its defects for the sake of christ's sacrifice ? but the cause of my mentioning this account follows . 5. they do affirm what amounts to a real imputation of christ's righteousness in se , at least what supposeth this imputation , and infers it to be necessary : for how by christ's merits can a righteousness in it self imperfect be reckoned before a just god for our perfect righteousness , and yet those merits , for which it is so reckoned , not be imputed at all for righteousness to us who have that faith ? would faith be no righteousness , except the divine mind did apply the merits of christ to faith to make it a righteousness , upon which i am accounted righteous by this faith , and yet the divine mind not apply to me that righteousness of christ , without which my faith had left me still unrighteous ? whereas it seems undeniable , as far as christ's righteousness is necessary to make my personal faith my righteousness in god's account , that same very righteousness is necessary to make my person righteous in god's account . moreover , they own that god promised to christ in reward of his meriting sufferings and obedience , that all believers should be absolved and glorified , and can they be adjudged to this absolution and glory without a judicial acknowledgment that they are to be absolved and glorified in that right of christ which resulted from that promise made to him ? and can that be without an imputation of those sufferings and obedience of christ which are rewarded in that right of christ , and thereby in those blessings wherein believers have this judicially acknowledged interest ? they also abhor a thought that our faith can be presented to god as any righteousness in satisfaction to justice , atonement for our sin , or the meriting price of our salvation : withal they grant there must be such a righteousness , and that this was christ's righteousness , and that our sins are satisfied for , we receive the atonement , are reconciled , and obtain the salvation so purchased . now is it possible that things should stand thus , and christ's righteousness not be imputed to us ? can our righteous judg declare himself satisfied , atoned , and reconciled to us sinners for the righteousness of christ , and not impute to us that righteousness in se , as what he accounts a plea for us in his account ? can we enjoy the merited effects of christ's death , and that death not be reckoned what secures to us those effects against the challenges which the merits of it were designed to answer ? finally , do not these divines oft rest on and plead with god the merits of christ more immediately and directly than a denial of imputation will admit ? when they rest on christ's righteousness , and plead it with god for pardon , ( tho it's true we could not expect pardon for it , were not pardon promised for the sake thereof . ) i think their minds oft act more directly and fully towards the righteousness of christ , than to intend it thus , viz. i trust in christ's merits for pardon , as that pardon is the effect of that justification wherein our faith is accounted through christ's satisfaction a righteousness according to the gospel-covenant , which covenant was procured by the merits of christ's death . i. grant there may be use of this progressive manner of arriving at christ's death for support of our faith as we confine its regards to the gospel-covenant , and examine our interest thereby as a rule of judgment . but i humbly think that when we plead with god for pardon for the sake of christ's merits , we have a more direct eye to the covenant of redemption , wherein a pardon was promised to christ for believers in reward of his death , and which the gospel distinctly expresseth in this , viz. that pardon is granted for the sake of christ's death , as what procured it in se , as well as what merited the gospel-covenant , which is the instrument of the donation of it . and so by keeping our eye on the covenant of redemption , we plead christ's right as more immediately imputable ; and by keeping our thoughts on the gospel-connexion between pardon and christ's death as the procuring merit of it , we plead christ's very performances mediately imputed , viz. as our pleadable security for our certain obtaining and safe enjoying the said forgiveness . 6. the reasons why these venerable persons are so intent to deny an imputation of christ's righteousness in se , are , 1. an apprehension that there 's no such imputation , unless we are accounted by god to have done and suffered what christ did , which would unavoidably induce the antinomian scheme as most consistent . but that i deny to be the only import of that phrase ; for when that righteousness it self is imputed relatively to the special effects of it , it 's truly an imputation of it in se ; and whereas they of the other extreme say , that its being a pleadable security for our pardon , is but an effect ; i answer , this righteousness it self being that security is an effect of the compact between the father and the son , and it 's not this effect is imputed , but the righteousness it self , as such ; and by the same rule , as they can deny it to be imputed in se , because it 's imputed as a pleadable security , they may better say it 's being imputed for justification and for atonement , &c. would make it to be no imputation of it in se , for those are but effects , and that by virtue of the same compact . 2. a zeal for the gospel-righteousness of faith : but that is very consistent with the imputed righteousness of christ ; and tho both meet in our justification , yet it 's under very distinct considerations , of which afterwards . nor can i forbear again to inform the world that both extremes arise from too much disregard of the one or the other covenants , wherein the salvation of a sinner is adjusted . these brethren , forgetting the covenant of redemption to which the gospel-covenant is subordinate , too little mention the righteousness of christ ; the other brethren overlook the gospel-covenant , and darken a gospel-righteousness of faith : whereas a distinct respect to the rule of satisfaction and impetration on the one hand , and to the rule of the application of impetrated benefits on the other hand , would put a period to their principal disputes . from this representation of the several sentiments of the brethren concerned in the point before us , a mutual forbearance seems no unjustifiable thing between them who differ most ; and no considerable disagreement remains between the others . 1. they who think the imputation of christ's righteousness in se , is god's reckoning we did and suffered what christ did , claim a tender regard from them who say it 's imputed only as to effects , for they disown the antinomian consequences of it , and abhor all abuses of it to carnal boasts and profane libertinism , of which before : how unreasonable then were it to perpetuate contests about this point from the ill consequences of it , when those consequences are denied ? on the other hand , it appears too like uncharitable rigidness for them to condemn as intolerable , such who say christ's righteousness is imputed only as to effects : for whatever is the sound of their words , they ascribe nothing to faith or works which belongs to christ's righteousness ; nor do they detract from the honour of christ's righteousness any thing which these brethren ascribe thereto , and are orthodox in the doctrine of satisfaction against socinianism and popery . when they say faith is an accepted righteousness , mean they that it 's a satisfaction either to atone for sin , or merit life ? no , they abhor it , and confine both to christ's righteousness entirely : but they do not say christ's righteousness is imputed , that 's not true , for they say it is imputed ; ay , but not in se. but should that be so , would not it be far from a christian spirit , to be implacable for not using a phrase which the spirit of god makes no use of , who surely knew how to express truth as properly as fallible men should pretend to ? yea , but the scriptures speak what amounts to this phrase . and so do they in granting christ's righteousness to be the only atonement and meriting cause of pardon and life , and acceptance with god as righteous persons . but do not they think we stand before god only in this righteousness of faith , and not of christ ? no ; they assure us , that what righteousness faith is , it 's so by christ's sacrifice and merits , and it 's only a righteousness as a performed condition of the gospel , describing the persons who obtain that salvation which is the effect of the righteousness of christ ; and whose satisfaction still interposeth between the justice of god and a believing sinner : neither are they backward to ascribe to efficacious grace that virtue whereby we are enclined and enabled to believe . men may expose each other by fiery debates after such concessions , but he who expresseth most heat , discovers the more ungospel spirit , if not the weaker cause , and weaker judgment . 2. as for such who own christ's righteousness in se to be imputed in the second sense , and those who say it 's not imputed in it self but as to effects ; if they contend , the first must quarrel the other for denying in words what he grants for substance ; and the latter must be warm against the former , because he will not join with him in offending the weak , and hazarding truth by rejecting a phrase , which , well explained , doth properly express what both intend . chap. ix . an abstract of what helped me to avoid some perplexity concerning iustification , with some account of our being justified at the creator and redeemer's bar. tho i avoid arguing any controversy in these sheets , which are designed for peace , yet i think it may promote this healing design , to give a short abstract of some thoughts whereby i arrived to satisfaction in the doctrine of justification . § . 1. justification being a forensick act , our thoughts ought not to wander beyond what 's necessary to it as a judicial sentence , nor disregard whatever belongs to that . here the principal considerations are the judg , the rule of judgment , the cause and person to be tried by that rule , and the sentence to be past by the judg on the person whose cause is so tried , which must be no other than what that rule of judgment , duly applied , containeth . hereby what some call constitutive justification , is strictly no other than the conformity of the person to the rule of judgment , by which he is acquittable or rewardable , or both . passive justification is no other than the effect of the judicial sentence , or the person 's state considered as absolved , or to be rewarded , or both , by the sentence now judicially past upon him , and supposeth a sentence , and is measured by it . § . 2. a justifying sentence is past upon every justified person , and continues to pass upon him by the gospel-promises applied by an omnipresent , all-seeing , infallible , faithful , almighty god , rom. 5. 1 , 2. the gospel-offer is the rule of judgment , the gospel in its respective promises complied with , is god's justifying sentence , and that , conclusive and effectual , tho not so discernable by us , as if it were solemnly pronounced . 1. here the transcendent perfections of god must raise our minds above human judicatories : he needs no evidence , because he knoweth all things ; there needs no summons to appear , for he is ever with us ; he cannot err in judgment , for he is inflexibly righteous , and knows the rule of judgment in its extent and allowances . 2. we know not what solemnity this sentence may be pronounced with concerning us , tho out of our hearing , what in heaven , where there is joy for the conversion of sinners ; what at the throne , where christ is our interceding advocate , &c. and sometimes god condescends to make it audible to our own consciences by the received testimony of his spirit . 3. this sentence is in part executed upon every believer as to what is promised for the present , as well as his title is adjudged to what is reserved for the future . the in-dwelling spirit , assistances peculiar to christ's members , answers of prayer , the comforts of the holy ghost , and whatever special actings of providence belong only to god's adopted ones , are the execution of the justifying sentence , and suppose such a sentence past , as well as that it is a gracious one . 4. god still pronounceth a justifying sentence according to the variety of his gospel-promises , tho that great one which alters our state passeth upon our first believing . as he adjudgeth us to pardon and adoption upon our first acceptance of his grace , so he adjudgeth us non-forfeiters upon our abiding in christ , or persevering acceptance , instanced as the various promises describe the heirs thereof . § . 3. the same justifying sentence that god past by his promises applied by himself in this life , will be more solemnly and convincingly pronounced at the judgment-day , when the full and perfect execution of the sentence is to take place . 1. we shall be as truly judged at that day as if we had not been sentenced , or the sentence executed at all in this life , or at death . the wise god who knows the subserviency hereof to practical religion , doth oft and most expresly deliver it , and in words as if we were all to be among those found alive when the trumpet sounds . 2 cor. 5. 10. we must all appear before the iudgment-seat of christ , that we may all receive , &c. rom. 14. 10 , 12. every one of us shall give an account of himself to god , 1 pet. 4. 5. and what must we give an account of ? our words , mat. 12. 36. secrets of hearts , rom. 2. 16. use of talents , mat. 25. heb. 13. 17. our works , &c. that is , every thing as gives evidence concerning mens condition , as it 's determinable by the rule of judgment , and principally centers in this , have they sincerely accepted of the salvation offered by the redeemer ? 2. the rule of judgment and sentence at that day will be the same as that by which every believer is justified on this side death ; it 's no new or other sentence , but the same more solemnly declared , unless you 'll say it includes the entire extent of the rule for the time of trial , as well as that which changed our state. 3. the great design of that solemn process and open sentence , is to vindicate god in christ as no respecter of persons , in the extremely different state of the damned and the saved , both in this life and eternity , especially such as lived under the offers of salvation ; and withal to vindicate his own mysterious methods towards the justified in their past life , as also them from unjust aspersions , 2 thess. 1. dan. 12. mat. 22. & 25. but to instance no more than the first , he 'll convince angels and men by manifested instances , that they whom he justified , and now saveth , were persons justifiable by that rule of judgment whereby the others are condemned ; and that the sentence he pronounceth and executes on each , is the very sentence which that rule impartially applied to their real cases denounced . § . 4. the rule of judgment in its nature and scope is to be principally regarded in order to right apprehensions concerning the justifying sentence : this determineth what is a justifying righteousness , and what is not ; this declares the nature of the adjudged title , whether it be of grace or debt , dependent or independent ; thereby is evident what we are adjudged to , and whether the sentence passeth upon several complex conditions , or one particular one ; for we must be free from whatever the rule of judgment denounceth condemnable , and not be without what it confineth its promised absolution or benefits to ; seeing the lord our judg doth sentence us as this revealed rule takes hold of us . § . 5. i find nothing plainer , than that on the one hand we are made righteous by christ's obedience , rom. 5. 19. 2 cor. 5. 21. and accepted in the beloved , eph. 1. 6 , 7. and washed from our sins in his blood , rev. 1. 5. and we receive the atonement , rom. 5. 11. and on the other hand , that faith is imputed for righteousness , rom. 4. 9 , 11 , 22 , 24. and we are justified by faith , rom. 5. 1. chap. 3. 30. and by our words , mat. 11. 37. and by our works , iam. 2. 24. and men are called righteous with respect to their graces and actings short of perfection ; and that christ's judicial proceedings are upon mens temper and behaviour , mat. 22. 25. chap. 10. 32. and promises of pardon and life are made still to repentance , faith , and perseverance ; and the gospel denounceth death against impenitent ones , luke 13. 3. infidels , iob. 3. 36. disobedient , rom. 2. 8. barren , heb. 6. 8. apostates , heb. 10. 38. and workers of iniquity , luke 13. 27. nor can it be overlook'd that perfection is not intended in what the gospel-promise is made to , nor is the gospel threatning of damnation levell'd against any offences consistent with sincerity . hence i conclude , that when god justifies a sinner , the rule by which he judgeth requires a judicial regard to inherent faith , &c. § . 6. by one rule of judgment the same justifying sentence , in all respects , could not be pronounced upon christ's righteousness , and upon that of a believing sinner , unless that one rule did either , 1. originally promise life to perfect legal obedience , and also to that which was not a perfect obedience to the law : but if i suppose this , i must admit that the law did not denounce death for the least sin ; for to condemn to death for the least sin , and to promise life to imperfect obedience , consist not : yea , i must then consider god to enact that rule of judgment as in his first relation to innocent man , viz. as creator , governing by virtue of his absolute propriety in man as his creature . but if god be considered only in that relation , it was inconsistent with his perfections to enact a rule of judgment which promised life to any thing short of perfect obedience to the law he delivered , and which man was originally capable to obey . and moreover , we find in the rule of judgment , by which he now justifies men , a direct respect to many things which that first law was inconsistent with , as the death of a redeemer for our sin. faith in this redeemer , pardon of sin , and absolution from the curse which condemned us as sinners , &c. 2. or unless that one rule of judgment were the gospel-promise of the redeemer , viz. he that believeth shall be saved . hereby indeed the justifying sentence would directly pass upon man as a believer , and adjudg him to a right in whatever the gospel promised to believers , qua such . and considering the chief design of the gospel is to induce fallen sinners to believe upon a supposition and assurance given that satisfaction is already made by our redeemer , and not now to be made or adjusted : many are apt to confine their thoughts of justification to this as the alone rule of judgment , and the account of the final judgment generally states it in this manner ; nor can i deny but this is in some respects a safe as well as easy method . but i cannot agree that the justifying sentence is by this rule so abstractedly taken : for , 1. this would too much confine the influence of christ's merits to the mere procuring of the gospel-promise ; whereas we find it more immediately and fully connected with pardon , and all other saving benefits . 2. we must be made righteous by christ's obedience in some way less remote than this . 3. the satisfaction of christ is not hereby sufficiently acknowledged nor applied in our justification . many other reasons might be given why i am convinced , that when god ustifies a believing sinner , the sentence respects him under some further judicial consideration than merely a believer ; and consequently the rule of judgment extensively taken , required somewhat more to constitute him a justifiable person . § . 7. i therefore take the rule of judgment to be the gospel-law in a subordinated connexion with the law of mediation , wherein the honour of our creator governing us by the law of works is provided for , and the ends of that law fulfilled ; and so the sentence will respect the imputed righteousness of christ , and the righteousness of faith too ; the first as satisfactory and meritorious with our injured creating lawgiver , the latter as the performed condition of the redeemer's grant of the blessed effects of christ's satisfaction and merits ; and whereby this man who believes is discriminated from such who rejected the offer of salvation . in the first , justice is satisfied that a rebel should be absolved and glorified ; in the last , the rule enacted by governing grace is answered by the believer ; so that the judg is no more a respecter of persons in applying these benefits as redeemer , than he was regardless of governing justice in the condition upon which they were procured by our saviour . § . 8. the rule of iudgment then must be this : that the believer ( tho a sinner ) whose absolution , pardon , acceptance as righteous , and salvation were promised to christ by the governing creator in reward of his obedience and sufferings , and promised to himself for the sake of christ in the gospel upon his believing with that faith which it appoints , is to be absolved , pardoned , accepted as righteous , and saved . from this rule of judgment is easily inferr'd that justifying sentence on which our state is changed , viz. thou art that true believer whose absolution , pardon , acceptance as righteous , and salvation were promised to christ in the covenant of redemption , and to thy self personally in my gospel ; and therefore thou art adjudged absolved , pardoned , accepted , and an heir of glory by virtue of that promise made to christ , and the gospel-promise made to thy self , and hast a title to plead christ's perfect obedience and sufferings for thy certain enjoyment thereof , which will also be continually pleaded by christ thy advocate . in like manner we see constitutive justification is our being made such believers , through the influence of the spirit of christ , as fall under the foresaid promise made to christ in the covenant of redemption , and the gospel-promise made to our selves , and so are conformed to the rule of judgment , but yet considered as not judicially sentenced according to it . again , passive iustification is no other than our persons and state considered as affected by that sentence as already past upon us , viz. absolved , pardoned , accepted as righteous , and intitled to glory . finally , executive iustification is no other than god's dealing with us as persons so absolved , pardoned , accepted and entitled to glory , and his performing whatever is included in the justifying sentence , yet in the way , time , manner , and limits which the gospel declares . § . 9. the consideration of the rule of iudgment as before explained , led me to affirm that the justification of a believing sinner is equivalent to a twofold justification , the one at our creator's bar , the other at the redeemer's ; the first by the imputed righteousness of christ , the other by that of faith , which i have insisted on in ps . to gospel-truth , p. 276 , 279 , &c. 3d edit . and being desirous to prevent mistakes in this point , which i think is probable to prevent furious debates concerning the doctrine of iustification , i 'll give a few hints of fuller thoughts about it , premising only that i hoped none would think that i said there is a twofold justification , for i make the sentence to be but one , tho that includes what 's equivalent to a twofold justification : nor yet that i denied christ as of one essence with the father to be creator , or said there be two actually existing bars . but these are things too low for many words . 1. i consider god at our first formation as our creator , governing men by a law suted to their rational , innocent and perfect natures , by which law he promised life to sinless obedience , and threatned death for all disobedience ; god considered in this relation cannot be apprehended to enact a gospel-law , with a promise of pardon and life to the imperfect , tho sincere , faith of sinners . 2. i consider this creator offended by man's violation of his holy law : under this notion , 1. he condemns the sinner unless satisfaction be made , and excludes him from life unless purchased by one capable of meriting it . 2. he would reject faith and every work of a sinner as satisfactory or meritorious , this offendor being incapable to satisfy for the least fault , or merit the least blessing . 3. i consider our mediator transacting with our offended creating lawgiver in the covenant of redemption ; wherein , 1. our governing creator demands of christ , if he would save sinners , that in their nature he must obey the violated law , and endure death , and what was equivalent to its threatned punishment in their stead . 2. he declareth that this obedience , and those sufferings of this mediator , considering the dignity of his person , should be accepted for satisfaction for sin and the merit of eternal life , and of whatever subserved sinners obtaining thereof . 3. he promiseth christ as a reward of his obedience and sufferings , that whoever of fallen men should believe on him , should be absolved , pardoned , accepted as righteous , and eternally glorified for the sake of what he was to do and suffer ; and that a certain number should believe on him , and so be absolved , &c. to his glory , and he have all power , authority and iudgment committed to him . 4. christ our mediator covenanteth to do and suffer what was proposed , and accepts of the said rewards . 5. in due time christ porforms his undertaking , and becomes entitled to the said rewards , and invested in a right thereto , with respect to which he is said to be justified . 6. his undertaking is allowed to operate as if performed , at least from adam's fall ; and thereby his kingdom , and the saving effects of his obedience and death antecede his obeying and dying . 7. whatever concerned the sinner's salvation , was to be founded upon the satisfactory and meritorious death and obedience of christ our mediator . 8. man is to be considered under the first head as an innocent subject in a state of trial , according to the law of works ; and under the second head as a sinner obnoxious to the curse of the law , past relief by his own merit , and yet upon christ's satisfaction ( pursuant to the covenant of redemption in this third head ) as savable notwithstanding the curse of the law. 4. as an effect of this transaction , i do not consider only christ our mediator under the notion of a redeemer , as all will grant him to be in an especial manner , because he alone paid the redeeming price : but i consider also the creator to be redeemer as he gave his son to be a saviour , accepted the satisfaction made by him , promised to him the foresaid rewards ; and so far executed them as to invest him in his office of an accepted authorized mediator , admitting his kingdom to commence ( as well as his death to operate to saving effects ) before he actually dy'd , &c. upon these and the like accounts i apprehend the blessed god ( considered essentially , tho the father eminently bears the title of creator , and sustains the dignity of the divine essence and government in proposing the terms , and receiving satisfaction ) to stand towards us in the relation of a redeemer , who hath received satisfaction , and transacting with us in and by our mediator , in whom he is well pleased . our creator being considered thus as god in christ , who is satisfied as to the violations of his law , the honour of his government vindicated , and the ends of it secured , tho pardon and life be granted to sinners , it will follow , that in a consistency with rectoral iustice , he can so far suspend the curse of the law towards sinful man , and exert his mercy , as , 1. to be willing to admit to peace and favour all whom christ shall present to him . 2. to be ready to forgive our offences . 3. to make offers of peace , pardon and salvation to lost sinners , begging them to be reconciled , &c. 4. to return his expelled forfeited spirit to strive with and work on dead sinners in order to their acceptance of this offered salvation . 5. to be long-suffering , and waiting to be gracious in the use of fit methods and means to conquer their resistance . these and the like immediately ensue upon christ's satisfaction ; and if men intend but instances of this kind when they say god was reconciled to us by the death of christ before conversion , we should allow it : yet intreating them to note , that the curse suspended thus far , and the curse removed by an actual interest in saving blessings , are very distinct , as be forgiveness with god , and forgiveness bestowed on us ; and yet i fear many do detract from this benefit , viz. that there is forgiveness with god for guilty sinners , and salvation for undone apostates : this is in it self a higher thing than that this or that man is partaker of it , tho our personal advantage consisteth in the latter . 5. i consider god in christ redeemer , making his offers of salvation to sinners , and stating the conditions upon which he will give the merited pardon and eternal life personally to them , commanding their acceptance , with a promise of applying christ's satisfaction in those effects upon their compliance , and denouncing their abiding under guilt and misery , with sorer punishments if they finally refuse . this is by the gospel : to explicate which , note , 1. compliance is injoined by a governing authority , tho with a display of grace ; it supposeth christ's sacerdotal offering over , and is an instrument of government resulting from a dominion acquired as redeemer ; and therefore may well be called a law , yea , and that by which he will judg us . 2. the historical account of christ's offices , fulness , love , death , and of man's misery ; the displays of covenant benefits present and eternal , revelations of divine truths and mysteries , gospel-institutions , and directions whence to derive grace , &c. are all to subserve our due acceptance of this offer . 3. if christ had not proclaimed pardon and life to sinners , we had not known that these were to be obtained by any of us . if he had not declared that he gave pardon and life to such as have faith , and none else , we had not been certain whether it were the believer or unbeliever were pardoned : if he had not told us he gave faith and then pardon , there had been no known order of these gifts : if by his gospel god had not offered pardon to all if they would accept it , commanding their acceptance in order to it , promising it upon their acceptance , and determining to judg men as they accepted or refused , then there had been only an order in giving faith and then pardon , but acceptation had been no condition nor righteousness , nor had man been justifiable by it , or condemnable to the want of pardon for rejecting it . 4. acceptance of offered salvation , tho a righteousness supposeth a meritng righteousness of christ , and can be no higher a righteousness than a performed condition of a law of grace , by which benefits already impetrated are given : which law differs not from a deed of gift , but that the donor expresseth a governing authority in the method of applying these blessings , and resolves to judg them to whom that offer is made , by their acceptance or nonacceptance . 5. our right adjudged upon our acceptation is a right of grace and mercy , and tho infallible , it can infer no claim of debt . 6. this acceptation is described by the gospel , and nothing is an acceptation upon which we shall receive the offered blessings , if it be not in its principle , nature , extent , operativeness and duration , such an acceptation as the gospel doth promise its saving benefits to . 6. tho this acceptation merit nothing , yet christ's righteousness being ordained to merit salvation for such as shall accept of it , and this acceptance being the gospel-ordained condition of our personal interest in that merited salvation , we can be saved without neither of them . 7. to prevent mistakes i add , the elect shall infallibly be brought savingly to accept of this salvation . 6. i consider god applying pardon , peace , adoption , &c. to men that have accepted of this salvation according to the gospel-offer . 1. he acts herein as a iudg. 2. the relations he stands in are as creator and redeemer ; the first ceaseth not , tho the other is superadded . 3. the cause is adjusted by the rule of judgment described in § . 8. and this cause partly refers to what satisfied the offended creator for this sinner's fault , and merited salvation for this forfeiting rebel . here christ's righteousness is the only justifying righteousness , faith hath no place in god's regard , who as creator judgeth in this matter . the cause is partly also : is this a true accepter of salvation , for whom pardon , peace and glory were promised in the covenant of redemption to christ in reward of his satisfying , meriting death and obedience , and to whom these were promised in the gospel ? here acceptation is a righteousness , the want whereof christ's righteousness is not appointed to supply ; and the adjudging a man a believer , intitled to pardon , peace and glory , upon the satisfaction of christ , i call justification active , or the judg's justifying sentence . 7. i call it a justification at the creator's and redeemer's bar ; at the creator's bar , as far as the sentence refers to what vindicated the honour of god's violated law , secured his governing authority as our maker , and merited the blessings , before which there was no pardon , peace , or glory for the sinner , tho a believer , none to be offered , none to be had by accepting . nor is it a needless thing that the justifying sentence have an express regard to what that refers to , viz. christ's righteousness : for as it was the alone condition of christ's impetration of pardon , peace and life for sinners , so when these are to be adjudged to the sinner , the honour of the creator , of the violated law , and of christ's satisfaction , is wisely provided for by an express acknowledgment of , and reference to that righteousness . i call it a justification at the redeemer's bar , as far as the sentence refers to our acceptation , or faith as a righteousness ; for the unsatisfied creator , who governeth and judgeth by the law of works , could make no offers of pardon and glory to sinners , if they would accept , nor admit faith to be a righteousness ; and yet considered as a redeemer ( as god was , when he had received satisfaction ) he could not again demand a satisfying , meriting righteousness to acquit the believer now upon ; no nor , unless under the notion of a redeemer , require faith as a proper condition of pardon , &c. because in the covenant of redemption it was promised to christ for sinners as meerly described by faith. but god in christ as redeemer could make the gospel-offer of pardon upon condition of acceptation , injoyning that acceptance , and promising thereto the pardon impetrated by christ ; and so that acceptation is referred to in the justifying sentence of god in christ as redeemer , as what discriminates one man who obtains the pardon , according to the gospel-promise , from him who is judicially debarred of it . 8. i think they who are altogether for faith as the only imputed righteousness in justification , do too much contract the justifying sentence by excluding that distinct respect which ought to be to the satisfaction and meriting obedience of christ , whereby god as our governing creator can admit the absolution of a sinner . and they who are altogether for the righteousness of christ as only imputed in justification , do also too much limit the justifying sentence , by excluding the gospel-righteousness of faith which the redeemer regards , and by which he judicially discriminates who among them , to whom salvation was offered , shall obtain it , and who of them shall not obtain it . may these hints contribute to an agreement between these worthy persons , at least encline all to christian forbearance , i shall reckon it worth all my labour and sufferings . o that the god of peace would give us peace by any just means ! finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a66345-e750 a crell . vol. 2. in 2 cor. 5. 14. resp. ad grot. cap. 9. par . 2. b crell . vol. 3. resp. ad grot. cap. 9 , 10. c crell . resp. ad grot. cap. 9. d crell . resp. ad grot. cap. 10. socin . de servat . lib. 2. c. 13. e tom. 1. prael . cap. 21 , p. 580. f crell . resp. ad grot. cap. 1. par . 11. g crell . resp. ad grot. cap. 7 , 8. h crell . vol. 2. in 2. cor. 5. 14. slicht . tom. 2. in 2 cor. 5. 31. a slicht . in rom. 3. 24. & phil. 2. 9. crell . resp. ad grot. cap. 2. par . 1. & cap. 4. par . 7. b idem ubi sup . ad cap. 5. c crell . resp. ad grot. 215 : 198 , 199. d ubi supra cap. 7. & cap. 1. e crell . vol. 1. 612 , 613. f socin . tom. 1. 596. crell . vol. 620 , 621. g crell . vol. 1. 612 , 614 , 616. h socin . tom. 1. 578 , 579. cap. 21. p. 580 , 599. i crell . tom. 1. 619. wolz. vol. 1. pralect . cap. 2. k socin . 1. tom. 590 , 594. slicht . tom. 2. 37. crell . vol. 2. in heb. 9. 13 , 14 , 15. l socin . tom. 1. p. 667. crell . tom. 1. 618. m socin . tom. 1. 575 , 596. n socin . tom. 1. 577 , 588. o socin . tom. 1. 586. crell . vol. 2. par . 2. p. 285. quakerism confirmed, or, a vindication of the chief doctrines and principles of the people called qvakers from the arguments and objections of the students of divinity (so called) of aberdeen in their book entituled quakerism convassed [sic] by robert barclay and george keith. barclay, robert, 1648-1690. 1676 approx. 241 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 47 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a30899 wing b733 estc r37061 16199048 ocm 16199048 105054 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a30899) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105054) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1085:22) quakerism confirmed, or, a vindication of the chief doctrines and principles of the people called qvakers from the arguments and objections of the students of divinity (so called) of aberdeen in their book entituled quakerism convassed [sic] by robert barclay and george keith. barclay, robert, 1648-1690. keith, george, 1639?-1716. [4], 88 p. [s.n.], [london?] printed : 1676. place of publication suggested by nuc pre-1956 imprints. a reply to: quakerism canvassed : robin barclay baffled in the defending of his theses against young students at aberdene. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language 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these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng shirreff, alexander. -quakerism canvassed. society of friends -apologetic works. theology, doctrinal. 2003-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-03 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-03 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion quakerism confirmed , or a vindication of the chief doctrines and principles of the people called qvakers from the arguments and objections of the students of divinity ( so called ) of aberdeen in their book entituled quakerism convassed , by robert barclay , and george keith . 2 tim. 3 : 9. but they shall proceed no further : for their folly shall be manifest to all men &c. printed in the year . 1676. friendly reader had we not more regarded the interest of the truth , for whose sake we can shun no abasement , then the significancy of those , with whom we have this rencountre , we should have rather chused to be silent , then answer them , they being of so small reputation among their own , that neither teachers nor people will hold themselves accomptable for any of their positions , and seeme zealous to have it believed they would not bestow time to read it , nor yet hold themselves obliged to approve it . however since we certainly know that in the second part of their book ( to which this reply is ) they have scraped together most of the chief arguments used against us , and borrowed not a little from g. ms. manuscripts , ( with whose work , that yet appears not , we have been these seven years menaced ) which , like the materialls of a building managed by unskilfull workmen , though they be by them very confusedly put together , yet being the chief things can be said against us , we have throughly handled , for the readers satisfaction , which may be serviceable to the truth , without respect to the insignificancy of those against whom it is written . as for the first part of their book , we have also answered it , but distinct from this , it consisting of many particularityes of matters of fact , which perhaps might have proved taedious to many readers that may be this be edified , and think it of no great consequence , that the students are proved lyars , which even many of their own party think is not any spot in their religion , so litle are they looked upon among their own , yet those that are curious may also have that first part . as for this second part , wherein our principles are handled , we iudge we deal with the clergy in generall , however they seek to shift it , and hide themselvs , since their book is licenced by the bishop of edinburgh , and he being challenged , said , he did it not without a recommendation from aberdeen . so that no man of reason , can deny but they are accountable for the errours , and impertinencies which we have herein observed , which we leave , reader , to thy serious examination , remaining . thy friends r. b. g. k. the contents . section 1. concerning immediat revelation . pag. 1. section 2. the students argument against the spirits being the rule ▪ proved one with the iesuit dempsters . 12 section 3. concerning the supper , perfection , and womens speaking . 18 section 4. concerning the necessity of immediat revelations to the building up of true faith . 27 section 5. concerning worship . 41 section 6. concerning baptism . 56 section 7. concerning the ministry . 65 section 8. concerning liberty of conscience . 75 the conclusion . wherin their observations upon r. b. his offer , and their last section of the q. revileings , as they terme them , are examined . 83 quakerism confirmed , section first . concerning immediate revelation , wherin the second part of the students book from pag. 44. to pag. 66. is answered , in their first section , they alledge , we doe wickedly put many indignities upon the holy scriptures , and that we monopolise the spirit to our selves , which are grosse lyes , but that they are against the spirit , is no malicious accusation , but a thruth as will appear to any true discerner : their comparing us , when wee plead for the spirit , to them , who cryed the temple , the themple , is unequall and profane , they that cryed the temple , the temple , rejected the spirit of god , and relyed too much on the temple , and outward priviledges , but dare they blame any for relying too much on the spirit of god ? again , in their first subjection they committ a grosse deceit in which they follow g. m. their master , who ( useth the same in his manuscript to us ) in alleadging , they are more for the spirit then we , becaus they affirme , that the efficacy of the spirit is insuperable . for wee doe affirme , that the efficacy of the spirit is in a true sense insuperable , as namely wher the mind is well disposed , see r. b. his thesis , wher he useth the word insuperably , but that the spirit doth insuperably move , or irrestibly force the ill disposed minds of all in whom it operats is false , and contrary to scripture , which saith , that some resist the spirit , yea and is contrary to the experience of all , who are acquainted with the spirits workings , that know , that the spirit many tymes worketh so gently , that his operation may be resisted , therfore said the apostle , quench not the spirit . now that doctrine which is contrary both to scripture , and experience is not for the spirit , but against it . again , how are they more for the spirit then we , seing they affirm the spirits influence is but only effective , as having no evidence in it self , sufficiently to demonstrat that it is of god ; we say , it hath , as being both effective and objective . 2. they say , the influence of the spirit is only given to some ; we say , to all . 3. they say , it is so weak , that it can bring none to a perfect freedom from sin in this life , though never so much improved ; we say , it can , yea . 4. they say commonly , the influence of the spirit cannot keep the best saint one moment from sin , we say , it can keep them for whole dayes , yea alwayes , if they improve it , as well as they can . 5. they say , a man may and ought to pray without the spirit , which we deny , and so we leave it to the judicious , if here they do not commit a gross deceit . lastly , in their stating the question , they accuse us falsely , as if we did hold , that all men ought to judge , and examine all the materiall objects of faith and articles of religion by inward revelations , as if all men were bound to an impossibility , all men have not all the materiall objects of faith propounded unto them , for some of the materiall objects of faith are meerly accidentall unto all mens salvation , as to believe that abraham begat isaak , and isaak iacob , &c. others although not accidentall , yet are but integrall parts , and not essentiall of christian religion , such as the outward history of christ , &c. and so by this distinction divers of these arguments are answered , without more ado , especially the first two , where they spend much paper fighting with their own shaddow , telling us , that the heathens have no revelations , shewing the birth , passion , resurrection , &c. of iesus christ , which we do grant , for the belief of such things is only necessary to them , to whom they are propounded , and the scriptures alledged by them , at most prove no more , it were a needless labour and not worth the pains to answer particularly to all their impertinencies , follies , and blasphemies , which they obtrude upon us as arguments , and in the issue , their last probations resolve into meer assertions , as much denyed by us , as the things they undertake to refute , therefore upon each section or subsection we shall , but take notice , what their arguments resolve into at last , and as there is occasion , set down some propositions that may serve as a key to open the readers way , through all these heaps of confusion and blasphemy , wherewith they fill their pages . as for the scriptures brought by them arg. 1. as isa. 9. 2. matth. 4. 16. psal. 147. 19. 20. these prove not , that they had no light , for the light shineth in darkness joh. 1. and prov. 29. 18. doth not import that people have wanted vision from the beginning , but that for some time , they may want it , to wit , when their day of visitation is over , which we deny not . and whereas they tell us that the greek particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often to be translated among , and therefore so to be col. 1. 26. and other places alledged by us ; we deny this consequence . and that they say , the apostle is speaking of the outward preaching of christ col. 1. 26. is their bare assertion without any proof . also in their first argument they alledge a gross untruth upon g. k. as if he did hold in his book of immediat revelation , pag. 11. that the jewes generally under the law had no immediat revelation in the seed , let the place be read and it will clear g. k. where he distinguisheth a twofold sort of revelation in the seed , according to a twofold condition of the seed , the first sort of revelation is more hidd and obscure , the seed not being compleatly formed , but as under ground . the second is more manifest and clear , so as with open face to behold the glory of god. the first sort of revelation is given universally unto all both jews and gentiles , but the second is only given to the saints , in whom the seed is compleatly formed and brought forth . as to their queries we answer that conscience and reason are distinguished from the saving light of christ in all men , & the revelation thereof , as a naturall and supernaturall principle are distinguished , and it was the naturall , which pelagius did exalt too much , as our adversaries also do , who affirm that men may be lawfull preachers without being renewed by the supernaturall principle of gods saving light and grace . in the prosecution of their second argument . 1. they deny the inward blood and sufferings of christ , referring us to their proofe afterwards , which we shall in its place examine . 2. they alledge that we hold an heavenly and spirituall nature in christ , which is distinct from the godhead on the one hand , and from the manhood on the other , which they call a third nature in christ. but this their alledgance is false , for that heavenly and spirituall nature is not a third thing distinct from both the godhead and manhood of christ , as shall be afterwards shown . 3. they alledge that the apostle doth not speak of any inward hearing or word , but of the outward . the contrary is manifest from the apostles own words in the same chapter , the word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart . nor is their reason valid to prove it , for the words vers . 14 , 15. are not arguments made by paul , but objections adduced by him , which he afterwards answereth , and this is usuall with paul in this epistle . as to their question , wherein consists the nature and essence of faith ? we say , it is a receiving of christ , laying hold upon him , according to whatsoever revelation he makes of himself in mens hearts , which is in some greater , in others less , but in all is in some degree . in their third argument they undertake to prove that according to us the scriptures are not necessary secundum quid , or profitable , but all in vain , as for their example , as they know examples prove not , so is it vain and impertinent , for we never compared the scriptures to a mutilated and dim coppy , they are a clear and perfect coppy as to all essentialls and necessaries of christian religion : but they are not the originall ; and seing we have answered them so many questions , let them answer us this one . are not all these divinity books and commentaries on the scripture made by men not divinely inspired , as a mutilated and dim coppy in comparison of the scripture , and whether is the scripture or these books more perfect ? if they say the scripture is more perfect , then what need they the mutilated and dim coppy of these divinity books , or what profit can they have , by them , which they cannot have rather by the scripture ? again , here they confound the materiall and formall object of faith , as if we did hold that inward revelation without scripture did propound unto us the materiall objects of faith , which is false , for there are many of the materiall objects , which are only propounded by the scripture , to witt , such as the historicall part of the scripture , and in this respect , we do not plead that inward revelation is the materiall object , but the formall . in their fourth argument , they are so blind as not to take notice how we can give the same answer that they give , concerning the law , that we who are under grace and obedience to the inward law , are dead as to the condemning power , but not as to the commanding power thereof . but that it is not the letter or any outward testimony of the law that doth so powerfully convince a mans conscience , as of other sinns , so of covetousness , as the spirit of god doth in his inward convictions and smitings upon the conscience , is clear from the experience of all these , who have known and passed through the state , which the apostle spake of , when he said , i was alive without the law , but when the commandement came , sin revived , and i died . yea what law is that of the mind , whereof he makes mention rom. 8. but an inward law , by which the knowledge of sin comes , and through which both the knowledge , and remembrance of sin sticks more closely to the soul then through any outward law it can ? and did not christ say , that the spirit should convince the world of sin ? yea how many of those called heathens , who had not any outward law , have declared that inward concupiscence was a sin ? as for their malicious accusation against us , of our lust and covetousness , we reject as not worth the noticing , seing they assert it without any colour of proofe , but it seems they have learned that wicked and devilish maxime calumni are audacter aliquid adhaerebit . i. e. calumniat boldly that something may stick . their fifth argument is answered in the first as being a branch thereof . their sixth argument is built upon a false supposition , that according to our principle , all would be prophets , and that no difference could be assigned betwixt prophets , and pastors and teachers , seing prophets and teachers teach , both from the spirit . the first is answered at large in the end of g. ks. book of immediat revelation . to the second we answer , that by prophets in the strickest sense are meant those who prophecy of things to come , as agapus was ; by teachers , they who instruct the people in doctrine , and this is a manifest difference , although in the large and common sense prophecying and preaching are one thing . their seaventh argument , they pretend to build on that scripture jud. 19. but it is easily answered , that men in one sense may be said not to have the spirit , and in another to have it , even as a rich man who improveth not his money , both hath , and hath it not in divers senses , according to which christ said , from him that hath not shall be taken away that which he hath . and whereas r. b. doth grant that they whose day of visitation is come to an end , have not the spirit , so much as to invite and call them unto god ; here they insult as if all were granted they seek , but they are greatly deceived , for though he grant that some have not the spirit to call and invite them , yet he granteth not that they have not the spirit to reprove them , for even the devils and damned souls of men and women sin against the spirit of god witnessing against them in their hearts , which is in them a law of condemnation , as david said , if i go down into hell thou art there , yea do we not read not only that god spak unto cain a most wicked man , but also unto sathan job . 1. which speaking of god to sathan , we suppose the students will not say , was by an outward voyce , and consequently it was internall . but we ask them if all wicked professors of christianity should burn the bible and destroy all outward rules and means of knowledge , should they by this means cease to sin , because they should have no rule , or should they be excused from gospell duties , because they have no rule , by this supposition ( according to the students ) to require them ? in their second subsection they spend both their strength and paper , in labouring to prove some things which we no wise deny , as the sequel of their major § . 14. but in the proofe of their minor , where the whole stress lyeth , they utterly faill in both its branches , as we shall briefly shew . as to the first , they argue thus , they know no such inward objective evidence of inward revelations of the spirit in themselves , therefore they have none such . we deny the consequence , they see it not , nor know it , because they will not , their prejudice against the truth doth blind them , and indispose their understanding ; yea might not the unbelieving jews have reasoned the same way against christ , when he was outwardly present with them , we do not know him to be christ , therefore he is not christ. again , whereas they querie in a scoffing way , can a thing that is self evident be hidd from the whole world except a few illuminado's ? we answer , if it were hidd from the whole world , except a few in comparison of others , it is no more then what the scripture saith , that the whole world lieth in wickedness , & their wickedness blindeth them that they do not see the light that is in them , yet we could instance many who are not quakers , so called both christians and gentils who have acknowledged the evidence and certainty of divine inspiration in all men , as the surest ground of knowledge , but we need not digress into this here ; we have enough besides to stop their mouths . for do not they say , that the scriptures have a self-evidence , and yet are not the scriptures and the truths declared in them hidd from the greatest part of the world ? the mahumetans reject both old and new testament , and the jews the new ; although they read them , and yet according to our adversaries , they have self evidence , so that it is evident , the same argument is as much against the scripture , as the light within in point of self evidence , and indeed much more , seing many who deny the self evidence of the scirptures , even heathens have a knowledge of the self evidence of divine inspiration , as socrases , plato , plotinus , phocyllides , seneca and many others . and here in the close being sensible of their weakness after they have laboured to prove the negative , they tell us , that seing the negative is theirs , they are not bound to prove it , and so would roll it over on us to prove the affirmative against their own law , which would have us to be meer defendents . as to the maxime , affirmanti incumbit probatio , it doth not help them , for they have affirmed a negative , and have been at great pains to prove it . but all in vain . and why may we not put them to prove their minor being a negative , as well as their master , i. m. put the jesuit dempster to prove his minor , which john meinzies affirmed to be negative ? in their prosecution of the second branch they affirm that the q. cannot give any sufficient evidence of their revelations . this we deny and put them to prove it , but how shamefully they fail here is apparent , for instead of proving of what they affirm , they put us to prove the contradictory , and so contrary to their own law , would urge us to be impugners and defenders at one time , a silly trick they learned from the baptists in their dispute at london , as indeed the students argument about an evidence is the same upon the matter with that which the baptists used against us at london long before them and which the iesuit used against i. m. long before them both . so that we may see what sort of patrons the students here follow . but it is well to be observed , that when they seek an evidence from us , they tell us pag. 57. they mean not an evidence which will actually and de facto convince a pertinacious adversary , but an objective evidence or clearness in the thing it self which is apta nata , fitt of its own nature to convince , and will really convince the well disposed . very well ! this their plain concession destroyeth their whole building , for seing they press upon us by way of dilemma , either we have the spirit of god , or we have it not , which is i. l. his argument . we may very lawfully by his own example press him and his fellow students , with the like argument , either they have a well disposed mind , or they have not . if they say , they have not , then they confess they are a pertinacious adversary , and so not capable to be convinced of our evidence , and surely it were great folly in us to seek to convince them of the truth of a thing , who are not in a capacity to be convinced . if they say , they have a well disposed mind , then let them prove it to us , or give us an evidence of it , seing by their own rule , affirmanti incumbit probatio . who is so weak that doth not see that they are intangled in the same difficulty they would urge upon us , yea into a far greater , for they can not so much as pretend to any objective evidence , whereby to convince us that they are well disposed , seing they altogether deny such a thing . if they answer , that they are not bound to say either the affirmative or negative , but require of us to prove the negative , who seeth not that we have the same to reply unto them , when they urge us , either the q. have the spirit , or they have not , that we are not bound to say , either the affirmative or negative , for although to have , and not to have , are contradictory , yet to say , that we have the spirit , and that we have not the spirit , are not contradictory , being both affirmative : and indeed when we assert things only in thesi , we do not say , either that we have , or have not the spirit , but this we say , and we are able to prove from scripture , that all good christians have the spirit of god , immediately to teach and guide them into all truth , and all men have it so far as either to justify or condemn them . by this we stand , and are able to defend it through the help of god , as consisting both with scripture , and sound reason , and testimonies of ancients . but if they think with their little craft to bring us down from the thesis to the hypothesis , they must know the same will bring them down to it also , for seing it is a truth acknowledged both by them and us , that all true christians and children of god have the spirit of god , working in them at lest as an efficient cause : from this we urge them thus , either they have the spirit of god working in them as an efficient cause , or they have not . if they say , they have not , they confess they are not true christians , or children of god , which we suppose they will be loath to say , if they say , they have the spirit of god as an efficient cause of faith working in them , and subjectively inlightening them , let them prove it , or give us an evidence of it . who doth not see , that poor men they are taken in their own snare ? we know all rationall and sober men will acknowledge that we are not bound to receive their affirmations without proofe , more then they are bound to receive ours , nor indeed so much , we being as the case stands , but defendents . as touching their answer to r. b. his retortions about an evidence 〈◊〉 shall be examined in the next section . in pag. 60. they tell , that we assign them at last some shaddows of evidences , namely first , our own declaration . 2. the scriptures . 3. the immediat testimony of the spirit . but that these are not shaddows , will appear to the judicious and well disposed , if they consider these two things 1. that by our declaration we mean not a bare verball declaration , having no virtue or manifestation of life in it , for we confess , such might be as good a ground for a heretick in way of evidence , but by our declaration , we mean such a declaration as doth really proceed from the spirit of god in us , and is therefore a living declaration having a manifestaaion of life in it , and with it , and which is not only in words of life , or living words uttered through us from the spirit of life , but also in works of life or living works , which are the fruits of the spirit , as said christ , by their fruits shall ye know them . now such a declaration , can no heretick have , however he may pretend to it . if our adversaries say , that we only pretend to such a thing . we answer them with their own rule , affirmanti incumbit probatio . i. e. the affirmer ought to prove . let them prove us only to be pretenders , which yet they have not done , nor can do ; and indeed such a declaration from the spirit of god in the apostles , as when john said , we are of god , &c. was an evidence that no heretick could justly pretend to ; 2. it is a most unjust and unreasonable thing to require of us any other evidence of our having the spirit , then that which every true christian may and ought to give , seing we pretend to no other spirit , but that which every true christian hath , nor to any revelations , but these , which are the priviledges of all true christians , nor to any doctrines , which are not conform to the scriptures of truth , as we are ready to prove , and as g k. hath already shewed in his book immediat revelation , which neither the students nor their masters have given us any refutation of . now have not all good christians , these three evidences for them ? and we can prove by the help of the lord that they are as applicable to us , as to any upon earth : and here note , that when we say the scripture is the best outward evidence , that can be given , we mean it not as a particular evidence , but as a generall common to all good christians , for we grant that the scripture cannot prove that any particular man hath the spirit of god in such a way as true christians have it , but it proves in generall , that all true christians have it , yea and all men to convince them at least . in pag. 61 , 62. they reject the scriptures testimony as an evidence to us , because according to us the scriptures testimony hath no evidence without the spirit . in answer to which we say . but it hath an evidence with the spirit , his inward evidence going along with it , which inward evidence , we say , doth go along with it , sufficiently to convince every well disposed intellect . and this we can prove from the scriptures testimony . nor is this to commit an unlawfull circle , as they foolishly alledge , which is but an old threed-bare alledgance of papists against the protestants , as turnbull alledged on paraeus , that he proved the spirit by the scripture , and the scripture by the spirit . some protestants in our dayes do miserably seek to extricat themselves of that circle , that they know the spirit by the scriptures objectively , and they know the scriptures by the spirit effectively , and so indeed they get free of the circle , as not being , in eodem genere , i. e. in the same kind . but they affirm a gross untruth that the spirits influence , is only effective and ex parte subjecti , whereas we know it is objective , and can prove both from scripture and primitive protestants , see g. k. his book of immediat revelation , and quakerism no popery . where the same is at length proved . but we have a most clear way to extricat our selves of that circle imposed on us by papists and these students , to wit , that we know the scriptures testimony by the spirit tanquam à priori , as we know the effect by the cause , and we know the spirits testimony by the scriptures , tanquam à posteriori , as we know the cause by the effect , and so both are objective , and yet in a divers kind , because the objective evidence of the spirit is a self evidence and primary , the objective evidence of the scripture is but derived and secondary . in their answer to g. k. his retortion from the practice of christ , who though his own immediat testimony was to be received , referred them unto the testimony of the scriptures . they most miserably betake themselves to their old trade of affirming things without any proof , and yet on the proof of these things the whole stresse of their answer lyeth , as 1. they say , the iews rejected only the outward immediat testimony of christ. however dare they say , but that the outward immediat testimony of christ was to be believed ? and yet he referred them unto the testimony of the scriptures . 2. they say , they have no such testimony themselves as the inward objective testimony of the spirit . 3. they say , according to christ , the scriptures were the rule , meaning the primary rule , and so , they set the scripture above christ , his own immediat outward testimony , a most gross disorder . all which we reject as meer affirmations without any proof . their insinuation that g. k. acteth the part of a cunning sophist , when he spoke these words repeated by them , pag. 4. is no less without any reall proof , for it is a truth , that no scripture truth can be savingly believed but by the illumination of the spirit , which is objective . in paragraph 28. they think to evade g. k. his argument , that we have inspiration , because all men have it , that then papists , mahumetans , pagans and men bodily possessed have inspiration , which we do affirm , viz. that these have it so far as to convince them , and is sufficient to be a law of condemnation , and render them without excuse for their sin , and this all men have , not only within their day , but after their day of visitation is expired . but as to their imposed glosses and senses , which they say their divines have already vindicated on these scriptures cited by g. k. for universall grace and inspiration , as they refer us to their divines , so we refer them to our friends and our books , where their silly and weak reasons are answered against this gospell truth . as for the word every we acknowledge it is not taken alwayes universally , but seing it is taken so most frequently , it lieth on them to prove that it is otherwise taken in the places cited . before we close the answer to this subsection , we propose further unto the reader these two considerations . 1. that when we say , inward divine revelations in the seed are self evident , we do not mean it alwayes in respect of the materiall objects , of things revealed , but in respect of the formall object , or revelation it self . 2. although we affirm that the illumination and influence of the spirit , in mens hearts , is both effective and objective , yet we do not affirm that they are two distinct things , but one and the same thing under different respects ; so that we do not plead for another influence , then that which in words they seem to grant , but we say , it is a more excellent thing then they acknowledge it to be , as being in it self perceptible and having a self evidence , whereas they will have it only a medium incognitum , a thing altogether undiscernible and inevident of it self , so as to convince or satisfie the understanding that it is of god. and thus according to our adversaries sense , and upon their principle , this inward illumination of the spirit may be said to be fallacious , for want of evidence , seing according to their own argument that which hath not a sufficient evidence is fallacious . but whereas the students in their account grant in words , that the soul hath spirituall sensations and that the work of grace may be felt , this confession destroyeth their wholl superstructure ; for if the work of grace can be felt or is perceptible then it is objective , for whatever is perceptible is objective , ad seing they grant that the soul hath spirituall sensations , we ask them , what are the objects of the sensations ? are they only words and letters , or things such as god himself in his heavenly refreshings , waterings and bedewings , if the first , it is most unreasonable , for it would make the spirituall senses to fall short of the naturall , seing the naturall senses reach beyond words to naturall things themselves , if the second , they must needs with us acknowledge inward objective revelations , for by them we understand no other thing but as god , and the things of his kingdom are felt in us by way of object . section second . where the students chief argument against the spirits being the rule , is proved to be one upon the matter with that the jesuit dempster used against their master i. m. and the same way answered , and their weak endeavours to evite it examined and refuted . there hath enough been said heretofore to demonstrat the fallacies in the form of their arguments in which also it resembled the iesuits , which to avoid repetition we shall now omit . their medium against us , is , that we cannot give an evidence of our being led by the spirit , but that which may be as good an evidence for hereticks , for thus they word it in their account , alledging we wronged them , in saying , they used the words , which hereticks may pretend to , yet abstracting from this false charge , we shall take is as they now express it , being indeed equivalent . to prove that it may be as good an evidence for hereticks , they make i. l. argue thus , other hereticks declare and say , they have the spirit of god , teaching them as well as you . therefore , if your saying you were so taught , were a sufficient evidence , &c. then their declaring , &c. now let the reader judge , whether this argument amounts to any thing more , then that , that is not a sufficient evidence to the q. which other hereticks may pretend to . thus the students dispute against the q. let us hear how the jesuit disputes against i. m. their master pap. lucif●g . pag. 3. after the jesuit hath repeated his argument , he adds , may it please the answerer of this syllogism to remember that the ground or principle , which he shall produce to prove the truth of his religion must have this property , that it cannot serve nor be assumed to prove a false religion as the grounds and principles that one produceth to prove that he is an honest man must have this property , that it cannot serve nor be assumed to prove a knave to be an honest man. &c. let the judicious reader consider whether there be any materiall difference betwixt these two argumentations . but to proceed and shew that their arguments are no better then the jesuits against their master , and our answers no worse , then their masters against the jesuit ; we shall place them together , i. m. answereth the iesuit thus pag. 5. of his pap. lucifugus . our answer to the students as themselves acknowledge st pag. 59. ●s . the true religion hath sufficient grounds in it self , to manifest it self to be the true religion , if it met with a well disposed intellect ( for to use your own similitude ) an honest man may have ground enough to shew a distinction betwixt him and a knave , albeit a fool cannot discern it , so the true religion may have ground enough to prove it self true ( which the false religion hath not ) though an infidell or heretick whose foolish mind is darkened rom. 1. 21. cannot take , it up . that the evidence of the spirit cannot be assigned , but to the well disposed understandig . this they call a pitifull subterfuge , alledging that then this evidence can only be assigned to such , as are of the q. mind , but not to others , and that any heretick in the world may deny evidences upon the same account . now let the judicious reader , determine whether if this answer be a pitifull subterfuge ; the students with the same breath do not declare their masters , to the jesuit to be the same . and when they write next , let them shew the difference , which they have not yet done . in answer to this retortion , they alledge pag. 67. that r. b. said their master , ●o . m would not assign the iesuit a ground , to prove the truth of the protestant religion , and therefore , say they , r. bs. practices agree exactly with the iusuits moralls , and gives an egregious specimen of his iesucticall hones●y , which makes us suspect him to be a iesuited emissary . this is a 〈…〉 disproved by their own account , where pag. 8. upon this occsion , they confess r. b. said only that their master desired the iesuit to prove that the protestant religion had no ground for it . will they deny this , let them read the very first four lines of their masters first answer to the jesuits paper pag. 3. and they will find he put the jesuit to prove his minor , which was , that the protestant religion had no such ground . as it doth not therefore follow that i. m assigned not afterwards a ground ; so neither will r. b. his repeating this , infer that he said , he did not assign such a ground . yea in contradiction to themselves pag. 60. they acknowledge he told , their master named the scripture as a ground , &c. so it is manifest they have given here a specimen of their iesuiticall honesty , and because they could not answer , they forged lyes to fill up the paper , and things not to the purpose as pag. 57. where offering to reply to this retortion , they say : but for answer it is well known r. b. was brought up in a popish colledge , & it is thought by many that he is a iesuited emissary , &c. is not this a pungent answer ? reader , r. b. was educated in a popish colledge ; ergo , say the students , our answer is not that which the iesuit used against our master . it seems the students are offended that r. b. hath forsaken popery , or otherwise their charging him with his education must be very impertinent , as indeed it is no less foolish , then if we should upbraid luther , calvin and all the first reformers as papists , for being so educated , and though it is no wonder their folly and malice led them into this impertinency , yet it might have been expected that their gratitude to the bishop of edinburgh , who was pleased to permitt their book to be printed , might have hindered them from this folly , seing he was educated in the same popish colledge r. b. was , and owes some of his philosophy to it , wheras r. b. learned only there a litle grammar , and came thence in his 15 year , but the bishop was there professing popery in his more mature age . so if this reflect any thing upon r. b. it will much more against the bishop , which they will do well to clear , and be sure not to omitt , when they write next , or else acknowledge their impertinency herein . it seems they wanted strength of reason , to evite the retortion , which makes them thus rove , offering also to prove that their master did assigne a ground , which was never denyed and that he was defendent , so was r. b. also . what is that to the purpose , unlesse to make the retortion the stronger , and show they cannot get by it ? but pag. 60. they say , that wheras the iesuit pressed their master that hereticks did say , their religion was conforme to the scripture , as well as he , and so the scripture was no peculiar ground for him , more then for hereticks . they say their master answered , that it was not a pretended , but reall conformity unto the scripture , that demonstrats a true religion , &c. and upon this they inquire , what followes , alledging they argued from being as good and not pretending , and so fall a railling , saying , that the light of our consciences is ecclipsed by a new found light , and that we misrepresent them malitiously . this railing is for want of better reasoning , but seing they are so blind as not to see , whether they will see it or not , wee shall tell them , and , wee hope , let the reader see , what followes here from . jo. meinzies the students master saith to the jesuit , it is not enough that hereticks say the scripture is a ground for their religion , unlesse it really be so , and that other hereticks saying so doth not inferre , that it is as litle a ground for his owne ( to witt j. ms. ) religion . very well ! the quakers tell the students , that it is not enough that hereticks declare they have the spirit , unlesse it be really so , and their saying , they have it , while they have it not , doth not inferre , that our saying we have it , is as litle a ground for us . who but such as are as childish as the students , will affirme , there is here any difference ? but further , they confound most ignor antly the internall testimony of the spirit with the declaration of having the spirit , which are two different things . it was incumbent upon them to have proven that the internall testimony of the spirit is as good an evidence for hereticks , as for us , which they have not offered to do ; next , they have not proved that the declaration of hereticks is as good as ours , neither can they unless they can prove ours to be false , which they neither have nor can do . but they have egregiously falne in that in convenience , they would fix upon us , pag. 58. 59. where in answering r. bs. retortion , shewing them , that if mens being deceived , contradicting themselves , or one another , who say the spirit is the rule , did infer the spirit not to be a certain rule , then mens being deceived , contradicting themselves and one another , who say the scripture is the rule , would the same way infer that the scripture is not the rule . here they are miserably put to it , and therefore not ashamed to deny that they plead not against the spirits being a rule , for these causes . the contrary for which is known to all that are acquainted with these controversies , & for example , let them read their so much applauded w. mitchell his dialogue and his sober answer , so called , where he makes this the chief cause , yea themselves for the same reason within two pages to wit pag. 60. and 61. plead against the teaching of the spirit , affirming that * because the georgians , familists and pretended saints as francis and loyola , &c. pretended the inward teaching of the spirit , and had an outward show of godliness , therefore the spirits teaching to deny ungodliness is as good an evidence for them as for the q. who but the students would run themselves into such miserable condictions ? but to give the reader an evident demonstration of the students gift of contradicting themselves , take one here in their own words , they say this above mentioned retortion doth not meet their argument , why ? do we conclude that the spirit is not the rule of faith , because they cannot give an evidence which will actually convince , that they are led by the spirit , no such thing , compare this with 1. ls. medium of his second argument , where he undertaketh to prove that the spirit is not the rule of faith , ( as it is expressed by themselves ) because there can be no evidence given of it in the world , but if they think to creep out here , that there may be evidences given , though not such as do actually convince , because of the want of : subjective evidence , or disposition of the mind , as they afterwards add , and that we can give no evidence , of this last sort , it remains then for them to prove that their minds are well disposed , seing they are the opponents , and we the meer defendents , and that the evidences assigned by us , or such as are not manifest even to the well disposed , and yet to go round , pag. 59. paragraph . 19. they account this of the well disposed mina ridiculous , though it was the best answer their master could give the iesuit in the like case , as above is shown , but thou may perhaps judge reader , that these that are so nice and scrupulous in receiving evidences from others , would give some very solid ones for their own rule ; when pressed the same way to give us an evidence , that they have the scripture to be their rule from god , and that they have the true sense of it . take then notice of them here reader , and see how satisfactory their answer is now ( say the students pag. 59. ) the solution is easy , for they who make the scripture their principall rule are either our churches , or they are sects dissenting from us . if the first , have not our divines frequently proved both from the intrinsick characters of divinity that appear in the scriptures themselves , and also from the outward motives of credibility , that we have these scripturall revelations from god ? and have they not often assigned sufficient objective evidences and proofs of the senses of the scriptures taught by our churches as to every point controverted by us , and all sects whatsoever , so that dissenters remain unconvinced for want of subjective evidence and disposition of mind ; and really ought to believe us teaching such senses of scripture , &c. is not this rarely wel solved ? do the students give any better evidence for all this , then their own declaration , and is not this ( according to themselves ) as good for other hereticks as for them ? is it not strange with what confidence they should print such stuff ? besides as to the first part of it , it is manifestly false , for calvin the chiefest of their divines , hath in plain words asserted . that all the objective evidences & motives of credibility are not sufficient to establish the conscience in the beliefe of the scripturs certainly , & that therunto is necessary the secret and inward testimony of the spirit , yea that the same spirit that was in the prophets and apostles enter into the heart &c. so say all the publick confessions of the protestants abroad , and seing of this according to the students ther can be no objective evidences in the world given , then neither can there of the scripture , which they confesse is their rule . so the reader may see that their work is like the vipers brood , that destroyeth it selfe ; & tends to overturne the certainty of all christian religion , landing in scepticisme , which becaus they can not shun , they end their section in vaine boasting & railing , saying , pag. 77. they provoke all the papists & qu. of the world to argue against them so , if they can . here are high words indeed , but seing they are so busy in boasting we accept the challenge & offer us to prove before as publick an auditory , as the last dispute was , that their arguments against the q. are no better then the iesuits against their master . and here to conclude , they adde , let the reader therfore judge , whether railing robin shewes forth more of an asses then of a vipers nature , where he brands our argument with the black mark of popery . well! wee leave to the readers judgment , who also may judge , if this be not railing , and if the students , who talk at this rate , be to be trusted in their preface , saying that they have abstained from all personall criminations , and have not rendered evil for evil , and what may be thought of men that are not ashamed thus to belye themselves . section third . wherin the students arguments concerning the supper , and against perfection , and womens speaking are considered and answered , contained in their subsection 3. from pag. 66. of their book to pag. 78. first , they say , they might argue that the q. have not revelations from the spirit , becaus of their mad & impious practices , and then they turne this assertiou into a question , asking , have not the q. committed such practices , saying they were commanded by the spirit ? and for this they referre the reader to severall bookes writ against the q. by their declared adversaries : which signifie nothing unlesse they will prove that these men spake truth , which they neither have , nor can do , and so are no more valued by us , then cochleus lyes against luther . but to confirme this , they place at large a citation out of h. more , whom they say , the q. have reported to be a quaker . this is a false calumny , which they are dared to prove . that h. more hath in a letter to g. k. owned some of the q. principles , is true , as particularly that of immediat objective revelation , called by them the head of the monster , and that the seed is a substance , which they count one of the q. grand errours . as for that citation of h. more , he wrot it upon trust , and was not an eye-witness of these things , and it recurrs upon him and them to prove the things true . the story there mentioned of i. n. seing it was at that very time disowned by the q. and since condemned by himself ; militats nothing against us , no more then other horrid things , yea that ( which in the students own esteem ) is down right treason , being done by some of the chief of their ministry , as commanded by the scripture , doth against them . in conclusion they give a proverb used by will. dundas , in a book of his , as a further instance , which they call a bundle of ridiculous and non-sensicall expressions . but will they deny but the presbyterian generall assembly of which w. dundas so writs , was a mingle mangle of omni-gatherums , particularly that assembly that excommunicated and gave to the devil b. spotswood , and these other called reverend prelats of the church the students own , or let the students tell us , whether in their esteem they deserve a better designation . now that to use proverbs in things written even from the spirit of truth , is no inconsistency , let them read tit. 1. 12. evill beasts , slow bellyes , 2 pet. 2. 22 , the dog is returned , &c. and the sow to the puddle . but to procced , they offer to prove , the spirit in the q. not to be the spirit of god , becaus it teaches doctrines , contrary to the scriptures . their first instance of this , is , the q. denying the necessity of the continuance of the use of bread and wine , as an ordinance in the church , which they alledge pag. 67. is commanded matth. 26. 26. mark. 14. 21. luk. 22. 19. but the students may look over these places , and find if they can any thing in the first two of matth. and mark like a command , but only a meer narrative of the matter of fact . in that of luk , these words are added , do this in remembrance of me . they procced to prove that this is not ceased , of its own nature , carping at these words of r. b. ( in his first answer to w. m. pag. 54 , 55. ) where he saith , the very institution intimats the abolishing thereof at christs coming , insinuating as if he had mistaken himself , for his words ( say they ) allude to pauls 1 cor. 11. and not to christs , but while they take a liberty to judge of his thoughts , they do but shew their own forwardness to mistake ; for either these words of christs in luke above mentioned , do import , they should do that in remembrance of him untill he came , or they do not , if they do not , the students give away their own cause . if they do , then he might allude to that , as being there included , though not expressed . they urge , the coming of christ mentioned , must be his coming to judgement , because these to whom christ was come in spirit do use it , but this proves not , that they then practiced it by way of necessary duty , more then their practicing other things , which our adversaries themselves do acknowledge do not continue , nor are not binding . but they proceed pag. 69. to prove it commanded since , from the apostles words 1 cor. 11. and to prove that this was not a meer narrative of a matter of fact ( as we truly affirm ) but a command , they affirm first . that he often gives the title of the lords supper to it , even as received by those corinthians . for answer , the students must needs be like themselves , and as they often belyed us , so they use the apostle the same way , for not only in this chapter or epistle , but in all pauls epistles , these words ( the lords supper are only once mentioned , so not often . secondly , vers 20. where he useth thei● words , thus , when ye come together therefore into one place , this is 〈◊〉 to eat the lords supper , it is so far from making for them , that it makes clearly against them , for the apostle clearly here asserts that the corinthians in their useing of bread and wine did not eat the lords supper , he sayes not they did not eat it , as they ought . secondly they urge , that the apostle received of the lord a command to take , eat , do this . this is strongly alledged , but we deny it , and let them prove it , for proof , they give none , unless we may take an example for a proof in which they beg the question , for unless that alledged minion of the king should tell these citizens he came to , that he had received order to command them to obey the decree repeated by him , the example sayes nothing ; but that the apostle has signified any such thing to us we deny , & it remains for them to prove . thirdly , they alledge , that since the apostle reproves them for abuses in the use of this , and to rectifie those , brings them back , to the institution , the duty of receiving it , may be much more concluded from the same institution . answer , this is their bare affirmation , the abuses committed in practicing a ceremony may be regulated by telling the proper rise , use and end of it , and yet the using it may not be an absolute duty , the apostle sayes how those that observe dayes , ought to do it to the lord , it will not therefore follow , that the observation of dayes , is a duty incumbent upon all , yea the apostle in that place expresly asserts the contrary . their fourth reason is yet more ridiculous , the apostle insinuates that it is a duty , because of the first word for that which i have , &c. who but the students would argue at this rate ? such kind of reasons serve to shew their folly not to confirm their opinions , as do these that follow with their old example of the kings minion . in all which they miserably begg the question , taking for granted that it is a standing statut , which is the thing remains to them yet to prove . in the end of this page they desire to join the word often , which say they , evidenceth it was a practice to be continued in . and here they insult , because that r. b. in answer to w. m. arguing thus from this word often , did reply , that thence it would not follow , that as often as a man sins he oftends god , did import , we should sin often ; here they say r. b. egregiously shows his folly and impiety , because they never did argue from the word often precisely , but their brother w. m. to whom he then answered , did precisely argue from it , whose express words in his pretended sober answer are pag. 92. it may be observed that the corinthians were to be often in the use of it , because it is said , as often as yee eat , &c. so since he argued from the word often , his answer was proper , nor have they brought any thing to weaken it . and whereas they add , who will say , that ever sin was institutedly god ? r. b. never said so , but yet , that weakens not his retortion , nor strengthens their argument , from the word often as may appear in a thing truly instituted by god and yet lawfull , else as often as a man marrieth , he is bound to his wife might be said to import , that it were a duty incumbent upon men to marry , often or unlawfull to forbear . their fifth reason is , because the apostle prescribes the right method of usieng it , for they alledge , if it had been indifferent , he would have rather forbidden it as useless , &c. this is no argument , but their bare conjecture , in which they would be wiser then the apostle , and we have answered it before , shewing the apostle gives rules to rectifie the observation of dayes , which yet imports not a duty to observe them . their last and chiefest reason is , as they say , the aposils expresse command for it , let a man examine himself , and so let him eat , the students affirm , ( and do but affirm ) that to say , this is only a permission is a desperat shift , let us hear how they prove it . let a man examine himself , this is without doubt a command , therefore let him eat must be a command also , we deny this consequence , and it remains for them to prove it , and though this were enough in strictness , yet we shall give a reason of our deny all : because their proposition ( whatever it may be do in some cases ) holds not universally true , as to instance from an example or two , let a man marry 〈◊〉 the lord , and so let him mary . the first is a command here , but not the second , let a man speak in religious things as the oracle of god , and so let him speak . the first is a command , but not the second , many more might be named , which import only a conditionall command , not that there is a necessity upon all to marry , or upon all to preach , but if a man marry let him do it in the lord , and if a man preach , let him do it as the oracle of god. also see a most plain example of this rev. 22. 11. he that is filthy let him be filthy still , and he that is just , let him be just still , they are both in the imperative mood , yet the one is a duty , the other but a permission not morall and positive , but physicall and negative ; so if a man partake of the ceremony of bread and wine , let him examine himself , seing then their proposition holds not universally true , it remains for them to prove that in this particular place it is so . they bestow their 34. paragraph pag. 70 , 71. to no purpose , in missing the controversy , for whatever we understand by the substance , which whoso enjoyeth needs not the shaddow . we do not deny but these that had the substance made use of the shaddow at times , for paul purified himself according to the law of moses , after he had been long an apostle , but the question is , whether that oblige us now . this the students have forgott to prove , and will do well to advert to it when they publish their next volumne , omitting needlesse homilies not to the purpose . and thus we hope the reader may see , that the things we bring to prove this ceremony is ceased , are not shaddowes ; but rather , that what they bring to confirme it , is nothing but shaddowes . pag. 71. they go about to answer an argument used by r. b. against this ceremony , drawn from the apostls words 1 cor. 16 : 16. in his first answer to w. m. p : 54. where he shews that since the bread is but one , which must needs be the inward ; the outward must be ceased , and to this they answer , saying , the true & genuine sense of the place , is , to go 〈◊〉 as they were dictating , & not disputing without adding any probatiou . but secondly they proceed , saying , that seing the one bread is the saints , though the apostles were truely this one bread , yet christ instituted his supper , without any contradiction , or making them not one bread . for answer , were that practice of christ , of the nature they would have it , then should they say some thing , but while they suppose it so , and argu● from it , they do but begg the thing in controversie , for the apostles both then and after that time used many legall and typicall observations , and yet they would argue ill , that would inferre from thence becaus they did so , and that without contradiction to their being christians and under the gospel dispensation , we ought to do so too , as for that bread spoken by the apostles in the 16 and 17 verses we acknowledge it to be the spirituall bread , to wit , the spirituall body of christ , of which the saints feed , which makes them one , and is one with them as the apostle himselfe wordeth it . ver . 17. now what signifieth all this to prove that the outward bread is the one bread ? hear how the students evince it but thirdly wee say that the one bread spoken of ver . 17. is both the outward and the inward bread , yet but one sacramentally , and is not this rarely well argued , we the students say so : as to the reason afterwards insinuated as christ saith of the bread that it is his body , they should have showne how it followes . christ , as protestants well argue against papists , calls himself a door , a rock , &c. what then ? is christ and a rock one , christ and a door one door ? let them shew us , if they can , in all the n. t. so much as one word of this sigment of a sacramentall or symbolicall union . and wheras upon this occasion r. b. argued in his truth cleared of calumnies pag. 54. that if the outward bread were to be called the one bread , as signifying it , the sacrifices of the law might be called one , with the one offering of christ mentioned , hebr. 10 : 14 and so continued , this they say signifies nothing becaus these are abrogated : then untill they prove this continues by vertue of a gospell command , which they have not as yet done , the same reason will hold against it . to another reason given of the discontinuance of this ceremony , from gal. 2 : 16. let no man judg you in meats , or drinks , they say first , that then it had not been lawfull for the apostle , to have reprehended the corinthians for the abuses in this matter ; this is a poor shift indeed , though they should not have been reprehended for laying it aside altogether , yet seing they used it as a religious duty , they might well be reprehended , if they did it not religiously . secondly , they say , that then gluttony &c. ought not to be reproved , & that the q. ere they misse to pull down christs ordinance will make way for gluttony & drunkennesse . answer , here is but a silly malitious reflexion in stead of a reason , the apostle is speaking here , as the st. themselves afterwards acknowledge , of meats & drinks used in religious acts , & if the proposition hold true in this respect , it will answer the end , & not of naturall eating &c. thirdly , they say , it must only be understood of the legall ceremonyes , becaus of the 14 verse , asking if the lords supper was contrary unto us , or was nailed to the crosse ? what then ? the students are over hastie & should have looked to the 21 & 22. verses , touch not , tast not , handle not , which all are to perish with the useing ; & do not bread & wine which perish in the useing , & are therefore here included ; as for the absurdity insinuated by them , how could that be nailed to the crosse , that was but instituted two dayes before ? will they say that abstaining from things strangled , & from blood was nailed to the crosse which was commanded long after christ was crucified ? and yet some of their divines ( as they call them ) use this scripture for a repeale of it . their second charge against the q. and to prove they are not led by the spirit , is becaus they assert a possibility of not sinning upon earth which they say , is expresly contrary to the scripture , as first to isaiah 64 : 6 we are all an unclean thing . all our righteousness are as filthy raggs . but they should have proven that the prophet speakes here not only of the legall righteousnesse of the iewes , but even of the righteousnesse wrought by christ in the regenerate under the gospell , which they have not so much as attempted to do and therefore prove nothing , yea the chiefest of their divines as calvin , musculus , corretus deny this place to be understood of the rightousnesse of the saints under the gospell , but only of the legall righteousnesse of the iewes , whom we leave them to refute or reconile themselves to , and procced to their second argument , from the words of the prayer , forgive us our sins , but men may pray for forgivenesse of sins past , though they sin not daily , and this is the thing in question ; likewise this argument drawn from these words , doth militat no lesse against perfect justification , then it doth against perfect sanctification , as g. k. hath at more length in his quakerism no popery in answer to their master j. m. pag. 41. they argue from the words of the apostle paul , rom. 7. 18. 20 &c. to will is present with me &c. but they should have proven that the apostle wrote of his own present condition , and not as personating the condition of others , for the apostle in the same 7 chap. ver . 14. saith of himself , but i am carnall , sold under sin but who will say that the apostle as to his own present condition was then carnall ? or if he was , was there no spirituall men then ? or was he none of them . but fourthly they urgee 1 jo. 1 : 8. if we say we have no sin , we deceive our selve &c. and here they are offended r. b. should say this is conditionall , like the 6 verse , which they confesse is so , for , say they , at the same rate he might alledge all the rest of the verses of the epistle to be conditionall , but if it referre , or allude particularly to the 6. ver . the reason will hold as to it , though not of the rest , that both they and the rest of the verses of this chapter do allude to the fifth , the supposition if so often repeated , doth shew , they are angry that r. b. should alledge we here doth not include john more , then the apostle james 3. 9. with the tongue curse we men , doth include james . for first the students will have james here included , alledging it is spoken of excommunication , and here they take occasion to upbraid r. b. with ignorance , in ecclesiasticall discipline , but surely they have been either dreaming or doting when they so wrot , for hade they read the following verse they might have observed the apostle condemning this cursing , saying , these things ought not so to be , and we suppose they judge not their ecclesiasticall discipline to be unlawfull ; but being it seems ashamed of this shift , they give another interpretation which destroyeth their owne cause , alledging james might have understood it of himselfe , before his conversion , while perhaps he was a curser . very well , then let them give us a reason , why the apostle john might not also have understood if we say &c. of himselfe also before his convesion ; but are not these , thinkest thou reader , learned divines , who to evite the strength of a scripture , give it within the compasse of one page two contradictory expositions , affirming them both , and yet if the one be true , the other must be false ; and then can shake them both off , alledging , they may render the word by way of interrogation , and do we therefore curse men ? are not these rare interpreters , becaus the apostle useth an interrogation elsewhere in this chapter , therefor this may be so done also , but what then becometh of their church discipline and other interpretation ? these must be shutt out of dores . are not these like to be stable preachers , who give three different interpretations to one text ; if any one of which be true , the other two can not be admitted ? it seems these young men think to make a quick trade of the bible , cauponari verbum dei , who can thus play fast & loose with it at pleasure . but to proceed , they alledge ecclesiast . 7 : 20. there is not a just man upon earth that doth good , and sinneth not ; this argument is built upon an errour of the translation ; it should be translated , who may not sin , qui non peccet , so iunius and tremellius , vatablus , the vulgar latine , and almost all the interpreters have it , and our english translation psal. 119. ver . 11. translateth . the same hebrew word so , being in the same tense , which is the second future : i have hid thy word in my heart , that i may not sinn against thee . a second place ja. 3. 2. in many things we offend all , what then ? it followeth not thence that we offend at all times , or we can never but offend , which is the thing under debate ; but to conclude , they confess , we have other exceptions , which themselves , it seems , take no notice of , because , they are solidly refuted by their divines , and therefore ( say the stud. ) the q. herein teach a doctrine contrary to the revelations of gods spirit in the scriptures . answ. a quick way to dispatch controversies indeed , if it could hold , but at present it may serve to shew the st. folly , not to refute our principles , if their divines have already done the business so solidly , might not they have spared their labour , which some of their own think had been their wisdome . their third instance against the q. is pag. 74. their allowing of women to preach , alledging it is directly contrary to 1 cor. 14. 34 , 35. let your women keep silence , &c. and 1 tim. 2. 12. let the woman learn in silence , &c. here to begin like themselves , they say g. k. is too much addicted to women , but they are dared if they can to produce any reall ground for this malitious insinuation g. k. besides the testimony of a good conscience hath the testimony of hundreds , who have known his manner of life and conversation from his childhood to this day , that it hath been honest and of good report , so that he feareth not , that the lying reports , which the malice of his adversaries may raise , can hurt him , yet these are men that solemnely professe they have abstained from personall criminations , but seing they have belyed the apostle paul , as is above observed , g. k. may take it patiently to be treated at this rate by men of such circumstances , but if they think to inferre it , because g. k. doth plead for the liberty and priviledge of women , they might as well plead , that g. k. is too much addicted to a perfect holiness , because he doth plead for it , or that the students are too much addicted to sin , since they plead for the continuance of it for term of life . they are little lesse then inraged , that g. k should have alledged the testimony of augustine and bernard interpreting this place of the flesh , and therefore they labour like men in a sweat , for a whole page against this to no purpose , the only reason of g. ks. citing them , being because some of their preachers cryed out against this allegory , as a horrid abusive thing in some q. to shew them it , is none of the q. coining , but already used by men by themselves applauded and commended , upon this they ask , have not some of our antagonists been observed to make a welshmans hose of the first chapter of genesis , if they mean us , let them prove we have so done , as we have already proved , they have used the apostle james with their three faced interpretatian , and again they ask , have not some q. been bold to aver , that there was never any such reall tree as the tree of knowledge of good and evill , if they have , let them instance and prove by whom it was spoken , and writ and then they shall have an answer . as they proceed they give an egregious specimen of their folly , alledging , that if it did hold , ( as g. k. affirms ) that women are not allowed to speak by permission , then à fortiori , it is unlawfull for them to speak by commandement . who but the students would talk at this rate , as if a commandment might not authorize a man to do that , which a bare permission will not . g. ks. arguments drawn from their own allowing whores to speak , and women to sing , they call quibles , because they can not answer , which they reply to only by questions , do they allow whores authoritative preaching , affirming women may sing ? very well , whether it be authoritative or not , whatsoever way they speak , they keep not silence , and so the apostls words are not taken strictly , and literally , which gaines us the cause , and shewes our doctrin is no more directly against the apostls words then their own , besides from this it followeth by the students confession , that women may as lawfully speak in the church , as the licentiat students , whom the presbytery permits to speak in the church , before they are ordained , they passe our chief objection very overly , drawne from 1 cor. 11. 5. where the apostle gives direct rules how women should behave themselves in their publick praying and preaching , alledging there are rules given in scripture concerning things , that were never lawfull , but only permitted , &c. as of polygamie under the law , but they should have remembred that these are rules given by the apostle , to the christian church of corinth , and seing the students suppose that the apostle gave directions to the church of corinth not only of things that belong not to them now , but which are not lawfull for them ( a doctrine we question if their masters will approve of , or of the consequence of which themselves are aware ) it remains for them to prove that these two rules forbidding womens speaking belongs to us , or is not of the number of these uselesse rules , more then that other concerning the manner of their preaching . so we hope this solution is impugned , and desire they may be sure not to forget to bring us this reason , when they write next . section fourth . concerning the necessity of immediat revelations to the building up of true faith . containing an answer to the students second section from pag. 78. to pag. 92. in their stating the controversy , they say , these inward revelations are not subjective revelations , or divine illuminations . this is false , for as we have above shewed , one and the same illumination , that is effective or subjective is also objective , and the objective is effective . again they say , the question is not , if immediat objective revelations be possible , or be sometimes made to some de facto . this concession will overthrow much of all their own work , for if they admitt that any person in our time hath immediate objective revelations , admitt peter or john , their former argument will as much militate against this reall immediat objective revelation granted by them , as against those , which they do not grant , seing pag. 7. at the letter a , they say , suppose that the spirit reveall the objects of faith immediatly none will deny , that he is a rule , ( or rather ruler ) to them who have him so . a good concession , but which quite undoes their own cause , for now let us apply their former argument against this reall objective revelation granted by them , as thus , we ought not to believe that as the rule of faith , of which there can be no evidence given , but there can be no evidence in the world given of the spirit that is in peter and iohn , therefore , &c. again , if peter & john say , they can give an evidence of the spirit of god in them , to wit , their own declaration in life and power , as also the immediat testimony of the spirit , or the scriptures testimony , let us apply in the last place their argument used against us , and see if it will not be as good against peter and john , whom they grant de facto ( according to their hypothesis ) to have immediat objective revelation . the argument is this , that which as really agrees to enthusiast hereticks , as to them , can be no evidence , but that evidence , to wit , their own declaration , and saying , that both they and their adversaries have the immediat testimony of the spirit witnessing to the truth of it , would as really agree to enthusiast hereticks , therefore , &c. yea not only might they thus argue against any mens haveing immediat objective revelation in our dayes , but against the prophets and apostles having it , seing the argument might every way be as strong , against their having it , as against our having it , especially at such times , as they wrought no outward miracles in the sight of the people , to whom they were sent , as oft they did not . when the lord sent jonas to preach to the ninivites , he wrought no miracle in their sight . now let us put the students in the ninivites place , and we shall find they could argue as stoutly and hardily against jonas , as now they can do against any quaker , they could tell him , he could give no evidence of the spirit of god in him , giving any such message , as for his declaration , it would not suffice , because his saying he had the spirit would be as good a ground for any other enthusiast heretick . but further these stout and hardy warriours could have used these same arguments against the prophets , when they wrought miracles , for they could have alledged the miracles were not true miracles , but false , and such as may be done by the power of the devil , and so if any could produce miracles now , ( as there have been ) they would no more be believed , then the unbelieving jewes believed the miracles wrought by christ and his apostles . for they still looked upon them to be deceivers . it is clear from scripture that antichrist shall be permitted to work false miracles , but that they shall so counterfeit the true , that it will be hard to discerne , the one from the other , without gods immediat direction and teaching . and therefore the preaching of sound doctrine , accompanied with a holy life , is a better evidence of a true prophet , then all outward miracles whatsoever , as christ said , by their fruits ye shall know them ; he doth not say , by their miracles , but by their fruits . now we are most willing to be tryed by this rule , if both our doctrine , and life and manner of conversation , be not answerable to that of the prophets , christ and the apostles , then let them say , we have not that spirit , which was in them . but if they can not make out this , they but fight as men beating the aire . pag. 80. they argue , that there is no substantiall living principle in man , that is the good seed , because then the evill seed or principle should also be substantiall . but this is absurd , therefore . that this is absurd , they argue , for then it should be created , by god , and so god should be the author of evill and sin , or it should be uncreated , and consequently god. to this we answer . the same argument militats as much and rather more against their own principle , for seing they hold sin , to be somewhat , ( whether a substance , or an accident , is all one as to the argument ) we argue by a retortion against themselves , either it is created , or uncreated , and so the same inconvenience would follow . but to answer directly , we say , sin considered in its formall reason , is rather a privation , then any reall being , as blindness or lameness in a mans body , or corruption in wine , or any other liquor . but if they enquire about the subject of this privation , whether it be a substance . we answer , it is , and it is clear from the scriptures testimony , that as christ rules in the saints , so the devil rules in the wicked , and is in them , and as god hath his seed and birth in the saints , so the devil hath his seed and birth in the wicked , which is of the devils nature . but if it be asked further , whether it is a substance , we answer first , with inquiring at them another question , and retorting the argument upon them , whether the devil is a substance , yea or nay ? if yea , either he is created , or uncreated , if created , then god is the author of the devil ; if uncreated , then he should be god , their own consequence , which is blasphemy . but 2. the true answer to both is that he who , is , now the devil was created of god a good angel , but by his own voluntary fall , he hath reduced himself to be a devil not by any reall creation , but by a degeneration , and as is the devil himself so is his seed , a corrupted , degenerated principle from what it was originally before sin was , but if we take the seed of the devil distinctly , as distinct from himself , we do not say , it is any percipient principle , that seeth or knoweth , &c. for it is rather of the nature of a body , then of a percipient , intelligent spirit , and the scripture calleth it a body , to wit , the body of death . but whether the seed of sin be a substance , or not , the students argument is altogether impertinent to argue that because the good seed is a substantiall living principle , &c. then the evill principle or seed should also be substantiall , living , &c. for the same reasons . we deny this consequence , for there are greater reasons whereby to prove the one then the other . if they think to argue from the rule of contraries , they think foolishly , for it would as much follow , that because a man is a substance , who seeth and heareth , &c. that therefore a mans blindness , and deafness , and lameness are also substances , and that blindnesse seeth , deafnesse heareth , lamenesse walketh . do they not know , the maxim in logick that telleth them , substantia substantiae propriè non contrariatur . i. e. one substance properly is not contrary to another . but last of all we may more justly retort this blasphemous consequence upon many of their own church , who hold , that god stirreth up the devil and all wicked men unto all their wicked actions , by an irresistible motion or quality which he infuseth into them , commonly called , praedeterminatio physica . is not this to make god the author of sin ? as also many of them teach that originall sin is a positive quality , infused into the souls of men at their creation . concerning which positive quality , we thus argue , either it is created or uncreated , &c. and so the inconveniences of their argument will fall much more upon their own heads , for they cannot alledge that this positive quality at its first creation was first good , and afterwards became changed into evill , because no quality can admit any such transmutation , as for example , whitnesse can never become blacknesse , nor sweetnesse bitternesse , nor streightnesse crookednesse , although a substance that is white , may loose its whitnesse , and may become black , and that which is sweet may become bitter , and that which is streight become crooked . in the prosecution of their second argument , they bring their matter to this issue , that g. k. holds the seed it self to be contradistinct from the manifestation , becaus the manifestation is in the feed ; but we deny the consequence , doe not they say , that the manifestation of gods will is in the scripture , and also that the scripture it self is the manifestation of gods will ? that g. k. calleth the seed both a substance , and a manifestation , is as reasonable as to say , there are outward manifestations of gods goodnesse , power , and wisdome in the heavens , and earth ; and yet the heavens and earth are the very outward manifestations themselves . are not our meat and drink and cloathing , naturall and outward manifestations of the goodnesse of god to us , and are not these things substances , and doth not god manifest his goodnesse also in them ? what blind reasons are these , which those poore blind men bring forth against the truth ? again they argue , that this manifestation ( which wee say is a substance ) depends not â solo deo , cannot exist without a subject , nay not without the understanding , to which it is made . all which they barely assert , but do not offer to prove . again they say , it is but a meer action , and applicatio agentis ad passum . but how do they prove it ? here they are as dumb as stones . perhaps they think to prove it , because manifestation , is a nomen verbale , which commonly being derived from the active verb signifieth an action , but this is meerly to play in words , and not to dispute , for they may as well say , because the whole world is called the creation , ( for creation is an active verbale ) therefore the whole world is a meer action , or applicatio agentis ad passum . we deny not , but the action , or motion , which proceeds from the spirit of god , may also be called a manifestation . but we say , the seed it self , is also a manifestation ; and those inward heavenly refreshments which god ministers unto the souls of his saints , are as reall substantiall spirituall manifestations of his goodnesse , as the outward earthly refreshments , to wit meat and drink , are reall substantiall naturall manifestations . lastly , they query , if the manifestation be a substance , whether is it one manifestation , or all the manifestations ? to this we answer , they that please to call the action , or motion , ( which proceeds from the spirit of god , an an efficient cause ) a manifestation , may easily distingnish manifestation , as it is a principle , or quid permanens , or as it is an action , or quid transiens , now to apply , we say , the substantiall manifestations of god , inwardly to our souls are many , as they are quid permanens , and per modum principii , for as god nourisheth our outward man , not with bread and drink once only , but often , and many are our outward refreshments , all which are substances , agreeing in this that they are manifestations and pledges of gods bounty unto us , so doth he nourish our inward man , with spirituall bread and drink not once only , but often , giving us daily the supersubstantiall bread , as the words in the prayer may be translated , and have been by some learned men , and thus we have answered their last argument , in their § . 5. without recurring to any idea platonica , a term they vainly bring in to their argument , to move people to laugh at their folly . and thus we hope it is apparent , that we have no need to retract our answers given in the dispute , as they vainly imagin . it would be more labour and expence of time and paper , then the thing is worth , to answer them in all their pittifull ridiculous reasonings in these matters , in every particular . therefore not to weary the reader , nor mispend time , we shall set down some few clear distinct propositions , which shall clearly answer any seeming difficulties alledged by them in this whole section , as in relation to christ. 1. proposition . the word , or son of god , hath the whole intire nature of man , spirit , soul and body united to him in the heavens , and he is the same in substance , what he was upon earth , both in spirit , soul , and body . 2. christ in us , or the seed , is not a third spirituall nature , distinct from that which was in the man christ jesus , that was crucified according to the flesh at jerusalem , for the same that is in us , was and is in him , and as it is in him , it s the fulnesse or spring of the same in us , as the streame , nor is there any difference , but such as is betwixt the spring and the streame , which are one in their nature and substance . 3. we say that the same seed , and life , is in us , which was in him , and is in him , in the fulnesse , as water is in the spring , and in us as the streame , and this seed and spirituall nature which is both in him , and us doth belong to him , as he is the second adam , or man christ , therefore this seed being in us , the man christ is in us ; not according to his whole manhood , but according unto that which is proper unto it , and yet without all division , as the naturall life is in all the members , but more principally in the head , and heart , without any division , so this spirituall life and nature is both in christ our head , and in us , by which he dwelleth in us , as the spirit of man doth in the body ; and we eat and partake of his flesh . 4. but if they argue that at least christ hath three natures in himself , we say , their own principle will conclude that as much as ours , for the godhead is one nature , the nature of the soul , is a second , and the nature of the body is the third , and our adversaries themselves teach that as god is three persons in one nature , so christ is three natures in one person . 5. although the word or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should assume into union with it selfe not only two natures , but three , it should not make either two , or three chists , but one , for they grant that the word hath assumed two , to wit , the soul and body of the man christ , and yet he is not two christs , but one , even as the king is but one king , although he possesse three kingdomes , for ad multiplicationem obliquorum non multiplicantur concreta , as your logick teacheth . 6. the seed and spirituall body of christ both in him , and in us belonging to christ , as he is the second adam , is as really and immediatly united unto the word , as his outward body was , for the wholl manhood of christ was united to the logos , and the logos to it , and in it , therefore the sufferings of this seed and spirituall body of christ in us , are as really his sufferings , as these he accomplished at jerusalem . 7. this seed is not our soules , but is a medium betwixt god and us , and our union with god is but mediat through this , whereas the union of god with this is immediat , therefor none of us are either christ , or god , but god and christ are in us . 8. seing this seed and spiriuall nature of christ is one , and the same , both in him , and in us , it is most unreasonable to argue , that there are as many christs as men , as it is unreasonable to argue , that becaus the soul of man is in all his members , that therefore , as many members as many souls . the element of the aire is but one only element , although it fill the wholl universe , betwixt the stars and the earth . and the element of water , is but one , although it fill many channells . 9. christ outwardly died but once , but inwardly he dieth in a spirituall and mysticall sense , as often as any crucifie him to themselves by their unfaithfulnesse , and disobedience , as the scriptures declare . 10. as for the satisfaction of christ without us , we own it against the socinians , and that it was full and compleat in its kind , yet not so , as to exclude the reall worth of the work and sufferings of christ in us , nor his present intercession : for if christ his intercession without us in heaven , doth not derogate from his satisfaction , but doth fulfill it , no more doth : his intercession and sufferings in us . 11. the sufferings of christ in men are voluntary , and yet without sin , as his sufferings at jerusalem were voluntary and without sin , for as he joined not with them , who outwardly crucified him , in any active way to coucurre with them or countenance them , so nor doth he inwardly joine with men to countenance or concurre with them , when they crucifie him , by their sins . 12. as there was no need that the jewes should have crucified christ outwardly , so as purposely to sin , that christ might suffer for sin outwardly , ( although the prophecies of christs sufferings and gods foreknowledge was certaine ) so ther is no need that men should now sin to crucifie christ inwardly , for if there be any difficulty in the one , it recurres in the other much more . now , either men sin , or sin not , if they sin , christ suffers by it ; if they sin not , he doth not suffer , ( nor is it needfull that he suffer when men sin not ) but all men have sinned , and christ hath suffered for , and by the sins of all , both without and within . 13. christ's outward sufferings at jerusalem were necessary unto mens salvation , notwithstanding his inward sufferings , that he might be a compleat saviour in all respects ; for it behoved christ not only to suffer in the members of his body , but also in the head , so that it is a most foolish and unreasonable consequence to argue , that becaus christ suffereth in the members , therefore he needed not to suffer in the head : wheras the sufferings of christ in the members are but a small part of what he suffered in the head , by being offered up once for all , yet a part they are , as serving to make up the integrall of his sufferings . 14. the doctrines of the incarnation , sufferings , death , and resurrection of christ &c : are necessary every where to be preached , and being preached , to be believed and improved , as being of and belonging unto the integrall parts of christianity and christian religion ; even as the armes and leggs are integrall parts of a man , without which , though it is possible that a man may be and live , yet he is not a compleat man as to all his parts , even so , though one may be a christian , and partaker in part of christianity , and in that state be accepted of god , as is clear in the case of cornelius , without the expresse knowledge of the outward birth , sufferings : &c : of christ , yet without the same he is not a compleat christian , as wanting the knowledge of that which serveth to the perfection & accomplishment therof . before we close this particular , we can not omitt to take notice of two most horrible perversions , committed by the students sect . 2. the one is pag. 83. where they alledge out of g. k. his book of immed . revel . pag. 7. that g. k. holds that when christ suffers by mans sin , that he joines with man , which is a most abominable lye and perversion . the second perversion of the students . which is no lesse abominable , is in pag. 79. of their book , where to cover their other perversion , they cite most falsely and perfidiously a place in g. k. book , where they bring him in , saying , [ though it may be hurt and slain , by joining with the contrary seed , before it come to its perfect formation ] and thus they would prove that according to g. k. christ joines with man , when man sinneth . now we beseech the reader to look to pag. 7. in g. k. his book of im : revela , and he will find that the words of g. k. are thus , [ though till it come to its perfect formation it can suffer hurt so farre as to be slain through man his joining unto the contrary seed and birth ] mark reader g. k. saith through man his joining , but the stuents , purposely to deceive the reader , have left out the word man , that the reader may understand it of christ his joining ; a thing never entered into g. k. his heart to think , farre lesse to write . this abominable perversion of the students is enough to make all sober men abhorre them , as wilfull and impudent lyars , for such a manifest and visible thing could not be done in ignorance . but are not these students rare disputants , who thus argue against the q. pag. 83. l. 5 , 6. either he ( to wit christ ) suffereth within willingly , and so he sins , it being by the sins of man that he suffers and is crucified within . for by this argument it will follow not only that all the martyrs when they suffered willingly , did sin , but also that christ himself when he suffered willingly by the sins and wicked hands of the jewes that crucified him outwardly , did sin , which is the highest blasphemy , and naturally followes by the students argument . but it seems these students have no mind to suffer willingly for righteousnesse sake , seing they are men of such principles , that think , when any doth suffer willingly , he sins . we leave the reader to judge whether such stuffe and worke of the students be quakerism canvassed , and a confutation of the q. errours , or rather whether it be not a manifest betraying of the truth , and declaring themselves guilty of highest blasphemy , lying and confusion ; and whether these men who are guilty of such confusion themselves , are fitt to accuse others as not writing perspicuously and clearly , as they doe g. k. for his book of imm : revela . pag. last of their preface . but g. k. doubteth not but that his book will be acknowledged to be clear and perspicuous , where it meets with men of a clear understaning , such as the students ( to be sure ) are not . as for those stories about j. n. they have been long agoe answered by our friends , who judged both him , and them that joined with him in that particular , as hee also judged and condemned himself , and was by the mercy of god reduced to a sober mind . as for that passage in christopher atkinsons book , wee can say nothing to it , unlesse wee saw the book which is in g. m. his custody ( which showes that the students have plowed with his heifer ) who refused to let us have the use of it , to see whether the place was perverted , and wee did not know where to have it any where else , but it is in cumbent on them to prove whether c. a. or his book was owned really by the q. for wee can prove hee was denyed by them , and if he denyed that christ is man , wee deny him and his book both ; for wee truely believe that christ is both god and man. in the prosecution of their second argument , sect. 2. they take great paines to prove that heathens have the law and book of nature , and from exerciseing their reason and understanding naturally they may know many things , which wee doe not deny , and so they might have spared that labour . but wheras they alledge that there is nothing needfull to be known and believed by the heathens , but what the book of nature and their naturall understanding , and reason as men , can teach them , according to the q. principle , and consequently the heathens need not these supernaturall revelations . this they affirme without any proofe . wee shall give manifest instances to the contrary , for the q. say , all men need both to have and to know a supernaturall influence and work of the spirit of god in order to their salvation . and this also our adversaries grant . now the heathens need a divine revelation to make this knowne to them . for the book of nature or the meer natures of things being considered can not teach men what is supernaturall , and so it can not teach men that in all their actings they are to have a supernaturall end , nor can it teach them , that they are to love , feare , serve and worship god , from a supernaturall principle of gods grace , which are the greatest duties required of man , and if it can not teach men , and convince them of their greatest duties , it followeth , that it can not convince them of the great sins , that are contrarie unto those duties . also nature can not teach men the mystery of regeneration , ( which yet is needfull to be knowne ) for men who are but too much addicted to naturall reason , and searchings into the book of nature ( but despise the divine and supernaturall illumination of christ in them ) think regeneration a fiction , or unnecessary thing . other instances could be given , but least they should call them the q. errours , we shall forbear , contenting our selves with such as our adversaries acknowledge to be true . but 2. if it were granted that the book of nature could in some sort discover all things necessary to salvation ( without supernaturall light ) which yet we deny , it doth not follow , that therfore divine , supernaturall objective revelation , is not necessary , becaus the discovery that the book of nature and naturall reason gives to men of divine things , as of the power , wisdom , justice , goodnesse , love and mercy of god , is but dimm , weak , faint and barren , and is no more a proportionat object to the spirituall sensations of the soul , then a report of meat and drink and cloathing are a sutable or proportionat object to the tast ; and feeling of the outward man ; the souls of men need not only to be convinced that ther is a god , who is good , loving , mercifull , powerfull and just , but they need also in order to their salvation to have a feeling of his divine power , to see and tast that he is good , to handle that word of life , to know christ in themselves , to have the love of god shed abroad in them , by the holy spirit , which love is a sensible and perceptible object , and so is objective . for if the scriptures be nota sufficient objective revelation of god , and the things of his kingdom , much lesse the book of nature , &c but the first is true , therefore the second is true also . now that the scriptures are not a sufficient objective revelation of god , &c. g k. hath proved at large in his book of immed . revela . and we need not produce any new arguments here , untill the students , or their masters refute those already set downe in that book , only this we say in short , nature and scripture tell us that ther is a god , but they can neither give us a sense , sight , or tasting of him , or of his love , or of his spirituall judgments , as these things are inwardly experienced , where god reveals them , nature can not refresh , or comfort the soul , nor pour in wine and oil into it , when it is wounded with sin , and although it could tell that god can doe this , what comfort could that be to the soul , unlesse god himselfe doe it , and make the soul sensibile of his hand reaching unto it , the spirituall things themselves that nature can not afford . also nature cannot discover the spirituall judgments of god in the soul , wherby he cleanseth it from sin , as by water and fire . now as to the second branch of their argument , that the scriptures are a sufficient objective revelation of all things necessary to salvation , this we altogether deny , as is said , for although the scripture is a full enough declaration of all doctrines and principles both essentiall and integrall of christian religion , yet the scripture doth propose divine things and objects , but as a card or mappe doth a land and the fruits of it , to the outward eye . now as this is not a sufficient objective proposall , because we need to see the land it selfe , and to tast , and eat and drink of the fruit of it , so our souls need a more near and immediat discovery of god , then the scripture , which is but a report of him , that he may feed and nourish us by his divine manifestations ; and here in the prosecution of this argument , they are at great paines to prove , that the scriptures are given from god , which we deny not , although some of their proofes be weak , but whatever reasons can be brought to prove that the scriptures are given from god , if the inward testimony of the spirit of god , be not believed , and received , these reasons cannot beget any divine , saving faith , ( wherof only wee speak ) but a meer humane and naturall faith or conviction . as to that place of scripture 2 cor. 4 : 3 , 4 if our gospell &c : that is , say they , the outward gospell , but doth paul say so ? nay ; look the greek text , and you will find the contrary , that the gospell he spake of , was hidd in them that are lost , so the greek . therefore it was inward , and this scripture they bring to prove , that the scriprures have objective evidence and perspicuity in themselves , whereas paul doth not say of the scripture , but of the gospell , which is the power of god. and whereas they query if a person may have immediat objective revelations , who hath not his mind wel disposed , and if so , what advantage would he have by them , which he might not have without them by the scriptures ? we answer , much every way , becaus the scripture is not able to dispose his mind , as our adversaries grant , but these immediate objective revelations are also really effective , and have sufficient power and ability in them , to dispose his mind , if he do not resist them . again , wheras they query , may a person be wel disposed who hath not such revelations ? we answer ; no : yet he may want some , and have other some , but if he may , yet there is need of such revelations , even as if a mans eye , or tast , were never so wel disposed , he needeth the objects themselves ; and as painted bread , or a discourse of bread can not satisfie the naturall tast and appetite , no more can the scripture words satisfie the tast and appetite of the soul. they cite 2 tim. 3 : 15 , 16 , 17. to prove that the scriptures of old and new testament are the principall , compleat ; and infallible rule of faith and manners ; but this place doth not say , that they are so , the scripture we grant , but deny their consequence , which is merly begged without a proofe . they confesse pag. 90. that the scriptures are not sufficient every way , so as to exclude the inward efficiency of the spirit , and the concurrence of other causes . very wel : enough to overthrow their whole argument for among other causes , divine inspiration is a maine , for indeed the inward efficiency of the spirit , is that objective revelation which we plead for , only they deny it to be objective , wheras we say , it is both effective and objective , as if a man should grant that the light and heat of the fire doth both enlighten us , and warme us but deny that either that light or heat of the fire is objective , to our discerning , or perceptible by themselves , which were ridiculous , and as ridiculous is their conceit of an influence of the spirit that is meerly effective , and not objective . that the books of the old and new testament are called the scripture , by way of eminency , we deny not , ( although the name is given at times to other writings ) nor doth this refute g. k. his translation of that scripture 2 tim. 3 : 16. which is confirmed by the syriack , which hath it thus , in scripturâ enim quae per spiritum scripta est , utilitas est ad doctrinam &c. i. e. for in the scripture which is written by the spirit , there is profite . but their reason from the conjunction [ and ] is both foolish and blasphemous , for if the words be rendered thus , all scripture given by inspiration is and profitable , is no more non-sense then divers other places in the scripture , where the conjuction and seemeth to be redundant , as in that place joh. 8 : 25. where the greek hath it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the beginning ( or from the beginning ) the same which and i speak unto you . now if the conjunction [ and ] render not this place non-sense , no more doth it render that in timothy ; but the students ignorance renders them rather blasphemers , and their arguments blasphemous against the words of christ. moreover the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie a strong affirmation , ( as to say , even , truely , indeed , ) as both our english translation hath it , joh. 8 : 25. and schrevelius in his greek-lexicon doth render it : and thus the words have good sense , all-scripture ( or writing ) given by inspiration , is even ( or indeed ) profitable . and whereas , they say , none but a q. or jesuit would so interpret the place , they declare their malice and ignorance , for william tindall that famous protestant martyr in his translation of the bible , for which the papists burnt him , did tranilate it , as g. k. doth whom we think the students dare not accuse as a jesuit , that he was a q in so farr as he held divers of our principles , condemned by the students , we shall not deny . as for us we blesse the lord our faith stands not on such a small nicity , as the want of an [ is ] or the redundahcy of an [ and ] let them look to that , whose faith knoweth no other foundation , but the letter . it doth nothing hurt our faith nor lessen the due esteeme of the scripture to us , if peradventure an [ is ] hath been lost , or an [ and ] hath crept into the text since the originall coppies were lost . this we know and can prove that the scripture can not profit any man to salvation without the illumination or inspiration of the spirit , which is both effective and objective , and which our adversaries grant at least to be effective . and if they make one exception why may not wee make another ; or if they say , the spirit is necessary one way , why may not we say , it is necessare another way ? but then the scriptures , say they , would not be profitable at all in any manner or kind , we deny the consequence , for it is profitable , yea and necessary in genere objecti materialis , i. e. as the materiall object in relation to all historicall truths , and divers other dogmatical and doctrinall points , which perhaps we would not have knowne without the scripture , although we had had the spirit in as large a measure as men now have it . again , the scripture is profitable in genere objecti remoti & secundarii . i. e. by way of a remote and secondary object and rule , even as in relation to testimonies of life and experience , which may be knowne without the scripture , yet the scripture is a secondary confirmation and help even in that case as a card or map of a land is unto a traveller , that travells through the land it selfe , and seeth the high wayes , who will not throw away his card , because he sees the land it selfe , but will both delight and profit himself to compare them both together . other great and weighty uses wee could give , but these suffice to serve as instances against their weak and sorry argumentation . their last argument is from joh. 12 : 48. the word that i have spoken , the same shall judge him in the last day ; but how prove they that this is the letter of the scripture , much of which was not then writ ? and although this word were not christ himself , yet it may be an inward testimony spoken by christ in mens hearts . here they meerly begg and prove not . but 2. suppose it were the scripture or written law , as that cited by them rom. 2 : 12. it will only follow , that the scripture is a secondary law or rule , which we willingly grant , and that by it men who have the scriptures shall be judged , but not by them only , for if the gentiles who have not the written law , shall be judged by the law in the conscience , so shall these also who have both inward and outward be judged by both , and consequently their damnation shall be greater . section fifth . of worship being an answer unto their third section concerning inspirations to duty . in their stating the controversie in this particular , they grossly prevaricate in divers things , as where they say , n. 2. the question is not only about duty on the matter , videlicet the act of prayers &c. as separated from the right manner , viz. sincerity and truth , wheras indeed the question betwixt them and us , is about prayer , as separated from the right manner , viz. sincerity and truth . for they say , god requires men to pray , without any inspiration , or gracious influence of the spirit , so that such a prayer is an answering of the obligation to the duty upon the matter , although it be separated from the right manner , and accordingly they doe both require and allow men to pray , when they have no gracious influence , or motion therunto , telling them , that even such prayers are required , and that they doe better to give such prayers , as want sincerity unto god , then not to pray at all , seing such lifelesse and spiritlesse prayers have the matter of true prayer , although they want the right manner . wheras we on the contrary affirm that lifelesse prayers have neither the right matter and substance , nor yet the right manner of prayer , and therfor are not at all required in scripture . yet we deny not but many times , when men want an influence of life to pray , they are still under the obligation , and at such ' times it is their sin not to pray , because they ought to have sutable influences to prayer , which would not be wanting if they were faithfull unto god , but when through unfaithfulnesse they want them , it doth not excuse them from being under the obligation , yet still when they want the helpe of the spirit , they ought to pray by the spirit , becaus they ought to have it . even as when one man oweth unto another man a just debt , in money , the debter ought to pay the money , although he have no money to pay it with , for his want of the money doth not excuse him from the obligation to pay it ; yet he ought to pay the debt only with money , or the equivalent of it , but if he should offer to pay it , with any thing , that is not money , nor moneys worth ; as suppose with a few counters , this is no answering the obligation , either in the right matter , or manner , and so it is in the case in hand . again , n. 8. they fall into the like prevarication , in alledging the question is not about a new heart , and spirituall principle of obedience , for they owne that as indispensably necessary for acceptable performance . but do not they say , that when men pray , without a new heart , they do in part answer the obligation ? and do not they encourage them to pray , even the most wicked ? this is denyed by the people called quakers , and is a great part of the question . we say indeed wicked men ought to pray , but not remaining wicked , but that they ought to forsake their wickednesse , and have a new heart , and therewith to pray . moreover , whereas they say , the question is not about every performance , but about acceptable performance : herein they most palpably contradict themselves n. 9. where they grant , that no act of worship can be acceptably performed withot these influences , and they wel know that the qu : say the same , the question then is not about acceptable performance seing both they and we grant , that no duty can be acceptably performed without the spirit , so that if the students had understood their matter , they would have said , the question is not about acceptable performance , but about simple performance , whether there be any obligation to performe duty , that is not acceptable , which they affirme and we deny : for indeed unacceptable performance is as good as no performance , but rather worse , as if under the law , the jewes had offered up a dogs neck in place of a sacrifice , it had been a greater sin , then not to offer at all . as it is a greater offence for a man to offer to pay his debt with counters or pennies made of slait-stone , then not to pay at all . another grosse errour they committ , in alledging the question is about praeparatory motions , praevious in time , this is a lye , we challenge them to shew us any such thing in our books , we doe not require motions or influences of the spirit , previous in time , ( although they are oft given ) it sufficeth that they are previous in order of nature ; as the cause is previous unto the effect , which is not alwayes in time , but in nature ; but the question is indeed , about the necessity of motions , to , and in the performance of duty so as the performance is to be in , by , through , and with the spirit , which may wel be without a praeviousuesse in time , as to inward duty , at least , and if the outward can be simultaneous with the inward , it may also be as to the outward , but if it can not be so soone as the inward in some cases , the reason is not for want of the motion , but because the bodily organs can not so hastily answer the motion , as the mind it selfe can , and it sufficiently answereth the motion , that the mind answer it first , and then the bodily organs as soone as their nature can permitt . there is yet another great errour they committ in alledging , such a lively and spirituall disposition as being necessary in our sense , whereas we doe not lay it upon such a lively &c : as if we required such a degree of life , for the least measure of life that is but able to carry forth the soul in any living measure of performance , is sufficient , where the soul keepeth to the measure , and doth not exceed , or goe beyond it . in the prosecution of their arguments , they are no lesse unhappy in the stating of the question ; as will shortly appeare . pag. 95. 67. they bring in r b. and a. sk. denying their sequel , which they laboure to prove , ( but how unsuccessfully , we shall see anon ) becaus as angels and bruts agree in that they are both substances , so spirituall duties , and other duties agree in that they are both to be performed in the spirit . but what then ? yet the difference is still great betwixt those duties that as to their matter are naturall and civill , and those which as to their very matter are spirituall , as for example to eat , to plough , to pay a debt , are not spirituall as to their matter , but only as to their manner , and end , when acceptably performed , and therefore the matter of those duties , and whole substance of them may be , without any gracious motion of the spirit , and in that case the performances themselves are really profitable in the creation among men , and consequently doe answer the obligation in part , but prayer , and thanksgiving &c : are duties wholly spirituall , both as to matter , or substance , and as to manner and end , so that whoso essayeth to doe any of them without the gracious motions of the spirit , he leaveth not only the right manner , but the very matter and substance of the duty behind him , and bringeth the meer accidents along with him , which have no profit nor use to men , nor are any wise in the least part an answer of the obligation : and as to that scripture cited by them , the plowing of the wicked is sin , prov. 21 : 4. they do not prove , that it is meant of outward plowing , the margin of our english hath it , the light of the wicked , and arius montanus rendreth it on the margine , cogitatio , the thought , that the plowing of the wicked is sin in respect of the manner , and lastend , we grant , but that the action materially considered is sin , we altogether deny , even in a wicked man , for the outward mechanick and bodily act is good in its nature , and profitable , as also in so farr as it may be for the maintainance of his family , it is good , so that in respect of the matter , and subordinate end , there is no difference betwixt the plowing of a good man , and a wicked , whereas the prayer of a good man by the spirit , and the prayer of a wicked man , without the spirit , differ materially , in their very nature and substance , the good mans prayer by the spirit is true and reall prayer , but the wicked mans prayer , is no true prayer at all , but a dead image of it , nor is the wicked man a true worshipper , for he only is a true worshipper according unto the expresse doctrine of christ , who worships the father in spirit and in truth , whereas a wicked mans plowing is as reall , and true , and good as to the matter , and nature of the outward action , as that of the good . it doth not therefore follow , that ( according to the q. principle ) because a man is not to pray without the spirit , that therefore he is not to plow without the spirit , in respect of the matter , although in respect of the defect in the manner , and last end , which should be the glory of god , he sins when he plows , as when he prays , but yet not so much in the one , as in the other , for in the one both matter and manner are wrong , in the other not the matter , but manner , but if a man be faithfull to god , he may as certainly expect the divine assistance of the spirit to help him to plow , as to pray , although that assistance to pray is greater , & of another manner then that to plow , as is obvious to any that hath spirituall experience . and whereas a. sk. inferreth upon them , their going about the spirituall duties in a carnall manner , &c. this they call an impudent calumny but in this , the impudent calumny is their own , not his , for dare they deny but they are for going about prayer , & praise ( which are spirituall duties ) without the motion of the spirit , which is as much as to say , in a carnall manner ? for what is not done by the spirit , is done but in a carnall manner , and wheras they call , his second answer , a clear confession &c. yet they tell us nothing of it pag. 96. they are no lesse disingenuous , in alledging , that g. k. dissenteth from r. b. and a. sk ( whom in their aiëry and frothy minds they call his pretended infallible brethren ) for as g. k. requireth inspirations to the acceptable performance of other actions , so doth a. sk. and r. b. yet we all say , wicked men may very lawfully goe about naturall and civill performances , as to plow , to eat , to pay debts , as they are materially considered , without inspiration , and in so doing ( although they fall short of acceptable performance , for defect of the right manner , and the last end ) they sin lesse , then to omitt those actions , and indeed sin not at all , as to the nature and substance of them , as they doe , who pray without inspiration . as for g. k. his distinction of mandatory and permissory inspirations , it holds good , notwithstanding all their idle , foolish and impertinent cavilling at it ; from the words of paul that he essayed to goe to bithynia , but the spirit permitted him not ; g. k. inferred by the rule of contraries , that the spirit sometimes permitted him , to evade this , they are sorely pinched , in their account of the dispute pag. 30. they grant his consequence , that paul at sometimes had a permission , but they deny it to be an inspiration . but here in this new assault , they deny that any permission felloweth by the rule of contraries , from pauls words , alledging that he permitted him , and he permitted him not are not contraries . but g. k. did not alledge these to be contraries , for they are flatt contradictory , but these we say are contraries , the spirit permitted not paul to goe to bithynia , therfore he permitted him to goe sometimes , to some places . this is a plaine inference , from the rule of contraries , by contraries , we mean not contraries in the strict logicall sense , as when the contrariety is betwixt two universalls , but opposits , which in the common way of speech are called contraries , and in the logicall sense may be called , subcontraries , which doe inferre one another not to be true alwayes simul & sem●l , at one time , and place , but at divers times and places , &c. as for example , if there be a south , ther must be a north , if a time to come , ther is a time to be past , if some things be hott , and not cold , other things must be cold and not hott , and to use a more neare example to the matter in hand , if when a river is not permitted to runn , by reason of an excessive freezing that bindeth it up , at one time , it followeth that it is permitted to run at another time , when ther cometh a thaw , or yet to come nearer , if the wind do not permitt a shipp to saile southward , at one time , it doth permitt her at another time , to saill southward . we would not have insisted on such rudiments , had not the great ignorance of the students occasioned it , pag. 97. they close their 9. § . most pitifully , after having failed to refute g. ks. distinction of permissory and mandatory inspirations , they say , they leave it to be proved by g. k. that the simple permitting of him ( meaning permission not joined with a command ) hath been by inspiration . here they shamefully desert their undetaking , which was to refute permissive inspirations , but when they faill to doe this , they put g. k. to prove them , wheras they ought to remember , that g. k. is not bound by the law of dispute , to prove any thing , being a meer defendant , yea when he offered ex abundanti to prove something in the dispute , they blamed him for so doeing , being but a defendant , and now they would have him leave defendant , and become opponent . this is a pitifull confutation of the qu : principles , that when they fall short in their proofes against us , put us to prove our own principles , but seing they are so beggarly , as to begg from g. k. a proofe of this , he shall give it uuto them , and it is this . admitt then , that according to the students supposition , paul was permitted to goe unto a certain place , without any command of god , and that paul did this acceptably , or without sin , as to the thing it selfe , which they must needs acknowledge he might ; it followes then by their own argument that he walked this journey in the spirit , seing they themselves plead that men ought to walke in the spirit , meaning outward walking , and seing they grant , that whatever act a man doth acceptably , he must doe it to the glory of god , and that a man can doe nothing to the glory of god , but as he doth it from a good principle , ( yea the glory of god being a supernaturall end , must have a supernaturall principle ) which is the spirit of god , it manifestly followeth , that paul his journeying by a permission was by inspiration , for whatever is done in the spirit , is done by inspiration , inspiration both in the common sense , and here particularly signifieing any gracious motion , influence and assistance of the spirit . in their answer to that other scripture 1 cor. 7 : 6. compared with ver . 40. they fall into their old way of asserting barely without any proofe , they tell us , that the permission falls upon the thing spoken , and not upon the speaking it selfe . but how prove they it ? here they are quite dumb , and say nothing for proofe , and indeed it is as manifest as a thing can be , that the permission doth no lesse fall upon the speaking , then upon the thing spoken , and they doe most presumptuously contradict the apostle , when they say , paul was commanded to speake this , whereas paul said expressly , he spake by permission , and not of commandment . in the prosecution of their second argument , they bring in g. k. distinguishing betwixt privative and positive permission , where they give the lye to their owne accompt , which saith pag. 30. that g. k. distinguished permission into positive and negative , as indeed he did . now privative and negative differ widely , for the want of sight in a stone , is not privative ( as in a man ) but negative , and surely there is so little witt , or acumen in this argument of the students , and their prosecution of it , that it proves them to be liker stones then men of reason and solidity , . and here they tell us , that g. k. ( whom in their vain minds they call this great inspired rabbi ) was very unfortunat , in explaining this distinction , and assigning its ground , as may be seen in their accompt : but alas ! for them poor men , they have egregiously baffled themselves in that very matter in their accompt , as is shewed in our answer thereunto . but behold what dull and heavy disputers these men are . if positive permission were inspiration , say they , then a man might inspire us , for he might positively permitt us . this consequence is as dull and heavy as a stone , although the weight of it falls not upon us , but upon themselves to prove them altogether impertinent ; for their argument proceeds upon a wrong supposition , that according to g. k. all positive permissions are inspirations , a thing g. k. never dreamed of , but only that some positive permissions , to wit , those of god , are inspirations , as he by his spirit doth permitt men , or allow them to doe or use some things , as when god said to adan in the garden , of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat , save one ; this was a positive permission ; and also ( if god spake this to him inwardly , as is most probable , and as augustin supposeth ) an inspiration ; also when the lord said unto ezekiel cap. 4 : 15. lo , i have given thee cows dung for mans dung , this was a condescendece and positive permission , and also an inspiration . but the students proceed still more and more to baffle themselves ( in stead of baffling the qu. ) and shew their ignorance and sottishnesse . for thus they argue , pag. 99. in prosecuting their third argument : every inspiration ( say they ) puts us out necessarily to the doeing of the thing inspired , and so commands us virtually . and upon this bare alledgance the whole superstructure of this argument stands , which yet is a manifest untruth , and suffereth many undenyable exceptions : for many times things inspired are not at all of the nature of things to be done , but are simply things to be believed , as when god inspired the prophets with the knowledgs of things to come , which neither could nor ought to be done by them , and as when daniel was inspired to know things , which he was so farre from being commanded to write , that he was forbidden dan. 12 : 4. again some inspirations are meer inward consolations , and spirituall refreshments and renewings of strength only to enable us in generall to serve god , as meat and drink is unto the body , and that sometimes without words , and sometimes with words by way of promise , as when he spake to noah gen. cap. 9. from ver . 8. to ver . 18. where there is not any command given to noah , but only promises , and yet noah was inspired by the lord , as all the true prophets were . and wheras they alledge that inspiration includs in its notion an insuperable putting and prompting out to the thing inspired , in all authors both sacred & profane , is meerly precarious , for sometimes indeed it signifieth to command , as where the inspiration is mandatory , but at other times it signifieth to comfort , refresh , quicken , influence and assist us , without any particular command to any particular action , yet we acknowledge the nature of all divine inspirations in the children of god is to incline , lead , move , drawe and guid them up more and more into unity with god , and so unto a further degree of holiness , but not to determine them , unto all particular actions , and thus also their fourth instance is disproved , where they alledg that all inspirations of god determine us to one extream , which is false , if they mean an extream in the particular act ; if they mean an extream in the generall , as to doe all in charity , and to the glory of god , we grant it , but this doth not militate against what we affirme . their other two instances are but the former upon the matter , repeated in a tautologicall way for want of new matter , and are sufficiently answered above . and thus their silly and faint reasonings in this argument are answered without any necessity of g. k. his returning to his bagge for new distinctions , as they scornfully but foolishly insinuat . pag. 99. § 15. the students tell us that g. k. finding himself beset with these inextricable difficulties , as it seems , misplaces this distinction in their account , and gives in another distinction of particular and generall inspirations , this is but their meer alleadgance , the distinction was right enough placed , as any may see by the nature and coherence of the account , nor did g. k. see any difficulty in their argument at all , as indeed there is none in it . but let us see how they refute this distinction of generall and particular inspirations or influences . first they say , he shall never be able to produce a ground for this distinction , out of scripture . a learned refutation indeed ! and like unto their old way , of puting us to prove what they can not disprove . may it not as wel suffice us to say , they shall never be able to produce a ground out of scripture against it , and the ra●her since we are defendants . secondly , that which is called a generall inspiration could not put us out to any particular thing , say they . answer , if by puting us out they mean , determine us insuperably or irresistibly thereunto , we grant , but this is no absurdity . thirdly , they would alwayes leave us undetermined . answer , nor is this absurd , for in things that are permissive and left to our freedom in the lord to doe them , or not to doe them , we need not any thing to determine us , as to the particular act , but may determine our selves , being free agents , although as to the nature and kind of the act in generall , that it be in true love to god , and to his glory we are determined by the lord. pag. 100. they are no lesse unsuccessfull in managing their other argument , in comparing inward duties with outward , for , whereas they alledge for a proofe of their minor , that if we were not to go about inward duties without a previous sensible inspiration , there would be a progressus in infinitum . this hath beene sufficiently answered above in the dispute , that as to that inward duty of waiting , we can not suppose , that ever at any time an influence or inspiration can be wanting , and this we say still , we mean to true christians , who are faithfull unto god , and do faithfully improve his influences . as for others , if they want influences either to inward or outward duties , the cause is their unfaithfulnesse , and so the way to have them upon all occasions is to be faithfull to answer gods call , who doth oft invite and call upon them , who are unfaithfull . but if they mean all inward duties , as meditation in many cases , upon particular subjects , we deny that even true christians have alwayes partiticular inspirations thereunto , nor is there any necessity to assert them . now let us take notice how they refute the distinction of generall and particular inspirations . first , say they , there are no generall inspirations as we have shewed already , but that they have shewed no such thing is already made apparent . secondly , supposing them , yet they being but generall , would not be a sufficient ground for the particular inward duties of waiting , desiring : but how prove they this ? no wise , but meerly affirme it , only they confound waiting , desireing and meditating together , wheras meditating is of a larger extent , and sometimes yea oft times requireth a speciall inspiration . thirdly , say they , the scriptures produced by the qu. prove alike as to outward and inward duties : to this we answer , that as to some outward duties , it is true , as to others , false ; as for example , to be clear in all outward conversation , is a continuall duty , and therefore we can never want an influence therunto , if we be faithfull , but to preach and pray in the church or assembly , with audible words , is not a continuall duty , nor yet a generall to all christians , and therefor it hath not alwayes an influence to assist therunto . and here let the reader note , that by a generall influence , or inspiration , we mean only such an influence , as serveth in generall for all ordinary actions that are to be generally performed in an acceptable manner , as the same spirituall influence that sufficeth me to eat in faith , fear , and love , sufficeth me also to plow , or doe any other mechanicall work , but the same doth not suffice me to preach , or expound scripture , otherwise any ordinary christian might doe so at any time , which our adversaries will not acknowledge . now that preaching and praying in particular , require a superadded spirituall influence and inspiration , we prove thus : if men may have an influence or inspiration of the spirit , to wait , fear and love god , and yet want an influence or inspiration to preach , and pray vocally , then the influence and inspiration to preach , and pray vocally , is a distinct superadded influence &c : but the first is true , therfore the second . the consequence of the first proposition is clear from that maxime quorum unum potest esse absque alio &c. when of two things the one can be without the other , the two are really distinguished . the second proposition is proved , 1. becaus all true christians have an influence and inspiration to wait , feare and love god , but all true christians have not an influence and inspiration to preach and pray vocally in the church , this our adversaries can not deny . 2. even a true gospell minister may at times want a door of utterance , when in the time of this want he hath an influence or inspiration to wait , fear , and love god ; therefor these two are distinct . the antecedent is clear in the case of ezekiel ( chap. 3 : 15 , 16. ) who sat seven dayes with the elders , having nothing to speake unto them from the lord , untill at the end of the seven dayes the word of the lord came unto him . and ezra sat silent till the evening sacrifice and then he kneeled down and prayed ezra 9 : 5. also paul desired the colossians to pray for him , that utterance might be given him ; which clearly imports , that he had it not at all times , although at all times he had an influence or inspiration to wait , fear , and love god. and david prayed that god would open his mouth , and his lips should shew forth his praise . isaiah said , that god had given him the tongue of the learned &c. christ promised that he would give his apostles a mouth and wisdome which all their adversaries should not be able to resist : all this signifieth an influence of the spirit to speake , which was not generall to all , nor permanent or perpetuall with them who had it , as is clear in the case of david , who declared , that he was silent , and held his tongue even from good , untill the fire kindled in him , and then he spake with his tongue psal. 39 : 3. yea what signifieth the coal wherewith isaiah his mouth was touched , but an inspiration or influence of life , superadded unto that generall influence which he had before ? now if our adversaries say , this was given nnto those men in an extraordinary way , as being prophets and apostles , but is now ceased , since the apostles dayes . to this we answer 1. this is a plain acknowledgment that generall influences common to all christians are one thing , and particular influences given to holy men to preach and pray vocally , are another . but 2 , that all influences and inspirations or motions of the spirit to enable ministers to preach and pray vocally are not ceased since the apostles dayes , is cleare from rev. 11 : 3. and i will give unto my two witnesses , and they shall prophesie , and it is said that if any man hurt them , fire proceedeth out of their mouth , which must needs signifie a speciall influence of the spirit given them to prophesie or preach , which is not common to all christians . also what are these gifts given unto ministers for the perfecting of the saincts , but such speciall influences to enable them to preach , which are not given to all ; yea do not the nationall preachers desire in their publick prayers some speciall assistance and help of the spirit , to carry them forth in their ministry , which they have not before , for if they had it before , why do they seek it ? from all which it is manifest , that as there are generall influences given to all , and at all times , so there are particular and speciall given only to some , and but at some times . moreover , that there is a greater influence of life required to vocall prayer , when it is acceptable , then unto some meer mentall prayer ( a thing expressely denyed by the students pag. 100. § 16. ) is clear , becaus all true and acceptable vocall prayer , hath mentall prayer going along with it , as its cause and spring , and so when any man prayes vocally , ( if his prayer be true and acceptable ) he prayeth also mentally , and so he doth two things together , whereas when he prayeth but mentally he doth but one thing . now common reason teacheth us that more strength is required to doe two things together , then to doe but one of them . and seing the vocall prayer hath not any life , or vertue in it , to reach unto gods throne , or yet unto the hearts of his people , to quicken and refresh them , but as it receiveth that life , from the life that is in the mentall prayer , it is clear , that a greater measure is required to both , then simply to the one . now although mentall prayer ( as to the disposition and frame of the soul at lest ) be alwayes in and with good christians , and hath alwayes some measure of life in it , yet that measure is sometimes so weak and low , that it can not goe forth into the words , without hurt or prejudice , and at other times although it be able and strong , yet it will not answer the motion of mans will , so as to be drawne forth thereby , but it only abideth or goeth forth into the vocall prayer , according to the will of god , as he pleaseth to move it , therefore the free motion of the life it selfe , as it pleaseth god to bring it forth , is to be attended in all outward spirituall performances : but here let the reader note , that we have said uocall prayer requires more life then some mentall prayer , we do not say , then all ; for some mentall prayer may be stronger then that which is a complex of mentall and vocall , as gathering the whole strength of the complex into that which is solely and intirely mentall , according unto that common saying , aboundantly confirmed by experience , vis unita fortior , united strength is the stronger , as when the beams of the sun are united into a small point , they have more force , then when they are diffused , and for this cause it is , that we are so much for mentall prayer , as knowing the great good of it in our experience . and from what is above said , it is clear that we need another influence wherewith to pray vocally , then to eat , plow , walk &c. becaus these naturall actions may be done sufficienty in a spirituall manner , by the help of that generall influence , which doth alwayes attend good men , to feare and love god , for the principle of divine life , which is the living and powerfull word of god in mens hearts , is never idle , but is alwayes operative , and at work , especially more aboundantly in them who joyne with it , being as a most rich and living spring , that is continually flowing , and sending forth its streames , according to joh. 4 : 14. but to pray vocally requireth an influence of life to flow forth into the words , that it may in a liveing and powerfull way reach the hearers , but that plowing , eating , walking , &c. need no such emanating influence , is certain , and will be acknowledged by our adversaries . but perhaps also they will deny , that any life or virtue doth flow forth into mentall praying and preaching , even when these duties are acceptably performed . but this is contrary both to the certaine experience of many thousands , and also to the scripturs testimony in many places . i. it is contrary to the experience of many thousands , who can declare , ( whereof we are some ) that the declarations , testimonies , and words of the servants of god , in preaching and praying have a reall life and living vertue in them , whereby their souls are exceedingly refreshed , quickened , and strengthened , which life and living virtue is a thing as distinct from the bare outward words , which the naturall ear can hear , as wine is distinct from the vessell that carrieth it , therfor if another man , that hath not this spirituall ability , should pronounce the same words , they have not any life or virtue at all : and that god had given this spirituall discerning to many before the people called q. were raised up , is manifest , from divers in our owne nation , who cared not to hear men , who could speak never so good words , if they wanted life , and in that day , they could and did distinguish betwixt dead and living preachers , as also betwixt a living testimony and preaching , and a dry discourse , see for this the book called , the fulfilling of the scriptures . and this was the expresse testimony of that philosopher , who was converted by the means of a few words spoke by a certain old man , who was a christian , at the councill of nice , out of the mouth that old man , ( said he ) there went forth a virtue , which i could not resist , these were his very words , as lucas osiander relats them in his epitome of the church history . cent. 4. lin . 2. cap. 5. ii. it is contrary to the scriptures testimony in many places , the mouth of the righteous is a well of life prov. 10 : 11. this must be understood in respect of the influence of life , that cometh out of his mouth , as water doth out of a well , and not barely in respect of the good words , which a wicked man may speak : according to this christ said to his disciples , the words that i speak unto you are spirit and life , and as it was then , so it is now , for at this day he speaketh in his servants , and will to the end of the world , and it is he only , who hath the words of eternall life , which he speaketh in his servants , and as in the dayes of his flesh , he was said to speak with authority , or power and not as the scribes , and the people wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth , all which import a liveing influence and vertue in the words of christ , which the words of the scribes and pharisees had not , so it is at this day , for christ doth as really speake by his spirit , in his servants , as he did in his body of flesh , so that paul said , he spak in him , and therefore his preaching was in demonstrtion of the spirit and power . and for this cause true preachers and prophets are called good trees , of which men gather good fruit , whereas bad men or evil trees , haveing no good fruit , although they have the prophets and apostles words , also they are compared , to wit , the false prophets , to clouds without rain and wells without water , although they have good words , yet they have no rain nor water , their whole ministry is dry , and empty of life and virtue , but the true prophets ministry is as a shower of rain , deut. 32 : 2. and sometimes it is compared unto fire , as it is said in the psalme , he maketh his angels , or messengers , spirits , and his ministers a flamme of fire , and fire was said to goe out of the mouths of the two witnesses . also the influences of life that go forth through the true prophets in their ministry are compared to golden oil , & the men are compared unto golden pipes , zech. 4 : 12. and therefore the apostle peter exhorted the ministers in his day to minister of the ability which god giveth , as good stewards of the manifold grace of god , so they ministred not only words , but grace ; many other testimonies might be cited to prove this truth . another instance brought by the students , is , that an haeretick forbearing prayer a year or two , or his whole life time , may justifie himselfe by this doctrine . to this it was answered , that though he may pretend , yet he hath no just ground from our principle , for we believe that all men are bound to pray often unto god , yea daily , and that god doth inwardly call and move all men often unto prayer , during the day of their visitation , and when that is expired , or when at any other time they want that inward call , or influence , through unfaithfulnesse , they are still bound , and if they pray not , they sin , becaus they ought to have an influence . but that our account saith , all have not utterance to pray in words , is no excuse for hereticks , for they must needs acknowledge , as wel as we , that all have not utterance , who may be good christians , seing some that are naturally dumb may be good christians , and yet the● must confesse these have not utterance ; also many good christians , who have no naturall impediment , do want utterance in a spirituall way , to speak or pray vocally in the hearing of others , at some times , although we believe it is given at times to all that are faithfull , who have no naturall defect , that they may pray vocally , or in the hearing of others : but how oft , it is more then we can determine , seing it is not revealed , but if any faile of this utterance , through unfaithfulnesie , their sin is nothing the lesse , if they omitt prayer . and thus their last two instances are also answered , for we do affirme with great freedome , that all who are faithfull to the lord , never want sufficient inspiration , or influence to wait upon god , fear him , love him , desire his grace , and divers other inward duties . we say not all , for some inward duties , such as meditation on a particular subject or place of scripture are not alwayes required , more then it is alwayes required to speak ; but if they be unfaithfull , we deny not , but they may and will want them , and in that case , although they want inspirations and influences they are bound to pray , yet not without them , but with them , as a man that wanteth both money and goods to pay his debt , yet is bound to pay his debt , yet he must not , nor ought to pay it , without money , or goods , the example is clear , and the application is easy . as for that story they bring in concerning t. m. which , that their deceit may be the more hide , they do not positively affirme , but only propose by way of question , have not q. declared to people &c. to which we answer , that we know not that any qu. ever declared any such thing and we believe divers things in the story are utterly false . if t. m. or any other of our profession , having none in the family that can joyne with them in the true spirit of prayer , but are professed opposers of the q. way , be not so frequently heard pray by them , is excusable by your oune way , who will not readily pray in our hearing when they have none to joyne with them , and indeed the want of that true unity on the part of those who are not of our faith , doth oft hinder our freedome , to pray in their hearing , ( unlesse we have some of our faith , present to joyne with us ) we may pray for them , as it pleaseth god to move us , in their hearing , but we can not so properly pray with them as not being in unity with them , where two or three ( said christ ) agree together to seek any thing in my name , but let our adversaries if they can , shew us , where in the scripture , it is commanded , for any man , to pray , in the hearing of others where all present have no agrement with him , yet we deny not , but that god upon some solemne occasion may move to such a thing , especially when a publick testimony is required , as in the case of stephen , who prayed audibly in the hearing of others , all which were so far from having any agreement with him , that they were at that time stoneing him to death ; acts 7. moreover we could easily , upon a more just ground retort the question upon your own church members , how many of your owne church members were not only for a twelve moneth , but for many 12 moneths , never heard pray , and yet they passe among you for good christians ? it is wel knoune , that although ye hold family prayer , morning and evening to be a duty , and the want of it a great sin , that yet many thousand families in the nation , who belong to your church , want it , and many whole families are so grossly ignorant , that none in the family can go about it , even in that naturall way , which ye plead for . as for us , it doth suffice unto us , that god heareth us in secret , although men do not so frequently hear us ; yet we oune with all our hearts publick expressive prayer , as it is performed in spirit and in truth , and all of us , have our share and testimony therein , as god moves thereunto , even those who are outwardly silent , as the●● who speak , when as both agree together in one spirit , and with one heart and soul joyne together in the same . section sixth . of baptism . wherein their fourth section concerning water baptism , is answered . in their stating the question , they say , the question is not , whether infants ought to be baptized , or who have the power of administring baptism ; whereas indeed these two are a great part of the question betwixt our adversarie and us , for as touching infant baptism r. b. his thesis doth expressly say , it is a meer human tradition ; and it : wel knowne that all the quakers so called are of the same mind , and do not the students undertake to confute ehe q. principles , how is it then that they leave out so considerable a part of quakerism , as they call it ? is this quakerism canvassed , to pick and chase at some , and passe by others ? yea infants-sprinkling with water on the forehead , is so considerable a part of the question betwixt them and us , that if that be disproved , or if they can not prove that to be a gospell institution , they fall short exceedingly , seing that is the only baptism , in use among them of the nationall church . again , it is so great a part of the question , who have the power of administring baptism , that by this , the controversie stands or falls , for one of our maine arguments against water-baptisme as remaining a duty , upon all christians , is , that none are to be found that have the power to administer it ; and the administration cannot be with a lawfull administrator , the question then really is , whether these who have no immediat call to administer water baptism , ( as john had ) have power to administer it . again , whether these , who have no other mediat call to baptize , but what they have by the church of rome which is no true church , as the best protestants affirme , have power to administer baptisme , and this question is the more proper in this place , seing i. m. the students master confesseth his and his brethrens call and ordination to be by the church of rome , and that they have no other , but what is conveyed downe to them from the apostles times by that apostate church . but let us now examine their arguments for water baptisme in generall : the first is , baptisme with water is to continue in the church as long as christs presence is to continue with his apostles , and them who teach the doctrine that they taught : but christs presence is to continue with his apostles , and them who teach the doctrine that they taught , to the end of the world , therefore &c. where it is to be observed , that they think all is safe as to the minor , and therefore they altogether passe it by now although it is sufficient to invalidat the argument , if the major be false , yet we have somewhat of great moment to say to the minor , that is enough to overturne any baptisme that they have ; for we put them to explaine , who these are , that all along since the apostles , have taught the doctrine , which the apostles taught , for the words are lyable to divers senses . if they mean the church of rome , and her bishops and teachers , we altogether deny that they have taught the same doctrine , which the apostles taught , and we suppose the students , if they follow their master i. m. will not affirme it . and indeed for the same reason , the best primitive protestants denyed that the church of rome in their day had any lawfulll ordination at all , seing she continued not in the apostles doctrine , and faith , as that famous protestant sadeell doth argue at great length , lib. de legit . voc . min. where he affirmeth , that the succession of faith is as the soul , which gives life to the succession of the bishops as unto a body , but that succession without this faith , is a dead thing , and unprofitable carcase . now the same reason doth militate as strongly against water-baptism , and that also called the supper , upon our present adversaries principle , that none have power to administer the one or the other , but those who have a mediat outward call , conveyed downe from the apostles , by a visible succession of ordained bishops and presbyters , for we say , there hath been no such visible succession , nor visibly ordained bishops and presbyters , who all along have had the true faith , and taught the true doctrine of the apostles , therefore their ordination , and power to administer the sacraments , is void and null . and this is further confirmed by the authority of cyprian , who taught with great earnestnesse , that the baptisme of all hereticks was void , and no baptisme , but so it is , by our adversaries confession , that the church and bishops , and teachers of rome have been hereticks for many hundred years , before the reformation , therefore &c. we say then , the argument is fallacious , as to the minor supposing what is not to be supposed in their sense , videlicet , that either the teachers of the church of rome , or any other claiming a visible and mediat call , from the apostles times conveyed through a visible church unto them , have thaught the doctrine , which the apostles taught ; a thing we altogether deny , and it lyeth on them to prove , but that christ hath had some all along , who have both believed and taught the doctrine of the apostles , and that his presence has been with them , we acknowledge , but we deny that these have been all along a visible church , and teachers having a mediat call and ordination , and in this we agree with the best protestants , for indeed the true church hath been hidd , even as a few grains of corne among an exceeding great quantity of chaff , and stubble , and she who hath called her self the church , by reason of her outward succession , was not the true church , though some of the true church lay hidden in her , as corne is hid in a great quantity of chaff , and that the church is properly to be placed in the alone graines of corne , and not in the chaffe , sadeell doth also shew out of augustine , epi. 48. another fault wee find in the students argument , that supposeing water-baptism had been commanded to the apostles , by christ matth. 28. ( which yet we altogether deny ) it insinuateth that it was as long to continue as christs presence , with his church , for if teaching had continued , though baptism with water had discontinued ( as our adversaries grant that anointing with oile , and miraculous curing the sick , is discontinued ) yet the promise was ground enough to encourage them , and if all be still binding that christ commanded to his apostles , why go they not forth , ( we mean the nationall teachers ) into all the world , and teach the nations , who do not so much as believe the gospell historically : if they say , this was a command to the apostles , and not to them , why are they so partiall as to take one part to them , and reject another ? but we shall now come to a more particular examination of their major , we have told them , that the apostles baptized some with water , out of a condescendency , as paul circumcised timothy , and not from that command , matth. 28. which saith nothing of water-baptism ; their first reason against this , is , they should have baptized with water of their owne will and without any sufficient authority . but we deny this consequence , and they themselves have furnished us with a sufficient answer , where they say paul circumcised timothy but not without a command , for the law of charity , and other generall precepts obliged paul so to doe , though it was a thing indifferent of it selfe : the same we say , as to their baptising with water , the jewes having so great an esteeme of water-baptism , and thinking it necessary , the apostles used it , although it was a thing indifferent of it selfe , after christs ascension , and giving of the holy ghost , the law of charity , and other generall precepts oblidging them , but this proveth not , that the apostles had any command from matth. 28. or any such command any where else , that made water-baptism of it selfe , to be a necessary duty , to the end of the world . and wheras they querie , will g. k. grant , that it was once lively . we answer , yes under john , yet it followeth not that it was to continue , becaus john had no commission to the nations , but only to the jews , and that the apostles baptized whole families and thousands ( if they so did ) will not prove , that it was necessary of it selfe , more then that circumcision was , and yet even then , many thousands of believing jewes , were zealous for circumcision , see act. 21 : 20 , 21. yea many bishops of ierusalem were circumcised after this , as eusebius relats , the reason therfor was , that people were zealous of water-baptism , because of john , and therfor the apostles condescended to it , out of the law of charity . another question they make , where is water baptism buried ? we answer , where the other shaddowes are buried , for it was but a shaddow , and carnall ordinance , heb. 9 : 10. the greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . again the true water baptism hath been out of use all the time of the apostasie , for the apostate church hath had no true baptism , and so in that respect it hath been buried , and being but a shaddow , is not to be raised up again , and it is observable , that in the revelation , wher it is prophesied ; of the returne and restoration of the church , ther is not any thing mentioned of the restoring either water-baptism , or the use of bread and wine , as signs , &c. and so their second reason is answered , that water-baptism is no more to be used , out of condescendency to the weak , then circumcision , becaus both are long agoe buried , and what is buried is deadly to be raised up again , as augustin taught . their third reason is built on a mistake , that the god head of christ , or names of father , son , and holy ghost were a stumbling block to the believeing iewes , for of these only we are to be understood , also that the apostles used the words father son , and holy ghost , when they baptized , can not be proved , farre lesse used they , the word trinity ; which was not invented long after the apostles dayes : their second argument that the baptisme commanded in matth. 28 : 16. is with water , resolves at last into this , that it is god only and not man , who baptises with the holy ghost , becaus he is only the proper , immediat efficient cause of baptism with the holy ghost , but wee deny the consequence as weak and false , for ther is nothing more usuall then to ascribe the effect unto the instrumentall cause , as truly as unto the principall , paul was sent to turne or convert the gentiles from darknesse to light , and to open their eyes , and yet god only was the proper and immediat efficient cause of this . many more examples could be given , yea the same reason of the students would militate against teaching , for even outward teaching , which is by the motion of the holy ghost hath a power , and vertue in it , wherof the men who teach , are but the instrumentall conveyers , that is only from god , as the immediat efficient cause . another reason they give to make all sure , as they say is , that it is only christ , as he is god , and mightier , then iohn , who baptised with the holy ghost , matth. 3 : 11. where baptism with the holy ghost is peculiarly attributed to christ. but this makes their matter nothing more sure , for although that baptism with the holy ghost be peculiarly attributed to christ as the principall cause , yet it hindereth not that men are the instrumentall , even as christ said , it is not ye that speak , and yet they also spake as instruments . it is true , that john did not baptize with the holy ghost as the apostles did , or rather christ through them , becaus john had not so powerfull a ministry given him , as the apostles , of whom christ said , that they should not only doe as great works , as he , but greater , to wit , by his power . again , they argue , that giveing and not granting , that baptism with the holy ghost could be administred by men , yet it is not commanded here for the words then would be full of needlesse tautologies . to this we answer , that this doth not follow , for suppose that by teaching and baptizing were meant one thing ; how usuall is it in scripture to expresse one thing under divers names , without any tautologie ? however we believe that by teaching and baptizing are meant two severall things , both which require the speciall operation of the holy spirit , for a man through teaching , by the concurrence of the holy ghost is first of all convinced of the truth , and hath a ground laid in him to believe , and then he is baptized with the holy ghost , upon his believing and obeying in what he is convinced of ; nor is this to confound the command with the promise , for the sense of it is this , goe ye and baptize with the holy ghost instrumentally , and i shall be with yow , as the principall cause to concurre and assist yow , and thus there is no tautologie , the command and the promise being in diverso genere , id est , in a different kind . their next argument to prove , that water-baptism is to continue to the end of the world , is , that god sent iohn to baptize with water , and christ caused iohn baptize him and commanded or caused his apostles baptize with water , and these commands were never formally repealed , nor ceased of their owne nature , therfor . but to this the answer is easie , for iohns baptism , was no part of the gospel dispensation , as serving onely to prepare the way to christ , and he was sent only to baptise the jewes , that christ might be manifest to israel , joh. 1 : 31. and it is called iohns baptism in distinction from that of christ , for some were baptized with it , who had not received the holy ghost , and that christ was baptized with water , proveth not its continuance , no more then that he was circumcised , proveth the continuance of circumcision : that christ commanded his disciples to baptize with water , we find not , and though it were , it is but as at that time being under johns dispensation , but unlesse they can prove that christ commanded to baptise all nations with water , and that to the end of the world , they gain nothing , for what was commanded only as toward the iewes , doth not reach us gentiles , and so we need seek no repeal , there not having been any such command . in their answering our retortion , as touching washing the feet , anointing the sick with oil , and abstaining from blood , and things strangled , they say , 1. this retortion hath a damnable tendency , for enthusiasts may arise and plead the same way against the most necessary truths , &c. we answer , they have no ground from our retortion so to doe , becaus , these things above mentioned are but figures , and such as have no inward , or intrinsecall goodnesse , or righteousnes in them , as the other things have , which are most necessarie . 2. wheras they say , if these things had been commanded , and never repealed , it were better to admitt and observe them , then to reject baptism , &c. we answer , if by repeal , they mean a formall repeal , we deny that it were better , for all being but figurative things , and such as the inward law of god writt in our hearts , which is the new covenant dispensation , doth not require of us , they cease of their owne nature , and carry a virtuall repeal in their bosome , although it be not formally expressed in the scripture , as to every particular , for all the things of the ceremoniall law , are not one by one particularly repealed in the new testament ; but together in one body , for the law it selfe being changed , the things required by it , if they have no other law to require them , doe cease . 3. they say , that christ in washing his disciples feet did 2 things . 1. to seal up to his disciples their part in him . 2. he intended to leave them one example of humility , and it is onely this second thing , which he commanded , to his disciples , to wit , that they should performe acts of humility , one to another . but wee misse their proofe there altogether , that he only commanded this , and not the washing one anothers feet in particular , yea this glosse expressly gives the lye to christ his owne words joh. 13 : 14. ye also ought to wash one anothers feet , where not only an act of humility is signified , but an act of love , and also by the outward washing of the outward feet , is signified , how we ought to contribute to wash one anothers feet in a spirituall sense that is to say , by seasonable reproofs and exhortations to help on , one another , unto the sanctification of the most inferiour affections , that are as it were the feet : and that christ pointeth at such a mystery , is clear , from ver . 10. he that is washed , needeth not save to wash his feet . again they alleege , that this act is put synecdochically , for all other acts of humility ; but admitt , that it be so , this proves not , that this particular act was not commanded , when christ instituted the breaking of bread , at supper ; among other ends , it had this also , to signifie the unity of christians , and how they ought to love one another ; shall we therefore say , it is synecdochically put for all acts of love , but is not particularly commanded ? and indeed as washing of feet was in use , in these hot countreyes , before that christ did wash his disciples feet and commanded it to them , so was that in use , the chief in the family , to take bread and break it , and give to every one , saying , take , eat ; this was in use among the jewes , before christ did so , as divers historians relate , particularly paulus ricius de coelesti agriculturâ . again , wheras they say , if he had commanded so , some wold have observed it . to this we answer , some yea many did observe it , as they grant ambrose and the church of millain did , for if they used to doe so , in the eastern countreyes , where ther was need for it , becaus the people ordinarily did goe barefoot , the christians in that countrey would use it the rather that christ commanded it , yea it doth appear , that it was a most ordinary thing in the primitive times from pauls words 1 tim. 5 : 10. where it is numbered among other commanded duties , if she hath washed the saincts feet . if it be said , that they used it , but not as a sacrament , we answer , wee read not of the word sacrament in the scripture , it is enough that they used it , and were commanded so to doe by christ , and it had a spirituall signification , as well as these things they call sacraments . it is needlesse for us to insist more on this particular , so as to refute arguments of their owne making , which are none of ours , wherin they fight with their owne shaddow , where wee leave them , and proceed to the other particulars . they tell us , that the command to anoint the sick with oil , carries a repeal in its bosome , so we say , doth iohns baptism with water , as preparing the way to christ , who is now come , and so wee may returne them theire axiome cessante fine legis , cessat & obligatio , but that anointing with oil was only in order to miraculous cures , they say it , without giving any proofe , ja. 5 : 14. for although it were confessed , that it were in order to outward healing or curing , yet it is cleare from the text , that it was not exclusive of all other things , for it is not only promised that he shall be saved , but if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him , and this saving seems rather to be spirituall , then the restoring the body to naturall health , otherwise it being absolutely promised , all sick persons in the church should have been alwayes restored to naturall health , and so none should have died , and we find anointing with oil joyned with prayer , yea we are bidden pray one for another , that we may be healed , nor is this ceased ; but that by the prayers of the godly , for one that is sick , and bodily diseased , it pleaseth god at times , so to answer them , that they are restored to health by the lord , and we dare our adversaries , if they will deny this altogether , and this is in a true sense miraculous , yea instances of this kind have been even among the people called q. and if it were altogether ceased , according to the students argument , prayer ( at lest , so as to pray to god , to heal any sick person ) should cease also . it is better therefore to say , that anointing with oil is ceased , as being but a figure . their repeal of the command to abstain from blood and things strangled , is not sufficiently proved from 1 cor. 10 : 25 , for let any read the whole chapter , and he shall find nothing said in it of blood , or things strangled , that was not the subject , he was upon , but things offered toidols , which we read not , that they used to strangle : the sense is plain , whatsoever is sold in the shambles ( whether offered to idols , or not ) that eat , asking no question , if it be offered to an idol , or not . beside it is not usuall to sell flesh of beasts strangled in the shambles , for they kill them otherwise then by strangling , which is hurtfull to the meat ; and if selling of strangled flesh had been usuall , it would have been no transgressing the apostls rule , if they had any doubt , to have asked if it was strangled , for many will not eat flesh that is strangled , becaus it is not so good nourishment , although they have no scruple of conscience ; yea the primitive christians even in tertullian's time , as he showeth in his apologie , abstained from blood and things strangled , wherein there was a great providence of god to clear them of that horrid falshood , as if they did drink the blood of children . by which it is clear , they did not understand pauls words 1 cor. 10 : 25. to be any repeal . it is therefore more safe to say that it being a part of the ceremoniall law , it is repealed with the other figures . the words of john , he must increase , but i must decrease . joh. 3 : 30. they will not have to be understood of iohns baptism , wherein they are not only contrary to many of their own church , as could be showne , but also to the scripture it selfe : for it is most clear , that iohn spake this with a particular relation to his baptism , when they came to him , and told him that christ baptized &c. on this he said , that christ was to increase , meaning christs baptisme , not with water , but with the holy ghost ( for christ baptized none with water himselfe ) and he , that is , his baptisme must decrease , not his true honour and virtue ; and the disciples he gathered , was unto christ , but that iohns baptisme was much practised , proveth it no more a standing command , then other things of the law. in the last place they alledge , that peter commanded cornelius and others with him to be baptized , out of necessity ariseing from a divine precept , but their proofes are weak . for 〈◊〉 we ought to doe all things in the name of the lord , when we eat , or drink , or journey , but yet all things are not commanded , but some left to our fredome . 2. peter in his sermon told cornelius nothing of water-baptisme , and when that after he spoke of it , he did not tell him , that he ought to doe it out of a necessity arising from a divine precept , let them prove it if they can . 3. whereas they alledge that peter was accused by the disciples , for administring water baptism to cornelius , from acts. 11. it is a manifest untruth , for there is no such thing either in their accusation , or his answer ; as may be seen , if any will read the chapter ; they accused him , for going in to them , and eating with them , and this was all the accusation , and though they had , the students consequence doth not follow , for if the law of charity obliged him to baptize them , his refusall would have been a withstanding of god. section seventh , of the ministry , being an answer to their fifth section concerning the ministry . in the first part of their section , they plead that a man , who is a hypocrite , and gracelesse , may be a true and lawfull pastor , yet they grant , that none ought to be admitted into the ministry , but such as ex judicio charitatis , id est , out of the judgment of charity , is to be esteemed truely pious , by which acknowledgment , they destroy with their owne hands any seeming strength , that lyes in their owne arguments , as will appear , by a particular examination of them . their first reason is taken from many iewish priests and high priests , and many scribes , and pharisees in christs time , who were ministers of gods word , and yet who will say they were indued with sanct fiing grac ? to which we answer , that they were ministers of gods word , or of the gospell , is denved , for they were but ministers of the law , and legall performances , types , figures and shaddowes ; and as that legall dispensation was but imperfect , in respect of the gospell , so the priesthood and ministry of it , therefore both was to passe away ; so that to argue from the law to the gospell , is not equall , more then to argue , that becaus the ministers of the law were ministers of the figures and types , that therefore the ministers of the gospell , should be the same , yea we may draw an argument from the outward and legall qualifications of the priests , that none but truely holy should , or ought to be ministers under the gospell ; for as under the law , none were to be priests , but these who came of levi , a figure of christ ; so under the gospell , none are to be ministers , but who by a spirituall birth and nativity , are of christ. and as under the law , none that were lame and blind corporally , were to be legall ministers , so under the gospell , none that are lame and blind spiritually , are to be gospell ministers , but all that want true holinesse , are lame and blind spiritually , therefore . again , many of these iewish priests , scribes and pharisees , were openly and manifestly impious , especially in the time of christ his being in the flesh , and could not be esteemed truely pious , in the judgment of charity , and so if the argument hold , it proves that men be admitted , and owned to be ministers of the gospell , that are not pious in the judgment of charity . the like may be said of iudas , whom they take in their second argument , to patronize a gracelesse ministry , for if iudas was a devil from the beginning , certainly christ did know him to be so , and therefore could not in the judgment of charity esteeme him to be truely pious , how could he then admitt him ? but as for judas , they alledge indeed that he was a devil from the beginning , but they have not proved it ; it is said expressly of him , that he fell from his ministry by transgression , we read not that he was degraded his office , any other way , but simply by his transgression , which was his betraying christ. again , it is written of him , let his habitation be desolate , and let no man dwell therein , and his bishoprick let another take . psal. 109. but they who plead for a grace●esse minister , would put another in judas habitation , and so would hold up a ministry of covetous men , as he was , who to satisfie their covetousnesse will betray christ : for suppose , that a man have all other qualifications requisite , and yet be openly and notourly a wicked man , he may plead his right to be admitted , and if admitted to be continued to be a minister , what ground have his brethren , out of scripture , to depose him , according to the students argument , ( which is indeed the generall argument of the clergie ) [ as they are called ] seing he hath all the essentialls of a minister ? if they say , paul requireth that a bishop , or deacon be found blamelesse , not covetous , but vigilant , sober &c : then it will follow , as much , that he that is not really pious , ought not to be admitted , as he that is not seemingly pious , for the apostle doth not say , he must be seemingly so , but simply that he must be so , and indeed to expound all these qualifications of a seeming , and no reall holinesse , is to mock the scripture , for they might as wel say , that seeming holynesse only , and not reall , is required indispensably of us , in order to salvation , for the scripture as positively requireth holynesse , unto the function of a bishop , as it doth require it unto salvation . there is yet another thing , which they have to prove , concerning judas , viz , that christ sent him to preach the gospell . he sent him indeed to work miracles , heale the sick , and to say , the kingdom of god is at hand , that is to say , the gospell dispensation is approaching ; but that judas was a minister of the gospell , which is the power of god unto salvation , we require them to prove : for it was after his removall that christ sent the apostles to preach the gospell . their third reason is , that the efficacy of the words depends not upon the worthinesse of the preachers 1 cor. 3 : 7. we grant the antecedent , but deny the consequence , for although it depend not upon the worthinesse of the preacher , yet it may and doth require holynesse , as a qualification indispensably necessary in him , even as they grant themselves , that none are justified , without faith , yet they deny that the efficacy of justification depends upon the worthynesse of him that believeth , and the efficacy of good wine depends not upon the worthynesse of the vessell , that bears it , yet none will put good wine in a leaky vessell , or unfit , and indeed as unfit as a leaky , unclean vessel is to receive good wine , a gracelesse man is as unfit to receive the dispensation of the gospell , which is compared to new wine in the scripture , and said christ , no man putteth new wine into old bottles , for indeed the ministration of the gospell , is a ministration of life and grace , and none can minister that which they have not . their fourth argument depends upon a proposition , which they lay downe , and offer to prove , but fall short in , viz , that they can not know who have true grace , this we deny , for if they would believe in the light , wherewith christ hath enlightened them , they should receive the anointing , and by it their eyes should be opened to know , who are gracious , and who not . but let us see how they prove it . 1. say they , we can not know it immediatly , that is granted . 2. nor can we know it by their outward works , unless it be out of the judgment of charity , which may deceive us , for all the works which a godly man can doe , may likewise be performed as to the outward , by hypocrits . to this we answer , if by outward works , they mean such as come under the outward observation of the meer outward and bodily senses we grant ; but there are works , which are the fruits of the spirit , which , although they remaine in the souls of holy men , yet send forth a savour of that life and spirit , or spirituall principle , that is the root of them , through the outward words and conversation , which can and doe reach unto the spirituall senses of others , where they are , and this savour and manifestation of life can no hypocrite have , but it is an infallible evidence of sanctification in measure where it is , and where the sanctification is greatest the savour or manifestation of life is there greatest also , according unto this , paul said , we are a good savour , &c. and paul said of the corinthians , that they were the epistle of christ. john said of the saints that the name of god , and of the lamb , shall be in their foreheads . many other testimonies could be brought to prove this , we shall only add that of christ , he that believeth in me , out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water . so here is an evidence , that no hypocrite can have now what are these rivers , but the influences of the spirit , and seing they are said to flow out , they may be discerned by others . it is true the naturall senses can not discerne them , but the spirituall senses can , and seing the students grant spirituall senses , if they grant them to be true and reall , they must grant also spirituall sensible objects , which may be as certainly apprehended , and discerned by our spirituall senses , although the objects themselves be without us , as naturall objects without us may be apprehended by the naturall senses . 3. nor can we know it , say they , by revelation , but how prove they it ? they only suppose they have proved already , that thereis no such thing , but how weak and impertinent their proofes are , is above shewed . but here note , that by revelation , is sufficiently understood the revelation or discovery , which the fruits of the spirit , or spirituall life give forth in holy men one to another , for as the savour of some sweet oyntement is a sufficient revelation of it , to the sense of the naturall smell , so the spirituall savour of the spirituall oyntment , is such to the spirituall smell . lastly , wheras they say , the gift of discerning spirits , was never common to all . this wee deny , nor doth that scripture cited by them prove it 1 cor : 12 , 10. otherwise they might as wel say , that faith was not common to all true christians , becaus it is said , to another , faith , but as by [ faith ] here must be understood some extraordinary degree of faith , or the faith of miracles , so the discerning must be some extraordinary degree , or as in relation to miracles , seing there were spirits of devils that wrought false miracles , and such a discerning as to that , we doe not plead for , as common to all , but that a discerning of spirits , so farre as to discerne betwixt them who were godly and wicked , and who were ministers of the spirit , and who not , was common unto all , we prove , becaus it is promised as a generall priviledge , mal 3 : 18. then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked , &c. again , all are commanded to try the spirits , 1 joh 4 : 1. therefore all have a measure of discerning whereby to try them , otherwise they were required to doe an impossible thing , which is absurd , if it be said he giveth a rule , whereby to try them , viz. every spirit that confesseth that iesus christ is come in the flesh , is of god , ver . 2. to this we answer , the rule is one thing , the discerning is another , and differ , as the object , and the eye ; now the eye is as much required to see , as the object , therefore all need a spirituall eye , to apply the rule in a suteable manner , so as to know , who doe truly confesse christ come in the flesh , for john can not mean a bare verball confession , becaus antichrist himselfe may have that , therfore he meaneth a true living confession in life and power , which no hypocrite can have . having thus answered all their arguments we shall conclude this particular with one argument against them , one part of which is their owne confession . they who can be certainly known and discerned , to be impious and unholy , ought not to be admitted into the ministry . but impious and unholy men can be certainly knowne to be impious and unholy , therfore they ought not , &c. the first proposition is proved and sufficiently confirmed from their owne confession , that none ought to be admitted , but who in the judgment of charity are to be esteemed truely pious , therfore they who can not be so estemed ought not to be admitted , but if they be certainly knowne to be impious , they can not be so esteemed , therefore &c. the assumption is proved above , partly by arguments , and partly by the refutation of what they have said against it . in the second part they dispute aginst an immediat enthusiastick call , ( as they call it ) by way of inspiration , being necessary , and for the necessity of a mediate and outward call ; and becaus we plead for the blessed inspiration of the spirit of god , they call us enthusiasticall impostors , and if the apostles themselves and primitive christians were now living , they would give them the same name : for we plead for no other inspiration , but that which was given unto those holy men . but seing they use the word enthusiasme so much , in a way of reproach , it is fit , that it be opened , let them tell us then , if they mean any other thing by it , then true divine inspiration , if they mean another , it concerns us not , for we plead for no other , but if they mean that , ( as the word properly signifies , being derived from a word , that signifies , god within , as the best greek dictionaries shew ) they should not reproach us with that , which was the glory of the primitive christians , and by which the scriptures were writ , to wit , divine inspiration . and here they tell us of an inward call , which consists in the disposition of the soul , but they will not have it to be an inspiration , but if by this disposition , they mean any spirituall or supernaturall gift , they must needs acknowledge that it is an inspiration , at least in the generall sense , for how can it be spirituall , unlesse it be inspired , is not every good thing , that is spiritually good , from the spirit ? surely the nationall confession of faith , published in knoxes time doth expressly say , that faith is the inspiration of god : but if they say , they deny not subjective but objective inspiration , we put them to prove this unnaturall division , and separation ; as if there were any inspiration in mens soules , that is not objective , which we altogether deny , but as to this inward call , we ask them , if it hath not in it the nature of a command , so that he who hath it , is bound to obey it : if they say , not , then a man may lawfully disobey it , and resist it , although it be of god : if they say , it is a command , then it is objective , for it is the nature of all reall and true commands to be objective . again , if by disposition , they mean , the meer qualification that enables a man to be a preacher , how can that be a call , seing a man may be fit or able for an office , that hath not a call thereunto , being already in another office , that he is fit for also . so that they bew ray grosse ignorance , in confounding the ability , and the call , which are distinct things . and here they require of us to prove our immediate call by miracles , or any extraordinary thing , which can only be from god , and so cannot agree to false teachers . and it having been told them by r. b. that the papists made the same objection against the first reformers , they call this an impertinent pratling , but for all the disparity , they shew , the impertinent pratling falls upon themselves . they confesse the first reformers had an extraordinary call , in respect of their heroick gifts , yet they also had a mediat call , they owned the holy scriptures for their principall rule , and preached no other gospel , &c. to this we answer , that all of them had a mediate call , is a meer alledgance without any proofe , yea the history of the reformation sheweth the contrary . again , it is abundantly evident out of their owne writings , that the most eminent of them did lay no weight upon that outward call , which some of them had , from the popish church , but did plead , that seing the visible succession of the church , and ministry was interrupted by the apostasie that they needed no outward call , but did betake themselves to the extraordinary : see for this sadeell de legit : vocatione ministrorum , and when they used any argument of a mediate call , it was but by way of arg . ad hominem , as now if any of us called quakers hade ever had the mediate call , from the nationall churches , as some in england indeed had , namely s. f. who was a parish priest , nor will it prove , that the first reformers had an extraordinary call , because they owned the scriptures as their principall rule , and preached no other gospell , otherwise all the nationall preachers now would have an extraordinary call , because they pretend to owne the scriptures as their principall rule , and to preach no other gospell , yea we owne the scriptures as much as the first reformers did , and we do acknowledge them , that they are the principall externall rule , and to be preferred to all other outward writings and testimonies , but we can not preferre them , to the inward testimony and word of god in our hearts , as neither did the most eminent of these , called reformers , but indeed preferred the inward testimony and word to the outward , as is proved in the book called quakerisme no popery . now whatever proofe or evidence the first reformers could give of their exrtaordinary call , the quakers can give the same : that , which they mainly insisted on , was the soundnesse of their doctrinee , accompanyed with the holynesse of their life and good effect of their ministry , whereby soules were converted unto god , as sadeel in the treatise above mentioned de legit . voc . min. sheweth at length , and let our adversaries disprove this evidence , if they can , which we say is as good an evidence to us , as it was to them , and though false teachers may pretend unto the same , yet it can be proved , that it doth not justly belong unto them . as for popery and mahumetanism , it can be proved , that they are contrary to scripture , but our adversaries have not proved , nor can , that our doctrine is so , and we are most willing to bring the matter to this issue , we doubt not but to give better and stronger evidences from scripture and reason to convince gainsayers in a rationall way , then our adversaries can . but that we make the efficacy of our doctrine , taken precisely by it selfe , and without being accompanied with the soundnesse of it &c : an evidence of our call , is a meer calumny of the students . now let us see , what they have to say for their outward and mediate call . they cite divers scriptures to prove , that the apostles ordained elders but doth this prove , that their ordination , which they derive from the apostate church of rome , is a true ordination , and necessary ? yea it is clear , and confessed by the most judicious protestants , that true and lawfull ordination , and succession hath not continued in the church , since the apostles dayes , but hath suffered an interruption by the generall apostasie , that as a flood overflowed the earth , and that although god still preserved a church , yet she had not a visible outward succession , becaus she was not visible all along here selfe , and before our adversaries can make the halfe of their argument good , they must prove , that not only a true church hath continued ever since the apostles dayes , but that she hath been visible , having a true visible succession of visible teachers , who were good and faithfull men , all along to convey it downe to this day . but to inferre that ordination hath continued , becaus of the command ( if the command had been universall ) doth not follow , seing many things commanded , may be unpractised , through unfaithfulnesse , to the command . now it is certain , that generally the visibly ordained bishops have not been faithfull men for many hundred years , and so kept not to the substance of that true ordination , that was in the apostles times , but lost it , through unfaithfulnesse , and set up a shaddowe in its roome , the like may be said of other things . and the ordination being once lost , it can not be recovered again , from a meer scripture command , otherwise all may pretend to a power to ordain , for the scripture doth not command one more then another , yea we find no generall command in scripture for ordination , only that it was practised , which we deny not , and with it there was a spirituall gift of the holy ghost conveyed , which was the main and only thing that made the ordination and laying on of hands effectuall , and without which it is but a shaddow , as may be seen at this day in the nationall church , for who among them dare say , that they either give or receive that spirituall gift of the holy ghost , which was then given and received therewith ? 1 tim. 4 : 14. their second argument is from heb. 6. 1 , 2. whereby they would inferre , that laying on of hands is a part of the foundation of christianity , but that scripture saith no such thing , for the doctrine of baptismes , and laying on of hands relates to the 3 ver . as a thing that the apostle intended to open , and this ( said he ) will we doe , if god permit , whereas he had laid the foundation already , therefore the doctrine of the laying on ofhands belongs not to the fouudation , but to the superstructure , but however , it doth not follow , that laying on of hands it selfe is a thing to continue , for he speaks of it , but as of a doctrine , as that of baptismes , which we confesse doth continue , as the doctrine of the figures , types , ceremonies and sacrifices doth continue to this day : and the apostle opened them largely in that epistle , yet the figures themselves were not to continue . besides , how do they prove that this laying on of hands is ordination , and not that used in confirmation ? here they miserably stick , only they alledge it is ceased among many , and is not so necessary , but how prove they , that it is not as necessary ? shew us , where it is repealed , more then the other , seing it was as generally practised , yea and more , for many received it , that were not preachers nor elders . in the last place , they plead , that preachers should have a miantainance , which we deny not , if they need it , but may not men be preachers , who need no supply from others ? but many have wherewith to be hospitable unto others , without taking , farre lasse forceing others to give them : the maintainance then that we are against , is 1. a superfluous and unnecessary mantainance . 2. a forced maintainance . 3. such a maintainance as preachers agree with , and contract for . 4. a taking it from them , who are not worthy . 5. a taking it from them , who do not acknowledge them to be true preachers . now none of all the scriptures or reasons brought by them , prove any such maintainance , nor do we read that ever the apostles received it , or that they received any tithes , which was the maintainance of the law , and not of the gospell . and that the people ought to contract with preachers , will not follow , becaus they are bound in charity to supply their wants , for we are bound in charity to supply the wants of the poor , according to our ability , yet it doth not follow , that we are to contract with them , or that they can force it from us . as for the words of christ , freely give , as they import , that they were not to make sale of the gospell , so also that they were not to force , or compell men to give them , anything as a recompense for preaching the same , for how can we give freely , that which we force others to recompense us for ? and here they cry out upon the q. as a sacrilegious crew , for denying such unlawfull maintaintainance , as the priests generally have . it seemes the young men are greatly concerned , they love so wel the wages of unrighteousnesse , for against no other thing do we contend . againe , they alledge , that we belye them , in saying , they think that the preaching of the gospell can be sold for any earthly wages ; the reason they give is weak , for although there is a vast disproportion and inequality in worth betwixt the same , yet a thing may be sold for lesse then the worth of it , yea when the worth is infinitly greater , for did not judas sell christ for thirty pieces of silver , and do not they plead that greedy and covetous men ought to be received , and payed , untill divested , and are not such guilty of simony , and selling of preaching , which they confesse themselves ? therefore the q. in this do not belye them . yea do they not wel know that it is a most ordinary thing in young men ( and it is wel if some of these be not guilty of the same ) to goe unto patrons , and offer them money for presentations unto parish churches , then which we know no greater simony used in the church of rome ? and as for the hospitality of preachers , it is also required in deacons , and all good christians , will it therefore follow , that all good christians must have set stipends , or if christians are to work with their hands , that they may have wherewith to be hospitable , why may not preachers also ? they cite paul , telling that he had power to forbear working , but they know that paul was an apostle , and claimed that power , not as an ordinary preacher , but as an apostle , like unto the other apostles , marke these words , for as touching the apostles , they had that power , becaus of a more universall charge incumbent upon them , then ordinary pastors , so that they could not so attend to work with their hands , as others could , and yet even paul wrought with his hands , which is more , then any of the nationall teachers will doe , to spare the receiving from them who are not able . and it is to be observed , how the nationall teachers plead stoutly , for their forbearing of working , from the power of the apostles , but when we tell them , that the apostles travelled from one nation to another , and took great paines to plant the gospell in many places , and hazarded their lives to preach it among the heathens ; they answer , that is not required of them : so they would take the apostles to patronise them , in forbearing working , and taking maintainance , but not in being at such paines and jeopardies for the gospells sake , as the apostles , which is not equall . also when we tell them , the apostles preached ly inspiration , and had an immediat call from heaven , they tell us , that is ceased now : but why tell they not that the power to forbear working is ceased also ? surely the continuing of inspirations , and immediat calls to the ministry seemeth a more needfull thing , then their stipends . section eighth . of liberty of conscience , wherein the students sixth section concerning the civil magistrate his power in punishing of hereticks , and also what they say in their eighth section concerning the tendency of quakerism to anarchie and treason , and denying the necessity of christianity , is considered and answered . after that the students have laboured what they can to overturne the quakers , they betake them to persecution as their last refuge , thinking if they can but prevaill here and get the magistrats to cut off the q. as blasphemers and traitours ( for such they have designed them in their title page ) they will be eased of the troublesome task of disputing any more with them . and here , not to be unlike themselves , they begin with a lye , saying , they had a dispute concerning this with the q. the 1. of iun 1675. whereas one of them , to wit i. l. was not present , and the other two proposed not one argument in that matter , but what was spoken , was by another , who being earnestly desired by them to concurre in the accompt of it with them , utterly refused ; as judging , neither he , nor they could give a true account of it , and absolutely discharging to meddle with that in their book , which yet they are not ashamed falsely to ascribe to themselves , which that young man upon sight of their book from one of us , declared to be a lye , asserting what is above written in this matter , before severall witnesses of their owne profession , particularly p. d. one of the students attestators ; and therefore since he judgeth himselfe , as he declared , abused in this effaire by them , as wel as we , we shall not take notice of what passed at that time betwixt him and us , ( it being also his desire ) but betake our selves to this theam , as it is now proposed and urged by the students , wherein how miserably they are pained , the very stating of their controversie shewes , in which they have given away their cause . 1. they say , they speak only of reall heresies , and not what others call so . 2. they say , they speak not of inward acts and meer exercises of the mind , becaus it belongs neither to church , nor magistrat , to judge of hidden things . to which we answer , that since the students acknowledge that both their church and magistrat is lyable to errour , yea and that neither of them , are to be supposed infallible , and therefore can not certainly and infallibly discerne what is heresie , neither ought they to take upon them to punish for heresie ; and that de facto protestant churches have thus erred , their master , iohn menzies and many of his brethren , can bear witnesse , who have cryed out against that for errour , antichristianity and heresie , causing men to be grievously persecuted for it , which now they allow as christian and orthodox . but we shall improve this more hereafter , and now proceed to their arguments . 1. they argue from deut. 13 : 5. exod. 22 : 20. lev. 22. but the question is , whether these commands given particularly to the iewes , belong to us ( for that of lev. 22. is only concerning the priests and levits , touching the holy things , with their uncleannesse upon them , and is wholly impertinent to this purpose ) for if these be obligatory upon us , so will also many other , as that a man may immediatly with his owne hand kill him , that has killed his kinsman , unlesse he get to the city of refuge , seing there is no particular repeal of that , more then of the former , yea and that of deut. 5 : 9. saith expressly that the brother , husband or father of him that consenteth to serve other gods , shall kill him with his own hand , which our adversaries will not deny to be murder , and let them shew us where the one part of this command is repealed more , then the other , or how the one part is lawfull for us , and the other unlawfull , seing both were commanded and lawfull to the iewes : for their meer assertions as to this pag : 126. are not to be regarded . they are offended that matth. 5 : 29. should be given for a repeal of this , alledging that belongeth only to privat persons , and not to magistrats , else it should be unlawfull for magistrats to punish transgressours &c. answ. the consequence will not hold , for we are not speaking of things civil , but of things religious , though it may be lawfull for them , to resist evil in the one , yet not in the other . but that christian magistrats are here included is easily proven . if this belong to all christians , then it belongeth to all magistrats if they be christians ; for to say , that a christian by becomeing a magistrat , is dispensed , of these obligations he is particularly tyed to , as a christian , is most absurd , yea if christian magistrats be bound to suffer for righteousnesse sake , then they are not to resist evil in matters of religion , but the first is true , for how could they enjoy the blessing of those that suffer for righteousnesse sake matth. 5 : 10 , 11. if they still resisted ? at this rate none should suffer for christ , who could by any means shun it , by killing those that make them suffer , and who would then be those that suffer willingly ? and it seemes according to the students , if a man be a magistrate , he ought not any more to suffer for christ , which is as much as to say , that so soon as a man becomes a magistrate , he ceases to be a christian . the great noise they make of the two dispensations of the gospell , mentioned by g. k. doth but manifest their owne weaknesse and folly , for themselves will not deny but that wherever faith in iesus christ is professed , and he owned as the saviour , and son of god , there is a dispensation of the gospell , as in the greek , armenian , ethiopian , yea ( and in their account ) in the romish church also , yet will they not deny but that dipensation is more legall and obscure , , then that themselves are under , as having many ceremonies and shaddowes not necessary , and so here is a twofold dispensation acknowledged by themselves , seing they will not affirme that the use of all these ceremonies is absolutely sinfull in these churches , who are not as yet convinced of it , though it should be unlawfull for them to use them ; and seing the purest and most excellent dispensation of the gospell is to be like unto christ , who resisted not evil , though he was powerfull to doe it , and that we are bound to be like him , then there is a dispensation of the gospell , in which evil is not to be resisted . but further , if there be such a dispensation of the gospell , as men shall beat their swords into plough-shears , and their spears into pruning hooks , and not learne warre any more , then there is a dispensation , in which evil hall not be resisted , the consequence can not be denyed ; the antecedent is the expresse words of the prophet isaiah 2. 4. besides , this twofold dispensation is proved out of bishop forbes of aberdeen his exposition upon the revelations , where he affirmes that the two last chapters of the revelation , is understood of a church upon earth , in which church it can not be supposed that evil should be resisted by an outward sword . pag. 121. they argue from rom. 13. where the magistrat is not to bear the sword in vain . hence they conclude , they ought to resist evil , but this saith nothing as to matters of religion ; they shew as wel their malice , as disingenuity here , insinuating , we denyed that place to belong to magistrats now , which we never did , nor doe ; only g. k. said , he would be glad to hear how they could prove that it did belong to magistrats now , and indeed were we not other wayes perswaded of it , their arguments could not in reason convince us , which is , that the scripture is written for our cause , and these epistles are to be received and obeyed by us , but they have overturned all these themselves ( as is above observed ) where in their answer to the apostls rules , about womens praying and prophesying with their head covered ; they suppose rules given by the apostle in his epistles , of things , that not only are not pertaining to us , but even unlawfull , and so unlesse they make us a clear distinction of these rules , and that by some evident demonstration , to argue from our duty to obey these commands , signifies nothing . but while they take up the paper to prove , that which they can not say we ever denyed , they most shamelessly omitt our chief answer to this , which could they have replyed unto , they would not have dropped thus . and therefore we shall returne it upon them , that they may not forget it , when they writ next . that of the 13 rom. can not be understood of the magistrats punishing men for matters of conscience , because , it being written to the church of rome , to shew them , their duty towards their present magistrate , which was nero that cruell and persecuting emperour , and then it would follow , that nero had had a lawfull power , and authority , to punish even christians for errours in matters of religion , though himselfe was a professed infidel , and seing the magistrate is to exert his power , according to his knowledge , it would follow that nero exercised a lawfull power in causing kill the apostles , and persecute the christians , which will make that horrid crime very slender , seing it was no more according to the stud. but the exerciseing that lawfull authority , he had received from god , according to his knowledge . pag. 122. they build an airy triumph upon their owne mistak , alledging , that since their magistrats are not under that pure dispensation , it is lawfull for them to resist evil , and so that of matth. is not a repeal to them . but they have here either wilfully , or ignorantly forgotten the other branch of the distinction , for granting their magistrats may ( as we deny not ) and that lawfully resist evill in civil matters , yet not in matters of conscience , and this is that , which was incumbent upon them to have proven . but it may be worth the readers paines specially to notice their reasonings in this 122. p. in answer to that objection given in by us , from the parable of the tares matth. 13. where the servants are expressly forbidden to pluck them up . here they play fast and loose to purpose , and to facilitate their own work , make no difficulty to fasten contradictions upon christ himselfe . 1. they say , it is clearly repealed , becaus murtherers , witches , traitours are tares , as wel as hereticks , and if the one were to be eximed , so would the other . is not this the way to argue against christ , and to charge contradictions upon him , not upon us ? wherein they fasten an absurdity upon him , who gave this command , or else they must acknowledge , that by these tares are to be understood some sort of evil doers , with whom the magistrats , are not to meddle . but since the students say , this is repealed , they must confesse it sometimes stood in vigour , it being once commanded , we would willingly be informed then of them , ( and they may remember it , when they write next ) how long this command stood , and to whom it belonged , since it had its rise from christ , and was none of the old covenant precepts , or if it be one of these uselesse gospell commands they dreame of , which it is unlawfull for us to obey . but to goe on , they say , that ly the tares is to be understood , bemasked hypocrits , who being scarce discernable from the wheat , are therefore not to be meddled with . very wel then , where the magistrate can not discerne heresies , according to themselves , he is not to punish : and then what comes of that authority was acknowledged nero had , from rom. 13 who was as uncapable to discerne hereticks as hypocrits ? and then seing as before is said , they are not to judge of hidden things , experience hath aboundantly shewne , how much the true discerning of heresie is both uncertaine , and difficult even to protestant magistrats , who have called that wheat to day , which they have called tares to morrow , and therefore ought according to this rule , to forbear medling in such matters . their second argument pag. 123. drawne from rom. 13. and 1 pet. 2 : 14. which is parallel with it , is before answered . afterwards they goe about to play the polititians , shewing both here , and in the following pag. how the publick peace is disturbed , by suffering of sundry religions , and this they reckon so certain , that they conclude it is known by all , that are but indifferently versed in histories &c. now if this conclusion hold true , it is impossible either for france , germany , holland or zwitserland to be in peace , without either the papists rise up , and cutt the protestants throats , or the protestants theirs , and who but such as the students can be ignorant that after much blood-shed and contention , who should oppresse and destroy each other , they have learned by sad experience , that it is safest , and most conducible to the peace , and contributs most to the publick benefit , not to meddle with each others consciences , notwithstanding that these pitifull states-men can prattle to the contrary , who have shewne themselves in this to be very indifferently versed in history . but they proceed affirming , that since the magistrat is keeper of both tables , to whom is entrusted not only the care of mens bodies , but souls , he ought to punish not only for evil , but also for religious offences . if all this were confessed , would it follow that he were to punish religious , as civil offences by a civil censure ? surely nay , no more then he must punish civile offences , by an ecclesiastick censure . now it remains for them to prove that offences in things purely conscientious should among christians be punished by the externall sword , which they have not as yet done , and let it be here observed , that not withstanding all their clamours for the magistrats priviledge , and that the q. detract from him , that all the power , dignity and honour they put upon him , is to be the clergies burrow , for as they allow him not authority to judge who are hereticks , and who not , but he must only serve to be their executioner , and persecut such as they find prejudiciall to their interest , for though they will have it to be lawfull for preachers , such as their bishops , to be magistrats , as chancellour , counseller , iudge , &c. yet no magistrat , nay the king himself must take upon him to be a preacher , ( though we could never see any thing in all the new testament , making this unlawfull , yea and david and solomon in the old , who were not of the tribe of levi , were both prophets and preachers , and pen-men of the scripture . ) this trick even the protestant clergy have learned from their father the pope , who shewed the clergy long ago , the way to make themselves princes and iudges , but to be sure to shut out the magistrate from meddling with their function . so it may be easily seen here , whether the q. or the students be greatest friends to the magistrate . lastly , they conclude , that since those that broach heresy , do evil , and that the magistrate is the executer of god's wrath upon him that doeth , or acteth outwardly evil , without any restriction &c. it is not lawfull for us to add a restriction , where the spirit of god hath put none . who can but admire the impudency of these students , which doe that , which in the following line they affirme is unlawfull , by adding [ outwardly ] which is a restriction ? for the words in the text are not [ outwardly evil ] but evil , which being taken without any restriction , comprehends inward as wel as outward acts of evil . seing then they put a restriction , ( though to their own selfe-condemnation , they confesse it to be unlawfull ) which they are forced to doe , else hypocrites would be comprehended , whom they confesse to be tares , that are not to be meddled with . we that judge it no wise unlawfull ( becaus without other clear texts be contradicted , there must be here a restriction ) may restrict it to things civil and morall , excluding matters of worship and difference in opinion , for the reasons often before mentioned . their 3. argument wholly misses the matter , which is the practice of many princes , even approved of god , in coercing idolatries &c : for since all the examples , they give , are of the kings of judah and israël under the , law it nowise meets the present controversie , which is concerning the power of christian magistrats under the gospell . lastly , they argue that the prophets of the old testament , have prophesied that it should be the office of christian magistrats to coërce false prophets , for which they alledge deut. 18 : 20. he that shall speak in the name of other gods shall die . very wel , he saith not , shall be put to death in a judiciall way . it is said , the soul that sinneth shall die , it will not therefore follow , that every soul that sinneth , shall be killed by the magistrate . but though it be understood of putting to death , it reacheth not the case , we being under the gospell , not under the law , where also it was not lawfull so to doe for different opinions and interpretations of the law , but onely for rejecting the true god , and his law , and introducing new and strange gods their other proofe is from zech. 13 : 1 , 2 , &c : where it is said , that the fathers and the mothers of the false prophets shall say unto them , thou shalt not live , and thrust them through , when they prophesy . this is so farre from being taken literally , that the students dare not take it so themselves , else the father and and the mother might doe the businesse without troubling the magistrate , and afterwards the text speaks of those , who were not to live , of their having wounds in their hands and being alive , which shewes the understanding here is to be spirituall , and seing the students do not understand it literally , of the persons to whom the text ascribes this coërcing , and that there is not the least word of a magistrate in the place , for them , to affirme , that it is not to be understood of the magistrate , is but miserably to begg the question . they begin their 8. sect. pag. 126. affirming that quakerism tends to anarchie and confusion and treason , alledging , we would pull down the magistrate , if we could , and set up our own spirituall magistrates , as iohn of leyden &c. for this malitious insinuation they give no reason , but such an one as destroyes it , to wit , our giving in [ resist not evil , pluck not up the tares ] as repeals of some lawes in the old test. now let men of reason , judge , whether treason be the tendency of these mens principles , that affirme , evil is not to be resisted ; or how these can doe violence to the magistrate without contradicting their principles , and then it can not be the tendency of them : and wheras they conclude , saying , that quakerism , as they conceive , beyond all doubt , tends to anarchie , confusion of state and treason . their conceptions are very false , in this matter , and we may upon farr better grounds retort this upon the students confraternity , the clergy , who through their ambition and turbulency did from the pulpits blow the trumpet of all the late confusion , and treason , in the civil warrs , and shew themselves exact disciples of iohn . of leyden , acting his pranks upon the stage of great britaine , a charge , they have not to lay to the quakers . their next effort is to prove , we deny the necessity of professing christianity , becaus we believe those not bound to believe the history of christ , from whom god hath necessarily withheld the knowledge of it , for they confesse that wee believe these obliged to believe them , to whom they are revealed . but they must here also act like themselves , in makeing that a horrible crime in us , which their owne chiefe doctors affirme , who being pressed by the arminians with this argument [ that which every man is bound to believe is true . but every man is bound to believe that christ died for them , therfor it is true ] they deny the minor plainly affirming that those that have not heard of christ , are not bound to believe he died for them , so according to the students themselves , are guilty of denying the necessity of professing christianity as well as we . but further they say , wee are guilty of this , becaus we set up a new christ in every man , that is borne , and growes up , unto a perfect substantiall birth , as their first charge in this matter hitts at their owne doctors , so this second is common with us to the apostle paul ( for the students dispute like blind men striking at random , that heed not , what they hit ) seing the apostle calls christ within , of which we speak , the hope of glory , which is neither a new christ , nor yet another then he that died at ierusalem who did travell that he might be brought forth in the ●alatians , and calls him , the new man , borne in , and put on by others . so if in this the apostle did not deny the outward sufferings of christ , neither doe we ; unlesse the students can shew , how our doctrine differs from his , or contradicts it , which they have not yet attempted to doe . as for that question of i. penington . how can outward blood cleanse ? we referre them to his owne book in defence of that expression , as quarrelled by j. hicks , called the flesh and blood of christ , of which there were divers printed coppies at aberdeen , befor the students book was put to the presse . the conclusion . wherin their observations upon r. b. his offer , and their last section of the q. revileings , as they term them , are examined . in the end of the account of our dispute , i renewed an offer to the preachers of aberdeen , as being the persons , we were principally concerned withall , giving the reasons therfore , and shewing the good effects , that might proceed therefrom , as in the same offer may be seen ; at this the stud. seeme to have gone mad , and fret and fume , like persons possessed , alledging , i betake my selfe to railing as my last refuge ; but whether there be any railing in that offer , is left to the judicious reader to examine . the students notwithstanding their clamours , give not one instance of it , but whether they have any better reason to answer it withall , then railing , let the reader judge . for upon this occasion , pag. 127. 128. they call me vaine and arrogant , like a very thraso , ignorant and foolish , one whose weakenesse and ignorance is renowned , a bold barkr , but a soft biter . these are the modest young men , that professe to be against railing , that say in their preface , they have abstained from personall criminations , and have not rendred evil for evil , and with this their unreasonable railling they mix in a company of lyes , as that insinuation , as if the theses had been written by g. k. which is a false calumny , they are dared to prove : like unto which is what followes , that i provoked all europe , sought dispute indivers places from any who would without distinction , upon the account of this printed provocation , boasted and gloried that i had got no dispute ; which containe as many lyes almost as words , for which , they offer not the least proofe . afterwards as an instance of my cowardlynesse and vain boasting ; they say , i with g. k. sted , and deserted a dispute appointed betwixt us and r. g. my uncle , at the crosse of elgin , which is utterly false ; neither g. k. nor i ever spake with r. g. about such a matter , nor made any appointment with him : yea r. g. hath under his hand declared , that being by a friend of his desired , he refused to debate with us , in relation to these theses , nor was there any such appointment ever made known to us : so the reader may see whether these credible witnesses , that attested their accompt , be any better here then those credible informers , from whom they had this great untruth . as they proceed , they give themselves the lye , for after many needlesse words , of which it is hard to make sense , they conclude that this late engagement ( meaning the dispute with themselves ) is a fulfilling of the offer in the end of the english theses , notwithstanding they subscribed the articles , whereof the first expressly bears , that it is abstract from it . but first they say , the ministers are not concerned to meet with the qu. becaus , the report of the victory is already gone upon their side , who are but young men , and cannot doe so wel as their ministers who are more learned , and grave ; and yet a little after , that they may not omitt here to give themselves the lye , they say , that such a dispute would be a means to stumble the weake , harden the fallen , and dishonour god , rather then the contrary . what confusion is here ! they are but young men , and their masters more learned , grave and able , their dispute ( if they be to be believed ) has done good , established many inclining to quakerism , and yet their ministers disputing would be a mean to stumble the weake &c. they conclude that we are not to be sought after , becaus we are goats and wolves and not strayed sheep ; we could produce enough under their masters hands to contradict this , if it were worth the paines . they fill up the rest of the sect with alledging that publick disputs are against the law , upbraiding me as a rebell for offering one , alledging that it is not lawfull for protestants neither in the turkish nor popish dominions to offer to dispute against the publick religion authorized by the magistrate , though they may privatly call it in question , and dislwade from it : whereby they openly condemne as rebells , the apostles and primitive christians , yea and the primitive protestants , as by many instances both at home , and abroad , could be shewne : and whereas they say , we professe to oppose their religion , and not papists , it is another falshood , for some of us of late years , have lost their lives , and others deeply suffered , for opposing popery at rome it selfe , a task , the students so long as they can sit at ease , and buy a benefice at home , will as unwillingly undertake , as another dispute with the qu. they begin their last sect. most impudently , alledging , that they have past by , as much as they could , personall criminations : how great a lye this is , the reader by what is above said , will observe , they are angry we should alledge , that their masters had put arguments into their mouths , though we can shew them , of the closest of them in manuscripts sent by them to us ; and to disprove this , they say , they faithfully declare it to be lyes . but what men of faith they are is above shewne : let it be lest to the reader to judge whether they be more to be trusted ; in saying , the arguments they brought ; were their owne , then when they say , they had a dispute with the q. the 1. of iune 1675 , though one of them was altogether absent ; and the other two were but meer hearers : what reason is there , they should be believed in saying , the arguments they used were their owne , though perhaps they only repeated them , as when they positively affirmed that they disputed with us , though they were meere auditors ? and to this they add another great lye , saying , that the q. affirmed in their contra-remonstrance that this is g. ms. work under their cover , whereas the words are , it is strange , that they , ( to wit , the stud. ) should undertake so hastily , what he has been so long adviseing , unlesse this be his work under their cover ; but a supposition is not a positive assertion : it is not said , this is his work , as the stud. have perverted it , who are so accustomed to lye , that such kind of perversions passe with them , but for small escapes . they are offended w. m. should be called a catechist , ( though the bishop their ordinary is not pleased he should have a higher designation , and themselves can not deny it ) and whereas they say , this is done exceeding malitiously , for he officiated at the foresaid place for a short space , and long before the publishing of their pamphlet : they would doe wel to shew wherein the malice of this lieth , and to examine whether he did not exercise that office longer then he has done any time ; but it is their custome to speak at randome . they cry out against our saying , we were informed , that their master had gone to the b. to desire him to complain to the councill , &c. alledging that though we say , we are informed , yet they insinuate it is a lye , of our making . becaus it is usuall for us that are damnable hereticks , to spread a false report our selves , and then say , we heard it . let them instance any report , if they can , raised up by us , for which we cannot give them authors of their owne religion , whereas the most part of their reports against us , have no authors but our enemies . but for answer , let them know , that the same was told to r. b. by g. m. and i. s. two chiefe citizens of their owne profession , the last of which , constrained him to stand upon the street untill he should tell it him , and wheras they add , that if they would follow our footsteps they could cast many horrid things in our teeth , answ. it is one thing to receive information against a people , and report things as true , spoken or written by their professed enemies , as the students doe in their citations out of clerks examples , hicks and faldo : and another to report things spoken by members of their owne church , who if they have belyed them , let them reckon that among themselves . lastly , they accuse me , as having impudently aspersed their professor i. m. with seurrilous revileings , and malitious calumnies , of which , they are so impudent , as not to give one instance , and are thereto dared , when they write next , to name them , or instance one calumny or scurrilous revileing , wherwith i asperse him , or else be accounted impudent lyars , wheras they say these calumnies we borrowed from the spitefull iesuits , and like vipers , spouted them out . again , they declare their folly , the jesuit accused him of treason , as the students , following his example , doe us , but so not i , who only minded him , that seing he who sayes the scripture is his rule , has been deceived , in pretending the scripture said , that which now he confesses to be an errour . if the spirit were to be rejected from being the rule , becaus men pretending to it , have been deceived : so should the scripture also , in which instances , if he or they dare say , i have calumniated him , let them name wherin . and i shall prove all i have asserted in that affaire , and that without recurring to the jesuits testimony , having my information from better hands . and to augment their lyes , they say , it tends to his advantage ; to be calumniated by such as the quakers : they have not proved that we have calumniated him , and we may justly retort . that he may rather be troubled and shamed to find himselfe so fawningly flattered and commended by such as the stud ▪ like the philosopher of old , that was troubled when spoken well of by a profligat person . lastly , they goe about to apologize for the long time , their book hath been a comeing out becaus of their difficulties at the presse , which difficulties were not such as we meet with ; to have their papers surprized and stopt , as they sought to doe ours . but becaus they could not perswade a printer to be so foolish , as to print them , without due payment , but it is like , the contriving and patching it together , hath been as great a cause of lett , since when it was out , and came from edinburgh to aberdeen , and after we had bought one intire book at edinburgh , they kept it up at aberdeen severall weeks , adviseing and consulting about it , and upon notice of some grosse contradictions in it , which wee had observed to some of their owne way , they caused the printer there to patch two pages to it , to help them , by which ; they have but rendered their weaknesse more obvious . for whereas to solve that grosse contradiction before observed by us , of their making us speak in their accompt , one after another , and yet saying , the auditors can testifie , that we are lyars , and never spake so , they say , their meaning is not , that we did not speak , one after another . what means the word never then ? this apology amounts to no more , but that the students intended not to contradict themselves , and instead of bettering themselves by this addition , they have given away their cause , for whereas they before make a great clamour against g. k. for asserting permissive inspirations , as if it had been some great absurdity , themselves here affirm the same thing , saying , the apostle by these words , it is good for a man not to touch a woman , doth not command but only permitt , ( he himself neverth elesse being inspired by the spirit of god so to do ) is not this then a permissive inspiration ? so that these things will but make their folly manifest , as also their further frivolous apologies in that additionall advertisement , which to the truely judicious doth not cover but rather discover their weaknesse . seing it may fall out that this tract may arrive at the hands of many who perhaps may not see those sheets in which we have disproved the students calumnies and lyes in matter of fact , as in relation to the dispute wee had with them , we thought fit here also to insert the certificate of four students present at the dispute , and since come among us , three of which were at that time actuall students of philosophy in the university , and the other had been in the classe with one of the disputants . r. b. wee under-subscribers late students of philosophy from the university of aberdeen being present at the dispute doe faithfully declare that the students have grossely belved the qu. in their accompt , makeing them speake that which they spake not and also sorging arguments and answers not mentioned upon the place . and though wee had no intention at that time to owne the people called qu yet wee dare not but declare that their answers and behaviour had no small influence upon us , to make us in love with their way , and to search after it more diligently : as also the students arguments and lightnesse did not a litle tend to make us disgust them and their principles , and albeit that inward peace and satisfaction of mind , which wee enjoy in the truth wee now professe with that despised and injured people , doth make us blesse the day , in which it pleased god to bring us among them ; yet wee are not a litle confirmed in the beliefe of this reproached testimony and witnesses , that wee find the strongest arguments their adversaries have against them , are lyes and calumnies , and this wee testifie for the truth , whom the truth hath taught not to lye . robert sandilands . james alexander . and i also declare , who ( being a student at that time , in the old town colledge ) was present at the dispute , and heard the same with attention , that the students have grossly belyed the q. in many things in their account , and although that since , it hath pleased god to joine me unto that people , yet at that time i had no mind to be of their way , however when i saw their account i did approve it , as ingenuous , as now also i doe , and disapprove the students as false in many things . alexander seatone . and i likwise ( being a student in the new town colledge ) at that time , was present at the dispute and doe declare , that the students folly and lightnesse had no small influence upon me , to search more narrowly into the way of that people , which it pleased the lord to blesse unto me , so that the eyes of my understanding came to be opened , and i came fully to be convinced of the truth of their principles and way , to which now by the mercy and goodnesse of the lord , i am joyned , and do find , by comparing the two accounts together , that the students have wronged the people called quakers in divers things , as the students self contradictions do sufficiently shew . alexander paterso●● . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a30899-e450 * but besides , will not their masters answer above mentioned meet well with them here , that since these sects and saincts , did as both they and the q. confess but pretend to the spirit , that because they did but pretend therefore the q. do but pretend also , no more then because some hereticks do pretend their religion is conform to the scripture , therefore i. m. doth so too . and the sy●iack coppy hath not in that 20. ver . nor elswhere , these words the lords supper at all , but in lieu of it , when then ye meet together not as ye ought to do in the day of the lord. nevv essayes: meditations, and vowes including in them the chiefe duties of a christian, both for faith, and manners. by thomas tuke, minister of gods word, at s. giles in the fields. new essayes: meditations, and vowes. tuke, thomas, d. 1657. 1614 approx. 222 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 154 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a14001 stc 24312 estc s105349 99841078 99841078 5637 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a14001) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 5637) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 942:06) nevv essayes: meditations, and vowes including in them the chiefe duties of a christian, both for faith, and manners. by thomas tuke, minister of gods word, at s. giles in the fields. new essayes: meditations, and vowes. tuke, thomas, d. 1657. [12], 290 p. printed by n[icholas] o[kes] and are to be sold by william bladon, at his shop in s pauls churchyard, at the signe of the bible, london : 1614. in this edition, title page, dedication, and "to the reader" are all signed in full. the bodleian library copy does not have the contents bifolium, but this may be an imperfection--stc. printer's name from stc. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2005-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-07 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2005-07 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion new essayes : meditations , and vowes : including in them the chiefe duties of a christian , both for faith , and manners . by thomas tuke , minister of gods word , at s. giles in the fields . london , printed by n. o. and are to be sold by william bladon , at his shop in s pauls church-yard , at the signe of the bible . 1614. to the right ver tuous and honourable lady , the lady alicia dudley . madame , after i had written these lines , ( for i know not well how to call them ) i long discoursed with my selfe , whom to i might present them : at length i bethought my selfe of your ladiship , whom i deemed very worthy of them ; and am bold , vnder your name , to publish them vnto the world . if herein , or by any other meanes , i may further your knowledge or deuotion in true christianisme , i shal reioice . i seek for nothing , but your soule for christ , that in him it may be presented pure and perfect vnto god. your wisedome , and not your wealth , that you may bee wise in christ iesus , according as s. paul doth teach you : if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world , let him become a foole , that hee may bee wise : for the wisedome of this world is foolishnesse with god. to know christ well , is the chiefest learning ; and to serue him truely , is the greatest freedome . mary was happy in bearing him , more happy in beleeuing in him , in that shee bare him in her breast , whom she bare before in her belly . and though euery lady cannot be a mary , a mother to him in the flesh ; yet euery true christian lady is a kinne to him in the faith , flesh of his flesh , and bone his bone , a very member of his body in a spirituall sence . whosoeuer ( saith he ) shall doe the will of my father , which is in heauen , the same is my brother , and sister , and mother . and this is the better : for the christian blood , as christian , is the best blood in the world a man in any other blood may perish : but he that hath this blood in his heart , shall neuer perish . if a christian , during a christian , may bee damned , then say that christ himselfe may be damned also . vvhich , what religious eare can endure to heare ? but i will detaine you no longer : but leaue you to those things which i haue prepared for you . if they shall finde your kinde acceptance , they haue what they come for ; and i that for what i sent them . vse them , and peruse them at your leasure : and god giue them fauour in your heart . the great god of heauen and earth protect and blesse you , and all your children , and keepe you all for euer in his faith and feare , that yee may see his face to the eternall comfort of your soules in heauen . saint giles in the fieldes , october 5. 1614. your ladiships in christ iesus , thomas tuke . to the courteous reader . gentle reader , i haue written this booke for thee : if thou vse it , it is thine : if thou abuse it , it is not thine , but mine . quarrell not with the name , if thou dislike not the nature . as children , so bookes , which are the birth of mens braines , haue not euer the fittest names . it is oftentimes as god-fathers please . if thou dislike the name , call it what thou wilt . wonder not that new bookes doe still flye abrode : the world is full of new braines ; wherefore not of new bookes ? they that are of actiue spirits , were beter do this then nothing . as for my selfe i bring with me no nouelty , as i thinke , but that , that is old and true , though ( it may be ) cast in a new mold . i suppose both yong & old helpt forward the tabernacle , and after that the temple : and it is my ioy to do any thing i can , for the church of christ , if i can bring but one lace or pinne to the trimming of his bride . reade , and consider what thou readest . let mee finde thy louing and vnsparing censure in discretion . if i shall perceiue any thing to be amisse , it shall hereafter bee corrected : if it shall finde entertaiment with thee , i may bee encouraged to prepare more of this kind hereafter for thee . thus i commend my booke to thee , and both it and thee to god. from my study in saint giles in the fields , this 5. of october , 1614. thine in christ : thomas tvke . essayes . of god. whiles i thinke of god , my thoughts are swallowed vp as of a gulfe , and i loose my selfe , rather then finde him : his brightnesse dazeleth mine eyes ; and i cannot reach him with my line , and sound him with the plumet of mine vnderstanding : hee is so deepe that i cannot goe downe vnto him ; hee is so high , that i cannot mount vp vnto him : hee is so great that i cannot comprehend him ; hee is so large that i cannot measure him : hee is so wise , as i cannot conceiue ; and so good , as i am not able to expresse . alas ! how shall a bushell containe all the world ? how can a bucket hold all the ocean ; or a spoone lade out all the water , that is therein ? how can a foole diue downe into the depths of wisedome ; or hee that is euill , fully vnderstand him that is an infinite , and inexplicable good ? yet this haue i learned ; hee is great without quantity ; hee is good without quality : hee sees all things without eyes ; hee heares all things without eares ; hee knowes all things without discourse : hee made all things , and yet hath neede of nothing ; hee fils all things , but is fil'd of nothing ; hee giues all things , but taketh nothing ; hee is in all things , but is polluted of nothing : no thing can helpe him , nothing can hurt him ; nothing can adde to him , nothing can be taken from him. o god , thine execellency doth surpasse mine infirmity ! thy beauty , drawes mee ; thy fulnesse contents mee ; thy mercy staies mee . i would bee thine , euen thine , and none but thine : i desire nothing against thee , nothing besides thee , nothing with thee : o lord , nothing but thee . thou art my lot , my loue , my portion , my prime content : if i haue thee , i haue all ; if i lacke thee , i lacke all : if thou beest with mee , i care not though men , though diuels , though all the world should bee against mee . lord now lift vp the light of thy countenance vpon mee , and grant mee thy peace , amen . of christ . christ is the way , the truth , and the life . which way wouldst thou goe ? hee is the way . whither wouldst thou goe ? hee is the truth . where wouldst thou remaine ? hee is the life . wouldst thou walke ? hee is the way : wouldst thou not bee deceiued ? hee is the truth : wouldst thou not die ? he is the life . christ was poore to make vs rich : hee was made a sinner , that wee might bee made saints : hee was made a curse , that wee might obtaine a blessing : hee dyed , that wee might liue : hee descended into hell , that wee might ascend into heauen . in him wee haue all things , and hee is all things in vs. if thou beest hungry hee is meate : if thou thirstest hee is drinke : if thou beest wounded , hee is a surgion : if thou beest sicke , hee is a physition : if thou burne , hee is a fountaine : if thou beest cold , hee is a fire . if thou beest a sinner , hee is sanctity : if thou beest laden with iniquity , hee is iustice : if thou wantest helpe , hee is a succour : if thou beest weake , hee is strength : if thou beest weary , hee is a shadow : if thou fearest death , hee is life : if thou hatest darkenesse , hee is light : if thou wouldst see god , hee is thy glasse : if thou wouldst haue accesse to god , hee is the way : if thou wouldst enter into heauen , hee is the dore , the key , the keeper . o lord , how sweete is thy name ! how pleasing is thy seruice ! how easie is thy yoke ! in truth he is worthy death , who refuseth to liue to thee : hee is a foole , that is not wise to thee : hee is iust nothing , that would bee something out of thee . it is meete that hee should wither , that will not grow in thee : hee deserues to perish wandring , that will not walke in thee . misery bee his end , that seekes not blisse in thee : death bee his destiny , that seekes not life in thee : and hell his heritage , that seekes not heauen in thee . thou mad'st all things for thy selfe : hee that will bee some-thing to himselfe , nothing to thee , amongst all things hee beginnes to bee nothing , and of things euill hee deserues the worst . keepe mee therefore in thy loue , that i may not leaue thee : preserue mee in thy breast , and doe not loose mee : if i leaue thee , i loose thee ; in loosing thee , i loose my soule , my selfe , and all things with mee . of the holy ghost . the third person of the blessed trinity is called the holy spirit , because hee hallowes vs , and being himselfe spired , doth also inspire good things into vs. the scholler learnes quickely , when the holy ghost is his teacher : the eye sees distinctly , when the holy ghost doth enlighten it : a man iudgeth truely , when hee doth direct him : and liueth holily , when hee doth dispose him . the spirit is but one in person , yet seuen , yea seuenty times seuen in his gracious operations : hee hath wisedome for thee against thy folly , vnderstanding against thy dulnesse , counsell against thy giddinesse , courage against thy cowardice , cheerefulnes against thy sluggishnesse , tendernesse against thy hardnesse , comfort against thy feares , light against thy darkenesse , truth against thy lies , humility against thy pride , faith against thy dissidence , hope against thy desperation , and charity against thy cruelty . hee is giuen vnto men for saluation , when their heart returnes vnto god : for succour , when in our agonies hee relieues our infirmitie : for solace , when hee whispers into our hearts that we are gods children : and for heate , when hee kindles in our soules the zeale of god , and charity to our neighbour for christ his sake . thinke wee well ? it is of him : will wee well ? it is by him : affect wee well ? it is his worke : or liue wee well ? it is by his direction : hee lightens our mind , giudes our reason , strengthens our memory , moues our will , and rules our affections . but because a man sees him not , therefore shall hee deny his essence , or his presence ? thou seest not aire , the wind , thine heart , thy braines , thy soule . the operations of the aire doth shew it , the noise and whirling of the wind doth proue it , the panting of the heart doth expresse it , the thoughts and imaginations of the braines doth declare them , and life , sense , and motion , doth shew thy soule is in thee : euen so spirituall motions , and an holy conuersation , doth argue the presence and presidence of the spirit in vs. the holy ghost appeared in a doue , and in fiery tongues . hee dwels in them , that are innocent , meek , and constant : and whom hee fils , hee makes them seruent , and likewise eloquent : hee inflames their hearts with the heauenly fire of an holy zeale , and makes them speake the praises of god : hee therefore hath the holy ghost , who with his mildenesse and simplicity quenches not his zeale , nor with bitternesse of zeale , looses not his mildensse , but harboureth both together in a discreet , pious , and peaceable spirit . of the holy and indiuiduall trinity . three are better then one : but here three are one , and one is three : and hee that hath one , hath all : and hee that wants one wants all. what one is , all are : what one hath , none lackes . all three are one god , all three haue one lordship , amongst them there is distinction , but not diuision : a plurality of persons , but a singularity of nature , consubstantiall , coëternall , and co-aequall . to bee busy in inquisition about the trinity is wicked curiosity ; to bleeue it soberly , is faithfull security ; but to see it , as it is , is perfect and full felicity . nature cannot match this mystery , therefore the similitudes vsed to expresse it must bee warily considered , and not strained too farre : as that of the sunne and fire , which haue three things , motion , light , and heate ; of the iewish ephah , a measure of three bushels : of the soule ; which is furnished with memory , vnderstanding , and will ; of water in the spring , riuer , and pond ; or of the finger , hand , and arme. then here , there can bee no where more dangerous crring , nor more painefull seeking , not more profitable finding . it shall not grieue mee , if i doubt , to aske : it shall not shame mee , if i faile , to learne o verity , charity , eternity , o blessed and blessing , trinity , holy , holy , holy lord god of hosts , heauen and earth are full the maiesty of thy glory ! whiles i thinke of three , i shut vp my thoughts in one : and whilst i muse on one , mine eies are dazeled with the sight of three : it is my misery that i am a stranger from thee ; i shall bee happy , when i shall bee with thee , see thee , and enioy thee . ( ▪ ) ( ▪ ) of christ . ovr blessed lord and sauiour is called iesvs christ : the former name is hebrew , the latter greeke : the one signifying a saviovr , the other annointed : for hee is both to iew and gentle an annointed sauiour , annointed with the oile of gladnesse aboue his fellowes , to be a king , priest , and prophet , vnto his body : his person is but one , but his natures are two : one diuine and vncreated , the other humane and created : hee must bee man , that hee might bee able to die : hee must bee god , that his death might bee meritorious , hee must bee man , for man had finned , and man must therefore suffer : hee must bee god , that in suffering hee might ouercome , and that dying hee might raise himselfe to life . man indeed could suffer , but god alone could vanquish and ouercome . o inestimable fauour ! god would become man , that wee men might bee reconciled vnto god. the sonne of god was made the sonne of man , that the sonnes of men might bee made the sonnes of god. hee became a seruant to make vs free : hee would bee inglorious , that wee might bee glorious : and being lord of life hee would suffer death , that wee , which had deserued death , might haue by him eternall life . lord iesvs , whom haue i to intercede for mee with god in heauen , but thee ! whom haue i to guide and comfort me , whiles i liue with men on earth , but thy spirit ? in whom desire i to end my daies and die , but euen in thee ? with whom would i liue , when i doe remoue , but euen with thee ? grant that i may so liue to thee , and so die in thee , that i may liue eternally with thee : but my life doth scarre mee , for when i sift it , i finde it is either full of sinne , or empty of good . and if any fruite appeare therein , it is either so feigned , or so vnperfite , or some way , or other , so corrupted , as that either it cannot please , or cannot but displease the most righteous and holy iudge . what shall i now doe ? or whether shall i goe ? thy passion , o lord , is my refuge , and singular comfort : therein is my confidence , on that i stand . thy mercies , are my merites ; thine indulgence , is my iustice ; thy grace , is my glory ; thy crosse , my crowne ; and thy death , my life . iesvs is a name full of delight and sweetenesse : mel in ore , melas in aure , iubilus in corde : hony in the mouth , melody in the eare , and ioy in the heart . i will reioyce and trust in thy saluation : i will not contend against thee in the vallies , nor on the mountaines : the king of israel is a mercifull king : thy mercy it is , thy mercies , o lord , that i onely thirst for . my soule thirsteth after thy mercies , as the chased hart doth after water . lord iesvs in thy mercy , make mee pertaker of thy merites . of the law. the law saith : doe this , and thou shalt liue . it rests not in faith , but exacteth action , and promiseth life to them which keepe it : it allowes not infirmities , but requireth all perfections : and if a man faile but in one point thereof , it denounceth a curse vnto him : alas then what are wee , what shall become of vs , who are grieuous and continuall sinners ? our very iustice being strictly sifted by the law , which is the rule of iustice , would bee found iniustice : and that would be contemned in the strict iudgement of the iudge , which is commended in the iudgement of the worker . but could not this law haue beene exactly kept ? surely adam might haue kept it , if hee would : but as the case now standeth , wee cannot but trangresse it : neither yet is there iniustice in god : for by commanding things impossible hee makes not men sinners , but humble , that euery mouth should bee stopped , and that all the world should bee made subiect vnto god : because by the workes of the law no flesh shal be iustified in his sight . for when wee haue receiued a commandement , and perceiue what is wanting in vs , wee are put in minde to send vp our cries into heauen , and god will haue mercy vpon vs : and that so wee may know that wee are not saued by the workes of righteousnesse , which wee haue done , but by his owne free mercy : for indeed therefore was the law giuen , and is yet vrged to shewe , not what wee can doe , but what wee should doe , and that the proude might see his weakenesse , and seeing it might bee humbled , and being humbled might confesse it , and confessing it might bee saued : not resting vpon his owne dignity , but on gods dignation ; not in his owne iustice , but in the righteousnesse of iesvs christ . being therefore terrified by the law , let vs seeke for comfort in the gospell : and seeing all hope in our selues is cut off by the law , let vs flie to christ iesvs , who is the fulfilling of the law , and in whom , whosoeuer beleeueth hath the perfection of the law. they say , the elephant ( as knowing his owne deformity ) loues not to looke into cleere water : foule faces would haue false glasses ; and such , as would vent their copper , loue not the touchstone : and they , that haue deceiptfull wares , like not the light . but i doe desire to vnderstand the law exactly , that i may see all my deformities and foulenesse , mine hypocrisies and false-dealings , that so i might bee brought to a loathing of them , and finding mine imperfections towards the law , i might bee prouoked to seeke for the perfection reuealed in the gospell : i will indeuour to keep the law exactly , but when i faile , i will flie to the grace of the gospell speedily ; as knowing that not by mine owne iustice , but by the iustice of christ i must bee iustified , and that i am not saued for any graces in mee , but by the grace of god in christ vnto mee . of sinne. sinne is the transgression of the law : if there were no law , there could bee no sinne : the law claimes obedience , and when it is transgressed , then sin is committed : and the more men wander from it , the more they sinne . the cause of sinne is not god , who is truth and goodnesse , wisedome and iustice , but a mans owne will , yeelding to the diuell . for it cannot bee that hee should make vs fall into sinne , who makes vs rise from sinne ; and that hee should be the author of that , whereof hee is reuenger . and though sathan be politique to beguile , yet hath he no power to compell : he cannot make thee sinne , except thou wilt . it is true hee can bewitch thy body , inchaunt thine eyes , and dull thy eares , whether thou wilt , or no : but he cannot compell thy soule to sinne , he cannot make thee sinne against thy will. a man standing in a showre of haile , or bullets , or beeing among persons infected with the plague , may be strucken and infected , though he would not bee so : but no tentation darted from the diuell no bad example , scandall or suggestion of any sinner can doe thee harme , except thou yeeld vnto it . know that when thou sinnest , it is not against , but with thy will : for the foundation and roote of sinne is in our selues ; and whosoeuer sinnes , is the proper cause vnto himselfe of sinne . it is true that god doth harden the heart , and deliuer men vp sometimes vnto a reprobate sence , but how ? not by the insusion of hardnesse , or immission of corruption : but by not imparting mercy , and by leauing a man to himselfe , and deliuering him vp into the hands of sathan . for then hee is said to harden , when hee doth not soften ; to deliuer them , when hee doth not retaine them ; to giue them vp , when hee lets them go ; and to leade them into temptation , when hee doth not deliuer them . when therefore i shall commit a sinne , i will not accuse god , i will not impute all to the diuell : but i will condemne my selfe , smite my breast , and say with the publican : god bee mercifull to mee a sinner . i haue hard some complaine , they cannot chuse but sinne . o fearefull bondage ! o vnhappy necessity ! but who constraines thē against their wils ? nothing . but thus it is : euill thoughts of sinne beget delight , delight consent , consent action , action custome , custome necessity . what shall a man doe , that is thus intangled ? let him beware of custome , for the custome of sinning takes away the sense of sinne ; and let him preuent , or mortifie , euill thoughts , which are the diuels harbingers ; for hee lodges not , but where they haue taken vp his lodging for him . there are some vse to minish their sinnes ; either they are not great , or they are not many . sure it is , that the smallest sinne , that can bee , beeing the offence of the greatest maiesty , deserueth death , and therefore is great enough to destroy the soule : and though there were but one , yet that were one too many . for one foote of a bird taken , or one wing belimmed , may cost her her life : one hole in a ship may sinke her : one bullet may kill as well as twenty . the smallest sin is in it nature mortall : yea the omission of the smallest duety , which the law of god requireth , deserueth eternall death . for cursed is euery one , which continueth not in all things , which are written in the booke of the law , to doe them . if the smallest curse of god bee too great to suffer , then the smallest sinne against god , is too great to doe : as i therefore desire to escape all curses ; so will i , by the grace of god , bee carefull to auoide all causes , and will neuer count that little which might make mee sustaine so great a losse as is the forfeite of my soule . of the gospell . the gospell is good newes from heauen of remission of sins , reconciliation to god , redemption from hell , death and condemnation , and of resurrection to life and glory by the merites of our lord and saviovr iesvs christ . o happy newes ! o ioyfull tydings ! what newes more welcome to prisoners , then of a goale-deliuery ? what more pleasing to malefactours , then to heare of their princes pardon ? what would a blind man more willingly heare of , then that his eie-sight shall bee restored to him ? or what better tydings can bee brought to a man sea-beaten , and spent with labour , then that hee shall most certainely obtaine an hauen , where hee shall most safely rest , free from the malice of pirates , and fury of all foule weather ? yet for all this the gospell , with many , findes but poore acceptance . it is because men haue no thorough feeling of their miseries : they feele no misery and therefore affect no change . what cares a clunch for learning , or good manners , that blesseth himselfe in his rudenesse , and inciuility ? what cares a man for meate , that feeles no hunger ? what doe you talke to him of cloathes , that feeles no cold , nor nakednesse ? the lacke of things causeth estimation , the sense of lacke . when men haue beene worne with warres , how pleasing is the newes of a true and constant peace ? when a man feeles his disease , and sees death staring in his eyes , o how welcome is the physition ? how welcome should hee bee , that would bring him newes of a medicine , which hee might easily haue , that would cure him , and set him vp againe ? when sea-men haue beene long at sea , and spent their victuals , and water , euen a pound of bread would bee worth a pound in siluer ; and a little fresh water how welcome would it bee vnto them ? and if men would but duely consider of their captiuity , slauery , miseries , and necessities , into which they are driuen by sinne , and wherein they are inwrapped , they would bee glad to heare of deliuerance : and beautifull should be the feete of those , which shall bring vnto them glad tydings of peace . i will therefore examine my selfe by the law , that i may bee brought to esteeme of the gospell : i will mediate of my slauery , which i am brought to by transgressing the law , that i may duely respect the liberty , which is preached in the gospell . mine owne bitternesse shall make mee delight in this sweetnesse , and mine owne vngraciousnesse in this so great a grace . of the law and the gospell . the law saith , doe this , and thou shalt liue : the gospell saith , beleeue in the lord iesvs , and thou shalt be saued . in the law there is seuerity , but in the gospell mercy : in the law there is reserued no repentance , but by the sentence thereof hee that sins , must die : but the gospell admits repentance , and promiseth life to him that turneth vnto god. the law terrifies , but the gospell pacifies : the law discouers sin , but the gospell couers it : the law requires a mans owne iustice , but the gospell preacheth pardon in the iustice of another , to wit , of christ . the law is written , after a sort , in the hearts of all men , pagans and christians ; but the gospell is not so generally knowne to all . and the gospell was not first , and then the law : but the law was first , and then the gospell . to finde out my sinnes , i will veiw the law : but to reade my saluation , i will looke into the gospell . to despaire of my selfe , i will weigh the law : but to hope in christ , i will receiue the gospell . if i were disposed to stand vpon my good deeds , i would sticke to the law : but being desirous of mercy , i will flye to the gospell . if i would stand vpon my iustice , i wold plead the law : but crauing grace , i go to the gospell . yet this will i doe , because the law is the rule of good workes ; i will endeuour to keepe it with care and conscience : yet euery day will i pray , and say ; god bee mercifull to mee a sinner . of good and euill . good is more ancient then euill : sanctity is elder then sinne : vice is yonger then vertue . there was first an angell , then a diuell : first a man , then a sinner : first , a true-man then a thiefe . in good no man can bee too much ; in euill no man can bee too little . hee that would encrease in good , let him thinke hee hath yet too little : hee that would decrease in euill , let him remember still hee hath too much . the way to learne vertue is to vnlearne vice : hee taketh the ready course to become good , which repenteth of his euils : and hee onely will proue a saint , which feelingly confesses himselfe to bee a sinner . of the church vniuersall . the holy catholique church is the corporation or communion of saints , triumphant in heauen , and militant on earth . this is the mysticall body of christ , who is the onely head thereof , by whose spirit euery member thereof is animated , as euery part of the naturall body is animated of the soule : and from which head euery true mysticall member deriueth all spirituall life , sense , and motion . and as the moone receiueth her light from the sunne , so doth the church receiue all her brightnesse , both of grace and glory , from iesvs christ . this church is the vine of gods delight , the spouse of christ , his faire one , his wel-beloued , gods house , and citty , the lord and keeper whereof is god ; the wall his omnipotent grace , and gracious omnipotency ; the watch-towers are his prouidence and omniscience : her ensignes , or armes , are faith , righteousnesse , peace , charity , and ioy in the holy ghost : her foundation is the doctrine of the prophets and apostles , her gate is christ , her religion is the seruice of the blessed trinity , her citizens are all poenitent and true beleeuers , and all the saints of god. this is the mother of vs all ; hee that hath not her for his mother , hath not god for his father . this is gods family ; hee that serues not him in it , serueth the diuell out of it . this is the court of the great king : hee that is not new-borne in it , is some base-borne caitiffe , and not counted among the sons of the king. of the militant church . christ hath a part of his mysticall body triumphing with him in the heauens , and he a part warring vnder him heere on earth . this is a spirituall building , made of liuing stones , hewen out of the rocke christ iesvs . this is noahs arke , out of which there is no meanes to scape the flouds of vengeance . this , like a ship , is weather-beaten with the raging winds , and waues of worldly troubles , yet is not swallowed vp . this church , though farre and wide dispearsed , is yet but one , as many members make but one body , many branches make but one tree , many riuers make but one sea , many people make but one kingdom . and one shee is , because shee acknowledgeth but one god , confesseth one faith , is ruled by one head , animated of one spirit , participateth of one baptisme , and is gouerned by one law. this church militant is the sub-vrbes of the church triumphant : none must enter into this , but hee that hath first passed that : none shall triumph like a victor , but hee , that hath fought like a souldier : and hee that would weare a crowne in this , must first take vp his crosse in that . the proper and essentiall members of this church are all of them holy by the imputation of the merites of christ their head , and by the powerfull operation of the spirit of christ , which is within them : and all these are infallibly knowne onely vnto god , who seeth the secrets of the heart , and can certainely iudge of inward vertues . as for the iudgement of men ( which may bee deceiued with shewes , as the birds were with those artificial grapes of zeuxis ) it is vncertaine ( if of others ) except there bee some singular reuelation ; and rather an opinion of charity , then a conclusion of certainety . this church militant is in the world , but not of the world : all her members are strangers in the earth , but descended from heauen ; generated not of man , but regenerated by the holy ghost , not begotten of mortall bloud , by the appetite of the flesh , or will of man , but of immortall seed , by the word of god , according to his will. the onely husband of this church is christ iesvs : for hee onely hath her , holds her , leads her : to him alone shee owes her loue , her loyalty and fidelity . the friends , ( not the husbands , for shee hath but one ) of this bride , and bridegroome , are all true christians , specially pastors , which heare the voice of the bridegroome , and take great delight therein , eschewing the voice of strangers . the common condition of this church , and all her members , is affliction and persecution : but shee counteth nothing more glorious , then to beare the reproach of her husband , who is troubled in all troubles , remembers all her sighes , and enbottles all her teares : and shee hath this property , that like a garden shee is greenest after a shower , like camomill shee is most odoriferous being troden on ; like spices , shee is most fragrant being rubbed , or bruised : whiles shee is persecuted , shee flourisheth ; whiles shee is pressed , shee spreadeth ; whilst shee is iniured , shee vanquisheth : whilst shee is corrected , shee learneth ; and then gets vp , when shee seemeth to bee beaten downe : then is shee most valiant in the truth , when shee is most oppugned for the truth . being laden with tribulations , she gathers strength ; being watered with the bloud of martyrs , shee taketh spirit , in sorrow shee reapeth solace , being straited she is enlarged , her very teares doe feed her , & her fastings do refresh her ; and those things doe make her floate aloft like corke , which make worldlings , like lead , sinke downe vnto the bottome . this church is the pillar and ground of the truth , so termed of her seruice , because shee doth by her ministery keepe , confirme , and preach the truth ; not that shee hath authority ouer the truth , for the truth is the ground and pillar of the church : but shee hath authority ouer her children , and against all heretiques , from the truth , with which shee is betrusted to preserue and preach . i will therefore enquire for the scriptures in the church , and for the church in the scriptures : for the church sheweth the scriptures , by her ministery ; and the scriptures demonstrate the church by their authority . of particular churches . the sea is one : yet by reason that it washeth on many countries , it obtaineth many names , as brittish , spanish , adriaticall , mediterranean . so all true particular churches in the world , make but one catholique congregation , though by reason of the countries , states , or nations , in which they are dispearsed ; or else because of diuerse outward formes of gouernment , they are called by sundry names . these churches by reason of their open profession of the gospell , and by reason of their outward formes , are called visible , and may bee seene , though which of the professours in them be truely saints , and appertaine to gods election , and which are onely guilded pot-sheards , and not truely sanctified , no man can define precisely . these churches are like the arke , in which were all kind of beasts , cleane , and vncleane ; like a barne , where there is wheate and chaffe ; like a garden , where is flowers and weedes ; an army , where are men , and milk-sops ; a net , wherein are good fish and bad ; a kingdome , or citty , wherein are good subiects , and false , or vnworthy varlets . now these churches are then reputed true , and counted the daughters of the catholicke , when they professe the true faith of christ , and maintaine the true worship of god , for there is the church , where there is true faith , saith hierome ; where god is feared and praysed , saith austen ; where the sacraments of christ are rightly celebrated , and his word heard and conserued , saith beda ; where there is consent in the faith , and consanguinity of the apostles doctrine , saith tertullian ; where god appeareth , and speaketh with his seruants , saith ambrose . into what church therefore , soeuer , i shall come , and shall perceiue the soundnesse of worship , and the faith of christ preached and maintained in the same , i will liue peaceably , and submit my selfe to the ordinances of god therein , most willingly . of christians . christ is the king of kings , and lord of lords : and christians , of all men , are onely of his royall bloud , bone of his bone , flesh of his flesh , animated with his spirit , sprung from his loynes , swayed by his scepter , and partakers of his glory : christians are not vnder the law , but delight in the law : for he , that delights in the law , studies to deale according to the law : but hee which is vnder the law , is dealt with according to the law . euery christian , as hee is a christian , must say with christ ; my kingdome is not of this world : and though it bee his destiny for a time to liue in this world , yet his desire , and endeuour should bee euer to liue , and loue , as one not of this world , but redeemed from the world . many are christians in name , not so in deed , for they that are christs , do crucify the flesh , and fleshly desires , and are not ruled by their flesh , but gouerned by his spirit . in vaine is hee called christian , that is in nothing like to christ . what will it pleasure a man to be reputed that hee is not . hee is indeed a christian , that resembles christ his maister , that sheweth mercy to the miserable , that feeleth the smart of others , that being iniured breakes not forth vnto reuenge , that can liue inglorious for the glory to bee reuealed , that preferreth heauen to earth , and god to mammon , that counts it his meate and drinke and pleasure , to doe the will of his father , that takes vp his crosse in this life , and beares it with patience , and which iudges him onely happy in his death , which dyeth either in christ , or for christ . christ endured the crosse , before hee obtained the crowne ; and suffered shame , before hee entred into his glory . o christian , thou art a delicate souldier , if thou thinkest to winne the field without fighting , or to triumph without troubles ! for the whole life of a christian , if hee liue according to the gospell , is labour , toyle , trouble , crosses , martyrdome . of the ministers of christ . all the apostles had equall power : what peter was all were ; what peter could all could . there was indeed amongst them disparity of gifts , inequality in yeares , difference in conditions , but an identity of power , an equality of authority ; all being equally partakers of one and the selfe-same office , of one and the selfe-same power . these had authority ouer nature , to sure it ; ouer diuels to subdue them ; ouer all men , to conuert them . to these christ iesvs gaue power to worke mighty wonders , to bind and to loose , to open and shut the dores of heauen : these hee sent into the world , as the sunne his beames , as the rose her sweete smels , and as the fire his sparkles ; that as the sunne appeareth in his beames , as the rose is perceiued in his smels , and as the fire is seene in his sparkes ; so the potency of christ might be acknowledged in their vertues , and his maiestie discerned in their ministery . these were the planters of gods vine-yard , the architects of his temple , the fathers of his church , the champions of the faith , and trumpetters of the gospell ; who with their siluer-sounding blasts made the vallies sing , the mountaines ring , and fil'd the eares of all . these were men of mercy , such as had obtained mercy , shewed mercy , and by whom god wrought his works of mercy . they neither liued to themselues , nor dyed ; but vnto him , that dyed for them , and for his sake also , euen for vs , receiuing light from the father of lights , and spending themselues like lampes , in giuing light vnto others . successors to these are all faithfull bishops and priests , who are not maisters of the church , but ministers ; not lords but seruants ; not authours of the faith , but preachers ; not makers of the truth , but keepers : to whom is committed the word of reconciliation , the dispensation of the mysteries of god , the power of remitting and retaining sinnes , the care of the churches , and the keeping of the faith. these simply , as they are ecclesiasticall persons , haue no secular power , and authority : for if the maister , then the seruant must also say ; my kingdome is not of this world . christ came not to make them princes , but priests : not monarkes , but ministers : hee gaue them the keyes of heauen , and not of citties , or kingdomes : hee committed the word vnto them , but not the sword , and gaue them authority to deale with mens soules , but not with their states , or substance . now to make a true minister , it is requisite that he haue a true power , a true mission ; for otherwise he runnes vnsent , and rules , but not by christ : and that hee preach the truth , or else hee abuses his power . this is a most reuerent and holy calling , not instituted by man , nor angell , nor any other creature , but by iesvs christ , the head and husband of the church : and they that are thereof had neede to haue a thousand eies , because they liue not to themselues onely , but to the people also : and they are as a beacon vpon a hill , a citty vpon a mountaine , a candle vpon a table : all mens eies are fixed on them . by teaching and liuing well they teach the people to beleeue and liue well ; but by liuing ill , they teach god how to condemne them . and in truth a good life , is a good sermon , and oftentimes an ill pastor destroyes as much with his ill life , as hee buildeth vp with his good doctrine . of men , no man is better then a christian , and of christians , no man is better then a good priest : but hee that is vicious , is like a peece of dung with a diamond in it ; and as the water in baptisme , which is profitable to others but perishes it selfe : but yet god may worke effectually by the ministery of wicked men ; for their power and calling is his , and their wickednesse is their owne ; that is holy , though they bee vnholy : their authority is not the better for their godlinesse , nor the worse for their vngodlinesse . the light is not polluted , though it passe by polluted places , or persons , neither is the soule corrupted , though it should bee in a corrupted body : so neither is the power and authority of the minister stained , though hee bee full of staines himselfe . and as water , whether it run through a pipe of wood , or stone , or siluer , doth good vnto the ground : so the word and sacraments are auaileable to the receiuers , whatsoeuer the minister be that giues them . neither are wee to respect riches , age , greatnesse of gifts , noblenesse of birth in a minister , as if hee were to bee contemned , when these things are wanting ; but wee are to regard especially his place and power : for the power varies not with the man , neither is the word and sacraments of greater respect , for any personall respects in the minister . water hath the properties and effects of water , whether brought in an earthen pitcher , or a cup of gold , or siluer . and though the more excellent gifts a minister hath , the better it is , yet his power is not thereby greater , or more excellent : but still it is the same , as a diamond is , whether set in gold or siluer : or as the authority of a iustice is the same , whether hee haue more wisedome , godlinesse , and insight in the law , or a lesser measure of the same . and of all faithfull and true ministers of christ it may bee said , how different soeuer in their age , wealth , birth , breeding , gifts , they are the dispensers of the secrets of god , and ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) co-workers with him : for without them hee will not saue men , and without him they cannot saue men . i say he will not : for who , that contemnes the baptisme of man , is baptized with the holy ghost ? whom doth god admit into heauen , which is not admitted by the minister into the church ? to whom will god giue his sonne for foode to his hungry soule , but to him that receiues him in the sacrament ? whose sinnes are loosed in heauen , but hee , that is loosed by the minister on earth ? who is wedded vnto christ iesvs , as a virgine , but hee , that is prepared and fitted for him by the minister ? or who is receiued of god , as an holy , liuing , and accceptable sacrifice , but hee , that is , as it were , tyed to the hornes of the altar , and presented of the priest , perfect in iesvs christ ? and if it happen that a man bee saued without the ministery of man , say it is a rare , and extraordinary fauour , and a thing , whereof no man should dare to presume , least by presuming vpon extraordinary grace , and contemning the ordinarie meanes , a man doe iustly for presuming depriue himselfe of grace , as by his negligence hee depriued himselfe of the meanes of grace . but yet there are which meanely esteeme of the priest-hood , because they spie vices in priests . but it were wisedome to distinguish betweene a man and his manners ; betweene a priest and his vices , and equity not to contemne all for some . it were better to make much of the euill for them ▪ , that are good , rather then for them , that are euill , to contemne the good : for it is better to do good vnto the euill , though vndeserued , then to depriue good men of the good , which they doe deserue : and hee is a very cham , that will blaze , or sport at , the nakednesse , or infirmities , of his father . arise ô lord , and looke vpon thy seruants : let thy priests bee cloathed with righteousnesse : and praise yee the lord , all ye seruants of the lord , yee that stand in the house of the lord : praise the lord yee sonnes of aaron ; praise the lord yee house of leui : all yee that serue the lord , praise the lord : holinesse becommeth his house for euer . of the scriptures , or word of god. the scriptures containe sufficient matter for a mans direction to eternall life : they are the rule of faith , and the measure of good manners . wouldst thou know what to beleeue ? they will instruct thee . wouldst thou know how to liue ? they will teach thee . wouldst thou discerne thine errours ? they will enlighten thee . wouldst thou amend thy life ? they will perswade thee . wouldst thou finde comfort ? they will affoord it thee . thou art blind , but they are light ; thou art diseased , but they are sound : thou art euill , but they are good : thou art deceitfull , but they are faithfull : for thy wants there is in them a supply : for thy superfluities they haue a remedy . the ignorance of the scriptures is the ignorance of christ : neither can hee know god , that is ignorant of his word . gods word a meate , drinke , and physicke or the soule : yet as these things hurt the body rather then helpe it , if they bee not well entertained , so is it with the word : yet the hurt lies not in the word , which is good ; but in the heart , which is naught . the sunne shining vpon a bed of roses , makes it smell well , but vpon a dunghill , it makes it stinke ; the fault is not in the sunne , but in the dunghill . to some the word is the sauour of life , to others it is the sauour of death , & the more they heare , the worse they are , but this is through their owne corruption . raine falling on a medow makes it flourish , but on a flint , it doth but wet it . and water , which quencheth fire , inflameth lime . and such the word appeareth by reason of the diuerse obiects , whereon it worketh . the waters of marah being bitter were made sweete by a tree throwne into them . the waters of iericho being vnwholesome , and the soile sterile , were healed and corrected , after elishah had cast his salt into them : so are mens hearts amended by the word applyed to them ; and of bitter are made sweete , of barren fruitfull , by the blessing of god vpon it : and as ionathan , recouered his sight and strength by the hony , which hee tasted of in his faintnesse : so the children of god are comforted and refreshed by the good word of god , which they receiue with hunger into their soules . this word is in it selfe the same , though it bee not brought by the same men , or in the same language to vs : as gold is gold , whether it be giuen a man in a purse of veluet , or a pouch of leather ; and the selfe-same man may bee clad either in silke , or home-spun russet . it skils not therefore so much who brings it , as if hee bring it . wee will take money out of a slouens hands ; elias will eate his meate , though a rauen bring it : and thirsty sampson will take his drinke out of the iaw-bone of an asse . the light is not the worse because it stands vpon a wodden candlesticke ; nor learning any whit the lesse to bee respected , because it is couered vnder a threed-bare gowne . well , howsoeuer the word comes , or whosoeuer brings it , it shall bee welcome to mee , so long as it is the word of god , and not the fables of men : it is mine appointed food , i will receiue it , whether it come in a platter of wood , or in plate of siluer , or whether the cooke , that drest it , be vertuous , or ill disposed . of hearers . it is good to take heed , not onely what wee heare , but how : as it is not amisse for a man to consider what he eates and drinkes , as in what fashion . some times death is in the pot , and poyson mixed in the cup. i would be loath to let venome in at mine eares , or let-them swallow poyson . and though a man should receiue that , that is good , if hee receiue it not well , it will rather do him hurt then good . euen good food doth sometimes turne to bad humours , though the fault bee not in the foode , but in the feeder . and workes though externally good , yet if they bee not well performed , will proue but little beneficiall to the worker . there are some , that like the athenians , haue their eares open onely for nouelties : some come to heare and not to learne ; some regard delight and not profite , and words , rather then matter : some wil giue a man the hearing , but they will beleeue no more thenlikes their humors : and many shew themselues censurers , not schollers . some are pleased with the voyce , and delight in great sounds ; but whatsoeuer the sense be , it is not of so great request . yee shall haue many quarrell with the preacher ; his speech is plaine , his voyce low , he hath no good action , his wordes stuck like burres in his throate ; hee whips his auditors , hee is too full of the fathers , hee meddles too much with controuersies , hee railes vpon the parish , hee is an easy diuine , it was a plaine sermon , hee preaches nothing but law : or hee is meale-mouthed , hee preaches his hearers a sleepe , hee sings placentia , hee is loath to offend : or hee is neuer well , but when hee is inueighing , hee speakes daggers , and hee aimed at some-body . infinite are the quarrels , that people picke with their preacher . on the contrary , i haue heard some highly commend the sermon : oh it was a rare sermon , hee is an excellent man , it was the best sermon that i euer heard , hee is an admirable preacher . it is well : but i will aske thee : what rare effects did it worke within ? what wonders wrought it in thee , what excellency , what goodnesse , hast thou receiued , or gained , by it ? blesse not thy selfe in commending the preacher , rest not in the naked commendations of his sermon : account that an excellent , a rare , and a good sermon , which produceth rare effects in thee , makes thee better then thou wast before , and stirres thee vp to excell in vertue . account him admirable , and wonder then , when hee worketh wonders in thy soule . thy preacher cares not so much for thy verball commendations , as thy reall . good conuersation is his best commendation , his commending stands in thine amending , and thy godly practise is his best praise . the sheepe , that saith nothing , commends his sheepeheard , when her skin is whole , her fleece faire , and her selfe wel-liking , he heares well , that doth well ; he learnes well , that liues well : and thy knowledge is praise-worthy according to thy practise : and he onely doth proue a good hearer , which heares the truth in humility , beleeues it in simplicity , and obeyes it with alacrity . the word of god is our foode , our eares are our mouth : but this meate is not like bodily food turned into vs , but we by beleeuing and obeying it are turned into it . now hee is the onely happy hearer , that is translated into the word , so as that he may be able to say ; i liue , but yet not i , but the word of god doth liue within me . and this is , when a mans reason , will , & affections ; are brought vnder the word , and when his conuersation being transformed , is now conformed to the word . of the sacraments . the oath of souldiers to their generall , was called sacramentum ; by which name also * water in baptisme , and bread , and wine in the lords supper are vsually called . because as souldiers , when they receiued the presse-mony , did solemnely sweare to their captaine , or generall , that they would bee faithfull and loyall to him : so we whiles we partake of these holy mysteries instituted of god in his church , doe binde our selues with the like vow , that we will liue and die in his cause and seruice . and as they , at the taking of that oath , gaue their names to their emperour or commander , and were receiued into his protection : so wee , when wee receiue these sacraments , doe likewise giue our names vnto christ , and are receiued into his tuition , that vnder his banner wee might fight a good battell , keeping faith and a good conscience . and as there wee doe yeeld ouer our selues vnto god ; so god doth binde himselfe to vs by pacts and promises after a manner sealed vp . sacraments are signes of things , being one thing , and signifying another . euery sacrament is a mysterie , but euery mysterie is not a sacrament . sacraments , are not nata , but data : not naturall , but by diuine appointment : and their dignity depends vpon their authour . they are not the better , because the minister is good , that doth deliuer them , nor the worse , because hee is euill . they are such as hee is , in whose authority they are giuen , not as hee is , by whose ministery they are dispensed : and though they bee hurtfull to them , that deliuer them , being wicked ; yet they are profitable to them , that receiue them , being prepared . and though the receiuer haue a peruerse faith , or come vnprepared , and in sin , yet hee may pertake of a true and entire sacrament , if wee respect the signes , and not the things represented by the signes . in sacraments there is a change , not of substance , but of vse ; not of nature , but of condition . for by these elements consecrated , there is a signification , obsignation & exhibition of christ and his benefits . sacraments are necessary in respect of gods commandement , and as they bee meanes of receiuing christ : yet simply , not the defect of sacraments , but the contempt of them , doth damne a man : if a man would haue them , but cannot , and dies in the desire of them , no doubt he may be saued : but indeed he that may , but cares not for them , and so departs , questionlesse as he scorned the signes , so he shall be depriued of the grace . it is iust , that he should misse of the kernell that cared not for the shell , that he should loose the land , that contemned the lease , or deed ; that hee should be depriued of christ , the bread , and water , of life , that regarded not the water and bread of christ . there are two sacraments , baptisme , and the lords supper : by baptisme wee are admitted into the church , receiued into the seruice of the blessed trinity , and haue our sinne remitted , though not at first extirped . a man is borne a sinner , but by baptisme hee is made a saint . a man is , by birth , a limme of the diuell , but by baptisme hee is made the member of christ : a man may bee new borne , and not baptized ; but hee is not so , if hee skorne to bee baptized . there are some , that make small account of baptisme ; but for my selfe , i make more reckoning of my baptisme , then of all the riches in the world , as knowing that these can neither helpe , nor hurt so much , as the other : and that the comtempt of these may stand with a mans saluation , whereas the contempt of baptisme is punished with damnation . by the lords supper wee are nourished and preserued in the church : in those hallowed signes of bread and wine christ iesvs and all his merites are signified , sealed vp , and exhibited vnto euery worthy receiuer : for as there is in an obligation , or legall instrument , an assurance and conueyance made of mony , goods , or lands , from one to another : so in the sacrament , vnder these elements , there is a most sure conueyance and exhibition of christ iesvs vnto euery prepared communicant . and although wee take the bread by it selfe , and the wine by it selfe , yet wee must not imagine that christ is giuen by peece-meale ; but two signes were ordained to shew that wee haue perfect food in christ . for it is but an hungry dinner , where there is no meate ; and a dry feast where there is no drink : now to signifie that christ is meate and drinke vnto vs , and that in him wee shall haue a full refection , therefore two signes , one of bread , which strengthens the heart , another of wine which allaies the thirst , and make it merry , were by christ ordained . of communicants . i do much wonder at the foolish auersnesse , and peruerse folly of many men , that make so small account of this blessed sacrament , that they must by feare of lawes be driuen to it . they are out of charity , they want good cloathes , they are not yet at leasure ; they alledge i wot not what , their very excuses doe accuse them . who bids thee be out of charity ? why art thou not reconciled ? who requires fine apparell at thy hands ? it is a good heart , that is exacted of thee : grace , not garments ; thy soule within thee , not thy cloathes about thee . and why wantest thou leasure ? thou hast leasure to eate , to drinke , to play , to sleepe , to be vaine and idle : why hast thou no leasure to feede thy soule , to refresh thy spirit , to receiue thy sauiour ? thou hast leasure , but it is not thy pleasure . thou canst not come ; nay , thou wilt not come . thou canst not , because thou lists not . if thy profite call thee , thou goest ; if thy pleasures call thee , thou followest ; if thy flesh call thee , thou mak'st hast ; if thy companions whistle , thou trudgest : but christ cals thee , thou tarriest , thou findst excuses ; there is a bone in thy legge , thou canst not come . must the horse bee forced to the manger , must a sheepe be compelled to graze , must the hungry ( and almost starued ) oxe be entreated to eate his hay ? surely thou art not hungry , thy soule is not a thirst , thou art so maydenly that thou must bee entreated ; thou art so wanton , thou must bee compelled vnto thy food . yea , but thy dost imagine that thou canst haue christ without the sacrament ; this is thy fansie , but thy fansie is no faith : if thou contemnest the sacrament , thou contemnest christ : contempt of the law doth argue contempt of the law-maker : neglect of the ordinance bewrayes neglect of the ordainer : and hee , that will not receiue christ , as hee doth offer himselfe to be receiued , is like to loose him , for ought that can bee knowne : and hee , that will not when hee may , it is very probable , when hee would , hee shall haue nay . but thou wilt hereafter put off excuses : thou wilt bee wiser , thou wilt not deferre to come . come then , but come prepared : come in charity ; for he , that hateth a christian , shall neuer bee loued of christ , neither shall any man enioy the lord , but he , that is in charity with his seruants . what hath hee to doe with the bread of christ , that contemneth the least member of his body ? come in repentance , with washed hands and heart : for these holy things belong not vno dogs , nor swine . come in humility , acknowledging thy selfe vnworthy of the least crumme vpon the lords table , not relying vpon thine owne merites , but vpon the lords mercies , not vpon thine owne dignity , but vpon his dignation . finally come in a good beleefe , beleeuing onely in the lord iesvs christ , and that by these outward things , hee with all his merites , are represented , sealed , and exhibited vnto thee ; and not imagining that the bread is turned into the body of christ and the wine into his very bloud ; but knowing that these things do in their substance still continue , & withall desiring that thou thy selfe mightst be truely transformed and turned into him , that thou maist be able to say with saint paul : i liue , yet not i , but christ doth liue within mee . of the bread and wine in the eucharist . the bread and wine in the lords supper is holy bread , holy wine , turned in vse , but not in shape , but not in substance , remaining what they were , yet being what they were not . they haue eyes , and see not ; eares , and heare not ; touch , and feele not ; mouthes , and taste not ; noses and smell not ; reason , and vnderstand not , which say it is not bread , it is not wine , when once the words of consecration are pronounced . yet are they truely , but sacramentally , the body and bloud of our lord and saviovr iesvs christ : euen as the circumcision was the couenant , as the paschall lamb was the passeouer , as the rocke was christ . parchment and the waxe sealed put vnto it in a bond , lease , or deed of conueyance , wherein is made an assurance of money , goods , or houses , or a collation and conueyance of lands in lincolneshire to a man in london , is still parchment and waxe , yet more then ordinary in respect of vse ; and hauing these things in his hand , he can say , here is my mony , house , or land ; not that they are turned into money , houses , or lands , but because by them he hath assurance , or an assured conueyance of these things vnto him . and so is it with sacramentall bread and wine : yet here our assurance is firmer , the conueyance is more vndoubted : because man may deceiue , and the greatnesse , or malice of aduersaries may oppresse ; but god , who by these things doth offer and exhibite christ and his benefites to vs , cannot deceiue , will not falsifie his couenant , but will most certainely performe all his promises ; prouided that we stand vnto the conditions , to which we are tyed : neither man , nor diuell , nor any creature , can hinder or keepe vs from receiuing christ in the sacrament , if we stand not in our owne way , and let our selues . of our lord and sauiour iesus christ . diverse in the scriptures haue beene called by the name of iesvs ; as iesus the sonne of nun : iesus the high priest , the son of iosedeck : and iesus , which was called iustus : but christ hath this name with a maine difference from them all . for whereas they were no more then men , our iesvs is god and man , in one and the selfe-same person . they came into the world by an ordinary generation , as we do now : but hee was borne of a virgin pure , that knew no man. they had not their name giuen them expresly by god , but by men : but hee had his name from god , by the mouth of an angell , gods messenger . they all had need of this iesvs , that they might be saued by him , otherwise they had perished all : they were the sons of men ; but hee is the son , the eternall son of the eternall god. they might be meanes to saue others , especially from exterior dangers and enemies : but this iesvs , by his owne personall power , and merites hath saued all true beleeuers from their sinnes : hee hath deliuered them from sathan , hee hath redeemed their soules from death , and hath purchased for them the glory of the kingdome of heauen . this name he had from all eternity , as god , but hee receiued it in the womb , as man : and in , and at , his resurrection hee made manifest the truth therof most fully . this name of a sauiour ( for so iesvs signifies ) is a name aboue all names : for it is the name of god , i am ( saith he ) and besides mee there is no sauiour : none of all the titles of god , are so precious with him as this of sauiour , in which , with his glory , is ioyned our saluation . euen the very name of god , without this name , hath no comfort in it . shut out this iesvs , and god is a consuming fire , and there is no dealing with him : but in this iesvs , god hath reconciled the world to himselfe , who without him is an enemy to it . the name christ ( which signifies annointed ) is not equall vnto the name iesvs , for the end is aboue the meanes : now hee was annointed to be our sauiour . princes are called the lords annointed , but saluation is of the lord ; that is proper to him : hee , hee is the sauiour , and besides him there is no other . and indeed iesvs is the very name of god , but god cannot bee annointed : hee that giues all , can take nothing ; hee is the annointer , and is not , nor can possible be annointed . therefore christ cannot be the name of god : and yet euen our iesvs is our iesvs christ , our annointed sauiour ; which annointing is spoken of him , and that truely , as hee is man , and mediator , betweene god and man. this iesvs is our lord , hee hath bought vs with his owne bloud , and hee is farre aboue all other lords in the world : for other lords in case may bee disobeyed ; but this in no case : other lords are by him , both as men and as lords , and both they and their lordships are subiect to change : but hee is immortall , and of his kingdome there shall bee none end . other lords are sinners , and meere men : but hee is god also , and the sanctifier of sinnefull men . they , if they will be saued , must serue this lord , and throw downe their crowns at his feete . other lords cannot do , what they do desire , but christ can . they cannot saue all , that follow them , and aduance all their subiects : but hee saueth all that trust in him , and serue him , hee makes them all kings and priests vnto his father . and whereas other lords haue their naturall infirmities , and passions , of choler , melancholy , &c. by which their seruants are sometimes vexed , yea and wronged too : our lord is so exquifitely compleate , and absolute , as that hee cannot offend , or wrong , any man by any meane : but is able to giue full contentment vnto all , and is all things to all his seruants , and in them all . of blasphemy . to blaspheme , is properly to hurt , or wrong , one in his name or fame . god is three waies blasphemed : first , when that is denyed vnto him , which is his due : when that is imputed to him , which belongs not to him , and when that is attributed to another , which is proper onely vnto him : he blasphemes god , that saith god cannot saue him , or which saith god is not iust , or that hee sees not all secret things , or that he regards not the sighes and teares of his people : he likewise blasphemes god , that saith god hath a body , like a man : or that it is long of god that men do sin . thirdly , he blasphemes god , that saith the diuell can make a man , or raise a man , truely dead , to life . hee is an euill man , that will speak euill of his maker : and sure the heart is not right , if the tongue speake wrong ; he that speakes ill , thinkes not well . doubtlesse god will not iustifie the man , that condemnes him ; hee will not hold him guiltlesse , that would make him guilty ; hee thinkes not well of him , that speakes ill of him. god hath giuen a tongue to the beast , but the faculty of speach onely vnto man ; hee is very ill requited , when by this tongue his name is blasphemed . the tongue was giuen a man to praise god , not to blaspheme and accuse him. it is a fearefull euill to turne that to euill , which was made for good : it is a grieuous sinne to speake ill of god with the tongue , which was made of purpose to speake good of him : and questionlesse , if men must giue account ( at the iudgement ) of their idle words , then blaspheming and hurtfull words shall not bee forgotten . of the olde and new testament . the old testament , and the new , for substance , is one and the same . the old infolds the new , and the new vnfolds the old. the new is couered in the old , the old is discouered in the new. the faith in both is one : either one , or none : for nature it is the same in both : but in the new it hath receiued light , euidence , and distinction . there hath beene an encrease of faith : but how ? not that new points are added , but the former are amplifyed , and explained . an infant hath all the parts of a man , but these parts by yeares are enlarged : and an oake is contained in the kernell , but time produceth all the parts and branches . euen so the faith of our fore-fathers before christ , and ours since , is for sense and substance , one and the same , but since it hath receiued his growth , his euidence , and illustration , but yet in the same kind , sense , and vnderstanding . of justifying faith. ivstifying faith is that gracious gift , whereby we beleeue in the iustice of christ for our iustification , and looke vpon him with confidence , who was lifted vp vpon the crosse for the cure of our soules , as the brazen serpent was for the cure of the israelites , being stinged with serpents ; that as they by looking to the brazen serpent were cured of their bodily hurts , so we by beholding or fixing our beleefe on iesvs christ crucified , should not perish , but haue eternall life by him , being by the grace of god in him , deliuered from all our sinnes . by faith then a mans goes out of himselfe , and goes into christ iesvs : by faith he forsakes himselfe , and cleaues vnto christ iesvs ; by faith hee stands not vpon his owne righteousnesse , which is required by the law , but desires to be found in the righteousnesse of christ , which is reuealed in the gospell : by faith hee puts off his owne ragges , his owne wisedome , holinesse , iustice , and puts on christ iesvs , and applies him , or at the least would faine apply him to himselfe , as some rich robe , or glorious garment , that being cloathed in his wisedome , holinesse , and iustice , hee might appeare in the presence of god his heauenly father ( as iacob did to isaac in esaus cloathes ) and so obtaine his euerlasting blessing : this sauing faith is a most precious iewell of the soule , full of comfort and content . thou canst not see god , but thou maist behold his workes ; this is his worke , that a man beleeueth in his sonne iesvs christ : if then thou dost truely beleeue , thou maist be sure that god is in thee , and hath taken possession of thee . wouldst thou know how the sunne goes in the heauens ? then looke vnto some true sunne dyall , in it the motion of the sunne aboue appeareth . so , wouldst thou see how the son of righteousnes christ iesvs is affected towards thee ? ascend not on high , scale not the heauens ; but descend into thy selfe , and examine thine heart for thy faith ; for thy faith apprehends him , followes him vp and downe , and lookes wishly vpon him ; thy faith eyes him , touches him , holds him , and will not let him go . and marke , euen as thou by thy faith dost apprehend him , so hee by his fauour doth comprehend thee : as thou dost acknowledge him , so hee doth acknowledge thee : as thou dost enter into him , so hee doth inuiron thee : as thou dost content thy selfe with him , so hee delight himselfe in thee : as thou dost rest and leaue thy selfe on him , so hee doth offer himselfe as a prop to stay and hold thee vp . not that wee beginne , and hee followes ; but hee beginnes , and wee follow : euen as the diall followes the sun , and not it the diall ; or , as the motion , and turning of a boate at anchor , followes the motion and turning of the water , and not it the boate : or , as as the drynesse of the wayes , follow the drynesse of the weather , and this that : or finally , as the sea followes the moone , and not it the sea. by this faith we heare with profite , we walke with comfort , wee worke by charity , wee hope for glory , we enioy tranquillity , and though wee bee not iustified for the merite of it , yet are wee iustified by it , as by that onely meane , whereby wee behold and hold , beleeue and place , our confidence in iesvs christ , who was made vnto vs , of god , wisedome , righteousnesse , sanctification , and redemption . so saint paul , knowing that a man is not iustifyed by the workes , but by the faith of iesvs christ : wee also ( paul and peter ) haue beleeued in iesvs christ , that wee might bee iustified by the faith of christ , and not by the workes of the law : because by the workes of the law no flesh shall bee iustified . epiphanius saith , iustice is by faith , without the workes of the law. chrysostome saith , hee hath saued vs by faith alone . theodoret saith , by bringing onely faith we haue receiued pardon of sinnes . we iudge , saith ambrose , according to the apostle , that a man is iustifyed by faith , without the workes of the law. ierome saith , thou knowest that thou , as the gentiles , hast found life in christ , not by the workes of the law , but by faith alone . to omit many , heare onely now saint austen a word , or two : when the apostle saith , a man is iustified freely , without the workes of the law , by faith , it is not his drift , that when faith is receiued and professed , the workes of iustice should bee contemned ; but that euery man may know it is possible for him to bee iustified , although the workes of the law haue not gone before ; for they follow him , that is iustified , and go not before him , that is to bee iustified . so then , wee for our parts are iustified before god onely by faith : but wee , and our faith also are iustified before men by good workes , as the goodnesse of a tree is shewed by the fruite , the goodnesse of a rose by her sweete odors , the cunning of a workeman by his workes . and though faith bee not alone , but very well attended , yet it iustifies alone : as the eye sees alone , the eare heares alone , the mouth tastes alone , the legges go alone , but yet are not alone , but are coupled to other parts of the body . hee that hath this faith , hath all the vertues of a christian ; hee that wants it , wants all : with it a man is something , without it a man is worse then nothing . a man hath all that hath himselfe ; he hath nothing that wants himselfe ; but hee hath himselfe that hath his sauiour , and hee hath his sauiour , that beleeueth in him , and by the vertue of his faith doth seeke and serue him. it it not faith , but faithlesnesse ; not trust but distrust , for a man to put affiance in himselfe : i will therefore distrust in my selfe , that i may beleeue in christ : i will despaire of my selfe , that i may haue hope in him ; and i will loose my selfe in my selfe , that i may finde my selfe in him : i will not distrust in his might , because hee is almighty ; nor in his good will , because hee is most mercifull , and cryeth ; come vnto mee ( not yee that are worthy , but ) yee that are weary , and heauy laden , and i will refresh you . of hope that maketh not ashamed . hope is the wishing and expecting of some good to come . true christian hope , is that worke of the spirit in a true beleeuers heart , whereby hee patiently waiteth for those good things , which god hath promised vnto him in iesvs christ : this hope is certaine , and not false ; begotten of faith in the promise of god : it is the anchor of the soule , which would be split in peeces with stormes and tempests , and driuen vpon rockes and sands , or loose it selfe in the vaste ocean of this vnquiet and sinnefull world , if it were not preserued and staied by hope , fastned on our lord and saviovr christ iesvs , who is the ground of our hope , our staffe , our stay , our comfort and contentment . ioy is the motion of the heart vpon some present good , now enioyed : but hope is the hearts expectation of some good to come : which good the faithfull heart doth long and looke for ; not led thereunto by the euidence of humane sense or reason , but moued by the euidence of faith , which is the promise of god. the way to come to true hope , is to haue no hope in our selues , but to receiue all our hope from faith in the word of god. for to hope in the creature is to despaire of the creator : neither doth hee truely hope in christ , that doth fixe his hope on any thing out of christ . to despaire is a grieuous sinne , for a man thereby denies the power of god , who is omnipotent , or his good will and mercy , who will cast away no humble suppliant , but knowes how to alter his sentence , if thou canst tell how to performe repentance . it is true , desperation doth destroy thousands , but presumption doth kill ten thousands . there is no more dangerous presumption , then for a man to expect saluation by his owne deserts , or to ground his hope of eternity vpon his owne perfections . his waxen wings where-with hee soares on high , will not bee able to endure the heate of gods iustice , but with icarus hee shall most surely fall , and perish in the gulfe of hell . so , it is very vanity for a man to hope for heauen , whiles hee is alwaies ( like a mole ) rooting and turning vp mountaines of enormities against the heauens , and laying sinne vpon sinne ( as the babilonians did stone vpon stone ) and so threatning heauen with their sinnes , as they with their tower. the sinner may not hope for heauen , but the saint onely ; the humble , and not the proud ; the penitent , not the man addicted to his owne lusts , and hating to bee reformed . for the promise of eternall life is made , not to infidels , but to beleeuers ; not to the rebell , but to the penitent ; not to the presumptuous , but to the poore ; not to the children of the world , but to the true spirituall , sonnes , and daughters of the church of god. adulterers , drunkards , worldlings , shall not inherite the kingdome of god. they cannot be saued , except they repent , and when they do truely repent , then god accounts them no longer adulterers , drunkards , worldlings , but doth forgiue them . and as without repentance they cannot be saued ; so without repentance they cannot hope to bee saued . if they looke to be saued , and yet run on in their sinnes , they looke in vaine : this their looking being the presumption of fancy , not the expectation of faith . it is but a castle built in the aire , imaginary : or like an house of clay set in the waters . lord iesvs , thou art mine hope , mine honour ! i will beginne and end in thee . i would be found in thee , and not in mee . i will desire , seeke , and waite for life in thee , in thee alone , in nothing else . i doe long , and looke to see the face of god in the land of the liuing : but it is because thou art mine , and i am thine , and thine i desire to be , and none but thine , for euer and euer . for this hope is not a mans , but a christians : thou art the author of it , not alam : it is of faith , not from the flesh : wee haue it not by generation , but by regeneration : neither can any man be possessour of it longer , then hee continueth thine , euen thine , and none but thine , ruled of thy spirit , and not ouer-ruled of his flesh . of holy charity . love is an vniting affection , by which the heart is knit vnto the thing beloued , and by which the knot is continued knit , and not dissolued . for as hatred looseth , so loue bindeth : that diuideth , but this vniteth ; that causeth abhomnation , but this delectation ; that contempt , but this contentment . loue , that is good , hath for his obiect good . as euill , either true , or seeming , is the obiect of hatred ; so a true , or seeming good , is the obiect of loue . a true loue is fixed on a thing , that is truely good . this is a rare and excellent vertue ; that , which appeaseth god to man , and reconcileth man to god ; that which made the sonne of god come downe to men , and the sonnes of men go vp to god ; that , which ties god to vs , and our hearts to him. knowledge is in the soule as a candle in a darke roome : yet without charity , the greatest clearke is but an empty bladder ; or like a vaste house full of light , but voide of treasure ; hee may haue learning , but hee wanteth grace . this holy affection , makes the poore man very rich , and the want thereof makes a rich man very poore . with it , a man is as an angell : without it , hee is euen as bad , or little better , then a diuell . this is the soule of all learning , the condiment of all vertues , the roote of all good actions , the ornament of all christians , the keeper of true peace , the mother of true obedience , and that , without the which , a man hath nothing , is nothing . a man may haue wealth as nabal , wit , as achitophel , beauty , as absolom , honour , as haman , strength as goliah , the sacraments , as iudas , and yet be wicked and cast away for euer : but a man cannot but be good , whose loue is sincere and good : and as soone shall the diuell bee saued , as a charitable man condemned . but who is this charitable man indeed ? euen hee that loueth god in christ , and euery good christian for christ his sake . many will boast of loue , as many brauadoes will bragge of wealth , they haue not . if to for sweare , and sweare idly , if to profane the saboath , and to contemne sacred persons , places , offices , acts and exercises : if to be stout and sturdy to superious , if to brow-beate , stabbe , quarrell , raile , threaten , and reuenge : if to paint the face , and die the haire , to weare a long locke , or to abuse our neighbours wife , daughter , or seruant : if to robbe , purloine , embezle , or beguile : if to oppresse , and grinde the faces of poore people : if to bee idle , and vnprofitable : if glutting , glouring , pranking , lying , slandering , flattering , and euill speaking : if these bee charity , the world is full of charity ; and such charitable persons , are rife , as the frogs of aegypt , which would venture into the kings court. but if these bee not , as indeed they are not , then may wee iustly complaine , and say : there is men enough , but few louers ; much enormity but little charity . some commend charity , but shew none ; and thinke they haue it , when no fruite thereof appeareth . charity needs none of their prayses , but they stand in neede to bee praysed by charity , which loues onely to be commended of her children . it is true , charity it selfe is not seene , but it is manifested by her operations ; as the heart by panting , as the winde by blowing , as the aire by drying , or as the spirit and iuice of a tree by the apple . and it is as impossible for charity to bee in the soule without signes , and friuts , as for fire to bee without heate , or for water not to wet them , that touch it , or for the soule to bee in the body , and yet to shew no vertue , or comfort , thereof vnto the body . of gods loue to man. there is no man liuing , which , as a creature , is not loued of god the great creator ; which appeareth in that hee is said to be the saviovr of all , and to cause the sunne to shine , and the raine to fall , euen on the wicked . hee loueth humanity , but hateth impiety ; the man-head is beloued , but malice in it is detested : hee likes well of the nature , but dislikes the sinne : that , which is his , hee loues , but that which marres his , hee hates : his owne image hee loues , but the deformities therof , made by man , are altogether displeasing in his sight . now when all men had transgressed , and by transgression had made themselues the children of death , it pleased him to passe by fome , being tyed to none , and some others to chuse in loue vnto eternall life . but what loued hee now ? the men , and not their manners ; their nature , now vnder great corruption , but not corruption it selfe : their persons , not their preuarications . and why loued hee them ? what moued him to make that difference ? surely nothing but his owne good will : meēre mercy in him , no merite at all in them ; his free dignation , and no dignity or deserts of theirs : his free fauour to them , and no fore-seene faith in them . but god , that had nothing to loue in a sinner but his humanity , in a true saint hath also christianity : then nature , but now nature and grace too : in generation the humane nature , in regeneration a certaine diuine nature . if the diuell hate all men , but especially all saints ; then wee may be sure that god loues all men , but especially all holy men : and if the diuell hate and pine at the graces of god in men ; then questionlesse god loues all his graces , in whomsoeuer hee findes them . o the riches of the loue of god vnto his chosen ! o inexplicable kindnesse ! o irrecompenfable fauour ! what is man , that thou shouldst regard him , or the son of man , a worme , a wretch , the childe of death , that thou shouldest cast thine eies vpon him ? when all were fallen , and had deserued nothing but wrath , but woe , but death , eternall wrath , eternall woe , eternall death ; thy mercy , thy mercy , not at all deserued , pittyed some , but diddest passe by others as amiable and as miserable as the other . o how vnspeakeable is thy loue to thine ! how admirable art thou in all thy waies ! euen thine enemies hast thou receiued vnto mercy ; thou hast punished their sinnes in the flesh of thine owne sonne , and in whom thou dost crowne them with grace and glory . o god , thy loue brought the israelites out of aegypt , ouerwelmed their persecutors , guided them in the wildernesse , trod downe the nations for them , and brought them into the land of canaan : euen so , ô lord , thy loue vnto vs , redeemeth vs from our bondage , saueth vs from hell , treadeth downe our enemies , protects and directs vs in the world , and safely brings vs into the land of promise , the land of the liuing , where wee shall see thy face , and enioy the ioyes of blisse for euermore . o lord thy loue is life , thy fauour is felicity : lord , let the light of thy countenance shine vpon mee , and grant mee thy loue , which thou bearest vnto those , whom thou louest euer , and leauest neuer . of mans loue to god. love of god doth knit fast the heart vnto him , makes it delight in him , and to bee contented with him. what cause hath man to loue him , it is not hard to conceiue , seeing hee is altogether good in himselfe , and the cause of all good in , and to him . are wee , liue wee , vnderstand wee ? wee must ascribe it vnto god. are wee men , or are wee good men ? haue wee grace , or expect we glory ? the praise belongs to him. the measure of our loue should bee vnmeasureable , and the end endlesse . the heart , wherewith wee loue him , should not bee halfe , nor hollow , but such as hee made in vs , whole , and vndiuided , simple , and not double . how equall is it that man should loue his god , seeing it is the substance of his law , and seeing he is so much obliged to him for the tokens of his loue to him. how needfull is it , seeing otherwise hee cannot loue his neighbour in him , no nor performe any act or office of religion , pleasingly in his sight ? and how comfortable , seeing it is the worke of gods spirit in him , and an vndoubted effect and token of gods loue to him , and of his faith in god ? and yet it is a wonder to see how rare this duety is amongst vs. how sildome doe wee thinke of god , or of his seruice ? what capitall and foule enormities are euery where heaped vp against him ? how vsuall is it with men to turne his grace into wantonnesse ? how doe the pleasures and cares of the world depriue him of our hearts ? how common is the contempt of his holy ordinances ? how great is the profanation of his holy day ? how customably is his fearefull and glorious name , vainely vsed ? and how wantonly doe men deale with his sacred word ? what little zeale and courage is there in vs for his glory ? alas , wee talke of loue , but demonstrate little . the heart of the louer is rather where it loues , then where it liues ; a man cannot but obey his lord , whom hee deerely loueth , and will make much of any thing , that belongs to that hee loues . but our hearts are buried in the earth , wee are euer rooting in the ground , wee haue cast off the yoke of gods commandements , wee are frozen in our dregges , and make account of any thing rather then that which concernes his honour : which doth discouer our hypocrisie , and witnesseth against vs that wee are louers of pleasures , profite , preferments , of any thing rather then of him : yet is there nothing able to doe vs so much good , as hee : nothing so worthy of our loue , as hee : nothing , to which wee are so much indebted , as to him : nothing , wherein wee can finde so much comfort in the loue thereof , as in the loue of him : nothing , so well able to rauish our hearts with the delight thereof , as hee is : and no man so regardfull of our loue , as hee is , and yet standeth not in neede of vs at all , nor of our loue . wee desire his loue to vs , why then should we not remonstrate ours to him ? wee would haue our children and seruants loue vs , it is reason therefore that wee should bestow our loue on him , being our louing lord , and gracious father in iesvs christ . of the loue of christ . christ is our lord and saviovr , therefore wee ought to loue him , as men in loue redeemed by him , and receiued into his seruice . hee loues him as his lord , that willingly submits his soule vnto his scepter , and offers himselfe to bee ruled by his lawes : hee loues him as his saviovr , that relies vpon his merites , seekes to him for his grace , and resteth in those meanes of life and godlinesse , which hee hath ordained in his church christ is the husband of his people , and therefore to bee beloued of them , as of his wife . and those loue him as their husband , that wed not their hearts to any other , that keepe their soules chaste for him , that delight to bee vnder his shadow , and which in their hearts , say , with the spouse in the canticles ; stay mee with flagons , and comfort mee with apples ; set mee as a seale on thine heart , and as a signet vpon thine arme : thy loue is better then wine . if euer our loue was deserued of any , then of christ iesvs ; who became man to bring vs into grace with god ; who was poore , to make vs rich ; who humbled himselfe , to exalt vs ; who came downe from heauen , to fetch vs from hell to heauen : who both liued and dyed for vs , that wee might escape eternall death , and might obtaine eternall life . and finally , because perfection procureth fauour , and beauty is the load-stone vnto loue : wee must needs bestow our loue on him , in whom is nothing but perfection , nothing but beauty . in him are all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge hidden : in him is the fulnesse of the god-head bodily : hee is fairer then the sonnes of men , grace is diffused in his lips : god hath annointed him with the oile of gladnesse aboue his fellowes : hee is white and ruddy , the chiefest of ten thousand , wholly delectable . lord iesvs , tie mine heart fast to thee by loue ; seuer it from all earthly things , euen from it selfe , that it may be wedded wholly , and solely vnto thee , vnto thee , and vnto none but thee , and that for euer . of selfe-loue . chrity beginnes at home : it is naturall for a man to loue himselfe ; hee that loues not himselfe , is vnfit to loue another : or how can hee take care of another , that is carelesse of himselfe ? true selfe-loue is a furtherer of all vertues , specially of temperance and such other , as concerne our selues . for hee , that loues himselfe truely , wils well , and does well vnto himselfe , and embraces those vertues gladly , by which hee may be mended . there is a blind and foolish selfe-loue , too too common in the world . you shall haue some rauished with the admiration of themselues ; they are the mountaines , all others are but mole-hils ; all their geese are swans ; all their vertues are ten-foote long , and all their actions are good , because they are theirs ; all is spoken in print , that is spoke by them ; they see not their wants , but imagine they haue , that they haue not : so they swimme , they care not though all doe sinke ; so they may haue , they care not though all besides doe want ; they will forgiue and flatter themselues in most grieuous vices , excusing themselues , extenuating their faults , and contemning all the admonitions of others . and finally , their praises of others is very sparing , almost nothing , but they can speake bigly of themselues , and thinke nothing well done , but what they do themselues . this is a pernicious and fearefull sinne , the madnesse of the minde , the impediment of all vertues , the shame of religion , and the cause of all enormites : he that loues himselfe aright , loues himselfe holily that is , in god , for god , and vnder god : and iustly , that hee may bee righteous , and that by selfe-loue hee proues not himselfe injust : and discreetely , not ouerweening himselfe , but with wisedome be hauing himselfe towards all , as is requisite for him . the good man that loues himselfe , as hee should , wisheth well vnto himselfe , doth good vnto himselfe , agreeth with himselfe , dwelleth with himselfe with willingnesse , reioyceth with himselfe , where there is cause of ioy , and sorroweth with himselfe , when there is matter of sorrow ; and in briefe , doth earnestly couet and labour his owne peace , inward , outward , and eternall . on the contrary , a wicked and profane athiest , epicure , and worldling doe not truely loue themselues , but rather hate , and hurt themselues with intemperance , worldly cares , and other vices : they study not to garnish their soules with spirituall vertues , but follow riches , pleasures , and preferments , which to wicked men are neuer good , but euer hurtfull . neither do they agree well together within themselues , because their appetite and sensuall part doth striue against their reasons , and either they euer labour of a stupifyed , or with a vexed and vnquiet spirit . and hence it is also , that sensuall and euill liuers , as drunkards , whoore-mongers , spend-thriftes , and such like persons , loue not to be alone , and like not priuacie , and retired thoughts , but frequent ale-houses , tauernes , plaies , and seeke out voluptuous and boon companions , such as themselues , because they loue not themselues , delight not in themselues , agree not with their consciences , but are vexed with the remembrance of their vices and iniquities , disquieted with the feare of punishment , and pinched with the gripes of an accusing and tumultuous conscience . briefly , men truely good do onely truely loue themselues ; but euill men do not loue themselues at all , but either hate , or loue amisse . of loue to our neighbour . a good christian hath two things in him to be beloued , grace and nature . as hee is a man , we ought to loue him ; but as hee is a good man , wee ought to loue him the more . hee , that hates a man , loues not his maker ; he , that hates a christian , loues not his maister . he that hates either man or christian , is neither christian , nor man , but a diuell incarnate . some boast of their loue to god , which shew no loue to man for god : this boasting is vaine and false , for he that loues god , will loue his image : and certes he that loues not the childe , cares as little for the father . but our neighbour is vngodly , gracelesse , roytous , and voruly ; yet must we loue him , if not because he is good , yet that hee may be good ; if not the man , yet the man-head ; if not the manners , yet the man. gold is good , though drosse bee naught : wheate may not be throwne away because of chaffe ; neither will we hate our bodies , because there are deformities , or diseases in them . neither will all loue serue the turne ; but we ought to loue our neighbour in truth , not falsely ; in deed , not verbally ; in the faith , not against it ; in that , that is iust , and not vnrighteously ; in iudgement , and not vndiscreetely ; in measure , vnder god , and not aboue him : and constantly , not for a start , as if some ague-fit were on vs. there is very much loue in the world , such as it is , but very little christian charity . for this seekes the good of her neighbour , and not his goods : this loues to giue , and not to pull away : this beareth much , for beareth much , and reioyceth in the truth : this loues a man , not for his greatnesse , but for his graces ; not for his birth , but for his new-birth ; not for his honour , but for his holinesse ; not for his wealth , but for his wisedome : and finally for christ and in christ : for christ , because christ doth loue him , and bids vs loue him ; and in christ , either because he is christs , or that he may become christs . but this is the condemnation of men , that the church , and her children are come amongst them ; but men loue the world more then the church , and sinners more , then saints . of louing , and of being loued . it is better to loue , then to be loued : for action is more excellent then passion ; and the praise of vertue consists in action . to giue , is more gracious then to take : now in louing there is a gift , in being loued there is a taking . honesty is better then commodity : now to loue is a point of honesty , to be beloued is a matter of commodity . god delights more in the loue , wherewith he doth loue , then in the loue , wherewith he is loued : and mothers naturally reioyce more to loue their children , then to be loued of their children , and like better to do good to them , then to receiue good from them . besides , a man may bee loued of a man with christian loue , and yet be but an hypocrite ; but a man cannot loue with christian loue , but he must needes be a christian . a man may be loued of his neighbour for god , and yet neither loue god , nor be loued of god : but a man cannot loue his neighbour for god , but hee doth much more loue god , and is most certainely beloued of god. and finally , it is no paine , but rather pleasure ; a gaine , but no grace to be beloued : but to loue a good thing well is grace ; yea , oftentimes a man must sweate and striue with great contention ( so auerse and tortuous are our hearts by sinne ) before he can fasten his affections , and fixe his loue on spirituall things , which are most worthy of his loue , and remoue it from those things , that are rather to be loathed and forsaken , as noysome , and pernicious to him . true friendship stands in true mutuall loue , where loue failes , there friendship fals : but that a man may proue a friend vnto another , it is necessary that he be a friend vnto himselfe : for how shall he will well , do well , agree well , or dwell well with another , that failes in these things towrds himselfe ? but this , as touching loue , is worthy obseruation : that those that do good turnes vnto others , do more loue them , to whom they do them , then these , that do receiue them , do loue those , that do them : prouided that they do their good turnes out of sincerity , not for by-respects . christ loues vs better then we loue him : parents loue their children more then their children loue them . tutors loue their pupils more then they their tutors . hee that receiues a benefite is ( as it were ) the worke and creature of his benefactour : now the worke-man loues the worke , more then the worke doth loue the workeman : the creature is deerer to the creator , then hee to it ; and the cause loues the effect more then it the cause . the vsurer is vnworthy the name of benefactour , because he loues his debtor for gaine , seeking rather to benefite himselfe in his debtor , then his debtor in him : and to speake properly , as he is an vsurer , he loues him not : for loue seekes not her owne good , but the good of him whom hee loues ; now the vsurer seekes his owne good onely , and leaues his debtor to looke to himselfe , shewing him onely a little outward indulgence for a time , vntill hee may haue his debt paid him againe with vantage . but indeed to gaine loue , and to be counted a benefactour , is not any way more easily attain'd to , then by doing good turnes vnto men freely , seasonably , vnasked , and in secresie : but some cannot do a man a good turne , but they must cackle so long and so loud , that all the world may take notice of it ; which argues that they regard fame more then friendship , and to walke vpon the tongues of men , rather then to liue within the breasts of their friends and followers . of faith , hope and charity . faith , hope , and charity , are three notable giftes of god , without the which it is impossible for any man to bee saued , though no man shall bee saued for them . a man shall bee saued in them , but not for them ; for that , which merites our saluation for vs , that is , redemption from all sinne and sorrow , and fruition of eternall glory ; that ( i say ) is not any thing in vs , but something without vs : it is not quality , gift , or grace infused , but the iustice of christ imputed . faith beleeueth , hope expecteth the thing beleeued , and charity ioues it , linkes the soule vnto it . faith is as the mother , hope , and charity , are her two daughters : because i beleeue , therefore i hope , and as i beleeue , so i loue . faith beleeueth that god is true and faithfull in his word : hope waiteth whiles hee shew himselfe to be so . faith be getteth hope , hope being begotten preserueth faith . faith beholds , and holds fast the word of promise : hope lookes after the thing that is promised in that word . loue vnites the heart both to the word , and to the thing that is promised in it : hope is the waiting for a good to come , but faith beleeueth things past , present , and to come . i beleeue that christ was borne of a virgin , that hee now sitteth at the right hand of his father , and that hee shall come hereafter to iudge the world : faith taketh christ , and worketh by charity ; charity worketh not by faith , as an instrument , but arises from faith , as from the fountaine , whereout it flowes . christian faith beholdeth christ in the word and sacraments : but christian charity ties the soule , not onely vnto christ , but also vnto all his members , in and for his name . loue is not caused by hope , but hope rather caused by loue ; for because a man doth loue god , therefore hee doth expect and tarry , and that with desire and longing , till he do enioy him to his fill . and if hee did not loue him , he would not desire and hope to see him , but rather feare , and grieue . finally , faith , hope , and charity , are three excellent vertues , but charity is , in two respects , the chiefest . first , because charity is profitable to our neighbours , whereas our faith and hope doth them no good at all , were it not for charity . secondly , the loue , whereby wee loue christ and his members now , shall be continued and perfited in the world to come : but whereas now we do by faith beleeue , and by hope expect and desire to see the face of christ hereafter : then , when we do see and enioy him , this faith , and this hope are at an end ; and whereas heere in this life wee walke by faith , and not by sight , and feeling , in the life to come wee shall see face to face , and know as wee are knowne , and want no feeling nor sight of that , that is pleasing and solacious to the soule . and whereas men hope for that , they see not , how can they hope for that they see ? but god shall bee seene of his saints in the world to come , and their sight shall rauish them with his loue , their corporall and intellectuall eyes , then glorifyed , being as doores or windowes to let in his loue into their heartes , which will most willingly entertaine him , and rest vpon him , as vpon their center , and sole contenter . of gods word . gods word is a fire , it must be warily meddled with : if thou wilt not suffer it to burne vp thy lusts , it will burne vp thee : if it consume not the sinne , it shall consume the sinner . art thou a cold ? it is fire to warme thee . art thou drossy ? it is fire to purge thee . art thou in darkenesse ? it is a fire to enlighten thee . is thine heart voide of zeale to god , or loue to man ? it is a fire to enflame thee ? art thou frozen vpon thy dregs , or art thou so hardned that no impression can be made vpon thee ? it is a fire to thaw and melt thee . this word shall be destruction to him , that will receiue no instruction from it : it will proue his desolation , that makes it not his consolation : it will condemne thee , if thou wilt not suffer it to controule thee : and if it shalt not helpe thee , it shall vndoubtedly hurt thee . this word is an hammer , if it soften not a man , and make him tender , it will harden him and make him tough : if it beate not downe the sinne , it will knocke downe the sinner : and if the hereticke will not be beaten with it from his heresies , it will beate him downe one day thither , from whence all heresies spring . an hammer hurts not the aire or water , which yeelds vnto it readily , but breakes and bruises that , that makes resistance . hee that resists the word shall bee broken ; but hee , that yeelds vnto it , shall receiue no hurt . hee that would surely breake a thing with an hammer , must not onely moue the hammer to it with strength ; but hee must so lay the thing , that it slide , slip , or shrinke not from the blow : so they , that indeed would haue their hearts softned , their proud hearts battered , or any lust contused , let them apply the word of god vnto them closely , and not leap or shrinke aside , when it is ministred and fitted to them . and what minister soeuer brings with him this fire , this hammer , entertaine it , vse it , apply thy selfe vnto it. if the fire , if the hammer be the same , if it be gods , receiue it with the same affection , though the men be not the same , that bring it . the hammer is not the worse for him that holds it , nor the fire for him that brings it . the minister is to be receiued and honoured for the word , and not it for him . in briefe , the smith can do nothing without his hammer and fire . ministers are smiths , and men naturally are like yron vnwrought or vnformed , or rather indeed ill-wrought , and ill-formed . the word , that is , the law and gospell , is the fire and hammer , by which through diuine assistance they worke them , fashion them , and make them fit instruments , and vessels for the seruice of god in his house , which is the church . how precious therefore both to priest , and people should this hammer and fire bee in a true account thereof within their soules ? of good-deeds . svch are good workes , as are , and are done according to the will of god reuealed . for the rule of wel-doing is not our wils , who are but seruants ; but the will of god , who is our maister , whose will is iust , and the rule of iustice , god being able to will nothing but right and good , seeing hee is wisedome , truth , and goodnesse it selfe . and a thing may be according to his will , and yet not be done of him that does it , according to it . a good deed is ill done , if it bee not done for maner as wel as for matter , according to the will of god. for if a man do that that is good , and thinke it is euill , that man doth sinne : not onely because hee thinkes that euill , which is not euill ; but also , because he iudging it to bee euill , yet doth it . euen as a man may lye , when he speakes the truth , if he thinke that is a lye , which hee speaketh , when hee speakes it . againe , if a man do that whereof he doubteth , and is not perswaded of the lawfulnesse thereof , hee sinnes : for whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne . and finally , though a man do a thing that is good , yet if hee do it not to gods glory , but for his owne , or for base respects , and not in way of obedience to gods commandements , hee questionlesse commits a sinne . a good man onely can do a good deed : for an euill tree cannot bring forth good fruite , and a corrupt fountaine can send forth no wholesome water . good deeds are necessary to saluation , as the way to the kingdome , but not as the cause of reigning . they are not the causes of saluation , but the workes and testimonies of them that are to bee saued . and they are not the matter nor forme of faith , but they are true effects , vndoubted tokens , and vnseparable companions of true faith and of true charity , if well performed . for faith and charity are not idle and vnfruitfull , but labourious and full of goodnesse : and though our wel-doing be no cause of our blessednesse , yet it shall not want a reward , but as wee doe abound therein in this world , so shall we exceed in glory in the world to come : the more wee flourish in fruit in this life , the more wee shall flourish in felicity in the life to come . but some haue beene heard to say , they can do no good deeds , they haue no riches , they are but poore . these are deceiued ; thou hast not a penny , hast thou a prayer ? thou hast no goods to giue , hast thou good counsell ? thou canst do no deeds of comfort , hast thou any words of comfort ? thou hast no bread , hast thou a blessing ? thy legs are lame , thou canst not go well ; thy hands are lame , thou canst not worke well ; hast thou a good tongue , canst thou speake well ? there is no man so poore , but he may benefite his neighbour one way , or an other : if any way it is a good deed , if hee do it well . and god accepts any thing , a cup of cold water , if there be no better , the widdowes mite , euen any thing , haire to the building of the tabernacle , a pin to the dressing of his bride . and suppose a man do a good deed to a wicked man , yet if hee do it not for his wickednesse , but either because he is a man , or that hee may win him vnto goodnesse , or shew himselfe a follower of god , who is kind vnto his enemies , and doth good euen to the wicked , surely hee doth a good , and shall not loose his reward . and say that a man should bee kinde vnto some hypocrite , thinking him to bee a saint , because hee could not discerne his simulations , being so cunningly carried , yet shall the benefactor bee rewarded of god , who regards his affection , and seeth his heart , and will recompense him according to his loue , and not according to the condition of the party , which did not deserue it . if a mans benesicence proceeds of benevolence , and bee performed in the name of christ to the glory of god , it shall neuer want a recompence . for god is not not iniust to forget the labour of our loue ; and as men sow , so shall they reape ; as they brue , so shall they drinke . our gifts shall bee recompensed with glory , our paines with pleasures , our labours with life . do well , and haue well : liue well , and die well : hee that doth well to the seruant for the maisters sake , shall be sure to receiue a reward from the maister himselfe : it shall neuer be said that hee , that was kind and louing to the childe , is vnkindly and hardly dealt with of the father . let vs not therefore bee weary of wel-doing ; for in due season wee shall reape , if wee faint not . of the knowledge of god. all men affect knowledge by a certaine instinct of nature : how vnmanly a vice then is it to affect the ignorance of god , our maker , ruler , and redeemer , whose nature , beauty , and perfection doth more excell all the world , then all the world excels the meanest creature that is in it ? wee study to know the nature and perfection of things , that are , by farre , lesse worthy to be knowne : yea , sometimes wee will search into things forbidden , and sometimes take paines to know that , which is not worthy of those paines . except wee know god , how shall wee take him alone to bee our god , and not defile our selues with idols ? vnlesse wee know him , how shall we loue him , how can we trust in him , how can wee serue him ? do men loue that they know not ? will a man serue hee knowes not whom ? will a man make account of that , the worth or vse whereof is vnknowne vnto him ? or will a man acknowledge and beleeue in one hee knowes not ? wee are spirituall priests and princes , is it for a priest to bee ignorant of his god ? doth it become a king to bee ignorant of the king of kings , who set the crowne on his head , and put the scepter into his hand ? euen beasts , and birds know their owners , keepers , feeders , and is it a seeemely thing for man , whom god hath made their lord , to bee ignorant of him , by whom they liue , and moue , and haue their being , and long of whose mercies it is , that they are not consumed ? to know god rightly is a note of gods people : they shall all know mee from the least of them euen to the greatest of them , saith the lord : and an infallible argument of blessednesse : this is life eternall , that they know thee the onely true god , and iesvs christ whom thou hast sent , who is very god , blessed for euer . on the contrary , affected ignorance of god is the brand of wicked men , who say vnto god , depart from vs , for wee desire not the knowledge of thy waies : this ignorance exposeth a man to the iudgements of god : whose wrath is kindled by this sinne . the lord hath a controuersy with the inhabitants of the land , ( saith hoseah ) because there is no truth , nor mercy , nor knowledge of god in the land : my people are destroyed for lacke of knowledge . this ignorance is the mother of superstition , and prophanesse , and the reason why men feare not god , but are disobedient and vnawfull . therefore they in iob , that had said in their hearts , wee desire not the knowledge of thy waies , say also : who is the almighty that wee should serue him ? and what profite should wee haue , if wee should pray vnto him ? if a man bee disposed to deuotion , yet being ignorant of gods will , hee will deuise some wil-worship , and foolish ad-inuentions , which are as pleasing vnto god , as luke-warme water to the stomacke , as apish complements to a graue man , or as painting and pranking is to a staied and holy matrone . besides , the ignorance of god makes men do that against the truth , and the professours of it , which otherwise , it is very likely they would not do . ignorance of christ made the iewes to crucifie him , and paul to persecute him in his members . they shall excommunicate you ( saith our lord ) yea the time shall come , that whosoeuer kils you , shall thinke hee doth god good seruice : and these things will they doe vnto you , because they haue not knowne the father nor mee : and for the life to come , it shall bee no helpe to say ; wee would haue serued thee , had we knowne thee . but why did you not know mee ? for mine eternall power and god-head are seene by the creation of the world . the heauens declare the glory of god , and the firmament sheweth the workes of his hands . but besides the booke of nature , you had the scriptures , moses , the prophets , and apostles : besides the world , you had the church , i sent you my messengers , in whom i spake continually to you , and entreated you to learne and serue mee . it is euident therefore that ignorance will not serue the turne . for the lord iesvs will render vengeance vnto them , that know not god , and obey not his gospell , which shall be punished with euerlasting perdition , from the presence of the lord , and from the glory of his power . and finally , whereas all the vanities , pompe , and glory of the world , which wee do so much admire , shall perish with the world : this our knowledge of god , begunne in this world shall be perfited in the world , to come . now i know in part , but then shall i know , euen as i am knowne . then a man shall haue light without darkenesse , knowledge without ignorance , wisedome without folly , vnderstanding without dulnesse , iudgement without errour , reason without perturbation : then shall all the saints see god , and serue god alwaies , and for euer . of seruing god. it was well said of a father to his sonne : know thou the god of thy father , and serue him. how shall a man serue him , that doth not know him ? and what will it profite to know him , if hee doe not serue him ? but if men doe serue him , they shall end their daies in prosperity , and their yeares in pleasures : or if hee try them with the crosse , hee will afterwards honour them with a crowne . their griefes shall end in glory , their mourning in mirth , their tentations in tryumphes , their vinegar shall bee changed into wine , and though they haue sowne in teares , yet they shall reap in ioy. what desirest thou in a maister ? wisedome ? his wisedome is infinite . greatnesse ? his greatnesse is incomprehensible . strength ? hee can do all things , nothing is impossible with him. valour ? hee is not afraid of death , nothing can dismay him. magnificence ? hee is the lord of hoasts , cloathed with glory and honour : hee couereth himselfe with light , as with a garment , and spreadeth the heauens like a curtaine . hee maketh the clouds his chariot , and walketh vpon the wings of the winde . hee sitteth vpon the circle of the earth , and the inhabitants thereof are as grashoppers . hee bringeth the princes to nothing , and maketh the iudges of the earth , as vanity : his garment is white as snow , the haire of his head like pure wooll , his throne like the fiery flame , and his wheeles as burning fire : thousand , thousands minister vnto him , and ten thousand thousands stand before him. wouldst thou haue a maister rich ? the earth is the lords , and all that is therein , the round world , and all that dwell within it . one that can aduance thee ? promotion comes neither from east , nor west , nor south , nor north , but from god , who throweth the proud from his pinacles , raiseth the needy out of the dust , and lifteth vp the poore out of the dung , that hee may set him with princes , euen with the princes of his people . or one , that is kind and louing , patient and compassionate ? the lord is gracious and mercifull , slow to anger , and of great mercy . hee will fulfill the desire of them that feare him ; hee will heare their cry and saue them . men will serue men , specially such as may doe them good , or defend them from harme : why then should wee not much more willingly serue god , who is able to saue a man , though all would destroy him , and to destroy him , when nothing can saue him ? if hee blesse , who can curse ? if hee curse , who can blesse ? sometimes a seruant serues a maister , who growes weary of him , because hee thinkes hee may proue costly to him . many maisters hauing serued their turnes shake off their seruants , as a dogge doth water , or as a man would do burres : and a good seruant may sometimes waite long , and get little : but god neuer forsakes , or turnes out his seruants : hee lets them not serue him vnregarded , but as they honour him , hee honours them : and the more they serue him , the freer they are in this world , and the greater rewards they shall receiue of him in the world to come . and it is to bee obserued that yong folkes vsually do giue themselues to bee seruants of men : why then should they not giue themselues to the seruice of god , whom to serue is indeed to reigne , and in whose seruice that may bee gotten which cannot bee found in the seruice of any mortall man ? o that wee would remember our creatour in the daies of our youth , and inure our neckes to his yoake , whiles wee are fresh and tender ! but what must be the rule of our seruice ? surely , not our wils , who are but seruants , but his will , who is our maister , which hee hath reuealed to vs in his word , to which wee ought to conforme and apply our selues infeare and humblenesse , indeuouring to obey him in all his commands , sincerely , cheerefully , and to our end ; so shall we bee sure to dye in his grace , and to bee raysed vp from the graue of death to possesse the glory of eternall life . of the sower and his seed . the sower went out to sow . euery true and faithfull minister of christ iesvs is a sower , gods word is his seed : mans heart is the ground that should receiue it . the word is a very rare and admirable seed , altogether matchlesse . for by it men are made christians , sinners are made saints , dead men are made aliue : from it all manner of vertues spring , and with it are nourished . and were it not for it , the whole world , and euen the church it selfe , would be worse then a wildernesse , and turned into sodom and gomorrah . but as it is in vaine to sow seed in the fire , aire , or water , or any where , but in the earth , which is in the middle of the world : and that it may prosper well , the ground must be quiet , not troubled , or tossed , nor continually troden on , and both it and the seed to be cast into it must be pure and good , not mingled , or corrupt . so it is bootlesse to sow the word in the eares onely , or in the eyes , or vnderstanding , and memory , or indeed any where , if not in the heart , which is in the midst of a man : and that it may thriue and flourish , the heart must be quiet , and not disturbed or tossed with the stormes and tempests of fleshly passions : it must be cleansed of noysome and stinking weeds : it must not be troden vnder foote and continually walkt vpon by wordlly cares , carnall desires , and foolish fansies , which keepe a great coile , and are alwaies trotting vp and downe in worldings , belly-gods , and naturall men : and the seed must be sowne purely , and not mingled with the tares and darnell of heresies and errours . a ship cannot saile without sea-roome , and seed cannot thriue without earth-roome ; no more can the word without heart-roome . if the ground receiue not the seed into it , and cherish it , and giue it scope to roote it selfe in it , the seed cannot prosper , and come to perfection . so the word of god thriues not , except the heart receiue it meekely , cherish it louingly , and giue it roome to roote it selfe throughly . drunkennesse and gluttony doe drowne this seed ; couetousnesse and worldly cares do choke it ; vnchaste desires do scortch and burne it ; rage and contumacy repell it ; hatred and malice pinch and bite it ; hardnesse of heart and double mindednesse will not suffer it to roote well . euery man would haue his ground good ; yea what is there that a man would not haue to be good ? his wife , his childe , his seruant , his friend , his fellow , his apparell , his house , his horse , his dogge , hee would haue all good , and shall himselfe be naught ? shall the heart , which is the onely seed-plot of the word , which is able to saue his soule , shall it be euill , and suffred to be euill , and ouergrowne with euill weedes ? why is it that the raine falling , and the sunne shining vpon a well ordered garden makes it sweete and flourishing , but vpon some other peece of ground , and it brings out nothing but mosse and weedes ? the fault is in the ground , not in the sunne or raine . so one man is benefited by the word , it takes well , and bringeth forth fruites in him ; and another doth not reap any good by it , it proueth not in him by reason of his vncapablenesse , and wicked lusts , that will not giue way vnto it , but makes him to resist it and rebell against it . a man may set or sow in our fields , whiles wee sleepe , or though wee would not : but the minister cannot sow the word of god in our hearts , if wee snort in sin , if wee bee regardlesse of the word , and will not receiue it . seed may bee pickt out of the ground , and eaten of birds , whether a man will , or no : his corne may bee burnt , his plants may be stollen , or puld vp , and broken downe , though hee would not ; but wee and the word , that is sowne or grafted in vs , cannot bee separated against our wils ( our bibles may bee taken from vs by force , but the word ingrafted in vs cannot bee taken from vs against our will ) the birds of hell cannot steale it from vs and pick it out , except we our selues be willing : if euer wee and it do part , wee must thanke our selues . seed sowne in the ground after a time comes vp , and flourishes for a time , but at length it decayes and withers . for this is the nature of seed ; it is partly turned into the ground , and turnes the ground partly into it : it turnes , and is turned ; it suckes , and drawes to it a certaine nurriture out of the ground , at length shootes out , growes vp , and increaseth a certaine space ; then in processe of time it decayeth , and at length dyeth . but the word doth otherwise : for the word being sowne in the heart , that entertaines it , taketh , thriueth , comes vp , and beareth fruite : it is not turned , but it turneth the heart ; it is not corrupted , but rather corrupteth and killeth the euill qualities , that are within vs : it it is no whit turned into man , but it rather turnes a man into it , and workes him to it will ; it suckes no nourishment from man , but it affoords strength , and comfort vnto man ; and it neuer decayeth of it selfe , it dies not , neither can it bee by any meanes rooted vp or taken from vs , but by our wils . wee yeelding consent thereto . if euer it faile and die , if it bee parched and dryed vp , it is long of vs , and not of it . there is no plant , which time killeth ; nature hath appointed it a time to liue , and a time to die ; be the ground neuer so good , the yeares neuer so seasonable , the heauens neuer so benigne , yet it must decay and die . but if the word be planted in a good and honest heart , it cannot be rooted out , nor perish ; except the ground proue barren and naught ; except a man do waxe weary of the plant , vnlesse a man would be ridde of it , it will not away , but will grow vp with him , and will saue his soule by the blessing of god. this seed is at this day scattered in all places amongst vs , yet it takes but badly in the most : the seed is good , but the ground ( as it seemes ) is for the most part naught : that is the onely good ground , which receiues it gladly , giues it free passage willingly , and brings sorth the fruites thereof patiently . men neuer more delighted in goodly gardens and orchards , in variety of fruites and flowers , then at this day : but without doubt there is none of all their seedes or sets comparable to this . for this brings fruites of all kindes , that are good ; fruits , of which a man cannot surfet ; fruits , without which a man is more miserable , than a very beast ; fruites , for the which a man shall bee crowned with life eternall ; fruites , which themselues are fruitfull , one fruite bringeth forth another without the corruption , losse , or lessening of it selfe . and whereas all their feedes , are not able to saue the body from death , this seed is able to saue the soule from hell , and to giue a man assurance that his dead body also shall be raised vp from death to life . their seeds , and their plants , and flowers , do replenish and beautifie their grounds ; but this seed and the fruites there of doe fill and garnish the soule . those , if they prosper , doe commend the soyle ; but this , if it thriue , doth commend the soule : they may shew who is rich ; but this , and the fruites thereof declare who is religious : they may perhaps tell who is wealthy , great , and glorious in the world ; but these point out a man , that is wife and good , and indued with the grace of god. finally , a man may doe well enough , as touching his soule , though hee should want or refuse other seeds : but the refusall and lacke of this seed is very dangerous . hee that contemnes or puts away the word of the lord shall vndoubtly perish , without repentance . yea , and if we bee gotten by it , what shall become of him , that is without it ? of ignorance . it is better to bee ignorant , then to erre : simple ignorance is better then vndiscreete knowledge . ignorance a bad mother , hath two as bad daughters , falsehood , and doubting ; that is the more miserable , but this the more to be pittied : that is the more dangerous , but this the more dolorous . affected ignorance of that which a man should know , doth double the finne . for it is one to bee ignorant , and another , and that worse , to affect it , and to bee pleased with it . it is no small matter for a man to know that hee doth not know : for it is the way to get knowledge , to know that a man doth want knowledge . none proue ranker fooles , then they that thinke they haue all wisedome . many things worthy to bee knowne , are not knowne ; either because men care not to know them , or else because they thinke they know them , when they know them not . hee that is the best , and knowes the most , will ingenuously acknowledge that hee knowes not many things , which hee ought to know , and that there are many things worthy to bee learned , which yet hee hath not learned . a wise scholler will not so much content himselfe with what hee doth know , as enquire after those things which hee doth not know ; not blessing himselfe with what hee hath learned , but endeuouring to learne what hee hath not learned . hee that sees the light , knowes how to iudge of darkenesse : but hee , that is blind , cannot iudge of colours . a blinde man ( they say ) swallows many a flye . ignorance is the mother of superstition ; but true deuotion affecteth knowledge . it is an euill not to know what is lawfull to bee done , as to doe that , which a man knowes should not bee done . when a man knowes not god , hee knowes not how to worship him ; and when hee knowes not himselfe , hee knowes not how to behaue himselfe . from the ignorance of god comes despaire ; from ignorance of ownes selfe ariseth pride , and foollish philauty : the ignorance of our selues is the beginning of sinne , the ignorance of god is the consummation of sinne . hee commonly knowes most , that knowes hee is ignorant of much : hee knowes but little , that thinkes hee is ignorant but of little : but hee knowes iust nothing , that imagines hee knowes all , and is ignorant of nothing . it is an easier punishment not to bee able to liue , then liuing not to bee able to know things needfull to bee knowne . it were better to die being furnished with knowledge , then to liue being fraught with ignorance : it were better to haue knowledge , and to die like a man , then to be an ignorant sot , and to liue like a beast . of idols . an idoll is nothing . something it is in his conceipt that doth adore it ; but indeed it is not that which hee doth think it is . and because it is nothing , it can do neither good nor hurt . nothing can doe no good . some thing cannot come from nothing : and nothing can do nobody hurt . nothing can doe no hurt to him , that knowes no thing to bee nothing : yet this nothing hurteth him , that thinkes it something ; not because it is in nature some thing , but because hee thinkes it something , when it is nothing ; and worships nothing in steed of some-thing . the idols of the heathen had eyes , and saw not , eares and heard not , noses and smelt not , hands and felt not ; and they , that made them , were like vnto them , and so were all they that trusted in them . that is , they lackt their senses , or else they might haue easily discerned that they were but statues , and standing vanities . but popish wafer-idol hath no eyes at all , no eares at al , no nose at al ; no hands at al , & such are they that make it & adore it : for if they had their senses , they might perceiue it were a peece of bread . of a truth , lord ( said hezekiah ) the kings of assyria haue laid waste all the nations , and haue cast their gods into the fire : for they were no gods , but the workes of mens hands , therefore they haue destroyed them . if it bee possible for this romish wafer-god to bee throwne in the fire , and that it should bee destroyed of men , yea of mice , as it is , by the same reason it doth appeare , that it is no god , but the worke of mens hands . saint ierome writeth that at the time , that the virgine mary fled into aegypt with our saviovr , all their idols fell downe , and were defaced , and that their oracles ceased . and commestor likewise saith that vpon our lords birth-day , the temple dedicated by the romanes to the goddesse peace , in rome fell all in peeces to the ground . of the punishments of sinne . sinne is a thing so odious vnto god , that it cannot scape vnpunished . euen the sonne of god must dye , rather then that sinne should goe vnpunisht : but it is worth noting how god doth fit his punishments to the sinne . because the gentiles ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) approued it not , iudg'd it not profitable to acknowledge god , but reprobated him , therefore hee deliuered them vp ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) to a roprobate minde , and voide of iudgement , that as they had neglected and dishonoured him , so they should neglect and dishonour one another . the sodomites sinned with fiery lusts , and were destroyed with fire and brimstone : their sinne was vnnaturall and rare , and their punishment was vnusuall , and very terrible to nature . nadab and abihu sinned with fire , and were consumed with fire . adonibezeke had cut off the thumbs and great toes of seuenty kings ; so the people of iudah cut off his . as thy sword ( said samuel to agag ) hath made woemen childelesse , so shall thy mother bee childelesse among other women , and so hee hewed him in peeces before the lord in gilgal . lucian , as like a dogge hee was euer barking against christian religion , so by gods iudgement hee was deuoured of dogs . alladius a latine king counterfeited lightening and thundring , by an artificiall deuise , that his subiects might take him for a god : but it came to passe that his house was fired with true lightening , and ouerthrowne with flouds and foule weather , and so hee perished , being burnt and drowned all at once . bladud the sonne of lud , a necromancer , made himselfe wings , and assayed to flye , but the diuill forsooke him in his iourney , and so hee fell and brake his necke . olaus magnus tels of a pyrate called otto , who by the diuels helpe would to the sea , and raise vp stormes to drowne his enemies , but at last was drowned himselfe . picus mirandula saith , there was a coniurer in his time , who as hee had the society of the diuell , so hee was carryed cleane away with the diuell , and neuer heard of after . pliny writeth how cornelius gallus dyed in the very act of filthinesse . anacreon a drunken poet , was choked with the huske of a grape . popiel a polonian king , and an vncle-murtherer , vsed ordinarily amongst his other othes and cursings this also , if it bee not true would rats might deuoure mee , and was accordingly set vpon with an army of rats , which fallyed forth of the dead bodies of his vncles , and afterwards deuoured him to the bones , notwithstanding any meanes vsed to the contrary . so those three , that had bound their lying accusation of narcissus with a curse , were met within the like . one said , if i lye , i pray god i may perish by fire , and his house being set on fire extraordinarily , hee and his perished in the flames . the second sayd , if i speake any thing but truth , i pray god i may bee consumed with some filthy disease , and so hee was . the third seeing gods iudgements vpon his companions , confest their wickednesse , and lamented with such a floud of teares , that hee wept out both his eyes . but among all iudgements those are most fearefull , when god punisheth one sinne with another , one wicked act or habite with an other , and wicked acts with wicked habites , and contrariwise . see how hee punisht adams pride with his eating of the fruite forbidden : dauids adultery with murder : achitophels treason with selfe-murther : iudas couetousnesse with treachery , and that with desperation . the heathen , because they turned the truth of god vnto a lye , and serued the creature , forsaking the creator , therefore god gaue them vp vnto vile affections . and the apostle prophecying of the followers of that man of sinne , saith that , because they receiued not the loue of the truth , god shall send them strong delusions , that they should beleeue lies : all which doth shew how loathsome sinne and sinners are in the sight of god , and should stirre vs vp to vomite it vp as poyson , and to flye from it , as from a serpent . of repentance . trve and sound repentance is a turning from vice to vertue , from euill to good , from the diuell to god. repentance is the change of the whole man , and not of halfe . the iudgement sanctified by the spirit must condemne the euill , the eyes of the vnderstanding being opened to discerne it , and approue the contrary good ; the will must will the good , and nill the euill : the affections must hate , feare , and abhorre the euill , and loue , like , and delight in good ; and the conuersation must not bee an exercise of euill , but an open forsaking of it , and a practise of the contrary good : first therefore a true repenter must see and vnderstand his sinnes , by considering himselfe and his wayes by the law of god , which shewes both good and euill : for if a man see not his faults , how shall hee condemne , confesse , and flye them ? or if hee view not himselfe in a true glasse , how shall hee see his true complexion ? and if hee try not his actions and cogitations by a true rule or touchstone , how can hee truely discerne their irrectitude , and hypocrisies ? yet because after our examination sinne may lie hid vnseene in one corner , or other , therefore to shew our hatred of sinne , and that wee thinke not wee haue all light in these toodarke houses of mortality , it behoues vs to pray that god would forgiue vs our secret sins : hee wants light , that thinkes hee hath all light ; and is in darknesse , that thinkes no darkenesse is in him ; and no man further from perfection , then hee that thinkes hee sees all his imperfections . secondly , when a man sees his sinne to bee sinne , hee must yeeld it is sinne , hee must acknowledge it , and not deny , lessen , nor defend it . sinne defended is encreased ; the defense of sinne seene is euen death to the sinner that defends it . and how doth a man repent of that , which hee labours to maintaine ? si homo peccatum non agnoscit , deus non ignoscit : if a man , when hee sees his sinne prohibited , yet will not acknowledge and yeeld it is sinne , but wil plead for it , excuse and colour it , questionlesse hee will not leaue it , neither will god leaue him vnpunisht . thirdly , when a man discernes his sinne , and acknowledges the vilenesse of it , let him enter into iudgement with it , and condemne it : for except hee doe condemne it , god will not pardon it . if hee condemne not it . it shall condemne him . vnlesse hee adiudge it vnto hell , it will debarre him of entrance into heauen . fourthly , let a man finding himselfe guilty of sinne arrest , arraigne , accuse , and condemne himselfe , confessing his sinne freely vnto god , and exclaiming against himselfe vnto god , saying ; i haue sinned , i haue sinned grieuously against thee . i deserue nothing but confusion , i am vnworthy of thy fauour , i am vnworthy to bee counted , or called thy sonne , thy seruant . except a man will arraigne , indite , and condemne himselfe , hee shall not bee able to stand vnconfounded before his iudge ; either hee must condemne himselfe , or hee shall bee condemned of god. neither is a man in deed fit to desire absolution , that findes not himselfe worthy of condemnation : neither is hee prepared to sue for grace , till hee haue condemned himselfe as a gracelesse wretch . fiftly , let him nill it , hate it , loath it , bee afrayd of it , and bee sorry for committing it , euen because it is an offence of god , his gracious and louing maister . for a man doth not indeed repent , except his sinnes , which before were sweete vnto him as hony , bee now in his taste as bitter as gall : except hee loath them , as before hee loued them ; except they bee now painefull , as before they were pleasing ; and affect him now as well with dolour , as they tickled him before with delight . finally , let a man craue pardon of it of god , and forsake it in his practise , and addict himselfe to those good duties , that god requires of him . for god grants his pardon to them that begge it : and though many men will scornefully put off a beggar , yet god giues his almes to none but beggars : but with what face dare a man begge pardon of a sinne , hee meanes not to forsake ? therefore if hee will haue god forgiue it , hee must forsake it . except hee let it goe , god will let him go ; but let him giue sinne his dismission , and god will grant him his remission ; spare not thy selfe , and god will spare thee . cease from thy sinne , and do● that that is pleasing in the sight of god , and god will bee thy god , thy sauing god for euermore . o repentance , what shall i speake of thee ? by thee sicke men are cured , wounded men are healed , dead men are raised , health is increased , grace is preserued , the legs are strengthened , the eyes are restored , sinne is abandoned , vertues embraced , the minde illumined , the heart comforted , the conscience quieted , and the life adorned . wee sinne daily , so wee should repent daily ; and as wee fall , so should wee rise . to sinne is not so dangerous , as to liue in sinne . if a breach in a sea-wall bee not stopt in time , it will both waxe bigger , and indanger the dry land. if a ship continually let in water , and bee not continually pumped out , it will sinke her . if a mole bee suffered to runne in a medow , shee will spoyle it . if a sword bee let rust in the scabberd , the rust will marre either one or both . so if wee stoppe not the breaches and holes made by sinne in our soules , it will sinke them : if wee kill not that mole , it will waste vs ; if wee skoure not our selues from that rust by true repentance , it will consume vs both soule and body . alexander seuerus made an act that none should salute the emperour , that knew himselfe a thiefe ; so no man should presume to professe , or speake to christ iesvs ; no man should dare to put vp his suits vnto god. that by sinne robbes god of his glory , and continues in it without repentance . for god heareth not sinners : if i regard wickednesse in mine heart ( saith the psalmist ) god will not heare mee : but god heareth the desire of the poore . the righteous cry , and the lord heareth them . the lord heareth them , that are of a contrite heart : his eye is vpon them , that feare him : hee will also heare their cry , and saue them : and they feare him , that do repent of sinne , and turne vnto him . for the feare of the lord is to hate euill , as pride , arrogancy , and the euill way , and by the feare of the lord men depart from that , that is naught . neither is it enough to forsake some notorious and grieuous offence ; but euen all , all without exception of any ; all , all are serpents , poyson , and pollutions . one hole in a ship vnstopt , one breach in a wall vnrepaired , one wing belimed , one claw taken in the snare , may in danger and loose all : so but one sinne knowne and cherished , discerned and not dissmissed , one faculty , one affection , but one intrapped and captiuated of a sinne espied , and yet beloued , euen but one is able to destroy the soule , to damne the whole man , both soule and body : yet though sinne bee very dangerous , and continuance in it more , yet how vsuall is it with vs to delay our repentance ? tomorrow , next weeke , ere long , next yeere , or before i dye : yet a little sleepe , a little slumber , anon , one houre longer , one halfe houre , a minute . o lord , how vnwilling are wee to rise , being once laid downe ! being once fallen a sleepe how loath are wee to bee wakened ! being sicke with a pleasant phrensie , how , how displeasing a thing is it to come into our wits againe ! and to see our madnesse , wee that know not whether wee shall liue an houre longer , no not a minute further , yet wee will promise to our selues a day , a weeke , a month , a yeere , olde age . yea wee will liue in a state , in which wee would bee loath to die . away , away with these delayes , let vs redeeme the time , which taries no mans pleasure . let vs repent now , that wee may haue our pardon now , let vs liue like saints , least wee die like diuels : let vs leaue our sinnes now , now , whiles wee haue time to sinne . for if a man will not leaue sinne , till hee can sinne no longer , sinnes leaues him , and not hee them . hee that will not part from his sinne , till his soule bee ready to part from his body , it is to bee seared that hee parts not with sinne , but his sinne with him , and that hee is not willing to let go his sinne , as long as hee is able to keepe himselfe . o lord preserue mee from the deceipts of sinne : hide thy face from my sinnes , and put away all mine iniquities . create in mee a cleane heart , ô god , and renew a right spirit within mee . shew mee the way that i should walke in , and stay my steps in thy pathes , that my feete do not slide . of perseuerance in the faith. the faith is a peerelesse iewell once giuen to the saints , neuer to bee left or lost : without perseuerance in it neither the fighter obtaines a victory , nor the victor his garland . take away perseuerance , and sortitude hath no praise , wel-doing hath no reward , and a good beliefe no fauour . not he that beganne well , but hee that holds out to the end , hee shall bee saued . hee that is faithfull to the end of his life , he shall enioy the crowne of life , but they , that withdraw themselues , shall perish : thou destroyest all them ( ô lord ) that go an whooring from thee . but what wilt thou do to perseuere in the faith ? first , intend and purpose it . secondly , pray earnestly for it , and trust not to thine owne strength . what is man , if god forsake him ? a reede , a rush , a leafe , a shadow , a bubble , a something nothing . thirdly , make nothing an article of thy faith , whereof there is no warrant in the word , and professing that , which is indeed a truth , bee able to proue and shew it out of the word . i suppose many would haue stood out for the truth in queene maries daies , which did not , had they beene acquainted with the scriptures , and seene them speaking for it . but hee , that shall professe articles of the true faith , and be not certainely perswaded in his heart by testimonies of the word , that they are true , doubtlesse this man ( except greater grace befall him ) will not bee able to endure the tyrants sword . what ? shall a man cast away his life , loose his liberty , vndo wife and children , forsake all pleasures , profites , and preferments , and that for a faith , which he can shew no ground for ? though there be a ground , yet if hee see it not , if hee bee not sure of it , hee will forsake his ground , and for feare giue out . finally , receiue the faith , for the faith sake , euen because it is the good word of god , wholesome , true , and sauing : and embrace it not for any externall respects about it , as riches , honour , prosperity , liberty , or numerositie of professours . for if we follow it for these things , then , when they are remoued , wee shall forsake it ; euen as rauens doe a karcase , when the flesh is eaten vp , and as false-hearted persons do their friends , when their wealth is gone , and their state subuerted . if a maister take liking of a seruant , because hee sees him faithfull and quicke , then will hee like him still , whiles hee perceiues those vertues in him . if hee take him for his youth or beauty , then when these things fayle , hee will waxe weary of him . if an husbandman loue & esteeme of a peece of ground because it is fruitfull and pleasant , hee will loue and make account of it , during the delicacy and fertility thereof . the faith of christ is no changling , one and the same for euer : if wee receiue and follow it simply for it selfe , because it is true , good , and needfull , then except wee strangely change our selues , which god forbid , wee shall still embrace and follow it : but if wee receiue it for the fauour of men , for honours , riches , credite , or because wee would not bee out of the fashion , then when these things shall bee separated from the faith , and when the confessours of it shall bee dishonoured , impouerished , disgraced , imprisoned , martyred , then , then wee shall renounce it , and giue it our vnfriendly fare-well . for our heart will cleaue to the things it takes delight in , and will follow no thing longer , then those things do follow , for which it followed it . i doubt not but that some , which knew our religion to bee the truth , would haue openly acknowledged it , and not haue renounced it , in those marian daies , but that they receiued and profest it before , not because it was true and holy , but because preferment , ease and liberty went with it , and the sword was for it ; and when they saw the sword turned against it , and fire threatned , they turned likewise , and set fire on their faith . a belly-god will alwaies forsake god for his belly . the shewes of hypocrites & trencher-friends , are but as the light of meteors , the guilt of pot-sheards , the paint of harlots , and themselues as vapours , summer-birds , or houses of reed , which will endure neither wind nor fire ; or much like whoores , which will shew loue whiles a man hath mony & meanes to content their humours ; but these things and their loue must die together . of humility and pride . vvee need not define humility , but rather shew it . it is an excellent vertue , and very comely for vs , that are wormes , ashes , shadowes . mee thinkes the pollutions of our birth , the miseries of our life , and the putrefaction of vs ensuing death , being well considered , should make vs truely humble . but besides , hee whom . god will honour , must bee humble ; for god resisteth the proud , but giueth grace to the humble . a bucket is not filled except it bee let downe low in to the well : an house is not strongly mounted , vnlesse the foundation bee laid low . a tree sends downe his rootes low , that hee may shoot vp his branches high . mountaines are dry and barren , when the vallyes are well watered and very fertile . trees stoope most , that are most fruitfull . the dore of life is straite and low , a man must stoop and not swell with pride , or else he cannot enter . this pride is a miserable vice loathed of all men , except the proud ; yea , neither can one proud man endure another . there was neuer any pride safe , though neuer so strongly garded . for deuouring all things to vphold her selfe , she depriues her selfe of loue , and is bereaued of all meanes , which may defend it . pride will haue a fall . pride was bread in heauen , but shee was throwne out quickely , and was neuer so happy as to bee receiued in againe : other vices striue onely to be ; but pride would corrupt vertues and good workes , that they might not bee . if a man do good deeds and be proud of them , he hath lost his praise : if he haue nobility , beauty , strength , riches , credite , learning , wit , valour , grauity , humanity , virginity , and be proud thereof hee hath lost the grace of all these things , and his reward with god. euagrius being asked what was a proud heart ; answered , it was vertues fanne , a cisterne without water , and an inne of theeues . there are some so ambitious of promotion , that they cannot tarry oportunity , but will forcibly clime vp , though sometimes it be to their greater fall . some , when they are got vp themselues , pull vp the ladder after them , that no man shall come vp after , except they list . some , so they be vppermost themselues , are well content with any , but loue not any should be aboue them . some perceiuing a man to haue some singular parts in him , farre beyond their owne , will to their vtmost keepe him vnder , fearing least his light should put out theirs , or that if hee were any body , they should be as no body . it is not vnvsuall with sundry sorts of men by their dyet , and rich apparell , and faire appearances to ●●guile the world . one , to be counted a better man then he is , will ruffle it out in brauery : another will be a subsidie-man , to shift a while with his creditors , or to be reputed some body , being no body . another to draw eyes vnto him will turne pea-cocke , and in colours put downe the rainebow . pambo spying a certaine woman flaunting it in very sumptuous apparell , fell a weeping , and being asked why he wept so much , answered for two causes ; one , the destruction of this woman ; an other , because i ( quoth he ) which professe my selfe a christian , do not so much study to please god by innocency of life , as this woman desires to please men with her vanity . another will vent his pride in ragges , hunting after the praise of men , being great or rich , but sicke of vaine glory , thirsting to be reputed humble and contemning the world , because he keeps not state , as men commonly will. antisthenes may glory more in his worme coate , then a modest man will in costly garments : for pride lies in the heart , and can shew it selfe as well in ragges as in roabes . diogenes seeing certaine yong men of rhodes very richly clad , with laughter said , this is nothing but pride : afterwards seeing the lacedemonians in ill apparell ; this is ( quoth hee ) another kind of pride . the man saw that pride did not alwaies shew it selfe in brauery , and garish appaparel , but sometimes also in very beggery , and base aray , whiles a rich man being vaine-glorious will affect to go in course or base apparell , thereby hawking after the praise of men . others , because they would appeare more louely then they are , are wont to paint their faces , being either ashamed , or weary of the faces that god and nature lent them . it is true , nature may be corrected , but that nature must be plaistered , that i finde not . the sinnefull soule may be amended and refined , but that a new face should be giuen it , when the old manners and dispositions are retained , and that a man would make a glorious profession , where he shakes not off his inward rebellions , this is nothing but hypocrisie and vaine glory : so a man hauing a bad complexion of body , or colour of face , may lawfully by art , or industry , alter it , if he can , and make it better ; but to lay a plaister on his face , to lit and paint his skin , or haire , that he may seeme better coloured , then he is indeed , his complexion being nothing bettered , but rather waxing worser , this is very vanity , nothing but pride and cousenage . phillip king of macedony had made one of antipaters friends a iudge : but vnderstanding he did vse to die his head and beard , hee displaced him againe ; saying , there was no reason why he should be trusted in an office , seeing he was not trusty in his haire : it being likely that he that would vse deceite in colouring his haire , where there was no great gaine to be gotten , would much more vse deciept in his office , where deceipt sometimes brings great commodity . i haue heard a fellow say sometimes , he cares not for any man , he feares no mans displeasure : what doth this discouer , but pride , and folly , foolish pride , and proud folly . there is no man almost , but he may do the best man good , or the greatest harme . hath not a flye choakt a man ? was not a raskall the death of the great french king ? and yet the fellow feares no body , cares for no body . when pride is in , the wit is out : they say , when they spleene swels , the body pines , and whiles a caske is full of winde , it is voide of wine : so we may truely say , the soule prospers not , vertue is in truth a stranger , whiles the heart doth swell with pride , and abounds with arrogancy and selfe-conceitednesse . in one word , there are none better then the humble , there are none worse , then are the proud ; and as honor followes the humble , so perdition waites vpon the proud . of hearing and speaking . it is good counsell , which saint iames doth giue ; be swift to heare , and slow to speake : god hath giuen a man two eares , but one tongue , thereby teaching vs to heare more , and to speake lesse . the eares hee hath made open , without a couer , but hee hath inclosed the tongue within a double fence , the lips and the teeth , thereby shewing that we should be quicke and swift to heare , and slow to speake . god hath giuen a tongue to euery beast that is voide of reason , but the faculty of speaking onely vnto man , to whom hee hath giuen an vnderstanding spirit , whereby hee would instruct vs that reason should rule our wordes , and that our tongues should not runne before our wits : and hee hath made our eares erect , to heare heauenly things , and not hanging downe ( like blood-hounds ) as if they had beene made to heare earthly things , or lies and errours , which come out of hell it selfe . the eare serues to learne with , the tongue serues to teach with : a man learnes not with his tongue , nor teaches with his eares . there is a time ( saith salomon ) to keepe silence , and a time to speake : a fooles bolt is soone shot : but a wise man will consider what he speakes , whereof , when , where , why , how , and before whom : and his words vttered in season are like apples of gold , with pictures of siluer : their inside is better then their outside , but both good . some speake very much , not because they haue the art of speaking , but because they want the skill to hold their peace : he , that knowes not how to hold his tongue , knowes not how to vse his tongue : hee is the onely skilfull man , that knowes when to speake , and when to hold his peace . either a man should not speake , or speake to purpose : either he should be silent , or his words should be better worth then silence . three things are very commendable in a man , wisedome in the minde , a certaine manly modesty in the countenance , and a well gouerned silence in the speech : simonides and xenocrates were wont to say , that they neuer repented them of their silence , but that they were sorry sometimes for their speeches . if men did well consider that life and death is in the power of the tongue , and that in many words there cannot want iniquity ; and that an account must one day bee giuen of euery idle word , certainely they would not so abuse their tongues , as they doe , to swearing , and lying , to taunts , and slanders , to cursing , and rayling , to wantonnesse , and vanity ; neither would they bee so vnreuerent in the house of god , as they vse , by babling & whispering ; seeing they shold come thither to pray , and not to prate , to vse their eares , and not to abuse their tongues . nothing is ours longer then wee vse it well ; our tongues are not ours , if wee doe abuse them , but our enemies , for whom wee vse them , when wee do abuse them . an euill tongue comes from an euill heart . for were the heart good , the tongue could not bee naught . a messenger , which a man sends to his neighbour , may lie , or reuile , and speake euill , and deliuer a false errand , whether the man , that sent him , will , or no , or though hee thinke not of it , or meane cleane contrary ; but a mans owne tongue , which is the messenger , or interpreter of the heart , can say no other , then the heart doth bid it . euill must bee minted in the heart , before it bee vttered in the tongue . a good heart causeth a good tongue , and a naughty heart a naughty tongue . of painting the face . if that which is most ancient be best , then the face that one is borne with , is better then it , that is borrowed : nature is more ancient then art , and art is allowed to helpe nature , but not to hurt it ; to mend it , but not to marre it ; for perfection , but not for perdition : but this artificiall facing doth corrupt the naturall colour of it . indeed god hath giuen a man oile for his countenance , as hee hath done wine for his heart , to refresh and cheere it ; but this is by refection , and not by plaister-worke ; by comforting , and not by dawbing and couering ; by mending and helping the naturall colour , and not by marring or hiding it with an artificiall lit . what a miserable vanity is it in a man or woman beholding in a glasse their borrowed face , their bought complexion , to please themselues with a face that is not their owne ? and what is the cause they paint ? without doubt nothing but pride of heart , disdaining to bee behind their neighbour , discontentment with the worke of god , and vaine glory , or a foolish affectation of the praise of men . this kind of people are very hypocrites , seeming one thing and being another , desiring to bee that in shew which they cannot bee in substance , and coueting to be iudged that , they are not : they are very grosse deceiuers ; for they study to delude men with shewes , seeking hereby to bee counted more louely creatures then they are , affecting that men should account that naturall , which is but artificiall . i may truely say they are deceiuers of themselues ; for if they thinke they doe well to paint , they are deceiued ; if they thinke it honest and iust to beguile men , and to make them account them more delicate and amiable , then they are in truth , they are deceiued ; if they thinke it meete that that should bee counted gods worke , which is their owne , they are deceiued : if they thinke that they shall not one day giue account vnto christ of idle deeds , such as this is , as well as of idle words , they are deceiued ; if they thinke that god regards not such trifles , but leaues them to their free election herein , they are deceiued . now they that deceiue themselues , who shall they be trusted with ? a man , that is taken of himselfe , is in a worse taking , then he that is caught of another . this selfe-deceiuer , is a double sinner : he siones in that hee is deceiued , hee sinnes againe in that he doth deceiue himselfe . to bee murdered of an other is not a sin in him that is murdered ; but for a man to be deceiued in what hee is forbidden , is a sinne ; it were better to bee murdered , then so to bee deceiued : for there the body is but killed , but here the soule her selfe is endangered . now , how vnhappy is the danger , how grieuous is the sin , when a man is meerely of himselfe indangered ? it is a misery of miseries for a man to bee slaine with his owne sword , with his owne hand , and long of his owne will : besides , this painting is very scandalous and of ill report ; for any man therefore to vse it , is to thwart the precept of the holy ghost in saint paul , who saith vnto the phillippians in this wise , whatsoeuer things are true ( but a painted face is a false face ) whatsoeuer things are venerable ( but who esteemes a painted face venerable ? which is venereous rather then venerable : ) whatsoeuer things are iust ( but will any man of iudgement say , that to paint the face is a point of iustice ? who dare say it is according to the will of god which is the rule of iustice ? doth the law of god command it ? doth true reason teach it ? doth lawes of men eioyne it ? ) whatsoeuer things are ( chaste and ) pure : ( but is painting of the face a point of chastity , which is so commonly vsed amongst impure whoores and curtezans ? is that pure that proceeds out of the impurity of the soule , and which is of deceipt , and tends . vnto deceipt ? it that chaste , which is vsed to wooe mens eyes vnto it ? ) whatsoeuer things are louely ( but will any man out of a well informed iudgement say , that this kinde of painting is worthy loue , or that a painted face is worthy to be fansied ? ) whatsoeuer things are of good report : if there bee any vertue , if there bee any praise , think on these things . but i hope to paint the face , to weare an artificiall colour , or complexion , is no vertue ; neither is it of good report amongst the vertuous . i read that iezabel did practise it , but i find not that any holy matrone or religious virgine euer vsed it : and it may perhaps of some be praised , but doubtlesse not of such as are iudicious , but of them rather hated and discommended . a painted face is the deuils looking-glasse : there hee stands peering and toying ( as an ape in a looking-glasse ) ioying to behold himselfe therein ; for in it he may reade pride , vanity , and vaine-glory . painting is an enemy to blushing , which is vertues colour . and indeed how vnworthy are they to bee credited in things of moment , that are so false in their haire , or colour , ouer which age , and sicknesse , and many accidents doe tyrannize ; yea and where their deceipt is easily discerned ? and whereas the passions and conditions of a man , and his age , is some thing discouered by the face , this painting hindereth a mans iudgment herein , so that if they were as well able to colour the eyes , as they are their haire and faces , a man could discerne little or nothing in such kind of people . in briefe , these painters are sometimes iniurious to those , that are naturally faire and louely , and no painters ; partly , in that these are thought sometimes to bee painted , because of the common vse of painting ; and partly , in that these artificial creatures steal away the praise from the naturall beauty by reason of their art , when it is not espyed , whereas were it not for their cunning , they would not bee deemed equall to the other . it is great pitty that this outlandish vanity is in so much request and practise with vs , as it is . of prayer . praying is the begging of things needfull , as the remouing of some euill , and the conferring of some good : when we heare , god speakes to vs ; when we pray , we speak to god. some wish for this , and some for that ; but i wish for my selfe : for if i haue my selfe , i lacke nothing ; but if i lacke my selfe , i haue nothing . some say , who will shew vs any good ? but i say with dauid , lord lift thou vp the light of thy conntenane vpon mee , cast mee not away from thy presence , and take not thine holy spirit from mee . for where his spirit is , there is life ; but where it is not , there is nothing but death : and he that hath his grace , hath all ; but he that hath it not , wants all . how euer people thinke of themselues , i for my part will thinke my selfe to bee the greatest sinner , for i know more sinnes and imperfections in my selfe , then in any man else ; and therefore i will not boast with the pharisee , but beate my breast and say with the publican , god be merciful to me a sinner : amongst beggars , not the neediest or honestest , but sometimes the strongest , and loudest , runnes away with all the almes : but god sees the secrets , and knowes the necessities of all his suppliants , and bestowes his fauours on them that are most humble , and poorest in spirit , not respecting strength of sides , loudnesse of voyce , or shew of violence and importunity , but intention of spirit , deuotion of affection , the loud cries of the heart , and inward vehemency , inward and substantiall violence and importunity . some pray they may keep their goods , some their credite , others their friends or children . i will pray that i may keepe my selfe , for if i keepe my selfe , i haue something , but if i loose my selfe , i am nothing , yes some thing worse then nothing . some say , they are turmoyled with their sins , which they cannot be rid of , but still they come againe like the fits of an ague . their course is to pray with feruency and continuance . when moyses prayed , the israelites preuailed : when christians pray , their flesh is foyled . it is good for them to resolue , & resolutely to decree the leauing & extinguishing of thē : and further to auoide occasions , which are as matches to giue fire to them , or as bellowes to blow them vp : thirdly , duely and daily to weigh the danger and vilenesse of them : fourthly , to meditate well of the excellency and cōmodity of those vertues , that are contrary ; & finally , in no wise to forget , but to remēber to pray earnestly for gods assistance . it is more easy to driue the deuill out of the body , then to coniure his messenger , the flesh , or any fleshly lust out of the scule , when it hath once taken possession of it . onely god can take the strong man , binde him , and cast him out ; and god will not do it , except hee be entreated . it is strange to see how earnestly men will begge for mony , meate , drinke , cloathes , of men , but yet forget to begge spirituall graces of god. it appeares they begge them not , because they are for the most part , rude , sensuall , impious , idle , and very enormious . now if they did as feelingly , and as instantly begge grace of god , as they do outward things of men , certainely god , who is farre more mercifull and open-handed , then the kindest men , would not , could notedeny them , but would heare their cries . men being sicke pray earnestly for health , being ready to bee vndone , pray heartily to bee deliuered ; but are not so earnest for their soules to be cured , and disburdened of their sinnes . what is the reason ? there men haue feeling of smart , of paine , of danger ; but here they vse to bee senselesse and stupid , and scarce thinke of hell , till they bee almost in it . men vse sometimes to be very weary of beggars , away with these beggars , you were here but the other day ; i met with you but yesterday ; i haue not now for you ; and yet all this will scarse put off an impudent and cunning beggar . but almighty god doth delight in beggars , prouided they aske with warrant from the written word , and in the name of the vncreated , and eternall word . the obtaining of one fauour should animate vs to begge anoother : hee leaues not giuing , till wee leaue asking ; and what hee giues , hee giues it candide without repining . one said , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , prayer should be his meate and drinke . but some with vs may say ; meate and drinke shall be our prayer . the apostle saith , pray continually , but they eate and drinke continually ; bacchus , ceres , venus , are the gods they worship ; and a kitchin , cellar , or chamber is the temple , they most delight in . in prayer there is art enough , if there want not heart ; and gods hand is not straitned , if mans heart bee enlarged . some in prayer stand much vpon methode , but with god that prayer is methodicall , which is materiall , and wants not order , whiles it is powred in the sense of want , out of an honest heart . faith and hope are to our prayer , as wings to a bird ; shee cannot flye without these , nor it ascend without them . there are two necessary qualities in euery petitioner , humility and constancy ; when wee deale with god in prayer , wee must not talke of meriting , but wee must begge mercy , making our selues ( as indeed we are ) worthy nothing : and wee must be constant , and not take a nay . the yong bird openeth her mouth , and neuer leaues gaping , till the damne hath satisfied her ; so wee ought neuer to giue the lord rest , vntill hee haue made vs a gracious answere : it is his fashion of purpose to put men off , because hee will exercise , and put in practise , their faith and patience , and teach them to know by sense that they are not heard of merite , and because hee will learne them to make greater account of his fauours , when they come . what shall i say more ? hee that doth pray well , cannot liue ill : he that in his prayers dealeth best with god , in his practise likewise dealeth best with men . of almes-deeds . vvhat an almes did god giue vs , when hee gaue vs his sonne ? what a matter then is it if wee giue our bread , drinke , or money ? the poore giue vs their prayers , what then though we giue them our pence ? a prayer is more worth then a peny , the prayer of a saint , then a peny in siluer . prayers are of power with god , when siluer is not : but yet thy siluer is of reckoning with him , if not hoorded , but distributed amongst his poore ones . a man that giues an almes , doth himselfe an almes , for as he shewes mercy , so he shall receiue mercy ; but condemnation without mercy , belongs to those that will shew no mercy . how can a man begge of god , that will shew no mercy to them , that craue mercy of him ? who dare aske an almes , that will not giue an almes ? but i heare some say , they are poore , they haue nothing to giue : but they haue ; they can giue good words , they can defend their neighbours good name , they can pray for them ; some thing , euen the meanest of all can do , if he list , wherein hee may expresse his charity and compassion . doe what thou art able : god stands more vpon the minde , then the gift , the widdowes mite is acceptable . some auoide poore folkes , and contemne them , loue not to dwell by them : surely these men are fallen out with god , and now care not for the poore , which are his creatures ; both in that they are men , and also poore men . nay , it is grieuous vnthankefulnesse in the richto contemn , or to be regardlesse of them : for god made them poore for their sakes , partly to do seruice to them , and partly that by releeuing them , they might lay vp in store for themselues a good foundation against the time to come , that they may obtaine eternall life : it is an easy matter to cauill against the poore : they are naughty people ; not all : the best are bad enough , till god made them better . and who were we all , both rich and poore , great and small , when god had mercy on vs , and bestowed his son vpon vs ? if thou canst not giue them because they are honest men , yet giue them because they are men , and to see if they will learne to mend by this thy wel-doing to them . euen a turke , iew , pagan , thiefe , may haue our almes , though not in the name of an infidell , hereticke , or theife , but because they are men , the creatures of god , in whom god is to bee respected , who is their creator . but of all , the saints , and such as excell in vertue , should haue our almes , to them our wel-doing chiefly should extend it selfe , for in them christ iesvs doth offer himselfe vnto vs , hee is the receiuer , to him our pitty is shewed . now sure he that will deny christ , doth deserue to bee denyed of christ . if wee are euen for natures sake to succour a sinner ; then much rather are wee to releiue a saint , because besides his humane nature , hee hath also a certaine diuine nature in him ; hee is not onely a creature , but a new creature , not onely a sonne of adam , but a childe of god , and a member of christ ; but in all our workes of mercy which wee doe , wee must aime at gods glory , and not our owne , and still remember that they flow from a mercifull minde : for beneficence without benevolence , is but maleficence : and he , that doth an almes but not of mercy , shall not receiue the reward of mercy . of man. man , a little world , a map of all the world , the lord of all inferiour creatures , was created holy and happy , good , and glorious , but now by sinne hee is become a world of misery , an ensample of imbecility , the spoyle of time , the image of inconstancy , the picture of vanity , and very mortality . there is no creature could bee euill to man , but that man is euill to himselfe : if a man would not , and did not hurt , himselfe , the deuils could not , and other things should not : but things grew hurtfull , when man grew sinnefull ; and men now feele euill , because they are euill , and must suffer , because they sinne . to be borne a beast is not a sinne , but for wilfull ignorance and affected blindenesse to be compared to , or to be like a beast , when god hath endued a man with reason , and shewes him the meanes of light and vnderstanding , this is a sinne , a grieuous sinne , a fault of the will , and the condition of a beast is better , then of this man. he was borne a man , and liues a beast ; and this his sinne deserueth such a punishment as neuer beast did , doth , shall , or can endure . man was created to be a friend to man , but now ( excepting deuils ) men are the greatest enemies that men can haue : there are some serpents , beasts , and fishes , which will not sticke to make their prey on man : but all these doe not deuoure so many men , as men do . as for god , hee is enemy to none , that truely loues himselfe in him. it is true , hee is an enemy to the wicked , but it is for their wickednesse , let them cease from their wickednesse , & bee friendly to themselues , and hee will not be their enemy , but their truest friend . god made euery sencible creature with some defence , hee gaue some wings , to some talants , to some tushes , to some clawes , to other hornes ; but hee hath made man armelesse , to teach him to bee harmelesse , & he gaue him witin steed of weapons , that cōsidering his owne weaknes , he might still craue aide of god , whom hee ought to make his castle , comfort , and defence . god made the world for man , and man for himselfe ; therefore the world should serue man , and not man the world : hee should possesse and maister it , and not it him . and because god made both it , and him , it for him , and both it and him for himselfe , there is great reason that a man should behaue himselfe , and vse it so , as that god may bee glorified by him . but of all the honours wherewith god did honour man , this was the greatest , that his eternall , and true naturall son , assumed the humane nature , and wedded it to the diuine in one and the same person , and in that nature performed , and suffered ( euen vnto death ) whatsoeuer was needfull for mans eternall redemption , and saluation , his name be praised throughout all generations , and for euer , amen . of adam . adam was the first of mankind , made of the earth by gods owne finger , indued with a reasonable soule , voide of sinne , and furnished with wisedome , iustice , holinesse , and all perfections fit for that kind of creature , yet so , as that hee might both loose himselfe and them , if it were his pleasure . adam was the roote of all man-kind ; for all hee receiued , for all hee lost , for for all hee stood : if hee had continued fast wee had not beene vndone for our mothers fault . because not shee , but hee sustained all out persons , . the scripture saith , in adam all doe die : and , by one mans disobedience many were made sinners . adam in many things differs from all his children ; for hee was made , but they all ( except the virgins sonne ) are begotten . hee had god for his maker , they haue men for their fathers : hee had no mother , but they haue ; euen hee that had no father , yet had a mother : hee was of clay , they are of bloud : hee was a created , a compleate and perfect man in one day , at one time , they are a growing many yeares , hee had such a body giuen him , for quantity , qualities , and colour , till hee spoyled it by sinne , as none of his posterity , except our lord , euer did enioy . hee had that authority in his countenance , and that great and absolute command ouer all earthly creatures , which neuer any of his guilty children euer had , haue , or shall haue , vnto the end of the world . and finally , whereas wee are all borne sinners , and are made saints by our new-birth , hee was not borne , but made a saint , and when hee had fallen , like a deuill , hee was raised vp againe to be like an angell , and was made a saint againe , surer then euer hee was before . for adam created , had a power not to sinne ; but adam regenerated cannot loose the grace of regeneration : adam now glorified can not , hath no power to sinne . adam was the type of christ , for as adam was made of the earth by god without a mother , so christ was made by god of the virgin mary , without the seed of a man : adam was the father of all the liuing according to the flesh , so christ is the father of all , as touching the faith : adam slept , that eue might bee made ; so christ slept on the crosse , that the church might bee made : whiles adam slept , eue was made of his rib taken out of his side ; so whiles christ was a sleepe , his side was pierced , and water and bloud issued , by which the church is cleansed . vpon a friday wee were all created in adam ; vpon a friday wee were all redeemed in christ : by the disohedience of adam , all the children of adam were made sinners ; by the obedience of christ all his members are iustifyed . in adam all that are truely men dyed : in christ all true christians are made aliue , and saued . adam was the father of naturall life , and withall the prince of discord : christ is the author of a spirituall and celestiall life , and the prince of peace . of the uirgine mary . mary the mother of our lord , daughter of eli , and wise of ioseph , was a virgin , neuer knowing man , before shee had brought forth the saviovr of the world , into the world , and continued a virgin euer after : for though iesvs be called her first-borne , yet it is not as if shee had any other after , but because shee had no childe before him : and al-be-it iames bee called the brother of our lord , yet it is not meant that hee was of the same wombe , but of one bloud ; for indeed they were sisters children , which scriptures sometimes call brethren , as was the hebrew custome : and though saint matthew say that her husband knew her not , till shee had brought forth her first-borne son , yet it followes not that hee knew her after , but puts it out of doubt that hee knew her not before . so it is said that michol had no children till her deaths day . this virgine questionlesse was indued with excellent vertues , and was , no doubt , in godlinesse , and other virgine-qualities , inferiour to none , no not to the purest , chastest , holiest , iustest , and modestest , that euer liued of that sexe . shee was most blessed , yet her happinesse consisteth in her regeneration , rather then in her generation , and in being the member of christ rather then his mother , and in that shee bare him in her heart , as well as in her wombe . the word was not onely made flesh in her , but shee also was made flesh of his flesh , and bone of his bone , and was animated by his spirit . she did not only bring forth that man , that was essentially god , but she also beleeued in that god that is substantially man. and wheras other womē either bring forth nothing , as virgins ; or sinners , as all mothers ; this virgin-mother brought forth a saint , a saviovr , by whom both shee , and all that loue him truely , are saued and redeemed . i enuy not her praises , but i would not that the mother should bee so aduanced , as that the son thereby should be dishonoured ; nor that whiles the creature is exalted , her creator should bee depressed : for euen her owne son was her father , hee made her , that was made of her : shee that gaue him flesh , receiued both flesh and faith from him ; and though shee brought him into the world , yet hee redeemed her out of the world . some out of vanity will call her the queene of heauen , shee is in truth a saint in heauen , shining in heauenly glory , more then any queene or empresse in earthly , here below , yet shee is not the queene of heauen : for her son receiued not his royalty of her , neither hath hee inuested her with any * other royalty , then such as hee hath bestowed on all , whom hee hath loued and washed from their sinnes , whom hee hath made kings and priests to god. it is the pleasure of some to call her our lady , a title which shee knowes belongs not to her , though perhaps endowed with greater grace and glory , then any other saint besides . for christ iesvs is our onely lord , and hers as well as ours ; and as hee receiued not his lordship from her , so hee hath not bestowed it on her . hee is the onely head and husband of the catholique church , militant , and triumphant , whereof his mother is not a mistresse , but a member ; and which hath indeed a lord , but not a lady . this onely will i adde , he that speakes , or onely thinkes a thought dishonourable of the mother , it is pitty hee should receiue any honour by her son . of the incarnation of christ . the word was made flesh , hee that was true god , became also true man , without diuision of person , or confusion of natures , assuming that hee had not , and continuing what hee was . being creator hee became a creature , that wee creatures might be brought into fauour with our great creator : being god hee was made man , that what wee had lost by man , wee might recouer by him , that was god and man. being god hee tooke the nature of man vpon him , and marryed our flesh vnto his deity , that man , which was for his adultery separated frō his god , might by him , who was truely flesh , be marryed and ioyned anew vnto his god. it was miraculous that a virgin chast shold bring forth a sonne , but not to be doubted of , considering gods omnipotēce . for he that could make the world of nothing , hee that was able to take adā out of the earth , he that could giue sarah a child in her old age , he that made aarons rod bud : he was as able ( doubtlesse ) to make the wombe of a virgin fruitfull . for with him nothing is impossible : if he doe but speake the word , it is done . it is strange that god should bee man , that a virgine should be a mother , that the mother should bee daughter to her owne sonne ; and that a mortall and weake woman should conceiue & bring forth the immortall and almighty god. but let vs turne vp our eyes to god , and grant that he is able to doe that which wee are not able fully to comprehend . in things of wonder we must ascribe the reason of worke to the power of the worker . in a word , our sauiour , by his incarnation , hath honoured both sexes : mans , in taking of his shape : and womans , by being conceiued , borne , & brought vp by a woman : and so amends hath beene made in that sexe : for as a woman brought sinne into to the world , so a woman also brought forth , and brought vp that saviovr , by whom alone wee are deliuered from our sinnes . as by a woman came sinne , sicknesse , sorrow , bondage , errour , death : so in a woman came a sauiour for sinners , a physitian for the sicke , a comforter of the heauy-hearted , a redeemer for captiues , a guide for straglers , and euen light and life it selfe for them that sit in darknesse , and in the shadowe of death . of miracles . a miracle is some extraordinary thing done by the power of god , aboue the course of nature , such as was the creatio of the world of nothing , the diuiding of the red sea , the standing of the sunne in the dayes of iosua , the mother-hood of that vntouched maiden , the turning of water into wine , and such like . some things may bee aboue nature , as the conuersion of a sinner or true saith in christ , which is aboue created and corrupted nature , and yet no miracle , being common , ordinary , and vsuall in the church . some things are strange and wonderfull , yet no miracles , because there are naturall causes of them , though perhappes not certainly discerned alwayes , nor of all , as comets , earth quakes , eclipses , ( excepting that eclipse of the sunne at the crucifixion of christ , which to see it was ashamed and amazed : ) so it is maruailous , ( but not miraculous ) that the crocodile should eate , and not moue his neatheriaw , that the salamander should indure the fire vnburnt , that pismires shold prouide for winter , that the king amongst the bees should onely want a sting , that a worme should worke out silke , and that a spider should draw a webbe out of his owne bowels to intangle the flies with . furthermore , some things are strange and beyond nature , yet not miraculous , not truely miracles , because they are done by the power and assistance of the diuell , as are many things said and done by such are possessed of diuels . miracles were wrought in the primitiue church very often , till the christian faith was sufficiently confirmed : but now hauing beene so aboundantly confirmed , so generally beleeued , hee were himself a very wonderment , that will not now beleeue it without a wonder . and because that antichrist shall come with his lying wonders ; that is , either not true , but appearing to bee true ; or , truely tending to maintaine his lies and errors , therefore we must take heed of wonders , that we be not by new wonders misled and drawne away from the old way . for his wonders serue not to confirme the faith , but to try the faithfull . this is a lesson neuer to be forgotten , no signe , no wonder , no miracle must withdraw vs from christ and his faith : but and if any man or angell should preach otherwise then we finde written in the holy scriptures , or shall presume to adde to , substract from , or to change the faith receiued , wee are to hold him as accursed . if there arise among you a prophet , or a dreamer of dreames , ( saith moses ) and giue thee a signe or a wonder , ( and the signe & wonder which he hath told thee , come to passe ) saying , let vs goe after other gods , which thou hast not knowne , and let vs serue them : what then ? thou shalt not ( quoth he ) giue eare to the words of the prophet , or dreamer of dreames : why so ? for the lord your god proueth you to know whether you loue the lord your god with all your heart , and with all your soules . of marriage . marriage is the coniunction of but one man , and but one woman : for if it were lawfull to haue two wiues at once , our sauiour would not haue said , that hee that puts away his wife , except for adultery , and marries another , commits adultery . the man and his wife are a matrimoniall creature : the man is as the soule , and the woman is as the body . the man [ as soule ] is to animate and rule , the woman [ as body ] is to be animated and ruled of the man. the soule ( they say ) followes the temperature of the body as concerning operations : and it is often likewise seene that the house goes much after the house-wifes humour : the husband is the wiues head , the wife then is as the husbands body . who but mad-men will mis-vse their bodies ? and who but bad women will mis-vse their heads ? our women are very curious in decking and dressing of their heads , i would they were as carefull in pleasing of their husbands . i hold them best carefull , that are carefull of both their heads together . of both her heads , what if i said her husband was the better ? for her owne head is but head of her body , but her husband is head both of her head , and of her body : her head serues to rule her body , but her husband serues to rule her head ; her head is the better part of her body , but her husband is the better part of her selfe . it is true , hee without her is a bodilesse head ; and as true againe , shee without him is a headlesse body : wisedome , fore-cast , and direction , belong to the head , to obey , to bend , and to bee gouerned , are for the body . sure hee is an ill head , that wanteth wit , forecast , care , and gouernement ; and she is as bad a body , that is vnruly , vntractable , and which wil not be directed . a good wife is like a marchants ship , laden with all kinds of vertues , as it were with wares ; shee is for labour , and not to lie still , and is fitted for burthen rather then for battery ; her pilot and her owner is her husband . it is certaine , women must be obedient to princes , as subiects ; to pastors , as sheepe ; but to their husbands onely as they are their wiues . wee requite in a looking-glasse principally , that it do truely shew vs the colour of our faces , for though it be set in gold , or bee deckt with pearles , yet if it bee deceiptfull , wee care not for it ; the gold or pearles may bee esteemed , but it is contemned . the principall commendation of a wife , is not gold , siluer , wealth , or out ward brauery , but modesty , chastity , piety , verity , sobriety , and humillity ; if these things bee in her , shee is worthy loue , and will win the heart of any man , that is a man , and not a bedlem , that is a man , and not a deuill : but though she bring wealth and worship with her , yet if these things be wanting in her , which were chiefly expected of her , and are most required , surely she is but as a deceiptfull glasse ; a man is meerely cousened in her : and though she haue brought with her coffers of gold , yet can she not but be in truth contemned ; except she mend her manners . riches , beauty , brauery , greatnesse of birth , in a vicious , proud , profane , and head-strong woman , are but as good flowres , or fine feathers , stuck in a peece of dung . of a king. give vnto caesar the things that are caesars . caesar is euery free , full , and absolute monarch . the things of caesar are loue , honour , reuerence , obedience , fidelity , tributes , subsidies , customes , and supreme authority vnder god , ouer all his subiects in all temporall and secular things . a king is a cetaine mixed creature , made of all the people in a kingdom . man is a little world , and a king is a little kingdome : there is not a man within his kingdome , but he is as a part and member of the king : therefore as euery member of the body serues in his place for the good of the whole body , and is obedient to the head , where wisedom , power , prouidence , and gouernment lyeth : so euery subiect should serue for the good of the state , and seek it in his place , and shold shew himselfe obedient to the king , who is his head : and as the head challengeth a right in euery member , and therefore doth good vnto them all , and is affected with compassion , if euen the smallest of them bee wronged , or ill affected : so a king hath a certaine right in all his subiects , hee should animate and rule them all with his authority , and by his lawes : hee should study the welfare of them all , and should be affected truely with all their wrongs and miseries . the head will yeeld to the cutting off an ill-affected member , chusing rather that one should perish , then all ; but it is not simply delighted in the death of any of the members . so a good king loues not to destroy any of his subiects , but had rather saue a thousand , then kill one ; yet hee doth , as it were , enforce himselfe to draw his sword , as knowing that it is better to cut off one , then disturbe or loose all . but though the head may determine to cut away a member , yet doth it not by it selfe , but by some other member , or instrument : so though iudgement and determination belongs vnto the king , yet executions thereof are fittest by farre to bee performed of others . but al-be-it the head agree to the destruction of a member , yet no member is seene to lift it selfe vp against the head with violence ( as it were ) to strike , or hurt it : so is it altogether sauage and vnnaturall for subiects to lay violent hands vpon the sacred bodies of their king , who is as mount sinai , which , was not to bee touched vnder paine of death . mercy and iustice are two saue-gards of a king , and most comely for him . if nothing can be safe from him , there can be no safety for him : his safety and security stands in the safety and security of his subiects , of whom it is safer for him to be loued , then to be feared : it is surer for him to tye them to him by princely humanity , then to exasperate and awe them with tyrannicall seuerity . the king of the bees himselfe is alone without a sting ; nature would not that he should be cruell , and hath left his anger without a weapon . doubtlesse clemency is a princely vertue . herein a king may shew himselfe like the king of kings , who though able easily to be reuenged of all , that doe offend him . yet is he so indulgent , that he pardons many , and sometimes deferres the punishments of his veriest enemies , and strikes not alwaies , when cause is giuen him. euery king should remember to serue the king of kings , christ iesvs , to whom all kings are vassals . it is iust that they should be punisht with rebellious , treacherous , vnfaithfull , and wicked subiects , that themselues neglect the lawes of their soveraigne , and are vnfaithfull to their god : and herein a king doth most of all serue christ , to wit , in doing that good , and hindring that euill , which hee could neither do , nor hinder , but as he is a king. some think a woman may not raigne . what did debora among the ifraelites ? if woemen ( as many virgines , and widdowes ) may be ladies and mistresses of seruants , euen males , why may they not be queenes , if the prouidence of heauen bring them to it . the regall power is neither masculine , nor foeminine , but diuine . sonnes are tyed to honour their naturall mothers , and surely without staine vnto their sexe , and what blemish or indignity can it bee to men to honour their politicall mother ? hee that honours an absolute potentate aright , whether king or queene , honours the power and authority , which is diuine and not humane , and honours the person for the power , & not the power for the person : bee the person good or bad , the power is good , it is of god : and it may fall out that an euill man may bee a good monarch : but whatsoeuer the monarch is , the monarchy , the monarches power is euer good , and neuer bad : for there is no power , but of god ; and the powers , that be , are ordained of god : whosoeuer therefore resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god. and they that resist shall receiue to themselues condemnation . let euery soule therefore bee subiect vnto the higher powers , and not because of wrath onely , but euen for conscience sake . of death . death is not euill , but to an euill man , for to the godly death is good , to the wicked death is euill ; to him it is the dore of life , to this it is the entrance into hell . the sting of death is sinne , pull out this sting , repent of sinne , and death can do hurt , but good . flye from sinne , and death cannot be fearefull . the sooner the saint dies , the sooner hee comes to his crowne . the longer a man liues , the more time he spends vpon the seas ; the sooner a man dies , that dies well , the sooner he comes into the hauen . hee dies well , that liues well ; a bad death cannot follow a good life . he liues and dies well , that liues and dies in the faith and feare of iesvs christ , who is rest to him that trauels , health to him that is sicke , refreshment to him that is weary , and life to him , that dyeth eitheir for him , or in him. death is not euill , but an euill death : this euill death no man dyeth , which dyeth either in ; or for the seruice of christ iesvs . of the immortality of the soule . the soule ( saith austen ) is a created substance , inuisible , incorporeall , immortall , being like to god , that made it . it is possible that the sould should be destroyed , as it was for the sunne to stand still , for the sea to stand diuided , for the fire not to burne the three children , but this is not by the nature thereof , but in regard of the power of god , who is able , if hee pleased , to turne the whole world into nothing , as hee once made it of nothing . but indeed the soule of a man shall neuer die , shall neuer bee dissolued as is the body , but continueth whole and firme for euer . for the proofe hereof i suppose it the surest way for euery man to fortifie himselfe with the vndoubted testimonies of holy writ . the spirit ( saith ecclesiastes ) returnes to god that gaue it . the soule of the poore beggar was in ioy , but the soule of the rich epicure was in torment , after their bodily death . christ said to the thiefe now a dying : this day shalt thou bee with mee in paradise : and to his father , into thine hands i commend my spirit . steuen being now ready to depart , prayed , lord iesvs , receiue my spirit . saint paul saith , wee loue rather to remoue out of the body , and to dwell with the lord : and againe , i desire to bee dissolued , and to bee with christ . by which it is most certaine that the soule doth liue after the body is dead : but what though the soule shall liue for euer , if it liue in paine , as the soules of the damned do ? surely it were better not to be , then to be tormented and out of ease : therefore let vs die before wee die , and leaue our sinnes before wee leaue the world . if our soules do die to sinne in this life , they shall not die by sinne in the life to come : if they liue to god by grace in this world , they shall liue with god in glory in the world to come . the world is mortall , but the soule of man is immortall ; why should that , that is immortall , bee pind on that , that is mortall ? why should the soule that cannot die , be buried in the loue of those things that cannot but die , and come to nothing ? the body is mortall , the soule is immortall : why should wee make more account of that , then this ? why should we desire a good body , and care not though wee haue a naughty soule ? if we neglect our soule , we shall not saue our body : if we forget out soules , we forget our selues . the soule was not made for the body , but the body for the soule : the soule therefore shoule be preferred to the body , but he which neglects the chiefest , and sets most by the meanest , corrupteth both , and condemnes himselfe ; but he , that looketh well to his soule , though hee be more carelesse of the body , yet he shall not proue vnlucky ; for in tendring the safety of his soule , hee shall saue his body also . of the resurrection of the body . there is a resurrection of the iust and iniust ; the iust shall rise to iudge , the iniust to be iudged ; the iust shall be absolued , the iniust shall be condemned : euen that body that fell , the selfe-same shall rise againe by gods omnipotency : for euen they that sleepe in the dust shall rise ; that must rise againe that fell ; this mortall must put on immortality . i shall see god in my flesh ( saith iob ) mine eyes shall behold him , and none other for mee . if there were no resurrection , then is not christ risen againe , for in him we all dyed in him we are all raised vp from death ; and this we haue in soe , the day shall come when we shall haue it in re. neither is there any reason that another body , and not the same , which serued christ , and suffered iniuries for him , should be giuen vnto a man , but it is host iust that the same body , which was burnt , or butchered , for christ , should be glorified of christ , and that a man should receiue his reward and rest , in that body , in which he performed his seruice . the body restored shall be a true body , and not a spirit : for gloria non tollit naturam , sed extollit : glory doth not destroy , but perfite , nature . all defects , deformities , weakenesses , and imperfections , shall be remoued , and all fulnesse , feature , fauour , strength , and perfections , shall be giuen it : and whereas many fall in their infancy , children of a spanne long , yet it is not to be imagined that they shall be raised vp of such a stature , but in the stature of a man , and yet the same body ; euen as the body of an old man for substance is the same it was in his youth , or child-hood , though enlarged , and otherwise disposed . and al-be-it it shall rise a spirituall body , yet it followeth not that it shall be a spirit , no more then it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a soule when it fell , because it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an animall , or ( soule-body ) naturall body : but it is a naturall body now , because it is nourished and preserued by naturall meanes , as food , rayment , sleepe , physicke , recreation , labour : a soule-body , because it is gouerned of the soule ; so it is called then a spirituall body , because it shall be at the spirits command , and shall bee more pure and subtill and fuller of agility , then it is in this world , and shall not haue need of such naturall and bodily helpes , to succour and sustaine it . in a word , all glorified bodies shall haue a temper of elementary qualities brought to such an equality , that heate shall not ouercome moysture , nor this that , but there shall be peace for euer without discord and contention . there is nothing goes from these bodies , nothing is put to them ; there is no defect , no superfluity , no aliment , no excrement ; their temperature is altogether invariable . neither may it seeme harsh to any , that these our bodies shall be raised vp againe ; for god that knowes their frame , and is thoroughly acquainted with their substance , is omnipotent and eternall , and can most easily do it . if an image or statue were broken in peeces , yet so long as the worke-man , that made it , liues , and whiles his skill lasteth , his memory and fancie faile not , and matter wanteth not , there is hope it may be made againe , as good as euer . but god our maker is one and the same for euer , and both can and will performe all his promises made in his word . the howre shall come , in which all that are in the graues shall heare his voyce ( the voyce of the son of man ) and they shall come forth , that haue done good , vnto the resurrection of life , but they that haue done euill vnto the resurrection of condemnation . o that my soule might rise from sinne in this world , that my body might rise from death to life and glory in the world to come . of the last judgement . vvee must all appeare before the iudgement seate of christ : hee shall iudge the world , that was iudged of the world : hee shall condemne sinners , who was himselfe condemned for a sinner : hee will recompense to euery one according as his deeds haue beene , and no man shall escape his power : faire words can not deceiue him , gifts cannot corrupt him , intreaty cannot moue him , fig-leaues cannot delude him : but as men haue brued , so shall they drinke ; euen as they haue baked , so shall they eate . they that haue done well , shall speed well , but they that haue followed reprobate and wicked courses , shall be condemned . the more grace men haue shewed , the more glory they shall receiue : and the more men haue sinned , the more smart they must suffer . o that wee could say with saint ierome , as oft as i thinke of that day , i tremble all ouer ; for whether i eate , or drinke , or whatsoeuer else i do , me thinkes i heare that terrible trumpet sounding in mine eares , ( surgite mortui , venite ad iudicium ) arise yee dead , and come to iudgement . o that we would iudge our selues in this world , that we might escape the fearefull iudgement of the wicked in the world to come . of life eternall . they , that haue serued god aright in this world , shall liue eternally with god in the world to come . they that haue liued vnto christ , and haue dyed in the faith and feare of christ , shall be raised by the power of christ , and shall enioy his face for euer to their vnspeakeable comfort , and contentment , and as men haue excel'd in grace , so they shall exceed in glory . it is more easy to tell what shall not be in that life , then what shall be . there shall be no mourning , nor misery , no want , nor weakenesse , no sinne , nor sorrow , no wearinesse , nor weeping , no death , nor dolour , no hunger , nor thirst , no ach , nor anguish , no diseases , nor discontentments , no troubles , nor tentations . but what shall bee there , who is able to expresse ? no eye hath seene , no eare hath heard , no heart hath yet conceiued . what are the good things which god hath prepared for those that loue him. there is supreme felicity , perfite liberty , true charity , sweete eternity , immortall happinesse , and happy immortality , eternal security , and secure eternity . there god shall be seene without end , loued without loathing , and praysed without wearines . there is whatsoeuer is desired , and nothing is desired which is not there ; thy food is not thy rayment , nor it thy light , nor these thy mony : but there god will be all in all to all his children . they shall possesse him , and he them for euer , and for euer : for that life shall see no death , those ioyes shall haue no end , that state shal neuer sustaine a change . this life , this state , these ioyes , god of his mercy grant vs for christ iesus sake . to whom with the holy ghost be ascribed all honor , praise , power , might and maiesty , now and euermore , amen . trin-vni deo gloria . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a14001-e110 ●or . 3. 18 mat. 12. 5 luk. 8. 2 notes for div a14001-e1760 * or rather baptisme and the lords supper . notes for div a14001-e4380 an. dom. 1346. notes for div a14001-e5560 further , adam sinned , but we all are punisht : but now , if the father eate the sowre grapes , the sonnes teeth shall not be set an edge . notes for div a14001-e5810 * i meane it not , as if any of them were either gracious , or glorious , in the same degree with her . a voyce out of the thick darkness: containing in it a few words to christians, about the late and present posture of spiritual affairs among them. together with a post-script about darkening the counsel of god. as also, certain scripture-prophecies concerning some transactions in the latter times. / by isaac penington, (junior) esq;. penington, isaac, 1616-1679. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a90402 of text r203131 in the english short title catalog (thomason e597_7). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 122 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 32 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a90402 wing p1217 thomason e597_7 estc r203131 99863203 99863203 115390 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a90402) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 115390) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 92:e597[7]) a voyce out of the thick darkness: containing in it a few words to christians, about the late and present posture of spiritual affairs among them. together with a post-script about darkening the counsel of god. as also, certain scripture-prophecies concerning some transactions in the latter times. / by isaac penington, (junior) esq;. penington, isaac, 1616-1679. [10], 53, [1] p. printed by john macock, london : 1650. "a post-script about darkening the counsel of god" and "certain scripture-prophecies concerning some transactions in the latter times" each have separate dated title page; pagination and register are continuous. annotation on thomason copy: "aprill. 1 1649"; the 50 in imprint date is crossed out. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng bible -prophecies -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. christian life -biblical teaching -early works to 1800. a90402 r203131 (thomason e597_7). civilwar no a voyce out of the thick darkness:: containing in it a few words to christians, about the late and present posture of spiritual affairs amo penington, isaac 1650 23501 15 5 0 0 0 0 9 b the rate of 9 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2009-01 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2009-01 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a voyce out of the thick darkness : containing in it a few words to christians , about the late and present posture of spiritual affairs among them . together with a post-script about darkening the counsel of god . as also , certain scripture-prophecies concerning some transactions in the latter times . by isaac penington , ( junior ) esq ; isaiah 2. 5. o house of jacob , come ye , and let us walk in the light of the lord . isai. 50. 11. behold , all ye that kindle a fire , that compass your selves about with sparks : walk in the light of your fire , and in the sparks that ye have kindled . this shall ye have of mine hand , ye shall lie down in sorrow . mat. 5. 29. if thy right eye offend thee , pluck it out , and cast it from thee . london , printed by john macock . 1650. the preface . it was my intention , some distance of time since , to have published somewhat concerning the then present state of affairs ; wherein i should have expressed ill-will towards none , but only have uttered that deep affection that then was in me , towards the soddering and healing the distempers of such spirits , as are made more miserable by their own discontents , then they could be by any thing else that can in probability befall them in this state of things , wherein it is hard to determine what is truly best and most profitable , though most men are very ready to determine , and very confident in determining , according to their own desires and apprehensions . it was then my design to have cast some water upon these flames , that they might not burn so intensely within to the disturbance of mens own spirits there , nor yet be so liable to break forth to the disquieting and endangering of the publique interest . there are one sort of men whom i should more especially have applied my self unto , who are wonderous eager after making the nation happy ; whose spirits can be no ways satisfied till they see the attainment of that universal freedom , and the flowing forth of that universal speedy impartial justice , which is easie to be desired , but hard to be met with . in pity towards these ( whom i had cause enough to pity , i my self lying with them under the same desire , though not expecting to meet with it in that way wherein it was pursued ; ) i say , in pity towards these , i was ready to issue forth to administer to them more especially what i conceived might be in any kind relieving ; and after such reasonings as should have fallen within my shallow compasse , at last i should have ventured to have proposed three directions to such as should be made willing to consider of them , which when embraced , would not quite have taken them off from , but only have somewhat allayed the vehemency of their spirits in this their prosecution of publike good , which in tenderness to them and others i could not but desire . these directions being so few , and of a more general nature then to be restrained unto them , or any one sort only , i shall here make mention of , being setled in my spirit to wave the rest of the discourse . the first of them is to this effect : be content to passe through your pilgrimage without the full enjoyment of that freedom ye have desired and pressed so hard after . there is a power above , whose will may crosse yours in this , which may as well find fault with your untowardnesse to be governed , as with the self-seeking of such as have been governors . i might perhaps have said , if i had not suspected it would have relished too harshly , be content to be slaves . it is a brave thing sometimes to oppose the yoke , but a braver from judgment to submit unto it . it is in many cases better for particular persons , yea for societies , to bear , then avoyd the yoke . it cost the israelites dear that they would by no means be brought to put their necks under nebuchadnezzars girdle . canst thou say that a present oppression is not determined concerning thee by him who hath power to dispose of all things ? if thou canst not , take heed of over-violent resisting . if thou labourest for freedom with all thy might , and a greater power oppose , what wilt thou gain by the contest ? i have often repented of shunning , of avoyding , but never of meeting and closing with misery . it is the stiffnesse of the neck , and unbrokennesse of the spirit that chiefly makes all our yokes so harsh . 2. groan , pant after , and in a just way pursue the attainment of perfect freedom . lie not down as a slave , with a base abject spirit , counting slavery best , but with a sweet spirit submit to it for necessities sake , and withall let a sense appear of your prizing and desiring of liberty : and what way of attaining it is made out to you plainly and evidently justifiable , forbear not to fall in with ; yet not in such a violent and irrational manner , as to make your more noble parts far worse slaves to bruitish passions within , to avoyd a more inferior slavery of the outward and more ignoble part . 3. hasten your desires and expectations aright : look not for it from thence where ye cannot hope to find it , but thence from whence alone it can come : look not for it from man , righteousnesse cannot grow there , it never grew there : man has not a soil fertile enough for such trees to flourish in ; man has not a root deep enough to bear such fruit . besides , man seems now to be blown upon , and all his excellency withers ; adore him no longer . is not the glory of all sorts of men fallen ? why do ye so often remove your eyes from one sort of men to another ? oh loosen them from all , and fasten them no more on any , if ye would not be frustrated . solomon that deep wise man , who knew things in their causes , tels you what the place of judgment and righteousnesse under the sun is , even a place where unrighteousnesse and iniquity is still to be found , eccles. 3. 16. if ye look for a place of pure judgment and righteousnesse under the sun , ye will be deceived . for this is the state that ever was and ever will be under the sun ; there will be oppressions exercised even there , and the oppressed ones may weep , but they are like to have no effectual comforter ; for the power that should comfort and relieve them , is still on the oppressors side , as that same comprehensive man speaks in that same book , chap. 4. 1. therefore look not there for it any longer , since wisdom hath said , and experience too hath always shewn , that it is not , it will not , it cannot be found there . but if ye know and can think of a fountain of righteousnesse , a power that can issue out pure and perfect salvation , look thither ; and when that fountain shall be opened , ye may chance to meet with it ; but till then , your hunger and thirst is not like to be satisfied , however your hopes to meet with it in this or that party , this or that interest , may flatter you . now whether these may be useful to any or no , lies not in me to resolve ; this is all i have to say concerning them , that i found them in my own spirit , and i found my spirit much composed by them , ( in reference to the several tossings and tumblings that have been , ) they lying at the bottom there , from whence i produce them into publique view , not knowing but they may drop and distil into some other spirit , to bring it also to some kind of rest in this respect , in the middest of such future shakings as are very incident and frequent after dissettlement . about the same time the state of spiritual things was presented to my view , and i beheld the people of god in their several stations ; some scattered this way , some that way ; some setled this way , some that way ; some bewailing themselves under their scatterings , others blessing themselves in their setlings ; some seeking , and others glorying , in what they imagine they have found ; some complaining of the breaches , growing greater and more spiritual , others crying out as fast , that their antidotes , plaisters and arts of healing , which would easily help all , were not embraced . i found my spirit likewise drawn out to speak a little concerning this state of things , as i felt the sence of them then upon me , and as i found it most ready and convenient to communicate that sence ; which though i had intended to wave also , yet finding the state of things calling for some such kind of language to invite to a more then ordinary consideration of them , i find my self willing to let it go forth as an instrument in his hand , who knoweth how to manage it , to effect what he pleaseth by it . this is the account i thought fit to give by way of preface , to lead to the discourse it self , which now follows . a few vvords to christians , about the late and present posture of spirituall affaires among them . it was not onely the civil part of this nation that lay under misery and oppression before this great commotion , but religion also , and the religious party , had a deep share in it , being most of all troden under foot . that present form of government , which then was in force , struck at the life and power of that , which it was erected to be a wall unto . nor did onely the sweetness of liberty and propriety put men , that were sensible thereof , upon striving to regain and possess them ; but the preciousness of freedom to conscience , tender conscience , which had been so long yoked and burthened , did much instigate christians to assay the recovery and re-enjoyment of it . and the result hath been much alike to both ; both have been buried in the dust of contention and confusion . the contention hath grown so hot , that men have almost forgot what they contended for in both , which at first was not a power to oppress and captive others , but to attain liberty for themselves and others . it is to you , o christians , that i intend a few words , ( to which i hasten , ) and that concerning your choycest jewel , religion . in what state is it ? in what state hath it been ? hath it thriven , or decayed ? is it alive , or dead ? whom do ye embrace in your bosoms , your true love , or a stranger ? what , is your religion of the right coyn ? hath it the stamp of your king , or is it counterfeit ? truly there are so many different pretenders stand up to lay claim to him , who belongs but to one , ( his own spouse , as he is but one , his light one , his will one , his way one , in the midst of infinite variety and contrariety ) that he had need have infallible certainty , who satisfieth his spirit with his interest in him . but i would speak but little to you ; i will therefore come to those few questions i have to propose to your consideration concerning the state of spiritual things , in reference to the many changes it hath under-gone , and the present condition wherein it stands . the first whereof may be this : 1. whether religion hath not received a wound in the inward part of it , since this contestation about outward things , and the outward part of religion ? whether the life and power of religion ( which was always scanty enough among the best ) be not now much abated , and runneth not so low , that it is hardly , if at all , discernable ? it hath been the complaint of divers , both presbyterians and independents , and therefore may well deserve the consideration of each sort . o christians ! be not so busie about the outward part , about the dress of religion , as not to enquire into the state of the inward part , whether that flourish , or languish and decay . 2. if it do appear to you , that religion hath received a blow within , a wound at heart ; let me ask you , in the second place , whether it doth not nearly concern you , to bethink your selves how it may be cured in time , before it bleed to death ? thou art busied , o christian , about garments of religion , for thy self and others to wear ; look within man , thy heart faints , thy life is expiring : thy faith is even dead ; thou canst not trust god , but runest to thine own wisdom to contrive for thy self , and to thine own power to effect thy counsels . thy love , what is become of it ? o what a strange thing is love among christians ? patience , humility , meekness of spirit , &c. where do they grow ? what is there of these left within , in the heart , when there is such a general complaint , that they are not to be found in the lives of professors ? 3. let me ask thee , in the third place , whether the establishment of , or voluntary submission to , any outward form of government , or church-discipline , of what kinde soever , can heal this breach within ? will presbytery do it ? why doth it not do it in scotland , where it hath scope and power enough ? will independency or anabaptism do it ? how come so many then to lose the lives of their spirits in such relations ? the form doth seldom contribute much to the power , but the power is very commonly eaten out by the form . i know men that are engaged much to any way , are highly conceited of it , thinking it would effect strange things , if it were but generally owned and embraced ; and are ready to impute all miscarriages and bad effects to the want thereof : but this is but a favorable and self-ish judgment ; i propose this question to thee to consider and ponder of , till thou art enabled to pass a righteous judgment upon it ; and then perhaps thou wilt be as ready to condemn thine own form and way of administration in this behalf , as thou art to condemn such other ways as thou now opposest . 4. let me ask thee yet again , whence this cure is to be expected , and can alone be had ? from whence did any true life and power flow at first , and whither is it now retired ? who is it that hath wounded ? can he heal ? can any else but he heal ? who is it that hath shaken the foundations of mens spirits , and battered down the fabricks of their religion about their ears ; yea , even of such as have built with hewen stone ? truly , miserable is that man , whose life is almost wasted , and dayly wasting , and yet he still running to that for recovery , which destroyeth him . it is one fair step towards redemption , to know from whence to hope for it , and to have the eye taken off from every thing else . 5. and lastly , let me put this one thing more to thee ; what dispensation thinkest thou are we under at present ? whether have we attained that light , that life , that power , by which we are to walk , and under which we may comfortably sit down ? or are we to expect and wait for a reducement to that state wherein the primitive christians were , when the spirit was poured out upon them , and they led thereby into church-communion ? or are we to expect any other state promised in the scripture , and ( as some say ) experienced by themselves , which this is to give way unto ? this is a very weighty question , and very needful , especially in these shaking times , wherein men had need be much enquiring , and not over forward to settle , when a power above them stands so ready to shake , and hath so sorely shaken , that which was very likely to have stood . to further such a little , as are desirous to bend their thoughts hereunto , by opening a way for a more full and exquisite search , i shall communicate some of the workings of my minde formerly concerning these three things . as touching the first , whether we have attained to such a dispensation , as we may walk on comfortably in ? the workings of my minde have been very various and doubtful concerning this ; one while inclining to the one part , another while to the other : sometimes apprehending the substance both of inward and outward worship and conversation , so clearly revealed in the scriptures , and so testified within , in the spirits of christians ; and so much life and power also communicated from above , as might very well suffice to lead them on very sweetly and comfortably in this vale of tears to their resting place . otherwhiles again apprehending from light sence , and evident experience , so much deadness , so much darkness , such a vail over the heart , and over the scriptures ; such uncertainty in things that were received , such a want of power within to buckle with power without , that there appeared no possibility of rubbing on like christians after this rate ; which hath made me often wonder , whether we were under the law , or under the gospel ; there was so much work , so little strength ; so large promises without , so little of what they spake within . so that though i had many advantages , both from the earnestness of the desire in my own spirit , and from the considerations that were administred to me ; as also from my own experience , and enquiry among such as pretended both light and experience in the point in hand ; yet still there was somewhat of concernment to keep me back from a positive determination , even when i was nearest unto resolving . for the second , whether we are to expect a restoration of the the primitive state , or no ? my mind wrought much after the same manner . sometimes it seemed very likely to me that it should be restored : sometimes again the weakness both of the ordinances and administrations of it , and their sudden death , made it seem to me fitter to pass away , and give place to that which is more durable . there were three things eminent in that dispensation , gifts , administrations , and graces . they had several sorts of gifts ; gifts of healing , of speaking with tongues , of working miracles : again , they had gifts of prophecying , of singing , of revelation , of interpretation , &c. then they had administrations , they had proper ways of administring every gift , which were appointed to them , and whereinto they were led , by the same spirit which bestowed the gift . some gifts were bestowed in reference to persons without , for conviction and conversion ; and other gifts in reference to persons within , for mutual edification , exhortation and comfort ; the same spirit leading them to the use of these in some measure , who imparted the gift unto them . then lastly , they had graces , strong , powerful graces were poured out unto them , graces that were truly spiritual , not acquired by their industry , but breathed by the spirit of life ; such as faith , love , patience , humility , meekness , &c. and there is a vast difference between these when they are dropped out of heaven , and those that are extracted out of the earth , though they may bear the same name , and carry the same resemblance . the common fires of the jews , and the fire on the altar , were not the same , how little difference soever might seem between them to common judgments . but what became of this glory ? how soon did this sun set ! what christ foretold concerning the material temple of jerusalem , proved true also of this spiritual , this apostolick building , there was not one stone left upon another that was not thrown down . who would have thought so glorious a fabrick should so soon have been laid flat ! that the churches , so well founded and setled by the apostles , and not barely by them , but by the spirit of god in them , should so soon come to ruine ! and since it hath thus passed away , must we not be forced to confess , that there was some flaw , some defect in it , or else it could not so soon have decayed and perished ? and truly methinks there seemeth to lie as just an indictment ( in kind , though not in degree ) against this dispensation , as did against the dispensation under the law , for weakness , for unprofitableness , for inability , to make the comers thereunto perfect . what a poor state were the churches in , even in the apostles times ? how subject to be shaken in doctrine ? how carnal and defective in practise ? they had the spirit poured out upon them , and yet wanted both outward light , and inward life and power . they had abundance of gifts , but knew not how to use them towards the edification of the body , but employed them to the building up of that which was to be destroyed . and it was not only a weak state while it was enjoyed , but was also continually languishing , and soon expired : and all the endeavors that have been to rear up this fabrick again since , either in the internal or external part , have had the like success with those endeavors that have been used to re-build the temple of jerusalem since its desolation ; before the building can come to any maturity or perfection , it is still blown down . such a continued , experimented discovery of the frailty of it , seemeth to me to foretel its death , not its resurrection ; its casting away , not its restitution . now for the third branch , whether we are to expect any other state , which some from experience ( as they say ) can and do testifie concerning , whereunto this , and all former dispensations are to give way ? wherein two particulars would be distinctly considered , the thing it self , whether such a thing is to be or no ? and the testimony which we hear , or at least may hear , given out by persons concerning it , which is of a very high kind , they say , they have tasted , they have felt it in their own experience , and commend it unto us as a thing they know already is in part , and suddenly shall be more fully seen and enjoyed . i intend to speak somewhat to both these , and that very freely , ( for i hope the time is coming wherein my heart and thoughts concerning all things shall be opened ) and first concerning the experience of these persons , which though it come afterward in order of nature , yet i shall begin with it , to lay it out of the way ; and then i shall come more fairly and directly to the thing it self . as touching the experience of those persons who thus speak ; though they have made a noise in the world , & drawn the eyes of many upon them , and the hearts of many after them ; yet there lieth so just an exception against their persons and practises , as cannot but damp their testimony , and eat out that strength which otherwise it might carry with it . there is a greater ground of rebuke and reproach lies upon them , then hath usually attended the people of god , who have always , and that too justly , layn open to reproach . the weakness of every administration , the frailty of the persons under it , the great boasts that have still been made by some of them , of their interest in god , nearness to god , power from god , and yet the low ebb that most commonly they are found in , hath still given too much occasion to wise flesh to despise such a weak and mixed appearance of the spirit of god in them : yet this is not their worst , but their ordinary state ; you shall sometimes have them buffeted by satan , overmastered by corruption , forsaken by god , giving up all their hopes , ( my strength and my hope is perished from the lord , said jeremiah , lam. 3. ) all their light darkened , all their life extinguished to appearance ; and this is such a stumbling block as it is hard to leap over . but none ever lay so open to reproach as these : persons wallowing with delight in that which the eyes of sence and reason ( if the eye of religion were quite put out ) cannot but call unclean , filthy , wicked : boasting that they are all , and all is theirs , and yet possessing nothing ; not knowing where to attain necessaries for the body : speaking greater words then ever were spoken , but with less demonstration of the spirit and of power , then god was usually wont to give out to them whom he called to speak after a far lower rate . how can any mans stomack forbear nauseating such kind of persons ? i must profess there is nothing i have met with more contrary to my temper , and answerably more distasteful to me , who have been always strongly bent towards , and in prosecution of exact purity , both within and without , to the utmost extent and degree . my temper hath likewise enclined me much to modesty , sobriety , silence ; i have still desired to be much , to enjoy much , but not to make any great sound of what i was made or enjoyed ; and i think few can testifie any great boasts they heard from me of that light , that life , that power , that sweetness , which once i tasted of , nay for a season possessed , but still kept back the discovery of it , further then the drawing of it forth into action ( wherein i was not overforward neither ) did occasion it . to be , but not to appear , was very delightful to me ; but to make a glorious appearance beyond substance , to speak great words beyond what i felt or enjoyed , was in no wise pleasing unto me , or passable with me . and if i deal ingenuously , i must confess , i never found my spirit rise with greater detestation against any thing , then this which i am now speaking of . it was irksom to me formerly to hear men talk of the spirit of god , of being assisted by the spirit of god , when it was too too clear that their own parts & abilities were the master-engine in all their performances : but this was far more distasteful to me , and that which i could in no wise brook , until i was throughly battered , and shewn my insufficiency to judg any thing . since which time , i have learned by much experience , that the clay is not its own , but the potters ; nor hath it liberty to chuse its own form , but must be cast into what form the potter pleaseth , and into what several forms he pleaseth : one while it shall be a vessel of honour , by and by a vessel of dishonour ; anon a vessel of honour again , then a vessel of dishonour again , of greater dishonour then before ; and afterwards perhaps a vessel of greater honour then before . the same peece of earth one while lyeth common with the rest of the world , by and by is separated for a garden or vineyard to the lord , enclosed with his fence , surrounded with his wall , for him to possess and please himself with ; anon the fence , the wall , is broken down , and it laid open , and made common again : and thus it is tossed and tumbled into several sorts of various conditions as often as the owner of it pleases ; and what shall be the issue of all , who knows but he who is all ? there are many devices in the heart of man to exalt himself , and throw down others , ( every one thinks it will go well with him , and is ready to prophecy woes to others , ) but the counsel of the lord it shall stand . others shall meet with that blessedness he promiseth to himself , and he shall meet with those woes he denounceth against others . when israel is a grievous slave , the despicablest peece of earth throughout the whole creation , then is israel picked out , chosen for a vessel of glory : when israel lifts up it self above the rest of the world , looks upon the rest as heathen , as dogs , ( it was their usual phrase to term the gentiles by , ) they were the chosen people , the rest cast off ; they the holy people , the rest prophane , wicked , sinners of the gentiles : now must israel be turned back , and be put in mind of his own original , which was the same with theirs , ( his father was an amorite , and his mother an hittite , ) and he must change places with them , a parcel of the heathen must become the choyce separated people , and these must be cast by . having tasted somewhat of this in my own spirit , having been hurled by might and power into several forms and shapes , and such too as i have been strongly fortified against , and have strongly opposed , it hath made me somewhat shy of finding fault with any peece of clay , in what guise soever i find it . and i cannot but advise all , who have respect to their own ease and safety , to take heed how they judg these persons . this is no ordinary case ; and though sence or reason , much more religion , may presume upon the seeming clearness of the ground , and so grow bold in pronouncing sentence against them ; yet it is the light of the day can alone declare things of this nature , and till the time of judgment be come , that light may be withheld . the nature and end of the various passages between god and his people , are many times then most hid , when they seem most manifest : there is commonly deepest love in the bitterest cup , and the purest glory is frequently vailed over with the darkest covering . flesh hath been always bold in judging , it may now be met with ; there may now be a trap laid to catch and ensnare it to its own confusion and destruction . this occasion is so palpable , that it will be very hard for flesh to avoyd , being drawn out to judg and condemn ; and yet its being drawn forth may be but an entrance into its own judgment . methinks i see how apt man is , according to his own state in religion , and according to his own apprehension of things , presently to give out his verdict . this is because the foundation was not well laid , will some say . this is the effect of their leaving ordinances and duties , will others say . this is the fruit of their prying into mysteries and secrets , may a third sort conclude . but how knowest thou , o vain man , that it ariseth from any of these ? or who gave thee liberty to vent thine own imagination concerning so intricate a passage as thine eyes never met with before ? i can tell thee of another cause different from any of these , whence it may proceed for ought thou knowest . there is a wine prepared for all to drink of , to empty them of all their glory , which the people of god must begin with . god will have no glory stand in his way : religion is the highest glory , stands most in his way , therefore that must first down . nature is glorious , and doth glorifie god in its kinde , but yet it stands in the way of religion , which is an higher glory ; therefore the first thing religion does , where it comes in power , is , to break nature , to dash the glory of nature . religion is more glorious , and does more glorifie god ; but withall , being more glorious , it stands more in the way of a greater glory , then the glory of nature does ; and therefore the present controversie is more sharp against it , then against nature . there is a time to set up , and a time to pull down ; a time to raise , and a time to level : and that which is truly excellent and glorious in its kinde and degree , must vail and dye , when the season of the discovery of a greater glory draws nigh . and the people of god speak very lamentably of it , as a thing they did not look for , as a thing they thought to have avoyded , but were forced unto by a power which could not be resisted ; thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment . there is a wine of gods mingling that will astonish , a wine made by his art and skill purposely to astonish , which can without fail effect it ; a wine that will quickly lay the creature dead drunk , and strip him as naked ( if not more ) of all the knowledg of god , yea , of all spiritual excellencies , as a man drunk after the common natural way is of the knowledg of natural things , and of natural excellencies . there is a consumption determined to pass through the whole earth , upon every earthly person , and every earthly thing in persons truly spiritual . every earthly thing must be consumed . not onely earthly relations , earthly converse , earthly imaginations , earthly endowments , customs , with the whole fashion of this outward world : but likewise earthly religion , earthly ordinances , earthly duties , earthly graces , earthly knowledg of god , earthly desires after god , earthly enjoyments of god , earthly acknowledgments of god , earthly praising of god , earthly hopes , evidences , assurances of everlasting life and blessedness ; all that is earthly must be consumed every where . and that which you call spiritual , heavenly , in this dark eclipsed-moon-light , god may call earthly in his clear sun-light ; and whatsoever he calls earthly , must under-go this consumption . all flesh is grass , and the glory thereof as the flower of the field : the grass withereth , the flower fadeth , because the spirit of the lord bloweth upon it . there is a blasting breath of the lord gone forth , and going forth , which shall make every thing that is fleshly , that is not pure spirit , to dye , and give up the ghost . there is a terrible storm and tempest to come forth ( isai. 28. 2. ) to batter down all the beauty and glory of ephraim , of dear ephraim , of ephraim the pleasant childe . now hence it may proceed , these persons may have been made to drink this wine . this judgment , which is to go over all , may be begun in them . the spirit of the lord , which will blow upon and make the glorious beauty of all to fade , may have already blown upon them , and have so blown upon t●em , that there may no remainders of that life and sweetness , whereof their spirits were once full , be left standing . therefore look about you ; let him that standeth take heed , lest he fall . consider what ye will do when ye come to drink of this cup ; how ye will keep off astonishment , and preserve in you the knowledg of spiritual things , when ye are made to drink the wine of astonishment ; how ye will do to retain the beauty and glory of your religion , when the spirit of the lord blows upon it . alass sirs ! if these things be done to the green tree , what will become of the dry ? if persons , in whom there was such an eminent power , purity and life of religion ( as there was known to be in many of these ) be thus dealt with , be thus stripped , have the very foundation so struck at in them ; what will become of persons who have very little better then a form , whether of presbytery , independency , anabaptism , or any other kinde ? how will these stand against the tempest ? how quickly will the unquenchable fire devour such stubble ? if the oaks of bashan , the cedars of lebanon , persons of such height , such strength , be fell'd to the ground , be burnt in the fire , be so much consumed , have so little ( if any thing at all ) left , what shall become of the brambles of the forrest ? and yet none more forward and confident in judging , then such as are least able to stand , and shall soonest fall , when they come to judgment . but i will insist no longer on this , which is ( to the point in hand ) but circumstantial ; but proceed now to the thing it self , which is of substance indeed , and of very great weight , which is this , whether we are to expect any other state , which that we are or have been in , and that the primitive christians were in , is to give way to ? whereunto i have this to say : there seemeth to me to be a larger pouring out of the spirit promised , and to be expected in the latter days , then hath as yet been dispenced ; larger both for extent and vertue : it is to be poured out more generally upon the people of god , i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh ; and more effectually upon those on whom it is poured out ▪ and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy , &c. this second pouring forth of the spirit is to be fuller of vertue and efficacy in several respects . 1. in respect of the knowledg of things , and the way of dispensing it . there was a great deal of knowledg given out then , in respect of what had been before , and after a far clearer and more powerful manner : but yet it was still weak , dark , imperfect , and given out by weak fleshly instruments , earthen vessels , and in a weak fleshly manner , through much infirmity of the flesh , as paul speaks : and it was received in but weakly too ; so that ignorance did still prevail , and men were very carnal and dark under those administrations and receptions of light , and had need to be taught over and over again the very elements and first principles of christianity . but at the second pouring out of the spirit , there shall be no need of any such givings out of light , ye shall not teach every man his neighbor , saying , know the lord : knowledg shall then be universal among the people of god , they shall all know me , from the least to the greatest : the knowledg of the lord shall cover the earth , as waters cover the sea . now there is a gasping after more light , more discoveries of god ; but then every vessel shall be filled , and filled from the fountain . the waters shall be no more sullied by the pipes that convey it , but pure light shall spring from within . 2. in respect of the remembrance of things . it was a work appertaining to the spirit , upon his first pouring forth , to bring things to their remembrance . the things that christ had spoken , what they had known or heard , that was useful for them , the spirit was to put them in minde of , when they should need it , either for direction or comfort . but at the second pouring out of the spirit , the spirit shall indeed bring all things to our remembrance much more fully : all the things of god , all the things in god , all the things done by god . then we shall indeed remember the things of old , before this late earth was formed ; when there was nothing but the light of god , the life of god , the power of god , circling within its own pleasure . 3. in respect of power over spirituall enemies and evils . they had power over these in a great measure . they could in some sence play with sin , laugh in their spirits at the condemnation of it , at the reigning power of it : there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in christ ; and if sin abound , grace abounds much more ; and again , sin shall not have dominion over us , for we are not under the law , but under grace : here is fine sporting with sin . but for all that , it was but sad sport sometimes , sin gave them now and then such gripes , as made them roar out , oh wretched man ! and , who shall deliver ! yea , the body of sin stuck so close , as troubled the best of them all their dayes , so that they could not throughly do the things that they would , nor throughly avoyd the things they would not do , but were often forced , by the power of sinne , to do what they hated . so for the world : they were delivered from this present evill world ; but so as they were still troubled with it , and faine much to be pressed , not to love the world , nor the things of the world , not to fashion themselves to the world , &c. they were half out , and half in ; got out from the world , and yet the world stuck close to them ; drawn upwards by the spirit , and yet still held downwards by the flesh . and for the devill ; his head was a little crushed , but he was not quite trodden under foot . they were not ignorant of his devices , they knew his wiles well , and yet for all that they were not free from being entangled by him . paul himself was buffeted by his messenger . he went up and down the very churches like a roaring lyon , seeking whom he might devoure ; neither was he content with particular souls , but he never left till he had swallowed up all the churches . but at the second pouring out of the spirit , spirituall enemies and spirituall evils shall be pure sport . nothing shall hurt or destroy in all gods holy mountain : then the sucking child shall play on the hole of the aspe , and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den . the sting of sin shall be so taken out , that it shall be as harmless as any other thing . such light , such life , such puritie , shall then be dispensed , as shall transform the very nature of things . darkness shall become light ; death , life ; impurity , purity , unto them . they shall be so fully , so truely pure , as all things shall be pure to them ; so fully living , as all things shall be life to them ; and full of that light , which maketh every thing light about it . sin , and devil , and hell , have no evill originally in themselves , but only by a sharp law are made terrible to weak flesh , but are very pleasant to the might and strength of perfect spirit . 4. in respect of wisdome to use things . they had not wisdom proportionable to make use of the things bestowed on them . they knew not how to manage their gifts and graces ( as appears in the 12. chap. of the 1 epist. to the church of corinth ) to the best advantage , but their very table became a snare to them . their food , though it was weak , yet it was too strong for their stomacks . the wine of the spirit was too heady for their weak braines , so that it turned them out of the way . paul himself , though more then an ordinary man , yet not able to bear more then ordinary revelations . but at the second powring out of the spirit , he shall become a perfect guide . there shall be wanting neither light to see the right , nor life to fall in with it to the full . the way of holiness , true holiness ( not a shadowie , not a representative , but true holiness ) shall be so plain , that waifaring men , that never went that way before , though fools , who have no skill in it , who know not how to ask a wise question about it , shall not erre therein . and this is my interest , herein lies my heart , this is all the little hope that is left me , ( or rather that is a little revived in me ) after the bitter death and losse of all . and if this also faile me , or be over-much prolonged , i know not which way to turn , having nothing further to expect , but to lye down in miserie . i have seen an end of all the perfection i have hitherto been acquainted with ; and if i had it again , yet it would be too narrow to yield my spirit content , which through much extremity hath been forced from its hold , to seek out and pant after , a firmer , a deeper , a larger foundation . and now what shall i say to you , my dear ones ? had i a word in season , oh with what delight should i give it forth unto you i and yet why should i poor ignorant wretch be speaking , when he who knows how to speak , sees it good to be silent ? had i not better fall a weeping over you ? but what value have my tears above my words ? yet let me weep or speak , or both , at worst it can be but like what we dayly meet with ; lost labour , vanitie . and i could almost fall into a patheticall perswading of you ( if i were sure it might be prevalent and profitable ) to weep with me ; yea , and yet somewhat further , even to leave this same eager prosecuting the formes and shaddows of things ( which passe away , which perish in the very use , which did not contain life and substance in them , even whilest it passed through them ) to withdraw your spirits from doting on your present enjoyments ( if they be present ) and to consider what is absent , what is worth the enjoying , and to mourn after it ; to forsake the house of feasting in these poor , low , dark , shallow things , and to enter into the house of mourning , after deep , after excellent things , after that life and substance which will alone be in request for food and satisfaction of souls , when these shall vanish , and their emptiness and nakedness appear unto , and be acknowledged by all . there is ground of mourning in a double respect : both in respect of what is lost , and in respect of what was promised to be enjoyed . first , in respect of what is lost , and that in a double respect also : in respect of what you your selves have lost , and likewise in respect of what the state of christianity hath lost . consider what ye your selves have lost , and mourn over that . what sweetness , meekness , patience , humility , faith , love , &c. did appear in christians a while ago ? what life and vigour in prayer ? what inward searching of heart , and outward strictness of conversation ? oh where is this ! is it not gone ? nay , is it possible to be recovered ? be provoked to jealousie , o ye professors of this age , hold forth the truth of things , or give up the name also : if ye have lost the substance , please not your selves with the title , but throw it away also , rather then it should hinder you from pressing after the substance again . consider likewise , what the state of christianity hath lost : what it once possessed , whereof the shadow is not now to be found . what presence of god dwelling in them . god dining , supping , walking up and down with them , and they with him . we know god by outward apprehensions , sucked in from the letter of the scriptures : they knew god from the sight of him , from his ingoings and out-goings in their own spirits . they , by a spiritual eye received from god the father and jesus christ his son , saw themselves in god the father and in jesus christ : they saw god the father and jesus christ in them . they were come to mount sion , to the city of the living god , &c. they saw , they tasted , they handled , the word of life . they had golden candlesticks , and christ walking in the midst of them . what power of the spirit of god going forth in them . they could pray in the spirit , act in the spirit , live in the spirit . they knew how to move towards god in his own spirit . out of their belly did indeed flow rivers of living water , which did continually run back , and carry them back into the sea of life . what liberty of spirit , true liberty , wherein they knew how to use every thing , and be in bondage to nothing : such liberty , wherein the spirit might take its full scope to meet and enjoy god every where , in every thing ; and the flesh have no advantage thereby to feed it self anywhere , in any thing . this was once the state of christians , that which they were in a way to attain , that which some did attain , yea that which was generally attained in some degree . but where is it now ? who comes near it ? indeed a strong imagination may fancy , that it hath attained some kind of resemblance of it ; but do but compare it with the reality of this state , how soon will it appear but an imagination , but a fancy ? and is not this a just occasion of lamentation ? again , there is ground of mourning , in respect of what was promised . more was promised then they enjoyed . a more full presence of god , a more abundant power of the spirit , a more perfect liberty in the spirit . he that beleeveth , out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water . i will dwell with them , and i will walk in them , and i will be your god , and ye shall be my sons and daughters , saith the lord almighty . though they had the enjoyment of this in respect of us , yet this was but a promise in respect of what was to be enjoyed . promises are very large of plenty , fulness of bread , but the children of the promises are very scanty , almost famished for want of it . how full are the scriptures of promises to the last days ! we say , these are the last days , and surely we meet with ( in part ) the misery that is spoken of , as belonging to the last times ; but the happiness , the sweet enjoyment of god , the plentiful pourings forth of the spirit , which are so abundantly promised to those times , seem more remote from us in view , then they have been from preceding ages . if ever there was a time for tears without , and grief of spirit within , this seems the season : when after such an expectation of light and glory , of settlement and establishment in the things of god , such thick darkness , such universal shame , such dreadful shatterings , have so apparently overtaken us , and are so likely dayly more and more to overtake us . not only our superstruction , but our very foundation is shaken ; and when we have striven and tryed to the utmost to settle again , we may be forced at length to confess , that there is no setling any more upon it , but we must come to a deeper bottom , or sink for ever . the sense of a poor shattered soul , concerning his spiritual loss & misery thereby , expressed in a letter to an intimate friend . the letter . my dear heart , mine own soul ; what shall i call thee ? i can call thee any thing in word , in form ; but nothing in light , in power . i have not been unwilling to write to thee , otherwise then i am made unwilling towards all motions : but this i must confess , i am unwilling so far to grieve thee , as my writing necessarily will occasion . how canst thou bear to hear how i have been tossed up and down , stripped of all ; not of the outside , but of the inside ; not of my corruptions , ( which i hoped had been burning up , and wasting away , ) but of the vigor and life of my spirit ? not one branch of knowledg , not one sweet motion of my spirit , but hath been confounded , condemned , taken from me , and made odious to me . very shy have i been of new notions , till extremity made me desirous to entertain any thing that might in any respect mitigate my torment , and then fain would i beleeve any thing , imagine any thing , be any thing , for ease sake . and yet to this day am i still held off from every thing . i can neither receive any thing that is new , nor return to any thing that is old : but every thing is darkness , death , emptiness , vanity , a lye . thus they still appear to me , and yet my spirit presently judgeth me for so thinking and judging , while i know them not , nor what they may be . i am rent from all things , but have nothing to turn to . my hopes , comforts , enjoyments , are all dashed , but nothing new brought in their stead . i am like a wilde bull in a net , entangled with misery and torment , which i know not what it is , no● whence it comes , nor whither it tends , nor see no likely hood of any issue . i am perfectly weary of my self and all things , but continually more and more beset with what i hate ; and have quite lost the remembrance of what i desire , or could love . nor is there any use of any means for me , for there is no principle left in me for any man , or means , to work upon . i will tell thee one strange thing . after i had been long worried , and had had all my religion violently rent from me , peece by peece , and had long mourned over the dead carcass ; having at length forgot the sweetness of it , i was drawn to a willingness to part with it . hereupon for a season i enjoyed a kinde of fools paradise , yet not without intermixtures of anguish ; but i was quickly weary of it , and turned out of it too . at the same time also i felt my reason somewhat revive , which made me a little entertain this conjecture : that the blows which did light so heavy on it were for religions sake , which it was still offering to be serviceable unto , while it remained ; which when it had once quitted , it much escaped the dint of those strokes which followed it so incessantly before . and i finde still somewhat more of it in me , then when you were here ; yet have very little comfort or sweetness in the enjoyment of it , having this imagination at some times somewhat strong in me , that i must be stripped of the man , as well as of the christian ; and at present cannot think otherwise , by reason of the sharp wounds it sometimes sensibly receives . i am weary of all things , of religion , reason , sense , and all the objects that these have to converse about : but yet there is somewhat in stead of these that i would fain finde within , and somewhat in stead of those objects i would fain meet with without , which if once my spirit might be satisfied in , i should finde some rest ; till when i cannot but remain truly miserable , and be fit for nothing , but to torment , and to be tormented . febr. 18. 1649. a post-script about darkening the counsel of god , which most men pretend to know themselves , and are too ready to undertake to reveal to others : which counsel of his is much hid from man ; and the light of man , while it seems to shine with clearness and perspicuity about it , doth but darken it . matth. 15. 14. and if the blinde lead the blinde , both shall fall into the ditch . isai. 28. 9. whom shall he teach knowledg ? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine ? them that are weaned from the milk , and drawn from the brests . isai. 42. 16. and i will bring the blinde by a way they knew not , i will lead them in paths they have not known : i will make darkness light before them , and crooked things streight . these things will i do unto them , and not forsake them . london , printed by john macock . 1650. a post-script about darkening the counsel of god . about the same time ( when those former thoughts , mentioned in the preface , were fresh in me ) or not long after , there was a scripture presented to my view , which flew into my face , and checked my spirit for some things , which i thought i had humbly and conscienciously done . perhaps it may speak somewhat to some others also , where it may finde enterance ; upon which peradventure it is here annexed . the scripture was this which follows . job 38. 2. who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledg ? this is gods enterance into his expostulation with job . job was an upright-hearted-man , did truly fear god , and eschew evil , as god himself testifieth of him , chap. 1. by temptation and affliction he becomes the most miserable of men . there is great dispute between job and his friends concerning the counsel of god in this thing . his friends say , it was because of sin : for his wickedness and oppression , saith one ; for his hypocrisie and deceit , saith another . job bears himself very high above them all , laughs at them , denies utterly that it was either for one sin or other , and is so confident , that he offers to plead with god himself about the matter . in his dispute , this is the great thing he drives at : that god stands not upon sin in his dealings with men , but perfect and wicked he consumeth ; falls upon either sort as he pleaseth . ( god casts the best into his furnace of fire , as well as the worst ; and when he casts them in , he melts the whole vessel , he melts all that is in them ; as well the silver and the gold , as the tin and the dross : and both suffer loss in the fire , onely with this difference : the one loseth its substance , the other its shape ; the dross , the tin , is burn'd up in the fire , is quite consumed by it ; the silver and gold lose onely their shape . in plain terms , fleshly graces , fleshly priviledges , fleshly hopes , fleshly joys , fleshly peace , fleshly knowledg of god , fleshly life in god , which did not flow purely from his spirit , but was strained by the wit and industry of man out of the scriptures , when it is once cast into the fire , shall never come out alive , but perish there : but that which was truly spiritual , which did indeed flow from god , which had the true life and power of god in it , shall rise again in the same substance , though not in the same image . ) thus job lifts up himself in this high peece of knowledg ( wherein he went far beyond the reach of his friends ) till god here comes to take him to do ; who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledg ? counsel is the intent of a person concerning things , what he drives at in the things he does . the counsel of god is not the action it self , but what is intended by him in the action . what he intends in the creation , in making such and such kinde of things ; what he intends in the government of the world , in ordering things in this or that manner ; in the seasons of the year , in sending rain , in withholding rain , &c. in the seasons of ages , in lifting up , in throwing down , this or that : so in the government of the church , in afflicting some , in exalting others , &c. the aim , the intent of god , in any particular transaction , that is his counsel . to darken counsel is to cover , to hide , this meaning of god ; to make it more intricate and difficult to be understood . light reveals , opens , discovers things ; darkness vails , hides things from sight . to enlighten is to make manifest , to expose to view ; to darken is to make obscure , to hide from view . by words without knowledg . knowledg is the persons understanding of a thing , a persons acquaintance with a thing , a persons insight into a thing , whereby he is enabled to discover it to another , which he that hath not knowledg cannot do . a man cannot make that known , which he himself doth not know . when a man speaks concerning a thing to open it , he pretends to bring light , to bring words of knowledg round about it , to make it manifest to him that is ignorant of it ; but if his words have not light in them , if they do not reach the nature of the thing , then they are words without knowledg , darkening words . this was jobs case here . he takes up his friends sharply for darkening counsel , for words without knowledg , and pretends to rectifie them , to open that counsel which they had hid and perverted , to bring light about that which they had darkened ; and so he seems to do , till god comes to take him up also , and tells him , that he also darkens counsel by his shallow expressions of it , and blames him for it , as taking too much upon him ; who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledg ? the words seem to give forth these two things of their own accord . 1. the clearest holding forth of the counsels of god , without the light of god , is but a darkening of them . mans light , mans understanding , and from thence revealing the things of god , though it may appear as a very eminent and glorious discovery of those things , yet it is but a vailing , but a clouding of them . man is very ignorant of god , when he seems deep and high in the knowledg of him ; and does but darken him , when he strives to make him manifest . the light of man is but darkness before god , and the casting abroad of this light is but scattering darkness about god , which though it cannot darken god in himself , yet it may , and doth , darken him to those to whom it seems to reveal him , though they perceive it not , but think they have attained some sight of god by it . and man would hardly beleeve , if he were told , that he shall not come this way to know god , but must be plunged in darkness to have this light buryed , before the true light break in upon him : and yet it may be so , though man with his eye , and in his day , cannot discern it . 2. it is an act of presumption ( a thing that does little beseem man ) to hold forth the counsels of god without the light of god . man goes beyond his sphere , when he will take upon him , by his shallow apprehension , to measure the things of god , and so to give them out as the things of god . who is this ? that takes so much upon him , that will be opening the counsels of god , and yet hath not knowledg ? i may speak somewhat concerning both these . for the first . the clearest holding forth of the counsels of god , without the light of god , is but a darkening of them . job here a man eminently qualified with knowledg , neither was he one whose knowledg god was likely to blast for any jugling in his spirit , but of an entire heart too ; a man that spake as right of god , as it was almost possible for a man to do ; yea , god in part doth justifie him , chap. 42. 7. yet job , in thinking to open the counsels of god , darkens them . in comparison of what his friends said , job had spoken right , it was light compared with their darkness ; but bring it to the touchstone , set it by truth , by pure light , then it also is darkness . there is none knows the minde of god but himself . what man knoweth the things of a man , save the spirit of man which is in him ? even so the things of god none knoweth , but the spirit of god , 1 cor. 2. 11. you may see a man doing many things , but you know not his minde , his intent therein : so he that hath a true , a spiritual eye to see some motions and actions of god , yet may miss of his meaning in them , unless his spirit reveal it to him : and he that knoweth it not , how can he speak it forth ? his words must needs be without knowledg . there is no gathering the minde of god from any of his words or works , but by his own light . all the sight man has of things , without the light of god , doth not reach the minde of god . iob was as entire , ingenuous , searching a man as well could be , and had , no doubt , that which we call the blessing and assistance of god , and did attain much : yet his knowledg was not the opening , but the darkening of god , the hiding of his counsel . the sight we have of things is both a shallow sight , and a deceitful sight . it is a dark , shallow , imperfect sight , both in respect of the things we see , and in respect of their reference one to another . in respect of the things we see . we see but part of things , but the least part , the outside , the shape of a creature : we see not the nature , the inward properties , much less the internal substance of things . so we see the outside , the rationality of a scripture , but not the inward life and spirit of it . we are come to the mount that may be touched by our sense , reason and experience , but the spiritual glory and majesty of god is not discovered from that mount , nor to that eye that looks there for it . and for the reference of things one to another : who sees how one creature , one action of providence refers to another . there is no man sees gods works from the beginning to the end . and then that little sight we have of these is uncertain , liable to deceit . we see things as they are not , not as they are : the true being is hid , and the appearance of things ( being so various and mystical ) easily cozens a weak eye . we cannot judg of things that are vailed , by the vail that lies upon them ; and yet this is all the sight we have : and what man , from such a dark sight of things , can give a clear account of things , or of gods counsel , of his meaning in things ? therefore there is no knowing , or grounded declaring any counsel of god without his light . as there is no knowing man , or the things of man , by any light beneath mans : the sense , the understanding of the creatures will not reach it ; that kind of knowledg they have of man , deserves not the name of knowledg : so there is no knowing god , or the things of god , by any light beneath his . the light must be of the same kind with the thing it discovers , or it cannot discover it . the light of the creature can never discern the creator ; but it must be the light of the creator let into the creature , which discovers the creator to the creature . indeed there is a kind of knowledg in the creature answerable to the state and being of the creature ; but this kind of knowledg is darkness , is ignorance , to the true and spiritual kind : and an over-high conceit of the excellency of this knowledg , is one of the greatest blocks to true spiritual knowledg . the sensible use of this eye makes men insensible of the want of the true eye : because they find they do see , they take it for granted they have an eye ; and so they have , both an eye and a sight , but not a right eye , not a right sight : yea , though it be a right eye to them , it were better it were plucked out and cast away , then possessed by them . thou knowest there is a god ; nature , the scripture , teacheth thee so : thou canst reason so from his works , from the things that are made , which evidence to thee his eternal power and godhead : thou knowest he must needs be wise , holy , righteous , powerful , &c. well , in what light dost thou see this ? doth thy reason tell thee so ? i do not blame thee for hearkening to the voyce of thy reason , nor do i deny this to be knowledg in its kind , it is knowledg in the earthly , in the natural man ; but for all that , it is ignorance , it is darkness , compare it with spiritual light : thou mayst be a very atheist in the eye of god , and as ignorant of god , in respect of the true kind of knowledg , as the bruit creatures are , notwithstanding all this . so thou knowest , that thou art a sinner ; that there is redemption by christ for those that beleeve ; that faith is the gift of god ; that those who receive this gift , and christ by it , must walk in new obedience . but tell me , o poor soul , cannot the natural understanding drink in all these things ? is it not almost necessary , that a creature , touched with the sense of eternal misery , should pant after redemption , should hearken out for it , should with readiness embrace it , and fight with all reluctances in it self against it ? if beleeving be the way , i will presently beleeve ; or if i cannot beleeve , i will pray for faith ; if my self be my greatest enemy , i will deny , i will hate my self , and by the strength of christ i will walk in all the ways of new obedience . how naturally doth the poor frighted creature take this course ! and how vigorous will nature be , when it is put forth to the utmost , for the utmost degree of self-preservation and happiness ! and yet what man almost that finds these anything lively and vigorous in himself , but takes it for granted , that they are spiritual ! no man can attain these things but by the spirit of god ; no man can know christ , or acknowledg him to be the lord , but by the spirit ; no man can beleeve , but ●e to whom it is given . i have , by the goodness of god , been led into these things : therefore it is by the spirit ; and these in me must needs be spiritual . ah poor man i why dost thou cozen thy self ? how comest thou to be so subtle a sophister ? dost thou not know it is against thine own soul ? the same things may be seen with different eyes , naturally with the natural eye , spiritually with the spiritual eye . the question is , with what eye thou seest these things . thou wilt prove it is the spiritual eye , because thou seest them . it is true , if thou couldst prove thy sight to be spiritual , then thou mightest conclude thine eye to be spiritual : but there is a very clear kind of seeing with the natural eye , as well as with the spiritual eye , which self-love , joyned to a strong desire to have it of the best kinde , will easily perswade the poor creature to resolve it to be so . ah christians , christians , how long will ye lay out your money for that which is not bread ! how long will ye feed on the husky knowledg of things which cannot satisfie ! ye may please your selves in the night , in a dream , thinking ye make brave meals ; but when ye awake in the day , ye will find your bellies empty ; and then , oh what lamentation will there be over husky knowledg , husky interpretations of scripture , husky graces , husky comforts , husky hopes , &c. things that yeelded great pleasure in a dream , in a fancy ; but vanish when reality , when truth comes to be discovered . thus much for the first of these . as touching the second , which is this : it is an act of presumption to hold forth the counsels of god without the light of god . who is this , &c. there is a three-fold step or degree of presumption in it . one in respect of god ; another in respect of the things themselves ; and a third in respect of the state of the person who doth this : all which together aggravate this presumption , and raise it very high . 1. in respect of god ; his height , his eminence , maketh every transaction towards him presumptuous , unless it be very circumspectly managed . the greatness of persons maketh those transactions presumptuous towards them , which would not be so towards others . god is very high , very great , and that makes it a very high presumption to intermeddle with things belonging to him without his warrant . man , though he were created lord of all , yet the creatures are more gods then his ; and if god had not sealed a warrant to him , it had been boldness in him to have touched the least creature . now he hath given no man liberty to open his counsels without his light ; he giveth no man liberty to deface his image , to hold forth his own carnal apprehensions for the spiritual image of gods truth . god hath set ranges about every spiritual thing , as he did about mount sinai , that none may break in to gaze without his commission ; none but whom he leads must enter into his counsels ; it must needs be therefore great boldness for any person to venture to declare his meaning before he hath received his light . 2. in respect of the things themselves , in respect of their nature : they are great , mysterious , and secret . it is presumption to meddle with any thing that belongs to a great person without his leave ; but to meddle with his weighty affairs , with his secrets , is an aggravation of the presumption . the counsels of god are secret things : the actions of god are somewhat open and manifest , but what he intends in his actions is deeply hid . that the tower of siloam , by the providence and will of god , fell upon such and such , seemeth somewhat easie to be discerned : but thence to conclude , that god did thereby intend to signifie , that these were sinners in a special degree above the rest , was a presumption christ warned them to beware of . the counsels of god they are {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , the depths of god , he is wonderful in counsel ; his counsel is such , that men and angels cannot but wonder at it , when it is revealed ; but there is no certain guessing at it without his revealing it , and it is no small peece of boldness to venture so to do . 3. in respect of the state of the persons , which is a low state far beneath god , and a broken state , far beneath it self . the naturall state in its puritie is far short of spiritualitie . adam the earthly man had an earthly image , an earthly knowledge , but not a spirituall : and the naturall man cannot discern the things of god , because they are spiritually discerned . the counsells of god are far above the reach of our nature , yea above the reach of any spirit but his own . his riddle is so deep that christ himself could never have found it out , but that he had his heyfer to plough with , into his own bo●ome . the angels they peep into things as they are revealed , but they cannot discern them till they be revealed . how bold then is man , poor weak man , broken man , that will be piercing into these things , and holding them forth as the light of god , without the light of god . this raiseth the presumption very high . what man almost in any trade , if a person that hath no skill shall come and passe his judgement upon his workmanship , but looks upon it with disdain , accounting that person presumptuous , though far above him in degree ? and yet man hath the same principle with man , to receive the things of man into : how disdainfully then think you will god take it , that poor shallow man , poor broken man , silly weak-eye'd man , that is so many regions below god , so far beneath that principle wherein god lives and acts ( who lives in light and acts from light unapproachable ) should be opening gods counsells by his shallow brain , should be measuring the light of gods infinite spirit , by the darkness ( or , if you will , by the light ) of his own understanding . so much for the second likewise . now from both we may take notice of these three things . 1. it may blame us for our forwardness in opening gods counsell in things . every man almost can tell what god means in every thing : this , god intends in this ; this , in that : is such a man afflicted so or so ? oh , i thought he would be met with ; it was for such or such a thing . there is hardly an action of providence , but every man will be ready to interpret ; few scriptures but bold man will be ready to shew gods meaning in them , and that very confidently if he have but a little bent his thoughts that way . 2. it may shew us what the wisest undertakings in this kind are ; what our wise openings of scriptures and counsells of god , without the light of god are : if any man can truely and groundedly say , n●t i but the spirit of god in me , opens this or that scripture , thus and thus unto me ; that is another matter , i have nothing to say against that , but i speak concerning our own opening , though by our most ingenuous and industrious search , by the fairest debating things i● our own understanding ; yea , of our wise opening , when we seem to give out the full intent , the very life and heart of a scripture , and fence it about with strong argumen's , making that interpretation safe from all reasonings of all contrary judgements whatsoever , what is this ? but a peece of folly , of madness ; a setting up the wisdome of man , an idolizing the pleasant conceptions of mans working brain ; but a darkening of god : so god said of job and so job confesseth his to be , chap. 42. ver. 3. who is he that hideth conncel without knowledge ? therefore have i uttered that i understood not , things too wonderful for me which i knew not : ah what a fool have i been , saith iob , to speak i knew not what , to utter that out , which i my self did not understand within , to hide the wonderfull cousell of god by my vain words , and how presumptuous have i been in doing of it ! who is he that hideth councel , &c. he brings this reproach close to his spirit . 3. it may be a ground of silence and waiting for the light . this effect it likewise wrought in iob. i will lay my hand upon my mouth , i will stop all that my mouth would be uttering for the future , once have i spoken but i will no more , yea twice but i will proceed no further ; i will never undertake to open the councels of god again , after this rate : now i have seen god , now i have heard god , i perceive what my own knowledge was , i see what a dark blind buzzard i was in the midst of my confidence , concerning mine own cleer eye-sight . oh it were excellent to be brought to this by the sight of god , as iob was ; but its good also to check proud reason by its own light ; in which ballance , if things were duly weighed , there would appear little cause for our insulting over one another , or for obtruding our light upon one another , with such vehemencie and confidence , as we are all too apt to do . finis . an additionall vvord to such as it may concern , those who speak such lofty language with such high confidence , saying , god is all . there is nothing besides the lord . all is good . all is alike , &c. i must impart to you my inward sence , which is this : if ye have received these things from pure power , with true and clear light , into an inward and spiritual understanding ; oh how lovely , how excellent is this to the relish of my spirit ! o how i long to be one with you , in receiving the same things , or any thing else after this manner ! or if ye speak thus-like mad persons , who have been hurried by extremity out of what ye were and understood , into ye know not what or whither : ye have liberty to say what ye please , and my spirit cannot be offended at any thing that is said or done by you through the force of this extremity . but if the strength of reason by its workings hath purged out old notions , and brought these and other like in their stead into the old vessel , the creaturely imagination or understanding ; i must profess , of all things this is the greatest abomination to my spirit , and i thirst exceedingly to see the unquenchable fire let loose upon these notions , and cannot but laugh in my spirit to behold what havock it will make among them , of whom it will be as quick , greedy and powerful a devourer , as you expect to see it of any principles or notions that have gone before them . the great queen , that looks to sit a lady for ever , that saith and thinketh , i am , and none else besides me , must have those words and thoughts fired out of her throat , and out of her heart , and she also must come to sit as a widow , and know the loss of children , yea this misery shall light upon her even in perfection , because of the multitude of her sorceries and inchantments , wherewith she bewitched and intangled the poor desolated people of god , and whereby she made account to charm off all sorrow from her self , isai. 47. 8 , 9 , 10. i have nothing more to say to you , but this : ye will one day confess , that the kingdom of god consists not in word , but in power . true life , true spirituality , lyeth not in the height of notion , but in the inward vigor of the spirit of life . high notions are very pleasing to the flesh , she loves to get upon the pinacle of knowledg , and to trample upon all that are in dresses beneath her , though they be the same with her : yet is she never the more lovely in the eye of god , but the greater object of his jealousie and indignation . he cannot endure to see the whore dressed like his bride : these ornaments must off , as well as the former . the imagination , reason , wisdom , understanding of the creature , thus clothed , thus adorned , thus fortified , being for all this but flesh , must feel that it is so , by being stripped , burnt , consumed , by that fire , which will destroy all that cannot live in it . the isles shall wait for his law . there is a law which he hath to reveal ; a sweet law , an inward law , a law of true life , of true liberty , whereas fleshly liberty , in its highest strain , and utmost scope , is but bondage . there is no attaining to the sight of this law by any strivings or struglings of the creature : happy is he who is led to wait for it . but till the discovery of it , it is impossible to discern or distinguish those things , which it alone can teach : and mens fleshly tossing and turning of things upside down , will be esteemed but as the potters clay . a fleshly destroying , a fleshly throwing down , will be of as little value as a fleshly rearing up ; and flesh will be no more justified in running apace from things , then it was in running to things . when god puts his law into our hearts , and writes it in our inward parts , and takes such hold of us that we cannot depart from him , then shall we err no more : but if we had never so clear and full discoveries , if we were withall left in the least to our selves , we should be still at our old work , viz. a raising up such a fleshly fabrick in our selves and others , as would stand in the way of gods glory , and our own happiness . till god takes upon him to be all , and to do all , not in word , but in truth and power , all cannot be well . o god , what a state are things in ! here is every one tugging for their inteterest , put in for thine too . do thou gain , and let all sit down with loss , whose gain lies not in thine . take from us all , what we have stollen from thee , for it cannot thrive in our hands , nor miscarry in thine . cozen all creatures , by bringing about a swifter , a fuller , a more universal happiness , then ever heart could imagine . amen . finis . certain scripture-prophecies concerning some transactions in the latter times : with a glance at the sence of some of them . eccles. 9. 12. for man also knoweth not his time , as the fishes that are taken in an evil net , and as the birds that are caught in the snare ; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time , when it falleth suddenly upon them . james 1. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. let the brother of low degree , rejoyce in that he is exalted : but the rich , in that he is made low : because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away . for the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat , but it withereth the grass ; and the flower thereof falleth , and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth : so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways . blessed is the man that endureth temptation : for when he is tryed , he shall receive the crown of life , which the lord hath promised to them that love him . london , printed by john macock . 1650. certain scripture-prophecies , &c. isai. 29. vers. 9. to 15. stay your selves and wonder , cry ye out , and cry , they are drunken , but not with wine ; they stagger , but not with strong drink . for the lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep , and hath closed your eyes : the prophets , and your rulers , the seers hath he covered . and the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed , which men deliver to one that is learned , saying , read this , i pray thee ; and he saith , i cannot , for it is sealed . and the book is delivered to him that is not learned , saying , read this , i pray thee ; and he saith , i am not learned . wherefore the lord saith , forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth , and with their lips do honour me , but have removed their heart far from me , and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men : therefore behold , i will proceed to do a marvellous work amongst this people , even a marvellous work and a wonder ; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish , and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid . how dark must it needs be , when the whole vision of god is become as a sealed book , that none , either unlearned or learned , can read any part of it ? needs must the fear of god , the whole worship of god , both outward and inward , be taught by the precept of men , ( if it be taught at all , ) when the true vision of god is wholly hid . yet miserable is that fear , that worship of god , which is taught by the precept of men , whose wisdom hath ever been foolishness before , and hateful to the eye of god . but because man will be stepping into the place of god , and by his light patching up those defects , which can only be healed by gods light ; god will at length not only confound these his presumptuous enterprises , but strike at the very foundation of this wisdom , even in the wisest and most prudent , which have been looked upon as the safest guides . and what then will poor man do for his religion , for his worship ; when the wisdom of those that were wont to frame it for him is so smitten , that both they themselves and others , cannot but see and acknowledg it perished ? isai. 28. vers. 1. &c. wo to the crown of pride , to the drunkards of ephraim , whose glorious beauty is a fading flower , which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine . behold , the lord hath a mighty and strong one , which as a tempest of hail , and a destroying storm , as a flood of mighty waters overflowing , shall cast down to the earth with the hand . the crown of pride , the drunkards of ephraim shall be troden under feet . and the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley , shall be a fading flower , and as the hasty fruit before the summer : which when he that looketh upon it , seeth it , while it is yet in his hand , he eateth it up . behold a drunkenness , which is not a matter of shame , but a crown , a beauty , a glorious beauty ; yet a wo follows , which pitifully bemires this crown , this beauty , this glory . it is not the common sort of the world that are here spoken of , but israel , gods own people ; nor the common sort of israel , but ephraim , the pride or glory of israel , ephraim the dear tribe , the tribe picked out to be blessed , ( in thee shall israel bless , saying , god make thee as ephraim : ) nor yet the common sort of ephraim , but the choicest , the peculiar ones , who by their worth and excellency , their strictness and exactness , were the crown of that pride . this drunkenness was a peculiar kind of drunkenness , incident only to the people of god , my proper to the devoutest among them : it was religion , devotion , that ephraim was drunk with , it was the steem of that wine overcame him , overturned his weak brain , and made him stumble and tumble into misery , while he thought he was going on safely and swiftly towards happiness . he that will take pains to search , and hath an eye to see with , may perhaps find ephraim drunk with these three things : 1. with his religious performances ; his sacrifices , his obedience to the revealed will of god ; his fasting , his feasting , or thanksgiving , and such other ordinances of worship . ephraim expressed his drunkenness herein , both by his over-valuing them , and by his over-performing them . he over-valued them , he looked upon them as more excellent things then they were , forgetting out of what lump they came , as well as out of what lump he himself came . he looked upon them as more pleasing to god then there was cause for , who little regarded them at the best , but now began to turn much more from them , finding man so taken with them . my soul loatheth your solemn feasts . praising god , using the creatures in a way of acknowledging and honouring the creator , a set and solemn lifting up of the name of god , what can carry a greater shew of excellency in it ? and yet , oh how god turns from it ! my soul loatheth your solemn feasts . and ephraim did over do them too , ( as man thinks he can never exceed in acts of worshipping god , especially if they be of his own institution . ) ephraim did more of these then ever god desired of him ; did even tire god out with the multitude of his sacrifices and services . wherewith shall i come before the lord , will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams , or with ten thousand rivers of oy● , &c. let god call for never so much , he shall have it . god had so much of these , he was fain to cry , hold . to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices , &c. your new moons , &c. i am weary of them . who hath required this at your hands ? 2. with his spiritual priviledges ; his nearness to god , his interest in god , the testimonies of gods presence with him , such as the ark , temple , &c. ephraim did over-value these too , thought these to be of another nature then they were , of a more excellent lasting nature . little thought he that these could pass away , or be of so little efficacy , as many times they were , while they remained . 3. with his security in respect of both . he thought himself seated in blessedness , and far from misery . the overflowing scourge may over-run the world , but he thinks himself safe from it : and as for hell and death , they may seize on others , but he is at agreement with them , he is secured from them by his interest in god , and by the promises of god to him , which cannot fail . ah poor ephraim ! what wilt thou do , when thou shalt meet with this wo ? when thou shalt not only find thy glorious beauty a fading , but the spirit of the lord blowing upon it with a strong east wind ? when that spirit that breathed life into it shall not only withdraw from it , but blow sharply upon it ? when thou findest by sensible and undeniable experience that which thou thoughtest utterly impossible ? whatsoever is not everlasting may pass away : that which thou callest everlasting may not be so . the narrowness of thy eye may cause thee to take things to be everlasting , which are far short of it . things everlasting after thy measure may be of very short continuance after gods measure : look to thy footing . psal. 60. vers . 1 , 2 , 3. o god , thou hast cast us off , thou hast scattered us , thou hast been displeased , o turn thy self to us again . thou hast made the earth to tremble , thou hast broken it : heal the breaches thereof , for it shaketh . thou hast shewed thy people hard things ; thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment . here is the lamentation of ephraim over his own dead and forlorn state , wherein he very pathetically deciphers and bewails his misery , and casts an eye of grief likewise upon the sad distasters that befall the world at the same time . the first verse speaks mournfully of gods sharp dealings with his people , expressing withal their affectionate desire to have them changed . o god , thou hast cast us off , &c. the second verse holds out his sharp dealings towards the world , with a desire of relief towards it likewise . thou hast made the earth to tremble , &c. the third verse contains a further aggravation of the sharpness of gods dealings towards his people , which it sets forth both in general , thou hast shewed thy people hard things ; and lays down a particular instance , thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment . the hard dealings they complain of in the first verse are three . thou hast cast us off , thou hast scattered or broken us , and thou hast been displeased . thou hast cast us off from thy self , scattered and broken us one from another , and in our own spirits ; and that which is worst of all , thou hast suffered thine heart to be offended against us , thou hast been displeased . thou hast cast us off . this points at the relation and state , which god and his people stand in one to another , and should of right be found in : which is a state of union , a state of fellowship , a state of embracement . he the father , they the children ; he the husband , they the spouse ; he the master , they the servants ; he the king , they his subjects . they should live in the same kingdom , dwell in the same house , sit at the same table , lie in the same bed , have the same share within , and the same lot without in every thing . every thing that is theirs must become his ; every thing that is his must become theirs . all their beauty , their excellency , their glory , must not be to adorn or serve themselves with ; but to adorn him with , to cloath him with , to serve him with . all his wisdom , his excellency , his power , his love , his infinite riches , greatness and majesty , must not be to please himself , but to fill them with , to lay out for them , to bestow upon them , to empty into them . when god takes a people , he draws them nigh to himself , opens his bosom to them , embraces them , pitches his tabernacle among them to dwell with them , builds an house for them to live together , erects a bed , prepares a table for them , feeds , cherishes them , as the man doth the wife , the father the child ; stands in their defence against all opposition . sin within , enemies without , nothing must speak a word against them : if they do , he takes it as spoken against himself . he that toucheth them , toucheth the apple of his eye . and so 't is with them , the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me . this is the proper state between them . but now behold , hearken , and you shall hear them complaining , and that to god himself , o god , thou hast cast us off . thou hast thrust us out of thy presence , thou hast withheld thy sweetness from us . we are not now one , but severed , and at a great distance one from another . we never meet at the same bed , at the same board , in the same house , no not in the same kingdom : but thou thy self art gone into a far country , and hast left us here in a strange land . o god , our happiness lies in thine embraces , in union and communion with thee . we desire nothing but to be near god , to dwell in the house of the lord all the days of our lives , to see in the bosom of the lord all the motions of our spirits : but o god , thou hast cast us off , thou hast given us a bill of divorce , and sent us packing . we can hear no news of thee , no news from thee . lie we in never so great depths of misery , and pangs of spirit , thou regardest not . we are as a woman forsaken , bearing up and down the reproach of our widowhood continually , o god , thou hast cast us off . thou hast scattered or broken us . there should be a publique communion among the people of god . they should have fellowship one with another , as well as with god . they that are so near in one spirit , should not be such strangers here in the flesh . and there should be also a meeting and current of life in every ones particular spirit . faith , love , hope , joy , peace , &c. should meet in the inner man , and go forth from the inner man into their several ways of spiritual motion . thus it is when things are right . but now , thou hast broken us . thou hast scattered us up and down one from another . how are the people of god rent in spirit one from another ! so scattered , that they can have no true spiritual communion together ! and how broken and shattered in their own spirits ! their life broken , their light broken , their joy broken , their peace broken , their hope broken , their faith broken ; yea every thing so broken , that there is nothing left whole within neither . surely some feel this . thou hast been displeased . all relations are knit up of love . the relation between king and people , father and child , husband and wife , are knit by several ways of affections one to another , wherein their hearts stand towards one another , according to the tye and bond of the relation . now in several cases their hearts turn one from another . they do not only act harshly one towards another , as it often falls out ; but in some cases their hearts turn one from another . and this points at somewhat in god , who hath so ordered things , that though the original tye between him and his spouse be ever the same ; yet there are certain cases , yea , he himself often casts her into such a posture , wherein his heart turns from her . he can at the same time wonderfully love her , and yet loath her in her present condition . though he loves her in her person , yet he loaths her in her state of weakness and vanity . and though the strength of his love to her person causeth him at sometimes to turn towards her , and entertain fellowship with her ; yet the vileness of her present state soon turns his stomack , and causes him to withdraw again . and so the husband likewise is at present in such an unlovely state , so dark , so hidden , and in that respect so unlovely ; his excellencies so clouded , and he thereby appearing so unlike himself , that the spirit of the spouse too turns from her husband , and she doth not like such a god as he now appears to be . now of all things , this is most irksom to each , when they perceive the heart of either turning from the other . god regards not all the sins of his people . let him but find their love flow forth fully towards him , their hearts stand entirely and only to him-wards , he has enough . nor do the people of god much grumble at the afflictions and miseries that befall them from god , they know they have need of these things . but when they suspect that they take offence at one another , that their hearts begin to withdraw , then they stir up one anothers jealousie . god complains much of his peoples thus provoking him to jealousie , and likewise speaks of his provoking them to jealousie in the same manner . and this is that that lies sore here at the spouses heart , thou hast been displeased . sure thou hast taken some offence at us ; or thou wouldst never have dealt thus with us . o turn thy self to us again , now the spouse speaks to god , as he doth at another time to her ; thou hast played the harlot with many lovers , yet turn again to me , saith the lord . thou hast cast us off , and scattered us , and hast been displeased , o turn thy self to us again , saith the spouse ; that will help all , all the rest will quickly be forgot . the church feels her sickness , and knows what will heal her . her wound , her misery , came by gods turning from her , by his turning his back upon her ; and she knows nothing will heal her , but his turning again to her , and that she calls to him for . she doth not pray to have her wounds healed , or to have comforts or enjoyments from him ; but she prays for that which will do all , o turn thy self to us again . all our content lay in thee , all our trouble arises from thy absence , from thy turning away and departing from us , o turn to us again . she prays for healing for the world in the next verse , heal the breaches of it , that will serve their turn : but no healing but the presence of thy self will serve our turn . if thou intendest any pity , any relief to us , there is no way but this to bring it home to our hearts , turn thy self to us again . there is nothing can throughly wound a soul truly acquainted with god , but his withdrawing from it : nor is there any thing can heal that wound , but his return again . this is all the request such a soul knows how to put up from the bottom of his spirit , o turn thy self to us again . vers . 2. thou hast made the earth to tremble , thou hast broken it : heal the breaches thereof , for it shaketh . at the same time when god rouls up the heavens like a scrole , he kindles a fire in the bowels of the earth . when he causeth the spiritual beauty , glory , rest and peace of his own dear people to pass away , the earth must not enjoy theirs long after . when christ cryed out , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me , there was immediately an earthquake : and when the people of christ ( who are of the same body , feel the same things , and cannot but express the same sence ) cry out , o god , thou hast cast us off , thou hast broken us , thou hast shut up the light of thy countenance ( which was ever our life ) in the displeasure of thine heart ; the earth shall feel somewhat to complain of too . when he falls upon all the several parcels of his own holy land to lay them flat , he will likewise arise to shake terribly the earth : and he doth here so tear and rent it , that he makes it tremble under sense of what it feels , and of what it further expects . but this is no delight to the poor people of god , they desire not to have the earth share with them in misery . though the earth has ever delighted to see them rent and torn , has been still persecuting them , even when god has smitten them , yea most when they have been most smitten by him ; yet they have no pleasure in the breaches god makes on the earth , but would fain have them healed , and put up a very affectionate request here for it , heal the breaches thereof , for it shaketh . it cannot stand long in this posture , visit it betimes with health , with salvation . it shakes already , relieve it , rescue it , before it shake quite in peeces . vers . 3. thou hast shewed thy people hard things . thou hast dealt very hardly with thy people : oh many hard things that we could mention , many bitter , sharp passages that our spirits have been sensible of . we never looked that god should have dealt so with us . who ever would have told us that god would have dealt so with his people , we should have accounted him an abominable lyar . we looked indeed for hardships in the way , hard graplings with enemies ; but we did not look for such things from him . we thought he would have stood by us , and have helped us ; we did not think that he himself would have wounded us deeper then any else could . we did not look for such kind of things from thee , o god , and we cannot but complain of them as hard usage , nay in no wise justifiable between god and his people , according to the measure that we understood his covenant and promises by . to give a particular instance of somewhat we have felt , but never could expect or fear , thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment . astonishment is an amazedness of spirit : when one knows not what to think , which way to look , nor what to do ; then a person is astonished . spiritual astonishment is when the soul is astonished in and about spiritual things ; when the soul does not know what to think of any thing that is spiritual . a spiritual man knows spiritual things : he knows the father of spirits , and the way of a spirits communion with his father ; the way of the spirit of lifes going forth in his own spirit : he knows god , christ , heaven , hell , life , death , joy , peace , &c. spiritual astonishment is the amazement of the spirit concerning these ; when the soul does not know what to think of any spiritual thing , as of god or christ , heaven or hell , &c. wonders whether there be any such things or no , wonders whether his knowledg ( as he accounted it formerly ) of them was not a meer imagination : wonders at every creature that he sees , at every thing that he hears , what it is , what it means ; is in a condition that he is amazed how he came into it : finds continual misery and torment attending him , but cannot tell which way to stir for any relief ; can neither tell how to stir ▪ nor yet how to stand still ; cannot tell how to hope , or how to despair ; would fain move some way , but cannot ; would fain stand still some where , but cannot ; would fain know , or be quiet under its ignorance , but can find no bottom to fasten either on . this is spiritual astonishment , true astonishment , through astonishment . if the spirit could fix anywhere on any thing , it were not perfectly astonished . but when it knows nothing , can own nothing , can turn from nothing , can turn towards nothing , can move no whither , nor abide anywhere , it is confounded to purpose . that which produceth this astonishment is wine , drinking of wine ; it is a drunkenness with wine . a wise man can search through the causes of things , and is not easily astonished : but if he drink wine hard , it takes away his understanding from him . the spiritual man is very wise , can search into the causes of spiritual things , and is not easily confounded at the variety of gods ways till he come to drink wine , and that strips him of his understanding likewise . there is a wine of astonishment , a wine that does naturally produce this effect , as it was purposely made for this end . a wine there is that god has made and prepared for the creature to drink , which shall drink up all the excellency of the creature ; which whosoever drinks throughly of , will quickly lose not only all his natural understanding , but all his spiritual understanding also . psal. 75. 8. in the hand of the lord there is a cup , and the wine is red : it is full of mixture . red wine , wine mixed ▪ yea throughly mixed ▪ full of mixture ; sure it is very intoxicating : very easily may he be brought into a state of astonishment who drinks such kind of wine . but how come they to drink this wine ? thou hast made us to drink . it was not their love to the wine , they had no mind to it , they turned from it ; but thou hast made us to drink . he poureth out of the same , psal. 75. 8. the dregs the wicked shall drink , but , they must drink the top . they must begin to the world , they must drink the first draught , and be purged of all their earth and filth first . judgment must begin at the house of god . jerusalem must begin the round to the rest of the nations . though till they come to taste of it , they are apt to mock at the mention of it , ( isai. 28. 22. ) thinking their nearness to god , and interest in god to be such , that they may laugh at destruction , as beholding the evil day far from them , and they themselves sufficiently fenced against its overtaking them : no , it must pass over all . god holds the cup in his hand ▪ and if they will not drink , he will pour it down their throats ; thou hast made us to drink . therefore jerusalem is said to drink it at the hand of the lord . isai. 51. 17. awake , awake , stand up , o jerusalem , which hast drunk at the hand of the lord the cup of his fury ; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling , and wrung them out . when the lord is pleased with jerusalem , he has a cup of sweet wine , a cup of joy and delight to chear and refresh the spirits of jerusalem . but when the lord is angry , he has a cup of astonishment , a cup of trembling , a cup of confusion , of sleep , of death ; all which jerusalem tastes in it , when she drinks of it . and jerusalem cannot chuse whether she will dri●k the cup or no , but must drink it , which hast drunk at the hand of the lord . god stands like a mother that holds a potion of physick in her hand , and will make her child take it , though sore against the childs mind . yea some mothers will make their children drink the very thick of the potion , the bottom of the cup : and poor jerusalem must drink the very dregs too , if god will have it so . o how sweet is god in building up , how terrible in throwing down ! how pleasant , how quickening is the cup of his love ; how dreadful , how destroying is the cup of his wrath ! there is none can so much as imagine the power of his wrath , that have not tasted the power of his love . if christ and his people had not felt and known so much sweetness in the love and life of god , they could never have found so much bitterness in the cup of his indignation , in that cup of death which he prepares to put an end to that kind of life . the people of god must lose that very life that christ lost , by that very cup : we must all taste of his baptism . o how sweet is that life in its season , how pleasant is it to thrive and grow in it ! communion with god , the mutual opening of hearts one to another , the continual meeting every where in everything in one and the same spirit , is very ravishing and transporting : but to have this pass away , or ( if the the life of be too strong so to do ) to have it killed by power , by a cup of deadly poyson , is so sharp and terrible , that the pangs of dissolving the body are hardly worthy to be a shadow of it . yet if any have a desire before-hand to conceive what it is , such as have tasted of the spiritual pleasure of this kind of life , may give some guess at it . this drink is the wo god administers to expel the former drunkenness by : this wine , whoever is throughly made drunk with , will quickly find all his former beauty and spiritual glory stained , and his nakedness uncovered by it . isai. 43. vers . 8. & 21. bring forth the blind people that have eyes , and the deaf that have ears . this people have i formed for my self , they shall shew forth my praise . this is the issue , the result of all to ephraim , though little expected by him . god liked not his beauty , therefore stained it with his vomiting by the force of a new kind of wine . but while ephraim was drunk , had lost his eyes and his ears , could see nothing of god , could hear nothing of god , god was forming him anew ; and after he hath layn long enough in the grave , for his former shape quite to rot and waste away , he must be brought forth anew to the praise of him that formed him . this people have i formed my self : you thought i was destroying this people , and perhaps they themselves ( because of what they felt ) thought so too . they were become the blackest people under heaven , upon whom the blackness of darkness seemed to have seized for ever . and indeed i was destroying that fleshly shape and image of holiness , wherein they formerly appeared , and which their spirits too much doted upon ; this was i resolved to lay in the dust , and not leave the least reliques of it . they were the most deformed people too , without eyes , without ears , could hear or see nothing of the greatest danger , nothing of the greatest good , but all good passes by them , and every snare takes hold of them . thus did i deal with them , thus did i undo them ; but withall , i was forming them anew . i was not only destroying the old form , as men thought , and they thought ; but i was likewise introducing a new form , and that a very excellent one , one for mine own self ; not to serve my design upon , as allshapes i have hitherto cast my people in have been , but for my self to possess , enjoy , and please my self in for ever . these desolate spirits have i built into such a tabernacle , into such a temple , as shall never be pulled down again ; but here will i dwell for ever , this is the true place of my rest , these vessels shall indeed hold all my glory . this fabrick shall be so perfect , so fair , so full of lasting beauty , that all that behold it shall not chuse but praise the skill of the workman , who hath prepared so fit an habitation for his own spirit , and so perfect glory , pleasure and content for his own habitation . then shall the blind see , and the deaf hear , when those that now see and hear may be made blind and deaf . when the new eye and the new ear is brought forth in new-made israel , the old eye and the old ear in old israel will be out of request . amen saith my spirit within me ; let old things pass away , and all things become new . let the scheam of this present world , both outward and inward , pass away , and a new scheam of both be brought forth . a new light , a new eye ; a new sound of things , a new ear to hear that sound ; a new discovery of god , a new mind to receive that discovery into ; a new heaven , a new earth , and new inhabitants for both ; a new worship , new worshippers , new wine , new bottles , all new : and he that is perfectly weary of the old cannot but say amen with me . amen , halelu-jah . cursed be all the idol ▪ gods of the heathen , but blessed be the living god for evermore . he shall be god indeed that doth these things . lo this is our god , we have waited for him , and he will save us , and we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation . amen , halelu-jah . be not offended , we must tune our harps to the new song , when once we taste of the cup of this new salvation . isai. 65. vers . 13 , 14 , 15. therefore thus saith the lord god , behold , my servants shall eat , but ye shall be hungry : behold , my servants shall drink , but ye shall be thirsty : behold my servants shall rejoyce , but ye shall be ashamed . behold , my servants shall sing for joy of heart , but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart , and shall howl for vexation of spirit . and ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen ; for the lord god shall slay thee , and call his servants by another name . o doleful ! o joyful ! weeping ▪ wailing , gnashing of teeth in some , joy unspeakable in others . the prodigal shall be welcomed home with the fatted calf , with mirth , musick , dancing , which his other brother , through grief and anguish of spirit , cannot partake of , nay perhaps it may prove the will of the father not to admit him to this feast , which he makes to welcom home the unthrift . he will fill the hungry with good things , but the rich will he send empty away . yea , the lord god will slay thee . thou hast a name now that thou livest , though thou art dead , but the lord will kill that appearance of life in thee wherewith now thou flourishest , and cast thy name out for dead . that name thou now hast shall rot and dye , and be no more accounted for a living name : he will call his people no more after that name , but he will have a new name ( which the mouth of the lord shall name ) to write in the foreheads of his servants , and to call them by . isai. 35. vers . 5 , 6 , 7. then the eyes of the blind shall be opened , and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped . then shall the lame man leap as an hart , and the tongue of the dumb sing : for in the wilderness shall waters break out , and streams in the desart . and the parched ground shall become a pool , and the thirsty land springs of water . then the wilderness shall become a fruitful field , and the fruitful field shall be counted for a forrest , chap. 32. 15. and there will be great joy and singing among the blind , the deaf , the lame , and the dumb , when they shall all be perfectly healed ; when the barren parched ground shal abound with that water which it thirsted after , and grew so heartless and barren for want of . ezek. 17. vers . 22 , 23 , 24. thus saith the lord god , i will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar , and will set it , i will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one , and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent . in the mountain of the height of israel will i plant it : and it shall bring forth boughs , and bear fruit , and be a goodly cedar , and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing : in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell . and all the trees of the field shall know that i the lord have brought down the high tree , have exalted the low tree , have dryed up the green tree , and have made the dry tree to flourish : i the lord have spoken , and have done it . then said i , when , when ! o lord god , how long ! thou hast a long time holden thy peace . awake , awake , put on strength , o arm of the lord . uncloath thine arm of flesh , and cloath it with strength , if thou meanest to do these things . sleep no longer under the vail of flesh , but rent it from the top to the bottom , and come forth in thine own likeness ; and so soon as we see this in this equipage , we will sing and shout , hosanna in the highest : blessed be he who is , and was , and is no longer a coming , but come . even so , amen . finis . machine-generated and other supplemental data sound doctrine, or, the doctrine of the gospel about the extent of the death of christ being a reply to mr. paul hobson's pretended answer to the author's fourteen queries and ten absurdities : with a brief and methodicall compendium of the doctrine of the holy scriptures ... : also of election and reprobation ... : whereunto is added the fourteen queries and ten absurdities pretended to be answered by mr. paul hobson, but are wholly omitted in his book. w. p. (william pedelsden) this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a53932 of text r30088 in the english short title catalog (wing p1046). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 136 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 33 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a53932 wing p1046 estc r30088 11243409 ocm 11243409 47070 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a53932) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 47070) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1448:4) sound doctrine, or, the doctrine of the gospel about the extent of the death of christ being a reply to mr. paul hobson's pretended answer to the author's fourteen queries and ten absurdities : with a brief and methodicall compendium of the doctrine of the holy scriptures ... : also of election and reprobation ... : whereunto is added the fourteen queries and ten absurdities pretended to be answered by mr. paul hobson, but are wholly omitted in his book. w. p. (william pedelsden) hobson, paul. [4], 56 p. printed for richard moon ..., london : 1657. "to the reader" signed: w.p. reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. eng atonement. theology, doctrinal. a53932 r30088 (wing p1046). civilwar no sound doctrine, or, the doctrine of the gospel about the extent of the death of christ being a reply to mr. paul hobson's pretended answer t w. p 1657 26161 14 10 0 0 0 0 9 b the rate of 9 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2008-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2009-01 john pas sampled and proofread 2009-01 john pas text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion sound doctrine : or , the doctrine of the gospel about the extent of the death of christ . being a reply to mr. paul hobson's pretended answer to the author's fourteen queries and ten absurdities , with a brief and methodical compendium of the doctrine of the holy scriptures , clearing up the riches of gods love to all mankinde and his desires to save them that yet wilfully perish . also of election and reprobation , whereon they do depend ; and how the objections against the truth hereof , may be answered . whereunto is added , the fourteen queries and ten absurdities pretended to be answered by mr. paul hobson , but are wholly omitted in his book . london : printed for richard moon , at the seven stars in paul's church-yard , 1657. to the church of christ at newcastle , in god the father and in the lord jesus christ . the grace of our lord be multiplied upon you all , and strengthen you in every good word and work you may remember that one mr. paul hobson , who professeth and preaches up that faith which teaches a man to doubt whether christ died for him or no , did write a little book by way of answer to the fourteen queries , and ten absurdities which i presented unto him which book i thought i was bound to answer , for the sake of truth , because he doth labour by so many subtilties to overthrow the very foundation of the gospel of jesus christ : and indeed , had there not been an urgent necessity compelling me thereto , i should not have undertaken such a task , being i confess very unable to manage so great a work , in such a publick manner ; which i have done , though according to truth and my best endeavours , yet not without some fears , lest my weakness should disadvantage the righteous and undoubted cause i have in hand . i had also another discouragement upon my spirit , when i considered how many most excellent works are now in print already , about this subject , so far transcending what i could say ; notwithstanding i was perswaded to adventure , upon this consideration , that if i should have buried all in silence , many of the lords people might have stumbled , and fallen from the truth of the gospel , and the adversaries thereof would have triumphed , and so have hardned their necks more and more against the light of the glory of god , shining forth to all the world , in the face of jesus christ . i desire you ( dear brethren ) to accept this my small , and first work of this nature , in right good part , and seriously peruse it over with an attentive eye ; i have endeavoured as much brevity as would stand with plainness . if any thing at first reading seem-strange to you , read it over again : i have not willingly erred in any thing in this work , that i know of : i desire you to shroud this little tract under your protection , for it is not like to be the safer for being innocent ( i mean i' th' world ) it was not the modesty of susanna that was able to secure her from the inditement of the elders , and 't was the innocency of joseph , that made his mistriss pronounce him guilty . but ye unto whom god hath given a spirit of discerning between truth and errour , i trust will defend this little book , because it labours to deffend the truth . i pray god of heaven to encrease in you all vertuous and sound principles , that from thence may spring , and also encrease a holy and godly conversation , more and more , until we come to be perfect before our god in sion , this is the earnest request of yours in the lord jesus w.p. to the reader . courteous reader , dayly experience makes me sensible that the devil never wanted cunning inventions to court men to the imbracing of false doctrine , and most commonly such false doctrine whose natural tendency is to carry on the great design of satan in the world , to wit , ungodliness , and unholiness of life and conversation : for he always labours to counter-plot the alnighty in all his designs : we may observe throughout the whole stream of gods word , gods great design is to destroy the works of the devil , that is sin , and to make men holy , to the end that he might make them happy : now satan that arch-enemy of mankind , be seeketh above all things to hinder this work ; for by hindring righteousness , he knows he shall hinder the happiness of gods creatures : and because he well perceives that gods design is to promote the work of righteousness in all people , that so he might make all happy ; satan there projecteth alwayes to counter-plot god , labouring to promote sin in all , that so he might promote the misery of all men : so large as gods love extendeth in endeavouring to save , even so far also doth the envy of the devil extend in his endeavors to damne . and for as much as god hath tied himself that he will not work physically upon man , nor irresistibly , but by gentle perswasions upon hopes of glory , and feares of punishment , and the devil hath not power to work otherwise then by alurements , and promises , and threatnings , which he is not able to perform : i say , because god will not , and the devil cannot work upon man , otherwise then by perswasions , therefore it comes to passe that all men are neither saved nor damned , but onely those saved that are willing to let the lord work on them , and also are willing to work with him , in purifying and cleansing themselves from sin ; and onely those damned , that refusing gods work , do yield themselves to the working and works of satan . now these things , though they are most plain truth , and do sure right well with good reason , justice , and equity , yet they are much opposed , by too many in our dayes , whose ●eal is too great for their knowledge . i desire thee , most kinde reader , to read this little book seriously , and weigh it 〈…〉 the balance of truth and sound reason , and see whe●● 〈◊〉 i have not spoken to thy reason ; and search those scrip●●●●● which i have quoted , if they be not to the purpose in 〈◊〉 , and whether my design be not to magnifie the amplitude of gods grace to sinners , by which they are undoubtedly excited to amendment of life , upon a sure and certain hope of glory , and not upon any uncertain sound of the gospel ; as they do that limit the general promises of the gospel unto a few onely , and without condition , making an unknown and secret decree of election to be the ground of their faith ; and so 't is no marvel if their faith be unstedfast , and full of fears and doubts , when the foundation of it is no better . but i will detain thee no longer from the book itself , lest i should make my porch too big for the cottage to which it leadeth . but i commit thee to the guidance of god , in the reading hereof , that thou mayst not onely be brought to the acknowledging of those truths herein contained , but also and chiefly that thou mayest in the power and and strength thereof live according to that grace of god which bringeth his salvation unto all men , for the same purpose that they should deny ungodlyness and worldly lusts , and live soberly and righteously in this present world . w. p. sound doctrine : or , the doctrine of the gospel about the extent of the death of christ . dear friend , i received your book , in which you prerend to answer my fourteen queries and ten absurdities : which how well you have done , let the godly wise judge that have read it . i am amazed to take notice how consident you seem to be , in so bottomless a business as you maintain ; and with what subtilty ( not to say fraud ) you pass over the energie and force of my arguments , without notice ; and how you pretend that 't is an opinion very dangerous , to hold that christ died for all alike ; and yet you your self maintaining he died for all : as if he died more for one then another ; and as if he died to save onely some , and dyed for the rest to damne them . i pray where do you learn that distinction of dying for all but not all alike ? was ever such a thing heard of among any that had the use of their reason ? i desire no greater advantage against you , then that you are constrained ( and so are all of your opinion ) to speak without art , without scripture , without reason , and against all the best of antiquities . the holy scriptures do indeed most plainly tell us , that christ died for all , as you have also quoted , joh. 3.16 . & 16.33 . 2 cor. 5.19.1 jo. 2.2.1 . joh. 4.14 . heb. 2.9 . but do any or all of these , or any other , say that he died not for them alike , or that he died for some more then other ? i shall not take upon me to write an answer to all your impertinent allegations , and particulars in your book , because i judge 't will be a mis-pence of time , and blotting of paper to no purpose . and were it not that i feared my silence would occasion you to be wise in your own conceit , i would not have troubled my self to make any reply unto your feigned doctrine : for i do not much fear that many considerate , good and sober men , will be misled by such groundless conceits : but being perswaded that possibly some weak persons may be misled by the pretended holyness of your self and doctrine , therefore i did resolve to write an answer to your book : which if you will weigh seriously in the balance of truth , i hope it may put a stop to the exorbitancy of your judgment ; it being the most fit way ( yea the way of our blessed lord jesus ) to reduce mens vile conversations , by first purifying their hearts by faith : and he who is not first cleansed in the inside of his heart , no marvel if his actions be unclean ; he that judgeth not rightly of gods wayes , no marvel if he order not his own aright : if i judge that god may pretend the grace of the gospel ( i.e. remission of sins and salvation upon amendment of life ) unto all ; protesting to them all , that he desires their weal , and yet intends it onely to a few of them : i say , if i judge god may do thus , and yet be just , no marvel then if i do also deal so with men my self ; this opinion altogether indulging such a practise : for we are to follow the example of god , both in justice and holyness , and all other perfection : and 't is notoriously known to all considerate men , that the doctrine of the gospel in every part of it , is calculated for the meridian of godliness ; that being the great design of god in the world , by all the doctrines and preceps of the gospel , to lay obligations upon men to be holy in their conversations : now by this you may know truth from errour ; for that doctrine whose natural tendencie is to excite and provoke men to good and godly life , is most assuredly from heaven ; but that teaching , or those opinions , that so much as but incline men to , or allow them in , any unclean or unrighteous pathes ( as your doctrine doth ) is certainly not from heaven , but earthly , sensual , and devilish , as will afterward more fully appear . i shall now begin with your first thing . you say , page a that i did not propound my questions to be informed : and therein you were very right ; for indeed i thank my god , i was not diffident of , but believing in them , when i put them to you ; but i did it , to inform you , and to rectifie your and others judgements , that judge not aright of god . you say , that my queries are founded upon a groundless supposition , to wit , that you do not hold that christ died for all ; which you say you do , but not all alike . i answer ; my queries have a good foundation : for if you maintain christs dying for all in no other way then your nonsensical way , 't is all one as if you had said in terminis he had not died for all : for if he did not die effectually for all , at least so far as to open a door of salvation for one as freely as another , to what purpose was his death , and what benefit have most men by his death ? you say , they are freed from the curse of adam : but is that all ? are you so carnal ? have you such ignoble thoughts of the ever-blessed god ? and have you forgotten joh. 3.17 . joh. 1.7 . that all men might be saved , and the many other places might be named , wherein the lord declares his desire to have all saved ; b●ing grieved and troubled in spirit when they will perish ? according to these scriptures ; ezek. 18.32 . chap. 33.11 . jer. 4.19 . judg. 10.16 . luke 19.41 . you make such a confused work in your proofs for christs dying for all as i never heard . first , you will not have it proved from these places , joh. 3.16 . 2 cor. 25.19 &c. because you say the word world is taken diversly in scripture : sometimes for the whole , sometimes for a part ; sometimes for the wicked , and sometimes ( you say also ) for believers also : but that 's false : that the word world is taken many times for less then the whole , i know , and you needed not so have belabored your self to prove it . what if it be meant for less then all sometimes ? yet sometimes it doth include all , as you also confess ; and whensoever the death of christ for all , or his desire to save all , is spoken of , in this case it must be meant all , for several good reasons and considerations , as you shall hear afterwards : onely take this one to chew upon in the mean time . 't is taken from joh. 12.47 . where our blessed saviour saith , if any man hear his words and believe not , he will not judge him ( that is , now ) rendring this reason : for i came not to judge the world , but to save the world . by the word world here , which christ came to save , and not to judge , cannot be meant onely believers , if at all ; but such as hearing do not believe ; or else the text will not be sense , nor will the latter part be a reason to prove the affirmation in the fore part of the verse : but the sense would then be this ( nonsence ) if any man hear and believe not , i judge him not : for i cause not to judge believers , but to save believers . i trow this reason may satisfie a man of reason . and whereas you say that the word world is sometimes taken for the believers : that 's most untrue ; it being never taken for the better part , though many times for the worse or greater parts your three proofes for it are so weak , that i think you might as fairly and to as much purpose have cited matth. 1. to 17. the former of your three being grounded upon nothing but the malitious and lying opinion of the pharisees : what if the pharisees did say ( thinking a few too many to follow christ ) that the world was gone after him ; was it therefore true , that they were a world , or might properly be called the world ? see your self now in this glass . your second place , rom. 11.12 . doth prove no more to a man that hath any brains , but that the gentiles are there called the world ; not the elect onely among the gentiles , but the nations of gentiles , who usually were called the world in opposition to that one nation of the jews . your third place , joh. 17.21 , 23. is meant of the world , not of believers ; our saviour being there praying for his own disciples , that they might be so united to the father , and made one with him , that they might the better be enabled in their great work of preaching the gospel to all the world , that the world might thereby be convinced to know that thou hast sent me , and i sent them : for he saith , vers. 18. as thou hast sent me into the world , so have i sent them into the world ( that is , into believers , quoth mr. hobson ) also he prayeth that they may be kept from the evil of the world , vers. 15. ( is that from the evil of believers ? ) truely i have wondred that your understanding should be so infatuated as to summon scriptures together so unduly : but i remember 't is said , the lord catches the wise in their own craft . god is just therein . i pray god you seriously lay it to heart , for what cause the lord hath thus blinded , or suffered your minde to be blinded , so as you are not able to discern a truth from an errour , nay to love errour rather then truth , and would bring scriptures to prove it too ; and for want of them , you bring them that rather disprove it . next your come , ( you say ) to your affirmation , viz. that christ died for all , but not all alike , pag. 6. first , you prove that he died for all , out of tim. 4.10 . heb. 2.9 . who denies it ? you might have as well proved it from those forementioned places which you excepted against ; the word every man , heb. 2.9 . being taken as diversly as the word world ; but that you thought you would have some new-sangled way ( forsooth ) by your self to prove it : for i think truely we may give you the honour ( or rather dishonour ) of inventing it ; never any before having so much boldness , or so little wit , as to maintain christs dying for all from those places , and not from the other : or that held he died for all , but not all alike . in the next place you bestir you most monstrously , and lay about you to prove that which scarce any will deny , s●il . that christ by his death hath taken off the curse due to adam from all men , and freed all men from the killing power of that state . and not contented with your scripture-proofs , you still huddle in more then a good many of a kinde of scholastical arguments to back that which will easily be granted : but this peradventure was to shew your scholarship , and it may be your manliness , how couragiously you can fight when none opposeth you ; but what of this ? what if christ did do all this for all men ? doth that prove he did no more for them ? if not , you have laboured in vain . but it may be that shall be proved in the second part of your affirmation ; therefore i hasten to it , i.e. that christ died not for all alike . and this you say you will prove in eight particulars ; some of which are so notoriously untrue , and others so impertinently alleged , that they are scarce worthy of an answer . yet lest you should triumph , and crie vicimus , i shall give a brief reply to each of them in their order . first , that there is a people , which god hath chosen and elected [ in his son ] ( mark that ) before the world was ; who denies it ? and yet what a quoil the man makes to prove it ? do i deny election or chusing out of the world ? no , i believe it , that god chuseth ( as the prophet very fitly saith ) the godly man to himself , psa. 4.3 . and also that before the world was , he determined so to do ; and that is as much of election as can be proved in scripture that god doth use . and whereas you say , that faith was an effect of ordination ; and you bring act. 13.48 . to prove : it i say , as 't is most untrue , and against the current of scripture , and reason ; so particularly that of act. 13.48 . is directly and plainly against you ; and i shall retort it unavoidably upon you : the evangelist luke there being about to let theophilus know who , or what persons were ordained to life , he doth most plainly say they were believers ; yea he restrains it from any others but believers , in saying ( as many as were ordained to eternal life [ believed ] ) not a man more was ordained but such as [ believed . ] let any man now ask his reason which of these is first , ordination or believing ; and certainly reason will tell him that believing must be first , especially if he consult with joh. 1.12 . even to so many as believed on his name , to them he gave power to become the sons of god . but perhaps you may fancie that ordination must there be first , because the order of the words is first . if you should be so senceless , then consider , would it not be a ridiculous conceit , to think that a bullock hath horns , before he hath hoofs because 't is said , psal. 69.31 this shall please thee better then a bullock which hath horns and hoofs ? and would it not be as ridiculous , to think that men are saved before called , because 't is said , 2 tim. 1.9 . who hath saved us , and called us ? if yet ye should be so dull as not to understand that luke here intends believing was before ordination , because he names ordination first , i shall give you a similitude . suppose the king of a nation , having many captives at his will and mercy , do make proclamation unto them all , that whoever humble himself shall be ordained to life , they that refuse shall be pursued with fire and sword unto death : now suppose that i being in that country , see divers of them humbling themselves , and so finde acceptance with the king , and are ordained to life ; and i come over to you and tell you the story ; i say thus , and as many as were ordained to life ( or had acceptance with the king ) humbled themselves ; will you be so weak as to judge that their humbling was not before their choice , though mentioned last in words , when as 't is made a condition of their acceptance ? 1 reas. next you come to your reasons , in which you most unreasonably say , that whatsoever comes to pass , was before determined of god . oh impudence ! the height of blasphemie . : what every thing determined of god ? what if a man lieth with another mans wife ? or be drunk ? was that determined of god ? every thing was , then these things were ; oh! blush and be ashamed in maintaining such sordid opinions as these are . 2. reas. secondly you say , whatsoever god doth for us , in relation to heaven , before grace was wrought in us , is done beforetime . but election , or chusing of us , is done for us before grace is wrought in us , ergo . the bold assumption of this foolish syllogisme , is most notoriously false , being against the current of scripture ; and those places you alledge for probation thereof , do prove no more , but that god loves us , and hath given his son to die for us , even before we loved him , and so he hath done for all . but this is no chusing or election such as you speak of from the rest , but onely a general loving of all , so as to endeavour their salvation by his son jesus christ . this shall be more fully cleered when i have done answering to your particulars , when i come to speak of conditional election made in intuition of our being in christ , and against irrespective decrees . 2. your second particular , that god hath a special designe for the advancement of his grace and love to carry on by christ for them , and them onely ; is directly false , and diametrally opposite to these scriptures , mat. 9.13 . rom. 5.6 , 18 , 19. 2 pet. 3.9 . ezek. 18.30 , 31 , 32. chap. 33.11 . and therefore i shall return no more answer to it ; his design being to work grace in all , that he might save all ; though most will not receive grace , and some receive it in vain . 3. your third particular being grounded upon the former false ones , must of course be also false it self : and so much for it . 4. your fourth particular , that gods designe was satisfaction for all sin , and the purchase of eternal life , &c. if you mean he have purchased these things conditionally , i assent to it , and so he hath done for all . but if you mean he hath done it for any , other wayes then upon conditions performable by them , then i deny it , as most untrue ; according to the speech of our saviour to his disciples , matth. 6.14 . if ye forgive not men , neither will your heavenly father forgive you : so that 't is to be noted that forgiveness is upon condition : and also 't is to be noted , that forgiveness and blotting out of sin , is not properly in this life , no other wayes then in a promise ; we may be said to be forgiven , even as we may be said to be now saved , see act. 3.9 . sin being properly blotted out when there can be no more remembrance of it ; but now yet sin may be remembred against those righteous men that turn from their righteousness , and all their righteousness shall be forgotten . that which causeth you so plentifully to erre in your next particulars , is your not understanding what christ came to do : you take it for granted , i see , that christ came to do all the work for the elect , so that their sins are pardoned , and they saved , ipso facto , and without any condition in them : if that were true indeed , that those he died for , he had done so for them , then his death indeed could not have been for all , unless all should have been saved . but 't is most evidently true , that he hath not so died for any : what the father intended he should do by death , that indeed he did finish and compleat , viz. offer up himself a propitiatory sacrifice to god , that he might open a way unto remission of sins , and salvation for all ; but did effect it fully for none without themselves . and because the greatest part of the errours of your book are founded upon this gross mistake , i shall speak a few things more to it , before i leave it , although i have said enough already in a manner to a considering person : first i will note wherein we differ in this point . you hold , that when christ was offered upon the cross , he took away , put an end , blotted out , and utterly destroyed all his peoples sins for ever , and presented them just , righteous , and holy , before god ; now i for my part , do distinguish between the cause and the effect , between the time of the one and the time of the other ; but you jumble both together . these things were done , says your opinion , whilst christ was on the cross ; but i say they are indeed doing , but are not compleatly finished till his second comming . and now i will proceed to prove it : which if i do not , by plain and unwrested scriptures , then believe me not . the first place is 1 cor. 5.21 . he hath made him that knew no sin , to be sin for us , that we might be made the righteousness of god in him . this scripture was wrritten by paul after christs death : now note here , he hath made him sin , that we might be made righteous ; he hath been , that we might be ; past in him , and to come in us ; he is sin in us first , we are righteousness of god in him afterwards ; his being sin for us is the cause , our being righteousness is the effect . a second proofe is tit. 2.14 . he gave himself for us , that he might redeem us from all iniquity , and purifie , &c. note here also that christs end in giving himself was , that he might purifie and cleanse , &c. and we are cleansed but in part , then his end is acomplished in part ; but when we are cleansed throughly , then his end is wholly acomplished : he shall first travel , and afterwards shall see of the travel of his soul , isa. 35.11 . a third proofe , is col. 1.12 , 21. you that were enemies he hath reconciled in the body of his flesh through death , to make you holy , unblameable , and without fault in his sight : from whence doth appear plainly , 1 that christs death was then past . 2 that their spirits were in part reconciled then . 3 that their being without spot was yet to come . a fourth proofe , eph. 5.25 , 26.27 . where note , he gave himself for his church , that he might cleanse it with the washing of water by the word , and that he might present it not having spot or wrinkle &c. minde it : he gave himself , that he might cleanse , 2. cleanseth that he might present spotless , &c. first , he in love gives himself ; second , he cleanseth by his word ; third , after clensing he presents it without spot or blemish ; but spotlesness is not before , but at the appearing of jesus christ , as you may see yet further in 1 cor. 1.7 8. that ye may be blameless in the day of our lord jesus christ . see also 1 thess. 2.19 . act. 3.19 . but unto all this 't is very like you will reply , he hath taken sin away already for the elect , and wholly blotted it out , for these reasons ( as some of you call them . ) 1. because he was ordained to take away sin . 2. because he is mighty to save . 3. because he took flesh upon him for this purpose . 4. because 't is gods will that by blood-shedding he should sanctifie his . i answer , that though these are all truths , yet they are not reasons to the matter in hand ; for with what reason will it appear that we are saved already , because he is mighty to save ; or that sin is already done away , because he came to take it away ; or that his people were perfectly sanctified , as soon as ever his blood was spilt , because that 't was gods will his blood should sanctifie ; or that his people were spotless , just when he died , because he died that he might do it ? reason tells me , that things are not done , while they are in doing . do you not know that presenting is after washing , and washing after blood spilling , eph. 5.25 ? and is not his blood ( after 't is spilt ) sprinkled in our hearts to cleanse ? heb. 10.22.1 pet. 1.2 . the blood of christ which through the eternal spirit hath been offered , shall purge your consciences from dead works , heb. 9.14 . his blood that is already spilt , is still the blood of sprinkling which doth speak for us better things then the blood of abel , heb. 12.24 . i would fain know what gospel your principle will admit to be preach'd to unbelievers since the death of christ ? with what reason can you say , believe on the lord jesus christ and ye shall be saved to such as saved are already ? or to say , repent that your sins may be blotted out , act. 3.19 . to such whose sins are already blotted out , or never shall be ? for say you , the sins of the reprobate never shall ; but the sins of the elect are already . also what reproof or dehortation against sin , can you ( since the death of christ ) give to those whose sins were utterly destroyed and done away at christs death ? can they be took away and remain too ? no , no , this is against reason : when god hath compleatly cleansed his people they shall defile themselves no more at all : see ezek. 37.23 . if yet any should stumble at this place , we have redemption through his blood , the forgiveness of sins ; i answer , i have already showen that we have it already in a promise , and so we have it by faith : but we have it not in accomplishment yet ; we yet walk by faith and not by sight , 2 cor. 5.7 . but some of you yet further object , that god hath promised his work should prosper , isa. 42 . 1●4 . & 55.11 . i answer , his work shall certainly prosper , he hath purchased what he was to purchase , and will accomplish what he is to accomplish : but if the time when he died , were the time not onely to purchase , but also to effect an utter destruction to sin , as you hold ; then his work hath not prospered : for neither my sins nor yours , are utterly destroyed as yet : and truly if our sins should not be otherwise washt away then yet they are , we should be in a sad condition ; and if christ hath presented us before god already , then hath he presented us faulty , not faultless : for if we say , ( as yet ) that we have no sin , we lie , and truth is not in us , 1 joh. 1.8 . there are objections yet innumerable , which i let pass , onely answering one more somewhat material . object . christ would not answer the type , if he did not quite take away sin , for as adam brought all in him under sin and condemnation : so christ hath made all in him righteous , rom. 5.12 . so the priests are said , to make atonement for the people , and to cleanse them from all their sins before the lord , levit. 16.30 . so christ hath presented all his without spot also . so the peoples transgressions were lay'd on the scape-goats head ; who carried them away . answ. first , as none finned in adam before they were in adam , so none are righteous before they are in christ . likewise as we are in adam by the first , so are we in christ by the second birth ; our first being in christ is by faith , see phil. 3.8 , 9. secondly , we are in adam before we are in christ , and so are sinners before we are righteous : we cannot be cleansed , till we are first unclean , that is not first which is spiritual , but that which is natural , and afterwards that which is spiritual . 1 cor. 15. but if men should be in christ by election before time , as you weakly ( that i say not wickedly ) affirm , then st. paul had been in christ as soon as any other : but he directly saith that andronicus and junia his kinsmen were in christ before him , rom. 16.7 . to the second type i reply , that the atonement was before cleansing : for saith the place plainly , the priest shall make atonement for you , to cleanse you , that you may be clean from all your sins before the lord , levit. 16.30 . and not onely here , but everywhere in the law , it will appear , that first sin was committed . secondly , blood was spilt . thirdly , sprinkled on the sinner . fourthly , after all this , with other circumstances , the parties were clean . so likewise , 1. we are sinners . 2. christs blood is spilt for an atonement . 3. by faith 't is sprinkled on our hearts , 4. after all this , we are cleansed . to the third type i reply , that the peoples sins were lay'd on the scape-goats head after the slain-goat was slain , and he carried them away after they were layed on his head : apply this . but i fear i have made too long digression , and yet i thought it needful ; and so much shall serve for your four particulars ; now to the fifth . 5. that faith which is required of all them that enjoy him , is not a cause but an effect of election . this you say you will prove three wayes ; 1. from scripture . 2. from the nature of causes . 3. from the nature of the thing . first , for your argument act. 13.48 . i have already turned the point of it against your own brest . and for the other places , they prove no more , but that god loves man before he loves god ; but they do not prove that god doth not love him more after he loves god , then before . i grant , he loves all men first , before they love him ; but when they love him again , then he loves them with a greater love , with a love of election , as shall be more fully manifested afterwards . secondly , from the nature of causes , your argument is such a medly-mess of nonsence , that i know not what to make on 't , which you begin with a direct untruth , in saying , that you see i have drawn my absurdities out of hen. haggars book ; when , as i never saw it , so i never heard of it till i read yours . thirdly from the nature of the thing ( election ) you would prove election to be the cause of faith : unto all which i shall speak joyntly , and make the shame of them appear to all men that read them : and herein i must be diametrially opposed against you , because you bring in such a hysteron proteron . the cart before the horse , that i must of necessity invert your order , or rather disorder . and therefore i do affirm , that election is not the cause of faith and good works ; but faith and good works the cause of our election or gods chusing of us . 1. i prove it by scripture . 2. i prove it from the nature of causes . 3. from the nature of election . 1. from scripture , i will onely refer you to consult these places hereafter named , act. 13.48 . joh. 1.12 . psa. 4.3 . joh. 16.27 . rev. 3.10 . 2. from the nature of causes , i will observe this rule : if election on should be a cause of faith , and such a cause as cannot be resisted , ( as you hold ) then reprobation must be a cause of sin and damnation ; and so god , blessed for ever , will be made , not onely a tempter to , but a cause , yea , the cause , of all sin and wickedness in the world . but let no man say when he is tempted , i am tempted of god ; ( as our modern ranters are wont to do ) for every man when he is tempted is drawn away of his own lusts , and inticed . i dare not say as one did that had been a great sinner , quid si haec quispiam voluit deus ? what if some god hath so decreed it ? for st. james makes me believe , that sin is both ingendered and conceived within me : when my lust hath conceived , it bringeth forth sin ; and if my lust be the mother of it , sure the father is my own will . it was davids saying of wicked israel , that they provoked god to anger ( not with his will , but ) with their own inventions : there are contrivers of mischief , psal. 58.2 . devisers of lyes , eccles. 7.13 . which cannot be imputed unto any absolute decree in god . o how many volumes have been written concerning irrespective decrees , in the latin tongue , which might even blush to be named in english ; and shall we yet in these daies of light ascribe sin and wickedness to god ( as your opinion doth ? ) i am in such disorder and discomposedness of spirit , while i only but name these bold expressions , that were it not for a good purpose ( as i conjecture and intend ) i durst not venture to repeat them . o lord righteousness belongeth unto thee ; but unto us , confusion of face : for thou hast made man upright ; but we have found out many inventions , eccless . 7.29 . next i will come to reason , by which i hope to make it appear , that the almighty is so far from being accessary to sin , and does so many things to hinder it , that he doth not so much as permit it but in a equitable sence : and amongst many reasons that may be given , i will content my self with this one , which seems to me the best . that which assigns to every thing the kinde ; that which moderates the power , and appoints the form and measure of working ; that we properly call a law . hence the being of god is a kinde of law to his working , because that perfection which god is , giveth perfection to that he doth : so that he being nothing but what is good , he can work nothing that is otherwise . it is therefore an errour ( saith judicious mr. hooker ) to think that there is no reason for the works of god , besides his absolute will ; ( though no reason is known to us ) for the apostle tells he worketh all things ( not simply and meerly according to his will , but ) {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , according to the counsel of his will . and because he doth voluntarily set himself a law whereby to work ; it followes , that that law is no abatement to his freedome ; if therefore he be pleased to set himself a law or rule , not to reprobate any but upon pre-science or fore-knowledge of sin ( because that is most conformable to the nature of his goodness ) can this be any prejudice to the perfection of his being ? is his nature the less absolute , because it pleases him that his will be conditional in some things , as it is absolute in others ? does he lose any prerogative , by being unable to be the author of sin ? we are gods creatures , but sin is ours . god saw every thing that he had made , and behold it was very good . we see the things that are made by the fiat of our will , and behold they are very evil . this creative power of ours , we justly reckon as the sequel of humane weakness ; and shall we heedlesly affirme it to be a jewel in the glorious diadem of gods almightiness ? let this be seriously considered . thirdly , i shall prove it from the nature of the thing , that election is not the cause of faith and good works , &c. but contrary , faith and good works of election . this shall be proved and illustrated by these five considerations . first of all , i consider , that there is no salvation but onely to such as are found to be in christ jesus in the day of death and of judgement ; which no man living can be , unless he be qualified with such conditions , as without which it is impossible to be so found ( such as are faith , repentance , obedience , and perseverance in well doing unto the end ) that god will save none but such , is all mens confession : and that he saves none but such as he decrees to save , is as plain : therefore none but such are the objects of such decrees . for if he decreed to save any without respect to their being such , he might actually save them , without regard to their being such : because whatsoever is justly decreed , may be justly executed as 't is decreed . but 't is granted by all good men on all sides , that god will save none but such as are found to be in christ with the aforesaid qualifications , and therefore it should be granted on all sides also , that he decreed to save none but such persons as they : and what is that but a respective , conditional decree ? made in intuition of our being in christ , and so qualified , &c. secondly , i consider , that the decree of the father to send his son to be a second adam , was in respect and regard to the back-sliding of the first adam ; and the decree of god to save the first adam , was in respect to the merits of the second adam ; for god chuseth never a child so as to give him eternal life , unless it be for the sake of his onely begotten son . 1. god pitied a woful world . 2. he loved what he pitied . 3. he gave his own son to save what he loved : and upon the condition of believing in his son , he gave them a promise of eternal life : for so believing is interposed betwixt love and life , in joh. 3.16 . thirdly , i consider , there must be a difference before there can be an election : love indeed is an act of favour , but election properly is an act of judgement , a preferring of the better before the worse . they that say god elected such a number of men without the least intuition of their qualifications , by which they are differenced from the reprobate crew , do speak illogically ( to say no worse ) how much safer is it to say , that because such men as are in christ by faith , are better then such as are out of christ by infidelity ; therefore those are taken , and these are left ? and it seems this very argument , from the nature and use of the word election , did prevail with st. austin , who saith expresly , that justification precedeth election : and his reason is , because no man is elected unless he differ from him that is rejected . fourthly , i consider , that the whole tenure of scripture ( and that in the judgement of all the ancients ) teacheth no other predestination then in and through christ , which is respective and conditional . first , the scripture gives us none but conditional promises , such as , if any man keep my saying , he shall not tast death : whatsoever a man soweth , that shall he reap . and we shall reap if we faint not . if any man hear my voice and open the door , i will come into him , &c. if ye be willing and obedient , &c. if ye continue rooted and grounded , and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel , &c. nay , even the very texts which are wont to be urged for irrespective election , do seem very precisely to evince the contrary . for when god is said to predestinate according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself , the word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} which is rendered good pleasure , doth not signifie the absoluteness , but the respectiveness of his will ; for it relateth to something in which god is well pleased , and that is christ ; it being impossible for god to please himself with mankinde , any other wayes then in him of whom it was said , [ this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased . ] besides , all those scriptures that do teach universal grace and redemption ( of which there is a multitude ) do seem to me most clearly to infer a conditional election : for if it be true that christ did die really for all ; if he did earnestly desire that every one would come in upon the preaching of his word , and receive the benefit of his death and passion ; if his warning were not in jest , and his invitation were serious ; if [ depart from me ye cursed ] was therefore foretold , that every one might beware , and not obtrude himself upon that sentence ; if he is unwilling that any should be caught in the serpents snare , who shews to all ( without exception ) a certain way to escape ; if he is not desirous to strike , who bids us look to our posture , and stand upon our guard ; if he shews his power to punish none but onely those that refuse his mercy : then his refusing of the goats in respect of that which makes them differ from sheep , inferreth his election of the sheep , in respect of that which makes them differ from goats . unto this fourth thing let me adde but this one thing more ; viz. that since our saviour upon the cross did very heartily pray even for those * homicides that put him to death , we have no reason but to believe that he layd down his life for those that took it away , and that he died for all , for whom he prayed . and yet we reading of their murders , but not of their repentance ; i should be loath to say that those crucifying wretches were precious vessels of election ( in compliance with your wicked opinion , that say , christ died onely for elect ) and yet to him that hath but a shallow judgement , he must needs die for those he prayed for ; and 't is as plain that he died for those that cursed themselves [ his blood be upon us ( said they ) and on our children , ] and yet ( said he ) father forgive them ; he made his murderers execration become his prayer ; he wished as well as they , that his blood might be both upon them and their children ; but in his most merciful , not in their barbarous and cruel sense : for they meant the guilt , he the benefit of his blood : and yet i dare not affirme that they were all a portion of gods elect . fifthly and lastly , i consider , ( which to me is an argument of some weight ) that the main stream of those ancient learned men that are usually called the fathers , doth run this way , as it is notoriously known to any man that is acquainted with history : and because i would not overburthen my self in writing , nor my reader in reading , i shall not recite the innumerable quotations that might be ; i shall onely refer you to the paraphrases of erasmus , and the confessions of beza and dr. twiss. first , beza in his comment upon rom. 11.2 . rejects the judgement of the fathers , because they were not ( as he would have them ) for the absolute & unconditional way . secondly , d. twiss confesseth , that all the ancients before st. austin , did place the object of god's election in * fide pravisa : at which austin was so far from being displeased , as that ( with great reverence to their authority ) he made it appear to be an innocent and harmless opinion : he affirmed , that all the fathers , who lived before himself , agreed in this . and because dr. twiss so readily subscribeth to it also , i ought in reason to be secured from being guilty of novelty or singularity herein ; for truely , i am loath to forsake the ancients , until i plainly see them shaking hands to part from truth . and so i will conclude these five considerations , onely with desiring the liberty of conscience , to believe ( from what hath been spoken ) with st. paul . that god is a respecter not of persons , but of works : that my sins are perfectly and intirely my own : and ; that if i do any thing that is good , it is the grace of god in me , yet so , as that i may do all things through him that strengthens me ; and who doth so strengthen me that i may do them , but not so force me as that i must . if all this doth not yet satisfie and convince you , i have small hope that any thing will that is behinde ; yet because it may do much good to others , ( as i am confident it will to considering people ) i will proceed to what doth follow . in the next place , you pretend to answer to some objections which are made by some of my judgement . the first objection made against eph. 1.4 . and such other places , where 't is said . that god ha●h chosen us in christ before the world was , you say , is this : object . 1. that god is pleased many times to cast things that are not as if they were , rom. 4.17 . as he did to abraham . and so christ is said to be a lamb slain from the beginning of the world , rev. 13.8 . so must election be understood , in posse , but not in esse . the force of this objection you think to take away with your threefold distinction of acts : 1. the life or vertue of the act . 2. the fruit of the act . 3. the form of the act . whether or no you do understand these , or out of whose book you ●ad them , doth not concern me much to examine . but this i am sure of , that as 't is most ridiculously alleadged for this thing , so your inference from it , is false : for you say , ( by the help of your foolish distinction ) that abraham was really a father of many nations , when the promise was first propounded ; and christ really slain , when he was first promised ; which is most untrue , and it doth destroy the life and vertue of the actual crucifixion of christ , and the life and power of our gospel : for our christ , crucified sixteen hundred and odd yeers ago , is , by your silly distinction , made to be a thing of little or no value ; the life and vertue of it , having been before , you say : and election also done , and made sure before time . oh impudence in a superlative degree ! i fear you are a man that loves novel ( that i say not , frivolous ) distinctions : why cannot you content your self with our ancient and known distinctions , when they are good ? why cannot we say , that abraham was a father of nations ; and christ was slain ( as soon as the promise was made ) in posse , but not in esse ; or in a promise , but not in performance ; and , that persons are elected before the world was in purpose ; but yet with respect to their being in christ , and perseverance in good ways unto the end , as hath been already declared more fully ? a second objection , 1 pet. 1.2 . elect according to the fore-knowledge of god , through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience . vnto which is joyned , 2 thess. 2.13 . which place saith , that we are elected through ( or by the means of ) sanctification of the spirit , and belief of the truth , &c. in your answering and opposing of this you do grant the thing you plead against : for you say , pagine 45. that sanctification , and belief of the truth , or obedience , is the way or means to accomplish that end unto which election deth intend . and unto this i agree , that faith and obedience is the way and means unto the end , that is , eternal life : let me therefore ask you , whensoever means is appointed unto an end , if the means be not used , can the end be accomplished ? ●… if perseverance in holiness be the way and means unto life , that without it no man can attain thereto , what doth your unconditional ( that i say not , nonsensical ) election avail or amount to . so that i may say with esdras , 2 esdras 7.5 6 , 7. a city being built , and set upon a broad field full of all good things , and the entrance to it narrow and very dangerous , &c. if ( saith 〈◊〉 ) now this city were given to a man for an inheritance , if he never pass the danger set before it , how shall he receive this inheritance ? read also unto the 26 verse of that chapter . if against this some captious critick should say , this is not canonical scripture : i answer , i do not say 't is : onely then let it pass as the sayings of good men : for its greatest opposers do confess , that the books called apocrypha are to be preferred before any other humane writings whatsoever yet truely i must say i do not yet see the reason why they are rejected , since that the ancients have had them in equal esteem with other scriptures ; and in the old english bible the books of ezra and nehemiah being called by the same name , as if one man had wrote them all four . but this by the by . the third objection : no men can be elected in christ , till they be in christ ; but no men are in christ , till they believe or trust in christ : for the elect ephesians were once out of christ , eph. 2.11 , 12. your answer to this is , men are said to be truely and really in christ two wayes : ( but you do not tell where 't is said so unless in your book . ) first , by election ; and so we are all ( you say ) in christ . what! hath the man forgot himself ? are all in christ by election ? i do not know where to finde you : even now you were for election of a few , and now you say pag 47. by election we are [ all ] in christ , he being the publick person in whom all elections were comprehended : and then in the next word you seem to be against it again ; for there you say , all the elect are really in him , before they are brought forth . unto all which i shall make no reply , there being in your words nothing of sense at all . but in the 48 page , you say , you agree with us , that men before they are called , are without god , without hope , and by nature the children of wrath as well as others , eph. 2.3 . and yet for all this you say , they were in christ by election before . o wonder of wonders ! what , a man really in christ , and yet at the same time a childe of wrath ? yea , as much a childe of wrath , as others too : ( for so saith the text ) to countenance this , you say , christ would not else have said , joh. 10.16 . other sheep i have which are not of this fold ; them will i bring in . but what is this to your purpose ? all this doth not prove , nor will you , nor any other man be able unto the dayes of eternity , to prove that these or any others are really sheep or elect ones before conversion , though in scripture fore-called ; so for the scripture fore-seeing their faith and obedience which they will have towards god , doth fore-tell also of their election and good acceptance with god at that day ; and that is as much as can reasonably be inferred from thence . but you say , there is also an outward being in christ , that men may be in , and fall ; according to these scriptures , joh. 15.2 , 6. 1 joh. 2.10 . 1 tim. 1.19.20 . but you will not speak to that , you say : if you will not , i purpose to speak to it in due time ; and shall make it appear , that there may be a falling from true grace , and from christ , after true ingrafting into him : and that falling away you mention , john 15. is so too : for christ there speaks to his own disciples , who you will confess were truely in christ , yet if they did not abide in him , should be cast forth as a branch , and withered , and burnt , &c. in the next place you say , we have some other objections about trusting in christ , and believing in christ . but you say , you have said enough to it already : i think so too , and too much , unless 't were truer . next you come to the sixth thing , i. e. that the publishing of the forementioned priviledges of the gospel , is god's way or means to produce faith , and other gospel-obedience in the hearts of his own : but in this there is ( you say ) little difference between you and i. i think so too , unless herein you say , 't is god's way to produce faith in his own ; and i and the scripture say , 't is god's way to produce faith in all men , as shall afterward be more fully declared . next you come to the seventh particular , i. e. that faith which is produced in obedience to t●ut● by the discoveries of the gospel of christ , is not the b●i●ging up of something that is in men before conversion ; but it is a peculiar work of god , which nature in the highest improvement is not capable of , till conversion or the new work of grace be wrought , which is god's ; not upon a common , but special and gospel-account wrought by him . this particular consisteth of very strange uncouth phrases , such as i have not met with : so truely i do not well understand them : you say , [ that faith is not the bringing up of something that is in men before conversion . ] was ever such a sentence uttered ? what occasioned you to utter this ? did you ever hear me say , that faith was brought up in men before conversion ? can faith be before conversion ? do you not fully know , that i hold that repentance is first , and then faith ? and , that both these are done by the help of the grace of god in men , by which a man is ( as i have already proved ) excited and gently inclined , not forced , to believe and obey ? for my part , i am so far from making faith to be before repentance , that i judge repentance to be a means unto faith ; and therefore our blessed saviour saith unto the elders of the jews , mat. 21.32 . that they when they had seen , repented them not , that they might believe . mark that word , [ repented them not that they might believe . ] but yet i would have you know , that i am far from thinking , that either repentance or faith , ( though it be not attained onely by nature ) yet it is not wrought so irresistably as you judge ; but so as may prove ineffectual , if the creature doth not well improve the means : for proof hereof , minde these scriptures , mat. 25. about the unprofitable servant . jer. 2.30 . chap. 6.29 . chap. 8.8 . 2 cor. 6.1 . but before you come to your proof of this seventh particular , you seem to be much afflicted and troubled at the abuse that is put upon these two truths you mention , page 51. for , say you , if we come to exhort those that profess the lord to activeness in duty , or reprove them for neglect in duty ; they will reply , we can do no more then we have power to do : which ( you say ) is a truth , but sadly applied : for ( say you ) when god hath begun to work grace in us , the way to encrease in strength , is to improve what we have , by careful watching and waiting hourly and dayly before the lord , &c. now let the reader judge whether all this do not hold forth as much free-will and power in the creature as i do . you say , they must watch and wait , &c. and get power against sin . this i like well , for 't is according to the apostle , let us get grace , whereby we may serve god , &c. heb. 12.28 . but when you come to the proving of your seventh particular in your four things , you utterly overthrow this again : for you do so egregiously jumble truth and error together , that 't is fit to amaze the reader . first , you say . page 55. that the work of faith is not gained by improving nature before conversion : and this you have said over and over , and i grant it . but then page 59. you present the work of conversion and new birth in a strange dress ; you make it such an almighty thing , seizing upon , conquering and killing the soul , and that 't is a supernatural light and life set up in the soul , by god's causing the creature to assent , &c. now all these expressions i can well enough swallow down provided you will let me take them with a grain of salt , that is , that god doth all this that you say ; but he doth not do it irresistably : i say , doth it very powerfully and prevailingly , but not so as cannot be resisted . say not , that then man is stronger then god , if he can resist the workings of god's grace : for i would have you note this : if god's power herein be resisted or frustrated , it yieldeth not out of weakness , but out of will ; god not pleasing to put forth his power where he feels himself resisted or neglected . now because i have taken notice of many others besides your self , that run much upon this strain , making conversion such an irresistable thing , i thought fit to speak a few words to it , to rectifie your judgement herein , if it may be , and all those that shall read it , if they be also out of the way . i perceive there be of your judgement , many that delight in metaphors , much rather then in the simple term of conversion : and so they infer , that a man doth no more to his new creation , then he did to his first ; nor to his regeneration , then he did to his generation ; nor to his resurrection from sin , then lazarus did to the raising of his dead body . from hence have issued such doctrines as these , i.e. that the seed of the spiritual life , and the habits of faith and grace , ( like a new soul ) are infused into men , before they be so much as illuminated . again , others upon 2 cor. 5.17 . whosoever is in christ is a new creature , infer , that grace cannot be resisted , because no creature can resist his creator in the creation thereof , &c. but all these novellists , together with your self , may be pleased to be advised , 1. that this leaneth too much to an enthusiasmus , such as all the judicious learned in their suffrage do disclaim . 2. that arguments taken from allegories and metaphors are weak and deceitful , if they be extended beyond that to which the scripture intendeth them . 3. that the new creation extendeth not to the substance , but to the qualities of a man : else if we presse the letter , we may better defend a transubstantiation in a mans conversion , then the romanists can do in the sacrament of christs body : or we may maintain the absurd opinion of those that say original sin is the very substance of man . but i hope we have learned better . 4. that this new creation respecteth , 1. the universality of the change in qualities to be diffused over the whole man . 2. it respecteth the necessity of this change , joh. 3. 3. it respecteth divinum & supernaturale principium ; a divine and supernatural principle , from whence this change must flowe , else there is no hope for us ever to be converted . this i grant : but 5. now as to the manner and many circumstances ; each creation and generation hath its proper and peculiar manner : for he that made us without us , will not save us without us . there the change is à non ente ad ens ; here , à non tali ad tale : from no being , to a being , from not such , to such : there is a rude masse ; here , in a creature already living , reasonable and moving : there , god wrought immediately ; here , by means : there was never creature heard say , create me , renew me o lord ; here , one is heard crave , psal. 51. create in me a clean heart o god , and renew a right spirit within me . there it was never said to the creature , make thy self ; here 't is said , make you a new heart and a new spirit ; for why will you die ? ezek. 18.31 . jer. 4.4 . ephes. 5.14 . there was never any creature blamed for not being made , nor reproved for being as it is ; but here , to keep on the old man , and not to put on the new , is counted a notorious fault in them that profess christ jesus and the gospel . do but consider these things , and see if it be safe to compare the first creation with the second : for i conceive the mistaking of these things doth occasion many other absurdities in your self and others . i finde nothing more until i come to your eighth particular ( page 74. ) but what hath been already answered enough . you have indeed many particulars to prove that which i do not deny , i.e. that the highest improvements of nature , without the help of grace , will not enable a man to convert or become a new creature : what need all this ? do i say a man may convert without the help of grace ? but this indeed i say , with the help of grace men may ; but most do not : some refusing it , others receiving it in vain . now i come to your eighth position . 8. that it is gods minde and way ; and then of necessity in must be so , for the advancement of his grace , and the accomplishment of faith in the hearts of his own , that this gospel is to be presented or discovered unto all without exemption , as to the declaration it self , unto which ( you say ) you will say little , the thing being so clear . ) how now ! what a bold attempt do you make upon the wisdom and holiness of god ? what must the death of christ and remission of sins ( for that 's the gospel ) be preacht unto all , for the sake onely of some ? if there be not really remission of sins for all men to be had in christ , then they which preach remission unto all , ( as christ commands his apostles to do , luke 24.47 . ) will be found to preach an untruth to most , for the sake of some : alas for you , these are low and base thoughts of god : what do you judge the almighty to have no better way to bring about his designs but by lies , or by unreasonableness ? what if gods design had been , as you say 't is , to work faith onely in some few , and in them to work it certainly and unavoydably ; could not he ( thinke you ) have provided a better way to work this faith , then by telling all men he would have them all repent , believe , and be saved , &c. telling them that he gave his son to die for them all , and is unwilling that any of them should perish ? surely it would be a wilde trick ( and hypocritical ) if mr. hobson should send his servants to all the inhabitants in the parts where he lives , to invite them with great earnestness unto his feast , and when they come there to put most of them back , saying , that he invited all , onely for the sake of some ; and this he did for the magnifying of his grace ? would not any man think that either mr. hobson was distracted , or else he was desperately full of guile and hypocrisie ? and such actions would magnifie his folly and wickedness , not his grace . might not mr. hobson with less deceit , and more honestie , have sent some private and particular invitations to those particular persons he intended ? yea , certainly he would , if he were to make such invitations ; and i think he would scorne to invite all , and intend onely some : with what face then can he affirm that of the ever-blessed god , which he hateth in man ? surely god will not do that himself , which he cannot indure , and hath forbidden in man . and whatever mr. hobson , or any others say , the almighty will be found at the great day of account to have invited none but such as he heartily and really intended salvation unto , had they been pleased to accept , and not made light of it , matth. 22.5 . in the next place you pretend to answer to this objection : object . if the power of believing be solely of god , how can he justly condemn man for not believing , seeing the power is not in them , but in god ? i must needs tell you in plain english , that your answer to this objection is not onely impertinent , but vile . and while you devise new tricks and shifts to clear up the justice of god ( as you say ) you do absolutely deny the plain scripture : for ( say you , page 77. ) god doth condemn no man for not expressing of a power to believe , but for exercising a power to reject christ : when the scripture saith , he that believeth not is damned , because he believeth not , &c. joh. 3.18 . and christ saith , unlesse ye believe that i am he , ye shall dye in your sins . but you say , this is the declarative cause , not the meritorious cause : what a sordid saying is this ? what will god declare one cause and proceed by another ? their not believing you say is the declarative cause ; but that is not the cause that god will go upon , you say . this is indeed according to what you have already said of him , that he declares and proclaims one thing , and means another . i grant that god condemns men for rejecting grace , so doth he also for not improving of that which they are possest withal , matth. 25.29 , 30. and he shall render vengeance not onely to those that rejected and did despite unto the spirit of grace , but also unto those that know not god , and that have not obeyed the gospel of jesus christ , 2 thess. 1.8 . in the next place ( page 79 ) you pretend to discover my mistakes ( as you say ) which is the cause of my stumbling . my first mistake , you say , is my measuring mans ability by gods power or authority : as when god saith , do this and you shall live . &c. this say you doth only imply gods authority , not mans ability . i will shew you your weakness herein , if you will but grant me that god doth all things wisely , soberly , and discreetly . judge now : would it be soberly and wisely done , for a king to say to an impotent man , do this impossible thing , and i will reward you richly ; and if you do not , i 'll hang you . if no earthly king will command , but where there is power to obey ; much more will not the king of heaven . and if this were a way for a king to manifest his power by over his impotent subjects , yet would it be no way to magnifie his grace and favour towards them ; and that seems rather to be gods design in the gospel . you must know and understand , that god will and doth set forth his power and his justice in no other way then may well stand with the glory of his grace and mercy also : 2. my second mistake ( you say ) is my not distinguishing of causes ▪ and i say your mistake is the not understanding of causes . i do allow of as many distinctions of causes as the scripture doth ; but i am not so simple , as to make several causes of one thing to be diametrially opposed against each other , as ye do ; but consentaneous to one another : so that gods declared cause is adequate to his essential , meritorious or final causes . my third mstake ( as you say ) is my not understanding the extent of the word [ all ] and the word [ world ] and in this you make a great puther and a stir to prove that the word world is taken many times for lesse then all : who knows not that ? but 't is sometimes taken for all , as you , and all men confess : and in this case touching the death of christ , i am certainly assured 't is meant all , as i have already evinced from john 12.47 . nay moreover , you grant it : for you also affirm that he dyed for all : and therefore when you except against my large extending the word [ world ] it may be conceived you are a little out of your self ; if not , i am sure ye are out of the truth . for what man that is compos mentis , would first assert that christ died for all , and for the world , and then except against the places that prove it as not extending unto all , because sometimes those terms in other cases extend not to all ? i hope you will see your folly , and be ashamed . 4. my fourth mistake ( you say ) is my not understanding ezek. 33.11 . where the lord saith , as i live , i delight not in the death of a sinner , for from this place i conclude ( you say ) all sinners ; and so indeed i do ; yea , the worst , and perishing sinners ; and so the text saith expresly , ezek. 18 . ult. i have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth . who told you that god makes three sorts of sinners , and one of them he calls sinners in a gospel-sence ? have you eaten of the forbidden fruit ? if not , how come you to know more then is written , and more then is true ? that some sins and sinners are greater then others , i do not deny ; but to divide sinners into so many sorts , that exclude the greatest part of them , from gods desire of salvation to them , i allow not , but detest it as abominable . i am sure god tells us no such thing in his word , as that he would save onely sinners in a gospel-sence : but he either saith sinners indefinitely , or else particuliarly of such sinners as mr. hobsons wisdom excludeth , as these scriptures will abundantly testifie , jer. 25.3 . unto 8. jer. 35.12 . unto 17. chap. 29.19 . chap. 18.11 , 12 , chap. 6.16 , 17. chap. 13.11 . isa. 48. 17 , 18 , 19. where you may see he endeavoured with all earnestness ( even unto admiration ) to save not onely those that did accept , but those also that refused salvation and perished . that all this was done out of true compassion to them , doth appear , 2 chro. 36.14 , 15 , 16. that all this also was not a bare outward and helpless means which god used by his prophets , but a most efficacious , powerful and prevailing means , the spirit of god going with the word of the prophet , and yet not received , doth most manifestly appear in that remarkable place of zechariah 7.11 . 12 , 13. as also act. 7.51 . this is yet farther confirmed and illustrated by the ever blessed son of god , in his most pathetical expressions of sorrow and grieffor , and the shedding of tears over , the miserable sons and daughters of jerusalem , who had unavoidably , ( and full sore against his blessed will ) brought themselves into an irrecoverable estate , by not knowing the time of their visitation , when they were most gently allured and earnestly called upon it being now too late to reverse the decree that was gone out against them ; i say , yet did our saviour weep for them , luke 19.41 . and weeping he most affectionately breatheth forth this most blessed wish and desire for them [ o that thou hadst known in this thy day , the things that belong to thy peace , &c. ] in which desire he is like unto god his father : see deut. 5.29 . chap. 32.29 . psal. 81.13 . isa. 48.18 . let all this be well weighed without prejudice , and see then if you you cannot understand our saviour as he speaks ; that is , that he came not to call the righteous ( that is , righteous indeed ) but sinners to repentance ( that is , sinners indeed ) his designe into the world being more to amend that which was amiss , to seek that that was lost , and heal that that was sick ; then to those that were already in a good way , and in a saveable condition , that had not need of a physitian , mat. 9.12 . mark . 2.17 . whoever do but mark upon what occasion our lord here speaketh these words , they may with ease understand that he means worse sinners then mr. hobsons gospel-sinners : for our saviour being at meat with publicans and sinners in levi's house , the scribes and pharisees complain of it ( thinking 'tis like , as mr. hobson doth , that he was sent onely to the precise and gospel-sinners ; which when our lord perceived , he said unto them , they that are whole have not need of the physitian , but they that are sick : i came not to call the righteous , but sinners to repentance . next you say , i mistake in putting one person for another , as in heb. 10.29 . where the text saith , of how much sorer punishment , suppose ye , shall he be thought worthy , who hath troden under foot the son of god , and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified , an unholy thing , &c. now you say , my mistake is ; that i take the word [ he ] for the party that treads the blood of christ under foot , whenas 't is meant , ( if all were true as you say ) of christ himself , that was sanctified . this fond ( and i think your own ) interpretation of this place is not onely against all the judicious learned , but against the scope of the apostle , which is both to aggravate the punishment and the sin of the person here spoken of who trampled under his foot the blood of christ ; which he aggravates by rehearsing the vertue of it , and what it had done for him ; to wit , sanctified him from his sins , which the party wickedly how slighted and rejected , though formerly had imbraced it , and been sanctified by it : and this right well agreeth with saint peter , 2 pet. 1.9 . & 2.20 , 21 , 22. i am still filled with amazement , that you should be so void of reason , as to interperet scripture after such a heedless manner , as to confront all wise and learned men , yea , and the truth also : do you think it would aggravate the sin of the sinner , to tell him that he hath trampled under his foot that blood which he had no benefit nor sanctification by , but that blood by which christ was sanctified ? or do you think that christ needed to be sanctified by his own blood himself ? i am well aware that sanctification is sometimes taken for setting apart ; but sanctification by christs blood ; is never so taken , but for cleansing : and therefore you cannot maintain that christ sanctified and cleansed himself by his blood , unless you hold that he did as the priests under the law , who offered first for themselves , and then for the people ; and then you must hold also that he ( as they ) had sin of his own , and then you will be found directly against gods word , heb. 7.27 . for he was without sin . fifthly , my fifth mistake ( you say ) is , that i am not converted , nor acquainted with the power of god in scripture : but what if it shall appear at the last day , that i am converted , and do know the power of god in the scriptures aright ? then mr. hobson will be mistaken : and so much ( until then ) for that mistake . my sixth mistake ( you say ) is my confining my judgment of gods essential will , to his revealed will in his word and actions ( for that 's your meaning in fewer words . ) but i do not see how you can make it appear to be a mistake , but a sound truth ; for if i must not judge that god is grieved and troubled , and angry , when he saith he is , how then shall i know and be assured he loves me , when he saith he doth ? if i must not believe his meaning to be according to his saying , how then shall i know that he means believers shall be saved , since he doth but say so ? and though his general declaration in his word be , that good and holy men shall be saved , and wicked damned , yet ( according to your fond conceits ) he means to save the wicked , and condemn the just . in the next place ( page 89 ) you come you say to answer briefly to my queries and absurdities ; and so i think you do briefly answer them indeed , and so brief , as that 't is next unto none , if not worse then none , for you refer me unto your false positions formerly laid down by you ; and therefore i will make no reply to you in this at all , as deserving none : my 14 queries and 10 absurdities standing yet in full force , i shall therefore here set them down again in the conclusion of this work , partly that the reader may judge how well you have quitted your self in your answer , and partly , because you have fraudulently recited them , presenting them to the reader in as ugly a dress as you could . there remains yet onely one thing more to be done , that is , to answer to your absurdities , which you say , will necessarily flow from my judgement . 1. absur. the first is : you say i deny the prerogative of god ▪ as if he had not power to do with his own as seemeth good to him . i answer , it is false , i deny him not any prerogative over his creature which he doth challenge , for he may do with us as the potter with the clay , i.e. advance some to places of honour in the house , and dash othersome in pieces , or make them vessels of dishonour ; but that is if they be marred in his hands , and will not make vessels of honour , not else : he were an unwise potter that would challenge that priviledge over his clay , for to dash it in pieces when 't is made as he would have it : see jer. 18. 2. absur. secondly you say , i do as much as give christ the lie because he saith , he had finished the work that the father gave him to do . i answer , in this you shew much ignorance , for men are not saved by christs death onely , but by faith therein , and obedience thereunto ; but this hath been more fully handled already by me , to which i refer you . 3. absur. thirdly you say , i do exceedingly undervalue god and the riches of his grace and love , &c. i answer , you mistake now one person for another , for this is to be meant of your self , that pinfold the grace of god into a narrow compass , whenas i extend it unto all the world , and all generations . 4. absur. fourthly you say , i lay injustice upon god , because i say he condemns some for whom christ died . i answer , it were injustice to condemn them , if christ did not die for them , for not believing on christ ; there is great reason to condemn them , if christ died for them , and yet they refuse him , and their own salvation notwithstanding . 5. absur. fifthly you say , i change the nature of causes , putting the effect before the cause . i answer , here again you mistake me for your self , for i have already proved 't is you put the effect before the cause . 6. absur. sixthly you say , i strike down the great design of god , &c. i answer , i maintain his design , i hope , in his saving of good : and godly men , and reprobating obstinate and wilfull sinners other election and reprobation i know none from the holy scriptures ; if you do , it may look grim upon you perhaps in the day of account . 7. absur. seventhly you say , my opinion destroyes it self , &c. i answer , see what confidence will do : poor man ! because you have not truth on your side , you are fain to make up your arguments with confidence and repetitions : how often have we had this , that christ hath satisfied for the sins of the elect ? when as he hath ( in your sence ) satisfied for no mans sins ; that is , so as that they are pardoned without any condition in them : see matth. 6.14 . you make a stir about the sin of unbelief , that christ hath satisfied for that . i deny not but that he hath satisfied for that as much as for any other , that is ( to speak plainly ) he hath done so much for all sins , and for all mens sins , that if they continue not in unbelief and hardness of heart , they may have remission of sins , one as freely as another : other satisfaction hath he made none , for any persons whatsoever , as hath been already proved . now dear friend , i beseech you , for christ jesus sake read my book without prejudice and be not wedded to your own opinion : for it is most certainly a rotten foundation , and will deceive you at last . i beseech you search the scriptures , and beg of god to give you light , that your poor soul may not be deceived , nor god so sadly dishonoured , or abused , by bringing him and his eminent acts of love , grace , power and justice , under the controwle of your low and novel opinions : for the prevention of which , it shall be the dayly prayer of him , who in sincerity can say , he is a real lover of your soul . william pedelsden . finis . forasmmuch as there be many persons that reading mr. hobsons book , and my short answer to it , may yet remaine unsatisfied , and be in doubt which of us is in the truth , in the points now in controversie ; i thought it expedient for the benefit of all ( as well as of mr. hobson ) to take some pains about the clearing up of the riches of gods love to all mankind , his desires to save them , that yet wilfully perish ; the way and manner of saving them , and how election and reprobation standeth , and on what they do depend , and how the most considerable objections against the truth hereof may be answered . in the prosecution whereof , i shall endeavour as much as i can , to use so convenient a method , and plainness , and brevity also , as may neither burthen your understandings , nor your memory . be it therefore presented unto you in this order . chap i. and first of the creation . the creation of the world was the first act of gods power , we know of ; beginning then to execute in time , his counsel and decrees that were from everlasting . the world is that whole frame of gods building , consisting both of heaven and earth , with all things thereunto appertaining ; according to the plat or model in the mind and purpose of god , who hath built all things , heb. 3.4 . in which he hath manifested the invisible things of his wisdom and goodness , to his own glory , rom. 1.20 . therein he made creatures of sundry natures , motions , and perfections , to sundry ends . above others , he made man , in more excellent perfections , to a more excellent end . for he created man in the image and form of god , as far as was meet for a creature to partake of the divine nature ; that was , to be good , but mutable . he may be said to be in the image of god in other three things , 1. understanding and will , 2. in holyness and righteousness , 3. in immortality and blessedness . these three were subalternate one to the other : understanding and will to righteousness , righteousness to blessedness ; blessedness to be the reward of righteousness , and righteousness to be the work of willingness ; for vertue is not necessitatis , sed voluntatis . chap. ii. of gods governing man . after man was thus created , gods next act according to his eternal counsel , was , to govern man thus created , as he might use his perfections , and attain his end . in this government , god as the supream lord was to command , and man as his creature and vassal was to obey : yet god being a free and gratious lord , and man not a brute , but a reasonable and free servant , it pleased his lord to descend and come into a covenant with him , as is used between party and party . the summe of this covanant was , do this ( viz. what i command you ) and you shall live ; if not , you shall die . the law natural , or moral , written in the heart of man , comprehended all the works that were to be done by him . the law positive , namely , that one of abstaining from the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden eden , was a tryal and experiment of his obedience , and the exercise of the duties of the law moral , in a particular : to man appertained the observing of these laws ; to god appertained the performance of the promise of life to man observing them , as being faithful in the covenant . chap. iii. of the fall of man , and its effects . adam being tempted by satan , i did transgress that one easie commandment , and so became guilty of all ; and loosing his righteousness , he forfeited his happyness by sin , the breach of gods commandment and covenant . this sin of his was voluntary , not necessary , ( though he sinned being tempted by another ) for he had strength enough given him of god , and more was ready to have been supplied unto him , if he had craved it : whereby he might have vanquished the tempter , and have stood firm in his obedience : but he willingly consented and yielded to the deceiver . this fall was not caused by god ( though foreknown ) but onely permitted , when god if he would could have hindred it . but god permitted it , first , because he would not impeach the freedom of will that he had given unto man . secondly , because he saw it would offer him a fair occasion to manifest his wisdom and goodness yet more graciously then he had done in the creation , which also he had forethought on , namely by his son jesus christ his suffering ; intending by the obedience of that one man to make many righteous , as by the disobedience of one man , many were made sinners . thirdly , because god knew it would offer unto man a just occasion ( if he were dealt withal again in a second covenant ) both to be more thankful , & more wary & careful & so many more likely to be saved by a second covenant , made with man fallen , then would have been by the first , if adam had stood : for natural perfections easily beget pride and confidence in our selves , which is the first degree of aversion from god , and the beginning of ruine ; but wants and weaknesses do humble us , and make us fly to god , and cleave more close to him . that the fall of man was known to god , before the decree of creation , i deny not ; for the creation it self doth declare no less , where there are infinite things prepared for mans use , onely as fallen ; as all medicinal herbs prepared for pysick : physick presumeth sickness , and sickness presumeth sin . the effects of this fall of man are twofold : within him , and without him . within him , that which is called original sin , comprehending both the loss of his original righteousness , and of his supernatural perfections , and also the decay of his very natural faculties , from whence floweth a continual lusting after that which is evil , and a repugnance to that which is good ; which loss is repaired again by the grace of god , in the gospel of jesus christ . the effects of the fall without man , are comprised under the curse of the ground , the subject of mans labour , comprehending all the miseries of this life ; and under the sentence of death comprehending both death , and all the miseries that belong unto it . i mean the first death . these effects of the fall of adam , took place not onely upon himself , but on all his posterity , because god held him as the whole nature of mankinde . chap. iv. of the covenant of grace the next act of gods eternal counsel , was the restauration of man fallen ; for the most wise and mighty god having created the world for man , and man for happyness in the fruition of himself , would not suffer either the whole destruction of his creatures or the frustrating of his end , though he pleased to permit the depraving of his creatures , and to forsake one ill succeeding way , to take a better for the attainment of his end . now what by the remaines of gods image left in man , and what by the supply that god would make by his gracious help , miserable man was reputed by god a fit person once again to be a party in a covenant , a covenant of new conditions suiting to the state of a sinner , but tending to the same ends , righteousness , and life . this covenant is called the covenant of grace : 1. first , because it was freely made with man , a sinner , utterly unworthy to have any more communion god . 2. because in this the righteousness and salvation of man , is wrought rather by god then by himself ; man being more in receiving then in giving , in believing then in doing ; yet hath it the nature of a true covenant , both parties having something for either to perform . god to send his son and his spirit to relieve the miseries and wants of man to forgive sins , to impute righteousness , and to give life to such as obey his son and his spirit . and man , to humble himself for his sins to god his creator , to believe in christ his redeemer , and to yield himself to be led by the word of god and spirit . but here are two things affirmed , which may seem to require proof . first , that the covenant of grace was made with all mankinde . secondly , that he supplieth by his spirit whatsoever is needful to the keeping of this covenant , on the behalf of man , who is confest impotent in himself through his former fall . these two shall by gods assistance be sufficiently proved afterward , when i come to speak of calling and free will . in the mean time , let this suffice : first , that we finde here in the day of the first publishing of the covenant , all mankinde in adam and eve , receiving the promise of the gospel at the same time that they received their penances , which we see to be universal to all their seed : it is therefore more then probable , that promises should be taken as universal , since the wise do say , ampliandi favores . secondly , that we finde left after the fall , remains of some part of the image of god ; as life , understanding of good and evil , liberty of will in natural and civil things , conscience accusing or excusing , &c. which though they were given at first by creation , and so belong to nature , yet the staying of them to remain in man after his fall , was of grace , both to make him capable to contract and covenant withal , and also to be some beginnings and principles in order to his restauration : but since these alone are not sufficient to make him able to rise again , or recover righteousness , it is decent to think of god who doth nothing imperfectly , and who in covenanting is no hard master , that he would supply by his spirit , whatsoever was needful more to the keeping of that new covenant : upon which dependeth the eternal woe , or the eternal happiness of the party covenanted with . chap. v. of calling by the word and spirit . calling is the revelation and proclamation of the riches of gods grace in the gospel to all sinners , commanding repentance towards god , and faith towards our lord jesus christ ( act. 20.21 . ) and promising of forgivenesse of sins and life everlasting to all that obey , act. 2.38 , 39. calling consisteth of two essential parts , both which are requisite to make up one whole and perfect work of calling i.e. the outward preaching of the word , and the inward operation of the spirit accompanying the word . there are many , and too many , that distinguish calling into two kindes , one outward of the word onely , another inward of the spirit joyned with the word : that they say is ineffectual , this effectual : that , common to the reprobate , this , special and peculiar to the elect ; that , never obeyed with truth of heart , this never disobeyed . this doctrine is to be examined before we give it a let-passe . for my part , i distinguish not two callings , but compound one calling of the word and spirit , as it were of a body and soul , supposing it to have in it self power to bring forth effect in all that are under it : and if it do not so , the cause not to arise from the calling , but from the called that obey not . 1. for declaring of this point , we are to consider , that the spirit doth not go with the word , to make the hearer perform that which he can do already by natural strength ( for the spirit is given to help where nature faileth ) as to keep waking , and to be attentive : for that which men can bring of their own strength , god expecteth to finde and to meet : one cause therefore why to many the spirit is not present to the word , is when they are not present to the word through their sottish carelesness . secondly , it must not be thought that the concurrence of the word and spirit , is as it were natural , necessary and inseparable , but voluntary and arbitrary in the will and good pleasure of god , to such as heartily pray for it , for themselves and others : hence the church of christ prayeth before sermons for the illuminations and power of the spirit to come with the word : another case then where the spirit is not co-working with the word many times , is when it was not duly and diligently asked . thirdly , there are men that are past grace , to whom the spirit is not present with the word , such as for their former neglect and contempt of the time of their visitation , when god did call them , are now given up to blindness and hardness , and have the light of the spirit , and the dew of grace , held back from that word which is preached in their hearing by accident . fourthly , it must not be thought that the spirit goes with the word , to work any grace in any person whatsoever , but according to the order of divine providence , who dispenseth his grace wisely , which is thus to be declared : we are to distinguish the word that calleth , the persons that are called , and the operation of the spirit by the word : the word is either the law or the gospel : the law hath two parts , and so also hath the gospel : a commandment and a promise . 2. the persons called by god in the gospel , are all manner of sinners , but convicted , terrified , wounded , full of compunction and self-condemnation , wrought in them by the spirit in the preaching of the law , matth. 11.28.3 . the operations of the spirit upon these men by the ministry of the gospel , are first , to open their eyes , to see the marvelous light of gods mercy to sinners : of the infinite love of christ in dying for sinners : of the powerful gifts and graces , and aids of the holy spirit to help and relieve the impotency and misery of sinners ; to the end , that by this light , this opinion may be begotten in them , that it is possible for them to be recovered . secondly , to pour into their hearts hope , or to stay them from desperate sinning or sorrowing . thirdly , to inspire the grace of prayer , at least to wish or desire , oh that they might be so happy as to escape the wrath to come , and recover the love and favour of god! fourthly , to give them repentance , that is , to sorrow for sin past with a godly sorrow , and to purpose to break off sin , and to cease from further offending god . fifthly , to work in them faith , that is , to run to christ , and to cast themselves into the arms of his goodness and power to be saved by him . these graces , in this order , the holy spirit is present and ready to work by the gospel , upon a sinner convicted , humbled , and prepared by the law . and look what portion of power the spirit had in the law upon an unregenerate man to humble him , the same hath it in the gospel upon the humbled , to work in him hope ; and him hoping , to win to wish and pray ; and to him praying , to give repentance ; to him repenting , to instill faith , and so to justifie him , being justified by faith . now think not that the spirit is present in the preaching of the law to an unregenerate man , to give him strength to new obedience presently , because it is present then to convince and condemn his wickedness . the spirit is not present in the preaching of the gospel , to a man yet not penitent , to work in him peace , joy , love , though it be present to work these in the believer : for if it should work these in him before faith , it should work contrary to the word . the summe of all is this , the spirit of god is annexed to his word for such gifts and operations , as to which the hearer is a fit disposed subject : there is an order in the divine working : wherein there are things antecedent , preparatives to things subsequent ; which antecedents if they found no place , and were not admitted , the subsequent are then suspended . hence is there so frequent and just separation of the spirit from the word by the great pastor of our souls , who walketh in the midst of the churches . thus much for the declaration of this point : for confirmation of it , i alledge all the elogia of the word of god , as psal. 19. the law of the lord is perfect , converting the soul , &c. heb. 4.12 . the word of god is quick and powerful , joh. 17.17 . sanctifie them by thy truth : thy word is the truth , &c. but that calling is the same , to them that obey not , as to them that obey , i shall urge these two places more , mat. 22.14 . [ many are called , but few are chosen ] here many are distributed into two sorts ; some that are called and not chosen , some that are called and also chosen : for these few chosen are a part of those many [ called ] so that the whole many are put under one and the same calling , which calling is not by the outward word alone , for from that calling arise none chosen , therefore the calling was by the word and spirit common to both : and the few chosen excelled not in calling , but in something else to wit , in obeying the calling , to come when others refused , or in coming worthily in a wedding garment , according to the parable . the other place is , matth. 12.41 . [ the men of nineveh shall rise up in judgement with this generation , and shall condemn it , &c. ] from whence i reason thus if jonas preacht to the ninivites without the spirit , how did they repent ? if jesus preacht without the same spirit , how is he greater then jonas ? nay how is he equal in the power of preaching ? and if they that disobey be not equally called with them that obey , how can these rise up in judgment against them ? when their answer is ready , we had not the same calling with you ; ours differed tote genere ; you were partakers of an heavenly calling , we but of an earthly ; you were called by the voice of god speaking to your hearts , we but by the bare voyce of men speaking to the ear : if god had moved and excited us , as much as he did you , we would have done as well as you . but god will not give occasion for them thus to speak , for he will so effectually provide for all them that perish , that they shall have no excuse , rom. 1.20 . & 2.1 . therefore i conclude that the distinction of outward and inward , of effectual and ineffectual calling are vain , for these reasons also . first , because it giveth unworthily the name of calling to the bare outward preaching of the word , which may be a commanding , but not a [ calling ] a commanding as of the law , but not a calling as of the gospel ; seeing that the word of the new covenant comes to call men to repentance and faith , for their recovery , after notice taken of their impotency to rise again of themselves . it seems an insulting mock , and not a call , to say to sinners , turne , repent , believe and live , unless there be some grace prepared for them , whereby they may be able to repent and believe . secondly , because it attributeth the effect of obeying the calling to the kinde of calling it self ; as onely to one cause , to wit , the operation of the spirit , as if many causes did not concur to produce one effect , and as if obedience to the calling of god were not an act of the will of man , under the ayd of the spirit of god ; as if the aid of the spirit were never refused , nor the grace of god never received in vain . for though god be almighty , and able to draw all second causes unto his part and side , yet he doth not use to disturbe or cross the nature of causes , nor the order of things , which himself hath established . thirdly , because this distinction makes gods covenant to differ from all covenants in humane affaires ; i mean , even that which is essential to a covenant : for in a covenant each party hath something to perform ; but by this distinction , god is supposed both to provide infallibly to have the conditions fulfilled , and also to fulfil his own promises : whereas all that he undertakes for us , is to make the conditions possible , and not to be wanting in his help , so far as is needful for us . chap. vi . concerning the question of two equally called . vvhen two persons are equally called , and one converteth , and the other no : ( these both being supposed possible ) who is it that puts the difference , god or man ? i answer , that 't is man that puts the difference , and not god . i ground this answer , first , upon the righteous judgement of god , because god judgeth not his own acts , but the acts of men : secondly , because every righteous judge findes a difference , and doth not make any between party and party . who put the difference between the sacrifices of cain and abel but themselves ? both alike instituted in religion by their father ; god a true witness , testified of abels gift , as better then cains . heb. 11.4 . who put the difference between pharaoh and nebuchadnezzar ? as to their nature both were men , as to their dignity both were kings ; as to their cause , both held the people of god in captivity ; as to their punishment , both were mildly admonished by chastisements : what then occasioned their different ends ? nothing else , but that one of them sensible of gods hand , groaned under the memory of his own iniquity ; the other by his own free will fought against the most merciful verity of god . suppose two persons be equally tempted by the beauty of one-fair body , whereof one yields to the temptation , the other perseveres what he was before ; what else appears in these , but that onely , that one would , and the other would not loose his chastity . the difference between the ninevites repenting at the preaching of jonas , and of the jews not repenting at the preaching of a greater then jonas , if god put it , how shall they rise up in judgement and condemn these ? but that which makes it so horrible to pious ears , to say a man makes himself to differ from another , is the misunderstanding of that place 1 cor. 1.7 . who made thee to differ ? as also they say , that many absurdities will follow upon this assertion . let us first examine this notable place of saint paul , and next those absurdities so much urged . 1. we are here to note , that the apostle speaketh here of eloquence , knowledge , tongues , and the like gifts ; not of faith , charity , repentance , conversion , and the like ; we must not think , that because in immediate gifts man doth not put a difference , that therefore he in nothing makes himself to differ . i will demonstrate this by a reason , why this text cannot be applyed to gifts necessary to salvation . because in them god wills not that difference that is between believers and unbelievers , under the word of faith ; but would have all believe and obey the gospel : this difference offendeth and displeaseth god , and it proceedeth as much from the disobedience of him that believeth nor , as from the obedience of him that believeth . but of that part of the difference which is by disobeying , god i trow is not the author : for it is sin and shame to him that wanteth faith , after the meane of faith afforded him , but no blame to him that speaketh not with tongues , or prophesieth not ; these were given suddenly and immediately , without labour or means , but faith and the rest needful to salvation , had meanes by which god gave them : about which means men might use different diligence . being secure of this place of saint paul , i come to the absurdities which some say will follow , if man make himself to differ : they are these , 1. that the saints have no more to thank god for then the wicked . 2. that one man may glory against another , for that he hath done something more then another did . to the first i answer , for matter of thankfulness , that as grace is not therefore grace , because it is given to one and denyed to another , but because it is given to the unworthy ( for grace were not the less but the greater , if it were given unto all ) so my thanks are not therefore given to god because he hath been merciful unto me more then to others , but because he hath been merciful unto me unworthy ; and my thanks are not diminished because many more are partakers with me in the same benefits , but greater , and should have been yet greater , had more still been partakers than are . this is a good rule for thankfulness : but take heed of pharisees forme of thanks for graces , with comparison to other folks , " lord i thank thee , i am not like other men , or as this publican , &c. indeed as some put the case of mankind like a company of rebels , out of which the king chuseth whom he pleaseth to pardon , and executes the rest with the sword . those pardoned owe thankes for their pardon , more thanks for culling them out , that were like to the rest in rebellion . but the scripture puts not the case of mankinde so ; but rather thus : god by the gospel as a king , mercifully proclaims a general pardon to all the rebels in such a county , upon condition that he that comes in and yields his sword , and takes at the kings pavilion a ticket of his pardon , shall be free to go home and injoy the state of a good subject ; but they that stand out and refuse this grace , be after such a day , pursued with fire and sword . they that submit , magnifie the amplitude of the kings mercy , sorrow for such as stand out , and justifie his execution done upon stubborn and ungrateful rebels . mr. hobson ( and others ) think to win greater thanks to god , by amplifying his grace upon one consideration of sparing some simply , but with prejudice to his truth proclaimed to all . i think to win greater thanks to god by amplifying his grace upon another consideration of sparing all upon favourable conditions according to the gospel , the most wise comprehension of the grace , mercy , justice , and truth of the almighty . to the second absurditie i answer , for matter of glorying let this rule stand firm , qui glorietur , in domino glorietur , let him that glorieth glory in the lord , or let him not glory at all . remember again that the gifts of god are either immediate proceeding from himself alone , as prophecy , tongues , &c. or mediate , such as proceed from gods grace , and mans will together ; of the immediate there is no glorying , i have already proved . but for gifts mediate , as faith , repentance , and obedience , in any particular duty , they must be considered as dona dei , and as debita à nobis , as the gifts of god , and as our duties ; as the gifts of god wrought in us by his grace , preventing helping and strengthning us , there is no glorying of them neither but in the lord : so st. paul glorieth , 1 cor. 15.10 . plus omnibus laboravi , i have laboured more then they all ; yet not i , but the grace of god with me , which grace was not in vain , phil. 4.13 . i have the art both to abound and to want &c. i am able to do all things , through christ that strengthens me : here glorying is excluded also , because i do not do , without being helped by grace : though i preach the gospel ( saith paul ) i have nothing to glory of : for necessity is laid upon me , and words me of i preach not the gospel : so wo is me if i believe not the gospel ( may the hearer say ) what matter of boasting is it , for a man to have kept himself from some detestable crime , whereinto another rusheth himself to hell ? yet i pray do not exclude all kinde of glorying , not that which saint paul names in 2 cor. 1.12 . the testimony of a good conscience , is some comfort and joy ; he that wanteth that , hath an evil conscience : let innocency wash her hands without a check of vain glory , let samuel call witness of his integrity , and nehemiah record his own good deeds , neh. 5.15 . the former governors before me had been chargeable to the people ; even their servants bare rule over them , but so did not i , because of the fear of the lord . i answer yet further , whatsoever have been our endeavours and labours more then others , who is so voyd of piety and understanding , that doth not ascribe his good success unto god the fountain of all good , and the universal and principal cause of all happy events ? the form of the saints rejoycing therefore is thus conceived : — not unto us o lord , not unto us but to thy name be the glory , this [ not unto us ] implies that something hath been done by us , and that mans corrupt heart is too ready to claim some glory to it self for it : but true wisdom and piety soon removeth it , and saith , not unto us o lord , but unto thy name be glory . neither truly should these poor things of the will of man whether endeavour or labour , yielding or obeying have been once named , the same day that gods grace and works are named , had there not been a necessity compelling thereunto . they have compelled me , who under a colour of magnifying the grace of god , and of justly reproving those that have been adulatores naturae , are turned themselves adulatores gratiae . so far forth , that by them satan seeketh to subvert the truth and righteousness of god , and to extinguish and destroy all piety and religion in men , bringing into the world a stupid sloth for some , a remorsless infidelity and impenitency for others ; and an invincible desperation and hardness for othersome , being the natural off-spring of that doctrine , that takes away all manner of will from men in matters of salvation , that turns the general promises of the gospel into particular and private , that limits an especial kinde of grace , which is onely effectual to a few secret ones by a direct decree , the rest being left destitute of true grace , though they be called by the word of the gospel . chap. vii . of free will . concerning free will , i thought good to speak a few words , and no more then i have great antiquity for , besides the word of god . the commands and threatnings of almighty god in scripture , whereby man is called upon and put in mind what god will have him do , most evidently doth declare that man hath free will , still after the fall , as appears in such places as these , be not overcome of evil , rom. 12. neglect not the grace that is in thee , 1 tim. 4. love not the world , 1 joh. 2. if thou wilt enter into life , keep the commandments , matth. 19. which undoubtedly should be said in vain , if there were no facultie or power left in man whereby he may ( by the help of grace ( if he will receive it when 't is offered him ) understand and obey gods commandments . this free will we may conveniently describe thus , to be a certain power of the will , joyned with reason , whereby a reasonable creature without constraint discerneth and willeth good and evil : but it willeth not acceptable good , except it be holpen by grace ; but that which is evil it willeth of it self . chap. iii. concerning falling from grace . that a man who is really and truly in the state of grace and salvation may fall , i will prove first by these two texts , matth. 24.13 . and ezek. 18.22 . the first hath the promise of salvation to him that continueth to the end : out of which i collect two things . first , that he to whom salvation is promised if he continue , is in the right in which he should continue , and is so ripe and fit for salvation , that if he but continue such , he shall be saved . 2. that he who is thus excited to continue , is presupposed possible to fall away , deny the saith , and imbrace this present world : the answer that some rest in is to no purpose , i.e. that means must be used in regard of our weakness ; but in regard of gods election , and christs intercession we cannot but stand ; for if two pillars be strong enough to bear up such a house as sampson was in with the philistines , what need other supporter besides ? the second text , is that of ezek. 18.21 , 26 , 27. which by no evasion can be avoided , if the comparison there between a righteous man and a wicked be well observed : for deny you in any wise that a righteous man can turne from his righteousness and die , and i will with the like reason deny that a wicked man may turne from his wickedness and live ; and so we shall solvere scripturas , make void the holy word of god : if a supposition putteth nothing in the one , it putteth nothing in the other ; if it be ever seen that a wicked man turns from his wickedness and lives , then it may as well be seen that a righteous man turns from his righteousness and dies . let me adde this one argument more , that the regenerate fallen into mortal sin is not then filius dei . it is taken out of 1 joh. 3.9 . he that is born of god , doth not commit sin , for his seed remains within him , and he cannot sin , because he is born of god . i shall here do two things at once , overthrow the strongest arguments of my opponents , and i shall retort the text unavoydably upon themselves , that is , by giving the true sence of that place . the scope of saint john is not to prove that they that are born of god , cannot depart or change , from righteousness to sin , or that there cannot be a succession of these two ; for this in the apostles time was out of question : but his scope is to prove that these two cannot consist or stand together , ( which the will of the flesh would fain have ) to be born of god , and to commit ( deadly ) sin . they did admit for true , that he that had been the member of an harlot , might by repentance become the member of christ ; and that the member of christ might become the member of an harlot , by falling into adultery : but that a man might be at once a member of an harlot , and a member of christ , that they denyed , these expelling one the other . if we have entertained christ in the inne of our hearts , we put the devil to flight presently : if we sin , and by the gate of sin give entrance to the devil , forthwith christ departs ; let them consider this , who defend david to be still born of god , when he stood guilty of adultery and murther ; but they count it ridiculous to say we be so often born of god , as we repent of sin : it is more lamentable to fall oft into such sins , then ridiculous to be often renewed by repentance ; because in our natural birth we are born but once , therefore they will have it that in our spiritual we are born but once : there is no necessity in this consequence : it should seem then that saint paul was not aware of this argument , when he said , gal. 4.19 . my little children , of whom i travel in birth again , untill christ be formed in you . this text of saint john , may be understood with much ease , if we do but consider the acceptation of the word [ cannot ] there , he that is born of god [ cannot ] sin , rendring this reason , because he is born of god ; that is , he cannot lawfully , because in his new birth he had so solemnly engaged himself to jesus christ in baptisme , that if he should now return to sin , he would be perjured and forsworn . like this is that of saint paul , rom. 6.2 , 3. how shall we that are dead to sin , ( that is , by baptisme ) live any longer therein ? not , how shall we [ possibly ] for 't was possible , for he exhorts them verse 12. not to let sin reign in their mortal bodies . but how shall we [ lawfully ] since that you have covenanted against it , giving your selves up in baptisme to be dead to sin , and to rise out from thence unto newness of life ? you should do well to read this chapter seriously , as to this point . it is ordinary in our common locution , if we see a man doing that which is both unlawful , and which he hath vowed against , to say to him , it is more then you can do , meaning , with a good conscience . like this saint paul hath a saying , in 2 cor. 13.8 . we can do nothing against the truth , but for the truth . but for further satisfaction to my ingenuous reader , i refer him to that famous and worthy work of mr. john goodwin of london , intituled redemption redeemed , in which not onely these scriptures , but also all others that are usually brought against the points now in controversie , are most amply handled , and the truth evinced beyond all exception . chap. ix . concerning foreknowledge in god . there be many that by fore-knowledge will needs understand approbation and love , rather then knowledge properly taken : but that cannot be , because then the apostle paul and peters difference between fore-knowledge , and to predestinate , to fore-know , and to elect , would be quite taken away . but if any should contend to have it so notwithstanding , i will fetch a poor almanack , to wipe away this gloss by the common use of the word prognostication . therefore though god approveth not , yet he fore-sees all things , or rather sees them as present to him . which fore-knowledge , or knowledge , doth not lay a necessity upon the things so to be : for the very nature of knowledge doth not imply a necessity that the thing must , but a certainty that it will be : as for example : when i see a man walk , and at the same time see the sun shine , i see the first as voluntary , and the second as natural : and though at the instant that i see both done , there is a necessity that they be done , ( or else i could not see them when i do ) yet before they were done , there was a necessity but of onely one ( i.e. the sun shining ) but none at all of the other ( i. e. of the mans walking ) the sun could not but shine , being a natural agent ; the man might not have walked , being a voluntary one : upon which it followes , there is a twofold necessity , one absolute , the other on supposition : the absolute is that by which a thing moves when 't is forced , the suppositive is that by which a man shall be damned , if he die impenitent : the latter of these ( though not the first ) doth mighty well consist with the liberty of mans will , and gods conditional decrees . i am now writing , and god foresaw that i am writing ; yet it followes not that i must needs write , for i can chuse . what god fore-sees will be , will certainly come to passe ; but it will come to pass so as he foresaw it , that is , i will do it of choise . if all things are present to god ( as indeed they are ) his foresight must needs be all one with our sight . as therefore when i see a man dance as he pleases , it is necessary that he doth what i see he doth : but yet my looking on doth not make it necessary ; for , that a thing may be certain in respect of its event , and yet not necessary in respect of its cause , is no news at all to a considering person , who will but duly distinguish gods omniscience from his omnipotence . they that make the fore-knowledge of god to be the cause of all future events , must needs father all the wickedness in the world upon him , for he fore-knowes the evil as well as the good , he fore-knew that adam would fall , that the jews would crucifie christ , that judas would betray him , with all other wickedness in other men : but his fore-knowledge did not cause them to do it , for they were voluntary agents , or else could not be said wickedly to have done what they did do . queries on the universal love of god to all mankinde . 1. if christ died not for all , what ground hath any man to believe he dyed for him ? 2. how can god be said to be just , in case he condemns those persons for whom christ never died ? 3. how can remission of sins be preached to those for whom christ never died ? 4. whether do men perish because christ died not , or because they believed not ? if because christ died not , it is not their unbelief which destroyes them : but they perish because christ never died for them , or because there is no christ for them to believe in . 5. if christ did not die for all , wherefore do they exhort all to repentance , and call upon all men to believe ? or would you make some men believe and so be saved , which christ never died for ? 6. whether hath not christ given out a power or ability to all men , to believe on him ? 7. whether the fault be in christ or in the creature , that the creature is not saved ? if the fault be not in christ that the creature is not saved , then , whether hath not christ given out a power or ability to believe ? 8. whether unbelief be the condemning sin ? if unbelief be the condemning sin , and sinners be condemned for not believing which never had a power to believe , where then is the fault ? 9. whether god hath not appointed all to be saved , with this proviso or condition , if they believe ? 10. whether was not adam in a state of grace before his fall ? which if so , whether did not adam fall from grace , and we in him ? 11. what is the state of infants by generation from adam ? whether are they in a state of salvation , or in a state of damnation ? 12. if infants are in a state of salvation , whether do they fall from that state when they come to act ? 13. if the elect can never fall from their election by disobeying the scripture , no more then the reprobate can be saved by obeying them , to what purpose is the scripture set forth ? 14. whose names they are that are written in the book of life , whether be they the elect's or the reprobate's ? if the elect's , whether they shall not be blotted out , if they adde or diminish from the word of god ? these absurdities will unavoydably fall on those which deny christs death for all . 1. if christ died but for some of the sons of men , then the divel destroyes not those men for whom christ died not , but they perish for want of christ , and should so perish if there were no devil to devour them : contrary to this scripture , 1 pet. 1.8 . 2. if christ died not for all men , then despaire is no sin in them who perish through it , seeing there is nothing for them to believe in unto salvation for whom christ died not . 3. if christ died not for all men , then i think it were a sin for some men to believe he died for them , because they should believe a lie , if they should believe that christ dyed for them ; seeing he did not , if they speak true which say he died not for all . 4. if there were some persons for whom christ died not , such persons should be exempted or freed from the condemnation of unbelief , or treading underfoot the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified , if it were true that christ had not once died for them : for how can that man crucifie christ afresh , or tread underfoot the blood by which he was sanctified , for whom no christ died , or no blood was shed , if they say true that say , christ died not for all ? 5. if christ died not for all , satan in perswading people that christ died not for them , doth not evil , if that be true that christ died not for them , and therein he were no deceiver , but rather perswades them to that which is truth , if christ died not for all , as they say . 6. if christ died not for all men , then it were no heresie for to teach some men to deny that christ bought them , contrary to that scripture 2 pet. 2.1 . who said , some men bring in damnable heresies , even denying the lord that bought them bringing on themselves swift destruction : but it is impossible for him who christ died not for , to deny the lord that bought him , or to be a heretick in so doing , if christ bought him not . 7. if there be some whom christ died not for , it is an error for them to believe that christ died for them , which say they he died not for . 8. if christ died not for all men , then some men for whom christ died not do believe a truth , in believing that christ died not for them , which were a blasphemy to say . 9. if christ died not for all men , then some men shall be damned in hell for not believing that which is not truth , because some men shall be damned in hell for not believing that christ dyed for them : yet some say that it is not truth that christ died for them , and so shall be damned in hell for not believing a lie . 10. if christ died not for all men , then their damnation is not to be ascribed to their not believing , but to christ not dying for them : which is contrary to these scriptures , joh. 3.18 , 36. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a53932e-440 * men-slayers . * fore-sight of faith . a wakening call, or, an alarm from heaven to the wise and foolish virgins wherein the vices of this age is laid open and bewail'd, the sublety of satan discover'd in his temptations in several particulars ... : likewise there is discovered the nature of regeneration or the new birth, in several particulars ... / from a minister in the country to a minister in the city for the publication. sikes, george. 1698 approx. 227 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 105 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a66477 wing w279a estc r26303 09418405 ocm 09418405 43038 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66477) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 43038) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1319:10) a wakening call, or, an alarm from heaven to the wise and foolish virgins wherein the vices of this age is laid open and bewail'd, the sublety of satan discover'd in his temptations in several particulars ... : likewise there is discovered the nature of regeneration or the new birth, in several particulars ... / from a minister in the country to a minister in the city for the publication. sikes, george. 207, [1] p. printed for the author and sold by will. marshall, london : 1698. attributed to george sikes--nuc pre-l956 imprints. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released 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and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal. devil. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2001-09 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2001-09 tcp staff (michigan) text and markup reviewed and edited 2001-11 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a wakening call : or , an alarm from heaven to the wise and foolish virgins . wherein the vices of this age is laid open , and bewail'd ; the subtilty of satan discover'd in his temptations , in several particulars . i. as to original sin. ii. as to the love of the world. iii. as to the danger of ignorance . iv. as to the evil of pride , &c. likewise , there is discovered the nature of regeneration , or the new birth , in several particulars . i. the nature of union to christ. ii. the nature of true faith iii. the nature of true repentance . iv. christian carriage commended . v. the glory of the new-ierusalem open'd . from a minister in the country , to a minister in the city , for the publication . a verse may find him who a sermon flys , and turn delight into a sacrifice . herbert's temple , p. 1. london : printed for the author , and sold by will. marshall , at the bible in newgate-street ; and iohn marshall , at the bible in grace-church-street ; mdcxcviii . chap. i. concerning the purely divine nature , and things thereof . 1. god in his divine nature was infinitely blessed in the sight and enjoyment of himself from all eternity , above and beyond all possibility of addition or diminution to his blessedness , by any thing , meer creatures , angels or men , good or bad , can ever be , think , say or do , to all eternity ; yea , even creature-nature , in the mediator's wonderful compounded person , set up by the immediate divine hand ( though by unchangeable personal union with the divine nature , all one incomprehensible god ) adds not to the infinite blessedness of the divine nature ; but was set up from the beginning , and possess'd by the lord in the beginning of his way , towards the creation of angels and men , prov. 8. 22 , 23. this was the beginning of the creation of god , revel . 3. 14. divine nature had no beginning . the whole creature-part in christ's person , root and exalted branch , adds not to the glory of the divine nature , but was set up in reference to the twofold creation of angels and men , natural and spiritual , and as the means to let down the visions of the divine glory at second-hand , with safety to the spiritual sight , understanding and enjoyment of blessed angels and men in their new-created capacities . 2. in the divine nature , the divine essence and form are the infinite divine father and son. the divine form , image or glory of the divine essence , is the son thereof , by eternal and ineffable generation ; very god of very god , in the most absolute sense ; co-equal and co-eternal with the father ; both are one infinite , incomprehensible , divine being . but the divine essence is not the form ; nor form the essence . the three distinct invisible powers in the divine essence or father , did from all eternity shine forth in the divine form or son , to god's own infinite understanding , enjoyment and delight . the same three are , therein , the immediate object of sight and enjoyment , to the whole creature-part of the mediator , root and exalted branch , as in unchangeable personal union with the divine glory or form in him ; but are never so to any meer creatures , blessed angels or saints , to all eternity , in heaven . they can never so approach unto , or see and enjoy the divine light or glory , immediately , as he does , 1 tim. 6. 15 , 16. mat. 11. 27. iohn 1. 18. in , with , and through his heavenly creature-spirit , as born of that which in him is god , ( iohn 1. 1. ) and therein partakers of the divine nature , ( 2 pet. 1. 4. ) can and will they see and enjoy the divine glory , mediately , as let down to them by the exalted creature-son and branch , being members of that spiritual body , his true gospel church , to which he , therein , is head , col. 1. 18. for this purpose it pleas'd the father or divine essence , that even in the lowest creature-part of the mediator , the exalted son and branch , all fulness should dwell , all the divine and creature-fulnesses and perfections of his divine form and creature-root . the divine essence , singly and abstractedly consider'd , in and by it self , is absolutely invisible for ever ; nor will the divine form , glory , image , or visibility thereof , and of the three that are one , therein , ever be the immediate object of sight and enjoyment to any meer creatures , blessed angels or saints , to all eternity ; but only to the whole creature-nature in christ's person , root and exalted branch . never will any meer creatures be found in personal union with the divine nature , as creature-nature in christ is . they will never have divine nature , an ingredient into their personal constitution ; or as the supream principle of life and operation in them , as some in our days have most presumptuously and unwarrantably affirm'd : for then would there be an innumerable multitude of christs and gods , the greater sort of polytheism . the divine form or son , is the eternity , the supream heaven of heavens , the high and lofty divine essence , or father inhabited from all eternity , in distinction from the creature-form , glory or image thereof ; the high and holy place , or heavenly creature-temple , of immediate divine building ( prov. 9. 1. ) in personal union with the divine inhabitant , isa. 57. 15. this heavenly creature-spirit , house and temple , with the life and things of god therein , was prepar'd by and within himself , to be communicated in the distinct appointed portions thereof , to them that love him ( 1 cor. 2. 9. ) because he first , even from eternity , lov'd them , 1 john 4. 19. these spiritual , heavenly creature-things of god , communicable to men and angels , by a new or second creation , are quite out of the reach or sight of the highest single natural understanding of man , at best , in the but restor'd first-covenant-law-life of the creature , given in the first creation . no intellectual eye , ear or heart , therein , can see , hear , perceive , conceive , receive , own , or know what to make of them ; isa. 64.4 . hence does man account them , and all right words about them , foolishness , 1 cor. 2. 9 , 14. here 's the case of man at best , in but the living soul of the first adam : in the life of the quickning spirit of the second adam , and the new , spiritual , infallible , all-discerning understanding , therein , do saints see and know all things , divine , and both spiritual and natural creature-things , ( in their proper differences , distinctions , subordinations and superiorities ) even the deep things of god , 1 cor. 2. 10. and as they have an infallible understanding to know all things ; they have also therein , an incorruptible will , in unchangeable harmony with the infinite divine will , for the doing all things after god's own heart . in his heavenly creature spirit , can any rightly worship his divine spirit , john 4. 23. in it only can any rightly perform all duties to god , and to their fellow-creatures . all these things lie hid from ( and are unpracticable by ) man , as out of the reach of his own understanding , and desiring or performing power of his own will. so will he not regard , look , or seek after god , for the life and things hid with christ in god , rom. 3. 11. col. 3. 3. paul , with others that come to be true saints , till the spiritual seed of true life be waken'd up in them , are wholly ignorant of any such heavenly creature-gospel-life and things of god , however eminent in restor'd law-life , wisdom and righteousness of man , phil. 3.6 . hence they verily think they do god service , in persecuting gospel-saints , as the arrantest hereticks and blasphemers in the world , act. 26. 9 , 11. iohn 16. 2. the reform'd natural man , at best , understands not the transform'd , truly regenerate spiritual man's understanding , nor any of the divine or spiritual things , he thereby understands and speaks of . he cannot know them ; for they can only be spiritually discern'd , and he has no spiritual discerning , 1 cor. 2. 14. if therefore he finally lean and trust to his own vnderstanding , at highest , for directing his steps , contrary to god's counsel , ( prov. 3. 5 , 6. ier. 10. 23. ) he is gone for ever , he never sets one foot in the paths of life . a man of deepest reason , most soaring , searching , natural capacity , vastest display of his rational and intellectual powers , with all imbelishments of art or acquir'd accomplishments , may be paul's most unreasonable man to be dealt with , or discours'd , in gospel-matters , which he therefore desir'd his thessalonian converts to pray for his deliverance from , 2 thess. 3. 1 , 2. what 's here said in this first chapter , may give some aim towards right thoughts of god's divine nature and things , which are to be acknowledg'd above and beyond all conception or language , by the understanding or tongue of natural man or angel ; yea , will be master of wonder to blessed angels and saints to all eternity , in their spiritual new-creation-capacities . chap. ii. the twofold purposes or counsels of god within himself from eternity , with reference to the twofold creation of angels and men. 1. god , in the free purposes and counsels of his own divine mind , did , from eternity , when he pleas'd , determine to create angels and men , and to give them immortal spirits , by a first creation ; but , to put into them a corruptible seed ( 1 pet. 1. 23. ) of a mortal , earthly , though pure and spotless , first-covenant law-life , in which to be but mystical trees of good and evil. he declares , he will break down this first building , and pluck up this tree ( though of his own planting ) by the roots , ier. 45.4 . this changeable good life and things , given them in their first creation , could not answer the needs and wants of their immortal spirits , nor enable them to answer the whole counsel , will , and command of god , in an everlasting well-pleasing active obedience to him . 2. he did , therefore , in his free-grace-purposes ( another sort of counsels within himself ) determine , from the same eternity , by his own immmediate divine power , to form , produce and set up a heavenly creature-spirit of originally immortal holiness , everlasting righteousness , infallible truth , and eternal life , and to take it into personal union with his divine nature , in the mediator . he determin'd also to find a way in his infinite wisdom , to render this life communicable to angels and men , by a second or new creation of them , as the only principle of desire , thought and action , in which , ever possible to please him , so as to find eternal blessedness to themselves , in the sight and enjoyment of him . all conducible to this , was prepar'd to be given them by a second or new creation , in a new-covenant life , the life of the creator , above all deaths , dangers , enemies , bondages , or fears . the life given them in their first creation , god calls their own , with all the things thereof , their own wisdom , righteousness , all natural excellencies and perfections : all is but a life , a wisdom , a glory to be done away for ever , with all works or fruits , possible to be done or brought forth by them , therein . the new and everlasting covenant-life ( given by a second creation of them ) god's own heavenly creature-life ( with all the things thereof , the wisdom and righteousness of god therein ) is a life , a glory , that unspeakably excels the former , and will remain for ever , 2 cor. 3. 10 , 11. by god's new building them , and putting his incorruptible life into them , they become particular trees of life , under and with christ , working all their works in god , and bringing forth right fruits to him , iohn 3. 21. rom. 7. 4. their own life and wisdom , &c. was given them for trial of their obedience to the declar'd method of god's wisdom for receiving his . all that finally refuse , in passive obedience , to submit to the death of their own , in order to find all again , with unspeakable gain , in his own , prefer the life of the creature to the life of the creator , and will perish for ever , rom. 1.25 . all life and things , given angels and men , in their first creation , are character'd in scripture by grass , flesh , a fading flower ( isa. 40. 6-8 . 1 pet. 1. 23 , 24. ) call'd a vain shew , altogether vanity , a vanishing , transient shadow of the heavenly creature-life and things of god , offer'd by a second . in this , 't is as impossible , ever to sin against or displease god , as 't is in our own earthly life , to please or find everlasting peace with him . if the first-covenant-life , given in the first creation , had been faultless , or not defective , as to the pleasing god , or finding true blessedness to our selves , no place had been sought for a second , heb. 8. 7. chap. iii. the preparatory condescensions of god , towards accomplishing the said two-fold purposes or counsels , with reference to the twofold creation of angels and men. 1. the first of the three distinct powers in the divine nature , call'd father , did by the peculiar operation thereof , in the one divine mind of all three , produce , beget , form and set up a creature-spirit of originally immortal holiness , everlasting righteousness , infallible truth , and eternal life . this , in the creature-part of christ's wonderful compounded person , is call'd by the name of its peculiar divine producer , father . this was the first step of god's preparatory condescension towards the creation of angels and men ; the beginning of the creation of god ( revel . 3. 14. ) that will have no ending . this is the supream root of all creature-being and life , in both creations or worlds ( heb. 1. 2. ) natural and spiritual , by a first and second creation of angels and mer , and also of the creature-son and branch in the very mediator's person . this originally unchangeable creature-spirit , in personal union with the divine nature , was situated too high , above the capacity of being the immediate hand of god , either for the first creation of angels and men , or the giving them eternal life by a second , so as to answer and fulfil the twofold counsels of god concerning them . 2. the second therefore of the divine three in one , call'd the word , did , in the one divine mind of the three , cause the said creature-root to bring forth a creature-son and branch , in the fountain-purity of all earthly mortal first covenant law-life , determin'd of god to be set up in angels and men , by a first creation of them . this creature-son and branch is call'd by the name of its peculiar divine causer , in the creature-part of the mediator's person , the word . this word , as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world , ( revel . 13. 8. ) and exalted by and out of that death , into the originally unchangeable life of his creature-root and father , became the living word of god , and immediate creator of all angels and men , by a first creation , and of an innumerable multitude of both by a second . he will also be the immediate performer of the whole divine will , on all angels and men , good and bad , in the final love or wrath of god , in heaven or hell , to all eternity . 3. in order to all this , did the third of the divine three , call'd holy ghost , cause the said creature-root and father , as the supream mystical abraham , to perform a sacrificing death-work on his creature-son ; and caus'd the said creature-son , as the supream mystical isaac , not only to submit thereto , in a compleat passive obedience to the divine will ; but ( in the supreamly partaken of heavenly creature-life of his root , and love thereto ) to join therewith , in active obedience to the divine will , for carrying on the said death-work on himself . the like did he , in our mortal nature , when in the fulness of god's appointed time , taken by him , in the fountain-purity thereof , above and beyond what it was in the first adam , before his fall. he was , therein , also full of grace and truth , john 1. 14. full of the holy ghost , luke 4.1 . he was son of man in heaven ( in full possession of the eternal life of his creature-root , without any mortal life about him ) at same time , that he was son of man on earth in our mortal nature ( iohn 3. 13. ) and long before . all in christ's person , below his infinite divinity and creature-root , is call'd man. his whole creature-nature , root and branch , in personal union , is the heavenly creature-spirit or holy ghost , render'd communicable to angels and men , by the exalted creature-son and branch . this creature-son was one of the three men that did eat of abram's meat , else would not have own'd his worshipping him , in prayer , for sodom , when the other two created angels were gone towards it , to destroy it , and deliver lot , &c. the two good angels are also call'd men , gen. 18. 1-8 . and v. 22-33 . satan also with his evil angels , are men of sin , 2 thess. 2. 3. christ was active in carrying on the death-work upon himself , as first-born of every creature ; and so was he , in his second sacrifice , by carrying on the death of our whole mortal nature , in him , spirit , soul and body . by the holy ghost or heavenly creature-spirit in him , did he crucify the spirit of our nature in himself , luke 12. 49 , 50. he was also a voluntary giver up of his body into the hands of men , under devils , to put a full period to all that was mortal about him , iohn 10. 17 , 18. he laid down the life of our whole mortal nature , and took it up again , in the originally incorruptible , immortal , eternal creature-life of his root , above all deaths , or enemies . and by his communicated heavenly creature-spirit , or holy ghost in saints , will he enable them to be active in carrying on the like death-work on the spirit of nature , at best , in themselves ; and freely also to give up their bodily life , into the hands of evil angels and men , god's and their enemies , where god so permits and orders , for the witnessing his gospel-truths . the record , witness , or products of the first and second of the divine three , father and word , in the creature-part of the mediator's person , as brought into inseparable union by the third , bears the name of the peculiar divine causer , holy ghost . all these things were transacted and done , by and within god himself , before any meer creatures , angels or men were brought forth . the three in the divine nature , with their record in heaven ( the divine form ) are one ; and the same three , as bearing witness in earth ( the creature-part of the mediator ) agree in one . the one divine mind is declar'd and done , in and by both , and all , 1 iohn 5.7,8 . by what was done of the divine three , by their distinct products and operations , in the creature-part of the mediator , will they let down themselves to the sight and enjoyment of blessed angels and saints for evermore . the divine is not the creature-nature in christ ; nor , in his whole creature-nature , is the creature-root , the exalted branch . and his whole divine and creature-person , is most intimately one with the divine essence or father , the head of all in him , 1 cor. 11. 3. all are one incomprehensible god , iohn 10. 30. the exalted branch in christ , is the immediate head of his true gospel-church . the creature-root in him , head of that ; his divine form , head of his whole creature-nature , root and branch ; the divine essence or father , head to his whole divine and creature-person ; yet remains uncompounded with creature-nature , as the divine form or son is , gal. 3. 20. 1 tim. 2. 5. after all this account of superiorities and inferiorities in all that 's truly call'd god , the lowest creature-part in the mediator , the exalted branch , or living word of god , thinks or infallibly knows , that 't is no robbery or unwarrantable presumption in him , to reckon himself equal with god , as in personal union with his creature-root and infinite divine nature , phil. 2.6 . these are strange , seeming contradictions to man's wisdom , which is foolishness to god's , and to be destroy'd ( isa. 29. 14. ) in all self-confident disputers of this world , 1 cor. 1. 19 , 20. chap. iv. the infallible consequents of the said preparatory condescensions of god within himself , in pursuance and for the accomplishing of his abovesaid twofold purposes in the twofold creation of angels and men. 1. thus were the works determin'd of god to be set up in angels and men , by a first creation of them , finish'd ( heb. 4. 3. ) to his well-pleasing , by the right use of the mortal , earthly , first-covenant law-life of the creature , in order to receive the heavenly-creature new-covenant gospel-life of the creator . finish'd they were , by the mediator himself , as the lamb slain in the fountain-purity of the first , and ascended into the originally unchangeable gospel-life of the second , rev. 13.8 . all this was done within god himself , by the mediator , as the lamb slain from ( or in ) the foundation of both worlds ( natural and spiritual , this world and the world to come ) laid in himself , the creator of both . all , receiv'd by angels or men , in their first creation , or restor'd in men by the redeemer ( since their fall in adam ) is ( with the fallible understanding and corruptible will thereof , their discerning and desiring powers , their own righteousness , wisdom , glories , natural excellencies and perfections , therein ) to be given up , in sacrifice to the will of god , by passive obedience . this is the only possible means and way , for their being transform'd and exalted into the originally unchangeable never-sinning creature-life of god , in the mediator , the only life or principle of everlasting active obedience to god , and blessedness to man. all true thorow-followers of the lamb slain ( in the narrow unpleasing way to nature , at best ) will find all their own life and things , with unspeakable gain , in an infallible , all-discerning , spiritual understanding , and incorruptible will , by personal union with christ in his heavenly creature-spirit of true holiness and eternal life . and so will they find themselves in unchangeable harmony with , and obedience to the infinite divine will. this is the glorious liberty of the sons of god , in which they that are born of god , by the new-creating workmanship of christ passing upon them ( to the death of their natural spirit , and resurrection into his spiritual life ) come to be heirs and coheirs , under and with christ , of god , rom. 8. 17. 2. thus became the exalted creature-son and branch in the mediator , of the first-born of every creature ( in the fountain-purity of a mortal earthly life ) the first-born from the dead , ( col. 1. 15 , 18. ) in the originally immortal creature-life of his root and father . so became he the living word of god , ( the book of life of the lamb slain and exalted ) in which were written ( by the super-wonderful mysterious way of divine writing or engraving ) the names of all god's elect , predestinated to be conform'd to christ their head , in a like passive obedience to the divine will , by the death of their natural spirit or living soul of the first adam , and resurrection into the quickning spirit of the second , the life of their creator , rom. 8. 29. & 6. 3-6 . whoever do finally refuse to die with him , ( and lose all their own mortal , earthly life and things , receiv'd in their first creation , or restor'd since , with all works or fruits , done or brought forth by them , therein ) will never attain that heavenly , eternal creature-life of their creator , in which to live and reign with him , 2 tim. 2. 11 , 12. true followers of the slain lamb of god , will be enabled to say with him , i was dead in my own mortal , earthly law-spirit of works , and am alive in his gospel-spirit of grace and truth for evermore , rev. 1. 18. all that establish themselves in their own law-spirit of works , and righteousness of man , will be found unchangeable enemies of god's righteousness , in his heavenly gospel-spirit , and so in unchangeable union with the god of this world , the devil . such mystical sodomites , in filth of spirit , enmity to god and his gospel-spirit of grace , will have worse of it for ever , under the wrath of god , than common sinners in filth of flesh , wallowing in the miry filths and brutalities of literal sodom , mat. 11. 23 , 24. 3. thus became the exalted branch in the mediator , the ready prepar'd immediate hand and living word of god , for performing his whole divine mind and twofold purposes thereof , in the twofold creation of angels and men , and for the dealing with them , both and all , as hating their own life , given them in their first creation , in love to his own , offer'd them by a second ; or , as from love to their own , in the first , unchangeably hating his own ( offer'd by a second ) in union with the devil . the said exalted son and branch , did bring forth angels and men , out of their radical existencies in himself , into their personal subsistencies and individuations in themselves . this was their first creation , in the same kind of mortal , earthly first-covenant law-life , himself had first taken , in the supream fountain-purity thereof , as first-born of every creature therein , and rightly us'd in order to the second , in which he became the first-born from the dead , in a life above all deaths , temporal or eternal . thus was it true , in the immediate creator , as well as in meer creatures , angels and men ; first , that which is natural , and afterward that which is spiritual , 1 cor. 15. 46. unchangeable love to our selves in our own life , receiv'd in our first creation , is the unpardonable sin against the holy ghost , or heavenly creature-spirit of christ , and life thereof , offer'd by a second . 4. the exalted creature-son , or living word of god , his prepar'd and fitted immediate hand , for the twofold creation of angels and men , was also his ready prepar'd infallible mouth , wisdom and word , to declare to them , as soon as made , his whole counsel , will and command , for the right use of their natural beings and life , given them in their first creation , in order to a second ; and that , as their unspeakable concern , as well as duty , for finding the salvation of heaven , or scaping the damnation of hell. final refusing the loss of all their own , in the first , for his own , by a second , will be everlasting destruction to all that so do . 5. christ , as exalted creature-son and branch , became the ready prepar'd immediate sacrificing high-priest of god , after the order ( and in the power ) of the original melchisedec , ( heb. 5.6,10 . & 6.20 . & 7. 17. ) his creature-root and father , who first perform'd the sacrificing death-work upon himself , when in the fountain-purity of all mortal first-creation life . thus is the immediate creator of angels and men , by a first creation , the immediate high-priest of god , to perform the like sacrificing death-work on them , therein , as his creature-father had before perform'd upon himself . this exalted son and branch , was the melchisedec , priest of the most high god , that met abram , returning from the slaughter of the four kings , and bless'd him , gen. 14. 18 , 19. heb. 7. 1. he was also one of the three men , abram pray'd to and worshipp'd , as god , ( gen. 18. ) which no good angels would ever own , rev. 19.10 . & 22.9 . the devil and his proud self-exalting evil angels , own themselves as gods , ( in the uncontroll'd soveraignty of their own wills , above and against all that is truly called god , and to be worshipp'd ) requiring divine worship to be paid them , isa. 14 . 12-14 . 2 thess. 2. 3 , 4. yea , satan most presumptuously attempted to bring the lord himself to own , fall down and worship him as the true god , whom he knew to be the true lord and god ( mark 1. 24. ) he and all angels and men ought to worship , mat. 4. 8-10 . christ own'd the wise mens worshipping him , when born in our nature ( mat. 2. 1 , 11. ) and after ; others worshipping him , mat. 8.2 . & 9.18 . with eight other scriptures in the four evangelists . 6. and lastly ; christ as exalted branch , was in the fully partaken of life of his creature-root , the ready prepar'd infallible example and unerrable pattern for angels and men to follow , by the like death of nature in them , at best , in order to a happy resurrection into the spiritual everlasting righteous life of their creator . all that finally refuse a submission in passive obedience to this change , will perish for ever . for this change , as their duty and unspeakable concern , did he represent himself in such transactions as had pass'd in the creature-part of his person , to all the angels single and higher intuitive natural understanding than man's , though in but the same first-covenant law-life of the creature , as man. he appear'd to the angels , immediately , as four living creatures that had the likeness of a man , ( ezek. 1.5 . ) the comprehensive sum of all changeable first-creation-being and life . the word man , comprehends all . every individual man is a microcosm , or lesser world , having all found in the macrocosm , or greater , without him , and something more , peculiar to himself . he has being ; an earthy body , with elements , and all inanimate simples or compounds ; a threefold life , or spirit of lives , ( gen. 2. 7. ) vegetable , with grass , herbs , trees , &c. a life of sense , with birds , beasts , fishes and creeping things ; an intellectual exercise of the life of his natural spirit , above and without the body , while in it , with angels , but inferiour to them , therein . then , besides all this , has he the rational exercise of his natural understanding , by bodily organs , not found in any parts of the greater world , angels or beasts . the four living creatures , by which christ represented himself to the angels , had the face or likeness of a man : and they are call'd again and again , the ( or one ) living creature ( ezek. 1.20,21 . & 10. 15 , 17 , 20. the good angels figur'd by wheels , or chariots ( psal. 68. 17. ) follow'd this head , fully : whithersoever his spirit was to go , they went , and turned not ( or looked back ) as they went , ezek. 1. 17 , 20. the reason hereof was , the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels ( v. 20 , 21. ) a seed of his spiritual life was in them . hence , when the four living creatures with the face of a man , did let down their wings , the said angelical wheels did let down their wings , v. 24. in passive obedience to the divine will , and conformity to christ's death of the first creation , they ceas'd from the mortal life of their own spirits , given them in their first creation , and from the exercise of their own fallible understandings and corruptible wills , therein , which are the mystical wings , by which natural angels and men flie abroad , in this perishing world , to view and place their thoughts and affections on what seems desirable to them , in order to pick up a true happiness to themselves , where it never is to be found . while man thus rambles and flies abroad for a self-pleasing delusive happiness , amongst the delights of the sons of men , he never looks or seeks after god , and his heavenly creature-life and things , the peculiar delights of the sons of god. these heavenly creature-things , offer'd by a new creation , are out of the reach of all single natural understanding of man , ( 1 cor. 2. 9. ) and the only way for attaining them , is most contrary to his natural will. the death and loss of both and all , is the appointed way , in god's wisdom , whose thoughts and ways are not as man 's , but quite contrary , about their true salvation , isa. 55. 8 , 9. when the good angels had let down their wings ( importing a perfect rest and cessation from the labours or exercise of their own spirits , wills and understandings ) a voice from the firmament , over their heads , calls them out of the said death of nature , into a living spiritual faith , working by love to christ , as seen by them , the man upon a throne , as exalted son and branch , in his heavenly creature-life . hereby were they actually possess'd of eternal life , and infallibly sure of being compleated therein , in god's time . they patiently waited ( with a holy kind of impatience , well-pleasing to god , also ) in longing desires and pantings after the actual gift of the holy ghost or gospel-spirit of the man , they saw upon his throne , therein . they , with old-testament-saints , waited four thousand years , for this promis'd unspeakable gift , which was not given to either or any of them till christ was ascended in our nature , iohn 7.39 . but , as inseparably united therewith , by a living spiritual faith , working by love thereto , they all had a good report with god , as well-pleasing and acceptable to him , though they had not receiv'd his promis'd holy ghost , heb. 11. 39. all along the said four thousand years , the good angels with old-testament-prophets and other saints , desir'd to pry , look into , and consider what time the spirit of christ in them ( as enjoy'd by a spiritual faith therein ) did signify , when it testified before-hand , the sufferings of christ , and the glory that should follow , with the holy ghost sent down from heaven ; and clear gospel-preaching , experienc'd therein , 1 pet. 1. 10-12 . on this account , the good angels had cause of rejoicing at the birth of christ , in our nature , as their own concern , as well as man 's , though not in reference to sin. for they never sinn'd , at all , nor were in danger of ever sinning , after their first change from nature to grace . they rejoic'd also , on behalf of mankind , who are all born sinners . the high joy of the good angels , on these accounts , at christ's birth , is recorded . luke 2. 8-14 . by the first demeanour of the good angels , is implied the contrary behaviour of the evil ones . the good follow'd christ , their head : the evil ones turn'd from their true head , as they went , or were going , a while , with the good , under the same light. satan made himself a contrary , opposite head to christ , and , with his tail , drew a third part of the angels , ( revel . 12. 4. ) signified by stars , ( iob 38. 7. ) into the same condition with himself , under him as their head , in the self-chosen earthly life of the first creation , in unchangeable enmity to god and his heavenly life , offer'd them , by a second . as thus it was with the evil angels , so , too oft , with men. under high spiritual enlightning gifts , many that have gone a while with gospel-saints , after christ , as their head , finding his cross , or the death-work of his heavenly on their earthy spirit , to be pass'd under , in order to be married to him , as risen from the dead , they turn away from him under satan's witch-crafts ( gal. 3. 1 , 3. ) to set up for themselves in their holy flesh , or righteous life , given them in their first creation , in unchangeable enmity to god and his holy gospel-spirit , offer'd by a second . so satan , as god and prince of this world , brings them under his influence , by which , he renders them the most enrag'd antichristian enemies of gospel-saints and truths , 1 iohn 2. 19. a third part of the angels will perish for ever . of mankind , the many in the broad , easy , self-pleasing way to hell , out-number christ's few , in the narrow way to heaven , though they , also , out of all generations , will be a numberless multitude , revel . 7. 9. chap. v. a short review of the four preceding chapters , by way of recapitulation . chap. 1. god , infinitely blessed , from all eternity , chap. 2. determin'd to create angels and men , to give them immortal spirits , and to put into them a mortal life , in their first-creation , to be call'd their own , with all the things thereof , their own righteousness , wisdom , works , fruits , &c. but all mortal , and to be done away for ever . he , therefore , determin'd to set up in personal union with his divine nature , a creature-spirit of originally eternal life , and render it communicable to men and angels , by a new creation of them . the former rendred them but mystical trees of good and evil. the latter makes them particular trees of life , under and with christ. god , hereby , works all their works in them , ( isa. 26. 12. ) and they , in him , iohn 3. 21. the leaves of such trees never wither : every thing they do , therein , prospers , psal. 1.3 . all good works or fruits done or brought forth by them in the former , at best , are nothing to god , ( hos. 10. 1. iob 35. 7 , 8. ) nor of any avail for their ever entring into his kingdom , but only a new creature , gal. 6. 15. the most restor'd life and righteousness of man , preach'd up and warranted for salvation , is man's dream , under satan's witch-crafts ; all their delusive doctrine , therein , chaff , psal. 1.4 . and what 's this chaff to the wheat , the gospel-doctrine , words and things of god ? ier. 23. 28. chap. 3. ( 1. ) in pursuance of god's twofold purposes , for a twofold creation of angels and men , the first of the divine three , call'd father , did produce , beget , and set up a creature-spirit of immortal holiness , of the same name in the creature-part of the mediator , with its divine producer , father . ( 2. ) the second , the word , caus'd the said creature-root , to bring forth a branch , in the fountain-purity of all mortal first-creation being and life , that was to be set up in angels and men , by a first creation . ( 3. ) the third , the holy gost , by its peculiar operation , brought the creature-father and son , into unchangeable personal union , and so the whole creature-nature in the mediator , into unchangeable union with his divine nature . the creature-son and branch , thus exalted , was the immediate creator of all things , in both creations or worlds , natural and spiritual , heb. 1. 1 , 2. chap. 4. ( 1. ) thus were the works , determin'd of god , to be set up in angels and men , by a first creation , finish'd in the mediator , by the right use of all , in order to the second , heb. 4. 3. ( 2. ) herein , was the exalted son and branch , the living word and book of god , in which were written the names of all the elect , that are to be conform'd to him , in the like death of the first creation , and resurrection into the life , given by a second . ( 3. ) the exalted branch , or living word of god , gave angels and men their being and life , by a first creation ; as the immediate hand of god , for it . ( 4. ) he was , therein , the infallible mouth of god , to declare his whole counsel to them , for the right use of all , given them , in their first creation , in order to the second . ( 5. ) he was , therein , the high-priest of god , to perform the like death-work on them , as had pass'd upon himself , by the original melchisedec , his creature-root and father . ( 6. ) and lastly ; he was the ready prepar'd infallible pattern , for them to follow , out of the mortal , earthly life of the first creation , into the immortal and heavenly , by a second , as the only means and way , to find the salvation of heaven , or scape the damnation of hell. chap. vi. concerning the trinity . the three distinct powers in the divine essence or father , shining forth , from all eternity , in the divine form or son , consider'd separately , in each , or jointly in both , are call'd father , word and holy ghost , 1 john 5. 7. the one of these is not the other in the divine father or son. the word , father , as the divine essence is call'd , in distinction from the divine form or son , is of a very differing consideration from the same word , as signifying the first of the divine three in both . so , the word , son , as signifying the divine form , is of a very differing signification from the same word , as signifying the second of the divine three , in father and son. the like may be said of the third of the divine three , the holy ghost , in father and son , of distinct significancy from what the divine father and son , jointly together , are so call'd , as the one infinite divine being . the three distinct divine powers in the divine father and son , do beget and set up their distinct secondary record or witness of themselves , in a creature-form , distinct from the divine form. the whole creature-nature of the mediator , root and branch , is call'd earth , in distinction from the divine form in him , the supream heaven of heavens . their threefold witness in earth , is signified by spirit , water and blood , 1 john 5.8 . the same three that are one in the divine nature , agree in compleating the one mind of all three , in the earth , or whole creature-nature of the mediator . the witness of the first of the divine three , is spirit , a creature-spirit of originally immortal , holiness and eternal life . the witness of the second , is call'd water , signifying the creature-son and branch , in the fountain-purity of all mortal being and life , design'd to be set up in angels and men , by a first creation . blood signifies the death of that , as first-born of every creature , in order to its resurrection into the originally unchangeable life of its root and father , and , therein , first-born from the dead . in , by and through this creature-form , do the three in the divine let down the vision of themselves , to the spiritual sight and enjoyment of angels and men ; and by such transactions , therein , do notify to both , the only means and way for their true blessedness , by the death and loss of all life and things receiv'd by them , in the mortal first-covenant law-life of the first creation , in order to ascend into and receive his originally immortal new and everlasting covenant gospel-life , by a second , communicated to them by the exalted son and branch , as first-born from the dead ; and , therein , the immediate performer of the one will of the divine three , in both creations , and in dealing with all angels and men , good and bad , in final love or wrath , to all eternity , accordingly as they submit , or refuse to submit to the terms of receiving the life , offer'd by a second . thus was the foundation laid , within god himself , in the creature-part of the mediator , for rendring the three that are one in the divine nature , discernable and enjoyable to blessed saints and angels , in their spiritual new-creation capacities . man's highest wisdom and understanding sees not the heavenly creature-things of god , by which only the divine three can be known , 1 cor. 2.9 . so , all his conceptions , thoughts and words , about the trinity , can be but implicite random-conjectures and discourses , not seeing or knowing what he says . the immediate discernable objects of man's highest natural understanding , are but the mortal life and things of the first creation , by which they ought to conclude and may know , there is an eternal power and godhead ; but see nor that , nor his heavenly creature-things , immediately , rom. 1. 20 , 21. 1 cor. 2. 9. isai. 66. 2. the three in the divine essence or father , singly and abstractedly consider'd , will be absolutely invisible to saints and angels in heaven to all eternity . and the divine form , son or glory thereof , in christ's person , will never be the immediate object of their sight , but be let down to them , in the first conjunction thereof , with his creature-root , through the exalted creature-son and branch in him , the immediate creator of all . this is the branch , god made strong for himself , ( psal. 80. 15. ) to perform his whole divine mind , in both creations ; in this world , and the eternal world to come . this is the branch that shall reign on earth , execute iudgment and iustice , therein , as the lord our righteousness , jer. 23. 5 , 6. & 33. 15 , 16. by and through this exalted branch , the immediate do-all , in both creations , will the same three in the divine essence , that shin'd forth in the divine form , from eternity , let down themselves to blessed angels and saints , to eternity . all the three in the divine essence , and heavenly creature-glories , are one trinity , and that trinity , one individual god , iohn 10. 20. the three that are one in the divine nature , are the immediate object to the sight and enjoyment of the whole creature-nature in christ ( root and exalted branch ) that 's in personal union therewith : but never so , to any meer creatures , blessed saints or angels , 1 tim. 6. 15 , 16. iohn 1. 18. mat. 11. 27. they are personally united with the exalted branch , in him , as members of his mystical , spiritual body , to which he is head. but never so to his creature-root ; and much less , yet , to his divine nature . the three in the divine nature , shining forth to meer spiritual creatures , by and through the exalted branch , are no where , in scripture , call'd a trinity , nor said to be three persons . if they be three persons , as three distinct individual angels or men , in angelical or humane nature are , would they not be three distinct individual gods ? would not this be the asserting a tritheism , the lesser sort of polytheism ? if they be call'd three persons , it must be , as acknowledg'd in a unity , transcendently above meer creatures , who are so , in one specifical humane or angelical nature . the three , in god , are three , in one individual divine nature , shining forth to saints and angels , in the mediator's one individual creature-nature , which , in and with his divine nature , is , with his divine father or essence , one individual god. in this sense , if any , may they be call'd three persons . but the acknowledging three distinct powers in god , may justly secure any , from the imputation of antitrinitarianism . they are so three , that the first is not the second ; nor second , the third . the divine form in christ , is not the divine essence , nor his creature-nature , his divine ; nor his creature-root , the branch in him ; but all one individual incomprehensible god , iohn 10. 30. he that says ( knows and owns ) god the father and his divine and creature-son , says all that god is , or is god. man , in the fallible understanding and corruptible will of his first-creation life , can never truly see , rightly know and do the one will of both . all , therefore , that trust to their own understanding , deny both the divine father , and the divine and heavenly creature-son . whosoever denies the divine and creature son , hath not the father . but he that rightly acknowledges the son , hath the father also , 1 john 2.22 , 23. antichristian deniers of both , pass in reputed orthodox man's day of judging , under satan , god of this world , as the only true christians , excommunicating or casting out of their worldly churches , the true owners of both , as the arrantest hereticks and blasphemers in the world. god the son , or mediator , in the divine and creature-glories of the divine essence or father , is call'd a person , 2 cor. 2. 10. in his creature-part , he is call'd the brightness of the divine glory in himself ; and , therein , the express creature image of god's whole divine person , essence and form , heb. 1. 3. the creature-root in the mediator is god's soul , not immediately discernable to the highest spiritual understanding of meer creatures : but , in its first conjunction with divine nature , is let down to their sight and enjoyment , in and by the exalted creature-son and branch , as god's body , or visibility of all , to them . of the creature-root , god's soul , himself says , in reference to the unpardonably sinning shepherds ( or pretending teachers of the way to heaven , and peace with god , in but the restor'd life and righteousness of man ) my soul loath'd them , and their soul , also , abhorred me , zech. 11. 8. every individual man , in the three essential ingredients into his personal constitution , spirit , soul and body ( 1 thess. 5. 23. ) is a shadowy image of the three in one god ; and of the divine spirit , creature-root or soul , and creature-body or branch , in christ's wonderful compounded person . man , in another sense , was in the primitive purity of his whole being , a shadowy image of god's righteousness . this was lost , to all mankind , by their first sin , in and with adam . the reason therefore of the threaten'd death on murderers ( that whosoever sheds man's blood , by man shall his blood be shed : for in the image of god , made he man , gen. 9. 6. ) relates to man's being the image of god , in the former sense , gen. 1. 26 , 27. the image of him , in the latter , being wholly lost , the murderers of him , in reference to that , might seem unaccountable . the spirit of man , singly and abstractedly consider'd , may seem a dark shadow of the very divine essence , as comprehending in it , a threefold distinct life , rational , sensual , and vegetable ; but all three , invisible and unexercis'd , till brought into hypostatical or personal union with its fitly organiz'd body . and , all the said three lives , when brought into exercise , are called a living soul , in distinction from the spirit , separately consider'd ; and , from the body , that 's the personal appearance or visibility of the whole man. and , in both and all , the man is but one person . chap. vii . the mystery of god in general ( of all that is truly called god , and to be worship'd ) and , in particular , of god the father , or divine essence ; and , of christ , the divine and creature-son , ( col. 2. 2. ) both and all , one incomprehensible god , john 10. 30. in general , all are one individual god. in particular , the divine form or son ( though most intimately one with the divine essence or father , in the one infinite divine nature ) became personally united with the creature-form of god , the divine essence or father , remaining , ever , single and uncompounded therewith , gal. 3. 20. a mediator is not of one nature ; but god , in his divine essence , is one . god the mediator , as consisting of two natures , divine and creaturely , in personal union , is fitted to mediate between infinite divinity and finite creaturality , in blessed angels and saints , for ever , 1 tim. 2. 5. the divine and creature-son will remain a mediator , for ever , in heaven , between infinite divinity and elect angels and men , in their compleated spiritual beings , and new-creation capacities ; not in reference to sin , or any danger or possibility of sinning , ever incident to them . but , first ; for letting down the visions of the divine glory or form , in himself , with safety , to their spiritual understanding and enjoyment , through the transparent vail or heavenly creature-image of the divine nature , in him . no man or angel hath seen god , immediately , at any time , in his purely divine nature , nor ever will , or can , to all eternity , in heaven . the only begotten son , will , in and by his creature-spirit , as the prepar'd means for it , let down the visions thereof to them , at second hand , iohn 1. 18. mat. 11. 27. should the divine glory of the father , in the son , shine forth , immediately , in the infinite brightness thereof , on gospel-angels or saints , in heaven , it would be a consuming fire to their very beings , deut. 4. 24. & 9. 3. heb. 12. 29. the request therefore of moses , ran too high , when he said , lord , i beseech thee , shew me thy glory , exod. 33. 18. that he meant the immediate sight of the very divine glory , form , or face of god , in the mediator , appears by god's favourable answer to his mistaking thought , saying , no man or angel ) can ever so see me , and live . but there 's a heavenly creature place by me , in personal union with my divine glory , through which , as my back-parts , thou mayest see me ; but my divine face or glory , shall never be immediately seen , by thee , or any meer creature , to all eternity , in heaven , v. 20-23 . by and through the creature-form or face of god , in christ , did he speak to moses , face to face , ( v. 11. ) mouth to mouth , as his living word , numb . 12. 8. 't is the peculiar prerogative and transcendent privilege of the man christ jesus , only , to see the divine glory , immediately , in himself , as the supream ingredient into his personal constitution . he is that king of kings and lord of lords , in the creature-part of his wonderful person , dwelling with and in that divine light or glory , which no man or angel , can ever so near approach unto , as immediately to see , 1 tim. 6. 15 , 16. thus will the dignity and prerogative of the infinite divinity , and the peculiar privilege of creature-nature in the mediator , be preserv'd , in the transcendent superiority of both and all , above all meer creatures , saints and angels , for evermore . and so will they be secur'd in their unspeakable privileges and utmost blessedness , by the wonderful compounded divine and creature-person of the mediator . secondly ; a second office of the mediator , to all eternity , in heaven , will be the presenting the blessed persons of angels and saints , with their spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving , to the absolute well-pleasing acceptation of his father and their father , ( john 20. 17. ) his god and their god , in , with , and through him , for evermore , 1 pet. 2. 5. the multitude of saints which no man can number , ( revel . 7.9 . ) and the innumerable company of gospel-angels ( heb. 12. 22. ) will , in their eternal praises to god most high , acknowledg and ascribe their eternal blessedness in the sight and enjoyment of him , to his electing love , in the free-grace-purposes and counsels of his divine mind , from eternity , as the single and only supream distinguishing cause of their everlasting blessedness , from those that perish , for ever , under his everlasting curse , and unquenchable wrath. creature-nature , of immediate divine begetting , qualifies him to mediate between two vastly distinct natures , divine and meer creaturely , in angels and men ; so as to answer all that can rightly be desir'd by them , and to enable them , to answer all that god requires of them . by his right performances , therein , on both and all accounts , divine nature can't suffer the least diminution , nor meer creatures , angels or men , be swallow'd up , or consum'd , in their highest exaltation . the infinite dignity of the one , and unspeakable privileges of the other , will ever be preserv'd by the mediator . he is the wonderful counsellor , the mighty god , the everlasting father ( of saints and angels ) the prince of peace , the only procurer of their everlasting peace with god , isa. 9. 6. he transforms and translates us , out of the earthly life of the creature , and fallible understandings , and freedom of our own corruptible wills , receiv'd in our first creation , into the heavenly , eternal gospel-life of himself , our creator , and infallible spiritual understanding of all things , and incorruptible will , therein , for the right doing all things , god requires of us ; which is the glorious liberty of the sons of god , in unchangeable harmony with his infinite divine will. the head of every man , is christ ; the head of the woman is the man ; and , the head of christ , is god , 1 cor. 11. 3. the woman , or natural man , in the changeable womanish life of the first-creation , is , by death , and resurrection into the unchangeable manly life of the second , brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of god , into unchangeable harmony with the infinite divine will. in this transformation , the manly spirit of christ , becomes the head of the transform'd womanish spirit of man ; and , the head of every such spiritual man , is christ ; and , the head of christ's whole compounded person , is god , the single , uncompounded divine essence or father of all . but all these superiorities and inferiorities , in god the father , and his divine and creature-son , are swallow'd up in christ's wonderful compounded person , into an equality , as with his divine father , one incomprehensible god , iohn 10. 30. all , that 's in personal union with the infinite divinity , is god. chap. viii . the mystery of godliness , and mystery of iniquity . to awaken'd spiritual saints , it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of god , the mystery and power of godliness : but , to them that are without such spiritual life and knowledg , all the spiritual heavenly creature-things of god , prepar'd for them that love him , are done and spoken in parables , earthly figures and similitudes . so , hearing , they hear , but do not understand ; seeing , they see , yet not perceive , or rightly take the mystical truths , therein and by , signified , mat. 13. 13 , 14. and mark 4. 11 , 12. they desire not to understand them , they are so contrary to their own wills , and self-interests . they , rather , like , chuse and approve of satan's mystery of iniquity , and embrace the doctrine that carries on that , which gratifies their own wills , both as to self-interests in this world , and a delusive hope , therein , for true blessedness , in the world to come , also . in conclusion , he that hath not the life , god has prepar'd and offer'd by a new creation , which alone is eternal , from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have , or thinks to be eternal life , luke 8. 18. and so , will he find eternal death , in a most exquisite sensibleness of his whole being , spirit , soul and body , under the unquenchable wrath of god. this will men get , by following satan's delusive gospel , in his mystery of iniquity . those that shall be saints , till the spiritual seed of true saintship be waken'd up in them , may be , for a time , under the same delusive power of satan , with others . paul , till then , was a fierce , self-confident enemy to gospel-saints and truths , in the law-righteousness of man , under satan's mystery of iniquity , phil. 3.6 . all reading of the scriptures , or hearing them expounded by men , in law-righteousness , however eminent in their own understandings , will never deliver from being captivated by satan's mystery of iniquity . all scripture is a book seal'd , isa. 29. 11. let man , in but his own understanding search the scriptures , he will not come to christ , the living word and book of god , for that life , in which , alone , 't is possible to understand , receive and own the mystical truth of all . such interpreters , with their self-confident hearers , should they be at this work , longer than methuselah liv'd , they 'd still be wholly to seek , as when they began , as to that eternal life and things of god , in which , 't is possible to enter into his kingdom , or scape the damnation of hell. awaken'd saints , in their new spiritual , infallible , all-discerning understanding , are enabled to see and declare , not only , the heavenly creature-life and things of god , therein ; but , to pry and search into the deep things of the infinite divinity , in christ's person , ( 1 cor. 2. 9 , 10. ) to understand all things , ( v. 15. ) the divine and spiritual things of god , and what the natural things of man , given him in his first creation , amount unto . the becoming a little child , as to the life , wisdom , will and understanding of man , in order to a receiving the heavenly spiritual eternal creature-life and things of god , his wisdom , his everlasting righteousness , true holiness , a new infallible understanding , for knowing all things , and a new incorruptible will , for doing all things well , in god's sight ; this , christ makes absolutely necessary to our ever entrin into his kingdom , mat. 18. 3. and luke 18. 17. paul , an eminent self-confident pharisee , in the law-righteousness of man , and a fierce persecutor of gospel-saints , was , doubtless , of high esteem with those that in his law-principle were wise , strong and honourable . but , when a gospel-saint , he became as a little child , a fool weak , and despicable , in the judgment of those , who were wise , strong and honourable in restor'd law-life and first-covenant attainments from christ ; phil. 3. 6-11 . 1 cor. 4. 10. when a gospel-saint , he renounc'd the knowledg of christ himself , after the flesh ; to be married to him in that spirit , into which risen , out of the death of our nature , in himself , 2 cor. 5. 16. rom. 7. 4. he had , now , a life and things , as far above all , given angels and men , in their first creation , as the heavens are higher than the earth . this life , hid with christ in god , from man's highest understanding ; and , all man regards , given up , in sacrifice to god , what esteem could he find , with men ? this has been the case of true saints , prophets and apostles , and of christ himself , all along this world , from abel , to this day , matth. 23. 34 , 35. while any are confident in satan's mystery of iniquity , preferring the law-life of the creature and righteousness of man , to the gospel-life of the creator and everlasting righteousness of god , therein , such are the greatest haters of true saints , and were the murderers of christ himself , when pilate a heathen judg , would have releas'd him , as finding no fault in him , john 18. 38. & 19. 4 , 6. christ warns his true followers , to expect the like usage , from such , iohn 15. 18-20 . & 16. 1 , 2. saints , fix'd in union of mind , with god , become the most hateful to all , fix'd in the law-righteousness of man , in unchangeable union with the devil . in the form of godliness and righteousness of man , they deny the power of godliness and righteousness of god , as a diabolical fiction , 2 tim. 3.5 . such said of christ himself , he had a devil , and was mad . here 's the demeanour of any , fix'd in satan's mystery of iniquity , to such as experience and declare the mystery of godliness . hence , are god's true new ierusalem-saints a contempt , all along this world , under satan's reign . but , when christ shall appear the second time , in his all-powerful , all-discovering gospel-light , and enter upon his reign on earth , they 'l be a praise in the earth . for this , therefore , all gospel-saints and angels continually pray , and keep not silence , isa. 62. 6 , 7. man's wisdom denies true godliness to be any mystery , at all , which god's wisdom declares without controversy , and beyond all dispute or question , to be a great mystery , 1 tim. 3.16 . the scriptures , and mind of god therein , as to the eternal concerns of men , are easy to be understood , says man : impossible to be understood , says god , by man's highest understanding , in the light , wisdom , and righteousness of man , 1 cor. 2. 9 , 14. isa. 29. 11. god , here says , what learned man should say , in his highest wisdom . 't is not in man , to make one right step towards eternal life , in his own best natural understanding , reason or wisdom , ier. 10. 23. 't is , says man's wisdom , and warrants final peace with god , therein ( ezek. 13. 1-10 . ) where there 's no such peace . boldly and confidently does man's lying spirit of divination , in satan's gospel-divines , say this , and warrant their hearers , they 'l confirm their word , v. 6. man may know god's infinite divine power , by the things that are made in the first-creation : but , sees neither his divine nature and things thereof , nor any of his hidden , spiritual , eternal creature-things , prepar'd to be given , by a new or second creation , rom. 1. 20. 1 cor. 2. 9. all mankind are capable of , and may receive the common salvation , as a fruit of christ's death , in our nature , and convincing discoveries of his truth , or gospel-life , if they will , 1 tim. 2. 4. but , as to special salvation , or eternal gospel-life , this is not of him that willeth , but of god , who will shew such mercy , to whom he will , rom. 9. 15 , 16. many , in all possible attainments in the former , will perish for ever . satan attempted to bring christ himself to be a member of his church , or synagogue , and worship him as god , in his mystery of iniquity , mat. 4. 8 , 9. where are we , till infallibly experiencing his gospel-life , and therein the mystery of godliness ? all along this world , under god's most wise permission , satan and his gospel-ministers , transform'd into the likeness of christ and his , carry all before them , 2 cor. 11. 13-15 . all , in but their own spirit and worldly life , at best , wonder and run after them , ( revel . 13. 3 , 4. ) worshipping the dragon , and under and with him , opening their mouth in blasphemy against god , and his creature-name , that 's his heavenly tabernacle , and them that dwell therein , v. 5,6 . and it is given to him and his party amongst men , to make war with saints , and overcome them , ver . 7. they are condemn'd as traitors , discovering his counsels in the mystery of iniquity , and he will cause them , to be so accounted , also , against heathen cesars , and others , of his party , under him . christ himself was condemn'd and murder'd , on this pretence , iohn 19. 12 , 15. saints can discover him , when sitting in the temple of god , shewing himself that he is god ( 2 thess. 2. 4. ) to be the worst of all creatures , the man of sin , and son of perdition , ver . 3. will he quietly bear this discovery ? will he not , by his humane instruments , shew his utmost rage against them ? and , god permits . but be it as it will ; the sum of all true gospel-teaching , is a declaring the mystery of godliness , for the salvation of men and preventing their damnation ; and , a discovering satan's mystery of iniquity for the damnation of men , and preventing their salvation . so , only , can saints , with paul , become free from the blood of all men , ( acts 20. 26. ezek. 33. 7-9 . ) as having no share in that guilt , by which they bring that blood upon their own heads , which will be found to amount unto no less than eternal death to their whole beings , spirit , soul , and body , in a resurrection of damnation . the experimental knowers of the mystery and power of godliness , and faithful discoverers of the mystery of iniquity , will have a resurrection of life , ( john 5. 29. ) above all deaths , temporal or eternal . chap. ix . the first sin , fall , and punishment of many evil angels , and of all mankind , in adam . evil mankind , in adam , joyn'd with evil angel-kind , in satan , through a mutual union of love to themselves and one another , electing or chusing for themselves , their own earthly , mortal , first covenant law-life of the creature , given by a first-creation , in preference and opposition to the heavenly , immortal , second-covenant gospel-life of the creator , offer'd them by a second or new creation . the evil angels herein , did , at first , commit the unpardonable sin against the holy ghost , under the immediate beamings forth of christ's heavenly creature-gospel spirit , the son of everlasting righteousness , upon their highest , single intuitive natural understandings . secondly , they had no superiour rank of creatures , in the first-creation , already fallen , above them in subtlety and power , to tempt them . thirdly , they were all , actually created and set up , in their compleated personal beings and life , at first ; mankind receive their personal beings , successively , generation after generation . fourthly , mankind's first sin , in adam , was not against such clear knowledg of their own unspeakable concern , as well as duty to god , though in the same kind of first-covenant law-life , with angels . the inferiour ingredients into man's personal constitution ( bodily , sensual-life , tho created pure and incorrupt ) rendred his intuitive discerning , inferiour to that of angels , where 't was single and alone . hence , what was immediately and more convincingly made known to angels , was represented to adam , by a figurative tree of life ; and , himself , in distinction from that , by the tree of good and evil. the former represented christ to him , in that heavenly creature-life , offer'd by a new creation : the latter , represented himself to himself , as but a mystical tree of good and evil , in his own life , given in his first creation , corruptible and changeable , mortal and perishable , with all the earthly things , therein , will , understanding , righteousness , wisdom , &c. with all works or fruits ever possible to be done or brought forth , therein . by , and under the superiour subtlety and power of the devil , the mystical old serpent , was adam , in the primitive purity of his whole being , and mankind , in him , as their head and representative , induc'd , perswaded and deceiv'd , so as to prefer satan's self-pleasing lie , to god's spirit of grace and truth . so , under and with the serpent , he chose his own earthly life of the creature , in preference to god's own heavenly creature-life of the creator . many of mankind , when restor'd out of the darkness and death of their own spirits , into the light , life and righteousness of man , do sin again , in their own persons , after the similitude of adam's first transgression , who , at best , in innocency , was but a figure of the second adam who was to come , in the fountain-purity of our nature , and also , full of the holy ghost ( luke 4. 1. iohn 1. 14. ) his heavenly creature-spirit of grace and truth , rom. 5. 14. this sin , again , in their own persons ( after all sad experience of fallen mankind , thereby , in adam , and all warnings and counsels of god , since ) is unrepentable by them , ( heb. 6. 4 , 6. ) and unpardonable , by god , heb. 10. 26 , 27. this is the case of any , that conclusively and absolutely prefer their own restor'd earthly life of the creature and righteousness of man , to the heavenly creature-life of the creator , and everlasting righteousness of god , therein . all , that will not receive and have , the heavenly creature-life of god ( by submitting to the death of restor'd nature , at best , the loss of all their own life and things , therein ) god will take away the said life , from them , again , and lay them down , for ever , under his unquenchable wrath , in eternal death , luke 8. 18. this is that , christ says , mat. 16.25 . whosoever will save his life , shall lose it : and , whosoever will hate and lose his own life , for my sake , from love to my heavenly creature-life , shall find it , with unspeakable gain , as chang'd by death and resurrection , into an eternal life . satan was at it , with christ himself , ( matth. 4. 8 , 9. ) to stay and set up with and under him , as a state of true happiness , in the mortal life of our nature ; and , by his apostle peter , was at the same point , to pity and spare himself , there , saying , be the death thereof , far from thee : this shall not be unto thee . christ discover'd and declar'd this word of peter , to be satan's counsel , in and by him , mat. 16. 21-23 . as the first sin of angels was differing from man's first sin , so was the punishment . the punishment of evil angels , was the giving them their own evil choice , their own self-chosen earthly life , receiv'd in their first-creation , with all the things thereof , their own wisdom , righteousness , subtlety and power , all natural excellencies and perfections , therein , as by them abus'd , turn'd into , and us'd , in unchangeable enmity to god and his heavenly creature spirit of eternal life . god also permitted to them the exercise of a ruling power over sallen mankind , all along this world , by which , satan carries on the same delusive work , as on adam , at first : that the life , given in the first-creation , is eternal , no need of a second ; nor , therefore , of the death of the first . ye shall not die , gen. 3. 3. this is satan's uniform lie , all along this world , that the life given in the first-creation is eternal . you must die , or never live and reign with me , in my heavenly creature-life , which is eternal : this is christ's truth , his faithful saying , 2 tim. 2. 11 , 12. there 's nothing more pleasing to man's will , in the restor'd earthly life of the first adam , than satan's lie : and , nothing so universally contrary to it , as god's truth ; that , the death and loss thereof , with all the things therein , is indispensably neceessary to any man 's receiving that life which is eternal , by a new creation . man , in the restor'd life of the first adam's living soul , and highest spiritual enlightning gifts , convincing him of the life offer'd by a second , and of the necessity of parting again , with the restor'd earthly life and things of the first adam 's living soul , for the heavenly life and things of the second adam 's quickning spirit ; under all this mercy , is man liable , through his own unspeakable folly , to be bewitch'd back from looking after christ's heavenly , gospel-life , shew'd and offer'd him , and to set up for himself , under and with satan , in his own earthly law-life and righteousness , signified by holy flesh , gal. 3. 1 , 3. this may be call'd a sinning after the similitude of the evil angels first transgression , under the clearest discovery of the life offer'd by a new creation , with the terms of receiving it , and their unspeakable concern for submitting thereto , as the only possible means to find eternal life , or scape eternal death . that the punishment of evil angels for their first sin , by god's giving them up , to their own self-chosen life , and their own will and way , therein , all along this world , that this was a greater punishment than man 's for his first sin , ( which was the death and loss of his abus'd first-covenant life and things , receiv'd by a first-creation ) may seem strange to man's wisdom , who reckons , adam should have kept what he had , in the primitive purity of his first-creation , the keeping of which , in preference to the life of the creator , offer'd by a second , was his sin ; the loss of it , by god's taking it , from him , his punishment . at man's rate of judging , the evil angels were in the right , as keeping what they receiv'd in their first-creation , all the glories and excellencies , wisdom and power , therein . quest. could mankind , or human nature , at best , in adam , chuse the heavenly creature-life of god , shewn and offer'd them , by a new creation ? answ. no. neither man nor angel had power in their own earthly life and wills , to choose the heavenly creature-life of god , offer'd by a new creation : for , then they would have elected themselves . the receiving from christ , as a fruit of his meritorious sufferings and death in our nature , the renew'd life and righteousness of the first-creation , is of him that willeth . all may receive that , if they will. but , the attaining and receiving of the life , god offers , by a second-creation , this is not of him that willeth or runneth , in his own spirit and will , at best , but of god who will shew this mercy , to whom he will , only , rom. 9. 15 , 16. all , that finally elect or chase for themselves their own earthly life of the creature , reject the heavenly creature-life of the creator . all , that god has elected , will be brought to hate and lose their own earthly life , at best , from love to his heavenly , as the only way to receive it . a third part of angels fell , irrecoverably , by their first sin , revel . 12. 4. the far greater part of mankind , the many in the broad way , will be found irrecoverably fallen , for ever . yet , will christ's few , in the narrow way , be an innumerable multitude , revel . 7. 9. chap. x. the second sacrifice of christ , in our whole human nature , spirit , soul , and body . in and by his first sacrifice , he became the immediately fitted hand of god , ( the living word of god , which is god , iohn 1. 1-3 . ) for performing the whole divine will , in both creations of angels and men , and in dealing with them , all , for ever , in final love or wrath. this first sacrifice related not to the pardon of sin , in angels or men. they were none of them , then , extant in their own personal beings . a preparation for preventing sin , in both and all , was thereby made ; notwithstanding which , many angels sinn'd and fell , irrecoverably . all mankind sinn'd and fell , in and with adam ; but , recoverably , both as to their sin and punishment , and also to a being render'd capable of that true salvation-life , they , at first refus'd . this second sacrifice of christ , therefore , in our nature , related only to the sins of mankind . the good angels never sinn'd , at all . the evil , were absolutely unpardonable . in reference to sin , therefore , christ took on him the nature of man , not of angels , ( heb. 2. 16. ) and , therein , became a little lower than angels , even than evil angels , in the glory of their first-creation , chosen by them , and granted them by god , in his just judgment on them , with a ruling power over mankind , therein , all along this short-liv'd world ; and then to be stripp'd of all their worldly power and glory , and laid down , for ever , in everlasting burnings , under his unquenchable wrath , in the lowest hell-part of the eternal world , to come . in reference to this second sacrifice of christ , we are to consider his entrance into this world , in our nature . the virgin mary was found with child , of the holy ghost , mat. 1. 18. an angel appears to joseph , in a dream , telling him , that what was conceiv'd in her , was of the holy ghost ; and , warn'd him , that when born , he should call his name , iesus , that would save his people from their sins ; and , immanuel , also , was he to be call'd , that is , god with us , ver . 20-23 . isa. 7. 14. the like account , as to his wonderful formation in the womb of the virgin , we find , luke 1. 26-35 . and his birth , luke 2. 7. the good angels rejoic'd thereat ( luk. 2. 13 , 14. ) not in reference to a procuring their pardon for sin , having never sinn'd ; but , as knowing thereby , the time drawing near , for them ( with old-testament-saints ) to receive the holy ghost , which they waited for , all along , four thousand years , by a living spiritual faith , working by love to god , therein , and amounting to an indissoluble union with christ , therein . but , the holy ghost was not given to angels or saints , till our nature , in christ , was ascended and glorified , iohn 7. 39. both the said angels and saints obtain'd a good report with god , as well-pleasing to him , by a living spiritual faith therein , though they had not receiv'd the promis'd holy ghost , heb. 11. 39. from the good angels concern , herein , did they , with old-testament-prophets , desire to pry , look into , and diligently to search out what manner of time , the spirit of christ in them , did signify , when it testified beforehand , the sufferings of christ , and the glory that should follow ( 1 pet. 1. 10-12 . ) to our ascended , glorified nature , in him ; and to them , by the holy ghost's being sent down from heaven , into angels , with the spirits of old-testament-saints , departed , and new-testament-gospel saints , in the mortal body , act. 2 . 1-4 . this is the other , better comforter ( christ told his disciples , the father in pursuance and for accomplishing of his free-grace-mercy , to them , would send ) than he had yet been to them , as a fleshly bridegroom , in the but restor'd first-covenant life and righteousness of man , therein , iohn 14. 26. this better comforter , he told them , would teach them all things ( divine and spiritual ) and so bring to their remembrance , all that he had hitherto , spoken to them , in parables , earthly figures and similitudes , in which , the mystical divine and spiritual truths , lay hid from them , as well as others . the good angels also rejoic'd at the birth of jesus , on the behalf of mankind , in general ; and , of saints , in special , as the means for recovering all , out of the darkness and death , into which brought by their first sin and punishment thereof , gen. 2. 17. iohn 1. 9. the world was made by him , yet when he came into the world , none , in their worldly life of the creature , at best , either knew , receiv'd , or own'd him , iohn 1.10 . the righteous first-covenant professing jews , in union of mind with evil angels , were the most signally enrag'd contradicters , blasphemers and murderers of him , for his gospel-doctrine of salvation , acts 3 . 13-15 . the exalted son and branch , was the immediate former of himself , in the womb of the virgin , the son of god , on earth , remaining , still , what he was in the beginning , the son of man in heaven , john 3. 13. evil angels and men were god's permissive hand , under his infinite over-ruling wisdom and power , to finish the death-work on all that was mortal , about him , in our nature ; and so , oft , on saints , to their greatest good , and enemies greatest hurt . hereby , do they compleat saints conformity to christ's death , freeing them from all that 's mortal , about them , while in the body , isa. 57. 1 , 2. the iews would have made christ , a king , if he would have own'd his kingdom , in that mortal first-covenant law-life they saw him in , iohn 6. 15. but , witnessing his kingdom , not to be in that worldly law-life , but in his gospel-life of grace and truth , ( iohn 18. 36 , 37. ) they murder'd him , and so , compleated the death of him , as to that mortal law-life , wherein they would have made him their king. they chose rather to be subjects to a heathen king , than such a king as he own'd himself to be , ( iohn 19. 12 , 15. ) who would have made him such a king , as would have render'd them traitors and enemies to cesar. here 's the confounded doings of man , at best , in his own worldly spirit and life . some corinthians , laodiceans , and other professors , in but the first-covenant-life and righteousness of man , all along , since , are of the same mind , with them , 1 cor. 4. 8. rev. 3. 17. the god of this world offer'd christ , a far larger bribe than the jews did , all the kingdoms of this world , visible and invisible , under him ( all worldly power , human and angelical ) in case he would own his kingdom to be in this first-creation worldly-life , mat. 4. 8 , 9. whoever are finally taken with his worldly bribes , the literal or mystical riches of this first-creation world , do fall down and worship him , as god. and , by such loyal subjects of him , does he murder true saints , that refuse so to do ; as they did christ himself . true heaven-born sons of god , have the whole self-confident legal-spirited generation of professsors , on the same account , universally , in all times , against them . they mortally and irreconcileably hate them , for owning the death-work of christ's gospel-spirit of grace , on that law-spirit of works , they confidently trust in , for entring into the kingdom of god. such become the highest rank of satan's subjects , and most serviceable instruments for maintaining the credit of his worldly kingdom , as the only true blessedness , to any . god's thoughts and ways for true salvation , are not as man 's : and , when he has declar'd his ways , in his holy oracles , let man's highest wisdom undertake the interpreting them , all shall run on satan's side , god's thoughts , therein , remaining fast seal'd and lock'd up , from man's best understanding , in but a restor'd first-covenant life , isa. 29. 11. chap. xi the difference of christ's death , in our nature , as to the intent and extent thereof , from saints conformity to him , by the death of nature , in them . christ's condescending to take our nature , and , therein , by the grace of god , to taste death for every man , ( heb. 2. 9. ) was in reference to the pardonable sins of mankind , in adam , and , also , in their own persons . this was god's appointed way , for the redeeming and recovering them out of their fallen state , wherein born , dead in trespasses and sins , ( ephes. 2. 1. col. 2. 13. ) into the light , and also life , receiv'd by them , in their first-creation . all may receive this general redemption-mercy , the common-salvation-work of christ , as a fruit of his meritorious sufferings and death , in our nature , if they will. but , as to the special eternal salvation of the elect , in his new and everlasting covenant gospel-life , this is not of him that willeth or runneth , in the most fruitful exercise of his own restor'd first-covenant law-life , but , of god's free-grace mercy , which he will ( effectually and infallibly ) shew , to whom he pleases , only . the ceasing from their own life , will , and understanding , is the only appointed way for their receiving this special eternal salvation-life of god. iude ( with others ) writ of both these distinct salvations , common and special , temporal and eternal . and when he had , with all diligence , inform'd them of the former , he found it needful to exhort them , to contena earnestly , in prayer to god , for a living spiritual faith , working by love to him , in the latter , in which , only , true saintship and salvation ever could or will be found , by any man , iude v. 3. thus is christ the saviour of all men , with a common or general salvation ; but of them that believe in his gospel-life , and place all their hopes of salvation , in that , with a special , 1 tim. 4. 10. they trust in the living god , that living word of god , which is god , john 1.1 . those that wax confident in the common salvation , the restor'd life and righteousness of man , do trust in that life , for entrance into the kingdom of heaven , which christ crucified , in the fountain-purity of it , in himself . god will , not only , that all men should be saved , with the common salvation , but has rendred them capable also of receiving the knowledg of the truth , ( 1 tim. 2. 4. ) his gospel-spirit of grace and truth , by the convincing discoveries thereof , to their natural understandings . but , after all this , are they liable to apostatize , fall away , and finally refuse so great salvation , as is thereby offer'd them , and perish for ever , heb. 6. 4-6 . the submitting , in passive obedience , to the death and loss of all , receiv'd from christ , in the common-salvation-benefit of his death , rendring them but holy flesh , is absolutely necessary to their finding the special , eternal salvation-life of his holy gospel-spirit , the holy ghost . otherwise , after all , receiv'd in the common-salvation , they 'l find everlasting destruction . conformity to christ's death , by the death of nature , at best , in us , is the appointed way , to reign with him , in the life he is ascended into , out of the death thereof , in himself , rom. 6. 5. 2 tim. 2. 11 , 12. nor devil , nor jews , could prevail with him , to own his kingdom in the fountain-purity of his worldly law-life ; but , in that gospel-spirit of eternal life , he was to ascend into , out of the death thereof . paul , when a gospel-saint , would no longer know , or own christ himself , after the flesh , in but the restor'd fleshly first-covenant law-life and righteousness of man , but , in his holy gospel-spirit and righteousness of god , therein , 2 cor. 5. 16. as married to him , therein , only , is it ever possible for any , to bring forth fruit unto god , rom. 7. 4. all , fix'd by satan and themselves , in the common-salvation , become the most irreconcileable enemies to those , in the special . those that own but the form of godliness , righteousness of man , in the common-salvation , as a state of true happiness , and finally deny the power of godliness in christ's gospel-life , they are mystical infidels , ( after all such temporary faith in christ , by which they have receiv'd their own life , again , from him ) the most criminal sinners , spiritual sodom , egypt , and babylon , such as crucified our lord , ( revel . 11. 8. ) and have been the murderers of true saints , all along this world , from abel , downwards , and will so be , to the ending thereof ; and , reckon , they do god service , therein , john 16. 2. literal infidels vastly out-number these mystical ones , not believing in christ , at all , so as to receive the common-salvation-life and righteousness of man , from him . what a world of such , is there , now , in this world ? mahumetans , other pagans and infidels , and amongst all varieties of such as are call'd christians , innumerable even of them , not living in the principle of rational light , that many meer heathens walk in obedience to . what final , eternal benefit , are all these like to find , from the meritorious sufferings and death of christ , in our nature ? saints conformity to christ's death , as true followers of him , in the narrow , unpleasing way to nature , through the strait gate of entrance into his eternal gospel-life , relates not , at all , to the peculiar benefits of christ's death in our nature , for mankind , in general ; or , saints , in special . but , 't is their unspeakable advantage , to follow him into the said death , by the death of nature , at best , or in whatever condition , as the only way to find the salvation of heaven , or scape the damnation of he●l . the restor'd righteous life of man , in his own spirit of works , put him , afresh , upon his own personal trial , for the right use thereof , as was the case of adam , at first . if from self-love , he finally chuse this , in preference to the gospel-life and righteousness of god , therein , he sins , again , in his own person , after the similitude of adam's pardonable transgression ( rom. 5. 14. ) unpardonably , and unrepentably , heb. 6. 4 , 6. & 10. 26 , 27. filth of spirit , enmity to god's divine and creature-holy-ghost or spirit , lurking under all righteousness of man's holy flesh , will , to all , unchangeably fix'd therein , be eternal death . the surrender and loss of the life of our own spirits , at best , and our own fallible understandings and corruptible wills , therein , is the only way to arrive at the happy experience of an infallible understanding and an incorruptible will , in god's heavenly creature-life , the only principle of everlasting well-pleasing active obedience to him , and blessedness to us . a ceasing from the best works , and fasting from the best fruits , performable or producible by us in our own spirit , will , and way , to live in god's sabbath-spirit of true rest , to us in him and him in us , and delight only in such incorruptible fruits as can be brought forth by us , in his spirit only , this is such a fast , and such a sabbath as he has chosen , isa. 58. 5 , 13. and this , will all , whom he has chosen , be brought unto , by his infinite free-grace-mercy . all outward bodily fastings and sabbath-keepings , never accompanied with this inward mystical truth of all , were an abomination to god , when his own literal , figurative appointments and ordinances to the jews , isa. 1. 10-15 . & 66. 3. gospel-life is the wine of christ's kingdom , which saints , with christ , can daink of , only , in his kingdom-spirit , as , therein , new creatures ; mark 14. 25. this was figur'd in iotham's parable , cheering god and man , ( judg. 9. 13. ) answering all , man can rightly desire of god , and enabling him , to answer all , god requires of him . no such true new ierusalem-saints , shall ever have occasion to say , we are sick , ( isa. 33.24 . ) or need any thing ; and to say , we fear no danger of repenting , or change , from a mind of everlasting obedience to god ; nor , therefore , of condition , from a state of unchangeable blessedness , in the sight and enjoyment of him , in his infinite divine favour and love. this gets man , by a change from his own earthly , continual sinning life of vanity , to god's own heavenly never-sinning gospel-life . he will be enabled , therein , to say with christ , i was dead in my own spirit , and am alive for evermore , in his , rev. 1. 18. our own right eye , hand , and foot , the highest light , best practice , and walking in our own spirit , understanding and will , must be pluck'd out , cut off , and cast away , or we shall be cast into hell-fire , mark 9. 43-48 . they offend us , as rendring the cross or death-work of christ's heavenly spirit on our earthly , offensive and displeasing to us ; and us , therein offensive to god ; and so , standing in our way to eternal life ; so , on all accounts , and in every sense , offensive to god and our selves . we are to pray , that god , by his spirit , would do this to , and for us ; pluck out our right eye , &c. we ought , also , by his spirit in us , or a living spiritual faith , working by love to him , to be active in carrying on such work , in obedience to his command . we are also to rejoice , in what god suffers evil angels ( or men ) to do to us , in their implacable malice , as knowing all , over-rul'd by him , in a constant , infallible conducibleness thereunto . so , only , can we arrive at the happy experience of an infallible spiritual understanding for knowing all things , and an incorruptible will , for doing all things , to god's well-pleasing , in the marvellous light and glorious liberty of the sons of god ; in such a free-will , as is in unchangeable harmony with the infinite divine will ; the free-will of the second adam . the light and free-will of our own spirit , at best , kept up , in opposition to his , turns it into the greatest darkness and bondage , of all , mat. 6. 23. the will of our nature in christ , found the full death thereof , so exceeding terrible , as to pray , saying , o my father , if it be possible , let this death cup pass from me . but , he instantly renounc'd the request of his natural will , so , as in the same breath , to say , nevertheless , not as i will , but as thou wilt ; thy will be done , matth. 26. 39 , 42 , 44. as to the sufferings of nature , in saints , as the will of god , for their greatest good , christ says to them , my yoke is easy , and burden light , mat. 11. 30. there are none of the said terrifying ingredients into the death of nature , in saints , peculiar to the death of it , in christ himself . nor were they , in his first sacrifice of nature , in general , above-spoken to : to saints therefore the sufferings of the present time , are not reckon'd worthy to be compar'd with the glory which shall be reveal'd in them , ( rom. 8. 18. ) which , they have the infallible forehand-sight of ( by such beginnings thereof , as they already experience in them ) with ioy unspeakable and full of glory , 1. pet. 1. 8. chap. xii . regeneration . by true regeneration , man , that was made of god , by a first-creation , in the mortal , earthly , law-life of the creature , is born of god , in the immortal , heavenly , gospel-life of the creator , the living creature-word of god , which is god , iohn 1. 1-3 . as for the life and things , given angels and men , in their first-creation , those are things which have been , but shall not be , for ever ; temporary , transient things , to be laid aside , in order to their receiving god's own heavenly creature-life , by a new-creation . to the blessed submitters to the terms of receiving this , does god look , with regard and delight , as objects of his everlasting love , isa. 66. 2. the poor , broken , contrite spirit of man ( under the cross or death-work of the heavenly creature-spirit of christ , on his earthly , in order to be born of his heavenly ) is of more value , in god's sight , than all the unbroken excellencies and perfections of men and angels , in their first-creation-make and life . all , that by a delusive confidence in their own earthly life , given them in their first-creation , finally despise god's heavenly , offer'd by a second , do chuse satan's lie , in union with him , in the first , in unchangeable enmity to god's truth , offer'd by a second . they prefer the form of godliness in the life of the creature , to the power of godliness , in the life of the creator , 2 tim. 3.5 . 2 thess. 2. 10-12 . true saints are followers of christ , in the regeneration , mat. 19. 28. by the death of their own spirits , at best , into his everlasting true salvation-life , above all deaths . so , come they to be chang'd from a visible first-covenant people of god , in their own holy flesh , righteousness of man , into an invisible people of god , in his holy ghost , or heavenly creature-gospel-spirit ; and , therein , have a life hid with christ in god , col. 3. 1-4 . their peace with god , therein , passes ( or surmounts ) all natural vnderstanding of man , with all the things of god , wherein it consists . man's highest natural understanding in the first-covenant , understands not the saints spiritual understanding , in the second , nor any of the divine and heavenly creature-things of god , he , thereby , sees , understands or speaks of . he therefore , reckons all , foolishness , 1 cor. 2. 9 , 14 , 15. the seed of life , put into angels and men , in their first-creation , was corruptible , in the second , incorruptible . this latter is the life , which by the gospel , is preach'd and made known , 1 pet. 1. 23-25 . this , saints come to be the happy experiencers of , as the root , spring , and principle of their desire , thought , and action . by death of the first-creation , and resurrection into the second , was christ himself , as first-born from the dead , qualified to be the immediate creator of angels and men , by a first , and the giver to them of eternal life , by a second-creation of them . so , only , can any be subjects to him , in his heavenly kingdom . none that finally refuse to suffer and die with him , in the first , can ever live and reign with him , in the second , 2 tim. 2. 10 , 11. by true regeneration , the corruptible life , with the fallible understanding and corruptible will of the creature , is chang'd and transform'd into the incorruptible and infallible life , will and understanding of the creator ; the marvellous light and glorious liberty of the sons of god. awaken'd saints , in the all-discovering light of the quickning spirit of the second adam , see an end , all natural life , wisdom , glories , excellencies and perfections , in the living soul of the first , will come to , psal. 119. 96. no such changeable life or temporary good things will be found in the heaven or hell-part of the eternal world to come , rev. 18 . 14-19 . there will be nothing , then , but eternal life or death ; eternal good or evil things . the changeable , fallible , womanish spirit of the first adam , at best , is the mystical iezebel , or false prophetess , as to mens eternal concerns , exactly serviceable to satan's designs , in such interpretation of the scriptures of truth , as to preach up , with all confidence , his lie , for salvation ; to them and their finally deceived hearers everlasting destruction . all this iezebel's children , her thoughts , doctrines , works or fruits , will be kill'd with eternal death ; burnt up , and destroy'd , for ever , rev. 2. 20-23 . by the wrong use of their own free-will , did evil angels , at first , set up for themselves , in a shadow of divine soveraignty , to be as gods , in the uncontroulable exercise of their own wills , as god is , in his infinite divine will. and , they soon drew mankind , in adam , to make the same choice , with them , to be as gods , telling them , that god knows they shall be so , and will own them , therein , as having made a right choice , for their everlasting blessedness , gen. 3.5 . in pursuance of this first destructive lie , as soon as any of mankind are restor'd into the life and righteousness of man , by the redeemer , satan is at the same point , with them , as , at first , in adam , and prevails with many such redeem'd ones , to strike up an everlasting covenant with him , in the first-creation-life of the creature , in unchangeable enmity to god and the everlasting life of their creator . to all such , god says , what have you to do , to take the words of my new and everlasting covenant , in your mouth , ( psal. 50. 16. ) as pretending to preach my gospel , when ministers of satan's other , no gospel , in a direct contrariety to mine ? gal. 1.6,7 . saints , by true regeneration , as born of god , do experience his working all their works in them , by his heavenly spirit , isa. 26. 12. what a surprizing , amazing answer , will all others find , at last day , from christ , we find , mat. 7. 21-23 . depart from me , ye that work iniquity . chap. xiii . the difference of the spiritualiz'd natural , from the spiritual understanding . man , in the former , is said to be a partaker of the holy ghost , or heavenly creature-gospel-spirit of christ , the living word of god , under highest spiritual enlightning gifts . these are the best gifts , to be coveted or desir'd , receivable by and upon man's natural understanding ; but short yet , of the more excellent way or the very spiritual life and gospel-principle of all right desire , thought and action . without this , call'd love , as rendring any true lovers and beloveds of god , fulfillers of the whole law , mind and will of god , after his own heart , all 's nothing , as to eternal life , 1 cor. 12. 31. & 13. 1 , 2. rom. 13. 8 , 10. the natural understanding ( with all such enlightning spiritual gifts , receiv'd thereon ) is to be given up , in sacrifice to god , with the life wherein exercis'd , for the new spiritual , eternal gospel-life of god , and true infallible understanding , therein . man , under all spiritual enlightning , discovering to him , the more excellent gospel-life of the creator , offer'd by a new creation , is yet liable , by satan's witchcrafts , with his own consent , to be fetch'd back again , from looking after , or owning christ's gospel-life , though known to be his unspeakable concern , to submit to god's terms and appointed way of receiving it , as the only way to find the salvation of heaven or scape the damnation of hell , gal. 3. 1 , 3. & 5. 7 , 8. thus prevalent was self-love , at first , in evil angels , under the clearest conviction of their unspeakable concern as well as duty ; and , they prevail to bring men , under the like knowledg of their eternal concerns , to make the same wrong destructive choice , to their known eternal ruine . they are perswaded by satan to receive his self-pleasing lie , that by a being made perfect in their flesh , the fleshly life of the creature , righteousness of man , they will find peace with god , and entrance into his kingdom . this , yielded to , and absolutely concluded , is the unpardonable and unrepentable sin against the holy ghost , heb. 6. 4-6 . & 10. 26 , 27. this sin excludes any , for ever , from any benefit of christ's meritorious sacrifice , leaving them nothing but a certain fearful looking for of wrath and fiery indignation , which will devour all such wilful , incorrigible adversaries ; forcing them to dwell with and under everlasting burnings , as in unchangeable union of mind , with the devil . all spiritual enlightning gifts , and thereby , understanding all mysteries , and having all knowledg of the will of god and their own eternal concerns ; and , speaking with the tongues of men and angels , in the utmost dexterity of organical or intuitive expression ; all , still , without love , or a partaking of the very life of the son of god , is nothing ; of no avail , at all , for their ever entring into his kingdom . in man's day of judging , such are the only true super-eminent spiritual saints : in god's , unchangeable enemies , and the highest sort of adversaries to him and his saints . in the ever-new life of god , given by a new creation , saints come to experience a new infallible spiritual understanding , and an incorruptible will , in harmony with the very infinite divine mind and will. in this life and principle of desire , thought , and action , can they answer that command , for loving the lord their god , with all their heart , soul , strength , and mind , and the true mystical neighbour , christ , in his gospel-life , and spiritual saints , born of god , therein : no fix'd law-spirited , however righteous man , loves , but hates the lord his god , and the true scripture-neighbour , christ and true saints , the new eternal gospel-life , in him and them ( head and members , one mystical body , ( 1 cor. 12.27 . ) the true neighbour ) with a perfect , unchangeable hatred . this may seem the dangerous case of the self-confident lawyer , that tempted christ , saying , master , what shall i do to inherit eternal life ? christ asks him , what 's written in the law ? how readest thou ? these are two distinct questions . the lawyer agreed with christ , in answer to the first , as to what was written in the law. but , was to seek , for answering the second , as to the right reading or understanding , in what spirit and principle of life , 't was ever possible to perform what was written , luk. 10 . 25-28 . the implacable haters of the true spiritual neighbours , christ and his brethren , will go away into everlasting punishment ; and the true lovers of them , into life eternal , mat. 25 . 31-46 . christ takes all hating and persecuting his gospel-saints , as done to himself , act. 9.4 . spiritually enlighten'd men , finally refusing to submit to the terms of receiving christ's offer'd spiritual , gospel-life ( though , a while , among gospel-saints , as members of the true church , owning gospel-truths ) will , at length , depart from them , and become their most signal antichristian enemies , 1 john 2. 18 , 19. such prove grievous wolves to christ's true sheep , ( act. 20. 29 , 30. mat. 10. 16. ) satan's choicest instruments , to disswade and draw away disciples after them , from looking after , or owning any such thing as christ's gospel-life , or doctrine thereof . hereby , become they the most criminal sinners , of all mankind . this , after they had run well , among true saints , owning gospel-truths . who did hinder or call them back , that they should not finally obey the truth ? gal. 5.7 . the devil . he , prevailingly , call'd them back , from what christ fairly offer'd , and invited them to , ver . 8. such become satan's chief apostles , ministers of his other gospel ; fitted for his work , in calling others back , from all gospel-truths , as diabolical illusions . so , do they shut up the kingdom of god , and set open satan's ; exclude , explode and deny all christ's gospel-truths , and preach up satan's lie , the life of the creature , given in the first-creation ( transform'd into the appearance of , and deck'd with all scripture-titles , belonging to the gospel-life of the creator , offer'd by a second ) as a state of true salvation . in this posture , and , at this work , did christ find the most enlightned teaching jews , matth. 23. 13 , 33. teachers of satan's other gospel , furnish'd with all wisdom , subtlety , eloquence and dexterity of expression , may thus be dressing up satan's lie , with all scripture-language of christ's gospel-truth , so as with their hearers to grow irrefragably confident ( under satan's strong delusion , and god's giving them up , thereto ) as verily to think , they are in a state of true salvation . thus , the renew'd old man , passes for the new creature ; restor'd nature , for a state of grace ; reformation of naturals , for regeneration into spirituals ; satan's and man's nothings , for god's all-things ; the restor'd mortal life and things of the creature , for the immortal gospel-life and things of the creator . so , the devil , god of this world , passes for the true god ; his kingdom , for god's ; his lie , for god's truth . where such are like to be , at last , see , 2 thess. 2. 10-12 . at this rate , all along this world ( satan's permitted reign , and man's day of judging , under him , in matters of religion , and remarkably , in this long anti-christian day of twelve hundred and sixty years , now near expiring ) have things gone . god's only things that are ( and will ever be ) his eternal gospel-life and things , pass for chimerical nothings , in man's day ; and man 's confidently reputed all-things , will be found nothing , in god's day of judging . man's highest wisdom calls nothing in his pretended divinity , by the right name ; but , the contrary , in all extremity . satan's gospel passes currant for salvation ; and christ's , for a blasphemous fiction of the devil , and madness . if it was reckon'd so , by eminent first-covenant righteous teaching and professing jews , in christ himself , what can his true followers expect ? iohn 10. 20. & 15. 18-20 . & 16. 1 , 2. all worldly honours , applauses , and rewards run on satan's side , to his reputed gospel-divines ; nothing but contradiction , reproach and persecution , are the usual recompence of christ's true ones , in this world ; under all which , they rejoice , in the certain fore-sight of their great reward , in the next , matth. 5. 11 , 12. act. 5. 41. satan offer'd christ himself , all the kingdoms of this world , if he would own him for god , and his false , law-gospel , for god's true : if not , crucify him , crucify him , says he , by the legal-spirited professing jews , iohn 19. 6. if he or his followers preach up another kingdom , contrary to mine , away with them , kill them , as traitors to me , and my earthly cesars , under me , in but my worldly life and principle ( though under the name , christian , and that of the highest rank , in but first-covenant-righteousness of man ) mystical infidels , as to christ's new-covenant gospel-life and righteousness of god. thus will matters go , while satan and his ministers are permitted to transform themselves into the likeness of christ , and his , 2 cor. 11. 13-15 . they carry all , before them , in this world ; christ and his , will have all , in the next , to eternity . chap. xiv . concerning the two covenants , first and second . the life , given angels and men , in their first-creation , was the principle of a first-covenant-communion with , and worshipping of god. many angels , and all mankind , in adam , by such knowledg of god , as they had , therein , by the things that were made , glorified him not as god ; were not thankful for what they had received , nor made the right use thereof , in sacrifice to his will , in order to receive the eternal gospel-life of their creator , by a new or second creation , the only principle of a new and everlasting covenant with him . they became vain in their imaginations , professing and owning themselves wise enough to know what was best for themselves to do , in their own first-covenant law-spirit of works , as not needing any other life or things for true happiness , in a second , rom. 1. 19-22 . god made man upright , ( eccl. 7.29 . ) pure and incorrupt , in the first , but not incorruptible , as in the second . all mankind are sad experimental witnesses of this , however many of them , all along this world , deny it with their mouths . the disputers of this world , under satan's inspirations , seek out many inventions , to defend and maintain their evil choice and false confidence in the first , ( as transform'd into the likeness , and disguis'd with all scripture-titles , belonging to the second ) in unchangeable enmity to god and the second . this greatest folly , as to their eternal concerns , are many guilty of , taking great pains to dispute themselves into everlasting destruction . they decry the new-covenant-life , and , therein , the wisdom and righteousness of god , which christ requires all , to seek after ( mat. 6. 33. ) and complains , that no man will , ( rom. 3. 11. ) while confident in his own fallible understanding , in which , he can never make one right step in the paths of life to himself , or peace with god , ier. 10. 23. prov. 20. 24. had the first-covenant-life ( given man , in his first-creation , or restor'd by the redeemer , since ) been faultless , ( or not defective , as to his true blessedness ) no place should have been sought , or appointed of god , for a second , by a new-creation , heb. 8. 7. mens establishing themselves in the first , in unchangeable enmity to god and the second , turns a visible people of god , inholy flesh , righteousness of man , into no people of god at all , but a synagogue of satan , hos. 1. 9. & 2. 2. revel . 3. 9. yet , when so , will they confidently , under satan's strong delusions , assert themselves to be the only true iews , or spiritual israel and church of god : but , lie . this will they say , when in unchangeable enmity to god and his true saints . such have been , all along this world , haters and murderers of true saints , prophets , apostles , and christ himself , for the life and doctrine of the second-covenant . true saints , under the inspirations of the almighty , are gradually ceasing from the labours of their own law-spirit of works , at best , or delighting to seed on the best fruits brought forth by them , therein , and to commit their way to the lord , to work all their works in them , ( isa. 26. 12. ) by his heavenly creature-spirit of grace , and to feed on such incorruptible spiritual fruits as are producible by them , therein . this is the true mystical fast and sabbath , which he has chosen , and requires men to keep , isa. 58. man is but a mystical tree of good and evil , in his own spirit , will and way ; a mystical tree of life , in god's . all outward , literal , bodily fasts , and sabbaths , though god's own appointments and ordinances , to the jews , without this inward mystical truth of all , rendred all their performances an abomination to god , and themselves a mystical sodom , ( isa. 1. 10-15 . ) worse than literal , matth. 11. 23 , 24. the delighting in , and feeding on the best fruits of our own spirits , in preference to god's , is the self-same thing with eve's apple , and our first transgression , in adam . all first-covenant life , wisdom , righteousness , works , and fruits of man's own law-spirit of works , are to be given up , in sacrifice to god , in order to our arriving at the happy experience of the spiritual , heavenly creature-life , righteousness and wisdom of god , working all our works in his spirit of grace and truth , ( iohn 3. 21. ) and bringing forth right fruits to him , rom. 7. 4. that the first-covenant life , given man in his first creation , was eternal , is satan's lie , ( carried on , all along this world , by all manner of disguises , in his evil angelical subtlety ) in opposition to god's truth , in the second . the law was given by moses , to direct to first-covenant righteousness of man , in the living soul of the first adam ; but grace and truth come by iesus christ , in the quickning spirit of the second ; iohn 1. 17. 1 cor. 15. 45. god rewards the righteousness of man , for a season , as a debt to him , ( rom. 4. 4. ) but takes away such rewards from saints , the inward comforts of a good conscience , there ; and , sometimes , outward also , by the permitted hands of evil angels and men , to make room in them for his eternal life and blessings , where all is of grace , both works and rewards . iob was a signal experiencer of both ; and paul also , with other saints ; phil. 3. 6-11 . all that passes in man's day of judging , and words of his own wisdom , for eternal life , will , in god's day of judging , be found , by all that trust thereto , eternal death . all first-creation life and things thereof , all works and fruits , done and brought forth , therein , will pass for nothing in god's day . the temporary wrath of god , bringing saints into the lowest hell , in this world , from which there is deliverance ( psal. 86.13 . ) is god's way for delivering them from the wrath and hell to come , which are eternal . the saints hell , in this world ( as plagu'd and chasten'd all the day long , psal. 73. 14. while enemies have more than heart could wish , v. 7. ) is their true purgatory , cleansing them from all filth of flesh and spirit , and god's way of bringing them into the never-sinning life and everlasting righteousness of his spirit of grace and truth . man , in his own spirit , will and way , at best , has no right knowledg of the true god ; or , god of this world , the devil ; or what the heaven or hell-part of the eternal world to come , amount unto ; so , on he goes , in the delusive pleasures of this mortal world , and things thereof , literal or mystical , within the reach of his natural understanding , without any looking after god , for his spiritual , heavenly , eternal , new-covenant life and things , without which , 't is impossible to find the salvation of heaven , or scape the damnation of hell. the death of man's spirit , at best , in but the restor'd first-covenant life of the creature , is the only way to find the life of the creator , in the second . the living soul of the first adam , has nothing , but what death will swallow up into victory . the life of the quickning spirit of the second adam , will swallow up all deaths into victory ; 1. cor. 15. 53 , 54. the deepest reason , and highest wisdom of man , in a first-covenant righteous life , is by death and total loss thereof , the only way to find all again , by way of resurrection , the very reason , wisdom and righteousness of god , in the quickning spirit of the second adam . paul obediently parted with all the former , for the latter ; phil. 3. 6-11 . god challenges the disputers of this world , standing up , with confidence , in defence of their own reason and wisdom , to produce their strong reasons , against him , and see what all will amount unto ; isa. 41. 21. 't is man's true interest and greatest reason , to give up his own reason and wisdom , for god's . iob was , a while , at this disputing trade of man , against god , as elihu charges him ; iob 34. 35-37 . at this work , we find him , under the cross , challenging the almighty to answer his strong reasons , in self-defence , and for his justification , in the life , wherein he had been eminently righteous ; iob 19. 6-11 . & 30. 1-10 . & 31.35 . when christ told any that enquir'd after eternal life , the parting with all they have , or can do , in their own spirit , was necessary to the finding eternal life , in his ; away they went , and walk'd no more with him ; mat. 19. 16-22 . mark 10. 17-22 . luke 10. 25. & 18. 18-23 . iohn 6. 66. all words of man's wisdom , are without any true knowledg , a darkening the counsels of god's wisdom , as to man 's eternal concerns . iob , that had been confident in the former , acknowledg'd what god charg'd him with ( iob 38. 1 , 2. ) when in the latter ; iob 42.3 . i utter'd that i understood not , things too wonderful for me , which i knew not ; so , darken'd the counsel of god , by words without knowledg . he that contends with , and reproves the almighty , can he answer it ? job 40. 2. chap. xv. the mystery of cain and abel , ishmael and isaac , esau and jacob. cain , ishmael , and esau were sad types of all those , that , with them , follow satan's whole counsel , in his mystery of iniquity , preferring the law-life of the creature , in the first creation , to the gospel-life of the creator , offer'd by a second . abel , isaac and iacob , were the joyful , happy types and patterns , in their persons and principles , of those that follow , obey , and declare the whole counsel of god , in the mystery and power of godliness , for the salvation of men , and preventing their damnation . all , fix'd in the former , under satan , unchangably hate and persecute the latter . in their holy flesh , righteousness of man , they fight against god's holy gospel-spirit and righteousness of god , in true spiritual saints . there 's , for a time , something of the cain , ishmael , and esau , even in saints , not only fighting and warring against the true abels , isaacs and iacobs , paul's case , before his gospel-conversion , ( acts 26. 9-11 . ) but also against the gospel-spirit and principle of life , desire , thought and action in themselves , after . this also , paul experienc'd , after an eminent apostolical , gospel-saint ; rom. 7. 15 , 19. and , he warns other saints to expect the like civil war and contests within them , between their fleshly and christ's spiritual mind in them , till nature ( in the thinking and desiring powers thereof , their own fallible understandings and corruptible wills , therein ) be fully crucified and silenc'd , in order to their living and walking in the undisturb'd infallible understanding and incorruptible will of christ's gospel-spirit of grace and truth ; gal. 5. 17. till this war be over , and victory over the carnal mind of nature , at best , compleated , are saints to be continually fighting the battels of the lord , against the foes of their own house or hearts , ( the most dangerous enemies , within them , tho not more subtle and potent than enemies without , evil angels and men ) till they come to live and walk wholly in the spirit of god , their gospel-principle ; and , mean while , to strive continually , more and more , so to walk ; ver . 25. as to enemies , without , the highest rank of professors in but first-covenant principles , fix'd there , in the restor'd law-life and righteousness of man , with confidence therein , for entring into the kingdom of god , these cains , ishmaels , and esaus , are the fiercest persecutors of true gospel-saints , in the partaken of life of christ's heavenly creature-spirit of grace and truth , and , verily think , they do god service , therein ; isa. 66. 5. iohn 16. 2. so thought paul , once ; acts 26. 9-11 . paul singles out the particular history of isaac and ishmael , in this point ; gal. 4. 22-31 . self-confident first-covenant ishmaels , mock and scoff at true spiritual isaacs , all along this world ; gen. 21. 9. and , even abraham , father of the faithful , was griev'd , and loth to part with his ishmael ( ver . 11. ) when sarah , as figure of the new-covenant spirit , requir'd it ; and god , in confirmation of her most just desire and advice , requir'd the same ; v. 12. iohn declares the same thing , figur'd in cain and abel , and in them , the murdering mind of enmity in a fix'd , self-confident first-covenant visible people of god , in holy flesh , law-righteousness of man , against an invisible people of god , in their gospel-life and righteousness , hid with christ in god ; col. 3. 3. cain slew his brother , because his own works were evil , and his brother 's righteous ; 1 john 3. 12. he was of that wicked one , ( born of , and in unchangeable union with the devil , in the first creation ) and , with him , in unchangeable enmity to god , and true saints , in the second . cain's works in the law-life of the first , in his own law-spirit of works , are , in man's day of judgment , the only good and righteous works , and his words of man's wisdom , the only right words for salvation ; and all true abel's works , and their words of god's wisdom , in his new-covenant gospel-spirit , contemptible and blasphemous . christ himself found this murdering mind of cain , in the most enlighten'd , righteous , professing first-covenant teaching and professing jews ; unchangeable enmity to his gospel-spirit , and whole counsel of god , by him declar'd to them , therein . on this account , he tells them , they , with their fathers , in the like cainish spirit of enmity , were guilty of the blood of all god's true prophets , shed from the foundation of the world , from the blood of abel , to that day ; luke 11 . 49-51 . and so will it be , to the end of this world , under satan's permitted reign , and man's day , under him , of judging in matters of religion and worship of god , so as nothing must pass for gospel , but what man pleases to give his approbation to . the jews built the sepulchres of the prophets , under pretence of paying honour to them , and owning their counsel , when with their fathers , murderers of all such , and in unchangeable enmity to all their words , rightly understood . if they had been in the days of their fathers , they say , they would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets ; mat. 23. 29-31 . under all these pretences , and self-deceiving imaginations , christ declares them , fix'd in the self-same murdering mind of enmity , with their fathers , against all true prophets , and himself also , as soon appear'd , and therefore ask'd them , how they could think to escape the damnation of hell ? ver . 33. since all such dealings of the jews with their own true prophets and christ himself , with his apostles , in the foretold long antichristian day , now near ending , how have unchangeable , idolatrous haters of christ and his gospel-truths and saints , been found under the name christian , building stately churches or temples to the honour of paul , peter , iohn , &c. who would , as certainly murder them , for their gospel-doctrine , were they now here , as others did , even in the primitive apostolical gospel-day . let men , under satan , interpret their gospel-writings , in a sutableness to their own wills , and so in a universal contrariety to the words of god's vvisdom , in them , and all 's well ; and they , with the apostles , in the way to eternal life and true salvation . all , void of a true living spiritual faith in christ's gospel-life , working by love to him , therein , are the unreasonable and incorrigible adversaries of true gospel-saints . paul shews the like figurative significancy in iacob and esau ; rom. 9 . 10-13 . esau mortally hated iacob , and god hated esau. esau's murdering mind of enmity to iacob , is express'd by himself ; gen. 27. 41 , 42. the like is notified , in all his murdering-minded followers , against god , christ , and his true spiritual iacobs ; obad. v. 8-10 . amos 1. 11. chap. xvi . concerning meer creaturality in angels and men in their first , and also , in their highest spiritual , second , new-creation capacities ; with some account of all , possible to be done by any in their first , and the differing ends of all , at last . having already spoken of the ready prepar'd hand , the exalted creature-son and branch in the mediator's person , the living word of god , as qualified and fitted for a first and second creating of angels and men ; come we , now , to consider , what they , both and all , amount unto , for ever , as but meer creatures , not only in their natural beings and life of the creature , given them by a first , but also spiritual beings and life of the creator , given by a second creation of them . angels were all created , at first , in their compleat personalities , invisible immortal beings , without any innate capacity of , or connatural tendency to the exercise of a threefold souly or animalish life , rational , sensual , and vegetable , in and by a fitly organiz'd body . as for mankind , they do gradually descend from one another , in a continued succession , generation after generation , for a compleating their personal beings , from the beginning to the ending of this mortal world. what became of angels , good and bad , by the first well-pleasing passive obedience of the former , and first unpardonable sin of the latter , has been above-spoken to , chap. 4. of this treatise . man , inferiour to angels , in their single intuitive natural understandings , ( tho in the same kind of mortal , earthly , first-covenant life ) is , in his compleated personality , a much more comprehensive being , than an angel. he is the most compleat shadowy image of god , on all accounts , in the whole natural , mortal , first-creation world , visible or invisible . this is signified concerning him , in distinction from angels and all other creatures , therein , created before him , in a readiness for his entertainment . of none thereof is it said by god , as of him ; let us make man in our image , after our likeness ( gen. 1.26 . ) as the compend or epitome of all other creatures , and something more , peculiar to himself , the rational exercise of his mind , in and by a body , found in no creatures , above or below him . so find we , a peculiar consultation of the three that are one , to draw an earthly shadowy image and representation of themselves , in every individual man. this enlargement of man's personal being , beyond angels , expos'd and rendred him liable to vain sinful desires and thoughts , so as to wallow in mire among satan's swine , feeding on husks , the lowest dust of this world ( below any palate in any evil angels , to savour , any belly , desire or appetite in them , to lust after , delight in , or feed upon , being never link'd with mortal bodies or sensual life ) pleasures , in common with brute beasts . so , the enlargement of man's being , beyond angels , was a diminution to his intuitive understanding , in common with them , and to the exercise of his natural will , as exposing him , to a running out in his desires , after the lower sort of desirables , in the vast heap of vanishing shadows , in the visible parts of this first-creation world. and evil angels , tho they care not for such things themselves , have power , through god's most wise permission , to shoot their fiery darts into mens spirits , and kindle in them evil lustings after such visible things , in which , they keep the far greater part of mankind , wallowing in mire , as their swine , far from any looking after god , at all . the soul , or threefold animalish , souly-life of man , distinct from his spirit , ceases , as to exercise , at the death of his body . the spirit , then , retreats to the full experience and exercise of its supream , intuitive way of discerning and converse with angels , good or bad ; in a spiritual intuitiveness , with the good , gospel-angels , or natural , with the evil , law-angels , ( lawyers ) from the beginning , on their first sin and fall ; setting up the law-life of the creature , given in the first-creation , against the gospel-life of their creator , offer'd by a second ; and so , their lie , against god's truth . the devil was a murderer from the beginning , ( john 8. 44. ) and his fix'd law-party of mankind , in the restor'd law-life-wisdom , and righteousness of man , have been , under him , the irreconcileable haters and murderers of christ himself and his gospel-saints , all along this world. at the death of the body , man ( good or evil ) is dead . his spirit is , for a time , strip'd of the threefold souly-life , as to exercise , that are essential ingredients , into his personal constitution . at last , saints will recover their bodies , in a resurrection of life , and , therein , the right exercise of their whole beings , body , soul , and spirit , in the incorruptible new-creation order of all , to eternity . incorrigible sinners , also will receive their bodies , in a resurrection of damnation , iohn 5. 28 , 29. saints , in their glorified bodies and whole personal beings , will be everlastingly blessed , in the enjoyment of god ; and incorrigible sinners , in their whole beings , most exquisitely sensible under god's everlasting curse and unquenchable wrath , without any hope or possibility of mitigation or end of their torments , to an endless eternity . 't is a most fearful thing , thus to fall into the hands of the living god , to be dealt with , in final wrath , and infinite revenging justice , ( heb. 10. 31. ) without any day's-man or mediator to stand between them and such wrath ; but , instead thereof , will he be their accuser , witness and pleader against them , judg and condemner of them , and the infallible irresistible executor of his infinite and everlasting wrath upon them . all this , will he do , so easily , as by the word of his mouth , by which he made them . with the breath of his lips will he slay the incorrigibly wicked , ( isa. 11. 4. ) satan , with his gog and magog , his innumerable multitude of evil angels , and serpentine seed of men. his breath , like a stream of brimstone , will kindle his unquenchable wrath upon them , both and all , as having rendred themselves , fitted perpetual fuel for it , in the tophet , ordain'd of old , the lake of fire and brimstone , prepar'd for the devil and his angels , with their innumerable serpentine seed of men , isa. 30. 33. rev. 20. 10. this will be the everlasting condition of all inhabitants of the earth , and of the sea , in distinction from the dwellers in heaven , who will have eternal joy and blessedness , in the sight and enjoyment of god , for evermore . all , that in this world , take up their rest and dwelling in but the earthly law-life and righteousness of man , as needing nothing , therein , for true blessedness ( rev. 3.17 . ) these inhabitants of the earth , will , with the inhabitants of the sea ( all that party of mankind , that wallow in the miry filths of literal sodom , foaming out their own shame ) find their portion in the same lake of fire and brimstone , in the hell-part of the eternal world to come , rev. 12.12 . isa. 57. 20. iude 13. dwellers in heaven , that have their conversation in heaven , ( phil. 3. 20. ) minds , fix'd on things above , the peculiar delights of the sons of god , these , only , have true joy in this world , and continual advantage , by all , god permits devils and men to do to them , in their implacable malice . so , they rejoice under all trials and injuries from evil angels and men ( matth. 5. 11 , 12. act. 5. 41. ) and wo is denounc'd to all sorts of incorrigible enemies of god and them , to eternity , after all their laughing and delusive merriment in this short-liv'd world. they 'l mourn and weep , eternally , luk. 6. 24-26 . under satan's reign , by his false prophets and apostles , true new ierusalem-saints , are counted the filth of the world , and off-scouring of all things , 1 cor. 4. 13. under christ's reign , they 'l be a praise in the earth ; for which , therefore , gospel-angels and saints continually pray , and never keep silence , isa. 62. 6,7 . this will saints come to , after a little time , spent , in this confounded mortal world , under and amongst a throng of innumerable enemies , evil angels and men. come we now to consider , what was ever possible to be done by angels or men , in their first-creation earthly life , at best , with reference to their finding eternal life , or scaping eternal death . the death and loss of all , therein , life , wisdom , righteousness , works , fruits , by passive obedience , in sacrifice to the divine will , is undispensably necessary , to the finding eternal life , the heavenly creature-life of the creator . in the methods of god's unquestionable wisdom , and appointments of his declar'd undisputable will , this is the way to eternal life . when any ask'd christ , what they must do , to inherit or find eternal life , and confidently asserted , all these things they had done , in the restor'd righteous life and wisdom of their own spirit , in their own will and way ; his reply upon them , and counsel to them , was , part with all this , and follow me , in the true regeneration , by death and resurrection , out of the death of the creature , into the life of the creator . to this effect , was christ's constant answer to such enquirers . and their constant rejecting such counsel , and departing from him , sorrowful and amaz'd thereat , we find , in these scriptures , matth. 19. 16-22 . mark 10. 17-22 . luk. 18. 18 -23. none can do the divine will of the father , but in the partaken of heavenly creature-life and will of the son ; nor , therefore , enter into his kingdom , mat. 7. 21. none but new creatures can ever come there , gal. 5.6 . & 6.15 . 2 cor. 5. 16 , 17. in the restor'd light of the first-creation , by him that lighteth every man that comes into this world , ( iohn 1. 9. ) ought all heathens to walk , and keep that kind of good conscience , that consists in a moral obedience thereto , as their principle . in the restor'd first-covenant law-life , ought men to walk , in such obedience to that higher knowledg of god , as amounts to the legal good conscience , withstanding all brutish lusts and sinful desires of their sensual life . but all this done , till the partaking of , and experiencing the life of the quickning spirit of the second adam , or a living spiritual faith therein , working by love to god , and walking therein , so as to have the evangelical good conscience , we have nothing of that eternal life , in which , only , any can ever enter into the kingdom of god. paul could truly declare to the jewish council , that he had liv'd in all these three sorts of good conscience before god , successively , one after another , in obedience to the light of nature , law , and gospel , act. 23.1 . and he found his evangelical good conscience , by living and walking in christ's gospel-spirit , ( gal. 5. 25. ) to comprehend and unspeakably out-do , all , performable by any , in the two former . this , indeed , is the only right performer of all duty to god and our fellow-creatures , in god's sight . all first-covenant life , receiv'd by angel or man , in their first-creation , is figuratively character'd in scripture , by flesh , grass , a fading flower , call'd a vain shew , or vanishing shadow ; all their natural excellencies and perfections therein , all , but a glory to be done away , in order to receive the heavenly creature-life and image of god , in christ , with the eternal things of god , therein , the wisdom and righteousness of god , isa. 40. 6-8 . 1 pet. 1. 24 , 25. 2 cor. 3. 10 , 11. satan , with all his humane disputers of this world , in the words of his and man's wisdom , against god's ; and for their way of salvation , quite contrary to his , ( isa. 55. 8 , 9. ) god challenges , in a holy contempt of their vain thoughts , to produce their cause , bring forth their strong reasons , for self-defence , and see what all will amount unto , isa. 41. 21. object . 1. will god destroy the first creation-works of his own hand ? will he take away man's reason , wisdom , and righteousness , bring to nothing all his good works and fruits , done and brought forth therein ? must the very life of our own spirit , at best , with all the things thereof , our own wills and vnderstandings therein , be given up in sacrifice to the will of god , by a holy death ? answ. yes ; and all , to our transcendent advantage , and greatest gain , in order to find all again , in a life above all deaths , and therein , an infallible understanding and incorruptible will , for the right knowing and doing all things , in answer to the very divine will of god most high. object . 2. does god require impossibilities of man , such obedience as 't is impossible for him to perform in his own spirit , will and way , at best , in the restor'd life and righteousness of man ? answ. yes ; but had provided an originally incorruptible , heavenly , eternal creature-life , in the mediator , to be given them in the room thereof , by a second or new-creation of them . this is a life above all deaths , temporal or eternal ; will swallow up death , in victory , isa. 25.8 . 1 cor. 15. 54. this life is figur'd by the wine in iotham's parable , ( iudg. 9. 13. ) cheering god and man , answering all , man can rightly desire of god , and enabling him to answer all , god requires of him . he that has not this life of the son of god , has not life ; not true , eternal life , 1 iohn 5. 12. quest. will the disputers of this world , still contend with their maker , in defence of their own wisdom , will , and way , against his , for salvation ? answ. they will , till satan's reign and man's day , under him , are at a full period . but , what are men like to get by this contest ? eternal death . true saints oft suffer a violent temporal death , from such self-confident contenders against god and them . man 's own fallible reason or wisdom perverts him , turns him away , from looking after the infallible wisdom and reason of god , to his own sudden unfore-seen everlasting destruction , isa. 47. 10 , 11. he searches the scriptures , thinks he understands those written oracles of god , yet never comes to christ , the living word of god , for the life , therein witness'd and declar'd , iohn 5. 39 , 40. the scriptures are a book seal'd , as to man's understanding ; that reaches not to the heavenly creature-life and things therein signified , under figures , types and shadowy similitudes , isa. 29.11 . all spiritual , salvation-truths , signified from the beginning of genesis to the end of the revelation , are fast lock'd up and hid from man's highest single natural understanding . the losing all , in our own law-spirit of works , is the only way to find and do all in god's spirit of grace , esphes . 2. 8-10 . 't is by grace , only , or in the never-sinning life of god's spirit of grace , in christ jesus , communicated to them , any can be finally sav'd ; never , in their own boasting law-spirit of works . having thus promiscuously consider'd sinners in their first-creation , and saints in the second , come we now to consider meer creaturality , in spiritual saints and angels , for evermore . spiritual saints , of the double-portion , making up god's new heavens , in their various distinct portions therein , from the highest to the lowest ; and gospel-angels , the supream in the single portion , with all variety of gospel-saints , therein , making up god's new earth , in true salvation-life , are all members of christ's mystical body . in the former , christ's peculiar dove , supream double-portion'd saints , in the twofold heavenly and glorified earthly life of christ , are the peculiar wife and bride of the lamb , revel . 19. 7. below these , in the double portion , are threescore queens ; and then , in the single , virgins without number , all , in a union of mind with her , praising her and owning her superiority to them , cant. 6. 8 , 9. there will be no envying of the highest , in the lower and lowest , nor any insulting of the highest , over the lower , in heaven , to eternity . they 'l all rejoice in the superiour and inferiour attainments of each other , as is figur'd in the higher and lower members of the literal body of man , all mutually rejoicing in the joys of one another , as compleating the joy of the whole body , 1 cor. 12. 12-27 . the various spiritual capacities in higher and lower saints , are figur'd by cups and flagons , isa. 22. 24. none of all these will ever pretend to a personal union with christ's creature-root , and less yet , with his infinite divinity , but only with the exalted creature-son and branch in him , the living word of god , the immediate creator of all , and performer of the whole divine will , on all , good and evil , for evermore , in heaven or hell. a world of gross errors concerning god , christ , and the eternal concerns of men , have been toss'd up and down in the various conceptions of man's fallible understanding , under the unperceiv'd influence of evil angelical rulers over this dark world , ( ephes. 6. 12. ) so as to blind and keep men from looking after god , for his all-discovering spirit of grace and truth , rom. 3. 11. chap. xvii . the ruling power of satan , over mankind , all along this world , as permitted god thereof , under god's infinite over-ruling wisdom and power . he is so call'd in the scriptures of truth ; god of this world. and he uses all his evil angelical subtlety and power , for the blinding and deceiving men , so as to keep them from any regarding or looking after god , for his gospel-life , wherein alone any can be saved , or ever enter into his kingdom , 2 cor. 4. 3 , 4. christ himself calls him prince of this world , john 12. 31. & 16. 11. & 14. 30. but , says of him , he hath nothing in me : nor shall be able to touch , or ever meddle with , so as finally to overcome any partakers of my all-powerful gospel-life , 1 iohn 5. 18. saints , therein , are fence-proof against all the gates , or strength of hell , all the powers of darkness , evil angels and men , rulers of the darkness of this world ( ephes. 6. 12. ) in their own dark-spirited worldly life and wisdom , of the first-creation . the first unpardonable sin of the evil angels , was their turning as they went , or were a while following christ , towards that life , he represented himself in , to them and the good angels , and in the passage thereto , by way of death and resurrection , in such transactions as had pass'd in the creature-part of his wonderful person , before they were brought forth . in a contrary demeanour to that of the good angels , they turned as they went , in love to themselves , in their own self-chosen mortal life , given them in their first creation , in unchangeable enmity to god , and the heavenly eternal creature-life of their creator , offer'd them , by a second . the good angels did let down their wings , ceas'd from the mortal life of their first creation , and exercise of their own fallible understandings and corruptible wills therein , signified by letting down their wings , in conformity to their head , in the death of the first creation , and resurrection into the life of the second . so , pass'd out of their own mortal first-covenant law-life , into god's own new-covenant gospel-life , of originally immortal holiness and everlasting righteousness ; ezek. 1 . 5-26 . the devil and his angels kept not their first estate , but left their own habitation ; jude 6. to man's wisdom , they , only , kept their first estate , the life and things given them , in their first creation . and , consequently , in the wisdom of human nature , is man ready to follow the evil angels first choice , as best . here 's the case of many , restor'd into the first-covenant or first-creation-life of the creature ; ready to establish themselves therein , as a state of true salvation . this paul fear'd , and labour'd to prevent in his israel-brethren ; rom. 10. 1-3 . at this dangerous point , were the corinthians and laodiceans , in the delusive first-covenant house of feasting and rejoycing ( 1 cor. 4. 8. rev. 3. 17. ) as not , at all , needing any other life , by a second or new creation , for their everlasting blessedness . on the first unpardonable sin of the evil angels , they were immediately cast down to hell , deliver'd into chains of darkness , to be reserved unto iudgment ; 2 pet. 2. 4. they , by their sin , fix'd themselves in their own self-chosen life , in preference and opposition to the eternal creature-life of their creator ; and god , in his righteous judgment , giving them up to , and thereby , fixing them in their own choice , was a casting them down to hell. in this hell , and their chains of darkness , are they rulers in this dark , mortal , first-creation world. the chains of darkness , in which they are reserv'd to the iudgment of the great day , are all life , wisdom , righteousness , excellencies and perfections of their angelical nature , given them in their first creation , as turn'd by their abuse of all , into the greatest wickedness , madness and folly , in unchangeable enmity to god , and his heavenly creature-life , shewn and offer'd them , by a second . so are they in a state , in all extremity , contrary to what they were created in , chang'd by self-destroying self-love , from a state of temporary changeable obedience , to a state of eternal , unchangeable enmity to god. an absolute exclusion of them from the kingdom of heaven , is called a casting them down to hell. god , not only gave them their choice , but also , in the abusive exercise of their self-chosen life , a permitted ruling power over mankind , all along this world , as god thereof , under the restraining , limiting , over-ruling infinite wisdom and power of the true god , so as that he can never hurt any true saints or subjects of god's everlasting kingdom . yet , even saints , for a time , are under their power . yea , he told christ himself , all the kingdoms of this world , and glory of them , were his , offering all , as his greatest bribe , to the true king in the world to come , in case he would fall down , own , and worship him , as god ; mat. 4. 8 , 9. luke 4. 5-7 . christ denied not , that all the kingdoms of this world were at his dispose , by god's most wise permission . he that said this to christ , in the fountain-purity of the first-creation , and full of that spirit of grace and truth , that 's offer'd by a second , what will he not do to saints before their experiencing any thing of gospel-life , or when but in some little beginnings thereof , and enemies within , foes of their own house , in their own spirits and whole nature , in union of mind with him , in enmity to god and his gospel-spirit , in themselves ? he is permitted a power of transforming his earthly spirit , into the likeness of christ's heavenly creature-spirit , that 's the mysterious house and temple of god ; and , therein , to shew and assert himself to be god , the very infinite divine being ; 2 thess. 2. 4. and , herein , is he undiscoverable by the highest single natural understanding of man , in but first-covenant principles , tho , indeed , the worst of all creatures , the supream man of sin , and son of perdition ; v. 3. this god of this world , who passes with man , for the true god , will not be able finally to blind and deceive any but them that are lost ; 2 cor. 4. 3. if it were possible , he would so deceive the very elect , by his false christs , evil angels , and his false prophets und apostles , amongst men , transform'd into the likeness of christ's true ones ; 2 cor. 11. 13-15 . clothing their own first-covenant law-life , with all scripture-language and titles , belonging to god's own heavenly creature , new-covenant gospel-life , as the true regeneration , new creature , state of grace , in which they have true joy , and final peace with god ; ezek. 13. 1-10 . all this is confidently asserted , by men , under satan's lying spirit of divination . with such , the renew'd old man , in the restor'd first-covenant law-life , given in the first creation , must pass for the new creature , without all scruple or contradiction ; and does so pass , in and with the most reform'd people or churches of this world , in but first-covenant principles . all worldly preachers and hearers , in but worldly , first-covenant principles , confidently take satan's other gospel , that 's no gospel , for christ's true ; gal. 1. 6 , 7. 1 iohn 4. 5. restor'd first-covenant law-life , is so far from rendring any , fence-proof against the evil angelical rulers of this world , that they make that , their strongest hold , and men , eminent therein , their choicest instruments , to oppose , dispute against , contradict and blaspheme the heavenly creature-life , and gospel-righteousness of god , wherein any can be sav'd . let satan , in his superiour evil-angelical wisdom , and men in their inferiour human wisdom , under his influence , interpret the scriptures , all , therein , shall seem to run current , for carrying on satan's design , to the everlasting destruction of his blinded teachers and hearers , leaders and followers . that shall be preach'd up , as a state of true salvation and final peace with god , which , if fix'd in , will be found a state of unchangeable enmity to god , and eternal death to man. all , establish'd in the first-covenant law-life and righteousness of man , in unchangeable enmity to the gospel-life and righteousness of god , go on , to their dying moment , with their delusive laodicean confidence therein , to their sad long eternal condition , in the world to come . paul was confident , awhile , but not fixedly , wilfully and unpardonably , in his law-spirit of works , against god's gospel-spirit of grace , in true saints ; but , immediately on gospel-conviction and conversion , gave up the life and righteousness of his own spirit , in sacrifice to god , in order to find all again with usury , in god's eternal , everlasting righteous gospel-spirit of grace and truth ; phil. 3. 6-11 . many , not only eminent in the wisdom of man , but under highest spiritual enlightning gifts ( receiv'd on their natural understandings , amounting to a partaking of the holy ghost ( heb. 6 . 4-6 . ) in the all-discovering light , but not the all-powerful life thereof ) are bewitch'd back again , by satan , to set up for themselves , in their own holy flesh , righteousness of man , life of the law , against god's holy gospel-spirit ; refusing to submit to the death of their own spirit , at best , for the life of his . this do they , tho they know christ himself , crucified that law-spirit of works , in the fountain-purity of it , in his own person ( gal. 3. 1 , 3. ) the preserving of which , was satan's attempt and design upon him , by himself , the jews , and peter , to have set up his kingdom , in ; luke 4. 5-7 . iohn 6. 15. matth. 16. 22 , 23. all 's nothing as to our ever entring into the kingdom of god , till we have that gospel-life of god , or a living spiritual faith , working by love to god therein ; 1 cor. 12. 31. & 13. 1 , 2. such a faith , only , renders any , true lovers and beloveds of god ; right performers of all duties , to god and their fellow-creatures . such as look back , after all convincing discoveries and offers of christ's gospel-life , for justification with god , in their law-righteousness of man , are fallen from grace ; gal. 5. 4. who hinders men , or calls them back , from christ's offer'd gospel-truth ? ver . 7. the devil and his human instruments , that shut up the kingdom of heaven , excluding and denying all such gospel-truths , by which any can ever enter thereinto . satan takes men alive , at his , and their own will , in the restor'd life and righteousness of man , as the highest snare , by which , to keep them from ever looking after the gospel-life and righteousness of god , therein ; 2 tim. 2.26 . the greek original runs thus ; that they may awake out of the snare of the devil , who are taken alive by him , at his will. christ requires all , to look after god , for his heavenly kingdom-life , and everlasting righteousness ( mat. 6. 33. ) and complains , that no man , while confident in his own understanding , will answer this advice , or seek after god ( rom. 3. 11. ) for his heavenly creature-life and things , which lie quite out of the reach of all single natural understanding ; 1 cor. 2. 9. neither morally righteous heathens , nor first-covenant jews or christians , regard or look after god , for his new or second covenant-life , in which any can be finally sav'd . but , where god wakens up any , out of their delusive dream for true happiness , in their own righteousness , whether jew or gentile , and gives them a living spiritual faith , working by love to him , in his gospel-life , all such will find the salvation of heaven . satan deceiv'd mankind , at best , in the primitive purity of their nature , in adam , assuring them , that holding fast the righteous life , they were first created in , and walking in the uncontroll'd soveraignty of their own will and wisdom , therein , they should be as gods. 't is the peculiar prerogative of god , so to live and be ; and the unpardonable presumption of any angels or men , to conclude and set up for themselves , in their own wills , so as never to be subject and obedient to his . obedient subjects of god , will be eternally blessed ; and all proud , presumptuous self-exalters , to be as gods , will fall under the everlasting curse and wrath of god. he that prevail'd with the first adam , in the primitive purity of our nature , when he found the second adam in the fountain-purity of our nature , a little lower than his angelical nature ( heb. 2. 9. ) he most presumptuosly tempted him , to fall down and worship him , as god. what work is he like to make with men , in but the restor'd life , wisdom and righteousness of man , with filth of spirit , enmity to god and his spirit of grace , under all ? in awaken'd gospel-saints , while any thing of the carnal mind and life of their own spirit remains uncrucified , he will be continually kindling the sinful lusts and desires of that , his own party , yet , in them , as paul found ; rom. 7.15 , 19. and 2 cor. 12. 7. hereby , does he endeavour to quench and extinguish the mind and life of christ's gospel-spirit in them , keeping up the war of their fleshly mind , his party in them , against their spiritual mind , christ's party , so that they cannot do the things they would ( gal. 5.17 . ) fully and constantly , till this war within them be finish'd , by a full extinguishing of the life of their own spirit , and mindings thereof . then are they freed from all filth of flesh and spirit , too , for ever . till then , tho they live in god's spirit , they do not continually and constantly , walk , think and speak therein , as is their duty and concern ; ver . 25. in all this combat and danger , saints , in a living faith , know their salvation sure , by a final victory over all enemies , without and within them . no devils or men shall ever be able to pluck them out of christ's all-powerful hand ; john 10. 28 , 29. when the god of this world , with his party of men , find , they cannot prevail with christ or his followers , by any worldly bribes or flattering self-pleasing offers , to turn from and disown any such thing as indeed is god's eternal gospel-life and truth , then go they to work , another way . when all allurements fail , they will , in the exercise of their implacable malice , try to fright them out of their gospel-profession , and , if permitted ( as oft they are ) to murder their bodies , christ himself was so dealt with by them , and warns his followers to expect the like ; iohn 15. 20. & 16. 1 , 2. evil angels and men have a kind of short , self-pleasing heaven , in this world ; and saints a short , and to their natural spirit , unpleasing purgatory-hell , by which , cleans'd from all filth of flesh and spirit . the former are ripening and fitting themselves for the eternal hell , and god is ripening and fitting the latter , for the eternal heaven , in the world to come . god's temporary wrath upon them , bringing them into the lowest hell , in this world , is his way , for delivering them , from the wrath and hell to come , that 's eternal ; psal. 86. 13. & 116. 3. 2 sam. 22.6 . nature in saints is sorely put to 't , in this hell-work of god upon them , in this world ; but know , god will not leave their soul there , for ever ; psal. 16. 10. tho chiefly spoken of christ , will these words , at last , be found true , in saints . all that god does to them , and all he suffers evil angels and men to do them , in their implacable malice , does god over-rule , to their greatest good . when satan appear'd or stood before the lord , before whom , he knew it was to no purpose ( because impossible ) to conceal his way of deceiving , in ahab's case , he down-right acknowledg'd it , that he would be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets . and god said , go , and do so ; thou shalt perswade him , and prevail also ; 1 kings 22. 22. thus did he prevail , as god's permissive hand , to the destruction of ahab . his four hundred false prophets , pleas'd ahab , to his ruin , and were highly esteem'd ; and , god's one true prophet that counsell'd him for his good , was cast by him into a prison , and fed with bread of affliction , and water of affliction ; v. 26. 27. he hated micaijah , the lord 's true prophet , as not prophesying , what he reckon'd good , concerning him ; but , loved and rewarded satan's false prophets , as pleasing to his own will , and after his own heart's desire . so , ieremy , who counsell'd king and people for the preserving their lives , was cast into a dungeon , where he sunk in the mire , while satan's false prophets pleas'd them , to their destruction ; ier. 38. 5 , 6. god's one true prophet , among the then only visible people of god , a fleshly first-covenant israel , found king , princes , priests and people , all , as one man , against him , while satan's false self-pleasing prophets were listen'd to , and rewarded . satan , that acknowledg'd to god , he would be a lying spirit in ahab's prophets , is so far from being discover'd by the highest wisdom or understanding of man , in but first-covenant or first-creation natural principles , that he will pass with them , there , for christ and god most high , when , indeed , the worst of all creatures ; 2 thess. 2,3,4 . where god permits this , and not only so , but , in judgment , gives them up to satan's man-pleasing strong delusions , for believing his lie , rather than god's truth , the issue will be , eternal death to their whole beings , spirit , soul and body , in a resurrection of damnation ; ver . 10 , 12. men are either brought by satan , in love to their own righteous earthly mortal life , given them in their first creation , to hate god's heavenly creature gospel-life , offer'd by a second ; or by the electing love of god , to hate their own life , at best , so as to give it up , in sacrifice to god , in love to , and as the only way for attaining and experiencing his new-covenant everlasting gospel-life , by a second or new creation ; ver . 13. this latter is christ's counsel ( luke 14. 26. ) in the mystery of godliness : the former , satan's , in his mystery of iniquity . satan's counsel is , for sparing , saving and keeping the life of the creature , given in the first creation : christ's counsel , is , for the surrender and loss of that , and all the things thereof , for the life of the creator , offer'd by a second , and things of god , therein . the keeping the former , in preserence and opposition to the latter , christ declares will be the loss of all life and righteousness , god's and man's too , on which , their whole beings , spirit , soul and body , will be laid down , for ever , in the nakedness of their own unpardonable guilt , under the unquenchable wrath of god , for evermore ; mat. 10. 39. & 16. 25. mark 8. 35. luke 17. 33. iohn 12. 25. man , not only eminent in the first-covenant life , wisdom and righteousness of man , but under highest spiritual enlightning gifts , on his natural understanding ( short of the very gospel-life of christ , or a living spiritual faith , working by love to him , therein ) is yet within satan's reach , to beguile , bewitch , and fetch back into an unchangeable union with him , in the first creation , and unchangeable enmity to god and his heavenly life , offer'd by a second ; 1 cor. 12. 31. & 13. 1 , 2. gal. 3. 1 , 3. & 5. 7. satan would keep all mankind , in the dead , corrupt state of nature , wallowing in mire as his swine , spending and ending their days in this world , in the brutish lusts of literal sodom . but , when cast out , as to this kind of work in them , as fast as any are brought by christ , out of such filth of flesh , into the righteousness of man , he attempts and frequently prevails to get into such mystical cleans'd houses , and fix them with himself , in filth of spirit , unchangeable enmity to god , and his everlasting righteous creature-spirit of grace and truth ; and then , he has a sevenfold surer hold of them , than ever ; mat. 12. 43-45 . luke 11. 24-26 . so comes the last state of that man to be worse than the first , in his corrupt nature . mary magdalen's and zacheus's , in the filth of corrupt nature , were capable of christ's true salvation gospel-life , and such righteous scribes and pharisees utterly uncapable thereof , or , therefore , of scaping the damnation of hell ; mat. 23. 33. & 21. 31. publicans are brought to justify god , and be eternally justified before him , while righteous pharisees and scripture-lawyers , in restor'd law-life and righteousness of man , reject the counsel of god , for receiving his gospel-life , to their everlasting destruction , luk. 7. 29 , 30. & 15. 1 , 2. & 19. 2-9 . fixure in law-life and righteousness of man , in unchangeable enmity to gospel-life and righteousness of god , renders men , mystical sodomites , in filth of spirit , worse and more criminal sinners than literal sodom , in filth of flesh , mat. 11. 23 , 24. but , corrupt nature or filth of flesh , fix'd in , with literal sodom , is unpardonable , also . and , therein , do the greater part of mankind , run their race in this world , from their cradles to their graves . take and put together all , of both the said sorts of mankind , in the broad way to everlasting destruction , under satan's prevailing influence , and they 'l be found wonderfully to out-number , christ's few in the narrow way to heaven , mat. 7. 13 , 14. yet , will they be a numberless multitude also , out of all generations , revel . 7. 9. many of satan's two parties , fix'd in the corrupt or righteous spirit of nature , against god and his gospel-spirit of grace , oft die , without any remorse or fear , as to any by-standers observation ; without any right knowledg of the true god , or false god of this world , heaven or hell , till in the latter , beyond all remedy , for ever . yet , farther , satan will not only exercise his permitted ruling and tempting-power over mankind , all along this world , but after his imprisonment at beginning of christ's thousand years reign on earth , and his loosening out of it , at the ending thereof , will he , as his last and most transcendently presumptuous attempt , rally up his gog and magog , his innumerable multitude of evil angels and men , and in the transform'd appearance and counterfeit guise of angels of light and true saints , besiege the new ierusalem-city of true saints , in the very glory of the resurrection , revel . 20. 1-3 . & v. 7-9 . this last attempt of satan and his party of angels and men , will have no success at all . immediate will be the decision of this intended battel , by fire from god out of heaven , to devour them all ; casting them , with the devil that deceiv'd them , into the lake of fire and brimstone , where to be tormented , for ever and ever , ver . 10. then creation ceases , and all angels and men good and bad , finally concluded in their eternal conditions of joy or sorrow , unspeakable , in heaven or hell. chap. xviii . concerning heresies and hereticks . the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies option or choice , all variety of humane opinions , in which men chuse to set up for themselves , with confidence for salvation , contrary to the sound fundamental principles of religion , and right worship of god in his gospel-spirit of grace and truth , in which alone any can be sav'd , iohn 4. 23 , 24. all , short or destitute of this spirit , or a living spiritual faith therein , working by love to god , worship they know not what , or whom , ver . 22. all , in but their own worldly spirit or principle , at best , in the restor'd light or life of the first-creation ( and conclusively setting up there , with confidence for salvation , as a state of eternal life and peace with god ) will be found , at last , unpardonable hereticks , sinners against the holy ghost , in unchangeable enmity to the gospel-spirit of grace and truth , offer'd by a new-creation , in which , alone , any can ever enter into his kingdom , or scape the damnation of hell. evil angels were the supream hereticks , in their first sinful choice of their own earthly , mortal first-covenant-life , given them , in their first-creation . they soon prevail'd with all mankind , in adam , to make the same choice . in mankind , when by christ restor'd into the light and life of the first-creation , and therein , but the understanding and wisdom of man , whoever do conclusively set up for themselves therein , as a state of true blessedness , do become with evil angels , unpardonable hereticks , sinners against the holy ghost , rejecting the whole counsel of god , and denying his gospel-life , in which , only , any can be sav'd . man , in his highest fallible understanding , for judging , and corruptible will , for chusing , in matters of religion and worship of god , is under the power of satan , to deceive and impose upon him . hence , are all the doctrines and words of man's wisdom , about eternal life and peace with god , heresy . in all the various conceptions , and language of man's wisdom , we find a world of contrary opinions , and disputes , amounting to a mystical babel . they will , all , in one mind , reject and disown the gospel-life and truths thereof , as the grand universal heresy of all . scribes , pharisees , essen's , herodians , &c. among the enlighten'd , righteous professing first-covenant jews , were all , as one man , against christ himself , for his gospel-truth . they said , he had a devil , and was mad ; that he was a blasphemer , a sabbath-breaker , a wine-bibber , a friend of publicans and sinners ; an enemy of righteous men , most uncharitably sentencing them to the damnation of hell ( mat. 23.33 . ) and taking up mary magdalen's and zacheus's , publicans and sinners , into the salvation of heaven . these were the strange , wonderful appearances , christ and his doctrine , and way for eternal life , had , in the sight and understanding of wise , righteous , first-covenant , saint-like people . what wonder ? none , in that principle of understanding can see , know , own or receive the gospel life and things of god ( 1 cor. 2. 9. ) the new-covenant principle of true salvation , which , therefore , is universally denied by them all , as a diabolical illusion . many , that come to be true saints , at last , may be found , for a time , with paul , deeply engag'd , in a murdering mind of enmity to true saints , for their gospel-principle , and doctrine , in the words of god's wisdom . but , all that fix there , become unchangeable enemies to god and them . all final builders on the sandy foundation , the mortal , earthly , perishing life of the first creation , will deny , contradict and blaspheme all that are built on the firm , sure , rocky , gospel-life of god , in which , alone any can ever enter into his kingdom . what these differing builders will come to , in conclusion , christ declares ; mat. 7. 24-27 . the righteousness of man , in scribes and pharisees , is not that , in which , any can ever enter into the kingdom of heaven ; mat. 5. 20. the righteousness of god , in his new and everlasting gospel-life , which christ requires men to seek after ( mat. 6. 33. ) this only will give all the happy partakers thereof , an entrance into his kingdom . the imputed righteousness of god , to the compleating the imperfect personal righteousness of man ( for a first-covenant communion with , and worshipping of god in that principle ) is still but the fading beauty , and righteousness of man , in and with which , he is liable to play the harlot with the devil , in enmity to christ , as offer'd to be a spiritual head , lord , bridegroom and husband to them , in his heavenly , eternal gospel-life , by a new creation of them . so , come they to be judg'd as mystical and most criminal adulterers and murderers ; ezek. 16. 14 , 15. & v. 38. imputed righteousness or comeliness of god , to man , in the first-covenant , on man's abuse of all , in him , in union with the devil , is withdrawn again , and he , for ever depriv'd of all or any benefit of christ's sacrifice , in our nature ; heb. 10. 26. in the second covenant gospel-life of god , man comes to have the righteousness of god , in him , under and with christ. this is a life , a wisdom , a righteousness and a glory never to be done away . in this , only , can any enter into the kingdom of heaven . this is as much above the righteousness of man , as the heavens are higher than the earth . thus are god's thoughts and ways for salvation , as far above man's thoughts , and words of his own wisdom , as the literal heavens are higher than the earth ; isa. 55.8,9 . god requires the plucking out our right eye , cutting off our right hand and foot , when finding our selves therein offended at his way of saying us ; and so , offensive to god and to our selves , as to our own truest interest and greatest concern , for finding eternal life , or scaping eternal death ; mat. 5. 29 , 30. and 18. 8 , 9. mark 9. 43-48 . this , with other like requirings of god , are not to be understood , in a literal sense ; nor , if so perform'd , would answer the counsel or command of god. we may give our whole body to be burn'd , and yet be destitute of that spirit of god , call'd love ( rendering all the happy partakers thereof , true lovers and beloveds of god ) and so of no value with god , or true advantage to our selves ; 1 cor. 13. 3. so , the selling all that we have , and give to the poor ( mat. 19.21 . mark 10.21 . luke 18.22 . ) the mystical truth of such commands , relates to the mystical riches of man's law-spirit of works , and fruitfulness of his own nature , therein ; all which , are to be given up , in sacrifice to god , for the durable life and heavenly treasures of his gospel-spirit of grace , in them . the right eye , hand and foot , to be pluck'd out , cut off , and cast away from us , are , in mystery and truth , the most enlighten'd natural understanding , signified by the right eye ; the best practice in our own will and way , and most righteous walking , in our own law-spirit of works ; all such , seeing , working and walking , are to be given up and parted with , in passive obedience to the will of god , in order to find all again with unspeakable gain , by seeing , working , walking , and doing all things , in the gospel-life of god , the only principle of everlasting , well-pleasing , active obedience to him , and blessedness to us . in the infallible understanding of his spirit , can we know all things , and in the incorruptible will thereof , can we do all that god requires of us . god himself , therein , works all our works for us ( isa. 26. 12. ) and we work all our works , in him . these are the only works , that will not be burnt up , at the last day ; iohn 3. 21. all christ's gospel-words , seem'd hard sayings , even to his disciples , while known to them , but as a fleshly bridegroom , in a restor'd first-covenant principle of seeing , working and walking ; iohn 6. 60. to give up all inward riches of their own spirits , all righteousness , wisdom , works , fruits ( every thing , given them in their first creation , or done by them , therein , at best ) this seems a hard saying , exceeding strange and amazing to man's wisdom . the very disciples were exceedingly amaz'd at such words of christ , saying , who then can be sav'd at all ? mat. 19. 24 , 25. this was a narrower question , than he ask'd , that said to christ , master , are there few that be saved ? luke 13.23 . if there be no possibility of entring into the kingdom of god , by the best , man can do or be , in the restor'd life , wisdom and righteousness of his own nature , he is ready , with the disciples , to ask the same question . consequently , is he ready to deny the truth of christ's saying , and that as a duty to god , that sure , he would never require more of man , for his true blessedness , than the utmost he can do , in the life , given him , in his first creation , or restor'd since . the disputers of this world , under satan's delusive influence , in defence of their worldly principle of life , desire , thought and action , will never have done , till the ending of the devil's reign , and commencing of christ's . such disputers are not to be striven with , but , in meekness instructed , and if they 'll hear , well and good : if they be peremptory and conclusive , in their own fallible understandings , contradicting and blaspheming all right gospel-words of counsel , for true salvation , saints may pray , and desire other saints prayers , for a deliverance from such unreasonable men ; who ( tho temporary believers in , and owners of christ , in the restor'd first-covenant-life and righteousness of man , which he crucified in himself ) are mystical infidels , as to that new-covenant gospel-life and righteousness of god , he is ascended into . they call all the right words and doctrine thereof , a blasphemous fiction . here 's the pass , true new-covenant saints , with their spiritual faith in christ's gospel-life , are at , with first-covenant believers , in their restor'd law-life . all contests with them , amount but to a vain , unprofitable jangling . such teachers of the law , understand neither what they say , nor whereof they affirm ( 1 tim. 1.6,7 . ) utterly denying the gospel-principle of true love to god and our fellow-creatures , in which , alone , possible to be obey'd and fulfill'd ; rom. 13.8 , 10. but , still , this remains to be the saints duty , with paul , to become all things to all men ( 1 cor. 9. 20-22 . ) stooping and condescending to all kinds and degrees of understanding , in the light of nature , law , and gospel , owning what 's good , in any ; but , in order to lead them into , and build them up in , what 's unspeakably better , christ's gospel-spirit of everlasting righteousness and infallible truth . they will , also , as their duty , bear with such , as at present , persecute them , as blasphemers of the law , by preaching the gospel-cross and death-work of god's heavenly , on their earthly law-spirit of works , at best . this , man's wisdom calls a blaspheming or evil-speaking of the law , moses , and god ; acts 6. 11-13 . paul was at this work , for a time , in his own law-spirit : yet , at length , became a most eminent preacher of the gospel ; and then , was as fiercely persecuted , by such as he once was , in their own law-spirit of works . in man's day of judging in religion , and interpreting the scriptures in the words of his own wisdom , all his preachings and writings , therein , will exactly conduce to the carrying on the whole counsel of the devil , in his mystery of iniquity , for the damnation of men , and preventing their salvation . and , as in church , so in state-affairs , may we see what man 's deepest reason and wisdom amounts unto , as to his own eternal concerns in the case and end of achitophel . his counsel was , as if a man inquir'd at the oracle of god , and that , under such a man of god , as was king david . in conclusion , on god's crossing him , and disappointing his counsel , in the case of absalom , he hang'd himself ; 2 sam. 16. 23. & 17. 23. thus , is man ( trusting to his own understanding , at best , for directing his steps ) gone , at every turn , in this world , and the world to come . to enumerate particular heresies , all along , since the primitive apostolical gospel-day ( and , remarkably , in our own day , and nation , within the compass of sixty years ) would be endless , and to no end . if god's gospel-truth , be evidenc'd , and receiv'd , all the disputes and controversies , manag'd in the fallible understanding of man , on all hands , about satan's lie , in his mystery of iniquity , will be discover'd , and laid in the dust. chap. xix . concerning true charity or love. true spiritual saints , in god's gospel-spirit , call'd love , are the only right performers of all duty to god and their fellow-creatures , therein . they have a right love to all men ( not known to be fix'd in enmity to god and them ) and a peculiar brotherly kindness to the houshold of faith , christ's and their spiritual brethren . yet , are none reckon'd by men , in their own wordly life and wisdom , at best , so universally uncharitable , as reckoning all , below their spiritual principle of true life , to be in great danger of damnation . men , in the restor'd life , wisdom and righteousness of their own spirits , are ready to say to them , as the disciples said to christ himself , who then can be sav'd , at all ? are all mankind damn'd , both corrupt and righteous ? this amazing truth , renders saints , in all appearance , the most uncharitable of all men. if all the world wonder after the beast , and worship the dragon , that gives power to his human beast , his false prophets and apostles ( in their wordly first-creation principles , at best , all righteousness and wisdom of man ) what a most uncharitable , censorious creature , must the true saint appear to be ? rev. 13. 3-7 . if all that dwell on the earth , fix and set up for entring into the kingdom of heaven , in but their own earthly life , in which none can ever enter thereinto , what must christ's few in the narrow way , whose names are written in the book of life of the lamb , slain from the foundation of the world , be accounted ? v. 8. they that are of the world , in but the earthly life of the first creation , preach up that , in the righteousness , wisdom and glory of it , as a state of eternal life ; and the world , all in that principle , hear and own their doctrine , as god's gospel-truth . we are of god , says iohn , he that knoweth god , heareth us : he that is not of god , heareth not us ; 1 joh. 4. 5 , 6. what is man's wisdom like to say , to this ? you are in the right principle for salvation , and all , short thereof , or contrary thereto , in a delusive perswasion , doing , saying and worshipping they know not what . this is your most presumptuous , uncharitable and unwarrantable opinion of others , and a justifying your selves , as the only true people of god. the first-covenant righteous teaching and professing jews said to christ , they were born of god , and that he had a devil , and was mad ; joh. 8.48 . and 10.20 . and 8. 52. now we know that thou hast a devil . here 's the language of a first-covenant people , fix'd in their own earthly spirit , concerning christ himself and his followers , by the death of that , into the life of his heavenly ; his holy ghost , they call the devil . while the god of this world passes for the true god , with any , what other language can be expected from them ? if the world hate you , says christ , ye know that it hated me , before it hated you ; joh. 15. 18. it was the highest rank of men , in the worldly spirit , a righteous visible people of god , that contradicted , blasphem'd and murder'd christ himself . what can his true followers expect ? his chusing them out of the world , his transforming them , by death of their own earthly spirits , and resurrection into the life of his heavenly , will render them hateful to all , fix'd in their own earthly ; ver . 19. true saints in christ's gospel-spirit , can answer that command of god , in sincerity and truth ( mat. 5. 44. ) love their enemies , &c. they can truly forgive other mens trespasses against them . these are commands , too hard for man , in his own nature and spirit , at best , to answer . the right performing them is an infallible evidence of their being born of god's heavenly creature-spirit , or holy ghost ; ver . 45. they that pray , god would forgive their trespasses against him , as they forgive others trespasses against them , in case they do not so forgive others , they pray , in effect , god would not forgive them ; mat. 6. 14 , 15. true saints , on all accounts , are truly and universally , the only right performers of all duties to god and their fellow-creatures , by a true universal charity or love to all men , not fix'd in enmity to god. such , 't is their duty , in union of mind with god , to hate with a perfect hatred ; psal. 139. 21 , 22. christ himself said , of our nature in the fountain-purity of it , i can of my self do nothing ; john 5. 30. the only doing principle , for everlasting well-pleasing , active obedience to the divine will , in me and my followers , is my heavenly creature gospel-spirit of grace and truth . against this spirit of truth , god permits satan to carry on his mystery of iniquity , by transforming his earthly , into the likeness of christ's heavenly creature-spirit , that 's god's house , and as sitting in that temple of god , shewing himself to be god. and then , are his ministers ( preaching up the righteousness of man , only , for eternal life ) transform'd into the likeness of the gospel ministers of the righteousness of god ; 2 cor. 11. 13-15 . they dress up satan's and their earthly , with all the titles belonging to christ's heavenly spirit ; and are receiv'd and own'd , beyond all dispute and question , as true ministers of the gospel . where satan , in and by his party , among men , sits on the judgment-bench ( rev. 2. 13. ) and gospel-saints forc'd to stand at the bar , all right gospel-words , for their defence , will be reckon'd matter of condemnation to them , without any need of other witnesses against them . christ himself was thus handled . he has spoken blasphemy , says the high-priest , what think ye ? guilty of death , say the iews , as his jury ; on which they did spit in his face , and smite him , saying , prophesy unto us , thou christ , who is he that smote thee , mat. 26. 65-68 . they not only condemn'd , but ridicul'd him , in their proceeding towards the murdering of him . this did they to him , who had that spirit in him , which created all angels and men. true saints give no ground for any to despair of salvation , who are not guilty of the unpardonable sin against the holy ghost , in a fix'd wilful , unchangeable enmity to the gospel-spirit of god. they also endeavour , by all condescensions , ways and means , to bring them into the knowledg and right owning of christ's gospel-truth , in which , alone , any can be sav'd . final refusers of their gospel-counsels , will persecute them , for their pains , as has been experienc'd in all times . and , we are now drawing near to , yea , are in the worst of times , since noah's flood , under the permitted exercise of satan's great rage , because he knows he has but a short time , to the finishing of his reign over mankind , rev. 12. 12. all manner of wickedness encreases and abounds , more and more , continually ; such wars , tumults and confusions , of all sorts , as now are , have not been the usual experience of former days . all tends to the running down the present generation , towards that midnight-darkness ; a state , in which , christ declares , that at his second coming , he shall find the world , at near the same pass , mankind were found in at the flood ; mat. 24. 37-39 . luke 18. 8. under all these discouragements , saints have an infallible fore-head-sight , what matters will come to , on all hands , at the winding up of all , in the final love or wrath of god. then , the unwarrantable charity of men , warranting salvation and peace with god , in a principle , where never to be found , will be sadly and remedilesly experienc'd by themselves and their blinded followers , to have been the leading their hearers into everlasting destruction , with themselves . then all persons and things , all words and doctrines , will be call'd by the right names . under satan's permitted reign , all things in religion and the worship of god , have been call'd by wrong names , all along this world , and will more and more confidently be so call'd , to the full ending thereof . in these last days , and near approach of the second coming of our lord , will there be more scoffing at any such thing , and a more universal disregard and denial of the spirit he will come in , than ever , 2 pet. 3. 3 , 4. chap. xx. the conclusion of this whole treatise , shewing the security of true saints , all along this troublesom confounded world ; wherein god never suffers the rulers of this dark world , devils or men , to do any thing to them , in their implacable malice , but what his infinite wisdom and power over-rules into a constant conducibleness to their greatest good. this , with many other things , are the matters of this concluding chapter . true saints have god , and christ himself , on their side , in a partnership with them , under all the blasphemous contradictions of men , to their words of god's wisdom , words which the holy ghost , his gospel-spirit in them , teaches . in blaspheming such words , they blaspheme christ himself and god most high. christ say'd to such as search'd the scriptures , in but their own understandings ( and thought they had eternal life , in such obedience as was performable by them , in the restor'd life of their own law-spirit of works ) ye will not come to me , the living word of god , for my gospel-life of grace and truth , in which only , any can be sav'd , or enter into my kingdom , iohn 5.39,40 . from the same infallible mouth of god , we have a yet seemingly harder saying than this ; no man can come to me , except the father which hath sent me , by the attractive power of his electing love , draw , bring and give him to me , john 6. 44. and , i will give eternal life to as many as the father hath given me , ( john 17. 2. ) to all , whose names are written in me , the living word and book of life , ( revel . 13. 8. ) predestinated to be conform'd to me , in that heavenly , eternal creature-life , into which i was exalted , as the lamb slain , from the foundation of the world , out of the death of the first-creation , into the life , appointed to be given angels and men , by a second , rev. 13. 8. rom. 8. 29. the attaining eternal life , is not of him that willeth , nor of him that runneth , in the life , will and understanding of his own spirit , at best ; but of the will of god , who will shew to whom he please , such mercy , as is the free-grace-gift of quite another life , will and understanding , than was given angel or man , in their first-creation , rom. 9. 16. the election , or elect from among mankind , will obtain what they seek for , even eternal life ; the rest will be blinded by satan , and find eternal death , rom. 11.7 . these , with many the like sayings in the scripture , seem exceeding hard to man's wisdom , in which , if the attaining eternal life , or scaping eternal death , be not in the power of his own will ; and if the things of god , in his eternal gospel-life , be quite out of the reach of his own understanding , so as that it is impossible to be sav'd , in his own will and way , he is ready with his strong reasonings to charge god himself with unrighteousness , as requiring impossibilities , rom. 9. 14-21 . man , with all his strong reasons , when he produces his cause , and stands up in his own defence against god , will be found less or worse than nothing , isa. 41. 21 , 24. all seeming hard sayings , in the scriptures of truth , about mens eternal concerns , ( the finding eternal life , depending singly and meerly , on the electing love of god ) exclude none from the hope of a share or portion therein , till guilty of the unpardonable sin against the holy ghost or gospel-spirit , and so , of unchangeable enmity to god. even gospel-saints know not who are elected of god , till it appear to them , by the self-evidencing fruits of christ's gospel-spirit , in them . on this account , paul knew his gospel-converts , amongst the thessalonians , to be the elect of god , 1 thess. 1.4,5 . those that are elected of god , and shall be true saints , are born , with all others of mankind , dead in trespasses and sins , ephes. 2. 1. col. 2. 13. could the self-confident righteous scribes and pharisees , think mary magdalen and zacheus , the elect of god , while in the same corrupt spirit of nature , with other publicans and common sinners , in filth of flesh ? could awaken'd gospel-saints think paul elected of god , when they saw him a fierce persecutor , and blasphemer of all gospel-truths ? none are absolutely excluded from a hopefulness of a share in god's electing love , and so of finding eternal life , till fix'd by their own sinful , unpardonable choice ( and god's righteous judgment upon them , in giving them up thereto ) in filth of flesh or spirit , corrupt or righteous nature , rendring them a literal or mystical sodom , in unchangeable enmity to god and his gospel-spirit of grace and truth . no scriptures , rightly interpreted and understood , give ground to any , for despairing or giving up all hopes of god's electing love , save to the two abovesaid sorts of sinners . a distrusting our own understandings , and wills , at best , as to the finding eternal life , or ever answering the whole mind , will , and counsel of god ; such a kind of despair , is a duty , of high concern ; and , a false confidence therein , is exceeding dangerous , as answering satan's whole counsel , to our eternal destruction . god forewarns us hereof , ier. 10. 23. prov. 3. 5-7 . none will finally take this warning , but the elect , and not they , till the dormant seed of gospel-life , unknown to themselves , be actually quicken'd and waken'd up in them . the words of god's wisdom and counsel about our eternal concerns , are universally contrary to the words of man's wisdom . christ told the self-confident law-righteous scribes and pharisees ( who reckon'd themselves and followers , such as were born of god , ( iohn 8. 41. ) and could not miss the salvation of heaven ) they were serpents , a generation of vipers , that could not escape the damnation of hell , mat. 23. 33. he calls them hypocrites , not as pretending , only , to , and not really experiencing the righteousness of man ; but , as accounting themselves , therein , the only true saints , in the kingdom-life and righteousness of god , when in unchangeable enmity thereto . all such interpreters of scripture , exploding , denying and blaspheming christ's gospel-life and truths , in which any can ever enter into his kingdom , are said to shut up the kingdom of heaven , disswading any that are looking after that life , in which , alone , possible to enter into it , as a most dangerous delusive fiction , ver . 13. except our life and righteousness be quite of another kind , than the law-life and righteousness of man , to wit , the gospel-life and righteousness of god , by a new or second-creation , we can in no wise , enter into the kingdom of heaven , matth. 5. 20. the highest rank of antichristian enemies to true saints , and their doctrine of grace , in the words of god's wisdom , are such righteous men , who set up for salvation , in the same law-principle of restor'd nature , as christ found the teaching and professing jews , in . under all blasphemous contradictions , and persecuting-work of such as set up in the restor'd earthly law-life and righteousness of man , in preference and opposition to the heavenly gospel-life and righteousness of god , saints have god on their side ; who can be against them , ( rom. 8.31 . ) so as to do them the least harm ? 1 pet. 3. 13 , 14. whatever devils or men , as god's permissive hand , can , in their implacable malice , do to them , is infallibly overrul'd by god's infinite wisdom and power , for their greatest good. they are secur'd from any hurt , by the great red dragon , or any of his innumerable serpentine seed of mankind , rev. 12 . 3-5 . what was the issue of the first war , in heaven , between michael and his angels , in the heavenly life and glory of the new or second-creation , and the dragon and his angels , in the earthly life of the first , we find , v. 7 , 8. they were utterly excluded out of heaven , from ever entring thereinto , as transform'd by themselves into the guise or appearance of true gospel-angels of light. and , by such deceitful work , does that old serpent , the devil and satan , deceive the whole world , ( v. 9. ) all , in but the worldly principle of life , and righteousness of man. by such deceitful transforming work of satan and his angels of darkness , into angels of light , and his ministers of but the righteousness of man , into the likeness of christ's true gospel-ministers of the righteousness of god , does he decry all gospel-truths , as the greatest heresies and blasphemies in the world. christ himself suffer'd himself , to be so dealt with , by them . when saints declare the gospel-life , and assert , that therein , only , any can ever enter into heaven , or scape the damnation of hell ; they do not deny that any in the corrupt or righteous life of their own nature or spirit , can ever come to experience christ's gospel-life , or enter into his kingdom ; but endeavour to be instrumental , under christ , for leading them thereinto , 2 tim. 2. 24-26 . quest. does the gospel-doctrine of true salvation discourage or condemn the righteousness of man , in the honest moral heathen , walking in a sutableness to the rational light of nature , restor'd by christ , in all mankind , as a light which lighteth every man that comes into the world ? john 1. 9. does it discourage the righteous first-covenant iew , or christian , walking in his higher kind of good conscience , in the restor'd first-covenant law-life , as his principle , owning the imputed righteousness of christ , there , for the compleating him , in a first-covenant-communion with , and worshipping of god ? consequently , does it judg and condemn the moral heathen , or legally righteous first-covenant iew or christian , for teaching and exhorting others , to walk in such obedience to god , as is performable in the said light of nature , or life of the law ? answ. nothing of all this , is justly imputable to the right teaching of the gospel . moral and legal righteousness of man is good for himself and his fellow-creatures in this world , ( iob 35. 8. ) and better in god's sight , than gross wickedness , injustice , vile affections and brutish lusts : but , as to entring into the kingdom of god , in the world to come , not at all , available , gal. 6. 15. god himself testified of iob to the devil , that there was none like him in the earth , a perfect , upright man , fearing god and eschewing evil , job 1. 8. the devil ( knowing iob , in all this , to be rewarded of god , as a debtor to him , ( rom. 4. 4. ) for such righteousness , in a plenty of this world 's temporary good things ) replied , v. 9 , 10. hast thou not bless'd the work of his hands , and encreas'd his substance in the land ? take all this away again , and see , if he curse thee not to thy face , v. 11. god puts it into satan's power , to be instrumental , herein , for the trial of iob's patience , and carrying on the work of his cross upon him , in a conducibleness to his greatest good. his ten children are kill'd by a great wind , blowing down the house , where they were feasting ; all his goods were taken away by wicked men , under the influence of the devil . thus far , iob did bear his trial , without sinning , or charging god , foolishly ; blessing the lord , that gave him , and then took all the said gifts away , again , from him . then satan desires the liberty of smiting his body , and god grants him a limited power , as to that . then satan moves his wife , to counsel him , to do what himself , had said to god , ( iob 1. 11. ) curse god and die , chap. 2. 9. job rebukes her , saying , shall we receive good from god , and not evil ? in all this did not iob sin with his lips , job 2. 5-10 . but , when he felt the cross or death-work of the spirit of god , on his very spirit , as to the life , wisdom , and righteousness of man , and satan's permitted working upon him , in this hour and power of darkness , he was sorely put to his utmost trial , and utter'd many hard words against god's strange and wonderful dealings with him , reflecting upon his faithful walking , ( iob 29. 2. ) so as not , in the least , to deserve any such dealing of god with him , iob 3. & 19. 1-11 . & 31. 35. he desires that the almighty would answer him . here 's the case and demeanour of the mirror of patience , next the lord himself , under all sufferings , in our nature . elihu charges him with multiplying his words against god , job 34. 37. the lord himself charges him with darkning counsel , by words without knowledg , chap. 38. 1 , 2. he saw not , as yet , or understood the unspeakable advantage of all this strange dealing of god , with him . so , contended with the almighty , and therein , reprov'd god himself , chap. 40. 1 , 2. he reflected upon his former condition and flourish in all worldly prosperity , and such an eminency in wisdom and righteousness , that when he open'd his mouth in counsel , princes refrain'd talking , and nobles held their peace ; now , children of fools abhor'd him , made him their song and by-word , not sparing to spit in his face , iob 29. 9 , 10. & 30. 8-10 . he comes , at length , to abhor himself , in such a change of life and mind , for the better , as to rejoice in seeing all the fading glory , wisdom and righteousness of his own spirit , turn'd into dust and ashes , as the way of god , for experiencing his heavenly creature-life , above all deaths , and his eternal good things , therein , the righteousness and wisdom of god , and his living and working all his works , in god's spirit of grace and truth . but , in the hundred and forty years of his life , after all this , we hear not a word of such high esteem with men , as when eminent in the wisdom , and righteousness of man. were the restor'd life and righteousness of man , all that god requires of him , for entring into his kingdom , godliness would be no mystery . the light of nature , in all men , convinces , judges and condemns all gross sins , vile affections and brutish lusts in all others , and themselves also , who are guilty thereof . and , then , also , satan would have no mystery of iniquity , to make use of , in his destructive practisings upon mankind . but , for this , he has , not only all the wisdom , righteousness and glory of the first-creation , in himself and men , to deceive them , by ; but a permitted power , also , to transform all that , in himself and men , into the appearance and likeness of christ's gospel-life , and righteousness of god , and by his ministers amongst men , to dress it up with all scripture language and titles of the very gospel-truths of god ; regeneration , new-creature , and the like . so does satan , as the supream mystical whore of babylon , with his whole babylonish party of evil angels and men , ( furnish'd with all glory of the first-creation , and counterfeit appearances also of the second ) carry on his work , in the womanish spirit of nature , against god's manly spirit of grace , as deck'd and adorn'd with all worldly glory , pomp and beauty , and having a gilded ( not golden ) cup , full of abominations , by which , to deceive , if possible , the very elect , and , infallibly , all others , into everlasting destruction . even iohn , the peculiarly beloved disciple , an eminent apostolical saint , marvel'd to see the pomp and glory of satan and his whole party , herein , and in all that , call'd , mystery , babylon the great , mother of harlots , and abominations of the earth ; all , amounting to a rebellious fixing in the earthly life of the creature , in unchangeable enmity to god , and the heavenly creature-life of the creator , offer'd by a new-creation . the righteousness and wisdom of man are the best sort of things , in nature's first-creation ; spiritual enlightning gifts are the best gifts , towards a new-creation , receivable by the natural understanding ; and yet , man , in all these advantages , short of the very gospel-life of god , or a living spiritual faith therein , is nothing , has nothing that will give him entrance into the kingdom of god , 1 cor. 12. 31. & 13. 1 , 2. the best things in nature , are corruptible , and if corrupted , become the worst of all things . the highest light , wisdom and righteousness , therein , establisht , in preference to the marvelous light , wisdom and righteousness of god , offer'd by a new-creation , is the greatest darkness , wickedness and folly , of all , mat. 6.23 . mystical babylon and sodom is worse than literal , mat. 11.23,24 . the prevailing power and danger of self-love , did most signally appear in the first sin of evil angels . under the clearest knowledg of the will and command of god , that was possible to be given to their supream natural intuitive understandings , for the right use of their natural beings and life , given them in their first-creation , in order to the second , they turn'd away from god's offer of the latter , in love to themselves , in the former . this did they , in a known rebellion against god , and a known contrariety to their own unspeakable concern , for finding eternal life or scaping eternal death . they preferr'd the life of the creature in themselves , to the life of the creator , in himself , in an unchast , adulterous , murdering mind of unchangeable enmity to their creator , as offer'd to become their lord , bridegroom and husband , in the life of that all-powerful spirit , that gave them their own beings and life , by a first-creation . they added to this first unpardonable sin , the drawing all mankind , in adam , to make the same evil choice , for themselves . and , all along this world , when any are restor'd into the life of the first-creation , and brought under high spiritual enlightning gifts , convincing discoveries and offers of the heavenly creature-life of god by a second , evil angels do attempt , and prevail with many , under such advantages , to fetch them back again , from christ's offer'd eternal gospel-life of the creator , in his holy spirit , and set up for themselves in their own holy flesh , or earthly life and righteousness of man. gal. 3. 1 , 3. & 5. 7 , 8. balaam and saul , with many others , are signal instances of such apostacy from christ , under the prevailing influence of evil angels . the spirit of the lord came upon saul , so that he was among the prophets of god , under the enlightning gifts thereof , by which god turn'd him into another man , gave him another heart , to see , know , and seek after him . but , he turn'd from god , and the spirit of god departed from him ; and when his life was in danger , he ask'd counsel of the devil , in a known witch , what would become of him , 1 sam. 10. 6 , 9 , 11. & 16. 14. & 28. 7. balaam , taken by the lord , for a time , out of the hands of the devil , was forc'd , contrary to his own and the devil 's , and balak's mind , to bless , instead of cursing israel . he declares , that he heard the words of god , and knew the most high , saw the visions of the almighty , numb . 24. 16. he pray'd , that he might die the death of the righteous , and that his last end might be like his , numb . 23. 10. he tells balak , if he would give him his house full of silver and gold , he will speak what the lord says , chap. 24. 13. after all this , the holy ghost in peter , charges him , with loving the wages of vnrighteousness , 2 pet. 2. 15. when he found himself disabled to curse israel , he counsell'd the midianitish women , to go amongst them , to allure them to whoredom , and so , to cause the lord to appear against them , numb . 31. 16. and , listing himself in the midianites army , was slain , with the five kings of midian , by the israelites sword , v. 8. none , in the restor'd life of man , and under the enlightning discoveries and offers of the gospel-life of god , are out of satan's reach , till born of god. then have they a life in them , which the evil one cannot touch , 1 john 5. 18. all restor'd life and righteousness of man , renders men but natural branches in christ , servants in the house of god , liable to be turn'd out again , and cast into unquenchable fire , john 15. 1-6 . & 8. 35. in all restor'd law-life , and freedom of their own wills , men are under the law , and under the curse , ( gal. 3. 10. ) in danger of the final condemning power thereof , while destitute of that gospel-life , that 's the only continuing principle of infallible everlasting well-pleasing obedience to god. this brings with it , into man , the glorious liberty of the sons of god , wherewith christ makes men free indeed ; in a free will to good only , under an impossibility of ever doing evil , therein . the will of man , in new-creation-life , is in unchageable harmony with the very divine will. in this , he never sins . but , in his own will , till fully crucified , the saint continually sins , opposing and fighting against his spiritual will , that never sins , 1 iohn 3. 9. & 1. 8. rom. 7. 15 , 19. gal. 5. 17. in the first-creation , at best , man was but a mystical tree of good and evil , but changeably good , and liable , by his own choice , to become unchangeably , unpardonably , and unrepentably evil . in the second , he becomes a particular tree of life , under and with christ , amongst the innumerable multitude of blessed angels and saints , unchangeably good , and under an impossibility of ever becoming unchangeably evil . the uncontroll'd soveraignty of our own will , at best , and the highest light of our own understanding , fix'd in , is the greatest darkness and bondage . the unchangeable subjection and captivity of our will to the will of god , is the glorious liberty of the sons of god , 2 cor. 10. 5. man , in all the light , life , wisdom and righteousness of the first-creation , ( restor'd by christ , as the common-salvation-benefit of his death in the fountain-purity thereof ) is still within the compass of satan's universal monarchy or kingdom of this world , in opposition to the marvellous light and glorious liberty of the sons of god , in christ's reigning gospel-spirit of the world to come . the old serpent was too hard for humane nature , and so , for all mankind , in adam , at best , in the primitive purity , and personal perfection of all first-creation-life and things . we must quit all kindred with the first adam ; yea , with christ himself , as a husband and head to us , in but the restor'd fleshly life and righteousness of man , to be married to him as our spiritual lord , and bridegroom , in that quickning spirit of the second adam , his gospel-spirit of true holiness , 2 cor. 5. 16. & 1 cor. 15. 45-47 . ephes. 4. 24. christ crucified the living soul of our nature , in himself , by which , he purchas'd the restoring of that , in mankind ; and , therein , also , became an unerrable pattern to them , for the right use thereof , in passive obedience to the will of god , in order to the attaining that heavenly , eternal , incorruptible creature-life , he ascended into , which is the only principle of everlasting well-pleasing active obedience to god , and blessedness to man. man , in his first-creation , at best , before his fall , had but a fallible understanding and a corruptible will. and , what was fallible , satan could and did deceive : what was corruptible , he could and did corrupt : all mankind are sad experimental witnesses of both . and , the same things can he do to any , in but the restor'd life and righteousness of man , of the first-creation sort , ever since . if we consider the small part of mankind this day , under the name , christian , and even amongst them , so call'd , somewhat rare to find such as walk in obedience to the common light of nature , as honest moral heathens , and much less yet , as first-covenant believers in christ , and much less yet , as having a living spiritual faith in his second-covenant gospel-life ; all this put together , and consider'd , evidence the near approach of christ's second coming , of which himself has said , that when he comes , shall he find faith on the earth , ( luke 18. 8. ) a faith in that gospel-life , he will come in ? both wise virgins , in new-covenant gospel-principles ; and foolish ones , in but first-covenant law-principles , cleans'd from filth of flesh , only , will be found all slumbring and sleeping , matth. 25. 1-12 . yet , will he own the wise , but to the foolish , he will say , i know you not ; so , matth. 7. 21-23 . in the dark midnight-season to both , will he come , to the amazing surprize of the foolish , and unspeakable joy of the wise. all are requir'd to watch ( the time of his coming , being unknown to both and all ) mat. 25. 1-13 . 't will be a like amazing surprize to the far greater number of mankind , as the flood to the old world ; or fire from heaven , on sodom , luke 17. 26-30 . the day or time of his coming , is kept secret , from the knowledg of spiritual saints , and the very angels of heaven , matth. 24. 36. ( yea , and from the son himself , mark 13. 32. ) saints are requir'd , therefore , to watch continually , not knowing the time of his coming , v. 42. a thousand years with the lord is as one day ; and one day as a thousand years , 2 pet. 3.8 . 't was said , sixteen hundred years ago , this is the last time , ( 1 john 2.18 . ) and , yet a little while , and he that shall come , will come , and will not tarry beyond the appointed time , for his second coming , heb. 10. 37. hab. 2. 3. a day , an hour , a little time , in god's account , may be a long time , in man's . when the disciples ask'd christ ( after his resurrection , and ready to ascend into the glory , he will come again , in ) wilt thou at this time , restore again the kingdom to israel ? his answer was , it is not for you ( or any ) to know the times or seasons , which the father has put in his own power , act. 1. 6 , 7. satan can be willing , man should be presumptuously fore-telling , with great confidence , what is utterly unpossible for him , to know ; that , while busy about an impossibility , he may be so ignorant and regardless of the gospel-spirit and glory , he will come in , as may render his second coming , most amazingly frightful to him , amongst and with millions of others , who will be found in unchangeable enmity to that spirit , he will come , in . yet , after all this , and god's withholding the knowledg of the time thereof , 't is man's duty to observe the fore-running signs of christ's approach , mat. 16.3 . and , such signs are now remarkable , beyond all former days ; the harvest seems very near ripe for the sickle of god's vengeance , the press full , the fat 's overflowing , the wickedness of mankind , exceeding great , ioel 3. 13. this is a great sign , that the day of the lord is near , v. 14. but , preparatory to the lord 's personal appearance , will he send his gospel angels , to gather his elect together out of all mankind , that day , on earth , ( mat. 24. 31. ) and they will call up his gospel-witnesses , from amongst men , into an association with them , in the said work , rev. 11. 12. that gospel-dispensation will be accompanied with a more abundant wonder-working and gospel-converting power , than was experienc'd in the primitive apostolical gospel-day . this preparatory dispensation , by gospel-angels and saints , may seem to be , as to the duration thereof , forty five years , dan. 12. 11 , 12. this dispensation , will be but the sign of the son of man in heaven , ( mat. 24. 30. ) not his very personal appearing . in this preparatory dispensation , will evil angels , as false christs , with their false apostles , amongst men , in their transform'd appearances of christ and his true ones , be permitted to make their utmost opposition to true gospel-angels and saints . satan , with his evil angels , will not be excluded from such delusive practices , by his false apostles , till christ comes forth in his own person . then , they 'l be imprison'd in the bottomless pit , and disabled to deceive mankind any more , till christ's thousand years reign be fulfilled , revel . 20. 1 , 3. after christ's thousand years reign , satan will be loos'd out of his prison , and permitted with his gog and magog , his innumerable multitude of evil angels and men ( transform'd into the guise of good angels and saints ) to compass the camp of saints , god's new ierusalem-city , in the very glory of the resurrection , as their last and most transcendent presumption , on which , immediately to be destroy'd , for ever , revel . 20. 7-10 . saints will be immediately taken up into their eternal heaven ; and all enemies will be thrust down into their eternal hell. then , to all eternity , in heaven , will saints and angels acknowledg and ascribe their eternal blessedness , above all conception and wonder , to god's infinite free-grace-mercy and electing love , as the single and only supream distinguishing cause thereof , from those that perish , forever , under his everlasting curse and unquenchable wrath. the oft saying the same things , and quoting the same scriptures , on several occasions , is no other than is found in the very scriptures , where the same things are oft said by the various pen-men thereof ; and , by the same , also . finis . books , publish'd by the author . first part of evangelical essays — 1666 book of nature — 1667 on the whole book of iob , the two epistles to timothy , and sixteenth chapter of numbers — 1677 reign of christ — 1679 on the whole book of ecclesiastes — 1680 gospel-catechism — 1688 the two last , and this are sold by william marshal at the bible in newgate-street , and iohn marshal at the bible in grace-church-street . this is also sold by andr. bell at the cross-keys in the poultrey . the ansvvere of mr. richard hooker to a supplication preferred by mr walter travers to the hh. lords of the privie counsell hooker, richard, 1553 or 4-1600. 1612 approx. 56 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 18 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a03584 stc 13706 estc s104190 99839929 99839929 4391 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a03584) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 4391) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1026:03) the ansvvere of mr. richard hooker to a supplication preferred by mr walter travers to the hh. lords of the privie counsell hooker, richard, 1553 or 4-1600. jackson, henry, 1586-1662. [2], 32, [2] p. printed by ioseph barnes, and are to be sold by john barnes dwelling neere holborne conduit [, london], at oxford : 1612. a reply to: travers, walter. a supplication made to the privy counsel. edited by henry jackson. cf. folger catalogue, which gives signatures: a-d⁴ e² . e1 is in two settings: recto catchword is (1) "beene" or (2) "haue". reproduction of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early 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walter, 1547 or 8-1635. -supplication made to the privy counsel -controversial literature -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-05 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2005-05 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the ansvvere of mr. richard hooker to a svpplication preferred by mr walter travers to the h h. lords of the privie counsell . at oxford , printed by ioseph barnes , and are to be sold by john barnes dwelling neere holborne conduit . 1612. mr hookers ansvver to the supplication that mr travers made to the counsell . to my lord of canter-bvrie his grace . my dutie in most humble wise remembred . may it please your grace to vnde : stand , that whereas there hath beene a late controversie raised in the temple , and persued by m. travers vpon conceit taken at some words by me vttered with a most simple and harmelesse meaning in the heate of which persuit , after three publique invectiues silence being enioined him by authority ; he hath herevpon for defence of his proceedings , both presented the right honorable ll. and others of her maiesties privie counsell with a writing , and also caused or suffered the same to be copied out and spred through the hands of so many , that welnigh al sorts of mē haue it in their bosomes ; the matters wherewith i am therein charged being of such qualitie as they are , and my selfe being better knowne to your grace , then to any of their hh . besides ; i haue chosen to offer to your graces hands , a plaine declaration of my innocencie in all those things wherewith i am so hardly and so heavily charged , least if i still remaine silent , that which i doe for quietnesse sake be taken as an argument that i lacke what to speake truely and iustly in mine owne defence . 2 first , because m. travers thinketh it is expedient to breed an opinion in mens minds , that the roote of all inconvenient events which are now sprung out , is the surly and vnpeaceable disposition of the man with whom he hath to doe , therefore the first in the ranke of accusations laid against me is my inconformitie which haue so little inclined to so many and so earnest exhortations and conferences , as my selfe he saith can witnes to haue been spent vpon me , for my better fashioning vnto good correspondence and agreement . 3 indeed when at the first , by meanes of speciall welwillers , without any suit of mine , as they very well knowe , ( although i do not thinke it had been a mortall sinne in a reasonable sort to haue shewed a moderate desire that way ) yet when by their indeavour without instigation of mine , some reverend and honorable , favorably affecting me had procured her maiesties grant of the place , at the very point of my entring thereinto , the evening before i was first to preach , hee came and two other gentlemen ioined with him : the effect of his conference then was , that he thought it his duty to advise me not to enter with a strong hand , but to change my purpose of preaching there the next day , and to stay till he had given notice of me to the congregation , that so their allowance might seale my calling . the effect of myne answer was , that as in place where such order is , j would not breake it ; so here where it never was , i might not of mine owne head take vpon me to begin it ; but liking very well the motion , for the opinion which j had of his good meaning who made it , requested him not to mislike my answer though it were not correspondent to his mind . 4 when this had so displeased some , that whatsoever was afterwards done , or spoken by me , it offended their taste , angry informations were daily sent out , intelligence given far and wide what a dangerous enimy was crept in , the worst that iealousie could imagin was spoken and written to so many , that at the length some knowing me wel , and perceiving how iniurious the reports were which grew daily more & more vnto my discredit ; wrought meanes to bring m. travers and me to a second conference . wherin when a cōmon friend vnto vs both , had quietly requested him to vtter those things wherewith he found himselfe any way grieued , he first renewed the memory of my entring into this charge by vertue only of an humane creature ( for so the want of that * formalitie of popular allowance was then censured ; ) & vnto this was annexed a catalogue , partly of causlesse surmyses ; as that i had cōspired against him , & that j sought superiority over him ; & partly of faults which to note i should haue thought it a greater offence then to commit , if i did account them faults and had heard them so curiously observed in any other then my selfe , they are such sillie things ; as praying in the entrance of my sermons only & not in the end , naming bishops in my prayer , kneeling whē i pray , and kneeling when i receaue the communion with such like , which i would be as loath to recite as i was sory to heare them obiected , if the rehearsall thereof were not by him thus wrested from me . these are the conferences wherewith i haue beene wooed to entertaine peace and good agreement . 5 as for the vehement exhortations he speaketh of , i would gladly knowe some reason wherefore he thought them needful to be vsed . was there any thing foūd in my speeches or dealings which gaue thē occasion , who are studious of peace , to thinke that i deposed my selfe to some vnquiet kind of proceedings ? surely the speciall providence of god , j doe now see it was , that the first words i spake in this place , should make the first thing whereof j am accused , to appeare not only vntrue , but improbable to as many as then heard me with indifferent eares , & doe j doubt not in their consciences cleere me of this suspition . howbeit j graunt this were nothing if it might bee shewed that my deeds following were not sutable to my words . if j had spoken of peace at the first and afterwards sought to molest and grieue him , by crossing him in his function , by storming if my pleasure were not asked and my will obeyed in the least occurrences , by carping needlesly sometimes at the manner of his teaching ; sometimes at this , sometimes at that point of his doctrine ; i might then with some likelyhood haue beene blamed as one disdaining a peaceable hand whē it hath beene offered . but if j be able ( as j am ) to proue , that my selfe haue now a full yeare together borne the continuance of such dealings , not only without any manner of resistance ; but also without any such complaint as might let or hinder him in his course ; j see no cause in the world , why of this i should be accused , vnlesse it be least j should accuse , which j meant not . if therefore i haue given him occasion to vse conferences and exhortations vnto peace , if when they were bestowed vpon me j haue despised them ; it will not bee hard to shewe some one word or deed wherwith j haue gone about to worke disturbance : one is not much , j require but one . only i require if any thing bee shewed , it may be proved , and not obiected only as this is , that i haue ioined with such as haue alwaies opposed to any good order in this church , and made themselues to be thought indisposed to the present estate and proceedings . the wordes haue reference as it seemeth , vnto some such things as being attempted before my comming to the temple , went not so effectually perhaps forward as hee which devised them would haue wished . an order as i learne there was tendred , that communicants should neither kneele , as in the most places of the realme ; nor sit as in this place the custome is ; but walk to the one side of the table , and there standing till they had receiued , passe afterwardes away round about by the other . which being on a sudden begun to be practised in the church , some sat wondering what it should meane , others deliberating what to doe : till such time as at length by name one of them being called openly thervnto , requested that they might do as they had bin accustomed which was granted , and as m. travers had ministred his way to the rest , so a curate was sent to minister to them after their way . which vnprosperous beginning of a thing , ( saving only for the inconvenience of needles alterations otherwise harmelesse ) did so disgrace that order in their conceipt who had to allow or disallow it , that it tooke no place . for neither they could ever induce themselues to thinke it good , & it so much offended mr travers who supposed it to be the best , that he since that time , although contented himselfe to receiue it as they do at the hands of others , yet hath not thought it meete they should ever receiue it out of his , which woulde not admit that order of receiving it , and therefore in my time hath beene alwaies present not to minister but only to be ministred vnto . 6 another order there was likewise devised but an order of much more waight and importance . this soile in respect of certaine immunities & other specialties belonging vnto it seemed likely to bear that which in other places of the realme of englād doth not take . for which cause request was made to some of her maiesties privie counsell , that whereas it is provided by a statute there should be collectors & sidemen in churches , which thing or somewhat correspondent vnto it this place did greatly want , it would please their hh . to motion such a matter to the ancients of the temple . and according to their honorable manner of helping forward al motions so grounded , they wrote their letters , as i am informed , to that effect . wherevpon although these houses never had vse of such collectors & sidemen as are appointed in other places , yet they both erected a box to receiue mens devotion for the poore , appointing the treasurer of both houses to take care for bestowing it where neede is , and graunting further that if any could be intreated ( as in the end some were ) to vndertake the labour of observing mens slacknesse in diuine duties they should be allowed , their complaints hard all times , and the faults they complained of , if mr alveyes priuate admonition did not serue , then by some other meanes redressed , but according to the old received orders of both houses . whereby the substance of their h. letters were indeed fully satisfied . yet because mr travars intēded not this , but as it seemed an other thing , therefore notwithstanding the orders which haue beene taken and for any thing i know do stand still in as much force in this church now as at any time heretofore : hee complaineth much the good orders which he doth meane haue beene withstood . now it were hard if as many , as any way oppose vnto these and the like orders in his perswasion good , doe thereby make themselues to be thought dislikers of the present state and proceedings . if they whom he aimeth at haue any otherwise made thēselues to be thought such , it is likely he doth know wherein , and will i hope disclose to whom it appertaineth , both the persons whō he thinketh & the causes why he thinketh them so ill affected . but whatsoever the men be , doe their faults make me faulty ? they do if i ioine my selfe with them . i beseech him therefore to declare wherein i haue ioined with them . other ioining then this with any man here i cānot imagin : it may be i haue talked or walked or caten or interchangeably vsed the duties of common humanitie with some such as he is hardly perswaded of . for i know no law of god or man by force whereof they should be as heathens and publicans vnto me that are not gracious in the eies of another man perhaps without cause , or if with cause , yet such cause as he is privie vnto and not i. could he or any reasonable man thinke it a charitable course in me to obserue them that shewe by externall courtesies a favorable inclination towards him , and if i spy out any one amongst them of whom i thinke not well , herevpon to draw such an accusation as this against him and to offer it where hec hath given vp his against me ? which notwithstanding i will acknowledge to be iust and reasonable if hee or any man liuing shall shew that i vse as much as the bare familiar companie but of one who by word or deede hath euer giuen me cause to suspect or coniecture him such as here they are tearmed with whom complaint is made that i ioine my selfe . this being spoken therefore & written without all possibilitie of proofe , doth not mr travers giue me over great cause to stand in some fear least hee make to little conscience how hee vseth his tongue or penne ? these things are not laide against me for nothing , they are to some purpose if they take place . for in a minde perswaded that i am as he deciphereth me , one which refuse to be at peace with such as embrace the truth , & side my selfe with men sinisterly affected therevnto , any thing that shal be spoken concerning the vnsoundnes of my doctrine cannot chuse but be favorably entertained . this presupposed it will haue likelyhood enough which afterwardes followeth that many of my sermons haue tasted of some sower leaven or other , that in them he hath discovered sundrie vnsound matters . a thing much to be lamented that such a place as this which might haue beene so well provided for , hath falne into the hands of one no better instructed in the truth . but what if in the end it be found that hee iudgeth my words , as they do colours which looke vpon them with greene spectacles , and thinke that which they see is greene , when indeed that is greene whereby they see . 7 touching the first point of his discovery which is about the matter of predestination , to set down that i spake , ( for i haue it written ) to declare and confirme the severall branches thereof , would be tedious now in this writing , where i haue so many things to touch that i can but touch them only . neither is it herein so needfull for me to iustifie my speech , when the verie place aud presence where i spake doth it selfe speake sufficiently for my cleering . this matter was not broached in a blind alley , or vttered where none was to heare it that had skill with authoritie to controll , or covertly insinuated by some glyding sentence . 8 that which i taught was at paules crosse ; it was not hudled in amongst other matters in such sort that it could passe without noting . it was opened , it was proued , it was some reasonable time stood vpon . i see not which way my l. of london , who was present and heard it , can excuse so great a fault as patiently without rebuke or controlement afterwardes , to heare any man there teach otherwise then the word of god doth , not as it is vnderstood by the privat interpretation of some one or two men , or by a speciall construction receaued in some few bookes , but as it is vnderstood by all churches professing the gospell , by them all and therefore even by our owne also amongst others . a man that did mean to proue that he speaketh , would surely take the measure of his words shorter . 9 the next thing discovered , is an opinion about the assurance of mens perswasion in matters of faith j haue taught he saith ; that the assurance of things which we beleeue by the word , is not so certaine as of that we perceiue by sence . and is it as certaine ? yea , j taught as hee himselfe j trust will not deny , that the things which god doth promise in his word , are surer vnto vs then anything we touch , handle , or see ; but are we so sure & certaine of them ? if we bee , why doth god so often proue his promises vnto vs , as hee doth by arguments taken from our sensible experience ? wee must be surer of the proofe then of the thing proved , otherwise it is no proofe . how is it , that if ten men doe all look vpon the moone , every one of them knoweth it as certainely to be the moon as another : but many beleeving one and the same promises , all haue not one and the same fulnesse of perswasion ? how falleth it out , that men being assured of any thing by sence can bee no surer of it then are , whereas the strongest in faith that liveth vpon the earth , hath alwaies need to labour , and striue , and pray , that his assurance concerning heavenly and spirituall things , may grow , increase , and be augmented . 10 the sermon wherein j haue spoken somewhat largely of this point , was long before this late cōtroversie rose betweene him and me , vpon request of some of my friends seene , & read by many , & amongst many , some who are thought able to discerne : and j never heard that any one of them hitherto hath condemned it as containing vnsound matter . my case were very hard , if as oft as any thing j speake displeasing one mans tast , my doctrine vpon his only word should bee taken for sower leven . 11 the rest of this discoverie is all about the matter now in question , wherein hee hath two faults predominant , which would tyre out any that should answer vnto every point severally : vnapt speaking of schoole controversies ; and of my wordes sometimes so vntoward a reciting , that hee which should promise to drawe a mans countenance and did indeed expresse the parts at leastwise the most of them truly , but perversely place them , could not represent a more offensiue visage , then vnto me my owne speech seemeth in some places as he hath ordered it . for answere wherevnto , that writing is sufficient wherein j haue set down both my words and meaning in such sort , that were this accusation doth depraue the one , and either misinterpret , or without iust cause mislike the other , it will appeare so plainely that j may spare very well to take vpon me a new and a needlesse labour here . 12 only at one thing which is there to be found , because mr travers doth here seeme to take such a speciall advantage , as if the matter were vnanswerable , hee constraineth me either to detect his oversight , or to confesse mine owne in it . in setting the question betweene the church of rome and vs about grace and iustification , least j should giue them an occasion to say , as commonly they doe , that when wee cannot refute their opinions , we propose to our selues such insteed of theirs as we can refute , j tooke it for the best and most perspicuous way of teaching , to declare first , how far we doe agree , and then to shew our disagreement ; not generally ( as mr travers his words would carrie it , for the easier fast ning that vpon me , wherwith saving only by him j was never in my life touched ; ) but about the matter only of iustificatiō for farther j had no cause to medle at that time . what was then my offence in this case ? i did as hee saith so set it out as if wee had consented in the greatest and waightiest points & differed onely in smaller matters . jt will not bee found when it commeth to the ballance a light differēce where we disagree , as i did acknowledge that we doe about the very essence of the medicine wherby christ cureth our disease . did j goe about to make a shew of agreement in the waightiest points , and was j so fond as not to conceale our disagreement about this ? j doe wish that some indifferencie were vsed by them that haue taken the waighing of my words . 13 yea but our agreement is not such in two of the chiefest points , as j would haue men beleeue it is : and what are they ? the one is j said , they acknowledge all men sinners even the blessed virgin , though some of thē free her from sinne . put the case j had affirmed that onely some of them free her from sinne , and had delivered it as the most currant opinion amongst them , that shee was conceaued in sin : doth not bonaventure say plainely , omnes ferè ; in a manner all men doe hold this ? both he not bring many reasons wherefore all men should hold it ? were their voices since that time ever counted , and their number found smaller which hold it , then theirs that hold the contrary ? let the question then be whether j might say the most of them acknowledged all men sinners even the blessed virgin her selfe . to shew that their generall receiued opinion is the contrarie , the tridentine councell is alleaged peradventure not altogether so considerately . for if that councell haue by resolute determinatiō freed her , if it hold as m. travers saith it doth , that shee was free from sin , then must the church of rome needs condemne thē that holde the contrarie . for what that councell holdeth , the same they all doe and must hold . but in the church of rome who knoweth not that it is a thing indifferent to thinke and defend the one or the other ? so that by this argument ; the councell of trent holdeth the virgin free from sinne , ergo it is plaine that none of them may , and therefore vntrue that most of them doe acknowledge her a sinner were forcible to overthrowe my supposed assertion , if it were true that the councell did hold this . but to the end it may clearely appeare how it neither holdeth this nor the contrary i will open what many do conceiue of the canon that concerneth this matter . the fathers of trent perceived that if they should define of this matter , it would be dangerous howsoeuer it were determined . if they had freed her from her originall sinne , the reasons against them are vnanswerable which bonaventure and others do alleadge , but especially thomas whose line as much as may be they follow . againe if they did resolue the other way , they should controll themselues in an other thing which in no case might be altered . for they professe to keepe no daie holie in the honor of an vnholie thing ; and the virgins conception they honor with a * feast ; which they could not abrogate without cancelling a constitution of xystus quartus . and that which is worse the worlde might perhaps herevpon suspect , that if the church of rome did amisse before in this , it is not impossible for her to faile in other things . in the end they did wisely quote out their canon by a middle thred , establishing the feast of the virgins conception , and leaving the other question doubtfull as they found it : giving only a caveat that no man should take the decree which pronounceth all menkind originallie sinfull , for a definitiue sentence concerning the blessed virgin. this in my sight is plaine by their owne words , declarat haec ipsa sancta synodus &c : wherefore our coūtrymen at rhemes mētioning this point are marvelous warie how they speake ; they touch it as though it were a hot cole : many godly devout men iudge that our blessed lady was neither borne nor conceived in sinne . is it their w●nt to speake nicely of things definitiuely set downe in that councell ? in like sort wee finde that the rest which haue since the time of the tridentine synod writen of originall sinne , are in this point for the most part either silent or very sparing in speech ; and when they speake either doubtfull what to thinke , or whatsoever they thinke themselues , fearefull to set downe any certaine determination . if i be thought to take the canon of that councell otherwise then they themselues do , let him expound it whose sentence was neither last asked nor his pen least occupied in setting it downe . i meane andradius whom gregory the 13. hath allowed plainely to confesse , that it is a matter which nether expresse evidence of scripture , nor the tradition of the fathers , nor the sentence of the church hath determined ; that they are too surly and selfewilled which defending either opinion , are displeased with them by whom the other is mainetained ; finallie that the fathers of trent haue not set downe any certainetie about this question , but left it doubtfull and indifferent . now whereas my wordes which i had set downe in writing before i vttered them were indeed these , although they imagin that the mother of our lord iesus christ were for his honour and by his speciall protection preserved cleane from all sinne , yet concerning the rest they teach as wee do that all haue sinned . against my words they might with more pretence take exception because so many of them thinke she had sin : which exception notwithstanding , the proposition being indefinite and the matter contingent , they cannot take , because they grant that many whom they count graue & devout amongst them thinke that she was cleere from all sin . but whether mr travers did note my words himselfe , or take them vpon the credit of some other mans noting , the tables were faulty wherein it was noted : all men sinners even the blessed virgin. whē my speech was rather all men except the blessed virgin. to leaue this ; another fault he findeth that i said , they teach christs righteousnes to be the only meritorious cause of taking away sinne , & differ from vs only in the applying of it . j did say & do , they teach as we doe , that although christ be the only meritorious cause of our iustice , yet as a medicin which is made for health doth not heale by being made , but by being applied : so by the merits of christ there can be no life nor iustification without the application of his merits : but about the manner of applying christ , about the number & power of meanes whereby he is applied we dissent from them . this of our dissenting from them is acknowledged . 14 our agreement in the former is denied to bee such as j pretend . let their owne words therefore , and mine concerning them be compared . doth not andradius plainely confesse , our sinnes doth shut and onely the merits of christ open the entring vnto blessednesse . and soto , it is put for a ground , that all since the fall of adam obtaine salvation only by the passion of christ : howbeit as no cause can be effectuall without applying , so neither can any man be saved to whom the suffering of christ is not applyed . in a word who not ? when the councell of trent reckoning vp the causes of our first instificatiō , doth name no end but gods glory and our felicitie ; no efficient , but his mercy ; no instrumentall , but baptisme ; no meritorious , but christ. whome to haue merited the taking away of no sinne but originall is not their opinion : which himselfe wil find when hee hath well examined his witnesses catharinus and thomas . their jesuits are marveilous angry with the men out of whose gleanings mr travers seemeth to haue taken this , they opēly disclaime it , they say plainely , of all the catholiks there is no one that did ever so teach , they make solemne protestation , wee beleeue and professe that christ vpon the crosse hath altogether satisfied for all sinnes , as well originall as actuall . indeed they teach that the merit of christ doth not take away actuall sinne in such sort as it doth originall , wherein if their doctrine had beene vnderstood , j for my speech had never been accused . as for the councell of trent concerning inherent righteousnesse what doth it here ? no man doubteth but they make another formall cause of iustification then wee doe . in respect whereof , j haue shewed alreadie that wee disagree about the very essēce of that which cureth our spirituall disease . most true it is which the grād philosopher hath every man iudgeth well of that which he knoweth , & therefore till we knowe the things throughly whereof wee iudge , it is a point of iudgement to stay our iudgment . 15 thus much labour being spent in discovering the vnsoundnes of my doctrine , some paines he taketh further to open faults in the maner of my teaching , as that i bestowed my whole howre and more , my time & more then my time in discourses vtterly impertinent to my text . which if j had done it might haue past without complaining of to the privie counsell . 16 but j did worse as he saith , i left the expounding of the scriptures and my ordinary calling , and discoursed vpon schoolepoints , and questions , neither of edification , nor of truth . j read no lecture in the law or in physicke . and except the bounds of ordinary calling may bee drawne like a purse , howe are they so much wider vnto him then to me , that he which in the limits of his ordinarie calling should reproue that in me which hee vnderstood not , and i labouring that both he & others might vnderstand , could not do this without forsaking my calling . the matter whereof i spake was such as being at the first by me but lightly touched , hee had in that place openly contradicted and solemnly taken vpon him to disproue . if therefore it were a schoole question & vnfit to be discoursed of there , that which was in me but a proposition only at the first , wherfore made he a probleme of it ? why tooke he first vpon him to maintaine the negatiue of that which i had affirmatiue lie spoken only to shew mine owne opinion , little thinking that ever it would haue a question . of what nature soever the question were of i could do no lesse thē there explaine my selfe to them , vnto whom i was accused of vnsound doctrine , wherein if to shew what had beene through ambiguitie mistaken in my wordes , or misapplyed by him in this cause against me , i vsed the distinctions and helps of schooles , i trust that herein i haue committed no vnlawfull thing . these schoole implements are acknowledged by * graue and wise mē not vnprofitable to haue beene invented ? the most approved for learning and iudgment do vse them with out blame ; the vse of them hath beene wel liked in some that haue taught even in this verie place before me ; the qualitie of my hearers is such , that i could not but think them of capacitie very sufficient for the most part to conceiue harder then i vsed any ; the cause i had in hand did in my iudgement necessarilie require them which were then vsed ; when my words spoken generally without distinctions had beene perverted , what other waie was there for me but by distinctions to lay them opē in their right meaning , that it might appeare to all men whether they were consonant to truth or no. and although mr travers be so invred with the citty that he thinketh it vnmeete to vse my speech which savoureth of the schoole , yet his opinion is no canon , though vnto him his minde being troubled , my speech did seeme like fetters & manicles , yet there might be some more calmely affected which thought otherwise ; his private iudgement will hardly warrant his bold words , that the things which i spake were neither of edification nor truth . they might edifie some other for anie thing he knoweth , and bee true for anie thing he proveth to the contrarie . for it is no proofe to crie absurdities , the like wherevnto haue not beene harde in publique places within this land since queene maries daies . if this came in earnest from him i am sorie to see him so much offended without cause . more sorie that his fit should be so extreame to make him speake he knoweth not what . that i neither affected the truth of god , nor the peace of the church . mihi pro minimo est , it doth not much moue me when mr travers doth say that which i trust a greater then mr travers will gainesaie . 17 now let all this which hitherto he hath said be graunted him , let it be as he would haue it , let my doctrine and manner of teaching bee as much disallowed by all mens iudgement as by his , what is all this to his purpose ? he alleadgeth this to bee the cause why hee bringeth it in : the high commissioners charge him with an indiscretion and want of dutie , in that hee inveighed against certaine points of doctrine taught by me as erroneous not conferring first with me nor complaining of it to them . which faults a sea of such matter as hee hath hitherto waded in will never be able to scowre from him . for the avoiding of schisme and disturbance in the church which must needes grow if all men might thinke what they list and speake openlie what they thinke ; therefore by a * decree agreed vpon by the bishops & confirmed by her maiesties authoritie it was ordered that erronious doctrine if it were taught publiquely should not be publiquely refuted , but that notice thereof shoulde bee giuen vnto such as are by her highnesse appointed to heare & to determine such causes . for breach of which order when he is charged with lacke of duety , all the faults that can bee heaped vpon mee will make but a weak defence for him : as surely his defence is not much stronger when he alleageth for himselfe that , he was in some hope his speech in proving the truth and clearing those scruples which i had in my selfe , might cause me either to imbrace sound doctrine or suffer it to be imbraced of others , which if i did he should not need to cōplain ; that , it was meet he should discover first what i had sowne and make it manifest to be tares , and then desire their sithe to cut it downe ; that conscience did binde him to do otherwise thē the foresaid order requireth ; that hee was vnwilling to deale in that publique manner and wished a more convenient way were taken for it ; that hee had resolved to haue protested the next saboth day that he would some other way satisfie such as should require it and not deale more in that place . be it imagined [ let me not be taken as if i did compare th' offenders when i do not , but their answers only ] be it imagined that a libeller did make this apologie for himselfe , i am not ignorant that if i haue iust matter against any man the law is open , there are iudges to heare it , and courts where it ought to be complained of ; i haue taken an other course against such or such a man , yet without breach of duty for as much as i am able to yeeld a reason of my doing , i conceiue some hope that a little discredit amongst men would make him ashamed of himselfe , and that his shame would worke his amendment ; which if it did other accusation there should not need ; could his answere be thought sufficient , could it in the iudgment of discreet men free him from all blame ? no more can the hope which mr tarvers conceived to reclaime me by publique speech iustifie his fault against the established order of the church . 18 his thinking it meete he should first openly discover to the people the tares that had been sowne amongst thē , and then require the hand of authority to mowe them down , doth only make it a question whether his opinion that this was meet may be a priviledge or protection against that lawfull constitution which had before determined of it as of a thing vnmeet . which question i leaue for them to discusse whom it most concerneth . if the order be such that it cannot be kept without hazarding a thing so precious as a good conscience , the perill wherof could be no greater to him then it needs must bee to all others whom it toucheth in like causes , when this is evident it wil be a most effectuall motiue not only for england , but also for other reformed churches even geneva it selfe [ for they haue the like ] to change or take that away which cannot but with great inconvenience be observed . in the meane while the breach of it may in such consideration be pardoned [ which truly i wish howsoever it be , ] yet hardly defended as long as it stan deth in force vncanceld . 19 now whereas he confesseth another way had beene more convenient , and that he found in himselfe secret vnwillingnesse to doe that which he did , doth hee not say plainely in effect that the light of his owne vnderstanding proved the way he tooke perverse & crooked ; reason was so plaine and pregnant against it , that his mind was alienated , his will averted to another course ? yet somewhat there was which so farre over-ruled , that it must needs bee done even against the very streame , what doth it bewraie ? finally his purposed protestation whereby hee meant openly to make it knowne that he did not allow this kind of proceeding , and therefore would satisfie men otherwise , and deale no more in this place , sheweth his good mind in this , that he meant to stay himselfe from further offending , but it serueth not his turne . hee is blamed because the thing he had done was amisse , & his answer is , that which i would haue done afterwards had beene well , if so bee i had done it . 20 but as in this hee standeth perswaded that hee hath done nothing besides dutie , so hee taketh it hardly that the high commissioners should charge him with indiscretion . wherefore as if hee could so wash his hands he maketh a long and a large declaration concerning the carriage of himselfe : how he waded in matters of smaller waight , and how in things of greater moment ; how warily he dealt ; how naturally he took his things rising from the text ; how closely he kept himselfe to the scripture he tooke in hand ; how much paines he tooke to confirme the necessity of beleeving iustification by christ only , and to shewe how the church of rome denyeth that a man is saved by faith alone without workes of the law ; what the sonnes of thunder would haue done if they had beene in his case ; that his answere was verie temperate without immodest or reproachfull speech ; that when he might before all haue reproved me , he did not , but contented himselfe with exhorting me before all to follow nathans example and revisit my doctrine ; when hee might haue followed s. paules example in reproving peter , he did not , but exhorted me with peter to endure to be withstood . this testimonie of his discreet carrying himselfe in the handling of his matter being more aagreeably framed & giuen him by an other then by himselfe , might make somwhat for the praise of his person , but for defence of his action vnto them by whom he is thought vndiscreet for not conferring privatly before he spake , will it serue to answere that when he spake he did it consideratly ? he perceiveth it will not , and therefore addeth reasons such as they are . as namely how he purposed at the first to take an other course and that was this , publiquely to deliver the truth of such doctrine as i had otherwise taught , and at convenient opportunitie to conferre with mee vpon such points . is this the rule of christ , if thy brother offend openly in his speech , controule it first with contrary speech openly and conferre with him afterwards vpon it when convenient opportunitie serveth ? is there anie law of god or of man wherevpon to ground such a resolution , any church extant in the world where teachers are allowed thus to do or to be done vnto ? he cannot but see how weake an all●gation it is when hee bringeth in his following this course first in one matter and so afterwards in another to approue himselfe now following it againe . for if the very purpose of doing a thing so vncharitable be a fault , the deed is a greater fault , and doth the doing of it twise make it the third time fit and allowable to bee done ? the waight of the cause which is his thirde defence relieveth him as little . the waightier it was the more it required considerat advise and consultation , the more it stood him vpō to take good heed that nothing were rashlie done or spoken in it . but hee meaneth waightie in regard of the wonderfull danger except hee had presently withstood me without expecting a time of conference . this cause being of such moment that might preiudice the faith of christ , incourage the ill affected to continue still in their damnable waies , and other weake in faith to suffer themselues to be seduced to the destruction of their soules , he thought it his bounden duetie to speake before hee talked with me . a man that shoulde read this and not know what i had spoken might imagine that i had at the least denied the divinitie of christ. but they which were present at my speech and can testifie that nothing passed my lips more then is cōtained in their writings , whom for soundnes of doctrine , learning , & iudgment mr travers himselfe doth , i dare say , not only allow , but honor , they which hard and doe know that the doctrine here signified in so fearefull manner , the doctrine that was so dangerous to the faith of christ , that was so likely to encourage ill affected men to continue still in dānable waies , that gaue so great cause to tremble for fear of the present destruction of soules was only this , i doubt not but god was mercifull to saue thousands of our fathers living heretofore in popish superstitions , in as much as they sinned ignorantly , and this spoken in a sermon the greatest part whereof was against poperie , they will hardly be able to discerne how christianity should herewith be so grievously shaken . 21 whereby his fourth excuse is also taken from him . for what doth it boot him to saie the time vvas short wherein he was to preach after me , when his preaching of this matter perhaps ought , surely might haue bin either very well omitted , or at the least more conveniently for a while differd , even by their iudgements that cast the most favourable aspect towards these his hasty proceedings . the poyson which men had taken at my hands was not so quicke and strong in operation as in eight daies to make them past cure ; by eight daies delay there was no likelyhood that the force and power of his speech could dy ; longer meditation might bring better and stronger proofes to mind then extemporall dexteritie could furnish him with ; and who doth know whether time the only mother of sound iudgement and discreet dealing , might haue given that actiō of his some better ripenesse , which by so great festination hath as a thing borne out of time brought small ioy vnto him that begat it ? doth hee thinke it had not beene better that neither my speech had seemed in his eies as an arrow sticking in a thigh of flesh , nor his own as a child whereof he must needs bee delivered by an houre ? his last way of disburdening himselfe is by casting his load vpon my backe , as if j had brought him by former cōferences out of hope that any fruit would ever come of conferring with me . loath j am to rip vp those conferences whereof he maketh but a slippery & loose relation . in one of them the question betweene vs was , whether the perswasion of faith concerning remission of sinnes , eternall life , & whatsoever god doth promise vnto man , be as free from doubting as the perswasion which we haue by sence concerning things tasted , selt , and seene . for the negatiue j mentioned their example whose faith in scripture is most commended , and the experience which all faithfull men haue continually had of themselues ▪ for proofe of the affirmatiue which he held , j desiring to haue some reason , heard no thing but all good writers oftentimes inculcated . at the length vpon request to see some one of them , peter martyr's common places were brought , where the leaues were turned downe at a place sounding to this effect , that the gospell doth make christians more vertuous , then morall philosophie doth make heathens : which came not neere the question by many miles . 22 in the other conference hee questioned about the matter of reprobation , misliking first that i had tearmed god a permissiue and no positiue cause of the evil which the schoolemen doe call malum culpae ; secondly that to their obiection who say , if i be elected , do what i will , i shall be saued , i had answered that the will of god in this thing is not absolute but conditionall to saue his elect beleeuing , fearing , and obediently serving him ; thirdly that to stop the mouthes of such as grudge & repine against god for reiecting castawaies , j had taught that they are not reiected no not in the purpose and counsell of god , without a foreseene worthinesse of reiection going , though not in time , yet in order before . for if gods electing do in order ( as needs it must ) presuppose the foresight of their being that are elected though they be elected before they bee , nor only the positiue foresight of their being but also the permissiue of their being miserable , because electiō is through mercy , and mercy doth alwaies presuppose miserie : it followeth that the very chosen of god acknowledge to the praise of the riches of his exceeding free compassion , that when he in his secret determination set it downe those shall liue and not die , they lay as vglie spectacles before him , as lepers covered with dung & mire , as vlcers putrified in their fathers loines , miserable , wor thie to be had in detestation ; & shall any forsaken creature be able to say vnto god , thou didst plunge me into the depth and assigne me vnto endlesse torments onely to satisfie thine owne will finding nothing in mee for which j could seeme in thy sight so well worthie to feele everlasting flames ? 23 when j saw that mr travers carped at these things only because they lay not open , j promised at some cōvenient time to make them cleere as light both to him and all others . which if they that reproue mee will not grant me leaue to doe , they must thinke that they are for some cause or other more desirous to haue me reputed an vnsound man , then willing that my sincere meaning should appeare and be approued . when j was farther asked what my groundes were , j answered that saint paules wordes concerning this cause were my groundes . his next demaunde , what author j did followe in expounding saint paule and gathering the doctrine out of his words , against the iudgement , ( he saith ) of all churches and all good writers . i was well assured that to controule this over-reaching speech , the sentences which i might haue cited out of church confessions , togither with the best learned monuments of former times , and not the meanest of our owne , were mo in number then perhaps he would willingly haue hard of , but what had this booted me ? for although he himselfe in generalitie do much vse those formall speeches all churches and all good writers : yet as he holdeth it in pulpit lawful to say in generall the painims thinke this , or the heathens that , but vtterly vnlawfull to cite anie sentence of theirs that say it ; so hee gaue mee at that time great cause to thinke that my particular alleadging of other mens words to shew their agreement with mine , would as much haue displeased his minde as the thing it selfe for which it had beene alleadged . for he knoweth how often hee hath in publique place bitten me for this , although i did never in any sermon vse many of the sentences of other writers , and do make most without any , having alwaies thought it meetest neither to affect nor to contemne the vse of them . 24 he is not ignorant that in the very entrance to the talke which we had privatly at that time , to proue it vnlawfull altogither in preaching either for confirmation , declaratiō , or otherwise to cite any thing but mere canonicall scripture , he brought in the scripture is given by inspiration , and is profitable to teach , improue , &c. vrging much the vigour of these two clauses the man of god and every good worke . if therefore the worke were good which he required at my hāds , if privatly to shew why i thought the doctrin i had delivered to be according to s. paules meaning were a good worke , can they which take the place before alleaged for a law condemning every man of god who in doing the worke of preaching any way vseth humane authoritie , like it in mee if in the worke of strengthning that which i had preached , i should bring forth the testimonies and the sayings of mortall men ? i alleaged therfore that which might vnder no pretence in the worlde bee disallowed namelie reasons , not meaning thereby my own reason as now it is reported , but true sound divine reason ; reason whereby those conclusions might be out of s. paule demonstrated , and not probably discoursed of only ; reason proper to that science whereby the things of god are knowne ; theologicall reason without principles in scripture that are plaine soundly deduceth more doubtfull inferences , in such sort that being hard they cannot be denyed , nor any thing repugnāt vnto them received , but whatsoever was before otherwise by miscollecting gathered out of darke places , is thereby forced to yeeld it selfe , and the true cōsonant meaning of sentences not vnderstoode is brought to light . this is the reason which i intended . if it were possible for mee to escape the ferula in any thing i do or speak , i had vndoubtedly escaped it in this . in this i did that which by some is inioined as the only allowable , but granted by all as the most sure and safe way whereby to resolue things doubted of in matters appertaining to faith and christian religion . so that mr travers had here smal cause given him to be weary of conferring , vnlesle it were in other respects then that poore one which is here pretended , that is to say , the little hope hee had of doing mee any good by conference . 25 yet behold his first reason of not complaining to the high commission is , that sith j offended onely through an overcharitable inclination , hee conceaued good hope , when j should see the truth cleered & some scruples which were in my mind removed by his diligence , j would yeeld . but what experience soever hee had of former conferences , how small soever his hope was that fruit would come of it if he should haue conferred , will any man iudge this a cause sufficient why to open his mouth in publique without any one worde privately spoken ? he might haue considered that men doe sometimes reape where they sowe but with small hope ; hee might haue considered that although vnto me ( whereof he was not certaine neither ) but if to mee his labour should be as water spilt or powred into a torne dish , yet to him it could not bee fruitlesse to doe that which order in christian churches , that which charitie amongst christian men , that which at many mens hands even common humanitie it selfe , at his many other things besides did require . what fruit could there come of his open contradicting in so great hast with so small advise but such as must needs bee vnpleasant and mingled with much acerbitie ? surely hee which will take vpon him to defend that in this there was no oversight , must beware least by such defences , he leaue an opinion dwelling in the minds of men that he is more stiffe to maintaine what he hath done , then carefull to doe nothing but that which may iustly bee maintained . 26 thus haue j as neere as i could , seriously answered things of waight , with smaller i haue dealt as j thought their qualitie did require . i take no ioy in striving , i haue not beene nozled or trained vp in it . i would to christ they which haue at this present enforced me herevnto had so ruled their hands in any reasonable time , that i might never haue beene constrained to strike so much as in mine owne defence . wherefore to prosecute this long and tedious contention no further , shall i wish that your grace & their hh . ( vnto whose intelligence the dutifull regard which i haue of their iudgements maketh me desirous that as accusations haue been brought against me , so that this my answere therevnto may likewise come ) did both with the one & the other , as constantine with bookes containing querulous matter . whether this be cōvenient to be wisht or no , j cannot tell . but sith there can come nothing of contention , but the mutuall wast of the parties contending , til a common enimie daunce in the ashes of them both , i doe wish hartely that the graue advise which constantine gaue for revniting of his clergie so manie times vpon so small occasions in so lamentable sort divided , or rather the strict commandement of christ vn to his that they should not be devided at all , may at the length , if it be his blessed will , prevaile so far at the least in this corner of the christian world to the burying & quite forgetting of strife , together with the causes which haue either bred it or brought it vp : that things of small moment never disioine them , whom one god , one lord , one faith , one spirit , one baptisme , bands of so great force haue linked , that a respectiue eie towards things wherewith wee should not be disquieted make vs not as through infirmitie the very patriarkes themselues sometimes were , full gorged , vnable to speake peaceably to their owne brother , finally that no strife may ever be hard of againe but this , who shal hate strife most , who shall pursue peace and vnitie with swiftest paces . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a03584-e110 * a meer formalitie it had bin to mee in that place whe●eas no man had ever vsed it before me ; so it could neither further me if i did vse it , nor hinder me if i did not . his words be these . the next saboth day after this m. hooker kept the way he had entred into before , & bestowed his whole hower and more only vpon the questions hee had moved and maintained . wherein hee so set out the agreement of the church of rome with vs and their disagreement from vs , as if wee had consented in the greatest and waightiest points , and differed only in certaine smaller matters . which agreement noted by him in two chiefe points , is not such as he would haue made men beleeue : the one , in that hee said they acknowledge all men sinners , even the blessed uirgin , though some of them freed her from sinne : for the councell of trent holdeth that shee was free from sinne : another in that he said , they teach christs righteousnesse to be the only meritorious cause of taking away sinne , and differ from vs only in the applying of it . for thom. aquinas their chiefe schooleman & archbish. catharmus teach that christ tooke away only originall sin , and that the rest are to bee taken away by our selues yea the councell of trent teacheth that the righteousnesse whereby wee are righteous in gods sight is inherent righteousnesse , which must needs bee of our owne workes , and cannot be vnderstood of the righteousnesse inherent only in christs person & accounted vnto vs. * this doth much trouble thomas holding her conception stained with the naturall blemish inherēt in mortall seed . and therefore hee putteth it off with two answers ; the one that the church of rome doth not allow but tolerate the feast , which answer now will not serue ; the other that being sure shee was sanctified before birth , but vnsure how long a while after her conception , therefore vnder the name of her conception day , they honour the time of her sanctification . so that besides this they haue now no soder to make the certaine allowance of their feast , and their vncertaine sentence concerning her sinne to cleaue together . thomas 3. part . quaest . 27 art . 2. ad 2 m & 3m. annotat. in rom 5. see 9. lib. 5. defens . fidei . o●●●od . lib. 3 in 4 sent. d. 1 ●u . 4. art 6. bellarm. iudic. d●lio concor . menda● . 18. nemo catholicorum vnquam sic docuit ; sed credimus & profitemur christum in cr●ce pro omni●●● omnino peccatu 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 originalibus , quàm actualibus . 〈…〉 . * in the advertisements published in the 7 , yeare of her maiesties raigne . if any preacher or person , vicar , or curat so licensed shall fortune to preach any matter tending to dissētion or to derogation of the religion and doctrine receaued , that the hearers denoūce the same to the ordinary or the next bishop of the same place , but not openly to contrary or to impugne the same speech so disorderly vttered whereby may grow offense and disquiet of the people , but shall be convinced and reproved by the ordinarie after such agreeable order as shal be scene to him according to the gravitie of the offence . and that it be presented within one moneth after the words spoken . clerus domini, or, a discourse of the divine institution, necessity, sacredness, and separation of the office ministerial together with the nature and manner of its power and operation : written by the special command of king charles the first / by jer. taylor. taylor, jeremy, 1613-1667. 1672 approx. 267 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a63706) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 40276) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1214:13) clerus domini, or, a discourse of the divine institution, necessity, sacredness, and separation of the office ministerial together with the nature and manner of its power and operation : written by the special command of king charles the first / by jer. taylor. taylor, jeremy, 1613-1667. taylor, jeremy, 1613-1667. rules and advices to the clergy of the diocesse of down and connor. rust, george, d. 1670. funeral sermon preached at the obsequies of the right reverend father in god jeremy lord bishop of down. 79 p. printed for r. royston, london : 1672. also includes rules and advices to the clergy of the diocesse of down and connor, and a funeral sermon preached at the obsequies of the right reverend father in god, jeremy, lord bishop of down. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng taylor, jeremy, 1613-1667 -sermons. church of england -clergy. theology, practical -early works to 1800. 2002-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-03 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-03 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion clerus domini : or , a discourse of the divine institution , necessity , sacredness , and separation of the office ministerial . together with the nature and manner of its power and operation . written by the special command of king charles the first . by ier . taylor , chaplain in ordinary to king charles the first , and late lord bishop of down and connor . london , printed for r. royston , bookseller to the king 's most excellent majesty . 1672. the divine institution and necessity of the office ministerial . sect . i. when several nations and differing religions have without any famous mutual intercourse agreed upon some common rites and forms of religion ; because one common effect cannot descend from chance , it is certain they come to them by reason , or tradition from their common parents , or by imitation ; something that hath a common influence . if reason be the principle , then it is more regular and lasting , and admits of no other variety , than as some men grow unreasonable , or that the reason ceases . if tradition be the fountain , then it is not only universal , and increases as the world is peopled , but remains also so long as we retain reverence to our parents , or that we do not think our selves wiser than our forefathers . but these two have produced customs and laws of the highest obligation : for whatsoever we commonly call the law of nature , it is either a custom of all the world , derived from noah or adam ; or else it is therefore done , because natural reason teaches us to do it in the order to the preservation of our selves and the publick . but imitation of the customs of a wise nation , is something less , and yet it hath produced great consent in external rites and offices of religion . and since there is in ceremonies so great indifferency , there being no antecedent law to determine their practice , nothing in their nature to make them originally necessary , they grow into a custom or a law , according as they are capable . for if a wise prince , or governour , or a nation , or a famous family , hath chosen rites of common religion , such as were consonant to the analogy of his duty , expressive of his sence , decent in the expression , grave in the form , or full of ornament in their representment ; such a thing is capable of no greater reason , and needs no greater authority , but hath been , and may reasonably enough be imitated upon the reputation of their wisdom , and disinterested choice , who being known wise persons , or nations , took them first into their religious offices . thus the jews and the gentiles used a white garments in their holy offices , and the christians thought it reasonable enough from so united example to do so too . example was reason great enough for that . the b gentile-priests were forbid to touch a dead body , to c eat leavened bread , to d mingle with secular imployments during their attendance in holy offices ; these they took up from the pattern of the jews , and professed it reasonable to imitate a wise people in the rituals of their religion . the gentile-priests used ring and staffe and mitre ( saith philostratus : ) the primitive bishops did so too ; and in the highest detestation of their follies thought they might wisely enough imitate their innocent customs and priestly ornaments , and hoped they might better reconcile their minds to the christian religion by compliance in ceremonials , than exasperate them by rejecting their ancient and innocent ceremonies : for so the apostles invited and inticed judaism into christianity . and tertullian complains of the devils craft , who by imitating the christian rites reconciled mens minds with that compliance to a more charitable opinion of the gentile superstition . the devil intending to draw the professors of truth to his own portion , or to preserve his own in the same fetters he first put upon them , imitates the rites of our religion , adopting them into his superstition . he baptizes some of his disciples , and when he initiates them to the worship of mithra , promises them pardon of sins , by that rite ; he signs his soldiers in their foreheads , he represents the oblation of bread , and introduces representments of the resurrection , and laboriously gets martyrs to his cause . his priests marry but once ; he hath his virgins , and his abstemious and continent followers : that what christians love and the world commends in them , being adopted into the rituals of idolatry , may allure some with the beauty and fair imagery , and abuse others with colour and phantastick faces . and thus also all wise men that intended to perswade others to their religion , did it by retaining as much as they innocently could of the other , that the change might not be too violent , and the persons be more endeared by common rites and the relation and charity of likeness and imitation . thus did the church and the synagogue ; thus did the gentiles both to the jews and to the christians ; and all wise men did so . e the gentiles offered first-fruits to their gods , and their tithes to hercules , f kept vigils and anniversaries , forbad marriages without the consent of parents , and clandestine contracts ; these were observed with some variety according as the people were civil or learned ; and according to the degree of the tradition , or as the thing was reasonable , so these customs were more or less universal . but when all wise people , nay when absolutely all the world have consented upon a rite , it cannot derive from a fountain lower than the current , but it must either be a command which god hath given to all the world : ( and so socrates in xenophon , quod ab omnibus gentibus observatum est , id non nisi à deo sancitum esse dicendum est ) or a tradition , or a law descending from our common parents , or a reason derived from the nature of things ; there cannot in the world be any thing great enough to take away such a rite , except an express divine commandment : and a man by the same reason may marry his nearest relative , as he may deny to worship god by the recitation of his praises and excellencies ; because reason and a very common tradition have made almost all the world consent in these two things , that we must abstain from the mixtures of our nearest kindred , and that we must worship god by recounting and declaring excellent things concerning him . i have instanced in two things in which i am sure to find the fewest adversaries , ( i said , the fewest ; for there are some men which have lost all humanity : ) but these two great instances are not attested with so universal a tradition and practice of the world , as this that is now in question . for in some nations they have married their sisters , so did the magi among the persians : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , says tatianus in clemens alexandrinus , and bardisanes syrus in eusebius . and the greeks worshipped hercules by railing , and mercury by throwing stones at him . but there was never any people but had their priests and presidents of religious rites , and kept holy things within a mure , that the people might not approach to handle the mysteries : and therefore besides that it is a recession from the customs of mankind , and charges us with the dis-respect of all the world ( which is an incuriousness next to infinite ) it is also a doing against that which all the reason of all the wise men of the world have chosen antecedently , or ex pòst facto , and he must have a strange understanding , who is not perswaded by that which hath determined all the world . for religion cannot be at all in communities of men without some to guide , to minister , to preserve and to prescribe the offices and ministeries : what can profane holy things but that which makes them common ? and what can make them common more than when common persons handle them , when there is no distinction of persons in their ministration ? for , although places are good accessories to religion , yet in all religions they were so accidental to it , that a sacrifice might hallow the place , but the place ( unless it were naturally impure ) could not desecrate the sacrifice : and therefore iacob worshipped upon a stone , offered upon a turf ; and the ark rested in obed-edom's house , and was holy in dagon's temple ; and hills and groves , fields and orchards , according to the several customs of the nations , were the places of address : but a common person ministring , was so near a circumstance , and was so mingled with the action , that since that material part and exterior actions of religion could be acted and personated by any man , there was scarce any thing left to make it religious , but the attrectation of the rites by a holy person ; a holy place is something , a separate time is something , a prescript form of words is more , and separate and solemn actions are more yet ; but all these are made common by a common person , and therefore without a distinction of persons have not a natural and reasonable distinction of solemnity and exterior religion . and indeed it were a great disreputation to religion , that all great and publick things , and every artifice or profitable science should in all the societies of men be distinguished by professors , artists , and proper ministers ; and only religion should lie in common , apt to be bruised by the hard hand of mechanicks , and sullied by the ruder touch of undiscerning and undistinguished persons ; for although the light of it shines to all , and so far every mans interest is concerned in religion , yet it were not handsome that every man should take the taper in his hand ; and religion is no more to be handled by all men , than the laws are to be dispensed by all , by whom they are to be obeyed ; though both in religion and the laws , all men have a common interest . for since all means must have some equality or proportion towards their end , that they may of their own being or by institution be symbolical , it is but reasonable that by elevated and sublimed instruments we should be promoted towards an end supernatural and divine ; now besides , that of all the instruments of distinction , the person is the most principal and apt for the honour of religion ( and to make our religion honourable is part of the religion it self ) it is also apt for the uses of it , such as are , preserving the rights , ordering , decent ministration , dispensing the laws of religion , judging causes , ceremonies and accidents ; and he that appoints not offices to minister his religion , cares not how it is performed ; and he that cares so little , will find a great contempt pass upon it , and a cheapness meaner than of the meanest civil offices ; and he that is content with that , cares not how little honour god receives , when he presents to him a cheap , a common , and a dishonourable religion . but the very natural design of religion forces us to a distinction of persons , in order to the ministration ; for besides that every man is not fit to approach to god with all his sordes , and adherent indispositions ; an assignment in reason must be made of certain persons , whose calling must be holy , and their persons taught to be holy , by such a solemn and religious assignment ; that those persons being made higher than the people by their calling and religion , and yet our brethren in nature , may be intermedial between god and the people , and present to god the peoples needs , and be instrumental to the reconveying gods blessing upon those whose fiduciaries they are . this last depends upon gods own act and designation , and therefore must afterwards be proved by testimonies of his own , that he hath accepted such persons to such purposes ; but the former part we our selves are taught by natural reason , by the rules of proportion , by the honour we owe unto religion , by the hopes of our own advantages , and by the distance between god and us towards which we should thrust up persons as high as they are capable . and that all the world hath done prudently in this , we are confirmed by gods own act , who knowing it was most agreeable , not only to the constitution of religion , and of our addresses to god , but to our meer necessities also , did in his glorious wisdom send his son , and made him apt to become a mediator between himself and us , by cloathing him with our nature , and decking him with great participation of his own excellencies , that he might do our work , the work of his own humane nature , and by his great sanctity and wisdom approach near to gods mercy-seat , whither our imperfections and sins could not have near access . and this consideration is not only good reason but true divinity , and was a consideration in the greek church , and affixed to the head of a prayer as the reason of their addresses to god in designing ministers in religion . o lord god , who because mans nature cannot of it self approach to thy glorious deity , hast appointed masters and teachers of the same passions with our selves , whom thou hast placed in thy throne , viz. in the ministery of the kingdom , to bring sacrifices and oblations in behalf of thy people , &c. and indeed if the greatness of an imployment separates persons from the vulgus , either we must think the immediate offices of religion and the entercourse with god to be the meanest of imployments , or the persons so officiating to receive their estimate according to the excellency of their offices . and thus it was amongst the jews and gentiles before christ's time , amongst whom they not only separated persons for the service of their gods respectively , but chose the best of men and the princes of the people to officiate in their mysteries , and adorned them with the greatest honours and special immunities . among the jews , the priesthood was so honourable , that although the expectation which each tribe had of the messias was reason enough to make them observe the law of distinct marriages , yet it was permitted to the tribe of levi to marry with the kingly tribe of iudah , that they also might have the honour and portion of the messias's most glorious generation ; and for the priesthood of aaron it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith philo , a celestial honour , not an earthly , a heavenly possession , and it grew so high and was so naturalized into that nation to honour their priests and mystick persons , that they made it the pretence of their wars and mutinies against their conquerors . honor sacerdotii firmamentum potentiae assumebatur , saith tacitus , speaking of their wars against antiochus ; the honour of their priesthood was the strength of their cause , and the pretence of their arms ; and all the greatest honour they could do to their priesthood they fairly derived from a divine precept , that the prince , and the people , and the elders , and the synagogue , should go in and out , that is , should commence and finish their greatest and most solemn actions at the voice and command of the priest ; and therefore king agrippa did himself honour in his epistle to caius caesar : i had kings that were my ancestors , and some of them were high priests , which dignity they esteemed higher than their royal purple , believing that priesthood to be greater than the kingdom , as god is greater than men . and this great estimate of the ministers of their religion derived it self from the jews unto their enemies the philistines , that dwelt upon their skirts ; insomuch that in the hill of god where there was a garison of the philistines , there was also a colledge of the prophets newly instituted by samuel ( from whom because he was their founder s. peter reckoned the ordinary descent from samuel ) unharmed and undisturbed , though they were enemies to the nation ; and when david fled from saul , he came to naioth where the prophets dwelt , and thought to take sanctuary there , knowing it was a priviledged place ; there it was where sauls messengers , and saul himself turned prophets , that they might estimate the place and preserve its priviledge , himself becoming one of their society . for this was observed amongst all nations , that besides the band of humanity forbidding souldiers to touch unarmed peopled , as by all religions and all nations priests ever were , the very sacredness of their persons should exempt them from violence , and the chances or insolencies of war. thus the cretians did to their priests and to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the persons who were appointed for burial of the dead , the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or fossarii in the primitive church , no souldiers durst touch them ; they had the priviledge of religion , the immunity of priests , hos quae necabant non erant purae manus ; and therefore it grew up into a proverb , when they intended to express a most destructive and unnatural war , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not so much as the priests that carried fire before the army did escape ; the same with that in homer in the case of messengers , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — not so much as a messenger returned into the city : these were sacred and therefore exempt persons ; and so were the elei among the grecians , as being sacred to iupiter , safe from the hostility of a professed enemy ; the same which was observed amongst the romans , quis homo est tantâ confidentiâ , qui sacerdotem audeat violare ! at magno cum malo suo fecit herculé . but this is but one instance of advantage . the gentiles having once separated their priests , and affixed them to the ministeries of religion , thought nothing great enough either to express the dignity of their imployment , or good enough to do honour to their persons , and it is largely discoursed of by cicero , in the case of the roman augures , maximum autem & praestantissimum in rep. jus est augurum , cum est authoritati conjunctum ; neque verò hoc quia sum ipse augur ita sentio , sed quia sic existimare nos necesse est . quid enim majus est , si de jure quaerimus , quàm posse à summis imperiis & summis potestatibus comitia tollere ? concilia vel instituta dimittere , vel habita rescindere ? quid magnificentius quàm posse decernere , ut migistratu se abdicent consules ? quid religiosius quàm cum populo , cum plebe agendi jus aut dare aut non dare ? it was a vast power these men had , to be in proportion to their greatest honour : they had power of bidding and dissolving publick meetings , of indicting solemnities of religion ; just as the christian bishops had in the beginning of christianity ; they commanded publick fasts , at their indiction only they were celebrated ; benè autem quòd & episcopi universae plebi mandare jejunia assolent ; non dico industriâ stipium conferendarum , ut vestrae capturae est , sed interdum , & aliquâ sollicitudinis ecclesiasticae causâ . the bishops also called publick conventions ecclesiastical . agantur praecepta per graecias illas certis in locis concilia ex universis ecclesiis , per quae & altiora quaeque in commune tractantur , & ipsa repraesentatio totius nominis christiani magnâ veneratione celebratur . it was so in all religions ; the antistites , the presidents of rites , and guides of consciences had great immissions and influences into the republick , and communities of men , and they verified the saying of tacitus , deum munere summum pontificem , etiam summum hominem esse , non aemulatione , non odio , aut privatis affectionibus obnoxium . the chief priest was ever the chief man , and free from the envies , and scorns and troubles of popular peevishness and contumacy ; and that i may use the expression of tacitus , utque glisceret dignatio sacerdotum , ( for all the great traverses of the republick were in their disposing ) atque ipsis promptior animus foret ad capessendas ceremonias , the very lower institutions of their religion were set up with the marks of special laws and priviledges ; insomuch that the seat of the empress in the theatre was among the vestal virgins . but the highest had all that could be heaped upon them , till their honours were as sublimed as their functions . * amongst the ethiopians the priests gave laws to their princes , and they used their power sometimes to the ruine of their kings , till they were justly removed ; | among the egyptians the priests were their judges ; so they were in athens , for the areopagites were priests ; and the druids among the gauls were judges of murder , of titles of land , of bounds and inheritances , magno apud eos sunt honore , nam ferè de omnibus controversiis publicis privatisque constituunt ; and for the magi of persia and india , strabo reports , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they conversed with kings , meaning they were their counsellors and guides of their consciences . and herodotus in eustathius tells us of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the divine order of prophets or priests in delphos : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they did eat of the publick provisions together with kings . by these honours they gave testimony of their religion , not only separating certain persons for the service of their temples , but also separating their condition from the impurities and the contempt of the world ; as knowing , that they who were to converse with their gods , were to be elevated from the common condition of men and vulgar miseries . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . as soon as i was made a priest of idaean iupiter , all my garments were white , and i declined to converse with mortals . novae sortis oportet illum esse qui jubente deo canat , said seneca . he had need be of a distinct and separate condition that sings to the honour , and at the command of god : thus it was among the jews and heathens . sect . ii. now if christian religion should do otherwise than all the world hath done , either it must be because the rites of christianity are of no mystery and secret dispensation , but common actions of an ordinary address , and cheap devotion ; or else , because we undervalue all religion , that is , because indeed we have nothing of it : the first , is dishonourable to christianity , and false as its greatest enemy : the second , is shame to us : and both so unreasonable and unnatural , that if we separate not certain persons for the ministeries of christianity , we must consess we have the worst religion , or that we are the worst of men . but let us consider it upon its proper grounds . when christ had chosen to himself twelve apostles , and was drawing now to the last scene of his life , he furnished them with commissions and abilities to constitute and erect a church , and to transmit such powers as were apt for its continuation and perpetuity . and therefore to the apostles in the capacity of church-officers , he made a promise , that he would be with them to the end of the world ; they might personally be with him until the end of the world , but he could not be here with them , who after a short course run , was to go hence , and be no more seen : and therefore for the verification of the promise , it is necessary that since the promise was made for the benefit of the church , and to them as the ministers of the benefit , so long as the benefit was to be dispensed , so long they were to be succeded to , and therefore assisted by the holy jesus according to the glorious promise : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . not only to the apostles , but absolutely and indefinitely to all christs disciples , their successors , he promised to abide for ever , even to the consummation of the world , to the whole succession of the clergy : so theophylact upon this place . and if we consider what were the power and graces jesus committed to the dispensation of the apostles , such as were not temporary , but lasting , successive , and perpetual , we must also conclude the ministery to be perpetual . i instance first in the power of binding and loosing , remitting and retaining sins , which christ gave them together with his breathing on them the holy spirit , and a legation , and a special commission , as appears in s. iohn ; which power , what sence soever it admits of , could not expire with the persons of the apostles , unless the succeeding ages of the church had no discipline , or government , no scandals to be removed , no weak persons offended , no corrupt members to be cut off , no hereticks rejected , no sins , or no pardon ; and that were a more heresie , than that of the novatians ; for they only denied this ministery in some cases ; not in all : saying , priestly absolution was not fit to be dispensed to them , who in time of persecution had sacrificed to idols . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to these ] only , pardon is to be dispensed without the ministery of the priest , to these ] who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sacrificers , and mingled the table of the lord with the table of devils . against other sinners they were not so severe . but however , so long as that distinction remains , of sins unto death , and sins not unto death ; there are a certain sort of sins which are remediable , and cognoscible , and judicable , and a power was dispensed to a distinct sort of persons , to remit or retain those sins ; which therefore must remain with the apostles for ever , that is , with their persons first , and then with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with their successors ; because the church needs it for ever ; and there was nothing in the power , that by relating to the present and temporary occasion did insinuate its short life and speedy expiration . in execution of this power and pursuance of this commission , for which the power was given ; the apostles went forth , and all they upon whom this signature passed , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , executed this power in appropriation and distinct ministery : it was the sword of their proper ministery ; and s. paul does almost exhibite his commission and reads the words , when he puts it in execution , and does highly verifie the parts and the consequence of this argument ; god hath reconciled us to himself by christ iesus , and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation ; and it follows , now then we are embassadors for christ. the ministery of reconciliation , is an appropriate ministery ; it is committed to us ; we are embassadors , it is appropriate by vertue of christs mission , and legation . he hath given to us , he hath made and deputed certain embassadors whom he hath sent upon the message , and ministry of reconcilement ; which is a plain exposition of the words of his commission , before recorded , iohn 20. 21. and that this also descended lower , we have the testimony of s. iames , who advises the sick person to send for the elders of the church , that they may pray over him ; that they may anoint him , that in that society there may be confession of sins by the clinick or sick person , and that after these preparatives , and in this ministery , his sins may be forgiven him . now that this power fell into succession , this instance proves ; for the elders were such who had not the commission immediately from christ , but were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , they were fathers of the people , but sons of the apostles , and therefore it is certain the power was not personal , and meerly apostolical , but derived upon others by such a communication , as gives evidence the power was to be succeeded in ; and when went it out ? when the anointing and miraculous healing ceased ? there is no reason for that . for forgiveness of sins was not a thing visible , and therefore could not be of the nature of miracles to confirm the faith and christianity first , and after its work was done return to god that gave it ; neither could it be only of present use to the church , but as eternal and lasting as sin is : and therefore there could be nothing in the nature of the thing to make it so much as suspicious , it was presently to expire . to which also i add this consideration , that the holy ghost which was to enable the apostles in the precise office apostolical , as it was an office extraordinary , circumstantionate , definite , and to expire , all that , was promised should descend upon them after christs ascension , and was verified in pentecost ; for to that purpose to bring all things to their mind , all of christs doctrine and all that was necessary of his life and miracles , and a power from above to enable them to speak boldly and learnedly , and with tongues , all that , besides the other parts of ordinary power , was given them ten days after the ascension . and therefore the breathing the holy ghost upon the apostles in the octaves of the resurrection , and this mission with such a power , was their ordinary mission , a sending them as ordinary pastors and curates of souls , with a power to govern ( binding and loosing can mean no less : and they were the words of the promise ) with a power to minister reconciliation : ( for so saint paul expounds remitting and retaining ) which two were the great hinges of the gospel , the one to invite and collect a church , the other to govern it ; the one to dispense the greatest blessing in the world , the other to keep them in capacities of enjoying it . for since the holy ghost was now actually given to these purposes here expressed , and yet in order to all their extraordinaries and temporary needs was promised to descend after this , there is no collection from hence more reasonable , than to conclude all this to be part of their commission of ordinary apostleship , to which the ministers of religion were in all ages to succeed . in attestation of all which , who please may see the united testimony of a s. cyril , b s. chrysostome , c s. ambrose , d s. gregory and the e author of the questions of the old and new testament , who unless by their calling shall rather be called persons interess'd , than by reason of their famous piety and integrity , shall be accepted as competent , are a very credible and fair representment of this truth , and that it was a doctrine of christianity , that christ gave this power to the apostles for themselves , and their successors for ever , and that therefore as christ in the first donation , so also some churches in the tradition of that power used the same form of words , intending the collation of the same power , and separating persons for that work of that ministery . i end this with the counsel s. augustine gives to all publick penitents , veniat ad antistites , per quos illis in ecclesia claves ministrantur , & à praepositis sacrorum accipiant satisfactionis suae modum , let them come to the presidents of religion by whom the keys are ministred , and from the governours of holy things let them receive those injunctions , which shall exercise and signifie their repentance . sect . iii. the second power i instance in , is preaching the gospel : for which work he not only at first designed apostles , but others also were appointed for the same work for ever , to all generations of the church . this commission was signed immediately before christ's ascension ; all power is given to me in heaven and in earth , go ye therefore and teach all nations , teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i have commanded you , and lo i am with you always , even unto the end of the world . first , christ declared his own commission , [ all power is given him into his hand ] he was now made king of all the creatures , and prince of the catholick church ; and therefore as it concerned his care and providence to look to his cure , and flock , so he had power to make deputations accordingly [ go ye therefore , ] implying that the sending them to this purpose was an issue of his power , either because the authorizing certain persons was an act of power , or else because the making them doctors of the church and teachers of the nations , was a placing them in an eminency above their scholars , and converts , and so also was an emanation of that power , which , derived upon christ from his father , from him descended upon the apostles . and the wiser persons of the world have always understood , that a power of teaching was a presidency and authority ; for since all dominion is naturally founded in the understanding ; although civil government accidentally , and by inevitable publick necessity relies upon other titles , yet where the greatest understanding and power of teaching is , there is a natural preheminence and superiority eatenus , that is , according to the proportion of the excellency ; and therefore in the instance of s. paul we are taught the style of the court , and disciples sit at the feet of their masters , as he did at the feet of his tutor gamaliel , which implies duty , submission , and subordination ; and indeed it is the highest of any kind , not only because it is founded upon nature , but because it is a submission of the most imperious faculty we have , even of that faculty which when we are removed from our tutors , is submitted to none but god ; for no man hath power over the understanding faculty ; and therefore so long as we are under tutors and instructors , we give to them that duty , in the succession of which claim , none can succeed but god himself , because none else can satisfie the understanding but he . now then because the apostles were created doctors of all the world , hoc ipso they had power given them over the understandings of their disciples , and they were therefore fitted with an infallible spirit , and grew to be so authentick that their determination was the last address of all inquiries in questions of christianity : and although they were not absolute lords of their faith and understandings , as their lord was , yet they had , under god , a supreme care , and presidency , to order , to guide , to instruct , and to satisfie their understandings ; and those whom they sent out upon the same errand , according to the proportion and excellency of their spirit , had also a degree of superiority and eminency ; and therefore they who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , labourers in the word and doctrine , were also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , presbyters that were presidents and rulers of the church ; and this eminency is for ever to be retained according as the unskilfulness of the disciple retains him in the form of catechumens ; or as the excellency of the instructor still keeps the distance ; or else , as the office of teaching being orderly and regularly assigned makes a legal , political , and positive authority , to which all those persons are for orders sake to submit , who possibly in respect of their personal abilities might be exempt from that authority . upon this ground it is , that learning amongst wise persons is esteemed a title of nobility and secular eminency : ego enim quid aliud munificentiae adhibere potui , ut studia , ut sic dixerim , in umbra educata è quibus claritudo venit , said seneca to nero. and aristotle , and a. gellius affirm , that not only excellency of extraction , or great fortunes , but learning also makes noble ; circum undique sedentibus multis doctrinâ , aut genere , aut fortunâ nobilibus viris : and therefore the lawyers say , that if a legacy be given pauperi nobili , the executors ▪ if they please , may give it to a doctor . i only make this use of it , that they who are by publick designation appointed to teach , are also appointed in some sence to govern them : and if learning it self be a fair title to secular opinion , and advantages of honour , then they who are professors of learning , and appointed to be publick teachers , are also set above their disciples as far as the chair is above the area or floor , that is , in that very relation of teachers and scholars : and therefore among the heathen the priests who were to answer de mysteriis , sometimes bore a scepter . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . upon which verse of homer , eustathius observes , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the scepter was not only an ensign of a king , but of a judge and of a prophet ; it signified a power of answering in judgment , and wise sentences . this discourse was occasioned by our blessed saviour's illative ; all power is given me , go ye therefore and teach ; and it concludes , that the authority of preaching is more than the faculty , that it includes power and presidency , that therefore a separation of persons is ex abundanti inferred , unless order and authority be also casual , and that all men also may be governours as well as preachers . now that here was a plain separation of some persons for this ministery , i shall not need to prove by any other argument besides the words of the commission ; save only that this may be added , that here was more necessary , than a commission ; great abilities , special assistances , extraordinary and divine knowledge , and understanding the mysteries of the kingdom ; so that these abilities were separations enough of the persons , and designation of the officers ; but this may possibly become the difficulty of the question ; for , when the apostles had filled the world with the sermons of the gospel , and that the holy ghost descended in a plentiful manner , then was the prophesie of ioel fulfilled , old men dreamed dreams , and young men saw visions , and sons and daughters did prophesie : now the case was altered ; and the disciples themselves start up doctors , and women prayed and prophesied , and priscilla sate in the chair with her husband aquila , and apollos sate at their feet ; and now all was common again : and therefore although the commission went out first to the apostles ; yet , when by miracle god dispensed great gifts to the laity , and to women , he gave probation that he intended that all should prophesie and preach , lest those gifts should be to no purpose . this must be considered . 1. these gifts were miraculous verifications of the great promise of the father , of sending the holy ghost , and that all persons were capable of that blessing in their several proportions , and that christianity did descend from god were ex abundanti proved by those extraregular dispensations : so that here is purpose enough signified , although they be not used to infer an indistinction of officers in this ministery . 2. these gifts were given extra-regularly : but yet with some difference of persons : for all did not prophesie , nor all interpret , nor all speak with tongues : they were but a few that did all this : we find but the daughters of one man only , and priscilla , among all the nations of the jews that ever did prophesie , of the women : and of lay-men i remember not one , but aquila and agabus : and these will be but too straight an argument to blend a whole order of men in a popular and vulgar indiscrimination . 3. these extraordinary gifts were no authority to those who had them , and no other commission , to speak in publick . and therefore s. paul forbids the women to speak in the church , and yet it was not denied but some of them might have the spirit of prophesie . speaking in the church was part of an ordinary power , to which not only ability but authority also and commission are required . that was clearly one separation ; women were not capable of a clerical imployment , no not so much as of this ministery of preaching . and by this we may take speedier account concerning deaconesses in the primitive church ; de diaconissâ ego bartholomaeus dispono ; o episcope , impones ei manus praesentibus presbyteris , diaconis & diaconissis , & dices , respice super hanc famulam tuam ; so it is in the constitutions apostolical under the name of s. clement : by which it should seem they were ordained for some ecclesiastical ministery ; which is also more credible by those words of tertullian , quantae igitur & quae in eccles●is ordinari solent , quae deo nubere maluerunt ? and sozomen tells of olympias , hanc enim , cum genere esset nobilissimo , quamvis juvenculam , ex quo vidua facta erat , quia ex praescripto ecclesiae egregiè philosophatur , in ministram nectarius ordinat : and such a one it was , whom saint basil called impollutam sacerdotem . whatsoever these deaconesses could be , they could not speak in publick , unless they did prevaricate the apostolical rule , given to the corinthian and ephesian churches : and therefore though olympias was an excellent person , yet she was no preacher ; she was a philosopher , not in her discourse , but in her manner of living and believing : philosophata ex ecclesiae praescripto , and that could not be by preaching : but these deaconesses after the apostolical age , were the same with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the good women , that did domestick offices and minister to the temporal necessity of the churches in the days of the apostles ; such a one was phebe of cenchrea : but they were not admitted to any holy or spiritual office : so we have certain testimony from antiquity , whence the objection comes . for so the nicene council expresly : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . deaconesses are to be reckoned in the laity , because they have no imposition of hands , viz. for any spiritual office . for they had imposition of hands in some places to temporal administrations about the church , and a solemn benediction , but nothing of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; the same were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the presbyteresses , who were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the governesses of women , in order to manners and religion ; but these , though ( as tertullian affirms , and zonaras , and balsamo confess ) they were solemnly ordained and set over the women in such offices , yet pretended to nothing of the clerical power or the right of speaking in publick . so epiphanius : there is an order of deaconesses in the church , but not to meddle , or to attempt any of the holy offices . and in this sence it was , that s. ambrose reckons it amongst the heresies of the cataphrygians , that they ordained their deaconesses , viz. to spiritual ministeries ; but those women that desire to be medling , are not moved with such discourses ; they care for none of all these things ; therefore i remit them to the precept of the apostle . but i suffer not a woman to teach , but to be in silence . and as for the men who had gifts extraordinary of the spirit , although they were permitted at first in the corinthian church ( before there was a bishop , or a fixed colledge of clergy ) to utter the inspired dictates of the spirit , yet whether they were lay or clergy is not there expressed ; and it is more agreeable to the usual dispensation that the prophets of ordinary ministery , though now extraordinarily assisted , should prophesie in publick ; but however , when these extraordinaries did cease , if they were common persons , they had no pretence to invade the chair ( nor , that we find , ever did : ) for an ordinary ability to speak was never any warrant to disturb an order ; unless they can say the words of s. paul [ whereunto i am ordained a preacher , ] they might not invade the office . to be able to perform an office , though it may be a fair disposition to make the person capable to receive it orderly , yet it does not actually invest him ; every wise man is not a counsellor of state , nor every good lawyer a judge . and i doubt not but in the jewish religion there were many persons as able to pray as their priests , who yet were wiser than to refuse the priests advocation apud deum , and reciting offices in behalf of the people : orabit pro eo sacerdos was the order of gods appointing , though himself were a devout person and of an excellent spirit . and it had need be something extraordinary that must warrant an ordinary person to rise higher than his own evenness ; and ability or skill is but a possibility ; and must be reduced to act by something that transmits authority , or does establish order , or distinguish persons , and separate professions . and it is very remarkable , that when iudas had miscarried and lost his apostolate , it was said , that it was necessary for some body to be chosen to be a witness of christs resurrection . two were named , of ability sufficient , but that was not all : they must chuse one , to make up the number of the twelve , a distinct separate person ; which shews that it was not only a work ( for that , any of them might have done ) but an office of ordinary ministery . the ability of doing which work although all they that lived with iesus , might either have had , or received at pentecost , yet the authority and grace was more : the first they had upon experience , but this only by divine election : which is a demonstration that every person that can do offices clerical is not permitted to do them ; and that , besides the knowledge and natural or artificial abilities , a divine qualification is necessary . and therefore god complains by the prophet , i have not sent them , and yet they run ; and the apostle leaves it as an established rule , how shall they preach except they be sent ? which two places , i shall grant to be meant concerning a distinct and a new message ; prophets must not offer any doctrine to the people , or pretend a doctrine for which they had not a commission from god. but which way soever they be expounded , they will conclude right in this particular . for if they signifie an ordinary mission , then there is an ordinary mission of preachers , which no man must usurp unless he can prove his title certainly and clearly , derivative from god ; which when any man of the laity can do , we must give him the right hand of fellowship , and wish him good speed . but if these words signifie an extraordinary case , and that no message must be pretended by prophets , but what they have commission for , then must not ordinary persons pretend an extraordinary mission to an ordinary purpose : for , besides , that god does never do things unreasonable , nor will endure that order be interrupted to no purpose , he will never give an extraordinary commission unless it be to a proportionable end ; whosoever pretends to a licence of preaching by reason of an extraordinary calling , must look that he be furnished with an extraordinary message , lest his commission be ridiculous ; and when he comes , he must be sure to shew his authority by an argument proportionable ; that is , by such a probation without which no wise man can reasonably believe him ; which cannot be less than miraculous and divine . in all other cases he comes under the curse of the non missi , those whom god sent not ; they go on their own errand , and must pay themselves their wages . but , besides that the apostles were therefore to have an immediate mission , because they were to receive new inctructions : these inctructions were such as were by an ordinary , and yet by a distinct ministery to be conveyed , for ever after ; and therefore did design an ordinary , successive , and lasting power and authority . nay our blessed lord went one step further in this provision , even to remark the very first successors and partakers of this power , to be taken into the lot of this ministery , and they were the seventy-two whom christ had sent ( as probationers of their future preaching ) upon a short errand into the cities of iudah : but by this assignation of more persons than those to whom he gave immediate commission , he did declare that the office of preaching was to be dispensed by a separate and peculiar sort of men , distinct from the people , and yet by others than those who had the commission extraordinary ; that is , by such who were to be called to it by an ordinary vocation . as christ constituted the office and named the persons , both extraordinary and ordinary , present and successive ; so he provided gifts for them too , that the whole dispensation might be his , and might be apparent . and therefore christ when he ascended up on high gave gifts to men , to this very purpose ; and these gifts coming from the same spirit made separation of distinct ministeries under the same lord. so s. paul testifies expresly ; now there are diversities of gifts , but the same spirit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , there are different administrations [ differences of ministeries ; ] it is the proper word for church-offices ; the ministery distinguished by the gift ; it is not a gift of the ministery , but the ministery it self is the gift , and distinguished accordingly . an extraordinary ministery needs an extraordinary and a miraculous gift ; that is a miraculous calling and vocation and designation by the holy ghost ; but an ordinary gift cannot sublime an ordinary person to a supernatural imployment ; and from this discourse of the differing gifts of the spirit , saint paul without any further artifice , concludes that the spirit intended a distinction of church-officers for the work of the ministery ; for the conclusion of the discourse is , that god hath set some in the church , first apostles , secondarily prophets , thirdly teachers ; and , lest all god's people should usurp these offices , which god by his spirit hath made separate and distinguished , he adds , are all apostles ? are all prophets ? are all teachers ? if so , then were all the body one member , quite contrary to nature , and to god's oeconomy . and that this designation of distinct church-officers is for ever , s. paul also affirms as expresly as this question shall need ; he gave some apostles , some prophets , and some evangelists , and some pastors and teachers , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for the work of the ministery , till we all arrive at the unity of faith , which as soon as it shall happen , then cometh the end . till the end be , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the work of the ministery must go forwards , and is incumbent upon the pastors and teachers ; this is their work , and they are the ministers , whom the holy ghost designed . 1. for , i consider that either to preach requires but an ordinary or an extraordinary ability ; if it requires an extraordinary , they who are illiterate and unlearned persons are the unfittest men in the world for it : if an ordinary sufficiency will discharge it , why cannot they suppose the clergy of a competency , and strength sufficient to do that which an ordinary understanding , and faculties can perform ? what need they entermeddle with that , to which no extraordinary assistance is required ? or else why do they set their shoulder to such a work , with which no strength but extraordinary , is commensurate ? in the first case it is needless ; in the second it is useless ; in both vain and impertinent . for either no man needs their help ; or , if they did , they are very unable to help . i am sure they are , if they be unlearned persons ; and if they be learned , they well enough know , that to teach the people , is not a power of speaking , but is also an act of jurisdiction and authority , and in which , order is , at least , concerned in an eminent degree : learned men are not so forward ; and those are most confident who have least reason . 2. although as homilies to the people are now used according to the smallest rate , many men more preach than should , yet besides that to preach prudently , gravely , piously , and with truth , requires more abilities than are discernable by the people , such as make even a plain work reasonable to wise men , and useful to their hearers , and acceptable to god ; besides this , i say , the office of teaching is of larger extent than making homilies , or speaking prettily enough to please the common and undiscerning auditors . they that are appointed to teach the people must respondere de jure , give account of their faith in defiance of the numerous armies of hereticks ; they must watch for their flock , and use excellent arts to arm them against all their weaknesses from within , and hostilities from without ; they must strengthen the weak , confirm the strong , compose the scrupulous , satisfie the doubtful , and be ready to answer cases of conscience ; and i believe there are not so little as 5000 cases already started up among the casuists ; and for ought i know ; there may be 5000 times 5000. and there are some cases of conscience that concern kings and kingdoms in the highest mysteriousness , both of state and religion , and they also belong to pastors for the interests of religion , and teachers to determine or advise in . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the preachers were always messengers between god and men , being mediators by their sacrifices , and they were interested in their counsels , and greater causes ; and if religion can have influences into counsels of princes , and publick interest of kingdoms , and that there can be any difficulty , latent sences , intricacy of question , or mysteriousness in divinity , it will be found that there are other parts of the preachers office , besides making homilies : and that when so great skill is required , it will not be easie to make pretences to invade it ; unless a man cannot be an excellent lawyer without twenty years skill and practice , besides excellency of natural indowments , and yet can be an excellent teacher and guide in all cases of conscience , meerly with opening his mouth , and rubbing his forehead hard . but god hath taken order that those whom he hath appointed teachers of the people , should make it the work and business of their lives , that they should diligently attend to reading , to exhortation , and to doctrine , that they may watch over their flock , over whom the holy ghost hath made them overseers . the inconvenience that this discourse is like to meet withall is , that it concerns those men who are sure not to understand it : for they that have not the wisdom of prophets and wise men , cannot easily be brought to know the degrees of distance between the others wisdom and their own ignorance . to know that there is great learning beyond us , is a great part of learning : but they that have the confidence in the midst of their deepest ignorance to teach others , want both modesty and understanding too , either to perceive or to confess their own wants : they never kissed the lips of the wife , and therefore think all the world breathes a breath as fenny and moorish as themselves . 3. besides , the consideration of the ability that a separate number of men should be the teachers , and it be not permitted promiscuously to every person of a confident language and bold fancy , is highly necessary in the point of prudence and duty too . of prudence , because there can be no security against all the evil doctrines of the world in a promiscuous unchosen company of preachers . for if he be allowed the pretence of an extraordinary , he shall belie the holy spirit , to couzen you , when he hath a mind to it : if you allow him nothing but an ordinary spirit , that is , abilities of art and nature ; there cannot in such discourses be any compensation for the disorder , or the danger , or the schisms , and innumerable churches , when one head and two members shall make a distinct body , and all shall pretend to christ , without any other common term of union . and this which is disorder in the thing , is also dishonourable to this part of religion ; and the divine messages shall be conveyed to the people by common curriers or rather messengers by chance , and as they go by ; whereas god sent at first embassadors extraordinary , and then left his leigers in his church for ever . but there is also a duty too to be secured ; for they that have the guiding of souls must remember that they must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , must render an account ; and that cannot be done with joy , when it shall be indifferent to any man to superseminate what he please : and ( by the way ) i suppose , they who are apt to enter into the chair of doctors and teachers , would be unwilling to be charged with a cure of souls . if they knew what that means , they would article more strictly before they would stand charged with it ; and yet it is harder to say that there is no such thing as the cure of souls ; that christ left his flock to wander and to guide themselves , or to find shepherds at the charges of accident and chance . christ hath made a better provision , and after he had with the greatest earnestness committed to s. peter the care of feeding his lambs and sheep , s. peter did it carefully , and though it part of the same duty to provide other shepherds , who should also feed the flocks by a continual provision and attendance ; the presbyters which are among you , i who also am a presbyter exhort , feed the flock of god which is among you , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , doing the office of bishops over them , taking supravision or oversight of them willingly and of a ready mind . the presbyters and bishops , they are to feed the flock , there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a flock to be distinguished from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the shepherds , the elders , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the flock among you , distinguished by a regular office of teaching , and a relation of shepherds and sheep . but this discourse would be unnecessary long , unless i should omit many arguments , and contract the rest . i only shall desire it be considered , concerning the purpose of that part of divine providence , in giving the christian church commandments concerning provisions to be made for the preachers ; let the elders that rule well have a double honour , an elder brother's portion at least , both of honour and maintenance , especially if they labour in the word and doctrine ; and the reason is taken out of moses law , but derived from the natural , bovi trituranti non ligabis os . for god hath ordained that those that labour in the gospel should live of the gospel . this argument will force us to distinguish persons , or else our purses will ; and if all will have a right to preach the gospel that think themselves able , then also they have a right to be maintained too . i shall add no more , 1. god hath designed persons to teach the people , 2. charged them with the cure of souls , 3. given them commission to go into all the world , 4. given them gifts accordingly . 5. charged the people to attend and to obey , 6. hath provided them maintenance and support , and 7. separated them to reading , to exhortation , and to doctrine , from the affairs of this world , that they may attend to these , by the care of the whole man. if any man in charity or duty will do any ghostly offices to his erring or weak brother , he may have a reward of charity : for in this sence it is that tertullian says , that in remote and barbarous countries the laity do sacerdotio aliquatenus fungi . but if he invades the publick chair , he may meet with the curse of corah , if he intends maliciously ; or if he have fairer , but mistaken purposes , the gentler sentence passed upon uzzah may be the worst of his evil portion . sect . iv. i instance next in the case of baptism , which indeed hath some difficulty and prejudice passed upon it ; and although it be put in the same commission , intrusted to the same persons , be a sacred ministery , a sacrament and a mysterious rite , whose very sacramental and separate nature , requires the solemnity of a distinct order of persons for its ministration : yet if the laity may be admitted to the dispensation of so sacred and solemn rites , there is nothing in the calling of the clergy that can distinguish them from the rest of gods people , but they shall be holy enough , to dispense holy offices without the charges of paying honour and maintenance to others to do what they can do themselves . in opposition to which , i first consider , that the ordinary minister of baptism is a person consecrated ; the apostles and their successors in the office apostolical , and all those that partake of that power ; and it needs no other proof , but the plain production of the commission ; they who are teachers by ordinary power , and authority , they also had command to baptize all nations : and baptism being the solemn rite of initiating disciples , and making the first publick profession of the institution , it is in reason and analogy of the mystery to be ministred by those who were appointed to collect the church , and make disciples . it is as plain and decretory a commission , as any other mysteriousness of christianity ; and hath been accepted so for ever as the doctrine of christianity , as may appear in a ignatius , b tertullian , c s. gelasius , d s. epiphanius , and e s. hierom ; who affirm in variety of sences , that bishops , priests and deacons only are to baptize ; some by ordinary right , some by deputation ; of which i shall afterwards give account ; but all the ius ordinarium they intend to fix upon the clergy according to divine institution and commandment . so that in case lay-persons might baptize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , upon urgent necessity , yet this cannot upon just pretence invade the ordinary ministery , because god had dispensed the affairs of his church , so that cases of necessity do not often occur to the prejudice and dissolution of publick order , and ministeries ; and if permissions being made to supply necessities , be brought further than the case of exception gives leave , the permission is turned into a crime , and does greater violence to the rule , by how much it was fortified by that very exception , as to other cases not excepted . and although in case of extreme necessity every man may preach the gospel , as to dying heathens , or unbelieving persons , yet if they do this without such , or the like necessity , what at first was charity , in the other case is schism and pride , the two greatest enemies to charity in the world . but now for the thing it self , whether indeed any case of necessity can transmit to lay persons a right of baptizing , it must be distinctly considered . some say it does . for ananias baptized paul , who yet ( as it is said ) was not in holy orders ; and that the 3000 converts at the first sermon of s. peter were all baptized by the apostles , is not easily credible , it being too numerous a body for so few persons to baptize ; and when peter had preached to cornelius and his family , he caused the brethren that came along with him to baptize them ; and whether hands had been imposed on them or no , is not certain : and in pursuance of the instance of ananias , and the other probabilities , the doctors of the church have declared their opinions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in cases of necessity , a lay-person may baptize . so tertullian in his book of baptism , alioqui & laicis jus est baptizandi . quod enim ex aequo accipitur , ex aequo dari potest . the reason is also urged by s. hierom to the same purpose , only requiring that the baptizer be a christian , supposing whatsoever they have received they may also give ; but because the reason concludes not , because ( as themselves believe ) a presbyter cannot collate his presbyterate , it must therefore rest only upon their bare authority ; if it shall be thought strong enough to bear the weight of the contrary reasons . and the fathers in the council of eliberis determined , peregrè navigantes , aut si ecclesia in proximo non fuerit , posse fidelem , qui lavacrum suum integrum habet , nec sit bigamus , baptizare in necessitate infirmitatis positum catechumenum ; it a ut si supervixerit , ad episcopum eum producat , ut per manûs impositionem proficere possit . the synod , held at alexandria under alexander their bishop , approved the baptism of the children by athanasius , being but a boy ; and the nicene fathers ratifying the baptism made by hereticks ( amongst whom they could not but know in some cases , there was no true priesthood or legitimate ordination ) must by necessary consequence suppose baptism to be dispensed effectually by lay-persons . and s. hierome is plain , baptizare , si necessitas cogat , scimus etiam licere laicis ; the same almost with the canon of the fourth council of carthage , mulier baptizare non praesumat nisi necessitate cogente : though , by the way , these words of [ cogente necessitate ] are not in the canon , but thrust in by gratian and peter lombard . and of the same opinion is s. ambrose , or he who under his name wrote the commentaries upon the fourth to the ephesians , a p. gelasius , b s. august . and c isidor , and generally all the scholars after their master . but against this doctrine were all the african bishops for about 150 years ; who therefore rebaptized persons returning from heretical conventicles ; because those heretical bishops being deposed and reduced into lay-communion , could not therefore collate baptism for their want of holy orders : as appears in s. basils canonical epistle to amphilochius , where he relates their reason , and refutes it not . and however firmilian and s. cyprian might be deceived in the thinking hereticks quite lost their orders ; yet in this they were untouched , that although their supposition was questionable , yet their superstructure was not medled with , viz. that if they had been lay persons , their baptizations were null and invalid . i confess , the opinion hath been very generally taken up in these last ages of the church , and almost with a nemine contradicente ; the first ages had more variety of opinion : and i think it may yet be considered anew upon the old stock . for since absolutely , all the church affixes the ordinary ministery of baptism to the clergy ; if others do baptize , do they sin , or do they not sin ? that it is no sin , is expresly affirmed in the 16 canon of nicephorus of c. p. if the own father baptizes the child , or any other christian man , it is no sin . * s. augustine is almost of another mind , & si laicus necessitate compulsus baptismum dederit , nescio an pie quisquam dixerit , baptismum esse repetendum : nullâ enim cogente necessitate si fiat , alieni muneris usurpatio est ; si autem necessitas urgeat , aut nullum , aut veniale delictum est . and of this mind are all they , who by frequent using of that saying have made it almost proverbial , factum valet , fieri non debet . if they do not sin , then women and lay-men have as much right from christ to baptize as deacons or presbyters ; then they may upon the same stock and right do it as deacons do , for if a bishop was present it was not lawful for deacons , as is expresly affirmed by s. ignatius in his epistle to heron the deacon ; and s. epiphanius with the same words denies a jus baptizandi , to women and to deacons , and both of them affirm it to be proper to bishops . further yet , tertullian and s. hierom deny a power to presbyters to do it without episcopal dispensation . now if presbyters and deacons have this power only by leave and in certain cases , then it is more than the women have : only that they are fitter persons to be intrusted with the deputation ; a less necessity will devolve it upon presbyters than upon deacons , and upon deacons than lay-men ; and a less yet will cast it upon lay-men than women : and this difference is in respect of humane order and positive constitution , but in the nature of the thing according to this doctrine all persons are equally receptive of it : and therefore to baptize is no part of the grace of orders , no fruit of the holy ghost , but a work which may be done by all , and at some times must : and if baptism may , then it will be hard to keep all the other rites from the common inrodes , and then the whole office will perish . but if lay-persons baptizing , though in case of necessity , do sin , as s. augustine seems to say they do , then it is certain , christ never gave them leave so much as by insinuation ; and then neither can the church give leave ; for she can give leave for no man to sin : and , besides such a deputation were to no purpose ; because no person shall dare to do it , for evil is not to be done , though for the obtaining the greatest good : and it will be hard to state the question , so that either the child shall perish , or some other must perish for it ; for he that positively ventures upon a sin for a good end , worships god with a sin , and therefore shall be thank'd with a damnation , if he dies before repentance ; but if the child shall not perish in such case of not being baptized , then why should any man break the rule of institution , and if he shall perish without being baptized , then god hath affixed the salvation of the child upon the condition of another mans sin . 3. and indeed the pretence of cases of necessity may do much towards the excusing an irregularity in an exterior rite , though of divine institution , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but it will not be easily proved that god hath made any such necessities : it is certain that for persons having the use of reason god hath provided a remedy that no lay-person should have need to baptize a catechumen ; for his votum or desire of baptism shall serve his turn . and it will be unimaginable that god hath made no provision for infants , and yet put it upon them in many cases with equal necessity , which without breach of a divine institution cannot be supplied . 4. if a lay-person shall baptize , whether or no shall the person baptized receive benefit , or will any more but the outward act be done ? for that the lay-person shall convey rem sacramenti , or be the minister of sacramental grace , is no where revealed in scripture , and is against the analogy of the gospel ; for the verbum reconciliationis , all the whole ministery of reconciliation is intrusted to the priest , nobis , ( saith s. paul ) to us who are embassadors . and what difference is there , if cases of necessity be pretended in the defect of other ministeries , but that they also may be invaded ? and cases of necessity may by other men also be numbered in the other sacrament : and they have done so ; and i know , who said that no man must consecrate the sacrament of the lords supper but he that is lawfully called , except there be a case of necessity ; and that there may be a case of necessity for the blessed sacrament , there needs no other testimony than the nicene council ; which calls the sacrament in the article of death , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , viaticum , the most necessary provision for our journey : and if a lay-person absolves , there is as much promise of the validity of the one as the other , unless it be said , that there may be absolute necessity of baptism , but not so of absolution ; which the maintainers of the other opinion are not apt to profess . and therefore s. augustine did not know whether baptism administred by a lay-person be to be repeated or no ; nescio anpiè quisquam dixerit , he knew not ; neither do i. but simon of thessalonica is confident , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , no man baptizes but he that is in holy orders . the baptism is null : i cannot say so ; nor can i say , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; let it be received . only i offer this to consideration ; if a deacon can do no ministerial act with effect , but a lay-person may do the same with effect upon the person suscipient , what is that supernatural grace and inherent and indelible character which a deacon hath received in his ordination ? if a deacon can do no supernatural act which were void and null , if done by him that is not a deacon , he hath no character , no spiritual inherent power : and that he is made the ordinary minister of it , is for order sake : but he that can do the same thing , hath the same power and ability . by this ground a lay-person and a deacon are not distinguished by any inherent character , and therefore they who understand the spiritual powers and effects of ordination in the sence and expression of an inherent and indelible character , will find some difficulty in allowing the effect of a lay-baptism . but i consider that the instances of scripture brought for the lawfulness of lay-administration , if they had no particular exceptation , yet are impertinent to this question ; for it is not with us pretended in any case to be lawful , but in extreme necessity : and therefore , saint peters deputing the brethren who came with him to cornelius to baptize his family , is nothing to our purpose , and best answers it self : for either they were of the clergy , who came with them ; or else lay-persons may baptize by the right of an ordinary deputation , without a case of necessity ; for here was none : saint peter might have done it himself . and as for ananias , he was one of the seventy two : and if that be nothing , yet he was called to that ministration about paul , as paul himself was to the apostleship , even by an immediate vocation , and mission from christ himself . and if this answer were not sufficient ( as it is most certainly ) the argument would press further than is intended : for ananias tells him , he was sent to him that he might lay his hands on him that he might receive the holy ghost : and to do that , was more than philip could do ; though he was a deacon , and in as great a necessity , as this was : and yet besides all this , this was not a case of necessity , unless there was never a presbyter or deacon in all damascus , or that god durst not trust any of them with paul , but only ananias , or that paul could not stay longer without baptism , as many thousand converts did in descending ages . and for the other conjecture it is not considerable at all : for the apostles might take three or four days time to baptize the three thousand : there was no hurt done if they had stayed a week : the text insinuates nothing to the contrary ; the same day about three thousand were added to the church ; then they were added to the church , that is , by vertue and efficacy of that sermon , who it may be , considered some-while of s. peters discourse , and gave up their names upon mature deliberation and positive conviction . but it is not said , they were baptized the same day ; and yet it was not impossible for the twelve apostles to do it in one day , if they had thought it reasonable . for my own particular , i wish we would make no more necessities than god made , but that we leave the administration of the sacraments to the manner of the first institution , and the clerical offices be kept within their cancels , that no lay-hand may pretend a reason to usurp the sacred ministery : and since there can be no necessity for unbaptized persons of years of discretion , because their desire may supply them , it were well also if our charity would find some other way also , to understand gods mercy towards infants ; for certainly , he is most merciful and full of pity to them also : and if there be no neglect of any of his own appointed ministeries , so as he hath appointed them , methinks it were but reasonable to trust his goodness with the infants in other cases : for it cannot but be a jealousie and a suspicion of god , a not daring to trust him , and an unreasonable proceeding beside , that we will rather venture to dispense with divine institution , than think that god will ; or that we should pretend more care of children than god hath : when we will break an institution , and the rule of an ordinary ministery of gods appointing , rather than cast them upon god , as if god loved this ceremony better than he loved the child ; for so it must be , if the child perished for want of it : and yet still methinks according to such doctrine , there was little or no care taken for infants ; for when god had appointed a ministery , and fixed it with certain rules and a proper deputation : in reason ( knowing in all things else how merciful god is , and full of goodness ) we should have expected that god should have given express leave to have gone besides the first circumstances of the sacrament , if he had intended we might or should : and that he should have told us so too rather than by leaving them fast tyed without any express cases of exception , or marks of difference , permit men to dispute and stand unresolved between a case of duty and a point of charity : for although god will have mercy rather than sacrifice , yet when both are commanded , god takes order they shall never cross each other , and sacrifice is to be preferred before mercy , when the sacrifice is in the commandment , and the mercy is not : as it is in the present question . and if it were otherwise in this case , yet because god loves mercy so well , why should we not think , that god himself will shew this mercy to this infant , when he hath not expressed his pleasure that we should do it ? we cannot be more merciful than he is . the church of england hath determined nothing in this particular , that i know of ; only when in the first liturgy of king edward the sixth , a rubrick was inserted permitting midwives to baptize in cases of extreme danger , it was left out in the second liturgies , which is at least an argument she intended to leave the question undetermined ; if at least that omission of the clause , was not also a rejection of the article : only this epiphanius objects against the marcionites , and tertullian against the gnosticks , that they did permit women to baptize : i cannot say but they made it an ordinary imployment , and a thing besides the case of necessity : i know not whether they did or no. but if they be permitted , it is considerable whither the example may drive : petulans mulier quae usurpavit docere , an non utique & tingendi jus sibi pariet ? that i may turn tertullians thesis into an interrogative . the women usurp the office of teaching , if also they may be permitted to baptize , they may in time arrogate and invade other ministeries ; or if they do not , by reason of the natural and political incapacity of their persons , yet others may upon the same stock : for necessity consists not in a mathematical point , but hath latitude which may be expounded to inconvenience ; and that i say truth and fear reasonably , i need no other testimony than the greek church , for amongst them a [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] the absence of the priest is necessity enough for a woman to baptize ; for so sayes * gabriel philadelphiensis . in the absence of a priest , a christian laick may baptize , whether it be man or woman , either may do it ; and whether that be not only of danger in the sequel , but in it self a very dissolution of all discipline , i leave it to the church of england to determine as for her own particular , that at least the sacrament be left intirely to clerical dispensation according to divine commandment . onething i offer to consideration ; that since the keyes of the kingdom of heaven be most notoriously and signally used in baptism , in which the kingdom of heaven the gospel , and all its promises , is opened to all believers , and though as certainly yet less principally in reconciling penitents , and admitting them to the communion of the faithful ; it may be of ill consequence , to let them be usurped by hands to whom they were not consigned . certain it is , s. peter used his keyes , and opened the kingdom of heaven first , when he said , repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of iesus christ , for the remission of sins , and ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost . however as to the main question , we have not only the universal doctrine of christendom , but also express authority and commission in scripture , sending out apostles and apostolical men , persons of choice and special designation to baptize all nations , and to entertain them into the services and institution of the holy jesus . sect . v. i shall instance but once more , but it is in the most solemn , sacred and divinest mystery in our religion ; that in which the clergy in their appointed ministery do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , stand between god and the people , and do fulfil a special , and incomprehensible ministery , which the angels themselves do look into with admiration , to which the people if they come without fear , cannot come without sin ; and this of so sacred and reserved mysteriousness , that but few have dared to offer at with unconsecrated hands : some have . but the eucharist is the fulness of all the mysteriousness of our religion ; and the clergy , when they officiate here , are most truly in the phrase of saint paul , dispensatores mysteriorum dei , dispensers of the great mysteries of the kingdom . for ( to use the words of saint cyprian ) iesus christ is our high priest , and himself become our sacrifice which he finished upon the cross in a real performance , and now in his office of mediatorship makes intercession for us by a perpetual exhibition of himself , of his own person in heaven , which is a continual actually represented argument to move god to mercy to all that believe in , and obey the holy iesus . now christ did also establish a number of select persons , to be ministers of this great sacrifice , finished upon the cross ; that they also should exhibit and represent to god ( in the manner which their lord appointed them ) this sacrifice , commemorating the action and suffering of the great priest ; and by way of prayers and impetration , offering up that action in behalf of the people , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( as gregory nazianzen expresses it ) sending up sacrifices to be laid upon the altar in heaven , that the church might be truly united unto christ their head , and , in the way of their ministery , may do what he does in heaven ; for he exhibits the sacrifice , that is , himself , actually and presentially in heaven : the priest on earth commemorates the same , and by his prayers represents it to god in behalf of the whole catholick church ; presentially too , by another and more mysterious way of presence ; but both christ in heaven , and his ministers on earth do actuate that sacrifice , and apply it to its purposed design by praying to god in the vertue and merit of that sacrifice ; christ himself , in a high and glorious manner ; the ministers of his priesthood ( as it becomes ministers ) humbly , sacramentally , and according to the energy of humane advocation and intercession ; this is the sum and great mysteriousness of christianity , and is now to be proved . this is expresly described in scripture ; that part concerning christ is the doctrine of s. paul , who disputes largely concerning christ's priesthood ; affirming that christ is a priest for ever ; he hath therefore an unchangeable priesthood , because he continueth for ever , and he lives for ever to make intercession for us ; this he does as priest , and therefore it must be by offering a sacrifice , [ for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices ] and therefore it is necessary he also have something to offer , as long as he is a priest , that is , for ever , till the consummation of all things ; since therefore he hath nothing new to offer , and something he must continually offer , it is evident , he offers himself as the medium of advocation , and the instance and argument of a prevailing intercession ; and this he calls a more excellent ministery ] and by it , iesus is a minister of the sanctuary , and of the true tabernacle , that is , he , as our high priest officiates in heaven , in the great office of a mediator , in the merit and power of his death and resurrection . now what christ does alwayes in a proper and most glorious manner , the ministers of the gospel also do in theirs : commemorating the sacrifice upon the cross , giving thanks , and celebrating a perpetual eucharist for it , and by declaring the death of christ , and praying to god in the vertue of it , for all the members of the church , and all persons capable ; it is in genere orationis a sacrifice , and an instrument of propitiation , as all holy prayers are in their several proportions . and this was by a precept of christ ; hoc facite , do this in remembrance of me . now this precept is but twice reported of in the new testament , though the institution of the sacrament , be four times . and it is done with admirable mystery ; to distinguish the several interests , and operations which concern several sorts of christians in their distinct capacities : s. paul thus represents it ; [ take eat — this do in remembrance of me ] plainly referring this precept to all that are to eat and drink the symbols : for they also do in their manner enunciate , declare , or represent the lords death till he come . and saint paul prosecutes it with instructions particular to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to them that do communicate , as appears in the succeeding cautions against unworthy manducation , and for due preparation to its reception . but s. luke reports it plainly to another purpose , [ and he took bread , and gave thanks , and brake it , and gave it unto them , saying : this is my body which is given for you ; hoc facite , this ] do in remembrance of me : [ this ] cannot but relate to accepit , gratias egit , fregit , distribuit : hoc facite . here was no manducation expressed , and therefore hoc facite concerns the apostles in the capacity of ministers ; not as receivers , but as consecrators and givers ; and if the institution had been represented in one scheme without this mysterious distinction , and provident separation of imployment , we had been eternally in a cloud , and have needed a new light to guide us ; but now the spirit of god hath done it in the very first fountains of scripture . and this being the great mystery of christianity , and the only remanent express of christ's sacrifice on earth , it is most consonant to the analogy of the mystery , that this commemorative sacrifice be presented by persons as separate , and distinct in their ministery , as the sacrifice it self is from and above the other parts of our religion . thus also the church of god hath for ever understood it without any variety of sence or doubtfulness of distinguishing opinions . it was the great excellency and secret mystery of the religion , to consecrate and offer the holy symbols and sacraments : i shall transcribe a passage out of iustin martyr giving the account of it to antoninus pius in his oration to him ; and it will serve in stead of many ; for it tells the religion of the christians in this mystery , and gives a full account of all the ceremony . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. when the prayers are done , then is brought to the president of the brethren [ the priest ] the bread , and the chalice of wine mingled with water ; which being received , he gives praise and glory to the father of all things , and presents them in the name of the son and the holy spirit , and largely gives thanks , that he hath been pleased to give us these gifts : and when he hath finished the prayers and thanksgiving , all the people that is present , with a joyful acclamation , say amen . which when it is done by the presidents and people , those which amongst us are called deacons and ministers , distribute to every one that is present , that they may partake of him , in whom the thanks were presented , the eucharist , bread , wine , and water ; and may bear it to the absent . moreover this nourishment is by us called the eucharist , which it is lawful for none to partake , but to him who believes our doctrine true , and is washed in the laver for the remission of sins , and regeneration , and that lives so as christ delivered . for we do not take it as common bread and common drink ; but as by the word of god jesus christ the saviour of the world was made flesh , and for our salvation sake , had flesh and blood : after the same manner also we are taught that this nourishment , in which by the prayers of his word , which is from him the food in which thanks are given , or the consecrated food by which our flesh and blood by mutation or change are nourished , is the flesh and blood of the incarnate jesus . for the apostles in their commentaries which they wrote , which are called the gospels , so delivered , as jesus commanded . for when he had given thanks and taken bread , he said , do this in remembrance of me ; this is my body ; and likewise taking the chalice , and having given thanks , he said , [ this is my blood , ] and that he gave it to them alone . ] this one testimony i reckon as sufficient : who please to see more , may observe the tradition full , testified and intire , in a ignatius , b clemens romanus , or whoever wrote the apostolical constitutions in his name , c tertullian , d s. cyprian , e s. athanasius , f epiphanius , g s. basil , h s. chrysostom ( almost every where , ) i s. hierom , k s. augustine ; and indeed we cannot look in vain , into any of the old writers : the sum of whose doctrine in this particular , i shall represent in the words of the most ancient of them , s. ignatius , saying , that he is worse than an infidel that offers to officiate about the holy altar , unless he be a bishop or a priest. and certainly , he could upon no pretence have challenged the appellative of christian , who had dared either himself to invade the holy rites within the chancels , or had denyed the power of celebrating this dreadful mystery to belong only to sacerdotal ministration . for either it is said to be but common bread and wine , and then , if that were true , indeed any body may minister it ; but then they that say so , are blasphemous , they count the blood of the lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( as s. paul calls it , in imitation of the words of institution ) the blood of the covenant , or new testament , a prophane or common thing ; they discern not the lord's body ; they know not that the bread that is broken is the communication of christ's body : but if it be a holy , separate , or divine and mysterious thing , who can make it ( ministerially , i mean ) and consecrate or sublime it from common and ordinary bread , but a consecrate , separate , and sublimed person ? it is to be done either by a natural power , or by a supernatural . a natural cannot hallow a thing in order to god ; and they only have a supernatural , who have derived it from god , in order to this ministration ; who can shew that they are taken up into the lot of that deaconship , which is the type and representment of that excellent ministery of the true tabernacle where jesus himself does the same thing , in a higher and more excellent manner . this is the great secret of the kingdom , to which in the primitive church , many who yet had given up their names to christ by designation , or solemnity were not admitted , so much as to the participation ; as the catechumeni , the audientes , the poenitentes , neophytes , and children : and the ministery of it was not only reserved for sacred persons , but also performed with so much mysterious secrecy , that many were not permitted so much as to see . this is that rite , in which the priest intercedes for , and blesses the people ; offering in their behalf , not only their prayers , but applying the sacrifice of christ to their prayers , and representing them with glorious advantages , and titles of acceptation , which because it was so excellent , celestial , sacred , mystical and supernatural , it raised up the persons too ; that the ministeriael priesthood in the church , might , according to the nature of all great imployments , pass an excellency and a value upon the ministers . and therefore according to the natural reason of religion , and the devotion of all the world , the christians , because they had the greatest reason so to do , did honour their clergy with the greatest veneration and esteem . it is without a metaphor , regale sacerdotium , a royal priesthood , so s. peter ; which although it be spoken in general of the christian church , and , in an improper large sence , is verified of the people ; yet it is so to be expounded , as that parallel place of the books of moses , from whence the expression is borrowed , ye shall be a kingdom of priests , and an holy nation ; which plainly by the sence and analogy of the mosaick law , signifies a nation blessed by god with rites and ceremonies of a separate religion ; a kingdom , in which priests are appointed by god , a kingdom , in which nothing is more honourable than the priesthood ; for it is certain , the nation was famous in all the world , for an honourable priesthood ; and yet the people were not priests in any sence , but of a violent metaphor . and therefore the christian ministery having greater priviledges , and being honoured with attrectation of the body and blood of christ , and offices serving to a better covenant , may with greater argument be accounted excellent , honourable and royal ; and all the church be called a royal priesthood , the denomination being given to the whole , from the most excellent part ; because they altogether make one body under christ the head , the medium of the union being the priests , the collectors of the church , and instrument of adunation ; and reddendo singula singulis , dividing to each his portion of the expression ; the people is a peculiar people , the clergy a holy priesthood : and all in conjunction , and for several excellencies a chosen nation : so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the priesthood of the kingdom , that is , the ministery of the gospel : for in the new testament , the kingdom ] signifies the gospel : and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kingly , is of , or belonging to the gospel : for therefore it is observable , it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not well rendered by the vulgar latine regale sacerdotium ; as if kingly were the appellative or epithete of this priesthood ; it is regium , a priesthood appertaining to the kingdom of the gospel ; and the priest being enumerated distinctly from the people , the priests of the kingdom , and the people of the kingdom , are all holy and chosen ; but in their several manner : the priests of the kingdom , those , the people of the kingdom , these ; to bring or design a spiritual sacrifice , the priest to offer it ; or all together to sacrifice ; the priest by his proper ministery , the people by their assent , conjunction and assistance , chosen to serve god , not only in their own forms , but under the ministration of an honourable priesthood . and in all the descent of christian religion it was indeed honourable , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith saint chrysostom , the christian priesthood does its ministery and is perfected on earth , but hath the beauty , order , and excellency of the heavenly hosts : so that i shall not need to take notice of the lamina aurea which polycrates reports s. iohn to have worn in token of his royal priesthood , a wreath of gold ; ( so also did saint iames bishop of ierusalem , as saint hierom and epiphanius report ) nor the exemption of the clergy from tribute , their authority with the people , their great donatives and titles of secular advantage , these were accidental to the ministery ▪ and relyed upon the favour of princes , and devotion of the people ; and if they had been more , yet are less than the honours god had bestowed upon it ; for certainly , there is not a greater degree of power in the world , than to remit and retain sins , and to consecrate the sacramental symbols into the mysteriousness of christ's body and blood ; nor a greater honour , than that god in heaven should ratifie what the priest does on earth ; and should admit him to handle the sacrifice of the world , and to present the same which in heaven is presented by the eternal jesus . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . so gregory nazianzen describes the honour and mysteriousness of the priest's power : they minister the spiritual and unbloody sacrifice , they are honourable guardians of souls , they bear the work of god in their hands . and s. hierom speaking of these words of s. paul , i am ordained a preacher and an apostle : quod paulus ait , [ apostolus iesu christi ] tale mihi videtur quasi dixisset , praefectus praetorio augusti caesaris , magister exercitus tiberii imperatoris . and a little after , grandem inter christianos sibi vindicans dignitatem , apostolorum se christi titulo praenotavit , ut ex ipsa lecturos nominis authoritate deterreret , indicans omnes qui christo crederent , debere esse sibi subjectos . and therefore s. chrysostome sayes , it is the trick of hereticks , not to give to bishops titles of their eminency and honour , which god hath vouchsafed them : ut diabolus , ita etiam quilibet facit haereticus vehementissimus in tempore persecutionis , loquens cum pontifice , nec eum vocat pontificem , nec archiepiscopum , nec religiosissimum , nec sanctum , sed quid ? reverentia tua &c. nomina illi adducit communia , ejus negans authoritatem : diabolus hoc tunc , fecit in deo : it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a separating and purifying order of men , so dionysius calls it : but nazianzen speaks greater and more glorious words yet , and yet what is no more than a sober truth : for he calls the priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‑ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he stands with angels , and is magnified with archangels ; he sends sacrifices to a celestial altar , and is consecrated in the priesthood of christ , a divine person , and an instrument of making others so too . i shall add no more as to this particular . the express precepts of god in scripture are written in great characters , there is a double honour to be given to the ecclesiastical rulers . rulers that also labour in the word and doctrine : there is obedience due to them , obedience in all things , and estimation , and love , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , very abundantly ; esteem such very highly for their works sake ; a communicating to them in all good things ; and their offices are described to be great , separate , busie , eminent and profitable , they are rulers , presidents , set over us in the lord , taking care for us , labouring in doctrine , spiritual persons , restorers of them that were overtaken in a fault , curates of souls , such as must give an account for them , the salt , the light of the world , shepheards ; and much more , signifying work , and rule , and care , honour . but next to the words of scripture , there can no more be said concerning the honour of the sacred order of the clergy , than is said by saint chrysostome in his books de sacerdotio , and saint ambrose , de dignitate sacerdotali ; and no greater thing can be supposed communicated to men than to be the ministers of god , in the great conveyances of grace , and instruments of god in the pardon of sins , in the consecration of christ's body and blood , in the guidance and conduct of souls . and this was the stile of the church , calling bishops and priests according to their respective capacity , stewards of the grace of god , leaders of the blind , a light of them that sit in darkness , instructors of the ignorant , teachers of babes , stars in the world , amongst whom ye shine as lights in the world , and that is scripture too ; stars in christ's right hand , lights set upon the candlesticks : and now supposing these premisses , if christendome had not paid proportionable esteem to them , they had neither known how to value religion , or the mysteries of christianity . but that all christendom ever did pay the greatest reverence to the clergy and religious veneration , is a certain argument that in christian religion the distinction of the clergy from the laity , is supposed as a praecognitum , a principle of the institution . i end this with the words of the seventh general council : it is manifest to all the world , that in the priesthood , there is order and distinction ; and to observe the ordinations and elections of the priesthood with strictness and severity , is well pleasing to god. sect . vi. as soon as god began to constitute a church , and fix the priesthood , which before was very ambulatory , and dispensed into all families , but ever officiated by the major domo , god gives the power , and designs the person . and therefore moses consecrated aaron , agitatus à deo consecrationis principe , saith dionysius , moses performed the external rites of designation , but god was the consecrator , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . moses appointed aaron to the priesthood , and gave him the order , but it was only as the minister and deputy of god , under god the chief consecrator . and no man taketh upon him this honour , but he that was called of god , as was aaron , saith s. paul. for in every priesthood , god designed and appointed the ministery , and collates a power , or makes the person gracious : either gives him a spiritual ability of doing something which others have not , or if he be only imployed in praying and presenting sacrifices of beasts for the people ; yet that such a person should be admitted to a nearer address , and in behalf of the people , must depend upon god's acceptation , and therefore upon divine constitution : for there can be no reason given in the nature of the thing , why god will accept the intermediation of one man for many , or why this man , more than another , who possibly hath no natural or acquired excellency beyond many of the people , except what god himself makes , after the constitution of the person . if a spiritual power be necessary to the ministration , it is certain , none can give it but the fountain and the principle of the spirits emanation . or if the graciousness and aptness of the person be required , that also being arbitrary , preternatural and chosen , must derive from the divine election : for god cannot be prescribed unto by us , whom he shall hear , and whom he shall entertain in a more immediate address , and freer entercourse . and this is divinely taught us by the example of the high priest himself : who , because he derived all power from his father , and all his graciousness and favour , in the office of priest and mediator , was also personally chosen and sent , and took not the honour but as it descended on him from god , that the honour and the power , the ability , and the ministery , might derive from the same fountain . christ did not glorifie himself to become high priest. honour may be deserved by our selves , but alwayes comes from others : and because no greater honour than to be ordained for men in things pertaining to god , every man must say as our blessed high priest said of himself : if i honour my self , my honour is nothing : it is god that honoureth me : for christ being the fountain of evangelical ministery , is the measure of our dispensations , and the rule of ecclesiastical oeconomy : and therefore we must not arrogate any power from our selves , or from a less authority than our lord and master did : and this is true and necessary in the gospel , rather than in any ministery or priesthood that ever was , because of the collation of so many excellent and supernatural abilities which derive from christ upon his ministers , in order to the work of the gospel . and the apostles understood their duty in this particular , as in all things else ; for when they had received all this power from above , they were careful to consign the truth , that although it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a divine grace in a humane ministery , and that although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , he that is ordained by men , yet receives his power from god ; not at all by himself ; and from no man as from the fountain of his power : and this , i say , the apostles were careful to consign in the first instance of ordination in the case of matthias , thou lord , shew which of these two , thou hast chosen : god was the elector , and they the ministers ; and this being at the first beginning of christianity , in the very first designation of an ecclesiastical person , was of sufficient influence into the religion for ever after ; and taught us to derive all clerical power from god ; and therefore by such means and ministeries which himself hath appointed , but in no hand to be invaded , or surprized in the entrance , or polluted in the execution . this descended in the succession of the churches doctrine for ever . receive the holy ghost , said christ to his apostles , when he enabled them with priestly power ; and s. paul to the bishops of asia said , the holy ghost hath made you bishops or overseers ; because no mortal man , no angel , or archangel , nor any other created power , but the holy ghost alone hath constituted this order , saith s. chrysostome . and this very thing , besides the matter of fact , and the plain donation of the power by our blessed saviour , is intimated by the words of christ other-where ; pray ye therefore the lord of the vineyard , that he will send labourers into his harvest . now his mission is not only a designing of the persons , but enabling them with power ; because he never commands a work , but he gives abilities to its performance : and therefore still in every designation of the person , by whatsoever ministery it be done , either that ministery is by god constituted to be the ordinary means of conveying the abilities , or else god himself ministers the grace immediately . it must of necessity come from him some way or other . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — saint iames hath adopted it into the family of evangelical truths ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , every perfect gift , and therefore every perfecting gift , which in the stile of the church is the gift of ordination , is from above , the gifts of perfecting the persons of the hierarchy , and ministery evangelical ; which thing is further intimated by saint paul. now he which stablisheth us with you [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] in order to christ [ and christian religion ] is god , and that his meaning be understood concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of establishing him in the ministery , he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he which anointeth us is god , and hath sealed us with an earnest of his spirit [ unction ] and consignation ] and [ establishing by the holy spirit : ] the very stile of the church for ordination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it was said of christ , him hath the father sealed , that is , ordained him , the priest and prophet of the world , and this he plainly spoke as their apostle and president in religion , not as lords over your faith , but fellow-workers ; he spake of himself and timothy , concerning whose ministery in order to them , he now gives account : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , god anoints the priest , and god consigns him with the holy ghost ; that is the principale quaesitum , that is the main question . and therefore the author of the books of ecclesiastical hierarchy , giving the rationale of the rites of ordination , sayes that the priest is made so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of proclaiming and publication of the person , signifying , that the holy man that consecrates , is but the proclaimer of the divine election , but not by any humane power or proper grace does he give the perfect gift and consecrate the person . and nazianzen , speaking of the rites of ordination hath this expression , with which the divine grace is proclaimed : ( and billius renders it ill by superinvocatur . ) he makes the power of consecration to be declarative ; which indeed is a lesser expression of a fuller power , but it signifies as much as the whole comes to ; for it must mean , god does transmit the grace [ at ] or [ by ] or [ in ] the exteriour ministery , and the minister is [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a declarer ] not by the word of his mouth , distinct from the work of his hand : but by the ministery , he declares the work of god , then wrought in the person suscipient . and thus in absolution the priest declares the act of god pardoning , not that he is a preacher only of the pardon upon certain conditions , but that he is not the principal agent ; but by his ministery declares and ministers the effect and work of god. and this interpretation is clear in the instance of the blessed sacrament , where not only the priest but the people do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declare the lords death , not by a homily , but by vertue of the mystery which they participate . and in the instance of this present question , the consecrator does declare power to descend from god upon the person to be ordained . but thus the whole action being but a ministery , is a declaration of the effect and grace of gods vouch safing ; and because god does it not immediately , and also because such effects are invisible and secret operations , god appointing an external rite and ministery , does it ▪ that the private working of the spirit may become as perceived as it can be , that is , that it may by such rites be declared to all the world what god is doing , and that man cannot do it of himself ; and besides the reasonableness of the thing , the very words in the present allegation do to this very sence expound themselves : for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , are the same thing , and expressive of each other ; the consecrator declares , that is , he doth not do it by collation of his own grace or power , but the grace of god and power from above . and this doctrine we read also in s. cyprian towards the end of his epistle to cornelius ; ut dominus qui sacerdotes sibi in ecclesia sua eligere & constituere dignatur , electos quoque & constitutos sua voluntate atque opitulatione tueatur : it is a good prayer of ordination , [ that the lord who vouchsafes to chuse and consecrate priests in his church , would also be pleased by his aid and grace to defend them whom he hath so chosen and appointed ] homo manum imponit , & deus largitur gratiam : sacerdos imponit supplicem dextram , deus benedicit potenti dextra , saith saint ambrose , man imposes his hand but god give the grace : the bishop lays on his hand of prayer , and god blesses with his hand of power . the effect of this discourse is plain ; the grace and power that enables men to minister in the mysteries of the gospel is so wholly from god , that whosoever assumes it without gods warrant , and besides his way , ministers with a vain , sacrilegious , and ineffective hand , save only that he disturbs the appointed order , and does himself a mischief . sect . vii . by this ordination the persons ordained are made ministers of the gospel , stewards of all its mysteries , the light , the salt of the earth , the shepherd of the flock , curates of souls ; these are their offices , or their appellatives ( which you please : ) for the clerical ordination is no other but a sanctification of the person in both sences ; that is , 1. a separation of him to do certain mysterious actions of religion : which is that sanctification by which ieremy , and s. iohn the baptist were sanctified from their mothers wombs . 2. it is also a sanctification of the person , by the increasing or giving respectively to the capacity of the suscipient , such graces as make the person meet to speak to god , to pray for the people , to handle the mysteries , and to have influence upon the cure . the first sanctification of a designation of the person ; which must of necessity be some way or other by god : because it is a nearer approach to him , a ministery of his graces , which without his appointment , a man must not , cannot any more do , than a messenger can carry pardon to a condemned person , which his prince never sent . but this separation of the person , is not only a naming of the man , ( for so far the separation of the person may be previous to the ordination : for so it was in the ordinations of matthias , and the seven deacons ; the apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they appointed two , before god chose by lot ; and the whole church chose the seven deacons before the apostles imposed hands ; ) but the separation , or this first sanctification of the person , is a giving him a power to do such offices , which god hath appointed to be done to him and for the people , which we may clearly see and understand in the instance of iob and his friends : for when god would be intreated in behalf of eliphaz and his companions , he gave order that iob should make the address ; go to my servant , he shall pray for you , and him will i accept ; this separation of a person for the offices of advocation , is the same thing which i mean by this first sanctification ; god did it , and gave him a power and authority to go to him , and put him into a place of trust and favour about him , and made him a minister of the sacrifice , which is a power and eminency above the persons for whom he was to sacrifice , and a power or grace from god to be in nearness to him . this i suppose to be the great argument for the necessity of separating a certain order of men for ecclesiastical ministeries : and it relies upon these propositions . 1. all power of ordination descends from god , and he it is who sanctifies and separates the person . 2. the priest by god is separate to be the gratious person to stand between him and the people . 3. he speaks the word of god , and returns the prayers and duty of the people , and conveys the blessings of god , by his prayer , and by his ministery . so that although every christian must pray and may be heard , yet there is a solemn person appointed to pray in publick : and though gods spirit is given to all that ask it , and the promises of the gospel are verified to all that obey the gospel of jesus , yet god hath appointed sacraments and solemnities , by which the promises and blessings are ministred more solemnly , and to greater effects . all the ordinary devotions the people may do alone ; the solemn , ritual and publick , the appointed minister only must do . and if any man shall say , because the priest's ministery is by prayer , every man can do it , and so , no need of him ; by the same reason he may say also that the sacraments are unnecessary , because the same effect which they produce , is also in some degree the reward of a private piety and devotion . but the particulars are to be further proved and explicated as they need . now what for illustration of this article i have brought from the instance of iob , is true in the ministers of the gospel , with the superaddition of many degrees of eminency . but still in the same kind , for the power god hath given is indeed mystical ; but it is not like a power operating by way of natural or proper operation ; it is not vis but facullas , not an inherent quality that issues out actions by way of direct emanation , like natural or acquired habits , but it is a grace or favour done to the person , and a qualification of him in genere politico , he receives a politick , publick , and solemn capacity , to intervene between god and the people ; and although it were granted that the people could do the external work , or the action of church ministeries , yet they are actions to no purpose ; they want the life and all the excellency , unless they be done by such persons whom god hath called to it , and by some means of his own hath expressed his purpose to accept them in such ministrations . and this explication will easily be verified in all the particulars of the priests power , because all the ministeries of the gospel are in genere orationis ( unless we except preaching , in which god speaks by his servants to the people ) the minister by his office is an intercessor with god , and the word used in scripture for the priests officiating signifies his praying [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] as they were ministring or doing their liturgy , the work of their supplications and intercession ; and therefore the apostles positively included all their whole ministery in these two : [ but we will give our selves to the word of god , and to prayer ; ] the prayer of consecration , the prayer of absolution , the prayer of imposition of hands : they had nothing else to do but pray and preach . and for this reason it was , that the apostles in a sence nearest to the letter , did verifie the precept of our blessed saviour ; pray continually , that is , in all the offices , acts , parts and ministeries of a daily liturgy . this is not to lessen the power , but to understand it : for the priests ministery is certainly the instrument of conveying all the blessings of the people , which are annexed to the ordinary administration of the spirit . but when all the office of christs priesthood in heaven is called intercession for us , and himself makes the sacrifice of the cross , effectual to the salvation and graces of his church , by his prayer , since we are ministers of the same priesthood , can there be a greater glory than to have our ministery like to that of jesus ? not operating by vertue of a certain number of syllables , but by a holy , solemn , determined and religious prayer , in the several manners and instances of intercession : according to the analogy of all the religions in the world , whose most solemn mystery , was their most solemn prayer : i mean it in the matter of sacrificing ; which also is true in the most mysterious solemnity of christianity in the holy sacrament of the lords supper , which is hallowed and lifted up from the common bread and wine by mystical prayers and solemn invocations of god. and therefore s. dionysius calls the forms of consecration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , prayers of consecration , and s. cyril in his third mystagogique catechism sayes the same . the eucharistical bread [ after the invocation of the holy ghost ] is not any longer common bread , but the body of christ. for although it be necessary that the words which in the latin church have been for a long time called the words of consecration ( which indeed are more properly the words of institution ) should be repeated in every consecration , because the whole action is not compleated according to christs pattern , nor the death of christ so solemnly enunciated without them , yet even those words also are part of a mystical prayer ; and therefore as they are not only intended there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by way of history or narration ( as cabasil . mistakes ; ) so also in the most ancient liturgies , they were not only read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or as a meer narrative , but also with the form of an address , or invocation : fiat hic panis corpus christi , & fiat hoc vinum sanguis christi , let this bread be made the body of christ , &c. so it is in s. iames his liturgy , s. clements , s. marks , and the greek doctors : and in the very recitation of the words of institution , the people ever used to answer [ amen ] which intimates it to have been a consecration in genere orationis , called by s. paul benediction , or the bread of blessing , and therefore s. austin expounding those words of s. paul [ let prayers and supplications and intercessions and giving of thanks be made ] saith , eligo in his verbis hoc intelligere , quod omnis vel paene omnis frequentat ecclesia , ut [ precationes ] accipiamus dictas quas fecimus in celebratione sacramentorum antequam illud quod est in donini mensâ accipiat benedici : [ orationes ] cum benedicitur , & ad distribuendum comminuitur quam totam orationem paene omnis ecclesia dominicâ oratione concludit . the words and form of consecration he calls by the name of [ orationes ] supplications ; the prayers before the consecration [ preces ] , and all the whole action [ oratio : ] and this is according to the stile and practice , and sence of the whole church or very near the whole . and s. basil saith , that there is more necessary to consecration than the words recited by the apostles and by the evangelists . * the words of invocation in the shewing the bread of the eucharist , and the cup of blessing , who of all the saints have left to us ? for we are not content with those which the apostle and the evangelists mention : but before and after , we say other words having great power towards the mystery , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we have received by tradition . these words set down in scripture they retained as a part of the mystery co-operating to the solemnity , manifesting the signification of the rite , the glory of the change , the operation of the spirit , the death of christ , and the memory of the sacrifice : but this great work which all christians knew to be done by the holy ghost , the priest did obtain by prayer and solemn invocation : according to the saying of proclus of c. p. speaking of the tradition of certain prayers used in the mysteries , and indited by the apostles ( as it was said , ) but especially in s. iames his liturgy : by these prayers ( saith he ) they expected the coming of the holy ghost , that his divine presence might make the bread and the wine mixt with water to become the body and blood of our blessed saviour . and s. iustin martyr very often calls the eucharist , food made sacramental and eucharistical by prayer : and origen , b we eat the bread holy , and made the body of christ by prayer : verbo dei & per obsecrationem sanctificatus , bread sanctified by the word of god , and by prayer , viz. the prayer of consecration : prece mystica is s. austins expression of it : c corpus christi & sanguinem dicimus illud tantum , quod ex fructibus terrae acceptum , & prece mystica consecratum ritè sumimus . that only we call the body and blood of christ which we receive of the fruits of the earth , and being consecrated by the mystical prayer , we take according to the rite . and s. hierom chides the insolency of some deacons towards priests upon this ground . d who can suffer that the ministers of widdows and tables should advance themselves above those [ at whose prayers ] the body and blood of christ are exhibited or made presential ? i add only the words of damascen . e the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of christ supernaturally by invocation , and coming of the holy ghost . now whether this consecration by prayer , did mean to reduce the words of institution to the sence and signification of a prayer , or that they mean , the consecration was made by the other prayers annexed to the narrative of the institution according to the several sences of the greek and latin church , yet still the ministery of the priest , whether in the words of consecration , or in the annexed prayers , is still by way of prayer . nay further yet , the whole mystery it self is operative in the way of prayer , saith cassander , in behalf of the school and of all the roman church ; and indeed s. ambrose , and others of the fathers , in behalf of the church catholick . nunc christus offertur , sed offertur quasi homo , quasi recipiens passionem , & offert seipsum quasi sacerdos ut peccata nostra dimittat hic in imagine [ ibi in veritate , ubi apud patrem quasi advocatus intervenit . ] so that what the priest does here , being an imitation of what christ does in heaven , is by the sacrifice of a solemn prayer , and by the representing the action and passion of christ , which is effectual in the way of prayer , and by the exhibiting it to god by a solemn prayer , and advocation , in imitation of , and union with christ. all the whole office is an office of intercession , as it passes from the priest to god , and from the people to god ; and then for that great mysteriousness , which is the sacramental change , which is that which passes from god unto the people by the priest , that also is obtained and effected by way of prayer . for since the holy ghost is the consecrator , either he is called down by the force of a certain number of syllables , which that he will verifie , himself hath no where described ; and that he means not to do it , he hath fairly intimated , in setting down the institution in words of great vicinity to express the sence of the mystery , but yet of so much difference and variety , as will shew , this great change is not wrought by such certain and determined words , [ the blood of the new testament ] so it is in saint matthew and s. mark , [ the new testament in my blood ] so s. paul and s. luke , my body which is broken , my body which is given , &c. and to think otherwise , is so near the gentile rites , and the mysteries of zoroastes , and the secret operations of the enthei , and heathen priests , that unless god had declared expresly such a power to be affixed to the recitation of such certain words , it is not with too much forwardness to be supposed true in the spirituality of the gospel . but if the spirit descends not by the force of syllables , it follows he is called down by the prayers of the church , presented by the priests , which indeed is much to the honour of god and of religion , an endearment of our duty , is according to the analogy of the gospel , and a proper action or part of spiritual sacrifice , that great excellency of evangelical religion . for what can be more apt and reasonable to bring any great blessing from god than prayer , which acknowledges him the fountain of blessing , and yet puts us into a capacity of receiving it by way of moral predisposition , that holy graces may descend into holy vessels , by holy ministeries , and conveyances ; and none are more fit for the employment than prayers , whereby we bless god ▪ and bless the symbols , and ask that god may bless us , and by which every thing is sanctified , viz. by the word of god and prayer , that is , by god's benediction and our impetration ; according to the use of the word in the saying of our blessed saviour , man lives [ by every word ] that proceeds out of the mouth of god : that is , by god's blessing ; to which , prayer is to be joyned , that we may cooperate with god in a way most likely to prevail with him ; and they are excellent words which * cassander hath said to the purpose ; some apostolical churches from the beginning used such solemn prayers to the celebration of the mysteries ; and christ himself , beside that he recited the words ( of institution ) he blessed the symbols before and after , sung an ecclesiastical hymn . and therefore the greek churches which have with more severity kept the first and most ancient forms of consecration , than the latin church ; affirm that the consecration is made by solemn invocation alone , and the very recitation of the words spoken in the body of a prayer are used for argument to move god to hallow the gifts , and as an expression and determination of the desire . and this , | gabriel of philadelphia observes out of an apostolical liturgy , the words of our lord [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] antecedently , and by way of institution , and incentive are the form , together with the words which the priest afterwards recites according as it is set down in the divine liturgy . it is supposed he means the liturgy reported to be made by s. iames , which is of the most ancient use in the greek church , and all liturgies in the world in their several canons of communion , do now , and did for ever , mingle solemn prayers together with recitation of christ's words ; the church of england does most religiously observe it according to the custom and sence of the primitive liturgies ; who always did believe the consecration not to be a natural effect , and change , finished in any one instant , but a divine alteration consequent to the whole ministery : that is , the solemn prayer and invocation . now if this great ministery be by way of solemn prayer , it will easier be granted that so the other are . for absolution and reconciliation of penitents i need say no more , but the question of s. austin , quid est aliud manûs impositio , quàm oratio super hominem ? and the priestly absolution is called by s. leo , sacerdotum supplicationes , the prayers of priests ; and in the old ordo romanus , and in the pontifical , the forms of reconciliation were [ deus te absolvat ] the lord pardon thee , &c. but whatsoever the forms were ( for they may be optative , or indicative , or declarative , ) the case is not altered as to this question : for whatever the act of the priest be , whether it be the act of a judge , or of an embassador , or a counsellor , or a physician , or all this ; the blessing which he ministers , is by way of a solemn prayer , according to the exigence of the present rite : and the form of words doth not alter the case ; for ego benedico , & deus benedicat ] is the same , and was no more when god commanded the priest in express terms to bless the people ; only the church of late , chuses the indicative form , to signifie , that such a person is by authority and proper designation appointed the ordinary minister of benediction . for in the sence of the church and scripture , none can give blessing but a superior , and yet every person may say in charity , god bless you ; he may not be properly said to bless , for the greater is not blessed of the lesser by saint paul's rule ; the priest may bless , or the father may , and yet their benediction , ( save that it signifies the authority , and solemn deputation of the person to such an ordinary ministery ) signifies but the same thing ; that is , it operates by way of prayer ; but is therefore prevalent and more effectual , because it is by persons appointed by god. and so it is in absolution , for he that ministers the pardon , being the person that passes the act of god to the penitent , and the act of the penitent to god ; all that manner that the priest interposes for the penitent to god is by way of prayer , and by the mediation of intercession ; for there is none else in this imaginable ; and the other of passing god's act upon the penitent is by way of interpretation and enunciation , as an embassador , and by the word of his ministery ; in persona christi condonavi , i pardon in the person of christ , saith s. paul : in the first , he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; in the second he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; in both , a minister of divine benediction to the people , the anointing from above descends upon aaron's beard , and so by degrees to the skirts of the people ; and yet in those things which the priest or the prophet does but signifie by divine appointment he is said to do the thing , which he only signifies and makes publick as a minister of god : thus god sent ieremy , he set him over the nations to root out , and to pull down , and to destroy , to throw down , and to build , and to plant ; and yet in all this , his ministery was nothing but prophetical : and he that converts a sinner is said to save him , and to hide a multitude of sins ; that is , he is instrumental to it and ministers in the imployment ; so that here also , verbum est oratio , the word of god and prayer do transact both the parts of this office . and i understand , though not the degree and excellency , yet the truth of this manner of operation in the instance of isaac blessing iacob , which in the several parts was expressed in all forms , indicative , optative , enunciative ; and yet there is no question but it was intended to do iacob benefit by way of impetration ; so that although the church may express the acts of her ministery in what form she please , and with design to make signification of another article , yet the manner of procuring blessings and graces for the people is by a ministery of interpellation and prayer , we having no other way of address or return to god but by petition and eucharist . 17. i shall not need to instance any more . s. austin summs up all the ecclesiastical ministeries in an expression fully to this purpose ; si ergo ad hoc valet quod dictum est in evangelio , deis peccatorem non audit , aut , per peccatorem sacramenta non celebrentur , quomodo exaudit — deprecantem vel super aquam baptismi , vel super oleum , vel super eucharistiam , vel super capita eorum super quibus manus imponitur ? with s. austin , praying over the symbols of every sacrament , and sacramental , is all one with celebrating the mystery . and therefore in the office of consecration in the greek church , this power passes upon the person ordained , that he may be worthy to ask things of thee for the salvation of the people , that is , to celebrate the sacraments , and rites , and that thou wilt hear him : which fully expresses the sence of the present discourse , that the first part of that grace of the holy spirit which consecrates the priest , the first part of his sanctification , is a separation of the person to the power of intercession for the people , and a ministerial mediation , by the ministration of such rites and solemn invocations which god hath appointed or designed . and now this sanctification which is so evident in scripture , tradition and reason , taken from proportion and analogy to religion , is so far from making the power of the holy man less than is supposed , that it shews the greatness of it by a true representment ; and preserves the sacredness of it so within its own cancels , that it will be the greatest sacriledge in the world to invade it ; for , whoever will boldly enter within this vail , nisi qui vocatur sicut aaron , unless he be sanctified as is the priest , who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as nazianzen calls him , a minister co-operating with christ , he does without leave call himself a man of god , a mediator between god and the people under christ , he boldly thrusts himself into the participation of that glorious mediation which christ officiates in heaven ; all which things as they are great honours to the person , rightly called to such vicinity and endearments with god , so they depend wholly upon divine dignation of the grace and vocation of the person . 2. now for the other part of spiritual emanation or descent of graces in sanctification of the clergy , that is in order to the performance of the other , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; that 's the sence of it , that god who is the lover of souls may grant a pure and unblameable priesthood ; and certainly they who are honoured with so great a grace as to be called to officiate in holy and useful ministeries have need also of other graces to make them persons holy in habit and disposition , as well as holy in calling , and therefore god hath sent his spirit to furnish his emissaries with excellencies proportionable to their need and the usefulness of the church . at the beginning of christianity , god gave gifts extraordinary , as boldness of spirit , fearless courage , freedom of discourse , excellent understanding , discerning of spirits , deep judgment , innocence and prudence of deportment , the gift of tongues ; these were so necessary at the institution of the christian church , that if we had not had testimony of the matter of fact , the reasonableness of the thing would prove the actual dispensation of the spirit ; because god never fails in necessaries : but afterward , when all the extraordinary needs were served , the extraordinary stock was spent , and god retracted those issues into their fountains , and then the graces that were necessary for the well discharging the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the priestly function , were such as make the person of more benefit to the people , not only by being exemplary to them , but gracious and loved by god : and those are spiritual graces of sanctification . and therefore ordination is a collation of holy graces of sanctification ; of a more excellent faith , of fervent charity , of providence and paternal care : gifts which now descend not by way of miracle , as upon the apostles , are to be acquired by humane industry , by study and good letters , and therefore are presupposed in the person to be ordained : to which purpose the church now examines the abilities of the man , before she lays on hands : and therefore the church does not suppose that the spirit in ordination descends in gifts , and in the infusion of habits , and perfect abilities , though then also , it is reasonable to believe that god will assist the pious and careful endeavours of holy priests , and bless them with special aids and co-operation : because a more extraordinary ability is needful for persons so designed . but the proper and great aid which the spirit of ordination gives , is such instances of assistance which make the person more holy . and this is so certainly true , that even when the apostle had ordained timothy to be bishop of ephesus , he calls upon him to stir up the gift of god , which was in him by the putting on of his hands , and that gift is a rosary of graces ; what graces they are , he enumerates in the following words : god hath not given us the spirit of fear , but of power , of love , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and of a modest and sober mind ( and these words are made part of the form of collating the episcopal order in the church of england . ) here is all that descends from the spirit in ordination , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , power , that is , to officiate and intercede with god in the parts of ministery : and the rest are such as imply duty , such as make him fit to be a ruler in paternal and sweet government , modesty , sobriety , love ; and therefore in the forms of ordination of the greek church ( which are therefore highly to be valued , because they are most ancient , have suffered the least change , and been polluted with fewer interests ) the mystical prayer of ordination names graces in order to holiness . we pray thee that the grace of the ever holy spirit may descend upon him , a fill him full of all faith and love and power and sanctification by the illumination of thy holy and life-giving spirit : and the reason why these things are desir'd , and given , is in order to the right performing his holy offices , b that he may be worthy to stand without blame at thy altar , to preach the gospel of thy kingdom , to minister the words of thy truth , to bring to thee gifts , and spiritual sacrifices , to renew the people with the laver of regeneration . and therefore c s. cyril says that christ's saying , receive ye the holy ghost , signifies grace given by christ to the apostles , whereby they were sanctified : that by the holy ghost they might be absolved from their sins , saith d haymo ; and e s. austin says , that many persons that were snatched violently to be made priests or bishops , who had in their former purposes determined to marry and live a secular life , have in their ordination received the gift of continency . and therefore there was reason for the greatness of the solemnities used in all ages in separation of priests from the world , insomuch that whatsoever was used in any sort of sanctification of solemn benediction by moses law , all that was used in consecration of the priest , who was to receive the greatest measure of sanctification . eadem item vis etiam sacerdotem , augustum & honorandum facit , novitate benedictionis à communitate vulgi segregatum . cum enim heri unus è plebe esset , repente redditur praeceptor , praeses , doctor pietatis , mysteriorum latentium praesul &c. invisibili quadam vi , ac gratia invisibilem animam in melius transformatam gerens , that is , improved in all spiritual graces ; which is highly expressed by f martyrius who said to nectarius ; tu , ô beate , recens baptizatus & purificatus , & mox insuper sacerdotio auctus es ; utraque autem haec peccatorum expiatoria esse deus constituit : which are not to be expounded as if ordination did confer the first grace , which in the schools is understood only to be expiatorious ; but the increment of grace , and sanctification ; and that also is remissive of sins , which are taken off by parts as the habit decreases ; and we grow in god's favour , as our graces multiply or grow . now that these graces being given in ordination , are immediate emanations of the holy spirit , and therefore not to be usurped or pretended to by any man , upon whom the holy ghost in ordination hath not descended , i shall less need to prove , because it is certain upon the former grounds , and will be finished in the following discourses ; and it is in the greek ordination given as a reason of the former prayer , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . [ for not in the imposition of my hands , but in the overseeing providence of thy rich mercies , grace is given to them that are worthy . ] so that we see , more goes to the fitting of a person for ecclesiastical ministeries than is usually supposed ; together with the power , a grace is specially collated , and that is not to be taken up and laid down , and pretended to by every bolder person . the thing is sacred , separate , solemn , deliberate , derivative from god , and not of humane provision , or authority , or pretence , or disposition . sect . viii . the holy ghost was the first consecrator , that is made evident ; and the persons first consecrated were the apostles , who received the several parts of the priestly order , at several times ; the power of consecration of the eucharist , at the institution of it ; the power of remitting and retaining sins in the octaves of easter ; the power of baptizing and preaching , together with universal jurisdiction , immediately before the ascension , when they were commanded to go into all the world preaching and baptizing . this is the whole office of the priesthood ; and nothing of this was given in pentecost when the holy spirit descended and rested upon all of them ; the apostles , the brethren , the women : for then they received those great assistances which enabled them who had been designed for embassadors to the world , to do their great work : and others of a lower capacity had their proportion , as the effect of the promise of the father , and a mighty verification of the truth of christianity . now all these powers which christ hath given to his apostles , were by some means or other to be transmitted to succeeding persons , because the several ministeries were to abide for ever . all nations were to be converted , a church to be gathered and continued , the new converts to be made confessors , and consigned with baptism , sins to be remitted , flocks to be fed and guided , and the lords death declared , represented , exhibited , and commemorated until his second coming . and since the powers of doing these offices , are acts of free and gracious concession , emanations of the holy spirit , and admissions to a vicinity with god , it is not only impudence and sacriledge in the person , falsly to pretend , that is , to bely the holy ghost , and thrust into these offices , but there is an impossibility in the thing , it is null in the very deed doing , to handle these mysteries without some appointment by god ; unless he calls and points out the person , either by an extraordinary or by an ordinary vocation ; of these i must give a particular account . the extraordinary calling was first , that is , the immediate ; for the first beginning of a lasting necessity , is extraordinary , and made ordinary in succession , and by continuation of a fixed and determined ministery . the first of every order hath another manner of constitution , than all the whole succession . the rising of the spring is of greater wonder , and of more extraordinary and latent reason , than the descent of the current ; and the derivation of the powers of the holy ghost that make the priestly order , are just like the creation : the first man was made with god's own hands , and all the rest by god , co-operating with a humane act ; and there is never the same necessity as at first , for god to create man. the species or kind shall never fail , but be preserved in an ordinary way : and so it is in the designation of the ministers of evangelical priesthood ; god breathed into the apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the breath of the life-giving spirit ; and that breath was to be continued in a perpetual , univocal production ; they who had received , they were also to give : and they only could . grace cannot be conveyed to any man , but either by the fountain , or by the channel : by the author , or by the minister . god only is the fountain and author : and he that makes himself the minister whom god appointed not , does in effect make himself the author : for he undertakes to dispose of grace which he hath not received , to give god's goods upon his own authority : which he that offers at , without god's warrant , does it only upon his own . and so either he is the author , or an usurper , either the fountain , or a dry cloud , which in effect calls him either blasphemous , or sacrilegious . but the first and immediate derivation from the fountain , that only i affirm to be miraculous , and extraordinary : as all beginnings of essences and graces of necessity must : those persons who receive the first issues , they only are extraordinarily called : all that succeed are called or designed by an ordinary vocation , because whatsoever is in the succession is but an ordinary necessity , to which god hath proportioned an ordinary ministery ; and when it may be supplied by the common provisions , to look for an extraordinary calling , is as if a man should expect some new man to be created , as adam was ; it is to suppose god will multiply beings and operations without necessity . god called at first , and if he had not called , man could not have come to him in this nearness of a holy ministery ; he sent persons abroad , and if he had not sent , they could not have gone ; but after that he had appointed by his own designation persons who should be fathers in christ , he called no more , but left them to call others : he first immediately gives the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the grace , and leaves this as a depositum to the church , faithfully to be kept till christ's second coming ; and this depositum is the doctrine and discipline of jesus : he opens the door , and then left it open , commanding all to come in that way , into the ministery and tuition of the flock , calling all that came in by windows , and posterns , and oblique ways , thieves and robbers . and it is observable , that the word vocation or calling in scripture , when it is referred to a designation of persons to the ministery , it always signifies that which we term , calling extraordinary ; it always signifies , an immediate act of god ; which also ceased when the great necessity expired , that is , when the fountain had streamed forth abundantly , and made a current to descend without interruption . the purpose of this discourse is , that now no man should in these days of ordinary ministery , look for an extraordinary calling , nor pretend in order to vainer purposes any new necessities . they are fancies of a too confident opinion , and over-valuing of our selves , when we think the very being of a church is concerned in our mistakes ; and if all the world be against us , we are not ashamed of our folly , but think truth is failed from among the children of men , and the church is at a loss , and the current derived from the first emanations is dried up , and then he that is boldest to publish his follies , is also as apt to mistake his own boldness for a call from god , as he did at first his own vain opinion for a necessary truth ; and then he is called extraordinarily , and so ventures into the secrets of the sanctuary . first , he made a necessity more than ever god made , & then himself finds a remedy that god never appointed . he that thinks every shaking of the ark is absolute ruine to it , when peradventure it was but the weakness of his own eyes that made him fancy what was not , may also think he hears a call from above to support it , which indeed was nothing but a noise in his own head : and there is no cure for this , but to cure the man , and set his head right . for he that will pretend any thing that is beyond ordinary , as he that will say he hath two reasonable souls within him , or three wills , is not to be confuted but by physick , or by the tying him to abjure his folly till he were able to prove it . but god by promising that his church should abide for ever , and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it , but that himself would be with her to the end of the world ; hath sufficiently confuted the vanity of those men , who that they might thrust themselves into an office , pretend the dissolution of the very being of the church : for if the church remains in her being , let her corruptions be what they will , the ordinary prophets have power to reform them ; and if they do not , every man hath power to complain , so he does it with peace , and modesty , and truth , and necessity . 2. and there is no need of an extraordinary calling to amend such things which are certain , foreseen events ; and such were heresies and corruption in doctrine and manners , for which god appointed an ordinary ministery to take cognizance and make a remedy ; for which himself when he had told us , heresies must needs be , yet made no provisions extraordinary , but left the church sufficiently instructed by her rule , and guided by her pastors . 3. when christ means to give us a new law , then he will give us a new priesthood , a new ministery : one will not be changed without the other ; god now no more comes in a mighty rushing wind , but in a still voice , in the gentle homilies of ordinary prophets ; and now that the law , by which we are to frame our understandings and our actions , is established , we must not expect an apostle to correct every abuse ; for if they will not hear moses and the prophets , if one should come from the dead , or an angel come from heaven , it is certain they will not be entertained , but till the wonder be over , and the curiosity of news be satisfied . against this , it is pretended that christ promised to be with his church for ever , upon condition the church would do their duty ; but they being but a company of men , have power to chuse , and they may chuse amiss ; and if all should do so , christs promises may fail us , though not fail of their intentions ; and then in this case the church failing , either there must be an extraordinary calling of single persons , or else any man may enter into the ordinary way , which is all one with an extraordinary : for it is extraordinary that common persons should by necessity be drawn into an imployment , which by ordinary vocation , they are not to meddle with . against this we can ( thanks be to god for it ) pretend the experience of sixteen ages ; for hitherto it hath ever been in the christian churches , that god hath preserved a holy clergy in the same proportion as he hath preserved a holy people ; never yet were the clergy all antichristian , in the midst of christian churches ; and we have no reason to fear it will be so now , after so long an experience to expound the promises of our lord to the sence of a perpetual ministery , and a perpetual church , by the means of ordinary ministrations . and how shall the church be supposed to fail , since god hath made no provisions for its restitution ? for by what means should the church be renewed , and christianity restored ? not by scripture ; for we have no certainty that the scriptures which we have this day , are the same which the apostles delivered , and shall remain so for ever ; but only 1. the reputation and testimony of all christian churches , ( which also must transmit the same by a continual successive testimony to the following , or else they will be of an uncertain faith , ) and 2. the confidence of the divine providence and goodness , who will not let us want what is fit for us , that without which we cannot attain the end to which in mercy he hath designed us . now the same arguments which we have for the continuation of scripture , we have for the perpetuity of a christian clergy , that is , besides the so long actual succession and continuance , we have he goodness and unalterable sweetness of the divine mercies , who will continue such ministeries which himself hath made the ordinary means of salvation ; he would not have made them the way to heaven and of ordinary necessity , if he did not mean to preserve them . indeed , if the ordinary way should fail , god will supply another way to them that do their duty ; but then scripture may as well fail as the ordinary succession of the clergy : they both were intended but as the ordinary ministeries of salvation , and if scripture be kept for the use of the church , it is more likely the church will be preserved in its necessary constituent parts than the scripture ; because scripture is preserved for the church , it is kept that the church might not fail . for as for the fancy , that all men being free agents may chuse amiss : suppose that ; but then , may they not all consent to the corruption or destroying of scripture ? yea , but god will preserve them from that , or will over-rule the event : yea , but how do they know that ? what revelation have they ? yet grant that too , but why then will he not also over-rule the event of the matter of universal apostasie ? for both of them are matter of choice . but then that all the clergy should consent to corrupt scripture , or to lose their faith , is a most unreasonable supposition ; for supposing there is a natural possibility , yet it is morally impossible ; and we may as well fear that all the men of the world will be vitious upon the same reason ; for if all the clergy may , then all the people may , and you may as well poison the sea , as poison all the springs ; and it is more likely all the ideots , and the ordinary persons in the world should be couzened out of their religion , than that all the wise men and antistites , the teachers , doctors , and publick ministers of religion should . and when all men turn mariners , or apothecaries , or that all men will live single lives , and turn monks , and so endanger the species of mankind to perish , ( for there is a great fear of that too ; ) that is , when all the world chuse one thing ( for if two men do , two thousand may do it if they will , and so may all upon this ground : ) then also we may fear that all the governours of the church may fail , because some do , and more have , and all may ; till then , there will be no need of an extraordinary commission ; but the church shall go on upon the stock of the first calling , and designation , which was extraordinary . the spirit issued out at first miraculously , and hath continued running still in the first channels by ordinary conduct , and in the same conveyances it must run still , or it cannot without a miracle derive upon us , who stand at infinite distance from the fountain . since then , there is now no more expectation of an extraordinary calling ( and to do so were an extraordinary vanity ) it remains that the derivation of the ministerial power be by an ordinary conveyance . the spirit of god in scripture hath drawn a line , and chalked out the path that himself meant to tread , in giving the graces of evangelical ministrations . at first , after that christ had named twelve ( one whereof was lost ) they , not having an express command for the manner of ordination , took such course as reason and religion taught them . they named two persons , and prayed god to chuse one , and to manifest it by lot ; which was a way less than the first designation of the other eleven ; and yet had more of the extraordinary in it , than could be reasonably continued in an ordinary succession . the apostles themselves had not as yet received skill enough how to officiate in their ordinary ministery , because the holy ghost was not as yet descended . but when the holy ghost descended , then the work was to begin ; the apostles wanted no power necessary for the main work of the gospel ; but now also they received commissions to dispense the spirit to all such purposes to which he was intended . they before had the office in themselves , but it was not communicable to others , till the spirit , the anointing from above , ran over the fringes of the priest's garments ; they had it but in imperfection and unactive faculties ; so saith theophylact : he breathed , not now giving to them the perfect gift of the holy ghost , for that he intended to give at pentecost : but he prepared them for the fuller reception of it . they had the gift before , but not the perfect consummation of it , that was reserved for the great day ; and because the power of consecration is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or perfection of priestly order , it was the proper emanation of this days glory ; then was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the perfection of what power christ had formerly consigned . for of all faculties , that is not perfect which produces perfect and excellent actions in a direct line , actions of a particular sort ; but that which produces the actions , and enables others to do so too ; for then the perfection is inherent , not only formally , but virtually and eminently ; and that 's the crown of habits and natural faculties . now besides the reasonableness of the thing , this is also verified by a certainty that will not easily fail us ; by experience , and ex post facto : for as we do not find the apostles had , before pentecost , a productive power , which made them call for a miracle , or a special providence by lots ; so we are sure that immediately after pentecost they had it : for they speedily began to put it in execution ; and it is remarkable , that the apostles did not lay hands upon matthias : he being made apostle before the descent of the holy ghost , they had no power to do it , they were not yet made ministers of the spirit ; which because afterwards presently they did , concludes fairly , that at pentecost they were amongst other graces made the ordinary ministers of ordination . this i say is certain , that the holy ghost descending at pentecost , they instantly did officiate in their ministerial offices , they preached , they baptized , they confirmed and gave the holy spirit of obsignation , and took persons into the lot of their ministery , doing of it by an external rite and solemn invocation : and now the extraordinary way did cease ; god was the fountain of the power , but man conveyed it by an external rite : and of this saint paul , who was the only exception from the common way , takes notice ; calling himself an apostle , not of man , nor by man , but by iesus christ ; implying that he had a special honour done , to be chosen an apostle in an extraordinary way ; therefore others might be apostles , and yet not so as he was ; for else his expression had been all one , as if one should say , titus the son of a man , not begotten of an angel , or spirit , nor produced by the sun or stars , but begotten by a man of a woman : the discourse had been ridiculous , for no man is born otherwise ; and yet also he had something of the ordinary too ; for in an extraordinary manner he was sent to be ordained in an ordinary ministery . and yet because the ordinary ministery was setled , s. paul was called to an account for so much of it as was extraordiry ; and was tied to do that which every man now is bound to do , that shall pretend a calling extraordinary , viz. to give an extraordinary proof of his extraordinary calling : which when he had done in the college of ierusalem , the apostles gave him the right hand of fellowship , and approved his vocation ; which also shews , that now the way of ordination was fixed and declared to be by humane ministery ; of which i need no other proof but the instances of ordinations recorded in scripture , and the no instances to the contrary , but of s. paul , whose designation was as immediate as that of the 11. apostles , though his ordination was not . i end this with the saying of iob the monk : concerning the order of priesthood , it is supernatural and unspeakable . he that yesterday , and the day before , was in the form of ideots , and private persons , to day by the power of the holy ghost , and the voice of the chief priest , and laying on of hands , receives so great an improvement and alteration , that he handles , and can consecrate the divine mysteries of the holy church , and becomes ( under christ ) a mediator [ ministerial ] between god and man , and exalted to hallow himself and sanctifie others : the same almost with the words of gregory nyssen , in his book de sancto baptismate . this is the summ of the preceding discourses . god is the consecrator ; man is the minister ; the separation is mysterious and wonderful ; the power great and secret ; the office to stand between god and the people , in the ministery of the evangelical rites ; the calling to it ordinary , and by a setled ministery , which began after the descent of the holy ghost in pentecost . this great change was in nothing expressed greater , than that saul upon his ordination changed his name , which saint chrysostome observing , affirms the same of saint peter . i conclude , differentiam inter ordinem & plebem constituit ecclesiae authoritas & honor per ordinis concessunt sanctificatus à deo , saith tertullian . the authority of the whole church of god hath made distinction between the person ordained and the people , but the honour and power of it is derived from the sanctification of god : it is derived from him , but conveyed by an ordinary ministery of his appointing : whosoever therefore with unsanctified , that is , with unconsecrated hands , shall dare to officiate in the ministerial office , separate by god , by gifts , by graces , by publick order , by an established rite , by the institution of jesus , by the descent of the holy ghost , by the word of god , by the practice of the apostles , by the practice of sixteen ages of the catholick church , by the necessity of the thing , by reason , by analogy to the discourse of all the wise men that ever were in the world ; that man , like his predecessor corah , brings an unhallowed censer , which shall never send up a right cloud of incense to god , but yet that unpermitted , and disallowed smoak shall kindle a fire , even the wrath of god which shall at least destroy the sacrifice : his work shall be consumed , and when upon his repentance himself escapes , yet it shall be so as by fire , that is , with danger , and loss , and shame , and trouble . for our god is a consuming fire . remember corah and all his company . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . finis . rules and advices to the clergy of the diocesse of down and connor , for their deportment in their personal and publick capacities . given by ier . taylor , bishop of that diocess , at the visitation at lisnegarvey . london , printed for r. royston , bookseller to the king 's most excellent majesty . 1672. rules and advices to the clergy . i. personal duty . remember that it is your great duty , and tied on you by many obligations , that you be exemplar in your lives , and be patterns and presidents to your flocks : lest it be said unto you , why takest thou my law into thy mouth , seeing thou hatest to be reformed thereby ? he that lives anidle life may preach with truth and reason , or as did the pharisees ; but not as christ , or as one having authority . every minister in taking accounts of his life , must judge of his duty by more strict and severer measures , than he does of his people ; and he that ties heavy burthens upon others , ought himself to carry the heaviest end : and many things may be lawful in them , which he must not suffer in himself . let every minister endeavour to be learned in all spiritual wisdom , and skilful in the things of god ; for he will ill teach others the way of godliness , perfectly , that is himself a babe and uninstructed . an ignorant minister is an head without an eye ; and an evil minister is salt that hath no savour . every minister , above all things , must be careful that he be not a servant of passion , whether of anger or desire . for he that is not a master of his passions will always be useless , and quickly will become contemptible and cheap in the eyes of his parish . let no minister be litigious in any thing ; not greedy or covetous ; not insisting upon little things , or quarrelling for , or exacting of every minute portion of his dues ; but bountiful and easie ; remitting of his right , when to do so may be useful to his people , or when the contrary may domischief , and cause reproach . be not over-righteous , ( saith solomon ) that is , not severe in demanding , or foroing every thing , though it be indeed his due . let not the name of the church be made a pretence for personal covetousness ; by saying , you are willing to remit many things , but you must not wrong the church : for though it be true , that you are not to do prejudice to succession , yet many things may be forgiven upon just occasions , from which the church shall receive no incommodity ; but be sure that there are but few things which thou art bound to do in thy personal capacity , but the same also , and more , thou art obliged to perform , as thou art a publick person . never exact the offerings , or customary wages , and such as are allowed by law , in the ministration of the sacraments , nor condition for them , nor secure them before-hand ; but first do your office , and minister the sacraments purely , readily , and for christs sake ; and when that is done , receive what is your due . avoid all pride , as you would flee from the most frightful apparition , or the most cruel enemy ; and remember that you can never truly teach humility , or tell what it is , unless you practise it your selves . take no measures of humility , but such as are material and tangible ; such which consist not in humble words , and lowly gestures ; but what is first truly radicated in your souls , in low opinion of your selves , and in real preferring others before your selves ; and in such significations , which can neither deceive your selves nor others . let every curate of souls strive to understand himself best ; and then to understand others . let him spare himself least ; but most severely judge , censure , and condemn himself . if he be learned , let him shew it by wise teaching , and humble manners . if he be not learned , let him be sure to get so much knowledge as to know that , and so much humility , as not to grow insolent , and puffed up by his emptiness . for many will pardon a good man that is less learned ; but if he be proud , no man will forgive him . let every minister be careful to live a life as abstracted from the affairs of the world , as his necessity will permit him ; but at no hand to be immerg'd and principally imploy'd in the affairs of the world : what cannot be avoided , and what is of good report , and what he is oblig'd to by any personal or collateral duty , that he may do , but no more . ever remembring the saying of our blessed lord : in the world ye shall have trouble ; but in me ye shall have peace : and consider this also , which is a great truth ; that every degree of love to the world , is so much taken from the love of god. be no otherwise solicitous of your fame and reputation , but by doing your duty well and wisely ; in other things refer your self to god : but if you meet with evil tongues , be careful that you bear reproaches sweetly and temperately . remember that no minister can govern his people well , and prosperously , unless himself hath learn'd humbly and chearfully to obey his superior . for every minister should be like the good centurion in the gospel : himself is under authority , and he hath people under him . be sure in all your words and actions to preserve christian simplicity and ingenuity ; to do to others , as you would be done unto your self ; and never to speak what you do not think . trust to truth , rather than to your memory : for this may fail you , that will never . pray much and very servently , for all your parishioners , and all men that belong to you , and all that belong to god ; but especially for the conversion of souls : and be very zealous for nothing , but for gods glory , and the salvation of the world , and particularly of your charges : ever remembring that you are by god appointed , as the ministers of prayer , and the ministers of good things , to pray for all the world , and to heal all the world , as far as you are able . every minister must learn and practise patience , that by bearing all adversity meekly , and humbly , and chearfully , and by doing all his duty with unwearied industry , with great courage , constancy , and christian magnanimity , he may the better assist his people in the bearing of their crosses , and overcoming of their difficulties . he that is holy , let him be holy still , and still more holy , and never think he hath done his work , till all be finished by perseverance , and the measures of perfection in a holy life , and a holy death : but at no hand must he magnifie himself by vain separations from others , or despising them that are not so holy . ii. of prudence required in ministers . remember that discretion is the mistress of all graces ; and humility is the greatest of all miracles : and without this , all graces perish to a mans self ; and without that , all graces are useless unto others . let no minister be governed by the opinion of his people , and destroy his duty , by unreasonable compliance with their humors , lest as the bishop of granata told the governours of leria and patti , like silly animals they take burdens upon their backs at the pleasure of the multitude , which they neither can retain with prudence , nor shake off with safety . let not the reverence of any man cause you to sin against god ; but in the matter of souls , being well advis'd , be bold and confident ; but abate nothing of the honour of god , or the just measures of your duty , to satisfie the importunity of any man whatsoever , and god will bear you out . when you teach your people any part of their duty , as in paying their debts , their tithes and offerings , in giving due reverence and religious regards , diminish nothing of admonition in these particulars , and the like , though they object , that you speak for your selves , and in your own cases . for counsel is not the worse , but the better , if it be profitable both to him that gives , and to him that takes it . only do it in simplicity , and principally intend the good of their souls . in taking accounts of the good lives of your selves or others , take your measures by the express words of scripture ; and next to them estimate them by their proportion and compliance with the publick measures , with the laws of the nation , ecclesiastical and civil , and by the rules of fame , of publick honesty and good report ; and last of all by their observation of the ordinances and exteriour parts of religion . be not satisfied when you have done a good work , unless you have also done it well ; and when you have , then be careful that vain-glory , partiality , self-conceit , or any other folly or indiscretion , snatch it not out of your hand , and cheat you of the reward . be careful so to order your self , that you fall not into temptation and folly in the presence of any of your charges ; and especially that you fall not into chidings and intemperate talkings , and sudden and violent expressions : never be a party in clamours and scoldings , lest your calling become useless , and your person contemptible : ever remembring that if you cheaply and lightly be engag'd in such low usages with any person , that person is likely to be lost from all possibility of receiving much good from your ministery . iii. the rules and measures of government to be used by ministers in their respective cures . use no violence to any man , to bring him to your opinion ; but by the word of your proper ministery , by demonstrations of the spirit , by rational discourses , by excellent examples , constrain them to come in : and for other things they are to be permitted to their own liberty , to the measures of the laws , and the conduct of their governours . suffer no quarrel in your parish , and speedily suppress it when it is begun ; and though all wise men will abstain from interposing in other mens affairs , and especially in matters of interest , which men love too well ; yet it is your duty here to interpose , by perswading them to friendships , reconcilements , moderate prosecutions of their pretences ; and by all means you prudently can , to bring them to peace and brotherly kindness . suffer no houses of debauchery , of drunkenness or lust in your parishes ; but implore the assistance of authority for the suppressing of all such meeting-places and nurseries of impiety : and as for places of publick entertainment , take care that they observe the rules of christian piety , and the allowed measures of laws . if there be any papists or sectaries in your parishes , neglect not frequently to confer with them in the spirit of meekness , and by the importunity of wise discourses seeking to gain them . but stir up no violences against them ; but leave them ( if they be incurable ) to the wise and merciful disposition of the laws . receive not the people to doubtful disputations : and let no names of sects or differing religions be kept up amongst you , to the disturbance of the publick peace and private charity : and teach not the people to estimate their piety by their distance from any opinion , but by their faith in christ , their obedience to god and the laws , and their love to all christian people , even though they be deceived . think no man considerable upon the point or pretence of a tender conscience , unless he live a good life , and in all things endeavour to approve himself void of offence both towards god and man : but if he be an humble person , modest and inquiring , apt to learn and desirous of information ; if he seeks for it in all ways reasonable and pious , and is obedient to laws , then take care of him , use him tenderly , perswade him meekly , reprove him gently , and deal mercifully with him , till god shall reveal that also unto him , in which his unavoidable trouble and his temptation lies . mark them that cause divisions among you , and avoid them : for such persons are by the scripture called scandals in the abstract ; they are offenders and offences too . but if any man have an opinion , let him have it to himself , till he can be cur'd of his disease by time , and counsel , and gentle usages . but if he separates from the church , or gathers a congregation , he is proud , and is fallen from the communion of saints , and the unity of the catholick church . he that observes any of his people to be zealous , let him be careful to conduct that zeal into such channels where there is least danger of inconveniency ; let him employ it in something that is good ; let it be press'd to fight against sin . for zeal is like a cancer in the breast ; feed it with good flesh , or it will devour the heart . strive to get the love of the congregation ; but let it not degenerate into popularity . cause them to love you and revere you ; to love with religion , not for your compliance ; for the good you do them , not for that you please them . get their love by doing your duty , but not by omitting or spoiling any part of it : ever remembring the severe words of our blessed saviour , wo be to you when all men speak well of you . suffer not the common people to prattle about religion and questions ; but to speak little , to be swift to hear , and slow to speak ; that they learn to do good works for necessary uses , that they work with their hands , that they may have wherewithal to give to them that need ; that they study to be quiet , and learn to do their own business . let every minister take care that he call upon his charge , that they order themselves so , that they leave no void spaces of their time , but that every part of it be filled with useful or innocent employment . for where there is a space without business , that space is the proper time for danger and temptation ; and no man is more miserable than he that knows not how to spend his time . fear no mans person in the doing of your duty wisely , and according to the laws : remembring always , that a servant of god can no more be hurt by all the powers of wickedness , than by the noise of a files wing , or the chirping of a sparrow . brethren , do well for your selves : do well for your selves as long as you have time ; you know not how soon death will come . entertain no persons into your assemblies from other parishes , unless upon great occasion , or in the destitution of a minister , or by contingency and seldom visits , or with leave : lest the labour of thy brother be discouraged , and thy self be thought to preach christ out of envy , and not of good will. never appeal to the judgment of the people in matters of controversie ; teach them obedience , not arrogancy ; teach them to be humble , not crafty . for without the aid of false guides you will find some of them of themselves apt enough to be troublesome : and a question put into their heads , and a power of judging into their hands , is a putting it to their choice whether you shall be troubled by them this week or the next ; for much longer you cannot escape . let no minister of a parish introduce any ceremony , rites or gestures , though with some seeming piety and devotion , but what are commanded by the church , and established by law : and let these also be wisely and usefully explicated to the people , that they may understand the reasons and measures of obedience ; but let there be no more introduc'd , lest the people be burdened unnecessarily , and tempted or divided . iv. rules and advices concerning preaching . let every minister be diligent in preaching the word of god , according to the ability that god gives him : ever remembring , that to minister gods word unto the people is the one half of his great office and employment . let every minister be careful that what he delivers be indeed the word of god : that his sermon be answerable to the text ; for this is gods word , the other ought to be according to it ; that although in it self it be but the word of man , yet by the purpose , truth , and signification of it , it may in a secondary sence be the word of god. do not spend your sermons in general and indefinite things , as in exhortations to the people to get christ , to be united to christ , and things of the like unlimited signification ; but tell them in every duty , what are the measures , what circumstances , what instruments , and what is the particular minute meaning of every general advice . for generals not explicated do but fill the peoples heads with empty notions , and their mouths with perpetual unintelligible talk : but their hearts remain empty , and themselves are not edified . let not the humors and inclinations of the people be the measures of your doctrines , but let your doctrines be the measure of their perswasions . let them know from you what they ought to do ; but if you learn from them what you ought to teach , you will give but a very ill account at the day of judgment , of the souls committed to you . he that receives from the people what he shall teach them , is like a nurse that asks of her child what physick she shall give him . every minister in reproofs of sin and sinners , ought to concern himself in the faults of them that are present , but not of the absent ; nor in reproof of the times ; for this can serve no end but of faction and sedition , publick murmur and private discontent ; besides this it does nothing but amuse the people in the faults of others , teaching them to revile their betters , and neglect the dangers of their own souls . as it looks like flattery and design to preach nothing before magistrates but the duty of their people and their own eminency ; so it is the beginning of mutiny to preach to the people the duty of their superiors and supreme ; it can neither come from a good principle , nor tend to a good end. every minister ought to preach to his parish , and urge their duty : s. iohn the baptist told the souldiers what the souldiers should do , but troubled not their heads with what was the duty of the scribes and pharisees . in the reproof of sins be as particular as you please , and spare no mans sin , but meddle with no mans person ; neither name any man , nor signifie him , neither reproach him , nor make him to be suspected ; he that doth otherwise makes his sermon to be a libel , and the ministry of repentance an instrument of revenge ; and so doing he shall exasperate the man , but never amend the sinner . let the business of your sermons be to preach holy life , obedience , peace , love among neighbours , hearty love , to live as the old christians did , and the new should ; to do hurt to no man , to do good to every man : for in these things the honour of god consists , and the kingdom of the lord jesus . press those graces most that do most good , and make the least noise ; such as giving privately and forgiving publickly ; and prescribe the grace of charity by all the measures of it which are given by the apostle , 1 cor. 13. for this grace is not finished by good words , nor yet by good works , but it is a great building , and many materials go to the structure of it . it is worth your study , for it is the fulfilling of the commandments . because it is impossible that charity should live , unless the lust of the tongue be mortified , let every minister in his charge be frequent and severe against slanderers , detractors and backbiters ; for the crime of backbiting is the poison of charity ; and yet so common , that it is pass'd into a proverb , [ after a good dinner let us sit down and backbite our neighbours . ] let every minister be careful to observe , and vehement in reproving those faults of his parishioners , of which the laws cannot or do not take cognizance , such as are many degrees of intemperate drinkings , gluttony , riotous living , expences above their ability , pride , bragging , lying in ordinary conversation , covetousness , peevishness , and hasty anger , and such like . for the word of god searches deeper than the laws of men ; and many things will be hard to prove by the measures of courts , which are easie enough to be observed by the watchful and diligent eye and ear of the guide of souls . in your sermons to the people , often speak of the four last things , of death and judgment , heaven and hell : of the life and death of jesus christ , of gods mercy to repenting sinners , and his severity against the impenitent ; of the formidable examples of gods anger pour'd forth upon rebels , sacrilegious , oppressors of widows and orphans , and all persons guilty of crying sins : these are useful , safe and profitable ; but never run into extravagancies and curiosities , nor trouble your selves or them with mysterious secrets ; for there is more laid before you than you can understand ; and the whole duty of man is , to fear god and keep his commandments . speak but very little of the secret and high things of god , but as much as you can of the lowness and humility of christ. be not hasty in pronouncing damnation against any man or party in a matter of disputation . it is enough that you reprove an error ; but what shall be the sentence against it at the day of judgment , thou knowest not , and therefore pray for the erring person , and reprove him , but leave the sentence to his judge . let your sermons teach the duty of all states of men to whom you speak ; and particularly take care of servants and hirelings , merchants and tradesmen , that they be not unskilful , nor unadmonished in their respective duties ; and in all things speak usefully and affectionately ; for by this means you will provide for all mens needs , both for them that sin by reason of their little understanding , and them that sin because they have evil , dull , or depraved affections . in your sermons and discourses of religion , use primitive , known and accustomed words , and affect not new phantastical or schismatical terms : let the sunday festival be called the lords day ; and pretend no fears from the common use of words amongst christians . for they that make a business of the words of common use , and reform religion by introducing a new word , intend to make a change but no amendment , they spend themselves in trifles , like the barren turf that sends forth no medicinable herbs , but store of mushromes ; and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people , or else of a querulous nature ; and that they are ready to disturb the church , if they could find occasion . let every minister in his charge , as much as he can , endeavour to destroy all popular errors and evil principles taken up by his people , or others with whom they converse ; especially those that directly oppose the indispensable necessity of a holy life : let him endeavour to understand in what true and useful sence christs active obedience is imputed to us ; let him make his people fear the deferring of their repentance , and putting it off to their death-bed ; let him explicate the nature of faith , so that it be an active and quickning principle of charity ; let him , as much as he may , take from them all confidences that slacken their obedience and diligence ; let him teach them to impute all their sins to their own follies and evil choice , and so build them up in a most holy faith to a holy life ; ever remembring that in all ages it hath been the greatest artifice of satan to hinder the increase of christs kingdom , by destroying those things in which it does consist , viz. peace and righteousness , holiness and mortification . every minister ought to be careful that he never expound scriptures in publick contrary to the known sence of the catholick church , and particularly of the churches of england and ireland , nor introduce any doctrine against any of the four first general councils ; for these , as they are measures of truth , so also of necessity ; that is , as they are safe , so they are sufficient ; and besides what is taught by these , no matter of belief is necessary to salvation . let no preacher bring before the people in his sermons or discourses , the arguments of great and dangerous heresies , though with a purpose to confute them ; for they will much easier retain the objection than understand the answer . let not the preacher make an article of faith to be a matter of dispute ; but teach it with plainness and simplicity , and confirm it with easie arguments and plain words of scripture , but without objection ; let them be taught to believe , but not to argue , lest if the arguments meet with a scrupulous person , it rather shake the foundation by curious inquiry , than establish it by arguments too hard . let the preacher be careful that in his sermons he use no light , immodest or ridiculous expressions , but what is wise , grave , useful and for edification ; that when the preacher brings truth and gravity , the people may attend with fear and reverence . let no preacher envy any man that hath a greater audience , or more fame in preaching than himself ; let him not detract from him or lessen his reputation directly or indirectly : for he that cannot be even with his brother but by pulling him down , is but a dwarf still ; and no man is the better for making his brother worse . in all things desire that christ's kingdom may be advanc'd ; and rejoyce that he is served , whoever be the minister ; that if you cannot have the fame of a great preacher , yet you may have the reward of being a good man ; but it is hard to miss both . let every preacher in his parish take care to explicate to the people the mysteries of the great festivals , as of christmas , easter , ascension-day , whitsunday , trinity sunday , the annunciation of the blessed virgin mary ; because these feasts containing in them the great fundamentals of our faith , will with most advantage convey the mysteries to the people , and fix them in their memories , by the solemnity and circumstances of the day . in all your sermons and discourses speak nothing of god but what is honourable and glorious ; and impute not to him such things , the consequents of which a wise and good man will not own : never suppose him to be author of sin , or the procurer of our damnation . for god cannot be tempted , neither tempteth he any man. god is true , and every man a lyar . let no preacher compare one ordinance with another ; as prayer with preaching , to the disparagement of either ; but use both in their proper seasons , and according to appointed order . let no man preach for the praise of men ; but if you meet it , instantly watch and stand upon your guard , and pray against your own vanity ; and by an express act of acknowledgment and adoration return the praise to god. remember that herod was for the omission of this smitten by an angel ; and do thou tremble , fearing lest the judgment of god be otherwise than the sentence of the people . v. rules and advices concerning catechism . every minister is bound upon every lords day before evening prayer , to instruct all young people in the creed , the lords prayer , the ten commandments , and the doctrine of the sacraments , as they are set down and explicated in the church catechism . let a bell be tolled when the catechising is to begin , that all who desire it may be present ; but let all the more ignorant and uninstructed part of the people , whether they be old or young , be requir'd to be present : that no person in your parishes be ignorant in the foundations of religion : ever remembring , that if in these things they be unskilful , whatever is taught besides , is like a house built upon the sand . let every minister teach his people the use , practice , methods and benefits of meditation or mental prayer . let them draw out for them helps and rules for their assistance in it ; and furnish them with materials , concerning the life and death of the ever blessed jesus , the greatness of god , our own meanness , the dreadful sound of the last trumpet , the infinite event of the two last sentences at doomsday : let them be taught to consider what they have been , what they are , and what they shall be ; and above all things what are the issues of eternity ; glories never to cease , pains never to be ended . let every minister exhort his people to a frequent confession of their sins , and a declaration of the state of their souls ; to a conversation with their minister in spiritual things , to an enquiry concerning all the parts of their duty : for by preaching , and catechising , and private entercourse , all the needs of souls can best be serv'd ; but by preaching alone they cannot . let the people be exhorted to keep fasting days , and the feasts of the church ; according to their respective capacities ; so it be done without burden to them , and without becoming a snare ; that is , that upon the account of religion , and holy desires to please god , they spend some time in religion , besides the lords-day : but be very careful that the lords-day be kept religiously , according to the severest measures of the church , and the commands of authority : ever remembring that as they give but little testimony of repentance and mortification , who never fast ; so they give but small evidence of their joy in god and religion , who are unwilling solemnly to partake of the publick and religious joys of the christian church . let every minister be diligent in exhorting all parents and masters to send their children and servants to the bishop at the visitation , or other solemn times of his coming to them , that they may be confirm'd : and let him also take care that all young persons may by understanding the principles of religion , their vow of baptism , the excellency of christian religion , the necessity and advantages of it , and of living according to it , be fitted and disposed , and accordingly by them presented to the bishop , that he may pray over them , and invocate the holy spirit , and minister the holy rite of confirmation . vi. rules & advices concerning the visitation of the sick. every minister ought to be careful in visiting all the sick and afflicted persons of his parish : ever remembring , that as the priests lips are to preserve knowledge , so it is his duty to minister a word of comfort in the time of need . a minister must not stay till he be sent for ; but of his own accord and care to go to them , to examine them , to exhort them to perfect their repentance , to strengthen their faith , to encourage their patience , to perswade them to resignation , to the renewing of their holy vows , to the love of god , to be reconcil'd to their neighbours , to make restitution and amends , to confess their sins , to settle their estate , to provide for their charges , to do acts of piety and charity , and above all things , that they take care they do not sin towards the end of their lives . for if repentance on our death-bed seem so very late for the sins of our life ; what time shall be left to repent us of the sins we commit on our death-bed ? when you comfort the afflicted , endeavour to bring them to the true love of god ; for he that serves god for gods sake , it is almost impossible he should be oppressed with sorrow . in answering the cases of conscience of the sick or afflicted people , consider not who asks , but what he asks ; and consult in your answers more with the estate of his soul , than the conveniency of his estate ; for no flattery is so fatal as that of the physician or the divine . if the sick person enquires concerning the final estate of his soul , he is to be reprov'd rather than answer'd ; only he is to be called upon to finish his duty , to do all the good he can in that season , to pray for pardon and acceptance ; but you have nothing to do to meddle with passing final sentences ; neither cast him down in despair , nor raise him up to vain and unreasonable confidences . but take care that he be not carelesly dismiss'd . in order to these and many other good purposes , every minister ought frequently to converse with his parishioners ; to go to their houses , but always publickly , with witness , and with prudence , lest what is charitably intended be scandalously reported : and in all your conversation be sure to give good example , and upon all occasions to give good counsel . vii . of ministring the sacraments , publick prayers , and other duties of ministers . every minister is oblig'd publickly or privately to read the common prayers every day in the week , at morning and evening ; and in great towns and populous places conveniently inhabited , it must be read in churches , that the daily sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving may never cease . the minister is to instruct the people , that the baptism of their children ought not to be ordinarily deferr'd longer than till the next sunday after the birth of the child ; lest importune and unnecessary delay , occasion that the child die before it is dedicated to the service of god and the religion of the lord jesus , before it be born again , admitted to the promises of the gospel , and reckon'd in the account of the second adam . let every minister exhort and press the people to a devout and periodical communion , at the least three times in the year , at the great festivals : but the devouter sort , and they who have leisure , are to be invited to a frequent communion : and let it be given and received with great reverence . every minister ought to be well skill'd and studied in saying his office , in the rubricks , the canons , the articles , and the homilies of the church , that he may do his duty readily , discreetly , gravely , and by the publick measures of the laws . to which also it is very useful that it be added , that every minister study the ancient canons of the church , especially the penitentials of the eastern and western churches : let him read good books , such as are approved by publick authority ; such which are useful , wise and holy ; not the scriblings of unlearned parties , but of men learned , pious , obedient and disinterested ; and amongst these , such especially which describe duty and good life , which minister to faith and charity , to piety and devotion ; cases of conscience , and solid expositions of scripture . concerning which learned and wise persons are to be consulted . let not a curate of souls trouble himself with any studies but such which concern his own or his peoples duty ; such as may enable him to speak well , and to do well ; but to meddle not with controversies , but such by which he may be enabled to convince the gainsayers in things that concern publick peace and a good life . be careful in all the publick administrations of your parish , that the poor be provided for . think it no shame to beg for christs poor members ; stir up the people to liberal alms by your word and your example . let a collection be made every lords-day , and upon all solemn meetings , and at every communion ; and let the collection be wisely and piously administred : ever remembring , that at the day of judgment nothing shall publickly be proclaimed , but the reward of alms and mercy . let every minister be sure to lay up a treasure of comforts and advices , to bring forth for every mans need in the day of his trouble ; let him study and heap together instruments and advices for the promoting of every vertue , and remedies and arguments against every vice ; let him teach his people to make acts of vertue not only by external exercise , but also in the way of prayer and internal meditation . in these and all things else that concern the ministers duty , if there be difficulty you are to repair to your bishop for further advice , assistance and information . finis . a funeral sermon , preached at the obsequies of the right reverend father in god jeremy lord bishop of down : who deceased at lisburne august 13 th . 1667. by george rust , lord bishop of dromore . london , printed for r. royston , bookseller to the king 's most excellent majesty . 1672. a funeral sermon . 1 john 3. 2. it doth not yet appear what we shall be glorious things are spoken in scripture concerning the future reward of the righteous ; and all the words that are wont to signifie what is of greatest price and value , or can represent the most enravishing objects of our desires are made use of , by the holy ghost , to recommend unto us this transcendent state of blessedness : such are these ; rivers of pleasures , a fountain of living water , a treasure that can never be wasted , nor never taken from us ; an inheritance in light , an incorruptible crown , a kingdom , the kingdom of god , and the kingdom of christ ; the kingdom of glory , a crown of glory and life ; and righteousness , and immortality ; the vision of god ; being fill'd with all the fulness of god , an exceeding eternal weight of glory , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , words strangely emphatical , that can't be put into english ; and if they could , they would not be able to convey to our minds the notion that they design : for it is too big for any expressions ; and , after all that can be said , we must resolve with our apostle , it does not yet appear what we shall be . at this distance we cannot make any likely guesses or conjectures at the glory of that future state . men make very imperfect descriptions of countries or cities , that never were there themselves , nor saw the places with their own eyes . it is not for any mortal creature to make a map of that canaan that lies above : it is to all us that live here on the hither-side of death , an unknown countrey , and an undiscover'd land. it may be , some heavenly pilgrim , that with his holy thoughts and ardent desires , is continually travelling thitherward , arrives sometimes near the borders of the promis'd land , and the suburbs of the new ierusalem , and gets upon the top of pisgah , and there he has an imperfect prospect of a brave countrey , that lies afar way off ; but he can't tell how to describe it , and all that he hath to say , to satisfie the curious enquirer , is only this , if he would know the glories of it , he must go and see it . it was believ'd of old , that those places that lie under the line , were burnt up by the continual heat of the sun , and were not habitable , either by man or beast : but later discoveries tell us , that there are the most pleasant countries that the earth can shew ; insomuch that some have plac'd paradise it self in that climate . sure i am , of all the regions of the intellectual world , and the several lands that are peopled either with men or angels , the most pleasant countries they lie under the line , under the direct beams of the sun of righteousness , where there is an eternal day , and an eternal spring ; where is that tree of life , that beareth twelve manner of fruits , and yieldeth her fruit every month : thus we may use figures , and metaphors , and allegories , and tell you of fruitful meads , and spacious fields , and winding rivers , and purling brooks , and chanting birds , and shady groves , and pleasant gardens , and lovely bowers , and noble seats , and stately palaces , and goodly people , and excellent laws , and sweet societies ; but , this is but to frame little comparisons to please our childish fancies : and , just such discourses as a blind man would make concerning colours ; so do we talk of those things we never saw , and disparage the state whilst we would recommend it . indeed it requires some saint or angel from heaven to discourse upon the subject ; and yet that would not do neither : for though they might be able to speak something of it , yet we should want ears to hear it . neither can those things be declar'd but in the language of heaven , which would be little understood by us , the poor inhabitants of this lower world ; they are indeed things too great to be brought within the compass of words . saint paul , when he had been rapt up into the third heaven , he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , things unlawful , or unpossible , to be utter'd ; and , eye hath not seen , nor ear heard , nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive , what god hath prepared for them that love him ; and , it does not yet appear what we shall be , said that beloved disciple , that lay in the bosom of our saviour . you will not now expect , that i should give you a relation of that which cannot be utter'd , nor so much as conceiv'd ; or declare unto you what our eagle-sighted evangelist tells us does not yet appear . but , that you may understand , that that which sets this state of happiness so beyond the reach of all imagination , is only its transcendent excellency ; i shall tell you something of what does already appear of it , and may be known concerning it . first of all we are assur'd that we shall then be freed from all the evils and miseries that we now labour under : vanity and misery , they are two words that speak the whole of this present world ; the enjoyments of it are dreams , and fancies , and shadows , and appearances ; and , if any thing be , it is only evil and misery that is real and substantial . vanity and folly , labour and pains , cares and fears , crosses and disappointments , sickness and diseases , they make up the whole of our portion here . this life it is begun in a cry , and it ends in a groan ; and he that lives most happily , his life is checker'd with black and white , and his dayes are not all sun-shine , but some are cloudy and gloomy , and there is a worm at the root of all his joy , that soon eats out the sap and heart of it ; and the gourd in whose shade he now so much pleases himself , by to morrow will be wither'd and gone . but heaven is not subject to these mixtures and uncertainties ; it is a region of calmness and serenity , and the soul is there gotten above the clouds , and is not annoyed with those storms and tempests that are here below . all tears shall then be wiped from our eyes ; and though sorrow may endure for the night of this world , yet joy will spring up in the morning of eternity . we are sure we shall be freed from this earthly , and cloath'd with 〈◊〉 heavenly and glorified body . these bodies of ours they are the graves and sepulchres , the prisons and dungeons of our heaven-born souls ▪ and though we deck and adorn them , and pride our selves in their beauty and comeliness ; yet , when all is done , they are but sinks of corruption and defilement : they expose us to many pains and diseases , and incline us to many lusts and passions , and the more we pamper them , the greater burden they are unto our minds ; they impose upon our reasons , and by their steams and vapours cast a mist before our understandings ; they clog our affections , and like a heavy weight depress us unto this earth , and keep us from soaring aloft among the winged inhabitants of the upper regions : but those robes of light and glory , which we shall be cloath'd withall at the resurrection of the just , and those heavenly bodies which the gospel hath then assur'd untous , they are not subject to any of these mischiefs and inconveniencies , but are fit and accommodate instruments for the soul in its highest exaltations . and this is an argument that the gospel does dwell much upon , viz. the redemption of our bodies , that he shall change our vile bodies , that they may be like unto his glorious body ; and we are taught to look upon it as one great piece of our reward , that we shall be cloath'd upon with our house which is from heaven ; that this corruptible shall put on incorruption , and this mortal immortality : that , as we have born the image of the earthly , so we must bear the image of the heavenly adam : who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of heaven heavenly ; as the first man was , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of the earth earthy . and therefore , i think , the schools put too mean a rate upon this great promise of the gospel , the resurrection of our bodies ; and , i believe , it might be demonstrated from the principles of sound philosophy , that this article of our christian faith , which the atheist makes so much sport withall , is so far from being chargeable with any absurdity , that it is founded upon the highest reason : for , seeing we find by too great an experience , that the soul has so close and necessary a dependance upon this gross and earthy mass that we now carry about with us ; it may be disputed with some probability , whether it be ever able to act independently of all matter whatsoever : at least , we are assur'd , that the state of conjunction is most connatural to her ; and that , intellectual pleasure it self is not only multiplied , but the better felt , by its redundancy upon the body and spirits : and if it be so , then the purer and more defecate the body is , the better will the soul be appointed for the exercise of its noblest operations ; and it will be no mean piece of our reward hereafter , that that which is sown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an animal , shall be raised a heavenly body . we are sure , that we shall then be free from sin , and all those foolish lusts and passions that we are now enslaved unto . the life of a christian , it is a continual warfare ; and he endures many sore conflicts , and makes many sad complaints , and often bemoans himself after such a manner , as this : wo is me , that i am forc'd to dwell in meshech , and to have my habitation in the tents of kedar ; that there should be so many goliah's within me , that defie the host of israel ; so many sons of anak that hinder my entrance into the land of promise , and the rest of god ; that i should toil and labour among the bricks , and live in bondage unto these worse than egyptian task-masters . thus does he sit down by the rivers of babylon , and weep over those ruines and desolations that these worse than assyrian armies have made in the city , and house of his god. and many a time does he cry out in the bitterness of his soul , wretched creature that i am ! who shall deliver me from this body of death ? and though , through his faith , and courage , and constancy , he be daily getting ground of his spiritual enemies ; yet it is but by inches , and every step he takes , he must fight for it ; and living as he does in an enemies countrey , he is forc'd alwayes to be upon his guard ; and if he slumber never so little , presently he is surpriz'd by a watchful adversary . this is our portion here , and our lot is this ; but when we arrive unto those regions of bliss and glory that are above , we shall then stand safely upon the shore , and and see all our enemies , pharaoh and all his host , drown'd and destroy'd in the rea-sea , and being deliver'd from the world , and the flesh , and the devil , death , and sin , and hell , we shall sing the song of moses , and of the lamb , an epinicion , and song of eternal triumph , unto the god of our salvation . we shall be sure to meet with the best company that earth or heaven affords : good company it is the great pleasure of the life of man ; and we shall then come to the innumerable company of angels , and the general assembly of the church of the first-born , and to the spirits of just men made perfect , and to iesus the mediator of the new covenant . the oracle tells amelius , enquiring what was become of polinus's soul , that he was gone to pythagoras , and socrates , and plato , and as many as had born a part in the quire of heavenly love . and i may say to every good man , that he shall go to the company of abraham , isaac , and iacob ; moses , david , and samuel ; all the prophets and apostles , and all the holy men of god that have been in all the ages of the world. all those brave and excellent persons that have been scattered at the greatest distance of time and place , and in their several generations have been the salt of the earth to preserve mankind from utter degeneracy and corruption ; these shall be all gathered together , and meet in one constellation in that firmament of glory . o praeclarum diem , cùm ad illud divinorum animorum concilium coetúmque proficiscar , atque ex hac turba ac colluvione discedam ! o that blessed day , when we shall make our escape from this medly and confused riot , and shall arrive to that great council and general randevouz , of divine and god-like spirits ! but , which is more than all , we shall then meet our lord jesus christ , the head of our recovery , whose story is now so delightful unto us , as reporting nothing of him , but the greatest sweetness and innocence , and meekness and patience , and mercy and tenderness , and benignity and goodness , and whatever can render any person lovely or amiable ; and who , out of his dear love and deep compassion unto mankind , gave up himself unto the death for us men , and for our salvation . and if saint augustine made it one of his wishes , to have seen jesus christ in the flesh ; how much more desirable is it , to see him out of his terrestrial weeds , in his robes of glory , with all his redeemed ones about him ! and this i cannot but look upon , as a great advantage and priviledge of that future state ; for i am not apt to swallow down that conceit of the schools , that we shall spend eternity in gazing upon the naked deity ; for certainly the happiness of man consists in having all his faculties , in their due subordinations , gratified with their proper objects ; and i cannot but believe , a great part of heaven to be the blest society that is there ; their enravishing beauty , that is to say , their inward life and perfection , flowring forth and raying it self thorow their glorified bodies ; the rare discourses wherewith they entertain one another ; the pure and chast and spotless , and yet most ardent love , wherewith they embrace each other ; the ecstatick devotions wherein they joyn together : and certainly every pious and devout soul will readily acknowledge with me , that it must needs be matter of unspeakable pleasure , to be taken into the quire of angels and seraphims , and the glorious company of the apostles , and the goodly fellowship of the prophets , and the noble army of martyrs ; and to joyn with them in singing praises , and hallelujahs , and songs of joy , and triumph unto our great creator and redeemer , the father of spirits , and the lover of souls , unto him that sits upon the throne , and unto the lamb for ever and ever . we are sure we shall then have our capacities fill'd , and all our desires answered , they hunger no more , neither thirst any more ; for , the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them , and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters . what vast degrees of perfection and happiness the nature of man is capable of , we may best understand , by viewing it in the person of christ , taken into the nearest union with divinity , and made god's vicegerent in the world , and the head and governour of the whole creation . in this our narrow and contracted state we are apt to think too meanly of our selves , and do not understand the dignity of our own natures , what we were made for , and what we are capable of : but , as plotinus somewhere observes , we are like children , from our birth brought up in ignorance of , and at a great distance from , our parents and relations ; and have forgot the nobleness of our extraction , and rank our selves and our fortunes among the lot of beggers , and mean and ordinary persons ; though we are the off-spring of a great prince , and were born to a kingdom . it does indeed become creatures to think modestly of themselves ; yet , if we consider it aright , it will be found very hard , to set any bounds or limits to our own happiness , and say , hitherto it shall arise , and no further . for that wherein the happiness of man consists , viz. truth and goodness , the communication of the divine nature , and the illapses of divine love , it does not cloy , or glut , or satiate ; but every participation of them does widen and enlarge our souls , and fits us for further and further receptions : the more we have , the more we are capable of ; the more we are fill'd , the more room is made in our spirits ; and thus it is still and still , even till we arrive unto such degrees as we can assign no measures unto . we shall then be made like unto god , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; said the areopagite , salvation can no otherwayes be accomplish'd , but by becoming god-like ; it does not yet appear what we shall be , but when he shall appear we shall be like him ; sayes our evangelist ; for we shall see him as he is . there is no seeing god as he is , but by becoming like unto him ; nor is there any injoying of him , but by being transformed into his image and similitude . men usually have very strange notions concerning god , and the enjoyment of him ; or rather , these are words , to which there is no correspondent conception in their minds : but if we would understand god aright , we must look upon him as infinite wisdom , righteousness , love , goodness , and whatever speaks any thing of beauty and persection ; and if we pretend to worship him , it must be by loving and adoring his transcendent excellencies ; and if we hope to enjoy him , it must be by conformity unto him , and participation of his nature . the frame and constitution of things is such , that it is impossible that man should arrive to happiness any other way . and , if the soveraignty of god should dispense with our obedience , the nature of the thing would not permit us to be happy without it : if we live only the animal life , we may indeed be happy , as beasts are happy ; but the happiness that belongs to a rational and intellectual being , can never be attain'd but in a way of holiness and conformity unto the divine will : for , such a temper and disposition of mind is necessary unto happiness , not by vertue of any arbitrarious constitution of heaven , but , the eternal laws of righteousness , and immutable respects of things , do require and exact it : yea , i may truly say , that god and christ , without us , cannot make us happy : for we are not conscious to our selves of any thing , but only the operations of our own minds ; and 't is not the person of god and christ , but their life and nature , wherein consists our formal happiness : for , what is the happiness of god himself , but only that pleasure and satisfaction that results from a sense of his infinite perfections ? and how is it possible for a creature to be more happy , than by partaking of that , in its measure and proportion , which is the happiness of god himself . the soul , being thus prepar'd , shall live in the presence of god , and lie under the influences and illapses of divine love and goodness ; father , i will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where i am , that they may behold my glory . they that fight manfully under the banners of heaven , and overcome their spiritual enemies , they shall eat of the hidden manna , and become pillars in the temple of god , and shall go no more out : they shall stand before the throne of god continually , and serve him day and night in his temple , and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell amongst them . god shall put under them his everlasting arms , and carry them in his bosom , and they shall suck the full breasts of eternal goodness : for now there is nothing can hinder the most near and intimate conjunction of the soul with god ; for , things that are alike , do easily mingle with one another : but the mixture that is betwixt bodies , be they never so homogeneal , comes but to an external touch ; for their parts can never run up into one another . but there is no such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or resistance , amongst spiritual beings ; and we are estranged from god ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) not by distance of place , but by difference and diversity of nature , and when that is remov'd , he becomes present to us , and we to him : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. like the magnitudines congruae in the mathematicks , quando prima primis , media mediis , extrema extremis , partes denique partibus usquequaque respondent , each of whose parts do exactly answer one to the other . this therefore is the soul's progress from that state of purgation to illumination , and so to union . there are several faculties in the soul of man , that are conformed to several kinds of objects ; and , according to that life a man is awaked into , so these faculties do exert themselves : and though whilst we live barely an animal life , we converse with little more than this outward world , and the objects of our senses ; yet there are faculties within us that are receptive of god , and when we arrive once unto a due measure of purity of spirit , the rayes of heavenly light will as certainly shine into our minds , as the beams of the sun , when it arises above the horison , do illuminate the clear and pellucid air : and from this sight and illumination , the soul proceeds to an intimate union with god , and to a tast and touch of him . this is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that silent touch with god , that fills the soul with unexpressible joy and triumph : for , if the objects of this ouward world that strike upon our senses do so hugely please and delight us ; what infinite pleasure then must there needs be in those touches and impresses , that the divine love and goodness shall make upon our souls ? but these are things that we may talk of , as we would do of a sixth sense , or something we have no distinct notion or idaea of ; but the perfect understanding of them belongs only to the future state of comprehension . lastly , we shall have our knowledge , and our love , which are the most perfect and beatifying acts of our minds , employed about their noblest objects in their most exalted measures ; for a man to resolve himself in some knotty question , or answer some stubborn argument , or find out some noble conclusion , or solve some hard probleme , what ineffable pleasure does it create many times to a contemplative mind ? we know , who sacrific'd a hecatomb for one mathematical demonstration ; and another that upon the like occasion cry'd out , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in a kind of rapture . to have the secrets of nature disclos'd , and the mysteries of art reveal'd ; but above all , the riddles of providence unfolded , are such jewels as i know many searching and inquisitive spirits would be willing to purchase at any rate . when we come to heaven ( i will not say , we shall see all things in the mirror of divinity , for that it may be is an extravagancy of the schools ; nor , that any one true proposition through the concatenation of truth , will then multiply it self into the explicit knowledge of all conclusions whatsoever , for i belive that a fancy too , but ) our knowledge shall be strangely enlarg'd , and , for ought i can determine , be for ever receiving new additions , and fresh accruements ; the clew of divine providence will then be unravell'd , and all those difficulties which now perplex us , will be easily assoyl'd , and we shall then perceive that the wisdom and goodness of god , is a vast and comprehensive thing , and moves in a far larger sphere than we are aware of in this state of narrowness and imperfection : but there is something greater and beyond all this ; and saint iohn has a strange expression , that we shall then see god even as he is ; and god , we know , is the well-spring of perfection and happiness , the fountain and original of all beauty ; he is infinitely glorious , and lovely , and excellent ; and if we see him as he is , all this glory must descend into us and become ours : for we can no otherwayes see god ( as i said before ) but by becoming deiform , by being changed into the same glory . but love , that is it , which makes us most happy , and by that we are most intimately conjoyn'd unto god , for he that dwelleth in love , dwelleth in god , and god in him : and how pleasant beyond all imagination must it needs be , to have the soul melted into a flame of love , and that fire fed and nourish'd by the enjoyment of its beloved ; to be transported into ecstasies , and raptures of love ; to be swallow'd up in the embraces of eternal sweetness ; to be lost in the source and fountain of happiness and bliss , like a spark in the fire , or a beam in the sun , or drop in the ocean . it may be you will tell me , i have been all this while confuting my text , and giving you a relation of that which saint iohn tells us , does not yet appear what it is ; but my design has been the same with the holy evangelist's ; and that is , to represent unto you how transcendently great that state of happiness must needs be ; when as , by what way we are able to apprehend of it , it is infinitely the object of our desires ; and yet we are assur'd by those that are best able to tell , that the best and greatest part of the countrey is yet undiscovered , and that we cannot so much as guess at the pleasure of it , till we come to enjoy it : and indeed it is impossible it should be otherwise ; for , happiness being a matter of sense , all the words in the world cannot convey the notion of it unto our minds , and it is only to be understood by them that feel it ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but though it does not yet appear what we shall be ; yet so much already appears of it , that it cannot but seem the most worthy object of our endeavours and desires ; and by some few clusters that have been shewn us of this good land , we may guess what pleasant and delightful fruit it bears : and if we have but any reverence of our selves , and will but consider the dignity of our natures , and the vastness of that happiness we are capable of ; me thinks we should be alwayes travelling towards that heavenly countrey , though our way lies through a wilderness : and be striving for this great prize and immortal crown ; and be clearing our eyes , and purging our sight , that we may come to this vision of god ; shaking off all fond passions , and dirty desires , and breathing forth our souls in such aspirations as these : my soul thirsteth for thee , o lord , in a dry and barren land , where no water is ; o that thou would'st stistil , and drop down the dew of thy heavenly grace into all its secret chinks and pores ; one thing have i desired of the lord , that will i seek after , that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the dayes of my life , and behold his glory : for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand , and i had rather be a door-keeper in the house of the lord , than dwell in the tents of wickedness . all the kings of the earth , they are thy tributaries ; the kings of tarshish , and of the isles , bring presents unto thee ; the kings of sheba and seba offer gifts . o that we could but pay thee , that which is so due unto thee , the tribute of our hearts ! the heathen are come into thine inheritance ; thy holy temple have they defil'd : help us , o god of our salvation , and deliver us , and purge away our sins from us , for thy name 's sake ! o that the lord whom we seek , would come to his own house , and give peace there , and fill it with his glory ! come and cleanse thine own temple , for we have made it a den of thieves , which should have been a house of prayer ! o that we might never give sleep to our eyes , nor slumber to our eye-lids , till we have prepar'd a house for the lord , and a tabernacle for the god of iacob ! the curse of cain it is fallen upon us , and we are as vagabonds in the earth ; and wander from one creature to another . o that our souls might come at last to dwell in god , our fixed and eternal habitation ! we , like silly doves , fly up and down the earth , but can find no rest for the sole of our feet ; o that , after all our weariness and our wandrings , we might return into the ark ; and that god would put forth his hand and take us , and pull us in unto himself ! we have too long lived upon vanity and emptiness , the wind and the whirl-wind ; o that we may now begin to feed upon substance , and delight our selves in marrow and fatness ! o that god would strike our rocky hearts , that there might spring up a fountain in the wilderness , and pools in the desart ; that we might drink of that water , whereof whosoever drinks , shall never thirst more ; that god would give us that portion of goods that falleth to us , not to waste it with riotous living , but therewith to feed our languishing souls , left they be weary and faint by the way ! we ask not the childrens bread , but the crums that fall from thy table ; that our baskets may be fill d with thy fragments : for they will be better than wine , and sweeter than the honey , and the honey-comb , and more pleasant to us than a feast of fat things . we have wandred too long in a barren , and howling desart , where wild beasts , and doleful creatures , owls and bats , satyrs and dragons , keep their haunts ; o that we might be fed in green pastures ; and led by the still waters , that the winter might be past , and the rain over and gone , that the flowers may appear on the earth , and the time of the singing of birds may come , and the voice of the turtle may be heard in our land ! we have lived too long in sodom , which is the place that god at last will destroy : o that we might arise and be gone ; and , while we are lingring , that the angels of god would lay hold upon our hands ( and be merciful unto us ) and bring us forth , and set us without the city ; and that we may never look back any more , but may escape unto the mountain , and dwell safe in the rock of ages ! wisdom hath killed her beasts , she hath mingled her wine , and furnished her table ; o that we might eat of her meat , and drink of her wine which she hath mingled ! god knocks at the doors of our hearts ; o let us open unto him those everlasting gates , that he may sup with us , and we with him ; for he will bring his chear along with him , and will feast us with manna , and angels food ! o that the sun of righteousness might arise and melt the iciness of our hearts ! that god would send forth his spirit , and with his warmth and heat dissolve our frozen souls ; that god would breath into our minds , those still and gentle gales of divine inspirations , that may blow up ▪ and increase in us the flames of heavenly love ! that we may be a whole burnt-offering , and all the substance of our souls be consumed by fire from heaven , and ascend up in clouds of incense ? that , as so many sparks , we might be alwayes mounting upward , till we return again into our proper elements ! that , like so many particular rivulets , we may be continually making toward the sea , and never rest till we lose our selves in that ocean of goodness , from whence we first came ! that we may open our mouths wide , that god may satisfie them ! that we may so perfectly discharge our selves of all strange desires and passions , that our souls may be nothing else but a deep emptiness and vast capacity to be fill'd with all the fulness of god! let but these be the breathings of our spirits , and this divine magnetism will most certainly draw down god into our souls , and we shall have some praelibations of that happiness ; some small glimpses , and little discoveries whereof , is all that belongs to this state of mortality . i have as yet done but the half of my text : and i have another text yet to preach upon , and a very large and copious one , the great person , whose obsequies we here come to celebrate : his fame is so great throughout the world , that he stands in no need of an encomium ; and yet his worth is much greater than his fame ; it is impossible not to speak great things of him , and yet it is impossible to speak what he deserves ; and the meanness of an oration will but fully the brightness of his excellencies : but custom requires that something should be said , and it is a duty and a debt that we owe only unto his memory : and i hope , his great soul , if it hath any knowledge of what is done here below , will not be offended at the smallness of our offering . he was born at cambridge , and brought up in the free-school there , and was ripe for the university , afore custom would allow of his admittance ; but by that time he was thirteen years old , he was entred into caius-colledge ; and as soon as he was graduate , he was chosen fellow . had he lived amongst the ancient pagans he had been usher'd into the world with a miracle , and swans must have danc'd and sung at his birth ; and he must have been a great hero , and no less than the son of apollo , the god of wisdom and eloquence . he was a man long afore he was of age ; and knew little more of the state of childhood , than its innocency and pleasantness . from the university , by that time he was master of arts , he removed to london , and became publick lecturer in the church of saint paul's ; where he preached to the admiration and astonishment of his auditory ; and by his florid and youthful beauty , and sweet and pleasant air , and sublime and rais'd discourses , he made his hearers take him for some young angel , newly descended from the visions of glory ; the fame of this new star , that out-shone all the rest of the firmament , quickly came to the notice of the great arch-bishop of canterbury , who would needs have him preach before him ; which he performed not less to his wonder than satisfaction ; his discourse was beyond exception , and beyond imitation : yet the wise prelate thought him too young ; but the great youth humbly begg'd his grace to pardon that fault , and promised , if he liv d , he would mend it . however the grand patron of learning and ingenuity , thought it for the advantage of the world , that such mighty parts should be afforded better opportunities of study and improvement , than a course of constant preaching would allow of ; and to that purpose he placed him in his own colledge of all-souls in oxford ; where love and admiration still waited upon him : which so long as there is any spark of ingenuity in the breasts of men , must needs be the inseparable attendants of so extraordinary a worth and sweetness . he had not been long here , afore my lord of canterbury bestowed upon him the rectory of uphingham in rutland-shire , and soon after preferr'd him to be chaplain to king charles the martyr of blessed and immortal memory . thus were preferments heaped upon him , but still less than his deserts ; and that not through the fault of his great masters , but because the amplest honours and rewards were poor and inconsiderable , compar'd with the greatness of his worth and merit . this great man had no sooner launch'd into the world , but a fearful tempest arose , and a barbarous and unnatural war disturb'd a long and uninterrupted peace and tranquillity , and brought all things into disorder and confusion ; but his religion taught him to be loyal , and ingag'd him on his prince's side , whose cause and quarrel he alwayes own'd and maintain'd with a great courage and constancy ; till at last , he and his little fortune were shipwrackt in that great hurricane , that overturn'd both church and state : this fatal storm cast him ashore in a private corner of the world , and a tender providence shrowded him under her wings , and the prophet was fed in the wilderness ; and his great worthiness procur'd him friends , that supplied him with bread and necessaries . in this solitude he began to write those excellent discourses , which are enough of themselves to furnish a library , and will be famous to all succeeding generations , for their greatness of wit , and profoundness of judgment , and richness of fancy , and clearness of expression , and copiousness of invention , and general usefulness to all the purposes of a christian : and by these he soon got a great reputation among all persons of judgment and indifferency , and his name will grow greater still , as the world grows better and wiser . when he had spent some years in this retirement , it pleas'd god to visit his family with sickness , and to take to himself the dear pledges of his favour , three sons of great hopes and expectations , within the space of two or three months : and though he had learned a quiet submission unto the divine will ; yet the affliction touch'd him so sensibly , that it made him desirous to leave the countrey ; and going to london , he there met my lord conway , a person of great honour and generosity ; who making him a kind proffer , the good man embraced it , and that brought him over into ireland , and setled him at portmore , a place made for study and contemplation , which he therefore dearly lov'd ; and here he wrote his cases of conscience : a book that is able alone to give its author immortality . by this time the wheel of providence brought about the king's happy restauration , and there began a new world , and the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters , and out of a confused chaos brought forth beauty and order , and all the three nations were inspir'd with a new life , and became drunk with an excess of joy : among the rest , this loyal subject went over to congratulate the prince and peoples happiness , and bear a part in the universal triumph . it was not long ere his sacred majesty began the settlement of the church , and the great doctor ieremy taylor was resolv'd upon for the bishoprick of down and conor ; and not long after , dromore was added to it : and it was but reasonable that the king and church should consider their champion , and reward the pains and sufferings he under-went in the defence of their cause and honour . with what care and faithfulness he discharg'd his office , we are all his witnesses ; what good rules and directions he gave his clergy , and how he taught us the practice of them by his own example . upon his coming over bishop , he was made a privy-councellor ; and the university of dublin gave him their testimony , by recommending him for their vice-chancellor : which honourable office he kept to his dying day . during his being in this see , he wrote several excellent discourses , particularly his disswasive from popery ( which was receiv'd by a general approbation ; ) and a vindication of it ( now in the press ) from some impertinent cavillers , that pretend to answer books , when there is nothing towards it , more than the very title-page . this great prelate improv'd his talent with a mighty industry , and managed his stewardship rarely well ; and his master , when he call'd for his accounts , found him busie and at his work , and employed upon an excellent subject , a discourse upon the beatitudes ; which , if finisht , would have been of great use to the world , and solv'd most of the cases of conscience that occur to a christian , in all the varieties of states and conditions . but the all-wise god hath ordained it otherwise , and hath called home his good servant , to give him a portion in that blessedness that jesus christ hath promised to all his faithful disciples and followers . thus having given you a brief account of his life , i know you will now expect a character of his person ; but i fore-see , it will befal him , as it does all glorious subjects , that are but disparaged by a commendation ; one thing i am secure of , that i shall not be thought to speak hyperbole's ; for the subject can hardly be reached , by any expressions : for he was none of god's ordinary works , but his endowments were so many , and so great , as really made him a miracle . nature had befriended him much in his constitution ; for he was a person of a most sweet and obliging humour , of great candour and ingenuity ; and there was so much of salt and fineness of wit , and prettiness of address in his familiar discourses , as made his conversation have all the pleasantness of a comedy , and all the usefulness of a sermon : his soul was made up of harmony , and he never spake , but he charm'd his hearer , not only with the clearness of his reason ; but all his words , and his very tone , and cadencies were strangely musical . but , that which did most of all captivate and enravish , was , the gaiety and richness of his fancy ; for he had much in him of that natural enthusiasm , that inspires all great poets and orators ; and there was a generous ferment in his blood and spirits , that set his fancy bravely a work , and made it swell , and teem , and become pregnant to such degrees of luxuriancy , as nothing but the greatness of his wit and judgment , could have kept it within due bounds and measures . and indeed it was a rare mixture , and a single instance , hardly to be found in an age : for the great tryer of wits has told us , that there is a peculiar and several complexion , requir'd for wit , and iudgment , and fancy ; and yet you might have found all these , in this great personage , in their eminency and perfection . but that which made his wit and judgment so considerable , was the largeness and freedom of his spirit , for truth is plain and easie to a mind dis-intangled from superstition and prejudice ; he was one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a sort of brave philosophers that laertius speaks of , that did not addict themselves to any particular sect , but ingeniously sought for truth among all the wrangling schools ; and they found her miserably torn and rent to pieces , and parcell'd into rags , by the several contending parties , and so disfigur'd and mishapen , that it was hard to know her ; but they made a shift to gather up her scatter'd limbs , which as soon as they came together , by a strange sympathy and connaturalness , presently united into a lovely and beautiful body . this was the spirit of this great man ; he weighed mens reasons , and not their names , and was not scared with the ugly vizars men usually put upon persons they hate , and opinions they dislike ; nor affrighted with the anathema's and execrations of an infallible chair , which he look'd upon only as bug-bears to terrifie weak , and childish minds . he considered that it is not likely any one party should wholly engross truth to themselves ; that obedience is the only way to true knowledge ; ( which is an argument that he has manag'd rarely well , in that excellent sermon of his , which he calls , via intelligentiae ; ) that god alwayes , and only teaches docible and ingenuous minds , that are willing to hear , and ready to obey according to their light ; that it is impossible , a pure , humble , resigned , god-like soul , should be kept out of heaven , whatever mistakes it might be subject to in this state of mortality ; that the design of heaven is not to fill mens heads , and feed their curiosities , but to better their hearts , and mend their lives . such considerations as these , made him impartial in his disquisitions , and give a due allowance to the reasons of his adversary , and contend for truth , and not for victory . and now you will easily believe that an ordinary diligence would be able to make great improvements upon such a stock of parts and endowments ; but to these advantages of nature , and excellency of his spirit , be added an indefatigable industry , and god gave a plentiful benediction : for , there were very few kinds of learning , but he was a mystes , and a great master in them : he was a rare humanist , and hugely vers'd in all the polite parts of learning ; and had throughly concocted all the ancient moralists , greek and roman , poets and orators ; and was not unacquainted with the refined wits of the later ages , whether french , or italian . but he had not only the accomplishments of a gentleman , but so universal were his parts , that they were proportioned to every thing ; and though his spirit and humour were made up of smoothness and gentleness , yet he could bear with the harshness and roughness of the schools ; and was not unseen in their subtilties and spinosities ; and upon occasion could make them serve his purpose ; and yet , i believe , he thought many of them very near a kin to the famous knight of the mancha , and would make sport sometimes with the romantick sophistry , and phantastick adventures of school-errantry . his skill was great , both in the civil and canon law , and casuistical divinity ; and he was a rare conductor of souls , and knew how to counsel , and to advise ; to solve difficulties , and determine cases , and quiet consciences . and he was no novice in mr. i. s. new science of controversie ; but could manage an argument , and reparties with a strange dexterity ; he understood what the several parties in christendom have to say for themselves , and could plead their cause to better advantage than any advocate of their tribe : and when he had done , he could confute them too ; and shew , that better arguments than ever they could produce for themselves , would afford no sufficient ground for their fond opinions . it would be too great a task to pursue his accomplishments through the various kinds of literature : i shall content my self to add only his great acquaintance with the fathers and ecclesiastical writers , and the doctors of the first and purest ages both of the greek and latin church ; which he has made use of against the romanists , to vindicate the church of england from the challenge of innovation , and prove her to be truly ancient , catholick , and apostolical . but religion and vertue is the crown of all other accomplishments ; and it was the glory of this great man , to be thought a christian , and whatever you added to it , he look't upon as a term of diminution : and yet he was a zealous son of the church of england ; but that was because he judg'd her ( and with great reason ) a church the most purely christian of any in the world. in his younger years he met with some assaults from popery ; and the high pretensions of their religious orders were very accommodate to his devotional temper : but he was alwayes so much master of himself , that he would never be governed by any thing but reason , and the evidence of truth , which engag'd him in the study of those controversies ; and to how good purpose , the world is by this time a sufficient witness : but the longer , and the more he considered , the worse he lik'd the roman cause , and became at last to censure them with some severity ; but i confess i have so great an opinion of his judgment , and the charitableness of his spirit , that i am afraid he did not think worse of them than they deserve . but religion is not a matter of theory and orthodox notions ; and it is not enough to believe aright , but we must practise accordingly ; and to master our passions , and to make a right use of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and power that god has given us over our own actions , is a greater glory than all other accomplishments that can adorn the mind of man ; and therefore i shall close my character of this great personage with a touch upon some of those vertues , for which his memory will be pretious to all posterity . he was a person of great humility ; and , notwithstanding his stupendious parts , and learning , and eminency of place , he had nothing in him of pride and humour , but was courteous and affable , and of easie access , and would lend a ready ear to the complaints , yea to the impertinencies , of the meanest persons . his humility was coupled with an extraordinary piety ; and , i believe , he spent the greatest part of his time in heaven ; his solemn hours of prayer took up a considerable portion of his life ; and we are not to doubt , but he had learned of s. paul to pray continually ; and that occasional ejaculations , and frequent aspirations and emigrations of his soul after god , made up the best part of his devotions . but he was not only a good man god-ward , but he was come to the top of s. peter's gradation , and to all his other vertues added a large and diffusive charity : and , whoever compares his plentiful incomes , with the inconsiderable estate he left at his death , will be easily convinc'd that charity was steward for a great proportion of his revenue . but the hungry that he fed , and the naked that he cloath'd , and the distressed that he supply'd , and the fatherless that he provided for ; the poor children that he put to apprentice , and brought up at school , and maintained at the university , will now sound a trumpet to that charity which he dispersed with his right hand , but would not suffer his left hand to have any knowledge of it . to sum up all in a few words ; this great prelate he had the good humour of a gentleman , the eloquence of an orator , the fancy of a poet , the acuteness of a school-man , the profoundness of a philosopher , the wisdom of a counsellor , the sagacity of a prophet , the reason of an angel , and the piety of a saint : he had devotion enough for a cloyster , learning enough for an university , and wit enough for a colledge of virtuosi ; and , had his parts and endowments been parcell'd out among his poor clergy that he left behind him , it would perhaps have made one of the best dioceses in the world. but alas ! our father , our father ! the horses of our israel , and the chariot thereof ; he is gone , and has carried his mantle and his spirit along with him up to heaven ; and the sons of the prophets have lost all their beauty and lustre which they enjoyed only from the reflexion of his excellencies , which were bright and radiant enough to cast a glory upon a whole order of men. but the sun of this our world after many attempts to break through the crust of an earthly body , is at last swallowed up in the great vortex of eternity , and there all his maculae are scattered and dissolved , and he is fixt in an orb of glory , and shines among his brethren-stars , that in their several ages gave light to the world , and turn'd many souls unto righteousness ; and we that are left behind , though we can never reach his perfections , must study to imitate his vertues , that we may at last come to sit at his feet in the mansions of glory ; which god grant for his infinite mercies in jesus christ : to whom , with the father , through the eternal spirit , be ascribed all honour and glory , worship and thanksgiving , love and obedience , now and for evermore . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a63706-e180 a valer. maxim . l. 1. c. 1. b dion . hist. l. 54. c a. g●ll. l. 10 c. 15. d ibid. lib. 3. de praescript . c. 40. hujus sunt partes invertendi veritatem , qui ipsas quoque res sacramen●crum divin●rum in idclorum mysteriis aemulatur . tingit & ipse quosdam , ●ique credentes & fideles suos : expiationem delictorum de la●acro re-promittit , & sic ad● initiat mithrae : signat illic in frontibus milites suos , celebrat & panis oblationem , & imaginem resurrectionis inducit , & subgladio redimit corouam . quid , quod & summum pontificem in unis nuptiis statuit ? habet & virginos , bab● & continentes . qui ergo ipsas res de quibus sacramenta christi administrantur tam aemulanter affectavit exprimere in negotiss idololatria , utique & idem & eodem ingenio gestiit , & potuit instrumenta quoque divinarum rerum & sanctorum christianorum sensum de sensibus , verba de verbis , parabolas de parabolis , profana & amulae fidei attemperare . e censor . de die 〈◊〉 l. c. 1. f sueton. in vespas . l●● . decad . 1. lib. 10. lib. 4. de factis & dict . socr. stromat . 3. lib. 4. praepar . evangel . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in ordinat . episc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1 sam. 10. 5. & 10. acts 3. 24. 1 sam. 19. 18. iliad . 〈◊〉 . vide 1. li. eustath . pla●tus in ruden● . cicero lib. 2. de leg . tertul. adv . psychicos c. 13. ibid. lib. 3. annal. lib. 〈◊〉 . annal. * strab. ge●g . lib. 17. | aelian . var. hist. l. 14. c. 34. ioseph . antiq. l. 14. c. 16. caesar. com . de bello gal. l. 6. eustath . in ●●iad . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p●rphyr . citat . ex eurip. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . john 20. 21. vide socrat. li. 1. c. 7. sozom. l. 1. c. 20. james 5. a in ioh. 20. b ibid. c in 1 zim . 4. d homil. 26. in evang. e quaest. 39. matth. 28. 19 , 20. apud tacitum lib. 8. arist. lib. 4. polit. c. 4. a. gellius , lib. 19. c. 10. barthol . in . l. iudices . cod. de dignit . l. 12. bald●● in l. nemini . c. de adv . advers . judi● . lib. 8. c. 26. in exhort . ad castitatem . lib. 4. c. 9. lib. de virg . c. 19. haeres . 79. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in 1 tim. 3. 1 tim. 2. 12. 1 cor. 12. 4. verse 28. ephes. 4. 11. ●ustat● . in iliad . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 1 pet. 5. 1. 2. 1 tim. 5. a epist. ad hieron . b lib. de bapt. c epist. 1. c. 9 d haeres . 79. e dial. adv . lucifer . dial. adv . lucifer . can. 30. ruffin . lib. 10. c. 14. can. mulier de consecr . dist . li. 4. se●t . dist . 6. a epist. 1. b lib. 2. contr. epist. parmen . c. 13. c lib. 2. de divin ●ffic . 4. * lib. 2. contr. epist. parmen . c. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . hare . 19. de bapt . adv . lucifer . eurip. de captivit . babyl . c. de ordine , & in l. de instituendis ministris ad senatum pragensem , in l. de missâ abrogand● , in l. de notis ecclesia . de praescript . har●s . 42. tertullian de baptismo . * tractat. de sacramento cap. de baptismo , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . acts 2. 38. 1 cor. 4. 1. ad caecil . ep. 63. st iesus christus dominus & deus 〈◊〉 ipse est 〈◊〉 sacerdos dei patris , & sacrificium patri s●ipsum primus obtulis , & hoc fieri in sui commemorationem praecepit ; utique ille sacerdos vice christi verè fungitur , qui id quod christus fecit , imitatur : & sacrificium verum & plenum tunc offert in ecclesia deo patri , si incipat 〈◊〉 secund●m quod ipsum christum vid●at obtul●●se . ●rat . 11. heb. 7. 23 , &c. and 8. ver . 2 , 3 , &c. vide etia● iustin. i● apol. 2. a epist. ad 〈◊〉 . b lib. 1. c. 31. & lib. 8. c. ult . c de. praescript . d lib. 1. ep 2. & 9. & l. 3. epist. 15. e apol. 2. cum de ischriâ rationem reddit eum ●●lice sacro uti non potuisse . & 83. in matth. & hom. 6. ad pop . antioch . 150. 9. 2. f haeres . 79. g lib. 2. de bapt . c. 8. h lib. 3. & 6. de sac●rd . homil. 51. & 85. ad evagrium & ad hedito . i con●r . lucifer . & ep. 1. ad 〈◊〉 . k lib. 20. de civ . c. 10. heb. 10. 20. 1 pet. 2. 9. exod. 19. 3. lib. 3. de sacer : apud . euseb. hist. lib. 5. c. 25. de script . in iacob . haeres . 78. ●m . 1. 3. orat. 1. 1 tim. 5. 17. heb. 13. 17. 2 cor. 2. 9. 1 thes. 5. 12. gal. 6. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . can. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . eccles. hierarch . dionys. ibid. heb. 5. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . heb. 5. acts 1. 24. chrysost. lib. 3. de sacerdot . quippe non mortalis quispiam non angelus non archangelus , non alia quaevis creata potentia , sed ipse paracletus ordinem ejusmodi disposuit . james 1. 17. 2 cor. 1. 21. vers. 22. john 6. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. n = " * " 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in orat. in laudem sui patris . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . epist. 45. dedignit . sacer . c. 5. & in comment . in 1. tom. c. 2. & in 1 cor. 12. in illud [ divisiones gratiarum . ] job 42. 8. cap. ult . de eccles . hier. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . im eposit . liturg. epist. 59. q. 5. * cap. 27. de spi. s. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . b apol. 2. pro christianis li. 8. contra cels. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . matth. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c lib. 3. de tri. cap. 4. d quis patiatur ut m●●sarum & viduarum minister supra ●os si tumidius efferat , ad quorum preces , christi corpus sanguisque conficitur ? e lib. 4. de fide , cap. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vide optat. milevit . lib. 6. contra parmenian . s. cyprian lib. st . c. ●●lt . eusebi●● emissen . serm. 5. de pascat . de iteration● in consultat . * de iteratione , atque hinc adeò credo apostolicas ipsas jam inde ab initio ecclesias aliquas , hujusmodi preces ad mysteriorum celebrationem ad bibuisse ; i●ò christum ipsum non solâ verborum recitatione , sed etiam eulogiâ ante ipsam mysteriorum confectionem , & 〈◊〉 hymno usum fuisse manifestum est . | 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 3. de bapt . coner . donat. cap. 16. epist. 92. jer. 1. 10. lib. 31. de bapt . con . donat. c. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in consecra . episc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c gratiam apostolis à christo collatam , qua sanctificarentur : ut per spiritum sanctum à propriis peccatis absolverentur . lib. 12. in io. cap. 56. d homil. in 8va . paschae . e lib. 2. cap. ult . de adulter . conjug . f soz. lib. 7. cap. 10. acts 13. 2. 16. 10. hob. 5. 4. 5 , 10. volkell . lib. 6. cap. 18. ibid. cap. 19. theophylact. in 20. iohan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . tract . de sacrament . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 homil. 28. in acta 18. exhort . ad c●stitat . notes for div a63706-e14650 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vide rom. 16. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . remaines of that excellent minister of jesus christ, mr. joseph alleine being a collection of sundry directions, sermons, sacrament-speeches, and letters, not heretofore published ... selections. 1674 alleine, joseph, 1634-1668. 1674 approx. 478 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 170 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a26694 wing a976 estc r22421 12488391 ocm 12488391 62321 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26694) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 62321) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 302:11) remaines of that excellent minister of jesus christ, mr. joseph alleine being a collection of sundry directions, sermons, sacrament-speeches, and letters, not heretofore published ... selections. 1674 alleine, joseph, 1634-1668. r. a. (richard alleine), 1611-1681. [21], 319 p. printed for peter parker ..., london : 1674. edited by richard alleine. reproduction of original in union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology -early works to 1800. theology -history -17th century. 2002-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-02 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-03 tcp staff (michigan) sampled and proofread 2002-03 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion remaines of that excellent minister of jesus christ , mr. joseph alleine . being a collection of sundry directions , sermons , sacrament-speeches , and letters , not heretofore published . all tending to promote real piety . london , printed for peter parker , at the leg and star in cornhil , over against the royal-exchange , 1674. the epistle . reader . there needs no more to commend this book ( remains of mr. joseph alleine ) to thee , but to assure thee that it is his own , and though a posthumous , yet no spurious birth . though some parcels come to thee with this disadvantage , onely as they were taken from his mouth as he preached , yet much of it was written with his own hand . if thou hast tasted that divine and warm spirit , which run through his other writings already published , it will sure set thee a thirsting after what els hath drop'd from the same holy lips or hands . the labours of a man of god , so mighty in the sriptures , and in the power of god , will not be either unuseful , or unacceptable : though what thou hast here , be but fragments , yet thou wilt find them to be of the same bread , with those loves which have been already dealt out to thee , by the same hand the publisher hath gathered up these fragments , it being pity they should be lost . for my part , i have not had the time to read through the whole book since it came to my hands , but have so far lookt into it , that i judge it to be singularly useful , for the engaging thee in , and directing and quickning thee to that even , spiritual , active life , which will be both thy beauty and thy comfort . that the spirit of the living god , which so eminently furnished the head , fired the heart , and filled up the life of this holy man , may so animate these holy lines , that they may become effectual to the forming their very image upon thy soul and life , is the prayer of , thy friend in christ , richard alleine . june 11th . 1674. a table of the several treatises contain'd in this book . i. the art of dying well , grounded on luke 19. 20. with 15 several directions thereunto ii. a discourse about self-examination , on psal. 4. 4. pag. 1 iii. a sermon on deuteronomy 32. 46. p. 29 iv. a serious call to christians to win souls to christ , with helps there unto , on proverb . 11. 30 p. 47 v. a sermon on revel . 3. 1. with ten parting counsels p. 61 vi. a sermon on psal. 74. p. 83 vii . a discourse made by mr. joseph alleine , unto his people at taunton , the night before his departure from them . p. 99 viii . a sermon preached in order to the sacrament on a sacramental day , on luke 2. 10 , 11. p. 119 ix . a thanksgiving sermon preached july 1665 , at mr. r. ms , on psal. 147. 20 p. 137 x. a sacramental speech grounded on psal. 40. 7. p. 167 xi . another sacramental speech on isa. 9. 6. p. 185 xii . another sacramental speech , on eph. 3. 19. p. 195 xiii . another sacramental speech , on eph. 5. 2. p. 201 xiv . another sacramental speech , on mat. 15. 28. p. 215 xv. another sacramental speech on mark 1. 15. p. 227 xvi . four several letters to his most beloved people in taunton p. 237 xvii . a practical case on phil. 3. 13. 14. p. 263 xviii . a discourse on psal. 144. 3. p. 279 xix . heavens joy and triumph on luke 15. 23 , 24. p. 297 xx a letter sent by him to an intimate friend p. 310 the art of dying well . luk. 12. 19 , 20. soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years — but god said , thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee . qu. since no man hath one dayes certainty of his life , what may we do to be secured from being surprised by death ? 1. sit loose from the world , that you may be able to packup ●…nd be gone upon sudden warning . here was the folly and misery of this rich man , that he had set his heart upon the world , his mind did run upon his barns , and upon his belly ; his goods , were his gods , he wi●…hes no other felicity , than to eat and be merry : if you would be sit for your great journey to your long home , you must lay aside every weight , and in special , the incumbring and intangling , and insnaring clog and burthen of worldly affections ; you must take heed to your selves , least at any time your hearts be over-charged with surfetting , and drunkenness , and the cares of this life ; if you would not have that day come upon you unawares . it is said , there is a 〈◊〉 whose heart is in his belly ; would there were no such monsters among men . certainly , that man whose heart is in his belly , or on his cosfer , that idolizes his friends , or his reputation ; is no more fit for the assaults of death , than the unhappy trojans buryed in sleep and wine , for the invasion of the well-appointed greeks : or the secure laish for the subtle danites : or the shechamites when sore and unwieldy , for the sons of violence , and instruments of cruelty . study to be crucifyed to the world , to use all earthly comforts in a mortifyed manner , as those that are taking their long leave , and let death find you dead besore-hand ; and then let it come when it will , and do its worst . 2. intrench not on gods prerogative , in carving out the future time . reckon not upon hereafter ; this was the unhappiness of this rich fool , he counts upon many years ; god had given him much goods , and now he is so bold , as to cast upon many merry dayes to spend them ; but god is angry at his usur pation , and since he would presume to be his own carver , god rebukes his boldness , and will shew his prerogative , and will cut him short enough , this night shall thy soul be required . remember your times are in gods hands , improve with all possible diligence your present allowance ; he gives you wealth to lay up for hereafter , but he keeps your time in his own hands ; so that you shall not know one day whether you shall ever have another , or be allowed to live till the n●…xt ; cast not upon to morrow . live this day well . when shall we learn to practice the received lesson , to live every day as if it were our last ? blessed men that we should be , if we would but live up to this short rule . christians , why are our lives so far wide of our rules , and principles ? doth conscience witness that you live up to this ? if the rule be good , why do you not da●…ly study to consorm to it ? is it not a shame , that a heathen should teach you ? think , saith he , every morning when thou risest , i may never lye down again ; and every night thou lyest down , it may be i may never rise again ; when thou goest out , i may never return ; when thou comest in , i may never more go out . christian , let it be thy serious thought every morning , i will spend this day for eternity . 3. store up in heaven ●…pace , and see that you be rich towards god. it was the want of this , that made this rich worldling to be branded for a fool . give alms plentifully , and provide for your selves bags , that wax not old ; be sparing as to your selves , but lay out , and spare not upon the service of god. give your selves unto prayer , let reading the word , meditation●… , self-examination , be your daily exercises , do good to all men , serve your generation with diligence , study to be useful , sill up your relations with duties , and when you have done all , go out of your selves , look wholly unto jesus , and live by faith , this do , and you shall have treasure in heaven ; and let death come , when it will , it will but set you in possession of glory . but woe to them that have laid up nothing on the other side the grave ; death will break them for ever , and will prove their eternal undoing . 4. be the death of your sins , that they may not fasten like hell-hounds upon you , when you are most helpless . mortifie your corruptions , and then the bitterness of death is past . sin is the sting of death , that makes it dreadful , that makes it hurtful ; o do not arm your enemy against you , death cannot hurt you , but by the weapons that you put into its hands by your sins ; if sin be dead , death is conquered . this is the top of misery , when sin and death shall sly upon a poor creature together , when death , as the unclean spirit , taking with him seven other spirits worse than himself , shall set a man's sins all upon him , and besides the terrour of its own apaling looks , shall shew him the more ghastly , and affrighting faces of those fiends and furies , his unpardoned sins ; this is the sting of death , and makes that the king of terrours . 5. observe the approaches of your enemy daily , and remember that you are for ought you know , more than half dead already . let not gray hairs be here and there upon you , and you know it not ; observe all the warnings of death , and consider in all your pains and insirmities , that these are but twitches , and items from death . how often is death knocking at your doores ? death hath a great part of you already in possession ; whatsoever is past , is death's ; and how little , how very little is to come , god knows ; sure i am , nothing is yours but the present time . christians , shall death get ground upon you every day , and be marching up towards you , and will not you provide accordingly , and make preparations for it every day ? as death comes daily towards you , do you labour to make it good against death . let your fortifications go on daily , let some breach be made up ; let somewhat be mended every day , forget not that holy counsel to meditate every evening , that seeing thy dayes are numbred , there is one more of thy number spent , and thou art now nearer to thy end by a day . 6. dare not to live in such a case or course , that you would not dare to dye in . how know you but your next step may be into the grave ? and would you be found in your sins ? how do you know , but death may meet you at the next turning ? and o how unwelcome a meeting will it be , if you be found by it laden with the gains of unrighteousness , or with lusts , and pleasures ! would you have death to find you out of your harnesses ? would you meet your enemy , without a weapon ? or be found by him in a careless , secure , and sleeping posture ? if not , how dare you live at such a rate ? are you at an agreement with death . 7. be alwayes in your fathers business , that death may not be able to find you doing evil , or doing nothing ; the holy calvin would not sorhear his labours in his dying sickness ; but , when perswaded to give over , replyed , what shall my lord come and find me idle ? it was said of the laborious willet , who was alwayes very early at his work , that he was half way on his journey before others did set out . blessed is that servant whom his lord when he cometh , shall find so doing . remember in what you undertake , that death may overtakq you before you have ended : therefore see that you do noth●…ng without gods warrant , carry this with you , and you need not fear death's surprisal . woe unto you if death find you , with your work to do . how holily , how happily , ended that blessed saint mr. lovo , who could dare to say in his last prayer , father , i have glorisied the●… on earth , i have sinished the work which thou gavest st●…ma to do , and now , o father glorifie me withthy own self ? surely the end of that man was peace . the last words that ever he spake , were blessed be god for jesus christ. blessed be god for peace of conscience . he lived a life of exemplary diligence , and the comfort of his death , answered the holy painfulness of his life . this was paul's joy , i have fought a good sight , i have sinished my course , i have kept the faith , henceforth is laid up for me t●…e crown of life . 8. get conscience to be your friend , least that should set death upon you , to worry you , when yóu come to dye . beware you mistake not the slumber of conscience , for a setled peace ; the serpent may be but frozen in your bosoms , when you think him dead . death will rouze the sleeping lyon , and then oh fearful work that he will make ! his roaring will shake the heart of rock , and apale the countenance of kings , and loose their joynts , and break all their bones . if you be wise , get and keep a good conscience ; carry it to the fountain opened for sin , and for uncleanness , get it sprinkled with the blood of christ. exercise your selves to keep a conscience void of osfence towards go●… 〈◊〉 towards all men . in all your undertakings , let conscience have the casting voice , ask counsel of it diligently , hear its rebukes patiently , thankfully , as a precious balm that will not break your heads ; make it to give in its judgment about your estates : if it be confident , be sure it be upon scripture evidence ; if it be doubtful , get it well setled in time ; if it condemn you , away with speed to your redeemer ; sue out your pardon , get it purified , and pacified . follow after peace and holiness , but accept of no peace but of god's speaking . please conscience , rather than all the world ; keep her , and she shall keep you ; they that are careless of defending conscience , are preparing for their own torment at death . 9. remember your sick-bed resolutions , and set a mark upon those things that did make death look most ghastly . woe to you if sickness find you again in the same sins which formerly stung you . what will you say to conscience , or how will you look death in the face , if you be found at last to have been false to your sick-bed vows ? alphonsus king of aragon , sent to the bishop , to know how he should do to become a good man ; he answered , he should be the man he promised to be , when last sick of the gout . 10. keep no long reckonings , but let conscience bring you in the accounts every day before you sleep . keep a day book in your own hearts , speedily make up any controversies that may fall out between god and your souls , 't wil be sad to find old things to reckon for , when you come to dye : you cannot imagine the torment that one sin unrepented of , or unhumbled for , may cost you ; study to keep all clear , and even daily within : this made dying oecolampadias clap his hand upon his breast , saying , hic sat est lucis , 't is all light within ; daily self-examination will make you to live holily , and dye comfortably ; but if you let things run long , you will be all at a loss . 11. set your houses in order that you may not have your estates in the world to settle , when god requires your souls : make your wills in your health and vigour , and therein be sure so to settle your estates , as that god and good uses be not shut out , nor forgotten . wretched men that have so many hundreds to settle upon their children , can scarce find in their hearts to settle one in the hundred upon gods special service . 12. look often into your coffins , and behold your bones and dust , as shortly others shall , when turned out of your graves : be not stràngers to the thoughts of death ; expect it , wait all the dayes of your appointed time when your change shall come ; familiarize the thoughts of death to your selves , that you may be alwayes safe , you must never be secure ; you must pray , and set a watch , and be alwayes upon your guard ; walk every day some serious turns with death , let it never come unlook'd for ; god forbid death should come upon you , and you say , i did not think of it : you must daily think of it , and look for it . how holy and happy a man was he , that could say , i have not known what to morrow meant this twenty years ? consider your latter end , learn to number your dayes : god doth number them , why should not you ? if the man of the house had known what hour of the night the thief would have come , he would have watched , and not have suffered his house to be broken up ; but it is too late to think of it , when the house is risled : be not of them that put far off the evil day ; he that remembers not his end , remembers nothing as he should : it is the remembrance of death puts life into our prayers , into our graces , and all our motions . he that puts off the thoughts of death , gives his enemy unspeakable advantages : death comes upon the sleeping and secure sinner , as jael upon sisera , and strikes the fatal nail through his temples , and fastens him to the earth : or as david upon the amalckites , when he and his mighty men came upon them , chafed in their minds , as a bear robbed of her whelps , when they found them spread abroad upon the earth , eating , drinking , dancing , and smote them from the twilight to the evening of the day . 13. above all speed to the city of refuge . first , get into it , close soundly with jesus christ. o dreadful work that death makes with those , that are not found in him ; it tears the body and soul asunder , it drags the soul to hell , and locks up the dust in prison , till the terrible judgment , it puts an eternal end to all comforts , and enters the sinner upon unchangeable misery , and delivers over the prisoners to the tormentors ; but if you give up your selves entirely , before-hand , and accept christ by believing , on his own terms ; this will secure you in him , then the danger of this is over . look to this , whatsoever you neglect , once in christ , and you have the victory ; you may send a chalenge to death , and with paul triumph before the battel , and make the bonfires , and ring out the bells , as sure of the conquest , and go with shouts of joy , and palms of victory , and garments of salvation to encounter with , or rather to make spoil upon your already conquered enemy . 2. keep you in it , when you have received christ jesus the lord , you must walk in him ; wander from him , and you betray your safety ; o look to it that death find you not venturing out of your refuge , by loose walking . god bespeaks you here as solomon did shimei , 1 kings 2. 36 , 37. and the king sent for shimei , and said unto him , build thee an house in jerusalem , and dwell there , and go not forth thence any whither , for on the day thou goest out thou shalt know for certain thou shalt surely dye . 14. lay in a stock of promises now in time against the assaults of death ; that come when it will , thou mayst have a cordial ready , and be provided with an antidote . delight thy soul in meditating on the 6th of john , and 1 cor. chap. 15. and the fifth chapter of the second epistle of the corinthians . 15. my last , but not my least advice is , that you suffer not the state of your immortal souls to lye any longer at uncertainties . put to it with all your might for assurance , try an hundred times , and make diligent search into the state of your hearts . what blessed helps have you in mr. baxter's works , mr. richard alleines , and others , to put all out of doubt ? there you have sure marks , ply your hearts with them , be diligent observers of the workings of your souls ; lye at god's door night and day , and put your selves on gods tryal ; if all this will not do it , apply your selves to some faithful and experienced minister , and above all close with christ anew , solemnly ingage your selves in covenant with him , according to the directions in mr. richard alleine's book vindication of godliness , to this purpose ; how can you live one day , or dye without some evidence that it shall be well with you for ever ? ah the woful case that the poor trembling soul must needs be in , when it thrusts out into the ocean of eternity , not knowing whither it is going , whether it shall be landed in the region on of eternal darkness , or the land of light , when it must go forth it knows not whether into the arms of angels , or the teeth and talons of cursed fiends and harpies ; my soul hath often relented at the thoughts of that pathetick moan of dying adrian , who thus bespeaks his anxious soul , when ready to be delivered up ( i cannot but spoil it by englishing it ) ah my poor , little , trembling , wandring soul , whether art thou going , into i know not what rough and horrid places ? and it is a heart piercing complaint of poor beringarius , who was one of the first lights in the time of the thickest antichristian darkness ; who having often dallyed with conscience , recanting over and over to avoid death ( though he did afterwards still return to the preaching , pro●…ssion , and practice of the truth , has bemoaned himself on his death bed : now i am going to appear before my judge , not knowing whether i shall be saved , as i hope ; or damned , as i fear . brethren , if you would not be surprized by death , with these uncertainties put all out of question now , without delay in your health and strength . psal. 4. 4. commune with your own heart upon your bed. doct that it is the great duty of every man , to be often conferring with , and taking an account of his own heart , 2 cor. 13. 5 , examine your selves , prove your selves ; know you not your own selves ? it is the duty of a man not to take the report of his heart , but he must search his heart , he must be often putting questions to his heart . the heart cannot be easily found out . the reasons of the point are these two . first , reas. 1. is taken from the dissiculty of coming to know our own hearts . therefore 't is a necessary duty , because it is so hard to know our own hearts . now this appears , first , because men are so generally mistaken in their own hearts : and that both bad men , and good men . bad men , how osten do they boast of their good hearts ? and though our saviour tells us that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts , &c. yet all this while they think their hearts are good , they see nothing of these things in their hearts . when hazael heard of his heart , he w●… dred that he should have such a heart . 〈◊〉 would not believe that there was such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nature in his heart . he thought it w●… 〈◊〉 dogs , and tygers to do this : and yet a●… wards he did all this . and so for good m●… ; how did peter fail in this , that he would 〈◊〉 for him ? and christ could scarce put him out of this conceit . and it is like that he did intend what he spake , yea , he did try sarther than the rest did , sor he only did draw his sword . and who would have thought that there was that swearing , and cursing in his heart as there was ? and so of david's adultery , 2 sam. 12. secondly , it appears in that it hath cos●… men so dear to know their h●…ts . ( 1 ) it hath cost them sharp tryals . deut. 8. 2. god led thee these forty years in the wilderness , to know what was in thine heart . that is , to make you to know , one would have thought that they had never been guilty of such horrid unbelief to distrust god , when they did feed upon , and weared miracles . ( 2 ) it hath cost them many sad falls to know them . 2 chron. 32. 31. hezekiah nor no body else would have thought that there could have been that in his heart , after god had wrought a miracle for him ; and yet god left him that he might try what was in his heart . brethren take heed that you be not too sure of your own hearts , be often fearful of your own hearts . ( 3 ) it hath cost them many tears and prayers to know them . though some of god●… people have been students of their own hearts twenty or forty years , yet after all this , they do find , sometimes , their hearts be too hard for them . thirdly , the difficulty of this appears , because the saints have called in the special help of god , without which they could not come to know it . so did david psal. 139. 23. search me o god , &c. our own hearts are too hard for us unless we take god ' s special assistance with us . our hearts will deal with us , without this , as a bad neighbour will do when we come to search for our goods , they will not let you in , except you come with the kings officer . now the difficulty of this lyes ( 1 ) in that the heart of man is so deep , eccl. 7. 24. that which is exceeding deep who can find it out ? now so is the heart of man ; for so psal. 64. 6. and the heart is deep . the heart of man is deep as earth , yea , as hell. ●…m . 3. that is , the hell that is in the heart . ●…2 ) the heart is very dark . eph. 4. 18. having the understanding darkned , &c. there ●…ou have two parts of the misery of man in his natural estate . 1. he is a stranger to god ; 2. to himself . he cannot see a jot into his own heart , till the lord do spring into the soul with a new light ; as he did into the prison , they cannot see what there is in the heart . and we need not any further evidence for this , than that common good opinion that men have of their hearts . though their hearts are full of odious poyson , and the like , yet they cannot see it till god open their eyes by conversion ; and then they can see it : but yet it is but candle-light that the best of us have here of our hearts . ( 3. ) because the heart is very deceitfull , above all things . there have been great deceits in the world ; yet put all together , none in the world is so cunning as the heart , there is no comparison . you would think if a man were told before-hand , there is a known cheater come to deal with him therefore he should take heed of dealing wit●… him , such a man would think sure that h●… should not be too hard for him ; but yet th●… saints have known this , that the heart is so de ceitful ; and they have been twenty or fort●… years learning it ; yet their hearts are too har●… for them . reas. 2. secondly , because the knowledg of the heart is so exceeding necessary . if a ma●… turn over all the books in the world , and b●… not learned in his own heart , it is nothing . use. the use is to stir us up to know o●… own ●…rts . i beseech you what ever you n●… lect , neglect not this duty . now there be sundry ways of communing with our own hearts . sometimes by way of consolation . return to thy rest o my soul , &c. psal. 116. 7. sometimes by way of expostulation . why art thou cast down o my soul , &c. ps. 42. sometimes by way of exhortation , to quicken and excite our hearts . psal. 62. 5. my soul wait thou onely upon god. here he stirs up his heart in believing in god. so awake , up my glory . that is , my heart or soul. the soul of man , that is his honour , gen. 49. 6. and see how david doth exhort his soul : up my heart , my glory . he found his heart , it may be , somewhat dead and dull , and therefore he stirs it up , sometimes by way of instruction , psal. 16. 2. 7. but sometimes by way of examination and inquiry , that is the principal on which all the rest do depend , and therefore i intend to insist on that ; and i beseech you to stir up your selves to this duty . my brethren , you should be often questioning with your own hearts ; it is sad to think how papists , yea pagans do out-pass us in this , and what a shame is it that we should be such strangers to this duty ? after we have been told of it , and have confessed that it is a duty ! now you must know there is a double communication . ordinary , and extraordinary . ordinary , and that is either transient , or more solemn . the first we should be in continually , every hour in the day . the want of this is the reason that we are such strangers to our own hearts , christian , remember this and step in often into thy own heart and thoughts , the heart of man is always talking to it self ; and you should often step in and see what it is that they are talking of , see if they are well employed ; and if they be not , set them a task , especially before , in , and after duties ; especially after duties to search what evil we have committed in the duty , or else we shall not find matter for examination of our hearts in the evening ; we should take notes of our hearts all the day , & read them over in the evening . and then besides this , there must be a solemn examination . and here i should beseech you christians , every evening to spend some time for this work ; a quarter , or half an hour . i speak of the evening because the scripture speaks so much of this time ; and the practice of good men have been in this time : a very heathen could do this , and you shall find this was david's practice . psal. 16. 7. my reins instruct me in the night-season . well then , i would advise thee christian , to take this advice . every evening before you sleep , set some time apart , more or less , from the world , and set thy heart as in the presence of god , and charge it before god , to answer to these interrogatories . first . with reference to your duties . first . did not god find me on my bed when he looked for me on my knees ? this question might be a shaming question , and i cannot without indignation speak of this , that many 〈◊〉 us should be so willing to please our selves 〈◊〉 a little case , when we should enjoy those pleasant hours with god! how do you think that god will take this at your hands ? there be many persons that do spend many hours in their beds , that they might enjoy communion with god in , and then they are fain to 〈◊〉 up their duties in a co●…ner , i beseech you that this may be left off . it may be , many of you have not so much to do in the world as others , they have not the business that others have , and therefore they need not rise so soon , but lye longer than others . ah christian ! do not make that use of it , thou hast no more time for sloth than others . i tell thee from god , he hath not given thee any time to be idle in . i am afraid that many of you do not know what it is to sleep by rule if thou dost not , this is a shame to thee , a christian should do nothing but by rule . it may be some will say , what rule must we use ? ans. we must have respect to our bodies , what may be for one man , may not be for another ; but for healthy bodies six or seven h●…urs is enough in conscience ; let every man give his body no more than his body will require . and remember this general rule , to be sure that you do use some self-denyal about your sleep : that general rule should be observed , though the particular rule cannot be given . that excellent servant of god , mr. jordan , that kept assurance of gods love thirty years , did up at three or four a clock every morning , and if he did not , he did bewail it ; o that it were thus with you ! secondly . have i not prayed to no purpose , or let roving thoughts eat out my duty ? take an account every evening what you have gained by that days prayers , if we did so , this would be brave ; then we should grow apace . but this is our great loss , that we content our selves with the duty done , and do not look to the manner of performance , or the doing of the duty ; therefore if thou wouldst gain by thy duties , see how as well as what thou didst pray . how did i pray ! was my heart lively or dull ? let it not be enough that your hearts do acquit you in this , that you have not neglected duty , but whether you have not been slack in the duty . and because vain thoughts are our great enemies here , look that these do not eat up thy sacrifice ; we have been often complaining of these , but we are not eased of them : and what is the reason ? because we do not take our hearts to task about it , for our vain thoughts in duty every day ; if we did but ask our hearts this every evening , our hearts would be ashamed to be found guilty every day . thirdly . have i not neglected , or been very overly in the reading of gods holy word ? i am afraid that many of us do neglect this duty , doth not there pass over our heads many a day wherein we read not a chapter ? and yet i fear more of the manner how you read. did you begin with prayer , and observe what promises , or commands , or threatnings , or examples were there for you to imitate , or to fear and avoid ? and did you turn it into prayer afterwards ? that i would advise you to , to turn some of the chapter into prayer afterward . o that we should slight the word , that the saints of god have set such a price upon ! the word ! why 't is the word of god , and when we see the hand of god to it , this should affect us . fourthly . have i digested the sermon i heard last ? have i prayed it over , and repeated it over ? brethren , would you know why we are such dwarfs in christianity , why we grow so little ? here is one grand reason , we take in much and digest but little ; it may be thou art greedy of taking opportunities , there cannot be a sermon but thou must be at it , or else it is not well ; but dost thou pray it over , and repeat it over again ? the want of this is the reason that we grow no better , therefore content not thy self that thou hast heard such a sermon ; it is never well till god hear of it , in confession , prayer , and praise for such mercies as were discovered to thee . this is the way to thrive , and you will never thrive till you come to this . the reason why there have been so much sowing and so little fruit , is because the seed hath not been covered by meditation , and watered by prayer , the devil or evil thoughts come and steal away the seed . fifthly , was there not more of custome and fashion in my family-duties , than of conscience ? brethren , if my observation fail not , christians are more apt to be formal in these duties than in others . now this should be a cause of shame to us , this is a very great evil , we are very formal in such duties as do come ordinarily , especially if we are not the speaker , but do joyn with others : whereas , if thou didst but make this use of it , thankfully to prize , and gladly improve such opportunities , thou would'st thrive more abundanly . say with thy self , now i have an opportunity to worship god in the family . you that are heads of families it is a great mercy that you have , that you can lead your families into the presence of god : and you that are members of the family , have a great mercy that you live in a family where you can come twice a day , at least , to god beyond many others , and do you labour to improve it . sixthly , wherein have i denyed my self to day for god ? brethren , you have not lived like christians this day , if so be you have not used some self-denial to day ; if thou hast not denied thy flesh , but hast given it so much case as it would have : and thy appetite , but hast let it have so much as it would , and thy tongue , but let it go out whither it would ; thou hast not lived as a christian. seventhly . have i redeemed my time from too long and needless visits , idle imaginations fruitless discourses , unnnecessary sleep , morethan needs of the world ? it is a duty incum bent upon every christian to redeem his time , this hath sate heavy upon the best of gods servants , that they have no more redeemed time ; now if you would redeem your time , there be these time-robbers and devourers that must be watched . first . too long and needless visits . many men are so long in their visits , that they loose much time of their own , and others too ; whom they go to visit . ask thy heart have not i been too long in such a visit , and so steal away others time as well as my own ? and so for needless visits , when there is no need ; be sparing and short in your visits or else you will loose your time , and make others to loose their time also . secondly . idle imaginations . these steal away our time , and we think not of it ; if this were look'd to how might we grow in grace ? when a man is on his journey , how might he have good thoughts , whereas our hearts are talking of vanity ; and so in our shops . thirdly . fruitless discourse . ask thy heart whether thou hast not failed in this duty ? what a shame is this that many christians do come together and scarce any thing of god in their mouths while they be together ! fourthly . unnecessary sleep . there is much evil in this , when persons do take up so much time in their sleep , that there is scarce time left for religious duties . fifthly . more than needs of the world. men must be very watchfull of this or else the world will rob them of their time , if a man will not use some self-denyal about his worldly occasions , but serve god no more than the world will give him leave , he shall serve god but little . eighthly . have i done any thing more than ordinary , for the church of god , in a time extraordinary ? brethren , we shall never be able to stand before our own consciences in the evil day , if our hearts cannot acquit us in this , that we have put our selves to it more than ordinary for the church of god. you know the troubles of the church at this day , and we should every one of us run with his bucket , and put out this fire . god is crying to us , as moses to aaron , num. 16. 46. take a censer — and go quickly unto the congregation , and make an attonement for them ; for there is wrath gone out from the lord , the plague is begun . o let us run for the tokens of his displeasure are in the land ! 〈◊〉 your tears that must quench these flames that the bush , the church is burning in . how is it that we do not weep over the church ? we sit here at ease through gods blessing , but how is it with the church of god abroad in the land ? how far are our hearts from the temper of gods worthies heretofore ? it was said of one , that when there was any ●…ad news , concerning the church , they were fain to conceal it from her , least her heart should be overwhelmed with the news of it . if we had some certain news that our estates were at undoing , how would we break our sleep ? and yet how is it that we are so careless of the church of god! how is it that others are so wounded and sick , and ready to die with grief , and yet we take so little notice of it ? it was the saying of one to me , i wonder how any can laugh ( said she ) when gods church is in such distress . i beseech you take some more time with god than you were wont to heretofore , for the church of god. what if thou didst pray twice a day heretofore , and now thou doest pray three times a day , once a day the more though but a quarter of an hour . to seek to god for the church , and sometimes a whole day ; it will come in upon thy account , when the troubles come upon the church , that thou didst labour with thy bucket , if it were possible , to put out the fire . ninthly . have i took care of my company ? many times many of us are very great loosers by this , by vain company ; to be sure if they do us no other harm , they rob us of our time , and that is no small hurt ; and therefore fly from their company as from a plague-fore . or if sometimes thy calling do call thee to them , yet do not go among them , before thou hast prayed to be delivered from the evil of their company . tenthly . have not i neglected some relative duty to day , as of husband , wife , pa rent , child , master , servant . secondly , for your sins . first . doth not sin sit light ? this is 〈◊〉 cause of no small mischief to our souls , this is the cause why christ is no more 〈◊〉 , and the promises no more sweet ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sits so light : why we can hear the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common lovely thing , and be but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fected with it ? if thou couldst but 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 sense of sin upon thy spirit , this would be a speedy course of preventing sin ; this is a cutting down of a great limb of sin . when a man cuts down a limb of the tree , a great deal of brush will come down with it ; and so if thou dost but cut down this limb , let sin sit heavy , down comes self , and pride , and many sins will come down with it . how is it that paul could say , o wretched man that i am &c. and we are no more distressed with the sense of sin ? secondly . am i a mourner for the sins of the land ? my brethren , we have great reason , i doubt , to check our selves sharply here , that when god hath made it so plainly a duty to us , and yet we are so little affected with the sins of the land , when god doth set a mark upon them ( onely ) for preservation , that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of the land ; yet we remain insensible ! can our hearts acquit us now in this thing ? o let us never leave our hearts , but be checking of them for this . if thy name were but wounded , it would break thy heart almost ; and yet how is it that we can hear of gods name to be dishonoured and yet not break for it ! can our hearts witness for us that we do never hear of the blasphemie that is in the land , and of the superstition and idolatry of the land , but god doth hear of it again by us , before we sleep , by prayer ? this should be for a lamentation to us , that the wounds that are given to god are no more upon our hearts . we may say of the glory of god as they of david . 2 sam. 18. 3. 't is worth ten thousand of us . our estates , and names , and all that is dear to us , yea , our very souls are not so much worth as the honour of god. and how is it then that we can see god dishonoured , and we cannot mourn sor it ? gods glory is his crown that is upon his head ; and shall we see his crown trodden , down in the dirt and not be affected with it ? we are far from the disposition of gods saints and servants heretofore . when moses saw the idolatry of the people , he was so zealous , that he overturned the tables that god wrote with his own finger . and ezra when the people had taken strange wives he sate down and 〈◊〉 his cloaths . ezr. 9. bretheren how may we blush to hear and read this , and to think how far our hearts are from this frame ! it may be you do think it enough that you did cry out upon it when you hear●… the blasphemy , so that you are free from 〈◊〉 your selves , but this is your sin , if you do no●… mourn over it . ( 1 cor. 5. 2. 7. no doubt the godly corinthians did detest this sin , but the apostle tells them that is not enough , whil●… they did not mourn over it : ) when wic●…ness doth raign , as if it were the time of 〈◊〉 devils incarnation ; as if hell it self were ●…ken loose upon us to act its part 〈◊〉 ground , and we not mourning ov●…r it thirdly . do not i live in 〈◊〉 that i know or fear to be a sin ? if i do thus , there is no peace with god or con●… to be h●… sor you . psal. 66. 18. if i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my heart , god will not hear my prayers . it is a sign that god doth not regard thee , if thou art one that dost live in the practice or allowance of any sin ; and he will not own thee for this . rom. 6. 16. if thou dost yield up thy self to any sin willingly , that is a manifest sign that thou art none of gods. thirdly , for your hearts . ask several questions . first . have i been much in holy ejaculation ? thus we ought to pray continually ; not onely at our set and solemn times , but upon all occasions , to step aside and speak a word or two with god ; in our journeys , and occupations , this is walking with god indeed ; when we do not onely take a turn or two with him in the morning , and so in the evening , but all the day long . it is said of mr. dod , that he never got up his horse , but he prayed before he came off . thus did nehemiah , while the king was talking with him , he was praying to god. nehem. 2. 4. so i prayed to the god of heaven , this was a heavenly ejaculation ; this would keep your hearts a praying all the day long . when the hearts of men do naturally bend to god , as the sparks fly upward this is a good thing indeed ; when we cannot go by the door , but we must step in and have a turn with god ; you will take it as a great kindness for a man not onely to come on set times to visit you , but when he comes in every time he comes by the door to see you ; and when thy heart is thus wont to turn into god , this will be an 〈◊〉 to thee that thy heart is used to converse with god. secondly . hath not god been out of mind , heaven out of sight ? put that question to thy heart . my brethren , this is our great sin , and should be our great shame , that the thoughts of god are such strangers to our souls ; that we are so little in heaven in the day , as we are . o what a loser is god by this in his glory ! what losers are we by this in our graces and comforts ! o were our hearts on all occasions thus thinking of god how holy a frame should we quickly grow into ? why should not our hearts be as much with god , as the hearts of the worldlings be with the creature ? doth not god deserve it as much as the creature ? his heart is always talking with the world : if he come to hear , his heart is talking with the world . if he come to pray , his heart is alway with the world. why should not our hearts be talking with god while our hands are employed about this world ? it was a heavenly breathing of a gracious spirit , a confounding passage , that i met with ; lord as formerly i lived without thee in the world , so now let me 〈◊〉 without the world in thee . if we did but love god as well as a worldly man doth love his wealth and riches , we should be so taken up with the love of god as quite to forget the world . for the world makes them forget god , that he is not alwayes in their thoughts . yea , says he , we should be taken up always with god. my brethren , what shall we say for this ! how shall we excuse this , that we should be so unmindfull of god , while the worldling is so mindful of the world ? o what a shame is this ! for shame , be ashamed at your selves before we go away hence . i profess christians , i have wondred 〈◊〉 god will throw away his kingdome upon some that do care so little for it as we do . o shame thy self out of this evil frame ! brethren , why do not we carry it towards the world , as the world doth towards us ? the world doth carry it towards us as 〈◊〉 ; and we know not what it will do to us . vvhy should not we carry it more strangely towards it ? o never leave , till the thoughts of heaven be thy natural thoughts , o check thy heart ronndly in the evening for this sin , if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 find thy heart faulty here ; and never leave till thou ha●… brought it into a right frame . thirdly . have i been often looking into my 〈◊〉 , & made conscience even of vian thoughts ? you know your rule , keep thy heart with all 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it are the issues of life . now hast thou been keeping thy heart with all diligence ? brethren , you may be sure your work will go but badly on , unless you look to your hearts , and keep your hearts . examine then in the evening , how hath my heart been employed to day , hath it not been a thorow-fare of vain thoughts ? of evil imaginations ? i fear that many of us do make little con●… of this . it may be thou dost make conscience of vain thoughts in duty : but i fear that few 〈◊〉 do make conscience of vain thoughts at other times . ah brethren , you 〈◊〉 not known what it is to live the life of christianity , if you do not look to this . this must be mended . brethren , what a blessed thing would this be , if we had but once attained this frame ! if our hearts did but naturally run in a hollow channel ? this is attainable , and many of the christians have attained to it . and if it be attainable , 〈◊〉 we should never be quiet till we have attained it . why , christian , take this rule , force thy heart a while to it ; keep thy heart for a while in this tract , set it some holy subject , some good task , and make it to ply its work ; and when thou hast got to this , then by degrees it will be sweet to thee . it is not enough to say , what hurt is there in such vain thoughts ? it is enough that there is no good in them , that there is no profit in them ; yea , there is a great deal of hurt in letting thy thoughts to run abroad . my brethren , you do , i believe , every one of you that are christians indeed , complain of the burthen of your vain thoughts . i believe , that this is the greatest trouble of many christians here , for the vanity of their thoughts in holy duties . and what is the reason of this ? because they do let out their hearts at other times ; this is the reason that we have no more command of our hearts in holy duties , because we do not keep them in at other times . god complains of jerusalem , jer. 4. 14. ( and may he not complain so of us ? ) o jerusalem , how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee ? have not we , many of us , been complaining these seven or twice seven years of vain thoughts , and yet they are lodging in us ? and if you take this course with your hearts , you will find more benefit in it , than ever you did in any thing that you have tryed hitherto . but i know what the flesh will say here , what to be always taken up with holy things ? this will be an intollerable burthen . o but do not hearken to the evil report , that the flesh will bring upon the wayes of god. indeed i confess it will bring some dissiculty , yet i trust , you will be willing to be at some pain for so great a good as this is , but after a little while you will find it easie . there is nothing that is easie to a learner , but if it be a trade or such a tongue 〈◊〉 a little while that he is used to it , it is his d●…light . and so will this be the sweetest thing in the world to thee , if thou dost but keep thy heart to it a while . and therefore never leave watching and praying , till thou hast got thy heart into this frame . fourthly . have not i given way to the working of pride or passion to day ? my brethren , the spirit of god is a holy dove that will not rest in an unquiet and froward heart . it was a passage os a very holy man , whatsoever you do , take 〈◊〉 of passion . 2 king. 3. 15. elijah was sain to call for a minstrel before he could allay his passion ; i beseech you to watch your hearts when there is a temptation to pride , and a provocation to passion before you , or else you will grieve the good spirit of god , and make him to withdraw himself from you . it is a saying of mr. baxter , when there is a temptation to pride before me , i am fain to watch my heart as narrowly as i would do the thatch of my house , when fire is put to it ; and presently to throw on it the water of ●…testation , resolution , and recourse to god. and so must you do if ever you mean to attain to a heavenly heart . i remember it is written in the life of a holy man , that he did fear and tremble more when he did hear his commendation , than when it never so dreadfully thundered ; and this frame should be in thee . o fear temptations to pride , i beseech you tak●… heed of pride , that your hearts do not grow haughty . if you do not take good heed , you are like to fall , that servant is never like to do much for god that is puffed up with pride , if thou hast got down thy self , and trod upon the neck of pride , then thou art become a great victor indeed . this is the reason why god doth not employ us in his service more , because he sees that there is such an evil heart in 〈◊〉 , that we would make his mercies fuell for our pride and lust. let it be your daily practice to get the victory over this enemy , the pride of your heart . it was a very exemplary pattern that is set before us in that holy man ; says he , concerning himself , methinks i am broken all in peices before god when i speak to him , as when i tread upon an egg and trample it all to peices . it was a passage in one of his letters writing to comfort another , i pray god make use of me a poor rush , to do you some good . let us lay this pattern before us . but more especially , look to our holy and humble jesus ; and you shall find rest to your souls . follow your pride and passion thus with observation and detestation every day , and this will weary it out at last . fourthly , for your tongues . ask these questions . first , have i bridled my tongue , and forced it in ? this is a very necessary question that must be enquired into . i tell thee if thou hast no measure to bridle thy tongue , thou art no christian. jam. 1. 26. on the other side if thou hast once got this skill to govern thy tongue , thou art a grown christian , jam. 3. 2. he that can govern his tongue , hath attained to some good growth and good perfection in grace . ah brethren , you had need to set up davids resolution daily , psal. 39. 1. i said i will take heed to my ways , that i offend not with my tongue , psal. 17. 3. i am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress . and distrusting his own strength you may see how he runs to god for strength , psal. 14. 1. 3. set a watch ( o lord ) before my mouth : keep the door of my lips . secondly , have i spoke evil of no man ? this is an express charge of the apostle , tit. 3. 1 , 2. put them in mind to speak evil of no man. and the apostle peter chargeth us that if we will grow in grace , to put away the evil of evil speaking . this is a great and universal sin among us ; that we are apt to speak evil of others . when we do hear of any thing that is evil in any one , how do we speak of it to our friends ? see that you have good ends & a lawful call to tell , before you tell of anothers evil . brethren , this cannot be sussiciently bewailed , that there should be so great an evil among us , that we should be so backward to speak of our brothers evil to himself , and so prone to publish it to those that we should not . thirdly , hath the law of god been in my mouth , as i sate in my house , went by the way , lying down , rising up ? how great is the charge of god given us ! and how great is our negligence in this work ! deut. 6. 7. thou 〈◊〉 teach them diligently unto thy children , and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house , and when thou walkest by the way , and when thou lyest down , and when thou 〈◊〉 up . christian can thy heart acquit thee here now ? can thy family acquit thee ; that this is thy work when thou art sitting by the fire with them ? can thy yoke-fellow witness for thee , that the word of god is in thy mouth when thou lyest down , and risest up ? can thy fellow-traveller say that these are thy talks when tho●… walkest ? deut. 11. 8. what benefit would this be to others , if thou didst but do this ? when wilt thou come to the full resolution of them ? well , set this resolution with thy self , that thou wilt not let thy conscience alone till thou dost come to this . fourthly , have i come into no company but i have dropped something of god there , and left some good savor behind ? o what a shame is it that christians should be so unlike themselves ! that when they come into company , it cannot be seen who is the christian , and who is not ! o how should we be ashamed of this , that we should be ashamed of our god! o that thou wouldst make conscience of this , not to come ●…nto any company , but to drop something of god there . fifthly , for your tables . first , did not i sit down with no higher end than a beast , meerly to please my appetite ? did i eat , and drink for the glory of god ? you cannot know what it is to be a christian , till you come to do all things by rule . make conscience of this , to set your ends right when you sit down to your tables . is it not a shame , that a christian , should sit down with no higher end than a beast to his meat ? beasts do eat and drink to satisfie their hunger . remember that thou sit down with an eye upon god. this will make thy table to be sanctified to thee . secondly , did i not rise from my table without dropping something of god there ? christian , how often dost thou contradict the example of thy savior ? you shall find his discourse when he sate at the table still that he was always speaking of god. and is it not a shame that thou should st imitate thy saviour no better ? thirdly , was not my appetite too hard for me ? brethren , i doubt many of us are little skilled in the duty of temperance . it may be many of us do think , we may eat as long as it is pleasing to our appetites . this is a great , though i fear a common evil : that as juae says they feast without fear . here , observe this general rule , never to sit down to your tables but to use some self-denia . and for an exact rule ; we cannot give an exact rule to every one ; but this , for healthy bodies to eat so at one meal , that we may be hungry at the next i am verily afraid that this sin of gluttony is a very common sin : therefore christian set a special watch upon thy appetite . there are two sorts of intemperance that we should beware of ; either with respect to the quantity , or to the quallity of what we eat . we offend in the first when we eat more than we can digest . in the other , when a man gives himself to eat that which the physitian tels him is not fit for him . and what a shame is this that neither reason nor grace , should keep a person from breaking out into intemperance . fourthly , did i not mock with god when i pretended to crave a blessing and return thanks ? if i may judge by my own experience , i think that we are more formal in this than in any other thing . well let this be amended by us , it is a sad thing that we should mock god when we pretend to serve him . sixthly , for your callings . four questions here . first , have i been diligent in the duties of my calling ? secondly , have i defrauded no man ? have i observed that golden rule of justice in my dealings this day , that i have done no otherwise to any man than i would be done unto ? when i have considered it , i find that there is more of christianity in our moral duties than we are aware of . this is not to be a christian , to be so onely in prayer , and hearing , &c. but to be a christian in your shops , and fields , &c. if thou art no second table-man thou art no christian. remember that , this is to be a reproach to religion . thirdly , have i dropped never a lye in my shop or trade ? you that have dealings in the world you had need to look to this every hour . i beseech you christians look to this : this is a fearful sin , and it is a sign that there is nothing of christianity in thee if this prevail . therefore set a guard upon thy mouth ; and beg of god to keep thy mouth , that there may nothing but truth come from it . and in the evening examine how thou hast kept thy charge in this respect . fourthly , did not i rashly make or safly break some promise ? there is a great and reigning evil in this respect among those that trade in the world . be very wary and very sparing in making a promise ; and when thou hast made it , be sure to perform it . i wonder how you can read that scripture , psal. 15. of those that shall enter into the holy hill of the lord , that he sweareth to his own hurt and performeth it . and thus i have given you materials for the examining of your own hearts . now my further business to you is to know how you resolve to perform this ? will you not content your selves with the approving of these rules only ? but will you set it forth in practise ? i beseech you do not 〈◊〉 in ba●…e resolution and intention , but resolve that never a day shall pass before these things be done by you . to stir you up hereunto let me give you these three motives . first , consider , that there will be no such means in the world for you to get a sound and thorow conquest over your corruptions . you have been striving a great while with your corruptions : some with vain thoughts , some with pride , som with passion , and it may be you have got but little victory : and what is the reason ? because you have not followed it with constancy . if thou didst but take thy heart to task every day about it thou wouldst surely get the victory over it . as a holy man much experienced in this did use that comparison : thou must watch thy corruptions ( says he ) as a cat doth her prey ; either it must keep in , or else she hath it . if thou didst thus , thou wouldst quickly find the theif , & so wouldst bring it to the bar before hand , & have execution done upon it . we must be daily in the pursuit of our corruptions , we must never give it over , not in one prayer or one day , and then we are like to get the victory over it . secondly , consider this is a ready way to assurance , brethren , the great reason why christians are without assurance , is for want of self-examination : for want of pain and diligence in observing their own heart . but now if you set upon this duty you will be skil'd in your own hearts . i doubt this work of self-examination is seldom done by many christians , except it be upon some special occasion . thirdly , consider hereby you shall come to a thorow acquaintance with your own hearts , 2 cor. 13. 5. prove your selves , and then follows , know you your selves ? he that proves himself oft , shall know himself at length . deuteronomy 32. 46. and he said unto them , set your hearts unto all the words which i testisie among you this day . the words foregoing my text are called the song of moses , what is storied of the swan is made good in the saints ; they sing sweetest when they are about to die . it is said of christ , that never man spake like to him , and he never spake more like himself than a little before his passion . what tender words , what yearning , melting bowels , what endearedness of affection doth he express to his poor sorrowfull disciples in the 15 , 16 , 17. chapters of john ? there is ( saith one of the ancients ) more worth in these three chapters than in all the books in the world . moses , that famous servant of god , israels guide , prophet , governour , father , husband , being about to take his leave of that perverse , stiff-necked people , begins to sing of mercy and judgment . and he sings sweetly in the ears of god , but dolefully , i doubt in the ears of israel . having ended his song , he doth enforce both it and the counsels given in the foregoing chapter with this vehement exhortation in the words of my text. set your hearts &c. by [ all these words ] we are to understand not onely the mercies and judgments spoken of in this chapter , but the precepts laid down in the foregoing chapter , and therefore he addes in the next words after my text , [ which you shall command your children to observe to do , all the words of this law , ] i shall not stand any longer upon the words but presently give you this doctrine . doct. that when god hath-discovered any duty to his people , he looks that they should set their hearts to it . in the prosecution of this doctrine i shall speak to these three things . ( first ) shew you what it is to set your heart to any duty , and shall speak particularly to that duty that god hath lately laid open to us , from those words . commune with your own hearts . ( secondly , ) i shall propound some motives to stir up those to it that have not yet begun , & to stir up those that have begun to go on in it . ( thirdly , ) i shall prescribe some directions for the conscionable , constant , easie performance of the duty . first , what 't is to set the heart to any duty . this carries in it . first , remembrance . secondly , serious consideration . thirdly , resolution . fourthly , love. fifthly , life . sixthly , labor . seventhly , care. eightly , constancy . first , remembrance , or a minding of our duty . heb. 2. 1. give the more earnest heed to the things that you have heard , lest at any time you let them slip . the memory of man is a leaking vessel , apt to let out as fast as god poures in . it is like a grate in the water-course ; still the trash doth stick by us ; but the pure water , the things of god and of another world are soon out and gone . beloved , it is very strange , and yet very true , those things that we are most affected with , which are most fresh in our minds , that our thoughts do most naturally run upon , in a few weeks or months , the savor of them dye , and the things are buried in oblivion : and perhaps scarce ever come to mind again . concerning this excellent course that we have been directed to , i pray god that i may never live to see it dead and buried : and thus i pray for you all . i confess , i am afraid of myself , lest time should wearout the sence or remembrance of so great a duty : but the lord be better to me than my fears , and to all others whose fear this is . neither is it implyed only that we should never forget this duty , or think upon it only nowand then , but that our thoughts should run upon it . that which a man sets his heart upon , he will often mind . the voluptuous man sets his heart upon his pleasure , and therefore will mind his pleasure . the covetous man sets his heart upon his riches , and therefore minds his riches . their thoughts are so taken up with those things that they scarce think upon any thing else . so it should be with us . when we are sitting at our tables , lying down , rising up , alone , in company , going to any duty , inour shops , about our callings , we should remember this course . we should be as well able to forget to eat as to forget the rule by which we should eat . vve should be as well able to forget to sleep and speak , and follow our callings , as to forget the rule by which we should do it . i shall shut up this particular with the prayer of david , so full to this purpose , 1 chron. 29. 18. o lord god of abraham , isaac , and israel our fathers , keep this for ever in the imagnations of the thoughts of the heart of thy people , and prepare their heart unto thee . secondly , serious consideration , or a pondering of the duty in our heart ; as the expression in luke is , chap. 2. 19. now there are these three things that we are to consider when god doth discover any duty to us . ( first , ) what have i done ? hath not this command of god been neglected by me ? have not i been a meer stranger to the duty now laid open ? or , is not this the duty , that the minister and my conscience hath pressed upon me from time to time , and yet i have neglected it . ( secondly , ) what must i do ? is not this the command of god ? and dare i do otherwise than obey it ! is it not the god of heaven that speaks unto me ? examine thy self ; commune with thy own heart . is this god to be slighted ? his authority to be despised ? darest thou , o my soul , to say the god of heaven nay ! ( thirdly , ) what shall i do ? vvhat will become of me in t●…e day of visitation , and in the day of judgem●…nt , if i daily neglect this known duty , this weighty duty , this necessary duty ? vvhen trobles shall come slowing in upon me like the waves of the sea , one upon the neck of another how shall i be able to stand under them ? if i think to go to god for refuge , conscience will fly in my face , and tell me this is the god , that thou hast despised , whose voyce thou hast not hearkned to . how shall i stand in the day of judgement . and look god in the face , if i am contentious and will not obey the truth ? what can i expectbut tribulation , and anguish , and wrath , rom. 2. 8 , 9. a scripture which me thinks may be as a thunder-bolt in the hearts of any that hath a secret purpose in himself to neglect this duty . if we are careless in this duty , what can we expect but tribulation , and anguish , and wrath ? thirdly , resolution , a setled , fixed purpose of heart to do what god commands . when god tells us this is my command , thus and thus you must do ; our hearts should answer the will of god we will obey : thus and thus we will do . thus did david , the lord said seek my face ; and my heart answered , thy face lordwill i seek . beloved , we hear our duties , and read our duties many a time ; and we are apt to acknowledge that this should be done , and to pray too , that it might be done ; but for want of adding of resolution , many a time our convictions and prayers come to nothing . concerning this duty let us not dispute but determine : let us not stand reasoning shall i , shall i , but resolve upon it . fourthly , love to the duty , christians should not only receive the truths of god , but receive them in love . the commands of god , like meat that pleaseth the pallat , must go down sweetly , duties must not be so much our task as our choyce : that which we would rather do than neglect , were we left to our liberty . beloved , let us not only take up this course as necessary onely , but let us love it as an excellent course . let us not go to this work as a sick man goes to take down a loathsome potion , but as a sound healthy man goes to his ordinary meal . fisthly , life , that which a man sets his heart upon he will be lively in , and do it to purpose . rom. 12. 11. not slothful in business ; but fervent in spirit serving the lord. standing water is not wholsome ; and wine that hath lost its spirit , is not pleasant . god is a spirit , and they that worship him ; must worship him in spirit . he is a most pure act : and he will be served with activity . god would not accept a blind , torn , lame sacrifice under the law ; and will he accept of a dead sacrifice under the gospel ? he would not have , the asse offered to him , because it was a dull sluggish creature . nor the snail , because a slow lingring creature . we must not come to duties with dead hearts : with dull , drowsie , sleepy souls . when we are going to our work of communing with our hearts , we should stir up our hearts , call in our thoughts , compose our affections , rub our memories and consciences , till we have fetched life into them . every faculty of the soul should act its part in this work : and here let me tell you that 't is no fit time to set about this work , when we are between sleeping and waking : when the spirits are so far spent , and the senses tired , that we can scare , see the question , or to hear the answer that conscience gives . it will be good for every one to observe the temper of his body for this work , that so drowsiness may not detain him from it , or make him slight and over●…ly in it . sixthly , labor , we must take pains in duty , eccl. 9. 10. what soever thy hand findeth to do , do it with all thy might . there must be labor before the duty , to break thorough difficulties and to bring the heart to it . there must be labor in the duty to keep the heart close to it . the heart will be unwilling to come to it , and therefore must be compelled . it is apt to wander , and therefore must be restrained and held in . we must not onely do well , but be patient in wel-doing . the flesh must be crossed : carnal ease and contentment must be denyed , when they stand in the way of our duty , or would steal away the heart from god. god required that the male should be offered up to him in sacrifice , because that was stronger than the other : to signifie to us that we must take pains and lay out our strength in duty . beloved , wheresoever you are when you should se●… about this work , say to your souls as christ to the disciples , arise , let us go hence . if the heart be backward , lay the cord of gods command upon it ; and by this cord hale it to the duty . tell it , that the work must be done and shall be done . when thou art come to the work , bind thy heart to the good behavior . when thou art in it , often call upon thy heart to mind the work that it is about . when it would give thee the slip , hold it fast . when it would run from any question before it hath given any determination to it , pull it back : adjure it before the living god , in whose presence thou art , and whose honor is concerned in it , to speak out the truth concerning this matter : whether thou art guilty or not guilty . seventhly , care , that duty is well done , that is carefully done . eighthly , constancy , that which a mans heart is set upon , he will be hardly taken off from it . we must be constant in duties as well as fervent in them , rev. 2. 3. beloved , the work that i am now pressing you to , is not to be done once a week , or a month , or every other day ; but every day . every evening , conscience being mounted upon its tribunal , you are to give accompt of all the things that have passed that day . and remember this , that you never take any excuse for the omitting of this duty , at any time , but what you dare plead before god in the great day of accompt . it is to be performed every day : as sure as the night follows the day . neither is this the work of a week , or a month , or a year , or of an evil time onely , while the rod of god is upon your backs ; no , it is the work of your life : it is a duty that you must live and dye in . we should not take up this course , as the traveller takes up his cloak , which he wears in a storm , but throws off when the sun shines . this is a duty as well in prosperity , as in adversity . it is summer-fruit as well as winter-fruit . and i pray god , that neither summers heat , may be able to blast , nor winters cold be able to kill those good beginnings os reformation , that are now , to be found among us . i am afraid , that when god hath broken off one yoak from our necks , we shall cast away another . when god shall break off the cords of the wicked from us , we shall cast away the cord of duty from us . i pray god , that when we come into canaan , we may not forget nor cast osf what we promised in the wilderness . remember it is for your life . i shall press this upon you in the words of the apostle , 1 cor. 15. 58. therefore my beloved brethren , be ye stedfast , unmoveable , always abounding in the work of the lord , &c. objection . it is a hard work , a painful duty ; a heavy yoak . now there are several things that i shall speak , to answer this very briefly . first , this complaint doth argue a very careless , loose heart . ah christian , didst thou keep a strict hand over thy self in the day , thou wouldst not find thy evening work so difficult . and hast thou a careless spirit ? the more need there is that thou shouldst set upon this work , that thou mightest bring it into a better government . secondly , wouldst thou neglect this duty because it is painful ? upon the same account thou mayst cast of other duties . thou can't not pray , nor hear , as thou shouldest without pain . give way to this objection , and for ought i know , in a little time , thou mayst bid farwel to all thy religion : thou mayst cast off every duty . thou canst not imagine what a plague it may be to thee , if thou shouldest give way to this objection . give satan an inch and he will take an ell : forbear one duty because of difficulty , and he will easily perswade men to forbear others . thirdly , consider who it is that buzzes this in thine ear . certainly it is the devil , the grand enemy of thy soul. god says , commune with thy own heart : satan says , no , it is too painful . vvhy , who wilt thou be ruled by , god or satan ? thy best friend , or thy worst enemy ? christian , in these outward concernments , thou wilt not advise with thy mortal enemy in things that concern thy life : and why wilt thou be such a fool in the matters of thy soul ? fourthly , what dost thou cry out of pain ? it is thy very calling and profession to t●…ke pain . what mean those expressions in scripture else whereby the life of a christian is set forth by striving , wrestling , fighting , pressing toward the mark ? to take pain is essential to christianity , and without this thou canst not be a christian. to leave any duty because it is painful is a contradiction to thy profession thou dost herein deny thy self to be a christian . ●…ifthly , the more difficult the work is , the more profitable thou wilt find it . that duty that cost's us nothing , will yeild us nothing : and that duty that cost's us much pain , will yeild us much peace and comfort . sixthly , consider , is not grace worth the taking pains for ? what wilt thou take pain for , if not for grace ? look about in the world : see how the men of the world run and ride , sweat and tire themselves for toyes and trisles . what pains then shouldst thou take for grace , one dram of which is more worth than a world . by this means , thou mayst grow in grace more in one moneth than in some years before . and let me tell thee i have not charity enough to think thee a christian indeed , if thou dost not think grace worth any labor or pain that thou canst possible be at in the getting of it . seventhly , consider christian , what pain christ did take , and what misery he did undergo for thee . thy soul was dearer to him than his own glory : and thy salvation , than his own life and blood . and shall not his glory , his commands be dearer to thee , christian , than a little carnal ease ? think upon it , if thou hast any spark of ingenuity this consideration will prevail upon thee to set about this work . i come now to propound some motives to stir up those that have not begun this work , to set about it . and those that have begun , to go on in this work . first , consider it is the command of god. it is not the voyce of man , but of god. it is god that speaks to thee , commune with thy own hearts : examine thy self . christian , i urge the command of god upon thy conscience , wilt thou obey or w●…lt thou not ? darest thou to set thy self against god! and set thy will above the will of god! o think upon it . secondly , consider the time when , and the manner how you consented to set to the performance of this duty . it was in a time of love ; at a feast of love ; and after a song of love . consider what a rich mercy god hath bestowed upon you , in giving you liberty to draw nigh to him in such an ordinance as you lately sate under . it was but a little while ago , beloved , that you thought that you should drink no more of the fruit of the vine , till you drank it in your fathers kingdome . and behold contrary to your expectations , the king hath sent to you , saying , come and sup with me : come and sit at my table . hath god dealt so with any people ? he hath feasted you in a time of famine : and spread a table for you in a howling wild●…rness . doth not this extraordinary providence think you , call upon you for some extraordinary duty ? and do not you think in your consciences that it is this duty ? why else hath god propounded it to you , and urged it upon you , in such a time as this is ? if you neglect it , it may cause god to take away the cor●… and wine from you ; and to break the stasf of 〈◊〉 . thirdly , what do you know but god put it into the heart of his servant , to press this duty at that time , to try whether you were real in that love and loyalty which you did then prosess to him ? i suppose you all understand the transactions that passed there between god and you : that god did put his seal to the covenant , that he would make good all the mercy promised : and that you did put your seal , thereby binding your selves to the performance of all the duties required . fourthly , consider when another such opportunity is offered to you how will you be able to look god in the face ? methinks that man should not dare to come to the sacrament , and again put his seal to the covenant , that hath knowingly and willingly broken his last engagement . fifthly , doth not your own looseness , and the enemies profaneness , and the present dispensations that you are under , call upon you for more than ordinary strictness in your lives and conversations ? the lord have mercy upon us , what prejudice have we brought to the gospel by our carnal , careless conversations ! vvhat pitch of profaneness are the enemies of god risen to ! they are not afraid to bid him defiance at his face ! in what a doleful case are many of our brethren abroad in the world , and how sad is it like to be with us ? the glory of god is gone from the publick to your houses , and are you not afraid ? i am sure there is reason enough to think , that it will take its flight from thence too . and doth not all this call upon us aloud in the language of the prophet , lam. 3. 40. let us search and try our ways and turn unto the lord. if we look behind us , and see what we have been : if about us , and see how devilish men are : and above us , to see the black clouds that hang over our heads ; we cannot but see that it is time to take another course , to live more like christians , and what course so likely to effect this , as daily self-examination ? serious consideration is the best way to sound and thorough reformation . sixthly , consider the excellent advantages that will come to thee by taking this course . christian , wouldst thou have peace of conscience ? the sence of gods love shed abroad upon thy heart ! wouldst thou live in heaven ? wouldst thou walk in the light of gods countenance , grow in grace , have thy corruptions overcome and subdued ? behold a most excellent receipt : the best that ever was prescribed . seventhly , consider with what face wilt thou be able to go to god and beg of him to subdue thy corruptions , and to strengthen thy graces when thou wilt not use the means ? think upon it with what face wilt thou be able to look up to god and put up such a petition ? eighthly , how wilt thou be able to excuse thy self from hypocrisie , if thou neglect this duty ? when thou dost hear it laid down as a character of sincerity , not to live in the neglect of any known duty . ninthly , consider what base ingratitude you will be guilty of , both to god in sending his servant among you : and to his servant for all the care and pains that he hath taken for your souls ? tenthly , consider what answer will you be able to make to god , or how you will be able to look his servant in the face another day ; when he and you must stand together and give up your accompt : he of his doctrine , and you of your obedience to it . eleventhly , consider how conscience will sting thee for this neglect when thou comest to dye . ah christian , when thou shalt be ready to leap into eternity , and shalt want assurance , not knowing whether thy lot shall fall either in heaven or hell . and conscience shall tell thee if thou hadst taken such a course thou mightest have had assurance : when thou shalt with grief of soul remember this and the other miscarriage , and that if thou hadst taken this course , thou mightest have prevented this trouble ; o how will this adde to thy sorrow and break thy heart ! i come now to give some directions for the constant , conscionable , easie performance of this duty first . set about this course speedily . the longer thou dost delay the work , the more difficult thou wilt find it . vvhat is said of repentance is true here , he that is not fit to day will be less fit to morrow . secondly . be deeply humbled that thou hast neglected such a duty so long . hath it been out of ignorance ? bewail thy ignorance . hath it been out of laziness ? bewail that when men would make the building strong , they will lay the foundation low . it is a good way to be constant and successful in any duty , to begin with sorrow and humiliation . thirdly , do it out of a principle of conscience in obedience to gods command : because it is thy duty , and god commands it . fourthly . bless god for making known this duty , and prescribing to thee so easie away for the performing of it . bless god for making known the duty , a●…d god will bless thee in the doing of it . fisthly . vvhen you come together let this duty be the matter of your conference ; or at least , be osten speaking one to another of it . doubtless , it will be good for the carrying on of this work to choose out a christian friend , and for these to agree together , and unbosome themselves each to other , what doth hinder the work ; and what benefit they find &c. and engage one another to take up this course , and be constant in it whatsoever times may come . sixthly , take heed of formality , or keeping on a round in the duty without a due regard of the end of the duty . take some time once in a week , or fortnight , and call thy heart to an accompt how thou hast sped , what thou hast got . seventhly , take heed of resting in the duty . if thou do 〈◊〉 make an idol of the duty god will make nothing of it : god will curse the work and blast thy design . eightly , be careful to live up to those rules by which thou hast engaged to examine thy self ? as he said of prayer , if thy praying do not make thee leave off sinning , thy sinning will make thee leave off praying . so here , if thy examining thy self , do not make thee to leave off thy remissness ; thy remissnesse will certainly make thee leave off thy self-examination . vvhen a man hath been careless in the day , and come to read over these questions , and conscience shall answer guilty in most of these things , this will make the work so tedious , that thou wilt never long bear the trouble of it . unless thou art able to live up to these rules , thou wilt never be able to hold on in it long . and therefore remember this , if at any time you find that you have been carelesse ●…n the day foregoing , be sure in the next morning to set up a new resolution to stick close to these rules . undo all that you have done before , as it were , and begin again . try in the strength of god what you can do this day ; how exact you can be this day . ninthly , let us set about the work with some shore ejaculation to god for his assistance in it , and his blessing upon it . tenthly , solemnly engage to god that you will take up this course and be constant in it , and never lay it down what ever times may come , and temptations may assault you . when god doth enjoyn any duty , he requires all the means that tend to the performing of that duty . now this is the best means that can be thought upon for every one to engage to god , that he will set upon it and be constant in it . i know that the deceitful heart will be very backward , they are very shy of such engagements . but if they are , remember this , that there is something in the bottom which you will do well to look out : and when you have found it out , to cast it forth with indignation . vvhy should we be backward to do that between god and our selvs , which we have done publickly before many witnesses , and i believe shall be called to do again . to set about this work is no more than you have done already , when you sate under that great ordinance and set your seals that you would perform all the duties of the new covenant . and did you except this ? you will find this engagement a great help to the work . let us this night before we sleep put this direction in practice ; engage your selves to god in some such words as these , o eternal god , thou that searchest the heart , and wilt not hold them guiltless that take thy name in vain , especially in solemn covenants made with thy self , i do here solemnly promise , that i will set upon this duty of daily self-examination , and in this practise to live and dye . such engagements god is well pleased with , jerem. 30. 21 , who is this that engageth his heart to draw nigh to me ? as if the lord had said , come thou art welcome , i take this kindly from thee . a serious call to christians , to win souls to christ with helps thereunto . prov. 11. 30. and he that winneth souls is wise . in this verse we have set forth unto us the excellency of a righteous man : and that in two things . first , he is more useful than others . secondly , he is more skilful than others . first . he is more useful than others . the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life . the righteous is not a barren tree ; but he is a fruitful bough , as joseph was . and he doth not bring forth his fruit unto himself . his fruit is a tree of life . as the tree of life would give life to them that should eat thereof : so the fruit of the righteous is such , that those th●…t will hearken to his counsel , shall partake with him of eternal life . when others are as thorns and brambles , fruitless , unuseful , of no value in gods world ? the righteous is a fruitful tree , and as a tree of life in the midst of the world . secondly , he is more skilful and ●…wise than others ; and would you know wherin his wisedome lyes ? it is in winning of souls . doct. that it is a chief part of a believers , duty , and the chief point of a believers wisdom to gain souls unto god. first , 't is the [ duty ] of a believer to gain souls . though he must begin at home , with his own soul , yet he must not terminate there ; but he must look abroad after others souls . he must not be as a tree that bringeth forth fruit to himself alone : but he must be a tree of life , that whosoever plucketh of his fruit , to make use thereof , shall live . and then secondly , 't is his [ wisedom . ] as in the text , so daniel . 12. 3. and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament , and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever . they be the wisemen that turn others to righteousnesse . here i shall shew you . ( first , ) that 't is 〈◊〉 chief part of his duty . ( secondly , ) that 〈◊〉 a chief point of his wisedome to gain souls . firstly , that 't is a chief part of his duty and this appears , first , because this is one chief point of 〈◊〉 love to jesus christ. wherein did paul discover his love to jesus christ in any thing , as 〈◊〉 this , in his zeal and industry to save souls ? rom. 9. 1 , 2 , 3. and thus doth moses evidence his love . exo. 32. 31 , 32. if you would shew your love to jesus christ , this is the best way in all the world to evidence it . math. 25. you may see how carefully christ takes notice of any kindness done to the bodies of his elect : but o how much more will he take notice of the love to the souls of his elect ? ( secondly , ) because this is the chief point of our love to our brethren . you know that christ tels us that all the law and the ●…phets hang upon this , thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , &c. and thy neighbor as thy self . if the law doth bind thee to preserve the chastity and estate of thy neighbor , how much more doth god require of thee that thou preserve the soul of thy neighbour ? this is the principal point of love . jam. 5. 20. he that converteth a sinner from the error of his wayes shall save a soul from death , and shall hide a multitude of sins , if god requires that thou help thy neighbours ox and his ass , how much more must thou help thy neighbors soul from hell ? ( thirdly , ) because this is the principal means of bringing glory to christ. every soul that is brought in to christ is a jewel put into the crown of christ. and wouldest thou not be ambitious of such a service as this ? every soul thou bringest into christ is an eternal monument , set up by thee to the name of jesus christ. wouldest thou have much service done for jesus christ ? o then labor to bring in souls to him , that may do his work here in the world . wouldest thou have much praise to the name of christ ? o then labor to bring in souls to jesus christ. every soul brought in to jesus christ is a trumpet of his praise . the glory of a king is in the multitude of his subjects . and so 't is of christ. this is the great way wherein we are capable to further the glory of christ in the world , to bring in many souls to jesus christ. ( fourthly , ) because this is a principal subject of our prayers . this is one grand petition . thy kingdome come . in which petition we pray , that the kingdom of grace may be advanced , our selves and others brought into it , and kept in it . now 't is a great part of a christians business to live sutable to his prayers . secondly , that 't is the chief point of a christians wisdome to gain souls unto christ. this appears , ( first , ) because souls are the goodly pearls that are of great price with christ. o there is no merchandise like to that of souls . no gain like to the gain of souls . one soul is of more worth than all the world . you may see of how great price souls are with jesus christ , by the great price that he laid down for souls . did christ spend , his blood for souls ; and wilt thou not spend thy breath for souls ? this is a principal part of wisdome , to deal like wise merchants , in goodly pearls . a wise man will not spend his time for trifles , that is childish ; but his wisdome doth appear in the weight of those things that he layes out his time and pains upon . oh if you would appear to be wise , lay out your time and strength for souls ! if thou couldest gain but one soul , what a happy gain would that be ? ( secondly , ) because souls will be the most glorious crown in the day of christ. no crown like to this , the crown of souls . the time is coming , when a crown of soul●… will be found to be of another manner of value than a crown of gold . what was the crown that paul wishes for ? it was for the souls that he had converted . 1 thes. 1. 19. what is our hope , or joy , or crown of rejoycing ! are not even ye in the presence of the lord jesus christ at his coming ? why were these pauls crown ? because he had converted them by his ministry , upon the same account he cals the phillipians ( phil. 4. 1. ) my joy and crown of rejoycing . thirdly . because we shall most effectually promote the good of our own souls by endeavoring to gain others souls . by teaching of others thou shalt teach thy self . by exhorting others , thou shalt excite and stir up thy self . and nothing will redound to thy advantage so much as thy laboring to gain souls ; though israel be not gathered , yet shall i bé glorified . ( fourthly , ) because this will be an evidence of our own sound conversion , if we lay out our strength and time to convert others . in john 1. 41. we shall see those young converts , when they were but touched , they labor to bring in others presently . so that if thou wouldest evidence thine own sincerity to thy soul , thou shouldest lay out thy endeavor for the good of others souls . first use , is it so that 't is a chief part of a christians duty , anda chief point of a christians wisedom , to gain souls to christ ? then here is matter of reproof ; to reprove those that profess the name of christ ; that lay out their zeal no more this way . that lay not out their strength to gain souls . yea that do not long for , nor endeavor after the conversion of souls . surely , this speaks sadly to those that wholy neglect this duty . but how exceedingly are many of the people of god themselves to be blamed for their negligence in this ? doth not thy heart know that there is a brother of thine doth live in such a sin ; and yet thou never tel him of it ? what a great evil is this ! and unsutable to the pattern of the lord jesus christ ? how did he go up and down doing good ? and so taken up with souls , that he could scarce spare time to eat his bread : insomuch that his carnal friends began to take hold of him , and thought that he had been beside himself . o how far art thou from this , that thy friends may live in their sins , and dye in their sins , before thou wilt labor to save their souls ? the devil he laboreth to destroy souls ; and how few be there that do labor to save souls ? he may carry away the poor soul , and none labours to take the soul from him . we should be watchful and vigilant for souls ; for our own souls . and others souls : because this enemy is always taking opportunities to destroy souls . sure it argues that you have very little lov●… to jesus christ , that you do no more for souls . that you have little zeal for jesus christ , and that you have little love for your brethren , that you take no more care for their souls . it may be you are careful for the bodies of those that are under your charge ; but how little do you for their souls ? how many live without the worshi of god in their families ? without catechizing their children or instructing them ? and think they have done well if they provide for their bodies . oh , but man god will find out thy neglects : it was their souls that was thy charge also . if you look onely after their bodies , this you will do for your swine . and will you do no more for your childrens souls than for your swine ? many are ready to say as cain , am i my brothers keeper ? if this be not the language of thy tongue , is not this the language of thy life ? what dost thou do for thy brother to save his soul from death ? second use , is of exhortation . to stir you up to perform this duty to labor to be skilful in this duty , to win souls to christ. brethren , if you would be wise indeed , and if you will gain indeed , labour to gain souls . oh look upon the woful condition of perishing souls ! how few of thy friends and acquaintance hast thou good grou●…ds to think they have a share in jesus christ ? what wilt thou have no compassion of thy brothers soul ? thou wouldst have compassion on the body of thy neighbor : if thou sawest the house on fire about them , and they asleep , wouldest thou not be stirred up , and with zeal forget thy self , and labor to call upon them and awake them ? o how many of our carnal friends do remain in a carnal state , and we sit stilland let them alone ! i beseech you stir up your souls to relieve the souls of others . this is the best charity and best pleasing to christ. it may be many of you have not wherewith to shew your charity to the bodies of your brethren : but this way thou mayst shew it , in shewing kindnesse to their souls . exhort them , and strengthen them in their duty : comfort them , support them . if thou canst not give them an alms , give them an exhortation . but you will say what should we do , or what means must we make use of to do good to to souls ? i answer , you must do it . first , by scripture demonstration . when thou goest to deal with souls , be sure to make use of gods weapons . bring the word of god with thee . go forth in the name of god. pour out thy supplication to god to prosper the work . and then shew thy brother the scripture , to convince him out of the scripture , as apollos did . thou canst never throw down the devils strong holds , but by the use of gods own weapons . no cannon but this will batter down the strong holds of sin and satan . therefore bring the scripture with thee to him . secondly , by earnest supplication . this was pauls course who did so earnestly thirst for the salvation of his brethren . he strove mightily with god in prayer for them . rom. 10. 1. my hearts desire and prayer is , that israel may be saved . carry thy friends to god , and go to god by prayer , and weep over their carnal and unsanctified state . bring thy dead husband and child &c. to god , and put up thy request to god for them , as abraham did ishmael . o that they might live before thee ! how did the prophet prevail l y his prayers for the restoring the dead child ? as the prophet did pray in life into the dead child , so thou shouldest strive with god in prayer for dead souls . if thou didst but wrestle with god for thy dead wife , or child , or neighbor what dost thou know what god might do for them ? what knowest thou o man , but thou mayest save thy wife ? &c. thus we are taught by our lord in that great petition thy kingdom come . thus if thou strive by the word of god and prayer , then thou mayest be like to prevail mightily for the good of souls , thou dost converse with . 3. by kind obligation . this is another way by which thou shouldest labor to gain souls . observe that great rule of the apostle be pittiful , be courteous , t is the rule that he gives . labor by kindness and courtesie to gain upon all thou dost converse with , that thou mayst get within him , that thou mayst be in a capacity to do good to his soul. sh●…wing all meekness to all men . and when thou art thu●… kind to all men , this will be a means to do good to them by what thou dost . if they be such as stand in need of thy charity , open thy hand to relieve their necessity , and that will be a way to open their hearts to thee to receive in thy counsel . fourthly , by faithful reprehensions . lev. 19. 17. thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart : thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor , and not suffer sin to rest upon him . observe that 't is ; quite contrary to christian lovo to suffer sin to lye upon him : for 't is c●…lled hating of him . oh brethren , shew your love to the souls that you are among by this , by the faithful rebuking of their sins that they fall into . manifest it not as a token of your displeasure , but as an ordinance of god. deal with him in all gentleness and meekness . not gentle with their sins ; you must be plain and saithful with their souls . you must shew them the danger of such a way : but you must do it with such tenderness to them as may make this bitter pill to go down . how do many souls miscarry to all eternity for want of professors faithful dealing with them ? oh is it not enough that we have the guilt of our own sins upon us , but must we needs have the guilt of our neighbours sin upon us too ? ah brethren , this is enough to convince us that we have little love to our brethrens souls , in that we have so little care to reprove their sins . fifthly , by your convincing conversations . live before all thou dost converse with , in the convincing power of a holy life . this is the way to convince them , 1 pet. 3. 1 , 2. likewise you wives be in subjection to your own husband , that if any obey not the word , they also may without the word , be won by the conversations of the wives : while thy behold your chast conversation coupled with fear . observe here . ( first , ) that even those that be weakest , and seemingly out of a capacity to win souls , may by their godly conversations win souls . women , who more weak than they ? do not you think that this belongs onely to ministers to win souls : this belongs to all . ( secondly , ) observe that a careful and tender walking in the duties of our relations towards men , with a conjunction with the duties of piety towards god , is a most powerful means to convert souls . when wives shall be strict in their profession , and yet not be in subjection to their husbands , this will offend the men , and not work upon them . your profession and practice must one answer the other : and then you are like to gain others , i beseech you take this course to gain souls to christ , let there be a suteableness in all the parts of your conversation , be the same at home that you are abroad : and bring forth your religion into your shops , and trades , and fields : that whosoever converse with you may see the power of godliness in you . sixthly . by your frequent exhortations . hebrews . 3. 13. but exhort one another dayly , while 't is called to day , lest any be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin . observe it , 't is not the duty of ministers onely to abound in exhortations , but 't is the work of you all . every one must look to his neighbours soul : and that daily . there must be instancy and frequency in this work : and the reason , is , lest he be hardned . dost thou see such a neighbour fall into sin ? go to him . it may be thou wilt do it hereafter : why it may be the man may be hardned . it may be the man may dye : or thou mayest not have the opportunity : or you may be removed from one another ; and the work may be for ever cut off , if thou neglect it . seventhly . by your careful observation , of all those advantages that god hath put into your hands for the dealing with your brothers soul. consider and study with thy self , what advantages thou hast upon him . ( first , ) take the advantage of affliction . it may be he is taken down by affliction now go and warn him of his sin . it may be now he will hearken to thee . job 36. 8. 9. 10. ( secondly , ) make use of thy relation . it may be thou art some near relation in the flesh to him : take that advantage to be dealing with him , for his eternal good . ( thirdly , ) make use of his dependance upon thee . it may be he is such a one as is concerned in thy good-will to him : it may be he works for thee , or depends upon thy charity for his livelyhood : take this advantage upon him : it may be he will hearken to thee . ( fourthly , ) make use of thy interest in him . it may be he hath some affection for thee : make use of it for god. and this may be a means to win him to christ. rev. 3. 1. i know thy works , that thou hast a name , that thou livest and art dead . these words are part of christs epistle from heaven to the church of sardis , wherein he shrewdly checks her hypocrisie and formality , and throughout gives counsels and directions , for her recovery out of that sad estate ; from the words we have given you this observation . doct. that the lord jesus christ , doth take special notice of , and makes strict observation upon the works and ways of his professed people . he takes notice of their works ! for the matter of them , for the quantity , for the quality of them ; as hath been shewed . we gave you the reasons for confirmation , and made entrance into the application , and have applyed it as to the two first branches ; to wit , the matter , and the quantity of our works . to come now to the application of the third thing , namely , the quality of them . use. is it so that the lord jesus christ doth take such notice of our works for the quality of them ? then this may be usefull by way of reprehension and exhortation . first . for reprehension , this reproves us that we rest so much in the work done , and do so little enquire into the quality of our works as to the sincerity and soundness of them . o my brethren ! how often do we pray , and never examine how we have prayed ? and hear , and never enquire , how we have carried it , while we have been hearing ? o how many a mans bosome am i now in ? brethren , this is a great evil among men . yea , i fear among gods own people , that there is not that care to look into their duties , how they are performed . brethren , if the lord jesus christ did as you , look no farther than the outside of your duties , and the work done , then you may rest in that ; o but jesus christ he looks into the inside of them , and he labours to see what there is of soundness and sincerity in them : and seeing the lord jesus christ looks so narrowly into them , should not you ? this is the cause of many sins and mischiefs among prosessors . first . this is the cause of much undoing self-deceit , when persons rest in the work done , and do not carefully examine , what principles they did act by , and ends they did act for ; this doth cause many souls to be undone to their destruction . this was the reason why sardis was so miserably out , and laodicea , that she was so much mistaken , they kept on the trade of religious duties , and because the thing was done , and the duty performed with con●…tancy , they thought they were in a good state . you know the speech of that church , i am rich &c. you are to understand it of spiritual riches , she thought her self upon the growing hand . o but when jesus christ comes and sees how little sincerity there was in them , he disrellisheth them , and shews them that their works were not perfect before him . and thus it is with many professors in these days , that because they keep on in family-prayer and good duties , they think all is well , and for want of looking into the spring of their duties , and their ends in them , they are undone by them . o what a miserable deceit is this ! when a poor creature shall reckon that he hath so much gold , so much treasure laid up in heaven , and when it comes to be tryed , all his gold shall prove but counters ! o consider what a miserable estate that will be , when you shall come with them , lord , lord , we have been a praying people , and have owned and followed thee ; and he shall say , away you hypocrites , you shall have the reward of hypocrites , there was not the soundness of religion in you ; o what a miserable disappointment will this be ! jam. 1. 26. he speaks there of some , that did but [ seem ] to be religious , and deceive their own souls . there be some men , their religion will serve for no other end but to deceive their own souls ; to undo them , because they are unsound in their religion . there are many professors , that when they come to receive the reward of their du●…ies they will receive another manner of reward than they thought of ; they think to receive the reward of their prayers , and keeping the sabboth and the like ; but he that taketh notice of the heart , knoweth their prayers were , but a taking of his name in vain . when they think to have eternal life for their reward , god will say , i will give you the reward of your works . i sound your works to be but hypocrisie , and you shall have the reward of hypocrites . o brethren , i beseech you consider it ! it is an awakening truth , but deserves your consideration ; there are many that will not only be undone by their swearing , and deceiving , and the like ; but many will be undone by their praying and hearing , i mean they will be undone by them , by making them the matter of their righteousness before god ; and by their confidence and trust , and leaning to their duties . there be many persons , whose prayers and good duties will serve for no other end , but to blind them , and harden them to their own destruction . if you perform religious duties , and do not look into the manner of performing them , and take care that you be upright , you may come to blind , and harden your selves by them . o there are multitudes of professors in hell this day for wanting care to enquire into this , what ingredients there were in their duties ; whether they sprang from principles of grace , or , but from common convictions ; whether they were done for , and from themselves , more than from and for god , this made luther say that he was afraid more of his good works , than of his sins , for his good works were apt to lift him up , but his sins did keep him humble . o bretheren ! you had need to look about you , satan can make a snare of your good duties , to catch your souls by . there are two wayes whereby men may be undone by their duties , ( 1 ) when they make them as a supposed righteousness , when men do perform religious duties , and expect that these should obtain the favour of god , and remission of sins , or , at least , should help with the merits of jesus , to make up a righteousness for them , on which they may climb up to heaven , and stand before god. thus those carnal jews , though they were zealous of their duties required by the law , yet they were lost by going about to establish those as a righteousness of their own . rom. 10. 3 ( 2 ) when they make them as a mistaken evidence . there are many persons ( i conceive ) that are so far convinced of the sinfulness of their duties , that they do not lean to these as their righteousness before god , that those should obtain gods favour , and their pardon ; yet they do conclude that this is an evidence that they have an interest in christ ; and hereby they deceive their own souls object . but you will say , are not our good duties signs of our right to christ ? doth not the scripture say , [ he that doth righteousness is righteous ? ] i answer , good works are indeed a good sign of faith : but then you must look to this , that they be sincerely good . but ●…ow many do conclude , because the work is done , that therefore they are in christ , when as they do not look into the bottom of their duties , whether they be done in sincerity or hypocrisie , and so do but deceive their own souls by trusting to them ; because their duties are not sincere . o my brethren , how effectually are many professours undone by this ! that are so hardned in their estate , that it is more hard to bring them into jesus christ , than those that are openly prophane . thus it was observed in our saviours ministry , that it was more hard to bring in the self-justisying pharisees , than the self-condemning publicans . secondly , another mischief of this , is , this is the cause of so much pride and self-considence in duty . had laodicea but made a due search into her duties , you should have heard another manner of speech from her . o my poverty ! hypocrisie ! deadness ! formality ! lord pitty my woful state ! this would have been the language you would have heard from her : but now because she did not search into the bottom , this did lift her up ; and made her think so well of her case . the reason why we are so well perswaded of our selves , is , because we do not see into our selves . did we but throughly reflect upon , and search into our duties , when they are performed , we should run to god for pardoning grace . as neh. last 22. remember me o my god , for good . he did thus after his great zeal for god , and work of reformation . he slies to god to pardon the sins of his duties , o christian ! if thou didst look into thy duties , thou wouldst see enough to make thee ashamed of them , thou wouldst be ready to cross what thou hast written , and to cut out thy work , and pick it out stitch by stitch . but now persons not searching into their duties , this makes them stick , and be confident in them . thirdly . this is the cause of so much barrenness & in prosiciency in the ways of god , did the christian but duly examine his own duties and espy the defects of the present duty , and be sure to amend that the next time , that was am●…ss now , this would make him , in a little time , come to a wonderfull prosiciency in godliness . but when men go on in a customary course , and do not find out their errours , it is no wonder they go on in their errours , in one tract , duty after duty , yea one year after another : a christian that is careless in the examining of his duties , that doth not observe the failings of his duties , to amend at one time what was amiss before , he will be but a bungler in religion all his dayes . but he that is carefull to examine it . that he may amend what was amiss , this man will soon come to be his crafts-master in his trade . fourthly , this is the cause of so much ignorance of our own estate ; it is no wonder that so many professors are at a loss about their condition ; it is for want of looking into their religion . they do not know whether they be sound or unsound , whether they be going forward , or going backward , all this is from want of care , to examine and enquire into their duties . for want of this men do not know whether they be sound or unsound , for how doth a man know the tree but by the fruit ? when all is done , 't is mens actual obedience that is the great evidence , that their estates must be tryed by . whatsoever seeming principles of grace and life , and love , may seem to be within , and good resolutions , yet if all this , be not strong enough to bring forth the fruits of obedience , in a holy , self-denying , and flesh displeasing godliness , all is unsound . but then we m●… not look onely to the outside of our obedience , we must not take the carkass without the soul. now when persons do not look into their duties , but rest in the work done , how can they make any judgment into their estate by them . so many that are sound christians , do not know whether they are decaying or increasing for want of this , because they do not look into their duties how they perform them . christians , how do you perform your duties ? do you more look into them , how sweet they are to you ? whether it is better than it was ? christians , you must look to this , are you more extensive . and intensive in your duties ? are you more extensive ? heretofore you looked onely at home , to do your selves good ; do you do good now to others ? heretofore , religion was consined to your knees , but now do you bring it forth into your shops , and callings ? here●…osore , you were for personal godliness , but are you now for relative godliness ? heretofore , you were for duties of the first table onely , but now do you put both tables together ? this would be a good sign , but for want of mens searching into this , they are at a loss ; they do not know whether they are better or worse , declining or increasing . fifthly . this is the cause of so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in duty . when a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know that there will be a strict 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into him , his preparation will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : but when he fears not that , he 〈◊〉 the more remisse . so 't is here , if we 〈◊〉 a strict examination into our hearts , then they will be the more careful to ply the work the more , when they know they shall be looked after . but when they know they shall not be looked into , they will do the work thereafter . beloved , if we would do the work of religion to purpose , we must deal by our hearts , as we would by trewantly servants , if you would have any thing done , you must keep your eye upon them , if you keep your selves to this course constantly , to enquire into your duties , how they were done , then your hearts will be careful to make thorough work of it . and indeed this enquiring into your duties , is not onely a means to make your hearts sincere in duty , but it is a great part of sincerity . that man that makes no enquiry into his heart , that man is an hypoerite , there is no soundness in that man. and the lesse care thou hast in looking into thy heart , the less there is of christianity in thee . sixthly . this is that , that puts christ so much out of use . o brethren ! would you know the reason , why christ is so little set by ? why , it is because we are not thorowly acquainted with our defects . were we much searching into our duties , then we should fly to our advocate , and make use of him . and after the performing of our duties , fly to him for a covering of our nakedness and shame . second use of exhortation . let us do likewise , if christ take such notice of our duties , o be much in observing your own duties . how your hearts carry it in your duties . if i could but perswade my self and my hearers to the observing of these two directions , we should make another manner of progress in religion . o that you would be but perswaded ! first , in the entrance of your duties , set before you your rule fo●…●…hat duty ; as . the schollar doth his coppy , and do your work by rule you know the mason will lay the line before he will lay the stone in the foundation , or else he may commit many errors , and the building may come to nothing . so when you come to perform your duties , set your rule before you . suppose you come to pray , have some thoughts of it , what be the rules you are to pray by . consider you are not to come in your own names but in christs . take heed that you come not in your own rignteousness , but christs . and go out to christ for strength . remember that god calls for faith and life induty . and so when you come to hear , consider what rules have i to hear by . and so in giving your alms. and then your work is like to be done to purpose . secondly , reflect upon your rule in the close of your duty , and examine whether your work hath been done by rule or no. observe what graces have been acting in your duty , and thankfully take notice of the influences of your graces . take notice what corruptions have been working in your duty , and take the shame of it before god that you should thus miscar●…y . if these two rules were but observed by us , we should come to another manner of proficiency in religion than we do . but more particularly let me give you three directions for your duties . first , take special notice of the ends of your duties . o how many do miscarry for want of a right understanding in this ? come see my zeal for the lord of hosts , said john. and all this while he was ●…t acting for himself . and because he did gods work for such carnal ends , god accounts the blood that he had shed to be so much murder and requires it afterwards at his hands , hos. 1. 4. the pharisees were a very strict generation in the performance of their duties . much in alms , and much and long in prayer , and yet all rejected , because they did it for carnal ends , math. 23. 5. therefore i beseech you as you love your souls , look to your ends in praying . when you come to prayer consider what end do i propound in this duty ? is not this done out of custome , because 't is the custome of my family to pray morning and evening ? when you go to visit the sick , is it onely a civil custom that i am going about ? or am i going to visit jesus christ in a sick servant of his ? and so of our alms. if a man set out with never so much diligence in the morning , and it be to a wrong point , he is all the while out of his way . although a man cannot in every motion of the day mind his end , yet in every solemn action ( as i have shewed you formerly ) with care and pains taking with your hearts , you may come to mind your end , and the rule for that particular action . as for example , when you go to your callings , or to pray , or to eat , and the like ; in these solemn actions of the day you may come particularly to renew your intentions in your work . and this will manifest your sincerity , and you will come to have the comfort and joy of your work . and if this be not well looked to , all your duties may serve at last for nothing , but to harden , and blind , and deceive you , rather than to save you . secondly , look well to your principles in duty , what principles you acted by and from . there may be many good things that may be done , that may be good for the matter , but yet because they do not act from a principle of grace , god will reject them . there is no external duty of religion , but an hypocrite , an unsound professor may do it ( for ought i know ) as well as a godly man ; onely they differ in their principles and ends . therefore consider that thy duties come from a renewed heart . examine , art thou acquainted with the new birth ? hast thou been acquainted with gods converting grace ? renewing thy heart ! if it be not thus , all thy duties without this will do thee no good . thirdly , look to what affections are stirring in your duties . o how was christ out with laodicea for this ! that because , though much were done , yet there was not much warmth in duty ; there was no life in them . it is observed that the artisicial breath is a cold breath but a living breath is a warm breath . as ever you would have the comfort of your duties , you must look to the warmth of your duties . my soul followeth hard after thee , said the psalmist psalm . 63. 8. and thy right hand upholdeth me . ten parting counsels . first , counsel . observe the degrees of gods departing , and mourning after a departing god. the lord , seems to me , to take his leave of us by degrees . and because it is by such insensible degrees , i am afraid we are apt to take the less notice of it . god hath not thought good to take his farewel of us all at once . we thought , god had intended to take all from us at first . you know ministers were excluded from their publick labours , and then god lengthned out their liberty in private . and since an act hath passed against our private meetings , so that we have had our liberties with the more difficulty . and now an act hath passed whereby your ministers are to be removed farther from you . however the ministers of christ are sinful poor men of themselves as others : but yet considering the capacity of their office , they are the great representatives of jesus christ. and when the ministry is removed , this is a degree , and a great degree of gods removal . you see god hath removed ministers by degrees , farther and farther ; and what will be the next remove ! me thinks the glory seems to be departing by degrees from the nation , as it was in the time of the prophet ezekiel in the 10 , 11 , 12 chap. if we are left without the powerful preaching of the gospel , and the likely means of conversion , what will it signifie though god should give this nation never so much outward plenty ? if god should make this nation to wash their steps in butter , and fill our bellies with his hid treasures , what will all this be , if our generations should go down to the pit of destruction by the thousands ? if there be preaching , yet if there be not a powerful preaching , that will save souls , what will it be ? and this great mercy god hath deprived us of by degrees . oh mourn after a departing god! take heed that you be affected with this providence of god. how will god take it of you , if you do not stir up your selves to take hold of god , now he is departing ? wo to them when i shall depart from them : wo to this nation , and this place when god departs . second counsel . take heed that when the publick bellows are broken , the fire of religion go not out . the ministers of christ are as the common bellows to blow up this sacred fire . and now god seems to have broken these bellowes ; oh take heed lest now religion should dye away ! and the heat and warmth thereof should decay , and by insensible degrees should go out . weare too too much like green wood , the fire keeps no longer in , than while we are blowing the bellows i fear lest you shall see professors too too much like christ's disciples , who when christ was taken went every one to his home : so weak their faith , and prevalent their infidelity , that they went their way , as if their work had been done . take heed lest the like apostacy creep in among you , that when these helps do fail , you go back again and remit your zeal . oh brethren ! what ever you let go , be sure you do not let go your hold in christ ; do not let go your hold in religion . do but keep your ground there , and no matter what becomes of any other interest . third counsel . when god takes down the common sun , take the more earnest heed to the light that he sets up within . the ministry of the gospel , and preaching of the word is like the publick light of the common sun. and this light seems much to fail , and the shaddows of the evening are stretched out : and the sun is like to set upon the churches . well then if it be so take the more earnest heed to the directions of conscience . you know when the sun is down every man kindles his candle , and takes heed to that . the spirit of man is the candle of the lord. conscience , is the light in every m●…ns boso●…e . not that the light within , ( as some do talk of ) is sufficient without the direction of gods word , to guide a man into the wayes of life : but yet a well enformed conscience , instructed in the scriptures , and well studied in the mind of god , and acquainted with the nature and principles of religion , may be a great help to a christian to guide him in his common course . my brethren , if god deprive you of the preacher in the palpit take the more earnest heed to the preacher in your bosome . set conscience faithfully on work . this is the preacher in the bosome that tels every man of his duty and of his sins . hearken now to the instructions of conscience , to the reproofs and rebukes of conscience . see and hear what conscience will speak and direct . what that will touch on , why god hath brought on us these judgments . oh , take heed ! that what ever preacher be silenced ; that this preacher be not silenced . oh! take heed , how you stop the mouth of conscience . how you desile and harden your conscience . if conscience be faithful and free , and you take earnest heed unto him , it may be a standing blessing to you , when the preachers in the pulpit are removed from you . fourth counsel . be sure that none of those extraordinary providences do drive you from god , but that they drive you to god. i fear le●…t this may be the issue of these providences to many , that they may be driven off from god , that they will give over their diligence and zeal ; and give up all for lost and gone . o this will be sad indeed ! if these providences drive you from god , this will be a sad sign of reprobation ; take heed that these drive you nearer to god. be sure that the more frowning the providences of god are to you , the more do you cleave to him , the more tenderly do you walk before him . 't is a fearful sign of an unsound heart , never savoured , and seasoned with true grace , when afflicting providences do drive men farther and farther off from god. god doth intend by his rod to whip his children home to him , to make them walk more tenderly ; to caution them against sin , that he corrects them for . but now if any of you should make this use of his providences , that after all , you should go farther from god , oh how sad would this be ! this is to be like king ahaz . 2 chron. 28. 22. o let these chastisements from god , drive you every one the nearer to god. and cause you every one to enquire into his way , and the iniquity that is in his hand , that he may reform . fifth counsel . let your own eyes be your overseers , when god deprives you of your publick overseers . the ministers of christ , they are termed seers , and overseers ; now god is like to deprive you of these , oh take the more carefull oversight every one of your selves ; be the more strict in your inspection into your own wayes , in the examining of , and inquiring into your own hearts . beloved it is a duty that i have some time since pressed upon you , and i hope you do yet make conscience of it , daily to examine your hearts and ways by those questions ; which we gave you sor this end , as a great help to this duty : i beseech you whatever you intermit , constantly to keep up , and maintain that duty . and now especially when god deprives you of your publick overseers , you should take care of your selves . i have never any hopes that you will come to any proficiency in the wayes of god , unless you come up to the strict observation of these rules , that so you may become sensible of your errours , that one dayes humiliation , may be the matter of the next days reformation . sixth counsel . whatever become of your other trade , be sure that you keep up the trade of religion . beloved , though god see it good to impo●…erish you and undo you in this world yet 't is all well ; if you keep on in religion . that is a happy man that hath a thriving and flourishing soul , though he is declining in his estate ; but if you go back in grace , though you should get all the world , you are miserable losers . therefore be sure of this , how ever god do frown upon you in the world , that you do not go behind in grace . oh , you may sadly fall and go behind hand , before you think of it , if you do not take heed to it ; though there be no total falling away from grace for a believer , yet there may be sad degrees of falling , and god may let you fall so , that you may besadly wounded & you may break all your bones ; and be a common scandal to religion all your days therefore look to this , that however god deal with you in other things , account it happy with you if your souls be thriving : & whatever prosperity god gives you , yet if these do not thrive , let none of these things content you . many persons while they are blessing themselves in their outward increase , are declining in grace . oh poor soul ! i should pity thy gain , that addest to thy gain in the world , the loss of thy soul to all eternity . seventh counsel . take heed whom and what you hear . i fear lest after the departuré of ministers , wolves should enter not sparing the s●…ock . and i am afraid least any should be found among you of itching ears , hearkning after novelties , and heap up teachers to your selves . labour to know what doctrine they bring you before you hear them . take heed lest men of corrupt principles and dangerous doctrines should make a harvest of you , and draw disciples after them ; and overthrow the faith of some . and i cannot be faithful to you without warning you of this miserable danger ; you are to take heed to the call of god. beware whom and what you hear , hearken to those that are the sent ministers of christ. it is like enough that seducers may take the advantage of the present time , that under pretence of further courage and boldness than ministers have , may seem to alienate the people from their ministers , as flying from their flocks as hirelings . eighth counsel . maintain with constancy and frequency the communion of saints . now is the time my brethren for those that fear the lord , to speak often one to another . now you are deprived of your publick overseers , take the more carefull oversight one over another , rebuke one another , admonishone another , provoke one another to love and to good works , now if ever , there will be special need of this . if you forsake the assembling of your selves together , we shall see religion dying as the coal that is put in the middle of the room by it self . ninth counsel . walk together in the order and unity of the gospel . take heed of any dividing principles , mark them that cause divisions , and avoid them . those that are not for peace be not you for them , what ever pretence they may have to purity attend them not , unless they are men that are for peace . if once the ranks be broken , the army is quickly routed , and if once the unity of christians be broken , then satan hath got his advantage ; and is like to have his will. o take heed that you keep together in the unity and peace of the gospel , that your ministers and that jesus christ may rejoyce to behold your order and your stedfastness in christ. tenth counsel . keep up the life and pow●…r of religion . be so much the more vigorous in your families , by how much the more you are deprived of your publick helps . christians , be advised by me , and let satan be disappointed in this design . he thinks to break the churches of christ : oh but now let every family be a church , and let every master be a priest and prophet to teach their family . praise and pray for them , and do so much the more in your families , by how much the more god hath deprived you of your preachers . brethren , so it is that the preaching of the gospel is like to be scarce , and the means of conversion is like to be at a stand ; and what shall be done for the conversion of souls ? oh be dealing with them , and never leave them , till you see they mind their souls and religion . put them upon secret prayer , and the catechism , and repeating the principles of religion , oh that i may prevail with you to set up this duty of catechising in your families in this evil time ! and if so be you would but try the use of that help , that i have caused to be printed on purpose for that end , i do not doubt but you would find it a happy means , for the letting in the light into their souls . psalm . 74. 1. o god why hast thou cast us off for ever ? why doth thine anger smoak against the sheep of thy pasture ? this psalm , and particularly these words , do contain the churches sad lamentation over her deep affliction ; together with her earnest expostulation with god about the cause . two things there are , that the church in these words doth plead with god. first , the greatness of her affliction . secondly , the nearness of her relation . first , the greatness of her affliction . and there were three things in her asfliction that did make it lye very heavy upon her . first , the root of this affliction , and that was gods [ anger ] why doth thine anger smoak ? &c. ( secondly , ) the height of this affliction . god was not only angry , but he did [ smoak ] in his anger . ( thirdly , ) the length of this affliction . it was so long that god did seem to cast them off for [ ever . ] secondly , the ne●…rness of her relation . against [ the sheep of thy pasture ] as if they should have said , lord , if thou hadst done this against thine enemies it had been no wonder . if thou hadst poured out thy wrath , against the vessels of wrath , it had not been so much . but what , wilt thou draw out thy sword against the sheep of thy pasture ! it were no wonder that thou shouldst take the fat and the strong , and pour out thy judgements upon them ; but wilt thou do it to thy sheep ! there be several doctrines that i may raise from the words , as first doct. that gods people are his sheep . second doct. that god may be sorely angry with his own people . with his own sheep . third doct. that when god is angry with his people , it becomes them carefully to enquire into the cause . fourth doct. that when gods people are under affliction , they ought to take notice of , and be much affected with his anger from which they do proceed . fifth doct. that gods people under affliction , are , or should be more affected with his anger , than with their smart . this is that the church doth complain of : not that the church did so smart , but that god was so displeased and angry . that did most affect her . six doct. that gods people are apt to have misgiving thoughts of god , when they are under sore afflictions . god was angry with his people , and their hearts did misgive them , as if god did cast of his people . seventh doct. that god may be angry with with his people so sore , and so long , that in the judgement of sence , it may seem , that they are for ever cast off . eight doct. that though the people of god may not murmure against his proceedings ; yet they may humbly expostulate with him about the cause . why doth thine anger smoak against the sheep of thy pasture ? i have spoken heretofore to the first of these doctrines , i shall speak now to the second . to wit. doct. that god may be angry , and sorely angry with his own people . i have already in the audience of some proved this point . and answered several questions . as ( first ) how anger may be ascribed to god ? ( secondly ) how far he may be angry with his own people . ( thirdly , ) what is the difference between gods being angry with his own people , & with the wicked i shall not respeak any thing of what i have spoken , but proceed to a fourthquestion . fourth question . by what signs and evidences may we come to know whether god be angry ? and here i shall first premise four propositions : & then answer the question in six conclusions . first , i shall premise these 4 propositions . first proposition . that a person or people may verily think themselves to be in gods favor , when they are indeed under his anger and displeasure . second prop. that neither gods favor , nor his anger can be known [ meerly ] by his outward dispensations . third prop. that gods anger or favor must be judged of , rather by our carriage toward him , than by his carriage towards us . fourth prop. that for the discovering of gods favor or anger , we must consult rather the book of conscience , and of scripture , than the book of providence . first proposition . that a person or people may verily think themselves to be in gods favor when they are indeed under his anger and displeasure . this is an awakening consideration , and therefore should be duly laid to heart . a church may think her self in a very good and safe condition , and yet jesus christ may loath it , and be ready to spue her out of his mouth . as of the church of the laodiceans . men may cry to themselves peace and safety , when sudden destruction may come upon them . and may say , is not the lord among us ? no evil can come unto us ; and yet be upon the very brink of destruction . men may have great hopes of the presence of god with them , and yet evidences of gods departing from them . and may cry the temple of the lord , when god is even casting them out of his sight . we read of som that had a great deal of confidence of gods favor ; they would still lean on the lord , and were consident that he had favor for them ; and yet the lord was ready to break out upon them to their destruction , micah 3. 11 , 12. they build up zion with blood , and jerusalem with iniquity &c. yet will they lean upon the lord , and say , is not the lord among us ? none evil can come upon us . therefore shall zion for your sakes be ploughed as a field . they may think that because the ordinances of god are among them , that god is among them ; when god may be turning them up as a field that is ploughed . this ought to startle and awaken men . sirs , it is not your confidence , but your evidence that will carry it . many times there are none so confident of gods favor , as those that are marked out for the objects of his eternal wrath and displeasure . the carnal jews , they would not be beaten out of their carnal confidence . and though the prophet told them of the wrath of god that was coming against them , yet they would not hear him , till wrath came upon them , and there was no remedy . second prop. that neither gods favor nor his anger can be known , [ meerly ] by his outward dispensations . no man knoweth either love or hatred by the things that are before him . men have very shrewdly erred by judging of gods favor , or wrath by his outward dispensations . when the psalmist took his mark by this , how sorely was his faith shaken , and his feet almost gone ? when he beheld the godly in affliction and under suppression ; and the wicked prospering in their wickedness . the 73 psalm gives you a true account , what a sad bout he had by this . he observed they had no bonds in their death , and they were not plagued like other men . their eyes stand out with fatness , they have more than heart could wish . they were very wicked and yet very prosperous . full of sin , and yet full of pleasure , and riches and all outward accommodation . whereas on the other side , he observed that he was ●…fflicted , and other of the godly with him . and was tempted from this , that god did regard the wicked so much , or more than he did the godly . and therefore 't is a very dangerous mistake among the multitude . many think on the one side , that because god doth prosper them , and bless them as he doth , that therefore they are in the favor of god : for if they were not , he would never deliver them , and carry them through so many troubles as he doth , if he did not love them . this is a dangerous mistake . and so some on the other hand , because god doth afflict them here , that therefore he hath mercy for them hereafter . they have their hell here , and therefore they shall not go to hell hereafter . alass man ! thou mayst have thy hell begun here , and lengthened out hereafter to all eternity . thou canst not say from this , that thou shalt escape the torments of hell : but notwithstanding all this , thou mayst hear god say to thee at last as to dives , son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things : but now thou art tormented . third prop. gods favor or anger must be judged of rather from our carriage towards him , than from his carriage towards us . if our walk be according to gods rule , we may be sure that peace shall be upon us . gal. 6. 16. if we are such as fear god and work righteousness , then we may be certain that we are accepted with god. acts. 10. 35. if we do well , we shall be accepted . they that by patient contim●…nce in well-doing , seek for glory , honor , and immortality , shall have eternal life . they are under promise rom. 2. 6 , 7. but on the contrary , tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evil . those that walk disorderly , and in disobedience to the will of god , however god may prosper them in their ways , as they may seem , yet they must know that gods anger is against them . they may know that his anger is against them , because they walk against him : against the flat command of his word . for these things cometh the wrath of god upon the children of disobedience , eph. 5. 6. the wrath of god is revealed from heaven , against all ungodliness , and unright cousness of men , rom. 1. 18. so they that walk in ways of unrighteousness , and ungodliness , they may know by this that they are under the wrath of god ; however god may seem to carry it towards them . men may not conclude that because god doth not presently smite , that therefore he is not angry with them . god may speak never a word , neither strike a blow ; and yet may treasure up wrath against them at the last , and they never think of it . many a poor wretch thinks , that god , because he is silent that he approves of them , psal. 50. 21. these things hast thou done and i kept silence . thou thoughtest that i was altogether such a one as thy self ; but i will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes . god would make them know , that though for the present he spake nothing , and did not shew his anger ; yet he would make it known against them . if our carriage be dutiful , and humble toward god , what ever his carriage be towards us , we may be sure that his love is towards us . god doth many times carry it as if he were angry , for the tryal of his people , to see whether they will trust him , and walk by faith and not by sence . whether they will believe though it be against their own feeling . he will many times put his children upon this exercise , not in anger , but in love. as the tender nurse doth the child . so on the other hand , god may let men alone , and let them prosper in the world , though he be dreadfully angry with them . fourth prop , that the favor or anger of god , is rather to be gathered from the book of scripture , and of conscience , than from the book of providence . many times the book of providence is very dark , and seems to speak that god favors those men ; whereas if we look into the scripture , we shall see that they are the vessels of his wrath . and the book of providence may seem to tell us , that such a people are the objects of his wrath , which if we look into scripture we shall find , that they are the people of his love . therefore the psalmist , when he could not know by the book of providence , he went to the scripture , to the sanctuary , to the oracles , and had those things opened there . this book was a key to open those riddles that he could not understand before . he sees that those men that did prosper thus , were the objects of his wrath . and on the other hand , that the poor and afflicted were the onely beloved of god. though this was against his mind before , psal. 77. 13. thy way o god is in the sanctuary . that is , in the place where thy word is preached , and explained , there is thy way , the meaning and sence of thy providence is discovered . those that have the scripture against them , these are they that bear the marks of gods anger upon them . and those that have the scripture for them , what ever others judgements be , these be the men of his delight . therefore let the word of god be your judge . and with the book of scripture , compare the book of conscience . for , saith the apostle if our hearts condemn us not , than have we confidence towards god. but if our hearts condemn us , god is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things let conscience be consulted with , when thou art trying thy case , whether thou art in the favor or under the anger of god. and that will be able , comparing thy state with the scripture to give a great guess to this , whether god have favor for thee or be against thee . now i must adde six conclusions , in which the question shall be resolved . how it may be known that god is angry with any people . first conclusion . the raign and dominion of sin is a most certain evidence , that any person or people , are under gods anger . where sin is raigning , and abounding , gross and hainous sins abounding in any nation or place , you need not any other evidence that god is angry with that people . especially , when those iniquities are tolerated by magistrates , or found in persons that are in a publick place , then they are fearful signs of gods anger : then you may know there is great misery for such people , though he may seem at present to prosper them . and so for any particular person , whether the sin be gross or close , if thou art under the power of any one unmortified sin , thou mayst be sure thou art under the anger and wrath of god , eph. 6. 5. for these things cometh the wrath of god upon the children of disobedience . rom. 2. 8 , 9. but to them that are contentious , and obey not the truth indignation and wrath , tribulation and anguish unto every soul that doth evil . art thou yet in thy natural unconverted state , unrenewed ? thou mayst go away with sadness ; thou goest up and down with cain , with certain marks of gods displeasure upon thee ; for we are by nature children of wrath . if thou art in the estate thou wert in by nature , thou art surely under the wrath of god. if thou remainest in thy old unbeleef , thou needest no more dispute about this matter , the wrath of god abideth on thee : the whole book of god , and the threatnings of god , do rise up with open mouth to condemn thee that livest in any unmortified sin . now sin is unmortified , when persons go on in a purpose of sinning , and in a willingness to practise sin . rom. 6. 16. know ye not , that to whom you yield your selves servants to obey , his servants you are to whom you obey ? whether of sin unto death , or of obedience unto righteousness . to whom you [ yield ] your selves servants to obey . the servant of god is taken [ captive ] by his sin under a temptation ; but if you yield your selves servants to them , you are the servants of sin . yield your selves servants to [ obey ] whom do you ordinarily [ obey ] ? if the devil can do more with you to draw you from god , than god can to keep you to him ; if he can do more with you to make you neglect prayer , than god can to keep you to it ; or if he can prevail with you to commit any sin , more then god can to keep you from it , you are under the wrath of god. there is a two fold anger , a stated anger , and occasional anger or temporal anger . occasional and temporal anger , and so the children of god may fall under his anger : but by their application to him in christ that anger may be taken off again . but there is a ●…ate of anger , and that is with the wicked . and this thou art under , who dost live in unmortified sin . thou art in a state of anger , in a state of wrath . second con when the threats and menaces of gods word are against men , this is a sure evidence of his anger . you know we may discern the anger of men by their rebukes , and threats , and the like . if the word of god be against thee , be sure the anger of god is against thee . therefore consult the scripture . if the scripture do speak sadly of thy state , that is an undeniable evidence of gods anger , zeph. 2. 5. wo to the inhabitants of the sea coast , the word of the lord is against you . o wo to them that the word of the lord is against ! there is wrath from the lord against that man. therefore if the lord do speak against thee , make thy peace with speed . do as haman , when he saw the king rise up in hast : he stood up to make request for his life to the queen . est. 7 , 7 , so if thou dost find that there is evil intended against thee by thy sins , o fall down upon thy knees and make up thy peace . third con. publick calamities , except when they come upon a people for righteousness sake , are the evident tokens of gods anger . when god doth strike a nation or a people with war , or with pestilence , or with famine , or the like this is a manifest token of gods anger with such a nation or people . this you may see throughout the book of judges . still it was when the people had sinned , and god was angry , that these publick calamities were brought upon them , judg. 2. 13 , 14 , 19 , 20 , 21. and 3. 7 , 8. and 10. 6. there you may see that publick calamities did proceed from the sins that were among them . and if sin be a sign of gods anger , you may easily make application . should not we fear and tremble ? should not we humble our selves in the dust , and cloath our selves with sackcloth ? god hath sent all his three greatplagues togetherupon our nation , famine , sword , and war. o apply this , and see that you be sadly affected with gods displeasure against our nation . but here i put in an exception [ when they come upon a people for righteousness sake ] then though the calamities be common and publick . yet it is not a sign of gods anger . in the primitive times , the christians were fearfully persecuted every where , and were killed by the thousands , and therefore this was rather martyrdome , then signs of gods anger . here two things must be considered : whether these afflictions did find them cleaving to the lord in their duty : or , going off from him , and declining their duty . now if they do find them decaying and remitting their zeal and diligence , then those evils , though they do come upon them for righteousness sake , yet they come for gods anger too . and so though they should rejoyce in them as coming from wicked men , yet they should be humbled , and take notice too of the hand of godagainst them in correcting their vices . fourth con. when god doth suffer men to prosper in an evil way , this is a fearful sign of gods anger . prosperity is so far from being a sign of gods favor , that when prosperity doth attend men , and follow them in an evil way , it is one of the most dreadfullest marks in the world against a person or people . whom the lord loves he rebukes , and chastens , that is , if they wander and go out of his way . and we are judged of the lord , that we should not be condemned with the world , cor. 11. 32. so when the lord lets men go on in their evil ways unpunished , it is a sign he intends they shall be condemned with the world . brethren , be jealous of your selves , if god let a person go on in a way of wickedness , it is a fearful sign . hos. 4. 14. i will not punish your daughters when they commit whordome &c. therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall . it is a sign that he intends higher displeasure against a person , when he lets them go on in a way of sin , and will not stop them , but let them take their swinge in sin . those whom he intends love to , shall be corrected here , and stopped : but others shall have the gibbet kept for them at last . fifth con. spiritual judgements are ever to be taken as sore evidence of gods anger . many times god doth inflict temporal judgements with an intention to reform them , and amend a people : but when he gives up a person or people to spiritual judgments , this is a token of his highest displeasure . god doth threaten as one of the sorest evidences of his displeasure [ a famine of the word ] so psal. 78. 59 , 60. when god heard this he was wrath , and greatly abhorred israel : so that he forsook the tabernacle of shiloh the tent which he had placed among men . when god forsook the tabernacle , and deprived them of the former tokens of his presence in their ordinances , this was a sign that he abhorred israel . so our saviour as his tokens of his displeasure against the church threatens that he would remove his candlestick . he would unchurch them as one of his most fearful threatnings , rev. 2. 5. rom. 1. 23 , 24 , 28. the apostle speaks of some that were under the fearful token of gods wrath in this . this was a fearful token of gods wrath against them indeed , when god should give them up to such spiritual judgments . psal. 81. 10 , 11. my people would not hearken to my voice : so i gave them up to their own hearts lusts . o this was dreadful indeed ! this was the sorest expression of gods anger that could be against that people , so 2 thes. 2. 11 , 12. god shall send them strong delusions , &c. rom. 11. 7. 8. the elect hath obtained it ; but the rest were blinded , &c. o do you see any such souls thus delivered up ? o let your hearts tremble for such persons this is a shrewd evidence , that they are persons given up to great judgements . six con. temporal afflictions , when they find the people of god straying , and wandring , and declining from him , are evident tokens of gods anger . they are not always tokens of his anger . when they find us keeping close to god , they are for tryal , and not signs of gods displeasure ? job was highly commended by the lord when the affliction was upon him . therefore we must consult conscience whether it was not for such a sin that god is now afflicting thee . and if thou dost find it was for sin , thou hadst need run quickly and make the atonement . but if otherwise , you may conclude it is but for proof and tryal and exercising those graces that god hath given you . a discourse made by mr. joseph alleine on a night of solemn thanksgiving , which he held with his people in taunton , some dayes before the five-mile-act came in force , by vertue of which he was then to leave them . most dearly beloved brethren , with no little joy and thankfulness have i thought of this time , when i should once more see your faces together : and be so truly glad , with so heart contenting a mercy , as to rejoyce with the joy of gods people and to glory with his inheritance . it is a time , that to some , may seem unseasonable to set up thanksgivings when our calamities are so near approaching . but surely , if i had never hopes to enjoy one day with you more , the last day should be a day of praise . and if i were sure that we were now to take our farwell of christians and ministers , and of all our former liberties , i should exhort you that we might join once more in lifting up hearts and hands in bl●…ssing god for all the mercies that we have met with together . your condition is never such but your mercies are infinitely greater , and more then your afflictions . neither may the sence of misery at any time surprise you , so as to drown the thankful acknowledgement of gods mercies . god that hath been alwayes good to you , hath never been better then since you have had affliction . elijah was never so happily fed at a full table as when it was a time of great famine : when god sent him every bit of bread and flesh by the mouth of a raven . oh how sweetly do you think that every bit of this bread did rellish with the man of god ? when he saw that he received it imediately out of gods own hand ? brethren , though it hath been a time of great calamity , yet god hath herein heightned his mercy to you ; you have seen the bush of god burning and yet not consumed . the portion of gods children hath been taken away , and yet our cheeks have been fat . we have been cast with daniel into the lyons den : but god hath sent his angel and shut the lyons mouth , and we have not been destroyed but are here together to praise the lord. methinks there are several periods of time , ●…ine the time of our calamities , wherein god hath appeared to us , when we thought all had bin gone . one period was when your ministers were shut out of publick by the act of uniformity . another when we were cast out of our private meetings , by the act made against ●…ditious conventicles . so called by the iniquity of the times . another by this act that doth now cast ministers out of their habitations . and me thinks every period should end with praise . we read , that when they removed the ark , that when they had passed such a number of paces then they slew a sacrifice : so me thinks as we passe thefe periods of time , at the end of every period we should offer pr●…ise . what though god hath separated your preachers from you , ye as he said , if the souldier dies fighting , and the preacher preaching , and the swan singing , then the saints should part praising . oh christians this is the spirit that should be in you , that what ever god doth with you for the time to come , you should resolve to end in his praise for the mercies past . if it were the last day we should have together , surely methinks we should end in praise . and since the alarm hath been sounded , by the late unhappy act , that saying of sampson hath run often in my mind , let me dye with the philistines : so methinks i would say , let me dye with praise . and now o god , let my hands and heart be lifted up with thy praise : that i may touch their hearts ; that every heart of theirs , may sound forth thy heavenly praise . but 't is easie to be lost in praise , the mercies of god are a deep that cannot be fathomed . where shall i begin or end ? how shall i reach to the top ? or when shall i come to the bottom ? however i will not say nothing , because i cannot say all . let me touch a little of the mercies of god : a little this evening to shew the mercy of god to you . and let it live upon your hearts as long as you live . consider now what great things god hath done for you , whether you are the people of god in general ; or people of taunton in particular . how great are the mercies of god to you ! first , as you are the people of god in general . this is the top of all your mercies . in this sayes our savior rejoyce , not that the spirits are made subject to you : but in this that your names are written in heaven . brethren we have many mercies to praise the lord for : but this is that should most affect us , gods peculiar mercy to us , as we are his chosen generation , and peculiar people . consider now what the lord hath done for you . let me open it to you in six or seven particulars . ( first . ) you are the election of grace . ( secondly , ) you are the first born of god. ( thirdly , ) you are the first fruits of the creation . ( fourthly , ) you are the remnant of escape . ( fifly , ) you are the burgesses of heaven . ( sixthly , ) you are the members of christ. ( seventhly , ) you are the living stones of the temple . blessed is the man , you will say , whose happiness this is . but this damps my joy and comfort , lest i should not be the man. now lest this should damp thy joy , let me give thee two characters , by which thou mayst come to know whether this be thy case . thou mayst know it by the transactions that have passed between christ and thy soul : and by the treasure that hath been made choyce of by thee . first , by the transactions that have passed between christ and thee . hast thou passed under the bond of his covenant ? as christ hath offered himself to thee , hast thou again delivered up thy self to him ? hast thou renounced all thy known sins ? and took the lord jesus christ for ●…hy head and husband , to love , honor , obey him above all ? hast thou considered the conditions of christ , and accepted of them all ? and sayest as my lord saith , so i will do . doth thy heart close with the self-denying laws of christ , and art resolved not to allow thy self in any known sin ; but to rise again by repentance ? if so , thou art the man i am speaking of . secondly , thou mayst know it by the treasure that hath been made choise of by thee . every man is known by what he pitcheth his heart upon for his treasure . what is it , man , that carryeth thy heart ? the things seen , or the things unseen ? who hath most of thy heart , god or the world ? which way stands the bent of thy heart ? a godly manmust not judg of himself by what he is at worst , under a prevalent temptation : nor others by what they are at best in a fit : but where is thy constant bent ? what is thy chiefest care and delight ? is it to converse with god ? and be like to god ? vvhat doth please thee best , when thou art contriving thy happiness ? doth this , that god is thine ? or is it something here below ? vvhat is thy care ? is it to please god ? if it be thus , thou art the man that i am speaking to . and now you that are thus , that have passed under the bond of gods covenant ; and have made choice of him for your happiness , know and understand . first , that you are the election of grace . the election h●…th obtained it , saith the apostle , but the rest were blinded . you are the handful that god hath taken out but the heap are left . oh christians , the great transaction of god from all eternity hath been about you . and the great transactions of god in time have been about you . the lord did from all eternity enter into a league with his son for you : and did give him to you . god was laying the foundation of your happiness before he laid the foundation of the world . god was making provision for you from all eternity . our saviour is often speaking of this gift in john 17. so john 10. 29. my father which gave them me is greater then all , john. 6. 39. and this is the fathers will that of all that he hath given me i should loose nothing . and so , all that the father hath given me shall come unto me . oh christian , doth not this assect thy heart ? that the eternal counsel of the great god should be taken up about thee ? that god should be bargaining and agreeing with his son about thee ! that thou shouldst be mentioned by name from all eternity ? christ knows his sheep by name . and he bids such rejoice , because their names are written in heaven . o man , did god design thee from all eternity by name ! how should this affect thy heart ? what did god build all this world for ? it was that christ might have a seed . and why do he continue the world ? 't is because christ might have the elect sinished , when the elect are numbred the trumpet shall sound , and away he comes togather his elect . christs coming , what was it for ? that he might ransom his sheep . and his second comming , what is it sor , but that he might receive his elect ? john 14. 3. i will come again and receive you to my self , that wher i am ye may be also , math. 24 , 31. he shall send his angels , with a great sound of a trumpet , and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds , from one end of the heavens to the other . what was the end of christs low humiliation , even to death , but to save his people from their sins ? math. 1. 21. and what is the end of christs glorious exaltation , to all power and greatness ? it was all for the elect , john 17. 2. christ hath all power in heaven and earth delivered to him for your sakes ; for the elect . that he might give eternal life to the elect . oh man , what a heart hast thou , if all this cannot move thee ! if thou hadst stood by , when he laid the foundation of the fabrick of this world , wouldst thou not have said surely 't is for some great end ? if thou hadst stood by when christ was crucisied , and known the mistery , wouldst thou not have said , surely this is for some great end ? why all this was for thee . secondly , you are the first born of god , heb. 12. 23. you are come to the general assembly , the church of the first born which are written in heaven , the apostle speaks of our priviledges as if we were come to heaven already . you [ are ] come &c. you are gods israel ; and beside , you areadmitted to have fellow ship with jesus christ , and by faith are made one with him . now christ is gods first born , and we being joyned to him are made one with him . we are joynt heirs with christ. now the first born had many priviledges , as. ( first , ) the sirst-born had the dearest affestion , zach. 12. 10. they shall be in bitterness as one for his sirst born . there is the great sorrow , because there run out the great stream of affection , in this respect you are the first-born of god : you are they that have his dearaffection , eph. 5. 1. you are called the dear children of god. o the dear expressions , that he useth to you , and the dear affections that he hath for you ! you are called the dearly beloved of his soul. o what drops of love doth god drop in these sacred leaves of this book ? how full is the book of the canticles ? my love , my dove , my undesiled . god doth out bid the love of all the parents in the world . can a woman forget her sucking child ? sho may ; but i will not forget thee , saith the lord. the dearest mother when she lets her child out of her hands may forget it , but you are never out of my hands : you are engraven there . o what rouling bowels are there in those words , jer. 31. 20. is ephraim my son ? is he a pleasant child ? for since i spake against him i do earnestly remember him still : therefore my bowels are troubled for him , i will surely have mercy upon him saith the lord. oh man dost thou consider that all this is spoken to thee ? all this love , god hath in his heart for thee ; yea beyond all expression dear art thou to god. ( secondly , ) the first-born do carry the inheritance . this is your case , the inheritance is for you . though a man have many sons , yet not many heirs : 't is his first-born is his heir , though a king hath many sons , yet but one king : 't is the first-born that is king after him . in this refpect gods children are the first-born : for they are all heirs , you are all kings , you that are begotten again , you are begotten to an inheritance , to a heavenly , that fadeth no●… away . ( thirdly , ) the first-born had a special blessing . gen. 27. 19. i am esau thy first-born . and you know when esau knew that jacob had got the blessing of the first-born , he accounted himself undone : and he lifted up his voice and wept . brethren , you have the blessing . let others glory in their wealth and riches ; who ever have these benefits 't is you have the blessing . beloved , you are the jacobs , when others are the esaus : you carry the blessing of the first-born . nay and god ratisies the blessing on you as that upon jacob. i have blessed him and he shall be blessed . balaam was sensible of this ; he hath blessed and i cannot reverse it . you that are gods first-born , god hath made you unchangeably happy , you are unalterably blessed , god hath blessed you and it cannot be reversed . ( fourthly , ) the first-born did carry the honor , and were accounted the excellency and strength of the f●…ily . gen. 49. 3. reuben , thou art first-born , my might and the beginning of my strength , the excellency of dignity , and the excellency of power . and god says of his first born as jacob of his . thou art the excellency of dignity . so god sayes of you : i will make of you an eternal excellency . you know if a knight have m●…ny sons , there is but one knight . and so of a lord 't is the first-born is lord after him : he carries the honor of the family . so you my brethren , you carry the honor : you are the onely honorable persons in gods account . since thou hast been precious in my sight thou hast been honorable . and , those that honor me i will honor . brethren , put this together , and see if there be not reason to lift up the praise of god on high : and to say now i will l●…t up thine horn on high . surely god hath listed up your horn on high . thirdly , you are the first sruits of the creation . jam. 1. 18. of his own will beg at he us with his word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures . now there were several things observable in the first-fruits , as. ( first , ) the fir●…t fruits , they were the choice of the fruits . and therefore god , that did ever require them to bring the best , would require them to bring the fir●…t-fruites of the creatures . beleivers are the first fruits of gods works . and god sets more value upon this workmanship then upon any thing else beside . other things they shew some footsteps of god : but the new cre●…ture th●…t hath the very image of god , and so is the fir●…t fruit of all . the first fruits are of a more higher price and esteem than any other . so are you : you are those that he cals his excellent ones . those whom he binds up amongst ●…s jewels . the saints are the desire of his eyes , and the joy of his heart . christians , i speak this to you and you must apply it . you are the desire of christ psal. 4. 5. 11. he asks no other portion but you , psal. 2. 8. and you are his delight as well as his desire . prov. 8. the wisdom of the father from all eternity , had his delight in the habitable part of the earth . isaiah 53. he shall see his seed , and he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied . you are his seed , you are the travail of his soul. christ is content and satisfied to have this portion . and as the woman forgets her sorrow when she sees her seed , that a man child is born : so christ forgets all his pain and trouble , when he sees his seed the travail of his soul. ( secondly , ) the first fruits were but few in number , in comparison of the full number and harvest . so 't is here , the saints are but few thou art the fewest in number of all people , saith moses to israel : so may i say to you , you are as two or three olives upon the uppermost boughs , or four or five upon the outmost branches . gods first fruits are but few . ah christian , stand still and admire free grace , that thou shouldst be one of this few . christ doth manifest himself to you , and not to the world . he prayes for you , and not for the world , you are a peculiar people to him . o what a little flock of kids hath christ , in comparison of the herds and droves , and swarms that satan drives before him to destruction ! and art thou one of that number that stand with the lamb upon mount sion ? o how shouldst thou cause the praises of the lord to be heard ? they are but few of the number of mankind that are admitted into this grace wherein you stand . therefore as you have special favor from god , engage in the praise of god. ( thirdly , ) the first fruits were holy to the lord. these god did reserve for himself , as it were , for his own eating . as you know , the first fruits are preserved for to be presented to kings at their table for their eating . so are you . thou art a holy people unto the lord thy god , psal. 4 , 〈◊〉 . know ye that the man that is godly , god hath set apart for himself . god sayes as it were , set this man by for me . god says of his sirst fruits , these shall be set aside for me . these shall be mine , mal. 3. 17. as god would put a special honor upon the sabbath day above all other dayes , because upon this day he rested from his labor : so you are the honor of all the creation : because you are a people that god hath set apart for himself . ah brethren , here is your dignity and priviledge above all people , that you are seperate to the lord : that you have special relation to him . this makes you to be above all other people , because the sun of gods favor shines peculiarly upon you . ( fourthly , ) the first fruits were to be gathered into the sanctuary , deut. 26. god had in his temple , the chambers into which was to be gathered the first fruits , as peculiarly dedicated unto god. so we read , in neh. 12. 44. thus you are gods first fruits . and god will gather his first fruits into his chambers , into his glory shortly . he shall gather his wheat into his garner , math. 3. 12. math. 13. 30. the husbandman there , ( who is no other than god himself ) he speaks to his servants , that they should let alone the tares for a season , and in the time of harvest i will say to the reapers , gather you together first the tares , and bind them in bundles , and burn them but gather the wheat into my barn. this harvest is the end of the world : and the angels are the reapers ; and heaven is the barn ; and you are the fruits , and god will send shortly , and gather you into his barn ; when the wicked shall be turned into hell in bundles , they shall be cast into tophet ; but you shall be gathered into gods barn ; into his glory . god do but stay awhile till the fruits be ripe and ready , and then you shall be all brought safe into his treasury . ( fifthly , ) the first fruits were to be set before the lord as a monument of his faithfulness , deut. 26. 1. &c. where you may observe these particulars . first , the first fruits , they were to be presented before the lord as a thank-offering , so you . secondly , the first fruits were to be brought to the priest , though you are the first fruits , yet you can expect nothing of god but at the hands of the priest , the lord jesus christ. thirdly , they were to be offered up with a thankful acknowledgement of gods mercy , and their former misery , the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand , and set it down before the altar of the lord thy god ; and thou shalt speak and say , a syrian ready to perish was my father , and he went down into egypt and sojourned there with a few , and became there a nation great , mighty , and populous . fourthly , they were to be set before the lord as a monument of his faithfulness : thus beleivers , my brethren , they shall be taken by christ , and presented by him unto god as a monument of his faithfulness . and thou shall profess before the lord thy god , i am indeed come unto the country concerning which the lord sware unto me : surely the lord is faithful in all that he hath promised : and there hath not one word failed of all that he hath said by the mouth of all his prophets . fourthly , you are the remnant of escape , 't is ezrahs phrase . brethren , you know that all mankind was interested in adam : all in one common bottom . adam miscarryed and so all mankind is shipwracked at once . and o how few are the number of those that escape ! and art thou one of them ? o how should you bless the lord ! methinks , you that god hath taken out of all the kindreds of the earth , you should run to god , as the several messengers to job , thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine , and the house fell upon them , and they are dead ; and i onely am escaped to tell thee . so should you say , oh so many of the tribes of the earth are famished , and i am lest alone to tell thee : to praise thee . o methinks so should the redeemed of the lord compass him about . o methinks i should see you in the posture of those redeemed , lifting up your voices together as the voice of many waters . oh christians , look back to your former bondage . do not forget the egypt that you were in bondage in : and the bonds of your lu●…s , that you were held captive in . o look back to the house of bondage and to the iron furnace , the cruelty and tyranny from whence y●… have made your escape , and now lift up the praise of your redeemer . how should you stand upon the brink and look down into the horrible pit from which god hath plucked you ! brethren , you all suffered in that common shipwrack ; yet , as in the voyage of paul , they all escaped safe to land , so god hath ordered you , that all that were with jesus christ are escaped . o methinks you are like the world full of corn , and in comes satan , and mows down whole swarfs , and you are left as a single ear here and there upon a ridge . o remember ●…ire and brimstone is coming down upon the world , and god hath laid his hand up-you and made you escape , and provided a zoar for you . o while you see the egyptians drowned upon the shore and you escaped , how should you be much in praising the lord ? the deluge is coming down upon the world , and but one ark of men shall be saved . and are you the men that god hath purposed to save ? are you the men that god hath put forth his hand and took in ? o ●…less the lord for this mercy . fifthly , you are the burgesses of heaven . heb. 12. 23. to the general assembly and church of the first born , which are written in heaven . we read of a city that hath foundations ; whose builder and maker is god , of that city art thou a denizen . thou art no more a stranger and forreigner but a fellow citizen , and of the houshold of god : though heaven and earth are so distant in place , yet there is a real communio●… the saints here are free burgesses of heaven . christian , thou art the man , that art made free of heaven : and who art born free . sixthly , you are the members of christ , we are members of his body ; of his slesh and bone . consider christian , beleivest thou this ? if thou dost , thou needest not be called u●…on to praise . o what to be a real member of christs living body ! yet so ' t is . if thou be touched 't is christ suffers wrong . saul , saul , why 〈◊〉 thou me ? he is as tender of you as of a member of his own body : and as dear doth he love you . and as sure as he carryed the members of his body into heaven , so sure will he carry thee . and as sure as the members of his natural body are glorified in heaven , so surely will he glorisie thee . seventhly , you are the living stones of the temple , 1 pet. 2. 5. thou art cut out of the common quarry with others , as rugged a stone as the rest : but thee hath god pitched upon and chosen to be a polished stone for his own building . vvhen god hath left others he hath pitched on thee . christian , it little mat●…rs though thou art undervalued of men ; yet herein god hath honored thee , those that men rejected god hath made the chief of the building . now put all this together and see whether god hath not done much for you , you are the election of grace , the first born of god , the first fruites of the creation , the remnant of escape , the burgesses of heaven , the members of christ , the living stones of the temple . o whence should god have praise if not from you ? who should lift up his name if not you ? but , secondly , consider what god hath done for you as you are the inhabitants of taunton in p●…rticular . though the former should ever ring loudest and carry the principal part in your praise ; yet the other may not be forgot●…n . now will i sing a song to my welbeloved , touching his vineyard , isa. 5. 1. the vineyard of the lord of hosts is the town of tau●…ton , and the inhabitants thereof his pleasant plant . and now i will tell you what god hath done sor his vineyard . he hath plucked up the fence thereof , and yet it is not eaten up . her hedges are broken down ; yet they that passe by the way do not pluck her , nor the wild boars of the sorrest eat her : nor the beasts of the sield devour her . shee is burnt with fire ; and yet is not burnt up . o what hath god done for his vineyard here ? o remember now , o people what the enemy consulted , and what the lord answered ; they said come let us curse taunton and let us defie the people of god : but who shall curse whom the lord hath not cursed ? and 〈◊〉 whom the lord hath not defied ? god hath blessed , and who shall reverse it ? happy art thou o people : who is like thee o taunton , saved by the lord the shield of thy power , the sword of this excellency ? the archers have shot at thee , yet they have not hurt thee . shall i particularize the mercies of god to taunton ? why , consider he hath been a savior to you : a shepheard to you : a keeper to you . 1. he hath been a savior to you . he hath saved your throats from the sword , your habitations from the flames , your lives from the plague your persons from the prison . ( 1. ) he hath saved your throat from the sword , have you forgotten that you were a people devoted to destruction , by the sons of violence ? but god disappointed them and gave you your lives for a prey . ( 2. ) your habitations from the flames . the flames have been set in ambush against you , and yet your habitations are not burnt down to this day . ( 3. ) your lives from the plague . it hath been devoured by the plague heretofore , and yet it hath not devoured you . how eminently hath god preserved you in this place in the time of common calamity that hath been among others . o think not that it was because those were greater sinners than are in taunton : no , but because god hath a peculiar intention of saving you . yet i say to you as christ ●…o them , think not that those upon whom the tower in siloam fell , were greater sinners than any in jerusalem . i tell you nay , but except you repent ye shall all likewise perish . we have had the same sins , and yet god hath preserved us . ( 4. ) your persons from the prison . how often hath god preserved you ? he hath been like the cloud upon israel : and upon all the glory there hath been a defence . once indeed some of you have tasted of a prison : but what a mercy was it , that it was but once ? i might tell you what a mercy 't is to you , that you have not been troubled with the prelates courts . but , secondly , god hath been a shepheard to you . therefore you have not wanted . vvho is it that drives you by the still waters , though you are as a lamb in a large place , 't is because god is your shepheard vvhence is it that you lye down in green pastures ? 't is because god is your shepheard . how hath god provided for you formerly and of late ? thirdly , god hath been a keeper to you . vvhen you were sent to prison god did keep you . o do not forget the mercies of a prison . i beleive , that of all the passages of our lives , many of us have no such experience of gods mercy as in a prison . o the provision that god did make for us there ! o the constant meals , the sweet meals that god did make for us there . brethren now let us thankfully commemorate all these mercies . let me call upon you as the psalmist , rejoyce in the lord , ye righteous ; and again rejoyce o ye people , let your voyce be heard on high . let us worship and fall down before the lord our maker . let it be said , praise waiteth for thee a god in taunton . vvell might praise wait for god in taunton , for god hath waited to be gracious to us . there was the place that he chose to put his name there . there break 〈◊〉 the arrows and the spear . vvho is like our god who rideth on the heaven for our help , and on the sky for our aid ? blessed is the people that heareth the joyful sound , they shall rejoyce in thee o lord. the lord is our deliverance , and the holy one of israel is our king. shout therefore , o inhabitants of taunton , for great is the work of the lord with you . and now , o lord , bless them , and accept the work of their hands , and lift them up : and let them lift thee up for ever . a sermon preached in order to the sacrament , on a sacramental day . luke . 2. 10 , 11. and the angel said unto them , ●…ear not : for behold , i bring you good tidings , of great joy , which shall be to all people . for unto you is born this day in the city of david , a saviour which is christ the lord. my brethren , good tidings , i know must needs be welcome to you at such a time as this . now god hath sent me to you with the most blessed news that ever came to man : that is , that to you is born a saviour . you have here the history of our saviours birth . the shepheards , they were abroad in the fields watching over their flocks by night , v. 8. and while they were thus diligent in attending their slocks , then the angel brought this news to them . from whence observe by the way , how good it is to be following our lawful callings . the fruits of these tidings was great fear , that fell upon the shepheards when they saw the angel . and against this fear , the angel bid them be of good comfort . then you have here , the news , behold i bring you good tidings &c. where you have observable . first , th●…e ●…senger ; the angel. secondly , the fruits of it ; great joy to all people . thirdly , the matter of this news ; that to them was born a savior . from the words observe this doctrine . doct. that it is the blessedest news that ever came to the ears of man , news worthy of angels from god to be the messengers of it , that unto us is come a saviour . brethren , i must needs commend the grace of god to me this day , in making me the messenger of such news to you as this is . i am unworthy to bring you this news , it is for angels to bring this news , they were sent with this message , as you see ; yet god hath been pleased to send me as a messenger with these tidings to you . now i shall shew you that this is the best news that ever came to the ears of man , and that . first , if you consider the deplorable condition that he found man in . secondly , if you consider what a great salvation he hath wrought for man. first , if you consider the deplorable condition that he found us in , we were all gone out of the way : we had fal'n among theeves ; and between sin and satan , we were robbed and wounded : and this samaritan found us , and he cured us , and it cost him no less than his own blood . so desperate a disease is sin , that nothing will cure us , but the death of christ. he found us shut up in sin , and were not able to get out ; and then he roll'd away the stone for us , and knock'd off our fetters , and wrought deliverance for us . this was the misery of mans condition , that he was in a helpless condition , rom. 5. 6. there was no possibility for us ever to recover our selves . neither was there help in any other , beside christ , act. 4. 12. heaven nor earth could not find out a way to deliver man , till god found out a way . and because heaven and earth could not find out a way , god and man must come together ; and as he was god he must satisfie ; and as he was man he must suffer ; and so we must come out . he found us stinking in our grave as he did lazarus . the stinking carrion doth not stink more than we did when christ found us . secondly , if you consider what a great salvation he hath wrought for us . this will appear , if you consider from what he hath saved us ; and how he hath saved us . first , from what he hath saved us . first , from the roaring-lion . secondly , from our raging-lusts . thirdly , from the ●…ming furnace . fourthly , from the king of terrors . first , from the roaring lion. so is our adversary , the devil called , 1 pet. 5. 8. this is he that christ hath delivered us from . we were all in the paw of this lion , and christ came and delivered us from him . this is the d●…vid that slew the lion , and the bear , and saved us , when we were like to be destroyed . when satan did think to triumph over christ , then did christ triumph over him . col. 2. 15. all the powers of hell did combine together , and labored to give christ the overthrow ; they had brought him to the cross , and there triumph over him , and thought that then they had done all ; and yet then did he overthrow them . oh! what a mercy is this , to be delivered ( not onely from the bondage of egypt , but ) from the spiritual egypt ! col. 1. 13. who hath deliveed us from the power of darkness &c. my brethren , we were fast shut up in prison , in the prison of which satan was the jaylor : and there was no possibility of getting loose from him . we were laid up as slaves under him , and were led captive by him at his will. now what praise do we owe to him , that hath delivered us from such a tyrant as this ! this is our deliverance , ( act. 26. 18. ) to be turned from the power of satan unto god. this hath christ done for us : he hath delivered us from the power of satan . we were once in his family , and did his work , eph. 2. 2 , 3. eph. 6. 12. they are called the rulers of the darkness of this world . that is , poor ignorant souls , that were lying in our ignorance . and that not some of us onely , but all of us . secondly , from our raging lusts . as from the slavery of satan , so from the dominion of sin . rom. 6. 14. by christ we are freed from the dominion of sin . my brethren , christ doth not onely free us from the damnation , but from the , dominion of sin . to be the servant of sin , is a most miserable slavery . what a mercy is it to be delivered from a master , whose work is drudgery ; and whose wages is destruction ! such a one is satan . would it not have pittied us to have seen the poor man in the gospel , going up and down among the tombs , and doing nothing but cutting and wounding himself ? such a one is every unsanctified person : they go up and down wounding of themselves . and though they feel not their wounds that sin gives them , yet there is a day coming , when ( conscience being awakened ) they will seel it . do you know , my brethren , what the work is that sin sets us upon ? it is to destroy our selves , john 8. the jews , they plead that they were free ; and what did our savior tell them of making them sree ? oh! but they were servants to their lusts , which was the greatest slavery , my brethren , to be under the power of a mans lusts , is a most perfect slavery . do but look upon a sinner that hath an enlightned conscience , and see how he rends and tears , and is in a worse condition than the most woofull galley-slave that is in the world . and then he vows and covenants against his sin , and then his sin eggs him on again , and then to his conscience fals upon him . oh , this is a sad condition ! now this christ hath delivered us from . sin will be in us , but christ hath promised that it shall not raign in us . and this is the blessed deliverance he hath wrought in us ; and this he will perfect at the last day . and by the way , you may see and try whether you have any part in christ or no. why how may we know it ? are you delivered from your sins ? though sin be in you , is it there against your consent ? if so , you are they whom christ dyed for . but if it be in you in its dominion , you have no part nor portion in this matter . a man were better be the most perfect galley-slave in the world , than to be under the power of sin . now this christ hath delivered you from . thirdly , from the slaming furnace . this is another thing that christ hath delivered you from . if the furnace heated to shew the terribleness of nebuchadnezzars rage was so hot , that it burnt up those that cast in the three children ; how hot is the surnace of the almighty god , that is kindled by him , great rivers of brimstone running out into it , and the breath of the lord doth kindle it ? oh , you know not what 't is to be damned ! you may know what 't is to be sick or the like ; but you know not what this word damnation means . 2 thes. 1. 8 , 9. in 〈◊〉 fire , taking vengeance on them that know not god , &c. who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord , and from the glory of his power . when we see wicked men under the terrors of conscience , how do they wish for death , that they might know what their torment is ? as spira , and william rogers . oh , can you tell what this terrible furnace is ? this is that which christ , hath delivered us from . when i consider what this gul●… is , i c●…not but wonder at my own and others stupidity , that we are not ever ! ever , praising the lord ! if the terror of the lord be so great , that when he doth let out but a drop of it upon a poor creature , how terrible is all that wrath , the treasure of that wrath that is laid up for the ungodly ! rom. 2. 5. 8. 9. jam. 5. 3. those wicked rich men , there , they had , as they thought , heaped up treasures of riches by oppressing the poor : but the apostle tels them they heaped up treasures of wrath . and this we were all born to , had not christ cut off the entail . o man , woman , canst think of burning for ever in the fire of the lords wrath , and not be praising the lord that thou art yet out of hell ? o bless the lord , that delivered thee from so great a death : and hath endured such torments that thou mayst be set free . he did bear the rod of gods wrath that thou mayst be saved to all eternity . if christ had not been , where had we been ! as the son of god , coming among the three children , saved them from burning ; so 't is here : 't is christs coming hath sayed us from burning in this 〈◊〉 surnace . how terrible this furnace is , you may see , rev. 14. 10. the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of god , which is poured out without mixture into the cup of h●… indignation , and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels , and in the presence of the lamb : and the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever . and they have no rest day nor night . o methinks the very sight of this surnace at a distance should startle our souls , and make us list up our hands , and eyes , and souls and praise the lord. o methinks we that are the redeemed of the lord , we should stand together about the pit , and look down , and list up our hearts and praise the lord. fourthly , from the king of terrors . he hath saved you , as from the devil , so from death . you know death is the mortal enemy of man , 't is his great and last enemy : and now this enemy hath christ destroyed , and delivered us from . and that both from the sting and victory of it . ( first , ) from the sting of death . he hath not delivered us from the stroke of death , but he hath from the sting of death . when the sting is out , the serpent may hisse , but he cannot sting . death will put you into the possession of that which christ hath provided for you : so that death now is become desirable , now there is beauty in it . there is no friend can do that for you , that death can do . it will at once deliver you from sin and satan , and give you a possession in heaven . the apostle , looking upon death through christ , longs for death : having a desire to depart &c. phil. 1. 23. this great robber , through christ is become our greatest gain . that which would have marr'd us for ever , will now make us for ever . o that this king of terrors should become desirable , what a mercy is this ! o my beloved , did you know what the terrors of death be to an enlightned sinner , you would account it a great priviledge to be sree from the sting of death . when all his comforts are taking their everlasting farewell of him , you would account it a great salvation then . when he shall feel death putting in his cold hands , and pulling out his heart , when he s●…ail see his house of his body falling down about his ears , and he cannot stay there any longer : and he sees the hell-hounds stand about him and waiting upon him to carry him to hell , o what horror doth this work upon his heart ! this hath christ delivered us from . death hath lest its sting in christ , it can hurt us no longer . ( secondly , ) from the victory of death . it is true we must lye in the grave for some time ; yet christ will fetch us thence , in john. 6. he promiseth no lesse than four times , i will raise them up at the last day . and this is the fruit of his purchase , 1 thes. 4. 14. christs resurrection is a certain pledge of ours , so 1 cor. 15. therefore let us not fear death , but embrace it with comfort : for death cannot touch our souls : it cannot deliver us over into the second death . he that overcometh , shall not be hurt of the second death . therefore let us not fear death , but let our slesh rest in hope . when we dye , we may commit our bodies to the dust with comfort : it cannot hurt our souls ; and it shall keep our bodies but a little while neither . god will receive our souls immediately ; & our bodies after a little while . how doth job comfort himself in this ? i know that my redeemer liveth ; and though after my skin worms destroy this body , yet in my slesh shall i see god , &c. thus may we triumph over death , that in this flesh we shall see god. and though death for the present do make such work upon us , and cast us into the grave , yet the earth will be but the mould wherein we shall receive a glorious body , so that death shall conduce to our great advantage . this is no little victory , to be able to triumph with the apostle . o death , where is thy victory ? this is no small priviledge . bless your redeemer for this priviledge . vvhat a priviledge well this be , when all the sons and daughters of god shall be brought sorth and made to stand up before him ? then it shall appear that the grave was not able to hold them . then will they triumph , and sing songs of salvation , when they shall set their feet upon their last enemy , death . secondly , it will appear what blessed news this is , if you consider , how he hath saved you . he hath saved you two ways , by might , and by merit . ●…irst , by merit , brethren , your salvation cost your redeemer dear , no less a price than his own invaluable blood . o believer , look upon thy self , art not thou a worthless thing to be redeemed with the price of christs blood ? o how should we admire the goodness of christ here ? we are not worthy that christ 〈◊〉 s●…end one of his thoughts upon us , much less that he should spend his blood for us . seconly , by might , my brethren , it was absolutely requisite for our salvation , that our redeemer . as he should be of infinite merit , so of infinite might . if he had not been of infinite merit , he could never have been purchaser of heaven for us . the soul of one man is more worth than a whole world : and then what worth or value must that be of , that is able to buy a world of souls ? and yet this purchaser must be able to buy heaven too : and this hath christ done for us . could heaven and earth have done this ? no , no , it would have broken them all if they had done it . but now christ hath done all for us : and therefore he must be of insinite merit . and not infinite in merit onely but might too : for he was to bear all the wrath of god , and to bring us off with victory . if the wrath of gods finger be so intolerable , that it makes poor creatures to cry out under it , what is the wrath of his loins ? and if the wrath of god against one man is so great , what is his wrath against so many men ? vvhen the price was laid down , the devil would not yield up his hold , till christ must come and cast him down , and pluck us from him . and therefore it was necessary that our redeemer should be of infinite power . he hath destroyed him that had the power of death , that is the devil . ah brethren , we may behold the lord jesus christ upon the cross , bowing himself as sampson did , and pulling down the house about his enemies , and carrying away the posts and all , and setting us free . this is our sampson that hath carryed all away , and destroyed our enemies for us . the price was sufficient to satisfie the justice of god for us : but when the price was paid , and paid to god ; then satan would not let us go : and therefore he must be overcome too . first use , is it such blessed news that to us is born a savior ? then my brethren , let this stir you up to joy and thankfulness for this salvation . o let me hear you say with mary , my soul doth magnifie the lord , my spirit hath rejoyced in god my savior , luke 1. 46. brethren , methinks you should now meet your redeemer with songs of salvation . methinks you should come forth to meet him , as they did saul and david , when they returned from their victory , the women came out , singing and dancing &c. and they answered one another as they played , saying , saul hath slain his thousands , and david his ten thousands . thus should you meet your redeemer . you should go forth to meet him as miriam and the women with her with timbrels and with dancings , and sing unto the lord , exod. 15. 20. 21. oh brethren , with what joyful heart should you welcome jesus christ your savior ! this is glad ●…idings to all them that are saved by him . blessed be god that giveth us cause to triumph in him . 't is true , in many other things it goes sad with us : but here is cause always for us to ●…o triumph in christ , for the spiritual deliverance that he hath wrought for you ; which is a sure pledge that christ will deliver you in outward respects . how blessed a time was the year of jubile to the slaves that were in bondage how did they reckon every day and week till it came ? how glad was that sound that sounded their deliverance ? methinks i see the prison doors open , and the prisoners running out and crying , salvation to our god. o methinks nothing but the songs of salvation should be heard in your tabernacles . o let not complaining be heard for outward calamities . vvhat are those outward flea-bitings to that which our savior hath delivered us from ? go home and blesse the lord : and what ever ill news you hear , let this comfort your heart that christ hath made such a deliverance for you . second use , is it such blessed news &c. then this reproves our unthankfulness for christ , and the news of christ in the gospel . oh brethren , how is it that the praise of our redeemer is no more in our hearts , and no more heard in our mouths ? how is it that we can be so unmindful of , and ●…thankful for this saviour ? hath god sent us●… saviour , and shall not we be thankful for him ? it is a great sin to be unthankful for his creatures ; but how much more to be unthankful for his christ ? he hath given you christ , and what can he give you more ? how is it that you are so seldome in blessing the lord for this mercy ? bless the lord , o my soul , ( saith david ) and forget not all his benefits : that is , none of his benefits . if god had given you all this worlds goods , and had not given you christ , what would it have done for you ? what had it been , but a smooth and pleasant way to hell ? what if the lord had given you honor , and made your brethrens sheaf to bow before yours , and had not given you christ ; what good would it have done you ? if a man were condemned at london , to be hang'd drawn and quartered , and were to be brought down into the country to be executed , and all his way should be strowed with rushes , and he attended with musicians , what would all this have done him ? o what should we have done , if christ had had not step'd in and s●…ved us ! none could have redeemed man but christ. heaven and hell , and the earth and the sea would have said it is not in me : all the things in the world could never have satisfied for our sins . wilt thou look to thy brethren ? wilt thou look to the angels ; they could not do it . the spirits of just men made perfect could not save themselves : none could do it but christ : and can you be unmindful of this ? the heavens and the earth will be astonished at this , if you are not thankful for it . there are two things that will heighten this ●…in . first , because christ hath given you so many helps to it . secondly , because thankfulness is all that he expects from us . first , because he hath given us so many helps . all the calls and invitations of the gospel are as so many helps to this duty . but more than these , he hath appointed a special day , and a special ordinance . first , a special day . the sabbath day . wherefore was this day changed ? but that you may be mindful of this mercy ? ( secondly , ) a special ordinance . the sa●… of the supper is appointed upon this account that we might remember this mercy to our souls . secondly , it is much aggravated by this , because this is all that he expects from you , for all that he hath suffered for you . christ hath done and suffered beyond all you can conceive , or i can expresse to you : and what homage doth he now expect from you ? nothing but that you should be thankful to him . and will you be unthankful now for this mercy ? this is that he expects by way of requital and return , that you be thankful , had the lord required some great thing of you , or some hard condition , if he would have dyed for you and redeemed you , would you not have done it ? and how much more , now he hath done it , and and requires no more but this , that you be thankful ? had you lain but one million of years in hell , with what gladness would you have heard that sound , that he would have redeemed you ? would you have stood upon the terms ? no , no , any terms then should have served . third use , then prepare to receive your saviour . oh if he be come , take heed that you receive him in . let him not complain of you as he did of his native country-men the jews , that he came unto his own , and his own received him not . when this news come , that there was a savior born , one would have thought that all the world should have received him with triumph : but there was no room for him in all the world , but he was thrust out in the m●…nger . let it not be so with you . question , but how shall we receive him ? i shall shew you whither and how . first . whither you shall receive him . receive him into your hearts ; not in your stal , as he was at first , but into your parlour , into your hearts . your parlour , is but a stable . thou mayst wonder that christ will accept of thy heart , send the key of your hearts to christ , let him take his choice where to lye : give him the upper room in your hearts . secondly , how , or after what manner you should receive him . ( first , ) as the centurion did , humbly . i am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof . so should you receive him , with a deep sence of your everlasting unworthiness . receive him with a lively sence of your sins , that you have wronged him . this is a right receiving of christ , when he is received penitently . thus did that woman entertain him : and christ liked better of this , than of the pharisce . luke 7. she received christ in her heart . this is the entertainment , that he is well pleased with : receive him thus , and this will be acceptable to him . though thou hast nothing at all in thee , but the sence of thy nothingness , christ will be sure to accept of this . ( secondly , ) receive him , as ●…cheus did , joyfully , when christ call'd him down from the tree , and told him that salvation was come to his house , how glad was the mans heart ? luke 19. o methinks i see with what unspeakable joy he received him . he thought not of christ's coming to his house : his highest ambition was that he might have a sight of christ : and christ sees and takes notice of it , and tels him that salvation was come to his house . o methinks , i should see thee looking as he did , when christ will come this way where thou art . why , now he is come in his ordinances , now receive him joyfully , take him into thy heart . let thy joy break out , as the waters of jordan did ; or as when the lord broke up the fountain of the great deep . brethren , one would think , that one should need no arguments to perswade miserable captives to receive a savior . o how welcome would such offers be to them that are in captivity ? brethren , if ever you have seen your lost condition without christ , you cannot but receive him when he is offered to you . o methinks this name of jesus should be marrow to your bones , and wine to your hearts , and musick to your ears . oh as god hath , so do you . give him a name above every name . this blessed name , the name of jesus , methinks it should be as oynment poured forth upon you , giving a sweet smell . thirdly . receive him as old simeon did , believingly . you must clasp the arms of your faith about him . o how sweetly did old simeon clasp him in his arms ? but you must think that he did clasp him more gladly in his heart . if you will but entertain him , christ and salvation come to every one in this house . fourthly , take him submissively . so as to be subject to him . he hath wrought out salvation for you ; therefore let him rule over you . a thanksgiving sermon , preached on the 10th . of july , 1665. at mr. r. m's by mr. joseph alleine , &c. psalm 147. 20. he hath not dealt so with any nation — praise ye the lord. the sweet psalmist of israel , a man skilful in praises , doth begin and end this psalm with allelujah . in the body of the psalm he doth set forth the mercy of god , both toward all creatures in general in his common providence ; and towards his church in particular . so in this close of the psalm : he sheweth his word unto jacob , and his statutes to israel he hath not dealt so with any nation . in the original , 't is he hath not dealt so with every nation . that is , with 〈◊〉 nation . in the text you may observe a position , and a conclusion . a position . and that is , that god deals in a singular way of mercy with his people above all other people . and then the conclusion , praise ye the lord. doct. that god deals in a singular way of mercy with his people , and therefore expects singular praises from his people . god expects of his people , return of praise according to the mercy that they have received . 〈◊〉 , was a man not altogether forgetful of the mercy of god ; yet he rendred not according to the benefit he had received from god. christ expects that ( math. 5. 47. ) his disciples should do more than others : that seeing they do receive more from him in a way of mercy they should return him the more praise and glory . the application ( my brethren ) is unto you . if god do expect that his people should do more than others , see that you do accordingly . let this be a provocation to you , my brethren , to lift up your hearts and voyces in the praises of the lord. vvhat people doth the lord expect such returns from , as from this people ? he hath not dealt so with any people , therefore he expects praises from you more than from any other people . therefore consider with me what the lord hath done for you more than for any others . if we look upon our selves as common members of the nation , and so god hath done more for us than for any others . or if we look upon our selves with reference to the particular place to which we belong , and so god hath done more for us than he hath done sor others , or , if we look upon our selves as to our particular persons , god hath dealt with us so , as he hath not dealt with any other people . first , let us look upon the mercies of god to us and the nation in common . surely we may say with the psalmist , he hath not dealt so with any nation . this is a land which he hath set his heart upon , and watche●… over it from one end of the year to the other . i will not speak of the outward mercies of this nation , though we have a land slowing with milk and 〈◊〉 . i will speak to spiritual blessings . oh , let it be remembred by us what spiritual mercies we have had ! how soon did the lord plant the gospel with us ? and how long hath it continued to us ? what would the world have been without the gospel ? what is the world without the sun , but the beginning of hell as it were ? i may say of you blessed are your eyes , for they see : and blessed are your ears , for they hear . psa. 89. 15. blessed are the people that hear the joyful sound , they shall walk in the light of his countenance , and in his name shall they rejoyce . none can tell what a blessing the gospel is . blessed be god who hath brought to light immortality through the gospel . oh! think upon our fathers who went into the land of forgetfulness by thousand 's and had none to teach them . and how long hath the gospel continned here ? we have it from good history , that in the primitive times the gospel was planted here . and when the gospel was again clouded by the invasion of the bloody saxons , that were heathens , god was pl●… to send ministers again to propagate the gospel , which was about 600 years after christ , when austin was sent over from rome . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after , god raised up famous preachers of the gospel . and though god was pleased to suffer another cloud to cover the gospel , when antichrist prevailed ; god raised up from one time to another , some to testifie against him , and to seal it with their blood . but i 〈◊〉 more particularly speak of these 〈◊〉 mercies of god to our nation . god hath made this nation signal in mercy . first , in the multitude of her converts . secondly , in the honour of her 〈◊〉 . thirdly , in the crown of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . fourthly , the glory of her ministers . fifthly , her singular and choice deliverances . 〈◊〉 , in the 〈◊〉 of her converts . herein god hath blessed this n●…tion above other n●…tions , an●… herein we have cause to blesse the lord. there is but little of the profession of godliness in other nations , to what there is in this n●…tion , 〈◊〉 a great glory to any place or people to have a multitude of converts born to god out of it . this was the commendation of those places , that this , and that man was born there , ps●…lm 87. 4 , 5 , 6. this is cause of singular joy and praise which they were wont to sing to the lord in those days with instruments of musick . secondly , in the honour of her sabbaths . this is that , my brethren , where in the lord hath vouchsafed singular favor to this nation oh , bless god for honoring this nation with his sabbaths as he hath done : that they should be so sa●…ctisied as they be . nehemiah reckoneth this as a singular mercy of god to them . so isaiah 58. 13. thou shalt call the sabbath a delight , and shalt honor it . if you honour them , they will be an honour and blessing to you . thirdly , in the crown of her martyrs . ah brethren , this is the crown of glory upon the head of england , that god should raise up so many martyrs in this kingdome , of our flesh , and kindred : that there should be so many caught up like elijah in siery chariots to heaven . who can tell of what effect their prayers and blood hath been for our good ? so that according to that holy prophesic of latimer , when going to the stake , god hath lighted up such a light by this as shall never be put out . fourthly , in the glory of her ministers . brethren , i confess my self not worthy to speak to you of the worth of this mercy . however vain men have accounted them the off-scouring of the world , &c. yet you whose hearts are touched with the sence of spiritual blessings , you must needs know and understand , the ministers of christ not onely to be the glory of the nation , but are so far honored as to be said to be the glory of christ , 2 cor. 8. 23. oh , blesse the lord this day , that he hath blessed this nation with such an unspea●… bl●…ssing . do not undervalue such a mercy . t is a cov●…ant-gift of christ to his church . he gave some apostles some pastors and teachers . and 't is part of the grand legacy that christ hath bequeathed to believers in the gospel ; 〈◊〉 paul or apollo all are yours . and though god hath now observed this mercy ye we may not forget former mercies . neither hath god l●…t them unuseful , you know , neither to your nor others souls . in this respect i may boldly say , god hath not dealt so with any 〈◊〉 . those that have had experience intravelling other countries have sadly bewailed this , how little heat and vigor there is in the labor of the ministers abroad , in other nations for the most part . fifthly , in her singular and choise deliverances . herein hath god dealt with us signally . i would that all those mercies might be remembred by us this day to our fore-fathers : for they were our mercies though not in our days . oh , what a mercy was it that god did deliver us from the spanish invasion ; this mercy was our mercy and therefore we may not forget it . and then when they thought to do that by plot , what they could not do by force in the powder-plot , when they were like to cut o●… the 〈◊〉 of our nation at one blow . god was pleased you know to prevent it just at the nick of time , and bring it upon their own heads oh , what cause have we to bless the lord , who saved us from so cruel a bondage , as neither we nor our fathers were able to bear ? oh forget not such a mercy wherein god hath broken the yoke and brought in that light that h●… hath commanded into the nation . secondly , if we com nearer , & look upon the place of our desires , you shall find that he hath not dealt so with any other place . if you consider it , in the long 〈◊〉 of your ministry . the powerful success of the gospel . in the peace and unity of its professors . in the plenty and variety of its provision . in the strange preservation of your liberty . in s●…ving you by your enemies counsel . in emin●…nt and gracious returns of your prayers . in keeping you from the ecclesiastical courts . in your glorious salvations and deliverances . put these nine things together , and tell me whether god 〈◊〉 dealt so with any place as with this place . first , in the long continuance 〈◊〉 your ministry . forty years was god striving with isracl , but many more years hath god been striving with taunton i●… the powerful preaching of the gospel . we read of gods comming the first and s●…cond year , and 〈◊〉 no f●…uit , would have cut it down the third , had not 〈◊〉 dressor prayed sor it . but 't is not three years , but threescore years that god hath come waiting on taunton , notwithstanding all their praying , and their great unprositableness for the greatest part of them . i beseech you think of it . is it a little mercy ? there are many of you that have been born and bred under the powerful preaching of the gospel . look upon many other places , and how many may you see left to blind guides ? oh , bless god that you have not been bred up under such ministers , and in such places . it was the lot of many , and it might have been your lot to have been brought up there . how many places may you look upon again , where there have been excellent ministers , and they have been flocked to from all about : but god hath put out those lights , and now if you come there , you shall scarce find the very foot steps of religion . and god might have done so to you , but god hath sent you one minister after another , one out of one country , another out of another for you . oh blesse the lord for it . secondly , in the powerful success of the gospel . true it is , and sadly to be bewailed , the gospel hath not had so desired an efficacy : but however , we must not forget gods signal and singular mercy to this place , in that he hath brought so many to the profession of his gospel . oh , how many parishes are there where professors are so thin , that they are for signs and wonders , to be pointed at ? oh bless the lord that he hath cast your lines in that place , where there are so many to strengthen your hands . how doth david bemoan himself in the want of this mercy , that he dwelt in the tents of kedar ! you might have lived out in those places and parishes where you might have had none to help you . thirdly , in the peace and unity of its professors . here in god hath been singular in his mercy . this is a mercy not slightly to be valued . do but look abroad into other cities and towns , and see what work there hath been by the breaches that have been made one upon another . oh , do but consider the mischief of strife and contention , and you will be raised to praise , jam. 3. 16. where envying and strife is , there is every evil work . oh blesse the lord that the hearts of believers have been made one in this place , psal. 133. 1. how good and beautiful is it to see brethren dwell together in unity ? blesse the lord you his people , because the lord hath blessed his people with peace . fourthly , in the plenty and variety of its provision . oh remember this this day , and forget not how god hath provided for you all along : and that at that day , when you did account that all was cut off . how little did we dream of such a mercy ? had any told us then of these things , we should have replied as that lord did , behold if the lord would make windows in heaven might this thing be ? ah brethren , should it have been told you before-hand that for so many years after that fatal day you should spend so many sabbaths in the worship of god , and so many sermons in one sabbath and so many ministers sent to you , and so many sacraments to feed you as you have had , you would have been ready to say , if the lord should open windows in heaven could this thing be ? and yet all this god hath done for you . oh blesse the lord for this mercy . fifthly , in the strange preservation of your liberty . herein hath god been singular in his mercy to you ; hath not christ fulfilled his word to you , he that loseth his life for my sake , ( so he that loseth his liberty for my sake ) shall 〈◊〉 it ? you have hazarded your liberties and have ●…ept them . many have declined their duty to preserve their liberty : but blessed be god that you have adventured your liberty and god hath kept you in safety . indeed , i can give you no time of your liberty : but i can assure you that if you lose it sor him , you shall 〈◊〉 by your losse . methinks christ says to us as to his disciples , wh●… i s●…nt you sorth without shooes or scrip , 〈◊〉 ye any thing ? and they said , nothing : so here , when you have gone sorth adventuring your liberties for christ , have you lost them ? you 〈◊〉 say , no. sixthly , i●… s●…rving you by your 〈◊〉 counsel . ●…ow visibly hath god turned what the enemy intended sor ●…vil , to be good to us ? so we may say as joseph to his br●…thren , as for you you th●…ght ●…vil to me , but god meant it for good . you know how they have despightfully removed the magistracy of the place , but behold how much the lord hath turned it for your good ! had they set up a magistracy , it had been the losse of your liberty . they had a spightful eye upon you ; and it was thought that 〈◊〉 long agone would have been too hot for her inhabitants ; & yet behold what freedome and liberty we have lived in ! behold , men curse , but god hath blessed us the more . oh , how strange a thing is this that you should eat and drink in peace ! and go forth and come in in peace ! that you should attend the ordinances in peace . seventhly , in eminent and gracious returns to your prayers . brethren , this is not to be forgotten this day . returns of prayer , do certainly call for great returns of praise . it hath been observed by those that have bin longer with you , than i , that they never remember that god was earnestly sought unto sor any particular mercy in this place but he did s●…d a visible return ; except once , when if god had sent you an answer according to your prayer , it had been the hazzarding of the people of god in this place . so that i may say to you , what people is like to you , who have god so near unto you in all that you have 〈◊〉 upon him sor ? eighthly , in keeping you ●…om the ●…astical courts . this is a mercy that we should be mindful os . indeed all along the churchmalignant , have been one os the persecuting enemies of the church o●… god. witness the scribes and pharises . witness the 〈◊〉 , who were all a long the stirrers up os men against the church . and so in divers 〈◊〉 men of late . nay , and at this day , through the rigour of these courts , especially in óther counties , many stand excommunicated : many are threatned with writs , and some taken and cast into prison for term life , unless god raise som unexpected means . now of all places one would have thought that we should have been dragged to prison by them . and yet you see how god hath preserved us . ninthly , in your glorious salvations and d●…liverances . oh , my brethren remember and forget not the dealings of god with this place . let god hear of it throughout your praises now ●…his day , what he hath done for you , in saving youwith such wonderful salvation . the sword , and famine , and plague , and fire have been upon you to consume you ; and yet you are here to blesse the lord at this day , methinks the lord cals upon you as in micah . 6. 5. o my people , remember now what balaak king of moab consulted , and what balaam the son of beor answered him , from shittim unto gilgal , that you might know the rightcousness of the lord. such is the language of the lord to you . remember now what thine enemies consulted against thee : howthey had gathered themselves against thee and besieged thee , and did resolve to devour thee with thy children , and not to leave thee one stone upon another . o remember my people when your houses were on fire , and the plague in the street , and the widdows crying , and the children fatherless crying . ah! pittiful condition . o remember now how i have helped thee , that thou mightest know that i am the lord thy savior . thirdly , if we come yet nearer , and look upon our selves with reference to our particular persons , as we are christians , and so god hath done more for us than he hath don for any others beside , therefore praise you the lord. and here i am in such a field that i know not the way out , you are the members of christ , the children of your father which is in heaven : what hath god done for you ! o you that fear the lord , praise the lord. you may stand amazed to see what the lord hath wrought ●…or your souls . this is the life of all , when you can remember the everlasting loving kindnesse of god to you . o friends consider now , you that are the lords peculiar people ; consider what god hath done for you above all other people . consider he hath made you , the people of his choice . the pillars of his name . the vessels of his glory . the temples of his presence . the trumpets of his praise . the men of his counsel . the jewels of his crown . the inheritors of his kingdom . herein god hath done more for you then for others : and should not you do more than others ? look upon these things , and see then whether you should not do more for god than others . first , you are the people of his choice , when others are but the refuge . you are the pillars of his name , when others are but broken and uselesse pot-sheards . you are the vessels of his glory , when others are the vessels of his wrath . you are the temples of his presence , when others are the styes of uncleanness . you are the trumpets of his praise , when others are the instruments of unrighteousness . you are the men of his counsel , when others are strangers and aliens . you are the jewels of his crown , when others are but the drosse and lumber . you are the inheritors of his kingdom , whe●… others are the sons of perdition . look over these things , and see what god hath done for you more than he hath done for others . but methinks , i see something that will spoil and damp all . oh , says the poor soul , i am afraid that this is not my right . i should bless ●…he lord indeed were i sure that all this were mine . how shall i know that this is my condition ? now lest unbeleif and distrust should damp your joy , and spoyl your work of praise , let me shew you to whom i speak : and let you know , how you may know that you are those that i speak to . let me shew you in two marks , whereby you may come certainly to know it : you may know it by your car●… , and by your comforts . what is your chief care and your chief comfort ? look upon your selves and judge of your selves by these two marks . first , by your cares . brethren , what is the chief care of your heart ? what is it that lies with most weight upon your heart ? or that you do prosecute with most care in your life ? you are the people of god if this be your great care , to please god , eschew sin , and save your selves . if this be your great care , then you are the men . methinks this should not be so hard to be discerned . dost thou not know what is the main scope and drift of thy life ? first , to please god. if this be your great endeavour whether you are present or absent , alone or in company , that you may please god , this is the true disposition of gods servants . do you study to watch over your hearts as in gods sight ? and carry it in your lives as of sincerity and in the sight of god ? 2 cor. 1. 12. and 2. 17. is your labor of love , and work of saith ( that is , working faith ) and your patience of hope ( in bearing the crosse ) not in vain-glory but in sincerity ? do you study so to walk as to approve your hearts to god , that you endeavor to please him ? that you might do those things that are pleasing in his sight ? then know and be assured that you are the people to whom this doth belong . if god say well done , you have your hearts desire , let the world say what they will to you . secondly , to ●…chew sin . this was jobs character , that he was a man fearing god and ●…chewing sin , job 1. 8. this was davids mark , that he did not regard iniquity in his heart psalm 66. 8. this was that did comfort paul , as the sure evidence of his sincerity , though he did evil many times , being overtaken with temptation , yet he allowed it not , rom. 7. 18. brethren , what is your greatest fear ? do you study duty more than safty ? do you fear sin more than danger ? do you keep up a constant watch against sin , all sin , little sins , secret sins , heart sins , especially are you afraid of your constitution-sin , your sweet sin ? and do you prosecute against this with double diligence ? thirdly , to save your souls . this was pauls care , 1 cor. 9. latter end . i therefore so run , not as uncertainly : so fight i , not as one that be●…eth the air : but i keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when i have preached to others i my self should be a cast away . he was one that was in good carnest he did run as one in a race : and fight as one for his life : and all lest he should come short of that salvation , that he had preached to others . so phil. 3. 13 , 14. one thing i do — i press toward the mark for the price of the high-calling . his eye was upon the crown of life . and this is so far from sinful mercenariness , that 't is made the condition of eternal life : that they are such who by patient continua●…ce in well doing , seek for glory honor , immortality ; eternal life , rom. 2. 7. now brethren , what say you to this ? what is your great care , and what is your great enquiry that you enquire after ? is it what shall i do to be rich or great ? is it with the carnal company , who will shew us any good ? any outward good , a good bargain or the like , or with him , lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us . and with the convert in the acts , sir , what must i do to be saved ? howshall i secure my soul ? what can you say to this ! do you first and above all seek the kingdom of god ? secondly , as you may know it by your cares . so by your comforts . is it the great comfort of your lives to converse with god ? and is he your portion and treasure ? a mans treasure may be known by his heart . is it that that doth yeild the sweetest comfort and content to your hearts ? are your sweetest hours , the hours that you spend with god ? do you never more enjoy your selves , than when you most enjoy god. and is this your ordinary frame , except in a time of temptation , or under desertion ? and when 't is otherwise are you out of your center , and cannot be quiet till you be otherwise ? is god your refuge and riches , your portion , your principal choice , your treasure ? and do you bless your selves in him ? can you say there is more gladness in your hearts , in the favor and enjoyment of god , than when the corn and wine and oyl increaseth ? do you indeed prefer a day in his courts , before a thousand in the pleasures of the wicked , and tents of wickedness ? if it be thus with you habitually , then you bear upon you the certain characters of gods people . and rejoyce you with joy unspeakeable and full of glory , and boast your selves in him : for all the things that i shall speak of , belong to you . and now if you find it thus with you , then apply to your selves these following comforts . and blesse your selves in your god , he hath done more for you , than for any others . first , you are the people of his choice , when others are but the refuse . o my brethren , i may say to you , as god said to israel by moses , deut. 7. 6. for thou art a holy people unto the lord thy god , the lord thy god hath chosen thee to be a special people to himself , above all people of the earth . this is your case , i beseech you christians , erect you faith , and let not your consideration be idle . hear him speaking thus to you , as in exod. 19. 5. you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people , for all the earth is mine . ah , beloved i must call upon you to rejoyce in the lord : and again must i call upon you to rejoyce : and lift up your heads before the lord ; you are the chosen vessels of the lord. what! will you hear these things with low affections and common hearts . do you believe or do you not ? if you do not , why are you called christians ? if you do , oh what an extasie of joy should your hearts be raised too ? oh look upon the miserable condition of the perishing world , the reprobate world ! look down , and see what burnings do betide them ! better for them that they had never been born . and shall it but a little affect you that god hath seperated you from them all ? i may say of you , as the apostle doth with thankfulness of his thessalonians , 2 thess. 2. 13. we are bound to give thanks to god for you brethren , beloved of the lord , because god hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation . oh how should you bless the lord for his eternal purpose , which he purposed toward you , eph. 1. 4. o let sree grace now be exalted , hath god made you . ( i mean believers ) to be the choice of his heart , and will you hear this with little and low affections , as if it did but little concern you , when you are the people of gods choise ? oh how did christ bless the lord for you ! and should not you for your s●…lves ? he was transported with joy for this , ●…ke . 10. 21. he rejoyced in spirit and said father i thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and h●…st made them known to babes . and he calls upon his disciples to rejoyce in this : rejoyce not in this that the devils are made subject to you : but rejoyce in that your names are written in heaven . your names are written in the lambs book of life , while others are written in the ●…rth . what! are there , but few chosen in the world , and are you some of those few ? and will you not rejoyce in this ? oh rejoyce in this . god speaks of your priviledges as if they were already come , heb. 12. 22. but you are come to 〈◊〉 sion , to the church of th●… living god , the heavenly jerusalem , and to an 〈◊〉 company of 〈◊〉 , to the general assembly , and church of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which 〈◊〉 written in heaven , and to god the judge of 〈◊〉 , and to the spirits of just ●…en ●…ade perfect , and to jesus the mediator of the new cove●… . secondly , you are the pill●…rs of his name , when others are but broken , useless pot sheards . my brethren , god hath raised you up for quite another end , than he hath others . you know what the lord speak of pharaoh , exod. 9. 16. and in every deed for this cause have i raised thee up , to shew in thee my power , that my name may be declared throughout all the earth . that god might shew in him the power of his wrath and severity . but now beloved , you are raised up for another end , that you may bear up the name of god , and be the instruments of the glory of god before all men . god hath no active glory from the rest of the world . but you are the people whom god hath raised up on purpose for his name and for his glory , ●… s●… . 18. 18. absolom , we read had taken and reared a pillar for himself : and he called the pillar after his own name . thus hath the lord god erected you as pillars to keep up 〈◊〉 name in remembrance . for the unreasonable creatures they cannot , but by dumb and silent 〈◊〉 to man , praise their creator . for the ungodly , they do the contrary , they dishonor his name . and were it not for you , the name of god would not be kept up in the world . god would be cast out , and the very remembrance of him out of his own world . oh my brethren , i may say of you , of every one of you that are believers , as god speak concerning paul , act. 9. 15. you are chosen vessels to bear gods name before the world . alas ! for others ! of how little use are they in the world ? this is a miserable case to be of no use ; better to have no being than to be of no use . how contemptible doth the lord speak of that wicked king coniah ? he calls him a despised broken idol . such a kind of one is every unsanctified person , they are but as broken useless pot-sheards : let them be so great as they will , yea they are worse than for no purpose , they are for bad purposes . oh , what cause have you then to bless the lord , that you are the people that must bear up his name ? thirdly , you are the vessels of his glory , when others are the vessels of his wrath , you are not as others , vessels of wood and stone ; but you are all vessels of gold and silver : vessels not to dishonor , but to honor . vessels sanctified , and made meet for the masters use , and prepared for every good work , 2 tim. 2. 20 , 21. ah brethren , read ( and rejoyce with trembling ) what is written , rom. 9. 18. onward , where the apostle lively sets forth this great distinction . h●… hath mercy on whom he will have mercy , and whom he will he hardeneth . hath not the potter power over the clay to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor ? what if god willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known , endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath sitted to destruction : and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory ? ah brethren , when others are vessels of wrath sitted to destruction , you are vessels of mercy , vessels of glory made for this blessed use and service that you may be the instruments of gods glory and mercy before the world : that god may take you and single you out at the great day , when you shall be severed as a man severeth the sheep from the goats . god shall take you and single you out before the world , and tell the world , what a god can do for a poor creature : to make you the monuments of his magnificence and bounty , to shew how he could exalt the dust of the earth . this is the use you serve for in the world . do not live as if you were made for little things , and for little use : you are made for this use , that you should be vessels prepared to have the infinite fulness of god pouring into you , as vessels standing by for the same purpose , and runing over to all eternity . when you shall be ever full and running over with the glory of god. when the al-sufficiency of god shall be for ever emptying it self into you . how is it that god hears no more of you ? hath he done so for any other ? no , he hath prepared them for vessels of wrath on whom he will be pouring out his wrath to a●…l eternity . both of these vessels were made of one sort of clay ; and yet see what difference here is that free-grace hath made . fourthly , you are the temples of his presence , when others are the styes of uncleanness , god doth live in you , and walk in you : this is the honor that god doth put upon you . the apostle tels you , that you are gods hou●…e , heb. 3. and god sayes of you his spiritual house , as he did of the typical house , ( for the sence belongs more to the thing typified , then to the house , ) 1 kings 9. 3. god says of every believer as of that house , i have hallowed this house to put my name there for ever . and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually . thus doth god for th●…e believer , that art his house . or as it is in , 2 kings 21. 7. in this house and in jerusalem which i have chosen out of all the tribes of israel will i put my name for ever . that was but a typical temple , you are the real temples of the holy ghost , 1 cor. 6. 19. what , know you not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you , which ye have of god , and ye are not your own ? every believer , is a real temple wherein god is especially present , so 1 cor. 3. 16. know you not that you are the temple of god ? and that the spirit of god dwelleth in you ? brethren , if you indeed believe , methinks this priviledge should be matter of unspeakable joy to you . what! art thou of no meaner use then this to be a habitation of god through the spirit ? what! art thou a temple for god to dwell in ? will god make of this soul a temple , where all manner of lusts have dwelt ? and say of thy soul , here will i dwell for ever , this is my rest for i have desired it ? oh , adore the riches of gods condescending grace ! others are the vessels of uncleanness , the coffins of rottenness , in whom satan hath set up his throne , 't is true of every wicked man , what god sayes of coniah , jer. 22. 28. he is a vessel wherein is no pleasure , he is a vessel of the most noisome filthyness in the world . fifthly , you are the trumpets of his praise , when others are the instruments of unrighteousness . o what base use are the others put too , in their bonds of wickedness ? to the worst of drudgery . they are the vessels of sin , and slaves of satan , rom. 6. 16. a miserable service ! this is a miserable master indeed ! none have such miserable lives as those who have the work of sin to do●… why , would it not pity ones heart to see a company of poor creatures laboring and toyling for their own ruine ? to see them tugging and sweating hard at , it were to carry together faggots for their own burning . this is that the wicked are doing , they are but treasuring up the wrath of god against themselves at the last day , they are but carrying together faggots and fewel for their own burning . they labor and sweat all their days to pile up faggots and fewel , pile upon pile , to fill tophet for their own burning . but you are not of this use , you are to be the trumpets of gods praise . oh blessed employment ! your work is the work of angels , whiles others are doing the work of devils . isaiah 61. 3. that they might be called trees of renown , the planting of the lord , that he might be glorified . and so in another place , this people have i formed for myself , that they may be for my praise . isa. 43. 7. i have created him for my glory , i have formed him , yea i have made him . when others shall be venting their malice and blasphemy against god , you shall be the silver trumpets that shall be ever sounding forth the praises of the lord. sixthly , you are the men of his counsel , when others are strangers and aliens . you are no more foreigners and strangers , but fellow citizens and of the houshold of god. you are the attendants of his person , you are of his privy counsel . you are the friends of god. this was abrahams priviledge , jam. 2. that he was called the friend of god. brethren , all the long and magnificent titles of all the monarchs of the earth do not signifie half so much as this that i am speaking to you . now this is your prerogative . henceforth i call you not servants but friends : and why so ? because you are the men of his counsel . the servant knoweth not what his lord doth , but whatsoever i have heard of the father that have i declared unto you . herein christ hath put a marvellous distinction between you and the men of the world , i may say of you as christ of them , blessed are your eyes for they see , and your ears for they hear . the secret of the lord is with them that fear him . so psa. 147. he sheweth his word unto jacob , & his statutes unto israel . he hath not dealt so with any nation . seventhly , you are the jewels of his crown , when others are but the drosse and lumber . and they shall be mine saith the lord of hosts in the day when i make up my jewels , mal. 3. 17. beloved , you that are beleivers , you are the very glory of christ. every believer is as a pearl put into the crown of jesus christ. the apostle speaks of beleevers , of his converts , that they were a great crown to him . he calls them his joy and crown of rejoycing , phil. 4. 1. but this is but little that you should be your ministers crown : i tell you , you are christ's crown and glory , isa. 62. 3. thou shalt also be a crown of glory , in the hand of the lord , and a royal diadem in the hand of thy god. eightly , you are the inheritors of the kingdome , when others are the sons of perdition , luk. 12. 32. fear not little flock 't is your fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom , so come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdome prepared for you . who can utter the sweetness of that promise ? 't is our saviors parting promise to his disciples at his last supper , luke 22. 28. 29 , 30. you are they which have continued with me in my temptations and i appoint unto you a kingdome , as my father hath appointed unto me , that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom , and sit upon thrones , judging the twelve tribes of israel . oh how sweet are these words . lay the mouth of faith at these promises , and suck the sweetness of them . look upon it as a reality , that god prepared for you a kingdome , 't is so , why should god go to deceive you ? and you may lay your claim to it boldly : god delights to see your humble boldness . the spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the sons of god , and if sons , then heirs ; joynt heirs with christ : heirs of his kingdom . fourthly , if you look upon your selves as prisoners , and so god hath done more for you then he hath for others . ah christians , this is the meaning of this day that you might celebrate the kindness of god to you in prison . o remember and forget not how signally god hath owned you . brethren , 't is your priviledge and mercy that god hath given you hearts to own him in times of danger . and blessed be god he is not behind hand with you ; he that owned you in your prison state . brethren how hath god owned you in clearing your cause for which you are suffering here ? if the kingdome of heaven be promised to them that suffer for righteousness sake , then sure it is promised to you : for you are suffering here upon that account . and then for your call : how sweetly and joyfully did we come hither ? though god knows we had not enquired into what we entended , as to our subsistance here ; yet god sent us all hither joyfully together ; and i hope god will send us home as joyfully again . but let me shew you , in some particulars wherein god hath done more for you then for others , as you are prisoners . first , you are better fed then others . who do live upon the bounty of gods extraordinary providence like you ? may not god almighty speak to you , as the apostie to them , 1 cor. 9 , 7. who of you goeth a warfare at his own charges ? vvhen our saviour sent forth his disciples without scrip or shooes , sayes he , lacked ye any thing ? they answered , nothing . may not we say so ? if he say to us , lacked you any thing ? we must say no , he hath poured out his kindness upon us . o how sweetly did the holy prophet , think you , rellish every bit of meat when god provided every bit so extraordinarily for him , 1 kings . 17. 6. and the ravon brought him bread and flesh in the morning , and bread and flesh in the evening , god doth not send it to us by a raven ; but by friends : but all he sends : bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening without our care . and is not god to be observed in this ? you know there is a kind of a famine abroad , but god will not have it a famine here . vvho ever wants , god will be sure that his prisoners shall not want . as the king took care of jeremiah , jer. 37. 21. then zedekiah the king commanded , that they should commit jeremiah to the court of the prison , and that they should give him dayly a piece of bread out of the bakers-street untill all the bread in the city was spent . vvhen jeremiah was in prison , god would be sure that he should not want as long as there was any bread to be had in the city . so god commands concerning his prisoners ; though there be a kind of famine abroad , god will not suffer his prisoners to want . secondly , you are better taught than others . vvho is like to you o people , about whose tents the mannah raineth , not every morning onely , but morning and evening : week dayes , and sabbath dayes , god doth open his door to you , and make every day as a sabbath to you . thirdly , you have more promises than others . now there are come in to us a whole shoal of of promises , that we would not not so properly claim before , 1 pet. 2. 20. if when you do well and suffer for it , you take it patiently , this is acceptable with god , 1 pet. 4. 13. 14. rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of christs sufferings , that when his glory shall be revealed , ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. if you be reproached for the name of christ , happy are ye , for the spirit of glory and of god resteth upon you , jam. 1. 12. blessed is the man that endureth temptation ; for when he is tryed he shall receive the crown of life , which the lord hath promised to them that love him . if you suffer with him you shall also raign with him , 2 tim. 2. 12. blessed are they that suffer for righteousness sake : for theirs is the kingdome of heaven . blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you , and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my name sake , rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven , math. 5. 10 , 11 , 12. time would fail me to go over all those promises that are come in now upon us all at once . oh we are an unthankfull people , if all these promises do not raise our faith and joy . is it a light thing my brethren , that you should be heirs of the promises ? fourthly , god hath hath honored you more than others . to others with you 't is given to believe ; but to you 't is given to suffer for his sake ; which the apostle reckons up as a step higher than others attain to , philip. 1. 29. fifthly , god hath intrusted you with his honor more than others . god hath put more into your hands , than into the hands of any other . gods glory is trusted morewith the sufferers of christ than with any others . o be infinitely tender of gods honor ! o see that you love him more than others : praise him more than others . a sacramental speech grounded on psalm . 40. 7. lo i come . it is my purpose to speak to you of the coming of the son , lo i come . now concerning this coming , i shall shew you . first , who it is that is come . secondly , how he is come . thirdly , whence he is come . fourthly , why he is come . first , who it is that is come . this is the first thing that i shall desire you to consider with reference to the coming of christ. ( first , ) the bridegroom is come . god sends his ministers to you with that cry math. 25. 6. behold the bridegroom cometh . o with what joy doth the bride receive her bridgegroom ? so should believers receive christ. arise you virgins then and come away . awake you virgins this is the call of your bridegroom , cant. 2. 8. the voice of my beloved ! behold he cometh , &c. and what was this voice of her beloved , that doth so ravish her heart ? see verse 10. arise my love ; my fair one , and come away , and so ver . 13. christ calls again and again ; and you should come away . ( secondly , ) your king is come . god sends his ministers to you with that glad newes , that he put in the prophets mouth , zach. 9. 9. rejoyce greatly o daughter of zion , behold thy king cometh . brethren , this is that which should cause you to rejoyce and shout for joy , that your king is come . and great reason have : for he is a great king and hath salvation with him , luke 19. 9. this day is salvation come to this house . ( thirdly , ) the deliver is come , rom. 11. 26. brethren , i know good news must needs be welcome to you at such a time as this : why hear you then the blesseds news that ever came to the ears of man , luke 2. 10. behold i bring you good tidings of great joy , which shall be to all people for unto you is born — a savior , which is christ the lord. ah brethren ! that the savior is come , the deliverer is come this is the blessedst news that ever man heard . hear what the lord saith with reference to this , in that of the prophet , isa. 62. 10. 11. he cals upon his people to cast up and prepare the way , &c. say ye to the daughter of zion , behold thy salvation cometh , &c. ah brethren , this is good news for zion , and this is the news god hath sent me with : behold the deliverer , the saviour is come . o with what a welcome should such as this be received when he comes ? how welcome was the news to the captives , that brought the news of their liberty ? why , such should be the welcome , that you should give to the news the gospel brings you of a deliverer . now is your jubilee , blessed are the people that hear the joyful sound psa. 89. 15. he alludes to the sound of the trumpets , in the time of the jubilee : but it is to be understood of the joyful sound of the gospel . it is blessed news that christ the deliver is come . secondly , i am to shew you , how he is come , there is a two fold coming of christ : his gracious , and his glorious coming . his glorious coming is not till hereafter , at the last day . this is the coming that he speaks of , rev. 1. 7. he speaks of it as if it were present : because 't is as certain as if it were present . every eye shall see him . but then there is his gracious coming , and that is two fold corporal , or spiritual . his corporal coming , in his admirable incarnation : his spiritual coming in the gospel invitation . ( first , ) his corporal coming in his admirable incarnation . and this is blessed news to the world , at this his coming there were a quire of angels to celebrate his praise , luke 2. 13 , 14. and suddenly , there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host ; praising god & saying , glory to godin the highest , and on earth peace , good will towards men . we read that the great and glorious works of god , they are celebrated by the angels . and there are these four great works celebrated by them . first , the work of creation . so that 〈◊〉 job . 38. 7. when the morning stars sang together , and all the sons of god shouted for joy. it is spoken with reference to the creation , the angels did list up their voices , and sang the praise of their creator . secondly , the work , of conversion , luke 15. 10. there is joy in the presence of the angels of god over one sinner that repenteth . the work of conversion is a great and admirable work : and therefore celebrated by angels . thirdly , at christs incarnation , so luke 2. 10 , 11. fourthly , at the resurrection . then all the angels of god shall appear , then shall be a most glorious and general appearance of the angels to celebrate that work , heaven shall empty it self of all its glorious inhabitants . ( secondly , ) there is the spiritual coming of christ : and this is in his ordinances . this is his chariot wherein he rides on conquering , psa. 45. 3 , 4. gird thy sword upon thy thigh , and in thy majesty ride prosperously . this is to be understood of christs going forth in the sound of the gospel , which is his sword , whereby he rides on to conquer the world . now in this respect christ is come , exhibiting himself in the voice of the gospel : there christ doth shew himself , and impart himself to his people . thirdly . i am to shew you whence he is come . he is come from the throne of his glory . from the court of his angels . from the hosome of his father . ( first , ) from the throne of his glory . o what a wonderful descent was this ! that he should come from the throne of his glory , to the manger among the beasts ? from the company of the angels , to be crucified among the theeves ! he came among the beasts ; the world would not receive him , but he was thrust out among the beasts . man by his apostacy had brought himself among the beasts ; and hither did christ come to find him . but he was humbled more yet ; from the throne to the cross . from the height of his glory , to the extremity of shame . o how should we think of the strange abasure of christ , that he that was heir to the crown of glory , should become man , and viler then any of the sons of men , in some respect ! this should have your great admiration . ( secondly , ) from the court of his angels . the lord jesus christ , he was the brightness of his fathers glory , the express image of his person , that made his angels spirits and his ministers a flaming fire . all the angels you must know were his messengers . and what abasure was here , that he should come from the company of angels to be contemned by the basest of men ! ( thirdly , ) from the bosome of his father . the lord jesus christ , he was the son of gods delight : his darling ; the beloved object of his soul , math. 11. 27. christ is he that lyes in the bosome of the father ; and he alone is able to reveal the secrets of the lord to the world , so john 1. 18. now that the lord jesus christ should come from the bosome of god , to the belly of hell , that he should leave the glory of heaven , for the torments of hell , and all for our sakes ; what a strange wonder of love was this ! hence was it that christ came for us . this is the bread that came down from heaven , that a man may eat of and not dye . fourthly , i shall shew you why he is come . and that is to seek and to save . ( first , ) to seek . that is one end of his coming , so luke 19. 10. and who do you think that he is come to seek ? it is us that were lost . all we like sheep have gone astray , now christ is that great & good sheapherd that came to seek and to save that which was lost , in luke 15 you read of the lost groat , the lost sheep , and the lost son : and who do you think this was ; this was the lost sinner , ver . 32. who was it , think you , that sought us , and found us when we were lost ? it was jesus christ : it was he that sought us . we had never found him , had not he sought us . i am found of them that sought me not , 〈◊〉 . 65. 1. if christ had stayed for us till we sought him , our salvation had never been wrought . the lord jesus christ he sought us not , and laid hold on us . he took not hold of angels , but of the seed of abraham . in effectual calling , there he takes hold of the sinner , he is fain to run after them and stop them , or else they would run into perdition . ( secondly , ) he is come to save , so the apostle to timothy , 1 tim. 15. this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that christ came into the world to save sinners , of whom i am chief . he puts in for one . oh brethren , this is that should make the coming of christ welcome to you , he came to seek and save you . o therefore welcome him at his coming . use. is it so , that christ is come ? then go you forth to meet him . math. 25. 6. that was the cry there , this is that which god sends his messengers to call upon you for , that you may go forth to meet him . but how should you go forth to meet him ? first , as a bride doth her bridegroom . secondly , as redeemed captives do their deliverer . thirdly , as dutiful subjects do their king. first , as a bride doth her bridegroom . this i shall open to you in three particulars . first , put off the rayment of your captivity . secondly , put on the wedding garment . thirdly , trim up all your lamps . first , put off the rayment of your captivity . if the poor captive woman were to shave her head , and pair ber nails , and put off the rayment of her captivity , &c. ( deut. 21. 13. ) before she was to be married to any one of the tribes of israel : how much more should you put off the old man and your sinful deeds , that are to be married to christ ? if so be the children of israel were to wash and sanctifie themselves , and wash their cloaths , when the lord was to come down upon mount sinai , exod. 19. how much more should you , when the lord 〈◊〉 comes down to you ? you know that children may not come at their fathers table with unwashed hands : neither must you to eat of the dainties spread in the gospel . ( secondly , ) you must put on the wedding garment . you will say , what is this ? it is a conjugal love to jesus christ. and this is compared to a garment : for we are bid to put on charity , or love . and it s set forth as the best part of the christian rayment : and above all things put on charity ; for what more fits a marriage than a conjugal affection ? you should bring forth your most strong and ardent affections and love to him , you should meet him with songs , and what songs ? such as the psalmist doth ps. 45. title . a song of loves , let your eyes be fixed upon christ in the gospel , till your eyes affect your heart : and while your heart is musing , the fire will be kindling ; where will you bestow your love , but where the bridgroom is so lovely ? ( thirdly , ) you should trim up all your lamps , you should snu●…f all your lights , and trim up all your lamps , to go forth to meet him , and receive him and feed upon him when he is offered : he is held out to you on purpose , in the gospel , for you to take and receive him . gal. 3. 1. foolish galatians , who hath bewitched you , that you should not obey the truth , before whose eyes jesus christ hath been ardently set forth crucified among you . but you will say was christ 〈◊〉 in galatia ? he was in the preaching of the word : he was crucified among them . secondly , you must meet him as redeemed captives do their deliverer , would you know how this is ? it is with palms of victory in your hands with garments of salvation ; with songs of deliverance . these are the three things wherein this stands . you have all together , in rev. 7 , 9 , 10. they were in white robes , the garments of salvation : and palms of victory , and they had the songs of salvation too , ver . 10. oh brethren , if you have any sence of your spiritual bondage and captivity , to be the servants of sin , under the fear of death , under the king of terrors ; then be glad in your redeemer meet him with songs of praise . o how should the high praises of god be heard in your mouths ? you should meet him as the virgins did david at his return from his victory , 1 sam. 18. 6. with singing and dancing — with joy , &c. thus should you meet your deliverer , you should compass him with songs of praise . o my brethren , you that are the redeemed of the lord , look down into the horrible pit , and then look up and sing songs to the lord. o it is a glorious salvation that christ hath wrought for us . how welcome was he to good old simeon ? how sweetly doth he hug christ in his arms ? ( and much more , you must think in his heart ) now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation . this we have seen , we have seen christ coming to us in the gospel . we have seen him like sampson , pulling down the house about our enemies , and carrying away the posts , and setting them up as trophies of his victory . it was he that was condemned , that you might be freed . o let your lips praise him , and the souls which he hath redeemed , let me call upon with the psalmist , psalm 98. a psalm on purpose to jews and gentiles to sing to the lord for their deliverance , vers●… 3. he hath remembred his mercy and truth toward the house of israel : all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our god. and what use doth the psalmist make of this ? vers . 4. make a joyful noise unto the lord all the earth , &c. he goes on calling upon all the creatures to praise god for this . if the sea must roar , and the floods clap their ●…nds , how much more should you do it , that are the redeemed of the lord. thirdly , meet him as dutiful subjects do their king. this is the news sent to zion , behold thy king cometh . then meet him as a king , receive him with acclamation and praise , as they did when solomon was proclaimed king , 1 kings 1. 39 , 40. they blew the trumpet , and all the p●…oplt said god save the king. and the people piped with pipes and returned with great joy , so that the earth rent with the sound of them . o if they met king solomon with such joy , how should you meet christ ? it is another manner of king that comes to you than solomon was , you should say to christ as they did to gideon , judg 8. 22. rule thou over us : for thou hast delivered us from the hand of midian . thus should you say to christ , rule thou over us : for he hath delivered you , not from the hand of midian , but from satan . but how should we meet our king ? prepare the way , bow the knee . ( first , ) prepare the way , math. 3. 3. christ had his fore-runner going before him , that was john , saying , prepare you the way of the lord , make his paths straight . how must the way of the lord be prepared ? every mountain must be brought low &c. every mountain of pride and opposition that are in our hearts must be laid low . o if there be such preparing for the king , where he is to lodge and go , how much more should you for the king of glory where he is to lodge ! ( secondly , ) bow the knee , we read of joseph , ( and you know he was a type of christ. ) that when pharaoh had exalted him from the prison to such dignity , he prepares some to go before him , and cry , bow the knee . so god hath set up christ and exalted him , and given him a name above every name ; now let me call upon you ( and my self with you ) that you bow the knee to him . i speak not of the bodily knee : it is more than your cap and knee that he requireth . he will have you to bow before him . o then see that you bow before him , see that you do him homage . now your king is set up in another manner than he was upon the crosse , behold your king. that is the duty that i would perswade you to now : behold your king and look that you bow to him . let your souls and all that is within you bow to him . let your understandings bow to him , by a right apprehension of him , by a right conceiving of him , as worthy to be loved and feared . let your wills bow , by an utter rejection of your sins : and a most ardent desire to receive christ. let all your affections come in and bow , and not dare to stir more than his commands give you leave . in a word let all that is within you bow before him , and give place to jesus christ. now down with the world , out with your lusts , and make ready for christ. let all your worldly business bow before him , and give place to jesus christ , away with this foolish deceitful world ; let all be at the seet of christ : and let all your souls be in subjection to him . this will be an acceptable meeting with him , if you so meet him . a sacramental speech grounded on , isaiah . 9. 6. and his name shall be called wonderful . quest. why is it that christ hath given to him this name of wonderful . answ. there are so many wonders that meet together in christ , that t is no wonder at all , that he should have this name , wonderful . christ was every way wonderful . he was wonderful in his person ; wonderful in his passion . wonderful in his conception , being conceived by the power of the holy ghost : wonderful in his birth , being born of a pure virgin : wonderful in his life ; wonderful in his death , and the effects of it : wonderful in his resurrection , that a dead person should be raised and that by his own power : wonderful in his ascension . in a word he was every way wonderful : wonderful in his humiliation and exaltation . ah christians if you would see a wonder , look upon christ , and here see a wonder , here is a wonder , above all that the world can shew . there are two sorts of wonders that god hath to shew , the wonder of his power ; and the wonder of his grace . first , the wonder of his power . what a wonder is it , to see such a fabrick as heaven and earth , all come out of nothing by the power of god. christians 't is a great evil in us that we do no more wonder at this great power . what a wonder is the sun , in its bigness and brightness , flying many millions of miles in a minute of an hour ! secondly , but all these wonders are nothing to what his wonder of grace is . in christ you may see all these wonders swallowed up . let me shew you a little of this wonder . in christ are to be seen these following wonders . 1. god manifest in the slesh . 2 , god suffering in the slesh . 3. justice and mercy sweetly r●…conciled . 4. the greatest good coming out of the womb of the greatest evil . 5. perfect justice raging against perfect innocence . 6 infinite wisdome at cost upon me●…r worthlessness . 7. the son of the blessing made to be a curse . 8. the father of mercy forgetting his bowels to his own son. ●…irst , god manifest in the flesh , john 1. 14. and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us , and we beheld his glory , &c. o brethren , this is a wonder indeed . the apostle tells you , that without controversie this is a great mystery , that god should be manifest in the flesh . here we may cry out deservedly , with wonder and astonishment , god is come down to us in the likeness of man. god manifest in the flesh ! why , what is flesh ? all flesh is grass , that is , fading , withering , dying . what! the word made flesh ! shall the immortal put on mortality ? and incorruption , put on corruption ? o what a wonder is this ! o behold and wonder ; see if christ do not deserve the name of wonderful . holy abraham , was ashamed of his meaness in this respect , when he came before god , because he was but dust and ashes . behold , i have taken upon me to speak to the great god , who am but dust and ashes . o then how is it to see god clothed with the flesh of man ? this was the wonder of angels . o how did they wonder to see their maker clothed with flesh ! o come to the cross of christ , to the cratch of christ , and there bow and worship . let not the humble abasure of christ , hinder you from adoring him in his greatness . the wisemen found christ in poverty & meanness ; yet they knew what glory was vailed under this meannesse : and fell down and offered gold , frankincense , myrrhe , &c. go ye and doe likewise . secondly , god suffering in the flesh , well may he have his name wonderful upon this account . 't is said that the philosopher , observing the unnatural cclipse of the sun at the suffering of christ , cryed out , either the god of nature is suffering , or the world is at an end . when christ was suffering , it was god that suffered , though he did not suffer in the godhead , but in the manhood . beloved , if you should have seen the judgement , that befel , korah , dathan , and abiram , would you not have been astonished at such a sight as this was ? much more if hell should have opened , and you have seen the torments of the damned , would you not have been astonished , and wonder at this ? but in this that god should suffer , is more then if all the men in the world should have suffered to all eternity . o how did the angels stand by the crosse , wondering , to see him whom they adored and worshipped , to be mocked and crucified . thirdly , justice and mercy sweetly reconciled . the justice and mercy of god , seemed to be , as it were , at a controversie about fallen man. darius , you know , had made a decree , that he that did offer any petition to any god or man , except to himself , within such a time , should be cast into the den of lions . daniel comes within the danger of this decree : and what must be done now ? either daniel must be spared ; and then , what would become of the laws of the medes and persians ? or , else daniel must be devoured ; and then the king would have been cruel to himself . yet providence did so order it , that the law was executed and daniel spared . so here , man had sinned ; and god said that he should dye , and now either man must dye , or god must be false of his word . now what shall be done ? the wisdome of god steps in , and finds out a person that should dye , and so gods truth be saved , and his mercy magnified . but where shall this person be found ? the angels could not do it : nor man could not do it . but god would take the humane nature upon him , and that should suffer , that god and man might be reconciled . mercy and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed each other . mercy and truth are met together , how can this be ? it seems they were at a great distance , & could not be brought together . truth said , that man should dye : & mercy said that man should be saved . truth said , if he dye not , i am a liar ; and where then is the honor of my truth ? but mercy pleaded , if he dye , where is the honor of my grace and mercy ? why now , wisdome puts in a surety , and that ●…oes for the principal . righteousness and peace have kissed each other . how can this be ? gods justice and righteousness did require that man should give satisfaction : but this is all reconciled in christ , he reconciled god and man together . fourthly , the greatest good coming out of the womb of the greatest evil . sin , is the mother of all evil . you will say , can any good come out of such a womb as this ? it is true , it cannot naturally come ; but god did so order it , that it should be the occasion of it . were it not a wonder , to see grapes come of thorns ? and olives of thistles ? such a wonder you may see in christ. you may see , out of the sin of man , comes great glory to god , and good to man. first , great glory to god : for had not man sinned , neither gods justice nor mercy had been so magnified . his justice had not been seen at all , in a manner , in punishing the offenders ; but 't is eminently seen in punishing of christ , who dyed for sinners . this is a louder demon . stration of the justice of god , than if god had turned all heaven and earth into confusion upon the sin of man. again , hereby is way made for magnifying gods mercy . the sin of man , as god hath ordered it , hath given way to god in the demonstration of his mercy in forgiving , and his justice in punishing it could not have bin thought , that god had been of so gracious a nature , able to put up such great affronts as man had given him , had not sin given him occasion to magni●… his mercy . secondly , again , as the sin of man hath given occasion to the advancing of gods glory , so for the promoting of mans good . by this man is raised to a higher state of happiness and felicity than ever he should have been . now there is a nearer conjunction between god and man , than ever was before the fall , or ever should have been had it not been for the sin and fall of man. before it was said , that man was made a little lower than the angels : but now it may be truely said , that he is so much higher than the angels : more nearly joyned to god. had man continued in innocence , he had had onely a lengthening out of his temporal life in paradise but now by his sin christ hath opened the door of heaven to him . o then wonder at the power of christ ! fifthly , perfect justice , raging against perfect innocence . you know that god is perfect in his righteousness and justice . a god of truth and without iniquity , just and right is he . and yet notwithstanding , his perfect justice was set against his own son , in whom there was nothing but perfect innocence . he was the lamb of god : a lamb without spot and blemish ; full of grace and truth . no guile was sound in his mouth ; and yet you know how the wrath of god brake out upon him . it brake out upon him to the very uttermost : that if he would but put himself into the room of man , he must dye for it , tho justice it self said i find no fault in him , yet he must dy : all could not save him : but if he will stand between god & offending man , and take our sins upon himself , though he had none of his own , yet justice takes hold of him . let me say as the apostle behold the goodness & severity of god. goodness to thee , but severity unto christ. o what had come upon you , if you had been to bear the blow ! you see how justice runs upon the son of god , and fals upon him , and tears him to the ground , and le ts out his blood , and would not spare him , though he were the only belovedson of god. o consider , how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living god! you read , how when daniels enemies were cast into the lions den , that they brake all their bones before they came to the bottome of the den . o how wouldst thou have been torn , had the justice of god taken hold of thee ! sixthly , insinite wisdome at cost upon meer worthlessenesse . god expects the blood of his own son , which was of insinite value , to redeem worthless man. would you not wonder to see a wise man to be changing pearls for pebbles ? yet here it is a greater wonder : the wise god , redeeming by the death of his own son , sinful man out of the hands of his own justice . why what is man ? are not all the nations of the world as nothing before him ? and yet upon this nothing , this vanity , is gods insinite wisdome at this cost , that he might save us from eternal death . seventhly , the son of the blessing made to be a curse , gal. 3. 13. christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law , being made a curse for us . observe it , 't is not said he was accursed for us , but a curse for us . christ hath delivered us from the curse : but how ? by taking the curse upon himself . you know the curses of the law that were denounced against sinners : all these curses met together upon one jesus christ. how is the book of gods word full from one end to the other with curses against sinners ! what a load then was there upon the back of christ , when all these curses met together upon him ? what a wonder is it that god should be cursing of his own son ! to hear god say , all my curses shall meet upon thee : cursed shalt thou be in thy body ; and cursed shalt thou be in thy soul. to hear the great god speaking thus to his own son , go thou cursed , i will engage my justice and wrath against thee , to torment thee and put thee to death . o what a sight was this ! yet thus it was with jesus christ. he had as many torments as members : and all the torments that he endured had the curse of god in them . eighthly , the father of mercy forgetting his bowels to his own son. vve read of a very strange thing that was done by the king of moab , 2 kings 3. 27. when he saw that the battel was too sore for him , &c. he took his own son that should have reigned in his stead , and osfered him for a burnt offering , what a strange sight was this ? yet there is a greater wonder than this to be seen in christ : to see god sacrificing his own son , and offering him up for a burnt-offering , to appease his wrath against sinful man : o shall not your hearts stand a wondering at this ! to see , he that was a god of mercy to have no mercy for his own son ? he that had bowels of pity for you , to have no pity for his son ; o behold and wonder . by this time i hope you are convinced that christ is wonderful . a sacramental speech grounded on eph. 3. 19. and to know the love of christ , which passeth knowledge . quest. wherein doth the love of christ appear to be a surpassing love ? this appears in his putting himself into our nature . his putting himself into our room . putting our lives into his purchase , putting his name into our bond . putting our names into his will. putting his spirit into our hearts . putting his glory into our hands . first , it appears in putting himself into our nature . what admirable love and condescention was this ? as we were creatures there was an infinite distance between us and christ : much more as we are sinners , but this infinite condescention was nothing to the love of christ. he stept from the court of his angels , to the reproaches of men at one step . o what a step was this ! for christ to take our nature upon him , is more than for an emperour to become a beggar . yea there is no comparison that can express it . this was love indeed ; surpassing love , that the lord jesus christ should have such a love to man : that he should become of 〈◊〉 to sinners : flesh of our flesh , and bone of our bone ; here is matchless unparallel'd love . secondly , it appears in putting himself in our room . christ did not onely become man with us , he doth not onely take the rags of our nature upon him , but our condition upon him , the pain , shame , curse that was due to us upon him . he was content to be in our stead : to su●…er , dy for us : herein is love , christ knew , before hand , what it would cost him if he would become surety for us : he knew the death we had deserved , the wrath that was our portion ; and yet he was content to put himself into our room , that we might be exempted and excused , christ hath put in himself for us , not to be bound for us for a time : but did engage himself , resolving to pay for us that we might be excused . it was much that christ did become man for us : but now that he should not onely take our nature upon him , but our curse upon him too , and become sin for us , and a curse sor us , this makes it more wonderful . it is strange that christ should take our nature upon him ; but if you consider the end why he did it , this would be more wonderful : it was that he might be miserable , and become capable to be accursed for us ! that he might be cursed and killed by the wrath of god! he had not become man , had it not been for this end . now that he should become man for this end , how great was this ? and yet this was his end . when justice must have blood , that he would take his blood and give it for us : and that he might , he would take himself a humane body and soul. thirdly , it appears in putting our lives into his purchase . this is another strange expression of the love of christ. o if christ had dyed for others and not for us : if he had put in others names and not ours , then we might have passed our days with sorrow : and gone into the mountains , and pined away in sadness . but now that he should leave out any others names and put in ours , o here is distinguishing love ! did you ever hear of a man that took in a beggar from the door to be his heir ? but suppose such a thing might be done : did you ever hear of a man that took in his enemy to be his heir , and made over all that he hath to him ? thus hath christ done for us . ah brethren , how may we stand astonished at this love , and say , as he , john 14. lord whence is it that thou dost manifest thy self to us and not to the world ? that thou hast put in our names and not others ? surely here is great grace . o the free grace of god to us ! though christ hath dyed , yet you know the greatest part of the world shall be never the better for his death . though he hath dyed for man , yet the most of men , through the obstinacy and hardnesse of their hearts do resist him : but he hath overcom the obstinacy of our hearts and hath made us partakers of his death . fourthly , it appears in putting his name into our bonds . herein is the love of christ manifested , in that he should become surety and bound for us . you know that the surety is to set his name to the bond . now a man will be very wary sor whom he is bound ; the man is not a man that is insufficient . did you ever hear of a man that bound himself for one , that he knew that he should pay it himself ? thus hath christ done for us : he knew that all our debts would come upon him ; and yet notwithstanding he did engage himself for us . beloved , the debt of sin is a very formidable debt : it is such a debt as if so be , the debt of the least sin had been laid upon all the saints and angels in glory to give satisfaction for it , they had bin drowned in everlasting perdition . but now christ undertook to pay for all out of his own stock , though he knew what it would cost him , if he did become bound for us , o what love is 〈◊〉 ! fifthly , it appears in putting our names into his will. brethren , herein is the love of christ seen towards his people , in that he hath distinguished between them and others . when he made his last vvill and testament , he put in believers names and left out the rest , rev. 21. 27. there shall in no wise enter any thing that 〈◊〉 , &c. but they which are written in the ●…mbs book of life . this is a priviledge indeed to have your names written in his book , upon his will. our saviour bid his disclples rejoyce in this that their names were written in heaven , in christs book , and upon his will : this is matter of joy . but how shall we know whether our names are written in heaven ? who shall ascend up into heaven to fetch it down from thence ? i answer ; we have the copy of his will here upon earth : this word is the copy of his will that is in heaven . if our names be in this book , our names are in his heart . now let us go to the law and testimony , what saith that ? that saith , if thou believe thou shalt be saved . if thou repent and be converted , thy sins shall be blotted out act. 3. 19 sixthly , it appears in putting his spirit into our hearts , ezek. 36. 27. and i will put my spirit within you . brethren , herein is the infinite goodness and love of christ seen , that he should bestow so great a gift upon so unworthy a receiver . o what love is this , that those hearts that have been the stables of unclean 〈◊〉 , that christ should take up his abode there ! here is strange love indeed . is it true indeed , will god dwell on earth , 1 kings 8. 27. and if it were matter of wonder to solomon , that god should shew some token of his presence in so excellent a fabrick as that was ; what matter of wonder is it that he should come , and make shew of his presence in our hearts ! seventhly , in putting his glory into our hands . this is the greatest trust that can possibly be 〈◊〉 into our hands , this is more worth than all the world : for all the world was made for this end , to promote gods glory . yea , it is better than the blood of christ : for the end is better than the means . now the blood of christ was shed to this end , for the glory of god. now then what a great trust is this , that is intrusted with you in your hands ? surely he loves you well , that trusts his glory with you . your unworthy walking will more dishonor christ , than any thing in the world beside . none can honour christ as you ; and none can dishonor him as you : let me put in that by the way . they that have such a jewel put into their hands , had need be careful . i hope by this time you are fully convinced that the love of christ is a surpassing love . use , there are two things that i shall hence presse you to . 1. to remember . 2. answer and imitate this love of christ. first , to remember this love. o christians , be sure that you never forget such love as this , cant. 1. 4. we will remember thy love more than wine : this is the duty that i am pressing you to , thus to remember christs love . brethren , methinks it should be impossible for you to forget such love as this . methinks it should be needlesse to bid you remember this love . let my right hand forget her cunning rather than i should forget the love of christ. let my tongue forget to speak , rather than not to speak of this love . we should sooner forget to eat than for get christ. and yet how apt are we notwithstanding , though we have to●… much reason to remember him , to have the memory of christ and his love out of our minds ! the memory of christ should be written upon us in marble and brasse , never to be blotted out . consider this love is a mindful , and a memorable love . first , a mindful love . never had persons so mindful a friend a●… we have in christ : our names are ever before him , they are engraven upon the palms of his hands . he can as soon forget himself as forget us : he can as soon forget his heart as forget us . exod. 28. 29. and aaron shall bear the names of the children in the breast-place of judgement , upon his heart , when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the lord continually . here you may see what a mindful friend christ is , for these things were typical of christ. observe●… , ( 1. ) the place where the names were to be written ; upon the breast-place of judgement upon his heart . ( 2. ) the 〈◊〉 why they were written there : for a memorial before the lord. he hath your names there that he might never forget you . ( 3. ) observe the ●…petuity of this ; for a memorial before the lord continually . and observe , these were to be carryed by the high priest before god when he went into the high place . christ hath not forgotten our names , now he is gone into the high place . you know how it was with the butler when he was gone into pharoahs presence , he forgot joseph and all his afflictions . but christ , he remembers joseph and his afflictions all the while , though he be in heaven . ( secondly , ) it is a memorable love. as moses spake of the night of israels deliverance , it is a night much to be remembered : so say i of this love of christ ; it is a love never to be forgotten . if christ do bear your names upon his heart , methinks that you should ever bear his name upon you hearts . the love of christ is worthy to be for a perpetual memorial upon our hearts . and therefore i may say to you of christ , as they of him , he is worthy for whom thou shouldest do this . quest. but what kind of remembrance should we have of this love ? answ. it must be a feeling , and a lasting remembrance . first , a feeling remembrance , it should not be a bare historical remembrance of christ , but all your affections should be drawn out after christ. he did not onely remember you , his remembrance of you was an affectionate remembrance ; he hath made it to appear with a witnesse . such should our remembrance of christ be . ( secondly , ) a lasting remembrance , it should not be at the quickning of a sermon or the like , but an abiding remembrance of him . brethren , our remembrance of christ should be a living remembrance . it should be with us as with a loving husband that hath lost his wife ; it seems that where ever he is , she should be with him : thus it should be with us , we should have christ ever with us . vvhat solomon speaks of the law of christ we should say of the remembrance of christ. when we go it should lead us , when we awake it should talk with us , prov. 26. 22. so cant. 1. 13. a bundle of myrrhe is my well-beloved unto me ; he shall lye all night betwixt my breasts . that is , say the dutch divines , the love of my beloved , especially of his death and sufferings , shall continucially be upon my heart ; and i will keep it close with me , to be my nose-gay : and the like . he shall lye between my breasts ; that is , i will keep the remembrance of his love upon my heart to comfort me . secondly , as you should remember , so you should be careful to imitate and answer his love . beloved , as the apostle says of gods love to you ; what manner of love is this , &c. so it should be said of your love to christ , what manner of love is this that you bear to christ ? it should be such a love , as that people may be forced to say , what manner of love is this that they bear to christ ? labor to have such a love to christ , so great a love , as that all other things may be nothing to you in comparison of the love of christ. and when you have loved christ as much as you can , weep that you can love him no more . a sacramental speech , grounded on eph. v. 2. but walk in love as christ also hath loved us , and given himself for us , an offering and a sacrifice unto god. my beloved , this subject , of the love of christ to sinners , is indeed an inconceivable subject . i have been backward to medle with it , for how shall i speak of that which i do not know ? for the love of christ passeth all knowledge . yet i shall a little open it to you , and shall make it appear that the love of christ is great to his people : though i cannot comprehend it in the length and breadth , and height and depth of it , yet this we may know , that he hath a very tender love to us , rev. 1. 5. to him that loved us , and washed us from our sins in his own blood . christ hath loved us : and would you have a proof of his love to us ? he hath loved us and washed us . he found us in our sins as swine in the mire ; and yet he loved us and washed us , when he was fain to stop his breath as it were and hold his nostrils , yet he would come and wash us : yea he would make a bath of his own blood . christ commended mary , that she washed his feet with her tears : but how is the love of christ commended in that he hath washed us in his blood ? christ hath our names down upon his book , rev. 21. 27. there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that desileth , &c. but they that are written in the book of life . mark , christ keeps his book for you , lest you should be forgotten , or there should be any mistake . it is a metaphor taken from men that keep their books , because they will not let any thing be mistaken or forgotten . yea , but books may be mislaid : therefore christ hath your names written on his breast . the high preist was to have the names of the twelve tribes upon his breast . so doth christ , he hath you , for remembrance sake , engraven upon his hands , isaiah 4. 9. 15. can a woman sorget her sucking child , &c. she may forget : but i have engraven thee upon my hands : yea he hath you upon his heart . he challengeth all the world for his love to you . he tels you that a woman may forget her child , but he will not forget you . a woman cannot chuse , but have a very tender respect for her child : for this child ( saith she ) have i born many a bitter throw and pain : now , for you did christ travail , isaiah 53. 11. and so the apostle peter , speaking of the resurrection of christ ( acts 2. ) he tels us , that he being freed from the pains of death , it being impossible he should be holden of them . the word in the greek signifies birth-pains . believers , they did as it were , come forth of the womb of his love . there is the very picture of a believer upon the heart of christ. so that he cannot look upon his hands or his heart but he must be put in mind of us : so dear was was his love to us . what characters of love be ther that cannot be found in christ ? love covereth a multitude of faults . and o how may this be seen in christ ? we have may sins ; and yet christ passeth by them all . thou art all fair , there is no spot in thee , cant. 4. 7. again love is strong as death . and so it was in christ , his love was stronger than death : he under went death it self for us . he was not afraid to passe under the pangs of death that he might redeem us . again , love fils the heart with love to the person beloved what a dear respect hath christ for his spouse ! every thing of theirs is sweet to him . come my love that art in the clefts of the rock , in the secrets places of the stairs , let me see thy countenance , let me hear thy voyce , for sweet is thy voyce , and thy countenance is comely , cant. 2. 14. the church says she is black but christ says she is comely . but more particularly , i shall shew you some evidences of the greatness of christ's love . his letters , are letters of love. his lips , they are lips of love. his tokens , are the tokens of love. his test●…ment , is the evidence of love. his blood is a stream of love. 1. his letters are the letters of love , the gospel , is the book sent down from heaven , wherein every chapter is a letter of love . thou art ready to faint sometimes , christian , and unbelief is ready to prevail : here thou mayst read the promises under christs own hand , sent down srom heaven to thee . here thou mayst read how love did care sor thee , when thou wast in thy blood ; he said live. here thou mayst read what expressions of love there was between christ and thee , when he was wooing of thee : here are the letters of his love . here thou mayst read those loving , melting passages of his , whereby he woo●…d thee and prevailed with thee . here he shews , though he be absent for a while , yet he will come again . here he hath set the time and the day when thou shalt be marryed to him : even when the body of christ is compleat . o how canst thou hear these letters of love , and not be in love with christ again ? secondly , his lips are lips of love , the kisses of his mouth are sweeter than wine ; the words of his mouth are better than life . his lips drop as the honey-comb . never man spake like this man : all that heard him bare him witnesse , and wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth . well did mary chuse to sit at the seet of christ , rather than at the feast : she found more sweet in the honey-comb of christs lips , than at the feast . let us but look over the last sermon of christ , and the last prayer of christ , and how may this set us a loving of christ. look over his last sermon , john 14. 15 and 16. chapters , how lovingly doth he dispute down the unbelieving fears of our hearts ? let not your heart be troubled . and he propounds loving arguments : though he be gone , he will send us the comforter : and he will not be long from us neither , and then we shall be in no worse a case or place than he himself . and in the mean time , his going from us is out of love to us : not because he wanted love for us , but because he went to prepare a place for us . look into his last prayer , and how lovingly doth he carry us in his arms to his father , when he was going out of the world , begging his fathat he would sancti●…ie us , and keep us from the evil of the world , and that he would at length bring us to enjoy his glory . thirdly , his tokens are tokens of love . as a woman will be often looking over her tokens , because in these she sees the heart of her beloved ; so if you would be in love with christ be often looking over the love-tokens of christ. thou canst not turn thy eye but thou must see his tokens . but there are three or four tokens especially that you should be looking into . ( first , ) he hath sent thee a pardon for thy sins . o what a blessed token is this ? psa. 32. 1 , 2. blessed is the man whose sin is for given , &c. he is blessed and blessed again : over and over blessed ; he is a thrice happy man that hath got his pardon , why , this is the token that christ hath sent thee that art a believer . o look after thy pardon , and thou shalt find that thy pardon is written in the blood of christ : for it was his blood that made satisfaction . he loved thee , and therefore washed thee from thy sins in his blood . o with what joy and sweetness shouldest thou look over thy pardon , christian ! it is that which must carry thee through all thy dissiculties . doth the devil assault thee ? do but shew thy pardon and this will worst him . doth the lord frown upon thee ? shew him thy pardon , this will silence him . doth thy conscience accuse thee ? shew it thy pardon , and that will quiet it . ( secondly , ) he hath sent thee a patent for heaven , this hath christ given you that are believers : he hath made over to you in his gospel a sirm conveyance of heaven . so that i may say a believer hath as true a right to heaven as christ can make him ; yea as christ hath himself . you are they that have endured in my temptations , and i appoint unto you a kingdom as my father hath appointed me , &c. now believers , can you tell the worth of this token ? can you cast up the worth of endlesse glory ? can you tell what god and heaven is worth ? then you may tell me what this token is worth ; never was there such a token sent as this is ? ( thirdly , ) he hath sent thee the golden chain of the jewels and bracelets of thy graces . as when the servant of abraham , went to take rebeckah for wife to isaac he gave her bracelets , &c. so hath christ to you : he hath given you the chain of all the graces . these are the jewels he hath adorned you with . dost thou find any faith , love , &c. in thee ? though it be like a grain of mustard-seed , and like a spark on the hearth ? o blesse the lord christ upon the bended knees of thy soul , that he hath given thee this . he hath done more for thee in this , than he hath done for all the world beside . o how thankful should you be , that have received such a token from him ? christian , when ever thou dost feel the operation of the spirit of christ within thee , let this mind thee of the love of him that hath sent thee all this . ( fourthly , ) he hath sent thee the seal and testimony of his spirit . hast thou received the spirit of adoption teaching thee to cry abba father ? it was he that sent it . hast thou so sure a guide , as the sweet compassionate spirit ? so loving a counseller as the spirit of christ in thee ? o take notice of the love of christs in sending him to thee . fourthly , his testament is the evidence of love , beloved , it is impossible for me to utter , or you to conceive the riches of christs love expressed to you in his testament , his covenant : herein , christian , thou mightest read the strange love of christ to thee , in that he hath given thee his testament , and delivered it to thee as his act and deed , sealed with his own blood . o how much did david make of this ? it was the last words of that sweet singer of israel . although my house be not so with god , yet be hath made with me an everlasting covenant , ordered in all things and sure and this is all my sa'vation and all my desire , 2 sam. 23. he had all that heart could wish sor in this covenant . o christian , hath christ given thee his covenant ? o make much of this covenant , 't is a sweet token indeed . o the great priviledges and sweet immunities that are conveyed to believers here ! freedome from sin ; from the guilt and power of sin . freedome from misery ; from the wrath of god , the curse of the law , from the sting of death , from the evil of the world , from the danger of hell . and beside all this , what legacies hath he given thee in the covenant ? god for thy father , himself for thy saviour , his spirit for thy comforter and sanctifier , his ministers for thy teachers , his ordinances for thy furtherance in grace : there he hath given thee thy adoption and assurance for heaven . do but look over this , and say if thou canst , that christ hath not loved thee . fifthly , his blood is a stream of love , dost thou doubt of the love of christ ? do but look upon him on his crosse , how his feet and hands and heart are pierced : thou mayst see the love of christ flowing out of every part . use , now since christ hath so loved you , you that are his people do you love him again o where should you bestow your love , place your affections , fix your hearts but here ? i shall give you two motives . he desires your love : and he deserves your love . first , consider he desires your love . you have seen a little how christ doth love you ; and what doth he expect , but that you should love him again ? and can there be any thing less that he could require ! o methinks thou shouldest give up thy heart to christ. this is all that he expects for this love , that you should love him again . this christ will accept , and nothing short of this will he accept . love cannot be satisfied , but by love again . it must be paid in its own coyn , cant. 8. 7. if a man would give all the substance of his house for love , it would be utterly contemned . as no treasure in the world can buy love , purchase love ; so no sufficiency in the world will be sufficient for love , unlesse , you give love your love again , 1 cor. 13. 3. now christian , be perswaded then to give away thy heart out of hand to christ. o bestow thy love upon him , wherehast thou such a thing in thee , but that thou shouldst love christ ? doth any man plant a vineyard , and not expect to eat of the fruit of it ? hath he put love into thee , and doth not he expect that thou shouldest love him ? secondly , he deserves your love . i may say of him as they of the centurion : he is worthy thou shouldst do this thing for him ; for he loveth our nation . worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive honor and strength , &c. he is worthy to receive all , that you can give unto him . if there were any thing else that were worthy of your love , there might be some excuse that you did not bestow it upon christ. but alass there is nothing here that doth deserve your love . as paul said , was paul crucified for you , &c. so may i say were these things crucified for you ? but christ was crucified for you : he hath deserved your love . this is he that came in to the world to seek and to save . that came and found you naked and dead and wounded : and then let out his blood and cured you . this is he that when he came , you spit upon him , and refused him ; yet he would not be put off from you so , but he would do you good . how often hath he come and refreshed you with the refreshings of his love ? how often hath he taken you into his galleries and filled you with his secrets ? you that are believers may remember the places where he hath given you visits , and made you tast of the powers of the world to come . a sacramental speech , grounded on math. 15. 28. o woman , great is thy faith . we have read many noted and remarkable stories of sundry great exploits , that have been done by the renowned worthies of the world : but there are no exploits nor atchievements , so renowned as those that been done by faith . the scripture give us many instances of this kind ; and shews us how greatly the lord jesus christ was pleased with the lively actings of his peoples faith . faith is of great price with , and shall obtain great praise from the lord jesus christ. in this chapter , you have a most notable victory that was obtained by a poor woman , by the power and strength of her faith , here a poor weak woman by the strength of her faith wrestling with jesus christ , obtains the victory ; that he could no longer hold but grants her request . her faith did notably discover it self in putting her upon saing to christ. nature will send men in their distresses to natural helps ; but faith will send them to christ , to seek their help in him . and then her faith discovers it self in putting her upon pursuing of christ. christ seems to give a repulse to her faith , he answereth her not a word ; he was resolved to put her faith to it : that he might exercise her faith . yea when the disciples came to speak for her ; he answered , i am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of israel . but she makes another onset upon christ. then came she , and worshipped , saying , lord help me . well , but he gives her another repulse , he seems to put her off with a check ; 't is not meet to give the childrens bread to dogs . but behold the importunity of faith ; she pursues the victory still , she confesses that she was but a dog , but she pleads that she might have the priviledge of a dog : even the dogs have the crumbs that fall from their masters table , and though i be a dog , yet let me have the crumbs . well now , he could no longer hold , but , as joseph he breaks out in the praise of this womans faith . o woman great is thy faith . in luke 5. you have the sick of the palsie suing to christ for cure and observe how earnest he is , when they could not find which way to come to christ , they went to the house top and let him down in the midst before jesus . here was a lively faith indeed , it could by no means be kept off from christ , and how greatly was christ pleased with this ? be of good cheer , thy sins are forgiven thee . o this was the voice that faith would have had : this was the word that faith looked for . as christ is pleased with faith , so he gratifies it , and gives it the answer that it would have , what word can be so sweet to faith , as son thy sins are forgiven thee ? quest. but why is christ so greatly pleased with his peoples faith . answ. first , because this is the great thing commanded by him . christ layes more stresse upon this command than upon all the rest : to wit the command of believing , john 6. 29. this is the work of god , that ye believe on him whom he hath sent . this is the work of god. the work with an emphasis , none to this ; this is the great command , 1 john 3. 23. this is his command , that we should believe on the name of his son jesus christ. there are many other commands , but this is the great command of all . and therefore 't is that christ doth so generally please himself in , his peoples faith : becauses this is the great thing that he requires of us . secondly , because this is that which doth set so great esteem upon him . christ prizes faith , for faith above all things prizes christ , and gives glory to christ. christ is not magnified and glorified in any thing so much , as by his peoples faith . faith empties us of our selves , and gives all the glory to jesus : makes us vile in our own eyes , and magnifies christ in our eyes , 1 pet. 2. 7. unto you therefore that believe he is precious . faith and christ they are mutually precious one to another . o the sweet embraces there are between these two friends when they meet ! o precious faith , faith christ , 2. p●…t . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . and o precious christ , saith faith . o precious savior , saith faith , and o precious servant , saith christ. ●…aith saith , none but christ ; and christ saith , none but faith : onely believe . sith therefore christ is so precious unto faith , no wonder that faith is so precious unto christ. now then beloved , stir up your faith ; abound in the lively exercise of your faith : and thereby you may be very pleasing to jesus christ nothing will please him like this . if thou art a believer , i know it is in thine heart to please thy lord. if thou knewest what would please him , woulst thou not do it ? how is the church pleased , to think how she would please jesus christ ? cant. 1. 12. while the king fitteth at his table , my 〈◊〉 sendeth forth the smell thereof . it gave her great content , to think how she would please jesus christ. would you know how to please jesus christ ? here you are directed : be much in believing , learn the skil of believing ; be much in the exercise of your faith . as david danced befo●…e the ark with all his might , so put forth your faith with vigor and activity . in this above all things you will be pleasing to jesus christ. we read how h●…rod was pleased with herodias daughter when she danced before him , mar. 6. 22. insomuch that he sware to her , to give her what she should ask , even to the half of his kingdom . thus do thou put forth thy faith in a lively activity , and he will be pleased infinitely with this , that he will swear to thee thou shalt have thy asking . now for a lively faith , to lay hold of christ. where is thy faith , christian , try now what thy faith can do . quest. but wherein should your faith act so vigorously , that you may please jesus christ ? answ. first , in a way of anmhilation . or emptying your selves of your selves . this was the way , the centurious faith did please christ so much , making him so little in his own eyes . and this was the way the woman of canaan did please christ with her faith . faith is a grace that will exceedingly little us , and abase us , it will make thee that art as big as a camel , to be little enough to go through an eye of a needle . it will make thee seem less and worse then nothing . it will make thee not onely to cease admiring thy self , but to abhor thy self , and repent in dust and ashes . it will shew thee what christ is ; and seeing him by thee , thou shalt disappear , and see nothing in thy self but unworthiness . the glow-worm shines in the night ; but when the day springs it cannot so much as be seen . when this orient sun christ ariseth , to the eye of faith , then self will not be seen , it will not appear . faith will lay thee where thou shouldst be , in the dust and then christ will be where he should be , in the throne . when man stands for a cypher th●…n christ signifies somewhat indeed . when man sets down himself for a bankrupt , then he s●…es out for the unsearchable riches of christ. o be much in exercising thy faith , and that will empty thee to purpose . this is the language of faith , lord i am undone , do thou set me up , i am a bankrupt , do thou pay my debt . lord , my rig●…ousness is but rags : my beau●…y , is but rottenness : my pedigree , is but baseness : my portion , meer poverty : my power , meer infirmity : lord , here is work for thee : help lord ! this is the language of faith : and therefore it is , that christ and faith do fit so well together . faith hath need of every thing that christ hath , and christ hath a supply for every want that faith hath . as for unbelievers , they make light of christ , they are rich , and need not his gold : they are well , and have no need of his salve . but now faith , that empties and humbles the man , and makes him to sue out to christ : faith will fetch out all that is in christ. lord , here is a beggar for thy bounty here is a lazarus , for thy cure . here is a palsie hand , a blind eye , here is a wound for thy salve . christ , he comes as an open fountain , and faith brings an empty vessel . christ comes with a full purse , and faith with an empty hand . christ comes with an open hand , and faith with an open mou●… . christ comes giving , and faith comes gaping . faith comes , lord , here is a belly for thee to fill : here is a back for thee to cover . i am poor and am robbed of all , i have not a penny left , and none can help me but thee , i starve unlesse thou help . thus faith comes as a hungry child fixes his ey upon the eye of his father , earnestly looking upon him , when some relief will come to him : so doth faith upon christ , looking when somewhat will come to him . secondly , by way of acceptation , receiving of christ , to as many as received him , to them gave he power to become the sons ●…od even to them that believe on his name , john 1. 12. faith sits like the cripple at the beautiful gate of the temple to receive an alms . beloved , the gospel is the great mart , and your souls are the ship , and faith is the receiver , to take in the lading . o let your faith be active , that you may go away greatly loaden . as christ said , receive you the holy ghost , so do you receive christ : accept of christ , while he tenders himself to you . while he is tendering himself to you , let your souls answer , lord , with my whole heart do i accept thee , i take thee at thy word to all intents and purposes . i take thee not onely to receive thy pay , but to fight under thy banner : not onely to be justified by thy righteousness , but to be governed by thy laws . this is the great and vital act of faith , that is of absolute necessity to salvation . the lord jesus christ is offered to you . in the name of the eternal god i offer him to you all ; see that you take him by faith . o saith faith lord i accept thee , you will all say we will have christ , we must perish else : but consider it , be not rash , know the manner of your husband : if you will have christ , you must not live as you list : you must be under government , and strict government , you must not have him and the world too ; you must cast your worldly hopes over board . you must take him upon his own conditions . his condition is very low sometimes in the world , sometimes he hath a bed , and sometimes he hath none : you must run all hazards with him ; you must suffer with him if you 〈◊〉 reign with him . now what saith your faith to this ? o saith faith , i will take him with all my heart . faith saith as ruth to naomi , ruth 1. 16. whither thou goest , i will go ; and where thou lodgest , i will lodge , thy people shall be my people , and thy god my god but how must your faith accept of christ ? ( first , ) accept the person of christ. the lord jesus christ is offered in a marriage covenant to you in the gospel : and a marriage , is not between a person and patrimony ; but person and person : true faith is not onely for the benefits of christ but the person of christ. there is great difference between the sick man , and the sick spouses taking the physician : the sick man takes him for his skill , but the spouse for his person . the sick man taks him till the cure be done , and than values not the physician : but the spouse for hers in all conditions for ever ; she takes his person . thus must your faith do ; you must chuse the lord jesus christ , not for the salvation onely that he brings , but the excellency that is in him . as christ will not be contented with any thing of yours , but you : so should you do , be contented with nothing of christ , but himself . secondly , you must accept the pardon of christ. christ , with his person doth offer you all his 〈◊〉 . and as 't is in marriage that then , and then onely , and not otherwise shall the wife have the state. so take christ and you have all the benefits that come by him . he comes with his pardon in his hand , and if you will accept him , you shall have his pardon by him . ( thirdly , ) the promises of christ. all the promises are in him yea , and in him amen . take christ and you may lay hold of all the promises as yours . ( fourthly , ) the purchase of christ. 't is a kingdome that is offered to you all , in the gospel : take christ , and you shall be heirs of a kingdom . lay hold of christ , and you do at the same time lay hold of ettrnal life . thirdly , by way of exultation , rejoycing in christ , triumphing in christ , 2 cor. 2. 14. thanks be to god , that giveth us always cause to triumph in christ. your faith should be triumphing , you should triumph in the victory , mercy , merit , promises , riches , kingdom of christ. o you that are believers , you have cause indeed always to triumph in christ. what ! have you received the lord jesus christ ? are you married to such a husband ? o how sho●…ld you boast of him , o how should you please him ? how should you glory in the booty that you have got ? you have got a prize indeed . thou that hast got christ , hast a husband indeed : let your hearts rejoyce in him thou art a believer , thou are really espoused to jesus christ : thou mayst make as real a claim to the lord jesus christ , as a wife to her husband . and thou mayest make as real a claim to the purchase of jesus christ , as a wife to the state and goods of her husband . these are not vain and empty words : no , no , there is the greatest reallity in the world in this ; 't is as true as any thing in the world can be true . thou hast a real interest in the lord jesus christ , and may'st boldly make thy claim to him as thine own husband : do i speak any thing but what the lord hath spoken ? you are maried unto christ that was raised from the dead , that you might bring fruit unto god , rom. 7. 4. mark , 't is not my word , 't is gods word . take heed thou dost not blaspheme : dost thou think that god doth go to deceive thee ? far be it from thy thoughts . believer , 't is so : of a truth christ is thine ; thy husband , and thou mayst boldly lay claim to him . consider what a husband christ is : is not he the king of the kings of the earth ? this is he unto whom angels , and authorities and powers are made subject : this is he whom all the angels of god do worship : heaven and earth are at his beck : he is exalted above all heavens , and hath a name above every name that is named : this is thy beloved and friend . o should not thy faith triumph in him ? fourthly , by way of resignation , in giving up your selves to jesus christ. faith , as it takes christ , so it delivers up the soul to christ. faith makes a happy exchange for us , giving away the man to christ , and receiving christ for us . thus , between christ and a believer , there is a mutual delivery of themselves over to one another . as faith receives christ , so it gives up the soul to christ , and all that it hath ; lord , saith faith , i here resign to thee : i quit all claim to my self , i am not my own : and will own it henceforth , that i have no right to my self . i give up soul and body to thee : i will hold back no part of the price . and as faith takes first the person of christ , and then the benefits of christ : so it gives away the person of the man to christ , and then with the person it gives all the rest ; the estate , interest , and all to jesus christ , thus you should be exercising your faith . fifthly , by way of adoration , thus saith should put forth its self upon christ : casting our crowns before him : setting up the lord jesus christ in the throne of his own excellency , and we should admire nothing but him , breaking in pieces all our idols , and pulling them down , that christ alone may be exalted . sixthly , by way of appreciation , prizing and esteeming of christ , debasing self and all other excellencies in comparison of christ : accounting all things but dung for christ , such was pauls faith . seventhly , by way of appropriation , so your faith should put forth it self . it should not only put forth it self in a way of affiance onely , leaning upon christ : but in a way of assurance . you should labor to come up to this , not only to believe that christ dyed for his people in general ; but to believe his death was intended for you in particular to appropriate him to your self . thus faith acts upon christ. this was thomas , his faith when once it was stirred up . my lord , and my god. applying christ to himself as his . lord , saith faith , i am weak , but thou art my strength . i am a sinner , but thou art my righteousnesse , i am unclean , but thou art my sanctisication . i am miserable , but thou art my redemption . a sacramental speech grounded on , mark 1. 15. repent ye , and beleive the gospel . my dearly beloved brethren , you have often heard our savior preaching to you by his ambassadors : but now he is come to preach to you , as it were , in his own person . what was said of abel is true of christ , he being dead yet speaketh . christ being dead yet preacheth to you . but what doth christ preach to you , now he is dead ? why , he preacheth no other thing to you , now he is dead , than he did in his life : repent , and believe the gospel . that , christ preacheth to you , faith and repentance , repentance towards god , and faith in the lord jesus christ. first , repentance towards god , see here christian what thy sins hath done . now is a time to have your hearts filled with sorrow , and your faces with shame , to see what you ●…ave brought upon jesus christ. look upon him , every wound in his body , and thorn in his head , calls upon the to repent . the wounds in his side , and the blood that flowed from thence , calls upon thee to repent . now let thy repentance by stirring , seeing he calls thee to repentance , what shall stir thee up to repent , if this shall not ? here you may see the lords severe wrath against sin . see it here in the beloved son of god , who is slain before your eyes for your sins . ah , christian , if thou hadst stood with abraham , and seen the fire of sodom . or with adam , and seen god commanding , and then thrusting them out of the garden . if thou hadst been in heaven , and seen what the wrath of god did there , what work it made when the angels sinned . or if thou hadst been in hell , and seen and heard the damned there , how wouldst thou look upon thy sin ? o see here , more than all this ; gods wrath burning against his own son , for thy sin . o see here the love of christ ! in vain were all thy tears and sorrow , had not christ made way for thee . o see him , and hear him speaking from the crosse , my wounds shall heal thy soul , if thou wilt but repent . these hands shall work out thy salvation , if thou wilt but return and repent . ah sinner ! what is not thy soul melted yet ? methinks i should hear thee making thy submission , and return to the lord , as one that melteth at the word of his lord. lord is thy mind thus ? shall i have all this if i will but repent ? behold , i cover my head with sackcloth . i am the offender , as for this lamb what hath he done ? o lord it repenteth me of my rebellions : i lay down my w pons : i swear , i will be a resolved enemy against sin , as long as i live . secondly , another thing that christ in his costly death preacheth to you , is faith . faith in our lord jesus christ , he calls upon you to believe now he is upon his crosse . methin 〈◊〉 hear him calling upon you from the crosse . believe the reality and greatness of my love . believe the infiniteness of my power . the full expiation of all thy sins . the truth of all gods threatnings . the certainty of all my promises . thy unquestionable right and title to the kingdom of glory . first , believe the reality and greatness of my love . methinks he speaks thus to thee , o man , what should i have done more to testisic my love to thee than i have done ? read all the antiquities , and see whether there was any love like mine ! thou canst not believe , but that thy parents love thee , when they take eare of thee : but whose love is like mine ? did these ever suffer for thee or do for thee what i have done ? what are all these sufferings that i have suffered for thee ? did i despise my fathers glory , and leave it for th●… , & did not love 〈◊〉 ? o slow of heart to believe all that i have done and suffered for thee ! if i did not love thee , what should move me to dye for thee ? did any thing in thee ? no , did any profit from thee move me ? no , i knew that man is not profitable to god. was it any returns from thee ? no , i knew how thou wouldst be : how unkind thou wouldst be to me . o christian , doubt not of my love to thee . doubt not of my help , dost thou think that i would give my self for thee , and will not give my hand for thee ? do not doubt that i will cast thee off , dost thou think that i have su●…ered all this for thee , and that i will cast thee off at last ? no , no. secondly , believe the infiniteness of my power . this is the language of christ from his crosse , believe the exceeding greatnesse of my power . he speaks thus : o man , what if thou shouldst have no friend but i , cannot i uphold thee ? these shoulders , that did bear up under all that hell could invent against me , shal not they uphold thee ? fear not to commit thy self with considence to me . see , i am able to keep what thou committest to my trust . thirdly , believe the full expiation of all thy sins . i am here a satisfaction for thy sin . fear not , i am thy atonement , thy peace , thy propitiation of thy sins , what though thou art empty ? behold the fulness of my satisfaction , what am i here for ? i am cut off , but not for my self , 't is for thee . this is my meaning in my death : this is the end why i am upon the crosse , to make expiation for sin , and bring in everlasting righteousness . all you like sheep are gon●… astray , and god hath laid on me the iniquities os you all . believe it , god will not require the debt of the principal and surety too doth 〈◊〉 trouble thee at any time ? sprink●… it but with this blood , and it will be at peace . art thou afraid to come into the pre●… of god ? do but carry me with thee , and thou shalt be safe . fourthly , believe the truth of all gods threatnings : here thou seest all the threatnings of god executed upon me . see here , and believe what god will do to those that go on in their trespasses . if he laid so much on me , what will he do to them ? believe also his threatnings of correcting you , 〈◊〉 you sin : for he will punish your sins with rods , and your iniquities with chastisements . fifthly , believe the certainty os all my promises , this is another word that christs crosse and death speaks to you , what 〈◊〉 the meaning of this death of mine , and of this blood and satisfaction of mine , but that the covenant might be ratified , and all the promises sealed , and nothing diminished , but all my testament and covenant might he ratified for ever ? behold , this blood that flows from my wounds is sprinkled upon the people for the purifying of them . all is as sure as my death and blood can make them . here thou seest all ratisied in my blood . man , thinkest thou that i would dye with a lye in my mouth ? dost thou think that i would suffer all this for thee , is i meant not to do thee good ? sixthly , believe thy unquestionable right and title to the kingdom of glory . why here thou dost see the price and ransome , the money paid down : and what meaneth all this thinkest thou , but to buy in thy name into the inheritance ? now christians , where is your faith ? o methinks your sails should be up . methinks you should be triumphing , though you are here in the world . as paul , who is he that condemns ? it is christ that died . why ? what objections can be made ? what can unbelief say , that cannot be answered here in the death of christ ? shall i muster up all its force , & tell you what the death of christ doth speak to it ? give me leave to touch upon some of them . first , methinks i hear unbelief objecting from the terribleness of gods threatnings . o sayes the soul , my heart melteth within me , while i hear the wrath of god threatned against sin , methinks i come lately from mount sinai , wher i heard the law given withthe trumpet , & a shout , and a curse pronounced upon all that kept not the words of this law. o how can my soul bear up against all these curses ? but now how sweetly doth the crosse of christ , and death of christ answer thy fears ? hear thy saviors language . o soul be not afraid , do not thou fear and flag : all these threatnings were intended against me ; all wer fulsilled upon me . justice hath nothing to say to thee : all the curses are met together upon me . that is the meaning of it : that thou mayst be free , though i take in the wrath of the lord into my own body . oh! behold me , behold me : see how full i am of the wrath of god in body and soul : my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death . methinks i should hear thee say , now lord , i see my liberty , in thy bonds . my salvation , in thy torment and pain . i have seen thy sorrow and out-cry , and understood the meaning and intent of all : that it was to remove the curse from me . now arise o my soul and inherit the blessing . therefore was christ made a curse that the blessing of abraham might come upon the gentiles . what was the blessing of abraham ? i will bless thee , and make thee a blessing . i will bless them that bless thee , and curse them that curse thee . and again , i establish my covenant between me and thee . rejoyce , o my soul rejoyce , and let my soul rejoyce in god my saviour . o my soul , god hath blessed thee , and shall bless thee . fe●…r not , now the mouth of the law is for ever stopt thou shalt never hear one curse more of the flaming mouth of the law. o soul , what canst thou wish for that is not laid up in the everlasting covenant ? he hath said , he will be a god to thee . canst thou be able to know the immensity of his covenant ? all is made over to thee . second , object . but sin begins to rise up . the soul begins to cry out of his sins : o the multitude , multitude of my sins ! they are gone over my head , and i am sore afraid , i have nothing to pay my debt . but hear now what christ speaks to thee . this is the language of his death and wounds , fear not sin . have i been so long with thee and dost thou not know me , philip ? so saith he to thy soul , what ! been here so long with me , and conversed with me so long , and dost thou not know me yet ? are thy sins infinite , and are not my merci●…s infinite ? are thy sins great , and am not i god above all , equal with the father ? o look unto me , and rest in the fulness of my satisfaction : i am thy surety . all thy debts be upon me : all thy wants are upon me , what if thou hast nothing to pay ? i have enough for me and thee . i am the scape-goat that have carried away thy sin into a land of forgetfulness , i have slain the enmity of sin upon the crosse , and have reconciled you to my father . here is redemption , full redemption , plentiful redemption , behold , my blood speaketh peace to you . wilt thou not believe the voyce of my death and blood to thee ? thus christ's death can speak sufficiently to all that thy sins can say ' against thee . now doth not thy faith stand upright yet , christian ? methinks i should hear thee say , lord 't is enough , thou hast laid down thy life for a ransome : i see my cure in thy wounds . i doubt not butthy blood is sufficient to cleanse me from all my sins . and who now shall appear-against me ? ah justice , once a terrible word , now i can see thy face with comfort . once justice was so terrible , as never was the face of a judge more terrible to the prisoner at the bar , than that to me , but now 't is pleasing to me . once , i had rather have fallen into the lions mouth , than to come to it . o how did my soul grow pale , and my heart ready to dye like nabals within me , when i saw the ballance held up in one hand , and the sword in the other ! but now , i see , that the death of christ and his blood shall be put into the ballance with me , i am not afraid . here now see a great wonder : the pure holyness of god taking pleasure in a sinner : and the strictest justice shaking hands with the off●…nder , now the justice of god is become my friend . third , object . o but unbelief seems yet to object from the multitude , and strength , and policy of the enemy . methinks i see the trembling soul in the posture of the prophets man , who beheld the mountain beset with charriots and horses , and crying out o master ! what shall we do ? if it were but flesh and blood it were not altogether so much : but 't is principalities , and powers ; who can break thorow the host of these philistines ? but christian , look to this crosse : look to a dying christ , look what his death speaks to thee , wherefore art thou ready to fall with these fears , and ready to sink under them ? methinks , i see him taking thee by the hand as he did peter , o thou of little faith , why didst thou doubt ? look here by my cross , and see all thine enemies lye slain by my death : and what wilt thou be afraid , that thy slain-enemies will rise again , and pursue thee ? methinks , soul , i should hear thee triumphing and crying out , what can you do , o my enemies ? i have seen captivity led captive : and for whom did he overcome but for me ? as for me , now i will throw out the gantlet , and bid defiance to my enemies . who is he that condemns ? it is christ that dyed , who shall seperate us from the love ( or death ) of christ ? shall tribulation , or distresse , &c. nay in all these things we are more than conquerors &c. for i am perswaded , that neither death , nor life , &c. shall be able to seperate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord. i see now all overcome in the death of christ. devils , i fear you not ; i behold all your legions in chains , and made captives by christ. death , i fear thee not ; for i know that thou art slain , by him that had the power of death and devils . i know that thy commission is altered , and thou comest , not with authority to arrest me ; but with an invitation , to invite me to feast with the lord. and thanks be to god who hath given us the victory . to the most beloved people the flock of christ in taunton , salvation . loving and most dearly beloved , i have lately received your affectionate letter ; and though i never question your affections to me , and need no verbal testimony ; yet i cannot but take it thankfully , and read it delightfully , when i see it attested under your own hands . and i cannot but tell you , you are the people of my cares , the desire of my eyes , the people of my delights , & of my prayers . my labors with you for many years , though some time attended with difficulty , and danger , yet were not tedious ; but my time passed like jacobs , when he served for rachel and my sufferings for you are not irksome , through grace , because i trust they are for your edisication , and are a seal of my love to you , and more especially of the doctrine of our lord jesus christ , which i have long preached among you . the lord god teach me , with humility , and thankfulness to bear such honor , that i should be set for the defence , and consirmation of the gospel . and now , my dearly beloved , ( though you should not be insensible of gods great visitation upon you , yet ) i would not have you inordinately disquieted , that i am removed from you to a prison for a season ; but rather imitate the heroick vertue of that most gracious mother , in the martyrologie ; who , when the son of her bowels came , not to a prison , but to a stake to be sacrificed in the flames for christ , fell down on her knees , and blessed the lord , that ever she should be so happy , as to have a son to suffer for jesus christ. ah my dear flock ! how glad should 〈◊〉 be , if god would send me forthwith among you again , to feed you as in the dayes of old , and to go in and out before you , that you might find pasture ? yet be not dismayed , fear not little flock ; though you are little , and despised , and hated of all men for christs name sake ; christs relation to you , and tenderness of you is such , that you cannot miscarry . he liveth , and his care liveth . the godly wife of that worthy cornish divine mr. vincent , being left in great want , with many little children , would often answer them , when t●…y came crying about her for bread , and she had none to give , with this gracious expression , be quiet , children , our god 〈◊〉 . and surely , that , my brethren , may be a quieting , comforting consideration , both for you and me , though the bread do 〈◊〉 fail . but at length this gracious wo●… , being left quite destitute , and her children calling upon her , when she had neither bread nor money , breaks out into a bitter weeping , which one of the littleones observing , he comes , and puls his mother by the apron , saying , mother why do you weep thus ? is god dead now ? such a rebuke did the lord send her , by the mouth of a poor babe . brethren be not dismayed , christ liveth , and therefore let your hopes live , let your courage live , let your faith live also . christ liveth ever , therefore let your hearts live for ever , psal. 22. 26. he liveth to make intercession sor you , and from his living , you may be assured of life , john 14. 19. of your jastification , rom. 8. 34. of your salvation , rom. 5. 10. beloved , do but seriously think of christ's relation to you , and you cannot want comfort . why , he is not ashamed to call you brethren . even when he was entred upon his state of exaltation , risen from the dead , far above the state of mortals , he own'd poor weak believers for his brethren , john 20. 17. go to my brethren . math. 28. 10. go tell my brethren . yea when he cometh with all his holy angels with him , and sits upon the throne of his glory , he will own the very least , and lowest among poor believers , before all the world , for his brethren , math. 25. 31. with ver . 40. keep this , my beloved , as a cordial at your heart , that christ stands related to you as your brother . ah what consolation is here for a considering christian ! for , first , this may give you boldness with him , and that , both in your coming to him . and at his coming to you . i say in your coming to him . it may make you come with boldness to the throne of grace , that you have such a friend in court , that can have what he will , that is indeed all and in all in heaven : that you have a kinsman , a brother there , a man like unto your selves , of the same race , and nature , and so sensible of humane infirmity , heb. 4. 15 , 16. christs humane nature , by which he is a brother to us , may make us come boldly and with full assurance , heb. 10. 19 , 20 , 22. we might tremble to approach gods terrible majesty , to come near the consuming fire , but that we have a brother like unto us , a daies-man , a mediator , the man christ jesus , between god and us . again , it may give us boldness at his coming to us . let not the terror he will com with affright us christians ; for he is our brother , flesh of our flesh , and bone of our bone . had even dives himself a regard of his brethren , that they might not come into that place of torment ? and shall we think , christ will send his brethren thither ? how secure would he be whose life or estate were in controversie ; if the matter were put into the hand of his own brother ? secondly , then you may presume upon your interest in him . you may have boldness to speak and confidence to speed . you may make use of him , on all occasions , for your selves , and for your friends . you cannot stretch your interest . he upbraideth not that you make too bold , or come too often , or ask too much . thirdly , then you may d●…d upon it that he will help in extremity . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 friend loves at all times , and a brother is born for adversity , pro. 17. 17. he is not such a brother as davids were psa. 69. 8. or as jobs were , job 6. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. he will own and delight in his , in their afflictions , canticles 2. 14. 4. you may not question his affection . love is the natural duty , between brethren , 1 pet. 3. 8. christ hath not onely the name but the heart of a brother . he is not such a brother as cain , that said , am i my brothers keeper , that hated his brother in his heart . nor as jacob , that took his brother by the heel , a supplanter , that deceived him of the birth-right . but such a brother as joseph was , who was all along his eminent type . 1. josep●… received great unkindnesses , and wretched usage from his brethren . they conspired against his life , they sold him and pitied him not , when they saw the anguish of his soul. and is not the blood of christ to be found upon the skirts of his brethren ? touch him , and the body will bleed upon you . look upon his mangled body : why , these are the wounds that he hath received in the house of his friends , by the hands of his brethren : i mean by their sins . isa. 53. 5. 2dly . he shewed melting affections to his brethren after their unkindness to him . he weeped aloud over them , gen. 45. 1 , 2. to wit with tears of love , and joy . his bowels yearned over his brother , and he seeks where to weep , gen. 43. 30. but there are no bowels to christs . no yearnings like to his . how unkindly had his brethren dealt with him ? one sold him , another denyed him , all forsook him . yet when one would have expected a message of d●…iance he sends them a message of peace . the sweetest tidings that ever were sent ; john 20. 17. thirdly , joseph was sent before to provide for his brethren , gen. 45. 5. so is christ. it is his business in heaven to prepare , and provide for his brethren . the provision you have for soul and body is from him : but all this is but as the corn to keep you alive upon the way . what is the store , that joseph hath laid up in egypt ? the preparations that christ hath made in heaven ! fourthly , joseph saved the lives of his brethren , that sought his , gen. 45. 7. and hath not christ saved them that had their hands in his death ? fifthly , joseph when he frowned with greatest severity , had his heart full of yearnings , and tenderness to his brethren . he spake roughly but could not forbear to turn about , and weep . gen. 42. 24. so it is with christ. he seems to repulse the woman of canaan , and to put her off : but you know what was all the while in his heart . when he speaks hard sayings , and writes bitter things , and uses us roughly , his thoughts are thoughts of peace , and not of evil ; peace is in his heart ; he doth it but for your trial . when he seems to have forsaken you , he is but a withdrawing behind the curtain . he seems to have exposed you to perish , as moses among the flags ; but you see not how he stands like moses his sister behind the bush , wistly looking , what was done with her brother , the chil●… . sixthly , god so over ruled the wickedness of joseph his brethren , that it tends greatly , to their good and his preferment . so that god made , that horrid sin in slaying christ to be for our salvation , & his exaltation , phil. 2. 〈◊〉 , 9 , 10. and the lord hath preferred him as pharaoh did joseph , gen. 41. 41 , 42 , 43 , 44. seventhly , joseph provided for his brethren the fat , and the best of all the land . gen. 47. 11. he bid , ●…y , and make ready when his brethren were to be with him . gen. 43. 16. and doth not christ mingle hiswine , and kill his oxen , and his 〈◊〉 , and think nothing is to good ? prov. 9. math. 22. he cals for the best robe , and fatted calf , luke 15. he prepares for you a goshen , the good land , the inheritance of the saints in light . luke 22. 28 , 29 , 30. eighthly , joseph was never satisfied , though he had all the glory of egypt , till he had his brethren down to him . as haman , in another case ; boasted of the glory of his riches , and all the things wherein the king had promoted him , above the princes and servants of the king ; and ●…t , sayes he , all this avails me nothing , &c. so all the glory to which christ is exalted , far above all principalities , and powers , wi●…l not content him till he hath his brethren with him ; in no worse a place , and no worse a case then himself . john 17. 24. ninethly , joseph presents his brethren unto ph●…oh , and leads them into his presence gen. 47. 2. so doth christ for believers . he leads them to the father , john 14. 6. josephs brethren , who would otherwise have been an abomination ( being herdsmen ) yet were treated kindly for josephs sake , gen. 47. and so doth god to us for our brothers sake . to conclude , what affliction is there , wherein christs relation to you will not yield abundant consolation ? but i have exceeded , pardon me : it is for two weeks : having been necessarily diverted from writing to you the week foregoing . the lord teach you to live upon these cordials , in these sorrowful dayes . fare you well , dear brethren : farewell in the lord. i am yours in the bonds of the lord jesus christ. to the much beloved , the flock of christ in taunton ; grace , and peace . most loving , and beloved . your prisoner in the lord hath sent these lines to salute you , and to call upon you , or rather to beseech you , to walk worthy of the high calling in which you , re called in jesus christ. beloved , our word with you hath not been yea , and nay , uncertain and unstedfast . the prison sounds sorth to you the same doctrine , that the pulpit ever did : the lord give you to hear ; and recieve from the prisoner , that which was not so thorowly embraced from the preacher . but what doth the prison preach ? it preaches repentance to you . god hath called to you from the pulpit often , and now he sendeth to you from the prison , that you should repent . who is so deaf , as not to hear the louds cals of the living god to england , that they should repent ? you have long had moses and the prophets ; but now the lord hath sent you ; as it were , what dives asked ; that one should come to you from the dead and testifie to you that you should repent . from the dead , i say for you know , that in the sence of the law , your ministers are dead . but being dead we yet speak ; yea our death ; our removal , our silence doth speak ; and all speaks the same thing , that you should repent . o that i could lift up my voyce to you ; that your streets , your houses , your ears , your hearts might be fil'd with this cry , repent o taunton ; repent and turn . repent o profane , or else your iniquities will be your ruine . repent o professors or else the lord will not repent of the evil that he is about to bring upon us . the lord now ringeth that thundring peal in your ears : cleanse your hands ye sinners , purifie your hearts ye double-minded , draw nigh unto god and he will draw nigh unto you . be afflicted , and mourn , and weep : let your laughter be turned into mourning , and your joy into heaviness . humble your selves in the sight os the lord , and he shall list you up . o hear the voyce of the lord. he that hath an ear to hear let him hear . repent , o back sliding children , or else the lord will fill you with your own wayes . speedily make up the breach , and endeavor to repair your decayes , to regain your ground , and recover your first love . o at last bethink your selves , from whence you are fallen , and repent , and do your first works . repent o sluggard ; when wilt thou awake out of thy sleep ? what hath god kindled a fire in his church , ready to devour us all , and wilt thou sleep with the house on fire about thine ears ? what ? wilt thou not ply thy bucket , and settle to thy work to purpose ? wilt thou lye still and see the tide coming in upon the ? what●…ot pluck thy handout of thy bosom , nor rise out of thy bed-sloth , when the almighty thunders from heaven , and scaters his lightning , and and sends abroad the tokens of his displeasure ? repent o laodicean . the lord calleth to thee to be zealous and repent . away with this lukewarm profession . away with this heartlesse , listlesse , livelesse religion . the lord hates this halting and halving in religion . as good not at all , as not to purpose . never dream that lazie wishes and idle complaints , and key cold prayers , will carry it . judge in your own selves ; is this the seeking , knocking , striving , fighting , running , wrestling , that the scripture every where requires , as necessary to all that would be saved : but especially necessary at such a day of rebuke as this is ? o quicken your selves , call up all your powers , and put you every man his strength to the rope . cry mightily as nineveh did . humble your selves greatly before the lord as manasseh did . let prayer be made without ceasing night and day , if ever you mean to pray open the prisons , and recover your spiritual priviledges . repent o thou of sardis , that hast a name to live but ar●… dead . the name may serve to deceive thy self , and to deceive others , but god will not be 〈◊〉 ed : he searcheth the heart . o prepare for ●…is search and for his scrutiny . wo unto th●… , is he pronounce of thee , and write against thee as against ●…elshazzar ; thou art weighed in the balance and sound wanting . hear the voyce of the living god ; hear and live . remember what you have received , and heard , and hold fast , and repent : and be watchful , and strengthen the things that remain and are ready to dye , lest the lord come upon you as an enemy at unawares . repent o worldly professor , that hast christ in thy mouth and mammon in thy heart . ah what a demas wilt thou quickly shew thy self , except thou repent ! howsadly will the fears of loosing thy estate betray thee ! how surely will the cares of this world choak thee ! how surely will the prevailing love of earthly things undo thee ! except thou repent , o study the vanity and vexation of the creatures ; the emptinesse , insufficiency , transitorinesse of present enjoyments ; the superlative excellency of jesus christ , and his exceeding great reward , till thy very heart do breath with the martyr ; none but christ ; and with paul , doubtless i account all things but losse , &c. o sinner pray over , and study over these things , till thy heart be brought to a low esteem of perishing things . walk so osten with death , till thou art dead to the world , and canst look upon it , as a man would , that should peep out of his grave . repent , o sleeper , that livest in carnal security , and layest not to heart the asflictions of joseph . doth the whole world ring of gods judgments upon england , and dost not thou awake yet , and call upon thy god ? is the church afflicted , and tossed with tempests , and not comforted , and yet art not thou rouzed up ? is the ship even filled with water , and the disciples crying ; master save us , we perish , and all in jeopardy , and yet art thou unasfected ? is our lord ready to be betrayed into the hands of sinners , and wilt thou sleep on now ? art thou not yet come to thy sences ? alass , that there should be such a disease as security going now , at such a time as this ! now methinks the dumb should speak , and the dead should wake . vvas the tongue of king craesus his son , dumb from his birth , loosed when he saw his father about to be murdered ? and shall the children of zion see the knife even at the throat or heart of their mother ; and yet be silent and unmoved ? but what do i dwell on particulars ? the lord calleth on all men every where to repent . repent , o ossicers , that you have not been so vigilant in the ossices which you have born , and in fulfilling the oaths that you have taken , in repressing of abounding sins as you should have been . this guilt will lye heavy at many doors , without repentance . repent , o masters , of your unnecessary hardnesse , and rigor to the bodies ; but especially of your cruelty to the souls of your servants . have you been as careful to train them up in the knowledge of their c●…eator , as in the knowledge of your trades ? have you taught them how to pray , as well as how to work ? and instructed them in the mystery of their salvation , as much as in the mystery of their callings ? have you looked for as good an account of the principles of religion , or or of the sermon of them , as of the task you have set them ? and the work in which you have employed them ? o that you had ! repent , o you ●…usbands , of your harshness , bitterness , not dwelling with your wives as men of knowledge . repent , you parents , of your fond indulgence to children , sparing their sins , neglecting their souls . repent you wives , of your wilfulnesse , and frowardnesse , and disrespectfulnesse to them , towards whom the almighty cals sor your reverence and obedience . repent , o children of your fearful ingratitude , in slighting and disobeying your parents , a sin under which the earth do groan . repent you servants , of your slothsulness , wastfulnesse , unfaithfulneesse , and eye-service , and disobedience , that all families almost are filled with the complaint of . o that there might be some way to recover the credit of religion from the wounds , that it hath received , by the neglect of relative duties : well let every man resolve to mend one . o see what hath been amisse in your hearts , and in your houses , and set upon repenting , and reforming . vvithout this our prayers will return upon our own heads without an answer . never think the storm will cease , till the jonas be thrown over . beloved , this is that , that god doth wait for . throw over the head of sheba and the 〈◊〉 will be soon broken up . i am apt to transgresse . i shall conclude my counsels , with my prayers , that a spirit of repentance and reformation may be poured out upon you , and so rest , yours in all manner of obligations to serve you and to suffer for you . joseph alleine . to the dearly beloved the flock of christ in taunton , salvation . most loving and dearly beloved , the care of you is continually upon me . i desire no other felicity than to serve the glory of christ in you : and to enjoy him with you . and blessed be his hame he is no stranger , neither to us , nor you . let all his prisoners praise him : let all his people praise him . now is the sweetnesse , beauty , excellency of christ to be seen . now may we learn the suavity of his communion , the worth of his promises , the all-sufficiency of his fulnesse . now taste and see . sit you down under the safest , sweetest shadow of his protection , and eat of his fruit . the tree is good for food , and pleasant to the eyes , ( except fully blind ) and a tree to be desired to make one wise . take of the fruit thereof and eat , not as jonathan , who tasted but a little of the honey upon the top of his rod , but eat abundantly . this is no forbidden fruit . here is no surfeting . you must live upon him every day , and in every duty . may every one of you be able to say as paul , to me to live is christ : then you live like christians when christ is the staff of your life . when christ is both its spring and its end . when you take root in him , and grow up into him . may every one of you be a tree of righteousness , whose roots may spread into him , whose aspiring top may be still shooting upward , reaching out toward him : live as those that have no life but in him . and study to be able to say as paul , that it is not you that live , but christ living in you . you live in vain while you live not for him : without christ you are dead while you live . you are of him , and through him , and for him . from whom shall he have glory , if not from you ? the inanim●…te & unreasonable creatures , cannot praise him , unlesse in a dumb and silent manner , as they are the occasion and incentives of our praising him . the devils and ungodly will not praise him . the silver trumpet of his praise is found onely in the hands of a few poor believers . ah! sound you forth his praise in the world ; let your lips sing , let your light shine . let your lives be at last as a can●…le wasted and burnt out in holding forth the light . now beloved , study that you may go out with comfort , that you may have your hearts as full as they can hold , with joy ; to think when you are ready to breath forth your last , well my daies are run out for christ , and my strength is exhausted in the service of christ. my time is gone , and my labor done , but my oyl is wasted in the work of god. i have spent my fathers allowance in my fathers business . this will make you to arise and say , i will go to my father , with boldness and confidence : and not as the prodigal , ( when he had spent the portion of goods which his father had allotted him ) with diffidence , and fears of his being rejected . you know my business is but to bespeak you for christ. i have four requests to present you for him . thus are my requests , but his commands . first , let the ballance be turned by christ. let christ and his interest turn the scale against all the world . let him be the pearl , and the world the dung . let jesus be king , and mammon as a despised broken idol , or as the stamped calf . let christ be the prize , & the rest but losse . let gain give way to godliness . let credit crack rather than conscience stretch , be no body with the world rather than dishonor christ , to keep up your reputation with men . let all the flowers of pleasures wither , the paint fall off this harlots face , when set by christ. let the silver shrines and great diana be as nehushtan . 2. kings 18. 4. and the crown fall from the head of honour , and the great idol to come down into the dust before jesus christ , and lye like dagon before the ark , with head and hands broken off upon the threshold . keep the world at your feet as a servant , or rather under foot as an enemy . but if it hath the heart you are undone . where christ hath not the swaying-interest all is rotten at the bottom . secondly , let the byass of your wils be set towards christ. the needle of the will was at first touched with a magnetick verttue , which turn'd it towards god , as the needle is turned towards the pole : but now by the fall it hath quite lost its vertue : and will stand any where , but where it should . but god by fanctifying grace doth new-touch this needle . & though it may ( by an accidental violence ) be too too easily shakenyet it will never rest at a wrong point , but be unquiet and in continual restlessness and agitation till it stand direct towards christ. if any thing but christ would content you , you are none of his . can you acquiesse no where but in him ? do your wils cleave to him ? is he your setled , resolved choice against all competitors ? if so , doubtlesse it is well between you and him . thus it must be , christ must have your assent & consent . the judgement must prize him and the will must chuse him as the chief good . thirdly , let the bent of your affections be to jesus christ. look upon the height of his stature , and the goodlinesse of his countenance , and you will say surely he is worthy . surely this is the lords annointed . frequently , and throughly view his excellencies , till your eye affect your heart . let me set him among the other objects , like saul among the people . and i must say to you as samuel , see you him whom the lord hath c●…osen . there is none like him . o let all your affections , be moved at the sight of him , and shout with the joyful people , let the king live , let christ have all . let sorrow sit with the melting penitent , weeping at her saviours feet . let your strongest ●…urning love be kindled , when you do but think of christ , and fire your hearts , and so bring them forth as a flaming sacrifice to welcome him . let fear make her obeysance , and with humble reverence and lowliest veneration bow the knee of the soul to zions king. let joy be triumphant when you meditate on christ. and call upon the daughters of musick to praise and celebrate his excellency . let desire be upon the wing , and spread the hands , and open the mouth wide , and pant for him . let the most lively and pregnant hope sit by the way and look for him , and wait for his coming . and get up in every ordinance like zacheus on the sycamore-tree that he might see jesus as he passeth by ; and big with earnest expectation of enjoying him . in a word , you must see to it that christ be chief in your affections ; that he be your chief desire ; your chief joy : and this will evidence you to be his : and without this all is unsound . fourthly , let the butt of all your actions be no other but christ. whatsoever you do , do all in the name of the lord jesus christ. here take your aim . here let all your designs meet . hither let all your motions tend . that christ may be magnified in you , phil. 1. 20. this is a mark undeniable . but he that hath more eye to the pleasing of men , his own advantage , or any worldly good , than to the pleasing and honouring of christ , is no better than a hypocrite . i must do as much as i can in a little time , 't is time now to close . i have given you together in these four heads the highest duties and surest characters of every true believer . i must add nothing farther , but onely to send my prayers after my papers , and to let you know the lords prison is not without his presence , and most refreshing influence . and that your prisoner is yours in all bonds joseph alleine . to the most endearing and beloved people , the servants of christ in taunton , salvation . most loving and best beloved , your late most affectionate lines are now in my hands , your hearts cannot but be a most grateful and welcome present to me , i return you mine , not willingly , but thankfully , rejoycing to be yours ; while the lord will your preacher ; and while the lord will your prisoner ; still yours . i acknowledge i am not my own . if i have any interest in heaven , it is yours , to be improved for you . if i have any talents of goods they are consessedly yours , your claim , your stock . by the grace of god i am what i am . i have nothing , but what i have received from above ; and i have received for your use . i love to think how much i am yours . make your claim with freedome ; nothing can please me m●…re . my ●…rength is yours ; my labor , my liberty , my losses yours : ultimately christs , but nextly yours . i accept with all thankfullness your manifold respects . may whatever honour you put on me re●…lect upon christ , whose i am , and whom i serve . he is all , and therefore i must needs be nothing . let no man set me above my place . i am too to sel●…ish ( to my shame and grief i acknowledge it ; may your prayers be the cure of it ) yet surely , i should chuse to be lower , so christ might sit the higher in all your hearts , i am onely the friend of the bridegroom . my soul rejoyceth to hear how fast you stand , how close you cleave to him ; my joy is now fullfilled . what greater joy to the friend of the bridegroom , than to hear the bridegrooms voyce , how sweetly he converses with his bride , and she with him , and to see the sweet passages of love between them , when he hath been a means to bring them together ? this is my joy , it refreshes me ; i am full of consolation , to hear how tender he is of you ; to see him spreading the skirts of his love , the wing of his power and care over you . happy thou ! who is like unto thee o people ? a people saved of the lord , the shield of thy strength , the sword of thine excellency . my dearly beloved , let the name of jesus be more sweet and precious than ever to you . verily , i am but his spokesman . forget me , neglect me , any thing if you will but love him , and adore him , and admire him the more . i rejoyce , as to hear the sweet voice of the bridegroom to you , so to hear of your love and 〈◊〉 to him . surely , the lord hath a singular blessing for you . a●… poor and despised d●…spised , the butt of humane malice , the eye-sor●… of thy potent enemies ! the archers have shot sorely at thee , the hunters have made thee the deere of the chase , singled from the rest of the 〈◊〉 , and design'd for the game , for the prey of the ●…ungry pursuers , quick upo●… the scent , following upon the scent , with full cry ; and yet the beloved of the lord 〈◊〉 in sasety by him , 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 cov●…reth thee all the day long : thou dwellest between his shoulders . o people of desires , hear the ●…rauld of god : ( glorious office ! lord how unworthy am i of this strange grace , who am not worthy to stoop down and unloose the latchet of thy shooes ! ) yet here me as an 〈◊〉 of god ; unto you o people , it is commanded that you kiss the son. that you sall down and worship , not the humane idol , but him whom jehovah hath set up , and sworn that every k●…e shall bow , and every tongue confess to him , or be cast into the burning siery surnace os his tormenting wrath , seventimes hotter , yea seventy times seven than 〈◊〉 was . unto you it is commanded that you receive his mark in your foreheads , by open and bold profession ; in your hands , your right hands by suitable works , in a holy diligent , active conversation ; above all in your hearts , there he must be set as a seal ( as well as write upon the palms of ●…our 〈◊〉 ) by most vehement servent affection . let every one of your hearts be all on fire with strongest burning love to the name of jesus , and offered as a flaming sacri●… to him . beloved , i am affraid almost to tell you what christ looks for from you . i think of his mercies to you with fear and great joy . know my beloved , and remember , that he looks for great things from you ; you have received much , and god will 〈◊〉 much . i beseech you be not as other people . my mouth is open to you , my heart is enlarged , but my time is very streight . sleep hath departed from my eyes to write a few lines unto you : but i am upon your service when you know it not ; yet i cannot end , without telling you that you had need look to it , that you be in all things more than ordinary , because the lord looks for extraordinary prosiciency from you . brethren let your hearts be entire with god ; be abundant in secret duties , prayer , meditation , self-examination , watchfullness , self-denial . let none of you be another thing in your families or closets , from what he is in the assembly , and the open profession that he makes . look to the heart-work , see that you be truly , thorowly and unreservedly the lords . beware lest with any of you a secret root of hypocrisie , should spoil a forward and goodly profession . care above all things in the world , to approve your hearts to the piercing eye of the ●…lous god. let your good works shine besore men , but reckon your selves to be no more , than what you are in secret . maintain a holy jealousie of your selves , till upon much prayer , and tryal , and self-observation , you have found out by scripture-marks the certainty of your state . but i intrench on other things to wade thus far . to my keeper i commend you , and with dearest loves to you all in the bowels of our lord , i remain your ambassador in bonds . joseph alleine . my dear father and brother norman remembers you tenderly , desiring you to hold fast what you have received and heard , and that you be holy , harmless , exemplary , and without offence in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation . a practical case on phil. 3. 13 , 14. this one thing i do , i press toward the mark. q. how may we come to make religion our business ? rule . 1. you must throughly acquaint your selves with the rule and the compass that religion steers by . unless the mariner know every point of his compass , he is like to make but foul work of it . the word is a believers compass , gal. 6. 16. as many as walk according to this rule , &c. a believer walks by rule , and by this rule , the rule of the word ; you can never mannage the business of religion , except you do throughly know , and often eye your rule , and put the rule to your work . how can you trade religiously unless you know the rules you are to deal by ? or pray rightly , if ignorant of the rules you are to pray by ? beloved , the commandement is exceeding broad , and prescribes you rules for your whole man , and sor the right behaving of your selves in every part of your conversation ; oh hide the word in your hearts ! lay up the rules you are to work by ; and the rules that you are to give by ; the rules that you are to speak by ; and the rules that you are to hear by ; and the rules that you are to examine your selves by : be sure there be no part of your conversation , but that you have some rules that you doe set to your selves about it . how can you carry your selves religiously in your relations , unless you doe conscienciously observe the rules that you are to carry your selves by ? if wives do not know their rules , and husbands their rules , and servants their rules , and children their rules , how can you bring your profession to any thing ? beloved as ever you would make any thing of religion , know the rules of your places , set it down with your selves , you husbands , you wives , you children , you servants ; these be the rules that i will walk by , and wherein i sail of these rules i will seé my errour , and study to come up to what is lacking . resp. 2. you must have the whole lump of the heart leavened and seasoned with religion , matth. 13. 33. the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman hid , &c. the word is this leaven , the heart is this lump in which this leaven is hid : now when the whole lump is throughly seasoned , then their will be such a suitableness between the heart and the work , that religion will become a pleasure . a true christian hath the law of the spirit of life within him , he hath a transcript of the word in his soul. now where the law of religion is in the heart , there will be a love of , delight in , and propensity to the work of religion , rom. 8. 2. heb. 8. 10. i delight to doe thy will , thy law is within my heart , psal. 40. 8. who naturally careth for your state , phil. 2. 20. where religion hath taken deep root in the heart , the concerns of christ will become its natural care . now that which is natural is delightful , and when a man loves his work , he will be much in it . again , that which is natural is constant , so that when the heart is naturalized and habituated to religion , the man will constantly follow it . to a heart throughly sanctified , religion is the very element it lives in , whereas a carnal heart in holy exercises is like a fish out of the water , it cannot away with the strictness of a holy self-denying life , when the heart is renewed , and made spiritual , t will naturally mind the things of the spirit , rom. 8. 5. joh. 3. 6. rule . 3. you must have these six principles inwrought and deeply engraven into your souls . prin. 1. that religion is the very end of your being , that you were made and maintained for . this is the end and use of all your powers and faculties , that you may serve and glorisie the god that made you , he made you for himself , prov. 16. 4. for his pleasure you are and were created , rev. 4. 11. oh man look upon thy self ; think whence thou art , and for what a little while since thou wast not , how camest thou to be ? hath not the hand of god framed thee ? think with thy self , wherefore serve all these powers and faculties ? to what end were they given me ? what to eat , and drink , and sleep , and sport ? if i had been a brute , i could have done this , why should it repent the lord that he hath made me a man , that he hath given me an understanding soul ? wherefore have i reason above the rest of the creatures ? but that i should understand the law of my creation , and the end of my being , and know my makers ends , and doe his pleasure ? better i had never been born , than not to answer my end . better i had been a brute , than a man , unless i glorifie god with my understanding and imploy my powers and faculties in his service . oh let these thoughts live dayly upon your hearts , fix it upon your selves that you are of no use nor worth in the world , except you serve your makers ends : that he is the potter , and you the clay ; and that you are good for nothing , except you are for the use of him that formed you : think with your selves ; is it not pitty so excellent a peice of gods workmanship , as man is , should be all in vain ? that god should lay out so much of his power and wisdom , and grace upon thee , and loose his end at last ? that he should furnish man compleatly for the end he was made for , and send him into the world to dispatch his business , and man should forget his errand , and neglect the very end of his being ? beloved , the reason why men do mind religion no more , is beause they do mistake their business . and is it not pitty , that when man only of all the vissible creatures hath an understanding to know his end , he onely should mistake and miss his end ? prin. 2. that look as you do mannage the business of religion , so are you made or marred to all eternity , settle it upon your hearts , that if this business doth miscarry , you are undone for evermore ; you may miscarry in any other business , and yet doe well enough at last ; your goods may be wreck'd , your friends disingaged , your times spilt , and yet you may be happy ; but if you do not go through with the business of religion you are undone men . this made paul to ply the oars , and follow it with such dilligence , 1 cor. 9. 26 , 27. so run i , so fight i , &c. this made him engage with might and main , and put forth every limb in the race , because his eternal undoing lay upon it : he runs through fire and water , he doth not beat the air , and brandish his sword like a vapouring coward ; he is not like the fencers that strike as if they could kill each other at every blow , but mean one another no hurt : no , he is earnest , he fights as for the precious life , least otherwise after all his preaching and paines he should prove a castaway , 1 cor. 9. 27. sirs , you had need look how you doe carry it now , immortallity , eternity hangs upon it , your patient continuance in well doing , will bring forth eternal life ; but you miss all , if you doe not keep doing , and doing well , and patiently continue so doing ; if you come short of this , your portion is indignation and wrath . sirs , consider where you are , and look about you . oh you careless sinners , you remiss and luke-warm christians , consider what is before you . the furnace is ready heat for you , if you go not through with your work . the crown is ready prepared , if you hold out in your race ; you are speeding on to eternity , as fast as the wings of time can carry you ; and that is more swiftly , than the eagle flying in the air. believe it , religion is no trisling matterif thou be careless and idle , and remiss here , thou art a damned man. if a man be upon trial for his life , i warrant you will find him serious here . if a man have a business that will prove his utter ruine , if it miscarry , depending ; be sure he will stretch his wits , and engage his interest , and turn every stone . beloved the reason why religion is minded with so little care , is because men do not consider the consequence of religion . sirs , can you dye , can you burn ? if not , take heed of trisling in religion , and selling heaven for want of a little pains-taking . oh where ever you be unserious , be sure you be serious and in earnest in the business of religion , and that you may be so , let this ever dwell upon your hearts , that halving and trisling will undo all . prin. 3. that nothing is well done except it be religiously done . do all in the name of the lord jesus . whatever you do , do all to the glory of god , 1 cor. 10. 31. col. 3. 17. remember , that the rules of religion do not onely reach your praying , hearing , almesgiving , &c. but your eating , drinking , trading , marrying . you must not think to put off god with an hour in the morning , and an hour in the evening ; you must be serving him throughout the day , managing your callings , visits , discourses , according to his rules . count that arrow lost , that is not levelled at some religious end ; that hour lost that is not spent religiously , that visit lost , in which you have not promoted the ends of religion in your selves and friends . count that you eat amiss , unless you eat religiously . so much of religion as there is in your actions , so much there is of true gold , so much as there is of self and carnal ends , so much embasing mettle is mingled therewith ; your lying down , and rising up must be managed religiously , or else they are not well managed ; and you must impose it upon your selves , to be serving god not onely on your knees , but in your shops , at your tables , in your journeys , that god may be glori●…ied by you in all things . prin. 4. that the trade of religion of all others , yields the sweetest pleasure , and surest gain . a true christian is a merchant man that dealeth in no small matters , but for goodly pearls , mat. 13. 45. a holy life is a spiritual trading , mat. 25. 16. now there is no trade to this . a believer trades for grace and glory : oh how glorious is the prize , and how excellent and unvalluable is the income of religion ! wisdom is more precious than rubies , all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her , read prov. 8. 11. & prov. 3. to the 19. they that come from the indies laden with gold and spices , with pearls and diamonds , have but a poor trade in comparison of a christian : follow the work of religion to purpose , and you will find the true riches flowing in upon you ; your faith will grow exceedingly , and your love will abound , and as riches increase , your hearts will be set upon them , and your gaines will increase your diligence . every man will be dealing in that commodity , that yields great profit . the reason why men have so little heart for religion is because they have secretly an oppinion that there is little to be got by it . they reckon an hour spent in religion , to be an hour lost . they say in their hearts . it is in v●…in to serve god , mal. 3. 14. and what profit should we have if we pray to him ? job 21. 15. but when a man tasts the pleasure , and sin●…s the gain of religion , then he will set to it to purpose , and like the wise merchant imploy all his stock here , mat. 13. 44 , 46. beloved , as ever you would go through with the work of religion , you must have your hearts throughly possessed with the advantage and profit that comes in by religion . when a man doth think he can benefit himself more other where , he will have little heart to follow after christ , but when he knows not where to be better , then he will stick resolvedly to him , ioh. 6. 66 , 67 , 68. there are two great pillars upon which religion stands ; the one is a belief that god is , and the other that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him , heb. 11. 6. well let this dwell upon you then , that you cannot better your state , nor promote your happiness any way in all the world , so much as by religion . no pleasure , nor profit to that of religion , riches and honour are with her , all her ways are pleasantness , she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her , and happy is he that retaineth her , prov. 3. 17 , 18. here is true delight , psal. 40. 8. rom. 7. 22. here is meat and drink , iohn 4. 34. work and wages , psal. 19. 11. pr. 5. that your time is short , and your work great , and must be done now or never . our saviour made religion his business , luke 2. 49. and oh how busie was he ! he went up and down doing good ; and so much was he taken up with his work , that he had not time to take his bread ; yea his carnal friends , seeing how earnest he was , said he was besides himself , and began to lay hold on him , act. 10. 38. mark 3. 20 , 21. and what did put him upon this earnest diligence ? the sense of the shortness of his time , ioh. 9. 4. oh sirs remember with him , that now you have a day to work in , and you have but a day , and the night is hasting upon you , when there is no work to be done : no more praying , no more hearing , no more exhorting , nor admonishing . now serve your generation , now exhort one another dayly ; doe good with your estates ; call upon your friends dayly , for it must be now or never , let it ever dwell upon you , that there is no work , nor device , nor knowledge , nor wisdom in the gr●…ve whither thou art going , and that will put you upon doing the work of religion with all your might . be convinced of the weight of your work , and that will make you answer intervening disturbance that would take you off , as nehemiah did , chap. 6. 3. then remember of what dreadfull consequence t is , your salvation is at stake , and therefore you must work it out with fear and trembling . prin. 6. that except you make it your business , all your religion is in vain . while you halt and halve it in religion , you come but half way to heaven . settle it upon your hearts , that except you are throughout religious , you are religious to no purpose . be sure you shall never come to heaven except you seek it in gods order , mat. 6. 33. first seek , &c. it were not suitable to the wisdom of god , so to undervalue his christ and glory , as to throw them away on those that account other matters better worth their pains and care . rule . 4. you must have the love of god and religion , lying next your hearts ; love is a busie grace , 1 thes. 1. 3. your labour of love. we may say of love , as solomon of the vertuous woman , she layeth her hands to the spindle , and her hands hold the distaff , she eateth not the bread of idleness , she worketh willingly with her hands , prov. 31. love will constrain you , and put you upon a willing and dilligent keeping gods commandements , 2 cor. 5. 14. 1 ioh. 5. 3. get your hearts in love with the laws and waies of god : who more busie than david ? morning , evening , and noon , he was praying and praising , yea talking and thinking of god and his ways , all the day , and all from his love to them , psal. 55. 17. & 119. 147. & 118. & 71. 24. oh how i love thy law ! psal. 119. 97. lord i have loved the habitation of thy house , psal. 26. 8. you must beware of taking too much of the world into your hands . when a mans heart and head is full as it can hold of worldly care and businesses , and he cannot tell which way to turn himself , in a crowd and throng of worldly affairs , how can the care of religion live in such a ones heart ? luke 10. 41 , 42. if martha will trouble her self about many things , the one thing needfull shall be neglected . you must buy , and marry , and weep , and rejoyce , and trade , and care for these things , as if you did it not ; not laying too much stress upon these things , nor engaging too eagerly in seeking after them , or else you will neglect the better things , and learn to pray , and hear , and read , as if you did it not , 1 cor. 7. 30. t is true that the work of your callings is part of your business for heaven ; but then you must be sure to keep your affairs so at command , as that you may have so much room for dayly prayer and meditation , and self-reflection , as may season your worldly business with religion , and sanctisie it to you , that it may become a help , and not a snare . rule 6. you must alwaies work as under your masters eye . when the masters eye is known to look on , there is as much work done in an hour , as many times is done in two , when the sence of his oversight doth not quicken the workman , psal. 16. 8. i have set the lord alwaies before me . rule 7. you must ever carry your eye upon your mark . so did paul in the text , i press towards the mark , for the prize of the high-calling of god in christ , the mark that a believer ay●…s at , is gods glory , and his own , that god may be glorisied in him , and he with god. this glorious prize will animate you to your work , and swallow up the sense of labour and difficulty , and make you for the joy set before you , to endure the cross , and despise the shame , heb. 12. 2. paul carried the crown incorruptible in his eye , and that made him with patience invincible to run , and fight , and keep under his body , 1 cor. 9. 25 , 26 , 27. all the afflictions , and reproaches that attended gods poor people and wayes , in the time of their thralldom , could not discourage moses , when he eyed the recompence of reward , heb. 11. 25. 26. keep heaven in sight , and your work will go on with pleasure , and all your difficulties will seem light and easie , and not worthy once to enter into comparison with the expected bliss , 2 cor. 4. 17 18. rom. 8. 18. rule 8. you must at the entrance of every action , remember the rules that you are to act by . else in vain doe you receive and lay up rules , if when occasion is , you doe not apply them to the particular case . to what purpose have you rules for prayer , if you do not remember and use them when you come to prayer ? to what purpose have you rules to examine your selves by , if you do not observe them in examining your selves accordingly ? as ever you desire to make any thing of your religion , remember when you come to your tables , the rules that you are to eat by ; when you go to your callings , make visits , read , or hear the word , be sure you think on the rules that you are to read by , or discourse by , or hear by , &c. you cannot think of god in every motion , but with a little pains , watchfullness , and prayer , you may come to this , to mind your rule and your end at the entrance of every solemn action . and this i desire you to enjoyn upon your selves , and take a daily account of your selves , how t is performed . this would be indeed to keep up the power of christianity . oh be at the pains to put to this , and you will know what it is to walk with god , and to be in the fear of the lord all the day long , and will have learnt that happy ●…sson , to walk up and down in the name of the lord , prov. 23. 17. zech. 10. 12. rule . 9. be sure every morning to set out to a right point of the compass . if a man takes a wrong turning and misseth his way at setting forth , he goes miserably out , it may be , a great part of the day , cut out your business in the moning , and let your aym be well ; set the hand of your watch to a right point , and wind it up carefully , and that will be a means to keep it right ●…oughout the day . never rise from your beds but with some such thoughts as these . i will set sorth this day in the name of god. religion shall be my business this day . i will surely spend this day for eternity , david would begin with god , ps●…l . 139. ver . 18. & 5. 3. rule 10. let the present days practice be still the me●…ding of the past daies errors . if you would go through with the work of religion , you must take this course . every evening strictly to examine your selves about your whole carriage that day with reference to your duties , sins , hearts , tongues , tables , callings , as i have otherwhere directed you ; and when you find your selves tardy in any thing this day , be sure to amend it the next day . was the appetite too much indulged ? when you sit at meat the next day remember the error , and hold the reins faster then . do you find that you were not heavenly in your discourse ? be sure that you be not caught in the same fault again the next day . have you let loose your passions , or given your tongues the reins ? be humbled , and be sure that you be not caught again the next day in the same fault ; else to what purpose are all your self-examinations ? psal. 119. 59. in vain doe we think on our waies , except we turn our feet to gods testimonies . rule 11. you must deny your selves , and keep under your carnal lusts and affections . where self bears the sway , that will set you on work , and you shall have enough to doe to follow its carnal designs . if you 〈◊〉 your lusts and earnal assections to command you , to be sure they will find you work enough , you then will have little room , and little leisure , but these will be all the day long calling upon you to gratifie . one while the appetite will be calling , and there must be time to give to that what it craves , another while revenge will be calling , and employing you to contrive how to vent it , and give it satisfaction ; another while pride will set you on work to satisfie that : and then lust will be calling that you must gratifie ; and then covetousness will be chiding that you have neglected it , and be putting you on satisfying that . thus your lusts will find you business night and day ; and your employment will be to make provision for the flesh , rom. 13. 14. get these therefore under , or else the business of r●…ligion will never , can never go on . psalm 144. 3. lord , what is man , that thou takest knowledge of him ? or the son of man , that thou makest account of him ? the psalmist in the foregoing words , had eminently set forth the strange goodness and grace of god towards him , upon which he breaks out into admirat●…n of him , that ever god should look upon him . what is man , &c. hence observe . doct. that it is a wonder above all wonders , that ever the great god should make such account of such a thing as man. this i shall open to you in these three generals . 1. it will appear if you consider what a great god the lord is . 2. what a poor thing man is . 3. what a great account the great god hath of this poor thing man. first , if you consider what a great god the lord is . and here i may be confounded , to think that i can speak no more of his greatness . when i am studying to speak to you of his greatness , that comes to my mind , canst thou by searching find out god ? alas , we may all complain as jobs friends did , job 8. 9. we are but of yesterday and know nothing , yet notwithstanding , though we are not able to comprehend , much less to express the greatness of god ; yet some thing we may see , and accordingly should conceive of it , and should labour to set it out to others . it is seen in his works , and word . 1. in his works . herein god doth discover to us his wonderful greatness , job 36. 24. 25. remember that thou magnisie his work which men behold . every man may see it , man may behold it afar off . man may see afar off if he d●… but cast his eye as he runs , what a great god that is that made all the world . if we doe but cast our eyes upon the fabrick of the world that he hath made ; if we look down-ward , and see how every creature serveth its end that it was made for : if we see how the earth hangs upon nothing ; if we are in our wits what should we do but praise whatever we are doing ? whether plowing , or eating , &c. this hymn is to be sung to him , it was he that gave me strength to work , and appetite to eat , psal. 19. 1 , 2. the heavens declare the glory of god , and the firmament sheweth his handy work ; day unto day uttereth speech , &c. every day cloth preach to us this doctrine , what a great , wise , good , glorious god he is , who doth order every season , and their occurrences , rom. 1. 20. dost thou find thy heart begin to be listed up with pride ? do●…t thou begin to forget thy maker ? do but behold his works ; see if thou canst do any such thing : say , let there be light , and see whether there will be light . try whether thou canst bring sorth such a thing as this . this doth god demand of iob , chap. 38. but if man cannot come near any of these works of god , then let him adore his power and greatness , and subject himself to him . 2. in his word . what glorious descriptions doe we find made of him in the scriptures ? psal. 104. 1. o lord thou art very great , &c. iob. 25. 4 , 5 , 6. man , in comparison of god , is but a worm , a vile worm , as the word signifies ; such a thing is man. a worm that is bred in flesh , which is the wor●…t of all . now is it not a wonder of all wonders that god should look upon such a one as man ? that god that humbles himself to behold the things that are done in heaven , that this great god should look upon us ? or take any pleasure or delight in us ? o how should we admire this grace ! secondly . if you consider what man is . what a vain , what a vile thing he is . 1. what a vain thing he is . his vanity appears , 1. by gods testimony of him . 2. by mans own hand subscribing to it . ( 1. ) by gods testimony of him , isa 40. 15 , 16 , 17. all natious before him are as vanity . they are as the drop of a 〈◊〉 , and as the small dust of the ballance , &c. ( 2 ) you shall see mans own hand subscribing to it . if you will but look into other places of scripture , you shall see man setting his own hand to it , psal. 39. 11. surely , every man is vanity , mark , every man. men of all ranks and conditions , psal. 62. 9. surely men of low degree are vanity , and men of high degree are alye : to be laid in the ballance , they are altogether lighter than vanity . the psalmist doth not speak it rashly , but as one that had tryal of what man was ; and yet he g●…ves this as the result of his experience and tryal , that if man were put into one ballance , and vanity in the other , it would weigh●… him down . so psal. 39. 5. verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity : not vain , but vanity it self : yea every , yea altogether , yea at his best state , he is altogether vanity . job 11. 11. for he knoweth vain men . that is the proper epethite that belongs to man. man is a vain thing , and that in two particulars . he is worthless , and useless . 1. he is a worthless thing , iob 11. 12. for vain man would be wise . in the original 't is empty man. man is by nature empty of every good thing . so the apostle , in me , that is in my slesh dwelleth no good thing . there is nothing that is spiritually good left ; all is lost by mans apostacy from god. yea , man is not onely nothing worth , but worse than nothing . we use to say that a man that is over head and ears in debt , is many thousands ( it may be ) worse than nothing : so is man , he is insinitely in his makers debt , and cannot come out , as we acknowledge in that petition forgive our debts ; where we acknowledge two things . ( 1 ) that we are in debt to god. ( 2 ) that we cannot pay him . this is the condition of man , he is infinitely in god's debt , & he cannot pay any thing : he hath nothing to pay . 2. he is a useless thing . able to doe the lord no service , eph. 2. 1. yea when he is recovered by grace , 't is very poor service , that he can doe for his maker . and therefore our saviour teacheth his disciples to say they are unprofitable servants when they have done their duty . yea we are so far from doing him any acceptable service , that we cannot but sin against him , and offend him . now put these things together , and doth it not appear to be a wonder that god should make such account of man ? is he a vain thing , worthless and useless , and yet will god set his heart upon him ? what a wonder is this ! 2. man is a vile thing . if he were onely empty of good , this were something ; but now he is not onely empty of all that is good , but he is full of all that is displeasing to god , job 15. ver . 16. man drinketh in iniquity like water . this is the condition of man , he drinketh in sin as the fish drinks in water : sin is his proper element . the filthy carcase lying before us is not more loathsome to us than we are to god in our sins . man , before god in himself is like a carcase lying in its crawling worms . now is it not strange that so vain , yea , so vile a thing as man have any room in gods heart ? how should we cry out with the psamist here in the text , lord what is man , &c. thirdly . this will appear by considering what great account this great god hath of this poor thing man. what great account god hath of him , will appear ( 1 ) in what he hath laid out upon him . ( 2 ) in what he hath laid up for him . ( 3 ) by the near union he hath taken him into , with himself . ( 4. ) by his near relation to him . ( 5 ) by his entertaining such familiar communion with man. first . if you consider what god hath laid out upon him . the care , and the cost . 1. the care . ah brethren , this is strange grace , that the infinite god should lay out his care , his thoughts upon such a thing as man is , yet thus he doth , 1 pet. 5. 7. for he careth for you . now this will appear worthy of your admiration , if you consider what this care is . 't is a paternal care , a personal care , a perpetual care . 1. it is a paternal care . a fatherly care . as a father pittieth his children , so the lord pittieth them that fear him . so mal. 3. 17. god calls them his iewels . now if a mans house be on fire , he will be sure to save his jewels . but if a mans children be in the house , he will rather loose his jewels than his children . and if he saveth any child , then that that is the dutifull child . so god will spare them as a son that serveth him . now this paternal care is , upon that account , natural , constant , vigorous . ( 1 ) it is a natural care which is in fathers , and this is in god. this the apostle commend ed timothy for , phil. 2. 20. that he 〈◊〉 rally cared for their state . that which is n●…tural is delightful : so is gods care of his people ; he takes pleasure in it , in his projects and designs to bring his people to glory . yea god is so ambitious ( as we may so speak , ) that he is angry when we will not cast our cares upon him . he would have us be carefull for nothing . ( 2 ) upon this account , it is also constant and uninterupted . that whis is natural is constant . as the fire doth naturally give heat , therefore it alwaies doth so . but that which is contrary to nature is quickly gone : as if you heat water over the fire , the heat is quickly gone again ; because it is against nature . now gods care is natural , and therefore constant. ( 3 ) that which is natural is vigorous . that which is done against nature is done slowly . as when you cast a stone upward . now gods care is a natural care , and therefore a vigorous care . 2. it is a personal care . god will look to us himself , isa. 66. 2. it is true god doth put others to look to us , but he will not trust us with these , but he will look to us himself . 3. it is a perpetual care . as when daniel was to be cast into the lions den , dan. 6. 14. the king set his heart upon daniel to deliver him , &c. so gods heart is set upon us . he is bent for our good , he is still designing for us , psal. 40. 5. many o lord — are thy thoughts to us ward , &c. 2. as it appears by the care , so by the cost that god hath laid out upon man. ( 1 ) the riches of his love . ( 2 ) the gold of his grace . 1. the riches of his love . the free grace , favour and love of god is called riches in scripture , ephes. 1. 7. the apostle speaking of the riches of christ shews how unsearchable they are , ephes. 3. 8. so rom. 11. 33. o the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of god. now all these were laid out to determine mans deliverance . they are glorious riches that god doth lay out upon his sons and servants , rom. 2. 7. and well may these be called riches . there must be two things to make riches , there must be ( 1 ) plenty . ( 2 ) preciousness . first . there must be plenty . for a little of never so good , will never make a man rich. secondly , there must be preciousness , for abundance of that which is worthless will never make a man rich. now both of these are in gods mercy , there is plenty , and 't is precious . the mercy and grace of god is very precious . david sought most for this , when others set their hearts upon other things , psal. 4. and as 't is of great worth , so 't is of great plenty . it is abundance of grace that god doth put forth in repairing mans nature , and making him a new creature . but this great cost of god upon us will further appear , in that he hath laid out upon us . ( 1 ) his creatures . ( 2 ) his christ. 1. his creatures upon us . that he should lay out all these creatures upon us , these heavens , and this earth to be for the comfort of man , oh how doth this discover gods goodness to man ! this made david admire him , psal. 8. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. here you may see what an account god doth make of man , in that he should make him a little god among the creatures ; that their sheaf should bow to his sheaf ; that they must spend and be spent for man : yea , the invisible creatures , the angels , they must be ministring spirits , for them who are the heirs of salvation , heb. 1. ult . 2. in that he hath laid out his christ upon us . this was a costly gift indeed . it is much that god should give his creatures to dye for us , to give us food : but oh that he should give us his christ to dye for us , oh how incredibly hath the lord advanced man in this ! in this he hath abundantly shewed how man was esteemed by him . this shews that he had a great regard to us . we were redeemed by the blood of christ , which was the blood of god himself , act. 20. 28. now is it not an admirable thing , that so mean a purchase should be made with so great a price ? this was that which god did commend his strange love with , ( 1 joh. 3. 16. ) that he laid down his life for us . look into thy self man , what hast thou that thou shouldest have this great purchase to be laid out for thee ? oh how should man be continually in the prais●… of god! 2. in the gold of his grace , that god hath la●…d out upon m●…n . grace is call'd the true riches , and this hath been laid out upon man , rev. 3. 18. it is called gold , yea 't is much more precious than gold . when you see the qu●…n attired in gold , psal. 45. all this is to set forth the grace that is upon the saints of god. i tell thee christian , thou that hast but one dram of grace , he hath give●… thee more than if he had given thee a whole world . in the creation there were some footsteps of god upon other creatures ; but upon man there was his image . and now that god should distinguish thee from others by one dram of grace , this is admirable ! secondly . it appears what great account this great god hath of this poor thing , man , in what he hath laid up for him . this makes the psalmist to cry out as one overcome with admiration , psal. 31. 19. o how great is thy goodness , which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee ! it is much that god hath laid out for us , but more that he hath laid up ●…or us . the psalmist could not express it , he could but 〈◊〉 it onely , 1 cor. 2. 9. eye hath not seen , nor 〈◊〉 heard , neither have entred into the h●…rt of man , the things which god hath prepared for them that love him . eye hath no●… seen . the eye of man hath seen much ; especially those that have travailed in other countries . but the eye of man hath not seen any thing that may be compared with this that god hath prepared . nor ear heard . we have heard o●… more than we have seen ; we have heard of gold mines and the like , that are in other parts o●… the world ; but the ear hath not heard of any thing like this . and though the eye hath seen much , and the ear hath heard more ; yet the heart of man can conceive of more again ; yet the heart of man cannot conceive of what god hath laid up for them that love him . now lay these two together , what god hath laid out upon man , and what he hath laid up for him , and will it not appear that the great god makes a great account of man ? how can you chuse but cry out in the words of the psalmist , what is man , &c. but , thirdly . this will appear by that near union that he hath taken him up into , with himself . oh how wonderfully hath god dignified man in this ? by uniting his nature to the nature of man , as 't is in the second person of the trinity , joh. 1. 14. and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us , or , in us . that god should take up the nature of man into personal union with himself , what an unspeakable dignity is this ! so the apostle , he took not upon him the nature of angels , but the seed of abraham , heb. 2. 16. herein is man dignified above the angels of glory , in the near union between god and man in the godhead . this is that which the angels do desire to pry into : well may the apostle say , great is the mystery of godliness : and this is the top of it , god manifest in the flesh . greatly hath god dignified man in these two things , that man should be partaker of the divine nature ; and that god should partake of the humane nature . 1. that man should partake of the divine nature , 2 pet. 1. 4. oh this is a great priviledge that we should bear the image of god. let the world scorn at holiness ; yet i tell thee , man , that hast one dram of grace , he hath done more for thee , than he hath done for all the world . how ever this is out of fashion in world , i am sure 't is not in heaven . o glory in this , you that are made partakers of gods nature . 2. in his taking upon him our humane nature . in this , mans nature is more exalted yet . the nature of man in christ is lifted up far above all principalities and powers , 1 pet. 3. ult . angels , and authorities , and powers being made subject unto him . this is spoken of christ , not onely in his divine nature , but his humane nature , for his divine nature was there before : therefore it must be understood of his humane nature . and he hath all power of angels and authorities , and he sends them forth to minister at his peoples need , heb. 1. 〈◊〉 , ephes. 1 , 20 , 21 , 22. which he wrought in christ when he raised him from the dead , and set him a●… his own right hand in the heavenly places , far above all principality , and power , and might , and dominion and hath put all things under his feet , and gave him to be head over all things to the church . mark , the man jesus christ is head and lord over all things : for it is spoken of christ as to his humane nature ( as i told you before ) for 't is spoken of him as raised from the dead , which was his humane nature . so that you see how wonderfully mans nature is exalted in christ. fourthly . it appears by his near relation to him . this is another way by which god hath signified what a great account he hath of man , that he will take him near to himself . you know 't is a great honour to be next to the king. now what a great honour is it for a man to be next to god ? now he hath taken man near to him . ( 1 ) as a husband . ( 2 ) as a father . ( 3 ) as a friend . 1. as a husband . they twain shall be one flesh . god hath owned man in this relation , isa. 54. 5. thy maker is thy husband , the lord of hosts is his name . o what a thing is this that he should not be ashamed to own us in that relation ! jer. 3. 14. i am married unto you , eph. 5. 30. we are flesh of his flesh , and bone of his bone , hos. 2. 19. i will betroth thee unto me for ever . 2 cor. 11. 2. i have ●…spoused you unto one husband . o what a great exaltation is this , that we should become the bride of christ , the wife and spouse of christ ! what honour hath the bride , the lambs wife ! a believer is espoused to christ : and therefore the apostle propounds the example of christ to his church , unto men towards their wives , to imitate his example in the performance of their duties to them . now what a wonder is this that such beggars as we are ●…hould be taken from the dunghil & be made a bride prepared for him ! 2. as a father . so he is nearly related to us . this is an astonishing consideration , 1 joh. 3. 1. o what a wonder is this , that he should take such a thing as man , so near to himself as to make him become his son ! that he should take him from the dunghil of sin , from the dungeon of darkness , the family of satan , the furnace of hell . there be two dignities confer'd upon man here . ( 1 ) he is taken into his family . ( 2 ) admitted to sit at his table . ( 1 ) he is taken into his family , ephes. 3. 15. of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named . mark , the lord is a great house-keeper , and all believers are his family . and though these be in different degrees and orders , some glorified in heaven , and some here on carth ; yet we are all but one family ; so that we are taken into the same family and houshold that the saints in glory be in . and what a dignity is this ! ephes. 2. 19. now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners , but fellow-citizens with the saints , and of the houshold of god. we that were sometimes strangers , are now by our adoption become of gods houshold . you may think they shall not want good keeping , 1 tim. 5. 8. he that provides not for those of his own house , is worse than an infidel . god will be sure to provide for those that be of his own house . now we that are his children , shall thus be provided for . o how doth david commend their state that shall be admitted to dwell in gods house ? he prefers it above all the honour of princes dignity , psal. 84. this is our priviledge . we are in gods house , of his family . if the queen of sheba did think the servants of solomon blessed , how much more blessed are they that are the servants of jesus christ ? happy ( said she ) are those thy servants , &c. but how much more may this be said of gods children . ( 2 ) we are admitted to sit at his table . god doth admit his children to his own table . this is the childrens portion ; and when he hath fed them a while at his table here , he will translate them to an upper-table in the other world , luk. 23. 28 , 29 , 30. ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations . and i appoint unto you a kingdom , as my father hath appointed unto me ; that ye may eat and drink at my table . this is the priviledge of gods children , o what a dignity is this , to sit and eat and drink with christ at his table ! this is in part given us here , and shall be perfected upon us hereafter . god sayes to believers as david said to mephibosheth , 2 sam. 9. 7. i will surely shew thee kindness , &c. and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually . and therefore sith we are admitted to this priviledge to eat and drink at god's table , let us do as he , and say with him , vers . 8. and he bowed himself and said , what is thy servant , that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as i am ? when nathan would express the tenderness of the poor man to his 〈◊〉 , he doth it by this , ( 2 sam. 12. 3. ) that it did eat of his own meat , and drink of his own cup , and lay in his bosom : this is the priviledge that christ vouchsases us , to eat of his own bread , and drink of his own cup , and be as his children . 3. the relation of a friend . this you know is a very familiar and loving relation . among●…t others there may be some strangeness , but this is a most familiar relation . abraham was called the friend of god. it is the epithite that christ gives his disciples , i call you friends . friends , you know , do unbo some their secrets one to another . thus it is with god and believers . the lord opens his secrets to them ; and they rip op●…n their hearts to god. the secrets of the lord are with them that sear him . fiftly . it appears that god makes a great account of man , in that he doth ente●…tain such ●…amiliar communion with man. o how wonderfully doth go ! condescend to man on this account ! how familiarly doth he treat with us ? he doth open all his mi●…d to us . joh. 14. 2. in my fathers house are many mansions , if it were 〈◊〉 so , i would have told you . intimating that he would keep back nothing from them that would be sor their good . he tells all his heart and mind to believers . and this account he gives to his father when he leaves the world ; he shews his father that he had taught them , and opened his mind to them , joh. 17. 6 8 , 14. christ doth open and reveal the fathers mind and will to believers . and as he is pleased to converse familiarly with us , so he doth let us converse with him . my brethren it is an unspeakable dignity that god doth admit man to , in that he will speak with him . herein moses did commend the people of isr●…l , in that there was no nation like to them , that god should speak to them , and they spea●… unto god. this is a glorious priviledge that god will speak to man ; especially that he will speak to him by his son , heb. 1. 1. this is more than for god to speak to him out of the fire . this is a great condes●…ention on gods part , and exaltation on mans part . and then not onely that god should speak to man , but that man should speak to god. ah brethren , this is that should make us stand amazed , that we should be admitted to speak to the great god. this did astonish abraham , gen. 18. 27. behold now , i have taken upon me to speak unto the lord , which am but dust and ashes . he wondered at this great dignity ●…hat the great god should let him converse with him . that his ear should be open to us , and we should come and knock at his door , and have admission , o what a priviledge is this ! what an honour is this , that we should have the honour to speak with the king , let him be in what company he w●…ll , and be carried into his bed-chamber ! and yet thus it is . oh admire this rich grace of god , and cry out with the psalmist in the text , lord , what is man , that thou takest knowledge of him ? or the son of man that thou makest account of him ? luk. 15. 23 , 24. bring hither the fatted cals , and kill it , and let us eat , and be merry . for this my son was dead , and is alive again ; he was lost , and is found . my beloved this text is so full of mercy , on gods part , and so full of comfort for us , that methinks i may close the book , and have done as soon as i have begun : methinks the text might be a sermon of it self . in it you have set before you the joy and triumph of heaven for the recovery of poor , dead , lost sinners . 1. you have heavens joy and triumph for them . bring hither the fatted calf , and kill it and let us eat , and be merry . under this is signified the joy that is in heaven over one returning sinner . the angels of god , yea , the god of the angels , do rejoyce in the conversion of one lost sinner . 2. you have the cause of this joy , and that was from that blessed and happy change that had passed upon this prodigal . and there is a twofold change that we find upon him , in his heart , and in his state . 1. in his heart . that you have in the verses above . when he came to himself , he said , how mauy hired servants of my fathers , have bread enough , and to spare , and i perish with hunger ? here is a great change wrought upon his heart , he is now come to his sens●…s again . an impenitent finner is beside himself : none in the world is so distracted as he is . all the madness in the world is nothing to this . he that throws fire-brands at his head , is not in so bad a 〈◊〉 as he that throws fire-brands at god. well , the man is now come to his senses : and what was the effect . ( 1 ) he was sensible of his misery , i perish with hunger . this is one of the first things that god doth for his people , when he brings them home , to make them sensible of their misery . ( 2 ) he was sensible of his sin too . father , i have sinned against heaven and before thee . not onely misery , but the sense of sin must be set home upon the heart of a poor sinner , or else the conversion will not be true . ( 3 ) you have his confession and conversion : his confession , father i have sinned . and his conversion , he returned home to his father . 2. a change in his state. when he comes to his father , you shall see what an alteration it made in his father . ( 1 ) from nakedness to clothing , ver . 22. but the father said to his servants , bring forth the best robe , and put it on him , and put a ring on his hand , and shoes on his feet . he was now new clothed from top to toe : yea , not onely for necessity , but for ornament , a ring on his hand . o what a change was here ! from rags to robes . and no other but the best robes . ( 2 ) from penury , to plenty . bring hither the fatted calf . alass ! the poor starveling would have been glad but a little before , to have eat of the husks that he fed the swine with , but he could not have them . but now the fatted calf must be fetched out and killed for him . ( 3 ) from being lost , to be found . he was lost , and is found . ( 4 ) from being dead , to be alive again . there are four observations that i shall commend to you from the words . 1. observ. that a sinner in his natural condition , is not onely diseased , but dead : not onely strayed , but lost . 2. obs. that there is a possibility even for dead sinners to be raised , for lost sinners to be recovered . consider this you that are here , that are touched with the sense of your misery . if any souls are touched with the sense of their misery and undone condition , consider this that you may be found . it hath been thus with all the saints of god. they were dead and lost ; and yet are alive and are found : and why may not you as well as they ? oh pray and use the means : why should not you be turned too ? 3. obs. that it is a most glorious and blessed change that god doth work in the state of a believer when he bringeth him to himself , from the state that he was in ; no less than from being dead to be alive ; from being lost to be found . 4. obs. that it is mateer of heavens joy and triumph , when poor dead sinners are revived ; and lost sinners are recovered . bring hither the f●…ted calf , &c. and why so ? this my son was dead and is alive again ; was lost , and is found . it is the third of these observations that i intend to insist upon . that it is a most blessed and glorious change that god doth work in the state of a believer , &c. i shall open this in its several parts . it is a great change that god doth work . ( 1 ) from being dead to be alive . regeneration is not such a change as doth consist in performing such a duty , or leaving such a sin that thou could'st not well live in . it is pittiful to think , how many take the leaving of one sin to be the new birth ; no , it is no less than from being dead to be alive again . ( 2 ) it is such a change , as from being lost to be found . a sinner , in his natural state is a lost man , in a lost condition : but when he is recovered by conversion he is found again . the son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost . and so in this luke 15. what was this lost sheep , and lost groat , and lost son ? what was the meaning of all this , but the recovering of lost souls ? so that its a great change , a coming from death to life ; from being lost to be found . if our gospel be hid , 't is hid to those that are lost : ( that is , for the present they are lost , ) but when they are converted , then , of lost they are found . use. is it so blessed and glorious a change , that god doth work in the condition of a believer , when he bringeth him to himself ; no less than from being dead to be alive , from being lost to be found ? then you that are believers rejoyce in , and be thankfull for that blessed and happy condition that god hath translated you into . ah brethren , how may you look one upon another , and consider what god hath done for you ? 1. how that you were dead , and are alive again ; you were diseased , yea dead creatures . diseased , full of all that may render you miserable : all diseases are met together in a poor sinner . now that god hath recovered thy diseased soul , yea , thy dead soul , and brought thee to life again , oh what matter of joy is this ! how should you wonder at so great a change as this ? we read that at the miracles that our saviour did upon the diseased , there was great astonishment among the people ; they were amazed at this , but here are more miraculous cures than those ; the cure of dead souls is more than the cure of dead bodies . o brethren , if all the diseased that christ had cured should have confer'd together , what strange stories would they have told ? one would have said , i was born deaf ; and he said ephatha , and my ears were opened . another i was born blind and he anointed mine eyes , & i washed and received my sight . another , i was thirty eight years under a disease , and by a word of his mouth i was healed . another , i was eighteen years in a sad condition , and by a touch of his garment i was cured . and so of the rest . ah brethren , you were not onely diseased , but dead ; and christ hath recovered you . o! what matter of thankfulness is here ? you that are believers , should not look one upon another without wondering . what should move you to wonder if not this ? it will be a strange change when we shall see all the sons of adam come forth at last out of their graves ; when we shall see those that were buried in the great deep , brought forth by the power of christ ; and made all appear together , this will be a strange change . but the change of dead bodies is not so great as the change of dead souls . o how should you praise god that hath raised you from so great a death as this ! how is it that we are taken up no more with wonderment for this that he hath done for our souls ? god doth rejoyce over it ; it is heavens joy when a lost sinner is found . and doth god and angels take notice of it , and rejoyce , and do you not take notice of it ? o what ingratitude is this ! this should excite sinners to ●…eed their return to god ; for this will rejoyce heaven and earth . shall i leave my wine ( saith the vine ) whereby i make glad the heart of god and man ? i may say truly , the recovery of a sinner makes glad the heart of god and man ; not onely will christians and ministers rejoyce over thee when thou turnest to god : but god himself will rejoyce over thee , when thou returnest : he will call for the fatted calf , &c. o the mirror of unthankfulness , that is upon our hearts , that we should be no more moved with any work that god hath done upon our souls ! you that are converted and wrought upon by sanctification , one would think that you should be able to enter upon no other talk than this , to tell what god hath done for your souls . my brethren , if while we are here together , we should see our dead friends , that have been dead ten , or twenty , or thirty years agoe , to eat and drink , and walk , and talk , and converse with us , how should we be astonished at it ? and how would they wonder one at another ? one that dyed at such a time ; and another , that dyed at such a time and here they live again , and talk again . but now here is a greater wonder than this ; here are dead souls , and they are brought together and live again , and talk again . o! me thinks you should wonder to see one another restored from so great a death . obj. but you will say , how shall i know that i am recovered from death to life ? ans. i shall give together the characters , and the priviledges of you that are recovered from death to life , that so your evidence and comfort may be promoted together . and there are these four that belong to you first . he hath raised you from a state of corruption and rottenness , to a state of health , and holiness . you know a state of death is a state of corruption : the grave is a place of rottenness and putrifaction . you that lye in your old lusts still , certainly you have no portion or part in this matter . but you that are changed are brought from this state : a state of sin , is a state of corruption . the scripture every where speaks of sin by the metaphor that carries in it the highest pitch of filthiness , psal. 14. 3. they are altogether become silthy , or stinking . and so in job 15. 16. how much more abominable and silthy is man , which drinketh in iniquity like water ? man in his natural state is a most silthy creature : no comparison is 〈◊〉 to set forth the odiousness of his condition , before he is sanctified by grace ; and the reason is , because he drinketh in iniquity like water . as the fish doth swim in , and take in water naturally : so sin is his very element wherein he doth naturally live as it were . thus the apostle , rom. 3. 13. their throat is an open sepulchre . and so our saviour compares the pharisees to to whited sepulchres . but now you that are believers , god hath raised you from a state of rottenness to a state of health and holiness . grace is the health of the soul ; holiness is the soundness of the soul. an upright heart , is a sound heart . o beloved , what a priviledge is this to be translated from a state of corruption , to a state of holiness ? o what cause have you of thankfulness , that can find the stamp of god again upon your souls ? you are highly favoured indeed whom god hath priviledged with this . there is all that is desirable in grace and holiness ; riches , wealth , beauty , all . how often do we read of the beauty of holiness ? and so of its riches too ; i counsel thee to buy of me gold , that thou mayest be rich , rev. 3. 18. 't is the true riches . and so it is health and soundness too , prov. 3. 8. it shall be health to thy navel , and marrow to thy bones . secondly , from a state of darkness , to a land of light. you know the grave is a place of darkness ; and death , a state of darkness . thus is it in the spiritual death . dead souls are all in darkness , under the power of darkness , act. 26. 18. the grave for our dead bodies is a place of darkness : but the grave for dead souls , is a place of utter darkness , of everlasting darkness . the grave is formidable , and deep . you know when a body is dead , it must be buried , that it may not annoy us . god hath provided a grave to bury dead souls in out of his sight ; and where do you think that this grave is ? why hell is the grave for dead souls . the rich man was dead , and was buried , but where was he buried ? his soul was in hell , so some translate this place , and being buried , in hell he lift up his eyes , luke , 16. 22 , 23. hell is a place of darkness , and thick darkness . o that is horrible indeed , that is reserved for poor impenitent sinners ; the blackness of darkness for ever , jude 13. he doth not onely say darkness , but blackness of darkness for ever . ah brethren , this is that which christ hath recovered you from , from death to life . if you go down into the grave , and see how the dead do lye in darkness , and silence , how formidable is that ! but oh how will it be , to see the grave of hell where dead souls are buried ! this was your place before you were sanctified . ah brethren , what manner of praise , what 〈◊〉 of deliverance should you compass the throne of gods grace withal , who have such a change wrought upon you ? thirdly . from a 〈◊〉 of impotence , to a state of power . a natural state is an impotent state , rom. 5. 6. when we were yet without strength , in due time , christ dyed for the ungodly . as a dead man is not able to move a finger to put off the worms that crawl upon his body and face : so a dead soul cannot get the victory over his flesh , and lusts . he is under an impossibility of doing any thing acceptable before god. but now god hath given you strength , that you should leap and walk , 〈◊〉 praise god. god did put strength into thy feet when he recovered thee from death to life , that tho●… should●… be able to go thorow dissiculties for his names sake . brethren , those that are altogether without strength were certainly never brought to a true and spiritual life . if thou art brought from death to life , thou hast some strength . it may be it is but a little strength ; but every saint hath a little strength , so that he doth not live in the wilsul practice of any sin . if thou hast not thus much thou art dead in thy sins . fourthly , from a state of insensibleness , to a state of sense . a dead man is without sense ; he hath eyes , but he seeth not ; and ears , but he heareth not : and thus it is with a dead soul. but now you that are believers , you are raised from this miserable state . i may say to you , blessed are your eyes , for you see ; and your ears , for you hear . o what a change hath he wrought upon you ! 1. he hath opened your eyes , when others are in blindness . brethren ! what a change is this ? how many do you see that live where the gospel is preached , and yet remain ignorant ? o! what thankfulness should this provoke you to ? you are restor'd to your spiritual sense . before , you thought it the smallest matter in the world to sin against god : now , you look upon it after another manner . o how should you bless god in those words of our saviour , i thank thee , o father , lord of heaven and earth , because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent , and hast revealed them unto babes . o! how many be there of the wise men , & great men of the world that have their eyes closed ? god hath hid these things from them that they cannot see them : but your eyes see , give god the glory . 2. he hath bored your ears , when others are in deafness . when others are like the deaf adder , he hath given you the hearing ear , the obedient ear ; o! consider this , and be thankful . thou hast of thy self a heart as obstinate as any other heart i●… the world . now if god hath given thee ears to hear , o bless his name ! how often may we call upon a dead man , and he never hear ? so we may call upon dead souls , and they hear not , with their souls at least , though they hear with their ears . 3. god hath loosed your tongues , when others are dumb and silent . o what mercy is this ? beloved , you could not breath before god your prayers and requests with lise and fervour as you do , unless god did unlose your tongues , and open your mouths . man's lips are locked up , and his tongue tyed up , that he cannot utter himself be●…ore god ; or at least , not with that fervency that others can : o bless the lord that he hath loosed your tongues . 4. he hath given you appetites , when others rellish not the things of god. dost thou find any hungrings and thirstings after christ , and his righteousness ? is this that which thou dost pant after , to be made more conformable to the lord ? dost thou pant after christ , as others pant after the world ? o bless god that hath put such a difference between thee and others . when others relish not the things of god , they ar●… sapless things ; yea , many times they seem burdenfome things to them , god hath given thee such an appetite , that thou findest a relish in them , that nothing goes down so sweetly , as the service of god. 5. he hath given you your feeling , when some others are past feeling . we read of some that were past feeling , eph. 4. 19. you know a dead man hath no sense or feeling ; if you lay a mountain upon him , he feels it not : so it is with a dead soul , he feels not the burthen of his si●…s , he complains not for his sins : now canst thou say , that thy sins be the greatest trouble to thee in all the world ? o bless the lord for this ! it is a great priviledge ; you that are believers do groan under this burthen , and 't is your duty so to do ; yet under this there is some life , or else you would not feel your corruptions as you do . and now to close all , let me renew the exhortation , rejoyce and be thankful ; that though you were lost , you are found again . o remember what a condition you were in when you were lost ! do you not remember what bitterness did seize upon you ? how many times did you give up your souls , and did believe that you should never be found , or restored ? and did god find you when you were lost ? o consider who it was that found you . christ came from heaven to earth to take thee up , poor lost sheep , upon his shoulders , to carry thee to heaven ; o be not forgetful , ●…ut rejoyce , and be thankful . a letter sent by him to an intimate friend . now will i make known to my dearest friend , some of the thoughts of my heart this morning , besore i begin to write to thee ; there was once a poor soul imprisoned in 〈◊〉 , and clogged with the iron fetters of corruption , that retired within it self , and would needs take a view of the best and worst sight i●…aginable at once . well , he sets open the floodgates , and in he dives into the fathomless depths of an evil heart , but there he could sind no bottom ; then up he springs , and begins to take the dimentions , and view the massie weight of the crown incorruptible : his heart grew hot within him , and while he was musing , the fire burned , and on a sudden he pathetically smites on his breast , and out he breaks into this language , ah wretch , what a sight is here ! methinks my heart is like the chambers of imagery , i can turn me no way , but the loathsom sight and silthy stench of my corruptions comes up into my eyes and nostrils , my pollutions are so ●…oul , that i cannot tell how to look upon them , and yet so common , so universal , that i cannot look besides them : which way soever i look into my self , i can cast my eye on nothing but the loathsome sight of some filthy ulcer , which makes me filthy in my own eyes , and how much more to the pure eyes of my spotless maker ; when i turn my eye inward , and go about from cell to cell , i pass from one to the other , and am fain to write , lord have mercy upon me on every dore : every faculty is as a cage of unclean birds , and o the noysome lusts that lodge and live within them ! i look'd into my memory , and o what a magazine of wickedness was there ! weak i find it , and slippery when any good is committed to it : alas , methinks i am like a narrow mouthed bottle , that takes in but drops when the bounty of heaven pours down by showrs . though the dew of heaven distill as the rain , yet how little do i take in ? how much is spilt besides ? but yet this is not all , there is a leak in my vessel that lets all that is good run out , only the dregs are left behind . 't is little good that i take in amongst a world of evil , and presently my rudder le ts go the good corn , and the chaff is kept behind : capacious it is to receive , faithful to retain what should be forgotten : well thought i , i will shut up this , but i heard the voice , as to the prophet of old , speaking to me , turn thine eyes , and thou shalt see yet greater abominations then these . look into thine understanding . but good lo●…d , what a sight have i here ? why it is all overspread with aegyptian darkness ; yea , much more intolerable , it being not my plague only , but my sin : alas , how do i grope about in blindness and ignorance , and wander in the path of error , and though the light shine in darkness ; yet the darkness comprehendeth it not : how mean and shallow is my capacity ? so dull that i cannot conceive , nor apprehend the mysteries of godliness , but am ready to ask with unskilful nicodemus , what do these things mean ? what riddles are many gospel truths to my soul ? i am apt rather to dispute them , than to believe them ; as if i had rather judge of things by the light of reasons candle , than god's sun : o fool that i am , and slow of heart to believe , how is my understanding tyed to my senses , that i am apt to believe little but what i see ? what poor low conceptions have i of god , how little a portion do i know of him ? he goeth by me , and i see him not ; he passeth on , and i perceive him not ; how little is it that my understanding will reach too ? and how grossely do i apprehend and conceive that little ? although christ hath anointed my eyes , yet my imperfect sight of the things of the gospel is like his we read of , who saw men walking as trees . but you , o blessed souls who are now in glory , you see face to face what i see in a glass darkly ; your sun is risen , you see by the clearest meridian light , what i am fain to grope for in the dark ; those mi●…s of darkness and ignorance are dispelled from your understandings , and you have the blessedness to see , what i have scarce faith to believe ; thrice happy souls , your day ends not , your sun sets not , you have perfect day , no clouds overcast you ; you have perfect knowledge , no scruples molest you ; you are perfect light , and perfect life : the mysteries hid from us , are made known to you , your light is increased , your capacities are inlarged , your vail removed , and you are filled with all the fulness of god : mysterious providences are all unravelled to you , you see the glorious contexture of every piece , and all the art and contrivances of that curious tapestry , of which i can see but here an arm , and there a leg , and know not how to put passages together , nor what to make of them . o when shall that which is in part be done away ? when shall the day dawn , and the day star arise in my heart ? my soul waits for the lord , more than they that wait for the morning , yea , more than they that wait for the morning . alas , how doth my spirit sink oftentimes , when i consider the imperfections of my understanding ? how i am at every turn baffled and posed in my own thoughts , and perplex'd in a labyrinth of difficulties , out of which i cannot extricate my self . oh when will the time come that i shall see as i am seen ; and that i shall have all my objections answered , my doubts resolved , my difficulties removed ? ah this cloud of flesh , what glory dost thou keep from shining in upon me ? how can i see through all this dirt ? well but in thy light lord i shall see light : in the mean while i should be contented , if i could walk up to that dim light i have ; but alas : i have so stubborn , so head-strong a will , that it will not use the light i have ; my understanding is backward in assenting to the truths propounded , but how much more backward is my will in consenting and practising ? so that i am even like them in the prophet , brutish in my knowledge . who would believe , did they see my coldness , and deadnes●… in ●…oly duties , how remiss i am , when begging pardon of sin , for mortifying and quickning grace , that i were begging for my life ? who would think by my negligence in the wayes of god , and that wretched indifferency that is in my heart , that i did believe the kingdom of heaven was to be taken by violence , and that the gate was so strait , and the way so narrow that leads to life . oh hypocrisie ! i preach up diligence , and i live in sloth ; i preach up humility , and live in pride ; i speak of the vanity of the creature , yet i idolize it ; of the sinfulness of sin , yet i cherish it ; of the lise of faith , yet am a stranger to it . i believe that sin is the greatest evil , and that gods wrath is the greatest curse ; but alas ! how strangely do i live below these principles ! how am i apt and ready notwithstanding , to choose sin , rather than affliction , and venture the displeasure of the almighty , to gain credit and applause amongst men ? if it be hard to believe , how much harder is it to practise ? i know but little , and yet how little do i of what i know ? the flesh is still lusting against the spirit , so that i cannot do the things that i would ; yet though my strength be but weak , how short do i come of doing all i can ? and what a secret antipathy is there in my heart against the truths of god , and the wayes of god ? though my understanding be over-powred with the evidence of truth ; yet i do not receive it in the love of it . o the deep enmity that there is in my heart against christ , notwithstanding all the personal excellencies that i know to be in him , and all the benefits i have received from him ! he shed his heart-blood for me , and yet i do begrudge any service for him . oh how willingly did he bear the cross for me ! yea , was exceedingly straitned till that baptism was accomplished , i delight ( saith he ) to do thy will o god , and yet he tells us this was the will of his father , that he should lay down his life for his sheep ; yet do i murmur to bear any thing from or for him . alas , he did far more readily part with his life for me , than i do with a lust for him ; yea , those sins that were my saviours murtherers , do i entertain and cherish in my heart , and yet i say i love him ; but how can i love two masters ? so much of the love of sin as there is in my heart , so much enmity is there against christ ; and o how much is there then in my heart ? to this day i flatter my self that i love him , but alas ! where is my tenderness of his honour , my care to please him , my zeal for him , my delight in him , my longing after him : ah where are these fruits of my love to him ? alas ! what a stranger am i to these things ! well may he reply upon me , as she upon sampson , how canst thou say thou lovest me , when thy heart is not with me ? i can see him powring out his soul on the cross for me , praying , sweating , bleeding for me , conflicting with the torments of hell for me , and wrestling with the wrath of the infinite god for me , that i might be delivered ; and yet , o rock of adamant that i am , i bleed not , i melt not , i mourn not , i can read the story of his love-letters to my soul , and view all the passages of his love to me , his compassions towards me , his care of me , his provision for me , upholding , protecting , strengthning , deliveri●…g me ; yet nothing moves me : ah how i read the story of his bitter death and passion , with dry eyes , and a hard heart ! and all passes away like a tale that is told ; sometimes it may be my heart may be warmed , and my affections will seem to be in a flame , and o then what i will do , how i will live , how zealously i will act , and how chearfully i will suffer for christ , i will spend and be spent for him , not a lust shall be spared , not a duty that shall be baulked ; but alas ! my righteousness is like the morning dew , and like the ea●…ly cloud that vanisheth away . 't is strange to see how soon my fire is out , and my affections congealed , upon a suddain i am all over ice again , and o what a rubbing and a chafing must i use , to keep alive a little heat , a little warmth ! and all is scarce enough neither , when will the blessed time come , when shall i be swallowed up in love ? oh blessed are you who are now with christ , that live continually in the sweet embraces of those blessed arms , you are all the beloved disciples , and have the priviledge to lean on his breast ; you are alwayes in the lap , and are warmed continually in his bosom , when my affections freeze with cold , you feel the beatings of his heart , and see the tender workings within , the warm influence whereof melts you into the like affection ; and thus are you for ever blessed , receiving , and returning love ; when my wretched heart to this day retains abundance of enmity against him , who loved me , and gave himself for me . a great misery it is not to have a return of love , but my misery is not to return love for love . ah wretched heart , who can but be out of love with such a heart , as will not be in love with such a saviour ? oh it troubles me , not so much that i receive no more love tokens from him , but that i can send him no more . i beg not so much to be beloved by him , as that i may love him : i could be content to have fewer expressions of love from him , so i might have more love wrought in my heart towards him : well , but the time will come when my spark shall be all in a flame , and i shall be all love , when i shall for ever dwell in god , and dwell in love. i shall shortly be where no nipping winter shall cool the heat of my affections , where no waters shall be able to quench my flame , no , my fire shall never go out more ; but i shall be continually taken up in loving and admiring , and my soul shall be for ever possessed with perfect love : i shall then need no pains to warm , no sermons to quicken me , no faith to raise me ; but mine eye shall affect my heart , and my foul shall make me as the chariots of aminadab . i hear of him now by the hearing of the ear , at a great distance , but then my eye shall see him ; yea , with these eyes shall i see god , with these arms shall i embrace him ; then shall i see the wounds in his side , and in his heart , and put my singer into the print of the nails , and be no more faithless , but believing ; o blessed time , when he shall take me by the hand , and own me before men and angels , me unworthy wretch , when i shall hear that ravishing sentence from his blessed mouth , come thou blessed of my father , come inherit the kingdom that i have prepared for thee , that i have purchased for thee : surely then i shall not need to be bid to love him , when david had made an end of speaking , it is said , the heart of jonathan was knit with the heart of david , and he loved him as his own soul : so surely will it be with me , when i have heard that blessed sentence ; no jarring then between my understanding and my will ; between my will and my affections ; between my self and my brethren , but a sweet and perfect harmony . star-light shall , then become perfect day , and my affections and life perfectly consonant , and i shall for ever joyn with that blessed quire praising , and admiring that love , that now i have so much adoe to believe , sing out the high praises of our god , and of the lamb , who hath loved us , and washed us from our sins in his own blood . o will it not be a welcome time ? i know you begin to cry out , how long lord , how long ; why this is thy portion , embrace it , count upon it ; let us lift up our heads , the day of our redemption draws nigh ; yet a little while , and he that shall come , will come , and will not tarry . i would have my friend inflamed by this , though all this while i have scarce gotten my self into any heat . well , i conclude with the martyr , pray , pray , pray ; i know you do , but be importunate ; i know you are , but continue to be , and the lord fill you with himself , and cherish you in the secrets of his presence ; farewel , christs and yours joseph alleine . finis . a true narrative of the portsmouth disputation, between some ministers of the presbyterian, and others of the baptist, persuasion, concerning the subjects and manner of baptism held in mr. williams's meeting-place there on wednesday, feb. 22. 1698/9. the managers for the presbyterians were, mr. samuel chandler of fareham. mr. leigh of newport in the isle of wight. mr. robinson of hungerford in berks, moderator. for the baptists were, dr. william russel of london. mr. john williams of east knoyle in wiltshire. mr. john sharp of froome in somersetshire, moderator. transcribed from two copies taken at the dispute; the one by mr. bissel town-clerk of portsmouth, and the other by mr. samuel ring. revis'd and publish'd by dr. william russel. 1699 approx. 224 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 45 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a63577 wing t2806a estc r215290 99827205 99827205 31621 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a63577) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 31621) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2158:19) a true narrative of the portsmouth disputation, between some ministers of the presbyterian, and others of the baptist, persuasion, concerning the subjects and manner of baptism held in mr. williams's meeting-place there on wednesday, feb. 22. 1698/9. the managers for the presbyterians were, mr. samuel chandler of fareham. mr. leigh of newport in the isle of wight. mr. robinson of hungerford in berks, moderator. for the baptists were, dr. william russel of london. mr. john williams of east knoyle in wiltshire. mr. john sharp of froome in somersetshire, moderator. transcribed from two copies taken at the dispute; the one by mr. bissel town-clerk of portsmouth, and the other by mr. samuel ring. revis'd and publish'd by dr. william russel. bissel, mr. ring, samuel. russel, william, d. 1702. [16], 40, 33-60 p. printed for john sprint, at the bell in little-britain, london : 1699. text and register are continuous despite pagination. reproduction of the original in the lambeth palace library, london. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng baptism -early works to 1800. infant baptism -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2006-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2007-05 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a true narrative of the portsmouth disputation , between some ministers of the presbyterian , and others of the baptist , persuasion , concerning the subjects and manner of baptism : held in mr. williams's meeting-place there on wednesday , feb. 22. 1698 / 9. the managers for the presbyterians were , m. samuel chandler of fareham . mr. leigh of newport in the isle of wight . mr. robinson of hungerford in berks , moderator . for the baptists were , dr. william russel of london . mr. john williams of east knoyle in wiltshire . mr. john sharp of froome in somersetshire , moderator . transcribed from two copies taken at the dispute ; the one by mr. bissel town-clerk of portsmouth , and the other by mr. samuel ring . revis'd and publish'd by dr. william russel . london , printed for john sprint , at the bell in little-britain . 1699. to the most honourable governour , major-general erle ; and the honourable colonel gibson , deputy — governour of his majesty's garrison of portsmouth ; this narrative is humbly dedicated , as a grateful acknowledgment of that favour you did us , in your application to his august majesty , to know his pleasure whether you might admit of a disputation betwixt the ministers of the presbyterian and those of the baptist's perswasion , ( of which this is the best account the publisher could obtain ; ) whereupon his majesty , out of his wonted clemency , as an effect of that innate goodness which he hath always manifested towards his dissenting protestant subjects , was graciously pleased to let us have his royal per●●i●●ion , in answer to your request . for which favour , together with the liberty ; we enjoy in the free exercise of our religion , we desire to lay hold on this occasion , to express our thankfulness to god and the king ; praying for his majesty's health and prosperity in this world , and that god would vouchsafe to enrich him with a crown of glory in the world to come . your honours , to my power , william russel . to my much esteemed and beloved brethren in the lord , mr. thomas bowes , messenger and pastor of the congregation of baptized believers at portsmouth ; and mr. john webber , pastor of the church of christ at gosport under the same profession of believers baptism in water . together with the congregations to whom they belong : wishing your increase in grace , and in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ ; and that god would add to your number daily such as shall be saved . honoured and beloved brethren , i have thought meet to make this dedication also to you , because ye were not only eye and ear witnesses of what past in the disputation ; but were privy to all the circumstances with which it was attended , and were the sole cause of my being engaged in it . how it was managed you best know , and therefore are proper judges of the matters of fact related in this narrative . for my own part , i have took much pains , and used great care and consideration in the review of those papers you sent me from those that wrote down the dispute , that i might do no wrong to either party . and herein i have had all the helps i could obtain both from our brother williams , who was engaged with me in the disputation ; from whom i received ( by the hands of mr. sharp , our moderator ) an account of those arguments he offered , and what else he could remember , taken from his own mouth : besides the account i have had by letters from divers other persons that were present . all which i have diligently compared , and have also endeavoured ( so far as those accounts and my own memory would furnish me therewith ) not only to give a true narrative of what was spoken , but also to give our antagonists words their due weight as well as our own . and if there be any thing omitted therein , they must blame themselves , or their own scribe , and not us . for mr. william leddell went to mr. smith their writer , and carried our copy with him , and desired him to compare it with his : he answered , that his was very imperfect , it being the first time he was in a dispute , and he could not take it , but some things were left out ; and said , that it was not as yet wholly written over . mr. leddell waited upon him a second time , but could not obtain a sight of it to compare them together , although he was satisfied it was then finished . now whether he did this of himself , or by advice from them , is best known to himself . however , it leaves us without blame . i know it is not proper for me ( who was principally concerned in it ) to say much concerning the dispute it self : for being made publick , it 's left to every one that reads it to judge for himself . nevertheless , it may not be amiss to make some few remarks upon it ; because it may fall into some hands who may not well understand the grounds of the controversie . 1. it is agreed on both sides , that mr. chandler's sermons were the occasion of that offence taken by you , and of the dispute it self ; as appears by the preliminaries signed by mr. thomas bowes and mr. william leddell on our part , and also by mr. chandler and mr. williams on the part of the presbyterians : as you may see in p. 3 , 4. 2. the objections being made against what mr. chandler preach'd , it had been his proper work to have vindicated the truth of his doctrine against those objections , by the authority of holy scripture . but instead thereof , he puts us upon it to prove the contrary . but as the learned dr. smith did well observe , he that asserts must prove . and their own moderator did declare , that mr. chandler had in his preaching asserted , that infants are the subjects of baptism , but told us we were not to call on him for that then . 3. i would make this farther remark upon it , that the reason why he took this method was , because he was unable to prove what he had asserted : for in one of his sermons he thus speaks ; but that i may proceed with the greater clearness , i shall do these things ; first , prove from scripture the warrantableness of infant-baptism , &c. and to make his assertion good , he cites the commission , matth. 28. 19. for the baptizing the infants of believing parents . and argues upon it , that disciples were to be baptized ; and ( saith he ) we have a plain text that such infants are disciples , see acts 15. 10. and when our saviour saith , go make disciples , baptizing them , it must be understood of such infants . now as to his pretence from acts 15. 10. we did sufficiently enervate that . and as for the commission , mr. leigh doth confess ( as well as mr. chandler ) that it is a command , and that the command is express'd , pag. 27. and farther saith , in pag. 28. we must all confess that jesus christ gave commission to baptize believers when at the age of maturity ; but afterwards the children of those believers . yet when mr. chandler begins to answer my first argument , he affirms , that christ hath no where expresly commanded infants to be baptized . see p. 6. and if so , then infants cannot be intended , either in that commission , or any other place where there is a command in holy scripture for baptism . so that he needs no other confutation than his own confession , in the presence , as is supposed , of about 2000 witnesses . 4. as for their consequences which they were so desirous to have a grant from me that i would allow them to make use of ; it 's very observable , that if they can do any thing that way , it 's yet to be done ; for they did not offer them to us in the disputation , but have reserved them in their own breasts , as the pope doth his unwritten traditions . and how they should think the people should be convinced of the truth of their practice , when they tell them there is no express command in scripture for it , and pretend only they have some consequences to prove it by , and yet refuse to tell what these consequences are , it is beyond my imagination . i can assure them , those that can take up a satisfaction in such empty pretences , are sufficiently prepared to be priest-ridden , with a witness . 5. when they should have proved ( if they had known how ) that infants are capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men , according to christ's commission ; they tell us ( instead thereof ) that children are accounted so when they first enter the school , and call a school-master for their voucher . when the very naming of it confutes themselves , because they are so far from being made scholars by teaching , that they know not one letter of the book , by their own confession . 6. i cannot but observe how strenuously they opposed themselves against our way of baptizing by dipping ; and rejected the authority of their own authors , and divers of the greatest protestant writers since the reformation , who have asserted our practice therein to be agreeable to the etymology of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the practice of john the baptist , christ and his apostles ; and yet themselves can ( when it is to serve a turn ) practise it the same way , by plunging the person over head and ears in water . an instance whereof , as i received it ( well attested ) from several hands ( and the persons own confession ) take as followeth . to back that instance of mr. williams's about the virgin mary and our saviour in answer to mr. leigh's demand , namely , to give him an instance of one person that was born of a believer , and was baptized when he came to grown years , see pag. 34 , 35. we can give you an account of one whose parent was a believer when he was born , and baptized when adult , by mr. earl the presbyterian minister at gosport , by dipping , being about 40 years of age. and this was done by the advice of several of their ministers , particularly mr. chandler and mr. williams . his name is joseph fox ; he is a near neighbour of ours . and they did it either by the commission , or , without regard to it , i know not which ; that they best know . and by another hand i have this account . we have also thought fit to acquaint you with the person , and his name , who was baptized by the presbyterians at gosport ; which is as followeth : it was mr. joseph fox , living in gosport ; who being ( by our brother duke ) desired to answer him one thing , which was , whether , when he was baptized by mr. earl , it was done by dipping the whole body under water ? and he said , it was ; and that in the presence of four presbyterian minister● thi● was acknowledged by him to our brother duke on the 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 16●6-9 . and we do desire you ( if you think 〈…〉 in some part of the dispute , that the world may 〈◊〉 acquainted with that proceeding of theirs . now by this action of theirs , if they believe it to be according to the commission , then they justify our practice ; if they do it for any by-end , without believing it to be according to god's word , then ( as mr. calvin saith ) the whole action is but a sport. now , that mr. chandler can have no other thoughts of it , doth evidently appear from his own words : for in his sermon preachd at portsmouth nov. 10. 1698. he saith , it is not likely that that god that will have mercy and not sacrifice , would institute an ordinance so prejudicial to the bodies of men : and that it 's very unlikely that dipping , which whenever it is mentioned , is used as a token of god's vengeance , should in this sacrament be used as a token of his mercy . where you read of dipping , you find it mentioned in a way of wrath and vengeance . thus the old world was dip'd and drowned for their sins : god's vengeance followed them , and they sunk as lead in the mighty waters . thus the egyptians were dip'd and drowned in the red sea. thus the lord jesus christ shall come down from heaven , to render vengeance on his adversaries ; cloathed with garments dip'd in blood , rev. 19. 13. [ here mr. chandler hath rendred that word dip'd to inveigh and ridicule our practice of dipping , although he could object against it when i gave it for an instance . ] but he goes on , saying , you find still dipping represents in scripture god's vengeance and displeasure . and so i say it is very unlikely , that what was always used as a token of his displeasure , should in the new testament be used as a token of mercy . so that it is not necessary that dipping be used in baptism . to which i give this for answer . 1. if it be so as he saith , then it was altogether unnecessary that mr. erle ( by his consent ) should dip mr. fox's whole body under the water . 2. that it was not done in mercy to him , thus to baptize him ; but in vengeance , and as a token of god's displeasure . 3. that the baptism practised by john the dipper , and that of christ and his apostles , was not an ordinance instituted of god in a way of mercy , but appointed for the people in a way of wrath and vengeance : for i have given him a cloud of witnesses , that they did administer it by dipping the whole body under the water . 4. by this he doth condemn and ridicule all those learned protestants i have mentioned ; with many others that might be named . and the divines of the church of england ( as well as we ) who appoint dipping as the best way of baptizing ( and sprinkling only in case of weakness ) and was used by them formerly as their frequent practice ; and is asserted by some of their greatest divines , to be the old and best way of baptizing : and is to this day the constant practice of the greek church . i am also well assured from some other hands , that , upon the 25th of febr. last , a few days after the dispute , mr. leigh said in the presence of divers persons , that to satisfy a scrupulous conscience he would administer baptism by dipping . whereupon mr. williams askt him if he would do it to answer a scrupulous conscience without god's word ? and he answered no. and i have reason to conclude that mr. leigh may believe that dipping is the right way of baptizing , whatever he might say in the time of the dispute ; because he did say to divers persons , that if it had been in a private conference , where there had been but a few persons of a side , he should have made several concessions , which he was not willing to make in so great an assembly . and therefore i will not charge those extravagant expressions of mr. chandler's upon him ; i. e. that dipping was always used as a token of displeasure . and surely mr. chandler had mightily forgot himself when he said so : for naaman the syrian was commanded to dip himself , not in a way of vengeance and wrath , but in a way of mercy : and he found it to be so ; for he was perfectly cured of his leprosie thereby . i would advise mr. chandler to read over rom. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. and consider how sharply the apostle reproves such that condemn others , and yet do the same things themselves ; and saith , thou art inexcusable , o man , whosoever thou art , that judgest ; for wherein thou judgest another , thou condemnest thy self ; for thou that judgest , doest the same things . how can he , or any of them , condemn our practice , when themselves can do it to satisfie a scrupulous conscience , or , &c. and especially mr. leigh , who confesses it to be according to the word of god ? and mr. erle hath done it by their consent . i shall now give you an account from another hand written from gosport , in which ( after he hath signified his respects to me , &c. ) he thus saith ; although they look on your arguments to be of little weight , yet we think them to be of too great weight for them to answer with all their cunning. i hope those that were unprejudic'd will receive some light , though they endeavoured ( as much as in them lay ) to darken counsel with their mutinous carriage . but truth will be truth still in spight of all its opposites ; and will shine , though they would cloud it . this was written after that vain boasting advertisement of the presbyterians in the post-man , which was very pleasing to their party at london , and made so great a noise all over the nation , as if they had gotten some great victory ; although in truth it was nothing so : as will evidently appear by this narrative . but my friend proceeds , saying , i hope this account i have herewith sent you , will come safe to your hands ; wherein you may see some of their curiosity , whereby they say they have confounded your sophistry . four things i observed in their proceedings , which ( to me ) condemned their cause . i. the want of so much as one bare instance in scripture to confirm their practice of infant baptism . ii. when they required an instance of a believers child baptized when adult ; and promised when produced they would give us the cause : which instance was given , and yet they persisted in it as before . iii. their appealing to the people to give their assent that they were satisfied with mr leighs argument from matth. 19. 4. of such is the kingdom of heaven , by holding up their hands : and it was observed there were but few that did hold up their hands in comparison of so great a multitude ; supposed by some not to be one in fifty , and by others , a much fewer number : so that they were far from having the opinion of the people on their side by way of approbation , whatever they may say of themselves ; which was not a little mortification to them . iv. when they could not obtain it by right , they would have it be theirs by might . and this was evidenced by their repeated clamours ; which was not ( when duly considered ) to their honour . besides , there have been two concessions made since the dispute by themselves , which were these : 1. that there was credit gained to our cause by this dispute . 2. that there was truth and christianity in it . for my part , i am satisfied in what was said , and so are our friends , &c. sir , this is but some ; and considering the procedure was so clamorons , it may be said to be some of the spoils won in battel , where innocence and rancour encountred . i should be glad to hear of your welfare , and desire an interest in your prayers as oft as you go to the throne of grace . yours , &c. gosport , march 11. 1698-9 . i will give you an abstract of another letter , from a worthy person in those parts , directed to me , who was an eye and ear witness of what past . in which ( after christian salutations ) he saith , i hope these lines will find you in health , after your tedious and uncomfortable journey , which i hope may bring some glory to god , notwithstanding the great rage that the , &c. was in . indeed they had no other shift to save their reputation , but by casting out a flood , acting the part of the serpents hiss amongst the worst . i do understand , several were convinced by their rudeness ; and they are since baptized . i think it may be convenient to take away the cloud from the common people by exposing what was delivered in the dispute ( to publick view ) and by adding that which they would not then hear ; i mean that which relates to the manner of administration . you may consider of it . 't is pity they should glory in their shame , deceiving the world. dear friend , i thank you for all your labour of love. your preaching and behaviour was to me very acceptable , and to all our friends , &c. gosport , march 6. 1698-9 . by these testimonies you may see , that the presbyterians had no cause to publish what they did to the world , except it were to keep up their declining reputation . after the dispute was ended , and i was returned to my lodging , mr. williams told me he would go to his namesake's house to talk with the presbyterian ministers that were there . i desired him to remember my love to them , and let them know , that i could dispute with men and yet love them notwithstanding : but desired him to tell mr. robinson , their moderator , that i took it very unkindly at his hands , that he should transgress so much as he had done against the rules of dispute , and be so abusive as he was , so as to give the lye ( for he said in the midst of the dispute , with a loud voice , that is a lye , and yet could not make any thing out about it ; ) and for his misrepresentation of what i had said , particularly upon that argument about the beasts of the field not being capable , &c. and when mr. williams came to see me before i left portsmouth , he told me that he had delivered my message to them : and that mr. williams the presbyterian minister did acknowledge that mr. robinson had exceeded his bounds : and that he did abuse me in his misrepresenting of me to the people upon that argument . i answer'd , it was well he had acknowledg'd it now ; but it had been better if he had done it before the people . mr. williams the baptist minister was pleased to communicate this account to me by mr. sharp our moderator . feb. 23. 1698-9 . mr. leigh and himself being together at mr. williams's house in portsmouth , there came in mr. erle , mr. bowler , and mr. farrel , three presbyterian ministers ; and there was two other baptists present at the same time . mr. farrel , in the presence of the forementioned ministers , saluted mr. john williams , the disputant , after this manner . mr. williams , i must tell you , and that not as my own sentiments only , but as the sentiments of every one of our brethren , that what credit was gained to your cause , was gained by you . mr. leigh asked mr. williams , whether we did infer from those words . that the ministers had granted out of their own mouths that we had gained the cause ? his reply was , no , all that we infer from it was this ; that it was an implicit concession , that there was credit gained to our cause . mr. leigh said , how much credit did we infer was granted by them to our cause ? mr. williams said , we do not know the quantity of it . mr. leigh replied , truly it was but a little credit that was granted out of our own mouths that was gained to your cause . to which mr. williams answered , that if there was a little credit granted out of their own mouths , then there was credit gain'd to our cause , granted by themselves ; which was no farther denied by mr. leigh . but what was spoken by mr. john williams in the dispute , was abundantly shorter than what dr. russel did then speak . thus far as to mr. williams's account . notwithstanding all this , whilst they were making these concessions at portsmouth , they let fly an advertisement after dr. russel to london , which was printed and published before he got home : for , as mr. williams said , they knew who had hurt them . here follows a true copy thereof . the post-man . feb. 25. 1698-9 . portsmouth , feb. 23. yesterday the dispute between the presbyterians and anabaptists , was held in the presbyterian meeting-house . it began at ten of the clock in the morning , and continued till six in the afternoon , without any intermission . the theme of the dispute was the subjects of baptism , and the manner how baptism is to be performed . russel and williams were the opponents for the anabaptists , and mr. chandler and mr. leigh defendants for the presbyterians . mr. sharp moderator for the former , and mr. robinson for the latter . mr. russel opposed infant-baptism , with all the subtilty and sophistry of the schools ; and was answered with good reason and learning . upon the whole , it was the opinion of all the judicious auditory , the presbyterians sufficiently defended their doctrine , and also worsted their adversaries , when they came to assume the place of opponents . we being silent , and not using the same methods as they did , to squirt out foolish advertisements in common news-papers , these men grew confident ; and upon the 1st of april following , in the flying-post , they publish a long story , full of vntruths , and filly squint-ey'd reflections , not becoming their learning or profession : and all to support a sinking interest . but it appeared so manifestly partial , that there seemed to be little or no credit given to it , except by some few of their own party . for although they were so civil to give themselves the title of master , they grutched to speak so honourably of their opponents . and in the second paper they say , one mr. william ( by some called dr. ) russel of london , &c. all that i shall say to it is this ; as i am a minister of christ and of the churches , i can ( through the grace of god ) bear all the indignity and contempt they can put upon me ; if i , by so doing , can but do good to souls , and bring the least tribute of honour to my lord and master thereby . i thank god that he enabled me to count the cost before i was ordained to the work of the ministry ; and therefore , if reproaches , yea bonds and afflictions , abide me , it is no more than i looked for . but what reason these men have to refuse to give me the civil title of doctor , i know not , neither do i care . but this i know , that many years since , i was not only admitted as master of arts , but took my degree of batchelor in physick , and was after that created a doctor in physick of the famous vniversity of cambridge , and also admitted by universal consent to be a member of the senate there : and that not as some have suggested , as if it had been only ex gratia . yet these men , even whilst i was in portsmouth ( as well as since ) have reported among the people there , that i was russel the mountebank , a man that hath been dead several years . they thought ( perhaps ) by such artifices to lessen the peoples opinion of me . but by making me little , they make themselves the less , in that such giants ( as they would have the people believe them to be ) should not be able to conquer such a pigmy as they have represented me in the eyes of the vulgar . they have also reported , that i am a hackney disputant , and that i refused to come down to portsmouth under thirty guinea's ; but that at last i was prevail'd upon to take twenty . i did not trouble my self whilst i was at portsmouth to confute them in it , because our friends there knew how to do it themselves ; for they knew the report to be altogether groundless and false . but seeing i have this opportunity , i think sit hereby to tell the world , that i did not so much as demand one farthing of them for my journey , neither before nor after . for all that are throughly acquainted with me know , that i do neither preach for hire , nor divine for money , as some of them do : but as i have freely received , so i desire freely to give ; believing that ought to be left to the free benevolence of the people . but that i may do right to our friends at portsmouth and gosport , i do acknowledge that of their own free good will ( without asking ) they did pay my coach hire and bear my charges ; which , as they thought it was the least they could do , so i can truly say , it was the most i ever expected i shall close this epistle , with giving the world an account of the occasion of this publication . there were two things that moved our friends thereto . 1. their noise and clamour they made in the time of the dispute ; which bindred the people from hearing what was said , especially when they were pinch'd upon an argument . for which reason , it was thought convenient to publish it , that what they could not be permitted quietly to hear , they may have the benefit to read without interruption ; and so have leisure to consider it . but 2dly , the principal cause thereof , was those advertisements they sent all over the nation , to misrepresent the dispute , and blind the eyes of the vnthinking about it . whereas this publication will set the matter in a true light , and let all men see that they had neither scripture , nor any good consequences deduced from thence , to prove their practice , either with respect to the subjects or manner . and therefore when the people shall see that they have neither command nor example for their practice , i hope it will be a means to convince them of the vnlawfulness thereof ; and that they will not dare for time to come to practise a humane tradition in the room of an ordinance of jesus christ : remembring what our lord said of the jews of old , in vain they do worship me , teaching for doctrines the commandments of men , matth. 15. 9. and in mark 7. 8. for laying aside the commandment of god , ye hold the tradition of men . and then hear what paul saith , coloss . 2. 20 , 21 , 22. wherefore if ye be dead with christ from the rudiments of the world ; why ; as though living in the world , are ye subject to ordinances ( touch not , taste not , handle not , which all are to perish with the using ) after the commandments and doctrines of men ? now the god of peace , that brought again from the dead our lord jesus , that great shepherd of the sheep , through the blood of the everlasting covenant , make you perfect in every good work to do his will , working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight , through jesus christ , to whom be glory for ever and ever . amen . so prays , your brother and fellow-labourer in the work of the gospel , william russel . the occasion of this disputation : and how dr. russel came to be ingaged therein ; according to the account received from gosport and portsmouth . the occasion was this : the congregation of baptized believers at gosport , were so blessed with success in their ministry , that in a short time they had gathered twenty members , very worthy persons , who were added to them by baptism . many others were amuzed and put upon enquiry . this startled the presbyterian party , because divers of them were of their number , either members or benefactors ; and they began to fear the issue thereof . whereupon mr. sam. chandler , of fareham , about five or six miles from portsmouth , a presbyterian minister , whom they much esteemed for his learning , was procured to come and preach up the contrary doctrine , first at gosport , and afterwards at fortsmouth , upon thursdays , on purpose ( as was supposed ) to put a stop to this so hopeful a beginning amongst the baptists , and hinder their progress therein . and this was managed by him and his admirers in such a manner , as was to the grief of such as truly fear god in those parts . for it was given out , that mr. chandler would not only prove infant baptism from scripture-testimony , and answer all the objections of the baptists against it ; but also sufficiently furnish his hearers with arguments to defend their practice . and in the prosecution of this his design , he took occasion to make his excursions , wherein he spake very diminutively of those in the ministry ; representing them as persons ignorant of , and unacquainted with the holy scriptures . he also ridiculed and mis-represented the manner of their performance of this holy ordinance as it represents a burial and a resurrection , wherein upon rom. 6. 3 , 4. he makes too bold with the manner of our lord's burial , and the apostles application thereof to holy baptism . he might have been pleased to have wounded the poor baptists through the sides of some other person than so great an apostle . he also did greatly extol the practice of infant-baptism , and the use and advantage of it to them , beyond those of riper years ; and did inveigh against their manner of practice with most severe reflections . upon this , the presbyterian party began to triumph over the baptists , and boasted , that what mr. chandler had said upon that point was unanswerable . whereupon , when this last sermon was to be preached , wherein he was to shew his great skill in answering our objections : mr. bowes , and divers other brethren of both the baptized congregations , went and heard him . when he had done . mr. bowes desired leave to speak , and in a modest and christian-like manner , did enter his objection against what mr. chandler had spoken : and upon a meeting betwixt themselves , they did mutually agree , that the points in difference should be publickly disputed at mr. williams his meeting-house in portsmouth ; and that mr. chandler and dr. russel should be the disputants . as touching dr. russel , his being ingaged in it , it did not arise from any desire in himself to be concerned in it ; but from the pressing importunity of his friends . the church at gosport being newly constituted , and being more particularly concerned ( as the thing was circumstanced ) and supposing that all this stir and noise was chiefly designed against them , did first make their application to him for his assistance . and in the name of the church , a letter was sent to him by one of their worthy brethren , wherein they express themselves after this manner . to our esteemed brother russel , we of the church of christ at gosport , send greeting . vve being under a pressure of conscience , having of late had the great ordinance of our lord jesus christ , ( viz. that of believers baptism in water ) inveighed against , and ridiculed by one of the presbyterian ministers ( mr. chandler by name ; ) and being much grieved that the ordinance of christ should be thus triumphed over , and trodden under foot : and hoping you have so far ingaged your self in christ's cause , and that god hath given you abilities to defend it , we don't only beg , but require your personal presence , and desire your assistance to defend that sacred ordinance , &c. he also received several other letters , signed by the ministers , and other private brethren , to press him to it . he did send them word , that it was his opinion , it would be the best way for mr. chandler and himself to exchange some letters betwixt them in the first place , to try the strength and length of their weapons ; and thereby prevent a publick disputation , if possible . but when they let him understand that the matter was too far proceeded in , and so circumstanced , that nothing less than a publick dispute could decide it , he then consented to answer their request therein , because ( as they had signified to him ) the glory of god , the honour of his truth , and the good of souls , was eminently concerned in such a publick defence , especially considering that the presbyterian party had given out , that we were afraid to meet them : but i shall detain you no longer from the dispute it self ; an account of which follows . for the presbyterians . mr. samuel chandler , of fareham . mr. leigh , of newport in the isle of wight . mr. robinson , of hungerford , moderator . for the baptists dr. william russel , of london . mr. john williams , of east-knoyl in wiltshire . mr. john sharpe , of froome , in somersetshire , moderator . an account of the disputation held at portsmouth , february the 22d . 1698 / 9. the disputants going to the place of meeting , between the hours of nine and ten in the morning , having took their places , dr. russel spake to this effect . gentlemen forasmuch as the work we are going to engage in , is a part of religious exercise ; it is my opinion , we ought in the first place ( as is usual upon such occasions ) to be seeking god by prayer ; that his presence may be with us , and his blessing upon our endeavours . the motion being accepted , mr. chandler began the meeting with a short prayer , which being ended , the questions and preliminaries agreed upon , were read , which are as followeth ; whereas by mr. chandler's late preaching on the ordinance of baptism , several persons have taken offence ; and upon desire of satisfaction , it 's mutually agreed between us , whose names are under-written ; that these two points be amicably disputed in the following order , with relation to manner , time , and place ; as hereafter express'd , viz. que. 1. whether according to the commission of our lord and saviour jesus christ , adult believers are only the proper subjects of baptism : and not infants ? que. 2. whether the ordinance of baptism as appointed by christ , is to be administred by dipping , plunging ( or ) overwhelming only , and not otherways ? agreed , the disputation be held at portsmouth in mr. william ' s meeting place , on friday the 10 of february next ensuing ( if god permit ) beginning at nine in the morning . and if in case the providence of god should so order , that either party should fall sick , or any other unavoidable circumstance happen ; that then the time shall be deferr'd to another day , to be agreed on by the parties concern'd , not exceeding a fortnight after ; provided a week's notice be given thereof before the 10th of february . also agreed , the parties disputants be mr. samuel chandler of farebam , and dr. william russel of london ; or any other persons in either of their steads , supposing them ordained ministers ; and each disputant to choose a moderator . the disputation to be managed regularly , with strict regard to the two above recited subjects : and if the moderators shall sce fit , during any interval of the disputants for refreshment , that two other persons go on with the dispute , until they reassume it . portsmouth , december , 23d . 1698. samuel chandler . francis williams . here follows mr. chandler's apology to the people . my friends , it is not out of vanity or pride , i appear in this place upon this occasion at this time : most of you know , and i suppose many of you have heard , that in the course of my lecture in this place , i have discoursed of the great principles of religion ; and having explained the creed , and the lord's prayer , i came to give an account of the two sacrament , of the new testament ; and therein was unavoidably concerned to speak to those truths that are contradicted by these gentlemen here present . those that heard me , know that i was very modest in expressing my self in this controversie : but a bold and confident challenge was given me , which i knew not how to refuse ; unless i would betray the truths i believe in my conscience , or confess my self not able to vindicate them . and accordingly these men have sent for some assistance to oppose us in this matter . i desire these things may be handled with a great deal of calmness ; that we may discourse of things as becomes christians . and as we have the favour of the government both civil and military , so we may give them no occasion to repent of allowing us this liberty . and also i desire that nothing may be done unbecoming this place , where we usually meet together for the more immediate worship of god. and i would have you join with me in this petition ; that god would grant his truth may takē place . he then repeated the questions to be disputed , and said , these are the two articles we are to dispute of at this time. we deny , and they affirm . then dr. russel said , gentlemen , you know i was not present at the drawing up of the preliminaries , and therefore i think it may be necessary , before we enter upon the disputation , to know wherein we agree about the first question , and wherein we differ ; that we may not discourse about those things wherein we are agreed . i do suppose , by the stating of the question , that you do own that adult believers are the proper subjects of baptism . and if you do , i would desire you to declare your selves herein . mr. chandler said , he did own that adult believers were the proper subjects of baptism , but not the only proper : infants were to be baptized also . dr. russel . then you own our practice to be right . mr. chandler . yes , if they have not been baptized in their infancy ; then they are to be baptized upon profession of their faith , when they come to years . dr. russel . you suppose they are to be baptized by virtue of some commission ; and that it is by the commission of our lord and saviour jesus christ . mr. chandler . yes , i do so . dr. russel . i suppose you expect i should be opponent first . mr. chandler . yes , that was agreed . dr. russel . if therefore i prove that infants are not the proper subjects of baptism , you will allow that i perform what i have undertaken , we having no other subjects in the question but adult believers , and infants . mr. chandler . yes , we do allow it . dr. russel . then i will undertake to prove , that infants are so far from being the proper subjects of baptism , that they are not the subjects of it at all . and now i would know how we shall dispute ; whether by reading the commission , and making an inference therefrom , and proving that ( if we are not agreed about it ) from some other text ; or what way we shall proceed in . mr. chandler . you must do it syllogistically ; and therefore form your argument . dr. russel . my argument is this . arg. 1. if christ hath no where required any of his ministers to baptize infants , then the baptism of infants is not according to the commission of our lord and saviour jesus christ . but christ hath no where required any of his ministers to baptize infants ; ergo , the baptism of infants is not according to the commission of our lord and saviour jesus christ . mr. chandler . i distinguish here upon your antecedent . if you mean that christ hath not expresly commanded infants to be baptized ; then i deny the consequence of your major . for christ hath no where expresly commanded infants to be baptized . dr. russel . if you will insist upon that , i can easily prove it . for some persons are expresly commanded to be baptized in the commission : infants ( by your own confession ) are not expresly commanded to be baptized either in the commission , or elsewhere : but i have neither the word commanded , nor expresly commanded in my argument ; and you must answer to my argument . for i agree with you , that infants are no where expresly commanded to be baptized . mr. chandler . there is no need of that ; but those of your way will not allow us to prove it by consequence . dr. russel i say , that it 's no where required : if you prove it any way required , it shall suffice . mr. chandler . if you will allow good consequences drawn from scripture . i will deny your minor. dr. russel . then you must suppose that christ hath required some of his ministers to baptize infants . mr. leigh . we distinguish between consequential truths , and express words . dr. russel . so do we : but i hope our lord's commission about holy baptism , is delivered in express words , and not consequential . the term in my argument is very lax , i do not there say commanded , but required ; and if you prove the baptism of infants any where required by christ , it is sufficient . mr. chandler . will you allow genuine consequences drawn from scripture ? mr. leigh . will you allow good scripture consequences in this case , or do you expect plain scripture words ? dr. russel . what need is there of so many words about this ? certainly mr. chandler is bound to fix upon some answer to my argument . i say again , the term i use admits of any proof ; he is not thereby obliged to produce any express command , if he can do without it ; if he prove that christ hath any way required it , it will suffice . mr. leigh . gentlemen , you that are notaries , pray observe how ambiguously he expresses himself . dr. russel . i think i express my self plainly enough , when i tell you , that if you prove it any ways requir'd , i will allow it . mr. robinson , their moderator , saith , will you allow this of consequence , or not ? dr. russel . let us not thus stumble at the threshold , how often must i tell you , that if you can prove it any way required by christ ; prove it either by consequence , or which way you will , if you do but prove it , i will allow it . but you must remember that you are to prove it according to christ's commission , ( for those are the terms in the queston . ) and i believe you will find a difficult task to do that by consequence . for suppose an embassador should declare to the prince to whom he is sent , that his master hath given him authority , by his commission , to negotiate with him about such a particular matter that he shall name , and that he is charged to do this in his master's name and stead . if when his credentials are produced there is no such thing mentioned therein , he cannot expect the prince should give credit to him therein , when he had told him before , it was a part of his master's commission ( which is our case : ) and his alledging only consequential proofs after that , will not serve his turn . but if you think you can do it by consequences , you may try your skill , with all my heart , so you do but prove it required according to christ's commission ; which is the thing in question between us . mr. chandler . what , from the commission ? mr. robinson the moderator cries out to mr. chandler , hold ! dr. russel must prove it by an universal negative . dr. russel . then mr. chandler must deny some part of my argument , which i have not yet been able to prevail with him to do . mr. chandler . i deny the minor. dr. russel . by denying the minor , you say that christ hath some where required some of his ministers to baptize infants . mr. chandler . by good consequence . dr. russel . then i will make good my minor thus : if christ hath any where required any of his ministers to baptize infants , it 's somewhere so recorded in the holy scriptures : but it 's no where so recorded in the holy scriptures : ergo , christ hath not any where required any of his ministers to baptize infants . mr. chandler . what do you mean by being recorded ? dr. russel . i hope you know what the word recorded signifies . i mean any where so written . mr. chandler . to this i answer , by distinguishing again . if you mean by being recorded in scripture , being recorded in express words , i deny your major ; but if you mean by consequence , i deny the minor. dr. russel . if you do but prove it recorded , it is sufficient . mr. chandler . i deny your minor. dr. russel . then you say it 's somewhere so recorded in holy scripture . i therefore argue thus , if it be any where so recorded in holy scripture , mr. chandler , or some other person is able to shew it . but neither mr. chandler , not any other person whatsoever , is able to shew it . ergo , it is not any where so recorded in holy scripture . mr. chandler . i deny your minor. dr. russel . hold sir , it is an universal negative . you must give your instance where it is so written . i appeal to your moderator . mr. robinson . you must prove it still . suppose mr. chandler cannot give an instance , nor no body in the company ; you cannot thence infer that none in the world can . dr. russel . this is in effect to give away your cause , when there are so many men of parts and learning present ; if none of them are able to give us one instance from scripture for infant-baptism , we cannot expect that any body else should . besides , i would desire those honourable persons and others in this assembly that understand these things , to consider that i am not fairly dealt with , and that i am under a great disadvantage , not having other learned persons to assist me as mr. chandler hath , and yet am forced to answer two or three at a time . but to proceed , i do affirm , that it being an universal negative , he ought to give his instance , and i demand it of him ; and till he doth , my argument stands good . mr. chandler . this is only a trick to turn off the opponency . dr. russel . what do you talk of a trick ? i hope you are able to give one single instance of what is your daily practice . mr. leigh . you do this to turn the opponency upon mr. chandler . dr. russel . if mr. chandler will say he can give no instance i will urge it no further . here mr. chandler was going to speak and mr. leigh hindered him . dr. russel . sir , why do you hinder mr. chandler from speaking ? mr. chandler . because you would turn the opponency upon me . dr. russel . i intend no such thing . when you have brought your instance , after i have spoken to it , i will then go on with the opponency . mr. leigh . you can bring no argument can throw the opponency upon him like this . mr. robinson . you must know that according to all the rules of logick you are to prove your proposition . for you universally affirm it , though in form it runs negatively . you say no person can give an instance in scripture whereby we baptize infants : how do you prove this ? dr. russel . i never yet knew that an universal negative was an universal affirmative . this is to say any thing . tho' never so contrary to truth . i wonder at it that you should take the matter upon you thus by turns ; especially that you should take upon you to be a disputant , whose work is only to be a mederator . is this civil treatment to a stranger that comes so many miles to meet you ? mr. robinson . i must not suffer the question to be alter'd . mr. chandler is respondent ; you put the part of an opponent upon him , i must not allow it : do you prove your question . dr. russel . mr. chandler ( i understand ) hath signified to the people in his preaching , that there are plain scriptures to be brought for the proof of infant baptism , and now is the time for him to produce them : i urge it upon him to assign but one instance , and you will not suffer him so to do . mr. leigh . 't is not mr. chandler's sermon ; it is the question before us that you must regulate . dr. russel . if you say you have no scripture proof for infants baptism , i have done . but why must you prevent mr. chandler ? i hope here are some honourable persons and others that understand nature of this controversie , and they may reasonably expect that those who have made such a noise about it , can give some tolerable instance for it ; and if they will do that , we will proceed to examine it . mr robinson there are many here know how that mr. chandler hath asserted and proved that infants are the subjects of baptism ; but you are not to call on him for that now . you did ( by your friends ) undertake to prove the contrary , and it rests upon you so to do . dr russel . i have already proved the contrary , and my argument will stand good till you give your instance . mr. robinson . if you will change sides , mr. chandler , you may admit this trick . dr. russel . can you ( at other times ) boast of so many plain scriptures for your practice , and now you are brought to the test about it , you are not able to produce one ; what will the people think of you ? mr. leigh . i will undertake in any dispute philosophical or divine , in this manner immediately to turn the opponency upon the respondent . when i cannot prove the assertion , i will presently say , if you can bring any solid proof for your practice it is true , if not , false . and i appeal to the moderator , whether it be not his business to keep the disputants to the rules of dispute . mr. robinson . the moderator is to regulate them if they transgress bounds ; but you have grossly transgressed : i appeal to any that understand logick , whether this be sufferable for him thus to turn the opponency upon mr. chandler . then dr. smith stood up and said , if i must speak , then by your leave , according to what i always understood , he that asserts must prove . dr. russel . then they having asserted that infants are the subjects of baptism , they are to prove their practice , especially when they are forc'd upon it by an universal negative . we desire but one single instance , and they will not assign it . mr. robinson . no ; you are to prove your argument . dr. russel . i have done that already , and therefore if mr. chandler will confess he hath no instance to give , i will proceed to a new argument . this mr. chandler refused to do , and yet would not give his instance . dr. russel . if mr. chandler can give no instance , here are divers other ministers , gentlemen of parts and learning : have none of them an instance to produce ? if you thus refuse to produce it , the people will think you have none to give . notwithstanding this , none of them could be prevailed upon to do it , although they were called upon , and challenged to give any one instance ( where it was so written ) if they could . whereupon dr. russel spake to this effect , gentlemen , it may be you think i have but one argument ; if you will say no more to this , i am not willing to tire out the auditory ; i will therefore proceed to a new argument . but take notice ( by the way ) that my first argument stands good , till you give your instance to the contrary . arg. 2. if infants are not capable to be made disciples of christ by the ministry of men , then they cannot possibly be the subjects of baptism intended in christ's commission . but infants are not capable to be made disciples of christ by the ministry of men. ergo , they cannot possibly be the subjects of baptism intended in christ's commission . mr. chandler repeats the argument and then saith , here if you mean by being made disciples , actual and compleat disciples , i deny your major : but if you mean such as are entered into a school and given up to instruction , then i deny your minor. dr. russel repeats his major , and desires mr. chandler to tell him what he denies in it . for ( saith he ) my words are plain , to be made disciples by the ministry of men. mr. robinson . mr. chandler distinguishes between compleat and incompleat disciples . dr. russel . but what then doth he mean by denying my major ? mr. robinson . he denies , that they that cannot be made compleat disciples , are not intended in the commission . i hope the reader will observe how often mr. chandler was at a loss , and mr. leigh and mr. robinson were forced to help him out with their distinctions and equivocable expressions . here dr russel ( seeing they would not be brought to give any direct answer ) turns his hypothetical into a categorical syllogism . whosoever are uncapable to be made disciples by the ministry of men , they cannot be the subjects of baptism intended in christ's commission : but infants are uncapable to be made disciples by the ministry of men : ergo , they cannot be the subjects of baptism intended in christ's commission . now let mr. chandler tell me what he means by being made compleat , or incompleat disciples by the ministry of men ( according to my argument ) if he can . mr. chandler . i mean by compleat disciples , such as are actually capable of learning : by incompleat , such as are entered in such places in order to be taught . we send children to school before they know a letter . dr. russel my argument speaks not of such ; but of those who have understanding , and are capable to be made actual disciples ; which infants are not . mr. chandler . that such as are so capable , are the only subjects of baptism ; you are to prove it . dr. russel . then you deny the major . mr. chandler . yes , as to your hypothetical argument . dr. russel . if you had done this before , you had saved your self and me much trouble . then i prove it thus . if our lord in that commission given for holy baptism , hath commanded his apostles , that were men , to make disciples by their ministry , and after that , to baptize them , then the consequence of the major is true . but our lord in that commission given for holy baptism hath commanded his apostles , that were men , to make disciples by their ministry , and after that to baptize them . ergo , the consequence of the major is true . mr. leigh . i distinguish thus . they may be entered into the church in order for learning , and so they are disciples before baptism : yet in a more visible sense , they are made disciples by baptism . dr. russel . then you suppose infants not capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men. mr. chandler . not solemnly invested . dr. russel . we are not talking of that ; the question betwixt us is , whether they are capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men. will you assert that ? mr. leigh . we assert they are disciples , as children of believers , before baptism . dr. russel . this is nothing to the purpose , but to spin out time. mr. chandler or mr. leigh should have answered to my argument , which neither of them have done . for if infants are disciples simply , as being children of believing parents , before baptism ( as mr. leigh saith ) then it is done , without any ministetial instruction . and therefore is so far from being an answer to my argument , that it is a meer evasion . i therefore argue thus upon them . if infants are not the subjects of teaching , according to christ's commission , then they are not the subjects of baptism by that commission . but infants are not the subjects of teaching , according to christ's commission . ergo , they are not the subjects of baptism by that commission . for what our lord hath joined together , no man ought to separate . but our lord hath joined teaching and baptizing together . therefore no man ought to separate . and it is further manifest , that our lord did not command his father to make disciples by some secret work of his ; but he commanded his apostles ( that were men ) to make disciples by their ministry ; and that is the point you are to answer to . mr. robinson . he denies they are uncapable to be made disciples by the ministry of men. dr. russel . then by the way take notice , that he grants my major to be true ; that unless they are capable to be taught by the ministry of men , they cannot be the subjects of baptism . i shall therefore proceed to the proof of my minor. if infants have no knowledge to discern between good and evil , then they are not capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men. but infants have no knowledge to discern between good and evil ergo , they are not capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men. mr. chandler . you trick all this while . i told you by infants being disciples , i meant their being solemnly invested by baptism . dr. russel . you still mistake , we are not speaking of their investiture , but of the prerequisites of baptism : and it is evident from what i have said , that those that are truly baptized according to christ's commission ( which is the thing we are upon ) must first be made disciples by the ministry of men. for the commission in mark 16. 15 , 16. is a command to his apostles to go into all the world , and preach the gospel to every creature , and that such of them that were made disciples by their preaching , they should baptize . and in matth. 28. 19. they are commanded to disciple all nations , and to baptize such of them whom they had made disciples by teaching . now when i have shewed you , how that infants not being capable thus to be made disciples , they cannot be the subjects of baptism intended in that commission ; then you grant the consequence of the major ; and by denying my minor , you say they are capable . and when i have brought another argument to prove my minor , you then evade it by an indirect answer . sir , you are bound to give a direct answer to my argument . mr. chandler . i deny the consequence of your major . dr. russel . by so doing , you say , though they have no knowledge to discern between good and evil , yet they are capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men. how can this possibly be true ? mr. leigh . you will not allow of compleat and incompleat disciples . dr. russel . what is this to my argument ? pray let mr. chandler six on something . mr. chandler i say if you mean incompleat disciples , i deny that they are uncapable to be such . dr. russel . how often must we have this distinction repeated to keep us from the point in hand . we are now upon this , whether infants have knowledge to discern between good and evil ; which is the medium i bring to prove the other by : why do you not answer to that ? mr. chandler . they have no knowledge , yet are capable of being incompleat disciples . dr. russel . if by compleat , you mean perfectly so , i know not of any such christian in the world. but i hope this doth not hinder , but there may be real and actual disciples of christ , made so by the ministry of men , and fitted for holy baptism . but i proceed to the proof of my minor. if the gospel in the ministration of it , was appointed to inform men what is good , and what is evil , and infants have no knowledge to discern betwixt good and evil ( as mr. chandler hath been forced to confess ) then they are not capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men : but the gospel in the ministration of it was appointed to inform men what is good , and what is evil , and infant have no knowledge to discern betwixt good and evil , as mr. chandler hath been forc'd to confess : therefore they are not capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men. mr. robinson . when mr. chandler hath distinguished , you most put it into a syllogism , else you will still confound it . dr. russel answers , have i not put it into an argument , and you will not suffer him to answer it ? if you think he hath not sufficiently done that already , let him do it again , and tell to what he means by it , if he can . mr. chandler . i mean one designed and given to learning , solemnly engaged to it , dedicated to the work , as a child entered into a school before he understands one letter ; this is incompleat ; compleat is to be made so by learning . here dr. russel would have spoke , but was not permitted , but broke in upon . mr. leigh . i appeal to any , whether a child sent to school to a master , or mistress ; given up by the parents , and accepted by them ; whether the notion of a scholar be not grounded on such a relation ? dr. russel . i speak of actual disciples , made so by teaching ; are these such , who ( by your own confession ) know not one letter of the book ? these are incompleat scholars indeed mr. leigh . i believe there is a school-master here ; let him speak whether such be not immediately scholars . upon this , mr. ridge the school master stood up and said , upon the parents dedication , and the masters acceptation , and the payment of entrance-money , we do look upon him as a scholar . whereupon there followed a general laughter . dr. russel . i appeal to this assembly , whether my argument did not express such that were made disciples by the ministry of men. what therefore is the reason of your making such a noise and stir about such being accounted scholars so soon as they enter the school , before they know one letter of the book . are these made scholars by teaching , when they have never learned , nor cannot learn ; because they have no knowledges to discern between good and evil : and yet this is the case of those little infants you pretend to baptize . mr. chandler . we allow they are not capable of knowledge to discern between good and evil , nor of being made compleat disciples . dr russel . then the consequence necessarily follows , that infants are not at all intended in the commission of our saviour , matth. 28. 19. mr. robinson . put it into a syllogism . dr. russel . there is no need of that , for mr. chandler hath granted every part of my argument . for 1. he hath granted that infants have no knowledge to discern between good and evil. 2dly . that ( according to my argument ) infants are not capable to be made disciples by the ministry of men. and then it must unavoidably follow , they are not intended in christ's commission . mr. leigh . how sirs ! did we say incompleat disciples are not in the commission ? dr. russel . that hath been sufficiently spoke to already ; i shall therefore proceed to a new argument . arg. 3. if the apostle paul did declare all the counsel of god , and kept back nothing that was profitable for the church of god , and yet did never declare the baptism of infants to be a gospel institution according to christ's commission ; then it is no gospel institution , nor any part of the counsel of god , nor profitable for the church of god. but the apostle paul did declare all the counsel of god , and kept back nothing that was profitable for the church of god , and yet did never declare the baptism of infants to be a gospel-institution according to christ's commission . ergo , it is no gospel-institution , nor any part of the counsel of god , nor profitable for the church of god. mr. chandler . your argument is long . dr. russel . not so long , nor so hard to be understood . mr. robinson . such long arguments are never admitted in any disputation . dr. russel . let mr. chandler speak to the argument . upon this , mr. chandler finding himself unable to answer it , notwithstanding he had two or three prompters to instruct him , he quitted the place of a disputant , and mr. leigh desir'd to take it up , which was admitted him , upon condition he would speak to that argument , which he promised to do . mr. leigh . i deny that the apostle paul did never declare infant baptism to be a gospel-institution . dr. russel . then you deny my minor , which i thus prove . if the apostle paul hath so declared it , it is somewhere to be found in the writings of the new testament . but it is not any where to be found in those writings . ergo , the apostle paul did never so declare it . mr. leigh . i deny the sequel of your major ; for the words were spoken to the church at ephesus ; and what do you talk of paul's epistles , he wrote but one that i know of to the church at ephesus . dr. russel . part of the words in my argument were spoken to the elders of the church of ephesus ; but i have neither ephesus , nor church of ephesus , nor paul's epistles in my argument . why do you not answer to the argument . mr. leigh . we have not the whole of the apostle paul's writings in the new testament ; and this that he wrote to the church of ephesus is but a small part thereof . dr. russel . pray speak to the argument : you see i have no such expressions in it as are taken up by you . mr. leigh . i will do it by a simile . you know that paul wrote divers epistles , and in them of different subjects . it is as if a man should write a book of several things , and when he hath finished it , one comes and cuts off six leaves thereof ; and after this , there is a question arises , whether such a man hath writ any thing about such a particular subject . now it doth not follow , that because it is not contain'd in the rest of his book , that therefore it is not in the six leaves that were cut off . dr. russel . if mr. leigh speaks ad rem , as i suppose he thinks he doth , then i thus infer upon him . first , that he doth by this allow , that there is no mention made of infant-baptism in any of those writings of the apostle paul's , that we have bound up with the rest of the holy scriptures . secondly , he supposes there may be something said of it in those six leaves that were cut off after he had finished his epistles . now the assembly of divines tell us , that the scriptures of the old and new testament are the only rule to direct us in matters of worship . but whether mr. leigh be of their mind i cannot tell . mr. leigh . yes , i am . dr. russel . then what you mean by it i know not , but i believe they meant what we have in the bible , and not what is contained in those six leaves that were cut off , or else they designed to put a cheat upon the whole world , which i do not suppose . but as touching those six leaves , i conclude our brethren have them not in their custody , because i never heard them speak any thing in the least concerning it . for my own part , i can speak for my self ; i never saw them , nor heard of them till now ; neither do i know any thing of the matter . but if mr. leigh or his brethren have them in their custody , i desire they would produce them . and when they have so done , if they will please to favour us so far as first to prove that those were the very six leaves that were written by paul , we will take the pains to examine them : and if it then appears that there is any such thing contained in them as mr. leigh speaks of , we will allow it . mr. leigh was angry hereupon , saying , what do you talk of our being the keepers of them ? and what do you talk of all the new testament ? is all the new testament the apostle paul's writings ? dr. russel . i say i do not confine you to paul's epistles , much less pretend all the new testament to be of the apostle paul's writing , as you would insinuate to the people ; but my words are , it 's no where so declared in the writings of the new testament . and do you produce one instance that it is , if you can , for that will put an issue to our controversie . mr. leigh . you would refer what paul saith to the church of ephesus , to the whole new testament . dr. russel . i hope you will own the holy scriptures to be the only rule to direct us in matters of worship . here mr. leigh breaks in upon the doctor , not permitting him to speak what he had to say : but instead thereof , he saith , i will not own that we have all the sermous that paul preached to the church at ephesus , and if we had , he might preach it to some others though he did not to them , for this was spoken to them . dr. russel . i refer you to the scripture . you say that paul might declare some such thing , and yet it may not be recorded in the scripture . the words are plain . i have not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of god , acts 20. 27. and in ver. 20. i kept back nothing that was profitable unto you . and i do not suppose that paul taught one doctrine in one church and another doctrine in another . for in 1 cor. 4. 17. he tells that church , timothy shall bring you into remembrance of my ways in christ as i teach every where in every church . besides , he doth not only tell them that he had so discharg'd his office among them as to be free from the guilt of their blood , but that he was also free from the blood of all men , ver. 21. testifying to the jews and also to the greeks , repentance toward god , and faith toward our lord jesus christ . and i further add , that if paul never taught infant-baptism in the church of ephesus , nor in the church of corinth , nor in any other place , i hope you will then acknowledge it to be no gospel institution , nor any part of the counsel of god , nor yet profitable for the church of god : and there is no record in holy scripture of his so doing . mr. leigh . i say paul's writings are not the hundredth part of what paul preached . we cannot suppose that in those six chapters to the ephesians he could contrive to put down the whole of his preaching to them . dr. russel . sir , you might have spared all thislabour ; for i am satisfied the people will not trouble themselves to seek for it any where else , but only in the writings of the new testament ; and if they will take my word i can assure them 't is not there to be found . and i perceive you think so too , or else you need not referr them to paul's sermons which are not written . i have heard , indeed , of some unwritten traditions that are lock'd up in the pope's ereast , to be delivered out as he finds occasion for the serving of a turn ; but i never knew that the presbyterians were ever intrusted with any such treasure . mr. leigh . you say it is not to be found in the writings of the new testament ; i deny it . dr. russel . then you deny my minor , which is the thing you should have done before , only you were afraid of being brought to give an instance . now by denying my minor , you say it 's somewhere so recorded in the writings of the new testament , that paul did declare the baptism of infants to be a gospel-institution , &c. and , to prove it is not , i argue thus . if it be so recorded in the writings of the new testament , then mr. leigh or some body else is able to shew it . but neither mr. leigh , nor any body else , is able to shew it . ergo , it is not so recorded in the writings of the new testament . sir , i have now brought it to an universal negative , as i did with mr. chandler upon the former argument ; and now it rests upon you to produce your instance . mr. leigh . i will say it is in the commission , all nations . dr. russel . are you of mr. chandler's opinion ? mr. leigh . i will not answer you . dr. russel . then i say it is not written in the commission that paul did ever declare any thing concerning the baptism of infants . but what do you bring this for now ? you might have done it upon the first argument , when we were upon the commission ; but it 's wholly improper now ; for this that we are now upon , is , whether the apostle paul hath any where so declared it . reader , observe these mens trifling . do they not know as well as we , that the commission of our lord for holy baptism was given long before paul's conversion ; and yet they have the confidence to affirm before so great an auditory , that it is written in the commission , that paul did declare the baptism of infants to be a gospel-institution , &c. which is the thing expressed in my argument . upon this , the reverend mr. chandler , ( who had quitted the work before ) began now in a great fury to break silence again , saying , you are a perfect sophister , your arguments are full of fallacies . dr. russel . it is an easie matter for a man to say so , that understands not an argument himself . mr. leigh . then , pray sir , begin again from acts 20. 27. dr. russel . truly , mr. leigh , i did not come so many miles to spend my time thus , to go backwards and forwards after this manner . mr. chandler . you must do so , if you understand the rules of tergiversation . [ this was one of mr. chandler's witticisms ] dr. russel . if i do not understand those rules when i have occasion for them , i will come to you and learn. but to return to mr. leigh , for i have not done with him yet : sir , you have assigned the commission to prove that paul did declare infant-baptism to be a gospel-institution , part of the counsel of god , &c. now it 's impossible that should be written in the commission , as i have told you before : you must therefore shew us where it is so recorded in some other part of the new testament ; and not assign a place where there can be no mention of it . mr. leigh . he says he gives us the latitude of the whole new testament , but will not admit of the commission , because that doth not say that paul hath so declared . dr. russel . and there is very good reason for it , for the apostle paul is now under consideration , as mention'd in my argument ; who solemnly protesteth , that in the discharge of his ministry , he had freed himself from the blood of all men , in delivering to them all that his master had given him in commission . that he had not shunned to declare all the counsel of god , he had kept back nothing that was profitable for the church of god ; but as faithful steward of the mysteries of god , he did dispence the word , as himself declares in 1 cor. 4. 1 , 2. and i verily believe , that paul was as faithful , as eminent , and as laborous a servant as ever christ had upon earth . and therefore the force of my argument depends upon this , that if paul never said one word about infant-baptism , then it can be no part of the counsel of god , nor a gospel institution , nor ever given him in commission by his lord and master . you have denied my minor ; i have proved it by bringing you to an instance by an universal negative . you have assigned the commission ; i have shewed you the impossibility of proving it from thence . i have pressed you to assign some other part of the new testament for an instance . i have not as yet been able no obtain it . here are divers men of parts and learning among you , can none of you produce so much as one instance to prove it ? surely the people must needs conclude you have none to give . i therefore challenge you to produce the place where it is written , that paul ever said one word of infant-baptism . and till that be done , my argument will stand good . mr. leigh . if paul did not declare it , if we have other places apparent and plain , at least consequential , it is sufficient . dr. russel . this is not an answer to my argument , you might have gone here upon the other , but cannot upon this ; why did you not assign some of those places then ? mr. chandler . we deny the consequence , paul might speak of it some where else , though it is not found in his epistles . mr. robinson . you are to prove that , because paul did not shun to declare to the church of ephesus the whole counsel of god , therefore baptizing of infants must be found there , or else it is no part of the counsel of god. mr. leigh . however , we will suppose the thing ( but not grant it ) that paul has not spoken of infant baptism . mr. williams . if you suppose it , we will take it for granted ; if we may not , say so . thus ended their opposition to this argument . dr. russel . i will now proceed to another argument . arg. 4. christ's commission doth shew who are to be baptized . but it doth not shew that infants are to be baptized : ergo , infants are not the subjects of baptism according to christ's commission . mr. leigh . i deny the minor. dr. russel . by so doing , you suppose it doth shew it . i therefore thus argue if the commission doth shew that infants are to be baptized , mr. leigh , or some other person can shew it us in the commission . but neither mr. leigh , nor any other person is able to shew it us in the commission . ergo , the commission doth not shew that infants are to be baptized . mr. leigh . it is included in the word , all nations . dr. russel . i beg your favour ; mr. chandler asserted in his sermon , that it was the infants of believing parents that were to be baptized : and that it was necessary men should repent and believe , otherwise they had no right to this ordinance . and if we were sent ( saith he ) into an heathen nation , we ought to ingage men to repent and believe , before we administer this ordinance to them . here are qualifications required in the persons to be baptized ( by your own confession ) without which you must not administer it . and it is contrary both to your own principles and practice , to baptize jews , turks and heathens , and all their infants , without previous qualifications to fit them for it . mr. leigh . i say it is included in the word , all nations : do you prove it is not . dr. russel . you have brought an instance , and it is your business to make good your own instance ; otherwise my argument stands firm and untouch'd . but if i shew there are some qualifications required in the commission , and prove that those cannot be found in infants ; then infants cannot be included in the word , all nations . i tell you he hath commanded us to baptize some persons , but he hath not commanded us to baptize any infants ; which i thus prove . if those that christ in his commission hath commanded to be baptized , must first be made disciples according to that commission ; then infants are not to be baptized by virtue of that commission . but those that christ in his commission hath commanded to be baptized , must first be made disciples according to that commission . ergo , infants are not to be baptized by virtue of that commission . mr. leigh . i deny your consequence . repeat it again . dr. russel . then i will make it categorical . all those required to be baptized by christ's commission , are disciples : infants are not capable to be disciples , as i have already proved . ergo , not required to be baptized by christ's commission . mr. leigh . i deny your whole argument : that all that christ requires to be baptized , are disciples , and that infants are not capable . dr. russel . if no other but disciples are express'd in the commission , then the major is true . and if infants are uncapable to be made disciples , then the minor is true also . mr. leigh . we say they are implied ; you allowed good consequences but now . dr. russel . but here are disciples mentioned in the commission ; and none but such that are made so by the ministry of men. mr. leigh . you talk of the commission : it is the good consequences i insist upon ; and say , persons are not to be compleat disciples before they are baptized ; nor actually taught before they are disciples . dr. russel . perhaps you mean a man is not a compleat christian , if he hath not attained to the highest perfection he is capable of whilst in this life ; although he hath been a real christian for many years . i speak not of such a completion , but of such that are actual disciples of christ , made so by the ministry of men. mr. leigh . i say there is no necessity of being disciples in your sense , before they are baptized . dr. russel . then i will prove there is a necessity . if our lord in his commission did not require his apostles to baptize any , but only such as they had before made his disciples by teaching ; then there is a necessity they should be actual disciples before they are baptized . but our lord in his commission did not require his apostles to baptize any , but only such as they had before made his disciples by teaching . ergo , there is a necessity they should be actual disciples before they are baptized . mr. leigh . i deny the minor. dr. russel . then i will read the commission . mr. leigh . you need not do that , we all know the commission very well . dr. russel . i will read my master's commission , matth 28. 19. go ye therefore and disciple all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost . this commission is very solemnly delivered , wherein our lord declares , that all power in heaven and earth was given to him . and by virtue of that power — here mr. robinson stops the doctor , and cries out , you are not to preach here , sir. dr. russel . may i not have leave to draw my inference from the text ? mr. leigh . form your argument . the text doth not discover it . dr. russel . is not our lord's commission of as good authority as my argument ? when i have spoken to that , i will then form an argument from it , if you will be silent , and suffer me so to do . i say , that in this great commission , our lord declares his great power . mr. leigh . form your argument . dr. russel . i hope the use of all our syllogisms is to bring us to the commission : and now we are come to it , let us see whether these things are to be found therein , or not . will you pretend that infants are in the commission , and must not the people be suffered to see whether there be any thing mention'd about them , or not . mr. robinson . is this your argument ? bring your argument . and then he bawls very loud , saying , mr. williams , will you suffer him to preach ? mr. williams answers , no , i will not suffer him to preach here . dr. russel . what do you talk of preaching ? are ye afraid of the commission ? i hope it is not so bad with you , as it was with some in times past , whom one of the fathers ( i. e. tertallian ) calls by the name of lucifugae scripturarum , &c. flyers from the light of the scripture ( as bats do from the light of the sun : ) what is the reason , gentlemen , you will not endure to hear the commission opened ? will you fly from the light of the commission of our lord and saviour jesus christ ? is it not the subject contained in the question ; and will you ( or dare you ) deny that what i have said is in the commission ? mr. leigh . we say not so . dr. russel . if you should , you would directly oppose mr. calvin . for he saith , there is no mention made of infants in the commission , as it is express'd either in matth. 28. or mark 16. and further saith we may as well apply those words in 2 thess . 3. 10. that if any would not work , neither should he eat : to little infants , and so keep them from food till they starve , as to apply what is said in the commission to them , whereas it belongs only to the adult . mr. robinson . this is not to the purpose , what have we to do with what mr. calvin says ? dr. russel . i did not know but you might have had a veneration for mr. calvin ; but seeing it 's otherwise , i will thus argue from the commission . if there be an express command in our lord's commission for the baptizing of some persons , and there be no express command neither there nor elsewhere , for the baptizing of infants ; then the baptism of infants is not contained in that commission : mr. robinson . we say though — dr. russel . what again mr. robinson ? must i always be thus broke in upon by you ; what is the meaning of it ? when you see you are like to be pinched upon an argument , then you make it your business to hinder me from speaking : doth this become a moderator ? i beg i may have liberty to speak out , and not be thus taken up in the midst of an argument . pray , sir , remember what the wise man saith of such a one , that answers a matter before he hears it . i say , if there be an express command in our lord's commission for the baptizing of some persons , and there be no express command neither there nor elsewhere for the baptizing of infants ; then the baptism of infants is not contained in that commission : but there is an express command in our lord's commission for : the baptizing of some persons , and there is no express command either there or elsewhere for the baptizing of infants : ergo , the baptism of infants is not contained in that commission . mr. leigh . instead of giving his answer to the argument , he shams it off after this manner ; saying , i appeal to the people . though he allowed consequences but now , yet now he requires an express scripture . and yet i say , if nations include infants , they are expresly mentioned . upon this , mr. robinson turns dictator , and says to mr. leigh , you were better deny his consequence . dr. russel saith , pray , mr. leigh , be pleased to change places with mr. robinson , let him be disputant , and you moderator ; for i perceive neither you , nor i are able to please him . this was refused . upon which dr. russel said to mr. robinson , pray sir , do not you thus dictate to him , i have none to dictate to me : pray let him answer my argument . here mr. leigh did as mr. robinson had taught him , and denied the consequence ; and also that an express command was necessary to authorize the baptizing of infants . dr. russel . my argument was , if there be an express command for the baptizing of some persons , you deny the sequel of the major ; and in so doing you say , that notwithstanding there is no express command for the baptizing of infants , neither there nor elsewhere in all the holy scripture ; yet nevertheless they are intended in the commission . mr. leigh . i do so . dr. russel . and i say , if there be an express command for the baptizing of some persons ; but none at all for the baptizing of infants : then they are not at all intended in that commission . mr. leigh . i deny first the sequel of the major , and then i will deny your minor. dr. russel . this seems very strange , that when i have made it appear so evidently from the commission it self , that there is an express command for the baptizing of some persons ; and yet it should not be allowed as a necessary consequence from the premises , that infants are not intended ; when your selves have confessed there is no express command in all the scriptures , for the baptizing of infants . mr. leigh . i deny the sequel . dr. russel . then i will prove that there is an express command for the baptizing of some persons , from the commission it self . mr. leigh . that is not the sequel of the major , it is that i deny . dr. russel . and i bring the commission to prove it . but you say , that notwithstanding our lord hath expresly commanded some persons to be baptized ; although he hath not commanded infants to be baptized , yet they may be some of that number . hath christ two sorts of subjects that he commands to be baptized in that commission ? or , rather , are some commanded , and others not commanded , and yet both to be baptized ; the one by a command , and the other without ? here mr. leigh refuses to answer , and cries out , put it into a syllogism . dr. russel . if no persons are to be baptized according to that commission , but what are there expresly commanded ; and infants are not so commanded ; then the consequence of the major is true : but no persons are to be baptized , according to that commission , but what are there expresly commanded ; and infants , are not so commanded : ergo , the consequence of the major is true . mr. leigh . i deny your minor. dr. russel . by so doing you say there are some to be baptized that are not there expresly commanded . mr. leigh . do you not know your own argument ? dr. russel . i repeat it not for my own knowledge , but for the peoples information . and i prove my minor thus : if the words of the commission are express command to the apostles , to direct them who they should baptize , then the minor is true : but the words of the commission are an express command to the apostles , to direct them who they should baptize : ergo the minor is true . mr. leigh . i deny your minor. dr. russel . if there be no other commission of our lord for holy baptism , but what is recorded in matth. 28. and mark 16. then the minor is true : but there is no other : ergo , the minor is true . mr. leigh . i deny tae sequel of your major . dr. russel . but we are now upon the commission . mr. leigh . we are so : but we say good consequences derived from the commission , are sufficient . dr. russel . so you may if you please ; but i had rather walk exactly according to the commission of our lord , than by such consequences wherein i may be deceived . mr. robinson . i matter not what you had rather do , or what your opinion is . i am for consequences . mr. leigh . i deny the sequel of the major ; that they are to baptize none , but such as they are expresly commanded . dr. russel . thenl thus argue : if there be no manner of allowance given them to baptize any other but what they are expresly commanded , then the sequel of the major is true : but there is no manner of allowance given them to baptize any other but what they are expresly commanded : ergo , the sequel of the major is true . mr. leigh was pleased here to give a general denial , without distinguishing : upon which dr. russel referr'd him to his former argument , wherein he had already shewed , that there is an express command for the baptizing of all such , that they are required to baptize by virtue of christ s commission . mr. leigh . i deny your minor , but distinguish between the command being expressed and the subjects intended . dr. russel . if the words in the commission about holy baptism be a command from christ to his apostles , then the minor is true : but the words in the commission about holy baptism are a command from christ to his apostles : ergo , the minor is true . mr. leigh . upon distinction , we deny that all the subjects are express'd . dr. russel . my argument saith , they have not allowance to baptize any other . i am now therefore to prove that the commission is command to them , if you deny it . mr. leigh . i allow that the command is express'd : but i say the subjects are to be brought in by consequence . dr. russel . then i will prove that the subjects are express'd . if christ did command his apostles to baptize such as believe and are made disciples , then the subjects are express'd : but christ did command his apostles to baptize such as believe and are made disciples : ergo , the subjects are express'd . mr. leigh . i find a fault with your syllogism ; your major should be universal . dr russel . i was to prove there is a command , with respect to the subjects ; and therefore i have form'd the syllogism right . for it is evident that believers and disciples are the subjects they are commanded to baptize . mr. robinson . you must say all the subjects . dr. russel . by yo●r favour , there is no need of that . for mr. leigh denies there is an express command in christ's commission for any subjects . mr. leigh . i hope the people can testifie that i said the command is express'd : but the subjects to be brought in consequentially . dr. russel . is not that the same which i say you said ? i know you allowed there was a command for the thing it self , but not for the subjects . and therefore i have answered rightly , and your opposition is unreasonable . mr. leigh . we must all confess that jesus christ gave commission to baptize believers when at the age of maturity . such as were before jews and greeks , and newly-believing in the lord jesus , were thereupon to be baptized ; but afterwards the children of those believers . dr. russel . it 's said in mark 16. 16. he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved . here is not one word of infants . mr. leigh . and it follows , he that believeth not , shall be damn'd . now if believing be previous to baptism , by the same way of arguing it must be necessary to salvation ; and so you must say , that all not believing are damn'd , and so all infants are damn'd . d. russel . this is a non-sequitur : for infants are not at all intended in this commission , as i have already shewed you ; and as mr. john calvin doth also affirm . but i hope mr. leigh will allow our saviour's words to be true ; that all those his apostles preached to , according to his commission , if they did not believe , they should be damned . for of such it is said , he that believeth not , is condemned already , because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god. but as touching infants , i am far from believing that god hath decreed them ( as such ) to eternal damnation . i will rather believe that all infants dying in their infancy are elected , than conclude that any of them are damned . and i suppose you do not know the contrary . if you do , i desire you would tell the people so . mr. leigh . what do you put that upon us for ? dr. russel . because i think it 's reasonable you should tell the people what your opinion is , seeing you have started it ; for you see i have given my opinion freely about it ; and if you think otherwise , pray tell the people so . for then i conceive that your baptizing their infants will do them no good ; for you cannot alter the decrees of heaven : or if you believe , as the papists do , that grace is conveyed to them barely by the act done , notwithstanding the children are wholly passive in it , pray tell us so . mr. leigh refused to answer to the former , but gave this answer to the latter : no , we deny that . here mr. john williams , baptiz'd minister , offered his arguments . if believers are the only subjects of baptism according to christ's commission , then infants are not : but believers are the only subjects of baptism according to christ's commission : therefore infants are not . mr. leigh denied the sequel of the major ; which was thus proved . if infants are incapable of believing , then they are not the subjects of baptism according to the commission : but infants are incapable of believing : therefore they are not the subjects of baptism according to the commission . mr. leigh said the greek word signified to make disciples ; and i deny that infants are incapable of being made disciples . mr. williams said he did not understand greek ; he must leave that to his brother . then mr. leigh said , i deny the minor. mr. williams proved his minor thus : if the essence of faith consists in the act of the understanding and of the will , then infants are incapable of believing : but the essence of faith consists in the act of the understanding and of the will : therefore infants are incapable of believing . mr. leigh denied the sequel of the major , which mr. williams thus proved . if none can believe on jesus christ , that never heard of jesus christ , then infants are incapable of believing : but none can believe on jesus christ , that never heard of jesus christ : therefore infants are incapable of believing . mr. leigh denied the sequel of the major . but he should have remembred what is written , rom. 10 , 14. how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and i do not suppose our antagonists think they are obliged to preach to new-born infants . and yet the administration of baptism is ( by the commission ) restrained to such as are made believers by the preaching of the word . these arguments being sufficient to prove the incapacity of infants believing , the next argument mr. williams offer'd , was ( from thence ) to prove that infants could not be the subjects of baptism according to christ's commission . if the administrator must have an account of the faith of the subject before he baptize him , then infants are not the subjects of baptism according to christ's commission : but the administrator must have an account of the faith of the subject before he baptize him : therefore infants are not the subjects of baptism according to christ's commission . mr. leigh denied the minor. for the proof of which , mr. williams urged two scriptures , acts 8. 36 , 37. and mat. 28. 19. and said , when the eunuch proposed for baptism , philip tells him , if thou believest with all thy heart , thou mayst . the contrary ( that fairly offers it self ) is this ; that if thou dost not believe with all thine heart , thou mayst not . and upon this , the eunuch declared his faith before he was baptized . from whence it 's evident , the eunuch was content to be taught ; philip teaches him ; and yet after this , he must know whether he believes before he baptized him . therefore it follows , they must have actual learning ; and the minister must also know that they have it before he baptize them . and in mat. 28. 19 go disciple to me all nations , baptizing them . from whence i thus argue . if ministers have no commission to baptize any but such as are discipled to christ , then they must have an account of their discipleship before they baptize them : but ministers have no commission to baptize any but such as are discipled to christ : therefore they must have an account of their discipleship before they baptize them . to which was added , that erasmus in his paraphrase upon the new testament , reads the commission thus , go and teach all nations , and when they have learned , dip them . and i further say , if the administrator must have an account of the person 's learning before he be baptized , then a bare going to school is not sufficient to constitute him a disciple . mr. robinson . do you see , sirs ! this gentleman grounds his opinion upon the authority of erasmus . dr. russel . why must erasmus be thus slighted ? here are some honourable persons know very well , that erasmus was a man not to be despised for his skill about the etymology of a greek word . but any thing serves your turn at a pinch . mr. leigh . he quotes erasmus ; and it 's well known he was between papist and protestant . now many of these men , speaking against infant-baptism , will call it popery ; and yet he quotes erasmus for their judgment . now , forasmuch as mr. leigh slipp'd the argument , and only replied to that of erasmus , that he was an inter-papist , &c. mr. williams gave him this answer . sir , you have heard my argument to which you have given no answer . as touching erasmus , i did not quote him as building my faith on his authority , but for his judgment ; it being the translation of a man that understood the original : and although he was not accounted one of the best of men ; yet he was accounted one of the best of scholars in his time. mr. leigh . and now as to the eunuch , he was a proselyte too , and his infants , if he had any , were to be taken in also . philip comes to him and he requires a confession of his faith , because he was a grown man. yet had he had an infant with him , he had had a right to this ordinance after he believed . when by your opinion it must be cast out ; because not capable of actual believing . now i deny that he that administers the ordinance , must always have an account of the person , whether he hath learned , or not . ( i suppose mr. leigh forgot himself , to talk of an eunuch's having children . it puts me in mind of a story i lately heard , of a presbyterian minister that undertook ( in a sermon ) to prove infant-baptism , and to that end chose this text for his purpose , of philip's baptizing the eunuch . and when he had insisted some time upon it , he speaks after this manner to the people : beloved , when you are gone , perhaps you will say , what is all this to the purpose ? here is not one word of infants in the text. it is true , says he , there is not , but i will tell you how that comes in : had he had his wife and children with him , they had then been baptized as well as himself : but they were at a great distance from him ; but as soon as he came home , immediately he baptized them all . i will make no comment upon it , but only this . if these gentlemen know what an eunuch is , then it 's vain babling : if they do not , let them go to the grand senior's seraglio and learn. ) mr. williams . we have plain direction for what i have said ; philip said to the eunuch , if thou believest with all thine heart , thou mayest . and accordingly he took an account of his faith. and in the commission , go disciple all nations , baptizing them . from whence it 's evident , it was those they had made disciples , that they were to baptize . and therefore they must know whether they are disciples or no , before they must adventure to baptize them . mr. leigh . you argue thus , because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , them , is of the masculine gender , it must agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , disciples , being of the same gender : and not with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , all nations . but any school boy that hath but learned his greek grammar , can resolve thi● . now mr. williams had told him before , that he did not understand greek ; and so he made bold to vapour with it , when he was responding to him . but mr. leigh might have been so civil to have told the old gentleman his sense of it , and not ( in such a light manner ) to have referr'd him to a school-boy for his information . a school-boy knows ( if mr. leigh doth not ) that the rule in the greek grammar is as follows : relativum cum antecedente concordat genere , numero & personâ . and therefore must give it for mr. williams . but i will refer the reader to a better authority than a school-boy : the late reverend and learned minister of the gospel , mr. john gosnold , in his book entituled , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , pag. 24 who thus saith , the word them ( baptizing them ) hath no reference unto all nations , as is to be seen in the grammar of the text , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , them being of the masculine gender , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , all nations , of the neuter . this them then must have reference to disciples , to such as are first taught : but mr. williams passes by this trivial flourish ; and proceeds to a new argument . if infants are incapable of denying themselves for christ , then they are incapable of being made disciples of christ : but infants are incapable of denying themselves for christ : therefore they are incapable of being made disciples of christ . mr. leigh denies the sequel of the major . mr. williams proves it thus . if a person cannot be his disciple unless he deny both relative self and personal self , then the sequel is true : but infants are not capable so to do : therefore the sequel is true . mr. leigh . this purely refers to grown persons ; and by the same argument you may say infants must not eat ; because it is said in another place , he that cannot work , must not eat . mr. williams . nay , sir , it is he that will not work , not he that cannot . it is he that is able and will not . for i hope you will provide for your parents , when by reason of age they are not able to work for themselves . mr. leigh . but this purely refers to grown persons , and i deny that believers only are disciples . mr. williams . i proved that thus : those that in matth. 28. are called disciples , are in mark 16. called believers : so that they are the same persons intended . hereupon mr. leigh not being able to give a direct answer , endeavours to shift off the force of those two texts , and his inference from them , by this evasion . mr. leigh . i would know whether infants are not as capable of believing in christ , as of coming to christ ? now they are said to come when their parents brought them . for christ says , suffer little children to come unto me : and it 's most probable they were brought in the arms to christ . why may they not be said to believe , when they do not actually believe ; if imputatively they are said to come when their parrents brought them ? so , why may not they be said to believe imputatively , when their parents devote them to jesus christ , although the children do not actually believe , but only the parents ? mr. williams . i deny the parents faith was ever imputed to the child . prove it if you can . mr. leigh . we talk of believers in foro ecclesiae and in foro dei with distinction . and under this notion , and no other do we account believers are so . and under this notion , i mean in foro ecclesiae , the parents faith may be imputed to their children . mr. williams . we say a person is not a disciple of christ , till he hath learned christ . we do not allow of any such imputation : and mr. leigh hath not offer'd any thing to prove it . dr. russel . it is time to come to some instance ; therefore to force you upon it , i argue thus : if the apostles of our lord did never baptize any infant , then the baptism of infants is not according to christ's commission : but the apostles of our lord did never baptize any infant : ergo , the baptism of infants is not according to christ's commission . mr. leigh . i deny your minor. dr. russel . i prove my minor thus . if there be any account that the apostles did ever baptize any infant , it is somewhere recorded in the writings of the new testament : but it is no where so recorded in those writings : ergo , there is not any account that the apostles did ever baptize any infant . mr. leigh . i deny your minor. dr. russel . i must now force you upon an instance by an universal negative . if there be any such account in those writings , mr. leigh , or some other person is able to shew it us : but neither mr. leigh nor any other person is able to do it : ergo , there is no such account there to be found . here mr. leigh , being wholly destitute of an instance ; to shift it off , he denies the sequel of the major . and saith , it doth not follow it must of necessity be written in the new testament . now although this was contrary to the rules of dispute ; yet dr. russel could not urge him to give any instance ; wherefore he argues upon him thus . dr. russel . if nothing else will do with you , i will prove the sequel of my major , according to your denial . if there be no other rule left to direct us how we are to worship god in this ordinance of baptism according to the gospel but what is contained in the writings of the new testament ; then it must of necessity follow , that it be therein written , if such an account be any where to be found : but there is no other rule left to direct us how we are to worship god in this ordinance of baptism according to the gospel , but what is contained in the writings of the new testament : ergo , it must of necessity follow , that it be therein written , if such an account be any where to be found . mr. leigh . i say it might be practised in those times , though not recorded in the new testament . dr. russel . will you grant that it is not recorded in the new testament ? mr. leigh . we will suppose it ; but not grant it . dr. russel . the reason why you suppose it , is because you cannot prove it : for you are not so free of your concessions . mr. leigh . it is not recorded in the new testament what you practise , that grown children of believers were baptized . i challenge you to give one instance of any one born of believing parents , baptized at age. dr. russel . i have called for one instance from scripture several times , of any one infant that was ever baptized , and you have not been able to produce it . this you now speak of , is besides the matter we are upon : and is used on purpose to divert us from our argument , and lead us to some thing else that is foreign to it . pray do you first shew us where it is so written in the new testament , that any one infant was baptized , if you can ; and then you shall hear what we have to say . mr. leigh . these men talk much of scripture , and call upon us to produce scripture for our baptizing of infants ; as if they had abundance of proof for their practice : now let them give but one instance of what is their practice ; namely , of one person that was born of a believer , and was baptized when he came to grown years ; and i will give them the cause . dr. russel . i will instance in constantine the great , whose mother helena was a christian , and yet he was not baptized till he was considerably in years . besides , i do not remember , that there is any account in history , during the first 500 years , that any one of the fathers , or eminent bishops of the church , that were born of christian parents , were baptized until they were about 20 or 30 years of age. and if any of you know the contrary , i desire you would shew it . mr. leigh . what do you tell us of the fathers ? we are not bound to abide by their testimony . dr. russel . this is the first time i have ever met with this answer from you paedobaptists , to tell us you disown the testimony of the fathers in the point of infant baptism . when you think the fathers are on your side , then we can hear enough of them ; but now you see they are against you , you will not abide by their testimony . you know i do not alledge it to prove the institution , but only matter of fact. but seeing you will not abide by their testimony , i shall leave it to be considered by the people ; for i am well satisfied there are some honourable persons here , know what i say to be true . mr. williams doth then proceed to a scripture instance ; and asks mr leigh this question . was not the mother of our lord a believer , when christ was born ? mr. leigh answers , what do you ask that question for ▪ every body knows that . mr. williams . but do you believe it ? mr. leigh . yes , i do believe it : what then ? mr. williams . then here is an instance for you from scripture , of the child of a believer , that was a believer before he was born ; and yet he was not baptized till he came to years . and this we can prove . upon this the people fell a laughing at mr. leigh , and his countenance changed pale ; and he was under some seeming consternation of mind , so that he could not presently recover himself ; but at last his spirits rallied again , and then he spake to this effect . mr. leigh . our discourse was grounded on the commission . now was this before the commission , or after it ? dr. russel . it is a mistake , mr. leigh , we were not now upon the commission , but upon your question . and i think mr. williams hath given you a pertinent answer , every way suitable to your question , and the challenge you made us : and you are bound to take it . upon this he made no reply ; but addressed himself to us after this manner . now if you please i will become opponent . our answer was , you may , if you think fit , we are contented . mr. leigh . then i argue thus . if infants are visible church-members , then they are to be baptized . but infants are visible church-members . ergo , they are to be baptized . dr. russel . this argument doth not include the point in question for you ought to put in these words , according to christ's commission . mr. leigh refused so to do . upon which dr. russel asked him this question . are you of mr. chandler's mind in this matter ? he says , that baptism is an initiating ordinance . mr. leigh answered , yes , i am . dr. russel . then make sense of your argument , if you can : for it will run thus . if infants are already visible members of the church , then they are to be baptized that they may be made so . it is as if i should say , that because such a man is in this house already , therefore there must some act pass upon him to bring him in , when he is actually in the house before . make sense of this , if you can . however , i will deny the minor ; and say they are not visible church-members before they are baptized . mr. chandler . if there be no precept or example in all the word of god , to warrant us to make any other initiating ordinance into the church but baptism , then visible church-members ought to be baptized . but there is no other initiating ordinance into the church besides baptism : ergo , visible church-members ought to be baptized . dr. russel . what , doth not mr. chandler know the difference between the major and minor ? i deny the minor , and his argument is to prove the sequel of the major ; which i had confute● before . but if this be true that mr. chandler says , it is a full answer to mr. leigh's minor : for then it runs thus ; if there be no other way to bring persons into the visible church but by baptism then they were not visible church-members before they were baptized . which is directly opposite to what mr. leigh hath affirmed . mr. robinson . this argument was brought to prove that visible church-members are to be admitted to baptism . mr. williams . i deny that infants are visible church-member in their infancy . mr. leigh . i will prove that some are so , from matth. 19. 14. suffer the little children , and forbid them not to come unto me : for of such is the kingdom of heaven . dr. russel . do you bring this to prove that these children were baptized ? mr. leigh . no , i do not pretend to any such thing . dr. russel . what then do you bring it for ? mr. leigh . i bring it to prove that infants are visible church-members . dr. russel . if you had brought it to prove that infants had a right to the kingdom of glory , i should have thought you had brought it to a better purpose , and more agreeable to the scope of the place . mr. leigh . i argue thus upon it . those that belong to the kingdom of heaven , that is , the visible church of christ , are visible church-members : but the kingdom of heaven , that is , the visible church of christ , is in part made up of little children : ergo , little children are visible church-members . dr. russel . i might here object against the form of your argument : but to pass that by , i do deny your minor. mr. leigh . i shall prove my minor , by an induction of particulars . there are divers acceptations of the kingdom of heaven in scripture . as , 1. it signifies the laws and promises of the kingdom . 2. the graces of the kingdom , whereby we are enabled to observe those laws . and thus it is set forth by a grain of mustard-seed , by leaven , and the like . 3. it sometimes signifies jesus christ his management of his subjects on earth . 4. and sometimes it signifies the happiness of the saints in glory . 5. and many times it is taken for the visible church militant . and in no other sense but this last , can it be taken in this scripture to make good sense of it ; which i shall prove by an argument of induction . if it be nonsense to say , of such is the laws and promises of the kingdom ; if it be nonsense to say , of such is the graces of the kingdom , if it be nonsense to say , of such is christ's management of his subjects on earth ; if it be nonsense to say , of such is the happiness of the saints in glory ; and it be good sense to say . of such is the visible church ; then the visible church is in part made up of little children : but it is nonsence to apply it to all the other , and it is good sense to say , of such to the visible church : ergo , the visible church is in part made up of little children . dr. russel . there is so much nonsense in this argument . i know not well how to make sense of it : it seems to me little to the purpose . but however , i will deny your minor , and say , it is good sense to say , that little children belong to the kingdom of glory . i pray observe ( by the way ) what sort of subjects mr. leigh ' s church must consist of ; if they have no interest in the graces of the kingdom , nor yet in the glory of the kingdom . mr. leigh . i say it's nonsense to understand it otherwise . and upon this he desired , that all those who were satisfied with what he had said should hold up their hands . and of that great multitude , there was but a very few that did it : so that it was manifest they were not satisfied with what he had said . mr. williams . is it nonsense then to say , that any infants belong to the kingdom of glory ? mr. leigh . yes , while they are in their infant state ; for when arrived to glory , they are perfect as grown men , whatever they were on earth . otherwise we must say that there are infants of two foot long , poor , weak , ignorant things in glory : therefore it must be thus taken , for we must make good sense of scripture . mr. williams . i deny you minor , and shall form an opposite argument thus : if infants are neither members of the universal visible church , nor yet of a particular constituted church , then they are not members of the visible church at all : but they are neither members of the universal visible church , nor yet of a particular constituted church : therefore they are not members of the visible church at all . mr. leigh took no notice of this argument , but said , it did not belong to a respondent to form an argument . to which mr. williams reply'd , my work is to clear the truth ; i will not be ty'd up to your rules of disputation . mr. robinson required an express prohibition of infants church membership . mr. williams reply'd , that is fine indeed ; pray give us an express prohibition of baptizing with cream , and spittle , and salt , and oyl ; and the use of the cross in baptism : ( all which you reject ) and of many things more that might be brought into the worship of god. and to this no reply was made . mr. leigh insisting again upon his argument for excluding infants out of the kingdom of heaven , from matth. 19. affirming , that from thence it was nonsense to say , they were the subjects of glory . mr. williams said , we must distinguish between a title to glory , and the actual enjoyment of glory . elect infants have a title to glory , by virtue of the righteousness of christ imputed unto them ; although they are not actually in it . in the next place mr. williams denied the major , and proved to him from matth ●3 7. that church-membership could not be the ground of baptism ; because those many pharisees and others , that came and offer'd themselves to john for baptism , were church-members : and yet john denied to admit them to baptism . here mr. leigh distinguished between church-members de jure , and such that were only so de facto . mr. williams asked him , whether he did own them to be church-members de facto . his answer was , he did . then mr. williams told him church-membership could not be the ground of baptism . mr. leigh said , they were not so de jure , because they were a generation of vipers , and therefore ought by the law to have been cast out . but when mr. williams did desire him to tell him where that law was written , he could not produce it . upon this dr. russel asked mr. leigh , what relation this argument of his had to the commission ? for he did not know that they were obliged to follow them any longer in answering such impertinencies , that were not at all included in the question . and therefore desired him to produce some argument that was more consonant to the point in question , for this was foreign to it . for we have granted you more than you seem willing to desire , in favour of infants ; namely , that they have a title both to grace here , and glory hereafter , through the merits of christ and his righteousness imputed to them . and yet we cannot allow that they are the subjects of baptism , according to christ's commission ; or , a part of the visible church . nevertheless we have very charitable thoughts towards them , because we believe their salvation is secured to them another way . mr. leigh then proceeds to another argument : if infants are disciples , then they have a right to baptism according to the commission : but infants are disciples : ergo , they have a right to baptism according to the commission . mr. williams denied the minor. in defence of which , they argued from acts 15. 10. after this manner . if those upon whom the yoke of circumcision was imposed after the manner of moses , were called disciples , and the manner of moses was to circumcise infants ; then infants are called disciples . but those upon whom the yoke of circumcision was imposed after the manner of moses , were called disciples , and the manner of moses was to circumcise infants : ergo , infants are called disciples . dr. russel . i both distinguish upon your major , and deny the consequence thereof . for i hope you understand a difference betwixt the manner of performing an action , and the subjects upon whom it is performed . the manner of moses is the thing here spoken of ; which was to cut off the foreskin of the flesh with a knife , a sharp stone , or the like instrument : and this was sometimes practised upon grown persons , and sometimes upon infants . as touching infants , they are neither expressed , nor intended in the scripture you have alledged . for they are called brethren , believing gentiles , such that had an epistle sent to them , and when they heard it read , they rejoyced at the consolation , were establish'd in the faith , and are called churches : which your selves know ( in those times ) consisted of adult persons , multitudes both of men and women . but not of one infant that we read of among them . and indeed , none of those forementioned characters can agree to little infants . mr. leigh . i grant the manner is there spoken of , and the subjects brought in afterwards . but would not the people conclude that infants were intended , if i tell them it must be done after the manner of moses ? dr. russel . it 's no matter what those people conclude , that know not how to distinguish between the subjects , and the manner . but those of whom this was spoken , knew right well , that the false teachers imposed it upon the gentiles that did believe : and they are the subjects here spoken of . mr. leigh . i would form this argument . if those are called disciples who are advised by judaizing christians to be circumcised after the manner of moses , then infants are called disciples : but they are called disciples that are advised so to be circumcised : ergo , infants are called disciples . dr. russel denies the consequence of the major , for it doth not follow that because adult believers who are the subjects there spoken of ( as is already proved ) are call'd disciples ; that therefore infants , who are neither expressed , nor intended , must be so call'd . for mr. leigh hath allowed the distinction betwixt the subjects , and the manner . mr. leigh . read the first verse , and you will find , that there came men from judea , that taught the gentile church that believed , that unless they were circumcised after the manner of moses , they could not be saved , &c. it was the yoke of circumcision here intended . whereupon mr. williams did deny , that barely circumcision was that intolerable yoke , which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear , that is there spoken of by peter . for circumcision , barely considered , children of eight days old were able to bear it , and did bear it . but circumcision , as it obliged to the law in point of justification , was that intolerable yoke , which neither they , nor their fathers were able to bear . for the apostle tells the galatians , that if they were circumcised , christ should profit them nothing ; and that they were bound to keep the whole law. now , altho' circumcision , barely considered , might be imposed on infants ; yet the false doctrine in which that intolerable yoke did consist , together with circumcision , could not be imposed on children . besides , that circumcision , after the manner of moses , did not respect the subjects , but the form. it was the brethren that were the subjects the false teachers would have had to have been circumcised after the manner of moses ; amongst which , children could not be numbred . for , 1st . they were such brethren that had received the holy ghost . 2dly . they had purified their hearts by faith. 3dly . they were such that from among the gentiles were turned to god. then they went off also from this , and said . infants are part of a nation , and therefore might be baptized . mr. williams replied , though children are part of a nation ; yet not of a nation modify'd according to christ's commission . whereupon their moderator said , he thought mr. williams had but little academical learning . mr. williams replied , he was warned by the word , to have a care of vain philosophy . and presently demanded , what was the antecedent to the relative them , in the commission . the moderator making no answer , mr. williams said , it was all nations discipled . and upon this , dr. russel , and mr. williams did both desire them to produce one instance for infant baptism , out of the word of god. and this they did very many times desire of them , but no instance was produced . at length mr. williams desired them , in these words : brethren , i would beg you to produce one instance for infants ●aptism ; it will reflect upon you if you do not . what will all this people say , when they are gone ? so many times one instance desired : so many ministers here , and not one instance produced : they must needs conclude there was not one to be produced . notwithstanding this , the ministers were all silent ; and not a man did reply to it . then mr. leigh said , we might take up the opponency again if we pleased . thus ended their so much boasted of opponency , in that vain-glorious advertisement , published in the post-man , the saturday morning after the dispute , ( either by one of themselves , or of their unthinking admirers ) before dr. russel could return to london , altho' he set forth from portsmouth the next morning after the dispute ; his pressing occasions necessitating him thereto . dr. russel did then , at mr. leigh's request , reassume the opponency , of which mr. leigh seemed to be sick , and was willing to get rid of it . which was a sign they had no mind to inform the people of the grounds upon which they keep up the practice of infants baptism ; when they had so fair an opportunity put into their hands to do it , and made no better improvement of it . but having no scripture proof for it , they were not willing to let so great an auditory know the true cause why they continue such a scriptureless practice ; to say no worse of it . dr. russel . i will therefore prove , that no infants are to be baptized by virtue of christ's commission . if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath no other antecedent agreeing therewith but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , then none are to be baptized but such as are first made disciples by the ministry of men , which infants are not capable of . but the antecedent is true ; as is also the consequence ; and therefore no infants are to be baptized . mr. leigh . i deny that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath no other antecedent but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . dr. russel . if there be another , pray assign it . mr. leigh . i say it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , all nations . dr. russel . that cannot possibly be ; because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , them , is of the masculine gender , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , all nations , is of the neuter gender . but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , them , doth very well agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , disciples , they being both of the masculine gender . to this they gave no solid answer , worthy of noting down , according to my remembrance , or the notaries observation . dr. russel having observed what evasive answers they had given to his own and mr. williams's arguments , was resolved to force them to a direct answer ( if possible ) by retorting their own allegation upon themselves , that they might see the absurdity of it : and this put them into a flame , and great confusion . the argument was this : if infants are capable to be made disciples of christ by the ministry of men , without the use of reason , then the beasts of the field are also capable : but the beasts of the field are not capable : therefore infants are not capable . upon this there was a great disorder among them , and a person in the company cried out , he speaks blasphemy . but one of the ministers that sat by him was so just , as to satisfie him to the contrary ; for which he deserves thanks . but mr. robinson , their moderator , stood up , and threw himself about , making a noise like one in a delirious paroxysm ; and bid the people take notice , that dr. russel had ranked their infants among the brute beasts ; and that if they became of his opinion , they must look upon them as dogs , or cats , or hogs , &c. with much more of the same sort of rhetorick ; endeavouring all he could to enrage the multitude of unthinking persons against him , and put the people into a confusion . upon this mr. sharp , the baptist moderator , stood up , and said , gentlemen hold ! what is to do now ? what , doth colonel self ride lord general in the town of portsmouth to day ? what is the reason of this ? dr. russel . hold , mr. robinson . must i be thus misrepresented to the people , because i say ( that which you all know to be true ) that infants want the use of reason ? i hope you will be quiet a little time , and give me leave to make my defence to the people against your clamorous expressions . i am now put upon a necessity to tell this assembly ( of honourable persons , and others ) what my thoughts are concerning the state of mankind in general , and of little infants in particular . i believe that man , as he came out of the hands of god , was a noble creature , the top perfection of all his creation here below and was substituted lord of this lower world ; was endowed with the image of his maker , both natural and divine . but by his sin he lost the divine image , and brought himself thereby under the curse , and into a state of condemnation , in which his posterity were also involved . but it pleased god , of his infinite mercy , not to leave him in that miserable estate , as he had left the fallen angels . but christ interposed between justice and the sinner , the promise being made before the sentence was pronounced , gen. 3. 15. that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head . and this promised seed hath ( through the grace of god ) opened a door of mercy for little infants , who never sinned in their own persons ; as well as for others . and you know , gentlemen , i have already told you how great an esteem i have for your little infants ; that i will rather believe that all infants dying in their infancy are elected , than i will conclude that any one of them are damn'd : and this is more than i could persuade our opposites to confess , although they were urged upon it . so that ( for ought yet appears ) we have a greater esteem for your tender babes than these gentlemen have , notwithstanding mr. robinson's unreasonable clamour against me . and having thus apologized for my self , i do now expect an answer to my argument . mr. robinson what a strange thing is this , to talk of baptizing the beasts of the field ! who ever did so ? dr. russel . i am so far from talking of baptizing the beasts of the field , that my argument is rather to prove the direct contrary . and whereas you affirm that infants have a capacity to be made disciples of christ by the ministry of men ( or else you have been saying nothing to the purpose all this tim● about it ) i bring this to shew you the absurdity of such a no ▪ tion : and you are bound to shew the disparity , or confes● you cannot . sirs , i would put this case to you . suppose there were twenty or thirty new born infants in a room , and you should chuse out the most able and learned person among you to preach to them , in order to make them disciples according to christ's commission ; i believe he would have no better success than st. anthony had ( as the story goes ) when he took upon him to instruct the pigs ; or , as some others have don● ( even popish saints ) who have took upon them to preach 〈◊〉 the fowls of the air , &c. of which i could furnish you with divers instances . but why should mr. robinson think it strange that any body should have such a conceit in their minds ? doth he not know that the church of rome baptize things of an inferiour nature ? for they baptize churches and bells . and if i had compared your practice to theirs of baptizing belle , you had had no reason to complain , for they are both passive in the act ; only if you will give credit to one of the fathers ( viz. augustine ) the bells are upon that account the fittest subjects , for they are wholly passive : but ( saith he ) the little children are not so ; for they shew their resistance by their crying . and now i demand of any of you to take off the retortion , and shew the disparity if you can . upon this they were all silent , and none of them would undertake to shew the disparity : and till they do it , my retortion will remain upon them . then mr. leigh said , it is time to proceed to the other question . dr. russel . i will now enter upon it . the second question is this : whether the ordinance of baptism , as appointed by christ is to be administred by dipping , plunging , ( or ) overwhelming only , and not otherwise ? i take the question in the affirmative , and my first argument is this . arg. 1. the holy scripture shews us the right way of baptizing , as appointed by christ : but it doth not shew us that it ought to be done by sprinkling : ergo , sprinkling is not the right way of baptizing . mr. leigh . sir , you must bring in that dipping is absolutely necessary ( as in the question ) what do you talk of sprinkling for ? dr. russel . sir , i know not of any other way that is practised by you ; nor , i suppose , any of these people : i conclude they have often seen you sprinkle infants ; and mr. chandler hath particularly recommended it in his preaching , as the best way of baptizing : and i hope you are not asham'd of your practice . but if you will disown sprinkling to be the right way of baptizing , i am contented ; i will not then insist upon it . mr. robinson . we are not discoursing of that now ; you are to prove dipping to be the only way ; and you must and shall prove it . dr. russel . must and shall ! must and shall is for the king , and not for mr. robinson . mr. leigh . but we will not admit of this argument , because it hath not the word only in it . you are to prove that your way is the only right way of baptizing . dr. russel . mr. leigh was pleased to make use of an argument of induction , upon the question about the subjects : and why may not i use the same liberty about the manner , and prove it by arguments of inductions ? upon this some of them fell a laughing , and mr. chandler thus exprest himself ; your induction is an induction like the man's covey of partridges . mr. williams ask'd him how many there was in the covey ? mr. chandler said , why there was but one . mr. williams replied , but there was more a hatching . dr. russel . what is the reason of all this ? i tell you i will make it good by arguments of induction : and if you do not understand my meaning , i will inform you ; and shew that it is a good way of arguing , and will answer the end i bring it for . for. i will first argue off your way of sprinkling ; and after that , if you shall assign a third way , that is neither practised by you nor us , i will then argue that off also : and then ( i hope ) i shall fully prove what i design by it ; namely , that ours is the only right way of baptizing . upon this they readily discerned they should be forced to give an instance from scripture for their practice of sprinkling , which they were conscious to themselves they were not able to do ; and therefore utterly refused to answer the argument . dr. russel . if this argument will not be admitted , i will proceed to another . that way which doth not signify that which ought to be represented in baptism , according to christ's appointment , is not the right way of baptizing . but this your pretended way doth not do : ergo , it is not the right way of baptizing . and this i shall make good by the following syllogism . if that baptism which was appointed by christ doth properly represent his burial and resurrection , and ours by him , then it must be done not by sprinkling , but by dipping , plunging , or overwhelming the person baptized into water : but that baptism which was appointed by christ doth properly represent his burial and resurrection , and ours by him : ergo , it must be done not by sprinkling , but by dipping , plunging , or overwhelming the person baptized into water . mr. chandler . i deny the consequence of the major ; that it properly sets forth a burial and a resurrection . it is not for this reason the only way ; and i deny that this way doth only set forth a burial and a resurrection . dr. russel . then i will prove , 1. that it doth truly represent a burial and a resurrection . and , 2. that it is the only right way of practising this ordinance . 1. that it doth represent a burial and a resurrection , i prove from rom. 6. and coloss . 2. in rom. 6. 4. therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death , that like as christ was raised up , &c. coloss . 2. 12. buried with him in baptism , wherein also ye are risen with him , &c. this cannot be understood literally ; for so they were not , could not be buried with him in his sepulchre , neither can we , but the apostle resolves us how this was done , and how they were , and we may , be buried with him , and also rise with him ; and that is by baptism . buried with him in baptism , wherein also ye are risen with him . therefore baptism is to be performed in such a way that represents a burial and a resurrection : which is most aptly represented by dipping , plunging , or overwhelming the person baptized , into the water , and raising him up again out of it . 2. that this is the only right way of performing this ordinance , i prove thus : if there were no other way practised by john the baptist , christ , nor his apostles , but what did represent a burial and a resurrection , then ours is the only right way of baptizing . but there was no other way practised by john the baptist , christ , nor his apostles , but what did represent a burial and a resurrection : ergo , ours is the only right way of baptizing . mr. chandler . you are to prove , that because baptism is significant of a burial and resurrection , therefore it must be done only by dipping . dr. russel . by this mr. chandler grants that baptism doth signifie a burial and resurrection ; and i have already proved that therefore it is the only right way of baptizing that we practise , because there was no other practised in those first times of the gospel . and till he give an instance to the contrary , my proof stands good . but i shall farther prove it by this argument . if there can no instance be given that ever the apostles did baptize other ways than by dipping , then ours is the right way of baptizing . but there 〈◊〉 be no instance given , that ever the apostles did baptize other ways than by dipping : ergo , ours is the right way of baptizing . mr. leigh . i deny the enumeration in your argument : for it doth not follow , that because the apostles did not practise it any other way , that there were no others that did . for there were divers other ministers in those times , besides the apostles , that did also baptize . dr. russel . by this you grant that the apostles of our lord did not practise baptism any other way than by dipping . and to prove that no others did use a different practice , i thus argue . if we have no account in holy scripture , that either the apostles , or any other ministers in those times , did baptize any one person other ways than by dipping , then dipping is the only right way of baptizing . but we have no account in holy scripture , that either the apostles , or any other ministers in those times , did baptize any one person other ways than by dipping : ergo , dipping is the only right way of baptizing . mr. chandler . i can shew there is another way that it might be done , and not by dipping ; and that from the etymology of the word baptizo , for it signifies also to wash . dr. russel . i remember what alstedius saith in his lexicon theologicum . having before been speaking about the etymology of that word ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tantum significat immergere , non lavare , nisi ex consequenti : and therefore it signifies to wash only in a secondary and remote sense , because things that are dip'd , may be said to be wash'd . but the proper and primary signification of baptizo is , to dip ; for it comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , mergo , immergo , to dip , to plunge , to overwhelm , to dip into , &c. mr. chandler . i own that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies mergo , immergo . but i can shew great probability , that many , in scripture times , were baptized by pouring a little water on the face : and there is no certainty that dipping was ever used . dr. russel . how doth that appear ? mr. leigh we will argue on a probability . it might be done other ways than by dipping ; and a probability is the most you can pretend to for dipping . i require you to prove that dipping was certainly intended in those places you bring for it ; and then i will prove , that dipping was not intended , but only an application of water to the person . dr. russel . the first instance i shall give is the baptism of our saviour , as it is exprest in mark 1. 9. jesus came from nazareth of galilce , and was baptized of john in jordan . the words are , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words do certainly signifie , that he was dipped into ●●rdan . mr. leigh . the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies in , as well as into , and is often so translated in the new testament . dr. russel . that it may sometimes so signify where the scope of the place may shew it , i will not contend . but you know very well , that where it is joined with an accusative ( as it is here ) it signifies into . and i can shew that our translators have so rendred it in many places in the new testament . and it would many times be nonsence to understand it otherwise . i will give you some instances of it , in the room of many that might be given . as in john 3. 17. god sent not his son into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world through him might be saved . here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred into : for the words in the greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; and i hope you will not deny that god sent christ into the world. and in 1 tim. 1. 15. christ jesus came into the world to save sinners , &c. there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also translated into . and i hope you will not deny , that christ came into the world to save sinners . it 's joined with the same words as in john 3. 17. before recited . and in luke 4. 16. it 's said , he went into the synagogue on the sabbath-day , and stood up for to read . here again it is so rendred ; for the words are , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , into the synagogue , and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastned on him , ver . 20. which could not have been , had he not gone into the synagogue ; as it 's manifest he did . and i hope you will not deny that christ went into the synagogue : but you may do it with as much colour of reason , as to say he was not dip'd , or plunged of john into the river of jordan . when the same word is used in the same sense . and besides if we do but consider those multitudes that john baptized in the river of jordan , and other places where there was much water ; we have no reason to doubt of the truth thereof . mr. leigh . we allow , that what cannot be now used without being burdensome . might be more commodious in that day , and observed in that hot country of judaea , when there was so many came to john to be baptized : and therefore it may be that they went out to rivers . but i will argue upon a probability . it is well known , in those hot countries the people wore sandals : and they might go into the water a little way to wash their feet . now i offer this fair interpretation : they might step a little way into jordan for ease and refreshment , and then john might pour a little water on them . now allow ●ut the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie to wash , as we can easily pr●●e it is often so taken in scripture ; and i offer to all the company , whether this be not a fair interpretation of the place , that john washed him with water , he going a little way into jordan dr. russel . notwithstanding this flourish of a pretended probability , you know that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth properly signifie to dip , as all the great lexicographers and criticks do tell us ; and that its proper and native signification is to dip into water , or to plunge under water : and that i could give you many instances of , out of scapula , stephanus , schrevelius , and many others . and they also tell us , that if it be used for washing , it is in a remote sense : and if it be taken in its primary sense , it 's such a washing as is by dipping , or plunging into the water , and being covered therewith . but that you may see i am not singular in my opinion , i will shew you that your own expositors do thus render it , and some of the greatest men among the protestants that ever wrote since the reformation : of which i have made a collection out of their own works , because i would not wrong them . i shall begin with the testimony of those learned and judicious divines of your own perswasion , who were those that continued mr. peol's annotations upon matth. 3. 6. these are their own words , were baptized , that is , dipped in jordan . upon john 3. 22 , 23. there john was baptizing , because this aenon was a brook or river that had much water . it is from this apparent , that both christ and john baptized by dipping the body in the water ; else they need not have sought places where had been a great plenty of water . before dr. russel had read this last sentence wholly out , the presbyterian ministers , even mr. leigh himself , as well as the rest of them , fell a hissing so loud , and set others of their party to make a noise also by their ill example , that altho dr. russel went on with his work , yet the noise was so great , that it wholly drowned his voice , that he could not be heard . whereupon mr. sharp , the moderator , call'd out aloud to still this great noise , and spoke to this effect : what is the reason of this hissing ? gentlemen , are you not asham'd ? you preach to others the doctrine of sanctification and self-denial , and to act thus your selves , i am asham'd to see it . i pray , good people , take no notice of it now . when dr. russel perceived they would not forbear this hissing and uncivil carriage , he forbore to read any farther . and when silence was obtained , he addressed himself to the ministers after this manner : sirs , what is the matter with you ? must i n●● be permitted to recite your own authors , and some of the gre●test men that have written since the reformation ? although their testimony against us is of little value , because they are parties in the controversie ; yet when the clear evidence of truth shall enforce a confession from their pens that we are in the right , it is then a great testimony for us . here is first of all pool's annotators , certain learned and judicious divines , that say in that matter as we do : and they are men of your own party . there is also dr. hammond saith the same . here the doctor was interrupted again , and they cried out , what do you tell us of dr. hammond ? what have we to do with dr. hammond ? dr. russel . why certainly , gentlemen , dr. hammond is not thus to be despised upon his judgment about a greek word . i have also mr. baxter , wollebius , tilenus , the learned perkins , and luther also , who was against sprinkling , and practised dipping ; and so did the rest of the divines at wistenburgh . mr. calvin also , although he did allow a liberty of sprinkling in cold climates , yet he saith as i do as to the signification of the word baptiz● , that it signifies to dip , and was so used in the primitive church . there is also the dutch translators , they do every where render the words that are used to express this ordinance by , as we do ; and they call john the baptist , joannes de dooper , john the dipper . and i know not of any place but it 's so exprest . and these are presbyterians , men of your own religion . upon this , one of the ministers said , what! do you understand dutch ? dr. russel said , yes , he understood it , but he could not speak it readily . they replied , we will try that ; for we have a gentleman here that understands dutch very well . dr. russel . you may ask that gentleman if you think fit : he can satisfie you , that what i say is true . but they had 〈◊〉 discretion than to call the gentleman out to confute themselves . dr. russel i have also the testimony of the dutch annotators , who say the same thing . and these also are men of your own persuasion . and , to add no more , i have also the testimony of the assembly of divines , sitting at westminster : and i hope they may be of some credit with you . but they would not suffer him to proceed in the reading thereof to the people ; but cried out , we are protestants , and will not pin our faith on other mens sleeves . dr. russel . what! not the assembly of divines ? i thought , though you had no regard to my words , you might have had some regard to the assembly of divines . you know i do not wrong these authors : and therefore what must the people think of you , to oppose your selves thus against these great men , and such multitudes of them , that are of your own persuasion ( as many of them are ) and the rest , some of the greatest men since the reformation . surely the people cannot take it kindly at your hands , to reject the authority of these men in a matter of this nature . their answer was , we do reverence these divines , but adhere to what they say no farther than it agrees with the word of god. dr. russel . we say , that in this particular , what they have written doth agree with the word of god. mr. leigh . you have recourse to the prime signification of the word , whereas we must take it according to its acceptation in scripture . and i offer it to the consideration of the learned , whether the prime signification of the word be a sufficient argument in this case ? and here he makes his rhetorical excursions about a mathematician , an angel , a foot-boy that carries a letter , a physician , &c. and concludes thus , but we must go to the scripture acceptation of the word . and i challenge you to bring one place of scripture where it must be understood that it was done by dipping . dr. russel . it is very well , mr. leigh will allow that i have given the people the proper meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and that its prime signification is to dip. now he might have spared all the rest that he hath said ; for we do not lay the stress only upon the etymology of the word , but also upon the concurrent testimonies of holy scripture , that it was so understood and so practised by john the baptist , christ , and his apostles , and so represented by the metaphors made use of ( as a burial and a resurrection ) to set it forth by : as also their choosing places where there was much water to baptize in , as i have already shewed , so far as they would permit me ; and should have made it manifest beyond exception , if i might have been heard . but to answer your demand , i alledge acts 8. 38 , 39. and they went both down into the water , both philip and the eunuch , and by baptized him . and when they were come up out of the water , &c. here we have an account , that both the administrator , and the person to be baptized , went both down into the water : and when they came there , he baptized him . and if philip had not been to put the eunuch into the water , and cover him with it , why should they go down both into the water ? a little of it might have been brought up to them into the chariot , if sprinkling would have served the turn . but it appears manifestly , that nothing less would serve for to answer the commission , but to dip the person baptized into the water , otherwise they did that which was wholly needless , and besides the rule that was given them to practise by . and their coming up again out of the water , doth evidently shew that he was plunged into it , and overwhelm'd with it . mr. leigh replied , that the greek word signified to go down to , and come up from the water . mr. williams replied , that there was two differing words ( as he had been informed ) in the greek text ; as there are two different words in the translation . for it is said , as they went on their way , they came unto a certain water : this was before he proposed for baptism . but when a grant was given him that he might be baptized , it is then said , they went down both of them into the water , and philip baptized him there . now as they are different words in the translation , coming unto , and going down into , even so they are differing words in the greek . dr. russel said , they were two different words ; to which mr. leigh concessed . but after the meeting was over , mr. williams the presbyterian minister , in whose meeting place the dispute was , told mr. williams the baptist disputant , he was in the right , and that they were two differing words in the greek ; one for coming unto , the other for going down into . dr. russel . i then farther argue : if the spirit of god doth never use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the ordinance of baptism is mentioned , but al●ays expresses it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; then it was performed by dipping , plunging , or overwhelming only : but the spirit of god doth never use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the ordinance of baptism is mentioned , but always expresses it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; ergo. it was performed by dipping , plunging , or overwhelming only . mr. chandler . i deny the sequel of the major ; because the word doth sometimes signify a washing that is short of dipping . dr. russel . you must then assign your instance . mr. chandler you must know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tabal . and i will shew that it denotes such a washing as is short of dipping . and in dan. 4. 33. where it is said of nebuchadnezzar , his body was wet with the dew of heaven ; the septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : so that it cannot be understood in your sense . dr. russel . that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used in the stead of tabal , is true . but how do you know that the word was so rendred by the septuagint ? mr. chandler . it is so in that translation that goes in their name . dr. russel . that i deny ; for the word there is ebaphe , and not baptizo . but do you not know what weemes saith in his christian synagogue , that the septuagint translation was burnt , and only some fragments of it remaining , which was made up by others : so that neither you nor i know when we read the septuagint , and when we read other men . but what doth all this signify ? that is but a translation , and i think ours to be much better than that , if it were as you say ; and more agreeable to the scope of the place , to say his body was wet with the dew of heaven , than to say it was dipt with the dew of heaven . but i pray let mr. chandler tell us how it is in the hebrew , which is the language in which it was written . mr. chandler . the word in the hebrew is tabal . dr. russel . that i deny . whereupon an hebrew bible was produced , and handed up to dr. russel . and the book of daniel not being placed in its right order , as in other hebrew bibles , he did not readily find it ; whereupon they cried out , they believ'd he could not read it . the dr. answered , he could read hebrew before mr. chandler was born : and as a demonstration of it , he read a verse or two in the beginning thereof . upon this mr. robinson took the book , and with some difficulty found out the book of daniel and then gave it to dr. russel again , who read the place by them directed to , and told mr. chandler that the word tabal was not there . and then , after all this needless trouble , mr. chandler did confess that it was not : and so all his pretention from thence vanished into smoak . mr. chandler also urged for another instance , to prove that tabal signified a washing less than that by dipping , 2 kings 5. 10 , 14. go and wash in jordan , and be clean . and in verse 14. h● dipped himself in jordan . now this must signifie a washing short of dipping ; because though tabal doth express the act done in ver. 14. yet the command is given by rachatz , which signifies to wash . dr. russel . i do allow that the command is ●xprest by rachatz , and also that it sometimes is used , as we● as cabas , to signifie less than dipping when it is applied to some particular things , or parts of things , which are to be cleansed from filth ; as you know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the greek is to wash the hands . but where rachatz in the hebrew is used in the sence as it 's here exprest , namely , to wash himself ; it 's always to be understood of such a washing as is by dipping . the jews understood it so , and naaman the syrian understood the prophet in that sence ; for it 's said he dipped himself in jordan seven times . and that he was not mistaken about it , is evident ; for that the spirit of god hath left it upon record , that what he did was according to the saying of the man of god : so that the prophet did not intend by rachatz any other washing than what is performed by dipping of the person so washed into the water . and had this been a derivative , there might have been some doubt raised about it ; but seeing tabal is the root it self , it can signify nothing less than what is the known sence thereof , viz. he dipped . he dipped himself in jordan seven times , according to the saying of the man of god. thus i have cleared this text from your objection , as not intending any such thing as you have brought it for , but the direct contrary . then mr. chandler said , we challenge you to prove , by scripture , that the word baptizo signifies to dip , and that that is intended by baptism . dr. russel . i will prove it from all the places where the ordinance of baptism is spoken of , if you will let me prove it from the greek . mr. chandler . no , you shall prove it from our translation , that it 's there any where so rendred ; but you shall not do it from any of those places where the ordinance of baptism is spoken of . dr. russel . that is unreasonable , that when the use of a word is enquired into , and what was the practice of the first ministers , pursuant to that word by which they are commanded to baptize ; for all those scriptures where it is so mentioned to be excluded out of our enquiry . mr. chandler . i will not allow you to prove it from any of those places where the ordinance of baptism is either exprest or intended . dr. russel . if nothing else will do with you , i will then undertake to prove from divers places in scripture , that either bapto , or its derivatives , is so rendred in our english translation . the first scripture i shall instance in , is , revel . 19. 1● . he was cloathed with a vesture dipt in blood. mr. chandler . this is not bapto . dr. russel . no more is baptizo , baptismos , baptisma , &c. but they are all derivatives from it ; and so is the word that is here used . and this mr. chandler did not deny . dr. russel did then urge the several places in the evangelists about judas dipping with christ in the dish ; as , matt. 26. 23. he that dippeth . mark 14. 20. john 13. 26. when i have dipped it . and when he had dipped , &c. now in all these places you see it 's thus rendred , and the ordinance of baptism not in the least intended . moreover , i will give you one instance more , in which the most minute action imaginable is intended , and yet so much as was put into the water is said to be dipt . luke 16. 24. where the rich man being in hell , desired father abraham to send lazarus , that he might dip the tip of his finger in water , to cool his tongue , &c. by this it appears , that our translators did thus understand the word to intend dipping ; and have never rendred it to sprinkle in all the new testament . i would only add , that when learned men come to have but the same wisdom as the jewish rabbies have , to reduce all doubtful words to their roots and theme from whence they are derived , then much of our present disputes will issue in the knowledge of the truth ; and we shall cease to strive about words to no profit , but to the subverting of the hearers . upon this followed a confused jangling and noise , so that the amanuensis could not take it down , neither did he think it worth the taking . but mr. williams , the presbyterian minister , said , he thought there had been little said to the purpose . upon this dr. russel said , mr. williams , i think there hath been a great deal said more than hath been answered : but if you are not satisfied , we will wave all that hath been said , and i will dispute it over with you de novo . mr. williams shrugged , and answered no ; i am not very well . although he had not been engaged at all in the dispute himself , and the doctor had been fatigued by so long a disputation , yet mr. williams refused to accept his offer . it was at last thought meet by them to put an issue to the disputation . and mr leigh ( after he had made a speech to thank the governour and the mayor for their civility towards them , and the baptists had returned their thanks also ) he then concluded in prayer ; and so dismist the assembly . it was between the hours of six and seven of the clock when the dispute ended . i do now think it proper to give you an account of those learned mens testimonies to justifie our practice of dipping , which dr. russel was then prevented to recite , by reason of the ministers hissing , and the noise and clamour of their party , that would not suffer him to be heard . pool's annotations . matt. 3. 6 were baptized : that is , dipped in jordan . matt. 28. 19. it 's true , the first baptisms of which we read in holy writ , were by dipping of the persons baptized . where it may be we judge it reasonable , and most resembling our burial with christ by baptism into death . john 3. 22 , 23. there john was baptizing , because this aenon was a brook or river that had much water . it is from this apparent , that both christ and john baptized by dipping the body in the water ; else they need not have sought places where had been a great plenty of water . acts 8. 38. in hot countries this was usual , to baptize by dipping the body in the water . rom. 6. 4. he seems here to allude to the manner of baptizing in those warm eastern countries , which was to dip or plunge the party baptized ; and , as it were , to bury him for a while under water . dr. hammond's annotations . matth. 3. john put the persons whom he baptized into the water , dipped them all over , and so took them out again . and in his paraphrase on mark 1. 5. and john's baptism was done in jordan , a river convenient for that purpose . the learned perkins . rom. 6. the ancient custom of baptizing was to dip , and as it were to dive all the body of the baptized in the water ; as may appear in paul , rom. 6. and the councils of laodicea , and neocaesarea . the action of the minister , is his washing of the party baptized with the element of water . of washing there be three parts : the putting into the water , the continuance in the water , and the coming out of the water . perkins's order of the causes of salvation and damnation , cap. 33. pag. 74. vol. 1. and in his comment on golat. 3. 27. vol. 2. pag 257. the dipping of the body signifies mortification , or fellowship with christ in his death : the staying under the water , signifies the burial of sin ; and the coming out of the water , the resurrection from sin to newness of life . and upon matth. 28 19. here ( saith he ) a question may be made , whether washing the body in baptism , must be by dipping or sprinkling ? his answer is this ; in hot countries , and in the baptism of men of years , dipping was used , and that by the apostles : and to this paul alludes rom. 6. 3 , 4. and dipping doth more fully represent our spiritual washing , than sprinkling . ibid. pag. 257. mr baxter , in his paraphrase . matth. 3. 5. we grant that baptism then was by washing the whole body . matth. 3. 6. baptism was in john's time , by washing the whole body . rom. 6. 4. therefore in our baptism we are dipped under the water . coloss . 2. 12. ye are dead and buried with him ; for so your baptism signified , in which ye are put under the water , to signify and profess that your old man , or fleshly lust , is dead and buried with him ; and you rise thence , to signify and profess , that you rise to newness of life . in his third argument against mr. b●ake , he saith , quoad modum , with respect to the manner , it is commonly confest by us to the anabaptists ( as our commentators declare ) that in the apostles time , the baptized were dipt over head in water . and though we have thought it lawful to disuse the manner of dipping , yet we presume not to change the use and signification of it . dr. cave . in his primitive christianity , pag. 320. saith , that the party baptized was wholly immerged , or put under water ; which was the almost constant and universal custom of those times : whereby they did most notably and significantly express the great end and effects of baptism ; for as in immerging there are in a manner three several acts , the putting the person into water , his abiding there for some time , and his rising up again , thereby representing christ's death , burial , and resurrection , &c. dr. nicholson , late lord bishop of glocester . in his exposition of the church-catechism , saith , in pag. 174. and the ancient manner in baptism , the putting the person baptized under the water , and then taking him out again did well set out these two acts , the first his dying , the second his rising again . and in the same page , upon col. 2. 12. he saith , into the grave with christ we went not , for our bodies were not , could not be buried with his ; but in our baptism , by a kind of analogy or resemblance , while our bodies are under the water , we may be said to be buried with him . dr. fowler , present lord bishop of glocester . in his scope of the christian religion , upon rom 6 4. saith , christians being pl●nged into the water in baptism , signifieth their undertaking and obliging themselves , in a spiritual sense , to die and be buried with jesus christ , that so answerably to his resurrection , they may live a holy and godly life . dr. tillotson , late archbishop of canterbury . in his sermon upon 2 tim. 2. 19. saith , anciently those who were baptized put off their garments , which signified the putting off the body of sin ; and were immersed and buried in the water , to represent the death of sin ; and then did rise up again out of the water , to signifie their entrance upon a new life . and to these customs the apostle alludes , rom. 6. 4. dr. jer. taylor , late lord bishop of down . in his ductor dubitantium , lib. 3 cap. 4. saith , the custom of the ancient church was not sprinkling , but immersion , in pursuance of the sence of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , both in the commandment and example of our blessed saviour . and this agrees with the mystery of the sacrament it self ; for we are buried with him in baptism ( saith the apostle ; ) the old-man is buried and drowned in the immersion under water : and when the baptized person is lifted up from the water , it represents the resurrection of the new-man to newness of life . the learned joseph mede . in his diatribe on titus 3. 5. saith , there was no such thing as sprinkling used in baptism in the apostles time , nor many ages after them . mr. daniel rogers . none of old were wont to be sprinkled , and ( saith he ) i confess my self unconvinced by demonstration of scripture for infants sprinkling . it ought to be the churches part to cleave to the institution , which is dipping . and he betrays the church , whose officer he is , to a disorder'd error , if he cleave not to the institution , which is to dip. rogers's treatise of the two sacraments , part 1. chap. 5. the famous reformer luther . luther de baptismo , tom . 1. fol. 71. in the latin edition , printed at wittemburgh , saith , baptism is a greek word ; it may be translated a dipping , when we dip something in water , that it may be covered with water . and although it be for the most part altogether abolished , for that they do not dip the whole children , but only sprinkle them with a little water , they ought nevertheless to be wholly dipt , and presently to be drawn out again . and in tome 2. fol. 79. concerning babylon's captivity . the other thing ( saith he ) which belongs to baptism , is the sign , or the sacrament , which is the dipping it self into the water : from whence also it hath its name . nam baptizo graece , mergo latinè , & baptisma mersio est . for baptizo in greek , is in latin mergo , to dip ; and baptisma , is dipping . and a little after , speaking of rom. 6. 4. he saith , being moved by this reason , i would have those that are to be baptized , to be wholly dipt into the water ; as the word doth sound , and the mystery doth signifie . and when complaint was made to him and other divines at wittemburgh , that a child had been sprinkled at hamburgh , and their advice desired upon it ; he wrote to hamburgh to acquaint them , that their use of sprinkling was an abuse , which they ought to remove . ita mersionem hamburgi restitutam esse . so dipping was restored at hamburgh author joannes bugenhagius pomeranius , in his book printed anno 1542. he was contemporary with , and a successor of luther at wittemburgh . the learned grotius . on matth. 3. 6. mersatione autem , non perfusione agi solitum hunc ritum indicat & vocis proprietas , & loca ad eum ritum delecta , john 3. 23. acts 8. 38. et allusiones multae apostolorum quae ad aspersionem referri non possunt , rom. 6. 3 , 4. col. 2. 12. mr. john calvin . on john 3. 23. baptism was performed by john and christ , by dipping of the whole body in water . and in his institutions , lib. 4. cap. 15. sect . 19. he saith thus , caeterum mergaturne totus qui tingitur , idque ter an semel , an infusa tantum aqua aspergatur , minimum refert : sed id pro regionum diversitate ecclesis liberum esse debet . quanquam & ipsum baptizandi verbum mergere significat , & mergendi ritum veteri ecclesia observatum fuisse constat . here you may see , that although he thinks it a thing indifferent whether it be done by dipping or sprinkling , and that thrice or once only ; and that it 's left to the churches liberty , according to the diversity of countries : yet he comes in at last with his quanquam , notwithstanding the word baptism signifies to dip , and it is evident that the rite of dipping was observed by the old church . the case is so clear ( as a learned writer hath noted ) that calvin up and down his works doth often confess , that the ancient manner of baptism in the primitive times was by dipping the whole body under water . piscator , on john 3 : 23. saith , that baptism was performed by dipping the whole body under water . the dutch translators . matth. 3. 1. joannes de dooper , john the dipper . vers 6. gedoopt in de jordaen , dipt in jordan . vers . 16 ende jesus gedoopt zynde epgeklommen uyt het water . and jesus being dipt , he ( climbed or ) came up out of the water . matth. 28 19. onderwyst alle de volckeren , deselve dopende in den name des vaders , &c. instruct all the people , dipping the same in the name of the father , &c. mark 1. 9. ende wiert van joanne gedoopt in de jordaen . ende terstont al 's by uyt het water opklaem , &c. and was dipt of john in jordan . and straightways as he climb'd up out of the water , &c. acts 8. 36. wat verhindert my gedoopt te worden ? what hinders me to be dipt ? v. 38. ende hy doopte hem . and he dipt him . v. 12. wierden sy gedoopt beyde mannen ende vrouwen . they were dipt both men and women . rom. 6. 3. ofte en wetet ghy niet dat soo vele al 's wy in christum jesum dedoopt zyn , wy in synen doodt gedoopt zyn ? know ye not that so many of us as were dipt into christ jesus , we were dipt into his death ? and the same in coll. 2. 12. and ( according to what i find ) in all other places where this ordinance of baptism is mentioned . dutch annotations . on john 3. 23. and john also baptized in aenon near salim , &c. seeing there were many waters there , that is brooks or rivelets , or much water , because they that were baptized by john , went into the water with their whole bodies . see matth. 3. 16. acts 8. 38. and on rom. 6. 3. we are baptized into his death . the apostle seems here to allude to the manner of baptizing much used in those warm eastern countries ; where men were wholly dipt into the water , and remained a little while under the water ; to shew that this dipping into , and remaining in the water , is a representation of christ's death and burial : and the rising up out of the water , of his resurrection . beza on matth. 3. 11. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , signifies to die by dipping or washing , and differs from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to drown , or go down to the bottom like a stone . causabon's annotations upon matth 3. he saith , immerging was the proper rite in baptism , which the word it self sufficiently declares ; which as it signifies not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a going down to the bottom without any ascending ; so not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a swimming like a cork above the water ; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a going down and coming up again . tilenus , a learned protestant writer , in his disputation , page 886 , 889 , 890. saith , baptism is the first sacrament of the new testament instituted by jesus christ . the outward rite in baptism is three fold . first , immersion into the water . 2dly , abiding under the water . 3dly , a rising again out of the water . and he there shews at large , what a most lively similitude it is of the sorrows of christ which he was plung'd into under divine justice , and of his burial and resurrection , &c. leigh , in his critica sacra . he saith , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , tingo , to dip or plunge into the water , and signifieth primarily such a kind of washing as is used in bucks , where linen is plunged or dipt . it implieth the washing of their whole body . the native and proper signification of it is , to dip into water , or to plunge under water , john 3. 22 , 23. matth. 3. 16. acts 8. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , dipping into water , or washing with water , &c. and in his annotations on rom 6 4. he alludes to the manner in which baptism was then administred , which was to plunge them in the water ; the plunging of them into water that were baptized , was a sign of their death and burial with christ . wollebius in his compendium , &c. speaking of their present practise , saith , the action is sprinkling of water , which is usurped in the stead of dipping . and then adds , immersio & emersio illustre symbolum fuit sepulturae & resurrectionis christi . their being plunged into the water , and coming up again out of the water , was an illustrious symbol of the burial and resurrection of christ . daille , on the fathers . lib. 2. p. 148. saith , it was a custom heretofore in the ancient church , to plunge those they baptized , over head and ears in the water ; and cites for his authority , tertullian , cyprian , epiphanius , and others . and this is still ( saith he ) the practice both of the greeks and russians at this day . and cites cassander de baptismo , pag. 193. and yet notwithstanding this custom , which is both so ancient and so universal , is now abolished by the church of rome . and this is the reason that the moscovites say that the latines are not rightly and duly baptized ; because they do not use this ancient ceremony in their baptism . also , in that greek lexicon , published and recommended to all , for the encrease of knowledge ( and explained in english ) by mr. joseph caryll , mr. george cockayne , mr. ralph vening , mr. william dell , mr. matthew barker , mr. william adderly , mr. matthew mead , mr. henry jessey . they render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to dip , plunge , or drown . in the passive voice , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to be plunged , or overwhelmed . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to dip in , as one doth his finger in liquor . [ from this we may allow , that the presbyterian ministers do baptize their fingers when they dip them into the waters : but cannot be said to baptize the children , because they do not dip them in the water , but sprinkle only a little water upon their faces ] mat. 26. 23. john 13. 26. mark 14. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to plunge , to overwhelm , to wash , to dip , mat. 3. 11. john 1. 25. chap. 3. 26. john 4. 1. 1 cor. 1. 17. john 1. 31. matth. 28. 19. john 3. 22. john 4. 2. chap. 1. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to be plunged , to be baptized , or dipt . by a metaphor , it 's taken for affliction , matth. 20. 22. which is familiarly read in scripture ; whereby afflictions are compared to the gulphs and whirl-pools of water , into which those are plunged , who struggle with the miseries and calamities of this life . yet they are so plunged , that they can lift up themselves again . i might also add , what those several great masters of the greek tongue , us scapula , stephanus , schrevelius , and divers others , have said concerning the etymology thereof . but the learned being so well acquainted therewith , i shall only touch upon it : they confirming what i have already observed from others . they tell us in their lexicons , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , signifies mergo , immergo , submergo , obruo ; item tingo , quod fit immergendo . to dip , to overwhelm , to plunge or dip in , to drown or sink in the water , to overwhelm , to dip , or plunge ; to put under , to cover clean over , &c. and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rantizo , is aspergo , to sprinkle : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , aspersio , sprinkling . now these two different words , do signifie two different actions : for he that is only sprinkled , cannot be said to be dipt , or plunged under the water , and to come up again out of the water , ( when they were never in it ) as those are said to do , in acts 8. 38. they went both down into the water , and they came up again out of the water . besides , i challenge all the learned in the world to shew one instance in the new testament , that these words rantizo , rantismos , or rantisma , are ever made use of by the spirit of god , to express that ordinance of baptism by . for they know right well that bapto , and its derivatives are always made use of to express it by . and where they are translated into english , the one is rendred dipping , and the other sprinkling . but if these men will keep up a practise contrary to holy scripture . and the judgment of the most learned lexicographers and criticks in the greek tongue , it 's their own fault , and not ours . the assembly of divines annotations . acts 8. 38. they went both down into the water . they were wont to dip the whole body , or go down into the water , as here , and matth. 3. 16. and upon rom. 6. 4. buried with him by baptism . see col. 2. 12. in this phrase the apostle seemeth to allude to the ancient manner of baptism ; which was to dip the parties baptized , and as it were , to bury them under the water for a while , and then to draw them out of it , and lift them up ; to represent the burial of our old man , and our resurrection to newness of life . the late dr. gabriel towerson , in his explication of the catechism of the church of england , part 4. pag. 20 &c. speaks largely upon it , in vindication of the rite of dipping in baptism ; of which i shall recite some few passages , and refer you to his book for the rest . baptism is intended as a sign , and that in respect of the manner of application used ; i mean the dipping , or plunging the party baptized in it . a signification which st. paul will not suffer those to forget , who have been acquainted with his epistles , for which he quotes rom 6 4. and col. 2. 12. it was performed by the ceremony of immersion , that the person immersed , might by that ceremony ( which was no obscure image of a sepulture ) be minded of the precedent death , as in like manner by his coming again out of the water , of his rising from that death to life , after the example of the institutor thereof . then he puts this question , whether it ought to be performed by an immersion , or an aspersion , & c ? his answer is , it may be a more material question than is commonly deemed by us who have been accustomed to baptize by a bare effusion and sprinkling of water upon the party . for things which depend for their force on the meer will and pleasure of him who instituted them , there ought ( no doubt ) great regard to be had to the commands of him that did so ; as without which there is no reason we should receive the benefit of that ceremony to which he has been pleased to annex it . now what the command of christ was in this particular , cannot be well doubted of by those who shall consider ; first , the words of christ , matth 28. 19. concerning it , and the practice of those times , whether in the baptism of john or our saviour ; for the words of christ are , that they should baptize or dip those whom they made disciples to him ; for ( so no doubt ) the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , baptizontes , properly signifies : though if there could be any doubt concerning the signification of the words themselves , yet would that doubt be removed by considering the practice of those times . for such as was the practice of those times in baptizing , such in reason we are to think our saviour's command to have been concerning it , &c. there being not otherwise any means either for those , or future times to discover his intention concerning it . what the practice of those times were , will need no other proof , than the resorting to rivers and other such receptacles of water for the performance of that ceremony , as that because there was much water there , matth. 3. 5. john 3. 23. and the scripture expresly affirming concerning the baptism of the eunuch , acts 8. 38. that philip and the eunuch went both down into a certain water ( which they met with in their journey ) in order to the baptizing of the latter . for what need would there have been of the baptists resorting to great confluxes of water ; or of philip's and the eunuch's going down into this , were it not that the baptism both of the one and of the other , were to be performed by an immersion ; a very little water ( as we know it doth with us ) sufficing for an effusion or sprinkling . the same is to be said yet more , upon the account of our conforming to the death and resurrection of christ , which we learn from st. paul to be the design of baptism to signifie ; for though that might , and was well enough represented by the beptized persons being buried in baptism , and their rising out of it ; yet can it not be said to be so , or , at least but very imperfectly , by the bare pouring out , or sprinkling the baptismal water on him . but therefore ; as there is so much the more reason to represent the rite of immersion as the only legitimate rite of baptism , because the only one that can answer the ends of its institution , and those things that were to be signified by it ; so especially , if ( as is well known , and undoubtedly of great force ) the general practice of the primitive church was agreeable thereto , and the greek church to this very day : for who can think that either the one , or the other , would have been so tenacious of so troublesom a rite , were it not that they were well assured ( as they of the primitive church might very well be ) of its being the only instituted and legitimate one. i cannot but think the forementioned arguments to be so far of force , as to evince the necessity thereof , &c. for what benefit can men ordinarily expect from that which depends for its force upon the will of him that instituted it ; where there is no such compliance in the least with it , and the command of the institutor ; as may answer those ends for which he applied it . dr. barlow , late bishop of lincoln , in his letter to mr. john tombes , printed in his life-time and owned by him . he saith thus ; i believe and know , that there is neither precept nor practice in the scripture for paedo-baptism ; nor any just evidence for it , for about two hundred years after christ . sure i am , that in the primitive times they were to be catechumeni , and then illuminati , or baptizati : and this not only children of pagans , or pagans converted ; but children of christian parents . nazianzen , though a bishop's son , being not baptized till he was about thirty years of age , as appears in his life . and the like is evident in some others . i have seen what my learned and worthy friend dr. hammond , mr. baxter , and others , say in defence of it ; and i confess i wonder not a little , that men of such parts should say so much to so little purpose : for i have not seen any thing like an argument for it . i shall add no more , but my hearty wishes , that as god was pleased to make the hearing of the dispute , of such use to several persons , that they were fully convinced ( by the grace of god towards them ) of the truth of the doctrine of holy baptism , and did in few days after submit themselves to be dipt in water , upon profession of their faith , according to the commission of our lord and saviour jesus christ , that it may also be of the like use to many others , in the reading of it ; that so there may be added to the church daily ▪ such as shall be saved . and then my design will be answered in its publication ; and i shall count it a sufficient reward for all my pains and labour therein . finis . the fountaine of free grace opened by questions and answers: proving the foundation of faith to consist only in gods free love in giving christ to dye for the sins of all, and objections to the contrary answered by the congregation of christ in london, constituted by baptisme upon the profession of faith, falsly called anabaptists. wherein they vindicate themselves from the scandalous aspersions of holding free-will, and denying a free election by grace. saltmarsh, john, d. 1647. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a93608 of text r208134 in the english short title catalog (thomason e1181_3). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 43 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 15 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a93608 wing s482 thomason e1181_3 estc r208134 99867121 99867121 169434 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a93608) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 169434) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 167:e1181[3]) the fountaine of free grace opened by questions and answers: proving the foundation of faith to consist only in gods free love in giving christ to dye for the sins of all, and objections to the contrary answered by the congregation of christ in london, constituted by baptisme upon the profession of faith, falsly called anabaptists. wherein they vindicate themselves from the scandalous aspersions of holding free-will, and denying a free election by grace. saltmarsh, john, d. 1647. [4], 23, [1] p. [s.n.], london : printed in the yeare. 1645. attributed to saltmarsh by wing and dnb. annotation on thomason copy: "jan: 21 1644"; the 5 in the imprint date has been crossed out. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng grace (theology) -early works to 1800. election (theology) -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. a93608 r208134 (thomason e1181_3). civilwar no the fountaine of free grace opened by questions and answers:: proving the foundation of faith to consist only in gods free love in giving c saltmarsh, john 1645 8107 44 0 0 0 0 0 54 d the rate of 54 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-08 angela berkley sampled and proofread 2007-08 angela berkley text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the fountaine of free grace opened by questions and answers : proving the foundation of faith to consist only in gods free love in giving christ to dye for the sins of all , and objections to the contrary answered by the cnogregation of christ in london , constituted by baptisme upon the profession of faith , falsly called anabaptists . wherein they vindicate them-selves from the scandalous aspersions of holding free-will , and denying a free election by grace . london . printed in the yeare . 1645. to the impartiall reader that desireth truth only for the love of it , grace and peace be multiplied in this life with happinesse and salvation in the life to come through jesus christ . it is not a thing altogether unknowne to those that are any whit read in controversies , that many striving against the errours of others , have sometimes denied some truthes , and given their opposers thereby much advantage to have a concei●e of the goodnesse of their cause , whilst they saw the manifest truth denied by those that contended against them ; the which thing hath fallen out without all doubt with the arminians of late , who notwithstanding they have been found , to hold forth many notorious errours , rasing the very foundation of christian faith : to wit , denying originall sin , holding free will and falling aw● : yet in as much as in confuting them the manifest truth hath been denyed for the most part : viz. christs suffering for the sins of all : these adversaries have rather been emboldned then informed , or convicted , because they conceived , that their adversaries were driven to deny the manifest truth , therefore they themselves were in the truth . and on the other side , these erronious persons have glossed their errours under the pretence of being direct consequences of christs suffering for the sins of all ( whereas indeed and in truth it is no such matter ) the which thing not being so warily weighed , nor so diligently searched , as it ought , hath caused many to thinke evill of this doctrine , and of us professing the same conceiving that wee can not be the church of jesus christ , whilst wee ( in their conceivings ) maintaine such errours : whereas we having more narrowly searched the same , and by searching have found not only that it is a truth , but such a truth as is the very foundation of saving faith . doe therefore conceive , that wee , ought to be so farre from shunning the doctrine in respect of the ill esteem it hath fro● others ; as that we ought rather to owne it more deare to us then our lives , and also to seeke by all meanes possible that may be , to make the same known to others , and for this end serves this following discourse , partly to cleare this doctrine from those evil consequences that are supposed undenyably to follow upon it ; and partly to manifest the excellent worth of this truth to our selves and others , it being so farre from makeing us not to be the church of christ , as it is indeed the very doctrine upon which the church of christ is founded . cu●teous reader , therefore lend thy diligent search of this enfuing discourse with the quotations thereunto annexed , and if thou find the profit by it , that is intended , give god the glory , and let us have thy prayers , and we shall ever rest thine in any service of love to our power , the church of christ in london falsly called anabastsapt the fountaine of free grace opened . q. what meanes hath god provided for mans salvation . a. god so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever beleiveth in him , should not perish , but have eternalll life , john 3. 16. q. is it the duty of all mankind to beleeue in him for salvation ? a. yea. q. and why ? a. because eternall life is promised to whosoever doe beleeive in him , and eternall death is threatned to them that doe not beleive q. are not all under the penalty of everlasting damnation though there were never a christ to be beleived on ? a. yes surely , for so it doth appeare , rom. 3. 9. 23. ch 5. 12. 16 17. 18. 19. q. why then is eternall death threatned to mankind for not beleiving in him ? a. for two causes : first , for that christ having suffered the punishment of our sins , we should not suffer if we beleive in him ; the want of which therefore causeth our sins to rest upon us still : and secondly , because the not beleiving in him is the neglect or contempt of mercy offered , and so a grevious sin , and doth deserve condemnation more then any other sin of any other kind , john 3. 18. heb. 2. 3. 4. q. hath christ then suffered the punishment due for the sins of all mankind ? a. yes surely , for so it is written , 2 cor. 5. 15. heb. 1. 9. 1 tim. 2. 6. isa. 53. 6. john 1. 29. and 3. 16. 17. 2 john 2. 2. john . 6. 51. & 4. 42. & 12. 57. ob. then all mankind must needs be saved , or else god be unjust in punishing our sins in christ , and in 〈◊〉 also . a. it doth not follow , for though our sins are punished in christ , yet they are not pardoned in us unlesse we beleeve : hence it is that we are justified by faith in christ , nor without : for he that beleeveth not shall be damned mar. 16. and the reason is because else christ hath not the honour of mediatourship as means of pardon of sins , and secondly , he that trusts not in christ trusts in himselfe , and must be tried according to his t●n● whereon he leaneth . obj. but yet it semeth god is unjust in punishing christ , and us also . a. not so : for christ did not suffer for any such end , as to free us from punishment without faith in him : but that those that beleeve might be saved joh. 3. 16. and the rest left without excuse joh. 12 47. 48. which could not be if he had not suffered the punishment due for the sins of all . ob. but yet then it seemes that christ suffered in vaine . a. not so : for in that those that beleeve in him are saved , and those that beleeve not have no excuse to make for themselves why they beleeve not in him , therefore he died not in vain . q. could not christ have effected , that all should have beleeved . a. he could if he would , but his suffering for all doth not necessarily enforce that he must worke faith in all , he was free in the giving of himselfe to suffer . joh. 10. 18 ▪ and he is free also in quickning the soules of whom he will . joh. 5. 21. ob. why doth christ say , mat. 23. 37. how oft would i gathered thy children together , and yee would not . a. it was not to shew that auy thing was impossible or too hard for christ to doe , but only to shew the aversnes of those people to the meanes of grace afforded . q. shall every one that beleiveth in christ be 〈◊〉 ? a. yea sur●●y , for so it is written , john 3. 16. acts 16. 31. q. what is that thing that is to be beleeved by all ? a. that which christ hath commanded to be preached to all , rom. 16. 26. q. what is that ? a. the gospell which is glad tydings of good things , mar. 16 , 15. rom. 10. 15. 16. q. what are those glad tydings ? a. peace and remission of sins by christ , rom : 10. 15. ephes. 2. 17. luke 2. 10. 14. & 10. 5. & 24. 47. a●s 13. 38. q. ought all men to beleive remission of sins in christ ? a. yea surely , in as much as christ hath required remission of sins to be preached to all in his name , and nothing is required of any to be made partakers of that remission but only faith to beleive it , rom. 3. 28. gal. 2. 16. q. are all mens sins then remitted in christ , as a truth to be preached to , and to be observed by all , though men do not beleive ? a. not so , but the matter and meanes of remission of sins is true in christ for all , 1 john 2. 2. but then only formally remitted when the former truth is preached in the name of christ and beleived , john 1. 12. 13. gal. 3. 26. q. ought men to beleive , that their fins are pardoned yea or no ? a. yea but it is true by consequent of our beleeving that christ dyed for our sinnes : therefore we we shall not dye for them , john 11. 26. ob. but then it seemes , that we ought not to beleeve that our sinns are pardoned by a direct act of faith 〈◊〉 christ : but we ought to reflect upon our faith for the ground of our beleefe in that particular . a. that is not so , because by the same faith by which christ is understood to be the meanes of the remission of sins , by the same he is understood to be such an effectuall meanes as nothing is needfull to be added thereto ; seeing his death is our life , for by his stripes we are healed isa. 39. 5. and he that doth truly beleive , that christ god man hath suffered for his sins , cannot but beleive , that his sins are pardoned , and that he shall not suffer for them : as on the other side it is impossible , that any should groundedly beleive the latter , that doth not upon true grounds beleive the former . q. ought all to beleive , that all sins are pardoned past , present , and to come ? a. yea , col. 1. 21. 22. & 2. 13. 14. ephes. 2. 13. 14. 15. rom. 3. 22. 23. q. why then doth christ teach us to pray , forgive vs our sins ? a. because forgivenes of sins is by faith in christ , and though all ought , yet all doe not beleive in christ : and those that doe not fully deleive as they ought , and therefore ought to pray , that god would give and increase in us the beleiving in christ the forgivenesse of sins , and remove from us evil that attends our unbeleefe . q. are there any evills then that attend the unbeleefe of godsowne people ? a. yea surely , for god doth rebuke chastice and judge the em for it , with temporall judgements , helping them thereby as his children to mortifie the sin that remaineth in them , keeping them by this meanes from eternall damnation . 1 cor. 11. 32. heb. 12 5. 10. 11. rev. 3. 19. q. are not all the sinnes of all beleevers washed away in the blood of christ . a. yes and of all unbeleevers too : as a truth to be beleeved by all . rom. 3. 22. 23. 24. 25. joh. 1. 29. & 12. 47. chap. 3. 16. 17. q. is not the sin of unbeleefe washed away in the blood of christ ? a yes , as a truth to be beleived , or else beleivers themselves could have no certainty of salvation . q. why then are not all saved ? a. because they that beleeve not have no part in christ nor his sufferings . q. but are not the sinnes of beleivers washed away other●ais then in unbeleivers ? a. yes surely , and so they are otherwais washed away in a glorified beleever then in one yet remaining in the state of grace not glorified . 1 cor. 13 9 : 10 : 11. 12. col. 3. 3. 4. 1 joh. 3. 2. rom : 8. 23. q. are not all the sinnes of all beleivers so washe away , as that the guilt doth not remaine aagainst 〈◊〉 them ? a. yes , so as they shall never come into condemnation . joh. 5 : 24 : but not so but that as yet the● need mortification : and in that respect are subje● to rebuke , chastisement , and temporall judge●●ments as meanes to helpe them therein . 1 cor : 11 . 32 : heb : 12 : 5 : 10 : 11 : rev : 3 : 19 : q. but wheter doth god in these rebukes , chastiseiments & temporall judgments exercised upon his saiuts intend therein the satisfaction of justice by that meanes ? a. not so , for that is sanctified in chr. sufferings which they parrake of by faith effectually to the justifie of their persons from condem . but not for the justification of their evill actions which god doth as much dislike & is displeased with in his owne people as in others , & doth in love to their persons shew & manifest his displeasure against those evill actions by chastisements & temp. judgments in his own children more then in others . q. hath christ then suffered for all the sins of all though they be unbeleevers ? a : yes surely , and that doth appeare : first because that is the plaine doctrine of the scripture : 2 cor : 5 : 14 : 15 : 19 : 21 : joh. 1 : 29 : & 3 : 16 : 17 : & 4 : 42 : & 6 : 51 : & 12 : 47 : 1 tim. 2. 6 : heb. 2 : 9 : & 9 : 26. 1 john 2 : 2. 2. because christ hath apoynted remission of sins in his name & by his death to be preached to all unbeleevers lnk : 10 : 5 : & 24 : 47 : mar : 16 : 15 : ephe. 2 : 17 : act : 13 : 38. 3. because else there is no meanes that an unbeleever should become a beleever by : for how shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard ro 10 14. 4. because it is the greatest sin in an unbelever not to beleeve that christ hath suffered for all his sins . joh : 3. 19 : & 12 : 47 : 48 : & 16 : 9. 2 thes : 1 : 8 : & 2 : 10 : heb. 2 : 3 : & 10 : 29. 1 joh : 5 : 10. obj. true it is and may be granted , that christ suffered for all to procure an outward and temporall benefit , but not for justification and salvation a : some there be , that doe enjoy no more then an outward and temporall benefit it is true , and it had been good for such they never had enjoyed it ; mat. 36. 24. they received not the love of the truth by beleeving the forgivenesse of their sins in the sufferings of christ , that they might be saved , as the scriptures next before mentioned do shew with luke 10. 11. acts 13. 46. rom. 2. 4. 5. 2 pet. 3. 15. and secondly , this overthrowes the office of the gospell and faith , because whatsoever christ suffered for must be preached and beleived ; and no more , 1 cor. 15. 2. 3. now then if he suffered to procure an outward and temporall benefit , and not for justification and salvation , then that must be preached and beleived and no more , and what need that he preached or beleived either if that were all , se●ing all doe enjoy that though it be neither preached nor beleeved . obj. but christ saith , john . 17. 9. i pray not for the world : therefore surely he did not dye for the sins of all the world . a. christs prayer is to be distinguished in respect of the thing prayed for ( to wit ) some things were speciall only belonging to the saints , ver. 9. compared with ver. 11. 15. & 17. and some things are common to all , and so for such things christ did pray for the world as ver. 21. 23. though not in respect of the the things in speciall belonging only in peculiar to the saints . obj. but christ saith , i know that thou hearest me alwayes . a. true , and therefore christ was heard in praying for the world ; for he only prayed for the unity of the faithfull , as a meanes tending to cause the world to beleive as his suffering for all is of the same nature wheother men beleive it or not : and thus the sufferings of christ and his prayer for all is of equall extention as a meanes tending to cause them to beleive , and if they do not , they are left without excuse . obj. but christ saith , john 10. 15. i lay down my life for my sheepe . a. true , and so doth not the hireling , and this is his meaning in so saying , and not to exclude any person as he hath not laid down his life for . obj. it is said , luke 1. 68 mat. 1. he hath redeemed , and shall save his people . a. in the old testament israell were in speciall called his people , and so these places meane , the one being spoken by zachary , the other to joseph , both israelites , for the comfort of that people in speaciall in the time while that desolation l●sted , yet not so then as to exclude others : as appeares , luke 2. 30. 31. 32 , john 11. 50. 51. 52. act. 13. 46. 47. isa. 49. 6. therefore this hinders not , but that christ suffered for the sins of all . obj. it is said , isa. 53. 12. he bare the sins of many : therefore not of all . a. it doth not follow seeing many is opposed to a few , not to all as appeares in rev. 5. 19. by one mans disobedience many were made sinners , that is all : and also in dan. 12. 2. obj. it is said , isa. 5. 25. christ loved the church and gave himselfe for it : therefore not for all . a. it doth not follow , seeing paul saith , 1 tim. 2. 6. he gave himselfe a ransome for all : therefore by saying he he gave himselfe for it , is not to exelude any , for that were to make the scripture to contradict it selfe , but only to shew that the church did partake of such love from christ as a patterne to husbands towards their wives . and it may as well be concluded , because paul said , christ loved me , and gave himselfe for me , that he gave himselfe for no other , as because he he loved the church , and gave himselfe for it : therefore not for all . obj. but christ saith , john . 15 : 13. greater love then this hath no man , when any man bestoweth his life for his friends : therefore christ suffered not for the sins of all . a. it doth not follow , for such love is found in christ to his enemies , rom. 5. 10. col. 1. 21. 22. therfore there is in christ found greater love , then any that is among men . obj. but it is said in rev. 5. 9. & 14. 3. 4. some were redeemed from the earth from among men : therefore , he suffered not for the sins of all . a. we must distinguish redemtion in respect of price and in respect of the end and application : now the price is paid for all , heb. 2. 9. 1 tim. 2. 6. and the end is , that persons should no longer live to themselves ( as formerly they with others the men of this world have done ) but unto him that hath paid the price for them , 2 cor. 5. 15. and this only they performe that have faith given unto them , whereby they doe apply the benifit of this price ; in which latter respeect they only are said to be redeemed : yet in respect of price christ suffered for the sins of all . obj. but christ doth not call all , for he saith , mat. 9. 13. i am not come to call the righteous , but sinners to repentance : therefore he suffered not for the sins of all . a. god admonisheth all men every where to repent , acts 17. 30. and therefore christ in saying , i am not come to call the righteous , doth not intend that any were righteous , and thereby such as were excluded from his call , but only this , that so farre as any thought themselves more righteous then others , so farre forth they doe necessarily exclude themselves from the call of christ more then others . obj. but it seemes by rom : 5 : 9 10 : that all that christ dyed for shal be saved . a. not so , neither doth paul so intend , but only that we have more manifest grounded reason to beleive salvation by him now he hath suffered for us , then we had before . obj. but paul saith , rom : 8 : 32 : he that spared not his own son , but gave him vp for is all , how shall be not with him freely give all things elso : but god doth not give all things freely unto all , universally : therefore be suffered not for all . a : all things are so inseperably united unto christ that unto whomsoever christ is offered , all things are offered with him , and whosoever receiveth christ receiveth all things with him , john . 13. 20. mat. 10. 40. luke 10. 16. 1 tim. 4. 8. mat. 6. 3. and whosoever denieth or refuseth christ , refuseth all things with him , luke . 12. 8. 9. & 9. 26. 2 tim. 2. 12. mat. 10 : 33 : mar. 8 38 : 2 thes. 2. 10. 12. and to whomsoever god gives faith , and so christ , by which only christ properly becomes ours , ephes. 3. 17. which god only gives to his elect , tit : 1. rom : 8 ▪ 28 : 28 : 30 : to them he gives with that faith and that christ freely all things , 1 cor. 3. 21. but this hinders not but that he suffered for all , though saith and christ be not given to all : and this appear●● , in that some for whom he is given doe deny him , 2 pet , 2 : 1 : mat : 21 : 42 : john 1. 11. obj. but in heb : 9 : 13 : 14. it is faid that the blood of christ doth more abunduntly purge the conscience , then the blood of buls and goates did purifie the flesh : but the blood of buls and goates and the ashes of an he●fee sprinkling the uncleane sanctified to the purifiing of the flesh : and all have not their consciences purged by the blood of ch●ist : therefore he suffered not for all . a. true it is , that the blood of ghrist is of a purging nature for all , but some tread it under their feete , and count it common or unholy , heb. 10 : 29 : and doe not by faith ( as with a bunch of hysop ) sprinkle it upon the conscience , and no marvill though they remaine uncleane still : and so if the beasts were slaine , yet unlesse the blood were sprinkled on the uncleane , they would remaine so in their flesh stil : yet this hinders not , but that christ suffesor the sins of all , that whosoever beleiveth in him may be purged . q. is there any power in man by nature to beleive this doctrine ? a. no surely , he cannot know it , for it is a foolish doctrine , and emnity to the wisedome of every nanaturall man , 1 cor : 1 : 23 : & 2 : 14 : rom : 8 : 7 : 8 : and the light and understanding thereof is only had by the power of the spirit of god , 1. john 4 : 13 : 14. and all men naturally are more averse unto this then unto any other thing , john 5 : 4 : 44 : mat : 23. 37. q. why doth god promise eternall life only to those that beleive , and eternall death , to those that doe not , seeing it is not in their own power ? a. first that he might by meanes of those promises and threates worke us to that which by nature we are averse unto , 2 cor : 5 : 1● : 20. secondly , that we might appear more inexcusable when neither promises nor threates will move us to embrace free mercy , acts 13 : 16. 51 : & 18 : 6 : 7 : thirdly , that the grace of god might as well appeare in giving power to beleive , as in giving christ , and in him forgivenes of sins to be beleeved rom : 9 : 16 : & 11 : 5 : 6 : 7 : psal : 2 : 13. fourthly , that we might apply our selves unto god in the use of those meanes , that he hath appoynted , for the working of faith in us , john 6 : 27 : isa : 55 : 3. fiftly , that we might wholy deny our selves , and search , and by searching find in the covenant of grace matter of free conveyance of power to beleeve whatsoever is required to be beleeved , rom : 10 : 17 : iohn 5 : 39 : psal : 119 : 9 : 98. 99 : 104 : 105 : rom : 3. 24 : & 4 : 16 : gal : 3 : 2 : q. can it stand with the justice of god to require persons to beleive with penalties annexed thereunto , seeing it is not in their power . a. yea , seeing the matter of free conveyance of power is offered in the covenant of grace , which would be conveyed thereby were it not opposed , acts 13 : 46 : or despised , acts 7 : 51 : rom : 2 : 4 : heb : 10 : 29 : or neglected , as , heb : 2 : 3 : and in many other places of scripture it appeares . q. but whether doth it not follow from hence that gods grace is subjected unto man , whether he will oppose , despise , or neclect the same yea or no . a. true , so far as to leave man inexcusable for so doing , seeing the opposing , despising , or neglecting is wholy mans evill worke , but not so , but that the receiving , esteeming , or improoving the same power must be considered to proceed from the covenant it selfe , and not from man , it must needs therefore be attributed to god only , who proporioneth the dispensation effectually according to his owne decree of election . q. ought every one to beleeve then that christ dyd for all the sins of all . a. yea surely , or else how shall each person beleive he suffered for their sins ? obj. but it seemes incongreous , that one should be required to beleive what christ did for others a. not so , for if the benefit of christs sufferings be to be preached unto others , it is then necessary to beleive what we preach for truth , to be truth , and that to them to whom we preach the same . and secondly , if there be nothing to distinguish me from others , as the truth is , before faith there is not , then the question is , if he have not suffered for all , how i shall find that he suffered for me ? but if he hath suffered for all , as the truth is he hath , heb. 2. 9 , then i beleeving tha doe necessarily beleive that he suffered for me . obj. but if this be saving faith to beleive that christ suffe●ed for all , then who is it but will be saved ? for all men will say , that christ suffered for all . a. not so , for all that object to the contrary do● not say it . secondly , all that doe say it , doe not truely beleeve it ; and whosoever do beleeve it , do 〈◊〉 beleeve that there is the matter of eter●all death in all , 2 cor. 5 : 14 : and doe necessarily beleive an infinite love extended to all , john 3 : 16 : and all persons thus beleeving will necessarily be constrained to love god , and all things according to god , 2 : cor : 5 : 14 : 15 : 1 john 4 : 10 : 14 : 19. thirdly , christs yoake is easie in the nature of it , mat : 11 : 30 : and that is it that makes it most hard and difficult to our nature , mat. 7. 14. foolishnes to the learned gretians & a●stomling bock to the jewes who cannot endure , that the unlearned vitious publicans and harlots should be free by the grace offered in the gospell , luke 7. 39. & 15. 2. by their beleiving that christ suffered for all , should thereby only be saved . obj. but it sufficeth to saving faith , that christ be beleeved to be the son of god , and was sent and came into the world to save sinners indifinitely though not all . a. not so , if any be excluded : because that takes away certainty of faith from any in respect of christ , for if any be excluded , i may be the person as soone as any other , and i have no ground to the contrary obj. but i may be certaine if i beleive . a. this is to make the foundation of faith to stand in my beleeving , and not in christ , and also to make my first beleeving without any certaine truth to ground it selfe upon , and is a supposition of an impossibility , ( to wit ) of a firme beleeving that which cannot be knowne whether it be true or not : whereas on the contrary it being a revealed truth , christ did ●ast death for everyman , heb. 2. 9. each person hath a ground in that word of truth to beleeve , that he dyed for him , and none hath any excuse that doth not beleeve it . q. is this then the subject matter of the gospel , that christ hath required to be preached to the world : to wit , that christ suffered for all the sins of all . a. yes surely , for without this no man hath any thing to preach to the world , no gospell of glad tydings , no remission of sins , no doctrine of reconciliation , no grace or peace at all . obj. but it may be preached that christ dyed for beleivers . a. that is no glad tydings to the world , which doe not yet beleeve : neither will such a doctrine worke faith , whereas christ hath appoynted a gospell of remission of sins by his death to be preached to the world , to the begetting of persons to the faith of that truth , rom. 10. 14. 17. & 1. 16. & 16. 26. secondly , such a doctrine doth suppose persons to be beleevers before christ dyed for them , or at least before it may be preached unto them , that christ dyed for them , and so by consequence before there be any thing to be beleeved : and so by the same consequence impossible there should be any beleever , for how shall they beleeve on him of whome they have not heard , rom. 10. 14. obj. but men must first feare god , or have some worke of god wrought in them , acts 13. 26. before it may be lawfull to preach the gospell to them . a. not fo , for then it cannot be said , that any are begotten by preaching : if persons must have a life and being in godlynesse before : which is contrary to these scriptures , jam. 1. 18. 1 cor. 4. 16. 1 pet. 1. 23. secondly , then it is unlawfull to preach the gosto all nations , even to them that doe not feare god , which is contrary to these scriptures , mat : 28 : 18 : mar : 16 : 15 : acts 8 : 5 : & 9 : 29 : & 13. 45 : 46 : 50 : and 17 : 32 : and many other . thirdly the meaning of acts 13 : 26 : is but to distinguish the proselites from the naturall jewes by the application of fearing god : and when he saith , to you , that is you jewes , both by nature and religion ; to you in the first place according to the commission of christ , luke 24 : 47 : as therein offering mercy to them , and they refusiug the same , were left inexcusable : as , ver. 40 : 41 : 45 : 46. q. but how is it proved that the subject matter , of the gospell required to be preached to the world , is that christ suffered for the sins of all . a. first , because christ and the prophets and apostles did so teach , isa : 53 : 6 : john 1 : 29 : & 3 : 16 17 : & 6 : 51 : & 12 : 47 : 48 : 1 cor : 15 : 3 : 2 cor : 5 14 : 15 : &c. secondly , christ required them so to preach , mat. 28 : 18 : 19 : mar : 16 : 15 : luke 10 : 5 : & 24 : 47 : rom : 16 : 26 : thirdly , the saints are commended for beleeving so , john 4 : 44 : 1 john 4 : 14. fourthly , because it is a condemning sin in any hearing the gospell not to beleeve so ( to wit , that christ dyed for their sins , joh : 3 : 18 : 19 : & 12 : 47 : 48 : & 16 : 9 : 1 iohn 5 : 10. q : but why is such a doctrine required to be preached to the world ; to wit , that christ suffered for all the sins of all ? a. for the working of the beleefe thereof in all , in whom the doctrine prevaleth , and for the inexcusablenes of the rest , 2 cor : 2 : 14 : 15 : 16 : & 4 : 3 : 4 : & 6 : 1 : 2 : & 10 : 4 : 5 : 6 : 2 thes : 1 : 8 : & 2 : 10 : heb : 2 : 3. q : but will it not from hence follow , that man hath free-will ? a. no surely , for if the gospell must worke faith , then it flowes not from the inclination of the will , but from the gospels inlightning the understanding , ephes. 4. 20. 23. gal. 3. 2. rom. 1. 16. 17. & 10. 17. and as for the inexcusablenes of the rest which do not beleive , it doth not betoaken a freedome of will to beleive , but doth bewray a blind mind , and an bard heart , and a rebellious disposition , that will not beleive the truth , though it be declared unto them , acts 13. 4● . iohn 5. 40. 44 ephes. 4. 18. rom. 2. 7. 8. 9. q. have not all persons a rebellians disp●sition to the beleiving of the gospell ? ans. yes surely , untill the preaching of the gospell prevaile , and then , and by that meanes the rebellious disposition is cast down and subjected , and the per●ons brought unto the obedience of christ , 2 cor 10. 5 : and when it prevailes not , it heapes up vengance against the disobedient , ver. 6 , q. but hath god elected some persons before the world began , which only shal be saved ? a. yea certainly , rom. 8. 30. or else the events of things in time should come to passe without or by some ordering cause then the counsell and decree o● god , which were impiety once to imagine . q. but doth not the doctrine of christs dying for all con●radict this doctrine ? a. no surely , because it is the meanes to worke faith effectually in the elect according to the eternal decree , 1 thef. 1. 4 : 5. rom. 8. 30. and to leave the other absolutely inexcusable in the effecting their owne destruction by their refnsall to beleive in the s●●erings of christ preached and that acording to the same eternall decree , 1 pet. 2. 8. jude 4. rom. 8. 33. q. why then it seemes , that christs suffering for all the sins of all ought freely to be preached to all , and not to be limited by any consideration of the doctriue of election ? a. surely that must needs be so , first because it is the commission of christ , mar. 16. 15. secondly , because we doe not know who is elected no otherwise then by the event . thirdly , because it is as true doctrine to them that are not elect ; as to the elect , whether they beleeve it or not . fourthly , because god hath his end in christs suffering for the sins of all , and in the doctrine thereof to all as well when it is not beleeved , as when it is beleeved , luke 2. 34. 1. cor. 23. 24. 2 cor. 14. 15. 16. 1 pet. 2. 6. 7. 8. 9. fiftly , because else it is not a direct meanes to worke saith in any at all . sixtly , because else unbeleevers are not by that m●anes left inexcusable . obj. but if this be the doctrin and faith to be preached , and beleeved , may it be concluded frim hence , that that none have saving faith but those that beleeve this doctrine ? a. it is certaine , there is no saving faith without beleiving in the sufferings of christ ; neithnr have any true ground to beleeve that he suffered for them any otherwise then is declared in scripture to have suffered for all ; yet here we must distinguish , some do not so distinctly understand it to build their faith upon it as others doe , who therefore have a weaker faith then others have : yet this is out of all doubt , that no saving faith stands in opposition to it , though some persons weake in the faith possibly may . obj. but some persons who doe appeare very godly doe oppose it . a. true , but many persons who doe appeare very godly are not so indeed . secondly , many godly persons are enemies to the truth , and to themselves too , mat. 16. 22. 33. mar. 8. 33. thirdly , such opposition proceeds not from their faith , but from their ignorance & sinfull corruption . question . but may wee safely beleeve that christ snffered for the sinn of all , and so for us all , and therein our owne salvation , before we know whether we be elected or not ? a. yea surely : for so we are directed rom : 10 : 6 : 7 : 8. 9. and yet neverthelesse by this call of god to this knowledge & beleife , we may be sure that he hath chosen us unto salvation . rom : 8 : 30. q : but why is this beleefe required ? a. that we may thereby partake of union with . christ , and thereby reconciliation , adoption , justification , sanctification , and glorification . joh : 1 : 19 gal : 2 : 16 : 2 cor : 5 : 20 : gal : 3 : 26 : rom : 8 : 28 : 29 : 30 : ast : 26 : 18 : & 10 : 43 : & 15 : 9 : eph : 3. 17 : 18 q. are not the elect justified before they doe beleeve ? a. noe surely for they are without christ , straugers from the covenant , without hope or god in the world : dead in sinnes : children of wrath as well as others : in a state of condemnation . joh : 3 : 18 : eph : 2 : 1 : 3 : 12. ob : but the scripture in many places doth manifest justification to be by the blood of christ , and doth not mention faith : as rom : 3 : 24 : & 5 : 9 : 18 19 : rev : 1. 3 : heb : 9 : 14 : 26 : 1 job : 1 : 7 : eph ● : 7. and besides , faith is a beleeving of remission of sinnes and consequently justification , which ●herefore mu●● be before the beleeving of the same . a. true it is that the matter of our instification is the blood of christ shed for all , to be beleeved by ●ll : and faith hath no other object : but yet be that beleeveth not his owne justice and life in the death of christ shall never see light but the wrath of god abideth on him . joh : 3 : 36. and we are justified by faith : not without : rom : 3 : 28 : & 5 : 1 : gal : 2 : 16 : nor yet before we beleive ; for it is counted for righteoufnesse , not an other thing : rom : 4 : 3 : 5 : 9 : 11 : 12 : 16. 13 : 22 : 24 : gal. 3 : 6 : 7 : 8 : 9 : 11 : 14 : 33 : 34 : 26 : and the reason is because by it only we partake of christs death and sufferings : joh : 1 : 12 : & 3 : 14 : 15 : 16 : 17 : 18 : 19. 33 : 36 : & 8 : 34 : & 11 : 25 : 26. & 12. 46. 47. 48 jo. 16. 9. q. but are not the elect justified in the purpose of god from all eteinity ? a. no more then they are called and glorified from all eternity , and that is only predestinated and arpoynted from all eternity to be called and justified in such a time and by such a meanes as faith in christ . rom : 8 : 38 : 39 : 30. ephe. 1 : 4. 5 : & 2 : 8. 2 thes. 2 : 13 : 14. and therby preserved to glory in the end . heere we must distinguish betwixt the decree of god and the execution of the same decree● the appoyntment to doe a thing , and the doing of the same according to appoyntment : god did appoynt for to justifie his elect in time , and when the time is come , god doth accordingly effect the sam● by giving them faith therby making them partaken of union with christ , and therby of reconciliation adoption and justification . q. but when persons doe ( according to the gospell ) beleive that christ suffered for all the sinnes of all , an● so for them : by which faith they partake of , or are 〈◊〉 with christ , and thereby of reconciliation , adoption , and justification : doth god require any further meanes ●o be by them used tending to salvation yea or no ? a. yes surely , because it is necessary that this beleife be preserved and encreased , and the fruits therof : and the power of sinne mortified , which is done by degrees . 2 pet. 3 : 18 : 1 thes. 4 : 1 : ●0 . and god hath appoynted meanes to be used for that purpose by the saints . q. what meanes is that ? a. surely the preaching and hearing of gods word , which is as necessary for edification as for conversion : and the administration of the sacraments , and prayer , and the discipline of the true church : ●ll which ought conscionably to be used according to gods word by all true beleivers as the meanes of perseverance and encrease of faith , untill we come to the end of our faith the salvation of our souls . 1 pet. 1 : 9 : ephes. 4 : 12 : 13. math : 26 : 28 : act. 2 : 39. 1 cor. 5 : 5. finis . errata . p. 8. l. 22. for desolation ● . dispensation l. 29 for re● read rom. p. 9 l. ● for isa. read ephes. a brief relation of the irreligion of the northern quakers wherein their horrid principles and practices, doctrines and manners ... are plainly exposed to the view of every intelligent reader : together with a (brief reply) to some part of a very scurilous and lying pamphlet called. higginson, francis, 1617-1670. 1653 approx. 227 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 52 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a43754 wing h1953 estc r34465 14445795 ocm 14445795 102361 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a43754) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102361) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1060:18) a brief relation of the irreligion of the northern quakers wherein their horrid principles and practices, doctrines and manners ... are plainly exposed to the view of every intelligent reader : together with a (brief reply) to some part of a very scurilous and lying pamphlet called. higginson, francis, 1617-1670. fox, george, 1624-1691. sauls errand to damascus. [12], 80 p. printed by t.r. for h.r. ..., london : 1653. attributed by wing to higginson. "a brief reply" has special t.p. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and 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should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng society of friends -controversial literature. theology, doctrinal. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-04 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a brief relation of the irreligion of the northern quakers . wherein their horrid principles and practises , doctrines and manners , as far as their mystery of iniquitie hath yet discovered it self , are plainly exposed to the view of every intelligent reader . together with a ( brief reply ) to some part of a very scurilous and lying pamphlet called sauls errand to damascus . 2. pet. 2. 1. 2. but there were false prophets also among the people , even as there shall be false teachers among you , who privily shall bring in damnable heresies , even denying the lord that bought them , and bring upon themselves swift destruction . and many shall follow their pernicious wayes , by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of . 2. tim. 3. 9. but they shall proceed no further , for their folly shall be made manifest to all men . london , printed by t. r. for h. r. at the signe of the three pigeons in pauls church-yard . 1653. to my christian readers . i here present you with a brief relation of the execrable irreligion of a sort of people lately started in some parts of the north , commonly called quakers . when you have read it , you will be ready to dream ( if you be acquainted with the history of the last century ) that you behold the turbulent exorcists of germany , redivive in england , and acting their old tragick parts over again , though on another stage : and you will plainly see what ill use these men make of that libertie , permitted to dissenters in religion ( pleaded onely for , and i believe intended to be conceded only to tender consciences : ) and that is not liberty , but libertinisme , that some men seek after : viz. that they may be as wicked as they will without controul . in the mean while the uncurb'd licentiousnes of many evil men , and blasphemous heretical seducers through the nation , makes many honest christians now look upon the present times as ill boding times , who a few years ago were raised in their expectations , to see better dayes then any age ever produced , since the time that our savior christ and his apostles were living on earth . but to add no more to this purpose , i will only put you in mind , what use every christian that reads or hears this or such like relations of the crying evils of these present times , ought to make of them . the more therefore the blasphemy against the god of heaven abounds among the apostates of this generation , the more we should ( and if we fear god indeed , we shall ) labor to glorifie him , the more we should be grieved for the dishonour done to his soveraign majesty , and the more earnestly should we pray , that this bloody sin may not be imputed to the nation . the more lightly they esteem of the written word of god , and the more contemptuously they undervalue and deride the sacred ordinances of jesus christ , the more should we love and reverence and prize them , and the closer should we cleave unto them . the more heresies spread themselves and eat like cankers , and the sweeter they are to the pallats of deluded multitudes that are gredy after them , the more should we labor to decline the contagion , to ballast our vessels , and settle our selves in the truth , so , that if an apostle from the dead , or an angel from heaven , or all the seducers on earth should preach unto us another gospel , they may not be able to remove us from that which we have already received , & which is preached to us in the word of god. the greater the number is of those that fall away , the more should we that think we stand take heed least we fall . the morre violently the teachers of fals doctrines , and their supporters do oppose the truth , and labor to exalt and propagate their opinions , the more earnestly should we contend for the faith once delivered to the saints against all the adversaries of it : and to add no more the more tumultuous , factious , impious and barbarous the spirits and practises of these men are that have entertained the errors of the times , the more they curse and rail and threaten , and intend mischief , the more holily , and humbly , and peaceably ought we to demean our selves , and the more watchfull ought we to be over our conversations : that we may be as unlike to them , as the children of the day are to those that are of the night . the lord grant we may make this good use of the impieties of those that fall away . if any of those honourable gentlemen that are in authoritie , or that it shall please the lord in his providence to call to the government of this nation , shall vouchsafe to read over the lines of this book ; i humbly beseech them to look upon them not as lying lines , but such as do plainly and faithfully relate the truth : and if they shall doubt of the veritie of this narrative . i humbly request of they think it expedient , that by them authoritie they would cause the truth to be brought to light . the god of heaven make us all willing , and able to move in our proper orbes for the interest of his sonne jesus christ , and his glorious gospel . to the seduced followers of george fox , iames nayler , &c. living in westmerland , and some adjacent parts . friends , for so i call you since our blessed saviour hath commanded us to love you , though you be our enemies , to bless you , though you curse us , to do good to you , though you hate us , and to pray for you , though you despightfully use us , and persecute us as for as lies in your power . believe me , i pray you ; i have written nothing in this ensuing relation to discover your nakednes . the lord knows , & the whole country wher you live knowes , that you have done this for your selves too much already . nor have i said any thing out of any inward hatred i beare to any of you . your persons i love , but your wicked principles , your erroneous opinions , your irregular , exorbitant , vnchristian practises , those i hate ; and the lord make me to hate all impiety in my selfe , more then in any other in the world besides . nor have i inserted any thing to irritate you , to exasperate your spirits . alas the spirits of some of you , seem to be already as rough as the waters of the sea in a grown tempest , and stand in need of healing rather then further exulceration . but to be plain with you , the main end i propounded to my selfe in this narative , was the glory of god , and the good of some poor soules in the discovery of the wickednesse of your way ( if it please the lord to prosper it to that end ) that those that hate your way may go on to hate it still , and that your selves that have been seduced to walk in it , through the craftinesse of those that have lain in wait to deceive you , and have in part affected it , may come to see the impiety of that new superstition , rather then religion which you have lately taken up , and that seeing it , through the good hand of god upon you , you may be reclaimed from this way of perdition . look upon your way , i pray you , which you ( poor souls ) think is true religion , in the glasse of this relation . behold here the errours and enormities of the chiefe of your sect. are they not their blasphemies , their tenets , their practises that are here mentioned ? do you not know , and many others of your sect to be guilty of some , of most of them ? and are they not abominations also ? are they not works of the flesh , and deeds of darknesse ? if the candle of the lord be not wholly put out in you , and that light within you , you so much talk of , be not altogether darkness ; i appeal to that light . and for my plain dealing in the ensuing narration , i hope you of all men wil not be displeased . the leaders and ●autors of your sect have taken a sinfull liberty to themselves in their printed books , as in sauls errant to damascus , rich. farnworths cal out of all false worships , and in another book intitled the three-fold state of antichrist , and in another pamphlet , called false prophets , and false teachers , described by the prisoners at york , &c. in these printed libels , and in your manuscripts that flye as thick as moths up and down the country ; the ablest of your party , the authors of them , have said , and railed , and censured , and slandered , and at a venture predicted his pleasure . let me now repeat a little of what they have said , and tell some part of the world some of the wickednesse that is contained in them . i have not mentioned the personall failings of any of your society , except such practises as are notoriously known , and have been defended , and wherein your religion is partly placed nor have i aggravated any thing , or made a mountain of your mole-hil ; those that are well acquainted with you know , that what is here said is rather a mole-hill to your mountain . for the errours of your sect mentioned in this book ; it is not my intent in this discourse to debate them with you , or to undertake a confutation of them . to those that are not children in knowledge , the very nomination of them is a sufficient confutation : such cleer opposition is there between them and the word of truth . and for your selves , i suppose private and moderate reasonings ( if you would admit of them ) would be more praevalent to reclaim you , then writings : yet if you would deale so ingenuously with us , as to let us know under your hands , wherein you go alone , and dissent from the generation of the children of the most high , and desire our answer to it ▪ a little time i hope would produce it from some abler pen then mine , to what should cleerly appeare to be erroneous . lend me your patience a little longer , while i speak yet something more freely to you of your way , your selves that walk in it , and your speakers that have seduced you to it . your way may challenge the christian world , to shew one more wicked . i must confesse to you , i do not detest popery it selfe more heartily then i do your irreligion . papists are open idolaters , and the propagators of your superstitions are more horrid blasphemers : most of your errours may throw down the gauntlet to the worst of theirs , besides many that you hold in common with them . they worship god according to the fancy of the pope and his conclave ; you , according to the fancy of fox , and those others that have deluded you , or according to your own imaginations ; or rather , you worship not the lord at all , having cast off all his ordinances without exception ; your soule loatheth that light bread. besides your spirits are more impetuous , & your practises & tenets as , nay more destructive to humane societie , and civill peace and government , then those of the iesuites proselytes : or are you one jot lesse ( if not more ) antichristians then they : your way also leads to ranting ; and if the lord in mercy do not reclaim you , it is easie to predict , that before a few months or yeares be gone over , you will be ascended to that height and precipice of impiety . and for your selves , while in this way , if you be compared with the prophane people of the world , you are the worse . they , when they revile , and curse , and drink , and sweare , and live in uncleannesse , will be easily convinced of , and confesse the evill of their way : but you , when you turn your backs upon gods word and ordinances , and scoff at them , and speake evill of the way of truth , and cease not with elymas to pervert the right waies of the lord , and revile the ministers of christ , and mock at his messengers ; you make it your religion , and applaud and justifie your selves in it , as though you did god good service in so doing . yet this iniquity of yours is , i am assured of it , a greater and purer peece of profanity , then if you should , in the sight of the sun , lye down and wallow in the mire of any of the common vices and pollutions of the world . if there was that order and discipline established among us which christ hath appointed in his church , such as you should bee cut off from the lords people by excommunication , be solemnly delivered up to satan , and declared to be as heathens and publicans , tit. 3. 10. a man that is an heretick ( saith the apostle ) after the first and second admonition reject . but however men on earth deale with you , if you live and dye without repentance in the sinnes above mentioned , it is no presumption to say , the sentence of excommunication will be passed upon you in heaven , and that the doores of the kingdome of god will be shut against you for ever . you heare the word of truth telling you , 1 cor. 6. 9. 10. that no unrighteous persons , and particularly , that revilers shall not inherite the kingdome of god , and gal. 5. 20. 21. that idolatry , witchcraft , hatred , variance , emulations , wrath , strife , seditions , heresies are manifest works of the flesh , and that those that do such things , shal not be the inhabitants of that upper region : and revel . 21. 8. and 22. 15. that the unbeliving , and all lyars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone , which is the second death . and you know how christ wil deale with those at the last day , that obey not his gospel . many of these sinnes specified in the texts above cited , are the naturall fruits , or rather essentiall parts of your new irreligion ; and i am sure also , they have been hitherto in very many of your way , as the i●●●rable adjuncts of it . the lord the father of mercies open your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see the evill of this your way , and reclaim you from it ; for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 path of life , but one of the rodes to hell , and a way that goes downe to the chambers of death . and for your speakers , if ever there did arise false prophets & seducers , since christs time , and since the apostles fell asleep , as they have told us in their sacred writings , that there should , especially in the last ages of the world ; i do as verily believe , and know them to be such , as if they were marked in the forehead ; so exactly do they answer the characters and predictions of holy scripture concerning this sort of men . and your selves may easily discern them to be such by their fruits ; viz. by their blasphemies , by their damnable heresies , by their lying doctrines , by their professed disobedience to iesus christ , in casting off all his ordinances , and teaching others to do so also , by their resisting the truth , as jannes , and jambres did moses , by their diabolicall trances and raptures , by their superstitious , unholy fastings , by their railing language , by their speaking great swelling words of vanity , their boasting of perfection , and voices , and revelations , and immediate inspirations from the spirit , by their will worship , by their unchristian , immodest , unhumane incivilities , and impudencies , by their bearing witnesse to themselves , as that woman jezebell did , revel . 2. 20. who called her selfe a prophetesse ; by their creeping into houses , and their successe in their seductions , in subverting whole houses , and overthrowing the faith of so many , and drawing them to follow their pernicious waies . it hath been ordinary with the divell in all ages of the chuch , especially when he fancies or feares a time of reformation approaching , because he cannot abide the light of the truth , to excite men that make som profession of religion as his agents , & to lend them his assistance , in stirring up tumults , to hinder the successe and propagation thereof , and to bring it into contempt and hatred in the world ; and therefore it is not now to be look upon as strange , that the divell hath raised up his instruments under a vain-glorious profession of a new and more spirituall religion , to oppugne the true doctrine of the gospell of iesus christ , and all obedience both to it and him . beare with me yet a little , and i will tell you plainly what is our duty in respect of these deluders . it is the duty of all christs faithfull ministers , who are set for the defence of the gospell , to contend earnestly for the faith against them , i mean not by carnall , but by those spirituall weapons of our warfare , which are mighty through god to the pulling down of strong holds . it is their duty to endeavour to stop the mouths of these gain-sayers from the word of truth , and to warn and exhort all men to avoid them as ravenous wolves , as the very pests of the places where they are , or come . and for all that desire to appeare before the iudgment seat of iesus christ with comfort , and your selves , it is your duty to beware of them , to turn away from them , to with-draw from their society , and have no common familiarity with them . heare to this purpose the command of the lord in his holy word , math. 7. 15. beware of false prophets , matth. 24. 24 , 25 , 26. there shall arise false christs and false prophets , and shall shew great signes and wonders , insomuch that ( if it were possible ) they shall deceive the very elect. behold i have told you before , wherefore if they should say unto you , behold he is in the desart , go not forth , behold he is in the secret chambers , believe it not . rom. 16. verse 17. now i beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses , contrary to the doctrine which yee have learned , and avoid them . 2 thes. 3. 6. now we command you brethren in the name of our lord jesus christ , that you with-draw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly , and not after the tradition which he received of us . 2 tim. 3. 5. 6. from such turn away , of this sort are they that creep into houses and lead captive silly women , &c. 2 ioh. verse . 10 , 11. if there come any unto you , and bring not this doctrine , receive him not into your house , neither bid him god-speed . for he that biddeth him god-speed , is partaker of his evill deeds . except you obey these commands of the lord iesus , you will not , you cannot be his disciples . o repent therefore of your former disobedience to him , and your revoltings and wandrings from him , who is the bishop and shepheard of soules . return to embrace that truth , from which you have turned away your eares ; and to attend upon the lord in those his holy ordinances , upon which you have turned your backs , and from those crooked by-waies , into which you have been seduced through the subtlety of satans messengers . and do this speedily , while you have time before you , and before it be too late . it will be ere long too late to repent , and impossible for you to return . you know how ready the lord is to extend his mercy to the penitent . if this and such like faire warnings will not prevaile with you , but you will still obstinately proceed in your enmity to the waies of god and his gospell , i will , and i hope all that feare the lord will together with me set themselves more earnestly then we have yet done , to sollicit the lord to appeare and plead from heaven against your heresie , and to extirpate it from off the earth . though i have not satisfied my selfe in this my plain addresse to you , nor spoke , me-thinks , what i would ; yet that i may not be tedious , i will add no more but this prayer for you . that the lord , the sun of righteousnesse would please to rise unto you , and chase away that night , and darknesse that lyes upon your understandings , and grant unto you repentance , to there acknowledgment of the truth , and powerfully recover you out of the snares of the divell ; that so being turned from the power of satan to god , you may receive an inheritance among those that are sanctified through faith in him . this is the desire of his soule to god for you , who is your loving friend f. h. a breife relation of the irreligion of the northern quakers : wherein their horrid principles and practises , doctrines and manners , as farr as their mystery of iniquity hath yet discovered it selfe , are plainly exposed to the view of every intelligent reader . the last summer there came , or rather crept unawares into the county of westmerland , and some parts of yorkeshire and lancashire adjacent to it , george fox , iames nailer , one spoden , and one thornton , all of them satans seeds-men , and such as have prosperously sowed the tares of that enemy in the forementioned fields , as shall be , with gods assistance , in this ensuing relation manifestly declared . these men , together with some others ( who being affectors of novelties in religion more then verity , were quickly made their proselytes ) have powerfully seduced multitudes of people in these parts from the truth , and true worship of god , to imbrace their doctrines of devills , and follow their pernicious wayes . this sort of people are vulgarly , and not unaptly , distinguished from others by the name of quakers , the reason of which appellation i shall shew you hereafter . now to the end it may be as apparent as the day , that the guides of this sect , notwithstanding their faire pretensions of an immediate call , and extraordinary mission , and the great opinion their followers have conceived of them , are not the servants of the lord jesus , but in very deed the emissaries and ministers of satan , and that their way is not the good old way , the way of god , but as contrary to it as darknesse to the light . i shall take some paines to acquaint my reader , 1. with the cursed blasphemies which george fox , the grand master of this faction , and some others have uttered . 2. with some of those doctrines of devils , damnable heresies , and dangerous errors , which their speakers have disseminated , and wherewith they have infected their unhappy disciples . 3. with the bitter and rotten fruits of their doctrine ; such of their strange , impious , seditious , suspicious , insolent , and barbarous practices as have come to my knowledge ; some of which doe in the judgement of the most sober and intelligent christians , strongly savor of sorcery , and the immediate co-operation of the devill . of the horrid blasphemies of the quakers against god and his christ. george fox , the father of the quakers of these parts , hath avowed himselfe over and over , to be equall with god ; being asked by doctor marshall , in the presence of master sawro , colonell tell , and colonell west , justices of the peace in the county of lancashire , at a private sessions in the towne of lancaster , whether or no he was equall with god , as he had before that time beene heard to affirme : his answer was this , i am equall with god. this blasphemy hath been attested upon oath by the foresayd doctor marshall , and master altam , schoolmaster of lancaster , before the justices at the last sessions , held at appleby , ianuary the 8. 1652. and before judge puleston at the last assizes held at lancaster , march the 18. 1652. this fox , in a booke intituled sauls errand to damascus , endeavours to purge himselfe of this and other such cursed speeches layd to his charge , but he doth it so woodenly and ambiguously , that if there wanted sufficient witnesses , his owne bungling answers would to a rationall man , declare him guilty . and well may he affirme himselfe to be equall with god , when he in the foresayd booke , page eight , line nine and ten , layes downe this blasphemous proposition indefinitely . hee that hath the same spirit that raised up iesus christ from the dead , is equall with god. the said fox hath also avowed himselfe to be the christ , yea , to be the way , the truth , & the life . george bickett , isaac bourne witnesseth . at the last assises above-mentioned at lancaster , mr. sawro , a justice of the peace in that county , and an honest gentleman , told judge puleston in the open court , that he could produce many would witnesse , that fox had affirmed himselfe to be the christ. the same also he said in the hearing of an honest minister in westmerland , who will be ready to attest it when called to it . this fox hath also professed himselfe to be the judge of the world. george bickett , adam sands , nathaniel atkinson witnesseth . yea , the eternall judge of the world : george bickett witnesseth . iames nailer , another of satans nuntioes , and principall spokesman in these parts , affirmeth that he was as holy , just , and good , as god himself . this was , i heare , attested at kendall by two witnesses . there is a man of good repute , an inhabitant of underbarrow , in the barony of kendall , who sayeth , many heard this blasphemy besides himselfe ; but he thinks , being all followers of this nailer , and fox , they will be unwilling to testifie it . iames milner , one of foxes disciples , in the county of lancashire , professed himselfe to be god , and christ. thomas shaw , gerard shaw , george inman witnesses . this mans advocate , i mean that pamphleteer , that took the pains to put forth , and procure the printing of that book , called sauls errant to damascus , or he that undertook to answer in his behalfe , to salve this his execrable blasphemy , and some wretched prophesies which are already turned into lyes , hath minted this miserable excuse . as for iames milner ( saith he ) though his mind did run out from his condition , and from minding that light of god which is in him , whereby the world takes occasion to speak against the truth , and many friends stumble at it , yet there is a pure seed in him . it seems if a man be of their way , though a blasphemer and false prophet , by their own confession , yet with them he is excusable . one williamsons wife , a disciple of milners , when she came to see him at appleby , said in the hearing of divers there ( whose names might be here inserted , if it was needfull ) that she was the eternall son of god ; and when the men that heard her , told her that she was a woman , and therefore could not be the son of god ; she said , no , you are women , but i am a man. these last words i insert , that the reader may see how strongly the spirits of some of these people are transported , and how ready they are to affirm any thing how ever impious , or absurd . of the erroneous opinions of the quakers . hitherto of their blasphemies . now for the doctrines which the leaders of this sect have avouched and taught ; and the principles they have instilled into their credulous adhaerents : they are some of them errours of the first magnitude , fundamentall errours . others of them , though of a lesser size in their own nature , yet the understanding reader will censure them to be such as tend to the disturbance of the civill peace , as well as that of the church . others of them again are such light stuff , as shewes them to be meer triflers in religion . i shall heare mention such of their errours onely , as i can bring sufficient proofe for ; either from those that have been ear-witnesses , and are well acquainted with their way , or from their own printed books , which are owned and admired by their disciples . 1. they hold that the holy scripture , the writings of the prophets , evangelists , and apostles are not the word of god , and that there is no written word of god : but they say , using a foolish distinction of their own coining , that they are a declaration of the word onely in those that gave the faith . 2. they hold their own speakings are a declaration of the word [ christ ] in them , thereby making them , though they be for the most part full of impiety , and non-sense , to be of equall authority with the holy scriptures . 3. they hold that no exposition ought to be given of the holy scripture , and that all expounding of scripture is an adding to it ; and that god will add to such a one all the plagues written in that book . opening , and applying the scripture , is one thing they mainly declaim against , where ever they come . 4. they teach poor people , that whosoever takes a text of scripture and makes a sermon of , or from it , is a conjurer , and that his preaching is conjuration . fox in his printed answer to this ( sauls errant ) page 7. saith thus ; all that study to raise a living thing out of a dead , to raise the spirit out of the letter , are conjurers , and draw points , and reasons , and so speak a divination of their own brain ; they are conjurers and diviners , and their teaching is from conjuration , which is not spoken from the mouth of the lord , and the lord is against all such , and who are of god are against all such : for their doctrine doth not profit the people at all , for it stands not in the counsell of god , but it is a doctrine of the devill , and drawes people from god. 5. they affirm that the letter of the scripture is carnall . 6. that he that puts the letter for light , is blind . 7. that the word is not the rule , whereby to try their spirits ; they will not allow of comparing of that watcher ( they say ) they have within , with the written word in scripture . 8. they call the written word of god , the worlds word , the worlds light , touchstone , rule , and say , our outward scriptures and glorious gospell is dust . some of them have affirmed , it was no great matter if all the bibles in england were burnt . 9. it is a doctrine generall with them , that the soule is a part of god , or of the divine essence ; and was actually existent long before it was conveyed into the body . this wicked opinion of the priscilianists , and other old erronists now reviv'd by this sect , some of the most eminent of them have endeavoured to maintain against mr. cole , a godly and learned minister living in kendall . 10. the deniall of any distinction of persons in the god-head is common with them . fox , sauls errant , page 12. affirmes , that it is but a busie mind to enquire whether there be one individuall god , distinguished into father , son , and holy ghost . 11. they hold that christ hath no body but his church . 12. that jesus christ is come into their flesh , that he is in them as man , that the man christ dwels in them . 13. that christ his coming in the flesh is but a figure , and all he did is nothing else but an example ( the exploded doctrine of the socinians ( denying the efficacy and virtue of his blood and sacrifice , by which in his own body he purged away sin ) which principle stands cleer in the lancashire charge against them , and nothing evaded by what is layed down under the name of an answer , called , sauls errant , page 8. 14. they hold that christ is a light within every man , and that every man must mind that light and teacher within , and follow no teacher without . nailer , when mr. cole had some discourse with him at kendall , affirmed to him that christ was in all men , even in reprobates , and that in them he is held under corruption . 15. they hold that all men in the world , have in them a light sufficient to salvation ; turks , indians , yea , such as never had , or ever shall have any outward means to reveale christ to them . 16. some of them have argued that the man christ is not ascended into heaven . 17. they hold that we are justified by christ alone , without imputation . 18. they hold prayer for remission of sins a needlesse thing . 19. they hold that that righteousnesse which jesus christ fulfilled in his own person with us , and before we were born , is not the matter of our justification . 20. some of them , and those no meane ones among them , neither hold the popish . doctrine of justification by works , or inhaerent righteousnesse , which christ in him inables them to perform . 21. they hold that in conversion there is no new nature , no habit of grace , or seed of god infused , but that christ that was in man before , is then raised up in them out of prison . 22. they hold that there is fulnesse of glory in this life , that they enjoy god here , and christ here , the resurrection , judgment , angels , glory , and all they look for they enjoy in this life , and mock at those that speak of another world , or life to come , or a better kingdome . 23. they deny many of them the resurrection of the body . 24. they hold that there is no locall heaven , or hell. 25. they hold many of them , that they have attained to a state of perfection , and that they neither do , nor can sin . 26. they hold that the calling of the ministry of england , without any exception , is antichristian . 27. they affirm that there is no such thing contained in the holy scripture , as a mediate call to the ministry by man. 28. they hold the office of teaching to be utterly uselesse in the church of god , and tell the most ignorant people where they come , that they have no need that any man should teach them , and therefore disswade them from hearing any of our ministers what ever , telling them they shall be damned if they do so ; and that all that go to the best houses to heare them , shall be turned like chaff and stubble , and charge people not to believe a word that any of them speak . and for themselves when they speak , they say , they do not teach or preach , but onely declare the revelations of god in them . 29. they hold that fox and all the rest of their speakers are immediately called . sauls errent , page 4. fox saith , they were moved to come into those parts by the lord , and the lord let them see he had a people here before they came . nailer also at the last sessions at appleby , ian. 1652. affirmed in the face of the court , that when he was at plow in barly seed time , meditating on the things of god , he suddenly heard a voice commanding him to go out from his country , and from his fathers house , and had a promise given in with it . and being demanded whether he heard the voice , he said he heard it himselfe , but those that were with him heard it not . being asked again whether it was an audible voice ; he answered , no friend , it was not a carnall voice , audible to the outward eare. a little after , going on in his relation , he said , that going agateward ( they are his own words ) with a friend from his own house , the voice come to him again , commanding him to go into the west , not telling him whether he should go , or what he was to do there ; but when he had been there a little while , it was given him what he was to declare . if my reader please to be detained with another short story to this purpose , he shall have it . fox , with one or two other men , his companions , as i heard it , came to an honourable gentlemans house in cumberland . one of the house came to them to the door to know their businesse : they asked if the gentleman of the house was within , calling him by his name ( for they give no title of respect to any man whatsoever ) they were answered affirmatively . being called in , the gentleman took them aside , to know what they would with him ; they told him they were sent to him from god : he enquired of them how they certainly knew it ; they answered a voice came to them , commanding them to come to him : he asked them again where this voice came to them : they replyed , t : f : his garden in lancashire ; he demanded again , what that voice commanded them to say to him ? they answered , it was not yet given in to them : the gentleman then told them , if they knew not what they had to say to him , he knew not what he had further to say to them . that night being towards evening , they were entertained in that gentlemans house , and being desired by the servants to supper , they refused to eat , but called for a little water onely . the next morning also they refused to eat any thing , but offered to one of the servants money for their lodging ; he told them they did not well to come thither to abuse his master , he kept no inne . in the return towards their old randezvous , a few miles from this gentlemans house , they called at a little alehouse that stands alone , where desiring the hostesse to provide for their breakfast , they eat , and drank heartily . the poor woman a little after told one of the aforesaid gentlemans servants that had occasion that way , that two or three notable trencher-men had been at her house , who enquiring what manner of men they were , knew them to be the same men that had been at his masters . 30. they deny all ordinances , and their practise is sutable to this their wicked tenet . an honest minister in westmerland discoursing with fox , asked him whether he did believe prayer , preaching , the sacraments , meditation , holy-conference to be ordinances of god. no , saith he , away with them , i deny them all . 31. they call the worship of god used in our publick assemblies , a beastly worm-eaten form , a heathenish way , and worship , fleshly , carnall , &c. 32. they hold that the sprinkling of infants is antichristian , and their baptisme the mark of the beast , spoken of in the revelation , which those that worship the beast recieve in their foreheads . 33. they affirm that there is not one word in scripture that speaks of a sacrament , and that they are unlawfull ; that a little bread , and a little wine in a sacrament is the worlds communion , and that in the true church of god there is no talk of such carnall things . a minister in westmerland having some conference with fox , and knowing him to be against the baptisme of infants , asked him , if he did not own the baptisme of water to be an ordinance , no , saith he , i deny it , there is no such ordinance . 34. they hold it unlawfull to sing the psalmes of david , and call them the worlds psalmes , carnall psalmes , and say we sing davids quakings , and tremblings , and that we put davids conditions into rhime , and metre , and sing them to the dishonour of god , 35. they deny the lords day to be the christian sabbath , and say , the sabbath is a mystery which we understand not . 36. they hold it unlawfull to worship god in our churches ( commonly and metonymically so called ) and tearm them idols temples , beasts houses , where god is not worshiped , but the worship of the beast is upheld , and that the beasts of the field meet there , night-birds , screech owles . 37. for the office of the magistracy , though they do not yet openly declaim against it , fearing they should be quickly called to account for such an attempt ; yet their opinions which some of their lavish tongues have manifested touching it , as also this rude irreverent , sawcy deportment towards magistrates , wherein they shew not so much as any common respect to them ; their bold , & impious predictions of the ruine of all in authority whatsoever , and railings against them , do easily evidence them to be none of the best friends to it . the ensuing words are the words of a godly learned minister to a friend of his . however ( saith he ) the advice of some of late hath made them wiser : there was no doctrine more ordinary at their first entring into these parts ( at which time they spoke their hearts more freely , and plainly then they have done since ; sense of danger , and some little opposition , having made them more politick ) then that we owe no obedience to any magistrate , and that we ought not to own them with any honour or subjection . mr. cole severall times endeavoured the conviction of some of them , from that abundant testimony the gospell gives to that distinction of magistrates and subjects , superiours , and inferiours but in vain . and in his discourse with nailer at kendall , when nailer told him , he accused him in this point falsely , providence so ordered it , that one of his followers was there present , who having before maintained the said doctrine to him , confessed then , he had recieved it from iames nailer . one leonard till , of their way in lancashire , affirmed , that one man ought not to have power over another . another principall man of the sect in our county , affirmed to a justice of peace , there would be quakers in westmerland , when there should be never a justice of peace in it ; for which words he was indicted at the sessions ian. last . how those of this sect at york , now prisoners there , railed against the judges , ealling them scarlet coloured beasts , &c. while sitting on the bench , is not unknown . such justices of the peace that appeare against their way , they call justices so called . 38. they hold that all things ought to be common , and teach the doctrine of levelling privately to their disciples . those that know the leaders of this sect best , judge them to be down right levellers , and that feare of suppression keeps them for the present from teaching that doctrine openly . severall of them have affirmed that there ought to be no distinction of estates , but an universall parity , & one above the rest denyed the property of estates ; a third affirmed that whersoever christ came , he came to destroyal property . 39. they hold to quote fathers and authors in preaching is antichristian . 40. they are of opinion that it is unlawfull to call any man master , or sir. 41. they hold it unwarrantable to salute any man by the way . 42. they account it unlawfull to use the civility of our language , in speaking to a single person in the plurall number . i do not lay all the tenets above recited to the charge of every one of them , nor do i believe that all of them hold them all , some of them are defended by some certain men of them onely . others of them are maintained by them all in generall . of the wicked practises of the quakers , and first of their meetings , and speakings . hitherto of their errours that are come to our knowledge ; i shall now go on to present my reader with a briefe view of their black wicked practises , the naturall fruits of such corrupt principles , as are above mentioned . in doing of which i shall principally take notice of their meetings , speakings , quakings , fastings , revellings , censoriousnesse , ●●ings , inconstancy in their own opinions , enmity to learning , idlenesse , incivilities , bloody , barbarous , and turbulent practises , for their wayes have not been altogether in the clouds ; nor their deeds of darknesse alwaies done in corners . for the truth of this relation ( let me say thus much before-hand for the praevious satisfaction of my reader ) the particulars of it are most of them so notoriously known to the whole country , where these degenerated people live , that no sober man can deny them . many of them are , and will be owned by themselves ; for they make some of these horrid practises hereafter mentioned a part of their religion , and glory in them . and there is i think few particulars contained in it , which we shall want witnesses to attest ( if need be ) upon oath . and first for their meetings , and the manner of them . they come together on the lords dayes , or on other dayes of the week indifferently , at such times and places , as their speakers or some other of them think fit . their number is sometimes thirty , sometimes forty , or sixty , sometimes a hundred , or two hundred in a swarm . the places of their meetings are for the most part , such private houses as are most solitary ; and remote from neighbours , scituated in dales and by-places : sometimes the open fields , sometimes the top of an hill , or rocky hollow places , on the sides of mountaines , are the places of their randezvous . in these their assemblies for the most part they use no prayer : not in one meeting of ten , and when they do , their praying devotion is so quickly cooled , that when they have begun , a man can scarce tell to twenty before they have done . they have no singing of psalmes , hymnes , or spirituall songs , that is an abomination . no reading or exposition of holy scripture , this is also an abhorrency . no teaching , or preaching , that is in their opinion the onely thing that is needlesse . no administration of sacraments ; with them there is no talk ( they say ) of such carnall things , not so much as any conference by way of question is allowed of : that which askes , they say , doth not know , and they call propounding of any question to them , a tempting of them . they have onely their own mode of speaking ( that is all the worship that i can heare of ) which they do not call , but deny to be preaching ; nor indeed doth it deserve that more honourable name . if any of their chiefe speakers be among them , the rest give place to them ; if absent , any of them speak , that will pretend a revelation ; sometimes girles are vocall in their convents , while leading men are silent : sometimes after they are congregated , there is ( altum silentium ) not a whisper among them for an houre or two , or three together . this time they are waiting which of them the spirit shall come down upon , in inspirations and give utterance unto . sometimes they onely read the epistles of fox and nayler , which according to their principles are ( to them ) of as great authority as the epistles of peter and paul. they exceedingly affect night meetings , which are usually of both sexes very lately , and not infrequently continued all night long . their holyes , they think , are best dispensed while others are asleep ; these unseasonable dark assemblies of theirs , much like the night-meetings of the anabaptists in munster , which afterward proved fatall to that city , in a time of peace and liberty , considering the constitutions of the spirits of this people , have been in some places a just cause of affrightment to the neighbouring inhabitants that are not of their way , who have professed they could scarcely sleep in their beds without feare . these night-meetings were therefore forbidden by the justices at the sessions at appleby , ianuary last , where one of them pleaded stiffly for this liberty of the subjects , as he called it . for the manner of their speakings , their speaker for the most part uses the posture of standing , or sitting with his hat on ; his countenance severe , his face downward , his eyes fixed mostly towards the earth , his hands and fingers expanded , continually striking gently on his breast ; his beginning is without a text , abrupt and sudden to his hearers , his voice for the most part low , his sentenses incohaerent , hanging together like ropes of sand , very frequently full of impiety , and horrid errours , and sometimes full of sudden pauses ; his whole speech a mixt bundle of words and heap of non-sense , his continuance in speaking is sometimes exceeding short , sometimes very tedious , according to the paucity or plenty of his revelations : his admiring auditors that are of his way , stand the while like men astonished , listening to every word , as though every word was oraculous ; and so they believe them to be the very words and dictates of christ speaking in him . sometimes some of them , men , or women , will more like phrantick people , then modest teachers of the gospell ; or like the prophets of munster , or iohn of leydens apostles , run through , or stand in the streets , or market-place , or get upon a stone , and cry repent , repent , woe , woe , the judge of the world is come , christ is in you all , believe not your priests of baal , they are lyars , they delude you . kendall , and many other townes in these norihern parts , are witnesses of these mad speakings , and practises . the matter of the most serious and ablest of their speakers , is quicquid in buccam venerit , and for the most part of this nature . they exhort people to mind the light within , to hearken to the voice and follow the guide within them , to dwell within , and not to look forth ; for that which looketh forth tendeth to darknesse : they tell them that the lord is now coming to teach his people himselfe alone , that they have an unction , and need not that any man should teach them ; that all their teachers without , the priests of the world do , decieve them , away with them ; that they speak the divination of their own brain , and every one seeks for gain from his quarter , that they take tithes which are odious in the sight of the lord. that they teach for lucre and for the fleece , and live in pride , covetousnesse , envie , and in great houses , that they sit in the seat of the scribes and pharises , go in long robes , are called of men , masters ; that they scatter people , and delude them with notions of fleshly wisdome , and waies of worship according to their owne wills , and not according to the mind of the lord. they call them out of all false waies , and worships , and formes , and false ordinances ( so they call all the ordinances of god used in our publick assemblies . ) such stuff as this all their speakings are for most part stuffed with . something also they speak of repentance , of living under the crosse ; against pride in apparell , and covetousnesse . but the main subject and design of their speakings , is to invey against ministers , and ordinances , to bring ignorant country people to hate or forsake them , to mind onely their light within for teaching , which they tell them is sufficient to salvation . reader ; i do verily believe that if the deceiver of the nations should come visibly abroad cloathed in flesh , as a speaker , he would reach the very same doctrine that these men do , or some other very like unto it : such as wherein he would not cease to pervert the right waies of the lord. 1. to render them odious , and make them seem to be perverse waies to the ignorant multitude , and such as wherein he would chiefly labour to perswade them to turn their backs upon the preaching of the gospell , and all gods ordinances , and to mind onely the light and guide within them : which is plainer english , to worship god , according to their own fancies , to pursue the bent and inclination of their own nature , and to do only that which is right and good in their own eyes . if the divell himselfe ( whose mercuries these speakers , of whom i am now speaking , are ) could with his seductions prevaile upon unstable souls ; but thus far what would he desire more ? i have related in part what is , and will now tell you according to the best intelligence i could gain , what is not the subject of their speakings : i once heard naylor speak a while my selfe ; i have enquired of divers that have been the auditors of others of them , i have read very many of their epistles and papers that are common in the country , which i think i can produce . i could never see , or heare , or learn , that they speak almost any thing of the miserable estate of all men by nature , of jesus christ our redeemer , of his two natures , of the reality of his deity , and humanity , of his office of mediatorship , especially of his sacerdotall office , of his meritorious death and resurrection , of the satisfaction he hath given to god for us , of his intercession for us , of remission of sins , and justification to life to be obtained through faith in his blood . these glad tydings , these evangelical doctrines are too low for their high-flown spirits . instead of making our lord jesus christ ( blessed for ever be his holy name ) the object of their teaching ; they make ministers , and tythers , and the pure light that is in every man that cometh into the world , the object of their teaching . and the two first of them , chiefly of their railing . if they chance to speak any thing of those gospell-doctrines above rehearsed , it is so obscurely , mystically , and in such odd tearmes , that they do rather darken then cleer up those truths to their hearers , and so erroneously , that they had a hundred times better let speaking alone ; for these wretched speakers must one day know , that it is no little sin to adulterate the glorious everlasting gospell of jesus christ. and for propagation of such their erroneous opinions as are heretofore recited : their speakers and others of their way that have nothing else to do but follow them , wander from one parish & part of the country to another ; sometimes ten , or twenty , sometimes a whole troop of them together ; and by their agents and letters which they send before hand to those that are friends to their sect , or that they heare are opinionative , and addicted to novelties in religion , gather people together . and sometimes they are invited by such as hanker after their way . where their places of meeting are , many resort , some out of curiosity to see their persons that are so famous , or infamous rather in these parts for their seductions ; some itching to heare how and what manner of doctrine they speak . in these conventions they tell people they are sent to them from god , to declare what he hath revealed in them , and begin such preachments as are above deciphered : where this swarm hives , they are generally more chargeable in two or three nights then the payment of their tithes , which they so eagerly declaim against , would be in two or three yeares . of their quaking fits , and the manner of them now for their quakings , one of the most immediate notable fruits , and accidents of their speakings , though their speakings be a very chaos of words and errours , yet very often while they are speaking , so strange is the effect of them in their unblest followers , that many of them , sometimes men , but more frequently women and children fall into quaking fits . the manner of which is this ; those in their assemblies that are taken with these fits , fall suddenly down , as it were in a swoon , as though they were surprized with an epilepsis , or apoplexy , and lye groveling on the earth , and strugling as it were for life , and sometimes more quietly as though they were departing ; while the agony of the fit is upon them their lips quiver , their flesh and joynts tremble , their bellies swell as though blown up with wind , they foam at the mouth , and sometimes purge as if they had taken physick : in this fit they continue sometimes an houre or two , sometimes longer before they come to themselves again , and when it leaves them they roare out horribly with a voice greater then the voice of a man ; the noise , those say , that have heard it is a very horrid fearfull noise , and greater sometimes then any bull can make . the speaker , when any of them falls in this fit , will say to the rest ( that are sometimes astonisht at this sight , especially if they be incipients , let them alone , trouble them not , the spirit is now strugling with flesh , if the spirit overcome they will quickly come out of it again , though it be sorrow now it will be joy in the morning , &c. and when they have said a few words to this effect , they go on with their speaking . sometimes ' they carry those wretched patients to beds , when they are neer them , and let them lye on them till their fit be over . these quakings they maintaine , sauls errant page 5 and in their books and papers call them the marvellous works of the lord ; battles of shaking and trembling before the presence of the lord , and call them that speak against them ishmaelites , that scoff at the works of the lord , and endeavour to prove them to be from god , horribly abusing the holy scriptures to this purpose . the chiefe places they quote for this purpose , are , ezra 9. 4. & 10. 13. isaiah 66. 2 ier. 5. 22. & 23. 9. hos. 13 1. hab. 3. 16. act. 9 , 6. 2. cor. 17. 15. eph. 6. 5 phil. 2. 12. heb. 12. 21. &c. they say also , those that speak against this quaking , shew themselves to be blasphemers , and that it is presumption and blasphemy against the holy ghost to speak against it . from their frequent falling into these fits and defending of them , this people have deserved the name of quakers . a title of distinction , not dignity , now usually given to them . some are of opinion that these quaking fits are meer feignnigs , but others look upon them as reall passions . i hope my reader will not be displeased , if i freely deliver my own opinion . in plain english , then i do heartily believe these quakings to be diabolical raptures immediately proceeding from the power of satan ; if not from his corporall possession , or obsession of the parties so passive . for 1. divers godly learned christians , ministers , physitians , and such as are able to judge , do so conceive of them . 2. it is an utter impossibility for any man , especially women , that never knew what belonged to stage-playing , and young children to feign such swounings , tremblings , palsie-motions , swelling , foaming , purging , such great and horrid screechings , and roarings ; yea common modesty would restrain any man , or woman that are themselves , from such uncleanly excretions as do often accompany these sordid trances . surely it must needs bee some black art that works so turbulently on mens spirits or bodies , and conjures them into such surprizes . 3. the holy scripture predicts , 2 thes. 2. 9. that the coming of antichrist , the man of sin , &c. shall be after the working of satan , with all power , and signes , and lying wonders , and withall deceivablenes of unrighteousness in them that perish ; and that god shall send his followers strong delusions to believe lyes , &c. ergo the coming of antichrist and hereticall speakers may be such also . 4. their quakings are very like the fits of that child mentioned , mark. 9. 17 , 18. 20. 26. master ( saith the father of the child to christ ) i have brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb spirit , and wheresoever he taketh him he teareth him , and he foameth , and gnasheth with his teeth , and pineth away , and strait-way the spirit tare him , and he fel on the ground , and wallowed foaming , and the spirit cryed and rent him sore and came out of him , and he was as one dead . this is as punctuall a description of a quakers fit , as if it had been intended for a portrature of it ; and for that particular in it which concernes pining away , all the country in these parts knowes how pittifully many of the quakers look by reason of those fits , and immoderate fastings , and some distemper it may be of brain besides , and what pale ill countenances they have now in comparison of what they had before they joyned themselves to this sect : this is not generally true of them , but so true of some of them , that they may be discovered by their very faces . 5. the devill delights to possesse and abuse the bodies of men and women that are in his power , when , and as far as god permits ; but this people who have forsaken the truth and true worship of god , his ordinances , commandements , and are selfe-excommunicate , may more then probably be lookt upon as delivered up to satan by god himselfe , as may appeare by this whole relation . ergo the divell will delight to possesse and abuse their bodies . 6. it is no new thing for false prophets to fall into satanicall trances ; such were mathewes , becold , and others the prophets of munster , which lay sometimes two or three daies in their ecstacies ( though some think they were forgeries ) and therefore we need not wonder at these raptures , as if some strang thing had happened amongst us that was never heard of before ; especially seeing this people both leaders and learners ( if it be proper to call them so that will away with no teaching ) are as like that phrantick rabble that once reigned in munster , as any one thing can be like another . 7. women or children , or those that have fasted long , such as are most subject to fascination , do most frequently fall into these surprizals . 8. these ecstasies are seales of doctrines of divels , therefore from the divell . mr. perkins in his discourse of witchcraft , chap. 3. sect. 4. makes this difference betwixt divine and diabolicall trances ; divine ecstasies tend alwayes ( saith he ) to the confirming of the truth of the gospell and the furtherance of true religion and piety , such was peters , act. 10. 11. which served to assure him of his calling to preach the gospell to the gentiles , and to inform his judgment in this truth , that there was no acceptation of persons with god , and that to them of the new testament , all things were clean and nothing polluted . but the scope of them that are from satan is principally the suppressing and hinderance of religion , the drawing of the weak into errours , the ratifying and confirming of those that are fallen thereinto , and the generall upholding of practises of ungodlinesse . 9. mr. perkins ibid. makes this another difference between divine and satanicall trances . in divine trances ( saith he ) the servants of god have all their senses , yea , and all the powers of soule and body remaining sound and perfect , onely for a time the actions and operations are suspended and cease to do their duty . but in ecstasies that be from satan , his instruments are all cast into frenzies and madnesse , so as reason in them is darkened , and understanding obscured , memory weakened , the brain distempered ; so kind is satan to his friends that he will leave his tokens behind him where ever he comes in this sort . that some of these people have fallen out right and furiously mad , and dyed in that madnesse : that others of them have been and are strangely distracted , and that the countenance ' of many of them bewraies the troubles and distemper of their heads , is too well known in these parts to be denyed . this brain-sicknesse though i know it is principally to be imputed to the just judgment of god upon them who have turned away their eares from the truth , and greedily drunk down many intoxicating opinions ; yet i think it very probable , that in some of them it is the fruit of these ecstatick fits , whereby satan hath disturbed and debilitated their intellectuals . 10. george fox the ring-leader of this sect , hath been and is vehemently suspected to be a sorcerer . the presumptions of his wickednesse in this kind are not weak . some persons of good quality that came out of notinghamshire to kendall , told them of note in that town what pranks this fox had played , and what disturbance he had caused in that county before he came into these more northern parts , and with all he credibly reported to them a very strange story , of the devills discovering this fox to be one of his vassalls and agents , while he was there in a certainr house , together with many of his disciples speaking to them . this accident he said , caused many of his followers to desert both him and his wicked way , and principally procured this foxes apprehension and imprisonment in nottingham castle , till he runne away , and his keeper with him . it hath been his custome in these parts , to fix his eyes earnestly on such strangers as came into his company a good while together as though he wold look them through . if any one please to look on him sted fastly again , it is his manner impudently to out-stare them . his followers say he can out-look any man , and that he doth it to know what is in them , but if there be such a thing as fascination by an evill eye . i should rather suspect him guilty of that , then of any abillity to discern the complexions of mens soules in their faces . when such as have conceived any likeing of their way come to their meetings , or any young men or women or others are by their proselyted friends who desire to make them as bad as themselves , brought to heare him speak or discourse with him , it is another of his customes to talk and hold them a while by the hand , and it is confidently reported that many he hath thus handled , though some of them before their comeing to him did exceedingly disaffect both him and his impieties even to hatred , and though they stayed but a while with him and heard nothing from him that might either morally perswade or rationally convince them of the evill of their former way , or if any greater excellency in his new way , yet so strangely have they been wrought upon , and altered that they been all on the suddaine earnest , feirce , impetuous in both for it , and him , and do now much more violently affect his wicked religion then ever before they did distaste it . such heady ▪ fiery , diverters of many men and women to their way makes sober christians , think that though there be nothing that is divine , either in it or the propagators of it , yet there is much diabolicall attraction and art in both . many have profest , that having left their society after dislike of their wayes , they have been for a while so distempered both in minde and body that their bodyes have been all wett with sweat in their bedds , and they could not get a winck of sleep . these and such like accidents especially that faculty which most of their speakers have to cause their hearers fall into such diabolicall ecstasies above described , hath induced many understanding christians to believe that these blasphemous hereticall impostors are accompanied with the power and workings of satan . of their fastings . they use also fastings , which are some sometimes prescribed by their speakers to their novices , and continued by those that observe them for many dayes together , but their fasts are as the apostle calls the humility of vvill-worshippers ; a voluntary humility , not savouring of religion , not joyned with prayer , but undertaken as a foolish imitation of the miraculous forty dayes fasts of moses , elias , christ , and the long three weeks abstinence of daniel , and three dayes fast of the apostle paul , and as is conceived for the procuring of revelations and inspirations , as they think of the spirit . and they that use such ceremonies to purchase them , may have them ( i beleeve ) from one spirit or other . many of them have fasted themselves so weak , they could scarse go , and till their faces have gathered blacknesse : one of them of late i could name , hath fasted himselfe so weak , that he could scarcely speak , or go , otherwise , then by the help of some to lead and support him : a servant made that lived in the house with him , reports that shee is certaine , that for foureteen dayes together , he neither eat nor drunk , a crum or drop of any thing : some that have lately seen him are of opinion , he is starved almost past recovery , but whether death will be the issue of his fasting or no , must be left to the providence of god , and to a little time to determine . but where are such ungodly murtherous fasts as these prescribed in the word ? david george of delfe , a blasphemous impostor , whom george fox resembles as much as one egge another , had frequently his three dayes fasts . the heathen priests in china use abstinence sometimes for thirty dayes together , to procure abilitie to prophesie . the savage indians in new england that are trained up for powwowes ( so they call their wizards ) use to fast many dayes before the devill appeares to them , and they make their compact with him . and some maides there are that know what saint agnes fast meanes ; and papists ( we know ) have their fasts as well as quakers . all fasts are not holy fasts , some are superstitious , and some are diabolicall . no more of them . of their railings . they are also as horrible railers as ever any age brought forth , a generation whose mouths are full of bitternesse , whose throats are open sepulchers , &c. the billinsgate oister-women are not comparable to them . it is ordinary with them in the letters they write to other men to call them fooles , sots , hypocrites , vaine men , beasts , blasphemers , murtherers of the just . it is a customary thing with this gang of people in their discourse with others , to tell them they are dogs , heathen , &c. one of kendall going to the buriall of a minister his acquaintance , met a woman of this sect by the way , and asked her if she had seen the corps go by ; i saw , saith she , a company of heathen go to bury a dead dog. such language is common in the mouthes of their principall speakers , and none more notorious this way , then fox , their prime oracle . if any man in their meetings speake any thing in opposition to what they deliver , or askes any question wherein he desires to be satisfied , not agreeable to their humours ; or manifests the least disrelish of what they say , it is enough to provoke such tearmes . to give one example , nayler at a private meeting in sedbergh , asked an honest christian , samuel handley , whether he was without sin , or no ? handley replyed , he was a sinner ; hereupon nayler called him a theefe , a murtherer , a cain , and justified himselfe to be without sin . they raile against the very aedisicies wherein we meet together to worship god ; against the ordinances there practised , against the doctrine there taught : but never reason like men , or christians out of the scriptures , against the corruptions they conceive to be in them ; yea , they spare not the pulpit , that is , they say , the seat of the pharisee , the chiefe place in the synagogue , the high place that is to be demolished and broken down : yea , sometimes they spare not the dignitie of magistracy , but speak evill of them as far as they dare . but their hate and spite is specially against the persons of ministers and calling of the ministry , which they impiously revile with open mouth , even all the ministry of england without exception ; calling them the priests of the world , conjurers , theeves , robbers , antichrists , witches , divels , lyars , and a viperous and a serpentine generation , blasphemers , scarlet coloured beasts , babylons merchants selling beastily ware , whited walls , ravening wolves , greedy dogs , baals priests , tithemongers , deceivers , hirelings , &c. such titles as these they give them , not onely in their printed books and papers , but often-times when they meet them in the streets , and in the very publike assemblies while they are preaching the word , that whole congregations may be witnesses of their impiety . they affirme that all the ministers in england that preach in steeple-houses are lyars of jesus christ ; that they uphold the kingdome of antichrist , that they do all for filthy lucre , that they run greedily after the way of cain to envie and murther , and follow after the waies of baalam : that they seek to the powers of the world to guard them in their pulpits . ( it seemes if they durst they would pull them out , so i heare they had very lately dealt with some ) that pride , idlenesse , and fulnesse of bread , the sins of sodom are the fruits of their preaching . they acuse them of being brought up at oxford , and cambridge ; they say , they know nothing but naturall books , and naturall things , the scripture letter , hebrew and greek which is all naturall : that the ungodly , unholy proud priests , add professors must be scorned who know not the power of the word . reader , i coine or add no expression of mine own , i repeate onely their own words , which such books and papers of theirs as i can produce are full of . they apply all that is spoken to idolatrous , ignorant , idle , prophane persecuting priests , and false prophets , either in the old or new testament , to the ministers of england ; but we know that though one syllable , or tittle of such abused texts of scripture doth not pertain to any godly faithfull minister of the gospell ; yet that very many of them do as properly belong to themselves , as the skin that is upon their flesh . they exhort people not to heare them , to cease from them , and not to hold them up , and tell them they will never be profited by them : and indeed as soon as any man turnes their proselite , he becomes as pure a recusant as any papist in england . and not content to raile against them in prose , they compose songs , or ballads rather , which their disciples magnifie and look upon as spirituall songs , that they may revile them in meeter also . one of their speakers said not long since , that the priests had deluded the people this sixteen hundred yeares , borrowing this peice of divinity , or devility rather from the almanack-maker . their writings are full of threatnings , prophesies against ministers , for which also they are beholding to the astrologers . they say the lord is coming to beat up their quarters , the son of thunder is coming abroad to sound trumpets , to call to battell against the great day of the lord , and there kingdome must be taken from them , and that their downfall is neer at hand : some of them have said , they hope within a yeares time to see never a minister left in england . they exhort one another in the words of coliier ( out of whose pit they have drawn much of their black religion ) to overturn , overturn , overturn . thus one instrument of the divell helps another . reader , i do very believe that if these wicked men had power in their hands , there would be no toleration of any true minister of jesus christ in england ; and that one of the first things they would endeavour , would be if not to raise a tempest of persecution by raining blood , yet at least to raise and extripate the sacred callings ; i say sacred calling of the ministry , being the institution of jesus christ in his church . one principall reason why they do thus shew their teeth against ministers i imagine to be this , they look upon some of them as those that do mainly stand in their way ; as those that are able to detect their errours to manifest their folly , and unsheath the sword of the spirit , the word of truth against them . they cannot for them so freely proceed in the propagation of their delusions as they would . hence they are their greatest eye-sores . also if i may without offence speak what i think and partly know , they presume to take this liberty to themselves , because they are apt to conceive that ministers are now almost friendlesse , that authority will not appeare for them , and that they are the object of the wrath of divers soldiers in the army , whom they foolishly suppose to incline to their ( as to them ) unknown sect. but i hope , yea , i am confident that when the hypocrisie of these men shall be unmasked , and their madnesse and iniquity , which hath already begun in some places to lift up her head , shall be better known and appeare , they shall then proceed no further : and that those worthies that by divine providence do , or shall sit at the stern to guide the ship of the common-wealth ; and the godly officers of the army will not onely disowne and detest , but also manifest themselves to be enemies to all their impieties , and enormous practises of this turbulent faction . but in the mean time while they are so injurious to the soveraigne majesty of our lord jesus christ , the prince of the kings of the earth , by their hellish blasphemies and eager opposition of the truth , well may they contemne and rage against such earthen vessels as are his ministers here on earth . of their censoriousnesse , lying , instability in their own errours , and enmity to learning . never did hereticks speak greater swelling words of vanity , and more exalt themselves and throw down others , then those who are of that synagogue do . they commend themselves up to heaven , they give themselves the title of saints , they boast themselves to be equal to the apostles , to speak from the immediate revelation of the spirit ; impudently & impiously affirming more of themselves then the true apostles of jesus ever did , or durst do , touching their freedome from sin and perfection in holinesse , &c. and threaten that they shall be the judges of the world ; but they will readily censure all others to hell , tell them they are damned , that they worship the beast , that they are possessed with the divell , yea , with many divels ; that the divell speakes in them , and that they see him in their eyes and faces , &c. this language of divels indeed , is as ordinary with them to dissenters from their way that oppose them as to talk with them . many of them will be as ready to say and unsay any thing , as if lying was a vertue . they make no conscience of raising false reports against those especially that do any way oppose them ; witnesse that lying pamphlet , sauls errant to damascus , wherein there are a hundred untruths , as may be proved by a hundred witnesses . it is the testimony of a faithfull minister of christ concerning them . not in halfe an houres discourse , saith he , with most of those i have discoursed with , but you shall finde plain and down-right lyes . some of them ( saith he ) have commed to my house , and said , they had a message from god to me : upon my speedy demanding it , they have point blank almost in the same breathing time denyed it . when some that have been in some measure able from the word of truth to manifest their errours , have discoursed with those wells without water , though themselves have stood like men inwardly convicted and ashamed , utterly unable to gain-say , or darken those cleare evidences of scripture brought against them , and sometimes totally silenced , and as mute as fishes ; yet when these champions of errours have gone away , they have boasted of their conquests , and how gloriously they had foiled and stopt the mouths of their adversaries . thus wholly by lyes , lying doctrines , lying revelations , lying wonders , lying reports , they do endeavour to build up the kingdome of the father of lyes among us . their inconstancy to their own errours is also very remarkable : they have left the truth and the good waies of the lord , which are alwaies like themselves , and as unalterable as the courses of the stars of heaven : and now they fluctuate like the waves of the sea , they have unbottomed themselves , and now they know not where to fix ; they are removed from that religion that is true to another gospell , and now they have both the credenda & facienenda , the doctrinall and practicall parts of their irreligion they have taken up , to seek and settle . it is not to be expected that they will be a yeare , or two hence what they are now ; new visions , new revelations they daily look for . unstable soules , whither will your fancies go ? whither will he drive you that sets you on work ? one in kerbylonsdale parish that had been of their society a while , fell sick of an ague , and was by it detain'd at home a month ; after recovery going to their assemblies again , he professed that he found them so altered from their principles in that months time , that he could onely know them by their faces to be the same men , not by the constitution of their mindes . divers others that were a while agon of their way , perceiving the instability of their opinions , and impiety of their walkings , are now fallen off from them , and frequent the publike assemblies as before . the profession of some of the tallest of this sect that afford shadow to the rest , hath had almost as many faces as the moon , before they turned promoters of quakers : the world hath seen them zealous for episcopall policy and ceremonies , hot for presbytery , all for independency , and after all for antinomianisme , anabaptisme ; and now beyond all , onely for foxes new irreligion which is above all formes and ordinances . most of them that steer their course according to the direction of these wandring stars , were heretofore noted men for their singularity , and unsoundnesse of their tenets , such as ever affected to put on the newest fashion of religion . a taylor at grayrigge , that while there was no minister there used to speak publikely every lords day ; delivered them openly many dangerous and hereticall doctrines , and what ever his doctrine was , true , or false , he was wont daily , as his hearers said , to pawn his soule on the truth of his assertions , and bid if they were not such , to take him for ever for a false prophet . yet this man after fox and nayler came into these parts , having been their auditor a little while , was perverted by them and became a quaker , left his former principles and came to grayrigge where he had taught long before , and told the people he had formerly deluded them , and taught lyes and false doctrine among them , but he had now found the right way indeed , with other words to that effect . the builders of this babell of the quakers , which they as impiously , as vain-gloriously call the temple of the lord , will have no tooles taken out of the shops of humane learning to work withall ; and indeed i think they have not , except what the learning of winstanley and collier have afforded them . if any of their way of of the countenancers of them be learned indeed , as some of them are held to be , i look upon their owning and admiring at it , and those empty clouds their speakers , as a very sad judgment of god upon them , sending them strong delusions to believe a lye . they hate a library cane pejus & angue , all expositors of holy scripture they call heatheninsh commentators ; the reliques of those pious learned men , that were great lights in the churches of christ in their ages ; such books i mean as students in theology use as good helps to attain to that excellent knowledge of the doctrine of the holy scriptures , they tearm heathenish books , and the compilers of them heathenish authors . languages , and arts , and such like ornamentall qualifications are ulcerous deformities in these mens eyes : a methodicall discourse is an odium , all distinctions , they say , are the seed of the serpent , they savour too much of solid knowledge . they deny it to be needfull to bring up children in any learning , and some of them have taken their children from schoole . their books and papers which they disperse abroad the country , with these or such like absurd frothy sefle-contradicting quaeries . whether the lord made use of any as ministers of his minde unto the people , that were bred idle at sdhooles and universities all the daies of their lives , without a calling as the priests of england ; but rather the contrary , as moses a shepheard , amos a heardsman , christ himselfe a carpenter , paul a tent-maker , peter a fisherman . whether ever universities , or schooles of learning were in holy scripture called the well-heads of divinity . whether ever christ and his apostles did make use of those great bugbeares , so common in use with the priests of england to prevent the saints from preaching the gospell , and the world from hearing them . as first , the approbation and ordination of the men of the earth . secondly humane learning and the language of the beast , without which men are in their account altogether unmeet to meddle in the things of god. whether ever christ and his apostles did confirm the truths they delivered , by the power of the magistracy , authors , and fathers . whether the spirits teaching be not sufficient in the things of god. whether it be not the work of christ , and that which is to be expected in the latter daies , to overturn , overturn , overturn all these waies so contrary to his own minde . what do they mean in the last quaere ? what spirit is this they speak from ? but let these quaeries go as they are , for me . of their idlenesse , savage incivilities , and their irreligious bloody , barbarous , and turbulent practises . to what hath been hitherto related of their impieties and disorderly walkings , it may be added that they are many of them notorious for idlenesse in their callings , working not at all sometimes for whole weeks and months together . some of them leave their wives , children , families , vocations and turn all journy-men speakers . others regardlesse of all at home , wander after them , compassing the country from place to place , and live upon those of their fraternity where they light , to their excessive charge . they are degenerated also to such incivilities as are in few places of the world to be found among the heathens , having departed from the doctrine of christ and practise of civility both together . reader , i have been an eye-witnesse of more courteous behaviour in the indians of the west , and natives of the east indies , and moores of africa , then these men will afford to their neerest relations , or those they ought most to honour . a son , if turned a quaker , will not use the usuall civility of the world that is christian in putting off his hat to his father or mother , will give them no civill salutations : to bid him goodmorrow that begat him , or her good night , or farewell , that brought him forth , is with them accounted a wickednesse . none of the quakers will give the common respects to magistrates , or to any friends or old acquaintance . if they meet them by the way , or any stranger , they will go or ride by them as though they were dumb , or as though they were beasts rather then men , not affording a salutation , or resaluting though themselves be saluted . they do not give any title or colour of respect to those that are their superiours , in office , honour , estate — such as master , or sir , &c. but call them by their naked name , thomas , or william , or gervase , or dorothy , and ignorantly mistake it to be disagreeable to the word of truth . they go to their meales for the most part like the heathen , without any prayer or thanksgiving . when meat or drink is set on the table , the master of the house if he be any thing skilful in their way , invites none of his guests to it , but they fall to , one after another as their appetite serves them : when they go to bed , when they rise in the morning , when they depart from a house they use no civil salutes ; so that their departures and going aside to ease themselves are almost undistinguishable . it is the opinion of many honest men that have observed the wayes of this society , that there are none professing christianity more irreligious then they are , ranters excepted . those that formerly used prayer in their families , have now laid it aside as uselesse ; they observe no day by vertue of gods command . and for the lords day , those that are far from their speakers , spend it in lying long in bed , sitting at home , and mere idlenesse ; if any go to the publique assemblies , as some few of them do sometimes , it is but one part of the day , and they count that enough and too much rather : and when they come to their fellows , the use they make of what they heard is onely to carp and laugh at it . such dayes of humiliation and thanksgiving as have been appointed by authority of parliament they as i can learn , never observed , and called those ministers that did observe them the states priests . some have been down right cursed by fox , the ring leaders of this crue . one in the barony of kendal , that is now fallen off from their society , gave this as one reason of his deserting them he had oftentims urged iames nayler to pray with him , and could not long hale him to it by his intreaty , so averse was he to this ordinance ; at last prevailing with him , he used onely in his prayer 3 or 4 sentences , whereof this was one . o lord ( saith he ) raise up thy son from under corruption in us : which sentence he distasting , together with some other reasons , moved him to leave them . it was a strange bold peice of impiety in george fox in commanding a criple at a place near kendal to throw away his crutches , as though he had been invested with a power to work miracles , but the criple remained a criple still , and george fox impudently discovered his own folly . many of them that had good cloaths , as soon as they joyned themselves to this sect , burnt their bravery , and some of them , as one saith , as a part of their first zeal burnt their bibles . to go naked , is with some of them accounted a decency becoming their imagined state of innocency better then apparrel ; the ablest of their way plead for this obscenitie . one of this sort in kirbbymooreside a market town in yorkeshire , ran stark naked to the crosse in the view of many , and stood in that posture ( as i heard ) speaking to the people . two others of their societie , a man , and a woman , that called themselves adam and eve , went for some while as some uncivilized heathen doe , discovering their nakednesse to the eye of every beholder , and when they were publikely examined at the assises for their bruitish practice , the man wickedly affirmed that the power of god was upon him , he was commanded to do it . at weighton also a little town in yorkeshire , a woman of this goatish herd came naked from her own bed to another womans husband , a companion of hers it seems of the same sect , and bid him open his bed to her , for the father had sent her to him : the man had at that time another man lying in bed with him , who rose to give place to this woman , and left this honest couple to lie together according to the womans revelation : this saith the authour of a book intituled the querers and quakers case at the second hearing is no lie , but fallen under the magistrates cognisance a known thing . one of their gang in westmerland , on friday the eighth of april last , ran like , a mad man naked , all but his shirt , through kendall crying , repent , repent , wo , wo , come out of sodome , remember lots wife , with other such stuffe . his principall auditours were a company of boyes that followed him through the town . i almost wonder , what the devil should mean , in sending abroad such naked bedlam speakers ; one would think the walls of this iericho should rather be razed then raised by such pitiful engineers . but to linger no where in particulars . this one thing to me doth plainly evidence the way of these apostates to be of the devil . no sooner is any one become a proselite to their sect : but he is possessed with a spirit of malice , and wrath , and turns enemy to all men that are not of their way . especially to those that appear against it ; to such they use menacing speeches as of a day that is coming wherein they shall be avenged , and talk frothily sometimes of levying forces , chuseing collonels and captains , &c. and though they speak much against going to law before infidels , ( so they insinuate all our ministers of justice to be ) yet upon the least affront given to themselves they will procure the indictment of those they have any colour of charge against instancies enough might be given . there is a credible report ( and when there is need all parties may be named ) of some that attempted to sacrifice their children , but were through providence prevented . mr. burton a well qualified gentleman , and a justice of the peace in the county of westmerland , who made naylers mittimus , a little after riding from appleby towards his own house , which is about a mile distant from the said town , about the mid-way in a place where the narrow lane he was to passe through , disparts it selfe into two , was way-laid with foure musketteers , two of whom lin'd the hedge on one side of the way , and two of them where the lane divides it selfe on the other side ; when the foresaid gentleman with his man onely in company was come over against them , one of those assassines discharged his musket at him , the bullet flying as he conceived betwixt himselfe and his man who rode a little before him ; he had not rid five paces further but a second discharges upon him , whose bullet also he heard sing by him , but received no hurt : being startl'd at this unexpected accident , and fearing there might be yet more of them , he quickened his horse with his spur and declined to the other side of the lane. at the turn of the way were two more muskets discharged upon him , where in all probability he could not have escaped the intended mischiefe , had not the lord mercifully frustrated the bloody intentions of those his unknown enemies : these men fled immediately , the darknesse of a long winter night which they had before them , it being then about the end of december , helping to conceale their persons . that these men that attempted this murther were of this sect is not certainly known , but it is strongly presumed and concluded that they were none other , by all the country for these reasons . 1. he was generally reproached and threatned by the quakers for sending nayler to prison , some of whom were not long before heard to say , they would pick his skin full of holes . 2. that very day before , there were many of that malicious sect in appleby , that came to visit nayler , who might take notice of his being there , and be invited to take that opportunity of executing their bloody purposes . 3. this gentleman is of such known honesty and ingenuity , that he is generally beloved in the country , and hath not , i dare say an enemy in the world one quarter so cruell as to thirst after his blood , except among that rabble . that multitudes of scurrilous libels , against ministers and private persons have been fastened to their doores , thrown into their houses , pinn'd on pulpit cushions on the lords daies , and on the church doores , without any name affixed by those pretenders to christianity , is a thing well known . for satisfaction of the reader , i shall give him a true coppy of one that was affixed one lords day , about the beginning of ianuary last , unto the church-door at lancaster , which dr. marshall openly read to the people there assembled , that they might perceive the strange temper of the spirits of those men by such their unsavoury eructations . a copy of a scurrilous paper affixed to the church doore at lancaster . this is the idols temple where the worship of the beast is upheld , down with it , down with it , revel . 15. 7. 8. revel . 1. 2. 5. god that made the world and all things therein , dwels not in this idolls temple that is made with hands , act. 7. 47 , 48 , 49. act. 17. 21. neither is he worshipped in this idolls temple with mens hands , act. 17. 24. god is a spirit ; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth ; for the father is seeking such to worship him , ioh. 14. 23 , 24. all the world wonders after the beast and worshippeth the beast , but those who have found their names written in the book of life , and they that worship the beast , and receive his mark in their forehead , as sprinckling infants and worshipping the works of their own hands , following the imaginations of their hearts , they must drink of the wine of the wrath of the almighty powred out without mixture . revel . 14. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. this idolls temple that is made with hands is a place for night-birds and screech-owles to meet , each one to the dishonour of the true god that dwelleth in temples made without hands , at new ierusalem where the temple of god is with men . revel . 21. 3. drunkards and swearers , revellers , and scoffers , and scorners , and proud and wanton ones , and hypocrites , and dissemblers , enviors , haters , back-biters , , persecutors , lustfull ones , and contentious persons , and earth-wormes , meets here ; the fearifull and unbelieving , peevish and perverse , and contentious ones , meets here in their idolls temple to satisfie their lusts : and saith the lord , this people draw neer me with their mouths , and honour me with their lips , but their hearts are far from me . but know yee not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of heaven , but must be cut down and cast into the fire , and have their portion in the lake that burneth ? be not deceived , god is not mocked . this is a deceiver that standeth up here to deceive the people every seventh day , proud and covetous , and speaketh a divination of his own brain , and not from the mouth of the lord , and so makes the people light and vain , but the lord is against him , hold him not up . all the children of the lord are , and shall be taught of the lord , jer. 31. 34 isa. 54. 13. 1 joh. 2. 27. of a long time it was a constant practise of some of the most impudent of them to enter in a scornfull manner with their hats on into the publike assemblies in some places , and to raile openly and exclaim aloud against the ministers with most reproachfull tearmes in time of the dispensation of gods ordinances , calling them byars , seducers , baals priests , deluders of the people , and bidding them come down from the high places . there is fulnesse of witnesses for this in kendall and lancashire and other places . and this not onely before , but since the justices at appleby ordred the binding of such disturbers to the peace ; but alas , what can bind them to peaceablenesse whose spirit is tumultuous ? or what can law do , when conscience is seared , and takes tumultuousnesse for a duty ? mr. coale who was employed to preach abroad in this county , where the most eminent necessity of this county lay , viz. where the country was destitute of a preacher , hath had much experience of them , and hath professed that long it was before he could have any peace or safety , but the lord stood by him . two , or three of the ablest of them have dogg'd him from place to place , and come severall times to his house with horrible railings and lately , not many weeks since , two or three at once in the open street fell upon him with such horrid expressions , as might shew to all the world the boyling of a most hellish rancour , and with such fury , that he was beholden to friends to rescue him from them . the next lords day three of these wanderers came into the congregation at kendall , and called to him to come down , belching forth such tearms of baals priests , &c. and hellish reproaches , as filled both the congregation and streets after with tumult . the violence offered by some of this people in an open auditory to one master crosby had proved little lesse then the losse of his life , as himself hath affirmed openly , if the lord had not been on his side . what was complotted against another minister , as he gathereth from a letter sent him by one of that confederacy , but a friend at that time , as god so ordered it . i cannot relate , but the said minister could not as he said conjecture lesse then some grosse abuse intended against him as he was discoursing with fox , had not one present prevented it ? others have been desired by some friends to keep out of their way , for they heard a mischief was intended them . what eye in these parts where this people live is not a witnesse of the tumults and uprores they make in markets ? what ear hath not heard heard of their open revilings , which they principally fasten on them in whom most of god and sound religion appears ? a man that professeth godlinesse , especially a minister , that endeavors to be faithfull to jesus christ in the discharge of the duties incumbent on him cannot passe by them without their scorns . against such they grin , and point at them with their fingers . these and such like practises of this licentious people have filled the hearts of gods people in these parts with exceeding fears to be driven after all their hopes to serve god in corners , and that they may die , tho in the faith of the promise of jerusalems peace , yet without receiving it : whilest the enemies of god roare in the midst of the congregations . so fast did their insolencies grow , and their numbers increase for a while , that had they not been a little curbed by the imprisonment of nayler , and sending forth a warrant for the apprehension of fox for his blasphemies , it is verily believed by many sober understanding men among us , there would have been in a short time no peace or almost safety for any real christian in westmerland and some adjacent parts . this was , as some of the justices expressed themselves at the sessions ianuary last , one main reason of naylers confinement , namely , that they were necessitated to it for the preservation of the publique peace , and prevention of civil dissentions , and such evils as might have ensued upon further connivance at these turbulene impostors . i shall conclude with the judgements of two known learned and judicious men , one of which is yet living , and able to plead for the truth and himself . master owen , in his discourse of toleration hath this passage . page 32. there are ( saith he ) a sort of persons termed in scripture disorderly , vagabond , wandring , irregular persons . 1. thes. 5. 14. acts 17. 5. 2 thess. 3. 2. 1. tim. 1. 9. fixed to no calling , abiding in no place , taking no care of their families , that under a pretence of teaching the truth , without mission , without call , without warrant , uncommanded , undesired , do goe up and down from place to place , creeping into houses , &c. now that such wayes as these , and persons in these wayes may judicially be inquired into , i no way doubt . the storie is famous of sesostris king of egypt , who made a law that all the subjects of his kingdome should once a yeare give an account of their way and manner of living , and if any was found to spend his time idly , he was certainly punished . and the lawes of most nations have provided that their people shall not be wanderers , and whosoever hath not a place of abode , and imployment , is by them a punishable vagabond . and in this by experience of the wayes , walking , and converse of such persons , i am exceedingly confirmed i did as yet never observe any other issue upon such undertakers , but scandal to religion , and trouble to men in their civil relations , when men by the practise of any vice or sin , draw others to a pretended religion , or by pretence of religion draw men to any vice or sinne , let them be twice punished , for their reall vices , and pretended religion . thus far master owen . master cotton of new england , touching the controversie of libertie of conscience in matters of religion , page 7. layeth down this position for truth . if a man hold forth ( saith he ) or professe any errour or false way with a boysterous and arrogant spirit , to the disturbance of civil peace , he may justly he punished according to the qualitie and measure of his disturbance caused by him ; and page 8. he saith , the scripture forbids not to drive ravenous wolves from the sheep-fold , and to restrain them from devouring the sheep of christ : and page 9. he saith , we acknowledge that none is to be punished for his conscience though misinformed , unlesse his errour be fundamental , and seditiously and turbulently promoted ; and further , we acknowledge none ought to be constrained to believe or professe the true religion , till he be convinced in judgement of the truth of it ; but yet restrained he may be from blaspheming the truth , and from seducing any into pernicious errors . the end. a brief reply to some part of a very scurrilous and lying pamphlet , called , sauls errand to damascus , shewing the vanitie of the praises there attributed to the sect of the quakers , and falsitie of their relations which are nought else but the breathings of a spirit of malice . psal. 35. 20. they speak not peace , but devise deceitfull matters against them that are quiet in the land. london , printed by t. r. for h. r. at the signe of the three pigeons in pauls church-yard . 1653. to the reader . there is an unlicensed pamphlet , called sauls errand to damascus , lately procured to be printed , wherein diverse ministers of westmerland , and lancashire are falsly aspersed , and maliciously belied and traduced . had it not been for the clearing of their innocency , and the discovery of the falsities contained in that book too apt in this credulous age to be believed ; ( as whatsoever is spoken against a minister ) there had not been one word written in answer to it . and for the rest of that book that concerns us not , i should be loath to betray my indiscretion so far as to attempt a full answer to such a heap of words , or to trouble any judicious reader with such fruitless contests . good readers , you have that book by you , or can think it worth your buying or perusal , let me intreat you to read it with some observation of the contents . and if you be men , whose inner man hath been indeed illuminated by the good spirit of the lord , and the knowledge of the truth , or whose reason hath been at all refined or polisht by learning or good education : you will easily perceive by what they have to say for themselves , that they are men , whose knowledge is science falsly so called , that these men are blind leaders ; that while they pretend to be full of the spirit , full of light and revelations , they are led a captive prey to the spirit of lies , that spirit that workes in the children of disobedience , that they walk in thick darkness , that they go they know not whither , and speak they know not what . something they would say to clear themselves of those blasphemies and cursed speeches they have been overheard to utter , and have bin deposed upon oath against them , both in westmerland and lancashire , if they could tell how . flatly deny them they cannot , they do not , & you wil even wonder to see how they bungle out an answer . you wil admire at their impertinencies , inconsistencies , irrational , insensate , misty expressions , as ambiguous sometimes as the devils oracles : and stand amazed to see their impudence , and how magistically they can revile & censure to the pit of hel , & how boldly they dare avouch an error , and offer a rape upon the holy text , wrest and misapply it , and father their heretical , absurd tenets & assertions on it , & that in print even to the face of the world . while they would defend themselves before you , they bewray themselves , and if you be intelligent readers , will stink in your nostrils . nor wil you need that any man should take the pains of any reply the book is big with folly & madnes . it is self-accused and carries its confutation with it . here is therfore notice taken chiefly of the calumnies charged upon some ministers in westmerland , as to matter of fact , ( lest they should triumph in our silence , and the world look upon their relations as truth ) to which you may expect an answer so true , that if need be , it may be attested on oath , by a multitude of witnesses . a brief reply to a very scurrilous and lying pamphlet , called sauls errand to damascus : shewing the vanitie of the praises there given to the sect of the quakers , and the falsitie of their relations , which are , &c. the first epistle in souls errand to damascus inscribed ( i suppose ) chiefly to that sort of the people , whose irreligion and horrid impieties have been in the forner part of this book sufficiently manifested ; intrudes to raise up your honour , and procure a precious esteem for them among those that are saints indeed : and therefore tels them [ that the lord jesus christ , and christ with all his train , and bids them glory in their habit , and perswades them they wear the signal favors of the king of kings ; by which the authour saith , he knowes to whom they belong , because they love the brethren . ] reply . reader we could wish that not one of that apostatized generation , but were such indeed ; that they all had that genuine and reall glory upon their souls , which this enemy would varnish them over with , to deceive those that know them not . but alas , how shall the most extended charity that knowes them , be perswaded , to entertain such a high opinion of them ? if to hate the truth as it is in jesus , to adulterate , oppose it , to worship the mentall idols of their own imaginations , if to cast off and deny all christs ordinances , if zealously to maligne , revile , reproach , taunt , speak all manner of evil falsely against all the ministers of his gospel without exception , and against the most honest godly spiritual christians that live near them ; if this be to love christ , then may this people be thought to love the lord jesus indeed : but if to live and delight in those impieties be not love , but reall hatred to jesus christ , then may this people ( if any in the christian world ) be justly reputed his professed enemies . we must confesse their love to those of their own society seems to be much , and sometimes discovers it self too unhandsomely , and uncivilly , to give a vantage for a spiritual and saintlike love . but be their affection eminent among themselves , it is too palpably turned into the gall of bitternesse against all , not of their principles ; so that the authour of the epistles to justifie his sayings , must be forced to condemne all the professors of christ , except his own epileptick society , as none of the saints , brethren or train of jesus christ. if any of those who dwell in the bosome of the son of god , and by the flamings of their own souls in love to christ and to his saints , do know the proper colours and operations of a divine affection , can say there is any spark of what the epistle pretends to , of love to christ and his train in this generation ; i must confesse our sight much lesse able to see it , then our soul is ready to desire the lord by his converting power would plant it in them . in the second and third epistles . he again represents them as peaceable , holy , humble , self denying men , precious christians , such as have for some time past forborn to concorporate in parochiall assemblies , wherein they professe themselves to have gained little of the knowledge of christ : such as demean themselves without giving any offence to those that for god , &c. and after calls their meetings christian and peaceable exercises . reply : the authour of those epistles ( it seems ) thinks to gain advantage upon the readers affections for this people , by telling him what a well qualified people they are , how pious , how peaceable , humble , selfdenying . how easie is it to call evil good and good evil ? we could wish from our souls they were all what is spoke of them , and it is our prayer to the lord for them , that they may yet become such , be cloathed with those christian graces , and filled with these gifts of the spirit , which are ornaments of great price before god. but true it is , the contrary is too manifest . their blasphemies and hellish errors , their superstitions , irreligion , selfconceitednesse , their uncharitablenesse , censoriousnesse , constant sabbath-breaking , living , according to the impulse of their own wils , their professed enmity to christs gospel , the preaching of the word , and violent endeavours to overturn all ordinances and wayes of worship , and invecctives against them , their incomparable reproachings of the servants of the living god , and turbulent behaviour more fully spoken to in the former narrative , do too openly declare them to the world to be quite opposite to what this man would represent them to be , viz. to be enemies to peace and piety , and full of the worst kind of pride and arrogancy , of that which is spiritual . if lancashire produce a fairer crop , and the pasture of theirs be different from ours , if they be there better fed and taught then with us ; we are glad they are not so ill in any place as ours . but we fear those of this society with them do fall under the same unanswerablenesse , to the praise of these epistles , as these in westmoreland do . we speak of whom we know , and do conclude that they are so unlike to prous and peaceable men , that as it would be a mercy to some congregations , if they might waite upon the god of their fathers in peace ; so we have reason to solicite the lord in our prayers , that he would still continue to spread the skirt of the magistrates protection and power over the churches : without which we must i a n to prepare for those times wherein the people shall perish for lack of vision , and the prophet shall say with elijah ; it is enough lord , let me d e. for their forbearance to concorporate with parochial congregations ; it is no commendation to them , that they refuse to be hearers in such assemblies where the word of god is purely preached . it is no sin to hear the word in a mixt congregation . christ himself preached most frequently to unconverted multitudes , nor had his disciples learned from him to forbear to concorporate with them , as far as came to the hearing of the word among them . he sent forth his apostles with commission to preach the gospel to all nations , to every creature , and therefore it was the dutie of every creature , the worst of sinners as well as the best of christians , where ever they came to hear them . it would rather have ben matter of sinne and shame , then praise for any companion of the apostle paul , when he preached on mars hill in athens , to have denied to hear him preach there , because his auditors were epicureans and stoicks , and all save pauls associats , idolaters . but this is made use of onely for advantage , by reason of that odium that he knowes lies upon parochial constitutions . the whole nation almost knowes that most of the congregations in lancashire are reduced to a narrower compasse then that of parochial . and we are assured , that iames nayler , one of their leaders , deserted a gathered congregation in yorkeshire , whereof he was , and had continued a good while a member . and however they deny any benefit received by the publique ministery , yet we believe what ever reliques of sound knowledge are in any of them , they owe them to it ; and for what imaginary knowledge , or unsound principles they have learned otherwise from their new teachers , cursed had our condition been if we had given these stones in stead of bread ; such poysonous deadly scorpions , in stead of fishes . we must confesse the major part were never savingly wrought upon by the gospel whereof we have the ministration . it was our great masters case . his combats in the time of his ministery on earth were but few . acts 1. 15. the apostles case sometimes , when they preached the glad tidings of salvation by iesus christ to crowds of people , some one or two onely believed their report , and rejoyced in it . and though it be our case , yet it is our complaint to the lord continually . and ( as some godly persons have out of their own experience , as far as they could discern , professed ) the greatest part , the generality of these of this way in westmerland , are of that number , viz. such as have had no saving work of god upon their spirits by the ministery of his word : but such as have been ignorant of , or erred from the truth , and whose religion consisted in the praise of opinion , and floatings of their own fancies , and who have been carried with great zeal and heat of spirit , through all forms of religion , ( as some call them . ) in so much that scarce a knowing christian among us , but could have easily pointed at those , whom thesefoxes were like to deceive before they came , and whose spirits would be ready to strike in with any principle might subvert the truth of the gospel . in the mean time the seals of the ministery of those that have been faithfull to christ in their stewardship , such christians as have lookt in themselves stand still , and are rooted faster then to be removed to another gospel by the blasts of such delusions as have their descent written in their foreheads . in the title page , he compares the peaceable petitioning of some ministers in lancashire to the councel of state , to sauls errand of damascus , and a little after saith their petition breaths out threatnings and slaughters against a peaceable and godly people , by him nicknamed quakers . in the second and third epistles also , the author hath divers insinuations of charges against some gentlemen and ministers in lancashire , as that they make none but the lords disciples the object of their indignation . that they never did proclaim war against drunkards , swearers , common blasphemers , enemies to the lord and his people . that their high-flown contending spirits are gone beyond slender wrestlings , and they scorn to encounter with any below the degree of a saint . other wickednesses he point blanck layes to your charge , as that those sons of levi , as he saith they call themselves , pretend a jus divinum to persecution . that they troubled the councel of state with abominable misrepresentations of honest , pious peaceable men . that the quakers have been more faithful to the interest of the godly people in this nation , then any of the contrivers of the petition , that they exalt themselves above all that are called gods people in these parts . reply . i wonder much at the spirits of these men , and what eyes they see withall . they would make the world beleive , they can espy the spirit of saul , while he was unconverted , in the breasts of others , comminations and persecution , blood and slaughter , where they can see nothing but christian modesty , and the words of truth and sobriety . surely blood and slaughter are the objects of their meditation by day , and their dreams in the night are dreams of cruelty . otherwise the humble , innocent , sober petitions of christians jealous for the glory of god , and the welfare of his church , and studious to prevent the enemy from making such havock of souls , as he hath done of late in some parts , would not so presently put them in mind of them . and where he saith in this your petition , they troubled the councell of state with abominable misrepresentations ▪ &c. it is it self an abominable untruth ; and i do verily beleive that epistoler conscience tels him so . there was indeed such a petition prepared and intended to be presented to the councel of state , but as i am certainly informed it never was presented to them . nor did that petition contain the least tittle of any misrepresentation , but a brief and true relation of some of your abominations , which are too famously and evidently known to the whole countrie to be denied . o the impudency of that lying spirit that hath entred into this generation of men . to all the other false and railing accusations of this man brought against ( i do verily believe for some of them ) the faithfull ministers and servants of jesus christ , i shall onely answer as michael to the devil , the lord rebuke thee . i could have rather desired that some of these ministers in lancashire would have answered this calumniator , and made him ashamed of his falsities . some of them are known to us , and we are confident are as clear from all those charges as the new born child , and such as according to that precept , isay 51. 7. fear not the reproach of man , nor are affraid of their revilings . if the author of theseepistles prefixt to sauls errand , &c. lives in lancashire , as it is supposed he doth ; he cannot but know that there is more real worth , truth of godlinesse , christian simplicity and white innocency in some of them then in 160. such foxes as now spoil the vineyards he might have considered whose work it is to accuse the brethren , and who hath from thence deserved the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . me thinks he manifests himself to be of that generation , prov. 30 14. whose teeth are swords , and whose jaw teeth are knives to devour the poor from off the earth , and the needy from among men . while his words are smoother then butter , and softer then oyle to those of his way , war is in his heart against others , and his words are drawn swords , and the breathings of a spirit possest with malice . the apostle describing the men that shall make the last times perillous , saith among other characters of them , they shall be false accusers , fierce dispisers of those that are good . i do not wish my greatest enemy so much hurt as that he should be one of them . but those in authoritie know they might not give ear to the calumnies of every anonymus , psal. 101. 5 7. who so privily slandereth his neighbour ( saith david ) him will i cut off . he that worketh deceit , shall not dwell in my house . he that telleth lies , shall not tarry in my sight : and that it was sauls sin and shame to hearken to the calumnies of doeg , against those that ministred at the altar to the lord. and we all know it is no new thing for the ministers of christ to be the object of the worlds indignation , and accused of all manner of evil . our saviour christ himself , his apostles , and the best of the christians in the primitive times , did not escape the scourge of the tongue , the worst of slanders . well therefore may the false aspersions of this man be born as an easie burthen . but thou o lord , deliver my soul from lying lips , and from a deceitfull tongue . psal. 120. 2. let thy mercies also come unto me , o lord , even thy salvation according to thy word . so shall i have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me , for my trust is in thy word . psal. 119. 41. 42. the next part of this pamphlet which i shall give some answer to , consists of a false and scandalous relation , wherein nayler , or some friend of his for him foolishly complains of persecution , and maliciously abuses and belies divers ministers in westmerland as his persecutors , who i am confident never used any unchristian language to him , and were never guiltie of the least incivilitie in action towards him , notwithstanding his outcry of persecution by them . now because i intend to say something by way of reply to this relation , as also to their fals narrative of the proceedings of the justices at appleby , against iames nayler , jan. 8. 1652. i think it will not be amisse , first to expose the quakers own relations verbatim , to the view of my reader , as they are contained in sauls errand to damascus . divers particulars of the persecutions of iames nayler , by the priests of westmerland . james being at a meeting at edward briggs house on the first day , where many people met , he was desired by divers friends to meet the day following at widow cocks house , about a mile from kendal ; whereof the priests having notice , raised the town of kendal against him ; but being long in gathering together , the meeting was done ; but spies being out upon the steeple top , and other places , notice was given what way iames passed from thence : and coming down towards kindal , two priests being accompanied with a justice of peace , and some other magistrates of the town , with an exceeding great multitude of people following them , met him saying , nayler , i have a message from the lord iesus christ to thee , but that there is not a convenient place . to which james answered , the lord iesus christ is no respecter of places . the message that he had to declare was this : i conjure thee that thou tell me by what power thou inflictest such punishment upon the bodies of creatures . james answered , dost thou remember who it was that did adjure christ to tell if he were the son of god , and asked by what authoritie he did those things ? for james saw him to be one of that generation . but the priest still conjuring him to tell by what power he did it ; james answered , dost thou acknowledge it to be done by a power ? yea ( saith he ) i have the spirit of god , and thereby i know it is done by a power . james said , if thou have the spirit of god , as thou sayest thou hast , then thou canst tell by what power it is done . the priest said , when god comes , he comes to torment the souls and not the bodies . james said , he comes to redeem the souls . but after much jangling , the priest began to accuse him before the justice and magistrates of many things ; as , that he taught people to burn their bibles , children to disobey their parents , wives their husbands , people to disobey the magistrates , & such like accusations : to which james answered , thou art a false accuser : prove one of these things if thou canst , here , before the magistrates . but not being able to prove any one , he began to accuse iames for holding out a light that doth convince of sin , which , saith the priest , all have not . to which iames said , put out one in all this great multitude , that dare say he hath it not . saith the priest , these are all christians ; but if a turk or indian were here , he would deny it . james said , thou goest far for a proof : but if a turk were here , he would witnesse against thee . the people beginning to fight , the priest turned away , saying . here will be a disturbance . said james , these are thy christians , and this is the fruiuts of thy ministery . but the justice with some others , did endeavour to keep the rude people off him , so that they could not come to their purpose there : but he being to passe over the bridge , and through the town , they that were of the priests party ran before , swearing they would throw him off the bridge into the water ; but coming thither , and seeing their purpose , he was encouraged in his god , who gave him assurance of protection , and did wonderfully keep him , and those that were with him : for when he came unto the bridge , the word of the lord came unto him , and he was made to cry out against their rage , and the power of the lord was with him , so that he received no harm , though he was made to speak all along ▪ and in the market-place , and till he came out of the town . but the raging priests continued shouting , crying and throwing stones at him , a quarter of a mile out of the town : but such was the power of the lord , that neither he , nor any with him received any harm . the work was wonderfull , and we were brought much to admire it and praise the lord , who is blessed for ever and ever . another time iames being desired of many christian friends to be at a meeting at ortor , there to wait upon the lord for what he would make known to his people , did accordingly ; and many friends and brethren accompanied him ; but the priests having intelligence some dayes before , five of them were gathered together , and many people from all quarters . a friend in the town desired iames to come to his house ; and being come into his house , a message was sent from the priests , desiring him to come into the field , under pretence of a more convenient place for the great multitude . to which iames answered , it is my desire that all may be edified : and coming into the field , the priests came with a great multitude , and asked him by what authority he came thither , and had gathered so many people together to break the peace ; and tempting him , said , wilt thou be bound that none here shall break the peace ? to which iames answered , we come not hither to create offences , but if any break the law , let him suffer by the law : for he perceived they intended violence , as it appeared afterward . but seeing they could not prevail in that , another of them desired him to go into the church , as he called it , tempting him , saying , the people may all sit and hear better : but james perceiving their deceit said , all places were alike to him , he would abide in the field . whereupon they pulled out an ordinance of parliament , forbidding any to speak , but such as were authorized to speak either in church or chappel , or any publike place ; and bad him speak at his perill , as he would answer the contempt of it . to which he answered , saying . this is not a publike place . no ? said one of the priests , is not this a publick place , the town-field ? and charged the constable of the town to do his office ; and examined his authority : james answered , those that are sent to declare the things of god , have not their authoritie from men . but they bad him prove that . he said , paul received not his commission from man , nor by man. to which one of them answered , that was his gospel ; but they would prove that paul had a call from man to preach ; and for that end he named that place in acts 13. 2. where the holy ghost said , separate me barnabas and saul : and the apostles laid their hands upon them ; which said one of them , was the laying on of hands of the presbytery ; but when he had found that place , iames asked him if that was pauls cal● to the ministery ( three times ) but he answered nothing . then said james , if that was his call , he had preached long without a call before that ; and instanced to prove it gal. 1. whereupon that businesse ended ; but another priest stood up and said , thou oughtest to give an account of thy faith to every one that asketh ; whereupon , he asked divers questions ; whereunto james answered , insomuch that some who stood by cried out , answer not all , but ask him some . a while after , james asked him how he would prove himself a minister of the gospel , and live upon tythes ? to which he would not answer . then said iames , neither will i answer thee , if thou aske me twenty more . the next question he asked , was , whether christ was ascended , or no : but iames said , i will not answer thee . whereupon he cried out to the people , and said , he denies the humanity of christ , and made a great out-cry among the people of it : but he people cried out saying . let us hear him ; you have often told us many things against him : let him speake , and then if he speak not the truth , you may then reprove him . iames hearing the desire of the people began to speak , and the people gave audience and were very silent . but beginning to hold out christ alone to be the teacher of his people in spirit and truth , one of the priests cried out , i cannot endure to hear this seducer any longer . vpon which , iames said , prove me a seducer before all this people , or else thou art a false accuser . but he had not one word to say against any thing that he had spoken ; but said , if thou wilt not answer me that question i asked thee , i will call thee a seducer as long as i live . whereupon , seeing there could be no peace there , nor libertie to speak , they desired iames to go into the house ; and they kept close about him , to keep him from the violence of some that came along with the priest : but they raged so , that he and some other friend received stripes , and with much ado got into the house : but the r●ging s●a mires waited about the dore to do mischief , and kept shouting about the house 〈◊〉 the while he was speaking : but the house being filled with people they could not come to their purpose ; and he lord so ordered it in the evening , we came away without any more harm : but not long after , there came some of the priests party about the house , and asked if nayler was gone : and when they heard he was gone , they said , he may thanke god of that . thus by the wisdome of god he escaped their violence at that time but the priests missing of their purpose there the next first day after , they prepared their sermons sutable to what they intended , possessing the people that he was a blasphemer , and denyed he resurrection and the humanity of christ and all authoritie ; and that the parliament had opened a gap for blasphemy , and as it was said by some of their hearers , they did god good service that would knock him down thus having stirred up the ruder sort , the next day they prevailed with 〈◊〉 called a justice of peace : the priests son got him to come twelve miles from his own house , he was one that had been in actual arms against the parliament , for the bringing in of the scots : and having armed a a great multitude against the next morning , they came very early to the house where he was , where many christian friends should have met that day , and asked for nayler , threatning to knock out his brains against the stones in the wall , and that they would pull down the house , if he would not come out , though the dorewas never shut against them . but some of them come into the house , and commanded him to come forth , under pretence to dispute with the priest. but james seeing what they intended , answered , you did not use me socivilly the last time i was amongst you , but if any have a mind they may come in , the doores are open . which answer they told the priests whereupon they rushed violently in , and took him by the throat , haled him out of the dore into a field , where was a man whom they called a justice and with a pitchfork struck off his hat , & commanded him to answer to such questions as the priests would ask him . whereupon , the priest began to ask many questions : as concerning the resurrection , the humanitie of christ , the scriptures , and divers other questions , as the sacrament and such like : to which he answered , and proved scripture . but at last , being asked if christ was in him , he said , he witnessed him in measure . the priest asked , if christ was in him as man. james said , christ is not divided . but he urged him to tell whether christ as man was in him or no. he answered , christ is not divided ; for if he be , he is no more christ : but i witnesse that christ in me who is god and man in measure . but the priest said , christ is in heaven with a carnal body . to which said james , christ filleth heaven and earth , and is not carnal but spiritual : for if christ be in heaven with a carnal body , and the saints with a spiritual body , that is not proportionable : neither was that a carnal body which came in among the disciples , the doors being shut : for christ is a mystery , and thou knowest him not . then after much jangling and tempting , the priest not having got the advantage he waited for , he cried out unto the people not to receive him into their houses : and alledged that in the second epistle of 〈◊〉 , verse 10. now how suitable that place was for his purpose , all people may see who have eyes , for there they are forbidden to receive any into their houses but such who abide in the doctrine of christ and confess themselves that they had both the father and the son , and preach that doctrine : but the priests say that is blasphemy . then the priest turned away from him : upon which , the armed multitude began to be violent against divers friends that were there . james hearing friends cry out , said to the justice , you will surely set us peaceably into the house again : but seeing him to go away , and leave them in the hands of the rude multitude , he gave himself up saying , the will of the lord be done . upon which the justice turned again , saying , we will see him in the house again : and going towards the house , many friends kept close about james , exposing their own bodies to the danger of their weapons , to save him harmlesse : and so with much ado we got into the house , not receiving much harm . which being done , and as james was praising the lord for his wondrous deliverance from their malicious intents , some heard them say , if we let him go thus , all people will run after him . whereupon they agreed that he should be brought before the justice again ; and came with violence and haled him out again . then the justice and the priest getting a horsback , they caused him to run after them to an alehouse on the other side the water , where they went in , not suffering one friend to go in with iames. and when he came before the justice , he told him , if he would not put off his hat , he would send him to prison , and also because he thoued him for the justice said , my commission runs , ye . to which iames answered , i do it not in contempt , for i own authoritie , and honour it according to the scriptures : but i find none such honour commanded in scripture , but forbidden . then they concluded to commit him for that , and also as a wandring person , and said none knew there from whence he came , for those who knew him were kept out . then said he to arthur scaife , thou knowest me ; i was in the army with thee eight or nine yeares . it is no matter , said the justice , thou art no souldier now . then they writ a mittimus to send him to prison , and carried him to kirkby-steven that night & shut him up in a chamber and set a guard upon him ; but divers of our friends following into the town , where a great multitude was gathered together for meeting , then did the people come from the steeple-house where another had been preaching : for divers of the priests were gathered together that day ; some preaching , some plotting , and some persecuting : 〈◊〉 ▪ fast was a preparation for naboths death . but friends not being suffered to go into the house where iames was , they abode in the streets : and some of them being moved to speak to the people , the priests perceiving the people to give audience to what was spoken , made complaint . whereupon some were sent forth and with violence fetched in one francis h●●gill , a friend , who was speaking to the people , and brought him into the high-priests hall , where were five priests assembled , with many other of their partie , but not one friend . and bringing him before the justice , he was commanded to put off his hat . he answered , i know no such law . the priest said , he will tread both ministery and magistracy under his feet . he said , thou art a false accuser : prove wherein . but one that stood by , took off his hat , and cast it into the fire . then said the justice , what is this thou speakest against the ministers ? he answered , what hast thou to accuse me of ? whereupon one affirmed that he said , all the ministers that taught for hire , and in steeple-houses , were enemies and liars against iesus christ , and no ministers of iesus christ. vpon that the justice said , thou speakest against the law ; for the law gives them their maintenance . he said , i meddle not of the law but of their practice . then said francis to the priest , didst thou ever know a minister of jesus christ that was a persecutor , or did labour to imprison any ? and after some more discourse , he said to the priest , i have seen a great deal of tyranny and persecution in this dayes actions . then said the justice to the people . take notice , he saith the law i act by is tyrannie and persecution . to which the people assented . then said francis , thou maist give out to the people what thou wilt ; but i speak not of the law but of your actions . upon that he was sent to prison , a guard of 8 men was set over them , who spent the night in drinking , swearing , and filthy and unclean talking ; and the more they were desired by the people to take heed of sin , the more filthy they did appear : but these are the fittest instruments for acting the priests intentions , being members of the churches . the next day they were guarded to appleby : but some friends following could not be suffered to passe on the streets that way , so great was their envie against all that set their face that way . and the prisoners being brought thither much means was used that none should come at them but such as were sent to tempt them . there they were kept until the sessions ; in which time they sent up and down the country to seek for any that would witness any thing against them , and improved their utmost interest for their advantage . a jury was chosen ; divers of them were resolved on the business , so that it was told the prisoners what would become of them before the day of examination came ; and it was accordingly : for the day came , and judgement passed ; but the prisoners never saw their accusers , nor know who they are ; but against that day , the priests had prepared 3 large petitions stuft with most filthy untruths and slanders , raised out of the bottomless pit ; but not one of them proved though one of the justices said to them , it is fit they should be proved : neither was there any thing in them which they could charge upon the prisoners , save onely the power of the lord had manifested at their meetings in shaking proud flesh , and pouring out his spirit among many , especially , as they said upon little children : which the priests concluded was sorcery and witchery , and of the devil : hereby declaring themselves to be of that generation , who called the good man of the house beelzebub ; and if they should not doe the same to them of his houshold , the words of christ could not be fulfilled . likewise they had gathered up all reports , true or fals , of things done by many that the prisoners had not seen the faces of , nor ever knew ; thinking thereby to make them odious to the people . they also brought two priests out of lancashire , to swear things that another man had spoken in the presence of foure justices of the peace , and for which the man had been tried and cleared : and these they brought , thinking to ad afflictions to the prisoners bonds . but he is kept in great peace and joy , having not any comfort from man , but from god , who hath appeared to him in this condition , and hath given him assurance of his love , in whom he rests . to whom be praise , honour and glory , for ever . amen . the examination of iames nayler , upon an indictment of blasphemy , at the sessions at appleby , in ianuary , 1652. justice pearson . put off your hats . iames. i do it not in contempt of authority : for i honour the power as it is of god ; without respecting mens persons , it being forbidden in scripture . he that respects persons , commits sin , and is convinced of the laws a transgressor . just. pear . that is meant of respecting persons in judgement . iam. if i see one in goodly apparel and a gold ring , and see one in poor and vile rayment , and say to him in fine apparel , sit thou in a higher place than the poor , i am partial , and judge of evil thoughts . col. brigs . if thou wert in the parliament-house ; wouldst thou keep it on ? iam. if god should keep me in the same mind i am in now , i should . col. brigs . i knew thou wouldst contemn authority . iam. i speak in the presence of god , i do not contemn authoritie , but i am subject to the power as it is of god , for conscience sake . just. pears . now authoritie commands thee to put off thy hat ; what sayest thou to it ? iam. where god commands one thing , and man another , i am to obey god rather then man. col. benson . see whether the law commands it , or your own wills ? the inditement was read , wherein iames was indited for saying that christ was in him , and that there was but one word of god. col. brigs . where wast thou born ? iam. at ardislaw two miles from wakefeild . col. brigs . how long livedst thou there ? iam. until i was married : then i went into wakefeild parish . col. brigs . what profession wast thou of ? iam. a husbandman . col. brigs . wast thou a souldier ? iam. yea , i was a souldier betwixt 8 and 9 years . col. brigs . wast thou not at burford among the levellers ? iam. i was never there . col. brigs . i charge thee by the lord , that thou tell me whether thou wast or no ? jam. i was then in the north , and was never taxed for any mutiny , or any other thing , while i served the parliament . col. brigs . what was the cause of thy coming into these parts ? jam. if i may have libertie , i shall declare it . i was at the plow , meditating on the things of god , and suddenly i heard a voyce , saying unto me , get thee out from thy kindred , and from thy fathers house : and i had a promise given in with it . whereupon i did exceedingly rejoyce , that i had heard the voyce of that god which i had professed from a child , but had never known him . col. brigs . didst thou hear that voyce ? jam. yea , i did hear it ; and when i came at home , i gave up my estate , cast out my mony ; but not being obedient in going forth , the wrath of god was upon me , so that i was made a wonder to all ; and none thought i would have lived : but ( after i was made willing ) i began to make some preparation ; as apparel , and other necessaries , not knowing whither i should goe . but shortly afterward going agate-ward with a friend from my owne house , having on an old suit , without any mony , having neither taken leave of wife or children , nor thinking then of any journey , i was commanded to go into the west , not knowing whither i should go ; nor what i was to do there : but when i had been there a little while , i had given me what i was to declare ; and ever since i have remained , not knowing to day what i was to do to morrow . col. brigs . what was the promise thou hadst given ? jam. that god would be with me : which promise i find made good every day . col. brigs . i never heard such a call as this is , in our time . jam. i believe thee . just. pears . is christ in thee ? jam. i witness him in me : and if i should deny him before men , he would deny me before my father which is in heaven . just. pears . spiritual , you mean ? jam. yea , spiritual . just. pears . by faith , or how ? jam. by faith. just. pears . what difference then between the ministers and you ? jam. the ministers affirm christ to be in heaven with a carnal body , but i with a spiritual body . just. pears . which of the ministers say christ is in heaven with a carnal body ? jam. the minister so called of kirkby-steven . p. higginson stood up , and affirmd it again openly before al the court. jam. if christ be in heaven with a carnal body , and the saints with a spiritual body , it is not proportionable ; neither was that a carnal body which appeared among the disciples , the doors being shut , and appeared in divers shapes . quest. was christ man or no ? jam. yea , he was , and took upon him the seed of abraham , and was reall flesh and bone , but is a mystery not known to the carnal man ; for he is begotten of the immortal ●eed , and those that know him , know him to be spiritual ; for it was the word that became flesh , and dwelt amongst us ; and if he had not been spiritual , he had not wrought my redemption . just. pears . is christ in thee as man ? jam. christ filleth all places , and is not divided : separate god and man , and he is no more christ. just. pears . if we stand to dispute these things , we should have the ministers . iames perceiving priest higginson offended , because he had told of h●s saying that christ was in heaven with a carnal b●dy . iames said , friend , i had not accused thee , had i not been asked what was the difference between the ministers and me ; for i am not come to accuse any ; for i am against accusations . col. brigs . wast thou not at a kirk about sawrby ? jam. i was a member of an independant church at weed-church . col. brigs . wast thou not excommunicated for thy blasphemous opinions ? jam. i know not what they have done since i came forth ; but before i was not , to my knowledge . col. brigs . called of master goale , saying , did you ever heare such a call as this ? did you hear it ? coale . yea , i heard part of it . col. brigs . didst thou not write a paper wherein was mentioned , that if thou thinkest to be saved by that christ which died at jerusalem , thou art deceived ? jam. if i cannot witness christ nearer then jerusalem , i shall have no benefit by him ; but i own no other christ but that who witnessed a good confession before pontius pilate ; which christ i witness suffering in me now . col. brigs . wilt thou deny thy hand ? jam. i will not deny my hand , if i may see it ; and i desire that i may have so much favour , that that paper may be kept as an evidence either with or against me . a large petition being read , wherein was something against quaking and trembling . just. pears . how comes it to pass that people quake and tremble ? jam. the scriptures witness the same condition in the saints formerly ; as dauid , daniel , habakkuk . and divers others . just. pears . did they fall down ? jam. yea , some of them did so . coale . david said all his bones were broken , but they were whole . iam. so are these now . coale . moses trembled : for he saw the face of god , and all israel . iam. did all israel see the face of god ? that crosseth the scriptures . coale . they saw his glory . i shall see the lord with these eyes ; putting his fingers to his eyes . iam. they must first be made spiritual : he cannot be seen with carnall eyes , for he is a spirit ; and no flesh can see god , and live . coale . that light by which i am justified is a created light . iam. that light by which i am justified , is not a created light . coale . that is true . just. pears . to the word : what sayest thou to the scriptures ? are they the word of god ? iam. they are a true declaration of the word that was in them who spoke them forth . higginson . is there not a written word ? iam. where readest thou in thy scriptures of a written word ? the word is spiritual , not seen with carnal eyes : but as for the scriptures , they are true , and i witness them true , in measure fulfilled in me , as far as i am grown up . just. pears . why dost thou disturb the ministers in their publicke worships ? iam. i have not disturbed them in their publick worships . just. pears . why doest thou speake against tythes , which are allowed by the states ? iam. i meddle not with the states ; i speak against them that are hirelings , as they are hirelings : those that were sent of christ , never took tythes , nor ever sued for any wages . just. pears . dosh thou think we are so beggerly as the heathens , that we cannot afford our ministers maintenance ? we give them it freely . jam. they are the ministers of christ , who abide in the doctrine of christ. just. pears . but who shall judge ? how shall we know them ? jam. by their fruits , you shall know them ; they that abide not in the doctrine of christ , make it appear they are not the ministers of christ. just. pears . that is true . a reply to the title of that lying relation , called [ diverse particulars of the persecutions of iames nailer ] by the preists of westmerland . thus is the second part of this pamphlet ushered in with such an inscription , as ( if iames nayler had been a real martyr of jesus christ , and not an open enemy to him and his gospel ) might well have served for the title page of his martyrdome . you see reader their language , and how bloodily they charge us in the very entry of their relation . the term priest which they give us here and all over by way of contempt , may discover to the world what is the rancour of their souls against us . however it be grown the common reproach against us in the mouths of those that know not god , yet we hope the lord will teach them better language in his season . i am credibly informed that a little while ago , one of them railing with that and other language , against a minister , went from him home and died presently . what ever scorn they intend to heape upon us by that word , we do not own it , nor ever did as a title proper to the office of the ministers of the new testament , or to their persons , further then as they are christs disciples , who hath made all whom he hath loved and washed from their sinnes with his blood , kings and priests to god his father , rev. 1. 5. 6. and in this sense , if themselves do but once become priests , they will become companions of devils for ever . and for persecution , the lord forbid that we should be persecutors , as they render us to the world to be , while our selves are designed as the objects of it by some , if their power answered their wills : and do already suffer the persecution of the tongue in as high a degree as ever did ministers of christ in any age. the lord forbid that we should lift up our hand or open our mouth against the least of saints . we know what reward our saviour hath promised to him that shall give to drink unto one of his little ones a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple , matth. 10. ult . and on the other hand what severity of judgement he hath threatned to those that do offend them , matth. 18. 6. we do not therefore pretend a jus divinum to persecution , as one ( i heartily believe ) most falsly and maliciously accuses the ministers of lancashire to do : but do from our souls rather wish to be sufferers of it our selves , then defiled with the least tincture of the guilt of that red sin of persecuting others . if to be stedfast in the profession of the truth , to warn and charge those that are committed to our charge , who we hope shall be our crown and joy in the day of the lord , to take heed of seducers : if to labour to keep them from being robd of the salvation of their souls , if to satisfie the desire of some of our people whom we heard continually wishing that we would have some conference with these men , if to contend for the faith against those men that are the open enemies of it , and to petition for their liberties when they are consined ; if this be persecution , then we must confess our selves persecutors , and deserving blame for it : but if these actings do not savour of a spirit of persecution , we can then challenge the whole world to prove us guiltie . and for naylers sufferings , which the unfaithful relator calls persecutions , he knows , or might as well as we , that , that little restraint onely which he suffered as an evil doer , was by the order of the justices ; and we know that we did not so much as desire his sufferings in the least , and that we sought and desired nothing , but the preservation of religion and peace among us , and that those authours and fomentours of the disturbances of this poore countie , might return to their habitations and callings , and there according to the apostles rule study to be quiet , and do their own businesse . and must we upon this account stand charged with persecution ? but the lord the righteous judge , though we should alrogether hold our peace , will one day plead for us against those that have hated us without a cause , and are our enemies , because they see us friends to truth and peace . the lord lay not this sin to their charge . a reply to that part of the relation which concerns master coales discourse with nailer near kendall . the relator in sauls errand to damascus , saith , that iames nayler , meeting at a house near kendall , the priests in the town having notice , raised the town of kendall against him , but being long in gathering , the meeting was done . but spies being set on the steeple and other places , notice was given , which way iames past from thence : and coming downe towards kendall , two priests with a justice , &c : and an exceeding great multitude of people following them , met him , &c. 't is true mr. coale met nailer at the time mentioned near kendall , and there was no other minister with him then : master turner the schoolmaster came to them about a quarter of an houre after . but that they raised the town is a notorious falshood . that they set spies on the steeple , is false again . that they set spies in other places , is another nntruth . that any gave notice which way nayler went , is another . that they met him with a great multitude is a sixt lie in the narrative already . how easily is that cause discovered , that hath a lie in its right hand , and falshood for its foundation . mr. coale was earnestly pressed by some that feared the lord in kendall , and whose spirits were troubled to see the disorders of these men to take the oportunity to go up to widdow cocks to speak with nayler being a ring-leader of that way , which at last he was , though unwillingly , perswaded unto . all that accompanied him , was but mr. a. and 6 more , nor was any more near , till meeting with divers of that party coming towards them , they were informed the meeting was done . yet lighting so patly on nailer himself ( for he was with the multitude that came from the meeting ) he thought it necessary ( though not very convenient there ) to have a little discourse with him . upon occasion of which stay so near the town , the people , as is usual in cases of novelty , in an houres time or less were flockt about him in great multitudes : but a great part of them was naylers company , that came before him and with him , and followed him from their meeting . we should admire to find such gross lies against men , did we not see their lies against the lord more shameless and more impudent . and we wish nayler , or whosoever else relates such things , to tremble before the presence of the lord , that will shut out every lyer from his kingdome , and to false things will give sharp arrows of the mighty , with coals of juniper . but no marvel such lyes may steal forth in press , where they may hope to meet with so much credulity from some as may make them currant , when thomas willen , that lives in town , one of that fect , had the impudence to tell mr. archer , that the bell was rung to give notice of naylers coming . if necessity require , these slanders may be proved to be such by hundreds of evidences . the particulars of that conference m. cole had with him were these : mr. coale told him , the lord had put it upon his spirit , and he had a message from the lord to deliver to him . his best answer was this . hast thou received a message from the lord to speak to me , and i not know it ? mr. coale was somewhat astonished with such a blasphemous expression , and told him how like he spake to zedekiah , the son of chenannah . 2 cron. 15 that said to micaiah , which way went the spirit of the lord from me , to speak to thee ? but this he wholly passeth over . mr. coale then demanded of him , by what power he did exercise such tyranny over the bodies of such poore creatures , viz. in their quaking fits . to which he answered much to the same purpose his relation hath it . mr. coale still pressed him with it . nayler said , dost thou acknowledge it to be done by a power ? to which mr. coale answered not one word , which he forgeth as answered to that ; but said , yes , i do well know whose coming is after the power of satan , with all signyes and lying wonders , &c. this was all the account he could get of nayler , concerning these horrible pangs the bodies of men , women and children are taken with at the time of their speaking . mr. coale told him , it was not by the power of christ , or his saving work in conviction of sin and horror because of it ▪ lying in and upon the soul and conscience , and not the body . this the relator falsly perverts , and 〈◊〉 the priest said : when christ comes , he comes to torment souls , and not bodies , which with his answer to it are both 〈◊〉 mr. coale proceeded , becavse he could give no account of it himself , to give 〈◊〉 an account thereof , and to prove it to him ; not to be from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 work of god , but from the spirit of darkness and delusion : which he mentions not at all . amongst other things proposed to convince him , of this , this was one , that the constant operation of this quaking in all , was immediately to fill their souls with a crowd of all damnable and destructive doctrines , and an absolute turning away from christ in all his wayes , and truths , and ordinances . amongst others he instanced in what he specifies in his relation , to which nayler answered , as is there expressed ; and asked him further , if ever he heard him aver any of those things . m coale told him he never saw his face before , and so could not hear them from himself , but he knew them to be the principles of his follower . he said , what was that to him . and whereas the relator saith , mr. coale was not able to prove any one particular , is known to the contrary . for so the lord ordered it , that to put to silence the foolishness of evil men , among naylers followers present , was one strickland , with whom , and one thomson , mr. coale had had private discourse before , who plainly denied to him the use of teaching , of bibles , the duty of children to their parents , and of any man to a magistrate , and that in the presence of many more besides himself . when nayler called for proof , mr. coale took strickland by the hand , and presented him to nayler as one of his followers , and one that held those principles , and had told him he received those doctrines from nayler . nayler again said , what was that to him ; but could not be got either to a confession , or denial of those wicked principles . mr. coale proceeded further to charge him with what he knew to be a principle with them all , and which nayler had so publickly professed that he thought he durst not deny it , and that was this . nayler had affirmed , that every man in the world had a light within him sufficient to guide him to salvation . this mr. coale disputed with him till he rnn him to this absurdity , that if an indian were there , that had never heard or read of christ , that he knew iesus christ as well as any of us . at which the people making some noyse , and mr. coale being partly satisfied , as having witnessed to the doctrine of truth in these particulars against those men ; and the croud increasing , their conference ended . now the relator to adde yet sin to sin , saith he charged him for holding out a light to convince of sin which all have not . ala●● poor hearts , if they could perswade the world that a man of such known learning and abilities as mr. coale is , had no knowledge ; and though it be true that the gentiles have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . rom. 2. 25. what will this advantage their cause ? think they he was ignorant , that all nations and kindreds have some sparkeling of light and knowledg , some twilight streamings of understanding , the candle of the lord within them ? but what is this to a light sufficient to save them ? can the owning of those implanted natural principles bring us to know jesus christ and his gospel , which is a doctrine of pure revelation , and which the world could never have known by all its wisedome , had not god by his son , and by his servants the prophets and apostles revealed it from heaven unto us ? and whereas they would perswade the world , that what rude behaviour was after , was by the priests party , scornfully so called : had the relator any spark of ingenuity left in him , he knows mr. coals unwillingness to discours in that place , as fearing some tumult : and that those that came with mr. coale to speak with nayler , did guard him with safety through the town ▪ and where they say the raging priests continued shouting , crying , and throwing stones at him a quarter of a mile out of the town , their souls may blush for shame to print such a palpable execrable falshood . those whom they so nickname , have , i am confident , more compassion in them for such beguiled souls , then passion , and were so far from being ingaged in such a barbarous and unchristian act , that their souls would loath the very thoughts of it . mr. coale saw not nayler at that time after he was departed from the place where he discoursed with him , but stayed there with four christian friends till the people were gone , and nayler conveyed safely through the town by a magistrate . but let them not be deceived , god is not mocked ; for they that thus sowe to the flesh , shall of it not fail to reap corruption . at the close of the book , i find the word priests in this place among the errata's , and that you should read not the raging priests , but the raging people . a willing erratum doubtless , and an excellent back doore here is to avoid a lie . but how shall these errata's which one of 100. reads not , and few in comparison know the use of , take off this base aspersion ? it is well that either i. nayler his particulars , or george foxe his press of persecutions are either capable of mistakes , or have the modesty to confess an error . we shall not challenge what the reparation of their honesty doth at their hands , viz. to alter their relations , and speak truth , and right the names of those they have wronged , in their sauls errand to damascus , but shall bind all their aspersions of us as a crown upon our heads , having learned in some measure to go through both good and bad report , and desiring to be crucified to vain estimations of men . a reply to that part of nailers relation , which concerns master fothergils , and my own discourse with him at orton . he saith , many christian friends did desire his coming to orton . who those were , or whether desirous of his coming or no , i did not inquire , since we know too well that such guests as he , may be had upon very easie terms . he is indeed for any way but home , or where he hopes to find entertainment , and then the feat is to pretend that either by voyce or revelation , or at least by the intreaty of their brethren they were called thither . and it is probable upon this last score , nayler came to orton . fox was heard to say a few dayes before , he thought god would give him a call to speak at orton shortly . but thither came nayler in steed of fox , and with him a great company of all sorts and both sexes ; where true it is , that some ministers were , but that any multitude or number of people was drawn together by their procurement , is utterly false . as for his temptations by the ministers , and their intentions of violence against him , and the appearance thereof afterwards , his paper when he writ it would have answered him with a blush , if it had been capable of shame . the relation which nayler , or some for him makes of the conference betwixt our selves and him that day , is very confused , imperfect and false . briefly and truly thus it was ; mr. fothergill , minister of orton , wished the constable to do his office so far , as to ask nailer by what authority , and to what end he had drawn together that multitude . nayler replyed , the end of his coming thither , was to declare what god had revealed in him . if so , said mr. fothergill , that thou comest to instruct the people , it is a good work , if so be thou hast a lawful calling so to doe . then shewing him an ordinance of parliament , forbidding any to preach publickly , but such as were lawfully called thereunto , he asked what calling he had to do so . nayler answered , he had a calling . if so , said m. fothergil , it is either extraordinary , or ordinary , one , or both , or neither , which i rather believe . to which naylers reply was , that distinctions were from the seed of the serpent . yea , said m. fothergil , what saist thou then to that distinction , 1. iohn 5. 16. there is a sinne unto death , and a sinne not unto death . i spake of thy distinction , said nayler , though indeed he spake of distinctions generally . but leaving this discourse , nayler affirming that there was no other kind of call to the ministery ? but such as the apostles had m. fothergill proceeded to give some instances of extraordinary calls in the prophets and apostles : and of ordinary calls , as in the successive ministers of the new testament by imposition of hands . and lastly , of both in the example of paul , of whose immediate and extraordinary call we reade , acts , 9 and of his mediate and ordinarie call , by imposition of hands . acts 13. 2. against this nayler spake many words to little purpose , out of gal. 1. and when he saith , he could have no answer though he asked 3. times whether the imposition of hands , act 13. 2. were pauls calling to the ministerie , it is untrue . for he was answered then , that it was his ordinary or mediate cal to the ministery among the gentiles , and a confirmation of that extraordinary cal , which he had before . not said mr. fothergil , as though that extraordinary call had not bin of its self sufficient , but that the churches consent and approbation being hereby signified , he might be the more welcome to , and the better received of the gentiles , to whom he was sent . nor doe we judge amisse , if we think that the lord hereby would also signifie , what manner of calling to the ministery he intended to continue in the church to after ages . that other minister , that the relator contemptuously cals priest , was my self . i told him then , that seeing he denyed the office , and teaching of all the ministers in england without exception , and did pretend , that himself , together with his fellow speakers , were the onely true ministers and messengers of christ , that we desired to know his faith , and to hear from him if we might , the summe of that doctrine of the gospel which he came to preach . i told him further , that our selves and the countrey in general did look upon him , and his fellow speakers as seducers , such as preached another gospel , and another jesus then we had preached : and that therefore for the clearing of himself , and the satisfaction of the countery and our selves there present , it was but meet that he should give us them , desiring it some account of his saith . and to do that i told him , i hoped he would not be unwilling , seeing the apostle peter exhorts all christians to be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in them , to every one that asketh . to this he replied nothing , but stood as one that had nought to say . i then asked the people there present , if they did not generally desire to hear something from him , touching his faith in some of the main principles of religion . to which many of them said it was their desire . whereupon i intreated nayler to answer plainly to a few questions which i desired to propound to him . the first question i propounded was whether he believed the holy scripture to be the very word of god. to this he answered , there was no word but christ , which he would have proved out of iohn 1. 1. in the beginning was the word , &c. i told him we did not deny jesus christ to be the word , but did believe him to be the essential word of his father . i further told him ( according to that distinction of the word into verbum deus , & verbum dei ) that the word was twofold , the word , that is god , which is iesus christ , and the word of god , which is the holy scripture . then altering the former question a little , i asked him whether he did believe the holy scripture to be the written word of god. to which , after many words to no purpose , being pressed to answer positively , he said . it is not the word of god , there is no written word . the next question , i asked him was , whether he that speaks or teaches that which is directly contrary to the doctrine of the holy scripture , is to be lookt upon as one speaking from the immediate inspiration of the spirit , though he pretend to do so . to this be replied . the word and the spirit are one . what said i , do you understand by the word , when you say the word and the spirit are one . he said , by the word , he meant christ. i told him we did believe christ and the holy spirit to be one god , and that if that was the matter of his answer , that christ and the holy spirit are one , it was impertinent to my question . i then put the case touching my self thus . if i ( said i ) should pretend to preach from the immediate assistance of the spirit , and preach that which is repugnant to the holy scripture , whether would your self believe that the spirit of god spake by me or no ? to this he answered as before , i say ( saith he ) the spirit and the word are one . i told him , he did not answer like a rational man , and pressing him to answer plainly , and not so cloudily and darkly as he did indeavour to do : that those were auditors could not understand what he meant , divers of his followers that were there present , said altogether almost the devil spoke in me , the serpent spoke in me . i told them that was a pure language that became a quaker better then a christian. his disciples there present desired he should propound some question to my self . i told them upon that condition he would answer me plainly to some questions i further desired to put to him , i would answer him to any question of his as plainely as i could . he then asked me how i could prove my self to be a minister of jesus christ. i told him that-i had been called and ordained to the work of the ministery , by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery , and that the lord had been pleased mercifully to furnish me with some ( though very mean ) abilities for the discharge of that work , and that it had been my endeavour to preach the gospel sincerely , and that i desired , and as farre as the lord assisted , laboured to walke as became that doctrine . he told me i did not live as became a minister of christ. i asked him wherein he could accuse me . he said i preached for hire , and suffered my self to be called master , contrary to the command of christ. to the first i replied , that for the terms hire , or wages , they were used in scripture , that our saviour speaking of those that labour in the gospel , saith , the workeman is worthy of his hire : and that the apostle scrupled not to say he received wages . accordingly i told him i tooke hire , or received wages for preaching of the gospell , but did not preach for it , did not make that the end of my ministery . and for being called master , i told him that i was not ambitious of that title . that my name was t. h. and that it would please me very well to be called by that name . i said further , when our saviour saith , matth. 23. and 10. be not ye called masters ; he doth not simply forbid them to be so called no more , then in the foregoing verse he forbids children to call an earthly parent father : but that he there forbids such proud and ambitious affectation of titles of respect as was in the scribes and pharisees . away , away , saith nayler with your expositions of scripture . the scripture is not to be expounded , and god will adde to such as expound them , all the plagues written in that book . i replyed , that the apostles knew the meaning of this precept of jesus christ , and were obedient unto it , and yet suffered a title superior to that of master to be given , to them , iohn 12. 21. and acts 16. 30. and that they reproved not them that so called them , which they would have done , if it had been unlawful for them to have been called master , and that iohn 20. 15. mary magdalen called our saviour sir , supposing him to have been the gardiner . [ the greek word translated sir , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and doth properly signifie lord , and is as linguists know , a title of greater respect then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the term used , matthew 23. 10. the next question i asked him was not as he saith , whether christ was ascended into heaven as man , ( that was in another place about 5 dayes after ) which yet some of their speakers have denied and argued against : ) but whether he did believe iesus christ to be true god and true man also in one person . and first said i , whether dost thou believe iesus christ to be true god ? the question i asked , because i had heard that some of them had affirmed that christ was no more then another man. in steed of replying to this question , he stood like a man astonisht , and said nothing at all . i desired him to answer , telling him he need not be affraid or ashamed to confesse christ before men : and that if he should desire my self to tell him my faith concerning iesus christ my saviour , i would doe it with all chearefulnesse , yea though in the presence of his professed enemies . he there faintly bad me answer the question he had propounded to me . i told him i had done so , but that we might not lose time , i desired him not to trifle , but to answer in five words , and plainly . his spirit here it seemes began to move him , and while we thought he had been about to shape some answer to the foresaid question , he slipt into one of their speakings , exhorting the people to look only to the light , and to christ within them , and not to look forth , telling them they had no need of any teacher without , with other such stuffe . when he had proceeded a little while , i interrupted him , and told him that we came not thither to heare a seducer , and such a one we took him to be , and that we are commanded in the holy scripture to beware of false prophets , and to avoid them that are known to be such . then urging him again for the cleering of him self , to let us hear what was his faith concerning christ , and first for that particular above mentioned , concerning christ his deity , he utterly refused . when we saw we could not get a word more from him , we quietly departed and left him in the field , with as many as pleased to stay with him . the quakers relation saith the people cryed out saying , let us heare him , &c. a notorious untruth , that any did speak such a word there mentioned , save some of their own faction that did desire he might go on in his speech . their relator saith also , there could be no peace , that some kept close about nailer , to keep him from the violence of some that came along with the priests , but they raged so , that he and some other friends received stripes . reader , beleeve them not , their words are as light as wind and vanity . all that had the colour of any affront offered to nailer was only this , and that , a good while after we were once away . a young man in orton parish as nailer was going down the hill set his staffe or foot before him . i doe not now remember well whether , and caused him to stumble , but he fell not ; for which act this poor man was indicted at the sessions , and fined 20. s. so ready were the justices to appeare against any that offered the least shaddow of violence to them . a little after the author of that lying relation saith . that the raging sodomites waited about the door to do mischief and kept shouting a bout the house , &c. inquiring of this particular since , some of the townsmen told me , that it is true ; there were some little boyes and girles that made some noise about the house while nayler was speaking . these were his raging sodomites : upon these they also bend the bow of their tongue , and spend these words of gall. a reply to that part of the quakers relation , that concerns what was done at mallerstang and kirkby-stephen . their relator saith the priests missed of their purpose at orton . ] he intimates we had purposes of violence against nayler , when we met him at orton a little before : but the searcher of hearts knows that we never intended no more violence to him , then to our selves , and they know also as well as we , that we offered none . the end why any of us desired to speak with him was this . having heard much of his seductions of great numbers of people on the other side of the countrey to their wicked way , and knowing he had no other errand among us , but to infect the people of our several congregations with their internal doctrines and to perswade them to desert the preaching of the word , and all their ordinances of christ , and to render not onely ourselves , but the very calling of the ministery hateful to them ; we therefore thought it fit to go to him , and have some discourse with him about some fundamental points of religion , that if we found him to be erroneous in these principles , we might exhort the people of our respective congregations to beware of such false prophets , though they came to them in sheeps clothing . and therein we did nothing but what we tooke our selves obliged to do in duty to god whom we serve in the gospel of his son , and the souls of the people related to us . should we being shepheards and overseers of the flock , stand still , look on , and be silent , or flie when the wolfe comes and labours to devour ? should we not rather warn all men under our charge if it were possible day and night with tears to beware of such impostors as are risen up among us , teaching such errours as have overthrown the seeming faith of many , and speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them ? their relation saith further , the next lords day after , we prepared our sermons suitable to what we intended . we intended with the assistance of god to do our endeavour , ( and shall while we have a mouth to speak ) to help those to whom we preach the gospel , as far as in us lay , free from the contagion of the quakers errours : and to this our intention , some of us did then suit our sermons . and blessed be god that hath given to any of us some , though weak abilitie to suit our sermons to the present occasions . solomon tels us , how pleasant and profitable a word spoken in season is , prov. 25. 11. their relation saith further , that we said the parliament had opened a gap for blasphemy . ] i do not believe these words were ever spoken by any of us . there is one mr. dodson , a minister of rassendale , i am perswaded an honest godly man , that is accused to have uttered these words on the 24. of october , by two of naylers proselytes : but the most judicious knowing hearers of that congregation then present , deny to their best remembrance that ever any such words were there spoken and whereas this relator affirms them to be spoken the 5 of december , he might have remembred that true saying , a lier had need of a good memory . the following part of the relation is a meer heap of lies , as that any of us said , they did god good service that would knock him down , is a wicked malitious lie . that we stird up the ruder sort of people , is another . that any of us sollicited mr. burton to come to mallerstang is another untruth . that the priests son got him to come , is another falsity . it is well known to those to whom he is known , that he neither hath , nor ever had son or daughter . that mr. burton had been in actual arms against the parliament , is another revengeful ly ; and an imputation of unfaithfulnesse to those gentlemen that were of the committee for sequestration . that the multitude was armed , is another horrid falsity , or that any was armed , save that 2 gentlemen there had their swords with them , which is not unusual with them when they go abroad , and 1 country man. and if he brought his sword thither upon that occasion , as not using to wear one , it was rather for fear of the quakers , then to offend them . that any threatned to knock out his brains against the wall , to pull down the house , that the priests rushed in violently and tooke him by the throat and haled him out of door ; that there m. burton strook off his hat with a pitch-fork , or any body else , or that any violence was done to him any where , are such notorious falsehoods , as i think the father of lies himself would be ashamed to forge , seeing there are so many sorts of people that can bear witnesse against them . there was no minister there but my self , and if nayler , or any of his lying followers can say that i was guilty of the least incivility towards him , either in word or action , let them not spare to charge me with it before any authority . i shall dare the whole generation of them to doe it : what was done there was not done in a corner , but before many witnesses , by whom the truth may easily be made to appear . reader , i will not detain thee with reckoning up all the falsities contained in this relation , onely in general , i beseech every man fearing god that shall reade these lines , to believe , that there was no one of those abuses offered to nayler , that are there spoken of in our sight or hearing that were there present . if when we were absent any one used any railing language to nayler or his followers , according to their own constant custome towards others , i do not here go about to justifie them in that sinfull practise . for the particulars of our conference there , if the recital of them might benefit the reader , i would set them down exactly according to truth . while we were discoursing , nayler was answered one question for another , and i think to his own conviction , seeing his relation neither mentions those questions he propounded , nor my answers to them , i am sure his mouth was stopt then , he had nothing to gainsay . for that particular which he charges me with , that i said , christ was in heaven with a carnal body , i shall reply to it by and by in my relation of the examination of nayler , at the sessions at appleby . and where he saith , his commitment was for thou-ing master burton , and refusing to put off his hat to him , it is most untrue : though his pride and contempt of authoritie did thereby sufficiently appear . m. burton , as all other inhabitants of these parts , had heard much of the blasphemies of these wicked speakers , fox and nayler , &c. of the seeds of heresies they had sowne , the damnable doctrines they had broached , the distractions and disturbances they had caused in towns and families in other parts of the country , and of the great number of people they had perverted , and lookt upon it ( as i have heard him say ) as necessary to give some check to the proceedings of these men , for the preservation of the publicke peace . this he thought to have done onely by binding nailer over to the sessions , where he hoped some order might be made for the bridling of the growing insolencies and impieties of this turbulent sect . but nayler , refusing to yield obedience to the law in giving security for his apperance at the next quarter sessions , which were then nigh , occasioned mr. burton to write a mittimus , and send him to appleby to continue in the goals custody , till the sessions should be . for hogils businesse , there were three or foure of their speakers or praters rather , in the market place , all of them speaking together , more like mad men then ministers of christ , or sober teachers of the gospel , and virulently railing against those that were so indeed ; and this hogill amongst them : who affirmed for his part , that all the ministers in england that preach in steeple houses were lyars against jesus christ. m. burton being then in the town , sent for him to reprove him for this language . when he came in , he behaved himself very contemptuously , & his words were very stubborn & peremptory . some present told him m. burton was a magistrate , and it was meet he should shew him at least some civil respect , as that of putting off the hat . hogill denied to do it . m. burton told him in a friendly manner , how far they were degenerated from all civility and common manners , and that for himself , he did not desire the respect of putting off the hat from him , or any man , ( though he knew that such behaviour was due towards a magistrate , as might shew some reverence and respect to him , but did much wonder , they were so superstitiously scrupulous of it , as if it were some great sin . hogil repiyed , god had not commanded him to put off his hat , and that he did not owe him that respect , nor would he give it to him . whereupon one that stood by took it off and layd it upon the end of the table by him . hogil took his hat and put it on again . another standing by him took it off again , and laid it in the fire within his reach . he refusing to save his hat himself , one that stood by presently took it off the fire , before it had received any hurt , and gave it to him , and he wore it according to his own mind . among other peremptory expressions he used to master burton , this was one . the law ( saith he ) thou actest by is tyranny and oppression . for this and other wicked speeches , m. burton desired him to find bail among his friends ( many of whom were then in the town ) for his appearing at the sessions then not far off , which when he utterly refused to do , he made him a companion to nayler . where the relator saith , there were 3 large petitions prepared , stuft with most filthy untruths and slanders , raised out of the bottomless pit ; the reader may know , that there were indeed 2 petitions then presented to the justicess one of which came from the town of kendal , the other from some other parts of the countrie . nor will the subscribers be ashamed to owne them , being able to make every particular good with advantage . but i doubt i have already exacted upon the patience of my reader , and am even weary of raking in this relation , wherein untruths ly as thick as worms in old dunghils . but i am not curious to observe all the material errataes in it . the reader may be assured of this , that if they had had any thing whereof they could have justly accused us , we should have heard of it in another manner , then out of sauls errant to damascus long before this time , and louder complaints would have been made then those of this relator . but if they have neglected hitherto to accuse any of us in particular of such wrongs as they complain to have bin done in general , why do they not apply themselves to those in authority , and charge him or them by name that did infer the injury , and prove it by witnesses , that they may bring such to condign punishment ? or if the justices have done them injustice , why doe they not petition to their superiors for remedy ? if any man shall yet mistake the commitment of nayler for persecution , it were good , ( if he have bin a stranger to his sufferings ) he were acquainted with the greatest heat of it . it was no more but his confinement to the goalers house , where he had as good accommodation , as i think his own house would have afforded him , or he did desire , and better surely then he did deserve : and from whence he is now gone well amended both in body , and rayment , and in purse also . for his incomes from the contributions of his proselytes , as is reported by some that have reason to know were not inconsiderable ; nor would he have had much cause to complain , but that he wanted liberty to range the country , if it had lasted as long as he had lived . an answer to the false and unfaithfull relation , of the examination of iames nayler , at the sessions at appleby , january , 1652. reprinted verbatim , in this book as it is micrepresented in sauls errand to damascus . reader , i suppose thee in this book at least to have porused that untrue and halting narration of naylers examination procured by him or some of his friends to be printed and spread abroad for no other end , is to us it appears , but to bely slander , wrong , dishonor and bring an odium upon both the magistracy and ministry in this county of westmerland , that have any way appeared against the wickedness of that man and his faction , and to render them concemptible in the eyes of the people of this nation ; and those that fear god in it , that are strangers to that business , if it were possible . thus they give their mouths to evil , and their tongues frame deceit , against them that never merited it at their hands or pens , and desired nought to them but good . but the lord will one day examine and reprove them , and set this sin among the rest in order before them , except they yet become convicts , which from our souls we wish on their behalfs . to wipe off that dirt wherewith they have aspersed the gentlemen that then sat on the bench ; i must first inform my reader , that whereas he saith , he was indicted for blasphemy , for saying . christ was in him and that there was but one word of god , it is a notorious untreth known to all the country then present ; i cannot but wonder at their impudence in printing so well known a lie . it easily discovers to him that will see , of what spirit they are : they would make the world beleive 〈◊〉 gentlemen , were ignorants indeed , that had no better skil then to take those words for blasphemous : t is true ; these words were contained in his indictment , which he spoke in the hearing of an hundred people that he affirmed christ was in him as man , and that the holy scripture was 〈◊〉 the word of god ; which last words though they may be truly said to be blasphemous , taking blasphemy in a larger sence , as it is used , act , 6. 1. tim. 1. 6. tit. 2. 5. yet that he was indicted for blasphemy at all , is utterly false ; what was the cause of his confinement , i have in another place informed my reader . but further , to discover the falshood and wilful omissions and imperfections of their narration i shall give my reader a true account of the examination of , and discourse had with iames nayler at the sessions , in all the material passages of it , which was as followeth . after the iustices had spoken something to nayler , concerning his refusal to put off his hat in the presence of authority , which he then and there denied to do , and had put some question to him concerning the place of his birth and habitation , his profession being a souldier , col. brigs demanded of him the cause of his coming into these parts . to which nayler , if i may have liberty ( saith he ) i will declare it . [ i was in the fields at the plow in barly seed time , meditating on the things of god , and suddenly i heard a voice , saying unto me , get thee out from thy kindred , and from thy fathers house , and i had a promise given in with it , whereupon i did exceedingly rejoyce that i had heard the voice of that god which i had professed from a childe , but whom before that day i had never known : so i went home , and stayed there a good while , and not being obedient to the heavenly call , i was in a sad condition as my friends know , and those that knew me , wondered at me , and thought i was distracted , and that i would never have spoken nor eaten more . hereabouts as he was going on , coll. brigs interrupted him with this question . friend , said he , didst thou bear that voice thou saist spoke unto thee ? nayler answered , yea , i did heare it . 〈◊〉 . briggs questioned him again thus , were there not some others besides thy self at plow with thee ? yea faith nayler , there were two more besides my self . and did not they , said the coll. hear that voice as wel as thy self . no friend , saith nayler ; it was not a carnall voice , audible to the outward care . o then said coll. briggs , i know what voice it was . nayler then proceeded thus , after i was made willing to go , i gave away my estate , and cast out my mony , and i began to make some preparation , as apparel and other necessaties , but a while after going agateward with a friend from my own house , having an old suit without any mony , having neither taken leave of wife or children , nor thinking of any journy , the voice came to me again , commanding me to go into the west , not knowing whither i should goe , nor what i was to doe there ; but when i had been there a litle while , it was given me what i was to declare , and ever since i have remained not knowing to day what i am to do to morrow . when he had finished this relation touching his call , coll. briggs put this question to him ; friend , you said , you gave away your estate , and cast out mony before you came forth , to whom did you give your estate and mony ? nayler said , i gave it to my wife . coll. briggs replied , doest thou call that a giving away of thy estate , and casting out thy mony ? i should not much care if all my estate were so given away ; but what was the promise which thou saidst was given in to thee ? nayler said , that god would be with me , which i find made good every day . said coll. briggs , i never heard of such a call as thine , in our time : to which nayler replied , he believed to m. pearson then asked , whether christ was in him as man , as he had before affirmed ? nayler replyed , christ god and man is not divided ; separate god and man , and he is no more christ ; christ god and man is every where . i askt thee , said mr. pearson , whether thou believest christ as he is man to be in thee ? i witnesse him in me , said nayler , and if i should deny him before men , he would deny me before my father which is in heaven . how do you mean , said mr. pearson , that christ is in you ; doe you not mean that he is in you spiritually ? yea , answered nayler , spiritually . by faith , saith he , you mean , or how else ? by faith saith nayler . why , what difference is there then in this point ( said mr. pearson , ) between the ministers and you ? nayler replyed , the ministers affirmed christ to be in heaven with a carnal body , but he is with a spiritual body . which of the ministers say so , saith mr. pearson ? the minister of kirkby-stephen being present , rose up and said thus ; i confess i said christ was in heaven with a carnal body , i was willing to own a truth though in course language , i look upon it as an unmeet expression , and should not have used it , had i not bin drawn to it upon this occasion : discoursing with nayler at mallerstang about the reality of christs humane nature , i asked him whether he did beleive that iesus christ now glorified in heaven , was a true real man as well as true god. when according to his manner he laboured to speak as ambiguously as he could , and would plainly affirm or denie nothing . urging him with the same question again , with some little alteration , i asked him , whether he did believe that iesus christ was now in heaven in a body of flesh ? to which when i pressed him to answer plainly : thomas aray , one of naylers companions , said to me thus : dost thou imagine that the body of christ in heaven is a carnal body ? to which i answered presently thinking they had understood english language : thomas , take the word carnal , not as it is used in the scripture in opposition to that which is , holy , or spiritual , but according to its natural and proper signification , as it signifies fleshly , and so i do believe the body of christ in heaven to be a carnal body ; ( that is ) as i said , a body of flesh . naylers relation saith , he perceived him to be offended , because he had told of his saying , and said ; friend i had not accused thee , had i not bin asked , what was the difference between the ministers and me , for i am not come to accuse any . it is true , some such words he immediately spoke , but that the minister of kirkby-stephen was offended at him is an untruth , he knew no cause he had to be offended at him , but saw cause rather to pity his ignorance . m. pearson was here saying something manifesting some desire that some of the ministers there present should discourse with nayler about some of his erroneous opinions ; but in regard it was then night , and they had much business to do before they rose , it was thought unseasonable . coll. briggs then asked him , if he had not bin a member of a church about saurby . nayler answered , he was a member of an independent church at wood-church . coll. briggs told him , that he had heard he was excommunicated out of 〈◊〉 church for some blasphemous opinions , and akt him if it was not so . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he knew not what they had done since he came forth , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was not to his knowledge . one that had it from mr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , who is pastor of that congregation at wood-church , told a friend of mine lately , that it is very true , that nayler was there excommunicated for his blasphemous tenets . coll. briggs then asked him further , if he did not write a letter to one in lancashire , wherein he told him , that if he hoped to be saved by that christ that died at ierusalem , he would be deceived : such a letter nayler did write 〈◊〉 one henry holme , containing these wicked words in it : and when he was taxed for them though he could not deny it , yet he would not at first confess them , till coll. briggs askt him if he would deny his own hand ; to which he repliedno , if he might see it . coll. briggs told him he thought he could procure the letter : nayler desired it might be kept as a witness against him . coll. briggs asked him , what was his reason to use such a cursed txpression ? nayler to season it , had this grain of salt in readiness , ( an ill shift is better then none . ) if , saith he , i cannot witness christ nearer then iesalem , i shall have no benefit by him , but i own no other christ but that who witnessed a good confession before pontius pilate , which christ i witnesse suffering in me now . there were 2 petitions presented to the iustices , subscribed by the hands of many gentlemen , ministers and others of known integritie and honestie , occasioned by the troublesome insolent behaviour of this people ; especially their gross disturbance of whole congregations in time of publick worship : and because it may be some satisfaction to the reader , i shall here adjoyn the true copy of some of them which i have by me . to the worshipfull , the justices of peace for this countie of westmerland . the humble petition of several gentlemen , ministers of the gospel , and others , friends and servants to jesus christ his gospel truths , and ordinances , and the general weale of this common-wealth and nation , sheweth , that in the late wars , we , or most of us did expose lives , liberties ▪ estates and relations , with all other personal advantages in the just defence of religion and liberty , in concurrence with and maintenance of the just defence of religion and liberty : after the prosperous effects whereof we expected the settlement of the grand ends of our engagement , and so much the more , as being the promise of the parliament the vows of their affection , the price of our prayer , purses , hazards losses , banishments and the blood of many thousands our fellow servants in the work of god freely sacrificed in the quarrel of this nation . what hath bin done in the settlement of our rights , peace and wholesome lawes , we blesse god for , and the parliament as his instruments : nor can we but acknowledge what hath bin done by them in the cause of god , as their acts against adultery , fornication , swearing , drunkenness , sabboth-breaking , promoters of heretical doctrines , against ranters or blasphemers , ( may the lord increase the number of these things : ) yet so it is , that in this county , several persons , proselites of one george fox and james nayler , do in the times of our assemblies ordinarily in a way of contempt and scorn come in amongst us with their hats on at time of prayer or singing , use in our congregations some of them violent actions , in the time of sermon or prayer or singing , cry out aloud with horrible clamours , slanders , abuses , reproaches against our ministers , to the stirring up of woefull tumults , evident disturbance of the work and the turning of the peaceable assemblies of the church of christ into the grossest confusion . that their deportment is such , and with so continual violence against the most godly of our ministers , in all places , in their travels , in the streets , abusing them with rayling language , scornfull behaviour , walking usually in markets , with such great numbers together , and scarce passing by any not of their judgement without abusive words , that it cannot but shew us as no small symptomes of bad designes , so no small reason to provide for our security . that it is their great designe to stir up the spirits of people against the ministery of england in generall without distinction , setting such , and sending abroad daily , libels and slanders against the office , as needlesse , and them , as , or under the names of antichrists , antichrists merchants , tithemongers , robbers , deceivers , ministers of the world , priests , murderers , conjurers , divels , and attempting to make proclamations in the open markets to the said effect . that their main drift is to ingage the people against the ministery by reason of tithes , crying out with open clamors against tithes as unlawfull , antichristian , to the necessary overturning of the lawes to that purpose , bringing an odium upon the government , and tending to stir up sedition in the people , to withdraw their due obedience from the lawes and government of england . that besides what others perhaps may know of the blasphemies of them , we doe plainly see and know , that their practices do exceedingly savour of sorcerie , the quakings , swellings , roarings , foamings ; ( such as never we heard of , but such as were possessed of the divell ) of persons at their meetings , and especially of little children , giving a sad suspition of it , and the more by reason of the known suspitions upon george fox , to deal with the devil , before ever be came to us in these parts . that we know the principles of some of their followers are against propriety , against subjection to magistrates , against distinction amongst men , and the practises of the most such , that there is a ceasing of relations , children prosessedly refusing subjection to their parents , and servants to their masters . that we are sensible what confusions , divisions , tumults , and parties made by these disturbances , and cannot but with sadnesse of spirit remember , that such small beginnings have in other nations grown to eat out their peace , and stagger the foundation of their states ; as also we lay it before you what advantage it gives to the common enemy , how it weakens the parliaments interest in the peoples hearts ; to see such people unrestrained , creates discontents , and layeth a clear foundation for civil wars ; or at least advantage to the hollander , or french now in arms against us , to carry on their wicked intentions with greater facility . as you are therefore christians , and english magistrates , we as free-born men of england , and discerning something more as instruments under god , with others , of our present peace , doe beg and challenge from you : 1. your timely looking unto the peace of england , that is seeming too evidently to be endeavoured to be rent asunder . 2. the protection of our selves , and our ministers from violence , disturbance in our worship of god , and suppression of offenders . 3. execution of the statute against sabboth-breakers , and such as under pretence of religion are in no religious assembly that day . 4. charge to all differing iudgements to meet together such lords dayes peaceably , and not to spread themselves to severall places for disturbance , suppression of persons being without any calling . 5. and your witnessing against all blaspemies of the name of god ; especially , such as are contained in the act of parliament . and if the application of an effectual remedy lie not within your power , that you will please to joyn with us in this desire , and transmit the case to the knowledge of the right honourable the councel of state , as a case so nearly concerning the peace of england . and we shall ever pray . when this last petition was read , mr. coale was called for and examined what disturbances he had received , or could witnesse . he told the justices , he came thither to beg the states protection , and not to endeavour the prejudice of any mans person , and that the petitioners did challenge protection as their native right and purchased due , and as what he knew , was the mind of the parliament : and that he desired no more for himselfe in this respect , then he did for those of differing judgements , onely craved that we in our severall congregations , might worship god without disturbance and affronts . it is known to the whole bench and present multitude , that he perswaded with the justices , that he might not instance in any of these particular publicke disturbances , by naming the persons , till they had promised to pardon what was past ; which was done . upon which master coale instanced in severall men and women , whose uncivil , unchristian , boysterous carriages in publicke assemblies , and turbulent spirits fully speake , what freedome might be expected to be given to our congregations , if they might sway the nation according to their wills : and that the spirit of persecution rests indeed in their brests , what ever strang nesse they pretend to it , and notwithstanding their untrue complaints of suffering of it . orders being given by these gentlemen that then sate in the bench for the peaceable preaching of the gospel , master pearson asked nayler this question : how comes it to passe ( saith he ) that people at your meetings , doe sometimes fall unto such horrid quakings and tremblings ? the scriptures , said nayler , witnesse the same condition in the saints formerly , as in david , daniel , habakkuk and others . master coale replied , that david also sometimes saith , his bones were out of joynt and broken , yet notwithhanding , his bones were sound . nayler then instanced again , in the trembling of moses , and habakkuk and paul. master coale told him it was true ; yet he might understand that in scripture , these words of quaking and trembling were not alwayes taken in a litterall sense , but did signifie that trembling of spirit and horrour of conference 〈◊〉 god did bring upon the soul in the sense of sinne and his displeasure , the breaking of the bones of our comfort , and shaking of the souls strongest confidences . sometimes again , ( he said ) they were to be taken literally , as in moses , paul , &c. but then they were upon occasion or a more extraordinary manifestation of the majesty and glory of god , appearing to them : which was an act of extraordinary providence , and not the lords ordinary work nayler replyed , that they , ( viz. that fel into the quaking fits among them ) also saw the glory of god ; but saith he , did they , moses and paul , &c. see it with their bodily eyes . yea , said master coale , moses did see the glory of god , upon mount sinai with his bodily eyes , and not onely he , but also the whole host of israell , and desired they might not see that sight any more . nayler said , how then is it said , who can see the face of god , and live ? master coale answered , true , it is so said ; but that face of god which moses saw , is not spoken of , as that full vision of god , which we cannot have till we be changed , but of a more extraordinary appearance of god in his outward discovery of his glory . and therefore when afterwards moses desired to see gods face , he shewed him but his back parts . dost thou then believe ( said nayler ) to see god with thy carnall eyes ? master coale answered , in the words of iob , yea , with these eyes shall i see him onely said he , friend understand , that though these same eyes shall see him , yet they must be , though not in substance , yet in quality changed , he shall change this vile body , ( saith paul ) and make it like unto his own glorious body . saith nayler , had i said so , i had been charged with blasphemy , though it be truth . master coale answered , he would then have had a great deale of injury done him : but ( said he ) though we shall be made like unto him , i doe not understand it thus , that we shall be made equal to him , there is a vast difference betwixt likenesse and equality . nayler , after this speaking of the life of christ , said , he lived by the life of christ , and christan him . master coale told him it was true , that a christian lives by the life of christ , but that life ( saith he ) which i live , is a created life , and t is i am quickned , and i that am made alive . 〈◊〉 , saith nayler by an uncreated life . true , said master coale a christian doth so , but he must make a difference between living the essentiall life of christ , and living by it : the uncreated life of christ ( said he ) is the cause of my life , but not the matter of it . for they were the influences of that life upon me , that did beget a life in me , but that life that is in me is a created life ; for which he quoted , ephesians 2. you hath he quickned : and 1. cor. 15. the last adam is made a quickning spirit , or a life creating spirit , as he told him the word signifies . also 2. cor. 5 if any man be in christ , he is a new creature : and you are his workmanship created in iesus christ unto good works . to these he replyed nothing , but said , i do witnesse christ is in me , and is persecuted in me this day . master coale told him , he persecuted him not : but came to crave protection . the foregoing discourse produced some words , about justication ; touching which nayler said , he was justified by christ in him . to which master coale replyed thus . christ in me is my sanctification , but christ fulfilling the law for me , is my justification . justification is an act of god for christs sake , acquitting me and absolving me from the guilt of sinne ; not done in me , but without me , in the court in heaven . onely the manifestation of it is in my conscience . nayler said nothing to this , but that which is without , is without . being asked whether the scriptures were the word of god , he answered , he knew no word of god but one . being asked again , whether he believed the written word to be the word of god , he said , i know no such thing . master coale told him , that it was true , that jesus christ is the eternall word : but in the ordinary sense , a word is as much as the declaration of a mans mind . he asked him therefore , whether he beleeved the scriptures did declare to us the minde of god , and so whether that which they deliver to us , is the very minde of god ? he answered , i do believe it . this is the substance of all those passages . and now good reader , compare this faithfull relation , which may be attested by many judicious and observant witnesses , with their foolish and scandalous stories and you may find them full of such grosse abuses , and pernicious suggestions and falsehoods , as are apt to proceed from a spirit that premeditatech mischief , and abhorreth not evil . i think none of us that are traduced in sauls errand to damascus , should have made any thing publick in this kind in respect to our selves . we know t is as easie is common for christs disciples indeed to beare the lying accusations and reproaches of his enemies . but knowing again how errour may strengthen it selfe , and get a party by lying reports , and the cause of god contract an odium by misrepresentations , and religion sometimes suffer through silence , especially when satan labours to speake so like the language of a complaining saint , and truth it selfe is under prejudice and disadvantage , we were moved in spirit , to speake what we have heard and know , and to testifie what we can witnesse , though the world should not receive it . that mystery of iniquity which doth so energetically work against the gospell in this nation , and that designe of satan which now appears with open face in multitudes of his agents , to overturne the ministery of the new testament , and roote out the soule and life of christianity from among us , the despised servants of the lord in these parts are hopefully encouraged , that the lord will ere long crush to pieces , and make it as the untimely fruite of summer , and as the grasse upon the house top , of which the mower filleth not his hand , nor hee that bindeth sheaves , his bosome . yea , we see already some probable symptomes of death upon these new born principles , and the markes of vengeance from heaven upon them . the hollownesse , and unholynesse of their fanaticke notions , which as blazing starres doe dazle the weaker , or delight the more wanton eyes of many . the fruit of our prayers in the returning of some who were esteemed godly ; the divisions of the rest ; their visible palpable atheisme , and the lords eminent leaving of them both , living and dying in either the most despairing , or most bruitish condition ever heard of ; which though sad as to their persons , yet wee cannot but looke upon them , as signall testimonies of god , against their heresies and impieties . o that men would receive the truth of god in the love thereof , that those glorious beams of the eternall word might ravish the affections of all that know them : least otherwise ( as is the sad condition of this poore country ) the lord doe in his just judgement , send them some strong delusions to believe a lye ; and plunge their soules from their imaginary highest elevation of spirituall knowledge , into the lowest depth of atheisticall heathenish or popish darkenesse . in this prayer i hope , good reader , we shall have the communion of your spirit , and the joynt compassion of your soules for a misguided generation . the lord inable us , to contribute what strength wee have for the gospels interest . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a43754-e6500 nayler saith , to this question , he could get no answer . the saints desire, or, a cordiall for a fainting soule declaring that in christs righteousnesse onely ... there is life, happiness, peace ... also the happy estate of a man in christ ... / by samuel richardson. richardson, samuel, fl. 1643-1658. 1647 approx. 526 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 218 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a57248 wing r1413 estc r35326 15247309 ocm 15247309 103276 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a57248) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103276) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1193:3) the saints desire, or, a cordiall for a fainting soule declaring that in christs righteousnesse onely ... there is life, happiness, peace ... also the happy estate of a man in christ ... / by samuel richardson. richardson, samuel, fl. 1643-1658. 481 p. in various pagings. printed by m. simmons, and are to be sold by hannah allen ..., london : 1647. errata: prelim. p. [16]. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng salvation. christian life. theology, doctrinal. 2005-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-05 ali jakobson sampled and proofread 2006-05 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the saints desire ; or a cordiall for a fainting soule . declaring that in christs righteousnesse onely , ( and in nothing else ) there is life , happinesse , peace , strength , comfort , joy , and all fulnesse of perfection . also , the happy estate of a man in christ , the life he lives , wherein he is exercised , his experiences , and his desires to enjoy god , &c. surely shall one say , in the lord have i righteousnesse and strength , even to him shall men come , isa . 45. 24. i will make mention of thy righteousnesse , even of thine onely , psal . 71. 16. and these things write wee unto you , that your joy may be full , 1 joh. 1. 4. by samuel richardson . i heard sweet jesus christ unto me say , rise my love , my faire one , and come away . london , printed by m. simmons , and are to be sold by hannah allen , at the crowne in popes-head-alley . 1647. to the right honorable , sir thomas fairfax , captain generall of all the parliaments forces in england ; and oliver cromwell , esquire , lievtenant generall to the said forces , such honour as is promised to all that honour the lord christ . right honourable ; you two are so joyned , as it were in one , that it may be said of you , which was said of jonathan and david , ( two mighty warriours ) that their hearts were so knit , that they loved each other as their own soules ; they had such sweet experience of each others faithfulnesse , that it was not in the power of saul ( though a king ) to break it , or cut it asunder ; and although many have attempted to doe the like to you , yet their labour hath been fruitlesse ; it hath bin a joy to many to see the effects of love so freely flow forth from each to other interchangeably , which is amiable , sweet , and lovely . moreover , god hath raised you up , and set you in high places , where opportunities flow of doing good ; and which is more , god hath given you hearts to improve these opportunities to his glory , and the good of his people . you have also had many and great experiences of his protection , presence , & blessing , even to admiration ; it is the lord alone , who hath wrought all your works for you : surely you may well stand astonished at his dealings with you ; all you can doe , is too little for him who hath done so much for you ; you know the sorrows , sufferings , and sighings of the people of god in this kingdome , have been many and great , by reason of the prelates lording it over them in matters of religion ; and their sorrows and sufferings are like to be greater , if the plots and snares laid against them take place , therefore now is the time for the righteous in authoritie to shew themselves for the people of god ; and such as sleepe and slumber had need quickly to be awaked , that they might rowse up themselves , & shake off that feare and faintnesse which possesseth their hearts , & arme themselves with resolution & courage , to hazard all , even life it selfe , upon a possibility of doing the least good , ( for to do good we live ) we rejoyce that god hath chosen you , ( with many others ) whom god hath kept waking for such a time as this . next under god our eies are upon the house of commons of england , to deliver us from temporall slavery , to free us from the oppression of men in matters of religion ; we trust they will effect this work fully , ( and god shall give them a full reward ) as good job , who was a father to the poore , and the cause he knew not he searched out , and brake the jawes of the wicked , and plucked the spoile out of his teeth . it is a great honour unto you , that you have done valiantly , & so have been speciall instruments to save this kingdome from destruction , & that god hath made you and your armies so victorious ; but it is a greater honour unto you , that you are of the number of those that love the truth and people of god , and endeavour to rescue them from the hands of cruell and unreasonable men : the people of god are in the love of god , and ( which is more ) they are one with god , therefore god takes the good done to them as done to himselfe , abide by them , and you shall be in safety ; hold together , for they that seek their lives , seek yo●●● also : and as you have pleaded their cause , ( with many other worthies with you ) so still goe on & prosper , the lord is with you , you valiant men , the saints love you , they pray & praise god for you ; england fareth the better for you , childrē unborn shall praise you , & blesse god for you , & the memorial of your names shal be for ever precious . most noble worthies , i may seeme to passe the bounds of modesty , so to presse into your presence , but such is your humility and love , that you can passe by any defect in that kinde , and accept of that which is presented in love . and seeing god doth not despise the day of small things , i trust you will not ; the great respect you have shewed to the truth , and people of god , hath imboldened me to present you with the best i have , in love , out of a deep respect unto you ; the perusall and acceptance of which , i submit to your wisdomes , and humbly take my leave , and remaine your honours much oblieged , samuel richardson . to all fainting and discouraged soules , who are lost and fatherlesse . behold , i bring you tydings of great joy , that jesus christ came from heaven to seeke and save you , luk. 19. 10. you shall enjoy mercy , life , and glory by him ; for in him the fatherlesse finde mercy , hos . 14. 3. you are they who hunger and thirst after christ , and his righteousnesse ; this desire is from the in-being of the light and life of christ in you , therefore thou art for the present blessed , and shalt be satisfied , mat. 5. 6. therefore you may be sure , god is at peace with you , he hath loving kindnesse for you , which is better then life : yea all is yours , for god is yours , and that for ever : is not this , as good news from a farre countrey , welcome and savoury ? oh what can be more sutable , pleasant , profitable , or delightfull , better or more desireable ? christ will give you that peace which cannot be taken from you : oh the fulnesse , sweetnesse , gloriousnesse , and infinitenesse of this peace ! it passeth our understandings , we cannot fully impart it , because we doe not fully know it ; for we know but in part , yet a part wee know through grace , though many see not this peace , nor know not the way of it , to whom i have endeavoured to declare that mystery of love and grace revealed to me , desiring to obey christs command , when thou art converted , to strengthen thy brethren . and diddest thou know the freenesse , fulnesse , sutablenesse , sweetnesse , and durablenesse of gods rich grace to a creature who is nothing in his own eyes , who hath interest in it , and therefore may apply it , thou couldst not but be ravished with it . consider what god hath given thee , and sent unto thee , and put into thy hand , even some of his rarest and choicest dainties , from his banquetting house , some flagons of his most excellent and richest wine , which is full of spirit and life , one taste is able to cheare and revive thy heart , yea raise and ravish thy fainting soule with love into love , yet drinke freely , the more the better , be filled with them , there is enough , christs dainties are durable , his fountain is bottomlesse and infinite , it can never be exhausted or drawne dry , therefore eate , o friends , and drinke abundantly , and be drunke with them . here are means proposed , with some scriptures , which tends to settle a troubled soule in the sweet enjoyment of the love of god : if god please to blesse them , they will be sweet and profitable to thee , in stead of darknesse , light shall shine clearly , sweetly , pleasantly , it 's the lord onely that can cause the soule to see this light , and love , so as to live in it , being over-powered with it , and to walke sutable unto it ; if the lord shall please to blesse this to thy soule , acknowledge his goodnesse with thankfulnesse and joy , as some have done ; the lord give thee wisdome to know the truth , and to receive thy own portion , without which nothing can doe thee good , 1 cor. 3. 6 , 7. men may speake comfort , but they cannot comfort , it 's god that creates the fruit of the lips , peace : if he speake the word , it 's done , gen. 1. 3. the lord speake so to thee , that thou maist profit by it , and that thy joy may be full . also to you belong all the promises of this life , and that to come , heb. 6. 17. which rich treasure , god hath imparted in severall parts , that all the sonnes and daughters of truth might be comforted in , and satisfied with the injoyment of god in them . to this end here are comprized many principal promises , that you may with more ease and speed finde them , and suck sweetnesse from them , our lives cannot be sweet without them , in respect of the many miseries that attend us within and without : but those that live by faith are not troubled in a world of troubles , faith supplies all wants , this life of faith is the highest , therefore the best ; such as live it , know it to be a sweet , precious , and powerfull life , as appeares , heb. 11. faith honours god most , and god honours them most that live by faith , by it the saints wrought righteousnesse , stopped the mouths of lyons , of weake were made strong : by faith jacob had power with god , hos . 12. 3 , 4. by it job could trust god , though god should kill him , job 13. 15. by faith we live to god a life of joy in god our righteousnesse , as if we had never sinned : by faith we live above sin , infirmities , temptations , desertions , sense , reason , feares , doubts , &c. it sweetens the sweetest mercies , yea the bitterest miseries , faith makes great afflictions to be as none , it maintaines the soules strength and comfort . christ lives in our hearts by faith , by it wee obey god : faith makes christs yoke easie and sweet ; the fruition of god is all the soule can desire ; faith helps the soule to this , it puts the soule into possession of heaven while the body is on earth ; by it we view the glory of heaven , to know its worth , to enjoy the purchaser and purchase it selfe , by faith we know our selves to be happie , even then when to a carnall eye we seeme most miserable ; by faith we can part with the sweetest outward comforts , and welcome death , because wee know we leave the worst place and things , and goe to better ; they that live by faith , live upon god himselfe , and are feasted in our lord jesus banquetting house , where there is all the desirable dainties , and enough . eate then o friends , drinke , yea , drinke abundantly o beloved , because it is the pleasure of our sweet lord jesus that his doe so , it 's their portion , duty , and priviledge , to digest , refresh , and make their soules merry with his dainties , to enjoy himselfe in them , that so their joy may be full . and because it is the will of christ that those who have found rest and peace in him should take his yoke upon them , as appeares , mat. 11. 38 , 39. here is added the saints dutie and service to christ , and the rather , for now is the time the love of many waxeth cold to god and man , religion is esteemed of many to be but a bare notion , or a little speculation , nothing of practise , iniquitie abounds , many depart from the faith to needlesse disputes and principles , that destroy the foundation of religion , no law , no transgression , no sinne , all alike , as appeares , rom. 4. 15. so that many run the round , began at nothing , and end in nothing , so that many in stead of submitting to the yoke of christ , cavill against it , so that few will submit unto it , notwithstanding it 's holy , just , light , easie , sweet , and a law of love . call persons to obey christ , and men are apt to think it legall and slavish , but if men were to worke for life , it were so indeed , we cannot doe any thing to procure the pardon of sinne , we only desire such as have received mercy and life from christ , to act from the same life and power , according to the word of christ , to christ againe out of love and thankfulnesse ; surely such as have received mercy from him , vehemently desire to obey him , esteeming it a great priviledge to be imployed in his service ; also in keeping his cōmands , there is great reward , psal . 19. by nature we are prone to desire libertie , and abuse it ; we need to be exhorted that we use not our libertie as an occasion to the flesh , gal. 5. to sloath and ease , &c. libertie to sinne is no libertie , but the greatest bondage that can be to have a free heart to serve god , and the lets outwardly removed is sweet libertie to enjoy god , is libertie to be set free by christ from sin , satan , hell , is to be freed indeed ; and though we have nothing to doe to be saved , we have something to doe for his glory , which is to be our meat and drinke , therefore let no difficultie hinder thee in serving thy lord , say not it is impossible , consider luk. 1. 6. 1 pet. 4. 13. 19. presse after perfection , the neerer the better , watch and pray to prevent sinne , to doe good , make it thy businesse to keepe christs commands . indeed all have not the like time to spend herein , the necessitie of outward things , hinders many that they cannot doe what otherwise they might and would , one wants time , another a heart , another both , we should consider whether we spare that time for these things we might , we can and will spare time for what we list and love , though they be things of lesse moment ; consider song 8. 6 , 7. were we so full of love , wee could not but spare some time , not onely from our recreation and idle visits , but from our sleepe and callings , wee would redeeme time , and cut off needlesse expences too by time ; that time is sweet and precious , in which the soule beholds god , and glory , and hath communion with him : when wee consider how farre short we come of our dutie , we may say with griefe and sorrow , lord , what is man , a very vanitie ; and notwithstanding wee come farre short of what we ought to doe , wee are not to sit downe discouraged , but to live by faith in all infirmities above infirmities , beholding and enjoying thy joy and peace with god : when thou art at the worst , as knowing no infirmitie can lessen the love of god to those who are his , yet are wee to take notice wherein wee come short with griefe , looking up to him by faith for more strength , to serve him better , esteeming it a great priviledge to be circumspect in all our actions to god and man. there be some other sever all things contained in this treatise , which i trust will be of use to some : and as for the directions concerning the scriptures , they have been observed by many to be necessary to cut off many errors . i have added some other things : my whole aime and scope in all i have written , is , first , to sustaine , comfort , and incourage the discouraged soule from sinking in despaire , by reason of their many and great sinnes : secondly , to withdraw the soule from the life of its own hand , to the life of the lord jesus christ for salvation . thirdly , that the soule might know and live in the assurance of the love of god , which will fill the soule full of life , sweetnes , and joy . fourthly , that the soule should obey christ , and live to his glory , and suffer for him . fiftly , to prevent errors , and to recall such of the lords , who have through mistake fallen into them by the wiles of satan . you are not to expect vaine philosophy , nor intising words of the wisdome of man ; for here it is not : i have desired and endeavoured to make the truth appeare by the evidence and demonstration of the holy scriptures , as that which is most safe and profitable for our soules to venture themselves upon ; and seeing they are to be our onely rule , search the scriptures to see whether what i have declared be so or no , and i trust you shall find it true and sweet , ( though others , through mistake , may call it error . ) now the lord of heaven and earth , enable thee and all his to looke up to him to be taught by him , to enjoy him , and to walke so before him , that they may honour him , and that their joy may be full . extoll him that rideth upon the heavens by his name jah , and rejoyce before him , psal . 68. 4. the most mightie whose name is jah , his servant samuel richardson . faults escaped in the printing . page . line . word . read. 33. 23. filled . fitted . 55. 3. eph. colos . 56. 10. live , leave . 111. 23. pauls , parts . 185. 26. shau , shall . 219. 3. sure , fa●re . 265. 17. difference , discerne . 256. 26. save , serve . 276. 6. meanes , mens consequences . 315. title . free grace , free will. 318. 12. of ours , dash out . 325. 12. men . if men . 365. 14. noyse , voyce , the other mistakes correct , or passe by in love . the miserable estate of a man by nature . isai . 44. 20. he feedeth upon ashes : a deceived heart hath turned him aside , that be cannot deliver his soule , nor say ; is there not a lie in my right hand ? these words declare the dead and miserable estate of a man by nature . 1. in this he is described to be one that is without knowledge and understanding ; for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see , and their hearts that they cannot understand , vers . 18 , 19. they are in the state of nature , in the state of death , as appeares , vers . 16 , 17. 2. the food he eateth is described to be ashes . 3. he hath an appetite unto them , he lives upon them ; he feedeth upon ashes . 4. the end of his feeding is , that he might live , and deliver his soule . 5. but he is mistaken , he is deluded , he is turned aside . 6. the cause of this delusion , is from his owne heart , which deceives him , and turnes him aside . 7. here is the strength of his delusion , in that he cannot say , is there not a lye in my right hand ? 8. the sum of all is , his soule is taken prisoner by satan , he is a captive to him , and so kept by him that he cannot deliver his soule . ashes . ] that is to say ; 1. groundlesse hopes ; 2. false conclusions ; 3. idolatry ; 4. duties ; 5. ordinances ; 6. comforts ; 7. joyes ; 8. ravishment ; 9. or what else soever yee can name , except jesus christ , is ashes . jesus christ is the true bread ; other things may be taken for bread , and in appearance , have the same colour , and forme , like this bread , but let them seeme what they can , they are no bread indeed , but ashes . but christ is the true bread , his flesh is meat indeed , and his bloud drinke indeed ; he is the living bread which came downe from heaven ; if any man eate of this bread , he shall live for ever , joh. 6. 32. 35. 48. 51. 55. &c. feedeth upon ashes . ] this implies he hath an expectation to injoy satisfaction from them , his going to them , application of them , contentednesse with them , declares he hath satisfaction in them , and lives upon them . the words opened . by heart is meant the understanding and will. deceived heart , mis-informed by satan , darkened . aside , from christ , in whom is deliverance , rest , and satisfaction . turned him , viz. the understanding and will , hath a power to turne the soule . soule , is meant the whole man , a principall part being put for the whole . deliver , escape the danger he is in . a lye , viz. that is that which will deceive me , in not being unto me that i take it for , that which will not be that to me i need , that which will not performe that it promiseth to be to me . hand , that which holds , mystically the understanding , &c. right hand , that is most eminent for use , viz. in those things which are most eminent , that are of greatest concernment , the soule is deceived . 1. a naturall man is sensible of the want of something he needs for his soule , therefore he saith ; wherewith shall i come before the lord ? shall i come before him with burnt offerings , with calves of a yeare old ? will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams , or with ten thousands of rivers of oyle ? shall i give my first-borne for my transgression , the fruit of my body for the sinne of my soule ? micah 6. 6 , 7. all this is ashes . 2. there is not any life or strength to be expected from ashes , they are no food fit to eate ; as ashes naturally corrupts the body , and destroys it , so here they fill the soule with corruption , and will kill and destroy the soule at last , as they that have no bread must dye for hunger , luk. 15. 17. 3. the food naturall men live upon is ashes , they have no better food to live upon , bread they have none , they know not where any better is , nor doe they desire and bread , isa . 55. 2. ashes is sutable to their natures , judgements , desires , affections , they know no danger in eating of ashes , they thinke it is a happinesse to have them , and that they shall have satisfaction from them . eaters of ashes are in a dangerous condition , they must dye spiritually and eternally : there be many that eat ashes , they thinke and dreame they eat bread , but they are deceived , as isai . 29. 8. they follow vanitie , hab. 2. 3. the east winde , hos . 12. 1. and lay out their money for that which is no bread , isai . 55. 2. what doest thou eate and live upon bread or ashes , when thou art empty ? 1. what doest thou eye , whether doest thou goe ? goest thou to nothing but to christ ; onely wee have hope in christ , 1 cor. 15. 19. is thy hope onely in christ ? 2. in what doest thou find peace , comfort , contentment , satisfaction in ? is it in nothing else but christ ? phil. 3. 8. 3. where lyeth thy life and strength ? is it in nothing but in christ ? without me yee can doe nothing , joh. 15. 5. col. 3. 11. will no peace , comfort , praise of men , duties , ordinances , joyes , ravishments , satisfie thee ? will nothing but jesus christ , but christ is all in all , col. 3. 11. if it be so , it is well . comfort to all that eat this bread , yee shall be satisfied , yee doe live , and shall live for ever , joh. 6. oh you may well be thankfull for this so great mercy , that yee have bread to eat , which others have not , nor know not of , they famish and dye for want of bread ; yet thou hast enough , and shalt ever have enough ; in my fathers house there is bread enough , and to spare . luk. 15. 17. 4. there is nothing in him that can helpe him ; if he follow his own heart , he is misled , his heart is deceived , it turnes him aside , and leads him to death ; if he follow his light , his understanding , he follows darknesse , his light is darknesse , mat. 6. 33. ( man in himselfe is irrecoverably lost ) he that walketh in darknesse , knoweth not whither he goeth , joh. 12. 35. we were sometimes darknesse , ephes . 5. 8. 5. consider mans heart is not to be hearkened unto , because it turnes the soule aside from christ ; what , doest thou hearken unto , and live upon , thy owne heart , &c. or on christ ? 1. many in stead of living upon god , live upon a deceived heart , as pro. 3. 5 , 6. 7. 2. others live upon sense . 3. others live upon corrupt reason . 4. some build their hope of salvation upon other mens judgements , who if they be godly , may easily be mistaken in a close hypocrite . 5. many live upon the report of others , which appears by this , that if men speak not well of them , they are greatly troubled , & are not able to beare it , by which it appeares their life is in it ; it was no wonder laban made such adoe in searching for his images , because they were his gods . 6. many live upon their reformations , they thanke god they are not so bad as they have been , therefore they have hope ; it 's well when men grow better , yet abstinence from evill , is no evidence of grace ; for men may forbeare the acts of sinne for feare of hell or men , &c. 7. others live upon duties , and as they are increased , their hope and confidence in god is increased , but if their duties faile them , their hope and comfort is gone ; by which it appeares , they live upon what they doe , and not upon god ; these count their duties , which is their righteousnesse gaine : but if they belong to god , they must count againe , as paul did , this their gaine to be losse for christ , phil. 3. 8. 8. some live upon their peace , they thanke god , they are quiet , there is no terrors , nor feare of hell in them , therefore thinke they are in a good estate : a most subtill delusion . 9. others live upon groundlesse hope , because their sinnes are few or small ( as they thinke ) they have hope . 10. many live upon their inward comforts and joy , which appeares by this , that whilst they last , they have much assurance of the love of god , and are sure of salvation ; but as soone as their comfort , joy , which was sensibly felt , leaves them , their confidence went with their comfort , and leaves them in a sad condition . 11. others upon ravishments and excasies of glory , &c. 12. many live upon the ordinances of men , and stand ready resolved to be of any religion the authority will impose upon them ; and the more easie it is for their persons and purses , the more it shall have of their hearts . 13. yea and many there be that live upon the ordinances of god , without god , these so they may frequent the ordinances ; they are satisfied , though they see not god in them , and be never the better for them . 14. others live upon their confidence of salvation . 15. and some live upon creature-comforts , and conclude , because they possesse them , god loves them . 16. and many live upon the devill , and his word , that is , when satans suggestions are hearkened unto , liked , beleeved , imbraced , obeyed , as if he should say , their sinne shall never be pardoned , nor subdued , they beleeve him , and are ruled by him ; this is to live upon the devill , as to hearken unto god , as isa . 53. 3. to beleeve in him , 1 joh. 3. 23. and to submit themselves to god , jam. 4. 7. is to live upon god. a false foundation and a false life goe together , therefore whosoever they be that live upon any thing besides god in christ , as their foundation is unsound , so certainly it will deceive them , whatsoever their sparkes be , they must and shall lie downe in sorrow , as isa . 50. 10. they are all lying vanities , and they that hearken unto them forsake their own mercies , as jonah 2. 8. a man is prone to follow the advise of his heart . the reason is : 1. because he thinkes his heart knows . 2. that his own heart will not deceive himselfe ; but who so trusteth in his owne heart is a foole , prov. 28. 26. isai . 10. 7. jer. 23. 26. 3. he is ignorant of the desperate wickednesse of his heart ; the heart is deceitfull above all things , and desperately wicked , who can know it ? jer. 17. 9. 4. he knows no better counsellor ; happy is he who is so acquainted with his hearts deceitfulnesse , that he will not trust to it , nor hearken unto it . 5. the heart is the ●a●se of all the errors and miscarriages of men ; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh , luk. 6. 45. mat. 15. 19. what men thinke , speake , or doe , is from the heart . 6. a man by nature desires that his soule may be delivered , because he apprehends his soule is in danger , and that it is of great concernment unto him for his soule to be delivered . 7. a naturall man doth indeavour to save and deliver himselfe : men seeke deliverance for themselves from themselves . reasons . 1. he judgeth it a reasonable thing that his soule be delivered . 2. he knows no other way of deliverance , save that of his own , either wholly or in part . 3. he thinkes it concerns him most , therefore it is his dutie to doe it , who else should ? 4. he is perswaded he may deliver his soule , or that without him it cannot be delivered . man can do no better , till god manifest to him the perfection of christs righteousnesse , then shall he see the insufficiency of his own , rom. 10. 3. 8. he cannot deliver his soule , all that man can doe , it is impossible for man to save himselfe in whole or in part , it is beyond his power , he cannot doe it ; untill a soule be convinced he cannot deliver himselfe , he rests in himselfe : god hath not left it to the will and power of man to deliver himselfe . reasons . 1. that no man may boast , ephes . 2. 9. that the pride in man might be dashed in pieces . 2. that no man might live in and upon himselfe , nor joy in himselfe , but rejoyce in the lord jesus christ , and have no confidence in the flesh , phil. 3. 1. 3. 3. that gods power and free love might be manifested ; that we might know the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us-ward , who beleeve his mightie power , eph. 1. 19. 4. that god might have all the glory , ephes . 1. 6. that no flesh should glory , 1 cor. 1. 29. gal. 6. 14. in the lord shall all the seed of israel be justified , and shall glory , isa . 55. 25. 9. all wayes besides christ are by-paths , aside out of the way : i am the way , joh. 14. 6. 10. christs way and mans way are contrary each to other : christs way leads the soule to christ ; mans way leads to himselfe , to deliver himselfe . 11. wee should not be led aside from christ by any thing ; hearken then onely to chr●●● 12. nor say , is there not a lye ? and that is , he cannot aske a question , &c. 13. the meanes of deliverance is so hid from man , that he hath no power to use them . 14. a lye , all that man doth rest upon while he is in the state of nature , is nothing but a lye ; oh , he is miserably deluded . 15. the strength and confidence of a deluded man , may be so great , that it may seeme to him unreasonable once to question it . 16. mens confidence of salvation , may be greater and stronger then the faith of some of the lords ; and yet it is false and nothing but the delusion of a deceived heart , and satan . 17. the greatnesse or strength of any mans confidence , cannot assure him that hath it , that it is not a delusion ; but it is proved to be true or false by the ground of it , the cause and foundation of it . if it be built or caused by any of mans qualifications , either abstinence from sin , doing good , or from his inward peace , comfort , joy , &c. it 's false . but if it be founded upon christ , onely in his free grace , from the word and promise of god , rom. 15. 4. in his word doe i hope , psal . 130. 5. but i hope in thy word , psal . 119. 81. it is true ; did god so convince thee , that thou becamest lost and fatherles , hos . 14. 3. and perswaded thee he had mercy for thee , and caused thee to hope in him for it , psal . 33. 18. 21. 22. it is no delusion . finis . newes from heaven , or a cordiall for a fainting heart . 2 cor. 5. 20 , 21. now then we are ambassadors for christ , as though god did beseech you by us , we pray you in christs stead , be yee reconciled to god. for he hath made him to be sin for us , that knew no sin , that we might be made the righteousnesse of god in him . behold , and hearken , for here are tydings of great joy , that christ alone doth free the soule from sin , and makes the soule to enjoy the righteousnesse of god in him ; in which is sure , sweet , cleare , full , durable , divine consolation , sufficient to cheare , revive , raise and ravish the sinking soule , by reason of sin , in the want of a righteousnesse of god in him . these words containe many divine truths , i shall endeavour to declare some observations from them for our instruction and consolation . in that he saith , be yee reconciled to god , you may observe , that the best estate of men by nature is an estate of enmitie against god , who is the chiefest good ; for if these need any reconciliation , how much more enemies ? rom. 5. 10. for he hath made him to be sin for us . god hath in his wisdome and love found out a way to save lost man , and hath sent the lord jesus to effect it , zach. 9. 10 , 11. and manifest it , and hath sent ambassadors , and given us his word to declare his great grace , joh. 1. 17. infinite love , joh. 3. 16. and the unsearchable riches of christ . be yee reconciled to god , for he hath made him to be sin for us . that there needs strong reasons and earnest intreaties , yea the arme of the lord must be revealed in them , to reconcile a sinfull soule to god , isa . 53. 1. as though god did beseech you . god is more willing to pardon a sinner , yea the chiefe of sinners , then any soule is or can be willing to be pardoned . this appeares in that god seeks to us to be reconciled ; man seeks it not : i was found of them that sought me not , isa . 65. 1 , 2 , 3. and in that god beseecheth a lost sinner to be reconciled to god ; and when we prodigals turne to god , being turned by god , we doe but goe , and that softly ; but god who is that father , runneth to receive us , as luk. 15. 18. 20. and as running expresseth much more willingnesse , then an easie going , so it is here . god beseecheth you by us , wee pray you in christs stead . it appeares that all the doubts and feares the soule or satan can frame , as if god were unwilling to pardon a lost sinner , ( luk. 19. 10. ) are all groundlesse and false ; for he prayeth and beseeches to be reconciled , as if he should say , goe tell such a soule from me , i will have him to be reconciled to me , i am not angry with him , he need not doubt of my love , which is infinite , without time or measure , i am all-sufficient , i can and i will passe by all his wickednesse against me . be yee reconciled ; we pray you . that even such sinners as god sends after , and will save , they have many hard thoughts of god , they are so foolish and so deceived by sin , that they are contented to be as they are , and stand in need to be prayed and intreated to be reconciled to god. as though god did beseech you by us . that all those into whom god hath put this word of reconciliation , when it is declared unto us by them , or in his word , we ought to receive it , and beleeve it , as if god did immediately speak unto us , for they speake in his stead : so also it is the duty of the ambassadors of christ to declare nothing but the message they receive from christ , according to the word of christ . we pray you , be yee reconciled to god ; for he hath made him to be sin for us . the way god takes to reconcile a sinner unto himselfe , is the discovery of his free grace and love of god done to man through christ . the discovery of this to the soule , expels ignorance , and slayeth the soules enmity against god ; and by his love he draweth the soule to god in love again ; gods way of saving man is onely in a way of love ; therefore he saith , behold , i will allure her , and speake comfortably unto her , hos . 2. 14. his love is free , full , and eternall ; i will love them freely , hos . 14. 4. i drew them with cords of a man , with bands of love , hos . 11. 4. be reconciled ; for he hath made him to be sin for us . it appeares that the sense and guilt of sin , doth hinder the soule from being reconciled ; sin causeth the soule to desire to be at a further distance from god , as luk. 5. 8. that before a sinner can be reconciled unto god , he must understand and know the cause , way , and meanes of his salvation , ( i say not before god loves him ) therefore as it is declared ; that all have sinned , and come short of the glory of god , &c. rom. 3. so he declares that jesus christ is made sin for us , and that wee are justified freely by his grace , through the redemption that is in jesus , whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud , to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sinnes , that he might be just , and the justifier of him that beleeves in jesus , rom. 3. 23 , 24 , 25 , 26. see rom. 5. 10 , 11. 13. 19. rom. 6. 23. titus 3. 5. he hath made him . god the father hath set apart the lord jesus to save man , heb. 9. 14. 22. rev. 13. 8. there is no other name whereby we may be saved , but by the name of jesus , act. 4. 12. which knew no sinne . christ knew no sin in himselfe personally , luk. 1. 35. nor inherently , heb. 14. 5. nor experimentally , joh. 8. 40. and seeing christ is so holy a person and so qualified as he is , col. 2. 3. none ought to doubt of the sufficiency , meritoriousnesse , and effectualnesse of whatsoever he hath undertaken to doe : for by once offering the sacrifice of himselfe , he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified ; that is , set apart , heb. 10. 10. 14. so that the sinfull soule ought to cast away all discouragements , and to rest satisfied in this full , perfect , and infinite satisfaction , and not suffer their foolish hearts to seeke after , or desire any other , for as there is none to be found elswhere , so there needs none ; for be thy sinnes never so great , or many , this one satisfaction of the lord jesus is sufficient . made him to be sinne . god hath imputed our sinnes unto christ , and so laid them upon him , esa . 53. 5. that they are not ours no more but christs , who hath freed us from them , who will disanull them , and so free himselfe of them , so that he shall appeare without sin , heb. 9. 28. the way and meanes god hath chosen to free a sinner from sin , is onely by jesus christ , that he might undergoe the penalty of sin , or else no man could be saved , as these scriptures declare , joh. 1. 1. 7. joh. 1. 29. rom. 8. 2. ephes . 2. 14 , 15. rev. 1. 5. heb. 9. 22. col. 1. 20. zach. 9. 11. for sin must be charged upon christ , or the sinner , and our happinesse lyeth in this , that our sinnes are not imputed unto us , psal . 32. 1 , 2. rom. 4. 8. our sins cost christ deare , that they might cast us nothing , rom. 5. 9. 1 pet. 1. 18 , 19. for us . the word , us , and wee , in this verse , must be understood for them in the 19. verse , to whom god doth not impute their trespasses : so that they are blessed , psal . 32. 1 , 2. rom. 4. 7. for they shall not misse of glory , because they have redemption by his bloud , and remission of sinnes , as col. 1. 14. rom. 5. 10. therefore by the words , us , and wee , cannot truly be understood every son and daughter of adam . for so large as the purpose of god is of saving men , so large is the meanes of this salvation , so large is the declaration to be , so large is the particular application of salvation to be , & so large is the effect of salvation it selfe ; none of these are any larger then the other . if any reply that christ in the declaration is offered to all , therefore the particular application of salvation is to be to all . i answer , that christ is not offered to all , nor to none at all : true , it is the gospel is to be preached to every creature , and that all persons whosoever will are called to come to christ to drinke , &c. but what scripture saith , christ is offered to any person , much lesse to all the world ? god so loved the world , that whosoever beleeves in him , should not perish , but have everlasting life . this is a declaration of what persons god will save : the word of god is a declaration of the will of god ; now for to declare a thing , and to offer it , is not one thing ; for one may declare to another , the riches that he or another hath , and yet not offer any of them , nor it may be cannot ; and so a man may give that to another , which he never offered him . it 's safest to keep to the language of the scriptures ( which forme of words are sound ) especially in this age , in which men catch up expressions , and by them abuse god , and his truth , and themselves ; for if one affirme , that god offereth christ to all ; men reply , doth not god meane as he saith ? and if god offers christ , and man hath not a sufficient power to receive him ; they are mocked , and god is unjust , &c. and that men have free-will , and such like stuffe , so that yee may see how one error draweth many after it , and it 's oft grounded upon an unsound expression . made sin : made the righteousnesse of god. after what manner christ became a sinner , after the same manner wee are made just ; but he became a sinner not by any infusion of our corrupt qualities , but by imputation onely : therefore wee are just before god , not by infusion of any habituall grace into our corrupt natures , but by imputation of his righteousnesse ; god imputeth righteousnesse without works , rom. 4. 6. if this were well minded , it might answer and remove some temptations , which are occasioned by apprehending the contrary . the righteousnesse of god. christs righteousnesse is the righteousnesse of god. that righteousnesse which freeth a sinner from the curse of the law is a perfect righteousnesse , heb. 1. 8. rom. 9. 5. mat. 6. 33. rom. 4. 6. therefore prize it highly . mans righteousnesse is imperfect , and could not justifie him before god ; enter not into judgement with thy servant , for in thy sight shall no man living be justified , psal . 143. 2. dan. 9. 18. tit. 3. 5. 7. all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags , &c. isai . 64. 4. 6. god reveales to a soule christs righteousnesse , and the soules interest unto it , joh. 16. 14. to comfort the soule , and cause the soule to love god againe , he doth not comfort us in the sight of our own righteousnesse , before he declares and comforts the soule in the righteousnesse of christ . righteousnesse in him . that righteousnesse which justifieth us before god , as it is not ours , so it is not in us , but as it is christs righteousnesse , so it is in him : in the lord have i righteousnesse and strength : in me you shall have righteousnesse and strength , isa . 45. 23 , 24 , 25. the cause or forme of our justification , is by a reciprocall translation of our sin unto christ , and his righteousnesse unto us : both which is done by god for us . that we might be made . whatsoever jesus christ hath done and suffered , was for those whose sinnes were laid upon him , who are stated in him , ephes . 1. 4. and are fully pardoned by him , rev. 1. 5. by the obedience of one man ( viz. christ ) many are made righteous , rom. 5. 19. by his stripes we are healed , isa . 53. 5. the bloud of jesus christ cleanseth us from all sin , 1 joh. 1. 7. in him . god considers his to be in christ , before they had a beeing in themselves , ephes . 1. 4. and he never lookes upon his children out of him , for they are never out of him : they dwell in christ , joh. 6. 56. and shall ever live , joh. 9. 25. and be found in him , phil. 3. 8. christ and all true beleevers are so united together , that they are but one ; one body , one spirit , bone of his bone : oh what union is like to this , that is so reall , full , and intire , wonderfull , glorious , spirituall , eternall , and infinite ! 1 cor. 6. 17. gal. 5. 30. &c. joh. 15. 5. joh. 17. 22 , 23. if our faith in christ were as strong as our union with christ , wee should ingrosse and possesse all that is in heaven , and nothing in the earth could trouble us . the state of a beleever in christ , as considered in him , is an estate of perfection ; we are complete in him , col. 2. 9 , 10. 13. as christ is , so am i ; as i am , so is christ , joh. 1. 17. what is christs is mine ; what is mine is his ; christs righteousnesse is mine : i am all righteous , i need no more , nor no other righteousnesse ; as i am in christ , i am as righteous and as acceptable as christ ; god seeth no sin in me , because there is none ; for , i am all faire , there is no spot in me , song 4. 7. song 2. 10. ephes . 5. 25 , 26 , 27. for as he is , even so are we in this world , 1 joh. 4. 17. thou hast cast all my sinnes behinde thy backe , isa . 38. 17. as far as the east in from the west , so far hath he removed our transgressions from us , psal . 103. 12. seventy weeks are determined upon the people , and upon the holy citie , to finish the transgressions , and to make an end of sinnes , and to make reconviliation for iniquitie , and to bring in an everlasting righteousnesse , to seale up the vision , and prophecy , and to anoynt the most holy , dan. 9. 24. i will greatly rejoyce in the lord , my soule shall be joyfull in my god , for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation , he hath covered me with the robe of righteousnesse , isa . 61. 10. all saints are alike clothed with christs righteousnesse : the meanest , the weakest , as the best , and is as acceptable by it as the best : oh they are all alike perfect , righteous , and glorious , as they are in christ ! oh , here is strong consolation for thy fainting heart , to refresh it selfe withall ! drinke , o friends , and make yee merry , o welbeloved ; yea drink , drink abundantly in this fountaine that is bottomlesse , and therefore can never be drawne dry , song 5. 1. in the most perfect saints , as they are in themselves , there is much sin , 1 joh. 1. 10. and god doth see it ; yet god cannot condemne them to wrath for it , no more then god can condemne christ for it , who shall appeare without sin , heb. 9. 28. they being in him who hath suffered for it ; and justice neither will nor can exact the payment of a debt twice : now it 's justice in god to justifie , rom. 3. 25. yea , god is as just in pardoning a sinner by the bloud of christ , as he is just in condemning any ; and now thou hast a full pardon by justice as well as mercy , therefore drinke freely , song 5. 1. for us . that which is spoken in generall to beleevers , every beleever is to apply it to himselfe in particular ; so paul , he loved me , and gave himselfe for me , gal. 2. 20. for us , for me . the word and promise of god , that it is for me , is that which my soule should fix its eye upon , and by faith for ever relie upon , and be a full satisfaction to my soule ; knowing that the word and promise of god is the onely ground of my faith , and is securitie sufficient for my salvation . as soone as the soule is convinced , that jesus christ is made sin for me , and that i am made the righteousnesse of god in him , all the soules doubts , feares , objections vanish , and christ is beleeved in , and lived upon , with thankfulnesse and joy . jesus christ being made sin for me , is as good for me , yea better for me , then if i had never sinned ; as much better as a spirituall body is better then a naturall , as much better as the image of the heavenly is better then the image of the earthly ; yea , as much better as strength is better then weaknesse , and as heaven is better then earth , 1 cor. 15. 43 , 44. to 55. but , saith a discouraged soule , i cannot beleeve the lord jesus was made sin for me . why not for thee ? because my sins are greater then others be ; for my sins have all the aggravations upon them that can be . for mine are many . so were theirs in the second and third chapter of jeremiah , yet notwithstanding god pardoned them all , as appeares , jer. 3. 21. to 25. but my sins are great and hainous . so were theirs , and so were manassehs , as appeares , 2 king. 21. 4. 9. 11. 16. and so was the womans , luk. 7. 47. and so was pauls , 1 tim. 1. 15. yet god pardoned them all , as he hath done others . but my sins are against the gospel . so was pauls , he persecuted them that professed the gospel , and made havock of the church , entring into every house , haling men and women , and committed them to prison , act. 8. 3. and christ died for them that slew him , act. 2. 23. 38. but mine are af●er many mercies . so was solomons , who sinned against god after the lord appeared unto him twice , 1 king. 11. 9. but i have sinned against gods intreaties to returne . so did they ; i said after shee had done all these things ; turn thou unto me , but shee returned not , jer. 3. 7. but i have sinned against gods reproofes . so did they ; thou hast a whores forehead , that refusest to be ashamed , jer. 3. 3. 8. but i have sinned against gods corrections in not being reformed by them . so did they ; in vaine have i smitten your children , they have received no correction , jer. 2. 30. but i have committed one sin often . so did they ; thou hast played the harlot with many lovers , jer. 3. 1. 6. but i have continued sinning for a long continuance of time . so did they ; we have not obeyed the voyce of the lord from our youth unto this day , jer. 3. 25. & 2. 22. but my sinnes are against knowledge and conscience . so was davids sin concerning bathshebah , and putting to death vriah . and so did peter sin when he said and swore he knew not christ , and that he was not with him , mat. 26. 69. to 75. but i am fallen back from what i have been . so did they ; returne thou backsliding israel , jer. 3. 6. 12. but i have willingly and resolvedly forsaken god. so did they ; saying , we are lords , wee will come no more at him , jer. 3. 31 , 32. but i have willingly chosen sin . so did they ; saying , i have loved strangers , and after them will i goe , jer. 2. 25. but i have seduced others , and caused them to sin . so did they ; thou hast also taught the wicked ones thy wayes , jer. 2. 33. and manasseh seduced them to doe more evill then did the nations whom the lord destroyed ; and made judah also to sin , 2 king. 21. 9. 11. 16. and paul compeld men to blaspheme , act. 26. 11. 16. manasseh a great sinner obtained mercy , 2 chron. 33. 18 , 19. and a lesser sinner perisheth in his sin ; that men may know , the lord will have mercy on whom he will , rom. 9. 15. but i have committed as much sin as i could . so did they ; behold thou hast spoken and done as evill things as thou couldst , jer. 3. 5. but my sins are after vowes and covenants . so were theirs ; thou saidst , i will not transgresse , when upon every high hill , and under every greene tree thou wanderest , playing the harlot , jer. 2. 25. but i have justified my selfe in all my sinnes . so did they ; because thou saidst , i have not sinned , i will plead with thee , jer. 2. 35. but i despaire , and have no hope of mercy . this is worst of all ; yet so did they ; thou saidst there is no hope , jer. 2. 25. and when i cry , he shutteth out my prayer , and i said , my strength , and my hope is perished with the lord , said jeremiah , lam. 3. 8. 18. and job said , my hope hath he removed like a tree , job 19. 10. my dayes are spent without hope , job 7. 6. 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. david in his hast , said , i am out off before thine eyes , psal . 31. 22. abraham beleeved against hope , rom. 4. 18. yee were sometimes afar off , without god , and without hope , ephes . 2. 12. yet at last they were made nigh by the bloud of christ , eph. 2. 13. behold , all these were once like unto thee , and the lord hath had mercy upon them , and so he may have mercy upon thee also , therefore poore soule , be not out of hope , mind what david said , i was brought low , and he helped me , psal . 116. 6. god is able to save to the uttermost , heb. 7. 25. consider what the name of the lord is , exod. 34. 5 , 6 , 7. oh the unsearchable riches of his grace ! all that know his name will trust in him , psal . 9. 10. and because the greatnesse of sin is one of the greatest discouragements to a soule under the sense of sin ; consider these things which are incouragements of hope unto thee . 1. incouragement to hope . the multitude or greatnesse of sinne , ought not to be a discouragement unto thee , because the fewnesse or smalnesse of thy sinnes are not to be any ground , or cause of thy confidence in god for pardon ; but in the promise of god of pardon , in which promise the truth and faithfulnesse is . 2. incouragement to hope . because the word of god doth no where say , that great sinners shall not be saved , therefore to conceive so is folly , and no lesse then a delusion of satan . 3. incouragement to hope . because the word of god saith the contrary , that jesus christ came to save sinners , yea and the chiefe sinners , and this is a saying worthy of all acceptation , 1 tim. 1. 15 , 16. come now let us reason together , saith the lord , though your sinnes were as crimson , they shall be made white as snow , though they were red like scarlet , they shall be made as wooll , isaiah 1. 18. the word of god declares many great and sweet promises to great sinners , as jer. 3. isa. 55. 7 , 8 , 9. & 43. 24 , 25. there be many examples of great sinners received to mercy , as manasseh , 2 chron. 33. 18 , 19. paul , and one who was a sinner with a witnes , luk. 7. 37. 47. and many others , yea the rebellious also , psal . 68. 18. 4. incouragement to hope . because there is a fountaine set open for sin and for uncleannesse , zach. 13. 1. and christ is mightie to save , isa . 62. 1. he will abundantly pardon , isa . 55. 7. and his compassions faile not , lam. 3. 22. 5. incouragement to hope . because great sinners that are heavie laden with sinne , are called to come to christ , mat. 11. 28. if any man thirst , let him came to me and drinke , joh. 7. 37. every one that thirsteth , come ye to the waters , isa . 55. 1. rev. 22. 17. 6. incouragement to hope . the saints have made their greatnesse of sinne an incouragement to beleeve ; lord , pardon my sinnes , for they are great , psal . 25. 11. how great is his goodnesse ? much greater then thy sinnes , zach. 9. 17. isa . 43. the greater our sinnes are , the greater our faith should be . loe here is great consolation . 7. incouragement to hope . because god doth not sell christ or grace , but he gives christ , and all that is his freely ; yee that have no silver , come buy and eate , come buy without money , isa . 55. 1. and the spirit , and the bride say , come , and let him that heareth say , come , and let him that is athirst , come , and let whosoever will take of the water of life freely , rev. 22. 17. jesus stood , crying , saying , if any man thirst , let him come to me and drinke , joh. 7. 37. 8. incouragement . because such as jesus christ saves , are unworthy , ungodly , and without works , rom. 4. 5 , 6. the most perfect saint that ever hath been , did stand in need of mercy , and was unworthy . behold , he found no stedfastnesse in his servants , and chargeth his angels of folly , how much more in them that dwell in houses of clay ? job 4. 18 , 19. and all those whom god hath revealed his sonne unto , they see an exceeding transcendent beautie in him ; and he is precious unto them , 1 pet. 2. 7. they loth and abhor themselves , job 42. 6. because they see in themselves nothing else but vilenesse , filthinesse , and unworthinesse , ezek. 16. 63. and it sets out the mercy of god the more , that it is freely given unto the unworthy , ezek. 16. 9. incouragement . it makes most for the glory of god to give great things , and is it not a disparagement for a king to doe otherwise ? the lord is a great king , a mightie god , isa . 9. 6. he doth great things past finding out , and wonders without number , job 9. 10. feare not , the lord will do great things , joel 2. 21. for with god nothing shall be impossible , luk. 1. 37. measure not the lord by thy selfe : for my thoughts are not your thoughts , neither are your wayes my wayes , saith the lord ; for as the heavens are higher then the earth , so are my wayes higher then your wayes , and my thoughts then your thoughts , isa . 55. 8 , 9. and those who are made wise by god , looke not so much to their basenesse as unto his greatnesse , zach. 9. 17. 10. incouragement . that which moves god to shew mercy , is onely in himselfe , nothing in the creature , ezek. 16. 3. to 9. nor any thing the creature can doe , cannot move god to shew mercy ; i will doe away thy sinnes for my names sake , isa . 43. 25. god shews mercy , because he will , micah 7. 18 , 19. 11. incouragement . the greater our sinnes are , and our sensiblenesse of unworthinesse , the more we shall love god when we know that our sinnes are pardoned , luk. 7. 41 , 42 , 43 , 47. 12. incouragement . the mercy of god is infinite , it hath no part or forme , therefore it is not capable of any addition or defect : therefore infinite , shouldst thou need thousands of seas of mercy to pardon thy sinnes . god hath not the lesse , notwithstanding he hath given so much . if i had all the sins upon me , that can be committed , or but one sinfull thought , this consideration makes it all one . oh , i , worlds of sin in this ocean vanish and come to nothing , rom. 11. 33. oh the depth of the unsearchable riches of christ ! ephes . 3. 8. 13. incouragement . the name of god it 's infinite also : the father of mercies , 2 cor. 1. 3. yea it 's the nature of god. the lord is very pitifull , and of tender mercies , jam. 5. 11. all mercy and pitie is from him , and all that is , or hath been , is but a drop to that ocean of that pitie and mercy that is in him . we are ready to sin , but god is much more ready to forgive ; mercy pleaseth him , it 's his delight , micah 7. 18. he is plenteous in mercy , psal . 86. 5. thou art a god ready to forgive . 14. incouragement . the price that is for the sinnes of such as beleeve , is infinite also ; count all thy sins , and still they are the acts of a finite creature ; and is not christ satisfaction above them ? he is god , 1 joh. 5. 20. his righteousnesse is farre greater then thy sinnes : therefore be they great or small , he is able to disanull them all . 15. incouragement . the covenant of grace , is not made with us , nor can it be broken by us , but with christ : if they break my statutes , and keep not my commandements ; neverthelesse , my loving kindnesse will i not take from him , nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile ; my covenant will i not breake , nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips , psal . 89. 31. 33 , 34. my covenant shall stand fast with him , vers . 28. so then the covenant is made with christ , and that it was not made for our good workes , nor can we disanull it by our sinnes ; for it 's sure , perpetuall , and everlasting , heb. 13. 20. it 's not founded upon a rotten and sandy foundation , as thy selfe and duties are . oh wonder at gods wisdome and love , that it is not made with us , nor is it in our keeping , loe it 's founded upon the word & promise of an eternall god , and what ever is in god is god , god is unchangeable , micah 3. 6. therefore the covenant stands sure for ever , heb. 13. 20. but the discouraged soule still replieth ; i am perswaded i have committed the sin against the holy spirit , and that is unpardonable , heb. 6. 4. those who have committed this sin , tread under foot the sonne of god , and count the bloud of the covenant an unholy thing , and doe hate god and christ , joh. 15. 24. in that thou art afraid thou hast committed this sin , it is certain thou hast not committed it , because such as have so sinned are past feare or feeling , being given up to a reprobate sense , ephes . 4. 19. i am afraid the day of grace is past to me , and so nothing can doe me good . you must not give way to such a thought ; who knows but the lord may returne ? jonah 3. 19. is this the way thinkest thou to enjoy the assurance of his love , to nourish jealousies against his love ? surely this is not the way . shouldst thou not rather say as david did , how precious are thy thoughts to me , o god ? great is the summe of them , if i should count them , they are more then the sands , psal . 139. 17 , 18. the number of the sands are many , yet gods thoughts of love exceeds them ; be not afraid , onely beleeve , mark. 5. 36. christ received sinners , luk. 15. 1 , 2. if thou thinkest the day of grace is past , because thy sinnes are great , &c. this will not prove it : minde what god saith ; i have spred out my hand all the day to a rebellious people , that provoke me to anger continually to my face , isa . 65. 2 , 3. if thou desirest to returne to god , thy day of grace is not past , rev. 2. 20. if we confesse our sinnes , he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes , &c. 1 joh. 4. 9. i doe not beleeve i am elected , &c. so nothing can doe me good . this is a secret , and you must not meddle with gods secrets ; secret things belong to god , and revealed things to us , deut. 29. 29. it 's one of satans deceits to tell a soule that god hath no mercy for him , when the soule hath obtained mercy , or when it is not farre from him . it is certaine , these thoughts come from satan , because they are contrary to god in his word , as gen. 3. 2 , 3 , 4. it 's the nature of unbeliefe , to be inquisitive and curious to find out any pretence , that it may seeme to doe well in not harkening to what god saith in his word , heb. 10. we must not hearken unto satan , nor yeeld to him , but resist him ; meddle not with election , fix thy eye upon christ , as a sutable good for thee , who is able to save thee , and wait upon him in the use of his meanes , till he shall give thee faith , that by it thou mayst know thy selfe to be elected , act. 13. 48. but i have used the meanes , and yet i am no better , but worser , therefore god will never doe me good . are you sure you have used all gods meanes , doest thou know the number of them ? and have your ends been all good & right placed , and have you used them in a right manner , measure , time , in sinceritie , humilitie , which i question ; and have you not rested in the use of means ? have you set god above his meanes , and expected his blessing upon them , without which they could doe no good ? if thou hast not used them all in faith , say not , thou hast used the meanes ; what are all meanes without faith ? they are as a shadow without the substance , heb. 11. 1. the word they heard profited them not , for want of faith , heb. 4. 2. it is no good reason to say , because god hath not answered me , and supplied me , therefore he never will consider , isa . 64. 4. isa . 8. 17. they which had not obtained mercy did , 1 pet. 2. 10. they shall not be ashamed that wait for me , isa . 49. 23. there be many that doe satisfie themselves with the meanes , and their frequenting them , and in what they doe : that it is just with god , yea a mercy to blast all , to shew their emptinesse , that we might look and long for christ , to blesse the meanes , and be all in all unto us . men beleeve not that faith is the gift of god , and the spirits work , phil. 1. 29. so that they goe not to god in his promise for faith , but endeavour to make a faith of their own to carry to god. if thou hast a will that onely christ should save thee , god hath begun his work in thee , and he will finish it , heb. 12. 2. and one day thou shalt know thy selfe to be pardoned , and all thy sins shall be subdued . consider god may have mercy for thee , though thou knowest it not ; for mens sinnes are first forgiven , before they are to beleeve it , or can be assured of it ; for if men should beleeve , that their sins are forgiven before they be forgiven , they should beleeve that which is false ; neither can any mans beleeving make that to be , which had not a being before : faith declares to us our pardon ; but our beleeving neither pardons nor procures the pardon of any sin ; if it could , what need was there of the death of christ ? i have waited a long time , and many have received mercy since , but not i. even the lords servants have waited a long time for god , or at least they thought the time long ; david said , i am weary of my crying , my throat is dryed , mine eyes faile , while i waite for my god , psal . 69. 3. if god have given thee a heart to wait upon him , thou art blessed ; blessed are all they that wait for him , isa . 30. 18. waiting implies perseverance , patience , long-suffering , in holding out , notwithstanding the tediousnesse of the time deferred , courage in breaking through all difficulties that stand between waiting , and to continue waiting , though all things seem contrary , till we enjoy what we waited for ; i wait for my god , psal . 69. 3. i am now old in yeares , and if god had intended to have done my soule good , surely he would have done it before this time , and now death is ready to take me away . yea , though it be thus with thee , yet mercy may be thy portion at last , if mercy come at last , it will be sweet , and it may come at last . the thiefe was saved upon the crosse , mat. 20. luk. 23. oh how neere was he unto his end before mercy came unto him ! you may not set a time to god , in which he shall shew mercy , for he giveth what he will , and when he will , and will not be tyed to thy time ; it 's an exceeding great grace for god to shew mercy , though it be at the last , as he did to the thiefe upon the crosse . god hath all houres in the day to work , the last houre god useth to call some , as well as the third ; see mat. 20. 1. to 10. for there is nothing too hard for god. if i were filled with qualifications , as humblenesse , and brokennesse of heart , and tooke delight to heare and pray , as others , i could have hope , but now i cannot . alas , poore soule , thou art greatly deluded , for these things can no way fit the soule for mercy . why doest thou seek the living among the dead ? luk. 24. 5. why doest thou look at , and rest in , such things as these ? for haddest thou these in the greatest measure , they could not procure thy happinesse , nor stand thee in any stead ; oh nothing but christ can doe thy soule any good , and truly comfort thee . consider , what qualifications had they in ezekiel 16. 3. to 9. of whom god was found ? surely they had none , except sinfull ones . what , saith god ; i was found of them that sought me not , isa . 65. 1 , 2 , 3. tell me , what qualifications had they who were enemies ? yet christ died for them , rom. 5. 9 , 10. all that are saved are saved by grace , without any cause or condition in man , 2 tim. 1. 9. under colour of devotion , yee overthrow christ ; can your duties , &c. procure christ , or what use is there of christ , if yee can have what yee need without him ? yee would have power , abilitie , and inlargements before yee dare believe in christ ; oh the greatnesse of thy pride and folly ! doth not christ say true , that without me yee can doe nothing ? joh. 15. 5. as in nature none can worke before they have life ; so none can doe any thing that is spirituall , before they live spiritually . christ must be in thee before thou canst beleeve : the soule must beleeve before it can finde any sanctification , or workes at all in it selfe , yea without any regard to workes in any measure whatsoever , for there is nothing to be done by man to be a preparation to his sanctification ; see rom. 4. 5. & 5. 8. 10. thou hungerest and thirstest after a righteousnesse of thine own , and wouldst establish it , but it must be renounced . i confesse , this self-deniall is very hard ; oh , how hard is it for the soule to be taken off its own bottom of workes , and of self-concurrence ! strip them of all that is their own , and yee take away their lives ; they must and will have something , some humblenesse , and brokennesse of heart , some teares , some good workes , or abilities , or a good heart ; something they must have , for they think it cannot be , that they should be accepted , pardoned , and saved , and they to doe nothing at all themselves for it : therefore as soone as they begin to espie a flaw in what they doe , for who can say his heart is cleane ? job 25. 4. they betake themselves to breake their hearts , to make god amends for all , and thinke if they can but attaine unto such a deep measure of humiliation and sorrow for sin , then they think they have an evidence for heaven : but alas , this is no evidence , save onely of great ignorance , in that they see not death in their best duties : the lord may say to you who worke so hard for life , thou hast found the life of thy hand , therefore thou wast not grieved , isa . 57. 10. thou comfortest thy selfe in thine own sparkes , but ( sorrow is all the comfort such comfort can produce ) yee shall lie downe in sorrow , isa . 50. 11. when we say our good works are not the way to life , men esteeme it a grievous error , yet christ saith , i am the way , joh. 14. 6. are thy works christ or no ? if no , then they are not the way , for christ saith true , and if jesus christ is to be unto us all in all , col. 3. 11. our best workes are to be unto us nothing at all , our workes make us not the better before god , nor to be more beloved of god , but declare us to be what wee are made by god : the papists doe good works to be saved , but we abhorre it , because it is condemned by god , therefore all those who expect and hope for mercy , because they leave their sinnes , as they say , and do many good works ; consider what i say unto thee , alas , poore soule , thou art still in the state of nature , in the gall of bitternesse , thou art not quite plucked up off of thine own stocke of self-workes , and self-concurrence with christ , and therefore art not planted into christ , thou art ignorant of the righteousness of god , which is the cause why thou goest about to establish thine own righteousnesse , and so long as thou doest so , thou canst not submit to the righteousnesse of god , rom. 10. 13. but diddest thou know what a righteousnesse christ is , thou couldst not but have preferred it before thine own righteousnesse , yea it would be esteemed by thee but drosse and dung to his , as phil. 3. 8 , 9. and unlesse the lord jesus open thine eyes , and reveale his righteousnesse unto thee , thy righteousnesse ( which thou joynest with christs for salvation ) will of a certaine worke thy destruction unto all eternity . publicans and harlots are neerer salvation then thee , when you who worke for life are pharisees , and if you dye in this estate , you must perish , mat. 21. 31 , 32. luk. 7. 29 , 30. i know many will cavill , and say , if christ must doe all , and man nothing , then men need not care what they doe , but live as they list . answ . as it is our dutie , so it is our desire to doe whatsoever the word of god requires , but we are not commanded to doe any thing to procure the pardon of our sinnes , but in reference to service and dutie , i count my selfe to be never the neerer heaven for my best workes , then if i had done nothing else but blaspheme god. but what saith the scriptures , now to him that worketh , is the reward not reckoned of grace , but of debt , but to him that worketh not , but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly , his faith is counted for righteousnesse , rom. 4. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. wee are saved , not according to our workes , but according to his own purpose and grace , 2. tim. 1. 9. when wee were enemies , wee were reconciled to god by the death of his sonne , rom. 5. 10. i will doe away thy offences for my names sake , isa . 43. 25. a new heart also will i give thee , ezek. 36. 26 , 27. 31. i have seene his wayes , and will heale him , isa . 57. 17. i have blotted out thy sinnes , returne unto me , &c. isa . 44. 22. when thou wert polluted in thy own bloud , i said unto thee , live. when thou wert in thy bloud , thy time was the time of love , and i covered thy nakednesse , &c. ezek. 16. 6. 8. all unto whom the mystery of gods love and free grace is revealed , they cry grace , grace , christ , christ ; christ is all in all , nothing but christ , their prayers , teares , duties , devotions , and all of theirs , is nothing to them in respect of acceptation , or justification , or salvation , they are now dead to working , they doe no workes in the world to attaine any of these , all theirs is vanished , and is quite drowned in the infinite ocean of gods free grace . it is so that god might have all the glory , eph. 1. 6. jer. 9. 24. and that man might not boast , rom. 3. 9. but obey god freely , luk. 1. 74. but i have no worke of grace wrought in me . the spirit shall convince the world of sin , and of righteousnesse , joh. 16. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. god hath begun his worke in thee , if he hath convinced thee of sinne , and of righteousnesse . to be convinced of sin implies ; such a discovery of sinne which causeth the soule to see her selfe guiltie and utterly lost and undone , by reason of sin , they confesse themselves are vile , and they abhorre themselves , job 42. 6. they loath themselves for their deeds , ezek. 20. 43. este●ming themselves as beasts , psal . 73. 22. the soule is convinced , so as to have no hope , jer. 2. in any thing it can doe to helpe it selfe out of that miserable state of sin , he is undone in nature , he cannot doe any thing from whence he may expect salvation , or have any hope of it ; for a man cannot expect life and salvation from christ alone , untill the soule be taken off of all other things in respect of life . this vision of god causeth the soule to see themselves , and say , there remaineth no strength in me , my comelinesse is turned in me into corruption , dan. 10. 8. that is , my best workes , my righteousnesse is defiled , and is sinne ; now sinfull selfe , and righteous selfe are alike ( if there be any difference , the last is the worst , now the creature hath nothing to procure christ , nor no strength to beleeve in him ) the holy spirit discovers to the soule , that there is nothing but darknesse and death in our best duties . he is so convinced of sinne , that he justifieth the justice of god , if he perish in his sin , as psal . 51. 4. gen. 44. 16. see leviticus 26. 41 , 42. micah 7. 9. 2. sam. 15. 26. lam. 3. 28 , 29. it is from grace to be taken so off of nature , and he that is so taken off of nature , hath grace , is begotten and borne of god. for when the soule is taken off his own bottom , it must have another to rest upon , or else it sinkes , therefore when god takes away the soules false soundation , which was her false hope , god gives the soule a better in himselfe . the teaching and drawing of the father , joh. 6. is this , that all men have sinned , and are in an estate of death , and that in christ there is a ransome , in which is life and all happinesse , and that this jesus and all that he hath done is for him . when the soule hath heard and learned this , there is a power goeth with this teaching , which carrieth the soule by faith to christ beleeving in him ; for the teaching of the father and faith goeth together ; every one that hath heard and learnt of the father commeth unto me , joh. 6. so that to convince the soule of righteousnesse , is to be convinced of christ , to reveale jesus christ to the soule , that in him onely is helpe , and in his righteousnesse is deliverance ; i have laid help upon one that is mightie , psal . 89. 19. isa . 63. 1. so fix and settle the eye of the soule upon christs righteousnesse onely , at least putting the soule under the hope of it ; for as soone as god hath stripped the soule of all hope in and from it selfe , he turnes the soule to christ , and puts it under hope , ezek. 16. 5 , 6. when the soule seeth nothing but death , god saith , live , ezek. 16. 6. and when the soule is a going downe into the pit , god saith , stay , hearken , i have found a ransome for thee , job 34. 23 , 24. christ calls , come to me , and be saved , and the power of god goeth along with this call , workes faith , carrieth the soule to christ as his own , having possession of him . when this is manifested to the soul , faith acts in the love of god in pardoning his sinne , greatly wondering at the greatnesse of his goodnesse , or astonished with the glory of his present condition , the heart being taken up , as luk. 1. 41. 43. though for the measure of it , it is not in all alike . for the first , to be convinced of sinne then is more then a bare notion that it hath sinned , for this may be in one that rests in themselves , and in something else besides christ , and perish in this condition ; for by the letter of the law , and the light of reason , men may see and say they have sinned ; as saul and judas did : but those the spirit convinces of sinne , they are convinced to purpose , because it is thorowly ; the spirit shall convince the world of sin , joh. 16. 8. the spirit discovers to the soule that she hath chosen something else besides christ , upon which the soule resteth , and satisfieth her selfe withall , and expects mercy and comfort from by reason of them , and that they are her best services , and other lying vanities , as groundles hopes , peace , joy , comfort &c. telling the soule that there is nothing but death and darknesse in them , and that if the soule rest in any of them , there is nothing but death and destruction for them ; and there is a secret power of god which goeth along with this teaching , which turneth the soule from darknesse , viz. selfe , satan , and all lying vanities , to light , to christ , where life is , the spirit reveales to the soule a sufficiency of life in christ , and it needs seek life in nothing else ; also the spirit of god perswades a soule that this life is for him , therefore he is to look to christ for it , and wait upon him for pardon and life , and that the soule shall not lose her waiting , and so be deceived , but shall certainly have it at last , isa . 57. 13. these things must be wrought in truth , and in a measure in every soule that hath grace , though for the measure of this , it is not in all alike ; for in some it is in a small measure , as it was in those who are named to be carnall , and not spirituall , yet then they were babes in christ , therefore their state was happy , & safe , 1 cor. 3. 1. 3. but when this is wrought in any measure , in the same time faith is wrought , and as the measure of this worke is wrought in the soule , more or lesse , in the same measure faith is wrought in the soule , and as it appeares to the soule , so accordingly faith appeares to the soule : and when the soule seeth it selfe to be lost by reason of sin , and seeth all to be in christ for life , and is taken off from resting upō any thing else besides christ , and to expect all from christ , resting upon christ , though this be but in the smallest measure wrought in the soule , now this instant time faith is wrought , jesus christ is formed in the soule , and the soule is converted ; for this teaching of the father and faith are inseparable , joh. 6. 45. 47. i cannot beleeve . it is not in the power of the creature to beleeve in christ , phil. 1. 29. therefore look not upon faith as a worke of thine own , nor is faith any condition of the covenant required on thy part ; for as the covenant of grace is not made with man , but with christ , as appeares , psal . 89. 27 , 28 , 29 , 30. nor is there any condition in the covenant of grace required on mans part , neither is there any thing to be done by man to cause him to have an interest in the covenant of grace , or to partake of it , for the covenant of grace and life by christ is every way free and unconditionall on mans part , else how doth it differ from a covenant of works , if there were any thing to be done by us to have interest in it ? and if faith were a condition required on our part to partake of the covenant , or else not , i see not but we are now in as bad a condition as to be under the covenant of works , it being as hard and impossible for man of himselfe to beleeve in christ , as it is to keep the whole law , as the scripture declares . how hard it is to beleeve , the experience of many can testifie , to beleeve is a fruit of the spirit , gal. 5. 22. we must be in christ , before wee can beare fruit , joh. 15. 4. therefore we must be in christ , before wee can beleeve ; he that hath the spirit of christ hath christ , wee have the spirit of christ before wee beleeve , therefore we have christ before we beleeve , rom. 8. 9 , 10 , 11. men are ordained unto eternall life before they beleeve , acts 13. 48. faith is a grace of the covenant on gods part to be given to those who are given to christ ; faith is given to some , that by it they may know their interest in christ , and by it live upon him : faith is no condition of the covenant , therefore they mistake who conceive faith to be a condition of the covenant , either required on mans part to partake of the covenant of grace , or given to men , and then required of them as a condition ; although the scripture expresseth , that he that beleeves shall be saved , yet is not faith any condition of salvation ; but such expressions are to be considered as a declaration to us what persons shall be saved , viz. such as beleeve : it is an information to such as know not who shall be saved , and if any desire to know who shall be saved ; the answer is , he that beleeves shall be saved , joh. 3. 16. if faith did give us interest in christ , when faith did not appeare to act , it would appeare to us , that we had no interest in christ , and that wee were not justified by him . i know not whether i am bidden to beleeve or no , for some shall not be saved , and if i be one of them , if i should beleeve i should be saved by christ , i should beleeve a lye ▪ the gospel declares that whosoever beleeves in christ shall be saved , joh. 3. 16. therefore those who beleeve , cannot be any of them that shall perish ; and the word saith , be that beleeveth not , is condemned already , joh. 3. 18. and shall not see life . what god saith is truth , and truth ought to be beleeved , and whatsoever is contrary to truth , no man is bound to beleeve , therefore no unregenerate man is commanded to beleeve the forgivenesse of his sinnes in any other way then gods word holds forth forgivenesse of sinnes , which is , he that beleeves shall be saved , and have everlasting life . men are commanded to beleeve they shall have benefit by christ , life and salvation by christ , if they beleeve , joh. 3. 16. and no man is commanded to beleeve he shall be saved by christ , whether he beleeves or no ; for this is contrary to the word which saith , he that beleeves not , is condemned already , joh. 3. 18. no man is to beleeve that which is not true , yet this hinders not , but all that see an absolute necessitie of christ , shall enjoy him , & they ought not to distrust in him , but to cast away all their doubts and feares , and beleeve in him , and rest upon him for ever , as simon peter said to christ , master to whom shall we goe ? thou hast the words of eternall life , joh. 6. 67 , 68. but i have no love to christ , i am an enemie to christ , i am not fit for christ . the reason thou doest not love christ , is because thou seest not thy sinnes to be pardoned by christ , didst thou know he loves thee , thou wouldst love him , the love of christ would constraine thee to love him , 2 cor. 5. 14. we love him , because he first loved us , 1 joh. 4. 19. doest thou apprehend thy selfe to be an enemy to god ? so were all those once that ever did beleeve , ephes . 2. 12 , 13. while we were enemies , wee were reconciled to god by the death of his sonne , rom. 5. 8. 10. enemies cannot discerne christ , yet god gives christ to such . thou canst not fit thy selfe for christ , & if thou seest such a necessity of christ , as without him thou art undone ; thou desirest christ , and goest to christ ; he that commeth to me , i will in no wise cast out , joh. 6. 37. hearken what christ saith , you shall speed , you have the promise of christ , which is security sufficient to satisfie thy soule ; for christ is in you , and no man can hunger and thirst after righteousnesse , viz. christ , but such as are blessed , mat. 5. 6. and the spirit of god dwels in you , and christ is in you , and they that are led by the spirit of god out of themselves to christ , for light , and life , and strength , are the children of god , rom. 8. 9 , 10 , 11 , 14. indeed , there are many sweet promises in the word , but they are all for beleevers , but i am none . i grant none may apply a promise of life , but onely such as beleeve , yet the promises are for all the elect , thou knowest not but thou art one of them , & when god shall please to give thee faith , thou shalt know thy interest in them , act. 13. 48. in the meane time , stay thy selfe with this , that the lord jesus gave himselfe for enemies , and justifieth the ungodly , rom. 4. 5. whilest wee were yet sinners , christ dyed for us : while we were enemies , we were reconciled to god by the death of his sonne , rom. 5. 8. 10. therefore be not discouraged , god may save thee also . the lord saith , i will have mercy upon her that hath not obtained mercy , and i will say to them which were not my people , thou art my people , and they shall say , thou art my god , hos . 2. 23. oh sweet place ! therefore by no meanes yeeld not to thy feares , nourish no jealousies against god , but resolve in christs strength to cleave to his word , as psal . 119. 49. and here hold , saying , my beloved is mine , and i am his , song 2. 16. i would gladly beleeve , but i dare not . thou shouldst not admit nor give way to any discouragement to hinder thy going to christ , seeing christ cryed , saying , if any man thirst , let him come to mee and drinke , joh. 7. 37. the spirit and the bride say , come , and whosoever will , let him come , rev. 22. 17. the lord takes pleasure in them that feare him , and in them that hope in his mercy , psal . 147. 11. he will not quench the smoaking flax , mat. 12. 20. from whence is thy feare , sure it is occasioned or much increased by them who bid persons beleeve , & forbid them againe by their saying , take heed what you doe , you may be deceived ? it is not so easie a matter to beleeve , you must first be so sensible of sin , and so humbled for it , &c. before you may beleeve . now they conceit , they are not so and so qualified , therefore they dare not beleeve : also they are scared with the many things hypocrites may doe , how farre they may goe , and so set them short of hypocrites ; which must needs discourage them , yet the word of god requires no such teaching , for men to learne before they may beleeve ; for when the soule seeth it selfe lost by reason of sinne , and is at a stand , not knowing what to doe , the first thing they are to doe , is to beleeve in jesus christ , as appeares , acts 16. 31. the word requires nothing of them before they may beleeve , therefore wee may not , for none may presume above what is written . if thou desirest to beleeve , thy will is in part regenerated , and thou doest in some measure beleeve , though weakly , as he did that said , lord , i beleeve , help my unbeliefe , mark. 9. 24. gods servants are described by a desire to feare his name , nehe. 1. 11. psal . 145. 19. psal . 147. 11. there can be no desires without faith , 1 pet. 2. 2 , 3. a man cannot desire that which he beleeves not to be ; so heb. 11. 6. many give god their hearts , and doe not know it , and so are troubled , because they do not know what is meant by the heart , nor where it is seated . i speak not of the heart of flesh , rom. 8. 5 , 6 , 7. there is a carnall minde and a spirituall minde in men , i speake of the heart mystically and spiritually , which is principally seated in the will , so that what it wills or desires , there is the heart , and to that which the will most wills or desires , to that is the bent of the heart unto . now if the soule were to have its choice of every thing , that one thing that the soule should chuse , would any question whether they loved it , and that their hearts were not unto it ? for as no soule can be sensible of the want of christ , untill the soule be possessed of him , rom. 8. 10 , 11. so no soule can desire christ above all things in the world , if they might have their choice , unlesse christ have their hearts , and they dearly love him , and beleeve in him ; for christ is precious to them that beleeve , 1 pet. 2. 7. and to none else . so the seat of faith is in the heart , which is in the understanding , and will , but more principally in the will , so that if our wills be renewed , our hearts are renewed , rom. 8. 5 , 6. paul saith , to will is present with me ; good i would doe ; so then with my minde i serve the law of god , rom. 7. 18 , 19. with 21. 25. it appeares that the will is one with the minde , and the heart is one with them , these three are one , and alwayes goe together , and are alike spirituall . christ saith , where your treasure is , there will your heart be also , mat. 6. 21. that is , the mind and affections : and by affections in eph. 3. 2. is meant the heart , for the heart and affections are one thing . there be them that beleeve , and yet they know not whether they beleeve or no : so that it is possible for them to call their faith unbeliefe , as the blind man did , mark. 9. 24. lord help my unbeliefe ; which must not be understood of unbeliefe , for it is not a lawfull request to pray that sin may be increased , for unbeliefe is a sin , and the ground or cause of the soules departing from god , as heb. 3. 12. many mistake faith , some have thought , comfort , joy , or ravishments of soule with god , to be faith , and so have concluded , because they had not them , they had no faith . it is not mens beleeving , but the object of faith , that gives faith its denomination , or name , for there be divers kinds of faith ; there is a naturall faith , as luk. 8. 13. and a divine faith , or the faith of gods elect , titus 1. 1. faith and its object is not to be separated , because faith and its object is one and the same , it is too strict therefore to give a distinction or definition of faith without its object . he that beleeveth that jesus christ is the sonne of god shall be saved . all is included in this , he that beleeves this , must 1. know christ to be the anointed , luk. 23. the saviour of his people from their sinnes , mat. 1. 21. 2. to beleeve in christ , to rest upon him , to live or stay upon the lord , pro. 3. 5. to beleeve in him , rom. 10. 9. 11. psal . 17. 6. to cleave to god , deut. 30. 20. joh. 23. 6. acts 11. 23. psal . 119. 30 , 31. to hope in him , psal . 147. 11. 3. to own and confesse christ ; simon said , thou art the christ , the sonne of the living god , mat. 16. 16. rom. 10. 9. any man may say , that jesus christ is the sonne of god , yea the devils confesse this ; i know thee who thou art , jesus christ the sonne of god , therefore this cannot be the faith of gods elect , and so not the faith of the gospel . 1. there are three things to be considered in the nature of faith ; first , illumination ; secondly , for the soule to trust in christ for pardon and life ; and the third is the application of him . the first , is when a man consents to the word , that it is true , and this is called faith , and this the devill doth ; thou beleevest there is one god , thou doest well , the devill doth so , james 2. mark. 5. 8. acts 16. 17. the second , is to beleeve that jesus is the christ ; which implies a seeing and knowing all to be in christ for life and salvation , and so to rest upon him for it ; he that thus beleeves in christ , is brought by christ over to christ , and so centred upon him , that he will never goe from him , joh. 6. 58. my soule wait thou on god , for my expectation is from him , psal . 62. 5. and this no devill never did . the third , is to beleeve with an application of christ as their own in particular , therefore to beleeve in christ , is more then an illumination , or a saying so , or reformation ; for where faith comes , old things are done away , and they are new creatures , there is a light set up in that soule , now they know all is by christ , and that there is no way or meanes of life , but by christ , and close with christ , and rest upon him . secondly , the scriptures cleerly prove that to beleeve that jesus christ is the sonne of god , is the faith of the gospel , for the word of god is the ground of faith , and the soules salvation depends upon the truth of what god saith , and faith looks onely to what god saith , and rests upon it ▪ and sets to its seale that god is true . and that so to beleeve that jesus christ is the sonne of god , is the faith of the gospel , i prove by these reasons . 1. because this is the faith which the apostles preached and witnessed unto , and the faith which is recorded unto us in the scriptures , acts 18. 28. 1 joh. 2. 22. 2. because none can say ( knowingly ) that jesus is the lord , but by the spirit , 1 cor. 12. 3. 3. because upon the profession of this faith , christ builds his church , mat. 16. 16. 18. 4. upon the profession of this faith the baptisme of christ is dispensed , as act. 8. 37. 5. they who have this faith dwell in god , and god in them , 1 joh. 4. 15. 6. this faith flesh and bloud cannot reveale , but god reveales it to the soule , mat. 16. 16 , 17. 7. such are borne of god ; whosoever beleeves that jesus is the christ , is borne of god , 1 joh. 5. 1. 8. this is the faith that overcommeth the world , 1 joh. 5. 4 , 5. 9. because such as have this faith are pronounced blessed , mat. 16. 17. and shall never dye , joh. 11. 25 , 26. 10. because he that hath this faith shall be saved ; if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the lord jesus , and shalt beleeve in thy heart , that god hath raised him from the dead , thou shalt be saved , rom. 10. 9. jesus said , i am the resurrection , and the life , & whosoever beleeveth in me , shall never dye ; beleevest thou this ? shee said unto him , yea lord , i beleeve that thou art the christ the sonne of god , &c. joh. 11. 25 , 26 , 27. to beleeve this record , implies an assent that it is truth , with a resting or hoping to have interest in it , to be made one with it , is faith , though it be a lesser degree , ( then a full and certain assurance of life by him for himselfe in particular ) see isa . 45. 21 , 22. those in mat. 5. 3 , 4 , 5. who mourne , and hunger , and thirst after christ are blessed , and shall be satisfied , though they want the application of christ ; therefore besides the illumination which wicked men and devils may have as well as a beleever , there is a two-fold act of faith , the first is a direct act to beleeve christ is , in whom is life , &c. this is to beleeve the record god hath given concerning his sonne , and that he came into the world to save sinners , 1 tim. 1. 15. 2. chron. 20. 12. look unto me and be saved , isai . 45. 22. and so trust in christ for life from a hope of mercy , but this hope is without a certainty ; these are blessed , as appeares mat. 16. 17. turne ye to the strong hold ye prisoners of hope , zach. 9. 12. secondly , the reflect act of faith , which is ( to beleeve christ came to save them from their sinnes , as mat. 1. 23. ) to know i beleeve ; he that hath this measure or degree of faith , trusts in christ from a knowledge of an interest in him , we beleeve and are sure , joh. 6. 69. he that hath this act of faith , hath the former , but there be some which have the first act of faith , but have not attained the second , yet their hearts are turned unto christ , and fixed upon him , and they long for him , hope in him , and rest upon him alone for life and salvation , these have faith , which causeth them to depend on christ , which none can doe but such as are possessed with christ , though at present they may not know it , yet are they blessed , mat. 5. 6. and in his name they doe trust , mat. 12. 21. the apostle saith , these things have i written unto you that beleeve on the name of the sonne of god , that yee may know that yee have eternall life , and that yee may beleeve on the name of the sonne of god , 1 joh. 5. 13. so that these words declare they did but weakly beleeve , and that they did not know that they were possessed with eternall life , ( yet they were ) therefore they had not that particular knowledge , or assurance of the love of god , yet did beleeve in christ . some conceive they have no grace , because they never had so deep a measure of sorrow for sin as some others have , &c. the word of god declares that those that beleeved had not one and the same measure of sorrow ; the scripture declares no sorrow in lydia receiving the word , act. 16. 14. but it is said that the jaylor trembled , being in feare , act. 16. 29. the word of god is to be our rule , isa . 8. 20. and not mens conceits . the greatest measure of sorrow , griefe , feare , terror for sinne , that ever any had , made them not to be loved of god , nor to obtain mercy from god ; nor did sensiblenesse of sin ever drive the soule to christ , but ever from christ : as peters sensiblenesse of his sin , caused him to bid christ to depart from him , lord depart from me , for i am a sinfull man , luk. 5. 8. therefore a deep sensiblenesse of sin hinders the soule in beleeving of christ , and drives it further from christ . thou hast no cause to complain , if god deales more gently with thee , then he doth with some others ; it's a great mistake to thinke that god delights in slavish feares or teares . what is the greatest sensiblenesse of sin worth that proceeds not from faith , and floweth not from the apprehension of pardon & love , in so evill requiting god , look not to sensiblenesse of sinne , but to christ , thy very sensiblenesse of sin is not free from sin , and it deserves nothing but death , but in christ is life . if thou wert ever fatherlesse , which is for the soule to be stripped of all , that none of thy workes , nor means , nor men , nor angels , nor nothing besides jesus christ can stand thee in any stead , nor satisfie thee , being resolved to wait upon christ , untill he please to manifest his free love in pardoning thy sinnes ; this is the worke of god in thee , yea this is a great and sweet work of the gospel , and such a work as never was in any , but such as shall be saved . if thou renouncest all thy own sufficiency , so as thy best duties cannot satisfie thee , certain it is there is a better sufficiency come in place . i feare my faith is not the faith of gods elect , because it is attended with so many doubtings . feares and doubtings are no fruits of faith , but of unbeliefe , and as feares and doubts increase , the stronger is unbeliefe in the soule ; so the soule is ready to judge that where so great unbeliefe is , there is no faith : yet the scriptures declare that in those who had true faith , the faith of gods elect , yet at the same time have had much unbeliefe also in them , so as they have been filled with doubts and feares , joh. 13. 1. and from hence it was that he in mark. 9. 24. called his faith unbeliefe , because he was sensible of his great unbeliefe : and was not unbeliefe strong in thomas , when he said , he would not beleeve ? joh. 20. 24 , 25. and seeing that a child of god may have true faith , notwithstanding they may also have many feares and doubtings , thou knowest not but the cause may be so with thee , therefore take heed that yee deny not your selves to have faith , lest yee call weak faith , no faith , and light , darknesse , and grace , sin ; for to doe so is very evill ; woe unto them that call evill good , and good evill , that put darknesse for light , and light for darknesse , that put bitter for sweet , and sweet for bitter , isa . 5. 20. those that put faith for unbeliefe doe so ; pray to god to strengthen thy faith , as he did , mark. 9. 24. and use meanes to remove such things as strengthen unbeliefe , and hinder the sight of thy faith ; as ignorance is one cause of doubting , also an over-sensiblenesse of infirmities , sleighting gods meanes , neglect of duty , or a formall performance , or nourishing sinne more or lesse , pronenesse to sin , harkening to satan , to sense , to carnall reasonings , nourishing feare and unbeliefe , &c. also endeavour to doe that which is a means to strengthen thy faith , know the perfection of the state of a beleever in christ , in which the weakest and most imperfect beleever , is as perfect , as much justified , accepted , and as happy as the best , live upon christ alone , make choice of and mind the sutablest promises for thee to feed and strengthen thy faith , walk with god , pray in faith , aske his spirit , and thou shalt have it , luk. 11. 23. this spirit will revive , and fill thy soule with joy and peace in beleeving , and make thee so wise and strong ( in his time ) that thou shalt not cast away thy confidence any more , heb. 10. 34. and as gods love ( which is perfect , full , free , ) is discovered to thy soule in the same measure thy doubts and feares are cast out ; for perfect love casts out feare . and although you are to use meanes , yet meanes are but means , not causes of increase of grace , it 's the operation of the spirit of god in the soule , which is as god pleaseth , therefore looke up to god for faith . i feare my faith is but presumption . i feare the ground of this is thy not knowing , or not minding what faith is , and what presumption is . what faith is , see objection 15. and concerning presumption , this word may be understood in a twofold consideration ; first , for such a confidence as is without a ground ; or secondly , against a ground . for the first , he that presumes he hath a confidence of pardon , but it is without any ground , he hath no word of god for his confidence , and it may be he can give no reason at all for his confidence , much lesse a good reason : that this discouragement may be answered , and removed , consider wherein faith and presumption differs . he that presumes , he hath no ground , no word of god for his confidence , here confidence is fetched from their own conceits , they seek no life in christ , his word , and promise . 1. but he that truly beleeves in christ , his confidence is from the word ; wee through the scriptures have hope , rom. 15. 4. in his word doe i hope , psal . 130. 5. but i hope in thy word , psal . 119. 81. 2. he that truly beleeves in christ , doth not receive any promise of life , but in and through christ in the riches of his grace . but he that presumes if he receives a promise he receives it upon his qualifications , without respect to christ , and he gathers conclusions of life from what they are and can doe , their own righteousnesse was never to them as drosse and dung , as phil. 3. 8. so they depend upon their faith , and not upon christ by faith : the ground of their confidence is , because they are so good , or not so bad as others , as the proud pharisee , but he was never fatherlesse , hos . 14. 3. nor did they ever receive the sentence of death in themselves , 2 cor. 1. 9. so they were ever confident , and it was ever very easie for them to beleeve . 3. he that beleeves , his hope and trust is onely in god , and they hope in his mercy ; the eyes of the lord are upon them that hope in his mercy , psal . 33. 18. 21. 22. and this is the work of god to perswade the heart to rest upon the free mercy of god in christ , psal . 13. 5. psal . 33. 18. i trust in the mercy of god for ever and ever , psal . 52. 8. with the lord there is mercy , psal . 130. 7. god is rich in mercy , eph. 2. 4. presumption cannot doe so , joh. 12. 37. 1 pet. 19. 20. joh. 6. 28 , 29. for the second , so the confidence of the presumer is contrary to the word of god , the word approves of no such confidence , but protests against them and their confidence , as appeares , jer. 7. 9. 15. so their presumption hardens them , and makes them bold to venture upon sinful practises , as lying , stealing , drunkennesse , uncleannesse , cheating , and the like , as theirs was , jer. 7. 9. &c. 4. he that truly beleeves , abhorres that which is evill , and cleaves to that which is good , rom. 12. 9. every man that hath this hope in him , purifieth himselfe as he is pure , 1 ●oh . 3. 3. purifying their hearts by faith , acts 15. 9. the grace of god teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts , and to live soberly , righteously , and godly in this present world , tit. 2. 11 , 12. christ is precious to them that beleeve , 1 pet. 2. 7. they count all things but losse for christ , and for him they will suffer the losse of all things , as phil. 3. 8. yet many there be who say they are confident , &c. and yet they dare not speak for jesus christ , his truth , his servants , &c. these are far from suffering the losse of all things for him : so others can hold arminianisme , and free-will , setting themselves and their endeavours above god , and his grace , in affirming that notwithstanding all the grace god affords to any man , yet unlesse man shall please to will and improve it well , ( for as they say he may choose whether he will or no ) it shall never be effectuall to him ; if it be so , they may thank god for his grace , without which they can doe nothing , but much more themselves , for saving themselves ; for others had as much grace as they ( as they say judas had ) shall be damned , and they had been damned also , if they had not willed well , &c. and it was in their power and choice , whether they would will well or no : which is so contrary to the scriptures ; so then it is not of him that willeth , nor of him that runneth , but of god that sheweth mercy , rom. 9. 16. not that we are sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing of our selves , but our sufficiency is of god , 2 cor. 3. 5. surely all those who have tasted of gods free grace , cannot but admire it , and be thankfull for it , and loath with the greatest indignation whatsoever shall intrench upon it , although it were but in the least degree . i have no grace , because i grow not in grace , my life is not holy , nor am i like unto others who are the lords . doest thou know thy age or degree in grace ? what , art thou a child , or a yong man , or a father ? 1 joh. 2. 12 , 13. there is a great difference between a childe and a man in nature , so great is the difference between a babe in christ , 1 cor. 3. 1. and a man in christ , 1 joh. 2. 13. also confider if thou canst , whether if thou beest a babe in the wombe , or borne , heb. 5. 13. he is a babe , as a childe is begotten and alive while it is in the wombe , before it be borne ; so thou maist be begotten from above , and alive , before thou canst be borne . christ must first be formed in us , before we can be new borne babes , gal. 4. 18. 1 pet. 2. 2. and when thou art delivered out of the state of bondage , which is a place of darknesse , of feares concerning thy soule , thou art not borne and brought forth ; and as the wombe is a place of bondage , so here ; and therefore canst not doe that service others doe : if thou beest but new borne , there cannot that be expected from thee , as there is from a man in christ ; as there is a difference between a childe and a man in nature , so there is here ; learne to distinguish between the grace it selfe , and the exercise of it ; it 's not the having of grace , but the exercise of it , which attaines to a holy conversation , by the operation of the spirit ; and when a soule is delivered from its enemies , as satan , terrors , wrath , curse , it 's borne , being delivered we serve , luk. 1. 47. deliverance is before working : the time of doubting is a barren time , men cannot fight and worke at the same time . regeneration consists in being begotten to the lord , to have union with him , joh. 17. 22. 23. 19. and for god to convey his power into the soule , by which it is made conformable to the will of christ , and lives by faith in the sonne of god , gal. 2. 20. is another thing in some of the lords : the first is , where the latter is not , at least in the degrees of it ; beleevers are of severall growths and states ; as , first , babes , children ; secondly , young men ; thirdly , fathers , 1 joh. 2. 12 , 13. can babes work ? and yet if they die in that estate , they shall not misse of glory . 1 job . 2. 12. it is one thing to be justified , and another to be sanctified , so it is one thing to live , another to be borne , and to worke is distinct from both : there is as much difference between some of the lords , as there is betwixt willing and doing ; some are termed carnall , 1 cor. 3. 1. others spirituall . thou maist be begotten , but not borne , ( if in bondage ) and then it is not the season of growing , as another season is . if thou beest ignorant , or in temptation , thy understanding is clouded , and thy heart being distempered with feare , so as job 23. 8 , 9. and thou art not fit to judge of thy growth ; is a new borne babe , 1 pet. 2. 2. fit to judge of its growth ? also consider , it may be , thou art in gods way , and so thou doest not use his meanes , or not rightly ; consider psal . 1. 3. with song 4. 12. there thou shalt grow . i am much tempted by satan , that i have no grace . satan tempts christs babes to cast away their confidence , which is forbidden , heb. 10. 35. therefore if satan tell yee , that yee have no faith , thou maist reply , if i have it not in the act to my knowledge , i may have it in the grace it selfe ; if he say that he knows , and you know you have no grace at all . reply , the devill knows not , and if i should thinke so i may be deceived ; as fire raked up in ashes appeares not , and gives neither light nor heat , so corruption doth hide and obscure grace , 1 cor. 3. 1. and if i have no grace , why let yee me not alone , as yee doe others , and as yee did me when i tooke my fill of sin ? then ye told me i had faith , when i had none , i have found yee a lyer , therefore i will not hearken unto you , and i am the more confident i have grace , because ye tell me i have none , he is a lyer , and the father of it , joh. 8. 44. but suppose i have no grace , there is no reason why i should despaire , because every one of the lords were once without grace in the estate of nature ; at that time yee were without christ , being aliens from the common-wealth of israel , strangers , &c. having no hope , and withou● god in the world , but now in christ jesus yee who sometimes were afar off , are made nigh by the bloud of christ , eph. 2. 12 , 13. which in time past were not a people , but are now the people of god , which had not obtained mercy , but now have obtained mercy , 1 pet. 2. 10. many are ordained unto eternall life , which did not actually beleeve , nor had any grace at all ; i nor any doe not know , but i may be one of them also , therefore i know no reason to despaire , nor will despaire doe me any good , it is better to use the means , wait upon god , trust him with my soule , if mercy come i shall be happy , and shall have cause to praise him . there is nothing too hard for god , lord , if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane , jer. 32. 17. mat. 8. 2. i cannot pray , nor doe any thing to purpose , therefore i have no grace . unbeliefe deads the heart , and hinders thy living upon christs strength . it is so with thee , that thou mightst see a need of christ , joh. 15. 5. and live upon him , who hath promised to be a full supply to his . if god hath given thee a desire to obey him , say not it is nothing , because god saith it's something , 2 cor. 8. to 11. he gives this , and if this be all thou hast , it is accepted , vers . 12. and he will grant thy desire ; he will fulfill the desire of them that feare him , he also will heare their cry , and will save them , psal . 119. 19. christ will not quench the smoaking fl●x , isai . 42. when we see no fire , we know there is fire by the smoake ; holy desires cannot be in a soule that hath no grace , psal . 145. 19. desire after grace is an act of spirituall life ; an act is from a faculty , a faculty is from life and being , a dead man cannot desire , none can desire that which they beleeve not to be , nor that they doe not love ; desires if spirituall they flow from faith & love , and are a part of what it desires . a will to obey , may be all that a beleever can find in himselfe at some time ; to will is present with me , but how to performe that which is good i find not ; for the good i would i doe not , but the evill i would not , that i doe , rom. 7. 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. presse after obedience to god , yet know our greatest holinesse cannot justifie us before god ; for by grace are yee saved through faith , and that not of your selves , &c. not of workes , lest any man should boast , ephes . 2. 8 , 9. even the strongest of the lords , are but weake creatures , and the highest perfection they can attaine unto in this life , is a fight of our imperfections , and a desire and endeavour to obey , and to live upon christ by faith ; see phil. 2. 12 , 13. and was not paul one of the most strongest beleevers ? see rom. 8. 37 , 38 , 39. yet what saith he of himselfe , and his words are the word of god ; that which i doe i allow not , for what i would , that i doe not , but what i ha●e , that doe i : to will is present with me , &c. rom. 7. 14. to 25. he had no power to doe what he would , yet he lived by faith in the sonne of god , gal. 2. 20. i find no willingnesse to duties , i find no relish in them , so that i often omit them . unwillingnesse to duties , argueth much corruption , from whence omissions often flow . god may have begun his work in thee , although it be thus with thee , it may arise from divers causes , as from unbeliefe , doubting of acceptance of person and dutie ; and it 's no wonder , if such have little list to obey ; also eying infirmities , and not christ also with them , and not exercising grace , especially faith ; little love to christ , loving temporall things , deads the heart , and makes it carnall , weaknesse of grace , or from gods not affording present strength , sloath and ease that slayeth the soule , undiscreet doing duties out of their season , ignorance of the nature of duties , and what god requires in some causes , ignorance of the sweetnesse of spirituall duties . so the soules sicknesse , which hinders the soules relish of spirituall things : also weaknesse of body is a great enemy to action ; my flesh and my heart fayles , but god is the strength of my heart , and my portion for ever , psal . 73. 26. he never fayles . surely , i am deceived , i have no grace , because i am not able to subdue my passions . this declares rather weaknesse of grace , then otherwise , and it 's certain , it is not from a want of truth of grace , if thou doest that which thou wouldst not , as rom. 7. 14. to 25. in our selves we are imperfect at the best , gal. 6. 1. the strongest is not able to stand alone ; also some of the lords partake more of naturall choler , which increaseth naturally , and as that choler is , we are more or lesse hasty and passionate . a wicked man may be naturally patient , and a childe of god may be sinfully passionate , jam. 5. 17. thou shouldst not measure gods love to thee , nor the truth of his grace in thee by thy mortification of sin , consider rom. 7. god may for ends best knowne unto himselfe , suffer corruption to be too strong for thee , it may be , to abase thee more , as paul , rom. 7. that thou maist see what need thou hast of a lord jesus to pardon and heale thee ; who knoweth but god may leave thy personall sanctification the more imperfect , that we may minde and behold jesus christ , and our righteousnesse in him , and so live the more in him , and our joy the more in our justification by him ? rom. 4. 6 , 7. it 's one thing to have thy sinnes forgiven , or not imputed , psal . 32. 1 , 2. and another thing to be clensed from it ; live in the apprehension of the love of god , and down goeth sin , and all discouragements , so live in discouragements , and sinne prevailes , as psal . 77. 2. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. wee ought not to fetch our comfort from our subduing of sinne , but in christ , in whom we want no righteousnesse , 1 cor. 1. 30. christ is ours , and we are christs , and christ is gods. when we are at the best , we may not live in our selves , nor by sight , but by faith , and when we are at the worst , we are to live upon christ by saith , and comfort our selves in him , and in him onely : many when they want strength or comfort , they seek what they want from their duties , and comfort themselves in their abstainings from sin , but for christ he is not in all their thoughts , psal . 10. 4. what i once felt is now decayed . the ground of our faith is god in his word , and not our sight and feeling , that is sensuall , 2 cor. 5. 7. we live not by sight ( and feeling ) but by faith . whilst thou maintainest feares and jealousies of gods love to thee , it is no wonder it is so with thee : call to minde the dayes of old ; as psal . 77. it 's certain , if ever god manifested his love unto thee , he is still and ever will be the same unto thee , having loved his owne , he loved them unto the end , joh. 13. 1. with him there is no variablenesse or shadow of turning , jam. 1. 17. a child of god may decay in parts , sight , feelings , and exercise of grace for a time , as phil. 4. 10. these are sometimes more and sometimes lesse , but alwayes as god seeth best , that wee might rest and relie upon nothing but christ . i see and feele nothing in my selfe , or all is as nothing to me , save onely jesus christ , who is all in all to me . we ought to beleeve that we neither see nor feele ; faith is the evidence of things not seene , heb. 11. 1. to live by faith , is to walke after the spirit , and to live by sight and feeling , is to live after the flesh , rom. 8. 1. i am discouraged , because nothing is made good to me , i doe not possesse it . if thou beest included , and art under the promise of it , and under the hope of it , thou shalt possesse it . it may be made good unto thee , without thy possession of it , for wee must not ground faith in the possession of what it beleeves , possession is sutable to sense , and there is neither faith nor hope in what we possesse . to have right in it , and to possesse it , are two things , they died in faith , and yet they did not possesse what they beleeved , heb. 11. 17 , 18. the possessiō of things gives no being unto faith , nor is essentiall unto it , no otherwise then as faith gives being unto it . abraham beleeved he should have a sonne ; here was his faith , rom. 4. 3. 17. 18. yet he did not possesse his sonne , his sonne had no being but in the promise of god , therefore to place enjoyment to be essentiall to faith , is a very great mistake . as a man must first beleeve god is , before he can goe to god , heb. 11. 6. so a man must first beleeve in christ , to have remission of sinnes by him , and after receive remission of sinnes , as appeares , acts 10. 43. it thou hast power to close with god in the truth of his word , as sarah did , that shee should have a sonne , not onely before shee had him , but against reason shee beleeved shee should have him , thou hast faith . but i am not assured that i shall be saved , therefore i have no faith . faith and assurance , is not one thing , but are differing and distinct ; assurance cannot be without faith , but faith may be without assurance ; for assurance is not the proper act of faith ; assurance is an effect of faith , and a higher measure then that is , and the greater our feeling of assurance is , the lesser our faith is . faith in the act is an assenting or cleaving to the truth and faithfulnesse of god in his promise , not from any thing shee feeles in her selfe ▪ but from something it apprehends in god , in his word , rom. 4. 20 , 21 , 22. the act of faith is sometimes attended with much strife and strugling , for satan saith to the soule , it 's in vaine for thee to looke to christ , to beleeve in christ , christ saith , come unto me , beleeve i will ease thee . now for the soule to rest upon the fidelitie and abilitie of christ in his promise , is no small measure of faith : assurance is not from the habit of grace , nor from the direct act of faith , but from the reflect act of faith , which is for a man to see and know that he beleeves ; which assurance is from the immediate testimony of the spirit of god in the conscience of one who is already a beleever , causing the soule to know it beleeves . the spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirits , that we are the children of god , rom. 8. 16. now abideth faith , 1 cor. 13. 13. therefore faith doth at all times one way or other , sufficiently evidence the truth of our estates , if we did at all times truly discerne the testimony or true act of faith ; and the reason why we discerne it not , is for want of a full measure of faith , to withstand all that is opposit to faith ; for some there be , who have faith , yet by reason of their ignorance , and unskilfulnesse , as heb. 5. 14 , 15. & 10. 15. forgetfulnesse : babes are unskilfull , and have not experience of gods dealings with his , both for order and manner ; so that when faith doth not so lively act , and when christ doth not clearly appeare in the soule , he begins to doubt whether he be not deceived ; and when the lord appeares againe , the doubt is dissolved , and the soule is satisfied , and he is armed with experience against such a time appeares againe , if he be able to judge , and neglect not to marke well , but where use and exercise is wanting , there is not so cleare a discerning , heb. 5. 11 , 12. i feare the opposition that is in me , is not between christ and satan , or the spirit against the flesh , but from my corrupt will , & my inlightened conscience . i grant all the combates in men are not right , and many are deceived herein ; yet the difference may easily be discerned ; understand it thus ; 1. the naturall conscience ( although it be inlightened ) acts onely in a naturall way , at the most it is but morall , as not to lye , sweare , steale , and such grosse acts . 2. it stirres not , unlesse it be forced , and onely unto that it is forced unto . 3. it sets one faculty against another , as the will and affections against the understanding , but the spirit of christ causeth an opposition in the same faculty , as in the will , &c. 4. conscience inlightened without grace , it strikes onely at the branches of sin , but not in the roote . 1. whereas the spirit of god makes a free , full , constant , impartiall resistance against all sin . 2. and discovers unto the soule her secret corruptions in their colours , and the spirit over-powers the soule , so as it causeth the soule to hate sin , and leave it . 3. the spirit causeth the soule to be more glad when sin is more discovered . 4. the spirit of god teacheth the soule effectually to oppose all sinne ( even the appearance of evill ) equally , proportionably and orderly . i am so troubled with hideous temptations , as i beleeve no childe of god is . christ was tempted , mat. 4. and i know no kind of temptation that god in his word hath promised that his child shall not be tempted unto ; there hath no temptation taken you , but such as is common to man , therefore beleeve and take comfort in the wisdome and faithfulnesse of god , who will not suffer you to be tempted above that yee are able , but will with the temptation also make a way of escape , that yee may be able to beare it , 1 cor. 10. 3. if they be burthensome and hatefull unto you , and you cry out to god for help against them , they shall not be laid unto thy charge ; for as it was with the damsell in deut. 22. 25 , 26. even so is this matter . i feare that when persecution comes , i shall not suffer , nor hold out unto the end , but dishonour god , betray his truth , shame and grieve his people . cast all these cares and feares upon the lord , as phil. 4. 10. in nothing be carefull , he will care for thee ; i will never leave thee , nor forsake thee , heb. 15. 5. god will take care for his glory , truth , and servants , his wisdome and power and faithfulnesse shall order all . others are discouraged , because they are not filled with joy and comfort , &c. faith may be strong , when joy is absent ; david had faith when he had no joy ; restore to me the joy of thy salvation , psal . 51. 12. he refused comfort , and he wanted it , psal . 77. 2. such as judge their condition to be good , because they are filled with joy , they are mistaken , and build upon a wrong foundation , in that they are not founded upon jesus christ alone , so as to look to him , and live upon him onely . if some persons had joy , they would make it a christ to them , and live upon it , and so abuse christ , and themselves , and their joy : and it 's a mercy for such to want joy , till they can better use it . others are discouraged , because their soules are filled with terrors , saith one , oh , i feel the wrath of god in my soule , i have a hell in me , and so have been for a long time . this is a sad condition , yet thus it may be with one who is the lords ; for thus it was with heman , who said , lord , why castest thou off my soule , why hidest thou thy face from me ? i am ready to dye whilst i suffer thy terrors , i am distracted , thy fierce wrath goeth over me , thy terrors have cut me off , psal . 88. 15 , 16. and job cryed , he hath kindled his wrath against me , and counts me unto him as one of his enemies , see job 19. 10 , 11. & 7. 6. 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. and david in temptation judging himselfe according unto the law , to sense , and feeling , said , i am cast out of his sight , psal . 31. 22. horror hath overwhelmed me , psal . 55. 5. & 77. 8 , 9. and jeremiah said , he hath led me into darknesse , but not into light , he hath broken my bones , and compassed me with gall , he hath made my chaines heavy , he hath filled me with bitternesse , thou hast removed my soule far off from peace , and i said my strength and my hope is perished from the lord , lam. 3. 2. to 19. the lord hath his way in the whirlewind , and in the storme , nahum 1. 3. some conceive that if god loved them , there should be no such tempests in their soules , but should injoy a sweet calme , in stead of wrath and terrors , sweet peace and joy : indeed it is so with many , but it 's not so with all that are the lords , as appeares ; job saith to god , why doest thou not pardon my transgressions , &c. thou hast set me as a mark against thee , so that i am a burden unto my selfe , see job 7. 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. 13 , 14. because it was so with gideon as it was , he could not be perswaded that god was with him ; the angel said , god was with him , judg. 6. 12 , 13. therefore he was mistaken , and so maist thou be , if thou judgest thy selfe not to be the lords , because thou art filled with terrors , &c. comfort depends not upon any freedome from terrors , but upon the spirits revelation of truth , and application of it unto the soule . the greatest peace any saint doth possesse , is not to be either a ground or an incouragement for their beleeving , so also there is no terrors any can possesse , ought to be any discouragement in beleeving , for our happinesse is not from any thing we feele or apprehend in our selves , but in that we are knowne of god , who loves us and comprehends us in himselfe , and his not imputing our trespasses unto us , psal . 32. 1 , 2. a soule being in such a sad condition , should consider what the lord saith in isa . 8. 20. and to cast all their feares of hell upon god in a promise , to trust in the lord ; for in jehovah is strength for evermore , isa . 26. 3 , 4 : when thou art in the flames of this fire , thou shalt not be burnt ; with god nothing is impossible , luk. 1. 73. o troubled soule , the tender mercies of our god hath visited us , and so it may visit thee also , and give light to thee that sittest in darknesse , and in the shadow of death , to guide thy feet in the way of peace , luk. 1. 78 , 79. thou wilt keep him in perfect peace , whose mind is stayed on thee , because he trusts in thee , isa . 26. 3 , 4. what was that which brought thee so low , but poring so much upon thy sins , untill thou wert filled with despaire , and thy omissions and commissions against conscience increased thy horror ? do the contrary , and first beleeve , then repent , and see that yee daube not your selves over with your duties ; and know that which is a great cause of mourning , is no cause of despaire , therefore cast not away your confidence , heb. 10. 35. for yet a little while , and he that shall come will come , and will not tarry , heb. 10. 37 , 38. therefore say as the prophet said , when i sit in darknesse , the lord shall be a light unto me , he will bring me forth into the light , and i shall behold his righteousnesse , micah 7. 8 , 9. i am in great misery and want outwardly , by reason of poverty , if god did love me , i should not be so much neglected as i am . thou shouldst not reason so ; what thinkest thou of the condition of those who wandred about in sheep-skins , goat-skins , in deserts , mountaines , dens and caves of the earth ? i feare they were more destitute of outward comfort then thee , and suffered more hunger , cold , and nakednesse then thee ; hast thou not a house , not a bed to lie on , the places where they wandred afforded not these things unto them ; art thou destitute , afflicted , and forsaken ? so were they whom god loved , and esteemed the world not worthy of , heb. 11. 37 , 38. poverty and want hath attended and kept company with many a deare childe of god ; job was poore — yea the churches of jesus christ have been poore ; the church of corinth was poore , 2 cor. 8. 14. the church of smyrna was poore , rev. 2. 9. the church of macedonia was in deep poverty , 2 cor. 8. 1 , 2. and our lord jesus christ was poore , 2 cor. 8. 9. and thou maist be very poore , and yet god may love thee , as he loves jesus christ , joh. 17. 26. the poore receive the gospel , and the profession of the gospel of christ , have made the rich poore , in that for christ they have suffered the losse of all things , phil. 7. 8. in thy greatest want be content to be like christ in poverty , as well as in glory , joh. 17. 24. for the time will quickly come , in which you shall feele no want , nor suffer no hunger , cold , or nakednesse . there is no state and condition under the sun that is free from satanst ēptations , those who have more abundance of outward things , he suggests & insinuates unto them , that these things are all they are like to have , & that seeing they have a heaven here of outward contents , they must not expect another hereafter . and to those who have greater gifts and parts , he saith , they are not given to them in love , but onely for the benefit of others , and is ready to discourage them ; satan is ready to get an advantage of us , wee are not ignorant of his devises , 2 cor. 2. 11. the lord teach his to know the depths of satan , rev. 2. 24. to know his stratagems and to resist him . and as there is no state under the sunne free from trouble , so it is a sweet comfort unto all that are the lords , that there is no state and condition , but as god can , so he will support his in , and under it , and make it sweet and comfortable unto them , yea the best for them ; for all things shall work for good to them that love god , 1 cor. 10. 13. rom. 8. 28. who shall separate us from the love of christ ? shall tribulation , or distresse , or persecution , or famine , or nakednesse , or perill , or sword ? i am perswaded that neither death , nor life , nor angels , nor principalities , nor powers , nor things present , nor things to come , nor height , nor depth , nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of god , which is in christ jesus our lord , rom. 8. 35. 38 , 39. i cannot see god , surely god hath forsaken me . sometimes god hides himselfe from his , as the scripture declares ; verily thou art a god that hidest thy selfe , isa . 45. 15. i opened to my beloved , and he had withdrawne himselfe , song 5. 6. behold , i goe forward , but he is not there , and backward , but i cannot perceive him ; on the left hand where he doth work , but i cannot behold him ; he hideth himselfe on the right hand , that i cannot see him , job 23. 8 , 9. our carnall reason , and corrupt heart , and satan with his suggestions , are so neere us , before our eyes , that we cannot see god , and wee hearken so much to what they say , that we minde not the voyce of the spirit , rom. 8. 16. it is one thing to know , and another thing to know that wee know : christ said , they knew ; they said , they knew not ; christ said , whither i goe yee know , and the way yee know ; thomas said unto him , lord , we know not whither thou goest , how then can we know the way ? christ spake true , and they knew not that they knew , joh. 14. 3 , 4 , 5. so shee saw jesus standing , and knew not that it was jesus . when their eyes were opened , they knew him , luk. 24. 31. paul prayed that they might know the hope of their calling , ephes . 1. 18 , 19. when god hideth his face , we are to wait upon him , and look for him , isa . 8. 17. for he will returne againe ; but sion said , the lord hath forsaken me , & my lord hath forgotten me . can a woman forget her sucking childe , & c ? yea shee may , yet will not i forget thee , isa . 49. 14. for a small moment have i forsaken thee , but with great mercy will i gather thee , isa . 45. 7 , 8. when god absents himselfe from his , his love and care is the same unto them , as it is when he most manifests himselfe to them . another is discouraged , saying , i thought i had true faith , but since i fell into a great sin , i am perswaded if i had been the lords , i should not have been so left of god , as i was to sin so as i did . say not so , but consider that even some of the children of god , he hath suffered to fall , if not into the same sinnes , yet as great ; david sinned in adultery and murder ; how greatly did solomon sin after he obtained mercy , 1 king. 11. 9. and peter denied christ with an oath , yet his faith was not voyd or nought , christs prayer was heard ; i have prayed for thee , that thy faith faile not , luk. 22. 32. therefore his faith never fayled him . these examples are recorded in scripture , to set forth the glory of the riches of gods free grace , eph. 2. 4. that men may know what god can doe , and that great sinners might not despaire or faint under their sin , therefore christ saith , all sinnes shall be forgiven unto the sonnes of men , and blasphemies , mark. 3. 28. if any man sin , we have an advocate with the father , jesus christ the righteous , 1 joh. 2. 1. the bloud of jesus christ makes us cleane from all sin , 1 joh. 1. 7. to despaire of the mercy of god , because our sinnes are great , were to limit god in his mercy , which is a greater sin , and an adding sin to sin , therefore for the greatest sinne a beleever can commit , he ought not to moane without hope ; for no sin he can commit , can never put him into a state of condemnation , or under the curse , rom. 8. 1 , 2 , 3. and whilst we live in this world , god healeth not our sinfull natures wholly , nor takes it away quite ; the flesh lusteth , rom. 7. yet god ever esteemes his as they are in christ , ( and not simply as they are in themselves ) eph. 1. 4. 1 cor. 1. 30. paul saith , i my selfe keep the law of god , but with my flesh the law of sin . sin doth the evill that beleevers doe see , rom. 7. 15. 17. 20. 1 joh. 3. 9. consider nehe. 9. 16 , 17 , &c. he knoweth our frame , and remembreth that wee are but dust , psal . 103. 14. god is never an enemy to his , though they greatly sinne against him , psal . 51. we are not beloved for our own sakes , nor any thing in our selves , but for christ in whom god is well pleased , mat. 3. 17. therefore nothing in us , or that we doe , can make us to be loved more or lesse . god may well say of himselfe ; i am the lord , i change not , mal. 3. 6. his love is as himselfe , ever the same ; and christ in whom we are beloved ever the same , heb. 13. 8. therefore a beleevers hope , joy , and cōfidence , is to be ever the same in christ , ps . 23. 1. so we are commanded to rejoyce alwayes , psal . 5. 11. & 32. 11. let them exceedingly rejoyce , psal . 40. 16. psal . 68. 3. and to rejoyce evermore ; againe i say rejoyce , 1 thes . 1. 5. 16. phil. 4. 4. the joy of the lord is our strength , neh. 8. 16. oh there is enough in the lord jesus to satisfie thee at all times , he is an unchangeable object of true joy , in him onely is all our hope and happinesse , whose bloud hath payd all the debt of all thy sinnes ; it 's christ that died , who now shall condemn ? surely none , rom. 8. 33. therefore let not thy fall cause thee to question the love of god , seeing thy salvation depends not upon thy repentance or holinesse , but from gods free grace , rom. 9. 15 , 16. isa . 43. 24 , 25. & 57. 17. ezek. 16. 1. to 9. my little children , these things i write unto you , that yee sin not , 1 joh. 2. 1. and for any to turne the grace of god into wantonnesse , that is , the sweet mercy and consolations of god , to incourage them in their sinning , they are led by the spirit of the devill , he is their father , and his works they do , joh. 8. i speak to you that regard iniquitie , psal . 66. 18. that love sin , and delight in it , and are bold and venturous upon it , and can drinke downe iniquitie like water , job 15. 16. you at present are in the gall of bitternesse , and whiles it is so with them , here is no consolation for them , th●●e may not be numbred with them who through weaknesse and temptation , or want of watchfulnesse , are overtaken , and fall into sinne , which they hate , by not shunning the occasions of sinne , &c. surely all the lords have need to pray , as david did to god , hold up my goings in thy paths , that my footsteps slip not , psal . 17. 5. howsoever it be , be not out of hope , although thou didst persecute the truth , as paul did , and them that professed it , act. 9. 1 , 2. yet afterwards he preached the faith , gal. 1. 23. thou knowest not but god may convert thee also . the servant of god having fallen into sinne , is to rise by faith ; for , shall a man fall , and not rise ? jer. 8. 4. when i fall , i shall arise , micah 7. 7. who is a god like unto thee , that pardoneth the iniquitie , and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his people ? micah 7. 18 , 19 , 20. god subdues the corruption that is in his , not all at once , but by degrees ; therefore he saith , i will be mercifull to their unrighteousnesse , and their sinnes will i remember no more , heb. 8. 12. god hath nothing against those who are in christ , 1 cor. 1. 30. yee are in christ . but alas , i feele my heart is hardened . there is much hardnesse of heart in a childe of god , and they feele it , and complaine of it , and mourne under it , which is from the new heart in them . to feele hardnesse is from softnesse , and the condition of an experienced childe of god : o lord , why hast thou made us to erre from thy wayes , and hardened our hearts from thy feare ? doubtlesse , thou art our father : thou , o lord , art our father , isa . 63. 16 , 17. their hearts were hardened , yet they were the children of god. motives or incouragements to beleeve . notwithstanding faith is the gift of god , eph. 2. 8. phil. 1. 29. it floweth from the spirits operation in the heart , therefore our beleeving is said to be the worke of god , joh. 6. 28. the operation of god , col. 2. 12. the spirit of faith , 2 cor. 4. 13. the spirit inlighteneth our understandings , and boweth our hearts to beleeve . so that without the spirit of christ , we can doe nothing , joh. 15. 5. ephes . 1. 19. it is through grace that men beleeve , act. 18. 27. yet men are to use the meanes ; for when in the preaching of the word , we bid persons to doe so and so , we expect the holy spirit of god to put power to the words spoken , to make them effectuall to enable the creature to obey ; as , he said unto me , sonne of man , stand up upon thy feet : and the spirit entred into me when he had spoken unto me , and set me upon my feet , ezek. 2. 1 , 2. and the dead shall heare the voyce of the sonne of god , and they that heare shall live , joh. 5. 25. else it were in vaine to speak to dead men , 1 pet. 4. 6. to beleeve , &c. is a spirituall worke , and all men by nature are spiritually dead , eph. 2. 1. & 5. 14. onely they beleeve whose hearts god opens , as acts 16. 14. none can beleeve but they to whom it is given , phil. 1. 29. therefore such words as these , beleeve in the lord jesus , and thou shalt be saved , act. 16. 30 , 31. in this sense are to be understood ; for it is not in him that willeth , and him that runneth , &c. rom. 9. 16. it is god that worketh both to will and to doe . incouragements to beleeve . 1. because the gospel is to be preached to every creature ; he that beleeves shall be saved , act. 16. 16. there is no precept or command for any to doubt , none are exempted or forbidden to beleeve , see act. 16. 30 , 31. 1 joh. 3. 23. but men are commanded the contrary , and to follow after faith , and to lay hold on eternall life , 1 tim. 6. 11. 2. by beleeving we come to know our interest in christ , and of our salvation by him ; whosoever beleeves in him shall not perish but have everlasting life , joh. 3. 15 , 16. he that beleeves in the sonne , hath everlasting life , vers . 36. see joh. 6. 40. 3. by beleeving , we honour god , he that receives his testimony , hath set to his seale , that god is true , joh. 3. 33. & joh. 5. 10. therefore none can beleeve too soone , or too confidently , or too constantly . 4. if yee beleeve not , surely yee shall not be established , isa . 7. 9. there is no true quietnesse and settlement of soule , without beleeving ; also thou standst by faith ; thou fallest into sinne by unbeliefe , rom. 11. 20. heb. 9. 12. the word preached ( is precious and powerfull , yet it ) profited them not , because it was not mixed with faith , heb. 4. 2. 5. it 's faith that rids the soule of all its distempers , doubts , feares , discouragements , rom. 5. 1. ( we may not separate the spirit from faith , nor faith from the spirit . ) 6. by faith in christ , thou shalt be kept in perfect peace , it will sweetly , transcendently refresh thy soule , thou wilt keepe him in perfect peace , because he trusts in thee , isa . 26. 3 , 4. being justified by faith , we have peace with god , rom. 5. 1. by faith we apprehend christ our justification , the fruit of which is joy and peace . 7. by unbeliefe , we adde sin to sin in the highest nature , if we beleeve not what god saith , our act of unbeliefe accuseth god to speake falsly , he that beleeveth not hath made god a lyer , 1 joh. 5. 10. it is impossible for god to lye . the strength of israel cannot lye , 1 sam. 15. 29. nor can it be any dishonour to god , nor hurt to thy selfe , to hope in his mercy , and to beleeve in him ; therefore when thou art tempted to unbeliefe , set before thee the evill of unbeliefe . 8. as bad as thou canst be , have been received to mercy ; jesus christ came to save sinners ; this is a faithfull saying , and worthy of all acceptation , 1 tim. 1. 15 , 16. when thou layst in thy bloud , behold it was a time of love , ezek. 16. 8. he justifieth the ungodly , rom. 4. 5. while we were yet sinners , christ dyed for us , rom. 5. 8. 10. therefore have hope . feare not , but beleeve , luk. 8. 50. the lord will command his loving kindnesse in the day time , and in the night , psal . 42. 8. hope thou in god , vers . 5. be not afraid , onely beleeve , mark. 5. 36. 9. unbeliefe straitens thy heart , and stoppeth thy mouth , hinders thy thankfulnesse ▪ and praising of god ; thou shalt be dumb , because thou beleevest not , luk. 1. 20. 10. unlesse we beleeve , we can never glorifie god ; he staggered not at the promise of god through unbeliefe , but was strong in faith , giving god the glory , rom. 4. 20. quest . from whence is it that many of the lords children have so many doubts and feares . answ . it ariseth from many severall causes ; as , 1. from ignorance of the fulnesse and freenesse of the promise , isa . 55. 2. or mindlesnesse and heedlesnesse of the promise , heb. 2. 1. 3. and from corruption in the heart , opposing grace , rom. 7. 4. and from the bodies distemper with melancholy , 5. or from the conscience ( being inlightened ) which sides with the law against it selfe , rom. 7. 24. 6. or from unskilfulnesse in the word of righteousnesse , heb. 5. 13. 7. and from unbeliefe , which takes the law and applies it to it selfe , which occasioneth feares , and feares doubts . 8. and from loose walking with god. 9. or from the spirits not operating in the soule ; the spirit when it acts , speakes peace , and causeth faith to act more strongly , rom. 8. 16. meanes to quiet and settle a troubled soule in assurance of the love of god ; god gives peace to his by meanes , as appeares 2 thes . 3. 16. commune with thy heart , and make diligent search to find out what it is that troubleth thee , psal . 77. 6. aske a reason of thy soule , why it is disquieted , why it is cast downe , psal . 42. 11. why art thou cast downe , o my soule ? why art thou disquieted ? psal . 42. 5 , 6. examine from whence all thy discouragements come , they come not from god , for his voyce is onely comfort unto his people , he hath declared himselfe to be mercifull , and gracious , and slow to anger , and plenteous in mercy ; he hath not dealt with us after our sinnes , nor rewarded us according unto our iniquities , psa . 103. 3 , 4. 8. 10. &c. his voyce is comfort , comfort yee my people , speak yee comfortably to jerusalem , cry unto her , that her warfare is accomplished , that her iniquitie is pardoned , isa . 4. 1 , 2. i know the thoughts that i thinke towards you , saith the lord , thoughts of peace , and not of evill , jer. 29. 11. nor come they from christ , he doth not trouble nor discourage any ; he binds up the broken-hearted ; he proclaimes peace , liberty , he comforts all that mourne , he gives beautie for ashes , the oyle of joy for mourning , and garments of praise , for the spirit of heavinesse , &c. isa . 61. 1 , 2 , 3. luk. 4. 18. he is gracious and piti●ull , he will not quench the smoaking flax , nor breake the bruised reed , isai . 42. 3. his voyce is full of love & tendernesse , all his words are sweet words ; as , let not your hearts be troubled , joh. 13. 1. feare not , it is your fathers pleasure , to give you a kingdome , luk. 12. 32. cast you● care upon me , i will care for you , phil. 4. 6. christs voyce is open to me ; my sister , my love , my dove , my undefiled , song 5. 2. on sweet words of christ to his ! nor come they from the holy spirit of god , he is the greatest and most sweetest comforter , he causeth no discouragements , but removes them all , by revealing and applying to the soule the love of god , and carrieth the soule by faith from all discouragements to god , who is love & peace , where the soule is to rest , psal . 116. 7. and to be filled with his sweet peace . therefore all our discouragements do proceed , 1. from the devill , who is an enemy to faith ; he taketh the word out of mens hearts , lest they should beleeve , luk. 8. 12. 1 thes . 3. 5. 2. our own hearts ; take heed , brethren , lest there be in any of you an evill heart , in departing from the living god , heb. 3. 12. 3. or the lying vanities we have chosen : but they that harken unto lying vanities , forsake their own mercy , jonah 2. 8. give no way to any discouragement at all , though it doe seeme never so just and reasonable , &c. this was davids sin to admit of a parley with that which might tend to discourage him ; saying , will the lord cast off for ever ? doth his promise fayle for evermore ? i said this is my infirmitie , psal . 77. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. as soone as he saw his infirmitie , he had other thoughts of god , saying , who is so great a god as our god ? thou art a god that doest wonders ; and his footsteps are not knowne , vers . 14. 19. if god in his greatnesse were knowne , and the wonders he doth knowne , and his footsteps , the way he goeth knowne , men would admire him , and rejoyce at that for which they now mourne . when thou art tempted to unbeliefe , set before thee the evill of this sinne in it selfe , and the effects of it . learne to know and distinguish between the voyce of christ , and all other voyces , that thou maist say , it is the voyce of my beloved that knocketh , and hearken unto it , song 5. 2. christs voyce is peace to his , luk. 24. 26. thy sinnes are forgiven , luk. 7. 48. i will remember them no more , heb. 10. 17. therefore that voyce that tends to hinder the peace of the saints , suits with satan , and is not the voyce of christ : i will heare what the lord will speake ; for he will speake peace to his people , psal . 85. 8. satan also speaks in the soule , saying , is not this a delusion ? is it likely to be from god ? hast thou a heart fit for christ ? and because this last voyce is more sutable to reason , the soule is ready to close with it , and to conclude against god , and his own soule , that the voyce was not from god , but a delusion of satan , mistaking christs voyce to be the voyce of satan , and satans voyce to be the voyce of christ , which is a miserable mistake . therefore learne to know the severall colours , sounds , and voyces , which are for god , and which are for satan , 1 cor. 14. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. or else you will mistake and come unprepared to the battell , 2 cor. 7. 5. learne to know and distinguish between the voyce of the gospel , and the voyce of the law ; the law saith , cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the law to doe them , gal. 3. 10 , 11. when there is any worke required to be done upon paine of punishment , or upon promise of eternall life , it is the voyce of the law ; the law requires a doing of something for life . m●ses describes the righteousnesse of the law , that the man that doth these things , shall live by them , rom. 10. 5. but the voyce of the gospel is otherwise , that christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law , being made a curse for us , gal. 3. 13. and to him that worketh not , but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly , his faith is counted for righteousnesse , rom. 10. 5. see 9. verse to 13. and that his mercy is above what we can aske or thinke , eph. 3. 20. so the promises of li●e , they are free without condition , and the gospel declares what god workes in us , and freely gives unto us , i will love them freely , hos . 14. 4. if some persons did listen more to the promise , which is the voyce of the gospel , and not unto the voyce of the law , or the voyce of corruption , they should enjoy more peace , and lesse trouble . meddle not with the threatnings in the word , so as to apply them to thy selfe , because they belong not unto thee , they are no part of thy portion , they have nothing to doe with a beleever , nor he hath nothing to doe with them ; the threatnings are for them that are under the law , but wee are not under the law , but under grace , rom. 6. 14. a beleever having sinned , through weaknesse , applieth the threatnings against that sinne to himselfe , not considering that christ hath satisfied for the sinnes they commit ; christ being made a curse for us , gal. 3. 13. be sure yee judge not your state by false principles ; as , to be bad for the want of that , which if thou haddest it , would not prove thy state good , as knowledge , memory , p●●ls sensiblenesse of sin , &c. nor judge thy state bad for the having of that which if thou wert freed from , would not prove thy estate good , as passion , temptations , discontentednesse , &c. if this rule were observed , some should not be so troubled as now they are . take heed you be not overwhelmed with sin , therefore eye not so much thy infirmities : beware of such a minding of sin , and such a complaining of it , either to gods , or man , as may discourage , oppresse , and trouble thy soule , for this is sinfull . davids experience might teach him this ; i complained , and my spirit was overwhelmed ; i am so troubled that i cannot speake , psal . 77. 3 , 4. 8. therefore hearken not to thy faylings , corruptions , doubts , feares , for as they are all against god , so they are all against thy soule . there is no grace , no mercy from them , therefore what thou seest and feelest , see not , consi●er not , forget , and what thy sense sees not , see . faith is the evidence of things not seene , heb. 11. 1. walke by faith , not by sight , 2 cor. 5. 7. eye christ onely , mind him , meditate upon him , and his rich and free grace , fetch all thy comforts from him , who is made to thee , wisdome , righteousnesse , sanctification , and redemption , 1 cor. 1. 30. if thou attendest only to god in his promise , thou shalt finde rest , psal . 116. 7. o beleever , eye not so much thy selfe , or thy sinnes , as christs full and perfect satisfaction , which was offered and accepted for all thy sinnes , heb. 10. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18. oh therefore live , and rest thy soule upon thy sweet lord jesus christ alone , & place all thy confidence in him . doest thou not heare god say to thee , cast away all thy feares , and come to me , i will settle thee , comfort , quicken , uphold thee , and be better to thee then thy selfe can be ; i will be all in all unto thee ? know the happinesse and perfection of the state of a beleever in christ , he is cleane from all sin by the bloud of christ , 1 joh. 1. 7. they are removed from us , psal . 103. 12. a beleever in christ is accepted of god in him , as perfect , righteous , and comely , as christ is ; for christ saith to his ; thou art all faire my love , there is no spot in thee . there is not any sin a beleever can commit , can be a ground sufficient to question the love of god , nor ought they to cast away their confidence in god , for any thing they doe , or can befall them , nor ought they to cause any unquietnesse of spirit in them , heb. 10. 19 , 20. 22. 25. for now there is none that can lay any thing to the charge of gods elect , as rom. 8. 1. oh meditate on this truth , until thy heart be over powered with it , and thou injoy the sweetnesse of it , and ever mind it seriously , thy full freedome and sweet libertie thou hast in christ , gal. 5. 13. learne to distinguish between thy justification and thy personall sanctification ; the first is perfect and compleat in christ ; the latter is in our selves , and is weake , and imperfect , and uncertaine , as appeares , rom. 7. let us looke off our sinnes , and looke upon gods sweet promise , who saith , their sinnes and iniquities will i remember no more , heb. 10. 17. so that now wee may draw neere with a true heart , in full assurance of faith , for he is faithfull that promised , vers . 22 , 23. let not thy comfort depend upon thy personall sanctification , because from it there can no sure selected constant comfort flow . to seek comfort from sanctification , and not from their justification in christ , is a cause of much trouble in many a weake beleever ; for sanctification hath nothing to doe with justification , nor salvation , as any cause of it . also sanctification admits of degrees , but justification admits of neither rules nor degrees , and is more glorious then sanctification : our justification depends not upon our apprehending of it , nor in our receiving of it , but upon the effectualnesse and merit of what our sweet lord jesus hath done for us , heb. 10. 14. 18 , 19. so that now wee may well have boldnesse to enter into the holiest by the bloud of jesus , vers . 20. justification is apprehended by faith , heb. 11. 1. joh. 8. 56. faith doth evidence to us our justification ; for the scripture saith , all that beleeve are justified , act. 13. 39. it is possible to have a full assurance of faith , heb. 10. 22. therefore faith is an unquestionable evidence : and when faith is hidden and doubtfull , justification is not apprehended ; and when faith is hidden and doubtfull , sanctification is not evident but doubtfull , and so cannot evidence to us our justification : the effects of sanctification cause men to question their justification , therefore no effect of sanctification can evidence to the soule its justification ; and that soule that by faith apprehends his justification by christ , not onely knoweth it , but may live upon it , injoying the sweet fruit of it , peace , joy , strength , without any considering the effects of sanctification in himselfe . and seeing christ is made sanctification to a beleever , 1 cor. 1. 30. why may not a beleever live upon his own , and say , i have sanctification in christ , which is perfect , my actuall righteousnesse doth often faile me , but christs righteousnesse indures for ever , psal . 111. 3. therefore i will fetch all my comfort from christ , and my justification by him ; and as wee are not to conclude our justification from any effect of sanctification , so wee are not to conclude that apprehension of justification to be from god , as shall take men off the meanes and rules of sanctification , because it is to the dishonour of god for men not to walke holily , according to the word of god , tit. 2. 14. prize and preserve the peace of thy conscience . be sure yee allow your selves in no sinne , but in the power and strength of christ , to hate and abhorre with the greatest indignation all sinne , and the appearance of evill ; it is better to dye then to sinne : there is that which accompanieth sinne , which strikes at a beleevers peace and comfort , and will damp , straiten and oppresse their comfort , joy , and peace in god , unlesse god doth wonderfully strengthen their faith in him . and such as live by faith , and injoy sweet peace in him , have found sin to be an enemy , and a let to their faith and comfort , it having often unsetled , and disquieted , and clouded their soules peace , though indeed it ought not so to doe , for we are to remember that sweet place , heb. 10. 17. their sinnes and iniquities will i remember no more . this alone is able to settle a soule , it being full of sweetnesse and life . doe not trouble thy selfe with any thing that may befall thee ; in case thou wert certaine great troubles shall befall thee , be not troubled at any trouble , much lesse for future trouble , nor thinke not to incounter with & supply a future trouble , with a present strength ; if many and great troubles come , god is alsufficient , and will remove them , or give strength to beare them when they come , 1 cor. 10. 13. mind seriously those promises of god that are sutable to thy condition , separate thy selfe to meditate upon them , as prov. 18. 2. hide them in thy heart , as mat. 13. 44. there is strength and sweetnesse in the promise , thou maist venture thy soule upon god in his promise , and live upon it , thou knowest not but god may reveale his promise to thee , and settle it sweetly and fully upon thy soule by his almightie power , as ephes . 1. 19 , 20. therefore let not gods promises be strange to thee , but feed upon them , eat them ; eate o friends , drinke abundantly o beloved , song 5. 1. leave not the promise , untill thou beest refreshed , revived , raised , ravished with gods rich grace and infinite free love , and thy heart inlarged with thankfulnesse and obedience unto god againe for the exceeding riches of his mercy , eph. 2. 9. his plenteous redemption , psal . 130. 7. treasure up experiences of gods goodnesse unto thy soule , but who among you will give eare to this ? who will hearken and heare for the time to come ? isa . 42. 23. remember the dayes of old , i have considered the dayes of old , and the yeares of ancient time , psal . 77. 5. thou hast been my helpe , psal . 63. 7. i was brought low , and he helped me , see 2 tim. 4. 17 , 18. psal . 89. 49. keepe thy heart calme and quiet from all passions , as feare , griefe , &c. the still soule can best heare and know christs voice , his still voyce ; but where feare , vexation , and distempers dwell , they are not aware of christ , nor themselves , and commonly they that feare most have least cause , as they had the angel of the lord came upon them , and the glory of the lord shone round about them , and they were sore afraid ; and the angel said unto them , feare not , for behold , i bring you tidings of great joy , luk. 2. 9 , 10. when the soule is troubled with any passion , it is not at the command of faith , luk. 24. 41. the violence of their joy hindred their faith , let not your hearts be troubled , joh. 13. 1. quietnesse is the stay of the soule to doe or receive . be contented with thy present estate , and fill not thy head , heart , or hand , with any more businesse then thou must needs . consider heb. 13. 5. take heed of the cares of this life , luk. 21. 34. 15. trouble not thy selfe with needlesse supposed feares , if thou doest , thou drawest upon thy selfe reall sorrow , and unnecessary discontent ; there be many that are possessed with bitter sorrows from supposed sufferings . order thy conversation aright , to him that ordereth his conversation aright , will i shew the salvation of god , psal . 50. 23. want of wisdome to dispose of , of diligence to dispatch , what necessitie requires to be done in the right time and place , hath produced such inconveniences , as hath unavoydably caused trouble , a disquieted and an unsetled spirit . walke with god in his wayes , ordinances , they are for thy comfort , strength , joy and peace in him ; there is no quiet to those that worship the beast , rev. 14. 10 , 11. use gods means , but live not upon ordinances , but upon god in them , for meanes alone are not sufficient to doe us any good , 1 cor. 1. 21. doe not sleight nor refuse gods consolations , let them not seeme small unto thee ; are the consolations of god small with thee , job 15. 11. o soule own that comfort god gives thee , if it seeme small to thee , it s thy own , own it , lest yee live to complaine , saying , as david did ; my soule refused to be comforted , psal . 77. 2. and to wish yee had that yee despised ; be thankfull to god for what thou hast received , and hold that fast , and let nothing goe that may tend to thy peace ; rest satisfied in christs righteousnesse , and adde nothing unto it ; i will make mention of thy righteousnesse , even of thine onely , psal . 71. 15 , 16. 19. 24. thy righteousnesse is an everlasting righteousnesse , psal . 119. 142. see psal . 22. 31. & 35. 28. & 50. 6. & 51. 14. jer. 33. 16. the perfection of christs righteousnesse is held forth unto us , and doth alwayes lie before us for us , that we might ever be comforted with it , and rejoyce in it , with thankfulnesse for it , seeing it so perfect , and full of divine consolation . oh here is enough to refresh and satisfie all the lords to all eternitie , so that we have enough , we need no other , nor no more righteousnesse . meditate on gods goodnesse unto thee , let his loving kindnesse be ever before thy eyes ; wee have thought of thy loving kindnesse , o god , psal . 48. 9. beleeve in god , i , in christ , want of faith , or want in faith , is the cause of trouble in the soule ; yee beleeve in god , beleeve also in me ; and let not your hearts be troubled , joh. 13. 1. faith in christ quiets and settles a troubled soule . thou canst not be too confident in resting upon christ in his free grace , psal . 30. 5. therefore come boldly to the throne of grace , heb. 4. 16. those who know god , will trust him with their bodies and soules , and that upon his word ; all that know thy name , will trust in thee , psal . 9. 9 , 10. but a foole neither will , nor can doe so ; o foole , and slow of heart to beleeve , luk. 24. 25. but those who are made wise by god , will trust in the word of the lord , isa . 26. 3 , 4. and say , in his word doe i hope , psal . 130. 5. when the lord pleases to settle a soule in the assurance of his love , he causeth the soule to trust in his word ; remember thy word unto thy servant , upon which thou hast caused me to hope , psal . 119. 49. god by his word conveys that to the soule , which is sutable to its wants , and by his power and authoritie settles it upon the soule . above all , take the shield of faith , eph. 6. 16. feare not , beleeve , luk. 8. 50. yea , cleave to god in his promise , even then when thou art in thy greatest feares , and most sensible of thy unworthinesse ; trust in him at all times , god is a refuge for us , selah , psal . 62. 8. if at all times , then at the worst times also ; yea even then beleeve , and heare nothing against thy beleeving god in his promise . abraham beleeved against hope , rom. 4. 18. so should wee doe ; oh beleeve god intends thy good ; christ came to seeke and to save the lost , luk. 19. 10. lost , viz. in the sight and sense of thy own sin and misery , and in thy own sufficiency . improve thy doubts , feares , temptations against beleeving , to incourage thee in beleeving ; for hast thou not by experience found , that it is but in vaine to hearken unto any of them ? consider often and well these places , rom. 16. 20. heb. 10. 35 , 36 , 37. rev. 3. 11. 1 pet. 4. 19. & 5. 7. and search the scriptures . reading helpeth mens judgements , memories , affections , confirmes our faith , and fits us to answer the temptations of satan . renounce all lying vanities , hearken unto none of them . first , hearken not to the voyce of thy heart , it is a lying vanitie , it will deceive thee , pro. 3. 5 , 6 , 7. isa . 44. 20. secondly , hearken not to satan . thirdly , hearken not to sense ; thomas said , he would not beleeve , unlesse he might see and thrust his hand into his side , joh. 20. 24 , 25. but this sensuall practise is to be abhorred by us ; for this is to consult with flesh and bloud , which cannot discerne spirituall things , 1 cor. 2. 14. and is condemned by god , gal. 1. 16. so some persons will see such a holy frame of spirit in themselves , and feele such a sin subdued , &c. before they will beleeve , yet faith looks not to such things as these , but onely to god in his word ; therefore wee must not live by sight , but by faith , 2 cor. 5. 7. and blessed are they that have not seene , yet have beleeved , joh. 20. 29. fourthly , hearken not to carnall reason , if it be hearkened unto , thou canst not beleeve , nor submit to god , nor be setled ; for doth not reason say , that a virgin cannot bring forth a childe , and a woman of ninetie yeares is past conceiving a childe , therefore reason saith it cannot be , and so contradicteth god himselfe ? gen. 17. 16 , 17. mat. 1. also can reason beleeve , that by faith the walls of jericho fell downe , and that the saints stopped the mouths of lyons , and quenched the violence of fire by faith , yet faith did it , heb. 11. 30. 33 , 34. or is it likely or possible to reason for a man to walke upon the sea as pe●er did ? mat. 14. 29. and did not christs command seeme vaine to peters reason , that he should cast in his net into the sea , seeing he had cast it in so often , and fished all night , and catched nothing ? luk. 5. 8. can reason conceive how the dead , who are eaten with beasts , or fishes , or turned into dust , can be raised to life ? or that the sea can be divided , the sunne goe backward , or the rockes yeeld water in abundance ; surely there cannot be any reason given for them . and seeing sense and corrupt reason is so contrary to god in his word , why should we hearken unto them , when they say the soule hath no grace , because sense seeth none , and that god will not pardon their sinnes , because there is no reason to reason why he should , nor no way to reason which way it can be , yet it may be , for with god all things are possible , mat. 19. 26. they that hearken unto lying vanities , forsake their own mercies , jonah 2. 8. 5. live not upon duties ; 6. nor upon good report ; 7. nor upon groundlesse hopes ; 8. nor upon peace ; 9. comfort ; 10. joy ; 11. raptures ; 12. ravishments : though they all be true or false , live upon god alone , and upon nothing else besides god in christ ; if thou doest live upon any thing else , as thy foundation is unsound , so it will deceive thee ; and whatsoever their sparkes may be , they must and shall lye downe in sorrow , isa . 50. 10. let not thy comfort depend upon gods actings or dispensation to the inward or outward man , if thou doest , thou canst not be setled , for they are oft changeable and cōtrary one to another ; one day thou maist have peace , joy , strength , another none of these ; to day god may shew himselfe to thee , and in a moment of time he may hide himselfe ; to day rich and injoy many friends with health , to morrow sicke , and poore , and friends all gone , &c. gods acting in us , and upon us , is not alwayes as he is unto his : as god is in himselfe unchangeable , ever the same , so he is to his ever the same , however he may seeme to be , heb. 13. 8. isa . 45. 7 , 8. 15. with song 5. 6. isa . 8. 17. therefore make a good construction of all that god doth do to thee , his actings in us , or upon us , is the accomplishing of his will , for his glory , and the good of his ; that which i thinke worst for me , may be best for me , however it be , god is good , and good to me , psal . 73. 1. this i see and say , and injoy in both . pray to god , that he may give unto thee the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of him , that yee may know what is the hope of your calling , eph. 1. 17 , 18 , 19. say unto my soule , i am thy salvation , psal . 35. 3. i beseech thee shew me thy glory , exod. 33. 18. cause thy face to shine upon me , psal . 80. 3. establish , o god , that which thou hast wrought in us , psal . 68. 22. avoyd sadnesse of spirit , and rejoyce evermore , 1 thes . 5. 16. sadnesse of spirit hinders us in thankfulnesse to god , also it breeds uncomfortablenesse and unsetlednesse in us , an unchearfull spirit is unfit for duty , for what wee goe about unchearfully , we are soone weary in it , if not of it . when our spirits are calme , united , and chearfull , then we act more comfortably ; and such a frame of spirit is fittest to praise god , sadnesse of spirit fitteth us to yeeld to discouragements , if we be sad , wee injoy not the comfort of any thing ; chearfulnesse is as it were the life of our spirits , chearfulnesse inlargeth our spirits , and fits us to receive happinesse , and to expresse it . frequent and wisely improve those whom god hath setled , who are able to direct thee , and informe thee in the knowledge of the grace that is revealed , in which is fulnesse of joy , 1 job . 1. 4. mind and remember that which makes for your peace and joy ; if yee forget your resting place , as jer. 50. 6. it is no wonder if yee be troubled ; yee have forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children , heb. 12. 5. wee have no present actuall comfort further then we have remembrance . know , no meanes of themselves are sufficient to quiet and settle thy soul , it 's the work of the spirit to answer all discouragements , it is god alone that creates the fruit of the lips peace ; peace to him that is afar off , and to him that is neere , saith the lord , and i will heale him , isa . 57. 19. it 's god which stablisheth us , 1 cor. 1. 21. these things i write unto you , that your faith and hope may be in god , 1 pet. 1. 21. now the god of peace , give you peace alwayes by all meanes , 2 thes . 3. 16. vse of exhortation to all that beleeve . 1. to admire the greatnesse and sweetnesse of gods love in his free grace to thee , it is a mercy to heare of it , how much more to have interest in it , and to injoy it , being possessed of it , isa . 61. 2. take thy own portion and treasures provided for thee , col. 2. 3. and ever live in the eternall love of god in christ to thee , this object is sweet , s●ll , durable , sufficient to satisfie thee at all times , rest satisfied in christ . 3. dedicate thy selfe , and all thou hast freely to him , who gave himselfe fully and freely for thee , who suffered , yea dyed so freely for thee . oh how should this love ingage our hearts to walke with god , to be holy as he is holy , &c. yea doe all , and suffer for him ! for the wayes of the lord are right , and the just shall walke in them , hosea 14. 9. 4. declare to others gods goodnesse unto thy soule , use meanes that others may injoy the same mercy with thee ; be yee mercifull , as he is mercifull , forgive and give unto others soules or bodies freely : for so thou hast received . 5. be content with thy estate , inward or outward , though many crosses and miseries attend thee ; for if god be enough ( as he is ) thou hast enough ; oh let not many nor great troubles , inward or outward , dismay thee , 1 cor. 10. 13. for though they may seeme long , yet they cannot last long : the god of peace shall bruise satan under your feet shortly , rom. 16. 20. loe i come quickly , rev. 22. 20. 6. as christ is all thy happinesse , so let him be all thy comfort , and the supply of all thy wants , expect all you need and can desire , yea that god can give , that is for thy good , it is certaine thou shalt have all thou needest , psal . 34. 10. seeing he hath freely given us his sonne , how shall he not with him give us all things freely ? rom. 8. 32. 7. watch and pray , lest yee ( fall into temptation , and ) abuse this favour , and turne this grace into wantonnesse . 8. stand fast in this libertie of christ , in which he hath made you free , as gal. 5. 1. 9. rejoyce alwayes , evermore , and let thy joy be full in god thy portion ; they shall rejoyce in their portion , isa . 61. 7. 10. be wonderfully thankfull to god for all his exceeding grace and mercy unto thee , in that he hath given thee beautie for ashes , and everlasting joy shall be to thee , isa . 61. 3. 7. 2. vse of comfort and consolation to all that beleeve . oh deare , yea most deare and precious souls , who can expresse your happinesse & glory ? for the lord hath done great things for us , whereof we are glad , psal . 126. 3. oh now the great work of your redemption is finished to your hands by him whose works are all perfect , heb. 10. 14. so that there is nothing of this work left for thee to doe . now thou maist come unto the throne of grace boldly , now all is payd , it 's god that justifieth , who shall condemne ? surely none , rom. 8. 38 , 39. it 's not sin , nor satan , nor any thing else shall hinder thy interest in christ , or injoyment of him , for thy union with the lord jesus shall never be dissolved , christ lives for ever , heb. 7. 25. and seeing christ lives yee shall live also , joh. 14. 19. therefore thou art not onely happy now , but thou shalt be so for ever , thou shalt receive the end of thy faith , the salvation of thy soule , 1 pet. 1. 9. joh. 5. 24. christ is enough to comfort us in the sight of all our sinnes , and to make us happy in all our miseries . there is a day a coming , which will make amends for all ; in the meane time , make mention of the loving kindnesse of the lord , and the praises of the lord , according to all the lord hath bestowed on us , &c. according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses , psa . 63. 7. who is wise , and be shall understand these things , prudent , and be shall know them , hosea 14. 9. the perfection and happinesse of a beleever in christ . some briefe observations or meditations on some part of the 16. psal . which psalm is a prophesie of christ , as appeares acts 2. 25. to 35. verse . psalme 16. in this psalme appeareth the wonderfull goodnesse of god in christ , to all the sonnes and daughters of christ , and the exceeding great and happy estate of all that are in him . preserve me , o god ] there is no preservation in any thing , but god. preserve me ] christ in the dayes of his flesh put up strong crys and supplications to his father . for in thee doe i put my trust ] there is no trust to be put in any thing but in god. i put my trust ] christ as he was man had faith , and it was in god. thou art my lord ] christ honours the father in acknowledging him onely ; yet christ and he are one . my goodnesse extendeth not to thee , but to the saints that are in the earth . my goodnesse ] christs goodnesse was from himselfe , therefore his own . goodnesse ] jesus christ is full of goodnesse , col. 2. 3. therefore all that christ hath done is wonderfull , excellent , and meritorious , in this is our happinesse and comfort . extendeth not to thee ] viz. god. god is perfect and infinite , therefore he is not capable of any addition of goodnesse . oh admire his perfection . but to the saints , &c. those who are saints , had no goodnesse of their own , their righteousnesse is of me , saith the lord , isa . 54. 17. christs goodnesse was for the saints , they stood in need of it . extendeth ] it reacheth the saints , they shall injoy the fruit of it ; there is no place of the earth that is out of the reach of christ . this goodnesse of christ was not for every person in the world , but to the saints that are in the earth . saints ] christs goodnesse made them saints ; christ found them no saints , but wicked sinners ; oh saint admire the riches of christ , and his love to thee ; the saints goodnesse is in christ . o soule rest satisfied in christs goodnesse , which is thine , rejoyce in it , and admire at it , be thankfull for it , walke sutably unto it , and improve this goodnesse against all thy doubts and feares , &c. to the excellent ] the saints are excellent to christ , yea , all of them are alike excellent , beautifull , glorious , unspeakeable , infinite , excellent , with the excellent beauty of christ , ezek. 16. 14. they are more excellent then the whole creation of heaven and earth . christ calls them excellent , and he esteemes them so , eph. 5. 27. oh saint esteeme thy selfe as christ doth to be excellent in his excellency ; for thy beauty it is perfect through my comelinesse i have put upon thee , saith the lord god , ezek. 16. 14. i will greatly rejoyce in the lord , my soule shall be joyfull in my god ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation , he hath covered me with the robe of righteousnesse , isa . 61. 10. o glorious saint , the world knows not thy worth , therefore it esteemes thee not , yet sleight not thy selfe , because christ hath made thee excellent . in whom is all my delight ] jesus christ is fully pleased and contented with his . all my delight ] an infinite delight christ takes in his . all ] one saint is esteemed by christ to be of more worth , then the whole creation of heaven & earth , those things have none of his delight , the saints have it all , the quintessence of all fulnesse . all ] infinite is the love and contentment that christ takes and gives to them . o precious saint , delight thy self in god , rest satisfied with him , in his love , and the delight he takes in thee . their sorrowes shall be multiplied that hasten after another god : their drink-offerings of bloud will i not offer , nor take up their names into my lips ] as for the wicked , it is not so with them , they are not in so happy a condition , they shall finde the contrary from christ , he will not once name their names to god , nor offer their offerings to his father . their offerings of bloud ] their costly services shall be rejected , they shall finde no entertainment , no acceptāce from christ , they shall have no peace , nor comfort , no cessation of sorrow , their sorrowes shall never have an end ; their sorrowes shall increase and be multiplied , therefore they are in a miserable condition . mine inheritance and lot ] christs lot and inheritance is his people ; the lords portion is his people , deut. 32. 9. mine ] christ layeth claime to his people , to have an interest in them , christ is not ashamed to own them to be his , heb. 2. 11. the saints are not their owne but christs , 1 cor. 6. 19 , 20. 1 cor. 3. 23. seeing the saints are christs , they are to doe all for him , to serve him , to be at his disposing onely , and not at their own . inheritance of my cup ] christs people are his by purchase ; let this cup passe from me ; they cost a great price , even the precious bloud of christ , 1 pet. 1. 19. he that payd so much for his , will not lose them , nor leave them , heb. 13. 5 , 6. the lord is the portion of mine inheritance ] the saints have god for their portion ; the lord is my portion , saith my soule , lam. 3. 24. thou art my portion , o lord , ps . 119. 57. the portion of a childe of god is infinite , because god is infinite : god esteemes nothing too much for his , in that he declares himselfe , and all that is his to be theirs . the saints are infinitely happy in having such a portion , jer. 10. 16. happy is that people that is in such a ease , yea happy is that people whose god is the lord , psal . 144. 15. a saints portion can never be spent , nor lost ▪ god is my portion for ever , psal . 73. 26. none are so rich as a saint ; the poorest saint shall never want ; the lord is my shepherd , i shall not want , psal . 23. 1. there is no want to them that feare him , they shall not want any good thing , psal . 34. 9 , 10. oh rich and happy saint , admire free grace , which doth abound to thee ; be content with thy portion , and well thou maiest , for more thou canst not have ; rejoyce in thy portion , for it will be a full supply to thee ; they shall rejoyce in their portion , isa . 61. 7. be thankfull for thy portion , for it was freely given thee , hos . 14. 4. esteeme not any thing too much for him , who esteemes nothing too much for thee . be content if outwardly poore , because richer thou canst not be , in that thou art an heire of glory : improve thy portion , and live upon it richly . thou maintainest my lot ] god hath undertaken to preserve the saints , and he doth it ; christs inheritance can never be lost , because it is maintained by god : the saints safety and perseverance depends not upon themselves , nor anything below god , but upon god , who maintaines and upholds them . the saints are sure to persevere , it is impossible they should fall finally , or misse of glory , because they are maintained by god. 1. they shall never perish , neither shall any man plucke them out of my hand ; and none are able to plucke them out of my fathers hand , joh. 10. 28 , 29. 2. for they are in the love of god , eph. 2. 5. joh. 17. 26. 1 joh. 3. 1. 16. & 4. 16. they shall ( unavoydably ) come unto mee , joh. 6. 36 , 37. 3. god hath promised to preserve them , heb. 13. 5. for he hath said , i will never leave thee , nor forsake thee . 4. god is faithfull , 1 cor. 1. 9. 1 thes . 5. 23 , 24. jer. 31. 40. and immutable , i am the lord , i change not , mal. 3. 6. 5. and onely wise , he knows how to preserve them , rom. 16. 27. 6. he hath power enough to preserve them , 1 pet. 1. 5. 7. because they are in christ , ephe. 1. 4. who shall ever live ; because i live , yee shall live also , joh. 14. 19. 8. because they are so united to god , that god & they are but one , jo. 17. 23. i in them , and thou in me , that they may be made perfect in one , joh. 17. 23. oh sweet and happy union that is so intire , reall , full , and eternall ! 9. because god dwells in them , and they in him , 1 joh. 4. 13. joh. 17. 23. therefore they are secure and safe enough , being out of the reach of all the devils in earth or hell . the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places , yea i have a goodly heritage ] christs lot and inheritance is his saints , who are delightfull and precious unto him , deut. 32. 9. i have a goodly heritage ] christ is wonderfully taken with the saints comelines , it is a maine part of the excellency of christs inheritance , that it cannot be taken from him , nor spent , nor lost . goodly heritage ] christ hath a high esteeme of his ; thou art all faire , my love , there is no spot in thee , song 4. 7. they are without spot or wrinkle , eph. 5. 25. to 28. 1 joh. 1. 7. psal . 51. 5. rev. 19. 8. my beloved spake and said unto me , rise up my love and faire one , and come away , song 2. 10. oh happy saint , have thee a high esteem of christ , he is satisfied in thee , and be thou satisfied in him , rejoyce in nothing else but him , psal . 33. 21. and sing praises to him . the saints communion with god by faith. the life of faith in effectuall calling , justification , sanctification , infirmities , in graces , in means , in time past , in prosperity and adversity , in glorification , and to dye by faith. wherein the life of faith consists . it is in the communion the soule hath with god in christ , and the soules injoying of christ in his promises , both spirituall and temporall . 1. faith in effectuall calling . it is the soules cleaving and depending upon christ in his promise for pardon and life , 1 joh. 12. 1. joh. 3. 23. upon such places as these , 2 cor. 5. 20. mat. 11. 28. mat. 5. 2. the life of faith in justification . the lord having spoken peace to the soule , that jesus christ hath fully satisfied for all his sinnes , so as they are all done away , and shall be remembred no more , isa . 53. 5 , 6. jer. 31. 34. &c. and that as the soule is happy , so it injoyes the comfort of it , and is filled with joy and peace in beleeving , and now the soule lives a life of comfort , chearfulnesse and holinesse , 1 pet. 2. 24. rom. 5. 1. so that no sinne nor satan ( and if corruption increase , and god hides himselfe , or seemes an enemy ) not any thing can cause this soule to let goe the lord , and cast away its confidence ; though he slay me , saith job , yet will i trust in him , job 13. 15. rom. 8. 38 , 39. isa . 54. 7 , 8. & 63. 16 , 17. some hold the act of faith is that which god accepts to justification , but this is a mistake , because it makes christ inferior to faith , and in ascribing such an honour to faith , they dishonour christ , for although they doe not exclude christ wholly , yet in the act of justification , it gives all to faith . they say , as the act of adams sin condemned him , so our act of faith justifieth us . answer ; adams sinne was enough to condemne him and us , but our faith cannot save others , nor our selves . they reply , wee are justified by faith . answ . christ is called faith , gal. 3. 23. before faith came : which must be understood of christ . wee are justified before god in his sight onely by christ , rom. 3. 20. 24. my righteous servant ( christ ) shall justifie many , isai . 53. 11. we are not justified before god by faith which is in us , but by christ , by his bloud ; justified by his bloud , rom. 5. 9. that which saves us is the bloud of christ ; jesus christ hath loved us , and washed us from our sinnes in his bloud , rev. 1. 5. also wee are said to be justified by faith , because it is the instrument whereby we apprehend and apply christ our righteousnesse : by faith wee know our selves to be justified , rom. 5. 1. though faith be a grace of god , yet as it is an act , it is a worke , and to be justified by it , is to be justified by a worke of our owne ; for with the heart ( man ) beleeveth , rom. 10. 9 , 10. that which justifieth us , must be perfect , and so it is no act of ours ; for all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags , &c. isai . 64. 6. not of workes , least any man should boast , ephes . 2. 9. before wee had faith , it seemes , wee were not in christ , or in him and not justified ; for wee were in him before the world was , ephes . 1. 4. and that at one time god should be angry with us ( as he is with all unjustified persons who are out of christ , heb. 12. 29. he hateth all the workers of iniquitie , psal . 5. ) and that our beleeving should make him to be at peace with us : this is to make god changeable like man , which is contrary to the word ; for with him is no variablenesse , jam. 1. 17. i am the lord , i change not , mal. 3. 6. nothing can be charged upon gods elect , rom. 8. 1. therefore they are justified , 2 cor. 5. 19. those who have no sin upon them are justified , but christ hath taken away all the sinnes of the elect , job . 1. 29. with isai . 35. 8. 1 pet. 2. 24. rom. 6. 6. and to say , wee are not justified before god untill we beleeve , is to say jesus christ hath not justified us , which is contrary to the scriptures , which saith , wee are accepted in the beloved , in whom we have redemption by his bloud , ep. 1. 6 , 7. we are justified by his bloud , rom. 5. 9. jesus christ hath loved us , and washed us from our sinnes in his own bloud , rev. 1. 5. wee were reconciled by the death of his sonne , rom. 5. 9 , 10. a full satisfaction , heb. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. and in this god is well pleased before wee beleeve , mat. 3. 17. isai . 53. 11. also to say , we are not justified before god , or in his sight , untill we beleeve , is to say , we must adde our work to christ , to make up our justification before god , and if it be so , then wee in part save our selves ; and if we doe joyne with christ in this worke , why may wee not joyne with him in the glory of it ? for that may be esteemed one of the greatest parts of our justification , without which we cannot be justified . but this derogates from christ , and all such tenets we are to hate with execration . for , saith christ , i have troden the wine-presse alone , and of the people there was none with me , isai . 63. 3. wee rather say , if wee beleeve not , yet he abideth faithfull , he cannot deny himselfe , 2 tim. 2. 13. what the lord jesus christ hath done for us , is perfect , and is by god imputed to us , so as it is really ours , though it be inherent in another , and by beleeving it , wee know it to be ours , rom. 4. 24. first , not any shall be saved by christ , but those who were predestinated in him , according to his eternall purpose , eph. 1. 4 , 5. & 3. 11. and that there was not any foreseene faith or works in any kinde why he chose these rather then others , the will of god was the cause one was chosen and not another ; all was according to the good pleasure of his will , to the praise and glory of his grace , ephes . 1. 5 , 6. are we better then they ? no , in no wise , &c. rom. 3. 9. it was from his great love , wherewith he loved us , ephes . 2. 4. this love of god was the cause of gods sending christ , joh. 3. 16. and the chiefe cause of mans election and salvation , 1 joh. 4. 10. eph. 1. 4. joh. 17. 23. and that it is impossible for this great love to decrease or increase , because it is infinite , as appeares by psal . 139. 17 , 18. jam. 1. 17. god is perfect and infinite , he knows and understands all things that ever were , are , or shall be at once : so he is one pure act , therefore when we were chosen in christ , wee were justified and compleat in him , god looked upon the elect to be in christ before the world was , ephes . 1. 4. and so he ever lookes upon the elect : so that they ever appeare to him perfect and righteous as christ ; for they are one , and are in him , 1 cor. 1. 30. yee are in christ jesus , and ever shall be in him , being justified freely by his grace in his sight , rom. 3. 20. 24. god properly was never wroth with christ , nor the elect , and therefore christ could not suffer gods wrath ; see heb. 2. 9. so that in respect of their justification , god seeth no sinne in any of the elect , even before their calling and after . and as it is gods will , so it should be ours , to set his glory above our salvation , that in the ages to come , he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us , to the praise of the glory of his grace , ephes . 1. 5 , 6. ephes . 2. 7. secondly , in time the elect did breake a holy and just law , and so lay under the curse and wrath of it , which was death , rom. 3. 21. 23. christ in our nature for our persons suffered death , heb. 2. 9. ( the penalty ) to free all the elect , so that they are now actually justified by justice ; that he might be just ( rom. 6. 15. ) & 3. 25 , 26. if god should have justified us , without this propitiation , after he had made this law , and we breaking it , he could not have been just , but having received this propitiation , he could not be just , if he did not justifie the elect , that he might be just , and the justifier , &c. rom. 3. 26. thirdly , the soule by faith doth apprehend and apply christ , and what he hath done , to be for him , by which it knoweth it selfe to be justified in the sight of god , and in the word , and in his own conscience . whence flowes joy and peace in beleeving , rom. 5. 1. because all that beleeve are justified ; and as many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved , act. 13. 39. 48. so that by beleeving , i know i am ordained to eternall life , because gods word saith so , and that wee are justified in his sight without the deeds of the law , rom. 3. 20. 28. viz. by faith wee apprehend our selves to be freely and fully justified by christ , without any workes of our own , gal. 2. 16. without any addition of inherent goodnesse in us , &c. fourthly , by our workes in our outward subjection to christ , to his word , we declare to men ( as farre as they can judge ) that we have the faith of gods elect , 2 pet. 1. 1. thou , o lord , knowest the hearts of all men ; but faith without workes is dead to men , and buried also , james 2. 18. 20. if there be no workes , they can see nothing of it ; shew mee thy faith by thy workes ; yee see then how by workes a man is justified , 21. 24. in the 1. we are justified in respect of the knowledge and purpose of god in his sight , rom. 3. 20. in the 2. we are actually and vertually justified in justice by the bloud of christ , which payd the debt : now the full price , the full debt being paid , is it justice in law by god or man , to require it againe ? surely no. in the 3. wee are justified in our consciences , by the holy spirits manifestation and application of christs righteousnesse unto us . in the 4. and last , we are justified before men , or unto men . object . if it be so , that men are loved of god , &c. before they repent and beleeve , then men may live as they list , &c. answ . we are to own and confesse the truth , and not what men of corrupt minds , and base spirits , will say , and will doe : the apostle saith , if any man sin , we have an advocate with the father , jesus christ the righteous , 1 joh. 2. 1. but what if one say , it seemes the apostle incourages men to sin , to tell them there is an advocate , who is alwayes heard . and the apostle saith , where sinne hath abounded , grace did abound much more , rom. 5. 20. by the apostles answer ( it appeares some did say , they might continue in sin that grace might abound ) what shall wee say then , shall we continue in sinne , that grace may abound ? god forbid : how shall we that are dead in sin live any longer therein , &c. rom. 6. 1 , 2. but this is an old cavill and slander cast upon those that teach the truth , as the apostle saith it was then in his dayes ; we be slanderously reported , and as some affirme , that we say , let us doe evill that good may come , whose damnation is just , rom. 3. 8. their exception is against the truth of god , and therfore we leave them to god to answer and satisfie them . and though all the elect are freed from the curse of the law , yet we establish the law , rom. 3. 31. we receive the law from the hand of jesus christ to be a rule for us to walke by ; and herein is my father glorified , that yee bring forth much fruit , joh. 15. 8. and the saints injoy sweet priviledges by walking close with god ; see 1 pet. 4. 14. to him that orders his conversation aright , will i shew the salvation of god , psal . 50. 23. god sheddeth his love into the hearts of his ( in his time and measure ) which love so constraines them , that they cannot choose but love god againe for his great love , rom. 5. 5. ephes . 4. 6. 2 cor. 5. 14. which love as it is apprehended by them , so it constraines them to obey him ; and there is no faith true , but that which workes by love , gal. 5. 6. and to all that love god , his commandements are not grievous , joh. 14. 15. 1 joh. 5. 1. 3. and god hath chosen us that wee should be holy and without blame before him in love , ephes . 1. 4. & 2. 10. & 4. 1. but this doctrine hath ever been slandred and opposed by papists , arminians , and such as they are ; but let those that can see , judge whose lives are most according to the word , they that hold with it or against it . 3. the life of faith in sanctification . this consists in two branches . the first , is the soules cleaving to god in christ our sanctification , which is for my pardon , and peace , and assurance of glory , 1 cor. 1. 30. who is made unto us sanctification . the second , is the soules cleaving to christ in his promises , to change my nature , clense and renew my heart and life , and to worke all our workes for us , and be a quickning spirit in us , 1 cor. 15. 45. i will heale their backslidings , hos . 14. 5. he will subdue our iniquities , micah 7. 19. sinne shall not have dominion over you , &c. isa . 57. 18 , 19. i have seene his wayes and will heale him ; and heale all thy diseases , psal . 103. 8. this was christs prayer , sanctifie them with thy truth , thy word is truth ; for their sakes sanctifie i my selfe , that they also might be sanctified through the truth , joh. 17. 17. 19. there is much unevennesse in us , it should be a great griefe unto us , that we cannot honour god no more in our conversation , & that our spirits are so much estranged from him as they are , and unto holy and divine things , which should be familiar , and more delightfull unto us . all that are the lords have received great love from him , which should greatly ingage their hearts , to walke as becometh saints , in a holy course and conversation , according to the word of god , every day , and all the day long to injoy god , and obey him according to his word . of infirmities . an infirmitie is such a weaknesse , as when the heart is upright , yet by reason of some impediment it cannot doe the good it would , and doth the evill it would not . infirmities are the imperfections of good actions . there is an infirmitie which ariseth from some impediment which a man would faine remove but cannot . there is an infirmitie that ariseth for want of growth in grace . a sin of infirmitie is alwayes with griefe and sorrow , and where there is no griefe for it , it is no infirmitie . it is a sin of infirmitie in him who desires to be informed of it , and to be reproved for it , and to know how to leave it , when he is ashamed of it , and will not plead for it , but complaine to god against it , and is grieved & humbled for it , and useth meanes against it . there is no childe of god that is wholly free from infirmities , therefore every beleever is to live by faith in all their infirmities . 4. the life of faith in infirmities . which consists in two things . first , it is the soule cleaving to god in christ , that he will be to us according unto his promise , a god of love and mercy unto us for ever , notwithstanding all our omissions and commissions , excesses and defects . secondly , and that he will supply all our wants for soule or body , as if we had never sinned , according to his covenant with jesus christ , and us in him , that it shall stand fast for ever with him , psal . 89. 27 , 28 , 29. for the first , if any man sin , we have an advocate with the father , 1 joh. 2. 1. who forgiveth all thy iniquities , psal . 103. 3. whom he loves once , he loves to the end , joh. 13. 1. i am the lord , i change not , mal. 3. 6. jesus christ the same , yesterday , and to day , and for ever , heb. 13. 8. i will make an everlasting covenant with you , even the sure mercies of david , isai . 53. 3. which is confirmed by two immutable things , oath and covenant , &c. that wee might have strong consolation , heb. 6. 17 , 18. through the bloud of the everlasting covenant , heb. 13. 20. if his children forsake my law , and walke not in my judgements , if they breake my statutes , and keepe not my commandements ; then will i visit their transgressions with a rod , and their iniquitie with stripes : neverthelesse , my loving kindnesse i will not take from him , nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile ; my covenant will i not breake , my mercy will i keep for him , and my covenant shall stand fast with him , psal . 89. 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34. they and our fathers dealt proudly , and hardened their neckes , and hearkened not to thy commandements , and refused to obey , &c. but thou art a god ready to pardon , gracious and mercifull , and slow to anger , and of great kindnesse , and forsakest them not , nehe. 9. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. in our greatest falls , when the soule is subject to doubt of pardon , consider our god will abundantly pardon , &c. isa . 55. 7 , 8 , 9. i am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my names sake , isa . 43. 25. and am mighty to save , isa . 63. 1. with the lord is plenteous redemption , psal . 130. 7 , 8 , 9. i have blotted out thy sins , returne unto mee ; for i have redeemed thee , isa . 44. 22. he knoweth our frame , and remembreth that we are but dust , psal . 103. 14. if thou shouldst mark iniquities , o lord , who shall stand ? but there is forgivenesse with thee , that thou mayest be feared , psal . 130. 3 , 4. but the mercy of the lord is from everlasting to everlasting , upon them that feare him . as a father pitieth his children , so the lord pitieth them that feare him , psal . 103. 13. 17 , 18. thou art a god ready to forgive , and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee , psal . 86. 5. but thou art a god ready to pardon , gracious , and mercifull , and slow to anger , and of great kindnesse , and forsakest them not , though they dealt proudly , and hardened their neckes , and hearkened not to thy commandements , and refused to obey , neh. 9. 16 , 17. he hath not dealt with us after our sins , nor rewarded us according to our iniquities , ps . 103. 10. he was wounded for our transgressions , he was bruised for our iniquities , the chastisement of our peace was upon him , & with his stripes we are healed , isa . 53. 6. god hath in wisdome and love left sin in his , to keepe them humble in the sense of sinne , and that wee may know what we are , and our strength , that wee might exercise the graces of the spirit , faith for pardon , wisdome , watchfulnesse , self-deniall , &c. which we could not doe , if wee had no sinne , and that we might long to be in heaven , where we shall injoy a full freedome from all sinne : and that wee might love and prise christ more , seeing we stand in such need of him to pardon and heale us , and that wee might daily depend upon christ against it , and live upon the fulnesse of christ , which wee should have no need in this kinde , if we could not sinne , and that wee might not scorn nor insult over any , and that gods power may appeare in preserving a little grace in a soule so full of sinne : and also the power of his grace in subduing so many and so strong sinnes , and that wee might admire that rich grace , that can love such as we are , and pardon our so many and great sinnes . the use of this is , if it be so , first , expect not full freedome of sinne here , as some dreame . secondly , doe not sinne that grace may abound , god forbid , rom. 6. 1 , 2 , 3 , 8. but in obedience to god , and love to him , use all meanes against it , all thy dayes strive against it in the strength of christ , the love of christ will teach thee , and cause thee to doe so . thirdly , be not over-pressed and sunk under it , but live by faith in all infirmities ; say as paul , i glory in my infirmities , not as they are sins , but because by them gods power and goodnesse is the more seene , both in pardoning , and healing , see rom. 5. 20. & 6. 1 , 2. 2 cor. 12. 9. rom. 3. 7 , 8. &c. what if i should say , all the lords are the more happy they were sinners , else how could they have been capable of mercy , and heaven , and union with god , &c. if there were not evill , it would not be knowne what is good ; justice and mercy had not been known , therefore how could ▪ god be knowne ? his wisdome in drawing good out of evill , nor his infinite love in sending christ to dye , could not have been known , and man could not come to that full happinesse in christ , if there had not been sin . sin should not hinder our faith , it is hard to beleeve the pardon of seventy seven sinnes in a day , yet faith is able to beleeve it , and also to keep a sinner from being perplexed in his spirits with any sinne or trouble , so as to hinder the soule from rejoycing in god all the day long : faith looks to jesus christ , his bloud , intercession , and obedience , who hath payd all our debts , 1 joh. 2. 1. and now wee are not under the law , but under grace , rom. 6. 15. so that the weakest beleever may say in the middest of all , my imperfections have as much of the love or god , and union with him , acceptation , reconciliation , full and perfect righteousnesse in christ , to cover all my defects , as the best saint ever had , and my state shall be as happie as any of theirs , and were it not for christ , all their holinesse could not helpe them , and they might cry they are unprofitable in all , and had also perished in their sinnes . can a man be profitable to god , job 35. 7 ? surely no ; and what shall hinder me of having as much happinesse and glory in heaven , as the best saint ? oh who can expresse the sweetnesse that is in this doctrine of free grace to an humble soule ! and it is wonderfull sweet , and it is a strong tie to god in all holinesse . i know men of base spirits , unbeleevers will catch at what i say , but if they doe , who can helpe it ? the children must have bread , and if such dogs will snatch it , to their perill be it ; as for you who love sin , so as you are not willing to part with your sinnes , that you desire to make leagues and covenants with sinners , hell , and death , and the devill , you take incouragement to sin , because god is rich in grace , &c. oh consider , if yee have hearts , yee are those who turne the grace of god into wantonnesse , yee are still in your sinnes , yee are the dogs , touch it not , it is not for you ; christ saith , it is not meet to cast the childrens bread to dogs , ma● . 7. 6. a childe of god is described by a desire to feare the name of god , nehe. 1. 11. 1. those that live the life of faith in infirmitie , they eye christs sanctification , and injoy comfort in it . 2. there is a harmony between that soule , and gods command , speake lord , for thy servant heareth , 1 sam. 3. 10. 3. he is not offended at christ , at any thing he requires ; blessed is he that is not offended in me , mat. 11. 6. for this is the love of god , that we keepe his commandements , and his commandements are not grievous , 1 joh. 5. 3. 4. he lookes at the word of god for his rule , and his desire is wholly to be ruled by it , he will trust god , and relie upon his word . 5. he eyeth christs strength in his promise for helpe , and by faith makes it his own , psal . 46. 6. surely in the lord have i righteousnesse and strength , isa . 45. 24. 6. he will with courage incounter against what ever opposeth god , and contend earnestly for the faith once given to the saints , jude vers . 3. 7. he is sensible of good and evill , and layeth to heart his own and others sins , acts 20. 31. 8. no sinne he commits doth so discourage him , and sinke him , but he can joy and rejoyce in christ , his joy and sorrow is not legall , but evangelicall , or spirituall , and therefore may be in one saint both at one and the same time , 1 thes . 5. the second branch of this life of faith in infirmities , it is to live upon christ in his promise , to helpe us against all our infirmities , upon such places as these . if thou beest in deadnesse of heart , consider , behold my servant shall sing for joy of heart , isai . 65. 14. in thy name shall they rejoyce all the day , psal . 89. 16. in dumbnesse , consider , the tongue of the dumbe shall sing , &c. isa . 35. 36. the mouth of the righteous shall speake wisdome , and his tongue talkes of judgement , psal . 37. 30. in forgetfulnesse ; the spirit shall bring all things into your remembrance , joh. 14. 26. when thou art in feare of want , consider , there is no want to them that feare him , psal . 34. 9. trust in the lord , and doe good , and verily thou shalt be fed , psal . 37. 3. seeke yee first the kingdome of god , and his righteousnesse , and all things else shall be added unto you , mat. 6. 34. take no thought , for to morrow shall take thought for it selfe , sufficient to the day is the evill thereof . take no thought for your life , what yee shall eate , or what yee shall drinke , nor yet for your body , what yee shall put on : is not the life more then meate , and the body then rayment ? behold the fowles of the ayre , they neither sow nor reape , nor gather into barnes , yet god feedeth them , are yee not much better then they , o yee of little faith ? which of you by taking thought can adde one oubit unto his stature ? take no thought ( for after these things seek the gentiles ) you heavenly father knoweth that yee have need of these things , mat. 6. 25. to the end ; see rom. 8. 32. luk. 12. 15. cast all your care upon him , for he careth for you , be carefull for nothing ; but in every thing , let your requests he made known to god with thankesgiving , phil. 4. 6. 1 pet. 5. 7. let your conversation be without covetousnesse , and be content with such things as yee have ; for he hath said , i will never leave thee , nor forsake thee , heb. 13. 5. in thy ignorance , consider , wee have such an high priest as can have compassion on the ignorant , heb. 5. 2. if any want wisdome , let him aske it of god , who gives liberally , and it shall be given him , but let him aske in faith , without wavering , jam. 1. 5. having fallen into passion , to keepe thee from sinking under it , consider what the apostles said , wee are also men of like passions with you , acts 14. 15. elias was a man subject to the like passions as we are , &c. jam. 5. 17. and so of all other infirmities ; he will heale all thy diseases , &c. psal . 103. 8. if wee did live in christ by faith more , our infirmities would be lesse . for a supply of all wants ; my god shall supply all you need , according to his riches by christ jesus , phil. 4. 6. 19. christ is able , and will supply all our wants . 5. the life of faith for graces , and in the exercise of them . to beleeve ; they shall trust in the name of the lord , zeph. 3. 12. this is his commandment , that yee should beleeve on the name of his sonne jesus christ , 1 joh. 3. 23. to increase in faith ; they shall grow from faith to faith , rom. 1. 17. to live by faith ; the just shall live by faith , rom. 1. 17. to continue in the faith ; he that beleeves in me , though he were dead , yet shall be live , &c. luk. 22. 32. 1 pet. 1. 5. in exercise of faith ; thou wilt keep him in perfect peace , whose mind is stayed on thee , because he trusts in thee , isa . 26. 3. joh. 11. 25. & 7. 38 , 39. he is a buckler to all them that trust in him , psal . 18. 30. he that puts his trust in the lord , mercy shall compasse him about , psal . 32. 10. to know god ; thou shalt know the lord , pro. 1. 23. they shall all know mee , jer. 31. 33 , 34. to love god ; thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , mat. 22. 17. the lord thy god will circumcise thy heart , that thou maist love him with all thy heart and soule , deut. 30. 6. i have declared thy name , that thy love wherewith thou hast loved me , may be in them , joh. 17. 26. in loving god ; he that loves me , shall be loved of my father , and i will love him , and manifest my selfe unto him , and dwell with him , joh. 14. 21. 23. to seeke god ; that they should seeke the lord , act. 17. 27. seeke yee the lord. in seeking god ; blessed are all they that seeke him with their whole heart , psal . 119. 2. the lord hath not forsaken them that seeke him , psal . 9. 10. your hearts shall live that seeke him , psal . 69. 32. they shall praise the lord that seeke him , psal . 22. 26. they that seeke the lord , shall not want any good thing . to feare god ; i will put my feare in their hearts , and they shall not depart from me , jer. 32. 39 , 40. they shall feare the lord and his goodnesse in the latter dayes , hosea 3. 5. in fearing god ; the lord takes pleasure in them that feare him , psal . 147. 11. he that feares the lord , him shall he teach the way that he shall choose , psal . 25. 12. there is no want to them that feare him , ( viz. feare lest they sinne against him ) psal . 34. 9. he will blesse them that feare the lord , both small and great , psal . 115. 13. to hope in god. in hoping in god ; the lord takes pleasure in those that hope in his mercy , ps . 147. 11. wee are saved by hope , rom. 8. 24. happy is he whose hope is in the lord , ps . 146. 5. be of good courage , he shall strengthen your hearts , all yee that hope in the lord , ps . 31. 24. to waite on god ; waite , i say , on the lord , and he shall strengthen thy heart , psal . 27. 14. in waiting on god ; they shall not be ashamed that waite for me : blessed are they that waite for him . since the beginning of the world , men have not heard , nor perceived by the eare , neither hath the eye seene , o god , besides thee , what he hath prepared for them that waite for him , isa . 49. 23. isa . 30. 18. 1 cor. 2. 9. to delight and rejoyce in god ; thou shalt have thy delight in the almightie : thou shalt rejoyce in god ; in thy name shall they rejoyce all the day : our hearts shall rejoyce in him , isa . 41. 16. psal . 89. 16. psal . 33. 21. to praise god ; the living , he shall praise thee ; daily shall he be praised ; they shall praise the lord : who so offereth mee praise , glorifieth me , isa . 38. 19. psal . 72. 15. psal . 63. 3. psal . 22. 26. psal . 50. 23. to injoy peace with god ; let him take hold on my strength , that he may make peace with me , and he shall make peace with me , isa . 27. 5. to love the saints ; this is his commandement , that we should love one another , 1 joh. 3. 23. little children , love one another ; see that yee love one another with a pure heart fervently , 1 joh. 4. 7. 1 pet. 2. 22. by this shall all men know , that yee be my disciples , if yee love one another , joh. 13. 35. 1 joh. 3. 14. to love enemies ; love your enemies , doe good , lend , hoping for nothing againe , and your reward shall be great , &c. mat. 5. 43 , 44. luk. 6. 35. to judge our selves ; they shall judge themselves worthy to be destroyed : judge your selves , and yee shall not be judged , ezek. 36. 31. 2 cor. 11. 31. to mourne for sinning against god ; i will powre upon them the spirit of grace , and they shall mourne : your sorrow shall be turned into joy ; blessed are they that mourn , ( in faith ) for they shall be comforted , zech. 12. 10. joh. 16. 20. mat. 5. 4. in poverty of spirit ; to him will i look , saith god , that is poore , and of a contrite spirit , &c. blessed are the poore in spirit , for theirs is the kingdome of heaven , isa . 66. 2. mat. 5. 3. in desires after christ , &c. hoe every one that thirsteth , come yee to the waters and drinke , if any man thirst , let him come to me and drinke , i will give to him that is athirst of the fountaine of water of life freely . blessed are they which doe hunger and thirst after righteousnesse , for they shall be filled . a bruised reed shall be not breake , and the smoaking flax shall be not quench . and if there be a willing mind , it is accepted according to that a man hath . by faith abraham offered isaac . of a truth , this poore widow hath cast in more then they all . the desires of the righteous shall be granted , isa . 55. 1. joh. 7. 37. rev. 21. 6. joh. 7. 33. mat. 5. 6. isa . 42. 3. 2 cor. 8. 10 , 11 , 12. gen. 16 , 17. with heb. 11. 27. luk. 21. 3. prov. 10. 24. psal . 37. 4. to be meeke ; seeke meeknesse : the meeke will he teach his way ; and will save all the meeke of the earth ; he will beautifie the meeke with salvation , psal . 25. 9. psal . 76. 9. psal . 149. 4. to be sincere ; thou lord , requirest truth in the inward parts : blessed are the pure in heart , for they shall see god , psal . 51. 6. mat. 5. 8. to confesse our sinnes ; confesse thy sin . if we confesse our sinnes , he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes , and to cleanse us from all iniquitie : if any man say , i have sinned and perverted that which is right , and it profiteth me not , he will deliver his soule from going downe into the pit , and his life shall see the light , 1 joh. 1. 9. job 23. 27 , 28. to forgive others ; forgive , unto seventy seven times in a day thou shalt forgive : forgive , and yee shall be forgiven : if yee forgive men their trespasses , your heavenly father will forgive your trespasses against him , luk. 17. 4. mark. 11. 25 , 26. & 6. 37. mat. 6. 14. ephes . 4. 23. to be a peace-maker ; blessed are the peace-makers ; for they shall be called the children of god , mat. 5. 9. to devise good ; mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good ▪ the liberall deviseth liberall things , pro. 14. 22. isa . 32. 8. to selfe-deniall ; if any man will come after me , let him deny himselfe , ma● . 16. 15. to watch ; but let us watch and be sober : blessed are those servants , whom the lord when he cometh , shall find watching : blessed is he that watcheth , ma● . 13. 37. 1 thes . 5. 6. rev. 16. 15. luk. 22. 37. mat. 24 ▪ 47. to be patient : be yee also patient : in your patience possesse your s●ules , james 5. 8. luk. 21. 9. after he had patiently indured , he obtained the promises , heb. 6. 15. to be contented ; be content with those things yee have , heb. 13. 5. to resist the devill ; resist the devill , and he will fly from you , jam. 5. 4. to resist sin ; sin shall not have dominion over you , rom. 6. 14. not to be afraid of the world ; yee are of god , little children , and have overcome them ; and greater is he that is in you , then he that is in the world , joh. 16. 33. see 1 joh. 4. 4. to subdue the flesh ; if yee mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit , yee shall live , rom. 8. 13. live to the glory of god , and your own , and the saints comfort . to be mercifull ; be yee mercifull as your heavenly father is mercifull : blessed are the mercifull , for they shall obtaine mercy , mat. 5. 7. jam. 2. 13. to give to the poore ; see that yee abound in this grace also . cast thy bread upon the waters , and after many dayes thou shalt find it . he that gives to the poore shall not lacke : blessed is he that considereth the poore , the lord will deliver him in the time of trouble ; the lord will preserve and keepe him alive , and he shall be blessed upon the earth ; thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies ; the lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing ; thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse , eccl. 11. 1. pro. 28. 17. psal . 41. 1 , 2 , 3. to give chearfully ; god loves a ohearfull giver , 2 cor. 9. 7. to give bountifully ; he that soweth bountifully , shall reap bountifully ; the liberall soule shall be made fat , and he that watereth , shall be watered himselfe : if thou draw out thy soule to the hungry , and satisfie the afflicted soule , then shall thy light rise , &c. 2 cor. 9. 6. prov. 11. 25. isa . 48. 10 , 11. who so shall give a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple ( because he belongs to christ ) verily , i say unto you , he shall not lose his reward ( in heaven ) mat. 10. 42. mark. 9. 41. 6. the life of faith in the use of meanes . it is the souls cleaving to god in christ for a blessing upon his ordinances , or the meanes he hath appointed , that we may receive strength from them , and profit by them . the way of the lord is strength to the upright , pro. 9. 29. i am the lord that teacheth thee to profit , isa . 48. 17. faith beleeves god will blesse his own meanes , seeing he hath appointed them all to this end , therefore all must needs be effectuall . so it is the duty of a beleever to use all constantly , closely , wisely ; despise not them , because they seem weak and silly to flesh and bloud ; know by their use ( under god ) a holy life is preserved , and observe how thou thrivest by them : use all , if by any meanes thy wants may be supplied , phil. 3. 11. and honour not any of them , as to exclude or sleight another . some there be that are guiltie herein , men onely prise that themselves like . but oh yee sonnes and daughters of god , love yee and use yee all gods meanes , they are all for his glory , and thy good ; let not any of them be a stranger to thee , the neglect of one may hinder the fruit of another : the command is to all the lords to use all , and if we be weake in the use of meanes , what should we be if wee used them not ? let not the difficultie of any dismay thee , consider seriously the soveraigntie of god in all his commands , and what obedience to god meanes , and what god requires , for matter , manner , measure , time , and end . to pray ; consider such places as these . pray continually . i will powre upon them the spirit of grace and supplication : aske and ye shall have : if yee which are evill , know how to give good gifts unto your children , how much more shall your heavenly father , give the holy spirit to those that aske him ? and all things whatsoever yee shall aske in prayer beleeving yee shall receive . what things soever yee desire when yee pray , beleeve that yee receive them , and yee shall receive them . verily i say unto you , whatsoever yee shall aske the father in my name , he will give it you : and it shall come to passe before they call i will answer , and while they yet speake , i will heare , 1 thes . 5. zech. 12. 10. mat. 7. 7 , 8 , 9 , 11. luk. 11. 13. mat. 21. 22. mark. 11. 24. mat. 16. 23. isa . 65. 24. to read the word ; give attendance to reading : behold , i will powre out my spirit upon you , and make knowne my words unto you , 1 tim. 4. 13. rev. 1. 3. pro. 1. 23. to meditate ; thou shalt meditate therein day and night . blessed is the man that meditateth on thy law day and night : my meditation of him shall be sweet : the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding , josh . 1. 8. 1 tim. 4. 15. psal . 1. 1 , 2. psal . 104. 34. psal . 49. 3. to holy conference ; the mouth of the righteous speakes wisdome : the lips of the wise disperse knowledge : my words shall not depart out of thy mouth : they that feared the lord , spake oft one to another , &c. they that love it shall eate the fruit thereof , prov. 15. 17. pro. 18. 21. ma●a . 3. 16. psal . 37. 30. psal . 71. 24. isa . 59. 21. to heare christ and his ministers ; blessed is the man that heares me , watching daily at my gates : heare and your soules shall live , pro. 8. 34. isai . 55. 3. to be baptized ; see here is water , what doth hinder me to be baptized ? and philip said , if thou beleevest with all thy heart , thou maiest ; and they went both downe into the water ▪ and he baptized him , acts 8. 36 , 37 , 38. he that beleeves and is baptized , shall be saved , mark. 16. 16. for saints to receive the lords supper ; doe this in remembrance of me ; it was given for you ; take , eate , this is my body ▪ luk. 22. 19. joh. 6. 58. to be prepared for duties ; thou wilt prepare their hearts : if thou prepare thy heart , &c. psal . 10. 17. job 11. 13 , 14 , 15. to obey god ; as soone as they heare of me , they shall obey me , ezek. 36. 27. to be fruitfull in season ; his leafe shall be greene , and he shall not cease from yeelding fruit ; he shall bring forth his fruit in season , his leafe shall not wither , jer. 17. 8. psal . 1. 2 , 3. for abilitie to obey god ; the righteous also shall hold on his way , and he shall be stronger and stronger : they goe from strength to strength every one of them ; surely shall one say , in the lord have i righteousnesse and strength , my god shall be my strength : i will goe in the strength of the lord : he gives power to the faint , and to them that have no might be increaseth strength : they that wait upon the lord , shall renue their strength , they shall mount up with wings , as eagles , they shall run , and not be weary , and shall walke , and not be faint . i can doe all things through christ that strengthens me . god gives strength and power to his people , blessed be god , job 17. 9. psal . 84. 7. isa . 45. 24. isa . 49. 5. isa . 40. 29 , 30 , 31. phil. 4. 13. psal . 68. 35. in all temptations ; that it shall not be above that wee are able to beare , and for a good issue out of all temptations . there hath no temptation taken you , but such as is common to man , but god is faithfull , who will not suffer you to be tempted above that yee are able , but will with the temptation also make a way to escape , that yee may be able to beare it , 1 cor. 10. 13. jam. 1. 12. rom. 6. 20. to know the truth ; he that will doe his will , he shall know whether the doctrine be of god , or no : the spirit of truth will guide you into all truth : the meeke will he teach his way : he that feareth the lord , will he teach in the way he shall choose , joh. 7. 17. joh. 16. 13. psal . 25. 9. 12. for direction in all our wayes ; i will direct all his wayes ; i will instruct thee , and teach thee in the way that thou shalt goe . i will guide thee with my eye : for this god is our god for ever and ever , and he will be our guide , even untill death , isa . 45. 13. ps . 32. 8. psal 48. 14. to reprove others ; thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart ; thou shalt in any wise rebuke him , and not suffer sin upon him he that rebuketh a man , afterwards shall find more favour then he that flattereth with his tongue : the feare of man bringeth a snare , but to them that rebuke him shall be delight , and a good blessing shall come upon them , levit. 19. 17. pro. 28. 23. pro. 29. 25. pro. 24. 25. to correct children , &c. the rod and reproofe give wisdome , but a childe left to himselfe bringeth his mother to shame ; but if thou beatest him with the rod , he shall not dye ; thou shalt beat him with the rod , pro. 25. 15. pro. 29. 15. pro. 23. 13 , 14. for husbands to love their wives ; husbands love your wives , ephes . 5. 25. 28. 33. for wives to obey their husbands ; wives obey your husbands in every thing ( lawfull ) ephes . 5. 24. for children to obey their parents ; children obey your parents in the lord , ephes . 6. 1 , 2. for servants to obey their masters ; servants be obedient to those that are your masters , ephes . 6. 5 , 6 , 7. to obey gods commands ; in keeping them there is great reward , psal . 19. 11. blessed are they that do his commandements , psal . 19. 11. prov. 37. 27. rev. 20. 6. rev. 22. 14. to leave false worship ; see 2 cor. 6. 16 , 17 , 18. to dwell in sion , and to injoy the priviledges thereof ; the ransomed of the lord shall come to sion with joy : i will take one of a citie , and two of a family , and bring them to sion ; they that love his name shall dwell therein , isa . 35. 10. jer. 3. 14. psal . 69. 36. to be fruitfull there ; those that are planted in the house of god , shall flourish in the courts of our god , and bring forth fruit in old age , and be fat and flourishing : all that see them shall acknowledge them , that they are the seed of them which the lord hath blessed : they goe from strength to strength every one of them in sion , &c. ps . 92. 13 , 14. isa . 61. 9. & 62. 12. psal . 84. 7. that god is present there ; he dwels in his church ; he walkes in the middest of the seven golden candlestickes : thou that dwellest in the gardens , rev. 2. 1. with rev. 1. 10. song 5. 1. & 6. 2. & 8. 13. for the acceptation of their services there ; see song 5. 1. with deut. 12. 5 , 6 , 7. for his blessing there ; the lord shall blesse thee out of sion ; i will abundantly blesse her provision ; they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house : blessed are they that dwell in thy house , for they shall he still praising thee , psal . 132. 15. psal . 36. 8. psal . 84. 4. for protection there ; thou shalt hide me in the time of trouble , in the secrets of thy tabernacle , psal . 27. 4 , 5. for saints to agree in the truth ; i will give them one heart , and one way , jer. 32. 39. to have joy and gladnesse there ; the lord shall comfort sion , and joy and gladnesse shall be found therein , thankesgiving and the noyse of melody , isai . 51. 3. in reproaches for christ ; blessed are yee when men revile you for my sake falsly , rejoyce and be glad , and leape for joy ; for behold , great is your reward in heaven : in like manner did they revile the prophets , &c. luk. 6. 22 , 23. 1 pet. 1. 14. in persecution for christ ; all that will live godly in christ jesus , shall suffer persecution : blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake , for theirs is the kingdome of heaven : if we suffer with him , wee shall also reigne with him , 2 tim. 3. 12. mat. 5. 10. 2 tim. 2. 12. rom. 8. 18. in losses for christ ; he that forsakes house , or brethren , or father , or mother , or house or lands , he shall receive a hundred●old here , and in the world to come eternall life , mark. 10. 29. 30. mat. 19. 28 , 29. in imprisonment for christ ; the devill shall cast some of you into prison , that yee may be tryed , &c. rev. 2. 10. in death for christ ; he that loseth his life for my sake , shall finde it : be thou faithfull unto death , and i will give thee a crowne of life , mat. 10. 39. rev. 21. 7. rev. 2. 10. for the calling of the jewes ; see isa . 60. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , &c. for the destruction of antichrist , and all the enemies of the sonnes of sion ; see rev. 17. 16. & 18. 8. 21. &c. 7. the life of faith concerning protection from dangers , and for a supply of all wants . for protection ; he shall give his angels charge over thee : the lord is thy keeper : i will preserve thee , and keepe thee : he withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous : there shall not a haire of your heads perish , psal 91. 11. psal . 121. 8. isa . 49 ▪ 8. job 36. 7. luk. 21. 18. christ prayed , holy father , i pray thee keepe them from ●●ill , joh. 17. 15. to be delivered from the wicked ; the lord shall helpe them , and deliver them from the wicked , and save them , because they trust in him , 2 thes . 3. 2 , 3. psal . 34. 40. to be delivered from the harlot ; who so pleaseth god , shall escape from her , eccle. 7. 26. to be delivered from unreasonable creatures ; the beast of the field shall be at peace with thee : thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field , pro. 5. 23. if in warre ; he shall redeeme thee from the power of the sword , job 5. 20. if in famine ; in famine he shall redeeme thee from dearth , job 5. 20. to finde pitie in captivitie ; he made them also to be pitied of those that carried them captives , psal . 106. 46. if in water ; when thou passest through the waters , i will be with thee , and through the rivers , they shall not overflow thee , &c. isa . 43. 2. if in fire ; when thou walkest through the fire , thou shalt not be burnt , nor shall the flame kindle upon thee , isa . 43. 2. if in sicknesse ; the lord will strengthen thee upon the bed of languishing ; thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse ; and heale all thy diseases , psal . 41. 3. psal . 103. 3. exod. 23. 25. to be preserved from all evill ; he shall deliver thee in six troubles , yea , in seven there shall no evill touch thee : he shall preserve thee from all evill , job 5. 19. 2 thes . 3. 3. psal . 121. 7. for clothing ; take no thought for your body , what yee shall put on , is not the body more then rayment ? for your heavenly father knoweth yee have need of these things : why take yee thought for rayment ? consider the lilies , &c. shall be not much more cloth you , o yee of little faith , mat. 6. 25. see psal . 37. 16. mat. 6. 28. 30. 3● . for food in famine ; trust in the lord , and verily thou shalt be fed : bread shall be given him , his waters shall be sure , psa . 37. 3. isa . 33. 16. in the dayes of famine they shall be satisfied , isa . 37. 19. for dwelling ; he shall dwell on high , isa . 33. 17. to be hid in a time of danger ; set a marke upon their foreheads , &c. in that day it shall be said to jerusalem , feare thou not , and to sion , &c. the lord thy god in the middest of thee is mightie , he will save , &c. zeph. 3. 16 , 17. god will remember his ; thou shalt not be forgotten by me , isa . 44. 21. for successe of our labour ; whatsoever he doth shall prosper : thou shalt eate of the labour of thy hands : they shall not build , and another inhabit , they shall not plant , and not eate ; they shall not labour in vaine , &c. for they are the seed of the blessed of the lord , &c. psal . 1. 3. psal . 128. 2. pro. 12. 11. 14. isa . 65. 22. if thou be falsly accused ; consider , he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light , &c. psal . 37. 6. for a good name ; consider , pro. 10. 7. zeph. 3. 20. isa . 56. 5. psal . 111. 6. for children ; thy wife shall be a fruitfull vine ; thou shalt see thy childrens children , psal . 121. 3. 6. for sleepe ; so he giveth his beloved sleep : thy sleepe shall be sweet , psal . 127. 2. pro. 3. 24. job 11. 19. zeph. 3. 13. for a supply of all we need ; my god shall supply all your needs , phil. 4. 9. 6. if in prospericie ; consider jer. 29. 5 , 6. these things yee may have , and use them while they last , and while god sees good we shall not meet with any change , but change or no change , god will never change , but be to us ever the same , heb. 13. 5 , 6. 8. the life of faith in adversitie . which is for the soule to submit to god , and to be contented to be in a hard or low condition , if god so order it , and to be fitted to say , as jesus christ did ; the cup which my father hath given me , shall i not drinke it ? joh. 18. 11. see phil. 4. 11 , 12. and as jesus christ had not any trouble , nor not an houre sooner then god predestinated , job . 8. 20. so ought we to beleeve , that all trouble of what kinde soever , shall not , nor cannot come unto us , untill the lord see fit to send it , and that as christ did passe through all , so certainly we shall , and that quickly , joh. 7. 30. joh. 16. 33. in every affliction and crosse that comes upon thee , beleeve and say , it may be the lord will doe me good by this crosse , rom. 8. 28. it is appointed of my father for my good , i stand in need of it ; if need be yee are in heavinesse for a season , 1 pet. 1. 6. and while it continues with me , the lord will be both light , peace , and strength unto me , untill the time come ( which cannot be long ) that afflictions , crosses , and troubles , shall be no more , when i shall rest from all ●abour , paine and sorrow . that god will be with his in trouble ; i will be with him in trouble : the lord will be a refuge to his in time of trouble , psal . 91. 15. psal . 9. 9. psal . 37. 39. that the trouble shall not be above our strength ; i will correct thee in measure , jer. 30. 11. see 1 cor. 10. 13. to gaine by afflictions ; god afflicts us for our profit , that we might be partakers of his holinesse , heb. 12. 11. &c. see job 13. 23. for deliverance out of trouble , &c. many are the troubles of the righteous , but the lord delivers them out of them all , joh. 5. 19. psal . 19. 17 psal . 50. 15. for speedy deliverance ; my salvation shall not tarry , isa . 46. 13. 9. every day to live the life of faith concerning the time past . which is to consider and call to remembrance , and to see god in his dealings to us , ours , and others , both for soule and body ; i have considered the dayes of old , and the yeares of ancient time , psal . 77. 5. this is to injoy time past , as present . david made this a part of his meditation ; oh how sweet is it to muse of gods mercies unto us from our birth ; that i should be borne of such as feared god , and so injoy better education then others , or else that i should be borne of haters of god , and instead of good education had bad , and was brought up in ignorance and prophanenesse , and how i have been tempted to desperate sinnes , or healed those breaches , & how strangely god brought us to better places unexpected or undeserved , and how neere ( and often ) we have been to be cut off by death , by sicknesse , casualties , desperate practices by others , and by our selves , and how great bondage we have been in by sinne , being filled with despaire , terror , and wrath , without hope of ever being pardoned , ephes . 2. 12 , 13. and yet for god to fill my soule with joy & peace in beleeving , rom. 5. 1. and in how great bondage i was unto sinne , not able to restraine my selfe , and out of hope of ever having strength against such strong lusts , and yet god hath subdued them . oh great change ! and also how we were convinced of our state of death we are in by nature , and by what meanes . but ▪ if we had been borne in india , or turkey , or rome , we should either have never heard of a jesus , or seene no light , or to no purpose . also how god hath preserved us in babylon , and brought us out of it ( if thou beest so ) and preserved us from the errors of the wicked rotten tenets , as pelagianisme his free will and power by nature , arminianisme with his free will so by grace , as he may choose whether he will be saved or no , and so under pretence of inlarging gods grace , robs him of all , to grace himselfe in his indeavours , and sets the crowne upon his own head . so some deny the morall law and word of god to be a rule to them to walk by , and so are lawlesse ; ( and where there is no law , there can be no transgression ) and now are the last times , in which iniquitie and abominable errors doe abound ( and shall more abound ; that which god hath said shall be , must be , no man nor men can hinder it ) some denies election and originall sinne , &c. the lord in mercy open their eyes , i was once wrapped up and sunke in arminianisme , and had so continued , but the lord in mercy pulled me out . oh how sweet should that love be to us , which keepes us from these errors , or brings us out of them ! and the lord will in his time be full redemption to all his . also consider how we have been freed from many sorrows and sicknesses , which others indure , having little or no rest day or night : and what meanes we injoy for our soules , which others want , ( and it may be never heard of ) and blesseth them unto us . also in what straits wee have been in , & how the lord hath helped us in them , and delivered us from them : and how god hath provided , and doth provide for us , meanes of living , friends and comforts , strangely and unexpected , and how strangely god hath given us good wives or husbands , or so orders it that bad ones sends us to god , or weanes us from the world ; &c. these mercies with a thousand more to us and ours , requires our meditation , to strengthen our faith , and to endeare our hearts to god exceedingly , and to be more inlarged in thankfulnesse , and to sucke sweetnesse in the remembrance of such experiences . mercies forgot , are as nothing to us , and wee cannot be thankfull to god for them , though they were never so many or great ; who so is wise , and will observe these things , shall understand the loving kindnesse of the lord , psal . 107. 43. 10. every day to live the life of faith in glorification . which is to behold the rest , peace , glory and happinesse , &c. in heaven which is provided for us , and also to beleeve that god will give us after this life all these things with himselfe , which he hath promised us in his word ; see acts 20. 23. acts 26. 18. 1 pet. 1. 4. for the resurrection of my body ; he that beleeves in me , i will raise him up at the last day , joh. 6. 40. to have a spirituall body ; it is sowen a naturall body , it is raised a spirituall body , 1 cor. 15. 44. our bodies shall be more glorious then the sun in the firmament , because that is but a naturall body . to have a powerfull body ; it is raised in power , 1 cor. 15. 43. to have a glorified body , and like christs ; it is raised in glory , 1 cor. 15 ▪ 43 , 44. who shall change our vile body , that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body , phil. 3. 21. to have fulnesse of knowledge ; and to know the love of christ , which passeth knowledge , and be filled with the fulnesse of god , ephes . 3. 19. and know even as i am known , 1 cor. 13. 12. to have fulnesse of joy and pleasures ; in thy presence is fulnesse of joy , and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore , ps . 16. 11. joy inward , pure , spirituall , full in heaven , wee shall have no misery , no hunger , cold , nakednesse , paine , griefe , wearinesse , but rest , 2 thes . 1. 7. to have rest ; i shall have rest ( 2 thes . 1. 7. ) without labour : in this rest , tranquillity ; in this tranquillity , contentment ; in this contentment , joy ; in this joy , varietie ; in this varietie , securitie ; in this securitie , eternitie . to have life ; we shall also live with him , 2 tim. 2. 11. your life is hid with christ in god , col. 3. 3. when christ who is our life shall appeare , col. 3. 4. to have everlasting life ; who shall receive life everlasting in the world to come , luk. 18. 30. mat. 19. 29. joh. 4. 40. then shall i never die , nor end , being for continuance eternall . to injoy the presence of god with saints and angels ; when christ our life shall appeare , then shall we appeare with him in glory , col. 3. 4. father , i will that they which thou hast given me , be with me where i am , joh. 17. 24. to see the lord as he is ; beloved , now are we the sonnes of god , and it doth not appeare what we shall be , but we know when we shall appeare , we shall be like him , for we shall see him as he is , 1 joh. 3. 2. then shall we see him face to face , 1 cor. 13. 12. to behold his glory ; that they may behold my glory , joh. 17. 24. sight is higher then presence . to be transformed into glory ; we are changed into the same image from glory to glory , 2 cor. 3. 18. this shall be more full in glory ; then shall wee appeare with him in glory , col. 3. 4. to have full communion with god ; wee shall be filled with the fulnesse of god , ephes . 3. 19. union is higher then sight , communion is higher then union , as it flowes from it , full communion is more ; we shall have as much as we shall desire , wee shall be filled with it , wee shall injoy the quintessence of all sweetnesse , fulnesse , goodnesse in god , and shall be raised , inflamed , and ravished with him , and be wholly taken up with admiring and praising him , without any intermission or wearinesse ; this is our greatest good and blessednesse , and the end of our being . to be for ever with the lord ; so shall wee be ever with the lord , 1 thes . 4. 17. eternall communion with god. as it is written ; eye hath not seene , nor eare heard , neither hath entred into the heart of man , the things which god hath prepared for them that love him , 1 cor. 2. 9. it transcends the utmost expectation of the most inlarged heart ; wherefore comfort one another with these words , vers . 18. faith beleeves the promises of glory , and so lives comfortably in expectation of fruition , when faith shall end in vision , our eternall joyes draws on apace ; in the meane time , lay hold on eternall life , let faith beleeve it , and hope expect it , and patience waite for it , to make this life tolerable , bepatient , indure all , it will not be long ere glory come and continue for ever ; for this cause wee faint not , 2 cor. 4. he that lives by faith in glorification , lives a sweet comfortable life in christ his righteousnesse , and is fruitfull , sincere , and content . lastly , to dye by faith . which is to resigne up our soules to god , beleeving death shall be a passage to glory ; when christ who is my life shall appeare , then shall i appeare with him in glory , col. 3. 4. these all dyed in faith , heb. 11. 13. the righteous hath hope in his death , pro. 14. 32. blessed are the dead that dye in the lord ; for they rest from their labours , and their workes follow them , rev. 14. 13. when i awake i shall be satisfied in thy likenesse , psal . 17. 15. why should i feare that i would not escape ? what hurt will it be to me to enter into glory ? i cannot have my happinesse , unlesse i goe unto it . the saints daily duty and desire . the severall branches of the saints daily duty and desire to walke with god every day . 1. when i awake , to thinke on god , and to be thankfull to him for rest , and sleepe , and preservation , from sin , satan , and dangers , satisfying my soule with the lord , craving his strength to walke with him all the day long , reverently and seriously to minde him and obey him . when i awake i am still with thee , ps . 139. 18. i shall be satisfied when i awake with thy likenesse , psal . 17. 15. see act. 11. 23. commune with your heart upon your bed , and be still , psal . 4. 4. it is good to season , strengthen , and perfume our spirits ( if time will permit ) with some sweet thoughts of god , as that jesus christ is the same yesterday , and to day , and for ever , heb. 13. 8. he is not changed . here is strong consolation in this sweet meditation , my meditation of him shall be sweet , psal . 104. 34. it is good for me to draw neere to god , psal . 73. 28. to make him the object and end of all my actions . o that my understanding had a more full , cleare , and glorious sight of him , and a more perfect , inward , eternall , and full communion with him , then should my will and affections be more satisfied and more inflamed with unwearied desires , high and restlesse aspirations after fresh additions of intercourses and communion with him . the sight of god to a saint is glorious , and the knowledge and often meditation of him will raise and inlarge the soule : every childe of god hath in him an earnest desire to have communion with him , to injoy his blessed presence , and to see his glory . as the hart panteth after the water-brookes , so panteth my soule after thee , o god. my soule thirsteth for god , when shall i come and appeare before him ? psal . 42. 1 , 2. nor will a seldome communion satisfie them , it must be frequent and full : it is a contempt of god to be willing to live without him , and so much he injoys god as he seriously minds him , and so much as wee desire god , we follow after god , for desire is the soules following of god ; and as god draweth we follow , song . 1. 4. unlesse the lord fix and fasten the heart upon himselfe , it will be fixed on things below , and wander after vanities , and fill both head and heart with them : he that knoweth what it is to injoy god , is sensible of the want of him , and thinkes he can never have enough of him , his soule will faint for him , because nothing lesse then god can content him , psal . 119. 81 , 82. jer. 14. 8. psal . 13. 1. exod. 33. 13 , 14 , 15. 18. so the soule lives where it loves , and where it loves it lives , and there is nothing more active and stronger then love ; for love is as strong as death , the coales thereof are coales of fire , which hath a most vehement flame , song 8. 6 , 7. 2. live by faith . every day to live by faith , ( in all estates and conditions ) the communion the soule hath with god is by faith , in justification , in sanctification , in infirmities , in graces , in meanes using , in duties , and for a supply of all wants , every day to live the life of faith in glorification . 3. watch heart . that every day i watch my heart , to keepe it continually still , cleane , spirituall , content , and that i observe warily the first and secret motions of my heart , least i be unawares catched and insnared in sinne , and that i doe not receive any thing without it be warranted in the word of god. keepe thy heart with all diligence , for out of it are the issues of life , pro. 23. 17. thy heart is deceitfull , take heed of it , consider jer. 17. 9. heb. 3. 12. luk. 6. 45. if wee cease to watch our hearts , they quickly become vaine . consider how it was with david , 2 sam. 12. 9. and peter , mat. 26. 72. our experience might teach us , that our hearts are worse then wee tooke them to be , when wee are crossed or tempted , wee shew what metall wee are made of : the best have cause enough to looke to themselves ; if one sinfull thought be admitted concerning the sweetnesse and pleasure of sinne , the will is ready enough to accept the motion , consent , forecast the accomplishment , the affections adde heat and strength , the heart travels with iniquitie , and in time by opportunitie sin is brought forth : and delight and custome wraps a man up in sinne , that he cannot get out ; such carelesnesse may cost deare , though the elect shall misse hell ; lord , bold up my goings in thy paths , that my footsteps slip not , psal . 17. 5. hold thou me up , and i shall be safe ; and i will have respect unto thy statutes continually , psal . 119. 117. 4. watch thoughts . every day to watch that my thoughts be holy or lawfull , and seasonable , to ranke , order , and confine them within an holy compasse , that i may gaze and meditate on god , his unmeasurable goodnesse , greatnesse , beautie , glory , and to bring under and destroy every wicked and vaine thought and desire , &c. it is no burden to fix our minds and thoughts on things above , where our life , and joy , and treasure is ; where your treasure is , there will your hearts be also . the more wisdome leads us on high , the more is our joy , and the more we avoyd the snares below , and the more wee injoy god in the invisible workings , intentions , desires , elevations of heart , with thoughts of sweetest raptures , in which is peace , joy , triumph , searching into the mysteries of grace , in which is light , is truth in its clearnesse , purenesse , fulnesse , in gazing upon the most glorious object , admiring god in his infinite attributes , to contemplate on gods boundlesse mercy in christ ; such as are exercised herein , injoy great sweetnesse and delight , they see and say , as david , how precious are thy thoughts to me , o god , &c. psal . 139. 17. such thoughts raise the heart , and make it spirituall , joyfull , and thankfull , willing and serious in all duties , and holy services . 5. hearken unto conscience . every day to watch and hearken to the noyse of conscience , that i may prise the peace of it , indeavour to informe it , and to doe nothing that shall offend it : and herein doe i exercise my selfe , to have alwayes a conscience voyde of offence towards god , and towards man , acts 24. 16. holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience , 1 tim. 3. 9. 6. watch affections . every day to watch that my affections be set right , and that they move not without or contrary to my judgement , and that they be set upon right objects , and that they soare not too high , nor descend too low , but according as the object deserves ; meanly affecting meane things , and not affecting corrupt reason , as passion , &c. that my delight be not set immoderately upon any earthly things , though never so excellent , desirable , or amiable , and so to injoy them , as expecting every day or houre to lose them . set your affections on things above , col. 3. 1. 5. affections are the pulses of the soule , and shew the state of it ; the affections are the motions of the will , and the will is the principall seate of grace ; grace hath its birth in the understanding , but her seate is more principally in the will actually and formally , therefore the will is much to be observed in its tempers , inclinations , motions , which are the affections of the soule : all affections may be comprehended in love and hatred ; the first comprehends desire , delight , joy , hope , these are the acts of love , and these are chiefly to be given to god , wee must make him our trust , love , joy , delight , and our all in all , esteeme and affect all things else under him and for him ; he is all-sufficient , therefore we may well content our selves with him , and to love him dearly , then are the affections set right , when with god wee are sicke of love , song 2. 5. forsake not god , who is a living fountaine , for broken cisternes , jer. 2. love is the sweetest affection , it 's pity it should be spent and lost upon vanities . and when we set our affections strongly on things below , it 's a mercy for god to take them from us , to teach us and cause us to take more delight in god himselfe , and those true , unspeakeable , and everlasting delights , prepared for the saints with himselfe . surely wee have cause to lament , that we are so ready to set our affections on things below , that they are so strong and unruly , and so hardly subdued , that it is not an easie thing to master our wils and appetites , they so rage and dote so vehemently after vanities : vanitie of vanities , all is vanitie , eccl. 1. 2. 7. watch time . that every day i watch and endeavour to redeeme time , because it is precious , to improve it , to know truth , to injoy and obey god , and to serve others in love , redeeming the time because the dayes are evill , eph. 5. 16. also our time is short , it 's but as a thought , a shadow , a dreame , a span long , it is our duty and wisdome to preserve and redeeme time for every purpose and action . paul improves his time , by the space of three yeares i ceased not to warne every one night and day with teares , &c. act. 20. 31. yet we lose many houres needlesly , in sleeping , in trifling , in idle visits , &c. in which time good might have been done to many . 8. watch senses . every day to watch the windows of my soule , my senses , as eares , eyes , from unlawfull objects , and lawfull , when i perceive they would suck evill from them , and shutting my eyes and eares , if need be . he shall dwell on high , &c. that stoppeth his eares from hearing of bloud , that shutteth his eyes from seeing of evill , isa . 33. 15 , 16. thus we are commanded , to take heed , watch , and pray , mark. 13. 35. so take heed what yee heare . it was davids desire to god , turne away mine eyes from beholding vanitie , psal . 119. 37. job saw a necessitie to make a covenant with his eyes , job 31. 1. for satan is ready to convey much evill insensibly through these floud-gates of sin ; bad discourse inflames lust ; davids roving eye caused him to fall foully , and procured him much vexation and griefe ; who could have thought an idle glance could occasion so much mischiefe ? expect no better fruit in suffering your hearts to run after your eyes ; fancy will take fire before we be aware ; but a foole will take no warning , he will have his eyes in every corner of the earth , prov. 17. 24. he must and will hearken unto a tale-bearer , prov. 25. 23. and so he hath his heart filled with anger and revenge , but when he is wiser , he will cry out with shame and griefe , that all is vanitie and vexation of spirit , as eccles . 1. 2. 9. in outward things . every day to watch to make some good use , and draw instruction from the creatures and passages of gods providence , so to mind heavenly things by naturall . so did christ upon mentioning of bread , mat. 16. these things below make themselves wings , and fly away ; but fly thee , by them , from them , before them . 10. watch in lawfull things . every day to watch narrowly with care and heedfulnesse in the use and injoyment of things lawfull , viz. meat , drinke , sleepe , apparell , marriage , visitations , and recreations , &c. our nature is prone to excesse herein , and we oft sinne more , and are in greater danger , by lawfull things , then by unlawfull , because wee feare grosser evils more then we do the secret insnarements that attend lawfull things , so that many are deceived , and insnared , and insensibly drawne into many excesses , before we be aware , to the dishonour of god , & griefe of our selves , and others ; the fooles minde was all for his ease and his belly , meate and drinke , luk. 12. 19. 11. watch in things indifferent . every day to watch that i use not indifferent things securely and carelesly , but to have regard to others weaknesses , indevouring that my actions be such as i may defend with a good conscience . all things are pure , but it is not lawfull to doe things with offence , it is good neither to eate flesh , nor drinke wine , nor do any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth , or is offended , or made weake , rom. 14. 21 , 22. these words doe prove that wee ought to forbeare the doing of that which is in it selfe lawfull ( if it can be omitted without sin ) in case another is not perswaded of the lawfulnesse of it , and so is offended at it : i grant he takes offence when none is given , for if i doe that which is lawfull , i give no offence ; therefore in being offended it is his fault and weaknesse , yet if i know he is offended with it , and yet shall do it , & he therewith is grieved , &c. i in so doing sin against god and him ; though otherwise i might doe it , yet in this case it is condemned in the word , and it cannot defend it with a good conscience . 12. watch against sinne . every day to take heed and watch against every sin , and that i defend no sinne in my selfe , nor lessen it under no pretence of corruption , temptation , or for the sweetnesse or smalnesse of it ; nor inwardly favour it , but to resolve against all sinne , with the occasions of it , and the appearance of it , to be jealous against it , and fearful of falling by it , and ever to shew some dislike of it , levit. 19. 17. looke we to sin at the first motion of it , consider we the roote of it , and the end of it , and presently looke up to god for strength against it , beleeve and pray against it , and avoyd all the occasions of it : come not neere the doore of her house , pro. 5. 8. first , we should be afraid to sinne , because we are commanded to do otherwise by god ; secondly , lest by it we dishonour god , his truth , and servants ; thirdly , lest by it we incourage others to sin ; fourthly , and fill our soules with sorrow , because wee have sinned against so great , and gracious , and loving father . a sensiblenesse of sinne , and a heart easily touched with remorse for it , may stand with the assurance of pardon of it , and when any hath by reason of frailtie sinned , though it seeme to be in the least measure , abhorre it with the greatest detestation , and cover it not with any excuses or pretenses whatsoever ; see ezra 9. 2 , 3. rev. 2. 2. 13. every day watch the tongue . to watch that my speech be not vaine , and idle , and frothy , but powdered with salt , to take heed of speaking against others , especially such as are the lords , that i disgrace none , nor insult over any , remembring my own weaknesses , and that i wrest not mens actions and words , but take them in the best sense , so farre as i can , with a good conscience , and without prejudice of the truth . idle words are forbidden ; let your speech be alwayes with grace , seasoned with salt , &c. col. 4. 6. neither filthinesse , nor foolish talking , nor jesting , which are not convenient , but rather giving of thankes , ephes . 5. 4. my tongue shall talke of thy righteousnesse all the day long , psal . 71. 24. if you love to finde fault , lay on there where you see most , which will be your selfe , if you can see . consider , hast thou no unbeliefe , psal . 31. 22. & 116. 11. privy pride , 2 cor. 12. 7. secret hypocrisie , psal . 51. 10. atheisme and thoughts of blasphemy , self-love , self-seeking , self-confidence , psal . 30. 6. unprofitablenesse , psal . 106. 6 , 7. nehe. 9. 35. hardnesse of heart , isa . 63. 17. blindnesse of mind , ignorance , pro. 30. 2 , 3. unruly passion , psal . 73. 3. 22. securitie , lukewarmnesse , song . 1. 6. abusing lawfull things , deut. 32. 15. nehe. 9. 38. unthankfulnesse for mercies , hos . 8. 12. and want of mourning for the sinnes of others , ezek. 9. 4. isa . 42. 19 , 20. want of courage for the truth , jer. 9. 3. deadnesse , dulnesse , heavinesse , wearinesse , indevotion , distractions , and indisposednesse of heart in holy duties , mat. 26. 40 , 43. hast thou no forgetfulnesse , mat. 8. 18. inconstancy , hos . 6. 4. doest thou walke comfortably in thy christian course ? art thou never cast downe , psal . 43. 5 ? the secret evils in us , might put us in remembrance of our selves , and silence us from insulting and disgracing others for their weaknesses . 14. observe the frame of my spirit . every day to observe the passages of my spirit before god in my actions and duties , and expect strength from christ in the use of meanes to act , and whether i be sutably and inwardly affected with a sensiblenesse of what i want of god , or from god , or thankfull and humble , eying my defects , and with what faith and fervency i seeke god , and observing how god answers my prayers , and wait upon him for an answer of them . 15. watch to doe others good . every day to desire and indeavour to doe my dutie , according to my relation and station , to give a good example , religious instruction , loving admonition , seasonable reproofes , &c. using meanes to doe all the good i can to others soules and bodies , with an earnest intention , with all care and deare affection . see acts 10. 24. joh. 1. 40 , 41. if a husband , if thou art a father , or a master , or a wife , or a childe , or a servant , be a friend to friends , and to enemies doe good ; be thou an example , in word , in conversation , in charitie , in spirit , in faith , in puritie , 1 tim. 4. 12. 16. watch to prevent evill . every day that i stand upon my watch , every moment to prevent evill , and to prepare and receive good , having an eye to observe , and a heart bent to resist all satans assaults , either from the world or flesh , alone or with others , knowing satan watcheth to doe me a mischiefe ; and to consider that my fathers eye is upon me , who hath commanded us to keepe his precepts diligently , psal . 119. 4. oh that my wayes were so directed to keepe thy statutes , psal . 119. 5. i said i will looke to my wayes , psal . 39. 1. watch and pray , lest yee enter into temptation , mat. 26. 41. watching keeps the soule awake , ir is to have grace in a readinesse for action . 17. watch against occasions of sinne . every day that i decline watchfully all occasions of falling from my first love , fervency , heavenly mindednesse , as dead company , formalnesse in religious duties , coldnesse , or neglecting , the meanes , praise of men , profit , outward pompe , mirth , pleasure , ease , outward contentments , that i exceed not , nor sinke not under any of them , but set light by others favours and frownes . seeke not your selfe out of your selfe , in the conceits of other men , he that is little in his own eyes , will not be troubled if he seeme so to others , he that is troubled because others words answer not his desires , he shall never live quietly , and he that priseth others praises , he injoyeth neither god nor himselfe . 18. to sympathize with others . every day to take notice and sympathize with the sorrowes and sufferings of those that are the lords , and to be content to stand or fall into any sorrow or sufferings with the church of christ , to part with estate , friends , libertie , life . if i doe not remember thee , let my tongue cleave to the roofe of my mouth , psal . 137. 6. lam. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. chapters . 19. to meditate . every day to meditate upon god in his goodnesse unto me , and mind what god hath prepared for me in heaven , and how i may be preserved from sin , selfe , &c. and order my conversation aright . isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide , gen. 24. 63. doe so , or enter into thy closet , mat. 6. 6. consider psal . 1. 2. & 32. 4 , 5 , 6. heb. 10. 38. jos . 1. 8. the book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth , but thou shalt meditate therein day and night . meditation is wonderfull sweet and profitable , by it wee winde up our minds from things below , col. 3. 4 , 5. and injoy god , and thy selfe , and live in heaven while thou art in the earth , refreshing thy selfe with the great varietie of those invisible comforts in heaven , the interest , joy , rest , that thou shalt finde at last : we might meditate of the miseries , frailtie , and shortnesse of the time we have to live here , and how we may prevent sin , beare the crosse , deny our selves , live by faith , be contented in want , grow in grace , escape temptations , keepe a good conscience , and what is my duty to god and man , and-wherein i come short , what mercies i injoy , and how i live by faith in every thing , how i profit by afflictions , or am thankfull to god for his sweet mercies to my soule or body , and a thousand profitable things , in which the soule may finde sweetnesse ; and if yee be risen with christ , seeke those things that are above , col. 3. 1. by faith and meditation , keepe thy heart above , to view thy everlasting glory , filling thy selfe with joy , injoying the joyes of heaven , which i shall certainly and quickly injoy , unutterable , unconceivable , and infinite , bottomlesse , boundlesse , endlesse . oh the ocean of the joyes of heaven , the greatnesse of sweetnesse in so great confluence of all joyes , pleasures , and delights , which shall be for ever , and never have an end ! 20. watch to deny selfe . that i daily deny my selfe , wit , wisdome , carnall reason , learning , favour of men , applause , passion , ease , libertie , and all things for god. consider , luk. 14. 20. 33. mat. 16. 24. mark. 8. 34. luk. 9. 23. it is good thus to crosse our selves , if we could deny our selves , every thing would be easie for us to doe ; for all things are so sure under us , as we are above our selves : in the same measure we are spirituall , or live by faith , so much we deny our selves , such as cannot deny themselves , are not able to indure the troubles and indignities of this world , but will shrinke and fall off in the day of battell , luk. 14. 28. 31. 21. to be humble . that in all my actions , i be humble , and meeke , sincere , serious , fervent , chearfull . for humilitie and meeknesse , consider mat. 11. 29. sinceritie , deut. 18. 13. ephes . 6. 14. joh. 1. 47. without faith and sinceritie all is nothing worth . fervency , fervent in spirit , serving the lord , rom. 12. 11. jam. 5. 16. fervent prayer . chearfulnesse ; rejoyce evermore , 1 thes . 5. 16. a chearful and a willing spirit is most sutable and acceptable , wee oft looke not so much what is done , as from what affection it is done , an unchearfull spirit is soone weary , if we be overwhelmed with sorrow , feare , &c. and if we be filled with lightnesse , vanitie , wee are unfit for any service of god. 22. watch in use of meanes . that i use the meanes to injoy and increase in holy resolutions , desires , purposes , &c. to injoy god , and the things of god for god. with my whole heart have i sought thee , o let me not wander from thee , psal . 119. 10. if resolution be wanting , if thou beest forgetfull , sloathfull , thou art like to be a poore christian . oh the strong and restlesse desires , and the unweariednesse thereof after god , of a heart touched with his love , and tasted of his sweetnesse ! 23. watch to joy in god. that every day i rejoyce in god , my union with him , and interest in him , and priviledges , and happinesse by him , &c. and in the exercises of his graces , and his word , and saints , as the temptations , chiefest joy , and greatest advantage . i was in his love before the world was , love was the cause he shed his bloud for me , it is his love that preserves me , and crowned with it i shall be to all eternitie . 24. that i scorne none . that i sleight none , nor checke any with their deformitie of body , dulnesse , or weaknesse of wit , or memory , meannesse of outward estate , birth , or smalnesse of gifts , parts , &c. and to pitie those who are still in their sinnes . consider , who made the difference between him and thee , see 1 cor. 4. 7. job 10. 10. psal . 39. 13 , 14. 16. isa . 28. 26. in spirituall things , ezek. 16. isa . 43. 25. rom. 5. 11. 2 tim. 1. 9. phil. 1. 29. rom. 3. 24. ephes . 2. 10. the free grace and love of god onely maketh the difference , and if god should convert him , he may soone become better then thee or me . 25. to know the vanitie of the creature . every day to consider the vanitie of these outward things , and the hurt wee receive by them , how wee exceed in our affections unto them , notwithstanding they are not ours , and may in a lesse time then an houre be taken all from us , or us from them , and that we are often distracted and unsetled by them , to the end i may with more content want them , and be weaned from them in my injoyment of them , and so to use the liberties of this life soberly , so as to be bettered by them . all things below are full of transitorinesse , mortalitie , and change , vanitie of vanities , &c. all is vanitie , eccl. 1. 2. these things are under the sunne , eccle. 2. 7. ( but above is constancy , and eternitie of all excellencies , perfections , and pleasures ) we have no certainty of any thing below , eccl. 1. 2. 1 cor. 5. 25. pro. 23. 4. luk. 12. 15. experience makes it appeare , the more men possesse of outward things , the lesse many use and injoy , the more wee love them , the more we are crossed with them , and the more they have , the more they are in want , because of their insufficiency , uncertainty , and perishing nature . religion oft payeth for mens getting riches , and oft suffers most by them . 26. watch in solitarinesse . that every day i be well imployed , especially in my retirednesse , and solitary seasons , to prevent needlesse feares , thoughts of the pleasures of sinne , past , present , or to come , lest such thoughts cause sinne upon supposition . experience may teach some , that satans temptations have come more frequenter and stronger , when alone , and that they have then sinned more freely in their imaginations ; oh cursed contemplation , that pollutes soule & body with sensuall filth , gen. 38. 9 , 10. and renewed guilt ; nor is it good for a weake beleever to affect solitarinesse , satan is more bold when thou art most solitary , and his temptations then take a deeper impression . 27. watch to speake for truth , &c. every day , as occasion is offered , that i earnestly contend for the truth , jude ver . 3. own it , maintaine it , and those that are unjustly accused , and count it a glory to be reproached and disgraced for christ and his truth , 1 pet. 4. 14. 28. watch to doe duties . every day to catch at all opportunities of receiving and doing good , shunning evill , and with constancy nourish all good and holy desires , and consider what times we live in , and what they afford , and how i may be most usefull and fruitfull , that i may finish my course with joy . my beloved spake , and said unto me , rise up my love , my faire one , and come away , song 2. 10 , 11. our sloth , and our corrupt selfe , love , ease , carelesnesse , inconstancy & unsetlednesse hindreth us more then we are aware of , of going to our beloved . 29. watch against covetousnesse . every day to take heed , and beware of covetousnesse and earthly mindednesse . consider , mat. 25. 14. luk. 6. 2. mat. 6. 25. to the end , phil. 4. 6. 1 tim. 4. 8 , 9 , 10. jam. 5. 1 , 2 , 3. pro. 23. 5. 1 pet. 5. 7. luk. 2. 7. mat. 8. 20. to avoyd covetousnesse , meditate on such places as these . covetousnesse deceives and hurts all , jam. 5. 3. if we had riches , wee cannot keep them , they shall soone be taken from us , or us from them . let such as thinke they cannot be happy without outward riches , consider if earth be better then heaven , where there is none of this thicke clay to load themselves withall , hab. 2. 6. 30. to looke for trouble . every day to expect trouble and crosses , and looke upon all that befals me , as appointed and ordered by god for my good in his wisdome , love , and mercy , that so i may be thankfull for them , and not fret , knowing nothing can befall me without the will of god , and that it is sent in love , and is best for me , and that god will supply with his all-sufficiency whatsoever i shall need , and that i desire not freedome from trouble , but a free spirit , and an inlarged heart to god in it , and to expresse in every trouble , wisdome , patience , humilitie , comfort , willingnesse , contentednesse , thankfulnesse , and faith in god , and that i indeavour to comfort others in their trouble . we should not looke to be exempted from troubles , the whole course of a saint in this life is a life of trouble , and suffering , yea , more then other men , psal . 73. 5. all our crosses , &c. are christs servants , they are under christ , they come and goe at his command , and they are sent to doe them good , and are called backe when they have done what they come for ; therefore be not impatient at them , fret not , psal . 39. 9. a saint should be so fixed upon god , that nothing below should move him , so as to disquiet him ; for to say they cannot indure and beare such a crosse o● trouble , is an expression as is unfit and unsutable for a saint , phil. 4. 11. 13. our spirit should be above , and rule and over-rule things below , and not be ruled by them ; a saint should be under nothing beneath it selfe : if we should rejoyce in trials , &c. inward , outward temptations , desertions , conflicts , outward troubles , and death it selfe , ( is to make us capable of a fuller injoyment and communion with god , jam. 1. 2. &c. ) how much more should we be content and patient ? 1 thes . 4. 18. lord , i will beare any thing , because my sinnes are forgiven me : a conscience so set at libertie , can with ease undergoe a great burden . bees gather honey of bitter flowers as well as sweet , and cannot we doe so from bitter conditions ? outward bondage is not much to an inlarged and free spirit ; what can doe much hurt , when all is well within ? all is light and easie to him that can deny himselfe . what god takes away one way , he can give it in another , which will be better ; how ever it be , yet god is good ▪ and good to me , who will ever remaine so to be , and be the same to me . we have his promise , that wee shall not want any thing that is good for us , psal . 349 , 10. therefore when i thinke i want , i will not beleeve i want , and that i have what i want , when i doe not see it , when i see not outward things , i see god can give , and i may have the comfort of them without them , esteeme god above all , and set him against all ; what god conveyd before by meanes , he instilles immediately from himselfe ; the immediate comforts are the strongest ; see joh. 16. 32. and when all forsooke paul , yet god stood by him ; and so it was with christ , psal . 69. 20. saints that are poore , and under abasement , may be richer in faith , jam. 2. 5. and have more experience of gods faithfulnesse , care , and love , and see more of their own hearts , be more humble , more spirituall , and live more upon god , and more weaned from the world , then those saints who are richer ; the meanest are as happy , and as free from cares as the richest , and their sleepe is as sweet ; therefore take we heed of sin , and then let come what can ; sin not , to avoyd trouble , for that is the way to bring greater trouble upon thee , for sin defiles , distracts , insnares , and straitens a soule ; where the spirit is inlarged , it is not much troubled at outward bondage , if it be lightsome , outward darknesse will not be burdensome , if the spirit be sound , it can beare troubles , sicknesse ; nothing can be very ill , when all is well within , what can be grievous to him , whose eye is fixed in heaven , and knowes it to be his owne ? heb. 12. 2. we should not looke so much at trouble , or freedome from it , as to god for profit by it , comfort in it , strength to beare it ; oh let no trouble trouble thee , for when god seemes to leave thee , he is neere to helpe thee , when he hides himselfe , he seeth and will provide helpe for thee ; as gen. 22. 14. he is all sufficient , gen. 17. 1. and he is faithfull that hath said , all is ours , 1 cor. 3. 23. and that wee shall not want that which is for our good , psal . 34. 9 , 10. the same faithfulnesse will make it good ; therefore i shall not want what ever can come , should each saint say . 31. watch to shew mercy . every day as occasion is offered , to shew mercy and pity to others in their misery , to supply their necessities , freely and willingly , according to my ability , and that i be more industrious , and more moderate in expences , to supply others wants , especially the saints , if it be above my abilitie , with an open heart , hand , house , joyfully and compassionately to supply the saints necessities : consider mat. 5. 42. mat. 7. 12. they that have no money must sell something to give ; sell that yee have , and give almes , &c. luk. 12. 33. as we have opportunity , let us doe good to all men , especially to the houshold of faith , gal. 6. 10. surely wee should desire and indeavour to ease as many mens burdens as we can , it is our duty to be helpfull , and helpfulnesse includes mercy and tender compassion , love , goodnesse , and such like vertues . in lending , and suretiship , men must not be rash , nor hard-hearted , it is a duty to lend to such who make conscience , and are carefull and industrious to pay at the time . i am sorry when i heare how many have suffered in this kinde , it is a sinne to lend to such as have no care and conscience to pay : men had need to have good experience of mens faithfulnesse and carefulnesse , before they t●ust them with much : the experience of many have taught them this : notionall knowledge in this is best . 32. that i grieve not the holy spirit . every day to watch that i quench not , nor grieve the holy spirit . grieve not the holy spirit , ephes . 4. 30. weequench and grieve the spirit , when we neglect the motions thereof , & sleight the comforts of the spirit , and seek comfort from the flesh , and feed upon lusts , when we spend our thoughts to content the outward man , & use spirituall thing● for carnall ends , or father the worke o● the flesh upon the spirit , or sleight gods way , allow of any sinne in my selfe , or others , to plot or contrive sinne , or cavill against any truth , or doe duties in my own strength , omit duty , or sleightly performe it , to neglect or sleight the graces of the spirit in any , or despise a saint for his infirmities , and the like . 33. to take notice of gods mercies . every day to take notice of gods mercies to us , and others , and to acknowledge gods goodnesse for them ; in all things give thanks , 1 thes . 5. 14. 34. to be thankfull . every day will i blesse thee , and praise thy name , ps . 145. 2. 35. to grow in grace . every day to grow in grace and knowledge , 2 pet. 3. 18. 36. present condition is best . every day to beleeve my present state and condition of soule and body to be best for me ; we know that all things worke together for good to them that love god , rom. 8. 28. 37. to cast my care upon god. every day to cast all my care upon god , in the use of meanes , phil. 4 ▪ 6. 38. to look for death . every day to desire to dye , and to look for death ; all the dayes of my appointed time will i waite till my change come , job 14. 14. 39. to know my selfe . every day to observe my profiting in religion , 2 pet. 3. 18. 40. to take notice of our failings . every day to take notice of my sinnes , omissions , and commissions , to be humbled by them , and more watchfull for the future against them , and to live the life of faith in all infirmities , as if i had never sinned , living all the day long in the sweet injoyment of the love of god , and so to lie downe in the apprehension and sweet injoyment of it . finally , brethren , whatsoever things are true , whatsoever things are honest , whatsoever things are just , whatsoever things are pure , whatsoever things are lovely , whatsoever things are of good report , if there be any vertue , if there be any praise , thinke on these things , those things which yee have both learned , received , and heard , ( from the lord jesus christ , that ) doe , and the god of peace shall be with you . some considerations against sinne , which are necessary to prevent sinne . 1. consider , it 's gods command that wee avoyd sinne , and subdue it , rom. 6. the command of god ought to be wonderfull powerfull in us , and over us , and did wee know the majesty and authority of the command of an infinite and eternall god , we neither could nor would doe that he forbids to be done . 2. know , it 's the worke of god to subdue the least sinne , we cannot do it of our selves , therefore christ saith , without me yee can doe nothing , joh. 15. 5. yet we are to use the meanes he appoints against sinne , and to strive against it in his strength , and alwayes resist sinne and satan . 3. consider sinne in the nature of it , and in the root and fruit of it ; the want of a true sight of sinne , is a cause why men love sinne , and sleepe so securely in it . 4. consider , sinne is the price of bloud , mat. 27. 6. 5. consider , there is nothing in sinne why we should desire it , there is no true sweetnesse in sinne , no true contentment and satisfaction there : the fruit sinne beares is miserable destruction at the best , is wounds , sorrow , bitternesse , shame , &c. i appeale to your experience , what fruit have yee ever found come of ●inning ? did it not fill you with horror , or rob you of peace , or disable you for the service of god , &c. what fruit had you of those things whereof you are now ashamed ? rom. 6. 21. pro. 23. 8. sinne fights against your soules , 1 pet. 2. 11. it disgraces the truth , grieves the saints , by it we doe what we can to destroy others , harden their hearts , and hinder them of receiving the truth , incourage men in sinne , and open their mouths against god , and his truth and servants . 6. be sure you avoyd the occasions of sin , as evill company , psal . 119. 63. pro. 13. 20. & 6. 9. places and provocations of sin , idlenesse , carnall joy , excesse in apparell , shut your eyes , stop your eares , take heed to thy tongue , take heed of excesse in eating and drinking , and pampering the body : some have so pampered their bodies , that they could not rule them , their want herein hath caused them to want no sorrow , and such as avoyd not the occasions of sinne , let them not looke to be preserved from sinne ; walke circumspectly , not as fooles , but as wise , ephes . 5. 15. 7. aske advice of fit persons , and crave the prayers of such as are the lords , that thou maist withstand sinne , and satan , and get others to watch over you , that you order your steps by his word , psal . 119. 133. receive reproofe willingly , and profitably , and thankfully . 8. indeavour to know satans stratagems , be not ignorant of his enterprises , he useth to double his assaults when he is resisted , that so he might perswade men , the more he is resisted , the more they shall fall into sinne , as if it were in vaine to resist him , but resist and give no place to the devill , eph. 4. 27. jam. 4. 7. if yee yeeld to satan now , it will be the harder to deny him the next time . 9. consider your relation and station , art thou partaker of the promises of christ , ephes . 3. 10. an heire of christ , a fellow-citizens of the saints , and of the houshold of god , eph. 2. 19 ? oh then doe not so dishonor christ , to take a member of christ and make it a member of satan , to serve sinne , this were a great wrong to christ ; we were sometimes darknesse , but now we are light in the lord , walke as children of the light , ephes . 5. 8. and seeing we are the sonnes and daughters of god , gal. 4. 6. kings and priests to god , rev. 5. 10. it is wonderfull unsutable for such to sinne , for that were to serve satan , and doe his drudgery , eph. 4. 20. yee have not so learned christ , eph. 4. 17. this i say and restifie in the lord , that yee henceforth walke not as the gentiles walke , in the vanitie of their minds . christ gave himselfe for his , that they should be holy , tit. 2. 14. rom. 6. 10. see 1 joh. 3. 2. 2 cor. 6. 18. wee were chosen to be holy , therefore i may not sinne , ephes . 1. 4. rom. 8. 29. 10. consider the eye of god is ever upon you , heb. 4. 14. pro. 15. 3. & 16. 6. 11. let the love of christ constraine you to hate and oppose every evill way . 12. nourish the motions of the spirit , quench not the spirit , walke in the spirit , and yee shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh , gal. 5. 16. nourish zeale and hatred against every sinne . 13. examine your selves and wayes daily , keepe your heart as your life , pro. 4. 23. reforme the inside , job 14. 4. and satan shall not prevaile . 14. consider the shortnesse of time we have here to live , our time is short , also the pleasures of sinne are but for a season , heb. 11. 25. 15. know your interest in christ , and profit by affliction , both which destroys sinne . 16. hearken unto the noyse of conscience , if conscience saith , doe it not , hearken unto it , doe it not , lest conscience be silent , and yee hardened . 17. when the pleasure of sinne is presented unto thee , present to thy thoughts the sting sinne will leave behinde it , with the many evils that attend it , also present to thy selfe , a greater and better pleasure and sweetnesse , which is thine , and that thou , if thou be the lords , shall injoy for ever with him , oh minde home , and what is there , pleasures for evermore ; set your affections on things above , where your crowne of glory is , 1 cor. 9. 24. such as thinke on the supposed pleasure and sweetnesse of sinne are deceived and inshared by it , but give no eare to the lying noyse of sinne and satan , they have faire pretences for a foole , as pro. 23. 2. as that you may be saved notwithstanding , or resist it the next time , but oh the deceitfulnesse of sinne . 18. pray to god earnestly and constantly for strength against sinne , with thankfulnesse for any preservation from sinne : watch and pray at the first approach of sinne , change thy object and fall to prayer , phil. 4. 6. 19. beleeve god will give thee strength and subdue all thy iniquities , in his time thou shalt overcome them , be not discouraged , if thou beest sometime too weake , give not over , continue resisting , in due time thou shalt prevaile , beleeve your prayers shall be answered , and that as there is strength enough in christ to subdue sinne , and that you shall injoy it ; we are never overcome by sinne , but by reason of the weaknesse of faith : therefore above all , take the shield of faith , eph. 6. 16. eph. 4. 12 , 13. 20. apply sutable promises against sinne , consider eph. 5. 5 , 6 , 7. rom. 6. 11. psal . 119. 6. god hath said , sinne shall not reigne over you , rom. 6. do as mat. 17. 21. the lord will preserve you from every evill worke , and preserve you till he bring you to glory . the necessitie , excellency , and benefit of prayer . the lord our god hath commended prayer to be a helpe to us in all our necessities , and that we might love it , and improve it to his glory and our good , saying , aske and it shall be given you , mat. 7. 7. call upon me in the day of trouble , and i will deliver you , isa . 50. 15. prayer hath great promises annexed unto it , james 4. & 5. mat. 7. it procures wisdome , james 1. 5. the spirit of grace is given to such as pray . luk. 11. 13. it quickens the graces of god in us , it 's a remedy against all evils , joh. 3. 8. 10. psal . 107. prayer is a means to fit us for those good things our soules desire , jam. 1. 5. consider exod. 14. 15 , 16. jonah 2. 1. 10. it hath healed the sicke , and raised the dead , unloosed chains , and unlocked prisons , and delivered the saints of old , act. 12. 5. 7. 11. and of late , and put in persecutors in their places . it hath set free the lambes , and shut up the wolves ; we may truly say , the lord hath slaine og , king of basan , for his mercie indures for ever . and prayer caused the sunne to goe backe , yea to stand still , josh . 10. 12. by it we beare great burdens , and are made better by them : understand me of prayer in faith : by it jacob prevailed with god , hos . 14. 3 , 4. god delights to heare his pray , song 2. 14. by it we draw neere to god , and have communion with him , and in a sort are familiar with god , and know his minde , it ingageth gods power and truth . prayer is the most universall helpe , it is good for all , and at all times , in all things , and is most easie and ready to the lords , in all places , in all times . would you doe good to your brethren , friends , enemies , frequent and improve this spirituall and heavenly dutie . concerning the duty of prayer . to prayer three things are necessary , 1. a spirituall disposition before ; 2. a spirituall behaviour in , 3. and a spirituall carriage after . the first includes preparation to this duty . that preparation is a dutie god requires , consider , 1. god commande it . god saith , i will be sanctified in them that draw neere me , levit. 10. 3. prepare to meet thy god , amos 4. 12. prepare your hearts unto the lord , 1 sam. 7. 3. prepared for every good worke , 2 tim. 2. 21. 2. the saints have practised it . jehosaphat prepared his heart to seek god , 2 chron. 19. 3. ezra prepared his heart , ezra 7. 10. o god my heart is fixed . object . this is gods worke . answ . true ; thou wilt prepare their hearts , o god , psal . 10. 17. in the use of meanes . 3. there are promises annexed to preparation . if thou prepare thy heart , &c. see job 11. 13. see what is promised vers . 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19. an evill not to doe it . and rehoboam did evill , because he prepared not his heart to seeke the lord , 2 chron. 12. 14. what preparation is in generall ? preparation , it is an holy consideration of god , with whom we have to doe , and how unfit wee are to have so neere communion with him , that our spirits may be composed , and our whole man rightly disposed , craving his strength to inable us to a right performing of this holy dutie . in particular . 1. for the person , he must be accepted , must be a sonne , rom. 8. 15. also all that pray , ought to put away all wrath , strife , envie , &c. god esteems so highly of peace , that he will have his service stay till it be accomplished , mark. 11. 25. mat. 5. 24. therefore we should take heed , that there be no such distempers found in us by him who knows our hearts , for it will choake conscience , and weaken our boldnesse with god ; if we regard iniquitie , god will not heare our prayers , psal . 66. 18. such as love their sins , god loatheth their prayers ; the prayer of the wicked is abomination to god : god looks at the heart . christ saith , when thou prayest , forgive : such a forgive not others , pray without life . 2. prize prayer , have it in that esteeme which god puts upon it , god hath honoured prayer , so that every one that useth it is the better for it ; for every one that asketh receiveth , mat. 7. 8. 3. set times apart for to pray , and separate thy selfe to some place where thou maist be alone , and out of the hearing of others , if thou canst , that so thou maist freely powre out thy soule to god without hypocrisie ; for a mans desire he will separate himselfe , pro. 18. 1. christ chose a time before day , early in the morning , and one of the places he chose was a wildernesse , mark. 1. 35. sometimes a mountaine , and a garden , and when that cannot be had , he faith , when thou prayest enter into thy closet , &c. wee should so pray and worship god , as men set free from all other things . so we need avoyd all occasions of hypocrisie ; hypocrites stand in corners of the streets , because they love to be seene of men . 4. before thou prayest , spend a little time , some thoughts concerning what god is , and what may raise thy heart , and incourage thee to draw neere to god. consider what be thy chiefe wants , lets , temptations , corruptions , also to consider the sutable promises of a supply fits the soule to pray : also to consider what mercies we have received above others , and what cause wee have to be thankfull to god. 5. prayer requires our ends to be holy , and right placed , as to injoy god , and for grace to obey him : and last and least of all , for such things as chiefly concerne our selves , as peace , &c. if the end be nought , or good , and not right placed , we aske amisse , jam. 4. 6. deny thy selfe and come empty headed , hearted , handed , of all that is thy own , that god and his grace may be all in all : emptinesse raiseth our hearts in prayer . 7. mind thy own inabilitie to doe any thing that is spirituall , and looke up to christ by faith for strength , eying his promise ; we are no more able to pray or doe any spirituall worke of our selves , then to remove a mountaine at once . 8. consider god in his attributes , that he is great , gracious , mercifull , slow to anger , &c. and that he is so to thee , and that he is neere thee , yea present with thee ; all in god is ready to helpe his , his ocean of grace cannot be exhausted , spent , his fountaine doth nothing decay , though multitudes draw from it . 9. when thou comest to god , thinke thou canst not have too high thoughts of god , nor too low ones of thy selfe : dust and ashes , gen. 18. 27. a worme , corruption , so job . thou canst not set god high enough , nor thy selfe low enough ; if we could see our own filth , we should stinke worse then the filthiest carrion in our own nostrils . 10. come to god with a heart that is large & chearfull , by faith in assurance of person and prayer accepted , hate suspitions and jealousies of god , see ps . 65. 2. & 7. 7. 4. 7. aske chearfully : such as goe not chearfully to god , know not what a god they go to , say to thy soule , come , o soule , rejoyce , be chearfull , for thou art a going to thy god. 11. be abased under thy pride , formalitie , coldnesse , dulnesse , deadnesse , and breake through all impediments to goe to god in prayer . 12. empty thy selfe of all distractions , cares , and clogs of spirit , that thou maist be free when thou comest to god , hold thy heart close to god , in love , zeale , meeknesse , &c. 13. observe fit times and seasons to goe to god in , yet prefer that season wherein god and thy own heart sends thee to prayer before a set time , imbrace it gladly and quickly , so sweet a motion of the spirit , put it not by till another time ; i prevented the dawning of the morning , and cryed , psal . 119. 147. with mark. 1. 35. 14. be sensible of others wants , especially for such as are the lords , that you may pray with a feeling of their necessities . 15. pray for grace to stirre thee up to pray , and fit thee with sutable matter , sutable to the occasion , either for the church , thy selfe , or others , and to enliven us in all , abhorre forme and fashion , pray not in print , they are deadly enemies to spiritualnesse ; pray from an inward feeling and sensiblenesse of thy wants : book-prayers is such a crutch , as it makes them that use it quite lame ; we are not so much to looke to a set order of words , as to a well ordered heart ; weak expressions in uprightnesse of heart , the lord likes well , but if there be nothing but well framed sentences , god abhorres them . 16. above all come to god in faith , rom. 10. 14. how shall they call on him on whom they have not beleeved ? see heb. 11. 6. jam. 1. 6. mark. 11. 24. this is the most spirituall grace to come to god with above all other , no other save this can fasten upon a promise , thou canst not see god without faith ; whatsoever thou needst , beleeve that promise , every one that asketh receiveth , mat. 7. 8. christs incense and odors of his sacrifice , rev. 8. 4. is for him that beleeves . faith gives force and life to prayer , it troubles not satan to make a thousand prayers full of teares , if they be without faith ; according to our faith , so is our prayer , rom. 8. 38. faint faith , faith prayers ; prayer without faith is but beating the ayre ; according to thy faith , be it unto thee . consider mat. 21. 22. all things are possible to him that beleeves , mark. 9. 22. let him aske in faith , saith james , nothing wavering ; that is , in a certain assurance to be heard , and that his request shall be granted , jam. 1. 6. 17. read and meditate before prayer , if time will permit , for the better preparing our hearts thereunto . the graces of the spirit , uprightnesse , purenesse , thankfulnesse , integritie , soundnesse of heart , and the like , these will inable , inliven and fit thee to pray . these well observed , and god blessing them , will fill thee with heavenly affection , and rid thee of thy own inventions , manner , and ends , &c. oh all yee sonnes and daughters of the most high , in this fulness go forth to meet your god with joy and full assurance of a supply of what yee need . concerning a right manner , and spirituall behaviour in the duty of prayer ; observe , 1. fix thy mind and faith upon god in the flesh of christ , who is god with us , and neere us , else he cannot be comprehended by us , eye the flesh of our advocate , united to the deity , and hold the eye of thy faith upon it , ( all the while thou art in prayer ) which gives life and strength to prayer , else thy prayer is but a morall devotion , a meere shadow ; by the flesh of christ so united , we have union with god , and accesse to god , which else could not ; and the more our faith layeth hold upon this flesh of christ so united to the divinitie , and we also by it , the more the ordinance imparts gods goodnesse unto the soule , for whatsoever vertue there is in any thing , it 's conveyed by application , and touching of it ; that whereby wee touch god is our faith , which never toucheth him , but it draweth vertue from him : but that in which our happinesse consists , is our union with the divinitie by christs humanitie , which is full , and admits not of any degrees . 2. pray in knowledge , and not in ignorance , joh. 5. 14. 3. watch and pray against satans discouragements , sloath , ease , vanitie of minde , that if it were possible , no vaine thought might come in all the while . 4. pray as thy present state , condition , and frame of spirit requires . 5. strive for the best affections thou canst in prayer , & those ravishing , which may carry thee furthest from thy selfe , and neerest to communion with god , and looke to the bottome upon which thy affections stand , as faith , and inward grace , and eying a promise ; serve god with all thy might , courage , & strength , with frequency and fervency , for time , zeale , & intention , long prayers oft dead others affection ; it 's good to pray briefly , and often , as christ , mat. 26. 39. consider what others can beare , minde the time , occasion , and season ; in long prayers , we must take heed of custome , superstition , and ambition , and in short , of prophanenesse and carelesnesse ; whether long or short , you must pray with affection , as joy , desires and griefe . 6. when thou prayest to one in the deity , mind all three , and sever them not , the object of our worship must be the union of the flesh with the trinitie . 7. give god all thy heart , and see that thy heart and tongue goe together all the while , and observe when , and in what the heart draws backe , &c. 8. if thou canst , observe gods order , first , expresse gods greatnesse , next his goodnesse , and his goodnesse to thee , his large love , and thy ill requiting him ; be thankfull for former mercies , 1 chron. 15. 13. seeke and aske spirituall blessings before earthly , &c. if time will permit , confesse thy sins freely to god , with inward griefe , and in faith beg , the spirit of supplication and mourning , zech. 12. 10. and let all mourning flow from faith of thy person accepted , and sinnes forgiven , or else all thy mourning and teares are worth nothing , and no better then the howllng of a dog , but that mourning which flowes from faith of pardon , is a sweet grace , and an acceptable sacrifice to god. in thankesgiving , it is fit we should be as much and as large in it , as in requests , be as ready to be thankfull for mercies thou hast , as to aske new ones , spirituall , temporall , &c. be thankfull for all , to thee , thine , and others , and thou shalt not be barren , for either matter or manner , wee ought to be more ready to be thankfull , then to crave what wee want , wee should prefer . god before our selves . in supplication , aske the spirit of prayer , to pray in the holy spirit , and in understanding , &c. and aske all graces , and temporall things in faith , and a blessing upon all , and be content to be at gods dispose in all , and wait gods time , know if god heareth thee not in that kinde thou desirest , he intends that which is better for thee in stead thereof ; god hath not absolutely promised thee measure of grace , and temporall things in particular , and so sometimes denies them in love to his , because not fit for them , therefore aske with submission . adde fervency and importunitie , as one loth to be sent away empty , and let thy earnestnesse be according to the degrees of goodnesse of things prayed for , or of thy necessitie of them . the life of prayer consists in the heat of earnest and fervent desires , rom. 15. 30. & 8. 16. psal . 143. 6. of a cold prayer , expect not more then a cold answer ; if a righteous mans prayer be not fervent , it will not prevaile , jam. 5. oh lord , give me what i come for , cease not knocking till yee speed : what we need wee have in god , and this is ours ( oh sweet love ) turne feares into hopes , complaints into prayers , and thy lamentations into supplications , and christ will turne thy darknesse into light , and thy deadnesse into life , thy bondage into libertie , and thy weaknesse into strength . covet the best measure of grace , and rest in that measure god thinks best forthee ; pray often , 2 cor. 12. 10. see isa . 26. 26 , 27. be thankfull to god in prayer for what thou obtainest from god by prayer , and in prayer use that gesture that most befits the duty , and most befits thee for the dutie , weigh it well , consider the weaknesse of thy body , yet abhorre unreverence in prayer , both in soule and body , acts 7. 60. concerning a spirituall carriage after prayer . 1. as soone as the dutie is ended , especially if inlarged and before others , eye some one or more of thy defects ( in prayer ) to keepe thy soule humble , and also eye what was of god in dutie , to the end thou maist be thankfull , and not dejected and overcome in viewing thy weaknesses and distempers : view all the parts of thy prayer , how it was performed ( if thou canst ) both for matter , manner , heart and affection , and consider what feelings , desires , comforts god gave thee in prayer : take heed thou doest not over-like thy prayers , nor thinke that god dislikes them , because thou seest not what thou shouldst in thy prayers . 2. renounce all that is our owne in prayer , feelings , hopes , affections , zeale ; as they are the ordinance of god , so i prise them , but as they are acts of mine , they stinke in my nostrils , yet the lords fire shall heat me , my power is perfected in my infirmity : very gladly will i be under infirmitie , that his power may be magnified in me , 2 cor. 12. 8 , 9. 3. watch that satan wound thee not with thy prayers ; if thou beest in any measure sensible of sinne , thy defects in dutie , satan is ready to tell thee , if thou hadst the spirit of god , then shouldst thou have the spirit of prayer , and if thou hadst it , it should be otherwise with thee then it is , but if the soule consent to what he saith to be true , yee both agree to wound thy faith and confidence in god , not onely for an answer of thy prayer , but of thy persons acceptance . nay , rather charge all upon thy corruption and want of preparation , & exercise of grace , and be the more carefull and watchfull for time to come , and learne to distinguish between a nullity and a defect ; and in a word , if thou art sensible of thy sin in praying , and art sorry for it , thy imperfection is passed by , and thou doest not pray in fashion . the spirit of god discovers deadnesse , indisposition , and unbeliefe , and the like in prayer , flesh and bloud cannot discover these , and the spirit of god onely makes the conscience tender and pliable . 4. let the frame of thy spirit be alwayes thankfull and chearfull after prayer , whether thou beest inlarged or straitned , inwardly or outwardly , alone or with others ; for when thou art at the best , thou standst in need of a jesus , looke upward then by faith upon thy advocate , and when thy defects are most , and thou art at the worst , will not the same jesus save thee ? yea surely , and if thou groundest thy comfort upon a right bottome rightly , thy comfort and the cause of it is the same ; because christ is the same , heb. 13. 8. and if christ be thine , shall not he disanull all thy sinnes as well as one , seeing he is able and willing ? but this is the childrens bread , this pearle is not to be cast to swine . 5. if in prayer thy heart have been opened and inlarged , thy faith strengthned , and thy conscience eased , &c. count it a sweet mercy , be thankfull to god for all ; for want of taking notice of gods goodnesse , and thankfulnesse for it , it is just in stead of light to possesse darknesse , and for feeling to finde deadnesse , &c. 6. presse after ( what thou hast prayed for ) in the use of meanes , pro. 2. 3 , 4 , 5. there is the prayer , indeavour , and blessing . as he that makes prayer the end of his prayer , rests in his prayer , and prayes to no purpose : so he that doth not in good earnest pursue with zeale and conscience the grace & good things he prays for , ioseth his prayer . the saints pray to put their prayers in practise , & we tempt god to aske that wee use not meanes to attaine , our indeavours must second our prayers , pro. 20. 4. it is for hypocrites to pray and returne to their lusts with more freedome , as if they intended to have libertie to sinne . such prayers are odious to god : take we heed that what we build up with prayer , wee pull not downe by our practice , by remisnesse , sleightnesse , frothinesse of spirit , it had been well if this knowledge had not been experimentall , but a word is sufficient to the wise . 7. expect and wait patiently for a full answer of thy prayers in gods time and way , consider psal . 40. 1. rev. 3. 10. hab. 2. 2 , 3. wee should be loth to lose any part of the answer of our prayers , and that we may wait , wee must first be sure we have a promise that wee shall speed , that wee may feed our minds with the meditation of it : this is necessary , for the time of fulfilling may be long , lest wee faint , psal . 147. 11. psal . 135. 6 , 7. have patience and tary ; that comes hardly , is oft most prized , but lightly come , lightly goe : god knows the fittest season to doe us good , take not a delay for a deniall , many things god hath promised , he hath not set down the time or yeare , but when it 's best for us , let god alone for the time , and ye shall see what god will do . watch we what event our prayers have , and observe gods dealings with our selves , and others , both with his , and his enemies : and be thankfull for any answer of prayers . the saints are often afflicted , that they may often pray , and that often praying , they might pull downe many benefits from the lord , and returne many praises unto him ; wee sinne against god , and hurt our selves for want of thankfulnesse . for hearing the word . 1. labour to be informed of the excellency and preciousnesse of the mercy to heare the word , and that no treasure of this world is like it for goodnesse , beautie , and truth , there is nothing like the word , it informes , convinces , comforts , what comfort is like to this , if the heart be not lost in profits , pleasures , forth and ease ? 2. prize the word , 1 pet. 2. 3. above all things we prize precious things , and for such as love their lusts , let them consider ezek. 14. 7 , 8. 3. heare not for noveltie , &c. but let your ends be good in obedience to god , to know and practise . 4. deny thy selfe , thy own wisdome , see the lord in all , be a foole that thou maist be wise ; set god above all , and say , speake lord , for thy servant heareth . 5. come in faith , beleeve god can speake in particular to thee , whether weake or strong , and supply thy wants , micah 2. 7. to the end , isa . 48. 17. eye the promise ; if any man will doe his will , he shall know whether the doctrine be of god or no , joh. 7. 17. heare and your soules shall live , isa . 55. 3. beleeve the promises , meditate on them , plead them , apply them as thy own portion , and rest satisfied and contented with them , they that have the promise are sure enough . 6. come with a resolution to learne and a heart resolved to practise what god saith ; say as david , psal . 119. 33 , 34. psal . 86. 11. and covet earnestly the best gifts , 1 cor. 12. 31. consider 1 cor. 12. 4. & 1 cor. 3. 4. 22. 7. come emptie in the sense of want , he filleth the hungry , but the full are sent emptie away , luk. 1. 51. pro. 27. 7. emptie of distractions , and worldly thoughts and affections , exod. 3. 5. emptie of prejudice of man , gifts , or meanes , be humble , the humble he will teach , psal . 25. 9. 8. pray to god to prepare thy heart , and to open thy eyes , psal . 119. 18. shew me thy truth , and blesse it to me , pray that he that speakes may not seeke himselfe , and so rob god , and that he may speake as he ought to speake , col. 4. 4. in hearing , take heed to your eyes , eares , hearts , luk. 8. 18. ezek. 40. 4. 1. consider thou art in the presence of god , and consider job 21. 6. psal . 16. 8. acts 10. 33. 2. attend diligently , isa . 55. 23. watch that nothing come between thee and it , sleepe not , wander not , gaze not , luk. 8. 18. consider act. 8. 6. and the people with one accord gave heed to those things that philip spake . 3. heare for thy selfe , and mind especially that which most concernes thee . 4. heare with understanding and judgement , mat. 13. 13. mat. 15. 10. joh 21. 11. put a difference between truth and error , the simple beleeveth every word , prov. 14. 15. take heed what yee heare , mark. 4. 24. and whom yee heare , and how yee heare . 5. if thou canst , observe the methode and scope of the speaker to helpe memorie . 6. heare with thy heart and affection , as one that longeth for it . 7. mixe the word with faith , beleeve it , obey it , beleeve it 's true , and thine , ● pet. 2. 3. if tasted . 8. heare it as the word of god , or else it can doe thee no good , see 1 thes . 2. 13. apprehend and digest well what gods soveraigntie of god is in a command , and the tie of obedience of the creature to god meanes ; consider the insolency of the creatures that dare reject the word of the lord. come buy and eate , isai . 55. 1. buy gold , &c. rev. 3. 18 forsake all , mat. 19. 27. if thou seekest her as silver , pro. 2. 4 , 5. hearken and eate , isa . 55. 2. in eating is required appetite , chewing , taste , relish , pleasure and delight , nehe. 9. 25. let the word sinke downe , luk. 9. 44. hide it in your hearts , psal . 119. 11. after hearing . 1. if god hath manifested himselfe any way in his word , be thankfull , oh that the lord should reveale himselfe to me , and not unto the world , joh. 14. 22. consider mat. 13. 17. psal . 147. 20. 1 cor. 14. 25. 2. hold fast that thou hast , lose it not in the ayre of the world , let nothing rob thee of it , let memory call upon consciscience , and conscience upon thee . 3. examine and prove what yee have heard , as 1 thes . 5. 21. acts 17. 11. and consider acts 8. 34. rom. 3. 8. 4. what good soever thou receivest , give glory to god , not to man , for he is but as an instrument in the hand of god , he that planteth and watereth is nothing , but god it is that gives the increase , 1 cor. 3. 7. it is not in the graces of men . also consider acts 8. 1. with acts 11. 19. 21. nor learning , for acts 4. 13. so then god doth all . 5. muse and meditate on what thou hast heard , thinke on these things , phil. 4. 8. deut. 3. 39. shee pondered , luk. 2. 19. meditation helps memory and affection , and works an inward feeling of it , if god blesse it , but if we meditate not on it , it doth us no good . 6. apply what thou hast heard to thy occasions , which are many . 7. practice what thou hast heard , this is the end of hearing , deut. 5. 1. mat. 7. 26 , 27. wee have no benefit by it , if wee practise it not , jam. 1. 25. god lookes for fruit , if we injoy meanes , isa . 5. 2. mat. 21. 34. luk. 13. 7. where much is given , much is required , luk. 12. 48. see joh. 8. 47. job . 12. 40. practice presently ; i made haste and delayed not , psal . 1. 19. 60. gen. 7. 23. with 22. 3. abraham went presently ; that which we put off till hereafter is seldome done . consider pro. 24. 33 , 34. many motions through delay have come to nothing : they were not to stay , but to step in presently as soone as the angel stirred the water , joh. 5. 4. 8. omit not opportunities , for thou knowest not whether god will blesse this or that , eccl. 11. 6. concerning reading . to read with profit requires diligence , wisdome , preparation , meditation , conference , faith , practise , prayer . for the first consider pro. 2. 12. mat. 13. 54. 2. wisdome is necessary for the choice of matter , order , time ; for the matter , it must be sutable to our necessities and capacities ; for order , first that which concerns the foundation , and after the building : also order is a helpe to memory and understanding , and for want of order , some read much , but profit little : also wisdome must difference the fittest time to read in respect of other businesse : god hath made every thing beautiful in its time , eccle. 3. 11. 3. preparation requires , first humilitie , and a sensiblenesse of our own insufficiency , to teach our selves , and prayer to god to teach us , and to give us sound judgements and good affections . secondly , faith in christ , for him to open the booke that is sealed , and the heart also beleeving he will blesse his meanes unto us . thirdly , a heart prepared to learne , pro. 17. 16. such as received the word with a good & an honest heart , brought forth fruit , luk. 8. wherefore is there a price in the hand of a foole to get wisdome , seeing he hath no heart to it ? after wee have reade , meditate . meditation makes that we have read to be our own ; blessed is he that meditateth in the law day and night , psal . 1. 2. and unlesse by meditation the judgement be refined and setled , and worke it upon our affections , and lay up what we reade in our minds , all our reading and hearing will come to nothing . conference with others , who are able to direct us , is necessary to informe us in what we understand not . the word must be mixed with faith , else it profiteth us nothing , heb. 4. 2. luk. 18. 18. the end of reading is to practise , and the best way to know is practise ; he that will doe his will , he shall know it . without prayer we cannot well use the meanes , nor expect a blessing by them , 1 cor. 2. david prayed and praised god , blessed art thou , o lord , teach me thy statutes , psal . 119. he that profits by hearing and reading . 1. he must have his mind turned to christ , and fixed upon him in his word , as psal . 119. 15. mark. 7. 14. he must beleeve , and he shall know . 2. he must not be wise in his own eyes ; the humble he will teach , psal . 34. psal . 119. 3. pray continually , 1 thes . 5. 4. search the scriptures , joh. 5. 39. 5. his end must be good , 1 cor. 10. 31. 6. he must love the word , psal . 119. 7. he must resolve to obey , john 7. 17. of meditation . meditation is a serious reviving of those truths we have heard , or the administrations of god towards us or others , of that which we know , wee further debate upon it , that both mind and heart being seasoned with the savour thereof ( in applying it to our selves , that wee may have some use of it in our practise ) and be furthered thereby to dutie . in which the memory is exercised to remember some things past , also the understanding gathering some other things , as namely in finding out the causes , fruits , properties , as when a man meditateth on the word , remembreth and museth on it , so going from point to point , applying generally some things unto himselfe , and wisely examining how the case stands between the lord and himselfe , in those things whereby he hath his heart thereby stirred up to put some things in practise . the worke wrought in the affections , is that they are framed , either to love or hatred , joy or sorrow , love , feare , according to the diversitie of the thing , with the reasonable part , hath seriously considered of . of the excellency of meditation . meditation is a pondering in the heart , a considering , a weighing with our selves ; by meditation we retaine truths , and are inriched by them , and it makes them sweet unto us , by it we ascend up to heaven ; it 's the life of all meanes , the way to knowledge , the mother of wisdome , it refines the judgement , and cuts off errors within and without , it increaseth love , it makes the mercy of god fresh unto us , it is the life of hearing , reading , conference , praying , &c. by it all meanes are made profitable unto us , it reveales truth to us , and acquaints us with our selves , it makes all to become our owne , it removes lets , and settles truths upon our spirit , it breeds good affections , and quickens them , and makes us profitable to others , and makes things easie & sweet unto us , and fires the soule with love , it helpeth the memory , and stirres up affection , and filles us with experiences , and inableth us to apply it to our owne use , and benefit of others . judge then how usefull this duty is , and what a treasure we forgoe when we neglect it . before meditation . 1. reade and conferre with reverence and diligence , psal . 119. reading the word fits us to meditate on it . 2. be sure thou hast fit texts or occasions of matter forelaid , sutable to thy wants , and spirits , provide matter sutable , of all sorts , precepts , promises , &c. be not barren of fit matter to meditate on , fit for thy necessitie and capacitie . 3. choose a fit time , the morning is the fittest time for religious duties , and noon , and evening , day and night , psal . 1. 3. we ought to frequent this duty , for the morning , psal . 119. 147. mark. 1. 35. for the night , vers . 148. in the morning our memories are the quickest and strongest , and our selves the readiest to conceive things , our naturall powers being revived , have the greatest libertie ; at night we are more dull and heavie : idolaters will rise early in the morning to worship an idoll . oh that we were so wise to prevent the morning light , psal . 119. 147. mary came early to the sepulchre , mat. 28. the holy spirit came upon them in the morning , act. 2. it was the third houre of the day : consider jer. 7. 13. joh. 8. 2. mat. 21. 28. 4. separate thy selfe to this worke ; for a mans desire he will separate himselfe , pro. 18. 2. 5. choose a fit place , as for prayer , so for meditation , where thou maist not be disturbed by any thing . 6. love the word of god , and meditation will follow , psal . 119. what we love , we thinke on , love drawes our affections , according to the love we have to any thing , so accordingly is our pleasure , study , and delight in it . 7. beleeve god will blesse it unto thee . 8. pray to god to blesse it unto thee . in meditation . 1. looke up to god and mourne for thy estrangement of spirit from holy things , which should be familiar , and bend thy selfe ( after separation of thy thoughts from frothy things ) to consider seriously of the truths set before thee , and looke up to god for strength to resist a hard wandering dead defiled heart , which makes thee weary of the worke of god. 2. let the word of god be the object of thy meditation , psal . 1. 2. psal . 119. 99. and from generals proceed to particulars . 3. meditate but of one thing at once , and at one time , and observe order , 1. travell with our memories ; 2. judgement ; 3. our affections , before we come to make use of it in our hearts : after our memories , let thy judgement consider what weight the thing is of , & how it concerns gods glory , our selves , or others , and whether we have it at all , or in such a measure as we need , and may have ; how we came by it , what are the lets of getting and injoying it , and how they may be removed , what meanes are to be used to attaine it , both for manner , measure , end , time ; and having so done , rest not in overfights , but stirre up and provoke our affections accordingly , and so worke it upon our hearts . take an instance , when we come to make use of that we meditate of in our hearts and affections , thus put case it be some speciall promise , how happie were i if i could injoy it , what things here below are like unto it ? then proceed to remove all the objections and temptations against it , lay all in the promise , and hold the promise untill thou canst sucke sweetnesse out of it , till faith and comfort issue in thy soule ; if any should do all this , unlesse god adde his blessing , & with his almighty power blesse meanes to us , all is nothing , yet wee must use the meanes . 4. if in meditation , thy minde rove and wander after other matters , as soone as thou perceivest it , sigh deeply to god , and fall to prayer to be established , from whence satan & our corruptions would draw us , and having desired the lord to deliver thee from a vaine , light , and frothy spirit , &c. fall to meditation againe . after meditation . 1. wee must ever be mindfull to be humble and thankfull . 2. the more thou meetest with the lord in this way , let it more incourage thee to frequent it , and make it a great part of thy communion with god , and be as joyfull when god hath blessed it unto thee , as any can be when they finde a mine of gold , or great spoyle . directions for the understanding of the sense of the letter of the scriptures . 1. when the word ( one god ) is expressed , the father , and the holy spirit is included , as appeares in joh. 17. 3. 2. all the attributes or workes of god are proper to any of the three without exception of any of them , so christ is said to create the worlds , heb. 1. 2. 3. repentance in god , notes no change in god , ( who is immutable ) but in the thing or action . 4. the word ( of god ) notes authoritie , sometimes it notes onely excellency , as , psal . 1. 5. 17. 5. the scriptures must not be understood against christ , but for christ . 6. whatsoever is truly and soundly collected from scripture , is to be beleeved and rested upon , as well as that which is expresly written , yet no ordinance of christ , nor the administration of it , but it is plainly expressed in scripture , and depends not upon consequences , much lesse meanes . 7. it is usuall in scripture to attribute that to the instrument , that efficacy and force which belongs to the author , as 1 tim. 4. 16. rom. 3. 28. & 5. 4. deut. 5. 22. heb. 13. that good meanes may be respected , and bad sleighted . 8. in a parable , the minde , scope , and intention of the spirit of god is to be marked above all , it must be expounded and no further strained then things agree with the principall drift , as mat. 20. 1 , 2. the scope is , god is not a debtor to no man : straine no parable . 9. we may not interpret scripture by allegories , unlesse we be able to prove the allegoricall sense by some other place of scripture . 10. in interpreting scripture , we must take the sense from the word , and not bring one to it . 11. comparison of places together , darker with plainer , is the way to understand it . nehe. 8. 8. 12. there can be but one onely proper true sense of one place of scripture , which we are chiefly to search after , and rest in ; wee may not make every scripture speake every thing . 13. the literall sense of scripture which ariseth from the words duly understood , is the onely true and proper sense . 14. scriptures must be understood according to the largest extent of the words , except there be some restraint of them by the matter , phrase , and scope of them , ( as the word grace , 1 pet. 1. 13. ) or by some other place of scripture it appeares they must be restrained . 15. they must be expounded simply , according to the letter , except necessitie compell to depart from a literall sense to a figurative . 16. wee must not take a figurative speech properly , nor a proper speech figuratively , mat. 26. 26 , 27. this is my body , is a figurative speech ; it is a great servitude to take signes for things , of which words be but signes . 17. where there is a sentence in scripture , which hath a tropicall or borrowed word , we may not think the whole place figurative , as mat. 26. 28. 18. that which is said to one , must be understood to be said to all in the like case and condition , as appeares by comparing joshua 1. 5. with heb. 13. 5. for of the like things there is the like reason and judgement to be given , let the circumstances be considered wisely . 19. a particular example will afford a generall instruction , when the equitie of the thing done is universall , and the cause common , otherwise not . 20. the scripture puts upon dead things the person of such as speake , by a fiction of a person , ps . 19. the firmament speakes , &c. so rom. 19. 20 , 21. psal . 98. 7 , 8. by this manner of speech wee are moved to affect the things spoken , and more easily brought to understand them . 21. by bodily things the scripture leads and lifts us up to divine : thus a hand applied to god , signifieth his working power , so an eye , his knowledge , a heart his will , his foot his presence or government , wings , his care or protection , a mouth , his word or commandement , a finger , his might , and a soule put for the essence of god. 22. the scripture ascribes the names of things unto the similitudes and representations , as 1 sam. 28. 14 , 15. 23. that exposition that causeth an absurditie to follow , is a false exposition , rom. 4. 14. & 10. 14 , 15. 24. the word heart , is commonly put for the soule of man. 25. there is such a necessary and mutuall relation between faith , and christ the object , that where one of these is expressed alone , the other is included ; christ onely is the matter of our righteousnesse . 26. the scripture divers times expresses the antecedent by the consequent , rom. 9. 33. with isa . 28. 16. for not making haste in isaiah , paul saith , shall not be ashamed , shame & confusion being an effect which followeth haste . 27. the scripture useth one word twice in one sentence , with a different signification , joh. 4. 35. harvest is taken first for earthly , and in the latter place for spirituall harvest . so the word water in joh. 4. 13 , 14. first , elementary ; secondly , spiritually , viz. the graces of the spirit . 28. the word of commanding is often put for wishing , as , let thy kingdome come , ●hy name be hallowed , that is , oh that thy name were hallowed ; let him kisse me , song 1. 1. for oh that he would kisse me . 29. crying in scripture doth often betoken a strong noyse outwardly , but inwardly compunction and fervency of spirit and affection , rom. 8. 15. heb. 5. 7. 30. things proper to the body are ascribed unto the soule , as hunger & thirst , to declare the earnest desire of the soule ; because the soule is unknowne unto us , the scripture very oft speaketh of invisible things by visible , and shadoweth spirituall by corporall . 31. a hyperbole is sometimes in scripture , this kind of speech expresseth more then can be signified , by the proper acceptation of that speech it increaseth the truth , as gen. 13. 16. & 15. 5. the meaning is no more then that his posteritie shall be very great , as gen. 17. 4. so joh. 21. 25. 32. it is usuall in scripture to put ( all ) for many , 1 tim. 2. 3. mat. 3. all jerusalem , and mat. 4. 23. all diseases ; so on the other side , many is put for all , as rom. 5. 9. and whether all or many is meant , may be knowne by observing the matter handled . 33. nothing is for little , joh. 18. 20. also small and none for few , act. 27. 33. and alwayes for often . 34. the negative particle ( not ) is often put comparatively and respectively , not absolutely and simply , as hosea 6. not sacrifice , viz. rather then , or not sacrifice in respect of mercy , see jer. 32. 33. so not is put for seldome , luk. 2. 37. 35. the word ever or everlasting , doe not properly signifie eternitie , in every place where it is used , but great continuance , as psal . 32. 14. 36. in scripture the word ( untill ) doth not alwayes exclude the time following , but signifies an infinite time , or untill , viz. eternitie , 1 cor. 15. mat. 28. 28. mat. 5. 26. that is to say , never , and also a certaine limit of time . 37. the copulative particle ( and ) is often when it is not joyned to other matter , as psal . 4. ezek. 2. 1. & 5. 1. and so often else-where : also this particle therefore or then , is not alwayes illative or argumentative , rom. 8. 1. o● it coupleth words outwardly to that which the prophet heard inwardly . 38. the particle ( if ) is not alwayes a note of doubting , but of reasoning , as rom. 8. 31 : joel 1. 14. acts 8. 22. sometimes it notes the difficultie of the dutie , and sometimes the necessitie of the thing , and sometimes it is put for doubtingly , mat. 3. 14. 39. when a substantive is repeated or twice mentioned in one case , it signifieth emphasis or force , as lord , lord ; secondly , a multitude , as droves , droves , gen. 32. 16. many droves : thirdly , distribution , as 1 chron. 16. a gate , a gate , 2 chron. 19. 5. levit. 17. 3. a citie , and a citie , that is , every citie : fourthly , diversitie or varietie , as pro. 20. 20. a weight and a weight , that is , divers weights ; an heart and a heart , divers or a double heart . 40. a substantive , repeated in divers cases , if it be in the singular number , it argueth certainty , as sabbath of sabbath , lamentation of lamentation , micah 3. 4. if it be in the plurall number , it signifieth excellency , as eccl. 1. 1. vanitie of vanities , song of songs , cant. 1. god of gods , psal . 136. 2. king of kings , lord of lords , for most high and excellent . 41. repeating of an adjective , and of a substantive , sometimes signifies increasing , as holy , holy , holy , jehovah , jehovah , temple , temple , &c. 42. a verbe repeated or twice gone over in a sentence , makes a speech more significant , or else it shewes vehemency , certainty , speedinesse , as to dye , by dying , gen. 2. and is my hand shortened in shortening , isai . 30. 2. 43. a conjunction doubled , doth double the deniall , and increase it the more ; shall not perceive , mat. 13. 14. 44. a figurative speech affords matter to nourish our faith , as mat. 15. 35. 1 cor. 12. 12. acts 9. 4. 45. an ironie , which is when the contrary to that which is spoken is meant , carrieth with it a just reprehension of some sinnes , as gen. 3. last . judg. 10. 14. mark. 7. 9. 1 kings 22. 15. goe up and prosper , 1 king. 18. 27. 46. questions doe sometimes affirme an earnest affirmation , as gen. 4. 7. josh . 10. 13. joh. 4. 35. gen. 37. 13. 1 kings 20. 2. sometimes they signifie a forbidding , as , why should the gentiles say , where is their god ? psal . 79. 10. also 2 sam. 2. 22. and sometimes they argue affection of admiring , compassion , fault-finding , and complaining , as psal . 8. 10. isa . 1. 21. psal . 22. 1. 47. confession and yeelding , hath sometime in it a deniall and reprehension , as 2 cor. 12. 16 , 17. 48. the word , behold , is not used alwayes , or onely to stirre up attention , as the report of some weighty or admirable thing , but most commonly it signifieth a thing manifest and plaine , where men may take knowledge , as psal . 51. 6. mat. 1. 23. and often else-where . 49. doing doth sometimes import beleeving , as mat. 7. 2. joh. 6. 40. 50. negative speeches in scripture be more vehement and forcible then affirmative . 51. grammer must give place to divinitie , because things are not subject to words , but contrariwise . 52. the placing of things before which should come after , and some things after which should be before , is frequent in scripture . 53. we are commanded to be perfect , viz. in uprightnesse , shining to all duties , for perfection in measure and degree , wee are not capable of in this world . 54. all places of scripture have this proper to them , that they be interpreted by the matter handled , and phrase , scope , end , which is aimed at , or by circumstances of time , persons , places , also by precedence and subsequence , by conferring scripture and analogie of faith . 55. scripture hath allegories , as gal. 4. 22 , 23 , 24. an allegory is ever to be expounded according to the meaning and drift of the place where it is found , allegoricall senses are not of private motion , but to be followed where wee have the spirit for our precedent and subsequent , by conferring scripture and analogie of faith . 56. numerall words , as , 5 , 7 , 10 , &c. notes not alwayes a certaine time , as seventie weeks of captivitie , &c. yet a certain finite time is put for an uncertaine oftentimes , as , to fall seven times , to forgive seventie times seven , and the like . also divers numbers be propheticall , as the number of daniels weekes , or mysticall , as the number , rev. 13. 8. 57. the scripture often in one word saying , uttereth one thing plurally , and many things singularly , as , blessed is the man , &c. heare , o israel , and thou shalt not have any strange god , because god would have every one to take to himselfe that which is meant of that societie and kind whereof he is one . 58. in setting downe numbers , the scripture is not exact to reckon precisely , as luk. 3. 23. act. 1. 15. 59. it is usuall in scripture , by a part to signifie the whole , as rom. 13. let every soule be subject , for every person , man and woman ; and the whole sometimes notes onely a part , mat. 3. 5. all judea , that is , a great part . 60. some wishing speeches be not so much prayers as prophesies , foretelling what shall be , rather then desiring they should be as imprecations against judas , &c. 61. the scripture repeats the same things in the beginning and end of the sentence , as , psal . 33. 10. it is done by way of explication , sometimes for confirmation , sometimes for expressing or exciting zeale , as , isa . 3. 9. joh. 1. 3. psal . 6. 9 , 10. 2 king. 9. 10. rom. 11. 8. 62. in sundry places of the old testament , cited by christ and the apostles , the sense is kept , but not alwayes the same words , as , rom. 10. 15 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. and else-where . to teach us , that the scripture is considered by the meaning , and not by the letters and syllables . 63. some places in the old testament , which seeme meere historical , containing bare narrations of some things done , yet are mysticall withall , and have a hid and spirituall sense ; as jonah's being in the whales belly , holds forth christs death , buriall , resurrection , for it pleaseth god to make some histories already done , to be types and prophesies of things afterwards to be done ; as that of hugar and sarah , gal. 4. 64. the scripture hath sundry words which according to the place where they be used , doe signifie divers , yea even contrary things , as leven , to signifie the nature of the gospel , mat. 13. and also heresie and superstition , mat. 16. 6. 12. and sometime for sinfull corruption , as , 1 cor. 5. so a lyon signifieth christ and the devill , 1 pet. 1. 5. likewise serpent is put in good part , mat. 10. 16. and in ill part , gen. 3. 1. because these things have severall properties and contrary . 65. where the text of scripture is ambiguous , as it cannot be found out by us after diligent search , to which sense of two or three to leane unto , that text may be interpreted in both senses , if analogie of faith will suffer , & they be not against the circumstances of the text , for we must not swerve from the generall scope of the whole word , faith in christ , and love to god , and our neighbour . 66. many things be first generally spoken , and presently declared by particulars , as , 2 tim. 3. 1 , 2. there be many such examples . 67. some things in scripture are incomprehensible by our reason , yet true . 68. such scriptures as have shew of repugnancy , are easily reconciled by an intelligent reader , as , 1 tim. 2. 3. with rom. 9. not all . by all is not meant every one , but of all sorts and kinds of men , rich and poore , &c. see joh. 5. 17. gen. 2. 2. that is , from making more workes anew of nothing . so mathew speaks of a staffe which might cumber and burden , but marke of one that might ease and relieve a traveller , mat. 10. 10. mark. 6. 8 , 9. 69. some things are said in scripture not according to the truth of the things , but after their profession , appearance , or visibilitie and opinion of the times , as others thought . thus the scribes & pharisees are termed righteous , luk. 15. and thus hypocrites are said to have faith , jer. 2. 18 , 19. 70. the scriptures doe not allow alwayes the things & actions from whence similitudes be fetched , as the manners of theeves , and unjust stewards , and judges . 71. some of christs workes were miraculous , and proper to him as mediator ; but christs morall duties were given us for example and patterne , mat. 11. 29 , 30. 1 pet. 2. 21. 1 joh. 2. 6. that we should walke as he hath walked . 72. by the words poore and needy in the scriptures is often to be understood all gods people , poore or rich . 73. when sinfull actions are attributed to god , as to provoke others to anger , to envie , or to harden pharaohs heart , and the like , we must know god tempts none to sinne , as jam. 1. but he doth it by delivering them over to satan , & their lusts , to be hardened , god oft punisheth sin with sin , rom. 1. 74. sundry interrogations in scripture , as , rom. 10. 14 , 15. have the force of a negative , that is to say , they cannot . some againe do so aske a question , as they require & have an expresse answer , psal . 15. 1. rom. 11. 1. & 3. 12. it is to quicken attention , or to urge more vehemently the affection , or to prepare way for some weightie discourse . 75. the title ( god ) is sometimes put absolutely , and in the singular number , then it notes the creator , or the essence . sometimes it is used with an addition , as in exodus , i have made thee god of pharaoh , or in the plurall number , psal . 84. i have said yee are gods ; and vers . 1. in the assembly of gods , then it belongs to the creator , see rom. 1. 7. sometimes essentially , as joh. 4. 24. god is a spirit . so the word father is sometimes put essentially for the deity , mat. 6. our father . sometimes distinctly , the father is greater then i. ignorance in these rules causeth errors concerning god. 76. words of knowledge and sense doe signifie ( besides ) action and affections , as . god knoweth the wayes of the righteous , psal . 1. 6. and that he knoweth who are his ▪ 2 tim. 2. 19. apoc. 2. 3. is meant he knowes them with love , favour , and approbation , to reward and crown them . also it is said , whom he foreknew , rom. 11. 2. with 1 pet. 1. 2. is meant his eternall love imbraceth these as his owne ; for he knew barely before all reprobates and devils , and their works too , but not with favour and allowance . also the word , remember , is a word of sense , yet it often importeth care , love , delight , 1 cor. 11. doe this in remembrance of me . ( gen. ●8 . ) 77. legall and evangelicall promises must not be distinguished by bookes , but by the nature and condition of the promises ; for legall promises may be found in bookes of the new testament , as , rom. 2. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. & 10 ▪ 5 gal. 3. 10. 12. and evangelicall promises of grace are in the old testament , as , psal . 132. 1 , 2. jer. 32. 31 , 32. &c. observe them according to these two rules following . 78. if promises of temporall or eternall things are propounded upon condition of workes , they are legall , christ onely hath kept the law , and they which beleeve are to claime them by this tide conveyed to them by faith in christ . 79. all promises for this life or a better , which are made as one condition , of beleeving , repenting , working , ( for these are workes though imperfect ) are onely effects and fruits of faith , and not conditions nor causes , but are onely to declare what persons god will save ; godlinesse hath the promises , &c. 1 tim. 6. he that beleeveth , &c. joh. 3. and to understand them in any other sense is legall , see psal . 1. 1 , 2 , 3 , 2 cor. 7. 10. 80. touching such places ▪ where morall duties are commended and commanded , they must be understood according to these rules following ; as , 1. though no word be spoken o● christ , yet it must be understood that he alone is the whole cause of every part of our salvation , act. 4. 12. 81. all morall duties are then commended in any partie , when the partie which doth them , is first in christ , and his sinnes pardoned through his death , as 1 pet. 2. 5. heb. 11. 6. our best duties are imperfect , if in christ accepted , if out of christ , mens best duties cannot cause them to be accepted . 82. all good workes must have a pure heart , gods glory for the beginning and the end , having a conscience to god in obedience to his word : unlesse the person be accepted , the bare deed or action cannot please god. 83. where blessednesse is promised to morall duties doing , those places are not to be considered as causes thereof , ( for christ is the cause of all ) out onely to declare what persons they are which god doth save ; and what the saints dutie is to doe . 84. these duties must not be understood in the strictnesse and rigour of the morall law , but of a continuall and unfained desire , purpose , and indeavour to doe them . this rule prevents scruples and feares , which weake ones have through the sense of their wants and failings . 85. the scriptures use to call them sonnes , which by nature are no sonnes to them whose sonnes they are called , but they are sonnes legally , and by succession : thus salathiel , being sonne of neri naturally , luk. 3. 27. is legally and by succession made the son of jechoniah , whom he succeeded in the kingdome , as mat. 1. 12. 86. after this manner zedekiah or jehoiakim , 1 chron. 36. 10. and his sonne , 1 chron. 3. 16. his brother by generation , his sonne by right of succession . by this rule the two evangelists , matthew and luke are reconciled in their genealogie ; for luke followeth the naturall order , and matthew the legall order . 87. many things are said in scripture by anticipation and recapitulation . 88. in scripture some things are spokē well , when righteous things are taught rightly , as , repent and beleeve , &c. or secondly , when evill things are taught evilly , when wicked things are perswaded , as , to curse god and dye . or thirdly , when good things are uttered evilly , when some right thing is said with a perverse mind , as joh. 9. be thou his disciple . or fourthly , evill things well spoken , and dishonest things uttered in honest termes ; as , david went in to bathsheba , and rom. 1. 26. 89. the scripture speaks many things in the person of the ungodly men , whose crooked words it doth report unto us as well as their deeds . 90. that word which seemeth to forbid goodnesse , or to command wickednesse , is a figurative speech , as , vnlesse a man eate my flesh , &c. this is wickednesse , because the word is pure , it cannot allow any thing against honesty of manners , or veritie of faith . 91. tropes and figures in scriptures are not to be accounted lies ; as for christ calling herod a fox , and himselfe a vine , a dore , &c. because there is no purpose to deceive in them , but by meet resemblance to expresse the truth . 92. similitudes are rather to make darke things plaine , then to prove any doubtfull thing ; similitudes are not argumentative , as stewards in joh. 15. 93. to make allegories and figures , where none are in exposition , is licentious , dangerous , and hurtfull . 94. in things that be subordinate , the affirming the one doth not sollow the denying of the other . 95. all interpretations must be fit as well as true . 96. it is a ready way to all error , to interpret scripture by prejudice , in favour of some opinion of our owne . 97. in scripture a betrothed woman is called a wife , mat. 1. 20. and so of the man , deut. 22. 23. because betrothing is an essentiall part of marriage , yet the solemnization is necessary unto comelinesse and avoyding of offence . 98. that interpretation is corrupt that builds not up in faith and love . 99. a figurative speech in scripture does more affect us with delight , then if the same thing were spoken plainly without figures . psal . 23. 1. gods care is set out by a metaphor of a shepheard , and isai . 5. 1 , 2 , 3. also see joh. 15. 1 , 2. for new things ingender delight . 100. when the scripture speaks somewhat darkly , it useth for the most part to joyne thereto some plaine thing in the same place to give light to it , as , isa . 51. 1. the latter part of the 1. verse is somewhat hard , is opened in the beginning of the second verse . so isaiah the 1. the third verse expounds the second ; and the former part of the first verse of isai . 53. expounds the latter , and rom. 10. the 5. and 6. verses , expounds the 3. & 9. 13. 8. saith the word is neere , that is , the gospel . see the like , rom. 8. 20. 31. 2 tom. 4. 6. rom. 11. 7 , 8. 1 cor. 5. 9. yet this rule holds not alwayes . demonstrations , that the holy scriptures , called the bible , are of god , and from god. the scriptures are from god , or from men , they are not from men , because neither the folly , nor the wisdome of men cannot effect such a worke . 1. because men as men cannot understand the meaning of them , nor agree upon any meaning of them : so that it appeares they are a mystery above the reach of nature . 2. they are not from men , because they condemne that which is most excellent in man , as the wisdome of man , &c. it being contrary to nature , for to condemne that which is most excellent in nature , the scriptures declare natures wisdome in the things of god to be foolishnesse , & the wisdome in man esteemes the wisdome of god to be foolishnesse . 3. it is not from men , because the whole scope of the scriptures tends to destroy that which the nature of men love most . 4. because that which the scriptures require , is not onely contrary to the nature of man ( so that men delight and choose to read any booke rather then the scripture ) therefore before men can submit unto it , they must deny themselves . so also that which it requires , is beyond the power of men , and requires a divine power , as the scriptures and experience teach . 5. it is not from men , because the more any is ruled by it , obeying it , the more such are hated and persecuted by men , which sheweth it came not from nature . 6. the scriptures came from god , because they tend to god , it being a rule in nature , every thing tends to its center , a stone to the earth , the waters to the sea from whence they came . so the scripture ru●s to god ; shews god in his goodnesse , wisdome , power , love , there is in them a divine wisdome , they speake for god , they call men to god , to be for god. 7. they are not from men , because the way of bringing them forth into the world , was contrary to the wisdome and expectation of men , who in great matters imployeth great ▪ honourable , and wise men , but god takes a quite contrary course , he chooseth such who were meane & contemptible , silly tradesmen , as fishermen , and tent-makers , &c. to be the publishers and penmen of the scriptures . 8. they are from god , because god hath wonderfully continued them ▪ preserved them strangely ; first , in making the jewes , who were enemies unto christ , and the scriptures , great preservers of them ; also preserving them when the greatest power hath sought their destruction , by searching for them , and burning them , &c. the like preservation cannot be declared of any writings of men , which have had so great opposition . 9. the miracles that were wrought at the first publishing of them , ( shewes them to be immediately from god ▪ ) and for the proofe of this wee have the testimony of them who lived in christs time the jewes , who would not own christ , nor his doctrine , yet in their writings they confesse , there was one jesus who did such miracles as the scriptures declare , as josephus ; and others testifie . 10. wee know the scriptures to be from god ▪ because wee see some of the prophesies accomplished in our dayes , according to the saying of christ , that there shall arise false christs , and false prophets , that shall say , i am christ , mat. 24. 5. 24. there being now two or three , or more , that have said so of themselves : also the division foretold in luke 12. 52 , 53. from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided , the father against the sonne , and the sonne against the father , and the mother against the daughter , &c. which is now accomplished in these dayes , for when there hath been but five persons in one family , every one of them of a severall opinion concerning religion . the spirit speaketh expresly , that in the latter times some should depart from the faith , giving heed to sed●cing spirits and doctrines of devils , 1. tim. 4. 1. &c. how many lies are now held and received for truths , so that men dare speake against the scriptures , deny the resurrection of the body ; others teach that men and devills shall be saved ; and that the soule is mortall ; and that there is neither heaven nor hell ; with divers other opinions , that i am ashamed to name some of them which are held for truths ; this know also , that in the last dayes perilous times shall came , for men shall be lovers of their own selves ; covetous , boasters , proud , blasphemers , disobedient to parents , unthankfull , unholy , without naturall affection , truce-breakers , false accusers ▪ incontinent , fierce , despisers of those that are good , traytors , heady , high minded , lovers of pleasures more then lovers of god , having a forme of godlinesse , but denying the power thereof , 2 tim. 3. 1. &c. which things our eyes have seene come to passe , more then ever hath been heard of by any that have been before us , and are like to increase more and more . and thus it must be that the scriptures may be fulfilled ; and if men must have a reason for every thing in religion ; for , saith one , how can the dead body eaten by another creature be raised againe ? to whom i reply , god is said to be without beginning , ( and so he is , else he could not be god ) but what reason can be given , that god never had a beginning , or that god is ever present in all places , and knoweth , and ordereth all things , yet he is so , yet i see not how reason can reach these things , &c. to beleeve the scriptures is a worke of faith , and unlesse the holy spirit of god perswades the truth of them , there will be doubting ; the lord perswade his of the truth of the scriptures , and of their interest in the same . that christ dyed not for the sinnes of every man in the world . some men affirme that christ dyed for all the sinnes of every person in the world , and yet they shall not all be saved : to whom we reply , how can it agree with the wisdome of god , to grant that which he knew would never profit ? as for god to give christ to dye for the salvation of man , and yet decree to condemne him ? and doth not christ lose the end of his death , to dye for their salvation who yet perish ? or is it justice to require the payment of one debt twice ? is there remission of sinnes in christ for every man , but no righteousnesse , no everlasting life for them ? did christ purchase salvation , but not the application of salvation , which is necessary to salvation ? how doth it appeare , christ purchased salvation , or enough for salvation , or is the death of christ of an uncertain event ? is christ appointed to death , to purchase a possibilitie of salvation , but not salvation it selfe , with the application of it , then christ shed his bloud to save man , and yet no man saved by it ; for if it depends upon mans beleeving of it , why may not all of them perish as well as any of them ? and if it be so , if man please , christ shall lose the end of his death : but it clearly appeares , that all those for whose sinnes christ dyed , are justified by his bloud , and shall be saved from wrath through him ; for if when we were enemies , we were reconciled to god by the death of his sonne , much more being reconciled , we shall be saved by his life , rom. 5. 8 , 9 , 10. & b. 3. 4. ( but this subject is handled at large by john spilsbery in his book intituled , gods ordinance ) if the sonne shall make you free , then are you free indeed , joh. 8. else not . but upon second thoughts , they affirme that christ never dyed for the sinne of unbeliefe , and that finall unbeliefe is the unpardonable sin . answ . it cannot truly be denied , but unbeliefe ( is a not beleeving christ ) which sinne is most immediately and directly against christ , which sin is pardonable , with all manner of sin and blasphemy , which christ saith , shall be forgiven unto the sons of men , as appeares mat. 12. 31 , 32. therefore not beleeving in christ , is not the unpardonable sinne also . such as beleeve , have been guiltie of unbeliefe , which is pardoned in them , and if the sin of unbeliefe , which is none of the least sinnes , is pardoned without the bloud of christ to the elect who beleeve , why might not all other sinnes in like manner be so pardoned to them , and then shall not the bloud of jesus christ be shed in vaine , because by their reason their sinnes might have been pardoned without it , as well as their unbeliefe . and seeing without shedding of bloud there is no remission , heb. 9. 22. let them declare how unbeliefe can be remitted : also if the bloud of jesus christ his son , cleanseth us from all sin , then from unbeliefe also , 1 joh. 1. 7. also if finall unbeliefe were the sin against the holy spirit that is unpardonable , then it could not be cōmitted before death , there is a sin unto death , if thou see thy brother sin , &c. but if a man could not commit this sin before he dye , he could not be seen so to sin , 1 joh. 5. 16. which sin is described heb. 10. 29. therefore finall unbeliefe is not this sin here spoken of . to conclude , christ dyed not for the sinnes of all the world ; for christ saith , he layeth downe his life for his sheepe , joh. 10. 15. you beleeve not , for yee are not of my sheepe , vers . 26. yet as many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved , acts 13. 48. see joh. 17. 2. 19. 24. 29. the end of redemption is application , phil. 1. 29. joh. 6. 37. 39. the scripture saith , he tooke upon him the seed of abraham , heb. 2. 16. and how abrahams seed is considered , appears gal. 3. 16. 22. 29. such as are christs , such as beleeve are abrahams seed . and seeing all adams posteritie cannot be considered to be abrahams seed in no sense , therefore there is no ground to cōceive that christ dyed for the sinnes of all the seed of adam , as they affirme . that all men under the gospel , have not sufficient grace given them for conversion . for the word sufficient grace , how can we conceive that grace to be sufficient in power , which is not sufficient in performance of the worke ? for seeing conversion follows not , how is it sufficient to conversion ? is that sufficient to conversion that never attaines it ? is that medicine sufficient to cure such a disease , which being taken doth not cure it ? sufficient and effectuall is all one . and seeing many were never converted , it must of necessitie follow , that sufficient grace was never given unto them ; for if sufficient strength be put to move the earth , motion must needs follow . the reason why they came not to christ , was because the father did not draw them , joh. 6. 44. and inwardly teach them . god must give a heart to perceive , and eyes to see , for miracles cannot doe it , deut. 29. 3 , 4. joh. 12. 37 , 38. the arme of the lord must be revealed . they say it was because they would not beleeve . wee answer , they neither would nor could , the lord saith , they could not beleeve , joh. 12. 39. therefore man cannot finally hinder his conversion ; for whom god will save , no power of man can destroy . man in his first conversion is wholly passive , we cannot worke it in our selves , nor hinder gods working of it , because we are dead in sinnes , ephes . 2. 1. col. 2. 13. ephes . 5. 14. and spiritually blind , rev. 3. 18. eph. 4. 17. & 6. 8. mat. 6. 23. luk. 4. 18. joh. 1. 5. acts 26. 18. 1 cor. 2. 14. our hearts stony and destitute of goodnesse , ezek. 36. 26. & 11. 19. gods worke in converting us is a raising from the dead , eph. 2. 5. col. 2. 12. rev. 20. 6. joh. 5. 21. 25. a restoring the sight to the blind , luk. 4. 18. a new birth , joh. 1. 13. & 3. 3. another creation of him , eph. 2. 10. psal . 51. 12. 2 cor. 5. 17. gal. 5. 15. the giving of a new heart , ezek. 9. 19. so that man cannot prepare himselfe to conversion . god regenerateth man that he may beleeve . the tree must first be good , before it can bring forth good fruit . how can they that are evill speake good things ? mat. 12. 34. it 's an error therefore to thinke that mans conversion to god begins in some act man performes , and not in a worke first wrought in us by god. they alledge , isai . 55. 11. to prove the word and the spirit goeth together . ans . not to make it powerfull in the conversion in all . they reply , act. 7. 51. yee have alwayes resisted , &c. ans . true ; in resisting the outward means , but it cannot be proved that they resisted in the inward work of god upon their hearts . from mat. 25. 29. they affirme , that he that useth nature well , shall have grace . this text is to be understood of the gifts of the ministery in the improvement of them , the increase is in the same kinde , nature and grace are not so . also it 's plaine , grace hath not been bestowed upon such as used nature best , as appeares by the rejection of the sidonians and capernaits , who were better fitted for nature . therefore the well using of nature , is no preparation for the receiving the gospel . and to what end shall god give meanes sufficient to work faith and repentance in such as he hath not appointed to life ? but all that are given unto christ , doe in time come to him , and he brings them to everlasting life , joh. 6. 37 , 39. to you it is given to beleeve , phil. 1. 29. reasons why wee dissent from such as hold free will. 1. because it exempts the creature from being under the power of god , for that which giveth a creature power to doe as he will , when god hath done all he may unto him , that doth make him no instrument subject to gods power ; for they affirme , that god doth not worke in his omnipotency , but leaves it to the free will of the creature . it is one thing to be able to doe a thing by perswasion , and another to doe it by power which i cannot refuse , this latter they deny . 2. it denies gods decree to be infallible , for either god determines in such and such cases , with the circumstances thereof , or not , if not , then he cometh short of the creature herein , for he determineth such things in his matters . 3. if god doth not determine and apply the creature to will and worke that which he worketh in the creature , then the creature is the cause why god willeth this or that , and by consequence is the cause why he willeth this or that , but the creature is not the cause , &c. gods working this or that , must either goe before the will , and so cause it to will , or else it must follow , accomplishing that which mans will willeth , the latter makes god to follow and tend on mans will. also it makes the will of man to have a casuall force in god himselfe , as if god should say , i will work conversion , faith , &c. in such a person if he will. 4. if libertie of will stands in such a power , free for exercising good or evill , then christ had not libertie of will , son he had libertie onely to work that which was good ; nor hath man of himselfe any libertie or power to come to christ ; for , saith christ , none can come to me , except the father draw him , joh. 6. 44. 37. so that they are deceived who make god by his grace to convert us . so that he leaveth it in our power , whether we will be converted or no : but who can resist that which god worketh by his almightie power , eph. 1. 20 : when he putteth forth this his power which raised christ from the dead ? and if this could be resisted , it were not almightie . the apostle saith , that the power did worke in him mightily , col. 1. last , eph. 3. 20. 5. because god in his good pleasure of his will , doth freely and effectually determine of all things whatsoever he willeth , he doth all things according to the counsell of his own will , ephes . 1. 11. all things are in the minde of god before they are in themselves , and what he willeth , he effecteth in his time , and nothing is done , if he willeth it not to be done , psal . 115. 3. & 135. 6. jehovah doth whatsoever he pleaseth . the will of god is the first cause of things ; by thy will they are , rev. 4. 11. he by willing makes the object , jer. 1. 18. he hath mercy on whom he will , rom. 9. 18. and there is no cause to be given of his will ; it 's god that worketh in you to will and to doe , phil. 2. 17. and such as make the will of god to depend upon the creature , as if he beleeves , god wills his salvation , if he beleeves not , he wills his damnation , makes gods will mutable , and to depend upon the act of the creature ; and then it will follow , so often as the will of the creature changeth , so often god changeth , and then god will doe this or that if man will : but whatsoever god willeth in all things he willeth effectually , so that he cannot in no wise be hindered or disappointed ; for if god should will any thing he could not obtaine , there should be imperfection in god , and if he can obtaine it and will not , how then doth he will it ? isai . 46. 10. every decree of god is eternall , 1 cor. 2. 7. acts 15. 18. and remaines alwayes immutable , numb . 23. 23. pro. 19. 21. and as many as were ordained to eternall life beleeved , act. 13. 38. whom he predestinated , them he called , rom. 8. 30. god did from eternitie know every severall thing , with all the circumstances thereof , and knowes how to apply the fittest occasion to every thing , and how to effect all things : he that frames the heart , observeth all their workes , psal . 33. 15. isai . 44. 2. even those things that seeme to happen most freely god determines of according to his will , of the very heart of man , psal . 33. 15. 1 sam. 10. 9. 26. pro. 21. 1. of a man killing another by chance , exodus . of the lot cast into the lap , pro. 16. 33. of sparrowes falling , mat. 10. 29 , 30. of lilies , flowers , and grasse of the earth , mat. 6. 28. 30. yea of all creatures and things , joh 38. psal . 104. isai . 45. 7. jer. 14. 22. that the bones of christ should not be broken . by all which it appeares , the will of god determined the certainty of the event . and if god should not determine of all things , the will of god should not be simply and universally the first cause ; and to deny him to be the first cause , implies that there are two first beginnings , or more then two , which cannot be truth . and for any to say , that man hath power to resist all god can worke for his conversion , is to put grace in mans power , ( and not mans will under the power of grace ) is to say , that man is able to frustrate gods counsell concerning his conversion , and power to resist all that god can worke herein , is to affirme , that man hath power to frustrate gods counsell ; and if it be so , will it not follow that man hath power to make god a lyer ? if god by his omnipotent power inclines the wills of men whither he willeth , then he hath them more in his power then man hath ; then his will decreeing is the cause necessitie followeth , and the will of the creature is not the cause of the necessitie of things . the scriptures declare that god workes all things after the counsell of his will ( not mans will ) and made all things for himselfe , pro. 16. 4. isa . 43. 6 , 7. object . then you take away the libertie of the will , if man have no power to doe otherwise . ans . 1. that which doth ( not having power to doe otherwise ) from second causes , compelling it so to doe in that it is not free : gods will in himselfe is the first cause of all things , and this omnipotent will of god doth determine the creature . 2. men ground the freedome of will falsly , for the freedome of will as it is a faculty voluntary or elective , doth not require this indifferency of the inclination in exercise , for it is bound by gods decree , so as not any thing can be done but what he hath determined , yet nothing can satisfie some , unlesse it be granted , that they have power of will to crosse gods decree . 3. if the cause why god chooseth me ( and not another ) is because i will , &c. then it is not meerly from his will , and then you deny the freedome of gods will. also if a man hath libertie of will to resist gods will and worke , so as god shall not convert him , it will follow that when we are converted , we convert our selves , which is contrary to the scriptures , as , psal . 51. and doe not they give the scriptures the lye , that say the will of an unregenerate man may be free to righteousnesse , will it , and imbrace it when it is proposed : but if a seeing eye were in darknesse , it could not discern any thing , how much lesse shall the blind see ? by nature we are blind , rev. 3. 17 , 18. wee are darknesse , till we be made light in the lord , eph. 5. 8. darknesse cannot comprehend the light , joh. 1. 5. the naturall man cannot receive the things of the spirit , for they are foolishnesse to him , 1 cor. 2. 14. therefore the saints pray to god to reveale to them the knowledge of christ , and to inlighten their eyes by the spirit of wisdome and revelation , eph. 1. 17 , 18 : mans will being wholly inthralled into sinne , as appeares rom. 6. 20. & 8. 6. the carnall mind is enmitie to god , it is not subject to the law of god , nor can be ; how then can it will , desire , and receive grace by nature ? as god commanded pharaob to let israel goe , yet he could not , for god hardened his heart that he could not be willing , joh. 12. 39. with rom. 11. 32. they confesse , that unlesse god give faith , it 's impossible for men to beleeve ; so then the reason men doe not beleeve , is because god doth not give them faith , phil. 1. 29. but to what purpose is it for god to give christ to dye for mens sinnes , seeing as they confesse , they shall have no benefit by him unlesse they beleeve , and that they cannot doe without god , and god doth not give them faith ( if he did , they could not but beleeve ) what great love is this which is shewed to them ? the substance of those famous , or rather infamous opinions of ours , of such as hold free will , and that christ dyed for the sinnes of all adams posteritie , is that god wills the salvation of all men , but he is disappointed of his will. those whom god will save by his antecedent will , he will destroy by his consequent will : that god doth seriously intend the salvation of all persons , yet neverthelesse , he calls men by a meanes , and time , that is , not apt , nor fit , by reason whereof those who are so called , doe not follow gods calling . that faith is partly from grace , and partly from free will ; that god is bound to give all men power to beleeve . they distinguish between the obtaining of salvation , and the application of salvation ; the first , they say , is for all ; the second is onely for them that beleeve , but the application of salvation is neither willed , nor nilled to men . that man may determine and open his own heart , and receive the word of god ; that the reprobate may be saved ; that the number of the elect is not certain ; that the decree of reprobation is not peremptory ; and that a reprobate may convert himselfe ; and that faith is not of-meere grace . they bring in god speaking thus ; i decree to send my sonne to save all who shall beleeve ; but who and how many they shall be , i have not determined , onely i will give to all men sufficient power to beleeve , but he shall beleeve who will himselfe : i will send christ to dye for the sinnes of many , whom i know it shall not be effectuall at all unto , to whom i will never give faith , and notwithstanding christ hath satisfied for all their sinnes , yet they shall suffer my wrath for them for ever . that god did not elect for foreseene faith. vvee grant god knew all that ever was , is , or shall be , but we deny that god did elect to life any for any thing he did foresee in them ; for if god should looke out of himselfe to any thing in the creature , upon which his will may be determined to elect , were against his al sufficiency , as if he should get knowledge from things we doe , implies an imperfection of knowledge , and of will , if he should see some thing in us before he can determine , as if god were in suspence , saying , i will choose this man if he will , i will upon foresight of my condition absolutely choose him . to say , i will elect 〈◊〉 , if they beleeve , is a conditionall election , and if they can doe this without god , then god is not omnipotent ; if they say , he will give them faith to beleeve , then it is all one with an absolute will , as i elect to life , and i will give these faith ; far whom he predestinateth , them he calleth , &c. rom. 8. it seemes god wills our salvation , if we beleeve , that is , he wils the having a thing on a condition , that he will not worke , and then it is impossible , unlesse the creature can doe something that is good , which he will not doe in him , or on a condition , which he will worke , and then he worketh all he willeth , or on such a condition as he seeth the creature cannot performe , nor himselfe will not make him performe ; and this were frivolous . also to say god decreed to send christ to save all , if they will beleeve , i see they neither will nor can , therefore i will condemne them . joh. 12. 39. god hath shut up all in unbeliefe , as , rom. 11. 32. therefore they could not beleeve , because he hath blinded their eyes , and hardened their hearts , that they should not see with their eyes , nor understand with their hearts , and be converted , joh. 12. 39 , 40. concerning infants baptisme . some reasons why we dissent from it . 1. because we finde no command nor example in the word of god , that any infants were baptized , and wee are forbidden to presume above what is written . and if we should admit of any one thing in the worship of god which we finde no warrant for in the word , we should be forced by the same reason to admit of many , yea , any invention of men . 2. because god requires that such as are baptized , should first be made disciples ; beleeve and repent , &c. mat. 28. 19. acts 8. 12 , 13. 36 , 37 , 38. acts 2. 38. 41. mat. 3. 6. mark. 1. 4 , 5. acts 10. 44. 47 , 48. 3. because christ in his testament , which is his last will , the legacies therein contained are given to such as beleeve , and to none else , gal. 3. 6 , 7. 14. 23. 29. rom. 8. 17. & 14. 11 , 12. these are the heires of the kingdome of christ , with the priviledges thereof , jam. 1. 18. 1 pet. 2. 23. joh. 1. 12 , 13. 1 joh. 3. 9. 10. those that beleeve are the seed of the righteous , and of the promise , isai . 43. 5. with rev. 12. 17. gal. 4. 26. 31. 4. because the matter of the church of christ ought to be saints , living stones , as , 1 pet. 2. 5. 9. eph. 2. 19. to 23. & 4. 6. 1 cor. 12. 12 , 13. 25 , 26 , 27. eph. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. joh. 4. 23. act. 20. 28. rev. 17. 14. 5. because god in his word denies fellowship and communion with such as do not beleeve , joh. 3. 5 , 6. 36. heb. 11. 6. rom. 9. 8 , 9. they which are the children of the flesh , these are not the children of god , but the children of the promise are counted for the seed . if yee be christs , then are yee abrahams seed , and heires according to promise , gal. 3. 29. for yee are the children of god by faith in christ jesus , vers . 26. those god owns for his in his word are purchased by his bloud , who are called , chosen , and faithfull , 1 pet. 2. 5. 9. jam. 4. 23. eph. 2. 19. to 23. & 4. 16. rom. 8. 29 , 30. rev. 11. 7. eph. 1. 4 , 5 , 6. 2 thes . 2. 13 , 14. 1 pet. 1. 2. act. 2. 47. & 13. 48. the naturall posteritie of beleevers are not so much as in appearance such . but because this controversie is handled largely in severall treatises , such as desire further satisfaction , may have recourse to them . some affirme , that the children of beleevers in church-fellowship , are to be baptized , which is now practised in new-england , and else-where . there are three doubts to be answered . 1. what if neither of my parents , nor their parents can be proved beleevers ? 2. nor any members of a true visiable church ? 3. if i were baptized with god-fathers & god-mothers , common-prayer-book , crosse , and surplice , and by a minister made by the bishops , all which are now found out to be antichristian , and the manner of baptisme was also by springling water upon my face ; concerning which the scripture is silent : how may i be assured god will own such a baptizing for his ordinance , seeing also themselves confesse , that no man may lawfully baptize but a true minister that hath a lawfull calling ? and although wee conceive men able to preach the gospel may baptize , yet we doe not beleeve god sends such to baptize , whom he hath not informed of the manner how to doe it , which is not by sprinkling water on the face , but by dipping in the river , as , mat. 3. 16. acts 8. 38. that the gift of miracles is not essentiall in him that dispenseth baptisme . that some of those that did baptize , did miracles we grant , and that all that baptized did so , cannot be proved ; john baptized , yet he did no miracle , joh. 10. 41. nor apollo , &c. and seeing that the scriptures doe not declare that the gifts of tongues , or miracles , or laying on of hands , is to be in those that dispense baptisme , we have no word to warrant such a restriction ; men are to administer baptisme by vertue of gifts . 1. then that gift and ministery which god in his word owns , is to be acknowledged sufficient for his ordinance ; but some one or more of those gifts in 1 cor. 12. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. 28 , 29. &c. still continue , as they confesse ; ergo. 2. all the gifts of the spirit are of the same nature , viz. spirituall , though divers in operation , and are of equall authoritie , and so to be esteemed by us , 1 cor. 12. 7 , 8 , 9. 24. 3. as in the naturall body , wee honour and put comelinesse upon those parts which we think least honoured , for our comely parts have no need ; so ought we to doe the same in spirituall gifts , as , 1 cor. 12. 23 , 24. doe they so who tie the administration to one of the gifts of the spirit , and not to another ; and doe not they who seeke to honour one gift , to the dishonour of another , dishonour all the gifts of the spirit ? for as it is in the body , 1 cor. 12. 26. so it is in this case ; and this was the corinths sin , as appeares 1 cor. 12. 4. wee are all baptized by one spirit , 1 cor. 12. 13. he saith not by the gift of miracles , &c. and he that is baptized by any gift of the spirit , is baptized by the same spirit , vers . 28 , 29 , 30. 5. if the administration of baptisme be not annexed to the operation of one gift of the spirit , more then to another of the same spirit , then wee may not so annex them : but to the operation of any one gift of the spirit , baptisme is not annexed : ergo : for proofe , see 1 cor. 12. 7. to 14. 6. if god workes in all the operations of the spirit , then to be baptized by any of the operations of the same spirit , it must be acknowledged to be the baptisme of the same god : but the first is true , 1 cor. 12. 6. ergo , the latter is true also . 7. if the apostles might baptize , because they were apostles , then might they baptize in case they had not the gift of miracles and tongues , &c. for it is one thing to be an apostle , and another to have the gift of tongues or miracles , as appeares 1 cor. 12. 28 , 29 , 30. they were severall gifts , & though they might have the gift of miracles , it 's not because they were apostles ; for they were given according to the good pleasure of his will ; he divides to every man severally as he will , 1 cor. 12. 11. 8. if any affirme baptisme was to be administred by those who had such gifts of miracles , &c. because those gifts were greater in operation , and so the greater gifts : i answer , the gift of faith is greater then the gift of miracles , for a man may perish with the latter . they confesse , some of these gifts still continue , if the rest are not , then these are the greatest now , and so baptisme may be dispensed by him that hath any of them , and if they be ceased , might it not be , because they were idolized above the rest of the same spirit ? 9. it is said , that apollo conferred the gifts of the holy spirit by laying on of hands , because he baptized not untill he had learned the principles of religion , and so understood the ministery of the spirit . i answer , it follows not , because it is one thing to understand the ministery of the spirit , and another to worke miracles , and conferre the gifts of the holy spirit , and speake with tongues , &c. as it is one thing to learne the doctrine of baptisme , and laying on of hands , and the resurrection of the dead , as heb. 6. 2. and another thing to have the gifts , and to conferre them by laying on of hands ; it is one thing to learne and beleeve the resurrection of the dead , and another to raise the dead . 10. they affirme , that those that beleeve in truth , are of the body of which christ is the head , and that they are of the church , and that many now beleeve . whence i also inferre , those who are of the church of christ , they have the power of christ , because christ is theirs , and christ and his power are never separated , mat. 28. 20. ergo , they have the power of christ , as , 1 cor. 3. 21 , 22. therefore they have authoritie to administer the ordinance of christ . they grant , many have right to baptisme by the free gift of god , and the bloud of christ . ans . be it so . i cannot beleeve that god gives his a right to any thing that would doe them no good ; and if the injoying the ordinance be good , how can we thinke that god so orders it , that they cannot come by it ? psal . 34. christ purchased no priviledge for his , which they may be as well without ; is not gods power as great as his love ? and as the communion of saints , baptisme , and the supper , are the priviledges of the saints , given them in love , so god hath appointed a way for them to injoy them , and so to affirme , holds forth as much wisdome and love in god to them ; as to say , god hath given them a right to such priviledges , but hath not afforded them any way , or meanes for them to come by them , that they might injoy them . but this subject is handled at large in john spilsberies booke , intituled , gods ordinance . it is foretold that antichrist shall come with signes and wonders , as , mat. 24. 23 , 24. and 2 thes . 2. 9 , 10. we are not to looke for christ to come in this way , yet it may be said of some , except yee see signes and wonders ( to sense ) yee will not beleeve , joh. 4. 48. observations and experiences . of the attributes of god. they are fountaines of comfort , and rocks of strength to his , and those that eye them , live comfortably upon them . of affections . the affections doe oft perswade the judgement . our affections oft deceive our selves , and others , and goe for spirituall , when they are naturall . in our greatest earnestnesse , wee have most cause to examine our hearts and affections . all the disquietnesse and distempers within us , and by us , is occasioned by the want of bounding and well ordering our affections . our affections of joy and sorrow will exceed their bounds , unlesse they be forced . when the object is spirituall , and the motive is spirituall , the affection is spirituall . if our affections , anger , griefe , joy , &c. doe fit us to pray , they are spirituall , else not . our affections come farre short of that which we thinke we have in our judgements . our affections declare to us what we love . wee have many occasions of doing good , but we often want hearts and affections to improve them . the quicknesse of our affections depends much upon the spirits of our bodies . if our affections were answerable to our apprehensions of god , &c. they would destroy our bodies , because they could not beare it . of actions . that which is the ground , cause , and end of a mans action , in that he lives , whether it be god or selfe ; in those actions that concerne our selves we often exceed in , but such actions as are for god chiefly , we are hardly drawne unto , but easily drawne from . if satan cannot corrupt the action , he will indeavour to corrupt the judgement and affection . many conceive that some of those things god commands , are needlesse , but it is a great error . of afflictions . afflictions are little , light , short , and seasonable , though they oft seeme to be many , great , and long . affliction breeds patience , humbleth and mortifieth selfe , teacheth a saint experience , and sends him the oftener to god. god is alwayes present with his , yet in afflictiō they least see him , by reason they looke so much to the affliction , if oppressed with it , but some see god best in afflictions . god is as sweet and may be as much injoyed in adversitie , &c. as in prosperitie ; not any affliction could trouble a childe of god , if he knew wherefore god did send it . of assurance of the love of god. he that hath assurance of gods love , can trust himselfe with god in any estate and strait . he that hath assurance of the love of god , can part with any thing for god. of christ . christ is sweet in meditation , more sweet in contemplation , most sweet in fruition . union with christ is equall alike to all who have union with him ; and union with christ is the greatest happinesse and honour a beleever can injoy . such as have union with christ , should spare no cost for him , although no cost of ours can procure him . christs servants are for the most part poore , and they appeare to the world very silly and contemptible . of corruption . corruption cannot be reformed . corruption neither will nor can subdue corruption . of counsell . there is much safetie in many counsellors , who are wise and faithfull . such as follow their own counsell , doe often prove burthens to themselves and others . of creatures . the creatures are full of emptinesse . the reason why we are so subject to be drawne away with the creatures , is because we see not the emptinesse of them . we oft love creatures more before we had them , then when we had them , because we expected more from them , then was in them . all things below are fading , part wee must with them , and with life also ere long . so much as the creature takes away in parting , so much our life was in it . he is not troubled at the coming and going of the creatures , when the heart is fixed on god. the love of creatures hinders us in good things , but the wise use of them doe much further us . a childe of god useth many things spiritually , which others use carnally . god often bestows abundance of outward things upon some , not for themselves , ( for they need them not ) but that they might supply the wants of others ; and many of them keepe them for themselves . concupiscence . concupiscence is strong and raging , and hardly tamed , yet it is to be attained with difficultie . comfort . wee oft seeke comfort in creatures , which have no power to comfort ; all my comfort is in christ , if i live , he will provide for me , if i dye , he will receive me . custome . forme and custome are deadly enemies to spiritualnesse . custome without truth , is but an old error . custome so shuts mens eyes , that they cannot see the true visage of things . custome makes hard things easie , and bondage no burden , and addes delusion to blindnesse . the rich observe customes , but the poore pay deare for them , for they are starved by them ; if that which is spent at burials were wisely bestowed upon the poore , it were farre better : and so in other needlesse customes . of conscience . sinning against conscience exceedingly hardens the heart . conscience can see best in darknesse , and speake most lowdly in silence . conscience is a very tender thing , a small thing will trouble it , but a blind conscience will swallow up any thing . the naturall conscience will be satisfied with the outside of a dutie . crosses . crosses are not pleasing to the flesh , but profitable to the spirit . the more crosses a saint hath , the more they doe him good , and is the more like christ . great crosses are good physicke for great stomackes . contentment . earthly contents are present to our sense . no earthly thing can give content . joy in god breeds content . so much as wee deny our selves , so much contentment we have . contemplation . divine contemplation , makes us high in thoughts , and rich in expectation . contemplation of gods free love , and the soules interest in it , doth revive , raise , and inlarge the soule . to contemplate on the things above , is most pleasant of all things to them who have tasted the sweetnesse of them . covetousnesse . such as are not contented with that they have , are covetous . distrust of god causeth covetousnesse , which is the root of all evill . so much as we are discontented with our estates , so much covetousnesse there is in us . covetousnesse doth us and others more hurt then we are aware of . such as thinke themselves least covetous , are most covetous . a child of god knows not how to be revenged upon his selfe for his covetousnesse of the things of this world . contraries . every contrary , the more it is resisted , the more it appeares . deadnesse of spirit . deadnesse of heart is an enemy to action : he that will support diligence , must support chearfulnesse : deadnesse is the grave of many graces . such as come to god unchearfully , oft returne unthankfully . spirituall deadnesse , is a great griefe to a childe of god. delayes . delayes a rise from sloath . the more we delay , the more we may . by deferring wee presume upon that we have not , and neglect that we have . to morrow , to morrow , cozens many a man. death . death hath something to say to every man , and would faine be heard , but men are not at leisure . every man must dye . the day of death is the first day of life . he whose hopes are in heaven , is not much afraid of death . death is to him no misery , whose hope is in eternitie . death when it seemes to dispossesse a saint of all , it possesseth him of all things . such as are spiritually dead , are not aware of it ; they onely mind and savour the things of the flesh . difficulties . difficulties are discouragements ; and handsome excuses are welcome to a sloathfull heart . love will carry on through all difficulties , and to undergoe all manner of torments . dreames . an evill dreame shews some evill that prevailes in the heart . by dreames god may foreshew some sin to come , which we are in danger to fall into , which we are not afraid of . selfe-deniall . they live the sweetest lives that most deny themselves . there are very few that do deny themselves , but many can deny christ , and his truth . selfe may be denyed a little in one kinde , if it may please selfe much in another . distractions . distractions of minde in duties , is either from our minding other things , or resting in our own strength , or from a not serious setting our minds on the thing propounded by us ; for that which the heart is throughly set upon , it is so attentive to it , that it can be present to no other thing at that instant , especially to hinder the thing in hand . the want of a wise ordering and dispatch of businesse causeth a great distraction in men . duties . it is no wonder some doe so much , because they expect heaven for what they doe . such duties as flow not from faith and love , are legall and slavish . many will own and confesse their dutie in the generall , that will wholly deny it in particular , especially when it concernes themselves . a beleever , as he is a beleever , he doth fetch all from god , refer all unto god , and doe all for god. examples . the examples of men is not to be any rule to walke by . mens example is very forcible , when it is universall . the worst examples are most observed . excuses . when we have sinned , satan and our corruptions help us to cover it with excuses ; which is to cover a lesser evill with a greater . it is easie to frame an excuse for any evill . education . good education doth oft cause an outward reformation . evill education is a great provocation to sinne . excesses . men doe too little , or too much : men love extreames ; as many eate too little , or too much ; worke too little , or too much . most men are drowned in adversitie , or drunke with prosperitie . extraordinary . for men not to seeke themselves is extraordinary . to practise the truth against great opposition , to be the more humbled by knowledge , and to goe against custome , is extraordinary . for a man to refuse to joyne house to house when he can , is extraordinary . for the rich to take reproofe willingly and profitably of the poore , is extraordinary . for to part with riches as freely as they were received , is extraordinary . ends in duties . the end rules the meanes , and is above them . a beleever is ever true to his end , but he often failes in the meanes . error . when errors prove profitable , many will imbrace them . ignorance is the foundation of error . it 's common for error to be called truth , and truth to be called error . effects . effects are in order to second causes , not to god , who most certainly , necessarily , and wisely hath willed them ; and nothing falls out accidentally , as referred to him whose wise intention reacheth every thing . favour of men . the favour of men is a vanitie , yet much desired . the favour of men is an uncertaine thing , soone got , and soone lost . men desire the favour of men , god denies it to some , to exercise their faith , weane them from the world , or because we performe not our duties unto them . folly. many never see their folly , untill it be too late . feares . feares make the understanding weake , and the judgement dull . feares hinder the certainty of faith . so much as we feare men , wee forget and sleight god. faith. where god gives faith , he gives trials also to exercise it . faith quiets , comforts , and strengthens the soule . we injoy christ by faith , and not by feeling . when faith is at the greatest , then there is the least feeling . as our faith is , so are we incouraged to obey god. the more faith , the lesse feare . god. gods presence in every place is a great comfort to his . they that live upon god alone , live most comfortably , for there is satisfaction , and no changes , he feares nothing that can befall him , he lives comfortably in all . grace . grace is exceeding strong ( especially faith & love ) to carry a man through all . god will exercise the graces that are in his . the more grace any have , the more need to pray , because satan is most ready to tempt such . griefe . we cannot heartily be grieved for that sin in another , of which wee make not conscience in our selves . it is a griefe to a childe of god , to speake of any good they finde a want of in themselves . if we did not immoderately love outward things , we would not grieve at the losse of them , nor keepe such a doe to get them . of gifts . the greater gifts spirituall or temporall , the prouder the flesh is , and the readier satan is to assault . good. a man may doe good in the strength of a lust . wee oft doe least good to them to whom we owe most . there be many good things will decay if let alone , but evill things let alone will increase . parents thinke they doe their children great good , when they can make them rich and great in the world , they make them the greater sinners ; for then they shall have little else to doe but to waste the creatures , and live in excesse , idlenesse , lust , pride , and oppression . glory . when we thinke wee most seeke the glory of god , we too often most seeke our owne . what a man trusts in , he glories in , and what a man glories in , he trusts in , and is confident of . healing . god sometimes healeth corruption by not healing it . hope . the saints hope is in heaven in god. the naturall mans hope is to get honour , fine cloaths , good cheare , ease , and pleasures . hearts . many mens brains deceive their hearts . what the heart likes best , the minde studies most . habits . in acquired habits the act goeth before the habit , and prepares for it , but in infused habits it is contrary , for as we have first the facultie of seeing before we see , so we have first the infused habit , before we exercise the operation of it . humilitie . one may be humbled , but not humble . when we are content to be admonished of our faults sharply by our inferiors , we have some humilitie . honour . the honour of men , is a very shadow , a vanitie . the more men desire honour , the lesse they deserve , & the lesse they often have . hatred . that sin which a childe of god loved most before conversion , he hates most when he is converted . joy. while we live here , we have joy and griefe mixed : this life , nor our bodies will not admit of perfect joy . outward joyes make a great noyse , but never truly heate and comfort the heart . there is no sound joy in earthly things , they reach not the heart , but the fancy . in temporall things , our joy is greater then the cause ; in spirituall things , the cause is greater then the joy . every heart seekes joy such as it is . spirituall joy opposeth carnall , and carnall opposeth spirituall ; the more we relish heavenly , the lesse we relish earthly . now joy is in the saints , when they are in heaven they shall be in joy . ignorance . ignorance is the cause of prophanenesse , and all evill . devotion with ignorance breeds superstition , and idolatry , and persecution . hope with ignorance causeth presumption . feare with ignorance causeth desperation . impossible things . it is impossible to be conformable to christ , and to the world ; to please god , and the world . of idlenesse . an idle person is fit for nothing , but sinne and temptation . an idle life is much loved and entertained of most men . knowledge . that knowledge that is from god , subjects the soule to god. that knowledge that is onely in the braine , is notionall , and neither subdues sinne nor satan . if we know good things , wee cannot but love and affect them . love. that love which is not constant is false . love is most active , when it is least knowne , and cannot be requited . love and labour goe together , as our longing is to injoy god , so is our love to him ; if wee greatly love the lord , wee greatly long to injoy him ; for as our love is to any thing , so accordingly is our indeavour to injoy it . such love the way of god , who hate all things that are contrary unto it , and practise it when it is most despised . such things as we love , we keepe with care , possesse with joy , and lose with griefe . live. we live in that we mind and love , and are made like the things we love . the most seeke life in the regions of death , where it is not . many in this naturall life have comforts few , crosses frequent , pleasures short , and paines lasting . light. light causeth them that see it to follow it . libertie . we are more prone to desire libertie , then to know how to use it . many of the saints abuse their libertie they have in christ . it is the greatest libertie to injoy god , and to have a free heart to serve him . such as plot and plead for libertie for the flesh , are very carnall . of losses . there is no losse in losing for god. what we lose for god , shall be made up unto us in god. the benefit which follows the losse of outward things , is that they are never troubled with them more . motions . forced motions cannot be perpetuall . minde . when our minds are not fixed , they rove every where , and are no where to purpose . such as mind the things above , savour them , and have interest in them . mirth . when men are most chearfull & merry , they are most free and bountifull . naturall mirth ends in sadnesse and sorrow . in naturall mirth , when wee are most merry , we are neerest to danger . the mirth of the wicked is vanitie and madnesse . mercies . many possesse many mercies , and yet want the comfort of them . wee injoy more mercies then we are aware of . occasions . the more secret and colourable any occasion of evill is , the more men are indangered by it . obedience . our obedience to god is most direct , when there is nothing else to sweeten the action . of peace . men cannot give peace : untill the lord speake peace to the soule , there is no peace . where there is no peace , there may be quietnesse or silence . gods people are a peaceable people . passion . the causes of anger and passion , are ignorance and pride . promises . the wicked desire promises for peace , and not for strength against sinne . the promises make the people of god not carelesse , but more fruitfull and serviceable . there were never any ashamed that rested onely upon god in his promise . one promise from a man will please some men more then ten from god. of prayer . there is no dutie in religion that is so much counterfeited as the duty of prayer is . verball prayer causeth great deadnesse . some pray when they should sleepe , and sleepe in prayer , and pray when they should work , but wisdome divides to each its proper time and season . of povertie . the heires of the earth are oft pinched with povertie , and saints who are kings lie in prison . it is better to be poore and weaned from the world , then rich and covetous . men are much afraid of povertie , yet it never did any hurt . pride . the proudest men are the weakest , and most troubled with discontent . principles . when that which is taken for a principle of truth , is a principle of error , the more it is relied on , the worse it is . pleasure . such as have their eyes open , see outward pleasures to be very meane things . sin is desired for the pleasure of it , but there is in sinne more griefe and misery then pleasure . the more carnall a heart is , the more it affects naturall pleasures . sinfull pleasure ends in sorrow . quietnesse . when quietnesse is in the heart , there is not much disquietnesse in the tongue . he can easily be at peace with men , who knows he is at peace with god. reports . such as cannot with patience beare ill reports , cannot live a comfortable life . such as are much joyed at good reports , will be much grieved at ill . oft times the best suffer , ( the worst reports , ) because they will be no worse . there is not a good man that can escape evill and false reports from the wicked . riches . riches are uncertaine , wee must leave them , they insnare many , but there are but few that are drawne the nearer to god by them . the greedinesse of riches are more sharpened by the having of them , then by their wants . riches are the destruction of many . commonly the richest men doe the least good to others . riches make many afraid to confesse christ and his truth , &c. religion . it is impossible for every man to be of one religion and judgement , because their lights and ends differ . where religion is in truth , it is in power , and enableth a man to practise it . a forme of religion onely with riches is imbraced , rather then the power of religion with povertie . most men love that religion best , which best suits with their lusts , as , honour , pleasure , eas● , and their bellies . a little religion goes a great way in rich persons . reproofe for sin . those that complaine , because they are reproved for sinning , shew their folly . poore persons have a priviledge above the rich , in that they are reproved . such as are wise count reproofe a priviledge . sinne. many sinne by omission and commission at one and the same time , and yet know of neither . some sinnes of omission may exceed some of commission . the beginning of sinne is oft by the devils concupiscence suggesting evill thoughts , evill thoughts cause delight , delight consent , consent ingendreth action , action causeth custome , and custome causeth necessitie : custome winneth strength by time , and is more fierce then nature ; one sinne draweth on another ; grant a little , and a great deale will follow . the more there is of the will in the acting of sin , the greater the sinne is . the more deliberation and the weaker temptation any hath , and yet sinneth , the greater the sinne is . according as mens sight of sinne is , so they hate it , and them selves for it . the lesse sensiblenesse of sinne there is after sinne is committed , the greater is the hardnesse of heart . ignorance and unbeliefe , and want of consideration and meditation , and not shunning the occasion of sinne , causeth much sinne . such as the more they fall into sinne , the more they hate it , and are grieved for it , and the more they goe to god against it with faith , they shall conquer it . satan . it is the great designe of satan to draw the saints from god , his truth and people , and that we neglect the meanes , or wholly relie upon them ; in good things he severeth the meanes from the end , in evill hee separateth the end from the meanes . sorrow . it is the nature of sorrow to bring the soule downe . senses . our senses every day decay by little and little , though we take not notice of it . truth . jesus christ is the truth , and his word is truth . no man can teach himselfe or another the mystery of truth . whatsoever is without , or against the word , is not truth . that which the most men doe is not truth . the authoritie of men is not alwayes for the truth . that which carrieth the greatest shew of humilitie is not truth . neither the learned , nor the unlearned , can know the truth , untill god shall please to teach it them . mans reason cannot dive so deepe as the truth lyeth . he that is naturally wise , is least capable of divine things . the greatest enemy that truth hath , is concealement , for the more manifest truth is , the more gloriously it appeares . if truth may have libertie to goe abroad , it will quickly suppresse errors . thirst . spirituall thirst is as strong as naturall thirst , yea , stronger . time. time is not valued to its worth . time past cannot be recalled againe . time ill spent turnes to great losse , and ends in deepe sorrow . temptations . temptation tri●th mens strength ; he is strong that stands in strong temptations . when temptation is absent , a foole is wise , and the froward patient . those temptations are most dangerous which suits best with holy ends . strong and lasting temptations , are to shew us our selves , and humble us . an over-much fearing a temptation and a weak purpose to resist it , weakeneth us , and incourageth satan to tempt . when we are tempted , it is best presently to fall to prayer , and not to stand reasoning with the temptation . trials . they who are least exercised with trials , have the least wisedome and experience . trouble . there is nothing but trouble under the sunne . the lesse trouble men expect , the more they oft meet withall . a troubled soule cannot doe good , nor receive good . a soule cast downe by selfe , or satan , rests not in god , but in trouble . selfe cannot stay , nor checke it selfe , much lesse recover it selfe out of sinfull trouble . vsury . to pay use when the profit is uncertaine , is a meanes to fill men with troubles , cares , distrust , if not with oppression . want. it is a sin and a dishonour to a childe of god , to say or thinke he shall want , or to say , what shall i doe ? a childe of god never wants , though he may thinke he wants ; for he is possessed of all things . if hands , estate , or friends faile , god will send supply some other way . he that suffers want contentedly , is a strong man. of weeping . excesse in weeping , is against nature , reason , and religion . many make a god of other teares . world. such as are full of the things of this world , are emptie enough of spirituall things . according as the world is sweet unto us , the things of god are bitter to us . the world is a deadly enemy to spiritualnesse . he that is full of worldly businesse , needs no other troubles . will. many prefer their wills before their lives ; for when they are crossed , they wish for death . when we want a will to do any thing , we pretend want of power , and say , i cannot . to will is naturall , but to will well , to will spiritually , is supernaturall . those vertues that grace the will , as , love , grace , mercy , justice , are more glorious then ●hose that grace the understanding , as power and wisdome , &c. weaknesse . the wisest saint is most sensible of his own weaknesse . weaknesse with watchfulnesse will stand , when great strength with selfe-confidence faileth . watchfulnesse . spirituall watchfulnesse is a speciall grace of god , a chiefe part of godlinesse , a speciall helpe to holinesse , and a great priviledge of a saint . because the saints watch no more , they fall so much . there is no good order in their lives , who watch not . a wonder . naturall men wonder at worldly and sensuall things . it is no wonder for a naturall man to seeke himselfe in all things . zeale . every man is zealous , either for god or himselfe . these few experiences , i present unto thee for a taste , though many more might be added , which i leave thee to finde out by experience ; also considering there are many sweet experiences recorded in the scriptures , especially in the proverbs and ecclesiastes , and also in other places in the bible , to which i referre thee . grave counsels . concerning actions . let all your actions have a good foundation , a word of god to warrant them , else they are evill : to do things not required by god , is the error of the wicked , 2 pet. 3. 17. god will say , who required this at your hands ? as , isa . 1. 12. consider deut. 12. 32. ephes . 4. 14. first looke that what yee doe be lawfull , next consider that it be expedient , the circumstances of time , place , persons , must be wisely considered : to a good action is required that all the circumstances be good also : next , looke to your ends , why yee doe what yee doe , for the end and scope of an action conduceth to the being of it : if two duties come together , doe the chiefest first , unlesse workes of mercy and necessitie hinder , and looke to doe every dutie required of thee ; to doe one , and neglect another , is uncomely ; give each dutie its due respect ; and looke with what affections yee doe what yee doe : serve the lord with the best , and serve him fully for measure and degree ; he that doth these things , his conversation is beautifull and savoury . concerning the judgement and affections . ever suspect your judgement and affections when the cause concernes your selves . often call your affections to account . when your affections exceed their bounds , aske thy soule the reason of it . let not your judgement be taken captive by your affections . make not your affections knowne in company as little as may be , unlesse the cause be extraordinary . concerning afflictions . sleight not affliction , nor let it over-presse thee , it 's appointed , 1 thes . 3. 3. rom. 8. 29. there is a fruit of the least crosse , looke more at the fruit then deliverance from the crosse , the longer it continues , the more thou maist get by it . labour to know the cause of every affliction . all that are the lords , are to stay themselves in the love of god , and attend upon him for the time , manner and measure of their deliverance . bondage . esteeme that bondage that causeth thee to sin , or keeps thee from god. conscience . conscience is a very tender thing , and must be tenderly used . prize and preserve a tender conscience , and hearken to the noyse of it . take heed yee wound not your consciences to please your affections . creatures . use the creatures so as thou beest not unfitted by them to serve god and man. god gave not the creatures to hurt us . companion . in the choice of a companion consider what soundnesse of judgement there is , what knowledge and sensiblenesse of their own inward corruption , and whether they speak of others infirmities with compassion ; never trust him who will conceale any sinne he seeth in thee . crosses . be not offended at crosses , they may doe thee much good , and let out sinfull selfe . concupiscence . to avoyd concupiscence be temperate in all things , dyet , sleepe , apparell , recreation , &c. and feare thy selfe , watch thy senses , and avoyd the occasion of it , as , persons , times , places , be frequent in fasting and prayer , and looke up to god for strength against it . desires . we had need to use meanes to moderate our desires to things below . we should rather endeavour to make our desires equall to our estates , then to make our estates equall to our desires . excuses . be afraid to cover over any evill with an excuse . of errors . if you would be kept from errors , pray to god , search the scriptures , and be well grounded in the principles of truth . of others falls . let the consideration of the many great falls the saints have had , cause thee to feare thy selfe . a friend . esteeme him thy friend that would hinder thee in sinne . griefe . discover not thy griefes to many , and choose such as are able and willing to helpe thee . the lord is loving and pitifull , able and willing to help ; it 's best to complain to him . of good . to doe good , we live therefore , thinke not much of doing a little good , though it be with great trouble . esteeme not that to be the chiefest good , that may be taken from thee . concerning thy estate . judge not thy estate by thy knowledge , affections , and actions , but by the principle . men. be sure yee try men well , and have good experience of their faithfulnesse , before yee trust them with much . reproofes . receive reproofes willingly and profitably . reproaches . sleight not reproaches , he that is not guiltie , may be guiltie in part , or hath been , or is in another kind , &c. so it 's but a mistake , thou maist be guiltie in the same kind , it may be sent to humble thee , and give thee warning of the same sinne . of successe . judge not of the goodnesse of thy action by the successe , but judge thy successe by the goodnesse of the action , &c. of sinne . judge not sin alwayes by the matter or act of it , but by the rule and greatnesse of the authoritie of the commander that forbids it , and bring in all the circumstances and aggravations of it . of speech . when thou speakest of thy selfe , speak modestly , without vanitie and boasting . time. redeeme the present time to do good , depend not upon the time to come , which is uncertain , and not at thy disposing . counsell to the unmarried . 1. thinke not of marrying , untill yee have first sought god by earnest prayer , for strength and contentednesse to live a single life . 2. use such meanes as may best enable and fit thee for a single life : observe a wary and temperate dyet , company , fasting , and prayer , meditation on god , &c. diligence in thy calling : it may please god by these , and the like meanes , thou maist attaine the gift of chastitie . 3. be informed of the conveniences and inconveniences of a married life : consider whether you be able and willing to drinke of the bitter cup of discontents , which the married oft drinke of : what cares and burdens attend that state . if upon the use of meanes for some space you finde god inclines your heart to marry , feare nothing , but cast thy care upon god , and be as wise as thou canst , and venture upon a wife or husband . 1. pray to god to give thee a wife , ( or husband ) that may be a meet helpe for thee ; a vertuous wife is called a gift of god , the crowne of her husband ; crownes are precious and honourable ; happie is he that hath such a crowne ; her price is farre above rubies , pro. 31. 10. no jewell is to be compared unto her ; shee is worth the asking . 2. doe nothing rashly , snatch not up the first that comes to hand , prove shee well or ill ; shee may please well for a moment , and be a thorne in thy side for ever after . 3. if thou beest the lords , marry in the lord , love such as the lord loveth : that which is desireable in a man is his goodnesse , pro. 19. 22. so in a woman : men seeke wealth and beautie , though they have no religion , but these things cannot supply the want of religion : great portions , and great stomacks , high spirits , costly fashions , and great expences oft goe together ; externall things will quickly blast , and the most resolved loves vanish quickly , when the fuell of love faileth . 4. choose one that i● sutable to thee ; first , sutable in religion ; how can there be amitie and love , where divers religions are , seeing no opposition is so strong as that which is for religion ? consider deut. 22. 11. job 1. 8 , 9. 2 cor. 6. 15. apply it . secondly , sutable for age , some mary as old againe , others as young againe , &c. but unsutable matches are dishonourable . thirdly , sutablenesse in dispositions are to be looked to , lest yee smart for it ; because yee are not made of brasse but of flesh , a few odious qualities will in time weare off much doating delight . fourthly , sutable in respect of condition of life , and abilitie of body , to labour and fare as thy abilitie requires , such wives as must fare and weare that which is costly , and so weake not able to labour , are fit for such as can beare it , in respect of their estates and minds . 5. take heed of wronging your selfe , or any others ; take heed what yee promise , if yee give your promise , then your libertie is gone , and another is added to you , it may be to your perpetuall griefe , and make as much conscience , not onely of keeping your promises with others , but take heed lest yee expresse your selfe in such a way as shall justly cause it to be interpreted love in that kinde . a man may make a profession of love , and yet so expresse himselfe as he shall not be ingaged by promise , ( when by his practise he is ) and so at pleasure depart , to the great wrong and hazard of the other partie , without giving any sufficient reason of it ; the wrongs in this kinde are fit to be severely punished by the magistrate for an example to others . 6. marry with parents consent , deut. 7. 3. 1 cor. 6. 36. unlesse they extend their authoritie to the hurt of soule and body : in some cases the want of parents consent hinders not , as in case the partie hath been married before , or numb . 30. 4. or exod. 22. 16. mutuall counsell to husbands and wives . 1. have you both a high esteeme of mariage , if you prize not mariage , who shall ? you should preserve the honour & comfort of mariage , and say , what is equall to mariage for the being and well-being of life , it 's the prop of mutuall content , the ayd of nature , the perfection of health , wealth , beauty , honour , experience , no condition is sweet where mariage supplies it not , it 's the preservation of chastitie , the pillar of the world , and of the church , the glory of peace , and the life of the dead ; nothing is so precious in worldly respects as that for which the husband loveth and desireth the wife , and shee him ; no union so strong as this , no joy in any outward union so contentfull as this , &c. 2. nourish love , and abhorre all occasions to the contrary , strive who shall love each other with the most cordiall affection ; love is given to both , to make the miseries of mariage tolerable , therefore live and love , and cease not to love , till yee cease to live : have a care yee lose not your first love : and so demeane your selves , as may best draw forth each others heart in all love and amitie , and ever be ready to expresse love and sympathy , avoyding a peevish carriage , which provokes to wearinesse , impatience , and discontent . 3. beare with each others infirmities , fret not , cavill not at them , cover them with tendernesse : if you have a bad bargaine , make the best of it you can , now it is too late to complaine ; impart not your discontents to strangers , aske no counsell of them but with a free consent of both , when necessitie requires it . observe it , such as complaine to others , they shew their clamorous and turbulent spirits , and want of wisdome and love ; if thy husbands or wives vertues be but small , make them great by contemplation , and put upon them the great value of their worth : an eying each others infirmities , deads and kils the affection of love . 4. observe each others tempers to prevent discontents , and preserve your first love . 5. if there fall out a difference between you , be both freely willing the word of god may decide it , and to submit unto it , feare breaches , and know a small sparke of difference may increase a great flame , if not timely prevented . 6. be both chaste , and love each others company , and be faithfull each to other ; let one purse , one bed , one house , serve them that are but one . 7. be industrious and provident , that neither of you may want . 8. hinder not each other in serving of god. 9. tender each others good name . 10. find as little fault one with another as possibly you can , and then expresse them not in anger , but in love , and when yee be both alone . counsell to the wife . 1. love your own husbands , and expresse your love in a reverend , amiable and modest manner , in thy husband thou maist behold authoritie , government , forecast , soveraigntie ; from man thou first receivedst thy being , from thy husband thou enjoyest countenance , protection , direction , honour , love , &c. 2. honour your husband inwardly in your heart , and outwardly in your actions , esteeme him as he is your superior and head , and yeeld to him , let your will be subject to his , you must have no will but his , if he speake the word , you must not contest , but in humilitie yeeld , if he be angry , be yee silent , set before you what the carriage of the church ought to be to christ , to be a patterne for you , and know where love is , duties are frequent , and acted with ease and delight . 3. obey thy husband ; obedience is a hard word , many a proud stout stomack neither will nor can yeeld their neckes to the collar of subjection in every thing ; the lord knew how it would come to passe , that both husband and wife would both have their wills , though each were quite contrary to the other , therefore god thought fit to order it as he would have it , that the wife should yeeld to her husband , and be obedient to him in every ●hing ; wives submit your selves unto your own husbands , as unto the lord ; for the husband is the head of the wife , even as christ is the head of his church , &c. therefore as the church is subject unto christ , so let the wives be unto their own husbands in every thing , ephes . 5. 22 , 23 , 24. therefore know , o woman , whosoever thou art , rich or poore , that god hath commanded you to be subject to your husband , and if you doe it not , god will call you to an account for it one day , though it may be , your husband be contented to let it passe , in the feare of god consider it , and tremble at the thought of living in the breach of so plaine and cleare a command ; consider christ is the author of salvation to all that obey him , heb. 5. 9. and no more ; therefore goe to god for humilitie and selfe-deniall , to stoop to thy husbands command ( if it be lawfull ) 1. because god hath commanded it , & though mariage be an equall state , yet the carriage of both is not to be the same , therefore let thy love to thy husband be with a loyall sweet subjection , without slavery , and thy obedience shall be a blessing to thee , and an increase of thy inward peace and joy ; also thou shalt avoid many quarrels , envie , and discontents , which others indure , also by thy obedience thou shalt honour god , and be a good patterne to others to doe so also . counsell to the husband . 1. consider the command of god is upon you , that yee love your own wives , and be not bitter unto them , let love descend , first from thee , shee is a deserving object of love , shee hath forsaken all for thee , and perhaps is shiftlesse without thee , great are her burdens and paines in conception , and bearing children , &c. let thy love to her be full and free , love her in some sense better then thy selfe , and let thy love be conveyed to her with royaltie without tyranny : husbands love your wives , even as christ also loved his church , and gave himselfe for it , so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies ; he that loveth his wife , loveth himselfe , ephes . 5. 25. 28. for no man ever yet hated his own flesh : they two are one flesh , 29. 31. 2. let her share with thee in the benefit of thy ( graces , gifts , ) estate , if thou hast plenty , let her have plenty also , shee shall be sure to share with thee in the ill , in povertie , sicknesse , disgrace , and other miseries , oh therefore let her share in thy plenty also ; let her have for delight as well as thy selfe , make her cause thy own , and doe so as thou wouldst be done unto , and give it her freely without asking . some men have much , and spend much upon their pleasures , but allow their wives just nothing ; such give their wives ground enough to question their loves to them , because love is bountifull where there is plenty ; why should not part of that which is yours be hers , for her necessitie and comfort ? 3. ease thy wife as much as thou canst , though shee be bound to obey thy command , yet it 's like you need not command so many things , or not so frequently , and so the burden of subjection may be much lighter to her ; if shee be willing to obey , spare her ; if unwilling , forbeare her , that shee may sinne lesse . say not , that thou wilt make her , be not too confident of thy strength to mould thy wife into subjection , as wise and strong as thou art , could not doe it , ( onely god can make a stout stomack to yeeld to a weake and wilfull governour ) victory is not alwayes to the strong , eccl. 9. 11. it 's ill grapling with a head-strong woman , shee may be weake in body , but strong in mischiefe ; the tongue is an unruly member , no man can tame ; be not so mad as to strike thy crowne , nor cast it in the dirt ; if shee answers not thy desires , informe her of her dutie from the scriptures , and pray to god to set it home upon her conscience ; if god be not regarded , who shall ? 4. honour thy wife , right her wrongs , suffer none to sleight nor abuse her in no kinde , &c. follow christs carriage to his church , which is most loving , meeke , and sweet . 5. provide all things needfull for her , that shee may live comfortably with thee ; and whether shee be good or bad , you ought to doe what you can to provide meanes , that shee may live comfortably after you in this world . 6. dwell with her , deprive her not of the benefit of thy presence , by long journeys , &c. unlesse absolute necessitie inforce it , and rather erre with over-loving thy wife , then otherwise . thus i have thought fit to mention some few things , which so much concerne the comfort of a married life . this may be of use to some of those into whose hands it may come , though this is more largely handled in severall treatises . the remedy of feares . some few observations from isai . 41. 10. feare not , for i am with thee , be not dismayd , for i am thy god , i will strengthen thee , yea i will helpe thee , yea i will uphold thee , &c. obs . 1. some things are terrible to a saint , which he is subject to feare . 2. it is the will of god , that his people be not troubled , but to live a sweet and quiet life , in , and upon god. 3. god is alwayes present with his , to keepe them from evill , and doe them good , though they know it not , or consider it not . 4. feares arise in not beholding the presence of god. 5. the consideration of the presence of god , a remedy against feares . 6. i am thy god ; when a childe of god is at the worst , still god is his god. 7. the knowledge of an interest in god , is enough to raise a soule out of all its feares . 8. i will strengthen thee ; god is ingaged by promise to helpe and strengthen his . 9. the saints should minde gods promise , and live upon it . 10. the promise of god is enough to quiet and settle a soule from feares . 11. the weakest saint with god shall prevaile . 12. strengthen thee ; there is strength enough in god. 13. the saints strength is god. 14. it 's in vaine for men to oppose the saints , for god is with them to helpe them . 15. i will help thee ; the saints in themselves are weake , and cannot helpe themselves . 16. there is no helpe but in god ; creatures cannot helpe , they are vanitie . 17. so much as the soule rests upon the promise of god for helpe , so much its freed from feares in the greatest appearance of dangers . 18. vphold thee ; the trialls of the saints are above their strength , they cannot stand without god , god upholds his . 19. strengthen , helpe , uphold ; god applies himselfe sutable , and in particular , to the wants of his people . 20. when god will preserve a man , it is not any thing that can hurt him . from all which wee may observe . obs . 1. that the ground of feares are ignorance , as , psal . 62. 11. forgetfulnesse , isa . 12. 13. and living by sense , & not by faith . obs . 2. that it is unreasonable , and sinfull for a childe of god , to feare men , or be dismayed at any thing . reas . 1. because it 's against gods command , which saith , feare not , &c. 2. they have the presence of god to keepe them . 3. they have an interest in god , which is a happinesse beyond all miseries . 4. because nothing can befall them , but what god appoints , who loves them infinitely . 5. because whatsoever befalls them , shall doe them good , rom. 8. 6. the bitternesse shall be but short , rom. 16. 7. feares never doe any good , but hurt ; they dishonour god , his truth , and people , and oft cause an omission of dutie . 8. feare is unsutable for a saint , rev. 21. lastly , feares are unreasonable for a childe of god , because god hath given unto them many great , sweet , and precious promises , that they shall not want no good thing , psal . 34. for he hath said , i will never leave thee , nor forsake thee , heb. 13. 5. therefore they are well enough , they need not care , nor feare , but in god alwayes rejoyce , and sing praises to him . now unto him that is able to doe for us abundantly , above that we are able to aske or thinke , be praise and glory in all the churches of the saints to all ages , amen . a table of some of the principall things contained in this treatise . a. vvhat it is to feed upon ashes , 2 , 3. 5. assurance & faith differs , 82 , 83. all that have faith have not assurance , 82 , &c. b. christ is the true bread , 3. 5 , 6. men beleeve before they know it , 61. men are in christ before they beleeve , 46 , 47. what all men are to beleeve , 48 , 49. such as desire to beleeve , have faith , 53. 101. a beleevers comfort , hope , joy , should be alwayes the same , 97 , 116. the state of a beleever in christ , is a state of perfection , 13. 113. 149. such as see a beauty in christ , loath themselves , 23. 41. mans beleeving procures no pardon of sinne , 46 , &c. c. christ is enough , 132. and minde him , 112. 113. 79. 131. christ proclaimes peace to his , 106 , 107. christ and a beleever are one , 12. christs holiness is the saints happiness , 121. christs bloud saves his , 12. 145 , 147. christ is the way to life , 13. 36 , 37 , 38. christ highly esteemes of his , 136 , 137 , 142. christ being made sin for me , is better for me then if i had never sinned , 15 , 16 , 161. christ dyed not for the sinnes of adams posteritie , 7 , 8. comfort to all that are in christ ▪ 12. 65. 132 vnlesse christ had dyed , man had not been saved , 7. the saints are to live onely upon christ , 79. the saints comfort is in christ , 79. who live upon christ , 15. 38 , 39. 79. 80. such as are christs should serve him , 153. the covenant of grace is not made with man but with christ , 26. the covenant of grace is unconditionall on mans part , 46 , 47. there is not any thing required of man to doe to make him partaker of the covenant of grace , 46. the consolatiōs of god are to be prized , 121. the comfort of the saints is not to depend upon their personall sanctification , and why ? 114 , 115. the confidence of a beleever should be ever the same , and why , 113 , 114. 121 , 122. all our cares are to be cast upon god , trusting him in all estates , and why , 129 , 130. corruption may be strong in a saint , and why , 96 , 97. 159 , 160. a man may be confident of his salvation , and yet be deluded , and why , 14 , 15. 67. grave counsels , 363. to the unmarried , 369. to the married , 372. 375. 378. d. causes of doubting , 65. 105. the fears and discouragements in many are groundlesse . 3. and from the devill , 106. it is an infirmitie to give way to any discouragement , 108. 79. we are to looke to christ , and not at discouragements , 52. 113. there hath been discouragements in many of the lords , 87 , 88 , 89. grounds of discouragements and feares , 16 no man is to despaire , 158. the time of doubting is a barren time , 71. no man can deliver his soule , & why , 12 , 13. there is death in our best duties , 41. it is not any thing man can do that can make him to be loved of god , 24 , 25 , 97. the saints daily duty and desire , 199 , &c. causes of unwillingnesse to duties , 77. e. election not for foreseene faith , 320. 148. it is impossible for the elect to perish , and why , 140 , 141. we should be content with our present estate , 130 , 131. 127. treasure up experience of gods goodnes , 119. severall experiences , 331. f. there be divers kinds of faith , 55. faith what , 56 , 57 , 58. 61. many are mistaken in faith , 55. faith is not to be placed in enjoyments , 80. faith looks not at sight nor feeling , 80. 124. faith is so small and weak in many , that they cannot discerne it , 47. 83 , 84. 86. when faith is wrought by god in the soul , 45 faith is where spirituall desires are , 75. 53. we should ever live by faith , 79. 123. faith quiets and settles the foule , 103. 122. faith evidenceth to us our justification , 115 the word and promise of god , is the onely ground of faith , 15. 123. the act of faith is a worke , 145. faith is no condition of the covenant of grace , 46 , 47. we should not yeeld to feares , 51. 102. we should not feare want , & why , 165. 227 what it is to be fatherlesse , 63. a remedy against feares , 381. wherein the life of faith consists , 143. the saints are to live by faith in justification , 154. in sanctification , 154. in infirmities , 156 , &c. for graces , 167. in use of meanes , 175. for protection and supply of all wants , 148. in adversitie , 188. in the life past , 189. for glorification , 193. and to dye by faith , 197. g. god is ready to forgive , 25 , 26. god is unchangeable , 80. 95. 97. god oft hides himselfe from his , 94. god was found of them that sought him not , 34. god is not an enemy to his , though they greatly sin against him , 26 , 27. 97. 146. gods free grace is to be admired , 127. god gives christ to enemies , 50 , 51. god never fayles his , 78. god draweth the soule to christ , 41. the manner of gods drawing men to christ , 42 , &c. gods children are in various conditions , 127. of the growth of the saints , 70 , 71 , 72. h. heart , what , where it is seated , 53 , 54. what it is to give god the heart , 54 , 55. there is hardnesse of heart in a child of god , 100. the heart of man is not to be hearkened unto , and why , 7. we should watch our hearts , 202. why men follow the counsell of their owne hearts , 10 , 11. incouragements to hope , 20 , 21. the happinesse of beleevers depends not upon their doings , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39. 46. of hearing the word , 259. i. how men are made just before god , 10. 121. no effect of sanctification can evidence justification , and why , 115 , 116. it is one thing to be justified , and another to be sanctified , 114 , 115. who are fit to judge of mens estates , 111 , 128 many mens apprehension of justification , is not from god , and why , 116. 162 , 163. what an infirmitie is , 155 , 156. when men live by faith in infirmities , 163. k. it is one thing to know , & another to know that we know , 94. 61. l. what it is to be lost , 123. god loves us before we love him , 49. the love of god being discovered , scatters all discouragements and feares , 5. we are not to answer gods love by our mortification of sinne , 78. god loves freely , 110. 23. false lives men live , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 124. m. fallen man cannot helpe himselfe , 6. 12 , 13 , the mercy of god is infinite , 25. see 33. 51. such as have received mercy from god , should be mercifull to others , 130. that which moves god to shew mercy , is in and from himselfe , 24 , 25. meanes to settle a soule in assurance of the love of god , 105 , &c. meanes alone are not able to settle a soule , 66 of meditation , 268. 122. that miracles are not essentiall to the administrator of baptisme , 325. o. the saints are not their own but christs , 138 obedience is the saints duty , 38 , 116. 130 p. pray to god , 127 , 128. of prayer , 290. we should minde sutable promises , 118. 65. presumption what , 66. peace none can give but god , 109. god is the portion of his people , 139. the saints should rejoyce in their portion , 131. god will pardon a lost sinner , 3. 26. the poverty of saints , 91 , 92. q. mens qualifications are worth nothing , 34. the quiet soul is fittest to receive comfort , 119 r. mans righteousnesse is not onely imperfect , but also filthinesse , 11. such as prize their owne righteousnesse , know not christs , 121. 35. 37. such as prize their own righteousnesse , are in a sad condition , 37 , 38. that righteousnesse which justifieth us is not in us , 11 , 121. christs righteousness is the saints comfort , 39. 22. christs righteousness is perfect , 10 christs righteousness is sufficient to satisfie us at all times , 98. 122 , 123. 26. the meanest saint is as righteous as the best , 14. 139. the saints are to rejoyce in god , 97. 107. regeneration , wherein it consists , 72. concerning reading the scriptures , 177. carnall reason to be abhorred , & why , 125. s. christ saves none but the ungodly , 23. sin should humble the saints , 155. 159. 14. sin drives the soule from god , 5. 62. the greatnesse of sin ought not to hinder any in beleeving , 39. 104. 18 , 19. 21. 112. what the unpardonable sin is , 27. of sensiblenesse of sin , 62 , 63. to be convinced of sin , what , 40 , 41. 43. why sin is left in the saints , 159 , 160. the sins of a beleever are laid upon christ , & now they are christs , & not their own , 113. no man ought to allow himself in any sin , 117 it's possible for a childe of god to fall into a great sin , 95 , 96 , 24. considerations against sin , 233. &c. the saints have made the greatnesse of sin an incouragement to hope , 22. why god leaves sin in his , 78 , 79. whether the combate in men be from the spirit or no , 84 , 85. the sins of the elect are forgiven them before they know it , 31 , 32. satan is not to be hearkened unto , 9 , 10 , 29. what it is to live by sense , 124 , 125. why men seeke to save themselves , 11 , 12. such as god saves , he causeth to understand the way of salvation , 5 , 6 , 7. the satisfactiō of christ satisfieth the soule , 7 the holy scriptures are the word of god , 298 sufficient grace is not given to all , 307. t. terrors should not hinder faith , 80 , 81. 87. temptations against beleeving , should incourage us in beleeving , 123. 86. how a soule tempted may answer satan , 73. weake beleevers are not to apply the threatnings to themselves , 111. how to prevent trouble , 120. v. causes of unbeliefe , 105 , 124. lying vanities are to be renounced , 124. we should put a difference between christs voyce , and other voyces , 108 , 109. 329. &c. and between the voyce of the gospel , and the voyce of the law , 110. we should know christs voyce , and hearken unto it , 108 , 109. w. to waite upon god , what , 32. 44. 95. good works justifie us before men , 151. deliverance is before our working , 35. 71. of the freedome of the will , &c. 3. 10. 318. a song of the love of god to such as are in christ . the love of god hath been to me full great , in leaving me in such a state to be ; and then to set me free from this estate , he gave his onely sonne to dye for me . which is a greater happinesse to me , then if i had not been in misery . i was as vile as any man could be , and my vile state did openly appeare ; when god in love did please to look on me , and caused me a joyfull voyce to heare . for passing by me , he to me said , live , which voyce of his unto me life did give . when i heard this sweet voyce of god to me , vpon my heart effectually it wrought ; that i was then so set at libertie , that oft times i did ponder in my thought . from sin , satā , curse , wrath & hell , so free , that i feare not what they can doe to me . love caused god for me his sonne to give ; love caused jesus christ for me to dye ; love caused god to say to my soule , live ; love in my soule doth againe reply ( forth in songs , how lovingly christ did come a mighty price , & ransom of great worth . what glorious sight of love is this i see , that being had before the world could be ; without al time , boūds , measure , or degree , is this his love which he hath set on me . one glorious sight of this so great love , will cause a soule for to be sicke of love . this love made known to me , made me to muse , that ever god should be to me so good ; to give his son for me , and me to choose , which was his enemy , and in my bloud ; when i fled from him , after me came he , i sought not him , but he sought after me . the love of god to me is passing great , which had a being ere the world began ; it boundlesse is , and every way compleat , and lōger doth indure then this world can . like love to this hath never yet been heard , and there is none can be to this compar'd . that many in their sins should be destroyed , whose first condition was as good as mine ; and yet to me this mercy is injoyd ; thus being freed i shall in glory shine . this shews his love to me was great & free , and could not be deserv'd at all by me . oh , who could wish himself a thing so rare , as to be hemd in , and compact about , with boundles love , oh ! who can it declare , or who by fadoming can finde it out ? my heart , my hand & tong are all too weak of matchlesse love , to thinke , or write , or speak . it is through faith appli'd so excellent , it comforteth and elevates on high the saddest heart , and fils it with content ; yea it revives a soule ready to dye . the apprehending it , brings joy & peace , when it is clouded , peace & joy doe cease . each soule that doth this boundlesse joy possesse , may well be swallowed up in admiration ; and to the praise of god may it expresse , and often have it in his meditation . well may it cause him to serve , feare , and love this boundlesse lover , ever god above . a song that jesus christ is all in all to his . christ is his fathers chiefest choice , and i in him the very same ; why should i not in him rejoyce , who am secured from all blame ? in god through christ , the saints rejoyce , when they know they in christ are found ; through christ they with a joyfull voyce , in singing doe his praises sound . i now in christ have beautie bright , i am compleat in him alone , being clothed in his robe that 's white , in him i have perfection . in me god doth , through christ delight , in god through christ i interest have ; through christ i may come in his sight , and needfull things may aske and have . my priviledges are full large , through christ my saviour and my king ; who onely under-went the charge , me to redeeme , and me home bring . and now i am by him set free , vnion with him for to injoy ; the thought of it so cleaves to me , that nothing can me much annoy . what is it worldly men desire , but beautie , riches , and fine fare ; with pleasures , ease , and rich attire , things which the world in them do share ? and what these things to them can be , the same is christ to me and more ; and what thy best workes are to thee , better to me is christ my store . christ is my light , my life , and power , my prophet , priest , and king is he ; my husband , head , and saviour , oh , none but jesus christ for me . should my performances grow slacke , and should i dead and lumpish be ; or should god seeme to turne his backe , my part in christ shall comfort me . though my corruptions should increase , and sinne should seeme to master me , yet christ shall be my health and peace , my strength and righteousnesse is be . in life and death so shall i be , for all things else are vanitie ; what ever my condition be , nothing but christ shall comfort me . for christ to me is all in all , in life and death , advantage he vnto me is , and sure he shall more then a conquerour make me . and in this doth my joy abound , that i in christ am ever found , where all perfections doe abound , and i with him shall be crown'd . therefore i shall set forth his praise , and honour him while i have breath , yea , him love , feare , and serve alwayes , from henceforth to my day of death . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a57248-e220 1 sam. 18. 1. 3. & 20. 42. prov. 12. 26. prov. 29. 2. 2 epis . joh. 8. job 29 1 sam. 16. 18. joh 2 prov. 10. 30. judg. 6. 12. luk. 1. 3. zach. 4. 10. notes for div a57248-e530 2 pet. 1. 19. notes for div a57248-e1630 obser . notes for div a57248-e3240 obs . 1. obs . 2. obs . 3. obs . 4. obs . 5. obs . 6. obs . 7. obs . 8. obs . 9. ob. 10 obser . 11. obser . 12. obser . 13. obser . 14. obser . 15. obser . 16. ob. 17 obser . 18. obser . 19. obser . 20. obser . 21. obser . 22. obser . 23. obser . 24. obser . 25. obser . 26. obser . 27. obser . 28. obser . 29. obser . 30. obj. 1. ans . obj. 2. ag. 1. ans . ag. 2. ans . ag. 3. ans . ag. 4. answ . aggr. 5. answ . aggr. 6. answ . aggr. 7. answ . ag. 8. answ . ag. 9. answ . aggr. 10. answ . aggr. 11. answ . aggr. 12. answ . ag. 13. answ . aggr. 14. answ . aggr. 15. answ . aggr. 16. answ . aggr. 17. answ . aggr. 18. answ . 1. incoura . 2. incoura . 3. in coura . 4. incoura . 5. incoura . 6. in coura . 7. incoura . 8. incoura . 9. incoura . 10. incoura . 11. incoura . 12. incoura . 13. incoura . 14. incoura . 15. incoura . 3. ob. answ . 4. ob. ans . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5. ob. ans . 1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ob. ans . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. obj. 7. ans . 1. 2. obj. 8. ans . 1. 2. 3. obj. 9. ans . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. obje . 10. answ . 1. 2. 3. 11 ob. answ . 12. ob. answ . 13. ob. ans . 1. 2. 3. 14. ob. answ . 15. ob. ans . 1. 2. 3. obje . 1. discoura . ans . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 2. discoura . answ . 3. discoura . answ . 4. discoura . answ . 5. discoura . ans . 1. 2. 3. 4. 6. discoura . ans . 1. 2. 3. 7. discoura . ans . 1. 2. 8. discoura . answ . 9. discoura . ans . 1. 2. 3. 4. 10. disco . ans . 1 2. 3. 4. 11. disco . ans . 1 2. 3. 12. disco . answ . 13. disco . answ . 14. disco . answ . 15. disco . answ . 16. disco . ans . 1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 17. disco . ans . 1. 2. 3. 18. disco . ans . 1 2. 3. 4. 19. disco . ans . 1 2. 3. 4. 20. disco . ans . 1 2. 2. vse . notes for div a57248-e18050 ver . 1. ver . 2. ver. 3. ver . 4. ver. 5. ver . 6. notes for div a57248-e29340 meditate . cōference . faith. practise . prayer notes for div a57248-e48700 eph. 2. 4. rom. 3. 9. rom. 3. 24. joh. 3. 16. 1 cor. 2. 9. 1 cor. 15. 45 ezek. 16. 3 ezek 16. 6 ezek. 16. 6 ezek. 16. 6 ezek. 16. 6 gen. 1. 3. ezek. 16. 6 eph. 5. 14. rom. 8. 37. 1 cor. 2. 9. joh. 8. 36. rom. 8. 38. gal. 4. 4 , 5. joh. 10. 18. ezek. 16. 6 ps . 116. 7. heb 10. 7. mat. 10. 45 2 joh. 3. 1. eph. 1. 4. eph. 1. 4. eph. 2. 4. eph. 3. 19. song 5. 8. 1 joh. 3. 1. rev. 1. 5. eph. 1. 4. ezek. 16 6 jer. 3. 7. isa . 65. 1. eph. 2. 4. eph. 1. 4. 1 ioh. 3. 2. 1 cor. 2. 9. rom. 5. 7. rom. 5. 7. ioh. 8. 21. isa . 64. 6. rom. 5. 1. ioh. 17. 24. hos . 14. 4. isa . 64. 6. psal . 63. 3. rom. 8. 39 eph. 3. 19. hos . 11. 4. eph. 3. 19. 1 cor. 13. 9 rom. 3. 30. col. 3. 1 , 2. rom. 5. 1. eph. 5. 14. rom. 5. 1. rom. 7. 24. 1 pet. 1. 6. eph. 3. 8. rom. 7. 25. joh. 16. 22. 2 cor. 5. 14 2 co. 13. 11 notes for div a57248-e50150 mat. 3. 17. eph. 1. 4. phil. 4. 4. rom. 8. 38 phil. 3. 3. phil. 3. 9. psal . 66. 1. psa . 18. 49 eze. 16. 14 col. 2. 10. rev. 19. 8. col. 2. 3. mat. 3. 17. 1 cor. 3. 21 heb. 10. 19 mat. 21. 22 gal. 4. 7. psal . 2. 6. rom. 5. 8. eph. 2. 13. heb. 10. 11 joh. 17. 21. joh. 17. 24. rom. 8. 35 psal . 4. 6. luk. 12. 19 luk. 12. 19 psal . 49. 6. psal . 49. 6. phil. 3. 8. rom. 10. 3. phil. 3. 7. col 3. 4. acts 7. 37. luk. 2. 11. 1 cor. 15. 19 rom 7. 18. joh. 15. 5. mar. 15. 34 1 cor. 1. 30 ro. 23. 24. rom. 7. 23 eph. 2. 13. psal . 71. 16 phil. 3. 7. phil. 3. 8. rom. 8. 38 psal . 71. 16 col. 3. 11. phil. 3. 21. gal. 6. 14. rom. 8. 37 1 pet. 1. 8. phil. 3. 3. col. 2. 3. rom. 8. 17. phil. 4. 13. 2 cor. 5. 14 col. 3. 23. rev. 2. 10. the judgement of the late arch-bishop of armagh and primate of ireland 1. of the extent of christs death and satisfaction &c, 2. of the sabbath, and observation of the lords day, 3. of the ordination in other reformed churches : with a vindication of him from a pretended change of opinion in the first, some advertisements upon the latter, and in prevention of further injuries, a declaration of his judgement in several other subjects / by n. bernard. ussher, james, 1581-1656. 1658 approx. 178 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 95 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a64661 wing u188 estc r24649 08259185 ocm 08259185 41259 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a64661) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 41259) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1242:27) the judgement of the late arch-bishop of armagh and primate of ireland 1. of the extent of christs death and satisfaction &c, 2. of the sabbath, and observation of the lords day, 3. of the ordination in other reformed churches : with a vindication of him from a pretended change of opinion in the first, some advertisements upon the latter, and in prevention of further injuries, a declaration of his judgement in several other subjects / by n. bernard. ussher, james, 1581-1656. bernard, nicholas, d. 1661. [9], 176 p. printed for john crook, london : 1658. "the reduction of episcopacy unto the form of synodical government received in the ancient church" has special t.p. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng church of ireland. -collected works. theology -early works to 1800. theology -history -17th century. 2005-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2005-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the judgement of the late arch-bishop of armagh , and i primate of ireland , 1. of the extent of christs death and satisfaction , &c. 2. of the sabbath , and observation of the lords day . 3. of the ordination in other reformed churches : with a vindication of him from a pretended change of opinion in the first ; some advertisements upon the latter ; and , in prevention of further injuries , a declaration of his judgement in several other subjects . by n. bernard , d. d. and preacher to the honourable society of grayes-inne , london . gather up the fragments that remain , that nothing be lost : joh. 6. 12. london , printed for john crook , at the ship in st. pauls church-yard , 1658. to the reader . the first treatise containing the judgement of the most eminent primate of ireland , concerning the true intent and extent of christs death , and satisfaction upon the crosse , was written by him , at the request of a friend , a little before the synod of dort : a copy of which being taken , was ( unknowne to him ) carried thither by a member of it : upon the multiplying of them exceptions were taken by divers , and by one penne contracted into a letter to him ; which the second treatise is an answer unto : both these i had from him about twenty eight yeares agone , and now upon the desire of such , whose judgements i subscribe unto , and the prevention of other mistaken copies , which possibly might be produced , i have been hastened to the printing of them . that which hath given the occasion , is the mistake lately published of the change of his judgement in it , a little before his death : but by the view of these , i believe the authour will receive satisfaction . in the vindication of which two letters , being desired from me long agone , ( which have been hitherto deferred the publick ) i have been importuned to permit them to be annexed . unto which i shall here adde but this , that not onely in the forenamed subjects , but in the rest relating to the remonstrants , the primate concurred with bishop davenant , whose lectures demorte christi , & praedestinatione & reprobatione , he caused to be published , only that little treatise added in the conclusion of it , entituled sententia ecclesiae anglicanae de praedestinatione & capitibus annexis , &c. taken to be bishop davenants , and implyed so by the printer ( ab eodem , uti fertur , authore , which possibly hath occasioned the apprehension of a change in him also ) i have been assured by a person of eminency , ( who affirms it out of his own knowledge ) that it was bishop overals . and now upon this occasion i have thought fit to publish a learned letter of the primates wrote many yeares agone to doctor twisse , concerning the sabbath , and , observation of the lords day ; having two copies , corrected throughout with his owne hand , with parts of two other letters of the same matter , which i had together with the former : as also his judgement in divers other subjects , both in doctrine and discipline , with some advertisements for the clearing and preventing of any further misapprehensions . unto which is added his reduction of episcopacy to the form of synodical government , &c. before published ; and at the request of the printer , a distinction of those bo●kes which are owned by the primate , from such as are not . if the readers opinion shall dissent in any of the above-named , or swell into an opposition , let him not expect any defensive armes to be taken up by me , it being my part to declare his judgement as i finde it , which with the most pious and learned , i doubt not but will be ( as it hath been ) of a reverend and high esteem : if it may but moderate the heat , which hath lately broken out among us about some of them , the fruit expected is reaped ; and as these shall be of profit and acceptance , i shall be encouraged to a further gathering up of the like fragments . n. b. the judgement of the late arch-bishop of armagh , and primate of ireland , of the true intent and extent of christs death , and satisfaction upon the crosse. written in answer to the request of a friend , march 3. 1617. the true intent and extent of christs death , and satisfaction upon the crosse. the all-sufficient satisfaction of christ , made for the sinnes of the whole world. the true intent and extent , is lubricus locus to be handled , and hath , and doth now much trouble the church : this question hath been moved sub iisdem terminis quibus nunc , and hath received contrary resolutions ; the reason is , that in the two extremities of opinions held in this matter , there is somewhat true , and somewhat false ; the one extremity extends the benefit of christs satisfaction too farre , as if hereby , god , for his part , were actually reconciled to all mankind , and did really discharge every man from all his sins , and that the reason why all men do not reap the fruit of this benefit , is the want of that faith whereby they ought to have believed , that god in this sort did love them : whence it would follow , that god should forgive a man his sins , and justifie him before he believed , whereas the elect themselves , before their effectuall vocation are said to be without christ , and without hope , and to be utter strangers from the covenants of promise , ephes. 2. 2. 2. the other extremity contracts the riches of christs satisfaction into too narrow a room ; as if none had any kind of interest therein , but such as were elected before the foundation of the world ; howsoever by the gospel , every one be charged to receive the same : whereby it would follow , that a man should be bound in conscience to believe that which is untrue , and charged to take that wherewith he hath nothing to do . both extremities then , drawing with them unavoidable absurdities : the word of god ( by hearing whereof , faith is begotten , eph. 1. 13. ) must be sought uuto by a middle course , to avoyd these extremities . for finding out this middle course , we must , in the matter of our redemption , carefully put a distinction betwixt the satisfaction of christ absolutely considered , and the application thereof to every one in particular : the former was once done for all , the other is still in doing : the former brings with it sufficiency abundant , to discharge the whole debt ; the other addes to it efficacy . the satisfaction of christ , onely makes the sinnes of mankind fit for pardon , which without it , could not well be ; the injury done to gods majesty being so great , that it could not stand with his honour to put it up without amends made . the particular application makes the sins of those to whom that mercy is vouchsafed to be actually pardoned : for , as all sins are mortal , in regard of the stipend due thereunto by the law , but all do not actually bring forth death , because the gracious promises of the gospel stayeth the execution : even so all the sinnes of mankind , are become venial , in respect of the price paid by christ to his father ( so farre , that in shewing mercy upon all , if so it were his pleasure , his justice should be no loser , ) but all do not obtain actual remission , because most offenders do not take out , nor plead their pardon as they ought to do . if christ had not assumed our nature , and therein made satisfaction for the injury offered to the divine majesty , god would not have come unto a treaty of peace with us , more than with the fallen angels , whose nature the sonne did not assume : but this way being made , god holds out unto us the golden scepter of his word , and thereby , not onely signifieth his pleasure of admitting us unto his presence , and accepting of our submission , which is a wonderful grace , but also sends an embassage unto us , and entreats us that we would be reconciled unto him , 2 cor. 5. 20. hence , we inferre against the first extremity , that by the vertue of this blessed oblation , god is made placable unto our nature ( which he never will be unto the angelical nature offending ) but not actually appeased with any , untill he hath received his son , and put on the lord jesus . as also against the latter extremity , that all men may be truly said to have interest in the merits of christ , as in a common , though all do not enjoy the benefit thereof ; because they have no will to take it . the well-spring of life is set open unto all ( apoc. 22. 17. ) whosoeever will , let him take of the water of life freely , but many have nothing to draw with ; and the well is deep , faith is the vessel whereby we draw all vertue from christ , and the apostle tells us , that faith is not of all , ( 2 thes. 3. 2. ) now the means of getting this faith is the hearing of the word of truth , the gospel of our salvation ( ephes. 1. 13. ) which ministreth this general ground for every one to build his faith upon . syllogisme . what christ hath prepared for thee , and the gospel offereth unto thee , that oughtest thou with all thankfulnesse to accept , and apply to the comfort of thy own soul. but christ by his death and obedience hath provided a sufficient remedy for the taking away of all thy sinnes , and the gospel offereth the same unto thee . therefore thou oughtest to accept , and apply the same to the comfort of thine own soul. now this gospel of salvation many do not hear at all , being destitute of the ministery of the word ; and many hearing do not believe , or lightly regard it ; and many that do believe the truth thereof , are so wedded to their sinnes , that they have no desire to bee divorced from them , and therefore they refuse to accept the gratious offer that is made unto them . and yet notwithstanding their refusal on their part , we may truly say , that good things were provided for them on christs part , and a rich price was put into the hands of a foole , howsoever he had no heart to use it ( prov. 17. 16. ) our blessed saviour , by that which he hath performed on his part , hath procured a jubilee for the sons of adam ; and his gospel is his trumpet , whereby he doth proclaim liberty to the captives , and preacheth the acceptable yeare of the lord ( luke 4. 18 , 19. ) if for all this some are so well pleased with their captivity that they desire no deliverance , that derogates nothing from the generality of the freedome annexed to that year . if one say to sinne his old master , ( levites 25. 24. exod. 21. 5. deut , 15 , 26 : ) i love thee , and will not go out free , he shall be bored for a slave , and serve for ever . but that slavish disposition of his , maketh the extent of the priviledge of that yeare not a whit the straiter , because he was included within the general grant as well as others ; howsoever , he was not disposed to take the benefit of it : the kingdom of heaven is like to a certain king that made a marriage of his son , and sent his servants to those that were bidden to the wedding with this message ; behold , i have prepared my dinner ; my oxen , and my fatlings are killed , and all things are ready , come to the marriage , ( verse 4. ) if we look to the event . they they that were bidden made light of their entertainment , and went their wayes ; one to his farme , and another to his merchandize . ( verse 5. ) but that neglect of theirs doth not falsify the word of the king ( verse 4. ) viz. that the dinner was prepared , and these unworthy guests were invited thereunto ; for what , if some did not believe , shall their unbelief disannull the faith , and truth of god ? ( rom. 3. 3 , 4. ) god forbid ; yea , let god be true , & every man a lyar , as it is written , that thou mayest be justified in thy sayings , and overcome when thou judgest . let not the house of israel say , the way of the lord is unequall . for when he cometh to judge them , the inequality will be found on their side , and not on his . o house of israel , are not my wayes equal , and your wayes unequal ? saith the lord , ezek . 18. 29 , 30. ) the lord is right in all his wayes , and holy in all his works . all the wayes of our god are mercy and truth ; when we were in our sinnes it was of his infinite mercy that any way , or remedy should be prepared for our recovery . and when the remedy is prepared , we are never the nearer , except he be pleased of his free mercy to apply the same to us , that so the whole praise of our redemption , from the beginning to the end thereof , may intirely be attributed to the riches of his grace , and nothing left to sinfull flesh wherein it may rejoyce . the freeing of the jewes from the captivity of babylon , was a type of that great deliverance , which the son of god hath wrought for us . cyrus , king of fersia , who was christus domini ( and herein but a shadow of christus dominus , the authour of our redemption ) published his proclamation in this manner ; who is amongst you of all his people , the lord his god be with him , and let him go up , ( 2 chron , 36. 23. and 1 ezra 2. ) now it is true , they alone did follow this calling , whose spirit god had raised to go up , ( ezra 1. 5. ) but could they that remained still in babylon , justly plead , that the kings grant was not large enough , or that they were excluded from going up by any clause contained therein ? the matter of our redemption purchased by our saviour christ lieth open to all , all are invited to it , none that hath a mind to accept of it , is excluded from it . the beautifull feet of those that preach the gospell of peace , do bring glad tidings of good things to every house where they tread . the first part of their message being this , peace to this house , ( rom. 10. 15. luke 10. 5. luke 17. ) but , unlesse god be pleased out of his abundant mercy to guide our feet into the way of peace , the rebellion of our nature is such , that that we run head-long to the wayes of destruction and misery , ( rom. 3. 16. ) and the wayes of peace do we not know . they have not all obeyed the gospel , rom. 10. 16. all are not apt to entertain this message of peace , and therefore , though gods ambassadours make a true ten-tender of it to all unto whom they are sent , yet their peace only resteth on the sons of peace , but if it meet with such as will not listen to the motion of it , their peace doth again return unto themselves , ( luke 10. 6. ) the proclamation of the gospel runneth thus : apoc. 22. 17. let him that is a thirst come , for him this grace is specially provided , because none but he will take the paines to come ; but least we should think this should abridge the largenesse of the offer , a quicunque vult , is immediately added , and whosoever will , let him take of the water of life freely : yet withall this must bee yielded for a certain truth , that it is god who must work in us to will and to do , of his good pleasure ; and though the call be never so loud and large , yet none can come except the father draw him , ( john 6. 46. ) for the universality of the satisfaction derogates nothing from the necessity of the speciall grace in the application : neither doth the speciality of the one any wayes abridge the generality of the other . indeed christ our saviour saith ( joh. 17. 6. ) i pray not for the world , but for them that thou hast given me : but the consequence hereby inferred may well be excepted against , viz. he prayed not for the world , therefore , he payed not for the world ; because the latter is an act of his satisfaction , the former of his intercession : which being divers parts of his priest-hood are distinguishable one from another , by sundry differences . this his satisfaction doth properly give contentment to gods justice , in such sort as formerly hath been declared : his intercession doth solicit gods mercy . the first containes the preparation of the remedy necessary for mans salvation ; the second brings with it an application , of the same . and consequently the one may well appertain to the common nature , which the son assumed , when the other is a speciall priviledge vouchsafed to such particular persons onely , as the father hath given him . and therefore we may safely conclude out of all these premisses , that the lamb of god offering himselfe a sacrifice for the sinnes of the whole world , intended by giveing sufficient satisfaction to gods justice , to make the nature of man , which he assumed , a fit subject for mercy , and to prepare a medicine for the sinnes of the whole world ; which should be denied to none that intended to take the benefit of it : howsoever he intended not by applying this all-sufficient remedy unto every person in particular to make it effectual unto the salvation of all , or to procure thereby actual pardon for the sins of the whole world . so , in one respect hee may be said to have died for all , and in another respect not to have died for all ; yet so as in respect of his mercy he may be counted a kind of universal cause of the restoring of our nature , as adam was of the depraving of it ; for as far as i can discerne , he rightly hits the naile on the head that determineth the point in this manner . thom , contra gentiles , lib. 4o. 55. mors christi est quasi quaedam uuiversalis causa salutis ; si cut peccatum primi hominis fuit quasi universalis causa damnationis . oportet autem universalem causam applicari ad unumquodque s●ecialiter , ut effectum universalis causae participet . effectus igitur peccati primi parentis pervenit ad unumquemque per carnis originem ; effectus autem mortis christi pertingit ad ad unumquemque per spiritualem regenerationem per quam christo homo quodammodo conjungitur & incorporatur . an answer of the said arch-bishop of armagh , to some exceptions taken against his aforesaid letter , as followeth . icannot sufficiently wonder , why such exceptions should be taken at a letter of mine , which without my privity came to so many mens hands , as if thereby i had confirmed papisme , arminianisme , and i know not what error of mr. culverwels , which ( as you write ) is , and hath been , opposed by many ; yea , all good men . the papist ( saith one ) doth thus distingnish ; a mediator of redemption and intercession ; and bellarmine ( saith another ) divides the satisfaction and application of christ. to which , what other answer should i make but this ? to hold that christ is the onely mediator of redemption , but the saints are also mediators of intercession , that christ by his merits hath made satisfaction to his father in grosse , and the pope by his indulgence , and his priests by their oblations in the masse do make a particular application to particular persons . to joyne thus partners with christ in this manner in the office of mediation is popery indeed ; but he who , attributing the entire work of the mediation unto christ alone , doth yet distinguish the act of redemption from the act of intercession , the satisfaction made by him unto god , from the application thereof communicated unto men , is as far from popery , as he that thinks otherwise is from the grounds of the catechisme ; for that christ hath so died for all men ( as they lay down in the conference of hague ) ut reconciliationem cum deo , & peccatorum remissionem singulis impetraverit , i hold to be untrue , being well assured , that our saviour hath obtained at the hands of his father reconciliation , and forgivenesse of sinnes , not for the reprobate , but elect onely ; and not for them neither , before they be truly regenerated , and implanted into himselfe . for , election being nothing else but the purpose of god , resting in his own minde , makes no kind of alteration in the party elected , but onely the execution of that decree and purpose , which in such as have the use of reason is done by an effectual calling , in all by spiritual regeneration , which is the new birth , without which no man can see the kingdom of god. that impetration , whereof the arminians speak , i hold to be a fruit , not of his satisfaction , but intercession ; and seeing i have learned from christs own mouth , joh. 17. 9. i pray not for the reprobate world : i must needs esteem it a great folly to imagine that he hath impetrated reconciliation and remission of sinnes for that world . i agree therefore thus farre with mr. aimes in his dispute against grevinchovius , that application and impetration , in this latter we have in hand , are of equall extent ; and , that forgivenesse of sinnes is not by our saviour impetrated for any unto whom the merit of his death is not applyed in particular . if in seeking to make straight that which was crooked in the arminians opinion , he hath bended it too farre the contrary way , and inclined too much unto the other extremity , it is a thing , which , in the heat of disputation , hath befallen many worthy men before him ; and if i be not deceived , gave the first occasion to this present controversie . but i see no reason why i should be tied to follow him in every step , wherein he treadeth : and so much for mr. aimes . the main error of the arminians ( vid. corvin . in defen . armini . cap. ii. ) and of the patrons of universal grace is this , that god offereth unto every man those means that are necessary unto salvation , both sufficiently and effectually ; and , that it resteth in the free will of every one to receive , or reject the same ; for the proof thereof they alledge , as their predecessors , the semipelagians , did before them , that received axiome of christs dying for all men , which being rightly understood , makes nothing for their purpose . some of their opposites ( subject to oversights as well as others ) more forward herein then circumspect , have answered this objection , not by expounding ( as was fit ) but by flat denying that famous axiome : affirming peremptorily , that christ died onely for the elect , and for others nullo modo : whereby they gave the adverse party advantage to drive them unto this extream absurdity , viz. that seeing christ in no wise died for any , but for the elect , and all men were bound to believe that christ died for themselves , and that upon pain of damnation for the contrary infidelity ; therefore all men were bound to believe : that they themselves were elected , although in truth the matter were nothing so : non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis tempus eget . neither is their hope that the arminians will be drawn to acknowledge the error of their position , as long as they are perswaded the contrary opinion cannot be maintained without admitting that an untruth must be believed , even by the commandment of him that is god of truth , and by the direction of that word , which is the word of truth . endeavouring therefore to make one truth stand by another , and to ward off the blow given by the arminians in such sort that it should neither bring hurt to the truth , nor give advantage to error , admit i failed of mine intent , i ought to be accounted rather an oppugner than any wise an abettor of their fancies . that for the arminians . now for mr. culverwell , that which i have heard him charged withall , is the former extremity , which in my letter i did condemne , viz. that christ in such sort did die for all men , that by his death he made an actuall reconcilement between god and man ; and , that the special reason why all men reap not the fruit of this reconciliation ; is the want of that faith , whereby they ought to have believed that god in this sort did love them . how justly he hath been charged with this error , himselfe can best tell ; but if ever he held it , i do not doubt , but he was driven thereunto by the absurdities , which he discerned in the other extremity ; for what would not a man fly unto rather then yield , that christ no manner of way died for any reprobate , and none but the elect had any kind of title to him , and yet so many thousand reprobates should bee bound in conscience to believe that he died for them , and tied to accept him for their redeemer and saviour ; yea , and should be condemned to everlasting torments for want of such a faith , ( if we may call that faith , which is not grounded upon the word of truth ) whereby they should have believed that which in it selfe was most untrue , and laid hold of that in which they had no kinde of interest ; if they , who dealt with mr. culverwell laboured to drive out one absurdity by bringing in another , or went about to stop one hole by making two , i should the lesse wonder at that you write , that though he hath been dealt withall by many brethren , and for many yeares , yet he could not be drawn from his errour . but those stumbling-blocks being removed , and the plain word of truth laid open , by which faith is to be begotten , i dare boldly say he doth not hold that extremity wherewith hee is charged , but followeth that safe , and middle course , which i laid down ; for after he had well weighed what i had written , he heartily thanked the lord and me , for so good a resolution of this question , which for his part he wholly approved , not seeing how it could bee gainesayed . and so much likewise for mr. culverwell . now for mr. stock 's publick opposition in the pulpit , i can hardly be induced to believe that he aimed at me therein ; if he did , i must needs say he was deceived , when hee reckoned me amongst those good men , who make the universality of all the elect , and all men to be one ; indeed i wrote but even now , that god did execute his decree of election in all by spirituall generation : but if any shall say , that by , all thereby i should understand the universality of all , and every one in the world , and not the universality of all the elect alone , hee should greatly wrong my meaning : for i am of no other mind than prosper was , lib. 1. de vocat . gent. habet populus dei plenitudinem suam , & quamvis magna pars hominum salvantis gratiam aut repellat aut negligat , in electis tamen & praescitis atque ab omni generalitate discretis , specialis quaedam censetur universitas , ut de toto mundo , totus mundus liberatus , & de omnibus hominibus , omnes homines videantur assumpti . that christ died for his apostles ( luke 22. 19. ) for his sheep ( john 10. 15. ) for his friends ( john 15. 13. ) for his church ( ephes . 5. 25. ) may make peradventure against those , who make all men to have a share alike in the death of our saviour : but i professe my selfe to hold fully with him , who said , etsi christus pro omnibus mortuus est , tamen specialiter pro nobis passus est , quia pro ecclesia passus est . yea , and in my former writing i did directly conclude ; that as in one respect christ might have been said to die for all , so in another respect truely said not to have died for all : and my beliefe is , that the principall end of the lords death , was , that he might gather together in one the children of god scattered abroad ; ( john 11. 52. ) and , that for their sakes he did specially sanctifie himselfe , that they also might be sanctified through the truth ( john 17. 19. ) and therefore it may be well concluded , that christ in a speciall manner died for these ; but to inferre from hence , that in no manner of respect he died for any others , is but a very weak collection , specially the respect by me expressed being so reasonable , that no sober mind advisedly considering thereof , can justly make question of it , viz. that the lamb of god offering himselfe a sacrifice for the sinnes of the world , intended by giving satisfaction to gods justice to make the nature of man which he assumed , a fit subject for mercy , and to prepare a soveraigne medicine that should , not onely be a sufficient cure for the sinnes of the whole world , but also should be laid open to all , and denied to none , that indeed do take the benefit thereof : for he is much deceived that thinkes a preaching of a bare sufficiency , is able to yield sufficient ground of comfort to a distressed soule , without giving a further way to it , and opening a further passage . to bring newes to a bankrupt that the king of spain hath treasure enough to pay a thousand times more than he owes , may be true , but yields but cold comfort to him the miserable debtor : sufficiency indeed is requisite , but it is the word of promise that gives comfort . if here exception bee taken , that i make the whole nature of man fit for mercy , when it is as unfit a subject for grace as may be . i answer , that here two impediments do occurre , which give a stop unto the peace , which is to be made betwixt god and man. the one respects god the party offended , whose justice hath been in such sort violated by his base vassals , that it were unfit for his glorious majesty to put up such an injury without a good satisfaction . the other respects man the party offending , whose blindnesse , stupidity , and hardnesse of heart is such , that he is neither sensible of his own wretchedness , nor gods goodnesse , that when god offers to be reconciled unto him , there must bee much intreaty to perswade him to be reconciled to god , ( 2 cor. 5. 20. ) in regard of the latter i acknowled with the apostle , that the naturall man receives not the things of the spirit , for they are foolishnesse to him ; neither can he , because spiritually discerned , ( 1 cor. 2. 14. ) and this impediment is not taken away by christs satisfaction ( which is a work of his priestly function ) but by the enlightening of the mind , and softning the heart of the sinner , which are effects issuing from the execution of the prophetical , and kingly office of our redeemer . when therefore i say , that by christs satisfaction to his father he made the nature of man a fit subject for mercy , i mean thereby , that the former impediment arising on gods part is taken away , that if it were not for the other ( for the having whereof we can blame none but our selves , and in the not removing , whereof , wee cannot say god hath done us any wrong ) there were no let , but all men might be saved : and if it pleased god to extend his mercy unto all , as he keeps his freedome therein , in having compassion on whom he will have mercy , and leaveing others in blindnesse , naturall hardnesse of their own heart , yet the worth of christs satisfaction is so great , that his justice herein should be no loser . but if this justice ( you will say ) be satisfied , how comes it to passe that god exacts payment again from any ? i answer , we must take heed we stretch not our similitudes beyond their just extent , least at last we drive the matter too farre , and be forced to say ( as some have done ) that wee cannot see how satisfaction and forgivenessè can stand together , and so by denying christs satisfaction be injurious to gods justice , or by denying remission of sinnes become injurious to gods mercy . wee are therefore to understand , that the end of the satisfaction of gods justice is to make way for gods free liberty in shewing mercy , that so mercy and justice meeting : and embraceing one another , god may be just , and the justifier of him that believes in jesus , ( rom. 3. 26. ) now the generall satisfaction of christ , which was the first act of his priestly office , prepares the way for gods mercy , by making the sinnes of all mankinde pardonable , the interposition of any barre from gods justice notwithstanding , and so puts the sonnes of men onely in a possibility of being justified , a thing denied to the nature of fallen angels , which the sonne was not pleased to assume ; but the speciall application of this satisfaction vouchsafed by christ unto those persons onely whom his father hath given him out of the world , which is an appendant , or appertaineth to the second act of his priest-hood , viz. his intercession , produceth this potentia in actum , i. e. procureth an actuall discharge from gods anger ; and maketh justification , which before was a part of our possibility , to be a part of our presenr possession . if it be said , it is a great derogation to the dignity of christs death , to make the sinnes of mankinde onely pardonable , and brings in a bare possibility of justification . i answer , it is a most unchristian imagination to suppose the merit of christs death , being particularly applyed to the soul of a sinner , produceth no further effect than this . saint paul teacheth us that we be not onely justifiable , but justified by his bloud , ( rom. 5. 9. ) yet not simply as offered on the crosse , but through faith in his blood , ( rom. 3. 25. ) that is , through his bloud applyed by faith . the bloud of jesus christ his sonne , ( saith saint john , 1 john 1. 17. ) cleanseth us from all sinnes , yet cleanse it doth not by being prepared , but by being applyed , prepared it was when hee poured it out once upon the crosse , applyed it is when he washeth us from our sinnes therein , ( rev. 1. 5. ) it is one thing therefore to speak of christs satisfaction , in the generall absolutely considered ; and another thing , as it is applyed to every one in particular ; the consideration of things as they are in their causes , is one thing ; and as they have an actuall existence , is another thing . things as they are in their causes , are no otherwise considerable , but as they have a possibility to be . the application of the agent to the patient , with all circumstances necessarily required , is it that gives to the thing an actuall being . that disease is curable for which a soveraigne medicine may be found , but cured it is not till the medicine be applyed to the patient ; and if it so fall out , that , the medicine being not applied , the party miscarries , we say , he was lost , not , becanse his sicknesse was incurable , but , because there wanted a care to apply that to him that might have helped him . all adams sonnes have taken a mortall sicknesse from their father , which , if it be not remedied , will , without faile , bring them to the second death : no medicine under heaven can heale this disease , but onely a potion confected of the blood of the lamb of god , who came to take away the sinnes of the world ; which , as prosper truly notes , habet quidem in se ut omnibus prosit ; sed si non bibitur non medetur . the vertue thereof is such , that if all did take it , all without doubt should be recovered , but without takeing it there is no recovery ; in the former respect it may be truly said , that no mans state is so desperate , but by this means it is recoverable , ( and this is the first comfortable newes that the gospel brings to the distressed soule ) but here it resteth not , nor feedeth a man with such a possibility , that he should say in his heart , who shall ascend into heaven to bring christ from above ? but it brings the word of comfort nigh unto him , even to his mouth and heart , and presents him with the medicine at hand , and desireth him to take it ; which being done accordingly , the cure is actually performed . a vindication of the late arch-bishop of armagh , from some mistakes made by master thomas pierce , both in his philanthropy , & post-cript at the conclusion of his correct copy of some notes of gods decrees , &c. affirming a change of judgement in him a little before his death , of some points controverted between mr. barlee and himself , but especially of universal grace and redemption , relating to the subject of the former treatise . by dr. bernard , preacher to the honourable society of grayes-inne . the printer to the reader . these two letters following , expected from the person to whom they were writ , as an appendix to another treatise , being hither to delayed the publick , and now conceived very requisite to be inserted here , as having a relation to the former tractates mentioned in one of them ; the doctor hath been importuned to permit them accordingly also , with some alteration and addition . the first letter of doctor bernards to mr. barlee , in answer to some passage in mr. pierces philanthropy . worthy syr , iam much your debtor for those large expressions of your affection to the late . arch-bishop of armagh , and the readinesse to cleare him from some injury done him by mr. thomas pierce , in his answer to a book of yours . two eminent men of each university , before i heard from you , had sent unto me for their private satisfaction . and now upon your letter and directions i have viewed the severall passages tending that way , chap. 1. sect. 3. 5. chap. 3. sect. 17. 7. chap. 4. sect. 13. which in sum i finde amounts to this , viz. that the late primate of armagh was , though a late , yet a serious convert : and affirmed , a little , or not long , before his death to severall persons , that he utterly rejected all those opinions of calvin . that there were evident marks of a change in him . that a little before his death he professed an utter dislike to the whole doctrine of geneva , in those affairs , &c. first ; it is possible mr. pierces enformers might mistake the doctrine for the discipline of geneva , or calvin , which by some in their sermons hath been advanced accordingly : or if it were of the doctrine , he hath taken a great latitude in saying , all the opinions , the whole doctrine . and the restriction . viz. in those affaires , is somewhat obscure , being introduced occasionally upon the speech of one or two of them . it had been better to have named the several points he means , from which howsoever , as to calvin , or geneva , how could he be said to revolt , when in terminis he did not professe the defence of either . it being the doctrine of s. augustine , which hath been confirmed by him . and for calvine , though i do not take upon me the defence of him neither , yet there is one doctrine of his , and in those affaires ( different from some of his own profession in geneva ) which must be exempted from mr. pierces universality , and which , will not be found that the primate rejected , viz. that massa corrupta was the object of praedestination , as bishop davenant makes it appear , ( in his determinations , q. 26. ) where he first cleares him from the a slanders the jesuites have raised of him in it , viz. that he should hold that god in the first act before any fore-sight of sin , elected some to glory , and ordained others to destruction ; and in the second place ordained the sinne of adam to that end , that he might exercise justice towards the reprobates , and mercy towards the elect ; and then gives you clearly b the truth of calvines judgement in two propositions confirmed out of divers quotations in his institutions , viz. that the corrupt masse ; or man lapsed , was the object of election and reprobation , though not the cause : and further , proves , that what the jesuits put upon calvine , their own popish writers were the prime authours of , viz. scotus , naclantus , pighius , catharinus , galatinus , alphonsus mendoza , who aver , that the c decree of praedestination is not onely before the decree of permitting the lapse of man , but also before the creating of him . and d desires it might be taken notice of , that the popish writers were the chief authors of that opinion , which denies 〈◊〉 lapsed to be the subject of divine praedestination ; which , if some of ours did consider , they would be the slower paced in the defence of that which hath occasioned this digression . howsoever , as to calvin's opinion , this reverend and learned bishop thus far supports it , that he joyns s. e augustines suffrage with his own in it ; and as it is there declared , i understand not how it is rejected by this eminent primate . but whatever these points were , if this be mr. pierces meaning , that a little before his death he should verbally retract what he had published in his works , i am assured ( though it be hard to prove a negative ) there was no such matter : but that he was constant in them to his end . when he was last in london , continuing here about seven weeks together , i was perpetually with him , taking then the opportunity of a further speaking with him of most of the passages of his life , as of the several books he had wrote , th● subjects of them , the occasion of their writing , when some such points ( as mr. pierce possibly may meane ) came into discourse . and then there was not the least change in him . and it is to be presumed , in that last act of winding up his whole life , if there had been any , he would have then mentioned it , and this was but about five weekes ( which is a little , or not long ) before his death . and it hath bee confirmed to me by a minister , who was at ryegate a fortnight before , as by some honourable persons , who spake with him of these subjects a few dayes before his death ; so that i believe mr. pierce hath not been well adadvised in publishing this his information . and it is no new thing to have bookes , as well as opinions , laid to his charge which he knew not : it was presumed in his life , and so the lesse wonder if it be practised after his death . there is a book entitled a method of meditation , which was printed in his name , anno 1651. and , though by his commands to me , it was then publickly declared to be none of his , yet since his death ( this 1657. ) it is reprinted , and , notwithstanding the renewing of that declaration by the same way wherein i found him abused , it is still sold under his name to the great dishonour of him . the passage which mr. pierce is most clear in , chap. 1. sect. 15. where , speaking of universal grace and redemption , he saith , the most learned anti-arminians have been fein to assert it , as well as arminius . among us , the late bishop of armagh , &c. first , he should have done well to have named where he hath asserted it in any of his works , next , what , or who compelled him , that he was fein to do it ; and if by that speech as well as arminius he means ( according to common construction ) as full , or in the same terms as arminius ; it will be the hardest proof of the three ; whom he scarce ever names in his works : his aime being against pelagius and his disciples . unlesse that passage in his pelagian history may be so applyed ( wrapped up under the title of britanniae antiquitates , pelagius being a britain , which he intended to have taken out , and printed as a treatise by it selfe ) where he having given us at large the bold and rugged language , with which julian , one of pelagius his followers , in defence of his doctrine , greets the most mild and meek father s. augustine , he addes this , chap. 11. p. 312. ) cujus idcirco verba hic describenda putavi ; ut in hoc speculo contemplaretur lector , consimiles nostrorum temporum ardeliones ; thrasoni huic adeo geminos , ut in eos , hujus spiritus quasi per pythagoricam quandam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , immigrasse videatur : i know not how he can call him an anti-arminian , unlesse he confesse them to be pelagians . secondly , in this particular concerning universall redemption i have cause to believe there was not any change in him from what his judgement was many yeares agone : and if he were not totally according to calvin , must it therefore be argued , he was wholly for arminius ? might not there be a mean wherein he might tread more safely according to the ancient doctrine of the church ? and indeed to deal clearly with you , his judgement in this point was in a middle way different , both from yours , and mr. pierce , which if it might not expose him to both your pens and censures , but be a reconciliation between you , ( the latter of which i see little hope of ; ) i might be moved the more willingly to declare it . i do the rather mention this ; because , as mr. pierce saith , you call it the chief head of arminianisme , so he saith , 't is that with which other opinions in debate must stand , or fall : and chap. 3. p. 15. excuseth his prolixity on it , because if this error be once disclaimed by the adversary , all the rest will tumble of their own accord , &c. in a word , i am sorry to find that heat between you , which beng ministers and neighbours , is the more unseemly . i shall advise you in your reply to endeavour rather to heal up the breach , than make it wider ; the fruits of the spirit appearing much in meeknesse and gentlenesse , &c. and laying aside all verball animosities and personal reflections , calmely to fall upon the matter , and so i commend you and your labours to gods blessing and direction , and rest your very assured friend n. bernard . grayes-inne , march 11. 1656. a vindication of the primate , from a late change of opinion . a second letter , of the said doctor bernard to mr. barlee , in answer to a part of a postscript at the conclusion of a book of mr. pierces , viz. a correct copy of some notes of gods decrees , &c. wherein the former erroneus report raised upon the late arch-bishop of armagh , especially concerning universal grace , or redemption , being more largely affirmed , is here more fully cleared and vindicated . sir . i have lately received from you another book of master pierces , which i saw not before , viz. a correct copy of gods decrees , &c. in the postscript of which i find a larger confirmation of what had been affirmed by him , in relation to the late arch-bishop of armagh , and primate of ireland : which , at your desire , i cannot refuse to return you my sense of also . the authour is a stranger to me , but appears to be a man of very excellent parts and abilities , and i am sorry he hath been moved to employ them in this particular , in a continued confident declaring the change of opinion in so learned and pious a prelate ( as himselfe worthily styles him , ) to whom for ought i know he was a stranger , and adding , that what he hath before affirmed to be upon a just ground and mature deliberation , and yet i find no other foundation upon which this is built , than the report of others . the frequent experimental failing of which , when it comes to the proof , hath wrought it out of reputation , with prudent men , to depend upon . that which i find in the conclusion of his postscript , i must begin with , wherein he doth determine , viz. that whosoever shall appear to hold the negative , that my lord primate of armagh did not declare his rejection of these opinions , which i resist , and which himselfe formerly embraced , will wrong the memory of the bishop . as i do not ( according to his caveat ) take upon me to prove a negative , so i do not understand the ground of this definitive sentence , upon whomsoever shall adhere to it . i am sure his meaning is not , because he doth resist them ; and lesse shew is there , because the primate had formerly embraced them ; for a changeablenesse in doctrine carries in it self a shew of dishonour , that with him there should be yea and nay : surely there must be somewhat of grosse corruption , or dangerous consequence formerly taught and professed by this good primate , that should incurre this censure ; and it is too early a conclusive , while they are yet in dispute between you , and the matter not heard on the primates side ; which i expected not from a person so ingenuous , as i read master pierce to be . and howsoever the whole implies that the primate had wronged himselfe , if not his hearers and readers , in preaching and writing of untruths so long ; but much more if he had died without retracting them ; and that the injury done to him , is already decreed to lye upon that person that shall affirm otherwise of him in either : yet this must not deterre or discourage me in this service of his vindication , leaving it to the judgemnent of others , which may be thought lesse injurious , the averring his constancy , or inconstancy in matters of such weight and moment . i shall be contented he do enjoy his opinion , if he will not censure me for not forsaking my own , viz. that i think i should wrong him and my selfe , at least do neither right , if i should silently let this belief of him passe without putting it to a stand , by producing those probabilities which have prevailed with me to the contrary . that which mr. pierce professeth , viz. that he published it to the immortall honour of that great prelate , doth not well suit with the expressions in the next breath , calling it an error which had possest him , and intimating it to be a retraction of his aberrations , or a penitency of his sins , which he having no sense of , or not expressing it till then , he must have contracted a great guilt all his life , both in preaching and writing to the subversion , possibly , of many . this if he had found himself guilty of , a verball retraction would not have sufficed , but he should have given satisfaction also by his pen : his judgement having been by that transmitted beyond the seas , which one sermon in a church in london , or opening his mind to a few in private , could not have expiated : neither would so good a man as he , have rested in it , but with s. augustine humbly have revoked his error in that way also ; but i believe none of those pretended witnesses of his change will say that he gave them that promise or that they did so much as request it of him , though they had time enough to have wrote unto him , if omitted in the conference . and certainly mr. pierce , ( to use his own expression ) had in singlenesse of affection done him more right and honour , if he had left him wholly to his works ; which do sufficiently testifie of him , rather than thus to bring him upon the stage after his death , and give sentence on him onely upon hear-say : there being no necessity in this dispute to have so much as named him . neither can i think those , any cordial friends of the bishops ( as he stiles them ) who have been the occasion of putting him upon it . and i do remember that the last time he was in london , he did expresse a suspition of some that came to visit him , that they would by wresting his words , make some such use of them , as now appears : who proposed discourses of the like subjects to him , and whereupon he did confirm at full that which had been his judgement of them formerly . for that of mr pierces offer of proof by some learned and grave divines , who had conference with the bishop , and will ( as he saith ) be glad to attest the same under their hands : as i know not what cause there should be of gladnesse , or forwardnesse in this testimony ; so when they shall meet with contrary attestations by the like of their own profession , it makes me sad , to foresee what a fire this may possibly kindle among us , ( to the rejoycing of those of the church of rome ) which i have no mind to burn my fingers in , onely i stick firmly to my perswasion in my former letter confirmed there by several probable testimonies , that there was no such change as is pretended in him near his death . and if this of mr. piercies affirmation should prove to be the raising of a false report , ( which he ingenuously confesseth to be so great an evill , and doth so hate and condemne , whether through ignorance , or credulity : ) this must be of the first magnitude , when it hath for its object so eminent and pious a person , whose praise being through the churches , and in special , for those his labours tending to those subjects , the whole reformed church are concerned in it . i find him still puuctually observing his former expression , viz. rejecting all the doctrines of geneva , in which besides the latitude , there is this ambiguity , whether it be meant according to calvin , or beza ; for both were of geneva ; between whom in some of these points there was the like difference as between mr. perkins and bishop abbot , with us , viz. in the supralapsarian opinion , which * beza was for , but calvin held it otherwise , as hath been shewed in the former letter . it had been better to have instanced the particulars of those doctrines , than thus by clouding them in the generals to put us upon conjectures , which they should bee . the onely point which he names here , is , that the primate embraced the doctrine of universal redemption , and saith , in that he doth as good as say all . he doth not assert it from his own knowledge , but saith he hath it from many most unquestionable persons which had it poured into their eares , by the primates own mouth . if it were in a sermon of his at a church in london , the last he preached in that city , and many moneths before his death ; ( which i am enformed by others is the sense of it ) i was present at it , and with me there was no new thing observed to have been uttered by him , differing from what his judgement was many yeares agone , since i had the happinesse to be known unto him . it may be some of these persons produced for witnesses being strangers to him and taking him to be of the other extremity might apprehend it as a retractation , if they heard him affirming , that by the death of christ all men receive this benefit that they are salvabiles or put into a capacity of sulvation ; that terms of peace are procured for all mankinde , that all mens sins are become pardonable , mercy attainable , ( in which state those of the angelical nature which fell , are not . ) that there is some distinction to be made between his satisfaction ( rightly understood ) and his intercession , according to that of our saviour , i pray for these , i pray not for the world , &c. it is possible , for ought i know , some such expressions might be his then . but that by this universal redemption should be understood such an universal grace , that the same measure of it , without any distinction , should equally , and alike , be conferred and aplied to judas , which was to peter ; and that the onely difference , was , the free-will of peter in accepting , without any further cause of thanks to god for his grace in inclining him accordingly , &c. this i suppose will not be attested to have been professed by him , either in this , or any other sermon , or private conference with him . and in this present enlargement , i would not be understood to interpose my selfe in the controversie ; or to affixe thus much upon mr. piercies judgement , but only to averre , that the primate at his last in this particular differed not from what he had declared formerly , which the former tractate , i suppose , will confirm , now published , but not resolved on , when this was first written . that which he saith , is the summe of what he had said , viz. that the reverend primate did conform his judgement to all the fathers of the church for the first four centuries after christ , this he might averre without any relation to these points in controversie , it being the term , or thereabouts , which he accepts of in his answer to the jesuit malones challenge in the justfying , or condemning those twelve points of controversie , between us and the church of rome , of which one concerning free will is of this fraternity . what the primates judgement was of that , is sufficiently declared there , and he continued in the same without any change the last time i saw him , by the discourse i had then with him of it : and s. augustine ( unlesse we be over-strict ) may be admitted within that compasse , being accounted by the primate , at the time when he was consecrated a bishop , to be but in anno 410. and prosper reckons his death , in 433. being then of age , 76. before whose time these points were never discussed by the fathers at large singly , nor determined by them joyntly in any council ; which pelagius gave the first occasion of : and 't is known that the doctrine of st. augustine against him is inclined unto , and defended by the primate in his works . and , to say no more , the articles of religion , agreed upon by the arch-bishops and bishops , and the rest of the clergy of ireland , in the convocation holden at dublin , anno 1615. which fully determine and declare all those points accordingly ; he had then the honour to be appointed by the synode as a principal person to draw them up ; now the last time i saw him ( which was after that pretended testimony of the witnesses of his change , either in publick or private ) he did fully confirm and commend them to me to be heeded and observed by me as the summary of his judgement in those and other subjects , of which i have said somewhat more , elsewheree . that of mr. piercies drawing in more to bear him company , viz. king james , b. andrews , melancthon , in their changes also for the better , as he is pleased to derermine ; doth not concern me to take notice of : onely if he have found it as their last will and testament in their works , he shall but charitably erre ( to use his own words ) if he should be mistaken ; but no such matter appears here , as to the primate . in a word , i cannot but professe my respect to mr. pierce , both for his own worth , as the great esteem which in this postsript ( more then in his former book ) he hath expressed of this eminent primate , and can easily believe he would account it a reputation to his opinion , that his might patronize it , by the great esteem had of him in all parts of the reformed church , both for his learning and piety ; and i have so much charity as to believe that this error is more to be imputed to his informers than himself , and if i were known to him i would advise him not to insist any farther in it , it being by these several circumstances so improbable ; but , according to his own ingenuous offer , to make an ample satisfaction , and what he hath so highly extolled in the primate to have been his glory and honour in preferring truth before error , in that his supposed imaginary retractation , i may without offence return the application to himselfe ; which , with all prudent men , will be much more , his own commendation , and though , according to his profession , he be innocent , as to any voluntary injury ; thinking he did god and him good service : yet it being a wrong in it selfe , will deserve some apology . and , indeed , it wil be hard for any prudent impartial man to believe , that what the primate upon mature deliberation and long study for so many yeares had professed in the pulpit , and at the presse , he should be so soon shaken in minde , as , without any convincing force of argument from any other , that is known , at once renounce all he had formerly said , and draw a cross line over all he had wrote ; and that in a sermon , not made of purpose for that end , ( which had been very requisite , and which must have been of too narrow a limit in relation to so many subjects here intimated ) but onely as on the bye ; i say , when his workes wherein hee is clearly seen and largely declared , with a cloud of ear-witnesses for many yeares , both in publick and private , confirming his constancie in them , through the diverse changes of the times to his last , shall be produced and laid in one ballance ; and a few witnesses of some few passages at one sermon , who in a croud might be mistaken , and the apter to be so , by the interest of their own opinion ; put into the other ; will not all unbyassed persons cast the errata into the latter ? i shall conclude with a course complement to your selfe ; that i have not thus appeared for your sake , to whom i am a stranger , nor out of any opposition to mr. pierce , who appeares to me to be a person of value : but onely out of my duty and high account , i must ever have of the memory of that judicious , holy , and eminent primate : and so commit you to gods protection and direction , and rest , your assured friend n. bernard . grayes-inne , june 10. 1657. a learned letter of the late arch-bishop of armagh to dr. twisse , concerning the sabbath , and observation of the lords day . worthy sir , your letter of the first of february came unto my hands the seventh of april , but , my journy to dublin following thereupon , and my long stay in the city , ( where the multiplicity of my publick and private employments would scarce afford me a breathing time ) was such ; that i was forced to defer my answer thereunto , untill this short time of my retiring into the countrey : where , being now absent also from my library : i can rather signifie unto you , how fully i concurre in judgement with those grounds , which you have so judiciously laid in that question of the sabbath , than afford any great help unto you in the building , which you intend to raise thereupon . for when i gave my selfe unto the reading of the fathers , i took no heed unto any thing that concerned this argument : as little dreaming that any such controversie would have arisen among us . yet generally i do remember that the word sabbatum in their writings doth denote our saturday : although by analogy from the manner of speech used by the jewes , the term be sometimes transferred to denote our christian festivities also , as sirmondus the jesuite observeth , out of sidonius apollinaris , ( lib. 1. epist. 2. ) where , describeing the moderation of the table of theodorick , king of the gothes upon the eves , and the excesse on the holy day following ; he writeth of the one , that his convivium diebus profestis simile privato est , but of the other . de luxu autem illo sabbatario narrationi meae supersedendum est , qui nec latentes potest latere personas . and because the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the fourth commandement pointeth at the sabbath , as it was in the first institution , the seventh day from the creation : therefore they held that christians were not tied to the observance thereof . whereupon you may observe , that s. augustine in his speculum ( in operum tomo 3o. ) purposely selecting those things which appertained unto us christians ; doth wholly pretermit that precept , in the recital of the commandements of the decalogue ; not because the substance of the precept was absolutely abolished : but because it was in some parts held to be * ceremonial , & the time afterwards was changed in the state of the new testament , from the seventh to the first day of the week : as appeareth by the authour of the 25 sermon , de tempore ( in 10 o tomo operum augustini : ) and that place of athanasius in homil . de semente , where he most plainly saith , touching the sabbath , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . whereupon caesarius arelatensis in his twelfth homily , doubted not to preach unto the people . verè dico , fratres , satis durum & prope nimis impium est , ut christiani non habeant reverentiam diei dominico , quam judaei observare videntur in sabbato , &c. charles the great in his lawes , taketh it for granted , that our observation of the lords day is founded upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the fourth commandement . statuimus ( saith he , a libro 1o. capitularium , cap. 81. ) secundum quod & in lege dominus praecepit , ut opera servilia diebus dominicis non agantur ; sicut & bonae memoriae genitor meus in suis synodalibus edictis mandavit : and lotharius likewise , in legibus alemannorum , titulo 38. b die dominico nemo opera servilia praesumat facere : quia hoc lex prohibuit , & sacra scriptura in omnibus contradicit . accommodating the law of god touching the sabbath unto our observation of the lords day , by the self-same analogy ; that the church of england now doth in her publick prayer : lord have mercy upon us , and incline our hearts to keep this law. the jewes commonly hold two things touching their sabboth ; as menasses ben-israel sheweth in his eighth probleme , de creatione ; which be published at amsterdam the last year . first , that the observation thereof was commanded onely unto the a israelies , ( where he speaketh also of the seven precepts of the sons of noah ; which have need to be taken in a large extent , if we will have all the duties that the heathen were tyed unto to be comprised therein ) secondly , that it was observed by the patriarchs , before the coming out of egypt . for that then the observation began , or that the israelites were brought out of egypt , or the egyptians drowned upon the sabbath ; i suppose our good friend mr. mead will not be able to evince , either out of b deut. 5. 15 or out of any other scripture whatsoever . and the text , genes . 2. 3. ( as you well note ) is so cleare for the ancient institution of the sabbath , and so fully vindicated by d. rivet from the exceptions of gomarus ; that i see no reason in the earth why any man should make doubt thereof : especially considering withall , that the very gentiles , both civill and barbarous , both ancient and of latter dayes , as it were by an universal kind of tradition , retained the distinction of the seven dayes of the week , which if dr. heylin had read , so well proved as it is , by rivetus and salmasius , he would not have made such a conclusion as he doth : that because the heathen ( of the four great monarchies at least ) had no distinction of weeks , therefore they could observe no sabbath ; whereas he might have found , that the distinction of the dayes of the week did reach etiam ad ipsos usque sauromatas , for even of the slavonians themselves ( while they yet continued in their ancient paganisme : ) thus writeth helmoldus , chronic. slavor . lib. 1. cap. 84. illic secundâ feriâ populus terrae , cum flamine & regulo , convenire solebant propter judicia , the same order of the dayes of the week being retained by them , which theophilus the old bishop of antioch noteth to have been observed by all mankind . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( saith he , lib. 2. ad antolycum ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) confounding as it seemeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as also doth lacta●tius , lib. 7 cap. 14. ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . wherewith we may joyn that other place of johannes philoponus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 7. cap. ult . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who , with shewing the cause thereof , thus shuts up the whole work . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . we see it a almost generally observed in all nations , though never so farre distant , and strangers one to another , that in their reckoning of numbers , when they come to ten , they return to their addition of 1. 2. and 3. again . if it should be demanded , how they did all come to agree upon this kind of arithmetick ; and not some place their period at 8. some at 12. some at 15 ? i suppose this could not be better resolved , than by saying they had this by tradition from the first fathers that lived before the dispersion ; and that this is not an improbable evidence of that truth propounded by the apostle unto the philosophers of athens , acts 17. 26. that god made of one bloud all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth . how more when we finde a farre greater agreement among the nations , in the computation of the seven dayes of the week ( the self-same day , which is accounted the first by one , being in like manner reckoned so by all ; notwithstanding , that great variety of differences : which is betwixt them in the ordering of their years and moneths : ) how much more strongly , i say , may we conclude from hence , that the tradition of the seventh day was not of moses , but of the fathers , and did not begin with the common-wealth of israel , but was derived unto all nations by lineal descent from the sons of noah ? adde hereunto that those heathens , who were strangers from the common-wealth of israel , though they made not the seventh day as festival as the jews did ; yet did they attribute some holinesse to it , and gave it a peculiar honour above the other dayes of the week ; wherein they retained some relicks , and preserved still some clear foot-steps of the first institution . quinetiam populi jam * olim , saith josephus , ( sub fin . lib. 2. contra apion . ) multùm nostram pietatem aemulantur : neque est civitas graecorum ulla usquàm aut barbarorum , nec ulla gens , ad quam septimanae , in qua vacamus , consuetudo minimè pervenerit ; jejuniaque & candelabra accensa , &c. of which rite of lighting of candles , or lamps rather , mention also is made by seneca in his 95 th . epistle : accendere aliquam lucernam sabbathis prohibeamus ; quoniam nec lumine dii egent , & ne homines quidem delectantur fuligine . and by tertullian lib. 1. ad nation . cap. 13. where he noteth also those to be the sabbaths observed by the nations , saying thus unto them . qui solem & diem ejus nobis exprobratis , agnoscite vicinitatem : non longè à saturno & sabbatis vestris sumus , wherein though their devotion were somewhat like 〈◊〉 of the jewes , ( which is all that those words of josephus do import ; multum nostram pietatem aemulantur , ) yet that it was not done by any late imitation of them , or with any relation at all to their observance ; that other place of tertullian doth seem to evince , in the 16 th . chapter of his apologeticum . aequè si diem solis laetitiae indulgemus , aliâ longè ratione quàm religione solis ; secundo loco ab eis sumus qui diem saturni otio & victui decernunt , exorbitantes & ipsi à judaico more , a quem ignorant . and that they did not celebrate their satturdayes , with that solemnity wherewith themselves did their annuall festivities , or the jewes their weekly sabbaths , may appear by the words of this same author , in the 14 th . chapter of his book de idololatriâ , thus speaking unto the christian , ( who observed 52 lords dayes every year , whereas all the annual festivities of the pagans put together , did come short of fifty . ) ethnicis semel annuus dies quisque festus est ; tibi octavo quoque die . excerpe singulas solemnitates nationum , & in ordinem texe ; pentecosten implere non potuerunt . and yet , as i said , that they accounted satturday more holy , and requiring more respect from them than the other ordinary dayes of the week , may be seen by that of tibullus . eleg. 3. lib. 1. aut ego sum causatus aves , aut omina dira . saturni sacra me tenuisse die . and that of lucian , a in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of boyes getting leave to play 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and that of aelius lampridius , touching alexander severus , using to go unto the capitols and other temples , upon the seventh day . whereunto we may adde those verses of the ancient greek poets , alleadged by clemens alexandrinus , ( lib. 5. stromat . ) and eusebius ( lib. 13. praeparat . evangelic . ) which plainly shew that they were not ignorant , that the works of creation were finished on the seventh day , for so much doth that verse of linus intimate . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that of homer . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that of callimachus . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the israelites , by the law of moses , were not only to observe their weekly sabbath every seventh day , but also their feast of weekes once in the year : which although by the vulgar use of the jewish nation it may now fall upon any day of the week , yet do the samaritans untill this day constantly observe it on the first day of the week ; which is our sunday , for which they produce the letter of the law , levit. 23. 15 , 16. where the feast of the first fruits ( otherwise called pentecost , or the feast of weeks ) is prescribed to be kept the morrow after the seventh sabbath ; which not they onely , but also amongst our christian interpreters , isychius and rupertus do interpret to be the first day of the week . planiùs , saith isychius , legislator intentionem suam demonstrate volens , ab altero die sabbati memor ari praecepit quinquaginta dies : dominicum diem proculdubiò volens intelligi . hic enim est altera dies sabbati , ( in hâc enim resurrectio facta est ) qua hebdomadae numerantur septem , usque ad alterum diem expletionis hebdomadae . dominicâ rursus die pentecostes celebramus festivitatem , in quâ sancti spiritus adventum meruimus . a where you may observe by the way , that although this authour made a little bold to strain the signification of altera dies sabbati , ( which in moses denoteth no more than the morrow after the sabbath ) yet he maketh no scruple to call the day of christs resurrection another sabbath day , as in the councel of friuli also ( if i greatly mistake not the matter ) you shall find satturday called by the name of sabbatum ultimum and the lords day of sabbatum primum , ( with some allusion perhaps to that of st. ambrose , in psal. 47. ubi dominica dies caepit praecellere , quâ dominus resurrexit ; sabbatum , quod primum erat secundum haberi caepit à primo , ) not much unlike unto that , which dr. b heylin himself noteth out of scaliger of the aethiopian christians ; that they call both of them by the name of sabbaths : the one the first , the other the latter sabbath ; or in their own language , the one sanbath sachristos , ( i. e. ) christs sabbath , the other sanbath judi , or the jews sabbath . but touching the old pentecost it is very considerable , that it is no where in moses affixed unto any one certain day of the moneth , as all the rest of the feasts are : which is a very great presumption , that it was a moveable feast , and so c varied , that it might alwayes fall upon the day immediately following the ordinary sabbath . and if god so order the matter , that in the celebration of the feast of weeks the seventh should purposely be passed over , and that solemnity should be kept upon the first : what other thing may we imagine could be praesignified thereby , but that under the state of the gospel the solemnity of the weekly service should be celebrated upon that day ? that on that day the famous pentecost in the 2. of the acts was observed , is in a manner generally acknowledged by all : wherein the truth of all those that went before being accomplished , we may observe the type and the verity , concurring together in a wonderfull manner . at the time of the passeover christ our passeover was slain for us : the whole sabboth following he rested in the grave . the next day after that sabbath , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or sheaf of the first fruits of the first ( or barly ) harvest was offered unto god ; and christ rose from the dead , and became the first fruits of them that slept ; many bodies of the saints that slept , arising likewise after him . from thence was the count taken of the seven sabbaths ; and upon the more after the seventh sabbath ( which was our lords day ) was celebrated the feast of weeks , the day of the first fruits of the second ( or wheat ) harvest : upon which day the apostles having themselves received the first fruits of the spirit , begat three thousand soules with the word of truth , and presented them as the first fruits of the christian church unto god , and unto the lamb. and from that time forward doth waldensis note that the lords day was observed in the christian church in the place of the sabbath . quia inter legalia ( saith he ) tunc sublata sabbati castodia fuit unum , planum est tunc intrâsse dominicam loco ejus : sicut baptisma statim loco circumcisionis . adhuc enim superstes erat sanctus johannes , qui diceret : et fui in spiritu die dominicâ , apocal. 1. cùm de dominicâ die ante christi resurrection nulla prorsùs mentio haberetur . sed statim post missionem spiritus sancti , lege novâ fulgente , in humano cultu sublatum est sabbatum ; & dies dominicae resurrectionis clarescebat dominica . the revelation exhibited unto st. john upon the lords day ; is by irenaeus ( in his fifth book ) referred unto the empire of domitian , or , as s. hierome in his catalogue more particularly doth expresse it , to the fourth yeare of his reigne : which answereth partly to the forty ninth , and partly to the ninty fifth year of our lord , according to our vulgar computation ; and was but eleven or twelve yeares before the time , when ignatius did write his epistles . of whom then should we more certainly learn , what the apostle meant by the lords day , then from ignatius ? who was by the apostles themselves ordained bishop of that church , wherein the disciples were first called christians ; and in his epistle to the magnesians clearly maketh the lords day to be a weekly holy day , observed by christians , in the room of the abrogated sabbath of the jews : than which , can we desire more ? but here you are to know , beside the common edition , wherein the genuine epistles of ignatius are fouly depraved by a number of beggarly patches added unto his purple by later hands ; there is an ancient latine translation to bee found in the library of caies colledge in cambridge ; which , although it be very rude , and corrupt both in many other , and in this very same place also of the epistle to the magnesians ; yet is it free from these additaments , and in many respects to be preferred before the common greek copy , as well because it agreeth with the citations of eusebius , athanasius , and theodoret , and hath the sentences vouched by them out of ignatius ( and particularly that of the eucharist , in the epistle to the smyrnians ) which are not at all to be found in our greek ; and hath in a manner none of all those places in the true epistles of ignatius , against which exception hath been taken by our divines : which addeth great strength to those exceptions of theirs , and sheweth that they were not made without good cause . now in this translation there is nothing to be found touching the sabbath , and the lords day in the epistle to the magnesians , but these words only . non ampliùs sabbatizantes , sed secundùm dominicam viventes , in quâ , & vita nostra orta est ; whereunto these of our common greeke may be made answerable . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . all those other words alleadged by dr. heylin , ( part . 2. pag. 43. ) to prove that ignatius would have both the sabbath and the lords day observed , being afterwards added by some later grecian ; who was afraid that the custome of keeping both dayes observed in his time should appear otherwise to be directly opposite to the sentence of ignatius , whereas his main intention was to oppose the ebionites of his owne time : who , as eusebius witnesseth in the third book of his ecclesiasticall history , did both keep the sabbath with the jewes , and also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . by whose imitation of the church herein , the antiquity of the observation of the lords day may be further confirmed : ebion being known to have been st. paul's antagonist ; and to have given out of himself , that he was one of those that brought the prices of their goods , and laid them down at the apostles feet : as the universality of the observance may be gathered by the argument drawn from thence by eusebius towards the end of his oration of the praises of constantine ) to prove the preeminency of our saviour christ , above all the gods of the heathen : because this prescript of his touching the celebration of this day was admitted and submitted unto , not within the dominions of constantine onely , but also throughout the compasse of the whole world . * quis n. ( saith he ) cunctis totius orbis terrarum incobis , seu terra seu mari illi sint , praescripserit ut singulis septimanis in unum convenientes diem dominicum festum celebrarent ; instituentque ut sicut corpora pascerent cibariis , sic animos divinis disciplinis refi●erent ? we see then that the doctrine , which the true ignatius received immediately from the hands of the apostles , was the very same with that was delivered by the fathers of the councel of laodicea , about 250 years after , ( for the profs produced by the authours , to whom my a lord of eli , pag. 73. refereth us , for having it to be held before the first nicene , are nothing worth . ) non oportet christianos judaizare & in sabbatho otiari ; sed ipsos eo die operari , diem autem dominicum praeferentes otiari ( si modo possint ) ut christianos : the contrary whereunto pope gregory the first ( in registr . lib. 11. epist. 3. esteemeth to bee the doctrine of the preachers of antichrist : qui veniens , diem dominicum & sabbatum ab omni opere faciet custodiri : which my lord of eli , pag. 219. ) rendreth ; upon the old sabbath-day , or upon the sunday : by a strange kinde of mistake turning the copulative into a disjunctive . a letter of doctor twisse to the lord primate , thanking him for the former letter , and his book de primordiis , brit. eccles. the history of goteschalcus , &c. where the honour and respect he gives him is exemplary , unto others . most reverend father in god , i was very glad to hear of your grace his coming over into england ; and now i have a faire opportunity to expresse my thankfull acknowledgement of that great favour wherewith you were pleased to honour me , in bestowing one of your books upon me , de origine britannicarum ecclesiarum ; which i received from sir benjamin rudierd in your grace his name , about the end of summer last , wherein i do observe not onely your great learning and various reading manifested at full , but your singular wisdom also in reference to the necessitous condition of these times ; taking so fair an occasion to insert therein , the history of the pelagian heresie , so opportunely coming in your way . your history of goteschalcus was a piece of the like nature , which came forth most seasonably ; we know what meetings there were in london thereupon by some ; and to what end , to relieve the reputation of vossius , who laboured not a little when he was discovered to have alleadged the confession of pelagius , for the confession of austin : as also in fathering upon the adrametine monkes , the original of the praedestinarian heresie : i was at that time upon answering corvinus his defence of arminius , and had dispatcht one digression upon the same argument , and in the issue concluded that it was but a trick of the pelagians to cast the nick-name of the praedestinarian heresie , upon the orthodox doctrine of st. austine : but upon the coming forth of your goteschalcus , i was not onely confirmed therein , but upon better , and more evident grounds , enabled in a second digression to meet with the dictates of — who endeavoured to justifie the conceit of vossius , but upon very weak grounds . thus i have observed with comfort the hand of god to have gone along with your grace , for the honouring of the cause of his truth , in so precious a point as is the glory of his grace . and i nothing doubt , but the same hand of our good god will be with you still , and his wisdome will appear in all things you undertake , whether of your own choice , or upon the motion of others : there being never more need of hearkening unto , and putting in practice our saviours rule , be ye wise as serpents , and innocent as doves . and have i not as great cause to return your grace most hearty thanks , for the kind letters i received in answer to the motions i was emboldned to make ; had it been but onely to signifie the great satisfaction i received thereby in divers particulars , but especially in two principal ones ; the one , the mystery of the feasts of first fruits opened to the singular advantage of the honour of the lords day in the time of the gospel , the other , in correcting ignatius by a latine manuscript of caies colledge ; which since i have gotten into my hands , and taken a copy thereof , and have caused it to be compared with two other copies , manuscripts in oxford , the one in magdalene , the other in baliol colledge library ; i take no small comfort in the hope i conceive of seeing your grace before your departure into ireland , i heare of a purpose your grace hath to see oxford , and abide some time there , the lord blesse you , and keep you , and make his face to shine upon you . newberry may 29. 1640. yours in all observance , desiring to sit at your grace his feet . william twisse . mr. chambers of clouford by bath , hath long ago answered dr. heylines history of the sabbath , but knowes not how to have it printed . a clause in a letter of the primates , to mr. ley , of the sabbath . for mine own part , i never yet doubted but took it for granted ; that as the setting of some whole day apart for gods solemne worship was juris divini naturalis , so that this solemne day should be one in seven , was juris divini positivi , recorded in the fourth commandement . and such a jus divinum positivum , here i mean , as baptisme and the lords supper are established , both which lie not in the power of any man , or angel to change , or alter , wherein me thinks , your second position is a little too waterish , viz. that this doctrine rather then the contrary is to be held the doctrine of the church of england ; and may well be gathered out of her publick liturgy , and the first part of the homily concerning the place , and time of prayer . whereas , you should have said that this is to be held undoubtedly the doctrine of the church of england . for if there could be any reasonable doubt made of the meaning of the church of england in her liturgy , who should better declare her meaning , than self in her homily ? where she peremptorily declareth her minde . that in the fourth commandement god hath given expresse charge to all men , that upon the sabbath day , which is now our sunday , they should cease from all weekly and work-day labour , to the intent , that like as god himself wrought six dayes , and rested the seventh , blessed and sanctified it , and consecrated it to rest , and quietnesse from labour , even so gods obedient people should use the sunday holily , and rest from their common , and daily businesse , and also give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of gods true religion and service ; than which , what could you devise to say more your self ? for the further maintenance of which doctrine , i send you herewith a treatise , written by a a learned man ( now with god ) against theophilus brabourn ; who gave occasion to the raising up of these unhappy broiles ; which , if it may any way conduce to the furtherance of your more exact treatice , &c. i shall be very glad , and be ready to , &c. part of a letter of the primates , to an honourable person , not long after the coming forth of doctor heylins book ▪ of the history of the sabbath , which i found wrote in the same paper with the former . as for dr. heylins a relation , concerning our articles of ireland , it is much mistaken . for first where he saith , they did passe when his majesties commissioners were imployed about the setling of the church , anno 1615. and chargeth them with this strict austerity ( as he termeth it ) in the prescript observation of the lords day , he sheweth himself very credulous , there having been no such commissioners here at that time , and our articles having been published in print divers years before the commissioners ( whom hee meaneth ) came hither , as sir nathaniel rich ( who was one of them himself ) can sufficiently inform you . secondly , where he saith , he is sure , that till that time the lords day had never attained such credit as to be thought an article of the faith , he speaks very inconsiderately . hee that would confound the ten commandements ( whereof this must be accounted for one , unlesse he will leave us but nine ) with the articles of the faith , he had need be put to learn his catechisme again : and he that would have every thing , which is put into the articles of religion ( agreed upon in the synod for the avoyding of diversity of opinions , and for the maintenance of peace , and uniformity in the church ) to be held for an article of the faith , should do well to tell us whether hee hath as yet admitted a the book of the ordination of bishops , and the two volumes of homilies into his creed , for sure i am he shall find these received in the articles of religion , agreed upon in the synod held at london , 1562. to which doctor heylen himself having subscribed , i wonder how he can oppose the conclusion , which he findeth directly laid down in the homily of the time and place of prayer in the fourth commandement , viz. god hath given expresse charge to all men that upon the sabbath-day which is now our sunday ( for these are the plain words of the homily , which the doctor with all his sophistry will never be able to elude ) they shall cease from all weekly , and week-day labour , to the intent thot like as god himselfe wrought six dayes , and rested the seventh , and blessed , and consecrated it to quietnesse , and rest from labour , even so gods obedient people should use the sunday holily , and rest from their common and daily businesse , and also give themselves wholly to the heavenly exercises of gods true religion and service . by the verdict of the church of england , i am sure the lords day had obtained such a pitch of credit , as nothing more could be left to the church of ireland in their articles , afterward to adde unto it . thirdly , he shameth not to affirm , that the whole book of the articles of ireland is now called , in ( which is a notorious untruth . ) and lastly , that the articles of the church of england , were confirmed by parliament in this kingdome , anno 1634. where it is well known that they were not so much as once propounded to either house of parliament , or ever intended to be propounded . the truth is , that the house of convocation in the beginning of their canons , for the manifestation of their agreement with the church of england , in the confession of the same christian faith , and the doctrine of the sacraments ( as they themselves professe ) and for no other end in the world , did receive and approve of the articles of england ; but that either the articles of ireland were ever called in , or any articles , or canons at all , were ever here confirmed by act of parliament , may well be reckoned among doctor heylins fancies . which shews what little credit he deserves in his geography , when he brings us newes of the remote parts of the world , that tells us so many untruths of things so lately , and so publickly acted in his neigbour nation . a confirmation of the latter clause in this letter of the primates , viz. that the articles of ireland ( determining the observation of the lords day ) were not called in anno 1634. as doctor heylin hath affirmed . doctor heylin , under the mask of an observator hath been already offended with me , for joyning in a certificate against what he hath related concerning the abrogating of the articles of ireland , which was done by the command of this most reverend primate in his life time , and since that , he hath been much more ; for my saying in his funeral sermon , some had rashly affirmed it , and that some such presumptious affections have been lately published , and stiling that person a presumptuous ( i may say also uncharitable ) observator , that should presume to enter into the lord primates breast , and aver that the abrogating of them ( to use his own term ) was the cause of his carrying a sharp tooth , bearing a grudge ( and that a mortal one ) towards the l. lieutenant strafford . the language with which throughout he pleaseth himselfe , might have been easily returned , but in regard such pen-combats are unseasonable , and unfitting betweene those of the same profession ( onely gratefull to the adversary of both ) i have left it to the prudence of a third person , who hath a convenient opportunity in his history to clear the whole , in the examination and moderation of all the passages between mr. l. strange and him . onely thus much upon this occasion , the observator is pleased to give me a share in his title-page , calling it a rescue from the back-blowes of dr. bernard ; indeed as to the person smitten , if they were any , they could be no other , for he then turned the back , and not the face , being an anonymus , and so appearing in that disguise , i might be excused as he was that smote a clergy man , riding without his priestly habit , a man that walks in the dark , may meet with a knock by such as mean him no harm . and indeed the apprehension of the authours disaffection so much expressed to this eminent , and pious primate in the endeavours thus to blemish him , ( whom the whole reformed church hath an high esteem of , ) gave it suspected , both to my self , and others to have been some jesuit , or agent of the sea of rome , though as yet , not any one ( as i hear of ) hath moved his tongue against that true israelite at his exit hence , and i am sorry to see his sole enemies to be those of his own house , and profession . but for the confirmation of what is here affirmed by the primate , that the articles of ireland were not called in , though his above-mentioned letter is sufficient to all uninteressed persons , yet for the readers more full satisfaction , i shall give you a brief narrative of the whole matter , being then a member of that convocation . first in the house of the clergy , which was then in the cathedrall of st. patricks dublin , there was a motion made for the reception anew of the articles of ireland , and all unanimous were for the affirmative , excepting two , who went out . another time the whole house of the clergy being called into the quire , where the bishops sate , and the same thing again propounded to them , they all stuck to their former vote , excepting seven . the intent of the whole clergy being by this sufficiently understood , and it appearing , there was no need of any such confirmation , having been an. 1615. fully and formally established , ( viz. signed by arch-bishop jones , chancelour of ireland , and then speaker of the house of the bishops in convocation , by the prolocutor of the house of the clergy in their names , and signed by the then lord deputy chichester , ( by order from king james in his name ) that motion was no more repeated , onely the primate was consulted with , concerning the approving and receiving of the articles of england also , to which he readily consented , there being no substantial difference between them , to which he had subscribed himself voluntarily , long before in england , and conceiving it to be without any prejudice to the other . hereupon the first canon ( being all that was done in relation to them ) was drawn up , the primate approved it , and proposed it selfe ( as president of the synod ) in the house of the bishops , commended it to the house of the clergy , where by his motion many assented the more readily , they all gave their votes , man by man , excepting one person , who suspended his , out of the suspition that some might make that construction , which is the observators conclusion . now the chief argument , which the observator ( if i may not call him dr. heylin ) spends himself upon , is from what he hath picked out of the words of the canon , where they do not onely approve , but receive the articles of england , from thence he inferres a superinducing of those , and so an abrogating of these of ireland . but i answer , there was not a reception of the one instead of the other , but the one with the other , and there being no difference in substance , but onely in method number of subjects determined , and other circumstantials , it argues no more an abrogation than that doth of the apostles creed , by our reception of the nicene creed and athanasius's , wherein some points are more enlarged , or that the reception into our use the form of the lords prayer , according to saint matthew , abrogates that of saint luke , being the shorter ; neither do i see , but if for the manifestation of our union with other reformed churches ; we should approve and receive their articles of religion , and they receive ours , it were no abrogating of either . and the difference in them being onely in circumstantials , and not in substance , all might be called one confession , that as of many seas one ocean , of many national churches one catholick church , so of many forms of canfessions , but one faith amongst them . that argument from the apostles speech of making void the old covenant by speaking of a new , or taking in the first day of the week to be the sabbath , instead of the last , when but one of the seven was to be kept , doth not fit the case : for in these there was a superinduction , and reception of the one for the other : but in the canon , the articles of england are received not instead , but with those of ireland . and that it was the sense then apprehended , not only by the primate , but by the other bishops ( at least divers of them ) appears in this , that afterwards at an ordination they took the subscription of the party ordained to both articles . and for further confirmation of this i shall give you the sense of a most eminent , learned , and judicious person , upon the view of what the observator rescued had written of it , i have received ( sayes he ) the book you sent me , and have perused it ; i see he will have the allowance of our articles of england , by the synod in ireland , to be a virtual disanulling of the irish confession ; which ( i conceive ) saith no more , but , that both confessions were consistent ; and the act of that synod not a revocation of the irish articles , but an approbation of ours , as agreeing with them ; he hath his flings at your sermon , preached at the lord primates funeral , but in truth , he wrongs himself and our church in those detractions from him . a letter of the late arch-bishop of armagh , and primate of ireland , to doctor bernard of grayes inne , containing his judgement of the ordination of the ministry in france and holland . i received this following letter from the late arch-bishop of armagh , not long before his death , which ( at the desire of some prudent men , and of different opinion in the subject of it ) i have been moved to publish , which indced was committed to me by him for that end , and i do it the rather now , in regard somewhat hath been mistaken in the discourse of it , to his prejudice on both sides : so that without breach of trust i could no longer detain it . the occasion of it was this , there was given me by an honourable person a writing , containg a report raised of the said arch-bishop concerning his judgement of the ordination beyond the sea , which he prayed me to send unto him , which is as followeth : mr. — asked the arch-bishop of armagh , upon occasion of an ordination , what he thought of them that were ordained by presbyters ? he said he judged their ordination to be null , and looked on them as lay-men . he asked him , what he conceived of the churches beyond the sea. the bishop answered , he had charitable thoughts of them in france . but as for holland , he questioned if there was a church amongst them , or not : or words fully to that purpose . this dr. — confidently reports . this paper according to the earnest desire of the said person , i sent inclosed to the lord primate , being then out of town , from whom immediately i received this answer , containing his judgement of the ordination of the ministery of the reformed churches in france , and holland , as followeth . touching mr. — i cannot call to mind that he ever proposed unto me the questions in your letter inclosed , neither do i know the doctor — who hath spread that report ; but for the matter it self , i have ever declared my opinion to be , that episcopus & presbyter , gradu tantum differunt , non ordine ; and consequently , that in places where bishops cannot be had , the ordination by presbyters standeth valid , yet on the other side holding as i do , that a bishop hath superiority in degree above a presbyter , you may easily judge that the ordination made by such presbyters , as have severed themselves from those bishops , unto whom they had sworne canonical obedience , cannot possibly by me be excused from being schismatical ; and howsoever , i must needs think that the churches , which have no bishops , are thereby become very much defective in their government , and that the churches in france , who , living under a popish power , cannot do what they would , are more excusable in this defect than the low-countries that live under a free state : yet for the testifying my communion with these churches ( which i do love and honour as true members of the church universal . ) i do professe that with like affection , i should receive the blessed sacrament at the hands of the dutch ministers , if i were in holland , as i should do at the hands of the french ministers , if i were in charentone . some animadvertisements upon the aforesaid letter , in prevention of any misinterpretations of it . 1. whereas in the former part of it , he saith , he hath ever declared his opinion to be , &c. i can witnesse it from the time i have had the happinesse to be known to him , it being not ( as some possibly might suggest ) a change of judgement upon the occurrences of latter years . 2. for that superiority onely in degree ; which , he saith , a bishop hath above a presbyter , it is not to be understood as an arbitrary matter at the pleasure of men , but that he held it to be of apostolical institution , and no more a diminution of the preheminencie and authority of episcopacy , than the denomination of lights given in common by moses , to all of them in the firmament ( genes . 1. ) detracts from the sun & moon , whom he calls the greater , and were assigned of god to have the rule of the rest ; though the difference between them be onely graduall , yet there is a derivative subordination , as the preheminence of the first-born , was but graduall , they were all brethren , but to him was given of god the excellency , or supremacy of dignity and power , to him they must bow , or be subject , and he must have the rule over them : and that this gradus is both derived from the pattern prescribed by god in the old testament ( where that distinction is found in the title of the chief priest , who had the rule of the rest , called by the lxx 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) and from the imitation thereof brought in by the apostles , and confirmed by christ in the time of the new ; the primate hath so fully confirmed in that learned tractate of his , of the originall of bishops , which he hath deduced from the apostolicall times ; that i know not what can be added ; and even for that higher gradus of a metropolitan , or arch-bishop , to have been also apostolicall , he hath , from the superscription of john , to the seven churches , ( each of which cities being metropolitical , and the rest of the cities of asia daughters under them ) given very strong probabilities , hard to be gain-said ; unto which ( as an excellent comment upon this letter ) i shall refer the reader . 3. that in this judgement of his he was not singular ; doctor davenant , that pious , and learned bishop of salisbury , consents with him in it . ( in his determinations , q. 42. produceth the principal pf the schoolmen , gulielmus parisiensis , gerson , durand , &c. episcopatus non est ordo praecisè distinctus à sacerdotio simplici , &c. non est alia potestas ordinis in episcopis quam presbyteris , sed inest modo perfectiori . and declares it to be the generall opinion of the schoolmen . episcopatum ut distinguitur à simplici sacerdotio non non esse alium ordinem ; sed eminentiorem quandam potestatem & dignitatem in eodem ordine sacerdotali , &c. and as he grants the bishop to have dignitatem altiorem , potestatem majorem , &c. so doth the primate in that he saith he hath a superiority in degree above a presbyter , and that the churches which have no bishops , are thereby become very much defective in their government ; both of them being farre from a parity . and whereas the primate saith , that in cases of necessity , where bishops cannot be had , the ordination by presbyters standeth valid , bishop davenaut concurres with him also : that where bishops were heretical , or idolatrous , and refuse to ordain orthodox ministers , that in such and the like cases he saith : si orthodoxi presbyteri ( ne pereat ecclesia ) alios presbyteros cogantur ordinare , ego non ausim hujusmodi ordinationes pronuntiare irritas , & innanes , &c. necessitas non inscitè lex temporis appellatur , & in tali casu defendat id ad quod coegit , and produceth the opinion of richardus armachanus ( one of this primates predecessors , and one of the most learned men in his time ) to be accordingly . armachani opinio est , quod si omues episcopi essent defuncti , sacerdotes minores possunt ordinare , & applies it to the like protestant churches , which the primate mentions . hac freti necessitate si ecclesiae quaedam protestantium quae ordinationes ab episcopis papistis expectare non poterant consensu presbyterorum suorum presbyteros ordinarunt , non inde episcopali dignitati praejudicasse , sed necessitati ecclesiae obtemperasse judicandi sint , thus much for bishop davenants concurrence , to which divers others might be added , as in speciall , doctor richard field sometimes dean of glocester , in his learned book of the church , lib. 3. cap. 39. and lib. 5. cap. 27. where this judgement of the primates , and this concurrence of bishop davenants is largely confirmed , without the least derogation from the preheminencie of episcopacy . but that book entituled , the defence of the ordination of the ministers of the reformed churches beyond the seas maintained by mr arch-deacon mason , against the romanists ( who wrote also a defence of episcopacy , and of the ministery of the church of england ) is sufficiently known , and i have been assured , it was not onely the judgement of bishop overal , but that he had a principal hand in it ; he produceth many testimonies . the master of the sentences , and most of the schoolmen , bonaventure , tho. aquinas , durand . dominicus , soto , richardus armachanus , tostatus , alphonsus à castro , gerson , petrus , canisius , to have affirmed the same , and at last quoteth medina , a principal bishop of the councel of trent , who affirmed , that jerome , ambrose , augustine , sedulius , primasius , chrysostome , theodoret , theophylact , were of the same judgement also . and i suppose there is none doubts , but that the primate joyned with arch-deacon mason in that conclusive wish of his , viz. that wherein the discipline of france , or holland is defective , they would by all possible means redresse , and reform it , and conforme themselves to the ancient custome of the discipline of christ , which hath continued from the apostles time , that so they may remove all opinion of singularity , and stop the mouth of malice it selfe , in a word , if the ordination of presbyters in such places where bishops cannot be had , were not valid , the late bishops of scotland had a hard task to maintain themselves to be bishops , who were not priests , for their ordination was no other , and for this , a passage in the history of scotland , wrote by the arch-bishop of saint andrews is observable , viz. that when tke scots bishops were to be consecrated by the bishops of london , ely , and bath , here at london house , an. 1609. he saith , a question was moved by doctor andrews , bishop of ely , touching the consecration of the scottish bishops , who , as he said , must first be ordained presbyters , as having received no ordination from a bishop . the arch-bishop of canterbury , doctor bancroft , who was by ; maintained , that thereof there was no necessity , seeing where bishops could not be had , the ordination given by the presbyters must be esteemed lawfull , otherwise that it might be doubted if there were any lawfull vocation in most of the reformed churches , this applauded to by the other bishops , ely acquiesced , and at the day , and in the place appointed , the three scottish bishops were consecrated by the above-said three english bishops , the arch-bishop of canterbury forbearing for another cause there mentioned . now though the ordination of presbyters in this case of necessity be granted to be valid , yet i have heard this learned primate wonder at the neglect found in the late presbyterian way of ordation , viz. that at imposition of hands , they neither used the ancient form of words , with which the first framers of it were themselves ordained , nor used any other to that sence in their room , at least there is no order , or direction for it . for suppose the words of our saviour to the apostles , ( john 10. 21 , 21. ) at their ordination were scrupled at , viz. receive the holy ghost , whose sins thou dost forgive are forgiven : and whose sins thou dost retain are retained , ( which rightly understood , gave no just cause ) yet why might not the next words have been continued ? viz. and be thou a faithfull dispenser of the word of god , and of his holy sacraments , in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost : or the other words upon the solemne delivery of the bible , into the hands of the person ordained ; take thou authority to preach the word of god , and to minister the holy sacraments in the congregation where thou shalt be so appointed . i can imagine no cause against the use of one of these , unlesse it be because they had been used there , as if in this sense , old things must be done away ; and all must be new . to impose hands ( according to the injunction of the apostle , and to have it accompanied with prayer and thanksgiving for the person , is well done ( wich in the former constitution was solemnly observed before , and after it ) but why should the formal transmitting of authority also in the name of christ for the power of officiating be left undone , if the scruple in the instrumental cause be satisfied , why might it not have been prevented in the formall , who might have freely given what they had received . now to give the seal of ordination ( as some please to call imposition of hands ) without any expresse commission annexed , or grant of authority to the person , the primate was wont to say , seemed to him to be like the putting of a seale to a blanck , which being so weighty a businesse , i wish prudent men would consider of , least in the future it arm the adversary with objections ; and fill our own with further scruples ; and so much ( far larger then i intended ) for the prevention of any offence , which might be taken at the one part of the letter . now for the other clause of his judgement , which he leaves unto me to judge , what in reason i might apprehend to be his , i leave it accordingly to the judgement of others : all that can give any offence , is that term of schisme . but in regard it is not directly determined , but onely that he could not be an advocate to excuse it ; and being delivered in that latitude , that it is dubious whether forreigne ( to which the question chiefly relateth ) or domestick , former times , or latter , may take the application . i shall not offend the reader with any larger apology , onely wherein any shall find themselves concerned , i wish such humble and meek spirits , that the admonition of so pious , and eminent a bishop , ( whose fame is throughout the churches ) might prevaile to the amendmeut of what hath been amisse among us . if i have abounded beyond my measure , to the hazard of the offence of both parties in these advertisements , let it be excused by the impartiality of it , and the unbyassed intention for the setling of truth and peace so shaken of later dayes . the primates judgement of severall subjects . the mifinterpretations , which have been already made of this most reverend and learned mate , of a change of judgement in him towards his latter end , ( which i have been moved here to vindicate ) giving it suspected to be the fore-runner of more of the like , which may be raised hereafter , i have been advised upon this occasion , both in answer to , and prevention of any other false rumours for the future to declare more fully what i did of him briefly in his funerall sermon , as to some particulars then whispering of him ( omitted at the presse , but not with my will , ) and i do it the rather in regard , as i was desired then by some of different judgement , to make an impartial relation of his there ( there each like israel and judah , for david , claiming an interest in him ) so finding that omission to be diversly interpreted to my censure , and conceived by some to be the occasion of those severall mistakes raised of him since , ( whereby , as ( praef . to disp . of sacram. ) mr. baxter complaines , the good bishop must now be what every one will say of him , one feigning him to be of one extreame , and the other of the other extreame ) which the publishing might have prevented , i have thought fit to discharge that trust reposed in me , both in relation to his doctrine and practice , and i know no person of more generall reputation , and more like to be an exemplary pattern in this his moderation , which i conceived fit to be known unto all men . the late arch-bishop of armagh , and primate of ireland , his judgement in matter of doctrine , discipline , and other subjects ; of which there have been some different opinions among others , and some misinterpretations of him . in doctrine he did fully approve the articles of religion of the church of england , as the same more enlarged in the articles of ireland : the discipline and constitutious of both , he did also approve . for the liturgy in the publick prayers , as while he lived at drogheda in ireland , they were constantly observed in his family , so he had them in estimation to his last ; and the last time he was in london upon the occasion of some rash groundlesse rumours raised of him to the contrary , ( to his no small grief ) he gave his judgement accordingly to an honourable person , wrote with his owne hand , which he shewed unto me ; he had constantly prayers in his family four times a day ; at six in the morning , and eight at night , they were such , wherein the gifts of those , who were his chaplains were exercised , but before dinner and supper in the chappel , was the forenamed also observed ; indeed he was not so rigid , as to tie all men in the private , to an absolute necessary use of it , or in the publike , that a sermon was not to be heard , unlesse that did precede ; and for the healing or preventing of those distractions and divisions , which have been among ministers as others , and the moderating of each extremity in relation to the use of it whereby there might be a return of that wished-for peace and unity , which of late years we have been strangers to , he conceived some prudent moderate accommodation might have been thought of ( and yet may ) by wise men , in order to the present continuance of the substantial part of it , ( each side yielding somewhat , after the example of saint paul in circumstantials ) which might have better borne the name of a reformation , than thus to have a totall suppression of it , whereby with the intention of gathering up the tares , the wheat hath been rooted up also . as for some arbitrary innovations , not within the compasse of the rule , and order of the book , he did not affect , and often wished they had not been introduced , as foreseeing the issue of it , what was commanded he readily observed , but did not take upon him to introduce any rite , or ceremony upon his own opinion of decency , till the church had judged it so ; and thought they most owned the book , who neither added , or diminished from the rule of it . and for bowing at the name of jesus , though he censured not those that did , either in our , or other reformed churches , according to the custome of each , yet he did not conceive the injunction of it could be founded upon that of the apostle , phil. 2. 10. and wondred at some learned mens assertions , that it was the exposition of all the fathers upon it , and as the wise composers of the liturgy gave no direct injunction for it there , so in ireland he withstood the putting of it into the canon , anno 1634. that a form of prayer , not only by way of direction , but punctually composed were fit to be had in the publike he was ever for , as much conducing to the benefit of the vulgar people , which are the major part of the nation , and especially in the administration of baptisme , and the communion , as well for the shunning and preventing the disorder , and scandalous confusion found in some mens performances of them , as the testifying of an unity and unanimity among us , which saint paul prefers as the more excellent way , before the variety of all spirituall gifts whatsoever . he often wished the judgement of calvine concerning it ( who was a wise and learned man ) in his letter to the l. protector of england , in edward the sixth's time , were more known than it is , in regard of his esteem with such , who have oppsed it , who doth a much approve that there should be a certain set form of prayer , from which it should not be lawfull for the pastors to depart in their function , both that some care might be had of the more simple , and ignorant sort , as also that the consent of all the churches within themselves might the more evidently appear . and lastly , for the prevention of the inconstant levity of some , who are affecters of novelty , and so adviseth to have a set catechisme , a set form of publick prayers , and administration of sacraments . he was for the ministers improving of their gifts , and abilties in prayer , before sermon and after , according to his own practice : but if that were done , he saw no reason why the other should be left undone ; the church of god being like a great family , whereein some being infants and children , as well as of full age , a provision must be had of milk , as stronger meat , and all ought to be equally taken care of , even the ignorant , and simpler sort , as well as those of greater education . for ordination , or an ordained ministery , such was his judgement of the necessity of it , that he took it to be a fundamental , and one of those principles of christian doctrine , ( hebr. 6. 2. ) called , laying on of hands ; the great neglect of which he much lamented , as fearing it would prove to be the undermining the foundation of our church , which mr. cartwright , in his a commentary upon the place , confirmes to the full , and in a higher expression , as if it were the overthrow of christianity . and yet , as you have heard , he was not so severe as to condemn , and disown the ministery of other reformed churches , or refuse communion with them , because in every particular , as to some persons usually ordaining , they were defective . for episcopacy , he was not wanting with saint paul to magnifie his own office , by two several tractates he hath published , ( none being more able to defend the ancient right of it ) for which he was by letters importuned , by some of the most eminent persons of his own profession , yet how humbly without any partiality to himself , and the eminent degree he had obtained in it , did he declare his judgement , is evident by the above-said tractates , and the letter before mentioned , and his prudence in the present accommodation of things in that treatise of his , viz. the reduction of it to the form of synodical government , for the prevention of that disturbance , which did afterwards arise about it , is as apparent also ; if others concerned in these transactions had been of that moderation , humility , and meeknesse , the wound given , might have been healed before it grew incurable . that the annual commemorations of the articles of the faith , such as the nativity , passion , resurrection , of our saviour , &c. were fit to be observed ( which saint augustine saith , in his time were in use through the whole catholick church of christ ) and is now in some reformed churches , as a means to keep them in the memory of the vulgar , ( according to the pattern of gods injunction to the israelites in the old testament , for the types of them ) appeared sufficiently to be his judgement , by his then constant preaching upon those subjects . the friday before easter ( i e. the resurrection , east in old saxon , signifying rising ) appointed for the remembrance of the passion of our saviour , he did duely at drogheda , in ireland , observe as a solemn fast , ( inclining the rather to that choice out of prudence , and the security from censure , by the then custome of having sermons beyond their ordinary limit in england ; ) when ( after the publick prayers of the church ) he first preached upon that subject , extending himselfe in prayer and sermon beyond his ordinary time , which we imitated , who succeeded in the duties of the day , and which being known to be his constant custome , some from dublin , as other parts , came to partake of it ; which most excellent sermons of his upon that occasion , he was by many godly religious persons importuned much for the publishing of them , and his strict observation of this fast was such , that neither before , or after that extraordinary paines would he take the least refreshment , till about six a clock , and which did not excuse him from preaching again on easter day , when we constantly had a communion . that tractate of his , entitled , the incarnation of the son of god , was the summe of two , or three sermons , which i heard him preach at drogheda , at that festivall , when we celebrate the birth of our saviour . that he was for the often publike reading of the ten commandements , and the creed , before the congregation , according to the custome of other reformed churches , i suppose none can doubt of , and not onely that , which is commonly called the apostles creed , but the nicene and athanasius , his book of the three creeds sufficiently perswade it . what his judgement was of the use of the lords prayer , his practice shewed it in the constant concluding of his prayer before sermon with it . and his approbation of that gesture of kneeling at the communion was often apparent before many witnesses . for confirmation of children ( which calvine , beza , piscator , and others do much commend , and wish it were restored among them ) he was not wanting in his observation , as an ancient laudable custome , by which was occasioned the more frequent having in memory the principles of religion , with the yonger sort . at his first publike giving notice of the time of that his intention , ( it having been long disused in ireland ) he made a large speech unto the people of the antiquity of it , the prudence of the first reformers in purging it from popish superstitions , with the end of it , and then such youths presented to him , who could repeat the publike catechisme were confirmed , and so often afterwards , and indeed the apprehension of his piety and holinesse moved the parents much , to desire that their children might by him receive that benediction , which was seconded with good , and spiritual instruction , that stuck to them when they came to further yeares . the publike catechisme , containing the summe of the creed , the 10. commandements , the lords prayer , and doctrine of the sacraments , despised by some for its plainnesse , he thought therefore to be the more profitable for the vulgar ; and at drogheda in ireland , gave me orders every lords day in the afternoon , ( beside the sermon which was not omitted ) to explain it . he was very exemplary in the careful observation of the lords day in his family ; the sermon preached by him in the forenoon , being constantly repeated in the chappel by his chaplain , about five of the clock in the afternoon , unto which many of the town resorted . for habits , he observed such , which were accustomed by those of his profession ; for the organ , and the quire , he continued them as he found them in use before him . and as in all things , so in his ordinary wearing garments , he was a pattern of gravity , approving much of a distinctive apparel in the ministery that way . lastly , for the ecclesiastical constitutions of ireland , as he was in an. 1634. ( being then the primate ) the chief guide in their establishment , so before he was a bishop , an. 614. being then a member of the convocation , he was employed as a principal person for the collecting , and drawing up such canons as concerned the discipline , and government of the church , and were to be treated upon by the arch-bishops and bishops , and the rest of the clergy of ireland , ( divers taken out of the statutes , queen elizabeths injunctions , and the canons of england , 1571. ) which i have lately found , written then with his own hand . the two first of which being in these words . 1. that no other form of liturgy , or divine service , shall be used in any church of this realm ; but that , which is established by law , and comprized in the book of common-prayer , and administrations of sacraments , &c. 2. that no other form of ordination shall be used in this nation , but which is contained in the book of ordering of bishops , priests , and deacons , allowed by authority , and hitherto practized in the churches of england , and ireland , make it apparent that his judgement concerning many of the above-mentioned subjects , was the same in his yonger , as elder years . and yet notwithstanding all this , there were alwayes some , and still are too many , who are apt to blurre him with the title of a puritane , ( which is is one occasion of this enlargement ) though in none the sense of it is more uncertain then in his application , and from none a greater lustre would be given unto it than by his reflexion . in whom , with his conformity to the discipline , liturgy , and articles of the church of england , labour in writing , constancy in preaching against the errours of popery , and such as border upon it , so much humility , holinesse , and charity , and other fruits of the spirit did so eminently shine . indeed i have seen divers letters , wrote unto him from those , who heretofore were so aspersed , full of respect , and large expressions of their love to him , and many receiving satisfaction , have concurred with him in the abovesaid particulars , his humility and meeknesse prevailing more then others strict austerity , but how that said title could be fixed on him , i am yet to seek , unlesse it bear a better sense than the authours of it will own . nay , some of the simpler sort , hearing of a conjunction of popery and prelacy , have thought they could not be parted in him , though most of his sermons , as well as his writings , sufficiently clear him that way . i remember many yeares agone , the late arch-bishop of canterbury wrote unto him into ireland , of a strong rumour then raised of him here at court , that he was turned a papist ( presumed to be by a letter of some popish priest from thence . ) but it fell out to be at the same time , or immediately after he had in two learned sermons given his judgement at large , that the papacy was meant by babylon , in the 17 , and 18 , of the revelation , which in the return of his answer to that report he did affirm , and was his judgment to his last , though the reply made to him did not consent in that . i am not a stranger to such a design of some of the romish party , a little before his death , for the raising of the like rumour , by some letters wrote unto him from some of eminency among them , which i disdain any further to mention . and thus upon this occasion i have endeavoured to prevent for the future , any more injurious mistakes of him , by an impartial declaring , according to my knowledge , his judgement , and practice in these particulars , wherein he may well be esteemed of us ( as erasmus saith of saint augstine ) vividum quoddam exemplar episcopi , omnibus virtutum numeris absolutum . and i wish in these divided times , wherein each party hath a great , and a reverend opinion of him , they would shew it in this , by taking his spirit of moderation for their copy to write after , and for my own part , i would to god not only they , but also all that read , or hear this of him , were both almost , and altogether such as he was . the reduction of episcopacy unto the form of synodical government , received in the ancient church : by the most reverend and learned father of our church dr. james usher , late arch-bishop of armagh , and primate of all ireland . proposed in the year 1641. as an expedient for the prevention of those troubles , which afterwards did arise about the matter of church-government . published by nicholas bernard . d. d. preacher to the honourable society of grayes-inne , london . london , printed , anno domini . 1658. to the reader . the originall of this was given me by the most reverend primate , some few years before his death , wrote throughout with his own hand , and of late i have found it subscribed by himself , and doctor holseworth , and with a marginal note at the first proposition , which i have also added . if it may now answer the expectation of many pious , and prudent persons , who have desired the publishing of it , as a seasonable preparative to some moderation in the midst of those extreams , which this age abounds with , it will attain the end intended by the authour : and it is likely to be more operative , by the great reputation he had , and hath in the hearts of all good men , being far from the least suspicion to be byassed by any privivate ends , but onely ayming at the reducing of order , peace , and unity , which god is the authour of , and not of confusion . for the recovery of which , it were to be wished , that such as do consent in substantials , for matter of doctrine , would consider of some conjunction in point of discipline , that private interest and circumstantials , might not keep them thus far asunder . grayes-inne , octob. 13. 1657. n. bernard . the reduction of episcopacy unto the form of synodical government , received in the ancient church ; proposed in the year 1641 , as an expedidient for the prevention of those troubles , which afterwards did arise about the matter of church-government . episcopal and presbyterial government conjoyned . by order of the church of england , all presbyters are charged a to administer the doctrine and sacraments , and the discipline of christ , as the lord hath commanded , and as this realme hath received the same ; and that they might the better understand what the lord had commanded therein , b the exhortation of saint paul , to the elders of the church of ephesus is appointed to be read unto them at the time of their ordination ; take heed unto your selves , and to all the flock among whom the holy ghost hath made you overseers to c rule the congregation of god , which he hath purchased with his blood . of the many elders , who in common thus ruled the church of ephesus , there was one president , whom our saviour in his epistle unto this church in a peculiar manner stileth d the angell of the church of ephesus : and ignatius in another epistle written about twelve yeares after unto the same church , calleth the bishop thereof . betwixt the bishop and the presbytery of that church , what an harmonius consent there was in the ordering of the church-government , the same ignatius doth fully there declare , by the presbytery , with e saint paul , understanding the community of the rest of the presbyters , or elders , who then had a hand not onely in the delivery of the doctrine and sacraments , but also in the administration of the discipline of christ : for further proof of which , we have that known testimony of tertullian in his general apology for christians . f in the church are used exhortations , chastisements , and divine censure ; for judgement is given with great advice as among those , who are certain they are in the sight of god , and in it is the chiefest foreshewing of the judgement which is to come , if any man have so offended , that he be banished from the communion of prayer , and of the assembly , and of all holy fellowship . the presidents that bear rule therein are certain approved elders , who have obtained this honour not by reward , but by good report , who were no other ( as he himself intimates ) elsewhere but g those from whose hands they used to receive the sacrament of the eucharist . for with the bishop , who was the chiefe president ( and therefore stiled by the same tertullian in another place , h summus sacerdos for distinction sake ) the rest of the dispensers of the word and sacraments joyned in the common government of the church ; and therefore , where in matters of ecclesiasticall judicature , cornetius bishop of rome used the received forme of i gathering together the presbytery ; of what persons that did consist , cyprian sufficiently declareth , when he wisheth him to read his letters k to the flourishing clergy : which there did preside , or rule with him : the presence of the clergy being thought to bee so requisite in matters of episcopall audience , that in the fourth councell of cartbage it was concluded , l that the bishop might hear no mans cause without the presence of 〈◊〉 ●lergy : and that otherwise th● 〈…〉 sentence should be void , u●●●sse it were confirmed by the presence of the clergy : which we find also to be inserted into the canons of m egbert , who was arch-bishop of york in the saxon times , and afterwards into the body of the n cannon law it self . true it is , that in our church this kinde of presbyterial government hath been long disused , yet seeing it still professeth that every pastor hath a right to rule the church ( from whence the mame of rector also was given at first unto him ) and to administer the discipline of christ , as well as to dispense the doctrine and sacraments , and the restraint of the exercise of that right proceedeth onely from the custome now received in this realm ; no man can doubt , but by another law of the land , this hinderance may be well removed . and how easily this ancient form of government by the united suffrages of the clergy might be 〈◊〉 again , and with what 〈…〉 of alteration the synodical conventions of the pastors of every parish might be accorded with the presidency of the bishops of each diocese and province , the indifferent reader may quickly perceive by the perusal of the ensuing propositions . i. in every parish the rector , or incumbent pastor , together with the church-wardens and sides-men , may every week take notice of such as live scandalously in that cougregation , who are to receive such several admonitions and reproofs , as the quality of their offence shall deserve ; and if by this means they cannot be reclaimed , they may be presented to the next monethly synod ; and in the mean time debarred by the pastor from accesse unto the lords table . ii. whereas by a statute in the six and twentieth year of king henry the eighth ( revived in the first year of queen elizabeth ) suffragans are appointed to be erected in 26 several places of this kingdom ; the number of them might very well be conformed unto the number of the several rural deanries , into which every diocese is subdivided ; which being done , the suffragan supplying the place of those , who in the ancient church were called chorepiscopi , might every moneth assemble a synod of all the rectors , or incumbent pastors within the precinct , and according to the major part of their voyces , coclude all matters that shall be brought into debate before them . to this synod the rector and church-wardens might present such impenitent persons , as by admonitions and suspension from the sacrament would not be reformed ; who if they should still remain contumacious and incorrigible , the sentence of excommunication might be decreed against them by the synod , and accordingly be executed in the parish where they lived . hitherto also all things that concerned the parochial ministers might be referred , whether they did touch their doctrine , or their conversation ' as also the censure of all new opinions , heresies , and schismes , which did arise within that circuit ; with liberty of appeal , if need so require , unto the diocesan synod . iii. the diocesan synod might be held , once , or twice in the year , as it should be thought most convenient : therein all the suffragans , and the rest of the rectors , or incumbent pasters ( or a certain select number of of every deanry ) within the diocese might meet , with whose consent , or the major part of them , all things might be concluded by the bishop , or * saperintendent ( call him whether you will ) or in his absence , by one of the suffragans ; whom he shall depute in his stead to be moderator of that assembly . here all matters of greater moment might be taken into consideration , and the orders of the monthly synodes revised , and ( if need be ) reformed : and if here also any matter of difficulty could not receive a full determination : it might be referred to the next provincial , or national synod . iv. the provincial synod might consist of all the bishops and suffragans , and such other of the clergy as should be elected out of every diocese within the province , the arch-bishop of either province , might be the moderator of this meeting , ( or in his room some one of the bishops appointed by him ) and all matters be ordered therein by common consent as in the former assemblies . this synod might be held every third year , and if the parliament do then sit ( according to the act of a triennial parliament ) both the arch-bishops and provincial synods of the land might joyn together , and make up a national councel : wherein all appeals from infer●●ur synods might be received , all their acts examined , and all ecclesiastical constitutions which concerne the state of the church of the whole nation established . we are of the judgement that the form of government here proposed is not in any point repugnant to the scripture ; and that the suffragans mentioned in the second proposition , may lawfully use the power both of jurisdiction and ordination , according to the word of god , and the practice of the ancient church . ja. armachanus . rich. holdsworth . after the proposal of this , an. 1641. many quaeries were made , and doubts in point of conscience resolved by the primate , divers passages of which he heth left under his own hand , shewing his pious endeavours to peace and unity , which how far it then prevailed , is out of season now to relate , only i wish it might yet be thought of to the repairing of the breach , which this division hath made , and that those , who are by their office messengers of peace , and whose first word to cach house should be peace , would earnestly promote it , within the walls of their mother-church , wherein they were educated , and not thus by contending about circumstantials lose the substance , and make our selves a prey to the adversary of both , who rejoyce in their hearts , saying , so would we have it . which are the primates works , and which not . a catalogue of the works already printed of doctor james usher , late arch-bishop of armagh , and primate of all ireland , which are owned by him . in latine . de ecclesiarum christianarum successione & statu . quarto , londini , 1613. epistolarum hibernicarum sylloge , 4o. dublinii 1630. historia goteschalci , 4o. dublinii 1631. de primordiis ecclesiarum britanicarum , 4o. dublinii 1639. ignatii epistolae cum annotationibus , 4o. oxoniae 1645. de anno solari macedonum , 8o. londini 1648. annales veteris testamenti , fol. londini 1650. annales novi testamenti usque ad extremum templi & reipublicae judaicae excidium , &c. fol. londini 2654. epistola ad capellum de variantibus textus hebraici lectionibus , 4o. londinii 1652. de graeca septuaginta interpretum versione syntagma 4o. londini 1655. these four last are sold by john crook , at the ship in st. paul's church-yard . in english. an answer to a challenge made by the jesuite malone in ireland , anno 1631. a sermon preached before the house of commons , febr. 18. 1618. a declaration of the visibility of the church , preached in a sermon before king james , june 20. 1624. a speech delivered in the castle-chamber in dublin , the 22. of november , 1622. the religion profest by the ancient irish and brittains , 4o. 1631. these five are bound together in quarto . immanuel , or the incarnation of the son of god , 4o. dublin . 1639. a geographical description of the lesser asia , 4o. oxford , 1644. the judgement of doctor reynolds , touching the original of episcopacy more largely confirmed out of antiquity , an. 1641. his discourse of the original of bishops and metropolitanes , in 4o. oxford , 1644. his small catechisme re-viewed , 12o. london , 1654. ☞ his aforesaid annals of the old and new testament ; with the synchronismus of heathen story to the destruction of jerusalem , translated out of latin into english now at the presse , fol. to be sold by john crook , at the ship in st. pauls church-yard . in regard there have been , and are divers books printed , which go under the name of the late arch-bishop of armagh , but are not his , and more may be obtruded to the injury of him , i have thought fit , at the request of the printer , to give the reader this advertisement following . in anno● 1640. there was a book printed , entitled the bishop of armaghs direction to the house of parliament , concerning the liturgy and episcopal government , and anno 1641. another book entitled vox hiberniae , being some pretended notes of his , at a publick fast . both these at his petition were suppressed by order from the house of lords and commons , 11. feb. 1641. and i hope will not be revived . in anno 1651. a book called ( a method for meditation , or a manual of divine duties , which most injuriously is printed in his name , but is none of his , which he directed me then to declare publickly as from him , yet in 1657. it is again reprinted to his great dishonour . for his small catechisme the reader is to take notice , that there was a false one printed without his knowledge , and is still sold for his . the injury he received by it compelled him to review it , with an epistle of his own before it , which is the mark to know the right edition , though being framed for his private use in his younger yeares , ( about 23. ) he had no intention of it for the publick . if any sermon-notes taken from him have been printed in his life-time under his name , or shall be hereafter ) which divers have of late attempted ) the reader is to take notice that it was against his minde , and that they are disowned , by him , which as he endeavoured to his utmost to suppresse , while he was living , so it was his fear to be injured in it after his death . for a further confirmation of which , i shall give you part of a letter of his , while he was bishop of meath , ( upon the like intention of a printer , who had gotten into his hands some notes of his sermons , said to be preached by him in london , and was about to publish them ) which he wrote to doctor featly , chaplain to the then arch-bishop of canterbury for the stopping of them , in these words . i beseech you to use all your power to save me from that disgrace , which undiscreet and covetous men go about to fasten upon me , or else i must be driven to protest against their injurious dealings with me , and say as donatus once did , mala illis sit , qui mea festinant edere ante me . but i repose cenfidence in you , that you will take order that so great a wrong as this may not be done unto me . remember me to worthy doctor goad , and forget not in your prayers . dublin , sept. 16. 1622. your most assured loving friend , and fellow labourer j. a. medensis . that book entitled the summe and substance of christian religion , some of the materials with the method are his , collected by him in his yonger years , for his own private use : but , being so unpolished , defective , and full of mistakes , he was much displeased at the publishing of it in his name . and though it be much commended at home , and by ludovicus crocius abroad , yet that he did disown it as it is now set forth , this letter following , wrote to mr. john downham , ( who caused it to be printed ) doth sufficiently confirm , as followeth . sir , you may be pleased to take notice , that the catechisme you write of is none of mine , but transcribed out of mr , cartwrights catechisme , and mr. crooks , and some other english divines , but drawn together in one method , as a kind of common-place-book , where other mens judgements and reasons are simply laid down , though not approved in all points by the collector ; besides that the collection ( such as it is ) being lent abroad to divers in scattered sheets , hath for a great part of it miscarried , the one half of it as i suppose ( well nigh ) being no way to be recovered , so that so imperfect a thing copied verbatim out of others , and in divers places dissonant from mine own judgement , may not by any meanes be owned by me ; but if it shall seem good to any industrious person to cut off what is weak and superfluous therein , and supply the wants thereof , and cast it into a new mould of his own framing , i shall be very well content that he make what use he pleaseth of any the materials therein , and set out the whole in his own name : and this is the resolution of may 13. 1645. your most assured loving friend ja. armachanus . a book entituled confessions and proofs of protestant divines of reformed churches for episcopacy , &c. though it be a very learned one , yet it is not his ; onely that of the original of bishops and metropolitans ( frequently bound up with the former ) is owned by him . unto which he was earnestly moved by a letter from doctor hall , the late reverend and learned bishop of norwich , then bishop of exeter ; which , shewing the great esteem he had of him , is annexed as followeth . to the most reverend father in god , and my most honoured lord , the lord arch-bishop of armagh , and primate of ireland . most reverend , and my most worthily honoured , lord. that which fell from me yesterday , suddenly and transcursively , hath since taken up my after-midnight thoughts , and i must crave leave , what i then moved , to importune , that your grace would be pleased to bestow one sheet of paper upon these distracted times , in the subject of episcopacy , shewing the apostolical original of it , and the grounds of it from scripture , and the immediately succeeding antiquity ; every line of it coming from your graces hand , would be super rotas suas : as solomons expression is , very apples of gold , with pictures of silver , and more worth than volumes from us : think , that i stand before you like the man of macedon , and that you hear me say , come and help us : and as your grace is wholly given up to the common good of the church , say , whether you can deny it ? and if please your grace to take your rise from my humble motion to expresse your self in this question , wherein i am publickly interested , or otherwise , to professe your voluntary resolutions for the setling of many , either misled , or doubting soules , it will be the most acceptable , and ( i hope ) the most successefull work that your grace hath ever undertaken ; it was my earnest motion long ago to ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) to intreat this labour from your grace ; which now comes from my meannesse ; your gracious humility will not even from so low hands disregard it ; with my zealous suit , and hopefull expectation of a yeilding answer , i humbly take leave , and am your graces humbly , and heartily devoted jos. exon . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a64661-e5820 a calvinum criminantur jesuitae quod defendat deum , in primo instanti ante omnem praevis●●nem peccati , quosdam absolutè elegisse ad gloriam , alios destinâsse ad interitum . in secundo autem instanti , peccatum adami eo fine ordinâsse , ut justitiam suam erga reprobos , & misericordiam erga electos posset exercere . ( determ . q. 26. ) b verissimam calvini sententiam , hisce duabus proposicionibus contineri affirmo , &c. caecus est qui non videt in hisce locis substerni corruptam massam praedestinationis &c. subjectum esse tum electionis tum reprobationis , non causam , &c. ibid. c decretum praedestinationis non solum deereto lapsus permittendi , sed hominis creandi priùs & antiquiùs esse , &c. ibid. d hoc tantùm cupio ut indè perspiciatis , ipsos pontificios primarios esse hujus sententiae authores , quae negat hominem lapsum fuisse divinae praedestinationis subjectum . ibid. e illud sole clarius testimonium est , quod ex augustino desumptum affertur & probatur à calvino institut 3. c. 23. sect . 11. ibid. notes for div a64661-e7510 * rom. 9. 21s annotat. &c. notes for div a64661-e10060 * vid. augustin . praefat. in speculum . a edit . lindebreg . pag. 842. b ibid. pag. 373. a whether the proselyte , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were tied thereunto , is handled in the talmud of jerusalem , seder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , fol. 8. d of my edition . b compare with deut. 16. 12. 7. part. 1. cap. 4. pag. 83 , 84. pag. 90. a the variation of some rude american breaketh here no square no more than it doth in the unskilfull reckoning of their times . [ they being meer savages . * this word was not well left out by gomarus , in investigat . p. 123. the greek , s. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a upon these two words i ground the strength of the argument : which will hold , notwithstanding the correction of gottef●edus , out of that in libro , 1. ad nationes cap. 13. quod quidem facitis , exo●bitantes & ipsi à vestris ad altenas religiones . a oper. lucian . graec● lat . pag. 893. edit . paris . ann. 1615. isych . lib. 6. in levit. cap. 23. vid. lidya . de variis annorum formis , cap. 5. a i. consecuti sumus , ( juxta usum loquendi veterum . ) concil . forojuliens . cap. 13. b part. 2. cap. 2. pag. 19. 1. c against doctor heylin , part 2. cap. 1. pug . 14. 1 cor. 5. 7. levit. 23. 10 , 11. 1 cor. 15. 20. matth. 27. 52 , 53. levit. 23. 15 , 16 , 17. numb . 28. 26. exod. 34. 22. acts 2. 1 , 4 , 5 , 41. jam. 1. 18. revel . 14. 4. thom. waldens . doctrinal . tom. 3. tit. 16. c. 140. revel . 7. 10. acts 11. 26. a it may be the three first syll ables of this word were wanting in the greek copy , which the translator used ; & thence came his viventes . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a d. white . notes for div a64661-e14610 a mr. hely of perry . notes for div a64661-e14890 a hist. of the sabbath . part . 2. cap. 8. a these two here instanced were not by way of diminution , for he did highly approve of both , as being excellent composures , but because they are either for the most part to be reckoned among the agenda , rather then the credenda , or that in both there are some circumstantials observed , and exhorted unto , only for decency and order , according to the wisdom of the church , which come not within the compasse of the creed , as upon the view of them , without descending to particulars , may easily appear . notes for div a64661-e19620 a o quod ad formulam precum & rituum ecclesiasticorum valde probo , ut certa illa extet à qua pastoribus discedere in functione sua non liceat , tam ut consulatur quorundam simplicitati & imperitiae , quam ut certius it a constat omnium inter se ecclesiaerum consensus ; ●ostreme etiam ut obviam eatur desultoriae quorundam levitati , qui novationes quasdam affectant ; sic igitur statum esse catechismum oportet statam sacramentorum administrationem , publicam item precum formulam ; vid. ep. anno 1546. protectori angliae . a answer to the rhem. ●est notes for div a64661-e23280 a the book of ordination . b ibid. ex act. 20 , 27 , 28. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . so taken in mat. 2. 6. and rev. 12. 5. and 19. 15. d rev. 2. 1. e 1 tim. 4. 14. f ibidem etiam exhortationes , castigationes & censura divina ; nam & judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud cert●s de dei conspectu , summúnque futuri judicii praejudicium est , si qui● ita deliquerit , ut à communicatione orationis . & conventuss , & omnis sancti commecii relegetur ▪ praesident probati quique seniores , honorem istum non pretio , sed testimonio adepti . tertul . apologet. cap. 39. g 〈◊〉 de a●io ●um manibus quam praesidentium ●●mimus , id de corona ●ilitis , cap. 3. h dandi quidem raptis●i habet jus summus sacerdos ; qui 〈◊〉 episcopus : ●●hinc presbytari & diaco●i . id. de bapt. cap. 17. i omni actu ad ●e perlato placuit contrahi presbyterium , cornel apud cyp. epist. 46. k florentissimo alio cle●●●cum praesidenti cyprian epist. 55. ad cornel. l ut episcopus nullius causam audiet absque praesentia clericorum suorum , alioquin irrita erit sententia episcopi nisi clericorum praesentiâ confirmetur , concil . carthag . iv. cap. 23. m excerption . egberti , c. 43. n 15. q. 7. cap. nullus . how the church might synodically be governed , arch-bishops and bishops being still retained , * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , id est , superintendentes ; unde & nomen episcopi trastum est , hieron , epist. 86. ad evagrium . hugo grotius, of the government and rites of the ancient church, conciliation of grace and free will, certainty and assurance of salvation, government of the highest powers in church affairs in a letter to the states embassador. grotius, hugo, 1583-1645. 1675 approx. 68 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 27 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a42231 wing g2118 estc r34449 14443890 ocm 14443890 102345 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a42231) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102345) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1060:2) hugo grotius, of the government and rites of the ancient church, conciliation of grace and free will, certainty and assurance of salvation, government of the highest powers in church affairs in a letter to the states embassador. grotius, hugo, 1583-1645. barksdale, clement, 1609-1687. [4], 48 p. printed for the translator, london : 1675. translated from the latin by clement barksdale--nuc pre-1956 imprints. imperfect: pages stained. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng christianity -philosophy. theology, practical. 2007-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-06 pip willcox sampled and proofread 2008-06 pip willcox text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion hvgo grotivs of the government and rites of the antient church . conciliation of grace and free-will . certainty and assurance of salvation . government of the highest powers in church-affairs . in a letter to the states embassador . london , printed for the tr●●●lator , 1675. gerardus vossius . de idol . 1. 36. the most illustrious hugo grotius greater then all praise . dr. casaubon . i have always admired the wit and judgment of grotius , and have had a peculiar veneration for his writings . lege p●● . ult . exspired . to the right honourable sir robert viner lord maior of london . my lord , in remembrance of your worthy brother , our late dean of gloucester , i offer your lordship these brief discourses . in his study , i first met with that useful collection of ecclesiastical epistles , where this is exstant . at his house , under his favour , first came i into your knowledge . now , after his decease , his name , dear still to us who once enjoyed his learned , generous , and obliging converse , will add some grace unto these papers in your eye : and your name , my lord , worthily advanced to your high office , will make them acceptable to some of this great people under your government . i heartily wish , we may all translate into our minds the sedate and pacific temper of this author . a man above my praise . whose writings ( as it was said , in the last age , of his country-man the great erasmus ) are the delight of our learned world. if any reader please to dissent from the opinion of the excellent grotius , he may : but then he ought not to be displeased , if another dissent from him . a difference in some questions may well consist with christian charity . the encrease of this rare virtue is the design both of the author and the translator . god almighty , grant your lordship a year of peace : that you may see the state and church-affairs to flourish ; and pious men who now go under several new , to close in one and that the old and best denomination . your lordships faithful servant cl. barksdale . a letter of hugo grotius to the states embassador in france touching the government and rites of the antient church , the conciliation of grace and free-will , the government of the highest powers in church-affairs . sir , consulting with my self about an answer to the writing of the famous molinaeus , i return unto this epistolar office for some time intermitted . if i should say nothing , i should injure the truer opinions concerning the rites and government of the antient church , the conciliation of grace and free-will , the government of the highest powers in affairs ecclesiastical . all which , either by reason of his haste into england , or because his exact care of other controversies gave him no leisure to consider of these , were not handled by molinaeus according to his usual learning . truly , i am not glad he read that part of my letter , wherein i did with some freedom touch the maladies of the gallican churches : for there are few , that can patiently endure the handling of their ulcers . being offended herewith , he does me great injury in answering so , as if i disswaded the nearer union of the protestant churches , when as i have many years had the same wishes with him , and cease ●ot to do all the service i can to that end . but , from your epistle . most noble sir , what i writ had its rise , wherein you signified , the english embassador gave small hope of promoting that business . hence i took occasion to search after the causes , which might hinder so good a design . god grant my conjectures be not true . whether the reformed french have so much reverence for the highest powers as the english , these very times , i fear , will give too great an evidence . the king of great britain long since hath declared his judgment , that the too near equality of church-men will not consist with due obedience , and he hath been often heard to say : no bishop , no king. that in england , there is more respect given to the antient church then in france , i wonder any man will deny . in the canons of the anglican church written in the year 1571 i find this : the preachers shall have a special care that they deliver nothing in their sermons , but what is agreeable to the old and new testament , and which the catholick fathers and old bishops have collected t●ence , i much doubt ●hether the french ministers will receive this law . touching rites , i am sure the english liturgy , the imposition of hands at confirmation of baptized children , the authority of bishops , convocation of priests alone , and many like things agree well with the institutes of the more antient church , from which things we must needs confess in france and belgium they have receded . that he hath a better esteem of bishops and confirmation , i rejoyce but he is not ignorant , that some of his acquaintance call the one a device of satan , the other a note of antichrist : a sort of men , great enemies to the churches peace true it is which molinaeus affirms , peace may consist with different rites and disciplin : but then , great care must be had , that they prefer not their own too much above others , especially things lately invented above those which are received from antiquity . molinaeus imagins i meant cunningly to engage him in the belgic controversies : but i can religiously protest , i had no other purpose , but by your mediation to get the assistance of his councel for my self and others toward the making of peace . for , having formerly seen another writing of his , concerning concord to be made between protestants , the lutherans also included ; in which he clearly professeth , that many questions , not necessary to salvation , are to be laid aside : and namely , those moved by arminius , of predestination , of freewill , and of perseverance : i verily thought , he would propose such a form of doctrin therein as not to condemn the opinion , which i will not say arminius , but melanchthon liked best . he does indeed propose some theses , which he saith agree with the doctrin of austin , prosper , fulgentius , and the arausican council . but , they that differ from molinaeus will ask , why the authority of austin must be greater then of all the fathers , who lived in the elder and the purer times , i e , within 400 years after the birth of christ . from whom , what we have received , the king of great britain doth profess he will never condemn , and very many of us are of the same mind . now , all they nearest to the apostles age and their successors , many of them , both bishops and martyrs , held gods purpose , and predestination according to prescience : that he made some vessels of honor , some of dishonor , because he fore-saw the end of every one , and fore knew their will and deed under the aid of grace : as their books do testify , and prosper doth in plain words confess : this is the constant judgment of those fathers that the will is free in beleiving , yet not without the aid of divine grace . as to the arausican council , there is not any thing at all touching the question of predestination , whether it be with prescience , or by a decree without prescience : but anathema is pronounced against them , that say any men are by the divine law predestinate to evil . in the same it is said : grace to believe is conferd upon all that desire to be baptized , and , all the baptized are able to fulfil all things pertaining to salvation , by the help of christ . the most clear doctrins of prosper are these no man is predestinate to sin : from the unpredestinate also , original sin is taken away by baptismal grace , and he that denies it is no catholick : such as are not predestinate are therfore not predestinate , because they were foreknown what they would be . i. revolters without correction of penitence . all are rightly said to be redeemed , but not all delivered out of captivity : god would have all men to be saved , and to come to the knowledg of the truth but they that come , are directed by gods help ; they that come not , resist by their own pertinacy : and the word all is to be understood universally . there is given always to all men a certain measure of doctrin , though of more sparing and more secret grace , yet sufficient to some for remedy , to all for testimony ; or ( as it is else where explained , ) the grace of god is present to all men , by a various work and in a divers measure : help is given to all by innumerable ways , to all is afforded a measure of general aid ; it is their own wickedness whereby it is refused by many ; that it is by many received , is the work of divine grace and of humane will. this is the definition of fulgentius : god , to shew what he foreknew to be rendred , and what to be given , predestinated them to punishment , whom he fore new to depart from him by the pravity of their evil will ; and predestinated them to a kingdom , whom be foreknew to believe in him by the aid of preventing mercy , and to abide in him by the aid of subsequent mercy . out of austin many places might be alleged , even from his latter writings , wherein he declareth , that free-will is helped and amended by grace , not taken away . certainly , no diligent reader of the ancients will deny this : that austin himself , prosper , fulgentius , and as many catholick writers as were either before or after them , held and taught this doctrine : many justified and regenerated persons do not persevere in faith which worketh by love , and some fall irrecoverably . whether the things written by molinaeus do agree with these , let such as are skilful in them judge . this is manifest to me ; in the antient church it was the custom , to place in their creeds only those things , wherein catholick writers always had agreed , omitting such as approved authors had in doubt . and this way ( as to me it seemeth ) the arausican fathers took , and coelestinus , bishop of rome , with assent doubtless of the most learned priests then at rome ; and before these , the bishops who met at diospolis , at carthage , at milevis ; innocentius also , and zosimus , roman bishops all , consulted about these very controversies . whose modesty ( to speak with molinaeus ) it is far better to imitate , than to adhere stifly to preconceived opinions , or to pluck away from the unity of the church those who have probable reasons of a divers judgment in subtile controversies . but to believe that ignatius , irenaeus , iustin , cyprian , martyrs ; and then athanasius , basil , gregory nyssen , nazianzen , chrysostom , ambrose , ierom , are to be condemned by us , as injurious to gods grace , and as overthrowers of the saints confidence and consolation , that cannot i as yet induce into my mind . in the writing of molinaeus , i find many things right and sober ; nor doubt i , but if our ministers would imitate his prudence , we should have the church much more at peace than now it is . but the things which in reading , and reading again , came into my consideration , are as followerh . he sets down this as a most certain truth , many things are done necessarily which are done freely . i think not so . god , saith he , is necessarily good . this is true ; yet freely . this i cannot acknowledge : for , that is free which is undetermined to either side . but god is determined by his nature , i. by the deity it self to good . so that it involvs a contradiction to say ; he is god , and he can be not good . god cannot lye saith the apostle : therefore he is not free in not lying . true , god is ( sponte ) spontaneously veracious : but not all things that are done spontaneously , are done ( libere ) freely , as philosophers well note . many are deceived , by not discerning twixt the quality or general nature of action , and the single kinds thereof . god created man freely , redeemed him freely ; and freely , in this or that manner , declar'd his goodness . but this is not to be freely good , but to demonstrate his goodness freely so or so . and the devil does evil necessarily , since by a free act he cast himself into this necessity : nevertheless in vexing job , in tempting christ , he acteth freely : for he might be evil , and not do evil in that kind . likewise , a man sold under sin , sins necessarily , not freely : he cannot but sin : but he is an adulterer freely , a murtherer freely , a thief freely . nor can i grant , to the settling of liberty 't is sufficient to take away coaction : for nature is not less contrary to liberty than coaction is . this does outwardly determine , that inwardly , and therefore causes the thing done to be done not freely . neither is it free for a man , not to see , having his eyes open : because the nature of the eye and things visible is such , that he cannot chuse but see . but methinks they labour in vain , who study to reconcile things essentiall differing , such as are necessary and free ( for liberty is the mother of contingency ) by respects . that indeed seemeth to me most true , especially if we speak of the ordinary way of divine providence : in whatsoever manner god moveth our wills , yet hath the will its liberty , and things have their contingency , as molinaeus excellently saith . but he that saith so , must withall say ; the will is not moved by god in the way of predetermination , for , that cannot be free , which to one side is predetermined and limited by any of the causes , and chiefly by the first cause , upon whose efficacy depend all inferior causes in their working : nor can any thing be contingent of which it may be said ; 't is impossible for it not to be : but'tis impossible for the effect predetermined not to be , predetermination being granted . i do also approve that which molinaeus affirms : he is diservedly condemn'd , who abuseth the seeds naturally sown in him , and does not use them in what manner and how far he might have done . but what if he doth use the seeds in what manner and how far he is able , having the divine aid of that measure which unto none is denyed ? shall he be condemned nevertheless ? he cannot then be said to be condemned for abusing , if having rightly used them he be nevertheless condemned , molinaeus enquires , if any one , living in the most remote parts of the world , do make good use of the first grace , whether god will send a preacher to him , or an angel . suppose the answer be affirmative , i know not how it can be refuted . for the hand of the lord is not shortned . but he saith , it never comes to pass . how knows he that ? because we read it not . as if we had the histories of those nations ; or , if we had , the things befalling every particular person , as the sending of an angel , were wont to be related in histories ; when they use not often to come to the knowledge , no not of the next neighbours . and i see not how this can be deny'd to happen . did not god appear to abraham , living amongst the chaldeans ? did he not appear to abimelech ? if you say , these did not make a right use of common gifts : i ask a reason , why we should believe god would shew his power less to such as do make that use , than to such as do not . have not the prophets , have not the apostles preached the word to many nations , wherein were some persons , if not well using , certainly less contumaciously abusing common gifts . to cornelius the centurion , praying and giving alms ( which by grace one may do , who does not yet believe in christ , as austin expresly saith of cornelius ) there is sent both an angel and an apostle . who can assure us , god is less willing now to do so , or less able ? indeed , cornelius was already endued with the spirit of the law delivered by moses : but 't is confest , the law written in the hearts of men , and the law of moses , differ only in the manner of delivery , and the degree of clearness , not in substance : wherefore also this law the spirit is ready to assist , calling to repentance : and i see not how he may be refelled , who believes god will cumulate the use of this gift with greater , according to that general sentence , whosoever hath , i. makes use of former gifts , to him shall be given , i greater gifts shall be granted . neither is he guilty of a new opinion , who thinks so of the divine goodness . for 't is the saying of prosper : there have been , and are gifts of this sort so general , that by their evidence men might be further'd in seeking the true god : unto which gifts , in all ages witnessing the author , the bounty of special grace hath been superadded . and austin saith : 't is not reckon'd to thee as a fault , that thou art ignorant against thy will , but that thou dost neglect to seek after that whereof thou art ignorant : nor , that thou dost not close up thy wounds , but that thou contemnest him who is willing to heal them . bullinger saith : no nation wanted true religion , if they would have used it . musculus : they have knowledge fit to lead them to the true worship of god , and would lead them , did they not binder it by their idolatry . mattyr : the heathens were inexcusable , because they performed not what was within their power . and after all , if one had a mind to maintain , that the apostolical preaching came unto all the nations of the world , and the footsteps thereof are not wholly worn out , no not among the indians , and tartarians ; arguments would not be wanting , and such as are of moment . but this would be a question rather historical then theological . merit of congruity , as the papists call it , is very justly condemned by molinaeus : but i suppose he includes not in that name this opinion : that it is congruous , or agreeable unto the divine will , without merit , to confer upon a man greater gifts , who uses former gifis , even before faith , as well as he can . for this opinion wholly excludeth merit . i. because that very use is not from the strength of nature , but from the strength given by prevenient grace to one , not only meriting no good , but all evil . 2. because , not the worthiness of mans act obtains the greater benefit , but the undeserved bounty of god affords it , grace for grace . 3. because this is the nature of merit , that whatsoever is given in the way of merit , merit is the cause thereof ; and for that reason it is given , otherwise not given : but now , the preaching of the gospel , and the gifts attending on it , happen to very many who have foully abused former gifts ; so that an adequat rule of this concession cannot be taken from the use of former grace . and this is mainly urged by the fathers , to shew that the grace of the gospel is not given because of merit . for that which without any precedent obligation , without any discriminating sign , is common to him who rightly useth former gifts , and to him that does not ; that must needs be a pure and mere gift , as well in the one sort as in the other . that free will , hath no strength from nature unto spiritual good : that grace is efficacious ( i. actu secundo ) to give not to resist , and to will it self : that our salvation is wholly of divine gift : that when we follow god calling , we owe it to the grace of god : and in other things which are well said by molinaeus to the honor of grace , i am of his mind . they are all without controversy amongst the protestants . but , though a man not yet regenerate be able to do no spiritual work , i. truly and properly such : though no man without faith can please god , i. to justification : yet does it not follow hence , that a man excited by prevenient grace ( not at present regenerate ) cannot , by the power of that grace , do something which the divine goodness may accept of , so far , as to carry on the doer to that grace without which he cannot be justified . wherefore , whereas molinaeus saith ; it is impious to hold any degree of sufficient grace , without faith in christ : 't is very true , if you understand grace immediately sufficient unto salvation , or remission of sins . and yet , prosper is not to be accus'd , nor they that with prosper affirm ; the more general grace preceding faith is sufficient to a remedy , understanding a remote sufficiency : because that grace is apt to lead one by the hand ( as 't were ) to further graces , and by gods order is sufficient to that purpose . so likewise , i conceive it is not to be denied , that before faith it self , there do in some precede certain dispositions ( effected doubtless by virtu of grace prevenient ) which are not found in other men . for when christ saith , job . 7.17 . if any one will do the will of my father , be shall know of the doctrine , whether it be of god : he plainly setteth an obedient temper of mind , precedent to faith it self . so are some persons said to be not far from the kingdom of heaven , marc. 12.37 . to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , well disposed to the kingdom of god , lu. 9.62 . to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . of a more generous nature , act. 17.11 . and this affection being the effect of grace , some do apply here that text act. 13.48 . where 't is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the well ordered and disposed unto life eternal , and affected with a serious desire thereof , believed : and that other , job . 8.47 . he that is of god ( by this pious inclination ) heareth the words of christ , with ass●nt of faith . this surely is plain beyond denial : to read the holy scriptures , to weigh them diligently , to meditate of their meaning , to frequent godly sermons , to compose himself to prayers , is in the power of a man , haply now at the point of new birth , and not yet fully born again . i assent also unto molinaeus , none of the reformed ( as i suppose ) gainsaying : that the elect resist not the call unto the end : no , nor can resist it , in the conjoyned sense ( but all the doubt is about the sense divided ) and the reason is , because god ( as molinaeus himself confesseth ) so bows the will , as not to take away the liberty of the will. the question is , whether to the conversion of man , any previous action of god be necessarily required ( i say previous , for of the concomitant there 's another reason ) besides the concession of sufficient strength . for ( say some ) either something more is required , and then what was granted is denied , the strength is not sufficient ; or the strength is really sufficient ; and then it follows , that nothing more is requir'd . but , sufficient strength being granted , the will remains free , i. indeterminate , to do or not to do . this for the elect , or such as are actually converted : but for others , who are not actually converted , the cause why grace is inefficacious , many think it hard to attribute unto god , since in no wise it seemeth grace which is inefficacious by intention of the giver . nor doth it seem possible , that any one should be punisht more heavily for not doing that which was impossible to be done : namely , for not making that grace efficacious , which was in itself , at least in relation to the subject , inefficacious . nor does it seem to these men enough , to avoid the making god the author of unbelief , ( which molinaeus conceives may be avoided by casting the cause upon mans nature ) but withal care must be had of this also , lest the signos of gods will be made to disagree with his will , and so injury be done to the divine simplicity and sincerity . for how shall they be said called seriously , who are called with this mind , that they may not come ; yea so , that they cannot come . here now do those scriptures offer themfelves to hand : i desire not the death of a sinner , but that he be converted and live . what could i have done for my vineyard , which i have not done ? how often would i have gathered you , and you would not ! and such like , which do , both on gods part , prove some will at least of converting ; and on mans part not converted , argue a fault , not simply natural , and so necessary ( as 't is necessary for a stone , not to live , saith molinaeus ) but evitable by those helps which were granted , or were ready to be granted . for to those also , who being called to the wedding would not come , all things yet are signified to be in readiness . and verily , unless it be so , it seems a man may be punisht for his sin that hinders him from believing ; but cannot be punisht more heavily for this , that ( supposing sin , and this inovitabl hindring ) be believed not . that saying which molinaeus dislikes : it is in man to follow gods calling , or not to follow : though it may have a dangerous sense , is not yet without great authors , and therefore may receive a benign interpretation . they which are halped to believe , saith prosper , have it in their power to come . austin : neither ought they to ascribe unto themselves , who are come , because they came being called ; nor they that would not come , to lay the fault upan another , but on themselves alone ; because being called , it was in their free power to come . again , we have the beginning of our salvation by gods compassion ; 't is in our power to acquiesce in the saving inspiration . wherefore the same father explains the calling according to purpose by that manner of calling , as is fit for one to be called that he may follow , not so as being called he cannot chuse but follow . and although the same austin very often describes vocation by swasion , yet i think all pious men will grant to molinaeus , god doth not work by mere suasions , not only upon the mind , but upon the will , by inspiring salutary aftections , and not by changing the property of the will concreated with it . to that question touched by molinaeus , why unto some the gospel is not preached , or being preached , their heart is not opened to believe ? i see the antient fathers have answer'd two ways , in a double respect . for if it be absolutely enquir'd , why unto some people of bithynia , and asia , the gospel was not preached at this or that time ? the answer is , because of their voluntary sins ; sins of that fort , for which god threatens he will send a famine of the word . likewise , if in be enquir'd , why god hardens some to whom the gospel is preached ? the answer is , because they had harden'd themselves before . for , as austin speaks ; then began they to deserve punishment , when being call'd they neglected to come . but if the question be propos'd comparatively , why to these the gospel is preach'd rather than to those ? why this mans heart is touched with more virtue than the others ? here it cannot be answer'd , so as to give a general reason in either case from man : for t is certain greater benefits do often fall to them who are the more undeserving persons : recourse must be had in this affair to the divine liberty . next , as to the certainty of salvation , i do exceedingly approve that which is set down by molinaeus . 1. that there are some degrees of true faith which are overthrown . 2. that some elect ones doubt of their salvation . 3. that there is a certain peculiar degree of faith , which never fails . 4. that full assurance is to be earnestly beg'd of god. for , hence i collect . 1. that the faith which fails , and which doth not fail , differ not so much in essence as degree ; which also was the opinion of iunius . 2. that christ obtain'd for us perseverance , and it was promis'd by god on this condition , that we ask and beg it with our earnest prayers ; and therefore not at all absolutely but , not to be deceived with ambiguity of words , we must note ; all the antients so affirm that faith which may be overthrown , to be true faith , as not to deny to it the effect also of justification . for they openly pronounce : many are damned for latter sins , to whom the former were remitted : nor do they less consent to this , justifying grace cannot at the same time consist with sins against conscience , as murther , adultery , and such like . wherefore , being some elect , after the gift of faith received , fall into fins of this sort , as by too many examples it is evident ; it follows , and is clearly pronounced by the holy fathers , that there may be some time after faith received , wherein a person elect may not be in the state of justification . these things , if need were , might be prov'd by many authorities , and by the confessions of protestants . see confess . august art 11. angl 16. sax 10. the antient authors seem to me to acknowledge three ways of certainty concerning salvation . the first whereof is extraordinary , by revelation : this austin saith , happens to some : what man can know he shall persevere to the end in the work and way of righteousness , except he be assured by some revelation from him , who by his just and secret judgment in this matter , doth not instruct all , but deceiveth none . the ordinary ways are two ; the one taken from the time , the o●her from the degree of faith. certainty of his salvation a faithful man may have from the time , who is at the point of death , and hath now no hope of life . for , being a believer knows he doth believe , and withal knows a believer is justified before god ( both which by the testimony of holy scripture , and o● pious antiquity , we defend against the papists ) and this time of life is at an end , the believer knows he dyeth in the state of grace , and so is certain of his salvation . in respect whereof , prosper having said predestination is uncertain to us , addeth whilst we are among the perils of this present life . the other ordinary manner of assurance is from the degree of faith. for , the antients do constantly deliver , that perfect charity ( according to the perfection of this life , for the most perfect , saith austin , is not attained here ) never fails . notable is that of jerom : charity which peter before is dental bad , was an herb , and springs up young in every one before it is strengthened ; and before its perfection , is lost and recovered . this is that root , which though the sun , saith austin , shine hot upon it , cannot wither . and to the same purpose he asketh , which of the multitude of believers can presume , himself is in the number of the predestinate : for naming the multitude , he seemeth to except some few excellent ones . besides these three ways of certainty , there are other degrees inferior : for , as bernard himself also doth acknowledge with all antiquity , god hath not left his elect without a testimony of consolation in this life . this testimony the more and greater are the exercises of piety , is so much the more certain , which the holy scripture demonstrates plainly , when we are commanded to make our calling and election firm and s ; ure , by faith , virtue , knowledge , continence , patience , piety , love and charity : whence that saying of austin , agreeing with the antients , fear is so much abated as charity is encreased . i proceed now to that part of the writing , where molinaeus separates himself from those , who against all antiquity affirm , men are created to this end that they may perish ; and putting reprobation before the fall , put upon themselves a necessity of attributing to god the efficacious procurement of all sins , even of the first sin also : because , he that absolutely sets the end , ought withal to set the means , without which there is no coming unto the end . here the most learned man , walking heedfully , does with a little fear declare his judgment , saying , he digesteth not such kind of speaking : to wit , because they are persons of great autority that so speak . but truly . the danger is not in the form of vvords , but in the doctrine it self . for , that opinion directly runs into the anathema of the arausican council , boldly pronounced by augustin and prosper . and here it is to be admired ; whereas all they that deduce sins from a fatal necessity , were by the antient church cast unto the manichees the worst and most hated hereticks ; but the semipelagians were suffered very long in their communion ; why at this day , on the contrary , such as make god partly unjust , partly unmerciful , partly the author of all wickedness , live freely without censure : but , if any man do concieve more meanly of grace , though not near to pelagianism , all do every where rise against him with equal animosity . is the fault so much less , to load the benefactor with contumelies , than to deny the benefit ? rightly indeed , and agreeably both to the gallic and belgic confession doth molinaeus pronounce , reprobation is not but in the corrupt mass . but this corrupt mass , some consider in original sin alone , catching that which is spoken of esau and jacob ; albeit that very speech is such as goeth afore of isaac and ismael , which the apostle himself else where declares to be allegorical . ( gal. 4. ) it was , i confess , austin's opinion , which displeases most of the reformed ; that some children dying in their infancy are damned for original sin . but austin could not think this of esau : because , in his opinion , original sin was taken away by circumcision . others consider the corrupt mass in actual sins : to whom molinaeus seems to consent when he saith , some men are designd to punishments for sins which willingly and by by god unprovok'd they have admitted . lastly , some there are that consider this corrupt mass , not in any sort of sins , but in the contempt of vocation : for whom that sentence of austin , concerning the same esau , seems to stand ; he did not will , he did not run : but if he had willed and runned , he had attained by the help of god , who would give him to run and to will by calling , unless by contempt of the call he would become a reprobate . out of this sentence therefore might be added to the words of molinaeus by god unprovok'd , yea and seriously invited to repentance . hither have i been carried unaware ( for when i began to write i purposed to dispatch in brief ) by the relection of that paper , wherein the sentiments of molinaeus are contain'd . of which i was not willing to deliver my own judgment : nor would i have you think so . but , as it is a pleasure to me to compare the antient writers with the modern , so i esteem'd it worth my pains , most noble sir , to advertise you of that which ( if i am not much deceiv'd ) by my not indiligent reading i have learned , the judgment of the fathers touching these controversies . you may , so judicious you are , collate the commentations of the antient and more recent authors one with other ; and so far as your business will permit , consider which of their different interpretations is more consonant to the sacred context , to reason by god illuminate , and to the edification of gods church . in the writing of molinaeus , after the explication of his sentence , follows a collection of certain articles , wherein he thinks the parties will easily agree . of some things in them i have already made my remarks , as may appear by what i have said before , having anticipated them lest the matter should be severed . what remains shall now be added . free will , by the fall of our first parents , is rightly said , to be lost in respect of pious actions , as it hath no strength to actions of that kind : not so , as to signifie the native liberty is not in the will , without which it cannot be a will , and by which it cannot will and nill supposing all prerequisits , i. strength to will being granted . therefore austin saith . who among us affirms , that by the sin of the first man , free will perished from all mankind ? and to exclude here all together pious actions , other sayings will not permit . if no grace of god , how doe ; he save the world ? if no free will , how does he judge the world ? and , the divine precepts would be profitable to no man , had he no free choice of will. also , the catholick faith denies not free will neither to good life nor bad ; nor attributes to it any power without grace . elsewhere , he that denies free will is not a catholick : but he is a catholick , who saies that without god it can neither begin nor finish any good work . by which saying 't is not signified , that by nature we have to will well ( which is pelagian ) but by nature we have this thing to will : which being inform'd by grace , we will well . for grace is the principle from which , the will or free choice is the principle in which conversion is made . that of austin : no will of man resisteth god being willing to save : is so to be explained , that another sentence of his lately cited be not contradicted : where he saith , it is imputed to many that they contemn god willing to heal . there is then a certain will conditionate , which prosper calls inviting : there is also an absolute will , which follows a certain , at least conditionate prescience . that of molinaeus , whom god hath predestinated to the end , i. salvation , he hath predestinated to the means ; seemeth plainly to define , that before he determines any thing concerning faith , he determines absolutely to save this man. which definition segregates from us all the fathers before austin . whether it agrees with austin himself , is disputed : unless perchance the word predestination be so generally taken , as to comprehend also that which is not absolute , but which the means supposed passeth into absolute . concerning the word sufficient grace , and necessary , and free , we have already spoken . that none of them can perish , whom god hath predestinated to the kingdom ; none by any means be saved , whom he hath not predestinated unto life , is fully true in the conjoyned sense , what way soever predestination , so it be absolute , is taken : but in the divided sence 't will be true , if this were true that reprobation is without prescience of a free act : which molinaeus seemeth to deny . surely , prosper was not afraid to say , because they are foreknown the predestinate will not fall : and , they should be predestinate if they would return and persevere in holiness . again , because he foreknew they would fall by their own will , for this he did not separate them from the sons of perdition by any predestination . again , therefore were they not predestinate , because they were foreknown that they after would be such by voluntary prevarication . i will add this on the by ; the book de fide ad petrum , out of which is cited that newly mentioned sentence , is by the learned thought not to be the work of austin , and that upon weighty arguments . that which is said , god hath elected the predestinate to believe , is well said , since every benefit unto which not all attain , is justly signified in scripture by the word election . neither yet does it follow hence , that the same men can no way be said to be elected , i. to be justified because they believe , if the word because denote not the cause deserving , but in any manner anteceding . in the same manner , he sheweth mercy to us that we may be faithful : nor yet must we deny , there is some mercy following faith , and therefore shewed to the faithful , as such . god by giving faith makes men hear the gospel worthily : but yet we must not therefore deny , god out of his immense goodness , whereby he converts many long contumacious , will not purposely exclude from that benefit the less contumacious , and such as diligently read and hear his word : neither seems it fit to be denied , that such as do attentively hear the preachers of gods word , are less unworthy of the gift of faith , than such as stop their ears like the hearers of st. steven . thus in the gospel , the apostles coming into any city or village are bid to enquire , who in that place is worthy : to whom they are opposed as unworthy , who will not receive the apostles , nor give audience to the word . mat. 10. and in the acts the jews are said , then at last to have judged themselves unworthy of eternal life ( i. by a greater and more special unworthiness ) after they were filled with wrath , and contradicted the word , and that with blasphemy , act. 13. but , if any man , speaking not figuratively or comparatively , say there is in the unregenerate any ability to do that whereby he may be worth ) to attain to faith , that his opinion is dangerous none i think will deny . now whereas molinaeus saith , the causes why he hath elected these , not elected those , are with god , and not anxiously to be enquir'd by us ; first he seems to intimate , that the only and universal cause of this discrimination is not the divine pleasure : for this cause were open enough , to exclude other causes whatsoever . and when he saith , they are not anxiously to be enquir'd , he seems to grant , they may be enquir'd , at least in some manner : which seems not far from that opinion of austin ( which many think was retracted by him ) where he saith , the cause why this person rather than that is reprobated , proceedeth from our own merits . because the grosser papists refer the word merit to the nature of the work and to commutative justice , we do upon very good grounds not dare to use this word . the fathers took to merit for that which is to obtain by doing somewhat ; and merit for a pious work unto which is a due reward by liberal and gratious promise . so , the word being molified , we shall less wonder now , if among the fathers more antient than austin we find , man is predestinate for merits . for they speake of an absolute decree of giving glory by way of reward . whence ambrose : whose merits he hath foreknown , their rewards he hath predestinated . to conclude this part : really , i am of molinaeus's judgment , that in these controversies such an article may be contrived , to which the french , english , belgians , helvetians , embracing the more pure religion , will subscribe : and the article may best be taken out of the arausican council , and out of prosper sentences ad capitula gallorum and i think this ought to be the scope . that in good the honor of grace may be kept inviolate ; in evil , man may accuse himself , and not draw god at all into the society of his crime . moreover , that man may be taught , neither to distrust the divine assistance , nor seek security in any other way but in the study of piety . withal , i would wish that sobriety to be used in determining questions , that a fit respect may not only be had for austin , and prosper , and fulgentius , but also that men may abstain from condemning those sentences , in which 't is manifest most holy men liv'd and dv'd ; who after the apostles and before the empire of constantine , in the ages most conspicuous for all piety , edified the church of christ by their words and writings , by their life and blood . i am now come to the last part , which is concerning the magistrate . and here molinaeus saith pleasantly , he is eased by me , because i am forward to teach him what ought to be his opinion . wherein he shews himself much mistaken in my purpose . for my intent was , neither to teach him ( whom i thought fit to be admonisht by your honor , as from your self , touching some things , and that he should never see what i had written to you ) nor to teach any other , but freely to deposit my thoughts in your bosom , my most noble friend . and that , upon this occasion : because i understood by you , that molinaeus bestowed upon learned magistrates some right which he would not grant to the less learned . that did not please me , i confess : and therefore i gave a clear distinction , as it seemeth to me , and perspicuous , between the right or power , and the aptitude or ability . but molinaeus here was so far from taking my sense , that he ascribes to me a meaning contrary to my words . he saith , i would have a right of making laws to pertain to the learned magistrates . i said it not , yea i signified the contrary , that learning makes nothing to the right it self . he saith after , a senator or judge , if he be a lawyer , is so , as he is a judge . i much dislike this . for there are many lawyers , not judges , and many judges not lawyers . the one is a name of office , the other of skill . take another example . there are many pastors ( alas ! ) too unskilful of holy letters . their office is to interpret scripture , nor are they without a right , but they have not an aptitude thereto requisit . science therefore neither giveth nor encreaseth right , but to the good using of it conduceth much . an unskilful prince ( not to speak yet of church-affairs ) hath no less right to give commands in civil affairs , and to make laws , than a prince most learned . i much admire , these things were not consider'd by a man most acute . that which is spoken of knowledge , understand also of probity of mind . he must be a good man , that will govern well : but the right it self of governing depends no more upon virtue , than the dominion of a private estate . for , the covetous man is as well master of his goods , as the liberal ; though the liberal rightly useth riches , which the covetous abuseth . molinaeus supposed , i would have the magistrate , who shall govern the church , to be orthodox . really i would , and all rich men to be liberal . he asketh , who shall judge whether the magistrate be orthodox ? if himself , great danger : if others , then will the magistrate be subject to others judgment . i will ask likewise , who shall judge whether the magistrate be sufficiently skill'd in civil matters ? and if that argumentation prevail , i will conclude the magistrate to be subject to the judgment of the people . i will ask again , when the magistrate must apply himself to some church , who shall judge whether this , or that church be the more orthodox ? shall he , or the church ? if he , there is also the same danger as before : if the church , this is to beg the question : for there is no assembly of christians , which calls not it self a church , and that orthodox too . but , saith he , an infidel magistrate will abuse this example , and usurp the same power . as if , to alledge an incommodity were to solve the argument . what is there in humane affairs without some incommodity ? may not i in like manner say , if that be given to the church which i conceive is to be given to the magistrate , an assembly of heretical pastors will also abuse this example and usurp the same right , if any where it prevail , as it hath happened more than once . i will answer in the words of austin : kings , when they are in error , make laws for error against the truth ; and when they are in the truth , make laws for truth against error . so are good men tryed by evil laws , and by good laws are evil men reformed . you see how little austin feared that incommodity . and in truth , it is of no moment . aurelian the emperor was not orthodox : therefore he could not expell from his bishoprick the heretick samosatenus . this consequence was not perceived by the holy fathers , who yielded the judgment of samosatenus to the emperor so far , that the cause being examined , they requested he might by the imperial autority be dethron'd . neither would paul have appealed unto nero , had he believed , no right of judging in a case of religion belonged to him . wherefore , as trajan civilly honest , nero wicked , are nevertheless equal in the right of government ; so pious constantine , and impious nero are equal in the right of judging , in aptitude and skill unequal . this most learned man further enquires , whether by governing the church i understand being judge in the heads of faith ; or , a power to purge the church of scandals , and to command belief of those things which are contained in the word of god. but i wonder these are parted , which do seem to me indissolubly joyned . for , if it be the office of a king to command , that those things be taught which are true , that scandals be avoided ; amongst which heresies have the chief place ; how shall he do this unless he judge , what is true , what is heresy . for the act of commanding reguires the power of judging . but he saith , those things must be commanded to be believed , which are establisht by the assembly of pastors orthodox . and he that says this , does he not shew , 't is at least required to judge who are those orthodox pastors . now , because the examples of king edward , of the states of holland , of the prince of orange are alledged , i enquire : when there were in england romish pastors , and there were also reformed ; in holland not only romish , but anabaptists also and lutherans ; that the reformed religion was publickly introduced in both nations , other being either prohibited or postposed ; did it not so come to pass , because the king , the states , the prince , judged this religion purest ? they embraced then what was suggested by faithful pastors and demonstrated by scripture , not for the autority of pastors ( for there were many families of them ) but because they judged the things agreeable to the scripture . albeit they understood not the knots and subtilities of theology , it was sufficient that they did cast off idolatry and popish tyranny , and other errors , with an assured judgment . a question follows , impertinent to this place , touching a king , who will with blasphemous mouth receive the holy mysteries . i answer : either this is forbidden by divine law , or not : if forbidden by divine law ( as i conceive it is , if the king be supposed not yet repenting ) the king will not be subject to the ecclesiastick laws , which molinaeus saith , but to the divine , which none denies . the like is in a judge of petty causes , commanded by the king to give sentence against equity . this judge will not do so , if he be wife . is the king therefore subject to the judge ? no verily : but the judge is so subject to the king , that he must acknowledge , above the earthly king , the empire of his heavenly king , who forbiddeth injury to be done to any . but , if you suppose here some law , not divine but positive , proceeding from humane will ; to this law whosoever shall affirm a king to be subject , so as to be unable in any case to relax the legal bond , he denies him to be a king. the canons of many synods forbid episcopal seats to be erected into metropolitan : they forbid new bishops or metropolitans to be constituted , or a bishop to do sacred offices in another diocese : they forbid bishops to undertake civil imployments . nevertheless , by command of the emperors all this was done very often . the greek interpreters give the reason , because the emperor is not subject , neither to the laws nor canons . next , molinaeus enquires , whether the kings counsellors must be doctors of divinity , or it be also necessary for the king to be a learned divine . verily , my opinion is , that the knowledge of things divine is requisit in a king and in his chief counsellors ; not that he may be a king , they counsellors , but to the end they may rightly perform the work of their places . but i say nor such knowledge , as to distinguish every truth from falshood ( for the greatest professor of theology cannot promise himself this ) but to put a difference between things necessary to be believed or done , and things not necessary ; between heretical and not heretical . and in the same manner i conceive , both the knowledge of the laws , and the art of governing are desired in a king. but , saith molinaeus , 't is fit the less learned be taught by the more learned . this argument , if it prove the less learned must submit to the judgment of the more learned , then in synods also the pastors ought to yield to the doctors : for molinaeus names them as men of the greatest learning . and yet 't is certain , that pastors have not less , if not more right than doctors . our men are wont to use the testimony of panormitan , that a private person's judgment , confirmed with better autority of scripture , is to be prefer'd before the judgment of a patriarch . to come to the matter , it is indeed the part of the more learned to teach the less learned , but not to have command over them . therefore a country judge ( as the laws tell us ) is not obliged by the response of lawyers ; nor is a sick man bound to the prescript of his physitian , but so far as no reason of his own strongly perswades him to the contrary . another question follows . whether a magistrate may adjoyn himself to the lesser number of pastors . strange , that this should be asked by a pastor reformed , seeing all magistrates , who have in our age reform'd the church , rightly believ'd the lesser number of pastors against the greater . but in the nicene synod constantine yielded to the more , and did not addict himself to the fewer . yea , he yielded to the plain and manifest truth , which the greater number at that time by gods blessing followed . this doth not always happen : for the greater part oft overcomes the better . but if sentences are to be numbred , not weighed , the arimin council of cccc . bishops will be of more value than the nicene of cxviii . and what should the emperor have done , when ( as jerom testifies ) the whole world groaned and wonderd it was turned arian ; was paucity then to be despised , multitude to be followed ? no man in his right mind will say so . the two kings are blamed for not believing one michaia , rather than four hundred false prophets . well then , the different parties are to be heard , but the prince ought to lend his autority to that cause , not which hath most suffrages , but whose equity the vigor of truth well try'd hath commended to him . that rule , every man must be believ'd in his own art , hath some probability , but not perpetual certainty . and there is a difference of arts-men , that often times it is expedient to trust a few rather than many : so true is the common saying , the worst are most . theology indeed is not the proper art of a king : but the art most convenient for him is that which learned writers call regal , leading , architechtonical : whereof the most noble part is that which i have named , the knowledge of things divine ; not descending to all subtilties of the school , nor yet staying within the mean endowments of a private man ; but comprehending all the chiefest points , and of such a measure , that if any thing be wanting , it may be supplied by the ministery of others . and i have said before , the like measure of other arts is desir'd in a king ; though i doubt not , if there be any science to which a king should addict his peculiar study , it is theology . they greatly erre , who do either represent , or make it so obscure and difficult , as to deter princes from that study , which the divine law so much commends unto them . but if in that respect the highest power in causes ecclesiatical is to be denied the king , neither will the right of making laws , many being better lawyers , belong unto him . i fear also , that the same reason will exclude many pastors from all right of suffrage . i do not well understand what molinaeus saith of the king of england . for he affirmeth him to be the supreme judge in all causes , as well ecclesiastick as civil , yet not to be the judge of controversies , nor to own that title . how controversies can be exempt from the universal appellation of causes i see not , when judgment is not usually given but of things controverted . but he seemeth to distinguish between matters of faith and other church-affairs . but , to judge what is an idol , what is idolatry , does it not pertain to faith ? queen elizabeth , and her brother king edward , preferred the reformation above papism : not by an ignorant zeal , i suppose , but with good judgment . now , the contention between the papists and the reformed is concerning articles of faith. the king , whose words are alledged , as removing from himself the judgment about articles of faith , did he not hear at hampton court , the bishops on the one side , the puritans on the other ? as arbiter , as judge ? when the conference was not only of church government , but of predestination , and assurance of salvation . did he not pronounce what seemed to him right ? what is it then , that he putteth from himself ? that authority , which the pope claimeth , who makes himself a judge infallible , to be believ'd on his own word , without the scriptures . this right certainly is due neither to king nor council . for , neither may a council be believ'd for it self , but for the testimony of scripture on which it relies : because true faith of things divine cannot be had but by divine authority . this sense of the king , the king himself shall i say , or molinaeus best of all explains in his book against cardinal perron , saying , the emperors never ascribed to themselves absolute judgment and infallible concerning doctrin ; but that they took knowledge of the decisions of councils , and not of discipline alone , he there both confesses and proves ; adding , that the emperors examin'd , whether nothing was decreed , in the assembly of bishops , repugnant to former councils : and that , unless this be lawful for a king , the king will be nothing else but lictor ecclesiasticorum . hence it appears sufficiently , that the kings judgment is bound to the word of god , but may be instructed and led by the bishops ; yet not so , but that he ought to make use of his own judgment . and reason exacts as much . for no action is good , but which proceeds from the judgment of the doer ; and the king , as king , his office is to cherish true doctrine by his laws , and to suppress the contrary . he ought therefore to have judgment also of the doctrine . nor is here any more attributed to a king than to a private man. for private men , for themselves , by the word of god , judge of articles of faith : but the effects differ , in as much as a king can do more than a private person : as also the judgment of a father of a family , who is chief in a great house , is more largly extended than his , who is the poor inhabitant of a cottage . to that censure , where they are called flatterers who moved this question in holland , 't were easy to return one as sharp , that they are justly suspected of affecting a new papacy , who so much decline the judgment of the magistrate . what follows , that it might more easily be suffered that the magistrates should judge of controversies in religion , if our country were sure to have such magistrates as it hath now , i cannot fully approve , knowing , theses ought not to be changed as the times change : nor is any thing , because expedient , the more or less true . herein also he is mistaken , when he opposeth a few magistrates to a great assembly of pastors : for with us the government is not in the hand of fewer persons then they who are wont to meet in synods ; who , if they be not as skilful in theological points as the pastors are ( though he that thinks so knows not what many of our pastors be , but grant this ) surely they are , for the keeping of peace and tranquillity much better affected , than they that are the preachers of peace . for , so much as skill conduceth unto judgment , no less doth study of parties hinder it . we do not speak this , that judgments of synods should be omitted . no verily : for they are of very great use . but for a king to be so tyed up with them , that against his own conscience he ought to follow the synodical decrees , i cannot consent to this . and these matters are under dispute among us : but in germany and other places the princes do openly exercise this right , not one of the pastors contradicting . i must now make an end : for if i would cast into paper whatsoever comes into my mind about this argument , i should be not sparing of my own time , and prodigal of yours . this only i protest to you in conclusion , that concerning predestination of grace , free will , and other questions of this kind , i had rather hear the judgments of other men than declare my own ; but of magistrates i have here said nothing , whereof i am not very certain . 1515. the decease of grotius doctor quistorpius in his letter dated at rostoch . anno 1645. the next day after his entrance into this city ( aug. 18. ) he sent for me about nine at night . i came , and found him drawing nigh to death . i saluted him and said : oh , that i had been so happy , as to have conferred with you safely arrived ! thus it hath pleased god , said he . i exhort him to prepare himself for a blessed departure , to confess himself a sinner , to be sorry for his sins , and with the publican beg for mercy . i , saith he , am that publican . then proceeding , i refer him to christ , without whom is no salvation . he adds , in christ alone is all my hope reposed . i rehearsed aloud the usual form of prayer , heer jesu , &c. he with closed hands , and an humble voice said after me . at the end , i asked whether he understood me . he replied , i understand you well . i go on , minding him of such scriptures as are wont to be suggested at the hour of death , and ask , if he understands me . he answers , i hear your voice , but hardly understand what you say . having said this , he was silent , and a little after expried , at the point of twelve . let him rest in peace . the end. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a42231-e420 ad bonis . i. 1. epist . 46 de gra . and lib. arbis . c. 2. de fide ad pet. ad obj . vinc. resp . 12. ad oan . gal. 7. i. sent. sup . cit . c. 7. de fide 5.3 . a discourse of faith in two points, viz ... / by thomas cole ... cole, thomas, 1627?-1697. 1689 approx. 147 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 65 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a33721) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 103587) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1185:10) a discourse of faith in two points, viz ... / by thomas cole ... cole, thomas, 1627?-1697. [2], 124, [2] p. printed for thomas cockerill ..., london : 1689. "a discourse of repentance" (p. [81]-124) has special t.p. advertisements: [2] p. at end. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. (from t.p.) i. how faith comes by hearing -ii. how we are justified by faith. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore 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editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng faith. repentance. theology, doctrinal. 2004-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2004-02 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discourse of faith , in two points : viz. i. how faith comes by hearing . ii. how we are justified by faith. by thomas cole minister of the gospel . london , printed for thomas cockerill , at the three legs over against the stocks-market , 1689. a discourse of faith . rom . 10. 17. so then , faith cometh by hearing , and hearing by the word of god. the apostle towards the close of the ninth chapter speaking of a twofold righteousness , of works and of faith , tells us that the gentiles did attain to the righteousness of faith , but the iews did not attain to the righteousness of works , which they so much trusted in , for they being ignorant of gods righteousness , and going about to establish their own , have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of god , rom. 10. 3. hence the apostle takes an occasion to compare the righteousness of the law , with that of faith ; calling one our own righteousness , the other the righteousness of god , which the law do's tacitly point to , promising life to perfect obedience , this not being found in any mere man since the fall , we are directed to seek it in christ , who is the end of the law to every one who believes , ver . 4. he brings in moses , verse the 5th . describing the righteousness which is of the law , that the man which doth those things shall live by them . such doers of the law we are not , therefore can look for nothing but death by law. verse 6th . he brings in the righteousness of faith by a prosopopcia , speaking it self to an afrighted dejected sinner , who is also brought in musing upon his wretched condition , full of sad thoughts , saying over many dismal th●●gs to himself in his own heart about his eternal state , how shall i get to heaven , how shall i escape hell , how shall i dwell with everlasting burnings which i see no way to avoid by law , the righteousness of faith meets this convinced sinner , in this great distress of conscience , communes with him , discourses of christ to him , minds him of his resurrection from the dead , and ascension into heaven , you seem ( says the righteousness of faith ) to deny both in talking at this rate , your way to heaven is plain , christ is ascended , you shall as surely go to heaven , if you believe as christ is gone before you , as surely escape hell and overcome death , as christ is risen from the dead , and the only way to get an interest in christ is to attend to the word of faith that is preached , ver . 8. when once that prevails and brings you to confess with your mouth the lord jesus and believe in your heart that god hath raised him from the dead , you shall be saved ver . 9. this proved out of isa. 28. 16. whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed , whether iew or gentile , ver . 11 , 12. and because prayer is the principal part of that outward confession made with the mouth , and the best indication of faith in the heart , he concludes ver . 13. whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved . whence observe ; observ. the chiefest thing we should now pray for , is , that we may have an interest in christ and his righteousness , desiring to be found in him , &c. having spoken so much of the righteousness of faith , he does in a certain gradation shew the way and means of attaining it , it is not a righteousness that is to be done by us , to be wrought out with our own hands , but prepared for us by another , freely promised and given to us , therefore it must be askt , it must be earnestly pray'd for , we must beg hard of god to impute it to us , v. 13. the law propounds the work of righteousness to be done by us , the gospel ( rom. 5. 17. ) propounds the gift of righteousness to be pray'd for and thankfully received , v. 14. there can be no prayer without faith , no faith without hearing , no hearing without a preacher , no preachers unless they be sent , from all which he draws this conclusion , viz. that the next immediate cause of faith is hearing . there is much preaching and much hearing in this city , but what comes on 't ? truely if faith does not come , nothing comes that will turn to any good account to you : the apostles in the primitive times so spake that many believed , acts 14. 1. with that evidence and power , their words had a special accent in the ears and hearts of those that heard them , god gave a signal testimony to the word of his grace , than fear came upon every soul , acts 2. 43. those who were not savingly wrought upon , were greatly astonished at the doctrine of the gospel ; 't is otherwise now , how little of this astonishment does appear in our assemblies , where is this fear that came upon every soul , 't was short of faith , yet i am perswaded when faith comes in some open eminent conversion , that the whole assembly is usually struck with some present fear , the word comes like a mighty rushing wind into the congregation , shakes all , when 't is about to convert one ; something like this may be observed in the acts of the apostles , and other passages in the new testament , it is fit that grace should be solemnly attended when it goes forth to the publick conversion though but of one soul : if god intend the coming of faith into any of your hearts this day , he 'l come along with his work , he will prepare the way , he 'l bless your hearing , and speak something inwardly to you from himself , that shall incline your hearts to believe the gospel , though god speaks by the ministry of man , yet his voice is distinct from ours , and begins where that ends , carrying the word from the ear to the heart , there leaving it under those mixtures of faith that make it work effectually . hear i beseech you with diligence least you obstruct the coming of faith by not attending to what shall be spoken to you in the name of the lord. so then faith cometh by hearing , &c. doct. hearing the word of god preached to us , is the ordinary means of begetting faith in us . first , what are we in a more special manner to understand by faith here in the text. the general object of faith is the whole doctrine of god laid down in the scriptures ; the special object of saving faith , is the free-promise of grace in christ jesus , this supports the former , we must believe the divine narrative of the whole will of god revealed in the bible , before we can pitch our faith in any suitable actings upon any part of it , 't is one thing to assent to the truth of the word in general , a further and indeed another thing to apply the promises ; he believes a promise who do's siducially rely upon it , this is properly trusting , we believe something in reference to our selves , living in a comfortable hope and expectation of it , respecting not only the truth of the thing , but also the goodness of it in reference to our selves under that possibility , probability or certainty of obtaining it , which our faith , according to its various degrees may represent unto us , faith in the righteousness of christ for justification is here principally intended . secondly , why must this faith come by hearing . hearing is alwayes antecedent to faith , though faith be not always the consequent of hearing , ver . 16. 18. all hearers are not believers , though all believers are first hearers . i shall evince the necessity of hearing in order to faith , from these following grounds : i. hearing is sensus disciplinae , the sense by which all knowledge is let into the soul. there is a two-fold knowledge belonging to faith , one leading to it , the other found in it , arising from it , and is the same with faith it self . the first , is litteral or historical , 't is rather notitia then cognitio , a notice or particular information given us of the contents of the bible , especially of the report which the gospel makes of the way of salvation by christ , we must know what we are to believe , before we can be supposed to believe any thing ; how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard , and how shall they hear without a preacher . words are the proper object of this sense of hearing , where nothing is spoken , nothing can be heard , the sound of words must reach the ear , before the sense of those words can enter into the understanding . this historical knowledge do's not lye in learning the scriptures by roat , without any rational knowledge of the litteral sense and meaning of those propositions of truth that are contained therein , this would be only memory without any understanding : a natural man does not dis-believe the scripture , because he has not a rational conception of the common notion of things spoken of there , but because he has , and sinding them so uncouth , so seemingly contrary to humane reason , he rejects them as foolishness . the second , is a knowledge more than historical , and is of the essence of faith all one with it , it is that which we call a saving knowledge ; it lies in the use and application of gospel truths to our own souls , when we shape our selves to a real conformity to the call of god in every gospel truth , acting in a way of duty what the word of god commands . there is no saving knowledge of gospel truths , but the knowledge of faith , and no other reason for faith in the highest misteries of the gospel , but the bare word of god. that faith is knowledge , i prove thus , because in scripture , 't is opposed to folly , blindness and ignorance , acts 17. 23 , 30. ioh. 17. 3. ier. 31. 34. isa. 9. 1 , 2. besides it has all the effects of knowledge in the soul , it gives full satisfaction to the mind of a man , removes all doubts , establishes the heart in a full perswasion of the truth of the word of god ; humane knowledge is liable to many mistakes but a divine faith admits of no falshood , therefore faith perfects mans understanding , because it brings in nothing but truth , no mans errors do proceed from faith , he may err in matters of faith , but 't is not from his faith , but his unbelief , therefore faith is knowledge , unerring knowledge we believe and are sure , we may be so , if we rightly understand our selves in an act of believing , no demonstrations of reason , do give that evidence of truth as faith do's , as mans understanding is too low , to take in divine truths , so gods understanding is too high , for man to comprehend , therefore we are called to yield the obedience of faith to his revealed will , god governs man rather by giving him the knowledge of his will , then lifting him up into his own infinite understanding , that is above our capacity , our duty lies not in knowing what god knows , but in doing what god commands , who gives no account of his matters to us , only commands us to believe his word , and to look upon that as a sufficient ground and reason of our faith , when we hear it preached to us . ii. because god has appointed hearing the word , as a necessary means of faith , he will not immediately speak to our hearts by his spirit , but has appointed his word to be first spoken to our ears , and promis'd that way to let it down into our hearts , thus faith comes by hearing . quest. how should hearing of things above our reason contribute any thing to our believing them ? one would think the oftner we hear them , the more absurd we should count them to be , and reject them with greater indignation , having so often tried them by the touchstone of our own reason , and pronounced them unintelligible . answ. hearing alone will not let in these divine mysteries into our understandings , isa. 6. 9 , 10. god must inwardly teach us and reveal them to us by his spirit , before we can believe them , which brings me to the third head , viz. iii. how faith is wrought by our hearing the word . 1. by a special appearance of god to the soul. 2. by opening the heart , enlightning the mind , and perswading the will to a thorough closure with christ upon gospel terms . to these two heads may be referred all that falls under our discerning and experience of the work of the spirit in begetting faith in us . i. faith is wrought by a special appearance of god to the soul , what this appearance of god is , how it rises out of the word , in what manner 't is let into the soul , i shall endeavour to open to the experience of those who know what it is to hold communion with god in hearing his word : there is some co-incidence in the particulars above-mentioned , yet not without some distinction , which i leave to your own observation , the less of art or method there is in handling experimental points , the better , they come with most power to the conscience in their own simplicity , therefore i shall in a joynt discourse run the matter close together , looking sometimes on one side , and sometimes on t'other , till i have viewed it round , that i may present the whole truth to you in so great and necessary a point , we can have no saving knowledge of god but in and by his word , we must look through that glass upon him , and that appearance of god we meet with there , is the beginning of all religion , the word never comes with power to our consciences , till god appear in it . how that is , i am now to shew . whilst we are hearing his word we see god standing forth , in his own words , declaring himself to be the author of it , this draws in our attention , adds that weight and authority to the word , that we cannot but receive it as the word of god , and set our seals to the truth of it , we see sufficient grounds for our faith in god from this manifestation of himself to our souls . thus god wrought faith in abraham , gen. 17. 1. by appearing to him several times as god almighty and all-sufficient , that abraham might not doubt of any thing that such a god should promise to him , and therefore 't is said rom. 4. 3. that abraham believed god , being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able to perform , ver . 21. thus god appeared to samuel revealing himself to him by his word 1 sam. 3. 21. so christ appeared to paul by a voice , and a light from heaven , i am jesus , acts 9. there are spiritual appearances of god now to our souls under the preaching of the gospel answerable to these visions of old. god lets himself down into our hearts , through the apprehensions of our faith , which frames in our hearts a right image of god answerable to that character he gives of himself in the word , he shines through the word in all his glory , when he spake of old to the patriarchs by an articulate voice , the unwritten word then was accompanied with such convincing signs of his presence , that they could not but believe it , and so is the written word now as capable of representing god to us , when he has a mind to be seen by us , as that was then ; the letter of the word is but a creature , but the truths contained in it are eternal , and do all center in god himself , who is the essential word , thus god rises out of the word , and looks a man in the face , tells him , thus saith the lord , i am that lord god almighty who now speaks unto you , he leaves no objection unanswered , shews what sure grounds of faith , we have in him , shall god say and not do ? 't is impossible for god to lie , it must be so as god saies , it can't be otherwise , heaven and earth shall sooner pass away than one tittle of the word be broken , thus in god we praise his word , psal. 56. 4. 10. consider the word out of god : 't will puzzle men and angels to make out the meaning of it , to think the things spoken of possible or likely to come to pass , but all things are possible with god , and to those who believe in god , they stick at nothing , they are sure omnipotency knows no difficulties , the counsel of the lord must stand , his thoughts shall come to pass : a soul thus struck with a sense of gods presence yields immediately , i believe lord with all my heart , am ready to do whatever thou requirest of me , so paul : oh that god would so manifest himself to every one of your hearts this day , that he would shew himself , come up close to you , look you in the face , and say , i am jesus , you could not withstand this mighty presence of god in christ jesus , o speak lord , 't is but thy saying to each of us i am jesus , and we shall all be made to know the lord from the least to the greatest , i hope the quickning voice of the son of god , is now sounding in the ears of your faith , while i am speaking to you , and that you do receive the word , not as the word of man , but as it is indeed the word of god , quick and powerful , sharper than a two-edged sword in every one of your hearts . the knowledge of the truth as 't is in jesus ( eph. 4. 21. ) is one thing , and the knowledge of the truth as 't is in ink and paper is another ; they are the same truths , but as they are in the scriptures they lie in the dead letter , as they are in christ they are seen in their living root and principle from whence they spring , meer scriptural knowledge is but historical , we look upon the things we read and hear , rather as notions than realities : till god fills up all expressions of scripture concerning himself , with a divine presence answerable thereunto , we believe nothing that is said of him , but such a presence of god in his word , captivates our hearts to the belief of it , we must believe him to be such a god as the word declares him to be , before we shall count all his sayings true , we must fetch strength from the name of god , rev. 2. 13. to support our faith in all its actings upon any part of his revealed will , and we never deny any truth plainly revealed but we deny his name , rev. 3. 8. and question his attributes ; some truths bare more upon one attribute , some more upon another , but all are founded in god and in the essential properties of his nature , from whence they have their verification and accomplishment , so that till god appear and shew himself to the soul , all that is said to us out of the scriptures in the name of an unknown god affects us not , because it wants that which is the ground of its credibility , no man can say that jesus is the lord , but by the spirit , 1 cor. 12. 3. he cannot say so and think so , he cannot say so and believe what he says , till the father reveal his son in him , paul by the light of that revelation of christ in him , knew all gospel mysteries , and without such an inward spiritual manifestation of god to our souls , giving us a sight of him who is invisible , 't is impossible we should ever be throughly convinced of the divinity of the scriptures , all divinity springs from god , leads to him , nay it looks him directly in the face , and can't be considered apart from him , there is but one god and one faith , god must be in the view of our faith whensoever we really act it . neither can we have that inward testimony of the spirit convincing us of the divine authority of the scriptures , without this special appearance of god in the soul as a witness to the truth of his word . while we are hearing the word , god has invisible wayes of access to our hearts , he conveys himself through his truth to our souls , his divinity leads the way , without some appearance of this , the contents of the word would have no place in our hearts , but coming with so great a presence , in so great a name , and with so strong an impression , god himself writing them upon the heart , we cannot but receive his testimony , the word comes into our hearts suddenly before we are aware , and seises them for god , we cannot but think , speak , act and judge as god does , the sense of the word is the sense of our souls , so far as the word is written in our hearts , we read it without the least variation , the copy answers the original : hence arises that habitual disposition or inclination to believe , god creates this new heart , i say this infused habit or principle of faith , is antecedent to all acts of faith put forth by us , and is in it self the sole act of god upon us in our first conversion , it is from this supernatural principle thus infused , that the natural powers and faculties of the soul of man , viz. the understanding and the will , are enabled to take in things purely spiritual and divine , nature never acts above its sphere , those inbred common notions that are the standards and measures of natural truths in all their consequences will never lead us to grant , or admit that which is supernatural , when we do this , 't is always from some higher principle ; when we see men acting above themselves , we may conclude they are acted by something higher than themselves , which is the spirit of christ dwelling in them . this special appearance of god , with those inward effects of it upon the soul which i have been speaking of , may be known to believers , they discern it in others , acts 11. 17 , 18. and do when they give a true reason of their faith , see it in themselves , that all springs from the fathers revealing his son in them , they can give no other reason why they believe in jesus , 't is god that opens the door of faith and makes it effectual , acts 14. 27. we are apt to be taken with any appearance of man in a sermon , this we look after , what words of mans wisdom , how man acquits himself in reasoning of this or that point . 't is true there is some skill required in planting , and watering , but all the encrease comes from god , your faith consists not in the wisdom of man but in the power of god , if god himself do not appear as a witness to his own truth , as the great undertaker of all that he has promised , what we say will prevail little , your faith must terminate in god himself , and in that ability that is in him to perform his word , this was the ground of abrahams faith , paul knew him whom he believed , 2 tim , 1. 12. and so must you if ever you believe to the saving of your souls . did you go out of the congregation after every sermon you hear under a sight and sense of this appearance of god in his word , speaking to you from heaven and shewing himself to your souls in some spiritual resemblance suited and adapted to that word you are hearing , how could you reject such a word , so full of god , so exactly corresponding to what you see in god himself , you must yield and cry out each of you , who am i that i should withstand god ? this is the first way that god takes to work faith in us , by our hearing the word preached to us . secondly , faith is wrought by opening the heart , enlightning the mind , and perswading the will to a through closure with christ upon gospel terms . i shall now shew you how god thus appearing to us in hearing the word , does open the heart , enlighten the mind and throughly perswade the will , to a through closure with christ upon gospel terms . naturally our hearts are shut up against the gospel , our minds are blinded 2 cor. 4. 4. till god shines into our hearts , to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ , ver . 6. enlightning the eyes of our understandings , eph. 1. 17 , 18. quest. what is this light of faith , and how does it differ from the light of reason ? answ. the light of reason lies in the evidence of the thing it self , as it falls under a humane understanding , arguing from the cause to the effect , drawing certain conclusions from undeniable premises , granted and acknowledged by all men to be truths in nature : upon such concessions they build all their acquired knowledge , and do put the stamp of truth upon all fair inferences from thence , which they judge agreeable to those first principles and notions of truth , that pass for currant under that name among credulous men , who do but think they know , and do rather ghess than judge : so great is the uncertainty of all humane knowledge , we have little cause to glory in it . the light of faith lies in the infallible certainty of divine testimony , faith sees not the causes of things in the things themselves , but in god alone , to whom all things are possible , faith excells all other knowledge , in as much as it sees and knows all things in their first cause , god , and takes hold of them by the very root from whence they first spring , arguing from the veracity of god , to the truth of all his sayings , we know that god has spoken thus and thus , as ioh. 9. 29. we know the doctrine is of god , ioh. 7. 17. and that no prophesie of the scripture is of private interpretation , 2 pet. 1. 20 , 21. under this conviction we cannot but yield the obedience of faith to every word of god : i do not deny but experience may and does give believers some evidence of the things themselves , but this belongs rather to their after edification , then to the first act of faith in their conversion , by which they close in with christ , upon the credit of a bare word of promise from him who cannot lie , object , since these sublime supernatural misteries of the gospel are so much above , and so seemingly contrary to humane reason , how comes it to pass that any man should own them for truths , and be brought under the power of them . answ. 't is by a divine faith , i call it divine because 't is the work of god that we believe his testimony , ioh. 6 , 29. quest. does not this operation of god upon the hearts of men in working faith in us , offer violence to mans nature and force the will to consent to that which is above the understanding : or how can the efficacy of gods grace in determining mans will to such a spiritual act of faith in christ jesus be consistent with the liberty of the will. answ. many intricate disputes there are about this point , managed by subtil heads , not without some shew and appearance of reason , who to secure the liberty of mans will , have denied the efficacy of gods grace , placing the power of believing in man himself , to avoid the force that otherwise they think must be offered to his will. but to clear the efficacy of gods grace from this imputation , i need say no more but this , viz. that the grace of god enters the soul of man as a new nature , and therefore cannot put any force upon him , nature works kindly in all , by inclination , not by violence ; as nature is from generation , so the new nature is from regeneration ; one is the birth of the flesh , the other of the spirit ; as we are born men by our first birth , so we are born christians by our second birth . artificial christians are all name , without any living nature answerable to it , being not truly born of god and thereby made partakers of his divine nature . the breathing in of this new nature into the soul of man by the spirit of god , is that new creation spoken of in the gospel , 't is the first act of god in our conversion , 't is solely the act of god , without any concurrence of ours , we have only a passive obediential power to receive the impression ! 't is god that makes it , upon this supernatural principle are grounded all after proceedings in bringing the soul forward to an actual closure with christ , all the natural powers and faculties of the soul are gathered into this supernatural principle , do act under it , are moved by it , and directed in all their free motions to a supernatural end , which they could not of themselves tend unto ; and let it not seem incredible to us that god should do this , he can do no evil from the perfection of his nature , and for the same reason all good must needs be in the power of his hand , the greatest good that can be done to fallen man , is thus to restore him . in this new nature are wrapped up the seeds of all grace , which by the efficacy of the spirit , are drawn out into act , with the free consent of mans will : should god determine the will of man to a good act whilst it is in a bad state and under a corrupt nature , this would imply force and violence , but to lead out a man according to his new nature , is not to put a force upon him . if sin had that efficacy upon man in his perfect state , to encline his will to evil , why should not grace have the like efficacy upon man fallen to encline his will to good . though an inclination to evil in man standing was possible from the liberty of his will in which he was created , yet such an actual inclination was inconsistent with his perfect state , and left such an inherent crookedness in his perverted nature that nothing but grace can rectifie and make streight again . what is a principle of grace , but liberty to good restored to fallen man , from whence an actual inclination to choose what is good do's follow of course , when god calls and excites him thereunto , here is no force put upon mans will , it acts freely in the choice of good , and it cannot be otherwise , since grace enters as a new nature , ingenerating a powerful principle of holiness in the soul , that do's incline a man freely to comply which the efficacious grace of god exciting him to those acts of holiness so agreeable to the nature of the new creature , as sin reigns unto death , so grace will reign through righteousness unto eternal life , rom. 5. 21. shall not he that raises the dead be able to quicken a dead soul , but we are more sensible of that power that god puts forth upon the bodies of men , then of that which he puts forth upon their souls , that you may know that the son of man hath power to forgive sins , take up thy bed and walk , mat. 9. 6. this you all see , but the actings of my saving power upon the souls of men , that power that works within , ( eph. 3. 20. ) you see not ; let this that you see convince you of that which you see not , and never dispute my power more to forgive sin , i can heal the diseases of the soul as well as those of the body , the power that god has to forgive sin is the great prerogative of god , belonging to the soveraignty of his grace . god walks invisibly thorow the world , doing his mighty works of grace , he touches some mens hearts , not others ; he draws some and not others , by the sweet yet irresistable force of his grace ; we see nothing but man , mans will , mans choice , mans act , and therefore conclude all is by mans own power , because we see not the wheel within the wheel , the spirit of god setting the whole soul in motion towards christ : this arcanum iehovae , this secret of the lord is with them that fear him , psal. 25. 14. the way of the spirit of god in the hearts of men is discerned by few , 't is a very hard matter to understand how god works in us to will and to do , because we find it to be our own act to believe , repent and turn to god , we ascribe all to our selves as if our own arm had saved us : the truth is , god in all the efficacious operations of his grace upon the hearts of men , loves to conceal himself , he will not be seen by others to do what he do's in and for his saints , no noise in the streets , matth. 12. 19. the kingdom of god comes not with observation , luke 17. 20 , 21. all is done within secretly and silently , non are privy to this heart-work , but they that feel it , this is the hiding of his power from the observation of those whom he never intends to work upon , and for the hardening of their hearts , that they may still retain an opinion of their own ability to do that which they see others so freely and willingly addicting themselves unto : though this be a cause of stumbling to many , who boast of a supposed power and freedom of will to believe and repent when they please , yet such in whose hearts god has wrought these mighty works of his grace , they see and feel the weight of his arm revealed upon their souls , they know it is gods doing , that a divine power has touched their hearts , and carried them out to all these acts of faith that they put forth , they openly acknowledge this , 1 cor. 15. 10. phil , 4. 13. 2 cor. 3. 5. gal. 2. 20. not i but christ. when they feel themselves most strengthned by christ , they are then most sensible of their own self-insufficiency and weakness , i can do all things through christ , yet not sufficient of our selves to think a good thought ; when i am weak , then am i strong , 2 cor. 12. 10. they would not say so , if they did not find a power more then humane exerting it self within them , and strengthning them with might in their inward man , i live , yet not i , but christ lives in me , till we can thus distinguish between nature and grace , and see god influencing our wills in all their free motions to that which is good , we shall vainly assume to our selves a power that never yet reduced it self to the least real act of faith in any man whatever : 't is easie talking of a power to believe , before we come to believe in good earnest , then our strength fails us if god do not support us , and help our unbelief ; i believe , help my unbelief , 〈◊〉 i can't hold it , my faith will fail , if god do not put his everlasting arms underneath , if we consider what difficulties , what strong objections unanswerable by reason , faith acts against in keeping up a lively hope of pardon in the conscience of a convinced sinner , we must needs say , 't is the work of god that we believe ; we may wonder at our selves as men , when we consider what we believe as christians . i have spoken all this to shew that god is the author and finisher of our faith , 't is he only can open the heart , and dispose it , to give credit to the word of his grace . application . by way of discovery , viz. how we may know when faith comes by hearing , even at the time of hearing , and whether it be yet come into your hearts , by all you have heard hitherto . faith is a secret and a sudden work , when it comes it gives some sense of it self to an observing christian , that quickly convinces us of a change in our selves , a heart truly turned to god , is not the same it was before , not in the same posture , not in the same disposition and frame , there is something new appears in every new creature , that do's not belong to the old man but rises up in opposition to him : this newness do's not lye in some one corner of the heart , but every where , 't is universal in every faculty ; all things are become new , though the old leaven be not totally cast out any where , but lest as an occasional provocation and challenge to the grace of god to act in more opposition to those motions of sin , that put a force upon the new creature , are directly contrary to the bent and genius of our renewed nature ; till faith comes we are never sensible of any such inward conflicts between the flesh and the spirit ; but then the fight begins , the good fight of faith : 't is faith strikes the first stroke , makes the first assault upon our reigning sin and corruptions , and will never cease contending with them , till it has got a full victory over them , and throughly mortified them . but how shall we know in the very time of hearing , when faith comes . when the word works effectually after hearing , it usually gives some powerful touch upon the heart at the time of hearing ; so 1 cor. 14. 24 , 25. he speaks there of the occasional conversion of an unbeliever , who came into the assembly , where there was prophesying and preaching , 't is probable some such are come in hither to day ; oh that god would meet with them , that they might be convinced and fall down upon their faces , worshipping god , acknowledging that he is among us of a truth ; so acts 2. 37. their hearts were prick'd , they cry out in the midst of the sermon , men and brethren what shall we do ? we want such publick conversions , had we more of these new births in our congregations ; we should have more of these out cries ; which would be very awakening to us all , if god would honour his ordinances with such visible signs of his presence , as in the primitive times the word was preached with that power , that it wrought a great consternation and astonishment in the whole assembly , there was a great impression upon their minds , which had various effects ; some blasphemed , and some believed , but all were moved and stirred , struck inwardly , though many saw not the hand that struck them ; 't is otherwise now ; hearers are more unconcern'd , in a more drowsie frame ; we can hardly keep them waking all sermon time ; they say these were extraordinary cases , not applicable to us now : i must tell you , conversions wrought by ordinary means now , are extraordinary things , have extraordinary effects ; the light into which we are brought , is , and ought to be , as marvellous in our eyes now , as 't was in theirs heretofore ; they who find nothing of this , neither in nor after conversion , would do well to make a stricter inquiry into their state ; sometimes we bring down grace as low as we can for the sake of weak ones , but we must not make nothing of it , to please some who would rest in a silent easie ▪ conversion , and think to go heaven by the charitable opinion others have of them ; that so great a change as conversion is , should make so little appearance as it doe's in many pretending to it , is that we should not easily digest , let every one examine himself . should god come upon any of you with a through conviction of sin , and give you a real sight of christ as your only saviour , you would not be able to contain your selves under this marvellous light ; 't will be like fire in your bones , ier. 20. 9. you 'l immediately spring up as the goaler did , acts 16. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , he did not consider which foot he should put foremost , but leaped up on a suddain , broke out into a passionate inquiry after the way of salvation . faith especially at its first entrance , when it first comes into our hearts , is alwaies accompanied with a through conviction of our lost undone estate : i don't speak now of those legal convictions that in some may be preparatory to conversion , but of that saving evangelical conviction that is of the essence of saving faith , alwayes accompanying it , it is the reason of faiths earnestness in its first actings upon christ , master save us , we perish . in the acts we have several instances of faith wrought in the time of hearing , acts 10. 44. while peter yet spake , the holy ghost fell on all them which heard the word : so acts 14. 1. acts 18. 8. acts 28. 24. paul perceived faith in the cripple by his attentive hearing , acts 14. 9. when faith does not make this publick entrance into the hearts of those who hear the word ; as it did in the primitive times , in the view and face of the whole congregation , and 't is much to be lamented that it does not : i fear it portends more than i am willing to tell you ; yet i hope faith may and does come in a more silent manner into your hearts at the time of hearing ; this you may know by a sudden astonishment , and trembling that sezes upon the soul , luke 4. 33. acts 13. 12. acts 9. 6. when a discovery of the evil of sin , and of the grace of christ do meet together in one saving conviction in the conscience of an awakened sinner , we must needs be variously affected with horrour and hope ; grace clothes it self with contrary passions at the same time , as it looks at sin , and at christ , loathing the one , and embracing the other ; this may be perceived at the first opening of the heart to believe the gospel , a present act of faith is and will be the present sense of the soul in and about what it believes ; there is no putting the word from us , when once we believe it in our hearts : men may talk of gospel-truths under a formal profession of faith , and not be affected with them , but the word works effectually in them that believe . faith touches the soul in the most sensible part of it , gathers up the mind and thoughts of a man into a close and serious debate with himself , about those things which he believes in reference to himself ; his heart waxes hot within him ; this is the power and dominion that faith has over us , being the highest principle in man ; it overcomes all contradictions from the flesh , answers all carnal objections , throughly perswades a man , firmly establishes the heart in the belief of the present truth , so that we become unmovable from the hope of the gospel . these are the inward commotions that faith makes in the soul at its first entrance , you cannot so slight the impressions of faith , as not to be greatly concerned about them ; 't is not come to real believing till it comes to this ; you are and must be serious in and about that which with your hearts you believe concerning your eternal state. whether you now are , or ever have been in such a frame , god and your own consciences know best ; they are not trifles that you believe , but matters of that moment that you cannot but be concerned in them , and there is nothing required to fire your hearts with a zealous solitude and thoughtfulness about them , but only your believing them ; you can no more step over such an act of faith , than you can cease to think while you are actually thinking , or cease to move while actually moving : an act of believing is the soul in actual motion towards christ , flying for refuge to the hope that is set before him . this is the way of the spirit in working faith at the time of hearing ; and if you observe such a one whose heart the word has reached ; he goes home musing upon what he has heard : suppose one standing in the spirit of isaiah at the meeting-door , as you go forth crying out , who hath believed our report , to whom has the arm of the lord been revealed this day ; how experimentally would such a one say , i have believed , to me hath the arm of the lord been revealed ; follow him further into his house , into his chamber or closet ; behold he prayes , as the word brings down the sense of god into the soul ; so prayer carries up the sence of the soul , concerning that word , to god above : prayer , especially just after conversion , is but a holy enlargement of the heart about those things that god first speaks to us by his word . i will say ' its my people , they shall say , the lord is my god. in hearing expect no other reason for faith , but the bare testimony of the word of god , search the scriptures whether things are so or no , as ministers declare , if you find them so , charge them upon your consciences as most worthy of all acceptation and belief : religion now a dayes is branched out into so many speculations and subtle questions wrapped up in such terms of art , under such nice distinctions , that the power and simplicity of the gospel is almost lost , ordinary professors know not what to believe while the pulpit gives such an uncertain sound . there is not so much rational knowledge required to the obedience of faith as some imagine , leave others to dispute , to produce their reasons pro and con , do you quote scripture and believe , begging of god to direct your faith into right apprehensions of his revealed will , hold fast there and you are safe , the greatest scholars in the world must come down to the plain mans faith , if ever they die in peace , in all gospel truths , their consonancy , not to our reason , but to the scriptures is to be regarded . mans leaning rather to their own understanding of the thing , than to their faith in the word , about that thing , hath led them into error , into false notions of divine mysteries . i grant from your faith in one truth you may fetch reasons for some other truth depending upon it , these are gospel reasons not your own ; we don't believe because we know , but we know because we believe ; this is a new way of knowing things , which the world is not acquainted with , because it cannot receive the spirit of truth , the spirit of truth is a spirit of faith ; hearing the word is of singular use to believers themselves , 1 ioh. 5. 13. to confirm and strengthen your faith , that you may be built up further in it , furnished with further matter to act it upon . let none be discouraged though never so ignorant and unlearned , of a low , mean , capacity , yet come to hear with an expectation of gods working faith in thee , faith will overcome all these difficulties , as weak and simple and ignorant as any may be supposed to be , yet be not discouraged , you may be made to believe more in one moment , than the greatest scholars in the world can attain to the knowledge of in many years study . it is written in the prophets ( joh. 6. 45. ) and they shall be all taught of god , every man therefore that hath heard , and hath learned of the father cometh unto me ; not that any man hath seen the father . 't is not what men you hear , what ministers you follow , till god the father do's speak powerfully to your hearts by the ministry of man. it matters not who the man is , your faith consists not in the wisdom of man , but in the power of god , when you have a proof of christs speaking in any , 2 cor. 13. 3 then hearken diligently , till you hear an inward word from this invisible teacher , you 'l never come to christ. if all the ministers in the world should lay their heads together , they could never bring a sinner to christ , till the father speaks the word and draw him . we are but ministers by whom you believe , as the lord gives to every man ; so then , neither is he that planteth any thing , nor he that watereth , but god that giveth the increase , 1 cor. 3. 5 , 6 , 7. the sum of all is this , we are sent to preach , that you may hear ; we carry the letter of the word to your ears , the spirit brings it home in the name of god to your consciences , convincing you that it is his word , under this conviction you see the truth of the word , in the veracity of god , this word of truth and your souls meeting so close , as they alwayes do in an act of faith , sanctifies you ; this sanctification lies in the ready assent of your understanding , and free consent of your will , the one is founded in light , the other in love , so that when an enlightned understanding receives the truth in the love of the truth , there is a firm principle of holiness fixed in that soul , flowing from that union to christ that faith gives us , this is the beginning and progress of that faith , the end of which is the salvation of your souls . the second point . how we are iustified by faith. we ought to be doers of the word and not hearers only , to maintain good works for necessary uses , tit. 3. 14. it behoveth us therefore to know what use we should make of our works and doings in the great business of our salvation , so as not to entrench upon the righteousness of christ , not to degrade that from being our sole and only justifying righteousness . some men are as much mistaken in grounding their salvation upon doing , as others are in grounding it upon bare hearing ; and therefore these things must be warily spoken unto , and warily understood . when we urge the necessity of doing the word of god , carnal reason lies at the catch , and is ready to take every thing in a wrong sense and meaning , and to bring down the mysteries of the gospel to a low loyal vulgar notion more suitable to humane reason . there are two extreams that men are apt to run into ; either they neglect good works , or else , they trust in good works ; either they do in a careless formal presumptuous manner , pretend to cast all upon christ , without any serious inquiries after the truth of grace in themselves , or ever proving it by its fruits ; conceiving it altogether needless to be any way active in their own salvation . secondly , if upon search they find any actings of grace in their hearts , any fruits of grace in their lives , these are their own proper goods they think , money found in their own purses ; it matters not how they came by it , they have it , and they are resolved to convert it to their own proper use , making it nothing less than a part of their justifying righteousness . those of this way , with whom i have now to do , do state the matter thus . they say , that christ is the meritorious cause of our justification , having by his death satisfied the law , and discharged us from the curse of it ; and so far we agree with them . they say further , that christ to compleat our justification , hath also purchased for us strenght and ability to perform the condition of the new covenant ( this we assent to ) the performance of which according to them , is to be taken in as a part of our justifying righteousness , and this we deny . we say the performance of what is required in the new covenant , is a good justification of the cause , whether it be of faith or of good works , or of any particular thing or action , the sincerity and truth of which may be in question . but we deny that it adds any thing to the justification of the person , and therefore they speak not ad idem , to the same thing , when they deny christs imputed righteousness to be the sole righteousness that justifies the person , because there is another righteousness required , upon another account to justifie or clear up the sincerity of our faith and holiness ; i say to clear up this to our selves and other men , which we deny not . for we do not admit any faith to be a justifying faith , but upon good evidence of the truth of it , neither do we admit any works to be good works but upon full proof of the goodness of them . the sum of all is this ; we say , faith and obedience once proved to be true and genuine , are good evidences of our interest in christ , whose imputed righteousness is the sole and only righteousness by which our persons are universally justified from all charges and blame whatsoever in the sight of god , and to say otherwise is in effect to say that christ died to justifie us , that we might be justified without him ; or at least not only and solely by him ; which is highly derogatory to the death of christ , neither will their owning christ to be the meritorious cause of our justification salve the matter while they do in any sense require another righteousness distinct from that of christs , for the justification of our persons in the sight of god. and having given you this brief account of the matter in difference , i shall now proceed . the point in general which i am to speak to is this . that though good works are highly necessary in a justified person , yet they not required in any way of causality to the justification of the person . or thus , no part of our inherent righteousness can be any part of our justifying righteousness . this i might prove to you many ways . first , from the subject of justification , an ungodly person ; a believing sinner flying in the sense of sin unto jesus christ for life and pardon . sin is that from which we are justified , the righteousness of christ is that for which or by which we are justified , act. 13. 39. secondly , because there must be a change of stare in justification , and by justification , before we can derive any saving grace from christ to enable us to the least good work . i might also thirdly , argue from the weakness and imperfection of all inherent holiness which is not able to justifie it self , much less the person . and many arguments may be brought ; but my design is to contract this general to a particular point , concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere , or the act of believing ; and i shall shew that that part of our inherent righteousness that flows from our doing the word of god , that is , the work of faith as done by us in an act of believing , is no part of our justifying righteousness . this is that which seems to have the fairest claim to , and interest in , our justification ; and if this be disproved , the argument will hold a fortiori against all the inferiour branches of our inherent righteousness ; they must be forced to quit their claim also . that which seems to intitle faith to such an interest in our justification as is pleaded for by some , is the phrase and manner of expression which the scripture uses in speaking of faith , telling us that faith is imputed to us for righteousness , that we are justified by faith ; that he that believes shall be saved , and the like . the question is , in what sense these scriptures are to be understood ; whither we are to take up our standing partly in the act of faith , and partly in the object of faith , making up a righteousness , partly from our selves , and partly from christ , or whether we are by faith to go out of our selves unto christ for our whole , sole and only justifying righteousness ; and this is that which i affirm , and shall endeavour to make good , and shew you that the scriptures alledged do not ascribe our justification to the act , but wholly to the object of faith ; not to our believing , but to christ believed on , which i prove thus : first , from those expressions of scripture peculiar to holy writ , by which the holy ghost doth of set purpose limit faith to its object , iohn 6. 47. rom. 9 : 33. ephes. 1. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to believe in , into , or upon christ , which plainly points out this , that faith is alwayes to be taken in relation to its object ; that by faith is meant christ apprehended by faith. life is promised , not simply to believing , but to believing in ; in whom ? in christ , or nothing . faith is a relative term ( as to its whole sense and signification ) to the object christ. it must be faith in christ , or faith in nothing . believing is a scripture phrase , setting forth our leaning upon christ. faith , as our act adds nothing to christ , doth not make his death satisfactory ; it was so in its self before , though by an applicatory act of faith it is made so to us ; that is , we do reap the benefits of his death and satisfaction ; we are not united to faith , but by faith we are united to christ. faith is the medium uniens ; we do not trust in our faith , but by faith we trust in christ ; all that faith signifies is in relation to christ ; all that it doth , is in the name of christ ; without christ it signifies nothing , it doth nothing , it is nothing . when we are said to be justified by the faith of christ , or justified by faith in christ , gal 2. 16. pray must the meaning be , that we are justified by faith , and christ , as some would have it , giving the priority to faith , and making christ but a remote cause of our justification , and our inherent righteousness to be the next and immediate cause ? were men more willing to exalt christ , and debase themselves , this would be english plain enough : faith in christ would then signifie but one righteousness ; it would not be faith and christ. let men have a care how they speak unadvisedly of christ to the lessening and diminution of his honour : god hath said he is our righteousness without any limitation , without any restriction : now for men to say , ay but not all our righteousness , not our only righteousness ; i say , 't is a bold word thus to distinguish whatever remote inferences they may gather out of scripture to justifie their meaning ; yet since god hath not thought fit to drop any such diminutive expression of christ in scripture , i say it is a bold word for men to speak . you may see how severely speaking against god was punished , numb . 21. 5 , 6. and god complains of it , ezek. 35. 13. with your mouths ye haue boasted against me , and have multiplyed your words against me : i have heard them . we may safely deny any thing of god that implies weakness or imperfection ; but to deny that of christ which tends to the exaltation of his name and riches of his grace ; let men distinguish how they will , it is dangerous meddling here : this is a tender point ; that is the first . secondly , if the bare act of faith without any relation to the object , justifies ; then any act of divine faith will justifie us as well as faith in christ ; for the act is specified by the object : take away the object , and all acts of faith are alike , equally insignificant . but i proceed . thirdly , to the third argument that shall be drawn from the nature of faith , which consists in receiving . as it is the act of a believer , it implies doing ; but properly as an act of believing ; it consists in receiving , and that with an empty hand : now the question is whether by this receiving act of faith there do redound to us a righteousness of our own , distinct from that which we receive from christ ? i say no : we are not justified by a righteousness that we do , but by a righteousness that we receive : now the bare act of receiving in a common natural way , is not counted morally meritorious : a beggars receiving an alms , argues no merit in the receiver , but meer grace in the donor . we count that he who only receives a benefit , he doth nothing for it , it comes freely : indeed he doth something naturally in receiving , but nothing morally by way of merit for the thing received . thus it is among men , and so we understand it , in all such actings of ours ; but when we come to deal with god , how do our proud hearts put a value upon them ; then we put a value upon every thing , upon our coming , upon our adhering , upon our relying , upon our asking , upon our receiving ; we grow proud of those very acts of grace by which we do express our poverty and beggary , our absolute dependance upon another ; as if christ was beholden to us for our accepting of him : so naturally prone are we to rest upon any thing that looks like our own doing . brethren ! there are two things to be considered in faith. ( i. ) the motion of the soul in receiving , which is an act naturally necessary to all manner of receiving ; it is as reaching forth , and opening the hand . ( 2. ) you may consider the passive reception it self , wherein the nature of faith doth chiefly consist , in admitting , applying , and owning the gift . though the word believing doth grammatically imply an action , yet really and physically we are passive in believing : for these reasons . first , the first reason is this ; they who make our act of believing a part of our justifying righteousness , do manifestly make faith to contradict it self in and by its own act : if by an act of believing we go out of our selves to christ for all : i do not see how by the same act we can possibly settle upon any thing in our selves that is not christ : if by being justified by faith they understand the object of faith , then we agree with them ; then faith and christ is all one : by faith we mean christ applyed , and nothing but christ. but if they understand the bare act of believing in distinction from christ the object ; therein we differ from them . and they must so understand it who make our act of believing a part of our justifying righteousness distinct from christs righteousness ; and therein i say , they make faith to contradict it self in and by its own act : i do not know whether i am understood ; i think i understand my self in what i have said : take it thus , pray consider what is the sense of a believing soul under a present act of faith in christ ? i appeal to you all , i desire you would all be judges in this matter who have ever been serious , and in good earnest , dealing with god by an act of faith for salvation . you believe in christ , what is the english of that ? what do you mean by it ? is not this your sense ; you desire to cast yourself wholly upon christ , to be found in christ not having on your own righteousness ; to be built upon that foundation , to lay hold on eternal life in christ ; to go out of your selves unto christ for righteousness and life ; to seek that in another which you have not in your selves ; to count all things but loss and dung that you may win christ ; don't you mean this ? pray what an absurdity then is it , what a gross contradiction to say i am justified by something in my self , by virtue of that very act of faith , by which i do purposely go out of my self to christ for all . if this be reason and sense , i have quite lost the use of both , and will never pretend to understand any thing . but how do some men fight with their own shadows and lose themselves in their own expressions . they cannot speak of christ , and of the way and manner of applying christ , but presently they must be co-workers with christ in their justification . brethren ! we must not be perswaded out of our christian names , nay out of christianity it self by those who would impose their own notions upon us , and indeed preach another gospel ; let them read on and tremble . but i will say this , that if paul were alive , and should hear any man upon earth , or angel from heaven compound faith and works , works and christ in the matter of our justification , i doubt not but he would curse them in the name of the lord. certainly we are not to be mealy-mouthed , and silently suffer the grand principles of the gospel to be decryed , as if we doubted whether they were true or no. these are the pillars of the house , all fall with them , if they be taken away . these are the ancient land-marks and bounds of our religion ; they must not be removed , for if you suffer that , you will quickly have a dead child in the room of the living . new notions , though not contrary to any received foundation , should be warily uttered ; but supposing there is the least discrepancy or opposition , it is our duty and wisdom to be silent , and not break the eye of the needle , by forcing our camel through . new notions must yield rather to antient received truths , they must be governed and over-ruled by them . it is dangerous to force plain scripture , and plain principles to make good our own private interpretations . 2. our act of believing is no part of our justifying righteousness , because justification is an act of god ; not properly subsequent to our faith , but simultaneous with it . they are concomitants , so close , so instantaneous , that we cannot say which is first , or last in time ; we cannot say the one takes its rise from the other . i explain my self thus ; it is one thing for the scripture to speak doctrinally of faith , another thing to speak of a believer under the actual exercise of faith. when the scripture speaks of the doctrine of faith in the abstract , it tells us the consequents of it , that according to gods order and appointment , faith is requisite unto justification , and so faith is antecedent to justification , and justification is spoken of as a thing to come , upon our believing . the doctrine of faith shews what shall be to all who obtain it ; the actual exercise of faith shews , what is to them who have it , and do believe it . it is not only he that believes shall be saved and justified , but is justified . it is true , who ever believes shall be saved ; the just shall live by faith , this is doctrinally true . but he that believes hath everlasting life , iohn 3. 39. is justified ; this is experimentally true . god , if you rightly consider the point , doth justifie us , by working faith in us . it is his way of justifying ; it is the way god hath chosen to communicate the righteousness of god , which is a stupendious mystery , and cannot be otherwise applied to the soul. he doth not justifie us because of any antecedent act of faith we have lying by us , and which we could now produce as a price ( as it were ) and meritorious means of our justification . god justifies us by working faith in us ; god being willing in so great an act of grace , to speak to our understandings and knowledge , he hath appointed faith as a fit means by which the soul not only doth the thing , but also le ts in a sense of what is done upon the soul ; and therefore faith the apostle ; it is of faith that it might be of grace : god will be understood in all the acts of his grace towards us . now that there might be in us a sense of reception of so great a benefit , god resolves to put it into the hand of faith , which hath a natural sutableness in it , and fitness to receive what free grace tenders to it ; and so it doth when it is in any strength . christ and our souls would never meet were it not for faith. there is no letting down any thing spiritual and supernatural into the soul , but by faith ; faith is our modus habendi , it is the way , the means by which we come to have god and christ , and an interest in the things of heaven . we have what we have from christ by faith , and we hold it by faith. faith and repentance as acted by us , and reflected upon , are very good evidences of our justifications , for it is in that reflection only that they do give evidence of themselves , and of any thing produced from them . therefore , i say , as they are reflected upon they have retrospection to our justification , of which they are very good and evident proofs ; but they have no antecedent causality to produce the thing signified , because they signifie it , as a thing already done , past and perfect . 3. and lastly , justification is frequently set down in scripture without any relation to these acts of grace in us , to shew that it wholly flowes from christ ; and that by our believing we add nothing to our justifying righteousness , but do only apply it , as wholly derived from christ alone , 1 ioh. 5. 12. he that hath the son , hath life ; they that are in christ there is no condemnation to them , rom. 8. 1. now because we cannot admit sinners to be in christ but by faith , therefore what flows from christ , is attributed unto faith ; which is , i say , our modus habendi , but still the real cause of our justification , that which makes us just in the sight of god , is our being in christ , and our having the son. there is no mention made of having any thing else ; but faith is our modus habendi ; we cannot have the son but by faith , nor be in christ but by believing . therefore god speaks , to our understanding , and hath attributed that to the act of faith , which is only derivable from the object . i shall now shew you the weakness of those grounds and reasons they go upon , who differ from us in this point . 1. they speak much of a charge of infidelity , impenitency and unholiness to be drawn up against us at the last day , and therefore it concerns us to muster up all our good works , all our acts of grace , and every part of our inherent righteousness , that we may be in a readiness to answer to this charge and clear our selves . a specious argument ! enough to amuse the world , and fright men back into the popish doctrine of justification by works . brethren ! i do not deny that unbelieving , impenitent and ungodly persons shall be charged with infidelity , impenitency and ungodliness , and be condemned ; but to talk of a charge of infidelity against a believer at the last day , i say , it is a groundless , unscriptural notion . i do not deny that the faith of the saints that draws them to christ , and its efficacy afterwards in all its fruits , will be taken notice of by christ , when they are admitted into the kingdom , mat. 25. 34. come ye blessed ; and when that blessedness is fixed , christ doth not put them upon the proof of their faith , but helps them himself to understand the former actings of their faith and love to god , which they were ignorant of before . when saw we thee an hungred , and fed thee ? or thirsty and gave thee drink ? &c. in as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these , ye have done it to me . i see more grace in you saith christ , than ever you saw in your selves , so and so appearing in your lives ; come ye blessed . brethren , good works are good evidences to us , to make out the truth of grace in us ; but the all-knowing god needs no such evidences for his information ; he knows what is in man , and needs not that any should tell him . he searches the heart . though we see grace only in the fruit , yet god sees it in the root and principle . besides , i conceive , the last judgment is not to prove who is , and who is not in a state of grace ; but rather to pronounce the sentence according to the state that every one shall appear in at the resurrection . there will be no doubting of any mans state at the resurrection ; the method and manner of the resurrection will decide it . christ himself will separate the sheep from the goats ; and he will do this before the judgement , mat. 25. 32 , 33. you shall know a believer then by his station at the right hand of christ ; by his company among the sheep . the angels are sent forth , mat. 24. 31. togather up the elect from the four winds , from the one end of heaven to the other . they will ransack every corner of the world to find out every saint ; not only the ninety and nine , but the whole hundred shall be presented to god ; not one missing , we shall all stand together . now after they are thus ranked by christ , and the angels have declared them to be sheep , to be true believers , must they come under a charge of infidelity ? who must draw up this charge , and manage this false indictment ? either god , or good angels , or conscience , or the devil . god he hath justified them here , sealed them by the spirit of adoption to the day of redemption , and he will never reverse his judgment . the judgment of god at the last day will be pursuant to the judgment already past by his word and spirit in the hearts and consciences of believers here . good angels are imployed to gather up the elect , and consequently they have a true discerning who they are . our consciences are sprinkled with the blood of jesus , and have an answer in readiness , by the resurrection of christ from the dead . and the devil will have something else to do in that day , when he stands at the head of the wicked to receive his sentence with them , the time of his torment being then come . though he be now the accuser of the brethren day and night before god , he must then eternally be cast down . true , he is now our accuser , and we must labour to overcome him by the blood of the lamp , as rev. 12. 10 , 11. that is , by arguments drawn from the blood of jesus ; yet i say fear him not after death . the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death , saith the apostle ; and must we have an after rancounter with the devil ? must we be set upon a fresh by him ? no , no , after death he hath done with you for ever ; he will not dare to look you in the face at the last day : he draw up a charge against you ? you shall accuse , judge and condemn him , and all the devils in hell , 1 cor. 6. 3. never fear , you that dye in the lord , shall rise up under those denyable evidences of a state of grace , that neither the devils nor wicked men shall dare to gain-say . what , must poor christians who have lived under doubts , fears , under buffetings and temptations , under accusations and challenges from the devil and their own consciences , must they rise so ? is this to be raised in power , with our spirits made perfect ? surely paul was out in his triumph , rom. 8. 33. who shall lay any thing to the charge of gods elect ? do you make good your title to christ now , and never fear any charges afterwards at that day ; it will be a joyful day to believers . look up , saith christ , lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh , luke 21. 28. and therefore comfort one another ; your witness is in heaven , and your record is on high , as job speaks , god , christ , angles , conscience , will all be on your side . aye , but if this feigned process be not observed , some mens notions will fall to the ground . aye , and let them fall ; no matter how soon ; for they are not grounded upon the word of god that endureth for ever . brethren , we must not draw schemes and models from our own brain , and when we have done , impose them upon god , and make his proceedings in every particular exactly to suit the methods of humane judicatures : the natural notion of these things is so strong in some mens heads , that it doth carry them out beyond the line of the gospel . good works certainly do best furthest off from the judgment seat of god. they are good and comfortable evidences here , but they will make but a sorry righteousness there for us to plead . though god may and will take notice of all the fruits of his grace appearing in our words or works , when he passeth the solemn declaratory sentence at the last day , which is but a fuller manifestation of our justification . god will personally and publickly own that which he hath secretly in our consciences , done by his word and spirit in us . god doth now act mediately by his word , then he will act immediately by himself ; we shall hear the sentence of our justification from his own mouth , which now we hear only from the mouths of his ministers that speak to us in his name . secondly , the second ground they go upon is this , they say , that it is a conditional service imposed upon us by god in the new covenant ; and therefore the performance of it must needs be part of our justifying righteousness ; which is very specious , and very suitable to humane reason , as most things are that contradict the mysteries of the gospel , but it is of like sound and significancy with the other . alas ! at how little a hole will self-righteousness creep in ? how apt are we in the pride of our hearts to distinguish our self-righteousness into our justification , that we may have somewhat whereof to glory . to prevent mistakes i will premise one thing ; that is this , i do not deny , but that to believe in god , in christ , is an eminent piece of service , a great act of divine worship , the greatest act of worship we can perform to god on this side heaven . but i deny that it is a service done in order to the procuring or purchasing those benefits which we receive from christ as his free gift . faith receives what christ hath already procured . faith doth not come to christ to desire him to dye for us ; but having dyed for us , it comes for the fruit of his death : it comes on no other errand but to receive what is already prepared . faith hath no causality or efficiency at all in contriving , compassing , constituting the great act of grace , wherein the pardon of our sin and our justification is held forth unto us . our faith did not move god to promise pardon , but finding all this grace in jesus , faith applyes it , lays hold on it , and god gives us leave , nay commands us to do this . so that faith is a service we owe to god by way of duty in complyance with his free grace towards us , but it is not a service done by us in way of procuring that which is freely given . no , no , we owe that to christ and not to faith. brethren ! in common acceptation , when we say come to me , and i will do this and that for you ; pray who is the doer , he that comes to have the thing done , or he that doth it . certainly if coming be a service in this case , it is a service done to a mans self , and can never be urged as a service done to god. but they further say , that this is a conditional service : why ? because god hath commanded us to believe that we may be justified . commanded us to believe and pray , what is that ? i told you before the meaning of an act of faith , even to renounce our own righteousness , to come in our nakedness and poverty to christ , without money or without moneys worth , that we may be enriched by him in all things . is not this the old , honest , plain down-right notion of believing ? and is this the conditional service required ? why don't you do it then ? who is against it ? only let them attend to the sense of faith , and not be carried away with the meer word and talk of faith , as their own act , never regarding the inward sense and signification of the thing it self . hath god required us to believe in jesus ; let us know what that means and do it ; no body is against it . if that be the conditional service , let them lye low before god , and seem more vile in their own eyes , and cast themselves upon christ for all . let them learn to come without money . this is the proper obedience of faith ; that obedience which the doctrine of the gospel doth require ; and since you will call this a condition , i say , why don't you perform it ? is this the performance of such a condition of believing , according to the sense and meaning of believing , to tell the world that christ is not our only justifying righteousness , that we must seek for something in our selves to joyn with him , if ever we will be saved ? is this the condition ? doth god mean this , when he bids me believe in jesus ? sirs ! let us not read our bibles backwards ; wresting scripture to our own destruction : it is strange to me , that faith which is all along in scripture opposed to works in our justification , and is appointed by god to shut all good works out of justification , should be thus made an inlet to bring all good works into justification . oh! that we were more under the powerful actings of true justifying faith , it would then open it self more fully to us , and shew us its meaning . i wish we could a little better understand the actings of our faith , understand the reason , the sense of it , the importance , the intent of an act of faith , what a thing faith is . thirdly , they suppose a double justification , and a double justifying righteousness ; the first to justifie us from the accusations of the law , the other to justifie the sincerity of our faith and holiness ; and here comes in all our inherent righteousness . this is specious too : but i would not have men coyn new heads of divinity to make good their own notions . we know but of one justification , i say , the second justification , which they talk of , it is implyed in the first ; and therefore needless and unscriptural : for since the revelation of the gospel , infidelity and unbelief is a sin against the moral law ; and faith in christ is injoyned as a duty by the moral law ; by which we take god to be our god , and consequently do bind our selves over to believe whatsoever he had , or hereafter should reveal to be his will. this we are bound to by the moral law ; therefore if we are ( as they themselves affirm ) freed by justification from the law of works upon the condition of faith , then we are on our first justification absolutely freed from infidelity , and our faith is sufficiently approved to be true , and what then need a second justification , unless we will suppose an error in the first judgment ; which is impious to suppose ; as if god should acquit us from the accusation of the law of works upon the condition of faith ; which upon after examination , christ discovers to be false and unsound . so that these things do not hang together . fourthly , they say that faith and holiness are conditions and evidences of our title to christ , and all that comes by him ; and therefore part of our justifying rightcousness . it is hard to understand the strength of some mens reasoning ; but grant all this , it amounts to no more but christ , and a title to christ , so far we are agreed , for we desire no more . but how they will make faith which is our title to christ , and unto which christ and all his benefits are by the gospel granted , promised and made over ; how they will make this title never so well evidenced , to be part of our justifying righteousness , i see not : a title adds nothing to the inheritance , makes it neither more nor less , but conveys it down to us , according to the intrinsick value of the thing , be it more or less . a title to land is no part of the land ; only we are invested in it as it is , by vertue of our title . now therefore if the righteousness of christ be not of it self sufficient to justifie us , i see not how a good title mends the matter ; for if the estate be never so great , and we have no good title to it , it is worth nothing to us ; and if our title be never so good , we can have no more then is , and belongs to the title . so that after all this stir about conditions and evidences of our title to christ , the result of all is this , we have a title , a good title , are under all the conditions and evidences of a good title ; but to what ? to an inheritance that is not sufficient to maintain us , to a righteousness that is not sufficient of it self alone to justifie us ; and where are we now with our conditions and evidences of our title ? for ever distitute of a compleat justifying righteousness . is this to preach christ ? to preach the glad tidings of the gospel ? is this the way to quiet and settle the consciences of poor distressed sinners ? surely no. fifthly , they urge the literal sense of some few scriptures that seem to speak for them ; especially two ; and i do not know of more in the whole bible , as to the literal signification ; if there were we should hear enough of it . i know they quote many others , which add no weight at all to the argument they would ground upon them , therefore i shall not speak to them . those two are mat. 12. 37. by thy words thou shalt be justified , and by thy words thou shalt be condemned ; and that in iames , where it is said , abraham was justified by works , iam. 2. 23. for that in matthew , calvin charges the papists with very great weakness in offering to draw an argument from that text for justification by works . maldonate a learned jesuite on the other hand is very angry with calvin for supposing any of the roman church to be so weak and injudicious , as to argue so from that scripture ; for , saith he , we very well understand that this text doth not speak de justificatione , qua justi efficimur , sed de judicis sententia , qua , sumpto ex verbis nostris argumento , justi declaramur . so saith the jesuite ; we know this text doth not speak of that which is the cause of our justification , of the thing for which , and by virtue of which we become just and righteous , only here is the appearance of our righteousness by our words , and we are declared to be righteous . so that this doth not touch this cause of justification ; and yet this is the main text brought for it , the main proof repeated again and again , to prove inherent righteousness to have an influence into our justification . i say let them take the answer from the papists or protestants , which they please , they are both against them in this thing . as for the other scripture , they will take it in no other sense but what implyes a contradiction to all other texts of scripture in the case . the whole current of scripture is against works in justification , and leads us to a fair construction of that in iames , that it is to be understood of a justification before men , and not of a justification before god. protestant writers have sufficiently cleared up this , to the conviction of all but such who are resolved not to be convinced . certainly they should have a care how they abound too much in their own sense . the learned lord bacon saith , that a little phylosophy makes men atheists , but a great deal will convince them of a deity . some mens logick and school learning overthrows reason , which duely improved and well managed , would teach them to argue otherwise : certainly in our reasoning about divine things we should be careful not to abound too much in our own sense . it is better for us to leave the mystery of the gospel in its mystery where we found it , than to seek to draw it out , and so to explain it , as to force it into the mould of humane reason , shaping it on every side to an exact conformity to the thoughts and conceptions of our weak imperfect understanding ; i say , no gospel truth will bear this . after all our faith and knowledge and experience , we know but in part , and there is at the end of every gospel truth , a mystery ; something that is passing our understanding , that calls for silence , for an holy admiration , for an humble submission in faith to the will of god. therefore i would not have men speak as if they knew all , and draw particular schemes , and it must be so , and no otherwise ; and thus and thus you must proceed in this and that way and form , therefore things must be so stated . i have done with the argumentative part . i will now speak a word or two in a looser way of discourse . i say then thus , he may be a true believer who doth not take his faith for any part of his justifying righteousness ; i suppose that will be granted : but he cannot be a true believer who takes not christ for his justifying righteousness . i do not say now for his only justifying righteousness , because i would speak in the sense of those i oppose . i say , they cannot be believers who do not look upon christ as their justifying righteousness ; but they may be true believers who do not look upon faith as a part of their justifying righteousness . for the first , suppose it an error , it is only about the act in our apprehension which doth not alter the nature of the thing at all . the second is an error in the act , which quite destroys the very nature of faith . therefore the safer way is rather to press persons to believe , to see they have faith indeed and in truth , than urge them to such an unscriptural construction of their faith , putting such a title of honor upon it to the reproach of christ and his righteousness . they honour faith sufficiently who only prefer christ before it . no doubt god will give faith its due praise and place at the last day ; our not knowing or not understanding the reach and truth of our faith in all circumstances of it , will be no prejudice to faith at the last day . i heartily wish , we were more in the exercise of faith than in controversies about it ; more in the practise of good works than in dispute about them ; we should then sooner understand both the one and the other . sirs ! the mysterious , sublime doctrine of justification was revealed for our comfort , and proposed to our faith to be believed ; not to our reason to argue upon in a quodlibetical manner and to toss to and fro for argument sake . what if we know no more of justification then is absolutely necessary for our justification ? this is the case of many plain , sincere hearted christians ; and if it were so with us all , we may have fewer notions in our heads , but possibly more grace in our hearts . the lord grant , that we may know the doctrine of justification so as they know it who are saved by christ. but surgunt indocti & rapiunt coelum , & nos cum doctrinis nostris sine corde , volutamur in carne & in sanguine . the learned they dispute and wrangle themselves into hell ; the unlearned they believe , practice and gain heaven , taking up the truth in simplicity according to the general scope of the gospel , as it is held forth to the meanest capacity . brethren ! what paul said to the jaylor , acts 16. 31. that i say to you all , believe on the lord iesus christ , and thou and thy house shall be saved . don't you go home now , and tell your families that they must not understand this text so as to look upon christ as their only justifying righteousness , but look out for something in themselves , if ever they be saved . no , pray speak scripture language , expound scripture by scripture , and tell them , that christ is all in all ; tell them plainly that they must not be found in their own righteousness ; they must be found in christ not having on their own righteousness , that they must count all things but loss and dung that they may win christ ; that there is no other foundation but christ , no other name under heaven by which they can be saved , but the name of christ ; tell them they must not come for justification and life in the name of their good works , of any thing that belongs themselves ; but only in the name of christ , promote this doctrine in your families and among your children and servants . this is the way to save you and your household . this is good , wholesome household divinity , and suited to the ordinary capacity of all serious professors . we must not send our hearers to intricate distinctions , to learn the meaning of the doctrine of their justification . the sense of the gospel is plain enough in this thing , they that run may read it . come , come , you shall never be charged at the last day for giving too much to christ in the matter of justification . you are bound to ascribe all to him , and you shall never be charged for giving too much . and certainly if it be possible to err on that hand , i had rather err in giving too much then too little to christ. do you think that a true believer , who doth not look upon the act of faith or works of holiness to be any part of his justifying righteousness ; but casts himself upon christ , do you think , i say , that god will reprove such a person at the last day for ascribing too much to christ , and not pleading his own righteousness ? certainly a believer cannot plead the righteousness of christ without faith ; his way of arguing from christ will sufficiently evince the truth and reality of his faith ; there needs no other proof and demonstration of it . i should have made some application . i will tell you what i intended . first , to those who ground their justification upon the sandy foundation of their inherent righteousness ; i would exhort them to pull down the house presently before it fall upon their heads ; and lay a better foundation , if ever they think to stand before the son of man in his day . then i should exhort them , and press them to study other arguments , ( as there are very many ) to promote good works and practical holiness among men ; and not justle out christ to make room for self righteousness in the matter of justification . what , must we work for life still ? to work for justification is to work for life , and why should we thus turn the gospel into the law ? i should speak also to those who are built upon the right foundation , and have cast themselves upon christs righteousness for justification unto life . let such be careful to maintain good works ; let them be examplary in the practise of them ; and bring forth fruit meet for the kingdom of god. for as the foundation may be too weak for the superstructure , so the superstructure may be too mean for the foundation . and therefore down with all this hay , wood and stubble , and labour to walk more sutable to that holy faith under the profession of which you live . brethren ! the unsutable and uncircumspect lives of professors , have been the greatest scandal to the doctrine of justification by faith ; it hath opened the mouths of men against it . therefore labour to live men into a conviction of this truth . disputes and words will not do it , till you make it appear , that the grace of god that hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel , hath taught you to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts. this is the way to promote the doctrine of justification by faith alone . you that are built upon the right foundation had need be careful and circumspect . the house is not yet finished , we do all of us lie open more or less to storms and tempests here below , though they cannot throw down the house , yet they may shake the house ; the rain may beat into the house , may soak through every room of the house , may foul the house ; may greatly incommode us and distress us . therefore keep your souls in good repair , keep them as tite as you can against wind and weather . and for your comfort i would have told you that heaven will mend all the errors in the superstructure , if the foundation be right . god will then take away and separate all those weaknesses and sinful mixtures that now run along with all our graces ; all cracks and flawes , the sinkings , and failings , the bendings and leanings , this way and that way in any part of the building , heaven will mend all , will set all right and straight ; when we are sanctified throughout , and the top-stone is laid . finis . a discourse of repentance : shewing the difference between legal and evangelical repentance , and the necessary connection between evangelical repentance and saving faith. by thomas cole minister of the gospel . london , printed for thomas cockerill , at the three legs over against the stocks-market , 1689. a discourse of repentance . mark 1. 15. repent ye , and believe the gospel . the summe of the gospel lies in faith and repentance , which alwayes go together , and cannot be separated , though they may and ought to be distinguished one from the other : i have chosen this text to show the necessary connection that is between faith and repentance ; that i may be the better understood i shall observe this method . 1. distinguish between legal and evangelical repentance . 2. shew the nature of evangelical repentance , what it is , and wherein it does consist , how it rises out of faith , what its use and end is . 3. shew the necessary connection that is between evangelical repentance and saving faith. 4. the real difference that is between them , notwithstanding this necessary connection . 5. inquire into the true cause and reason why the professors of this age , who are so much for faith , do mind repentance so little . 6. apply all . first , distinguish between legal and evangelical repentance . you see the repentance and faith spoken of in the text , have both of them a reference to the gospel ; repent and believe the gospel . we shall better understand the nature of evangelical repentance , by comparing it with legal repentance , observing as we go how they differ from each . ( 1. ) legal repentance is the work of the law , i. e. the work of the spirit by the law , for the law works but faintly under the influence of meer natural light , unless the spirit awaken the conscience , and set home the law , little will be done , such a work of the law you have rom. 2. 15. letting in a spirit of bondage upon the conscience , accusing us for what we have done against the law , and leaving us so convicted without any plea for our selves . evangelical repentance is the work of the gospel , sweetly melting the heart by arguments drawn from the love of god , and his free grace in christ towards sinners ; it encourages a trembling soul to plead with god for mercy as the publican , lord be merciful to me a sinner . ( 2. ) legal repentance is all terrour and no hope , it rises from the revelation of gods wrath against sinners ; 't is a despairing repentance without any hope of pardon , the curse of the law lies hard upon a man ; he knows not how to get from under it , but lives in a fearful expectation of fiery indignation to devour him , he is a terrour to himself : but evangelical repentance leaves not an affrighted sinner altogether without hope , as i shall shew under the next head . ( 3. ) legal repentance is from worldly sorrow , not so much for the sin as the penalty incurred thereby , the apprehension of which is very dreadful to a convinced sinner ; he is more affected with the evil of punishment , then with the evil of sin in it self ; 't is not for gods sake but his own , that he repents of sin ; he could love it well enough if it did not damn him : though i do not deny , but a repentance purely legal , may have some sense of the evil of sin as sin , not only as malum prohibitum , but as malum in se , as evil in its own nature ; where common notions of good and evil are not utterly extinguished , it must needs be so , especially under a higher conviction from the spirit of god , that gives us a farther discerning of the evil of sin , then the meer light of nature under its greatest elevation can possibly do . it was so in iudas , matt. 27. 34. he was convinced , not only that he had broken the law of god , but that he had sinned in so doing . i have sinned in that i have betrayed the innocent blood : he knew he had a hand in murdering a man , a good man , a great man , who was more then man ; no doubt all this came up into his mind , concerning christ , yet the knowledge of christ that iudas had , did not reach so far as to beget the least hope of mercy from him ; and here lay the legality of his repentance ; it was a despairing repentance , he conversed only with the law , and so sunk under the wrath of god , and the curse of the law ; he had none to accuse him but his own conscience , the rulers and chief priests were for him , had set him a work and rewarded him ; but seeing him under such horror of conscience , he had done their business , what care they , see thou to that ; unconvinced sinners do slight the convictions of others , they may go hang themselves for all them , they have no pity for them . i speak this to shew that legal repentance may take in something of the evil of sin in it self , as well as the destructive nature of it to us ; though these legal convictions of the evil of sin in it self , are far short of those more through convictions that accompany true evangelical repentance : though the sorrow that is in legal repentance be but worldly ; yet 't is very pungent , it pierces us thorow , and pretends to some devotion too , as if it were for gods sake , when self is only at the bottom . pharaoh confessed his sins , and desired the prayers of gods people , exod. 9. 27 , 28. saul wept for his sins , 1 sam. 24. 16. the effects of gods wrath are very dreadful upon convinced sinners , may draw tears from their eyes , when they see what mischief they have brought upon themselves ; they repent , but how ? not of the sin , but of the punishment : alas ! what does that signifie , how ineffectual is it ? what have we to do to repent of the punishment ? we can't reverse it ; 't is gods part to repent of the punishment , to turn from his wrath , to cease from his anger , which he will do , when we repent of the sin that occasioned it . to repent of the punishment , is in effect to be sorry that god is so just , that he so severely animadverts upon sinners ; we wish he would let them go unpunished , that we might more securely go on in our sins ; the only way to escape vengeance , is to acknowledge the sinfulness of sin , and to repent of our great folly in committing it ; such a frame of spirit bears some proportion to the holiness of god , argues true godly sorrow , which worketh evangelical repentance unto salvation . 2 cor. 7. 10. ( 4. ) legal repentance is before faith , without faith may never issue in saving faith , as in cain , saul , iudas , but evangelical repentance does alwayes accompany saving faith ; and of this i am now to speak under the second head ; shewing you secondly , the nature of evangelical repentance ; what it is in its first rise and original ; upon what 't is founded . it came in with the gospel , the law never intended any such thing , the sinner was to be cut off by law , to die without mercy , in the day thou eatest thou shalt die , says the law ; unless ye repent , says the gospel ; here is an exception put in ( in case of repentance ) against the peremptory sentence of the law. i say repentance comes in with the gospel , i will put enmity , &c. gen. 3. 15. repentance rises out of this enmity . this seems to point particularly at the conversion of eve , who by faith in the promised messiah should turn against the serpent . i will put enmity between thee and the woman ; this woman , whom thou hast deceived , shall become thy enemy , and bring forth a seed that shall break thy head , thou shalt bruise his heel , but his death shall be thy overthrow . repentance is a gospel priviledge purchased by christ , 't is an act of grace in god to injoyn us repentance , as his leaving men in an impenitent hardened frame is an act of his justice and wrath. the law in its original constitution , does not intend the amendment of the sinner , but his utter destruction ; the law can kill the sinner , but cannot mortifie the sin ; damnation makes no man better , but concludes him eternally under sin and wrath , the justice of god is not obliged to turn a sinner from his sins , but to turn him into hell for his sins . that which makes it a just and righteous thing with god to forgive the sins of believer , is christs merits and his own promise ; 't is justice in god to make good his own promises , rom. 3. 25 , 26. 2 thes. 1. 6 , 7. he is a debtor to his own promise , he cannot deny himself , 2 tim. 2. 13. he owes the performance of his promise to his faithfulness and truth ; 't is an act of justice to himself to keep his promise : god offers mercy to sinners , not because they do repent , but that they may repent : repentance is not the cause but the effect of pardon , god always intends pardon to those whom he effectually calls to repentance ; he gave no such call to the angels that fell ; there was no gospel preached to them . no fallen angel was saved , because no elect angel fell , but there are many of gods elect among the fallen sons of adam to whom promises of salvation were made upon their believing in christ ; this being published to all in the gospel , all who hear the gospel do put in for their share in this salvation , and that they may render the attainment more easie and feazable to them , they deny absolute election , bring in universal redemption , assert the liberty of mans will to believe if he please , and supposing it to be in their own power to believe , they conclude they may be saved as well as others , and this is the ground of all that security that is among common professors . having spoken thus much of evangelical repentance as it implies a real hatred of sin as sin , and a real turning to god as the chiefest good from an inward change of nature renewed after the image of god , i shall now shew you , 1. that such a repentance can never be wrought in any by the law alone , the gospel has a principal hand in this . why not by the law. because in the law there are not sufficient motives and inducements to repentance , nothing that encourages to it , that renders it available to mans salvation , the law cannot give life to a sinner upon his repentance ; the gospel can , but the law cannot , could a man under the law , repent , suppose that ? what would he get by it , he must to hell after all , the law as a covenant of works does not seek to bring a sinner to repentance , but to punishment , the law cannot give repentance unto life , because it cannot give life upon our repentance . you 'l say then , is the law against repentance ? i don't say so neither ; for take repentance as 't is a just equitable thing , as a holy disposition of mind ; so the law is not against it where ever it may be found , as it is not against any other act of moral righteousness as such that a man may do , and yet for all this 't will condemn a man for his sin , and all his righteousness shall not be remembred , though the law be not against repentance , yet it will not accept of repentance as a satisfaction for past sins , but the gospel provides full satisfaction for the law , and promises sufficient and effectual grace to the sinner to bring him to repentance ; having rescued him from the curse of the law , enables him to walk worthy of the blessing of the gospel , if those who are justified were not sanctified , they would live to the scandal of the gospel . the law cannot contradict it self , having already pronounced a peremptory sentence of death upon the sinner , 't is impossible the law should ever give repentance unto life , the law insists upon the execution of its own judgment , and will not be satisfied till that be done , in this the gospel yields to the law , to have execution done upon man for sin , and provides a man on purpose , the man christ iesus , who bore our sins in his own body upon the cross . 3. this evangelical repentance implies real sanctification , but the law sanctifies no man , because it can't convey its own holiness to another , can't alter the nature of a man , but only shew him what mischief his sin has done him , shews him his sin in this or that instance , to his great terror , but if he happen to out-live those terrors , and not die in the fit as iudas , his evil heart will encline him as strongly to sin , as ever it did before his former convictions , they made him give a present start backwards , but he will quickly recover himself , and return to his wretched course , he cannot cease from sin , though he know it displeases god yet he likes it never the worse for that , might he but escape the punishment , 't is not the wrath of god in it self that he fears , but only as it goes forth in the penal effects of it against himself , else he could suffer god to be angry , and not be troubled at it , whereas this goes most to the heart of a child of god , that he has incurr'd his displeasure . there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger , psal. 38. 3. the law alone never works any real sanctification in a sinner ; 't is indeed the rule of judgement , it judges us according to what we are , but cannot make us better . 4. repentance is a turning unto god , but the law gives no encouragement to a sinner to turn to god , it holds forth the wrath of god against him , that makes him run from the presence of an angry god and hide himself as adam did , how can dry stubble stand before a consuming fire , but god out of christ is a consuming fire to a sinner , he dares not come near him . 5. the law by it self can't work a saving conviction 't is very instrumental in conjunction with the gospel to do this , but of it self it cannot . saving conviction is of the essence of evangelical repentance . saving conviction hath these four properties . 1. it apprehends upon scripture grounds a possibility of a sinners salvation , and not only so , but a fair probability of it upon the due use of those means appointed by god in order thereunto , and leads out the sinner to seek relief in christ , under some hope of obtaining it . 2. it works a hatred of sin as sin , strongly inclines and disposes the heart of a sinner to break off from his sins , and to betake himself to a strict course of holiness : god offers grace to sinners , because he intends to give faith and repentance to as many as are ordained unto life , faith inclines us to beg repentance , disposes us to it , laies open the foulness of sin so plainly , so convincingly that we cannot but repent of it , under such a saving conviction as faith works in us , i call it a saving conviction , because it puts us upon the diligent use of all means tending to salvation ; a man is so convinced that he cannot rest till he has found out an effectual remedy to cure so deadly a disease , nothing will satisfie him but christ , we see not all that is in sin ; till we see an absolute necessity of christ to save us from it : here is a deep discovery of sin indeed , when we know nothing but the blood of christ can take it away ; behold the lamb of god , &c. a sacrifice of gods providing , all the bulls , goats , sheep and lambs of mans procuring will never expiate sin , nothing that is among men can do it , but god has a lamb , cherished in his own bosom from eternity , this lamb must be slain to take away the sins of the world , 't is very astonishing to think what god parted with from himself to satisfie his own justice ; his attributes conspire together to heighten and advance each other ; infinite grace lays out it self to satisfie infinite justice , and satisfied justice gives way to infinite grace to glorifie it self in mans free redemption . 3. it convinces us not only of particular sins , but of the general corruption of our nature , 't is by a divine supernatural light that we discern this , we have a feeling of it in our selves , from an inward principle of a higher life raised up in us by the power of god in our regeneration , which will not suffer us to walk any more after the flesh , we cry and complain of that proneness that is in us to evil ; o wretched man that i am , &c. rom. 7. no unconverted man is brought in complaining of the corruption of his nature , only david , and paul , and such like , but none else . when we look upon the old man with the eyes of the new , we see that deformity that never appeared to us before . 4. it convinces us not only of the severity of the law , in punishing , but also of the holiness of the law in all its just and reasonable commands ; rom. 7. 12. this is a main difference between legal and evangelical repentance , that conviction and sense that is in a legal repentance of the holiness of the law , is very small , next to none at all , and that which is , proceeds chiefly from the remainders of light in all natural men , left on purpose in the conscience , that all reverence of god and his law might not be quite cast off , and something of this may now and then appear under strong legal convictions of sin , as in iudas , but all this never begets any true love to holiness , for still they go on in their sins and have pleasure in them that do so , rom. 1. 32. which is a great demonstration of the absolute dominion sin has over fallen man , in carrying him on not only against the known law of god written in the word , but against all the natural notions of the law written in his own heart , nothing can hold him in , he despises god and man and his own conscience , he will not be a law to himself . legal convictions come short in all these properties of saving conviction . legal convictions are either such as are antecedent to the commission of sin , or such as follow upon it , which are properly called convictions . convictions antecedent to sin , are all one with the knowledge of the law , by which we understand what is morally good or evil in it self ; what is sin , and what is not , adam and eve in innocency were under this conviction , they knew what god had forbidden , viz. to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil , and that to eat of it in opposition to gods express command to the contrary , was a high act of disobedience , to be punished with death , but by the subtilty of the devil they yielded to the temptation , and did eat : if their perfect knowledge of the law could not keep them in innocency , from falling , how can we expect that our imperfect knowledge of the law from any convictions of that kind , which we may be under should keep us . and for those legal convictions subsequent to the commission of sin , by which we see the obliquity of our own actions , and know our selves to be transgressors of a holy righteous law , they fall short in all the forementioned properties of saving conviction , they leave us without hope of mercy , work no renovation of nature in us , they may disturb us in the present act of sin , and terrifie us much about that , laying some present restraint upon us , but they work no real reformation in us , iudas was in great horror of conscience for betraying his master , was much troubled that he should have a hand in shedding innocent blood : and yet under the light and power of this conviction , how evil it was to murder another , he hangs himself , which was as contrary to law , as killing another : i speak this to shew how legal convictions may hurry a man from one sin to another , but they never lead him into a constant setled way of true holiness , whence i infer that convictions purely legal will never work repentance unto life . how repentance unto life is wrought by the gospel . because god hath appointed the gospel to be the means of repentance , luk. 24. 47. rom. 16. 25 , 26. to the glory of his free grace , as justice is glorified in the damnation of an impenitent sinner , so grace is glorified in his conversion ; evangelical repentance is from a discovery of gods love and free grace : his goodness leads us to repentance , rom. 2. 4. 2 pet. 3. 9. psal. 130. 4. a true penitent fears least he should miss of mercy , and come short of it , he rejoyces at the good news of the gospel , begins to lift up his head in some expectation of a blessed redemption , he serves god chearfully being perswaded that his duties and services will be pleasing to him and accepted by him for christs sake , psal. 130. 4. hos. 6. 1 , 2. a sence of love and mercy quicken up a drooping trembling sinner to return unto god , the prodigal remembred what a kind father he had , luk. 15. 18. 't was pauls argument , rom. 12. 1. 2 cor. 7. 1. 't is a sad thing that the grace of the gospel which is intended to keep men from despair , should by some be made an encouragement to presumption , god forbid we should continue in sin because grace abounds . 2. the grace of the gospel is not only an appointed means , but is in its own nature a fit means to work repentance , suited and adapted to that end , the goodness of god leads us to repentance , the schoolmen tell us that amor est congregativus , and they give this reason for it , because it does congregate and gather in our roving scattered thoughts from those various lesser objects after which they go , fixing our minds upon god , the only soul-satisfying object . love is conciliative , when god doth through faith let in any sense of his intended grace towards sinners , the heart melts under it , a sinner does not repent that he may believe , but because he does believe , something of the love of god to sinners in christ jesus , some inkling of this is come to his ear , hath touched his very heart , before ever he sets upon repentance , and now he can hold no longer , the love of christ constrains him , great is the power of love , when it commends it self to us in some signal expressions of kindness to our visible advantage and benefit . 3. because christ gives repentance , act. 5. 31. he purchased this and all other graces for us , by dying for us , he not only obtained pardon of sin in our justification , but all inherent graces in the saints come from christ , he procured them for us , he works them in us , his sufferings being not only satisfactory for sin , but meritorious of grace to be bestowed upon us , though the law can't sanctify a sinner yet christ can , and 't is an act of special grace towards us when he doth , but he will first satisfie the law and justice of god , that being brought under grace by our free justification , we may answer to the law of grace in our sanctification , denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts , living soberly and righteously here below as the redeemed of the lord ought to do ; the law commands perfect obedience , but in case of failure , the gospel promises faith and repentance , zach. 12. 10. acts 11. 18. 4. because god hath annexed a quickning spirit to the gospel , to make way for his grace , and to give it a prevailing efficacy in the hearts of men , they are drawn by the loving kindness of god , and cannot resist it , the spirit opens the mystery of the love of god in christ , and so charms the soul with it , that it is impossible to withstand the allurements of it . 5. because the ways and means of bringing a sinner to life , are all supernatural ; the law speaks nothing of this , the law never puts us upon any thing that is supernatural ; i mean that originally was so to man in his perfect state , for then it had been quite above the reach and capacity of mans understanding , but god suited his law to those inbred notions and principles of truth , that were concreated in us , the way of salvation through faith and repentance being supernatural ; we must apply our selves to the gospel to know this . 3. the necessary connection that is between evangelical repentance and saving faith. i prove , it thus . 't is so in the first production of repentance , and in all the subsequent acts of repentance , therefore 't is alwayes so . in the first production of repentance if you consider how this was wrought by iohns ministry , mat. 3. and luk. 3. these two things will evidently appear . first , that repentance alwayes presupposes faith. secondly , that repentance rises out of faith. and how ! i will clear up this by a brief paraphrase upon those words , repent ye , for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . iohn is brought in inviting sinners to repentance ; the argument he uses is plainly this , god is inclined to pardon you , therefore repent : i come as a forerunner to prepare the way , that by bringing you the first newes of gods intended grace and favour towards you , i might soften and mollify your hearts and dispose you to a ready thankful acceptance of christ , this offer of grace is called the kingdom of heaven because it is inclusive of all the happiness that heaven can afford : all good comes along with pardoning grace , i see says iohn , you are all lying under the sad damning circumstances of your own sins , in a very woful miserable condition , compassed about with hell and death , with horror and darkness , all things round about you , look very black and dismal , i am come to put you into a better state , to offer you a kingdom , which will shortly appear in all its glory ; 't is at hand , 't is coming toward you , heaven it self is come to look after you to lend a helping hand to lift you out of this horrible pit , before it shut its mouth upon you , see that you refuse not this grace , that you put not from you the word of the gospel , least you judge your selves unworthy of eternal life , as acts 13. 46. i. e. it will as plainly appear to be so , as if it had been so declared in open court , upon a fair hearing of your cause , if heaven and earth were to sit in judgment upon you , they would conclude you most unworthy of everlasting life , and by putting the word from you , you have in effect passed this judgement upon your selves , or you have done that now which your own consciences will so interpret at the last day , they will then tell you you might have had life and pardon , but would not ; you would not come to christ that you might have life , therefore your damnation is just , you deservedly perish , & may thank your selves for it , how speechless will sinners be then : as to remain in impenitency under the outward light of the gospel , does argue the height of unbelief , so to be brought to repentance by the preaching of the gospel does necessarily imply faith in the gospel , 't is impossible that a tender of grace should work repentance till 't is believed , 't is of no force , makes no impression upon the mind of a man till then , therefore , faith must be presupposed , i make it out thus . that which is brought as a motive for the doing of a thing , must be first understood , received and believed , before the thing can be done upon that motive : there is in the gospel a general offer of mercy to sinners , this proves an effectual means to beget faith in all that are ordained unto life , upon their believing this general offer of grace , their hearts begin to melt under it , and some inclination to repentance is wrought in them , this faith and this repentance wrought in a more general way at first , do form themselves into more particular and distinct acts afterwards , thus the principles of the doctrine of christ , viz. repentance from dead works and faith towards god are first laid , and then there is ( in the light and power of these principles ) a going on unto perfection , heb. 6. 1. our first faith is a more general faith , and so is our first repentance , rather an inclination and tendency to believe and repent , then actual faith , or actual repentance . our first faith wrought in us upon the general proposal of gospel grace , contains in it a saving conviction of sin , 't is impossible to receive grace without it , grace is nothing to us , of no signification to us , but as it gives relief against sin , which we must have some sense of , before we apply our selves to the grace of god for pardon , we must see something in our selves that wants a pardon , and which we are willing to repent of and forsake in case of a pardon , repentance is as true an effect of faith , as pardon and comfort , faith first brings a sinner to christ under some hope of pardon , and then busies it self in working repentance , in order to a comfortable sense of pardon . the spirit lets in some sense of gospel grace tendred unto sinners , and affects the heart with it , as very desireable , as a very seasonable offer , by no means to be slighted , the soul begins to be taken with it , conceives some hope from it , and this is the begining of faith , and with our first faith light comes in giving us some gospel conviction of sin in order to repentance , i call it a gospel conviction , because it is wrought by means of the gospel , all after acts of faith and repentance have their rise from this first work , which brings me to the second point , viz. that faith is not only joyned with repentance in the first production of it , as has been shewed , but in all the subsequent acts of it ever after ; which i make out thus . faith and repentance do constantly refer to each other in their several actings , faith to repentance , and repentance to faith ; he that believes , repents because he believes , and he that repents , believes because he repents , i. e. as faith is the cause of repentance , so repentance is the reason of every particular act of faith put forth upou christ for pardon , 't is impossible to make up the full sense of an act of faith on our part , if you fetch not the reason of it from repentance : why do we go to the physitian , is it not because we are sick , weary and faint ready to die of such a disease : so why does a weary soul come to christ , is it not to be eased of his burden ? that insupportable burden of sin that is ready to sink him into hell. if faith and repentance be thus always joyned together , does it not follow that we are justified by our repentance as well as by faith ? i answer , no. though we are not saved without repentance , it does not therefore follow that we are justified by our repentance ; but some to make good this assertion have coyned many subtle distinctions , relating to both . before i give a particular reply to this , let me say something in general . religion may be considered , either in its primitive purity and simplicity , as it was laid down in the fundamental principles of it , by christ and his apostles . or as it has since been drawn through the various discourses , reasonings and writings of men for so many centuries past , this has so much overcharged religion with so many nice distinctions , intricate questions , and endless disputes , that it seems to be quite another thing then it was in the apostles dayes : the best way is to return to the primitive simplicity of the gospel , especially in judging of fundamentals , which are plainly and clearly laid down there in terms very intelligible . though faith be the gift of god , and is given of meer grace but to a few , yet all who live under the light of the gospel may know what they ought to believe , which will render their unbelief more inexcusable ; did we dwell more upon what is plainly revealed as fundamentally necessary to salvation , we should better discern , by the light of those fundamentals , the just consequences of them , in any deductions from them , which may not be so particularly and expresly spoken unto in scripture . but now to answer the query whether we may not be said to be justified by our repentance , as well as by faith , since we are not saved without repentance ? answ. there is a great deal of difference between justification and salvation , salvation includes all qualifications belonging to that state , justification lets us into that state ; gives us right to life from whence spring all qualifications becoming that life . besides , saving graces are so called , not that they are the causes of salvation , but because they accompany it , we cannot be saved without them . faith it self as a grace inherent in us , is no meritorious cause of our justification ; 't is that which carries us out of our selves to christ for righteousness upon the account of which we are justified in the sight of god , when we say we are justified by faith , we don't mean we are justified by any thing in our selves , we can't understand it so , but the contrary , that we must be beholding to christ for all . he that receives all from another , gives nothing to himself , he does indeed apply to himself , to his own use and benefit , what is freely given to him by another , but he cannot in any propriety of speech be said to ascribe any thing to himself , or to owe himself thanks for what he receives from another : faith in its justifying act does not look to it self as our grace , but unto christ as our righteousness , the inherent grace of faith is not our justifying righteousness , though it lead us out to him who is ; faith is the hand , but christ is the gift ; nay the hand it self is the gift of god , as well as that which is put into it : god gives us not only what we believe , but he gives us to believe ; the habit and act of faith are both from god , that he that glories may glory in the lord only : and if it be so with faith , if that be shut out from being any part of our justifying righteousness , 't will hold true much more in all other saving graces that spring from faith , whether hope , love , fear , repentance , &c. repentance proves our faith to be saving , such a faith as gives us an interest in christ , faith adds nothing to the righteousness of christ , but applies it as it is , it only gives us an interest in it , and makes it ours by vertue of the promise tendring it to us , by receiving the promise we have a sure interest in the thing promised , and may ever after count it our own , and if we are not justified by our graces themselves , much less by our good works , which are the fruits and issues of them , we must resolve all our graces into faith , and faith it self into christ and his righteousness before we can be clear in the matter of our justification . 4. the real distinction that is between them notwithstanding this necessary connection . faith and repentance are frequently joyned together in scripture , and sometimes each of them singly put for the whole work of conversion , and then they do alwayes include each other , and imply the whole work of grace in the soul , as luk. 13. 5. luk. 15. 10. acts 3. 19. acts 11. 18. though they cannot be separated , yet they may be distinguished , not only nominally but really ; they are spoken of ( act. 20. 21. ) as two distinct things , as faith and hope are inseparable , yet two distinct graces , so 't is with faith and repentance , they grow together as different branches from the same root that bears and feeds them both , they are the two vital constituent parts of a christian , which have their distinct offices and influences : repentance is the same in principle with faith , though they receive different denominations , from the different objects and occasions about which they act : a principle of grace is that immortal seed , or that spirit that is born of the spirit ; the fruits of the spirit are not the spirit it self , but something produced by him ; all graces are the fruits of the spirit and are specified by their different objects : all graces are but so many expressions of that holy disposition , that is wrought in us by the holy ghost . to repent of sin is as true holiness as not to sin at all ; a sinner has no other way to express his love to holiness , than by a declared hatred of his sins . they differ in their objects , faith as justifying , hath christs righteousness for its object , repentance has mans unrighteousness for its object ; as faith acts upon christ for an interest in his righteousness , so repentance acts towards god , acknowledging our own unrighteousness and bewailing it , we cannot rejoyce in the righteousness of christ , till we mourn for our own sins ; christ reconciles god to us , by the attonement offer'd , 2 cor. 5. 20 , 21. and us to god by working repentance in us , who were enemies to him in our minds by wicked works , col. 1. 21 , alienated from the life of god , col. 4. 18. this enmity against god and alienation from him , is removed by repentance : faith works upwards to appease gods wrath , by holding up the blood of christ ; repentance works downwards upon our selves , changing our minds towards god , that we may be conformable to his will , and rebel no more against him . besides , all graces do not imploy , at least equally , the same affections , there is more joy and hope in faith , more sorrow and fear in repentance ; faith lifts up and comforts a guilty sinner upon one account , repentance humbles him and lays him low upon another account , filling him with godly sorrow for his sins . 5. reasons why the professors of this age who are so much for faith do mind repentance so little , are so seldom found in the exercise of it . 1. because they rest in general notions of faith , and of justification by grace through christ ; they say they have faith , and think this will save them , we may have right notions of faith in our heads , and yet be under no real actings of faith in our hearts ; we may be orthodox in our judgements , sound in the doctrine of faith , and yet be strangers to the grace of faith ; we may hold the truth , dispute for it , preach it up , maintain it in our discourses , as our opinion , and yet be rotten at heart for all this , under the power of unbelief , if you know these things happy are ye if ye do them . faith must be done as well as talked of , it must be really acted by us in our own case , 't is not the doctrine of faith , but your faith in or according to that doctrine , that saves you , the just shall live by his own faith , the doctrine of faith is an external thing laid down in the letter of the word , but the grace of faith is an inward living principle found only in the hearts of real saints , this is that i am inquiring after , and pressing upon you as that that will certainly produce repentance , zach. 12. 10. 't is one thing to have a notional knowledge of the doctrine of faith as contained in the letter of the word , another thing to be under the power of the grace of faith as it passes thorow the heart in the lively actings of it : notions of things may be separated from those effects that alwayes attend the things themselves when they are in being , we may shake and freeze under our notions of fire , but we cannot stand before fire it self and not be warmed by it , were there more real faith ; i mean of the grace of faith , among professors , there would be more repentance , let us not slatter our selves in the good opinion we have of our faith , and of our supposed interest in christ , 't is all false , our faith is vain , and we are yet in our sins , if repentance do not accompany our faith : the visible neglect of repentance in the professors of this age , has brought a reproach upon the doctrine of faith , and caused it to be evil spoken of , that faith that does not sanctifie , will never justifie , and without repentance there can be no sanctification : not that we make repentance any meritorious cause of pardon , or that it is to be rested in as any satisfaction for sin , only we affirm that justifying faith alwayes works repentance . 2. because they rest in a general repentance , which they took up at their first conversion and that must serve all their lives long , 't is enough they have once repented , that work is over , they have done with it now , and care not to return to it again : but because you have once repented , you must always repent , you entred into covenant with god for your whole lives , to repent of every sin you should fall into , and shall we begin in the spirit and end in the flesh. 3. because they have long since reformed what was amiss in their lives , and refrained from the outward acts of those sins they lived in heretofore , all this may be without any true repentance , you say you have forsaken your sins that is a gross mistake , for till you repent of them you have not forsaken them in gods account , but are still looked upon as those who justifie your selves in those very sins , if not why don't you repent of them , you alwayes abide under the guilt of that sin which you have not repented of , the turning of the heart to god , can never be without repentance ; till then you still retain the good opinion you had of your sins , your heart is set upon them still , nothing but repentance turns the heart another way . there can be no real reformation of life , without a change of heart ; men may for a spurt force themselves to an outward course of holiness , but they can never hold it , the heart will go its own way , and carry the man after it , nothing but repentance makes a man a better man than he was before ; a man is the same that ever he was till he repents , then indeed he is another man , of another mind . 4. because they reckon all their particular sins among their infirmities , and therefore a slight repentance will serve the turn , they think they will be pardoned of course to them , without any more ado . i look upon it as a great error , to hold that all sins committed in a state of grace are sins of infirmity ; saints themselves may be guilty of wilful presumptuous sins , and when they are , they must not think to shift them off as common infirmities . i grant , those grosser acts of sin , that a saint may be surprized into , do argue an infirm imperfect state , their state may be good though imperfect , there may be some good thing in their hearts toward god , when they fall foul as david and peter did ; but i am not now inquiring what is in their hearts , but what is in those grosser acts of sin , viz. murder , adultery , and the like ; i say there is nothing but evil in them , they are all over and throughout sinful ; now , what is morally evil and sinful in its own nature cannot properly be called a sin of infirmity , because an infirmity in the true notion of it , is the deficiency of a good action , 't is not so good as it should be , absolutely evil in it self it is not , v. g. a child of god prayes but not so fervently as he should , he hears the word , but not so attentively as he should ; he believes in christ , but not so firmly , so strongly , so stedfastly as he would , this is his infirmity , here the action it self , or the thing done , is for the substance and matter of it good in it self , what god has commanded , but when we do that which is materially evil in its own nature , and forbidden by god , this is more than an infirmity , the whole action is naught ; 't is not a weak action , but a wicked one . he that is an infirm man , is a living man ; a dead man is more than infirm , he has no life at all in him that is capable of infirmity , if a child of god should swear , be drunk , or commit whoredom , &c. i would not say as some do , oh the infirmities of the saints , but i would say oh the wickedness , the leudness of the saints ; you 'l think these hard words , hard things must have hard words , they that do well shall hear well , and they that do ill must hear ill : sin is not the less sinful because a godly man commits it , it falls under greater aggravations in him , than in another ; there may be some good thing in his heart , but there is nothing in these sinful acts but what is morally evil and abominably wicked . this should awaken us to repentance , are there not sins even mong us against the lord our god ? 6. the application . repentance being the plainest and surest evidence of saving faith , let us be much in the exercise of this grace : we should repent as often as there is new matter for repentance , i do not say we should alwayes be grieving and mourning for the same sin ; repentance may have its perfect work , in reference to some particular sin , which god has sufficiently humbled us for . there is a time to set broken bones , we may rejoyce in the cure , in that ease and rest that god gives us , when he speaks peace to us : by believing we enter into rest , till some new sin disturb our rest , and then repentance is to be renewed : by a new sin i don't mean common unavoidable infirmities , but some grosser wilful miscarriage : we ought to be humbled under our infirmities , to confess them , and so to pass on by a present act of faith , into our wonted serenity and peace of conscience not doubting but god will overlook them for christs sake . faith is not so put to it , does not labour so much to take in the , pardon of them , as it does and must do to obtain the pardon of grosser sins , which put the soul at a greater distance from god , then common infirmities do , which are pardoned of course to believers upon their humble acknowledgement of them , but in case of any particular wilful sin , we must renew our repentance in a more solemn manner , and afflict our souls for it , how long god may keep us mourning , before he restore to us the joy of our salvation , must be left to him who knowes when to administer comfort to us , in the fittest season : when we are about this work , 't is good to reflect upon former sins already pardoned , there sinfulness appears thorow the pardon . we may join our old scores to this new reckoning , and carry over all to the present account , that having the sun total before us , we may bewail the late addition we have made to it : when we see how high it rises , every new offence receives an aggravation , from so many that went before , 't is some extenuation of a fault to say , 't is the first time ; but frequent relapses into the same sin do heighten the guilt of it , and in such cases there is nothing but repenting , or perishing . the more you are in the exercise of this grace of repentance , the less inclinable will you be to any sin : i am perswaded were the devil sure you would repent , he would not be so forward to tempt you to any sin , nothing does so enrage the devil , as the repentance of the saints , could he keep them always in that mind , they are in , in the hour of a prevailing temptation , he might glory over them , but when they come to themselves , and consider better of it , how do they inveigh against the tempter , and cry down the sin as an abominable practise , and what does the devil get by this , he loses more by their repentance then ever he got by their sin , he is laid open as an impostor , as a deceiver ; the repentance of the saints is the greatest torment to the devil before his time that can be ; as there is joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner , so there is no small sorrow in hell upon the same account . you cannot honour god more than by a daily repentance , thereby you vindicate your holy profession , from giving the least countenance to sin ; were the people of god more ashamed of sin , the wicked of the world would glory less in it , they would begin to blush with you , and hang down their heads for doing that which is so openly decry'd by all good men , good men are greatly wanting in the open profession of their repentance , if you did mourn for sin more , others would rejoyce in it less . finis . books printed and sold by tho. cockeril , at the three legs in the poultrey , over against the stocks-market . the works of the late learned divine stephen charnock . two vol. folio . annotations upon all the books of old and new testament ; by matt. pool . 2 vol. folio . the history of phylosophy , containing the lives , opinions , &c. of phylosophers ; by tho. stanley , esq folio . the compleat works of mr. isaac ambrose . folio . the morning exercise at cripplegate , or several cases of conscience practically resolved by sundry ministers . the 4th . edition , 4to . a supplement to the morning exercise at cripplegate , or several more cases of conscience practically resolved by sundry ministers . the second edition , 4to . the court of the gentiles ; part 3. the vanity of pagan phylosophy demonstrated , &c. by theophilus gale. 4to . the rise , race and royalty of the kingdom of god in the soul of man , opened in several sermons , by peter sterry , sometimes fellow of emanuel colledge in cambridge , and late preacher of the gospel in london . 4to . speculum theologiae in christo : or , a view of some divine truths , &c. by edward polhil of burwash in sussex , esq 4to . geography rectified : or a description of the world in all its kingdoms , provinces , countries ; &c. the second edition enlarged , with above thirty sheets more in the description and about 20 new maps . by robert morden , 4to . large octavo's . the nature , powers , deceit , and prevalency of the remainders of in-dwelling sin in believers ; together with the ways of its working , and means of prevention , opened , evinced and applyed ; with a resolution of sundry cases of conscience thereunto appertaining . precious faith considered in its nature , working and growth . by edward polhil of burwash in sussex . christus in corde : or , the mystical union between christ and believers considered , in its resemblances , bonds , seals , priviledges and marks . by the same author . armatura dei ; or a preparation for suffering in an evil day , shewing how christians are to bear sufferings , and what graces are requisite thereunto : suited for all good christians in this present time . by the same author . the faithfulness of god considered , and cleared in the great events of his world ; or a second part of the fulfilling of the scripture . by the author of the first part. a renunciation of several popish doctrines because contrary to the doctrine of faith of the church of england . by. r. r. b. d. some mistaken scriptvres sincerely explained in answer to one infected with some pelagian errours / written by benjamin cox when he was first prisoner in coventrie, now published by the author for the clearing of the truth. cox, benjamin, fl. 1646. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a34848 of text r32491 in the english short title catalog (wing c6715). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 17 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a34848 wing c6715 estc r32491 12706406 ocm 12706406 66023 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34848) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 66023) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1524:23) some mistaken scriptvres sincerely explained in answer to one infected with some pelagian errours / written by benjamin cox when he was first prisoner in coventrie, now published by the author for the clearing of the truth. cox, benjamin, fl. 1646. [2], 6 p. printed by tho. paine ..., london : 1646. "licensed and entered according to order." page 5 misprinted 7. reproduction of original in the british library. eng theology, doctrinal. pelagianism. a34848 r32491 (wing c6715). civilwar no some mistaken scriptvres sincerely explained. in answer to one infected with some pelagian errours. vvritten by benjamin cox when he was fir cox, benjamin 1646 3144 11 0 0 0 0 0 35 c the rate of 35 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-08 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-09 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-11 celeste ng sampled and proofread 2006-11 celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion some mistaken scriptvres sincerely explained . in answer to one infected with some pelagian errours . vvritten by benjamin cox when he was first prisoner in coventrie . now published ▪ by the author for the clearing of the truth . 1 cor. 2. 14. the naturall man rcceiveth not the things of the spirit of god , for they are foolishnesse unto him : neither can he know them , because they are spiritually discerned . licensed and entered according to order . london , printed by tho. paine , living in red-crosse-street in gold-smiths alley , over against the suger loafe . 1646. some mistaken scriptures sincerely explained , in an answer to one infected with some pelagian errours . whereas you say that some scriptures seeme too hold forth unto you that a man hath free-will , i desire you for your better information to take notice of these two propositions . 1. propos . we do not simply deny that a man hath any freedome of will : but only do hold that no naturall man , nor any man of himself , hath a sufficient power , or freedom of will , unto the choosing of that way , which is good and right , and acceptable in the sight of god . to the choosing of evill wayes ; wee grant that every naturall man hath freedome enough , if so be this may be termed by so good a name as freedome . consequently , we doe not hold that any man is compelled or enforced by violence to choose the evill , or to refuse the good : but that through the corruption of nature man unrenewed doth willingly and wilfully refuse the good way , and choose the evill . and whereas the unregenerate person can do no otherwise , this is not the fruit of any force or compulsion laid upon him , but only of the obstinate wickednesse , or wicked obstinacy of his own corrupted and depraved will . the truth hereof appeares by these scriptures , gen. 8. 21. eccles. 9. 3. jerem. 17. 9. math. 15. 19. rom. 3. 9 , 10 , 11 , &c. rom. 8. 6 , 7 , 8. james 1. 13 14 , 15. joh. 8. 44. 2. propos. the elect do indeed with unfained willingnesse obey the gospell of jesus christ , and choose the lord to be their god : but this they do when they are effectually called , and not before : and this they doe , not of themselves , nor only by the well using of an ability or power given to all men ; but by the speciall grace of god to them afforded , who worketh in them both to will & to do , & this according to the good pleasure of his owne will concerning them from all eternity . the trueth of this appeares in these places ; isai. 54. 13. compared with joh 6 44 , 45. 64 , 65. ezek 36. 26 , 27. rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. ephes. 1. 4 , 5 , 11. philip . 1 29. philip . 2. 13. james 1. 18. these propositions being thus laid downe and cleared , i come now to consider those scriptures wch you name to prove that a man hath free will , or free choice ; viz. deut. 30. 19. josh. 24. 15. 22. judg. 10. 14. isaiah 65. 12. and 66. ●3 . 1 king. 3. 5-11 . psal. 119. 30. luk. 10. 42. deut. 30. 19 i call heaven and earth to record this day against you , that i have set before you life and death , blessing and cursing : therefore choose life , &c. this place shewes what was the duty of the israelites to doe : but doth not proove that they had any abillity of themselves to doe it ; or that god gives any such abillity to all men . compare this place with 2 cor. 3. 5. and deut. 29. 4. josh. 24. 15. and if it seeme evill unto you to serve the lord , chuse you this day whom you will serve , &c. here i somewhat question what part of the verse you would have especially to be opened : whether this : choose you this day whom you will serve , &c. or this ; but as for me and my house , we will serve the lord . the first implyes that idolaters doe freely choose those idolls , with which they commit spirituall whoredome . freely , that is to say , not being enforced or compelled thereunto by any violence constraining them to this motion of their will . this is not denyed , but acknowledged and held by us , as you may see in the first proposition . the l●st part of the verse holds forth the free and constant resolution of the saints to serve the lord . this also is taught in my second proposition ▪ but there you must likewise remember , that this is the fruit of the speciall grace of god afforded to the elect , who worketh in them both to will and to doe ; philip . 2. 13. and this worke is wrought by the infinite power of god . ephes. 1. 19. and 3. 20. josh. 24. 22. yee are witnesses against your selves , that you have chosen you the lord , to serve him . this is meant directly and only of that which went before in vers . 21. the people said unto joshua , nay , but we will serve the lord . they that were israelites indeed , did in truth and sincerity make this promise and choice ; but this they did not of themselves , but through the speciall grace of god , as hath been already proved . judg. 10. 14. goe and cry unto the gods which yee have chosen . isaiah 65. 12. when i speake , yee did not heare , but did evill before mine eyes , and did chuse that wherein i delighted not . jsaiah 66. 3. they have chosen their own wayes , and their soule delighteth in their abominations . these three places imply no more then what we cleerly hold ; as you may see in my first proposition . 1 king 3. 5. 6. 9. 10. god said , aske what j shall give thee . and solomon said , give thy servant an understanding heart , &c. and the speech pleased the lord , that solomon had asked this thing . this place seemes to you to import , that solomon did freely make choice to aske of god understanding to heare judgement . this we deny not . but consider also that this choice and petition was the fruit of the wisedome and grace which god had already given him . compare this place with zechar. 12. 10. j will poure upon the house of david , and upon the inhabitants of jerusalem , the spirit of grace , and of supplications . see also rom. 8. 26. psal. 119. 30. j have chosen the way of truth . luke 10. 42. mary hath chosen that good part . true , but it was the speciall grace of god ; the speciall , gracious and powerfull worke of gods spirit , which caused david and mary to make that good choice : as also hath been already prooved . and thus have i done with your first catalogue of texts of scripture . your second catalogue containes certaine places , in which ( as you conceive ) the promises of god doe depend upon our doing of his commands . hereto i answer first more generally . the scripture promiseth eternall life to those that obey the gospel of christ : heb. 5. 9. & threatens eternall destruction to the disobedient , io. 3. 36. 2 thes. 1. 8. this we acknowledge , and thus we teach but consider that which i have also already proved , that the elect of god performe this obedience through gods speciall grace ; and that this speciall grace is freely given to them of god according to this own purpose concerning them from all eternitie ; and that god hath freely promised this grace to his elect . all this appeares by places of scripture already aleadged for the confirmation of my second proposition . thus i descend to consider more particularly the places of scripture that you here present unto me . viz. levit. 26. 3. and isaiah 1. 19. prov. 1 23. jer. 7. 13. mat. 19. 17. mat. 11. 28. mat. 11. 21. mat. 23. 37. luke 16. 16. ier. 3. 22. levit. 26. 3. &c. if ye walke in my statutes , and keepe my commandements , and doe them , then i will give you , &c. here we must remember ; 1. that since adams fall no meere man either did or could keep gods commandements , & do them , ●●●ording to the rigor and strictnesse of the law . eccles. 7. 20. 2. that whereas the elect among the israelites did truly beleeve in the promised messiah , and did shew the truth of their faith by the sincerity of their obedience to gods revealed will in every thing ; this was the fruit of gods speciall grace to them afforded . numb. 14 24. psal. 119 32. 36. these cleare truths may also free you from your doubts that seemes to arise from the next place by you mentioned , viz. isaiah . 1. 19. prov. 1. 23. turne you at my reproofe , behold , i will poure out my spirit unto you , i will make knowne my words unto you . the former part of this verse is an exhortation . it is the conceit of some that such exhortations doe alwayes imply that the persons exhorted have a sufficient ability in them to obey the exhortation directed unto them . but this conceit is a meere presumption , not only without ground , but also against the scripture , as appeares in iohn 6. 65. and other places . it is demanded , why then are such exhortations used ? i answer , 1. to mind the persons exhorted of their duty , and to leave them the more inexcusable in their willfull disobedience . 2. because the lord is pleased to worke powerfully upon the elect by such exhortations the latter part of this verse containes a promise . you ( as it seemes ) conceive the promise to be here made only unto those that obey the exhortation afore going . be it so . only remember then , that they which obey the exhortation , doe obey the same through gods speciall grace ; and that the promise serves to assure them of the continuance and increase of grace . jer. 7. 13. and now because ye have done all these workes , saith the lord ▪ and i spake unto you , rising up early , and speaking , but ye heard not ; and i called you , but you answered not . if you consider this verse only , and read no further , it only hold forth the goodnesse and patience of god , in admonishing and exhorting the stubborne jewes ; and their willfull and obstinate disobedienc● to gods word . if ye read the verses following also , this scriptur● minds you that the disobedience and obstinacy of the iewes was the cause of their distruction . all these things we readily acknowledge neither doe they make any thing at all against us . mat. 19. 17. if thou wilt enter into life , keepe the commandements . here you must consider to whom our saviour sp●ake this , viz. one that sought to establish his owne righteousnesse , and to get heaven by his own doing of the good works wch the law required , who accordingly had propounded this question ? what good thing shall i doe that i may have eternall life ? the meaning of our saviours answer is this ; if thou wilt thinke to get eternall life this way thou must keep the commandements ; that is , thou must be found a person not any way guilty of any transgression against gods commandements . this was a thing of meere and utter impossibillity , and our saviours scope in returning to him this answer , was to discover unto him the vanity and madnesse of his proud and foolish imagination . thus this place rightly understood hath not in it the least shew of opposition against our doctrine . mat. 11. 28. come unto me all yee that labour , and are heavie laden , and i will give you rest . here christ promiseth to give rest , not to all persons whatsoever , but only to those labouring and heavie laden ones which come to him , namely by a true faith in him . this maketh nothing against us , it still remaining true , that they , and they only , doe thus come unto christ , in whose hearts god worketh lively faith . and this god worketh in his elect , and only in them . mat. 11. 21. woe unto thee chorazin , wo unto thee , bethsaida : for if the mighty workes which were done in you , had beene done in tire and sidon , &c. the manifest scope of our saviour in this place , is to shew the open in excusablenesse of the impenitency and unbeliefe of chorazin and bethsaida . the last words of the verse , from which your doubt ariseth , may be understood to be a figurative speech , like unto that in luke 19. 40. if these should hold their peace , the stones would immediately cry out . otherwise the words may be thus rendered . they had possibly repented ; or , they would possibly have repented . this translation would be found well to agree to the signification of the potentiall particle which is here used in the greeke . and then this will be the true and easie interpretation of this passage : viz. a man would thinke they should have repented . beyond this , this place must not be stretched . for no interpretation must be given of any place of scripture , which shall indeed make it to contradict the scripture it selfe in other places . mat. 23. 37. o jerusalem , jerusalem , how often would i have gathered thy children together , even as a hen gathereth her chickins under her wings and yee would not . the meaning is this ; how often have i graciously afforded unto the people of jerusalem excellent meanes of salvation ? but the stubborne people of jerusalem have wilfully refused to accept of those meanes of salvation , and to profit by the same . this is all that this place doth import : and this maketh nothing at all against us . luke 16. 16. the law and the prophets were untill iohn : since that time the kingdome of god is preached and every man , &c. the words in this verse which you would have to be opened are thus commonly rendered : the kingdome of god is preached , and every man presseth into it . suppose this translation to be right and the meaning to be the same that our common expositors have held forth in this ensuing interpretation ; every man , that is to say , many men or every order and degree of men presseth into it ; that is , with willingnes and forwardnesse receiveth the doctrine of the kingdome ; and so entreth into the kingdome of god . suppose i say that this were indeed the meaning of this place ; yet it would be found to make nothing at all against us . for still it will remaine true , that the elect doe this through gods speciall grace . but the truth is , that this interpretation doth not reach our saviours meaning in this place . the words should thus be rendered ; every man offereth violence unto it . the meaning is this ; every man ; that is , the whole world of ungodly men . offereth viollence unto it , that is , makes a violent opposition against the kingdome of god and the preaching thereof . see mat. 11. 12. compared with vers . 16. 17 , 18. &c. jer. 3. 22. returne yee backslding children , &c. in this verse is contained . 1. an exhortation . returne yee back sl●●●●g children . 2. a promise . i will heale your back slidings . this promise you understand to belong only unto those that obey the aforesaid exhortation . even so this maketh nothing against us , but perfectly agreeth with our doctrine . but let me here mind you that this promise may be understood not only to be a promise of pardon to them that repent , but also a promise of the gift of repentance to the elect. see jer. 31. 33. 34. and acts 5. 31. the particle and here inserted , seemes to make against this . but this need not trouble us , ●th it is only a supplement or addition of the translators , and is not in the text . 3. a profession of repentance and faith , behold , we come unto thee , for thou are the lord our god . you must understand this to be the speech of the elect endued with gods speciall grace . see ier. 31. 18 , 19. thus according to your request , according to the abilitie which god hath given me , i have opened the scriptures that you have mentioned . the lord open your understanding , that you may discerne the truth and ackowledge the same to the glory of god . finis . two discourses; viz. a discourse of truth. by the late reverend dr. rust, lord bishop of dromore in the kingdom of ireland. the way of happiness and salvation. by joseph glanvil, chaplain in ordinary to his majesty rust, george, d. 1670. 1677 approx. 202 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 100 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a57960 wing r2368 wing q836 estc r218562 99830144 99830144 34594 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a57960) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 34594) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2018:17) two discourses; viz. a discourse of truth. by the late reverend dr. rust, lord bishop of dromore in the kingdom of ireland. the way of happiness and salvation. by joseph glanvil, chaplain in ordinary to his majesty rust, george, d. 1670. glanvill, joseph, 1636-1680. way of happiness and salvation rescued from vulgar errours. [18], 34, [12], 26, 35-138, p. 399, [1] p. : ill (metalcut) printed for james collins, in the temple-passage from essex-street, london : 1677. with an engraved frontispiece. "a discourse of truth." by dr. rust has a separate dated title page on pg. [5]. "the way of happiness and salvation.." by joseph glanvil has a separate dated title page on pg. [1] (second sequence); text and register are continuous despite pagination; includes imprimatur page and final page of advertisment; published separately as wing (2nd ed.) q836. reproduction of the original at the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng faith -early works to 1800. salvation -early works to 1800. theology -early works to 1800. 2002-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-06 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2002-06 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion iohn . 14. 6. jesus saith vnto him , i am the way , and the truth , and the life , &c two discourses ; viz. a discourse of truth . by the late reverend dr. rvst , lord bishop of dromore in the kingdom of ireland . the way of happiness and salvation . by joseph glanvil , chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london , printed for james collins , in the temple-passage from essex-street . 1677. a discourse of truth . by the late reverend dr. rvst , lord bishop of dromore in the kingdom of ireland . together with a letter , giving an account of the author and the book : written by jos. glanvil , chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london , printed for james collins , in the new temple-passage from essex-street , 1677. a letter concerning the subject and the author . sir , i have now perused , and returned the manuscript you sent me ; it had contracted many and great errours in the transcription , which i have corrected : i was enabled to do it by a written copy of the same discourse which i have had divers years in my hands . the subject is of great and weighty importance , and the acknowledgment of the truths here asserted and made good , will lay a foundation for right conceptions in the doctrines that concern the decrees of god , for the first errour , which is the ground of the rest , is , that things are good and just , because god wills them so to be ; and if that be granted , we are disabled from using the arguments taken from natural notions , and the attributes and perfections of the divine nature , against the blackest and most blasphemous opinions that ever were entertained concerning gods proceedings with the sons of men. if there be no settled good and evil , immutable and independent on any will or understanding , then god may have made his reasonable creatures on purpose to damn them for ever . he may have absolutely decreed that they should sin , that he may damn them justly ; he may most solemnly and earnestly prohibit sin by his laws , and declare great displeasure against it ; and yet by his ineluctable decrees force men to all the sin that is committed in the world : he may vehemently protest his unfeigned desire of their life and happiness , and at the same time , secretly resolve their eternal destruction ; he may make it his glory and pleasure to triumph eternally in the torments of poor worms , which himself hath by his unalterable and irresistible will made miserable ; yea ( as the discourse instanceth ) he may after his decrees concerning the salvation of the elect , after the death of his son for them , and the mission of his spirit to them , and after all the promises he hath made to assure them ; thrust them also at last into the dreadful regions of death and woe ; i say if there be no immutable respects in things , but just and vnjust , honourable and dishonourable , good and cruel , faithful and deceitful , are respects made by meer arbitrarious will , it will be in vain to dispute from them against any such dismal opinions : yea it will be great folly to argue for the simplicity of the divine nature against the vile conceits of the old anthropomorphites , and the blasphemies of the present muggletonians , of god's having a corporal shape , parts and members , if there be no necessary independent connexion , immensity , spirituality and perfection ; but this being establish'd , that there are immutable respects in things , and that such and such are perfections , and their contrary defects and imperfections , hence it will follow , that it is impossible the forementioned doctrines can be true concerning god , who cannot lye , cannot deny himself : viz. he being absolute and infinite perfection , cannot act any thing that is evil or imperfect ; but all the expressions in scripture , that at first sight look towards such a sense , must be interpreted by the general analogy and course of them , which declares his infinite , immutable excellencies ; and these notions of himself , which he hath written on the souls of men. so that the subject of this little discourse , is of vast moment , and the truth asserted in it , is , i think confirmed with an irresistable strength and force of reasoning ; and not to be convinced by it , will argue either great weakness of vnderstanding , in not perceiving consequences that are so close and plain , or great obstinacy of will , in being shut up by prejudices , and preconceiv'd opinions against light that is so clear and manifest . the author was a person with whom i had the honour and happiness of a very particular acquaintance ; a man he was of a clear mind , a deep judgment and searching wit : greatly learned in all the best sorts of knowledge , old and new , a thoughtful and diligent enquirer , of a free vnderstanding , and vast capacity , join'd with singular modesty , and unusual sweetness of temper , which made him the darling of all that knew him : he was a person of great piety and generosity ; a hearty lover of god and men : an excellent preacher , a wise governour , a profound philosopher , a quick , forcible , and close reasoner , and above all , a true and exemplary christian. in short , he was one who had all the qualifications of a primitive bishop , and of an extraordinary man-this i say not out of kindness to my friend , but out of justice to a person of whom no commendation can be extravagant . he was bred in cambridge , and fellow of christ's colledge , where he lived in great esteem and reputation for his eminent learning and vertues ; he was one of the first that overcame the prejudices of the education of the late unhappy times , in that vniversity , and was very instrumental to enlarge others . he had too great a soul for the trifles of that age , and saw early the nakedness of phrases and phancyes ; he out-grew the pretended orthodoxy of those days , and addicted himself to the primitive learning and theology , in which he even then became a great master . after the return of the government , the excellent bishop taylor , foreseeing the vacancy in the deanery of connor , sent to cambridge for some learned and ingenious man , who might be fit for that dignity : the motion was made to dr. rust , which corresponding with the great inclination he had to be conversant with that incomparable person : he gladly accepted of it , and hastn'd into ireland , where he landed at dublin about august 1661. he was received with much respect and kindness by that great and good bishop , who knew how to value such jewels ; and preferr'd to the deanery as soon as it was void , which was shortly after . he continued in that preferment during the bishops life , always dearly lov'd , and even admir'd by him . at his death ( that sad stroke to all the lovers of religion and learning ) he was chosen for the last solemn office to his deceased father and friend ; and he preach't such a funeral sermon as became that extraordinary person and himself . it hath been since published , and i suppose you may have seen it , upon the lamented death of bishop taylor , which hapned august 13 th 1677. the bishopricks were divided : dr. boyle dean of cork , was nominated bishop of downe and connor ; and dr. rust dean of connor bishop of dromore ; he lived in the deanery about six years , in the bishoprick but three ; for in december 1670 he dyed of a fever ( in the prime of his years ) to the unspeakable grief of all that knew his worth , and especially of such of them as had been blest by his friendship , and most sweet and indearing conversation : he was buried in the quire of his own cathedral church of dromore , in a vault made for his predecessour bishop taylor , whose sacred dust is deposited also there : and what dormitory hath two such tenants ? this is the best account i can give you of the work and the author : and by it you may perceive his memory deserves to live , and this product of him : but there is so much reverence due to the manes of so venerable a person , that nothing should be hastily published under his honour'd name : i know , had he designed this exercitation for the publick , he would have made it much more compleat and exact than we now have it : but as it is , the discourse is weighty , and substantial , and may be of great use . as it goes about now in written copiesit is , ( i perceive ) exceedingly depraved , and in danger of being still worse abused ; the publication would preserve it from further corruptions . however i dare not advise any thing in it , but this , that you take the judgment of that reverend doctor you mention ( the deceased authors friend and mine , ) and act according as he shall direct . i am , your real friend jos. glanvil . a discourse of truth . truth is of aequivocal signification , and therefore cannot be defined before it be distinguish't . it is two fold ; truth in things , which you may call truth in the object : and truth in the vnderstanding , which is truth in the subject . by the first i mean nothing else but that things necessarily are what they are : by the second that there are mutual respects and relations of things one unto another . now that things are what they are , and that there are mutual respects and relations eternal , and immutable , and in order of nature antecedent to any understanding either created or uncreated , is a thing very plain and evident ; for it 's clearer than the meridian light , that such propositions as these , homo est animal rationale , triangulum est quod habet tres angulos , are not arbitrarious dependancies upon the will , decree , or understanding of god , but are necessary and eternal truths ; and wherein 't is as impossible to divide the subject , and what is spoken of it , as it is for a thing not to be what it is , which is no less than a contradiction ; and as indispensible are the mutual respects and relations of things both in speculatives and morals . for can it be imagin'd that every . argument can be made a proportioned medium to prove every conclusion , that any thing may be a suitable means to any end ? that any object may be conformable to any faculty ? can omnipotence it self make these propositions that twice two are four , or that parallels cannot intersect , clear and convincing arguments to prove these grand truths , that christ came into the world to dye for sinners , and is now exalted as a prince and a saviour at the right hand of god ? is it possible that there should be such a kind of geometry , wherein any problems should be demonstrated by any principles ; quidlibet ex quodlibet ; as that a quadrangle is that which is comprehended of four right lines : therefore the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right ones ? can the infinite wisdom it self make the damning of all the innocent & the unspotted angels in heaven a proportionate means to declare and manifest the unmeasureableness of his grace and love , and goodness towards them ? can lying , swearing , envy , malice , nay hatred of god and goodness it self , be made the most acceptable service of god , and the readiest way to a mans happiness ? and yet all these must be true , and infinitely more such contradictions than we can possibly imagine , if the mutual respects and relations of things be not eternal and indispenfible : which that they are , i shall endeavour to prove ; and in order to it first , we must premise that divine vnderstanding cannot be the fountain of the truth of things ; nor the foundation of the references of one to another . for it is against the nature of all understanding , to make its objects ; it is the nature of understanding , ut moveatur , illuminetur , formetur : &c. of its object , ut moveat , illuminet , formet : intellectus in actu primo hath its self unto its object , as the eye unto the sun ; it is irradiated , inlightned and actuated by it : and intellectus in actu secundo , hath its self unto its objects , as the image to that it represents ; and the perfection of understanding consists in being actuated by , and in an adaequate conformity to its object , according to the nature of all idea's , images or representations of things . the sum is this , no idea's or representations are the things they represent ; all understanding is such ; therefore no understanding doth make the natures , respects and relations of its objects . it remains then , that absolute , arbitrarious and independent will must be the fountain of all truth ; and must determine the references and dependencies of things : which assertion would in the first place destroy the nature of god , and rob him of all his attributes . for then it 's impossible that there should be such a thing as divine wisdom and knowledge , which is nothing else but an apprehension of common notions , and the natures and mutual respects and relations of things . for if the nature of god be such , that his arbitrarious imagination that such and such things have such and such natures and dependencies , doth make those things to have those natures or dependencies , he may as easily unimagine that imagination ; and then they that before had a mutual harmony , sympathy and agreement with one another , shall now stand at as great a distance and opposition . and thus the divine understanding will be a mere protaean chymaera , a casual conflux of intellectual atomes : contradictions are true , if god understands them so , and then the foundation of all knowledge is taken away , and god may as truly be said to know nothing as every thing ; nay , any angel or man may as truly be said to know all things , as god himself ; for then every thing will be alike certain , and every apprehension equally conformable to truth . these are infallible consequences , and a thousand more as absurd as these , if contradictory propositions may be both true : and whether they be so or no , it 's a meer casual dependance upon the arbitrarious pleasure of god , if there be not a necessary immutability and eternal opposition betwixt the being and the not being of the same thing , at the same time and in the same respect . likewise all those truths we call common notions , ( the systeme and comprehensions of which , is the very essence of divine wisdom ; as the conclusions issuing from them , not by any operose deduction , but a clear intuitive light , are the very nature of divine knowledge , if we distinguish those two attributes in god ) i say , all these propositions of immediate and indemonstrable truth , if these be only so , because so understood by god , and so understood by god because he pleased so to have them , and not because there is an indispensible relation of harmony and proportion betwixt the terms themselves ; then it is a thing meerly casual , and at the pleasure of god to change his former apprehensions , and idea's of those truths , & to make their contradictories as evident , radical and fundamental as themselves but even now were ; and so divine wisdom and knowledge will be a various , fickle and mutable thing , a meer tumult & confusion : all these consequences infallibly flow from this certain principle , that upon a changeable and uncertain cause , effects must needs have a changeable and uncertain dependance . and there is nothing imaginable in it self more changeable and uncertain than will not regulated by the dictates of reason and understanding . if any deny these consequences and deductions , because they suppose that god is mutable and changeable ; i answer , by bringing this as another absurdity , that if there be no indispensable and eternal respects of things , it will rob god of his immutability , and unchangeableness : for if there be no necessary dependence betwixt vnchangeableness and perfection , what should hinder , but that if god please to think it so , it will be his perfection to be changeable ; and if will , as such , be the only principle of his actions , it is infallibly his perfection to be so . for 't is the perfection of every being to act according to the principle of its nature , and it is the nature of an arbitrarious principle to act or not , to do or undo upon no account but its own will and pleasure ; to be determined , and tied up , either by it self , or from abroad , is violent and contranatural . and therefore from this principle , that absolute and soveraign will is the spring and fountain of all gods actions , it was rightly inferr'd by a late pamphliteer , that god will one day damn all mankind , good and bad , believers and unbelievers , notwithstanding all his promises , pretensions or engagements to the contrary ; because this damning all mankind in despight of his faithfulness , justice , mercy and goodness will be the greatest advancement of his soveraignty , will and prerogative imaginable . his words are , god hath stored up destruction both for the perfect and the wicked , and this does wonderfully set forth his soveraignty ; his exercising whereof is so perfect , that when he hath tied himself up fast as may be , by never so many promises , yet it should still have its scope , and be able to do what it will , when it will , as it will : here you have this principle improved to the height . and however you may look upon this author as some new light , or ignis fatuus of the times , yet i assure you in some pieces by him set forth , he is very sober and rational . in the next place , to deny the mutual respects and rationes rerum to be immutable and indispensible , will spoil god of that universal rectitude which is the greatest perfection of his nature : for then justice , faithfulness , mercy , godness &c. will be but contingent and arbitrarious issues of the divine will. this is a clear and undeniable consequence , for if you say these be indispensible perfections in god , for instance , if justice be so , then there is an eternal relation of right and equity betwixt every being and the giving of it , that which is its propriety ; if faithfulness , then there is an indispensible agreement betwixt a promise , and the performance of it ; if mercy , then there is an immutable and unalterable suitableness and harmony between an indigent creature , and pity and commiseration ; if goodness , then there is an everlasting proportion and symmetry between fulness and its overflowing and dispreading of it self , which is the thing denyed : for to say they are indispensibly so , because god understands them so , seems to me extream incogitancy ; for that is against the nature of all understanding , which is but the idea and representation of things , and is then a true and perfect image , when it is exactly conformed to its object : and therefore , if things have not mutual respects and relations eternal and indispensible , then all those perfections do solely and purely depend upon absolute and independent will , as will ; and consequently , it was and is indifferent in it self that the contrary to these , as , injustice , vnfaithfulness , cruelty , malice , hatred , spite , revenge , fury ; and whatever goes to the constitution of hell it self should have been made the top and highest perfections of the divine nature : which is such blasphemy as cannot well be named without horror and trembling , for instead of being a god , such a nature as this is , joyned with omnipotency would be a worse devil than any is in hell. and yet this is a necessary and infallible consequence from the denial of these mutual respects and relations of things unto one another , to be eternal and unchangeable . and as by the denial of these , the nature of god is wholly destroyed , so in the second place , the mind of man would have no certainty of knowledge , or assurance of happiness . he can never come to know there is a god , and consequently not the will and mind of god , which if there be no intrinsecal and indispensible respects and relations of things , must be the ground and foundation of all knowledge : for what means or arguments should we use to find out , or prove a divine nature ? it were folly and madness to sit down and consider the admirable contrivement and artifice of this great fabrick of the universe ; how that all natural things seem to act for some end , though themselves take no cognizance of it : how the sun by its motion and situation , or ( which is all one ) by being a centre , of the earths motion , provides light and heat , and life for this inferiour world , how living creatures bring forth a most apt composure and structure of parts and members , and with that a being endued with admirable faculties , and yet themselves have no insight into , nor consultation about this incomparable workmanship ; how they are furnished with powers and inclinations for the preservation of this body when it is once brought into the world ; how without praevious deliberation they naturally take in that food which without their intention or animadversion is concocted in their ventricle , turned into chyle , that chyle into blood , that blood diffused through the veins and arteries , and therewith the several members nourished , and decayes of strength repaired ; i say , the gathering from all these ( which one would think were a very natural consequence ) that there is a wise principle which directs all these beings unknown to you , in their several motions , to their several ends , ( supposing the dependance and relations of things to be contingent and arbitrarious ) were a piece of folly and incogitancy ; for how can the order of those things speak a wise and understanding being , which have no relation or respect unto one another , but their whole agreement , suitableness and proportion is a meer casual issue of absolute and independent will ? if any thing may be the cause of any effect , and a proportionate mean to any end , who can infer infinite wisdom from the dependence of things and their relations unto one another ? for we are to know that there is a god , and the will of that god before we can know the mutual harmony , or disproportion of things ; and yet , if we do not know these principal respects that things have among themselves , it is impossible we should ever come to the knowledge of a god : for these are the only arguments that any logick in the world can make use of to prove any conclusion : but suppose we should come to know that there is a god , which , as i have demonstrated , denying the necessary and immutable truth of common notions , and the indispensible and eternal relations of things is altogether impossible . however , let it be supposed ; yet how shall we know that these common notions , and principles of natural instinct , which are the foundation of all discourse and argumentation , are certain and infallible truths ; and that our senses , ( which with these former principles , we suppose this divine nature to have given us to converse with this outward world ) were not on purpose bestowed upon us , to befool , delude and cheat us ; if we be not first assured of the veracity of god ? and how can we be assured of that , if we know not that veracity is a perfection ; and how shall we know it is so , unless there be an intrinsecal relation betwixt veracity and perfection ? for if it be an arbitrarious respect depending upon the will of god , there is no way possible left whereby we should come to know that it is in god at all ; and therefore we have fully as much reason to believe that all our common notions and principles of natural instinct , whereupon we ground all our reasonings and discourse , are meer chymera's to delude and abuse our faculties ; and all those idea's phantasms and apprehensions of our external senses , we imagine are occasioned in us by the presence of outward objects , are meer spectrums and gulleries , wherewith poor mortals are befooled and cheated ; as that they are given us by the first goodness & truth to lead us into the knowledge of himself and nature . this is a clear and evident consequence , and cannot be denyed by any that doth not complain of darkness in the brightest and most meridian light. and here you have the foundations laid of the highest scepticism ; for who can say he knows any thing , when he hath no bassion which he can raise any true conclusions ? thus you see the noble faculties of man , his mind and understanding , will be to no end and purpose , but for a rack and torture ; for what greater unhappiness or torment can there be imagined , than to have faculties , whose accomplishment and perfection consists in a due conformation unto their objects , and yet to have no objects unto which they may be conformed ; to have a soul unmeasurably breathing after the embraces of truth and goodness , and after a search and enquiry after one and the other , and to find at last they are but aiery empty and uncertain notions , depending upon the arbitratious determinations of boundless and independent will ; which determinations she sees it beyond her reach ever to come to any knowledge of ? here you have likewise the true foundations of that we call rantism , for if there be no distinction 'twixt truth and falshood , good and evil , in the nature of the things themselves , and we never can be assured what is the mind and pleasure of the supream and absolute will ( because veracity is not intrinsecally and ex natura rei , a perfection , but only an arbitrarious , if any attribute in the deity ) then it infallibly follows , that it is all one what i do , or how i live ; and i have as much reason to believe that i am as pleasing unto god , when i give up my self unto all filthiness , uncleanness and sin ; when i swell with pride , envy , hatred and malice &c. as when i endeavour with all my might and strength to purge and purifie my soul from all pollution and defilement both of flesh and spirit ; and when i pursue the mortification of all my carnal lusts and inclinations : and i have fully as much ground and assurance , that the one is the ready way to happiness as the other . and this is another branch of this second absurdity , from the deniall of the intrinsecal and eternal respects and relations of things , that a man would not have any assurance of future happiness ; for though it be true indeed , or at least we fancy to our selves that god hath sent jesus christ into the world , & by him hath made very large and ample promises , that whosoever believes in him and conforms his life unto his precepts , shall be made heir of the same inheritance and glory which christ is now possessed of and invested with in the kingdom of his father , yet what ground have we to believe that god does not intend onely to play with and abuse our faculties , and in conclusion to damn all those that believe and live as is above expressed ; and to take them only into the injoyments of heaven and happiness , who have been the great opposers of the truth , and gospel , and life and nature of jesus christ in the world : for if there be no eternal and indispensible relation of things , then there 's no intrinsecal evil in deceiving and falsifying , in the damning the good , or saving obstinate and contumacious sinners ( whilst such ) notwithstanding any promises or threatnings to the contrary : and if the things be in themselves indifferent , it is an unadvised confidence to pronounce determinately on either side . yea further , suppose we should be assured that god is verax , and that the scripture doth declare what is his mind and pleasure , yet if there be not an intrinsecal opposition betwixt the being and not being of a thing at the same time , and in the same respect ; then god can make a thing that hath been done , undone ; and that whatever hath been done or spoken either by himself , or christ , or his prophets , or apostles , should never be done , or spoken by him on them ; though he hath come into the world ; yet that he should not be come ; though he hath made these promises , yet that they should not be made ; though god hath given us faculties , that are capable of the enjoyment of himself , yet that he should not have given them us ; and yet we should have no being , nor think a thought while we fancy and speak of all these contradictions ; in fine , it were impossible we should know any thing , if the opposition of contradictory terms depend upon the arbitrarious resolves of any being whatsoever . if any should affirm , that the terms of common notions have an eternal and indispensible relation unto one another , and deny it of other truths , he exceedingly betrayes his folly and incogitancy ; for these common notions and principles are foundations , and radical truths upon which are built all the deductions of reason and discourse , and with which , so far as they have any truth in them , they are inseparably united . all these consequences are plain and undeniable , and therefore i shall travel no further in the confirmation of them . against this discourse will be objected , that it destroys god's independency and self-sufficiency ; for if there be truth antecedently to the divine understanding ; the divine understanding will be a meer passive principle , acted and inlightned by something without it self , as the eyes , by the sun , and lesser objects , which the sun irradiates : and if there be mutual congruities , and dependencies of things in a moral sense , and so , that such and such means have a natural , and intrinsecal tendency , or repugnance to such and such ends , then will god be determined in his actions from something without himself , which is to take away his independency , and self-sufficiency . the pardoning of sin to repenting sinners seems to be a thing very suitable to infinite goodness and mercy , if there be any suitableness , or agreement in things antecedently to gods will ; therefore in this case will god be moved from abroad and as it were determined to an act of grace . this will also undermine and shake many principles and opinions which are look'd upon as fundamentals , and necessary to be believed : it will unlink and break that chain and method of gods decrees , which is generally believed amongst us . god's great plot , and design from all eternity , as it is usually held forth , was to advance his mercy and justice in the salvation of some , and damnation of others ; we shall only speak of that part of gods design , the advancement of his justice in the damnation of the greatest part of mankind , as being most pertinent for the improving of the strength of the objection against our former discourse : that i may do this , he decrees to create man , and being created , decrees that man should sin , and because , as some say , man is a meer passive principle , not able , no not in the presence of objects , to reduce himself into action , or because in the moment of his creation , as others , he was impowered with an indifferency to stand or fall ; therefore , lest there should be a frustration of god's great design ; he decrees in the next place , infallibly to determine the will of man unto sin , that having sinned he might accomplish his damnation ; and what he had first , & from all eternity in his intentions , the advancement of his justice . now if there be such an intrinsecal relation of things , as our former discourse pretends unto , this design of god will be wholly frustrated . for it may seem clear to every mans understanding that it is not for the honour and advancement of justice to determine the will of man to sin , and then to punish him for that sin unto which he was so determined ; whereas if god's will , as such , be the only rule & principle of actions , this will be an accommodate means ( if god so please to have it ) unto his design . the sum is , we have seemed in our former discourse to bind and tye up god , who is an absolute and independent being , to the petty formalities of good and evil ; & to fetter and imprison freedom , and liberty it self , in the fatal and immutable chains , and respects of things . i answer . this objection concerns partly the understanding of god , and partly his will ; as for the divine understanding , the case is thus ; there are certain beings , or natures of things which are logically possible ; it implyes no contradiction that they should be , although it were supposed , there were no power that could bring them into being ; which natures , or things , supposing they were in being , would have mutual relations of agreement or opposition unto one another , which would be no more distinguished from the things themselves , than relations are from that which founds them . now the divine understanding is a representation , or comprehension of all those natures or beings thus logically , and in respect of god absolutely possible , and consequently it must needs be also a comprehension of all these sympathies , and antipathies , either in a natural or a moral way , which they have one unto another : for they , as i said , do necessarily , and immediately flow from the things themselves , as relations do , posito fundamento & termino . now the divine understanding doth not at all depend upon these natures , or relations though they be its objects ; for the nature of an object doth not consist in being motivum facultatis , as it is usually with us , whose apprehensions are awakened by their presence ; but its whole nature is sufficiently comprehended in this , that it is terminativum facultatis ; and this precisely doth not speak any dependency of the faculty upon it , especially in the divine understanding ; where this objective , terminative presence flows from the faecundity of the divine nature : for the things themselves are so far from having any being antecedently to the divine understanding ; that had not it been their exemplary pattern , and idea , they had never been created , and being created they would lye in darkness ; ( i speak of things that have not in them a principle of understanding , not conscious of their own natures , and that beauteous harmony they have among themselves ) were they not irradiated by the divine understanding , which is as it were an universal sun that discovers and displayes the natures and respects of things , and does as it were suck them up into its beames . to the second part of the objection , the strength whereof is , that to tye up god in his actions to the reason of things , destroys his liberty , absoluteness , and independency . i answer , it is no imperfection for god to be determined to good ; it is no bondage , slavery , or contraction , to be bound up to the eternal laws of right and justice : it is the greatest impotency and weakness in the world to have a power to evil , and there is nothing so diametrically opposite to the very being and nature of god ; stat pro ratione voluntas , unless it be as a redargution and check to impudent and daring inquirers , is an account no where justifiable . the more any being partakes of reason and understanding , the worse is the imputation of acting arbitrariously , & pro imperio . we can pardon it in women and children , as those from whom we do not expect that they should act upon any higher principle , but for a man of reason and understanding , that hath the laws of goodness and rectitude ( which are as the laws of the medes and persians that cannot be altered ) engraven upon his mind , for him to cast off these golden reins , and to set up arbitrarious will for his rule and guide , is a piece of intolerable rashness and presumption . this is an infallible rule , that liberty in the power or principle is no where a perfection , where there is not an indifferency in the things or actions about which it is conversant : and therefore it is a piece of our weakness and imbecillity , that we have natures so indetermined to what is good . these things need no proof , indeed cannot well be proved , otherwise than they prove themselves : for they are of immediate truth , and prove themselves , they will , to a pure unprejudiced mind . 2. our former discourse doth not infer any dependency of god , upon any thing without himself ; for god is not excited to his actions by any foreign , or extrinsecal motives ; what he does , proceeds from the eternal immutable respects , and relations , or reasons of things , and where are these to be found , but in the eternal and divine wisdom ; for what can infinite wisdom be , but a steady , and immoveable comprehension of all those natures and relations : and therefore god in his actions , does not look abroad , but only consults , ( if i may so speak ) the idea's of his own mind . what creatures doe , is but the offering a particular case , for the reducement of a general principle into a particular action ; or the presentment of an occasion for god to act according to the principles of his own nature ; when we say that god pardoneth sin upon repentance , god is not moved to an act of grace from any thing without himself ; for this is a principle in the divine wisdom , that pardon of sin to repenting sinners , is a thing very suitable to infinite goodness , and this principle is a piece of the divine nature : therefore when god upon a particular act of repentance puts forth a particular act of grace , it is but as it were a particular instance to the general rule , which is a portion of divine perfection , when 't is said , to him that hath shall be given , and he shall have abundance , the meaning is , he that walks up unto that light , and improves that strength , that god hath already communicated unto him , shall have more abundant incomes of light and strength from god : it doth not follow that god is moved from without to impart his grace . for this is a branch of divine wisdom ; it is agreeable to the infinite goodness of god , to take notice of , and reward the sincere , though weak endeavours of his creatures , after him ; so that what is from abroad is but a particular occasion to those divine principles to exert , and put forth themselves . thus have we spoken concerning the truth of things . it follows that we speak concerning truth in the power , or faculty , which we shall dispatch in a few words . truth in the power , or faculty is nothing else but a conformity of its conceptions or idea's unto the natures and relations of things , which in god we may call an actual , steady , immoveable , eternal omniformity , as plotinus calls the divine intellect , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which you have largely described by him . and this the platonists truly call the intellectual world , for here are the natures of all things pure , and unmix'd , purged from all those dregs , refined from all that dross and alloy which cleave unto them in their particular instances . all inferiour and sublunary things , not excluding man himself , have their excrescencies , and defects , exorbitances , or privations are moulded up in their very frames and constitutions . there is somewhat extraneous heterogeneous and preternatural in all things here below , as they exist amongst us ; but in that other world , like the most purely fined gold , they shine in their native and proper glory . here is the first goodness , the benigne parent of the whole creation , with his numerous off-spring : the infinite throng of created beings : here is the fountain of eternal love , with all its streams , and rivulets : here is the sum of uncreated glory , surrounded with all his rayes , and beams : here are the eternal , and indispensible laws of right and justice , the immediate and indemonstrable principles of truth , and goodness : here are steady and immoveable rules , for all cases and actions , however circumstantiated , from which the will of god , though never so absolute , and independent from everlasting to everlasting , shall never depart one tittle . now all that truth that is in any created being , is by participation and derivation from this first understanding , and fountain of intellectual light . and that truth in the power or faculty is nothing but the conformity of its conceptions , or ideas with the natures and relations of things , is cleare and evident in it self , and necessarily follows from what hath been formerly proved concerning the truth of things themselves , antecedently to any understanding , or will ; for things are what they are , and cannot be otherwise without a contradiction , and their mutual respects and dependencies eternal and unchangeable , as hath been already shew'd : so that the conceptions and ideas of these natures and their relations , can be only so far true as they conform and agree with the things themselves , and the harmony which they have one to another . finis . the way of happiness and salvation rescued from vulgar errours . by joseph glanvil chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london , printed for james collins , in the temple-passage from essex-street , 1677. imprimatur , sam. parker . april 9th 1670. to the right honourable charles lord herbert , eldest son to the most honorable henry lord marquis of worcester . my lord , although i have not had the happiness to see your lordship since your very tender years , by reason of your distance in foreign parts ; yet i have heard so much of your great improvements in knowledge and vertue , that i cannot slip this occasion to congratulate your early fame , and the hopes , or rather assurance you give of being an extraordinary person . for that season of life which so many others pass away in frolicks , and riot , and vain amours ; in raillery , and the wanton essays of buffooning & versifying wit , ( which contemptible childishness the youth of the present age seems to value as the highest perfection ) your lordship wisely , and worthi'y imploys in gaining those real acomplishments , which may fit you for publick service , in that high station in which providence hath set you . my lord , you are descended from an ancient stock of most noble progenitors , and are the immediate son of a lord and lady , whose vertues may inspire all who have the honour and happiness to be related to them , with the noblest thoughts and endeavours ; and doubtless a generous ambition prompts your lordship to appear worthy the glories of such ancestors . nobility is the mark of the favour of princes , and when 't is adorn'd with intellectual and moral excellencies , it hath then the signatures of god upon it , and the personal gives lustre to the hereditary greatness . secular honours extort outward shews of respect and homage ; while the unsuitable dispositions of such as are painted with misplaced titles , make them objects of the real scorn of their pretended adorers ; but the nobleness of a wise and vertuous spirit commands inward venerations , and hath a large empire over the souls of men. knowledge is a beam of the coelestial light , and vertue a branch of the divine image ; great excellencies in themselves , and true accomplishments of humane na ure : in both your lordship hath out-done your few years and given a pattern to young noblemen , how to imploy their youth honourably and becommingly , to the reputation of their quality , and families ; and their own happiness and glory . but , my lord , there is a perfection beyond these , or more properly , 't is the height and perfection of them , and that is religion : this makes honourable in both worlds ; and enters those that are truly possest of it , among the nobility of god. i doubt not but your lordship hath taken care to season your active and considerate youth with the study and practice of this best accomplishment : such a dedication of the first fruits to our maker is most just in it self , most acceptable to him , and will be most comfortable to the person that makes the offering . your lordship is by the bounty of providence incircled with all circumstances of earthly felicity ; piety and a religious life will procure the divine favour , bless all your injoyments in this world , and assure infinitely better in another . there dwells our happiness , and religion is the way to it . this is the subject of the little book with which i here humbly present your lordship . if it may contribute any thing to your service , in these highest concerns , it will be a mighty pleasure , and satisfaction to , my lord , your lordships most humble and most obedient servant , jos. glanvil . the preface . this discourse was first printed about six years ago ; since which time it had the fortune of a stoln edition in scotland . the ocasion of its publication was this , i being desired to preach at a neighbour-city , recollected the last sermon i had delivered to mine own people , and made use of that : some of the hearers , that thought themselves fit judges , misapprehended my meaning in divers things , and past sentence upon their own mistakes as mine : this induced me to transcribe it out of my memory ; which i did while it was yet fresh in my mind , exactly as to the matter , though possibly with some small difference as to the frame of words , and with some additions at the end : the copy was accidentally seen by a near relation , who desired it should be publish'd , which i permitted ; and do it now again at my bookseller's instance . luke 12. 24. strive to enter in at the strait gate : for many , i say unto you , shall seek to enter in , and shall not be able . the way of happiness and salvation . when i consider the goodness of god ; and the merits of his son , our saviour ; and the influences of the holy spirt ; and all the advantages of the gospel ; the certainty of its principles , the reasonableness of its duties , the greatness of its ends , the suitableness of its means , the glory of its rewards , and the terrour of its punishments ; i say , when i consider these , and then look upon man as a reasonable creature , apprehensive of duty , and interest , and apt to be moved by hopes and fears ; i cannot but wonder , and be astonisht to think , that notwithstanding all this , the far greater part of men should finally miscarry , and be undone . 't is possible some such considerations might be the occasion of the question propounded to our saviour in the verse immediately foregoing the text. — lord , are there few that be saved ? god is love , and all the creatures are his , and man a noble sort : he is the lover of men , and thou art redeemer of men ; and though man hath offended , yet god is propense to pardon , and in thee he is reconciled ; he is desirous of our happiness , and thou art come into the world to offer , and promote it ; and the holy ghost is powerful and ready to assist our endeavours ; we were made for happiness , and we seek it ; and — lord , are there few that be saved ? the text is christ's return to the question , strive to enter in at the straight gate ; for many , i say unto you , will seek to enter , and shall not be able . in which words we have three things . ( i ) an answer imply'd ; straight is the gate . ( ii ) a duty exprest , strive to enter . ( iii ) a consideration to engage our greater care and deligence in the duty ; for many will seek to enter , and shall not be able . by the gate , we may understand the entrance , and all the way of happiness , and that is , religion ; by the straightness of it ; the difficulties we are to encounter . by striving ; earnest and sincere endeavour : by seeking ; an imperfect striving . and from the words thus briefly explain'd , these propositions offer themselves to onr consideration . i. there are many and great difficulties in religion , the gate is straight . ii. the difficulties may be overcome by striving , strive to enter . iii. there is a sort of striving that will not procure an entrance , for many will seek to enter in , and shall not be able . i begin with the first in order , viz. that there are many and great difficulties in religion ; and to what i have to say about it , i premise this negative consideration . that , the difficulties of religion do not lye in the vnderstanding . religion is a plain thing , and easie to be understood . 't is no deep subtilty , or high-strain'd notion ; 't is no gilded phancy , or elaborate exercise of the brain ; 't is not plac'd in the clouds of imagination , nor wrapt up in mystical cloathing ; but 't is obvious and familiar , easie and intelligible ; first preach't by fishermen and mechanicks , without pomp of speech , or height of speculation ; addreft to babes and plebeian heads ; and intended to govern the wills of the honest , and sincere ; and not to exercise the wits of the notional , and curious . so that we need not mount the wings of the wind to fetch religion from the stars ; nor go down to the deep to fetch it up from thence ; for 't is with us , and before us , as open as the day , and as familiar as the light . the great praecepts of the gospel are cloathed in sun-beams , and are as visible to the common eye , as to the eagle upon the highest perch . 't is no piece of wit or subtilty to be a christian , nor will it require much study , or learned retirement to understand the religion we must practise . that which was to be known of god , was manifest to the very heathen , rom. 1. 19. the law is light , saith solomon , prov. 6. 13. and 't is not only a single passing glance on the eye ; but 't is put into the heart , and the promise is , that we shall all know him , from the greatest to the least . our duty is set up in open places , and shone upon by a clear beam ; 't was written of old upon the plain tables of habakkuk , hab. 2. 2. so that the running eye might see and read : and the religion of the h. jesus , like himself , came into the world with rays about its head. religion , i say , is clear , and plain , and what is not so , may concern the theatre , or the schools ; may entertain mens wits , and serve the interests of disputes ; but 't is nothing to religion , 't is nothing to the interest of mens souls . religion was once a mystery , but the mystery is revealed ; and those things that we yet count mysteries , are plainly enough discover'd as to their being such as we believe them , though we cannot understand the manner how ; and 't is no part of religion to enquire into that , but rather it injoyns us meekly to acquiesce in the plain declarations of faith without bold scrutiny into hidden things . in short i say , the difficulties of religion are not in the vnderstanding ; in prompto & facili est aeternitas , said the father ; the affairs of eternity depend on things easy and familiar . and i premise this to prevent dangerous mistakes . but thoug religion be so facile and plain a thing to be understood , yet the way to heaven is no broad , or easie path ; the gate is straight enough for all that ; and i now come to shew what are the real difficulties of religion , and whence they arise . 1. one great difficulty ariseth from the depravity of our natures . the scripture intimates , that we are conceived in sin , psalm 55. 5. transgressours from the womb. isaiah 48. 8. and children of wrath. ephes. 2. 3. and we find by experience that we bring vile inclinations into the wold with us . some are naturally cruel and injurious ; proud and imperious ; lustful and revengful ; others , covetous and unjust ; humoursome and discontented ; treacherous and false : and there is scarce an instance of habitual vice , or villany , but some or other are addicted to it by their partieular make and natures : i say , their natures , for certainly it is not true what some affirm , to serve their opinions , in contradiction to experience ; that vices are not in mens natural propensions ; but instill'd by corrupt education , evil customs and examples : for we see that those whose education hath been the same , do yet differ extreamly from each other in their inclinations ; and some , whose breeding hath been careless and loose , who have seen almost nothing else but examples of vice ; and been instructed in little , besides the arts of vanity and pleasure ; i say , there are such who notwithstanding these their unhappy circumstances , discover none of those vile inclinations , and propensions , that are in others , whose education hath been very strict and advantageous . this i think is enough to shew that many of our evil habits are from nature , and not from custom only . and yet i cannot say that humane nature is so debaucht , that every man is inclin'd to every evil by it : for there are those , who by their tempers are averse to some kind of vices , and naturally disposed to the contrary vertues ; some by their constitutions are inclined to hate cruelty , covetousness , lying , impudence and injustice , and are by temper , merciful , liberal , modest , true and just. there are kinds of vices which our natures almost universally rise agaisnt , as many bestialities , and some horrid cruelties ; and all men , except monsters in humane form , are disposed to some vertues , such as love to children , and kindness to friends and benefactors . all this p must confess and say , because experien̄ce constrains me ; and i do not know why systematick notions should sway more than that . but notwithstanding these last concessions , 't is evident enough that our natures are much vitiated , and depraved ; and this makes our business in the way of religion , difficult . for our work is , to cleanse our natures ; and to destroy those evil inclinations ; to crucifie the old man ; rom. 6. 6. and to purge out the old leven ; 1 cor. 5. 7. this is religion , and the way of happiness , which must needs be very difficult , and uneasie . for the vices of inclination are very dear , and grateful to us ; they are our right hands , and our right eyes , and esteemed as our selves : so that to cut off , and pluck out these , and to bid defiance to , and wage war against our selves ; to destroy the first born of our natures , and to lop off our own limbs ; this cannot but be very irksom and displeasant imployment , and this is one chief business ; and a considerable thing that makes religion difficult . ii. another difficulty ariseth from the influence of the senses . we are creatures of sense , and sensible things do most powerfully move us , we are born children , and live at first the life of beasts : that age receives deep impressions ; and those are made by the senses , whose interest grows strong , and establisht in us before we come to the use of reason ; and after we have arrived to the exercise of that , sensible objects still possess our affections , and sway our wills , and fill our imaginations , and influence our vnderstandings ; so that we love , and hate ; we desire and choose , we fancy , and we discourse according to those impressions ; and hence it is that we are enamour'd of trifles , and fly from our happiness ; and pu●sue vexation , and embrace misery ; and imagine perversely , and reason childishly : for the influence of the body and its senses are the chief fountains of sin , and folly , and temptation : upon which accounts it was that the platonical philosophers declaim'd so earnestly against the body , and ascrib'd all evils and michief to it ; calling vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , corpore● pestes , material evils , and bodily plagues . and the apostle that understood it better , calls sin by the name of flesh , gal. 5. 17. works of the flesh , gal. 5. 19. law of the members , rom. 7. 23. and cries out upon the body of this death , rom 7. 24. and now this is our natural condition , a state subject to the prevalent influences of sense , and by this means to sin and temptation ; and 't is our work in religion , to mortifie the body , rom. 8. 13. and to cease from mkaing provision for the flesh , rom. 13. 14. and from fulfilling the lusts thereof , gal. 5. 14. to render our selves dead to the prevalent life of sense and sin , rom. 6. 8. and 11. 5. and to arise to a new life , rom. 6. 4. the life of righteousness , and faith , hab. 2 4. a life that hath other principles , and other pleasures ; other objects , and other ends , and such as neither eye hath seen , nor ear heard , nor any of the senses perceived . yea , this is a life that is exercised in contradiction to the judgments of sense . it s joy , is tribulation ; jam. 1. 2. it s glory , reproaches ; 2 pet. 4. 14. it s height , is lowness ; luke 14. 11. it s greatness , in being meanest ; matth. 20. 27. and its riches , in having nothing ; 2 cor. 6. 10. to such a life as this , religion is to raise us ; and it must needs be difficult to make us , who are so much brutes , to be so much angels ; us , who seem to live by nothing else but sense , to live by nothing less ; this with a witness is an hard , and uneasie work , and another difficulty in religion . iii. a third proceeds from the natural disorder and rage of our passions . our corrupt natures are like the troubled sea , isa. 57. 20. and our passions are the wa●e of that ocean ; that tumble and swell , and keep a mighty noise ; they dash against the rocks , and break one against another ; and our peace and happiness is shipwrackt by them . our passiions make us miserable . we are sometimes stifled by their numbers , and confounded by their disorders , and torn to pieces by their violence ; mounted to the clouds by ambition , and thrown down to the deeep by despair ; scorcht by the flames of lust , and overwhelmed by the waters of unstable desire ; passions fight one against another , and all against reason ; they prevail over the mind , and have usurpt the government of our actions , and involve us in continual guilt and misery . this is the natural state of man ; and our work in the way of religion , is to restrain this violence , and to rectifie these disorders , and to reduce those rebellious powers under the empire and government of the mind , their soveraign . and so to regain the divine image , which consists much in the order of our faculties ; and the subjection of the brutish , to the reasonable powers . this , i say , religion aims at , to raise us to the perfection of our natures , by mortifying those members , col. 3. 5. our unruly passions and desires ; and crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts ; gal. 5. 24. and thereby to make us humble in prosperity , quiet in adversity ; meek under provocations , steady amidst temptations , modest in our desires , temperate in our injoyments , constant to our resolutions , and contented in all conditions . here is our great business , and our work is this : and certainly 't is no easie thing to bring order out of a chaos , and to speak a tempest in a calm ; to resist a torrnt , and to stop and turn the tyde ; to subdue a rebellious rabble , and to change them from tyrannical masters , to modest and obedient servants : these , no doubt , are works of difficulty enough , and these must be our imployment in the way of religion ; and on this score also , the gate is straight . iv. our work in religion is yet more difficult , upon the account of custom , to which we are subject , and by which we are swayed much . this is vulgarly said to be another nature , and the apostle calls it by that name , 1 cor. 11. 14. doth not nature it self teach you , that if a man have long hair , it is a shame unto him ? by the word nature , the best interpreters say only custom is meant ; since long hair is not declared shameful by the law and light of nature , taken in its chief and properest sense : for then it had never been permitted to the nazarites : but the contrary custom , in the nations that used it not , made it seem shameful and indecent . there are other places in scripture and ancient authors , wherein nature is put for custom : but i must not insist on this ; the thing i am about is , that custom is very powerful ; and as it makes a kind of nature , so , many times it masters and subdues it . wild creatures are hereby made gentle and familiar ; and those that naturally are tame enough ; are made to degenerate into wildness by it . and now besides the original depravities of our natures , we have contracted many vitious habits by corrupt and evil usages ; which we were drawn into at first by pleasure and vanity in our young & inconsiderate years , while we were led by the directions of sense : these , by frequent acts , grow at last into habits ; which though in their beginning they were tender as a plant , and easie to have been crusht or blasted , yet time and use hardens them into the firmness of an oak , that braves the weather , and can endure the stroak of the ax and a strong arm. now to destroy and root up these obstinate customary evils , is another part of our work. and religion reacheth us to put off concerning the old conversation , the old man , eph. 4. 22. and to receive new impressions and inclinations ; to be renewed in the spirit of our minds , 5. 23 and to put on the new man , 5. 24. to make us new hearts , ezek. 18. 31. and to walk in newness of life , rom. 6. 4. this we are to do , and this we may well suppose to be hard work ; the scripture compares it to the changing the skin of the aethiopian , and the spots of the leopard , jer. 13. 23. and elsewhere . how can they do good , that are accustomed to do evil ? jer. 13. 23. 't is hard , no doubt ; and this is another difficulty in religion . v. the power that example hath over us , makes the way of religion difficult . example is more prevalent than precept , for man is a creature given much to imitation , and we are very apt to follow what we see others do , rather than what we ought to do our selves . and now the apostle hath told us , that the whole world lies in wickedness , 1 joh. 5. 19. and we sadly find it : we cannot look out of doors , but we see vanity and folly , sensuality and forgetfulness of god ; pride and covetousness , injustice and intemperance , and all other kinds of evils : these we meet with every where , in publick companies , and private conversations ; in the high ways , and in the corners of the streets . the sum is , example is very powerful , and examples of vice are always in our eyes ; we are apt to be reconciled to that which every one doth , and to do like it ; we love the trodden path , and care not to walk in the way which is gone in but by a few . this is our condition , and our work in religion is , to overcome the strong biass of corrupt example ; to strive against the stream , to learn to be good , though few are so , and not to follow a multitude to do evil , exod. 23. 2. this is our business ; and this is very difficult . vi. the last difficulty i shall mention , ariseth from worldly interests and engagements . we have many necessities to serve , both in our persons and our families . nature excluded us naked into the world , without cloathing for warmth , or armature for defence ; and food is not provided to our hands , as it is for the beasts ; nor do our houses grow for our habitation , and comfortable abode . nothing is prepared for our use without our industry and endeavours . so that by the necessity of this state , we are engaged in worldly affairs : these , nature requires us to mind , and religion permits it ; and nothing can be done without our care ; and care would be very troublesome , if there were not some love to the objects we exercise our cares upon : hence it is , that some cares about the things of this world , and love to them is allowed us ; and we are commanded to continue in the calling wherein god hath set us , 1 cor. 7. 20. and are warned that we be not slothful in business , rom. 12. 11. we may take some delight also in the creatures that god gives us , and love them in their degree : for the animal life may have its moderate gratifications ; god made all things , that they might enjoy their being . and now , notwithstanding all this , religion commands us to set our affections upon things above , col. 3. 2. not to love the world , 1 joh. 2. 15. to be careful for nothing , phil. 4. 6. to take no thought for to morrow , mat. 6. 34. the meaning of which expressions is , that we should love god and heavenly things , in the chief and first place ; and avoid the immoderate desires of worldly love and cares . this is our duty : and 't is very difficult : for by reason of the burry of business , and those passions that earthly engagements excite ; we consider not things as we should , and so , many times perceive not the bounds of our permissions , and the beginnings of our restraints ; where the allowed measure ends , and the forbidden degree commenceth : what is the difference between that care that is a duty , and that which is a sin ; providence and carking ; and between that love of the world which is necessary and lawful , and that which is extravagant and inordinate ? i say , by reason of the hurry we are in , amidst business and worldly delights , we many times perceive not our bounds , and so slide easily into earthly-mindedness and anxiety . and it is hard for us , who are engaged so much in the world , and who need it so much , who converse so much with it and about it , and whose time and endeavours are so unavoidably taken up by it ; i say 't is hard for us , in such circumstances , to be crucified to the world , gal. 6. 14. and to all inordinate affections to it : to live above it and to settle our chief delights and cares on things at great distance from us , which are unsutable to our corrupt appetites , and contrary to the most relishing injoyments of flesh ; which sense never saw nor felt , and which the imagination it self could never grasp . this , no doubt , is hard exercise , and this must be done in the way of religion ; and on this account also , it is very difficult . thus of the first proposition , that there are great difficulties in religion . i come now to the second . ii. that those difficulties may be overcome by striving ; which imports both the encouragement and the means ; that they may be vanquisht , and how . ( i. ) that the difficulties may be subdued , is clearly enough implyed , in the precept ; we should not have been commanded to strive , if it had been impossible to overcome . god doth not put his creatures upon fruitless undertakings : he never requires us to do any thing in order to that , which is not to be attained . therefore when he was resolved not to be intreated for that stubborn and rebellious nation . he would not have the prophet pray for them , jer. 7. 16. pray not for this people , for i will not hear thee . he would not be petitioned for that , which he was determined not to grant . he puts not his creatures upon any vain expectations and endeavours ; nor would he have them deceive themselves by fond dependences . when one made this profession to our saviour , lord , i will follow thee whithersoever thou goest . christ tells him , that he must expect from him no worldly honours or preferments ; no power or sensual pleasure , no , not so much as the ordinary accommodations of life . the foxes have holes , and the birds of the ayre have nests , but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. luk. 9. 5 , 8. he would not have the man that likely might look for these , upon the opinion of his being the messias , in the jewish sense , one that should at last , whatever the meanness of his condition was at present , appear as a mighty , and triumphant temporal monarch ; i say , our saviour would not have the man follow him for that , which he had not to bestow upon him . since then that he who would not put us upon fruitless labours , hath commanded us to strive to enter ; 't is evident , that an entrance may be procured into the gate by striving , and that the difficulties may be overcome . the next thing in my method is to shew , how ; the manner is implyed in the text ; and exprest in the proposition , viz. by striving ; and by this , is meant , a resolute use of those means that are the instruments of happiness . they are three , faith , prayer , and active endeavour . ( 1. ) faith is a chief instrument , for the overcoming the difficulties of our way . and faith in the general , is the belief of a testimony ; divine faith the belief of a divine testimony ; and the chief things to be believed , as encouragements and means for a victory over the difficulties in religion , are these ; that god is reconciled to us by his son ; that he will assist our weak endeavous by the aids of his spirit ; that he will reward us if we strive as we ought , with immortal happiness in a world of endless glory . by our belief of god's being reconciled , we are secured from those fears , that might discourage our approaches and endeavours , upon the account of his purity and justice . by the faith of his assistance , all the objections against our striving , that arise from the greatness of the difficulties , and the disproportionate smalness of our strength , are answered . and from our believing eternal rewards in another world , we have a mighty motive to engage our utmost diligence , to contest with all difficulties that would keep us from it . what satisfaction is there , saith the believer , in the gratification of my corrupt inclinations and senses , in comparison with that , which ariseth from the favour of god , and an interest in his son ? what difficulties in my duty , too great for divine aids ? what pains are we to undergo in the narrow and difficult way , that the glory which is at the end of it , will not compensate ? what is it to deny a base inclination that will undo me ; in obedience to him that made , and redeemed me ; and to despise the little things of present sense , for the hope of everlasting enjoyments ; trifting pleasure , for hallelujabs ? what were it for me to set vigorously upon those passions that degrade my noble nature , and make me a slave and a beast , and will make me more vile , and more miserable ; when the spirit of the most high is at my right hand to assist me ? why should my noble faculties , that were designed for glorious ends , be led into infamous practices by base vsages , and dishonourable customs ? what is the example of a wicked , sensual , wretched world , to that of the holy jesus ; and all the army of prophets , apostles and martyrs ? what is there in the world , that it should be loved more than god ? and what is the flesh , that it should have more of our time and care , than the great interests of our souls ? such are the considerations of a mind , that faith hath awakened ; and by them it is prepared for vigorous striving . so that faith is the spring of all ; and necessary to the other two instruments of our happiness . besides which , it is acceptable to god , in it self , and so disposeth us for his gracious helps , by which we are enabled to overcome the difficulties of our way . while a man considers the difficulties only , and weighs them against his own strength , let him suppose the liberty of his will to be what he pleaseth , yet while 't is under such disadvantages , that will signifie very little ; and he that sees no further , sits down in discouragement ; but when the mind is fortified with the firm belief of divine help , he attempts then with a noble vigour , which cannot miscarry , if it do not cool and faint . for he that endures to the end , shall be saved , mat. 24. 13. thus faith sets the other instruments of happiness on work , and therefore 't is deservedly reckoned as the first ; and 't is that which must always accompany the exercises of religion , and give them life and motion . ( ii. ) prayer is another means we must use , in order to our overcoming the difficulties of the way . our own meer , natural strength is weakness ; and without supernatural helps those difficulties are not to be surmounted . those aids are necessary , and god is ready to bestow them on us ; for he would have all men to be saved , and to come to the knowledge of the truth , 1 tim. 2. 4. but for these things he will be sought unto . and 't is very just , and fit that we should address our selves to him by prayer , to acknowledge our own insufficiency and dependence , on him for the mercies we expect ; and thereby to own him for the giver of every good and perfect gift ; and to instruct our selves how his favours are to be received and used , viz. with reverence and thanksgiving : this , 't is highly fit we should do ; and the doing it prepares us for his blessings ; and he fails not to bestow them on those that are prepared by faith and prayer ; for he giveth liberally and upbraids not ; and our prayers are required , not as if they could move his will , which is always graciously inclined to our happiness ; but as it 's that tribute which we owe our maker and benefactor ; and that without which 't is not so fit he shonld bestow his particular favours on us . for it by no means becomes the divine majesty , to vouchsafe the specialties of his grace and goodness to those , that are not sensible they want them ; and are not humbled to a due apprehension of their weakness and dependence . but for such as are so , and express their humble desires in the ardours of holy prayer , god never denies them the assistances of his spirit : for if ye being evil ( saith our saviour ) know how to give good gifts unto your children , how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to those that ask him ? mat. 7. 11. and these divine helps obtain'd by faith and prayer , and join'd with our active constant endeavour , will not fail to enable us to overcome the difficulties , and to procure us an entrance at the straight gate . and so i come to the third instrument of our happiness , which is implyed in striving , viz. ( iii. ) active endeavour , in which repentance and the fruits of it are implied ; both faith and prayer are in order to this ; and without it neither can turn to account . for faith without works is dead , jam. 2. 20. and prayer , without endeavour fruitless ; yea indeed , in the divine estimate , it is none at all : 't is bodily exercise ; no prayer . for when we invoke gods help , we desire it , that we may use it ; divine grace is not a treasure to lay up by us , but an instrument to work with ; and when we pray that god would assist us in our endeavours , and endeavour not at all , we mock god , and trifle with him in our prayers : endeavour then is necessary , and necessary in a degree so eminent , that this is always included in faith when 't is taken in the highest and noblest evangelical sense , viz. for the faith which justifies and saves ; for that comprehends all those endeavours , and their fruits , whereby we are made happy . we must not expect that god should do all ( exclusively ) in the work of our salvation . he doth his part , and we must do ours ; ( though we do that , by his help too . ) he that made us without our selves , will not save us without our selves , said the father . we are commanded to seek , mat. 7. 7. to run , 1 cor. 9. 24. to fight , 1 tim. 6. 12. to give diligence , 2 pet. 1. 10. these all import action and endeavour . and that endeavour must not be only a faint purpose , or formal service ; but it must be imployed in the highest degree of care and diligence . the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence , mat. 11. 12. and this violence must not be used in an heat , and sudden fit only , that cools and dies , and contents it self with having been warm for a time : but it must be a steady and constant course of activity , a continual striving to overcome the remaining difficulties of the way . we must endeavour vigorously and constantly ; and in that , ( after our faith is strengthened by deep consideration , and divine assistance implored by ardent prayer ) our course is , ( 1. ) to abstain from all the outward actions of sin , and to perform the external acts of the contrary vertues . to cease to do evil , isa. 1. 16. is the first step . when the publicans askt john the baptist , luke 3. 12. what they should do ; his direction was , that they should not exact , vers . 13. and to the souldiers , asking the same question , he answers , do violence to no man , verf. 14. these were the sins of their particular professions , which were to be quitted , before any thing could be done higher . we have ordinarily more power over our actions , than our habits , and therefore we should begin here , and resolve deeply , by divine help , to cut off those supplies that feed vitious inclinations ; for wicked habits are maintain'd by actions of wickedness ; when they ceafe , the inclinations grow more faint , and weak : and when we are come but thus far , to have confined our lusts , we shall be encouraged to proceed to destroy them . 't is said , there is no great distance between a princes prison and his grave ; the saying is most true in the case of tyrants and vsurpers ; and the habits of sin are both ; when they are restrain'd , they are not far from being destroyed , if we imploy our endeavours , and the divine aids , as we ought . this then must be done first , and the other part of the advice must be taken with it , viz. we must practise the outward actions of the contrary vertues . we must do well , when we cease to do evil . when we turn from darkness , it must be to light , acts 26. 18. not from one kind of darkness to another . when we cease to opprefs , we must be charitable ; when we leave to tyrannize over our inferiours , we must be kind and helpful to them . when we forbear to slander , we must speak all the good we can of our neighbour . the outward actions of vertue are in our power ; and 't is somewhat to come so far as this : what is more , viz. the inward love and delight in goodness , will succeed in time , if we persevere . 't is not safe for us to propose to our selves the greatest heights at first ; if we do , we are discouraged , and fall back . god accepts even of that little , if it be in order to more . he despiseth not the day of small things , zech. 4. 10. if thou dost well , shalt thou not be accepted ? christ loved the young man who had kept the external part of the commandments , mark 10. 12. if he had had the courage to have proceeded ; what he had done , would have steaded him much . the inward love of vertue and holiness is promoted by the outward exercises of them , and hereby the contrary evils are both pined and thrust out . thus of the first thing that endeavour implies ; upon this must follow , ( 2. ) an attempt upon evil habits , viz. those that have been super-induced on us by carelesness and temptation , bad customs and evil company . every victory is a means to another ; we grow stronger , and the enemy weaker by it . to have overcome the outward acts of sin , is a beginning in our spiritual warfare ; but our chief enemies are the habits ; these must be attempted also , but with prudence ; wild beasts are not to be dealt with by main strength ; art and stratagem must be used in this war ; and 't is good policy , i think here , to fight the least powerful foes first , the contracted habits , before we fall on the inbred natural inclinations . while our forces are weak , 't is dangerous setting upon the strongest holds , viz. the vices of complexion , which are woven into our very natures . if a man apply all his force where he hath not resolution enough to go through with what he undertakes , he receives a foyl , and 't is odds but he sits down and faints . prudence therefore is to be used , where we distrust our strength : fall upon sin , where 't is weakest , where it hath least of nature , and least of temptation ; and where we have arguments from reputation and worldly interests wherewith to war against it . if we prevail , we are heartned by the success : our faith and resolution will grow stronger by this experience , when we have triumph't over the sins of evil custom , example , and sensual indulgence . and when that is done , we must remember that 't is not enough that those habits are thrust out ; others must be planted in their room : when the soyl is prepared , the seed must be sown , and the seeds of vertuous habits , are the actions of vertue . these i recommended under the last head , and shall say more of the introducing of habits , under one that follows on purpose . ( 3. ) the next advance in our endeavours , is , in the strength of god , and in the name of his son , to assault the greater devils , and to strive to cast out them ; i mean the sins of complexion , and particular nature . this is a great work , and will require strong faith , and many prayers , and much time , and great watchfulness , and invincible resolution : imploy these heartily ; and though thou now and then mayst receive a foyl , yet give not off so , but rise again in the strength of god , implore new aid , and fortifie thy self with more considerations , and deeper resolves ; and then renew the combat upon the encouragement of divine assistance , and christ's merits and intercession , and the promise that sin shall not have dominion over us , rom. 6. 14. remember , that this is the great work , and the biggest difficulty ; if this be not overcome , all our other labour hath been in vain , and will be lost . if this root remain , it will still bear poysonous fruit , which will be matter for temptation , and occasion of continual falling ; and we shall be in danger of being reconciled again to our old sins , and to undo all ; and so our latter end will be worse than our beginning , 2 pet. 2. 20. or , at least , though we stand at a stay , and satisfie our selves with that ; yet though we are contented , our condition is not safe . if we will endeavour to any purpose of duty , or security , we must proceed still after our lesser conquests , till the sins of complexion are laid dead at our feet . he that is born of god , sinneth not , and he cannot sin , 1. joh. 3. 9. till we come to this , we are but strugling in the birth . such a perfection as is mortifying of vitious temper , is i hope attainable , and 't is no doubt that which religion aims at ; and though it be a difficult height , yet we must not sit down this side : at least we must be always pressing on to this mark : if providence cut off our days before we have arrived to it , we may expect acceptance of the sincerity of our endeavours , upon the account of the merits of our saviour : for he hath procured favour for those sincere . believers and endeavoureres , whose day is done before their work is compleated ; this i mean , of subduing the darling sins of their particular natures . but then if we rest , and please our selves with the little victories and attainments , and let these our great enemies quietly alone , 't is an argument our endeavours are not sincere , but much short of that striving , which will procure an entrance into the straight gate . the next thing ( and 't is the last i shall mention ) which is implyed in striving , is , ( 4. ) to furnish our selves , through divine grace , with the habits and inclinations of holiness and vertue . for goodness to become a kind of nature to the soul , is height indeed ; but such a one as may be reacht : the new nature , and new creature , gal. 6. 15. are not meer names . we have observ'd that some men are of a natural generosity , veracity and sweetness ; and they cannot act contrary to these native vertues without a mighty violence : why now should not the new nature be as powerful as the old ? and why may not the spirit of god , working by an active faith and endeavour , fix habits and inclinations on the soul , as prevalent as those ? no doubt , it may , and doth , upon the diviner souls : for whom to do a wicked , or unworthy action , 't would be as violent and unnatural , as for the meek and compassionate temper to butcher the innocent ; or for him , that is naturally just , to oppress and make a prey of the fatherless and the widow . i say , such a degree of perfection as this , should be aim'd at , heb. 6. 1. and we should not slacken or intermit our endeavours till it be attain'd . in order to it , we are to use frequent meditation on the excellency and pleasure of vertue and religion ; and earnest prayer for the grace of god ; and diligent attendance upon the publick worship ; and pious company and converses : for this great design , these helps are requisite , and if we exercise our selves in them as we ought , they will fire our souls with the love of god and goodness ; and so at last , all christian vertues will become as natural to us , as si● was before . and to one that is so prepared , the gate of happiness will be open , and of easie entrance ; the difficulties are overcome , and from henceforth the way is pleasant and plain before him , prov. 3. 17. thus i have shewn , that the formidable difficulties may be overcome , and how : 't is a plain course i have directed , that will not puzzle mens understandings with needless niceties , nor distract their memories with multitndes . let us walk in this way , and do it constantly , with vigour and alacrity ; and there is no fear , but in the strength of god , through the merits and mediation of his son , we shall overcome , and at last enter . i had now done with this general head , but that 't is necessary to note three things more . ( 1. ) those instruments of our happiness which we must use in striving , viz. faith , prayer , and active endeavour , must all of them be imployed . not any one singly , will do the great work ; nor can the others , if any one be wanting . if we believe , and do not pray ; or pray , and do not endeavour ; or endeavour , without those , the difficulties will remain , and 't will be impossible for us to enter . ( 2. ) we must be diligent in our course : if we do not exercise faith vigorously , and pray heartily , and endeavour with our whole might , the means will not succeed ; and 't is as good not at all , as not to purpose . the difficulties will not be overcome by cold faith , or sleepy prayers , or remiss endeavours : a very intense degree of these is necessary . ( 3. ) our striving must be constant ; we must not begin , and look back , heb. 10. 38. or run a while , and stop in midd course , 1 cor. 9. 24. and content our selves with some attainments , and think we have arrived , phil. 3. 14. if we do so , we shall find our selves dangerously mistaken . the crown is at the end of the warfare , & the prise at the end of the race . if we will succeed , we must hold on : the life of one that strives as he ought , must be a continual motion forwards ; always proceeding , always growing . if we strive thus , we cannot fail ; if any of these qualifications be wanting , we cannot but miscarry . and hence no doubt it is , that many that seek to enter , shall not be able , and the presumed sons of the kingdom are shut out , mat. 8.12 . they seek , and are very desirous to be admitted ; they do some thing , and strive ; but their striving is partial , or careless , or short ; by reason of which defects , they do not overcome , and shall not enter . this is a dangerous rock , and perhaps there are as many undone by cold and half striving , as by not striving at all . he that hath done some thing , presumes he is secure ; he goes the round of ordinary duties , but advanceth nothing in his way ; he overcometh none of the great difficulties , none of the habits or depraved inclinations ; he is contented with other things that make a more glorious shew ; though they signifie less ; and perhaps despiseth these , under the notion of morality ; and so presuming , that he is a saint too soon , he never comes to be one at all : such are the seekers that shall not be able to enter : their seeking imports some striving ; but 't is such , as , though it be specious , yet it is imperfect , and will not succeed . and hence the third proposition ariseth , that i proposed to discourse . ( iii. ) that there is a sort of striving that will not procure an entrance : implyed in these words , for many will seek to enter in , and shall not be able . 't is a dangerous thing to be flattered into a false peace ; and to take up with imperfect godliness ; to reconcile the hopes of heaven to our beloved sins , and to judge our condition safe upon insufficient grounds . this multitudes do , and 't is the great danger of our days ; men cannot be contented without doing something in religion ; but they are contented with a little . and then they reckon themselves godly , before they are vertuous ; and take themselves to be saints , upon such things as will not distinguish a good man from a bad . we seek after marks of godliness , and would be glad to know , how we might try our state : the thing is of great importance ; and if the signs we judge by are either false , or imperfect , we are deceived to our undoing . meer speculative mistakes about opinions , do no great hurt ; but errour in the marks and measures of religion is deadly . now there are sundry things commonly taken for signs of godliness , which though they are something , yet they are not enough ; they are hopeful for beginnings , but nothing worth when they are our end and rest . they are a kind of seeking aud imperfect striving ; but not such as overcometh the difficulties of the way , or will procure us an entrance at the gàte . therefore to disable the flattering , insufficient marks of godliness , i shall discover in pursuance of the third proposition , how far a man may strive in the exercises of religion , and yet be found at last among those seekers that shall not be able to enter . and though i have intimated something of this in the general before , yet i shall now more particularly shew it in the instances that follow . and in these i shall discover a religion that may be called animal , to which the natural man may attain . ( i. ) a man may believe the truths of the gospel , and assent heartily to all the articles of the creed : and if he proceeds not , he is no further by this , than the faith of devils , jam. 2. 19. ( 2. ) he may go on , and have a great thirst to be more acquainted with truth ; he may seek it diligently in scripture , and sermons , and good books , and knowing company ; and yet do this , by the motion of no higher principle , than an inbred curiosity , and desire of knowledg ; and many times this earnestness after truth , proceeds from a proud effection to wiser than our neighbours , that we may pity their darkness ; or the itch of a disputing humour , that we may out talk them ; or a design to carry on , or make a party , that we may be called rabbi , or serve an interest : and the zeal for truth that is set on work by such motives , is a spark of that fire that is from beneath : 't is dangerous to a mans self , and to the publick weal of the church and mankind , but the man proceeds , and is , ( 3. ) very much concern'd to defend and propagate his faith ; and the pharisees were so in relation to theirs , matt. 23. 15. and so have been many professors of all the religions that are , or ever were . men naturally love their own tenents , and are ambitious to mould others judgments according to theirs . there is glory in being an instructer of other men ; and turning them to our ways and opinions : so that here is nothing yet above nature ; nothing but what may be found in many that seek , and are shut out . but , ( 4. ) faith works greater effects than these , and men offer themselves to martyrdom for it ; this , one would think , should be the greatest height , and an argument that all the difficulties of the way , are overcome by one that is so resolved ; and that the gate cannot but be opened to him . and so , no doubt it is , when all things else are sutable : but otherwise these consequences by no means follow . st. paul supposeth that a man may give his body to be burned , and not have charity , without which his martyrdom will not profit , 1 cor. 13. for one to deny his religion , or what he believes to be certain , and of greatest consequence , is dishonourable and base : and some out of principles of meer natural bravery , will die rather than they will do it ; and yet , upon other accounts be far enough from being heroically vertuous . besides , the desire of the glory of martyrdom and saintship after it , may in some be stronger than the terrours of death : and we see frequently , that men will sacrifice their lives to their honour and reputation ; yea to the most contemptible shadows of it . and there is no passion in us so weak , no lust so impotent , but hath , in many instances , prevail'd over the fear of dying . every appetite hath had its martyrs ; and all religions theirs ; and though a man give his body to be burnt for the best , and have not charity , viz. prevalent love to god and men , it will not signifie : so that martyrdom is no infallible mark , nor will it avail any thing , except sincere endeavour to overcome the greater difficulties , have gone before it . thus far faith may go without effect : and yet one step further . ( 5. ) men may confidently rely upon christ for salvation , and be firmly perswaded that he hath justified , and will make them happy . they may appropriate him to themselves , and be pleased mightily in the opinion of his being theirs . and yet notwithstanding this confidence may be in the number of those seekers that shall not enter . for christ is the author of eternal life , only to those that obey him , heb. 5. 9. and to obey him , is to strive vigorously and constantly , to overcome all our sinful inclinations and habits . and those that trust he will save them , though they have never seriously set about this work , deceive themselves by vain presumption , and in effect say , that he will dissolve or dispense with his laws in their favour . for he requires us to deny our selves , mar. 8. 34. to mortifie the body , rom 8. 13. to love enemies , mat. 5. 44. to be meek , mat. 11. 29. and patient , jam. 5. 8. and humble , 1 pet. 5. 7. and just , mat. 7. 12. and charitable , heb. 13. 16. and holy , as he that called us is holy , 1 pet. 1. 15. and he hath promised to save upon no other terms ; for all these are included in faith , when 't is taken in the justifying sense , and this is the way of happiness and salvation : if we walk not in this , but in the paths of our own choosing , our relying upon christ is a mockery , and will deceive us . we may indeed be confident , and we ought , that he will save all those that so believe as to obey him ; but may not trust that he will save us except we are some of those . to rely upon christ for our salvation , must follow our sincere and obedient striving , and not go before it . the mistake of this is exceeding dangerous , and i doubt hath been fatal to many . the sum is to rely on christ , without a resolute and steady endeavour to overcome every sin and temptation , will gain us nothing in the end but shame and dissappointment : for 't is not every one that faith unto him , lord , lord , shall enter into heaven , but he that doth the will of his father which is in heaven . mat. 7.21 . the foolish virgins relyed upon him , and expected he should open to them ; lord , lord , open to us , mat. 25. 11. but he kept them out , and would not know them , v. 11. thus of the first imperfect mark of godliness ; a man may upon the account of meer nature , arrive to all the mentioned degrees of faith ; and yet if his endeavours in the practice of christian vertues be not suitable , he will certainly come short at last . ( ii. ) a man may be very devout , given much to prayer , and be very frequent and earnest in it ; he may have the gift of expressing himself fluently , without the help of form or meditation : yea , and so intent and taken up in these exercises , that he may as it were be ravish't out of himself by the fervours of his spirit ; so that he really kindles very high affections as well in others , as in himself : and yet if he rests in this , and such like things as religion , and reckons that he is accepted of god for it ; if he allow himself in any unmortified lusts , and thinks to compound for them by his prayers , he is an evil man notwithstanding , and one of those seekers that shall not be able to enter . the pharisees , we know , were much given to prayer : they were long in those devotions , and very earnest in them often repeating the same expressions out of vehemence . ignatius loyola , founder of the jesuites , was a man almost ecstatical in his prayers ; and hacket the blasphemer , executed in the days of queen elizabeth , was a person of seraphical devotion , and would pray those that heard him even into transports . basilides the cruel duke of mos●o , is said to have his hands almost continually lifted up in prayer , except when they were imployed in some barbarous and bloody execution : and we have known and felt one not much unlike him . there are infinite instances in our days of this dangerous sort of evil men . and we may learn hence , that the greatest gift of prayer , and earnestness and frequency in it , is no good mark of godliness , except it be attended with sincere , constant and vertuous endeavours . for some men have a natural spice of devotion in a religious melancholy , which is their temper ; and such have commonly strong imaginations and zealous affections , which when they are heated , flame forth into great heights and expressions of devotion : the warm fancy furnisheth words and matter readily and unexpectedly , which many times begets in the man a conceit that he is inspired , and that his prayers are the breathings of the holy ghost ; or at least , that he is extraordinarily assisted by it ; which belief kindles his affections yet more , and he is carryed beyond himself , even into the third heavens , and suburbs of glory , as he fancies , and so he makes no doubt , but that he is a saint of the first rank , and special favourite of heaven ; when all this while , he may be really a bad man full of envy and malice ; pride and covetousness ; scorn and ill nature ; contempt of his betters , and disobedience to his governours . and while it is so , notwithstanding those glorious things , he is no further than the pharisee . hearty and humble desire , though imperfectly exprest , and without this pomp , and those wonders , is far more acceptable to god , who delights not in the exercises of meer nature psal. 147. 10. but is well pleased with the expressions of grace in those that fear him . so that a sincere and lowly-minded christian that talks of no immediate incomes , or communications ; and perhaps durst not , out of reverence , trust to his own present conceptions in a work so solemn , but useth the help of some pious form of words sutable to his defires and wants , who is duly sensible of his sins , and the necessity of overcoming them ; and is truly and earnestly desirous of the divine aids , in order to it : such a one as this prays by the spirit , and will be assisted by it ; while the other doth all by meer nature and imitation , and shall not have those spiritual aids which he never heartily desires nor intends to use . this , i think , i may truly and safely say : but for the controversie between forms and conceived prayers , which of them is absolutely best , i determine nothing of it here . and indeed i suppose that in their own nature , they are alike indifferent , and are more or less accepted , as they partake more or less of the spirit of prayer , viz. of faith , humility and holy desire of the good things we pray for ; and a man may have these that prays by a form ; and he may want them that takes the other way , and thinks himself in a dispensation much above it . so that my business is not to set up one of these ways of devotion against the other , but to shew , that the heights and vehemencies of many warm people in their unpremeditated prayers , have nothing in them supernatural or divine , and consequently , of themselves , they are no marks of godliness : which i hope no one thinks i speak to discredit those pious ardours that are felt by really devout souls , when a vigorous sense of god , and divine things , doth even sometimes transport them : far be it from me to design any thing so impious ; my aim is only to note , that there are complexional heats raised many times by fancy and self-admiration , that look like these , in persons who really have little of god in them ; and we should take care that we are not deceived by them . thus far also those may go that shall not enter . i add , ( iii. ) a man may endeavour somewhat , and strive in some degree , and yet his work may miscarry , and himself with it . ( 1. ) there is no doubt , but that an evil man may be convinced of his sin and vileness , and that even to anguish and torment . the gentiles saith the apostle , rom. 2. 14. which have not the law , shew the works of the law written in their hearts , their thoughts in the mean time accusing , or excusing one another . conscience often stings and disquiets the vilest sinners ; and sometimes extorts from them lamentable confessions of their sins , and earnest declamations against them . they may weep bitterly at their remembrance , and be under great heaviness and dejection upon their occasion . they may speak vehemently against sin themselves , and love to have others to handle it severely . all this bad men may do upon the score of natural fear , and self love , and the apprehension of a fature judgment . and now such convictions will naturally beget some endeavours : a convinced understanding will have some influence upon the will and affections . the mind in the unregenerate , may lust against the flesh , as that doth against it . so that ( 2. ) such a meer animal man may promise , and purpose , and endeavour in some pretty considerable measure ; but then , he goes not on with full resolution , but wavers and stops , and turns about again ; and lets the law of the members , that of death and sin , to prevail over him . his endeavour is remiss , and consequently ineffectual ; it makes no conquests , and will not signifie . he sins on , though with some regret ; and his very unwillingness to sin , while he commits it , is so far from lessening , that it aggravates his fault : it argues that he sins against conscience and conviction ; and that sin is strong and reigns . 't is true indeed , st. paul , rom. 7. makes such a description seemingly of himself , as one might think concluded him under this state ; he saith vers . 8. that sin wrought in him all manner of concupiscence : vers . 9. that sin revived , and he died : vers . 14. that he was carnal ; and again ; sold under sin , vers . 20. that sin dwelt in him , and wrought that which he would not : vers . 23. that the law of his members led him into captivity to the law of sin : and vers . 25. that he obeyed the law of sin . if this be so , and st. paul , a regenerate man , was in this state , it will follow , that seeking and feeble endeavour , that overcometh no difficulty , may yet procure an entrance , and he that is come hitherto , viz. to endeavour ; is safe enough though he do not conquer . this objection presseth not only against this head , but against my whole discourse , and the text it self . therefore to answer it , i say , that the st. paul here is not to be understood of himself ; he describes the state of a convinced , but unregenerate man , though he speaks in the first person ; a figure that was ordinary with this apostle , and frequent enough in common speech : thus we say , i am thus , and thus , and did so , and so , when we are describing a state , or actions in which perhaps we , in person , are not concerned . in this sense the best expositors understand these expressions , and those excellent divines of our own , bishop taylor , and dr. hammond , and others have noted to us , that this description is directly contrary to all the characters of a regenerate man , given elsewhere by this , and the other apostles . as he is said to be dead to sin , rom. 6. 11. free from sin , and the servant of righteousness , rom. 6. 18. that he walks not after the flesh , but after the spirit , rom. 8. 1. that the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus , hath made him free from the law of sin and death , rom. 8. 2. that he overcometh the world , joh. 5. 4. he sinneth not , 1 joh. 3. 6. he hath crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts , gal. 5. 24. which characters of a truly regenerate person , if they be compared with those above-cited out of rom. 7. it will appear , that they are as contrary , as 't is possible to speak , and by this , 't is evident that they describe the two contrary states . for can the regenerate be full of all manner of concupiscence , and at the same time be crucified to the flesh , and its affections and lusts ? one in whom sin revives while he dies ; and yet one that is dead to sin ? carnal , and yet not walking after the flesh , but after the spirit ? sold under sin , and yet free from sin ? having sin dwelling in him ; and a captive to sin ; and obeying the law of sin ; and yet free from the law of sin and death ? how can these things consist ? to tell us , 't is so , and 't is not so , and to twist such contradictions into orthodox paradoxes , are pretty things to please fools and children ; but wise men care not for riddles that are not sense . for my part i think it clear , that the apostle in that mistaken chapter , relates the feeble , impotent condition of one that was convinced and strove a little , but not to purpose . and if we find our selves comprised under that description , though we may be never so sensible of the evil and danger of a sinful course , and may endeavour some small matter , but without success , we are yet under , that evil , and obnoxious to that danger : for he that strives in earnest , conquers at last , and advanceth still , though all the work be not done at once . so that if we endeavour and gain nothing , our endeavour is peccant , and wants faith or prayer for divine aids , or constancy , or vigour ; and so , though we may seek , we shall not be able to enter . but ( 3 ) an imperfect striver may overcome sin in some instances , and yet in that do no great matter neither , if he lies down , and goes no further : there are some sins we outgrow by age , or are indisposed to them by bodily infirmity , or diverted by occasions , and it may be by other sins ; and some are contrary to worldly interests , to our credit , or health , or profit ; and when we have in any great degree been hurt by them in these , we fall out with those sins , and cease from them , and so by resolution and disuse , we master them at last fully : which , if we went on , and attempted upon all the rest , were something : but when we stop short in these petty victories , our general state is not altered ; he that conquers some evil appetites , is yet a slave to others ; and though he hath prevailed over some difficulties , yet the main ones are yet behind . thus the imperfect striver masters , it may be , his beastly appetite to intemperate drinking , but is yet under the power of love and riches , and vain pleasure . he ceaseth from open debauchery , but entertains spiritual wickedness in his heart : he will not swear , but will backbite and rail : he will not be drunk , but will damn a man for not being of his opinion : he will not prophane the sabbath , but will defraud his neighbour . now these half conquests , when we rest in them , are as good as none at all . then shall i not be ashamed , when i have regard to all thy commandments , saith the kingly prophet , psal. 119. 6. 't is shameful to give off , when our work is but half done ; what we do , casts the greater reproach upon us for what we omit . to cease to be prophane , is something as a passage , but nothing for an end . we are not saints as soon as we are civil . 't is not only gross sins that are to be overcome . the wages of sin is death , not only of the great and capital , but of the smallest , if they are indulged . the pharisee applauded himself , that he was not like the extortioners , adulterers and vnjust , nor like the publican , that came to pray with him , luk. 18. 11. and yet he went away never the more justified . the unwise virgins were no profligate livers , and yet they were shut out . he that will enter , must strive against every corrupt appetite and inclination . a less leak will sink a ship , as well as a greater , if no care be taken of it . a consumption will kill , as well as the plague ; yea sometimes the less disease may in the event prove more deadly , than the greater ; for small distempers may be neglected , till they become incurable ; when as the great ones awaken us to speedy care for a remedy . a small hurt in the finger slighted , may prove a gangreen , when a great wound in the head by seasonable applications is cured . 't is unsafe then to content our selves with this , that our sins are not foul and great , those we account little ones , may prove as fatal , yea they are sometimes more dangerous : for we are apt to think them none at all , or venial infirmities that may consist with a state of grace , and divine favour ; we excuse and make apologies for them , and fancy that hearing , and prayer , and confession are atonements enough for these . upon which accounts i am apt to believe , that the less notorious vices have ruined as many as the greatest abominations . hell doth not consist only of drunkards , and swearers , and sabbath-breakers : no , the demure pharisee , the plausible hypocrite , and formal professor , have their place also in that lake of fire . the great impieties do often startle and awaken conscience , and beget strong convictions , and so sometimes excite resolution and vigorous striving ; while men hug themselves in their lesser sins , and carry them unrepented of to their graves . the sum is , we may overcome some sins , and turn from the grosser sorts of wickedness , and yet if we endeavour not to subdue the rest , we are still in the condition of unregeneracy and death , and though we thus seek , we shall not enter . ( 4. ) a man may perform many duties of religion , and that with relish and delight , and yet miscarry . as , ( 1. ) he may be earnest and swift to hear , and follow sermons constantly from one place to another , and be exceedingly pleased and affected with the word , and yet be an evil man , and in a bad state . herod heard john baptist gladly , mark 6. 20. and he that received the seed into stony places , received it joyfully , mat. 13. 20. zeal for hearing doth not always arise from a consciencious desire to learn in order to practise , but sometimes it proceeds from an itch after novelty and notions , or an ambition to be famed for godliness ; or the importunity of natural conscience , that will not be satisfied except we do something ; or a desire to get matter to feed our opinions , or to furnish us with pious discourse ? i say , earnestness to hear , ariseth very often from some of these ; and when it doth so , we gain but little by it : yea , we are dangerously tempted to take this for an infallible token of our saintship , and so to content our selves with this religion of the ear , and to disturb every body with the abundance of our disputes and talk , while we neglect our own spirits , and let our unmortified affections and inclinations rest in quiet , under the shadow of these specious services . so that when a great affection to hearing seizeth upon an evil man , 't is odds but it doth him hurt ; it puffs him up in the conceit of his godliness , and makes him pragmatical , troublesome and censorious ; he turns his food into poyson : among bad men , those are certainly the worst , that have an opinion of their being godly ; and such are those that have itching ears , under the power of vitious habits and inclinations . thus an earnest diligent hearer , may be one of those who seeks , and is shut out . and so may ( 2. ) he that fasts much , and severely : the jews were exceedingly given to fasting , and they were very severe in it . they abstained from all things pleasant to them , and put on sackcloth , and sowre looks , and mourned bitterly , and hung down the head , and sate in ashes ; so that one might have taken these for very holy , penitent , mortified people that had a great antipathy against their sins , and abhorrence of themselves for them : and yet god complains of these strict severe fasters , zach. 7. 5. that they did not fast unto him ; but fasted for strife and debate , isa. 58. 4. their fasts were not such as he had chosen , to loose the bands of wickedness , to undo the heavy burden , and to let the oppressed free , vers . 6. but they continued , notwithstanding their fasts , and god's admonitions by his prophets , to oppress the widow , and fatherless , and poor , zach. 7. 10. thus meer natural and evil men sometimes put on the garb of mortification , and exercise rigors upon their bodies and external persons , in exchange for the indulgences they allow their beloved appetites ; and while the strict discipline reacheth no further , though we keep days , and fast often , yet this will not put us beyond the condition of the pharisee , who fasted twice in the week , as himself boasted , luke 18. 12. and , ( 3. ) an imperfect striver may be very much given to pious and religious discourses : he may love to be talking of divine things ; especially of the love of christ to sinners , which he may frequently speak of with much earnestness and affection , and have that dear name always at his tongues end to begin and close all his sayings ; and to fill up the void places , when he wants what to say next ; and yet this may be a bad man , who never felt those divine things he talks of ; and never loved christ heartily as he ought . 't was observed before , that there are some who have a sort of devoutness , and religion in their particular complexion ; and if such are talkative ( as many times they are ) they will easily run into such discourses , as agree with their temper , and take pleasure in them for that reason ; as also for this , because they are apt to gain us reverence , and the good opinion of those with whom we converse . and such as are by nature disposed for this faculty , may easily get it by imitation and remembrance of the devout forms they hear and read : so that there may be nothing divine in all this ; nothing but what may consist with unmortified lusts and affections : and though such talk earnestly of the love of christ , and express a mighty love to his name , yet this may be without any real conformity unto him in his life and laws . the jews spoke much of moses , in him they believed , and in him they trusted , john 5. 45. his name was a sweet sound to their ears , and 't was very pleasant upon their tongues ; and yet they hated the spirit of moses , and had no love to those laws of his which condemned their wicked actions . and we may see how many of those love christ , that speak often and affectionately of him , by observing how they keep his commandments , john 14. 15. especially those of meekness , mercy , and universal love. thus imperfect strivers may imploy themselves in the external offices of religion : i have instanced only in three , the lik may be said of the rest . and to this , i add , ( iv. ) that they may not only exercise themselves in the outward matters of duty , but may arrive to some things that are accounted greater heights , and are really more spiritual , and refined . to instance . ( i. ) they may have some love to god , goodness , and good men. the soul naturally loves beauty and perfection ; and all mankind apprehend god , to be of all beings , the most beautiful and perfect ; and therefore must needs have an intellectual love for him : the reason that that love takes no hold of the passions in wicked men , is , partly because they are diverted from the thoughts of him , by the objects of sense ; but chiefly , because they consider him as their enemy , and therefore can have no complacency or delight in him , who they think hath nothing but thoughts of enmity , and displeasure against them . but if once they come to be perswaded ( as many times , by such false marks , as i have recited , they are ) that god is their father , and peculiar friend ; that they are his chosen , and his darlings , whom he loved from eternity , and to whom he hath given his son and his spirit , and will give himself , in a way of the fullest enjoyment ; then the love that before was only an esteem in the understanding , doth kindle in the affections by the help of the conceit of gods loving them so dearly , and the passion thus heated , runs out , even into seraphick , and rapturous devotions ; while yet all this , is but meer animal love , excited chiefly , by the love of our selves , not of the divine perfections . and it commonly goes no further , then to earnest expressions of extraordinary love to god in our prayers and discourses , while it appears not in any singular obedience to his laws , or generous and universal love to mankind : which are the ways whereby the true divine love is exprest : for , this is the love of god , that we keep his commandments , saith the apostle , 1 john. 5. 3. and as to the other , thus , if we love one another , god dwelleth in us , and his love is perfected in us , 1 john 4. 12. and on the contrary , if a man say i love god , and hateth his brother , he is a lyar , john 4. 20. charity then and universal obedience are the true arguments and expressions of our love to god ; and these suppose a victory over corrupt inclinations and self-will . but the other love which ariseth from the conceit of our special dearness to god upon insufficient grounds ; that goes no further then to some suavities , and pleasant fancies within our selves ; and some passionate complements of the image we have set up in our imaginations . this love will consist with hatred and contempt of all that are not like our selves ; yea , and it will produce it : those poysonous fruits , and vile affections may be incouraged , and cherish'd under it . so that there may be some love to god in evil men : but while self-love is the only motive , and the more prevalent passion , it signifieth nothing to their advantage . and as the imperfect striver may have some love to god , so he may to piety and vertue : every man loves these in idea . the vilest sinner takes part in his affections with the vertuous and religious , when he seeth them described in history or romance ; and hath a detestation for those , who are character'd as impious and immoral . vertue is a great beauty , and the mind is taken with it , while 't is consider'd at a distance ; and our corrupt interests , and sensual affections are not concern'd . 't is these that recommend sin to our love , and choice , while the mind ftands on the side of vertue : with that we serve the law of god , but with the flesh the law of sin , rom 7. 25. so that most wicked men , that are not degenerated into meer brutes , have this mental and intellectual love to goodness : that is , they approve , and like it in their minds , and would practise it also , were it not for the prevalent biass of flesh and sense . and hence it will follow likewise , that the same may approve and respect good men ; they may reverence and love them for their charity , humility , justice and temperance , though themselves are persons of the contrary character ; yea , they may have a great and ardent affection for those that are eminently pious and devout , though they are very irreligious themselves . the conscience of vertue , and of the excellency of religion , may produce this in the meer natural man , who is under the dominion of vile inclinations and affections ; and therefore , neither is this a good mark of godliness . our love to god & goodness will not stead us , except it be prevalent . and as the love described , may be natural , and a meer animal man may arrive unto it : so , ( 2. ) he may to an extraordinary zeal for the same things that are the objects of his love . hot tempers are eager , where they take either kindness or displeasure . the natural man that hath an animal love to religion , may be violent in speaking , and acting for things appertaining to it . if his temper be devotional and passionate , he becomes a mighty zealot , and fills all places with the fame of his godliness : his natural fire moves this way , aud makes a mighty blaze . ahab was very zealous , & 't is like 't was not only his own interest that made him so , 2 kings 10. 16. the pharirisees were zealous people , and certainly their zeal was not always personated , and put on , but real ; though they were hypocrites , yet they were such , as , in many things deceived themselves , as well as others . they were zealous for their traditions , and they believ'd 't was their duty to be so . st. paul while a persecutor , was zealous against the disciples , and he thought he ought to do many things against that name . and our saviour foretells , that those zealous murderers that should kill his saints , should think , they did god good service in it , john 16. 2. so that all the zeal of the natural man is not feigning , and acting of a part ; nor hath it always evil objects . the pharisees were zealous against the wickedness of the publicans and sinners . zeal , and that in earnest , and for religion may be in bad men . but then , this is to be noted , that 't is commonly about opinions or external rites , and usages , and such matters as appertain to first table duties , while usually the same men are very cold , in reference to the duties of the second : and when zeal is partial , and spent about the little things that tend not to the overcoming the difficulties of our way , or the perfecting of humane nature , 't is a meer animal fervour , and no divine fire . and the natural man , the seeker that shall not enter , may grow up to another height that looks gleriously , and seems to speak mighty things . as , ( 3. ) he may have great comforts in religious meditations , and that even to rapturous excesses . he may take these , for sweet communion with god , and the joys of the holy ghost , and the earnest of glory , and be lifted up on high by them , and enabled to speak in wonderful ravishing strains ; and yet notwithstanding be an evil man , and in the state of such as shall be shut out . for this we may observe , that those whose complexion inclines them to devotion , are commonly much under the power of melancholy ; and they that are so , are mostly very varius in their tempers ; fometimes merry , and pleasant to excess ; and then plung'd as deep into the other extream of sadness and dejection : one while the sweet humours enliven the imagination , and present it with all things that are pleasant and agreeable ; and then , the black blood succeeds , which begets clouds and darkness , and fills the fancy with things frightful and uncomfortable : and there are very few but feel such varieties , in a degree , in themselves . now while the sweet blood and humours prevail , the person whose complexion inclines him to religion , and who hath arrived to the degrees newly discours'd of ( though a meer natural man ) is full of inward delight , and satisfaction● and fancies at this turn , that he is much in the favour of god , and a sure heir of the kingdom of glory ; which must needs excite in him many luscious , and pleasant thoughts : and these further warm his imagination , which , by new , and taking suggestions still raiseth the affections more ; and so the man is as it were transported beyond himself ; and speaks like one dropt from the clouds : his tongue flows with light , and glories , and communion , and revelations , and incomes ; and then , believes that the holy ghost is the author of all this , and that god is in him of a truth , in a special way of manifestation and vouchsafement . but when melancholick vapours prevail again ; the imagination is overcast , and the fancy possest by dismal and uncomfortable thoughts ; and the man , whose head was but just before among the clouds , is now groveling in the dust : he thinks all is lost , and his condition miserable ; he is a cast-away , and undone ; when in the mean while , as to divine favour he is just where he was before , or rather in a better state , since 't is better to be humbled with reason , then to be lifted up without it . such effects as these do meer naturalpassions and imaginations produce , when they are tinctured and heightned by religious melancholly . to deny ones self , and to overcome ones passions , and to live in a course of a sober vertue , is much more divine than all this . 't is true indeed , and i am far from denying it , that holy men feel those joys and communications of the divine spirit which are no fancies ; and the scripture calls them great peace , psal. 119. 165. and joy in believing , rom. 15. 13. and the peace of god that passeth all understanding , phil. 4. 7. but then , these divine vouchsafements are not rapturous , or ecstatical : they are no sudden flashes that are gone in a moment , leaving the soul in the regions of sorrow , and despair ; but sober lasting comforts , that are the reward 's and results of vertue ; the rejoycings of a good conscience , 2 cor. 1. 12. and the manifestations of god to those rare souls , who have overcome the evils of their natures ; and the difficulties of the way , or are vigorously pressing on towards the mark , phil. 3. 14. but for such as have only the forms of godliness i have mentioned , while the evil inclinations and habits are indulged , ( whatever they may pretend ) all the sweets they talk of , are but the imagery of dreams , and the pleasant delusions of their fancies . thus i have shewn how far the meer animal religion may go , in imperfect striving : and now . i must expect to hear , ( 1. ) that this is very severe , uncomfortable doctrine ; and if one that shall eventually be shut out , may do all this , what shall become of the generality of religious men that never do so mtch ? and if all this be short , what will be available ? who then shall be saved ? to which i answer , that we are not to make the measures of religion and happiness our selves ; but to take those that christ jesus hath made for us : and he hath told us , that except our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees , we shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven , mat. 5. 20. now the scribes and pharisees did things in the way of religion , that that were equal to all the particulars : i have mentioned ; yea they went beyond many of our glorious professors , who yet think themselves in an high form of godliness . they believed their religion firmly , and prayed frequently and fervently , and fasted severely ; they were exact , and exceeding strict in the observation of their sabbaths , and hated scandalous and gross sins ; and were very punctual in all the duties of outward worship ; and in many things supererrogated and went beyond what was commanded : such zealous people were they ; and they separated from the conversations and customs of other jews , upon the account of their supposed greater holiness and purity . these were heights to which the pharisees arrived ; and a good christian must exceed all this : and he that lives in a sober course of piety and vertue ; of self government , and humble submission to god ; of obedience to his superiours , and charity to his neighbours : he doth really exceed it , and shall enter , when the other shall be shut out . so that , when our saviour saith , that the pharisaick righteousness must be exceeded , the meaning is not , that a greater degree of every thing the pharisees did , is necessary ; but we must do that which in the nature and kind of it is better , and more acceptable to god , viz. that whereas they placed their religion in strict fastings , an nice observations of festivals ; in lowd and earnest prayers , and zeal to get proselytes ; we should place ours , in sincere subjections of our wills to the will of god ; in imitation of the life of christ , and obedience of his laws ; in amending the faults of our natures and lives : in subduing our passions , and casting out the habits of evil : these are much beyond the religion of the phanatick pharisee ; not in shew and pomp ; but in real worth , and divine esteem . so that , upon the whole , we have no reason to be discouraged , because they that do so much are cast out ; since , though we find not those heats , and specious things in our selves which we observe in them , yet if we are more meek and modest , and patient , and charitable , and humble , and just , our case is better ; and we have the power of godliness , when theirs is but the form ; and we , whom they accounted aliens and enemies shall enter ; while they , the presumed friends and domesticks , shall be shut out . but ( 2. ) i expect it should be again objected against this severity of discourse , that our saviour saith , mat. 11. 20. that his yoke is easie , and his burden is light : which place seems to cross all that hath been said about the difficulties of religion . and 't is true it hath such an appearance , but 't is no more ; for the words look as cross to the expressions of the same divine author ; concerning the straightness of the gate , and narrowness of the way , as to any thing i have delivered from those infallible sayings . therefore to remove the semblance of contrariety , which the objected text seems to have to those others , and to my discourse , we may observe , that when our saviour saith , that his yoke is easie , the word we read is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifieth very good , excellent , gracious ; and the meaning i suppose is , that his precepts had a native beauty and goodness in them ; that they are congruous and sutable to our reasonable natures , and apt instruments to make us happy ; in which sense , this expression hath no antipathy to the text , or to any thing i have said . and whereas 't is added , [ my burden is light ] i think by this , we are to understand , that his commands are not of that burdensome nature , that the ceremonies of the jewish laws were : those were very cumbersome , and had nothing in their nature to make them pleasant and agreeable ; whereas his religion had no expensive , troublesome rites appendant to it ; nor did it require any thing but our observation of those laws which eternal reason obligeth us to , and which of our selves we should choose to live under , were we freed from the intanglements of the world , and interests of flesh. so that neither doth this objection signifie any thing against the scope of my discourse . and now i descend to the improvement of what i have said ; and the things i have to add will be comprehended under these two generals ( 1. ) inferences , and ( 2. ) plain advice in order to practise . i begin with the inferences and corollaries that arise from the whole discourse . and , ( 1. ) we may collect , what is the state of nature ; and what the state of grace . we have seen that 't is the great business of religion to overcome evil inclinations , and the prevailing influence of sense and passion , and evil customs and example and worldly affections ; and therefore the state of nature consists in the power and prevalency of these . this is that the scripture calls the old man , eph. 4.22 . the image of the earthy , 1 cor. 15. flesh , gal. 5. 17. death , rom. 7.24 . darkness , joh. 3. 19. and old leven , 1 cor 5. 7. on the contrary , the state of grace is a state of sincere striving against them ; which if it keeps on , ends in victory . and this is call'd conversion , acts 3. 19. and renovation , while 't is in its first motions ; and the divine nature , 2 pet. 1. 4. the image of the heavenly , 1 cor. 15. 20. the spirit , gal. 5. 16. light , ephes. 5. 8. and life , 1 joh. 3. 14. when 't is arriv'd to more compleatness and perfection . for our fuller understanding this , we may consider , that grace is taken ( 1. ) for divine favour ; ( 2. ) for christian vertue . as it signifies divine favour , so it is used , ( 1. ) for those helps and aids god affords us , viz. the gospel , joh. 1. 17. and the influences of his spirit , 1 cor. 12. 9. in this sense we are deliver'd from the state of nature by baptism , viz. we are intituled to divine helps , which is a kind of regeneration ; for we are born in a condition of importence , and weakness , and destitution of spiritual assistances ; this is the world of meer nature ; but then in baptism , we are brought into the world of the spirit , that is , are put under its influences , and are assured of its aids , and so are morally born again ; not that this regeneration alone will save us , without our endeavours ; it imports only an external relation , and right to priviledges , and by these we may be powerfully assisted in our striving , if we use them . but then ( 2. ) grace , as it signifies divine favour , implies his special love and kindness , such as he vouchsases to holy and vertuous men ; so that we may observe that there may be a distinction between a state of grace , and a state of salvation . a state of grace , in the former sense , is a condition assisted by the influences of gods spirit , and all baptized persons are in that . but if they use not those helps , they are not in gods special favour ; and so not in a state of salvation . but when those assistances are duly imployed , and join'd with our sincere endeavour , then the person so using them , is in a state of salvation also ; and in god's special love and favour . thus of the state of grace in the first sense , as taken for divine favour . ( 2. ) the word is also used for christian vertue , 2 pet. 3. 18. and vertue is call'd grace , because 't is wrought in us by the assistance of gods spirit and the light of the gospel , which are divine favours ; and to be in a state of grace in this sense , is to be a virtuous man , which supposeth divine aids , and intitles to divine love . these things i have taken an occasion thus briefly to state ; because there is oft-times much confusion in mens discourses about grace and nature , from which much trouble and many controversies have arisen . and by what i have said also in these brief hints , the doctrine of our church in the office of baptism , may be understood clearly , and will appear to be very sound and true , notwithstanding the petty exceptions of confident dissenters . ( ii. ) i may infer , that the great design of religion and the gospel is to perfect humane nature . the perfection of our natures , consists , in the subjection and subordination of the affections and passions to the mind , as it is enlightned , and directed by the divine laws , and those of reason . this is the state of integrity , in which we were first made ; and we lost it by the rebellion of our senses and inferiour powers , which have usurpt the government of us ever since . here is the imperfection , and corruption of our natures . now religion designs to remove and cure these ; and to restore us to our first , and happy state . it s business is not to reform our looks , and our language ; or to model our actions , and gestures into a devout appearance ; not only to restrain the practice of open prophaness and villany ; nor to comfort us with the assurance of gods loving us we know not why : but to cure our ill natures , to govern our passsions , to moderate our desires , to throw out pride and envy , and all uncharitable surmisals , with the other spiritual sorts of wickedness ; and thereby to make us like unto god , in whom there is no shadow of sin , or imperfection ; and so to render us fit objects of his delight , and love . so that whatever doth not tend to the making us , some way or other really better : better in our selves , and better in all relations , as fathers , and children , and husbands and wives , and subjects , and governours , and neighbours , and friends , is not religion ; it may be a form of godliness , but 't is nothing to the life , and power . and where we see not this effect of religion , let the professor of it be never so high and glorious in his profession , we may yet conclude that either his religion is not good , or that he only pretends , and really hath it not . this i take to be a consideration of great moment and great certainty , viz. that christian religion aims at the bettering and perfecting of our natures . for the things it commands relate either to worship or virtue . the instances of external worship are prayer , and praise ; both which are high acts of gratitude and justice , and they fit us for divine blessings , and keep us under a sense of god , and prepare us for union with him , which is the highest perfection of which the creature is capable . thus the outward acts of worship tend to our happiness ; and the inward do infinitely the same . these are , faith , and love , and fear . faith in god supports and relieves us in all afflictions , and distresses . the love of him is a pleasure and solace to us in all losses and disappointments , since he is an object most filling , and satisfying ; and one that cannot be lost , except we wilfully thrust him from us . fear of god hath no torment ; 't is no slavish dread of his greatness and power ; but a reverence of his perfections , and a lothness to offend him ; and this disposeth us also for the communications of his grace , and love , ps. 85.9 . and this it doth by congruity , and its own nature ; which is to be said likewise of the others . so that they would make those happy that practise them , whether they had been positively enjoyn'd , or not ; and though no express rewards had been annext unto them . there are other two acts of worship which christianity requires , which are instituted and positive , & respect christ our lord ; they are , the sacraments ; baptism , and the lords supper ; both which are holy rites of high signification ; and seals of an excellent covenant between god and us , assuring us of pardon of sins , and all divine favours , upon the conditions of our faith. and repentance ; and more firmly obliging us to holy obedience , and dependence ; the only way in which we can be happy . whence we see briefly , that all the parts of worship which christianity binds upon us , tend to our perfection and felicity . and all the vertues that it commands do the same ; both those that respect us in a personal capacity , and those others that relate to us as members of societies . thus humility , recommended mat. 5. 3. meekness blest , ver . 5. purity , ver 8. are vertues that accomplish our particular persons , and make us happy in our selves . for of pride cometh conteution , prov. 13. 10. and a great part of our troubles arise from stomach and self-will ; which humility cures . meekness also takes away the occasion of the numerous mischiefs we run into through the rage and disorder of our passions ; and 't is in it selfe a great beauty and ornament , since it ariseth from the due order , and goverment of our faculties . purity which comprehends temperance of all sorts , frees us from the tormenting importunity of those desires that drag us out of our selves , and expose us to sin , and folly , and temptation , and make us exceeding miserable ; besides which it is a perfection that renders us like unto god , and the blest spirits of the highest rank . and christian vertues do not only accomplish , and make us happy in our particular persons , but they do the same in our publique capacities , the more publick capacity also ; they dispose us to a quiet obedience to our governours without murmuring , and complaining ; and thereby the publique peace is secured ; and all good things else in that . but there are other vertues that christianity enjoyns , which have a more direct tendency to the happiness of others , as justice , mat 7. 12. charity , 1 cor. 13. loyalty . rom. 13. and all other publique vertues may , i think , be comprehended under these . where there is no justice , every man preys upon another , and no mans property is safe , where charity is wanting , jealousies , hatreds , envying , back-bitings , and cruelties abound , which render the world deplorably unhappy . where there is not loyalty and conscionable submission to governours , the publick is upon every occasion of commotion , involv'd in infinite miseries , and disasters . so that all the precepts of our religion are in their own nature proper instruments to make us happy ; and they had been methods of felicity to be chosen by all reasonable creatures , though they had never been required by so great , and so sacred an authority . these things i have said , because i could not choose but take this occasion to recommend the excellency , and reasonableness of our religion ; and i have done it but only in brief hints , because it ariseth but upon a corollary from my main subject , and from this i infer further . ( iii. ) that christanity is the height , and perfection of morality . they both tend to the real bettering , and accomplishment of humane nature : but the rules and measures of moral philosophy were weak and imperfect till christ jesus came ; he confirmed and enforced all those precepts of vertue , that were written upon our hearts ; and cleared them from many corruptions that were grown upon them , through ignorance and vice , the glosses of the jews , and false conceits of the gentiles ; and he inforced them anew by his authority and the knowledge he gave of divine aids , and greater rewards , and punishments , than were understood before ; yea he enlarged them in some instances ; such as , loving enemies and forgiving injuries . thus christ jesus taught morality , viz. the way of living like men ; and the 5. chapture of mathew is an excellent lecture of this kind . so that to disparage morality , is to disgrace christianity it self ; and to vilifie one of the ends of christs coming into the world . for all religion and all duties respect either god , our neighbour , or our selves ; & the duties that relate to these two last , are acknowledg'd moral vertues . the apostle st. james counted these moralities of visiting the widow and fatherless , to be the pure religion and undefiled . jam. 1. 17. and the prophet micah intimates , that those moral vertues of justice and mercy were some of the main things that god required of us micah 6. 8. our saviour saith that the whole law is summ'd up in these two , to love god with all our souls , and our neighbour as our selves , math. 22. 13 which latter contains the duties of morality . and that which the grace of god in the gospel teacheth , according to st. paul is , to live soberly , righteously , and godly in this present world , tit. 2. 11 , there is no godliness without morality . all the fruits of the spirit reckon'd up gal. 5. 22. are moral vertues . and when we are commanded to grow in grace , 2 pet , 3. 18. vertue is partly understood . for one branch of what is call'd grace in us , is moral vertue , produced by divine aids , christian principles , and incouragements ; though 't is true , the word is extended to those duties that relate immediately to god also . by which we see how ignorantly , and dangerously those people talk , that disparage morality as a dull , lame thing of no account , or reckoning . upon this the religion of the second table is by too many neglected ; and the whole mystery of the new godliness is lay'd in frequent hearing , and devout seraphick talk , luscious phancies , new lights , incomes , manifestations , sealings , in-dwellings , and such like . thus antinomianism , and all kinds of phanaticism have made their way by the disparagement of morality , and men have learnt to believe themselves the chosen , pretious people , while their hearts have been full of malice , and bitterness , and their hands of violence , while they despised dominions , and spake evil of dignities , rebel'd against the government , destroyed publique peace , and endeavoured to bring all into misery and confusions . 't is this diabolical project of dividing morality from religion that hath given rise and occasion to all these villanies . and while the practisers of such things have assumed the name of the only godly , godlyness it self hath been brought into disgrace by them ; and atheism incouraged to shew it self , in open defiance to religion , yea , through the indiscretions , and inconsiderateness of some preachers , the phantastry , and vain babble of others , and the general disposition of the people to admire what makes a great shew , and pretends to more than ordinary spirituality ; things are , in many places , come to that pass , that those who teach christian vertue & religion , in plainness and simplicity without sensless phrases , and fanyastick affectations , shall be reckon'd for dry moralists , and such as understand nothing of the life , and power of godliness . yea , those people have been so long used to gibberish and canting , that they cannot understand plain sense ; and vertue is become such a stranger to their ears , that when they hear : it spoken of in a pulpit they count the preacher a broacher of new divinity ; and one that would teach the way to heaven by philosophy : and he escapes well , if they do not say , that he is an atheist ; or that he would reconcile us to gentilism , and heathen worship . the danger and vanity of which ignorant humour , the contempt of morality , is apparent in the whole scope of my discourse , and therefore i add no more concerning it here ; but proceed to another inference , which is . ( iv. ) that grace and the new nature , make their way by degrees on the soul ; for the difficulties will not be removed nor the corrupt nature fubdued all at once . habits that grow by repeated acts , time , and continuance , will not be expelled in a moment . no man can become greatly evil or good , on a sudden . the path of the just shines more and more to to a perfect day , prov. 4. 18 , we do not jump from darkness into full light , we are not fully sanctified and converted in an instant . the day begins in an insensible dawn , and the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed , mat. 13. 31. it doth not start up presently to the stature of a tree . the divine birth begins like the natural , in an imperfect embryo . there are some seeds of knowledge and goodness that god hath sown in our natures ; these are excited by the divine grace and spirit to convictions , which proceed to purposes ; these to resolutions , and thence we pass to abstinence from all gross sins , and the performance of outward duties ; and so at last by degrces , to vigorous attempts , for the destruction of evil habits and inclinations . when grace is arrived to this eminent growth , 't is very visible , as the plant is when 't is above the ground . but the beginnings of conversion are not ordinarily perceived . so that to catechize men about the punctual time , and circumstances of their conversion , is an idle device , and a great temptation to vanity and lying . who can tell the exact moment when the night ends , and the dawn enters ? 't is true indeed , the passage from the excesses of wickedness , which begins in some extraordinary horrors and convictions , is sometimes very notable ; but 't is not so in all , or most . the time of st. paul's conversion was eminent , but that change was from great contrarieties and miraculous , and therefore 't is not to be drawn into instance . both the beginnings and minute progressions of grace , are usually undiscerned : we cannot see the grass just putting out of the earth ; or actually growing ; but yet we find that it doth both . and grace is better known in its fruits , than in its rise . by their fruits ye shall know them , saith our saviour , mat. 12. 33. and the same way we may know our selves . ( v. ) we see that there is an animal , as well as a divine religion : a religion that is but the effect and modification of complexion , natural fear and self-love . how far these will go , we have seen , and how short it will prove in the end . the not noting this hath been the sad occasion of deceiving many . some observing great beats of zeal and devotion in the modern pharisees , take these to be the saints and good people ; believing all the glorious things which they assume to themselves : when others , that know them to be envious and malitious , unjust , and covetous , proud and ungovernable , and cannot therefore look on them as such choice holy people , are apt to affirm all to be hypocrisie and feigning . in which sentences , both are mistaken for want of knowing that there is a meer animal religion , that will produce very specious and glorious effects ; so that though the pharisee prays vehemently , and fasts severely , and talks much of the love of god , and delights greatly in hearing , and pious . discourse , and will suffer all things for what he calls his conscience ; yet he is not to be concluded a saint from hence , because the meer animal religion may put it self forth in all these expressions . and though this professor be a bad man , proud and covetous , malicious and censorious , sacrilegious and rebellious , yet we cannot thence be assured that he is an hypocrite , in one sense , viz. such an one as feigns all that he pretends : but we may believe that he is really so affected with hearing and praying , and devout company , as he makes shew , and yet for all this , not alter our opinion of his being an evil man : since the animal religion will go as far as the things in which he glories . there is nothing whereby the common people are drawn more easily into the wayes of sects and separations , than by the observation of the zeal and devotion of those of the factions : these they take to be religion , and the great matters of godliness , and those the religious and only godly people . and so first they conceive a great opinion of them , and then follow them whithersoever they lead . for the generality of men are tempted into schism and parties , not so much by the arguments of dissenters , as by the opinion of their godliness , which opinion is grounded upon things which may arise from the meer animal religion , and very commonly do so . this they understand not , and by this ignorance are betrayed into the snare of separation , to the disturbance of the peace of the church , and their own great hurt and inconvenience . whereas could they be made to know and consider , that complexion and natural passions may bring forth all these fruits , they might be secured by this means against the tempting imposture ; and learn that meekness and patience , affability and charity , justice , and a peaceable , humble temper , are better arguments of saintship than all these . thus a great mischief might be prevented ; and there is another that might be remedied by the same observation : the inconvenience is this , while the enemies of factions object hypocrisie to them , affirming that all they do and say , is meer personating and pretence ; they confirm and settle those people in their way ; for many of them know , that they are in earnest , and consequently , that their opposers are mistaken in their judgments concerning them ; by which they are better establisht in their own good opinion , and hardned against conviction whereas , did they consider such things as i have suggested , about the animal religion , and grant to them that they may be serious , believe themselves infinitely , and feel all those warmths , which they pretend , and yet be evil men , and far enough from being godly ; did they shew them , that all their zeal and devotion , and more and greater than theirs , may arife from a principle that hath nothing divine and supernatural in it : they would thereby strike them in the right vein , and bring them down from the high perch , whereon , by their false marks , they had placed themselves ; and thereby disabuse them , and prevent the abuse of others . ( vi. ) we see how we may know our state , whether it be that of grace and life ; or the other sad one of vnregeneracy and death . the state of grace is a motion towards the recovery of the divine image , and a perfect victory over our selves , and all corrupt inclinations and affections , the state of vnregeneracy and death , is the continuance under the power and prevalency of sense , passion , and evil habits . now when 't is question'd by our selves in which of these states we are ; it must be supposed that we are arrived at something of religion : for the grosly wicked cannot but know what their condition is . and the way i would propose to those others , who are yet uncertain , is this , viz. to take notice , whether they really design , and make any progress in goodness . every motion indeed cannot be felt or perceived ; but if we go on , though never so insensibly , time will shew that we are grown . if we consider what are our particular defects , and studiously apply proper instruments to remove them : if we find success in those indeavours , and that we are better this year than we were the former ; that our passions are better governed , and our inordinate affections more restrained , and our evil habits and inclinations less powerful with us , 't is an infallible sign , that we live and are in a state of grace ; that we shall at last arrive to a perfect man in christ jesus , eph. 4. 13. and shall ●attain if we faint not , 2 cor. 4. 1. whereas on the other hand , if we come to some hopeful pitch , and stand still there ; if sin and temptation be as powerful with us now , as they were a year ago , and our inclinations and passions just at the same pass ; we are in a bad state , and dead . while the plant grows , it lives , and may become a great tree , though at present it be but small : whereas that whose stature is bigger , and more promising , if it proceeds not , decayes and comes to nothing . though we are imperfect , if we are striving and going towards perfection , god overlooks our . infirmities , and pardons them for christ's sake . this is our sincerity , and an effect of true faith. but if on the other hand , we think our selves well , and do not always attempt forwards , our state is bad , and our sins will be imputed : be our pretences what they will , our faith is not sincere , and will not stead us . when we get to a certain pitch in religion , and make that our state , 't is an argument that our religion was meerly animal ; and but a mode of complexion , self-love , and natural fear . when we overcome some sins , and are willing to spare and cherish others , 't is a sign that we are not sincere in our attempts upon any , and that what we have done , was not performed upon good and divine motives . sincerty is discovered by growth , and this is the surest mark that i know of tryal , so that we have no reason to presume , though , as we think , we have gone a great way , if we go not on . nor on the other side , have we any to dispair , though our present attainments are but small , if we are proceeding . the buds and tenderest blossoms of divine grace , are acceptable to god ; when the fairest leaves of the meer animal religion are nothing in his esteem . this is a great advantage we have from the gospel , that imperfection will be accepted , where there is sincerity ; whereas according to the measures of exact and rigorous justice , no man could be made happy in the high degree of glory , but he that was perfect , and whose victories were absolute . ( vii . ) it may be collected from our discourse , wherein the power of godliness consists , viz. in a progress towards perfection , and an intire victory over all the evils of our natures . the forms of godliness are not only in the ceremonies of worship , and external actions of feigned piety ; but all the fine things of the animal religion are of this kind ; and they are the worst sort : by the grosser forms men hardly deceive others ; by these they effectually gull themselves . so that many that vehemently oppose forms , are the greatest formalists . forms of worship may well agree with the power of godliness ; whenas zeal against forms , may be a form it self ; whatever makes shew of religion , and doth not make us better , that 's a form , at least to us . there are spiritual forms , as well as those of the other sort , and these are most deadly . poyson is worst in aqua vitae . he that speaks his prayers ex tempore with vehemence and lowdness , if he strive not against his ill nature and self-will , is as much a formalist , as he that tells his prayers by his beads , and understands not one word he saith . and those that run away from forms in churches , meet more dangerous ones in barns and private corners . orthodox opinions , devout phrases , set looks , melting tones , affected sighs , and vehement raptures , are often meer forms of godliness , that proceed from the animal religion , which it self is a form likewise . o that the observers of so many motes in their brethrens eyes , would learn to throw out the beames of their own ! the form of godliness that pretends it self to be no more , is not so hurtful : but the formes , that call themselves the power , are deadly . 't is the formality and superstition of separatists that keeps on the separation : they contend for phancies and arbitrary trifles ; we for order and obedience . the people are abused by names , and being frighted by the shadows of superstition and formality , they run into the worst formality , and silliest superstition in the world. the kingdom of heaven consists not in meats and drinks , rom. 14. 17. neither in circumcision , nor vncircumcision , 1 cor. 7. 19. not in zeal for little things , nor in zeal against them ; both the one and the other are equally formal . the power of religion lies in using divine aids heartily and constantly , in order to the overcoming the difficulties of our way . this godliness is not exercised so much in reforming others , as our selves : the chief design is to govern within , and not to make laws for the world without us , this is that wisdom that is from above , which is pure and peaceable . jam. 3. 17. it makes no noise and bluster abroad , but quietly minds its own business at home . so that certainly the best men have not always had the greatest fame for godliness ; as the wisest have very seldom been the most popular . they are the effects of the animal religion that make the biggest fhew . the voice of true religion is heard in quiet , it sounds not in the corners of the street . the power of godliness is seen in justice , meekness humility , and charity , things that look not so splendidly as the spiritual forms . and thus of the inferences and corollaries that may be drawn from my discourse , which though they cannot all be inferred from any of its minute and seperated parts , yet they lie in the design and contexture of the whole . i come now to the advice for practice . the way of happiness is difficult , but the difficulties may be overcome by striving . a little will not do ; many seekers are shut out ; what remains then , but that we perswade our selves to strive , and that diligently ; with constant resolution and endeavour ? we were made for happiness , and happiness all the world seeks : who will shew us any good ? psal. 4. 6. is the voice of all the creatures . we have sought it long in emptiness , and shadows ; and that search hath still ended in shame and disappointment . where true substantial felicity is we know , and the way we know , joh. 14. 4. it is not hid from us in clouds and thick darkness ; or if it were , 't were worth our pains to search after it . it is not at so great a distance , but it may be seen , yea , it may be brought so neer as to be felt . though the way is streight , yet 't is certain ; or if it were otherwise , who would not venture his pains upon the possibility of such an issue ? many difficulties are in it ; but our encouragements and assistances are infinite . the love of god , and the gift of his son ; the blood of christ , and his intercession ; the aids of the spirit , and the directions of the gospel ; the invitations and promises , the rare precepts , and incomparable examples of those holy men that have gone before us : these are mighty helpes and great motives to assist us in striving , and to quicken us to it . let us then arise in the strength of faith , and in the encouragement of those aids , and attempt with courage upon the difficulties of our way . let us ingage our deepest resolutions , and most diligent endeavours . here is no need to deliberate , the things are necessary , the benefits unspeakable , and the event will be glorious . it is no question , i hope , whether god , or the creature is to be first chosen ; whether heaven or hell be better ? and therefore there is no cause that we should stay and consider ; we cannot be rash here , we cannot hurt our selves by a too sudden ingagement ; we have delayed too long already , and every moment we sit still , is one lost to our duty , and our happiness . let us resolve then , and begin with courage , and proceed with diligence , 't is our end and felicity for which we are to strive ; and every thing is active for its end and perfection . all creatures are diligent in serving the designs of providence ; the heavens are in restless motion , and the clouds are still carrying about their fruitful waters ; the sluggish earth it self is always putting forth in variety of trees , and grass , and flowers ; the rivers run towards the sea , the brooks move towards them , and the sea within it self . thus all things even in inanimate nature may mind us of acting towards our end . and if we look a little higher , the beasts of the field , the fowls , and cattel , and creeping things are diligent in striving after the good and perfection of their natures , and solomon sends the sluggard to those little insects , the ant and bee , to teach him activity and diligence , prov. 6.6 . and shall the beasts act more reasonably than the professed sons of reason ? may it not shame us , that we need instruction from the creatures that have no understanding ? with what face can we carry our heads so high , and look down with contempt upon inferiour animals , when they live more wisely and more regularly than we ? the sum is , all things are incessantly moving towards an end ; and happiness is ours , which therefore should ingage our most careful thoughts , and most active endeavours we are sollicitous and diligent about things of infinitely less moment , and in effect of none , viz. uncertain riches , sensual pleasures , and worldly honours ; though the way to these is sufficiently difficult and uneasie , yet we are not discouraged ; we attempt all those difficulties with an obstinate courage , though without promise of any equal assistance , or assurance of success . we are often defeated in our pursuits , and yet we go on . we are overmaster'd by cross events , and yet we try again . we miss our happiness , when we have attain'd our end , and yet we are as active in courting disappointment another time ; either we attain not the things we seek , or find no true satisfaction in them , or they die in our hands presently , and yet we strive . and doth not this activity about uncertain , unsatisfying trifles , shamefully reprove our negligence in reference to our great end , happiness and perfection ? in striving for which we have all the powers of heaven to aid us , and the word of god , and the blood of his son , and the experience of all that ever try'd , to assure us that we shall neither fail of the things we seek , nor of the pleasure that we expect from them . and why then do we lazily sit down , and with the sluggard say , there is a lion in the way , while we despise greater discouragements , when vain things are to be sought ? the merchant doth not give off , because there are storms , and the numerous dangers of the deep to be met with in his way to the indies ; nor the souldier lay by his arms , because of the hazards and toils of war. and do we act courageously for petty purchases ; and faint and despond when we are to strive for crowns and eternal glories ? 't is true indeed our own natural strength is small , in proportion to the difficulties we are to encounter ; but the grace of god is sufficient for us , 2 cor. 12.9 . and we may do all things through christ that strengthens us , phil. 4. 13. nature is weak , and imperfect , but we are not left in the condition of meer nature : for we are not under the law but under grace , rom. 6. 14. we are under the influences of the holy spirit , which will remove the mountains , and plain the way before us , if we take care to engage those aids by faith and sincere endeavour . for this we may be sure of , that god will never be wanting to us , if we are not so unto our selves , so that the case as to our natural inability , and the assistance of gods spirit , seems to be thus . a man in a boat is cartied from the harbour he designs , by the violence of the current ; he is not able only by playing the oar , to overcome the resistance of the tide ; but a gen tle gale blows with him , which will not of it self carry him up against the torrent : neither of them will do it single : but if he hoist the sail , and use the oar too , this united force prevails ; and he gets happily to the harbour , this methinks resembles our condition ; we are carried down the torrent of evil inclinations and affections , our own unaided powers are too little for that great force : but the holy spirit is with us , it breaths upon us , and is ready to assist , if we are so to use it , and by the superaddition and ingagement of those blessed aids , there is no evil in our natures but may be overcome . so that we have no reason to be discouraged at the apprehension of our impotence , out of weakness we shall he made strong heb. 11. 24. if we imploy our talent , though it be but a very small one , we shall have more , mat. 25. 29. and if we accept of those divine helps , and use them , what was before , to meer natural consideration , uneasie , will be pleasant and sweetly relishing . one of the greatest difficulties in the way of religion , is to begin : the first steps are roughest to those feet that have been unaccustomed to it . the helps and manifold incouragements we shall meet with in the progress , will render it more agreeable and delightsome . those very toils will be grateful ; there is scarce any great sense of pleasure , but where there is some difficulty and pain . even our work it self will be wages . and 't is not only the end of wisdom that is pleasantness , but the very way , prov. 3. 17. so that though we are call'd upon to strive , and to run , and to fight , ( which words import labour ) yet we are not required to quit our pleasures , but to change the objects of them ; to leave the delights of swine for those of angels ; sensual for spiritual satisfactions . thus all things encourage , and invite us to strive ; god calls upon us , and our own interests call ; christ jesus came to ingage us to this work , and the holy spirit waits to assist it . if notwithstanding all this , we sit still , our negligence will be inexcusable and fatal : or if we arise and go a little forward , and then lay us down to take our ease and rest , our state ( in the judgment of one that knew ) will be worse , more desperate , and excuseless , 2. pet. 2. 21. i conclude all then , in the words of the blessed apostle , 1. cor. 15. therefore my beloved brethren , be ye stedfast , unmoveable , always abounding in the work of the lord , forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the lord : to him be glory and honour henceforth , and for ever . amen . finis . books published by mr. glanvil . essayes on several important subjects in philosophy and theology . seasonable reflections and discourses in order to the cure of the scoffing and infidelity of a degenerate age. lux orientalis ; being a modest philosophical enquiry into the doctrine of pre-existence . catholick charity , recommended in a sermon before the lord mayor and aldermen of london . a fast-sermon on the king's martyrdome . an earnest invitation to the sacrament of the lord's supper . the way of happiness , represented in its difficulties and encouragements , and free'd from many popular and dangerous mistakes . aytokatakritos or, the sinner condemned of himself being a plea for god, against all the ungodly, proving them alone guilty of their own destruction; and that they shall be condemned in the great day of account, not for that they lacked, but only because they neglected the means of their salvation. and also, shewing, how fallacious and frivolous a pretence it is in any, to say, they would do better, if they could; when indeed all men could, and might do better, if they would. by one, that wisheth better to all, than most do to themselves. ford, thomas, 1598-1674. 1668 approx. 424 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 137 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a39932 wing f1511b estc r222667 99833814 99833814 38292 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39932) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 38292) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2208:04) aytokatakritos or, the sinner condemned of himself being a plea for god, against all the ungodly, proving them alone guilty of their own destruction; and that they shall be condemned in the great day of account, not for that they lacked, but only because they neglected the means of their salvation. and also, shewing, how fallacious and frivolous a pretence it is in any, to say, they would do better, if they could; when indeed all men could, and might do better, if they would. by one, that wisheth better to all, than most do to themselves. ford, thomas, 1598-1674. [14], 256 p. printed for edward brewster, and are to be sold by giles widowes, at the maiden head, over against the half-moon, in aldersgate-street, near jewen-street, london : 1668. first word of title in greek. one, that wisheth better to all, than most do to themselves = thomas ford. copy has print show-through; tightly bound. reproduction of the original in the william andrews clark memorial library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database 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the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sin -early works to 1800. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-03 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2004-03 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion αυτοκατακριτος or , the sinner condemned of himself : being a plea for god , against all the ungodly , proving them alone guilty of their own destruction ; and that they shall be condemned in the great day of account , not for that they lacked , but only because they neglected the means of their salvation . and also , shewing , how fallacious and frivolous a pretence it is in any , to say , they would do better , if they could ; when indeed all men could , and might do better , if they would . by one , that wisheth better to all , than most do to themselves . hos. 13.9 . o israel , thou hast destroyed thy self , but in me is thy help . ezech. 33.20 . o ye house of israel , i will judge you every one after his wayes . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chrysost. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . london , printed for edward brewster , and are to be sold by giles widowes , at the maiden-head , over against the half-moon , in aldersgate-street , near iewen-street , 1668. the preface . we are all by nature , as much inclin'd to hide and excuse sin , as we are to commit it . sin and shifting ( as one saith well and truly ) came into the world together : and we have drawn both alike , from the loynes of our first parents . no sooner had they sinn'd , but they hid themselves : and no sooner had god found them out , but they fell to excuse themselves . the man puts the fault upon the woman : and she again turns it over to the serpent . yea , ( as calvin and others observe upon gen. 3.12 . ) adam spared not to charge god himself , by saying , the woman , whom thou gavest to be with me , she gave me of the tree , and i did eat . as much as if he should have said , if thou hadst left me alone , as i was , i had never done as i did . now among all those many inventions , which men have sought out , to excuse themselves in their sins , this is one , and a chief one , viz. that they never had light enough to convince them , that their way was not good before god. they confess , their ministers have cryed out against them , and often passed sentence upon them , as men running headlong to their own destruction : but they never met with such ministers , as had arguments strong enough to perswade them to alter and change their way . had this been once done to the purpose , there had been no more adoe ; they should soon have amended all , that others knew to be amiss . but in this the ministers are still wanting , and so long as they are so , they have reason ( as they think ) for what they do . for themselves , they are good natur'd , and well dispos'd , and their endeavour hath been , and still is , to do their utmost , so as if there be a fault , they know not how to help it , the blame must lye somewhere else . they love god with all their hearts , and labour ( what in them lieth ) to keep his commandments , repenting every day with hearty sorrow , for all they have done amiss . indeed , they meet with many hindrances , so as they cannot do as they would . but so long as they are willing , and well minded , they are confident god will bear with them , though they cannot make so fair a shew , nor flourish it , as some professors , who ( as they think ) in their doings and dealings are none of the best . having these , or the like perswasions , they keep up an inveterate prejudice against all pretences to more circumspect and precise walking , such as the apostle adviseth , eph. 5.15 , 16. and bless themselves in their own hearts , promising rest and peace to their souls , even when they walk after their own devices , because they do ( as they perswade themselves ) the best they can , and would with all their hearts do better , if they could . now , that which is intended in this ensuing discourse , is to demonstrate , that all these are fallacious pretences , and that there is no want of means and helps to their conviction and conversion , but they have light enough , which they suppress , and keep under , as the gentiles did , ro. 1.18 . and out of a desire to satisfie their fleshly lusts , refuse to follow whither scripture and reason lead them . for their quarrels and exceptions , they are like those of the iews , in our saviours time . why dost thou make us to doubt ? if thou be the christ , tell us plainly . what sign shewest thou , that we may see , and believe ? as if they wanted nothing but light , to see , whether he was the messias indee● . if they could once be assured of that , they needed not to be perswaded any further , he should have disciples and followers enough . yet none of us ( i hope ) will say of those iews , they had not light enough , when the sun of righteousness arose to shine upon them . nor dare we ( i suppose ) excuse them , notwithstanding all their exceptions from the guilt of crucifying the lord of glory . and then , how can any of us look on our selves , as more excusable than they ? hereupon all they , who retain so good an opinion of themselves , and are alwayes questioning and quarrelling others , that are dealing with them , for the good of their souls , ( just as the iews did our saviour ) might do well to enquire , whether the same spirit of contradiction be not in them , that was in those iews . to pick quarrels , and make objections , and put others to answer them , is no hard work for any to do , that have a mind to it . but to do the will of god , as he requires it to be done , is hard work to flesh and blood , and calls for self-denial , and renounicing our own wills. and what if this be it , and nothing else , that lieth at the bottom of all those fair pretences , which are made by many , of their being not convinced and satisfied in their judgements and consciences , about the matters of gods kingdom , and their own salvation . wherefore they should consider more seriously , whether he that searcheth the hearts , and will bring to light the hidden things of darkness , do not see , they pretend one thing , and mean another ; and whiles they like not the light that shines to them , they would fain excuse it , by saying , they have not light enough . wherefore i would fain perswade all , to have no such good opinion of themselves , but rather to search and try their hearts and wayes , till they discern and discover that enmity which is in them against the righteous & holy wills of god. for the apostle resolves , ro. 8 ▪ 7. that such a root of bitterness there is in all men by nature , and he that knows any thing of himself , cannot be ignorant of it . i say again therefore , let no man bless himself in a fond conceit ( no better than a sick mans dream ) of the goodness of his own heart . for so long as men do this , they do but lock and bolt up all the passages of their souls , that nothing god doth or saith , can have entrance into them , or make any impression upon them . these are farr from judging themselves , or justifying god ; but say in effect , as israel of old , ezech. 18.25 . the way of the lord is not equall . these men are indeed far from righteousness , and wholly indispos'd to learn it . their souls are as some old sores , so nasty and filthy , as they must be wash'd and wip'd , before any healing plaisters can be laid on them . or as some mens bodies , so foul , and full of bad humours , as they must have preparatives , to make way for the intended medicines , which otherwise will have no efficacy or operation . now this discourse is intended only as a preparative , to make way for other physick , by rowsing men up to consider , in what a condition they are , and that there is an enmity in them against god , and his laws ; and that this enmity is it , which causes so many disputes and exceptions about gods dispensations of grace and providence ; and that they do but flatter and deceive their own souls , in thinking themselves so well inclin'd to god and goodness , and should do well enough , if they had some-what , which they want ( as they think ) without any fault of their own . for what hope is there , to perswade men out of their ungodly wayes , so long as they conceit themselves to lye under a fatal necessity of being as they are , and so it is no fault of theirs , that they are no better ? or how shall men be prevail'd with , to change their course , so long as they lye under such gross mistakes of god , and his wayes , as to think , he is wanting to them , and they are not wanting to themselves ? such mistakes do a great deal of mischief in the world , and keep up cursed prejudices in the hearts of men , against the wayes of gods commandments , and make them to cry peace to their souls , even whiles they are walking after their own imaginations , and running head-long to the pit of destruction . now this discourse be-speaks men , to consider , whether gods wayes , or their own , are unequal ; and whether god or they shall be justified in the last and great day of account . there needs no more to be said in way of preface . that the god of all grace , will vouchsafe to give his spirit , for convincing men of all their mistakes and prejudices , so as they may learn to judge themselves , and justifie him , ( which is the work the● have to do , in order to their sal●vation ) is the hearty desire an● prayer of him that penn'd , an● them that publish'd this ensuin● treatise . t. f. αυτοκατακριτος ; or the sinner condemned of himself . what the apostle saith of an heretick , after the first and second admonition , may truly be said of every one that goeth on in his wickedness , he sinneth being condemned of himself : he sinneth wilfully , and without excuse , he hath no cloak for his sin ; for he condemns himself in what he doth , in that his practise is contrary to his principle . that this is the case of all , or most ungodly sinners , i shall endeavour to make good in the ensuing treatise . and in order thereunto , i shall lay down the summe and substance of all , in one general proposition , which i offer , as the conclusion to be proved , viz. that , whatever excuses or pretences , are or may be made by any , all the mistakes , and miscarriages of men , about the matters of gods kingdome , and their own salvation , are only , and altogether from their not improving the means , and helps , which are allowed them ; and that this also is only from the sinful corruption , and cursed inbred enmity of their own hearts and nature . to prove this , i argue , first from somewhat implyed in the proposition it self , viz. the sufficiency of helps and means on gods part allow'd to men . and the argument may be formed thus : if god have sufficiently provided for mens salvation , so as he is not wanting in what lay on him to do , then mens neglect is the only cause of their destruction . but god hath sufficiently provided , &c. ergo , &c. here i shall not stand to prove the consequence of the first proposition , because if god be not , of necessity man only must be wanting to himself . if any shall alledge , that the world , the flesh , and the devil are great enemies , and hinderances to mens salvation , i grant it , but deny withall , that therefore god is to be charg'd with mens destruction , or that any man who dieth in his sins , is the more excusable . for the fault is in men only , that they willingly give themselves up to be led aside by those enemies of their souls , and so neglect their own salvation . sure i am , nor one , nor all of those enemies , could prejudice our everlasting estate , if we did not freely and willingly give our selves over to their power . and this will appear in my proving the second proposition , viz. that god hath sufficiently provided for mens salvation , &c. here i shall first instance in particulars , and therein shew , what provision god hath made . 1. to rise no higher than adams fall ; when man stood in most need of gods help , was there not a speedy provision made of an all sufficient saviour , and help laid upon one that was mighty , and able to save to the utmost all that come unto god by him ? heb. 7.25 . no sooner had god convinced our first parents of their sin and misery , but he presently revealed his son , to be made the seed of the woman , and in mans nature to fulfill whatever was needfull to the reconciling of the world . in this salvation so prepar'd , and promis'd , there was no defect , as appears by the apostles testimony , heb. 7.25 . the only defect is on mans part , in not coming to god through christ , that he may be saved . who dare say , that god hath made but a scanty provision for our salvation ? surely it cannot stand with his faithfulness and goodness , who commands all men every where to repent . would he ( think you ) invite so many guests , if he knew not before hand , that there is entertainment enough for them all ? no man ( for ought i have heard ) ever made question of this , that if all would come to christ , all should be saved by him . and this is the tenour of the gospel-covenant , ( which alone reveals the way of salvation ) he that beleiveth shall be saved , &c. mar. 16.16 . for any objection that may be made , i shall answer it in its due place . 2. as god hath provided an all sufficient salvation , so hath he also allowed sufficient means for the applying of it , so as it may be effectual . 1. there is the word of grace , or the gospel full and clear in all particulars , so as there is nothing necessary to be known concerning this salvation , but a man may run and read it ▪ what was sufficiently discovered in the old testament , according to the dispensation of god for those times , is more clearly revealed in the new ; so as we may well say with the apostle , 2 tim. 3.25 . the scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation . 2. there is the spirit to teach us inwardly and in the heart , what is laid before our eyes in the word . and both these are promised , isa. 59.21 . if any object , that that promise is made only to the church , i may grant it , and yet answer well enough thus ; that the word and spirit promised to the church , proclaim and offer christ to the world ; and they that ar● without , are bound to receive what is offer'd ▪ and to joyn themselves to the church . for wha● is it that makes and constitutes the church ? i● it not hearkning to , and obeying the voice o● god in his word ? there is the sound of th● gospels voice , which the world is bound t● hearken to , as i hope to shew hereafter . an● if the wicked world refuse , and will not en●quire after it , that is their own fault , and go● is not wanting , as shall be more fully clear'd i● its due place . for present it may suffice , that there is a● abundance of the spirit , and of the word , e●nough to enlighten and enliven all the world if they would heed and attend them . wh● dare say , that gods word and spirit are no● sufficient to instruct us in all things necessary ▪ and to lead us into all truth ? for papists quarrelling the sufficiency of scripture-revelation , i have nothing to do with it now ; it serves my turn , if it be acknowledged , that god hath made a sufficient revelation of his will , and the way of our salvation . 3. that god might not leave himself without many witnesses , we have also the work of creation , that shews us the way of glorifying him , else how could the apostle upon this one ground , prove the gentiles to be inexcusable in their idolatries ? rom. 1.19 , 20. and is there not also a goodness of god in his providential dispensations , that leads men to repentance ? rom. 2.4 . yes , the psalmist shews it at large , psal. 107. and this amongst others seems to be one thing , that 's very observable in that psalm , viz. that men otherwise void of all piety , and such as care little for gods company at other times , when distresses , and dangers assault them , even by nature , and natural conscience , are led to call upon god. this shews sufficiently , that their neglect of god in times of prosperity , is a stifling the natural principles of religion , implanted in all men , for the improvement of divine providences . 4. to say no more , god hath made us reasonable creatures , and given us a minde to understand , so as to chuse the good , and refuse the evil . and have we not all of us a conscience to accuse and excuse , to encourage us in that which is good , and affright us from all that is evil ? in one word ; the way of life is laid before us , and we have eyes to see it , if we had a minde to walk in it . men do not go to hell as a beast goeth to the slaughter-house , or as one led blindfolded , not knowing whither he goeth , but they refuse the way of life , and chuse the ways of death ; as i hope to shew hereafter more at large . now let me summe up all that hath been said , and thus argue ; if god hath prepared an all-sufficient salvation , and provided all means necessary for the applying of it , what have we to complain of more , than what we finde in our selves ? may not the lord say as he did , isa. 5.4 . what could have been done more , that i have not done ? or as ier. 2.5 . what iniquity have you found in me ? have i been wanting to you ? rather , have not you wronged your selves , and been sinners against your own souls ? and will not the lord say thus one day ? questionless he will ; else how shall he clear himself in condemning the wicked world ? for suppose god to be wanting in any thing necessary on his part for our salvation , may not a condemned sinner justly reply thus ? lord thou hast now pass'd the sentence of death upon me , and thou art now sending me to dwell with everlasting burnings , which i should never have run my self into , if thou hadst done that which lay upon thee to do . may not such a soul say , alas ! i knew nothing of what i should have known in order to my salvation , but was left in the dark without any light to shew me the way of life . had god done his part , i might have done mine , and so it had never been with me , as now it is . shall any of the damned ( think you ) ever have cause , or just occasion to quarrel god in this manner ? or if any should , i must confess , i know not how to clear god in his condemning the world of the ungodly . but god will certainly clear himself one day , and convince all the ungodly , that their damnation is just : else why is god so often clearing himself upon all occasions , from having any hand in the destruction of those that perish ? for certain god would never clear himself ( as often he doth ) if he knew not himself to be clear ; and he must have most unworthy thoughts of god that thinks otherwise . god is not as man , to justifie himself in any thing , but what is right and true . now , how often doth god clear himself , and cast all the blame of mens destruction upon themselves ? ezech. 18.31 , 32. cast away all your transgressions , &c. for why will you die ? i have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth . hos. 13.8 . o israel thou hast destroyed thy self . to this purpose also read esay 5. v. 1 , 4. obj. but some will reply and say , who denies or questions this ? you labour to little purpose , and might well have spared this pains . sol. to clear my self , give me leave to say ; 1. that many are charg'd with making god the author of sin , and the contriver ( in a sort ) of mans damnation . i do not say they are justly charg'd , but that some are so charg'd by others , is most true . 2. there are but too many in the world , who charge god foolishly as faulty and guilty of mens destruction . i say not , they do it expresly , and in terminis , but interpretatively , and by consequence they say , that the fault is on gods part , and not on theirs , if they die and are damn'd . what else is their meaning , when they pretend , as they do , so much love and good liking to god , and the wayes of his commandments ? are there not many that say in their hearts , and some upon occasion with their mouths also , far be it from us to hate god , or any of his wayes ? god forbid that we should procure to our selves the damnation of our own souls ? nay , they will not be well pleas'd with any other , that shall charge them for so doing . if others will believe them , they are as willing to be sav'd , and as willing to walk in the way of life and salvation , as any man can wish them to be . but alas ! what would you have of them ? if they knew better , they should do better ; and for their part , they do the best they can , and as far as god gives them grace . now , is not this in effect all one as to say , if we are cast away , and die in our sins , it is no fault of ours ? how could we help it ? we have done all that we were able to do , and should with all our hearts have done more , if god had given us wherewithall . is not this to quit our selves , and cast all the blame upon god only ? yes ; it is to charge it upon god alone , that we die and perish in our sins . now for the sake of these , and such as those i have undertaken to plead for god , as well as i can . for ( to speak as it is indeed ) god is much spoken against in the world ; and as there are too many of whom it may be said , god is not in all their thoughts ; or , there is no god , is all their thought , psal. 10.4 . so there are many mouths open'd against him , to charge him with all the fault of mens destruction . and i know not in my capacity , how to do him better service , than to speak a good word for him in this case , and let the world know it . to return where we left before ; i shall a little further , and more fully shew , that god is ( if i may so say ) exceeding carefull to clear himself of having any hand in the death of him that dieth : he thinks he hath done what was to be done on his part ; what could have been done more , that i have not done ? esay 5.3 , 4. as if he should say , there wanted nothing to their being a fruitfull people , if they would themselves . consider also what our saviour saith , john 5.40 . and ( or rather , but ) you will not come unto me , that you might have life . vers. 39. he had told them , that the scriptures testified of him , that he was the light and the life of men ; but ( saith he ) you will not come unto me that you may have life . is not that as much as to say , here is life laid up in me all-sufficient to all intents and uses and safe enough , but you will not come and take it , though you may have it only for the asking ? if this be not the full purport and meaning of those words , i cannot imagine what it should be . for our saviour speaks plainly to them , that if they die in their sins , 't is not because eternal life is not to be had , but because they will not have it . and is not this enough to clear god , and condemn the unbelieving world ? adde to this that affectionate passage of our saviour , mat. 23.37 . i would have gathered them as an hen gathereth her chickens , but they would not . this clears him ; and dare any man say or think , that our saviour meant otherwise than he spake ? o! how happy had that people been , if they had taken him at his word ! take one place more , luc. 19.41 , 42. how pathetically he wishes , if thou hadst known in this thy day , the things that belong unto thy peace ! was it not in his heart ( think you ) that ierusalem was the only cause of her destruction ? and by all you may see , the lord is willing to clear himself , and we may assure our selves he is as able to do it . he well knows , that all his dispensations of grace and providence are such , as will clear him against all the world . our saviour knew well ( and hath not forgotten it to this day ) that when he was on earth , he was no way wanting to the work which his father had put into his hands . and this appears esay 49.4 . that god will justifie him , that it was not by any default of his , that his labours had no better successe ; his judgement is with the lord , and his reward with his god. he knew ( and knows still ) that he had done all that he had to do , for the reclaiming of his countrymen , and for the reconciling of the world . did the iews want any means , whereby they might know him to be , as he was indeed , the promised messiah ? true , they thought so then , and were ever calling upon him for farther and fuller evidences ; but they were but vain , and false pretences , somewhat the same , or very like to what others still have , as i shall hereafter prove . but whatever they pretended then , i am confident they are now of another minde . whiles men are on earth they have too good thoughts of themselves , and are too apt to entertain hard thoughts of god , and his dealings with them . but i am apt to think , that the damned in hell complain most of themselves . sure the parable ( some will have it a story ) luc. 16. seems at least to sound this way : for though it sore troubled the rich-man to be in that place of torment , and fain would he have had some relief , though never so little , yet he complains of none beside himself for his coming thither . one saith indeed , that no man goes to hell , but he hath some excuse or pretence for it : and i am of his minde in this , if he mean it of men , whiles they are upon earth . but i much question , whether the damned , when once they arrive at their long home , be not forsaken of all those pretences , and begin to change their minds : however it be ( for i resolve nothing in the case ) the rich-mans desires for his brethren that surviv'd him , shew he thought , that while men are upon earth they may prevent their own damnation . and though he would have had some extraordinary way taken for the salvation of his brethren , yet abrahams answer clears it beyond all question , that they and others like them , have means enough if they will but use them ; they have moses and the prophets : and have not we moreover the evangelists and the apostles ? read luc. 16.31 . and resolve , if men will not hear these , no extraordinary appearances will work upon them . questionless abraham in heaven knew the truth , as well as the rich-man in hell. but for what may be said of strange providences , and the good effects of them in some , i shall have occasion to discourse hereafter . though what i have said might serve to clear god , as to his making sufficient provision of means , in order to mans salvation , yet i may not yet lay aside this part of my task . for there lies a great objection that is very obvious , and must be answer'd : the objection arises from the forlorn condition of the gentiles , whiles the partition-wall between them and the iews stood firm ; and the same objection lies now as to pagans , who are without god in the world . for it may be said , since the gentiles of old , and many now are denyed the ordinary means of grace , and saving knowledge ; how can it be maintain'd , that there is a sufficient allowance of means on gods part , and that no man hath cause to complain of any but himself . in answering this argument i have ( i hope ) the apostle to help me , and he helps me to answer thus ; that even those gentiles who had not the written law , ( which the iews had ) were without excuse , rom. 1.20 . now if they be without excuse , there needs no more to clear gods justice in their condemnation . but the apostle proves what he saith , and shews why , and how they are without excuse , vers . 19. because that which may be known of god is manifest in them ; for god hath shewed it unto them , therefore they are without excuse . whatever serv'd to set forth the glory of god , or whatever might excite and move them to glorifie god , all this is manifest in them . and the same interpreter thinks there is a special emphasis in the preposition [ in. ] it notes ( saith calvin ) such a manifestation , as would admit of no evasion , they could not put it off . whatever be the emphasis of that preposition , or whether any at all , it is enough for our purpose , that they withheld the truth in unrighteousness , vers . 18. they suppressed the inbred true notions , which they had of god. these they kept ( as we use to say ) under hatches , they obscur'd and clouded them , and would not suffer them to shine out , and shew themselves . and this they did in unrighteousness , i. e. by force and violence , saith piscator , and calvin too . some count of an hebraism in the expression ; but if it be otherwise , it serves our turn well enough . it was the base corruption of their hearts that made them oppresse , and keep under the natural light that was in them . the eternal power and godhead were manifested in them , so as they were not , could not be ignorant of them . hence i argue , that they wanted not light , or means to shew them a better way of worshipping god , than the way they took , which was indeed against all reason , as the apostle there proves . consider farther , that they liked not to retain god in their knowledge , vers . 28. i. e. they hated , and were willing to be rid of that knowledge of god , which they had , and v. 25. they changed the truth of god into a lye . they heeded not the true , implanted notions of god , but followed their own devices , which carried them to false wayes of worshipping god , under the similitudes of his creatures . now this was an act of their perverse wills , in opposition to , and in dispight , as it were , of their natural principles . nay further , saith the apostle , vers . 21. when they knew god , they glorified him not as god , neither were thankfull , &c. they glorified him not as became his most excellent divine majesty , which they knew , or might have known so well , as to have served him in a better manner , if they would . they were not thankfull : they had a talent , and would not improve it as they might and should have done : their returns were no way suitable to their receipts . now consider the apostles arguing in this case , and it appears plainly , that he clears god , in condemning the gentiles , upon this account , that they had means and helps to know , and do better , but they rejected them to follow their own inventions . and the same may be said now of any of the heathens alive , to shew , that they also are without excuse , as others that were before them . obj. yea , but god denied them his special grace , which being denied , though they had done their utmost , they could never have improv'd their natural light to discover christ , who is the only name given under heaven , whereby men must be saved , acts 4.12 . how then had they a sufficiency of means ? sol. this argument is grounded upon a supposition , which the apostle never takes notice of , even when he labours ex professo , to prove the gentiles justly liable to gods wrath and condemnation . and therefore such a supposition to me seems to be of no great force , though some take much notice of it in their disputings . for my part , i have nothing to do with the controversie that is among the learned , or with stating the question between them . my design in this discourse is only to remove a stumbling block out of the way of the blinde , that hinders too many from walking in the way of gods commandments . and this i may do ( i hope ) without engaging so far in the controversie , as some others have done . i am to prove , that 't is not the want of means to be allowed on gods part , but a wilfull neglect of means on mens part , that will be their condemnation : and hath not the apostle said enough to this purpose in the case of the gentiles ? rom. 1. yet let me argue a little : what will it avail those gentiles , or any the like , to say in the great day , by all the light which god did lend us , we could never have discovered the only way of salvation ? for may not god answer , what 's that to you ? it concern'd you not at all to enquire what would , or what would not be . i never told you , what i would , or would not do more , in case you had improv'd the talents which you had . i gave you the knowledge of my self , and mine infinite excellencies so far , as to shew you a way of worshipping me in a better manner , than under the resemblances of my meanest creatures . but you have buried your talent , and rebelled against the light you had , and therefore are wicked and idle servants . what is it to me , or any others , what god will , or will not do , in case we do our utmost with what we have ? god , i am sure , is not , cannot be bound , farther than he is pleas'd to binde himself : and how far god hath bound himself to answer the improvement of natural gifts , by an addition of super-natural grace , if i have not learned , i suppose , i need not be ashamed . scripture indeed saith , that to him that hath it shall be given , luke 8.18 . and reason shews , that the use of any gift natural , or spiritual , is a means to increase it . but seeing grace and nature are not of the same kinde , 〈◊〉 confess my self ignorant , how far the improvement of nature will avail to the procuring o● grace . and yet i dare not say , god will no● give grace to such as improve nature to the ut●most . for i know not what god will do , an● so it is meet , i leave him to his liberty , as h● hath left himself . i am bold to think , that suc● a supposition , as some make in this case , is al●most to as little purpose , as that question , whe●ther the son of god should have come in the flesh , if adam had never sinn'd ? this we are sure of , that the gentiles , and others have their talents , more or less , and all to be im●proved accordingly ; and if they be not , is go● unrighteous in requiring what he hath given ▪ the idle servant indeed charged his master with austeritie ; but they trifle lamentably , who thereupon dispute the vigour of gods dealing with men , seeing it was not in the minde of christ to note any such austerity , more than to commend usury . yet this is worthy our notice , that no servant made any complaint of his master , besides that idle one . for the scope and drift of the parable , it is to shew ( what is to my purpose ) that they have no colour of excuse in the least , who stifle the gifts of god , and make no advantage of them : yea , it proves clearly , and undeniably , that god will require of all according to the measure of their gifts , as you may see further confirmed , if you please to consult , and compare ephes. 4.7 . 1 pet. 4.10 . and luc. 12.48 . for certain god will require no more than he hath given , and it is as certain he will require so much , and this is but reason . and now let any man that 's but reasonable resolve , whether the veriest heathens , who had the least means and helps , perished for lack of them , or for neglect of them : for to speak as it is , they are condemn'd for abusing their gifts , and chusing to walk in darkness , when they had light to lead them into better wayes and practices . obj. but may not they say , lord , if we had walkt by that light , it would not have serv'd for our everlasting salvation ? sol. and may not god stop their mouths by saying , what is it to you , whether it would have serv'd your turn or no ? what did you know of what might , or would be ? i gave you a stock to trade withall , and you have mispent and wasted it . why did not you that which was your duty to do , in using what i had given you ? you lacked nothing to that , but you had no mind to do what you might have done . you had light enough to convince you of your abominable idolatries , but you would not be turned from them . you knew , or might have known , that i cannot be resembled by any of my creatures , and yet you would needs worship me in the images of men , and beasts , and birds , and creeping things . and now what can they say in reason , to be a sufficient excuse ? they are condemn'd for their sinfull neglects , and not improving their talents : and is not their condemnation just ? whether what they had , would have gain'd eternal life , if they had done their utmost , will be no plea with god ; but they will be found guilty , for not doing what they might have done , by the means they had . take it , if you please , in a plain and familiar similitude . a master gives his servant a task , and so much light to do it : the servant saith , the light he hath will not serve him to finish his task , and therefore never takes his masters work in hand , or doth any part of it , but spends his light in doing nothing , or somewhat of his own business . i ask whether such a servant may not justly be made to suffer ? what was it to him , whether his light would serve for all his masters work ? he ought and should have done as much of it as his light would serve him for . what knew he , whether his master would not have supplied him with more light , if he had found him at work by the light which he had ? i need not apply this , but only adde , that the gentiles never had such a thought , as we suppose the servant to have : but what light they had , they resolv'd to waste it , and never to regard their masters work . nay moreover , what if there was this in it too , that if they had had more light , they would have done as they did ? sure many have far more light , and do as bad as they . but i shall discourse this supposal no farther ▪ the case , i hope , is clear enough , by what hath been said . if any shall further pose me with the case of infants , that never attain to years of discretion , i may truly and justly say , that this case is far beside the question , as i have stated it . however , i shall not so pass it by , but give an account of my thoughts and apprehensions about it , after i have first proclaim'd my ignorance in those things , wherein god hath left me no manifestation of his mind and will. that they are ( as all adams children ) dead in trespasses and sins , and by nature the children of wrath , i verily believe , because that which is born of the flesh , is flesh , john 3.6 . so as they must be born again , ere they can see the kingdom of god. that they are capable of grace , and by consequence of glory , i also believe , because the lord ordained and appointed such little ones , to receive the seal of the righteousness of faith . but for their everlasting estate , it is to me ( as i suppose to all others ) a secret , so as i can resolve nothing . only i incline to think , that some of them are saved , and some perish in their sin . but who are the one , and who the other , who can say ? one of the antients ( quoted and allowed by some of our eminent divines ) saith thus , viz. it is even by infants manifest , that many be not saved , not because of themselves , but because god will not . and that they perish not for any actual , wilfull sins , or rejecting the light either of grace or nature , we may ( i suppose ) justly and safely yield , because they never use or exercise reason or discretion . yet all of them being the cockatrice eggs , if they are some of them crush'd , and kill'd in the shell , there 's no cause nor occasion of questioning the judgement of god , since 't is for sin only they are condemn'd . may not the lord use his liberty in punishing sin sometimes in such young sinners , so long as ( we all grant it ) they are of the serpents brood ? and now i am afraid to wade any further , lest at next step i should be over head and ears . i shall therefore rest in the answer i gave at first , desiring only , it may be consider'd of , that god , who knoweth all most perfectly from eternity to eternity , cannot but know what those cast-away children would have done , if they had liv'd to years of discretion . but these are secrets , such as i should never meddle with , if i were not accasioned to it by others curiosity . that some infants are saved , no man ( i suppose ) questions , as also that they are sayed only by the grace of the covenant in our lord jesus christ. yet here is a secret of divine providence in governing the world , to cut off such grafts newly implanted into christ , so as they never grow to bear any fruit . but these ( i say again ) are secrets which belong unto the lord : the revealed things belong unto us , & with these we ought to content our selves . and the same is to be said in the case before , viz. that some sinners die in infancy , others in youth , some in middle age , and others not till they are very old , and all perish , though all attain not to the same pitch of rebellion against the lord. to say no more , in such cases , i must confess , i know not what to say , because i desire to be wise only according to what is written , and for the wayes of god in his providence ▪ i had rather in silence adore them , than in pride and curiosity ( as some ) to pry into them . if any shall object , that 't is a glorious and singular priviledge to have the means of grace , as the iews had above others , psal. 147.19 , 20. rom. 3.1 , 2. i grant it , and say also , that 't is a most dreadfull calamity to want them . but this is no argument against what i have undertaken to prove , seeing god hath not left himself without witness towards all , so as they are without excuse upon this account , viz. because they neglected , and no way improv'd the talents with which they were entrusted . god ( as we see ) gives some persons more wit , and others more wealth , &c. yet they who have less , are liable to accounts for what they have , because it is a trust , though less than some others have . as for others , who are not as the gentiles , nor as infants , one would think the case , as to them , were much clearer . for they have means as much as any ever had ; and yet even these have somewhat to say for themselves . obj. true , we have the gospel preached to us , and plenty of precious means ( as you call them ) to know christ : but to what purpose , so long as we are one way or other shut out , so as not one , nor all , nor any of these means shall ever have any effect on us for our salvation ? for this purpose they alledge , 1. an absolute and irrecoverable decree of god , that shuts out more than shall be received in . 2. the narrowing of christs death by some , as to the extent of it , that a great many may well think themselves uncapable of any benefit by it . 3. the lamentable estate of all men since adams fall , under an invincible inability , to recover themselves from that estate , more than a dead man hath to raise and lift himself out of the dust . these are the stumbling blocks which too many lay in heavens way , to hinder their own salvation ; and i cannot pass them by , without using my endeavours to remove them . for these have been , and still are , unhappy occasions to many , of putting off all the blame from themselves , yea , and obliquely , by consequence at least , to charge god himself . in answering these objections , i am no way bound to engage in the controversies that still are among the learned , nor shall i resolve one way or other to the prejudice of any party , but leave them to end their quarrels as they can . all the business i have to do , is to apply my self to the capacities ( and if the lord so please , to resolve the doubts ) of those that understand nothing , or very little of these matters , more than to make them so many stumbling-blocks , to hinder themselves and others in their way to heaven , and sad occasions of blessing themselves in their own hearts , whiles they walk on in their own imaginations , to adde drunkenness to thirst . and now i come to particulars after i have premised this one thing in general , viz. that let the decrees of god be as absolute , as any of the learned have made them ; or the death of christ as much narrowed in the extent of it , as ever it hath been by any , yet my conclusion will stand firm , that men only are wanting to themselves , and no charge in the least can justly be laid upon god. sol. 1. in answering the first objection from gods absolute decrees , i shall say enough in this , that they are to us secret things , and cannot be known by us till the event declare them . we will suppose every mans name , who is certainly and infallibly ordained to eternal life , to be recorded , and all , and every of them● and no other to be saved . this , i say , we suppose , resolving nothing in the question : but this i say too , that if this be granted , yet there will be no excuse by it for any ungodly men . and my reason is this , because no man can know himself left out of that book of life , till he comes to lye down under the power of death , and so be past all possibility of working out his salvation . whatever is said in scripture of gods electing some , and leaving others ( take it in the strictest and most rigid sense of any ) certainly no part of holy writ hath revealed to us , who those men are , so as we can know them . the day is yet to come , when the books of gods decrees shall be opened : the written word of god serves only to shew the revealed will of god , which if any man , without all exception , be carefull to observe , he is sure of eternal life , unless god fail of his promise , which indeed he cannot do . gods decrees are his arcana imperii , mysteries of state not to be pried into , but in all humility to be ador'd , because though never so secret , yet they are alwaies most righteous . in kingdomes and commonwealths on earth , subjects have nothing to do with reasons of state , but are bound to obey the known laws , which if they be careful to observe , they may justly expect to lead a peaceable and quiet life : the lord hath shewn thee , o man , what is good , and what he requireth of thee . be carefull to do this , and thou needst take no other care for thy salvation ; thou mayst assure thy self that thy name is written in the book of life . and for thy fuller assurance ▪ consider what is clearly revealed in scripture , viz. that the sentence of life and death shall pass at the last day , only according to what men have done , with respect to gods commandments . hence we read so often in scripture of gods rewarding men according to their works , and according to what they have done in the body . i need not quote the several texts that are to this purpose . the grand inquest at the great day of the lord , will not be , whether thou art elected , or not , but whether thou hast observed to do as god hath commanded thee . if thou hast received the lord jesus christ , as he is tendered to thee in the gospel , and hast denied all ungodliness and worldlly lusts , and lived soberly , and righteously , and godly in this present world , there will be no question of thy salvation in the world to come . sol. 2. i answer yet further , that gods decrees ( be they never so absolute and infallible ) do no way in the least infringe the liberty of second causes , but men act as freely in all they do , as if there were no decrees at all : suppose there was a decree of adams fall ( we assert nothing , but only suppose it ) yet adam was at liberty , whether to stand or fall . 't was never said by any sober man , that there was ever any decree , more than of permitting the fall of man. for certain , god did not force him to fall , or cast him down , but he might have stood if he would himself . the reverend and learned davenant ( with others ) so resolves , that man fell according to gods decree , but not because of it . and the schoolmen resolve unanimously , † that gods decrees do not infringe mans liberty . suppose again all the actions of men to be under a decree , yet no man hath said , that mens actions , good and bad , are alike under it . for if they were , no man could possibly clear god from being the author of sin : but there is this difference , that god decrees the good actions of men , so as to allow of them , yea , and to effect them by his grace and power ; the evil only to permit them , to order and overrule them , for his most righteous and holy ends . alvares and others , conceive it impossible for us in our understanding to reconcile these two , viz. the absoluteness of gods decree , and the liberty of mans will ; but they say not , that they are inconsistent , and there is reason to shew they are not : 1. because ( as 't is confessed by all ) when the will of man determines it self to one thing ▪ it doth not loose its liberty ; but though it actually chuse one , yet even then it hath power to chuse another . 2. gods decree doth not abolish , but only order mans liberty , by inclining the will one way or other , according to its nature . 3. the decree of god establisheth the liberty of mans will. for he so determines in his will , as the agency of second causes shall be according to their condition , i. e. natural causes shall work naturally ; voluntary causes , freely . though gods decree excludes the act o● event that 's contrary to it , yet not the liberty of man to the contrary , as was said before . moreover , god decrees , not only the things that are to be done , but also the manner how they shall be done , either voluntarily , or necessarily . now things are done necessarily or contingently , ●n respect to second causes , not to the first , who worketh all most freely , according to the counsel of his will. and so , what god hath decreed to come to pass by free agents , alwaies comes to pass most freely . iudas was as free , and might have forborn to betray his master , as ●f there never had been any thing foreseen or foretold about it . and so were the souldiers ●ree to have broken christs bones , as well as the others . i shall shut up this with what i find in one of ours , whose judgement i much value , as doth every one ( i suppose ) that 's any way acquainted with his writings . our adversaries ( saith he ) belye us , when they say , our opinion touching predestination , maketh us deny free-will . for we think indeed our will is moved effectually by gods will in all our actions : which being the most effectual and universal cause of all things , qualifies our will , and inclines it to the action : yet doth it not follow hereupon , that therefore we think our own will hath no freedome , but only that the freedome thereof depends upon a former freedome , which is the freedome of gods will. and if we hold further ( as some divines do ) that gods will determines ours , and his decree flows into all the effects of our will , so that we do nothing , but as he directs our will , and purpose ; yet this excludes not our own freedome , nor makes god the author of sin , nor implyes any inevitable necessity in our doing . the reason is , because god moves not our will violently enforcing it , but leaves an inward motive within our selves , th●● stirs it up , which is the act of our vnderstanding whereby we judge the things good or evil , that w● will or nill . for in the proceeding of our wil● first , the mind apprehends some object , and o●●fers it to the will ; then upon the full and perfe●● judgement of the understanding , the will follow● or refuses it , as the understanding judges it goo● or bad . and so this act , or judgement of our ●●●derstanding , is the root from whence the 〈◊〉 choice of our will ariseth , in such manner , 〈◊〉 whatsoever it be that goes before the act of 〈◊〉 will , or sets in with it to encline it ( as go● will doth ) as long as it destroyes not , nor enforc● this practical judgement of reason , the liberty 〈◊〉 our will is not taken away . and herein stands 〈◊〉 true concord between gods predestination and ma●● will , that the free and immutable counsel 〈◊〉 gods will , goeth indeed in order before the opera●●●on of our will , or at least together with it , 〈◊〉 determines and circumscribes it . but for 〈◊〉 much as it neither enforces our will , nor takes ●●way our judgement , but permits it freely to lea●● and perswade the will , it expels not our liberty but rather cherishes and upholds it : for wheres●●ever these two concurr , viz. freedome from vi●●lence and necessity , and the full consent of reaso● there is the whole and true reason of liberty . now i desire , it may be observ'd , that thi● reverend and learned man saith only , tha● some divines ( not all ) do hold , that gods wi●● determines ours , and his decree flows into all th● effects of our will , &c. and indeed , it is yet a great question ( as well it may ) with many ▪ ●ow farr the decree and unchangeable counsel ●f god doth determine our will about any thing we do . to me it is , and ( i think ) ever will ●e a mystery , as some profess it is to them ; and ●herefore , from a matter so difficult and disputa●le , it is dangerous and desperate in any man to ●●ferr , what is directly contradictory to his du●y , so plainly laid before him in the written word of god. for this is plain , and there can ●e no question about it : but the other ( i say ●gain ) is to us very uncertain ; and what some ●alk of gods determining our wills , and all our ●ctions , is very much question'd , and doubted of by others , and that for good reason , it being so mysterious , and so hard , if not impossible to be apprehended by us , as it is . but whatever our divines hold touching predestination , the meaning is not ( as that learned man in the place before cited hath it ) that god by his providence infuseth any constraint into the mind of man to enforce it , or any errour to seduce it , or imposeth any necessity to bind it ; but only that he enclines , and orders it to work freely , that which he hath determined for his own glory ; and besides , his preserving the faculty thereof , moves and applyes it to the object , and work , that it willeth , or nilleth . and all this is no more , than that mans will is subject to gods providence , which no sober man will deny , or question . but to reason the case more familiarly ; 1. let men ask themselves , whether they do not freely and willingly chuse their own ungodly wayes , and they cannot ( i am sure ) say to the contrary . for their consciences will te●● them , that in all their ungodly wayes , the● only consult to satisfie their lusts , and neve● have one thought of what god hath decreed . i ask further , 2. whether any man can possibly act in a way of wickedness , with a respect to the fulfilling of gods decrees , seeing no ma● can know , what those decrees are ? we re●● indeed , act. 4.27 , 28. that herod and pi●late , &c. did what the hand and counsel of go● had determined before-hand . yea , the devil himself , in all his doings , is within the compass o● gods counsel ; else what sad work would h● make in the world ? but how can a man act , so as to intend his action , according to that whic● he knows not , nor doth ever consider of ? wha● is it to any ungodly man , what god hath de●creed , when he resolves with himself , that 〈◊〉 will do according to his will , and serve his lust● whatever god hath said to the contrary ? tha● it falls out according to the counsel of god , 〈◊〉 beside , and against his intention , who wal● only after his own counsels : and so he do●● whatever he doth , wickedly of choice , and free●ly . how can it be otherwise ? for he doth 〈◊〉 gladly , and he rejoyceth to do evil . free-wi●● ( as one hath observ'd ) is so farr from being 〈◊〉 in a sinner , as that all , who sin with delight an● pleasure , do more especially sin by their free-wil● ▪ 't is not the absolute decree of god , that sway●● them to their ungodly courses ; but they deligh● in their abominations , and sin , and dye in thei● sin , because they freely chuse so to do . i need say no more to this , if men would spea● what they know by themselves . god is not so much ( if i may so say ) beholden to them , that they should do any thing for his s●ke . they do not damn their souls , to fullfil his will , but their own lust . they talk ●ndeed sometimes ( as men do in their sleep ) of they know not what themselves , what god hath decreed must be , and there 's no avoiding it : but they do not serve their lusts , with any respect to gods decree , more than iudas , who in ●elling his master , look'd at nothing but the money that was to be gain'd by the bargain . to shew more plainly , how little there is to be had from gods decrees , to excuse ungodly men , consider , that all who had an hand , or heart in the death of christ , were therein guilty of most horrible sin , though they did what the ●and and counsel of god had determined before , act. 4.27 , 28. and act. 2.23 . though he were delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of god , yet was he crucified and slain by wicked hands . whereas ioseph , a counsellour , was a good man , and a just , though he consented not to the counsel and deed of them that slew christ : yea , therein he proved himself a good , and a just man ; whereas if he had acted , or consented , as others did , he had been guilty , as farr as they . sol. 3. no man sober , and in his senses , ever said , or thought , that men are damn'd , because god hath decreed them to be damn'd . scripture ( i am sure ) speaks another reason of mens damnation . death is the wages of sin , ro. 6.23 . tribulation and anguish upon the soul of every man that doth evil , ro. 2.8 . god shall come in flaming fire , to render vengeance on them that know not god , and that obey not the gospel of our lord iesus christ , 2 thess. 1.7 , 8. the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god ▪ 1 cor. 6.9 , 10. and in this place we have a catalogue of them who shall be damn'd ; as also eph. 5.5 , 6. where , after the naming o● some , as whoremongers , unclean persons , th●● shall not inherit the kingdom of christ , and 〈◊〉 god , v. 6. the apostle gives this caution , l●● no man deceive you with vain words , for because of these things , cometh the wrath of god upon th● children of disobedience . for these , and such a● these , fornication , adultery , and all uncleanness , drunkenness , and prophane swearing , &c ▪ for these men are damn'd . there 's no noti●● taken of gods decree , as the cause or occasio● of mens damnation . they on christs left hand at the last day , plead indeed , that if they we●● faulty , it was unwittingly , and they were not a●ware of it : but not one word of gods decree fore-ordaining them unavoidably to damnatio● as some men plead now . and as wise as the count themselves , i am confident , they will se● better at the last day , and know , that their ow● evil wayes , and doings , and not gods decree● brought death and destruction upon them . in●deed , god never passed any decree to condem● any man , but for his sin and impenitency ; 〈◊〉 which , if he be not found guilty , i know of 〈◊〉 decree of god to damn him . but as we say o● some men , for their excessive feeding , that they digg their graves with their own teeth : so w● may say of others , for their inordinate living , that they digg their hell with their own hands . they are damn'd for nothing , but their wickedness , wherein they were incorrigible , and would not be reclaimed . would ungodly ones repent , and reform , and chuse the wayes of gods commandements , they would answer this objection to better purpose , than i , or any man else can . and yet this i 'le warrant them , upon no worse ground than gods word , that if they repent , and cast away all their transgressions , there is no decree of god shall rise up in judgement to condemn them . but for the further clearing of this 3 d. answer , i shall add somewhat out of some of the ancients . god may save a man , without his merits , because he is good : but he cannot damp a man , without his demerits , because he is just . for ( as another hath it ) when god shews mercy , and pardons , he gives of his own , and doth it of himself : but when he condemns , and punishes , he could not be righteous , if there were not something in us to deserve it . how farr god may use his absolute soveraign power , and prerogative-royal , in exposing the most innocent creature to suffer torments , i have no mind to dispute , though i am not wholly ignorant , of what some have discoursed about it once ; this i am confident of , that god never dealt so with any of his creatures , nor ever will , lam. 3.33 . he doth not afflict willingly , &c. his bounty and kindness floweth from him freely of it self : his severity ariseth from somewhat in us . true , he inflicted the greatest torments , that ever were , upon his own son , who was in himself more innocent and unspotted than any angel. but the reason is obvious . the son of god voluntarily engaged himself to be surety for sinful man , and so by his own act and deed contracted a debt , which he was bound to pay upon that account , and not otherwise . and now , though i have said so much , i must yet say more , in answer to this first objection ; for it will be said , obj. that where there is an absolute decree ( as some hold ) there is an impossibility , for some at least , to escape damnation . and though god damn no man , but for his sin ; yet the event is infallible , so as they who are not under the decree of election , must needs be damn'd however . sol. 1. we know no decree , leaving men destitute of all such grace , as would save them , i● themselves were not in fault . sol. 2. all necessity is not inconsistent with mans liberty , but he may be said to chuse his own destruction , notwithstanding any such dedree . when a man is doing any thing , it is necessary , because he cannot do , and not do at once , but when he is in doing , he hath still hi● liberty , not to have done it , or to have done otherwise . though there be a necessity of the consequence , there is none of the consequent . and if there be any force in this argument , then by the same reason , god must be ignorant , who shall be saved , and who damn'd . for let it be granted , that god knows precisely , who shall be saved , and who damn'd , there is an unavoidable necessity of the event accordingly , or god must not be omniscient , and infallible . obj. if any object , a knowledge in god , whereby he foresees things to come , not absolutely , but conditionally , what men , or angels may do , by the freedome of their will , ( no decree of god going before ) considering them in such and such a condition , with such and such circumstances . sol. i answer , that god knows such conditional things absolutely and perfectly , though they never take effect . so he foresaw , that abimelech would have defiled sarah , and therefore hindred him . he knew certainly , that the men of keilah would have delivered up david , and therefore prevented it , by sending david away ▪ he saw the people would repent , when they should see war , and return into egypt , and therefore led them about by another way . these were things that should come to pass in case only , if they had not been prevented , and yet god knew them absolutely and certainly . for an hypothetical may be true in the connection and consequence , though it be false in both the parts of it . saul came not down , nor was david delivered up to him ; yet this was true , that if saul had come down , the keilites would have delivered up david : and this god knew absolutely and infallibly . and as certainly doth god know , what wicked men will do , if he leave them to themselves , and what will be the end of them ; and cannot , by reason of his infinite understanding , he puzzled ( as we poor creatures are ) with conditionalities . now if he certainly knows the end of ungodly men , ( whatever his decree be ) the event must be according , or god is not infallible in his fore-knowledge . i would also be answer'd in this , viz. why men quarrel so much with the decrees of god , in the matters and concernments of their souls , and never make any question about them in other things ? why do they dress , and plow , and sow their land , and never question , what god hath decreed about the harvest ? for , i hope , all men will grant , that when they have us'd their utmost skill and endeavour in husbandry , they may yet carry out much , and bring in little , and perhaps nothing . else , why do they say their prayers , and begg of god their daily bread ? i take it for granted also , if they pray at all , they pray for grace to do gods will , and to keep that way , wherein they may have eternal life . and do not they in these prayers acknowledge , that whatever their endeavours are , the end and event of all is from god only ? now here is somewhat which i cannot sufficiently wonder at , viz. that men will neglect no means , likely to effect their ends , in and about civil and worldly affairs ; and yet in the matters of their souls , will not be perswaded to use the means which god hath appointed , pretending they know not , what god hath decreed . no man saith , let my land lie fallow as it is , i 'le not be at the trouble or charge to plow or sow : if god have so decreed , i shall have a good harvest however . or if any man should so argue , and make no improvement of his estate , but come to beggery , his neighbour-good husbands will not be much puzzled , to give a reason of it . they will say presently , he might have maintain'd himself as well as they , if he would have been a good husband . for they find by experience , that by their pains in manuring their land , they have enough to live upon ; and whiles they do what belongs to them , and leave the issue to god , he is not wanting to them , in his blessing upon their endeavours . i need not apply this to the present case , whoever reads , may do it . i shall therefore proceed to tell thee , whoever thou art that repliest , or disputest so much in this case , that gods decree ( whatever it be ) never excludes , but alwayes implies the use of means on our part , for obtaining our desired ends . thou knowest not the number of thy dayes , and yet wilt not forbear thy daily bread , and say , i shall live so long as god hath determined : nor wilt thou , for that reason , stabb thy self at the heart . why wilt thou be so perverse , as to argue so unreasonably about thy soul , and salvation , when thou never dost so about any thing else , that concerns thee never so little . but 't is no hard matter to know the reason ; and these men might easily see it , if they had but a mind to it . they are wedded ( as we say ) to their wills , and resolv'd to serve their lusts : and being thus resolv'd , they are asham'd to own so base a design ; and therefore set their wits on work , to find out somewhat , that may serve to set a fair gloss upon their unworthy and base practices . and this will one day be found to be so indeed , however they state the question now . they love their 〈◊〉 and will not leave them , though they lose 〈◊〉 souls : but they would not have others think so of them ; nor can they abide to reason it alone , with their consciences in cool blood . hence they consider , how they may lay the blame some-where beside themselves ; and rather than fail , let god himself bear it , though of all others he least deserves it . this , and nothing else , causes all the adoe , that 's made in the world about gods decrees . but learn in time , o vain men , whoever you are , that so quarrel : for god will easily wipe off all these aspersions , and needs not for your sakes , to lay aside his infinite excellencies . what! must god have no certain fore-knowledge of things future , nor any disposing hand or counsel over and about his creatures , but presently they must rise up , and say , he hath determin'd them by an infallible decree , ( no less in effect , than to say ) he hath enforc'd them against their wills , to do wickedly , and to damn themselves for ever ? i tell thee , in gods name , whoever thou art , whatever god hath decreed , ( for that i determine not ) life and death are before thee , and thou art free to chuse which thou wilt . he doth indeed order and over-rule thee ▪ in all thou dost : how else should he be , what he is ? but he doth not compel , or enforce thee to any thing ; but leaves thee to act , as a reasonable creature , according to thine own choice ; as i shall hereafter shew in my answers to the third grand objection . what hath been said in answer to this first , may suffice , i hope , to satisfie such as have indeed a mind to save their souls . for such as will not leave tampering with gods decrees , in hope to find some colour for their impenitency , and obstinacy in sin , i shall leave them to try it out with god , when he shall come to judge the world , in assured confidence he will then plead his own cause , as they shall have nothing to answer . the second great objection against my conclusion , may be thus formed . obj. 2. if christ died not for all , and every man , ( as many say ) then god hath not sufficiently provided for all mens salvation : but christ died not for all , &c. ergo , &c. the force and strength of this argument lieth on this , that our salvation depends upon christs satisfaction for us . hence it follows , that if christ , by his death , have not satisfied for a great many , they are left to perish , for want of that provision ▪ and so they are not to be blam'd , though they die in their sins . sol. the dispute , that hath been , and still is , about the extent of christs death , i shall not meddle with , so as to determine any thing one way , or other , because i hope to do my work , without engaging my self so farr . for gods intent and counsel in delivering his son to death , and christs intention in undergoing death , they are to me , and ( i suppose ) to others also , hidden , so as we cannot say , for these christ died , and not for those . it belongs to gods will of purpose , whatever it be , and therefore we cannot resolve any thing about it . for gods will of precept , we know what it is , viz. he that believeth , shall be saved ; and he that believeth not , shall be damned , marc. 16.16 . this is the gospel , which christ before his ascension charg'd his apostles to preach , and i know of no other , god so loved the world , that he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believeth on him should not perish , but have everlasting life , joan. 3.16 . this gospel i believe with all my heart , because i never find in scripture , that men are condemn'd , because no price was paid for them , but only for unbelief . heb. 3.19 . so we see , they could not enter in , because of unbeleef . an evil heart of unbelief , is all they are warn'd to beware of , v. 12. vid. also heb. 10. fin . with many places besides in the new testament , which i need not cite . hence i am bold to resolve , that no man lieth under a necessity of perishing in his sin , who lives and dies not in unbelief : or thus , that christ died , and satisfied so farr , as whosoever believeth , shall he saved ; and that men shall be damn'd , only upon the account of unbelief . for this ( i say again ) is the gospel we are bound to preach ; and this is the gospel , according to which god will judge the world. in that day , the question will not be , whether we were of the number , for whom christ died ; we shall be question'd only , why we did not believe in christ , offer'd to us in the gospel . quest. but here it will be ask'd by some ▪ whether they , who never had the gospel preached to them , as we , and many others have had it , shall be condemn'd for not believing on christ , whom they never heard of ? sol. 1. i dare not say ( as some ) that if they had improv'd their natural knowledge of god to the utmost , they might have been sav'd by the kindness and mercy of god , without the knowledge of christ the mediator , because the scripture saith , there is no other name given under heaven , &c. act. 4.12 . 2. whatever the account be , upon which they perish , the apostle hath resolv'd in terms , ro. 1.20 . that they are inexcusable . 3. i am not able to apprehend , how gods works of creation , as sun , moon , and stars , &c. did preach christ to them . 4. i shall only offer somewhat , wherein i dare not be peremptory , but shall leave it to the consideration of such as are judicious , viz. that the heathen of old , who had not the law of god , as israel had ; yet heard the report and fame of the god of israel , and thereupon ought to have enquir'd after him , the only living and true god , who alone is to be praised , and served in such wayes , as he himself hath appointed . and the rather , because by their natural light , they might have discover'd , that what they worshipp'd , could not be god , and that the true god cannot be worshipp'd by mens hands , act. 17.25 . that which first enclined and encouraged me to this conceit ( as most may count it ) was , what the apostle hath said of rahab , heb. 11.31 . by faith the harlot rahab perished not , with them that believed not , &c. here are two things , which i desire may be observed concerning her . 1. her faith , which was no less than a justifying , saving faith ; else her name had not been enroll'd amongst those worthies , that are there recorded . and iac. 2.25 . she is said , to be justified , in the same manner as abraham was . 2. that she came by he● faith , only by the report she heard of the god of israel , as she professeth ; iosh. 2.11 . th● lord your god , he is god in heaven above , an● in earth beneath . and v. 9 , 10. she professeth , she had heard , what god had done for israel , such as no other god could do ; and for this cause she desired to joyn her self to the people of the god of abraham , and to have her lot with them . and so doing , she perished not with those that believed not . who were they ? questionless her neighbours , the men of iericho , and all the am●rites ( except the gibeonites ) who , notwithstanding they heard the same things reported , resolved to fight it out against god , and his people israel . and did not the gibeonites the same ? iosh. 9.24 . for they so answered for themselves , when ioshua questioned them : it was certainly told thy servants , how that the lord thy god commanded his servant moses to give you all the land , and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you ; therefore we were afraid of our lives , because of you , and have done this thing . what they did , the rest of the canaanites should have done , and have been content to be hewers of wood , &c. that so they might serve and worship the living and true god. sure , the rest of the inhabitants of cana●n heard and knew as much as the gibeonites did ; but they hardned their hearts , and so perished in ●heir unbelief . we read also of the kenites , who were the children of hobab , the father in law of moses , who chose to joyn themselves to the israelites ; and why might not others have done ●he like ? and may not the queen of sheba be ●n instance to the same purpose ? read the sto●y , 1 reg. 10. and mat. 12.42 . and why should not the syrians all believe , as well as naaman , 2 reg. 5. seeing they knew as well as he , the miracle which the god of israel had wrought upon him ? questionless , that and other miracles were done to convince the heathen . once this is clear and certain , that the iews were a people hated of all other nations , and that upon this account only , because their laws were different from all people , ester 3.8 . how should they be otherwise ? for they were the laws of iehovah , the living and true god , condemning all the ●dolatries , and superstitious vanities of the heathen . but the heathen should not therefore have hated the israelites , as they did ; but rather have cast away their abominations , and sought , and served the god of israel , as he had commanded . questionless the spite of all other nations against israel , was the old hatred , that is in all men by nature , against god , and all that is of god. it might be said of the israelites then , as some of them said of the christians afterward : they were a sect ( or sort of people ) every where spoken against . now 〈◊〉 could never have been so , but that the gentiles had heard of the israelites way of worshipping the lord iehovah , and yet hated them upon that account . and do not all nations , at this day , hear the report of our lord jesus christ ? do not turks and tartars know the god of the christians , and blaspheme him ? so do infidel iews , and all the pagans at this day in asia , africa and america ; and yet they enquire not after him , care not to own , or serve him ; but still worship the works of their own hands , yea , ( to speak with scripture ) devils . may we not therefore say , have they not heard ? yes verily the sound of christ , and the gospel , is gone out into all the earth . quest. if any shall yet quarrel gods dispensations towards the gentiles , both of old , and now adayes , because the light of gospel-truth is not alike imparted to all , by an equal proportion of means ; for that end , sol. i shall ask them , whether god may not take the same liberty , that men do many times , and yet are no way questioned for it ? must he be tied up , and bound to terms , such as we our selves would not ? may not he take , and use his liberty , in the dispensing of his own gifts , specially when he leaves none without witness ? i wish men would read and meditate on mat. 20.15 . where you may see , how ill the lord takes it , to be questioned and quarrelled in that inequality , which seems to be so to us . what if god see , that if they had more light and means than we , and some others have , that they would rebel the more , as we , and many others do ? is it not enough , to make them inexcusable , that they hear , where life and salvation is to be had ? sure , they cannot say truly , they have not heard . they hear ( for ought i know ) as much as rahab did ; and they must say , if they speak truth , we have heard of jesus christ , but we did not like him , to believe in him , as the christians do . and may they not then be said to perish , as the men of iericho , heb. 11.31 . who believed not ? they should have given credit to those common and confessed reports of god , and his wonderful works for his people : but they despised them , as light news ; and refused to be at the pains of any further enquiry after god. and for this they are charged with unbelief , as rahab , on the contrary , is commended for her faith. and do not the turks and heathen now the same , or the like ? i have yet one thing more to offer , viz. that the gentiles of old , who were a people farr off , had wilfully separated themselves from noah's and shem's families , in which the worship of god was preserved , and kept pure for a while : and so did others , before the flood , separate themselves ▪ and therefore in their idolatries ( unto which they were given up ) received the recompence of their errour , that was meet ; god most righteously punishing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children in after-ages , by leaving them without the means of grace and knowledge , which some others had . and yet ( as you heard before , he left not himself without sufficient witness against them . but the chief design of this discourse being 〈◊〉 shew , how inexcusable they are , who have th● light of gospel-truth , but do nor walk in it ; shall proceed to enquire into the case of these that turn the grace of our lord jesus christ into wantonness , some way or other receiving it i● vain . for these ( i say again ) do not perish for want of a remedy , but only for not applying it . for proof hereof , i appeal to ioan 3.16 ▪ god so loved the world , that he gave his only be●gotten son , that whosoever believeth on him , shoul● not perish . here 's enough said , to shew , tha● god is not wanting to men , but that they ar● wanting to themselves . there 's provision made such , and so much ▪ as none can perish , 〈◊〉 they who refuse to make use of it . whosoeve● believeth on him , shall have everlasting lif● ▪ what can be said or done more on gods part ▪ what constructions are made of this scripture b● many , i shall not mention , but shall give th● sense of calvin upon it . the love of go● here testified ( saith he ) respects humanugenus , mankind ; and a note of universality 〈◊〉 added , to invite all promiscuously to the par●taking of this life , and to cut off all excus● ( observe that ▪ from such as believe not . fo● this purpose ( saith he ) the word [ world ▪ is used , to shew , that though there be nothing in the world worthy of gods love and favour● yet to shew himself gracious to the whole world , he calls all without exception to the faith of christ. indeed he saith too , that life eternal is offer'd unto all , so as notwithstanding faith is not of all . and in this he confesseth , the special grace of god to some particular persons . let it also be considered , that the word [ world ] cannot rationally be taken in any other sense . for in the next verse , it is meant of the world , whereof some are saved , and some perish , ( as reverend davenant observes ) and that they who perish , perish only because they believe not on the son of god. i shall not debate , what advantage the coming of christ into the world brought to such , as make no use , reap no benefit by it . certainly it states the question beyond all dispute , that as faith only saves , so unbelief only condemns , which is all i have to prove . for there 's not the least hint of any defect on gods part , but all the fault is said on man alone , in not believing on the son of god sent into the world , not to condemn , but to save it . and here let calvin speak what he thought in this case : certum quidem è , non omnes ex christi morte fructum percipere : sed hoc ideo fit , quia eos impedit sua incredulitas . in ep. ad heb. cap. 9. v. 27. 't is only by infidelity , that all are not partakers of the benefits of christs death . let me now argue a little further , why do we perswade all men , without exception , to believe on christ , with a promise of salvation by him , if they believe ? is it reasonable to do so , if we are not perswaded , there is sucfficient provision made , so as nothing is wanting , if there be faith to receive it ? as i take it , we should not perswade men to believe on christ , by telling them , if they believe , then christ died for them : rather , as i suppose , we may safely tel● them , that christ died for them , and thereupon perswade them , to believe on him . we are bound to believe , that the thing is true , before we can believe our share in it . the object is in order of nature , before the action . my belie● makes not a thing true ; but it is true in it self ▪ and therefore i believe it . and this is the method of scripture ▪ as farr as i know . the feas● was first prepared , and then the guests were invited : all things are ready , come unto the marriage , mat. 22.4 . the iews , who are the guests there invited , refus'd to come : but were they not cast utterly off , and put into that condition , wherein they abide unto this day , upon this account , that the son of god came to his own , and his own received him not ? how could they refuse , if there were no provision made for them ? or justly perish only for refusing ? i am very willing to believe , that christ was offer'd for me , before he was offer'd to me ; and that , if i dye in my sins , it is only for my not receiving christ offered to me . sure i am , that scripture never layeth the death of sinners , upon the want of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or price of redemption ; but alwayes upon unbelief , disobedience , neglect of , and setting light by christ , and the things of christ. and this is enough to ser●e my turn ▪ that scripture never hints any impediment to mens salvation , more than an evil heart of unbelief . for the intention of god , and christ , what is that to me , or any man else , seeing it is secret ? the revealed things belong to us ; and we shall ( for certain ) be question'd one day only , why we did not accept of christ , when he was tendred to us ? it will not then excuse us , to say , we could not tell , whether we were of those , whom christ intended to save . once we have the command of god , to believe on the son of god ; and we have a sure promise , if we believe , to be saved . and this , and nothing else , will be the condemnation of the world , viz. that they disobeyed gods command , and believed not his promise . thus all gods messengers have a warrant to invite all men to believe . but not to invite the devil , though they had an opportunity to speak with him , as any man may speak to another : yea , i am bold to think , it would be any mans sin , to promise salvation to the devil , upon his believing in christ. it were indeed a belying the lord , and saying , he saith , what he hath not said . and it were a deceiving the devil , in telling him , that which is not so . for the consequence of this hypothetical [ if thou believest on the son of god , thou shalt be saved ] is true , as to any man , without exception : but as to the devil , it is ( for ought i know ) false in the connexion , as well as in the parts of it ; because he is none of those , to whom god hath promis'd salvation , upon condition of believing on christ , ioan. 3.16 . for the command of god to believe , and his promise of life upon believing , is all the ground-work upon which our faith is built ; and this foundation the devil hath not , for his warrant and encouragement to believe on the son of god. for the son of god took not on him , or took not hold on , or helped not the angels , heb. 2.16 . but the seed of abraham . where [ abrahams seed ] notes not the iews only ( as all will grant ) but the gentiles also ; and that expression is us'd , to shew , that christ was the same , that was promis'd to the fathers ; and sets out the benefit of redemption , as belonging to mankind , but not ( if i may so speak ) to devil-kind . beside , it is not the devils sin , not to believe on christ , or not to receive him : he hath sins enough besides , both for number and nature ; and questionless is a greater sinner , than any man can be ; having sinn'd himself out of the greatest happiness ( and that in actual possession ) that a creature is capable of , and sinn'd against that light , which no man on earth can attain unto . but unbelief is not his sin , because there is no command obliging , nor any promise inviting him to believe on christ. but unbelief is the sin of men , yea it is in a manner all sin , as it seals upon a man his other sins , and causeth the wrath of god to abide upon him , ioan. 3. fin . yea , it is the great aggravation of all sins in this respect , that they might have been all pardon'd , on such easie terms , as believing in the lord iesus christ. we may now bespeak sinners , as naamans servants bespake him : if the prophet had commanded thee some great matter , wouldst thou not have done it , &c. so , if god had requir'd some great matter of us , for our salvation , should we not willingly have done it ? but 't is a very easie thing , that he requireth us to do . the word is nigh us , as the apostle shews , ro. 10.8 . we have nothing to do , or suffer , for ●he appeasing of gods wrath , or for the satisfy●ng of his justice , or for purchasing the heavenly ●nheritance . the son of god , in our flesh , hath ●one and suffered all ; and we have nothing to ●o , but to receive him , as he is freely tendred ●nd offer'd to us . the feast is prepared , without any cost or care of ours ; and we are call'd ●o partake of it , with a sure promise of welcome . all this while i forget not , what a contro●ersie there is among the learned , about the extent of christs death , but i dare not touch with it ; and the rather , because it no way concerns me , in the main design of this discourse . ● have no controversie , but with the frowardness and wilfullness of sinners , who are willing to make god the author , both of their sin , and condemnation ; and pretend , that if all men would believe on the lord jesus christ , as they are requir'd , they should not however be saved . these are the men i now deal with , and these i desire to try , ( whatever is controverted amongst the more learned ) whether this be not a truth , viz. that christ hath satisfied so farr , as they shall be saved , if they believe : and to these i say , if they dye in their sins , it is not upon the account of christs not dying for them , but only for their not-believing on him . and for this i appeal to the whole tenour of scripture , and in particular to ioan. 3.16 . where the gift of christ is common , but the efficacy of it limited to believing . and good cause why , since christ dyed for none , to save them whether they believe , or not . 't is neither my design , nor desire , to disput● with any , but with unreasonable and wicke● men . and therefore i shall take no notice , 〈◊〉 what is commonly said , viz. that christ dye in the stead , and sustain'd the persons of all , un●to whom the benefit of his death was intende● ▪ only i say , if a summ be paid , sufficient to re●deem so many poor captives , provided the● shall all their dayes serve him that is their r●●deemer ; are they not all redeem'd , thoug● some should refuse the condition , and chuse 〈◊〉 be slaves still ? however , this i affirm , th●● the extent of christs death is such , and so gre●● as i never read , or heard of any one , that p●●rished in his sin , because christ had paid 〈◊〉 price for his redemption . for the tenour of 〈◊〉 gospel , i gave it before , and i have 〈◊〉 learnt any other , than , that he that believe●● shall be saved ; and he that believeth not , shall 〈◊〉 damned . let others dispute , for whom chr●●● dyed , ( i cannot hinder them ) i am sure chr●●● never suffered or satisfied for any , so as th●● shall have the saving benefits of his death , wi●●●out laying hold on him by a lively faith. an● i shall be as sure , on the other side , that wh●●●ever shall believe on the lord jesus , with all 〈◊〉 heart , he shall be saved by him . and this i tak● to be sound doctrine , that may be safely preach●ed to all , and every one , without exception viz. thou , o man , whoever thou art , chri●● dyed for thee ; and if thou believe on him , wit● all thine heart , as god hath commanded thee thou shalt be saved . in this we preach the tenour of the gospel , as you have it before ; and he that thus preacheth christ , will give little encouragement to sinners , except to repent , and turn to god ; and so all sinners should by all means be encouraged . but here is no encouragement to impenitency , or unbelief , because there 's no promise of any benefit by christs death , but only to true believers , and penitents . this then i resolve , that if i , or any other , dye in our sins , it is only , because we believe not on the son of god. for of a truth , i know not how to clear and justifie god , ( as i desire to do ) if any thing done , or not done on his part , be it , that shuts us out from having eternal life . i am ( i confess ) altogether for this , that a wicked , proud , filthy , evil heart of unbelief , and nothing else , stands in the way of mens salvation ; and if that be once taken away , there will be no other hinderance . i have such thoughts of god , as i cannot think , but he hath done his part , so as nothing will be wanting , if we are but heartily willing to do ours . i could indeed say ( what is sufficient in this case ) that no man knows , or can know , ( supposing christs death to be so confin'd , as some will have it ) whether he be one of those , for whom christ dyed not . and therefore , if it were an adventure , a man had better run the hazard , than do worse , by wilfull shipwracking himself , through final impenitency and unbelief . as a man ( one would think ) should not refuse to cast the dice for his life , though he knew for certain , that some or other must dye ; and he cannot be sure , that he shall not be one of them ▪ only ( i say still ) there 's no hazard in believi●● on christ , but in t●is i desire to be resolv'd , whethe● he that beileves not on christ offered in the go●●pel , doth not refuse a fair offer of somewha● that he might have had , if he had believed ? th●● is no position , but only a quaere . if it be an●swered , that unbelievers are damn'd for not obeying gods command , and for not-believin● his promise , i grant , it is so , and their con●demnation , upon that account , is most just ▪ only give me leave to think still , that such re●fuse , what they might have receiv'd , and so 〈◊〉 guilty , as they were , who made light of the i●●vitation , mat. 22.5 . and went their waye● ▪ they might have shar'd in the wedding feast , 〈◊〉 well as others , if they would have come . an● therefore i wish all , whom it may concern , t● be very wary , that poor ignorant souls , wh●● are too much bent , and set upon undoing themselves , may have no occasion given them of so doing . for what danger can there be , in saying indifferently , what scripture saith often in terminis , and so pressing all to believe on him ? herein they will remove a stumbling-block ▪ which otherwise many will set up , to cast themselves down . but there is no occasion of stumbling , unless they preach and teach , what they never learn'd from scripture , viz. that chris● gave himself a ransome for all , live as they list , and do as they please , their redemption is purchas'd , and they are sure to be saved however . this indeed would be false doctrine , with a witness , yea , and a vengeance too upon many . but no poor souls will ever complain of their ministers , for telling them the good news of christs dying for them , so long as they tell them withall , how the death of christ will be effectual to them , and not otherwise , viz. by a sound , and a working faith. for the question about absolute and conditional redemption , i am not wholly ignorant of it : but i still resolve to wave all controversies of that nature , and only reason the case with poor souls , that they may not cast themselves away in their perverse disputings , about they know not what ; and in their wilfull neglecting of that salvation , which they are sure to obtain , in a way of believing , and obeying god , and not otherwise . to these i say again , that which is the word of god , who cannot lye : let them repent of their unlawful deeds , deny all ungodliness , and worldly lusts , lead sober , and righteous , and godly lives ; and therein give a sure evidence and proof of their reall closing with , and accepting of christ by faith , that they shall be as certainly saved , as any that are now in heaven . for this is indeed gospel , and this is the word of grace , as they may easily read , if they will but open their bibles . but they may turn over their bibles long enough , or ever they find any text to this purpose , that christ dyed to save them , though they never believe . paul and silas told the jaylor , act. 16.31 . believe on the lord iesus christ , and thou shalt be saved . they never scrupled , whether he were one of them , for whom christ dyed ; but preached to him the gospel , as they had received it of the lord : and he doing , as he was commanded , had forthwith as much as he desired , or needed . before i close up this , i shall add one thing more . is there any man alive , of whom any other can , or dare say , this is one of them , for whom christ dyed not ? if there be not , then make no difference , where thou knowest none ; but be wise according to that which is written . this we may all safely resolve upon , we shall never suffer at gods hand , for our ignorance , or neglect of any thing , that god hath not revealed in his word . the things that are revealed , belong unto us , &c. these we are to believe , and obey , and so live . and if there be any man excepted in the act of pardon , except unbelievers , and that only for their unbelief , it is more than i ever read of , or could learn by reading the bible . the third great objection answered . obj. 3. what is all this that you have said , of christs dying for us , in case we believe , so long as we have no power of our selves to believe , or do any thing , towards the working out of our salvation ? alas ! we would fain relieve our selves , and rise out of the misery we lye under : but we are insufficient of our selves to do any thing ; and thus we have been alwayes taught by our ministers . now it being thus with us , whose fault is it , if we perish , and die in our sins ? sol. let the fault lye where it will , i hope to make it certain and clear , that it lyeth not on gods part ; yea more , that it lyeth only on our part . 1. if i say , there is no inability in sinful men , but what they have brought upon themselves , i suppose , much is said , for the clearing of god in this case : and this is most certainly true , but i shall not insist upon it , because there is much more to be said , and more to our purpose . 2. i say , in answer to this grand objection , that there is no inability in man to repent , and believe in christ , and to bring forth good fruits , such as become repentance and faith , which he might not put off , if he himself would . and if this be made good , i suppose , the objection from mans inability , will have little force in it . that man hath brought himself into a miserable incapacity , there is no question ; and that the devil helps to keep him under it , is as unquestionable : but that man may put it off , if he will , may seem at first to be strange , however i hope anon to prove it true . for the insufficiency and inability of a natural man to all , or any spiritual good , i am ( i hope ) as much as any man else , can justly and reasonably be , and i hope to shew my perswasion in this sufficiently , by what i have to say . only i am impatient to hear some discourse ( as sometimes they do ) of mans inability by nature , as if it were a natural and necessary , more than a sinful infirmity . to prevent all mispr●●ion of me in this point i profess my unfeigned faith in these particular● viz. that no man can come to christ , except th● father draw him , joan. 6.44 . that chri●● dyed for us , when we were weak , ro. 5.6 . s● weak , as if he had not lifted us up by his power we should never have risen again . i know an● acknowledge , that the carnal mind is enmity 〈◊〉 the law of god , and cannot be subject , till go● circumcise the heart , and take away the stone 〈◊〉 of it . i willingly grant , that god works in 〈◊〉 both to will , and to do , philip. 2.13 . that 〈◊〉 begins , continues , increases , and accomplishe● the work of his grace in all his people . no● have i any quarrel against any , that cry dow● the ability of man by nature ; for i am fully 〈◊〉 wholly with them , if they will say ( as i ) th●● mans weakness is also his wickedness : as 〈◊〉 law also determines , that there is infirmitas , 〈◊〉 well as necessitas culpabilis . here it will be said , that every one saith 〈◊〉 much . and i take it for a satisfying answer , 〈◊〉 as we shall not further quarrel about it . all tha● i aim at , is this , that they that understan● would express themselves in this , so as vain an● foolish men may not please themselves , in a mis●conceit of their natural infirmity and weakness , 〈◊〉 if it were not their wickedness , and they we●● to be pittied only , but not blam'd for it , or ( a●●most ) not very much . for thus , or to th● purpose , many will discourse upon occasion ▪ that as farr as god shall give them grace , and wherewithall , they are not , and they will not be wanting in their endeavours , to do the best they can . they are by nature , and of themselves , able to do little , or nothing , that good is ; and wish it were otherwise , but how can they help it ? they have a good heart and will ; but they want strength to do what they desire . and what is this , but a favouring themselves , with a kind of reflection upon god , as if he were wanting in somewhat ; and that they might do better , if he had done his part ? besides , i am not ignorant , what an argument is urg'd by some , upon this ground of pleading mans natural inability , and what ado there is to answer it ; when ( i think ) one word would be enough to choak it , as i hope to shew anon . now , for the satisfaction of all these , i grant , there is a lamentable inability in every man by nature ; but this i contend for , that man hath a liberty also , which he shews abundantly , upon all occasions ; and never more , than in his sin , and his resisting god , in all the saving methods used for bringing him to repentance . whatever inability he hath , ( and let him make as much as he can of it ) he hath a liberty too , so much , as he doth most freely chuse all the ungodly wayes , wherein he walks . and this i intend to discourse a while , in answer to the third objection . to say , that a man by nature hath free-will , may seem strange to some ; but it is true however ; and no disparagement at all to the free grace of god , but serves to make all flesh inexcusable before gods judgement seat . to clear this , we must distinguish , as zanchy , and others do , between the nature , and the power of mans free-will . and to this purpose speaks zanchy , in tractat. de lib. arbit . cap. 6. if we respect the nature of free-will in man , it is alwayes free : but if we consider the power of it , it is a servant to sin , and can of it self do nothing but sin . and to this purpose he cites august . tom. 3. in euchirid . ad laurent . cap. 30. man using his free-will amiss , or abusing it , lost both himself , and it . and therefore learned men teach , † that mans will is rather a slave than free . yet the same men , with one consent , write , that the will of every man , whether good or evil , is alwayes free ; so as whatever he wills , whether good or evil , he wills it freely , and without force . and then again he cites august . tom. 7. contra iul. pelag. lib. 1. cap. 2. * free-will is so farr from being lost in a sinner , as by it all do sin , specially such as sin with delight , &c. and then he prosecutes this thesis , † that man after his fall , though he became a servant of sin , hath not lost all his liberty , but still retains that which is natural . and this is nothing else , than what the greek fathers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which imports a man to be sui juris * , as every man is to the elicite acts of his will , wherein he cannot be forc'd , absolute freedome of will is properly in god , who can neither be compell'd , nor yet order'd , or over-wrought by any other : but we give it to man , so farr , as he is free from all force and compulsion . so any man uses his free-will , as often , as according to the judgement of his own reason , he chuses that which seems best to him ; not forc'd by any principle without , but freely inclin'd by a principle within him . this then is the worst of my meaning , that a sinner is a reasonable creature , and follows the determination of his own reason and judgement , in what he doth . and if man have not this liberty , i know not how he can be a sinner . he hath indeed no good will to what is of god , but the best part of him is enmity against it , ro. 8.7 . yet he retains his liberum arbitrium , though he hath lost facultatem ad bonum . the imaginations of mans heart , since the fall , are only and continually evil * . he hates the good , and loves the evil , but both freely . † we have not lost our free-will , but our good-will . indeed we have too much free-will , unless we could use it better ; and this will be our condemnation , that we so willingly and wilfully refused the good , and chose the evil . * we cannot now will that which is our only good , but we freely and willingly refuse it . man alone hath cast himself down : but he cannot alone raise himself up again . it is god that worketh in us , to will , and to do , philip. 2.13 . and in this we are his workmanship , eph. 2.10 . therefore one hath resolv'd in this case ( to my thinking ) as well as can be : take away grace , and there 's nothing to save : take away free-will , there 's nothing to be sav'd . god gives all grace to all ; but he gives not grace to any , but reasonable creatures . and when he gives that grace , which effectually changeth the heart , he no way infringeth mans liberty . for though it be granted , that god working the will to determine it self , it must determine accordingly ; yet gods working takes not from mans will the power of dissenting , and doing the contrary ; but so inclineth it , as having liberty to do otherwise , yet it actually determineth one way , and not another . so mans free-will is still preserv'd , since without it , i know not , how he can do any thing commendable , or blameable . for what any man is enforc'd unto , is not his good , or evil . paul saith indeed , that he compell'd some to blaspheme , act. 26.11 . which cannot be understood otherwise , than that he used all rigour and extremity to draw and drive them to it . but they were not purely compell'd ; if so , the sin had been his , and not theirs . but they chose to blaspheme , rather than suffer ; and this was their sin , which they would have avoided , had they been sound in the faith , as those worthies mentioned heb. 11. though perhaps paul speaks more his own endeavour , than the event or effect of it upon others . here by the way observe , what a great de●●sion there is in the world , in and about this ●articular , viz. if men be strongly tempted to 〈◊〉 , by any sore penalty threatned , and ready to 〈◊〉 inflicted , they presently call it a [ force ] ●nd perswade themselves , the sin is only theirs , ●ho compell'd them to it . this is a delusion , ●or no man can be forc'd to sin , though he may ●e strongly tempted more wayes than one . for ●o farr as a man is forced , he doth not sin . the force of temptation may make a man do , what else he would not : as a storm causes the mariners sometimes to cast their lading over●oard . but the casuists resolve all mixt actions of this kind , to be more free , than otherwise . men would not indeed do such things , if there were not some weighty consideration moving them ; yet they are not compell'd , for they might do otherwise . a man may be purely forc'd to do somewhat , that he would not ; but his will cannot be forc'd without destroying the nature of it . as farr as a man wills or nills any thing , he wills or nills it freely , though the will hath ( as most think ) necessary dependance in its elicite acts , upon the understanding . obj. but though the will be thus free , yet there is an unavoidable necessity on every man , in his natural estate , so as he cannot but sin in all he doth : for a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit , luc. 6.43 . a man by nature is dead in trespasses and sins , eph. 2.1 . can a dead man raise himself to life again ? can the aethiopian change his skin , or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good , who are ac●customed to do evil , jer. 13.23 . sol. for what is urg'd from scripture , i a● farr from gainsaying it , because it contradict● not me , in saying , that every man sins willingl● and wilfully . a man by nature is dead in 〈◊〉 and say , the spiritually dead can no more rai●● themselves to life , than they who are naturall● and corporally dead ; yet know , there is a vast● difference between the one , and the other . h● that is spiritually dead , hath a will : but the n●●turally dead , hath none at all . the spirituall● dead , shews a wicked will , in resisting th● means used for his recovery ; whereas he that naturally dead , cannot be said to be unwilling 〈◊〉 rise again . a man in his sin , is as a sick ma●● yet the sick in body , and the sick in soul , are no● in all alike ▪ a man sick in body , would with 〈◊〉 his heart rise , if he could ; and keeps his 〈◊〉 only , because he is forc'd to it , and cannot sit up ▪ a soul-sick man , let him be , as you will hav● him , i am sure , is as unwilling , as he is unabl● to rise . he is indeed like the sluggard , tha● will not rise , because of cold , finding his be● warm and easie . so is a sinner , in his sinfu● condition , he loves and likes it , and is loth t● change . nay , he will quarrel any one , tha● goes about to rouze or raise him ; he will not en●dure any rebukes for sin , but loves it , so as t● hate any , that would divorce him from it . not is he as a block , or a beast : he sees what is good ▪ as god hath shewed it him , and he abhorrs it ▪ and chuses to abide in the condition wherein he is , as best for him . and thus scripture speaks of mans weakness , as his wickedness , and his infirmity is his iniquity too . take him as he is , and you will find him thus : he cannot will that whith is good , because he will not : his [ can ] and his [ will ] being all one . such is his natural bent to evil , that he voluntarily chuseth it , and refuseth the good . and now let any man judge , whether such an inability can be any excuse for sin , it being at most but a moral impotency ( as we call it ) and not a natural . hence ( methinks ) i cannot make good sense of what some are wont to say , that they would repent , if they could . i suppose , it would be more sense , to say , they would repent , if they would . for certain , if a man be heartily willing to repent , there is nothing left to hinder his repentance . a serious and instant will to repent and believe , includes in it the hatred of sin , and a purpose of not sinning . he that truly desires to repent , doth indeed repent , because he hates his own evil wayes . i grant it willingly , that no man can turn to god , without the grace of god ; but that is all one , as to say , no man will turn to god , without the grace of god. for there is nothing that hinders him , but his wicked , froward will. a man may have a charitable disposition , and be heartily willing to relieve others in their necessities , and yet may not , because he hath not wherewithall to do it . his heart may be large , when his estate is strait enough . and in this case , the will is accepted for the deed . for almes-deeds are imperate , outward acts , wherein the will cannot sway all ; and therefore it may be rationally said of such a man , he would with all his heart , if he could . but to repent and believe are elicite , inward , immediate acts of the will , and are not exercised by another power , as the imperate are . with the heart man believeth , and with the heart man repenteth . there is , i grant , an outward reformation of the life , which is a fruit of repentance ; but repentance is a root in the heart , and when a man is changed , so as to hate the evil , and love the good : or when ever a man of unwilling , is made willing , then he repents . and therefore it cannot be said with good sense , men would repent , if they could : there 's more sense , and truth too , in saying , men could repent , if they would . to say , i am willing to repent , but i cannot ; is all one , as to say , i am willing to repent , but i will not . i may be willing to work , or to walk ; but because i am sick and weak in body , i cannot . but if i am willing to repent and believe , the work is done : for these are the immediate acts of my will. obj. but some may object , that many gracious souls may heartily desire , what they cannot do ; and divines commonly resolve , that good desires are accepted with god , when there are failings in the performance . sol. i fully accord with all those divines in this , and say , that the best on earth are defective in doing what they desire : their desires are indeed beyond what they are able to do . they would pray with more fervency , and ardent affection ; they would hear with more attention and intention , than they do ; and this is their great burden , that they cannot do as they would . but it must be considered too , that they are defective in their desires also ; and then we may soon answer , what is here objected , viz. that as to the immediate acts of the will , they cannot what they would . for they would love god more than they do ; and it is their burden , that they love him no more : and blessed ( say i ) are all such poor souls , and i wish there were more of such in the world . for too many ( i fear ) think they love god well enough , and that in this , they are not wanting . but to answer the objection , consider , 1. that the fervency of the saints love to god , is much allayed by many things without them , such as are unavoidable to them , whiles they are in flesh . 2. all the defects of their love , and other spiritual affections , are from the imperfection of the work of grace ; their wills being not so throughly sanctified , but that there is flesh lusting against the spirit . hence , when the spirit is willing , the flesh is weak , so as they cannot do what they would . they cannot love god so , as they would love him . but this makes nothing against what i said before . for so farr as they are sanctified , they are willing ; but so farr as they are flesh , they are not so . the spirit makes them willing , to what the flesh will not suffer them : and this is their burden , that they have so much of the body of death in and about them . but i say again , so farr as a mans heart is renewed , so farr he loves god ; and the imperfection of his love , is from the defects of his will , not throughly and perfectly sanctified and changed . but still i am to seek , and cannot imagine , how any man can be willing to love god , and not actually love him at all , as certainly they that are carnally minded , do not . a man may not love god , so much as he would , and i have given a reason why . but i cannot apprehend , how a man can be willing to love god , and not love him at all . and the case is all one in faith and repentance . a man by nature loves not christ , but loves his sin ; and this makes him distaste the terms , upon which christ is offered to him ; and he is unwilling to believe on him , because of the old hatred . this natural old enmity makes him unwilling to close with christ ; but if that were once cured , he would forthwith believe , to the saving of his soul. now if it be mans enmity ( as indeed it is ) that makes him unable , consider , i pray , how farr such an inability will excuse . i never heard , that any man was an enemy to another , against his will. there 's no vertue , or gift of god in us , without our wills ; and in every good act , gods grace , and mans will concurr . the voice of the corrupt will of man , is , i do that which is evil , and i will do it : i do not that which is good , and i will not do it . that which keeps men fast bound in the cords of their sins , is the frowardness of a wicked heart , wilfully chusing to walk on in their ungodly wayes , and refusing all means of reclaiming them . quest. but how shall that enmity and wilfullness be removed ? or is it their fault , that it abides upon them ? it hath been preach'd for sound doctrine , that a man can never repent . or believe , till god circumcise the heart , and take away the stony heart , and give a new heart , and a new spirit . sol. and i do allow of this doctrine with all my heart . but what then ? all this will not clear us , if we do not repent . for our sin is never the less sinful , because ( as i said before ) we love it , and will by no means part with it . i subscribe to what luther saith : impius lubenti voluntate malum facit , & haec est voluntas : verum hanc lubentiam faciendi malum , non potest omittere , aut coercere , & haec est necessitas . i know well , that the infirmity of a natural man is great upon him , and invincible to any thing , but almighty grace . but i know too , that a natural man loves his sin with all his heart , and resolves to serve his lusts , and will not be perswaded to renounce them . and for the wayes of god , he hates and scorns them , and will not walk in them ; yea , and doth what he can , to keep up the old hatred , resisting all the assaults , that are made upon him , for the subduing of him to the obedience of christs laws . what think you ? is not every wicked man free , in making all the opposition that he can , against the means of his conversion ? and now let any man ask himself , whose fault it is , that he is an enemy to god , and the wayes of godliness : or that he chuseth the wayes of death , when he is often and earnestly invited to walk in the way that leadeth unto life ? what kind of question is this ? i wonder men are not ashamed to ask , how the enmity of their hearts against god shall be removed ? they may answer themselves if they please , thus , that they love their lusts , and for their lusts sake they cannot abide gods laws . i ask them therefore in the name of god , and let them answer as they should , or ( i assure them ) they shall answer one day as they would not : why do not all you prophane , ungodly , debauched men , leave your wicked wayes ; and why are you so unwilling to leave them ? why do you slight , and set at naught , scorn and deride the wayes of god and godliness ? i hope you will blush to say , you are forc'd to do so , when your hearts know , you take pleasure in so doing . is it not your delight and pastime to do wickedly ? and are not the wayes of god , the things you abhorr , and cannot abide ? are you reasonable men , and can you say or think , you are necessitated and compell'd to take these vain and wicked courses , when your own hearts know , you love them , and chuse them , and will not be perswaded to the contrary ? hence i say further , that i cannot believe , god will damn any man , for doing that , which he was heartily unwilling to have done , but could not , or was not able to refrain . i believe also , that god will damn no man , for not doing the good , which he was heartily willing to have done , but could not . and i believe , all men shall be condemn'd for this , that they would not walk in gods wayes , and for that they would goe on in their own wayes . and if the whole tenour of scripture speak not this , i may be asham'd to understand it no better . and to say no more , i confess my self unable to conceive , the righteousness of god in his judgements , if he should pass sentence of death and condemnation upon any poor souls , that have been sincerely willing to do what he commanded , and only wanted strength and ability to do it . the natural man cannot know spiritual things : but 't is also said , they are foolishness to him , and he scorns them . as to what is alledged from ier. 13.23 . i answer , there is so great a dissimilitude , as the argument a simili will not hold , to prove what is pretended . the aethiopian , though he be never so willing , cannot change his skin . hence we say of a man that labours in vain , that he is washing a blackmore . and the leopards spots are of the same nature . but the wickedness of the wicked is not so . i am apt to think , many a blackmore would be made white , if he could : but no wicked man is willing to be made clean . i have heard indeed ( how true it is i know not ) that the blackest aethiopians with them , are the beauties , even as the fairest are with us . now if a blackmore might change his skin , and would not , i should think him to be a just and fit resemblance of ungodly sinners . for these aethiopians ( as i may call them ) are not willing to change their skins : such black souls will not be made white . nay , the blacker they are , the better they seem in their own eyes ; and the deeper they are dipt in that dye , the more they are pleas'd with their black hue . and let it be observ'd , what that text hath in terminis : how can ye that are accustomed , &c. or , ye that have learnt , and are instructed ? for the original hath in it the notion of teaching or learning . they had enur'd themselves to do evil . old sinners accustom'd to their wicked wayes , are as one that hath learnt what he cannot forget . and yet if a man learn any thing that 's bad and base , he is never the more commended , nor yet the less blam'd , because he cannot forget it . a custome in evil is farr worse , than the first single act of sin . and i have yet one consideration more , that will clear this matter beyond all exception , and it is this , that the more unable any man is to repent , the more hatefull he is in the sight of god. custome in sin , draws a crust upon conscience , hardens the heart , and makes a man more unable to repent . and will any man say , that such an obdurate sinner , is therefore the more excusable ? nay , he is the more abominable , even for that reason , in the sight of god and man. the more sick and weak in body any one is , the more he is pitied , because men know , he would be better if he could , and is glad to hear of any good means to recover him . but we cannot so pity sinners , that have an hard and impenitent heart ; but account them therefore the greater sinners , because they cannot repent . they cannot indeed , because they will not ; and their greater inability is nothing , but their greater obstinacy and malignity ; so as the best that can be made of it , is no more , than if a thief should plead for himself at the barr , that he hath been us'd to filching and stealing so long , as he cannot leave it . the same plea it is for any man to say , i have sinn'd so long , and am so much hardned , as i cannot repent . and though every sinner be not alike hardned in sin , yet every one hath the same inclination , which by frequent and continued exercise , will become a custome . for the difference of sinners is much in degrees ; and if the impotency of an old sinner be no plea , neither will the impotency of any . obj. if any yet say , it is no fault of ours , that we are so much inclin'd to evil , and so averse to god , and all that 's good , sol. i hope they will remember , that god made man righteous , or upright , eccl. 7. ult . and that we are now born in sin , is the corruption of our nature , for which we are beholden to our selves , as much as adam was to himself , for his first transgression , and falling from god. for we sinn'd as well as he , and then contracted the guilt and filth we now lye under , even before we are born . and so much the apostle aver●s plainly , ro. 5.12 . which if it be denied , all the apostles argument in that place , to prove the lord christ to be our righteousness , will be of little force , or rather none at all , as i conceive , with submission to better judgements . obj. if it be said , man had never fallen at first , if god had not left him to himself ? sol. i answer , that god did not first leave man , but man first left god ; and judge , if it were not so : for god gave him a power to stand , if he himself would : if he gave him not a will to use that power , is god to be faulted for that ? would you have god to make him unchangeable ? obj. but man might have stood unmoveable though he had not been made unchangeable , 〈◊〉 god had upheld him , as he did the elect an●gels . sol. no question , but god could , and migh● have upheld him ; but he was not pleased so t● do . and yet he is not to be charged with th● fall of man. for he gave him sufficient powe● and strength to stand , if he would , and was 〈◊〉 this enough ? if a father gives his son a stock 〈◊〉 money , or an estate , whereupon he may liv● comfortably , by his good management of it ; an● the son do ( as we read of one luc. 15. ) spen● and waste all , and come to beggery ; can an● man justly say , the father did not his part for h●● sons good ? what would men have of god ▪ or what they make of him ? god made man 〈◊〉 glorious creature , and gave him a reasonabl● soul , and liberty to chuse for himself , such as 〈◊〉 other earthly creature had . and when god had made him a reasonable creature , he dealt with , and by him , as became the nature and quality of such a creature . if god had divested man of his liberty , he had abas'd his nature below it self , and indeed made him to be no man , or reasonable creature . obj. but god might have preserv'd him in the estate , wherein he was first made , holy and righteous . sol. what will men make of god ? we read how ill god takes it , to be thought such a one as we are , psal. 50.21 . the men that argue thus , do much worse . for they would make god to be such , as they themselves would not be . they will not be tyed up to the wills of other men , ( though perhaps better than themselves ) in every transaction , or concernment of their own . they will say , why should we be bound to them ? these are our own concernments , and why should we give others an account of them ? may not we do with our own , as we will ? and no ma● questions such men for their doings , specially so long , as nothing is done , but what is comely and equall . but when the great and mighty god doth any thing like , and disposeth of his creatures with infinite wisdome , vain men will presently question , why doth he so ? let any man shew any the least unrighteousness in god , or that man could not have preserved himself , in that blessed estate , wherein god had set him , and then they say somewhat . but the contrary is most certain and true , viz. that man might , and should have been happy , if he had not wilfully cast himself away . and therefore , why doth a living man complain , a man for the punishment of his sin ? let us search and try our wayes , and turn again unto the lord , let us lift up our hearts , with our hands , unto god in the heavens . we have transgressed and rebelled , and thou hast not pardoned , lam. 3.39 , 40 , 41 , 42. nothing becomes us in our sinfull condition , so well as such a confession . do we believe , there is a god that made us , and dare we question his dealings , as if he punish'd us upon any account , but our transgressions ? surely god will not do wickedly , neither will the almighty pervert judgement , job 34.12 . and v. 11. you have an argument for it : the work of a man shall be render unto him , and cause every man to find according to his wayes . had man continued in his obedience , ; or being fallen , humbled himself , and then god had rejected him , there migh● have been suppos'd some occasion of complaining ▪ but it is quite otherwise : for god ran after man , when man had run away from him ; an● provided for his recovery , to a more blessed an● glorious estate , when he could think of nothing ▪ but a few figg leaves to cover his shame . an● god is still reaching out his merciful armes , to lay hold on him , inviting and wooing him , and never refuseth any soul , that turns to him ; and what would men have more ? obj. but if it be said , i cannot , in the case i am , turn my self ▪ sol. i say thou lyest in what thou sayest : for , to speak as it is , thou art not willing to turn unto the lord ; and this , and nothing else , will be thy condemnation in the great day of account * ▪ there is a price paid , and a purchase made , and thou art invited to come , and take possession of it . but thou hadst rather abide where thou art , and holdest thy sins as sweet-meats under thy tongue , and wilt not let them goe , though thou hast been often told , they will be the bane of thy soul. and how dar'st thou say , thou canst not turn thy self ; when god , and thine own heart , and the world too , know , thou art enamour'd on thy sin , and hast such a liking to it , ●s thou wilt by no means be perswaded to part with it ? wilt thou wilfully prosecute thy sinful designs and courses , and set thine heart upon ●hine iniquity , and say , thou canst not turn ●rom it ? for shame speak sense , and talk no more so absurdly . will a man be at cost and ●ains to serve and feed his lusts , and he not love ●hem ? and if thou love them , they have thy will ; and when thou art willing to part with ●hem ( i say ) heartily willing , the work of conversion is done . but whilst thou art not willing to part with thy lusts , say as it is , i will ●ot , i will not . say the truth , for so it is . thou hadst rather part with thy soul for ever , than part with the pleasures of sin for a season . thou delightest in thy own wayes , and art one of them that say unto god , depart from us , for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes . it is not with ungodly ones , as they pretend : for they chuse their own wayes , and when they eat the fruits of them , they are but filled with their own devices . they first sow iniquity , and then reap shame and misery . when they goe down to hell , they goe where they had a mind to be . they have been often and earnestly call'd upon , to pity and favour their poor souls , but they would not be perswaded . how many a sinner hath parted with his life for his lusts sake ? and all do so , as to their souls . if men would study scripture more , and search their own hearts more , than they do , they would soon answer their own arguments . let me now commend ●o them one place , viz. pro. 1. from v. 20. to the end of the chapter ; and let them consider what the wisdome of god judgeth , concerning the wicked wayes of men . and o! that me● would read , and weigh our saviours words ioan. 3.19 , 20. this is the condemnation , tha● light is come into the world , and men loved darkdess rather than light , because their deeds were evil . christ , and his word , and all his ordinances , are a light ; and wicked men , lik● thieves , cannot abide them , because they would not be discovered by them . this is th● judgement , that scripture passeth upon ungodly men ; and if they would pass the same , and s● judge and condemn themselves , they might fin● peace in approaching to god. but to argue an● whartle about the wayes of gods providence an● grace , as if they were not equal ; when god and their own hearts know , they are passionately in love with , yea and madd upon their idols ▪ i mean their lusts , and loose practices ; th● will turn to no good account one day , whateve● men count of now . they that are so apt t● quarrel god , should rather call themselves to an account ; and if they would be exact in this work ▪ we should have more complaints of themselves , that their own wayes are unequal , and all the wayes of god most equal , and just , and good . to shut up this , i shall only mention one text , pro. 8.36 . all that hate me , love death . they are the words that were spoken by the infinite and eternal wisdome of god ; who saith a● much in effect , ioan. 3.19 , 20. before cited ▪ wicked men love darkness , and death . they are not damn'd ( as they pretend ) to sin and hell against their wills ; but they love them , and chuse them , when they might forbear and avoid them . they love their sins , and therefore hate their souls : they love sin , and in so doing love death : they are willing to be damn'd , as willing ( for certain ) as a man that wittingly takes poyson , is willing to kill himself . obj. but some will say , that few are so willfull , till god hardens them , and makes them to erre from his wayes , esay 63.17 . sol. for gods making men to erre , &c. i think the learned annotator hath rightly observ'd , that the original notes only a permission , and therefore might be rendred , why dost thou suffer us to wander out of thy wayes ? for god tempteth no man to sin , jac. 1.13 , 14. but a man is led away by his own lust . and how did god harden pharaoh ? no other way , than by delivering him up , and leaving him to the hardness of his own obstinate heart , by gods forbearance and mercy , more and further obdurated , as is to be seen in the story . god doth thus harden others , and leave them to themselves ; and then it is sad with them , as it is with a child left to himself , pro. 29.15 . but when is it ? even when they give themselves up to serve their own desires , and resolve to walk after their lusts , hating to be reformed , and casting gods word behind them , as is to be seen , psa. 81.8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. this is cleared from psa. 95.8 . harden not your heart . on which place calvin : non ex alio fonte manare nostram adversus deum rebellionem , quam ex voluntaria improbitate dum illius gratiae aditum obstruimus . calv. i. e. our rebellion against god , flows from no other fountain , than our own perversness , whilst we shut up the passage to his grace , that it cannot enter . one thing more , that may be objected , must be answer'd , and 't is this : obj. that the special grace of god puts th● last difference between man and man ( as some say ) and that grace is not given to all . how then can it be said , that god hath sufficiently provided for all ? or how can he be clear'd , 〈◊〉 his condemning some , seeing these also woul● have repented , and closed with christ , if th● lord had perswaded , and over-power'd them by his effectual grace , as he did others ? sol. and yet god will clear himself ; and for this purpose consider , 1. that there is little more in this objection than in somewhat before , about the fall of our first parents . and as god was righteous in letting them fall , because they might have stood , 〈◊〉 they would : so god is righteous in his dealing● with men , notwithstanding he deny them tha● special grace , he gives to others , because they might be saved , if they would . when i say , men may be saved , if they will , my meaning is , that they are not saved , because they will not , and that their wilfullness is their condemnation . for if christ , and the word of grace revealing christ , and all the methods of conveying him to poor souls , and exhortations , and entreaties to accept of him , be enough , then god is not wanting on his part . for i may now ask all who complain , what is lacking to them more ? were there not an all-sufficient saviour , and sufficient means of knowing him to salvation , there might be perhaps some occasion of complaint . but it is farr otherwise ; and if men will make use of these means , as they are commanded and intreated to do , i am sure , they shall be saved , because the mouth of the lord hath spoken it . never did any man dye in his sins , that was heartily willing to receive christ offer'd to him , and to improve the means of grace allowed him for that end . and may i not then say , men may be saved , if they will ? they have enough to live upon for ever ; and when they play the unthrifts part , have they any cause to blame god , and say , he might have done more for them ? what should he have done more for them ? and what can they answer to this question , when their own hearts know , they never lik'd or lov'd christ , or any of his wayes ; but wilfully scorn'd and rejected all ? they lik'd and lov'd a saviour to deliver them from death and hell , after they had taken their full swinge in their own wayes , and sinn'd themselves out of breath , and could no longer serve their lusts . but they would not have christ to reign over them , so , as for his sake , and at his command , to deny themselves , and all ungodliness , and worldly lusts . they know , that the power of godliness was the thing their souls loathed , and they scorn'd it , as savouring of nothing but folly and fancy , calling it a precisian nicety . and when christ called them to suffer for his sake , ( who suffered so much to save their souls ) they would not part with a penny , or lose an hair of their head for him . i say then , in one word , look what hindred israel from seeing the good land which god had promised them , the same hinders these men from possessing the heavenly inheritance , heb. 3. ult . they could not enter in , because of unbelief ▪ and yet , as moses tells them , deut. 9.4 . the lord had not given them an heart to perceive , and eyes to see , and ears to hear . 2. how would men have god to save them ? would they be saved in such a way , as if a block should be lifted from the earth , and carried up to heaven ? this cannot be , without perverting the whole course of gods providence , in governing his reasonable creatures . for they being made after gods image , and acting by an inward principle of reason , must be governed in a way and manner suitable to their nature . god indeed draws men thitherward ; but i never read , he drives them against their wills , or without their privity , hos. 2.14 . i will allure her , &c. though conversion be not altogether suspended on the liberty of mans will , but god undertakes for it ; yet his way is sweet , and taking with sinners , who are allured , as one observes on the place . god by grace destroyes not nature , but rectifies and perfects it , whiles ( as austin saith ) omnipotenti facilitate ex nolentibus facit volentes . he bends and enclines mens hearts , as the rivers of wa●e● , pro. 21.1 . now water , that runs one way , may be turned , and made to run another way : but the water in its course , alwayes runs according to its natural inclination . certainly , the worst these men can say of god , is , that he would have turned them , and they would not be turned ; but they resisted him , in all his strivings with them . and then where lyes the fault ? let any reasonable man judge . 3. this argument ( as i said before ) aimes at making god to be not only such a one as our selves , but much lower . 4. god is just , as well as mercifull ; and his justice is as natural , and as essential to him , as his mercy . and if so , why ( i pray ) may not god glorifie himself in the one , as well as in the other ? if he may not , give some reason , why. but if god may glorifie his justice , as well as his grace , i ask , how god can glorifie it more , beyond all exception , otherwise than thus , viz. in destroying those who have had all means sufficient to save them , and willingly rejected all , because they did not like them ? 5. i have yet somewhat more to say , in answer to this objection ; and it is so much , as ( i hope ) may satisfie any , that are soberly minded . they who thus argue , might do well to consider , what that grace is , which ( they say ) is not given them . for that grace , where-ever it comes in its full power and efficacy , sets men at the greatest distance , yea and defiance with all their wonted sinful wayes . now here may be a great mistake ; and these men may seem to desire , they themselves know not what . i believe , they would fain have the grace of god , to preserve them from suffering hell-torments , when they are going out of the world , never again to serve the desires of their flesh . but do they desire indeed , to shake hands with , and to bid an everlasting farewell to their filthy lusts , so long as they have any ability or opportunity to serve them ? for to this the grace of god calls them , and for this they have had many gracious earnest invitations , which they have sufficiently slighted , and cast off , with as much scorn and contempt as could be . they have never heeded , what they have heard from god himself , speaking and calling to them , by the commands , promises , and threatnings of his written word , or by the motions of his spirit , or the checks of their own consciences , or any dispensations of his , in any providences . now , what do these men mean , in saying , god hath not given them grace , when they slight and set at naught all the saving methods , which he makes use of , to affect their hearts , and work them over to ● thorough-compliance with himself ? why do not they attend their own work , which is , to heed what god commands , promises , and threatens in his word , and to reform their hearts and lives accordingly ? why do they not lament and bewail the baseness of their own sinfull hearts and natures , humbly acknowledging all their iniquities , and loathing themselves , because they are loathsome in the sight of the lord ? why do they not confess and forsake their sins , that so they may find mercy , as solomon assures them , pro. 28.13 . why do they not begg of god strength to resist sin , and use the means which god hath ordered for that end , viz. fasting and beating down their bodies ? why do not they avoid the occasions of sin , and keep themselves farr from those places and companies ▪ where they are sure to meet with many temptations ? why do they not frequent the company of those , who will admonish them upon all occasions , and advise them about ordering all their wayes ? no , they 'l do nothing of what is their duty , nor what ( i am sure they have power to do , but only sin , and seek all occasions to sin ; and then quarrel god , and say , he hath not given them grace . this is in effect to say , they would have god to save them against their wills . obj. but god can make me willing , if he please . sol. i know god hath a soveraign power over the hearts of all men , but what then ? would they have god to alter all the saving methods of his grace , and force upon them , what they have refus'd so often , with all disdain and indignation imaginable ? they desire no grace , but what may keep them out of hell : and scorn all grace that 's offered them , for reforming their hearts and lives . they are like those froward patients , that would have their physicians cure them , without any applications made to them ; as our saviour heal'd the lame , and the blind , by a word of his mouth , working wonders , such as had not been heard or known . not to say , that such arguings are absurd and unreasonable , these men must have low thoughts of god , and his infinite excellencies , who would have him shape the whole course and method of his grace and providence , according to their sinfull interests and humours . to say no more , make it our own case . when once we have done our endeavours , us'd all intreaties , yea , and ( it may be ) added due corrections to our instructions and admonitions , and waited long for a desirable issue , knowing the party we have to deal with , might , if he had a mind , change his course ; we think we can acquit and clear our selves ( as indeed we may ) before all the world , from having any hand in his undoing himself . and will not the righteous judge ( think we ) acquit himself at the last day , in condemning all the ungodly refusers and despisers of his grace and mercy ? i shall say no more , but as god said to iob , he that reproveth god , let him answer it . as if he should say , he that reasons the case ( so the word may well be rendred ) or argues against me , let him answer , if he can , what i have said , and have yet to say . thou job hast been very bold and forward to question and quarrel my wayes of providence , as if they were not such as they should be . but i would have thee know , i am able to guide and govern the world , without any assistance or advice of thine . hast thou so mean , low , and unworthy thoughts of me , and mine infinite excellencies , as to imagine , i am to learn of thee , or any other , how to order and dispose the works of my hands ? i think , i have said enough to convince thee : but if this do not satisfie thee , i have yet more to say , and beware in time to provoke me no further ; for if thou do , thou shalt be sure to know after another manner , that i will not be taught by thee . so i shall answer no more , but only advise all who thus argue , to read how iob answered the lord , and to give over such malepert daring him , with their disputing his royal prerogatives ; which if they considered , as they should , they would count such reasonings but a little beneath blasphemies . i shall only say further , though we may awhile plead our weakness , yet god , and our consciences know , it is only our wickedness , that hinders our salvation . for my part , i , and others too , can say very much of our weakness , that when we have promised fairly many times , we have performed little or nothing answerable . but we can say much more of our natural wickedness , and the baseness of our deceitfull hearts . others may speak as they list , i think it best and safest for me , and every one else , to shame our selves before the lord , by charging home upon our selves the frowardness of a deceitful naughty heart . for this we may know , if we have a mind to it , that we love sin too much , when it is best with us ; and god too little , when we love him most ; and whom can we blame for this , but our selves ? therefore , god forbid , i should entertain the least thought of charging god foolishly . let me ever say , god hath not been wanting to me , only i have been wanting to my self . i dare not say , i would be , or do better , if i could ; seeing god , and my conscience know , i could be , and do better , if i would . it is not any fault in god , but my self , that i have no more grace , and that i walk not more uprightly and evenly . for i do willingly yield too often to the suggestions and insinuations of sin and satan : and i do not entertain and cherish the sweet motions of gods spirit , nor improve the means of growing in grace , as i might , and ought to do . and , in a word , i am verily perswaded , if any thing undo me , it is the frowardness of an evil heart of unbelief . in hac fide vivo , in hac moviar . so let me justifie god , both in life and death , whatever becomes of me . and now i remember , what i before referr'd to this place , concerning an objection , that is commonly made to this purpose . obj. that all exhortations to faith and repentance are absurd and vain , if men are unable to do any thing of themselves , without the effectual grace of god over-powering them . sol. i shall say nothing of the answers , that have been made to this objection by others ▪ but only say , there is no such absurdity , as is imagin'd , because men are exhorted to that which they are unwilling to do . now what absurdity is there in this ? or if there be , i am not able to see it . nor can i apprehend it unreasonable , to perswade a man to that , which is for his good , when we find him not willing to it . for mans natural inability to any spiritual good , i do not question it , if we count of it , as i said before , and as ( i think ) we ought . but i know full well , that mans weakness is his wickedness , and his inability is his untowardliness ; and how can we deal with a froward wilfull man more rationally , than to lay before him the errour , and the evil of his way ; and by reasoning the case , perswade him to leave it ? they , whom we deal with , are men , and have reason , whereby they are able to judge of what is spoken to them ; and they can discern of good and evil , and so chuse , as they see cause . and when the most is made , that can be , of mans insufficiency , we cannot ( as i shew'd formerly ) deny him a liberty . and then , where ( i pray ) lies the absurdity ? deny a natural man that liberty , which ( as i said before ) must be allowed , i must confess , that to admonish or exhort him , is all one , as to exhort or perswade a beast , or a block . but so long as wicked men do wilfully refuse the wayes of god , and as wilfully goe on in the wayes of their own hearts , i am bold to think , the absurdity will lye at their doors , who say , it is absurd , to perswade a wicked man , to turn from his evil wayes . and how much less absurdity is there , in exhorting those , in whom the spirit is willing , though the flesh is weak ? and now i shall proceed to prove by other arguments , that men are wilfull in their own wayes , and willingly neglect the things of their peace , and so perish only upon that account , and no other . arg. 2. my next argument shall be , from the equity and reason that is and appears in all things , which concern mens salvation , so as it is easily discernable by mans natural light and understanding . men ( as you have seen before ) are apt to quarrel god for his dealings , as if his wayes were not equall : and my design is to prove them alone guilty of their own destruction , and that they shall one day appear so to their own consciences , and before all the world. and my argument is this , that all the wayes of god towards men , and all the mean● he useth for the reclaiming of them , are so rational , even to mens natural understanding , a● they can have no cause to quarrel any but themselves . and you may draw the argument into a narrower compass thus : if all the counsels and wayes of god , and his methods about men● salvation , be equitable to the apprehension of sou●● reason in men themselves , then they can lay the blame of their destruction upon nothing besides thei● unreasonable , wilfull , and peevish disposition ▪ this i intend to exemplifie in some particulars and add further , that all the sins of men , fo● which they are damn'd , are against natural re●son , as well as against divine revelation . but before i proceed , let me premise the reason , for which i urge this argument : and it is this , because god , to clear himself , doth eve● and anon appeal to men ; which he doth , because he knows , that the reason and conscience● of men , when they are put to it , must give evidence on his side . to mention one text , that was hinted before somewhere , esay 5.3 , 4. iudge , i pray you ( saith god ) between me , and my vineyard . who are the parties appeal'd unto in that case ? if you look ; you shall find none other than the delinquents themselves , the men of judah , and the inhabitants of jerusalem . why so ? even because god knew , that nothing could be pleaded , wherefore he should come short of what he expected ; but the case was so clear , as he would leave the delinquents themselves to be judges . surely god would not do thus , if he knew not , that he hath a witness for himself in every mans conscience ; and that his wayes are rational and equal , even when men themselves are judges . and now i make this challenge in gods name and behalf , shew he that can , what in all the counsels and wayes of god , is dissonant or contrary to right and sound reason . my meaning is this , there is nothing in any of them , but what by sound natural reason , a man may apprehend to be equal , righteous , and rational . and yet in all this , i shall ( i hope ) keep my self free , and farr enough from over-magnifying of mans reason ; and also from any thought , that the corruption of mans nature is not in his understanding , as well , and as much , as in his other faculties . i willingly grant , what i heartily believe , that we are all born blind , and that ignorance is no small part of mans inbred corruption , and original sin. notwithstanding , i say again , that natural reason in men , is light enough to descry , that the wayes of god , and all his transactions with men , are reasonable ; that is , none of them are against reason , though some of them be infinitely farr above it . and now i come to particular instances . first , i instance in such things , as god hath offer'd us in his word , to be believed by us . 1. and what one among all those seems more incredible and irrational , than the resurrection ? yet the apostle thus reasons , act. 26.8 . why should it be thought a thing incredible with you , that god should raise the dead ? the apostle ( you see ) makes strange of it , that any of the● should strange at it , as a thing incredible . 〈◊〉 confess , he had then to deal with the iews , an● such as own'd the iewish religion ( at least many of them ) and therefore might well ask the● the question , because the whole worship o● god , upheld amongst them , was an unreasona●ble thing , if the dead should never rise agai● ▪ but ( as i take it ) he might as well question 〈◊〉 gentiles , after the same manner . though know , some may reply , that there is not 〈◊〉 same reason , because the gentiles might ( 〈◊〉 they did ) exercise some religion ( such ar● was ) upon the account of the souls immortali●● whilst they believed no resurrection of the b●●dy . and that * some of them had some noti●● of the souls immortality , without any appr●●hension of the rising again of the body , i do 〈◊〉 much question ; though those notions , in all 〈◊〉 them , were but empty conceits , and as co●●●sed as a sick mans dreams . but this i desire● be observ'd , that the apostle , 1 cor. 15 . 3● argues the resurrection thus , that if the de●● rise not , the epicures opinion may take place but that opinion is erroneous ( saith the apo●stle ) and pernicious too , and not to be allow●● among christians , who ought to believe firm●● the resurrection of the dead . the apostle argument is à consequente absardo , and he sai●● in effect this , if there be no resurrection , they might then side with the epicures , and sin● their † song , let us take our pleasure while w● live , for after death we shall have none . yet observe also , v. 32. if after the manner of men , that is , as farr as men could do , or with regard only to this present life , which all men live , i have fought with beasts at ephesus , what advantageth it me , if the dead rise not ? doth not the apostle lay the ground-work and foundation of * all religion , upon the resurrection ? it is as much as to say , what need i suffer , and ( by the same reason ) what need i do any thing about religion , if there be no resurrection ? his whole argument is grounded upon reason , and his conclusion is the absurdity of religion , if there be no resurrection . and that it is so , appears from his reasoning , v. 36. thou fool , that which thou sowest , is not quickned , except it dye . where calvin observes , that the apostle might have answer'd their question , [ how are the dead raised , &c. ] by shewing , how easie it is to god almighty , though it seem incomprehensible to us , and that we are not to judge of such things by our own sense , but according to his infinite power . but the apostle answereth otherwise , by shewing , that the resurrection is so farr from contradicting the course of nature , as we have continually a clear proof and instance of it , in the fruits of the earth , which arise and grow out of the seeds that are sown , and rot in the ground . now seeing all generation is from corruption , in the seed sown , we have therein an image and resemblance of the resurrection . and the effect of all the apostles discourse is this , that there is as much reason for the bodies rising again , as there is for the growing again of the grain we sow in the earth . and hence he rebukes them thus , thou fool , confuting atheists from the course o● nature , as men that have not common sense . a● if he should say , how unreasonable are you , t● question the resurrection , when the like thing● before you every day , and you see with you● eyes ordinarily , what is as strange as that ? fro● the whole ( to say no more ) it is clear , that there is a ground in reason , for every man to be●lieve the resurrection ; though i deny not , tha● it is further clear'd , and we are most confirm'● in the belief of it , by the written word ; ye● and that our blind reason would never have dis●cover'd it , without divine revelation . 2. the incarnation of the son of god , is 〈◊〉 thing ( i confess ) above all mans reason , an● yet not therefore against reason . 3. the apostle stands admiring , o the depth , 〈◊〉 how unsearchable are his judgements , and 〈◊〉 wayes past finding out ! and yet whoever believ● these , as they are by the spirit revealed in the word , doth nothing but what is most rational ▪ for if there be one almighty , infinite , eterna● god , ( as socinians , i hope , grant ) then it is most absurd to think , that his judgements , wayes , works , and counsels are such , as can be measured by the standard of mans reason . no reason will perswade a man to measure what is infinite , by that which is finite , more than to think of taking up the ocean in a nut-shell . and if it should be thought , that the socinians have the advantage at reason against us ( if it were not for scripture ) in the highest mysteries o● divinity , i thing otherwise , because it is against all reason , to allow of nothing in the counsels and wayes of god , that is not commensurable with mans understanding . for that is all one , as to make him such a one as our selves ; whereas our owning him as god , is an acknowledgement of his beeing and excellencies infinite beyond all our reason . 4. reason is not able to apprehend the mystery of the trinity : and yet it is but reasonable for us to believe , what scripture hath reveal'd about it , because it is agreeable to reason , that god must be such an essence and existence , as no creature is able to comprehend . for god were not god indeed , nor like himself , if his subsistence were such as we could apprehend . even reason will enforce us to grant , that god can be comprehended by none but himself . for how can a man apprehend god aright , without apprehending him infinite ? that which is finite , even in the judgement of reason , cannot be god. and therefore the heathens were most absurd in their polytheism , or multiplicity of gods , because there can be but one infinite , and so but one god. now the true god being indeed such , it is unreasonable in us to think , by searching , to find him out in his essence , subsistence , or attributes . and for this purpose , let it be considered , what the apostle saith concerning mans reason , when it is us'd about the things of god , 1 cor. 2. how should a beast understand the things of a man , and how much less can a man understand the things of god ? i think i may rationally say , he must be a god , that knows perfectly what god is . true , we may understand what he hath revealed for our learning ; but our understanding is according to his revealing it , only by our faith , which sees that which reason cannot discern ; and yet our faith is not unreasonable : for we can give a reason of our believing such things , as god hath revealed , viz. infallible , divine authority , though we cannot give a reason of some things believed by us . and there is nothing more reasonable , than to believe , whatever god saith , to be true ; though we can give no reason more , than that god saith it . for a god that can lye , reason it self will say , is not , cannot be god , but an idol , or a devil . and hence i infer● that reason teacheth us to believe the highest mysteries revealed in scripture , as the trinity , the incarnation , &c. and they that think otherwise , therein shew themselves unreasonable . and for the counsels of god , in disposing of his creatures according to his pleasure , what reasonable man can question them ? or if any man do it , may it not justly and rationally be said to him , as elihu spake unto iob ? behold , in this , thou art not just : i will answer thee , that god is greater than man. why dost thou strive against him ? for he giveth no account of his matters . and if so , it is indeed most unreasonable in any man to expect it . certainly , if any , god may challenge this prerogative , viz. to give no account of his wayes and counsels . and for men to pry into them , further than he hath reveal'd ; and demand a reason of his will and pleasure , when he is pleas'd to give none , is indeed to do against reason . for there is nothing more reasonable than this , that god may do what he pleaseth , and not to be question'd by any for it , seeing all things else are the works of his hands . and this was the apostles mind , when he said , ro. 9.20 , 21. nay but o man , who art thou , that repliest against god ? shall the thing formed , say to him that formed it , why hast thou made me thus ? hath not the potter power over the clay , &c. and doth not the prophet ( whom the apostle cites , or alludes to in that place ) say as much , and more ? esay 45.9 . woe to him that striveth with his maker , &c. i. e. quarrels god about his providences , as if he meant to controll him . to clear and confirm my argument yet further , doth not the apostle argue from reason , upon all occasions , even about the things of god , specially when he had to do with heathens ? act. 14.15 . saith he to those who would have sacrificed to to him , we preach unto you , to turn from these vanities , unto the living god , which made heaven and earth , &c. as if he should have said , if you will serve a god , serve him that is god indeed , and who is the living and 〈◊〉 god , your own reason will shew you : it is he that made heaven and earth , &c. you are unseasonable in sacrificing to any other , because no other can be god. 〈◊〉 v. 17. he goes on to shew , that they , and their forefathers , had light enough from gods providential dispensations , to teach them , that iupiter , mercurius , and such vanities , or idols , could not be the true and living god , so as they were inexcusable . and so he argueth , act. 17. that we ought not to think the god-head like unto gold or silver , &c. seeing it is against all reason , as he proves from v. 24 , to v. 29. so likewise ro. 1. he proveth the gentiles idolatry , in making images and representations of god , to be against the light of nature , and natural reason , which was able to see so much of his eternal power and godhead , in the things that are made , as they might easily conclude , that god was not to be represented by any similitude of earthly things , because they cannot be like him , act. 17.29 . i shall yet in other instances labour to evidence , that there is nothing in true religion , but what is reasonable . for moral duties towards men , our saviour layeth down an undoubted principle of reason , mat. 7.12 . and addeth , that this is the law , and the prophets , i. e. this is the summ and substance of all they have taught , concerning the duty of man to man , the most equal law , to do , as we would be done unto . all the commandments against murder , adultery , theft , &c. are principles of common reason , and the law of nature . for children to obey their parents , is reasonable ; and so the apostle presseth it , eph. 6.1 . because it is just , or right . how can children be thankful , but in being dutiful to their parents ? and for servants to obey their masters , it is equal , for they maintain and fro● them necessaries for their lives . and to obey principalities and powers , is but reason , because by them the people are kept in peace ▪ and there would be otherwise no safety or society amongst men . whatever some may fancy or feign , true religion , in the highest and strictest practice of it , is no teacher of mis-rule ; but teacheth obedience for conscience sake , and sheweth the right way of yielding it according to gods commandment . and 't is not reasonable to think , it teacheth obedience in some only , and not in all relations . yea , it is impossible to serve god , as we ought , and not to serve one another in love . nay , the most spiritual duties of denying our selves , and crucifying our lusts , are most reasonable . to part with our lives , and all we have , for christs sake , is most equal , seeing he dyed for us . and if i were to dispute for the christian religion , against an infidel , i would dare him to shew any one thing in scripture , that is contrary to sound reason ; or any article of the christian faith , that is not rational , as i have shewed before in some of them . and now i lay down these three conclusions , which i avouch rational , and by reason demonstrable , viz. 1. that there is more reason in any religion , than in no religion at all . 2. that there is more reason in the true christian religion , than there is in any other . 3. that there is more reason in the life and practice of true religion , and the power of godliness , than in the empty form , and out-side profession of it . these i should further dilate upon , but that all of them are most excellently , and undeniably , of late , discoursed at large by others . yet i shall not content my self with the bare naming of them . 1 st . for the first , i say , that the wayes wherein atheists have gone about to undermine scripture-authority , and so overthrow all religion , are contrary to sound reason . for is it not more rational in us , to believe , that one eternal , infinite beeing , made this whole frame of heaven and earth , than to fancy an empty , infinite space , and an infinite number of atomes coursing up and down in it , and by a fortuito● concourse ( as it were , by hap-hazard , no sobe● man can imagine how ) to fall into order , an● so produce this frame of the world , as now we see it ? i shall not dispute in the case , but on●● appeal to the judgement of any man that 's sobe● and in his senses , which of those two is most cre●dible to the apprehension of reason . and is no● our faith of one eternal god , as rational , as ●●thers conceit of an eternal pre-existent matte●● not to say , how precarious the principles of ●●thers , that are against us , are , i add , how absurd and unreasonable they are to the apprehension of any sober intelligent man , and farr more incredible and improbable , than what we believe of the worlds creation , according to the written word . let those who count so light of scripture-doctrine , and set so highly by some alery speculations and notions ( whether of old , or of late cryed up ) shew us somewhat more rational , than what is scriptural . and whether the phylosophy of moses , &c. be not as agreeable to any sober mans reason , as any opposition of science , which by some is so much admired . it is not my design , to engage with such notionists , who had best deal first with others , that have said enough . i think it enough to declare , that they have done little to satisfie the sober reason of intelligent men . for ( i say again ) let all be weighed , not in the ballance of the sanctuary ( which they sufficiently slight ) but by the standard of true reason , and if they be not found too light , i grant , they have said somewhat to their purpose . there is a world fram'd and constituted , as we see ; and a dispute there hath been , and ( i think ) still is with some , how it came to be so fram'd and constituted ? now i only plead , that the account , which moses hath given of the worlds beginning , is much more credible to meer reason , than any other . and thereupon ask , why should it seem incredible , that one who had his beeing from none , but of himself , should make all things out of nothing ? they , whose interest it would be , to have no god , are willing to perswade themselves , and others too , that there is none . and these say , that some men have , for their own turns , made others believe , there is a god , and so the world is troubled about something , which is indeed nothing . we who believe the beeing of one god , appeal not to scripture ( of which these men count nothing ) but ask them , how this frame , and all its furniture , came to be first set up ? that this world made it self , is an absurdity , beyond all reason , and common sense . hence some have devised wayes of fashioning the world , such as i hinted some before , that they may stand in no fear of any god or devil , nor live in expectation of any hell or heaven hereafter . but herein they goe against all reason , which is the only judge , to whose sentence they are content to stand . that the true notion of a deity is most consonant to reason , and the light of nature , is excellently proved by the learned stillingfleet . and they that deny , there is a god , do assert other things ( as he saith ) on farr less evidence of reason ; and must by their own principles , deny some things , which are apparently true . and he instances in these , viz. that the world was as it is , from all eternity , or else it was first made by a fortuitous concourse of atomes , both which hypotheses being urged with the same , or greater difficulties , are more weakly proved , than the existence of a deity . and whoever shall be pleas'd to enquire , will find it so , therefore we contend for religion against atheists , upon grounds of reason . and i say again , that none of them all have produced any thing so rational , as that which is scriptural . 2 dly . and for the truth and reason of the christian religion , the same learned author hath said enough in the learned discourse aforesaid . all that i shall say , is this , that if any man please to examine all the several religious perswasions , that are , or have been in the world , beside that which scripture hath reveal'd and warranted , and weigh them in the ballance of sound reason , he need not be much puzzled about the choice of his religion : for it will soon appear , even to reason , that all religions , beside the truly christian , are unreasonable . if any strange at this , because many in all ages , who had good natural reason , have rejected the christian religion . i answer , 1. that they had reason , but made not a due and right improvement of it , and therefore shewed themselves unreasonable , as the apostle proves it against them , ro. 1.19 , 20 , &c. and that god did therefore give them up to vile affections , as a punishment of their unreasonable idolatries . 2. we having scripture-light , which they had not , have our reason more rectified and enlightned , than they had , or could have . and without the light of divine revelation , we , in all probability , might have been as vain in our imaginations , as they . but then , i say , both we and they had been unreasonable . and god himself useth no other argument against the gentiles idolatries , than the absurdity and unreasonableness of them , esay 44. they that make a graven image , &c. they are their own witnesses . they see not , nor know , that they may be ashamed . and after a large account of their doings about their images and idols , v. 18 , 19. he saith , they have not known , nor understood . and again , none considereth in his heart , nor is there knowledge or understanding , &c. as if he should say , these makers of idols , that know whereof they are made , and how handled in the making , are the best witnesses , that can be brought against them : for if they were not sadly besotted , and void of common sense , they would never imagine , the stock of a tree could be made a god. the main thing to be observ'd for my purpose , is this , that they had light enough by their own reason , to discover the vanity of making idols . for this they are charged with , that they did not debate the matter with themselves , nor reason the case as they might ; which if they had done , they could never have been so bruitish and senseless , as they shewed themselves to be , in saying to the work of their own hands , ye are our gods. and now , let none desire me to instance in any other , having spoken of idolaters , because all the world of mankind , that worship not the true and only god , in the alone mediator , and no other , are idolaters . this is plain and clear ▪ and needs no proof ; except any will say , the turks are no idolaters , because they like no images . but however , they are affected to images , they must be ranked amongst idolaters , that honour a varlet ( such as mahomet was ) more than the lord jesus christ. they have not the son , and therefore have not the father , 1 ioan. 2.23 . and then , what can they be other , than idolaters ? the same is to be thought of the iews , who worship the true god , but not in our lord jesus christ. to instance in the particular absurdities of all other religions , would be endless , and ( for ought i know ) to no great purpose . it may suffice to hint in general , what any man may improve , ( when ever he pleases , in his own thoughts ) by running over in his mind , the wayes and doings of all that serve not one god only in the mediation of the lord jesus christ. though we had our religion by revelation , and that be enough to confirm our faith ; yet we have this to boot , for our further confirmation in it , that it hath more of reason in it , than any other . hence we inferr , that an atheist is the veriest fool of all , that for the pleasures of this world , which he may not enjoy one hour , cannot ( by his own confession ) enjoy one hundred of years , dares run the hazard of losing himself for ever . as long as it is disputable with him , whether there be a god , or no , his wisest and safest way were , to chuse the strongest side : for if it prove at last , that there is no god , he gains a very little , as much as comes to nothing , no more than a beast , that hath as much as he , and more too . but if there be a god ( such as we believe ) in what a case will he be , at the great day of account ? and to think , there is a god , that cares not what becomes of the world , and will never judge the world , is all one , as to say , there is no god. now a man had need of infallible and undeniable principles , to prove , there is no god , who dares to live in this world , as if there were none ; because the adventure is of infinite concernment and consequence . and for the choice of a mans religion , i say again , he need do no more than use his reason , that will give him light enough to chuse the best . i do not say , nor mean , that reason alone could ever have discover'd the only way of salvation , or the right way of worshipping god , so as to please him in it . but when god hath in his word discover'd to us his good will , in all that concerns his glory , and our everlasting good , we dare appeal to reason , for the truth and goodness of our religion ; and challenge all the world , to shew us any other , that is half so rational . 3 dly . i should be much more large in proving my third position , about the power and practice of true religion , if another hand had not of late so happily prevented me ; yet somewhat i have to say of this also . 't is no strange , or new thing , to see all godliness , and circumspect walking , cryed down , under an odious imputation of folly and fancy . 't was said of christ , he is beside himself , mar● ▪ 3.21 . or one transported with a fanatique extasie . and of the blessed apostle , that too much learning had made him madd , act. 26.24 . his plain manner and method of preaching christ crucified , was by the worldly-wise counted and call'd , the foolishness of preaching , though it were indeed , the wisdome and power of god to salvation ▪ 1 cor. 1.23 . therefore we have the less need to be troubled at the language of many in our times , seeing they speak but what they have learn'd from their fore-fathers . for certain , we pretend to no enthusiasms , beyond all sense and reason ; but appeal to christ , and his written word , to be tryed by them in all things ; for which we are counted fanatiques . for the aspersion of folly , upon all that desire to remember god in his wayes , and to walk humbly with him , we may safely appeal to the same judges , now before spoken of , because the wisdome of god in scripture give the name of [ fool ] to none but to such as are ungodly ; witness davids psalmes , and solomons proverbs , &c. but i shall argue a little further thus : if the principles of our religion be such , as we are bound to contend for it against all adversaries , then the practice which agrees best with , and comes nearest to those principles , deserves not the imputation of folly , nor can be so accounted of by any , but unreasonable men . hence i am bold to ask , who are the veriest fools ? they that know the laws of christ , and labour to walk accordingly : or they that pretend to know them , but in all their works deny them ? the principles of true christian religion are these , tit. 2.11 , 12. that we deny all ungodliness , and worldly lusts , and live soberly , &c. that for every idle word that men shall speak , they shall give an account , mat. 12.36 . that god shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness , and bring them to judgement , 1 cor. 4.5 . eccles. 12.14 . now compare mens practices with these principles , and it may be easily seen , who are the veriest fools . many there are , that glory much in their being protestants ; and will sometimes pity papists , for being mis-led , as to their religious perswasions . but i am bold to think , that some protestants have as much need to pity themselves , for their ungodly practices . for if any under heaven , be in the way to hell , some of these protestants are . if you desire to know , which of them ? i answer , all those , who are common ordinary drunkards , swearers , fornicators , and adulterers , with all of the same stamp ; and that ( to fill up the measure of their sins the faster ) do shew the greatest hatred and scorn , that can be , of all that profess and practice godliness . this i have against these protestants ( or rather for them , if they will make a right use of it ) that a papist , leading an honest , temperate , and sober life , can give a more rational account of his religion , than any of them , or any others like them . but i say further , doth not reason teach every man , to be true to his own principles ; and that we should not profess one thing , and practice another quite contrary ? nay , do not lewd and vicious persons cry out against others , that they are not , what they seem to be ? these ( say they ) are your great professors , and they can do so and so . is this according to their profession ? and i say , if great professors , be not also precise and strict practisers , they are to be blamed , yea , and without repentance , shall be damn'd . but i say withall , that whoever proclaims himself a protestant , is a great professor in so doing . for the true protestant religion teaches and obliges to all possible circumspection , and holy conversation , and godliness . the gospel is call'd , the doctrine that is according to godliness , 1 tim. 6.3 . as for any , that are accounted more than ordinary professors , i heartily wish , that none of them might deserve the charge , that 's commonly made against them ; and to them i say , if they be indeed faulty , they shall dearly rue it : i mean , they must reform their lives , or their profession will stand them in no stead one day , when all shall be judged according to their works . and for many of them , i am confident , and well assured , that such a charge is no better than a calumny , and reproaching of christ in his members . for there are many of them ( i hope ) nathaniels , and true israelites , in whom there is no guile . however it be , this agreed upon , on all hands , that 't is unreasonable , to profess one thing , and practice another . and hence i say , that all protestants , so call'd , who are vicious in their lives , do therein shew themselves unreasonable ▪ as well as ungodly men . for many of them , i believe , ( and not without reason ) that they know not well themselves , what they profess . sure many of them ( the more pity ) are profoundly ignorant of the very first principles of the protestant-religion ? and can give no rational or tolerable account , why they are protestants , and not papists , or pagans . but whatever they know of their religion , i am sure , many of them little consider of any conversation suitable to it . and therefore i shall mind them of what they do profess , and it is this , that they profess the strictest and precisest way of serving god , and walking with god , that ever was made known to the children of men. they profess to believe the gospel of christ , and that gods written word is the only rule of faith and manners . now the gospel , and the word of grace , do certainly prescribe the most exact and accurate way of life , that can be . and i need not be long in proving this to any professed protestants . but if any make question of it , let them enquire , what they engaged for , and to , when they were baptized . for then they must acknowledge themselves professors of a very strict religion , unless they will renounce their baptism . the fanatiques are not the only great professors ; but every one , that owns himself for a protestant , must either disown his baptism , and blaspheme christ , and the gospel openly ; o● else he must look on himself as a great professor of godliness . for as christ commanded , so baptism obligeth to the most severe and precisest way of godliness . and if he live in the constan● practice and allowance of all uncleanness , he is an unreasonable , as well as a wicked man. the apostle joyns both those together , 2 thes. 3.2 . and if those wicked ones there meant ( perhap● professed infidels ) were unreasonable , mu●● more they that profess the faith , and are in thei● conversation worse than infidels . those indeed contradicted their own principles : but professe● christians much more , and are therefore most unreasonable and wicked men . for grace an● nature , law and gospel , cry out against them ▪ and will one day come in , as witnesses for their conviction , because they walk'd contrary to them all . let them count of themselves as they please for a while , christ , when he comes to judge , will number them with those , who cry , lord , lord , and do not the will of his father which is in heaven ; and therefore they must depart , and be gone , because they are the workers ●f iniquity . and what do these mean by their going to church , and joyning in publick prayers , and hearing of sermons , and receiving the sacraments ? sure in these they profess , and pretend to somewhat . they will not ( i hope ) say , they profess adultery , and swearing , and drunkenness , &c. and yet all the world knows , many of them live in the constant practice of such , or the like abominable vices . 1. these i wish first to consider what they do , when they mock and scoff at others , for their preciseness . for if they dealt , as becomes rational men , they would , as often as they see any more strict and precise , presently say , these men do honestly , and rationally too , for they practice , as they profess ; whereas we profess as much as they , but do nothing alike . 2. i wish them also to consider , that when they cry out against others , as hypocrites and dissemblers , in so doing , they condemn themselves . for they profess the religion that christ taught , and they will not say ( i hope ) that christ taught men to be swearers , and drunkards , &c. now they must say thus , and so be most horrid blasphemers ; or confess themselves to be dissemblers , for practising quite contray to what they profess . and that they do so , is beyond all contradiction ; and when they can prove others to be the same , we will say as much of them . but till then , we have reason to look on these , as unreasonably wicked , so unreasonably uncharitable towards others , to say no worse of them . i might here enlarge my self , by shewing the unreasonableness of most sins , that are of ordinary and daily practice , with many call'd protestant . but somewhat tending this way , was hinted before , in shewing the reason that is in all the commandments . yet i shall add , that whereas they have cryed out against their ministers , for being so harsh and severe , they forget what their own consciences have told the● oftner , and more sharply , than ever any minister did , or could . but of this i may say mor● elsewhere . for present , i urge them with th● unreasonableness of their constant daily practices , and ask them , is not prophane swea●ing an unreasonable sin , when there is not 〈◊〉 ( as in some other fleshly wickedness ) any the least seeming sensual profit or pleasure ? a 〈◊〉 may be a very epicure ( as one saith ) and 〈◊〉 bate swearing . what doth a drunkard make himself to be , more than a two legg'd bea●● ▪ nay , is there any beast almost , that will 〈◊〉 to drunkenness , except it be a swine ? i 〈◊〉 not instance in more particulars . but to shut 〈◊〉 this , all or most of the ten commandments have been , and still are , justly accounted 〈…〉 of moral and natural equity . and the fourth ▪ though yielded to be but positive-moral , hath so much reason in it , that since god hath allowed us six dayes , we may well allow him the seven●● . and they that make no conscience of this , 〈◊〉 many other commandments , as appears by their practices , are unreasonable men , which was the thing to be proved . arg. 3. another reason , to prove ungodly men guilty of their own destruction , and so altogether inexcusable before the lord , may be drawn from the inward secre● workings of their own consciences . for whe● they pretend , that they want light , to see the good , and the right way , their consciences will rise up , and be as so many swift witnesses against them . how many times have they been rounded in the ear , and told by a voice within them , that their way was not good before the lord ? how often hath conscience stood , as the angel did in balaams way , with a drawn sword in his hand , to turn them back again ? what dumps , and fits of melancholly ( as some call them ) have they had , when those everlasting burnings have flash'd in their faces , to fright them out of their ungodly wayes ? and will they yet say , they had not light enough , to see the good , and the right way , when they notwithstanding have posted on still , and press'd forward against all opposition and contradiction of consciences ? for certain , many wicked ones have had much of their h●ll upon earth ; so much , as might have serv'd ( if they had been wise enough ) to mind them of heavens way . it may be , that some of them have their heaven here , though a very short , uncertain , and inconsiderable felicity . but there are few of them , that meet not with rubbs enough , to stop them in their career hell-ward , if they would but heed them . they are not so merry , as the world takes them to be ; but even in the midst of laughter , the heart is sorrowful , to think what will be the end of their madd mirth . i need not say more to these , than only advise them to abide at home , and hear what their consciences tell them . but this perhaps is labour in vain , when they are resolv'd before-hand , to give conscience as good as it brings . however , i cannot forbear to stick this , as an arrow in their sides , and let them pluck it out again , if they can : that they can with no face , or colour of truth , say , they have not light , to see the good , and the right way . for god hath put a light into their hands , and they have put it out on purpose , that they may goe on in darkness . and this god himself charges them with , psa. 14.4 . have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge , & c ? the interrogative hath in it a more vehement deniall . it is not of ignorance , or infirmity , they do thus wickedly ; but wittingly , and willingly , against all conviction of conscience . and therefore there will be need of no other witnesses against these men one day , than what they themselves shall bring forth ; and god will , in his judging of them , appeal to their own consciences , that will then be ready to justifie him before all the world , that he gave them a light to see plainly the perverseness of their own way ; but they cast it away , or put it out , and would not walk by it . i need say no more , but only desire men to consider , how they will answer their own consciences , in the great day of account , when they have resisted so long , and so often gone against , what they have known by the light that is within them . if they can deal with conscience hereafter , a● they do at present , they may do themselves a pleasure : but i much doubt it . arg. 4. i shall add another reason , to prove , that men have had light enough shining round about them , and would not endure it . and this is their impatiency , and peevishness of spirit , when they have been again and again admonished of their faults , by such as have known them , and have had opportunities of doing them such a good office. and here i may , upon this occasion , take up a complaint , and say , who , or where is he , that will bear a seasonable reproof , when it is given him ? some such ( i hope ) there are ; but truly it is not easie to light on them . a man had need run to and fro to seek them ; and if any should ask me , where such dwell ? i cannot easily give an answer , such as i would . 't is said of cranmer , that to do him a shrewd turn , was the way to make him a friend for ever . if it were so indeed , i cannot enough admire the most excellent frame of his spirit , that could turn poyson into medicine ; and take occasion to love , even from that which only tends to hatred and strife . surely the contrary is to be seen in too many . do them the best office of love , that can be done , you make them your enemies for ever , they will never care for you more . and this is an infallible demonstration , of what i am now discoursing . how can men say , they want light , when they run from it , and will not suffer it to come near them . the law is a light , and the reproofs of instruction are the way of life , pro. 6.23 . so saith the wiseman , by the wisdome of god in him . and i may say of christian brotherly admonition , that it is a a most singular help to preserve and improve the life and practice of godliness . it is , as it were , the snuffing of the lights , to make them burn more clearly . i need not shew how much the scripture commends it : he that turns over the bible , cannot be ignorant of it . it is , in one word , a duty , that lies on all men ; but on professed christians more especially ; to give it wisely , as there is occasion ; and take it kindly , when it is given . now for men to storm and rage , upon all occasions , against all reproof , and shew themselves such , as others dare not come near them , is a sufficient argument of conviction , and cannot be answer'd . for with what face can a man plead , that he is well dispos'd , and willing to do what 's right , when , be he never so much out of his way , be scorns to be told of it ? yet many such there are , who have shut up their consciences under hatches ; and for others , they dare not tell them of their faults , lest they be made to feel their fingers . and i wish this were the fault of ruffians and roysters only : but many more sober to look upon , and perhaps inoffensive otherwise , as to other men , will rage like madd , if you come near them , with the least touch of a reproof , though never so gentle and seasonable . yea , a man had need beware of them , lest th●y make him an offendor for a word , and lay a snare for him in the gate . nor i , nor others need to marvell at the great miscarriages of so many , if we but duly consider , what i am now speaking of . there must needs be an abounding of all ungodliness , when it overflows all the banks , and no man dares put a stop to it , by saying to another , why do you thus ? and this , to say no more , is enough to shew , that men might , if they would , know more of god , and his will , but that they despise admonition , and will not abide reproof . they cannot pretend want of light , who put it away , whensoever it is offer'd to them ; and would , if they could , put it quite out , that they may goe on in darkness . arg. 5. there is yet more light to shew men their way , if they would but heed it , and not wilfully shut their eyes against it . every sincere and sound believer is a light , shining in the midst of a crooked nation . and herein ungodly men condemn themselves , that they cannot abide the light of other mens profession and practice , holding forth the word of life . they are ever quarrelling those , that are more eminent in profession , for their miscarriages in practice , whether truly or falsely charg'd upon them . for what is this more , or better , than the enmity that is in their hearts against god , and his wayes ? and let it not offend any , that i say so , till they have heard what i have yet to say . that many eminent professors have faulted and fallen , and that most foully , cannot be denied , because the scriptures have furnish'd us with so many sad instances in this kind . and that the most of gods faithful servants have been fam'd , or defam'd rather , as guilty of the same , or the like , is clear from scripture , and from experience in all ages . but whether the faults of professors be reall , or only feigned , still ( i say again ) the scandall that is taken by so many , is an argument of the old hatred ; and shews an inbred desire , to have the wayes of god slurr'd , that they may have an excuse for slighting them . and if it be so ( as i hope to make it appear ) we have another evidence , that men have light enough , but have no mind to walk by it . for why should any man cry out ( as many do ) against professors , and profession of religion , if there were not somewhat more , than what they are willing to have known by themselves ? but i shall argue it a little further thus . first , i 'le suppose the scandall to be indeed reall : what then ? is that a ground sufficient to say , i will never goe in the way , that such pretended to ? a man indeed may , and ought to say , i will never do , as such have done , wherein they have done amiss . and this both religion and reason will teach us . but therefore to slight , and set at naught all profession , and the very face and shew of religion ( to say no more ) is most unreasonable , and a sufficient evidence of that enmity , which is by nature in the hearts of all men against god , and his wayes . for what is gods way the worse , because such and such have turn'd aside from it ? nay , is it better than blasphemy , to cry out with open mouth , against that which is of god , because of that which is vile and base in men ? david committed adultery , and murder too , and therein occasion'd the enemies of god to blaspheme , which was the great aggravation of his sin and punishment . but observe , it was blasphemy in the enemies of god ; and they were gods enemies , that took occasion to blaspheme . for those enemies might have known , and should have taken notice , that david's god had forbidden those horrid sins , by his righteous laws , written in the hearts of all men ; and therefore had no cause to speak or think the worse of him , for his servants offences . was christ the worse , or the less to be esteem'd , because peter denied and forswore him ? what reason then is there , in making the wayes of god to suffer for the faults of those that pretend to them ? the wayes of the lord are right , and the just shall walk in them ; but the transgressours shall fall therein , hos. 14.9 . the best master may have a base servant , and the best prince may have a traytor amongst his subjects ; must the good prince or master bear the fault of the bad subject or servant ? or is subjection and service to be denied by others , because some servants and subjects are not so good as they should be ? and in such cases , every man will say , there is no cause . and what reason , i pray , is there in this case , more than in those ? these be the people of iehovah , said the enemies of both , ezech. 36.20 . these be your great professors , say many : but who ? none but enemies to god and godliness . oh! say they , see what such an one hath done . we will grant it , and 't is but too true . he hath done , what he ought not to have done ▪ but why is this cast , as dirt , in the face of all professors , and profession of religion ? the god whom they serve , alloweth them not in their so doing : he hath forbidden them to do so , and commanded them the quite contrary . and all the wayes of his commandments are holy , just , and good . to profess the true religion is good , and according to the mind of god , though it be not all that 's good : for to a good profession , must be added a good conversation ; and the power of godliness must goe along with the form of it . if a man profess , and practice not accordingly , thou hast no cause to slight his profession ; but rather to do what he did not , viz. adorn thy profession with a suitable conversation . in this i plead not for empty , outside professors , that dishonour , as much as may be , the profession of religion . i shall rather advise them to one of these two , viz. to let their conversation hold pace with their profession , that the name of god be not blasphemed ; or else to lay aside their profession . for such loose professors of religion exceedingly wrong themselves , and others , and god most of all , as might be easily shewn in many particulars . but i shall only say what is enough , that they do , as if they design'd to make all the world scorn and hate god , and his wayes . men should not indeed slight gods wayes , for the looseness of those that pretend to walk in them , as was said before . but too many are so minded , as they will blaspheme ; and these professors give them occasion of so doing . and just so in a manner do all they , who from their pulpits will declame against the vices of others , when all their auditors know them to live in some or other of those same vices , and repent not . such preaching of such preachers , is a fair argument , to encourage the looser sort in slighting all preaching , and all profession of religion . for what will they say , other than this ? if there be such danger in such wayes , as we are told ; and so much necessity of taking up a more precise course , why doth not our minister , and others like him , practice their own doctrine ? whatever they say , when they are in the church , we see well enough , what they do elsewhere , and at other times . why may not we run the adventure , as well as they . and indeed , it is the ready way to perswade people , that all the matters of god and religion , are of no great concernment , when they see , they are discours'd of sometimes for fashion , and in a form , by such as believe not what themselves say . they that preach thus , as it were , in jest , are not likely to bring others to practice in good earnest . and to speak all in a few words , such preachers and professors ( as before ) if they would set their wits on work , to make all the world atheist ( as once it was arian ) cannot devise a more compendious way and method for the purpose . but though such preachers and professors there be , yet whoever shall therefore stand off , or turn aside from the wayes of gods commandments , will in the day of account be inexcusably guilty before the lord , of neglecting his duty . is there so much as common sense , in saying , why should i do what 's good and right ▪ when others do not ? even reason may teach us , that since god is so much dishonour'd by the looseness of others , we should labour the more , by an unblameable conversation , to vindicate the honour of gods name , in despite of the devil , and all his devices . for this ungodly humour in many , to cry down all religion , and profession of it , upon the account of some professors miscarriages , argues nothing more , than enmity against all godliness ; which yet they would fain hide and excuse , by the faults of others , that pretend to more than themselves . he that 's glad of any occasion , to pick ( as we say ) a quarrel with another , for certain hates him , and hath not the least respect for him . and to clear it yet farther : secondly , such wretches , when they can find no occasion , will be forward enough to feign and frame one . hence have sprung all those reproachful nick-names , cast upon professors , and the profession of religion . hence are false reports rais'd on purpose , to cause an odium amongst all that hear of them . and if there were no more , i should say less . but god himself is reproached , and made to suffer . for all these lyes and falsities are intended , to make religion and godliness to be an abhorring ( if it were possible ) to all flesh . this , this is the design , that lies in the bottom , to render the wayes of god ( in themselves most amiable ) as odious as may be , so as men may have the greatest prejudice that 's possible against them . for when they have so disguis'd them , they , and others have a fairer pretence to shun and scorn them . thus , as little children , they make the bug-bears , wherewith they affright themselves , and their fellows . and do as the heathens of old , who first cloath'd poor christians in the spoyles of beasts , and then expos'd them to be worried , and torn in pieces by lyons , and other ravenous creaures . there is certainly a beauty in holiness , and all her wayes are wayes of pleasantness , pro. 3.17 . but to a man in his natural condition , they are not pleasing , but rather hateful and loathsome . and hence he doth by them , as men do by those whom they hate , and cannot abide , render them in all companies , as odious as may be , that others may hate them , as well as themselves do . when iohn hus was brought forth to be burnt , his enemies put on his head a triple crown of paper , painted over with devils ; and the bishops said , when it was set on his head , now we commit thy soul unto the devil . such in a manner is the rage and madness of all ungodly men . they would damn , if they could , all whom they hate and persecute for christs sake ; and therefore raise the vilest reports of them they can , to make the world believe , they are gone to hell , as soon as they are gone hence . and why is all this adoe ? only to obscure and stifle all the glorious beauty of holiness , that shines in gods servants , so as it may not be seen . and this out of hatred against god , who sets up his people , as so many lights in the world , to shew men the way wherein they should goe . but the world , that lieth in wickedness , hates the good , and the right way ; and therefore doth what it can ▪ to put out those lights ; and therein prove , that they love darkness . but however , all that pretend to the wayes of god , do not walk in them ; yet ( blessed be god ) there have alwayes been such , as will not be turn'd out of them , for all that can be said or done against them . and these will be witnesses one day , against all that have rejected them . and in this sense ( if in no other ) the saints shall judge the world , 1 cor. 6.2 . ye● , in this sense , they do now judge and condemn the world. their piety , faith , holiness , and fear of god , are a light , and leave wicked men without excuse : and as noah by his faith prepared an ark , by which he condemn'd the world , heb. 11.7 . so do they . some indeed , too many pretenders , have caused many to stumble and fall : but through the grace of god , all are not such . as there is indeed , and in truth , such a thing as true holiness ; so there are israelites indeed , shining as lights , and holding forth the word of life , philip. 2.15 , 16. and these lights many times are so bright , as their enemies are forc'd to bear witness unto them , as saul did to david , 1 sam. 24.17 . thou art more righteous than i. they cannot , after all their prying , find so much as a flaw in them , so as to have a just complaint against them . and this will be one day a convincing argument against ungodly ones , that they had seen so many examples of those , that loathed their wayes of excess , and ryot , and uncleanness , and yet refused to follow them ; but rather set them at ●ought , upon this account , that they would not run into the same excess with themselves , 1 pet. 4.4 . now the reall apologies of christians examples , being so many witnesses for god , and his wayes , how can men say , they want light , to shew them , what they have to do ? how must they not one day be without all excuse , even upon this account ? arg. 6. another argument for proving my general proposition , is this , that the failings of all men are mostly , if not altogether , in practice ; so as they know , but do not . this shews , that 't is not for want of light , that they walk on in darkness . the first and chiefest part of mans sinful corruption lieth in his will and affections . the woman indeed was deceiv'd , 1 tim. 2.14 . but it was by deceitful lust , gen. 3.6 . when she saw , that the tree was good for food , and pleasant to the eye , and a tree desirable to make one wise , she took of the fruit of it , &c. it was the inordinacy of her appetite , that transported her to taste , what god had forbidden her , so much as to touch . i grant , she was deceiv'd , and that the serpent deluded her , to believe a lye . and it is ( i conceive ) a truth , that in every evil , there is an errour . hence we read , heb. 3.13 . of the deceitfulness of sin ; and eph. 4.22 . of deceitful lusts . we should not sin , if we were not deceiv'd . lust is as a mist , that mis-leads us . a man that hath eyes , cannot see his way in a mist , but roves and runs up and down , and cannot hit on the right . a man would never chuse the worse , and leave the better , if he were not in a mistake . the apostle describes the gentiles , as strangers to the life of god , through the ignorance that is in them , eph. 4.18 . and the first work of grace on any soul , is , to turn it from darkness unto light , act. 26.18 . and to turn a man from the errour of his way , iac. 5.20 . but all this ( for ought i can see ) doth not contradict what i said before , viz. that a mans inordinate affections , and his enraged appetite , do raise the mist , that clouds and darkens him , so as to wander after vanities and lye● , and forsake his own mercies . and all serves ( as i suppose ) to our present purpose . men are commonly worse in their practices , than in their principles , as i said before ; and yet i deny not , that they are corrupted in both . for it is not , to me , imaginable , how a man should be corrupted in one , and not in the other . but this we find by experience ( which is all i mean ) that men commonly have better principles than practices . hence so many , that are sound in the faith , as to their perswasions of the truth of religion , in their lives are most abominable . and what need we any more witnesses , to convince and condemn these men ? their own opinions are enough to confute their practices , and prove ●hem rebels against the light . and can they complain , they have not light to see their way ●o heaven ? they have enough , and too much , unless they could use it better . how usual is it for notorious sinners , and most abominable vicious persons , to plead for the ten commandments , when i know no body against them , but such as they , and their fellows ? they know , and can repeat the ten commandments , and say they are gods commandments : and yet a civil man cannot abide within the breath of these men , because every other word almost is an oath with them . a man would hardly believe , that men should lead their lives all the week in such excess , and all manner of uncleanness , and yet on sundayes cry out so devoutly ( as they seem to do ) at the reading of every commandment , lord have mercy upon us , and encline our hearts to keep this law. do not these men proclaim gods commands to be their principles , and yet contradict them in all their practices ? they dare not , they cannot for their hearts , say with their mouths , that swearing , and drunkenness , and adultery , &c. are not sins , and transgressions of gods laws ; and yet they live in a constant practice of all such abominations . now what shall we think of these men ? they have a light sufficient to shew them the errour of their way . they do not indeed set it on a candlestick , but rather under a bushel . though it be not quite put out , yet it shines not so , as they can see any thing by it , as they ought . and i can conceive no other reason , why the light in these men is so useless , but only that it was never strong enough , to work an absolute thorow conviction , as when gods spirit convinceth of sin , &c. ioan. 16.8 . the lusts of these men were never subdued to the power of their principles . th●y could perhaps , some of them , discourse the vanity of the creature , and the emptiness of all worldly things , even to admiration ; and ye● all the while , love the world , and the things of the world , no men more . grant that there is in such men sometimes a reluctancy , it cannot but be faint and feeble , and in effect as good as none at all . nay , what if i say , it serves only to enhance their lusts the more , as weak opposition gives an enemy the greater advantage , 〈◊〉 let out more of his rage and strength , than otherwise perhaps he would . certainly , men ●o made up of a mixture of passion , and some reason , are as much plung'd into all sensual and beastly pleasures , as any ; becau●e the stream of their lusts is stronger , than to be stopt by any principles they have . yea , they are in a more ready way , to put darkness for light , and to call evil , good , than any men alive ; so as at last ▪ the light that is in them , is no better than the blackness of darkness it was even so with the pharisees , luc. 16.14 . when our saviour had most excellently discours'd the right use of all earthly riches , and shew'd , that men cannot serve god and mammon , they heard these things , and derided him . a practice too common amongst others , when a savory doctrine about some duty , press'd home upon conscience , hath found no better entertainment with many of the auditors , than a dry scoff , or some bitter reproachful language against the preacher . but why did the pharisees deride our saviour ? there was a reason , and it is express'd in the same place , they were covetous . the love of money is the root of all evil , 1 tim. 6.10 . there never was an heretique , or apostate , or any man reprobate to every good work , that had not this , or some other root of bitterness springing up , and turning him aside to be hardned , past all hope , in his ungodly way . demas hath forsaken me , 2 tim. 4.10 . and if you read on , it is to be seen in the next words , why ? he had embraced this present world. all ages afford great store of such s●d instances . many , like ionathan ( as one saith ) follow the chase with a greedy pursuit , till they light on the honey . demas had no sooner left paul , but he went to thessalonica , where he became an idol-priest , as some report . when such men have been provoked , by missing of expected preferments , or have had the lure of promotion flung out to them , the next news you hear of them , is , that they are not where you left them , but are gone some-where ; and if you desire to know , look in iud. v. 11. and you sh●ll find , what way they are gone , and upon what account , and what will be the issue of all at last , if you please to observe that also by the way . they ( you must know ) hoyse up , and strike sayl again , as the wind serves , and sometimes tack about , only to steer a course , that will serve for present security , or future further advantages . when religion is in fashion , they presently fall in with a goodly out-side profession , so as few can keep pace with them . but when once the wind , that was on their backs , begins to turn , and blow in their teeth , then ( as we say ) faces about , and who more zealous persecutors , than such hot-spur professors ? now may i not say of these , have they not heard and known ? doubtless they cannot be ignorant . balaam knew well enough , that he ought not to curse israel ; and yet the wretched wizard attempted it again and again , because he loved the wages of unrighteousness ; and balack's proffer'd rewards blear'd his eyes , as he saw not , what he did see . so is it with every man , that hath no more grace than he . 't is no hard task for any man of ordinary understanding , to conclude , that the way of uncleanness , drunkenness , swearing , &c. is not for professed christians , or civil rational men to walk in . yea , many have sometimes resolv'd against them , with vows and imprecations ; and yet the next opportunity of a temptation breaks all these bonds , and the doggs are turned to their vomit again . the reason of all is clearly to be seen , and it is this : they have their lucid intervals , as other madd men have ; and then they can see a little , the baseness of their own wayes . but as soon as lust is stirr'd , there rises a mist , and then they are as if they had no eyes ; and whatever principles they have , they serve them for nothing that good is . the light in these men , is as the uncertain blazings of a candle , burnt down into the socket , that will not serve a man to do any work ; and after it hath flash'd a while , goes out with a snuffe , and a stink . 't is not long e're these men lye down in a dead sleep , and there 's no hope of awakening them , after their interests and passions have subdued their principles , so as to have no more reflection upon their consciences and practices . these are awhile perhaps orthodox in their principles , but no thanks to them , for they are honest only , because not tempted to be otherwise ; and being alwayes hypocrites in heart , no marvel , if they come at last to be heretiques , not only in their practices , but in their opinions also . however , we must say of these , that they say , and do not : or ( which is all one ) they know , and do not . they profess what they do not practice ; and is not this enough to silence them , when they say , if we had known , we would have done better ? for they lye in what they say ; and if they had a mind to fight it out with their lusts , they would never complain , they have not light enough . no wicked men are so ignorant , as not to know , that they are out of the way : only the violence of their sinful affections hurry them o● against their reason . and will this ( think you ) excuse them ? it may indeed blind them a w●ile , but it will not bear them out , when god sh●ll call to an account . arg. 7. and now i shall a little enforce the former reason , by adding another argument , if you please to ●all it so , viz. that prophane and ungodly wretches , who profess the faith of christ , do condemn themselves , by allowing the practices of the saints recorded in scripture . they say , the apostles , and others , were good men , and are now in heaven . and what can they answer , if they be ask'd , why do you not then trace their footsteps ? they dare not say , those saints in heaven , ( whom they so much magnifie ) went thither in that way they themselves walk in . and truly it is much , that some men should so magnifie th● dead saints , and shew themselves devils all the while , in vexing those that are alive . a man may truly say to those wretches , that the saints in heaven , led not such lives on earth , as they do , and therefore will be witnesses against them . i have heard indeed , that some impudent hardned sinners have been so bold , as to speak of the saints infirmities , recorded in scripture ; as if their own enormities might be pass'd over , as well . but if they were not unreasonable , as well as ungodly , they might know , that those good men once fell into great sins , but did not lye in them , or make a trade of them . if these men would repent and turn , as those saints did , their case were quite otherwise , than now it is . those saints were in their constant practice holy and righteous men , no such debauch'd and vicious persons as these . and how comes it to pass , that they have so much respect for those holy men , whose lives and conversations they never care to follow ? certainly , in honouring those good men , they in a sort allow of goodness and holiness , and so condemn themselves , in doing contrary to what those men did . saint paul , and saint peter , and the rest , were men that led their lives in all puritie and holiness , free , and far from the pollutions , and unclean practices of these men , that so much cry them up . what do they then , in their thus magnifying the saints of old ? why , they do , as the scribes , and pharisees , mat. 23.29 . who built the sepulchres of the prophets , &c. and thereby laboured to gain a reputation with the vulgar , for bearing so much respect to the memorie of those men of god. for by this , they seemed to assert their doctrine , and so would make the world believe , that they were zealous professors , and followers of that way of worshipping of god , which the old prophets had taught long before . but alas ! they were strangers , and enemies to all that the prophets had taught , and practiced . and just such hypocrites are others , who pretend to honour , and respect very much the old saints , and martyrs , and yet are in their affections , and conversations all one , with those that slew them , and shew'd all rage , and madness against them . nor will it suffice to say , as the scribes , and pharises did , vers . 30. if we had been in the dayes of our forefathers , we would not have been partakers with them , &c. for ( as one saith well on this place ) an herod , and herodias to iohn baptist , would have been an ahab , and a iezabel to elias . they that declare against their forefathers cruelties , do not thereby disclaim them ; specially , when they are the same to good , and godly men now , as their fathers were to those of old . for what do many wicked wretches ha●e , and scorn , and persecute now ? is it not the life of holiness , and power of godliness ; such as was in the saints of old ? nay ; they cannot abide to hear the very doctrine of the apostles and prophets preach'd to them , in the manner that the apostles and prophets preach'd it of old in their times . and do not these ungodly men prove by their dayly practices , that they are such as they who persecuted the prophets , and apostles . well ; however they hav● this as an evidence against them , that they seem'd so much to allow of holiness and godliness in the saints departed , and yet walk'd clean contrary to them . they that will but observe the acts of the apostles , and their epistles ▪ may easily perceive the vast difference and dissimilitude , that is in the lives and doctrines of them , and these that pretend so much reverence to their names . and whatever men may imagine for a while , those old saints will one day be so many swift witnesses against all that have seemed to reverence their memories ▪ and yet never imitated their examples . for the most they do , is no more than the pope doth : he is ( if you will believe him ) peter's successor ; but for life and doctrine ho● like to peter , any man may see that reads the scripture . even as many others , who would be thought of the same religion with the primitive christians and antient martyrs , but if they would live as holily and unblameably as they did , what they say would be sooner believed by others , than now it can be . arg. 8. men say , they want light , and means to know , and do better ; but they lie in so saying : for they will not endure sound doctrine , nor any that preach it . in this i appeal to the practice of ungodly men in all ages , which furnish us with instances enough , of such rebels against the light . for scripture-instances , they are well known to all that have read the bible : there is to be seen , how the iews mocked the lords messengers , and despised his prophets ; so as stephen makes the challenge , which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? and what they did to gods servants , the prophets , the same and worse they did to him that was the son of god ; they cast him out of the vineyard , and slew him , mat. 21.39 . and afterwards held on to persecute the apostles and other dispensers of gospel-grace , seeking , if it had been possible , to extinguish that light which the sun of righteousness had brought into the world . and was it not so with others afterwards ? how long did the roman heathen emperours persecute the faith of christ , in the preaching and profession of it ? in one word , they did what they could , to make the name of christ and christian to be no more remembred . and for their successors , ( excepting constantine the great , and some that succeeded him at times , ) they drave on the same wicked design , though in a way somewhat differing : iulian ( who came not long after constantine ) is infamous among all to this day , for his apostasie and politick designs to root out all christianity . and what hath been since done by the power of the beast , is well known to all that felt his clutches by sad experience , and to all others by certain report . the gospel is still , through gods mercie , preach'd and professed , yea more openly and avowedly in this and the last age , than in many ages before . but no thanks to many ungodly men , who have let the light shine , b●cause they could not put it out . who hath not read , or heard what hazards the first reformers ran , and what despightfull opposition they met withall ? and to this day , how impatient are many of some kinde of preachers and preaching ? o the frequent quarrels that have been against the most able and painfull ministers , for nothing but their labours and endeavours to turn the people committed to their charge , from their ungodly wayes ! the same spirit that swayed the scribes and pharises , and others against our saviour , in his time on earth , breathing still in too many , who will have always somewhat to say against faithfull and painfull ministers , as the iews had against christ , though to no purpose more , than to bewray their own ignorance , malice , and madness . and i shall now give some instances , as i finde them , that so men may see themselves precedented in the scribes and pharises , and infidel hard-hearted iews that liv'd in our saviours time . mat. 22.23 . the sadduces could not believe the resurrection , and a stout argument they bring to puzzle our saviour withall ; an instance of a woman that had seven husbands successively , &c. and what did all this prove more , than their ignorance of scripture , as christ tells them ? vers . 29. at another time , when some said , this is the christ ; others said , shall christ come out of galilee ? ioan. 7.41 . and they alledge scripture for it , that christ cometh out of bethlehem , v. 42. and this bred a quarrel among them , of which there was no cause , nor the least occasion , more than their own ignorance : for had they had more grace , or wit , they might easily have reconciled themselves by knowing that christ was born in bethlehem , though bred up in galilee , for good reason , according to the scripture , mat. 2.23 . such was their exception against christ , ioan. 6.42 . is not this the son of ioseph ? he was indeed god manifest in the flesh ; and the scriptures had plainly enough pointed him out as abraham's seed , and david's son. to say no more in this kind ; nothing but ignorane of the mysterie of faith , and a froward humour could make them say , how can this man give us his flesh to eat , ioan. 6.52 . it shews they had a minde to quarrel , and nothing else ; as when ioan. 7.15 . they askt , how knoweth this man letters , having never learned ? saith calvin on the place , hoc ipso despiciunt gratiam dei , quia ipsorum captum superat . nam ea est hominum ingratitudo , ut in aestimandis dei operibus , semper sibi accersant errandi materiam : men study wayes and means to make themselves mistake , when they have to deal in the matters of god , and their own salvation : they are blind enough in the thing● of gods kingdome , and yet quick-sighted too in devising stumbling-blocks to hinder themselves and others from obtaining a sound and saving knowledge of the truth . and hence , ioan. 7.28 . when they were a quarrelling , and saying , when christ cometh , no man knoweth whence he is , he cryed in the temple as he taught , ye both know me , and ye know whence i am . where ( saith calvin ) christ inveighs against their madness , that pleasing themselves in their false conceits of him , they shut up against themselves the right way of knowing him as they ought : as if he should have said , by your knowing all things , you know nothing at all . and so they were , as some since , apt to pick quarrels with some ministers especially , and to gain a reputation of knowing men , do talk at a very high rate of others low parts ▪ and learning : these are the champions , that lead up others to quarrel all doctrines preach'd , unless they please their humour , or sute with their high-flown conceits and notions : but ( as calvin hath it somewhere , ) there is no worse plague or pestilence can take hold of men , than to be intoxicated with a conceit of their own understanding , and to be carried by it , to a confident slighting whatever agreeth not with their own opinion ; s●ch great rabbies are ready to say , this people who knoweth not the law , are cursed ; they know so much , as others can know nothing ; and yet know nothing as they ought to know , or what 's worth others learning ; seeing in their lives they savour nothing of true religion and godliness : whatever their learning be , their religion ( if any ) is very ordinary , and they are ignorant enough too of the right way and method of bringing poor ignorant souls to the sound and saving knowledge of christ. there is ( let me say ) a simplicity in the mysterie of christ , and of godliness , which if a man once savour , he hath the only best way to teach others convincingly ; and he that 's not acquainted with it , will be but a sounding brass , and a tinckling cymbal , though he should speak with the tongue of men and angels . and therefore , if the men that quarrel the simplicity of preaching , that sutes best with the capacities of people , be not guilty of ignorance , it is to be feared , there is somewhat else as bad , or rather much worse . they had need look , that this quarrelsom humour proceed not from a root of malice , and enmitie against the things of god , as i fear it doth ; for the mysteries of gods kingdome being of highest concernment , and most excellently usefull to all , deserve none of our quarrellings . but when men cannot abide to deny their humours and interests , to receive the kingdome of god as little children , no marvel if they kindle a fire , and are all in a flame , even to rage against god and his pure word ; which because they are asham'd to own , they must colour it over with somewhat that may be thought worthy of their indignation . and 't is strange to see , how witty the most are , to cover the shame of their malice , in devising and finding out occasions of quarrelling at those things which concern their salvation . sometimes they have quarrell'd a ministers infirmities of body , which are not his sins , but his sufferings ; and if they can spy out any other failings , ( though no more than infirmities , incident to the best of men ) what sad work will their little wit make of them , to hold up a cursed prejudice against all that is taught them , in order to the saving of their souls ? sometimes he is a man of no great parts , and sometimes he is not so well bred , as to know very much of complement ; or is utterance is bad , or somewhat else there is , that they do not like him : some are too wordly , and many are too fashionable . and i verily believe , there is not one of them without his faults ; nor am i now about to excuse any thing that 's blame-worthy . onely , i say again , there 's a root of bitterness in the hearts of all men , and from this root spring all , or most of the quarrels , that are against painful , and faithful ministers . were it not for this , men could never be so apt to pick up , and spy 〈◊〉 so many occasions of exception against them . in a word , they like not the doctrine , and how should they be pleased with him that brings it ? he that likes not the physick , will never be pleased with the doctour , whatever he be . truly , that which the holy ghost hath recorded of ahab is worthy our observation : when iehoshaphat said , is there not here a prophet of the lord besides , that we might enquire of him ? yes saith ahab , there is yet one man , but i hate him ; for he doth not prophesie good concerning me , but evil , 1 reg. 22.8 . he confesses him to be a prophet of the lord , but yet he cannot away with him , and you see his reason for it . alas ! what should a man of god ( as micaiah was ) prophesie other than evil , concerning such a one as ahab , who had sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the lord , 1 reg. 21.20 . i know no occasion given by some ministers , more than micaiah gave to ahab ; and yet they are hated . and therefore the quarrels of many ( whatever they say ) are against god , and his word . 't was god that put the word into the mouth of micaiah , and 't is god that puts the sentence of condemnation into the mouths of ministers , that ungodly sinners are damn'd , if they live and die impenitent . and all these quarrel some people cannot but know , it is so . and yet they quarrel the ministers , for preaching damnation , and driving men to despair . for my part , i never knew , or heard of a minister , that had forgotten god and himself so farr , as to pass sentence upon sinners , otherwise than as god hath pass'd it in his written word , and as christ hath twice expressed it , luc. 13. v. 3 , and 5. except ye repent , ye shall perish . and this exception is alwayes intended and implyed , though in many texts of scripture it be not express'd in terminis . and thus the most thundring denunciations of vengeance , against ungodly sinners , from the ministers , should be by all understood ; so as there would be no quarrel upon that account , if there were not in mens hearts a root that beareth gall and poyson . ro. 2.8 . the apostle joyns the contentious , and the disobedient together . and why ? because they never goe asunder . when a man cannot frame himself to obey , then he seeks out some occasion or other , to contend against the truth ; else how shall he satisfie himself and others in his disobedience ? seldome do men arrive at such an height of desperate rebellion against god , as to proclaim their enmity , with open mouth , in plain down-right terms : no , there must be some colour , and this is one , that they are not satisfied about their ministers . and 't is not strange , for they are indeed unsatisfied with the very word of god. and hence some are ever and anon questioning , how such or such a place of scripture may be reconcil'd with another . now , for my part , i blame no man for seeking to satisfie himself in any seeming contradiction : and more than seeming , i am sure , there is none ; unless the transcriber , or printer , may have abused the text in some one copy or edition . but men had need look to their own hearts , whether there be not an inward secret desire , to find out somewhat , that may countenance that contradiction , which is naturally in all men against the laws & wills of god. one thing i have observ'd too often , that some are very inquisitive this way , who seem not to be overmuch affected towards scripture : or , however they be affected , they shew little conformity to it in their conversations . now , my advice , upon this occasion , is ▪ that most men would let more difficult places of scripture alone , and study those which are more easie to be understood . there can be nothing plainer than gods commandments , and all those precepts which concern our duty in denying all ungodliness , &c. in all those ▪ i am sure , there is not the least shew of contradiction , and for the places , that seem not so well to agree , let the advice of sober and learned men be desired , with an unfeigned intention , to know the mind of god , in order to our practice . 't is the observation of one , that it is the sign of a man inclin'd to atheism , to keep a register of many difficult places , not to be satisfied himself , but to puzzle others . sure , they that are often in setting many places of scripture to fight one against another , may be suspected of a desire to make a real contradiction , where there is but a seeming one . to say no more of this , the contradictions in scripture , that seem so to us , are not therefore such indeed ; and if we , and others , cannot reconcile them , we should rather impute ignorance to our selves , and think , that we mistake things that differ , as if they were contradictory . the argument i have next before prosecuted , was drawn from the aptness that is in most to quarrel their ministers . and what manner of ministers are they , who are so much expos'd to quarrels ? to be sure , they are none of the worst . for they that are so apt to quarrel some , upon any account , can like others well enough , though indeed they deserve little respect , being the unsavory salt , fit for no place , but the dunghill . but they like them well enough ; the worse they are in themselves , the better they are to them . if the ministers will deal by them ( as david would have had his beloved absalom dealt withall ) gently and fairly , and not speak too loud , for fear of waking them , 't is as much as they care for . so there be somewhat , call'd preaching , and the minister be sometimes in the pulpit , no great matter what he , or his preaching be . they love a sermon , that will lay them asleep ; and sometimes somewhat , that will set them ( perhaps ) a laughing . and when 't is so , they can sit out a whole glass , and have much patience . but they cannot abide ▪ rayling ( as they call it . ) they would have preachers keep to their texts , when indeed they cannot abide sound doctrine , that ransacks conscience , and searcheth out their sins , though it be deliver'd in the very language of scripture , and be the express doctrine of the prophets and apostles . and yet they are pleas'd at heart many times , to hear , that which is rayling indeed , that is , gibing , and jeering , and girding at the wayes of truth and holiness , under such nick-names and misprisions , as the devil hath devis'd to put upon them . these are the men , that in all their lives , never met with any solid arg●ments , or reasons sufficient to convince them ▪ they could never light on such preaching , or preachers , as could perswade them to goe in some mens wayes of preciseness , or prevail with them to change their way . and all this is too true , and i am sorry for it ; though not so sad , as these men will be one day , if they be no better perswaded . true , they have heard some of those ministers , that are so much cryed up by some ; but they could never see in them , any such light , as was to them convincing . and all this i believe , without any more proof , though it be nothing to their purpose . there were multitudes that heard the son of god preaching to them , and were not perswaded or convinced , but many were the more hardned : what then ? was it because there was not light enough in the sun of righteousness , that so many did not see it ? he knew well enough how to preach so , as the auditory might be most profited . he taught ▪ ●s one having authority , and not as the 〈◊〉 ▪ never man spake , as he spake , joan. 7.46 . at nazareth all bare him witness , and wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth , luc. 4.22 . and yet were offended at him , as appears in the next words : is not this joseph 's s●n ? so it is still ( as one saith on that place ) the course of our hearers is , to look round about , if possibly they may find any hole in our coat , through which to slight , and slip the cords of our doctrine , though they cannot but admire it . our saviours doctrine was not his own , but his fat●ers that sent him , joan. 7.16 . and for the manner , he had the tongue of the learned , esay ●0 . 4 . he deliver'd himself so plainly , that the simplest might understand him ; and yet so powerfully , th●t his enemies confess'd , he t●●ght the way of god truly , mat. 22.14 . he was none of those illiterate , careless , and cold preachers , that can only tire out their auditors , o●●●ll them asleep . and yet all his labour was in vain , as to the most of those that heard him . surely the fault was in them . for they must needs have seen the glorious light , that shin'd in his sermons , if they had not shut their eyes , that they might not see it . we may well think of them , as of others , who will goe after their ●●ind guides , even when the light of the glorious gospel shines most clearly before them . our saviour in the dayes of his flesh , was as much cryed down by many , yea , as any of his servants since , or before . this is an hard saying , who can hear it ? ioan. 6.60 . so spake some of his doctrine . yet there are none amongst us , but will say , it was the fault of his auditors ; and that all his doctrine was true , and right , and good . if an angel from heaven should preach the gospel of christ , he should not perswade , or please some men . and 't is no marvel , seeing god himself could not preach to perswade the unbelieving iews . there 's light enough in the sun , though blind folk cannot see it . surely , the light of gospel-grace hath broken out , and shone most gloriously in these our times , though many thousands have shut their eyes against it ▪ and still remain in the blackness of sin and ignorance , because they loved darkness rather than light , joan. 3.19 . and as light as men make of it now , god will come , and not keep silence ; 〈◊〉 fire shall devour before him , and it shall be very tempestuous round about him : he shall call to the heavens from above , and to the earth , that they may judge his people . his people are israel after the flesh * , such as were outwardly in covenant with him , and an holy nation , to whom were committed the oracles of god , as they are now to others . they are in our english translatio● call'd his saints , or holy ones ; by others , his meek ones . the original ( as farr as i understand ) notes those that have obtained favour and kindness from the lord : so had all abrahams seed , in comparison of the gentiles ; though we may say with good reason , that all are so called , because some among them were truly sanctified , inwardly and really in covenant with god. certain it is , that god in that place , sounds an alarum to all ungracious and hypocritical professors , that applaud themselves in the ceremonious outside of true religion , when they are as farr from the life and power of it , as professed infidels . such are too many now adayes , that have nothing of true religion , beside the name and profession ; shewing in their lives and conversations , an implacable dislike of true holiness . they will abide no more , than a bare outside form of somewhat that 's call'd religion ; and a ministry they will have for the management of this religion , as suitable as ieroboams priests were to his calves . as for such a dispensation of gods ordinances , as hath life and power in it , they will not endure it ; for they are resolv'd to serve their ●●sts , in all manner of unrighteousness and ungodliness . and these are the men , that cry out , they are not satisfied in their consciences , but they must have more light to convince them , and better arguments to perswade them , or ever they can embrace those precise wayes , which some would have to be the only good way , that leads men to their happiness . such were the iews of old , that persecuted the prophets , and would abide none , but those that cryed peace , peace to them , even whilst they walked after their own imaginations , and did those things that brought upon them the curse and vengeance that god had threatned against them . now , whether these , and such as these , have any just cause to complain of god , for being wanting to them in the means of grace , and saving knowledge , let any judge . i must proceed . arg. 9. to all aforesaid , i shall add that humour in many , so like to what was in the scribes , and pharisees , and others in our saviours time , who would have of him a sign from heaven . so are many now adayes , that cannot be satisfied , without some extraordinary appearances of god , that may be an infallible demonstration of the doctrines , so much commended to them , for their instruction in righteousness . no question , they that have fill'd the world with stories of strange miracles , pretended to be done by their party ▪ in all ages , for confirmation of their way , were sufficiently aware of this humour in men ; and the apostle hath given all the world a fair warning of it , 2 thess. 2.9 , 10. the rich man in h●● was of the mind ▪ that if one went from the dead unto his brethren , they would repent . but we have no great cause to be much taken with his opinion , when we consider in what place he was ▪ specially when we have the opinion of abraha● in heaven to the contrary . he was indeed in a great mistake , as well as many others on earth . an uncircumcised heart will not regard the commands of god , though they be sent by the hand of an angel. israel had the law from the mouth of god himself , and yet they continued not in his covenant * . many instances there have been of men , that , in the midst of gods most terrible and miraculous appearances , have taken occasion of letting out their malice the more . israel provoked god at the sea , even at the red sea , psa. 106.7 . psa. 78.32 . for all this they sinned still , and believed not for his wondrous works . i will not say , that all wicked men have been alwayes alike affected , as they were then and there : for gods judgements in the earth , have sometimes cool'd the courage of his stoutest enemies , so as they have not dared to go forward , as otherwise they would have done . the plagues upon egypt , put pharaoh sometimes into a good mood , and made him to relent a little for the present : but he was never the better , though awed a while by the hand of god against him . we read indeed , act. 9.6 . that the lord jesus appeared to saul ( afterwards call'd paul ) in a dreadful manner , and struck him down to the ground , in order to his conversion : but that was only to tame him , that so he might be talk'd withall . if the lord had then left him , and taken no more thought and care of him , i may well question , whether saul would have ever been the better man , for that terrible appearance of god to him . sure i am , that god instructed him by his own immediate voice from heaven , and then afterwards sent him to a●anias , by whom ( as a minister of god ) he was taught , what he must do . and if it had not been thus , we may justly doubt , whether paul had ever been setled in a sound belief , or encouraged to a zealous profession , and preaching of the gospel . i am willing to grant , that the lord hath taken some such course with some others , for their conversion : i mean , he hath , by his hand , brought them down to the earth ▪ and made afflictions to tame their proud and haughty spirits , so as they have said , it was good for them , that they were so handled and humbled . but afflictions do but tame men , gods word and spirit alone teach them , and bring the heart to a due acknowledgement of gods authority . and this is certain , because though some have been wrought upon by gods more than ordinary appearances to them , in his providential dispensations ; yet others have remain'd as pharaoh did , and never were humbled so , as to make their peace with god. men may think ▪ if an angel from heaven did preach to them , o● a damned soul from hell appear to them , to confirm by their testimony , the truths that are often tendred them , by men like themselves , they should certainly believe , and obey , and make no further question : but they know not of what spirit they are . never was there such a sign from heaven , as the son of god dwelling in our flesh ; and yet how little were the iews satisfied with it ? no , not in the least , but they must have some other sign to demonstrate him , to be what he was , or else they could not believe on him . yea , and though they had their desire in this also , yet all was to as little purpose : for though he had done so many miracles before them , yet they believed not on him , joan. 12.37 . if any suppose , they could not see the sun of righteousness , because he was clouded over with our flesh : i say , that that veil served only to allay the exceeding brightness of his glory , which otherwise no mortal eye could have been able to approach or behold . it did not hide him so , as they could not possibly see him ; but it shewed him so , as they might be able to look on him , as we can abide to look on the sun , shining through a bright cloud , which would dazle , and almost put out our eyes , if it shin'd out in his full strength . and therefore our saviour appeals to his works and doings , which were abundantly enough to shew , what he was , though covered under a cloud . if i had not done among them the works that no other man did ( saith he ) they had not had sin : but now have they both seen , and hated both me , and my father , joan. 15.24 . where by [ works ] he means all the evidences and demonstrations of his divine power , given by him , for their conviction . and to instance only in one , did ever man command and controll the devil , as he did , and that only in his own name and power ? this work of his , was such a clear and undeniable proof , as he thereupon charged some of them with the unpardonable sin , because they said , he had an unclean spirit , marc. 3.30 . they said , that what he did , was no more , than what witches and conjurers can do , by virtue of a compact ; when they could not but see , it was by the finger and power of god. this was blasphemy , not of ignorance , as pauls was , 1 tim. 1.13 . but of voluntary contumacy . for ( as calvin ) they sin against the holy ghost , who maliciously pervert , to gods dishonour and reproach , the mighty works of god , manifested to them by his spirit for this end , that they might thereupon shew forth his glory ; and so profess themselves enemies of god , such as the devil is . hence our saviour chargeth them with malice , ioan. 15.24 . ye have seen and hated both me , and my father ; because they so basely undervalued and blasphemed that power , which shewed it self in him , to be altogether divine . for he was not wanting to the work , which his father had given him to do ; and that work was , to shew himself to the world , to be , as he was , the son of god. for this end and purpose he did , what no other had done , or could do . but all could not satisfie an evil and adulterous generation , as he calls them , mat. 12.39 . they were still calling upon him for a sign from heaven . he had done indeed some miracles ( they could not deny it ) in curing some poor , sick and leprous persons : but what were these ? not enough , nor great enough to convince them , that he was the very christ. they must have a sign from heaven , such as ioshu● shewed , when the sun stood still , ios. 10.12 . or as esaias shewed , when the sun went backward , 〈◊〉 reg. 20.11 . or as moses shewed , when he mad● bread to come down from heaven . and thi● last they mention , ioan ▪ 6.30 , 31. what sign shewest thou , that we may see , and believe the● ▪ our fathers did eat manna , as it is written , he gave them bread from heaven . they must have such a demonstration , as might be an evidence beyond all contradiction . alas ! our saviour knew , as well as themselves , nothing he could do , would keep them from contradicting him . 't was only a vain and wicked pretence in them ▪ that if they could be assured , he was the messias , they would forthwith believe in him . but they dissembled , and christ calls them hypocrites , luc. 12.56 . and he sighed deeply in his spirit , marc. 8.12 . knowing it was their hardness and mal●ce , to make so much adoe about miracles . and this he proves , luc. 12.56 . ye can discern the face of the sky , &c. they were wise enough in other matters , and could make observations one day , what weather would be the next . and therefore he pincheth them close , v. 57. yea , and why even of your selves judge ye not what is right ? if they would but have examin'd their own consciences , and enquired there , what was right , and to be resolved upon in the case , they need be no longer in doubt . i have been the larger in this instance , because it serves to shew , what spirit they are of , who are ever and anon harping upon the same string , and making in a manner the same demands . o! if they had but a sign from heaven , if they could once be certainly assur'd of such and such matters , what would not they do ? they are as ready , as any men alive , to receive and entertain whatever shall be offer'd to them , as the mind and command of god. 't is pity they should live , that are otherwise minded . but you must bear with them , if they are not so well satisfied with some things ; for truly ( believe them he that lift ) they never had light clear enough as yet , to convince them . if these preachers , and they that pretend so much to preciseness , could but shew some sign from heaven , could but give some evidence of their way , such as could not be contradicted , they need not compass sea and land to make proselytes ; for they , and many more , would be at their devotion . but all this while , these men , that cannot be satisfied with any arguments ▪ can satisfie themselves in the constant practice of such abominations , as the heathens would be ashamed of , and swallow down every day such foul evils , as the light of nature and reason have sufficiently discover'd to all . truly these men are sick of the iews disease , who expected a messiah , such as god never promis'd or intended ; and when the messiah came in another way than they counted on , they would none of him , he was not for their turn , what should they do with such a one ? or what could he do for them ? they must have a messiah to reign in all worldly pomp and state , so as they might be a people , to rule over all the nations . a poor despised fellow , with a few fishermen to attend him , to be the messiah , so long expected . they can never be perswade● to this , unless there were more cogent arguments , than he had given them . just so do ●thers fancy to themselves a way to heaven , such as god never counted upon ; but the way of god indeed , such as christ hath laid out in his word , and traced it himself before them , a way of self-deniall , and crucifying the flesh , with the affections and lusts , who shall perswade them , that this is the way to heaven ? they can never believe it , unless a man come from the dead to assure them of it . and so they goe on quarreling with any thing , that looks but like true religion , and holiness , and circumspect walking , which scripture makes the only way to heaven . they see no such thing in scripture , nor can those strait lac'd preachers say enough to perswade them , there 's any necessity of so much preciseness , unless they could work some strange and unheard of thing , to demonstrate their nice opinions . and for the parts and gifts of those preachers , they know not but some others have as much learning as they , and yet are not of their mind . they must therefore do somewhat more than ordinary , or these men will never be perswaded to their way . to these men i shall say no more , than that the mind of god in scripture hath as full and uncontrollable authority , as any extraordinary revelations possibly can have ; and let them except what they can , i 'le undertake to shew as much , and more to be excepted against any way of revelation which they would have . they who are not satisfied with scripture , will be satisfied with nothing , whatever some pretend or imagine . and to say no more , it is a most absurd and unreasonable thing , for any man to expect revelations of gods will , in an extraordinary way , when he hath so fully and plainly made known all things , in a way less lyable to exception than any other . 't were easie to shew , how hard it would be for most men to discern true miracles from false . and what a business would it be , for every particular person to have a particular revelation . besides , such appearances of god would be more dreadful to poor creatures . not to say , how often the devil might transform himself into an angel of light . whereas scripture is a sure word , that hath been tryed , and alwayes found constant and consistent with it self . and for the truth of it , ( if there were no more ) it may contend upon rational grounds , for probability , with any pretence , that hath been , or ( i think ) can be to the contrary . and therefore to those that must have extraordinary wayes to convert them , i say , they are tempters of god , in tying him to miracles , when he hath appointed ordinary means ; and do in effect refuse the food that 's offer'd them , looking when god will rain bread from heaven upon them . arg. 10. that i may yet further evidence , that men want not light , but only neglect the means allowed them , i give this reason , that so many make a kind of profession , to be what indeed they are not , and cannot abid● to be counted as they are , and to be call'd by their own names . they that are as debauch'd as any mis●reants on earth , will not abide to be so accounted , yea , will avouch themselves to 〈◊〉 farr otherwise . he that uses deceit in bargaining upon all occasions , would be thought as honest as any man alive . the adulterer waitet● for the twilight , job 24.15 . and the adulteress wipeth her mouth , and saith , i have done 〈◊〉 wickedness , pro. 30.20 . now , when the vilest of men give it out , and would have others believe , that they are such as they should , and ought to be , is not this an argument of conviction , that they do know what they ought to do , and do the contrary ? where do you meet with any , that will openly proclaim their wickedness , or affirm that vices are vertues ; that drunkenness , swearing , &c. are duties that ought to be done ? no , for the most part , men are asham'd , and will not own these ; and yet continuing in the practice of them , do they not sin condemn'd of themselves ? they do know the baseness of their evil wayes , and notwithstanding goe on in them . and with what face can they plead , that if they had known the good , and the right way , they would have walked in it ? wherefore they shall be their own judges , when they are to be condemn'd before the lord at the last day . arg. 11. and why do many betake themselves to do somewhat for making their peace ( as they pretend ) with god ? this ( if there were nothing else ) serves to prove , they are somewhat convinc'd of their wayes and doings , that they are not so good as they should be . but in the doing of it , they discover the wretched untowardliness of their hearts , and how little they prize the things , which god hath promised to all them that diligently seek him . for commonly they betake themselves to pitiful poor shifts . it may be , when they are going out of the world , they can find in their hearts to spare a little somewhat to some good uses , after they have all their life long been making more poor , than all their estates are able to relieve ; yea , done more wrong , than their estates are able to recomp●●ce . and some will keep their church better , than ever before , if they live to it ; and sometimes read a chapter , or in some good bo●k . but for ransacking of conscience ▪ and ripping up old sins to the bottom , and renouncing the vain wayes , whereunto they are ( as all others ) inclin'd , and turning from all iniquity , and betaking themselves to the most strict and precise way of walking with god , in all his commandments blameless , as zechariah and elizabeth did , luc. 1.6 . as they never knew before , what belongs to them , so they are still willing to let them alone . they cannot be ignorant ( unless willingly ) that their duty is to be humbled , as low as hell , and to receive the sentence of death in themselves , and shew it in all possible contrition and humiliation , and denying themselves in all they formerly delighted in , and in walking so , as all that see them , may have cause to say , surely god hath wrought some great change upon them . but they can content themselves with less , and hope , god will be as well pleas'd with it , as they themselv●● are . so you shall have some turn'd , it may be from open prophaneness and debauchery , to 〈◊〉 more sober civil way of life , and perhaps somewhat of an empty outside formality . this is an acknowledgement , that god must have somewhat more , than he hath had formerly . but this poor pittance will be a strong evidence against them one day , that they did not follow hard after god , as they might and should have done . for if men did not wilfully shut their eyes against the light that shines in scripture , to shew the good and right way of see●ing after god , they could not but know , that the utmost degree of self-denial and mortification , with deepest humiliation before god , and all holy conversation and godliness , is the only way to find him . such slight work as they make , serves only to shew , they are not willing to do better , and therefore can in reason expect no great reward . for ( i say again ) men cannot be ignorant ▪ ( except willingly ) that the enjoying of god for their portion , is so rare and rich a prize , as nothing can be thought enough for procuring it ; and such a slight dealing in a matter of so great concernment , is an argument to evidence , that they goe against their own light , and so are condemned of themselves . and what do many in the whole course of their lives , more than trifle about somewhat , which is indeed nothing to any purpose ? they know after a sort , the only true way to eternal life , which is believing on the son of god. they are also ( we suppose it however ) sober and ci●il in their behaviour towards others . but for their religion towards god , it being ( we grant ) as to the outward profession , right as it should be , they content themselves with the outside , which is the easiest part of it , being least irksome to the flesh , and that which pinches least upon their worldly and fleshly interests . and thus they approve their skill , in finding out an easie way to heaven . for this i may ( i hope ) affirm without offence to any , that the protestant religion ( so call'd , and to me the only true religion ) in the bodily exercise , and outside observance , is farr more easie than any other . and there is good reason for it , seeing the grace of god , in these gospel-times , calls mostly for worshipping god in the spirit . the iews had an hard task ( indeed a kind of bondage ) in the outside of gods service , which put them to great pains and cost . but christians now have as little as may be of the bodily exercise , because the more full discoveries of gospel● grace call us now , to offer up our selves , as so many living sacrifices , holy and acceptable unto god , and call'd a reasonable service , because according as god hath prescrib'd . and ' ti● indeed the main and chiefest part of gods service now , to mortifie our earthly members , and crucifie the flesh , with the affections and lust● ▪ with abridging our selves in all that may gratifie self ; conforming our selves , and coming as n●●r as possible , to that more blessed and glorious 〈◊〉 ▪ wherein there will be no use or need at all o● these present comforts and accommodations . now what do many call'd protestants othe● ▪ than by their practices deny the great things o● the gospel , and contradict our saviour jes●● christ , in what he said , mat. 7.14 . that the gate which leads to life eternal , is strait , and the way narrow ? for they make it as wide and easie as any man can devise to make it . surely it is no● hard labour to goe to church once in a week , and receive the sacrament once or twice in a year , and say over by rote a few conn'd prayers once or twice in a day , when they are half asleep : and yet this is the most service that many do to god , and it may be doubted if many do so much . now , if the course these men take , b● the good , and the right way , they need not strive much , the gate is wide , and the way is broad enough , who can miss it , or goe beside it ? questionless , the very heathens serve the devil ▪ and their idols , at more cost , and charge , and pains taking , than all this comes to . to speak as it is , the true religion is the most easie of all others , as to the outward bodily exercise ; and all the difficulty that attends it , is in self-denial , being crucified to the world ; and in the more spiritual part of worship , whiles a man labours to keep his heart in a due frame and order , by watching against the secret risings of his inward corruptions , with all the subtle insinuations of satan , so as at all times , and upon all occasions , as well as in his more direct addresses to god , he is put to watch and ward , to fence and fight , and all little enough to prevent the assaults of his enemies , and preserve himself from the infection of sin . oh! what a difficulty is there in gathering up a mans thoughts and affections in duty , and keeping a strait hand upon them all the while ? to abandon vanity in discourse , and in our own hearts , to curb , and keep in , what will be ready to break out , yea ▪ and to nipp the early buddings of corruption , e're they grow , and get head , is work that will require labour , and care , and pains . so is it also , to have our conversation alwayes in heaven , by setting our affections on things above , continually musing and meditating on eternity , and that happiness which never shall have end ; with minding alwayes what may serve for the accomplishment of our desires , in the enjoyment of god ; and watching against all hindrances from the world , the flesh , and the devil , that may obstruct our passage ▪ whiles we are here in our pilgrimage . 't is no easie matter to deny our selves , in the desires of the flesh , specially , when we see the most to use a liberty , with a fair pretence of conveniency , and necessary accommodation . 't is hard to keep a bridle on our lips , and much harder to keep it on our hearts . and what ad● must there be , to observe and try our wayes , so as all may be according to rule ; and what diligence also is required , in calling our selves to an account every day , so as to clear up our evidences , that there may be nothing to interru●● a fair and free correspondency between god 〈◊〉 our souls ? now this harder part of christianit● many curtall , yea , cut it off , and cast it quite ●way , never caring for it , so much as seriously 〈◊〉 have any thoughts about it ; and content the●selves with an outside carkass ( as i may call it ) of the true religion , that hath nothing of life 〈◊〉 soul in it . however , they will one day fi●● ▪ that this easie and empty formality of bodily exercise , will be a swift witness against the● ▪ that they might have done better , if they would . arg. 12. to say no more in way of argument , let it be consider'd , wh●t many , yea most are wont to do , when they ar● in apparent hazards of death , or in any deadly dangers . do they not then , as the mariners , cry every man to his god ? then men are affected mostly one of these two wayes : either they cry out lamentably , yea , even howl for vexation of spirit ▪ bewailing their loss of precious time and their mis-spending those talents , which might have been employed for their souls advantage : or they lye as men struck in the head , and their heart ( as nabals ) dyes within them , so as they become as stones or stocks , that have no sense . now what doth this signifie ? even that , which i have been discoursing hitherto . so long as men have ease and health , youth and strength , and feel no evils or troubles , their lusts are lively , and alwayes kindling into a flame ; and hence there 's alwayes a mist of smoke and darkness in their souls , such as hides and overwhelms all the notions they have of god , or any thing that 's good , so as they never consider , what shall be the end of their madd mirth , sinf●ll vanities , or horrid impieties . but the sense of approaching death quenches all the ●lame of th●ir lusts , and when the smoke of that fire is ●●ce dispell'd , their natural principles , or any other light they have had , appear again to act , as they would have done before , had they not been ●●ppress'd , and as it were buried under the rubbish of fleshly and filthy lusts . to this purpose we may observe , what the psalmist hath , psal. 9.20 . put them in fear , o lord , that the nations may know themselves to be but men . they were intollerably insolent and outragious , taking no notice of god , nor caring for him , so long as they had their wills , and felt no troubles . hence the psalmist prayes god , to put them in fear , i. e. to bring upon them some horrible tempest of his wrath , and to give a proof of his power in some remarkable judgement , that so they might come to themselves . i have cited this text only to shew , that david was of this mind , that men will quake and tremble at the sense of gods judgements , which they would not before , so long as they feared no danger . and why ? because in times of prosperity , the smoke of mens lusts smothers the operation of all their principles , so as they can have no effect . but death hath a gastly look ▪ because it is a fore-runner of judgement , and men are appal'd at the very thoughts of it , p●●ting them off so long as possibly they can . however at last it comes , and then , when there 's ●o longer help nor hope , oh no such welcome ●●sitants as good people , nothing so desirable 〈◊〉 their prayers . they do not then rejoyce , 〈◊〉 boast themselves in their wickedness . no , 〈◊〉 are sorry for their sins , and wish they had 〈◊〉 their lives in wayes of godliness , truth and rig●teousness . questionless they are then tam●● ▪ and may be talk'd withall , at least the most of them . for now their eyes are opened , to see , what before they would not , but might have seen if they would . and is not this a cogent argument , to convince ungodly sinners , that they wittingly and willingly stifled the light that shin'd in them , to shew them the only way to rest and peace . who then shall bear the blame , but themselves ? this one evidence , if there were no more , is enough to give the verdict for god , against all ungodly men . i hope now enough hath been said , to prove the general proposition , laid down in the beginning , so as i may now proceed to make some application of the whole . but there 's one objection more , that must be removed , and it is this , or to this purpose , vizt . obj. that i have discours'd a great deal , to prove men guilty of their own destruction , by shewing , that they goe against their own light ●nd consciences , and so condemn themselves in what they do . but i have not all this while shewed them , how to find that good and right way , which leadeth unto life . this had need be done , and never more , than in these , and the late times . you tell us ( will some say ) a great ●eal of our wilfullness and frowardness , in going ●gainst our light . but can you tell , what light ●●all lead us , in so many perplexities of opinions , ●hen every one calls us to his way , and none of ●hem knows how to assure us , which is the good , and ●he right way ? you seem to make but one right 〈◊〉 , and how shall we know where it lyeth , when ●●ere are so many wayes cryed up , and every one is ●●tended to be the only good way ? we have need of ● clue to lead us out of such a labyrinth , for else 't is impossible for us to find our way . sol. this is indeed a question worth the an●wering , and 't will not be much beside my de●ign , to say somewhat about it . for the many various and different perswasions of men , in matters of religion , are enough ●o stumble those , who will be glad of any occa●●on , to quarrel the way of their own salvation . ●nd for their sakes , i shall say , what i am able , ●o give them satisfaction , if it may be . that there are many and different perswasions 〈◊〉 men , about the matters of god , is that which cannot be denied . but that those different perswasions ought to hinder our enquiries , or are a sufficient excuse for our carelessness , about the concernments of our souls , i deny , and for my denial i give these following reasons . first , if such differences were a ground su●●●cient to excuse us , then all that went heave● way , since the beginning of the world almost might plead it , as well as we . for what age or time can be shewed , when it was otherwise ▪ differences of religion are indeed sad , but th●● are no new things . adam's children were 〈◊〉 divided about religion , or else we had not 〈◊〉 of the sons of god , and the daughters of men , 〈◊〉 early in the world. 't is plain , they all 〈◊〉 profess'd not one way ; or if they did , they 〈◊〉 farr divided in their practices . as noah walk●● with god , when all flesh had corrupted his way ▪ and after the flood , were they not divided i● their religions , as much as in their language● ▪ who so reads the story recorded in genesis , may see the world was peopled with those , tha● serv'd some one god , and some another ; and few were they that serv'd the living and tru● god , in a right manner , and yet some such ther● were in all ages . how was israel divided , abou● the way of worshipping god , after the re●● made by ieroboam ? and not to be tedious in i●●stances , how many sects were there in chris● time , and before ? yea , and presently after th● gospel was published , how did sects arise an● swarm in every corner of the world ? and 〈◊〉 it hath been ever since , they must be very ign●●rant , that do not know . but what of all this ? god had his faith●ul servants , that followed him in the good old way of truth and holiness , in all those times ; and we never read or hear of any complaints they made , that there were so many opinions and perswasions , as they could not tell which to follow . no , they did , as all others ought to do , apply themselves to search and enquire what way god had prescribed , and seeking it in sincerity , with all their hearts , they found out that way , wherein they found rest to their souls . for this purpose , observe the resolution of gods people , as you have it , micah 4.5 . though other people pleased themselves in their superstitions , and opposed themselves against them , yet they resolved to stick fast to the wayes of god in his word . god indeed suffered all nations to walk in their own wayes , before christs coming in the flesh , otherwise than afterwards , in that gospel-grace was not published throughout the world equally and indifferently to the gentiles , as to the iews . and god hath since suffered men to arise in the christian church , and teach perverse things , and so there have grown many sects and parties in matters of religion , very different and contrary . but god never left men without light , to discern of things that differ , and to descry the good , and the right way , if they had pleas'd to make use of it ▪ the apostle faith , 1 cor. 11.19 . there must be heresies , or sects , and gives a good reason for it , as our saviour saith , it must needs be , that offences come , mat. 18.7 . yet no man hath any cause to complain , and say , we cannot see which is the right way , because of those heresies and offences . god by them puts us to use our best skill and endeavours , for finding out the good , and the right way ; and by those differences makes appear , who are sincere and sound at heart . for such there were , notwithstanding those differences , and such there are , and will be to the worlds end . hence nothing can be spoken more frivolous , than to say , there are so many religions , a man cannot tell which to chuse . it is all one , as for a man to say , there are so many lanes and turnings in his way to such a place , as he will never think of going thither , though his whole estate be in hazard , and no way to help it , but by such a journey ▪ what do men , when they are bound to travel , but resolve to goe on , and make the best enquiry they can to find out the way ? and so should we in this case ; and to be otherwise minded , is a very madness . 2 dly . the way to heaven is not so hard to be found , if we had hearts resolved to walk in it . there 's a great fallacy in the argument , which had need be discovered . for in truth , men deceive themselves by it , whiles they consider not , that their hearts are naturally at enmity with god , and his wayes ; and because they have no mind to goe where god commands and sends them , they frame an excuse , and pretend there are so many wayes , as 't is impossible to find the right . and to speak as it is , this is all the cause , and here lies all the fault . if men were willing to goe in gods wayes , they would never complain so much , of the difficulty in finding them . 't is an easie matter to find an excuse , when a man wants a good will to any thing , whatever it be . a lion is in all wayes , where the slothful man is to goe . 3 dly . and for this purpose consider farther , that the way to heaven must be discern'd and discover'd , by that which is the proper mark and character of it , as we find it in scripture . now , in the matters of gods kingdom , some are more essential , substantial , and of greater consequence , than others ; so as they who differ about some particulars , may yet be right in the main , and all in heavens way . 't were sad indeed , if every difference in a punctilio , should make another way to heaven . where are there two men in all the world , that are of one mind in every thing ? god forbid , that among the different perswasions , that are about some things , in the way of administring christs ordinances , we should allow of none to be in the way to heaven , that is otherwise minded in some particulars , than we our selves are . there are many roads to a great city , and yet they that goe the one , or the other , come alike to it , because all those several wayes have a tendency towards it . all the question is , and must be , whether the way we take , be such , as hath a tendency towards heaven ? and by the way , i think it the great mistake of some , to value men mostly , according as they are affected to their own private way , whatever it be ; whereas the valuation ought to be according to what men are in the main and great matters of godliness , viz. faith , hope , love , and all the fruits of them , righteousness , mercy , &c. for he that in these things serveth christ , is acceptable to god , and approved of men , ro. 14.18 . there are some foundation-truths of the gospel , wherein to mistake deliberately and constantly , is of desperate consequence . and there are the great matters of the law , wherein a willful constant neglect is inconsistent with true holiness . yea , though the errour or evil be in it self none of the greatest , yet when there is a persisting in them , after conviction , and against admonition , out of malignancy , i know not what to resolve better , than that the way of such men is not safe . but when there is an unfeigned desire , and an earnest endeavour , to know the good and right way , and a constant course in the practice of all services and duties to god and men , with a conscionable carefulness to avoid offence towards all , i know no reason , why such , though under different perswasions , in some particulars of no great concernment , should be otherwise looked on , than as the children of our father in heaven . therefore , as for the different perswasions of so many divided about some things , for want of light , they need be no occasion of stumbling to any . the way to heaven is easie to be seen , notwithstanding those differences . for whoever they be among those parties , that , in obedience to christ , have learn'd to deny themselves , and all ungodliness , &c. and to take up christs cross , and to live in the constant exercise of mortification , and crucifying the flesh , and do indeed lead their lives , in the main , according to the only rule of righteousness , they are in heavens way . thou , it may be , dost not like the perswasions of some of them : and i say , if thou lik'st them not , for me thou mayest let them alone . but thou perhaps likest not holiness , self-denial , and crucifying of thy lusts neither ; but art resolved to take thy full swinge in the pleasures of sin , and thy daily practice is , to serve thy fleshly desires to the utmost . thou art ( may be ) a drunkard , a common swearer , an unclean beast , living , lying down , and wallowing in the mire . now to thee , i say , whoever be in heavens way , ( to be sure ) thou art out of it . and thou must certainly resolve , to change thy way , or perish for ever . thou sayest , there are so many religions , a man cannot tell which to chuse . but in the mean time , thou art of no religion , thou hast not so much as a form and face of it . set aside thy going to church on sundayes , ( with what mind , thou thy self best knowest ) what is there of religion to be seen in thee ? in thy family , there is no shew of it , in prayer , and praise , and reading the scripture , and catechizing thy children and servants . there is to be seen all the week , labouring for the food that perisheth , by early rising , and late going to bed . there a man may hear oaths , and curses , and lyes , and filthy communication , and the best but vain and idle discourses ; but not a savory word , to shew any sense of god , and his goodness , from morning to night . there 's provision for the necessities of nature , to cloath the back , and fill the belly ; and provision too for the flesh , to fullfil the lusts thereof : but there 's nothing of god and godliness to be seen , no conscience made of sin to shun it , or of any thing that 's good to practice it . now , whoever thou art , that leadest such a life , i tell thee , whatever becomes of others , it cannot be well with thee in these wayes of ungodliness . thou vain foolish man , thinkest thou , that any religion can be worse than thine ? thou hast none at all , no not so much as a shew of it ▪ even turks and pagans may be , and some of them are , sober , temperate , just , and honest in their doings and dealings with others , which thou art not . wherefore , let there be never so many religions , i 'le rather chuse the worst of them , than to do as thou dost . and this i assure thee , whatever becomes of those many sects and parties , thou art in a sad condition , and hadst need think of changing it , as soon as thou canst . and if thou ask , which way thou shalt take among so many , i answer thus , that i will not perswade thee any way , but what ( i am sure ) is right , viz. to be honest and godly , and to forsake those wayes , wherein , whoever walks , shall never find rest . to follow peace and holiness , without which no man shall see the lord. to repent of all thy ungodly courses , and wayes of wickedness , whether open or secret . to walk circumspectly , and make straight steps to thy feet . to be holy and unblameable in all conversation , and to make conscience of every duty , according to the rule of the word . and this thou mayest do , without much adoe or dispute , except it be with thine own wicked heart . for those many parties that are , i am bold to tell them all , and every one of them , that they will find no comfort one day , in being of this side , or that , if they be not found in wayes of righteousness and holiness . and these are the wayes i would have thee take , and these thou mayest soon learn from scripture , where they are so plain , as a man may run , and read them . but one thing i must mind thee of again , viz. that thou who so quarrell'st at the many religions abroad , hast perhaps a quarrel in thy heart against god and godliness , and thou canst not endure any religion so , as to be tyed to any rule or law , more than thine own lusts. thou lovest to live at ease and pleasure , and likest no religion , but such a one , as will give thee leave to be licentious . to thee i say again , dipp and chuse , thou canst never change thy religion for a worse . and to change it , thou hast need , as soon as may be : for 't will be sad with thee , to dye in such a religion , which is indeed none at all , or good for nothing . do not thou look , how many religions and opinions there are , for that 's nothing to thee : but look to thy conversation , and see , whether that be such as becomes a christian. do thou love christ , and fear to sin , as much as any of all those different perswasions ; and shew thy self as humble , as honest , as upright , as conscionable , and every way as carefull to please god , as any of them all , and then thou dost well indeed . alas ! poor soul , what will it avail thee , to say , there are so many religions , thou knowest not which to take , so long as thou art resolved to walk in wayes of ungodliness , and to serve divers lusts and pleasures , and deny thy self in nothing , that will serve to please the flesh . this , to be sure , is not heavens-way , whatever it be . and therefore make no more question , about the many religions ▪ that are in the world , till thou art better resolved for that religion , which is plain and easie enough to be learn'd by any , that hath not a wicked heart against god , and all that is good ▪ resolve once to serve sin no more , and thou wil● presently see the way to heaven , as plain before thee , as thou knowest the way to thine own house or home . and now i shall make some application ●f all that hath been said , after i have giv●n one proviso , to prevent a mistake that may be ▪ i have hitherto shewed , how willful the wick●● world is , and how apt to take offence , even t● contend with god himself , about the wayes and workings of his grace and providence . say and do what you can or will , they will not be perswaded , but perhaps the more hardned . bu● though it be so with most of the world , yet beware , whatever you do , you give them no occasion of falling or stumbling . say not in thine heart , they are such as will perish , and it matters not , how we carry our selves towards them ; if they will be offended , let them be offended , we cannot help it . some , yea too many , will be offended ; yet take heed of giving them the least occasion of offence : for so hath the lord commanded , levit. 19.14 . thou shalt not put a stumbling-block before the blind , but shalt fear thy god. yea , deut. 27.18 . there is a curse upon him , that maketh the blind to wander out of the way . and our saviour denounceth a woe to him , by whom the offence cometh , mat. 18.7 . they are blind , and out of the way ; but in that , they deserve the rather , to be the object of thy pity , and prayers , and endeavours , to turn them from the errour of their way . what knowest thou , that they may not recover themselves , and come to repentance ? secret things belong to the lord , deut. 29.29 . that we are to labour their repentance , and by all possible means to endeavour it , in our capacities and relations , is revealed to us as our duty ; and if they will perish notwithstanding , we have delivered our own souls , their blood will be upon their own heads . our saviour indeed said of some , let them alone , &c. mat. 15.14 . i. e. have no regard to them , trouble not your selves about them , if they be offended , be not you offended however , because of them . but he allows not his disciples to offend them in the least . if men shew themselves contentious , malicious , and wilfully contumacious , as the scribes and pharisees , some of them were , let them alone , pass them by , but yet provoke them not to be more wicked than they are . true , we cannot do , what is our duty , but some will be offended , as the scribes and pharisees were at christ , for doing the will of him that sent him . but the offence was only taken by them , there was none given by him . he prov'd to be by accident a stone of stumbling , and a rock of offence , but never offended any . if we cannot do , what is our duty , without offence to some , the fault is theirs , not ours , because we may not , to please them , offend god , by disobeying his commands . some will be offended , if we will not pledge them in a drunken health : let them be offended , it need not trouble us . if we tamely do , as they do , we encourage them in their debaucheries , and so we offend them indeed , by helping them on towards the pit of destruction . wicked men make too much hast to the devil , we need not provoke ▪ or put them forward . indeed we have need be very careful , and as the apostle , iude v. 22. adviseth , to put a difference . some perhaps will rage , if we will not run to the same excess of riot with them : but better they rage , than we , by doing what they would have us , to provoke gods wrath against our own souls . a patient forbearance to do , as they do , and a with-drawing from them ▪ may be an effectual reproof , and work upon them afterwards . if there be no hope to fasten an admonition , solomon hath resolv'd the case for us , pro. 9.8 . reprove not a scorner . however comply not with him , to allow of his wickedness in the least . but be sure , not to give any occasion of falling to such as are weak , lest thy poor brother perish , for whom christ dyed , ro. 14.15 . the apostle was a singular precedent for this , he would eat no flesh whiles he lived , rather than offend his brother , 1 cor. 8. fin . how did he yield upon occasion , to avoid offence to the weak ? but as farr as i can remember , not otherwise . he yielded in those things , wherein he was fully satisfied in his own conscience and judgement . but how , and upon what terms ? never ( as i remember ) but to prevent the offence , that might be taken by weak brethren ; lest they might take occasion , by his not yielding in some things , to cast off all , and turn back again with the dogg to his vomit . we do not read of his so yielding to wicked willful sinners , that would have made no other use of it , than to reproach him , and ( which is worse ) the gospel too , by saying , he was a man of no principles , that would comply with any thing , to save his skin . we have a notable instance for this in galat. 2.3 , 4 , 5 ▪ when false brethren went about to infringe the liberty of christians , and bring them into bondage , 〈◊〉 gave no place by subjection , no not for an hour . for therein he had built again the things that he had destroyed , and encouraged the enemies of the truth in their opposition against it . yield i● any thing thou canst , to save a soul , to draw men on to a good liking of gods wayes , and putting them forward in them : but not one hairs breadth , to encourage them in their ungodliness ; for that 's offending them , contrary to the command of christ. and now i must call loud upon many , and even conjure them , to consider their wayes , whereby they have given so great occcasion of offence , to such as are openly and avowedly wicked . o! do not say , or think , such ungodly men shew themselves , what they are ; when they declare their sin as sodom , they are past shame , and past hope ; let them dye , and be damn'd , who can help it ? it may prove so , that they will dye , and be damn'd , and nor thou , nor any man else can help it , because they will not help themselves . but thou hast need look to it , that their death and condemnation add nothing to thine account . they perish for their contempt or neglect of that , which they should more carefully have look'd after : but what if your careless and loose walking , have been the occasion of making them to think , they need not be so carefull ; yea , perhaps , of slighting and setting at nought all the wayes of gods commandments ? surely , if it be so , the best that can be made or said of it , is this , that they are principals , and you are accessaries , as to their destruction ; and what comfort you can take in that , i beseech you seriously to consider . for be you well assured , that the ungodly lives of professed christians , will one day be aggravated by this , that when they lived ( as many thousands now do ) amongst professed infidels , they gave them occasion to have hard thoughts of christ and christianity , and to resolve , they would never goe to that heaven , where christians hope to come . for how shall such poor souls be brought to enquire after god , when they that profess themselves to be his servants , walk ordinarily in wayes of uncleanness , excess and deceit , &c. such as heathens know by natures light , to be against the mind of god ? the devil himself ( whom those barbarians serve ) can teach them no worse , than what they are learn'd by the evil conversations and examples of christians . how shall they be turned from the power of satan unto god , when they cannot see it will be for the better , but rather for the worse ? here i cannot omit , what the turks are wont to say , when another will not believe them , what dost take me for a christian ? it seems they have observed too much falshood amongst christians . now this is a lamentation , and let it be a lamentation , that the mouths of infidels are so much opened against all christians , and the mouths also of many professed christians against more eminent professors , to blaspheme , and say , are these the wayes and doings of those that serve christ ? are these practices becoming them , that pretend so much to godliness , and would be thought more ex●ellent than their neighbours ? what inference ( think you ) will infidels , and ungodly prophane men make from it ? surely this , and no other , let them goe alone for us , we are as well where we are already , we are not like to mend our silver , by taking the courses and wayes of these christians , these great professors ; nor can we be worse in the way wherein we now are : if they be not in all , as we are , they are certainly in some things as bad as we can be . and now i could ex tempore , and without any study , draw up a black bed roll of many and manifold gross miscarriages of many , that would be thought more eminent christians than their neighbours . but i shall content my self with this general admonition , in hope it may be improved to the right end of it , by such as cannot but know themselves faulty in many particulars , unless the god of this world hath quite blinded the eyes of their minds . o that these men would consider as they should , what to answer in the great day of account ! specially when it cannot be denied , that such horrid things have been done , as natures light ( if there were no other evidence ) cannot but condemn . i shall only add , they have been such , as whosoever ( that is but civil and sober ) hears , his ears cannot but tingle at the very report of them . the application . if all the ground and reason of all mistakes and miscarriages about the matters of gods kingdom , and our salvation , be our contempt or neglect of the means and helps which god hath allowed us , let every one by himself , make a serious enquiry , how he shall be able to clear himself in the great day of account . for god will certainly come , and judge , and try every mans work , and reward accordingly . and in this application of the foregoing discourse , i shall apply my self to all , and every one , that hath but so much of religion , as to acknowledge , that there is a world to come , after a little time spent here on earth , and that men shall be rewarded hereafter for ever , according to their present behaviour . this is no more of religion , than all , or most of heathens ever had , and still have ; though their conceptions about it , have been , and still are , but confused , general , imperfect notions , without any effect considerable . but yet , the main intent of all , shall be with a more especial respect to such as do , or might know more clearly , the things of their peace , than heathens can . to these i say , they cannot but know , that all who have lived since the world began , and shall live till it have an end , shall not be for ever as they were here on earth . and this our saviour shews plainly in the parable ( as i take it to be ) of the rich man and lazarus , luc. 16. v. 19. — 31. some receive their good things here , and some must wait for them till hereafter . and a great turn there will be , so as the scene shall be quite changed , as you may see v. 25. of luc. 16. for lazarus is comforted , and the rich man is tormented . now consider what hath been discoursed before , and see whither you are a going , and where you make account to arrive at last . there is , by your own confession , an happy estate and condition for some in glory , and honour , and immortality . and by what hath been said before , you may see ( if you will ) that nor you , nor any others , lye under any fatal necessity of perishing in your sins ; but that if you dye , and be damn'd , it is only through your own default . now be intreated , whiles it is called , to day , to consider your wayes , and bethink your selves , how those blessed souls , that have all their desires and hopes accomplished in the sight of god for ever , came to the enjoyment of their happiness . was it not in the way of repentance towards god , and faith towards our lord jesus christ ? did they know by immediate and extr●ordinary revelation , before they repented and believed , that they were of the number that should be saved ? or was the book of life opened to them , that they might read their own names there recorded , and so be encouraged to repent , and turn to god ? you cannot , when you are awake , imagine it ; or if you should , it is but as a sick mans dream , that never entred into the head of one that 's sober , and in his right senses . alas ! those now blessed soul● were once ( while upon earth ) foolish and disobedient , serving divers lusts and pleasures . they were by nature the children of wrath , even as others . they were of themselves inclin'd to th● things of this world , and traded and traffiqu● for them , as others do , till afterwards they came to know better . yea , all that died in the faith , before god was manifested in the flesh , and never had the discoveries of saving grace , such as have been since , even they by dimmer light chose the way to that place , where they shall be for ever with the lord. and who among us now , would not desire to be with those patriarchs , and prophets , and other holy men of god before and since the coming of christ ? now consider well , whether we take the same course that they took . read the eleventh chapter of the epistle to the hebrews , and see , what so many worthies of old did and suffered , and so by faith and patience inherited the promises . they stood not arguing and whartling , as many now do , putting questions , and framing exceptions , to excuse themselves from necessary duties , and to gain a little allowance to their fleshly desires . they were not frighted out of gods way , by bugg-bears of their own fancies , no nor by reall fears and expectations of the greatest hazards . you never read in scripture , that they made queries about gods decrees ; or resolved , as some do , that if they were elected , they should be saved however ; or that , if christ died not for them , there was no hope . you never read , that any of those , who are now in heaven , reasoned thus , that they could do nothing of themselves , and therefore would sit still , and fashion themselves to this world , because if god had any grace or mercy in store for them , they should be sure to have it in his time , though they never sought after it . did any of them do thus , and let all the care of their salvation lie somewhere else , without ever looking after it ? where do you read these things , or who told you so , that others may learn and know as much as you ? i have read much of their faith and patience , and patient continuance in well-doing ; and how by these they possessed the kingdom , prepared for them , through the grace of him that is heir of all things : but amongst them all , i read not of one , that took the course , that so many do now adayes . they were all of them humble souls , submissive in all things to the wills of god , and resolv'd to walk with god , in the midst of all the ungodly ones amongst whom they liv'd . they denied themselves , many of them , to the very death , and took joyfully the spoyling of their goods , and would not renounce the wayes of god , for all that a wicked world could do unto them , or lay upon them . this ( i say ) this was the way , wherein they went to heaven ; and they that know of any other way thither , than that of self-denial , and crucifying the flesh , with the affections and lusts , have made a discovery , such as none , who are now in heaven , could make before them . what remains then , but that we tread in their steps , do and suffer as they did , if we are call'd to it , and so wait for our happiness , and try , if we fare not as well as others that went before us . 't is sad to think , how most men fool themselves out of all their hopes , by their dallying about their greatest and only concernments , and flatter themselves to their destruction , by conceits and fancies of their own framing . the way to heaven is now as open , as ever it shall be , till christs coming again ; and the doctrine of our salvation , as much cleared up , in all particulars , as nothing can stumble us , if we will but lay aside our peevish and froward humours . were we but once resolved to deny our selves , and to follow christ where-ever he goes before us , whatever the way be , fair or foul , the work is done , we need make no other question : there 's as good security , as can be given , and we may safely build upon it . but alas ! it is not so with us , as it was with the saints , who are now in heaven . we stand blessing our selves in our own way , be it never so bad ; and think we do well in all we do , though all scripture and reason be against it . this is the trade that sinners drive , as the devil would have them , and their own hearts incline and carry them . the devil ( you must know ) ever since he undid himself , hath made it his business to undoe all the world of mankind , as much as in him lieth . and he is now as hard at work as ever he was , and drives as great a trade , for gaining souls to himself , as ever he did . and what is his way , to cheat the world , and gull men of all they have , worth saving or losing ? truly , the very same , or very like to that , which i have before discoursed . he cannot by all the arts and methods he useth , heighten mens sinfull corruption to the same degree of malice and madness against god , that himself is guilty of . but yet he hath a way that serves his turn , to bring men into the same place of torment with himself for ever . and what way is it ? it i● even this , and no other , viz. to keep men in a perswasion , that their way is good , and that they have no such enmity in their hearts against god , as some charge them with ; but that they love him , and all his commandments truly , and do the best they can , to chuse the best way to their everlasting happiness . and these conceits are strong in those that have them , so as it is no easie matter to convince them of the contrary . these they nourish and cherish , even when they are in wayes of all ungodliness , running headlong to their own destruction . now my desire is , to reason the case a little further with these men , and try , if god may be pleased to give them repentance , that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil . 1. and first , i ask them , if turks , and infidel iews , are not as much perswaded , that their several respective wayes are good , yea , and better than any other ? yea , do not all men , of what sort and sect soever , though never so vile , and vicious , and barbarous , perswade themselves , that their way is good ? can you light on man , woman , or child , that will not say , they hope to be saved ; and the way they take ( whatever it be ) is , as they think , the ready way to heaven ? nay , if you tell them , they are in the broad way towards hell , will they not be ready to flie in your face , and say , you do them wrong ? yet no sober man will say , that all and every one of these is in the right , but many of them ( whoever they be ) are quite beside the way to heaven . 2. i ask , if any of all those persons and parties ( which are numerous and various ) do not so farr allow of their own respective wayes , as to abhorr the different wayes that others take , and count them accursed of god for abusing themselves in their mistaken wayes , as to undoe their souls for ever ? do not turks and iews condemn all christians to the pit of hell ? and i know but few others , that are better minded towards all , that are not of their own way . papists say for certain , there 's no salvation for any out of their church . and the vilest of men amongst us , spare not to pass sentence upon others , that dare not be so vile as themselves . now when god shall come to judge all , will he ( think you ) allow of every plea , that shall be made by every one of these , and say , well done , you are all my faithfull servants ? will he commend and reward all , according as they all perswaded themselves , that their way was good ? no certainly , he will not so acquit the wicked world , that condemn all besides themselves , and their followers . nor will he count , that every man hath a right to eternal life , of what religion soever he is , ( as some have dream'd ) because he seem'd to mean well in it . the lord hath shewed all men , what is good , and what he requireth of them , and that so fully and plainly , as he will have ground enough to proceed against them , and to execute vengeance on all idolaters , and all other ungodly and unrighteous men , whatsoever religion they professed . he will easily and suddenly find out all , that have enquir'd and sought after the only true way of worship , which himself had appointed , and have made conscience of walking before him in holiness and righteousness , with an utter abhorring of all false wayes . and to these only will he say , well done , good and faithfull servants , you , and you only , have done as i commanded you . if any shall say , that an allowance must be given to some , because all that goe in the good way , walk not at one rate , but some come behind and faulter sometimes : i say so too ; and that the righteous god will put a difference between those that are upright in the main , though falling behind others in degrees of true grace ; & others , that wilfully chuse their own wayes , which god hath expresly forbidden , and as wilfully refus'd the good old way of gods commandments . he knows , and will own all , that have denied themselves , and made it their work to find and keep the way of god. there are , and alwayes have been such in the world , ( though a few in comparison ) that knew the streight way to heaven , amongst all the crooked wayes of mens devising ; and set themselves to keep that way , notwithstanding all opposition or temptation . and these only will god look after in the great day of account . for others , he will have enough to answer them , though they were of never so many and different perswasions , in point of religion ▪ they must be all pack'd together in that day , and bound in bundles , to be cast into the fire , because they were all in their life time , workers of iniquity . they shall prevail little by pleading then , they could never see reason enough , to perswade them out of the way that they took ; for they shall be made to see in that day , there was a right and good way of holiness and righteousness , wherein they should have walked , ( and it was easie enough to be seen ) but they would not walk therein . nay , they found fault with it , and rais'd false reports of it , and us'd all the arguments they could , to keep themselves and others from walking in it . they would never stoop their high spirits , to enter into the strait gate ; nor would they bear the contempt of the world , and the reproach that must be undergone for christs sake , and the gospels . they thought , to be religious , was to be melancholick ; and thought it an hard bargain , to part with the pleasures of sin , for somewhat ( that some crack-brain'd people talk'd much of ) in another world to be had , but no man knew when or where . they were such , as would be merry while they might , and take as much of this world as they could ; and for religion , in respect to another world , they could never well understand it . there were indeed some , that talk'd much that way , but they could not well agree among themselves , and therefore they left them to quarrel about it , and took the way that themselves best liked . for the religion which some cried up , as the only way to heaven , they conceiv'd it very strait and narrow ; nor could they see so much in it , as might perswade them to it . in a word , they never liked any religion , that would tie them to deny all ungodliness , and worldly lusts . and hence it is easie to conceive , how god will proceed against all sects and sorts of men , of what perswasion soever , that never were perswaded to deny themselves for god , and the gospels sake . it should be also considered , that , though all men have not talents alike ( as that may be granted ) either for weight or number , yet all have enough , to shew them a better way , than what the most take , and that their way is not good before the lord. hence it will be clear , that there hath been a wilfull neglect of the trust that was committed to them , and so without further evidence , the verdict will pass against them . they all know ( though not all alike ) their masters will , and yet do it not , and therefore must be all beaten , though not with the same number or measure of stripes . this the devil knows well enough , and that no plea ( such as men frame many to themselves now ) will then find place . and therefore , his work is to blindfold men with such conceits as were mention'd before , and so fill them with as many prejudices against god , and his wayes , as they can possibly hold , that when they are hood-wink'd , he may carry them whither he pleaseth . men are not easily ( if possibly ) brought to despite god as the devil doth : therefore they must be deal● with so , as to be perswaded , there is some cause without them , and without any fault of theirs , which puts them upon those vain and vile waye● and courses wherein they walk . what those pretences are , you have heard before , and i need not repeat them . only i say , that so lon● as the devil can hold men under such mistake● ▪ and prejudices , or the like , he hath them fast enough , and doth not fear an escape . men , i say , will have excuses for the worst of their evil wayes , and this is one , and a great one , that the way they are in , is the best they can see ; and they could never meet with any , that could shew them a better . they are willing enough to save their souls , and have done as much as lieth in them for that end . they love god heartily , and abhorr , that any should say , they hate his commandments , which they labour to keep as well as they can . and all this serves to clear themselves , and cast all upon god : but he will not bear all , that men cast upon him ; nor will he say in the great day of account , alas ! poor souls , you were willing enough to be saved , 〈◊〉 loved me , and my wayes well enough , and would have walked in them , if i had tendred your souls , as much as you your selves did . will the lord ( think you ) at that day , take upon himself all the blood of so many , as shall then be condemned to hell for ever , and say , if i had done for these , as i might , and ought to have done , they had never come into this place of torment ? will the lord say , that he made men as he pleased , and then cast them away , and left them to suffer shame and confusion of face , for no fault of theirs , but only because he had a mind to see his creatures slain , and tormented before him for ever ? will he say , it was in his heart to damn them before they were born , and that for nothing , but because it was his will and pleasure ? and that he sent his son into the world , to condemn the world , and not that the world through him might be saved ? will he say indeed , that he set men in such a way , as they could not but perish in it , and left them wholly depriv'd and destitute of all means and helps to save themselves from wrath to come ? consider , i say , and bethink your selves before-hand , whether the righteous god will take home all this to himself , and say , it was he alone that hath been the cause of all the ruine and misery that is come upon his creatures ; and so quit them from any the least blame of their destruction . yet this is it , or very like it , that men would fasten upon god , if they knew how to do it . this is the tendency of all their disputes about gods decrees and dispensations of grace and providence . it is this , and no other , even to charge it on god , that if he had purposed and provided better for them , it had never been so sad with them , but they might have been happy and blessed for ever . but le● god alone , and it will appear one day , where the fault lieth . he is the judge of all the earth , and will not he do right ? yes , he will do right to all ; and this the apostle layeth down , as a● unmoveable principle , ro. 3.5 , 6. god is not unrighteous , who taketh vengeance . for then ho● shall god judge the world ? he will then acquit himself , and say for ever , these are the work of my hands , and i made them so , as they might have been happy for ever in communion with my self . i allowed them means sufficient for that en● ▪ but they cast me off , and chose somewhat else to 〈◊〉 their only good ; and though i have besought 〈◊〉 intreated them , again and again , with all poss●●●● earnestness , and admonished them of the danger of their own wayes , they would goe on however ; 〈◊〉 their frowardness and wilfullness in their own devices , against my express command to the contrary , hath brought them to this , which they now see and feel , but would never believe till now . i have passed the sentence of condemnation upon them , an● it cannot be recall'd , nor can there be any reprieve or respite . but i have not done it without cause , and only for that i had a mind to see them lye for ever in torments and misery . it was indeed 〈◊〉 will to damn them , but i will'd their damnatio● only for their sin , and because they would not be re●claimed . i delighted not in their damnation , 〈◊〉 as to condemn them , meerly for my will and pleasure . i have only done justice upon incorrigib●● offendors , such as have despised my grace an● mercy , and the reward of these wicked ones is according to their works , yea as they would have it . for i fore-warn'd them of it , as often and as earnestly as needed , and they would not beware ; nor could any intreaties prevail , to turn them from those ungodly wayes , which led them to their destruction , as they knew . let men say now as they please , this is that which god will say , to justifie himself against all the world. and o! that men were wise , to consider it in time , and apply themselves to make their peace with god , which i assure them they may do , if they be not wanting to themselves . and for their encouragement ▪ i shall give them the best account i am able , how , and in what manner , god will proceed in the last and general judgement . the way that he will take in that day , will be this , that every man shall be tried according to a known law. 't is a gross mistake in men , to imagine , that god will judge the world according to that , which was never made known . the question will not be , whether a mans name were written in the book of life , but how he hath behaved himself , according to the rule laid down in the bible . that is more particularly and plainly thus , whether , when christ was offered to them , they accepted of him , and closed with him upon his own terms . for as they have answered the dispensations and overtures of his grace , so shall their doom be . if they counted all but loss and dung , for the excellency of the knowledge of him ; and valued nothing else in comparison , so they might serve and honour him , whether by doing or suffering , in life or in death , peace , and life , and glory , and immortality , will be their portion , and the lot of their inheritance for ever . the cause will for certain goe on their side , for the mouth of the lord hath spoken it . but if they have been contentious , and disobedient , and would not have the lord christ to reign over them , but would walk after their ungodly lusts , whatever could be said or done to reform them , th●re's a declared law to condemn them ; god will not , needs not look into any other records about it . obj. if any say , that all shall not be judged by the gospel : sol. i shall not contend , but only say , that all shall be condemned by a known law , one or other . and if it be said further , that as many as have sinned without law , shall perish without law : i answer , that the apostle shews what he means in the 14 th . verse of the same chapter . they that sin , and shall be condemned without law , are the gentiles , who had not the law delivered to them ( as the iews had it ) in writing : but yet they had the law written in their hearts , and that will be plain enough , because it bare witness , and accus'd them , while they were in their sins . and this we may well inferr from that place , that if there be a law , that condemns men now in this world , by witnessing against their wickedness , much more will there be a law found , for their condemnation , in the last day of account . or this , that the same law that condemns them now , will certainly condemn them then . and let that be observ'd also , that as sin is the transgression of the law , so condemnation for sin cannot be otherwise , than according to that law. once , it cannot be according to that which never was a law ; and that cannot be a law , which was never declar'd to be a rule of life and duty . gods decrees and counsels are all righteous , but they were never made known to us , as a rule of moral actings . when god is pleased to declare his counsell by the event , we cannot without sin goe against it , and it is impossible for us to alter it . but still the rule we are to walk by , is the will of god ▪ reveal'd for that end and purpose , that ●e may know what to do , in obedience to him who is our soveraign lord. and as we do , or 〈◊〉 not , according to this will of god , so we are guilty or innocent before him . and good rea●on why it should be so , and not otherwise . for , 1. how can we be obedient to god in any thing , but that which we know to be his will ? obedience in the very notion of it , imports as much as hearing and understanding what the will of the lord is . nor will the righteous lord of all , expect obedience to any will of his , we ●ever heard of . sure we are , that he never declared to the sons of men any way of life , but in ●he two covenants , viz. of works before the ●all , and of grace ever since . and though the means and manner of imparting to men the way of life , have been various ; yet no man can , or could ever say , that god had conceal'd his mind from him , that he could not know , and so do it . we read , that there are decrees and counsels of god : but who knows , what they are , besides god himself , till he is pleas'd to declare them , in the events of them ? and those events shew us only , what god will do , and not what we are to do . 2. we shew no faith in god otherwise , than in obedience to his commandments . this is the only way of walking with god , as noah , gen. 6.9 . when a man hath the promise of god in his eye , and the commands of god in his heart , and the encouragements he hath by the one , lays an obligation and engagement to the other . so did all those worthies , heb. 11. who are recorded for example , to all that shall come after . the believing of the promises , and obedience to the commands of god , are the triall of men on earth , and that by which they shall be tried hereafter . he that hath not faith , cannot forgoe what is in hand , to purchase a reversion of he knoweth not what . faith alone is the ground of things hoped for , &c. heb. 11 ▪ 1. and so it sets a man on work to do and suffer the wills of god , because it assures a man of gods faithfulness and all-sufficiency . this obedience of faith is that , which god rewards in his servants , and nothing else . this is that which ( as i may say ) takes much with god , when men can pass by present enjoyments , only because of his promise , who cannot forget any work , or labour of love , which they have shewed unto his name . 3. a man shews no love to god , in doing according to his decree and counsel , because he cannot but do it , whether he will or no. now god rewards no work , but the labour of love , when we delight to do his will , psa. 48. and desire the knowledge of his wayes , as david did , psa. 119. that we may walk in them . 4. the devil , and the worst of wicked men , fullfil the counsels of god , in all they do , and cannot do otherwise . herod and pilate , &c. in crucifying christ , did nothing , but what the hand and counsel of god had determined before , act. 2.23 . act. 4.28 . and yet it was their sin ; and their condemnation too . ioseph of arimathea is commended , for a good man , and a just , luc. 23.50 , 51. because he consented not to the counsel and deed of them , who crucified christ. the way of gods commandments , is the only way to life , and this the devil and his followers cannot abide to walk in . for the way of his counsels , they are alwayes in it , and cannot go besides it , even when they do their worst . and indeed , how should they ? unless we will suppose ( what is not to be imagin'd ) that god should lay by all care , and looking after the affairs of the world , and leave them to be managed and ordered , as the devil , and his instruments will have them . to say no more of this ; god hath laid before us the way of faith and obedience , or the way of truth and holiness , and commanded it , as the way that leadeth unto life ; and in this way alone , can we find rest unto our souls . away therefore with all disputes and questions about gods decre●s in this case , as being no rule for us to walk by : and look only , what god hath commanded , and be carefull about that , and you need not fear , it will be well with you for ever . the whole course and tenour of scripture speaks this , if it say any thing about the things of god , or the concernments of mens souls . secondly , considering the premises , we have occasion to enquire , and search diligently , till we come at the root of all our sinfull mistakes and miscarriages . and here i shall first admonish you of that , which most are not aware of : and secondly , i shall advise , what is best to be done about it . first , whereas there is such an aptness and inclination in all to excuse and put off all from themselves , yea , and to put upon god himself , as much as in them lieth ▪ the sin and misery which they alone have procur'd ; i cannot forbear to fore-warn all of that accursed bad humour , which hath no other rise or root than ignorance , and want of acquaintance with themselves . this , and nothing else , causeth them to quarrel , and pick occasions of so doing , with god , and his wayes of grace and providence , and any thing , but that which alone is in the fault . poor souls , ever since the old serpent dropt his poyson into them , are infected with the same disease that the devil is sick of . and what is that ? even all the sinfull corruption , that he contracted to himself , by his rebellion against god. his fall began in his pride , and that pride abides upon him ▪ as our saying is , as proud as the devil . certainly man , since his fall , is extreamly proud and conceited of himself , though there be no cause for it , and cannot abide to be thought , what indeed he is . and yet he is but a proud fool , that thinks himself somewhat , when he is indeed nothing , or that which is worse . and this proud fool stayes not at home , but is alwayes abroad , looking to what others do , and living in a gross mistake of himself , and all his wayes . he thinks little of that inbred corruption , which hath leaven'd the whole lump of his nature , both in soul and body . he is asleep , and dreams of a good nature , and of an honest heart towards god , and a good desire after the things that concern his salvation . he cannot believe himself to be an enemy to god , and his own soul , and that he was born so . farr be it from him ( he thinks ) to be such a one , as procures and works out his own damnation , and is willing to think of nothing else . yea , this proud fool will be very pettish , if he be told , that the best part about him , is enmity against god ; and that he hates the wayes of gods commandments , and therein shews , that he loves death . but whatever he thinks , and will not believe it , all this is true ; and that which he helieves of himself , is a very falsity and lye . and being a fool , he doth as a fool , and no instruction or correction will put him out of his foolish conceits . truly in this , the misery of sinfull man is great upon him , viz. he never looks inward or homeward , to consider how it is with him , notwithstanding there are so many witnesses against him , of his folly and madness . 1. scripture is large and plentiful in setting out the corruption of mans heart and nature . if i should mention particular texts , i should abuse the reader , who cannot but know them . but if any desire to peruse any of them , let them turn to gen. 6.5 . ro. 3.10 . &c. eph. 2.1 , 2 , 3. tit. 3.3 . &c. 2. wofull experience ( if there were no more ) is enough to convince men , if they would but sit down , and consider , how it is with them . what sober man can doubt of it , when he cannot but see , that he is much inclin'd to the earth , the world , and the flesh ; and so averse from , yea and contrary to the things that concern his soul ? doth not every man find it so , or might he not , if he would ? i wish men would but question themselves sometimes about such matters , and say to their own souls , what ayles me ? i can think and talk of this world , from morning to night , and never be weary , nay , i am alwayes so : and for heaven , and the estate of my soul , and how i shall do to eternity , i never think , nor care to think of it . if men ( i say ) would but sit down sometimes , and consider , what they affect , and what they abhorr most , could they possibly be ignorant of the natural inclination that is in them to present things , with a neglect and loathing the matters of another world ? 3. there is one thing more , that puts it beyond all dispute or question . how apt are all men , even from the cradle , to close with , and run after the toyes and vanities of this world ? and how , without any teaching or prompting , they learn to do vainly and wickedly ? they need not be learn'd to lye , and swear , and curse , and speak untoward things . and yet what adoe is there , to make them heed or learn any thing that good is ? zophar was right in what he saith . iob 11.12 . man is born a wild asses colt. an asse , and a wild asse , and the colt of a wild asse : and all little enough , to set forth the desperate bruitish perverseness and blockishness of mans nature . the apostle calls a natural mind , not an enemy , but enmity it self , ro. 8.7 . and so it is , whatever men may think . we are all born , as full of enmity against god , and all that concerns our everlasting good , as we can possibly hold ; and there is not one piece or particle of us , but is wholly depraved by that enmity . now man by nature so fram'd , shews himself an asses colt , in his blockish brutish ignorance , and lamentable unacquaintedness with his own estate . there is somewhat , which the world calls wisdom , but it is indeed folly. the sound knowledge of god , and ones self , is the only true wisdom . sure , whatever a man knows else , whiles he is ignorant of these , he knows nothing as he ought to know . and since it is thus , we may soon discover , whence it comes , that men are so captious and quarrelsome , to catch at any thing , that may serve to excuse themselves , though it be with charging god foolishly and wickedly . when people are sick and sore , they will complain of their beds , and those that attend them , and every thing about them , though 't is their grief and disease within , that alone troubles them . so do men in their sins , complain of every thing , but that which is indeed the only cause of all that ayles them . and now the work that lieth upon us , is to get an inward lively sense and feeling of all those disorders and distempers of our own hearts and natures , that carry us on to all the wayes of our undoing . he that hath a due and right apprehension of his own condition , as it is by nature , will soon perceive , that he hath no cause to complain of any thing more , than his own wicked heart . but herein the devil hath the advantage against poor souls , that are already intangled in his snares , that he keeps them in a g●zing posture , to look on every thing without them , and so their eyes are held , as they see nothing of that which is the true cause both of their sin and misery . now to such i say , that our own hearts and natures , infected with the poyson of the old serpent , procure and cause to us all that we shall suffer for ever hereafter . the devil tempts and enticeth us , and the world is an object , that occasions our corrupt hearts to work and move disorderly . but neither of these could hurt us , if it were not for our flesh , i. e. the sin that dwelleth within us . but this we take no notice of , and so are out at first step , and run on in mistakes , till we come to charge god himself with our mis●arriages , rather than fail of an excuse for our selves . if any ask , what is to be done in the case ? the answer is obvious , and at hand , and it is this , viz. that every man that wisheth well to himself , begin the work of his salvation at home . i mean it thus , let every man resolve , that he is of himself an enemy to god , and his own soul , and inclin'd to nothing so much , as to his own utter undoing . for certain , such is every man by nature ; and he that thinks otherwise , knows not himself , which to do is the beginning of wisdom . to know ones disease is the first step to health , and without it all medicines applyed are but arrowes shot at random , that seldom or never hit . the method of god , in turning a poor sinner to himself , is first to open his eyes ▪ and the first sight that such a soul hath , is the sinfulness of his way , whence he comes to loath it , and can no longer abide in it . this discovery of sin to a soul never stops , till it come to see all the sink and puddle , or ( as i may call it ) the hell of corruption and filthiness that is in it , so as it cannot abide it self upon that account . and when any man comes once to such a discovery , then he finds so much at home , as he never complains of any but himself . he is so farr from charging god , as he takes no great notice of the devil , but he falls foul only upon his own heart , and saith , that , and nothing else , hath undone him , as farr as he is undone ; and if he could but obtain a better heart , the work of his salvation would goe on as well as he could wish . my advice therefore in the case is this . o all you poor souls , that are so unsatisfied about the matters of your salvation , as you are ready to call even god in question , goe home , and search diligently , what you find in your own hearts . if you please once to do this to some purpose , i 'le be your warrant for quarrelling and questioning the wayes of gods providence and grace hence-forward . you will then be ready to justifie god , whatever he doth ; and as ready to say , 't is i , 't is i , and no other , that have brought my self to this , that now i am ; and if god leave me to suffer for ever , i have none to thank for it , but mine own wicked heart . when men are ( as too many ) ignorant of the rule to try themselves by , or else unwilling to search and know their own estates , it is no marvel if they quarrel at others . but he that knows himself , as he ought to know , hath no quarrel in comparison against any thing but himself . this therefore is my advice , that every poor sinner fall to study himself , and never leave , till he apprehend the height , and depth , and length , and breadth of his natural sin and corruption . and for all that undertake the charge of souls , i believe it to be the first and main part of their work , to bring poor silly people to a true sight and sense of the badness and baseness of their hearts and natures ; and in order thereunto , to bring them to a right understanding of the law , that discovers sin , and worketh wrath ; i mean , to understand it , in the spiritual sense of it . as long as people think the commandments are not broken , otherwise than in overt acts of cruelty , uncleanness , deceit , &c. 't is no marvel if they please themselves in a pharisaical righteousness . a right understanding of the commandments , in the spiritual sense of them , will lay open many evils , that otherwise men are not aware of ; and lead them on to see the root of bitterness , that bears all those cursed fruits . as long as people are perswaded they are born christians , so as to need no conversion , but only goe on in an outside profession of that religion , which they never chose for themselves , but was chosen to their hands , it 's no marvel if they are pleas'd with their condition , and look no further . but they should be made to know , that the children of christians , notwithstanding the priviledge of the covenant , are by nature , and of themselves , the children of wrath , and born in sin , even as others . they should be made to know , the absolute necessity of the new birth , and that there must be a thorough change of the whole man , so as to be no more , what they were by natural generation ; but to be renewed in the spirit of their minds , to the putting off the old man , and putting on the new , which after god is created in righteousness , and true holiness . and for this end , there ought to be a frequent and earnest inculcating of such doctrines , as serve to discover the sin and misery of man by nature , and the method of mens being translated out of the power of darkness , into the kingdom of christ. a learning of the creed , the lords prayer , and the ten commandments , ( though that must be ) and a rehearsall of them , being only learn'd ( as we say ) by rote , is not enough to bring men to a due apprehension of their natural condition , and the way of recovering out of it . no , the mystery of all those is to be opened to them , with all plainness and power ; and they must be call'd upon , to consider , what kind of creatures they were in their conception and nativity , and what course must be taken for their recovery from under the bondage of sin and satan . and if poor ignorant souls were once throughly inform'd of their sinfull and sad condition , as they are descended from , and bear the image of the first adam , they would find such distempers and disorders , such horrid unreasonable lustings in way of rebellion to all that is of god , as no complaints should be heard out of their mouths , except of their own base and wicked hearts . these therefore i advise , first , to study and know themselves in manner and form aforesaid : and when that 's once done to the purpose , i am confident , they will find themselves more inclin'd to a favourable construction of all the wayes of gods grace and providence . pride and ignorance ( that seldome goe asunder ) are the main things that engage men to dispute and quarrel about those matters , which can never be apprehended aright by any but humble souls . for mens parts and learning , i am willing to value them , as farr as they may deserve . but i cannot account of them , in comparison of learning christ , as the truth is in him . and if there were more of this spiritual christ-learning , there would be less of dispute about the counsels of god , which are rather to be ador'd in silence and reverence , than prated of by every audacious , malepert and pragmatical spirit , ( as some●imes they are ) without either fear or wit. for whatever be the pretence , 't is a wicked design to excuse our selves , that makes us so willing to find out somewhat else-where , that may serve our turn . and when we are once humbled low enough , in the sense of our own baseness , we shall have so much work at home , to keep us doing , as we shall have no list nor leisure to quarrel any other . and to enforce this part of the application a little further , by shewing the desperate untowardness of man by nature ; consider , how farr it is infected with the poyson of satan , to oppose , and ( if it were possible ) to abase god , and all his infinite excellencies . the devil ( whatever his sin was ) for certain , did not submit to gods order , and thereby he forfeited his right to all the glory and happiness in which he was first placed . and his doings ever since his fall have been such , as have shewed his pride , and spite against god , to the utmost . and is there not a spice of this in all the children of men ? are they not inclin'd to set up themselves , in opposition to god , upon any occasion ? hath not every sin somewhat of this in it ? and is it not evident , in that we are so prone to contradict , and goe against the will of god , even where we have no temptation by the profit or pleasure of sin , more than augustine , who bewails his robbing of gardens and orchards in his youth : when ( as he saith ) the fruits were sowre , and had no ●auce , more than the sin of the eater . nay , is there not in every sin more than an intimation , that we would have gods will stoop to ours , and so have our wills to countermand his ? there is certainly so much of disdain in us , as if it were in our power , god should have no authority over us . we cannot indeed break his yoak from off our necks : but would we not break it off , if we could ? would any man , by his good-will , and of his own inclination , be restrain'd from his sinfull pleasures , or give any account to god of any thing he doth , if he could help it ? nay , doth not the spirit in us , lust towards dethroning him , that he may have no command in the world ? and if any question this , i referr them to all those insolent , proud and arrogant expressions and practices of many wicked ones , of which there are so many instances in scripture , and other stories . and to shut up this ; if all be well considered , it will appear , that all the questions and quarrels of men about the matters of gods kingdom , and the methods of salvation , are chiefly occasioned , because there is so much of the devil , and so little of god in us . were there in us a due acknowledgement of gods infinite excellency , and soveraign authority , we should never question in the least , whatever he doth , to be holy , just and good . yea , we should confess roundly , that whatever befalls us , or however it be with us , we our selves have procur'd and caus'd it , by our own wayes and doings . we should say ( as gods servants did of old ) we have trespassed , and done foolishly and wickedly , unto us belongs shame , and confusion of face for ever : and blessed be the lord for evermore . if any desire further advice in this case , i say , whoever thinks there is a god , must think of him so , as may become his infinite excellency and glory . psal. 10.4 . we have this property of an ungodly man , god is not in all his thoughts . not that he thinks , there is no god ; but that he thinks not , there is a god , i. e. he never minds or heeds him , in the whole course of his life and actions . so many never eye or heed god in his excellencies , to stand in awe of him , and tremble before him . they are too bold with him upon any occasion , and their words and deeds shew , they are not seasoned inwardly , with an holy humble reverence of his infinite majesty . they speak not ( it may be ) at the same rate as pharaoh , ex. 5.2 . who is the lord , that i should obey his voice , &c. i know not the lord , &c. as if he should have said , you ( moses and aaron ) come , and command me , in the name of jehovah , who is israels god , as you say . who is this jehovah ; i pray , that i must be commanded by him ? i tell you , i know him not , nor do i care for him . i 'le do what i have a mind to , let him command what he will. though few act to such an height of insolency , as appear'd in him ; yet there is the same haughty spirit of disdain in all men by nature against the heavenly majesty . they think much to be order'd and over-rul'd by one , of whom they know so little . and whoever observes , may easily see , that god hath little regard amongst worldly men , who will talk indeed a little sometimes , as if there were somewhat call'd a god ; and yet in all their words and deeds , shew no apprehensions of his excellencies , such as do awe them to reverence and obedience , becoming his absolute soveraign majesty . now , as to believe , there is a god , and yet live as if there were none , is practical atheism ; so to speak and think of him , otherwise than he is , is little better than blasphemy . and of such atheism and blasphemy the world is full ; and it is evident by this , that most have so little respect for god , and shew it in all they say and do . respect , i say , for god , such as should be , and such as becomes his infinite glory . and how unreasonable are men in this ? hear and consider what god himself saith , malac. 1.6 . a son honoureth his father , and a servant his master . if then i be a father , where is mine honour ? if i be a master , where is my fear , saith the lord of hosts unto you , o priests , that despise my name ? here the lord complains of their slighting him , more than any creature , calling for such respect , as was by any man commonly given to his betters . a master or father could get more respect than he , who was both , in an eminent way , to that people . and here one observes it , as the grand delusion , that blinds the visible church , to give good words , and fair titles to god , when no care is had of answerable walking . and the lord makes use of that , which every one acknowledges to be a witness in the case , and so proves , that men in their duties to god , come farr short of that , which very nature will teach them is due to creatures , standing in 〈◊〉 same relation . and this also , that want of reverence to , and an high estimation of god , is the root and rise of all our miscarriages , and an evidence , that we behave our selves neither as sons nor servants . not to esteem of god as he deserves , is to dishonour him ; as not to bless him , is in a sort to blaspheme him . god hates and abhorrs base and unworthy conceits of him , and his majestick name , when men take him not into their hearts , under the notion of an infinite highnesse . it shews , there is no awe of god upon them , and that they count of him , as one like themselves , yea , and much below them . and here i could easily enlarge in many instances of a prophane and proud spirit in ungodly men , not only in speaking and acting , as if there were no god above them , but speaking and acting many times in such a way , as if they studied to make god as vile as might be . in one word , shewing no reverent esteem , but rather a base undervaluing and contempt of him . they do not only act , as if there were no god , that would call them to an account , but in a way of opposition and scorn , as to shew , how little account they make of him . and for instance ; let one that fears before the lord , be so bold , as to check a rude and ungodly company , met about some lewd and vile pranks and practices , ( such as are too frequent and familiar ) by minding them of god , and his commands ; how ordinary is it , for such a knot of companions , to vent themselves the more in scorn and indignation , as if they were affronted by one , that hath nothing to do with them . he that comes among them ▪ with no better authority to awe them , had need look to himself , that they fall not down right upon him . when righteous lot said no worse to the sodomites , than , i pray you , brethren , do not so wickedly , gen. 19.7 . they said , stand back , and they said again , this one fellow came in to sojourn , and he will needs be a iudge : now will we deal worse with thee , than with them . a command or intreaty in the name of god ( though the highest majesty ) commonly proves an occasion , through mens devilish pride and disdain , of more and greater impieties and indignities . and if any should question this , let them but open their ears and eyes , and there need be no great dispute about it now adayes , oh! look round about , and see , how little regard there is of god , and his commands in the world ; and whether there be any account had or made , whether god be pleas'd , or no , with that which is commonly done among men . this , this is enough to sadden any gracious soul in the expectation of gods appearances , to vindicate the honour of his great name , by some remarkable judgements on the world. and therefore i advise once more , and intreat , that there may be some regard had of god , and that it may be shewed so , as it may be seen , that god is in mens hearts and thoughts . an awfull regard , or reverential esteem of god , would put a check upon mens ungodly practices , and upon their malepert disputes and questions about his wayes and doings . there would need no arguments in print , to confute them in what they say and do : the awe of god would soon order them to another behaviour , than what commonly appears in the most . and therefore i say again , goe alone , and seriously resolve thy self of this , that there is a god , who made thee , and all this world , which thine eyes behold . and if thou art once so resolv'd , thine own reason , and common sense , will teach and prompt thee to a further consideration , that this god , as he is infinitely above thee , so he is to be admir'd and ador'd with all possible humble reverence , such as becomes an incomprehensible heavenly majesty . if thou once resolve , that he is in heaven , and thou upon earth : that in him thou livest , and movest , and hast thy being ; and that he alone disposeth of thee , and all thy wayes , and will one day call thee to account for all that thou hast done , thou wilt then see cause enough to fear and tremble at any the least mention of his name and glory . thou wilt no more dispute , what he is pleas'd to do ; but presently bethink thy self , how thou mayest do in every respect , so as to please aim . men talk much in ordinary discourse , of serving god , and a service there is done to god by many ; but whether any were done at all , or none , such as many perform , may be a question , as to the advantage of them that do it . * where-ever god is acknowledg'd and own'd in the way of worship which he hath commanded , there is an honour given him , more than amongst infidels and idolaters . but they that serve the lord in his own wayes of worship , must look further , and consider , whether the service be such , as doth some way sute with the glory of his most excellent majesty , so as he will accept it . the iews after their return from captivity , were much in sacrifices and offerings : but yet saith the lord , ye despise my name , because they offered polluted bread , v. 7. the blind , and the lame , and sick , v. 8. this god takes in scorn , and bids them offer it to their governour , to try , if he will be pleased with them , v. 8. nay , he curses the deceiver , v. 14. for offering a corrupt thing . and why ? because ( saith he ) i am a great king , and my name is dreadful among the heathen . god expects to be dealt withall in such a way , as men may shew that awfull regard they have of him , which when they neglect , it is all one to him , as if they did nothing at all . the customary , formal and superficial service done to god by many , is of as much account with him , as if they mocked him to his face * . and that for this reason , viz. because they shew no regard of god , such as they owe to his infinite soveraignty , power and glory . the service of god so performed , shews mens prophanness and impiety ▪ more than their devotion . and yet this prophane contempt of god is born with us , and bred ( as i may say ) in our bones . and till we be throughly convinc'd of it , and humbled for it , we are in no capacity to close with god , so as he may be pleased with us . if thou wilt serve god with acceptance , resolve first of this natural enmity , that is in thee against god , and be humbled as low as hell , for the pride of thine heart , swelling so much against him . and when thou knowest indeed , as thou ought'st , the distance 'twixt the glorious god of heaven , and such an earth-worm as thy self , thou wilt find thine heart inclin'd to more favourable thoughts of god and his wayes , which is the main thing i am perswading men to , in this discourse . i shall yet a little further inforce that which hath been formerly hinted , more than once , viz. a serious consideration of that enmity which is naturally in us against our selves , and our own souls . there is indeed a cursed self-love in all men by nature , which causeth them to walk contrary to god ; yea , and in some degree , to despite him , as the devil doth : and this appears to be the root of all mans rebellion against god , in that our saviour , calling all men home to god again , imposeth upon them nothing else but self-denial , mat. 16.24 . but this natural , sinfull self-love , is indeed no other than perfect enmity to our selves ; so as we may truly say , we are such as hate our own souls : how else do we all that we can , to undo and destroy our selves ? and do we not thus ? and are we inclin'd by nature to any thing else ? for certain , there 's no way to advance , and ( as i may say ) to make our selves , but by walking in the way , wherein we may come to the enjoyment of god ; and this is not the way of our own hearts , nor the way of the wicked and corrupted world of mankind ; for the world lieth in wickedness , 1 ioan. 5.19 . or , in the wicked one , i. e. is wholly under the power and vassallage of the devil . and this appears by the constant inclination of all the world , to walk in those wayes , unto which the devil prompts , and tempts them , i. e. the ways of sin and rebellion , against the righteous and holy wills of god. this is the way of death and destruction , wherein men depart from god , and so cause him at last to say unto them , depart from me , &c. how can we come to god , but in the wayes of his commandments ? this is the way wherein he hath promised to be found of us ; and to leave this way , and go in the way of our own hearts , is no other than turning our backs upon god , and casting him off , in hope to be happy in the enjoyment of somewhat else ; this is the way of self-destruction , wherein men run on to ruine and perdition . now i say again , consider , and that sadly , whether we are not all enemies to our selves , and our own souls , in chusing those wayes , which we cannot but know , have a direct tendency to our everlasting undoing ? true , men do not consider this , but that 's their folly and madness ; the same that is in many , who never look after their worldly estates to improve them , but spend ; and squander them away , they care not ●●ow ; we use to say of such ill husbands , that they are enemies to themselves , and will undo themselves and their families , as indeed they do , according to what the wise man saith , the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty , and drowsiness ( or sloth ) shall cloath a man with rags . just so do men impoverish , and undo themselves , as to their everlasting estates , by taking those wayes and courses , that carry them on to the bottomless pit . the glutton and the drunkard would not be poor , nor would ungodly men go to hell ; yea but both the one and the other , take the ready way to their undoing ; and it is all one , as if they said , we will undo our selves , and we will be damn'd ; seeing they go on in those ways wherein they cannot avoid and escape damnation : whatever they pretend , they do just as a man that should cast himself into the wide sea , and say , i will not be drown'd , but swim out again ; or should stab himself at the heart , and say , i have no intent to kill my self : let such intend what they will , all rational and sober men know , they cannot live , but must die . there 's an indissoluble tie between sin and death , so as we cannot take the one without the other . cast away from you all your transgressions , &c. for why will you die ? ezech. 18.31 . as if he should have said , if you do not the former , you must have the latter , and in the way you now go you seek your own death . he that sinneth against me , wrongeth his own soul , prov. 8. ult . and how doth he wrong it ? the next words shew , he loves death . to hate , and scorn the wayes of christ , is to love death , it is so in the effect : he that hates to be reformed , ( and too many such there are ) hates to be saved ; he that loves to be wicked , loves to be damn'd . the wicked world is wilde , and stark mad in this respect , and doth as all mad men do ; a mad man casts off all care of himself , and is pleas'd in nothing , but his ravings and frantick pranks , and will not be perswaded to any better : such mad men are we in our sins , pleas'd with nothing so much , as that which most displeaseth god , and hath a direct tendency towards our own destruction . bring a physician , or chyrurgeon to a mad man , and you set him the more a raving , so as you must bind him , and over-master him by force , or he will admit of no applications to be made for curing him ; all hi● business is to do that which doth torment him , and will undo him : so do all wilfull sinners ; they devise , and do nothing , but what makes for working out their damnation ; they are troubled about nothing , but that they cannot sin enough , and serve their worldly and fleshly desires , so much as they would ; and is not this enmity against themselves , and their own souls ? for what can a man do , to destroy his soul , and pull upon himself the most intollerable condemnation , more than to sin , as much as possibly he can ? the wayes of sin are the wayes of destruction to poor souls ; and the only way to life is a turning from all the wayes of sin , with loathing and indignation ; and this no sinner will deny , if he please to sit down and consider it . but such is the impetuousness of our lusts , as they will not give us leave to entertain one serious thought , about the sad consequence of what we are a doing . mad men have sometimes their lucid intervals , but so soon as any occasion sti●● their frantick humour , they are as mad as ever ; in those intervals they are as mad as before , but do not act their madness so much . the worst of men are not alike wicked at all times , in acting their wickedness , though their hearts are alwayes set upon their wicked wayes . for their fair promises sometimes of amendment , they are no more than what a mad man will promise in a good mood . and now , all you poor sinfull souls , consider your wayes , and be wise ; be not as the horse and mule , that have no understanding , psal. 32.9 . you are so by nature , and of your selves , through the poison which the devil hath infus'd to you ; only you have reason , which beasts have not ; and you have a liberty to do otherwise than you do , if you had a mind to it : you are told , and you know the dangerous consequence of your sinfull wayes , and why will you die ? is there profit in destruction ? can there be pleasure in sinning for a moment , when the pains of hell will be endless , and intollerable ? or can you devise a way , how you may enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season , and yet escape the torments of hell for ever ? have you so much power in your hands , as to reverse the acts and decrees of heaven , established by a declared law , so as death shall not be the wages of sin ? or do you think to put off the righteous judge of all the earth , in the last day , as well as you can abuse and baffle your consciences , and faithfull ministers now ? i believe you have some such thoughts , or you would not take the courses that you do : but o ye fools , when will you be wise ? the lord knoweth the thoughts of man , that they are vanity . can you be such bruitish sots , as not to know , that the world to come will be quite another thing than this present evil world ? here is a place to sin in ; there will be only suffering for impenitent sinners ; here wicked men talk wildly , as if their tongues were their own , and there were no lord over them : there the righteous lord will deal with them , and they will not have a word to answer . consider how dead folk are dealt with here ; are they not bound , and laid up where they cannot stir oh! think of it , as a presage of that estate wherein your souls , as well as your bodies , wil● be in another world. there your hands and feet will be tyed , and your mouthes will b● stopp'd , so as you shall not be able to peep , o● mutter one word : or if you should rage , and cry out in those everlasting burnings , what wil● it avail you , so long as your bonds are made strong , and you cannot break them ? oh! think of this you presumptuous , daring sinners , while there is time for repentance ; for this is the sad condition you are hastning to , and nothing can be said or done to stop you in your career . when you are most frolick , you are but heaping up fewel , to feed the everlasting burnings . and when you are most froward in your wayes , you shew only the enmity that is in you , against your own souls . you say in effect , let us alone , and trouble us not , we are in the way to hell and destruction , and we will not be turn'd out of it ; you are not willing to be damn'd , you 'l say , but hope to be sav'd , as well as others : so are robbers and murderers , &c. not willing to be hang'd , more than honest men ; but honest men know that rogues and thieves take the ready way to the gallows . they may , some of them , escape mens judgement , and no question , some of them sometimes do , but how will you escape the judgement of god , who knoweth all , and can do every thing ? and will he not ( think you ) make good his word , and execute his own lawes ? how else shall he quit himself , and shew that he is above you ? think , when you see dead folk imprisoned , and bound up in their graves , how you will be hamper'd , and pinion'd , when you shall be brought forth to judgement , and what pittifull poor sneaking worms you will then appear to be , when god shall sit on the throne of his glory , and call all nations before him , to be judged by him . now this is all the work you are a doing , viz. to pinion your selves , and lay upon you , those everlasting chains of darkness , wherewith you shall be bound , and cast into the fire unquenchable . every sin you commit with greediness , and will not be perswaded to lay it aside , is one twist more , to strengthen the cords that shall bind you fast for ever , and puts more fewel to those everlasting burnings . if all this do not convince you , cast your eyes back , and take a review of all those reasons , i have formerly given to prove , that you your selves only are in the fault , and that god is in no respect wanting to you . i shall repeat , and press some of them a little further . not to say ( what is most certainly true ) that gods decrees have left you at liberty , to choose the way you have most mind to , and that you are not left out , as excepted persons , in the act of general pardon , if you will be perswaded to receive christ , as he is offered to you ; and also that you have a liberty to act in order to your happiness , if you would use it , and not wilfully run on in your own wayes . 1. consider , what equity , and reason there is in all the wayes of gods commandments , specially now under the new testament , when we have that , which the apostle calls our reasonable service ; we need not be prompted ( as the iews were ) to understand why they are enjoyn'd us , for that , they are not good , because they are commanded ; but rather commanded , because they are good . and for the wayes of his providence and grace , i would have you ask your own consciences , what prerogative god challengeth to himself , more , than even mortal men are ready to count their due . oh! that men would but think , how he can be indeed a god , and not have liberty to do what he himself pleaseth . though i stand still to defend , that all gods wayes are righteousness and truth , being all according to the counsel of his will , and managed by infinite wisdome . yea our belief of a deity , and one absolute soveraign lord god , doth necessarily inferr a belief of all his wayes to be most holy , just , and good . and will you not then obey , and submit ? oh! consider , what can be said against it . 2. consider further what your own consciences say in this case , and if they speak out now , what sometimes you would not hear , how will you be able to abide the clamours of them , when there will be no way left you , to bribe them , or stop their mouthes , as now you can make a shift to do . you now find them to stir , and work strongly upon occasion , and therefore may presume , they will one day be too hard for you , and have the dominion over you . i tell you , those consciences of yours , are gods witnesses against your wicked wayes , and your forewarnings to flee from the wrath to come ; so that you have no excuse upon this account . 3. ask your selves , so as to answer the question seriously , why you are so impatient of sharp rebukes , and sound admonitions , from the word , whether by faithfull ministers , or others , applyed to you . will not your own consciences then tell you , that your case is the same with those sick and wounded people , who had rather dye , than endure the pain of having their wounds search'd , or their diseases cur'd by untoothsome medicines ? yea , will not your consciences say , that you might have been healed , as well as others , that were content to submit to the methods of cure prescrib'd them ? you cannot say , there is no balm in gilead , there is no physician there : why then is not your health recovered ? surely , for this reason , and no other , that when the lord would have healed you , you would not be healed . 4. ask your selves again , how it comes to pass , that you are alwayes wharting and quarrelling those , that pretend so much to god , and the wayes of his commandments ? is it indeed , because they are so bad and base , as you would make them ? or is it not rather , because they shine before you , to shew you the good , and the right way , and you have no mind to walk in it ? is not their eschewing your ungodly wayes , ● check upon you , that you cannot so freely take your swinge in them , and therefore you hate the light of their good works , because it discovers the filthiness of your beastly conversation ? oh! remember and consider , they shall be your witnesses , to l●●ve you without excuse . yea , if they were as bad as you would make them , yet that will be no excuse to you , who should have done what they did not , your own consciences being judges . 5. once more . do not you accuse your selves , in calling so often for such extraordinary appearances of god in providence , as may convince you , when you have had many such , and are but the more hardned and enrag'd against god ? how usuall is it , for men to have strange and almost miraculous rescues and recoveries , or to see and observe such in others , and yet 't is not easie to give many instances of converts by occasion of such wonderful deliverances . to say no more , the appearances of god in this age have been as remarkable and admirable almost , as in any , and yet the ungodliness of men generally , is most notorious notwithstanding . now , what have you to say against this ? shall not these be witnesses against you ? 6. answer me yet in one question more . why ( i pray you ) do you so much magnifie the sain●● of old , who are now in heaven ? shall not they ( think you ) be your judges ? why , ( sirs , ) they were all of them holy men , that led their lives on earth , as becommeth saints ? and they were so farr from spending their time in sinful● pleasures , as you do , that their righteous soul● were vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked , 2 pet. 2.7 , 8. your consciences wil● tell you , that you lead a life , as contrary to theirs , as black is to white , or darkness to light ▪ do not you then , in your applauding them wit● your mouths , and confessing them to be now saints in heaven , judge and condemn your selves , and call them to witness against you , that you had light held out to you by their examples , but you wilfully refus'd to walk in the way to heaven , wherein they went before you ? 7. i shall say no more of this , after i have pos'd you with this one question more . there are some of your good fellows ( you know it to be so ) that have cried out most lamentably upon their death-beds , as one did once , o! call time again , call time again . o! what would not they have given , to have recovered the time which they had mis-spent ? now these will be your judges . for whatever they thought before , then they were of the mind , that a wise and carefull expending our time here , whiles we are alive , is the way to obtain peace and comfort when we come to dye . they could not then say ▪ ( as some do in their youth and strength ) if we are elected , we shall be saved , and if not , we must be damned ; and so quietly sleep away , and put it to the adventure . no ; conscience ( if it be then awakened ) will tell you somewhat else . it will tell you then , that you might have employed your selves to better purpose ; and that if you had taken the same course , that the saints do , while they are on earth , you might depart in peace , as well as they . yea , let me tell you , conscience , when you come to dye , will not trouble you about any other matters , than your wilfull rejecting the offers of grace and mercy , when they were made to you ; and your chusing the wayes of sin , when you had been often told , they were the ready way to hell and destruction . and now i say again , whatever disputes and reasonings there be among some , about the method , and manner , and matter of gods decrees , let all poor souls consider , in due time , what is that way of life , which is held out , and offered to them in the gospel . we cannot know , what god hath decreed , till it be some way reveal'd to us : but we may know ( if we will ) what is the way of life , as certain as god is true , who hath reveal'd it . god ( i am sure ) cannot lye , and his mouth hath spoken it , and his finger hath written it , that whoever believeth , shall be saved . i need not cite or quote the texts of scripture , that speak , with one mouth , the mind of god in this : whoever hath read or heard the scripture , cannot but know this to be an unmoveable foundation-truth . and therefore i desire men seriously to consider , how they will excuse themselves one day , when they shall be question'd , why they did not believe on christ offered to them in the gospel . for no doubt , if they do this , as god commands and requires , they shall be saved , or god must prove a lyar . and for any decree of god , to hinder men from believing on christ , i hope enough hath been said before , to shew , there is no such thing . besides , the extent of christs death ( as hath been shewed ) is large enough to reach , and take in all , that will come to him . and there is nothing but a froward wicked heart stands between men , and their happiness , in the enjoyment of god. wherefore , i say again , in the name of the lord , as our saviour in a different sense said to martha , ioan. 11.40 . if thou wouldst believe , thou shouldst see the glory of god. he that believeth not god , hath made him a lyar , because he believeth not the record that god gave of his son. and this is the record , that god hath given to us eternal life , and this life is in his son. he that hath the son , hath life ; and he that hath not the son , hath not life , 1 joan. 5.10 , 11 , 12. he that believeth on the son , hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not on the son , shall not see life , but the wrath of god abideth on him , joan. 3.36 . here we see , as in all the scripture beside , that faith , and faith only , gives us an interest in eternal life ; and that this , and nothing else , will be the condemnation of the world , that they believed not on the son of god tendred to them , as one that can save to the utmost , all that come unto god by him . if any say , that some have never heard of christ , and then how can they believe on him , of whom they have not heard ? ro. 10.14 . i shall not here dispute with them about this , but re●er● them to what i have said before , desiring them withall , to understand me now , as meaning all that have heard of christ , amongst whom there have been many that shall not be sav'd . and of these i say again , their condemnation shall be only upon the account of their unbelief . either because they set light by christ , when they heard of him , as many do to this day , not so much as owning the profession of the gospel ; or else they receive the gra●e of god in vain , and turn it into wantonness , by using it , as an occasion to the flesh . now , for a conclusion of this whole discourse ; i shall deal with these last , desiring them to consider , whether they give all diligence , to walk in the way of life , which god hath laid before them . and all that i intend , is to shew their mistakes about it , and to advise and direct them in it . but whiles i was about this , there were brought me some objections , which though they be ( as i conceive ) sufficiently answered already , at least the chiefest of them , yet somewhat i shall add further , to explain what was said before . obj. if god be so willing , that men should repent and believe , why do they not repent and believe ? for who hath resisted his will , ro. 9.19 . this we find by our selves , that if we will do ought , we do it if we can ; and if we do it not , it is because we have not power to do as we would . sol. for the will of god , as to the salvation of all , in case they repent and believe , there is no question ; and so ( as i remember ) some understand the apostle , 1 tim. 2.4 . but that is not the question , but this rather , how god wills the repentance of men , who never repent . for seeing god can do whatever he will , why are not they also converted ? and to this i answer , that god wills the conversion of sinners , so as their conversion is well-pleasing to him ▪ and accepted with him ; as on the contrary , he is displeased with sinners , so long as they live in impenitency . the holy angels rejoyce over one sinner that repenteth , and god much more , seeing it is his command , that they repent . and how should god will mens repentance , otherwise than he doth ? he declares his will in his command , and in his promise of acceptance , and in his refusing none upon their repentance ; and for any other will of god , concerning this or that mans repentance , who knows it , or where hath god reveal'd it ? what! would you have god to decree and effect the conversion of all and every one , whether they will or no ? if any say , no ; but we would have god to deal with all indifferently , as being all the work of his hands : i answer , that saving to god but so much liberty , as all men ordinarily take to themselves , his dealings with men are indifferent , and his wayes most equall , seeing he hath so prepar'd , as men need not perish , except they will themselves . and therefore , i say once more , they perish and dye in their sins , only because they chuse the wayes of their destruction . how then dare any man make any further question about gods will of saving men , when he hath so decreed , and so provided , that men may be saved if they will ? i mean it thus , if they do not wilfully refuse their salvation , when it is offered them ; by an obstinate rejecting the way he commands them to walk in , and to which they are invited and encouraged by his promise , wherein it is impossible that he should lye . and this we affirm still , according to what hath been said before . obj. seeing it is gods will , that men shall be damned , in case they believe not ; it doth not appear , that there is in god a will of saving , rather than of damning , because there is in all men a proneness and inclination to unbelief and impenitency , more than to faith and repentance . sol. we grant , there is a proneness and inclination in all men by nature , to unbelief and impenitency , with an untowardness and enmity to faith and repentance . but we say again , as before , that men may repent and believe , if they will. for men are not damn'd , for that they cannot repent , though they be never so willing to it ; but they are damn'd only , because they will not repent , nor turn from their evil wayes , but wilfully goe on in them , against all means and methods us'd for the reclaiming of them . and may not god then say , and swear too , as he doth , ezech. 33.11 . as i live , saith the lord god , i have no pleasure in the death of the wicked , but that the wicked turn from his way , and live . obj. i want the helps that others have , and was never brought up in learning , as many are . sol. to this i answer , that christ may be learn'd by the veriest ideots , if they have but a willing mind , as soon , and as easily , as by the greatest masters of arts and sciences . and in this case we may say , what hath been commonly said in a different sense , that the greatest clerks are not alwayes the wisest men . the devil is certainly the greatest schollar below heaven , as to all things pertaining to this world : yet he is never the nearer to the learning of christ , and the knowledge of god in christ. humane learning is a very precious ornament and endowment in them that have it : but through the sinfull corruption of man , it many times proves to be an occasion of hindring them , in their being taught by christ , as the truth is in him . the great rabbies ( you know ) were christs most bitter enemies ; and not many wise men , after the flesh , are called , saith the apostle , 1 cor. 1.26 . the gospell preacheth only christ the power of god , and the wisdome of god ; so as the weakest understanding is as capable of this heavenly and spiritual learning as any others . suppose thou canst not so much as read a chapter , what hinders , that thou dost not hear others read ? whatever thy apprehension , and memory be , there wants nothing to thy denial of thy self , and all ungodliness , and worldly lusts , if thou do not retain a wilfull , and froward heart against christ , and his commands . learn only what the grace of god teacheth thee , tit. 2.11 , 12. and thou hast learnt enough . 't is not thy want of other learning , can hinder , or keep thee from heavens way , if thou wilt repent heartily of thy sinnes , and turn from all iniquity , with a full and absolute resignation of thy self to serve the lord christ. this knowledge ( i may truly say ) is easie to him that doth understand , prov. 14.6 . where he that doth understand , cannot be meant otherwise , than of a man that hath an humble and an honest heart ; because in the same place , he is set in opposition to a scorner , who seeketh wisdome , ( as 't is there said ) and findeth it not . the original is only [ and not , ] and the meaning is plainly this , that proud scornfull men can never attain to true wisdome , which is easie to an humble , and willing minde . and this you have set forth at large , prov. 2.1 , 7. to the perusal of which place i refer the reader , and so proceed . obj. i want time to attend the working out of my salvation ; for i am a servant , and must work to please my master , &c. i have but little to live upon , and must spend all my time , to maintain my self , and my family . sol. strange ! cannot servants work to please god , and their masters too ? the apostle thought they might do both , though servants then were mostly slaves , and many of them had heathens and infidels to their masters . thou art a servant , and canst not have so much time , as others who are free ; yet know this for thy comfort , that thy faithfulness , and diligence in thy masters business , is pleasing to god , and an honour to the gospel . if thou hast not so much time as some others , for waiting on god in his ordinances , and in all the duties of his worship and service , yet a carefull improvement of the time thou hast ; and what cannot be denyed thee ▪ will be accepted , when thou hast no more . i say not , thou should'st serve thy master in the wayes of sin , with a neglect of thy duty towards god : but i say , use the time thou hast , to the best advantage ; and thou shalt be accepted according to what thou hast . but beware , thou be not one of those servants , who have masters , that are willing to teach them , and they have no minde to learn the wayes of god : beware also , thou pretend not thy masters business , when thou art not carefull to redeem the time , and improve the seasons , which may be recovered by thy diligence , and care . the same in effect i say to such as are poor ; if they cannot spare so much time , as others can , they may be accepted in what they have , if there be but a willing minde . and to all these i say further , though there is need for all to address themselves to god in prayer and praise , &c. as we all need our ordinary repasts to recruit our faint spirits , and frail bodies ; yet the life of religion is shew'd most in the duties of our particular callings , and personal relations ; in these we must spend , and express the strength , and grace we obtain of god , by our waiting upon him in ordinances , and religious exercises . a christian is not bound to spend all his time in reading , and hearing , &c. much , yea most of it , must be laid out on the works of their callings , wherein our diligence , and integrity , and faithfulness is our living to god. and if in our earthly employments , we retain heavenly affections , making conscience of all we do , as desirous , to approve our selves to god , in this we do gods work , and keep on , in our way to heaven . no honest calling is , or can be any hinderance to the life of godliness , if we labour , in all we do , to keep a good conscience . if our small stock , or mean estate will not allow us so much time , for some religious exercises , as others have , we may notwithstanding practise holiness , and exercise our selves unto godliness , in our lawfull employments , if we have honest hearts , as well as they . obj. god requires no more than he gives ; now god hath not given me to repent , &c. and what can i do ? sol. this ( i think ) hath been sufficiently answer'd already , yet i shall add a word or two more . god requires no more than he gives ; so say i ; but i say also , he will require so much as he gives . now canst thou , or dar'st thou say , that god hath not given thee time , and space to repent ? yea hath he not waited long for thee ? yea dar'st thou say , he hath not given thee to repent , &c. when he hath given thee light , to see the errour , and the evil of thy wayes ? what would'st thou have ? god hath commanded thee , and intreated thee , and by many , and sundry motions made to thee , sometimes allured thee , and at other times affrighted thee . his word , his spirit , his works of mercy and judgement , have bespoken thee , again and again , to cast away thy transgressions , but thou would'st not ; and only because thou loved'st thy ungodly wayes , and found'st pleasure in them , thou would'st not be perswaded to leave them . and wilt thou say yet , that god hath not given it thee ▪ to return to him ? i hope thou wilt not blaspheme god openly , in saying , that he hath tempted thee to thy evil wayes . neither did he , or any other force thee , for thou wast wholly inclin'd , and addicted to them , and angry at all ▪ that would put thee out of them . i shall say no more , but only desire thee , to answer thy self , and thine own conscience , in this one question , viz. why thou dost not forsake thy wicked ways ? i say again , ask , and answer that question sincerely , and as in the sight of god , and thou shalt finde thine own heart will tell thee , that thou lik'st , and lov'st the profits , and the pleasures of thy sinfull wayes , so as thou hast no minde to leave them . and if thou finde it not so , call me lyar upon this account . now whose fault is it , that thou lovest thy sins ? but i must go on to finish this discourse . and for a conclusion , i shall very plainly and briefly , shew the mistakes of men , about the only way of life , with the best advice i can give about it . the only way of life , that i know of , is believing on the lord jesus christ. for this we have a command , and a promise , as is to be seen in very many texts , which i need not mention , because they are obvious to the meanest understanding . this is the tenour of the only covenant of peace and life , if thou believest with all thine heart , thou shalt be saved , ro. 10.9 , 10 , 11. joan. 3.16 , & 36 , &c. yea this is receiv'd among all professed christians , that believing on the son of god is the way of life , and salvation . but the most of those , who profess the faith of our lord jesus christ , are much to seek , and at a great loss , about the way of believing , to the saving of their souls . for their sakes therefore , i shall lay before them , the good , and the right way of salvation , by faith in the son of god , and assure them in the name of god , that whoever is resolv'd to walk in that way , shall as certainly be saved , as those who are already in heaven . and this i shall do , that ( if it be possible ) they may be perswaded , no more to dispute , or quarrel gods decrees , or christs dying for all sinners ; or the inability , that is in all men by nature , to all that 's spiritually good , or any thing else , besides the frowardness of their own corrupt , and perverse hearts . for the way of salvation by faith only , it is this : the gospel , which only reveals the way of living by faith , makes an offer of christ , to all without exception , in case they believe , ioan. 3.16 . and many other places . and when any man is effectually perswaded to receive christ , as he is offer'd , then he believes , to the saving of his soul. if any desire to know further , what it is to receive christ , i answer , that it is the souls hearty consenting to have him , upon the same terms , on which he is offer'd . this is that , which ( as i may say ) makes up the match between christ , and any soul ; so as thence forward , it stands in relation to christ , as a woman to her husband , after her consent obtain'd , and declar'd , and so hath an interest in him , and all his estate . this is the eminency , and precedency of faith , to all other graces , that it is the souls consenting to have christ , as her all in all . for when the soul so consents , a man is thereupon justified , and accepted with god. this consent indeed doth imply love and obedience , and faithfulness to christ , all our dayes ; and if there be not afterwards a performance of all accordingly , for certain the consent at first , was not sincere , and hearty . for we are delivered from the hands of our enemies , that we may serve him , &c. luc. 1.74 . we are redeem'd from all iniquity to be a peculiar people , zealous of good works , tit. 2.14 . but yet the consent which is first given , sets a man in the state , and relation of a justified person , which afterwards he proves himself to be , by yielding willing obedience to all the commands of christ. for love , and all the fruits of it in a christians whole course , are but the performance of what was promis'd , when he first consented to have christ for his only lord and saviour ; and where these do not attend , there never was any hearty consent . but faith ( i say again ) hath the precedency , in that it is the souls consenting to take christ upon his own terms , and so faith alone justifies us . now , if what hath been s●id of our being justified by faith alone , be rightly apprehended , there will need no dispute about the concurrence of works in our justification . but leaving all such disputes , as no way concerning my present purpose , i shall only take notice of such mistakes , as are ordinary , and do offer themselves ( as it were ) to us , upon this occasion , to be considered of . for certain , the way of believing , is the only way of living with god for ever . but the mistakes of men about this way , are the great occasion of their miscarriage : i mean it of such as hear the gospel , have christ offered to them , and do profess to believe on him , as all or most do with us . there are only two that deserve our notice , and if there be any other , they may be reduc'd to these . and these two are extremes , not so farr from one another , as both are from the right way of living by faith. first , some ( though they pretend not to merit ) do almost turn the covenant of grace into a covenant of works , and so pervert the gospel of christ to their own destruction . i do not mean , that they make account to be saved by vertue of the first covenant , made with adam in innocency : for never was there a man , iew or gentile , that did not acknowledge himself a sinner . and this appears , in that all of them have used means , true or false , right or wrong , to make an attonement for their souls . but i mean such as the iews , who attained not to the law of righteousness , because they sought it not by faith , but as it were by the works of the law , ro. 9.31 , 32. [ as it were ] not wholly , or altogether , but in a sort , as it were , or after a manner . and how was that ? surely thus ▪ when they knew themselves sinners before the lord , and should have look'd to christ only , as the alone propitiation for sin , they applyed themselves to their legal services and sacrifices , hoping to find acceptance with god , though they look'd not at all by faith unto him , who was the end of the law , and all the righteousness of men before god. thus they perverted the covenant of grace , and made it of none effect to them , and so do others to this day . and if you desire to know how and wherein , i answer , thus : when god hath shewed us christ , as our only salvation , and given us means for bringing us near to him , and building us up in acquaintance with him , viz. his word and sacraments , &c. what do the most of professing christians count of more , than hearing , and receiving the sacraments , and their good prayers , &c. as so much good service done to god ; and make account they please god well enough , so long as these services are not wholly omitted or neglected by them . this is a great mistake , and for a further discovery of it , take notice , 1. that working and doing what is commanded us of god , being the condition of the covenant made with adam , there is in every man since , an inclination to think of pleasing god , by somewhat that he himself doth . and this is to be ignorant of the righteousness of god , which is nothing else , but the obedience of the lord jesus christ to the will of his father . for this the apostle avouches , ro. 5.19 . that by this alone we are made righteous . for our own performances , they are all imperfect ; and when we do our utmost , we do but endeavour to perform the promise which we made to christ , when we first consented to receive him as our lord and saviour ; and those performances have all of them need to be pardoned , as to the defects of them , through the application of his righteousness to our selves by faith . yea , and if we are not first united to him , by a sincere and sound faith , all our performances are an abomination , as the scripture speaks often , pro. 15.8 . pro. 28.9 . psal. 66.18 . &c. 2. the way that god hath laid out for us to walk in , that we may live , is first to know and acknowledge our own lost estate and condition by sin , with an utter impossibility to recover our selves otherwise , than in a way of free pardon by grace , which we receive by faith . and when we have thus clos'd with christ , and receiv'd him , as our only righteousness before god , then in way of thankfulness for such an unspeakable grace , we are to set our selves about the service of christ our lord redeemer . this our obedience to our lord and saviour , is not any the least part of that price , whi●h was paid to procure and purchase our pardon . nor is our consenting to receive christ , as he is offered to us , by faith , any part of amends made to god , for the wrong done him by mans sin and transgression . only the righteousness and obedience of the son , in doing and suffering all that was enjoyn'd him by his father , is the price of our redemption , and that wherein god is well pleased . and so is christ offer'd to us , as our all and only righteousness , which we receive by faith , as a man receives a rich gift freely given him , upon no other condition , than his willing and hearty acceptance of it . the gift is not the less free , because a man cannot be enriched by it , unless he receive and take it . no more is our justification by christs righteousness less free , because we have not the benefit , till by faith we apply it to our selves . the feast is prepared without our cost or care ; and all we do , is but to come and partake of it , which is done only by our believing on the lord our righteousness . as for our obedience to christ , and serving him all our dayes in holiness and righteousness before him , it is but going on to the full possession of the heavenly inheritance , and the same with working out our salvation , philip. 2.12 . or , finishing our sanctification , 2 cor. 7.1 . that is , employing all our abilities , and using all the means which god hath appointed for the accomplishment of our salvation . when we first believe with the heart , we are put into the right way ; but we are not presently at the end of our race . we are only as travailers , pressing on toward our home ; or as racers , posting towards the goal . there is a rich inheritance purchas'd for us , without any cost of ours ; only we must go , to take possession of it . and this cannot be in works , and wayes of ungodliness , ( for they tend to hell , and destruction ) but in wayes of righteousness and holiness , which god hath appointed to be the way to the kingdome , though not the cause of reigning . besides , in the wayes of righteousness , we shew , and approve our selves , to have believed from the heart , which is the justification by works , which the apostle meant , iac. 2.21 . and v. 22. he clears it sufficiently in saying , by works was faith made perfect . that is , declared , or shewed , and prov'd such as it is , even as gods power is said to be perfected in weakness , 2 cor. 12.9 . that is , declared to be as it is , all-sufficient for our relief , and so to be acknowledged by us . and thus are our works the only good evidence , of our believing on the lord jesus christ , to the saving of our souls . for by adding one grace to another , i. e. acting every grace in its due season , and order , we give all diligence , to make our calling and our election sure , 2 pet. 1.5 , 11. this , and this alone will be the evidence of our faith , in the great day of account ; and hence it is said so often in scripture , that god will judge every man according to his works : that is , he will judge , and try men by what they have done , to prove and approve themselves sound believers , in the sight of god , angels , and men. now by what hath been said , many may learn to know their foul mistake in this particular . 't is not , o vain man , the good service , thou hast done to god , that is , or will be thy righteousness before him . what is it to him , that thou hast wept , and prayed before him , or been at any , never so great cost , and pains about doing any work , that he hath commanded thee . he hath no need of thy services , or sacrifices , psal. 50.8.14 . neither canst thou be profitable to god , as thou mayst be to thy self , or another . and when thou hast done thy best , thou hast need of grace to pardon that which is wanting . tell me , did'st thou ever pray , or praise god so , as thou durst expect acceptance , upon thine own account ? sure , thy desire to be heard , and accepted upon the account of the lord jesus christ , shews the contrary . why dost thou then talk idly , of what thou hast done and suffered ? obj. i make no account of meriting at the hands of god ? sol. i know not what thou mak'st account of ; but why dost thou build so much upon so rotten a foundation , as thine own works , and doings ? and that thou dost so , is apparent , by thy pharasaical boastings , that thou art not , as other men are . why do so many , when they are asked a reason of the hope , that is in them , so readily answer , that they have not so behav'd themselves , as not to hope well about their salvation ? the best saints have made it an evidence of their faith , and hope , and joy in god , as nehemiah , and paul , &c. but too many ( we may fear ) make it the ground , and foundation , and therein miserably deceive themselves . for 't is faith alone receiving christ , as he is freely offer'd , that gives us all our interest in god , as it disclaims all self-righteousness , and creature-confidence , and gives god all the glory of our salvation , by his rich grace . for our good works ( whatever they are ) they are no part of our righteousness before god , but only our evidences , that we have believed , as god hath commanded ; and so are in the only right way to our everlasting salvation , as we hope for it in heaven . but this is a mystery far above thy reach , viz. to do all , as if thou must be saved by thy works ; and yet when all is done , to look on all , as abominable before god , and to rest thy self , and all thy works , upon gods free grace in our lord jesus christ for acceptance , as much as if thou had'st done nothing at all . thou reckon'st upon works of piety , mercy , and charity , which thou hast done ; not considering , that thou hast somewhat even in them to be p●rdon'd , and that no satisfaction to gods justice can be made by any thing , never so well done , by any creature , or by all of them together . if any shall think i wrong them in this , i confess ( what i hope , and believe ) that there are many sound , and sincere believers , who are really acquainted with the mysterie of living by faith. but i have not charity enough , to perswade my self , that all professing christians are such , as know by experience , what it is to live by faith in the righteousness of the alone saviour , whiles they see nothing in themselves , but just matter of condemnation : once , for certain , to deny our own righteousness , is the hardest part of self-denial , and every experienc'd christian , will ( i am confident ) be ready to avow this . but too many , that profess faith in christ , are too like the iews , who made great account of sacrifices , and offerings ; not understanding , or heeding christ in them , though he was the life , and soul of them , and without him , they were but an empty shadow , or an unsavoury carcass , indeed an abomination . what adoe is made by many about the sacraments , to be applyed to young , and old ; as if the opus operatum in gods ordinances , were of such avail , where , there is no grace concurring with them ? the sacraments are indeed necessary , by reason of gods command , and as means of his appointment , for our edification in grace , and communion with god. they are the seals which god hath annex'd to the new covenant ; and the contempt , or neglect of them , when they may be us'd , and applyed in gods way , and order , is no small transgression . nor can we justly expect the end , so long as we neglect the means , which god hath appointed for obtaining it . but yet there is not such a necessity of the sacraments , as of christ , and faith in him ; and we may have , and hold fast these , without the sacraments ; else woe to those poor souls , who by the hand of god one way , or other in any kind , are debarr'd the use of them . 't is more than probable , that many children died in israel , before they were circumcised , which was not , by gods order , till the eighth day : and yet we dare not therefore say , they were cast-awayes . the passover was probably , in some of the kings reigns , utterly neglected , ( or else observ'd only in private , if yet it was so ) as in ahaz his time : for he shut up the doors of the lords house , which so stood shut , till hezekiah opened them , in the first year of his reign ▪ and how could the iews in babylon keep the passover , or offer any sacrifice , for 70. years together ? and yet who dare say , that the faithfull and godly among them , all that while , had no communion with god ? was not the ark in a private place , so as the people enquir'd not at it , in the dayes of saul , 1 chron. 13.3 . true ; the want of ordinances duly administred , in the publique assemblies , is a sad calamity , and a token of gods displeasure against a people . but yet god never leaves his people , without sufficient helps , to acquaint themselves with him , in such a sad condition ; and there is no such necessity of them , as enforces any to an undue and disorderly administration of them , besides the rule of that word and law , which hath enjoyn'd them . we had need beware of giving to them , what we owe to christ alone , and faith in his name , lest we be guilty of seeking after righteousness , as it were , by the works of the law , ro. 9.32 . what adoe is made also , by too many , about duties of worship , when it is to be fear'd , their religion goes very little further , and there is little care of improving the word and prayer to any other purpose , after attendance on them is once at an end . the word is precious , and so are all duties of worship , to all such as know by experience the blessed effects of them upon their own souls . but 't is an easie mistake for men to rest in the duty done , and think all is well , if they have been at it , though little be done after it , to express the vertue and power of it , or to shew any impressions of it on the soul. there are other duties to be done of all christians , to shew the life and power of godliness in them , and if these latter be wanting , all attendance on ordinances will be little other than an empty outside formality . the same may be said of family-duties ▪ morning and evening daily perform'd , if there be not a conscionable performance of the moral law in justice , fidelity , mercy and charity , us'd and practic'd in all our dealings with men . and when we have done all , both the one and other , yet christ , and his righteousness , are all in all to us , and the rest no better than a filthy ragg . but of this more in the next that follows . secondly , a second mistake seems to lye as much on the other hand , viz. when men count of being s●ved by faith and hope in christ alone , and live all the while in a constant practice of all ungodliness and unrighteousness , which is to turn the grace of our lord iesus christ into wantonness or lasciviousness , jude 4. such were the iews of old , that cried , the temple of the lord , &c. ier. 7.4 . and yet continued to steal , murder , and commit adultery , and swear falsely , &c. v. 9. and what account god had of them , is to be seen at large , esay 1 cap. 10. — 16. v. esay 66.1 . — 5. psal. 50. and many other places to the same purpose . the summ of all is this , that they , and all their services , were an abomination to the lord. and so is the faith of all prophane and ungodly men , who profess their hope in christ alone , to be saved by him . such faith as saint iames saith , cap. 2. is dead , having no works to prove and justifie the life and power of it . the devils believe , and tremble , which these prophane wretches do not . and shall their faith save them ? just as the devil's faith shall save him , and no otherwise . these are the believers , that have so much faith , as carries them to the places of publique worship , where perhaps they sometime laugh , or sleep out the time , as if they had nought else to do there . and what is done there by their ministers , somewhat , or nothing , or somewhat to no purpose , with them , it matters not . the worse , and the less , the better . as for heeding what they hear , or practicing as they have prayed , ( alas poor souls ) they regard little more than the doggs , that goe to church on sundayes sometimes , as well as their masters . these are believers , that live in all manner of sensual delights and pleasures , and make no conscience , no not so much as heathens , of any thing that savours of common honesty . but because this hath been touch'd upon before by the way , i shall say no more of it here . only these men , all of them , are out of the way of life , which is believing with all the heart ; and what believing with all the heart is , i shall yet shew as plainly , and as briefly as i can . when once a poor sinner is convinc'd of the errour and evil of his way , and also of the infinite transcendent excellencies of christ , as all in all to him , he then sees , there is somewhat hereafter to be expected , more than can possibly be had here . and thereupon he is wholly and altogether taken up in his thoughts and affections , about those things which are laid up in christ , and never to be enjoyed , till his appearing in glory . this hope and expectation of future glory , so works upon him , as he becomes every day more and more crucified to the world , and all things here below , and accounts them ( as they are indeed ) nothing but vanities and lyes . and as all his hopes are in heaven , so all his endeavours are only for this , that he may not fail & fall short of those everlasting enjoyments . and ●ccordingly he resolves , that whatever it costs him in doing or suffering for christs sake , come life , come death , he cares not , so he may have his desires in these . in this way of believing , all the saints now in heaven came thither . no temptation on the right hand , or the left , could turn them aside , but they would still hold on in the way of gods commandments , whatever became of them . so did moses , heb. 11.24 , 25 , 26. who refused to be called the son of pharaoh 's daughter , chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god , &c. not as elihu charged iob , job 36.21 . that he had chosen iniquity , rather than affliction . but as zuinglius hath it , * what deaths had we not better chuse , what torments , yea , what hell not suffer rather , than go against conscience rightly inform'd ? so did all those worthies , recorded heb. 11.33 . ad fin . these are the saints indeed , that take heaven by violence ; and they that are not such , at least in the purpose of their hearts , will never approve themselves in gods account , to be sound believers . i know well , there are many sects in the world , but all those are but of two sorts , and no more will be found at the last day . one of these is that company of men , which will have their reward here , and their portion in this life . it is all they look after , and the best heaven they desire , is to be left here upon earth for ever ; and to these , the thoughts of death are very terrible . ●ut there is another sort , who count this earth to be their hell ; and all their expectation and hope is after they are gone hence ; and upon this account , they little value what befalls them here . and these are christians , and believers indeed : their ●aith is the ground of things hoped for , and the evidence of things not seen : it is such a confidence of the heavenly inheritance , as makes a man fear nothing ; having his eye upon the recompence of the reward , and as seeing him that is invisible . such believers will not be frighted , nor flatter'd out of gods wayes , because they know them to be the only way to life eternal . canst thou do thus , and for the joy set before thee endure the cross , and despise the shame ? if thou canst , this is a sound faith indeed , that will get thee a living , and that for ever . obj. if any object , that some good men have been afraid , and yielded in suffering times . sol. i say so too : but i say withall , that never any good man did wholly , and finally deny , and forsake the cause of truth , for any torments , and sufferings , and for those who staggered a while , and perhaps recoil'd , they came on again , and found no comfort , till they had recanted their recantations . all may not have the same degree of confidence and courage ; but all sound believers will hold out to the end , though some with more adoe , than others . it cannot be a sound faith , that can be totally overcome by any temptation . to believe sincerely , is the work of christ , in a soul ; and , he is stronger than he that is in the world , 1 joh. 4.4 . so as true believers are sure at last , to overcome , whatever be their conflict . but thou art one , that carest not for fighting , or striving against sin , with the least hazard , to any of thy smallest earthly comforts . thou art more like those souldiers that watch'd our saviour whiles he lay in the tomb , mat. 28.11 . &c. who though they knew , that he was risen , as they had seen , and could not but know it ; yet vers . 15. took the money , that was offer'd them , and said as they were taught , i. e. quite contrary , to what they knew in their consciences . if there be any thing to be got , money , or money-worth , thou wilt deny christ , and his truth , or any thing thou know'st of god. or if any thing be to be suffer'd for the truth , let it go for thee , 't is not worth the purchase . i shall say no more to discover , who are sound believers , and who not . i shall only add a word of advice to such as profess their faith , and hope to be saved by christ ; but for certain , never yet gave any proof of it : because of this sort are many , that quarrel the wayes of gods grace , and providence , as not equal . 1. know o vain man , that god hath promised thee eternal life , as much as any other ; and there is no hinderance to thy enjoyment of it , but thine impenitency , and unbelief : and what that is , hath been plainly shew'd before . there is , i say again , no barre to thy believing , unto the saving of thy soul , but what thou thy self hast put , by thy wilfull and wayward rejecting of christ , tender'd to thee . consider it therefore , and look to it in time , for thine eternity depends upon it . 2. thou hast nothing to do , but to humble thy self before the lord , and acknowledge thine iniquities , and loath thy self for them , and so flee to lay hold on the hope set before thee , counting all but loss and dung , for the excellency of the knowledge of christ iesus the only lord and saviour ; and resolve , to serve him all thy dayes , in holiness , and righteousness before him . if this be done , thou shalt be saved , and shalt never meet with any decree of god , to reject thee . and for the merits of christ , thou shalt finde them as all-sufficient to thee , as to any saint in heaven . and now say not , thou would'st believe , if thou could'st ; for the contrary is most true , as hath been proved before . o! be at last perswaded , to quarrel no more , about what will avail thee nothing , but presently set about the work , that lieth plain before thee . if thou wilt know what , i say again ; 1. love thy sinnes no more , count not the profits , and pleasures of them , to be so sweet , when they will be bitterness in the latter end . for they are but well-tasted poyson , that goes down sweetly , but works sadly in the bowels afterward . this poyson indeed , is in thee already ; but it will not kill thee , if thou art perswaded to cast it up . and this i give thee to encourage thee , that i know some sinners yet alive , that have taken in as much poyson as thou hast , who , by casting it up , as i have now perswaded thee , have much sweet peace , and comfort in believing , whiles they tread another trace , than once they did . they are now holy , devout , and righteous ; who were before ungodly , profane , and vicious . go thou , and do likewise , and try , whether god will save thee , or no. 2. lay hold on the wayes of gods commandments , and write them upon the table of thine heart , prov. 3.3 . were thou may'st read more to this purpose ; as also prov. 1.5 . besides many , very many places of scripture , which all cry loud upon thee , to hearken , and hear what god requireth of thee , to the saving of thy soul. be but once perswaded to believe , that god knows the way to heaven , better than thou dost , and that he hath told thee plainly enough what that way is . and then consider , whether god hath , or can have it in his heart , to abuse , and deceive thee . yea , to put no further trouble upon thee , go to thine own conscience , and ask seriously , whether the wayes of sinfull vanity , and all manner of iniquity are , or can be the way to heavenly happiness , in the enjoyment of god. and for a conclusion ; be pleas'd to consider of all that hath been aforesaid , whether thou hast nothing to do , about the work and business of thine own salvation . for one of these two must be : either thou hast something to do , or nothing at all . if there be somewhat for thee to do , ( as i suppose there is ) why art thou not about it , and hard at it , and that presently , without delay ? canst thou be so unreasonably negligent about thy soul , when thou art so uncessantly , and excessively carefull of every other , the least concernment ? is it nothing to thee , what becomes of thee to all eternity ? hath god will'd thee to be doing , all thou canst , for thy present subsistence , and nothing at all for thy everlasting salvation ? or hath he left it to thy choice , whether thou wilt do any thing , or nothing at all ? read the scriptures once more , and see , if there be nothing commanded thee in order to this ? and be sure in the first place , that thou art left to thy liberty , and under no obligation ; or else consider , how thou wilt answer for thy disobedience to gods commands . but if there be nothing for thee to do , or if it be in vain for thee , to bestow thy care , or pains about it , because there is somewhat impossible to be done , without any fault of thine ; i shall say no more , but leave thee to be tryed by what thou know'st to be gods law , at the last , and great day of account ; resolving for my self , that if i am saved from wrath , and death , it will be only through gods free mercy , and grace ; and if i perish , and die in my sinnes , it will be only through mine own default , because i would not ( whil'st i might , ) know the time of my visitation , and the things of my peace . an appendix to the whole discourse foregoing , which may be call'd a seal , set to the only way of life and salvation , by the alone saviour . luc 13.23 , 24 , &c. then said one unto him , lord , are there few that be saved ? and he said unto him , strive to enter in at the strait gate , &c. he that made this question , seems to be ( upon what occasion soever he made it ) of a curious and inquisitive humour , ( as most men are ) desirous to know , what no way concern'd him . he would be satisfied , whether few or many shall be saved . our saviour in answering him , sufficiently shews his dislike of such an impertinent question : for he resolves nothing about it directly , but clearly intimates to him and others , that it concerns them not to be resolv'd in it , one way or other : but falls upon that , which every man is bound to look after , viz. a carefull endeavour to do the will of god , reveal'd in his word , which shews the way of life , so as whoever walks in it , is sure to be saved . now this one scripture is enough , to stop the mouths of all , that quarrel and question ( as many do ) the wayes of god in his decrees and counsels about the salvation of men . for our saviour not only intimates , that all such questions are impertinent ; but he fully shews , upon this occasion , what is the only way to life , wherein whoever goes , is sure to be saved , whatever becomes of others : and never takes the least notice of any barr , by reason of gods decrees , or any thing else of that kind . we must strive , &c. i. e. we must not think the kingdom of heaven can be gotten by a lazy and empty profession of true religion , or by having the external means of grace , and the outside priviledges of christians , ( as 't is said ) v. 26. but we must strive for it , by sound deniall of our selves , renouncing all worldly and fleshly delights and contents , and a serious industrious endeavour after godliness , which will put us to hard labour , and pain , and trouble . and then he makes affidavit for it , that whoever is resolv'd to seek heaven and happiness in this way , shall not miss , or fall short . goe thou , and do thus , and thy work is done , if god be true in his word . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a39932-e270 gen. 3. neque hoc cont●ntus d●um simul accip●t in c●●men , &c. joan. 10.24 . joan 6.30 . notes for div a39932-e660 tit. 3.10 , 11. the general proposition to be proved ▪ 1 argument . gen. 3.15 . act. 7.30 . psal. 19.1 , 2 , 3. jude 15. obj. sol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quod de deo cognosc●re fas est , vel expedit . calvin . indicat manifestationem quâ proprius urgeantur , quam ut r●fugere queant . mat. 25.24 . gen. 17.12 . ro. 4 . 1● . aust. ep. 107. ad vital . deut. 29.19 . tit. 1.2 . mic. 6 8. in suum exitium insaniunt qu●cunque omisso christo quidnam de se in arcano dei consilio constitutum sit , in quirunt . calv. in ep ▪ 1. joan. c. 3. v. 10. non negamus decretum permissionis , &c. illud tamen a●ctè tenemus adami peccatum non ab hoc decreto , sed s●cundum hoc decretum evenisse . determinat . qu. 25. † decret●m non tol●it lib●●tatem . luc. 22.22 . joan. 19.33.36 . io. white , the way to the true church , sect. 40. digress . 41. nihil m●gis subest ●ibero arbitrio quam quod ab eo fluit libenter , & gaudenter . parisienfis . potest deus sine bonis meritis liberare , quia bonus est : non potest qu●mquam sine malis meritis damnare , quia justus est . august . ep. 10● . deus de suo bonus est , de nostro justus . tertul. de resur . ca●n . davenant against hoard . omne quod est , quando est , necesse est . gen 20 3. 1 sam. 23. ex. 13.17 . israelit or fuerunt depositariē , & oeconomi foederis , calvin in rom : c : 3 : v : 2 : ● : ● : they had the honour and favour to carry the light , which others were bound to follow . heb. 11.31 . judic . 4.11 . act. 28.22 . ro. 10.18 . joan. 1.11 2 reg 5. marc. 16.16 . deut 29.29 . ro. 8.7 . we have not ( as papists report us ) turn'd men into beasts or stones , by taking away free-will ; but acknowledge it so farr , as to make al● fl●sh unexcusable before gods judgement seat . io white , way to th● true church , s●●t . 40. i do not mean by free-will , a power in man to will good and evil alike : nor do i set free-will against the grace of god , as papists do . liberum arbitrium per peccatum factum est servum . liberum arbitrium semper liberum est , non semper est bonum . † libera est homini voluntas , sed ad malum . aust. contr . pelag . ep. lib 1. * per illud p●ccant qui cum delectione peccant . † serva voluntas est , quae propter corruptionem sub malorum cupiditatum imperio captiva tenetur , ut nihil quam malum eligere possit , etiamsi id sponte , & libenter faciat . calv. de lib. arb . * free-will is the operation of the will , in chusing , or refusing , what the judgement of our understanding offereth . nos non alibi statuimus peccandi necessitatem , quam invitio voluntatis , unde spontaneant esse ipsam sequitur . calv. de lib. arb . ex ho● enim quod ratio deliberans se habet ad oppofi●a , voluntas in utrumque potest . aq. 12. qu. 6.2 . solumid quod habet intellectum potest age●● judicio libero in quantum cognoscit univérsalem rationem bonis ex quâ potest judicare hoc , vel illud esse bonum . aqu. p. ● . q. 59. c. 3. * gen : 6 : 5 : † non amisimus naturam , sed gratiam . * voluntas in naturâ , &c. à bono patest declinare , ut faciat malem , quod fit libero arbitrio : et à malo , ut faciat bonum , quod non fit sine divino adjutorio : august : de civit : lib : 15. c : 21. tolle gratiam non est , quod salvet : tolle liberum arbitrium , non est quod salv●tur . voluntas etiam a deo cogi non potest , etsi possit ab illo de necessitate mutari , operando in illâ sicut in natuâ : aqu : 12 : q : 6 : contra rationem ipsiu● actûs voluntatis est , quod sit coactus , &c : 12 : qu : 6 : a : 4 : c : passiones animi non possunt cogere voluntatem , licet alit . moveant inclinando affectum : aquin : perkins of gods free-grace , and mans free-will . ro. 10. mat. 26.41 . perkin● of gods fr●e grace , and mans free-will . luth. de serv. arbit . neque enim sic necessariò peccare impios dicimus quia voluntariâ deliberatâ que malitiâ peccent . calvin . de lib. a●b . contra pighium , in 2. lib. 1 cor. 2.14 . obj. from ier. 23. answer'd . ier : 9 : 6 : they have taught , &c. i. e. enured , or accustomed themselves , they have g●t such an habit and custome of sinning , that they cannot leave it . [ they ] i : e : mankind : it was not adams sin alone ; so some understand it . posse quod voluit . v●lle quod potuit : * c●sset voluntas propria , & non erit infernus : there would be no hell , but for our wicked will. job 21.14 non appetitu naturali , aut per electionem , sed in natur● . aquin. job 40.2 . job 40.4 , 5. * the platoniks , though far wide from the mark , as beza in arg . psal. 90. observes . † ede , bibas , ludas , post mortem nulla vo●ûpt 〈◊〉 . humanae vitae respectu , it● ut nobis constet praemium in hoc mundo . calv. * not this , or that , but all . ro. 11.33 job 33.12 , 13. orig. sac. lib. 3. c. 1. esay 44.10 . who hath formed a god , & c ? i. e. who but a mad man , &c. ga●âk . annotat. in loc. vindicia pietatis , , by r. a. vix compos mentis . mat. 7.21 , 22 , 23. annòn sibi sunt conscii ? esay 29.21 . philip. 2.15 . nullum unquam peccatum errore vac●t . nam ut maximè sciens , ac vo●ens quis pecc●t , excaecatum tamen suâ cupiditate esse oportet , ne r●ctè jud●cet im● ut se ac deum obliviscatur . nunquam enim in suum exitium ruérunt homines , nisi satanae fallaciis implicit , a recto judicio aberrarent . calv. in ep. ad . hebr. c. 9. v. 7. 2 pet. 2.15 . 2 pet. 2.22 . mat. 23.3 . 2 chron. 36.16 . acts 7.52 . joan. 7.49 . mat. 7.29 . psal. 50.3 , 4. * saints at large . exod. 19.6 . mat. 16.1 . luc. 16.30 , 31. * r●●d act. 4.16 , 17. where we have an instance , what miracles will do upon some men . 2 pet. 1.19 . jon. 1.4 ▪ 5. psa. 107.28 . gen. 6.2 . ibid. act. 14.16 . pro. 26.13 . heb. 12.14 . tit. 3.3 . eph. 2.3 . gen. 18.25 . ro. 2.7 . luc 22.28 , 29. ro. 2.8 , 9. 2 thes. 1.7 , 8. ro. 2.11 , 12. heb. 6.10 . 1 tim. 3.6 . ro. 8.7 . joan. 3.3 , & 5. tit. 3.3 , 4 , 5. eph. 4.20 , — 24. eph. 4.20 , 21. august . in confess : ex. 5.2 . 2 reg. 6.33 . esay 14.13 , 14. ezech. 28.2 . 2 sam. 24.17 . dan. 9.5 , 6 , 7 , 8. psal. 89.51 . deum si quis param metuit , ● valde contemnit : fulgent . act. 17.28 . * read for this , 2 chron. 13.8 , 13. malac. 1.6 . v. 14. * hag. 2.11 , 12 , 13 , 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 · in maligno positus est . mat. 25.6 . prov. 23.21 . psal. 94.8 . vers . 11. rom. 12.1 . eph. 1.11 . jer. 8. ult . heb 7.25 . 2 cor. 6.1 . jude 4. gal 5.13 . luc. 15.10 . ezech. 18.30 , 31 , 32. eph. 4.21 . 1 cor. 1.24 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 tim. 6.1 , 2. tit. 2.9 , 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . luc. 1 74. quòd ve●a ●sse indè comprobe tur . calvin . materiam habet se exerendi , quam se prodit hominum infirmitas . id. job 22 : 2 , 3. luc. 18.11 , 12. neh. 13. ●4 ▪ & 31. 2 cor. 1.12 . nec●ssitate p●aecepti , medii . 2 chron. 28.24 . 2 chron. 29.3 . ezech. 11.16 . jac. 2.19 . ro. 10.9 , 10. * quas non o●or●●t m●rt●s p●aeeligere , &c. zuingl . ep 3. praeparaetione animi . heb. 11.1 . heb. 11.26 , 27. phil. 3.8 . luc. 1.74 . a theological discourse of angels and their ministries wherein their existence, nature, number, order and offices are modestly treated of : with the character of those for whose benefit especially they are commissioned, and such practical inferences deduced as are most proper to the premises : also an appendix containing some reflections upon mr. webster's displaying supposed witchcraft / by benjamin camfield ... camfield, benjamin, 1638-1693. 1678 approx. 428 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 115 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a32847 wing c388 estc r18390 11747074 ocm 11747074 48531 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a32847) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48531) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 18:17) a theological discourse of angels and their ministries wherein their existence, nature, number, order and offices are modestly treated of : with the character of those for whose benefit especially they are commissioned, and such practical inferences deduced as are most proper to the premises : also an appendix containing some reflections upon mr. webster's displaying supposed witchcraft / by benjamin camfield ... camfield, benjamin, 1638-1693. webster, john, 1610-1682. displaying of supposed witchcraft. [2], [12], 214 p. printed by r.e. for hen. brome ..., london : 1678. appendix has special t.p. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -history -17th century. witchcraft. angels. 2003-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-10 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-11 john latta sampled and proofread 2003-11 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion imprimatur liber hic ( cui titulus , a theological discourse of angels , &c , ) geo. hooper r.d.d. gilb. arch. cant. a sacris domesticis . sept. 30. 1677. a theological discourse of angels , and their ministries . wherein their existence , nature , number , order and offices , are modestly treated of : with the character of those , for whose benefit especially they are commissioned , and such practical inferences deduced , as are most proper to the premises . also an appendix containing some reflections upon mr. webster's displaying supposed witchcraft . by benjamin camfield , rector of aylston neer leicester . london , printed by r. e. for hen. brome , at the gun , in s. pauls church-yard , 1678. to the right honourable , my noble lord and patron , iohn , earl of rutland , &c. as also , to the right honourable , iohn , lord roos , his majesties lord lieutenant for the county of leicester . may it please your honours to pardon the presumption only of this address , and i shall not offer at any apology , either for the publishing or the dedication of the ensuing treatise ; remembring the just and smart reprehension , which m. cato gave upon occasion to a. albinus , for chusing rather to deprecate a fault than to be without it : for who , saith he , compell'd you to commit that , which you should ask forgiveness of before the doing it ? — there is not any thing of surprizal force , or necessity , in a matter of so deliberate and premeditated a choice : and therefore no excuse sufficient to palliate the transgre●sion . the subject here insisted on is neither trite in our language , nor unprofitable ; and but too suitable to that atheistical and degenerate age we live in , wherein the general disbelief of spirits ( divine and humane , angelical and diabolical ) may well be thought the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the ground and introduction of all that irreligion and profaneness , which naturally enough follows upon it . 't is a design , evidently comporting with the subtilty and malice of our grand adversary , to promote and countenance this infidelity in all the parts and branches of it , that he may pass hi●self unsuspected , whilst he thus at once destroys the object of our worship and adoration , roots up the very capacity of vertue and piety within us , quashes all the hopes and fears of a world to come , and takes away the ministers , which providence hath order'd and commissioned for our present discipline , security , and com●ort . nor is the success of these his most pernicious endeavours small and inconsiderable . men immers'd in body , and depraved with vicious customes and the debaucheries of sensual appetite and lust , are easily tempted ; first to undervalue themselves , and that excellent being , the breath of god , which lodgeth in them ; and t●ence begin to doubt of or deny a deity , and laugh at the tales of immaterial substances , as the romantic and vain supporters of a fond and groundless awe and superstition in the world. so they will do , 't is like enough , at what is said in the following pages of angels in particular . but then it may be worth the while to observe , ( for the caution and safety of all , at least , whose vitals are not yet tainted with the infection ) not only , how boldly they contradict the many plain and repeated declarations of sacred scripture , which christians certainly should reverence ; but how unreasonably cross they appear to the strongest current of traditionary belief among the best of men. next , for the method and way of handling what i have undertaken : it is not , i confess , curious and affected , and yet not altogether careless , but such , as the text prefixed most fairly suggests ; and may competently serve , i hope , both to the satisfaction and ease , the edification and delight of unpr●judiced readers ; and that the rather ; because i have endeavoured to represent every thing according to its proper evidence , of certainty or probability only , neither vainly dogmatizing in matters unrevealed , nor sceptically slighting of any intimations giv'n us by divine revelation . and now , for the dedication : i cannot say the book it self needs any other guardians than the angels contained in it , however the author may ; and , as there are none better qualified for his protection than your lordships , so there is none to whom he could more chearfully apply for shelter : but in this his design , i am sure , is honest and dis-interested , being only to testifie his bounden gratitude to your honours , ( under whose patronage and good encouragement this treatise was conceived and finished , and he hath lived for fifteen years ) and then to satisfie an innocent ambition of publickly subscribing himself . your lordship's ever-obliged chaplain , and most humble servant , b. camfield . to the reader . courteous reader , for such , in course , i presume thou art ; i had once thought to have pass'd thee by , without this accustomed formality of a salutation , the whole discourse being design'd intirely for thy use and pleasure , and the matter wholly in thine own power , whether thou wilt be at the little cost of purchasing and labour of perusing it : and generally methinks the epistle to the reader somewhat resembles that trumpet-officer before a show or play-house , whose part it is to tole in passengers , by relating to them , what wonderful rarities are to be seen within . now i have not the vanity of commending mine own wares , nor yet the ambition of getting some popular name , in verse or prose , to do it for me , nor indeed any such conceit of the performance , as to be much troubled , if thou shalt think but meanly of it . all that i aim at therefore in this short preface to thee , is , to remove a prejudice from the su●ject it self here treated of . a generation of men there is , who would have all the talk and enquiry about angels and spirits to pass for old-wives stories , or at best the waking-dreams of persons idly disposed ; and those who have been taught to believe otherwise in the main , are yet apt enough to look upon them as a nice or barren speculation . now , what pity and shame is it , when the holy scriptures have told us so much and plainly concerning this excellent sort of creatures , and the good turns we receive continually from their attendance and ministry , and the admirable vertues we have to copy out in their example ; and we christians profess to expect the happiness of being made like unto them , and bless'd hereafter in their society ; we should yet continue so profane , and sceptical , and indifferent in our belief , esteem , thoughts , and speeches about them ? i have said enough , i hope , in the following pages somewhat to abate , or cure this distemper , in those that are capable of it ; however , to prevent the contagion from such , who are yet sound and free . and whether i may have gratified or displeased thee and others in the attempt , i know not ; but shall have satisfaction sufficient , from the conscience of honest endeavou●s in the case , to content and to please my self : and so i bid thee heartily , farewel . only here at parting , since it comes into my mind , i leave thee , at all adventures , an old verse to construe and chew upon . carpere vel noli nostra , vel ede tua . a table of the chief contents . the introduction and partition . page 1 ch ▪ 1. of angels in general . 3. sect. 1. that there are such real subsistences . 4. sect. 2. that for excellency they are above us . 6. ch. 2. of the nature of angels . 11. sect. 1. spirits . 12. sect. 2. created . 22. sect. 3. intellectual and free , powerful , agile , and immortal . 27. ch. 3. of their number and distinction . 35. sect. 1. of their multitude . ibid. sect. 2. of their order . 39. ch. 4. of the offices of angels . 49. sect. 1. their ministry unto god. 50. sect. 2. their ministry unto christ. 61. sect. 3. their ministry to the whole world , especially of man-kind . 66. sect. 4. their ministry to the faithful . 78. sect. 5. an objection touching the superfluousness of their ministry removed . 100. ch. 5. the character of the persons , for whose good especially they are commission'd . 104. sect. 1. heirs of salvation . 105. sect. 2. a farther account of the same , and therein of things necessary to salvation . 109. ch. 6. practical inferences from the whole . 118. sect. 1. the christians priviledge and comfort . ibid. sect. 2. the christians dignity , not to be despised . 123. sect. 3. why no more mischief don● in the worl● ; and why so much permitted notwithstanding the presidence of angels . 126. sect. 4. no disparagement to ●ny to minister ●nto , and serve others . 131. sect. 5. angels to be revered , but not adored . 135. sect. 6 god in and for them to be admired and glorified . 144. sect. 7. why and how the minist●y of angels is to be obliged by us . 150. the conclusion with prayers . 163. the contents of the appendix . for the reader 's ease and benefit i have pointed to the chief contents already in the margin , as so many rests and pauses for his thoughts , as here i present him with a view of them together . the occasion and scope of these reflections . page 169. the denial of spirits a step to atheism asserted and justified against master w. 171. dangerous positions of master w. against the idea of a spirit , and of god. 173. self-study and reflection the right and ready method to the notion of spirits . 176. master w's contradictions both about body and spirit . 177. the humane soul excluded by him from his disquisition about angels for three pretended reasons . 178. this method of procedure unreasonable . 179. master w. confounds imagination and intellect , which else-where he knew well to distinguish . 180. master w. asserts the incorporeity of the humane soul. 181. an examination of his three reasons for excepting the humane soul from this enquiry . 183. of his first reason . ibid. a short comment upon genes . 2.7 . concerning mans original . 184. of his second reason . 186. an explication and vindication of eccles. 3.18 — 21. from atheistical and profane epicureans . 187. of his third reason . 194. master w's speculations about the corporeity of angels and how he blunders in the stating of this enquiry . 195. the critical point of the present controversie . 196. god a most simple and absolute spirit , but yet not th● only spirit . 197. angels are not such spirits in perfection as god i● , and yet truly spirits . 198. mr. w. asserts devils more spiritual than he allows other angels . 199. his mighty arguments against the incorporeity of angels examined and found weak . 200. rules and laws of bodies ineptly applyed unto spirits . 202. the difficulty of explaining the manner of things must not make us deny , what is otherwise evident . 203. some texts of holy scripture considered and vindicated from master w's exceptions . 206. saint mark , 12.24 . 207. 1 cor. 15.44 . 208. psal. 104.4 . ibid. his clear reasons against the scholastick interpretation of this last text proved defective . 211. of angels and their ministries . hebrews 1.14 . are they not all ministring spirits , sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? the introduction and partition of the ●nsuing discourse . the chief scope and design of the apostle in this chapter , is to declare the exaltation and preference of christ jesus above the angels . to which purpose , ( not to lead you through the whole contexture ) in the verse immediately before-going , he thus argues , but to which of the angels said he at any time , sit thou at my right hand , until i make thine enemies thy footstool ? so god had said expresly to this his beloved son , psal. 100.1 thereby to intimate that peculiar state of royal majesty and honour , whereto he had advanced him . but he never said the like to any of the angels ; no not to the most excellent among them all : they are not therefore lords , like him , but servants under him , for the good of his disciples . so much the interrogation of the text imports , with emphasis , leaving the matter to be decided by the reader 's judgment , and making an appeal to every one upon it , as in a case known and granted . are they not all [ that is , undoubtedly all the angels are ] ministring spirits , sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? abstracting then from the coherence of the words , we will observe , for the more orderly and profitable consideration of them , these six points . first , the persons spoken of [ they ] the angels , in the precedent verse , as to their name [ angels ] and the certainty of their existence , [ are they not ? ] secondly , their nature , [ spirits . ] thirdly , their number and multitude , [ all ] and therein their order and distinction . fourthly , their function and office , [ ministring spirits , sent forth to minister . ] fifthly , the character of such , for whose good and benefit this their ministry is chiefly intended , [ for them who shall be heirs of salvation . ] and , lastly , by way of application , those practical inferences , which are most proper and pertinent to be made from the whole . in which severals now that we may proceed with due success , i do here , in compliance with the well-grounded piety of the ancients , prefix the prayer of a learned divine in his proem to cases of conscience about this very subject . lead us , o lord our god , into the right way , we beseech thee , and direct our goings by thy good angels ; but command the evil ones to be , as far as is possible , removed from us : amen . chap. i. of angels in the general . i begin with the persons here spoken of . angel is a greek word made english , and it signifies a legate , embassador or messenger employed upon another's errand . so of the disciples of iohn the baptist , whom he sent to enquire of jesus , whether he was indeed the christ , it is said , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] when the angels , or messengers , of iohn were departed . — but the word is more restrainedly taken , both in holy scripture , and our common way of speaking , for a peculiar and divine sort of messengers , certain coelestial spirits made and commissioned and employed by and under god. concerning whom , all that i shall offer under this head , will be , 1. that there are such real subsistences ; and , 2. that they are of a rank and degree above us ; a more excellent sort of beings than men are . sect . 1. that there are such real subsistences . 1. that there is such a species of beings , that there are such [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] real and external subsistences , and that they are not [ ●mia rationis ] notions only , creatures of our brain , chimera's of our fansie , or impressions made upon the imagination , or meer dreams and appearances , or vis●o●s , or a noise in the air , as * some have represent●d ; nor yet only certain divine in●luences and inspirations , or certain a●fections and dispositions in men , v●rtues or vices , as † others have conceived ; but true , personal and p●rmanent subsistences , that have of themselves a real , p●rfect , and actual being . the sadduc●es say [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] that th●re is no r●surr●ction , neither angel n●r spirit , act. 23.8 . they believed that there was a god , ( saith grotius ) but nothing else besides , which was not perceptible by their bodily s●nses . they looked not on angels as really subsisting , nor on the soul of man as continuing af●er its separation ●rom the body , and consequently denyed a re●urrection . but the following words ( as he w●ll observes ) seem to intimate their opinion of angel and spirit , as one and the same thing : the pharisees confess both : [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] not making three distinct particulars of the before-named , but two onely ; which is also favour'd by the verse immediately succeeding [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] if a spirit or ●n angel have spoken to him . — where those two words are equivalent . it seems very strange now to conceive , that the sadd●●●es should say , there were no angels or spirits , whom all agree to have owned the five books of moses , wherein are many evident reports on record of their appearances and operations ; and more wonder still , if what iosephus is said to relate , be true of them , that they received [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] all the scriptures of the old testament , and rejected onely [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] unwritten traditions . — and therefore the learned and judicious suppose , that their meaning was , not to deny , [ angelos esse ] that there had been and were angels , so call'd ; but onely , [ spiritus esse immortales , & per se subsistentes ] that they were immortal and self-subsistent spirits , looking upon them but as certain apparitions ●or a time , and such as vanished away , when their embassie or message was dispatch'd . and yet the whole story of the bible is a sufficient confutation of this vain conceit also , which tells us those things of their nature , multitude , order , ministries , rewards and punishments ; from whence we must needs conclude them to have a real , personal and permanent subsistence . i will not go about to mention the particulars here , because they will be plentiful enough in the following parts of this treatise . it shall suffice therefore to set it down , as a point [ de fide ] clearly deliver'd in the holy scriptures , from whence we have all our certain and distinct knowledge about the angels , that there are undoubtedly such beings . maximus tyrius enquires of those , who doubted of socrates his daemon , whether ever they had read homer speaking of the same thing under other names , as minerva , iuno , apollo , eris , and such-like , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as he calls them ; not that they were such , as described by the poet , but that those names imported certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , assisting of excellent persons both sleeping and waking : and then he concludes his conviction thus ; if once thou thinkest that there are no such beings , take notice that thou must proclaim war against homer , and renounce oracles , and prophecies , and disbelieve credible reports , and declare against dreams ( with their interpretations ) and at last bid adi●u to socrates . i may with greater authority ask our modern sadduce●s , whether ever they have read the book of god , and therein observed the many and various passages concerning angels set down at large ? and seriously admonish them to beware in time , how they oppose or dispute against moses and the prophets , christ and his apostles : in like manner as our b. saviour said to their ancestors , ye do err , not knowing the scriptures , nor the power of god : or as s. mark hath it , do ye not therefore err , because ye know not the scriptures , neither the power of god ? sect . ii. that th●y are for excellencie above us . i add ( 2. ) that they are of a rank and degree above men. man is the top of the visible creation , to whom god hath given dominion over the works of his hands , as the psalmist witnesseth . and therefore our b. saviour puts the question , as to other creatures , are ye not much better than they ? po●nting to the fowls of the air : and the apostle s. paul , having mentioned a law providing for ●ea●ts , comm●nts thus upon it ; † doth god take care for oxen ? or , saith he it altogether for our sakes ? — and before them iob's friends ; bildad , not without indignation , wheref●re are we accounted as the beasts ? and elihu positively , god our maker teach●th us more than the beasts of the earth , and maketh us wiser than the fowls of the heaven . with all whom agrees well that of ovid , sanctius his animal , ment●sque capacius altae d●erat adhuc , & quod dominari in caetera possit . factus homo est . — that also of iuvenal , — separat haec nos ( i. e ratio ) à grege mutorum , atque ideò venerabile soli sorti●●●ngemum , divinorúmque capaces , &c. sat. 15. man is no fort●●●nous , careless and uncontriv'd piece of work , hundled up in haste , as seneca hath it ; but such as nature hath none greater to glory of among her rarest and most exquisite draughts . cicero also to a like purpose : animal hoc , providum , sagax , multiplex , acutum , memor , plenum rationis & consilii , quem vocamus hominem , praecl●râ quâdam conditione generatum à summo deo , &c. lib. 1. de legib. hierocles placeth him between heaven and earth , as participant of both lives , the lowest of superiour , but the first of all inferiour beings ; and by the possession of vertue or vice becoming by turns [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] a god , or a beast . he hath indeed his body in common with the beasts ; but his soul and reason with the gods , as epictetus tells us . — this briefly of man's excellency . but yet no disparagement to him , the angels are his betters . thou hast made him a little lower than the angels , saith the psalmist : which our apostle applies even to christ too , wi●h reference to that mortal nature of ours which he assumed . we may therefore note our b. saviour's climax , when he speaks of the uncertainty of the time of future judgement : but of that day and hour knoweth no man , no not the angels of heaven . — where , if angels were not supposed beyond man , it had been ●lat and dull to have added , — no not the angels of heaven . and as they excel us thus in knowledge , so also in power and might . whereas angels , saith st. peter , which are greater in power and mig●t . — when the h. scripture would set sorth the excellency of manna , wherewith god fed the israelites in the wilderness , above our daily-bread , it calls it , angels's food : and st. paul adds the tongue of angels , as a gradation beyond that of men ; though i speak , saith he , with the tongues of men and of angels . and , to express the beautiful and amazing lustre of st. stephen's countenance , when he had spoke like an oracle , 't is said of him , they s●w his face , as it had been the face of an angel. hence it is , that the name angel is given as an honourable bearing to those , whom god hath taken up to the greatest dignity among men. thus it is communicated to the chief priest under the law : the priest's lips should keep knowledge , and they should seek the law at his mouth : for he is the messenger [ or angel ] of the lord of hosts . and to the prophets : the angel [ or messenger ] of the lord that came up from gilgal to bochim is supposed to have been some extraordinary prophet . haggai is called the lord's messenger [ or angel ] delivering the lord's message to the people . and malachi , which signifies an angel , is that prophet's name , whose writings conclude the old testament . some indeed have thought the author of that book to have been an angel , and not a man : but the hebrew rabbi's tell us , it was ezra the priest and scribe . whence i●nathan the chaldee turns the beginning of that prophencie after this manner : [ onus ●●rbi domini super israel in manu malachi , cujus nomen vocatur ezra scriba . ] the burden of the word of the lord upon israel in the hand of malachi , whose name is called ezra the scribe . the lxx . read it [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] in the hand of his angel. again , it is given to iohn the baptist , who was greater than all the prophets , that went before him , the immediate prodromus and harbinger of our b. saviour : behold i will send my messenger , and he shall prepare the way before thee . which we have in s. mark ; behold i send [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] my angel before thy face . — nay , it is given to christ himself , whose shooe-latchets he was not worthy to unloose . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the greek reads that of the prophet isaiah , ch. 9.6 . verse : the angel of god's presence , ch. 63.9 . and , the angel of the covenant , as the prophet malachi stiles him , ch. 3.1 . ( and the very name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. gospel , hath some relation hereunto ) concerning whom the fathers , as well as many later divines , interpret sundry passages of angelical appearances in the old testament , as precursorie types , and pledges of his future epiphanie and incarnation ; [ which i take occasion here to advertise , once for all , because i shall hereafter wave the notice of it . ] s. paul useth it as an hyperbolical commendation of that transport of affection , wherewith the galatians at first entertained him : ye received me as an angel of god — and our b. savi●ur from heaven bestows it as a title of pre●minence upon the chief governours settled in the christian church upon earth , in his epistles directed to respective heads of the seven famed churches of asia : to the angel of the church of ephesus — to the angel of the church in smyrna — to the angel of the church in pergamus , &c. touching which i refer the reader to dr. hammond's learned dissertations of episcopacie , and his vindication of the same . — yea , it is a stile beyond that of apostle or king , than which we know none greater among men. though we or an angel from heaven preach any gospel — saith st. paul , gal. 1.8 . mentioning an angel from heaven as the more exalted and eminent . and the woman of tekoah doubts not thus to commend king david : my lord the king , saith she , is even as an angel of god. and again , my lord is wise according to the wisedom of an angel , to know all things that are in the earth . to end this argument , this is the description of our future state of glory and happiness , far beyond any in the present life , that we shall be then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] as the angels of god in heaven , and [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] like or equal to the angels . hi●rocles useth the same word , with others that answer and agree to it , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] and tertullian mentions [ animam in regno dei reformatam & angelisicatam ] an angelisied state . now since our ex●ellency , our highest and most perfect ●state is but to be as the angels , they must needs be granted ●ar above us here , as bishop andrews well infers . nay , let me add one thing yet farther . the h. scripture sometimes calls them c●ds , [ elohim ] as origen also notes : and so aristotle , and other philosophers have also stiled them ; meaning yet [ minores & à summo deo factos deos ] l●sser and made-gods , as plato speaks ; or as hesiod calls the he●o●s ▪ [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , s●mid●os ] demy-gods ; or , as se●●●● , [ inferioris notae ] and from ovid , ( de plebe deos ) petty and under-gods , over whom the supreme deity is king : or ( populares deos ) as an●isthenes cited by lactantius , popular and plebeian gods. — plutarch entitles a discourse of his de daemonio socratis ; but apuleius on the same argument de deo socratis , whom he calls also his amicum numen . plato de●ines a daemon or angel to be ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) a middle sort of being between god and man ; and max. tyrius to the same purpose ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. ) a substance more excellent than man , but inferiour unto god. we have there●ore abundant proof and conviction , that the angels are a sort of beings transcendent unto us men , the b●st of men , and that in their best condition upon earth . indeed the apostle's way of arguing in this epistle to the hebrews is a sufficient demonstration of as much : for he gives the proo● of christ's deity and exaltation next to god the father by his being above the angels , ch . 1. and then expresseth his great condescension to us mortals , in that passing by the angels , he took on him the seed of abraham , and tasted death for every man , ch . 2. chap. ii. of the nature of angels . proceed we now , secondly , to enquire into their nature ; as they are here called ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) spirits : for this , as s. augustine notes , is the name of their nature , as the word angel more properly relates to their office ; even as man , saith he , is a name of the nature , souldier or praetor of office. and to this purpose we have it ver . 7. before the text ; of the angels , he saith , who maketh his angels spirits , and his ministers a flame of fire . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an immaterial fire , as one of the greek writers phraseth it . god himself is the one and onely uncreated , and the angels are created spirits . substantiae spirituales , as tertullian also calleth them , whatever he thought of their incorporeity . here brie●ly we must examine what a spirit is , and then , what kind of spirits angels are . sect . i. spirits . not to search into the different significations of the word [ spirit ] , as it is sometimes taken , we mean by it here , according to the most proper and known acceptation and use of it ( which is the best rule of speech ) an incorporeal or bodyless being , endued with understanding , will , and active power . and whatever incompossibility , jargon or non-sense some haughty scorners have talked of , in the notion of an immaterial or incorpor●al substance , ( as if the words flatly contradicted and destroyed each other , and were such as , however men put together , they could never have the conception of any thing answerable to them ) those , who have inured their minds to a more sober thoughtfulness , and skill the difference between intellect and imagination , find it as clear and distinct , and no whit more intricate , perplexed , or difficult , than that which the ablest philosophers can give us of a body : the immediate attributes or intrinsick properties of the one being as plainly and easily intelligible , as of the other ; and naked essences we have no knowledge of . essence or being is the common term , under which all things are represented to our minds , and we distinguish them only by their proper and peculiar adjuncts or attributes , and from thence divide them into their respective classes , of substances and accidents , [ entia per se & per aliud ] material and immaterial , corporeal or incorporeal , [ res extensa & res cogitans ] or whatever else it is that others chuse to describe them by , for i list not here to enter upon that controversie . theodoret in his dialogues hath enough to serve my turn . q. what are the properties of the soul or spirit ? a. to be endued with reason , simple , immortal , invisible . q. what is proper to the body ? a. to be compounded , visible , mortal . spirit stands opposed to body : we read , when the disciples were affrighted , supposing they had seen a spirit , iesus said unto them , behold my hands and my feet , that it is i my self ; handle me and see , for a spirit hath not flesh and bones , as ye see me have . in the same phrase as homer speaks of the souls of the dead , — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and to a like purpose the platonist : the natures of demons are not flesh , nor bone , nor blood , nor any thing else that is corruptible and capable of dissolution or liquefaction . it is remarkably explained in the nazaren's gospel , cited by ignatius and eusebius [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] a bodyless demon , or spirit without a body . and accordingly dr. hammond here paraphraseth it , [ ye doubt or suspect me to be a spirit without a body : it is very i , body and soul together . but lest any should here object , that in some manuscripts the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , [ which also we find elsewhere , s. matth. 14.26 . and s. mark 6.49 . ] a spectrum or apparition , [ though , i conceive , that supposeth our doctrine of spirits ] they may please to note farther , how the apostle s. paul contra-distinguisheth these two , [ flesh and blood ] on the one side , and [ spirits ] on the other : for we wrestle not against flesh and blood , saith he , but against spiritual wickednesses , or wicked spirits , as the syriac there hath it . a spirit is a being which we cannot touch with our hands , or see with our eyes , as we do bodies ; which is not the object of our external senses , nor can be pointed at with the finger , or pictured out to us in its proper nature , there being nothing like it in the whole visible world of bodies , and nothing so near of kin to give us any sensible resemblance of it , as the wind , or animal spirits are , whose force and power we feel , but yet cannot behold either of them . whence probably [ anima and animus ] were derived from the old greek [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] but the most positive , best and easiest conception we can frame of a spirit , is certainly by reflecting upon our own souls . for the soul of man is also a spirit . the spirit of man within him , opposed to his body of flesh. and they are strangely out , who take the measures of man by his outward appearance and carcase only . solomon speaks of man's dissolution , with reference also to his original . * then shall the dust return to the earth , as it was , and the spirit shall return unto god that gave it . agreeable to which are those excellent verses of ph●cylides , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . i.e. our spirit is the gift and image of god. for we have our body out of the earth , and as to that part all of us being dissolved into the same , become dust again ; but then heaven receiveth our spirit again , which came from thence . the words of lucretius do fitly enough express as much , provided onely that we construe them in a diviner sense , than he intended ; cedit item retrò , de terrâ quod fuit ante , in terras ; & , quod missum est ex aetheris oris , id rursùm coeli rellatum templa receptant . when our b. saviour had cried out on the cross , father , into thy hands i commend my spirit , he gave up the ghost , saith the text , that is ( emisit spiritum ) he sent forth his spirit : ( and ghost is the most proper word for a separated or departed spirit . ) accordingly we read of the spirits of just men made perfect . now the spirit or soul within us is the principle of all our thoughts and knowledge , of all our will and choice , of all our life and motion . these then are the proper attributes of a spirit , understanding , will , and vital motion ; or self-activity , and power of moving other things . and this notion we shall find applicable both to god and angels . when we speak of god , we must think of nothing material ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) neither dimensions , nor , colour , nor figure , nor any other bodily passion . we may indeed define him [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. ] the most conspicuous beauty , but not a beautiful body . he is a spirit ; ( and the spirit of man his imperfect image . ) and by so affirming we not onely exclude him from the number of visible , sensible and corporeal beings , whose understanding and knowledge is infinite , who wills and nills , chuseth and refuseth according to that infinite understanding and knowledge , who hath life in himself , and acts according to his will and choice ; a being of most soveraign wisedom , goodness and power . such is the idea of the most excellent spirit . thus anaxagoras defined him ( infinitam mentem quae per scipsam moveatur ; ) and thus he is , described by cicero , ( mens soluta & libera , segregata ab omni concretione mortali , omnia sentiens & movens . ) in like manner angels are spirits , that is , living and understanding beings , capable in a more eminent way and manner than our souls are , ( by reason of their bodily cloggs and impediments ) of knowledge , will and action . the soul separated from the body is the clearest representation we can have of a spirit or angel . whence bellarmin saith very well , that an angel is ( anima perfecta ) a perfect or compleat soul ; and the soul is ( angelus imperfectus ) an imperfect and incompleat angel. onely the soul of man perhaps hath that intrinsic habitude and inclination unto body , which the angels have not . the soul , saith dr. more , consider'd as invested immediately with that tenuious matter which is her inward vehicle , hath very little more difference from the aerial genii ( or angels ) than a man in prison from one that is free ; or a sword in the scabbard , from one out of it ; or a man that is clothed , from one that is naked . a soul is but a genius in the body , and a genius a soul out of the body . thales , pythagoras , plato , and the stoicks call these beings [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] souly substances , ( if i may so speak ) and the peripatetick school generally [ formas abstractas & separatas ] so that we may pertinently enough stile them [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] the most sacred choire of bodiless souls or ghosts . s. chrysostom i am sure frequently names them [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] bodiless powers . hereunto well agrees the distribution which apuleius gives us of daemons or genii ; viz. such as were sometime in an humane body , and such as were always free from the bonds of bodies . [ and so plutarch , in the person of ammonius the philosopher , makes two sorts of them , souls separated from bodies , or such as never dwelt in bodies at all . ] of the former sort he makes , 1. the soul of man , [ etiam nunc in corpore situs ] even now in the body . whence some conceived , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dici , quorum daemon bonus , i.e. animus virtute perfectus est . [ and so m. antoninus often calls the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , l. 2. s. 13. l. 5. s. 27. &c. and so others also speak , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , h.e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . suidas ex innominato . ] 2. the humane soul [ emeritis stipendiis vitae corpore suo abjurans ] dismiss'd and parted from its body by death , whom the ancient latines , as he saith , call'd lemures , lares , larras and manes . [ to which purpose also max. tyrius tells us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and again , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . diss. xxvii . the soul laying down , or putting off its body , becomes forthwith of a man a daemon . and such as these also , as plutarch notes , they called heroes : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de placit . ] but then for the latter sort he adds . there is yet a more excellent and noble kind of demons , than these two specified , [ qui semper à corporis compedibus & nexibus liberi ] which were alwaies exempt from the fetters and ties of body ; and of this sort and number , saith he , plato supposeth every man to have a select witness and keeper . and these he desines to be [ genere animalia , ingenio rationabilia , animo passiva , corpore aerea , tempore aeterna . a definition i shall not stay to examine ; saint augustine suf●iciently exagitates and quarrels with it , and especially for ascribing to them those passions which arise in us from folly or misery , with whom fulgentius consents in the same particular . but i have offered enough to explain the notion of a spirit [ and so of angels ] from a reflection upon our own souls ; which was the thing i aimed at . they pass , 't is true , sometimes in scripture by the name of men : thr●e men appeared to abraham , gen. 18. so at our blessed saviour's sepulchre , behold two men in shining garments , saint luk. 24. ovid hath it of iupiter himself ; et deus humanâ lustro sub imagine terras . and homer ( whom apuleius in his apology calls , omnis vetustatis certissimum authorem ) relates of these lesser gods. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that is , that in the habit of divers pilgrims they perambulate towns and cities , and take inspection of the good and evil doings of men . which calls to my mind that of the apostle ; hebr. 13.2 . be not forgetful to entertain strangers , for thereby some have entertained angels unawares . but this was only , say some , because they assumed the likeness of men . in specie virorum apparebant . and so the devil , saith drusius , is call'd samuel , whose form he appeared in : and he quotes it for one of saint augustine's canons : [ specie's rerum appellantur de nominibus ipsarum rerum . ] the appearances of things are call'd by the names of things themselves . and whereas we read of the angels eating , gen. 19.3 . the hierusalem thargum hath it [ & videbantur ac si ederent ac biberent , ] and they seemed or appeared , as if they eat and drank . and so the angel said to tobit's son and daughter , all these daies i did appear to you , but i did neither eat nor drink , but you did see a vision . [ sed ità vobis videbatur , ] as the latin renders it . saint augustin indeed glosseth on it : not that he imposed on the eyes of tobias and others , but that he did not eat in the same manner as they did , or thought him to eat , to wit , out of a necessity of receiving nourishment or bodily refreshment . but theodoret , having proved the verity of our blessed saviour's body from his feeding on butter and honey , his mother's milk and other meat and drink agreeable thereunto , starts this objection of abraham's guests , the angels , and answers it to this effect . if any one shall out of folly urge the nourishment that was in abraham's tent , let him know that he speaketh foolishly : for those things seemed to be done ; but were consumed in another manner , which he best knows , that consumed them . but if any one should also foolishly grant , that the incorporeal nature was partaker of these kates , yet he can never find hunger or thirst there . — i need not explain the contents of this censure . 't is undeniable , that we find many things in sacred writ spoken of angels , which border upon body . but then , we must know , it was the property of the jews language , as a learned man observes , ( indeed of all other ) to give denomination to things unseen from analogical and borrowed expressions of things visible ▪ and here we may remember the saying of saint augustin concerning them ; [ locutiones humanae etiam in eos usurpantur propter quandam operum similitudinem , non propter affectionum infirmitatem . ] they are sometimes clad in the dress of our passions ( as god himself is ) to shew forth a likeness of working , but not of infirmity . as also the admonition of saint chrysostom , that when we hear of the seraphim and cherubim turning away their eyes , and covering their faces with their wings — we should not think that they have eyes and faces ; for this , saith he , is the figure of bodies ; but that the prophet doth hereby signifie to us their knowledg and vertue . but after all , whether these spirits , the angels , may not yet for a time really assume a body , and make use of it ; or whether they have not also some corporeal vehicles of their own , wherein they reside , of a more refined nature and substance than any elementary matter we converse with , ( such as epicurus calls his quasi corpus ) i shall not dispute ; so it be granted me , that they themselves differ from them , as the soul from it's body , or the inhabitant from the house he lodgeth in . the supposition , i confess , of vehicles doth most facilitate the account of their determinate locality , motion , and appearances , and converse , yea , and the corporeal punishment expresly allotted in holy scripture to some of their number in the infernal flames . and it cannot be denied , but that several of the fathers have reputed them after a manner corporeal : but then , it was chiefly [ comparativè ] in respect of god , who is the most simple and absolute spirit . invisibilia illa , quaecunque sunt , habent apud deum & suum corpus & suam formam , tertul. adversus praxeam s. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , damascen . comparatione dei corpora sunt , nostri spiritus , gregor . 1. tom. 1. moral . in job l. 2. c. 2. quam distinctionem secutus est beda , & alii . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , greg. nazianz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , serm . 2. vide zanch. de operib . dei , part 1. l. 2. c. 3. & otho-casman . angelograph . part 1. c. 3. and to this opinion the second nicene council , under constantine and irene , inclines , allowing god only to be perfectly incorporeal , but none of the creatures so ex toto , though the angels are there confess'd to be not so grosly clothed , as we , [ verùm tenui corpore praeditos , & aereo ●ive igneo ] and their chief reason is , [ quod taliter circumscribuntur , sicut anima quae carne clauditur , whereas god is infinite and unbounded . ] but yet many of that council consented not thus much , as carranza notes , being of the belief [ angelos omninò esse incorporeos ] whom they of the lateran council seem to have followed . and so the jewish rabbies conceived of them too , as creatures that have form without matter or body . most certain it is , that they are a sort of beings above humane souls in their greatest perfection ; and yet we have sufficient evidence , that this lower rank of spirits within us are immaterial and incorporeal ; [ even from their known and familiar operations , abstracting and self-reflecting thoughts ; simple apprehensions of notions universal , mathematical , logical , moral and remote from sense ; inferences and deductions from them compared and compounded in propositions , syllogisms , &c. which i shall not here enlarge further upon . ] lucretius himself , who asserts the soul to be corporeal , is yet forced to invent a fourth substance besides the wind , and heat , and air , which he cannot find a name for , and therefore calls [ nominis expertem ] and which is , as he saith , [ anima quasi animae ] the soul of the soul. [ as aristotle was constrained to excogitate a fifth essence , nomine vacantem , out of which the soul was made , distinct from the four elements . cicero 1. tuscul. ] in a word , needs must the angels ( even considered with their vehicl●s , whatever they are ) be of another nature from those bodily ●ubstances we are acquainted with , when we read of a legion of them together in one man ; and a legion , as hesychius computes it , is 6666. sect . ii. created . that they were created by god , is evident from that place of the apostle to the colossians ; by him were all things created that are in heaven and in earth , visible and invisible , whether they be thrones or dominions , principalities or powers ; all things were created by him , and for him : where ( as theodoret well notes ) passing over things visible , he more distinctly and particularly mentions the orders of things invisible , whether they be thrones , or dominions , or principalities , or powers . — and to a like purpose theophylact. and from that of the psalmist , who , when he had call'd upon the angels by name to praise god , as well as the sun , and moon , and stars , and heavens , adds this reason concerning them all in common , ( as saint augustin rightly observes ) for he commanded , and they were created ; he hath also established them for ever . so also iustin martyr in expos . fidei de rectâ confess . p. 372 , 373. [ who also observes , that , when the apostle had mentioned , rom. 8.38 . angels , principalities , powers , &c. he adds , to make up the list complete , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] nor any other creature , thereby sufficiently intimating the creation of all these , id . p. 375. and accordingly ( as theodoret further adds ) we have them named first in the benedicite , or song of the three children , among the works of the lord , which are to bless , praise him , and magnifie him for ever . — from hence also they are call'd sons of god in holy scripture ; agreeably to which hierocles stiles the heroes , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and max. tyrius gives this as a law or maxim , universally acknowledged throughout all the world , that there is one god the king and father of all , and that the many gods are the children and off-spring of this one god. therefore is he named by the apostle the father of spirits , viz. in a more peculiar manner than of other beings , they partaking most of his image and likeness . so iupiter too among the heathen poets is often paraphrased by — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — divûm pater atque hominum rex , sator deorum . and the angels in apollo's oracle own themselves derived from him : — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . this their production by god is the foundation of their natural , necessary , and perpetual subjection to him , dependance on him , and being imploy'd by , and under him : with reference to which also some apply that of saint paul to timothy , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] king of the aeon's , or angels . and , if so , we may expound hebr. 1.2 . too [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] by whom also he made the aeons . [ but i am rather of theodoret's mind , that the word doth not import so much [ aliquam subsistentem substantiam ] any distinct sort of beings , as [ distantiam quae tempus significat ] time or age ; and 't is used in scripture comprehensively for [ quicquid in saeculis unquam extitit ] the whole world : hebr. 11.3 . [ omnia quae facta sunt in tempore ] as primasius hath it , [ all things that were made in time . ] to be sure that famous stile of [ dominus deus exercituum , ] lord god of sabaoth , or of hosts , hath a more special reference unto these beings , than to the hebrew trained bands , as a late author applies it . but now , at what time they were made , is somewhat dubious and uncertain . that it was within the six dayes , is concluded , i think , generally , because in them , as the scripture saith , god finished all his works , and after rested upon the seventh , creating no new species of beings . certain it is also , that it was before the making of man ( and some conceive before the visible creation too ) the apostasie of a great part of them preceding man's fall in paradise , which they contrived . others place it upon the first days creation , when the highest heavens are supposed to have been made with the primogenial light , and with them these heavenly inhabitants and children of light ; and this is conjectured the rather from that of iob , where the morning stars are said to have sang together , and the sons of god to have shouted for joy , at the laying of the foundations of the earth : which cannot be understood of the fixed stars in the firmament , for they were created , after the foundations of the earth were laid , upon the fourth day ; but of the angels , who are call'd , as was said before , the sons of god , and resembled here to morning stars for their brightness and glory , in such a metaphorical or borrowed sense , as christ is also call'd the bright morning star. the lxx indeed varies a little from our reading ; but then for the [ sons of god ] puts expresly the word [ angels ] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . when the stars were made , all my angels praised me with a loud voice ; which the latin follows ; and therefore saint augustin infers upon it , [ jam ergò erant angeli , quando facta sunt sidera ] that the angels were certainly in being before them . god most probably , first made these spirits and then bodily beings , and then after united both together in man , who is a complex of spirit and body , according to that of the lateran council ; [ deum ab initio temporis utramque ex nihilo condidisse creaturam , angelicam & mundanam , & deinde humanam quasi communem ex spiritu & corpore constantem : ] wherewith agrees the saying of damascen , that being not content with the contemplation of himself alone , he made the angels , the world , and men to participate of his goodness and bounty ; and it was but meet ( as he argues out of greg. nazianz . ) that the intellectual substance should first be created , and then the sensible . to which i will only annex that excellent passage of seneca , quoted by lactantius out of his exhortations . [ deus cum prima fundamenta molis pulcherrimae jaceret , ut omnia sub ducibus suis irent , quamvis ipse per totum se corpus intenderat , tamen ministros regni sui deos genuit : ] when god laid the first foundation of this most beautiful fabrique ( the world ) that all things might go under their respective guides , although he were every-where himself present , yet he made the gods [ i. e. angels ] as ministers of his kingdom . moses , it is confess'd , in the history of the creation , takes not express notice of them by name . only they are thought by some included in fiat lux , gen. 1.3 . let there be light. so saint augustin , who refers the division too made there between the light and darkness , exodus 4. to the difference between the holy and impure angels , that is , angels of light and darkness : but by others rather in that of ch. 2.1 . thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them . and in like manner the psalmist hath it , by the word of the lord were the heavens made , and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth . now the angels are elsewhere stiled , the host of heave● , 1 kings 22.19 . or heavenly host , saint luke 2.13 . and the rabbies call the upper heavens , the world of angels , the world of souls , and the spiritual world. sect . iii. intellectual and free , powerful , agile , and immortal . now what kind of spirits the angels are , i will shew farther in these four particulars . i. that they are intellectual spirits , endued with understanding and free-will , and of a vast knowledge . ii. of great power and might . iii. of extraordinary speed and agility . iv. immortal and such as cannot die. of each of which succinctly . first , that they are intellectual spirits , [ call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by plato and plotinus , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by psellus , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by others , and therefore also stiled intelligentiae ] endued with understanding and free-will , being the off-spring , of god , as hath been said already , and after his divine image in a more perfect manner and degree than we men are . an undoubted proof and evidence of their intellectual being and freedom of will , or choice together , we have in the law given them by god. and that there was a law prescribed them is undeniable , in that we read of some of them , that sinned , and by so doing , fell from their first estate , and place of happiness ; ( of which i may have occasion possibly to speak further afterwards . ) now sin is evermore [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] the transgression of a law , and , where there is no law , there c●● be no transgression . and god is said , not to have spared the angels that sinned . both sin and punishment therefore suppose them intellectual and free-agents : none , but such , can take cognizance of a law ; and none but such deserve a severe punishment , as iustin martyr tells us , giving an account of the most righteous doom both of men and angels , from the liberty of will wherewith god hath furnished them . again , they are god's messengers and ministers , by whom he gave his laws to the israelites of old , and revealed many things to his prophets , [ as shall be declared in another place ] which argues them sufficiently to be , as they are termed , intelligences , that is , understanding and spontaneous beings . and certain it is , their intellectuals are much beyond the most improved of humane kind . ' according to the degree of immateriality , say the schools , is the degree of knowledge . they have both a more excellent quickness and subtlety of natural understanding , and a greater improvement made of it . this seems intimated in the first temptation . gen. 3.5 . ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil . ] the chaldee there saith , [ as princes , ] and ionathan's paraphrase [ as angels . ] — and our blessed saviour , as i before suggested , plainly supposeth a greater measure of knowledge in them , than in men , when he saith , of that time knoweth no man , no , not the angels — saint matth. 24.36 . — and [ according to the wisdom of an angel ] is a standard of the highest elevation , 2 sam. 14.20 . the ancients call'd them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i.e. from their knowledge . hence the author of hesiod's allegories calls aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , h. e. maximae sapientiae virum , and plutarch in his book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , calls plato by the same name , whom others stiled divine ; quasi quendam philosophorum deum , cicero 2. de nat . deorum . and homer is by many call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , [ propter admirabilem scilicet multarum rerum cognitionem . ] and proclus will have the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be used in divers respects ; 1. god alone , saith he , is [ ipsâ essentiâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] h. e. omnia sciens & omnibus prospiciens . whom plato likewise calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. angels are so [ comparatione , ] because they do proximè ad dei scientiam accedere , idque naturâ suâ . and then , 3. the soul of man is so [ habitu ] by vertue of its acquisitions , zanch. de oper . dei , p. 1. l. 2. c. 1. their faculties and capacities are abler and larger than ours . they are [ undique oculati ] full of eyes , before and behind . they are more privy than we to the almighty's councels , standing in his presence and beholding of his face . and then their time for observation and experience hath been much longer , even from the first of the creation , which must needs make a vast addition to the treasure of their knowledg , always growing and increasing . for with the antient is wisdome , and in length of days is understanding . and yet their knowledg is not infinite and boundless , but limited and confined . some things are hidden from them , as the day of future judgment . some things are proper and peculiar to god only to know , as the secrets of mens hearts , and those future contingents which depend upon the free-will and determination of reasonable creatures . the angels , we presume , have a deep and searching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or skill of guessing beyond the ablest sons of art , ( that are most vers'd in natures secrets , and the history of the world ) and so can readily foretel such things as necessarily depend upon certain natural causes , though to us unknown , and make shrewd conjectures of other matters . but the certain fore-knowledge and prediction of things to come , which are purely voluntary and contingent , must be reserv'd to god himself , who sometimes makes his appeal thereunto , as that which is not communicable to any other besides : shew the things that are to come hereafter , saith he , that we may know that ye are gods. whereto agree 〈◊〉 notable saying of pacuvius , nam si qui , quae eventura , praevideant , equiparent iovi . as to the distinct manner of angelical knowledge , natural or revealed , [ per suam essentiam , per species vel imagines à deo inditas — nec ratiocinando , ut nos , sed magis simplici intuitu ; ] or the way of communication which they have , either among themselves or unto mortals ; their tongues and language , [ whether it be only voluntatis actu & imperio , as in god to will is to effect , and our inward operations and bodily motions much depend on the nutus , inclination and determination of the will , ] 't is somewhat beyond our present dull apprehension , who dwell in clay , and therefore the inquiry after it fit to be respited , [ donec elias venerit , as the jews speak , or ] to the other world. hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth , ( as the wiseman observes ) and with labour do we find the things before us ; but things that are in heaven , who hath searched out ? and , as zanchie saith , none but fools will be bold and peremptory in defining this matter , quid enim opus , ut haec atque hujusmodi , affirmentur , vel negentur , vel definiantur cum discrimine , quando sine discrimine nesciuntur ? ut d. august . optimè , enchirid. c. 59. secondly , the power and might of these spirits is great and considerable . spirit is a word that connotes power , as flesh doth weakness . so it is said of the egyptians , they are men and not god , and their horses flesh and not spirit . and the angels are said , not only to be [ mighty ] and [ strong ; ] but to [ excell in strength ] or to be [ mighty in strength ] and by saint peter , as i shewed before , described with this attribute of preference unto men , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] a being greater in might and power . ] hence are they call'd [ god's host. ] when the angels of god met iacob , he said , this is god's host , and he call'd the name of that place mahanajim , i. e. two hosts or camps ; for the word is of the dual number , as p. fagius notes : and some of the jews , he tells us , refer it to iacob's host or company that he had with him , and this host of god , which met him there ; but others of them to two hosts of angels there meeting together , the one that guarded him out of mesopotamia , and the other came out of chanaan to receive him as their charge upon his return ; it being a common opinion among them , that certain angels are deputed to every province or region , of which more , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hereafter . whatever there be in this comment , there is no doubt , saith saint augustin , but the hosts , which iacob saw , were a multitude of angels , call'd in scripture the heavenly militia or host of heaven . and they are indeed a puissant and mighty host , resembled else-where to horses and chariots of fire , 2 king. 2.11 . — and c. 6.17 . you may guess at their strength a little by their exploits on record , one of them slew all the first-born in egypt both of men and cattel in a night . one of them in another night destroy'd all sennacherib's formidable army to the number of an hundred fourscore and five thousand . one of them restrained the flames of that raging fire into which the three confessors were cast , so that it touched not so much as their garments , though it devoured their executioners . one of them stopt the mouths of the hungry and ravenous lyons from seizing upon daniel in their den. one of them smote off saint peters fetters , and caused , not only the prison-door , but the iron-gate of the city to open to him . — not to give any further instances , it was a saying of luther's , [ unus angelus potentior est quàm totus mundus ] one angel is of greater power than the whole world beside . but yet all their power is subjected unto god , and nothing , if compared with his omnipotence . they can do nothing but what he pleases ; [ nec est in angelis quidquam nisi parendi necessitas ] and therefore in the same place , where they are acknowledg'd by the psalmist to excel in strength , they are said also to do his commandments hearkning unto the voice of his word . iii. their agility , speed and swiftness is extraordinary , moving like lightning from one end of heaven to the other ; compared therefore to a flame of fire , which also penetrates the hardest bodies . hence are they represented to us [ alati ] with wings to flie , isa. 6.2 . [ in the same sense as wings are attributed to the wind by the psalmist , and by poets to the thunder-bolt . ] and so the heathens feigned mercury [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as hesiod calls him , the nimble angel or messenger of the gods ] to be winged . this their quickness and agility in motion proceeds from their spiritual nature , which is not subject to weariness , heaviness , or fainting , with the like infirmities , which necessarily attend bodies ; nor obstructed and hindred by external impediments in the way , as bodies are ; and so they need not such a space of time , neither to pass in , as bodies do . and , besides this , it is much help'd forward in the good angels by their promptitude and readiness , propensity and zeal to dispatch the errand and ministry , upon which they are sent and imploy'd . 't is not here [ timor , ] but — [ amor addidit alas . ] lastly , that i be not tedious , they are immortal and such as cannot die. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the immortal , is used absolutely by hesiod for their name ; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the immortals of iupiter . [ in like sort as we use [ mortals ] for [ men ] : so homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to which also he adds an epithet of the same importance — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ] this follows too from their being spirits , and so not having within themselves a principle of corruption , nor being liable to destruction from other created power : for nothing is so immortal as not to be annihilable by god , and destroyed by that power , which at first produced it . as to him therefore all things are mortal ; and in this sense he only and no other hath immortality , as the apostle tells us , 1 tim. 6.16 . for he only is absolutely immutable , and hath [ omnimodam necessitatem essendi , as the schools speak ] an every-way necessary existence ; and all other beings have an essential dependance upon him , and so a possibility of ceasing to be with respect to his will ; nay i may add a necessity of not-being , when he pleaseth . hence possibly the angels are call'd by max. ty●ius [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] immortals of the second rate ; and damascen puts it into his definition of angelic nature , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] receiving by grace a natural immortality . ] it being a known maxime of his , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] whatever was made is also mutable . ] — and with this interpretation it may be , we may somewhat qualifie that of tatianus concerning the soul of man , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] that it is of it self mortal , but yet in a capa●ility of not dying : the rather because he accuseth aristotle , [ quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] for rejecting or impeaching the immortality of the soul. but this by the way . — theodoret decides the matter well : god , saith he , is properly immortal , for he is so essentially and independently ; but angels and the souls of men hold of him , and must conse●uently own their immortality as his gift . but yet ●arther ; spirits , as i said , have not that principle of corruption within themselves , which elementary bodies have , nor are they lyable to a pernicious and destructive violence from creatures without , as our life is sometimes from the meanest and most inconsiderable . fear not them that kill the body , saith our blessed saviour , and after that have no more , which they can do ; are at their ne plus ultra . the soul or spirit is [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] quite out of their reach : kill that they cannot , but only manumit , and set it free . and , that the angels are such spirits , as cannot die , is sufficiently intimated , when this is made the demonstration of our immortality , who shall be raised hereafter , [ and consequently our not eating and drinking , marrying and giving in marriage then , which are the appendag●s of this mortal decaying , and perishing state on earth . ] the children of this world marry , and are given in marriage ; but they , which shall be accounted worthy to attain that world and the resurrection from the dead , neither marry nor are given in marriage , neither can they die any more ; for they are equal unto the angels . and therefore the apostle saint paul calls the body too , that is raised up in incorruption , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a spiritual body . but thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the nature of angelical spirits , so far as we understand it , who skill but little exactly and distinctly of our selves , whereby we conclude of them ; and therefore , may add safely and modestly , [ without the danger of scepticism in the case , ] as damascen doth in the close of his description of these beings , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] that god alone , who made them , knows comprehensively the kind and limits of their being . chap. iii. of their number and distinction . thirdly , we pass on next to their number and multitude , and under that head to treat somewhat of their distinction and order . for the apostle refers to all of them , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] are they not all — sect . i. of their multitude . the angels are many . consider them , as they are divided now into two sorts , good and evil , the angels that stand , and the angels that fell , you will find very many , a great number , under both heads . the scripture of the o●d testament is somewhat silent in relating to us the manner of the fall of angels ; though it evidently enough suppose it , and refer to it . but in the new we have more express and frequent mention thereof . our blessed saviour speaks of the devil as a murderer from the beginning , who abode not in the truth , a lyar and the father o● lies . saint iohn also saith , the de●il sinneth from the beginning . [ and the wo●d devil includes all the apostate spirits , who are sometimes call'd plurally devils , saint iames 2.19 . and sometimes more distinctly ▪ the devil and his angels . ] saint peter puts their sin and punishment together : if god spared not the an●els that sinned , but cast them down to hell , and deliver'd them into chains of darkness to be reserv'd unto iudgment . — and in like mann●r saint iude ; the angels , which k●pt not their first estate , but left their own habitation , 〈◊〉 hath res●rved in chains under darkn●ss unto the judgment of the great day . — all without question innocent and holy at the first , being made by a good and holy god ; but some of them in the abuse of their liberty , or free-will , prevaricating and rebelling against their maker and soveraign , were thereupon cast down from the regions of light above , and left under an irreversible sentence of condemnation . but these devils were not such by nature or creation , as the manichees and priscillianists taught of old , but by a voluntary degeneracy . theodoret conceives it sufficiently demonstrated from the goodness of their maker , and the righteousness of their judg. how , saith he , could he be call'd good , were he the creator of vice ? or , how just and righteous , should he punish a nature , which could do no good , and were ingaged by him in a necessity of sin ? many things are said by the fathers of their fall , or sins in particular , as pride and envy , &c. nay , and by some of them , lust , applying to that purpose gen. 6.2 . but theodoret , whom i just now quoted , censures that opinion for a piece of gross ignorance and dotage . i will not digress further into this speculation : from hence now is the distinction of good and evil angels ; and there is an host of each , michael and his angels , and the dragon , that old serpent , call'd the devil and satan , and his angels , rev. 12.7.9 . the one sort are call'd , signanter , the angels . angels of god. holy angels . angels of heaven . ( from their proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , seat and habitation ) and in the same sense ▪ angels of light. the elect or choice angels . — the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , evil angels . wicked and unclean spirits . the angels that sinned . the devil and his angels . the rulers of the darkness of this world , &c. of whom i shall say little more , but that their number is supposed great and formidable , by the apostle , eph. 6.12 , and we read of a legion of them in one man , ( as hath been intimated before also ) saint mark 5.15 . and our saviour insinuates divers sorts among them , when he saith , this kind of devils goeth not out , but by fasting and prayer , saint matth. 17.21 . but our comfort is , that the good angels exceed them , most probably , in number . [ this eustachius collects from , revel . 12.4 . where the dragon is said to draw with him , the third part of the stars of heaven ; and aquinas from 2 kings 6.16 . which he expounds de bonis & malis angelis . they that be with us are more than they that be with them . ] to be sure , in wisdom and strength ; for [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] wickedness doth naturally debase , impair and weaken the powers and faculties ; and as the good have the increases of divine grace , so the evil are in chains and bonds ; and we never read of a conflict between them , but the good come off conquerours . our blessed saviour mentions more than twelve legions , [ that is , by computation 79992. ] thinkest thou , saith he , i cannot pray to my father , and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels . whereas we read but of one legion of the evil ones together . ] the chariots of god ( saith the psalmist ) are twenty thousand , even thousands of angels , ps. 78.17 . the margin hath it , even many thousands of angels . and in the prophet daniel we have mention of [ myriades myriadum ] thousand thousands ministring to god , and ten thousand times ten thousands before him , ch . 7.10 . and so again in the revelations : many angels about the throne , and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand , and thousands of thousands . a certain and definite number for a vast but uncertain . our apostle to the hebrews therefore speaks of them more indefinitely , as not to be counted up . an innumerable company of angels , ch . 12.12 . so we translate and english ; but the greek is only [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] myriads of angels ; in like manner as we do elsewhere , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] an innumerable multitude , saint luke 12.1 . they are , as hath been said , god's host ; and bildad asks the question , is there any number of his armies ? we may sooner reckon up the stars in the firmament , than number out those morning-stars . orpheus it seems , counted upon three hundred sixty and five , [ as many as there are days in the year . ] hesiod three myriads , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but , as lactantius replies upon the one , so max. tyrius upon the other , they are more than so , they are innumerable . pythagoras taught , that all the air was full of them ; and the like apuleius delivers out of plato , de deo socratis . and suarez thinks , that aristotle referr'd to these beings , when he commend●d that of thales , [ omnia esse deorum plena , ] that all places abound with gods. some of the fathers , from the parable saint luke 15. have reckon'd their number compar'd with man-kind , as ninety-nine to one . but * aquinas concludes , that these immaterial substances do incomparably exceed all the material in their multitude . sect . ii. of their order . now in this vast multitude there must needs be a setled order , which is the cement of all society , and that alone , which distinguisheth it from a confused heap . and so the holy scriptures sufficiently declare ; though , what that order is in particular , we are left to seek , and must not be over-peremptory in determining beyond what is written . the very fallen angels retain yet some order among them , without which the kingdom of darkness it self could never stand , saint matth. 12.26 . there is , as hath been said , the devil and his angels . the dragon and his angels . beelzebub the prince of the devils , ver . 24. some chief devil whom trismegist stiles , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , call'd elsewhere satan , and the prince of the power of the air ▪ ephes. 2.2 . and thought to be that lucifer , spoken of by the prophet , isa. 14.12 . how art thou fallen from heaven , o lucifer , son of the morning ! which , however it be understood there of the king of babylon , may yet be judged to compare his sudden and miserable fall to that of the ring-leader among the apostate-angels ; whereat our blessed ▪ saviour is conceived to have glanced too , when he said , saint luke 10.18 . i beheld satan falling from heaven like lightning . agreeably to this exposition also august . steuchus , bishop of eugubium , writes , that those evil spirits were call'd by empedocles [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] and rhodiginus thinks that pythagoras meant the same , when he taught , [ animam factis alis è coelo labi . ] we cannot doubt then but there is order much more among the good angels . they are , to be sure , [ acies ordinata ] a well-ordered host. we read expresly of an arch-angel , 1 thes. 4.16 . that is , [ angelorum princeps ] a chief or leading angel ; and of michael the arch-angel by name , saint iude 9. michael and his angels , revel . 12.7 . and this michael is said else-where to be [ u●us è principibus primis , ] dan. 10.13 . one of the chief princes ; which intimates plainly that there were others of them besides ; [ seven in number , saith clemens alexandrin . which is also favoured , not only by tobit 12.15 . but zech. 4.10 . and revel . c. 1.4 . — 4.5 . — 5.6 . ] this michael , it may be , general of the host , bearing in his name a proclamation of divine glory and majesty ; for so it is interpreted , [ who as god! ] — and then we read also of gabriel , the mighty gabriel [ a strong man of god ] as his name imports . he was sent to daniel to make him understand the vision , dan. 8.16 . — 9.21 . and after to zacharias , to whom he said , i am gabriel that stand in the presence of god , saint luke 1.19 . and then a commissioned embassador to the blessed●virgin , ver . 26 , 27. these two are the only names upon record in the canonical-books , [ michael and gabriel . ] but four others we have in the apochrypha , which is one of the best registers next of jewish belief and traditions . raphael [ i. e. physick of god ] a divine and heavenly physitian , sent to heal tobit and his daughter in law , and to bind asmodeus the evil spirit , tob. 3.17 . — 12.14 . who saith of himself , i am raphael , one of the seven h. angels . — vriel , [ i. e. light of god ] sent unto esdras , to declare and manifest his ignorance in god's judgments , 2 esdras 4.1 . ieremiel , [ i. e. mercy of god ] call'd an archangel , 2 esdras 4.36 . and salathiel or sealthiel , [ i. e. asked of god ] stiled the captain of the people , 2 esdras 5.16 . these are supposed to have been names of particular angels of some special note and eminence among the rest ; and the hebrew doctors have many more of them , as i may take occasion , possibly , to touch hereafter . two other words yet there are in sacred-writ , which seem to denote certain orders among them , [ cherubim and seraphim . ] cherubim ] that is , angels of knowledg , as saint hierom interprets the word . but others from cherub , a figure or image ; others from the letter chi , a note of similitude , and a chaldee word , which signifies [ puerum & juvenem ] a youth ; and so they were usually represented in the shape of a young man with wings : of a man , to shew them to be intellectual creatures ; of a young man , to express their vigour and strength ; and with wings added , to declare their agility , and dispatch . — these we read , were placed at the east of the garden of eden with a flaming-sword , which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life , gen. 3.24 . and their figures were appointed over the mercy-seat in the tabernacle and temple , and on the doors and walls , exod. 25. 1 king. 6. and we meet with them again in the prophet ezechiel c. 10. seraphim , that is , angels of zeal , [ angeli formâ igneâ , saith grot. ] described , each of them with six wings , and crying one to another , holy , holy , holy , isa. 6.2 . their name is from an hebrew root , which signifies to [ burn ] and so they were call'd , possibly , from their touching the prophets lips with a burning-coal taken from the altar , ver . 6. or else , more generally , from their ardent-zeal and flame in the executing of god's will and serving of him ; according to that of the psalmist , who maketh his ministers a flame of fire , ps. 104.4 . cited by our apostle , heb. 1.7 . in the new-testament we may observe , how upon our blessed saviour's birth , the angel of the lord [ probably , the angel gabriel , who was sent before to zacharias and the virgin ] proclaims the joyful news , and suddenly , saith the text , there was with that angel a multitude of the heavenly host , praising god , — saint luke 2.10 , 13. singing their christ-mass carole together , and following of him as their praecentor and chief of the choire . the apostle saint paul to the colossians mentions the angels under four distinct appellatives , c. 1.16 . thrones , ] which are royal seats for kings and monarchs in their magnificence and glory . dominions , ] or lordships . principalities , ] connoting special and peculiar jurisdiction . powers , ] such as have right to execute authority by god's appointment , and not his bare permission only . to which we may add , mighty , ] out of his epistle to the romans , c. 8.38 . and ephes. c. 1.20 , 21. and the first epistle of saint peter c. 3.22 . the abstract all along ( as is usual among the orientals ) for the concrete ; that is , kings , rulers , princes , potentates , mighty ones . and some of the learned conjecture , that the apostle alludes to several degrees of power and authority observable among men in the world , thereby to adumbrate the distinction of angels into superior and inferior : thrones ] for supreme monarchs ; dominions ] for lesser kings ; principalities ] for the governours of provinces and cities ; powers and mights ] for lower magistrates and their officers . saint hierom conceives , that the apostle had these several names either from the traditions of the jews , or his own mystical interpretation of certain parcels of the old-testament history . arbitror [ apostolum ] aut de traditionibus hebraeorum ea , quae secreta sunt , in medium protulisse ; aut certè quae juxta historiam scripta sunt , cum intelligeret legem esse spiritualem , sensisse sublimiùs , & quod de regibus atque principibus , ducibus quoque , tribunis , & centurionibus in numeris & in regnorum libris refertur , imaginem aliorum principum regumque cognovisse , quod sc. in coelestibus sint potestates atque virtutes & caetera ministeriorum vocabula , hier. in ephes . 1. now from these names and words found in scripture , some have ventur'd to determine and marshal the coelestial hierarchy of angels into their several and distinct orders . whence we have in the schools nine orders of angels , said to be taken from dionysius the areopagite saint paul's scholar . thus the hierarchy is divided into three parts , an uppermost , a middle , a lowest , and in each of these are placed three ranks or choires of angels : as , in the uppermost seraphim , cherubim , thrones . in the middle , dominions , mights , powers . in the lowest , principalities , arch-angels , angels . and this is spoken as boldly , as if the author of the phansie had been in good earnest wrapt up with saint paul into the third heaven , and there seen the scheme of their divine oeconomy . only that holy apostle tells us , he heard there [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] unutterable words , 2 cor. 12.4 . and seems to have warned us sufficiently against all such gnostic's , or pretenders unto extraordinary knowledg , to whom he hath given this character of vanity , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] intruding into those things which they have not seen , coloss. 2.18 . — and , certainly , if he had minded to intimate so many distinct orders , he could easily have put the nine names together , as well as this his famed disciple ; or , if several names were sufficient to denote their orders , he could have added more to the number , e. gr . an order of fighters , the heavenly host , saint luke 2. an order of watchers , out of daniel ; a chorus of morning-stars , out of iob ; and another of the sons of god , &c. baronius quotes ignatius for an asserter of this same hierarchy in ep. ad trallenses : but vedelius contends against him strongly , that the whole period , referr'd to , is interpolated and supposititious . however neither the words , nor the order of enumeration agree with dionysius's , and there are two fresh ones among them [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ] l. vallae in his comment upon revel . 4.8 . very angerly expostulates with the latins for omitting nine times holy in their versions , which all the greeks , saith he , have in that place ; as losing by this defect of theirs the mystery of ter trinum , which is , as he adds , the number of the orders of angels . but revius answers him well enough , that this was the dream of a counterfeit dionysius ; and that all the greek copies have not nine times holy there , neither , but most of them thrice only , as we read it . however , to make even with this celebrated number , ( instead of a more serious and direct opposition ) it may not be amiss here to remember , that some have ranged the devils into nine orders too . in the first , as they tell us , are [ pseudothei ] false-gods , who corrupt religion , the prince of whom they call beelzebub . in the second are [ spiritus mendaces ] lying spirits , one of whom deceived the prophets in the days of ahab , 1 kings 22. whose prince is named python , according to what we read of a spirit of python , act. 16.16 . which we english spirit of divination . in the third are [ vasa iniquitatis ] vessels of iniquity , from whom proceed all the flagitious wickednesses , that are any-where committed in the world , whose prince is called belial . in the fourth are [ spiritus ultores ] revenging spirits , that stir up strifes among men , and urge them unto private revenge , whose prince is asmod●us , tobit 3. in the fift are [ daemones praestigiatores ] conjuring and jugling devils , the patrons of witches and inchanters , who by such kind of magical practices do hurt to men , the prince of whom is call'd satan . in the sixth are [ aereae potestates ] the powers of the air , who , by god's permission , raise storms and tempests , whose prince they call meris or metiris , [ i know not whence , nor why . ] in the seventh are [ furiae ] the furies , which torment the minds of men after sin committed , and work divers confusions in the world , whose prince is said to be abaddon or apollyon , which name we have reuel . 9. in the eight are [ criminatores ] the accusers , who lie in wait against the fame and honour of good-men , whose prince is diabolus , or astaroth . and in the ninth are [ tentatores ] the tempters , those evil spirits that seduce by subtlety , whom they cannot oppress by violence , whose prince they call mammon . which distribution i alledge not to avouch for it , but only as an instance of the same curiosity , that produced the former , a restless and unsatisfied itch of knowledg , which searcheth into all depths , and spareth neither heav'n nor hell in its presumption ; as if the motto were , flectere si nequeo superos acheronta movebo . of like vanity and rashness are the jewish cabalists guilty . rabbi moses , the son of maimon , assigns ten degrees of angels , from so many words which he picks up here and there concerning them . in the first , animalia sanctitatis . ] in the second , rotae . ] in the third , ereellim . ] in the fourth , casmallim . ] in the fifth , seraphim . ] in the sixth , maleacim . ] in the seventh , elohim . ] in the eight , filii elohim . ] in the ninth , cherubim . ] in the tenth , ischim , sive viri . ] the first , second , and fourth , ( as i. cappellus observes are taken from ezech. 1. but casm●llim is unfitly put for a peculiar order when it is the name rather of some colour . the fifth , from isa. 6. the third , from isa. 33.7 . but absurdly ; for though the etymon of the word agree well enough , [ q. d. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a beholder of god ] yet the prophet attributes tears and mourning to them , and points unto the embassadors sent from hezekiah to rabshakeh . the sixth is the hebrew for angels . the seventh from psal. 8.5 . the eight , from iob 1. the ninth , from gen. 3. the last from thence , that in the apparitions of angels , the scripture often saith , the man said so and so . but how improperly ( as he farther adds ) are those appellations [ elohim , filii elohim , maleacim , ] that is , gods , the sons of gods , angels , which are common elogiums agreeing to every one of them , put to describe certain orders ? others of the jewish-masters are content to refer to three degrees only . the first , they call [ intelligentias à materiâ separatas ] intelligences wholly separate from matter that never appeared but in prophetic vision ▪ and so were never seen but heard only , yet alway stand about the throne of god. the second , they call [ angelos ministerii ] angels of ministery , made to govern the world and minister unto good men , dwelling above the orbs , and so call'd the host of heaven , but for their ministry-sake assuming sometimes of visible forms , and so appearing and seen . the third , they call [ spiritus sublunares ] sublunary spirits , the executioners of divine wrath and justice , angels of destruction and death ; whom also they make to be male and female , to eat and drink , and gender , and die , and succeed each other , as men do . [ this is much like the heathens distinction of their genii into supercoelestes , coelestes , subcoelestes , which i forbear to prosecute any farther , than the bare naming of it . ] hereunto , lastly , we may refer the * schoolmens distinction of angels into assisting and ministring , as they deliver and explain it ; making the latter to be only those of the lowest order , even as the jewish rabbies did their angels of ministry , and sublunary spirits . against both of whom the text apparently decides the case , are they not all ministring spirits ? as shall be afterwards farther declared . to end this enquiry , though there is for certain a most excellent order among the angels , and there are , probably , different ranks and degrees of them , yet , what they are in particular , is no where revealed for our satisfaction ; and some of those denominations , which are relied upon in sacred writ as to this matter , may as well denote distinct properties and perfections of each individual angel , or certain temporary offices and imployments only , as point unto the setled and established order among them all . the prophet ezechiel , speaking of four of them , describes them every one alike . they four , saith he , had the face of a man , and the face of a lion on the right-side ; and they four had the face of an oxe on the left side , they four also had the face of an eagle , revel . 1.10 . the like to which we have again , revel . 4.7 . where the design seems to be to represent them , in way of hieroglyphick , prudent as men ; couragious as lions ; laborious and industrious as oxen ; and swift as eagles . but it very well becomes us willingly to be ignorant of what our heav'nly father hath not thought good to make known unto us . and therefore i shall [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] forbear to search farther into what is hidden and concealed ; closing this chapter with the remarkable instance of saint augustin's exemplary modesty in the present argument , ( as i did the foregoing with damascen's , ) what those several words mean , saith he , whereby the apostle seems to comprize the universal society of angels , thrones , dominions , principalities , &c. and how they differ , let them tell who are able ; if they can but prove what they affirm . i for my part confess my ignorance . chap. iv. of the offices of angels . the fourth point concerns the function , or office of the angels , whereunto god hath appointed and commission'd them . and as to that the holy scriptures will more fully resolve us , designing , as appears , to promote our duty and comfort , more than to satisfie a speculative curiosity . are they not all [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] liturgie , or ministring spirits , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] sent forth to minister ? saith the text. they are all liturgic spirts . ] the word hath relation to public and honourable imployment . so princes and magistrates are call'd , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rom. 13.6 . and christ himself , as our great high-priest , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , heb. 8.2 . and saint paul , the apostle of the gentiles , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rom. 15.16 . — but then to this general we have another word added in the greek , which our english distinguisheth not at all from it , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] and it denotes a particular service under the former ; [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 2 cor. 9.12 . ] like to that of the deacons in the christian church , who served tables , and provided for the necessities of the poor and needy . and to this special deaconry and service in the world , they are [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] solemnly sent forth and commissioned , as legats and officers from above . thus the learned doctor hammond interprets the seven spirits , revel . 1.4 . and 4.5 . the angels which attend and wait upon god , and are as , in the sanhedrim the officers waiting on the head of the sanhedrim to go on all their messages , or as in the church , the deacons to attend the commands of the governour of the church , and to perform them . now , that we may take in the whole course of the angels imploy and ministration , we will consider of it distinctly , 1. with reference unto god himself . 2. to christ , god-man . 3. to the whole world , especially of mankind ; and 4. to the faithful servants of god and christ , call'd in the text , the heirs of salvation . sect. i. their ministry unto god. first , i say , they are ministring spirits unto god almighty , [ damascen puts this into the definition of an angel , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] and that in a threefold capacity . 1. they are the constant attendants of his glorious court and presence , waiting upon , and following of him , wheresoever he goes . so a chief among them said to zacharias , i am gabriel that stand in the presence of the lord , saint luke 1.19 . and , i saw the lord sitting in his throne , ( saith micaiah the prophet ) and all the host of heav'n standing by him , on his right hand and on his left , 1 kings 22.19 . that is , the great king on his throne , and his guard or retinue of angels round about him . and in this , as some conceive , the special manner of the divine appearance , or presence , in some places more than in others , consists , [ whereas otherwise god is omni-present , and every-where alike , as arnobius says , ] viz. in this his train and attendance : so that the lord of hosts is there said to be peculiarly present , where his court is , that is , where the holy angels keep their station and rendezvous . hence iacob , having seen a ladder reaching from heav'n to earth , and the angels of god ascending and descending upon it , saith , gen. 28.16 , 17. surely the lord is in this place , and i knew it not ; how dreadful is this place ? it is no other , but the house of god , even the gate of heav'n : that is , heav'ns guild-hall , court or palace ; ( as our learned mede hath it ) for the gate was wont to be the judgment-hall , and place , where kings and senators used to sit , attended by their guard and ministers . thus , in the prophecy of daniel , the antient of days is represented coming to judgment , dan. 7.10 . thousand thousands ministred unto him , and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him . and in the same stile , ( of the same appearance too ) enoch the seventh from adam prophesied , as saint iude records it , ver . 14. behold the lord cometh with his holy myriads or ten thousands . [ for so it ought to be rendred , according to the greek , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and not , as we have it , with ten thousands by his saints , unless by saints we mean these holy ones , as sometimes they are call'd , dan. 4.13 , 17. ] a like expression of the divine presence we find in that of moses , deuter. 33.2 . the lord came from sinai unto them , and rose up from seir unto them ; he shined forth from mount-paran ; he came with ten thousands of saints , or holy ones , [ or , with his holy myriads , with his holy ten thousands , as it should rather be translated , ] from his right hand went a fiery law for them . whereunto the psalmist also relates , ps. 68.17 . the chariots of god are twenty thousand , even thousands of angels ; the lord is among them , as in sinai , in the holy place . from whence we read in the new-testament of the law giv'n by angels there . [ who have received the law by the disposition of angels , act. 7.53 . ordained by angels in the hands of a mediator , meaning moses , gal. 3.19 . the word spoken by angels , heb. 2.2 . ] howbeit , in the old-testament story it-self , we meet with no such thing in terms , but only , that the lord descended upon the mount in a fiery and smoaking cloud , with thunders and lightnings , and the voice of a trumpet , exod. 19 — the expression therefore seems to proceed upon this supposition , that the special presence of the divine majesty , or his glory , as the scripture calls it , wheresoever it is said to be , consists in the encamping of his sacred retinue , the holy angels . and accordingly we read in the gospel , that christ shall come at last , [ in the glory of his father , ] that is , [ with an host of angels , ] as the holy ghost himself seems to expound it , the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with the holy angels , saint matth. 16.27 . saint mark 8.38 . thus heav'n , we know , is the place of god's most glorious residence , that being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or habitation of angels , saint iude 6. ver . who therefore are call'd the host of heav'n , and said , alwayes to behold the face of god ther● . and accordingly we are taught to pray , our father which art in heav'n ! the prophet isaiah before had set the example , ch. 63.15 . look down from heav'n , and behold from the habitation of thine holiness and thy glory , that is , where thy throne is surrounded with myriads of holy and glorious angels . and thus was god present of old in his temple , and the places , where his name was recorded upon earth . so in the vision of isaiah 6.1 . i saw the lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up , and his train filled the temple . [ the lxx have it , the house was filled with his glory . ] most probably , the seraphim or angels , as there it follows , ver . 3. and this seems to be imply'd in that of the psalmist , before the gods i will sing praise unto thee ; i will worshp towards thy holy temple , and praise thy name , ps. 138.1 , 2. for , that the angels are call'd gods , i noted before ▪ and the greek here reads it [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] before the angels , and the vulgar latin accordingly , [ in conspectu angelorum , ] in the view or presence of the angels . agreeably whereto we may also interpret that place of solomon , cautioning against rash vows in the house of god , eccles. 5.4 , 5 , 6. when thou vowest a vow , defer not to pay it ; suffer not thy mouth to cause they flesh to sin , neither say thou before the angel , it was an error , that is , let not such a foolish excuse come from thee in the house of god before the holy angels [ taking the word collectively , as we do man , turk , spaniard , &c. or as the singular number is sometimes put for the plural . ] and for this cause , most probably , the curtains of the tabernacle were fill'd with pictures of cherubims , and the walls of solomon's temple within with carved cherubims , and the ark of the testimony over-spred and cover'd with two mighty cherubims , having their faces looking towards it , and the mercy-seat , with their wings stretch'd forth on high , call'd the cherubims of glory , hebr. 9.5 . that is , of the divine presence . whence that known compellation of almighty god , o lord god of israel which dwellest between the cherubims ! 2 kings 19.15 . we have it again , ps. 80.1 . thou that dwellest between the cherubims shine forth ! and in hez●k●ah's prayer , isa. 37.16 . o lord of hosts ▪ god of israel , that dwellest between the cherubims ▪ and again it is said , ps. 91.1 . the lord reigneth , he sitteth between the cherubims , viz. as on his royal throne . agrippa in his oration to the jews , in iosephus , joyns the holy place and the holy angels as neerly related each to other , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ] and this opinion still continues with that people , that in their places of worship , where god hath promised his especial presence , the blessed angels frequent their assemblies , and praise and laud god together with them in their synagogues . so much is acknowledged in the form of prayer used by the jews of portugal , and cited by master mede , ( from whom i borrow this notion , and the substantial management of it ) o lord our god , the angels , that supernal company , gather'd together with thy people israel here below , do crown thee with praises ; and all together do thrice redouble and cry , that spoken of by the pro●het , holy , holy , holy , lord god of hosts ; the whole earth is full of thy glory . and thus certainly we may con●lude , in like manner , that god is still present in the churches of christians . some such thing saint paul supposeth , 1 cor. 11. where treating of a comely and decent carriage to be observed in church-assemblies , and in particular of the woman's being cover'd and vailed there , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as saint chrys. words it , ] he in●orceth it from this argument , the supposed presence of angels there , ver . 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] because of the angels . if thou despisest man , saith saint chrysost. on the place , yet reverence the angels . and to a like purpose , theophylact. debet , inquit ▪ superioribus de causis mulier supra caput velamen gestare , i. e. servitutis insigne ; & si nullâ aliâ ratione , angelorum tamen pudore ducta , ne in illorum conspectu impudica appareat . theoph. in loc . and , thus , unto principalities and powers in heav'nly places is made known by the church of manifold wisdom of god , as the apostle writes to the ephesians c. 3.10 . [ upon which text saint chrys. excellently . see , what an honour is done to humane nature , in that with us , and by us , the powers above come to know the secrets of our king and saviour . ] and they are represented by saint peter , as earnestly looking into the mysteries of the gospel , preached and commemorated in our assemblies , 1 pet. 1.12 . which things , saith he , the angels desire to look into , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] stooping down , as with their faces of old towards the propitiatory or mercy-seat . thus , saint chrysostom conceived , most undoubtedly , of christian oratories , reproving the irreverent behaviour of his auditors upon occasion in such words as these . — the church is no barbers , or apothecarys shop , &c. but the place of angels , the place of arch-angels , the palace of god , heav'n it self . — and again , think neer whom thou standest , and with whom thou art about to invocate god , namely , with cherubim and seraphim and all the powers of heav'n . consider but , what companions thou hast ; and it will suffice to perswade thee unto sobriety , when thou remembrest , that thou , who art compounded of flesh and blood , art yet admitted with the incorporeal powers to celebrate the common lord of all . let none therefore communicate carelesly in the holy and mystical hymns , let none at that time intermingle worldly thoughts , but remove and banish all earthly cogitations , and translate himself wholly into heaven , as standing neer the throne of glory , and on the wing , with cherubims . so let him offer the all holy hymn to the god of glory and majesty . — and to add but one quotation more , instead of many , speaking against those who laugh'd at church , — when thou goest into a king's palace , saith he , thou composest thy self to all comeliness ; in thy habit , in thy look , in thy gate and every thing else . but here is indeed the palace of a king , and the like attendance to that in heav'n ; and dost thou fleer and laugh ? i know well enough , thou seest it not . but hear thou me , and know , that angels are every-where present , but chiefly in the house of god ; they attend upon their king , and all is there fill'd with those incorporeal powers . ii. these ministring spirits do not only stand before god as his attendants , but worship and adore him , as his servants , pay their homage and acknowledgments to him continually , lauding and glorifying of him . we have a short account of their liturgy , or sacred office of divine service , from the prophet , isa. 6.3 . one cryed unto another [ hic ad hunc ] and said , holy , holy , holy is the lord of hosts ; the whole earth is fill'● with his glory . whereto well agrees the vision of ignatius , as socrates reports it , from whence he is said to have recommended the custom of alternate-singing to the church at antioch , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ] they have , it seems , their mutual antiphon's and responsals , how much soever some among us except against and find fault with them . they divide themselves into choires , and answer each to other in their devout anthems . saint augustin calls them [ hymnidicos angelorum choros . ] and athanasius puts [ hymnis dicendis aptum ] into his description of an angel. and this is , certainly , their most delightful and continual imployment , angelorum ministerium est dei laudatio & hymnorum decantatio . theodoret. divin . decret . epit. they rest not day and night , saying , holy , holy , holy , lord god almighty , which was , and is , and is to come , revel . 4.8 . this is their constant devotion and service ; whereto yet , no doubt but , upon particular occasions they make some fresh additions . thus , at the laying of the foundations of the earth , or the creation of the stars , they chaunted forth the makers praise , iob 38. and the like we may conceive , when there is ioy in heaven among them at the conversion of a sinner , saint luk. 15.10 . when one of their number had publish'd the blessed news of our saviour's birth , we find , that suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heav'nly host , praising god , and saying , glory be to god in the highest , and on earth peace , good will towards men , saint luke 2. and another parcel yet of their occasional service , saint iohn gives us , revel . 7.11 , 12. all the angels , saith he , stood round about the throne — and fell before the throne on their faces and worship'd , saying , amen , blessing and glory , and wisdom , and thanksgiving , and honour , and power , and might be unto god for ever and ever , amen . where we observe also a decent reverence and uniformity both of gesture and expression , [ for our instruction doubtless ] in their worship . and their liturgy , we see , is wholly , in a manner , composed of lauds and praises , doxologies and thanksgivings , which therefore should waken us to an holy emulation of them in the same , our blessed lord and saviour having taught us to pray , dayly , that gods will may be done [ by us ] on earth , as it is [ by them ] in heaven . [ tibi omnes superni cives & cuncti b. spirituum ordines gloriam & honorem suppliciter adorantes concinunt sine fine : laudant te , domine , illi superni cives magnificè & honorabiliter . ] d. aug. med. c. 33. well therefore hath our church taken in certain parcels of their holy offices into her public service . so in the [ te deum . to thee all angels cry aloud : the heav'ns , and all the powers therein . to thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry , holy , holy , holy , lord god of sabaoth : heav'n and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory . so at the holy communion , a little before the consecration and receiving of the sacred elements , — therefore with angels and arch-angels , and with all the company of heav'n , we laud and magnifie thy glorious name , evermore praising thee , and saying , holy , holy , holy , lord god of hosts ; heav'n and earth are full of thy glory . glory be to thee , o lord most high ! — and again , after we have participated of the heav'nly food , there follows that angelic hymn , glory be to god on high , and on earth peace , good will towards men ! we praise thee , we bless thee , &c. the psalmist , that sweet-singer of israel , we find , calls upon the angels to bless and praise god , yet not in the least to reflect upon their backwardness , or impute a negligence and forgetfulness to them ; but as one delighted himself in that celestial imployment , and desirous to set them forth as excellent examples of it , and provoke them to a supply of those higher measures of devotion , which he could not reach unto . bless the lord ye angels of his , that excel in strength . bless ye the lord all his hosts , ye ministers of his that do his pleasure ! ps. 103.20 , 21. and again , praise ye the lord from the heav'ns ; praise him in the heights . praise ye him all his angels ! praise ye him all his hosts ! psal. 148.1 , 2. iii. these ministring spirits wait upon god , as his ready messengers to receive his commands , observe his orders , go upon his errands and embassies , and fulfil all his will ; thus to serve and obey him , in whatsoever he shall send or imploy them about . non solùm autem hymnos decantant , sed divinae etiam oeconomiae ministrant , theodoret. divin . decret . epit. so we have it in that place of the psalmist , just now recited , ye angels of his that do his commandements , hearkning unto the voice of his word ! and ye ministers of his , that do his pleasure ! who are always at his beck . no sooner doth he signifie or injoyn any thing , but they are presently on the wing , swiftly flying . in iacob's vision therefore we have a ladder reaching up to heav'n , with angels ascending and descending on it , that is , in continual motion . — quorum unum solumque officium est servire nutibus dei , nec omninò quidquam , nisi jussi● ejus , facere ; — apparitores magni regis , lactant. instit. l. 2. c. 17. sometimes they are dispatch'd to declare and make known the mind of god ; as the law was deliver'd by angels on mount sinai ; and several messages of glad-tidings we read of by and from them in holy scripture , as to abraham , daniel , zacharias , the blessed-virgin , saint iohn and others , of which more afterwards . sometimes again they are sent to execute god's judgments , and pour out the vials of his wrath , revel . 15.6 , 7. as on the wicked sodomites , gen. 19. on the first-born in egypt , exod. 12. on the assyrian host , 2 kings 19. on the people of israel , 2 sam. 24.15 , 16. but oftner as the ministers of good things , to work deliverance , and bring supplies extraordinary to his servants and worshippers , as i shall take occasion hereafter more particularly to specifie ; and therefore forbear to add any thing of it farther in this place , unless it be the testimony of hesiod to this truth . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . but , o that we could learn of those blessed spirits , and might be awaken'd to imitate and follow them in these steps of their ministry unto god! that we may delight , as they do , in the presence of god , and the places of his worship and service ! that we may be as zealous , and devout , orderly , and unanimous , diligent , and unwearied in the glorifying of god , and praising of his name ! and that we may add unto all our religious acknowledgments a readiness of obedience too , like unto theirs , to hearken unto the voice of his word , and do his will and commandements ! sect . ii. their ministry unto christ. secondly , they are ministring spirits unto christ , the son of god made man , whence they are said to ascend and descend upon the son of man , saint iohn 1.51 . and this they do by divine appointment , when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world , he saith , and let all the angels of god worship him , heb. 1.6 . according to that of the psalmist , worship him all ye gods ! here now i might entertain you with a prolix discourse , to shew how all along the holy angels have waited upon christ and ministred to him . but i will only touch upon the particulars ; most of which the devout gerhard hath summarily laid together . [ angelus ejus conceptionem nunciat , — nativitatem manifestat , — in aegyptum fugere mandat ; — angeli serviunt ei in deserto , — ministrant ei in toto praedicationis ministerio ; — angelus ei adest in mortis agone , — apparet in ipsius resurrectione ; — angeli praestò sunt in ascensione , — aderunt in futurâ ad judicium reversione . ] 1. to signalize his advent an angel foretels his immediate fore-runner , iohn the baptist , unto zacharias , saint luke● . 13 . — and then , his conception to the virgin mary , ver . 30.31 . resolving her doubts , how this should be , ver . 35. and , after that , assuring ioseph , her espoused husband , that , what was conceived in her womb , was of the holy ghost , saint mat. 1.20 . 2. at his birth , as hath been some-where already intimated , an angel is the herald to proclaim the good news of it to the shepheards in the field , and directs them to the place where he lay ; and immediately , upon that , a whole host of angels sing together in consort with him , glorifying and lauding god , saint luke 2.10 . &c. no sooner was he born into the world , but he was look'd upon with admiration by the angels , adored and worshipped by those knowing and blessed spirits , how contemptible soever his appearance was in the eyes of men. upon which account , probably , the apostle adds it as a considerable link to his golden-chain , when he describes the great and acknowledge'd mystery of godliness ; god , saith he , was manifest in the flesh , justified in ( or by ) the spirit , seen of angels , — 1 tim. 3.16 . 3. then during his life upon earth , an angel watcheth over him , while yet in his infancy , to prevent the danger he was in from herod's malice , seeking to kill him ; and to that purpose appears to joseph in a dream , and warns him to take the young child and his mother , and flee into egypt , till he should bring him word , saint mat. 2.13 , 14. as he did sometime after , appearing again in a dream to ioseph in egypt , and saying , arise and take the young child and his mother , and go into the land of israel ; for they are dead , which sought the young childs life , ver . 19 , 20. and yet again , after that , warning him to turn aside into the parts of galilee , ver . 22. at his fasting forty days and forty nights in the wilderness , conflicting thereupon with the tempter , the angels minister to him in his need , and congratulate his triumphs . he was there in the wilderness , saith saint mark , forty days tempted of satan , and was with the wild beasts , and the angels ministred to him , ch . 1.13 . providing , 't is like , for his safety , as well as support , all the while there . but we have it in saint matthew at the end of his three temptations , then the devil leaveth him , and behold , angels came and ministred unto him , ch . 4.11 . [ ne deesse viderentur angeli , cui angelorum custodiam & ministeria insidiosè impegerat tentator . — spectatores tantùm conflictûs , socii triumphi . ] at his bitter agony in the garden , when he had resigned up himself perfectly to his father's will and disposal , as to the sufferings he was to undergo , there appeared an angel unto him from heav'n strengthning of him , saint luke 22.43 . and , if need were , himself tells us , that he could but ask his father , and he would send him more than twelve legions of angels , saint matth. 26.53 . 4. after his death , an angel opens his grave and removes his tomb-stone ; behold , saith the text , there was a great earth-quake , for the angel of the lord descended from heav'n , and came , and rolled back the stone from the door , and sate upon it : his countenance was like lightning , and his raiment white as snow , and for fear of him the keepers did shake and become as dead men , saint matth. 28.2 , 3 , 4. the angel also declares and witnesses his resurrection ; for so it follows , ver . 5 , 6 , 7. and the angel answered , and said unto the women ; fear not ye , for i know , that ye seek iesus , which was crucified . he is not here , for he is risen , as he said ; come , see the place where the lord lay , and go quickly and tell his disciples , that he is risen from the dead . and , behold , he goeth before you into galilee , there shall ye see him . lo , i have told you before . — saint luke speaks of two angels , ch . 24.4 , 5 , 6 , 7. it came to pass , saith he , as the women were much perplex'd , behold two men stood by them in shining-garments , and as they were afraid and bowing down their faces to the earth , they said unto them , why seek ye the living among the dead ? he is not here , but he is risen . remember how he spake unto you , while he was yet in galilee , saying , the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men , and be crucified , and the third day rise again . 5. at his ascension into heav'n , the angels are his attendants , confirm the truth to the beholders , and preach thereupon a second coming of his , in like manner , from thence , act. 1.10 , 11. while they looked stedfastly into heav'n , as he went up , behold two men stood by them in white apparel , which also said , ye men of galilee , why stand ye gazing up into heav'n ? this same iesus , which is taken up from you into heav'n , shall so come , in like manner , as ye have seen him go up into heav'n . — so iust. martyr expounds that in ps. 24. attollite portas principes vestras — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. dial. cum tryphone , p. 255. he needed not the angels help indeed to transport him thither , to remove impediments , and bear him up in their arms , as saint cyprian speaks , but a multitude of them came about him to applaud him as victor , and sing together in jubilee , modulating a new song , and filling the heav'ns with their agreeing harmony . 6. then , after his glorious exaltation at the right hand of god on high , and being made head over all things to the church , angels , and authorities , and pow●rs subjected to him , and all things put under his feet , [ ephes. 1.20 , 21 , 22. 1 pet. 3.22 . ] we find , th●y wait upon and glorifie him in heav'n ; i b●h●ld , saith saint iohn , and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne , — saying with a loud voice , worthy is the lamb , th●t was slain , to receive power , and riches , and wisdom , and strength , and honour , and glory , and blessing , revel . 5.11 , 12. upon occasion they reveal his mind and will from thence ; the revelation of iesus christ , which god gave unto him , to shew unto his servants things , which must shortly come to pass ; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant john , revel . 1.1 . and again , in the close of that book it is added , i iesus have sent mine angel to testifie unto you these things in the churches , ch . 22.16 . at his commandement they fight against his , and his churches enemies ; michael and his angels against the dragon and his angels , ch . 12.7 . lastly , at his glorious coming in the end of all , they are again to attend his person , proclaim his approach ▪ awaken the dead to the general resurrection , separate the good from the bad at the final judgment , and execute the decretory sentence , then giv'n forth and pronounced by the judge , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. m●rtyr apol. 2. p. 87. ] he shall come in the glory of his father with the holy angels , saint mark 8.38 . he shall be revealed from heav'n with his mighty angels , 2 thess. 1.7 . he shall descend with a shout , with the voice of the a●ch-angels , and with the trump of god , 1 thess. 4.16 . the trumpe● shall sound , and the dead shall be raised incorruptible , and we shall be changed , 1 cor. 15.52 . christ's kingdom , to sever the wicked from among the just , and cast them i●to the furnace of fire , where shall be wailing and gnashing of t●eth , saint matth. 13 . 3● . &c. thus , from ●irst to last , from our blessed saviour's appearing in the flesh to his glorious coming , a● the ●inal judg of quick and dead , the angels , we se● , are his mini●tring spirits . sect . iii. their ministry to the whole world , especially of mankind . thirdly , we are next to consider of them as ministring spirits , in reference to the whole world , especially of mankind . the peripatetic philosophers assign'd them an office of moving the coelestial orbs. but that hypothesis of the heav'nly motions is since disputed ; and ( bating the uncertainty of it ) we may , as probably , determine , that god , who hath furnish'd the nature of all things else with necessaries , hath also imprinted in those superior bodies the intrinsic principles and causes of their own motion , without the help of such assisting intelligences . some of the hebrew doctors ( as zanchius reports from trithemius , agrippa , and others ) have giv'n to every planet its angel , to every sign in the zodiac its angel ; to every wind its angel ; and to every element its angel . thus they have named , 1. for the seven planets . ] to saturn zapkiel , to iupiter zadkiel , to mars camuel , to sol raphael , to venus haniel , to mercurius michael , to luna gabriel , which they affirm to be the seven spirits , that always stand in the presence of god , and under whom the government of heaven and earth is disposed . [ saturno cassielem , iovi zakielem , marti samuelem , veneri anaelem , mercurio raphaelem , lunae gabrielem , pet. rami prael●ct . in somn . scip. p. 528. ] 2. for the twelve signs of the zodiac . ] to aries malchedael , to taurus asmodel , to gemini ambriel , to cancer muriel , to leo verchiel , to virgo hamaliel , to libra zuriel , to scorpio barchiel , to sagittarius adnachiel , to capricornus haniel , to aquarius gambiel , to pisces barchiel . 3. for the four winds and four quarters of the world. ] to the east michael , to the west raphael , to the north gabriel , to the south nariel . — and 4. for the four elements . ] to fire seraph , to air cherub , to water tharsis , to earth ariel . but these are unaccountable imaginations of men , over-curious , and bold beyond their understanding . not to reflect upon all the particulars , or the difference of names among writers . haniel is here intrusted both with venus and capricorn , michael with mercury and the east , raphael with sol and the west , gabriel with luna and the north , contrary to another of the jewish traditions , mention'd by p. fagius , that every angel hath his particular charge and business , nor are there more than one at the same time committed to any of them . therefore , say they , were there three angels sent to abraham , the first to tell him he should have a son by sarah , the second to rescue lot out of sodom , and the third to overthrow sodom and the neighbouring cities . it is not indeed improbable , but that the angels have some share , as the ministers of god almightie's providence , in ordering of the world ; that they are , not only a most considerable species of beings , and ornamental part of the universe themselves , but instruments also of the divine polity in the government of it ; or , that god doth in his ordinary dispensation of affairs [ gubernare inferiora per superiora , & corporali● per spiri●ualia , as the schools speak ] manage things inferior by the superior , and bodily by spiritual . psellus calls them therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [ quod mundum agant , regantque ] rulers of the world ; [ and the apostle speaks of the evil spirits , that , by gods permission only , usurp over the ignorant and vicious , in a word that is near of kin to that , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ephes. 6.12 . ] — seneca calls them , as i noted before * out of lactantius , [ ministros regni dei , ] ministers of god's kingdom , and intimates it as the divine contrivance at the making of the world , [ ut omnia sub ducibus suis irent , ] that every thing should have a guide allotted it . plato in like manner was of opinion , that god hath set demons over the whole world as leaders of the flocks , to govern all man-kind , according to the distributions assign'd them . origen grants , that we have not the benefit of the fruits of the earth , or rivers of water , and th● like conveniences without the presidence of these invisible husbandmen , and stewards ; — and he adds , a little after , that the angels are of a truth the lieutenants , and officers , and souldiers , and curators of god. damascen saith , that , as they are placed by the supreme maker of all , they have the custody of certain parts of the earth , look to nations and countries , order our affairs , and bring us help upon occasion . saint augustin , that every visible thing hath an invisible or angelical power set over it . and ruf●inus , that certain celestial powers have the regency o● mortals from the beginning . a mighty tendency there is in traditionary belief this way ; and from hence , possibly , they may be call'd , thrones , dominions , principalities , powers , and mights in holy scripture , as hath been already in part suggested . but it seems yet with greater evidence concludable from the book of dani●l , that god hath appoint●d regent-angels , as presidents over the respective nations and provinces of the earth . for we read there of the [ prince of the kingdom of persia , ] and of the [ prince of ●raecia , ] and of [ michael , one of the chief princes , that took care of iudaea , ] dan. 10.13 , 20 , 21. [ princeps synagogae , ] the prince of the synagogue , or church of israel , [ michael your prince . the great prince th●t standeth for the children of thy people , ] ch . 12.1 . — vatablus is peremptory hereupon , that [ singulae regiones habent praesides angelos , ] every region hath its president angel ; and mr. calvin in his institutions asserts it from hence , with a note of assurance , certè cum daniel angelum persarum & graecorum angelum inducit , significat certos angelos regnis ac provinciis quasi praesides destinari , l. 1. c. 14. § . 7. saint hi●rom saith , [ traditae sunt angelis ad regendum provinciae quasi judicibus ab imperatore , ] that particular provinces are deliver'd over by god to angels governance , as is wont to be done by emperors to their judges . and , ( to forbear other testimonies ) grotius tells us , that both the jews and antient christians , with great consent , collected as much out of the book of daniel , and that clèmens of alexandria puts it beyond all controversie . the jews supposed there were lxx angels , rulers of the lxx nations , into which the world was divided , gen. 10. and accordingly the greek translates that in the song of moses , deut. 32.8 . he set the bounds of the people [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] according to the number of the angels of god. which text th●odoret adds , with the proofs out of daniel , to declare [ nonnullos quidem ex angelis praeesse gentibus , ] and saint chrysostom also alledgeth it . the romans for certain had a temple dedicated to the publick genius , the genius pop. rom. and it was the inscription of some of adrian's coins , gen. p. r. and their prince was supposed to have one extraordinary , whence they swore commonly per genium principis ; and suetonius tells us , that caligula punished many , [ quod per cjus genium pejeraverant . ] in like manner , the current of authority is very strong , that every man [ at l●ast every pious and good man ] hath his tutelar or guardian angel , his angel-keeper attending him . the scriptures indeed , commonly alledg'd for this , do not of themselves necessarily inforce it ; yet , if taken and expounded , as generally they are , by the fathers , according to the common belief of the jewish nation , yea and the tradition of the gentiles too , which was from thence , most probably , derived , do very much favour it . spanhemius is positive and severe in condemning this opinion , as [ 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] un-scriptural , anti-scriptural , unreasonable . but the learned zanchie is quite of another mind . the common and constant consent of the fathers , saith he , hath much of weight and authority with me , unless the holy scriptures do manifestly teach the contrary ; and they all seem to have be●n of this judgment , which i l●ok upon as the more probable ; — the whole church hath always thought thus . — it was , saith he ●arther , and is the received opinion of the , hebrews , that ●very ●aithfull person hath his certain angel assign'd him ; and it may be con●irm'd from hence , th●● the doctrine abou● a●gels propagated among the gentil●s did ●low ●rom the iew● , as justin and eusebius test●●i● , however many things were corrupted in the relating . n●w it was the received opinion among all nations , that all men , so soon as co●ceived , have th●ir angels appointed them , whence also they were call'd genii . i will instance only in some f●w authorities , first of the fathers , and secondly of pagan-writers . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — ] iust. mar●yr , qu. & resp. p. 410. [ aliquibus ( ang●lis ) uniuscujusque hominis cr●ditam esse curam , ne cos laederent & perniciem cis asserrent scelerati & ex●crati daemones . ] theodoret. divin . decret ▪ epit. c. de angelis . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ] basil. l. 3. contra eunomium . de plato●e test●tur apul●ius — plato autumat singulis hominibus in vitâ agendâ testes & cuslodes singulos additos , qui , nemini conspicui , semper adsint arbitri omnium , &c. ] de deo socratis . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ] max. tyrius , diss. xxvi . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ] arrian . epist. diss. l. 1. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . menander . vel ut alii . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . [ quod a●tem ab hebraeis demanârunt , quae apud ●entiles propagata sunt de angelis , utì è zanchio paulò ante diximus , confirmant magis quae sequuntur . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; numenius . vide ludov. viv. in aug. l. 8. de civ . dei c. 11. quis poetarum , quis sophistarum , qui non omninò de prophetarum fonte potaverit ? tertul. apol. c. 47. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; quod apud vos studium non à barbaris traxit originem ? tatiani orat. contra graecos . ] iacob when he blesseth ioseph's two sons , makes this prayer for them : the angel , which redeemed me from all ●vil , bless the lads ! gen. 48 . 1● . where he manifestly points at an angel ; that had all along taken the care of himself ; [ whoe●er he were ] but then he assigns him over , if i may so speak , to both his grand-children , to ephraim and manasseh together . — our blessed saviour affirms of his disciples , that they have their angels , by way of propriety . saint matth. 18.10 . [ from whence saint chrysostom thinks it evident , that the saints , if not all others , have their angels , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hom. 60. in s. matth. ] but yet he determines not peremptorily one particular angel to each of them . — the church in mary's house say , when saint peter knock'd at door , whom they supposed at that time fast in prison , it is his angel , act. 12.15 . and this , as zanchie notes , [ juxtà receptam in populo dei sententiam : ] and origen infers from thence , that the other apostles had in like manner their angels . similitèr ergò intelligitur esse & alius alterius apostoli angelus , sicut est petri , & singulorum per ordinem . in numeros hom. 1. this seems to argue an opinion of particular guardian-angels in the speakers , but yet amounts not to a conviction of the truth of that opinion . which is also rendred somewhat the more dubious , because there is not an exact agreement about the time , when this angel enters upon his supposed charge . some say at the nativity , according to that of saint hierom , [ magna dignitas animarum , ut unaquaeque habeat ab ortu nativitatis in custodiam sui angelum deputatum , ] with whom agrees saint augustin , [ maximum aestimo & illud fuisse beneficium , quod angelum pacis ab ortu nativitatis ad finem usque meum mihi ad custodiendum me dedisti . ] others upon baptism ; and so origen is thought to believe , and teach , [ singulis pueris , statim post acceptum baptismum , certum assignari angelum . ] others , not only before baptism , but , before the birth too , even at the instant , when the soul is first infused ; whence tertullian ascribes all those good offices unto angels , as the ministers of divine power , which the superstition of rome heathen divided among several feigned goddesses ; as alemonia so call'd from nourishing the foetus in the womb ; nona and decima , from the moneths of note for child-bearing ; partula , from the governing of the birth ; and lucina , from the bringing of it into light : omnem hominis in utero serendi , struendi , fingendi paraturam aliqua utique potestas , divinae voluntatis ministra , modulatur — nos officia divina angelos dicimus . ] de animâ , c. 37. the pythagoreans conceived , that every man hath both a good and a bad angel attending him ; ( which mahomet hath adopted into his religion . ) and that was also the saying of empedocles , [ binos genios ab ipso natali di● cuiqu● mortali deorum munere datos , bonum , scil . & malum ▪ ] which origen seems not at all to mislike . [ vnicuique duo assistunt angeli , alter justitiae , alter iniquitatis . ] — the stoics , as seneca tells us , ascribed to every one [ genium & junonem , ] which , though lipsius interpret [ genium nempe viris , iunonem faeminis , ] others understand after another fashion ; [ iunonem & genium suum singulis dederunt , quasi praesides & oppugnatores . ] again , the egyptians taught , that every man hath three angels ; one to govern his immortal soul , which was call'd [ sacer daemon , ] a second from the disposition of the heav'ns , call'd his [ genius ] and a third with reference to his vocation or imployment , stiled therefore [ spiritus professionis . ] by all which it appears , how uncertainly , and at random we guess at these matters . the holy scriptures speak , not only of one , but a multitude of devils we are in danger of , and to watch and war against , ephes. 6. and , in like manner , not only of one , but a multitude of angels imploy'd by god for our aid and relief . he shall give his angels charge concerning thee , — ps. 91. and are they not all ministring spirits ? saith the text. yea , and where it is said , the angel of the lord encampeth — ps. 34. we are to construe it angels ; for he speaks of an host , and often by the hebrews one is put for a multitude , the singular for the plural . [ thus the inhabitant , for the inhabitants , 2 sam. 5.6 . with 1. chr. 11.4 . frog , for frogs , psal. 78.45 . tree , for trees , quail for quails , ps. 105.33 . — 40. ship , for ships , 1 kings 10.22 . with 2 chron. 9.21 . the fowl , for fowls , ps. 8.9 . spear , for spears , 2 kings 11.10 . with 2 chron. 23.9 . ] we find in sacred writ sometimes one and the same angel bringing messages to divers persons , gabriel , for instance , sent to daniel , to zacharias , and to the blessed virgin ; and one and the same angel taking care for , and effecting the deliverance of sundry persons at once ; opening the prison-dores and bringing forth the apostles thence , &c. sometimes again we have many angels joyntly , a whole host of them , protecting and defending one single person . so the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about elisha , 2 kings 6.17 . and angels [ in the plural number ] rejoice over one penitent , saint luke 15. and take the charge of lazarus his soul at his decease , ch . 16.22 . from whence yet i dare not conclude , ( as some have done ) that it is contradictory to holy scripture , to assert some one angel ordinarily attending every good man ; for that may well enough consist with the allowing of an extraordinary supply of more , when god pleaseth ; and with this qualification that opnion is usually deliver'd , [ vnicuique electo ordinariè certum propriumque angelum — extra ordinem vero plure● . ] now , though all men may be supposed to have an interest in the custody of angels [ quatenùs viatores , as the schools speak ] as travellers here in the way to happiness , so that none shall be able ●ereafter to plead with god almighty , and alledge that they sinn'd , [ ex defect● hujus adjutorii , ] for want of this help , where it was necessary ; yet it is most certain from the scriptures , that good and pious men , sincere and upright christians , have a more special and effectual share in their ministry . the words of the learned grotius in this argument are remarkable enough , i think , to deserve a translation here . it is evident , saith he , that the angels are ministers of divine providence , and from thence credible , that the offices of angels are distinguished according to the degrees of that providence . now besides the universal providence over all there is a common providence , whereby god upholds and guides the civil societies of men , which we call republics . and , that each of these have their angels , is with great consent both of iews and christians collected out of daniel ; [ as hath been said before . ] but , as god orders the affairs of kingdoms with reference to the state of the vniverse , so , for the most part , the concerns of single persons with reference to the state of kingdoms . but , then , saith he further , those , who by a true faith consecrate themselves to god , are exempted from the common lot , and look'd upon as god's peculiars , whom as he sustains with a special providence , so he seems to assign guardian-angels unto , to direct their steps and succeed their endeavours . — [ agreeably whereto the apostle ●alls the living god , the saviour of all men , specially of those that believe , 1 tim. 4.10 . and adviseth else-where , that , in imitation of him ▪ as we have opportunity , we do good unto all men , especially unto them of the houshold of faith , gal. 6.10 . ] waving all conjectures and probabilities , two points there are most obvious and undeniable in the text. 1. that the angels have a charge and commission given them to take care of th● faithful servants of god , and disciples of his son. they are [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation . and hence they are call'd their angels , by christ himself , as was said before . the angel of the lord , saith the psalmist , encampeth round about them that fear him , and delivereth them , ps. 34.7 . and , again , he shall give his angels charge concerning thee , to keep thee in all thy ways . they shall bear thee up in their hands , lest thou dash thy foot against a stone , psal. 91.11 , 12. where it is spoken of such , as set their love upon god , make him their refuge , and know his name ; that is , worship and serve him , ver. 9 , 10 , 14. — sanctus sacer angelus astat . and then , 2. that none of all the angels are exc●●●● from this ministry ; however the schools 〈◊〉 some hebrew doctors have presumed to confine it to the lower ranks and orders only , as i have touched before : are they not all ministring spirits , sent forth to minister ( viz. upon occasion , as god sees fit and good ) for those who shall be heirs of salvation ? saint cyril notes it of the seraphim , ( who are supposed the very supreme power of the highest hierarchy ) that one of them was sent to isaiah the prophet ch . 6. and he confirms it from this of our apostle to the hebrews , that they are all administratorii spiritus , in the declaring of which he adds , the same yoke , if one may so speak , is upon all these holy spirits ; and they are all at their masters beck , none of them thinking this service too mean , and unworthy , but este●ming it their honour and praise so to be imployed . sect . iv. their ministry to the faithful . i proceed therefore , fourthly , to shew more particularly the ministry of the angels unto the faithful , and the good turns or offices , which they perform for them in pursuit of this their trust and commission . menander calls them [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] the the moderators of life ; seneca [ paedagogos , ] our tutors or school-masters ; hesiod [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] the guardians or keepers of mortals ; epicte●us , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] our curatours , and such as neither slumber nor can be deceived ; zeno , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] the overseers of humane affairs ; which words are all significative of the benefits received from and by them . but , for method-sake , i will refer the chief instances of their ministry unto these three heads . i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in order to our instruction and admonition . ii. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in order to our defence and preservation . iii. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in order to our comfort , help , deliverance and supply . first , it is part of the angels ministry , upon occasion , to declare the mind and will of god , and bring messages from him for our instruction and admonition . in cebes his table the genius is represented like an old-man , with a paper in the one hand , and with the other pointing , as it were , at something , and commanding those that enter into life , what to do , and what way to walk in . the lord appeared unto abraham in the plains of mamre , and certified him and his wife by his angels , that they should have a son in their old-age , gen. 18. and after to lot , giving him notice of the destruction of sodom , and warning him and his to slie out speedily from thence , ch . 19 and the law is said to have been giv'n the jews by the disposition of angels ; as i shew'd † before , the word spoken by angels . an angel meets balaam the prophet ( though otherwise of no very good character ) in a perverse way , and charges him to speak no more than god should reveal , numb . 22. daniel had his visions from an angel , and the angel gabriel was sent forth to inform him and give him skill and understanding , dan. 8.16 . — 9.22.23 . ch . 10. and 11. so throughout the prophecy of zechary , we read that an angel talk'd and commun'd with him , and shew'd him this and that , and said to him thus and thus , zech. 1.9 , 14 , 19. — 2.3 , 4. &c. and , then in the new-testament , an angel brings the welcome message of a son , who should be the fore-runner of a messias , to zacharias the priest , saint luke 1.13 . — and , after that , to the blessed virgin , of her conception of that messias , &c. ver . 30 , 31. and , after that , proclaims the good tidings of his birth to the shepherds in the field , saint luke 2. — an angel appears thrice to ioseph , ( as hath been said upon † another occasion ) first to satisfie him about the taking to him mary his espoused wife ; afterwards to warn him to fly with the young child and his mother into egypt ; and then to call him again into the land of israel , saint matth. 1.20 , 21. — 2.13 , 20 , 22. the angels also ( as i have * shewn ) preach christ's resurrection to those that sought him in his sepulchre , saint luke 24. and testifie from heav'n the verity of his ascension thither , and his second coming thence , acts 1. — an angel signifies the revelations of christ to iohn the divine , revel . 1.1 . — 22.16 . &c. this way of god's communicating his mind and will , occasionally , to men by angels , seems pointed at in that of elihu , iob 33.14 , 15 , 16 , 17. and was commonly acknowledged among the jews ; whence that speech of theirs concerning saint paul , we find no evil in this man , but , if a spirit or angel have spoken to him , let us not fight against god. but their doctrinal ministry is not , ordinarily , now to be expected by us . god hath thought good to substitute other legats for the publishing of his mind and will to men. malachi hath it of the legal priesthood , the priests lips should keep knowledge , and th●y should seek the law at his mouth ; for he is the messenger [ or angel ] of the lord of hosts , mal. 2.7 . and god , saith our apostle , who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake in time past to the fathers by the prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son ; [ viz. in our nature ] a person far transcendent to the angels , hebr. 1.1 , 2. and this beloved son of his , god inc●rnate , that great prophet , whom all are obliged to hearken unto , ( acts 3.22 , 23. ) hath sent his apostles , after him , enabling of them to continue and propagate a succession of ministers , after them too , faithful men , who shall teach others , unto the end of the world. he gave some apostles , and some prophets , and some evangelists , and some pastors and teachers , for the perfecting of the saints , for the work of the ministry , for the edifying of the body of christ , till we all come into the unity of the faith and knowledg of the son of god , ephes. 4.11 , 12 , 13. 2 tim. 2.2 . these visible ministers of christ now we are to look upon and receive as angels . saint paul speaks it to the praise of the galatians , that they once so received him , gal. 4.14 . and so the bishops of the asian churches are call'd by christ himself , as hath been † before suggested , revel . 2 and 3 ch's . to such as these it is , that the holy angels themselves direct men under the gospel . — an angel calls philip towards the south to meet the eunuch , and preach jesus to him , acts 8. an angel certifies cornelius , that his prayers and alms were come up for a memorial before god ; but bids him send to ioppa for simon peter there , who should tell him what he ought to do ; and the angel satisfies peter too in a vision , as to his going to him , acts 10. an angel also invites saint paul to preach the gospel in macedonia , ch . 16. — so forward are these celestial spirits in promoting the knowledg of those blessed mysteries , which themselves with admiration look down into ; and to testifie unto us , that it belongs not to them to usurp the ministerial office in the church of christ , but to preserve and countenance it in the hands of such , as our lord and saviour hath appointed thereunto . it is indeed an high honour which god imparts unto men , to confer this angelical-office and imployment on them ; but then it is also a gracious condescension to humane weakness , that he is pleased so to treat with us , and speak to us by these in our own flesh. for we could not bear the glorious splendor of divinity it self in this our mortal state , nor the apparitions of angels , neither , without much of terror and consternation . when the law was giv'n by their ministry , the people stood amazed , and said unto moses , speak thou with us and we will hear , but let not god speak with us , lest we die , exod. 20.19 . and , when an angel came to the wife of sampson's mother , she saith to her husband concerning him , a man of god came unto me , and his countenance was like the cou●tenance of an angel of god , very terrible , judg. 13.6 . and of daniel we read , that upon such an appearance , his strength failed him , and he stood trembling , dan. 10.8 , 11. and the like of others . in so much that the angels do usually begin their message with the removal of that fear , which possesseth those to whom they speak . so to daniel , fear not dani●l , ch. 10.2 . so to zacharias , fear not zacharias , saint luke 1.13 . so to the blessed virgin , fear not mary , ver. 30. so to the shepherds , fear not , for behold i bring you good tydings , ch. 2.10 . so to the good women at our saviours grave , fear n●t ye , for i know , that ye seek iesus which was crucified , saint matth. 28.5 . — it is therefore , as i have insinuated , a condescension to our state of infirmity , that god hath chosen to send and speak to us , ordinarily , by embassadors of our own make and kind , mortal-men , like our s●lves , men that die , and are not suffered to continue by reason of death , as the apostle phraseth it , hebr. 7.8 , 23. saint paul yet gives another account of this dispensation : we have this treasure , saith he , in earthen-vessels , that the exc●llency of the power may be of god , and not of us , 2 cor. 4.7 . god declares and magnifies his power in destroying the devils kingdom by the ministry of weak and frail men. to which may be added farther , that hereby also he makes the greater proof of our faith and obedience , whil'st we submit to them that watch for our souls , and pay them all due reverence , as god's ministers and christ's vicars , observing them , amidst their weakness and infirmities , as christ himself ; according to that known maxime , [ apostolus cujusque ut quisqu● ] translated by our saviour to this purpose , he that heareth you heareth me , and he that d●spiseth you despiseth me , saint luke 10.16 . and , then again , by this means hath god provided fo● the safety of his church , as zanchy notes , that f●lse and wick●d doctrines might not be obtruded on her for true and holy by evil angels , transforming themselves into ang●ls of light ; or a wide door opened unto deceitful enthusiasms and revelations , co●trary to the gospel delive●'d by christ and his apostles . it pleased him , saith he , to make the angels ministers of the law in mount sinai , and , u●der the new-testament , that they should send men to be taught and instructed by the apostles , that we might be assured , that they never propound any doctrine opposite to the prophetical and apostolical ; and therefore , if there be any such in the world , that it is not from the angels of god , but from the devil and a●tichrist . we are not 't is true , to limit the almighty , but that he may still imploy the holy angels upon certain messages , admonitions , and instructions , as he pleases ; and likely enough it is , that many useful notices are communicated from them . [ artes praeeunt , aut docent , & quaedam humano ingenio nunquam eruenda ostendunt , lipsius phys. stoic . l. 1 diss. 19. vsus etiam musicae omnisque disciplinae , medicinae , artis gymnasticae , & si quae sit his similis , nobis subministrant , porphyr . deabstin . l. 2. s. 38. quod & plato intellexisse videtur , cum philosophiam , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , appellarit . quò spectat etiam ciceronis illud , philosophi● quid est aliud , nisi , ut plato ait , donum , ut ego , inventum deorum ? tuscul. l. 1. & m. antonini , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — l. 1. s. 17. ] but the way of salvation is already prescribed to us , and setled by a sure word of prophesie in the holy scriptures , which we are to give heed unto , as an unerring rule and guide : so that we must not look for , or hearken unto any other gospel . saint paul as to this is cleer and positive ; though we or an angel from heav'n preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you , let him be accursed : as we said before , so say i now again , if any one preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received , let him be accursed , gal. 1.8 , 9. which we are the more carefully to mind , because there may be sometimes diabolical delusions pretending to be angelical and divine revelations , 2 cor. 11.13 , 14 , 15. and we are warned , not to believe every spirit , but try the spirits whether they be of god , because many false-prophets are gone abroad in the world , 1. ep. of s. iohn 4.1 . we read of a spirit that said in ahab's time , i will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets , 1 kings 22.21 , 22. nor was this peculiar unto that season only ; for the holy ghost speaketh expresly , as saint paul tells us , that in the later times some shall depart from the faith , giving heed to seducing spirits , and doctrines of devils , speaking lies in hypocrisie , 1 tim. 4.1 , 2. this then we are to conclude upon for our security against all dangerous impostures , that a good angel , an angel of light , can never come unto us upon any errand contrary to the revealed word and will of god by jesus christ , whom they all adore and worship . this is the chart or paper they bear always in their hand , that i may allude to what was said of the description made in cebes table , at the b●ginning . the law was given by their ministry , and the gospel published with their acclamations . and , what the prophet isaiah hath said against those , who consult the devil and his instruments , is worthy also of our remembrance . chap. 8.9 , 10. when they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar spirits , and unto wizzards , that peep and that mutter ; [ or that cant ] should not a people seek unto their god ? [ as if he had said , how incongruous and absurd is it to forsake the oracles of god , and enquire of the devils ? ] to the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not according to this word [ whatever new light they may possibly pretend unto ] it is because there is no light in them . secondly , it is a particular charge given to the angels to be our keepers , to ward off dangers from us ; as souldiers , to guard us ; as nurses , to bear us in their arms ; and as guides , to direct us in wayes full of peril , hazard , and uncertainty . the phrases used by the psalmist are apposite to this purpose . the angel of the lord [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , castrametatur circum ] encampeth round about them that fear him , ps. 34. and there shall no evil befall thee ; for he shall give his angels charge over thee , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] to keep thee in all thy ways , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] they shall bear thee up in their hands , lest thou dash thy foot against a stone , ps. 91.10 , 11 , 12. with this therefore abraham encourageth his servant , when he sent him to seek a wife for his son isaac , the lord god of heaven shall send his angel before thee , gen. 24.7 . which he , when he comes to tell his story , thus repeats , he said unto me , the lord , before whom i walk , will send hi● angel with thee , and prosper thy way , v. 40. and , when iacob return'd to his father's house from the service of laban , the angels of god met him in the way , of whom he said , th●● is god's host , gen. 32.1 , 2. [ of which † before ] and he had good experience of their prot●ction . this was the support which god gave unto moses in his conduct of the people of israel , exod. 23.20 , &c. behold i send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way , and to bring thee into the place , which i have pr●pared . beware of him , and ob●y his voice : provoke him not , for he will ●ot pardon your transgressions ; for my name is in him . but if thou shalt indeed obey his voice , and do all that i speak , then i will be an enemy unto they enemies , and an adversary unto thy adversaries ; for mine angel shall go before thee , and bring thee in unto the amorites , and the hittites , and the perizzites , and the canaanites , and the hivites , and the jebusites , and i will cut them off . — and again he renews the same encouragement , ch . 33.2 . i will send an angel before thee , and i will drive out the canaanite , the amorite , and the hittite , and the perizzite , and the hivite , and the jebusite . when a formidable army of syrians had surrounded dothan , where elisha was , to apprehend him , so that his servant was at his wits end upon it , elisha thus comforts him , fear not , for they that be with us , are more than they that be with them , 2 kings 6.14 , 15. whereby he meant the host of angels that pitched about him ; for so it follows , v. 16 , 17. and elisha pray'd and said , lord , i pray thee open h●● eyes , that he may see . and the lord opened the eyes of the young man , and he saw , and behold ▪ the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire rou●d about elisha . him therefore they pr●serv●d in this strait and danger , smiting of the syrians with blindness , as we may read more at large . this is supposed to be that hedge , the devil complains of , which god made about job , and about his house , and about all that he had on every side , ch . 1. v. 10. and accordingly some expound that place of the prophet isaiah , ch . 5.5 . i will take away the hedge of my vineyard , and it shall be eaten up ; and break down the wall thereof ▪ and it shall be trodden down . [ sepes & maceria custodia angelica ] as the ordinary gloss hath it , this hedge and wall is the guard , or custody , of angels . and so we may conceive too that promise of god's being a wall of fire round about ierusalem , zec. 2.4 . according to what we read , ev'n now , of the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about elisha . and , agreeably to this , we are informed , that , immediately before the d●struction of ierusalem , were heard the voices of angels in the temple , saying , let us hence . many good men , undoubtedly , have owed their safety and preservation from impendent evils and ruine to the peculiar warning of angels . so our blessed saviour , as i have noted † before , was kept from the malice of herod , and his emissaries , by the angel warning ioseph in a dream , s. mat. 2. some memorable passages of this nature i will here insert out of history . the first i take from melanchton , in his comment upon daniel , where he tells this story of grynaeus , a learned and religious divine . this grynaeus at the meeting at spire , anno 1529. came to melanchton from the university of heidelberge , and , having heard faber bishop of vienna defending some gross errors in a sermon by him preached there , went to him privately and expostulated with him a while about th●m . faber politickly dissembles his dislike , pr●tends himself desirous of farther discourse with him , and that he would return to him on the morrow to that purpose , appointing him then to meet him , and begging his excuse for the present haste , as having some urgent business with the king. grynaeus , in the interim , thinks him in good ●arnest , whereas the snare was now a-laying for his life , goes back to melanchton in this persuasion , and was just set down to supper , and telling part of what had pass'd , when melanchton was suddenly call'd by a certain voice from table to his study , where one , he knew not , in the appearance of a grave old man , spake to him and told him , there would be officers presently at hand , sent forth by the king at the instigation of fab●r , for the arrest and imprisonment of grynaeus , commanding him therefore to go immediately from the city , and make no delays , and so took his leave . upon this melanchton forthwith goes back to the company , bids them to rise , and declares what was said to him . whereupon they convey grynaeus to the rhine , staying at the banks but till they saw him safe over on the other side ; and , returning back to his lodgings , found that the officers had been there indeed to search for him . this relation melanchton avers himself for certain , and appeals to the testimony of many good men then alive to avouch it , concluding of it devoutly to this effect . bless we god , that he adds his angels for our keepers ; and let us upon that account perform the offices of our vocation with the more quiet and unconcerned spirits . a second i contract out of dr. h. mo●e , who gives us this at large out of bodinus . an holy and pious man , as it should seem , and acquaintance of bodinus's , freely told him , how he had a certain spirit that did perpetually accompany him , which he was first aware of in the 37. year of his age , but conceived that the said spirit had been present with him all his life-time , as he gather'd from certain monitory dreams and visions , whereby he was forewarn'd as well of several dangers , as vices . that this spirit discover'd himself to him after he had for a whole year together pray'd to god to send a good angel to be the guide and governour of his life and actions . that every day he would knock at the door about three or four a-clock in the morning to rouze him up , and a voice would come , while he was asleep , saying , [ who gets first up to pray ? ] that by some sensible sign he did ever advertise him of things , as by striking his right ear , if he did any thing amiss ; if otherwise , his left : and if any body came to circumvent him , that his right ear was struck ; but his left , if a good man , and to good ends , accosted him . if he was about to eat or drink any thing that would hurt him , or intended or purposed with himself to do any thing that would prove ill , that he was inhibited by a sign ; and if he delay'd to follow his business , that he was quickned by a sign giv'n him . when he began to praise god in psalms , and to declare his marvelous acts , that he was presently raised and strengthned with a spiritual and supernatural power . that he was often admonished to give alms , and that the more charity he bestow'd , the more prosperous he was . and that on a time , when his enemies sought after his life , and knew that he was to go by water , that his father in a dream brought two horses to him , the one white , the other bay ; and that therefore he bid his servant hire him two horses , and , though he told him nothing of the colours , that yet he brought him a white-one and a bay-one . that in all difficulties , journeys , and what other enterprizes soever he used to ask counsel of god ; and that one night , when he had begg'd his blessing , while he slept he saw a vision , wherein his father seem'd to bless him . at another time , when he was in very great danger , and was newly gone to bed , he said , that the spirit would not l●t him alone , till he had raised him again ; wherefore he watch'd and pray'd all that night , and the day after he escaped the hands of his persecutors in a wonderful manner ; which being done , in his next sleep he heard a voice saving , now sing , qui sedet in latibulo altissime . a third i find in a late discourse of moses amyraldus , who tells it from cameron a divine of name and eminence in the reformed churches , that he had from the mouth of monsieur calignon , chancellor of navar , this notable passage which befel him in bearn . being in a certain town of that country , one night as he was asleep he heard a voice , which call'd him by his name , calignon ; whereupon awaking , and hearing no more of it , he fell to sleep again . and alittle after he heard the same voice calling him in the same manner , which made a greater impression upon him than before : so that now , being awakened , he call'd to his wife lying by him , and told her what had hapned ; and both of them for a time lay awake , expecting whether they might hear the voice again , and whether it would say any thing more to them . at last the voice awakened him a third time , calling him , as before , by name , and advising him by all means to retire speedily out of that town with his family ; for that within a few days the plague would rage horribly there . to which the chancellor added , that it was very well he followed the direction giv'n him , for as much as soon after the plague indeed began in the town , and destroy'd a great number of the people . — and this , saith amyraldus , was certainly an angel , that spake to him , and by the favourable and benign providence ofgod drew him out of that danger , which otherwise had been unavoidable . thus much in effect apuleius tells us of socrates his daemon , out of plato , that , if there were danger at any time in his enterprizes and undertakings , he heard a voice from heav'n admonishing him to use caution , and either forbear awhile , or steer another course . and balbus in cicero thus expounds homer's allowing to the principal heroes certos deos , discriminum & periculorum comites , de nat. deorum , l. 2. thirdly , it is part of the angels ministry to the faithful , not only to keep and defend them , or prevent and ward off dangers from them , as hath been said , but to bring comfort also to the disconsolate , and real help , supply , and deliverance in the time of need . the angel of the lord encampeth round about them that fear him●punc ; [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] and delivereth them , ps. 34. instances of this sort we may have many . the angel of the lord found hagar by the fountain of water in the wilderness ▪ in the way to shur , and said , hagar , sarah's maid , whence camest thou , and whither wilt thou go ? and she said , i fl●e f●om the face of my m●stress sarai . a●d the ang●l of the lord said unto her , return unto thy mistr●ss , ●nd submit thy self under her hands . a●d the angel of the lord said unto her , [ farther ] n●me●shmael ●shmael , [ that is , god shall hear ] becaus●●he lord hath heard thy affl●ction , gen. 16.7 , 8 , &c. and ag●●n , when she and that son of hers were cast forth , and wandred in the wilderness of beersheba , and the water was spent in the bottle , and she cas● the child under the shrubs , and went and sat down over-against him a good way off , that she might not see his death , and lift up her voice , and wept , god , saith the text , heard the voice of the lad , and the angel of the lord call'd to hagar out of heav'n , and said unto her , what aileth thee hagar ? fear not , for god hath heard the voice of the lad , where he is ; arise , lift up the lad , and hold him in thine hand ; for i will make of him a great nation . and god opened her eyes , and she saw a well of water , and she went and fill'd the bottle with the water , and gave the lad to drink , gen. 21.15 , &c. elijah , in like manner , threatned by iezebel , ●led to beersheba , where he left his servant , and going a day's journey himself in the wilderness ●at down in great discontent under a juniper-tree , desirous rather to die than live : and , saith the text , as he lay and slept under the iuniper-tree , behold , an angel touch'd him , and said unto him , arise and eat , and he look'd , and , behold , there was a cake bak'd on the coals , and a cruise of water at his head. and he did eat , and drink , and laid him down again . and the angel of the lord came again the second time , and said unto him , arise and eat because the journey is too great for thee . and he arose and did eat , and drink , and went in the strength of that meat fourty day 's and fourty nights unto horeb the mount of god , 1. kings 19.5 , &c. this meat brought to elijah we may call [ angels food , ] as , possibly , the israelites mannah from heav'n was so call'd , not only for the excellency of it , as hath been † before suggested , but because procured and brought down by the ministry of angels . and the same elijah , afterwards , was encouraged by an angel to go along with ahaziah the third captain , and not to be afraid of him [ having before , by the aid of angelical ministry , most probably , destroy'd the first and second captains with their fifties , sent to apprehend him , with fire from heav'n ; in so much as this third also terrified with their examples , fell on his knees , beseeching him to spare his life ; whereupon the angel saith , go down with him and be not afraid of him , ] 2 kings 1. when the prophet isaiah , upon the vision , ch. 6. cryed out , wo is me ! for i am unclean , because i am a man of unclean lips , and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ; there flew , saith the text , one of the seraphims unto him , having a live-coal in his hand , which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar , and he laid it upon his mouth , and said , lo this hath touched thy lips , and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged , vers. 5 , 6 , 7. our blessed lord and saviour himself had the angels ministring unto him , and strengthning of him , in and after his temptations , and bitter agony , as hath been shewn † already in its proper place . saint paul having related the great danger , that he and his company were in at sea , adds remarkably , there stood by me this night an angel of god , whose i am and whom i serve , saying , fear not , paul , thou must be brought before caesar , and , lo , god hath giv'n thee all them that sail with thee , acts 27.23 , 24. the angels at sodom pull'd lot into the house , and struck those that assaulted him with blindness , gen. 19.10 , 11. and after that , they warn him in time to bring his kindred and goods out of that wicked place , which god had sent them to destroy , ver. 13. and , not content with a naked warning , when the morning arose , they hasten him again , saying , arise , take thy wife and thy two daughters , which are here , lest thou be consumed in the punishment of the city , ver. 15 , &c. and , while he lingred , saith the text , the men laid ●old upon his hand , and upon the hand of his wife , and ●pon the hand of his two daughters , the lord being merciful unto him , and set him without the city . — nor do they leave them quietly there , so long as there was apparent danger , but , when they had brought them abroad , they add , esc●pe for thy life , look not behind thee , neither stay thou in all the plain , ●scape to the mountain , lest thou be consum●d . — we read of an angel in the book of revelations , crying to the four angels there , to whom it was giv'n to hurt the earth and sea , saying , hurt not till we have sealed the servants of our god in the foreheads , revel . 7.2 , 3. king hezekiah in a great strait and distress , begirt with the assyrians , whose power and multitude he was no-ways able to resist , prayeth to god , and he sends his angel to work a sudden and wonderful deliverance for him , destroying in one night ( as hath been touch'd † before ) an hundred fourscore and five thousand of the insulting enemy , 2 kings 19. and such another story we have of the great deliverance of maccabeus , and the jews , by an angel [ or helper from heav'n ] in the apochrypha , 2 maccab. 11.6 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. with his prayer at another time for the like aid , encouraged by this example of hezekiah , ch. 15.22 , 23 , 24. the three famous confessors , shadrach , meshach , and abednego ( whose proper names were hananiah , michael , and azariah , dan. 1. ) when cast into a fiery furnace , heated seven times hotter than ordinary , were yet strangely preserved from all harm , and indemnified amidst the raging flames by an angel of god , who appeared there with them , so that that most furious and devouring element had no power upon their bodies , nor was an hair of their head singed , neither were their coats changed , nor did the smell of the fire pass upon them , though it was so fierce and scorching that it consumed the men , who cast them in , dan. 3. and when daniel , another of the confessors of those times , ( as they are reckon'd up , ch. 1. call'd there , the four children , to whom god gave great knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom ) when he , i say , was cast into the lions den , on purpose to be devoured , an angel of god there restrains the wild appetite of those greedy beasts of prey , and after a most unwonted manner preserves him in the very jaws of death , dan. 6. my god , saith he , hath sent his angel , and hath shut the lions mouths that they have not hurt me , for as much as before him innocency was found in me , and also before thee , o king , have i done no hurt , ver. 22. and these four are the persons plainly referr'd to in the apostle's martyrology , hebr. 11.33 , 34. who , are said , through faith to have stopt the mouths of lions , and quenched the violence of fire , viz. god by his angels , as hath been said ▪ rescuing and delivering them . when the apostles were , by the procurement of the high-priest , put in the common-prison , the angel of the lord by night open'd the prison-doors , and brought them forth , and animated them to speak openly to the people in the temple , acts 5.18 , &c. and saint peter , after that , imprisoned by herod , and deliver'd over for security to four quaternions of souldiers to be kept , was thence , notwithstanding all their care , set at liberty by an angel loosing of his chains , causing the iron-gates of the city to open to him , and conducting of him through the streets thereof , in such a manner as he thought himself but in a dream for a great while , till he came at last to acknowledg , now i know of a surety that the lord hath sent his angel , and hath deliver'd me out of the hand of herod , and from all the expectation of the people of the iews , acts 12.4 , &c. thus the angels , we see , are the commissioned instruments of extraordinary escapes , preservations and deliverances . sometimes too they are sent , as physitians , to cure and heal , in case of hurt , sickness , or disease . hence we read of the pool of bethesda , where lay a great multitude of impotent folk , blind , half-wither'd , waiting for the moving of the water , for an angel , saith the text , went down at a certain season , [ which heinsius tells us out of cyril was , yearly , at pentecost ] into the pool and troubled the water ; and whosoever then fi●st after the troubling of the water step'd in , was made whole of whatsoever disease he had , saint iohn 5.3 , 4. to this head we may refer , perhaps , those choice receits , which m. antoninus acknowledgeth himself a debtor for to the gods [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — ] and in the book of tobit we are told of the angel raphael [ whose name , as i have said elsewhere , signifies a divine physitian ] sent to heal old tobit of his blindness , and sarah the daughter of raguel , his daughter-in-law , of her reproached barrenness , to scale away the whiteness of tobit 's eyes , and to give sarah the daughter of raguel for a wife to tobias the son of tobit , and to bind asmodeus the evil spirit , that had kill'd her seven former husbands before they had lain with her , tobit 3. and the good old man was so ready in his belief of this divinity , concerning the help and protection of god's angels vouchsafed to his servants upon occasion , that he cheers and comforts his troubled and discontented wife , upon his son's journey from her , with it : take no care , saith he , he shall return in safety , and thine eyes shall see him ; for the good angel will keep him company , and his journey shall be prosperous , and he shall return safe , ch. 5.20 , 21. hitherto i have given sundry apposite instances , as i conceive , of the ministry of angels to pious and good men , throughout their life , instructing , defending , comforting , helping and delivering them . and , we may be sure , their aid and assistance is then most ready at hand , when they have most need of it . at the agony of death therefore they may look for strength and support from them , even as they ministred to our lord and saviour in his as hath been more than once suggested † already . that is a time certainly , wherein their help cannot but be very acceptable , all other visible help then failing , and the devil plying of his assaults because he knows his time is short ; [ which gave occasion to gazaeus to insert this intercalare distichon in a poem of his to his angel-keeper , angele mi , bone dux animae , bone mentis achates , quo sine non possum vivere , nolo mori . ] in death , as gerhard speaks , we fear especially the craft of our adversary , that serpent , who doth [ insidiari calcaneo , ] ply at the heel . the heel , saith he , is the extreme part of the body ; an th extreme term of life is death . in that agony of death therefore the custody of angels is chiefly necessary , to keep us from the fiery darts of the devil , and convey the soul , wh●n it leaves the body , into the heav●●ly p●●adise . tertu●●●●● stile● them [ 〈…〉 ] the c●●lers forth of 〈◊〉 and ●uch a● 〈◊〉 ●hem [ 〈◊〉 ●uram diversorii ] 〈◊〉 p●●paration 〈◊〉 those m●nsions they are 〈◊〉 to agreeably ●o which we ●ave ●omew●●●● 〈◊〉 among the platonists , [ vide 〈◊〉 , de deo socratis . plato docuit , ●bi v●●a edit● 〈…〉 est , cundem illum genium raptare illic● , & 〈◊〉 velu● custodiam suam ad ju●●●ium , &c. ] and then , after the separat●on of body and soul asunder , they are careful and diligent in their attendance to lodg the departed spirit safely in its rest and happines● . such a priviledg belongs , unquestionably , even to the poorest and meanest of god's servants . for so it is recorded of lazarus , for our encouragement , the begger died , and was carried by angels into abraham ' s bosom , saint luke 10.22 . that is , by them he was translated into the place of his refreshment in the kingdom of god , with that father of the faithful . and such probably was elias his fiery chariot and horses , wherein he mounted to heav'n , 2 kings 2.11 . they rejoice at the return and conversion of sinners unto god , as hath been said before from saint luke 15.7 , 10. and th●ir joy is increased by the receiving of them at last into their own number in the regions of bliss and happiness , as those , [ per quos ruinae suae scissuras restaurari expectant , saith saint augustin ] by whom they expect the rents among themselves by the fall of so many to be made up again and restored . thus the angels are , all along , and every-where , ministring spirits to the elect , to keep off evil from them , and to supply them with all the good they stand in need of , and god sees fitting for them ; watching all opportunities ●or the preservation , health and safety , both of their bodies and souls , goods and good names ; guarding them from th● invasion of evil and hurt●ul spirits ▪ making an ●edg about them and all that they have , working ●●●ir p●osperity and su●cess in matters o● importance , relating to the most considerable turns of their lives , assisting them in their vocations , providing for their escape and deliverance in dan●er● extraordinary , healing of their sicknesses 〈…〉 , com●orting and relieving of them in 〈◊〉 of the greatest perplexity and trouble , never leaving them destitute in any condition ; encouraging and strengthning of them at their death , yea and after death too waiting upon them , till they have brought them safely to those regions of felicity , where no hazard or danger can farther reach them . these , saith saint augustin , are the guardian-keepers upon the walls of the n●w jerusalem , and the mountains that encompass her about , watching and observing the vigils of the night over her flock , that the old serpent , our adversary the devil , may not as a lion snatch our souls , whil'st there is none to deliver . they are sent to minister for them , who shall be heirs of salvation , to free them from their en●mies , and keep them in all their ways , to comfort them also , and admonish them , and offer up their prayers to god. for they love these th●ir fellow-citizens , and therefore with great care and a vigilant industry are present with them , at all times , and in all places , ready to come in for their relief , and provide for their necessities , and solicite to and fro , as ac●●ve messengers between them and heav'n . they assist ●●em in their labours , protect them in their rest , hearten them in their fights , and crown them upon their victories . sect . v. an objection , touching the superfluousness of angelic-ministry , removed . now , lest any should object or say within their hearts , that this ministry of the good and holy angels is altogether needless and superfluous , since god himself is omnipresent and omnipotent , every-where at hand , and of power unquestionably sufficient to do all that for us , which we ●an desire , and much more than we can look for or receive from them ; i will offer a few things here for the extirpating of this prejudice . far be it from any christian to think or imagine such a necessity of the angels interposure , as those heathens did , who , confining of their gods to the upper regions , and looking on it as a diminution and disturbance of their ease and happiness , to concern themselves with the vast variety of affairs in the sublunary world , found out this expedient of certain middle natures , as agents and messengers for dispatch between them and mortals . [ inter terricolas coelicol●sque vectores , hinc precum , inde donorum , qui ul●●● citróque portant hinc petitiones , inde suppetias , ceu quidam utriusque interpretes , & salutigeri . apul●ius de d●o socr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . plato in symposio . ] the knowledg we have of god's ubiquity and in●inite perfection forbids to surmise thus of him , as if he were pent and coop'd up any-where , or as if any thing could be concealed at any time , or in any place , from his notice ; or , as if the ef●ecting any th●ng were ● trouble , disturbance , or burden to him , who created the universe with a word speaking . ignoratio rerum aliena naturae deorum est , & sustinendi muneris propter imbecillitatem difficultas m●●imè cadit in majestatem deorum . balbus apud ciceronem , de nat. deorum l. ● . but then the same knowledge forbids us also once to opine or imagine that any of his constitutions and appointments are in vain . we are not , 't is true , competent judges of his works , so as to give the full and adequate reason or account of them ; but yet both may and ought to conclude from his own excellencies , that in the greatest and exactest wisdom , [ mensurâ , numero , & pondere , wisd. 11. ] he hath contrived and made them all . we cannot possibly tell the need or usefulness of sundry sorts of beings ; nevertheless it is not for us hastily to pronounce , that they might therefore be spared , and serve not to any worthy purpose . m. antoninus , i remember , speaking of such things as are apt to offend and trouble us , [ as thorns and bryars , &c. ] bids to decline them , if we can , for our own safety ; but not to start that bold and idle question of curiosity , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; ] why were these things at all in the world ? this were the way , as he adds , for us to be laugh'd at by those that understand nature better than we do ; in like manner as he would deserve from an artificer , who should come into his shop , or work-house , and blame thi● and that tool or contrivance for superfluous and unnecessary , which the master well enough knew the design and use of . that profound reverence we owe unto god , ( as he instructs us else-where ) to pronounce , even in things not only beyond our reach , but contrary to our wills and inclinations , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] this hath a good and sufficient reason , though we ken it not ; nay , and to conclude that he would have contrived otherwise , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] if the matter required it , or it were not best as it is . this i premise in the general , to silence all importunate and presumptuous enquiries into the reason and account of god ●●mighty's works and providence . it should su●●●ce at any time for us to be assured , that ●hings are so and so ; though we are not able to reach the quare or quomodo , the grounds or ends of them . as iustin martyr said well abou● the mysteries of our faith ; [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] it is a convi●tion of manifest unbelief to start the question [ how ? ] of god. but the case before us admits of a fair and equal satisfaction , unto all such as are disposed to entertain it ; provided they have but a competent share of the good father's modesty , neither to pry into what is hidden , nor wilfully to overlook what is revealed . the on●y reason we know of god's making the world , and the several sorts of beings in it , was his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or good pleasure , [ who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will , ephes. 1.11 . ] to produce creatures that might be capable of the free communications of his divine goodness , and reflecting back the acknowledgment thereof to himself . but having once put all together in the most excellent order , connexion , and subserviency each to other , and established the laws of their mutual dependence , and operations by his fiat , or decree , he now governs and manageth all things according to those laws and rules , unless some great and considerable motive of wi●dom or goodness draw him to suspend ● while , or exceed them by miracle . though he b● every-where in the universe , and all the powers and perfections of that hold of him ; yet he is a being himself really distinct from it ; and where he hath setled and appointed the means to any end or purpose , we must not sit still , and look for his immediate interposure , but in that way and method only which he hath chosen and established . i , saith he in the prophet , will hear the heavens , and they shall hear the earth , and the earth shall hear the corn , and the wine , and the oyl , and they shall hear iezreel , hos. 2.21 , 22. god , 't is confess'd , can do all things by himself . he can keep us alive without our natural food , for man liveth not by bread alone , but by every word proceeding out of his mouth ; but yet 't is not his pleasure , ordinarily , so to do ; nor may we , without sin and smarting for our folly , presume to tempt him by the neglect or slighting of those daily provisions , which he hath placed within our reach . in like sort he can govern the world and the societies of men in it , without the help and superintendency of earthly rulers ; yet we are well assured , they are all ordained by him , and we out of conscience to that ordinance of his , to apply our selves to , and act under them . rom. 13. such is the beautiful eutaxie of the world , as i have touched elsewhere , that all ●●●gs are framed with a due respect each to other , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the lxx read , eccles . 7.14 . ] and inferiour beings are generally govern'd by their superiors , though all of them under god ; who as he pleased at first voluntarily to make this scale , and gradation of beings , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] invisible , and [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] visible , and then man a complex as it were of both together , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] so he now wisely orders the things made by their just and proper laws and measures , and after the most excellent way and manner for their ministry and service each to other . si à primis inchoatisque naturis ad ultimas perfectásque volumus procedere , ad deorum naturam perveniamus necesse est . balbus in cicerone de nat. deorum , l. 2. of the angelical oeconomy in particular , i will offer but these two things . 1. that it tends extremely to our consolation , and the assuring of us touching the love , regard , and care of god to and for us , when he hath not only vouchsafed the lower world for our use and accommodation , but appointed so noble a rank of creatures also for our service and attendance . and , 2. it tends also to produce and increase a mighty friendship and correspondence between us and these blessed spirits ; while their love to us is heightned and improved by the continual exercise of it in all the acts of kindness and good-will they now do for us ; and our gratitude back again towards them , excited by the reflections which we make upon their officiousness ; and by this means we are certainly on both sides prepared for the great happiness of an eternal society hereafter each with other mutually in heaven , when we s●●●l come to meet together there , and know them better , as they do us . chap. v. the character of the persons , for whose good especially the angels are commissioned . having treated so largely of the angels ministry , i will add a few words in the next place , of that character which our apostle here gives the persons for whose good , benefit and advantage especially god hath commissioned them , for them , saith he , that shall be heirs of salvation . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] for them who shall hereafter inherit salvation . sect . i. heirs of salvation . salvation is the scripture-word for happiness and glory ; a freedom and immunity from all evil , attended with the fruition of whatever good we are capable of , and that unto eternity . eternal salvation , heb. 5.9 . salvation , with eternal glory , 2 tim. 2.10 . which is at other times called eternal life , the kingdom of god , and that blessing , which is the sum both of all god's promises to us , and all our desires and longings . whence we have these ensuing phrases remarkably answering that of the text : [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] to inherit eternal life , s. matth. 19.29 . s. mark 10.17 . s. luke 10.25 . — 18.18 . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] to inherit the kingdom of god , s. matth. 25.34 . 1 cor. 6.9 , 10. — 15.50 . gal. 5.21 . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] to inherit the promises , heb. 6.12 , 17. [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] to inherit the blessing , 1 s. pet. 3.9 . heb. 12.17 . — and that we may know no good thing is here wanting , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] to inherit all things , rev. 21.7 . all things together , all in one , viz. in god , the comprehensive quintessence of all perfections . but yet , there is somewhat peculiar in this phrase of the text , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] to inherit salvation ; that is , the great blessing of the gospel , with reference whereto christ is called , the saviour of the world , and the gospel it self , accordingly , the knowledge of salvation , s. luke 1.77 . the word of salvation , acts 13.26 . the way of salvation , act. 16.17 . the gospel of salvation , eph. 1.13 . the grace of god which bringeth salvation ; or , the saving grace of god , titus 2.11 . so great salvation , heb. 2.3 . the word hath a primary reference to that evil and misery we are delivered from . and so indeed we are most capable of a sensible estimate of the ●uture state of blessedness , by reflecting upon those miseries of all sorts which here we stand exposed to ; that wrath of god whereto our sins have made us liable . whence we read of salvation from sin , s. matth. 1.21 . and salvation from wrath , 1 thess. 1.10 . — 5.9 . but then , it connotes als● the fulness of joy and happiness , which is consequent hereunto , when god shall wipe away all tear● , and there shall be no more death , neither sorrow , nor crying , nor pain ; but perfect health , and case , and tranquillity , even all things des●rable , rev. 21.4 , 7. two points , especially , it imminds us of ; i. that lost and undone condition , which sin hath involved us in : for christ came to seek and save [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] that which was lost , s. matth. 18.11 . the cry of those in the ship , ready to sink , well fits our case , lord save us , we perish ! s. matth. 8.25 . we are all sinners , and therefore miserable ; lord save us from our sins ! we are by nature children of wrath , ephes. 2. lord save us from thy wrath ! from the day of thy wrath ! from the wrath to come ! shew us thy mercy , o lord , and ●rant us thy salvation ! psal. 85.7 . ii. th● way of our escape , freedom , and deliverance by the mediation of the son of god in our nature , the saviour , which is christ the lord , s. luke 2.11 . by whom we have received the atonement , rom. 5.11 . neither is there salvation in any other ; for there is no other name under heaven , given among men , whereby we must be saved , acts 4.12 . other foundation can no man lay , [ 1 cor. 3.11 . ] to build the grounded hopes of salvation on . through him alone we have the assurance of it . this is the record [ which we must bide by ] that god hath given us eternal life , and this life is in his son , 1 s. iohn 5.11 . he is the way , the truth , and the life , s. iohn 14.6 . [ vera illa via , quae ducit ad vitam aeternam ] he is the appointed heir of all things , heb. 1.2 . and by him we are admitted to a share in the inheritance . here therefore we learn how blessedness becomes our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , i. e. our portion or inheritance . it was no question , the ancient patrimony which almighty god at first designed for all his off-spring , but yet upon the reasonable condition of their silial duty and obedience to himself . sin and disobedience entring in provoked the heavenly father to disinherit , and lay his curse upon them instead o● the blessing . man was made and placed in paradise , 'till rebellion drave him out thence ; and , upon that were set at the east of the garden of eden , cherubims and a flaming sword , which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life , gen. 3.24 . and yet notwithstanding , such is gods paternal grace and indulgence , that there is a land of promise still set before us ; there is a way made for our re-entrance into paradise , the garden of eden , and the tree of life there ; yea and a conduct back , even by angels too , thither . 't is true , if we find happiness now , it must be salvation : yet , that salvation may become our inheritance , blessed be the god and father of our lord iesus christ , who according to his abun●ant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope , by the resurrection of iesus christ from the ●●ad , to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled , and that fadeth not away , reserved in heaven for you , who are kept by the power of god through faith unto salvation , ready to be revealed in the last time , — 1 pet. 1.3 , 4 , 5. god , upon the score of christ's performances in our nature , is reconcileable to man-kind , and actually reconciled unto all , that by him return home to himself . he is ready to forgive and accept us in that his well-beloved , for his sake to admit us again as children of his special grace and favour , and heirs of glory . as many as received him , saith saint iohn , to them gave he power [ right or priviledge ] to become the sons of god , even to them that beli●ve in his name , saint iohn 1.14 . and this love and condescension of his ought deservedly to be admired by us , behold , saith the same apostle , what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us , that we should be call'd the sons of god! 1 epistle 3.1 . such sons to whom he purposes and bequeaths the inheritance of salvation ! for if children , saith saint paul , then heirs , heirs of god , and ioint-heirs with christ , rom. 8.17 . if ye be christ's , then are ye abraham 's seed , and heirs according unto promise , gal. 3.29 . all things are yours , and ye are christs , and christ is gods , 1 cor. 3.22 , 23. you are heirs according to the hope of eternal life , titus 3.7 . heirs together of the grace of life , 1 pet. 3.7 . heirs of the kingdom , which god hath promised to them that love him , saint iames 2.5 . sect . ii. a farther account of the same ; and therein of things necessary to salvation . from hence then we are sufficiently resolved , who they are that shall inherit salvation ; viz. all upright-hearted , sincere and honest christians ; all the genuine disciples of christ , that pursue and make good the vow of their baptism , whereby they were solemnly entred into his body the church , and so made members of christ , children of god , and inheritors of the kingdom of heav'n ; provided only , that they are faithful to that sacred stipulation , pact and covenant , which they are engaged in , to fulfil it . for , as ignatius tells , we must not only be called christians , but be what we are call'd , if we would be happy : and a name without the importance of it will profit nothing , as salvian speaks . this is a matter of the greatest weight and moment for us all to consider well of , and pause a while upon . for ever happy they , who are the heirs of salvation ! but it will be an addition to our misery , [ ●antâ de spe decidere , ] if we deceive our selves with fond and vain conceits of a right and title to that blessed inheritance , while our names are legible in the black catalogue of those , who are expresly excluded ●hence . here therefore our recourse must be to the word of god , the holy scriptures , which are able to make us wise unto salvation , 2 tim. 3.15 . wherein we have the promises of eternal life , and the way to it ▪ saint iohn 5.39 . with a clear and satisfactory account of the [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] things that accompany salvation , that contain salvation in them , and by which we may certainly lay hold on salvation , hebr. 6.9 . i will point briefly at some of the most obvious texts , that treat of thi● matter , and leave them to such further consideration , as they d●serve ; whi●h i do , the rather , for antidote against the poiso●ous insinua●●●● o● profane and licentious persons , who number ●p the fund●mentals out of their own brain . i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ , saith saint paul , for it is the power of god unto salvation to every one that believeth ▪ rom. 1.16 . god so loved the world , saith our blessed saviour , that he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life ; for god sent not his son into the world to condemn the world , but that the world through him should be saved . he that believeth on him , is not condemned , but he , that believeth not , is condemned already , because he hath not believed in the n●me of the only begotten son of god : and this is the condemnation , that light is come into the world , and men loved darkness rather than light , because their deeds were evil , saint iohn 3.16 , &c. there is , we see , in the first place , an evident necessity of the christian faith in all to whom it is propounded . 〈◊〉 admits us among christ's disciples , an●●●●●out it we cannot be saved . and this faith must not only be in the heart , neither , but there must be also an outward prosession and owning of it , for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness , saith the apostle , and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation , rom. 10.10 . and whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words , saith christ himself , in this adulterous and sinful generation [ wherein it may be to the hazard of his ●ife , and all he hath , possibly , to ow● and confess them ] of him also shall the son of man be ashamed , when he cometh in the glory of his father , with the holy angels , saint mark. 8.38 . that is , he will for ever disown and renounce him . so we have it in saint matthew , whosoever will confess me before men , him will i also confess before my father , which is in heav'n ; but whosoever shall deny me before men , him will i also deny before my father , which is heaven , ch. 10.32 , 33. from whence the apostle tells us , if we deny him he also will deny us , 2 tim. 2.12 . [ see farther , hebr. 3.6 , 14. hebr. 10.25 , 26 , &c. saint luke 14.25 . to 34 ver . ] the primitive christians well understood the necessity of this open profession of their religion , whatever sufferings it brought upon them . witness that of tertullian , [ nec fas est ulli de suâ religione mentiri . ex eo enim quod aliud à se coli dicit quam colit , negat quod colit , & culturam & honorem in alterum transfert , & tranferendo jam non colit , quod negavit . dicimus , & palàm dicimus , & , vobis torquentibus , lacerati & cruenti vociferamur , deum colimus per christum , apol. c. 21. ] the noble army of martyrs and confessors , then , counted it an happiness to be reproached for the name of christ ; and were so far from being ashamed of suffering , as christians , that they glorified god on this behalf , according to that of saint peter 1 ep. 4.14 , 16. and in the midst of all torture they cryed out with courage and constancy [ christianus sum . ] but ecebolius of constantinople is infamous in story for his mutability and compliance , who , whilst constantius was a catholick , profess'd himself so too , but with him after turn'd arian , and in iulian's days was au idolater , but under iovian again tacked about to the catholick side . let them seriously ponder upon this , who indulge a liberty of renouncing chri●●ianity and denying christ , in case the higher powers on earth shall so require them ; who call all the externals of our religion ceremonies , that have not any thing of holiness in them , nor relate at all to the happiness of individual christians , nay , which they are bound to abstain from , in case they live where the christian religion is interdicted them . — sure i am , we have not so learned of christ and his apostles ; and such stuff as this needs only a bare rehearsal to render it , together with its authors , abominable . now if we once believe the gospel of our saviour , and confess that faith , which we have received from him , we shall from thence see a necessity also upon us , in order to our salvation , to repent sincerely of all our sins , to amend our ways , and to live in a conscionable and constant obedience to all christ's commands , positive as well as moral , and , among the later too , such as concern god as well as our neighbour and our selves . for this is plainly the doctrine which he taught . repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand , s. mat. 4.17 . vnless ye repent , ye shall all perish , s. luke 13.3 , 5. god now commandeth all men every-where to repent , acts 17.30 . and this repentance must not be in shew and appearance only , but in truth and reality , such as bringeth forth fruits meet for repentance , that is , reformation and amendment of heart and life , s. luke 3.8 . such as s. paul calls repentance unto salvation not to be repented of , or not repented of again , 2 cor. 7.10 . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] such as we stick firm and stedfast to , not returning with the dog to our vomit , or with the sow , that washed , to wallowing in the mire . then farther ●or the necessity of new obedience ; not every one , th●t saith ●nto me lord , lord , shall enter into the kingdom of heav'n , but he that doth the will of my father which is in heav'n . many will say unto me in that day , lord , lord , have we not prophecied in thy name , and in thy name cast out devils , and in thy name done many wonderful works ? and then will i profess unto them , i never knew you ; depart from me , ye that work iniquity , saint matth. 7.21 , &c. and , in the close of the same chapter , he that hears christ's sayings and doth them not , but yet hopes for happiness by and from him , is resembled to a foolish builder , erecting a mighty structure without a good and sure foundation . — why call ye me lord , lord , saith he convincingly , and do not the things which i say ? saint luk● 6.46 . he became the author of salvation , saith the apostle , unto all them that obey him , hebr. 5.9 . and to none but such . as for others , saint peter speaks with amazement and horrour , what shall the end be of them , who ob●y not the gospel of god! 1 ep. 4.17 . how dreadful and astonishing ! if we would know more plainly [ what , ] saint paul declares it ; when the lord iesus shall be revealed from heav'n with his mighty angels in flaming fire , taking vengeance on them that know not god , and that obey not the gospel of our lord iesus christ ; who shall be punished with ●verlasting destruction from the presence of the lord , and from the glory of his power ; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints , and to be admired in all them that believe , 2 thess. 1.7 , 8 , 9 , 10. [ them that believe ] that is , who obey the gospel , whom he hath chosen to salvation through sanctification of the spirit , and beli●f of the truth , ch. 2.13 . to an inheritance among them that are sanctified , acts 20.32 . or , to the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints , ephes. 1.18 . the inheritance he will give to these holy ones , and to them only ; for without holiness no man shall see god's face , hebr. 12.14 . and for the universality of that obedience , which is required of us , such-like texts as these are plain , render unto caesar the things which are caesars , and unto god the things which are gods , saint matth. 22.21 . these things ought ye to have done , and not to leave the other undone , ch. 23.23 . whosoever shall keep the whole law , and yet offend in one point , [ allow himself in the transgression of any particular command , ] he is guilty of all , saint iames 2.10 . these now are the declared heirs of salvation , who heartily believe in christ , boldly confess that faith , unseignedly repent of their sins , and live conscientiously in universal obedience to all our saviour's laws and institutions , so as to exclude the contempt of any one of them . [ believe on the lord iesus , and thou shalt be saved , and thine house [ viz. on the like terms and conditions ] so saint peter resolves the jailor , propounding that question , what must i do to be saved ? acts 16.39 . repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of iesus christ for the remission of sins . so he resolves others , in the like question , acts 2.37 , 38. and to the same demand in effect , good master , what must i do to inherit eternal life ? our blessed saviour answers ; thou knowest the commands , what is written in the law ? how readest thou ? do this and thou shalt live , saint matth. 19. saint luke 10. ] these are the faithful disciples of christ , his little-flock , to whom he saith , fear not little flock , for it is your fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom , saint luke 12.31 . as if he had said , let not the thoughts of your own unworthiness discourage you ; for this blessed inheritance is setled on you by your heav'nly father's good pleasure , and by vertue of his promise and covenant ; you have [ certum , mansurumque jus ] a certain and abiding title , such as that of inheritances among the jews . but then , observe carefully , it belongs only to such as you are , the sheep that hear my voice , and obediently follow me , the shepheard and bishop of your souls . blessed are they that do his commandements , that they may have right to the tree of life , and may enter in through the gates into the city , the heav'nly jerusalem , revel . 22.14 . let us fear , after all this , lest any of us come short , hebr. 4.1 . lest we be found among those , that are excluded , and shut out thence . and , to that end , it may be of some use to peruse attentively the scripture-catalogues , that look this way . — i will but nakedly recite some of them . without are dogs , and sorcerers , and whoremongers , and murderers , and idolaters , and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie . so it follows immediately after the place ev'n now quoted , rev. 22.15 . know ye not , saith saint paul to the corinthians , ( as in a case notorious and evident ) that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god ? be not deceived , neither fornicators , nor adulterers , nor effeminate , [ pathici ] nor abusers of themselves with man-kind , nor thieves , nor covetous , nor drunkards , nor revilers , nor extortioners , shall inherit the kingdom of god. and such were some of you , but ye are washed , — 1 cor. 6.9 , 10 , 11. then to the galatians , the works of the flesh are manifest , saith he , which are these , adultery , fornication , uncleanness , lasciviousness , idolatry , witchcraft , hatred , variance , emulation , wrath , strife , seditions , heresies , envyings , murders , drunkenness , revellings , and such-like , of the which i tell you before , as i have told you also in time past , that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of god , gal. 5.19 , 20 , 21. again , to the ephesians , this ye know , that no whoremonger , nor unclean person , nor covetous man , who is an idolater , hath any inheritance in the kingdom of christ , and of god. let no man deceive you with vain words , for because of these things cometh the wrath of god upon the children of disobedience , ephes. 5.5 , 6. once more , to the philippians : many walk of whom i have told you often , and now tell you , even weeping , that they are enemies of the cross of christ , [ such as will deny christ crucified rather than suffer for him ] whose end is destruction , whose god is their belly , and whose glory is in their shame , who mind earthly things , phil. 3.18 , 19. now let us every one make a due reflection upon our selves , impartially examining and judging of our selves , according to these rules , that we be not hereafter judged and condemned by god. but i return at length , from this digression ( the profitableness whereof may yet plead sufficiently for it ) unto that which is principally designed in the text , the reference , i mean , which the ministry of angels hath unto those persons , whose character and description we have been looking into . they are sent forth to minister [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] with a peculiar respect unto them . they have not only the blessed inheritance of salvation secured to them in the end , but here in the way too the holy angels have a special charge over them , as the protectors of their minority , till they come to it . nor must we imagine this confined to that time and age only , wherein our saviour and his apostles lived , but to be continued in like manner to all future generations of sincere christians successively . so much the original imports and intimates , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] for those that shall be , in all times and ages yet to come , the heirs of salvation . i understand not , i confess , the force of their reasoning , who would from hence infer and argue the absolute and unconditional assurance of salvation to any select number , of the absolute certainty of their perseverance in a salvable state , who are once entred into it . no such thing can be concluded from the word [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] here made use of , but rather the contrary , if there be any thing in that distinction of futurities , which some have suggested out of aristotle , into [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] a thing that is likely to be , but yet hath a possibility of being otherwise , and [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] a thing most certainly to come to pass . — now there is no question at all , but that the inheritance of salvation spoken of , is a [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] a thing that shall certainly be the lot of all sincere and persevering christians ; but then those , who are at present , it may be , sincere christians , are only [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] such as are likely to inherit it , and only certain so to do , upon the supposition , that they are found at death in that state , there being in the mean-while a possibility left of their miscarriage , if they take not good heed to hold on , and persevere unto the end . the righteous shall assuredly inherit eternal life ; but yet the righteous man [ de praesenti ] may possibly cease to be such , afterwards , turning from his righteousness , and then the prophet tells us , all that he hath done shall not be mentioned , ezek. 18.24 . — but this by the way . chap. vi. practical inferences from the whole . it remains in the last place , that i add by way of application of the fore-going discourse concerning angels and their ministry , those practical inferences which shall appear most proper thereunto . sect . i. the christians great priviledge and comfort . first then , let christians from hence take notice of their great priviledge , so as to bless god heartily for it , and comfort and encourage themselves , from it to work out their own salvation resolutely , amidst all the oppositions and discouragements , whatever they are , which they meet with . it is the commendation of our blessed saviour's wonderful love to us , that , passing by the angels , he took hold of man , an inferiour sort of creatures ; nay and exalted our humane nature into a most intimate conjunction with his deity , so that the angels now take it both for their duty and happiness to adore him clothed with that nature , and , for his sake , imploy themselves in attendance and ministries about us . and the psalmist represents this as comfort sufficient against the snare of the fowler , and the noysome pestil●nce ; the terrour by night , and the arrow that flyeth by day ; the plague that walketh in darkness , and the destruction that wasteth at noon-day ; [ that is , all the assaults of men and devils , that seek to do us mischief , sleeping or waking , by night or day , as some understand the words , and all manner and kinds of evils , secret or open ; ab incursu nequam spirituum , qui noctu vigilant & daemonii meridiani , j. pricaeus in ps. 91. nec homines n●c daemones noc●re possunt ; intelliguntur autem daemones per pavorem noctis & pestem grassantem in meridic , munster . ibid. ] even this , he shall give his angels charge concerning thee , to keep thee in all thy ways , psal. 91. — and , when he had élsewhere mentioned the encamping of this heavenly host about them that fear god , ps. 34. he adds immediately upon it , o taste and see , that the lord is good ! [ even from this instance of his goodness ] blessed is the man that trusteth in him . o fear the lord ye his saints , for there is no want to them that fear him . — if need be , the angels shall come and minister unto them , so that they shall have meat from heaven , even angels food . it well becomes us to take some time particularly to consider of the manifold benefits we reap from the holy angels , that we may admire and praise god , with devout s. bernard , lord , what is man , that thou thus thinkest on him ! thou sendest to him thine only begotten son. thou sendest into him thy holy spirit . thou promisest him the light of thy countenance : and that nothing in the heavenly regions might be unimployed in sollicitude for him ; thou sendest forth also those blessed spirits [ the angels ] to minister to us . — and again , with s. augustine , who having spent some meditations upon this subject , thus piously concludes them . when i remember these things , o lord , i confess before thee , and praise thee for thy great benefits , wherewith thou hast honoured us . thou hast given us all things under heaven , and yet countedst that but small provision , unless thou hadst also giv'n us the things above , even those angels of thine , as ministring spirits unto us . what is man that thou makest such reckoning of him ! — and , with religious gerhard , let us engage ourselves a while in the contemplation , how immense the divine grace and favour is towards us in this particular ; the heav'nly father , saith he , sendeth his own son to deliver us . the son of god incarnate is sent to save us . the holy spirit is sent to sanctifie us . the angels are sent to protect us . [ much to the same effect , as i noted before out of saint bernard . ] thus the whole heav'nly court doth , in a manner , serve us , and hand down it's benefits to us . so that i no longer wonder , that all inferiour creatures were made for man , when the angels themselves , who are far more worthy , deny us not their ministries . deservedly therefore hath our church appointed one festival in the year , for a solemn commemoration of the holy angels from whom we receive so great advantages , instructing of us then to recognize the admirable wisdom and goodness of god in ordaining of their services , and by prayer unto him to seek the blessing of their ministration , as the excellent collect for that day l●ssons us . [ o everlasting god , who hast ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order , mercifully grant , that , as thy holy angels always do thee service in heav'n , so by thy appointment they m●y succour and defend us on earth , through iesus christ our lord. amen . ] but to render both the motives of our thanksgiving unto god , and the encouragements we ought to gather to our selves from their attendance and ministry , the stronger and more effectual , we shall do well to consider in our minds distinctly the many endearing qualifications of these our guardians and helpers ; such as their knowledg and wisdom , their power and strength , their number and multitude , their unanimity and order , their care and watchfulness , their speed and agility , their fidelity and zeal in the discharge of their trust and commission , most of which points i have enlarged upon before , and therefore shall here again but sleightly touch upon them . their knowledge and wisdom , as hath been said , is beyond the most improved intellectuals of any upon earth . they have their advantage in the excellency of their faculties , and their freedom from such bodies , as we dwell in , [ which press and weigh down the mind that museth upon many things . [ wisd. 9.15 . ] and darken our understandings , so that we look on things as through an obscure perspective : ] and then , farther yet , in their long-continued observation and experience from the beginning of the creation , and their neerer approaches to , and frequenter communications from the divine majesty . then , for their power and might , they [ excel in strength ] and are resembled not only to an [ host , or army , ] but to [ horses and chariots of fire . ] — both for skill and ability they surpass the evil spirits , who are infatuated in some degree , and enfeebled by their wickedness . then , for their number and multitude , that exceedeth our arithmetick , as do the stars in the firmament . and this vast number of knowing and powerful beings is yet the more considerable , if we add the thoughts of their unanimity and order . they are all of a mind , and have no contests or disorders among themselves , which are often the undo●ng of armies otherwise very formidable . they are resolved about their proper ministries , and both know and keep their rank and station , hearkning all of them with one consent to the voice of god's word . add we next their watchfulness . they are not like unto us mortals , subject unto heaviness , weariness , drowsiness , sleepiness , and surprize . they are full of eyes , and rest not day nor night from imployment . the darkness is all one to them with the light. and in the prophesie of daniel they are call'd vigiles , or watchers , ch. 4.13 . because , as saint hierom speaks on the place , [ semper vigilant , & ad dei imperium sunt parati ] they always watch , and are ready at the almighty's beck and command . they neither slumber nor sleep , and so give not the enemy opportunity of advantage , nor lose not any themselves for making good their service . and , then , such is their make and nature , that no external impediments retard or hinder their motion ; but for speed and agility they fly , as it were , with wings , very swiftly , and pass to and fro , like lightning . and , then lastly , these knowing , powerful , numberless , unanimous , orderly , watchful , and nimble spirits are both faithful and zealous in the charge committed to them . not the least spot of neglect , unfaithfulness , backwardness , or indifferency to be fast'ned on them . they do always behold the face of god to receive his pleasure , and they are as ready to do it . they are call'd holy ones , dan. 4.13 , 17. and represented as clothed with pure and white linnen , revel ▪ 15.6 without blemish . and their zeal puts life and vigour into all their service , with reference to which they are a flame of fire , burning with the greatest ardors of affection to god's glory , and the good of his church and servants . now , having such a guard as this about us , we are inexcusably guilty of ingratitude , if we observe not our heav'nly father's love and care towards us , so as to bless his name for this provision among his many others mercies ; or of neglect , if we open not our eyes to see , that there are always more with and for us , than those that can be against us ; so as to gather from hence heart and spirit in the cheerful and undaunted prosecution of our christian duty in all the paths we are to tread in order to our salvation . being therefore compass'd with so great a cloud of witnesses , [ and mighty helpers ] we are to lay aside every weight , and the sin which doth so easily beset us , and to run with patience the race set before us , hebr. 12.1 and having so great encouragement and strong consolation , we are not at any time to be weary of well-doing , or frightned from it , but to be stedfast and immoveable , always abounding in the work of the lord , [ 1 cor. 15. ult . ] as it becomes persons of such hopes for hereafter , [ the heirs of salvation ] and such security in the interim , [ attended with the holy angels . ] sect . ii. the christian's dignity not to be despised . secondly , let us all take notice from hence of the dignity of christians ; and thereupon take heed , lest at any time we despise , or injure them . be they never so mean , low , or disregarded in the world , they are all the sons and daughters of the great king of heaven and earth , and born to a fair inheritance , a transcendently rich and glorious kingdom ; and in the mean while , however we may look upon them as destitute and forsaken , they have an invisible guard about them , upon occasion to minister for their supply , defence and vindication . such honour have all the saints . and here we may well cry out , o how plentiful is thy goodness , o lord , which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee , and which thou hast prepared for them that put their trust in thee , even before the sons of men , ps. 31.21 . it concerns us then to beware , that we despise not any of those , whom god hath so highly honour'd ; and that we wrong not any of those , for whose aid and relief he hath made so ample a provision . s. iames reproving the strange partiality among the jewish christians in judicature , having respect to some for their gay-clothes , and contemning others for their poverty , thus expostulates the case with them , ch . 2.5 , 6. hearken , my brethren , hath not god chosen the poor of this world rich in faith , and heirs of that kingdom , which he hath promised to them that love him ? but ye have despised the poor . — so different are the judgments of god and corrupt men . god hath so far honoured these his servants , as to declare them heirs of a blessed and most glorious kingdom ; but ye , saith the apostle , have despised them , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] dishonoured , vili●ied , set them at nought ; nay abused , oppressed , and trampled on them , as it there ●ollows , do not rich men oppress you ? &c. — we ought indeed to honour all men , 1 pet. 2.17 . even because they are men , bearing the signatures of the di●ine image ; and he that despiseth his neighbour sinneth , prov. 14.21 . but the brotherhood of christians is to be esteemed at an higher rate , as having the image of god doubly stamped on them , being his children both by nature and grace ; and whatever habit they go in , whatever condition be their lot here , the heirs apparent of salvation . nor have they all in hopes and reversion , but somewhat in hand too , that is very considerable : this in particular among other prerogatives and priviledges , that the glorious angels , a sort of creatures far above us , are made by god's appointment their ministers and servants . and upon this account too our blessed saviour bids us to take heed how we offend or despise them . whoso shall offend one of these little ones , that believe in me , saith he , it were better for him that a milstone were hanged about his neck , and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea , s. matth. 18.6 . the offence here spoken of relates chiefly to the turning them aside out of , or causing them to stumble and fall in the ways of salvation . but then he adds farther , v. 10. take heed that ye despise not , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] see that ye contemn not , one of these little ones ; for i say unto you , that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven . this , we see , is plainly and evidently asserted by our blessed saviours authority , and not spoken according to the prejudices and conceits of the people only , as some absurdly affirm . for i say unto you , ] he designs , most certainly , to teach and instruct , and requires our firm assent to the truth of whatever doctrine is so prefaced by him . the reason here therefore is no less divine than the admonition — those then that believe in christ , however small and little they are in the estimation of the world , and their own too , are not so in god's , nor is his love and care little towards them . say not then , such an one is a carpenter , such an one a taylor , such an one a husbandman , such an one unlearned , &c. they are s. chrysostom's words , [ ab angelis , quibus commissi sunt , viles , fecit venerabiles ] god hath of mean made them venerable [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] from the angels whom they are committed to . vide majestatem hominis pii , qui etsi pauperrinus est , nec unum externum servum habet , tamen serviunt ei multa millia angelorum . brentius in s. matth. 18. hom. 1. they have their angels assign'd them , and those angels of theirs have a great interest in heaven with their father , whom they attend upon , to receive his commands concerning them , and execute them with all speed and fidelity . they are ready to enter their complaints against all that affront and abuse their charge here on earth , at his tribunal , and at his beck of their defence , and the avenging of their righteous quarrels . sect . iii. an account from hence , why no more mischief done in the world : and by the way , why so much too , notwithstanding their presidence . thirdly , we may from hence take some account , why , notwithstanding all the power and malice of devils , and wicked men imploy'd by and under them , yet no more mischief is done in the world . the devils are many , as hath been said , and their power and malice very formidable , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ s. matth. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ ch . 13. ] there is the great dragon and his angels , having great wrath , rev. 12. they are vowed adversaries to our happiness , and go about like roaring lions , seeking to devour , 1 pet. 5.8 . saint paul warns us of a terrible host of them , principalities , powers , the rulers of the darkness of this world , and spiritual wickednesses ( or wicked spirits ) in high-places , eph. 6.12 . that is , the prince of the power of the air , and all his militia , the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience , ch. 2.2 . — and , as the devils are thus many , malicious , and powerful , so also crafty and watchful to accomplish their designs of mischief . i fear , saith the apostle , lest by any means , as the serpent beguiled eve , so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in christ , 2 cor. 11.3 . and afterwards , he speaks of satan transforming himself into an angel of light , and his ministers fals-apostles , deceitful workers , &c. ver. 14. elsewhere , lest satan should get an advantage of us ; for we are not ignorant of his devices , ch. 2.11 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , his machinations or contrivances . else-where , again , the wiles of the devil , eph. 6.11 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , his methods of deceit . how many ways he assaulted iob , and brought mischief upon his cattel and goods , his house and children , and lastly his own body ; — and what miserable vexations and tortures those , that have been possess'd with evil spirits , have labour'd under ; and what a vast power they sometimes exercise both over the outward and inward senses of men ; the holy scripture , and other approved histories , do plentifully attest . and then , if we add the great numbers of evil instruments , slaves and vassals , [ devils incarnate ] which these wicked subtle and malicious spirits have at their service , in league and combination with them ; how many there are that have no fear of god before their eyes to restrain them , but make their own wills and humours the only law of justice ; how many infidels and heretic's , that are profess'd enemies to the church of christ , who rage furiously and take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed ; how many of those ungodly ones , who have no ●aithfulness in their mouth , and whose inward parts are very wickedness , who for their own lust persecute the poor , and imagine crafty wiliness against them , lying in wait secretly , and saying in their heart , tush , god hath forgotten , he seeth not , or , he careth not for it ; how many of those , that have bent their bow , and make ready their arrow● within the quiver , that they may privily shoot at them , who are true of heart ; how many of those , who are full of cursing and bitterness , and whose feet are swift to shed blood , who are greedy of the prey , and spread their nets cunningly to destroy the innocent ; whose delight is in lies , and who plot and contrive wickedness upon their beds continually ; how many of these , and of the like malignancy ( whereof we have frequent complaints throughout the book of psalms : ) if , i say , we consider our selves encompass'd thus with a numerous host of evil spirits , and their hellish agents and instruments , we may begin to wonder , that the earth we live in is any tolerable habitation ; or be ready to say with elisha's servant , when the enemies army with chariots and horses surrounded the city , [ actum est de nobis , periimus , alas my master ! how shall we do ? 2 kings 6.15 . only god be thanked , the answer is ready at hand for us too , which the prophet then gave him , ver. 16 , 17. [ plures sunt , qui stant à part● nostrâ , quàm qui sunt pro illis , ] fear not , for they that be with us are more than they that be with them : referring to the heav'nly legions . — we have michael and his angels against the dragon and his angels , the good against the evil , more in number , wiser for understanding , greater in power , more vigilant , couragious , zealous , and successfull . — magna quidem est adversarii nostri diaboli potentia ; sed erigit nos angelorum custodia , &c. d. i. gerhard , med. xxvi . when god asked of satan , that had been walking his rounds , and compassing the earth to and fro , whether he had consider'd of his servant iob , upright and good iob , he readily replies , as to him , upon it , hast thou not made an hedg about him , and about his house , and about all he hath on every side ? job . 1.10 . which hedg is conceived by expositors to be the guard of angels , as hath been said † before . and satan can do nothing against iob , or other good men , so long as this hedg remains , the angels of god encamping round about them , and taking charge of them to keep and defend them . but then , if it be so , may some say , how comes it to pass , that even those who fear god and shall inherit salvation , do yet often fall into divers sufferings , and calamities , afflictions and troubles , as well as others , or sometimes more than others ? to this i answer briefly , in two particulars ▪ i. sometimes they offend and provoke god to make a breach or gap in this hedg , and to say as he did to his vineyard , i will take away the hedg and wall thereof , isay 5. they sometimes foolishly leave god's ways , and wander in by-paths , which have no assurance of the angelical custody and protection . the devil , when he quotes that of the psalmist in his temptations to our blessed saviour , he shall give his angels charge over thee — craftily omits that clause of importance , in all thy ways ; that is , [ si modo ambules in rectitudine viarum domini , & non tentes deum , ] if thou keepest a direct course in those paths , which he hath chalked out for thee to walk in , and dost not tempt him by the forsaking of them . if we wittingly run upon precipices and throw our selves into dangers , we have none to blame , but our selves , for what we suffer by so doing . [ qualis via haec de pinnaculo templi mittere se deorsum ? non est via haec , sed ruina . et , si via tua est , non illius , ] as saint bernard speaks upon occasion of the devil's suggestion to our blessed saviour , upon this motive to cast himself down from the temple , on the presumption of the angels attendance . what an odd way is this to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple ? this is no way of safety , but of ruine ; or , if it be any way , it is the devils and none of gods. — when we forsake god's way , no wonder if his guard fail us . ii. at other times god himself thinks it fit and meet to try his servants faith , patience , and submission , and other graces , [ as is evident in the case of iob , before-mentioned ] to difference and distinguish this world from the other , that their affections may be weaned from this , and fixed upon the other ; and , in order both to their greater spiritual good here , and the increase to their eternal reward hereafter , the promoting and furtherance of their salvation ( for these i say , and the like purposes of wisdom and kindness together ) to deal unto them a larger share of afflictions and sufferings than unto others . and thus , as the apostle speaks , he chastens them out of love , and for their profit , that they may be partakers of his holiness ; which , however grievous it seems for the present , afterwards yields them the peaceable fruit of righteousness , hebr. 12. in these circumstances , now , the real sting of outward evils is taken away , and the nature of them changed , and altered . they are not to their hurt and prejudice that lie under them , but to their greater benefit and advantage ; such therefore as an indulgent father chuseth for them , and such as their guardian-angels consequently cannot but approve of . — but i will not enlarge on this argument . m. antoninus , that generous heathen , said well , who would desire to live in a world destitute of god and providence , where all were left to chance , and we to meet every-where with so many enemies and dangers ? but when we remember , what a comfortable provision god hath made for our security and welfare , we are sufficiently satisfied against the fears and anxieties , which must otherwise continually haunt and posses us , and should therefore , with that excellent emperour , not only pay a tribute of veneration to , but fix and settle our minds in a steddy and composed confidence upon him , the governour of the world and all things in it . sect. iv. no disparagement for any to minister unto and serve others . fourthly , since the angels are all ministring-spirits , sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation , let none think it a disparagement , but rather an exaltation , an imployment truly divine and angelical , to serve and minister unto others for their good , and in order to their salvation . those blessed and glorious spirits , of a more noble kind and order than we are , however it might seem to their diminution and debasement , do not yet disdain to minister unto us , but embrace this charge and command of god with all chearfulness and delight . and therefore we certainly , who cannot but admire and commend their goodness and condescension , should learn to emulate and be followers of the same . we should be ambitious of the like honour , to become helpful and serviceable unto others , especially in order to their salvation , which is the greatest good they can design for themselves , or we assist them in prosecution of . such a ministry as this we should rejoice in , though it appear somewhat to our own hindrance , and the obscuring of our name and reputation in the world . whosoever will be great among you , saith christ to his disciples , let him be your minister , and whosoever will be chief among you , let him be your servant , even as the son of man came not to be ministred unto , but to minister , and to give his life a ransom for many , s. matth. 20.26 , 27 , 28. this is the commendation s. paul gives of the highest powers upon earth , he is the minister of god to thee for good , [ to thee who doest good : ] and again , the minister of god , a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil , rom. 13.4 . and again , gods ministers attending continually upon this very thing , v. 6. whence antigonus call'd a kingdom truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , splendidam servitutem ] a noble and glorious servitude ; and it was wont to be spoken solemnly to the prince of the exiles in babylon , that he should not swell or lift up himself with pride , [ officium ipsi , non potestatem injungi , & ab eo die incipiendum ipsi servire omnibus ] that duty , rather than power , was committed to him , and from that day forward he was to become a servant of all . according to the greek verse , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the master is the chief servant of the family , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . epict. diss. l. 3. c. 26. it was the glory of the apostles of christ so to be esteemed , how contemptibly soever some now think and speak of their heavenly and angelical calling . the prophet foretells it as an honour , ye shall be named the priests of the lord ; men shall call you the ministers of our god , isa. 61.6 . and let a man account of us , saith one of them , as the ministers of christ , 1 cor. 4.1 . adding of himself in particular to the corinthians , i seek not yours but you , and i will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls , though the more abundantly i love you , the less i be loved , 2 ep. 12.14 , 15. and he commends timothy and epaphroditus by a like character to the philippians , willing them to hold such in reputation , phil. 2.19 , 20 , 25 , 29. the angels are all ministring spirits , as hath been shew'd , and 't is a real dignity and advancement for us to participate their office , as we may do , every one more or less , by being helpful what we can to others . so that what s. paul injoin●d to be said unto archippus , should in its measure and proportion , sound in all our ears , take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the lord , that thou fulfil it , col. 4.17 — the glory which we expect and look for in the life to come , is described by this ( as hath been said too elsewhere ) that we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , like unto the angels ; † and now if this have any thing endearing in it , it cannot , certainly , but highly r●commend their work and subserviency to us here . but what i have said of ministring unto others , even the meanest , holds with advantage as to that other part of the angels ministry , which is towards god almighty . they do with the greatest joy stand in his presence , and worship and adore him , as i have † shew'd at large . they are all unanimous and uniform , and orderly , and zealous , and constant in their sacred liturgy , which is made up chiefly of lauds and praises , doxologies and thanks-givings . the queen of sheba admired and proclaimed the happiness of solomon's attendants , 1 kings 10.8 . happy are thy men , happy are these thy servants , which stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom ! but how much more deservedly may we celebrate the honour and happiness of these heavenly courtiers , that do always behold the face of the most glorious and incomprehensible majesty of god himself ? and then it cannot but behove us to testifie , that we unfeignedly esteem their honour and happiness , by desiring and endeavouring , so far as we are capable , to partake of the same ; breathing out of holy flames , with the psalmist , how amiable are thy tabernacles , o lord of hosts ! my soul longeth , yea even fainteth for the courts of the lord ; my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living god. when shall i come , and appear before god ? blessed are they that dwell in thy house ! they will be still praising hee . a day in thy courts is better than a thousand . — psal. 84. it should be our great delight , as often as we can , with angels and arch-angels and all the host of heaven , to laud and magnifie the glorious name of god in our christian assemblies , as we are admirably instructed and trained up to do by the service and liturgie of our church , which , i had almost said , none can be offended at , who are upon deliberate and mature thoughts throughly reconciled to the angelical . sect . v. angels to be reverenced , but not adored . fifthly , since the angels are thus ministring spirits , sent forth by god to minister unto us , and for our good and happiness ; let us express an awful sense of their attendance , and shew them all due regard and reverence . it was i confess , a speech of generous honesty , which a. gellius commends from peregrinus the philosopher , whom he heard at athens , [ virum quidem sapientem non peccaturum etiamsi peccâsse eum dii atque homines ignoraturi forent . ] that a wise man would not sin , though the gods and men should never know it , because he forbears not out of the fear of punishment and infamy , so much as from a sense and love of duty and goodness it self . [ so the poet describes his golden age ; — quae vindice nullo , sponte sua sine lege fidem rectumque colebat : paena metusque aberant , &c. 1. metaph. but this is an idea of such perfection , as this state of ours on earth affords very few , if any , instances of . it is rare to find any , who are got to this high improvement ; the greatest part need other motives and restraints ; yea , and our very make and constitution is fitted to them . the thoughts of secrecy and hopes of impunity tempt most men to transgress . to such therefore the same philosopher thought good to propound this consideration , out of sophocles and ot●ers , that tim● wi●● 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 . — and i●●as 〈◊〉 a●v●ce to l●cil●●● , 〈◊〉 we●pan● ●pan● good m●n 〈…〉 ▪ and 〈◊〉 all 〈◊〉 : as 〈…〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 he had learn't himself from 〈◊〉 ▪ w●ose precept t●erefore ●e a●●edge●● for it . gre●●●word ●word of mens s●n● and m●scar●iages , saith he ▪ 〈…〉 ta●en away , if 〈…〉 if a 〈…〉 they are 〈…〉 . and 〈…〉 do w●●● to have in mind 〈…〉 au●●●rity may render 〈…〉 ha●●y that man ▪ as he 〈◊〉 , w●● referres 〈◊〉 only his 〈◊〉 , but his 〈◊〉 ! happy he was 〈◊〉 learn's so to re●ere a●other , as u●●n every remembrance of him to com●ese and 〈…〉 such a man will quickly ●ecome ●●nerabl● . 〈◊〉 therefore , saith he , a cato ▪ or , if he seem too ri●●s and severe , ch●se a lae●●●s to t●y self , one whose life as well as 〈◊〉 is most approvea●le ▪ and , having his very soul and countena●ce before thee , represents 〈◊〉 to thy self at all times as a guardian and exa●ple . — but we need not so much this wholsom cou●●el ▪ neither , if we call but to mind those many invisible witnesses , which are for certain continually about us , and the heathen moralists too have sometimes taken notice of . there is , first , a spirit within us , which registers all our actions in order unto judgment , and from whose observance we can conceal nothing . never therefore do a base act with hopes of secrecy , saith isocrates , for though thou keep it from others , thou must needs be privy to it thy self . my conscience , saith cicero , is more to me than the words of all besides . and what booteht it , saith seneca , for none to know , when thou thy self knoweth ? o wretched soul , if once thou despisest this witness ! t●●●e 〈◊〉 a sacred spirit within 〈…〉 is the observer ●f 〈◊〉 good and ev●● . agreea●ly w●ereto saith saint be●●●rd excellently , wheresoever i go , my 〈◊〉 is with 〈…〉 it 〈◊〉 i 〈…〉 or evil . 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 is a 〈◊〉 , w●ile i ●ove , and will 〈◊〉 it as 〈…〉 i am ●ead 〈◊〉 . secondly , there is the great god , our creator , go●ernou● , and judg , always with us , bef●re w●●se all-●eeing eye 〈◊〉 ●●ings are naked and 〈◊〉 [ c●jus 〈…〉 , ] as h●●●d a●●o acknow●edgeth . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . this , saith ep●●●erus , is amo●g our first rudiments , t●at there is a god ▪ and that ●is providence 〈◊〉 o●er all 〈…〉 that neither our doings nor 〈◊〉 can be c●●cealed ●rom ●im . — so live with men , saith seneca ▪ ●s under god's eye . nothing is ●idden from him ; he is present to our very souls and thoughts . let us always 〈◊〉 ▪ ●aith cicero ▪ 〈◊〉 those 〈…〉 we must give an account , and consider , that we are every 〈◊〉 , not in some t●e●er of the world seen of men , but beheld from above by him who will be both iudg and witness . and therefore , as boer●ius hath it , if men would not dissemble , they are under a great necessary of honesty , as acting before the eyes of the all-seeing iudg. our very inwards should be such , saith m. anto●●●us , that the gods may see us vertuous . and this is that we meet so often with in holy writ , to walk [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ] before ●od , and righteous before god , &c. — these two rules , i have now spoken of , the stoick excellently puts together , chuse , saith he , to please thy self , and chuse to approve thy self unto god. but then , thirdly , ( to say nothing of those many malignant spirits that watch an occasion of doing us mischief , to accuse , tempt and ruine us ) there are also the holy angels about us , whom god commissions for our defence and welfare . and that is the point , which here i am to recommend ; that we shew an awful respect and due regard to these invisible spectators . know ye , o men , saith epictetus , that every one of you is committed to a certain diligent and excellent keeper and observer ; such is every man's genius or daemon appointed by god. when therefore you shall have shut the doors , and made all dark about you , remember that you never say , you are alone , for indeed you are not . but god is within , and your genius ( or daemon ) is within . and they have no need of light to see your doings by . and apuleius , having discoursed the doctrine of guardian-angels out of plato , concludes it in this manner , all you who have heard me expound this divine sentence of his , so form and compose your minds , to the devising and doing of all things , as those that know , th●re is nothing at all within or without , secret and hidden from those observers , &c. thus saint bernard lessons us , since the angels are present in all thy ways , see that thou walk warily shew a reverence to thy angel in every inn , in every nook and corner . and do not thou presume to commit that in his presence , which thou durst not v●nture on in mine . — again , saith he , this word [ he hath given his angels charge over thee ] o how great a rev●rence should it produce ! how great devotion ! how great assurance ! in regard of the presence of angels , awe and reverence ; for their good-will , devotion [ with thanks-giving ; ] and upon the account of their safe-guard , confidence and assurance ! and again , — let us shew our selves grateful to so worthy and excellent guardians . let us love them , as much as we can , and as far as we ought . — the holy scriptures in like manner point us out to the presence and attendance of angels , as a singular motive unto watchfulness and circumspection in our behaviour . behold ( saith god to moses and his people the jews ) i s●nd an angel before thee , to keep the way , &c. exod. 23.20 , 21. [ cave à facie ejus , i. e. ne coram ●o aliquid iniquum designes , as vatab. ] beware of him [ that thou do nothing unrighteous in his view ] and obey his voice , provoke him not ; for he will not pardon your transgressions ; for my name is in him . — and , when the preacher cautions against rash vows , he adds , eccles. 5.6 . neith●r say thou before the angel that it was an error , or ignorance . the greek hath it say thou not [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] before the presence , or face , of god. iacob so call'd the place , where the angel appear●d to him and wrestled with him , peniel , that is , the face of god , gen. 32.30 . and god himself said of the angel , that attended the israelites , as we read even now , my name is in him , that is , my authority . he acts as in the person of god. and agreeably the hebrew rabbies stile the angels [ oculos de● ] the eyes of god ; and so the holy scripture is thought to call them too , zech. 4.10 . revel . 5.6 . say not then before the angel , that oversees thy actions , and will not bear with them ▪ if they are evil and provoking , so and so . excuse not thy fault as small and inconsiderable . adstat angelus vindex , there stands an angel by to observe , and punish . we are made a spectacle to the world , to angels , and to men , saith saint paul , 1 cor. 4.9 . we do , as it were , act upon an open stage or theatre , surrounded with many spectators , a great circle of witnesses , angels as well as men , and therefore should endeavour to act and manage our part well , [ see hebr. 12.1 . ] and for this cause he exhorts women to such a decent habit in the congregation as becomes their state and condition , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 1 cor. 11.10 . because , saith he , of the angels , who are presumed to frequent the christian churches , as before they did the temple and synagogues among the jews , as hath been † else-where declared . therefore all things should be done with a special reverence and decorum there . and indeed , proportionably , every-where besides . i charge thee , saith the same apostle unto timothy , before god and the lord iesus christ , and the elect angels , that thou observe these things , 1 tim. 5.21 . as if he had said there is not only the omnipotent god , and the lord jesus christ , whom he hath ordained judg of all , to take notice of thee ; but there are also many other witnesses , the holy and elect angels to testifie at last for or against thee , when he shall come in the glory of his father , and that retinue of his , to judg the quick and dead . they walk with us , saith saint agustin , in all our ways , they enter in and go out with us , attentively considering how piously and honestly we converse in the midst of an evil nation , and with what study and desire we seek the kingdom of god and the righteousness thereof , and with what fear and trembling we serve him and rejoyce before him , &c. we are then to express an awful sense of , and regard unto the presence of those our dayly inspectors and attendants , with all the grateful respect we are able to shew them . but yet we must take heed , that we give them not any of that adoration , divine worship and honour , which is peculiar unto god , remembring , how it is written , thou shalt worship the lord thy god , and him only shalt thou serve , saint matth. 4.10 . he that sacrificeth unto any god , save unto the lord only , he shall be utterly destroyed , exod. 22.20 . nec bonis igitur , nec malis diis sacrificari voluit , qui hoc cum tanta comminatione praecepit , d. aug. de ●ivit . dei , l. 19. c. 21. theophylact tells us upon the text , that our apostle seems in those words to reprove those , that ascribe too much to angels , making mention of them as obliged to like services with us , and so differenced from us , but as creatures are from one another . — nay , which is more , we find here , that they are appointed to minister unto us . and that reason tatianus thought good against the worship of the sun and moon , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; why should we fall down in a religious obedience to those that serve us ? this would certainly be offensive to those righteous spirits themselves , instead of being acceptable . when sampson's father , would have offered a kid in sacrifice to the angel , that appeared unto him , he not only declares it , but gives this wholsom advice upon it , iudges 13.15 , 16 if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering , thou must offer i● unto the lord. intimating , that he could not sacrifice to any other without the guilt and peril of idolatry . and when saint iohn in a transport , fell at the angels foot to worship him , he would by no means admit of it , but saith unto him , see thou do it not ; i am thy fellow-servant , and of thy brethren , that have the testimony of iesus , worship god , revel . 19.10 . and again , when he offered the like a second time , he persists also to answer him the same manner , see thou do it not , for ● am thy fellow-servant , and of thy brethren the prophets , and of them , which keep the sayings of this book , worship god , ch. 22.9 . the words of saint paul , in his epistle to the colossians , do cut off all temptations to , and excuses of this fond excess . let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility , and worshipping of angels , intruding into those things which he hath not seen , vainly puffed up with his fleshly mind , col. 2.18 . [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. ] that is , as a reverend person paraphraseth it ; let no man please himself and condemn you in point of worshipping of angels , as if there were some special humility in so doing , undertaking to scarch into those things which he knows nothing of , having no other ground for his doctrine , but his own carnal fansie . such hereticks as these s. augustine calls [ angelicos ] and he frequently reflects upon their perverse practise . the angels , saith he , are not willing that we should sacrifice unto them , but unto him , whose sacrifice they acknowledge themselves together with us to be , — and what is invocation but sacrifice , as the scripture calls it ? the sacrifice of praise . — and again , they are not good , but evil angels and devils , that desire men to sacrifice unto them . — and again , the saints themselves , both men and angels , will not admit that to be exhibited unto them , which they know to be due unto god alone . this appear'd in paul and barnabas ; this appear'd in the angels also , as we read in the revelations . — and again , we honour the angels , but with love , not with service ; nor do we build temples to them ; for they are not willing to be honour'd by us . — once more , if we should rear a temple of wood a●d stone to any holy angel , be he never so excellent , should we not be anathematized by the truth of christ , and from the church of god , for exhibiting of that service to a creature , which is due only unto god ? lactantius tells us in like manner , that the good and holy angels will not have any divine honour given them , whose honour is in god ; but those that revolted from the service of god , being enemies unto and prevaricators from the truth , endeavour to appropriate the name and worship of gods to themselves . hear we also origen , those , saith he , whom from their work we call angels , we find because of their partaking the divine nature to be called gods , even in the holy scriptures . yet , not so , as to enjoin us to worship , in the room of god , those that minister unto us and bring us the things of god. for all prayer and supplication , and intercession , and thanks-giving is to be sent up to him , who is god over all , by that high-priest , who is above all angels , the living word and very god. and again , we speak well of them and count them happy , as being ordained by god for the good and benefit of mankind . but we do not distribute the honour due to god unto them : for this is neither the will of god , nor of those who are thus ordained by him . let me adde farther , that this worshipping of angels was condemned in the council of laodicea , [ anno 365. ] the 35. canon whereof runs in these words , that christians ought not to leave the church of god , and go and invocate angels , and make conventicles , which things are forbidden . if any one therefore be found indulging to this secret idolatry , let him be anathema , because he hath left our lord iesus christ , and come over to idolatry . in the version of which canon carranza lamentably mistakes , or prevaricates , by reading of [ angulos ] instead of [ angelos ] i. e. [ corners ] for [ angels ] so wide a difference may the change of one letter make . of which i will say no more but the old proverb , veritas non quaerit angulos . theodoret saith , they were the jews who perswaded men to worship angels , because the law was delivered by angels , which practice continued a long time in phrygia and pisidia ; and that therefore the syno●●f laodicea forbad the praying unto angels , &c. if any desire to see farther into this mystery , i refer him to the learned discourses of mr. mede upon the apostasie of the last times , and doctrine of demons . i will end with the words of zanchy , if we may not invocate , saith he , those that hear and see us , and take care of us , how then dead men ? so that they are convinced of most manifest idolatry who worship saints departed and angels , and dedicate and consecrate temples to them . and 't is to ●very little purpose for such as do thus to boast that they cannot erre in things that relate to faith and religion . sect . vi. god in and for them to be admired and glorified . sixthly , it will not be amiss , if we take the hint from the angels double admonition to saint iohn , mentioned in the last section , [ worship thou god ] to turn our thoughts a while from these excellent creatures , and , upon the occasion of their perfections , to raise up our minds to observe , admire and adore their maker . this is a tribute we ought to pay unto him from all his works ; o lord , our governour , saith the psalmist , how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! and again , the heavens declare the glory of god , and the firmament sheweth his handy-work . and again , all thy works praise thee , and thy saints bless thee . the glory of him that made them is conspicuous in them all , and they praise him , [ objectivè ] by suggesting matter to all intelligent or reasonable beholders , of acknowledging and blessing him thereupon . the invisible things of god , saith the apostle , from the creation of the world are clearly seen , being understood [ or considered ] by the things that are made , even his eternal power and godhead ; so that they are left without excuse , rom. 1.19 , &c. even they who having thus far the manifestation of gods being , and means of knowing him , glorified him not as god , neither were thankful , but gave away his glory to the meaner sort of his works . and , surely , saith the author of the book of wisdom , ch . 13.1 , &c. vain are all men by nature , who are ignorant of god , and could not out of the good things that are seen , know him that is ; neither by considering the works did they acknowledge the work-master ; but deemed either fire , or wind , or the swift air , or the circle of the stars , or the violent water , or the light of heaven to be the god● which govern the world ; with whose beauty if they being delighted took them to be gods , let them know how much better the lord of them is ; for the first author of beauty hath created them . but if they were astonished at their power and vertue , let them understand by them , how much mightier he is that made them . for by the greatness and beauty of the creatures , proportionably the maker of them is seen . — if we are well in our wits , saith epictetus admirably , what else should we do both public●ly and privately , but celebrate , praise , and give thanks unto the deity ? for , even while we are digging and ploughing , and ●ating , this hymn is to be sung unto god , great is god who hath given us these instruments to cultivate the earth ! great is god who hath given us hand● to labour with ! great is god who hath given us the power of swallowing , and a stomach to receive and digest our food , who causeth us by this means to grow up imperceptibly , and makes us breath when we sleep ! thus we are to sing to his praise in all things . but a most divine hymn is due for this , that he hath given us the understanding of things , with capacity and reas●n to make use of them . — and then a little after he adds , if i were a nightingal , i should do what belongs to the nightingal ; if a swan , what belongs to such a bird ; but now i am a reasonable creature , it behoves me to praise god. this is my work and business . and this i do , nor will i quit this station as long as i am able , but exhort others also to join in the same song with me . like that of the psalmist , praise ye the lord , praise the lord , o my soul ! while i live i will praise the lord. i will sing praises to my god , while i have any being , psal. 146.1 , 2. for this end certainly did god make the world , and sent man at last into it , to display his own goodness , & produce objects capable of the continual communications thereof ; and that we might be surrounded with variety of particulars , by piece-meals to take notice of and honour him , whom we cannot at once and altogether conceive aright of . [ natura homines humo excitatos celsos & erectos constituit , ut deorum cognitionem , coelum intuentes , capere possint : sunt enim ex terrâ homines , non ut incola & habitatores , sed quasi spectatores superarum rerum atque coelestium , quarum spectaculum ad nullum aliud genus animantium pertinet , ut balbus ●pud ciceronem 2. de nat. deorum . — quod & ovidius pulchrè docet . 1. met. pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terram , os homini sublime dedit , coelumque tueri iussit & erectos ad sidera tollere vultus . ] but now , whereas other creatures are his works , and so retain some impressions of their author , the angels are his most lively images , that nearest of all resemble him , and therefore we who ought , as hath been said , to glorifie him in and for all his works , are the more unpardonable , if we observe or admire him not in these , which make the nearest approach unto his divinity , and read unto us the clearest notions of his excellencies and perfections . bellarmine hath intituled the best of his writings ( being most satisfactory to himself , and useful to others ) [ de ascensione mentis ad deum per scalas rerum creatarum ] that is , of the mind's ascent to god by the ladder of the creatures [ a iacob's ladder ] and the ninth step he takes [ ex consideratione angelorum ] from the contemplation of angels : [ these indeed are every-where ascending and descending in that ladder . ] — well may we cry out , o lord , our lord , how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! thou hast set thy glory above the heavens . there are the greatest expressions of it , viz. in this glorious host of heaven . he telleth the number of [ these ] stars , and calleth them all by their name ▪ great is our lord , and of great power ; his understanding is infinite , ps. 147.5 , 6. thus the levites taught the children of israel to glorifie god , stand up , and bless the lord your god for ever and ever ; and blessed be thy glorious name , which is exalted above all blessing and praise . thou , even thou , art lord alone : thou hast made heaven , the heaven of heavens with all their hosts , the earth and all things that are therein , nehem. 9.5 , 6. and the prophet isaiah , in like manner , calls upon them , lift up your eyes on high , and behold , who hath created these things , that bringeth out their host by number . he calleth them all by their names by the greatness of his might : for that he is strong in power , not one faileth , isa. 40.26 . in the spiritual nature , knowledg , power , goodness , holiness , immortality , and glory of angels , we have competent relief towards the improving our meditations about that infinite and eternal , all-knowing , all-mighty , and transcendently holy and glorious spirit , who is the father of them . and it is obvious for every one to infer ; if these beings are so excellent above us , as hath been declared , then how much more perfect and complete is that god , who made them and all things else ? before whom the whole world is but as a little grain of the balance , yea as the drop of the morning-dew , that falleth upon the earth , as the wise-man speaks , wisd. 11.22 . [ and to a like purpose the prophet isa. 40.15 . — ] of whom therefore i cannot speak more fitly , than in the excellent words of novatian , the roman presbyter , in his catholic book of the trinity . the mind is too little to think , and all ●loquence justly dumb in the uttering of his majesty . for he is greater than our mind ; and it cannot be conceived , how great he is . whatever we think or speak is far below him . we may indeed in some sort with silence muse upon him , but cannot sufficiently explain him ▪ for , whatsoever we say , sheweth rather some creature or excellency of his , than himself . what can we speak or think worthily enough of him , who is beyond all our speech and sense ? vnless perhaps by this one way we ●nderstand in our mind , so far as we are able , what ●od is , if we conceive , he is that which for excellency and greatness can never be understood fully by us , or enter into our thoughts to comprehend . for , as the bodily ey-sight is weakened by poring on the sun , so that we cannot fixedly behold his bright orb , overcome with the lustre of his radiant beams ; so the more intense our mind is in viewing god , the more darkned it becomes in its thoughts about him . for what can one say worthily of him , who is more sublime ●nd hi●h than all sublimity and height , more profound than all profundity more lucid , bright and splendid than all light , brightness and splendor ; more strong and powerful , than all strength and power , more beautiful than all beauty , truer than all truth , greater than all majesty or greatness , richer than all riches , wiser and more prudent than all wisdom and prudence , juster than all justice , better than all good●ess , and more merciful than all mercy ? for all sorts of vertues must of necessity be less than the god and parent of all vertues ; and ( in a word ) it may be truly said , he is that , which nothing can be compared unto , above and beyond all we can say of him . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . max. tyr. diss. 1. the knowing angels , who better understand his perfections , than we mortals do , yet cover their faces with their wings before him , isa. 6. nempe sicut homines solem con●ra tueri non audent , ità angeli deum , grot in loc. ] as not able to look upon the brightness of his majesty , and for an expression of their reverence towards him ▪ and , if any upon earth presume to make more bold with him , 't is wholly from their ignorance ; [ in velata facie reverentiam tantae majestatis cogit● , fov●rius . ] for , as saint chrysostom speaks , upon this very occasion , ( having mention'd the admiration and reverence of the angels towards god , by reason of their more excellent wisdom ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the extension and increase of knowledg will advance proportionably our fear and reverence . to conclude this inference , learn we from hence , to admire , and fear , and love god exceedingly . to admire him , whose creatures are so admirable , and whom the most knowing of his creatures do most admire . to fear him ▪ who hath such powerful hosts at his command● and to love him , who is yet so good , as to make all things , even angels themselves , to serve us . sect . vii . why , and how the ministry of angels is to be obliged by us . in the last place , let us do , what we can , to oblige and secure the ministry of angels to our selves , which is , as hath been declared , so many ways and upon so many accounts beneficial . and here i need not offer any thing new by way of motive or inducement , when 't is our apparent interest so to do , that we may have the com●ort of this reflection , among others , in cases of the greatest trouble and adversity , and the most perplexing difficulties , that at any time befal us . now this we shall best effect , if we make sure to our selves the character of those persons , who have the promise from god of such a blessing ; that is , if we are found in the number of them , that truly fear god , for the angel of the lord encampeth round about them that fear him , and delivereth them , ps. 34. in the fear of the lord is strong confidence , and his children shall have a place of refuge , prov. 14.26 . — if we set our chiefest love upon god , put ou● trust in him , know and own his name ; for of them , that do so , it is said , ps. 91. he shall give his angels charge over thee , to keep thee in all thy ways . — if we approve our selves sincere and faithful christians , honest and obedient disciples of our blessed lord and saviour ; for , as the text tells us , they are sent forth to minister for them who shall inherit salvation . thus in the general . but , then , there are some more particular directions to be given , worthy of our most careful observance , namely , such as these that follow . first , pray we to god , from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift , for this among other benefits . they are all at his beck , sent forth and imployed at his will and pleasure ; and therefore it is but fitting , that we own him in the favour , and make our humble requests to him for it . the success of prayer in this matter was observable in the instance i have before recommended out of bodinus . this was part of iacob's benediction upon ioseph's sons , even his prayer to god for them , ' the angel , which redeemed me from all evil , bless the lads , gen. 48.15 , 16. for so i construe it , as [ votum deo ] and not [ invocatio angeli . ] and iudas maccab●us , we read , besought the lord , that he would send 'a good angel to deliver israel , 2 macc. 11.6 . and again , in another distress , he said in his prayer after this manner , o lord , thou didst send thine angel in the time of hezekias king of iudea , and didst slay in the host of sennacherib , an hundred fourscore and five thousand . wherefore now also , o lord of heav'n , send a good angel before us for a fear and a dread unto them , and through the might of thine arm let those be stricken with terror , that come against thy holy people to blaspheme , ch. 15.22 , &c. 't is part of the psamists imprecation against his and the churches enemies , let them be as chaffe before the wind , and let the angel of the lord chase or scatter them . let their way be dark and slippery , and let the angel of the lord persecute them , ps. 35.5 , 6. and this is part of the jews form of prayer still in their euchology , [ command , o lord , thine angels , who are placed over humane affairs , that they be ready for my aid , to help , save , and deliver me . ] secondly , keep we our selves diligently within the pale and communion of the christian church , the society of those , who are the declared heirs of salvation , [ the lord added to the church dayly such as should be saved , ] acts 2.47 . for to such , as hath been shewn , they are parti●ularly sent as guardians and protectors . [ vbi non est d●i gratia , ibi nee locum habet angelorum custodia , ] the custody of angels , saith luther , hath no place , where the grace of god is not ; and g●rhard to a like purpose , [ reconciliandus priùs es deo per fidem , si angelum vis habere custod●m , ] thou must first be reconciled to god by faith , if thou wouldst have an angel of his for thy guardian . the form of excommunication is call'd remarkably , 'a delivering over unto satan , 1 cor. 5.5 . 1 tim. 1.20 . the devil claims a peculiar power over those , who are rightfully cast out of the church of christ , and so barr'd and deprived of the succour and assistance of good angels . this is notoriously apparent , saith doctor h. more , in some of the forlorn and giddy-headed sects of these times , among whom , i dare say , a man may find out a greater number of true demoniacks than christ and his apostles are said to cure . for to what more rationally , than to the possession of these deceiving spirits , can be attributed those wild extasies they are in ? &c. we must be careful then , by holding fast the form of sound words , the faith once deliver'd to the saints , and avoiding of all wicked schism from , and disobedience to the church of christ , to secure our selves from being exposed to the tyranny of evil spirits . thirdly , let us continue honestly and industriously within the compass and bounds of our lawful vocations respectively . [ angelis suis mandavit de te ] ambulante scilicet in tuâ vocatione & timente deum , brentius in heb. 1.14 . ] 't is an useful rule delivered from s. hierom [ semper boni aliquid operis facito , ut diabolus te sempèr inveniat occupatum . ] be always doing some good work , or other , that the devil may find thee still employed , and not at leisure for his motions . — we are studiously to avoid those curious and unwarrantable arts and practices , whereby we may tempt and invite evil spirits to our company ; and having betaken our selves to innocent and lawful callings , to keep close unto them . the egyptians , as i have before intimated , assigned an angel to every man in his respective calling , whom they stiled the spirit of his profession . the good angels , to be sure , are all for order , and have no kindness for those that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , disorderly and unruly ones , who will not keep their place and rank ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( in the words of m. antoninus ) deserters of the station and work assigned them , and fugitives from their particular charge and duty ; such as the evil angels are , on the contrary , described , who forsook their first estate , and left their proper habitation , s. iude v. 6. and ever since they are all for confusion and every evil work ( which follows upon that ) with those children of disobedience , who are busie bodies in other mens matters , but neglect their own offices and duties . undoubtedly , whensoever any leave their proper callings and ministries , they go out of those ways wherein the holy angels have a special charge over them . fourthly , we must with courage and vigilance resist the devil and all his wicked instruments , between whom and the good angels there is antipathy , and a continual fight and contest . 't is said of our blessed saviour , upon his defeat of the evil one , and vanquishing of his temptations , s. matth. 4.11 . then the devil leaveth him , and , behold , angels came and ministred unto him . whereby is shewn , as s. hilary notes , that the ministeries of angels , and good offices of the heavenly powers will not be wanting to us if we overcome the devil and trample upon him . — that we may secure their delightful abode with us , we must not gratifie , or hold league and amity with , their and our professed enemies ; but , as the holy scripture directs us , be strong in the lord , and in the power of his might : be sober and vigilant , and putting on the whole armour of god for our help and safe-guard , stand it out against the devil , and resist him stedfastly , that he may f●ye from us . — and [ diabolo s●cede●ti succedunt angeli ] his flight will be an invitation and encouragement to the holy and good angels to resort to us , and dwell wit● us . resist we the devil more especially , when he tempts us by allurements or threatnings to revolt and apostatize from our religion , and that oath of fidelity whereby we were devoted unto god at baptism . the four resolute confessors ( whom i have mentioned else-where out of dan. ch . 3. and ch . 6. ) found the blessed angels then most ready at hand for their wonderful deliverance , when they generously exposed their lives and fortunes , rather than they would deny their god , with-hold his worship from him , or give it to any other . and so did the apostles of christ too , when they freely hazarded all of this world , rather than to desist from the preaching of the gospel committed to them , acts 5. and acts 12. fifthly , we are to shun and avoid , with all the circumspection we are able , whatsoever we know to be offensive and grievous to them . such to be sure is all wilful transgression and disobedience , for which god threatens to remove this fence from about us . they are at hand unto believers , saith s. basil , if we drive them not away by our wicked doings . — for as smoke chaseth away bees , and a noisom smell the doves , so do our filthy practices our guardian angels from us . we do not only by base and sinful actions wound our own spirits , and grieve the holy spirit of god , eph. 4.30 . but offend these good spirits too , that wish us well and attend us . s. augustin writes excellently to this purpose , in his soliloquies : the angels love , saith he to god , those whom thou lovest , and keep those whom thou keepest , but forsake those whom thou forsakest , and do not love the works of iniquity , because thou hatest them . as often as we do well , the angels rejoice and the devils are troubled ▪ but when we depart from the ways of goodness , we make the devil to rejoice , and defraud thy angels of their gladness ; for there is joy among them over one sinner that repenteth , but with the devil over a righteous man that forsakes repentance . grant therefore , o father , grant , that they may always joy concerning us , by our continuing good and righteous , that both thou mayest evermore be praised by them , in and for us , and we may be brought with them into thy one sheepfold , there to confess together jointly unto thy holy name , o thou cr●ator of men and angels . sixthly , that i may draw towards an end , we shall certainly oblige and secure their attendance and ministry by doing of those things , wherewith they are most pleased and delighted , the exercise i mean of such vertues and graces especially , whereby we most of all resemble and imitate them , [ per bonae voluntatis similitudinem ] as s. augustine speaks , by a likeness of good and holy temper and disposition : for nothing conciliates friendship more than similitude of manners . the main reason , as i conceive , saith a reverend author , why the examples of the consociation of good spirits are so scarce in history , is , because so very few men are heartily and sincerely good . — and again , the safest magick is the sincere consecrating a mans soul to god , and the aspiring to nothing but so profound a pitch of humility , as not to be conscious to our selves of being at all touch'd with the praise and applause of men , and to such a free and universal sense of charity , as to be delighted with the welfare of another , as much as our own . — and he observes it particularly concerning that person whose story we had before out of bodinus ; that he was not only frequent in prayer , but used to spend some hours in meditation and reading of the scriptures , — and once among the rest , while he was busie in his enquiries about the matters of religion , that he light on a passage in philo-iudaeus his book d● sacrificiis , where he writes , that a good and holy man can offer no greater , nor more acceptable sacrifice to god than the oblation of himself ; and therefore following philo's counsel , that he offered his soul to god. and that after-that , amongst many other divine dreams and visions , he once in his sleep seem'd to hear the voice of god saying to him , i will save thy soul , i am he that before appeared unto thee . it is noted of socrates among the heathens , so famed for his demon that conversed with him upon all occasions , that he was a person most remarkable for righteousness and innocency , purity and goodness , sobriety and exactness in the government of himself , piety towards god , and holiness among men ; and therefore upon that account that it was no wonder he should enjoy so great a priviledge , while those coelestial spirits shun the habitation of wicked and polluted souls . for the exemplifying whereof i refer the reader to the quotations here annexed , whereby he may perceive himself , upon the like terms , a candidate for the like benefits . [ hic quem dico prorsus custos , singularis praefectus , domesticus specula●or , proprius curator , intimus cognitor , assiduus observator , individu●s arbiter , inseparabilis testis , malorum improbator , bonorum probator , si ritè advertatur , sedulò cognoscatur , religiosè colatur , ità ut à socrate iustitiâ & innocentiâ cultus est , in rebus incertis prospector , dubiis praemonitor , periculosis tutator , egenis opitulator , qui tibi queat tum insomniis , tum signis , tum etiam fortasse coràm , cum usus postulat , mala averruncare , bona prosperare , humilia sublimare , nutantia fulcire , obscura clarare , secunda regere , adversa corrigere . — apuleius de deo socratis . ] [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . max. tyrius diss. xxvi . eodem de argumento . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . id . ibid. ] and now let me close all with a serious recommendation of some of those particular excellencies , wherein we are to endeavour an imitation of the angels , in order to the more effectual securing and obliging of their ministry to our selves . the principal of them i shall comprize under the ensuing heads . viz. i. a ready , chearful , and sincere obedience unto all gods commands . ] for so we have found them described by the psalmist , ye angels of his that excel in strength , that do his commandments , hearkning unto the voice of his word : ye ministers of his that do his pleasure , psal. 103. who are upon the wing , as hath been said more than once already , at every beck or intimation from him . — and now , in order unto this , we must certainly study the knowledge of gods will that we may obey it , as they do , hearkning to the voice of his word ; that word of his which is written for our learning and instruction in the holy scriptures . the good angels are angels of light , and love to keep them company who walk in the light : they are no friends to blind obedience , but for a reasonable service . the devil , on the other side , is the prince of darkness , and labours what he can to keep men in the mist and darkness of ignorance , errour , and delusion . the good angels promote to their uttermost the knowledge of the gospel of christ. we read of one of them , in the revelations , flying in the midst of he●ven , having the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation , ch . 14.6 , 7. and of another of them calling s. paul into macedonia to further this work , acts 16. but the devil , by all the means and ways he is able , endeavours to obstruct and hinder it : we would have come unto you , even i paul , once and again , ( saith he to the thessalonians ) but satan hinder'd us , 1 epist. 2.18 . and , where the word is preached , he does what he can , either to put it out of the hearers memories , or to prejudice them against the belief and love it : when they have hea●d , saith our blessed saviour , satan cometh immediately , and taketh away the word , that was sown in their hearts , saint mark 4.15 . and , the god of this world , saith the apostle , hath blinded the minds of them , which believe not , lest the light of the glorious gospel of christ , who is the image of god , should shine into them , 2 cor. 4.4 . ii. an assiduous , constant and orderly devotion . ] of their example herein i have spoken sufficiently , ch. 4. sect. 1. by the copying out whereof we shall invite them to us . [ si verbi & praecum gaudes exercitio , angelorum quoque gaudere poteris patrocinio , ] saith the devout gerhard , if thou delight in the word of god and prayer , thou shalt be gratified with the angels patronage . while i was speaking , and praying , and confessing my sin and the sin of my people israel , saith the prophet daniel , and presenting my supplication before the lord my god for the holy mountain of my god ; yea , while i was speaking in prayer , the man gabriel , whom i had seen in the vision at the beginning , being caused to fly swiftly , touched me about the time of the evening oblation , dan. 9.20 , 21. and of cornelius it is recorded , that being a devout man , and one that feared god with all his house , and gave much alms to the people , and prayed to god alway , [ viz. upon every season and opportunity ] he saw in a vision , about the ninth hour of the day , when he was praying , an angel of god that said unto him , thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before god , acts 10.2 , 3 , 4 , 30. and we read , in the revel●tions , of ' angels with golden vials full of odours , ( or incense ) which are the prayers of the saints , revel . 5.8 . — 8.4 . learned mr. mede will needs have revel . 8.4 . understood of christ alone , as our only high-priest in heaven , apost . of lat . times , par . 1. c. 7. which i know not how to reconcile unto ch. 5.8 . where it is plainly enough spoken of the four living creatures [ the angels before described , ch. 3. ] and the 24 elders in conjunction [ having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours or incense , which are the prayers of the saints ] unless it be said , that these all deliver their golden-vials of incense to that other singular angel , ch. 8.4 . that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden-altar before the throne . ] these , it seems , they delight upon occasion to present unto god , adding their own , probably , together with them , according to the pattern of the angel in zechary , ch. 1.12 . o lord of hosts ▪ how long wilt thou not have mercy on jerusalem , and on the cities of judah ! — they are careful messengers between god and us , saith both saint bernard and saint augustin [ though , to be sure , they never meant it in the heathen-notion ] faithfully to bear our groans to him , and devoutly to bring back the tidings of his grace and favour unto us . [ solliciti discurrunt medii inter nos & deum , nostros gemitus fidelissimè ad eum portantes , ipsiusque gratiam devotissimè ad nos reportantes , d. bern. med. c. 6. cujusmodi etiam apud d. augustin . solil . c. 27. but then , with our confessions and petitions , we must not forget to intermingle those doxologies , lauds and praises , i have else-where spoken of , which are their continual imployment . we must be sure to join with them in psalms , and hymns , and spiritual songs , making melody in our hearts to the lord , as the apostle speaks , ephes. 5. nothing is more acceptable to these celestial-spirits ; nothing can tie them and us together more strictly , than our union and communion with them in the same beloved service and ministry , making our selves a temple for god's praise , which he may vouchsafe to dwell in , bringing these his attendants along with him ; and conversing delightfully , as they do , with heav'nly and divine objects . [ nihil magis supernis civibus spectare libet . — o quam faelix esses● si spiritualibus oculis intueri possis , quomodo praeveniunt principes , conjuncti psallentibus in medio juvencularum tympanistriarum ! videres proculdubio , quâ curâ quóve trip●dio intersunt cantantibus , assistunt orantibus , adsunt meditantibus , d. bern. ubi anteà : quò spectat & ephremi illud , habitante in deo animâ , angeli festinant honorare eam utpote , templum dei effectam . ] iii. a profound humility and ready condescension unto all fo● their good . ] this is most conspicuous throughout the whole ministry of the blessed and glorious angels unto us ; and we find them ever most forward in their errands and embassies to the meek and humble , such lowly ones , as god himself hath a special regard unto , isa. 66.2 . the humble virgin , the humble shepherds , &c. whereas [ procul absunt à superbis , qui nemini inserviunt — ] as saint cyril speaks , they are far from the proud and haughty , who use the services of others imperiously enough , but disdain themselves to serve others . pride is the noted ●in of devils , and draws us into their snare , and estranges the good angels from us . — the tears of ●enitent sinners are the wine of angels , as gerhard hath it ; they are humble and lowly themselves , and pride and scornfulness is perfectly hated by them . th●y are not ashamed to serve christ's little ones . why then is dust and ashes proud , when those ●eav'nly spirits so much abase themselves ? iv. an unspotted purity and chastity . ] they are all holy and undefiled , clothed continually with clean and white linnen , the robes of righteousness ; and their joy is in those that keep their garments clean and unspotted with their flesh , that maintain an holy , pure , chast , and uncorrupted life and conversation , holy and pure thoughts , and words , and practices . as on the contrary , the devil is known by the name of an unclean and impure spirit , saint luke 11.24 . and takes up his habitation upon choice among the swine , saint matth. 8.31 . v. and lastly , a fervent love and peace , and concord , as much as lieth in us , one with and towards another . ] for thus it is among the holy angels . and to this some refer that of bildad [ qui facit concordiam in sublimibus ] job 25.2 . he maketh peace in his high places ; and again , that of god unto iob. ch . 38.37 . which the vulgar latin reads [ conc●●tum coeli quis dormire faciet ? ] who can lay asleep the harmony of heav'n . — and nothing , doubtless , is more grateful to them than to see the like among us below . behold , how good , and how pl●asant a thing it is ( to them as well as our selves ) for brethren to dwell together in unity ! ps. 133. this , saith saint cyprian , brings the greatest pleasure , not only to faithful men and those that know vertue , but unto the coelestial spirits also , whom the scripture represents as rejoycing over one sinner that r●pent●th ( and so returns to the bond of unity ) which could not , saith he , be verified of the angels , that have their conversation in heaven , were they not some way united also unto us ; who rejoice in our union , and on the contrary are troubled , when they see us divided and at variance . — there is not any temper , that gratifies and invites the envious and mischievous one , the devil , more than malice and ill-will , strife and contention . by our undue heats and inordinate wrath we give place unto him . he is known by his foaming rage , and cloven-foot . — and , on the other side , there is nothing more acceptable , as i said , to the good angels , than brotherly love and unity , peace and agreement , whereby we conform our selves to their charity , and participate in a degree their blissful and serene state of amity and friendship , which is indeed a very heav'n upon earth . the conclusion . if therefore we are followers of this angelical obedience , devotion , humility , purity , love and peace , we need not doubt , but they will delight in our converse as agreeable , and look upon us as their kindred and familiars , and consequently take pleasure in ministring unto us here upon earth , until at last they bring us in safety , and with triumph , out of an uncertain and evil world , into those blessed regions of unmixed and durable joy and happiness , where we shall be added to their choire , and sing perpetual halelujah's with them , in notes far above our present reach , unto the glory of god almighty , both their and our most sovereign lord and gracious benefactor . which he of his infinite mercy grant for christ his sake : to whom with the father and the holy ghost be given by us , for the hopes of this and all other blessings , all honour praise and adoration , now and for ever . amen . o clementissime deus , qui per sanctos angelos deducis nos per hujus vitae eremum , da , ut per eosdem deducamur ad caeleste regnum . amen . collect for the second sunday after trinity . o lord , who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love ; [ to whom peculiarly thou hast promised the guard of thy holy angels to encamp about them ] keep us , we beseech thee , under the protection of thy good providence , and [ that we may be qualified for it ] make us to have a p●rpetual fear and love of thy holy name , through iesus christ our lord. amen . collect for the fourth sunday after epiphany . o god who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers , that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot [ keep our selves , or ] always stand upright ; grant us such strength and protection [ from the assistance of thy holy spirit , and the ministry of thy holy angels ] as may support us in all dangers , and carry us [ safe ] through all temptations , through iesus christ our lord. amen . collect for the sixth sunday after epiphany . o god , whose blessed son was manifested , that he might destroy the works of the devil , and make us the sons of god and heirs of eternal life ; grant us , we beseech thee , that , having this hope , we may purifie our selves , even as he is pure ; that when he shall appear again with great power and glory [ attended with those holy angels , which now by thy appointment minister unto us upon earth ] we may be made like [ not only unto them , but ] unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom , where with thee , o father , and thee , o holy ghost , he liveth and reigneth ever one god world without end . amen . blessed god , whose throne is encircled with myriads of glorious spirits , that vail their faces with their wings , as not being able to behold the brightness of thy majesty , and delight in their attendance upon those ministries , whereunto thou hast appointed them ; we thy most unworthy creatures in all humility prostrate our selves at thy footstool , desirous with that holy choire of angels and arch-angels , and all the host of heav'n , to laud and magnifie thy great and glorious name in and for all thy works ; and beseeching thee , to give us grace , to do thy will on earth as it is done in heav'n ; and so to follow the exemplary obedience , devotion , condescension , purity , and charity of thy sacred angels , as to oblige their constant ministry to our necessities here , and be advanced hereafter to a more intimate and happy society with them in the life to come , through jesus christ our lord. amen . finis . an appendix , containing some reflections upon mr. webster's displaying of supposed witch-craft , wherein he handles the existence and nature of angels and spirits . london , printed for hen. brome , at the gun , at the west-end of s. pauls church , 1678. reflections on mr. webster's discourses against the incorporeity of angels or spirits . while the fore-going treatise of angels was under the press , there came to my hands a learned and laborious volume of mr. iohn webster , practitioner in physick , call'd , the displaying of supposed witchcraft , wherein also he discourseth of the existence and nature of angels and spirits . upon the perusal of which i have noted some things , which i conceive it pertinent for me to reflect here a little upon . i shall not presume to censure any thing of the main design and scope of this industrious author , in the prosecution of which he hath indeed heaped together many rare and excellent observations , worthy to be considered of for the improving knowledge , and rendring all men cautious , how they pronounce of such abstruse subjects . much less shall i espouse any man's particular hypothesis and quarrel ; or attempt the defence of those eminently worthy persons , whom he hath singled out for his antagonists , the reverend and learned divines , dr. casaubon , mr. glanvil , dr. h. more , who are better able and more concern'd to speak for themselves . onely i wish for his own sake , that he had treated them with more respective terms , than those of scurrilous , impudent , witch-mongers , — which he so freely bestows ; as also that aspersion , which he casts upon the pious and profoundly learned dr. hammond , [ that he is ●lmost eve●y-w●ere guil●y of vain tra●itio●●l fancies . ] these a●● ep●th●●es which , howe●er they might be pardoned in a practitioner of physick , who● age ●nd ●nfirmities may ●a●e 〈◊〉 froward and wa●pish , are not so agreeable to his other character , as a presbyter of this church , ( ordained long since by the right reverend dr. tho. morton bishop of durham ) and c●rate of kildwick about the year 1634 , as himself acquaints us , though he wholly baulk his spiritual titles in the frou● of his book , as one that glories rather in another function . i do heartily both approve and commend his piety in acquie●cing , as he professeth , in the determinations of holy scripture , and fully accord with him in what he lays down for the rule of proceeding in these controversies . [ the word of god , saith he , is the most proper medium , with sound reason , to judge of the power of spirits and devils by . — and again , that the sc●iptures and sound reason are the only true and proper medium to decide these controversies by , is most undeniably apparent , be●ause god is a spirit , and the invisible god , and therefore best knows the nature and power of the spiritual and invisible world , and , being the god of truth , can and doth inform us . — nay he is the father of spirits , and therefore truly knows , and can and doth teach us their na●ures , offices and operations . — and again , the scriptures and found reason are the most fit medium to determin● these things by . ] particularly he speaks of the human● soul , angels , and devils . 1. the word of god , saith he , doth particul●rly teach us the state and condition of souls after death , that they shall be like the angels in heaven , and all other things necessary to move and draw us ●o beli●ve the immortal existence of souls . — 2. hath not god in the holy scriptures amply and plainly laid down the state of the other world , in describing to us such a numerous company of seraphims and cherubims , angels and arch-angels , with their several ord●rs , offices , ministries , and employments ? — 3. the scriptures do fully and abundantly inform us of the devil 's spiritual and invisible power , and against the same declare unto us the whole armo●r of god , with which we ou●ht to be furnished , as the apostle saith , ephes. 6. now that which i purpose to observe and examine , is chiefly this , how consistent our author is to himself ; and how well he hath acquitted him , according to these rules and measures , in his discourses of angels and spirits . and that so far only , as i apprehend my self concern'd by some things which i have asserted and declared in the precedent treatise . i have suggested in the epistle dedicatory , that the general dis-belief of spirits may well be thought an introduction to all manner of irreligion and profaneness ; which brings me in part under that condemnation , wherein he involves both dr. casaubon and mr. glanvil ; the one for saying , [ one prime foundation of atheism , as by many ancient and late is observed , being the not belief of spiritual beings — ] the other for affirming , [ those that will not bluntly say , there is no god ; content themselv●s for a fair step and introduction , to deny there are spirits . — ] in opposition to whom he asserts , that the denying of the existence of spirits doth not infer the denying of the being of god ; because god might be without them ; and god was before them ; and the sadducees believed a god , allowing of the books of moses , &c. as he discourseth more at large . now this formal arguing of his , as i conceive , is weak and trifling . for ( to say nothing , that such ethical propositions , as these should not be scann'd over-rigidly , but construed sometimes , cum grano salis , as holding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) however ther● might be a god , though there were neither angels nor devils in rerum natura , yet those that deny in general the being of spirits , do therein implicitly impugn the being of god , who is a spirit , whether themselves know and consider it , or no. and , as some have justified the truth of that royal maxime , [ no bishop , no king ] against them who would prove , ( in like manner as this author pleads ) that there is no necessary and immediate connexion of the terms , bishop and king ; or no essential dependence of king upon bishop ; because nevertheless they , that have opposed bishops in the church , have been generally also against a king in the state ; and the same antimonarchical principle inclines them to oppose both ; so may we answer here ; and 't is to be observed , among our modern atheists and sadducees especially , that their antipathy and aversation , as to the notion and being of spirits universally , hath carried them on ( and naturally doth so ) to the dethroning of god , the supreme spirit , and father of spirits . and although , as he farther saith , god had been god , though he had not been creator ; or there might be a god , though there were no creation . — [ such a god as epicurus and his followers , a● vitandam invidiam , acknowledg ] yet should not i question to tax that person with real atheism , who denies a god under that notion , as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the first cause of all things , the maker and governor of the world ; especially , since the apostle hath taught us , that the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are cleerly seen , being understood by the things that are made , even his eternal power and godhead , so that they [ even the heathen ] are without excuse . those persons certainly ( suppose we never so charitably , as salvian saith of the arrians , that they may bono animo errare ) contribute very much towards the countenancing and support of atheism among men , who banish the belief of incorporeal beings out of the world as mere jargon , and a thing , which no man whatever he talks , can possibly understand . and though i am far enough from insinuating this author to be such an one ; since he openly professeth his belief of god , the humane soul , angels and devils , and of all the holy scripture which declareth these things to our faith ; and because there are some , who by the goodness of their nature , and prevalence of some better principles , may not be effectually and in practice , what otherwise certain evil tenets would incline them to be : many are too dull and stupid to understand or consider of the fatal and pernicious consequences of their own opinions ; and others are too vertuously qualified , to be influenced by them ; yet it may not be amiss for him seriously to reflect and weigh within himself , what a bad use others at least may make of such assertions of his , as these are that follow . there is no common notion , saith he , of a spiritual and immaterial being in all or any man. — and again confidently , we assert , that our faculties , or cognitive powers ( how far soever some would magnifie and extol them ) have not the power of understanding beings , that are simply and absolutely immaterial and incorporeal . — and again , thos● ▪ that pretend angels are merely incorporeal , must needs err , and put force upon their own faculties , which cannot conceive a thing , that is not continuate and corporeal . now if no man have , or can have , the notion of a spiritual and immaterial being ; if our cognitive powers cannot understand it ; if our faculties cannot conceive of it ; what , i pray , will become of the being of god in the world , as a spirit , and the father of spirits ? how ready is every one to discard , what he cannot frame a notion of , what he cannot possibly conceive or understand ? nay , how should his mind ever entertain , or assent to it ? and we must needs infer , upon this supposal , that he who professeth , god is a spirit , as our author doth , makes of him only [ nomen inane ] a bare and empty name , gives him an insignificant attribute , and believes and speaks , he knows not what . but then farther our author excepts against the idea of god in particular . god in his own nature being infinite and incomprehensible , there can be no true and adequate notion of him . — and again , — much more must the being of god , which is infinite and incomprehensible , which are attributes incommunicable , be utterly inconceivable to any of our faculties . let him go now and dispute the case with the apostle saint paul , rom. 1.20 , 21 , &c. that which may be known of god is manifest in them , [ even the gentiles ] for god h●th shewed unto them , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ] and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which he saith to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ is no other than the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the invisible things of god , which i mention'd before , even his eternal po●er and godhead ; and these too are so far said to be manifested to them , as to leave them without excuse or apology ; for not glorifying him as god , [ even the invisible god ] but changing the glory of the incorruptible god into an image made like to ●orruptible man , &c. — i. e. a corporeal image . which , if i mistake not , sufficiently includes incorporeity among the rest in the idea to be had of him , — and here i call to mind two notable sayings of the fathers , worthy to be written in letters of gold. the one of saint cyprian , of the vanity of idols , haec est summa delicti , noll● agnoscore , quem ignorare non possis . the other of lactantius , who is a strenuous asserter of religion 's being the chief property and distinction of man from the beasts ; quam sibi veniam sperare possunt impietatis suae , qui non agnoscunt cultum ejus , quem prorsus ignorari ab homine fas non est ? this gentleman should do well to consider better , that it is one thing , to conceive , that there is such a being , whose perfections we cannot fathom ; and another , fully and adequately to comprehend him ; one thing to conceive truly , and another to understand adequately ; for there is somewhat incomprehensible to us in the nature and essence of all things else , as well as god's , and we may every-where almost write mystery , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ! and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . it is the commendation , i think , of the idea or notion of god in our souls , if it be such for perfection , as , had it not been implanted within us , we could scarce collect our selves from any thing without . but , whatever there be in that , i would gladly know , if this all-perfect , infinite and incomprehensible being , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as simplicius well stiles him ] is utterly unconceivable to any of our faculties , how he or any other comes to believe and assert the divine nature to be thus infinite and incomprehensible in all perfections ; or , how there can be an obligation upon others to believe and profess , what is utterly unconceiveable . and now i pass on to what he discourseth of the nature of angels . i have endeavour'd in the treatise of angels , to give as plain , familiar and useful a description ▪ as i could , of the notion of spirits , from a serious reflection made upon our own soul or spirit , ch. 2. sect. 1. and represented them by such attributes , as i conceive most proper and characteristical . the delphick oracle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which sends us to study our selves , directs us certainly to the readiest course of natural , as well as moral philosophy ; and the genuine knowledg of the little world of man is the best preparative for the understanding of the greater , and him , that made both ▪ our author grants , that all substances are known by their properties and modifications . if then we can find out any such properties or attributes , as are no ways agreeable unto matter , we have sufficiently the notion of a spirit , that is , an immaterial or incorporeal being . and such we may be satisfied of by inspection made into our selves . — were there no other but those two powers , we may every one be conscious of ; a power , i mean , of reflecting upon our own thoughts , and a power of moving and determining our own wills , as well as bodies ; this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , if i may so speak , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( ●he root and foundation of all morality ) is altogether incompetent unto matter . for where is there any thing of matter , that can possibly reflect upon its individual self , or freely move it self ? those who own nothing in the world but body , must banish conscience and subscribe to fatal necessity , &c. it is confess'd , when we have sum'd up all , that we know but very little of any thing ; and may have sense enough of our own imperfection and ignorance to keep us humble : yet , since we know so little , we had not need to make that little less ; and 't is sufficient , i should think , that we know as much ( or rather more ) of spirit , as we do of body . and of body our author himself tells us , over and over ; the intrinsick nature of body as such is utterly unknown to us . — it 's internal nature , quatenus corpus , is utterly unknown — and again — we know not the intrinsick nature of body : — and yet but a little before he had said , — we must with all the whole company of the learned assign extension to be the true and genuine character , or characteristical property , as he else-where phraseth it , of body . — and , if this be yielded , what should reasonably be desired more , when himself confesseth , that all substances are known by their properties and modifications ? as i even now observed . i will not stay to dispute the point farther , or to examine , whether that wonderful body , as he calls it , image or idolum in a mirrour or looking-glass , be as really a body as any in the vniverse , as he affirms . let him admire and play , as he please , with his own shadow . but this i observe , that contradictions seem frequently to lie in his head together , ( if we may guess at what was there , by that which drops from his pen ) as if he were really 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , partaker of two distinct and contrary souls , [ in another sense than st. iames useth the word , which we english double-minded , ch . 1.8 . or dr. willis physically defends the thing ] . for my part i am no ways able to reconcile his . thus we find him thwarting of himself , both about body and spirits . as to body , besides what i have already noted , he tells us , — penetration of bodies is simply unintelligible and impossible to conceive — as certainly it is . and yet we have him afterwards very favourable and yielding to his most admired helmont's penetration of dimensions — the arguments , saith he , that he bringeth to prove penetration of dimensions to be in nature , or something equivalent thereunto , seem to be strong and convincing . — there may , it seems , be convincing ▪ arguments with him for what is simply unintelligible and impossible to conceive , or equivalent thereunto . but then , as to spirits , which is the subject i am chiefly concern'd about , i fix ●specially upon his tenth chapter , and shall make the charge of contradictions abundantly good , as i pass along in the examining of certain periods of it , compared with what he there , or elsewhere , offer●th dispersedly in his book . in the handling this point , saith he , of the corpor●ity or incorporeity of angels , we do here , once for all , exclude and except forth of our discourse and arguments the humane and rational soul , as not at all to be comprized in these limits . and that especially for these reasons . 1. because the humane soul had a peculiar kind of creation , differing from the creation of other things , as appear●th in the words of the text , gen. 2.7 . and the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground , and breathed into him the breath of life , and man became a living soul. vpon which the note of tremellius and junius is , anima vero hominis spiritale quiddam est & divinum . that note of theirs he gives more at large , ch. 16. vt clariùs appareat discrimen inter animam hominis & reliquo●um animantium : horum enim animae ex eadem materia provenerunt , unde corpora habebant ; illius vero anima spiritale quiddam & divinum . 2. because i find solomon , the wisest of men , making this question , who knoweth the spirit of man , that goeth upward ; and the spirit of the beast , that goeth downward to the earth ? eccles. 3.21 . 3. because it is safer to believe the nature of the soul to be according to the analogy of faith , and the concurrent opinion of the learned , than to sift such a deep question by our weak understanding and reason . now it is , to my apprehension , extr●mely unreasonable , that in the entrance of this enquiry the soul of man should be exempted from it ; and seems like the odd practice of cunning men at law , who secure such as are like to give in a casting evidence against their cause . for it is manifest enough , that angels are a sort of beings superiour unto the humane soul , as i have shewn in the foregoing treatise , ch. 1. sect. 2. if then it be apparent and undeniable , ( as i shall make good anon from this author's concessions ) that the soul of man is truly incorporeal ; the conviction and evidence from hence , as to angels , will be as great as can be desired ; to which purpose i have also reasoned , ch. 2. sect. 1. and , if it be certainly true , that we can conceive such a spiritual being , as the humane soul is granted by him to be ; it will then be utterly false , that an immaterial being is utterly unconceiveable by us , as he asserts . i have quoted this saying from him already , but shall take occasion once more to repete it , together with the proof , such as it is , which he tenders for it . those that pretend , saith he , that angels are meerly incorporeal , must needs ●rr , and put force upon their own faculties , which cannot conceive a thing , that is not continuate and corporeal . now this conclusion or inference of his he grounds upon a school-maxime , as he tells us , thus , imaginatio non transcendit continuum . and this , saith he , if we perpend it seriously , is a most certain and transcendent truth , for when we come to cogitate and conceive of a thing , we cannot apprehend it otherwise , than as continuate and corporeal . in which discourse he grosly confounds imagination and intellect together , as if they were one and the same thing ; and we could not cogitate , apprehend and conceive that at all , which we cannot imagine or draw a picture of in our phansie . an assertion , which argues somewhat of a stupified understanding . he himself hath else-where better distinguished , it is one thing , saith he , truly to understand , and another thing to imagine or fancie . and he had learn't as much , as he tells us , had he but seriously perpended it here , from the learned doctor willis , de animâ b●utorum , in these words which he cites with commendation out of him . — intellect and imagination are not wont to agree in many things . — ] and again , in man there is a double cognitive power , to wit , the intellect and imagination . so there is a double appetite , the will proceeding from the intellect , which is the page or servant of the rational soul , and the sensitive appetite , which cohereing to the imagination is said to be the hands , or procuratrix , of the corporeal soul. imagination then is a sensitive and corporeal faculty , and therefore no wonder , if it cannot transcendere continuum ; but understanding or intellect a rational and incorporeal power , and therefore able to conceive and apprehend things like it-self . the objects as well as acts , of the one and other , are vastly different . though the neer and intimate union of our souls to these bodies of earth wherein they dwell , makes it difficult for us to abstract our thoughts altogether from sensible and corporeal images — in quo nihil est difficilius , quam à consuctudine oculorum aciem mentis abducere , as balbus in cic●ro hath it . yet , difficult though it be , 't is not impossible , but the dayly experience of contemplative minds . every faculty is concern'd in its proper object , and to be imployed about it : the eye for seeing , the ear for hearing ; the palate for tasting , &c. so among the external senses . and so in like manner it is with the internal powers : the fansie is for imagining , and the intellect for abstract thinking or conceiving , even what we cannot imagin ; metaphysical , logical , moral universal verities , rationes veri & falsi , boni & mali , god and divine things , — &c. we may as well taste light and colours , and see sounds , as imagine a spirit ; but yet for all that we may think and conceive of it . i will dismiss this with the words of max. tyrius , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and now i will shew , as i promised , that our author had some notion of an incorporeal being , because he plainly and often asserts the reasonable or humane soul to be such . the rational and immortal soul he owns expresly to be a spirit , quoting that of our blessed saviour for it , father into thy hands i commend my spirit . — an incorporeal substance , and therefore immortal , saith he out of gassendus . and so he expounds that text of saint paul , 1 thes. 5.23 . which makes the whole of man to consist in spirit , soul and body . the spirit , that is , saith he , the rati●nal mind . and he well approves of doctor willis his arguments and proofs ●or two distinct souls in man , the one sensitive and corporeal , and the other rati●nal and incorpor●al . nay , saith he , the soul by the ●nanimous consent of all men is a spiritual and pure , immaterial and incorporeal substance . and , it is manifest by divine authority , that the spirit , that is , the rational immortal and incorporeal soul , doth return to god , and exist eternally . — and again , it is most evident , that there are not only three essential and distinct parts in man , as the gross body consisting of earth and water , which at death returns to earth again ▪ the sensitive and corporeal soul or ●stral spirit , ( as he calls it ) consisting of fire and air , that at death wandreth in the air , or neer the body ; and the im●ortal and incorporeal soul , that immediat●ly retur●s to god , that gave it ; but also , that after death they all three exist s●parately ; the soul in immortality , and the body in the earth , though soon consuming , and the astral spirit wandring in the air , and without doubt doth make these strange apparitions and bleedings . — we have then here a notion , a manifest and most evident notion , and that , as he saith , by the universal consent of all men , as well as divine authority , of a spiritual and pure , immaterial and incorporeal substance , and that existing sep●●at●ly and by it self in immortality , which is the thing he said our faculties cannot conceive of . and this , i suppose , whatever is pretended , was the principal inducement to his excepting so sollicitously the humane and rational soul from his intended discourse of the corporeity of angels . but we will view his three reasons , alledged for this exception , more distinctly , as they lie in order . first , saith he , because the humane soul had a peculiar kind of creation differing from the creation of other things , as appeareth in the words of the text , gen. 2.7 . and the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground , and breathed into him the breath of life , and man became a living so●l ▪ upon which the note of tremellius and iunius is , anima verò hominis spiritale quiddam est & divinum . or more at large , as he cites it , p. 314. thus in english , that the difference between man and o●h●r animals might appear more clearly : for the souls of these came out of the same matter , from whence they had their bodies , but his soul was a certain spiri●u●l and divine thing . now it is evident , upon first sight , that tremellius and iunius here [ for i take his word for the quotation , not meeting with it in their notes o● the place ] did not intend to lay down any difference between the creation of the soul of man , and of angels , [ which alone would serve his purpose ] but of man and other animals only , produced out of matter . and therefore this could not be a reason for excepting the humane soul from the dispute of angels . but yet it may be worth the while to stay a little upon the text referr'd to , for our better acquaintance with our selves , and so a greater preparedness for the conception of material and immortal substances . the lord god , saith the text , formed man of the dust of the ground , and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life , and man became a living soul. — his body made of earth , but his soul the breath of god. — divinae particula aurae . we must not understand it grosly ; for so breath is not attributable unto god , who is a simple and perfect spirit ; but , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as a figurative expression of god's communicating unto man that inward principle , whereby he lives and acts , not only in common with , but in a degree above other animals . vatablus therefore renders it by [ injecerat , sive immiserat ] he put or conveyed into his body a vital spirit . and so iunius and tremellius , in their notes upon the place tell us , [ humanitus dictum , pro eo , quod ex virtute sui aeterni spiritûs , &c. ] it is spoken after the manner of men ; and the meaning is this , that by vertue of his eternal spirit , without any elementary matter , he inspired a vital soul ( which is by nature a simple form ) into that elementary body , that it might use as an instrument . and man became a living soul ] that is , say they , [ quum virtute dei fuit anima corpori adunata in unitatem personae , &c. ] ' when by the power of god the soul was thus united to the body in one person , the earthy statue became indued with life , and was reckoned a principal species of animals . — to a like purpose saith clarius , the souls of other living creatures were [ de materiâ eductae ] brought forth of matter . gen. 1.20 , 21. let the waters bring forth the moving creature , that hath life , and let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind . but the soul of man was [ for ìs inspirata ] from god immediately . and thus much iob also acknowledgeth ; the spirit of god , saith he , hath made me , and the breath of the almighty hath given me life , — ch. 33.4 . the learned p. fagius takes notice of three things in the text of moses , which do conclude the immortality of the soul of man. i. insufflatio illa dei. ] this inspiration from god spoken of : for he that breaths into another , contributes unto him [ aliquid de suo ] somewhat of his own : and therefore , saith he , when our b. saviour would communicate his spirit to his disciples , he did it with insufflation , breathing on them , thereby to signifie , se divinum & de suo quiddam illis contribuere . ii. the original word nischmath , which we render breath , or spirit , derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heaven , imports somewhat divine and celestial . iii. the word hajim added to it , sounds plurally [ spiraculum vitarum ] the breath of lives . [ non simpliciter vitam , sed longaevam significat ] a long and continuing life ; or , as some will have it , being of the dual number , [ praesentis & futuri saeculi vitam ] the life of this and the other world : or , if i may add a farther conjecture , both the rational and sensitive life . what is here declared by moses of man's origination , was notably emblem'd out in the fable of prometheus , which is by interpretation providence : where the body is said to have been [ è molli luto ] of soft and yielding clay . [ and such we must suppose the dust of the earth in genesis , earth temper'd and prepared with moisture , è pulvere sub . jam macerato ac temperato imbre qui deciderat . q. d. ex massâ quadam terrae madefactâ , as vatablus hath it ] but the soul [ ignis de caelo ] a fire or spark taken from heaven . and agreeable to this first production of man is the description which solomon gives us of his dissolution , eccles. 12.7 . [ whereof i have spoken in the foregoing treatise , comparing it with phocylides and lucretius , ch. 11. § . 1. ] from whence we learn , saith drusius , how far this wise-man was from their heresie , who think that the soul of man is mortal , and doth unà cum corpore interire , perish with the body . a note i shall have occasion to make farther use of by and by . and elihu in the book of iob phraseth man's dissolution much like solomon , if he [ i. e. god ] gather unto himself his spirit and breath , all fl●sh shall perish togeth●r , and man shall turn again to his dust . — but enough of this digression . i proceed to our author's second reason : ( 2 ) saith he , because i find solomon , the wisest man , making this question , who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward , and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth ? eccles. 3.21 . ] how well now doth this second reason hit and accord with the first ! there he told us , from iunius and tremellius , the plain distinction between the spirit of man , and the souls of other animals , as a more divine being ; and here he starts forthwith upon it a sceptical doubt or question out of ecclesiastes , that seems plainly to confound both together : and he sets it off too with the commendation of solomon's eximious wisdom ; as if he had given us in it the inward sense of his own wisely-searching mind . we had need of good assurance of our authors right belief in this matter , to construe his meaning in this al●edgment . it were seasonable here to immind him of his own saying in another case . [ it is a very froward and perverse way of arguing , to make one place of scripture to clash with another . ] and to bring into his memory one of his rules for the interpretation of h. scripture . [ that there be a due comparing of the antec●dents and consequents in the context ; that the purpose , scope , theme , arguments , disposition and method may be perfectly and maturely considered ; otherwise by the slighting or omitting any one of these parti●ular points , the whole place may be mistaken , and an errour easily fallen into . ] turpe est doctori . — according to this good rule therefore i will endeavour an explication of this text of solomon's , which the friends of atheism , epicu●ism , and profaneness are fond enough of , and our author , it seems , leaves them to chew the cud upon . the entire period runs thus : [ i said in my heart , concerning the state of the sons of men , that god might manifest them , and that they might see that they themselves are beasts : for that which befalleth the sons of men , befalleth the beasts ; even one thing befalleth them . as the one dieth , so dieth the other ; yea , they have all one breath ; so that a man hath no preheminence above a beast , for all is vanity . all go unto one place : all are of-the dust , and all turn to dust again . who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward , and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth ? — ] these words now , at the reading of them , may be thought by some to herd man absolutely , as a fellow-commoner , among the beasts . but if we duly consider them , together with the context , and the several constructions which they admit of otherwise , we shall be able to satisfie our selves and others to the contrary . the wise solomon , in the verses immediately precedent to this discourse , rationally infers a future judgment of god from the irregularities and disorders apparent in humane judicatories . vers. 16 , 17. i saw under the sun the place of iudgment , that wickedness was there ; and the place of righteousness , that iniquity was there . i said in my heart , god shall judge the righteous and the wicked : for there is a time there for every purpose , and for every work . now what can be more directly cross and destructive to this pious inference of a judgment to come , which shall rectifie and set streight the enormities of ear●hly tribunals , than an opinion , that men are as the beasts , and so are not accountable for what they do , or end their accounts with this present life ; and therefore need not at all trouble themselves with the fore-thoughts and fears , because they are not in a capacity of being call'd to a future reckoning : what i say can be more contradictory to his religious scope and purpose than this ? — some other sense then we must of necessity fix upon . iunius and tremellius ( whom i the rather mention for our author's sake ) tell us , that the wise man having before express'd a true account and judgment upon those oppressions , confusions and disorders which he had observed under the sun , doth here subjoyn [ judicium ex sensu carnis profectum ] another-guise sentence or opinion arising from carnal sense : and this whole period , say they , is [ narratio carnalis disceptationis ac judicii ] a declaration of carnal reason only in the case . — thus therefore they read the words [ dixeramego cum animo meo secundum rationem humanam — ] i said with my heart , according to humane reasoning thus and thus . — and then of the 21 vers. particularly they add , [ ironica confutatio , quâ utitur caro adversus piam doctrinam de differentiâ inter animas , & eventu ex morte ] it is an ironical or mockconfutaton , which the flesh useth against the pious doctrine of the difference between souls , and that which follows upon death . q. d. i hear i know not what whisper'd of the substance of man's soul , that it is heavenly , and that it goes to heaven at death : and on the other side , that the soul of beasts is a certain earthy faculty , so adhering unto body , that i● cannot be separated without it's own destruction . but who , i wonder , hath seen the one or other , either or both of these ? it is a more certain course therefore to pass a judgment of both from those common facts and events which are before our eyes . — thus far they . and this also is the perswasion of munster , that these things are here spoken [ secundum stultam opinionem pecuinorum hominum ] according to the foolish opinion of bruitish men , who conceit that the whole man doth perish by death , as other animals , and therefore repute it the chiefest happiness to increase themselves in all voluptuousness , while they live , seeking their portion in this life only : to which purpose also it follows immediately , by way of inference , vers. 22. wherefore i perceive that there is nothing better , than that a man should rejoyce in his own works , for that is his portion ; for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him ? as the apostle reasons in behalf of a future state — 1 cor. 15.30 , 32. why stand we in jeopardy every hour ? &c. let us eat and drink , for to morrow we die . — the right epicurean reasoning here in ecclesiastes , ede , bibe , lude , post mortem nulla voluptas . — but s. paul adds a peculiar caution against it , as dangerous kind of talk , whatever wisdom some think in it , vers. 33. be not deceived , saith he , evil communications corrupt good manners . the learned grotius too gives us in effect a like gloss upon this period . [ contra illam cogitationem de judicio futuri aevi , de quâ s●rmo praecessit , alia mihi cogitatio suborta est , &c. ] against that meditation of judgment in the world to come , of which the words before made mention , another thought rose in my mind , that god doth permit men thus to live together , [ ferino more ] in the manner of beasts , thereby the better to declare and shew , that men are as the beasts . and to this thought in his mind , saith grotius , he adds it's arguments . — but then on the 21 vers. he paraphraseth thus ; who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward ? ] whether it abide and remain as a thing celestial ? and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth ? ] whether it perish as the body that i● laid under ground ? — and his note upon it is , that man by his meer natural reason [ solà nativâ ratione ] hath no evident certainty about this matter ; and the doubts , saith he , of socrates , tully , and seneca , shew as much . — they had not , i confess , the compleat assurance vouchsafed us by the help of a diviner revelation , which hath brought life and immortality to light : but yet we find in them , even in their state of darkness , such strength of reason and argument sometimes urged , that might well lay the foundation of a greater confidence than at other times they discovered . and simplicius , as i remember , acquaints us , that socrates spent the time immediately before his death [ the season of greatest tryal ] in discoursing strenuously of the immortality of the soul , and recommending a philosophical preparation for another life . vatablus lets us understand , that some read the words thus . [ aestimavi autem in animo meo conditionem hominum , &c. ] i have weighed in my mind the condition of men , how god made them most excellent , and yet they may seem , or one would think that saw them , that they are beasts to themselves , in their own judgment , as the beasts ; q. d. so great ignorance nevertheless doth rule in mens hearts that they seem not to differ from the beasts . that therefore of the psalmist is by some accommodated to this place , man being in honour without understanding becometh like the beasts that perish . now therefore , though he was made to be immortal , he is excused no more from death , than other creatures . drusius . — and so possibly , when the wise-man saith , who knoweth the spirit of man , that goeth upward , &c. by spirit here may be meant [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , aura vitalis , aer spirabilis , ] the vital breath , in which sense we say [ spiritum accipere & reddere . ] and this spirit or breath may be said to go [ upward or downward ] according to the different positure of the body of man and beast , the one with his countenance erect , the other inclined to the earth . pronaque cum spectant animalia caetera terram , os homini sublime dedit , coelumque tueri , &c. but if we take spirit here for the soul it self , we may render [ quis novit ? ] with drusius , by [ pauci noverunt ] or , with clarius , [ quam rarus est , qui interim id novit ? ] how few know the difference between the spirit of man and that of the beast ? as , when the same wiseman saith elsewhere , a vertuous woman who can find ? his meaning is not , that such an one is not at all to be found , but [ rara est inventu ] she is hard to be found ; as the good and wise have been in all ages — rari nantes in gurgite vasto . so here , [ tantum sciunt sapientes , & qui ab ill●s didicerunt , ] ' none but the wise and such as have learn't of them ken the difference . or rather thus , [ quis novit ? ] scilicet eventis communibus ? nam inde discerni nequit spiritus hominis à spiritu bestiarum . ] who that looks only upon common events ; who , that keeps only to the visible effects , ordinarily taken notice of at the death of either , can understand the difference ? — and yet notwithstanding all this a wide difference there is . when man's breath goeth forth and he giveth up the ghost , his soul or spirit doth undeniably return unto god that gave it ; as this wiseman plainly asserts afterwards ▪ ch. 12.7 . to god to be judged , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , heb. 9.27 . ] and such a judgment he had spoken of immediately before this period , ver. 17. which could not possibly be , if man died , as the beasts , and his soul perished with his body . so that by the help of our author 's wholsome rule , comparing the words of solomon with their antecedents and consequents , we may be able to vindicate this wisest of men from an imputation of siding with sensual fools and epicures in the matter before us . and the rule prescribed hath this real commendation , that it hath long since been given . qui non advertit quod suprà & infrà est in sacris libris , pervertit verba dei viventis . to conclude this subject . it is lively represented to us in the second chapter of the book of wisdome as the speech of the wicked and unwise . — the ungodly said , reasoning with themselves , [ as we have found it in solomon ] but not aright . our life is short and tedious , and in the death of man there is no remedy . — for we are born at all adventure , and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been : for the breath in our nostrils is a smoak , and a little spark in the moving of our heart , which being extinguished , our body shall be turned into ashes , and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air . — come on therefore , let us enjoy the good things that are present — [ these are our only portion ] let us oppress the poor righteous man ▪ — let our strength be the law of justice , &c. such things they did imagine , and were deceived , for their own wickedness hath blinded them , vers. 21. — and then in the next chapter he speaks excellently of the happiness of good and godly men . the souls of the righteous are in the hand of god ; [ father , into thy hands i commend my spirit ] and there shall no torment touch them . in the sight of the unwise they seemed to die , and their departure is taken for misery , and their going from us to be utter destruction : but they are in peace ; for though they be punished in the sight of men , yet is their hope full of immortality . i have taken all this pains to shew , that the wisest of men was not of the same opinion with these unwise and ungodly ones , but that he did act , or rather say their part only , and sub aliena persona loqui , without any design to assert or confirm what he most fully confutes . and now i see not from hence any shew of reason , why our author should except the rational soul or spirit from his enquiry into the nature of angels . i pass on therefore to his third reason , and will be briefer in all that remains , lest my discourse swell beyond the bounds i intended it . 3. saith he , because it is safer to believe the nature of the soul to be according to the analogy of faith , and the concurrent opinion of the learned , than to sift such a deep question by our weak understanding and reason . i hope he is not of the opinion of atheo-pol . that theology and reason have two distinct and separate kingdoms , between which there is no commerce or affinity ; viz. reason , the kingdom of truth , and sapience ; theology , of piety and obedience only ; and accordingly , that our faith requires not vera , sed pia dogmata . — but i rather constre this as an expression of his tenderness and modesty only . and y●t , as deep a q●estion as this is , he tells us elsewhere , the unanimous consent of all men ( which is more than the concurrent opinion of the learned ) hath agreed it , as i shewed before ; whatever become of solomon's who knoweth ? in the precedent reason . and we find him not so over-shy , as here he would seem , of si●ting some questions of as deep philosophy to the full as this ; such as that , towards the close of his book , of the astral spirit , and the efficacy of charms by astral influences , &c. but is it in good earnest , a deeper enquiry to look into the nature of our own spirit , which we are most privy to , [ for who knoweth the things of a man , but the spirit of man which is in him ? ] than to search into the nature of angelical spirits without us ? is not that candle of the lord , our weak understanding and reason , more like to discover somewhat within doors , than to administer any steady light abroad , where the stronger winds of uncertainty and opposition puff and blow about it ? or lastly , is there not as much of the analogy of faith , and the concurrent opinion of the learned about the angels , as about the humane soul ? i conclude therefore from the premises , that there was no reason at all why he should thus , once for all , exclude and except forth the humane and rational soul , as not to be comprized in the same limits with angelical spirits , unless this only , that it was like to prove unserviceable to his cause , nay an irreconcileable enemy to it . and so i come at length more directly to reflect upon what he discourseth of the nature of angels ; which yet i should not at all have concern'd my self with , were not his arguments levell'd against their incorporeity , as a thing utterly inconceiveable , which we can in no wise understand : or , if they proved no more but this , that angels have certain vehicles or bodies joyned to them , as the humane soul hath , though of a more noble and refined sort ; to which purpose i'have also granted somewhat in the precedent treatife , ch. 11. § . 1. but he seems to me confused in his own understanding about them , and therefore he shuffles , or blunders , in the stating of this question ; making it all one to prove , that angels are corporeal , and that they have bodies or vehicles joyned to them ; whereas there is an apparent difference between these two , and the one may securely enough be granted , as by many it is , where the other is yet denied . take his own words . as much , saith he , as we contend for , is granted by dr. more , in these words ; [ for i look upon angels to be as truly a compound being , consisting of soul and body , as that of men and brutes — ] and therefore , saith he , they must needs have an internum and externum , as the learned and christian philosopher doctor fludd doth affirm , in these words : certum est igitu● inesse ipsis ( sc. angelis ) aliud quod agit , aliud autem quod patitur ; nec verò illud , secundum quod agunt , aliud quam actus esse poterit , qui forma dicitur ; neque ●tiam illud , secundum quod patiuntur , est quicquam praeter potentiam , haec autem materia appellatur . so much the less reason still , say i , to exclude the humane soul from this enquiry : but if this were all , he needed not to have taken so much pains about it , being done to his hands ; or he might have spared at least those arguments , which prove somewhat more , if they prove any thing . he might have kept those arrows by him , which are shot besides and beyond this mark. [ these arguments do sufficiently and evidently prove , that angels are either corporeal , or have bodies united to them , which is all one to our purpose , whether way soever it be taken . ] and again , [ we have sufficiently proved , saith he , that they are corporeal , that is , that they have bodies naturally united to them ; and so have an internum , or moving power , and an externum , or a part moved . to me therefore he seems to hide himself only , and darken the business by those terms of simply and absolutely incorporeal , which are so usual with him , and the only retreat he hath , upon occasion , to betake himself unto . to be short , that which i search after , is th● internum in angels , or pars movens , or actus , or forma , illud quod agit , in dr. flud's philosophy , or the spiritual part of these compound beings , or whatever name he please to call it by , what that is : and if we can once find out that , as we have already the humane soul , incorporeal and capable of self-subsisting , what will become of that which he affirms so dogmatically , that our faculties cannot conceive of an incorporeal being ? — but now let us see the scuffle , and how demonstratively he lays about him . 1. saith he , we lay it down for a most certain and granted truth , that god simply and absolutely is only a most simple spirit , in whom there is no corporeity , nor composition at all : and , what other things soever , are call'd or accounted spirits , are but so in a relative and respective consideration , and not in a simple and absolute acceptation . and this is the unanimous tenent of fathers , school-men , and all other orthodox divines , agreeing with the plain and clear words of scripture , as , god is a spirit , and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth . and again , now the lord is that spirit . — that god is a spirit , ( whatever some dispute ) is , i grant , affirmed in holy scripture ; and , that he is the most simple and excellent spirit , i as readily believe . but it is no-where in our bible said , that god is the only spirit ; or that there are no other spirits , but god. in the very same verse , which asserts god to be a spirit , we also are allowed a spirit too , to serve and worship him in . and , if we once take the liberty to turn all other spirits , so call'd , into bodies ; i doubt the incorporeity of the godhead will be hardly defensible by it self : because , though he be never so plainly and clearly named a spirit in sacred writ , yet , for all that , according to our author 's reasoning , he may be really corporeal , since other beings , that are also stiled spirits there , are avouched so to be . but in truth a corporeal deity , is a dull and strange idea of that omniperfect being ; and the very next step unto down-right atheism , or the denial of him . for then he should be divisible , as our author rightly notes , which he is not , nor can be , &c. well , it is generally agreed among us , that god is a spirit , a true spirit , and the most perfect spirit , and so absolutely of himself , necessarily-existent , increate , and independent ; and most simply and purely such , without all manner of composition , so much as that metaphysical one of actus & potentia , allowed by the schools to angels , being immutable . it follows then from hence , [ si deus est animus — ] that we are able to conceive and frame a notion of a most simple and pure spirit , wherein there is no corporeity : for , otherwise , ( as i have before mentioned ) we affirm of god , we know not what ; and that , which , for ought we understand , might be as well denied , as affirmed of him . but then , that there are no created and dependent spirits properly so called , no incorporeal beings in the universe besides in a simple acceptation , but only so accounted in a relative and respective consideration , hath no evidence at all from hence . 2. therefore , saith he , we shall lay down this following proposition , that angels , being created substances , are not simply and absolutely incorporeal ; but if they be by any called or accounted spirits , can but be in a relative and respective sense , but that really and truly they are corporeal . and this we shall labour to make good , not only by shewing the absurdities of that opinion of their being simply spiritual , but by laying open the unintelligibility of that opinion — that angels are not , cannot be such spirits in perfection as god is , every one will grant : but are they not therefore truly spirits ? doth not holy scripture plainly and clearly call them spirits , as well as it doth god ? are they not all ministring spirits ? is not angel and spirit equivalent there ? as i have noted in the foregoing treatise , ch. 1. sect. 1. — or dare he presume to limit the almighty ? and say of the omnipotent god , to whom all things are possible , that he cannot create a truly incorporeal , as well as a corporeal substance ? is the one more unintelligible to us , than the other ? are all created substances therefore of necessity corporeal ? — how is god then the father of spirits ? how is the soul of man [ a created substance for certain , inspired by god ] yet a pure , immaterial , and incorporeal spirit , as hath been plentifully acknowledged ? nay , what will become of the internum & actus of angels too ? — he himself , how consonantly to his own arguings i cannot tell , doth else-where seem to assert the devils or evil angels to be wholly or merely spiritual , in opposition to corporeal . the scriptures , saith he , do fully and abundantly inform us of the devil 's spiritual and invisible power . — it is a spiritual , not a carnal , corporeal , or bodily armour , because the warfare is not against flesh and blood , but against spiritual wickedness in high places . against spiritual enemies , not against corporeal and carnal ones . for as the enemies are , and the warfare , so are the armor and weapons . — ' satan and his spiritual army . ' no other kind of assaults but merely spiritual . must not these enemies now spoken of , the devils , be concluded merely spiritual , if they are as their assaults ? or , if our spiritual weapons of truth , and faith , and hope , &c. are suitable to their nature ? or , will he at last change these into bodies too ? — and if the evil angels are merely spiritual , why should the good here be corporeal ? the only reason , i think , of his inconstancy is zeal and eagerness to serve his present hypothesis . there he was to oppose the tenet of a corporeal league with the devil , &c. here he is to defend that all created substances are corporeal . — but really he is concern'd , as much as any man , to solve or confute his own arguments . i will only touch upon the principal of them , wherein his greatest strength and confidence lies , and suggest responsions , ( if i may borrow that word so frequent in his book ) as i pass along . if the angelical nature , saith he , were simply and absolutely spiritual and incorporeal , then they would be of the same essential identity with god , which is simply impossible . for the angels were not created forth of any part of god's essence ; for then he should be divisible , which he is not nor can be , his essence being simplicity , unity , and identity it self ; and therefore the angels must of necessity be of an essence of alterity , and different from the essence of god. — this is such a piece of sublime gibberish , as might tempt one to return back the epithet , which he bestows upon suarius , ( as he calls him ) ' the great weaver of fruitless cobwebs . — at this rate of arguing , like a metaphysical mountebank , he might prove every creature , as well as angels , to be god , and of the same essential identity with god ; because every creature partakes of some real excellency or other communicated from god ; and all excellencies , as well as incorporeity , [ unum , verum , bonum , ] are of and in god ; and all that is in god , is god. — the soul of man , doubtless , was breathed in by god , and in a peculiar manner after the image of ●od , according to the holy scriptures ; and th● spirits of just men made perfect are partakers of a divine nature ; and angels there too are the sons of god , who is , as hath been often remembred , the father of spirits . but will any one therefore be so mad as to say , these have god's essential identity , as he phraseth it , or no alterity to distinguish them from the essence of god ? do not uncreate and created , infinite and finite , independent and dependent , &c. set these spirits and the father of them far enough asunder ? or is eternal and necessary existence and essential attribute of the idea of spirit ? — this then is too weak and sandy a foundation to support that fabrick which he builds upon it , that [ if men will trust their own cogitations and faculties rightly disposed , and not vitiated , then they must believe that angels are corporeal , and not meerly and simply spirits , for absolutely nothing is so but god only . ] again , saith he , if angels be simply incorporeal , then they can cause no physical or local motion at all ; because nothing can be moved but by contact , and that must be immediate or vertual contact ; for the maxim is certain , quicquid agit , agit vel mediatione suppositi , as when one's hand doth immediately touch a thing , and so move it , vel mediatione virtutis , as when a man with a rod or line doth draw a thing forth of water . both of these do require a corporeal contact . — but what is absolutely incorporeal hath no superficies , &c. and this is an argument he seems to triumph in , as a mathematician in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : therefore is he pleased so much to repeat it : for so he had said before ; [ if the devil be consider'd as an incorporeal nature , simply and absolutely ; then it will follow , low , that he cannot act upon any corporeal matter ; because an incorporeal substance can make no contact upon a body , unless it were it self corporeal . for quicquid agit , agit per contactum , vel mediatum , vel immediatum ; but both these are caused by the touch of one body upon another . — but that which is meerly incorporeal , can perform neither . ] and again ; [ i take it , saith he , to be one of the most firm maxims that ever the schools had , that immateriale non agit in materiale , nisi eminenter , ut deus . ] which al●o he cites again in another place . now the leading mistake in all this philophizing , is the inept applying of the rules and laws , proper and peculiar unto bodies , unto spirits also . tangere enim & tangi , nisi corpus , nulla potest res . as before we observed his confounding of imagination and intellect . — and indeed he seems to allow of no mental notions or apprehensions , which do not first strike upon the senses . and this is that which makes him place the idea of spirits or incorporeal beings among the unintelligibles . [ the substance of a created spirit , conceived as immaterial and incorporeal , must of necessity be utterly inconceiveable to any of our faculties : ] elegant ! conceived as immaterial and incorporeal , and yet at the same time utterly inconceiveable . — but passing that , hear we his reason : [ because it hath no effects , operations , or modifications , that can or do operate upon our senses ] this is gratìs dictum . but the general importance of it relies upon another school-maxim , which i wonder that h● forgets to quote to us . [ nihil est in intellectu , quod non priùs fuerat in sensu . ] and i could furnish him with more to this purpose . — but now , what will become of the poor humane soul among the rest of its fraternity of spirits , which is , as he hath told us , by the unanimous consent of all men , as well as divine authority , a spiritual and pure , immaterial and incorporeal , and to be sure created substance ? how come men to an unanimous consent in a notion utterly unintelligible and unconceiveable ? — nay , what will become of all the spiritual and invisible world ? — well , but the great difficulty remains : how can an immaterial act upon or move a material ? this certainly is nodus vindice dignus . but what if there be no oedipus to unriddle it to us ? what if neither we , nor any body else can sufficiently explain it ? it is no more than that ignorance we must be contented with in other matters of occult philosophy , where we subscribe often to the thing , though we cannot declare the manner of it . our author himself , in other cases , trains us up to this degree of modesty and humility : [ the ultimate sphere of natures activity and ability , saith he , is not perfectly known . ] [ and as it is thus in general , saith he , so in many particulars : we are ignorant of many natural agents that do work at a great distance , and very remotely , both to help and to hurt ; the weapon-salve , the sympathetick-powder , the curing of diseases by mumial applications , by amulets , appensions , and transplantation , which all have been , and commonly are ascribed unto satan , when they are truly wrought , saith he , by natural operation . ] but he cannot satisfie himself , or others , i presume , by what contact , mediate or immediate , of suppositum or virtus , all these are performed . — or by what influence of the stars , quibus nota sunt omnia , quae in naturâ existunt ; [ as he tells us out of paracelsus and his mystical authors , for whose vain traditional fancies he hath a profound veneration , whatever he hath for doctor hammond's ] or , under what right and favourable constellations , words , charms , images , and characters do receive their energy and vertue . — or , how certain celestial vertues and actions are sown into gems , from whence they afterwards spring up no otherwise than seed , which doth fall from a tree , and doth regerminate . though here , i confess , he hath some advantage from a speculation of phantasms . quid te fatigas haec minuta scrutando ? pernice pennâ fretus , icari more , scrutare potius digna mentis alatae . one great means , saith he elsewhere , of advancing those tenents [ of witch-craft , &c. ] hath been men's supine negligence in not searching into , and experimenting the power of natural agents , but resting satisfied in the sleepy notions of general rules , and speculative philosophy , by which means a general prejudice hath been created against the most occult operations of nature , and natural magick . — and may we not here retort this supine negligence upon himself , in not observing the common experience , which he and every one else hath of the incorporeal spirit within him , actuating and moving of the body , whilst he industriously opposeth this common experience by sleepy notions of general rules , and speculative philosophy , concerning bodie , ill adapted unto spirits , and their way of operation ? it is enough , that we have this domestick argument of our own experience in the case to oppose to all his subtil arguings : as to a sceptick , disputing against the possibility of motion , it were a sufficient and silencing confutation , to move from him , and turn away . let him resolve us , how god who is a spirit , the most simple and pure spirit , acts upon matter ; how the spirit of god moved upon the waters , &c. for the word eminenter is not intelligible enough to our faculty to be englished . but because this is too hard a task , let him resolve us , how the immaterial and incorporeal soul of man moveth upon the body , or it 's corporeal and animal spirits ; or by what gluten , or vinculum , and contact of superficies it is united to it's body ; or how the body , vice versa , works upon and affects the immaterial soul , which yet , as to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or quod sit , are matters of common sense , and universal experience . — nam corpus onustum hesternis vitiis animum quoque praegravat una . let him resolve us , how the internum or moving part of angels acts upon the externum , or part moved , — and we shall soon be able to return him a satisfactory answer to this curious question , how an immaterial can operate upon , and move a material ? but , in the mean while , it is unreasonable to disclaim a certain truth , because we cannot give account of the quomodo , or manner of it . and this is also abundant answer to another of his puissant arguments . [ if angels , saith he , be absolutely incorporeal , then they cannot be contained , or circumscribed in place , and consequently can perform no operation in physical things . ] contained and circumscribed in place are corporeal phantasmes , and so is place it self , as he describes it , proper unto bodies . but let him tell us , how the incorporeal spirit of man is in it's body , and that so as to perform undeniably physical operations there , and we shall soon inform him of the vbi of angels , and their definitive being in it . let us see briefly , whether he hath better success from scripture than from reason , and i have done . [ the scripture , saith he , informeth us , that in , or at the resurrection , the bodies of men shall be as the angels that are in heaven : sicut angeli , mark 12.25 . now this analogy , comparison or assimilation would be altogether false , if angels had no bodies at all , but were meerly incorporeal . then it would follow , that bodies after the resurrection were made pure spirits , and so ceased to be bodies ; which is false , according to the doctrine of s. paul , who sheweth us plainly , that after the resurrection they are changed in qualities into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , spiritual bodies . — 1 cor. 15.44 . — from whence we conclude , that angels have bodies , and that they are pure spiritual ones . ] i will not dispute against the matter of his conclusion , viz. that angels have bodies , and that those bodies are pure and refined , such as he calls spiritual ones : for my concern is only to defend , that they are nevertheless incorporeal beings , as the humane soul is , though united to a grosser body . but yet i must add a word or two of his scripture-premises . and first here is violence offer'd to the text of our b. saviour , by foisting in the word bodies to it ; for the text is only thus , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] when they shall rise from the dead , they neither marry , nor are given in marriage , but are as the angels which are in heaven . — and it is known well enough to be our saviours answer to the question propounded concerning the woman which had had seven husbands , in the resurrection , whose wife shall she be of the seven ? elsewhere , i remember , our author puts in souls instead of his bodies here . [ the word of god doth particularly teach us the state and condition of souls after death , that they shall be like the angels in heaven . ] but whatever truth there may be in either proposition apart , and by it self , the h. text , i am sure , mentions neither bodies nor souls : and if it did , we must not stretch similitudes to make them argumentative beyond the thing they are brought for . they run not , we say , on all four . it is enough that our b. saviour there resolves us , that we [ whether in body , or soul , or both ] shall at the resurrection be like unto the angels in heaven in immortality , and an estrangement from the sensual inclinations and entertainments of this present imperfect state , such as marrying , and giving in marriage . — and we may be like the angels in many perfections , as we are said to be like to god himself , though they should have no bodies ; so that , even upon that supposal , this analogy , comparison or assimilation ( as he speaks ) would not be altogether false ; nor would it follow , that bodies after the resurrection are made pure spirits , and cease to be bodies , as he infers . secondly , for saint paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or , spiritual bodies . ] though upon the supposition , that angels have bodies , which for my part i gain-say not , it may be an ingenious translation , [ such bodies as spirits or angels have ; ] yet it is sufficient to the purpose of the apostle there , that our bodies are participant of the spiritual perfection of immortality . or , put on immortality , ver. 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] quod ad tempus vivit dum anima adest . anima est vox hujus vitae — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] habens in se vice animae spiritum immutabilem , &c. ] grot. in loc. [ see ch. 3. sect. 3. of the fore-going treatise . ] and so he cannot conclude from hence , that angels have bodies . that i be not over-tedious , i will end all with some few reflections upon that noted text of the psalmist , who maketh his angels spirits , and his ministers a flaming fire , psalm 104.4 . from whence , saith our author , the persons of the other opinion , such as aquinas and the rest of the scholastick rabble , would positively conclude , that they are spirits and absolutely incorporeal ; but fail of their purpose for these clear reasons . — his clear reasons i shall examine anon , when we have first viewed the text it self . i can scarce pass over that rude and detracting term of scholastic rabble . he should have been obliged , i think to a greater sweetness and civility to those , whom he owes so much to , and of whom he hath borrowed the chief ornaments of his book , as to this subject ; those dear maxim's i mean , which he relies so much upon , [ imagina●io non transcendit continuum . quicquid agit , agit vel mediatione suppositi vel virtutis ; per contactum immediatum aut mediatum . immateriale non agit in materiale , nisi eminent●r ut deus . ] and , not to immind him of his own essential identity , and alteri●y , he can easily match their most bombast and barbarous terms among his occult and magical sophies . but to the matter before us . it is confess'd that the original word sometim●s signifies winds as well as spirits ; and the hebrew doctors so read it † . ventos angelos suos ] non ex accidente spirant , sed sunt dei nuncii . ignem ardentem ] fulgura . so r. david * . and munst●r translates it , facit fl●tus nuncios suos , & ignem flagrantem ministros suos , q. d. violent and sudden winds to execute his commands , and fire performs his pleasure : fulfilling his word , ps. 148.8 . and this is a great truth . but the holy ghost in hebr. 1.7 . as master ainsworth well notes , shews it to be spoken by the psalmist of angels properly , who are named ministring spirits , ver. 14. and our physician allows , [ the author of the epistle to hebrews must needs be taken for the best expositor of the words . ] yet among those , that conceive them of angels , properly so call'd , there is some difference . some refer them to the respective vehicles of angels , either aereal , ( for wind is but air in motion ) or aethereal and ign●ous . thus grotius , [ sunt enim angelorum alii acrei , alii ignei . angelis corpora sed subtilissima non pythagorae tantùm & platonis schola sensit , sed & judaei veteres , & veteres christiani . ] and to the same effect doctor hammond paraphraseth , [ who , though he be able to do all things by himself to administer the whole world , as he first created it , by a word , by saying , and it was done ; yet is he pleased to make use of the ministry of angels , who some of them in subtile bodies of air , others of fire , come down and execute his commands here upon earth . ] and in his annotations he tell us , [ as angels and ministers are but several names of the same divine creatures , so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and fire are but expressions of the several appearances of them , sometimes in airy , sometimes in flaming clouds , — ] and hence i suppose , b●za in his marginal notes to hebr. 1.7 . puts cherub with ps. 18.11 . and s●raph with isa. 6.2 . — iunius and tremell●us interpret it , [ angelis utitur nunciis , administrisque voluntatis & judiciorum suorum , adcò commodè ut ventis & igne uti solet . ] he useth angels for messengers and ministers of his will and iudgments , as readily , as he is wont to do winds and fire . — and to this same effect our author chuseth to sense it , [ as the winds , which is but a strong motion in the air , and the shining of flaming fire , are two of the most agile , and operative agents , that are known to us in nature ; so the angels and christ's ministers are strong , quick , an● most nimble , and powerful in performing their offices and administrations . ] for my part , i see not any considerable inconvenience in these expositions , unless where men will dogmatize with this author , and say the words cannot otherwise be rationally understood . — and the nature of angels may be yet incorporeal for all these vehicles assigned them ; or notwithstanding the comparison of their operations to those most powerful and subtile agents among bodies , wind and flame . our god , who is a spirit , most simple and absolute , is also said to be a consuming fire , hebr. 12.29 . who maketh his angels spirits ] i. e. saith master ainsworth , spiritual substances . so differing from christ , who is no made or created spirit , but the maker of all things . — and his ministers a flaming fire , ] i. e. effectual in their administrations . whence the angels have appeared like horses and chariots of fire . — and saint augustine , who was none of the scholastick rabble , finds here both nature and office of these celestial creatures . [ quaeris nomen ejus naturae ? spiritus est . quaeris officium ? angelus est . ex eo quod est , spiritus est . ex eo quod agit , angelus . enuarat . in ps. ] see ch. 11. sect. 1. of the fore-going treatise . the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; saith doctor ●ouge , [ whose judgment possibly may bear some sway with him , as he tells us , master baxter's doth , with other reformed and orthodoxal divines , such as tread not in the steps of arminius , true sons of the doctrine of church of england ] intimates two things . 1. creation . so god is said to have rested from all his works , which he had made , gen. 2.2 . and to have made heaven and earth , revel . 14.7 . is meant created . 2. ordination or disposing things to this or that use . — and in both senses is this phrase . [ he maketh ] here used . he maketh them spirits , that is , he createth them spiritual substances . he maketh them a flame of fire , that is , he ordereth and disposeth them to be as a flame of fire in doing his will. ] now let us hear our author 's clear reasons against this later way of interpretation . 1. saith he , the text there cannot be rationally understood of their creation , or of their creaturely nature , but of their offices and administrations , because the word used there is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to create or form forth of nothing , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , fecit , that is by ordering them in their offices and administrations . and again the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not always , or of necessity , signifie an incorporeal thing , but that which is a body , as the winds , &c. with all becoming deference to his skill in the hebrew lan●uage [ whereof and greek , he hath been a ' teacher in his younger years , as he acquaints us ] the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , fecit , is sometimes us●d for creation , as i noted even now out of doctor gouge : and maker of all things , in our creed , is as much as creator : and therefore so also it may be taken by us here . and so theodoret , none of th● sc●olastick rabble neither , understands it , alledging this for a proof of the angels creation . and so the arabick version reads it , qui creavit . and thoug● the other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not always and of necessity signifie an incorporeal thing , 't is enough to decline the force of this reason of his , that sometimes it doth signifie such , and possibly may do so . and the arabick , if vicars in his decapla have rightly noted , is absque corpore . but the author of the epistle to the hebr●ws , ( as he adds ) must needs be taken for the best expositor of these words , who doth quote them only for this purpose , to prove that christ in dignity and office is far above the angels , who are all order'd to serve and obey him , and are by their offices all but ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them , who shall be heirs of salvation . by which it is manifest , that this place is to be understood of their ministrations and offices , and not of their nature and substances . i readily consent with him , that the author to the hebrews is certainly the best expositor ; but then i positively deny , that he quotes them only to shew christs superiority in office above the angels . for his design there is to manifest our blessed saviour to be superior to them in nature as well as office ; as god above these creatures , who are the best of creatures , as well as lord above these ministers . but to the son , he saith , thy throne , o god , — as it follows immediately , ver. 8. by way of opposition to what is here said of angels . — and so it is far enough from being manifest , as he avers , that this place is not to be understood as inclusive of the nature and substance of angels , their creaturely nature , but of their ministration and offices only . he yet adds , 2. they can no more be merely and literally said to be spirits , understanding spirit to intend an absolute incorporeal substance , than his ministers can be literally understood to be a flaming fire . they must either be both literally true , which is absolutely absurd ; or else this word must have a metaphorical interpretation , as they ( he means i suppose , the other words ) may and must have . — now i find nothing in this clear reason , but clear confidence , which asserts boldly , but proves nothing , and may therefore be answer'd by as bare a denial , or saying , that there is no must in the case , but the words may still be otherwise understood . for why may not one word or sentence in the same period be literally true , and the other metaphorical ; and so accordingly intended ? or , what , if we should transpose the subjects and predicates , as some do ? who maketh spirits his angels , and flaming fire his ministers . then both may be literally true without the least impeaching of angels incorporeity . or , what , if we should affirm both were literally true , only with this different respect , the former to the internum of angels , the later to their ●xternum , the former to their intrinsick nature , the later to their subtile vehicles ? or , what , if we should render it , by a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , who maketh his ministring angels spirits , cloathed with aetherial bodies . or , who maketh spirits cloathed with flame-like vehicles , his ministring angels . i mention these things , only by way of instance , to declare , that there are divers ways of escaping his clear reasons in this matter without any absolute absurdity . and now i leave it to the christian readers judgment to chuse his interpretation of these words , and pronounce of the whole controversie , as he sees cause . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a32847-e230 ● . gellius noct. att. l. 11. c. 8. notes for div a32847-e2220 ver. 13 ▪ baldwin . in proaem . l. 3. de cas . consc . luk. 7.24 . * hobbs p●●s . pa●t 4. c. 25. art. 9. ie●●athan ▪ c. 34. tract . theol. pol. c. 4. p. 73. † h. nic●olas , cited by dr. more , myst. of godli●ess . b. 6. c. 17. s. 4. vide por●●● episcop . instit th●ol . l. 4. c. 2. et zanch. de operib . dei , pa●t 1. l. 2. c. 2. e● p. ra●● comment . de f●de . l. 1. c. 6. grot. in loc . id. ibid. antiq. lib 13. c. 18 cited by dr. templer in his idea theol. lev●ath . p. 135. cameron in loc . di●s ▪ xxvi . ibid. s. matth. 22.29 . s. ma●k● 12.24 . psal. 8.6 . s. matth. 6.26 . † 1. cor. 9.9 , 10. iob 18. ● . chap. 35.10 , 11. meta●orphos . l. 1. de benef. l. 6. c. 25. in pythag. carm. dissert ▪ lib. 1. cap. 3. psal. 8.5 . hebr. 2.7.9 . s. matth. 24.36 . 2 s. pet. 2.11 . ps. 78.25 . 1 co●inth . 13.1 . ●●ts 6.15 . malac● . 2.7 . iudges 2. h●gga● 1.13 . munster . in malac● . ● . 1 . malach ▪ 3.1 . s. mark. 1.2 . iust. martyr dial. cum trypho●e passim . novatian . de trin. c. 26 , & 27. athanas . contra arrianos orat 4. chamier . panstrat . tom. 2. l. 20. c. 2. &c. gal. 4.14 . rev. 2. & ch. 3. diss. de episc. c. 4.4 , & 5. & vi●dic . s. 1 , 2 , &c. 2 sam. 14.17 , 20. s. matth. 22.30 . s. mark. 20.26 . in pythag. carm. de resurr . ● . 26. ser. 1. of the na●i●●ty . ps 8.5 . — 89.7.8.97.7 . contra c●●sum l. 5. p. 233. suarez . metaph. disp. ●5 . s●ct . 1. d. august de civi● . d●● l. 12. c. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . epist. 1 11. lact. iust●punc ; l. 1. c. 5. diss. 26 ▪ 27. enarrat● in ps. 103. hebr. 1.7 . ps. 104.4 . j. lipsius physiol . stoic . l. 1. diss. 20. apol. c. ●2 . leviathan . c. 12. & 46. hum. nat. c. 11. art. 4. dr. m●r● of the immortality of the soul. l. 1. contra haeret. inter eranistem & orthodoxum . dialog . 2. s. luke 24.39 . vide grot. in loc . max. tyr. dissert . xxvii . dr. templer . ide● th. l●viat . p. 137. dr. h. in loc . ephes. 6.12 . 1 cor. 2.11 . gal. 5.17 ▪ 1 thess. 5.23 . vid. lact. de opific . dei , c. 20. & cic. in ●omnio scipion. * eccles. 12.7 . inter minores poetas . lib. 2. de nat. rerum . s. luke 24.46 . h●br . 12.23 . max. tyt. diss. 1. id. ibid. s. ioh. 4.24 . balbus apud ciceronem de nat. deor . lib. 2. lactant. instit. l. 1. c. 5. vid. auth. quest. & resp ad oribod . apud just. martyr . p. 203. l. de ascens . mentis ad deum . immortal . of the soul. l. 2. c. 17. s. 4 , & 8. plutarch . de placit . l. 1. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . de defect . ora● . de deo socratis . ibid. ibid. de civit . dei l. 8. c. 16. b. fulg●nt . ad thrasymund . l. 3. de passione domini p. 553. & iterum p. 555. odyss . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . drusius in gen. 18 , p. fagius in gen. 19. tobit 12.19 . de civ . dei , l. 13. c. 22 , divin . decret . epit. c. quòd dominus susceperit corpus . mr. mede● . 1. disc. 7. de civit . dei , l. 9. ● . 5 . hom. 4. de dei naturâ . vide carranzae summam vii . gen. nicen. concil ▪ ai●sw●rth on gen. 1.1 . l. 3 , de nat . r●rum . s. mark ● . 15 . col. 1. ●6 . theodore● . divin . decret . epit . de angelis . theophylact . in loc . psal. 148.5 , 6. de civit. dei l. 11. c. 9. job 1 . 6.2.1.3●.4 . in pytha● . carm. diss. 1. hebr. 12.9 . lactant. instit . l. 1. c. 7. 1 tim. 1.17 . dr. ham , in loc. dvin . decret . epit. de aeonibus . vide dr●sium in hebr. 1.2 . tract . theol. pol. c. 17. p. 280. tatian . orat . contra graecos . job 3● . 4.7 . rev. 22.16 . de civit. dei l. 11. c. 19. concil . lateran . 1. de fide catholicâ vid● lips. physiol . stoic . l. 1. diss ▪ 20. lactant. instit . l. 1. ● . 5. de civit. dei l. 11. c. 19. ps. 33.6 . dr. pearson on the creed p. 53 zanch , de oper . dei , part ▪ 1. l. 2. c. 1 ▪ lips. physiol . stoic ▪ l. 1. diss. 18. damascen . de orth. fide l. 2. c. 3 ▪ 2 s. pet. 2.4 . s. j●de 6. apol. 1. p. 45. d. tho. part . 1. q. 14. art. 1. ainsworth in loc . hierocles in pythag. carm. lactant. instit . l. 2. c. 15. d. aust. de civ . dei , l. 9. c. 22. revel . 4.6 . job 12.12 isa. 41.23 . a. gell ▪ noct. att. l. 14. c. 1. wisd. 9.16 de oper. dei part . 1. l. 3. c. 5 & 6. isa. 31.3 ▪ 2 thess. 1.7 . revel . ● . 2 ps. 103.26 . 2 s. pet ▪ 2.11 . gen. 32.1 , 2. vide munster . & p. fag . in loc . quaest. super genes . exod. 12 ▪ 23.29 . 2 kings 19 ▪ 35. dan. 3. ch. 6. act. 12. serm. 2. de pasch. lactant. instit. l. 2. c. 17. p● ▪ 104.4 . v. 3. fulminis ocyor alis . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , l. 1 ▪ dissert . xxvi . orat. contra g●●ecos . ibid. dialog . 3. s luk● 12.4 . s. luke 20.34.35 , 36. 1 cor. 15.44 . vid. p. rami praelect . in somn . scipionis , p. 574. de orthod . fide ut ante cit . vid. po●phyr ▪ de abstin . l ▪ 2. s. 37 ▪ s. i●h● 8.44 . 1 ep. 3.8 . 2 s. pet. 2.4 . s. iude 6. divin . decret . epit . de diab . & daemonibus . vide lips. physiol . stoic . l. 1. diss. 20. o●hocasm . angelogr . p. 2. c. 1. divin . decret . epit . de ang●lis . s. matt. 4.11 . act. 5.19 . s. matt. 25.31 . & 24.36 . 2 cor. 11.14 . 1 tim. 5.21 . s. luke 8.2 9.42 . 2 s. pet. 2.4 . s. matth. 25.41 . eph●s . 6. metaphys . p. 4. q. 4. part 1. q. 63. art. 9. aristot. dan. 12. revel . 12. tobit . 8.3 . revel . 20.1 , 2. s. matth. ●6 . 53 . i●b 25.3 . ●eps . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 1. lactant. instit . l. 1. c. 7. max. tyr. diss. 1 metaph. disp. 35. s. 1. d. aug. & hieron . vide zanch. de operib . part . 1. l. ● . c. 13. * part. 1. q. 50. art. 3. lacta●t . instit. l. 2. c. 15. vid. d. aug. de civ . dei , l. 11. c. 15. & zanch. de operi● . dei , part . 1. l. 2. c. ● . id. l. 4. c. 2. s●rom . 6. zanch. de oper. dei part . 1. l. 3. c. 1. comment . in ezech. 28. zanch. de oper. dei part . 1. l. 2. c. 1. p. fagius in gen. 3.24 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cameron . in col. 1.16 . d. th● . part . 1. q. 108. art. ● . see z●nch . ●e oper. dei part . 1. l. 2. c. 14. exercit. in ep. ad trall . ● . 8. l. valla in apoc. 4.3 . in vall. ibid. zanch. de oper. dei part . 1. l. 4. c. 17. otho-casm . a●gelogr .. part . 2. c. 26. balduin . de cas. consc. l. 3. c. 2. qui citat . e theatro diabol . p. 1. maimo●id . in misnae tract . 1. c. 2. s. 7. i. cappell . in hebr. 1.14 . vide episcop . instit. theol. l. 4. zanch. de oper. dei part . 1. l. 2. c. 14. otho-casm . angelogr . part . 2. c. 8. q. 1. * d. tho. part. 1. q. 112. art , 2 & 3. 〈…〉 ench●rid . c. 58. mentes funt ministerio destinatae ] erasm. par . in loc. see hi● par. and annotat. see mr. mede on eccles 5.1 . vatablus in ps. 34. see exod. ch . 25. ch . 36. ch . 37. 1 kings 6. gro● . in 1 cor. 11 ▪ 1● . hom. 26. in ● cor. hom. 4. de incompr . dei nat . hom. 36. in 1 cor. hom. 4. de incompr . dei nat . hom. 15. in ep. ad . hebr. soc. l. 6. c. 8. medit. c. 25. l. de com . essent . patr. fil. & spi. sancti . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. 1. d. i gerhard med. xxvi . fr. spa●bem . dub. evangel . de ascens . domini . zanch. de oper. dei par . 1. l. 3. c. 1. see rev●l . 7.1 . p. fag . in genes . 18.2 . suarez metaph. disp. 35. s. 3. & s. 6. zanch. de oper. dei part . 1. l. 2. * ch. 11. sect . 11. in timao . vide rhodigini lect. antiq . l. 2. c. 10. orig. contra celsum l. 8. p. 398. vide suarez , ut antè , & lips. phys. sto . l. 1. diss. 20. vatab. in dan. c. 10. &c. 12. in ezech. 28. grot. in s. matt. c. 18 . 1● . ainsworth in deut. 32.8 . divin . decret . epitom . hom. 60. in s. matt. 18. l. gyrald . syntagm . 15. suet. in calig . d. th● . part . 1. q. 13. art. ● . dub. e●a●gel . lx●i . za●ch . de oper. dei part 1. l. 3. c ▪ 15. ibid. id. l. 2. c. 1. de oper. dei part . 1. l. 3. c. 15. in s. matt. 18. l. med. c. 12. tract . 5. in s. matt. cit . à balduino de cas . consc . l. 3. dr. more antidot . against atheism . l. 3. c. 14. alexand. ab alexandr● genial . dier . l. 6. c. 4. hom. 12. in s. luk. epist. 3. al●x . ab alex. ubi supr● . zanch. de oper. dei part . 1. l. 3. c. 15. baldui● . de cas . consc . l. 3. c. 1. otho-casm . angelogr . p. 2. c. 7. q. 1. see ai●s . worth in ps 34. and ps. 8. see befor● sect. 1. of this ch ▪ dan. 9. s. luke 1. acts. 5s 19 , 20. d. tho. part . 1. q. 113. art. 4. & ● ▪ te●a in ep. ad . hebr. grot. in s. matt. 18.10 . d. i. gerhard med. xxvi . vide apud tenam in ep. ad . heb. vide lips. phys. stoic . l. 1. diss. 19. zanch. de oper. dei par . 1. l. 3. c. 14. b●lduin . cas. consc. l. 3. c. 1. i. vide ce●●●is tabulam . † sect 1. of this ch. † sect. 11 ▪ of this ch. * ibid. † ch. 1. sect. 11. de oper. dei par . 1. l. 3. c. 14. † ch. 2. sect. 3. vide tenam in ep. ad hebr. & othoca●m . angelogr . part 2. c. 7. v. 6. iosephus de bello judaico ▪ l. 2. c. 12. † sect. 2. melanchton , comment . in dan. c. 10. id. ibid. antidote against atheism . l. 3. ch . 13. of divine dreams , p. 120 , &c. ibid. apul. de deo socratis . † ● ch. 1. ●ect . 2. † sect. 2● . of this c● . † ch. 2. sect . 3. exercit. sacr. in nonnum . ● . 20. l. 1. s. 17. † sect. 2 ▪ of this ch. and before in this section . angelin . gazaeus angelo custodi . d. i. ge●hard . med : sacr. de animâ c. 52. soliloq . ● . 27. vid. max. tyrium diss. xxvi . solil . c. 27. l. 8. s. 50. l. 7. s. 4. l. 11. s. 6. l. ● 2. s. 5. expos. ●id de ●ect ● confes . p. 38● . t●eod●r●● . dial. 1. see d●ut . 2● ▪ 29 & 〈◊〉 . 3 . 21.1● 24. vid. za●● . de oper. dei , part 1. l. 3. c. 14. & 16. vid. erasm. par . in loc ▪ ignat. ep. ad magnes . salv. de gubern . dei. tract . theol. pol. c. 14. p. 235. see e●s●b . eccles. hist. l ▪ 5. c. 1. leviath . c. 42. tract . theol. pol. c. 5. p. 90. c. 16. p. 258 , 259 c. 19. p. 308 , 309. vid. g●ot . in heb. 1.4 . dr. hen. more immort . of the soul. l. 2. c. 3. s. 13. see bish. andrews serm. 1. on ●he nativity . d. bern. in ps. 91. soliloq . c. 27. med. xxvi . collect f●r saint micha●l and all angels . tertul. de anima , c. 52. 1 cor. 13.12 . tract . theol. pol. c. 2. p. 42. st. chrys. in loc. † ch ▪ 4. sect. 4. vid. br●nt . in s. mat. 18. homil . 1. vid span ▪ hem . dub. evangel ▪ lxi ▪ munster in ps. 91. l. 6. sect. 10. ibid ▪ aelian . l. 2. c. 20. grot. in s. matth. 20.25 . † ch. 1. sect. 2. † ch. 4. sect. 1. noct. attic . l. 12. c. 11. l. 4 , & 10. reipub. 〈…〉 v●●● 〈◊〉 ep. 11. & ep. 25 vid. ze●sp●o●● . memorabil . l. 4. gr●eco . lat. p. 802 , & 803. isocr . ad d●mon . cic. ad attic. l. 12. ep. 27. se● . ep. 43. d. ber● . med. c. 13. 〈…〉 l. ● . c. ●7 . 〈◊〉 l. ● . c. 14. s●● . ep. 10. id. ep. 83. ex ci●erone , lac●a●s . in●it l. c. 24. booth . de consol . l. 5. l. 11. sect . 13. epist. diff. l. 2● . c. 13. diss. l. 1. c. 14. ap. de deo socratis . d. ber● . in ps. 91. serm. 13. id. serm. 10. ● id. serm. 22. grot. in s. matth. 18.10 . id. in eccles . 5.6 . vid. eras. par . † ch. 4. sect. 1. soliloq . c. 27. theoph. in hebr. 1.14 . orat. contra graecos . see dr. h. par. & annot. in loc. de haeres . ad quodvult deum . de civit. dei , l. 10. c. 7. id. c. 16. contra faustum , man. l. 20. c. 21. id. de verâ rel. c. 55. contra max. arrian . epis. l. 1. lact. instit . l. 2. c. 17. orig. contra cel● . l. 5. p. 233. id. l. 8. p. 416. concil . laod. can. 35. vid. carranzae summam concil . laod. can. 35. theodor. col . 2.18 . cited by dr. stillingfleet , idol . of the ch. of rome . c. ● . sect . 11. p. 1●5 . zanch. de oper . dei. part 1. ● . 3. c. 22. ps. 8. ult . 19.1 . 145.10 . diss. ● . 1. c. 16. ibid. ps. 8.1 . inter opera te●tul . hom. 4 de incompr . dei nat . see zanch. de oper . dei , part . 1. l. 3. c. 14. ch. 4● sect. 4. ●ud . cappellus in hebr. 1.14 . in cap. 2. heb. d. i. ger●ard● . med. sacr. mystery of godliness , l. 4. c. 6. act. 19.19 . l. 10. sect. 25. l. 11. sect. 9. cit. in cat. d. ibo . ephes. 6.1 pet. 5.8 , 9. s. james 4.7 . spanhem . d●b . evang . in ps. 33. solil . c. 27. de civ . dei. l. 8. c. 25. antidote against atheism . l. 3. c. 13. ibid. ibid. d. i. gerhardi med. sacr. in isa. 6. med. sacr. id. ibid. oth●-casma● . angelogr . par . 2. c. 7. q. 3. ep. 75. vide orig. contra celsum l. 8. p. 399 , 400. vide d. ber● . med. c. 6. d. i ger●ard . med. sacr. notes for div a32847-e41090 the occasio● and scope of th● ensuing reflections . pag. 51. pag. 275. pag. 277. chap. 4. p. 49 , 50. pa. 44 , 45. ibid. pag. 47. the denyal of spirits a step to atheism . chap. 3. p. 37. p. 38 , 39. ibid. r●m . 11 20. dangerou● positions of mr. w. against th● idea of a spirit , and of god. p. 198. ib●d . p. ●07 . p. 201. ibid. 〈…〉 in c. 21. epict. enchirid . self-study and reflection the right and ready me●hod to the notion of spirits . p. 199. p. 203 ▪ p. 200 ▪ p. 203● 204. master w 's co●tradictio●s both abou● body and spirit . de animâ brutorum c. 7. p. 205. p. 255 , 256 , &c. the humane soul excluded by him from this disquisition about angels for three pretended reasons . p. 202. p. 314. this method of procedure unreasonable . p. 207. p. 206. master w. confounds imagination and in●ellect , which elsewhere he kn●w well to distinguish . p. 20● . p. 317. ibid. de nat. deorum , l. 2. dissert . 1. master w. asserts the incorporeity of the humane soul. p. 314. p. 315. p. 316. p. 317. p. 318. ibid. p. 320. a● examina●ion of ●is th●ee reasons for exceptidg the humane soul from this enquiry . of his fi●st reason . [ a short comment upon gen. 2.7 . concerning man's original . ] horat. of his second reason . p. 105. p. 137. an explication and vindication of eccles. 3 . 18-21 . from the atheistical and profane . ovid. m●t. of his third reason . theol. polit. c. 14. & 15. p. 318. mr. w 's speculations abou● the corporeity of angels , and how he blunders in th● stati●g of this enquir● . p. 2●7 ▪ ibid ▪ ibid. p. 21● ▪ the critical point of ●he present controversie . p. 202. iohn 4.24 . 2 cor. 3.17 . god a most simple and absolut● spi●it , bu● yet not the only spirit . p. 207. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — nonnus in s. iohn 4. za●ch . de oper . dei par . 1. l. 2. c. 4. p. 202. angels ar●●ot such spirits in perfection as god is , and yet truly spirits . master w. asser●s devils more spiritual than he allows other angels . p. 47 , 48 , 49. ibid ▪ ibid. his mighty ●rguments against ●he incorporeity of angels ex●mined . p. 207. p. 205. p. 207. p. 208. p. 147. p. 148. p. 198. r●les and laws of bodi●s ineptly applied to spirits . lucret. p. 203. ibid ▪ p. 318. p. 50. th● diffic●lty of ●xplaining , the manner of things , must no● make us deny wha● is otherwise evident . p. 267. ibid. p. 338.340 . p. 339. augelini gazaei pia hilaria . p. 268. horat. p. 208 some texts of h. scrip●ure considered and vindicated from mr. w's exceptions . p. 214. of st. mark 12.24 . p. 44 of 1 cor. 15.44 . of psal. 104.4 . p. 211. † vatablus in loc. * vica●s decapla in ps. p. 211. 12. p. 29● . p. 175. p. 183. p. 46. dr. g. in hebr. 1.7 . sect. 81. his clear reasons against the scholastick interpretation of ps. 104.4 . short and defectiv● . p. 211. p. 106. divin . decret . epit. de angelis . p. 211. p. 212. an answer to some queries propos'd by w.c., or, a refutation of helmont's pernicious error (that every man is often born, and hath twelve ages of tryal allow'd him in the world by god) warmly contended for, in and about lambourn in wiltshire : in a letter to a friend. hall, john, 1627-1656. 1694 approx. 33 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a44985 wing h343 estc r34926 14909120 ocm 14909120 102864 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a44985) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102864) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1571:13) an answer to some queries propos'd by w.c., or, a refutation of helmont's pernicious error (that every man is often born, and hath twelve ages of tryal allow'd him in the world by god) warmly contended for, in and about lambourn in wiltshire : in a letter to a friend. hall, john, 1627-1656. [4], 36 p. printed by leon. lichfield for john buckeridge ..., oxford : 1694. attributed by wing and nuc pre-1956 imprints to hall. signed at end j.h. [i.e. john hall] reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible. -n.t. -luke vi, 38 -criticism, interpretation, etc. theology, doctrinal. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-08 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-08 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an answer to some queries propos'd by w. c. or , a refutation of helmont's pernicious error ( that every man is often born , and hath twelve ages of tryal allow'd him in the world by god ) warmly contended for in , and about , lambourn in wiltshire . in a letter to a friend . they shall proceed no farther , for their folly shall be made known unto all men. 2 tim. 3. 9. oxford , printed by leon. lichfield , for john buckeridge bookseller in marlebrough , 1694. sir , why these papers , which before attended you in manuscript , now come to your hands in a more publick way , is chiefly due to the threatnings of our inquirer's friends , who upon hearing them read , declar'd , that they would see that they should be printed : this it seems they thought an advantage , and you see i am so fair an adversary as to give it them . you will readily observe that not only the style , but the whole contexture is negligent : and i freely own that i have endeavour'd to be fine in neither ; for no body that knows the persons i write for , or those i write against , or the trifling opinion i am to refute , can believe there is need of any accuracy on this occasion . my chief care hath been that i might be understood by those few plain readers this paper is design'd for , and therefore i have not run into physicks or metaphysicks , so often as my subject would carry me thither ; and when the stream of reasoning hath sometimes brought me amongst these sciences , my stay there hath been as short as i could make it , and i have at such times endeavour'd to express philosophical matters in terms unphilosophical , and by which i made , or endeavoured to make the poor to know , & c ? answ . our blessed saviour , in those texts of scripture before-cited , warns men against all rash and uncharitable censuring of mens persons and actions , from this consideration , that they , that do so , shall be sure to find the like hard usage , either from men in this life , or from himself when he shall come to judge the world ; then you , saith christ , who have so freely passed your judgments on your brethren , without any allay of clemency , shall , when you come to my tribunal , find judgment without clemency ; for with what measure you mete , it shall then be meted to you again . this is the natural and obvious signification of these words , and what is agreeable to the sense of all christian expositors . none , besides these helmontians , did ever think of a revolution , upon reading them : thus far , however we both agree in the meaning of this passage , as to believe , that hereby christ doth threaten to punish offenders in a way suitable to their crimes ; and besides , that this punishment is sometimes inflicted in this life . but here 's the point at which we part ; he concludes , that if god should fail to punish an offender , before he cometh to his grave , he must be born into the world again , to suffer in like manner as he hath offended ; whereas i conclude , concerning such a one that so dies unpunish'd , that his doom is deferr'd till the great day of our accounts , in order to which he shall rise again , and then shall god reward every man according to his works . * this life is no time of recompense , but in that day ye shall see , without the expedient of so many revolutions , all the dispensations of god clear'd ; for then shall ye return , and discern between the righteous and the wicked , betwixt him that serveth god , and him that serveth him not , mal. 3. 18. but i shall not be thought fully to have satisfy'd this query , till i have distinguish'd between the same general analogical measure , according to which god will mete to every man in that day , and between a measure the same in kind , which our inquirer imagines god doth mete to every man in this world. the impossibility of which i will shew by and by , in its proper place . qu. 2 how shall we understand that saying of john , rev. 13. 10. he that killeth with the sword , shall be killed with the sword : he that answ . our inquirer thinks , that these two passages of st. paul , speaking of the jews , that , a remnant shall be saved , and all israel shall be saved , are inconsistent , unless they be explain'd by his enlightning doctrine of revolutions ; whereas i think , there needs only a capacity to distinguish , between the first tender of the gospel to the jews , which was made in the time of our saviour , which they generally refused ; and the last , which shall be hereafter , upon the completion of the gentiles , which they shall as unanimously embrace . let me advise such as need any farther enlargement on this distinction , to take notice , that in the chapters from whence these passages are taken , the apostle doth with some length speak , concerning the calling of the gentiles to the christian faith , by god's acceptance of whom they were to become his children , according to promise ; whereas his own people , which were always favoured by him , and might for their number ( so greatly were they blest ! ) be compar'd unto the sand of the sea ; were so hardned , that but few of them would receive the the gospel , when 't was first tender'd unto them by our saviour , and therefore but a remnant of them could be saved at that time : but i , says st. paul , would not have you ignorant of this mystery , or secret ( least you should be puft up with spiritual pride ) that there shall come a generation of the jews in after-times , that shall be as unanimous as you , in embracing the gospel of christ , though for the present till the fulness of the gentiles be come in , god gives them up to an harden'd heart . qu. 4 what may be the meaning of those words of christ in mat. 23. 35. that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth , from the blood of righteous abel unto the blood of zacharias son of barachias , whom ye slew between the temple and the altar ? doth it not plainly appear , that they were the very men that did kill zacharias ? or else what justice were there in god to punish them for that which their fathers had acted fourty generations , or near four thousand years before ? since god no where threatens to visit the sins of the fathers beyond the third and fourth generation , under the law ? answ . from this passage , as he thinks , he draws a double argument for his opinion : the men here mention'd he concludes must be greater mark of distinction between persons , then their not living in the same age , which 't is plain these men did not , for ver . 30. they say , if we had been in the days of our fathers , we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets : so that the same men could not be the children and fathers too , as our inquirer imagines ; they could not be the same persons , because they never liv'd together in the same age. i cannot but farther observe , that tho' the murther of abel be as remarkable , and bears an equal weight in the verse with that of zacharias , our inquirer doth not argue from that , as he doth from the other ; because he could not but see that this instance of abel would ruine his proof of a revolution for two reasons . 1. because the vast multitude of the jews , upon whom the blood of abel ( as well as zacharias , and others ) was charg'd , could not live in abel's time , when all mankind made up but four persons . 2. because his master , van helmont , allots to every man only * 1000 years in the world , to undergo his 12 revolutions in ; whereas this punishment , threatned the jews , befel them 4000 years after abel's murther . what a stand then are we at ! by the helmontian doctrine , unless the murderer of abel be born again , to have the same measure meted to him , the justice and truth of god cannot be salv'd ; and yet you see 't is beyond the power of this expedient called a revolution , to bring him down low enough to suffer with the jews for it : so that hereby instead of defending the dispensations of providence , which they pretend to aim at , they expose it , by making it liable to all those absurdities and contradictions this doctrine doth run them into . qu. 5 what may be the meaning of the prophet ezekiel 16. 55. when thy sister sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate , and samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate , then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate ( that is jerusalem and her daughters . ) seeing it plainly appears that they were dead and gone , how is this possible to come to pass that they should return to their former estate without being born a new into this world ? answ . the prophet here useth an exalted manner of denying . sodom and samaria were ●●…tage he will bring to his cause ; for who can read such expressions , generation goeth and generation cometh , age goeth and age cometh , year goeth and year cometh , and thereby apprehend that the very same generation , age or year goeth and cometh ? if solomon had meant any such sense , as there would have been a necessity of his expressing himself in a different form of speech from what he hath done , so who can doubt but that he was able enough to do it ? qu. 7 what may be the meaning of these words in 1. peter , chap. 3. ver . 18 , 19 , 20. for christ also hath once suffered for sin , the just for the unjust , that he might bring us to god , being put to death in the flesh , but quickned by the spirit , by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison [ in greek to the same spirits ] which were sometimes disobedient , when once the long-suffering of god waited in the days of noah , while the ark was a preparing , wherein few , that is , eight souls were sav'd by water ? were not these the same souls that were living in bodys of flesh again at the time of christ and his apostles on earth , that so they might have his death and resurrection preached to them ? else what benefit could these men have had of the death of christ , had they not liv'd and had the grace and favour of our lord jesus christ tenderd to them , according to what is written , he tasted death for every man ? answ . the force of the inquirer's argument is this , that the disobedient persons in the times of noah must afterwards be born again , or else christ could not by his spirit preach to them , as he is here affirmed to do . but i see no necessity at all of forcing such a conclusion from these words : a signification may be allow'd them , that is more natural , which is , that christ by his spirit in noah , who was styl'd a * preacher of righteousness , did once preach to that generation of rebellious sinners , who liv'd before the floud , whose spirits at the time the apostle speaks of them were in prison ( i. e. ) in hell , for their former disobedience . the inquirer's interpretation will not stand for these reasons . 1. because he takes the prison here mention'd for humane bodies , which tho' it be agreeable to the platonick philosophy to call the body the prison of the soul , and to say that it is thrust into ●…ther it can find any countenance from reason . our inquirer discovers to us his notion of this revolution from some instances which he lays down of a rich man that bears himself to the poor in an unmerciful way : he informs us that if this text of scripture be true [ the same measure &c. ] that then 't is necessary that this rich man should be born again and become poor and know hunger and want as he made the poor man to know ; that he which killeth with the sword shall be killed with the sword , &c. but tho' in these and the like cases punishments in the same kind will hold , yet we shall find upon a little consideration , that it must fail in a thousand instances ; for pray , how is it possible for nero who destroy'd the christians by more than a hundred kind of deaths , to suffer death in so many kinds himself , tho' we should with helmont grant him twelve revolutions ? these revolutioners say that the design of their hypothesis is to clear the justice of god in such matters : let us suppose this bloudy tyrant to have taken away the life of ten thousand men only , it cannot consist with god's justice to let either of these murthers to go unpunish'd ; and if nero should live twelve times , and be killed as often , the measure would be abundantly too short : the bloud of 9988 would still remain calling for vengeance ; and if we should allow nero as many births and violent deaths , 't would ( not only contradict the helmontian doctrin , but ) lay a necessity on god to prolong the world 200000 years ( allowing but 20 years to a revolution ) before nero can have all these measures of murther meted to him that he hath meted to others ; but i 'le change the instance : what is to be done to a man that makes himself drunk , or murthers himself ? must he not be born again , and exercise the same upon himself again ? if a man commits a rape , he must according to this doctrine be born a woman , and suffer the like . did wat tiler and jack straw raise rebellion against their prince ? wo be to ' em ! for they must be born again , and be princes , to have rebellion committed against them . he that abuses a beast by sodomy , must be born a beast , or else he cannot have the same kind of measure meted to him . ii. god would be the author of sin. whatsoever god hath order'd to come to pass must make a large breach in this helmontian hypothesis . vi. if men that live now have liv'd divers lives before , either they do remember what was done in their former lives or they do not . if they do not remember , to what purpose is it for men to be born again to suffer for faults which they cannot recollect , or have the least knowledge that ever they were guilty of them ? and how can they be hereby made sorry and repent for their offences , seeing upon the strictest search they can make , they cannot tell when , against whom , in what , nor how they have offended : and how shall they or others take warning by these punishments , since they can never guess for what it is they are punished : god forbid that we should think that the great judge of heaven and earth should ever establish such a senseless manner of inflicting punishments . if they do remember , how useful may such men be to the world , in supplying the defects , and desiding the differences amongst historians reporting the facts of dark and fabulous ages ? and that we may know whether the enquirer be able in this kind to become a benefactor to the publick , let him shew the length of his memory , in the more easy task of recounting in what countries he receivd his various births ; who were the princes or governours there , what profession or trade he might be of in each life , and whether many or one religion serv'd his turn , how many wives and children he hath had in all times of his revolutions , and in what registers i may find their names . but if to excuse himself from this trouble it be said that our inquirer hath not yet undergone his second revolution , then indeed he will not be brought into either part of this dilemma as it now stands ; but if this present life will become future , then i shall bring him within the compass of it , and that too with great advantage to himself , if this be his opinion and he in earnest with it ; for i do hereby make him this offer , that on condition that he will now deliver me 100l i will give him the best security he can desire , to pay 2000l , when he comes a second time into the world ; and by the leave of the government i must be allow'd to say that this is an encouragement , beyond the lottery-act , ( which provides only for the present life ) for by this means an old helmontian that hath done with the enjoyments ●●…tion &c. cannot , in any tolerable sense be true , if this opinion be . iii. this interferes with the doctrine of the resurrection , for ( allowing this opinion ) what st. paul delivers of it , would not hold so much as generally true , he that rais'd up christ from the dead , shall quicken your mortal bodies . now all bodies are mortal , and therefore all are to rise , for as in adam all dy , even so in christ shall all be made alive . but if these pretenders to inspiration should not think st. paul's authority great enough , take that of our saviour himself in joh. 5. 28 , 29. the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice , they that have done good unto the resurrection of life , and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation : so that all must rise , and all come to judgment . wherefore van helmont , seeing that he could not drive his revolution this way , unless he would fall on these and many other passages of scripture of the like importance , takes the other end of the staff , and affirms , that the same soul is joyn'd to the same body again , and being so united , do make up the same person that liv'd before . if you would know the manner of this union , read his 123 and 124 queries , where you are inform'd , that the soul in each revolution , when it receives the first beginning of the body in the womb , doth by a magnetick vertue , attract to it self the particles of its former body , as the load-stone doth the particles of iron-dust , so that there is a revolution of the same bodies as well as of the same souls . now if the inquirer will follow his master in accounting thus learnedly for our beginning in the world , he will upon a little better consideration find , that it must force him , if not to do greater violence to scripture , yet certainly to offend more against reason and philosophy , than if he had taken the former way , and held that the soul is united to a new body . for first , ( to consider the manner of this re-union ) 't is impossible for what is immaterial , as the soul is , to attract in a way real and natural , as t is here affirm'd to do ; for whatsoever doth so attract doth do it by sending out of particles or qualities , which nothing but what is corporeal or a body can do , because no beings besides corporeal ones , do harbor such qualities or particles in them , and whatsoever is corporeal doth consist of divisible parts , and what v. but if i should be so kind to these helmontians , as to grant that this is a proper generation ; let us then sit still , and consider what will follow from it . they tell us that this same person that is now born did live perhaps before in the world divers times : at this rate 't will fall out that a man may beget his own grand-father and grand-mother , which is one of the most ridiculous paradoxes in the world. let me explain my self in the instance of adam and eve ; they after their first death could be born of none but their grand-children , and if they were born of them , 't will unavoidably follow , that these grand-children begot the very same persons that begot their father and mother : and if adam had dy'd young , and had , according to helmont's hypothesis come to his second revolution within a little more then 27 years , he must have been born of his own children , and so cain or seth , whom he begat , must have done as much for his father in begetting him again . hence too must follow , that , our first parents were the mediate causes of themselves , that they were born and created too , that they were polluted with original sin , and yet liv'd in a state of innocence . that adam was in paradise , was tempted , did fall , that he knew eve his wife , and yet he knew her not , but was born long after all these things were done . if riddle and banter can recommend any doctrine to the world , i know none that deserves better esteem than this . vi. this will bring confusion and obscurity upon the geneology of adam , and the imputation of ignorance or falshood on st. jude ; for he reckons enoch the seventh from adam ; which 't is impossible he should be , if adam made his first revolution in due time , and if seth too receiv'd his next birth in his own line , there can be but 5 persons from adam to enoch , tho' moses also reckoneth up 7 in the fift chap. of gen. and if adam and seth were born again , and under new names reckoned amongst the 7 , are not these inspir'd men more likely to know it then the inquirer or his master ? and if they knew it , can we believe them such sophisters as to reckon up 7 persons for 5 , to amuse us with new names instead of new men ? would it not have well become the ingenuity of such pious men , by some information , to prevent that error and confusion , such a strange way of numera 8 ▪ but to cut my work shorter , instead of amassing more arguments of this kind , i will make use of one sensible demonstration , which i will desire leave here to lay down out of its proper place . but that the force of it may be better understood , 't will first be necessary for me to give you an account of as much of the hypothesis of van helmont , as will be needful for my purpose ; and this i will do out of a book , sent me by the inquirer , call'd , a letter concerning the revolution of humane souls . in that we are told , pag. 10 , 11 , 12. that every man lives a 1000 years on the earth , in which time he undergoes 12 revolutions in the same body : in all which time the soul is absent from the body 333⅓ years ; and if these 12 times of absence are computed one with another , the distance between every parting and meeting again of the soul and body , will be 27 years , 10 months and 2 days . now i will shew the impossibility of the reunion of these parts , in the time that this philosopher hath assign'd for it ; and the reason i do it by is obvious . viz. the testimony of our senses , that the bodies of departed souls are not reassum'd by them in a much longer space . 't is so intolerably ignorant to think that our bodies do , within the compass of 28 years , corrupt small enough to be drawn into the womb at every new imaginary birth , that the plea of dotage , which commonly attends old age , will not be sufficient to excuse it . for whose faculties can be so much impair'd as not to know , that ordinarily in dry graves the bones will appear entire , and in some vaults the flesh will not be all consum'd in that time . many persons now living , who saw bishop braybrook's body taken up out of a vault in st. paul's church , about 20 years since , ( in which he was laid about 200 years before ) can testify , that there remain'd not only a firm connection between the bones , but that also the outward skin that cover'd them , and some entrails within , tho' dry'd like parchment , were not consum'd . the romanists do shew abundance of bones , as relicks , which tho' most of them did never belong to those ancient persons they are ascrib'd to ; yet they have , amongst them , loads of such as are about 1000 years old. these are not , can not be attracted into the womb , and yet the men , in whose contexture they once were , cannot make their revolutions without them ; unless the helmontians believe that a man may be made up like a collar of brawn , all flesh and no bone. but if you desire instances that are more general , i would carry your thoughts as far as egypt , judea , and indeed to all the east , where anciently that curious way of embalming dead bodies prevailed , or to old rome and many other nations , who burnt their dead bodies , and by an artful way they had , separated the ashes of the body from that of the fuel , and then put them into pots . now were i an helmontian , there is nothing i should hate more than these ways of preserving bodies ; for they are so ordered , that the magnetism of the soul hath afterward no power to draw them towards a revolution : i will send these curious inquirers no farther than the university of oxford , where they may see instances of both these sorts of preserving : there is a body embalm'd , of which there are undeniable tokens , that it must be 2000 years old , and their urns are but little under that age : but 't is not to be doubted but if the vessels which contain this humane dust could last so long , but that they would remain till the last trump shall call them to reunion . well then , if the souls to which these bodies did belong , have not fetch'd them away in all this time , there is then no ground for this unphilosophical position : that the soul , after a few years spent in a state of separation from the body , should joyn with its old companion again . lastly , this doctrine , if believ'd , would lead men into security : for if they cannot recollect , that they ever had any life besides the present , they must conclude that they have xi more behind , and on that account would defer the trouble of living well till their last revolutions . that men , if they had liv'd at all before , would remember it , i prove 1. from * pythagoras , who positively affirms it . now his testimony in this case ought to be deciding , because he first taught this doctrine to all the eastern nations , and therefore must better understand his own opinion than his late disciples the helmontians . 2. because the body decay'd by age would be repair'd at every new birth , and therefore the soul would exercise memory , and all its other functions , in it better than before . 3. the rich man in the gospel ( luk. 16. 25 , 27. ) is represented as remembring his family . 4. unless we retain in another life a memory of this ; we cannot give an account of it in the day of judgment , as we must do . ( rom. 14. 14. ) 5. the worm that never dies , ( mar. 9. 44. ) is an evil conscience , reflecting in the next world upon sins committed in this ; but if i should not insist on this , but yield that men cannot remember , this consequence against religion will still follow : for since they declare that every one must have xii revolutions , granting that a man cannot come to know whether he be at the first or last of them , yet he is sure , that 't is xi to one but that he shall have another revolution , which is odds enough on the sinners side . and if men are apt now to delay their repentance , whilst they are under the perswasion that this life is the only time of tryal ; how wicked will they be , when they come to believe , ( as so great a probability must make them do , ) that they shall live again , at least one age more , on the earth . the inquirer concludes thus , now if any man will put pen to paper to deny the return of souls , i would put my hand to paper to prove that that man does deny there is any god but what he hath fondly conceiv'd . but if men will only exclaim against , and call it damnable doctrine ( as i hear some do ) i would thereupon ask this question , whether it be not a duty incumbent on teachers to refute this damnable doctrine ( if they are able ) that men might not run into it ? but seeing many books containing this doctrin , have been printed in divers languages and divers countries , and no man , that we can hear of , hath hitherto written against it , therefore i think it altogether impossible for them to confute it . if any one will undertake to answer these questions ( i mean any teacher of one of the divers congregations ) and send his answer to me , it shall be kindly receiv'd . i have offer'd my queries to some of the clergy of the church of england , and i could not find that they were willing to medle in the matter . i have also sent them to the learned amongst the presbytereans ; but if i receive no answer from them , nor any other of the divers congregations , to whom they are propos'd , i shall conclude that they are altogether unable to answer what i have written . w. c. here he forgets what modesty becomes one who pretends to be seeking about after the truth , and insults upon all that differ in opinion from him . he swaggers , like goliah , before he enters the list , and challenges out the army of separate teachers ; but in a manner that bespeaks him a foul adversary : for if they will not answer him , he concludes 't is because that they are ignorant and unable ; but if they will answer him , then he will charge them with atheism . i know there are some amongst the persons he provokes , that are men of good learning , and who could , had they not despis'd this cause and the defenders of it , easily have corrected the opinion the inquirer and his master have of themselves , and let them understand what little creatures they really are . toleration hath lately brought forth three unshapely sons at a birth , the new-jerusalem-man , the barker and revolutioner ; but of the three , the last is the weakest brother , as having only instead of reason , a hard fore-head where with to defend himself . that i may not be too tedious , i 'le put a stop here , and conclude my self , sir , your most affectionate friend and servant , j. h. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a44985-e170 mat 16. 2● * 〈…〉 8 , 1. 4 job . 〈…〉 * see a letter concerning the rev●lution of humane souls p. 10. * ● pet. 2 , 5 rom. 8. 11. 1 cor. 15. 5. 22. see a letter concerning &c. p. 25. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. iamb . cap. 14. holy rules and helps to devotion both in prayer and practice in two parts. the fourth edition. written by the right reverend father in god, bryan duppa, late lord bishop of winton, in the time of his sequestration. duppa, brian, 1588-1662. 1683 approx. 125 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 111 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a36933 wing d2660e estc r220202 99831625 99831625 36090 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a36933) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 36090) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2125:8) holy rules and helps to devotion both in prayer and practice in two parts. the fourth edition. written by the right reverend father in god, bryan duppa, late lord bishop of winton, in the time of his sequestration. duppa, brian, 1588-1662. the fourth edition. [10], 204 p., [1] leaf of plates : port. printed for w. hensman, at the king's-head in westminster-hall, london : 1683. with an engraved portrait frontispiece. running title: holy rules for devotion. the second part has separate dated title page; register and pagination are continuous. identified as wing (2nd ed., 1994) d2663 on umi microfilm "early english books, 1641-1700", reel 2125. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng prayer -early works to 1800. devotional literature -early works to 1800. theology, practical -early works to 1800. 2003-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-02 melanie sanders sampled and proofread 2005-02 melanie sanders text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion vera effigies rev. di in christo patris at d. d. bryan duppa quondam episcopi wintoniensis holy rules and helps to devotion both in prayer and practice . in two parts . the fourth edition . written by the right reverend father in god , bryan duppa late lord bishop of winton , in the time of his sequestration . london . printed for vp . hensman , at the king's-head in westminster-hall . 1683. to the christian reader . the name and memory of the excellent author of this treatise needs not borrow or derive a reputation from any pen but its own . there are already many useful pieces and helps to devotion set forth both by bishops , and others of our church , more solid , serviceable , and advantagious to true piety , and the power of godliness , than all the gifted impertinencies ( to say no worse ) of some holy pretenders : for if noise and clamour might pass for inspiration , the apostles must go for weak-brethren , and mere novices , compared with our new lights and improvements . that set forms of prayer are altogether necessary in publick , cannot be denied , and needs not now be represented : they are abundantly useful even for private christians also ; since it is not every one that can pray extempore in his closet , and he that can , may notwithstanding be defective enough in the matter or manner of his petitions : for though god principally respects the heart and affections of his servants , and the spirit helps our infirmities with sighs and groans , yet we ought even in private to have an awful orderly regard of the great god , to whom we address our selves ; and the holy spirit teaches us to pray , as with ardent affections ; so with reverend humble minds , and not with disorderly , confused or unprepared approaches , and a rude confidence , without just ground or foundation : this is not to help or diminish our infirmities , but to augment them more . he that prays extempore , must be one of better faith and principles , life and conversation than many are , who so familiarly pretend to it . but whatever some mens graces may be in this particular , which god forbid i should seek to diminish or reproach ; yet for such , who i doubt are far the greater number , as yet have not attained to so great a perfection in this holy duty , i cannot but recommend these rules and directions , which answer the title , and will , i hope , the expectation of those that use them , to their benefit and comfort . god grant us all that unity of spirit , which intitles us to the gifts and graces of of the spirit , that so praying with one heart and mind , as becometh saints , we may have our communion in glory among the iust hereafter . ben. parry . holy rules and helps to devotion , both in prayer and practice . but i will give my self unto prayer . o eternal wisdom , who communicatest thy self unto thy creatures in such measure as they are capable of , vouchsafe to impart to my soul that heavenly gift , to be a guide to me in all my thoughts , my thoughts , my words , my actions ; that so being taught by thy holy spirit , i may so far know thee as to love thee , and so far love thee , as ever to fix my thoughts upon thee . of prayer what it is . the several properties and excellencies of prayer , have afforded matter enough to the ancient fathers , to mold as many several and different descriptions of it ; which like many stars cast into a constellation , may give all together a full and perfect representation of it . gregory nyssen defines prayer to be the conversing or discoursing of the soul with god , concerning her salvation : which being done by the outward expressions of the voice , is called vocal prayer ; but if by the mind alone , mental . in this way of conversing with god , the soul makes use of her three principal faculties , her memory , her understanding , her will : her memory , to call to mind what she is to treat of ; her understanding , to weigh and to judge what she delivers : her will , to perform this duty feelingly and affectionately : for all these faculties must concur in prayer , elevating the soul , and fixing it upon god as the highest truth , in which we are to believe the soveraign happiness which we are to hope for , the supream goodness which we are to love , and the infinite excellence which we are to adore . so that prayer is principally grounded on a lively faith of such things as god hath revealed , an assured hope of what he hath promised , and a servent love , which serves as the fire to kindle this sacrifice , and to carry the soul upward , till it arrive at the throne of grace . from hence it is , that damascen describes prayer to be an ascending of the soul to god ; being therefore compared to the sweet perfume that ascended from the incense : but as the incense being cast into the fire ascends only in the more subtile and delicate part of it , which being converted into air and smoak , leaves behind it the grosser and earthier part turn'd into ashes . so in this ascent , the soul leaves behind it the earthier parts , as abraham left his servants behind him at the foot of the mountain , while he ascended to the top of it to sacrifice . for this is a business that belongs to eagles , which as they fly high , so in their flight they look stedfastly on the sun. it is not for those that intrench themselves in the earth , as in their proper element , nor yet for birds of prey , which though they fly high , yet their eyes are still cast downward . sursum corda , was the form in ancient liturgies ; the priest calling out to the people , lift up your hearts ; which the people as readily answered , habemus ad dominum . this ascending of the soul by prayer , was figured ( as st. austin conceives ) by that mysterious ladder , whose foot being upon the earth , the top of it reached unto heaven , seen by iacob in a vision , with angels ascending and descending on the rundles of it , carrying up our prayers to god , and bringing down blessings upon him that offers them . but because this ascent is not ordinarily by rapture ( for the angels were not seen to fly up the ladder , but to mount by degrees : ) we are to consider the several steps and rundles we are to ascend by . the first step is laid hold on by the memory , which begins this spiritual ascent , by putting the soul in mind to look up to the majesty of him that stands above the ladder , to remember , that though the place we chuse for our devotion be never so solitary , yet we are not alone ; that god hears what we say , sees what we do ; that the whole trinity is present , as visible to thy eyes of faith , as grosser objects are to the outward senses . for there is god the father , the fountain of good thoughts , ready to assist through his power and to keep us from distraction in our prayers ; there is god the son , the eternal truth , prepared to direct us by his wisdom , and to deliver us from errour and delusion ; there is god the holy ghost , the source and spring of divine love , able to enflame the will with fervent affections , and keep us from damps of coldness and indevotion . and when we have thus put our selves into the presence of god with an awful reverence and adoration of him as present , we have then mounted the first step and degree of this ladder . o heavenly father , who hearest the prayers of all that seek thee , purifie the intention of my soul in all the prayers i make to thee ; that i may neither seek nor desire any thing , but in relation to thee , through iesus christ , amen . the second step or act of the soul , is , to look to the directing of the intention , to fix it entirely upon god , and take it off from all earthly things : for as the least grain and atom of dust offends the eye , so this intention admits of no mixture , no vanity of being seen or heard at your prayers , no curiosity of thinking to climb up by this ladder into the secrets of god , no spiritual pride , in reflecting upon your self as more devout than others ; for as it must be sincere , so it must be humble , directed to the glory of god alone ; which in this ascent of your soul , must be always in your eye , as the centre in which all the lines of prayer must meet . but then this intention of the supplicant must be accompanied with some offering too : for it was gods command to his people , that none should come into his presence with empty hands . being therefore come into his presence , deal generously and freely with him , offer him the thing which he most desires , even thy heart , with all the thoughts and affections of it , to be disposed by him , not only during the time of prayer , but for all thy life . for this offering of thy heart to god , if it makes way for thy prayer , and breaks through those clouds which thy sins have interposed between god and thee . o eternal god , who for all those infinite blessings which thou hast bestowed on me , requirest nothing back of me but my heart . behold i offer up to thee the heart which thou demandest : and since it is now thine , fill it with thy gifts , and adorn it with thy graces ; that every beating , every pulse of it may be a prayer , and every prayer being kindled by thy holy spirit , may be a sacrifice fitted for thine altar , through iesus christ. amen . after this offering , the next step is by raising the understanding , and the awakening of our faith to a due consideration of that which you are about . being therefore retired into thine oratory , make these few questions to thine own soul , and engage thy self to an answer : o my soul , wherefore art thou retired into this place ? what is thy design ? what thy pretension ? where is thy god whom thou comest to treat with ? is he present ? doth he hear thee ? or is he merciful ? will he help thee ? what is thy business thou art to negotiate ? is it the saving of thy soul , or the satisfying of thine earthly desires ? what words wilt thou use to move thy god to hear thee ? what humble gestures ? what profound reverence ? answer thy self briefly to every one of these interrogatories , as thy own conscience dictates to thee : for by this discourse made with thy self , thou shalt be the better prepared to discourse with god. but to make this preparation the more compleat , the quality of the persons engaged in this treaty , is necessarily to be weighed . consider therefore first with my self , who thou art that makest thy approaches to speak with god : that thou art but dust and ashes ; abraham himself was no more . consider again the motives that may drive thee to this duty ; thy sins many , thy strength little , thy self nothing , thy dangers great ; thy case the same with the disciples in the storm , when they cried out , master , save us , or else we perish : for he that really lays these three things to heart : 1. the extreme necessity that he is in . 2. the small possibility of help either from himself , or any other creature . 3. the high importance of that which he is about , that it is as much as his soul is worth , will never dare to come coldly and carelesly to a work of that concernment . having thus far reflected on your own condition , you are in the next place to raise the prospect from your self , to the person you pray to , to consider , that he is no less than god , who clothed himself with light , as with a garment . a god infinitely wise , from whom nothing can be hid , infinitely powerful to whom nothing is impossible ; infinitely good , ready to shed , and diffuse , and impart his goodness to his creatures ; that therefore though his majesty may terrifie thee , yet his mercy may invite thee ; especially if you consider god as he is in christ , reconciling you unto himself : for as the one may strike a reverence into you , so the other will infuse a confidence , without which our weak prayers will never have strength enough to reach the throne of grace . o my glorious god , thou art the holy of holies , but i the impurest of sinners ; thou art mercy it self , i misery even misery it self : what should i seek farther to know either of thee , or my self ? let my love of thee make up the knowledge that is wanting ; for what should misery be in love withal , but mercy ? or where should mercy exercise it self but where there is so much misery ? the understanding being awakened with these considerations , the fourth act of the soul in relation to prayer , is , to rouze the affection , which is seated in the will : this being so necessary an ingredient in your prayer that is it but a cold offering without it . the understanding may provide for you this spiritual food , but it is the will that must taste , and swallow , and digest it into nourishment ; the one may make you wise , but the other must make you holy . the prophet tells you , that the seraphins in god's presence , with two of their wings cover their face , and with two other their feet , leaving only their breast open , which is the seat of love. when therefore you present your selves in the sight of god , be sure you so far imitate these seraphins , that though your eyes be vaile ( you cannot look into his glory ) you cannot know him as you would , your breast , the seat of your affections , be open to receive and emit those beams of divine love , which only can kindle devotion to the height and unite your soul to god by a most intimate union . but alas ! you will say , those blessed spirits that are in such a nearness to god , may well be all fire and love , but you at such a distance cannot find the effects of it ; the wood lies upon the altar , but you want fire to kindle it ; all that you can do , is to search in the ashes for some small spark to blow at : but know you not ( saith siracides ) how great a fire a small spark may kindle ? the same spirit of god that moved upon the waters till it had produced the world , moves upon thy heart , foments and cherisheth the least spark of the love of god which it finds there , and makes it flame out into a servent prayer . david found this by experience , where he saith of himself , while i was thus musing , my heart kindled within me , and i spake with my tongue . the devotion of the heart ( saith st. bernard ) is the tongue of the soul , without this it is silent and shut up ; but actuated and heated with love , it poures it self forth in supplications , and prayers , and discourses with god ; sometimes praising him for the infinite blessings received from him , sometimes praying to him for those which we yet want . this is that conversing of the soul with god , which gregory nyssen speaks of , as a son conversing with his father , or a friend with a friend , into whose bosom he may pour forth with confidence all the secrets of his soul as a favourite with his prince , or a betrothed virgin with her lover . what the result of these discourses is , what words are spoken , what secrets discovered , what delights enjoyed , may easier be felt than spoken of : when the soul being lifted up by the wings of prayer , and rarified into a flame by love , reacheth the very bosom of god. but though every devout soul mounts not to this pitch , this top of the ladder , let none be dismaied at it : for god knows whereof you are made , he sees the body of flesh which you bear about you , and the plummets which it hangs upon your soul , and therefore when you cannot rise high enough to him , he comes down to you ; for so you find in this vision , there were descending as well as ascending angels . we do not read that st. paul was often rapt into the third heaven : notwithstanding his raptures , the angel of satan that buffeted him , made him remember that he was still upon the earth : for one foot of the compass will unavoidably be fixed there , when the other moves in the circumference of divine contemplation . iacob himself was but at the bottom , at the foot of the ladder , when his soul was at the highest , and saw god at the top of it . o most wise god , the unction of whose spirit can teach me all things , teach me the rules i am to observe in this heavenly exercise of prayer ; stir up my memory , to remember that thou art present ; fix my intention upon thee , upon thee alone : awake my understanding to consider what i am about and who i am to speak to . but above all inflame my affections , that my heart being set on fire with thy love , my prayers may participate of that fervency , and be accepted of thee , for his sake who came to send this fire upon the earth , even iesus christ my saviour . amen . of the excellencies and fruits of prayer , as they may be drawn out of the lords prayer . there is no clearer glass to see the excellencies of prayer in , than that very prayer which our saviour thought fit to teach his disciples . where the first entrance presents you with that unvaluable priviledge , to call god your father ; that therefore you come not to treat with him as a slave with his master , or a vassal with his prince , but as a son with your father : god infusing into you by prayer that spirit of adoption by which you cry to him , abba father . this being ( saith st. chrysostome ) the highest excellency of the creature to treat familiarly as a son with his creator . a dignity that raiseth us poor worms of the earth to a kind of equality with the angels themselves ; for though in nature they are above us , yet this duty makes us equal : for quid potest inveniri sanctius iis qui cum deo commercium habent ? saith the same father ; what can be more holy than he who is admitted to treat familiarly with god ? moses by talking with god , had such a brightness shed upon his face , that they who looked upon him were dazled with it : for if they who have the ear of princes , as favourites , having freedom of access , and opportunity at all times of presenting their petitions , cannot want the splendor of worldly things , which consequently will follow them ; much less can the beams of an higher glory be wanting unto them , who live as if they were always in the presence of god , talking with god by prayer , and god with them by holy inspirations . what can they want who are admitted to this privacy ? and it is your fault if you are not . for there are neither doors nor locks , nor any greater favourite to keep you out . he that gives you leave to call him father , cannot exclude his son , that cries , father , i have sinned . o gracious father , what thanks , what praise can we offer to thee , for raising us to that honour of entring into thy presence as sons , and conversing with thee on the earth , with the same freedom as the angels do in heaven ! o grant us the grace so to make advantages of so divine a priviledge , that our sins may never make us forfeit it , but rather by a devout and humble use of it , acquire to our selves daily new degrees of thy favour , till thou hast brought us thy unworthy sons to that incorruptible inheritance which can neither have encrease nor end . amen . the second excellency of prayer , is , that it is a means by which the name of god is hallowed , both by us and in us : we pray that his name may be sanctified , and we sanctifie his name by praying so : our tongues , but much more our lives , being made instruments to glorifie him , god is glorified by our believing in him , by our knowing him , by our adoring him , and in prayer we do all this : by prayer we bring to light those graces and gifts of god which he hath hid for us in his eternal predestination , as we may see in that prayer of christ to his eternal father : and now , o father , glorifie thou me with thy own self , with the glory which i had with thee before the world was . from whence the school infers , that prayer is the principal means ordered by providence for the execution of what god hath decreed on our behalf . god had decreed the incarnation of his son for the saving of the world ; he had promised , and could not vary from it : yet this kept not moses from his petition , send him whom thou wilt send ; nor the prophet from praying , o that thou wouldest bow the heavens , and come down ! the father had decreed to give his son , being incarnate , the nations for his inheritance , but the execution of this decree was to be by prayer ; the son of god himself was to pay for it , for , postula , & dabo ; ask of me , and i will give them thee . if therefore the decree of your predestination be yet dark to you , and you would willingly know whether your name be written in the book of life , there is no way of obtaining this , but humble prayer : do but pray fervently , that god would glorifie himself in thee , by making thee a vessel for his honour , and thou shalt find so much vertue in this prayer as shall quiet thy thoughts , and take away thy scruples . o most glorious god , glorifie thy unworthy servant with that gift of prayer by which i may be enabled to glorifie thee , that so i being sanctified by thee , thou mayest be sanctified in me by those gifts and graces , which in all eternity thou didst decree to give me , through iesus christ. amen . the next dignity of prayer is , that it is the effectual means of enstating the kingdom of god in us , not only the kingdom of grace , in this world , which in the apostles character is righteousness , and peace , and joy the holy ghost ; but the kingdom of glory in the next , to which prayer not only gives us the title , but puts us in a kind of possession , by affording us a taste at least , and an earnest of that glory . the first time that we find it written that our saviour prayed , we find in the very next words , three passages of wonder whereof the first was , that the heavens were opened ; the next , that the holy ghost descended on him as a dove ; the third , that there was a voice that came from heaven , which said , thou art my beloved son , in thee i am well pleased . and wherefore this , but to shew us the admirable effects of prayer ? first , that it is the key to open heaven to us ; next , that it hath that attractive power , as to draw down the spirit of god upon us ; and lastly , that it puts us into the quality of sons , and of such sons in whom he is well-pleased . after this , when he went up into a mountain to pray ; what followed upon this ? the evangelist tells us , that as he was praying , his face did shine as the sun , and his garment was white as the light : so white ( saith st. mark ) that no fuller on earth could white them . and though it is not said that this transfiguration of our saviour , was absolutely and fully the kingdom of heaven come down to him , yet we find there was so much of the glory of it , as peter in his amazement took to be heaven , and desired to fix his tabernacle there , and to go no higher . you see here the strange effects of prayer , it draws down one kingdom to you , and lifts you up to another . it bows down to you the kingdom of grace , and draws you up to the kingdom of glory . o god my sovereign king , who hast taught me to pray for the coming of thy kingdom , set up the throne of thy grace in my heart , and so rule and govern all my affections , that there may not be left a rebellious thought against thee ; and when the time of my transmigration comes , change thy kingdom of grace , into thy kingdom of glory ; and from obeying thee in this life , lift up my soul to reign with thee in the life to come . amen . the fourth excellency of prayer goes hand in hand with the former ; for where gods kingdom comes , there must be a perfect submission to his will , which cannot be more effectually done than by the means of that homage which we do to god in prayer . for by prayer we not only obtain , but exercise that obedience which is better than sacrifice ; we strip and divest our selves of our own will , and give our selves entirely up to the will of god , whom we pray unto . and from hence it is , that the fathers say of fervent prayer , that it makes us live in the flesh , as if we were out of it , that it dis-intangles and unlooseth the soul from the ties and fetters of the body , and equals us unto the angels : for as they stand in the presence of god ready to execute his commands , without either delay or weariness ; so prayer puts us into the like posture with those angels , and quickens us unto the obedience of doing the will of god in earth , as it is done in heaven . but that you may not think that all the treasure and riches of prayer are only in things invisible , there is a fifth excellency in prayer , in that it procures for us our daily bread , which as it hath reference to our body in such things as concern our nourishment ; so it reacheth besides to the spiritual refection of our souls : for by prayer ( saith st. bernard ) we are stored with three sorts of bread ; the bread of truth , for the understanding ; the bread of divine love and charity , for the will ; and in the last place , that grosser and more earthly bread fitted for the sustaining of our weaker nature . these be the three loaves which christ in his parable encourageth us to ask for , and never to give over our importunity , till we obtain them ; for obtain them we shall , and our prayers , if fervent , cannot be denied . imagine therefore ( saith climacus ) that you say prayer is a queen , seated on her throne , calling out to you in the words of our saviour , come unto me , all ye that are weary and heavy laden , and i will give you that refreshing as shall lighten your weight , and ease your weariness : for without me the burthen of the law is heavy , but with me it is light ; without me the exercise of repentance is bitter , but with me it is sweet ; without me the cross is insupportable to be born , but with me the crown of thorns shall be as easie as a crown of roses . christ is the bread of life , but the means to make this bread nourish you , is prayer : by prayer you receive christ into your memory , and ruminate upon him in your meditations : by prayer your affections tastes and relisheth this bread , and your love incorporates it . whatever therefore your necessities are , fly to prayer : if this spiritual bread be wanting , and you hunger and thirst after it , pray and you shall be satisfied . or if the food of your body fails you , and poverty lays hold upon you as an armed man ; fall to your prayers again , and be sure that he who hears the young ravens when they call upon him , will much more hear you who have the honour , not only to be his creatures , but his sons . thus far the excellency of prayer is in opening heaven to us , from whence all blessings come : we are now to look upon it as the key that shuts up hell , and keeps all evil from us , which is of three sorts : 1. evil of sin. 2. evil of temptation , that leads to sin . 3. evil of punishment for sin . against these three , prayer is the remedy , and first against sin already contracted : for how came the publican justified , but by a short and humble prayer ? what moved and softned the heart of the father of the prodigal son to such a tenderness ? was it not his prayer , father , i have sinned against heaven , and against thee ? the debt of ten thousand talents , which the servant owed the king , was no slight ordinary sum , yet a few words of prayer had vertue enough to cancel that great debt . and because there is a condition required , of pardoning the trespasses done against us , if we look for pardon of our trespasses against god , prayer helps you in the fulfilling of this condition too ; and though your hearts be as hard as iron , prayer is of the nature of fire , and is able to soften that iron , and melt you into that compassion toward your enemies , as to pray for them with the same earnestness as you do for your selves . but then when our past sins are pardoned , where shall we find a remedy against future temptations ? our saviour tells you where , when he saith to his disciples , watch and pray , that ye enter not into temptation , if the fire of lust begin to kindle in your hearts , prayer can extinguish that fire . or if a whole sea of worldly afflictions breaks in upon you , prayer can set a bank to that sea. if you are compassed about with enemies , temptations on all sides , and are ready to be swallowed up by them , remember that moses's prayer prevailed more against amalek , than ioshuah's arms. and then again in the close , as prayer hath the nature of a charm , to keep temptations from you ; so when by humane weakness and the arts of the tempter , you are led into them , prayer is as the thread to bring you out of this labyrinth : or when you have unwarily taken in the poison of sin , prayer is the antidote against the venom of it , it doth not only remove the guilt , but the evil of punishment which is due to it , whether it be in this life , or in the next . and of this david was very sensible , when he cryes out in a kind of extasie of thankfulness , blessed be god which hath not cast out my prayer , nor turned his mercy from me : intimating by this ( as st. austin understands the words ) that there is a kind of contract or bargain made between prayer on man's part , and mercy on god's : that where prayer led the way , mercy should always follow . o father of mercies , give me that gift of prayer , by the means of which thou dost use to dispense those mercies ; suffer me never to be weary of praying , lest that make thee weary of forgiving . for this i am sure of , that if i cease not to pray , thou canst not cease to have mercy : for because thou art good , thou wilt always deliver me from evil : not for mine , but for thine own goodness sake . by this which hath been said , may be inferred the necessity of prayer , both in respect of your spiritual life , which it preserves : and in regard of spiritual enemies , which otherwise would destroy you : for as the body without the soul is dead , loathsome , and overspread with worms ; so fares it with the soul ( saith chrysostome ) that doth not use to pray , and consequently hath no spiritual life in it . for as soon as the breath of prayer fails , the soul putrifies , and the worm of conscience gnaws upon it . daniel therefore chose rather to hazard his life , than to omit his exercise of prayer thrice a day , as being willing that his body should suffer , rather than his soul. would you know further , how precious prayer is , devout men will tell you , that prayer pierceth the clouds , reacheth the heavens , rejoyceth the angels , appeaseth god , obtains whatsoever it sues for . o grace of grace , holy and heavenly father , what shall i say of thee , either to express thy excellency , or the necessity my soul hath of thine help , i am the fountain of all misery , and thou art to me the source and spring of mercy : with thee i live , without thee i die : with thee i am able to do all things , without thee i can do nothing . o divine spirit ! whose gift alone it is to know how to speak to thee , give me the spirit of wisdom , by which i may sanctifie thy name ; the spirit of understanding , by whose light i may see the secrets of thy kingdom ; the spirit of counsel , which may guid me to do thy will on earth , as it is done in heaven ; the spirit of knowledg , to discover , and to ask what is necessary either for body or for soul ; the spirit of charity , to move me to pardon my enemies , as i desire thou shouldst pardon me ; the spirit of fear , to avoid all occasions and approaches to sin ; and the spirit of might and courage , to overcome all evil. amen . of the impediments and enemies of prayer . having considered the glorious fruits , and admirable efficacy of prayer , we are to look about , and to discover what enemies we are like to meet with , to oppose and hinder us in the exercise of this heavenly duty : for prayer is in its own nature a kind of wrestling and striving for a victory , which presupposeth an opposition : and rather than it shall be wanting , god himself will enter into the lists , as he did with iacob , in that famous wrestling , when to shew the power of prayer , he that was invincible , was content to be overcome by him , who had no other weapons but tears and prayers . when therefore you find your selves afflicted , make use of our saviour's parable , arise , though it be at midnight , repair speedily to the gates of your true friend , god himself ; ( for you have no friend like him ) though you find the doors shut , and your friend asleep , begin your battery , and give not over knocking , with importunate cries and prayers , till he open to you ; as iacob would not let the angel go , till he had blessed him . o omnipotent and invisible god , who lettest thy self down to my weakness , and givest me strength to wrestle with thee for a blessing , strengthen my prayer to that height , that when thou seemest most to set thy self against me , i may prevail with thee , as jacob did : for my overcoming thee , is but the effect of thy overcoming thy self in me ; so that the glory of the victory which i get over thee , will be intirely thine . wrestle on therefore , o my soul , give not over thy hold , take no answer that brings not a blessing with it : for it is thy god who strengthens thee ; and through him thou shalt at last be more than conqueror . amen . as prayer therefore is a wrestling with god , we look not upon this opposition as an hindrance , but as an advantage to devotion . the true enemies of prayer exercise a more dangerous hostility , where the van is led by those damned spirits , who being fallen from heaven themselves , endeavour the more enviously to obstruct the ways that may lead us thither ; and because nothing conduceth more to this than prayer , they order all their temptations to this end chiefly , either to divert us from it , or disturb us in it : if they tempt us to excess in meats and drinks , their aim is not only to make us guilty of intemperance , but by it to render us the more unfit for prayer : or if they prompt us to anger and impatience , their design terminates not in that sin , but rather makes use of it to a further end , that the mind being thus disquieted , may not be able easily to compose and settle it self to prayer . for the effecting this , they make daily use of the humors of the body , the distempers of the mind , the weakness and weariness of the flesh , the injuries and oppressions of the time , the cares and distractions of the world. of these they make their engines to assault us , and weave their nets to entangle us . and as s. bernard observed by his own experience , they are never more earnest to disturb us , than when they see us most earnest in this duty . as it was said therefore of the christians , that that religion could not but be very good , which nero persecuted ; so we may very well conceive of prayer , that it must needs be some divine and heavenly thing which the devil with all his engines so violently opposeth . and the truth is , he hath so much the more reason to set himself against it , for nothing is more destructive , nothing more terrible to him , than a soul armed with prayer ; for he trembles at the sight of it , saith st. chrysostom . when st. paul therefore , having first shewn us what enemies we were to deal with , that we were to wrestle with principalities , with powers , with the rulers of the darkness of this world , with spiritual wickedness in high places ; when ( i say ) after this fearful muster-roll , he adviseth us to arm our selves with the whole armor of god , with the breast-plate of righteousness , the shield of faith , the helmet of salvation , the sword of the spirit ; he adds in the last place , pray always , with all manner of prayer and supplication in the spirit ; as if all the rest were nothing without prayer . and this the apostles themselves found to be true , who being not able to cure the lunatick , and to drive the evil spirit out of him , our saviour shewed them wherein they failed , by telling them , that this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting . for though they might have so much faith as to remove mountains , yet without prayer that faith could not remove the devil . for this only is that perfume whose smoke will make him fly as far as did that unclean spirit whom tobias his perfume did drive away . but there is an hostility more dangerous than this , because being more inward and domestick , it makes the heart the seat of the war , and opposeth prayer in the proper place and bed of the conception of it , which the devil immediately and directly cannot do . of these inward and intestine enemies to prayer , st. bernard reckons up four kinds ; for there are our past sins to wound us , our present cares to distract us , our distempered passions to disorder us , and a whole swarm of loose and floating imaginations to molest us . and of these ingredients is that cloud made up , which the prophet ieremiah complains of , that god was covered with a cloud , that our prayer could not pass through to him . for as gross vapors ascend from the earth , and being in the upper region of the air , condescend into clouds , hinder us from seeing of the sun , and enjoying the heat and splendor of it : so ( saith st. gregory ) out of our earthly hearts arise those several vapours , which being joined and cast into a cloud , beats back our prayers , and intercepts the beams of the sun of righteousness from shining on us . st. austin likens a soul in this condition to a man that is unhappily married ; for as he having spent the day in managing his affairs abroad , trembles at the very thought of coming home at night , being sure to meet with nothing but bitterness and disquiet there : so the troubled sinner being haunted with these ill guests , entertains his thoughts contentedly enough with objects abroad , but trembles to call them home , and fix them upon prayer . but there is no remedy , home we must come , and sweeten as well as we can the discontents we find there : though the mind be clouded and troubled , this must not make us cast aside our prayers , but cry out the more earnestly , as david did , save me , o god , from the great waters that are come even into my soul ; deliver me from mine enemies , for they are too mighty for me : cast out these temptations that come about me like bees , quiet my thoughts , compose my mind , so that i may not fear to look home , or find that to be a torment to me , which was made to be my comfort . but to consider these enemies of prayer apart , we shall find in the first rank of them our unrepented sins : when our conscience stands up against us , and cries out to us , first make peace with me , or else never think to make peace with god. for he accepts of no unclean , no unwashed sacrifice ; and if repentance usher not in , prayer will never find admittance . holy david deeply apprehended the consequence of this : if ( saith he ) i incline my heart unto wickedness , god will not hear me : for what an impudence were it to expect pardon for those sins which i am yet so far pleased with , as i am not resolved to leave ; or to look for mercy , when that lust is not yet cool'd with which i have offended ? bring therefore no more vain oblations , your incense is an abomination to me , saith god to that people of his , who honoured him with their lips , when their hearts were far from him : your appointed feasts my soul hates ; they are a trouble to me , i am weary to bear them : when you spread forth your hands , i will hide mine eyes from you ; yea , though you make many prayers , i will not hear . would you know why ? the very next words will satisfie you : your hands are full of blood ; you have not washed them in the waters of repentance , you are yet in your sins , therefore you are not heard . but what is to be done then in this case ? god tells you by his prophet , wash you , make you clean , put away your evil doings from before mine eyes , cease to do evil : and when you have done this , come , saith the lord , and let us reason together : as if he should say , you are now qualified for a conference with god , your prayers will be seasonable ; and for your sins which hitherto have hindered you : do but confess , and resolve to leave them , though they be as scarlet , they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson , they shall be white us wool. the enemies of devotion in the second rank , are our passions , which though they are not in their own nature sins , yet quickly slide into them , and being prone to be irregular , are like cross winds to hinder us , unless we can allay and temper them . for unmortified passions at the time of prayer , is like loud musick at a meeting of friends , which suffers them not to hear one the other . when god appear'd in the flaming bush to moses , on purpose to be seen by him , yet he would not suffer him to make any near approach to him , till he had put off his shoes , which signifies something more than is in the letter , and relates rather to the heart , than to the feet : as if he should say to thee , here i am , even i thy god ; but come not near me , till thou hast put off thine earthly affections , till thou hast devested thy self of whatsoever is displeasing in my sight ; if not , take heed : no man can see me , and live : that is , saith st. gregory . none can see me spiritually , that lives carnally . it was an high expression of him who was so great an admirer of euripides , that he was wont to say , that if he were sure there were any sense in death , he could be content to die , only that he might see euripides : but then to see god , who would not mortifie himself ? say therefore with that earnestness as st. austin did , moriar ut te videam . o thou fountain of life , make me die that i may see thee ! mortifie me , that i may enjoy thee ! strangle me , take away my breath , that i may speak to thee ! but then again , videam te , ut moriar ; let me , in some measure , see thee first , that i may value thee , that i may be content to die , to the end i may see thee further : for if i know not at all how to contemplate thee , i shall as little know how to mortifie my affections , so as to fit my self for prayer . the third assault that is made upon the soul , is by the cares of this life , which like so many thorns , are ready to choak the seeds of grace as soon as they are sown . for overmuch solicitude and anxiety of mind in worldly things , casts such an heap of earth upon our prayers , as will not suffer them to ascend , taking up the mind , and all the faculties of it , and hardly admitting so much as a thought of heaven . but as they say of thorns , that they may do well in an hedg , but ill in a garden ; so is it with these cares , which being kept within their bounds ; and measures , hurt not the soul ; but if we admit them among our prayers , they corrupt the very nature of them , and turn them into sin. when thou art therefore setting thy self to thy devotions , imagine that thou hearest thy saviour calling to thee , as he did to martha , why art thou so careful ? why art thou troubled about many things ? one thing is only needful , the saving of thy soul : since therefore thou art come to treat about it , dismiss whatsoever may disturb thee , lay aside , thy cares as mary did ; place thy self at my feet , hear me in my word , that i may hear thee in thy prayer . o gracious iesu , i am come at this time to humble my self at thy feet , and to beg mercy for my soul , which ought to be dearer to me than a thousand worlds . o suffer not then any worldly cares to divert or hinder me ; root out this bed of thorns , and sow holy thoughts instead of them . let me not be like martha , troubled about many things , but fix me upon that one thing needful , which i am come about ; that so having chosen the better part , it may never be taken from me . amen . but the conflict is not yet done ; when these former enemies are overcome , there may be a swarm left of busie , vain , impertinent thoughts , of which we may complain as david did , that they have compassed us about like bees : for the imagination being naturally unquiet and tumultuous , interposeth it self many times without asking leave of us , casting thoughts in our way , and forcing the understanding to reflect upon them . and these she either fetcheth from objects without , from something that we have either seen , or heard , or done ; or if it fail of new plies from thence , it presently busies it self within , in forming of various images , figures and forms , which like so many atoms , casting themselves into several schemes , trouble and vex the soul in the midst of her devotions ; not unlike the birds , which would have hindered abraham in his sacrifice : and happy it were if we could as easily chase away these thoughts from us , as abraham drove away those birds : but their pertinacy is such , that when you drive them out of one form , they assume another ; and are so importunately troublesome , as makes many think it a thing impossible to be freed from them . cassianus confesseth of himself , that he was brought very near to a dispairing of it , till opening himself to a devout man of more experience ( himself being then but young ) he was brought off by this similitude : should you ask ( saith he ) one that could neither swim himself , nor ever saw others swim , whether he thought it possible that the heavy body of a man could spread it self upon the water without sinking ; would not he answer peremptorily , that it was not possible ? but let the same man see once with what ease the swimmer keeps his head above the water , would he not as suddenly change his mind upon the sight of this experiment , and apply himself to practise it ? you say it is impossible , but you do not try whether it be so or no. for either holy men have deceived us , or some of them , by the grace of god assisting them , have attained such a degree of power over themselves , as the centurion in the gospel had over his souldiers , they could have given the law , not only to their outward senses , as iob did to his eyes , that they should not so much as look on vanity , but to their more inward faculties , they could command their appetite to love or hate , their rational faculty to meditate , their imaginative to think on this , or not to think on that : for the same st. paul , who humbled himself so low as to say , that of himself he could do nothing , could say too , without arrogancy , that he could do all things ; but then it was in christ that strengthned him : all things in christ , nothing of himself . the centurion whom we spake of , that had his souldiers so absolutely at his command , confesseth ingenuously , that he himself exercised his authority under another . for in all powers subordinate , the way to be obeyed , is to obey : nor can these imaginations be possibly subdued to reason , till reason be subdued to faith. submit thy self therefore to god , o my soul , and there will follow a glorious victory . but you must strive for it ; for this unruly swarm of thoughts hurt none but those that yield to them . when they buz about thee like flies in a hot day , drown their noise with the louder cry of thy prayers . and as spiders cannot easily weave their nets in a high wind , so neither shall whole armies of vain imaginations be able to ensuare thee , as long as thy earnest prayers , like a vehement wind shall blow against them . o most mighty god , who seest my weather-beaten soul tost and driven by vain and various imaginations , like a torn bark by contrary winds , and not suffered to sail on in a straight course towards thee ; send thy holy spirit to calm this tempest , and to lay these winds , that they may no longer hinder me in my way to heaven , or disturb me in my prayers ; which are then most acceptable to thee , when they flow from an undivided and untroubled mind . of preparation to prayer , and the helps that conduce to it . though prayer may well be reckoned amongst those gifts which are not of earthly race , but rather immediate emanations from the father of lights ; yet this doth not exclude the preparing and disposing our selves for the receiving this gift from heaven , according to that counsel of the son of sirach , before thou prayest , prepare thy self , and be not as one that tempts the lord , for what is it to tempt god , but to come into his presence with less regard than you would into the presence of some earthly prince ? what is it to tempt him , but to try experiments with him , whether he will hear you upon any terms , though you neither prepare your self , nor order the manner , nor dispose the matter which you petition for . but be not deceived , heaven is not gained at so cheap a rate : qualem ie paraveris deo ( saith st. bernard ) talis apparebit tibi deus ; if you slight god so far as to come carelesly into his presence , without consideration of what you come about , be sure he will slight you as much , and regard your prayers as little . david , who was a great master in this heavenly art of prayer , tells us , that god hears the desires of the humble , he hearkens to the preparation of the heart ; he hears your desires before they are molded and formed into prayers , and he listens to the very preparations of those desires , he cherisheth them , he goes along with them , he leaves them not , till you can say as that divine prophet did , my heart is ready , o god , my heart is ready . for as the knife must be sharpened before you cut with it , and the lute tuned before you begin the musick ; so there is something to be done , some tuning of the heart required , before your prayers can yield that musick which god listens after . it is an excellent rule which eusebius emissenus gives , quantum tu apposueris ad diligentiam , tantum deus addit ad gratiam : the more care you take in fitting your self to your devotions , the more grace he gives . elias was to prepare the sacrifice ; though the fire was to come from heaven which did consume it . to come therefore unprepared before him , is an argument , ( say the fathers ) that we do not esteem god , we do not set such a rate upon him as we ought to do : for if the virgins , before they were brought into the presence of ahasuerus , were to be purified first with sweet oyls and odours , what an impudence were it for a foul unwashed soul to press into the presence of god himself ? but then if you would know more punctually wherein this preparation consists , your spiritual guide will tell you : there are some rules more remote , some more immediate ; of the remote , the main is a watchfulness over the whole course of your life : for if the devil order his temptations with a design in chief to blast and corrupt your prayers , your care must be the greater to countermine him in this design ; and to live so ( as far as humane frailty will give way ) as not to be at any time unqualified , or unfit to pray . to compass this , there will be a need first of temperance in diet ; for the body once heavy with excess and surfeits , hangs plummets on the nobler part , and weighs the soul down with it . this being done , there will be use of setting a guard upon your senses , and stopping the avenues so far as nothing may from without be admitted to divert you , as elias is observ'd to have wrap'd his face in a mantle , when he prepared himself to speak with god. to this must be added , the frequent reading of books , especially the book of psalms , where the spirit of devotion breaths with such a vigor as is able to kindle a fire in the coldest breast , to stir up and excite the drousiest soul , which being thus awaked and heated , may be more easily prepared to break forth in fervent prayer . but then if we come to the more immediate dispositions and qualifications of prayer , we shall be pointed to them by our saviour , who gives this main rule of private prayer , when thou prayest , enter into thy closet , and when thou hast shut the door , pray to the father which is in secret : wherein you are not only directed to the place of prayer , you are to chuse a place private and retired ; but further , ( as the fathers observe ) you are put in mind of a more inner retirement , the closet of your breast , for there you must enter too , and shut that door by some setled resolution , to admit no thoughts that may disturb you ; for otherwise there may be noise and tumult in that inward closet , when there is quiet and silence in the other . but then this is not all ; but as the place must be secret , the door shut , so the room must be furnished : for as our saviour would not eat the passover in an unfurnished room , but sent peter and iohn first to prepare it , so there is a furniture necessary for this little chappel of ours , the heart . there must be faith to prepare the materials , and there must be love to kindle the sacrifice . but then after all this , remember that there is no preparative more effectual to prayer , than prayer it self . for as the sun in its approaches to us , is ushered in by its own beams , and begins the dawning ; so in our approaches to god , prayer must make way for prayer . for though the severe judges of the areopage would admit of no civilities of preface to be used by them that pleaded before them , yet god deals not so harshly with us , when we plead before him , but is content to let himself down to be wrought upon by the rhetorick of a devout soul. this david knew well , who so frequently makes use of it : sometimes with all lowliness , suing for admittance ; o let my prayer enter into thy presence . let it be set forth in thy sight as the incense : let the lifting up of mine hands be as an evening sacrifice . hear the voice of my humble petitions , when i cry unto thee , when i hold up my hands towards the mercy-seat of thy holy temple . sometimes after a more passionate way : how long wilt thou forget me , o lord ? for ever ? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me ? how long shall i seek counsel in my soul , and so vexed in my heart ? hear me , o god ; make haste to hear me : think no scorn of me ; for if thou makest as if thou hearest not , i shall become like them that go down into the pit. with these , or such as these , the devout soul summons god to a parley , pleads for admittance , opens the windows of heaven , qualifies her self to receive grace , and works god to a readiness in giving it . o most gracious god , who hearkenest to the preparations of the heart that prays to thee , assist me in the very first motions and approaches of my devotions ; and so order the beginnings of my prayers , as they may go on , and never end , till they are accepted of thee . amen . of the reverence and adoration that is to be used in prayer . among all the duties that relate to prayer , whether of preparation to it , or of deportment in it , there is none of more prime concernment , than to consider that when we pray , we do place or set our selves in the immediate presence of god , whose eyes , though they are at all times over us ; yet then we must imagine them more particularly and earnestly fixed upon us . and as from this consideration flows all the care and solicitude of fitting our selves by the former preparatives , so besides , it suggests to us with what reverence we should present our selves before so infinite a majesty ; not only because god expects it from us , ( though this were enough to oblige : for if i am your father , where is mine honour ? if i am your master , where is my fear ? the words of him that looks for reverence ) but because our prayers are then only effectual when they are presented with acts of adoration : for so saith siracides , the prayer of him that humbleth himself goes through the clouds , and ceaseth not till it come near , and will not depart till the most high have respect thereunto : nor doth the son of god himself disdain to be a president to us in this , whose prayers upon the cross being offered with strong cries and tears , were heard ( as st. paul saith ) propter reverentiam ; importing , as aquinas observes , not so much the reverence due to his own person , but rather the reverence which he did in his own person to god the father . but because the reverence which was done there , was only the act of his mind ( for his body being then nail'd unto the cross , was not in a capacity of performing outward adoration ) he gave us before that pattern in the garden ; where st. luke saith , that he kneeled ; st. matthew , that he fell on his face , when he prayed . having shewn this of the son of god incarnate ; of whom it is said , let all the angels of god worship him : it were much to descend to tell you of the four beasts , or the twenty four elders that fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever : but then if this lowly reverence was done by them who were in such a nearness to god , when they offered up to him the prayers of the saints , what posture can be low enough for us miserable men , whose prayers those are , and who in comparison of those heavenly spirits are viler than the worms we tread upon ? that adoration therefore is necessary , none will deny , that either know the excellency of god , or their own baseness . but because this may be done either by the mind alone , or by the body alone , or by both conjoyned , which makes the compleat adoration , let us inform our selves , first what the inward act of it is : for , as our saviour taught the woman of samaria , god who is himself a spirit , must be worshipped in spirit ; for the most profound outward reverence , if not accompanied with this , is but a body without a soul , a pharisaical ceremony , or an adoration of complement , of which god sadly complains , when he saith of his people , that they drew near to him with their lips , but their heart was far from him . the inward adoration therefore is the humbling of our spirit to god in regard of the excellency that is in him , submitting our very soul , with all the powers and faculties of it to his divine disposal , as being the necessary homage of the creature , due to the greatness and majesty of the creator . the exercise of this adoration consists in several acts , partly of the understanding , partly of the will : for first there is an act of reverence required before you begin your devotions , in an humble recognition of your unworthiness ; of which the patriarch abraham hath left you so excellent a pattern , when being about to beseech god that he would spare sodom , he doth not only acknowledg himself to be dust and ashes , but upon every return of speaking to god in that cause , he doth it with that fear and reverence as to ask leave , and to deprecate his anger before he spake : o let not the lord be angry , and i will speak . i confess , o lord , it is an excess of holdness in me , that i so poor a worm , so vile , so contemptible a creature , should presume to speak to thee : yet be not angry with me for this , for it is not because i value my self more than abraham did ( for if he were but dust and ashes , what am i ? ) but because i dare not under value thy mercy , that i make my humble approaches to thee . behold , i am nothing in mine own eyes , o let me be something in thine ; and disd●in me not when i speak unto thee , for christ his sake . amen . this humble recognition being made of your own vileness , there is a second way of spiritual adoration , when the soul humbled by this reflex upon it self , changeth the object , and raiseth a further reverence by the consideration of the excellencies and several perfections that are in god ; sometimes crying out in such ejaculations as these : o most excellent god , i adore thee for thine infinite wisdom , i reverence thee for thine incomprehensible goodness , i glorifie thee for thine immense charity . sometimes again by a profound silence , making a tacite acknowledgment that all that can be said by thee is nothing : for not only the tongues of men , but of angels , must fail in the expression of his glory . besides , there is a reverence to be used to god in the stile or titles which you give to him ; and these you may vary , according to the variety of the matter of your petitions , wherein the psalms of david are admirable , and afford you no less than forty several ways of compellation of him , some relating to his power , as when he calls him by the names of , the king of heaven , the king of glory , the god of my strength , the god that doth wonders ; ( the very stile striking a kind of fear and reverence into the soul. ) others again relating to his goodness : my saviour , my god , my might , my hope , my refuge in the time of trouble : which though they run in a stile of confidence , yet are not without reverence too : but then ( as gerson observes ) the stile that is best fitted for all persons on all occasions to use , is the compellation of father , which our saviour first taught his disciples to make use of in that excellent prayer never to be disus'd , nor laid aside by us . before the time of grace published to the world , we do not find this title in the prayers of holy men , either patriarchs or prophets : but after the son of god , by taking our nature upon him , became our brother , then was the boldness given to call god our father ; given even to sinners conditionally , that they use it with that reverence as the converted prodigal did , who though he had the confidence to call him father , yet he had the humility withal , to confess that he was not worthy to be called his son , and therefore his petition reached no higher , than to be made one of his hired servants . o most great god , what shall i say in thy presence , when i come to pray to thee ? by what title shall i call thee , or how shall i sufficiently adore thee ? if i stile thee a iudge , i adore thy iustice ; if a master , i know my obedience ; if i call thee my saviour , i acknowledge thy mercy : whatsoever name i use , i find cause enough of reverence . and since therefore i now appear before thee , to pay the tribute of adoration by a thousand titles due to the thee , let thy truth direct me , and thy spirit guide me , that i may so adore thee in spirit and truth , as thou requirest : and that all the inward faculties of my soul , may be as so many fiery tongues , to set forth thy praise for evermore . amen . but as in a watch , though there must be wheels within , yet there must be a hand without too , or else the inward motion of the wheels is useless ; so though the principal of all spiritual motion is within , yet the virtue of it must have a time to work outward too , or else our adoration is not compleat : for as the nature of man is not comprised singly either in soul or body , but in both conjoyned ; so the adoration due to god , who made both , is to flow from both : and if the soul be god's inward chancel , the body must be the temple that includes it : for know you not ( saith st. paul ) that your body is the temple of the holy ghost that is in you : your own it is not ; for you are brought with a price , therefore glorifie god in your body , as well as spirit , for both are his . we are not therefore to think , the reverence of the body to be an useless or an unprofitable ceremony : for besides this argument of st. pauls for the necessity of it , st. austin observes , that this outward adoration of the body is a notable help to the more inward acts of the spirit , and adds much to the earnestness and fervour of it . for the stretching forth of the hands , the bowing of the knees , the beating of the breasts , the prostrating and casting down the body , with the like gestures of humiliation , are not therefore used to discover to god what is within the heart , or to move him the more , but to move thy self , and by these exterior acts , as by a vigorous blowing , to continue and increase that invisible fire of devotion that burns within . but then as these outward acts are not always absolutely necessary ; for you may many times be inwardly moved to pray , when outward gesture cannot either easily or conveniently be used ; as manasses praying in his fetters , ezekiel in his bed , susanna in a throng of people ; so neither can i say , that any one particular gesture of the body in prayer is so prescribed in scripture , either by way of precept or example , as to oblige to that gesture only . for in the exercise of prayer , we find several postures of holy men. before the law abraham is said to have fallen on his face ; under the law , moses did the like . among the prophets , elias fell on the earth , bowing his face between his knees ; solomon stood before the altar , with his hands spread forth toward heaven ; saint stephen kneel'd , when he pray'd for his enemies ; saint peter , when he raised doroas ; our saviour himself in his agony in the garden , not only kneel'd but prostrated himself , as hath already been mentioned . the acts of outward adoration being of this diversity : st. austin's rule is , that in private prayer ( for in publick we are to conform our selves to the commands and customs of the church wherein we live , rather than to the bent and inclination of our own wills ) we are so to compose and order the outward man , as may be of most advantage to the raising and continuing of the inward devotion of the mind . of all these outward gestures , prostration is the lowest act of bodily reverence that can be used , when the supplicant casting himself upon the earth , acknowledges by that act , that he doth but cast dust to dust , that he is more vile than the least grain of that earth he lies upon ; and this posture best becomes us in times of great affliction , and ever to be then lowest , when our necessities are at the highest . but though this casting of the body upon the ground , hath been the practice of many devout men , especially of those in the first ages of christianity , who after a more strict way worshipping god in desarts and solitary places ; yet because they found by experience ( as cassian tells us ) that the continuance of their posture long might incline to ease , and provoke to drousiness , they us'd it rather upon some short ejaculatory prayers , than in their larger and more continued devotions , casting themselves often down with some short and vehement breathings of the soul ; but rising again so suddenly , that some of them have been observed to have prostrated themselves in this manner an hundred times in the day , and as often in the night . but this we must leave to be imitated by those whose devotion is of an higher strain than ordinary , and which these latter times are hardly capable of . but the more ordinary and more convenient for all persons , is genuflection : though we may have some excuse not to cast our whole body down , shall we not cast our knees down at least ? hath god said , that every knee shall bow to him , and shall any of us think to be dispenc'd with ? our saviour kneeled , who knew no sin ; and is the posture too low for us , that are nothing else but sin ? whether elephants have no joints in their knees , and therefore cannot bend them , i will not enquire : but sure the christian , that hath not this excuse , is a stranger creature to be wondered at , if he become once so sparing of his trouble , or so over-familiar with his god , as not to bend his knees in solemn prayer unto him . but then you will say , where is there command for this ? no gesture of the body can be other than a ceremony , which being in its own nature a thing indifferent , may either be used , or laid aside . but first , though it be a ceremony , every ceremony is not of that indifferency , especially such which the very law of nature dictates to all nations in all ages , to fall down and kneel in the veneration of their god , whether true or false : but then , lest this inward principle should apply and cast it self upon a wrong object , god hath expresly given his precept too : for every knee ( saith he ) shall bow to me : and what terms can there be of higher command than these ? but yet because affirmative precepts , though they bind always in the habit , cannot be said always to bind in the act , this cannot be pressed so indispensably , as that neither sickness nor weakness , nor any other accident , can be a bar to it : for where necessity intervenes , the bended knees of the heart may well excuse the body . there is therefore one posture more that we find hath been used in prayer , which though it may hear ill , being practised by the pharisees , who , as our saviour describes them , loved to pray standing , not only in their synagogues , but in the corners of their streets ; yet this is not enough utterly to exclude it from our devotions : for not only the proud pharisee , but the humble publican stood at his prayers , although with this note of difference : he stood , but it was afar off , in the lowest place of the temple , as thinking himself unworthy to come higher : his body stood upright , but his eyes were cast downward to the earth . but not to stop either upon these particulars , or upon the custom of the iews in general , ( for it was their custom to pray standing ) we find in the best times , the christians had their seasons to make use of it : for besides that , as between easter and whitsontide ( to express their exultation for the resurrection of their saviour , and their expectation of the descent of the holy ghost ) they were not seen to kneel openly in their publick service of god : so , many times in their private devotions , ( especially when they continued them long upon their knees ) they relieved themselves with that change of posture . but to avoid all necessary scruples in cases of this nature , the result of all is this : 1. that adoration is an act of religious worship , exhibited to god in recognition of his supreme dominion . 2. that as in man the heart is first framed , so the heart must be first offered as a spiritual sacrifice of inward reverence . 3. that the outward adoration by prostration , or kneeling , is not so much a ceremony , as a part or duty in divine worship , not to be omitted , but either in case of necessity , or when we find some other posture upon some occasion really to be of more advantage to us in our devotion . 4. that this duty of external reverence doth not then necessarily oblige , when the soul being suddenly and inwardly moved to lift it self up by prayer , the outward man is as it were surprized in some other posture : as walking , standing , sitting , or lying down ; in which case , god will rather look to the inward motions and raptures of the mind , than to the outward form and composure of the body . someother , though more minute , yet usual circumstances of adoration , are summed up by bonaventure ; as the uncovering of the head ( as it relates to men ) the posture of either looking up to heaven , with the confidence of saint stephen , or fastened down to the earth , with the humility of the publican : the hands lifted and stretched out , a gesture which god honoured with that famous miracle : thus as long as moses in this manner held up his hands , the israelites prevailed ; but when he let them down , his enemies prevailed . but the choice of these must be regulated by the former rule of saint austin , and so far made use of , as they shall conduce most to every particular man's devotion . finis . holy rules and helps to devotion both in prayer and practice . by the right reverend father in god bryan duppa , late lord bishop of winton . the second part. london , printed for w. hensman , at the king's-hea● in westminster-hall . 1683. holy rules and helps to devotion , both in prayer and practice . of prayer , what it is . prayer is an humble address of the soul towards god , for whatsoever we stand in need of , either in relation to this life , or the life to come . prayer is the lifting up of the soul. the pouring out of the soul. a wrestling with god. a sacrifice to god. a succour to the soul. a scourge to the tempter . a sanctuary in troubles . a remedy for sins . a key to open the morning . a lock to shut in the evening . of morning and evening prayer . i. morning and evening prayer are instead of that morning and evening-sacrifice which god enjoined to be daily offered in the temple . ii. they are out-goings of the morning and evening which david speaks of , the out-goings of the morning and evening shall praise thee . iii. they are to every devout soul , like that pillar which guided israel through the wilderness , as a cloud by day to shadow them , and as a fire by night to comfort them . iv. by morning prayer thou openest the windows of thy soul to the sun of righteousness , and by evening prayer thou shuttest them against the danger of the night . v. in your morning devotions you are to say within your self , what shall i do this day which god hath given me ? how shall i employ it ? in the evening , what have i done this day ? how have i spent it ? short ejaculations , or occasional prayers for the morning . blessed art thou , o god , who hast sent the day-spring from on high to visit me ; who hast given my body rest , and preserved this night my soul in safety . blessed art thou , who 〈◊〉 ●●newest thy mercies to me every morning , and hast given me one day more to serve thee , and call upon thy name . or this psal. cxliii . 5. 8. let me hear thy loving-kindness , o god , betimes in the morning , for in thee is my trust . shew thou me the way that i should walk in , for i lift up my soul unto thee . or this , numb . vi . 24. the lord god bless and preserve me , make his face to shine upon me , and be gracious unto me ; that it may go well with me this day , and evermore . a short prayer at up-rising . o blessed saviour , who hast taught me , that the dead shall hear thy voice , let me no longer lie in the grave of sloth ; but raise me as thou didst thy servant lazarus , unbind my hands and feet , set me in some good way , that i may glorifie thee by serving thee this day with a pure mind and humble heart . amen . at your cloathing . o my god , as i came into the world a weak , a naked , and a wretched creature , so am i still , if destitute of thy grace . reach out therefore unto me , the unspotted robe of thy sons righteousness , and so clothe me with all the graces of thy holy spirit , that thy image may be daily renewed in me , and thy name honoured by me for evermore . amen . at the washing of your hands . o my dear saviour , who hast opened a fountain for sin , and for all uncleanness ; wash me throughly with those saving waters , that being purified from the stains of sin , and the guilt of my natural corruption , i may with the more confidence , draw near to thy throne of grace , and bow myself before thy mercy-seat . amen . eccles. xviii . 5. 23. before thou prayest , prepare thy self , and be not as one that tempts the lord. three rules of preparation . i. first , you are to remember when you settle to prayer , you then place your self in the presence of god , whose eyes are upon all men , but especially upon such as call upon him . ii. secondly , the consideration of his presence is to put you in mind , with what humble reverence both of soul and body , you ought to appear before so great a majesty . iii. thirdly , before you begin to pray , you are to resolve within your self seriously to intend the duty you are about , that your heart may not wander , but go along with your prayers , or if through weakness , it happen to stray , to call it back again , and to ask pardon for it in some such short prayer as this : lord , strengthen me and restrain me , and lay not this weakness to my charge . a prayer preparative . o my dear and blessed saviour , who with so much zeal didst drive out those who turned thy house of prayer into a den of thieves , clear at this time the temple of my soul from vain and sinful thoughts , cast out all wandring imaginations , leave nothing behind , that may either disturb or distract me in the performance of this my duty , that my prayers may ascend as incense , and thy grace and mercy may descend as dew to the saving of my soul , and to the glory of thy name . amen . morning prayers collected out of the psalms . i. defend me , o god , under thy wings , and keep me safe this day under thy feathers . give thine angels charge over me , to keep me in all my ways . preserve me as the apple of thine eye , hide me under the shadow of thy wings : that no evil may happen unto me , nor no plague come nigh my dwelling . create in me a clean heart , and renew a right spirit within me . o hold thou up my goings in thy path , that my footsteps slip not . who can tell how oft he offendeth ? o cleanse thou me from my secret sins ; but above all , keep me from presumptuous sins , lest they get the dominion over me ; so shall thy servant be undefiled and innocent from the great offence . amen . ii. unto thee , o god , lift i up mine eyes , o thou that dwellest in the heavens . yea unto the hills will i lift up mine eyes , from whence cometh my salvation . for , whom have i in heaven but thee , and there is none upon earth that i desire in comparison of thee . into thy hands therefore i commend my spirit , for thou hast redeemed me , o lord , thou god of truth . blessed art thou who hast lightned mine eyes , that i sleep not in death . who hast delivered me from the terrors of the night , and from the evil that walketh in darkness . who hast driven sleep from mine eyes , and slumber from my eye-lids . thou art my god , and i will thank thee ; thou art my god , and i will praise thee . amen . iii. o lord thou hast searched me out and known me , thou seest my down-lying and uprising : thou understandest my thoughts long before . for thou art about my path , and about my bed , and spiest out all my ways . through thee have i been holden up ever since i was born , thou art he that took me out of my mothers womb , my praise shall be always of thee . lead me then , o lord , in thy righteousness , and make thy way plain before my face . teach me to do the thing that pleaseth thee ; for thou art my god ; let thy loving spirit lead me forth into the ways of righteousness . shew thy servant the light of thy countenance , and save me this day for thy mercies sake . amen . iv. my voice shalt thou hear betimes , o lord , early in the morning will i direct my prayer unto thee . for thou art the thing that i long for , thou art my hope from my youth . o be thou a place to hide me in , and compass me about with songs of deliverance . for all the earth is full of darkness , and cruel habitations . set me up therefore upon the rock that is higher than i , and i will not fear what man can do unto me . for thou alone canst deliver my soul from death , mine eyes from tears , and my feet from falling . osatisfie me therefore with thy mercy , and that soon , that i may rejoice in thee all the days of my life . lead me forth in thy truth and learn me , for thou art the god of my salvation ; in thee shall be my hope all the day long . amen . v. set a watch this day , o lord , before my mouth , and keep the door of my lips . turn away mine eyes , that they behold no vanity , and let not mine heart be inclined to any evil thing . teach me thy way , o lord , and i will walk in thy truth ; o knit my heart unto thee , that i may fear thy name . order my steps in thy word , that no wickedness may have dominion over me . hide me privily by thine own presence from the provoking of all men : keep me secretly in thy tabernacle from the strife of tongues . for i will set thee always before me , thou shalt be on my right hand , therefore i shall not greatly fall . thou hast been my succour : leave me not , neither forsake me , o god of my salvation . but let thy merciful kindness be this day upon me , like as i do put my trust in thee . glory be to the father , &c. as it was in the beginning , &c. amen . a thanksgiving to god for his protection in the night . o most gracious god , whose eyes have been open over me , when mine were shut , and under the shadow of whose wings i have past this night in safety ; i do with all possible thankfulness , humbly acknowledge it , as thy great mercy , that thou hast not taken away my soul this night ( as in justice thou mightest have done ) but hast given me respite , and afforded me one day more to call upon thy name . o lord , make me ashamed of my former unthankfulness , and wound my heart with the consideration of mine own dulness , whom so many favours have not wrought unto more obedience : give me grace to consecrate the rest of my life unto thy service , and to redeem the time at least which i cannot recall . and , o thou who turnest the shadow of death , into the light of the morning , enable me powerfully to cast off all the works of darkness , and to keep my body and soul spotless and unblameable . and as thou hast brought me to the comforts of this day : so go along with me . i beseech thee , through all the parts and minutes of it , that in all my ways being guided by thy counsel here , i may hereafter be received into thy glory , even for the merits of my dearest saviour jesus christ. amen . a morning prayer . o my dear lord and maker , from whom alone i look for blessing , continue i beseech thee to be the guide of my life ; counsel me , govern me , lead me in the way that i should go , or else i shall wander from thee into infinite errors . o possess then all my bodily senses , that my sinful affections may find no place . leave me no more to my own weakness , whereof my frequent falls have given me many and sad experiments . restrain rather those inclinations to which my nature is chiefly prone , that their violence may never have power over me , to make me swerve from thy holy will. let not the corruption of these evil times prevail upon me , but keep me from the flattering and the lying lips , the profane and blaspheming tongue ; stop my ears , and shut ▪ up my heart against them . strike such an awful reverence into my soul , that i may watch over all my actions , and carefully avoid whatever may be dangerous to my self , pernicious to others , or any way displeasing unto thee ; that so living in thy fear , i may die in thy favour , rest in thy peace , and reign with thee in thy glory world without end . amen . a prayer for forgiveness of sins . o my god , when i call sadly to mind what i have done , and what i have left undone , how careless i have been to please thee , how diligent to offend thee ; how passionately i have been transported toward the pleasures of this life , how cold and heavy in pursuing my everlasting happiness : when i seriously consider the vanity of my affections , the folly of my thoughts , the idleness of my words , and above all , the sinfulness of my actions , i stand amazed at my self , that such a contemplation as this makes not my flesh to tremble , and my heart break at the very thought of it . for , o my lord , if thou shouldest be extreme to mark what i have done amiss , if thou shouldest enter into judgment with me , what would become of me , for of so many millions of sins that i have committed , alas , i cannot answer thee one of a thousand . but , o my saviour , thou who hast revealed it to me as a faithful saying , that thou camest into the world for no other end but to save sinners , thou who hast so solemnly sworn , thy delight is not in my death , but rather that i should live : what shall hinder thee to do that which thou delightest in ? or what can hinder thee to save the soul thou camest into the world for ? o pardon and forgive then all my sins past , that nothing may hinder thee : lay them no longer to my charge , cast them behind thee , bury them , drown them , scatter them as a mist , and as a morning-cloud , let them vanish away . and when thou hast done this , o my merciful god , leave not here , but go on : create in me a clean heart , and renew a right spirit within me ; let me feel once the powerful effects , the saving operations of thy grace , in fervency of devotion toward thee , in bitterness of repentance for offending thee , in holy resolutions never wilfully to sin against thee more , and in perseverance in those resolutions , till i shall pass out of this valley of tears , into those everlasting joys , where no evil can approach me . amen . a prayer against relapses into sin . o my gracious god , the only stay and comfort of my soul , seeing thy will is , that in all things i should sincerely serve thee , and i , through thy grace , desire nothing more than to do the same . how is it , o my lord , that i still offend thee ; or why fall i so often into my former follies ? alas , thy grace is not wanting to me ; but my ungraciousness , and the corruption of my nature , my slipperiness , and easiness to offend , my inconstancy in my best resolutions , and my forgetfulness of my former purposes , is the cause of it . and for this , once more i humble my soul before thee , beseeching thee to lay aside thy rigour , and not to multiply thy anger according to the measure that i have multiplied my sins , but rather to remember whereof i am made , that i am as a flower , a wind , a vapour that passeth away , nay i am viler than all this , even weak and sinful dust and ashes . and thou hast visited and considered me in these my despicable and wretched principles ; o then shew thy strength in my weakness , thy glory in my infirmities , increase in me daily thy renewing grace , and strengthen me against all future temptations , that i may never start aside again , like a broken bow , but go on from grace to grace , though it be with weak and trembling steps , till i shall appear before the god of gods in sion . amen . a prayer to be prepared for our last end. o eternal god , my maker , my redeemer , i adore and bless thy holy name , that thou hast with such admirable patience , not only suffered me to live this hour , but withal hast multiplied thy daily blessings on me , even then when i by my sinful life have most unkindly and treacherously rebelled against thee . but who knows , o merciful lord , how soon thy abused patience may end , or how speedily thou maist call me to a sad account for all my former days so miserably mispent ? for o how many are they on whom the morning sun hath shined , that shall not live to see it set ? and how know i but this may be my last day too ? the only day which thou , o god , hast left me to set my soul in order , and to prepare for that day which never shall have end . o my dear lord , suffer me not then to neglect this blessed season , but by an hearty repentance speedily , even this day , this instant to return unto thee ; that how soon soever thou shalt call me to my transmigration from this life , my accounts may be found audited , my sins cancelled , and my soul acquitted by the bloud of that lamb that takes away the sins of the world. grant this , o my god , for his sake that vouchsafeth to die for me , thy only son jesus christ the righteous . amen . advice concerning the examination of the conscience . the only heaven that is afforded us upon earth is peace of conscience ; the only way to preserve that peace , is to keep our selves unspotted from the world ; or if we fail of this , ( as who doth not in some degree ? ) to call our selves speedily to a strict account for it ; for upon this depends not only our present peace , but our future happiness , according to that of our saviour , if you judge your selves , you shall not be judged . the oftner this is done , the cleaner and the quieter your soul will be . if you make it not your daily task , yet find a time for it at least once a week . but especially omit it not , when you prepare your self for the blessed sacrament ; for as the benefit of it , being well managed , amounts to no less than the saving of your soul , so the danger is as great on the other side , if you carelesly or wilfully neglect it . st. paul therefore is punctual , and vehement in pressing the corinthians with it where he lays a peremptory command upon them , let every man examine himself . for this is no trivial ordinary duty , no exercise on the by , but a work of high concernment , wherein the soul of a christian seriously reflects upon it self , and the penitent sinner laying all the actions of his life before him , arraigns , accuseth and condemneth himself . and that this may be done with the more advantage ; some hours at least , if not some day must be set apart for this examination . especially let the immediate preceding day be kept as the eve to this great feast , wherein you are to humble your self by prayer and fasting , that you may be the better disposed and qualified for the performance of this duty . for the carrying on this private assize and trial of our selves , devoutmen have proposed many several methods ; but the most general and approved way is to set before you , as the most clear and impartial glass , the moral law of god , with such heightnings of it and deductions from it , as either our saviour in the gospel hath drawn from it , or our own reason well informed to make use of . the examination by way of articles upon the moral law , to every particular of which the soul is to answer it self , whether guilty or not guilty . the examnation upon the first commandment . i. dost thou really believe , o my soul , that there is a god , or hast thou set some secret touches of atheism within thee ? ii. hast thou doubted at any time of his providence , or of his power , of his justice , mercy , or any other of his attributes ? iii. hast thou been willing to entertain scruples of this nature , and to listen to their discourses , who turn the reason that god hath given , as a weapon against himself . iv. hast thou proudly ascribed the good that thou hast done unto thy own strength , or imputed thy sins and follies to the necessitating and inevitable decrees of god. v. dost thou think thy self obliged to obey god , as well as to believe in him , to love him as thy father , to fear him as thy judge , to praise him as thy maker , with daily , and most humble thanks for all his mercies to thee ? hast thou done this , or wherein hast thou failed ? vi. hast thou really in thy thoughts no other gods but him ? hast thou set up nothing in competition with him , no pride , no pleasure , no ptofit , no self-love , no self-interest of thine own ? vii . hast thou given credit to vain predictions of men , to dreams or fortune-tellers , or gone about to know any secret thing by lot ? viii . hast thou in thy prosperity forgot thy god , or in thy adversity hast thou put thy confidence more in worldly helps than in him ? the examination upon the second commandment . i. dost thou apprehend god as an infinite , incomprehensible essence , without framing to thy self any bodily shape or form of him that is invisible ? ii. dost thou worship god in or by an image , or any other way which either he hath forbidden , or not commanded ? iii. dost thou give the worship that is due unto the creat or , to any of his creatures , either saint or angel ? or dost thou consider that he is a jealous god , who will have nothing lov'd , nothing honour'd by thee like himself . iv. dost thou in all thy addresses to him , either of publick prayers or private , come into his presence with reverence , kneeling , and religiously bowing thy self before him , and before him alone ? the examination upon the third commandment . i. hast thou used vain , impertinent customary swearing ? ii. hast thou sworn any thing false , knowing it to be so , making the name of god a broker to thy lies ? iii. hast thou been perjur'd by violating any publick oath made to thy lawful superiors ; or failed in any private engagement which hath been in thy power to perform ? iv. hast thou broken any voluntary , religious , deliberate vow , made purposely to god and his glory ? v. how far hast thou kept that great and solemn vow which was made for thee in baptism ? or hast thou seriously considered thy frequent and dangerous violations of it ? vi. hast thou given god , upon all occasions offered , the honour due unto his name ? or hast thou any ways spoken of him without fear or reverence ? vii . hast thou abused either god's name , or any of his creatures in curses or bitter execrations ? the examination upon the fourth commandment . i. hast thou kept the lord's day holy , or hath it been as a common day unto thee ? ii. hast thou constantly sanctified this day , either by being present at the publick service of the church , or ( being hindred of this ) by private prayer , and reading of holy books . iii. dost thou shew forth thy charity this day in works of mercy to them that stand in need of thee ? the examination upon the fifth commandment . i. hast thou loved , honoured and obeyed thy parents , thy king and sovereign , and all that have a lawful authority over thee ? ii. hast thou upon all occasions assisted them to thy power , and offered up daily prayers to god for them ? iii. hast thou respected thy spiritual guides , such as labour for thy soul ; or hast thou grieved or despised any of those whom thou art bound to honour ? the examination upon the sixth commandment . i. dost thou endeavour as much as in thee lies , to preserve the lives of all men , as bearing the same image of thy maker with thee . ii. art thou a lover , a follower , a procurer of peace among those with whom thy conversation is ? iii. hast thou been either causelesly or sinfully angry ? hast thou born malice , hatred or revenge in thine heart ? hast thou forgiven , hast thou loved thy enemy for christ's sake , who loved thee when thou wert yet his enemy ? iv. hast thou compassionate bowels ? hast thou , to thy power fed and clothed them whom thou hast known to be ready to perish with cold and hunger ? v. hast thou been careful of thine own life , or hast thou any way hastened thine own end by wilful intemperance or disorder ? the examination on the seventh commandment . dost thou consider that thy body was made to be a temple of the holy ghost , that whosoever therefore shall presume to pollute this temple , him shall god destroy ? ii. hast thou preserved it in that purity which is required of thee , or hast thou defiled it by fornication , adultery , lasciviousness or any other uncleanness , of which the apostle pronounceth , that they who do such things shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ? iii. hast thou deliberately pleased thy self with any foul lascivious thoughts , or continued in them , to a delight ? hast thou consented to them , or hast thou rejected them ? iv. hast thou been careless in avoiding the occasions and approaches that lead into those sins , or hast thou exposed thy self either unwarily or wilfully to temptation . v. hast thou delighted in wanton company , in unchaste songs , or unclean discourses ? the examination on the eighth commandment . i. hast thou taken away from others by deceit or violence , that which belongs not to thee ? hast thou injured no man in his rights ? ii. hast thou defrauded servants of their wages , labourers of their hire , or creditors of such debts as thou art able to satisfie ? the examination upon the ninth commandment . i. hast thou upon all occasions been witness to the truth , without fear or flattery ? ii. hast thou said any thing falsly that hath been injurious to the good name and reputation of another ? or hast thou pleased thy self either in inventing or spreading rumors of that kind ? iii. dost thou willingly give ear to slanderers , and to such as go about with lies ; or dost thou abhor them both in thy self and others ? the examination upon the tenth commandment . i. dost thou rest contented in that condition or state of life wherein god hath placed thee , or hast thou at any time inordinately lusted after that which belongs to others ? ii. hast thou entertained secret covetings in thy thoughts , with any delight or complacency ? or hast thou labour'd to restrain them and quench them in their first beginnings ? when you have consider'd seriously , and answered your self in these particulars one by one ; sum up the account you have made , where you find your self innocent , give the glory to god , whose grace hath kept you from falling into those sins ; but where you find your self guilty , humble your self before god in prayer , confessing sadly the evil you have done , and imploring mercy in these or such other words as the devotion of your heart shall suggest to you . an humble confession after examination . o the god of my soul , with all humble reverence i appear this day before thee , not as the proud pharisee to justifie my self , but as the poor publican who striking his breast , durst not lift up his eyes towards heaven , nor say any more than this , lord be merciful to me a sinner . for i have sinned , o lord , i have sinned ; wo is me , i cannot cast my searching eyes into any corner of thy commandments , but i find my self miserably guilty . but in what manner soever i have offended thee , o my merciful lord , whether in thought , word or deed , whether secretly or openly ; i am now sorry for it from the very root and bottom of my heart , beseeching thee to look compassionately upon the frailty and ignorance , the wilfulness and presumption of my life , and graciously to forgive all that i have done amiss . for alas , i am neither able to stand thine indignation , nor present thee with any thing of mine own , but tears and prayers to appease thine anger : be reconciled therefore to me , o god , in the blood of thy dear son , which was so freely offered up to thee as a full ransom for the sins of the whole world. o require not that payment again of me , a poor and bankrupt sinner ; but for his sake , for his abundant satisfactions sake , cancel the hand-writings that are against me ; blot out all my sins past , new and old , and for the time to come , let there be an everlasting tie between my soul and thee , that thou maist be my god , and i may live and die thy servant . amen . a protestation to be made after confession . o my great and glorious god , i who am less than the grain of dust that hangs upon the balance , profess seriously , and with the remorse of a wounded spirit , that i am not only sorry , but ashamed and confounded within my self , that i have so many ways sinned against so good a god , so gracious a father : but what is past i cannot recal , though thy mercy may forgive . but for the time to come , i call all thy holy angels to witness , that i this day sacrifice my self wholly to thee , resolving to break of from all sinful courses ; and fully purposing never to offend thee more . but because thou knowest my failings and my weakness is not hid from thee , i beg of thee , o my god , to shew thy strength in my weakness , and to confirm my infirm mind in this holy resolution . that so never repenting of this repentance , nor wavering in those resolute purposes , which i have now by thy grace fo deliberately made , i may go on constantly in a pure and holy life , till in the end of my days i come to everlasting joys , which thou hast prepared for them that love thee , through jesus christ my lord , amen . a prayer before the receiving the holy sacrament . o my most blessed saviour , who in the bowels of thy mercy towards mankind , didst not only offer thy self a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world , but didst institute this heavenly and holy sacrament , as the means to convey the benefits of thy precious death to all such as with humility and repentance come unto thee : accept , i beseech thee , this my humble address , who here present my self a woful sinner , i confess , but such a one , who am heartily sorry for my sins , and penitent for my offences . direct me therefore , o my god , in this great action , with such a reverent and awful fear , that all the faculties of my soul may be attentive rightly to apprehend , and joyfully to receive this wonderful mystery of thy body and blood. o my lord , i am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof ; let thy holy spirit therefore before thy coming prepare and dress up a lodging for thee in my soul , cleansing it from the stains of sin , and suffering nothing to abide in it , that may keep thee out ; so that being wholly possest by thee , all sinful thoughts , and unclean suggestions , may not only presently vanish , but never find entrance more . grant this , o my jesu ; and so , this day , receive me into thy favour , that i may with joy receive thee into my soul , and being once united with thee , thy grace may never depart from me ; that so thou maist live in me , and i in thee for ever . amen . a thanksgiving after the receiving of the sacrament . o lord , the only spring and everlasting fountain of all good , who hast this day revived and quickned my poor soul , by giving thy self unto me after a wonderful way in this blessed sacrament , i praise and glorifie thy holy name for this thine infinite mercy ; beseeching thee to crown what thou hast begun , by a continual supply of thy heavenly grace , that i may never forget whom , or what i have received ; but being purified by thy blood , and strengthned by thy body against all future temptations , i may constantly run through all the parts of an holy life , to the possession of thy glorious kingdom , world without end . amen , amen . rules of devotion to be observed toward the evening , or some time of the afternoon . i. that you fail not ( unless some extraordinary or unavoidable accidents hinder you ) to allot some part of the afternoon or toward the evening , for the advantage of your soul ; when freeing your self from business and company : you may retire into your closet , or private oratory , and there direct your thoughts without disturbance , upon god alone . ii. that being thus retired , you constantly make it your business to read some part of the holy scripture , ( especially in the psalms , which if all other books of devotion were lost , are sufficient to supply us in that kind ; ) having begun there , go on to the reading of some part of the new-testament , not carelesly or in haste , as if you had a mind to have done , but so attentively , as to be able to give some account of what you have read , or to single at least some one passage or more out of it , to be laid up in your memory , and to be made use of in the practice of an holy life . iii. that in this time of retirement , you lay all things aside , that may divert you from holy and heavenly thoughts , considering that you set your self in the presence of god , & that you are to give him an account of what you are doing , w ch that you may the better do , you may begin with this prayer . a prayer upon the entrance into your closet . o my great and gracious god , whose infinite mercy it is , that i have this minute of my life left me , i here appear in thy presence lamenting sadly that so much of my time is already lost either in doing ill or doing nothing , or in doing that which hath been unprofitable and vain ; o grant that i may redeem the hours that are past , & dispose of those that are to come in serving thee hereafter with a devout heart & earnest and passionate affections ; draw me off more and more from the pleasures and vanities of this life , that i may the better settle my wavering and divided soul upon thee alone ; and since at this time i have here retired my self , that i might the more freely commune with my own heart and meditate on thine only word : let thy blessed spirit assist me , that i may not only barely remember what i read , but digest it into the practice of an holy life , to the comforts of my soul , and the glory of thy name , through jesus christ , amen . prayers towards bed time . i. let my prayer , o lord , be set forth in thy sight as the incense , and let the lif●ing up of my hands be as an evening sacrifice . for thou , o lord , hast granted me thy loving kindness in the day-time , and therefore in the night-season i will think on thee , and make my prayer to the god of my life . o thou that saidest , let therebe light , and there was light ; open mine eyes , that i sleep not in death . make me to commune with my own heart upon my bed , and to search out all my ways . that i may lament my sins as thy servant david did , and cry unto thee for mercy . consider and hear me , o god , and hide me under the shadow of thy wings , and let my soul rest in thee . amen . ii. blessed art thou , o god , who makest the out-goings of the morning and evening to praise thee . who hast not cut off my life this day , nor shut me up in the grave where all things are forgotten . i will not suffer therefore my eyes to sleep nor my eye-lids to slumber , till i have prepared my heart for my god to rest in . for thou art my god from my youth , thou hast numbred out my days and nights , that i might serve thee ; thou givest thy beloved sleep , and makest them that fear thee to rest in safety . thou deliverest me from the terrors of the night , and from the evil that walketh in darkness . return then unto thy rest , o my soul , for god taketh care for thee . amen . iii. lord , let me make my prayer unto thee in an acceptable time . teach me to remember thee in my bed , and to think of thee when i am waking . o thou watchman of isreal , that neither slumberest nor sleepest , watch over me this night . give thy angels charge over me , that the spirits of darkness may not come near me . that no evil thoughts may betray me , nor any sad or sinful dreams disturb my quiet . for into thy hands , o lord , i commend my spirit , for thou hast redeemed me . o keep then what thou hast redeemed , and let not thy servant for whom thou hast died , perish for ever . amen . a short prayer . o god , my everlasting keeper , blessed be thy name for evermore , for thou madest me when i was nothing , thou redeemedst me when i was worse than nothing ; thou hast so multiplied thy mercies on me through all the minutes of my life , that the sun hath never yet rose or set upon me , without new blessings from thee . and as thou hast done so much for me already , for which i pour out my very soul in thankfulness , so in the same degree of lowest humility , i humbly beseech thee to continue thy care of me this night , and so to shadow me under the wings of thy protection , that neither visible nor invisible enemies , neither sin nor danger may approach to hurt me . that so when the joyful light of the day shall return again , i may rise in safety with an unspotted soul , and a body fitted to be the temple of the holy ghost , even so lord jesu , amen , amen . is any afflicted , let him pray . the complaint of an afflicted soul. i. behold , o lord , i am as a bruised reed before thee , o break it not . i am as smoaking flax , o lord quench it not . send down from on high and visit me . save me out of many waters that are come into my soul. for i have been left unto thee ever since i was born . thou hast been my god , even from my mothers womb . o go not then far from me , for trouble is near at hand , and there is none to help me . the sorrows of my heart are enlarged , o bring thou me out of all my troubles . thou hast formerly been my succour , leave me not now , neither forsake me , o god of my salvation . for from the ends of the earth will i call unto thee , when my heart is in heaviness . o forgive all the offences of thy servant , which have justly brought these bitter things upon me . take away at last all thy displeasure , and turn away from thy wrathful indignation . arise and help me , and deliver me for thy mercies sake . o god make speed to save me . o lord make hast to help me . ii. in the time of my trouble i will call upon thee . o god , in my heaviness i will cry unto thee , and unto thee alone . for whom have i in heaven but thee , or whom shall i desire on earth in comparison of thee ? my flesh and my heart fails me , but thou art the strength of my heart and my portion for ever . but how long wilt thou forget me , lord , for ever ? how long wilt thou hide away thy face from me ? how long shall i seek counsel in my soul , and my spirit be thus troubled within me ? in my prosperity i said , i shall never be moved . but as soon as thou didst hide away thy face from me , i was troubled . but will the lord absent himself for ever ? will he be no more intreated ? hath god forgotten to be gracious , or will he shut up his loving kindness in displeasure ? alas , innumerable troubles are come upon me . they have laid such hold upon me , that i am not able to look up . there is no strength left in me , o my god , neither know i what to do , but mine eyes are towards thee . i am troubled above measure ; help me , o god , or else i shall sink under the burthen . o consider what thou hast laid upon me ; forsake me not when my strength fails me . but in the multitude of my sorrows that are in my heart , let thy comforts be the refreshing of my soul. o my god , the more weak i am , the more let thy strength be made known in my weakness . and suffer no temptation to seize upon me , but such as thou shalt give me grace to overcome . o lord hear my prayer . and let my cry come unto thee . amen , sweet jesu , amen , amen . the prayer . o my dear god and most merciful father , who hast not only directed , but encouraged me in all my troubles to call upon thee ; hear , i beseech thee , the complaints that i now make , and the prayers which i pour forth in the anguish and bitterness of my spirit ; for thou hast shewn me heavy things , o god. and in the midst of all my prosperity hast been pleased to mingle a bitter cup for me . what the troubles of my heart are , how heavy they lie upon me , how deeply they wound me , i need not labour to express to thee , for all my comfort is , that nothing is hid from thee . for not only the blessings which thou hast poured upon me through all the minutes and moments of my life ; but the afflictions which i now groan under , come from the same hand to rouse me , and awake me to a more devout and earnest way of serving thee . and since it is thy own work , look down with the more pity on this wounded soul of mine . see , o my god , how i pant and labour under the heavy scourge of thy displeasure , a scourge which my own sins have twisted , and mine own iniquities have drawn down upon me . but , o my dear father , to whom it is more easie to do all things , than for me to ask any thing that is good . thou that hast promised to all them that love thee , that they shall not be tempted farther than they are able . give , i beseech thee , that measure of grace and patience to thy sad and afflicted servant ; that i may not only endure what thou layest upon me , but entirely , willingly and chearfully submit my will to thine . and , o thou god of comfort and spirit of all consolation , be not only with me , but with all of my relations that mourn in secret , either for their own sins or sufferings , or whatsoever bitterness thou shalt think fit to lay upon us . o teach us all to look up to the hand from whence these judgments come , to kiss and to adore it . and when thou hast done so , let thy mercy go one step further with me , and compose my troubled mind into such a calm , that none of my sufferings ( whatsoever they are or may be ) may either make me repine at thy judgments , or despair of thy mercies : but rather let all that is afflictive to me , serve only to wean me from the world , and to draw me the nearer to thee ; but because this cannot be done without thee , o thou preserver of the children of men , behold i throw my self , and all that is dear to me , clearly and intirely into thine arms , to do with me whatsoever shall be good in thine eyes . and therefore amidst all the unquiet thoughts , which now trouble and disorder me , say unto me , as thou didst to thy disciples in the storm , fear not , for it is i. or else if thou shalt find it better for me , that i should find no calm abroad in the midst of the various changes and chances of this world , let me find it at least in my own breast and bosom , and possess my soul in patience , whatever other storms thou shalt please to raise against me , that so placed under the shadow of thy wings , and refreshed here with the comforts of thy spirit , i may long earnestly for that blessed day , when all tears shall be wiped from mine eyes , and all sorrows shall be forgotten . grant this , o my god , for thy son's sake , who sits at thy right hand to meditate for me . grant it for thy holy spirit 's sake , who pleads for me , and all that love thee , with groans that cannot be expressed . grant it for thy own sake , o my god , who art never more thy self , than when in the midst of judgment thou remembrest mercy . amen . amen . amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a36933-e410 joh. 17. 5. psal. 2. 8. luke in 21 , 22. luke 9. 28. mat. 17. ● . mark ix . 3. mark ix . 5. psal. lxvl. 13. mat. xvil . dan. 6. gen. xxxii . 24. hos. xii . 4. luke xi . 5. ephes. vi . 12. 18. matth. xvii . 16. 21. tob. viii . 3. lam. iii. 44. isa. i. 13. 14. 15. 16. 18. exod. xxxiii . 20. dan. vi . luke x. 41. gen. xv. 11. matth. viii . 9. eccles. xvlli . 22. lam. iii. 44. 1 kings xviii . esther ii . 12. 1 kings xix . 13. matth. vi . 6. mark xiv . 15. psalm lxxxvili . l. cxli. 2 , xxviii . 2. xiii . 1 , 2. xxviii . 1. mal. i. 6. ecclus. xxxv . 17. heb. v. 7. luke xxii . 41. matth. xxvi . 39. heb. i. 6. rev. v. 8. 14. john iv . 24. isa xxix . 13. matth. xv . 8. gen. xviii . 29. 30. 1 cor. vi. 19 , 20. gen. xvii . 3. deut. ix . 18. 1 kings xviii . 42. 1 kings viii . 22. acts vii . 60. & 20. 36. matth. xxvi . 30. isa. xiv . 23. mark vi . 5 luke xviii . 13. 2 chron. vi . 13. exod. xvii . 11. religion our true interest, or, practical notes upon the third chapter of malachy the sixteen, seventeen and eighteen verses : seasonable for the times / by thomas watson ... watson, thomas, d. 1686. 1682 approx. 282 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 123 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a65309) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102654) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1080:3) religion our true interest, or, practical notes upon the third chapter of malachy the sixteen, seventeen and eighteen verses : seasonable for the times / by thomas watson ... watson, thomas, d. 1686. [14], 231 p. printed by j. astwood for tho. parkhurst ..., london : 1682. includes index. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within 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nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible. -o.t. -malachi iii, 16-18 -criticism, interpretation, etc. theology, practical. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 john latta sampled and proofread 2004-02 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion religion our true interest : or practical notes upon the third chapter of malachy , the sixteen , seventeen and eighteen verses . seasonable for the times . by thomas watson , sometimes minister of stephens walbrook , lond. prov . 14.27 . the fear of the lord is a fountain of life . london , printed by i. astwood , for tho. parkhurst , at the bible and three crowns , at the lower end of cheap-side , near mercers-chappel . 1682. to the reader . christian reader , books are the children of the brain . in this writing age * ( ferè ad nauseam ) i intended my pen should have been silent , but the variety and weightiness of this subject , as also the desire of some friends did prevail with me to publish it . the main design of this excellent scripture , is to encourage solid piety , and confute the atheists of the world , who imagine there is no gain in godliness . it was the speech of king saul to his servants , 1 sam. 22.7 . will the son of iesse give every one of you fields and vineyards ? will the world or mens lusts give them such noble recompences of reward , as god bestows upon his followers ? surely , it is holiness carries away the garland . as for this treatise , it comes abroad in a plain dress : truth like a diamond shines brightest in its native lustre ; saint paul came not to the corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , with excellency of speech * , or the pride of oratory † ; his study was not to court , but convert . it is an unhappiness that in these luxuriant times , religion should for the most part run either into notion or ceremony ; the spirits of religion are evaporated . when knowledge is turned into taste , and digested into practice , then it is saving . that god would accompany these few impolite lines , with the operation and benediction of his holy spirit , and make them edifying , is the prayer of him who is thine in all christian service , thomas watson . dowgate , nov. 22. 1681. the table alphabetical . a abusers of gods iewels punished . pag. 181. afflictions have their consolations . p. 227 apostacy dangerous p. 8 appearance of sin to be shunned . p. 47 arguments to hold fast integrity in evil times . p. 7 assurance and the fear of god consistent . p. 21 b best need sparing . p. 202 bodies of the saints shall be perfect . p. 192 c carnal fear evil . p. 14 christians instead of speaking one to another , speak one of another . p. 89 comfort when god saith , ye are mine . p. 171 covenant vnion with god to be endeavoured . p. 172 d day of iudgment , how far to be feared by a child of god. p. 71 day of making up gods iewels . p. 190 death how far to be feared by a child of god. p. 67 different carriage of god towards his children and the wicked . p. 134 e evil thoughts are punishable in gods court. p. 111 excellency of the fear of god. p. 29 eyes of sinners at present shut . p. 209 f fear of god described . p. 15 fear of god is by a trope put for all religion . ibid. fear of god makes us fear sin. p. 45 fearing god and keeping his commandments conjoyned . p. 54 fear of god , how to be attained . p. 80 fear of missing heaven . p. 78 folly of idolaters . p. 136 friends may be forgetful , but god will not . p. 150 g god deals with his saints , as a father with his son. p. 195 god deals well with his people when he afflicts them . p. 217 god takes notice of the good in his children . p. 130 gods hearkning to us should make us hearken to him . p. 138 god hath a book of remembrance for his people . p. 140 gods owning of his people . p. 161 gods sparing them . p. 201 good conference to be used . p. 82 graces of the saints shall be perfect . p. 191 h hasty words shew the devil to be in the tongue . p. 87 hearts deceit . p. 62 heart not to be hardened against god. p. 156 helps to good discourse . p. 100 helps to holy thoughts . p. 127 hell , how far to be feared by a believer . p. 73 honour attends holiness . p. 174 i idle talk censured , p. 85 incitements to holy thoughts . p. 114 ingredients into the fear of god. p. 16 integrity to be preserved inviolable . p. 3 iovial sinners reproved . p. 25 m making up of gods iewels , what it implys . p. 185 maintain honourable thoughts of god in affliction . p. 231 matter of our holy musings . p. 113 means to be good in evil times . p. 9 mercies of god to be recorded . 149 murmuring a god-provoking sin. p. 87 n name of god , what it signifies . p. 103 o oaths weigh heavy in gods balance . p. 89 omnisciency of god to be admired . p. 132 p priviledges of being in covenant with god. p. 165 r reasons enforcing the fear of god. p. 19 s saints should be sparing in their censures of others . p. 205 saints have gods ear. p. 134 saints purgatory is in this life . p. 144 saints gods iewels . p. 175 saints should shine as iewels . p. 183 satans snares p. 59 scoffers the vilest of sinners . p. 28 secure sinners characterized . p. 27 serve god as a son doth his father . p. 203 signs of the fear of god. p. 45 signs of such as shall goe to hell. p. 74 silence in religion a loud sin . p. 85 sinful compliance sordid . p. 5 sin worse than affliction . p. 46 sin begins in the thoughts . p. 109 sinners have not right thoughts of god. p. 107 sinners shall not be spared . p. 203 sins of the wicked written down in gods book of remembrance . p. 146 swasives to holy conference . p. 94 t thinking of god in a right manner . p. 125 thoughts of god may be peccant . p. 124 thoughts and good speeches of the godly are written down . p. 140 time of discerning between the righteous and the wicked . p. 210 v vain thoughts the froth of the brain . p. 108 vain thoughts pernitious . p. 109 vnion of the saints at last . p. 189 w want of the fear of god the cause of all sin . p. 22 wicked men vile in gods account . p. 178 wisdom to engage the lord of hosts on our side . p. 158 works of mercy . p. 57 errata . page 85. line 26. for no , read not . pag. 155. marg . 3 vse , dele 3. pag. 188. l. 15 , for discords r. discord . practical notes upon malach . iii. ver. 16 , 17 , &c. then they that feared the lord spake often one to another , and the lord hearkned and heard it , and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the lord , and that thought upon his name . and they shall be mine ( saith the lord of hosts ) in that day when i make up my iewels , and i will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him , &c. chap. 1. shewing , that christians should hold fast their integrity in times of defection . the scripture of truth * , is the ground of faith. this portion of scripture which now presents it self to our view , hath its sacred elegancies , and is all glorious within . it was composed by malachy , whose name imports messenger * ; he came upon an ambassage from the god of heaven . this prophet was so famous , that origen and others ( though injudiciously ) supposed him to be an angel. he lived after the building of the second temple , and was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , contemporary with haggai , and zechariah † . this blessed prophet did lift up his voice like a trumpet , and tell the jewish nation of their sins ; and he was the last trumpet that sounded in the old testament . in the words of the text are these parts . i. a character of the godly . 1. in general , they were fearers of god ; they that feared the lord. 2. in special : ( 1 ) they spake often one to another . ( 2 ) they thought upon gods name . ii. the good effects of their piety . 1. the lord regarded it ; he hearkned and heard . 2. he recorded it ; a book of remembrance was written . 3. he rewarded it ; and this reward consisted in three things . ( 1 ) gods owning them ; they shall be mine . ( 2 ) gods honouring them ; in that day when i make up my iewels . ( 3 ) gods sparing them . i will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him . before i come to the several parts distinctly , here is a connexive particle stands in the front of the text which may not be omitted , namely , the word then. then they that feared the lord , &c. then , that is , after israels return from the babylonish captivity ; then , when the major part of the people grew corrupt , and came worse out of the furnace than they went in , vers . 13 , 14 * in this bad juncture of time , then they that feared the lord spake often one to another . hence observe , that the profaneness of the times should not slacken but highthen our zeal . the looser others are , the stricter we should be . in those degenerate times when men were arrived at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and highth of impudence , and durst speak treason against heaven ; then they that feared the lord spake often one to another . when others were plaintiffs these were defendants ; when others spake against god , these spake for god. in noah's dayes all flesh had corrupted it self , ( the old world was drowned in sin before it was drowned in water : ) now at this time , noah was perfect in his generation , and noah walked with god , gen. 6.9 . he was the phoenix of his age . athanasius stood up in the defence of the truth , when the world was turned arrian * . the more outragious others are in sin , the more couragious we should be for truth . when the atheists said , 't is vain to serve god , then they that feared the lord spake often one to another . why should we be holiest in evil times . 1. because of the divine injunction . god chargeth us to be singular , mat. 5.47 . to be circumspect , eph. 5.15 . to be separate from idolaters , 2 cor. 6.17 . to shine as lights in the world , philip. 2.15 . he forbids us to symbolize with sinners , or doe as they doe : the way to hell is a beaten road , the lord calls to us to turn out of the road , exod. 23.2 . thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil * . this is reason enough to keep our selves pure in a time of common infection . as gods word is our rule , so his will is our warrant . 2. to be holiest in evil times is an indication of the truth of grace . to profess religion when the times favour it , is no great matter . who almost will not court the queen of the gospel when she is hung with jewels ? but to own the wayes of god when they are decried and maligned , to love a persecuted truth , this evidenceth a vital principle of goodness . dead fish swim down the stream , living fish swim against it . to swim against the common stream of evil shews grace to be alive . the prophet elias continuing zealous for the lord of hosts , when they had digged down gods altars , 1 king. 19.10 . shewed his heart and lips had been touched with a coal from the altar . 1 vse . see hence how unworthy they are of the name of christians who use sinful complyance , and cut the garment of their religion according to the mode and fashion of the times . they consult not what is best , but what is safest * . complying spirits can truckle to the humours of others ; they can bow either to the east or to the host ; they prefer a whole skin before a pure conscience . they can with the planet mercury vary their motion ; they can as the mariner shift their sail with every wind : and as the mungril israelites speak the language of canaan and ashdod . these are like the samaritans of whom iosephus saith , when the jews flourished they pretended to be a-kin to them , and come of the tribe of ephraim and manasseh , but when the jews were persecuted , they disclaimed kindred with them . the old serpent hath taught men crooked windings , and to be for that religion not which hath truth on its side , but power . 2 vse . let us keep up the vigour of our zeal in times of degeneracy . we should by an holy antiperistasis burn hotter in a frozen age . we live in the dregs of time ; sin is grown common and impudent : 't is excellent to walk antipodes to the world. rom. 12.2 . let us be as lillies and roses among the briars . sin is never the better because it is in fashion , nor will this plea hold at the last day , that we did as the most . god will say , seeing you sinned with the multitude , you shall go to hell with the multitude . o let us keep pure among dregs ; let us be like fish that retain their freshness in salt waters ; and as that lamp which shined in the smoaking furnace , gen. 15.17 . consider , 1. to be holy in times of general defection is that which god is greatly pleased with . the lord was much taken with the holy conferences and dialogues of these saints in the text. when others were inveighing against the deity , that there should be a parcel of holy souls speaking of glory and the life to come , their words were musick in gods ears . 2. to keep up a spirit of holiness in an adulterous generation , is a christians honour . this was the glory of the church of pergamus , that she held fast christs name , even where satans seat was , rev. 2.13 . the impiety of the times is a foyl to set off grace the more , and make it cast a greater lustre . then a christian is most lovely , when he is ( as ambrose saith ) like the cypresse , which keeps its viridity and freshness in the winter season . psalm 37.37 . mark the perfect man , and behold the vpright : an upright man is always worth beholding , but then he is most to be admired when like a bright star he shines in the dark , and having lost all , holds fast his integrity . 3. to be good in a prosligate age , doth much animate weak beginners ; it strengthens feeble knees , isa. 35.3 . and shores up those temples of the holy ghost which are ready to fall . one mans zeal is a torch for others to light at . how did the constancy of the martyrs inflame the love of many to the truth ! though only christs blood doth save , yet the blood of martyrs may strengthen . st. paul's prison chain , made converts in nero's court , two of which were afterwards martyrs as history relates . mr. bradford's holy advice and example so confirmed bishop farrar that he would not touch with the roman pollution . * 4. how sad will it be for christians to fall off from their former profession , and espouse a novel religion . iulian bathed himself in the blood of beasts offered in sacrifice to the heathen gods , and so as much as in him lay wash'd off his former baptism . in the time of iulius cesar this prodigy happened , after a plentiful vintage there were wild grapes appeared upon their vines , which was looked upon as ominous . when men seemed to bring forth the fruits of righteousness , and afterwards bring forth the wild grapes of impiety , it is a sad omen and prognostick of their ruine , 2 pet. 2.21 . for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness , than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment . let all this make us maintain the power of holiness in the worst times : though others wonder we do not sin after the rate that they do , yet , remember , it is better to go to heaven with a few , than to hell in the crowd . how may we keep up the briskness and fervour of grace in times of apostacy . 1. let us beware of having our hearts too much linked to the world. the world damps zeal , as earth chokes the fire . we are bid to love our enemies ; but the world is such an enemy as we must not love , 1 iohn 2.15 . love not the world. the world bewitcheth with her blandishments , and kills with her silver darts . he who is a demas , will be a iudas ; a lover of the world , will for a piece of money betray a good cause , and make shipwrack of a good conscience . 2. let us be voluntiers in religion ; that is , choose god's service , psal. 119.30 . i have chosen the way of truth . it is one thing to be good out of design , and another thing to be good out of choice . hypocrites are good only out of worldly design , they embrace the gospel for secular advantage , and these will in time fall away . the chelidonian stone keeps its vertue no longer than it is inclosed in gold , take it out of the gold , and it loseth its vertue . false hearts are good no longer than they are inclosed in golden prosperity , take them out of the gold , and they lose all their seeming goodness : but if we would retain our sanctity in backsliding times we must serve god purely out of choice . he who is good out of choice loves holiness for its beauty , and adheres to the gospel , when all the jewels of preferment are pulled off . 3. let us be inlaid with sincerity . if a piece of timber begin to bend , it is because it is not sound . why do any bend and comply against their conscience , but because their hearts are not sound , psal. 78.37 . their hearts were not right with him , neither were they stedfast . sincerity causeth stability . when the apostle exhorts to stand fast in the evil day , among the rest of the christian armour , he bids them put on the girdle of truth , ephes. 6.19 . stand fast therefore , having your loins girt about with truth . the girdle of truth is nothing else but sincerity . 4. let us get love to christ. love is an holy transport , it fires the affections , steels the courage , carries a christian above the love of life , and the fear of death , cant. 8.7 . many waters cannot quench love : love made christ suffer for us . if any one ask what christ died off ; it may be answered , he died of love. if we love christ , we will own him in the worst times , and be like that virgin basil speaks of , who not accepting deliverance upon sinful terms , cried out , let life and money go , welcome christ. 5. if we would keep up the sprightly vigour of grace in evil times , let us harden our hearts against the taunts and reproaches of the wicked . david was the song of the drunkards , psal. 69.12 . a christian is never the worse for reproach . the stars are not the less glorious though they have ugly names given them , the bear , the dragon , &c. reproaches are but assulae crucis , the chips of the cross. how will he endure the stake , who cannot bear a scoff ? * reproaches for christ , are ensigns of honour , badges of adoption , 1 pet. 4.14 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * let christians bind these as a crown about their head. better have men reproach you for being good , than have god damn you for being wicked . be not laughed out of your religion : if a lame man laugh at you for going upright , will you therefore halt ? 6. if we would keep up the vigour of devotion in a general epilepsy , let us beg of god confirming grace . habitual grace may flag ; peter had habitual grace , yet was foyled ; he lost a single battel , though not the victory . we need exciting , assisting , corroborating grace ; not onely grace in us , but grace with us , 1 cor. 15.10 . auxiliary grace ( which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a fresh gale of the spirit ) will carry us undauntedly through the worlds blustering storms . thus shall we be able to keep up our heroick zeal in corrupt times , and be as mount zion which cannot be moved . chap. ii. shewing the character in general of the godly , and what the fear of god is . 1. having done with the frontispiece of the text , i begin ( 1 ) with the character in general of the godly , they are fearers of god , they that feared the lord. what fear is meant here ? 1. negatively ; it is not meant ( 1 ) of a natural fear , which is a tremor or palpitation of heart , occasioned by the approach of some imminent danger , * eccles. 12.5 . fears shall be in the way . 2. it is not meant of a sinful fear , which is twofold . 1. a superstitious fear : an hare crossing the way , is by some more dreaded than an harlot lying in the bed. 2. a carnal fear * ; this is the ague of the soul which sets it a shaking . he who is timorous will be treacherous ; he will decoy his friend , and deny his god. three times in one chapter christ cautions us against the fear of men , mat. 10. vers. 26 , 28 , 31. aristotle saith the reason why the camelion turns into so many colours , is through excessive fear : fear makes men change their religion as the camelion doth her colours . 1. carnal fear is discruciating , 1 ioh. 4.18 . fear hath torment in it ; the greek word for torment , * is sommetimes put for hell , mat. 25.46 . fear hath hell in it . 2. it is pernitious . 1. it indisposeth for duty . the disciples under the power of fear , were fitter to fly than to pray , mat. 26.56 . 2. it puts men upon indirect means to save themselves , prov. 26.25 . the fear of man bringeth a snare ; what made peter deny christ , and origen sprinkle incense before the idol , but fear ? 2. positively ; the fear meant in the text is a divine fear , which is the reverencing and adoring gods holiness , and setting our selves always under his sacred inspection . the infinite distance between god and us causeth this fear . when gods glory began to shine out upon the mount , moses said , i exceedingly fear and quake , heb. 12.21 . such as approach gods presence with light feathery hearts , and worship him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a rude careless manner , have none of this fear . in the words are two parts . 1. the act , fear . 2. the object , the lord. they that feared the lord : the fear of god is the summe of all religion , eccles. 12.13 . fear is the leading grace , the first seed god sows in the heart . when a christian can say little of faith , and perhaps nothing of assurance , yet he dares not deny but he fears god. * god is so great that he is afraid of displeasing him , and so good that he is afraid of losing him . it is an indispensible duty incumbent on christians to be fearers of god. eccles. 5.7 . fear thou god. deut. 28.58 . that thou maist fear this glorious and fearful name the lord thy god. this goes to the very constituting of a saint . one can no more act as a christian without fear , than he can act as a man without reason . this holy fear is the fixed temper and complexion of the soul ; this fear is not servile but filial ; there is difference between fearing god , and being afraid of god ; the godly fear god as a child doth his father , the wicked are afraid of god as the prisoner is of the judge . this divine fear will appear admirable , if you consider how it is mixed and interwoven with several of the graces . 1. the fear of god is mixed with love , psal. 145.19 , 20. the chast spouse fears to displease her husband because she loves him : there 's a necessity that fear and love should be in conjunction . love is as the sails to swiften the souls motion , and fear as the ballast to keep it steady in religion : love will be apt to grow wanton unless it be poised with fear . 2. the fear of god is mixed with faith , hebr. 11.7 . by faith noah moved with fear , &c. when the soul looks either to gods holiness , or it 's own sinfulness , it fears , but it is a fear mixed with faith in christs merits ; the soul doth tremble yet trust . like a ship which lies at anchor , though it shakes with the wind , yet it is fixed at anchor . god in great wisdom coupleth these two graces of faith and fear . fear preserves seriousness , faith preserves chearfulness . fear is as lead to the net to keep a christian from floating in presumption , and faith is as cork to the net to keep him from sinking in despair . 3. the fear of god is mixed with prudence : he who fears god hath the serpents eye in the doves head . he foresees and avoids those rocks which others run upon . prov. 22.3 . though divine fear doth not make a person cowardly , it makes him cautions . 4. the fear of god is mixed with hope . psalm 33.18 . the eye of the lord is on them that fear him , that hope in his mercy . one would think fear should destroy hope , but it cherisheth it . fear is to hope as the oil to the lamp , it keeps it burning : the more we fear gods justice , the more we may hope in his mercy . indeed such as have no fear of god do sometimes hope , but it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , good hope through grace , 2 thessa. 2.16 . sinners pretend to have the helmet of hope , 1 thes. 5.8 . but want the breast-plate of righteousness , ephes. 6.14 . 5. the fear of god is mixed with industry , heb. 11.7 . noah moved with fear prepared an ark . there is 1. a fear of diffidence , which represents god as a severe judge , this takes the soul off from duty * . 2. a fear of diligence ; a christian fears and prayes , fears and repents . fear quickens industry . the spouse fearing lest the bridegroom should come before she is dressed , hastens and puts on her jewels , that she may be ready to meet him . fear causeth a watchful eye , and a working hand . fear banisheth sloth out of it's diocese . the greatest labour in religion ( saith holy fear ) is far less than the least pain the damned feel in hell : no greater spur in the heavenly race than fear . chap. iii. cogent reasons enforcing the fear of god. the reasons enforcing this holy fear are , 1. because gods eye is alwayes upon us . he who is under the eye of his earthly prince , will be carefull of doing any thing that should offend him . iob 31.4 . doth not he see my wayes , and count all my steps ? god sees in the dark . psalm 139.12 . the darkness hideth not from thee . the night is no curtain , the clouds are no canopy to hinder or intercept gods sight . he sees the heart . a judge can judge of the fact , but god judgeth of the heart . ier. 17.10 . he is like ezekiels wheels , full of eyes , ezek. 10.12 . and as cyril saith , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , all eye . should not this make us walk with fear and circumspection ? we cannot sin but our judge looks on . 2. god interprets our not fearing him a slighting of him . as not to praise god , is to wrong him ; so not to fear god , is to sleight him . of all things a person can least endure to be sleighted . psalm 10.13 . wherefore doth the wicked contemn god * ? for a worm to sleight it's maker causeth the fury to rise up in gods face . ezek. 38.18 . 3. god hath power to destroy us . mat. 10.28 . fear him who hath power to destroy both soul and body in hell. god can look us into our grave , and with a breath blow us into hell , and shall we not fear him ? is it easie to wrestle with flames ? psalm 90.11 . who knoweth the power of his anger ? what engines or buckets can quench the infernal fire ? we are apt to fear men who have power in their hand to hurt us ; what is their power to gods ? they threaten a prison , god threatens hell. they threaten our life , god threatens our soul , and shall we not tremble before him * ? o dreadful , when the great fountains of gods wrath shall be broken up , and all his bitter vials poured out ! ezek. 22.14 . can thy heart endure , or can thy hands be strong in the day that i shall deal with thee ? but are not we bid to serve god without fear ? luke 1.74 . we must not fear god with such a fear as the wicked do ; they fear him as a turkish slave doth his pateroon ; they fear him so as they hate him and wish there were no god * . we must not serve god with this hellish fear , but we must serve him with an ingenuous fear sweetned with love . chap. iv. containing a practical improvement of the proposition . it confutes the papists , who hold that a christian cannot have assurance , because he is to serve god with fea● . assurance and fear are diversa but not opposita , different but not contrary . a child may have assurance of his fathers love , yet hath a fear of offending him . who more fearful of sin than st. paul ? 1 cor. 9.27 . yet who had more assurance ? galat. 2.20 . who loved me , and gave himself for me . faith procures assurance * , fear preserves it . is it a duty to fear god , what strangers then are they to religion , who are void of this holy fear ? the godly fear and sin not , the wicked sin and fear not . they are like the leviathan , who is made without fear , iob 41.33 . want of the fear of god is the innate cause of all wickedness , rom. 3.14 . whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness , their feet are swift to shed blood . whence was this ? vers . 18. there is no fear of god before their eyes : abraham surmized the men of gerar would stick at no sin ; why so ? gen. 20.11 . i thought surely the fear of god is not in this place . the judge in the gospel is called an unjust iudge , luke 18.6 . and no wonder , for vers . 2. he feared not god. there must needs be an excess of sin where there wants the fear of god to restrain it . the water must needs overflow where there are no banks to keep it out . we live in a godless age ; durst men sin at that rate as they do , if the fear of god were regent in their hearts ? durst they swear , be unclean , use false weights , bear false witness , hate purity , deride gods signs in the heaven , forge plots , persecute christs body , if they had the fear of god before their eyes ? these men proclaim to the world that they are atheists ; they believe not the immortality of the soul. they are worse than brutish , a beast fears the fire , these fear not hell fire . they are worse than devils , for they believe and tremble , jam. 2.19 . let us bewail the want of the fear of god. — terras astraea reliquit . whence is it so few fear god ? 1. because they have not the knowledge of god. * prov. 1.24 . they hated knowledge , and did not choose the fear of the lord : did men know god in his immense glory , they would be swallowed up with divine amazement . when the prophet isaiah had a glimpse of gods glory , he was stricken with holy consternation . isaiah 6.5 . wo is me , i am undone , for mine eyes have seen the king the lord of hosts . but the ignorance of god banisheth fear . 2. men fear not god because they presume of his mercy . god is merciful , and they doubt not of the vertue of this soveraign balm . but who is gods mercy for ? luke 1.50 . his mercy is on them that fear him . such as fear not gods justice , shall not tast his mercy . let this be for a lamentation , that the fear of god is so vanished . where almost is it to be found ? some fear shame , others fear danger , but where is he who fears a deity ? diogenes came into a full market with a candle and lanthorn ; they asked him what he sought ? saith he , hominem quaero , i seek a man ; that is , a wise man. so in the crowd of people we may go and seek a man fearing god. and not only among the commonalty , but even among professors how sew fear god in truth ! profession is often made a mantle to cover sin . absalom palliated his treason with a religious vow . 2 sam. 15.7 . the pharisees made long prayer a preface to oppression , mat. 23.14 . this is sordid , to carry on wicked designs sublarva pictatis , under a pretext of piety . the snow covers many a dung-hill . a snovvy vvhite profession covers many a foul heart . the sins of professors are more odious . thistles are bad in a field , but vvorse in a garden . the sins of the vvicked anger god , but the sins of professors grieve him . it reproves iovial sinners , vvho are so far from fearing god , that they spend their time in mirth and vvantonness . luke 17.27 . they did eat , they drank , they married , till the flood came and destroyed them all . there is a place in affrica called tombutium , where the inhabitants spend all the day in piping and dancing . what sensual effeminate lives do the gallants of our age live ! they spend their life in a frolick . as if god had made them to be like the leviathan who plays in the sea. job 21.13 . they take the timbrel and harp , and rejoyce at the sound of the organ . they ride to hell upon the back of pleasure , and go merrily to damnation . though the times are sad , they have no fear in regard of the publique : doth not god call us to trembling ? our sins are the fiery comets that presage evil . may not we fear the glory is departing ? may not we fear the death of religion before the birth of reformation ? may not we fear some portentous calamity should bring up the rear of former judgments ? and ( as the prophet ezekiel saith , ) should me then make-mirth ? ezek. 21.10 * . but jovial spirits have banished the fear of god. amos 6.4 , 5. that lye upon beds of ivory , and stretch themselves upon their couches , that drink wine in bowls , and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments . sinners whose hearts are hardned with soft pleasures , let them have their lusts , and farewell christ and his gospel . iude 12. feeding themselves without fear . but they forget death will bring in the reckoning , and they must pay the reckoning in hell. the great turk when he intends the death of any of his bashaws , invites them to a sumptuous feast , and then causeth them to be taken away from the table and strangled : so satan gluts men with sinful pastimes and delights , and then strangles them . foolish gallants are like the fish that swim pleasantly through the silver streams of iordan , till at last they fall into the dead sea * . it reproves secure sinners who have no fear of god. like laish of old , iudg. 18.27 . a people quiet and secure . those who are least safe , are most confident . security casts men into a deep sleep . birds that build and roost in steeples , being used to the continual ringing of bells , the noise doth not at all disquiet them . so sinners who have been long used to the sound of aarons bells , though ever and anon they have a peal rung out against their sins , yet being used to it , they are not startled . a secure sinner is known thus : 1. he lives as bad as the worst , yet hopes to be saved as well as the best . he doth bless himself , saying , i shall have peace , though i walk in the imagination of my heart , deut. 29.19 . as if a man should drink poison , yet not doubt but he shall have his health . a secure sinner lies in delilahs lap , yet hopes to be in abrahams bosom . 2. a secure sinner thinks all is well , because all is in peace . he hears others speak of a spirit of bondage , and the terrors they have felt for sin , he thanks god he never knew what trouble of spirit meant ; he thinks his conscience is good , because it is quiet . when the devil keeps the palace all is in peace , luke 11.21 . the philosopher saith , one great sign of an earthquake is excessive calmness of the air : ungrounded peace doth presage an earthquake in the conscience . 3. a secure sinner is careless about the main chance . the soul is the princely part , which is crowned with reason ; it is a glass of the ▪ trinity , as plato calls it . a secure sinner provides for his body , but neglects his soul ; like one that waters his flowers , but never minds his jewels . behold here a secure person , who is in a spiritual lethargy ; he hath no sence of the life to come , he is destitute of the fear of god. it reproves scoffers , who are the vilest of sinners . 2 pet. 3.3 . there shall come in the last daies scoffers . such were lucian and porphiry . these ishmaels jeer at holy walking , and make all religion a ridicule . they throw squibs of reproach at the saints . quintinus scoffed at christs apostles . in the massacre at paris , the papists cried out to the protestants when they murdered them , where is now your god ? what is become of all your psalms now , and your prayers ? some martyrs in prague , as they were at supper ( being the next day to suffer ) comforted themselves saying , that this was their last supper upon earth , and that to morrow they should sup with christ in heaven ; a great papist flouted them , saying , hath christ cooks for you in heaven ? these are devils in the likeness of men . they are far from the fear of god : the scorners chair stands at the mouth of hell. it exhorts us to get the fear of god planted in our hearts . prov. 28.19 . happy is he that feareth alway * . the fear of god would influence all our actions . it would make us good in both tables . it would make us holy towards god , and righteous towards men . we would be true in our promises , just in our dealings . mat. 7.12 . that i may press you to this holy fear , let me shew you the dignity and excellency of it . 1. the fear of god is the very badge and livery of a saint . the saints of old were men fearing god. gen. 22.12 . act. 10.22 . 1 kin. 18.3 . obadiah feared the lord greatly . not all the moral vertues in their highest elevation make a saint , but here is his true character , he is one that fears god. saint austin said of himself , that he did knock at heaven-gate tremibunda manu , with a trembling hand ; christ calls his elect his sheep , john 10.27 . sheep are of a trembling nature . the saints are tremulous , they dare not take that liberty as others do . 2. the fear of god is a main branch of wisdom . 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the head of wisdom , prov. 1.7 . * wisdom is more precious than rubies , prov. 3.15 . no jewel we wear , doth so adorn us as wisdom ; now the fear of god is our wisdom : iob 28.28 . and unto man he said , the fear of the lord that is wisdom * . wherein is the fear of god the true wisdom ? 1. the fear of god is wisdom as it makes us careful about our spiritual accounts . wisdom lies in nothing more than in keeping accounts exactly . the fear of god teacheth one to examine the state of his soul critally . o my soul how is it with thee ? dost thou gain or lose ? is thy faith in it's infancy , being but newly laid to the breast of a promise ? or is it grown to some stature ? how is it ? doth grace prevail or sin ? thus the fear of god makes us wisely ballance our accounts , and see how matters stand between god and our souls . psalm 77.6 . i commune with my own heart , and my spirit made diligent search . 2. the fear of god is wisdom as it makes us understand divine secrets . psalm 25.14 . the secret of the lord is with them that fear him * . he must needs be wise who is acquainted with the arcana coeli , the secrets of heaven . a fearer of god is acquainted with the secret of election , 1 thess. 1.4 . of gods love , rev. 1.5 . of the holy unction , 1 john 2.20 . he knows gods mind , 1 cor. 2.16 . we have the mind of christ. 3. the fear of god is wisdom as it makes us considerative . psalm 119.59 . i considered my wayes . a great part of wisdom lies in consideration . he who fears god considers how vain the world is , therefore dares not love it ; how short time is , therefore dares not lose it ; how precious salvation is , therefore dares not neglect it . 4. the fear of god is wisdom as it makes us walk wisely . col. 4.5 . walk wisely , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , towards them that are without . 1. the fear of god makes us walk affably . gen. 23.7 . abraham stood up and bowed himself to the children of heth. piety doth not exclude curtesie . 2. the fear of god makes us walk inoffensively : it prevents not only scandals but indecencies . 2 cor. 11.12 . that i might cut off occasion from them that desire occasion . the veneration of a deity causeth circumcision of heart , and circumspection of life . 5. the fear of god is wisdom , as it preserves us from hell : 't is wisdom to keep out of danger ; fear makes us fly from the wrath to come . 3. the fear of god is the best certificate to shew for heaven . have you knowledge ? so hath satan ; have you profession ? so hath satan , he transforms himself into an angel of light . but have you filial fear ? herein you excel him . the fear of god is , though not our plea , yet our evidence for heaven . 4. there is that in god which may command fear . iob 37.22 . with god is terrible majesty . 1. with god is majesty . 1. there is majesty in gods name , iehovah . it comes from an hebrew radix * , which imports gods absolute , eternal , and independent being . 2. there is majesty in gods looks . iob had but a glimpse of god , and he was even swallowed up with divine amazement , iob 42.5 . now mine eye seeth thee , wherefore i abhorr my self . 3. there is majesty in gods words , he speaks with majesty ; as when he gave the law in thundring , insomuch that the people said , let not god speak with us lest we dye . 4. there is majesty in gods attributes ; his holiness , power , justice , which are the irradiations of the divine essence . 5. there is majesty in gods works , psalm 145.5 . i will speak of the honour and majesty of thy wondrous works . every creature sets forth gods majesty ; we may see the majesty of god blazing in the sun , twinkling in the stars : gods majesty is discernable in those two wonders of nature behemoth and leviathan , iob 40.18 . chap. 41.19 . in short , the majesty of god is seen in humbling the children of pride . he turned king nebuchadnezzar to grass , and made him fellow-commoner with the beasts : doth not all this call for fear ? 2. with god is terrible majesty . psalm 76.12 . he is terrible to the kings of the earth . there is a time coming when god will be dreadful to his enemies ; when conscience is awake , when death strikes , when the last trump sounds . and shall not we fear this god ? ier. 5.22 . fear ye not me , saith the lord , will ye not tremble at my presence ? the fearing gods justice is the way not to feel it . and let it not seem strange to you , if i tell you , that in respect of gods infinite majesty , there will be some of this blessed fear in heaven . not a fear that hath torment in it , for perfect love will cast out fear . but an holy , sweet , reverential fear . though god hath so much beauty in him as shall cause love , and joy , in heaven , yet this beauty is mixed with so much majesty , as shall cause a veneration in glorified saints . 5. the fear of god tends to life , pro. 19.23 . it is true , 1. in a temporal sence , prov. 10.27 . the fear of the lord prolongeth daies ; in the original it is , it addeth dayes * . long life is promised as a blessing , psalm 91.16 . with long life will i satisfie him . the best way to come to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a good old age , is the fear of god. sin curtails the life : many a mans excess wasts his vitals , enervates his strength , and cuts him short of those years which by the course of nature might be arrived at * . you that desire to live long , live in the fear of god. deut. 6.24 . the lord commanded us to fear the lord our god , that he might preserve us alive . 2. it is true in a spiritual sence . the fear of the lord tendeth to life : namely , to life eternal . life is sweet , and eternal makes it sweeter † . the life of bliss hath no tearm of years wherein it expires , 1 thes. 4.17 . ever with the lord : the lamp of glory shines , but doth not spend ; so that divine fear tends to life ; a life with god and angels for ever . 6. the fear of god gives full satisfaction , prov. 19.23 . he that hath it , shall abide satisfied . such as are destitute of gods fear never meet with satisfaction . iob 20.22 . in the midst of his sufficiency he shall be in straits . this is a riddle , to be full yet not have enough . the meaning is , there is still something wanting : he who fears not god , though his barns are full , yet his mind is not quiet . the sweet waters of pleasure do rather inflame the thirst than satisfie it . omnia fui et nihil expedit ; i have run through all the delights and grandures of the world , and could never find full contentment , said the emperour severus . but he who hath the fear of the lord , shall abide satisfied . 1. he shall be satisfied . his soul shall be filled with grace , his conscience with peace : an holy man said , when god had replenished him with inward joy , it is enough lord , thy servant is a clay vessel and can hold no more . 2. he shall abide satisfied . this satisfaction shall not cease ; it shall be a cordial in death , and a crown after death . 7. the fear of god makes a little to be sweet , prov. 15.16 . better is a little with the fear of the lord. why is a little better ? because that little a believer hath he holds in capite , in his head christ ; that little is sweetned with the love of god. he hath with that little a contented mind ; and contentment turns daniels pulse into venison * . again , that little is a pledge of more ; that little oyl in the cruse is but an earnest of that golden joy and bliss which the soul shall have in heaven . thus a little with the fear of god is better than all unsanctified riches . lazarus's crumbs were better than dives his banquet . 8. the fear of god is a christians safety . he is invulnerable , nothing can hurt him : plunder him of his money , he carries a treasure about him he cannot be robbed of * . isa. 33.6 . cast him into bonds , his conscience is free ; kill his body , it shall rise again . he who hath on this breast-plate of gods fear , may be shot at , but can never be shot thorow † . 9. the fear of god makes all things go well with us , psalm 128.2 . blessed is every one that feareth the lord , happy shalt thou be , and it shall be well with thee † . is it not well with that man who hath all things go on his side , and hath nothing wanting that may do him good ? psalm 84.11 . if god sees health or riches good for him , he shall have them . every providence shall center in his happiness . o what an inducement is here to solid piety . come what times will , it shall be well with them that fear god. when they dye they shall go to god , and while they live every thing in the world shall do them good . 10. the fear of god is a great cleanser , psalm 19.9 . the fear of the lord is clean . it is so , 1. in its own nature , it is a pure , christal , orient grace . 2. it is clean effective , in the effect of it ; it cleanseth the heart and life ; as a spring works out the mud , so it purgeth out the love of sin . the heart is the temple of god , and fear sweeps and cleanseth this temple that it be not defiled . 11. the fear of god makes us accepted with god , act. 10.35 . in every nation he that feareth god is accepted with him . what was st. paul so ambitious of ? 2 cor. 5.9 . we labour that we may be accepted with him * . divine fear ingratiates us into divine favour . such as are fearless of god , neither their persons or offerings find acceptance , amos 5.21 , 22. i despise your feast dayes , and i will not smell in your solemn assemblies ; though ye offer me burnt-offerings , i will not accept them . who will take a gift from one that hath the plague ? 12. the fear of god layes a train for spiritual joy : some may think the fear of god breeds sadness ; no , it is the in-let to joy * the fear of god is the morning star , which ushers in the sun light of comfort , acts 9.31 . walking in the fear of the lord , and in the comforts of the holy ghost . the fear of god hath solid joy in it , though not wanton . oecolampadius an holy man being on his sick-bed , was asked if the light offended him ? he putting his hand to his heart said , hic sat lucis ; here i have light enough . god mixeth joy with holy fear , that fear may not seem slavish . 13. the fear of god drives out all other base fear * . carnal fear is an enemy to religion . the fear of god frights it away ; it causeth courage , exod. 18.21 . able men , such as fear god : some translations render it , men of courage . when a dictator governed in rome , all other offices ceased . where the fear of god rules in the heart , it expells fleshly fear . when the emperess eudoxia threatned to banish chrysostom , tell her , saith he , i fear nothing but sin . the fear of god swallows up all other fear , as moses rod swallowed up the magitians rods. 14. to be void of gods fear , is folly , psalm 75.4 . i said to the fools , deal not foolishly , and to the wicked , lift not up the horn. 1. are not they fools who gratifie their enemy ? they who want the fear of god do so . satan baits his hook with pleasure and profit , and they swallow bait and hook and all ; this pleaseth satan , mens sins feast the devil † . who but a fool would humour his enemy ? 2. is it not folly to preferre slavery before liberty ? if a slave in the gally should have his freedom offered him , but he should say , he had rather tug at the oar and be a slave , than have his liberty , would not he be judged indiscreet ? such is the case of him who fears not god. the gospel offers to free him from the miserable captivity of sin , but he chooseth rather to be a slave to his lusts * . he is like the servant under the law. exod. 21.5 . i love my master , i will not go out free . he was displeased with a year of iubilee : the foolish sinner had rather have his ear bored to the devils service , than be translated into the glorious liberty of the sons of god , rom. 8.21 . 3. is not he a fool , who having but one jewel will venture the loss of it ? the soul is this jewel , and the sinner is fearless of it , he will throw it away upon the world ; as if one should throw pearls and diamonds at pear-trees . ephrem syrus used to say , he who pampers his body and neglects his soul , is like him who feasts his slave and starves his wife . 4. is not he a fool , who refuseth a rich offer ? if one should offer to adopt another , and make him heir of his estate , and he should refuse it , would not his discretion be called in question ? god offers christ to a sinner , and promiseth to entail all the riches of heaven upon him , but wanting the fear of god he refuseth this great offer . psalm 81.11 . israel would none of me : is not this a prodigy of madness ? may not the devil beg every sinner for a fool at the last day † ? 15. the fear of god is a soveraign antidote against apostasie : the devil was the first apostate . how rife is this sin ! more shipwracks are at land than at sea ; men make shipwrack of a good conscience . apostates are said to put christ to open shame , heb. 6.6 . the fear of god is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a preservative against apostacy . ier. 32.40 . i will put my fear in their hearts , that they shall not depart from me . i will so love them , that i will not depart from them ; and they shall so fear me , that they shall not depart from me . 15. there are excellent promises made to them that fear god , malach. 4.2 . vnto you that fear my name , shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings . here is a promise of christ ; he is a sun for light and vivifical influence ; and a sun of righteousness , as he diffuseth the golden beams of justification * . and he hath healing in his wings ; the sun heals the air , dries up the cold moistures , exhales the vapours which would be pestilential ; so christ hath healing in his wings , he heals the hardness and impurity of the soul. and the horison in which this sun ariseth , is in hearts fearing god. to you that fear my name , shall the sun of righteousness arise . and , there is another great promise , psalm 115.13 . he will bless them that fear the lord , both small and great . god blesseth such in their name , estate , souls . and this blessing can never be reversed : as isaac said , i have blessed him , and he shall be blessed , gen. 27.33 . such as fear god are priviledged persons , none can take away from them either their birth-right , or their blessing . 16. fear is an admirable instrument in promoting salvation , philip. 2.12 . work out your salvation with fear . fear is that flaming sword , which turns every way to keep sin from entring * . prov. 6.16 . fear stands sentinel in the soul , and is ever upon it's watch-tower . fear causeth circumspection , he who walks in fear treads warily : fear begets prayer , and prayer engageth the help of heaven . 17. the lord is much pleased with such as fear him . psalm 147.11 . the lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him . in the septuagint it is * , the lord bears good will towards them that fear him : pagnin and buxtorf render it , the lord delights in them that fear him . never did suitor take such pleasure in a person he loved , as god doth in them that fear him ; they are his hephsibah , or chief solace , isa. 62.4 . he saith of them as of sihon , psalm 132.14 . here is my rest for ever , here will i dwell . a sinner is a vessel in which is no pleasure , hosea 8.8 . but fearers of god are favourites . 18. such as fear god are the only persons that shall be saved . psalm 85.9 . salvation is nigh them that fear him . salvation is said to be far from the wicked , psalm 119.155 . they and salvation are so far asunder , that they are like never to meet . but gods salvation is nigh them that fear him : what do we aspire after but salvation ? 't is the end of all our prayers , tears , sufferings . salvation is the crown of our desires , the flower of our joy . and who shall be enriched with salvation , but the fearers of god ? his salvation is nigh them that fear him . let these cogent arguments perswade to the fear of god. let us put our selves upon a strict scrutiny and tryal , whether we have the fear of god planted in our hearts . how may we know it ? 1. the fear of god will make a man fear sin , gen. 39.9 . how can i do this great wickedness and sin against god ; indeed sin is the only formidable thing ; this is the gorgons head , that affrights ; it is the evil of evils . 't is the poison the old serpent hath spit into our virgin-nature : in sin is both pollution and enmity : sin is compared to a thick cloud , isa. 44.22 . which not only hides the light of gods face , but brings down showers of wrath. sin is worse than all penal evils : there is more evil in a drop of sin , than in a sea of affliction . 1. sin is the cause of affliction , it conjures up all the winds and storms in the world * . out of this viperous womb come mutinies , divisions , massacres , and the cause is worse than the effect . 2. in affliction conscience may be quiet ; the hail may beat upon the tiles , when there is musick in the room : but sin terrifies the conscience . nero in the midst of feasts and roman sports was full of horrour of mind ; the numbers of men he had killed , troubled him . cataline was frighted at every noise . cain in killing abel stab'd half the world at one blow , yet could not he kill the worm of his own conscience . sin is the spirits of mischief distilled , it puts a sting into death , 1 cor. 15.56 . it is worse than hell. 1. hell is a burden only to the sinner , but sin is a burden to god , amos 2.13 . 2. there is iustice in hell , but sin is the most unjust thing . it would rob god of his glory , christ of his purchase , the soul of it's happiness . 't is more bitter to sin against christ , than to suffer the torments of hell , saith chrysostom : is not sin then to be feared ? he who fears god is afraid of touching this forbidden fruit : more particularly : 1. he who fears god , is afraid to do any thing that he doubts may be sinful , rom. 14.23 . he will not swallow oaths like pills , lest they should afterwards work in his conscience : he dares not mix any thing in gods worship which he hath not appointed , he doubts it is like offering strange fire . where conscience is scrupulous , it is safer to forbear ; for , what is not of faith is sin. 2. he who fears god , fears the appearance of sin , 1 thes. 5.22 . abstain , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , from all appearance of evil. some things are male colorata ( as bernard speaks ) they have a bad look , and carry a show of evil in them : to go to the idol temple , though one doth not joyn with them in worship , is an appearance of evil . he whose heart is ballasted with gods fear , flies from that which looks like sin . it was a good speech of bernard to eugenius , by avoiding the act of sin we preserve our peace , by avoiding the appearance of it we preserve our fame . the fear of god makes us shun the occasion of sin : the nazarite under the law was not only to forbear wine , but he must not eat grapes , which might occasion intemperancy . ioseph fled from his mistresses temptation , he would not be seen in her company . the appearance of evil though it defile not ones own conscience , it may offend anothers conscience : and hear what the apostle saith , 1 cor. 8.12 . when ye wound the weak conscience , ye sin against christ. such as avoid not the appearances and in-lets to sin , make the truth of their grace to be suspected : how far are they from the fear of god , who forgetting their prayer , lead us not into temptation , run themselves into the devils mouth ? they go to plays and masquerades , which are the lures and incentives of filthiness ; others associate familiarly with the wicked , and are too often in their company : which is like going among them that have the plague . 1 cor. 5.9 . i wrote to you not to company with fornicators . traffique is one thing , keeping company is another . polycarp would have no society with marcion the heretick . twisting into a cord of friendship with sinners is a show of evil , it hardens them in sin , and wounds the credit of religion . but did not christ often converse with sinners ? 1. christ did sometimes go among the wicked , not that he approved of their sins : but as a physitian goes among the diseased to heal them ; so christ intended to work a cure upon them , mark 2.17 . it was their conversion he aimed at . 2. though jesus christ did sometimes converse with sinners , yet he could receive no infection by them : his divine nature was a sufficient antidote against the contagion of sin . as the sun cannot be defiled with the thick vapours which are exhaled from the earth , and fly into the middle region : so the black vapours of sin could not defile the sun of righteousness . christ was of that spotless purity that he had no receptibility of evil ; but the case is altered with us , we have a stock of corruption within : therefore it is dangerous to incorporate with the wicked lest we be defiled . such as revere the divine majesty dare not go near the borders of sin. those who went near the fiery furnace , though they did not go into it , were burned , dan. 3.22 . a wise christian should in all his transactions put those three questions of * bernard to himself ; whether is this i do lawful , or decent , or expedient . 3. he who fears god , dares not sin secretly . an hypocrite may forbear gross sin , because of the shame ; but not clandestine secret sin . he is like one that shuts up his shop-windows , but follows his trade within doors : but a man fearing god dares not sin , though he had gyges's ring and could walk invisibly , and no eye see him . levit . 19.14 . thou shalt not curse the deaf , or put a stumbling block before the blind ; but shalt fear thy god. if one should curse a deaf man , he cannot hear him ; or lay a stumbling block in a blind mans way , he cannot see him : yea but the fear of god will make one avoid those sins which can neither be heard or seen by men . gods seeing in secret is a sufficient supersedeas and counterpoison against sin. 4. he who fears god dares not commit sin , though it might bring him in emolument . gain is the golden bait with which satan fisheth for souls : this was the last temptation the devil used to christ , all this will i give thee , mat. 4.9 . how many bow down to the golden image ! ioshua who could stop the course of the sun , could not stop achan in his pursuit after the wedge of gold † . but he who fears god dares not sin to get preferment : david durst not touch the lords anointed though he knew he was to reign next , 2 sam. 26.23 . a godly man is assured that a full purse is but a poor recompence for a wounded conscience . if any shall go to choak him with steeples , he saith as peter , acts 8.20 . thy mony perish with thee . 5. he who fears god , dares not gratifie his own revengeful humour . homer saith , revenge is sweet as dropping hony ; but grace makes a man rather bury an injury than revenge it . he knows who hath said , vengeance is mine , i will repay , rom. 12.19 . he who hath the fear of god before his eyes , is so far from revenge , that he requites good for evil . miriam murmured against moses , and moses prayed for her , that god would heal her of her leprosie , numb . 12.13 . the prophet elisha instead of smiteing his enemies , set bread and water before them , 2 king 6.22 . 6. he who fears god dares not do that which is of evil report , though possibly the thing in it self may be no sin . 1 cor. 6.1 . dare any of you having a matter against another , go to law before the unjust ? yes , might some say , what sin is it to have a just cause brought before unbelievers , that it may be decided ? o but , might the apostle reply , though the thing in it self be lawful , yet because it sounds ill , and exposeth your religion to the scorn and insult of unbelievers , you that fear god should not dare to do it . it were better to decide it by a prudent arbitration . 1 cor. 6.12 . all things are lawful unto me , but all things are not expedient . 7. he who fears god is not only afraid of evil actions , but to offend god in his thoughts . deut. 19.6 . beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart , &c. to think of sin with delight is to act it over in the fancy , this is culpable . a man may think himself into hell. what were the apostate angels damned for , was it for any more than proud thoughts ? this is the first note of trial , he who reverenceth a deity flies from sin. it is a saying of anselm , if sin were on one side and hell on the other , i would rather leap into hell than willingly sin against god. 2. he who fears god , walks by rule rather than example : example is for the most part corrupt . examples of great men are influential * . pharaoh had learned ioseph to swear , but ioseph had not learned pharaoh to pray . the examples of others cannnot justifie a thing intrinsecally evil † . a fearer of god steers the rudder of his life according to the compass of the word . he looks to the sacred canon as the mariner to the load-star , or israel to the pillar of fire , to direct him . isa. 8.20 . to the law , to the testimony . 3. he who fears god keeps his commandments , eccles. 12.13 . fear god , and keep his commandments . luther said , he had rather obey god than work miracles . a gracious soul crosseth his own will to fulfil gods : if the lord bid him crucifie his bosom-sin , forgive his enemies , he instantly obeys . an heathen exercising much cruelty to a christian , asked him in scorn , what great miracle his master christ ever did ? the christian replyed , this miracle , that though you use me thus cruelly , i can forgive you . an holy heart knows there is nothing lost by obedience . david sware unto the lord , that he would not rest till he found a place for god , psalm 132.4 , 5. and god sware again to david , that of the fruit of his body he would set upon his throne , psalm 132.11 . 4. he who fears god is alike good in all companies : he diffuseth the sweet savour of godliness where ever he comes . hypocrites can change themselves into all shapes , and be as their company is ; serious in one comcompany , and vain in another : he who reverenceth a deity , is semper idem , alike good in all places . an even pulse shows health : an even walking shows grace . if a good man be providentially cast among the wicked , he will not coalesce with them , but in his deportment shows forth a majesty of holiness . 5. he who fears god is good in the station where god hath set him . take an instance in ioseph , gen. 42.18 . i fear god. and see a pattern of relative sanctitie : he showed towards his master fidelity , towards his mistress chastity , towards his father duty , towards his brethren bounty . a good man makes his family palaestra pietatis , a nursery of piety * , as it was said of cranmer . 6. he who fears god , dares not neglect family or closet-prayer , psalm 109.4 . i give my self to prayer . prayer whispers in gods ears . clemens alexandrinus calls it private conference with god. why was nymphas's house call'd a church , col. 4.15 . but because it was consecrated by prayer ? a gracious soul puts forth fervent sighs in prayer , rom. 8.26 . and sure that prayer doth soonest pierce heaven which pierceth ones own heart . if prayer be made the touch-stone , then the number of those who fear god is but small . are there not many prayerless families in this city and nation ? iob 15.4 . thou casteth off fear , thou restrainest prayer . when men restrain prayer , they cast off the fear of god. it is the brand set upon a reprobate , psalm 14.4 . he calls not upon god. 7. he who fears god will not oppress his neighbour . levit. 25.17 . ye shall not oppress one another , but thou shalt fear thy god. how can he be holy who is not just ? a saint , yet an extortioner is a soloecism . a cruel oppressor is like iudas , his bowels are fallen out . the fear of god would cure this . neh. 5.8 . will ye sell your brethren ? v. 9. ought ye not to walk in the fear of our god ? as if nehemiah had said , if ye had the fear of god ye would not be so wicked , ye would not rise upon the ruines of others , and to wrong them , damn your selves . 8. he who fears god is given to works of mercy . the fear of god is alwaies joyned with love to our brethren . grace may have a trembling hand , but it hath not a withered hand , it stretcheth out its self to relieve the indigent . iam. 1.27 . pure religion before god and the father is this , to visit the fatherless and the widdows in their affliction . to visit them is not only to go to see them in affliction : our saviour expounds what visiting is , mat. 25.36 . ye visited me ; how was that ? vers . 35. i was an hungred , and ye gave me meat . good works are not the cause of our justification , but they are the evidence . how far are they from the fear of god , who are hard-hearted to christs poor ! you may as well extract oil out of a flint , as the golden oil of charity out of their hearts . dives denied lazarus a crumb of bread , and dives was denied a drop of water . 9. he who fears god had rather displease man than god. exod. 1.17 . the midwives feared god , and did not as the king commanded , but saved the men-children alive . what , not obey the kings command ! how could this stand with their allegiance ? very well , because it was an unlawful command . the king bad them put to death the males of the hebrews , which they durst not doe , for fear of incurring gods displeasure . king nebuchadnezzar , erected a golden image to be worshipped , but the three children ( or rather champions ) said , be it known unto thee o king , we will not serve thy gods , or worship thy golden image , dan. 3.18 . they would rather burn than bow : he who fears god , knows it is best to keep in with god ; he is the surest friend , but the sorest enemy . 10. the fear of god will make a man fear these six things . 1. satans snares . 2. his own heart . 3. death . 4. judgement . 5. hell. 6. heaven . 1. the fear of god will make a man afraid of satans snares . he hath the eye of faith to see these snares , and the wing of fear to fly from them — pedibus timor addidit alas — 2 cor. 2.11 . we are not ignorant of his devices . the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , subtile stratagems . satan is called the old serpent , rev. 12.9 . though he hath lost his holiness , he hath not lost his policy : his snares are so cunningly laid , that without the guidance of gods fear we cannot escape them . 1. one subtil artifice of satan is , he baits his hook with religion : he can change his flag , and hang out christs colours ; here he transforms himself into an angel of light . the devil tempts men to evil , that good may come of it , rom. 3.8 . he whistles them into the snare of preferment , that hereby they may be in a capacity of doing god more service . the white devil is worst . who would suspect satan when he comes as a divine , and if need be , can quote scripture ? 2. another snare of satan is , to tempt to sin under a plea of necessity . lot offered to expose his daughters to the lusts of the sodomites , that he might preserve his angel-guests who were come into his house , gen. 19.8 . did not satan instigate him to this ? necessity will not excuse impiety . 3 d. snare is to colour over sin with the pretence of vertue . alcibiades hung a curtain curiously embroidered over a foul picture full of owls and satyrs . satan puts good names on sin , as physitians call that film in the eye which hinders the sight , a pearl in the eye . satan colour'd over jehu's ambition with the name of zeal , 2 kin. 10.16 . he makes men believe revenge is valour , covetousness frugality : as if one should write balm-water upon a glass of poyson . 4 th . snare of satan is , to carry on his mischievous designs under a pretence of friendship . he puts off his lions skin , and comes in sheeps clothing † . thus satan came to christ ; command that these stones be made bread , mat. 4.3 . as if he had said , i see thou art hungry , i therefore out of pity counsel thee to get something to eat , turn stones to bread that thy hunger may be satisfied : but christ spied the serpent in the temptation and repulsed him . thus satan came to eve under the notion of a friend . eat , saith he , of the tree in the midst of the garden , ye shall not dye , ye shall be as gods , gen. 3.4 , 5. as if he had said , i perswade you only to that which will put you into a better condition than now ye are ; eat of the tree of knowledge and it will make you omniscient . what a kind devil was here ! but eve found a worm in the apple . timeo danaos et dona ferentes — * . 5 th . snare , if satan cannot take a christian off from duty , he will put him on too far in duty . humiliation is a duty , but satan suggests that the soul is not humbled enough : and indeed he never thinks it humbled enough till it despairs . satan comes thus to a man : thy sins have bin great , and thy sorrow should be proportionable ; but is it so ? canst thou say thou hast bin as great a mourner as thou hast bin a sinner ? what is a drop of sorrow to a sea of sin ? this is laid only as a snare : the subtil enemy would have a christian weep himself blind , and in a desperate humour throw away the anchor of hope . and if satan hath such fallacies , and as a decoy draws so many millions into his snares , is there not cause of jealous fear lest we should be trappan'd ? the fear of god will make us fear hells stratagems . satans snares are worse than his darts . 2. the fear of god will make a man afraid of his own heart . luther used to say , he feared his heart more than the pope or cardinals , ier. 17.9 . the heart is deceitful above all things . 1. it is deceitful . the word signifies , it is a jacob * , or supplanter . as jacob supplanted his brother , and got away the blessing ; so our hearts would supplant and beguile us . 2. above all things . there is deceit in weights , deceit in friends ; but the heart hath an art of deceiving beyond all † . in the best hearts there is some fallaciousness . david was upright in all things , save only in the matter of vriah , 1 king 15.5 . a godly man knowing there is a spice of this deceit in his heart , fears himself . the flesh is a bosom-traitor . no man can believe what evil is in his heart . 2 kin. 8.12 . is thy servant a dog ? hazael could not believe his heart had bin big of such monsters . if one had come to noah and said ▪ thou wilt be drunk shortly ; he would have said , is thy servant a dog ? no man knows what is in his breast , or what scandal he may fall into if god leaveth him . christ warns his own apostles to take heed of surfeiting and drunkenness , luk. 21.34 . a godly man therefore fears his heart with a fear of caution and jealousie . the heart is not only stubborn , but subtil . let us a little trace this impostor , and see if there be not cause to fear it . the heart shows it's deceitfulness about 1. things sinful . 2. things sacred . 1. the heart shows it's deceitfulness about things sinful ; this deceit is 1. in hiding of sin , as rahab hid the spies in the flax , josh. 2.6 . so the heart hides sin : and how doth it hide it ? just as adam hid himself under fig-leaves , so the heart hides sin under the figleaves of excuses . it was done against the will , or in a passion ; or it was long of others : aaron laid his sin in making the golden calf upon the people , exo. 32.22 . the people are set on mischief : and adam tacitly laid his sin upon god himself , gen. 3.12 . the woman thou gavest me , she gave me of the tree . as to say , if thou hadst not given me this tempting woman , i had not eat . 2. the hearts deceit is seen in flattering of us , it will make us believe we are not so bad as we are . the physitian deceives the patient , when he tells him his disease is not so dangerous , yet he is falling into the hands of death . the heart will tell a man he is free from theft , when yet he robs others of their good name ; he is free from drunkenness , when , though he will not be drunk with wine , he will be drunk with passion . thus the heart is a flattering glass , to make one look fairer than he is : and is there not cause to suspect this impostor ? 2. the heart shews it's deceitfulness about things sacred ; it will be ready to put us off with counterfeit grace . many have bin deceived in taking false mony , and it is to be feared in taking false grace . 1. the heart is ready to deceive with a false repentance . a sinner is troubled a little for sin , or rather , the consequent of it , and perhaps sheds a few tears , and now his heart sooths him up that he is a true penitent . but every legal terrour is not repentance , acts 2.37 . they were pricked in their heart : yet after this , peter said unto them repent , ver . 38. if every slight trouble for sin were true repentance , then iudas and cain may be listed in the number of penitents . evangelical repentance works a change of heart , 1 cor. 6.11 . it produceth sanctity . but the false penitentiary , though he hath trouble of spirit , yet no metamorphise or change . he hath a weeping eye , but an adulterous heart . ahab fasts and puts on sack-cloth , but after this , he puts the prophet micaiah in prison , 1 kin. 22.27 . 2. the heart is apt to deceive with a false faith , it would put the dead child in the room of the living . they in the second of iohn are said to believe : but christ did not believe their faith , john 2.24 . true faith , as it casts it self into christs arms to embrace him , so it casts it self at christs feet to serve him : but spurious faith though it be forward to receive christs benefits , yet it plucks the government from his shoulders , isa. 9.6 . it would have him a priest , but not upon his throne , zach. 6.13 . thus the heart is full of fallacies ; he who fears god fears his heart lest it should rob him of the blessing . that saying of epicharmus is good , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , remember not to trust . 3. the fear of god will make a man fear death . death may challenge a part in our fear . 1. because it is such a serious thing , it is the in-let to eternity : and puts us into an unalterable estate . 2. because of it's proximity : it is nearer to us than we are aware * : it may be within a few hours march of us . god may this night seal a lease of ejectment , and say , give an account of your stewardship ; and what if death should come before we are ready ? 3. because after death there is nothing to be done for our souls , there is no repenting in the grave , eccles. 9.10 . there is no work nor device in the grave whither thou goest . so that death is to be feared with an holy and religious fear . how far may a child of god fear death ? 1. so far as the fear of death is a curben-bit to keep him from sin. a believer may lawfully make use of all means to deter him from sin . no stronger antidote against sin , saith austin , than the fear of death . am i sinning , and to morrow may be dying ? 2. a child of god may so far fear death , as it makes him dye to the world. the fear of death would sound a retreat and call us off from vanity . what is the world ? we must leave it shortly , and all we can purchase is a burying-place † 3. a child of god may so far fear death , as this fear fits him more for death . jacob feared his brother esau's coming against him , and he prepared to meet him , he addressed himself to prayer , gen. 32.7 , 24. so when we fear deaths coming and we prepare to meet it , we set our soul in order . this is a good fear of death . but this fear of death in the godly must be mixed with hope . the nature of death to a believer is quite changed : death is in it self a curse , but god hath turned this curse into a blessing . to a child of god death is not a destruction but a deliverance . when the mantle of his flesh drops off , he ascends in a fiery chariot to heaven . 4. the fear of god will make a man fear iudgment . anselm spent most of his thoughts upon the day of judgement ; and hierom thought he alwaies heard that voice sounding in his ears , surgite mortui , arise ye dead and come to judgment * . that there shall be such a day is evident , 1. from gods veracity : he who is the oracle of truth hath asserted it , psalm 96.13 . for he cometh , for he cometh to judge the earth ; there is a duplication , 1. to shew the certainty he cometh , he cometh , it is an indubitable maxim. 2. to shew the celerity , he cometh , he cometh , the time draws near , it is almost day-break , and the judge is ready to take the bench , jam. 5.9 . gods decree cannot be reversed . 2. there shall be such a day for the vindication of gods justice . things seem to be carried in the world partially : the godly suffer , the wicked prosper . atheists are ready to think god hath cast off the government of the world , and minds not how things are transacted here below : therefore there must be a judicial process that god may undeceive the world and set things right . 3. that there shall be such a day is evident by the principles ingrafted in a natural conscience . when paul reasoned of judgment to come , felix trembled , acts 24.25 . the prisoner at bar made the judge tremble . that a wicked man dying is so surprized with terrors , whence is this but from a secret apprehension of judgment ensuing ? it will be a great assizes , never was the like seen . 2 cor. 5.10 . we must all appear before the iudgment seat. there is no flying , no absconding , no bribing , no appearing by a proxy , but all must make their personal appearance * they who were above trial here , and the law could not reach them , must appear before the tribunal of heaven . who shall be judge ? jesus christ , iohn 5.22 . acts 17.31 . he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained . in that christ is called a man , hence the socinians blasphemously deny the essential deity of christ. that he is god , is most clearly evinced from isaiah 9.6 . ioh. 1.1 . 1 cor. 8.6 . 1 ioh. 5.20 . we are in him that is true , even in his son iesus christ , this is the true god. christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , consubstantiate with god the father , heb. 1.3 . but christ the judge is called man , because he shall judge the world in a visible shape . he must be both god and man : he must be god that he may see mens hearts : and he must be man that he himself may be seen . what a solemn day will this be , when christ shall sit upon the bench of judicature ! he will judge righteously , psalm 9.8 . though he himself was wronged , he will do no wrong : and he will judge critically , mat. 3.12 . whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor . he will see what is wheat , what is chaff , who have his image upon him , and who the mark of the beast . sure the fear of god will cause an holy trembling at the thoughts of this day . in what sence should those that fear god , fear the day of judgment ? not with a fear of amazement or despondency , for the day of judgment will be a iubile , a blessed comfortable day to them . the thrush sings at the approach of rain : so may believers at the approach of judgment : christ who is their iudge is their advocate . but , 1. the godly should so fear judgement , as every day to renew their sorrow for sin. they have sins quotidiani incursus , that creep upon them daily , and they must with peter , weep bitterly ; they must steep their souls in the brinish tears of repentance : it would be sad to be found at the last day in any sin unrepented of . 2. the godly should so fear the day of judgment as it makes them afraid of sins of omission . the not dressing a wound brings death : the not discharging duty may bring d●mnation . you may read the solemn process at the last day , mat. 25.42 . i was an hungred and ye gave me no meat , naked and ye cloathed me not , sick and in prison and ye visited me not . the charge here brought in , is for sins of omission . christ doth not say , ye took away my meat from me , but , ye gave me no meat ; he saith not , ye put me in prison , but , ye visited me not . the sins of omission condemned them . not praying in the family , not sanctfying the sabbath , not giving almes , will be the fatal inditement . 3. the godly should so far fear the day of judgment , as it makes them afraid of dissembling in religion . for at that day false hearts will be unmasked . why did paul walk with such integrity ? 2 thes. 2.10 ye are witnesses and god also , how holily , and justly , and unblamably we behaved our selves among you . what was the cause of this ? sure a fear of the judgment day approaching , 2 cor. 5.10 . for we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ. the word in the orinal is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , we must be made manifest , our hearts must be laid open before men and angels . such is the witchcraft of hypocrisie that it is hard in this life to know who is false , and who is sincere ; but shortly there will be a full discovery . 't is good for gods people so to fear judgment , as it makes them strive against prevarication and hypocrisie : for then the hypocrite will be found out . 5. the fear of god makes a man fear hell. hell is called the place of torment , luke 16.28 . not only flagitious sinners , but such as fear god ought to fear hell , luke 12.4 . i say unto you my friends , fear him who hath power to cast into hell * . how far should gods people fear hell ? not so as to let go their hope . a mariner fears a storm , but not so as to throw away his anchor . such as fear god should fear hell four wayes . 1. they should fear hell tanquam meritum , as that which they have deserved . their sins have merited hell. wo to the holyest man alive if god should weigh him in the ballance of his justice . 2. they who fear , god ought so far to fear hell , as it is a means to make them shake off spiritual sloth . this disease is apt to seize upon gods own people : the wise virgins slumbred , mat. 25.5 . now so far as the fear of hell is an alarum or watch-bell to awaken the godly out of security , and make them run faster to heaven , so far it is a good and blessed fear . 3. the fear of hell is so far good in the godly , as it makes them afraid of being in the number of those who shall go to hell. there are certain persons in danger of hell. 1. who have all their heaven in this life , isa. 47.8 . thou that art given to pleasure . epicures swim in sensual delights ; they had rather displease god than deny the flesh : these shall take up their quarters in hell ; isa. 22.12 , 13. in that day did the lord of hosts call to weeping , and behold joy and gladness , eating flesh , and drinking wine : surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye , saith the lord. that is , this sin shall not be done away by any sacrifice . 2. they are in danger to be cast into hell who live in the sin of adultery † ; they who burn in lust shall burn in hell : 2 pet. 2.9 . the lord knows how to reserve the unjust to be punished ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but chiefly them that walk after the flesh , in the lust of uncleanness . see the corruption of mans nature ! if god had made all common , he would have sought an enclosure ; and now god hath made an enclosure , he endeavours to lay all common . instead of drinking water out of his own cistern , he loves stolen waters * : the same latine word praesepe signifies a stable , and a whore-house : both are for beasts . 3. they are like to go to hell , who by giving bad example cause others to sin. bad example like the plague is catching . great men are glasses which the common people dress themselves by † . such as give bad example have not only their own sins , but the sins of others to answer for : and that doubtless was the reason why dives intreated abraham that one might go from the dead to preach to his brethren , luk. 16.27 . not that dives had love to their souls , but it was because while he was alive he had occasioned his brethrens sins by his wicked example , and he knew that their coming to hell would encrease his torment . 4. they are like to go to hell who live and dye in the contempt of gods word . ministers have preached till the bellows are burnt , their vitals wasted , but men stop their ears and harden their hearts * , zach. 7.12 . they make their heart as an adamant . hardness of heart lies in the insensibleness of the conscience † , and the inflexibleness of the will * . obdurate sinners shake out the arrow of conviction , scorn reproof . when the prophet cried to the altar of stone it rent , 1 king. 13.2 . but sinners hearts rend not ; these are like to have the wrath of god flame about their ears , 2 thes. 1.8 . the lord iesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire , taking vengeance on them who obey not the gospel . 5. they shall go to hell , who fall away finally , mat. 13.6 . because they had no root they withered . flowers in a waterpot will keep green and fresh a while , but having no root wither . demas and iulian made a fair show a while , but ended as the silkworm , which after all her curious spinning , at last becomes a common fly . heb. 10.26 . if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth , there remains no more sacrifice for sin . thus we see who are like to be thrown into hell : now it is good for the godly so to fear hell , as to fear to be in the number of those who shalt go to hell. 4. the fear of hell is so far good in the godly , as it is a fear mixed with rejoycing , psalm 2.11 . rejoyce with trembling . a believers fear of hell must be like the fear of the two maries going from the sepulcher , mat. 28.8 . they departed from the sepulcher with fear and great ioy : fear , because they had seen an angel ; and joy , because christ was risen . so must the godly look on hell , with fear and joy ; fear , because of the fire ; joy , because christ hath freed them from it . a man that stands upon an high rock , fears when he looks down into the sea , yet rejoyceth that he is not there strugling with the waves : so a child of god when he looks down into hell by contemplation may fear because of the dreadfulness of the torment ; yet this fear should be mingled with joy , to think he shall never come there . iesus hath delivered him from wrath to come † . 6. the fear of god will make a man fear heaven . you may say , that is strange , rather hope for heaven ; nay , a regenerate person is to fear heaven lest he fall short of it . hebr. 4.1 . let us fear lest a promise being lest us of entring into his rest , any of you should seem to come short of it * . 't is a metaphor taken from racers , who growing weary and lagging behind come short of the prize . who had more hope of heaven than st. paul ? yet he was not without his fears , 1 cor. 9.27 . i keep under my body , lest when i have preached to others i my self should be a cast-away . and well may he who shall go to heaven fear least he miss of it , if you consider , 1 it is possible for many who make a splendid profession to lose heaven . what think you of the foolish virgins ? they are called virgins because they were not tainted with any gross sin ; yet these virgin-professors were shut out , mat. 25.10 . balaam a prophet , iudas an apostle , both cashiered . we have seen some ships have had glorious names given them , the good-speed , the hope , the safe-guard , yet cast away at sea. 2. it is possible to come near to heaven , yet fall short of it , mark 12.34 . thou art not far from the kingdom of god ; yet he was not near enough . men may countenance the ministry of the word , have their affections moved at an ordinance , and in outward show out-go the children of god * ; yet not having the oyl of sincerity in their vessels , they may be frustrated of happiness : and how dismal is that , to lose god , to lose their souls , to lose their hopes ! the millions of tears shed in hell are not sufficient to bewail the loss of heaven . well may such as have heaven in them fear their coming short of it . thus much for the use of trial. how shall we arrive at this blessed fear ? 1. let us set god ever in our eye , study his immensity . he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 god almighty , gen. 17.1 . he gives laws to the angels , binds the consciences of men , cuts off the spirit of princes , psalm 76.12 . the thoughts of gods incomprehensible greatness would strike an holy awe into our hearts . elijah wrap'd his face in a mantle when gods glory passed by . the reason men fear not god , is because they entertain slight thoughts of him . psalm 40.21 . thou thoughtest i was such an one as thy self . 2. let us pray for this fear of god , which is the root of all holiness , and the mother of all wisdom . psalm 86.11 . vnite my heart to fear thy name ; the lord hath promised to put his fear in our heart , ier. 32.40 . let us pray over this promise : while some pray for riches , and others for children , let us pray for an heart to fear god. to conclude this , you who have this fear planted in your souls , bless god for it , psalm 135.20 . ye that fear the lord bless the lord. god hath done more for you than if he had made you kings and queens , and caused you to ride upon the high places of the earth . he hath enriched you with that jewel which he bestows only upon the elect. o stand upon mount gerizim blessing . the fear of god is an immortal ▪ seed springing up into glory , psalm 22.23 . ye that fear the lord praise him . begin the work of heaven now , be spiritual quiristers : sound forth holy doxologies and triumphs ; say as david , psalm 71.8 . let my mouth be filled with thy praise , and with thy honour all the day . god hath but little praise in the world : who should pay him this quit-rent if not they that fear him ? chap. v. shewing the first character in special of the godly , namely , speaking of god. 2. having done with the character of the godly in general , i proceed next to their special characters . 1 ▪ they spake often one to another . when the wicked said , it is vain to serve god , then they that feared the lord spake often one to another . the meaning of this word , they spake often , is , they did discourse religiously together , their tongues were divinely tuned by the holy ghost . christians when they meet together should use holy conference . this is not only an advice , but a charge , deu. 6.6 . these words shall be in thy heart , and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house , and when thou walkest by the way , and when thou lyest down , and when thou risest up . indeed where there is gratia infusa , it will be effusa ; grace changeth the language , and makes it spiritual . when the holy ghost came upon the apostles , they spake with other tongues , act. 2.4 . grace makes christians speak with other tongues . a good christian hath not only the law of god in his heart , psalm 37.31 . but in his tongue , vers . 30. the body is the temple of god , 1 cor. 6.19 . the tongue is the organ in this temple , which sounds in holy discourse , prov. 10.20 . the tongue of the iust is as choice silver . he drops silver sentences , enriching others with knowledge , mat. 12.35 . a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things . in his heart is a treasure of goodness , and this is not like a bag of mony sealed , but he brings something out of the treasure within to the enriching of others . grace is of the nature of fire , which will not be pent up : like new wine it will have vent * . there is a principle within constrains to holy conference , job 32.18 . the spirit within me constraineth me . chap. vi. containing the applicatory part . it shews the genius and temper of true saints , they speak often one to another ; their lips drop as an hony-comb . a man is known what country he belongs to by his language . he who belongs to the jerusalem above speaks the language of canaan ; none of gods children are dumb ; their mouth is a well-spring of wisdom , prov. 18.4 . here i may draw up a bill of indictment against five sorts of persons . 1. such as are silent in matters of religion . they would be counted good , but he must have good eyes that can see it , i know not whether it be ignorance or bashfulness that makes good discourse waved . many are so mute in religion as if their tongues did cleave to the roof of their mouth : had they any love to god , or had they ever tasted how sweet the lord is , their mouth would talk of his righteousness , psalm 71.24 . friends , what should we mind but salvation ? what are the things of this world ? they are neither entia * , nor manentia † . do not we see men heap up riches , and on a sudden , death as gods serjeant arrests them ? what should we talk of but the things pertaining to the kingdom of god ? let this cause blushing among christians , that their meetings are so unprofitable , they leave god out of their discourse . why is there no good conference ? have you so much knowledge that you need not have it encreased ? have you so much faith that you need not have it strengthened ? silence in religion is a loud sin . we read of one who was possessed with a dumb devil , mark 9.12 . how many are spiritually possessed with a dumb devil ! it is a rebuke to such as when they meet together , instead of speaking of heaven , they have idle frothy discourse * . they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as plutarch said of alcibiades . their lips do not drop as an honey-comb , but run as a spout ; their speaking is just like a childs scribling , psalm 12.2 . they speak vanity every one with his neighbour . if christ should ask some as he did the two disciples going to emaus , luk. 24.17 . what manner of communications have you as you walk , they could not say as they did , concerning jesus of nazareth ; no , perhaps about toyes , or new fashions . if idle words must be accounted for , mat 12.36 . lord , what an account will some have to give ! it reproves the avaritious person , who instead of speaking of heaven , talks of nothing but the world : the farmer speaks of his plough and yoak of oxen , the tradesman of his wares and drugs ; but not a word of god. john 3.31 . he that is of the earth speaketh of the earth . many are like the fish in the gospel that had money in it's mouth , mat. 12.27 . they talk only of secular things , as if they imagined to fetch happiness out of that earth which god hath cursed . seneca being asked of what countrey he was , answered he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a citizen of this world : we may know many to be citizens of this world , their speech bewrayeth them . — o curvae in terras animae , et caelestium inanes . 4. it reproves them who do indeed speak often to one another but in a bad sence . 1. they speak one to another in hasty words . their words should be like the waters of shiloah that go softly , but too often they are fierce and pungent . * water when it is hot soon boils over ; when the heart is heated with anger it soon boils over in furious speeches , jam. 3.6 . passion transports . many curse in their anger . the tongue is made in the fashion of a sword , and it cuts like a sword : angry words often prejudice him that utters them : rehoboam with one churlish word lost ten tribes . a fiery spirit is unsuitable to the master we serve , the prince of peace ; and to his ambassage , the gospel of peace . such whose tongues are set on fire , let them take heed they do not one day in hell desire a drop of water to cool their tongue . 2. they speak one to another in a bad sence who murmure and complain one to another ; they do not complain of their sins , but their wants . murmuring proceeds from unbelief , psalm 106.24 . they believed not his word but murmured . when men distrust gods promises , they murmur at his providences : this is a sin god can hardly bear , numb . 14.27 . how long shall i bear with this people that murmur against me ? israels speeches were venomous , and god punished them with venomous serpents , 1 cor. 10.10 . 3. they speak one to another in a bad sence , who vent themselves in filthy scurrilous language . the heart is a vessel full of wickedness , and the tongue sets it a-broach . when the face breaks out in sores and pimples , it shews the blood is corrupt : when men break forth in unsavoury speeches it shews the heart is profane . 1 cor. 15.35 . evil communication corrupteth good manners . we read that the lips of the leper were to be covered , levit. 13.45 . it were happy if we had such magistrates as would by their authority cover the unclean lips of these lepers . 4. they speak one to another in a bad sence , who instead of seasoning their words with grace , mix them with oaths . swearers rend and tear gods name , and like mad dogs fly in the face of heaven , jer. 23.10 . because of swearing the land mourns . some think it the grace of speech to interlard every sentence with an oath ; as if they would go to hell genteelly . but saith one , it is my custom to swear . is this an excuse or an aggravation of the sin ? if a malefactor should be arraigned for robbery , and he should say to the judge spare me for it is my custom to rob on the high way , the judge would say , thou shalt the rather dye . for every oath that a man swears , god puts a drop of wrath into his vial . 5. it reproves them who instead of speaking in an holy manner one to another , speak one of another ; 1. in censuring , some make it a part of their religion to descant and criticize upon others . they do not imitate their graces but reflect upon their failings . god grant professors may wash their hands of this . were peoples hearts more humble , their tongues would be more charitable . 't is the sign of an hypocrite to censure others and commend himself . 2. they speak one of another in slandering : psalm 50.20 . thou sittest and slanderest thy own mothers son . slandering is when we speak to the prejudice of another , and speak that which is not true . worth is blasted by slander . holiness it self is no shield from this sin . the lambs innocency will not preserve it from the wolf. iob calls slandering the scourge of the tongue , job 5.21 . you may smite a man and never touch him . a slanderer wounds anothers fame , and no physitian can heal these wounds * . the eye and the name are two tender things . god takes it ill at our hands to calumniate others , especially to asperse those who help to keep up the credit of religion . num. 12.8 . were not ye afraid to speak against my servant moses ? what my servant , who hath wrought so many miracles , whom i have spoken with in the mount face to face , were not ye afraid to speak against him ? the greek word slanderer signifies devil † . this is the devils proper sin , he is the accuser of the brethren , rev. 12.10 . he doth not commit adultery , but he bears false witness . the slanderer may be indicted for clipping , he clips his neighbours credit to make it weigh lighter . this our nature is prone to ; but remember , it is as well a sin in gods account , to break the ninth commandment , as the eighth . put this great duty in practice , imitate these holy ones in the text , they spake often one to another . hierom thinks they did speak something in defence of the providence of god , they vindicated god in his dealings , and exhorted one another not to be discouraged at the virulent speeches of the wicked , but still hold on a course of piety . thus ( christians ) when you meet , give one anothers souls a visit , drop your knowledge , impart your experiences each to other , psalm 66.16 . sampson having found hony did not only eat of it himself , but carried it to his father and mother , iudg. 14.9 . have you tasted the hony of the word ? let others have a tast with you . he who hath bin in a perfumers shop doth not only himself partake of those sweet smells , but some of the perfume sticks to his cloaths , so that those who come near him partake of those perfumes : so having our selves perceived the sweet savour of christs oyntments , we should let others partake with us , and by our heavenly discourse , diffuse the perfume of religion to them , col. 4.6 . let your words be seasoned with salt : let grace be the salt which seasons your words and makes them savoury . christians should take all occasions of good discourse when they walk together , and sit at table together . this makes their eating and drinking be to the glory of god , 1 cor. 10.31 . what makes it a communion of saints but good conference ? but some may say they are barren of matter , and know not what to speak of ? no , have you walked so often through the field of scripture , yet gathered no ears of corn ? have not you matter enough in the word to furnish you with discourse ? let me suggest a few things to you . when you meet speak one to another of the promises . no hony so sweet , as that which drops from a promise . the promises are the support of faith , the springs of joy , the ●aints royal charter . are you citizens of heaven , and not speak of your charter ? speak of the preciousness of christ : he is beauty and love ; he hath laid down his blood as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or price of your redemption . have you a friend that hath redeemed you , and never speak of him ? speak one to another of sin , what a deadly evil it is , how it hath infected your virgin-nature , and turned it into a lesser hell. speak of the beauty of holiness , which is the souls embroidery , filling it with such oriental splendor as makes god and angels fall in love with it . the graces are ( as damascen saith ) the sacred characters and impressions of the divine nature * . speak one to another of your souls : enquire whether they are in health . speak about death and eternity : can you belong to heaven and not speak of your country ? speak one to another of the times , wherein god is the greatest sufferer : let your hearts bleed for his dishonours . thus you see here is matter enough for holy conference . why then do you not set good discourse on foot ? i perswade my self one main reason of the decay of the power of godliness is want of christian conference : people when they meet talk of impertinencies , but god and heaven are left out of their discourse . that i may perswade you in your converses to put in a word about your souls , let me offer these few things to your consideration . 1. it was the practice of the saints of old . elijah , and elisha went on talking good discourse till the chariot of heaven came to part them , 2 kin. 2.11 . davids tongue was tuned to the language of canaan , psalm 71.24 . my tongue shall talk of thy righteousness . the primitive christians into whatever company they came , were speaking of a glorious kingdom they expected , insomuch that some thought they were ambitious of worldly honour ; which made iustin martyr apologize for them , that the kingdom they looked for was not of this world , but a kingdom with christ in heaven . ierom saith of some of the roman ladies , they did spend much of their time in communing together , and they would not let him alone , for asking him questions about their souls . 2. we are bid to redeem the time , eph. 5.16 . the poets painted time with wings , because it flies so fast — volat ambiguis mobilis alis hora — time lost had need be redeemed ; and is there any better way to redeem time , than to improve it in trading for heaven , and speaking of god and our souls ? 3. jesus christ hath set us a pattern : his words were perfumed with holiness , luke 4.22 . all bare him witness , and wondred at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth . christ had grace poured into his lips , psalm 45.2 . in all companies he set good discourse on foot . when he sate on iacobs well he falls into an heavenly discourse with the woman of samaria about the water of life , iohn 4.14 . and so when levi made him a feast , luke 5 — he feasts him again with heavenly discourse . and no sooner was christ risen from the grave , but he was speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god , acts 1.3 . the more spiritual we are in our speeches , the more we resemble christ : should not the members be like the head ? christ will not be our saviour , unless we make him our pattern . 4. good discourse would prevent sinful discourse . much sin passeth in ordinary talk , as gravel and mud pass along with the water . how many are guilty of tongue-sins ! good discourse would prevent evil , as labour prevents idleness . by inuring our tongues to the heavenly dialect , the devil would not have so much power over us . 5. we may guess at mens hearts by their common discourse . words are the looking-glass of the mind * . as you may judge of a face by the glass whether it be fair or foul ; so by the words we may judge of the heart . a lascivious tongue shews a lustful heart , an earthly tongue a covetous heart ; a gracious tongue , a gracious heart . the ephraimites were known by their pronunciation , saying sibboleth for shiboleth , judg. 12.6 . so by the manner of our speech we may be known who we belong to . the tongue is the index of the heart . if you broach a vessel that which is within will come out ; by that which comes out of the mouth , you may guess what is within in the heart , luke 6 45. out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh . 6. good discourse is beneficial , iob 6.23 . how forcible are rights words ? a word spoken in season may make such a powerful impression upon anothers heart as may do him good all his life . one single coal is apt to dye , but many coals put together keep in the heat . christians by their heavenly talk do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , blow up one anothers grace into a flame . monica austins mother , hearing others discourse of heaven , was greatly affected and cryed out , what do i do here ? why is my soul held any longer with this earthen fetter of my flesh ? when the daughters of ierusalem had conversed a while with the spouse , and had heard her describe christs admirable beauty , their affections began to be enflamed , and they would seek him with her , cant. 6.1 . whither is thy beloved gone o thou fairest among women , that we may seek him with thee ? a christian by divine discourse may enlighten another when he is ignorant , warm him when he is frozen , comfort him when he is sad , confirm him when he is wavering . latimer was much strengthened by discourse with mr bilny in prison , and hearing his confession of faith * . a good life adorns religion , a good tongue propagates it . when the apostle would have us edifie one another , what better way could he prescribe than this , to have such holy speeches proceed out of our mouths as might minister grace unto the hearers ? eph. 4.29 . 7. we must be accountable to god for our speeches . words are judged light , but theyweigh heavy in gods balance ; by our words we shall be either saved or damned , mat. 12.37 . for by thy words thou shalt be justified , and by thy words thou shalt be condemned . if our words have been seasoned with grace , then the acquitting sentence is like to go on our side . 8. good discourse is a christians honour . the tongue is called our glory , psalm 30.12 . because it is the instrument of glorifying god. when our tongues are out of tune in murmuring , then they are not our glory ; but when these organs sound in holy discourse , then our tongues are our glory . 9. good discourse will be a means to bring christ into our company . while the two disciples were conferring about the death and sufferings of christ , jesus christ himself came among them , luke 24.15 . while they communed together , iesus himself drew near , and went with them . when bad discourse is set on foot , satan draws near , and makes one of the company ; but when good discourse is promoted , jesus christ draws near . let all that hath bin said excite good conference : certainly , there is no better way than this to encrease our stock of grace . others by spending grow poor ; but the more we spend our selves in holy discourse , the richer we grow in grace , as the widows oyl by pouring out encreased . chap. vii . means conducing to holy conference . if it be asked how may good conference be arrived at ? 1. if you would be discursive in religion , get your minds well furnished with knowledge . hereby , you will have a treasure to fetch from , iob 38.18 . i am ( saith elihu ) full of matter . some are backward to speak of good for want of matter : the empty vessel cannot run . if you would have your tongues run fluently in religion , they must be fed with a spring of knowledge , col. 3.16 . let the word of christ dwell in you richly . in one of the miracles that christ wrought , he first caused the water-pots to be filled with water , and then saith he , draw out now , john 2.8 . so we must first have our heads filled with knowledge , and then we shall be able to draw out to others in good discourse . 2. if you would discourse readily in the things of god , make religion your delight . what men delight in , they will be speaking of : the sensualist speaks of his sports ; the worldling of his rich purchase . delight makes the tongue as the pen of a ready writer . the spouse being delighted and inamoured with christs beauty , could not conceal her self ; she makes an elegant and pathetical oration in the commendation of christ , cant. 5.10 . my beloved is white and ruddy , the chiefest among ten thousand . 3. pray that god will both gift and grace you for christian conference , psalm 51.15 . lord open thou my lips. satan hath lock'd up mens lips , pray that god will open them . perhaps you pray that you may believe in christ , but do you pray that you may confess him , and not be ashamed to speak of him before others ? psalm 119.46 . i will speak of thy testimonies before kings , and not be ashamed . to end this , let me briefly insert two cautions . 1. not but that it is lawful to confer of worldly negotiations sometimes ; traffick requires conference : but with this proviso , that we should shew more delectation and earnestness in speaking of spiritual things , than earthly ; remembring the soul is far more valuable than the world. 2. when persons speak of religion let it not be for any sinister unworthy end , not for ostentation , but edification ; and then having your aim right , speak of the things of god with life and affection , that others may perceive you feel those truths which you speak . chap. viii . shewing the second character in special of the godly , namely , thinking of god. 2. the second character of the godly in special is , they thought upon gods name ; these saints when they were together did speak of god , when they were alone they did think of god ; that thought upon his name . what is meant by gods name ? 1. by the name of god is meant his essence ; gods name is put for god himself . 2. by the name of god is meant his glorious attributes , which are the several letters of his name . 3. by the name of god is meant his worship and ordinances where his name is called upon , ier. 7.12 . go ye unto my place which was in shiloh where i set my name at first : that is , where i first set up my publick worship . now this name of god , the saints in the text did contemplate , they thought upon his name . thoughts are the first-born of the soul , the conceptions of the mind , the immediate fruit and issue of a rational being . thoughts are the images of things in the fancy * . these devout souls in the text were chiefly busying their thoughts about god and heaven . it is the inseparable sign of a godly man to imploy his chief thoughts about god , prov. 12.5 . the thoughts of the righteous are right . that is they are set upon the right object . 't is natural to think . thoughts fly out of the mind , as sparks out of a furnace . the hebrew word ▪ for a thought , signifies the boughs of a tree * ; because thoughts shoot out from our minds , as branches do from a tree . 't is i say natural to think , but it is not natural to think of god , this is proper to a saint : his thoughts are sublime and seraphical , they fly to heaven . the mind is a mint-house where thoughts are minted . david minted golden cogitations , psalm 139.18 . i am still with thee . that is ( as learned ainsworth expounds it ) by divine contemplation . thoughts are travellers in the soul. davids thoughts kept heaven-road , psalm 73.23 . i am continually with thee . as the mariners needle turns to the north-pole : so a saints thoughts are still pointing towards god. whence is it that the saints thoughts mount up to god ? there will be this thinking on god , 1. from those intrinsecal perfections which are in him . the loveliness of the object attracts the thoughts : god is the supream good. there is nothing but god worth thinking on * . psal. 119.57 . thou art my portion , o lord. will not a mans thoughts run upon his portion ? a gracious soul hath found pleasure in thinking on god , psal. 63.5 , 6. he hath had those transfigurations on the mount , those illapses of the spirit , those incomes of gods love , those praelibations and foretastes of glory , that he cannot keep his thoughts off from god : to hinder him from thinking on god , is to bar him of all his pleasure . 2. there will be thinking on god from the powerful . operations of the holy ghost . we cannot of our selves think a good thought , 2 cor. 3.5 . but the spirit elevates and fixeth the heart on god. ezek. 3.14 . the spirit lifted me up . when you see the iron move upward , there hath been some load-stone drawing it : so when the thoughts move upwards towards god , the spirit hath , as a divine load-stone , drawn them . chap. ix . containing a sharp redargution . out of the quiver of this text i may draw several arrows of reproof . 1. it reproves such as do not think upon gods name . it is the brand-mark of a reprobate , god is not in all his thoughts , psalm 10.4 . * he endeavours to expunge and blot god out of his mind : though he draws his breath from god , yet he doth not think of him : his thoughts shoot into the earth , philip. 3.19 . had not sinners by their fall lost their head-piece , they would reason thus with themselves : sure god is best worth thinking on ; is there any excellency in the world ? then what is there in god that made it ? he gives the star its beauty , the flower its fragrancy , food its suavity ; and if there be such deliciousness in the creature , what is in god ? he must needs be better than all * . o my soul , shall i admire the drop and not the ocean ? shall i think of the workmanship , and not of him that made it ? this is the fruit of original sin , it hath warped the soul , and taken it off from the right object . it reproves such as indeed think of god , but they have not right thoughts of him . as the lord said to eliphaz , job 42.7 . ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right ; so some think of god , but they do not think of him the thing that is right . 1. they have low unworthy thoughts of god , they fancy god to be like themselves , psalm 50.21 . men think god is as short-sighted as they , and that he cannot see them through the thick canopy of the clouds : but he that makes a watch knows all the wheeles and pins in it , and the spring which causeth the motion . god who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inspector of the heart , sees all the intrigues and private caballs in the thoughts * . god knows the true motion of a false heart , ier. 29.23 . i know and am a witness , saith the lord. 2. men have injurious thoughts of god : 1. they deem his wayes unequal , ezek. 18.25 . is not my way equal ? some call gods providence to the bar of reason , and judge his proceedings excentrick ; but god laies righteousness to the plummet , isa. 28.17 . his wayes are secret , but alwayes just . god is most in his way , when we think he is out of his way . 2. they think his wayes are not profitable , mal. 3.14 . what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance ? we cannot shew our earnings . these are not right thoughts of god. men think him to be an hard master : but god will be in no mans debt , he gives double pay , mal. 1.10 . neither do ye kindle a sire on my altar for nought . it reproves such as instead of thinking on god , their minds are wholly taken up with vain thoughts . vain thoughts are the froth of the brain , ier. 4.14 . how long shall vain thoughts lodge with thee ? i deny not but vain thoughts may sometimes come into the best hearts , but they have a care to turn them out before night , that they do not lodge . this denominates a wicked man , his thoughts dw●ll upon vanity ; and well may his thoughts be said to be vain , because they do not turn to any profit , ier. 16.19 . vanity , and things wherein there is no profit . they are vain thoughts which are about foolish things , and run all into straw . they are vain thoughts which do not better the heart , nor will give one drop of comfort at death , psalm 146.4 . in that very day his thoughts perish . vain thoughts are pernitious , they fly-blow the heart and leave an ill tincture behind . 4. it reproves such as have not only vain thoughts , but vile thoughts . 1. proud thoughts , while they view themselves in the glass of self-love , they begin to take up venerable thoughts of themselves , and so pride fumes up into their head and makes them giddy * . 2. impure thoughts . they think how to gratifie their lusts , they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make provision , or as the word signifies , become caterers for the flesh , rom. 13.14 . sin begins in the thoughts ; first men devise sin , then act it , mica . 2.2 . for instance , would one have preferment : he bethinks himself by what ladder he may climb to honour . he will cringe and comply , and lay aside conscience , and this is the way to rise . would a man grow rich : he sets his thoughts a work how to compass an estate , he will circumvent , and pull down his soul to build up an estate . would he wreak his malice on another ; he frames an engine in his thoughts to take away his life : as iezabel ( that painted harlot ) when she would ruine naboth , presently fains a sham-plot and subtilly thinks of a way how to dispatch him , 1 king. 21.9 . proclaim a fast , and set naboth on high among the people , and set two men sons of belial to witness against him , saying , thou didst blaspheme god and the king , and carry him out and stone him . o the mischief of thoughts ! a man may deny god in his thoughts , psalm 14.1 . the fool hath said in his heart there is no god. he may commit adultery in his thoughts , mat. 5.28 . whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart . a man may murder another in his thoughts , 1 ioh. 3.15 . whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer . o how much contemplative wickedness is in the world ! tremble at sinful thoughts . we startle at gross sin , but we are not troubled so much for sinful thoughts . know , 1. that sin may be committed in the thoughts , though it never blossom into outward act , prov. 24.9 . the thought of foolishness is sin . see this in two things . 1. envy , the jews envied christ the fame of his miracles , mat. 27.18 . pilat knew that for envy they had delivered him . here was sin committed in the thoughts : the jews sinned by envying christ , though they had never crucified him . 2. discontent , gen. 24.5 . cain was wroth and his countenance fell . he did malign his brother , and his thoughts were boiled up to discontent . here was sin committed in the thoughts . cain sinn'd by discontent though he had never murdered his brother . 2. god will punish for sinful thoughts . we say thoughts are free ; so they are in mans court * ; but god will punish for thoughts : it was set upon herods score , that he thought to have destroyed christ under a pretence of worshipping him , mat. 2.8 . let us be humbled for the sins of our thoughts , prov. 30.32 . if thou hast thought evil , lay thy hand upon thy mouth . that is , humble and abase thy self before the lord. the best alive had need be humbled for their thoughts . 1. the instability of their thoughts . how do the thoughts dance up and down in prayer : like quick-silver they will not six . 't is hard to tye two good thoughts together . 2. the impiety of their thoughts . in the fairest fruit may be a worm , and in the best heart evil thoughts may arise . did mens hearts stand where their faces do , they would blush to look one upon another . let us i say be deeply humbled for our thoughts . let us look up to christ that he would stand between us and gods justice , and that he would intercede for us that the thoughts of our hearts may be forgiven us . let us think of gods name ; let us lock up our selves with god every day ; let our thoughts get wings , and with the birds of paradise fly up towards heaven . christians , look up on that day to be lost , wherein you have not conversed with god in your thoughts ; think of god in your closet , in your shop : trade above the moon . isaac went out into the field to meditate , gen. 24.63 . he did take a turn in heaven by holy ejaculations . our minds should be steeped in holy thoughts . it is not enough to have a few transient thoughts of god by the by , but there must be an immoration or staying our minds on god , till our hearts are warmed in love to him , and we can say as they , luk. 24.32 . did not our hearts burn within us ? but what should be the matter of our holy musings ? 1. think of gods immense being . adore his illustrious attributes , which are the beams by which the divine nature shines forth . think of gods omnisciency : he makes a curious and critical descant upon all our actions , and enters them down into his day-book . think of gods holiness , which is the most sparkling jewel of his crown , exod. 15.11 . think of gods mercy : this makes all his other attributes sweet . holiness without mercy , and justice without mercy would be terrible . think of gods veracity , exod. 34.6 . abundant in truth ; that is , god will be so far from coming short of his word , that he doth more then he hath said . he shoots beyond the promise , never short of it . 2. think of the works of god , psalm 77.12 . i will meditate of all thy works . gods works are bound up in three great volumes , creation , redemption , providence : here is sweet matter for our thoughts to expatiate upon . chap. x. swasives and incentives to holy thoughts . let me , to inforce the exhortation , propound some swasives and inducements to be frequent in the thoughts of god. 1. the end why god hath given us this thinking faculty is , that we may think on his name . when our cogitations run out in impertinencies ( like water running beside the mill ) we should think with our selves thus : did god give us a talent to misimploy ? did he give us thoughts that we should think of every thing but him ? were these arrows given us to shoot beside the mark ? 2. if we do not inure our selves to good thoughts , we cannot be good christians . thinking seriously on heavenly things , makes them stay in our mind , causeth delight in them , and makes them nutritive . musing on holy objects is like concocting food , which turns it to blood and spirits : so that without holy cogitation , no religion . can a man be religious and scarce ever think of it ? 3. we are deeply obliged to think on god. 1. god is our maker , psalm 100.3 . it is he that hath made us , and not we our selves . our bodies are gods curious needle work , psalm 139.15 . and as god hath wrought the cabinet , so he hath put a jewel in it , the precious soul. hath god made us , and shall not we think of him ? 2. god hath sweetned our lives with various mercies . the city of syracuse in sicily was so curiously scituated , that the sun was never out of sight : god hath so placed us by his providence , that the sun-shine of mercy is never out of sight . we are bemiracled with mercy ; mercy feeds us with the finest of the wheat , the bread of life ; mercy guards us with a guard of angels ; it makes the rock pour forth rivers of oyl : and shall not the stream lead us to the fountain ? shall not we think of the god of our mercies ? this were high ingratitude . 4. to have frequent and devout thoughts of god witnesseth sincerity . no truer touchstone of sanctity , than the spirituality of the thoughts : that a man is , that his thoughts are , prov. 23.7 . for as he thinketh in his heart so is he . thoughts are freer from hypocrisie than words : one may speak well for applause , or to stand right in the opinion of others ; but when we are alone and think of gods name , and admire his excellencies , this shews the heart to be right . thoughts are freer from hypocrisie than an unblamable life . a man may in his outward carriage be fair , yet have a covetous , revengeful mind . the acts of sin may be forborn , when the heart sits brooding upon sin ; but to have the thoughts spiritualized and set upon god , is a truer symptom of sincerity , than a life free from vice. christians , what do your thoughts run upon ? where do they make their most frequent visits ? can you say , lord , our hearts are still mounting up to heaven , our thoughts are lodg'd in paradise ; though we do not see thy face , yet we think on thy name ? this is a good evidence of sincerity . we judge of men by their actions ; god judgeth of them by their thoughts . 5. thinking much on god would cure the love of the world. great things seem little to him that stands high . to such as stand upon the top of the alps the great cities of campania seem little villages : they who are mounted high in the contemplation of christ and glory , how do the things of the world disappear , and even shrink into nothing ! a soul elevated by faith above the visible orbs , hath the moon under his feet . a true saint intermedles with secular affairs more out of necessity than choice . st. pauls thoughts were sublime , he lived in the altitudes , and how did he scorn the world * ! gal. 6.14 . the world is crucified to me * . 6. thinking on god would be expulsive of sin. whence is impiety but from incogitancy ? did men ruminate upon gods holiness and justice , durst they sin at that rate as they do ? that which check'd ioseph , was the thoughts of a sin-revenging god. when the delights of sin tickle , let the thoughts of god come into mens minds , that he is both the spectatour and the iudge , and after the golden crowns and womens hair come the lions teeth , rev. 9.8 . this would put them into a cold sweat , and be as the angels drawn sword † , it would scare them from sin . 7. thinking on god is an admirable means to encrease our love to god. as it was with davids musing on mortality , psam 39.3 . as i was musing the fire burned ; so it is with our musing on the deity : while we are thinking on god , our hearts will kindle in love to him . the reason our affections are so chill and cold in religion is , because we do not warm them with the thoughts of god. hold a burning-glass to the sun , and the glass burns that which is near to it : so when our thoughts are lifted up to christ the sun of righteousness , our affections are set on fire . no sooner had the spouse been thinking on her saviours beauty , but she fell sick of love , cant. 5.8 . o ye saints , do but let your cogitations dwell upon the love of christ , who did pass by angels and think of you ; who was wounded , that out of his wounds the balm of gilead might come to heal you ; who leaped into the sea of his fathers wrath , to save you from drowning : think of this unparallel'd love which sets the angels a wondring , and see if it will not affect your hearts and cause tears of love to slow forth . 8. thinking on god will by degrees transform us into his image . as jacobs flock looking on the rods that had white streaks conceived and brought forth like them , gen. ●● , 39. so by contemplating gods holiness , we are in some measure changed into his likeness . 2 cor. 3.18 . beholding as in a glass the glory of the lord , we are changed into the same image . the contemplative sight of god was transforming : they had some print of gods holiness upon them ; as moses when he had been on the mount with god , his face shined , exod. 34.35 . what is godliness but god-likeness ? and who are so like him as they that think on his name ? 9. thinking on god is sweet , it ushers in a secret delight into the soul psalm 104.34 . my meditation of him shall be sweet . he whose head is got above the clouds , his thoughts are sled aloft , and he hath god in his eye , is full of divine raptures , and cries out as peter in the transfiguration , lord , it is good to be here . holy thoughts are the dove we send out of the ark of our souls , and they bring an olive branch of peace . some complain they have no joy of their lives ; and truly no wonder , when they are such strangers to heavenly contemplation . would you have god give you comfort , and never think of him ? indeed israel had manna drop'd into their tents , and they never thought of it ; but god will not drop down this manna of heavenly joy on that soul which seldom or never thinks of him . would you have your spirits chearful ? let your thoughts be celestial . the higher the lark flies , the sweeter it sings : the higher a soul ascends in the thoughts of god , the sweeter joy it hath . 10. thoughts of god will turn to the best account . thoughts spent on the world are often in vain . some spend thoughts about laying up a portion for such a child ; and perhaps , either it dies , or lives to be a cross. others beat their brains how to rise at court ; and when royal favour hath shined upon them , on a sudden an eclipse falls out , and the kings smile is turn'd into a frown , and then their thoughts are frustrated — et stultus labor est ineptiarum — * . how oft do men build castles in the air ? but the thoughts of god will turn to a good account , they augment sanctification , and bring satisfaction , psalm 63.5 . my soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness , when i remember thee on my bed , and meditate on thee , &c. the thoughts we have of god in the time of health , will be a comfort to us in the time of sickness . 11. god thinks of us , and shall not we think of him ? psalm 40.17 . the lord thinketh upon me . god thinks on us every morning , lam. 3.23 . his mercies are new every morning . he gives us night-mercies , he rocks us every night asleep , psalm 127.2 . so he giveth his beloved sleep : and if we chance to wake he gives us songs in the night , job 35.10 . if god be thinking of us day and night , shall not we think of his name ? how can we forget a freind who is ever mindful of us ? jer. 29.11 . i know the thoughts that i think towards you ( saith the lord ) thoughts of peace . though god be out of our sight , we are not out of his thoughts . 12. god will one day reckon with us for our thoughts . he will say i gave you a cogitative faculty , what have you done with it ? if god asks a covetous man , what have been your sentiments ? which way have your thoughts run ? he will answer , to heap up riches : if god asks princes and emperors , how have you employ'd your thoughts ? they will say , how by our scepter to beat down the power of godliness . what a dreadful account will these persons have to give at last ! not only mens actions , but their thoughts will accuse them , rom. 2.15 . 13. our thoughts of god shall not be lost . god accepts of the thought for the deed . david had a good thought come into his mind to build god an house , and god took it as kindly as if he had done it , 2 chron. 6.8 . forasmuch as it was in thy heart to build an house to my name , thou didst well that it was in thy heart . when christians have thoughts of promoting gods glory , they would do such good acts if it were in their power , build hospitals , distribute justice , cut off offenders from the city of god , the lord looks upon it as if they had done it : so that our thoughts of god are not lost . let us think of god in a right manner . a good medicine may be spoiled in the making : so may a good duty be spoiled in the doing . thoughts may be good for the matter of them , yet may be faulty in the manner . i shall shew you 1. how thoughts of god may fail in the manner . 2. the right manner of thinking upon god. 1. how thoughts of god may fail in the manner . 1. a man may think of god , yet not intend his glory . jehu had good thoughts came into his mind , to destroy the baal-worshippers , but his intent was to advance himself into the throne . bad aims fly-blow good actions . 2. a man may have good thoughts but they are forced , — virtus nolentium nulla est — when one bleeds under gods afflicting hand , he may think of god , yet have no love to him , psalm 78.34 . when he slew them , then they remembred that god was their rock , and the high god their redeemer : nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth . these were good thoughts , but it was to complement with god , and to get rid of the affliction . 3. a man may have thoughts of god out of design to stop the mouth of conscience . conscience doth lash the profane sinner ; what art thou so wicked as never to think of god , who indulgeth thee with so many favours ? hereupon he may have a few good thoughts ; but they are irksome to him : this is not from a principle of conscience , but to quiet conscience . 4. a man may think of god with horrour : he thinks of gods soveraignty , and dreads the thoughts of god. you see one may think of god , yet these thoughts may become sinful . 2. i shall shew you the right manner of thinking upon god : 1. our thoughts of god must be serious . feathers swim on the top , but gold sinks into the water : feathery spirits have some floting thoughts ; but good hearts sink deep in the thoughts of a deity . 2. our thoughts of god must be spiritual . take heed of framing any gross conceits of god in our minds , representing him by the similitude of the creature , deut. 4.15 . ye ▪ saw no similitude . conceive of god in christ : we cannot see him any other way , as we cannot see the sun in the circle but in the beams , the god-head dwells in christs humane nature , col. 2.9 . think of god as a spirit full of immense glory , propitious to us through a mediatour . 3. our thoughts of god must be delightful . with what delight doth a child think of his father ! a gracious soul counts them the sweetest hours which are spent with god. 4. our thoughts of god must be vertual and efficacious , leaving our hearts in a a better tune : the thoughts of gods faithfulness must make us confide in him , the thoughts of gods holiness must make us conform to him . this is the right thinking on god when it is influential , it leaves us in a more heavenly frame . chap. xi . helps to holy thoughts . it shews us how to have our thoughts frequently fixed upon god. 1. begin the day with holy thoughts * , psalm 139.17 . when i awake i am still with thee . god should have the first buddings of our thoughts . in the law , the lord would have the first fruits offered him : give god your virgin-thoughts in the morning — quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem testa diù — what the vessel is first seasoned with , it keeps the rellish a long time after . the mind being seasoned with good thoughts in the morning , will keep the heart in a better decorum all the day afrer . 2. if you would think of god take heed of hindrances . 1. turn away your eyes from beholding vanity , psal. 119.37 . vain objects poyson the imagination , lascivious pictures , and wanton talk leave bad impressions upon the fancy . 2. call off your thoughts what you can from the world . if worldly thoughts come crowding into our mind , good thoughts will be lost in the crowd . 3. get a love to god and his wayes . one cannot but think of that which he loves , ier. 2.32 . can a maid forget her ornaments ? when she hath not her jewel on her ear , she will have it in her thoughts . a person deeply in love cannot keep his thoughts off from the object he loves . the reason we think on god no more , is , because we love him no more . let there be but one spark of love to god , it will fly upward in heavenly ejaculations . by nature we have quick-silver hearts which cannot be made to fix on god , but by love . 4. if you would think often on god , get an interest in him , psalm 48.14 . this god is our god. we think most upon that which is our own . if a man ride by brave houses and gardens , he casts his eye slightly upon them , and doth not much mind them ; but let him have an house of his own , and his thoughts dwell in it . why do men think no more of god , but because god and they are strangers . let a mans interest in god be cleared , and he will not be able to keep his thoughts off from god. chap. xii . shewing the first good effect of the saints piety . 2. the good effects of the saints piety . 1. god regarded it . the lord hearkened and heard . these blessed ones in the text were speaking and thinking of god , and he did not turn away his ear from them , as if he had not minded them ; but he hearkened and heard ; which expression denotes . 1. diligence . 2. delight . 1. it notes the diligent heed god gave to these saints , he hearkened . here was attention of ear , and intensness of mind . hearkening is the gesture of one that listens to what another saith . 2. gods hearkening shews the delight he took in the holy dialogues of these saints : he was pleased with them , they were to him as sweet melody . that god takes special notice of of the good which he sees in his people . the children of god may perhaps think that god doth not regard them , iob 30.20 . i cry unto thee , and thou dost not hear me . the church complains , god did shut out her prayer , lam. 3.8 . but though god be sometimes silent , he is not deaf : he takes notice of all the good services of his people , the lord hearkened and heard . whence is it god takes such notice of his peoples services ? 1. not from any merit in them , but the impulsive cause is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or free-grace . the best duties of the righteous could not endure gods ballance * , but god will display the trophies of his mercy . free-grace accepts what justice might condemn . 2. gods taking notice of the good in his people , is through christ , eph. 1.6 . he hath made us accepted * in the beloved . or as chrysostom renders it , he hath made us favourites . through the red glass every thing appears of a red colour : through christs blood , both our persons and dutyes appear ruddy and beautiful in gods eyes . 3. god takes notice of the services of his people , because they flow from a principle of grace . god regards the voice of faith , cant. 2.14 . o my dove , let me hear thy voice , for sweet is thy voice . the services of the wicked are harsh and sowre , but the godly give god the first ripe cluster * which grows from the sweet and pleasant root of grace . chap. xiii . inferences drawn from the proposition . if god hearkens and hears , hence i infer gods omnisciency . how could , he being in heaven , hear what the saints speak and think , were he not omniscient ? through the bright mirror of his own essence he hath a ful idea of all things . he knows the intrigues of states , the stratagems of his enemies , exod. 14.24 . future contingencies fall within his cognizance * . gods knowledge is primary : he is the original , pattern , and prototype of all knowledge . gods knowledge is instantaneous . he knows all at once : our knowledge is successive , we know one thing after another , and argue from the effect to the cause ; but all things are in gods view uno intuitu , in one intire prospect . gods knowledge is infallible and not subject to mistake . such is the infinity of his knowledge , that the apostle cries out in admiration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , o the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of god! rom. 11.33 . the world is to god as a bee-hive of glass , where you see the working of the bees , and the framing of their combs . all things are unvailed to the eye of jehovah . see gods goodness who often passeth by the failings of his people * , and takes notice of the good in them , he hearkened and heard . 1 pet. 3.6 . sarah obeyed abraham , calling him lord. the holy ghost passeth by her unbelief and laughing at the promise , and took notice of her reverence to her husband , she called him lord. jam. 5.11 . ye have heard of the patience of iob. we have heard of his impatience , cursing his birth-day : but the lord doth not upbraid him with that , but observes the good that was in him ; ye have heard of the patience of job . the painter who drew alexanders picture , drew him with his finger upon his scar ; so god puts a finger of mercy upon the scars of his children . he sees their faith , and winks at their failing . see gods different carriage towards the godly and the wicked : if the godly think of his name , he hearkens and hears ; but if the wicked meddle with religious duties , he turns away his ear , gen. 4.5 . to cain and his offering god had no respect . suppose a man had a sweet breath , yet if he had the plague , no body would come near him : so , though a sinner may give god many a sweet elegant expression in prayer , yet having the plague of the heart , god will not receive any offering from him . if god shut mens prayers out of heaven , it is a sad prognostick that he will shut their persons out of heaven . see the priviledge of the godly : they have gods ear , the lord hearkened and heard , psalm 34.15 . his ears are open to their cry : it would be counted a great happiness to have the kings ear ; but what is it to have gods ear ! the lord hearkened and heard . believers have the spirit of god breathing in them , and god cannot but hear the voice of his own spirit . see what an encouragement here is to be conversant in the duties of gods worship : he takes notice of the services of his people ; he hearkens to them as to sweet musick . who would not come with their humble addresses to god , when he is so pleased with them ? prov. 15.8 . but my deserts are nothing ? god bestows not his favours according to our desert , but according to his promise . but i have prayed a long time and have no answer . god may hear prayer when he doth not answer . he may lend us his ear , when he doth not shew us his face . the text saith , the lord hearkened and heard . 't is not said he gave an answer , but he hearkened . it becomes suitors to wait . faith stays upon god , patience stayes for god , psal. 123.2 . as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters , so our eyes wait upon the lord our god , untill he have mercy upon us . see the difference between god and men : god takes notice of the good in his people ; the wicked pass by the good in the godly , and take notice only of their failings . if they can spy any indecency or blemish in them , they upbraid them with it ; like those children , 2 king 2.23 . who reproached elisha for his baldness , but took no notice of the prophets miracles . erasmus speaks of one , who observed all the lame verses in homer , but passed over the good . from this , the lord hearkened and heard , behold the folly of idolaters : they worship a god who can neither hearken nor hear . the cretians pictured iupiter without ears . idol-gods have ears , but hear not , psalm 115.16 . a life-less god is good enough for a life-less worship . let the people of god stand and wonder . 1. at gods condescension , that he who is so high in the praises and acclamations of the angels , should stoop so low , as to listen to the lispings of his children . the lord hearkened and heard : alas , god hath no need of our services ; he is infinitely blessed in reflecting upon the splendour of his own infinite being : we cannot adde the least cubit to his essential glory , iob 35.7 . if thou be righteous what givest thou to him ? or what receiveth he at thy hands ? yet such is his sweet condescention , that he doth as it were stoop below himself , and take notice of his peoples poor oblations . 2. wonder at gods love , that he should regard those services of his people , which are so mixed with corruption , isa. 64.6 . our righteousnesses are as filthy rags * . the eucharistical sacrifice , which was the highest , had some leaven joined with it , levit. 7.13 . our best duties have some leaven of imperfection in them ; yet such is gods love , that he hath a liking to them , and accepts them , cant. 5.1 . i have eaten my hony-comb with my hony. hony is sweet , but the hony-comb is viscous and bitter , and can hardly be eaten ; yet such was christs love to his spouse , that he eat of her hony-comb , her services mixed with imperfection , and was pleased to take delight in them . oh the love of god! that he should have respect to our offerings that are interlarded with sin . our best duties are as sweet wine coming out of a sowre cask . if god hearkens to us when we speak , let us hearken to him when he speaks . in the word preached god speaks to us . he is said now to speak to us from heaven , heb. 12.25 . that is , by the preaching of the word , as a king speaks by his ambassadour . doth god hearken to us , and shall not we hearken to him ? be not like the deaf-adder which stoppeth her ear. this the lord complains of , iob 33.14 . god speaketh once , yea twice ; yet man regardeth it not . if gods word doth not prevail with us , our prayers will not prevail with him . chap. xiv . shewing the second good effect of the saints piety , 2. the second good effect of the saints piety , was , god recorded it . a book of remembrance was written before him : the word in the original for book of remembrance * signifies a book of memorials or monuments . the words immediately foregoing recite gods hearkening and hearing ; but lest any should say , though god doth at the present hear the holy speeches and thoughts of his children , yet may they not in time slip out of his mind ? therefore these words are added , a book of remembrance was written before him . the lord did not only hear the good speeches of the saints , but recorded them , and wrote them down ; a book of remembrance was written . this is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men . not that god hath any book of records by him , he needs not write down any thing for the help of his memory , he is not subject to oblivion . things done a thousand years ago are as fresh to him , as if they were done but yesterday , psalm . 90.4 . a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past . this book of remembrance therefore , is a borrowed speech , taken from kings , who have their chronicles wherein they note memorable things * . king ahasuerus had his book of records , wherein were written the worthy deeds of mordecai , esther 6.1 , 2. so god bears in mind all the good speeches and pious actions of his children . gods curious and critical observation is a book of records , where nothing can be lost or torn out . god doth eternally remember all the good designs , and pious endeavours of his people , heb. 6.10 . god is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love , which you have shewed towards his name . eight things god writes down in his book of remembrance . 1. the lord writes down the names of his saints , philip. 4.3 . whose names are in the book of life . this book hath no errata's , rev. 3.5 . 2. the lord writes down the good speeches of his people . when christians speak together of the mysteries of heaven ( which is like musick in consort ) god is much taken with it : when their tongues are going , gods pen is going in heaven . they that fear'd the lord spake often one to another , and a book of remembrance was written . 3. the lord writes down the tears of his people . tears drop down to the earth , but they reach heaven * : god hath his bottle and his book , psalm 56.8 . put thou my tears into thy bottle , are they not in thy book ? tears drop from the saints , as water from the roses : they are fragrant to god , and he puts them in his bottle . and besides this , he hath his book of remembrance , where he sets them down ; are they not in thy book ? especially god writes down such tears as are shed for the sins of the times , ezek. 9.2 . one was clothed with linnen ; with a writers inkhorn by his side : this was to write down the tears of the mourners , and to set a mark upon the foreheads of them that sighed for the abominations done in the midst of the city , ver . 4. 4. god writes down the thoughts of his people . we can write down mens words , but we cannot write down their thoughts . it would pose the angels to write mens thoughts : but be assured , never an holy cogitation comes into our mind , but god writes it down . so in the text , a book of remembrance was written for them that thought upon his name . two things are silent , yet have a voice , tears * , and thoughts † . 5. god writes down the desires of his people , psalm . 38 9. all my desire is before thee : that is , it is set down in thy book . desire is the spiritual appetite , or the souls anhelation and breathing after god , psalm 84.2 . in this life we do rather desire god than enjoy him . can we say we take our souls è corporis pharetra out of the quiver of our bodies , and shoot them into heaven ? do our affections sally forth towards christ ? do we desire him superlatively and uncessantly ? every such desire is put down in gods register book : all my desire is before thee . 6. the lord writes down the prayers of his people , ionah 2.7 . prayer , though it be not vocal , only mental , is recorded , 1 sam. 1.13 . hannah spake in her heart . that prayer god did write down and answer ; god was better to her than her prayer ; she prayed for a son , and god gave her a prophet . when the heart is so full of grief , that it can only groan in prayer ; yet a groan is sometimes the best part of a prayer , and god writes it down , psalm 38.9 . lord , my groaning is not hid from thee . if we cannot speak with elegancy in prayer , if it be only lisping and chattering , god puts it in his book of remembrance , isa. 38.14 . like a crane , so did i chatter : yet that prayer was heard and registred , ver. 5. i have heard thy prayer , i have seen thy tears . 7. god writes down the alms of his people . works of mercy must be done out of love to god : as mary out of love brought her ointments and sweet spices and anointed christs dead body : so out of pure love we must bring our ointments of charity to anoint the saints , which are christs living body , such alms are not lost * . heb. 13.16 . with such sacrifices god is well pleased . and that we may see how well the lord is pleased with them , he hath a book of remembrance for them , he writes them down . item , so much lent to the lord , acts 10.4 . cornelius , thine alms are come up for a memorial before god. 8. god hath a book of remembrance for the sufferings of his people . the saints purgatory is in this life . but there are two things may bear up their spirits . 1. every groan of theirs goes to gods heart , exod. 6.7 . i have heard the groanings of the children of israel . in musick when one string is touch'd , all the rest sound : when the saints are stricken gods bowels sound . 2. god hath a book of records to write down his peoples injuries . the wicked make wounds in the backs of the righteous , and then pour in vinegar : god writes down their cruelty . 1 sam. 15.2 . i remember what amalek did to israel . amalek was esaus grandchild . a bitter enemy of israel . the amalekites shewed their spight to israel two wayes . 1. they did lye in ambush ; and as israel passed by , fell upon their rear , and cut off the feeble in their army , 1 sam. 15.2 . 2. they did openly give battel to them , and would have hindred them from going into canaan , exod. 17.8 . now god took notice of israels sufferings by amalek . i remember ●hat amalek did to israel , i have my book of remembrance , i write it down , ver. 3. go and smite amalek . chap. xv. several corollaries flowing from the proposition . it shews us that it is not in vain to serve god. the wicked who know not god , think him an hard-master , and say as they , iob 21.15 . what profit should we have if we pray to him ? but the text shews us that god records all the services of his people , a book of remembrance was written before him . gods writing in a book is , 1. an honour to the saints the romans wrote the names of their senators in a book , and in token of honour they were called patres conscripti : so gods book of remembrance shews his high esteem of his people and their services , he writes them down . 2. gods writing in a book denotes the special favour god bears to his people ; he registers them and their services with an intent to crown them . tamerlain wrote down all the memorable deeds of his soldiers , whom he afterwards preferred to places of dignity . gods service is most eligible ; let us make ioshua's choice , josh. 24.15 . as for me and my house , we will serve the lord. if we should desert gods service , whither shall we go ? when christ asked his disciples will ye also go away ? saith peter , lord to whom shall we go ? john 6.68 . as if he had said , if we leave thee , we do not know where to mend our selves . let us adhere to god , he hath his book of memorials to record our allegiance . we may be losers for him , we shall not be losers by him . see from hence that as god doth register the good works of his people , so he hath a book of remembrance to write down the sins of the wicked , isa. 30.8 . go , write it before them in a table , and note it in a book , that it may be for the time to come , for ever , that this is a rebellious people , that will not hear the law of the lord. mens sins are written in the book of conscience , and the book of gods omnisciency . they think because god doth not speak to them by his loud judgements , therefore god doth not know their sins ; but though god doth not speak , he writes , jer. 17.1 . the sin of iudah is written with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond . god scores down every act of oppression , bribery , uncleanness , hos. 7.2 . they consider not in their heart , that i remember all their wickedness . king belshazzer was carousing and drinking wine in bowls , and praising his gods of gold and silver ; but while he was sinning , god was writing , dan. 5.6 . in the same hour came forth fingers of a mans hand , and wrote upon the plaister of the wall of the kings palace , and the king saw part of the hand that wrote : then the kings countenance was changed . we read of gods book , rev. 20.12 . the books were opened : and his bag , job 14.17 . my transgression is sealed up in a bag . it seems to allude to law-courts where there are indictments against such malefactours sealed up in a bag , and are produced at the assizes . when god shall open his black book wherein mens names are written , and his bag wherein their sins are written : then their hearts will tremble , and their knees smite one against another . every lye a sinner tells , every oath he swears , every drunken bout , god writes it down in his book of remembrance ; and woe to him if the book be not crossed with the blood of christ. 3. see the mercifulness of god to his children , who blots their sins out of his book of remembrance , and writes their good deeds in his book of remembrance , isa. 43.25 . i , even i am he that blotteth out thy transgressions : 't is a metaphor borrow'd from a creditor , who takes his pen and blots out the debt owing him ; so saith god , i will blot out thy transgressions . or as the hebrew carries it , i am blotting them out * . god in forgiving sin passeth an act of oblivion , jer. 31.34 . i will remember your sins no more . god will not upbraid his people with their former offences . we never read after peter repented , that christ upbraided him with his denial of him . o the heavenly indulgence and kindness of god to his people ! he remembers every thing but their sins . he writes down their good thoughts and speeches in a merciful book of remembrance ; but their sins are as if they had never been , they are carried into the land of oblivion . if god records our services , then let us record his mercies , let us have our book of remembrance . a christian should keep two books alwayes by him ; one to write his sins in , that he may be humble ; the other to write his mercies in , that he may be thankful . david had his book of remembrance , 1 chron. 16.4 . he appointed certain of the levites to record , and thank , and praise the lord god of israel . we should keep a register-book of gods mercies , though i think it is hard to get a book big enough to hold them . at such a time we were in straits , and god supplied us ; at such a time under sadness of spirit , and god dropped in the oyl of gladness , at such a time near death , and god miraculously restored us . if god be mindful of what we do for him , shall not we be mindful of what he doth for us ? gods mercies , like jewels , are too good to be lost : get a book of remembrance . it is comfort to the godly . 1. in case of friends forgetting them . ioseph did pharaoh's butler a kindness , yet did not the chief butler remember ioseph ; but forgat him . gen. 40.23 . 't is too usual to remember injuries , and forget friends ; but god hath a book of remembrance , where he writes down all his old friends . near relations may sometimes be forgetful : the tender mother may forget her infant , isa. 49.15 . can a woman forget her sucking child ? yea she may , but i will not forget thee : a mother may sooner be unnatural than god forgetful . christ our high-priest hath the names of the saints written upon his breast-plate , and all their good deeds written in his book of memorials . let this be as bezar stone to revive the hearts of gods people ; though friends may blot you out of their mind , yet god will not blot you out of his book . 2. this is a consolation to the godly , the lord keeps a book of remembrance for this end , that he may at the last day make a publick and solemn mention of all the good which his saints have done . god will open his book of records , and say as , mat. 25.35 . i was an hundred , and ye gave me meat ; thirsty , and ye gave me drink , &c. god will make known all the memorable and pious actions of his people before men and angels : he will say , here are they who have prayed , and wept for sin ; here are they who have been advocates for my truth ; here are they who have laid to heart my dishonours , and have mourned for what they could not reform . these are my renowned ones , my hephzibahs in whom my soul delights . what a glorious thing will this be , to have god divulge the encomium of his saints ! when alexander saw the sepulcher of achilles , he cryed out o happy achilles who hadst homer to set forth thy praise ! what an honour will it be to have the names and worthy deeds of the saints mentioned , and god himself to be the herauld to proclaim their praises ! * chap. xvi . shewing the third good effect of the saints piety . 3. the third good effect of the saints piety , was , god rewarded it , vers . 17. and they shall be mine , saith the lord of hosts , in that day when i make up my iewels . the reward is threefold . 1. gods owning them ; they shall be mine , saith the lord of hosts : where observe . 1. the person speaking , the lord of hosts . 2. the reward it self , they shall be mine . 1. the person speaking , the lord of hosts . this is too great a word to be passed by in silence . god is often in scripture stiled , dominus exercituum , the lord of hosts , psalm 46.11 . isa. 1.24 . that is , he is the supream general , and commander of all armies and forces , and gives victory to whom he will. why is this name , the lord of hosts given to god ? not that god needs any hosts to protect himself , or suppress his enemies . earthly princes have armies to defend their persons from danger , but god needs none to help him : he can fight without an army . god puts strength into all armies ; other captains may give their soldiers armour , but they cannot give them strength : but god doth , psalm 18.39 . thou hast girded me with strength unto battel . why then is god said to have hosts and armies if he needs them not . 1. it is to set forth his soveraign power , and grandure : all armies and regiments are under his command . 2. it is to shew us that though god can effect all things by himself ; yet in his wisdom he oft useth the agency of the creature to bring to pass his will and purpose . what are these hosts or armies of which god is the soveraign lord ? 1. god hath an army in heaven , angels and arch-angels , 1 king 22.19 . i saw the lord sitting on his throne , and all the host of heaven standing by him . by the host of heaven is meant the angels ; they being spirits are a puissant army , psalm 103.20 . ye angels which excell in strength . we read of one angel who destroy'd in one night an hundred fourscore and five thousand , 2 king 19.35 . if one angel destroy'd such a vast army , what can a legion of angels do ? a legion consisted of six thousand six hundred sixty six , saith hesychius : how many of these legions go to make up the heavenly host ! * 2 : the stars are gods army , deut. 4.19 . these were set in battalia and fought against gods enemies , iudg. 5.20 . the stars in their courses fought against sisera . that is , the stars did charge like an army , raising storms and tempests by their influences , and so destroying the whole army of sisera . 2. god hath armies upon earth . 1. rational . 2. irrational . 1. rational , hosts of men : these are under gods command and conduct , they stir not without his warrant : the lord hath the managing of all martial affairs : not a stroke is struck , but god orders it : not a bullet flies but god directs it . 2. irrational , god can raise an army of flies , as he did against king pharaoh , exod. 8.24 . an army of worms , as he did against king herod , acts 12.23 . o what a lord is here who hath so many hosts under his pay and conduct ! let us dread this lord of hosts : we fear men who are in power , and is not that god to be adored and feared who acts pro arbitrio . he doth what he pleaseth in the armies of heaven and earth , dan. 9.35 . his power is as large as his will , iob 23 13. what his soul desireth , even that he doth . the ephori had power over the king of sparta ; the tribunes over the roman consuls ; much more hath god a soveraign power over all . he poureth contempt upon princes , job 12.21 . he threw the proud angels to hell. god can with a word unpin the wheeles and break the axle tree of the creation . gods power is a glorious power , col. 1.11 . and herein it appears glorious , it i● never spent or wasted . men while they exercise their strength , weaken it . but , the lord , the creator of the ends of the earth , fainteth not , neither is weary , isa. 40.28 . though god spends his arrows upon his enemies , deut. 32.23 . yet not his strength . o then tremble before this lord of hosts , remember ( o hard-hearted sinner ! ) how many wayes god can be revenged on thee . he can raise an army of diseases against thee in thy body : he can set the humours of the body one against another , he can make the heat dry up the moisture , or the moisture drown the heat ; he can arm every creature against thee , the dog , the boar , the elephant . he can arm conscience against thee , as he did against spira making him a terrour to himself : o dread this lord of hosts . if god be the lord of hosts , let us take heed of hardning our hearts against god. it was the saying of pompey that with one stamp of his foot he could raise all italy up in arms * . god can with a word raise all the militia of heaven and earth against us : and shall we dare affront him ? iob 9.4 . who hath hardened himself against him , and prospered ? such as live in the open breach of gods commandments harden their hearts against god ; they raise a war against heaven , iob 15.25 . he strengtheneth himself against the almighty † . like warriors , who muster up all the forces they can , to fight with their antagonists : so the sinner harnesseth , and strengthens himself against iehovah , ver. 26. he runneth upon him , even on his neck , upon the thick bosses of his bucklers . bucklers anciently had one great boss in the middle with a sharp pike in it to wound the adversary . the flagitious sinner encounters the god of heaven , and runs upon the thick bosses of his fury , which will wound mortally . the wicked do as caligula , who challenged iupiter to a duel : but who ever hardened himself against god and prospered ? will men go to measure arms with god ? iob 40.9 . hast thou an arm like god ? god is almighty , therefore can hurt his enemies ; and he is invisible , therefore they cannot hurt him . who can fight with a spirit ? god will be too hard for his enemies at the long run * , psalm 68.21 . god shall wound the head of his enemies , and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses . iulian hardened his heart against god , but what got he at last ? did he prosper ? being wounded in battle he threw up his blood into the air , and said to christ , vicisti galilaee : o galilean thou hast overcome , i acknowledge thy power whose name and truth i have opposed . how easily can god chastise rebels ? exod. 14.24 . in the morning-watch god looked to the host of the egyptians through the pillar of fire , and troubled their host . it needs cost god no more to destroy his proudest adversaries , than a look , a cast of the eye . 't is better to lye prostrate at gods feet , and meet him with tears in our eyes , than weapons in our hands : we overcome god , not by resistance , but by repentance . if god be the lord of hosts , let us be so wise as to engage him on our side , psalm 46 11. the lord of hosts is with us . great is the priviledge to have the lord of hosts for us . 1. if the lord of hosts be on our side , he can discover the subtil plots of enemies . thus he detected the counsel of achitophel , 2 sam. 17.16 . and did not the lord discover the popish conspirators both in the powder-treason ( that catholick villany ) and of late , when they would have subverted religion and laws , and like italian butchers have turned england into an akeldama or field of blood ? if it had not been the lord who was on our side , now may england say , when men rose up against us , they had swallowed us up quick . 2. if the lord of hosts be on our side , he can bridle his enemies , and lay such a restraint upon their spirits , that they shall not do the mischief they intend , gen. 31.39 . it is in the power of my hand to do you hurt ( said laban to iacob ) but the god of your fathers spake unto me saying , take heed thou speak not to iacob either good or bad . laban had power to do hurt , but no heart . when balak called upon balaam to curse israel , god so dispirited balaam that he could not discharge his thunderbolt , num. 23.8 . how shall i curse whom god hath not cursed ? he had a good mind to curse , but god held him back . 3. if the lord of hosts be for us , he can help us , though means fail , and things seem to be given for lost . when gideons army was small , and rendred despicable , then god crowned them with victory , iudg. 7.2 , 22. when the arm of flesh shrinks , now is a time for the arm of omnipotency to be put forth , deut. 32.36 . the lord shall repent himself for his servants when he sees their power is gone , and there is none shut up or left . the less of man is seen , the more of god. 4. if the lord be on our side he can save us in that very way in which we think he will destroy us . would not any have thought the whales belly should have been jonahs grave ? but god made the fish a ship , in which he sailed safe to shore . paul got to land by the breaking of the ship , acts , 28.44 . god can make the adverse party do his work ; he can cause divisions among the enemies , and turn their own weapons against themselves * , isa. 19.2 . i will set the egyptians against the egyptians . 5. if the lord of hosts be on our side , he can make the churches affliction a means of her augmentation , exod. 1.12 . the more they afflicted them , the more they multiplied . the church of god is like that plant gregory nazianzen speaks of , which lives by dying , and grows by cutting † . persecution propagates the church : the scattering of the apostles up and down , was like scattering of seed , it did tend much to the spreading of the gospel , acts 8.1.4 . 6. if the lord of hosts be on our side , he can alter the scene and turn the ballance of affairs when he pleaseth , dan. 1.21 . he changeth times and seasons . god can remove mountains which lye in the way , or leap over them . his power is uncontrollable : he can bring harmony out of discord . he who brought isaac out of a dead womb , and the messiah out of a virgins womb , what cannot he do ? the lord of hosts can in an instant alter the face of things . there are no impossibles with god : if means fail he can create . 't is therefore high prudence to get this lord of hosts on our side . rom. 8.31 . if god be for us , who can be against us ? and if we would engage god to be on our side , 1. let us be earnest suitors to him , exercise eyes of faith , and knees of prayer . jer. 14.9 . and in prayer let us use joshua's argument , josh. 7.9 . what wilt thou do unto thy great name ? lord , if the cause of religion lose ground , how will thy name suffer ! popish enemies never prevail , but they blaspheme . 2. let us put away iniquity out of our tabernacles , iob 11.14 . sin is not worth keeping : who would keep a plague-sore ? let us discard and abjure our sins * ; and then the lord of hosts will be on our side , and as a pledge of his favourable presence , he will entail the gospel , that crowning blessing , upon us and our posterity . so much for the person speaking ; the lord of hosts . chap. xvii . the first part of the saints reward , gods owning them . 2. i come now to the reward it self , the first part whereof is gods owning them , they shall be mine . expositors here vary : i take the sence of it to be , they shall be mine in covenant , ezek. 16.8 . i entred into covenant with thee , and thou becamest mine * . this is no small favour to be in covenant with god : therefore when god told abraham that he would enter into covenant with him , abraham fell on his face ; gen. 17.2 . as being amazed that the great god should bestow such a signal favour upon him . god never entred into covenant with the angels when they fell , but he proclaims himself god in covenant with believers , they shall be mine . this covenant enriched with free-grace , is a better covenant than that which was made with adam in innocency . for 1. the least failing would have made the first covenant null and void : but many failings do not invalidate the covenant of grace . i grant the least sin makes a trespass upon the covenant ; but doth not rescind it . every failing in the conjugal relation breaks not the marriage bond . 2. the first covenant being violated , allowed the sinner no remedy ; all doors of hope were shut : but the new covenant allows of a remedy : it provides a surety , heb. 12.24 . jesus the mediator of the new covenant . see the amazing goodness of god to his people , to enter into covenant with them , and say , ye are mine , 2 sam. 23.5 . he hath made with me an everlasting covenant , ordered in all things and sure . the first covenant stood upon the ticklish foundation of works . adam had no sooner a stock of original righteousness to trade with , but he broke : but this covenant of grace is confirmed with gods decree , and rests upon two mighty pillars , the oath of god , and the blood of god. that ye may see how great a priviledge this is to be owned by the lord federally , that he should be our god , and we his people , consider , 1. if we are in covenant with god and he saith to us ye are mine , then all that is in god is ours . a person falling to decay marrying to a king , hath an interest in all the crown-revenues : god having entred into a near relation with us , and saying ye are mine , we have a share in his rich revenues . the lord saith to every believer as the king of israel said to the king of syria , 1 kin. 20.4 . i am thine and all that i have : my wisdom shall be thine to teach thee , my holiness shall be thine to sanctifie thee , my mercy shall be thine to save thee . what richer dowry than deity ? god is a whole ocean of blessedness . if there is enough in him to fill the angels , then sure he hath enough to fill us . 2. if god saith to us ye are mine , then he will have a tender care of us . 1 pet. 5.7 . he careth for you * . god to shew his tender anxiousness towards israel , bare them as upon eagles wings , exod. 19.4 . the eagle carries her young ones upon her wing to defend them ; the arrow must first shoot through the old eagle , before it can touch her young ones . a mothers care is seen in leading the child that it may not fall : such is gods care . hos. 11.3 . i taught ephraim to go , leading them by their arms. we may argue a minori ad majus , if god take care of the meanest infects and animals that creep upon the earth , much more will he take care of his covenant-saints . he is still consulting and projecting for their good ; if they wander out of the way , he guides them ; if they stumble , he holds them by the hand ; if they fall , he raiseth them ; if they be dull , he quickens them by his spirit ; if they be froward , he draws them with cords of love ; if they be sad , he comforts them with his promises . 3. if god saith to us , ye are mine , then he will intirely love us , jer. 31.3 . i have loved thee with an everlasting love . the lord may give a man riches and not love him : his prosperity may be as israels quails sawced with gods wrath . num. 11.32 , 33. but when god saith , ye are mine , he cannot but love ; every one loves his own . if god hath any love better than other , his covenant-people shall have it ; he will distil the spirits of his love for them , he loves them as he loves christ , john 17.24 . 4. if god saith to us ye are mine , then he will not suffer us to want . believers are not only of gods family , but of christs body ; and will the head let the body starve ? psalm 37.3 . verily thou shalt be fed . god hath not promised dainties ; he will not satisfie his peoples lusts , but he will supply their wants ; if the bill of fare grows low , what they lack in chear , they shall have in blessing , exod. 23.25 . he will bless thy bread and thy water . god will rather work a miracle , than any of his children shall famish . the raven that is so unnatural she will hardly feed her young , yet did turn caterer and brought food to the prophet elijah . 5. if god saith to us , ye are mine , then we have great immunites : 1. we are freed from the revenging wrath of god. we are not free from gods anger as a father , but as a iudge . god will not pour his vindictive justice upon us . christ hath drunk the red wine of gods wrath upon the cross , that believers may not tast a drop of it . 2. we are freed from the predominancy of sin , rom. 6.14 . sin shall not have dominion , or as the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it shall not lord it over you . though believers are not freed from the in-being of sin , nor from the combate with it , yet they are freed from its imperious command . as it is said of those beasts in daniel , they had their dominion taken away , yet their lives were prolonged for a season , dan. 7.12 . so sin lives in the regenerate , but its dominion is taken away . and to be thus freed from the jurisdictive power and tyranny of sin is no small blessing . a wicked man is at the command of sin , as the asse is at the command of the driver : the curse of cham is upon him , gen. 9.25 . a servant of servants shall he be . he is a slave to his lusts , and a slave to satan . o what a priviledge is it to have ones neck out of the devils yoak ! 3. we are freed from the accusations of conscience . the worm of conscience is part of the torment of hell † . but god being our god we are freed from the clamors of this hellish fury : conscience sprinkled with christs blood speaks peace ; a good conscience like the bee gives hony ; it is like the golden pot which had manna in it , 2 cor. 1.12 . 6. if god saith to us ye are mine , we shall be his for ever , psalm 48.14 . this god is our god for ever and ever . you cannot say you have health and you shall have it for ever , you have a child and you shall have it for ever ; but if god be your god , you shall have him for ever . the covenant of grace is sacrum diploma , a royal charter , and this is the happiness of it , it is eternized † . the interest between god and his people shall never be broken off ; how false therefore is the opinion of falling from grace ! shall any that god makes his own by federal union , fall finally ? indeed if salvation hath no better pillar to rest upon than mans will ( as the arminians hold ) no wonder if there be falling away ▪ but a christians stability in grace , is built upon a surer basis , namely , gods inviolable covenant , isa. 55.3 . * once in christ and ever in christ. a star may sooner fall out of its orb than a true believer be pluck'd away from god † . 7. if god saith to us ye are mine , he will take us up to himself at death . death breaks the union between the body and the soul , but perfects the union between god and the soul. this is the emphasis of heavens glory , to be with god. what is the joy of the blessed , but to have a clear transparent sight of god , and to be in the sweet and soft embraces of his love for ever ? this hath made the saints desire death , as the bride the wedding day , phil. 1.23 . lead me , lord , to that glory ( said an holy man ) a glimpse whereof i have seen as in a glass darkly . let this be a consolatory to the saints ; there is a covenant-union between god and them , god is theirs and they are his , they shall be mine saith the lord. here is a standing cordial for the godly , god looks upon them as having a propriety in them , they shall be mine . this is comfort 1. in respect of satans accusations , he accuseth the saints first to god , then to themselves ; but if god saith ye are mine , this answers all satans bills of indictment . christ will shew the debt-book crossed in his blood . it was a saying of bucer , i am christs , and the devil hath nothing to do with me . 2. it is comfort in respect of poverty ? believers are match'd into the crown of heaven , and all that is in god is theirs . the philosopher comforted himself with this , that though he had no musick or vine-trees , yet he had the houshold gods with him * : so though we have not the vine or fig-tree , yet if god be ours and we are his , this creates joy in the most indigent condition . and that which may raise the comfort of the godly higher , and cause a jubilation of spirit is , that shortly god will own his people before all the world , and say , these are mine . at present the elect are not known , 1 iohn 3.2 . it doth not yet appear what we shall be . the saints are like kings in disguise ; but how will their hearts leap for joy , when god shall pronounce that word , these are mine ; these the lot of free-grace is fallen upon , these shall lye for ever in the bosom of my love . to all who are yet strangers to god : labour to get into covenant with him that he may say , ye are mine . why doth god woo and beseech you by his ambassadours , if he were not willing to be in covenant ? what shall a poor forlorn creature do , to get into covenant with god ? 1. if you would be in covenant with god , break off the covenant with sin , 1 sam. 7.3 . what king will be in league with him that holds correspondence with his enemy ? 2. labour for faith ; 1. faith in the mercy of god , jer. 3.12 . i am merciful , saith the lord , and will not keep anger for ever . as the sea covers great rocks as well as little sands ; so gods mercy covers great sins : manasseh a bloody sinner was held forth as a pattern of mercy . some of the jews who had an hand in crucifying of christ , yet their sins were forgiven . 2. faith in the merit of christ. christs blood is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : not only a sacrifice to appease god , but a propitiation to ingratiate us into gods favour , † and make him look upon us with a smiling aspect . chap. xviii . the second part of the saints reward , gods honouring them . 2. the second part of the saints reward is gods honouring them , in that day when i make up my iewels : here are three propositions ; 1. that god hath a great honour for his people . 2. that gods people are his jewels . 3. that there is a day when god will make up his jewels . 1 st . that god hath a great honour for his people . he speaks of them here with honour , in that day when i make up my jewels , isai. 43.4 . since thou wast precious in my sight , thou hast been honourable : honour attends holiness . that the lord doth highly honour the fearers of him , is evident by four demonstrations . 1. in that he prefers them before others . he chooseth them , and passeth by the rest , mal. 1.2 . was not jacob esaus brother ? ( saith the lord , ) yet i hated esau and loved jacob. 2. in that god gives them frequent visits . 't is counted an honour for a subject to have his prince visit him . 1 john 3.3 . our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or communion is with the father and his son jesus . the rabbins say , moses had an hundred and fifty conferences with god , and died with a kiss from gods mouth . what greater honour for a person , than to have god keep him company ? exod. 33.11 . 3. in that god makes them rich heirs ; rom. 8.17 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , joynt heirs with christ. for a man to adopt another and make him heir to his estate , is no small honour done to him . the youngest believer is an heir , yea , and an heir of the crown , 1 pet. 5.4 . this crown he hath in promisso , in the promise , rev. 2.10 . and in primitiis , in the first-fruits , rom. 8.23 . 4. in that god sends his angels to be their servitors . such as are gods servants have angels to be theirs : heb. 1.14 . are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? who would not be fearers of god ? this makes god have an honourable esteem of them ; all men ( saith chrysostome ) are ambitious of honour * : the true honour comes from god , john 5.44 . if god doth so honour his people , let them honour him ; mal. 1.6 . where is my honour ? let the saints be god-exalters , let them lift up his name in the world , and make his praise glorious , psalm 66.2 . but i only glance at this . 2 ly . that gods people are his jewels , in that day when i make up my iewels . jewels are precious things ; the hebrew word for jewels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a treasure . a treasure is made up of costly things : gold and pearl , and rubies : such a precious treasure are the saints to god. in what sence are the godly jewels ? 1. they are jewels for their sparkling quality † . their holiness shines and sparkles in gods eyes , cant. 4.9 . thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes , that is , one of thy graces . 2. the godly are jewels for their scarcity † . pearls are not common ; so the godly are scarce and rare : there are but few of these to be found : there are many false professors ( as there are bastard diamonds ) but few israelites indeed ; mat. 20.16 . few are chosen . among the millions in rome , there were but few senators : among the swarms of people in the world , but few believers . 3. the godly are jewels for their price * . queen cleopatra had two jewels that contained half the price of a kingdom . thus the saints are jewels for their value : god esteems them at an high rate , he parted with his best jewel for them ; christs precious blood was shed to ransom these jewels . 4. the saints are jewels , for their adorning quality † . jewels adorn them that wear them : the saints are jewels that adorn the world. their piety mixed with prudence honours the gospel . hypocrites eclipse religion and make it evilly spoken of : the saints as jewels render it illustrious by their sanctity . 1. see the worth of the godly , they are jewels ; they are a royal diadem in the hand of god , isa. 62.3 . that is , they are eminent above others , as a crown hung with jewels is an ensign of the highest state and honour . the saints are gods glory , isa. 46.13 . as if gods glory did lye in them . 2. see then that which may bring holiness into repute , and make us become proselytes to it . it casts a splendour upon us , and makes god number us among his jewels . some are loath to embrace godliness for fear it will be a stain to their reputation , and bring them out of favour with great men : you see how it doth raise a persons renown , it makes him precious in gods sight , he is a jewel . believers in regard of their mystical union with christ , have a preciousness above the angels : the angels are morning stars , job 38 , 7. believers are clothed with the sun of righteousness , rev. 12.1 . see the different opinion that god hath of the godly and the wicked : the one he esteems precious , the other vile , nahum 1.14 . i will make thy grave , for thou art vile : this is spoken of king senacherib : though he was by birth noble , yet he was by sin vile . the hebrew word for vile * , signifies , of base esteem . though the wicked are high in dignity and worldly grandure , yet god slights them . a dunghil may be higher than other ground , but it sends forth noisom vapours : psalm 14.3 . they are altogether become filthy . in the original it is , they are become stinking * . the wicked are compared to dogs and swine , 2 pet. 2.22 . to dross , ezek. 22.19 . dross is the filth of the mettal * . sinners are compar'd to chaff , psal. 1.4 . when a wicked man dies , there is only a little chaff blown away . a sinner is the most contemptible thing in nature ; there is no worth in him while he lives , and no loss of him when he dies . a sinner is worse than a toad or serpent ; a toad hath nothing but what god hath put into it , but a wicked man hath that which the devil hath put into him : act 5.3 . why hath satan filled thy heart to lye to the holy-ghost ? see what an high estimate we should set upon the godly , they are jewels , they are the glory of the creation : they are compared to stars for their beauty , rev. 1.20 . to spice trees for their perfume , cant. 4.14 . they are the chariots and horsmen of israel , they are the excellent of the earth , psalm 16.3 . the lord would soon break up house in the world , but that he hath some jewels in it . prize the saints though they are humbled with poverty : we esteem of a pearl though it lye in the dust : iohn baptist was girt with a leathern girdle ; yet he was a jewel , mat. 11.9 . he was the morning star , to usher in the sun of righteousness into the world. the saints are precious , for they are gods lesser heaven , isa. 57.15 . 3. see the saints safety : they are gods jewels , and he will have a care to preserve them ▪ a man is careful that he doth not lose his jewels . god often gives his people a temporal salvation : if a storm comes he knows how to hide his jewels . he hid an hundred prophets in a cave , 1 kin. 18.4 . the angel is commanded before he poured his vial of curses on the earth , to seal the saints of god on their fore-heads , rev. 7.3 . which was signum salutare a mark of safety : however god will look to the spiritual safety of his jewels , joh. 17.12 . not one of them is lost . if the saints are gods jewels , then how incensed and enraged will god be against those who shall abuse these jewels ? theodosius counted them traitors who abused his statue : what will become of them who persecute gods saints , and tread upon his jewels ? it goes near to god to see his jewels sprinkled with blood : what is done to them the lord takes it as done to him self , act. 9.4 . why persecutest thou me ? when the foot was trod on , the head cryed out . the saints are gods royal diadem * . will a king endure to have his robes spit upon , or his crown-royal thrown in the dust ? psalm 105.14 . he reproved kings for their sakes . what monuments of gods vengeance were nero , dioclesian , gardner , and the rest of that persecuting tribe ? luke 18.7 . shall not god avenge his own elect ? i tell you he will avenge them speedily . persecutors stand in the place where all gods arrows fly , psalm 7.13 . he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors . that is a killing scripture , zach. 13.12 . and this shall be the plague wherewith god will smite all the people , that have fought against jerusalem , their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet , and their eyes shall consume away in their holes , and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth . here is comfort to the people of god , in case of the worlds disesteem of them , yet god values them as jewels ; and his judgment is according to truth , rom. 2.2 . the wicked have low thoughts of the righteous , they beat down the price of these jewels what they can , they think them the refuse and scurse , they disdain them , load them with slanders and invectives : the prophet elijah was looked upon by king ahab as the troubler of israel , 1 kin. 18.17 . and luther was called a trumpet of rebellion ; st. paul was judged a pestilent fellow , acts 24.5 . the wicked think of all things in the world the saints may be best spared : 1 cor. 4.13 . we are made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the filth and off-scowring of all things : but this is vinum in pectore , a great consolation to believers , that as low esteem as the reprobate world hath of them , yet god hath high thoughts of them , he numbers them among his jewels * . they are compared for their preciousness to gold and silver , rev. 1.20 . they are the coyn and medals that bear gods own image . they are princes in all lands , psalm 45.16 . christ engraves their names on his breast , as the names of the twelve tribes were set with precious stones in gold upon aarons breast-plate . god will give whole kingdoms to ransome his jewells , isa. 43.3 . the wicked think the godly are not worthy to live in the world , acts 22. 21. and god thinks the world is not worthy of them , heb. 11.38 . hence it is god takes away his jewels so fast , and placeth them among the cherubims . to the people of god. are you gods jewels ? then i beseech you shine as jewels : walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accurately , and holily , phil. 2.15 . among whom ye shine as lights in the world. such as are gods jewels should let the world see they have worth in them . o christians , let your lives be an imitation of the life of christ. such a jewel was mr. bradford , martyr , so humble and innocent in his carriage , that at his death , many of the papists could not refrain from weeping . are you gods jewels ? do nothing that may eclipse or sully your lustre . when professors are proud , envious , censorious , when they break their promises , or cheat their creditors , these do not look like saints : what will others say ? these are the devils lumber , not gods iewels . o i beseech you who profess to be of an higher rank than others , honour that worthy name by which you are called ; shine as earthly angels , 1 pet. 2.9 . but ye are a royal priesthood , a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you . alexander would have the grecians known not only by their garments , but their vertues . gods people should be known by the sparkling of their graces : shall there be no difference in behaviour between the wicked and the godly ? between a clod of earth and a diamond ? let it appear that you are candidates for heaven : you who are gods people , the lord expects some singular thing from you , mat. 5.47 . he looks that you should bring more glory to him , and by your exemplary piety make proselytes to religion . it exhorts the godly to thankfulness . god hath taken you out of the rubbish of mankind , and made you jewels , psalm 113.7 . he raiseth up the poor out of the dust , that he may set him with princes : let me allude , god hath raised you out of the dust of a natural estate , and ennobled you , that he may set you with angels those princes above . o admire god , set the crown of your praises upon the head of free-grace . a gratulatory thankful frame of heart is pleasing to god : if repentance be the joy , praise is the musick of heaven . bless god who hath wrought such a change in you , and of lumps of earth and sin hath made you jewels . the third proposition is , that there is a time shortly coming when god will make up his jewels ; in that day when i make up my jewels : here are two questions . 1. what is meant by gods making up his jewels ? 2. what is that day when god will make up his jewels ? 1. what is meant by gods making up his jewels ? there is a difference between th●se two , gods making of jewels , and his making up of jewels . gods making of jewels , is , when he works grace , but what is gods making up of jewels ? gods making up his jewels implyes two things . 1. gods gathering his saints together . 2. gods perfecting his saints . 1. gods making up his jewels implies his gathering his saints together . the godly in this life are like scattered pearls , they lye distant one from another , and are dispersed into several regions : but there is a day coming , when god will gather all his saints together , as one puts all his pearls together on a string . there must be such an aggregation or gathering together gods scattered saints , 1. from the near relation they have to all the persons in the trinity : 1. to god the faterh ; he hath chosen these jewels and set them apart for himself , psalm 4.3 . and will he lose any of his elect ? 2. they are related to christ ; he hath bought these jewels with his blood , and will he lose his purchase ? 3. they are related to the holy ghost ; he hath sanctified them . when they were a lump of sin , he made them jewels ; and when he hath bestowed cost on them , will he lose his cost ? will he not string these pearls , and put them in his celestial cabinet ? 2. there must be a gathering together gods scattered saints , from the prayer of christ. it was christs prayer to his father , that he would make up his jewels ; that he would gather together his pearls , that they might be with him in heaven , iohn 17.24 . that they may be with me where i am . christ thinks long , till all the elect jewels lye together in his bosom . he thinks not himself compleat , till all his saints be with him . here is a soveraign comfort to the people of god in two cases . 1. in case of scattering . 2. in case of dividing . 1. in case of scattering . gods people are scattered up and down in the world : and , which is worst , these jewels lye among rubbish , they dwell among the wicked , psalm 120.5 . wo is me that i dwell in the tents of kedar . kedar was ishmaels son. woe is me ( saith david ) that i live with an ishmael-brood . the wicked are still molesting the righteous : gods jewels lye scattered among the unclean ; but here is the comfort , that shortly god will gather his people from among the wicked , he will make up his jewels , and all the pearls and precious stones shall be by themselves in bliss . 2. it is comfort in case of dividing . gods people here are divided ; their love is so little it may almost lye upon a knives point : they oft look strange one upon another : these divisions are unseemly , and are flaws in gods diamonds . discords among christians , brings a reproach upon religion , advanceth satans kingdom , hinders the growth of grace . divisions are fatal , and do presage gods judgments coming upon us . impius haec tam cult a novalia miles habebit barbarus , has segetes ? enquò discordiacives perduxit miseros . — but this is comfort , god will shortly make up his jewels : he will so gather his saints together , that he will unite them together , they shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , all of one heart , act 2.46 . what an happy time will it be when the saints shall be as so many pearls upon one string , and shall accord together in a blessed unity ! 2. gods making up his jewels implies his perfecting his saints . then a thing is said to be made up when it is perfected ; you make up a garment when you perfect it ; you make up a watch , when you put all the wheels and pins in perfect order : so gods making up his jewels signifies his perfecting them . the godly in this life are imperfect , they cast but a faint lustre of holiness , they receive but the first-fruits of the spirit , rom. 8.23 . that is , a small measure of grace : the first-fruits under the law were but an handful to the whole vintage . this may humble us to consider if we are jewels , yet imperfect : our knowledge is checker'd with ignorance , 1 cor. 13.5 . our love to god is feeble . behold here clouds in the diamond . this may take down our top-sail of pride , to consider how incompleat we are : but when god shall make up his jewels , and perfect his saints , it will be a glorious time , and this brings me to the second question . what is that day when god will make up his jewels ? 1. god makes up his jewels at the day of death , then he makes the saints graces perfect . 2. he makes up his jewels at the day of the resurrection , then he makes the saints bodyes perfect . 1. god makes up his jewels at the day of death , then he makes the saints graces perfect . hence it is the saints departed are called the spirits of just men made perfect , heb. 12.23 . sin doth mix and incorporate with a christian , he cannot write a copy of holiness without blotting . grace , though it doth abate , yet not abolish corruption : but at death god makes up his jewels ; he perfects the graces of his people . will not that be a blessed time , never to have a vain thought more ? never to be within the sight of a temptation or the fear of a relapse ? this me thinks may make death desirable to the godly ; then the lord will make up his jewels , he will compleat the graces of his children ; they shall be as holy as they desire to be , and as god would have them to be . how will gods diamonds sparkle when they shall be without flawes ? in that day of death when god makes up his jewels , the saints 1. light will be clear , 2. love will be perfect . 1. their light will be clear . they shall be so divinely irradiated , that they shall know the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the deep things of god. they shall in this sence be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the angels , mat. 22.30 . their intellectuals shall be raised higher , and made more capacious than in innocency . through the chrystal glass of christs humane nature the saints shall have glorious transparent sights of god : they shall know as they are known , 1 cor. 13.12 . a riddle too mysterious for us mortals , if not for angels to expound . 2. in that day the saints love will be perfect : love is the queen of the graces , it out-lives all the other graces . in this life our love to god is luke-warm , and sometimes frozen ; a believer weeps that he can love god no more : but at the day of death when god makes up his jewels , then the saints love shall be seraphical : the spark of love shall be blown up into into a pure flame : the saints shall love god secundum actum ( as the schoolmen speak ) as much as they are able : they shall love him superlatively , and indeficiently , they shall be made up of love . o blessed day of death ! when god shall make up his jewels , the saints graces shall shine forth in their meridian splendour . 2. god makes up his jewels at the day of the resurrection , then he makes the saints bodyes perfect : these like sparkling diamonds shall shine in glory . at the resurrection god is said to change the bodies of the saints , phil. 3.21 . how will he change them ? not that they shall be other bodies than they were before : the substance of their bodies shall not be changed , but the qualities : as wooll when it is died into a purple colour , is not altered in the substance , but quality , and is made more illustrious ; so god in making up his jewels will cause a greater resplendency in the saints bodies than before . when god makes up the jewels of the saints bodies at the resurrection , they shall be perfect four wayes . 1. in amability or sweetness of beauty . here the bodies of the righteous are oft deformed ; leah hath her blear eyes , and barzillai his lameness ; but at the resurrection the bodies of the saints shall be of unspotted fairness : and no wonder , for they shall be made like christs glorious body , phil. 3.21 . 2. when god at the resurrection makes up the jewels of the saints bodies , they shall have perfection of parts . their bodies in this world may be maimed and dismembred ; but in the day of the resurrection they shall have all the parts of their bodies restored , acts 3.21 . such as have lost an eye , shall have their eye again ; such as want a leg or an arm , shall have their arm again . 3. when god makes up the jewels of the saints bodies at the resurrection , they shall be velocious and quick in their motion . here the bodies of the saints move heavily : but then they shall be sprightly , and move swiftly from one place to another . here the body is a weight ; in heaven it shall be a wing . 4. when god makes up the jewels of the saints bodies , they shall be immortal : the body once glorified shall never be subject to death , 1 cor. 15.53 . this corruptible shall put on incorruption . heaven is an healthful climate , no passing-bell goes there : this mortal shall put on immortality . let us labour to be in the number of gods jewels , that when the lord shall make up his jewels , he may perfect our souls and bodies in glory . how shall we know that we are in the number of gods jewels ? have we inherent holiness ? 1 cor. 6.11 . but ye are washed , but ye are sanctified . we are not jewels by creation , but regeneration . if holiness sparkle in us , it 's a sign we are jewels ; and then when god comes to make up his jewels , he will put glory upon our souls and bodies for ever . chap. xix . the third part of the saints reward , gods sparing them . 3. the third part of the saints reward is gods sparing them . i will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him . the hebrew word to spare * signifies to use clemency : in this phrase is a meiosis , there is less said and more intended ; i will spare them , that is , i will deal with them as a father doth with his son : the same tenderness that a father shews to his child , the same will i shew to them that fear me . god will deal with them that fear him , as a father doth with his son. two things are in this proposition . 1. that god is a father . he is a father , 1. by creation , he hath given us our being , mal. 2.10 . have not we all one father ? hath not one god created us ? 2. god is a father by election ; he hath culled out a certain number to be his children , eph. 1.4 . 3. god is a father by special grace , he stamps his impress of holiness upon men , col. 3.10 . all gods children resemble him , though some are more like him than others . 2. that god will deal with them that fear him , as a father doth with his son : 1. god will accept them as a father doth his son. if the child doth but lisp and can hardly speak plain , the father takes all well : so god as a father will accept of what his children do in sincerity : ezek. 20.40 . there will i require your offerings , i will accept you with your sweet savour . 2. such as fear god , he will be full of bowels to them as a father is to his son. there are in god 1. bowels of compassion . 2. bowels of complacency . 1. bowels of compassion . a father compassionates his child . sozomen makes mention of a father who offered to be put to death for his two sons , who were sentenced to dye : god hath soundings of bowels , isa. 63.15 . the compassions of parents are steel and marble compared with gods : luke 1.78 . through the tender mercy of our god : in the greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the bowels of mercy : these bowels make god sympathize with his children in misery : he is touched in their wounds , psal. 103.13 . as a father pitieth his children , so the lord pitieth them that fear him . 2. in god are bowels of complacency . how dearly did iacob love benjamin ; his life was bound up in him , gen. 44.30 . all the affections of parents come from god : they are but a drop of his ocean , a spark of his flame ; gods love is a love that passeth knowledge , ephes. 3.19 . the saints cannot love their own souls so intirely as god loves them . in particular , 1. god loves the persons of his children : they are the apple of his eye , zach. 2.8 . he engraves them upon the palms of his hands , isa. 49.16 . it alludes to them who carry about them graven on the stone of their ring the picture of some dear friend whom they intirely affect . 2. god loves the places his children were born in the better for their sakes : psal. 87.2 . god loves the gates of sion : ver . 5. this and that man was born in her ; ( i. e. ) this and that believer . god loves the very ground his children go upon . why was iudaea ( the ancient seat of israel ) called a delightsome land ? mal. 5.12 . not so much delightful for the fruit growing in it , as for the saints living in it . 3. god so loves his children that he chargeth the great ones of the world upon pain of death not to hurt them : their persons are sacred , psalm 105.14 . he reproved kings for their sakes , saying , touch not mine anointed . by anointed , are meant such as have the anointing of the spirit , 1 john 2.20 . 4. god delights in his childrens company , he loves to see their faces , cant. 2.24 . let me see thy countenance . if but two or three of gods children meet and pray together , god will be sure to make one of the company ; mat. 18.20 . there am i in the midst of them . 5. god so loves his children , that his eye is never off them ; psalm 33.18 . the eye of the lord is upon them that fear him . but is this such a priviledge , to have gods eye upon his children ? gods eye is upon the wicked too . answ. it is one kind of eye that the judge casts upon the malefactor , and another that the prince casts upon his favourite . gods eye upon the wicked is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an eye of revenge ; but his eye upon his children is an eye of benediction . 6. god sets a continual guard about his children , to preserve them from danger . he hides them in his pavilion , psalm 27.5 . he covers them with the golden feathers of his protection , psalm 91.4 . god preserved athanasius strangely , he put it into his mind to depart out of the house he was in , the night before the enemies came to search for him . no prince goes so well guarded as gods child , for he hath a guard of angels about him . the angels are a numerous guard , 2 kin. 6.17 . the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire : those horses and chariots of fire were the angels of god , gathered together in the manner of an huge host to defend the prophet elisha . 7. god puts his children in rich apparel : psalm . 45.13 . her cloathing is of wrought gold. jacob loved his son joseph , and gave him a finer coat to wear than the rest of his brethren , gen. 37.3 . he made him a coat of divers colours . god loves his children and gives them a finer coat , more curiously woven , a coat of divers colours : it is partly made of christs righteousness , and partly made of inherent holiness * . 8. such is gods love , that he thinks nothing too good for his children , he enricheth them with the upper and nether springs ; he gives them the kidneys of the wheat , and hony out of the rock ; he makes them a feast of fat things , isa. 25.6 . he gives them the body and blood of his son , and delights to see his children spreading themselves as olive plants round about his table * . 3. such as are fearers of god , he will receive their petitions from them as a father doth from his son ; they may come boldly to the throne of grace , heb. 4.16 . if they come for pardon of sin , strength against temptation , god will not deny them . three things may cause boldness in prayer ; the saints have a father to pray to , and the spirit to help them to pray , and jesus christ as their advocate to present their prayers . 4. such as are fearers of god , god will bestow an inheritance upon them , as a father doth upon his son : this inheritance is no less than a kingdom , luke 12.32 . in it are gates of pearl , rivers of pleasure : and which is to be noted as a difference between gods setling an inheritance on his children , and a fathers setling an inheritance : a son cannot enjoy the inheritance till his father be dead ; but every adopted child of god may at once enjoy both the inheritance and the father , because god is both father and inheritance * . 5. such as are fearers of god , god will pass by many infirmities . that is meant by this expression in the text , i will spare them as a man spareth his own son. what a wonder is this , that god did not spare the angels ! 2 pet. 2.4 . nay , he did not spare his natural son , rom. 8.32 . yet he will spare his adopted sons : i will spare them , i will not use extremity as i might , but pass by many aberrations . not that the sins of gods children are hid from him ; but such is his paternal clemency , that he is pleased to bear with many frailties in his children . he spareth them as a father spareth his son. how often do gods people grieve his spirit by the neglect of their spiritual watch , the loss of their first-love ; but god spares them ! israel provoked god with their murmurings , but he used fatherly indulgence towards them , psalm 78.38 . but he being full of compassion , forgave their iniquity , yea many a time turned he his anger away from them * . from this word , i will spare them as a man spares his son , take notice , that the best need sparing , psalm 130.3 . if thou , lord , shouldst mark iniquities , lord , who shall stand ? the papists speak of merits , but how can we merit when our best services are so defective that we need sparing ? how can these two stand together , our meriting and god's sparing ? what will become of us without sparing mercy ? we had need pray as nehemiah , cap. 13.22 . remember me , o my god , concerning this , and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy . let us fly to this asylum , lord spare us as a father spares his son. see gods different dealing with the godly and the wicked ; the lord will not spare the wicked , jer. 13.14 . i will not pity , nor spare , nor have mercy , but destroy them . 't is sad , when the prisoner begs of the judge to spare him , but the judge will shew him no favour . gods cup of wrath is unmixed , rev. 14.10 . yet it is said to be mixed , psal. 78.5 . gods cup of wrath he gives the wicked is mixed with all sorts of plagues , but it is a cup unmixed , without the least drop of mercy in it . god for a while reprieves men , but forbearance is no forgiveness . though god spare his children , yet obdurate sinners shall feel the weight of his wrath . if the lord spares his people as a father doth his son , then they should serve him as a son doth his father : serve him willingly , 1 chron. 28.9 . know thou the god of thy fathers , and serve him with a willing mind . god doth not love to be put to strain * . therefore cains sacrifice was rejected , because he brought it grudgingly , and against his mind : it was rather the paying of a tax than a free-will offering . that is the best obedience which is voluntary , as that is the best hony which drops from the comb. god sometimes accepts of willingness without the work † , but never of the work without willingness . 2. serve god vniversally . true obedience is vniform , it observes one command as well as another * , it sets upon duties difficult and dangerous . as the needle points that way which the loadstone draws : so a gracious heart inclines to those things which the word suggests ; luke 1.6 . 't is the note of an hypocrite to be partial in obedience ; some sin he will indulge * , some duty he will dispense with , his obedience is lame on one foot . 3. serve god swiftly : beware of a dull temper of soul ; the loveliness of obedience is in the liveliness : we read of two women , zach. 5.9 . the wind was in their wings : wings are swift , but wind in the wings denotes great swiftness ; such swiftness should be in our obedience to god : if god spares us as a father doth his son , we should serve him as a son doth his father . if god spares us as a father doth his son , let us imitate god. 't is natural for children to imitate their parents ; look what the father doth , the child is apt to learn the same . let us imitate god in this one thing , as god spares us , and passeth by many failures , so let us be sparing in our censures of others ; let us look upon the weaknesses and indiscretions of our brethren with a more tender compassionate eye . indeed , in case of scandal , here we ought not to bear with others , but sharply reprove them : but if through inadvertency or passion they commit indecencies , let us pity and pray for them : how much doth god bear with in us ! he spares us , and shall not we be sparing to others ? perhaps they may be wronged , and false things may be laid to their charge . athanasius was falsely accused by the arrians of adultery , basil of heresie . 't is usual for the world to misrepresent the people of god ; therefore let us be sparing in our censures : god spares us , and shall not we be sparing towards others ? here is comfort to the children of god in case of failings : the lord will not be severe to mark what they have done amiss , but will spare them : he passeth by many infirmities , zeph. 3.17 . he will rest in his love ; in the original it is , he will be silent in his love * . as if the prophet had said , though the church had her failings , yet gods love was such , that it would not suffer him to mention them : he will be silent in his love. god winks at many oversights , ezek. 20.17 . mine eye spared them from destroying them . i speak not of presumptuous sins , but failings , as vain thoughts , deadness in duty , suddain surprizals by temptation : these being mourned for , god for christs fake will spare us as a father doth his son * . this is one of the richest comforts in the book of god : who is he that lives and sins not ? how defective are we in our best duties ! how full are our lives either of blanks or blots ! were it not for sparing mercy , we should all goe to hell ; but this text is a standing cordial ; if our hearts are sincere , god will spare us as a father doth his son : hosea 11.9 . i will not execute the fierceness of mine anger . i know not a greater rock of support for a fainting christian than this ; god will abate of the severity of the law ; though we come short in our duty , he will not fail of his mercy , but will spare us as a father spareth his son. chap. xx. containing the epiphonema , or shutting up of the chapter . mal. iii. 18. then shall ye return , and discern between the righteous and the wicked , between him that serveth god , and him that serveth him not . here follows the close of the chapter , which i shall little more than paraphrase upon . these words are spoken to the wicked , as piscator , calvin , grotius , and other learned expositors assert : for though the godly shall at last discern what a difference god makes between them and the wicked , how indulgent he is to the one , and how severe to the other ; yet this text is chiefly spoken to the wicked , vers . 14. ye have said it is vain to serve god ; and vers . 15. now we call the proud happy , yea they that work wickedness are set up : well saith god , though now ye call the proud happy and the godly indiscreet , yet when i have made up my jewels , then you wicked ones shall see clearly what a difference i make between the righteous , and the wicked , between him that serveth god and him that serveth him not . then , when it is too late , when the day of grace is past , and the draw-bridge of mercy is pulled up , then shall ye discern a difference between the holy and the prophane . the wicked at present have their eyes shut , deut. 29.4 . the lord hath not given you an heart to perceive , and eyes to see , and ears to hear unto this day . natural men have the sword upon their right eye , zach. 11.17 . they see no difference between the pious and the impious , they see not but it fares as well with the wicked as the righteous ; nay , it seems to fare better , the wicked flourish , psalm 73.12 . these are the ungodly who prosper in the world , they increase in riches ; whereas they that pray and fast , are oppressed . the wicked bless themselves , and think they are now in a better condition than the righteous ; the matter is not to be wondred at , for the god of this world hath blinded the minds of sinners , 2 cor. 4.4 . but at last their eyes shall be opened : and that brings me to the second ; that there is a time shortly coming , when impious flagitious sinners shall see a sensible difference between the godly and the wicked . vertetur alea , the tables will then be turned : then shall ye return , and discern between the righteous and the wicked . when is the time when the eyes of sinners shall be opened , and they shall see a difference between the righteous and the wicked ? there are two times when sinners shall see a manifest difference between the righteous and the wicked . 1. at the day of judgment . 2. at the hour of separation . 1. at the day of iudgment ; that will be a day of discrimination * . things will then appear in their proper colours ; the difference will easily be seen between good and bad ; the one being absolved , the other condemned . 2. at the hour of separation ; when god shall eternally separate the reprobate from the elect , as a fan separateth the chaff from the wheat , then shall there be a visible discerning between the righteous and the wicked , mat. 25.32 . before him shall be gathered all nations , and he shall separate them one from another , as a shepheard divideth the sheep from the goats . jesus christ will take his saints up with him into glory , and will cast the wicked down to hell : he will make up the godly as iewels , and make up the wicked in bundles , mat. 13.30 . bind them in bundles and burn them * . now sinners shall be convinced with a vengeance , that the state of the righteous and wicked is different : they shall see the righteous advanced to a kingdom , and themselves cast into a fiery prison . o the dreadfulness of that place of torment ! — et vox et verba deficiunt — could men lay their ears to the infernal lake , and but for one hour hear the groans and shrieks of the damned , they would tell us that they now see what before they would not believe , the infinite difference between the righteous and the wicked * . in hell is torment upon torment , blackness of darkness , jude 13. bonds and chains , 2 pet. 2.4 . these chains are gods decree ordaining , and his power binding men under wrath ; and that which doth accent and put a sting into the torments of the wicked is , that they shall be always scorching in the torrid zone of gods wrath , revel . 14.11 . the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever . christ said of his suffering on the cross , it is finished ; but sinners shall never say of their sufferings in hell , they are finished : no , imagine so many thousand years the damned have lain in hell as there are drops in the sea , eternity is yet to begin . this may inform all wicked men , that ( how blind soever they are now , yet ) at last the vail shall be taken from their eyes : they now count themselves the only happy men , and look upon the people of god with derision , they load them with invectives , and curse them with their excommunications : well , the time is not far off , when the wicked shall clearly discern who belong to christ , and who belong to the devil ; as moses said to korah and his company , numb . 16.5 . to morrow the lord will shew who are his : so at the day of judgment the lord will shew who are his , and who are not ; nay , sooner than so ; at the day of death the wicked shall guess how it is like to be with them to eternity . o that the eyes of sinners may be speedily opened , that they may in time see the difference of things , the beauty that is in holiness , and the prodigy of madness that is in sin. consolation to the righteous . though at present they are slighted , and have the odium of the world cast upon them , yet shortly god will make a visible difference between them and the wicked ; as it was with pharaohs two officers , the butler and the baker ; at first there seemed to be no difference between them , but within a while there was a difference made ; the chief butler was advanced to honour , but the chief baker was executed , gen. 40.21 . so though now gods people are low and despised , and the wicked insult over them , yet when the critical-day comes , there shall be a final separation made between the righteous and the wicked : the one shall be dignified , the other damned , mat. 25.46 . be encouraged therefore , o ye saints of god , to persist in a course of holiness ; though now ye seem to be lower-most , yet in the resurrection ye shall be uppermost , psalm 49.14 . the righteous shall have dominion over them in the morning ; they shall have dominion over the wicked in the morning of the resurrection . they shall then laugh the wicked to scorn , psalm 52.6 . then shall the difference be seen between the righteous and the wicked , between him that served god and him that served him not . chap. xxi . shewing gods gracious dealing with his people . or a consolatory in affliction . psalm cxix . 65. thou hast dealt well with thy servant , o lord. the psalms are the marrow of the bible , they are both for delight and vse ; like rich cordials which do not only gratifie the palate , but strengthen the spirits . this psalm is full of divine and spiritual matter : it was composed , if not sung by the sweet singer of israel : the words fall into two parts . 1. gods kindness to david , he dealt well with him . 2. david's grateful acknowledgment of this favour , thou hast dealt well with thy servant o lord. from gods kindness to david , observe that god dealeth well with his people , gen. 33.12 . the lord hath dealt graciously with me . gods people often walk unanswerable to his love : but though they deal ill with god , god deals well with them . gods dealing well with his people ariseth from the intrinsecal goodness of his nature ; god is love , 1 john 4.16 . from this flow all acts of royal bounty . wherein doth gods dealing well with his people appear ? in enriching them with variety of mercies ; his footsteps drop fatness , psalm 65.11 . he feeds , adopts , crowns them ; and is not this dealing well with them ? but how doth god deal well with the saints , when he laies his hand so heavy upon them in affliction ? his pen is full of gall , and he writes bitter things against them , psalm 73.14 . i am chastened every morning : how doth god deal well with his people , when it fares ill with them ? it must be held as an undoubted maxim , that when the lord severely chastizeth the saints , he deals well with them : but we are ready to question this truth , and say as the virgin mary to the angel , how can this be ; therefore i shall demonstrate it , that when it goes ill with the righteous , yet god deals well with them . 1. when the lord afflicts the saints yet he deals well with them , because he is their god. david was in the deep of sorrow , psal 130.1 . yet he could say , the lord was his portion , psalm 16.5 . god is an exceeding great reward , gen. 15.1 . he is a whole paradise of delight — bonum in quo omnia bona — he who hath god for his god , all his estate lies in jewels . if then god passeth over himself to his people by a deed of gift to be their god , here is enough to countervail all their troubles : what can god give more than himself ? 2. when it goes ill with the godly , yet god deals well with them , because while he is inflicting evil upon them , he is doing them good . that which the text renders , thou hast dealt well with thy servant , in the hebrew it is , thou hast done good to thy servant * : psalm 129.71 . it is good for me that i have been afflicted : david doth not say , it is good for me that i have been in prosperity , but that i have been afflicted . god doth his people good by affliction two wayes ; 1. the godly grow wiser † . affliction is schola lucis ; it discovers that pride , earthliness , unmortified passion which they could not have believed was in their hearts , iob 36.8 . if they be held in cords of affliction , then he shews them their transgression . affliction cures the eye-sight . 2. affliction promotes holiness * : the more the diamond is cut , the more it sparkles , heb. 12.10 . that we may be partakers of his holiness . when prosperity makes grace rust , god scowres us with affliction . the godly are beholding to their sufferings : god by the wholesome discipline of the cross makes them more humble , more conformed to christs image : the sharp frosts of affliction bring on the spring flowers of grace : now if god while he is chastising is doing us good , then sure he deals well with us . 3. when god puts his children to the school of the cross , yet he deals well with them , because he doth not leave them without a promise , 1 cor. 10.13 . god is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able . god knows our frame , that we are imbecil and weak ; our flesh is not as brass , job 6 12. and the lord will not try us above our strength , he will not lay a giants burden upon a childs back . god will not stretch the strings of his viol too hard , lest they break : if god strike with one hand , he will support with the other , cant. 8.3 . either he will make our yoak lighter , or our faith stronger . this promise is hony at the end of the rod. 4. god deals well with his people when he afflicts , because afflictions are preventive . 1. they prevent sin , 2 cor. 12.7 . lest i should be exalted above measure , there was given me a thorn in the flesh. prosperity like opium is ready to make men fall asleep in sin , god awakens them by the voice of the rod , and so prevents a spiritual lethargy . 2. they prevent hell , 1 cor. 11.32 . we are chastened of the lord that we should not be condemned with the world. doth not a judge deal well with a prisoner , when he laies some light penalty on him and saves his life ? is it not goodness in god , when he laies upon us light affliction , and saves us from wrath to come ? 2 cor. 4.17 . what is a drop of sorrow the godly tast of , to that bottomless sea of wrath the wicked must drink ? 5. when god corrects he deals well with his people , because all he doth is in love * . afflictions are ( as gregory nazianzen faith ) sharp arrows , but they are shot from the hand of a loving father . as gods not afflicting the wicked is in anger : gods hand is heaviest when it is lightest , hosea 4.14 . i will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom : a father gives over correcting a child whom he intends to disinherit : so gods chastizing the godly is in love , rev. 3.19 . as many as i love i rebuke ; when god hath the look of an enemy , he hath the heart of a father . as when abraham lift up his hand to sacrifice isaac , he loved him ; so when god sacrificeth the comforts of his children , he loves them . was not god severe against christ : yet it was proclaimed by a voice from heaven , this is my beloved son , mat. 3.17 . well then , if god only send love-tokens to us , he deals well with us . 6. god deals well with his people when he afflicts them , because he moderates his stroke , ier. 30.11 . * i will correct thee in measure . 1. god doth not smite his children so much as he might , psal. 78.38 . he did not stir up all his wrath : god doth not make the cup so bitter as he could . he useth lenitives rather than ▪ corrosives : he layes a lighter burden on , he might lay on an heavier . doth god take away a child ? he might take away his spirit ; doth he chastize the body ? he might torment the conscience . 2. god doth not correct his children so much as they have deserved , ezra 9.13 . thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve . doth god make us drink in a cup of wormwood ? we have deserved to drink in a cup of wrath : doth god cut us short ? we have deserved he should cut us off , ezek. 47.3 . the waters were to the ankles . do the waters of affliction come up to our ankles ? we have deserved to be drowned in these waters . 7. when god afflicts his children , he deals well with them , because he keeps them from sinning in affliction , iohn 17.15 . i pray that thou keep them from the evil . 1. the godly are kept from impatience . when the wicked are under gods black rod , they either faint or fret , rev. 16.9 . men were scorched with great heat , and blasphemed the name of god : but the godly are silent under the rod , levit. 10.3 . and aaron held his peace : 't was a sore tryal , both his sons were consumed with fire , but aaron held his peace . gods people open their ear to hear the voice of the rod , but shut their mouth , they have not one word to say against god. 2. the godly dare not use any indirect means to extricate themselves out of trouble . wicked men , like malefactors , care not how they get loose , they will sin themselves out of straits : the people of god had rather lye in the furnace to have their dross purged , than come out too soon : they will not purchase the liberty of their persons by insnaring their consciences . doth not god deal well with his children in keeping them from sinning in affliction ? affliction cannot do that mischief as sin doth : the one is like a rent in the garment , the other is like a rent in the flesh. affliction may deprive us of our estates , but sin deprives us of our god. 8. god deals well with his children in affliction , because though he correct them , he doth not forsake them . indeed sion said , the lord hath forsaken me , isa. 49.14 ; but that was under a temptation , lam. 3.31 . the lord will not cast off for ever . god may alter his providence , not his purpose : he may change his dispensation , not his disposition , hos. 11.8 . how shall i give thee up o ephraim ? it alludes to a father who is about to disinherit his son , but when he is going to set his hand to the deed , his bowels begin to work ; i am his father , and though he be a rebellious son , yet he is a son : how shall i disinherit him ? such are the workings of gods bowels to his children ; though he may give them a severe rebuke , yet he will not cut off the entail of mercy . 9. god deals well with his children in affliction , because though their condition be sad , yet it is not so bad as others : the lord puts a difference between the chastisements of the godly , and the punishments of the wicked : the godly man hath pain in his sickness , but the wicked man hath wrath in his sickness , eccles. 5.17 . the lord shoots a single arrow at the godly , but a whole shower of arrows at the wicked : he punisheth them in their body , estate , conscience . a good man hath god to pity him in his sorrows , isa. 63.9 . but the wicked have god to laugh at them in their miseries , prov. 1.26 . the godly have christ to pray for them , in their afflictions ; but the impenitent when in torment , are shut out of christs prayer , ioh. 17.9 . i pray not for the world. gods people are apt to say , never did any suffer as they : yes , it is worse with the wicked ; their sins and sufferings meet together . 10. god in affliction deals well with his children , because if he take away one comfort , he leaves more behind . god threatned ierusalem to strip her of all her jewels and leave her bare , ezek. 16.39 . but you who belong to god , may sing of mercy and iudgment , psal. 101.1 . if god hath fleeced your estate , he hath raised you up friends : if he hath taken away one of your jewels , he hath left you more : if he hath pluck'd one dear relation from you , he hath left other sweet clusters behind , and can double your comfort in them : is not all this kindness ? but this is our sin , we grieve more for one loss , than we are thankful for an hundred mercies . jacob was more troubled for the loss of joseph , than he was comforted with the lives of all his other children , gen. 37.35 . 11. when god afflicts he deals well with his people , because he takes away nothing from them but he gives them that which is better . what dammage can it be to a man to lose his farthings , and have gold given him ? if god take away health , he gives holiness : if he take away a child , he gives a christ ; is not this better ? god takes away a flower and gives a jewel . 12. when god afflicts his children he deals well with them , because he affords them his divine presence , psalm 91.15 . i will be with him in trouble . god never promised us a charter of exemption from trouble , but he hath promised to be with us in trouble . better be in a prison and have gods presence , than on a throne and want it . gods presence gives courage , act. 23.11 . when polycarp was near the theatre and going to suffer , a voice came from heaven , be of good chear o polycarp . was not christ with the three children ? did not he go with them into the fire ? dan. 3.25 . i see four men in the fire , and the form of the fourth is like the son of god. he who is the second person in the trinity , made the fourth person in the furnace . 13. god in afflicting deals well with his children , because he gives them that which makes amends for their afflictions ; he drops in the oyl of gladness ; he makes them gather grapes of thorns : john 16.22 . your sorrow shall be turned into joy. we see a godly mans sufferings , but we know not what joy he feels : as we hear the roaring of the sea , but we see not the gold at the bottom . philip lantgrave of hesse said , that in his trouble he felt the divine consolations of the martyrs : here was hony out of the lion. the saints have been sometimes so sweetly enlarged , that they had rather endure their afflictions than want their comforts , 2 cor. 1.5 . as the sufferings of christ abound in us : so our consolation also aboundeth by christ * . saint paul had his prison-songs , act. 16 25. this bird of paradise could sing in winter . god turns the waters of marah into wine ; he keeps his cordials for fainting . when the saints taste most of the wrath of men , they shall feel most of the love of god : thus the lord candies his wormwood with sugar . 14. when god corrects his children he deals well with them , because these paroxysms or hot trials do not last long . — post nubila phaebus — 1 kin. 11.39 . i will afflict the seed of david , but not for ever : god will love for ever , but not afflict for ever ; he will ere long give his people a writ of ease . a sinners best , and a saints worst are but short ; affliction is called a cup , ezek. 23.32 . the wicked drink a sea of wrath ; the godly sip only of the cup of affliction , and god will shortly say , transeat calix , let this cup pass away from them , isa. 35.10 . sorrow and sighing shall fly away . as affliction hath a sting to torment , so it hath a wing to fly . 15. when god puts his children to the school of the cross , he deals well with them , because these afflictions are manuductions to lead them to heaven . per crucem ad coelum . 2 cor. 4.17 . our light affliction worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory . upon the dark colour of affliction god layes the golden colour of glory . o thou weeping saint , what a blessed change shalt thou shortly have ! thou shalt change thy pilgrimage for paradise : thou shalt have thy wish . are riches desirable ? thou shalt have gates of pearl : is honour desireable ? thou shalt have white robes : is pleasure desireable ? thou shalt enter into the joy of thy lord. o think what it will be to be sweetly immersed in the river of life , and bathe in the hony-streams of gods love for ever : think what the beatifical vision will be : what it will be to wear a garland made of the flowers of paradise : think what it will be to have the soul thicker set with jewels of glory , than the firmament is bespangled with stars : o what a compensation will this be for all a christians tryals ! a sight of this bliss will make him forget his sufferings . one sun-beam of glory will dry up the water of his tears . if god dealswell with us when he chastiseth us , then it becomes us to cherish good thoughts of god. we are apt in adversity to think hardly of god ; this ariseth from pride . such commonly as are of high spirits are of high passions ; they think themselves better than others , and that they have deserved better at gods hands , and now pride vents it self in murmuring . o let us take heed of having hard thoughts of god. the patient hath no cause to think ill of the physician when he prescribes him a bitter potion , seeing it is in order to a cure. gods afflictive providences are the strokes of a father , not the wounds of an enemy . god smites that he may save . out of the bitterest drug god distils his glory , and our happiness . let us think well of god ; nay , in all adverse providences let us learn to bless god , 1 thes. 5.18 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in every thing give thanks : if in every thing , then , in affliction : and good reason , because god deals well with us . iob blessed god in affliction , cap. 1.21 . the smiting of jobs body was like the striking upon a musical instrument , he sounded forth thankfulness . a gracious soul should bless god that he will take so much notice of him as to visit him with the rod * ; and is so kind as rather to afflict him than lose him . this shews an high degree of grace , not only to iustifie god in affliction , but magnifie him . believers are gods temples , and where should his praises be sounded forth but in his temples ? finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a65309-e150 * eccles. 12.12 . * 2 cor. 1.1 . † mundi facundiam non venditavit . vorstius . notes for div a65309-e3800 * dan. 10.21 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 † drusius . * nihil erat integrum neque in sacerdotibus , neque in vulgo , laxis quasi habenis in omni genere scelerum grassati fuerunt . calvin . doct. * iste vir totius orbis impetum sustinuit . quest. answ. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . bias. * non quâ eundum sed qua itur . sen. * fox acts & mon. quest. answ. * quid iste faceret in igne , qui christum rubuit in nube ? hierom . * chrysost. quest. answ. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist. rhet. lib. 2. c. 6. * pessimus in dubijs timor augur . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * nehem. 1.11 . doct. * mat. 25.25 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist. rhet . * in gehenna nec qui torquet fatigatur ● nec qui torquetur moritur . bern. flor . object . answ. * quem metuunt oderunt . 1 vse . confutation . * ephes. 1.13 . 2 vse . information . use 3. lamentation . quest. * omne peccatum fundatur in ignorantia . answ. vse 4. reproof . 1 branch ▪ * cantabat moestis tibia funeribus . ovid. * 1 tim. 6.9 . 2. br. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . mat. 26.26 3. branch . use 5. exhortation . * homo time deum , & minantem mundum ridebis . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . sophocles . * corona sapientiae timor domini . aug. tom. 9 quest. answ. * arcana evangelii per internam spiritus illuminationem enunciat deus . piscator . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * cur scelere mortem acceleras ? eccles. 7.17 . mercer . † aeterna vita verae vita , aug. * dan. 1.12 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chrys. † si vis esse securus , semper time . † eccles. 8.12 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chrys. ad pop . antioch . hom. 18. * quid timet homo , in sinu dei positus ? aug. † vitia hominum sunt epulae daemonum . * stulti est compedes licet aureas amare . seneca . † numquid deus stultis daturus est regnum coelorum . aug. * radiis justitiae suae p●rsundens animum . tremel . * custos animae timor . aug. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vse 6. trial. quest. answ. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chrys. object . answ. * an liceat , an deceat , an expediat . † cui nihil satis est , eidem nihil turpe . tacitus . * princeps imperio magnus , exemplo major paterculus . † multitudo errantium non parit errori patrocinium , hierom . * psalm 102.1 . † antonini blandimenta magis timebantur quam iracundia . * virg. aen . 2. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 † multae sunt in animo latebrae , cicero . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . aristor . quest. answ. † gen. 49.30 . * si amor dei te non teneat , timor iudicis te terreat . hugo . * veniet , veniet dies iudicii , ubi plus valebunt pura corda , quam astuta verba . bernard . quest. answ. quest. answ. * descendamus in infernum viventes , ne descendamus morientes . bern. quest. answ. † prov. 22.14 . * prov. 9.17 . † magis intuentur quid fecerit jupiter , quam quid docuit , plato , aug. * durum est quod non cedit tactui . † ephes. 4.19 . * jer. 44.16 , 17. † 1 thes. 1.10 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * num. 23.1 , 2. quest. answ. 1. special character . doct. * acts 4.20 . 1 vse . inform. 2 vse . reproof . 1 br. * pro. 23.5 † 1 cor. 7.3 . 2 branch . * foliis leviora caducis verba , ovid. 3 branch . * magnoque irarum fluctuat aestu . virgil. * majora sunt linguae vulnera quam gladii , aug. † 1 tim. 3.11 . 3 vse . exhortation . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * verba sunt speculum mentis . bernard . * acts and mon. 1 caution . second caution . 2 special character . quest. answ. * cogitationes sunt rerum imagines . moller . doct. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quest. answ. * quid ultra quaerit cui omnia suus conditor sit ? prosper . 1 vse . reproof . 1 branch . * dei nunquam recordatur , ita se gerit ac si non esset deus . mariana . * quod essicit tale , id est magìs tale. 2 branch ▪ * job 42.2 . amos 4.13 ● branch . 4 branch . * acts 5.36 * cogitationis poenam in nostro soro nemo luat , is the civilians rule . 2 vse . exhortation . 1 branch . quest. answ. * quae citò aspecta placent , inspecta displicent , seneca . † num. 22.31 . * martial . 2 branch . 3 vse . direction . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , aristot. doct. quest. answ. * horreo quicquid de meo est . bern. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * micah 7.1 . 1 vse . inform. 1 branch . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chrys. * numb . 23.21 . 2 branch . 3 branch . 4 branch . 5 branch . object 1. answ. object 2. answ. 6 branch . 7 branch . 2 vse . exhortation . 1 branch . * splendida peccata . aug. 2 branch . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * metaphora a regibus sumpta qui habent annales in quibus memoranda annotant . grotius . doct. * deorsum cadunt , fursum volant . * psal. 6.8 . † isa. 66.18 . * opera eleemosynaria non pereunt sed parturiunt . gen. 56.21 . 1 vse . inform. 1 branch . 2 branch . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 vse . exhortation . 3 vse . comfort . * 2 cor. 4.5 1 quest. answ. answ. 2 quest. 1. quest. answ. * dan. 7.10 3 vse . exhortation . 1 branch . 2 branch . * plut. † induravit seputans s●deum posse vincere , mercer . * qualis per arva leo fulvam mijnaci fronte concutiens jubam , juven . 3 branch . * 2 chron. 20.23 . judg. 7.22 . † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * jer. 7.3 . * isa. 43.1 . 1 vse . inform. * res est solliciti plena timoris amor . † tandem flagitia in supplicia vertuntur , tacitus . † iustificatio nunquam rescinditur . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . † aliud est recedere , aliud excidere a gratia , aug. 2 vse . comfort . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 vse . quest. answ. † 1 john 2.2 . 1 vse . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 vse . quest. † splendore . answ. † raritate . * pretio . † orna mento . 1 vse . inform. 2 branch . 3 branch . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * scoria est m●talli sordes . 4 branch . 2 king 2.12 . 5 branch . 6 branch . * isa. 62.3 . 2 vse . consolation . * peculium & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dei. corn. lap . 3 vse . exhortation . 1 branch . 2 branch . thirdly . quest. answ. vse . 2 quest. answ. vse . quest. answ. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doct ▪ * rev. 19.8 . * psalm 128.3 . * gen. 15.1 . caution . * neh. 9.17 . 1 vse . inform. 1 branch . 2 branch . 3 branch ▪ * virtus nolentium nulla est . † 1 king 8.18 . * quicquid propter deum fit , aequaliter fit . * 2 king 5.18 . 2 vse . exhortation . 3 vse . comfort . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * si n●evum aspiciat pater in silio , non ideò extrudet de domo , calv. 1 doct ▪ 2 doct. quest. answ. * videbitis in die iudicii quantum diversa sit sors pii & impii , grotius . * impii exoriuntur ut exurantur . austin . * spelaea nefarij intrant , ardenti phlegetonte natant . 1 vse . 2 vse . doct. quest. answ. object . answ. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 † vexatio dat intellectum . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chrysost. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , chrysost. * jer. 46.28 . * martyr in catena gaudet , tertul. vse . * job 7.18 . christian geography and arithmetick, or, a true survey of the world together with the right art of numbering our dayes therein being the substance of some sermons preached in bristol / by thomas hardcastle. hardcastle, thomas, d. 1678? 1674 approx. 260 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 109 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45530) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 46418) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1424:17) christian geography and arithmetick, or, a true survey of the world together with the right art of numbering our dayes therein being the substance of some sermons preached in bristol / by thomas hardcastle. hardcastle, thomas, d. 1678? [28], 188 p. printed for richard chiswell, london : 1674. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng sermons, english -17th century. christian life. theology, doctrinal. 2008-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-09 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-10 megan marion sampled and proofread 2008-10 megan marion text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion christian geography and arithmetick or a true survey of the world : together with the right art of numbring our dayes therein . being the substance of some sermons preached in bristol : by thomas hard castle minister to a particular congregation there . 1 cor. 7.29 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , opportunity is furled up as a sail . psa . 39.4 , 5. lord make me to know mine , end and the measure of my dayes what it is , that i may know how frail i am behold , thou hast made my dayes as an hand breadth , and mine age is as nothing before thee ; every man at his best estate is altogether vanity . london , printed for richard chiswel at the rose and crown in pauls church yard . 1674. to my honoured and worthy friends , mr. john smith , and his beloved consort , mrs. anne smith at battersee . by prefixing your names , the world will easily suppose me under great obligations to you , though it is as far from my design , to give , as i know it is from your desire , to receive flattering expressions . a few weeks ago i thought my self far enough from making use of your names , or any ones else in this kind . the sence of that providence * which you met with , when you were last at bristol ( which did so suddenly bring you even to the gates of death , and almost as speedily restored you again ) did give conception to the most of these * meditations : and because your urgent affairs prevented you of the opportunity of hearing them preached , i was willing you should have a sight of them , that they might be your monitor and keep you company ; the best stand in need of their memento mori's : for whichpurpose i began to transcribe them , intending nothing more than your , private view ; but continually & * sternuously followed with these considerations which daily increased upon me , and would not be avoided , viz. that i had many friends in yorkshire , where i drew my first natural and spiritual breath , for whom i have endeared affections , and whom i have daily in my remembrance ; that the first fruits of my ministry was sown among them ; that i had spent some years there in several places , preaching the gospel of the kingdom , the lord having made my poor endeavours useful to some : and especially that i ought not to forget , how satan envying the conversion of souls , and that the lord jesus should have any publick worship , did stir up some of his instruments ( persecutors and apostates ) several times for some years together to molest us , fine us , imprison us , and impoverish us ; also how graciously the lord was pleased to manifest himself in our assemblies , and so by his spirit wonderfully to support , strengthen and incourage us under losses & long confinements , that through divine assistance we were enabled to hold on in the lord's way to the last ; those that gave us trouble being in the issue , either weary of their own work , or convinced of the honesty of our's , and the integrity of our hearts therein : that these my fellow-sufferers together with all the rest that did sympathize with us , and remember us in our bonds , as bound with us , should be under some visible character of my cordial love , and seeing the providence of god had for the present set me at so great a distance from them , that i was utterly disabled from doing or receiving good among them , i should put something into their hands , which might stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance . i knew no more useful lesson to recommend to them , than this of right numbring their dayes , which may put them upon a serious consideration of their dayes past , a due improvement of the present , and an holy preparation for those few and evil ones that are remaining . i am also made in this small undertaking , to have a sincere respect to the members of that antient and honourable society ( whereof you are now a member ) formerly walking with mr. henry jessy where for some time ; i did enjoy comfortable communion , till the providence of god removed me thence . and now i know that you will not be troubled , that you have been the occasion , and made way for me , that i might discover some of that true love i have for my old friend ( and native countrey ) whose souls i hope i could serve with laying down my own life . but that i may not grow tedious to you , i shal only further tel you what i latly heard of you , from the mouth of a judicious christian , who hath many years been intimately acquainted with you , both before and since your ( signal ) conversion : * more need not be said of the , best saint in the world , and less cannot be said of the weakest ; i confess i was much taken with the expression , and therefore mention it not only , because it is inoffensive ( having neither flattery nor reflexion in it , both which i loath ) but because it may be of use to some ; if he had said you had been an honest manwithout faults , or but with a few ; or if he had said , that he is a man blessed with rare accomplishments , admirable endowments , he can speak with the tongue of angels , he hath the gift of prophecy , and understands all mysteries , and all knowledge , he is willing to bestow all his goods to feed the poor , and is ready ( if need be ) to give his body to be burned &c. 1 cor. 13.1 , 2 , 3. but he hath one fault , i should have liked it leaft of al , for , it would have looked like that in 2 kin. 5.1 . now naaman captain of the host of the king of syria , was a great man with his master , and honourable , because by him the lord had given deliverance unto syria ; he was also a mighty man in valour , but be was a lepert : or like the young man in the gospel , whom jesus kissed , and his neighbours applauded , but he lacked one thing , mark 10.21 . it seems the righteous man with his seven falls a day remains an upnight man ; for , he doth not fall willingly , he rifeth again speedily by repentance , and he mourns daily over his many humane frailties and infirmities : david , and job , and peter , were honest men with all their faults , though if the least iniquity be allowed and indulged , no man can be an honest man with all his good works , and religicus performances . but sincerity is a grace of that excellent nature , and universal inflaence , that it gives life , reality and a beautiful complexion to all other graces ; it unstings infirmities in the sight of men ; and ( through the merits of christ ) gives boldness to transgressing sinners , to draw near to the king of heaven , not only with expectation of acceptance , but of complacency and great delight . lastly , for you ( my dear friend ) i have only this to say to you , that i am perswaded your soul 's in a good state for all your fears and complaints of a treacherous and unbelieving heart , which are incident to the best of saints , and which the lord somtimes for reasons suffers them to be attended with more than some weaker christians . that you both may grow in grace , and especially in the life of believing , and be found still in the exercise of those good works , ( as the lord shall enable you ) of gospel hospitality , of entertaining prophers and saints ( though strangers and exiles ) with your liberality and bounty to the poor saints and people of god , and that under that very consideration and denomination without more private and narrow respects : that you with all your faults , and you with all your fears may be presented blameless at the coming of our lord jesus christ ; and when your little time is expired in this troublesome , restless earth ( whereas a man uncannot find a place to set his foot easily ) be safely landed in unconceivable and immense eternity , shal be the constant prayer , vvhilst time lasts , of your faithful true friend in him that is true . t. h. to my loving friends the members and hearers of that congregation , which i stand related to as minister : dearly beloved friends , it would seem strange if i should leave you out in this affair , since what is here published was preached among you , and they were your sermons in the preaching . i have not much to communicate to you in this manner , having so many sfeasons of speaking to you , ( blessed be god or the continuance of them ) only meeting with this fair opportunity , i cannot but make mention of that universal and continued affection , i have met with from you , since the lord by his providence brought me among you , i cannot likewise but take notice , ( to the praise of our lord and your incouragement ) of that union love and moderation there is among you : notwithstanding some difference in apprehension , your soundness and stedfastness in the faith of the gospel , your zeal and love to the name , honour , offices and standing ordinances of the lord jesus in this age , wherein he hath so many sorts of enemies appearing against him ; your peaceable dispositions , together with your readiness to suffer for , rather than run from the discharge of your duties and consciences towards god , when persecution and trouble threatned you , &c. let me exhort you to bless the lord for , and improve your present liberty ; pray that those whom the lord hath made to see it their interest not to fall out with religion , may come to see it their chief concern to fall in with it prepare for worse times , and endeavour to see your own sins to be the procuring cause of them ; make trial what influence the right measuring and spending of time will have upon the power of godliness which is so much decayed . be careful to grow in grace , and go on as it is your true desire , to strengthen christianity yet more in its more principal and vital parts , keeping up communion with god in serious meditation and servant prayer giving religion an honourable and chief respect in your families ; daily renewing acts of faith and repentance , watching carefully over the tongue : looking well to the hand 's that they over-reach not , nor withhold more than is meet ; to the feet and conversations that they be preserved without grieving and offending slips and falls , &c. finally , pray for me earnestly that i may approve my self a work-man that need not be ashamed ; if you would feel my sermons , let me feel your prayers , and be helpt by them . i shall conclude with that needful admonition , revel . 16.15 . from which i have lately discoursed largely to you , behold i come as a thief , blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments , lest he walk naked and men see his shame . that you may stand compleat in all the will of god and be kept by his power through faith unto salvation , is the constant prayer ; and through divine assistance , shall be the hearty endeavour of your faithful ( though unworthy ) servant in the work of the gospel . t. h. to young men. this little piece may be of use to you to carry in your pockets , and read a few lines in it every day ; you that think your time is before you , may yet have out-lived , and left your season behind you . you have had many powerful sermons preached to you , many excellent treatises dedicated to you , many servent prayers put up to the lord on your behalf , many loud calls and grave admonitions from god , your parents , masters and relations ; and if you could but see your time to be pretious , it would make all effectual for the welfare of your souls and bodies , your true honour here and glory hereafter . are not you found sometimes in the practice of some things , for which the lord of time never created any time save a reckoning time ? can you rationally conceive that god ever made any time for idleness , for drinking , for gaming , for vain sporting and pleasure , for dancing , for frothy , ( or filthy ) communication , for unruly passions , or any uncomely behaviour ? i shall only recommend those two known words of solomon , rejoice ( at your utmost peril ) and remember ( for your unspeakable benefit . ) the lord help you to give to him your early and morning time and strength , he will take it kindly , and reward you honourably . farewel . a preface to the reader , christian reader , if the shortness , swiftness , and importance of time were well weighed , what a change should we see in the world ! that men may make truer and better measures of it , than they have done is the honest design of this small treatise . i have sometimes thought that if persons would consider their words before they speak them , and view their actions before they do them , and value their time before they lay it out , what examplary christians would they be found ! thou wilt find herein some account of that expression of job , man that is born of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble , some discoveries of that large influence , the right numbring of our dayes has upon true godliness in all the parts of it : the discourse is calculated in an special manner , for such sincere souls as more affect matter than phrase who desire to know only that they may practise , and place happiness not in speaking , hearings , or knowing , but in doing ; and therefore i have gone in a plain and familiar way , consulting the weakest capacities . what good fruit should we bring forth if we laid this ground , that the pleasures of sin , and worldly grievances are but for a season ! what good seed would be sown for our eternal welfare and being in the world to come ! i could tell thee of strange effects , which the true consideration of the transitoriness of this life , the certainty of death , together with the duration of eternity , hath had upon men , to put them upon laying up a good foundation for time to come . i would take the liberty to recommend unto thee , one or two passages of a story made use of by an eminent minister long since with god , which together with some other remarkable observation and hints of his , which i have quoted in the following work were communicated to me by a good old puritan one of his hearers . one story relates the conversion of king edwink about the year 600 together with his kingdom , which contained especially yorkshire . thus a wise courtier of his , when he heard of a christ , that promiseth eternal happiness was preached unto him , reasoned with him : this present life of our's , o king , sayes he , in regard of the uncertain time that was before us and shall be after us , is but like the flying of a bird here , through your entry in at one door and presently out at another , whilst you and your nobles in a stormy blustering day sit warm here about your hall-fire ; the poor bird for small moment of time whilst she was in your entry felt not the cold and stormy weather , but that was for a very short moment and presently she did but as it were dart through from storm to storm : so this present life of our's , is but a very short thing , but a bird's flight through your entry , what went before and what follows after we utterly know not , and therefore if this new doctrine bring us any more certainty , and after a short flight through this entry , can tell us how and where we shall live happy for ever : by all means let us imbrace it , this was a great motive to his conversion as also of his people . the other passage is of the son of an heathen emperour , whom his father , for fear he should turn christian , laboured by all means to keep from entertaining a thought of future happiness , or of death , or of the shortness of this worldl's pleasures , lest hereby he should be driven to embrace the christian religion , that promiseth after this life , an happiness inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that , fadeth not away , reserved in heaven for us . the emperour that his son should never think of any such future happiness , cansed him to be brought up in a most glorious palace , and attended there with gallant attendants , fresh and comely and youthful , and that he should never see nor ' bear of the miseries of this life , as death , old age , sickness , poverty &c. to the end that he should think of nothing but the present happiness ; afterwards the young man desiring to recreate himself with going abroad , his father appointed that the officers should take order that all things irksome and unpleasant should be removed out of the way , and that there should be nothing but song , and musick , and danceing , and delightful sights in his way ; but upon a time through the negligence of his officers , he espyed an old decayed writhen man ready to drop into his grave ; whereupon being somewhat moved , he demanded what would become of that miserable creature ? answer was returned that he should shortly die , and be buried in the earth , and what shall all men die likewise saies he , or some only ? nay all say they , all must die ; and within how many years ? eighty or an hundred at most , and when he had heard this , it would never out of his thoughts but still he was mourning out these words , and what shall death also seize within such a time upon me , shall i within such a time bid sarewel to all my pleasures ? why then laughter than art mad , and mirth what dost thou ? and why should madness be in my heart whilst i live , and after that go to the dead , and then to have a living dog to be better than i a dead lyon ? and thus his troubled heart coursed him with these thoughts , and would never let him res till christianity brought him to a lively hope of that other happiness : now it were good , as this made him of a pagan a christian , so our hearts would course us thus to make same of us that are christians only in shew to be christians in power , and to be sanctified by the spirit of regeneration that when we fail we may be received into everlasting habitations : what a madness is it counted in the foot in the gospel to say soul set up thy rest , when he was removed before he bad well , warmed his seat ! one of the ancients tells a story of one whom the world did strive as it were to make happy , he had an healthful body , he had pleasant friends , fruitful grounds , good succes ; s in all things and what else might make for his pleasure ; and yet was miserable because he feared still , left all these might quickly have an end : now he was well but he could not tell whether he might not be sick ere to morrow , now his friends were faithful , but &c. the sea is not to be trusted no not when it smiles upon us , in a moment it is all in a storm , and the same day ships are swallowed up there where they played at anthor before . how much does it concern us to learn the meaning of that , eccles . 7.2 . it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting , for that is the end of all men , namely death , and the living will lay it to heart ! at the sight of the spectacle of mortality we will happily begin to consider how vain all the hopes and purposes and desires of men here are , that now at death will have an end , and thereupon begin to think of some more solid and enduring heppines how shuld we prize the gospel & our religion that teach us how in this small pittance of time we may make good provision for an eternal and everlasing state ! how should our faith and repentance , and holy meditation and communion with god , and heavenly mindedness be furthered by this , and whatever it is that hath a tendency to our well-being in the world that is to come which shall never have an end ! consult heb. 11.8 , 9 , 10. in the 32. of ezekiel there are reckoned up the flourishing and mighty kings and kingdoms of the earth , egypt and elam , &c. and still it is added and expressed of them , that though they cause their terrour in the land of the living , yet they are gone into the nethermost parts of the earth ; though by our greatness and riches we may cause a little envy in the world , by our parts of body or mind , beauty , wit , strength or policy , cause a little admiration in the land of the living ; yet one day ere long we shall go down into the nethermost parts of the earth : it 's said in the 27 ver . of , that chapter , that the mighty men are laid in their graves , and their swords under their heads ; the phrase ( as a learned man observes ) is borrowed from the heathenish manner of burying their warriours and great worthies with their weapons or conquering swords under their heads ; the wealthy ones that buy and sell and get gain , shall be laid in the grave with their bags and bonds and evidences under their heads ; they that glory in titles of honour shall be laid in their grave with their coats and scutcheons laid under their heads ; the fair and beauteous that now rejoice in their fresh and lovely complexions shall one day be laid for worms meat in their graves with their washballs , their spunges , their paintboxes , and their looking glasses under their heads ; the wise and learned shall ere long be laid in the grave with their books & papers under their heads ; finally the men of appetite that now delight themselves in their drinks ; & dainties shall in a very litle while be laid in their graves with their revelling cups , and service dishes under their heads : think but of this phrase of laying thus one day all these things under your heads , and lay them not now too near your hearts . mark our saviour's answer to those that shewed him the temple , and how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts ; are these the things ye look upon and admire ? the daies shall come wherein there shall not be one stone left upon another which shall not be thrown down ; the day will come that thy riches shall be but a poor winding sheet , and thy pleasures to have the clods of the valley sweet unto thee : yet 40 dayes & nineveh shall be overthrown ) yet 40 dayes ( it may be less ) and all thy glory and prosperity with thy life shall have an end , and yet thou art jolly and frolick and never thinks of that time , or the length of eternity ; that theresore thou maist not when it is too late cry out , call time again , call time again , learn to make good vse of it now . it 's easier for to lose than find a day ; there are time-servens , and there are time-savers and redeemers ; the errand of this piesce is to make thee one of the latter sort ; if god will bles ; s this to any ones soul , i shall think my self abundantly satissied for my pains , and my great design is answered : i expect no praise ; and for censure if it be deserved it will come too late , for i have already placed the defects to my own account ; if undeserved and errata's , i shall gain by it ; let me have the benefit of thy prayers , whoever thou art that reads these lines . to conclude , this is no point of controversie , but rather an effectual means to reconcile differences ; those that cannot now joyn together in prayer , will in a very little while if they be true saints sit together praising god , rejoicing in and loving one another in a langer measure than ever they loved their most dear relations or intimate friends upon ' earth . the shortness of time there is to differ in , the absolute necessity , and incomparable excellency and sweetness of mutual love bere and full communion hereafter , i desire may sway with me to watch over my own heart , that i stand not at a distance in spirit from any saint of god upon the account either of apprehension or injury ; as for the former i do not know that i was ever under a tentation to love any one less for his true conscience though not of my size . that thou mayest be fully instructed in the right art of numbring thy dayes , and prepared for the evils and afflictions which thou must of necessity meet with in them , is the hearty desire of , thy friend willing to serve thee in time about thy everlasting concerns . t.h. christian geography and arithmetick . matth. 6.34 . sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof . there are two things which we find in the course of the evangelists to lie with much weight upon the heart of christ , and which he seems to press upon his followers , with a more than ordinary seriousness argumentativeness , and affectionatenest : the one is , holy carelesness about the things of this life ; the other is , holy watchfulness and preparation for his coming : for this , read over at your leisure these scriptures , mat. 24.42 . to the end , and 25.13 . mar. 13.32 . to the end , luke 21.36 . the former is that which at present falls more directly , under my consideration ; having already treated of the latter in divers sermons . that i may make way to my text , be pleased to take notice of our . saviour's general dehortation , ver. 25. take no thought , &c. observe how particular he is , as if he designed to answer all the secret objections and surmisings of an unbelieving heart ; if i have meat , what shall i do for drink , and if i have both , how must i get clothes ? why saies he , be not careful about any of these , and he gives us several weighty reasons for what he sayes . 1. in the latter end of ver. 25. is not the life more than meat , &c. it is an argument from the greater to the less ; he that has given life , will he not maintain it ? it 's less trouble and charge for him to make a coat for thy body , than to frame thy body which was curiously wrought , rare embroidery , curious needlework ; a skin will serve for the back , and the slesh will serve for the belly , but the placing of the bones was not so easily done . 2. argument lies in ver. 26. from god's care of the inferiour creatures , the animals , the fowls of the air , and this is an argument from the lesser to the greater , it 's your heavenly father that feeds them : the master of the house will not feed his cattel without , and suffer his children to perish for want of bread within ; if god cares for oxen , then much more for saints . are ye not much better than they ? 3. ground , ab inutili , from the unprofitableness of this anxious & perplexing care , in ver. 27. which of you by taking thought , &c for neither if you be solicitous , are you the better ; and if you be not , are you the worse . 4. reason lies especially against taking care for raiment , from the consideration of the lillies of the field , the vegetables more inconsiderable than the the fowls , for they have life and sense , these only life ; but men have life , sense and reason , and christians have more , for they are made partakers of the divine nature and the life of god. if your reason will not help you here , one would think your faith should help you ; can you think that immortal souls , for whom god hath prepared such glory , shal be slighted here , and yet the fading , withering , perished grass be so much regarded ! which way soever a christian looks , he may find food for his faith ● when i see the fields so adorned , can i think that god will suffer me to go naked for want of a covering . 5. inducement is , ab absurdo , in the beginning of ver. 32. it 's not ingenious , not at all becoming you to be so carking and caring , it is a gentilish property , poor heathens that know of no better things , may be allowed to seek after these earthly matters ; but it is not suitable for those that have been acquainted with things of an higher nature , and of eternal duration ; it is not worthy , not christian ; your education and expectation should teach you better things , and spirit you to a more noble and honourable search and endeavour . 6. incitement is , a non-necessario , in the latter end of ver. 32. for your heavenly father knows , &c. he that made you , knows what you stand in need of , what your constitutions do require , how much will serve , how little nature requires , and how much less grace needs , if you have but little , do not call it poverty , but discipline ; he is your father . 7. motive is , a proprio medio , from the proper and most effectual way and means to secure a competency , and that is by seeking first of all the kingdom of god , ver. 33. he that would make earth sure , must first of all make heaven sure ; shall i be taking thought what to eat and drink here , and never fear begging a drop of water hereafter ? shall i be solicitous for clothes , and do not know but my soul and body may lie naked in the scorching flames of the wrath of god to all eternity ? besides , i have a promise of god for outward things , if i make it my business to seek after heavenly ; it is a very needless care ; god provides meat for me that i may not be taken off my work to seek after it . 8. ground lies in my text , and it is taken from the consideration of that sufficient trouble that each day is filled with ; you need not fetch the misery of another day unto this day , it hath enough full enough of its own ; some read it , the day hath enough with his own grief . i now came to the observations . doct. 1. which is implyed , the life of a christian is to be reckoned by the day : sufficient unto the day ; not to the week , or month or year , but to the day . i need not insist upon the proof of the point . what saies old jacob , fen and evil have the dayes of the years of my life been . it is observable that ( dayes ) is four times repeated in that verse . so job , man that is born of woman is of few dayes ; his dayes are determined . turn from him that he may accomplish as an hireling his day . take a third witness of this , and it is no other than a king and a prophet ; david ; the dayes of our years are threescore years and ten , &c. but a greater than all these is our blessed lord and saviour jesus christ , who tells us in the parable of the labourers in the vineyard , that they were hired for a day , which is the time of life ; and he calls his own life a day : abraham rejoyced to see my day . there is a natural day , and there is a metaphorical day , a day of time , and a day of opportunity , season , and dispensation ; mark the expression of our saviour , i must work the works of him taht sent me , whilst it is day , the night cometh when no man can work , whil'st i have time , time , and whil'st i have opportunity . so we read of the dayes of his flesh ; i might make this further appear by shewing to you ; 1. that we are taught to beg our bread for the day , give us this day our daily bread , and forbid to take thought for to morrow ; for why should i take thought for meat , when i know not whether i shall have a mouth to put it in , or for clothes when i know not whether i shall have a body to put them on . 2. we are to beg our pardon for the day , and to forgive our brother to day ; forgive us our trespasses this day : for as jacob sayes , thou may'st seek me in the morning , and i shall not be ; and for our brother , the sun ( which is the measure of the day ) must not go down upon our wrath : and if we come to the altar , and there remember that our brother hath ought against us , we must leave the gift before the altar , &c. we must not say that we will do it to morrow . 3. every night is a resemblance of death ; death is called a sleep , and the grave is called a bed ; the sun rises and sets , which measures time . 4. the commands and promises in scripture run for the present day , and none for to morrow , heb. 3.7 . to day if ye will hear his voice . ver. 13. exhort one another daily , whil'st it is called to day ; now is the accepted time : but to conclude the proof of this point , i shall and this , that our whole life-time is very fitly compared to a natural day . 1. as a day is but a short space of time , so is our life ; what is a day to a thousand years ? what is our time to eternity ? 2. as a day is cut off by the night , so is our life cut short & cut off somtimes sooner somtimes later , some dayes are longer than others , but none very long ; some mens lives are longer than others , but never a long life among them , all of them cut short , all of them cut off . 3. the day is succeeded by the night , so is this life by the darkness , the dayes of darkness which shall be many . there is a day which shall not be succeeeded by night , and there is an evening which shall be succeeded by light , but it is not this day . i now come to the reasons of the point , why must our lives be reckoned by the day ; and they are principally these four . reason 1. because our breath is in our nostrils , our lives hang by a small threed , how soon are our countenances changed , and we sent away ? how many that have been well in the morning , have been dead before evening , gone out in health , and a dead carcase brought home ? or else they have died and been buried abroad , and never came within their own doors more ? how many ways may a mans breath expire , and how quickly is it done ? ah , my brethren , how little is this considered , though nothing is more ordinary than to say , i little thought such an one would have been gone so soon , what an healthful lusty man was he , it was but such a day i saw him , and i thought he never looked better since i knew him , i thought i should have died long before him ; was not he at such a place , at such a meeting but a few dayes ago ? &c. oh friend ! . know his breath was in his nostrils ; and so it is with thee ; there may not be a step between thee and death for any thing thou knows ; a lurking distemper in thy body may rise up and pull thee by the throat , and all thy friends stand about thee , and none be able to rescue thee , and save thee from that deadly hand : a slip , a fall , a cross accident , a surfeit , &c. presently the health is gone . as it is with a venice-glass very useful whil'st it is whole , but one fall upon the ground breaks it , and than it 's good for nothing , but the broken pieces are thrown out to the dungbild so whilst breath is there , thou art very useful for many things , can walk , and work , and advise and manage affairs ; but when once thy breath is gone , and thy life like water spilt upon the ground which can not be gathered up again thy dead carcase must be taken up and carried out , and laid in the ground . reason 2. our times are in god's hands , and in our own , and we have no assurance of another day , therefore no reason why we should reckon of it ; my times are in thy hands : and so job , is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? are not his dayes like the dayes oftan hire ling ? the dise of man is measured ; by the will of god ; hitherto shall ●iy time come , and not further . as thou canst not add one cubit to thy stature , so not one minute to thy dayes . it 's well observed by one , as christ is the lord of the sabbath , so god is the lord of time ; and they who dye in a time when god forbids , yet dye in a time that god appoints . some men , nay most men , live as if they were masters of their own time , as if they had made a covenant with death , and articles with the grave . how does the apostle james reprove and cheek with all sevrity this great pride and arrogandy in men , that would be cutting out snippets , large threeds of time , when it was not at all in their own power , but was anothers right and this they would do without asking any leave , we say leave is light : see jam. 4.13 , 14 , 15. go to now ye that jay , to day or to mrrow we will go into such a city ; and continue there a year , and buy and sell and get gain , where as ye know not what shall be on the morrow , for what is your life , it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time , and then vanisheth away . for that ye ought to say , if the lord will , we shall live and do this or that . after the like manner does the prophet esay tax the wretchedness of this temper : to morrow shall be as this day , and much more abundant . time is god's peculiar and if he will not hold them guiltless that meddle with his name , and worship , and people , &c. no more will be those that take his time and spend it upon their lusts : friend , who gave you leave to promise and design and contrive and lay trains for so long a time ? did you come and ask me for my advice both about the thing and the time ? i 'le cut you short , i 'le give a nick in your time , and all your thoughts with all the links of them shall perish and fall to the ground . reason 3. because satan and his instruments are so malicious and bloody , and are so bent against the lives of christians : that is a markable expression in job 24.22 . he riseth up and no man is sure of his life ; wicked mens lives are cut short by the lord 's just hand , so that do not live out half their dayes , and righteous mens lives are cut off by evil mens unjust hands , so that they do not live out half their dayes , nor a quater ; witness the many bloody massacres that have destroyed the lives of thousands of men , women , and children , infants and sucklings . the devil and his instruments would not have you live a day if they could help it ; if satan were let loose in a few minutes there would not be a person alive in this congregation , and if the rage of the wicked was permitted to do its utmost , none of us could easily escape long with our lives , whilst we are in this world . among the men of the world , we should walk with our lives in our hands ; it s dangerous travelling in some places because of wolves , and bears , and wild beasts : i know no place in the world but is infested with such creatures as the scripture calls beasts , lyons , wolves , dogs , foxes , destroyers of the earth ; every saint of god may safely say , that he is afraid of bodily harm whilst he lives here . let me tell you god has wonderfully curbed the egyptian dogs , that no more lives have gone than there has ; the curs have been still barking , their tongues have kept moving , but their hands have been pretty well tyed up ; blessed be the name of our god , but that by the way . observable to this purpose : is that passage of cain and abel ; and cain talked with abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field , that cain rose up against abel his brother and slew him . there is the same rising at heart the same murdering humor ; and sprite in every cain against every abel , though there be not the same rising up : see for this and mark diligently , 1 job . 3.12.15 . the ground of the hatred will alwaies remain whilst there are good and bad upon earth , and therefore we may be expecting the fruits , he that hateth is a murderer , hatred is the embryo of murder . but further , jobs sons should have reckoned their lives by the day upon this account ; whether they were good men , or only a good mans children , needs not be discoursed here , if only the latter it was enough to entitle them to satans malice ; who having a little lether-length given him , presently brings the house about their ears , and kills every man and woman that was there : see job 1.19 . he was not long of doing it , he smote the four corners of the house , he did it to purpose . reason 4. the irruptions and inundations of the ocean of eternity , which once in an hundred years overflows the whole country , and carries away every living creature . it was said upon that great judgment of the death of the first-born in egypt , that there was not in house where there was not one death : not to mention those great inundations of the plague and pestilence , which sometimes sweep away an hundred thous and out of our city in one year ; not yet those eruptions of the sword which in a very few hours sinks thousands into the deep , and sends them into the great gulph of eternity : do but take notice of those over flowings that are usual and common , which do not cause wonder , oh that they might procure more observation than they do ! what day is there especially great places wherein there is not one or more found dead ? how frequently is the passing bell founding in thine ears ? how many spectacles of mortality old and young daily carried to the graved ? yet who layes it to heart ? burials are so frequent in cities that they are not regarded , and so seldom in the countries that they are not taken notice of . how many has thou known buried out of the house where thou lives ; if none , be sure thou reckon of one every day , and that is of thy self , as well as of other : go over the city into every house , and set whether you can find the same persons sitting by those fire-sides , and lying in those beds , that sate and lay there twenty years ago ; thou will not find many houses from whence some have not been snatched ; where death has not crept in at windows , and carried away an husband , a wife , a child , a servant , a friend : if thou find a free house , bid them look to it , for the next stood that comes , the water may flow in at their doors , and carry some of them as way into ocean of everlastingness ; there is no fenceing against death , no capitulating with it ; it is usually , ( though not alwaies ) so civil as to knock before it comes in , but it seldom stayes till you open the door to let it in , and say welcome death , now lord , lettest 〈◊〉 thy servant depant in peace : it will not be prevailed with for the least delay pray thee suffer me to go & bury my father to set my house in order , to give some directions about my children and estate , no i cannot stay , come away ; ay but let me first pray to god , and deal with him about my soul , no , thou must come now as thou art : this is the fourth and last reason why the life of a man , is to be reckoned by the day . i now come to the application . vse 1. is it so then that our lives must be reckoned by the day , i note in the first place , that every christian is to do all he can do , and all he has to do , upon the present day , and leave nothing to be done tomorrow . what saies solomon : whatever thine hand findeth to do , do it with all thy might , for there is no work , nor device , nor knowledge , nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest ; be sure thou even accounts daily , do every thing thou dost as if it were the last time thou should do it ; how heartily , how carefully will thou do it then ! let me pray now as if i should never have time to pray more , hear now as if this were the last opportunity of hearing : leave nothing to do to morrow that possible can be done to day ; what true christians should we be if we did not reckon of a morrow . to day is god's day , to morrow is satan's day , how many would have been good to day if thay had not though of being good to morrow : but see what a grand deceit lies here ; by putting it off till to morrow we gratify conscience in this that we intend to do it hereafter , but most of all please corruption in this that we do not do it to day . consider then thus with thy self , i will set all right with god now , i may be gone before morning , i may be taken away in my sleep and awake in eternity ; nulla dies sin● linea , we have been many dayes but we have lived but few : well then this is the first use , do all thou canst do , and all thou hast to do day , and leave nothing undone till tomorrow . 2. let this put a check to the cares and pleasures of this life ; my life is but short why should my care and delight be long ; it is not much we need nor long that we shall need any thing , we have but a body , a piece , and that is a small one , and a mortal one ; long reaches and designs are very unsuitable to a man that has but a dayes time . famous is the instance of the fool in the gospel ; luk. 12.19 , 20. i will pull down my barns , saies he , and i will build greater , and i will say to my soul , soul thou hast goods laid up for many years , eat , drink , and be merry ; but god said unto him , thou fool , this night shall thy soul be required of thee &c. if he had only reckoned of this day , he had not heard that dreadful word of , this night , or at least would not have been dreadful to him to have heard it . vse 3. hence we see what little cause we have either to fear or envy any man in the world , any wordly great man's what saies the psalmist , surely thou didst set them in slippery places , how are they brought into destruction as in a moments , &c. for this matter consult further those places , job . 21.13.30 . and 24.19 , 20 , 24. rev. 18.10.17.19 . ezek. 34.27 . &c. we use to say of some men in a way of reproach and scron , that they are but yesterday-men , and we may say truly of the greatest and highest and happiest in this world , that they are but men of to day , no morrow-men ; come to seek them in the mornings and they may not be persecutors and oppressors many threaten what they will do , but it may be to morrow they may be sick , the next week you may find them . cold in their graves , i remember a passage in story of one libanius , a great favorite of julian ther apostate ; julian was gone in an expendition into the east , against some that had made an insurrection against him , and resolved at his returned destroy all the christians , and utterly to root them out ; saied this libanius to one the christians in a scoffing manner ; where is now your carpenters son , meaning christ , what will he now do for you , to save you from the emperour ? to whom the christian replied boldly , this carpenter , as you call him , made the world ; a work above any carpenter , and he is now making a coffin for julian ; and so it proved , for julian was slain before his return : i will pursue , i will overtake saies proud pharaoh , the next news we hear of him , he is in the bottom of the sea as mute as the fishes that seed upon his dead carcase ; oh that oppressors would consider this ! vse 4. let this teach us patience under the greatest afflictions ; they are but for a day , or if you will but for a night , no man ought to think that he shall be miserable to morrow : our dayes are but few : and therefore our dayes of sorrow cannot be many . it is an hour of temptation , if it grieve you that your comforts stay with you so little a while , they are but day-comforts , you cannot prevail with them to lodge with you ; why , let this relieve you that your troubles are but night-troubles , they will be gone in the morning , they will not abide in your house why should i complain much of that , which for any thing i know may be ended before my complaint be at an end : for a conclusion , let us labour to live under the power of this doctrine ; if this truth were believed as it should , oh what abundance of thoughts , and cares and fears would be getting out of the meeting before you , and you would never feel them more ! how would the face of your affairs and families be changed ! you would let alone and lay by a great many things that you were very busie about before , and set upon doing some things you never did before ; or if you did them before ; you would do them so now as you never did them before : you would say , this thing must be done and done to day too , or else i may be undone for ever : for other things if i have time i may do them ; but if they be never done it will be no great loss to me : resign up your lives into god's hand 's every evening , and take them again from him by a new lease every morning . i come now to the second observation , which is this . doct. 2. that every day has its proper evil and peculiar trouble attending it , and enough of it . i need not stand much upon the proof of it , every ones experience bids me save my self this labour , our daily complaints discover our daily troubles ! where is the person that ever could say , this day have i lived , and met with no cross , no trial , no disappointment , no grief , no perplexity , every thing , every circumstance has been to my hearts desire , i could not have wished it otherwise ; but however take a taste of scripture-judgment in this matter : old jacob that tells you his years were few , tells you with the same breath , that they were evil too ; job that saies that man that is born of a woman is of few daies , does at the same time say that they are full of trouble ; and indeed seeing they are so full of trouble it s well for us they are so few ; and david that speaks of the shortness of our dayes , added this , yet is their strength labour and sorrow ; the best of them have trouble enough in them . i shall endeavour further to make it appear and evident to you in four instances . 1. daily temptations cause daily troubles ; how canst thou expect to be quiet one moment , that hath such an active and diligent enemy , who goes about night and day seeking whom he may devour ? he sleeps not in the night time , much less on the day time ; he is upon thee continually either as a tempter , or a troubler : what a quiet world should we have if it were not for the devil and his instruments ! what brave living will there be when they shall be chained up . there is no place but the devil is there ; he is constantly at meetings , and is one of the first there , who-ever come late , he is there betimes ; how should this shame you for your late coming ? what comes he for , but to disturb and distract : with vain ; unruly , worldly , wandring thoughts ? if thou go into thy closet , thou canst not shut him out thence for he is there before thee , and assoon as ever thou hast shut thy door , down he sits with thee , and presents thee sometimes with one sort of thoughts , sometimes with another sort ; sometimes he bids make haste , get thee down , get thy chapters read , and thy prayers said , such a business stayed for thee , such an one is to be spoken with , and you must not fail , your family wants you , a customer waits , &c. be but shout now , you may be longer another time : god is a god of mercy , if thou be indisposed now , god is a god of pity , he will pass it by , he knows the flesh is weak , &c. sometimes again with other thoughts , if he sees thee sit down to consider in good earnest about thy soul ; why , soul , what dost thou mean to make thy ; life so uncomfortable ? godliness is a chearful thing , thou comes into thy closet , and thou thinks many a sad thought , and weeps a great many tears , and puts up so many petitions , and spends so much time , and thou art never the better ; this is but to turn as a door upon the hinges , this life is not to be led , this is not to be endured , here comes no fruit at all ; it might even be as well not to make so much ado , and make religion a burden , you may do your duty to god , and please him as much with a great deal less trouble to your self ; how comfortably does many a good christian live that do not spend so much time alone , nor so many sorrowful thoughts , and yet are careful not to neglect their duty ; put away these troubled thoughts , and try how it will be &c. this is satan's language , and by the way let me observe four deceits , fallacies and lies in these few words he has spoken . first , it is a most false insinuation as if too much time and care could be spent in good service . secondly , the good christian he means , is the careless formal professor , that is much a stranger to the power of godliness . thirdly , here is a means to make thy thoughts more sad and perplexed than they should be , that so he may provoke thee to throw all away , all seriousness , all godly sorrow , as a temptation . fourthly , he would put this quite out of thy mind , that the soul that diligently waits at the foot of christ weeping and mourning , though for a while sorrow may rather seem to increase than abate , yet shall certainly at last meet with full assurance , with abundance of comfort , peace and satisfaction ; they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. but yet a little further , satan is in the shop , in the ware house , counting house ; medling with buying and selling , egging on to lying equivocation , bad wares , false weights , over-reaching , defrauding , and presently after to anger and discontent with servants ; and it may be at last to murmuring , this trade will not do , we cannot make both ends meet , so many bad debts , so much damaged goods , such bad markets ; but if he be on the encreasing and thriving hand , then he tempts to a self-pleasing proud humour , thou hast found the life of thine hand , therefore thou wast not grieved : and now thoughts come crouding in how to keep up and enlarge trade ; satan sits down with thee at thy table , and there he is tempting to forgetfulness of god , drawing fear off , keeping down thankful spirit , prompting to sensuality and gratifying appetite , &c. he lies down with thee , and is impatient whilst thou art bidding god good night , and has other work for thee , other meditations than those of the name and word of god ; and assoon as ever thou awakes in the morning ; he is with thee to distract thee and trouble thee : say now whether satan alone be not enough to fill every day with trouble . secondly , no condition free from temptations , the rich and the poor , the high and the low ; satan is in kings courts , and beggars cottages ; he is with the sick man , and the healthful , the freeman and the imprisoned , the honoured and the reproached ; no place free , no condition free . 2. daily wants cause daily griefs , to want is an evil , a misery , now the body and mind are alwaies wanting something : consider the restlesness of the body in a kind of tedious wearisomness stealing upon us in the very reflections , the interchangeable reflections of the body , we must sleep a while till we be weary of that , and then we must wake another while till we come to the former again ; we must eat a while till we be weary of that , and fast another while till we come to the former again ; we we must stand &c. whatsoever we turn to for our ease , there again we find our wearying ; these bodies of ours are like wayward crying children , that are no sooner quieted with one thing but presently complaining again ; so i must walk , i must sit , i must cool , i must warm my self again ; like the nurses toil , dress and undress , how long the very same things ? again , consider the trouble of laborious toiling and moiling in several callings and vocations to get a little supply for the wants of the body : since the time it was said , in the sweat of thy brows thou shal eat thy bread , the world is become a great correction of work-house , a general bridewel to task us all to our labours ; the very bread we put into our mouths , the very cloaths we put upon our backs , the very houses we put our heads into , what are they but evident arguments of mans great labour and pains ? as for the house , consider what a deal of labour must needs come between the timber standing uncut in the mountains , and the stones unhewn in the quarry , and the making of them now in the form of a fit house to dwell in ; as for thy cloaths thou puttest on , consider but all the labour that comes between the sheeps wearing them on their backs , and thy wearing them on thine ; as for the bread also which thou puttest into thy mouth , consider ( besides the plowing up the ground ) the great labour that comes between the seed-mans hand casting it into the ground , and thy hand putting it into thy mouth ; consider well but these , and then thou wilt acknowledge many great labours every day . i might add likewise the great trouble that comes in regard of sores , and sicknesses and infirmities ; they know well what this trouble means , that tell the clock whilst others sleep , that have wearisome dayes and nights appointed for them , that are seldom free from pains and weakness and griefs as much as they can well bear . consider also the manifold troubles of the mind by reason of disappointments and discontents from friends , from enemies , from children , from servants &c. will you now say that our daily wants and troubles that flow from thence are not sufficient to fill every day with as much affliction as ever it can hold ? 3. daily fears bring daily perplexities ; have you a day without its fears , fears about the state of your souls , whether your faith be right , your repentance unfeigned , your duties accepted , your works wrought in god ? whether you have savingly closed with jesus christ upon gospel-terms ? whether you have brought all to him , and take all from him ? whether you are truly married to him , and can groundedly say , my beloved is mine , and i am his ; i hare every false way , i have respect to all god's commandments , so far as i am acquainted with his will ? again , fears about holding out , my corruptions are strong , my temptations are pressing , i shal one day fall by the hands of my strong lusts and unruly affections ; if persecution should come i should do as peter did , i should want courage , i should dishonour god , i know not how to suffer imprisonment or be a martyr for the gospel and waies of christ : again fears of death , which keep some in bondage all their dayes , every day they do uprise ; what shall i do when i come to dye ? i cannot think of it but with amazement , i cannot look that king of terrours in the face , i neither know how to part with my comforts , nor yet how to endure the pains and pangs of death , and least of all to meet with god , who i have caufe to fear is not at peace with me ; and then what will become of me to fall into the hands of a living god who is a consuming fire ? again , fear of outward want ; how the world will hold out ? how i shall maintain my family and bring up my children ; such fears as these are daily companions to some : though by the way let them consider that fear want , that they want nothing so much as faith ; a little more trusting god , and a little less sinful ; foresight and needless care would do very well : now tell me whether all these fears and a great many such like , be not enough to spoil the comfort of our day . 4. daily defects and disappointments procure daily misery and vexation . the shortness that is in every creature-comfort , and which the soul cannot but be every day sensible of , must needs cause trouble ; i thought to have had such an easy seat , and the stool breaks under me , i promised my self so much comfort in this child , how are my hopes , and expectation frustrated ! i reckon'd that this design would have prospered and have done my work , and i see it has failed me ; i see these worldly enjoyments are but dreamish things , they are but shadows , they can feed the hunger of the soul , but they cannot feed the hungry soul ; i have been labouring for the wind , i never plcased my self in any thing , but to be sure i met with a cross in it : these outward enjoyments promise more than they can perform ; i never leaned upon them , but they deceived me , i never trusted them but they failed me , riches , and friends , and relalations make themselves wings and they flee away ; i was at the merry meeting but some things were wanting , and some passages did not please me : and thus you have the proof of the doctrine , i now come to give you the grounds and reasons of the point , how it comes to pass ( as you have already heard how it does appear : ) that every day should be so full of trouble , what is the matter ? why will god have it so ? take these three reasons in special . reason 1. the lord does it for correction of sin ; daily sins must have daily chastisements , there is a necessary connexion between sin and punishment , as between sowing and reaping , we are fowing and reaping every day . it is worthy your observation , that some kind of grain comes up sooner a great deal than others ; but the husband-man does so order his sowing , that commonly he reaps all together : some sins that are committed , are not punished till a great while after , again some sins are reckoned for immediately upon the commission ; some sad sinful seed comes up quickly , sown in the morning & reaped the same day , some not till a week or a month , or a year , or many years after : but it is so ordered that there is reaping work for every day ; i may be reaping this week what i sowed the last , and sowing this week for the next ; i may this year be teaping what i sowed last , or twenty years ago , as joseph's brethren did their cruelty to their brother ; i may in old age be reaping the sins of my youth ; thou writest bitter things against me and makes me possess the sins of my youth saith job . the fathers sow for the children , god punishes the iniquity of the fathers upon the children : and i may be reaping the fruit of my fore-fathers transgression , and i may now be sowing that seed that my posterity may taste the bitter fruit of , and set their teeth on edge . when i meet with any remarkable affliction more bitter than ordinary , then should i be thinking with my self , what seed was this of , what is the name of the seed that this fruit came from , what is the name of the apple , it is a very sowre one , it wrings me by the bowels and causes me to make faces , and groan and cry out ; what is the sins name ? what do you call that iniquity of mine that has laid me under this great distress ? is not the name of it self-love , back-sliding , falling from the fear of god , decay of love to god , unprofitablness under the means ; i have heard that such kind of seed does use to bring forth friut with such a taste or may not the name of it be love of the world covetousnes , or may it not be idolatry have not i set up something or other in my affections and esteem above god have not i made an idol of some comfort ? for i hava read that god is very jealous of his glory , and cannot endure that any thing should be in the throne of the heart equal to him , much less above him ; and upon this account i have know a him sometime kill a child in the mothers bosom a wife in the husbands bosom , an husband in the wifes bosom to the amazement and astonishment and even overwhelming of the survivor ; and all this because he was robbed of that love he ought to have had , and he will not give his glory to another : if the living have been the idol , the dead shall he thy punishment . those that have trusted in their wealth and the abundance of their riches , that have pleased and prided themselves in them , he has all on a sudden sent his serjeants and distreined and recovered all from them , by fire or water , or thieves , or that little moth his secret curse and blasting ; those that have lived carelesly and wantonly he has brought them to pinching & peverty ; some the lord paies with ready money , and lets them see their fruit assooh as ever they have sown their seed : let me not think therefore to want my troubles daily while i am committing sin daily ; there is none that lives and sinneth not , the righteous man falls seven times a day into sin , and let him not wonder if he get as many hurts as falls : moses and aaron were men as holy as the most , yet what sais the psalmist ? thou wast a god that forgavest them , though thou tookest vengeance on all their inventions ; they had their crooked affections , their daily infirmities , their continued irregularities , for which the lord thought fit to give them daily correction and chastifement , and this was consistent enough with his forgiving them ; for therefore they were chastned that they might not be condemned with the world , and so instead of a daily correction have incurred eternal destruction . to conclude this , wonder not at suffering , whilst you see sinning : they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same ; if you see the corn come up in rank clusters , you conclude the seed has fallen too plentifully there . reason 2. the lord fills our dayes with trouble for discipline and the exercise of grace ; if the sea was not rough , grace would be becalmed , there would be no motion ; faith , hope , self-denial mortification , &c. cannot live but in hard and rough , and stormy weather ; the more tempeltuous the sea is , the better faith works ; faith has but little employment , where there is much enjoyment : no grace honours god so much as faith doth , and the exercise of it ; and nothing gives faith that exercise as trouble doth . the ships are safest in the harbour , and the seamen quiet and out of danger in their beds at home ; but there is nothing to be gotten , and they may starve at , home , unless they venture forth to sea : how canst thou trust god when thy cupboard is full , thy barns and garners full ? it's true , thou mayest and ought to exercise faith then in acknowledging god , and depending upon the goodness and blessing of god in the enjoyment of them , and using them in his fear ; but the exercise of faith is much more difficult , and much less visible in such a condition : faith that is seen , is not faith ; till the stream be dryed up , thou canst not so well take thy fill of the fountain : when the water in the bottle is spent , then the well is best seen and discovered , see hab. 3.17 , 18. no such rejoying in god , as when we have nothing else to rejoyce in , no such grape as the wilderness-grape ; god tastes the sweetest , when the world is the most bitter : so repentance and mortification will go on the most prosperously , when the occasions , and means , and supports of lust and corruption are removed ; sensuality is sooner curbed by want than by plenty , and pride better checkt by disgrace than honours ; and a wandring , vain , perverse spirit sooner brought down by sickness and pain , than by health ; and the love of the world , delight in it , designs for it are more easily mortified by continual losses , and crosses , and fastings , than by successes , encrease , and prosperous returns ; we shall more readily be brought to believe on god alone , when we can see nothing but him ; the life of sense and the life of faith are quite contrary the one to the other . take a christian that hath lived in a quiet , serene , calm , and undisturbed condition for some years , never meeting with any considerable trouble ; take another that hath still been exercised with variety of afflictions , almost never without some great distress upon him in one kind or another ; let them both have been under the same means of grace , and advantages in that kind ; compare these two christians together , and you will find how much the weather-beaten ▪ saint will excel the other in liveliness , fervency , zeal , faith , humility , yea , even in a spirit and expressions of thankfulness , there will be no compare between them . prosperity is clogging , adversity is cleansing ; it 's an harder matter to endure , than to enjoy , any one can lie upon a feather-bed , but every one cannot lie under an hedg ; it 's more easie to love a child , than part with a child , to seek and possess than part with an estate , to love a good wife or husband than to bury them : all honourable things are difficult things , difficilia quae pulcra ; wisdom is honourable , the experienced man is the wise man , and he cannot be an experienced man that was never tried but in one conditions ; he that has travelled through all quarters , that there is scarce a country but he has been in , hardly an affliction but he has been under , that 's the man that 's company for a prince ; it 's worth sitting by such a man to hear him discourse of his travels , how he passed from one region to another , from one condition to another , how loth he was to enter into it , with , what amazement he was received into it , with what difficulty , distress and anxiety of spirit he passed on under it , how many times he had almost fainted , how wonderfully good and kind the lord was to him , how seasonably supports and supplies came in once and again , what ebbings and flowings he passed through ; how when he vehemently cried out , save me master i perish , presently the lord jesus appeared and said , be not afraid , it is i ; this dispensation has love in it , it is for thy good , it wil not hurt thee , be not so afrighted , not an hair of thy head shall perish by thy affliction , thou shall lose nothing but what would , have done thee harm to have kept ; how afterwards the lord quieted , composed and satisfied his soul , made him see how much need there was of such a severe providence , such a sharp passage , such a bitter dispensation ; as also how much love and goodness there was in it , which at first sight carried so much of the face of enmity , disturbance and destruction ; so that he comes to say , this affliction , this loss , this great trial , though i thought at first i could not have born it , yet i now see i could not have been without it ; as he said once , i had been undone if i had not been undone , i had perished if i had not perished ; and lastly , how he no sooner had got through one affliction , but the lord brought him to the borders of another ; he was no sooner landed , and safe in his harbour , but god bids him prepare for another voy age ; in those dayes was hezekiah seek unto death , see isa . 38.1 . comp . with 3 last verses of 37. cha . to hear him tell you how gladly now he would have taken a little rest , and was thinking , surely he should now meet with no more troubles so dismal , when presently another messenger came to tell him , that the lord did intend to try him again , ( the first chapter of job did not conclude his combate , ) and bid him make ready for a new on-set either in the same or another kind ; how he treated the messenger and spake wisely and kindly unto him in such language as this ; it is but lately that my lord laid an heavy and an amazing affliction upon me , it found me much unready and unprepared , i did storm and rage at it , i was as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke ; i was cast down and dejected , i did murmur and repine , many an hard thoght had i of my maker , and several unhandsom and unbecoming expressions came from me , some that favoured of despair , oh i shall never have a comfortable day more , my good dayes are gone , better for me that i had never been born , than to live to see this trouble ; why does the lord let me live , why does he not destroy me , it would be an happiness for me if some would come and take a knife and cut my throat , its happy for them that are dead , they endure no such tormenting pain , they sustain no such losses , they know not tht meaning of such piercing , heart-breaking sorrows &c. but it plesed the lord by degrees to bring me to more sober expressions , he began to convince me that i had deserved a great dealmore , it is a wonder i was out of hell , he set my sins in order before mine eyes ; and then i saw that he had puhished me less than mine iniquities did deserve , that if i had my due i should be in endless , easeless and remediless torment ; and then i came to acknowledg him , his justice , his mercy , and to fall down at his feet ; he then began to speak some comfortable words to me , to give me a little reviving , a little faith and hope in himself , and to let me see his end and design ih afflicting me ; he shewed me my work , and my transgressions wherein i had exceeded , he opened my ear to discipline , and commanded me to depart from iniquity : and now he has recovered me and made me to live in his sight , if it be his pleasure to bring me into the fire again , i know it is for the purging away of my iniquity ; i desire i may not dishonour him , and then let him do with me what he pleases ; i hope he will lay no more upon me than he will enable me to bear , and then his will be done : thus you see what great experience is to be got by affliction , how needful it is for the exercise of grace . reason third , the lord fills our day with trouble for distinction sake , that we may know earth from heaven and god from the creature . to know the meaning of that text , there remaineth therefore a rest for the people of god ; if it were not so we should be apt to say , it is good being here . there are two things the world is hardly brought to believe . first , that quietness and peace and rest cannot be obtained here : and secondly , that it is to be enjoyed hereafter , and in himself . now it is impossible that we should ever meet with any full contentive good under heaven ; if one could show me that which the tempter shewed our saviour even all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them , they are too beggarly a good to give content : excellently to this purpose , one of the antients ; o lord saies he , thou hast made us for thy self , and our hearts cannot be at quiet , till they come to rest in thy self ; i tumble and toss this way , and that way , upon back and belly , this side and that side , and every way to get a little ease , and yet i find every thing to be hard , and god is the only true rest . no satisfaction to he had from any thing here below ; look but upon the several conditions of men in city , court and country , and see if every one would not be a little higher , a little richer , and a little bettered in estate ; or else what means their endless carking and caring ? what means so many hands working and heads hammering about this thing and that thing ? there is not the veriest frock and apron but by little and little it would hirstle up to the rob and purple ; not the poorest friars cowle but by step and step have at the popes mitre . this unsatisfied desiring of one thing after another ( which is very troublesome and grieving ) the preacher elegantly calls the walking of the desire ; better , saies he , is the sight of the eyes , that is , the comfortable beholding and enjoying these things we have , then the walking of the desire , the rambling of it after the things we have not , or as some render it , the walking soul : a walking soul is very uncomfortable , to be haunted night and day with a spirit of greediness and unsatisfiedness , to have its company going out and coming in , lying down and rising up ; nay , to have disturbing and troublesome dreams too . the lord never intended that the world should be a quiet place ; do you know any place upon earth that a man may go to have one day of rest , and freedom from care , and trouble , within and without ? i would go many miles to see that place , and enjoy such a day : he that kept the key of such a place would quickly heap up treasures ; what flocking would there be thither from all quarters , of all sorts of people ! you would see great numbers of great-one and noble-men posting thither . the apostle dehorts us from seeking things that are upon the earth , & the reason is , because they are things upon the earth , it is a bad soile , it is a troublesome air . men may save themselves a lobour of shiting from one condition to another , for till they shift out of the world , let them never expect to sit easily ; no rest to be found in any part of the earth , no restlesness in any mansion in heaven . i might still prosecute this matter of the wandring of the desire , which is in all conditions of men upon earth : does not he that is just within the presence chamber door , wish he were a little nearer the chair of state ? and he that is the third man to the chair , wish he were the second ? and he that is the second , wish he were the first , that he might have the princes ear ? the first grieves because the chair is not his , and he that hath the chair wishes it were advanced a step higher , that whereas he has but one kingdom , he had two , and he that hath two wishes he had more , and he that hath more , wishes he had all , and he that hath all , is not content because he hath all a strange thing ! at first he was not content because he had not all ; and now he is much less content , because he hath all for then he had some hope to obtain his desire , when he aimed at all , but now he has no hope to obtain his desire , because all will not suffice ; but he complains there are no more worlds . and now i am fallen into this discourse , give me leave to answer an objection . object . are there not many that will say , that had they but so much , they would be content , ay that would they with all their heart , and never desire more ; does not this contradict your doctrine , and that which you are designing to prove all this while ; that he that lives upon earth in any part of it , or in any condition in it , must expect trouble every day , all their life time and enough of it ? answer . 1. perhaps they know not what they say ; are there not many that thought before they had no great stomack , that when good victuals are set before them , they find a stomack , and desire there to taste of one dish after another ? are there not many that designed to buy no great matters , that when they are in the fair , in the midst of so many pretty commodities , desire this thing and that thing ? are there not many that when they put off from shore , thought to go but thus far to sea for recreation , that the wind arising are afterwards carried away into the deep god knows whither ? so these unexpected winds rise as often by land as by sea , the wind of affection , of too much love and desire towards the world and joy in it ; and carries men a way into the wide world god knows whither . 2. this that they say , that if they had so much they would be content , fully content and not desire a whit more ; this is only out of a ground of unlikely-hood that ever they should come to more , or scarce to that , and not as though that same would absolutely satisfy and content them ; as sickly men , or old men , that in likely-hood cannot live long , will say perhaps , that were they certain to live but so many years , they would never desire to live longer , not as though simply that would satisfy them ( for every man naturally hath an infinite desire to live for ever ) but because considering their present state in all likely-hood they cannot go beyond , or scarce attain unto that period of time ; and therefore they say that were they but certain to live so long they would even desire no more ; but restore to the sickly man his perfect health again , and to the old man his former youth ; and try my parties then if so few years will content them , if they will be so moderate in their desires : just thus many men , because in al likely-hood they can never attain to greater matters , and scarcely to those they instance in , therefore they seem to have moderate desires , and such , and such things will content them ; but give them all the opportunities and means that others have , and then see if their desires be not the like : there are many would climb higher , if they had but a ladder , and he that laid 38 years at the pool of bethesda , if he had had any to help him in , he would not have laid there any longer than the others . 3. and lastly , if there be any that when they had got somuch or somuch , be truly for worldly matters content , and neither seek for nor desire more , then this contentedness ariseth not out of the nature of the thing , but out of the moderation of their own minds ; that seeing their bodies about which all the toil is , are neither so great , nor to last so long , therefore there is not need of much . again , it ariseth out of the ground of the apostle ; that godliness is great gain with contentment , necessarily drawing contentment with it , because any thing will serve as present to him that hath the reversion of heaven , any place will serve him that looks at last for god's right hand , any fare will serve him here in the day-time , that looks at night forthe lamb's supper ; and therefore it remains still good , that of themselves these things cannot satisfy any man , and give content : but stil let him have never so much , yet like the assyrian monarch , he cannot keep at home , enlarging his desire as hell , and as death , but gathereth unto him all nations &c. i have been the longer upon this point , because it is so hard a thing , as was hinted , to perswade even professors , that his world has no true comfort in it , nor can it possible have any . trouble and enough of it ● the genius of the world and the infeparable companions of every man's life in it , and thus god will have it to distinguish earth from heaven , that men may be as it were driven to seek after that happiness that is above . give me leave to add one thing more before i come to the application , & that is this ; i would ask no plainer evidence that there is no satisfaction to be found upon earth in any part or place of it , but trouble and enough of it ; because your greatest men with whom , if with any , some fair halcyon peaceable quiet dayes should have been found , have complained so of discontents that they have been weary of their fortunes . augustus caesar , as seneca hath it , that was so great a monarch ; yet often and often , again and again intreated the senatours that he might lay down his empire , and become a private mans and never thought more joyfully of any day than of that wherein he should lay down his greatness ; he knew by experience what a deal of toil and trouble his greatness cost , and felt how heavy the crown was on his head , whose glory and glistering others admire . and tisberius after he could find no content in his empire , nor could tell how with safety to turn private man , complained that fortune had set him a cock-height , and then took away the ladder that he could not come down when he would . and above all solomon that had so flourishing a kingdom as the best , and sought good so accurately and universally , what might be that good , for the sons of men , which they would so fain lay hold of under the sun ; and what can the man do that comes after the king : yet after all this search : the sum is this , all is vanity and vexation ; this is proof enough of my doctrine if i had no other : he went about to cause his heart to despair of all the labour which he took under the sun , king's palaces say , that peace and quietness is not in them , the crown and purple say they have not heard of it ; ( but on the contrary , trouble and vexation , and anguish and sorrow and , enough of it ; ) why should we then not think , that it is no-where to be found ? if great men that have so many fences against affliction cannot escape , how shall poor , infirm , naked men avoid the dint of it ? i remember an answer of one apollonius thyaneus to one who asked him , whether he believed the story of the cup made of an unicorns-horn , that he who should drink out of it should be priviledged from all diseases , wounds and poisons ? i will believe it , saies he , if i shall know that the king of the country where the unicorn lives shall be immortal and escape death : he thought if any then the king would procure that cup and enjoy the benefit ; so if there be any that could free their dayes from trouble , or so much trouble as others may have , king 's and great-ones would surely hit on it ; but we find it is quite otherwise . the doctrine standing thus clear with the grounds and reasons of it ; i come now to draw some inferences from it . vse . 1. in the first place i note this ; that every man thinks he has trouble enough , and would not willingly bear more than he has ; take any man in the world , and come to him , what day you will chuse , and what time of the day you will , and say to him : sir , do you want any trouble ? no , saies he , i have trouble enough ; if it be a duty , i must take it though troublesome , but cares and crosses i want none ; come to the king , and say , sir , do you want any trouble ? he will tell you , he has enough of his own ; the crown of gold has thorns in it , every man you meet with , if you would sit down and hear him , he will give you a large catalogue of his griefs ; and tell you either of some inward trouble from the fear and sense of the wrath of god , from the temptations and bufferings and assaults , suggestions and injections of the wicked one , or else arising from the corruption ; and deceitfulness of his own heart ; or he will acquaint you with some outward trouble , full of discontent , it may be , from superiors , by putting up many a wrong and injury at their hands , from inferiours by back-biting , slander , and detraction ; from equals by much unsociable fallings out , or being in every thing our rivals or emulous copemates to give us the check at every turn , from friends by unkind falling away , or treacherous disclosing of secrets , or failing in the time of need , like jobs friends : for now ye are nothing , saies he , ye see my casting down are afraid . my brethren have dealt deceitfully with me as a brook , and as the stream of brooks they pass away : from enemies also by doing us ( as we look for no other ) all the despite they can : from wife or husband by many frowns or unkind fits between them ; from servauts by common negligence and unfaithfulness &c. and as from all sorts of people , so in all sorts of conditions ; in the married estate , discontents sometimes for want of children , but much more for having unthriving children , and little less from having good and hopeful ones sometimes untimely taken away , or that they must leave such to the wide world , without leaving any thing to such pretty babes . the married body hath discontents in being put to care for others , and the single person is not without it , that he hath none to care for him ; masters complain of bad servants , and servants think that masters are very cross and froward ; see the apostle paul's catalogue of his troubles , 2 cor. 11.23 . &c. there is trouble in getting the world , trouble in keeping it , and trouble in parting with it . i shall conclude this with that of the wise-man who spoke by experience , and there 's nothing like it ; what hath man of all his labour , and of the vexation of his heart , wherein he hath laboured under the sun ? for all his dayes are sorrow , and his travel grief ; yea , his heart taketh not rest in the night ; this is also vanity . vse . 2. i note the goodness of god , that seeing the day hath trouble enough , he has so ordered it , that trouble is but for a day ; if many dayes , and many troubles met together it would be sad ; it s well that dayes of trouble and extream misery are shortened . in hell there is a life without end , and trouble without end ; seeing it is sharp , it is a comfort it is so short . vse . 3. i note the great difference between this life , and the life to come ; many dayes and full of joy , for few dayes and full of troubles . in thy presence is fulness of joy , at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore . vse . 4. the great mistake of promising a better morrow ; if you have not the same trouble to morrow which you had to day , you shall have another in the room of it , and full as bad ; to morrow may not be , and if it be , it will not be better ; it is looked upon as great vanity and wickedness in them that said , to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant . vse . 5. the great mercy of god that has been pleased to order suitable support , and sufficient supply for the day . as thy day is , so shall thy strength be . vse . 6. there is comfort in this , that we canot expect a worse morrow ; more than enough cannot be , fear of a worse makes this the worst . the lord will lay no more upon you , than he will enable you to bear : if thou shalt have burthen enough for thy bearing , so thou wilt have strength enough for thy burden ; if thou hast but little trouble , thou has but little strength , and the burden is enough for thy strength ; so if thou hast great troubles thou hast proportionable strength , and so the strength is enough for the burden . to conclude this text , my care will not make to morrow's trouble less , and therefore why should it make this day's trouble more ; i am resolved to part with a great many thoughts and cares , which have been very chargeable to maintain , have eaten up my strength and comfort , and i have got nothing by them , they shall now all be banished , let the morrow take thought for it self , each day hath enough with his own grief . christian geography and arithmetick . psalm 90.12 . so teach us to number our dayes , that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom . to omit what might be spoken of the pen-man , scope , division and principal matter of this psalm ; i come presently to draw out the observations and doctrines which may be raised from the text. doct. 1. the dayes of men are numbred , it is appointed for all men once to die. i shall endeavour to open the point and then apply it : for the opening of it , i shall enquire into the import of the phrase of numbring dayes , or what is implied in this expression of numbring our dayes . 1. this , that our dayes are numbred does denote the shortness of them ; eternity cannot be numbred , what ever is in god is incomprehensible and innumerable , the dayes of god are not to be numbred . we say he is a poor man that can number his flock , that can tell how many sheep and cattel he has , the dayes of a man are soon told they are quickly reckoned up , he that hath but a little skill in arithmetick , may cast up the number , he that is but newly entered into the table of numeration may count them , if he know units and tens he may do it , he need not go as far as hundreds . david tells us how the account went in his dayes , and since his time , the number is not increased , sin has rather shortened them , and cut them off . the dayes of our years are threescore years and ten , and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years , yet is their strength labour and sorrow , for it is soon cut off , and we stee away . 2. it holds forth the fixedness of the bounds of them : the time of their ending is set and fixed , and there is no passing beyond those bounds which the lord hath made ; there is no altering , no removing of them , god is exact to his numbers , he will not upon any consideration revoke his decree and determination in this kind ; seeing his daies are determined , the number of his moneths are with thee , ( purely in thy power ) thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass . the time of the israelites captivity was out in the night , and though in 430 years , as we use to say , a day would break no square , much less a piece of a night ; yet , that the lord might be exact to his own prefixed time , he will be at the charge to light them out rather than stay till the morning . so belshazzar was slain in the night , because , as some think , then the captivity was out . if a man could give all the world , he could not purchase one hour beyond his appointed time ; death 's not to be delayed , it will not be bribed , it wil fetch a man out of his bed at midnight , and not stay till morning , it will seize upon a man , when he is abroad , and not suffer him to go home , and take his leave of his family , and set his house in order ; it will not give a man time to make his will , nor to speak a few words which might prevent abundance of trouble , and law-suits that fall out about the division of his estate ; where-ever thou art , what ever thou art doing , when the minutes of thy life are expired , death strikes thee , and there is no avoiding it . 3. it sets forth the transitoriness , the slipperiness , the swiftness of our daies . how does the scripture labour for similitudes to set this forth ! certainly to know and believe this is of very great importance to our faith , or else the spirit of god , would never gather so many illustrations from sense ; it would be worth while to gather them up , and open them , but they are frequently done by others , and ly so obvious to your search , that i need not spend so much time about it ; only give me leave , seeing it is a business of so great consequence , and so very little minded , to deal a little plainly and pathetically with you . alas , alas , where is that professor , that sits down and seriously thinks with himself , how swiftly his time passes away ? who knows not that time is short , and passes swiftly away away it is a theme for school-boyes ; ay but let me tell you , few consider it , or live under the power of it ; it is a meditation fit for the best saint upon earth , and without dispute to live in the right belief of it , would be an especial and principal means to recover the power of godliness which is so much decayed in this last age . do you think that professors could be so formal , and secure , and worldly , if they lived every day as their last , and performed every duty as their last ? would there not be more zeal , and life , and love , and heavenly-mindedness ? do you believe that we spend our years as a tale that is told , as a word , as a meditation , swifter than a weavers shuttle ; that our life is as wind , and vanisheth away as the cloud : that our dayes are swifter than a poste , you know how swift a poste is , he passes by so fast , you can take no notice of him , you get but a glimpse of him , you could not know him again if you saw him ; so do our dayes post away , how are we hurried in haste , haste , post-haste from one thing to another ! poste to bed at night , put off your clothes , post-hast , poste up in the morning and put them on again ; pst to your meals , and post from them again ; post to your business , and post from it ; how do sabbaths ; and sermons , and opportunities post by , and that in such hast , that you cannot remember them when they are gone ! it may be in twenty four hours you have forgot all . how many sermons that you have heard have lived a moneth with you ? what was the message of god to you this day moneth ? the matter as it was passing by did much affect you , you were much taken with it , and thought you should have known , and remembred that matter as long as you had lived ; but it seems it went by in such haste , the time of the meeting passed away so swiftly , that it has happened to you , as to a man that looks his natural face in a glass , he beholdeth himself , and goes away , and straight way forgets what manner of man he was ; so you have forgotten what manner of matter it was that you heard , that you were so affected with , and melted under , that your soul did so fully close with , & you could so evidently witness to the truth of it ; how lively , it was represented to you , how experimentally you did receive it , what goodness you tasted in it and thought that taste would have never gone out of your mouth ; now no impression remaining , the text and every word of the sermon so posted away , so far gone that they cannot be recalled or recovered . if a painter would take the picture of a man , the man must sit in a steady posture , but our comforts perish in the using , they are not sitting comforts ; we are so interrupted , crowded , that we get little of the company and enjoyment of them solomon had a mind to have the comfort of wine , and he got it alone , for he acquainted his heart with wisdom , and was freed from those excesses , extravagances , and disturbances which commonly keep company with the drinkers of wine , but he concludes that all was vanity and vexation of spirit , and there was no profit under the sun. a man can have no time to sit with his comfort and enjoy them , but he is either interrupted , or the comfort is gone . but to leave this similitude , he sayes , his dayes are swifter than a post : it is well observed by mr. caryl , that a poste staies to change horses , but the chariot of the sun , which is the natural measure of time , never staies , but is in continual motion : i might add this also , that the artificial measures of time , which are continued by men , are in continual motion ; the sands in the hour-glass are always running , or else it is of no use ; the wheels in the clock and watch are alwayes moving , or else they are of no use at all ; if the watch be down , it is good for nothing , for it 's only use lies in motion . you may see this similitude of a post excellently laid open by mr. caryl upon the place , as also those two more which they find in job 9.26 . my dayes are passed away as the swift ships , & as the eagle that hasteth to the prey . ships upon the sea under sail before the wind pass away very swiftly , and leave no impression : the eagle is a bird of the strongest wing , the swiftest fowl , and a greedy fowl ; she soares alost , and is quick-sighted , and soares down upon her prey , as a thunderbolt , as a bullet , as an arrow , and she leaves no impression in the air. now , saies job , my dayes are passed away as the eagle that hasteth to the prey . i shall forbear the prosecution of other similitudes ; our dayes are compared to smoke , to a dream , to a shepherds tent , to a vapour , to a shadow , to a flower , &c. the aptness of which similitude i leave to your own considerations . 4. this , that our dayes are numbered does likewise imply thus much , that our work is numbred to our day , our work is cut out for the day ; god makes no empty dayes , as every day has its trouble , so every day has its work . to every thing there it a season , and a time for every purpose under the sun ; and it is as true , that there is a purpose for every season , as well as a season for every purpose ; and happy is that man that knows his season for his purpose , and his purpose for his season , that knows his day for his work , and his work for his day , and does his dayes work upon his day ; when our work is finished , then our dayes shall be ended : but alas for wicked men , their dayes end before they begin their work ; they do work that god never allotted , or allowed any time for : there is a time to build , and a time to plant , and a time to morn , &c. but there is no time to sin . some know their work yet do not do it , and these will be beater with many stripes : the great correction-house of hell is prepared for those that would not work whil'st they had day , and time , and light , and opportunity , and assistance , and whatever might have an influence upon the promoting of their work ; be sure thou examine the work thou art about , and ask thy self strictly these two questions . 1. is this work for any time , is it to be done at all ? 2. is this work proper for this time ; does the work and the time correspond and suit one another ? it may be sinful thoughts arise when thou art at duty , let them know there is no time allotted for them , much less at such a time ; it may be worldly thoughts come in about thy family and calling , let them know there is a time for them , but they must keep their place and due distance at such a season ; perhaps some good thoughts may come in , which yet are not suitable to the work which thou art engaged in , tell them , they shall be encouraged in their proper time ; god is a god of order and not of confusion and distraction ; there is a time to read , a time to hear , a time to meditate , a time to pray , a time to confer about good things , and these duties help one another in their place and order . but it is not unusual for him that sometimes transforms himself into an angel of light to inject even good things in an unseasonable manner which tend only to distraction , and not to edification and promoting communion with gods and he is a wise christian that knows how to manage himself , that there may be no interfering of duties . i cannot but break out and tell you , how hard a thing it is to be a right christian , a chriitian indeed , even-squared according to gospel-rule and proportion . the misery of man is great upon him , because he knows not his work and his time ; the devil takes , great advantage of poor christians that have strong affections and but weak judgments , and does so bewilder them and cast such mists in their way , even upon this very account that we are speaking of , that i begin not to wonder at the many complaints i daily hear from christians of unbelief , unprofitableness under ordinances and the means of grace discontentedness & falling out with their conditions ; they are much unacquainted with their proper , work in its proper season ; satan is a spirit of disorder and confusion , and he knows how to entangle the belt duty thou doest , and perplex the most regular exercise of thy graces : the only way thou hast to help thy sely is seriously to consider , whether this and the other notion and suggestion comes from god ; is this according to rule , does the gospel bid me think this , and speak this , and do this ; to the law and to the testimony . let me take my bible into my hand , and see whether i can find a fixed , a stated rule for such imaginations , for such perplexities , for such becalmings , for such expressions and actions ; what faith the scripture ; and how readest thou ; my lord and saviour answered the devil still , with a scriptum est , it is written ; if i cannot tell him , it is written ? i may ask him the question , is it written ? dost thou speak from the word of god ? dost not thou wrest the word of god ? dost not thou add nor diminish ? does the lord indeed require and call for this thing at my hands ? is it any part of that work that he has appointed for me in my day , that i should at any time distrust him , or look upon his care as insufficient either for my soul or body ? are not the alsufficient merits of the lord jesus tendered to me without any exception , but what i make within my self ? does not he command me to believe , and is not this my proper work that i shoud be found labouring in ? is there one in the book of god that does incourage me to question either his ability or willingness to save me ? it is the work of satan to make obstructions in a man 's own self , and then to lay them at god's door ; but is it any part of my work to believe him of regard him ? it is thy every dayes work to believe with all thy heart ; and if thou canst say , that thou art willing to give up thy self to the lord jesus be saved and sanctified by him , to be pardoned and purged by him , to bring nothing to him , to keep nothing from him , to deny thy sinful self , thy righteous self , and ( if he call for it ) thy natural self ; thou mayest conclude thou art in thy proper work which is suitable for every season , and that thou art observing the order of god , and appointment the lord jesus ; for , this is the work of god , saith our lord , that ye believe on him whom he hath sent . and what ever it is that does obstruct and hinder this work , comes from satan and not from god ; it is a work that was never numbred out by god for thee to do for it is according to his mind and pleasure , that every one should say as his apostle paul did , the life that i live it is by faith in the son of god ; and the work that i do , is to be alwaies exercising and putting forth acts of faith upon the lord jesus . and as for the concerns of my body , is it any part of my work or duty , according to gospel-rule , to be carking , and caring , and vexing my self , how i shall maintain that ; what i should eat and drink , and wherewithal i should be cloathed ? has not he engaged his providence for me ? is not his express word , and is it not my proper work to believe it ? be content with such things as ye have . for be hath said , i will never leave thee nor forsake thee . hath he given me a kingdom , and will not he give me a staff to walk to that kingdom ? as i have heard it well observed by a worthy minister , will he give me heaven , and will not give me earth ? will he give me an inheritance and will he not give me spending money ? can i trust him for my soul , and can i not trust him for my poor frail body ? is not food and ralment within the covernant as well as life and salvation ? did he ever put me upon such work as this , as to get my own breads , and leave me to my own hands . it s true , as he has told me , that in the sweat of my brows i must eat my bread ; but he never said i should do it in the care and trouble , and grief of my heart , i must work indeed , but the care of me lies with him , he is bound to maintain me , it is not my labour , but his blessing that must do it . i am but a journy-man , the work is not mine but his ; i must be at his allowance , he has : set me my dimensum , my task ; and it is purely in his disposal how i must be maintained , what he will give me of these outward things , whether much or little : he knows best my constitution ; what i can bear , what may be convenient for my passage ; what may be helping and not clogging in my journey to heaven , and if i have but little of the present world ; i must not call it poverty , but discipline . i conclude therefore , it was never intended by the lord to be any part of my work , or to take up any part of my time , to sret and perplex my self , how i should have provisions to carry me or my family through the wilderness of this world. but to proceed , this very thing of not numbring the work to the day , and so answering the design of god in giving the day , is that which proves fatal to persons and people , and becomes their utter ruine . how does our saviour weep over jerusalem and breaks out into these mournful expressions . sayings , if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day , the things which belong unto thy peace , but now they are hid from thine eyes . for the day shall come upon thee , that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee , and compass thee round , and keep thee in on every side ; and shall lay thee even with the ground , and thy children within thee , and they shall not leave in thee , one stone upon another . good lord , what is the cause of all this misery ? why will thou deal so severely with thine own and only people ? surely there is some great things in the bottom ; what have they done ? dost thou ask what have they done ? it , is for something they did not do when they had an opportunity on purpose given for doing of it . because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation . god gave them his ordinances , the means of grace , he waited a great while upon them , to see whether they would profit under them , and prove an holy and reformed people ; but they not minding the lord's end in being at such charge with them , continued a careless , formal , worldly , contentious , and a very unholy sinful people ; yea , grow worse and worse , therefore &c. the lord help us , my brethren , to know the day of our visitation , our tranquillity is lengthened out , our liberties continued , we enjoy sabbaths , and sermons , and ordinances , one exhortation and admonition after another , precept upon precept , warning after warning ; we have also some lesser corrections and chastisements intermingled , and what is all this for ? that we should bring forth fruit to god , that we should become an heavenly and serious people , that our faith might grow exceedingly , and the charity of every one of us all towards each other might abound . but if we go on as we do , bringing forth so many truits of the flesh , remain carnal , frothy , so lukewarm , & indifferent in the things of religion , dead under the opportunitie of life , with so much formally in duties & under ordinances , turning as a door upon the hinges , neither well with the means of grace , nor well without them : with so much outside in our services and performances , so little presling after inward communion , with god with so little zeal for the name and honour , and truths of god , so little sence of the sins of others , to mourn over them reprove them , of the suffering of others , to mourn with them , and bear their burthens ; so great lovers of the world , so desirous of having much , so little contented with our conditions ; ( what , never an heart moved yet at the hearing of all this , is there none cry guilty ) so unjust , equivocating , overreaching , and unwatchful over our tongues in trading and bargaining ; so little thinking of the royal rule , to do as we would be done by so vain in our discourses , so upcircumspect in our conversations , so sensual and unmortified , such giving liberty to the flesh , indulging and making provision for it , so comformable to the world , with such symptoms of pride in heart and habit , with so much envying one another , back-biting and evil speaking , so little true hearty gospel-love amomg professor and christians , that all pretend to be followers of the same christ , and hope to live in one heaven , with so much carnality ; in having the faith of christ with respect of persons , in being factions and making parties and sidings , and keeping up nick-names in religion , ( a sore evil ) so sparing and niggardly in your almes-deeds : and which is the ground of all the former , so little in your own hearts by self-reflexion , self-examination , self-humbling , abhorring and abasing ; and lastly ; so little delight and joy in god , and a continual eyeing and looking up to the person of jesus christ who is at god's right hand , at the glory he is in , the work he is there doing for his saints , intercedeing and preparing ; together with the great power and glory he shall shortly appear in , when he comes the second time to salvation and judgement . i say , if we shall continue thus guilty , as you have heard in the particulars mentioned , and many more i might add , together with the daily grieving the holy spirit of god by not praying for it , not watching , obeying , and quenching its motions ; you may very suddenly expect such sharp and astonishing dispensation as make me even tremble at the very thoughts of them ; read over the book of the lamentations , and weep as thou reads : i remember what the prophet said to hazael , you may turn to it , 2 kings 8.11 , 12. take another text or two to shew of what concern it is , that men should know how to number their works to their time and season , rev. 2.21 , 22. and i gave her space to repent of her fornication , and she repented not , bebold i will cast her into a bed ; and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation , except they repin of their deeds , and i will kill her children with death , and all the churches shall know , that i am he which searcheth the reins and heart ; and i will give to every one of according to your work . do you english and apply this text , you have heard it read to you ; but hold sits before you leave it , pray tell us what should be the meaning , of that expression : and all the churches shall know &c. god forbid that there should be any churches or members that should not be right in this principle , to acknowledge god to be the searcher of the heart . the omniscieney of god is confessed by all that are not professed atheists ; but cannot tell what to make of that expression , that all churches shall knows ; if it had been thus , and all the world shall know , or all the wicked of the earth shall know , or , & all the enemies of god shall know , we should not have wondred at it ; give us your thoughts about it truly , friends , i cannot but be troubled at what my present apprehensions are will tell you what the lord sets upon my spirit , his blessing go along with in there is in churches so much lukewarmness , such resting in formes and external services , such sinful tolerations , and hearing with sin , such keeping and covering iniquity in the skirts of churches not making use of gospel-rule ; to keep themselves clean and pure , and to purge out iniquity ; as here the church of thyatira suffered that woman jozabe which called her self a prophetess to teach & seduce my servants to commit formcation , & to eat things sacrificed to idol i say there is such failings in member of churches , so little exercise of discipline , such hypocrisy , so little love to and care of one another , so little of the power and life of godliness that it makes it too apparent , that the lord is not so acknowledged and owned to be the searcher of the heart , so as he ought to be ; external priviledges are so trusted to without eyeing god in them , such things are done and suffered in short ; so little fear , reverence and delight and so much shew , officiousness , outside , external pomp , as if the lord were indeed like one of us , taken with appearance and looked to no more than barely the work done ; nay , indeed as if he were like one of the idol gods of the heathens , that had eyes and saw not , ears and heard not ; as if things might be concealed and kept from him . there is no respect of persons with god , when he comes into the church , he has not regard to him , that wears the goldring , or him that that fits in the highest place , or her that wears the best gown ; but to him or her that is of a pure , holy , contrite , humble heart , that fears god , and trembles at his word : not hath he laid down one rule for the rich , and another for the poor ; no man's greatness can compound for him to have abatements made to be connived at and little notice taken of him , if he do make a trip , or prove a little slack in his place & duty . and now observe what follows in the very next words ; and all the churches shall known &c. and i will give to every one of you according to your works ; i will deal with you not according to your fair shews , and fine appearances , and specious pretences , and good language , and honest expressions : trust ye not in lying words , saying , the temple of the lord the temple of the lord &c , the church the church-priviledges . i will examine your waies and your doings , whether they be suitable to your profession , your practice answerable to the principal you hold , then i will bless you and dwell with you , and make you my rest and habitation ; but if i find you to be such as are evil doers , that commit iniquity , that fail in the weightier matters of the law , in the execution of judgment and justice and mercy . see ver . 5.6 , 7. if you are worldly and carnal , and do not make streight steps for your feet , then i must punish you as sinners , i must be just ; i must respect my own name . you only have i known of all the families of the earth , therefore will i punish you for all your iniquities . i must not be partial , to allow sin in a child , and punish it in a stave , to judg sinners and let saints go free when they transgress : your relation to me , your priviledges cannot save you from the rod. i have heard it excellently observed by one , that the temple of the lord was never intended to be a sanctuary for the prophane and unholy , to save them from the hand of justice ; let no wicked person from hence take occasion ( as the lord knows they are too apt in this loose corrupt genetation ) to blaspheme the waise and saints of god ; because the people of god have their sailings , and there are hypocrites among them ( as there was one judas in christ's family ) therefore they make a mock of holy profession ; and saintship ; and please themselves to play upon the borders of that unpardonable sin ; they do deride the very actings and breathings of the holy spirit of god , because of some that are but pretenders to it , but never had it ; let me tell thee , o thou that draws such consequences and conclusions , that the gospel is an holy gospel , religion is a real and substantial thing . there are ordinances of chirist , which we must be walking and waiting upon god in ; and if we that profess the gospel do not walk according to it , we must repent and sue out our pardon ; god will scourge and correct us severely , as he has done in all ages , and we must justify him in it ; and he will make us know , that it is an evil and a bitter thing to depart from god , and to bring reproach upon religion and the name of god , and to open the mouths of such as thou art . i will not name thee , but would willingly know by what name thou conceives thy self to be called in scripture and would desire others that they would likewise consult scripture , and find out thy character there ; but i would tell thee further before we part that if we do transgress , we pay dear for our sin ; repentance is too great a rate to be given for the most profitable corruption upon earth ; we are chastened of the lord , that we might not be condemned with the world : besides , know this , that if we be true saints , though we may have our infirmites , and must repent of them consequently ; so antecedently , we must be such as do sincerly resolve against all sin , that do not allow , or indulge our selves in the least evil , that carefully avoid and shum the occasions of sins , that hate every false way ; we must be such as must have respect to all gods commandements according to our light in them , and knowledge of them , not be found neglecting any thing that we know to be a duty ; we should be very careful of our words , how we spend our time , and be continually preparing for our dying hour . and if there be such as are indeed very hypocrites among us , as there has been in all ages ; and will be to the end of the world , and no avoiding it ; ( for we cannot know mens hearts ; and for external worship and holiness , a wicked man may do them as well as a saint nay , a hypocrite may possible do them better than a saint , because he does not carry weight with him , he takes no heed to the heart , which is the principal thing in a duty ) i say grant there be such , if they discover themselves in gross impieties , and prove obstinate ; the gospel has given rules for admonitions , sharp and cutting reproofs , even to the quick for withdrawing from them , for casting them out of the society of gods people , and gospel-professors , and delivering of them up to satan ; and if they do remain covered and concealed till the judgement of the great day , then the lord will discover them , and them a portion in the lowest place in hell. the scripture seems to make them the freeholders and first-born of hell , mat. 24.51 . he will appoint him his portion with the hypocrites , there shall be weeping and ganshing of teeth . well therefore , thou mightest spare thy self the expence of a great many words ; for business is quickly summed up ; either thou calls a true saint an hypocrite , because of his infirmites , and some hyporisite which discovers it self in him , which he repents of , which the lord gives him a pardon for , cleanses him from , and at last receives him to his glory ; and if this be thy case , i am much afraid thou wilt come under the last of that scripture , which i will take the pains to turn to ; it is in the epistle of jude ever . 14 , 15. behold , the lord cometh , with ten thousand of his saints , to execute vengeance upon all , and to convince all that are ungodly among them , of all their ungodly deeds , which they have ungodly committed , and of all their bard speeches which ungodly sinner have spoken against him ; but secondly , if this be thy case , that thou calls those hypocrites that are indeed so , what need thou be so concerned , both god and man are against them , they have shame here ; however , the lord does most severely tourment them to all eternity ; thou might spare thy bad language , they are punished enough without it . but thirdly , if this be thy mind , to take occasion hence to speake evil of religion , and holy profession , the graces and fruits of the spirit , & make a mock and derision of all these , that because many men that pretend to religion , are very wicked men , therefore to cast off all religion , and zeal , and love to god , and faith in christ jesus , and the workings of the spirit , as fancies and shadows having no substance or reality in them ; then i must needs say , that thou art in the high way to atheism ; and i do nor know how i am fallen upon it , but i cannot possibly avoid it , according to my casting up the account , it amounts to neither more nor less , thou art a down-right atheist : i did not think i should have had occasion to have used this word , for i do not love words that carry reflection with them ; i have been studying the ninth verse of the epistle of jude , railing language does not become my mouth ; i confess i may be mistaken in my casting up , and i should be glad to see where my errour lay , that i may rectifie it ; i can say i love truth better than opinion , or my own conception and imagination . methinks i hear thee disowning the name and thing , & pleading for righteousness ; and honesty , and worship , and sacraments ; &c. the truth is , thou hast now confimed me fully in judgment of thee ; for the scripture is not more express in any thing than in discovering a sort of people that plead for a form of godlinese , that they may more effectually oppose the power of it ; that use the name of god , that they may fight against the nature , word , and works of god ; that pretend to set up christ , that they may destroy his person and all his offices ; men of corrupt minds , reprohate concerning the faith ; that profess they know god , but in works deny him , being abominable , disobedient , and to every good work reprobate ; enemies to the cross of christ . if so be then that thou art an atheist , the scripture in plain terms calls thee a fool , psal . 14.1 . thou hast read the place , but i will read it to thee again , the fool hath said in his heart , there is no god ; he has no fear of god no awe of the great god upon , his spirit , no sense of his holiness , power , justice , omnisciency his word , his will , his works , what he hath done , what he will do ; what joy he hath laid up for the serious , sincure , humble seekers of him , and that truly believe on the name of his son , and are careful to maintain good works ; what torment he has prepared for the wicked , and disobedient , and those that believe not and obey not the gospel , which he has revealed and sufficiently made it evident to be his will. but i must leave thee and answer thee no more having respect to both those rules of the spirit of god , given forth by solomon ; prov. 26 , 4 , 5. answer not a fool &c. what i have more to say about thee , shall be only to god , so as i am taught jude 9. the last words of the verse . i now return from whence i have digressed beyond my purpose and intention , but sometimes we may be most in our way when we seem to be out of it : the lord has various methods ; a word out of course , a word by the way , sometimes does more good , as god can bless it , than that which seems to lie most direct and in order , intended and prepared : i am an admirer of method , and am no friend to foolish preachings to impertinencies , and repetitions that proceed frorn emptiness and barrenness of matter , but , i must confess , i have often thought what there might be in the foolishness of preaching ; it pleases god by the foolishness of preaching , to save that do believe . when a gust of the spirit comes , when zeal and affections are stirring , and transport a man , he is driven out of his road . but to the points i was telling you the great danger men were brought into , when they did not lay hold of their season and opportunity , did not number their work for their day , were not wise but foolish , in letting time go and leaving work undone . i have one scripture more which i have promised you , and that is in rom. 2.4.5 . or despisest thou the riches of his goodness , and forbearance , and long-suffering , not knowing that the goodness of god leadeth thee to repentance ? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart , treasurest up unto thy self wrath , against the day of wrath , and revelation of the righteous judgment of god. the lord did spare thee , and continued thy life to thee , day after day : thou hadst much time , and many advantage , and thou didst not consider for what end god did this to thee : he laid out time for thee , and thou shouldest have laid out work for that time , have filled the vessel of time with good actions , the fruits of righteousness that thou mightest have said with the spouse , here are all manner of pleasant fruits new & old , which i have laid up for thee ! o my beloved . but instead of this , thou art laying a foundation for everlasting misery by thy hardness and impenitency ; thou art doing a work which thou wilt find wages for , the wages of unrighteousness . because to every purpose there is a time and judgment , therefore is the misery of man great upon him ; for he knoweth not that which shall be , for who can tell him when it shall be ? for man knoweth not his time , as the fishes that are taken in an evil net , and as the birds that are caught in the snare ; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time , when it falleth suddenly upon them . i now come to the application . vse 1. are our dayes numbred in this sence as you have heard , then it affords matter of humiliation to saints , & churches , that they have not numbred their daies and their work better ; truly my brethren we had better confess our own sins , than have other folks to confess them , to charge our selves is the way to be discharged both by god and man. i have sometimes thought that if the people of god had been more in condemning themselves , they would not have been so much condemned by the world ; let us say as the church of old , as for our transgressions we know them . i remember what i have met with in a learned author , who writing freely of the faults and miscarriages of ministers , comes to answer an objection which ministers , comes to might make against his publishing their failings to the world , who were so ready to be offended with them , and to stumble at every thing ; or if he would have discovered them , he might have writ in latine , and so they might have been concealed from vulgar notice ; he answers to this purpose , saies he , if we had sinned in latine , then our sins might have been reproved in latine ; but seeing our failings have been obvious , let out acknowledgements , confessions and repentace be so too ; it is no disparagement or lessening to any man that is guilty , to make confession , but an effectual way to remove reproach and scandal , and to silence accusers : accusations have little place either with god or man , where persons are willing to accuse themselves ; though there are some that are come to that height of wickedness in this age , which is so fruitful of monsters ; that take occasion from the confessions of sin which god's people make to him , to charge them , as it were out of their own mouths as the vilest creatures on earth ; to draw out an accusation against them out of their own confessions ; a bill of inditement against them , from what they do acknowledge of themselves : but these men are little acquainted with the scriptures , and the mystery of godliness . the lord tells us that his waies are not as our waies , nor his thoughts as our thoughts . he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy ; by god's own appointment confession is clearing . indeed i grant that among men , confession of the party is evidence in law ; but in the court of god , at his tribunal , confession of the party takes away evidence : there is no more danger of our confession of our sins to god , in the world 's hearing , than of doing it ; in private in satan's hearing . it s against all reason to charge a man that is charging himself ; if you would take a way sins testimony , joyn testimony with it ; among the latines two negatives make an affirmative , but among the greek's , two affirmatives make a negative ; if the world accuse us , let us accuse our selves too , and this is the way to be cleared ; a christian is never so much in his glory , as when he is justifying god , and condemning himself . it will silence the railing rashakehs of this age , for professors to charge themselves deeply and particularly before god ; we have sinned , we have done foolishly , we have broken thy covenant , we have sinfully complied , we have been too much partakers with wicked men of their wickedness , we have been unprofitable , careless , worldly , covetous , greedy after the world ; with our tongues have we dishonoured god , and our conversations have been such as have but given too much occasion to the wicked to blaspheme ; we have given them just cause to open their mouths against religion for our sakes , we have not discovered that humility , meekness , impassionateness , weanedness from the world , mortification of fleshy lusts , that might have been attractive and alluring of others to a good likeing of the professing of the gospel and christianity ; we have been seeking our selves , and setting up our selves , when we should have been seeking and setting up the interest of the lord jesus ; we have practised that in our selves which we have condemned in others ; and never any people had more pretious opportunities and improved them less ; we have put death far from us , and lived as if this world would never have an end , and as if the world to come would never have a beginning &c. now for others to lay these things to our charge , makes us odious and ugly ; but for us to charge our selves will make us look lovely and beautiful : there is a vast difference between others speaking of us , and our own speaking of our selves though the words be the very same . the story of jonah if another had writ it , would have made jonah appear very deformed ; but as he writes it himself , it rendershim a true penicent : let us lament our not doing our work in our day , our not minding our work and season and making them meet ; what a deal of work might we have done more than we have , if we had forted , and counted , and numbred our work aright ! we have been confounded as the builders of babel . we have done much that needed not have been done ; and we have been doing of one thing when we should have been doing another ; we have been repenting when we should have been believing , and believing when we should have been repenting ; we have been caring when we should have been trusting ; we have been weeping , when we should have been rejoicing , and rejoicing when we should have been mourning , we have been doing and undoing ; and as a man that has lost his way , travels hard , but is no nearer his journeys end , may it may be comes to the place , whence he first set forth . i assure you it is matter of trouble to consider what confusion we have brought our selves into , and upon our spirits , for want of this wisdom to number our work-daies ; we have been a disorderly people ; we have not put our general and particular callings into good method , we do things in the first place which should be done in the second , and that in the second which ought to possess the first ; let me tell you earthly cares , will not sit comfortably and thrivingly in the first , nor heavenly thoughts in the second , because the one will be too high , and the other too low for their elevation ; it is a deslowring of early morning-time to ; lodge the world with it , and it is a disgraceing of the things of god , to present them with the small reliques , and stale afterlings of your time , i am perswaded this is the very thing the psalmist aimes at in this text , that he might have wisdom to know his time and his work , and the proper work for the day ; that time might not be done before the work was done ; and that work might not be misplaced and mislaid ; it must needs therefore be our great folly and loss , who are guilty of so much misplacing : why must worldly thoughts come in , in the morning as soon as thou art awake , and defile , blast , and canker thy soul , when good thoughts would have edged it , prepared it , and put a savour , upon it which would not have worn off all day ? why must thy counter come up stairs into thy closet , & the concerns of thy calling look upon thee whilst thou art praying and meditating and conversing with god , and about the condition and state of thy soul , and its everlasting well-being ? we should be heavenly-minded in earthly imployments , and we are earthly-minded in heavenly imployments ; get as much of heaven as ever thou canst to attened thee in thy wordly matters , it will wonderfully facilitate and preosper thy work , it will make it go on with ease and pleasure ; a bible upon a loom or shop-board never hinders work ; meat and morning prayer never hinder work ; holy ejaculations , and good discourse , will not weaken the hands that labour , a serious thought in the midst of thy worldly business never causes interruption or disorder . and as you must take heed of misplaceing your work , so be careful you do not misplace the dispensations and providences of god to you , for this belongs to the numbring of your daies : for you are apt to call your good dayes your bad ones , and your worst dayes , your best . the account will never come even when receipts are placed as disbursments do not expect a right ballance ; you have had many dayes of affliction & sorrow and pain , your hands have been , alwaies full ; now if you reckon all these dayes as bad dayes , you do not number right . again , you have had a few sun-shine dayes , you have enjoyed prosperity , and you call these good dayes : whereas it may be these have been ensnaring and straitning to your souls , and the former have been quickning , purging , cleansing , and inwardly comforting ; the dayes which the children of israel spent in the wilderness were not their worst dayes , for there the lord fed them with manna , bread which came down from heaven . the wilderness-grape is the sweetest grape , the best vineyards from thence ; rock-water is the purest water , and no honey so sweet as that which came out of the lyon ; though no affliction for the present seems joyous but grievous ; but the peaceable fruits of righteousness which it yieldeth afterwards to them that are exercised therein , make amends for all : it may be when thou considers it well , those dayes of thy youth when the secret of god was upon thy tabernacle ; thy children about thee , when thou washed thy steps with butter , & the rock poured thee out rivers of oyl &c , will not be accounted & numbred for the best dayes ; thou wilt see cause upon due reflection to confess , that thy spirit was more dull and heavy , and slothful , thou was not so lively in duty , didst not enjoy so much communion with god , as thou hast done in some other dayes that were more dark and cloudy , and at great deal more pinching , and painful to go through : thou mayest remember in those shining dayes what expence thy watchfulness put thee to . how thou was continually upon thy guard , lest thou should be ensnared , and thy affections be carried beyond due bounds ; it 's difficult case , where we are so desirous to drink much and yet can but bear little ; to resist is troublesome , to yield is dangerous ; to love the creature no more than it should be , and to love god as much as he ought to be : thou canst tell likewise that in those other daves of straitness and want , and sicknese , and disgrace , and perplexity ; though they were very ungrateful and unpleasing to the outward man , thou had frequent visits from god , corruption did not so work and stir in thy heart , satan was not so busie to defile thee with his temptations ; thou hadst many a comforable half-hour which no body saw or took notice of ; thou couldest pray then , thou couldest pour out prayer , thou wast all prayer ; thy prayers came from thee like hot burning sparks out of a flaming furnace , or like darts out of a gyants hand , with such a jerk of the spirit after them that they fell not a whit short of heaven ; what wrestling was there then of faith , what strugling then of hope , what working and striving of patience ! then thou came to know effectually the meaning of those scriptures , hope maketh not ashamed , we are saved by hope , in patience possess ye your souls ; thou then felt more charity , more bowels , more compassion , more fellows-feeling of others troubles ; then thou came to know better the meaning of that text , which perhaps in thy fair dayes thou never considered so much ; remember them that are in adversity , as being your selves also in the body , having paslible , weak bodies subject to all the like miseries , which you see in others ; and what the preacher intended when he exhorts to give a portion to seven , and also to eight , for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth ; whether such evil may not be in the world that , may bring thee to like need . how was thou then weaned from the world , how didst thou contemn it , the pleasures , honours and riches of it ! thou did experience the mutable and tranfitoty nature of them , thou gave earnest heed to our saviour's counsel , lay not up for your selves treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt , and where thieves break through and steal , but lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust can corrupt nor thieves dig through and steal ; and then thou conned over the apostle pauls hard lesson , and got it pretty perfect that they that had wives should be a though they had none , they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not , they that buy as though they possessed not , for the fashion of this world passeth away . thus though there was a decay upon thy outward-man by reason of affliction , yet the inward man was renewed day by day ; those dayes which helped thee nearer heaven , and made thee more fit and more willing to die , were good dayes now painful and tormenting so ever they were in the passing through them ; and those dayes which delighted thy fleshly desires and carnal part , which were very pleasant to the outward-man , but did make thee neglect duty or slubber it over , did deaden thy spirit in it , and caused a decay in thy zeal , and love and delight in god , and made thee less mindful of the great concerns of thy pretious soul ; those dayes though seemingly happy and blessed in their spending , were not so good dayes : be careful therefore of reckoning and numbring right about your conditions , and out ward states and beings in the world , and mourn over the disorder thou hast put thy self into , by not placing thy condition right , and placing thy self aright in it ; but by bustling and quarrelling at some times with thy state , and thy over pleasedness again another time with it . thou hast been still disturbing and doing harm both to thy self and others ; what hard and loud words have passed between thee and thy adverse state ? have hot some over-heard thee saying , that thou thought no bodies condition was worse than thine ; none so straitned , none so perplexed ; what sickness thou didst undergo what pain thou went through , what poverty and pinching thou endured , what crosses every way thou met with ; and wishing thou had had not been born , or that thou might quickly die , and be removed out of this troublesome world , or that god would but be so kind to thee , that thou might but live as such and such do , though their conditions are not looked on as the best & c ? and to answer this chiding temper , has not that witness for god in thy own conscience , and of his kindness to thee in every condition , made this smart reply ? oh what a murmuring unbeleeving creature art thou ! what , nothing but complaints : look about thee , canst thou find nothing to thank god for ? is thy case so bad , that all comfort is shut out of it ? thou art out of hell , which thou deserves every moment , that 's a mercy ; art not thou in health ? many would give thousands to enjoy as much of that as thou dost ; art thou harbourless & knows not where to have a lodging to night ? that 's the condition of many a good soul where cruelty and persecution reigns ; art thou hungry and knows not where to get bread this day ? it's a great mercy to have bread for the day , and a greater to be able to beg and believe on god for bread for the day , a lesson which i heard a worthy minister say , the lord had taught him , and an high piece of learning it is . the apostle knew what he said , and that it was a great degree he had attained to , when he professed ? i have learned in the things wherein i am , therewith to be self-sufficient ; there is a kind of self-sufficiency in every good contented mind , he is rich not that has much , but that does not desire much . art thou thirsty and knows not where to get some good water ? art thou cold , and knows not where to get a covering to keep thee warm ? but for thy spiritual estate , art thou tempted ? so was christ , who was in all points tempted , likeas we are , that we might come boldly to the throne of grace , that we may obtain mercy , and find grace to help in time of need , and has promised , that he will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able ; and is it your misery that you are called to follow the captain of your salvation in the honourable path of suffering the highway to peace , and rest , and glory ? art thou under the tidings of his love ? did not the lord jesus cry out , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? art thou unwilling that the lord should make a trial of thy love , and faithfulness to him , whether thou will abide for him ; and that by endear himself more to thee , and prepare thee for fuller manifestations , and them for thee ? dost thou complain of an hard unbelieving heart ? its a mercy thou feels it to be so how many hard hearts in the world that are not felt ! they that can say and cry out , save us master we perish , shall never sink ; if there be sense there is life , though that life may be a very sickly life : thy condition is sase though it it may be very uneasie ; where there is the root of the matter , where there is the living substance , if circumstances be a little troublesome it may be born : better a little crying here than weeping and wailing hereafter ; pains and pangs , and gripings here are kindly , and not at all dangerous . to conclude this , wilt thou for the future keep a better account of thy condition ? wilt thou number and place the providences of god towards thee in better order ? this right reckoning will reconcile thee to all the difpensations of god , and make you long friends ; this will be your wisdom , and , this is your way to true wisdom ; and so much for this ufe of lamentation , and humiliation , it is much to be bewailed , and that because of bad consequences , that christians do not number their dayes , their duties and their dispensations better . the exercise of such wisdom as this . how lovely would make professors to look , and how peaceably would it make them live ! it would make religion look very beautifully and put an attractive and alluring vertue into the conversations of men ; but we may cry out of our folly , our childishness , our weakness of judgment in the things of god ; our walking by sense , and reckoning by that , and leaving out faith , without which there is nothing but disorder ; it is that which sets all right , puts every thing in its proper place , and keeps time and eternity in their due conjunction , distinction , and necessary aspects one upon another : i now come to the 2. vse . an use of exhortation , that we would learn this blessed art of numbring our daies , this christian arithmetick ; i shall indeavour to lay down some rules of direction for our better numbring of them . rule 1. of arithmetick : number the dayes that you have past , and what of that ? 1. how many they have been , some of you have passed a great many dayes , and weeks , and months , and years ; it is a long time you have been in this world , are you yet weary of it ? how many dayes would you live longer , and how would you imploy those dayes ? or do you consider that you cannot live alwayes ? 2. how many changes you have seen and passed through in those dayes ; how many conditions and places you have been in , how many removes you have made , what tossings to and fro , how many ups and downs , what observations you made in your passage ; how much your paths you have walked in resemble the journeyings of the israelites in the wilderness ; how , that which is , is that which has been , and there is no new thing under the sun ; how many in thy time have come into the world , and grown up , and grown old , and gone out of the world , some at one age , some at another , and very many that lived never to see thy years ; how many friends and intimate acquaintance thou hast buried , with whom thou hast eat and drunk and lodged , and now thou walkest over their graves ; how many relations of thine have left this world ; husband or wife , or children , or father , or mother , ( and dost thou hereupon enjoy thy present relations in any of those kinds as if thou had none ; ) how many of thy own neighbours , and school-fellows living ; how time has hurried some to their graves , others at a great distance from thee , others to beggary and a mean condition , though some are got to great estates , and set an inch above their neighbours ; how many great ones thou hast our-lived , and how many changes of government thou hast seen in thy time . governments are heavy things , and as it were unmoveable , guarded both by the laws of god and men , and are as the mount that might not be touched ; yet an ordinary man of an ordinary age does ordinarily outlive four or five governours or governments , so that thou observes changes in publick , and changes in thy private state . what a change did job see in his condition ( take him either as a publick or as a private person ? time was when he could say . he had his children about him , he washed his steps with butter , and the rock poured out rivers of oyl ; when he went out to the gate of the city , when he prepared his seat in the street , the young men saw him and hid themselves , the aged aged aged arose and stood up ; the princes refrained talking , &c. but now all on a sudden he becomes as low as he was high , and in a moment as it were , the case was altered with him that he complains that they that are younger than he had him in derision , whose fathers he would have disdained to have set with the dogs of his flock , they spared not to spit upon him , &c. 3. how quickly they are gone ; many years even among men , are but as yesterday , when they are past , but as t'other day . it is but a little while me thinks , saids he , since that so many years ago i lived in such a place , conversed so and so , did this and the other thing , how fast does time pass away ; it is but as yesterday since i was a child and went to school , and now i am grown old , i can remember it as well as if it were but yesterday : my life has ever been posting , as a dream , as a tale that is told ; the dream ends , and the tale is concluded insensibly before we are aware . the whole time of this world is but as a dream ; the proper time of awaking will be at the resurrection ; then men will know whereabout they are , and what they are , then they will be out of the hurry of time , and have leisure in eternity ( which is a fixed now wherein they shall stand still ) to behold themselves , and understand themselves , their state and way . just as in a dream , a man seems to be very busie , hard travelling , in the midst of a crowd of people vehemently pursuing an argument , driving on a bargain 〈◊〉 solemn funeral , pleasant at a m●●●●ge , cast down under a sad providence befalling him , much refreshed with good news , telling great sums of money , sate at a good banquet , &c. but when he awakes , all is vanished away as a conceit , and the man is naked in his bed , very still and quiet , and it may be finds himself hungry , and knows not where to get six-pence : even so it is with men in the world , they are much in agitation and motion , cumbred about many things ; but when they come to dye , which is the time of awaking , then they are seen naked , their state and condition is known ; no more to do with the world , or worldly things , no eating , or drinking , or buying , and selling , or converting ; if they have christ their friend and advocate , and be found upright , and lovers of god ? then to glory with them , and everlasting joy ; but if they be found wicked and hypocrites , then to everlasting confusion : but to conclude this similitude . a man when he is dreaming , by some noise or jog may be a little awakened , & come to himself , but may quickly go to sleep and fall a dreaming again the same dream : so dreamish professors that are very busie w●●●●g to and fro in the earth in a sleepy condition , and minding the things of it , may by some awakening ordinance or providence , by some amazing judgment , come to themselves , and sit down , and think other thoughts than they did before , let the world stand still , and have to do with god ; but assoon as the noise is over , they fall to dream again . in the great plague and fire in london , there was such a noise , that i believe there were very few but were awakened , and for the present , left off dreaming ; but how quickly did security & sleepiness creep on , & they fel to dreaming again one after another , to building , to buying , and selling , &c. ( which at the best are but dreamish things , and may prove much worse , if you do them as they did them in the dayes or noah , and lot ; ) i wish with all my heart , the next jog be not so hard , and the cry so loud , that instead of being kindly awakened , they be not mazed , and stunned , and deaf , and disabled from getting up , and putting on their clothes . 4. how irrecoverable they are , and lever to be recalled ; if i would give all the world i cannot call yesterday back , nor be placed where i was yesterday morning . he that cries out , call time again , call time again , is as unlikely to be heard , and answered as any man i know ; ●ay , but cannot you set me one day or two backward , place me where i was but t'other morning , that i may pass over those three or tour hours as i did then , no , i cannot do it ; and this is the first rule in this christian arithmetick ; number the dayes that yon have past , this will make you wise . rule 2. a second rule in arithmetick . number the dayes that you have lost , this will be a special means to lead you to wisdom . what have your past days been filled with ? have not you lost weeks , and moneths , nay years ? consider this well , and you will be able to tell me , i need not tell you what thoughts it will work in you , and what wise counsels it will put you upon ; have not many of thy dayes been filled with nothing but vanity ? some men do nothing at all , many worse than nothing , the most do something that is not their proper work to do , but belongs to others ; canst thou say that any day of thy life has been as well filled with good as it ought to have been , or as it might have been ? if thou had thy best spent dayes to spend over again , couldest thou not spend them a great deal better ? no such cause of mourning as for lost time : was not thy childhood , and thy youth vanity ? has not the world had many an hour that god and christ should have had , and should have been improved for the promoting of thine eternal welfare ? how many idle dayes , and play-dayes hast thou made ? how many needless journeyes , visits , walks , and discourses hast thou made ? how many unnecessary designs & unprofitable labours ? may it not be said of much of thy business thou hast been imployed in , as some said of the womans pouring the ointment on christs head ; why was this waste of time , might it not have been made better use of ? rule 3. third rule of arithmetick ; number the work you have done , and how you have dont it ; what will this do ? you will tell me what it will do , if you observe it ; you will find upon examination , that put all your good works together , and allow for dammage , for the hay and the stubble , the dregs and the dross , and they amount but to very little ; you will see how much mending all your work needs ; what mourning over , and begging pardon for the defects and failings about it ; time runs , and work sticks , and that which we thought we had done well , must be done over again : how should this awaken us , and quicken us ; when we have done all we can , we are but unprofitable servants ! when we have done the best we can , we have not done that which is our duty , when we have done the most we can , we have not done all we should , still some work lies before us , and it may be very little time ; will not this consideration to make men make much of time , and not prodigally throw it away as they have done ? because so much is required to survey and mend old done deeds . rule 4. number the sabbaths , the sermons , the opportunities which you have enjoyed . this a fourth rule in christian arithmetick ; and what will this tend to ? you will tell me when you have well considered it . reckon how many of gods embassadors have been sent to thee with several messages , and with the same message over and over again ; how many years of the dayes of the son of man you have seen : how long you enjoyed such a ministry in such a place , and such a powerful ministry in another ; and now what am i the better : god will expect an account of me ; is it not high-time for me to consider what return i can make : what profiting , and progress i have made in the knowledg and fear of god , and faith in his son jesus christ ; to what degrees and measures of patience , meckness , hope , love , heavenly conversation , crucifying the flesh , looking for the appearing of christ , and aiming at his glory in every thing i do &c. many an exhortation and motive and direction and encouragement have i had about all these and much more , many a time , and that with a great deal of pressing : god may call me to even accounts with him , the very next hour for any thing i know , and how ready am i for it ! oh for a little time for this work ! i have cause to be afraid , that i shall be found much in arrearages to god , and that there are some hundreds of sermons i have heard , that i can remember neither text , doctrine , reason nor use ; nor have any real impression remaining upon me from them , a dram of habitual vertue or strength by them : oh that god would not clap me up , and make me bankrupt , that have taken up so many goods of him , and am not able to make him any payment , the goods are embezeled ; oh that i had time to make my composition with him , to sue out a release and discharge from him ! i am undone if i be arrested before this be done , for i cannot pay twelve pence in the pound ; lord spare me a little time that i may repent in , and make money of all that i have that i may bring to thee ; i will not keep or conceal one peniworth from thee , i will give thee a true account in whose hands they are , whom i have traded with ; how i have been cheated by satan , by the world , and most of all by a deceitful heart of my own that was bred up with me , and which i have given much trust to : i could no sooner have any of heavens commodities come in , but presently they were purloyned from me by the means of my deceitful , hard , vain , idle , foolish heart ; for whilst i slept and was careless , the wicked one came and catched them away , or the cares of this world , and the deceitfulness of riches spoiled them , and so i got no profit by them ; my base heart did betray me to all this mischief and loss : and now lord be pleased to spare me a little , that i may mourn over and bewail my great losses , that i may call my treacherous wicked heart to an account ; that i may seriously and severely examine and search it , that i may bring it to confession , and acknowledgment , to deep sorrow and repentance , to sincere and holy resolutions of a faithful improvement of any opportunity and season of grace , that he shall hereafter be pleased to put into my hands ; and now consider , beloved , whether the making up accounts do not require some time , how needful it is to be done , considering how large our receipts and credits are , and lastly how little assurance we have of time to do it in . rule 5. the fifth rule of christian arithmetick is , number and compare your dayes with the daies of those that liv'd in the first age of the world ; compare the length of thy time with the patriarchs lives ; and what will this do ? thou wilt see it will have very good influence on a wise improving of time ; they lived six , seven eight , or nine hundred years ; and thou wilt never reach one hundred , it may be not half an hundred : a serious meditation of this will work in you , one of those two useful considerations . 1. how long a time had they to glorify god in , in comparison to what i have ; how did they live to his praise and honour in proportion hundreds of years as it were before i had a being , and hundreds of years after my being ended ; how many opportunities had they of serving god more than i have , how much work did they do in their generation for god more than i what large returns did they make from earth to heaven above what i do ; what need have i to ply my work , that have not one day for their seven to work in ; time is short with me , for though they had much , yet , they had none too much , and how should i look to it , that i have not too little for my business . 2. how long a time were they kept in this world and out of heaven , above what i shall be ; how tedious was their journey , and how was their pilgrimage lengthened out : they had but as it were newly set forth in the time that i am got to my journeys end in ; their work was much greater , their stay in the vineyard protracted and drawn out , their sitting in heavenly places adjourned , prorogued and suspended ; one generation of saints in these latter daies after another passes to heaven , even fourteen generations in the time that some of them got thither ; how did they expect the accomplishment of the promise one hundred years after another ! their daies were many and evil , they were sinfully evil , and they could not chuse but be penally evil . the flood came upon the old world and drowned it because of ungodliness ; how long were they made to wait for the inheritance : now in our daies the world is soon weary of us , and we are soon weary of it , and we are quickly gone out of it ; we ride poste through it , from one stage to another , through child-hood , youth , middle age , old age ; some ride but one or two of them , and are presently caught up to heaven . rule 6. the sixth rule of christian arithmetick , is this ; number and compare the certainty of your works with the uncertainty of your time : i am sure my work will last as long as my time lasts ; but i know not whether my time will remain as long as my work lasts ; and therefore i have no need to spend time without work , seeing , i have work enough to spend my time in ; but may not have time to finish my work in . rule 7. the seventh rule in this christian arithmetick is ; number and compare thy dayes with eternity , an age breaks no square in eternity : for a moment of time , is more unto all that time that hath been since the beginning of the world , and shall be unto the end of it , than all that time is unto eternity ; because a moment by repetition will measure all that time ; but all that time will never by any repetition whatsoever measure eternity : it is not the least part of it ; a man that should have sinned the first moment of the worlds creation , and should have had his punishment deferred till the last moment of the worlds duration , his punishment should have been swifter in regard of eternity ; than his punishment in regard of all that time of the world's continuance , that should have sinned the first moment of time , and have been punished the very next or second moment . observe that expression of peter , beloved saies he , be not ignorant of this one thing ; and what is this one thing , that is so special a thing , that of all other they should not be ignorant of , namely this , that one day is with the lord as a thousand years , and a thousand years as one day ; in the point of eternity , a day and a thousand years are all one , and that which happens in a thousand years , is all one as if it happened within a day ; and so on the contrary , to him that stands upon the pinacle of eternity , and loooks down thence below upon the shreds and snippets of time : and therefore mark but that the prophet ahijah saies in regard of the festination of god's judgment upon the house of wicked jeroboam . the lord , saies he , shall raise up a king over israel , who shall cut off the house of jeroboam that day ; but what ● even now . he stood upon the pinacle of eternity ; and therefore that snippet of time which seemed to the world a great while , was nothing to him : which made him when he had spoken of cuting off the house of jeroboam that day , to use the revocation , but what ? even now , that day and even now is all one to eternity . and the seeming contradiction of the preacher tending to illustrate this very thing , is well worth the observing : he had spoken of the not speedy executing sentence against an evil work , that it encouraged sinners to go on in their sins , but in the next verse he answers thus : though a sinner do evil an hundred times , and his dayes be prolonged ; yet , surely i know it shall be well with them that fear god , but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his daies , which are as a shadow ? how is it true that he may prolong and not prolong his dayes ? how but only that though they may be prolonged in regard of us , that have but a few ends of time , yet they are nothing in regard of the ball of eternity , which is alwayes winding and never unwound , in this regard he shall not prolong his dayes , which are as a shadow , as as meer vanity to this eternity , and answerable to this is that like place of the prophet habbakuk : the vision saies he , is yet for an appointed time , but at the end it shall speak , it shall not lie ; though it tarry , wait for it , because it will surely come , it will not tarry ? how ! but only that which is a long tarrying to time is no tarrying to all eternity : and this is the seventh rule , which if it be well observed will make us quickly remove our dwellings out of the hurry of time , unto the borders of eternity , still waiting every hour when we shal lanch forth into that sea , and be swallowed up of that ocean . rule 8. the eight rule in christian arithmemetick is this ; number and compare your daies with the age of the world : if the whole age of the world be so little compared with eternity , and thine age so short compared with the worlds age , how small a thing is thy life compared with eternity ! see eccles . 1.4 . one generation passeth away and another cometh , but the earth abideth for ever ; add to this what is read psal . 102.25 . &c. of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth , and the heavens are the works of thy hands , they shall perish but thou shalt endure : yea , all of them shall wax old like a garment , as a vesture shalt thou change them , and they shall be changed , but thou art the same , and thy years have no end . if thou should have been born in the beginning of the world , and have lived to the end of it , it is but a moment , and yet how narrow a space of the world's age dost thou live . rule 9. number the obscurity of thy dayes ; and see what influence this will have , and what advantage to true wisdom : the world knows little of thee , and thou but little of it , how many thousand years passed in the world , and millions of people acted upon the stage before thou came into it ; now thou art in being , what a poor obscure creature art thou , little acquainted with what is done out of thy sight , it may be thou art a stranger to him that lives next door to thee ; oh my brethren , if this thing well considered , taking in the thoughts of the acquaintance & knowledg which the saints will be priviledged with in eternity , they shall see as they are seen ; and know as they are known , face to face , behold all things in god , sit down with abraham &c. i say , the comparing of those things , how inconsiderable would it make this pitiful life to appear , and what cloudy obscure , scanty daies would these seem to be : the greatest monarch in the world in all his glory is no more to be compared , for splendor ; interest and excellency to the lowest saint in heaven , than a beggar in a dungeon is to be compared with such a monarch ; what a vast compass will every saint have in his eye ? what reflexions of joy and glory from an innumerable company of saints and angels ! what true esteem and unparalel'd affections from thousands and millions of glorious creatures ! what constant and eminent discoveries and manifestations of love from the father of glory , the lord of glory , and the spirit of glory : much more happy than the servants of solomon , for they stand to hear the wisdom of of one that is greater than solomon may , solomon himself in all his glory is not to be compared to one of these . if perhaps through thy parts and worldly advantages , thou come to be seen a little above thy neighbours , and to be talked of by a whole countrey by the generality of the people there , how many are there even in that countrey that never heard of thee , take no notice of thee , how many enemies hast thou and envious ones that hate thee , and would if they could overturn thy little honour : what watchfulness and circumspection hadst thou daily need of because of thy observers ; how hard it is not to give a slip , harder not to have it taken notice of & hardest not to have it magnified and multiplied and made use of by censurers ( most of whose religion lies in observing the failings of the godly ) to reflect upon thee , and the profession it self that thou art under ; what flatteries and pretended friends , what troublesome visits , what variety of occasions and diversions ; what necessity continually of displeasing some , and an utter impossibility to please all : many have complained that they have set up more sail than they could keep up , and wished with all their hearts they might walk upon the ground again safely and silently , and never more be carried upon the uneasy and uneven shoulders of popularity : again , what sollicitousness to improve rightly so large advantages and opportunities of service , and to be found faithful stewards of the manifold gifts of god. consider now in how much greater excellency and infinitely higher place thou wilt be in heaven if thou be a saint ; and freed from all the forenamed inconveniences , and a thousand more ; and then say it may well stand for one rule about numbring dayes , to reckon the obscurity of them . rule 10. the last rule in christian arithmetic , is this ; number thy dayes to eternity , duly consider what mutual aspects time and eternity have upon each other . all the use of dayes is for eternity ; what-ever is looked upon as a means to an end , is upon that account less excellent than the end , and if it be not imployed in order to that end , it becomes of no use ; all that time that has not a fair and favourable look upon eternity , is lost time , what-ever use it was put to ; that day is a cipher , and stands for nothing in the calendar , wherein nothing is put that has respect to another world. he that considers how great a change his last day will make with him , will have something to do for his last day in every day . the whole life is but a contemplation of , and should be a preparation for a dying day . he is a fool that is merry , and makes much of himself in his inn , and knows not that he has any thing when he comes at home ; what-ever pleasure thou mightest take here in eating , and drinking , and visiting , and entertainments , and riches , and relations , and rayment , and estate , &c. as soon as ever thy breath is out of thy nostrils ; good lord , what a change is here all on a sudden ! now no more meats nor drinks talked of , no more use of wine , and reviving liquors , not a word more of discourse , not a dram of mirth ; friends depart , relations go out of the room , no more visitors , his dearest companions give over thoughts of having any more to do with him , & greatest dealers will have no more accounts with him ; his dear relations that a quarter of an hour ago would have parted with their own lives to have saved his now begin to consult to have his body removed out of sight , and put into the cold ground , a companion for worms which they so friendly embraced and kissed a little while ago , & there it may rot , and at the resurrection go to hell , for any thing they can help it ; his soul immediately goes to god , and appears before his tribunal , where there is no talk of , no profit in gold or silver , or thousands by the year ; nor coming in here as agrippa and bernice came into the common hall , with great pomp and fancy , no respect to him that wears the goldring ; no discourse of trades , or feastings , or houses , or apparel , or children , or relations , but of a good conscience ; how thou stood affected towards a person thou will see there , the lord jesus christ the son of god ; what communication thou hadest with him , during the time thou wast upon earth , what apprehensions thou hadst of him , what adresses thou madst to him as a mediatour , an advocate , and saviour ; what faith thou hast had in him ; whether there was an agreement made between him and thee whil'st thy dayes were in being , that thou , wouldst give up thy soul , and body , and sins to him , thy unrighteousness , and righteousness , and that he would undertake to satisfie the justice of god , and appease his wrath for thee , and reconcile thee to his father , that he would cloth thee with his righteousness , and sanctifie thy nature by his holy word and spirit , that he would make thee meet to be a partaker of glory , and present thee blameless and unreproveable in the sight of god , and give thee a full possession of an everlasting kingdom , and glory with himself ; what fear thou hadst upon thy heart in thy dayes of the great god ; whether in every thing thou didst in natural , civil , and religious actions thou didst design and aim at his glory ; how thy affections were placed , and what kind of love passed between thee and the world , during their abode there ; what acts of self-denial , and mortification thou put forth , what exercise of heavenly-mindedness ; what duties thou didst , and how they were done ; how thou didst honour god in the conditions he placed thee ; what patience and contentedness in a low condition ; what humility , meekness , and repentance in an high condition ; how thou bore sickness ; and straits , and how thou used thy riches , and how honest thou wast in thy dealings . there will be no discourses there of such vain matters as are here below , but as paul discoursed of temperance , and righteousness , and the judgment to come , of uprightness , and sincerity , and unfeigned repentance , and a true and full closing with the person of christ , the son of the living god , equal with the father , the mediatour for poor sinners , the saviour of all that truly believe on his name and come to him ; what obedience thou manifested to his laws , how thou loved him and kept his commandments , how thou loved the brethren and there by manifested thy being passed from death to life , how fruitful thou wast in all good works , and thereby didst justify thy faith to be sound and true , and of the right kind ; how willing and desirous thou was to do much for god , and how little thou didst esteem thy self the better for what thou didst , but how much thou didst abhor thy self and hate thy self , for thy daily defects , manifold infirmities , and much unsuitable carriage to such great goodness , and loving kindness and unworthiness of such rich grace , and mercy &c. of this nature will be the discourses then , and the more thou hast been exercised in these thing , the greater will be thy consolation : oh my beloved where is that professor that lives under the serious frequent and powerful meditation of these things ; this and the other work i am imployed in , this and the other thing i am discoursing of ; if god should now cut off the threed of my life , what should i be advantaged hereby , would it turn to my advantage when i come in the presence of the great god , shall i be glad that i was exercised , or rather wish that i had never medled or been concerned in such affairs and matters ? our dayes are not intended to be the dayes of noah and lot wherein men built and planted , and bought and sold , and married and were given in marriage , ( all these lawful things and not one of them sinful ) that is , that did do all these things as the work of the day , for themselves and rested in them , & rejoiced themselves in them ; and did not do them with respect : to another life , with such fear , regularity , moderation , righteous principles , and designs as would have yeelded them comfort : ( when those dayes had been cut off ) in another world ; & are we not fallen into such dayes as noah's and lot's were eating & drinking &c. eating & drinking is an unlawful thing if you do not do it to the glory of god , and honour god in it : observe it , as there is no time allotted for sin , so neither are there any dayes allowed for the doing of lawful and good actions , if they have not a reference to eternity ; thy prayers and almes and duties are not numbred aright , if they be not numbred for god and another world ; if they be numbred for thy self and thy present interest , they are quite lost , and which is worse do become sin , and so prove mortal and damning : you see how necessary it is to number every day for eternity ; if thou mindest this rule , thou wilt reap much fruit hereafter from thy common and worldly actions , because hereby those actions which otherwise are but common and worldly actions , as the actions of our ordinary and homliest callings , we shall sanctifie them , and translate them out of themselves , and their own base element , into an higher orb and element , viz. to go as for actions , truly holy and religious , and parts of god's own worship before him , and rewardable as so at his hand 's , what a comfort might this be to men in going about worldly callings , to the very shuttleman and sheersman , spinster and carder , and the veriest drudge and droil in the servilest condition ? what a comfort this , to consider , that if they do but honestly and faithfully , in obedience to god that hath set them in those callings go about them , they might sanctifie those , and the like actions , and translate them , out of a worldly into an heavenly orb and element , and glorifie god ( and by that thou providest for eternity ) as well in their proportion by those actions , as the angels that stand continually before god , do by their standing and praising and singing hallelujahs to him . the poor servants that in obedience to god do faithful and honest service , ( be it in never such drudgeries ) to their master , are said to adorn thereby the doctrine of god ; titus 2.10 . and is not this a working ? a numbring time , and work for eternity ? those that honour him and his gospel , he will honour them another day . what a comfort is this , that meer drudgeries , and worldly actions that , might seem only to smell of the world , and this present life and time , that these being gone about in the obedience and fear of god , baulking iniquity and injustice in them , may go for holy and heavenly actions ; the actions of the vertuous woman , prov. 31. a man would think were the actions only of a meer worldling , she seeketh wool and flax &c. yet those and such-like , are all the actions for which , she is called a vertuous woman in the beginning , and to have done vertuously above all in the latter end : many daughters have done vertuously , but thou excellest them all ; and the next verse shews the reason , because she did these in the fear of the lord ; a woman that feareth the lord she shall be praised : shall have praise at the end of dayes . another woman there may be that may do the same things , may seek wool and flax , and work willingly with her hands , may rise early , put her hand to the wheel &c , and yet may be a meer scraper , a meer worldling , a meer progger for earthly trash and subsistence for these dayes , a meer vitious and not a vertuous woman ; why ? because she does them not from the same ground out of obedience and fear of god , and respect to another world ; but from a prophane heart , greedy of the world : so how many precepts are there in proverbs that might seem to smell of meer worldliness , as that of taking heed of suretiship , and that of diligently looking after the state of their flocks and looking well to their herds : and yet no worldliness that solomon meant in them , but rather heavenliness : mark his general rule in the begi 〈…〉 the fear of the lord is the beginn 〈…〉 wisdoms ; all other precepts are to be performed by vertue of this general precept , and guided by it . let this lastly be added , that you may see how necessary it is to number time and dayes ( and what-ever fills them ) for eternity ; if we do not do it , we shall lose the comfort of our best and most specious actions . to be painful in the ministry , to be forward in works of charity &c. how goodly and how good are these actions in themselves ; and yet spend my spirits i may , consume and wait my strength i may , in the ministry , and yet if i do this as a task only that the world looks i should discharge , or to get my own maintenance , or to set up my own credit , and not chiefly in all this , my labour be guided by that which he i that was so laborious in the ministry was guided by . to me to live is christ , ( the honour of christ ) and to die is gain ; ( here is eternity in the case ) i lose all the comfort i might have in this so good an action , and the reward i might expect from christ in the other world. so 〈◊〉 works of charity , i may do many things , i may feed the hungry , 〈◊〉 the naked , entertain good ministers and good people , build hospitals &c. and yet if by-respects ( which supposition , i put not that the world should in such cases where good appears be suspicious , but that man that does good should look still to his own heart which is deceitful ) if i say , by-respects sway too much , and these things be not done chiefly in obedience to god that he might be glorified , and that we might lay up a good foundation for the time to come , that we might lay hold upon eternal life ; and that we might make to our selves friends of the unrighteous mammon , that when we want they may receive us into everlasting habitations ; we lose the great comfort that we might expect from so good actions . to conclude this point , if you be careful observe this rule of making all thy time , all thy dayes and actions , look with their faces directly upon eternity , and the world to come ; thou wilt meet with wonderful advantage and benefit by it ; thou wilt bring all thy works into a narrow compass , into a single channel , into constant view and observation ? thou will render all thy duties and performances , all thy labours under the sun to be more sweet , more easie , unperplexed , and affording much peace , rest , and tranquillity to the soul ; by a perfect removing the fears of future evils , ( publick judgments , poverty &c. ) and especially of the day of thy death which by this means will be so facilitated and familiarized , that it will become rather a day desireable , than formidable , nay , thou will look upon the day of thy death , as better than any of the dayes of thy life ; these and other things , i might enlarge upon , and they do indeed deserve a serious discussion : but i design brevity , and therefore hasten to the second observation , which i shall but touch upon , and that is from this consideration , that the psalmist prayes for teaching , and instruction in this point of numbring dayes ; which is so plain , so common , so ordinary , so obvious a thing ; besides that he had numbred them , in ver . 10. the dayes of our years , &c. doct. 2. let the observation hence be this , that christians may be much unacquainted with the nature and power of those truths , which are known and confessed and acknowledged by them : the hinge of this is , that truths that seem to be best known are least known ; things best seen are least understood ; i shall briefly give you a fivefold instance , and so pass on to the next . 1. the doctrine is evident in things relating to sense . 1. the shortness of time . 2. certainty of death . 3. uncertainty of riches . 2. in things obvious to reason , and most acknowledged , as 1. the deceitfulness of man's heart . 2. the necessary connexion between sin and punishment . 3. the universal and particular providence of god. 3. in things known by revelation , as , first , that christ died , and was buried and rose again , see 1 cor. 15.1 , 2 , 3 , 4. and ascended into heaven . secondly , that he sent down his holy spirit to convince , guide , comfort , and rule in the hearts of the saints . thirdly , that the lord jesus will come again in power and great glory , with his saints and angels , to judge the world in righteousness . 4. in matters of absolute and plain precept , as first , loving the brethren , and being , found in all the acts and exercises of gospel-love . secondly , well-ordering and governing the tongue . thirdly , walking circumspectly and redeeming time . 5. in approved actions concerning worship , as first , that god is to be worshipped and loved above all ; which is the first and great commandment ; is this observed diligently and constantly by all christians ? is there nothing at any time steps before god ? secondly , divine and gospel-worship must have divine and gospel-warrant . thirdly , that gospel-worship must be spiritual , and not formal and carnal . i might give you the reasons of the point , from the commonnesss of them , few considering seriously , what is obvious and plain ; from man's curiosity , still willing to find out some new thing ; and from satan's subtilty , who knows by experience , that there is no such robbing as by the high way side ; the great road , the known path : he will let men alone in by-wayes , and more private paths , in truths of lesser concernment and influence ; but dees the great spoil in known confessed practical truths and doctrines . but i hasten to what remains , it may be the lord may stir up some more able pen , to shew the professing world their great errours and mistakes herein , that the spirits of the power of godliness , which have been long uhder decay , may be recovered , and the great arteties filled with good blood ; that the truths , and the things of god may have their due consideration and observation by the pretenders to them according to their nature , worth , weight , necessity and excellency of them . there are two observations behind , in the prosecutioh of which i shall be a little more large . doct. 3. the third observation is this , that the right art and skill of numbring dayes , is a point of divine teaching : one have the wisdom to number their dayes aright but those that have it from above , and are taught it by god ; you must go to god and beg of him , that he would teach you this lesson . this appears from the text , that we have it expressed in the form of prayer ; as if he had said , though i have cast up the acount of my dayes in the 10th verse , yet there is a further mystery , which i cannot discern without thy teaching , without that spiritual light and knowledg which must come from thee ; and here you have the emphasis of the particle ( 10 : ) i have been taught this lesson many a time , and can say it over ; but i have not been so taught as they said of christ that never man spoke like him , so never any man taught as god teaches ; i have often considered the 14. acts comp . v. 1. with 27. where it is said , that paul and barnabas so spake , that a great multitude of the jews and also of the greeks believed . but when they came to give an account to the church , the text saies ; that they rehearsed all that ( god ) had done with them , and how ( he ) had opened a door of faith unto the gentiles . if the lord had not opened the door of the heart , all their knocking would have signified nothing , if the lord had not spoke with them , all their so speaking would not have procured belief from our souls ; it was god that so spake with them that made the door of the heart to open . if the lord jesus had only cryed , lazarus come forth , and had not by a powerful hand communicated life to him , he had never stirred out of his grave . we read in luke 24.27 . that the lord jesus beginning at moses , and all theprophets , he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself ; but observe is said in ver . 45. then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures : it is not enough , to , have the scriptures opened , but we must have our understandings opened too ; if you had the knowledge , of an angel , and could discourse of divine truth with undeniable evidence and demonstration , yet this will not amount to right teaching , without divine blessing and influence . i need not insist much upon the proof of this , take that text , psal . 39.4 . lord make me to know mine end , and the measure of my dayes , what it is ; that i may know how frail iam. when once he is taught this by god , then he can say with sense and experience , as it follows , behold thou hast made my dayes as an hand-breadth , mine age is as nothing before thee , verily every man at his best estate is vanity , selah . surely every man walketh in a vain shew , surely they are disquieted in vain , he heapeth up riches , and knoweth not who shall gather them : and now lord , what wait i for , my hope is in thee , deliver me from all my transgressions , &c. you see that when he is taught this lesson of god , how feelingly , and sweetly he breaks out ; its only faith and the teachings of god that can give us to be under the power of things of sense : as by faith we understand that the world 's were made , so by faith we must be taught that our time is short , that our dayes are numbred , that we must dye : though we see persons daily carried to the grave , that never reached our years , and we know we are made of the same corruptible materials , subject to the same diseases and distempers , to the same casualties and dangers , that our breath , is in our nostrils , and may assoon be stopped as theirs . again , the apostle paul when he comes in so with his but , but this isay , brethren , the time is short ; shews plainly that it was a point that was not so well understood ; i shall endeavour to demonstrate this further to you in these following particulars . 1. none can know the use of time without divine teaching ; and none can number his dayes aright , unless he know what use they are for : this has been already spoken to ; i shall only add this , that as it is with a merchant who prepares his ship for sea , he provides only so much victuals as may serve for the voyage , he does not provide the seaman soft beds to lodge in , but only makes such preparation as may serve the end of his sending his ship to sea , the less burden she has , the swister she sails , and the swister she sails , the less she will need : just so it is in this case ; we are sailing through this world , our port is eternity , our business is only to provide our selves for quick sailing , and lay in so much provision only as will serve us for so many dayes voyage as we shall be out : the less cumber of the world we have , the sooner we shall be sit for heaven ; and the faster we move thither , the less we shall need . 2. none can know the end of time , ( sc . that it will end ) but by divine teaching : and none can number his dayes aright , that does not know their end . what made david pray , as you have heard , lord , make me to know mine end , &c. every one thinks he may live a day longer . when a man comes to dye , and to be just within the view of eternity , then he sees what is the proper work for time , and wishes he had his time to spend over again , he would spend it otherwise then he has done . now it 's strange that faith should not do what sense will do ; we pretend to believe that we shall have a last day , and why should not this faith have such effects as sense and feeling will have . 3. none can know the seasons , nicks , and opportunities of time without divine teaching ; and certainly none can number his dayes aright , that understands not his seasons ; that knows not that sabbath dayes are seasons to be improved , that the present time is a season that the morning of the day is a season , that the time of youth is a season , that a time of affliction is a season , that times of conviction are seaons , &c. now there is no man can rightly know , and make of these seasons without divine teaching . 4. none can know the excellency of time without divine teaching . and sure i am , that he that knows not the worth and preciousness of time , never knew how to number his dayes aright . let us a little consider the excellency of time . we read in the old law , that if one man smote another , he should not only pay for his cure , but for the loss of his time : but more particularly ; 1. dayes and times are such things as cannot be bought ; did you yet ever know any dayes to be sold , or understood what a day might be worth if it were to be sold ; we count those things rare and excellent , that though some men have them , yet there are none of them to be got for money . let me therefore make much of my day ; for if i lose it , there is not one to be had if i would give all the world for it ; a man need not desire more wealth than would by some be given him for one day if he had it to sell . this puts me in mind of a passage concerning a worthy and religious lady which i do well remember ; she had for several years been exercised with a sore distemper of shortness of breathing , and did for a great while long to be dissolved and to be with christ , which she did from that assurance of his love to her soul , which the lord had been pleased graciously to give unto her . a person coming to the gate that had several wares to sell , desired that the lady might have notice of it ; she very gravely and seriously asked if he had any graves to sell ; for faith , she , i know nothing i want in this world so much as a grave , and i have been long seeking for one , but cannot yet get it . it is true , graves are dear commodities at some times , as job tells us plainly , there are some that long for death , but it cometh not , and digg for it more than for bid treasures , which rejoyce exceedingly , and are glad when they can find the grave . but graves are not so dear as dayes , for a grave may be found , and will be found at last , but a day can not be purchased : thus time cannot be bought . 2. consider the singleness and smalness of it , for those that have it ; pearls are called vniones for their rarity and scarceness . it is but the present time we have , and that is so little , it can hardly be discerned , for it 's gone as soon as present . time is such a piece , such a pretious commodity , that there is not any man in the world has two of them to shew , that if he lose one time , he can say he has another , or if he lose one day , he can say he has another . time past is not our's , that 's gone irrecoverrably , time to come is out of our reach , it lies alwayes in god's hand ; time present is only ours , and that 's so little that a man must have a quick eye that can behold it ; and i never heard of more forts of time than that which is past , present , and to come . 3. for the excellency of time and dayes take notice of the absolute necessity of it ; whatever is done for god , or for a man 's own salvation , must be done in time ; many graces cannot have either being or exercise , but in time ; what need have we of the apostle peters advice , pass the time of your sojourning here in fear ! what would have become of thousands that are now in heaven , but for time , if they had not had time ! see rom 2.4 . or despisest thou the riches of his forbearance and long-suffering , not knowing that the goodness of god that leadeth thee unto repentance . so peter , alluding , as it is very likely , to this very place ; account ( saith he ) that the long-suffering of the lord is salvation , even as our beloved brother paul also , according to the wisdom given unto him , hath written unto you . these two apostles , peter and paul were very good accomptants ; and it seems they both were of this mind , that there was much forbearance & giving a little time , towards the working out of a man's salvation , and setting his matters right with god ; and indeed they might say something by experience , especially paul ; for where had he been , if he had been taken away , when he was persecuting the church , and breathing out threatnings against it ? and for peter he would have been in no good case , if he had been taken away , when he was cursing and denying his master : where had mary magdalen been but a for little forbearance & time , if she had been taken away when she was a prostitute & playing the harlot ? where had austin been but for the patience of god , if he had been taken away , when he was both a perverse manichee and a dissolute young man ? whither should i have gone then , saies he , if at that time i had been removed hence , but into everlasting flames and torments , which my wicked deeds had justly deserved at the hands of god ? where also had many of your selves been , who now with hearty thanksgivings can laud and praise the goodness of god in giving time , and patience that hath led you to repentance ; if you had been taken away in your sins , before the work of grace had been wrought in you ? finally , where had most of those been , who now have their crowns in heaven , but for time and a few dayes patience ? had not long-suffering waited for their conversions , they had been smoking firebrands in hell , that are now shining lights , and glorious saints in heaven : * unless the lord , saies one of the ancients , should first a long time spare the wicked in his mercy , he should not find any righteous whom he might afterwards crown in his justice . without divine teaching , we shall never come to understand what that clause of the apostle means , which many a time i have sat down and admired ; whom god saies , he , hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood , to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past , through the forbearance of god. those last words , through the forbearance of god cannot be known without teaching from above , what need there is of a little time for men that would would go to heaven , that it was god's great forbearance that they were not taken away in their past sins , till they came to believe in christ , for the remission of their sins that were past . go and learn what that means of the good vineyard-dresser ; lord let it alone alone this year also : he that gets a reprieve , time may work him a pardon also god is not willing that any should perish , but that all should come to repentance . how many are called and saved at the sixth hour , which had they been taken away at the third hour where had they been ? how many at the ninth which had they been taken away at the sixth hour , where likewise had they been ? how many at the eleventh , which if they had been taken away at the ninth , where also had they been ? the good thief upon the cross , had he been taken away when he was robbing by the high-way side , what had become of him ? in stead of , this day shalt thou be with me in paradise , that very day and hour be had been in hell with the devil and the damned . and here let it not seem an impertinent solly , if i hence take occasion to reprove a spirit of murmuring and discontent ; because of the lord's patience towards wicked men , and suffering them to continue so long in their rebellions against him , and injuries towards their fellow-creatures : consider thou hadst benefit by the patience of god , was not thou once wicked , and it may be so wicked that others murmured at thee , as now thou murmurest at them ? if thou art light in the lord , remember thy former darkness : thou wouldest have god be hasty with others , and little thinks what danger thou escaped by god's patience towards thee ; because thou art got over the bridge , thou wouldest therefore have it drawn : but if thou thy self did not put god to the expence of much time ; and hast been sanctified even from the womb ; yet hast thou not some son or daughter , or friend , or brother , whose wicked lives thou bewails ? and wouldest thou have god to destroy them , to begin with them , to make them the first examples of his present revenge ? thou saies , why does god bear with the wicked so long ? why does god bear with thy son , with thy brother , with thy kinsman ? thou wouldest desire a little more time for them , and further forbearance in hope of amendment ; that he would forbear them when they are young , for hope of reclaiming when they come to man's estate , that he would forbear them then for hope of reclaiming when they grow old , that he would forbear them when they are old , yet one year longer , for hope of reclaiming the next , and so on ; and therefore look either upon thy self who once wert darkness , but now art light in the lord , or upon child or friend who now are darkness , but happily one day may be light in the lord , and then cease to be offended at any patience of god towards the wicked whatsoever . to conclude this particular ; how many damned in hell if they had had the time and the forbearance that others have had might have been in the places of some that are in heaven and they in their places , but for god's patience ? see mat. 11.21 . 4. for the excellency of time , consider the sweetness of it ; how comfortable do we reckon it , when we can get a little time with a friend to enjoy him without interruption , and not be called away ! how sweet to get a little time for retirement , a little time to hear a little time to pray , to read , to meditate a little time for business , a little time for business ! we are so posted from one exercise to another , from one duty to another , from one posture to another , that we look upon it as a great happiness , to get a little out of the hurry of time , and that the chariot-wheels of it seem to stand a little still and quiet , that for a little space they do not drive on : what a rest is it to a poor tossed hurried soul ? a little communion with god , a little freedom from the cares , the noise , the distractions , the diversions , the interruptions of the world ; to be able to sit down , and be a little at quiet , and take ones breath , and if a man be in sickness , as job speaks , to have a little time to swallow down his spittle . 5. the fifth particular is this , none can know the lord of time without divine teaching , and certain it is , that none can number his time aright that does not understand this , that our time is not our own ; god is the lord of time , we are but stewards of it ; we must be accountable for it , we are not proprietors , and for us to make bold , ( as untaught popple we too often do ) with that which is the lord 's peculiar is high presumption and sawciness : it 's injury and stealth , for thee to meddle with thy fellow-creatures property without his leave ; what is it then at will and pleasure to dispose of thy makers right ? what conscience or prudence is it for thee to say , i will go to such a place such a day , and buy and sell , or meet with such a company and be merry ? who gave either you or them power to name the day ? you should say if the lord give leave , god permitting , if god grant life and health : ah my brethren , if we asked leave of god about the day , we should also he brought to acquaint him with work we intend to do that day , and how many ill-done deeds and mispent time might this prevent ! you see what an interest the right considering of time has in every thing , and how great an influence it has upon all actions and affairs . what has thou to do to cut thongs out of another man's hide , or carve at another man's table without his license ? what prodigals are we of that which is none of our own ? canst thou say that thou was ever worth an hours time of thy own in all thy life , and how is it that thou hast spent so much and wasted so much ? thou hast no authority to appoint dayes or hours let me come closer to thee , thou hast not only robbed god of that time which he has lent thee for thy own business , but thou hast taken from him that time which he has separated and inclosed and reserved for his own work and glory ; review thy sabbaths , and think with thy self , how much holy time thou hast spent upon thy own thoughts , thy own words , thy own actions ; what great snippets of time thou hast cut out of the lord 's holy dayes ; canst thou justify all this ? is this the fruit of the divine teaching ? no such matter : our times are in god's hands and power , our times are not our own any more than our tongues ; god is the lord both over them and us ; let us therefore when ever we have occasion for any time be it never so little , or seemingly never so near at our hand , not dare to reach it and use it without first going to god , and asking his good will ; by this means we shall not only please him , but likewise engage his assistance and direction in , together with his blessing upon , that work we have to do in that time : but if our work be naught them i confess we should be unwilling , to go to him for time for it , lest he ask us how we will imploy it , and we shall be afraid and ashamed to tell him , nor indeed has he allotted any time for bad deeds , but let us know this that if we steal time for works of darkness , the lord will severely reckon with us both for our works and our time . 6. the sixth particular is this ; none can observe the wasters and devourers of time without divine teaching , and it is an undoubted truth , that no man can number his dayes , well , that is not an observer of these ; these are thieves and robbers , these are eaters and consumers of time , that do very much perplex christians ; and many times put them besides right numbring : i will name some of them to you . 1. unnecessary cares ; those are very great intruders upon time , and will be cnotinually claiming a share in it , though our lord and saviour has given positive order that no room should be lest for them ; take no thought for to morrow ; and why take ye thought , &c. how many cares have you in a day come in to your minds that might well be spared , and indeed ought not to be admitted you cannot pray in quiet for them , you cannot eat and sleep in quiet for them ; you ought to watch against them , and beg of the lord divine teaching how you may suppress them . 2. unprofitable discourses are great devourers of time , that tend to no good at all , neither to information , nor reformation , nor to prepare or fit the mind for work and business ; much talk about others mens affairs & matters that we are not concerned in , and are forbid to meddle with : study to be quiet and to do your own business ; and yet you cannot but observe it with half an eye , how much time is spent among christians when they meet together about other mens actions , trades , shops , families &c. and its strange if there is not mixture or backbiting , envy , uncharitableness , and evil speaking throughout such discourses . he that considers time rightly and knows how to number his dayes , as he should , will see cause to wave such needless chat , and fill his time with better conference , that may leave a more sweet savour and relish upon his own heart and the spirits of the company . the lord knows how much we are to blame in this matter , that we cannot fit together , or meet together , but with augustus caesar we must be taxing all the world ; especially such as it may be differ from us a little in some smaller circumstances , we cannot have a good word for them , nor hear a good word of them , but can be greedy and gape at half a word that is reflecting and disparaging at a semblance , at an appearance , true or false . my brethren , these things ought not to be , i profess i often think of that place , james 3.2 . in many things we offend all , but if any man offend not in word , the same is a perfect man , and able also to bridle the whole body ; and let me tell you , he that can manage his time aright , will quickly order his tongue aright : oh that i could perswade you and my self , that redeeming time lies at the very bottom of the power of godliness ; again , how much needless and unprofitable talk about future events and contingencies , about the lord's matters , his dispensations and providences , what may come to pass in the world , besides murmuring and discontented speeches about them ; it does not become us to sit in consistory upon god's providences , to judge and pass hard censures upon them ; no time appointed by the lord for it . it was no small impiety in pompey to rail against the god's , and condemn the providence that suffered him to be soiled by caesar , his cause being , as he thought , far better than caesar's was , he standing for the defence of the common-wealth like a good ; patriot , and caesar like an usurper aiming at a monarchy ; and those queries in tully are but the symptomes of atheism ; that if god govern the world , then why should persidious hannibal be suffered to slay marcellus ? why the barbarous carthaginians to torture regulas ? why bloody cinna to slay so many citizens ? why marius to command & catulus his head , a man far better than himself ? &c. this was a thing that much displeased god , mal. 2. in that some there said ( and wearisome words they were to god ) that because the wickedest were suffered to play such 〈…〉 icks , and domineer over others , that either god favoured the wicked or was no judg of the world ; ye have wearied the lord with your words , yet ye say , wherein have we wearied him ? when ye say , every one that is evil does good in the sight of the lord , and where is the god of judgment ? as if god could not make his judgments good , if he suffered the wicked to be such judges of the earth , to slay whom they would , and whom they would to keep alive , to fit up whom they would , and whom they would to pull down , as daniel said of wicked nebuchadnezzar . when anthony the great was troubled with this and the like questionings about the providence ; it is said that he heard a voice , saying , anthony , anthony , look thou to ●hy self , and to thy own duty , and let god alone with governing the world , he 〈◊〉 wise and just , and powerful enough to do what is to be done , gersoh . and austin well answers the questionist asking him ; why god suffers the wicked to slay the innocent ? see , ( saies he ) whether in the first place it be not your duty , to consider such plain texts as these that more concern your self , break thy bread to the hungry , and bring the poor that are cast out to thy houfse ; when thou seest the naked cover him , and hide not thy self from thy own flesh . that would be time well-spent , and god would allow for it . ) wash you , make you clean , put away the evil of your doings from before your eyes , cease to do evil , learn to do well , seek judgment , relieve the oppressed , judge the fatherless , plead for the widow : come now , and let us reason together ; you would be disputing ( saies he ) with god about providence , before you have made your self fit to dispute with him : come now and let us reason together , now , when you have done all the former that more nearly concern you ; and it were good that many of the questions of this overcurious age were also thus answered : but besides this answer , he goes on and tells him , that perhaps the party whom he thought was innocent was not so , for how could he pry into his heart , or search into all his life to know whether he had not thought , or done any thing amiss ; wherefore god might justly suffer him to be put to death ? but again , suppose he were innocent indeed , what then ? christ was innocent , and yet we know god's counsel to have been good and just in suffering him to be put to death by the wicked ; seeing therefore by god's revealment , thou hast found out his counsel why he suffered the unjust to slay that just one , and such counsel as thou likest of very well thy self , believe also that in others , god does the same upon good counsel , but it is perhaps concealed from thee : lay aside therefore such discourses about god's transactions , or if thou will discourse , do it as the prophet jeremie does chap. 12.1 . who layes down this for a ground , that god is righteous in them all ; if thou does thus thou wil easily light upon this solution , v. 3. pull them out lihe sheep for the slaughter , and prepare them for the day of slaughter . i might add in the last place , vain and foolish talking and discoursing with jesting which is not convenient ; which has nothing but frothines and unsavouriness in it , ministers no edification but tends to put the soul in a careless posture and set it at a greater distance from the fear , of god , which should alwayes be maintained as the souls watch and overseer . 3. confused musings and dark reasonings , spending much time holding a parley with satan's suggestions and objections ; god has allowed no time since adam's fall to spend in conference with satan , his plain rule is to resist him and then he will flee from us ; how are poor souls bewildred , and spend much pretious time in hearing what he has to say against them , their state , their duties , their comforts ! betake your selves to the strong hold of scripture , and there you will find safety , rest and peace ; time spent in searching the scriptures , and meditating upon them is well-spent time , and will cause satan to depart from thee . 4. callings and necessary diversions and avocations take up much time ; a gracious soul many times does begrudge the time he spends in eating , and drinking , and sleeping , and in the necessary duties and labours of his calling ; he could wish with all his heart he had more time for god , and that his business did not ly so hard upon him though this he cannot do without divine teaching ; the men of the world ( and i fear many professours too ) think their time well enough spent in the forementioned affairs . 5. idleness is a great feeder upon time , doing nothing , or next to nothing ; though no man can be idle , for the devil imployes every one whom he finds idle , & he that is imployed by the devil , he may be sure it shall not be about building of chappels , and hearing of sermons , not about any good and godly imployment . the old monks of egypt were wont to say , that the working monk had only one devil haunting and tempting him , but the idle monk had a number of devils still about him to tempt him ; the idle body is haunted and followed with a kennel of hell-hounds still about him to tempt him to naughtiness , the unclean devil to tempt him to uncleanness , the prodigal devil to tempt him to wastfulness , what wastfuller than idleness ? two of the best labourers would have much to do to maintain one loyterer , one drone would devour more honey in a day than two bees could gather ; the proud devil to tempt him to pride , for what prouder than idleness , that hath nothing to do but to trick and prick up it self , the slandersome detracting devil to tempt him to slander and detraction , for who runs over all their neighbours in passing consures on them , but they that talk away time , they are so , idle ; see 1 1 tim. 5.13 . where the idle , the tattlers and busie-bodies are ranked together ; the ristous drunken devil to tempt him to drinking , and who so faulty that way as they that must drink away time ? the sins of sodom are made to be fulness of bread ; and abundance of idleness ; why is fulness of bread , and abundance of idleness such great sins ? no ; but he mentions these as causes and occasions of a great many sins ; give me a place where there is abundance of idleness and i will not doubt to say there is abundance of naughtiness too ; thus for the sixth particular , the wasters and devourers of time . 7. the seventh particular is this ; none can know the periods of time without divine teaching ; and none can number his natural dayes aright , that does not in some measure understand metaphorical and mystial dayes ; he cannot perform his duty aright that does not understand what dispensation he is under in some degree , see revel . 13.18 . here is wisdom , let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast , for it is the number of a man and his number is six hundred threescore and six . our saviour blames the pharifees that they did not discern the sings of the times : the men of issachar are commended that they were men that had understanding of the times . we read of seneral number of dayes and times in daniel 9.25 , and 12.11 , 12. and revel . 11.3.11 . ans 12.6 , 14. and its true that several have been guilty og misses and mistakes in their calculations ; but all argee that we are fallen into the very last dayes of antichrists reign , perillous times , wherein the devil is come down in great rage , and that the signs of the times recorded mat. 24. and luk. 21. are upon us ; and therefore we come to understand what our duties are that are required in such times , as watchfulness , prayer , &c. which are likewise clearly laid down in both the forenamed chapters ; now to take out these lessons and live in the practice of them , and not fall into that fatal security , unbelief sensuality , and : those other sins which make the last times dangerous , does require teachings from above . none can know the successor of time without divine teaching , & 't is impossible for a man to number his dayes aright that does not know time's successor . 1. that time will certainly have a successor , and that it will cease and be no more . 2. what kind of successor it will be , not of the same nature with time , eternity is quite differing from time ; in the resurrection there will be no eating , nor drinking , nor marrying nor giving in marriage , nor buying nor selling ; no turkish paradise to entertain us with carnal plasures , nor yet a popish purgatory to cleanse us from sins unrepented of in time . vse . 1 for application , i note this in the first place , how few there are that are under divine teachings in this point of numbring dayes aright ; we live bysense and not by faith ; oh what is time to endless conceiveless eternity ! but alas , alas , where is the soul that sits down and thinks of eternity for half an hour together ? david's history of the men of his day , is a prophecy of the men of our day , psa . 49.11 . their inward thought is , that their houses shall continue for ever , and their dwelling places to all generations ; though man being in honour abideth not but is like the beasts that perish . vse . 2. beg of god this blessed skill and art of numbring your daies aright ; do not think it a needless petition , thou does not know that thou shalt die , unless god reveal it to thee , thou does not know that time will end , that there is an eternity ; thou lives in this world very forgetful how transitory the state of all these things are ; the vulgar proverb bears witness to vulgar practice , i thought as much of it as of my death , as of the day of doom as of the worlds end . i was much pleased with what i met with lately in the book of wisdom , chap 8.9 . which though it be apocriphal , yet it is canonical truth ; for i was a witty child ( saies he ) and was of a good spirit ; nevertheless when i perceived i could not enjoy her ( that is wisdom ) except god gave her ( & that was a point of wisdom also to know whose gift it was ) i went unto the lord and besought him , &c. witty men , learned men , old men , holy men , unless they be all taught of god will be at a loss in the point of numbring their dayes , of living under the powerfull perswasion of the shortness , swiftness , and determination of dayes and times . let me add one thing which was slipt in the proof of the point , when your bagging of god this holy wisdom to number your daise aright , be sure you be earnest with the lord , that when you number your daies he would still help you to make the number come even ; what is that ? that that you may see your good dayes to be as many and as long as your evil ones , and your dayes to be full as good as any of your neighbours ; thus to number will exceedingly conduce to give you content in your daies which the lord numbers out to you in this world , and keep you from inordinate desires after the changing of them , and having some other dayes in the room of them . the wisdom of god in ballancing men's conditions in the world is much to be observed , though it is but little taken notice of ; every day has it's suitable good as well as sufficient evil , every man may see in his own condition , if he has but his eyes open , as much cause of rejoicing as of mourning ; and he may likewise see his own condition , take it all together , to be as good as any other man's : what is the reason no man is contented with his lot and portion ? it is ; because they do not reckon right , they do not stand in right places to take a view and an estimate either of their own or others conditions ; you stand on the inside of your own , and on the outside of another man's , and by this means , your own seems to be much worse , and his much better than indeed it is ; do but change your stand , and go into the inside of his , and the outside of your own , and then you will set cause to change your opinion ; we may see the neatness of the shew but we little know where it pinches , and others at a distance will judge your state very happy , which it may be you do not sit so easily in , but might , sit more easily if thou would not sit alwayes in one place and posture . i am perswaded the lord hath in his wisdom so ordered mens conditions in this world , that there 's no ods , not one better than another if we could but see the ends and sides of them , no room left for choice , and that condition which every man is in , ought to be concluded , the best for him of any in the world , the beggar 's condition is as good as the king 's take it all together : no state in the world can be an object either of meer pitty or meer envy , none so bad but a great deal of good is to be seen in it , none so good but a great deal of misery is to be found in it : the lord in wisdom and goodness has fitted every man's condition for him ( that another would not fit him so well ) and it will be our wisdom ( if the lord will give it us ) to see our selves fitted to our conditions , and to observe in every point how well they fit us , here a bunch of pride is growing , straighten and check there saies god ; there sensual delight would come in , stop that place ; here strength is ready to be running over to be imployed in vanity , pinch there with a little sickness ; there a grace or two want imployment , send a cross or two to give them some work and exercise : here the soul is ready to faint ; slacken a little and give a cordial , and there the soul is like to fall , clap an hedge or a wall quickly in the way , &c. what happy lives should we lead in comparison of what we do , if we did but know how well every thing we meet with fits us ; what fitty dayes we enjoy : there is not the most cross crooked thing comes to thee , but there is some part of thee that it will fit exceeding well ; now the skill lies in putting it to the right part , a man's shooe will not fit his head , nor his glove his leg ; do not turn thy back to thy cross when thou should take it in thy armes , nor yet take it up at arms end , when thou should bear it upon thy back ; a little weight is heavy at armes end , which will be scarce felt upon the back which is a fifty place for a burthen : we must take up our crosses , as the man did his sheep upon his shoulder and away with it , trudging after the lord jesus ; some men lead their crosses gingerly as a man leads his young child by the hand , and so make no way ; some take them by the wrong end , and are not able to lift them up ; some leap over them , some fall upon them , and many fall under them , and all for want of this blessed teaching of the lord : let us therefore never leave this out of our parayers , that the lord would teach us the even numbring of our dayes , and give us to see that every day we live , whatever falls out in it , is a fitty day ; and that our condition , take it all together is at any time of the day as good as any man 's living , and take his all together too : if he have money , i have health ; if he have children , i have wealth ; if he have power , i have peace ; if he have prosperity , i have grace &c. and so much for the third observation ; i come now to the , doct. 4. fourth and last observation in which i shall be brief , that the right numbring of our dayes is a special means to obtain true wisdom ; i shall endeavour to give you cle●● demonstration of the point in these following particulars . 1. he is a wise man that minds his greatest concern , in the first place ; now he that numbers his dayes aright , that reckons of shortness , of time , he makes it his first business to seek the kingdom of god and the righteousness thereof , he will take maries part , and leave martha's till afterward if there be time for it : our lord jesus in his travel , comes into a certain womans house named martha , and falls a preaching : her sister mary , considers with her self that she might have time to provide food , when she could not have an opportunity to hear a sermon and therefore she sate jesus feet and beard his word ; matha was very busie in serving and providing entertainment , and complains of her sisters sleight and disrespect to his person , and unkindness to her to suffer her to serve alone ; our saviour gives her a check , and commends mary's , entertaining his doctrine , before martha's entertaining his person ; christ loves that man should look after their souls , and not make such a bustle about their , outward cordions to make them easie , and splendid and delightful , but be content with such things as you have , such things as the house affords ; as christ would have been well enough , and have been better pleased with martha , if she had sit down with mary to hear the sermon : if christ gave such a check to martha for her great love to his outward man , because she neglected the good of her own soul ; what a severe censure will he pass upon many one day , whose care and cumber , and pains , and time , and strength has been mostly imployed about their own outward man , and their families , and children , how to get them bread , and livings , and portions ; and in the mean while have made no provision for their long home , for eternity , for their precious souls , but let them lie at sixes and sevens , hunger'd , starved , defiled , naked and bare . he that reckons of the fewness of his dayes reasons and resolves thus ; let me secure an interest for my soul in the lord jesus , let me be assured of a kind reception beyond the grave , and a mansion in glory , and then if i have time , i may look a little after the world , but if i leave the former undone , i shall be undone for ever ; i may leave the latter undone and no great loss , god will take care of my children , he is bound to it ; and for my self , if i be in the meaner condition here , as we use to say to children , no body will ask them , or tell them , when they come to be men , what cloaths they did wear when they were children ; so when i come to heaven , it will be all one then whether i had two coats here , or never a whole one , whither i lived in plenty here , or sometimes was in such a strait that i did not know where to get my dinner ; let my soul be once in a safe condition , and then i am sure there can be nothing much amiss in other things . 2. it is a point of wisdom to foresee an evil , and to avoid it ; the wise-man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself ; but the simple pass on , and are punished . he that numbers his dayes aright , that knbws the shortness of time , the certainty and suddenness of death , does prepare himself accordingly , he gets himself hid in the rock the lord jesus ; he has got an hiding place , so that when death , comes to strike , and satan watching for the soul , and the grave ( which can never have enough ) gapeing for the body ; all on a sudden , the soul is carried by angels into abraham's bosom , and the body laid as seed in the earth , ( not detained as a prisoner under the grave's power ) to be raised again a glorious body at the resurrection of the just ; the soul is continually whilst here fortifying it self , by faith and repentance , and humility and self-denial which are armour of proof in every evih day . 3. he is a wise-man that knows how to carry himself suitable to his condition . the right numbring his dayes conduces much to this , as you have already heard , and therefore i need not enlarge upon this head ; only this , he reckons his time is so short that it never concerns him whether he be in an high or in a low condition ; it 's no matter where or how i fit , i am not like to fit so long ; no matter what part i act , i shal quickly be gone off the stage , i can take any part that is allotted me ; it 's no matter how i buy and sell , or pofesess , for i must do all as though i did it not , because of the shortness of time : so that in short , as numbring our dayes aright is the fruit of divine teachings ; so it is the way and means to obtain divine wisdom . 4. he is a wise-man that is well-read in antient records and history , and has a good reach with him about what things may fall out hereafter and manages himself accordingly . now to number our dayes aright will put us upon a search of the dayes that are past , what times have been before ; and that which is , is but what hath been , and is gone and past , and so must what lies before us top ; and therefore we shall be looking after something that is lasting , & not so flitting and fading as these earthly things are : a man that knows no more than the present day , will mind nothing else but the present things ; will be alwayes muddling , and moyling , and scraping in the world , and never looks about him , to see what has gone before him , or what will come after him , which if , he once did he would quickly come out of his muddy hole , and shake himself , and seek about for some surer foot-hold , some better standing , some other imployment than what he is now engaged in , and taken up with . 5. he is a wise-man what knows things of deep reach and search , of profound enquiry , things that are out of other mens thoughts , that never enter into their head 's ; the right numbring of our dayes will much help to this knowledg , for he that considers that time will quickly end , and eternity presently begin which will never end , will begin to inquire what things are conversant and in use in the other world ; and when he finds that communion with god , beholding christ in his glory , freedom from all sin , the society of saints , &c , is the condition of the place ; he presently turns out , worldly thoughts and designs , and discourses about houses , and lands and money , and pomp and glory and pleasures ; and dives into the mystery of the gospel , the word of reconciliation , a life of believing , the work and sealing of the spirit , the priviledges of god's people &c , and falls upon studying the work of repentance , of self-denial , of mortification , together with all those works of meekness , love and charity , by which persons are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light , and are prepared for an eternal state and condition : alas , faies he , why do you trouble me with these trifles as eating , and drinking and trading &c. it 's true they are of use in , and are calculated for this present infirm state , and must have their place ; but the main work and business is quite another thing , the usages and customes of this world are quite differing from , and contrary to those of the next ; and therefore i must begin the life here that i expect to live in the next , and must be practising non-conformity to , and living above this present evil world , i must come out of it , i must be out of love with it , i must keep it at due distance , i must use it as not abusing it , as if i used it not , that i may be ready and fitted for the condition and company of the world to come , when-ever the messenger of death comes for me , which i am to expect every hour : for i am commanded to watch alwaies with my loins girt about , and my light burning , that when my lord comes and knocks i may open to him immediatly . 6. we count him a wise-man who is willing to be taught , and nothing like the numbring of our dayes will further that , it cures trewantry ; he that does a thing as his last will be willing to do it the best way he can , and will be glad of any help persons that have difficult business to do which must be done in such a time , are ready to receive advice and take it kindly , and this does argue them to be wise , for willingness to learn is a sign of wisdom , he is a fool that thinks he knows enough ; how glad is a serious christian that values time of an opportunity of receiving good , of being helped on his way , of a little cordial in time of fainting , of one that will take him by the hand when he gives a slip ; he that knows the most is the most receptive of knowledg , and the ablest christian readiest to take in more strength . 7. he is a wise-man who is able to give advice and counsel , and nothing does so much inable a man in that as to number his dayes aright : what 's the reason that we go to the ancient for counsel but because they have had the experience of many dayes past , and they reckon but of a few to come , they look upon all the years they have lived , but as yesterday , and they reckon to die to morrow ; were i to chuse a man for my life to give me counsel , it should be one that makes conscience how he spends his time , that will not trifle and idle away his time . the diligent good school-master does first of all teach the well-using of time , when he is very severe if his scholars do not come in the morning exactly at the time appointed . 8. we count him a wise-man that is of few words , for even a fool when he holds his peace is counted wise ; now he that values time and knows the pretiousness of it is alwayes very thoughtful and studious , what he must do in the next place , he is not for talking but for doing , his words are weighty and alwayes spoken in due place and season ; he has no superfluous time for supernumerary words . 9. he is a wise-man that loves and keeps wise-mens company ; he that measures time has none to spare to spend with fools ; he that makes conscience of redeeming his time , finds that he has not so much time as he would have with saints , he has none at all for sinners . 10. we count him wise that minds his own business and meddles not with other mens , he that numbers his dayes ; sees that he has time little enough to manage his own matters in : it is observable that walking wisely towards them that are without , and redeeming time are put together , col. 4.5 . eph. 5.16 . of all men he gives the least offence : two things offend the world , first , when they observe your failings : secondly , when you observe their's ; now the man that spends his time conscienciously , minds his own paths , looks directly forward , he neither stumbles , nor looks on side to take notice of the falls of others ; he looks to his own place and work that the lord left him to do , mark. 13.34 . 11. he is a wise-man in scripture-sence that fears god. the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom ; job 28.28 . the fear of the lord that is wisdom , and to depart from evil that it understanding . now none is so prepared for the fear of the lord as he that numbers his dayes , it keeps the soul in the continual awe and dread of the almighty god : and the reason is evident and plain ; for he looks upon the lord as his landlord , and himself as his tenant at will , the rent he payes is but small , and he is very careful to please his landlord , turning out is troublesome at the best , and upon short warning it may be somewhat dangerous , & therefore he judges it very reasonable that he should continually stand in awe of him in whose power he absolutely is as to his being and wel-being , as to his stay here , and his dwelling place hereafter ; and thus much briefly for the proof of the point , one word of application , and so i conclude this text at this time . vse . one general exhortation from the whole ; let us learn this wisdom of numbring our dayes that we may be wise : has it been our evil that we have lost much time , and have not put a due value upon it , let us now redeem it , repurchase it at any rate ; the word signifies to buy some things back , a metaphor taken from one that mortgageth his land and redeemeth it again , or from the practice and custome of wise merchants , who use to buy their commodities whilst fit time of buying serves , and whilst the market holds , and having haply had great losses , or formerly spent their time idly or unthriftily do by their diligence seek ( as it were ) to buy back again the time that is past . the truth is , my brethren , we have been great unthrifts , have squandred away a great stock and portion , of time ; time is now grown a scarce commodity , the price of it is risen ; we are fallen into those hard times mentioned , 2 tim. 3.1 . hurtful , heavy , damaging times ; that as the sea being infested by pirats , the earth being followed with male-influences from the heaven , make times hard for the body ; so the scarcity of opportunities together with their ensnarements and molestations , adding the great suspension of heavenly influence , renders the seasons of receiving good very difficult , hard to come by , and harder to be improved : besides this , the swifter motion of time now ( because nearer to its center ) meeting with an old , crazy distempered world , ( all persons and things being grown worse than they were every way ) does cause much detriment and spoil to both , as the speedy motion of a coach in bad wayes makes the passengers knock their heads together , and fall heavy upon one another that never intended it ; the hurry of this last time does wear and weary out person and things , throws men and breaks them one over another , casts some into the grave , and leaves others i know not where , and causes such commotions , mutation , and inflammations that it is much to be feared that the axletree of the world may catch fire which may not so easily be quenched but increase to the general conflagration of that great day mentioned , 2 pet. 3.10 . but the day of the lord will come as a thief in the night , in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise , and the elements shall melt with servent heat , the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up . i shall conclude my exhortation in the words of the same apostle that immediatly follow , seeing then all these things shall be dissolved , ( that time will bring matters to this pass ) what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness , looking for , and halting unto the coming of the day of god wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved , and the elements shall melt with servent beat , wherefore ( beloved ) seeing ye look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless , and seeing ye know these things before , beware last ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness ; but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ . to him be glory now and for ever amen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a45530-e230 * a dangerous fall at a trap-door * psa . 90.12 . * bramham toulston oglethorp ceeds shadwel wakefield pontefract hull beverly langlon thoraby york barwick in elmet &c. 2 pet. 3.1 . now under the care of mr. jam. fitten my old friend & fellow sufferer and and mr. hen. forte * mr. smith is an honest man with all his faults . pro. 11.20 . heb. 10.22 mrs. smith notes for div a45530-e700 mat. 28.20 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 cor. 11.26 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes for div a45530-e870 eccl. 11.9 . eccl. 12.9 . notes for div a45530-e940 job . 4.1 . mr. gar. minister at leea's author of the demonstration of the resurrection of christ . mr. mansfield castle et me more me a-liquando corripiet . and the earthy house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eodem die lusrunt navigia sorbent . sen. jer. 45.4 , 5. jon. 3.4 . notes for div a45530-e1320 ps . 139.19 acupictus sum . gen. 47.9 . job 14.1.5 , 6. psal . 90.10 mat. 21.2 heb. 5.7 . job 7. last eph 4.26 . mat. 5.2 , 3 psa . 31.15 job . 17.1 . isa . 56.12 . gen 4.8 . exo. 12.30 london . war and sea-fights eccle. 9.10 . mr. f. 〈…〉 〈…〉 psa . 73.18 19. gen. 47.9 . job 14.1 . psa . 90.10 . esa . 57.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 job 13.26 psal . 98.9 . periissem nisi periissem . job 36.8.9.10 . fecisti nos ad te & cor nostrum inquictum estdonec re quiescat in te versa & reversa in tergum & in latera & in ventrem , & dura sunt omnia ! tu solus requires austin mr. g. eccles . ● . 9 . 1 tim. 6. ● hab. 2. de brev . ●●t . eccl. 2.20 mr. g. job 6.15.21 . eccles . 2.22.23 . mat. 24.22 . psal . 16.11 . deut. 33.25 . notes for div a45530-e4550 pauperis est numer are pecus . psa . 9.10 job 13.5 . jam. 1.24 eccles . 3.1 . mat. 24 22. job . 6.29 . heb. 13.5 eccles . 2.1.3 heb. 9.28 pro. 7.4 mr. w. titus 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tim. 11.3 . titus 1.16 phil. 3.19 . eccles . 8.6 , 7 , 8 , 9.12 heb. 12.11 job 29.4 . heb. 13 mat. 6● 1 cor. 7.29 mr. b phil. 4.1 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 job 21.7 . mat. 14.4 . mat. 13.19.22 , 25. mr. g. 2 pet. 3.8 . 1 king. 14.14 . eccl. 8.12 . hab. 2.3 kin. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . luk. 17.28 . mr. g. v. 13. &c. v. 29. v. 30. prov. 6.1 . c. 27.23 . 1.7 . 1 tim. 6.19 . joh. 4.23 , 24. joh. 4.23 , 24. v. 5 , 6 , 7. heb. 11. 1 cor. 7.29 mr. f. exod. 29.19 . job 3.21 . the lady barwick of toulston in yorkshire , to whom i had the happiness to be chaplain for several years , and must ever own my self to bemuch obliged , and no less to the right honourable the lord henry fairtax her son in law , and my constant and faithful friend in my sufferings for christ . job . 3.21 . 1 pet. 1.17 . 2 pet. 3.5 . quo irem s●●tunc obtrem , nisi in ignem & tormenta digna factis mcis &c. cont. 5. * nisi primo deus per miscre cordiam parceret non inveniret ques per judiesum c●iona ret . rom 3.25 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luk. 13.8 . 2 pet. 3. 2 timo. 2.25 . mr. g. mat. 6.34 . 1 thes . 4.11 . de net. deor. 3. dan. 5.17 mr. g. vide prus ne illud debeas-frange esurienti panem tuum &c. psal . 61. esa . 58.7 . esa . 1.16 , 17 , 18. disputare vis anrequam facias unde dignus sis disputare &c. queritur egystus quare sit factus adulter ; in promptu ratio est desidiosus erat . mat. 16 3. ver. 12. luk. 10.38 prov. 22.3 luk. 12.35 , &c. prov. 1.7 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , eph. 5 , 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , dura , molesta . v. 11 , 12 , 14 , 17 , 18 , william michel unmasqued, or, the staggering instability of the pretended stable christian discovered his omissions observed, and weakness unvailed : in his late faint and feeble animadversions by way of reply to a book intituled truth cleared of calumnies : wherein the integrity of the quakers doctrine is the second time justified and cleared from the reiterate, clamorous but causeless calumnies of this cavilling cetechist [sic] / by robert barclay. barclay, robert, 1648-1690. 1672 approx. 179 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 41 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a30907 wing b742 estc r37062 16199162 ocm 16199162 105055 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a30907) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 105055) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1085:24) william michel unmasqued, or, the staggering instability of the pretended stable christian discovered his omissions observed, and weakness unvailed : in his late faint and feeble animadversions by way of reply to a book intituled truth cleared of calumnies : wherein the integrity of the quakers doctrine is the second time justified and cleared from the reiterate, clamorous but causeless calumnies of this cavilling cetechist [sic] / by robert barclay. barclay, robert, 1648-1690. [6], 66 p. [s.n.], [aberdeen?] printed : 1672. place of publication suggested by wing. barclay's truth cleared of calumnies was in reply to william mitchell's a dialogue between a quaker and a stable christian. mitchell replied with a sober answere to an angry pamphlet. cf. nuc pre-1956 imprints. error in paging: p. 64 misprinted 94. reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng mitchell, william, 17th cent. -sober answere to an angry pamphlet. society of friends -apologetic works. theology, doctrinal. 2005-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-06 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2005-06 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion william michel unmasqued : or , the staggering instability of the pretended stable christian discovered , his omissions observed , and weakness unvailed . in his late faint and feeble animadversions by way of reply to a book intituled truth cleared of calumnies . wherein the integrity of the quakers doctrine is the second time justified , and cleared from the reiterate , clamorous but causeless calumnies of this cavilling cetechist . by robert barclay . john 16. 2. they will put you out of their synagogues , yea , the time cometh , that whosoever killeth you , will think he doth god good service . 1 john 4. 4. ye are of god little children , because greater is he that is in you , than he that is in the world. 3 john 10. wherefore if i come , i will remember his deeds ( which he doth ) prating against us with malitious words . printed in the year , 1672. the preface to the reader . reader , having seriously perused w. m. his late animadversions upon my book , i find my judgement of it , though a party concerned , to jump with that which is the sence of several juditious persons , who neither own nor walk in that profession i am in ; and therefore can the less he suspected of partiallity , viz : that they coutain nothing of a solid or satisfactory reply ; for though he seemes to take notice of all the particulars mentioned , yet he omits in many , more then the half of what is said by me concerning them , and against that which he doth mention in my name , his most frequent arguments are without any proof ; having no other bottom but his owne judgement , thoughts and conjectures , whereby it seemes , forgetting or mistaking his work , he playes the catechist rather then the disputant . this put me to some stand , whether it was fit to give him any reply ; though truly such as will be at the paines to compare his with my last , will need little further , yet knowing how many are apt to take things upon trust , and to receive misrepresentations concerning us , who are a people so generally reproached , i found it expedient to write this succinct reply , which may lead the reader to a narrow observation of the invalidity of w. m. his work against us , and may present in short his most obvious omissions , his most manifest contradictions , unvail his disingenuity , lay open his weakness , and shew his unstabillity , especially so far as he has deserved ; most of these arguments he used in his dialogue , as not being able further to mantaine them , and discover how faintly such new ones as he , doth now bring forth , millitate aginst us . let it not startle thee that so smal a bulk as this is should answer his , for thou mayst perceive several pages of his taken up in the cappital letters of the contents of his many heads and subdivided sections , which makes it not unlike the city mindus whereof the antients spoke , whose gates were so disproportionable in greatness to the quantity of the towne , that a certain philosopher is said to have advised the citizens to shut them , least the city should flee out at them . we may ver well so far extend the parallel , as to aver , that the contained in no ways answers to the contents ; there is a deal of more heads , then either heart or horns , several sections but small substance , and a great shew of method , but very little matter . i confess i might have far more enlarged this duply , had i taken notice of all the impertinencies which herein comes under my observation , but that the more juditious , and intelligent would ascribe these things not so much to the cause as his weakness who managed it . i desire to contend for truth and not for victory , knowing , though i were so minded , the triumph should be but small the i could gain from so inconsiderable an antagonist , therefore reader , i shal wish thee for the truths sake ( that thou may be found truly owning it , and not somthing else in stead of it ) seriously to read and peruse these papers , with such as relate unto them : and may that spirit of truth which teacheth all things , so direct thy understanding , as thou may discern what doctrine is truly and really most according to the holy scriptures which thou art hartily invited in this matter to search and peruse , by a well-wisher of thy soul and of all men. r. b. urie , the 24th of the 10th moneth commonly called december , 1671. william michel unmasqued ; or the staggering instabillity of the pretended stable christian discovered , his omissions observed , and weakness unvailed , &c. that which first presents it self to my view is w. m. his epistle directed to me , and the quakers in and about aberdeen , which he prefixes as his considerations upon my preface , but that which is the substantial part of it , he hath left unanswered , for my preface was to shew the method of the priests of aberdeens procedure against the quakers , giving account of most if not all the papers had past betwixt them , and also how by their instigation some of us had been imprisoned ; particularly the falseness of g. meldrum his way with us , first in pulpit to accuse us as hereticks , and then in private to desire to know of us our principles , but all this he hath wholly waved , it seemes he either could not or would not , defend his own , nor his brethrens double dealing with us : as to what he mentions i take notice , first , of his denying that any in or about aberdeen hath reproached the quakers , as demented , distracted , or bodily posessed : checking me for taking things upon trust. well , it sufficeth me that they are ashamed of such falshoods , though if need be , i can instance that i had ground to say so . secondly i take notice how that not being willing wholly to clear us , he saith some of us in england have given ground to be so charged by their extraordinaryly trembling , &c. but it is strange w. m. should so far forget himself as to accompt this a ground to charge people as demented , &c. seeing there was a season wherein himself acknowledged , he seldome or never went to the pulpit without sensible trembling , which if he dare to deny i offer to prove by undeniable testimonies . as to what he adds of womens going naked in the streets , and some offering to raise the dead , alledging for proof samuell clerk , the newcastle ministers , pagets herisography . i answer , as these calumnies have been particularly answered by our friends in england , so they signifi no more against us being writ by our declared enemies , then cochloeus lies against luther , particularly that he assayed to cast out devils , or what the popish authors writes of calvine , that he made a living man counterfeit himself dead that so he might raise him , and that beza was stigmatised for sodomie : and much more of this kind . thirdly , the thing i observe is his comparing us to john of leyden , and ignatious loyola , and that because they preached in the streets , cried down wearing of rings , and other superfluities as we doe , were against needless salutations , spoke much of mortification , and pretended to or expected immediate revelation ; but our resembling them in these things , which the apostles of christ commanded , and practised , will not prove the jesuits our grandfathers , ( as w. m. terms it ) more then their being found in them , will prove them the grand-children of the apostles , we must not forsake doing good because hypocrites seem to do so , nor forbear to preach the gospel because judas did it , but as for the other practises of john a leyden , and ignatius loyola's followers the jesuits , to wit , their cutting down all that would not be of their way , their assuming outward power , their seeking to overturn kingdoms , their preaching up war and blood : the principles and practices of w. m. this brethren do declare , how much more they resemble them then the quakers , who from the pulpit blew the trumpet of all the late troubles , seditions , and civil dissentions , which have proved so bloody and monstrous to the inhabitants of this poor island . and many of them have now turned their backs upon that cause , which they hunted out others to fight for : and some , to wit , w. n and his brethren at aberdeen can find out jesuittical distinctions , and mental revelations , whereby ( notwithstanding they swore against all detestable newtrality ) they can make a shift to preach under bishops , dispence with the doxologie , forbear lecturing , and several other parts of the directorian discipline , as w. m. has done at the bishops order , and yet keep a reserve for presbitery in case it come againe in fashion . forthly , i take notice of the impertinency of w. m. his bringing in this story of ignatus loyola , upon my saying some professors in aberdeen , found that savour of life in the quakers testimony , which formerly had stired among others who were come to a great decay ; now because it was obvious , i intended by these professors who were come to a decay w. m. and some others of his brethren who pretended to be for independancy in that day , but now were turned with the times , knowing how much it would reflect upon him to harp on this string , he runs away and sayes , these others are ignatus loyola , and thereupon makes the comparrison above mentioned , which impertinent digression is abundantly manifest . fiftly , i take notice of his charging us as rather reproachers of others then reproached , because of the plain language we use against him and his brethren , aledging we will not find christ and his apostles use the like to such as professed christianity , for a reproof of his ignorance in the scriptures let him read rom. 16. 18. phil. 3. 2. 1 tim. 1. 19 , 20. ib. chap. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. ib. chap. 6. ver . 3 , 4. 2 tim. 2. 17. tit. 1. 10 , 11. 2 pet. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. 1 joh. 2. 18 , 19. &c. his adding that they shew earnestness of desire that souls may be saved , and willingness to promote that designe , saith nothing except this desire and willingness proceed from the right ground , papists are as zealous in their earnestness and willingness as they , and doe no less profess subjection to the gospel , owning christ to be the messiah , and yet calvine spared not to term them impuri canes , filthy dogs , innumerable are the expressions of this kind used by the zealous luther against them . sixtly , i take notice of his cautions to me , wherein he chargeth me of pride , passion , censoriousness , folly , contrariety to the word of god , ignorance , and indeavouring to promote the popish intrest : but had he truly minded my good in his cautions , he should have produced some reasons to prove me guilty of these crimes , he concludes us proud for separating from them in burial places , and so condemns the french protestants for doing the like from papists : he falsly chargeth us with placing religion in forbearing ribands , keeping on the hat , and saying , thou and thee , and thereupon concluds me ignorant of true conversion , while his ignorance of us hath made him thus calumniatious : he concludes us advancers of the popish interest , because we decry their ministery and churches , while he borrows this very argument from the papists , who used , it against the first reformers , aledging that their crying down the church of rome , was a joyning hand with the turks , who did the same , though then the first reformers were no turks though they agreed with them in denying the church of rome neither are we romanists though with those of rome we condemn them , especially considering that it is because of their too great affinity with papists that we do so . seventhly , i take notice of his confessing he never intends to tell the world the scriptures we use , aledging we abuse them , but if he could have proved we did so , it would have tended more to our disadvantage , and whereas he sayes he resolves to write no more , i confess it will be his wisdom except he speak to better purpose , it is a very apparent subterfuge to cover his resolutions of not prosecuting farther this debate , by aledging it will prove endless , and compairing us to scoulds who will have the last word , which in reason can have no place in this matter , seeing being challenged by me of many great omissions , he freely acknowledged he had not , nor did not intend to answer me fully , and what he had writ was but some animadversions which i have indeed found true , having allowed some time as he desired to read them , though it very hardly deserves to be so much regarded . as to his epistle , if he had as really affected retirement as he pretends he does , he should have done well to have appeared in publick with some more solid stuff , he hath herein almost onely shewed his ingenuite , in that he acknowledgeth himself amongst the weakest of our opposers , comparing his work but to a small quantity of water , brought to quench a house one fire , we have indeed found it of less force then many that have come before it , to smother or drownd that truth which god has revealed among us . in the end of his epistle , he would wilingly have the reader believe he is an upholder of the protestant interest , against our endeavours to overthrow it , but to how little purpose may , as it occurs be manifested . after he has made an intire ommission of what is particularly directed by me to him in my 8. and 9. pages ( as not being able to vindicate himself ) he enters upon the matter of salutation , undertaking in his first section , to prove such as are used by gestures , wherein i observe . first , his most manifest omission of the first part of mine concerning this thing page . 9. and 10. where i charge him with dis-ingenuity in wrong subsuming of our words , which he shufleth over with this general , that after the quakers rate i have saluted him with reproach . secondly , he having expressed my argument against their manner of salutations , viz. that being it is the expression or signification of our worship to god , it ought not , nor cannot be given to the creature without idolatrie , he maketh there unto no direct answer , but instead of one frames a distinction of worship in civil and sacred , the first he sayth may be given to men , but the 2d . to god only , aledging this distinction to be founded on scripture , luke . 14. 10. then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee . now these words ought to be translated thou shalt have glory , praise or renown , and therefore in the latine it is , et erit tibi gloria , for so the greek word doxa signifies , which w. m. will not show me to signifie adoratio , or worship : it s therefore but a poor argument that has no better bottom then this manifest mistake of the translation . for other proof he hath none , neither for his distinction , nor former assertion . thirdly , i observe his instancing of the practises of abraham , lot , joseph , jacob , adding that though they be not to be followed in all things , yet in such they may as are not else were reprehended nor prohibited . for answer , let him look unto rev. 22. 9. where the angel refused it , and seeing i suppose he may have so much charity for this beloved disciple , as to judge he was not tempted with idolatry , especially in a season wherein god was revealing such pretious things unto him : he may observe how this holy man was a stranger to this unscriptural distinction , of civil and religious worship . fourthly , i observe his endeavours to shift affinity with popery but he hath no waydisproved the parity in that wherein i compared them , viz. the papist distingish the worship they give to god , and that they give to their images onely in the intention , and nor in the outward signification , and ye distingish the worship ye give to men and that ye give to god , onely in the intention , and not in the outward signification , for ye bow and take off your hats to the worst of men as well as to god , and therefore ye agree , in so far as both has nothing but their simple intention , to plead the difference whereunto nothing is ansewred : he concludes his section saying , i seem to justifie moses his doing obeysauce , to his father in law ; adding , what is obeysance but civil reverence by bowing the body ; this is a fit conclusion to close up such a silly section , for after he has laboured long in vain , he concluds , thus begging the thing in question . and if moses bowed himself as i said in my last , that makes nothing against us . his second section is to prove salutations by words , which might have been spared until he had proved how and where we deny them , but because he had somthing to say from scripture for this , which we deny not , but own as much as himself , he would have it in that he might seem with some credit to bring in his inference , which is that bowing of the body and expressing our affection by words , is agreeable to scripture : the latter part of this concerns not us as being not denied , and for the first , of bowing , it signifies nothing , until it be brought in with some more pressing premisses , in this section he acknowledges that takeing of the hat is without any scripture warrant , and from arguments passes here to entreaties , begging that it may not be quarrelled at , but seeing the taking of it off or uncovering of our heads is that which the aopstle requires , as a signe of subjection in our worship towards god , 1 cor. 11. 4 , 7. we resolve to keep it to him , and not to give it to man wherein if he will solve our scruple , according to scripture we may be the more easily induced to answer his desire ; it is to be observed that notwith-standing of this , we are not against outward signification of honour , though in the end of this section he fasly would be insinuating the contrary . he hath here subjoyned a third section , which he termeth an answer to my objection , and which in reason should have some relation to salutations as being under this head , though indeed it hath none at all , but is a meer cavil at some of my words upon another subject , concerning the single language , where page . 11. i confess with him that the kingdom of god consists not in words , adding that it seems inconsistent with his principles , seeing the gospel according to him , is but words , yea the scripture it self ( i mean that which ye have of it , to wit , the letter ) now this parenthesis he hath dis-ingeniously omitted , and thereupon goes about to explaine their meaning of the scripture and the gospel , alledging if we be for another , we may justly be accounted subverters of the christian religion , but such shallow critisims brought in beside the purpose , whereas other things more material , are either wholly omitted or scurvily shifted over , will easily appear to the impartial and juditious reader . in his second head , concerning our using thou and thee , which is the singular number to one person , i observe . first , how he hath given away his own cause , by confessing that luke . 22. 31. is not understood of one exclusivly , of others , and therefore no wonder if christ used the plural number , seeing as w. m. confesses he intended to speak to all the apostles . as for that expression of bildads , jobs friend ( granting both the transcription and translation to be true ) shall this one expression overturn the universal practice of christ and the whole saints in scripture , or let him tell us plainly , whither these words and practices of jobs friends which are recorded , be for to be our rule so as we ought to immitate and follow them ? especially where they contradict or differ from the practice of christ and his apostles , but to follow this so frequent practice of the saints is with w. m. to be proud , knowing nothing but doting about questions and strife of words , for so he misapplyes 1 tim. 6. 4. and to his own confusion uses it himself , in the end of his epistle to the reader , where he has these words , i am thy servant , and thereby hath condemned himself as one of those ignorant , proud , boasters he speaks of , &c. secondly , the second thing i observe , that he produceth not one argument against our practice in this thing , but his own groundless , yea lying imaginations and conjectures , aledging he is of the mind , that if the translators had not kept to the rigor of construction , but translated atach , and so not thou ( which is the true signification ) but you we had kept our old tone though his disdainful insinuation of our ignorance be here apparent , yet experience might have taught him and his brethren , that even where the translators have favored them with their escapes , the quakers have both had hebrew and greek enough to find them out , it is also here to be observed how easily w. m. can dispence with mistakes , even willful ones , in the translators when they make for his purpose , thereby in effect ( for all his pretences of exalting the scripture and making it his rule ) he signifies his desire not so much to square his practices to the scripture , as by twining it like a nose of wax to make it squar to them . he superscribeth his third head , an undertaking to prove that our departing from them is not to be justified by their departing from papists , wherein is to be observed his manifest omissions , which the reader will see by comparing the 12 , 13 , and 14 pages of my last with this his third head. next i observe the weakness of his arguing in what he hath mentioned , wherein he concludes , that because we grant we had a measure of integritie while among them , that therefore it was begot by their ordinances so called , but doth not the same recurr in the case of the primitive protestants , or will he say that all of them were void of any measure of integritie , while they were among the papists ? moreover whereas he objects , that though god visited some among papists , it was not by popish traditions , aledging luther had the benefit of the coppy of a latin bible , whereby he was instructed ; for answer , the same recurrs in our case , for whatever advantages luther had either by the use of the bible or otherways , had not we the same ? and therefore in the third place is to be observed that he hath altered the state of the question , aledging it to be incumbent upon me , to prove that they were converted by the popish traditions , which is a willful mistake , for the question ( as may be seen in the pages above-mentioned ) was whether god might not countenance us with a regard to that measure of integrity he hath begot in our hearts , though we were indeed wrong as to our walking with them in their way ; and this i did illustrate by the example of the disciples of cornelius and of luther , who though he came but gradually to his discoveries , yet was countenanced in the first as well as last steps , yea notwithstanding of his erring grosly in the matter of transubstantion , all this he hath wholly omitted , closing up this head by endeavouring to draw from my words a reflection upon p. l. as if i accounted an objection coming from him , weak , but it is ill inferred to conclude p. l. from thence a feeble person , for though p. l. as well as i , might reckon it weak comparatively in respect of others more strong , yet he might judge it strong enough for such faint disputers as w. m. or his brethren at aberdeen to answer : as that which he reckoned would put the quakers to a great nonplus , he proposed in his dialogue upon this occasion a query , viz. wehther it was safe to lean to the guidance of that light , which one while saies this is the way of god walk in it , another while , come out of it , for it is babylon ? to which , beside the general answer above-mentioned , i shew him how easily it might be retorted upon most of all the national ministry of scotland , who now are gainsaying , and contradicting that which they had formerly pleaded for as the cause and work of god , even then as this their changableness cannot be ascribed to the scripture , which they pretend to be their rule , neither will any mans instabillity who pretends to be giuded by the light , prove the light ought not to be followed , this , because he felt might touch him and his brethren to near therefore he hath wholly omitted it . his fourth head is concerning the light , containing five sections , from page 9. to the 25. wherein is to be observed . first , how he has gone from the state of the question , as it is in his dialogue pag. 5. where he denies christ to be in the wicked or unconverted in any other manner , then as he is in the very bruits and unsensible creatures , but now he grants christ to be in such as to common operations , and page 22. he sayes , that the light is in all men , and that christ is in all men , in so far as his light is in all men , and thus he overthrowes his chief argument used against us ; in his dialogue page the 5. where he sayes , that christ is in none but in such with whom he is in union , for here he grants christs light to be in all men , even such as are not in union with him , adding that where the light of christ is , there is christ the donator of it , which is all we say ; so then the controversie is no more , if christ or his light be in all men . but after what manner he is in them , and whether this light be saving yea or nay ? and here in the 2d . place i observe his shameless dis-ingenuity and omission , in saying , it remains for me to prove that this light in all is saving , whereby he would make the reader believe , that i had never offered to prove this , for clearing of which i desire he may look into page the 23. of my last where from rom. 5. 8. joh. 3. 16 , 19. heb. 2. tit. 2. 11. col. 1. 23. i did prove that the universal grace of god given to all men is saving in its nature , and in order to save , and now though no rules of strict debate could require me to proceed further , yet i shall go on to examine the question as he hath now stated it , viz : that such as are not in union with christ have not saving grace ; to prove this he produceth some scriptures , where such as have saving grace and light are said to be in union with christ , which is not in the least denied : but the question is , whether all that have saving light are in union with christ which he hath not so much as offered to prove , and therefore it is here to be observed how he hath not so much as mentioned , far less medled with my arguments , proving saving light and grace to be in men before they be converted or in union with christ , shewing , he must needs be in them before he be in union with them , that he may work the faith by which he may be united unto them , seeing , without him , the scripture saith , we can do nothing joh. 15. 5. as it is more amply contained in page 15. of my last . page 14. he seems to take some notice of an example brought by me to shew that saving grace presupposes not conversion , it is from the instance of a plaister , and a wound ; the being healed of a wound presuposeth a plaister , but the application of the plaister presuposeth not the being healed ; this he rejects as not to the purpose , because as he saith , who have saving grace are in part healed , cured of the reigning power of sin , but for this he brings no proof , nor hath not shown us where in the comparison answereth not after the like manner . in the same page he addeth , that the difference betwixt having of saving grace , and being in a state of grace , is but the figment of the quakers own brain , without giving any cause for it , either from scripture or reason , but onely he sayeth so ; these are his most frequent and inforcing arguments against us ; of this nature is his arguing page 11. reckoning it as a great absurdity flowing from our doctrine , that it would import christ in some measure to be in the americans , because he bears testimony in them against iniquity , but to prove this to be absurd , he produceth no reason , and if we may beleive the apostle paul he tells us , that a manifestation of the spirit is given every one to profit withall , 1 cor. 12. 7. so this every one includes the americans . the second absurdity which he seeks to infer from this hath no better bottom , that then it might be said that christ is revealed to devils , and that we do the heathens small favour in puting them but in the same case with such , for the revelation of christ to man before the day of their visitation be expired , and to such after they have sin'd it out , is far different as may appear by luk. 17. likewise w. m. hath forgot how easily this argument may be retorted upon himself , for it is not questioned but devils have enough of outward knowledg , even such as is gathered from scripture , and that which w. m. accounts the great priviledge of christians , doth it therefore follow that christians are in no better condition then devils . and thus is answered another of his profuse assertions page 12. that if pagans have saving light , their state should be as good as the state of real christians ; for it is one thing to have saving light , and another to harken to , and receive it , else according to his owne argument the state of devils should be as good as the state of real christians . he adds , where saving illumination is , there is saving faith , because there is a concatination betwixt these graces of the spirit . ans. there is grace given in order to save , where faith doth not follow upon it ; which is evident by the parrable of the seeds , ma. 13. 3. it was the same seed was sown in the stony and thorny ground that was sown in the good ground , and yet it onely brought forth fruit there ; the light enlighteneth every man ; he came unto his own , and they received him not : but it was onely to as many as received him that he gave power to become the sons of god. and , wheras he objecteth , that where we are desired to beleive in the light , it is understood of christs person , else it would import a beliefe in a creature . i answer , he that believeth in the light believeth in christ , for where the light of christ is , as saith w. m. himself ( page 22. ) there is christ himself . in the same page he further adds , that if pagans have saving light , then there is no spiritual benefit accrues to christians by the scriptures and gospel : but he hath not heard us contra-distingish this light from the gospel , we say expresly it is the gospel , according to col. 1. 23. where the apostle sayth , that the gospel , whereof he was a minister , was preached to every creature ; this scripture mentioned by me in my last he hath wholly omited , nor is this arguing of his concerning the bad tendency of our principle , but a reiterate clamour of what is already answered in page 16. of my last , where i shew him we distingish betwixt things absolutly needful and things very profitable , and how they admit of this distinction themselves ; as also how these bad consequences of rendring the gospel and preaching useless , doth far more follow from their doctrine of absolute predestination , all which he hath also omitted ; now such are far likelier then we to reprove david his praying for more understanding , and that he might keep the precepts of god , for being predestinate to life he could not miss of it , and how can such but reckon it folly for him to pray that he might keep the precepts , whose principles oblidges them to believe they can never be made able to keep them . page 13. to say that men are brutish in their knowledg because they turn their backs upon the light , he reckons a begging of the question , as having no proof at all , whereas it is particularly intimated 1 joh. 1. 5 , 6 , 7. where the cause of mens walking in darkness is said to be their not walking in the light , though it be pastors , mentioned in that 10. of jer. 19. that are said to be brutish , yet he cannot be induced to name them . it is easie to prove ( though he insinnuate the contrary ) that what in scripture is called darkness , hath saving light , seeing it is expresly mentioned that the light shineth in the darkness , but the darkness comprehended it not . and this was saving , being christ who is the saviour , joh. 1. 5. nor doth his supposed contradiction follow from this , as if men could be spiritually dead , and not spiritually dead , in respect they have this in them which is saving , for though it be in them yet it is not of them , he that beliveth in me , saith christ , though he be dead , yet shall he live , joh. 11. 25. if life be not in them as their permanent condition , yet they may have some touches of it , and the principle of life is permanent even in those that are spiritually , dead though many times as a spark covered under the ashes ; he addeth further , that according to us , such who are the children of darkness may be called the children of light , because a child of light is as much as one in whom there is saving light and grace , citing for proof , luk. 16. 8. the words are , for the children of this world are wiser in their generation then the children of light , but he offereth from this to infer , that such who are indeed the children of darkness , because of their disobedience to the saving light and grace of truth that is in them : he has not offered so much as to mention . pag. 13. he confesseth with me , that the light in some may be darkness , but speaks not one word of what light i mention may be so ; page 17. of mine onely adds , that we will do well to exhort our dsciples to take heed of our light , not to it ; but we desire not people to take heed to our light or their light as he terms it , but to the light wherwith christ-jesus hath enlightened them , and in this there is no danger ; he greatly declares his ignorance , in alledging our way of bidding people heed the light within , is not warranted by scripture , for god is light , 1 joh. 1. 3. is he not in us , act. 17. 27 , 28. must we not then there take heed unto him , or is not that light to be taken heed unto , which shineth in our hearts to give us the knowledg of the glory of god ? 2 cor. 4. 6. and is not the word of god light , which the apostle sayeth expresly is not far off , neither above us , below us , nor without us , but nigh , even in our mouthes and in our hearts , rom. 10. 8. deut. 30. 14. moreover w. m. himself confesseth , that the light of christ is in wicked men , and if so , let him tell us plainly if men ought not to take heed to the light of christ where it is , how hath darkness blinded him in this matter . page 14. he repeats my words falsly , alledging i say , the light is darkness to them that reject it , instead of , is as darkness , for i said plainly , the light of christ is not , nor cannot be darkness , otherwayes then as the day of the lord in scripture is called darkness , this he hath omitted . page 15. having sought but ineffectually to overturn my assertion , where i say , some may have saving light and grace , who after a certain manner may be said not to have the spirit , viz. as not bringing forth the fruits of it : averring , that unless i can prove , that the spirit calls upon all in order to conversion , i cannot conclude that all have the spirit . ans. as the one is easily proved so is the other safely concluded , these are the plain words of the apostle , 1 cor. 12. 7. a manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withall : now it were not profitable unto them , if it did not strive with them in order to convert them . that other scripture joh. 16. 8. he passes over , alledging i should prove the world there to be understood of all and every one : though in reason it might suffice for answer , that there is nothing brought by him to shew why the word world here is not taken in its geunine and common acceptation , yet the apostle solves this scruple in the following verse , of sin , because they believe not in me : then , if there , all unbelievers be included , is not that all and every one in the world , for of the saints , there is not here any question . in his second section , page 16. he beginneth with omitting my concession of the benefit and advantages that accrue to those that believe , by the outward knowledg of christ , and mentioneth nothing of the state of the question , which was , whether any might be saved without this outward knowledg ? and to shew that some might i gave him the instance of deaf people and children , to which he returneth nothing , but takes up the paper to prove , that the greek preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is somtimes translated , among , which is not denied , yet i shall find him twenty to one where it is rendered in , and can no wayes be said to be among , the question is , whether in this place 1 cor. 2. 2. it be in or among ? the reason alledged by him proves it no wayes to be among , to wit , that it would have been the apostles grief not his joy , to know that the light of truth was born down among them ; this was the apostles joy that the corrinthians come to be sensible how they had crucified christ in them , that so looking upon , and takeing heed to him whom they had peirced , they might come to be healed by him. page 17. he slightly passes over that expression of paul , 2 cor. 5. 16. where he sayth , henceforth know we christ no more after the flesh but after the spirit , adduced by me to show that paul prefered a spiritual knowledg of christ to all other , as if the apostle were here onely condemning earthly thoughts of christ , as if , as king of isarael , he should begin a temporal kingdom , but for this exposition we have onely the bare authority of his own naked assertion . page 18. for want of a true spiritual understanding concerning what i mean by the inward blood of christ , he bringeth forth his own malitious guessings . the first is , that i seem to incline to justifie that which hath been charged upon some of my brethren , to wit , that we are not such fools , as to hope to be saved by that jesus that died at jerusalem ; as he hath no ground to suspect such a thing from my words , so there was never any ground for such a charge against any , owned of that people . the 2d . is , that perhaps i intend , that christ , as man , dwells in us , there can none truly charge us with such grosness , as to assert the manhood , or weshel , that walked at jerusalem is in us , but if any of us have said , that christ as man dwells in us , they have said no more then the express words of scripture , 1 pet. 3. 3 , 4. let your adorning be the hidden man of the heart , eph. 4. 24. that ye put on the new man : now what is this new man but christ jesus , and therfore saith the scripture , rom. 13. 14. put on the lord jesus christ. gal. 3. 27. as many as are baptized into christ , have put on christ ; and this is christ which the apostle travelled that he might be formed in the galatians , gal. 4. 19. and whereof he admonnisheth the corinthians , that they should know him in them , else they were reprobates , 2 cor. 13. 5. if it be hard for w. m. to take up the meaning of these things , let him acknowledge his ignorance in the holy scriptures , whose language this is . in his 3 section , page 19. he begins by offering to prove , our principles have a tendancy to introduce paganism , and to contradict him , he reckons an impertinency , but his ridiculous vanity herein will appear , by looking unto page 24. of my last , neither bringeth he any arguments to prove this , but such whereby he might conclude the same against the apostle paul ; the quakers saith he , spakes of a light within , to which who take heed need no teacher , and the apostle speaks of a knowledg or light , under the new covenant , where there is no need of a teacher , heb. 8. 10 , 11. so if the tendency of the apostles words be not to introduce paganisme , neither are ours , and because that w. m. finds that notwithstanding of this we dispise not teaching , but are led even by that light , to hear and to recieve the ministry of them whom god sends , he concludes that herein we are inconsistent : adding , that some of us have been heard to say , that we only taught to bring people off from other thachers to mind the light within , that then they will need none , which he concludes , would quickly make them like such among whom the name of christ is not in remembrance , but he might as well seek to infer the like hazard , and contradiction from the plain words of the apostle , 1 joh. 2. 27. ye have an anoynting , and ye need not that any man teach you , but as the same anoynting teacheth you of all things , and yet in the mean time was teaching them . as for that story mentioned by him , of a certain dying man in aberdeen whom two quakers pressed so much to mind christ within , it inferreth nothing for his purpose , for that dying person had abundance of the outward knowledg of christ , and they needed not preach that to him which he knew , therefore was he sensible of the seasonableness of their advice , saying ( as i am certainly informed by one of the two ) how good a thing would it be for an old dying man like me , to know that christ within which ye speak of , he bringeth not any thing of weight in his 4. section as reply to that which is contained in the 22. page of my last , where i shew we do no ways confound the light-giver with the light , or enlightning given : the reason alledged here is , because we call that light jesus christ wherewith all men are enlightened , which implyeth no more his consequence then that usual expression , that it is the sun by which we are outwardly enlightened , implyes any confounding of the sun with the beams , whereas in his last he said , there was a certain light in all men , and that as the remianders of gods image in him since the fall ; in the end of page 24. he explaines to be the light of reason and understanding , and thereby makes the resaon of man all one with christ and the spirit , which page 10. and 22. he granted to be in wicked men , as to common opperations . after that he laboreth much in this 5 section , to prove , that man retaineth some good since the fall , he instanceth nothing but the soul , which he saith , is good and pretious , and of great excellency , and worth , and retaines a similitude to the image of god , as being spiritual and immortal , where it is observeable ; that he grants the souls of wicked and unconverted men to be of great worth and excellency , and yet he denies the works of the pure spirit of god to be of any worth or excellency , and that because the soul has a share in them : if so be the souls of wicked men are conform'd to the image of god , because they are spiritual and immortal , then are divels also conform to the image of god , for they are also spiritual and immortal in the same sence that the souls of wicked men are . lastly , i desire the reader may here observe , how he hath entirly omited that part of page 23. of mine where i shew how and in what sence the light is to be understood or called the light of nature , and of what nature , therein clearing us from the aspertion of pelaganisme , by which omission it may appear how willing these men are to caluminate us , and apt to pass by that which tends to our vindication . page 25. head 5. sect. 1. he alledgeth , we vilifie the scriptures , and that because we confess , that the end of our meeting is not to read them , but to wait on god , adding , that therefore we make an opposition betwixt reading the scriptures , and waiting on god ; but as this conclusion hath no proof , so it is most inconsequential , as if nothing could be distingished except it were opposite : according to which he might argue , that because preaching and praying are not all one , therefore they are opposite : that some have been countenanced of god in reading the scriptures is not denied by us , and therefore the bringing of it forth against us , is wholly impertinent . and whereas he avers , that reading of the scripture is the meanes of having the word of god to dwell richly in us , alluding to coll. 3. 16. he should have first proved the word there mentioned to be the scripture , before he had been so hasty to draw his conclusion . his alledging some passages , where christ and others spoke upon some words of scripture , saith nothing to the purpose , for as i confessed it was sometimes used by them , so i told him it was also frequent among us ; but the question is , whether their setled custom of speaking upon a text be according to scripture ? and thereupon i shew him how christ and his apostles did preach without it , as christ , mat. 5. and in many other places : and paul to the athenians , but this of paul mentioned by me in my last he hath left unanswered . and in answer to 1 cor. 14. 29 , 30 , 31. for ye may all prophecy one by one , &c. he saith , this will not conduce to keep up the successive talking of quakers , alledging it to be ristricted to the prophets , which he sayes , it will be hard to prove our preachers to be . adding , that it maketh not against their way , because ministers speak among them two or three . here though in relation to us he restricts this place to the prophets , yet in relation to himself he doth it not , else he must prove their ministers , that so speak , to be prophets , as he desires me to do our preachers ; now this he cannot , since he sayes peremptorly , page 97. that such a thing is ceased , and therefore this may shew how he twinds and wrests the scripture , to make it answer his corrupt ends , it is a manifest shift to avert the strength of this place , where the order of the church which is quite contrary to theirs , is expresly mentioned . to run to the matter of womens speaking , thereby to make a digression to a new debate , which hath been largly defended by us , and paticularly by margret . fell. in a book never yet answered , and as to the place alledged we have often shown how it cannot be understood , in a ridged litteral sence , else it would contradict the same apostle , 1 cor. 11 5. where he proposeth to women the method and manner of their behaviour , in their publick preaching and praying ; the promise was , that the daughters as well as the sons should prophesie , joel . 2. 28 act. 2. 17. as a 2d . reason of our villifying the scriptures he adds , and that by way of derition , they will not have the scripture called their masters letter ( no forsooth ) their masters letter is writ in their hearts , &c. ans. here his malice hath not only led him foolishly to deride us , but the apostle , yea god himself : for the law of god is our masters letter , and this is in our hearts if we be under the new covenant , heb. 8. 10. i will put my law in their minds , and write them in their hearts , and ver . 11. they shall not need every man to teach their neighbour , for they shall all know me , &c. his argument taken from christs writing to the seven churches of asia , makes nothing against us , except he will be so ridiculous to aver , that these churches had no rule nor knowledg of their masters will , before they received that writting , which if they had , it was not there onely , and this was that incumbent to be proved , for which that example was brought , for the testimony of christ through his servants , whether by word or writ is dearly owned by us , as hath often been declared . with the like impudence he concluds , that we bend our strength to evacuate the authority of the scriptures , and confirm negligent atheists , in their contemptuous slighting of them , because we speak of walking , or doing our work by the immediate councel of god ; but he might as well babble against the beloved disciple 1 joh. 2. 24. ye have received an anointing and ye need not that any man should teach you , and yet was then teaching them himself without contradiction , as for that scripture , joh. 12. 24 , 48. which he desires us to read , we find not how in the least they strike against our principle , for as it is without doubt to us , that the words which christ spake will stand in judgment against him and his brethren , because while in words they pretend to exalt it , both in principle and practice they villifie and deny it . as a 3d. reason he alledges , we prefer our silent waiting to the reading of scriptures , as if we must first come to this , ere we can know the scripture aright , adding that this waiting is defined by us , to be a silent posture of the heart , without thinking good or evil . answ. these thoughts which we say ought to be excluded from waiting , are mans own thoughts , not such as the spirit of god furnisheth him with , and it is great ignorance to say that without this we can use the scriptures aright , seeing the things of god knoweth no man save the spirit of god , 1 cor. 2. 11. as for his own imaginations which he subjoines concerning our waiting they signifie nothing , because alledged without any proof , we deny not but that faith hope and charity is exercised in waiting , yet not without such thoughts as proceed from the spirit of god and whereas he finds we clear our selves of this calumnie , of being vilifiers of the scripture , by showing how much it is our desire to try doctrines by them : he alledgeth , we have herein been suspected of jugling ; the proof is , r. farmer saith so . but r. farmers saying and w. m's . saying is all one in this matter , neither of them are to be trusted without proof : now the reason because we say that the scriptures are not the saints rule of knowing god and living to him , but this is just to beg the thing in question . that story mentioned by him of a quakers telling a certain woman in aberdeen , that she might as well read a lattin book as the bible , doth no waies prove that we ate against trying of doctrins by the scripture , seeing the quaker he speaks of , might have had good reason to look upon that supposed religious woman , as one alienated from that spiritual key of david which can alone truly open the scriptures , and so might well tell her , she would do well first to come to that , else her reading might be so far from profiting her , that she might come to wrest them to her own destruction , 2 pet. 3. 16. sect. 2. page 30. he begins with acknowledging , that something may be accounted the declaration of ones mind , which is not his word , though page 12. of his dialouge , he could not but smile at it as irrational . to prove the scriptures to be truly and properly called the word of god he subjoyneth , that the precepts of the scripture were uttered and spoke of god , but in answ. to this i shew him pag. 26. of my last , that the properties peculiar to the word cannot be spoken of the scripture , but of the inward and living word , to which he replys nothing , onely tells there is a twofould , word a co-essentiall , co-eternal word , and a spiritual word ; the temporal expressed word , or the word written in time ; but seeing he pretends to be pleading for the scripture , he should have used the language of it , and not such strange antescriptural expressions which are not to be found in all the bible : where doth he read of a spiritual temporal expressed word ? a part of my argument shewing that these scriptures , hos. 1. 1. joel . 1. 1 esa. 38. 4. are understood of that word from which the scriptures are given forth ; he hath but mentioned , not answered ; for i told him , pag. 26. of my last , that where it is said , the spirit of god came upon such a one , or to such a one , that therefore the scripture is the spirit , and so as do the socinians , call the writings of the prophets and apostles , the spirit , denying the necessity of any other spirit , this he hath wholly omited : and indeed he seemes prety much to incline to the socinians in this matter , for he sayes , that the scripture is the sword of the spirit , and that because christ in his conflict with satan said , it was written ; but had this been christs onely sword , we must conclude the devil to have had the same , for he said also , it is written ; and according to this doctrine who hath a bible in his pocket , wanteth not the sword of the spirit , which favoureth of that popish foppery , that the sign of the cross puts away devils ; but experience teacheth us both these opinions to be alike ridiculous . upon this occasion in his dialogue , page 13. he asserted , that it is all one to say the scripture saith , and god saith ; and whereas , in answer to this , i told him , that they might be said to be one because of their agreement , yet were no more one then the sun beam and the shadow is one though they agree together , because he knew not what to reply to this , he mentions a part of these words of mine , and subjoyns by way of answer to them , that they tend to advance humane writings , and equal them with the scripture , when they agree with what god sayeth : which as it is a manifest shift , and no reply , so it is a notable impertinency , to say , there is any hazard of advancing such writings as truly agree with what god sayeth , for upon what other account are the scriptures to be esteemed ? page . 32. to prove that word mentioned mark. 7. which he phancies are said to be made void , is not the living word , but the outward precept of the scripture , he sayes , it is plainly held forth to be so without any further probation . he addeth , page 34. that it seems we think they set up the scriptures as an idoll , instead of that from which they come ; asking , if we did ever hear them call it the eternal son of god , that saviour who died , &c. answer . though we have not heard you term the scripture , yet it is not without reason , we say , ye set them up in christs stead ; for i have a letter under one of the present national teachers hand , wherein he sayes , the scriptures are the alone means of salvation ; yea , the alone way truth and life , and that none can be saved without them . and i have heard another call the greek testament , the onely foundation . now being these are the peculiar properties of christ , have we not reason to say , that such as ascribe them to the scriptures , puts the scriptures in christs stead , though w. m. be pleased to term it unworthy dealing . sect. 2 pag. 35. he sayes , it is not dificult to prove that the law and testimony mentioned , deut. 8. 20. was not an inward law : the reason alledged is , because the prophet opposes what is written as no light , if it agree not to the law and testimony ; but what then , doth this prove the testimony here not to be inward ? he adds , that let people pretend what they will to a law within , if it agree not with the scripture word , there is no light in them ; and that the outward law gets the name of the testimony ; but granting him all this , it doth not in the least follow , that the law and testimony ; there mentioned was not inward ; it is more observeably strange here then in any other place , with what shameless confidence , he asserts his own bare assertions instead of arguments . after the like manner without answering a word of what i infer , pag. 27. of mine against him and his brethren from joh. 7. 49. he concludes , that scripture fits us better then them , because of our known rash censuring ; upon which supposition of his own , he condemnes us as like to pharisees without more adoe : still also by way of reply to me , he sayes , it is not probable that christ checked the lawyer in saying , how readest thou ? luk. 10. 26. not offering to add any further probation , and as for what he subjoyneth , pag. 7 that christ used the scripture about divorcement , and in the matter of the sabbath ; it doth no wayes prove them to be the only rule , for , as is said , we are willing to try doctrins by them . pag. 37. he sayeth , it is false to affirm that the divine authority of the scriptures , cannot be prov'd other-wayes then by the spirits inward testimony : adding , there are other arguments whereby it can solidly and convincingly be proved ; and for this he instanceth one which he sayes , is excellently improved by r. baxter ; what then , because w. m. thinks that argument of r. baxter will prove the scriptures authority without the spirit , must we therefore be of the same mind ? i doubt very much if r. baxter think so much himself ; now w. m. his deceit is very remarkable , in quoteing some words of john calvin , where he sayes , if he were to deal with arguments , he could produce many to prove the laws came from god , for that i never imagined these arguments could convincingly , prove the scriptures authority without the spirit , ( which is the thing in debate ) it appears in the very following words , lib. inst. 1. cap. 7. sect. 4. but if we will well look to our consciences , that they be not troubled with doubts , and stick not at every scruple , it is requisite the perswasion whereof we have spoken , be taken higher then humane judgment or conjecture , viz. the secret testimony of the holy spirit . and a little after in direct opposition , to wit his words , he adds , this word shall not obtain faith in the hearts of men if it be not sealed by the inward testimony of the spirit ; it is necessary then , saith he , that the saints spirit which spake by the mouth of the prophets , enter in our hearts , and touch them livingly , to perswade us , that the prophets have faithfully delivered that which was commanded them from on high ; and a little after , this then is a perswasion which requires no reasons : and again , this is a perswasion which cannot be begotten but by a heavenly revelation . and in the beginning of the next chapter he adds , if we have not this certainly higher , and more firme then all humane judgment , in vain is the authority of the scriptures proved by arguments . this doth abundantly shew how contrary w. m. is to calvin in this matter ; and not to him alone ; but to the whole reformed churches of france , who in their confession of faith agreed upon by the first national synod they ever had at paris , anno , 1559. say thus , art : 4. we know these books to be canonique , not so much by the common consent of the church , as by the inward testimony and perswasion of the holy spirit ; and whereas he adviseth me to read calvin his 6th . chap. but that it would prove to long a digression , i could easily shew , that we are no such contemners of the scripture as those he there speaks to : and what if he contradict the truth which we , and himself else where acknowledges , i make use of his testimony against w. m. and his brethren , even as he did the testimony of augustin , gregory , and others of the fathers , against those of rome , whom nevertheless he spared not to reject sometimes . read inst. lib. 1. cap. 11. sect. 5 lib. cap. sect. 4. and in many other places , thus also is added that which he adds about passur , whose translation he sayes , we follow in one thing , but not in another , for we are not bound to follow him further then he follows the truth ; nor doth w. m. here produce any argument to prove that these words , joh. 5. 39. should be , search the scriptures , and not ye search the scriptures , but his own bare assertion , adding that christ did not check them , when he saith in them , ye think to have eternal life , whereas the very following words clearly import a reproof , ye will not come to me that ye might have life ; he says not , seek for life in the scriptures , ye do well to think to find it there , but thus , ye think to have eternal life in the scriptures , but will not come to me that ye might have life . he ends this section , asking , seeing i grant the scriptures are profitable for doctrine , correction , reproof , &c. why i deny them to be a perfect rule ? but i never denyed them , and i told him also , they were thus profitable , not to every man , but to the man of god , i e. he that 's led by the spirit of god ; now to this he replys nothing , onely tells me , the man of god is most commonly understood of the ministers of christ jesus , which though i should grant him , what he either can or would infer from it ; against my argument he hath left unmentioned . sect. 3. pag. 40. he alledgeth , the voice and testimony of the father , which christ speaks of to the jewes , not to have been inward , desiring the reader to look to the place : and thereupon he cites joh 5. 36. where christ speaks of his miracles as a greater witness then that of john , but his deceit is here abundantly manifest , for the place mentioned by me was , 1 joh 5. 10. for this is the witness of god , which he testified of his son , he tha● believeth in the son of god , hath the witness in himself ; now , this he hath wholly omited , and mentioned another in the stead of it , which makes nothing to the purpose , i deny not but the miracles were a greater witness then that of john ; but then , will it therefore follow that the inward testimony of the father is not greater also ; this was the matter in question . after the like manner he concludeth the voice spoken of , john 5. 37. is not inward , but outward , citing for proof , mat. 3. 27. 2 pet. 1. 17 , 18. the one is the voice heard at christs being baptized , the other at his being transfigured : but what way he seeks to infer from thence , that the voice of the father here spoken of by christ to the jewes , was not inward but outward , he hath left unmentioned . likewise , the exposition he adds upon this place , as if christ were onely here reproving the ignorance of the jewes , whose predecessors had heard so much of god , it would be the better received , that it had some other bottom then his own meer assertion . page 14. he confesseth , that where we are desired to try the spirits , there is no mention of trying them by the scripture : and to my question , asking if there be any surer way of trying of spirits , then by the spirit of god ? he returneth no reply , but another question ; viz. whether there be any surer way then that for which the bereans were commended ? i answer , yes , by the spirit , peter could never have discerned ananias and saphira by the scripture , and yet did it by the spirit ; to say ( as he does ) that this was a matter of fact and not of doctrine , and that it was extraordinary , is a meer silly shift , for it was onely by the spirit of god ; which is so ordinary to christians , that none can be truly one without it , rom. 8. 9. if any man have not the spirit of christ , he is none of his ; and if this spirit can discern the secret hypocrisie of the heart , in matters of fact , far more the errors , and mistake of the understanding , in matters of judgment , which all grant to be more obvious . and though i never aver'd , that john excluded all external rules , by pointing to the anointing , so his assertion to say : that the anointing directeth us to the law , and to the testimony , as supposing it to be outward , is but to beg the thing in question already refuted . page 43. as he affirmeth , that mans being deluded proceeds not from the scripture , but their own blindness , so he acknowledges , that falling in delusion , proceeds not from the spirit , but from the tricks and deceits of satan , and thereby he hath clearly confessed , what is asserted by me page 30. and not answered : and whereas he adds , that leaning to the spirit , and for sakeing the scripture , provokes god to give men up to strong delusions , which he illustrateth by the example of one i. gilpen once a quaker , who by harkening to a voice within , was put upon mischievous and detestable practices . i answ. he hath not proved that we forsake the scripture , nor will one mans being deceived , by harkening to a voice within , prove the spirit not to be a certain rule , more then as himself ackowledges , the pharisees having the scripture in such high esteem , and accounting them their rule , will prove their delusion proceeded from them ; that story of gilpens was largly answered about 5. years agoe by e. b. and c. a. who have laid open his deceit and wickedness , neither can any of these rediculous pranks , ( granting the matter to be true ) which he pretended to doe by a voice within , while appearing to be among us , prove the insufficiency of that light we preach , or the hazard of following it , more then his beastly drunkness and open prophanity , naturally known in the garison of carlile , where he was a souldier , proves he was led by the scripture , which it is like he then pretended , was his rule unto these wicked practices , which were the best fruits of that repentance , w. m. seems so much to congratulate in him : such filthy dross whom god purgeth out from among us , are fittest persons to be proselited by him and his brethren : and truly we are well rid of them , and can heartily spare such unto them ; they went out from us , but they were not of us , for if they had been of us , they would no doubt have continued with us : but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us 1 joh. 2. 16. pag. 43. he sayes , that though the scripture be sufficient for discovering of delusions , and ending of differencs , in genere objecti , yet the spirit is necessary , in genere causae affectivae : now this necessity of the spirit he saith himself , is that we may be right discerners , for removeing our natural depravedness ; and now granting the scripture were sufficient in this manner , will it therefore follow that the spirit within is not the rule ; which was the thing to prove in this section , in so far as he acknowledges this necessity of the spirits work , he hath yeilded to the truth ; yet it is observable , how in contradiction to the truth he overturns it all again . pag. 47. 48. where he expresly pleads , for preaching upon , and using the scriptures , without the joynt concurrance of the spirit ; alledging , i have no ground to say they ought not so to do , then consider first he said , the spirit was necessary to remove the depravedness of our nature that we might be discerners , but now he sayes , we ought to use the scripture without the spirit , though our nature be depraved , yea though we be in no capacity to make a right discerning , and here he hath notably manifested his affinity with the jesuits , arminians , socinians , pelagians , and semipelagians , in saying , how many cold hearts have been rubbed and chaffed unto spiritual hear , by reading and talking of the scripture ; for is not this to set nature a work , and to grant a capacity in man to beget spiritual heat without the joynt concurrence of the spirit ; and this is alltogether agreeable to that known maxim of the semipelagians , facienti quod in se est , deus non denegat gratiam , god will not deny him grace that doth what in him lies . and hereby the intelligent reader may perceive , how much nearer a kin our adversaries are to these errors then we , notwithstanding they so falsly and frequently brand us with them , in their pulpits and elswhere , as also that it is meerely constraint when they are hardly put to it , that they now and then , and that in contradiction to themselves , let a word or two drop concerning a necessary work of the spirit . sect. 4. pag. 45. he alledgeth , there is no convincing people by this rul●●f the spirit within , because each way may pretend to the guidence of his spirit , and so both remain obstinate : adding , that according to them the scripture is the rule which lieth patent to both parties ; and though it do not actually convince the stuborn , yet there is enough in it to satisfie any inqusitive adversary . answ. and is not that spirit sufficen to satisfie any inquisitive adversary , that 's willing to be undeceived , which searcheth all things , even the deep things of god : there is no inconvenience can be pressed from making the spirit a rule or guide , but the same recurs by making the scripture one ; for is it not laid claim unto by persons quite different in judgment , yea both sometimes to one verse , and will have it speak opposite to the other , if it be said , that scripture being compared explaines it self ; has not such as have so compared , been found uncessantly to jangle even in their comparing of it . and this w. m. cannot deny , but this hath been because , one or both parties hath been estranged from the true testimony of the spirit : what is then the ultimate recorse that can onely resolve all doubts even concerning the meaning of the scripture , but the certain testimony of the spirit ? for if the scriptures be onely certain because they came from the spirit of god ; then the testimony of the spirit must be more certain then they , according to the received maxim of the schools , propter quod unumquodque est , tale id ipsum magis est tale , that which makes a thing certain must be more certain then it ; and this arguing against the certainty of the spirit , checks not onely at the certainty of the saints faith now , from the light within , and the assurance of knowledg , but at the faith and knowledg , which all the saints and holy prophets had ; not onely before the scripture was writ , but even in their writing of them . we are in no greater hazard to be deceived now , then they were then , therefore the apostle notably reproves such pratlers against this certainty , 1 joh. 4. 6. we are of god , he that knoweth god heareth us , he that is not of god heareth not us : hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error . page . 48. he asks , why i complain for his improving esa. 59. 21. but mentions not one word of that part of pag. 32. of mine , wherein i shew him how this scripture made against him , as holding forth gods putting words in mens mouthes which they deny , as a thing ceased ; this the reader by looking to the place may observe , that the lord there promises his spirit and word shall continue to direct his people , is not denied . in his dialogue , pag. 16. he sayes , that the scriptures cannot be said to be a dead letter , because they are called killing , and whereas i told him , pag. 31. of my answer , that as dead things do kill if fed upon , so if men feed upon the letter of the scripture , without the spirit which is the life they will kill : he shifts a reply to this , telling me , the scripture is called killing , as being the ministration of the law , which threatens death against the sinner ; what then doth it therefore follow that they are not dead , and deadly to such as feed upon them , without the spirit which giveth life ; it is an apparent mallitious passion , to add , that the drinking in of the lifeless poysonous opinions , of the quakers , will prove hurtfull to the soul ; seeing he bringeth not the least shadow of proof for it . i observe , that he intitleth this section , the quakers way inefectual to convince an opposer ; and yet how is it , that he and his brethren are so affraid that it spread , and are daily so much crying out and clamouring against it as dangerous , intreating and beseeching people to beware of us , and comparing our words and writings to poyson , as that which is so ready to gain ground ; i say how comes it that they are so pressing in their importunate , and often reiterate pulpit-exhortations , to the magistrates , to suppress , imprison us , and break up our meetings , as such against whom their labours will prove altogether fruitless and ineffectual , if not assisted by the external sword. sect. 5. pag. 49. he undertakes to compare us with papists , as having learned our language about scripture from them , but herein he hath notably manifested , both his self contradiction and ignorance ; he alledgeth , we agree with papists , in that we say if the delusion be strong in the heart , it will twine the scriptures to make them seem for it ; and in that we say they are dead , and occasion sects , and janglings , ( wherunto we allwayes add , because the spirit is wanting ; ) and yet in this sence he fully grants it himsef , pag. 43. saying , it is granted , that deluded souls do wrest the scriptures , &c. he concluds us one with papists , for saying there was a rule before the scriptures , and yet grants it himself , page . 46. in confessing the scripture was not a rule to such saints as lived before it was writ , such then had some rule before the scriptures ; thus far as to his self contradictions : as to his ignorance can there be any thing more sottish , to compare us with papist for our preferring and calling the light within , as that which onely makes the outward dispensation of the gospel profitable , and for our saying , that the spirit is both our teacher and our coppy , according to which if we walk , we may profit without going forth for a coppy , seeing it is known , none to be more enemies to these doctrines then papists ; and if we deny the scripture to be the principal and compleat rule of faith , that proves us no wayes to agree with papists : except we all agreed with them concerning what is the rule of faith , wherein we differ wider from papists , then our opposers ; therefore that sentence of tertulian viz. that christ is allwayes crucified , betwixt two thieves , is impertinently objected by w. m. against us , and if the lord will it may in due time be made appear to publick view that it far better suits our adversaries . he looks upon it as a great absurdity , pag. 51. to deny the more sure word of prophecie , mentioned , 2 pet. 1. 19. to be the scripture : alledging , i should have confuted the apostle who expounds it so , vers . 20. but before he had been so peremptory in his conclusion , he should have first proved that the apostle mentions these words , by way of exposition to the former , seeing he thinks himself so secure here why did he omit to answer that part of page 31. of mine , where i told him , that seeing the scriptures have all their sureness from the spirit , they cannot be more sure then it ; for to say that scripture is more sure as to us , being a standing record , then a transient voice from heaven which may be mistaken or forgotten , answers nothing ; seeing that more sure word we speak of , is not a transient voice , but that word of god which is allwayes with us , nigh us , in our hearts , if we be willing to hear it and regard it : and can far less be either forgotten or mistaken then scripture , for it speaks plain , home , and neer , even to such somtimes who would willingly both mistake and forget it , heb. 4. 12. though i could freely refer his 6 head , concerning justification , to be compared by the juditious reader , with that which is contained from page 32. of my last , to pag. 44. as being a confused mass , which needs no further refutation , yet because he makes a great noise , here i shall subjoyn these few observations a little to unvail him in this matter . and in his first section from pag. 52. to 58. i observe , how hastily he passes over the charges laid by me to his door , pag. 23. which because he cannot clear himself of , therefore he hath not lesure to answer . secondly , i observe , how after he repeats my words , of our sence of justification , which the reader may see at length , pag. 33. of my first , he can say nothing against them , but onely i seem to insinuate , they had no need of inward righteousness ; it appears his guilt has made him so jealous in this thing , as if i had been reproaching him , where i onely gave an account of my own belief ; his accusing or suspecting me of fraud or cheating , signifies nothing , except he produce some reason for it . in order to discover this , he proposeth , what may be the sence of the word justifie in scripture , as it imports the sinners justification before god ; which he determinatly affirms , onely to be a pronouncing or accounting a man righteous , and not a making him so ; citing for proof , pro. 17. 15. though justifie in someplaces may be so understood , as in this , which indeed , hath no relation to the sinners justification before god ; yet where it hath such a relation , it may be understood otherwayes , viz. a makeing a man just , as in that notable expression of the apostle paul , 1 cor. 6 11. but ye are washed , ye are sanctified , ye are justified , &c. for if justifie here were not to make men righteous , but onely to impute them or account them so , then washing , and sanctifying , were not real but only imputative also , and at this rate the corinthians could not be esteemed truly washed of their sins , which the apostle mentions in the former verse , such as stealing , drunkness , covetousness , but onely thought or imputed so , and this were to make the christian religion a cloak for all wickedness , as if men were not by it truly cleansed of these evils , but on the contrary fostered in them : in these places also , justification was taken in relation to inward righteousness , rom , 8. 30. whom he called , them he also justified , and whom he justified , them he also glorified , rev. 22. 11. qui justus est , justificetur adhuc , for so the greek and latine hath it , which being rightly translated , is , he that is just let him be justified still ; it is to be observed , that i deny not , but the word justifie , is sometimes taken in scripture for pronouncing men just , though he fasly seems to insinuate the contrary . thirdly , i observe his alledging , that our speaking of being justified by christ revealed in us , is a falling in with the popish sence of justification , adding , that our more full agreement with them , doth appear , in that wherein i say we differ from them , but here his shameless disingenuity is manifest , in that he hath not answered at all page 34. 35. of my last , as to that wherein i shew our disagreement with papists ; and how this manner of justification by the indwelling of christ is denyed by them , and particularly disputed against by bellarmine : for to prove our supposed affinity with papists , and imagined opposition to protestants , he formeth a question , viz. what is that , which causeth a man to stand pardoned and so just before god , and for which he is pronounced righteous ? adding , that the papists have herein , recourse to infused righteousness , but protestants to the imputed righteousness of christ , namely the satisfaction and merit of his death . but here is to be observed , how confusedly he hath tumbled things together that ought to be distinguished , whereby he may the more securely lurk under them , though originally the cause of both be the infinite love of god , in which christ was given , who offered up himself a most sweet and satisfactory sacrifice , as the ransom , the atonement , the propitiation for our sins ; but as to our being justified , it is by christ and his spirit , as he comes in our hearts truly and really to make us righteous ; which because we are thus made , therefore are we accounted so of him , as the apostle plainly intimats in the 1 cor. 6. 11. that it is by the spirit of god we are justified , nor is this any conivance with papists , who as is abovesaid deny justification in this manner ; and it is but to befool children and simple ignorants , that he covers himself so much with the general term of protestants , as if our doctrine were generally denied by all such , seeing many and that very famous protestants , have been of our mind , and have eagerly pleaded for this real righteousness , as to justification against his sence of it ; particularly , ossinder one of the first and most renowned reformers of germany , who not without ground , avered luther to be of this judgment . and melancton , in the apology of the augustinian confession , saith , to be justified in scripture , not onely signifieth to be pronounced just , but to be made just or regenerate ; johannes , brentius , and cheminitus , admit also of the same signification ; so epinus , and bucenus include , in justification , not onely forgiveness of sins , but regeneration , and righteousness , wrought in us : and borheus , sive cellanus , a germane protestant , and professor of theology at basil ; in the imputation , saith he , by which christ is ascribed , and imputed to believers for righteousness , both the merit of his blood , and the holy spirit given unto us by the vertue of his merits , is equally included ; and thus saith he , we shall consider wholly christ proposed to us unto salvation , and not a part of him ; lib. in gen. pag. 162. again , pag. 169. he saith , in our justification christ is considered , who breatheth and liveth in us ; viz. put on by us through his spirit . and pag. 181. he saith , the form of our justification is the divine righteousness , whereby we are formed just , and good ; this is jesus christ , who is esteemed our righteousness , partly by the forgiveness of sins , partly by the restauration and renovation to integrity , lost by the fall of the first adam ; he being put on by us , as the new and heavenly adam , of which the apostle , ye have put on christ , put him on i say , as a form ; i. e. the wisdom righteousness and life of god. and , pareus de , just . cont. bellar . lib. 2. cap. 7. pag. 469. we , saith he , neither ever spoke nor thought the righteousness of christ to be imputed to us , that by it we were and might be named formally righteous , as we have oft now shewed ; for surely that should no less fight with reason , then if one quite absolved in judgment , should say , he were formally righteous by the mercy of the judge . these are the plain and positive expressions of several famous protestants ; though w. m. reckons g. keith's words , mentioned by him page 5. 5. as popish , which are nothing different from these : and of late , r. baxter ( whom w. m. page 37. termes , a juditious servant of god ) holdeth this doctrine throughout , in his book termed , aphorisims of justification ; who page 80. saith , that some ignorant wretches , gnash their teeth at this doctrine , as if it were flat popery ; not understanding the nature of the righteousness , of the new covenant ; which is all out of christ in our selves , though wrought by the power of the spirit of christ. page 195. he saith , how this differeth from the papist he need not tell any scollar who have read their writings ; hereby the inteligent reader may observe how ridiculous , if not malitious , w. m. is , in making such a noise ; as if we were in this matter , either going with papists or opposing protestants . in his second , section , pag. 58. though he would be making a great bussle , of our speaking of justification by works , yet in the very entry , he cannot deny but he is for it ; according to the true sence and meaning of the spirit : and therefore it remains to prove , that ours is not so . his alledging from some words of samuel fisher , where he speaks of works having merit , sayeth nothing , for the question recurrs concerning the signification of the word merit , which we use in a qualified sence ; for we say that works are no other wayes meritorious , then as they are rewarded , merit and reward being relative terms , as i told him , in my last , to which he returneth no answer : and thus is solved , sam. fishers using of that argument , mentioned by him , page 60 ( to whom he foolishly supposes , i cannot reconcile my self ; without being of a higher strain then for a reward of merit ) to wit , that as condemnation , is the reward of evil works ; so eternal salvation , and consequently justification , is the reward of good works . now , merit in a quallified sence , doth not import an absolute desert , according to strict justice , as on our part , but a sutableness , agreableness , or congruity , according to these scriptures , mat. 3. 8. bring forth fruits worthy of repentance , the greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which signifieth moritorious , or worthy , and the same greek word is used in these other scriptures , 1 thes. 2. 12. walk worthy of god , 2 thes. 1. 5. that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of god. and thus r. baxter speaketh of merit , in the book above mentioned , page 90. in a large sence , saith he , as promise is an obligation , and the thing promised is called debt , so the performers of the conditions are called worthy , and their performance merit ; though properly ; it is all of grace , and not of debt . moreover , whereas augustine , bernard , and others of the fathers , uses the word merit , in this qualified sence , w. m. and his brethren can give it the right hand , but where we use it ; notwithstanding , we tell them the simplicity of our meaning , we must be upbraided with popery . it is here , observeable , how he turns it to my reproach , that i seem to draw neer , in the least , to any of the moderate sort of papists ; and yet as to things , wherein i charged him of affinity with them , he returneth no solid answer , but sayes , i must not be credited ; yea , he plainly , not onely drawes neer , but fully acknowledges his agreement with them . saying , they hold some things common with the orthodox . his third , and fourth section , containeth not any thing of a solid reply , to that which is writ from page 36. to 44. of my last , which the reader by comparing them may easily observe , he begins alledging , that rom. 3. 28. gal. 2. 19. must exclude all works , even the works of christ in us ; and that because , the apostle must be supposed , to exclude either evil or good works , not evil , therefore good ; and consequently , the works of christ in us . but as i told him in my last , some works may be good materially , which proceeding not from the spirit of god , but mans own spirit , are therefore excluded ; and thus the case of abraham doth not answer , who though a godly-man , was capable sometimes , to have done works from his own spirit . it is here observeable , how he seeks to shift , that which i inforce upon him , from tit. 3. 5. alledging , he mentioned it in opposition to justification by works ; as the meritorious cause thereof ; but of this , there was not one word : where he cites in his dialogue , pag. 20. nor doth he answer any thing , for that which i infer from this scripture , showing page 37. of my last , to which i refer the reader , he having wholly omitted it , that by this scripture , where the apostle sayes , according to his mercy he saved us , by the washing of regeneration , the apostle includes good works as to justification ; now all this he shuffles over , as insulting triumphing words ; and yet notwith-standing , he himself insults here , as though he had found us guilty of popery , though what we say in this matter , be no other then what is clearly asserted , by these famous protestants above mentioned ; and more particularly by r. baxter , in his book aforesaid , from pag. 185. to the end , where he sayes , that we are justified by works , in the same kind of causality as by faith , viz. as causae sine quibus non , conditions , or quallifications of the new covenant , requisite on our part , in order to justification ; showing , how the apostle paul , in the places above mentioned , excludes onely the works of the law from justification , and never at all the works of the gospel as they are the conditions of the new covenant ; and there he refutes w. m's . exposition upon isa. 2. 12. as if our justification , were onely justified by works , or we declared just by them before men , and seeing w. m. hath declared he hath so good an esteem of r. baxter i refer him to read , how he is refuted by him , as being to large to be here inserted . pag. 65. 66. to overturn that which is said by me , concerning the faith , knowledg , and obedience of the saints , pag. 38. 39. of mine ; but his impertinency will be more then manifest , if the reader do but look unto the place , for i shew him how faith was not alwayes attended with doubting , by the example of abraham ; and therefore his example of the light and the air is foolish , for faith and doubt , are not onely distinct but opposite , and not mixt as is the air and light ; and a little gold may be perfect , and unmixed with dross , so may little faith be perfect in its measure without doubting ; and though the knowledge and obedience of the saints , be not such as there can nothing be added unto , or answerable to the infinite love of god , yet , that doth not prove them in what they are to be defined . his answer , to that scripture brought by me , 1 joh. 3. 9. he that 's born of god sinneth not , is most impious and antichristian , as if the words imported onely , he maketh not a trade of sinning , for accordingly he might argue , that where it is said , commit no adultery , do not steal , murder , &c. it is onely understood , that we ought not to make a trade of these sins , but yet might practice them now and then . page 67. he addeth , that ( as the prophet esa. 64. 6. saith ) not all our righteousness which is of thy working in us , is as filthy rages ; so neither as we say , all our righteousness , which we , even the best of saints can perform , of and from themselves , are as filthy rags , from thence infering ; that because of this general term all , even the righteousness of christ in us , ought to be accounted as filthy rags , but for this he bringeth no proof ; and as the prophet saith all , so he saith our , which implyes it to be different from the righteousness of christ : as he proceeds in the same page , he is highly confused , first he sayes , it ought not to make us ashamed , that our righteousness ( understanding that which christ works in us ) are as filthy rags , and then he saith , that they are a special ornament to the soul , making it , in beauty to resemble god : and again , to get ground he sayth , that as so , imperfection cleaveth to the very grace of god here , absolute blasphemy ; can there be any thing more confused and contradictory then to say , that which is defiled , as filthy rags , is a special ornament to the soul , or makes it in beauty to resemble god. in answer , to pag. 40. 41. he replies nothing , only grants , that the saints in heaven are cleansed but not on earth , which instead of reply , is a meer begging the thing in question . he closeth up this section to prove , the righteousness of the saints is defiled , with his old instance , of clean water passing thorow an unclean pipe , alledging it , by me not to be weakned , though i do no wayes answer what i said against it page 41. to wit , that spiritual water , is not like outward water , which an unclean pipe can defile , but is like the fire , and light , which though it touch unclean things cannot be defiled , because every thing of the spirit is undefilable as is the spirit ; and whereas he desires me , to instruct him of an outward water , which is not capable of defilement , i refer him to a more diligent study in his physicks , of which it seemes he is very ignorant , and that he may not have reason to think this a shift , let him read the essayes of the virtuosi in france ; and those termed the royal society at london , and he will find such a thing both practicable and practiced . he begins his fourth section pag. 70. with a gross piece of dis-ingenuity , in mentioning a part of my words , where i say , justification is taken for making a man righteous , and then it is all one with sanctification , thereupon alledging , i confound justification , and sanctification ; whereas he omits the very former sentence wherein i say , justification is also taken , as gods judging men unto eternal life , but this deceit , the reader may at more length observe , by looking to page 41. of my last ; and in that he adds , men are not made righteous by an inward righteousness , he doth greatly declare his ignorance , for if men can really be made righteous , without righteousness be really in them , by that which is wholly in another , then they might as well be really made holy without any inward holyness , and this were rather to confound that which god distingisheth , and to alter the scripture sence of the word justifie : he alledgeth ; that phil. 3. 8. disclaimes the righteousness of christ , but brings no proof for it , and as to his comentaries , he must advert , he is not in the pulpit , and must bring nothing here without probation : and whereas i shew , that this argument from the 2 cor. 5. 12. is most absurd and impious , because accordingly it would follow , that as christ was made sin for us , who of himself knew no sin , no not in the least , so we may be made righteous before god , though we have no holiness , no faith , no good thing wrought in us , he terms this an impudent wresting of his words , alledging , that the strength of of his argument lieth in that ; as our sins are inherent in us , and imputed to christ , so his righteousness is inherent in him and imputed to us , but he doth not show me , how this in the least solves the consequence above deduced , which followeth as before ; and as for that excellent gloss , which he sayes , a certaine one put on these words , it would appear the more such , that it had some shadow of proof for it , it is with a fools consequence that he calleth ; this which i shew was deduceable from his words , my inference , charging me with it , as if i were , impious and absurd , to imagin that god should except one as righteous in his sight , and yet his person remain abhored as an unholy sinner ; did i ever assert any such thing , or can there be any thing more ridiculous , then for him to dream i imagine that to be true , which i reprove in him as false , absurd and impious , in the like manner he condemns me as impious , for insinuateing , that they are against inward holiness seeing as he sayes , they profess that without holiness none can see god , it is true , they say so sometimes , and therein often contradict themselves , as is above remarked , yet seeing they look not upon it , as any wayes necessary to justification , and terms the best of it , but as filthy rags , their seeming to plead for it doth but bewray their ignorance and confusion : now whereas to prove that works of the pure spirit of god , are not all as filthy rags , i did inquire of him , if the apostles did sin in writing the scriptures ? he answers , first , that it was a singular extraordinary thing , and so supposeth they might have been preserved . secondly , he demands , what were the hazard to aver , that they were wanting in that which they ought to have had ? as to the first , it is but an evasion without proof , what singular and extraordinary thing is in some of pauls epistles , which are concerning his outward occasions ; and if the last be admitted as i find he fears , i find he will be forced to do , it overturns his example of clean water passing through an unclean pipe , or else he must acknowledg the scriptures are defiled , because they come through the apostles , whom his principles obliges him to believe , not to have been perfect . in his seventh head , pag. 74. he summarily passes over , and that by large omissions , what is contained in the 44 , 45 , 46 , and 47 pages of my last , which if the reader do but review , he may easily discover that silly shift which he useth ; to wit , that he means to be thrifty of his paper , in answering the quakers self-advancing words , seeing he is such a good manager of his paper , he might have bestowed some of that he has lavished , in the large capital titles of his many heads and sections , to show the impertinency or vanity of my words , and then he might have been the better credited , after he has omited my answer , wherein i clear the quakers from that calumny , of exalting themselves ; showing they do therein no more then all other professions have done , and do do . he adds , with a great exclamation , oh , it is intollerable pride to villifie all the saints and servants of god in the world , and to shut them out from being of christs stock ! a strange inference , according to which we must conclude , that because luke called theopilus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or most good , that therefore there was none good but he , w. m. will do well to go back to the grammer schoole , and there learn the natures of degrees of comparison , and when he has instructed himself there , he may next look over his logicks , and there he will find that majus & minus , non variat speciem , i. e. less or more of a thing changeth not its nature or kind ; i suppose he will not deny but there are several sorts of christians , who though they do all profess christianity , yet are more or less pure in their doctrine , discipline , or practice , is it not upon this score , that the calvenist hath seperated from the lutheran , and the presbyter from the episcopalian ; certainly w. m. himself lookt upon independancy , as more pure then presbytery , when he seperated with the congregationists at aberdeen , and communicated apart with them ; and yet his practice now showeth that he doth not exclude , even , episcopacy from christs stock , though his independant and presbyterian brethren , do look upon it , if not within the walls , at least , in the suburbs of rome . neither is this clamuny against us as if we trusted in our selves that we were righteous , and despised others , ( for so he misapplieth the parable , luk. 18. 9. ) any other then the same which those of rome used against the first reformers , to wit , they were proud , and boasters , as if all the world had been in darkness before them ; or as if they were wiser ; then all the doctors , and fathers of the church , seeking to inovate the order thereof , which had been confirmed , by the unanimous consent of so many generations . it is observable , how here , as in other places , he is so ready to lay claim to the protestant churches , alledging , that in disdain i call them their flocks , which is utterly fals , i speak of their hocks as inferiour to the people called quakers , in point of mortification ; but that i intended thereby the protestant churches , is but his groundless conjecture ; i let him understand i look not upon their flocks as deserving the name of protestants , and that because of their shameless degenerating from such as were first so called , among whom as i freely confess , there were several of a heavenly , and spiritual conversation ; so i look upon w. m. and his brethrens laying claim unto them , but as the jewes , boasting of abraham as their father . after the same disingenious manner he concludes , that the persons he spoke of in his dialouge , as having such not able enjoyments of , and communion with god , were from quakerism , &c. but answers not a word of page 46. of mine , where i shew , that those professors agreed with us , in many of these things wherein , w. m. and his brethren oppose us , but particularly , in the matter of the spirits immediate teaching , it is then likly they would have been far from us , especially considering , that several who have received and owned the quakers testimony at aberdeen , are such who were the most-intimate friends , even in spiritual matters with these professors , whereas w. m. and some other of his brethren , who walked also among them that are not come to own the qaukers , are degenerated and gone back unto that which all of them acknowledged to be antichristian ; for which their gross backsliding and degenerating , ( to use rightly his own misaplied instance ) it is without doubt these professors , would have lookt-upon him and his brethren as monstrous , and abhored their treacherous , time-serving , turnings with the greatest detestation . head 8. page 77. he avers us to be guilty of equivocating , and that because we say we are for baptism , and yet are against baptism with water ; the reason alledged is , because baptism , is commonly understood of baptism with water , and therefore to understand it otherwayes , he concluds , is to speak lies in hipocrisie , &c. but this conclusion , is founded upon a supposition denyed by us , and therefore it is a meer begging of the thing in question , for since we deny that common , because corrupt , acceptation of the word baptism and gives it the true one ( as in its place shall be shown ) therefore we are not obliged to put another meaning upon it , then we are perswaded it ought to be understood ; but this calumny against us , as equivocaters or liars , w. m. hath also borrowed from the papist , who used to upbraid the protestans , for saying they were for , or of the catholick church , because the papist will have the church of rome only to be the catholick church , but the protestants denied her to be so , and therefore would not call her so , even as we deny the sprinkling with water to be baptism , and therefore will not account it that which it is not , but reserve the name ; to that which truly is the thing , according to the scriptures . the like may be said of the lords supper , i mean that which is so called . head 9. pag. 78. because he can produce nothing against my concession of singing of psalms , he suspects i mean not honestly , and that because none of his spies whom he sends to our meetings , have had occasion to be witnesses to our practice in this thing , which sayes just nothing : why might not , w. m. his intelligencers fail him in this as well as his brothers david lial did , in telling him , that there was not one word spoken among the quakers at their meeting , the 3 of the 11 month 1670. which though a manifest untruth in matter of fact , he spared not to bring forth in his chaire of verity , upbraiding the magistrats as if god had miraculously sent an officer , to stop or impede our worship , though they had refused to do it . the story of i. nailor , which he subjoynes , any may observe to be meerly brought in to render us odious , and fill up the paper , though indeed it tends no wayes to our disadvantage , he being in that thing , and at that time , alltogether denied by us , and hath since in print freely acknowledged his fall in that hour of temptation , of whose sincere repentance , and true return to the fellowship of the truth , we have had many evident tokens , whereas were we to retort , we could find a thousand to one among your church members , many whereof are daily knit up for thieving , murder , &c. and some burnt for wichcraft , without the least sence of true repentance . for to vindicate their manner of singing with a mixt multitude , he alledgeth , that all men , yea all the earth are called to praise god ; and though all be called to do so , yet there are things absolutly needful previous to this duty , and granting their want of praising to be sinful , yet the way to prevent this evil is to come first to that , wherein they may be in a capacity to do it acceptably , therefore saith the apostle , i will sing with the spirit , and i will sing with the understanding also , 1 cor. 14. 15. where he speaks of singing he alwayes subjoynes the instrument , wherewith it is altogether needful that we take it , and that the same may be urged in the case of praying without any absurdity , in its place shall be shown ; he sayes , it is no more a lie to use words in singing which sute not our condition , such as ( i water my couch with tears ; my heart is not haughty ) then to read them ; but there is a great difference betwixt reading and singing , in reading we but relate the conditions and actions of others , as wholly distinct and extrinsick from our selves , but in singing we do really adress our selves to god as in prayer , and it is no less a lie to sing to god words that sute not our condition then to pray with them . the saints in scripture used such expressions as did sute the present posture of their hearts , in their spiritual songs . see , luk. 1. 46. and 2. 29. he shall not find me in the whole bible , where they borrowed or sealed the expressions of others experience , which no wayes suted their own condition , this is a meer humane invention which has its original from the romish vespers and mattins , and from no other foundation . head , 10. concerning baptism , page 81. he alledgeth , that john distingisheth not the matter of his baptism from christ , but only his work ; but his proof for this overthrowes himself , for since , as he sayes truly , john could onely administer baptism with water , but christ with the spirit ; this sheweth them to have differed in the matter , for without doubt john could administer the matter of his own baptism , and whereas i told him they differed in the end because the one pointed to the other , even as the shadow pointed to the substance , in stead of replying to this , he tells me , that the scripture speaking of johns baptism , calls it the baptism of repentance , intimating its end was to signifie and seal remission of sins , which likewise is the end of christs baptism ; as this no-wayes answers my argument , so it makes nothing to the purpose , for it is one thing to signifie repentance , and remission of sins , and far another to know , and possess it , which is the end and constant fruit of christs baptism , gal. 3. 27. as many of you ( saith the apostle ) as have been baptized unto christ , have put on christ : and therefore it may be observed , that without any proof he concludes , that johns baptism and christs agree both in the matter and end . pag. 82. as a reply to act. 19. 2 cited by me to show that they differed in substance , he sayeth , the meaning is not that they were ignorant of the person of the holy ghost , contrary to the very express scripture words , we have not so much as heard if there be any holy ghost . he saith further , that the apostles did not anew baptize such persons , that had been baptized with the baptism of john , in direct contradiction to the scripture words , ver . 5. when they heard this , they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus , and when paul had laid his hands upon them , the holy ghost came upon them , now vers 3. she weth ; that they were baptized unto johns baptism before , so let him clear himself here of giving the scripture the lie if he can . section , 2. pag. 83. to prove the perpetuity of water baptism he begins with that often answered argument of the apostles practice , adding , that though christ , mat. 28. doth not mention baptism with water , so neither with the spirit , alledging , that thus the one may be excluded as well as the other . answ. seeing christ commanded them to baptize , it cannot be denied but it was with his own baptism , which is that of the spirit ; he adds , that if baptism of the spirit were intended , it would infer a needless tautology in the command of christ , as being all one with these words ; go teach . answ. teaching , and making men holy and righteous , are different things , for he will grant that he and his brethren have been teaching people , these several years , and yet he will have much adoe to prove all their church-members are really made righteous and holy , why then doth he account these two one reckoning it a tautology to express them severally ; a little after he insinuates , and that most falsly , that i deny peters commanding cornelius to be baptized , concealing my express words , page 50. which are these , and though it be said , ver . 28. that he commanded them to be baptized in the name of christ , yet it holds forth no command from christ , onely the thing being agreed upon that it might be done , he bid do it , this he hath left un-answered ; and whereas he adds , that doing things in the name of christ is as much as his command , he bringeth no proof for giving , but not granting , it did hold so , mat. 18. 20. in the case of meeting , that will not prove it is allways so taken . to evict my objection , against any determinate commission the apostles had of baptizing with water , because paul said , he was not sent to baptize but to preach , he returns , that if he had no commission , he would have baptized none , but he baptized some , which would have been of self-will . answ. he might object the same as to circumcision , that because the apostle circumcised timothy , therefore he had a commission for it , he would not have done it of self-will ; his inference from , hos. 6. 6. for i desire mercy and not sacrifice , as if from thence , paul were sent principally to baptize and not to preach , as god there required onely principally mercy , not excluding sacrifice , is most ridiculous and inconsequential , nor is there any reason produced to show the party , the apostles were commissioned to baptize as principally as to preach , go preach and baptize are knit together ; but the question is , whether this be a baptism with water which remains yet unproven ? and therefore his additions to the scripture is no wayes justified , as if paul had been sent to baptize with water , but not principally . pag. 86. he undertaketh to prove that , mat. 28. 19. is meant of water-baptism and not of the spirits-baptism , the reason alledged there , because the baptism there mentioned is the action of the apostles , and that to baptize with the spirit is peculiar to christ , adding , that it would be a confounding of the duty commanded , with the promise of the blessing annexed to it ; from thence he concludes , that baptism with water is to continue to the end of the world . answ. the reasons prove nothing , and might militate the same way against teaching , which is also there commanded as the action of the apostles , and though it be pecuilar to christ to teach by the spirit , that did not hinder them to do it ; further , the very apostles by laying on of hands did administer the holy spirit , and so baptize with the spirit , act. 10. 44. 19. 6. and this is no confounding of the promise with the duty , for therein was the promise and blessing fullfiled that they did it efectually , and therefore from hence he had no ground to conclude the perpetuity of water-baptism ; moreover whereas he cited in his dialogue , pag. 39. act. 2. 28. 1. pet. 3. 21. act. 22 16. eph. 5. 26. gal. 3. 27. as holding forth the excellent uses of water-baptism , though i shew him pag. 5. of mine , that these scriptures are onely aplicable to baptism with the spirit and not to sprinkling with water : when pag. 87. he comes to reply againe , he offers not in the least to prove that they are aplicable to baptism with water , which is the thing in question ; but tells me , that those scriptures strike against the popish opus operatum , quid inde ? what then , doth it therefore follow that they are aplicable to sprinkling with water , who is so blind as not to see through such silly subterfugies ? he addeth , that i proceed upon a wrong supposition , as if they thought baptism with water were of it self effectual to cleanse the soul. answ. i never proceeded upon such a supposition , that which i proceed upon is this , that they should call or account sprinkling with water , the baptism of christ , whereas the scripture declares it not to be so , 2 pet. 3. 21. baptism is not the putting away the filth of the flesh , &c. and also ascribe such scriptures to sprinkling with water , as are onely applicable to the baptism of the spirit , now this as is said above , he hath left unanswered . pag. 88. he saith , that the one baptism spoken of , eph. 4. 5. cannot be called the substance , and baptism with water the shadow , because they are the same thing but this is pittifully to beg the thing in question : and thus w. ms. arguments about baptism runs round ; baptism with water is the one baptism , because the one baptism is commanded by christ , and the one baptism is baptism with water , because baptism with water is commanded by christ ; he wholly passes by that part of page 52. of mine , where i shew how absurd and antescriptural their manner of baptizing is , and thereby he comes the more easily to his conclusion in this matter . head , 11. concerning the supper , pag. 88. 89. he begin , confessing , that christs instituting of the supper doth not prove its continuance , and here he carps at my speaking of it with this addition , ( the lords supper so called ) asking , why i give it not that name the scripture gives it . answ. it is to be observed , that where i speak of it thus , page 52. of my last , that it is in my entry upon this matter , addressing my self to him , my words are , thou comest to prove that the lords supper , so called , &c. where i intended not that which was instituted by christ , and had its season in the church , but that which they call so , but really is not so , though they seek from this to draw a warrant for it ; and whereas i shew him that by breaking of bread , act. 2. 42. is meant their ordinary eating ; his answer is , that their eating is not ordinary , but scramental ; and the text speaketh not of daily eating , but a continuing daily in the temple , and that the syriack exposition expounds it of the eucharist , but it is in vain , he thinks by his imaginations to overturn the plain words of scripture , act. 2. 46. and they continuing daily in the temple with one accord , and breaking bread from house to house , did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart ; can there be any thing more plain , then that their breaking of bread here was their ordinary eating , and as for his talk of sacramental eating , where doth he read of such a phrase in all the bible ? it is ill argued to say , i am ignorant of the way of some protestant churches , who uses breaking of bread once a fortnight , or once a month , because i say , their doing of it once or twice a year is not according to the example of such as of old used it . pag. 90. he adds , that though this eating , act. 2. 46. be conjoyned with this , that they sould their possessions , &c. yet we are to follow them in the one and not in the other , because the one was to continue and not the other , but for this he bringeth no proof save his own bare assertion . after the like manner , pag. 91. he sayeth , that though abstaining from blood and things strangled be commanded , yet the apostle paul repeats it extending christian liberty , to whatsoever is sould in the shambles ; but according to this he might argue , that though abstaining from circumcission be there commanded , yet pauls circumcising of timothy might now warrant it ; and whereas he asketh , if paul circumcised any other , what if he had not , church history tells us that many yeares after several bishops of jerusalem were circumcised , it will not therefore follow that was a repealing of the apostles determination by the holy ghost , or that we should continue in the use of circumcission . he addeth , that washing of one anothers feet which was expresly commanded , was not that we might practice it , but only to teach us humillity ; for this he adds no proof , it is onely his own conjecture ; upon all which i desire the reader to observe , how w. m. can find shifts to evict those above-said which are expresly commanded by christ and his apostles , and yet make such a great noise of our forbearing water-baptism and the external supper , which are not more particularly pressed ; as also how we can say far more against the perpetuity of these last , then they against the former , and yet they clamor against us , as if so much as to call the constant use of them in question , were to despise the ordinances of christ , &c. he asketh , what clearer command there can be then these words , let a man examin himself and so let him eat ? but this question does not at all prove these words to imply a command : his folly is observeable , pag. 92. where he desires , it may be observed , that the corinthians were to be often in the use of it , because it is said , as often as ye eat , &c. a rare argument indeed , by which he might conclude , that to say as often as a man sins he offends god , did import we should sin often . it is badly inferred , that this thing ought to continue by divine authority , because the apostle sayes , 1 cor. 11. 23. that which i received of the lord , have i delivered unto you , seeing the very following words declare it , to have been the account of the matter of fact which he so received . sect. 1. pag. 93. he slimly passes what is contained , pag. 54. of mine , alledging , i let off my great guns , but make a noise without any spoyl . the reader by comparing these pages together , will easily observe his lurking in this particular . to my question , what the one bread is spoken of , 1 cor. 10. 15 , 16. if it be the outward or the inward ? he answers , it is both the inward and the outward , and yet but one , in respect of the sacramental union , which is between the sign and the thing signified ; now to this i answered , in the end of pag. 54. of my last , that it cannot be called one , because of the agreement betwixt the signe and the thing signified , else by the same inference one might plead for the continuance of all the sacrifices and offerings , and say they are all one with the one offering mentioned , heb. 10. 14. because they signified that one offering ; and whereas , w. m. reckons this a pittiful evasion , saying , any one may see a non sequitur in it , it would have become him better to have proved this by reason , then by his owne bare assertion , though any may observe this to be his constant course when other arguments fail him . as he proceeds to prove the continuance of this practice , he sayes , it cannot be denied there was once a command for it , and there is no repeal of it , but the same recurs in washing one-anothers feet and anointing the sick with oyl , jam. 5. 14. which were as expressly commanded and never repealed , and yet w. m. can easily find a gloss to evict these , rechoning it a small matter to forbear them , he addeth , that coming of christ , till which , the apostles were injoyned to be in the use of the outward supper , must be meant of his outward comming so many years after , because such to whom christ was come in the spirit were found in the practice of it ; but this proves no more its continuance , necessitate precepti , as he wordeth it , then the circumcising and being circumcised under the gospel , will prove circumcission to be binding upon us : he concludes saying , that surely we are great enemies to our souls that oppose this ordinance ; but answereth not one word of page 56. where i shew how great reason we have to forsake it , as also the many abuses where with they have corrupted it ; it suffiseth him to say , that it is meeter to pass it by then to reply unto it , for part of it being about the quallifications of persons , w. m. is loth to tell his judgment , least he should harp upon the old independant controversy ; it is dangerous to touch this string , especially while he injoyes his hire under the shadow of episcopacy . head , 12. concerning the ministry , pag. 96. he hath nothing to say against my affirming , that the quakers own the ministry of the word : pag. 97. speaking of eph. 4. 11. where paul saith , christ gave some prophets , some evangelists , some pastors and teachers ; he saith , the first three are extraordinary and tempory , the last two ordinary and perpetual , for this he brings no proof at all , but that frequent argument , his own bare assertion ; and whereas i tould him , pag. 58. of mine , that the former three were not ceased , citing for proof calvin , who , inst. lib. 4. cap 3. avers , that in his day god raised up apostles , and evangelists ; to this he answers not one word : as he goes on he repeats my words , where i say , that though we own the ministry not to be common , yet that doth not hinder but that any may speak , as the saints are met together , according to 1 cor. 14. 31. asking , how i can make out that ? in that place is meant an ordinary office , though it might suffice for answer , to ask what reason w. m. hath to frame here his distinction of ordinary and extraordinary , yet it is obvious , that the apostle is here presenting the ordinary order of the church , he needed not present an order to extraordinary offices , for such as are extraordinarily sent , are also instructed how to go about their office , and not limited to set rules , else it were not extraordinary . pag. 98. he goeth about to prove this distinction of mediate and immediate asking , if the prophets and apostles , were not called imediatly ? and if timothie was not set apart to the work ( imediatly ) by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery ? what then ? as the apostles being called by the lord did not hinder them from receiving the approbation and testimony of the brethren , yea laying on of hands , as did paul , who without doubt was as imediatly sent as any of the rest , act. 9. 17. so timothes having the hands of the presbytery laid on him , doth not prove he wanted an inward imediate call in himself ; it is without any proof at all what he subjoynes , that paul saying he was an apostle , not by man , doth oppose himself to ordinary ministers ; he adds , that seeing i say , that those who come preaching the gospel , not in speach onely , but also in power , and in the holy ghost , and in the evidence and demonstration of the spirit , give sufficient proof that they are called of god ; he thinks i should have favorable thoughts of protestant ministers , who have given such proofs of their call. answ. he should have tould me what these protestant ministers are , whom he sayes we impiously censure , or by what rule he or his brethren , would be laying such claim to be protestant ministers , so as to exclude the quakers from being such . pag. 99. though he quarrel me for saying , that with papists he pleads for miracles , he is so far from vindicating himself from this charge , that he giveth again new ground for it , saying , that such as assert an imediate call , ought to give tokens of it by miracles , &c. adding , that though john did no miracles , yet his call was attended with extraordinary things at his conception and birth ; now this was the very objection , which the papists made against the first reformers , to whom luther and calvin replyed , that though they had an imediate call , yet there was no need of miracles , and this objection of w. m. is no other then that which almost in totidem verbis , in as many words was objected to beza , at the conference of poizy in france , by claudius dispensus doctor of the sarbone , who urged this very argument , of john the baptist , confirming his call by the testimony of maláchy , &c. alledging , that they ought to confirm there call by miracles ; to whom these are beza , his express words , hist. eccles. of france , pag. 581. and as to what dispence , thou alledge , that extraordinary vocation is allways aproved by miracles , or by the testimony of the prophets , i deny that it is allwayes so verified , but if we must come to miracles , do you not think that the changing of the life , the fruit which is seen to proceed from this doctrine in our time by persons so contemptable , and so much persecuted by the greatnest of the world , are not sufficient miracles , as said the apostle to the corinthians , that they were the seals of his apostleship : so the rational reader may observe , that notwithstanding of w. ms. so often laying claim to the protestant churches , and protestant ministry , and crying out against us as opposers of them , he so directly makes use of popish arguments against us and how we defend our selves , by no other but the very same answers the protestants gave unto the papists ; yea of late , w. rett present preacher of dandy , in his book against papists , printed but the last year at aberdeen , doth plead , that miracles are not needful , instancing , that john the baptist did none ; and so w. m. though he compare us to the jesuites in his epistle , is so far one with them himself , that if his evasion may be esteemed of worth , whereby he seeks to overturn this example of john when brought by us , he will rather furnish the jesuites with it to fight against his brother w. rett , or rather borrow it out of their atillery , whereby they fight against protestants , then miss to have a hit at the quakers , may we not truely apply the instance in his epistle to himself , that he is sailing in one boat with papists , though his face seems to look a verse from them . pag. 100 he saith , whatever inward call the elders mentioned tit. 1. 5. act. 14. 23. had , yet they had not an imediate call , which is by the imediate command and voyce of god without the intervention of men , but for this he adds no proof at all ; nor is there any inconsistancy betwixt being imediatly called by command from god , and afterwards being aproved of men , or that being aproved and set apart by man excludes having an imediate call from god. sect. 1. pag. 101. he sayes , that eph. 4. 13. is a pregnant and pertinent proof for the continuance of the ministry , which i never denied ; but this doth not answer my saying , that it is impertinent as to them who deny perfection , seeing that place sayes , the ministry is for the perfecting of the saints ; now to this he answers nothing , but that it cannot be gathered that this perfection is on earth , which is but his own assertion , yea by himself there after overthrown , saying , that the ministry is given that we may press after an absolute full perfection even of degrees ; for it is folly to press after this if there be no hopes of attaining it : he wholly passes by my objections against their ministry , pag. 59. especially , in that they make not the grace of god , a necessary quallification to the esse or being of a preacher , without so much as making any mention of it , where i also show , how contrary it is to the order delivered by the apostles in scripture ; therefore his conclusion is false , to say we cast off such a ministry , seeing he was not able to prove theirs to be such , else he would not have wholy past in silence , my reasons shewing it not to be so . his thirteenth head , pag. 102. is concerning the sabbath or first day of the weeks being so , as to which i desire the reader first to take notice , that as we believe the apostles and primitive christians did meet this day to worship god , so we as following their example do the like , and forbear working , or useing our lawful occasions upon that day as much as our adversaries ; so that the debate is onely , whether there be any inherent holiness in this day more then in another , or if there be any positive command for it from scripture ? particularly , if the fourth command bind us to the observation of it ? and here w. m. notwith-standing of his great pretences to the protestant churches , doth wholly disagree from them in this thing , who are of our mind as to it ; the generality of all the protestants both in germany , france , and else where out of this illand , do look upon the supposed morrallity of the first day of the week as altogether ridiculous , which may be seen in calvin upon the fourth command , lib. inst . 2. cap. 8. sect. 34. where he explains the signification of it as we do , viz. typifiing a spiritual rest , wherein leaving our own works the spirit of god may work in us ; he there refuts w. ms. notion as a jewish opinion , saying , some false doctors have abused ignorant people with it , adding as we do , that the apostle paul reproves such superstitions , likewise he plainly asserts , that the keeping of the first day is onely for conveniency , and to preserve order in the church , that the saints might have a fit time set apart to meet together to worship ; which we also say , hence doth appear the folly of that impertinent story mentioned by him , pag. 105. seeking to infer , that we agree with papist , in takeing away the fourth command as they have done the second , for by this he might conclude the first and chiefest reformers guilty of popery , whereas himself agrees with papists both against the protestants abroad , & us , in pleading for this imaginary holiness of the first day of the week , which in his dialogue he sought to prove because christ did rise upon it ; but to my answer showing he might from thence infer the rest of the popish holydaies , of his birth , ascention , conception , &c. he replies not one word , he summarly passes over what is said by me concerning this thing , page . 59 , 60 , 61 , and 62 , which the reader by looking unto may observe ; he aledgeth , the fourth command speaketh not precisly of the seventh day , in order from the creation , and that the beginning and ending of it , mentions the sabbath day and not the seventh , quid inde ? &c. what then ? is not the middle of the command as observable ? which saith expressly , but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord , there god himself expounds the sabbath to be the seventh day , and w. m. must not think we will reject this exposition to accept of his proofless glosses : my argument drawn from coll. 2. 16 , 17. let no man judge you in respect of a holy day or sabbath dayes , and rom. 14. 6. which sheweth all dayes to be alike and gal. 4 10 , 11. ye observe dayes , and months , times , and years ; he answereth , aledging . these reprove not morral dayes , but ceremonial , adding , that the fourth command binds to this , and therefore it cannot be more abrogate then any of the rest of the ten commands but this is no proof at all , onely a meer begging the question , he should have more convincingly proved that the fourth command binds to the observation of this day ; now the apostle in these places sayeth not , i am afraid of you because ye observe ceremonial dayes : w. m. hath no bottom for this distinction , he confesseth that christ , mat. 24. 20. speaketh nothing of the first day of the week , and therefore overthrowes the inference he makes in his dialogue from it , and what i further add to show the folly of this inference from the scripture ; he hath wholly omited which the reader may see , pag. 59 , 60. of my last . pag. 106. he sayes , oh! the conscientious keeping of the sabbath is a comfortable evidence of those that shall be admitted to this rest , viz. the rest of the lamb. but seeing these words are without any proof , they are only like to have credit with such silly superstitious bigots , as calvin in the place above mentioned reproves , and not with any solid serious christians . sect. 2. pag. 107. to prove , that the first day of the week is set apart for the service of god , by divine authority , he citeth , rev. 1. 10. i was in the spirit on the lords day ; but whereas i told him this did no way prove that day to be the first day of the week , because the day of the lord , or the lords day in scripture , is not limited to any particular day . he answers , that these two ought not to be confounded , for all dayes wherein the lord executeth judgement , are dayes of the lord ; but the lords day , mentioned , rev. 1. is but one . for this he bringeth no proof but his own meer assertion : as ignatius calling the first day of the week , the queen of dayes , doth not prove that lords day , spoken of by john , to be the first day , so if ignatius had been of this mind , and had esteemed of it above other dayes , that makes nothing against us ; we know this superstition was creeping into the church before ignatius's time , therefore the apostle paul warned the galatians , gal. 4. 10 , 11. to prove this day spoken of by john to be the first day of the week , he saith , christ appeared to his disciples , declared himself to be the son of god , upon the first day of the week ; that it is supposed that was the day the spirit was poured forth : and that beza , in an ancient greek manuscript , did find the first day of the week called the lords day . but all this doth not in the least prove the matter in question , except this may suffice for proof , w. m. thinks this will infer the day of the lord , spoken of by john , to be the first day of the week , therefore it is so . there may be superstition-enough found in old greek manuseripts ; it is near fourteen hundred years since the eastern and western churches were like to split about the observation of easter , and yet protestants with good reason look upon that controversie as both superstitious and frivolous . now giving , but not granting this day spoken of by john , were the first day of the week , how doth he prove from this , that the first day of the week is come to christians in place of the jewish sabbath , or that it stands as an obligation upon them , as a part of the moral law whereunto we are bound by the forth command , which though it be the cheif thing in debate remaines yet unproved ; seeing then he has had very few proofs for these his supposed ordinances but such as are onely bottomed upon his own affirmations , the juditious reader may judge it is with out ground he concludes here that we deny the ordinances of christ and not the inventions of men . his fourteenth head , pag. 109 is concerning original sin so called , which the reader by comparing with pag. 62 , 63 , 64 , and 65. of mine , will see that he makes no reall , but a meer counterfeit shew of answer ; and i desire the reader first to observe , that neither here nor in his dialogue , he doth not so much as offer to prove that this phrase original sin , is to be found in scripture ; and for all his pretences to make the scripture his rule , he hath no ground from this , but from popish tradi ion . secondly , that we grant a reall seed of sin , derived from sathan which adams posterity is liable to ; but we say , none become guilty of this before god nutill they close with this evill seed , and in them who close with it , it becomes an origine or fountain of evill thoughts , desires , words and actions : and as by granting all capeable of receiving this real seed of sin we differ from the socinians , and pelagians ; so by saying it is not the childrens sin until they do close with it : we agree with zuinglius a famous protestant , who for this very doctrine was condemned by the council of trent , in the art. of the fifth ses. cons. trent , lib. 2. pag. 208. the acts of which council , not onely against us , but against this famous founder of the protestant churches in zuitserland , is that which w. m. is here vindicating . thirdly , i desire the reader may observe , that the thing he pleads for is , that infants are really guilty before god , that infants are guilty before god simply for adams sin ; and that some of them who die in their infancy , and never actually sin in their own persons , do for this sin of adam eternally perish : now whither this doctrine be sutable either to the justice or mercy of god , i leave the christian reader to judge . i shall examine the reasons he brings for it , his cheif argument for this in his dialogue pag. 47. was , that because children die , citing rom. 23. the wages of sin is death , now i shew him , pag , 64. of mine , how that made nothing , because natural death of the saints is not the wages of sin ; for their sins are forgiven them , &c. this he hath not so much as mentioned , far less answered ; and whereas he might as well argue that the earth , trees and herbs were sinners , because they received great decay by adams sin ; he slightly passes it over , aledging , it will not therefore follow , that all mankind who suffer death are not sinners ; now this is no answer but a meer shift , and the thing i intended against his assertion , doth very naturally follow from my argument ; thus , if as w. m. sayes . infants be guilty of adams sin , because they are subject to diseases and death , then the beasts who are subject to the like , and the earth , herbs and trees , who have received their decay are sinners before god ; but this is absurd , therefore the other , let him answer this the next time more effectually . the first proof he brings here is , 1 joh. 3. 6. that which is born of the flesh is flesh , adding , this intimates man by his natural birth to be corrupt and fleshly ; but for this his gloss he bringeth no proof ; though , that which is born of the flesh be flesh , he showeth us not how it followeth thence , that infants are guilty of adams sin ; after the like manner he concludes this his doctrine from , job . 14. 4. psal. 5. 5. but as the words in these places do not plainly express any such thing , so he brings no reason to make his consequences deduceable from them ; after the like proof-less manner he aledgeth , rom. 5. 14. by one mans disobedience many were made sinners ; now , though the matter in question be , whether these many were made sinners before they actually sinned in their own persons ? he doth not so much as offer to prove it ; in the like manner , though david said his mother conceived him in sin , he sheweth us not how it followeth from thence , that david was guilty of sin before he actually sinned ; and here i observe how he asserts , that men are guilty of the sin of their immoderate parents , contrary to the plain testimony of the scripture ezek. 18. 20. the son shall not bare the iniquity of the father : to prove infants thus guilty he further addeth , rom. 5. 12. aledging these words ; for that all have sinned , includes infants , but i shew him this includes not infants , because the apostle clears it in the next verse , saying , sin is not imputed where there is no law , and that there being no law to infants , they cannot be guilty of sin ; to this he replies , there was a law to adam and that he represented mankind , and stood as a publik person , therefore children had a law in him ; but for this signification of his own he produceth no proof , and it cannot be received , as being direct contrary to the scripture above mentioned , the son shall not bare the fathers iniquity ; he aledgeth , that those the apostle speaks of who sinned not after the similitude of adams transgression are infants , but after his usual manner bringeth not the least proof for it : the , 1 cor. 15. 22. cited by him , is so far from makeing any thing for his purpose , that it maketh directly against him , which any that have the least grain of true understanding may perceive ; the words are , as in adam all died , even so in christ , all are made alive ; for here all are said to die in adam , even as all are said to be made alive in christ ; now as none are made alive in christ until they actually receive , and joyne with his righteousness , so none die in adam until they actually receive , and joyn with his unrighteousness , &c. he maketh a deal a do pag. 110 , 111. about the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , wherein though it were easie to refute him , were it not needless to fill up paper with gramatical criticismes ; for giving , but not granting the words might be translated , in adam all have sinned , it will not from thence follow that infants are guilty before they actually sin , seeing all are said to die , or have sinned in adam , even as all are said to be made alive in christ ; and yet none are said to be so , until they actually receive his righteousness as is above demonstrated . pag. 113. he aledgeth , though it be said that the kingdom of god is of little children , yet some infants are not saved , because they are not of the kingdome of grace ; but for this he bringeth no proof at all : and i here take notice , that he acknowledges , that god sanctifies and regenerats some infants , and thereby he notably conradicts his second sect. concerning the light. and pag. 29. of his dialogue , where he condems it , as a dangerous errour in us , to say any can be saved without the outward knowledg of christ , of which infants are not capable to prove , that some infants perish , even eternally , he aledgeth , the burning of sodom and gomorrah , citing jude . 7. but his wresting this scripture is very manifest , for the reason jude gives of their suffering vengance , was , because they gave themselves up to fornication , and went after strange flesh ; now of this infants were not capable , of whom therefore jude . speaks not one word . he terms impudent or else ignorant , for bringing , mat. 1. 22. against them , aledging , it is an uniust charge , to say they plead for a salvation in their sins ; and yet he has the impudence immediatly to aver it himself , saying , they are but in part delivered or saved in this life ; do they not then dream of salvation while in part they remain in their sins ? compare , math. 1. 21. with 1 joh. 1. 7. christ is said to cleanse us from all iniquity , not a part of it : it is a bad inference drawn from my assertion , that children are not guilty of sin , to say that therefore they need not a saviour ; i told him in my last , christ was truely a saviour unto them in that he kept them from sinning , as one that 's kept from faling in a ditch is as truely saved as he that 's taken out of one : it is altogether inconsequential to infer from this , that christ died to save the holy angels from sin , because they are not suffered to fall into it , for christ is said onely to have died for adams posterity , of which number infants are , but not angels . it is likewise without reason , that he compares us to pelagians , as if we took from christ the name jesus , seeing it has been shown we own him to be jesus , or saviour to all , even to infants . he beginneth his fifteenth head , concerning the perseverance of the saints , pag. 115. aledging , that in saying the quakers hold not a falling away from regeneration , i seek to hide my self ; because g. keith sayes , that saints may fall away from saving grace ; asking , if saints be regenerate . answ. though all that be fully regenerate are saints , yet some may be called saints who are not fully regenerate . pag. 116. he aledgeth , it is in vain to assert this falling away ; because it is said , some who believed afterwards fell away , and some make shipwrack of the faith ; and some who tasted of the good word of god , and the powers of the life to come , &c. because they use to distingish betwixt seeming counterfeit grace , and sound saving grace . answ. can there be any more palpable wresting of scripture ? for if so be , that faith which they had were not real , they were not to be blamed for falling away from it , it were their mercy to make shipwrack of that which was counterfeit : the apostle speaks positively , heb. 6. 4. of the capacity of such to fall away , who were once enlightned , who have tasted of the heavenly gift , yea , who were partakers of the holy ghost , and have tasted of the good word of god ; and the powers of the world to come ; he sayeth not they seemed to be so : nay the very context sheweth the contrary , saying , it is imposible to renew such again to repentance ; now had this been all in appearance , the apostle needed not to speak of renewing them again to repentance , or say , they crucifie the son of god afresh , seeing if so , they had never been penitent and been allways crucifiers of christ ; whereas in answer to phil. 1. 6. i tould him it might be supposed that paul was as confident that god would perfect the work in himself as in any other , and yet he supposes the contrary where he sayes , least preaching the gospel to others , i my self become a castaway ; to this he replieth nothing , but citeth another scripture , jer. 32. 29. i will give them one heart that they may fear me for ever ; though god give them this , that they may fear him yet such may abuse the gift of god , and so run out of his fear , he gives to all his grace , and yet it is said , that some turn it unto wantonness , jud. 4. he jeereth at my answer to peter , saying , a goodly reply forsooth , as if he had said , if the saints fall from faith they must fall , but he might spare his insulting , until he had found some way to answer my words , which are , that those that abide not in the power of god through faith , must fall away ; for he might as well scoff at all the conditional promises of the gospel , such as , he that continueth stedfast to the end shall obtain the crown : to say that faith and the power of god concurs to prevent the saints faling away , answers nothing , for so long as these concur , we do not deny it , and though they be allways willing to concur , yet it is clear that some who have believed , not counterfetily but really have departed from the power and so fallen away as is above shown . pag. 117. upon the words of , jer. 32. 40. he sayes , it proves the perseverance or impossibillity of faling away , because it is said , god put his fear in their hearts for this end , that they might not depart from him , what then , that doth not prove that they cannot depart from him , christ came to his own for this end , that he might save them ; and yet it is said they received him not , joh. 1. 11. he sayes , i make short work of these scriptures , joh. 10. 27 , 28. joh. 13. 1. 1 joh. 2. 19. because i say , they speak of those who were come to a through regeneration , which he sayes is without proof ; but the reader by looking unto them will find they cannot be understood otherways , then of such as are throughly regenerate , and it appears he was sensible of this , having produced nothing to the contrary , and whereas he adds , that if those who are throughly regenerate were onely to persevere , then this were the priviledge of saints in heaven , and not in earth , who never come to be so ; there can be nothing more rediculus , then this manner of arguing , seeing that question whether the saints can be perfectly regenerate on earth is as much in debate as the other ? that objection of his , as if from this doctrine it might follow one were a child of god to day , and a child of the devil to morrow , i answered in my last . pag. 66. to which he returneth no answer , and therefore it is disingenuity in him to bring it forth here again ; and whereas in pag. 66 , 67. of my last i shew him how he contradicted himself in this matter , by granting some of the quakers to have been truly converted , and yet now to condemn them as apostates ; he is so far from reconciling it , that he avers it a new in plain terms saying , pag. 118. that some of them have felt a gratious opperation on their hearts ; and pag. 9. he cannot but think that some of them were savingly wrought upon , and yet adds , that it is clear that they have apostatised from the truth ; now to reconcile this he hath nothing to say , but he trusts the lord will convince them . answ. as some of them , to whom he and his brethren were forced to give the testimony of gratious persons , have already departed this life not onely not shrinking from , but even testifying to these truths he calls error , so others whom they have also accounted gratious , having been at deaths door have asserted the same truth and rejoyced in it , which suffiseth to overturn his vain confidence , and truly such a groundless hope is but a poor shift to reconcile so palpable a contradiction ; whereby while in words they condem this doctrine of the capacity of mans falling away from grace , yet as to the experience of some particulars they are forced to acknowledg it , for fear they should fall in greater inconveniences of granting some among the quakers to be choice saints . his sixteenth head , pag. 119. is to prove the danger of quakerisme , as he terms it , but that his folly may appeare in this particular , i desire the reader first to observe our principle which he concludes so hazardous , even as repeated by himself pag. 121. viz. that a man cannot , nor ought not to pray without the spirits motion ; and to say none can pray without it , hath no bad tendency , because all such prayers as are performed without the help of the spirit , are abomination , not true prayers , but hypocritical and deceitful ; now he cannot deny this , and therefore grants it to be true , yea saith plainly in the next page , that prayer without the spirit is abomination , and whereas he adds , that forbearing of prayer is also abomination , we do not deny it , but freely confess , that forbearing of prayer in the wicked is sinful , but the way to prevent this , is not to commit a second evill , viz. to pray without the spirit , they ought first to come to the spirit , that thereby they may pray acceptably , according to that of paul , rom. 8. 26. likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered , 1 cor. 14. 15. i will pray with the spirit ; which being brought by me in my last , he hath wholly omitted so much muchasto mention , far less to answer : and though omiting of prayer be sinful , yet to bid a man pray without the spirit , is as much as to desire a man to see without opening his eyes : this thing may appeare by a familar example , thus , suppose a servant turn slugard , and sleep while he should be about his masters work , if when he is raised out of his bed he should run naked to it , without taking along those tools or instruments which are absolutly needful for the doing of it , what will he profit either himself or his master ? yea he will but hinder the work more : even so the wicked , as they ought to pray , so they ought first to come to the spirit , whereby they may do it to the glory of god , and their own souls good . now though this be so undeniable that he cannot gainsay it , yet in contradiction to the truth and his own concessions , he goes about to cavil against it , aledging , it might take off men as well from their necessary works , because the ploughing of the wicked is sin ; and that also it might follow from this , that children should not honour their parents , and husbands love their wives , but when they have a motion of the spirit for it . answ. this objection hath no weight to overturn the truth , for there is a great difference betwixt these things that relate to the worship of god , and what relates to outward things , either concerning our selves or our neighbours ; the worship of god is a spiritual thing relating to himself , which we are commanded to perform in the spirit , and god doth offer us his spirit for the performance of it ; and because it is that which is meerly relative betwixt god and the soul , he doth not accept of it but as so offered , we cannot pray as we ought saith the apostle , but the spirit helpeth , &c. now though these other things would no doubt be the more acceptable to god , and more frequently accompanied with his blessing , that they were done in the sence of his fear , and in the drawings of his spirit , yet they are materially good in themselves , answering really their end to them unto whom they immediatly relate without it , but it is not so of prayer , which as it immediately relates to god , so w. m. himself confesseth without the spirit to be abomination : thus is also solved his supposition , pag. 1 124. that if a wicked man contract guilt he may provoke the lord to withdraw the motions of the spirit , and then his not praying is not sin , for i have asserted , that the not praying of the wicked is sinful , and this doth not lull people in a sinful security ; on the contrary they are like rather to be lulled in such a security by being told they may be set about prayer when they please , whereby they foster themselves in a groundless hope , because of their now and then repeating their words of prayer , neither expecting nor looking for the spirits assistance , whereby instead of advancing in grace and righteousness , they do but reiterate abominations , and so aggrevate their own guilt : and whereas here he is forced to acknowledg , that motives of the spirit will not be wanting to the saints to pray when they are at the gates of death , or in danger of present drownding ; he asks me , what shall the wicked do in this case ? shall they not follow the advice which peter gave to simon magus , act. 8. 22. pray god , if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee ; but here he minceth the apostles words which are ; repent therefore of thy wickedness , and pray , &c. here the apostle puts repentance before prayer , it shall not be denied , but when the wicked have repented of their wickedness , the spirit will not be wanting to assist them to pray . it is therefore to little purpose , that pag. 120. and 121. he pleads for craving a blessing when we use the creatures of god , calling the neglect of it a phrophane custome ; for we do not deny it , and condemn a prophane neglect of it as much as themselves ; and as christ had the spirit without and above measure , having all wayes a ready access to the father , so we are glad and willing at such occasions to express words , if we find the spirit assisting us so to do , yea we reckon that we ought not to use the creatures , without our hearts be in some measure retired to the sence of gods presence , and stayed in his fear , whereby we may secretly breath for a blessing , for to speak audible words is not essential , and therefore it is apparently malitious for him to say , that when we are not stayed in gods fear , we have liberty and freedom to full to m●at my words had no such importance , though he seeks 〈◊〉 them , and yet can wholly omit much of pag. 67. of mine where i shew their abuses in this matter , how they mock god in it and provoke him to withdraw his blessing ; and whereas he sayes , one of us confessed , that he had not called together nor prayed in his family for a twelve-month past ; he should have produced the persons name , that we might have inquired concerning it , and therefore until he so do , we can lay no stress upon it but reject it as false , especially considering , that w. m. being particularly challenged upon this refuseth absolutly to do it , nor durst he aver he had any better ground for it then hear-say : upon this ocasion he asks , if abraham must not keep up religion in his family because an ishmael is in it , but this maketh nothing against us , for none of us that are masters of families , have forborn to keep up the worship of god , though enemies of truth have been in it , whom we have not barred from being present ; and for whom we have not been wanting to pray , though we cannot joyn with them in their prayers , as w. m. adviseth us , until first they repent of their wickedness : this was the method of peters advice to simon magus , first to repent and then to pray , as is above shewed . sect. pag. 125. he sayes , quakerisme tend ; to make mortification of sin useless , and to me , asking , whether mortification be useless where the end of it ( which is perfection ) is atained ? he answereth , that perfection is toofold , comparative and absolute , and seeing we are for an absolute perfection , there is no use for mortification . answ. there can none come to this absolute perfection , ( as he terms it ) but by mortification of sin , and even such as are so perfect while on earth , do constantly use mortification to keep down sin , least it rise again , and to resist the temptations of the enemy , wherewith even such as be perfect are daily assaulted . he aledgeth , i triumph before the victory , in quarreling him for saying , that a sinless perfection wounds the very vitals of religion ; but his silly subterfuge in this place may easily be discovered : i asked him in my last , that seeing he sayes so , whether the vitals of religion consisted in sinning or not sinning ? adding , that if it consist in sinning they that sin most are most religious , but if it consist in not sinning , then to plead for such a thing as attainable , hurts not the vitals of religion ; to this he answereth , that the vitals of religion consist in the means appointed of god : who seeth not this to be a meer evasion ; why did he not give a direct answer ? but that he could not , without either denying his former antichristian expression , or else faling into palpable groseness ; and whereas he adds , that these means are repentance , mortification , believing , application of the blood of christ ; though it be no answer to my question , i deny not , but that religion consists in these things ; but i suppose he will not say that they are sinning : it is not in the least absurd , that one who hath attained to perfection may practice these duties ; man though he have attained to perfection cannot too much repent of his former wickedness , and therefore it is without ground that he aledgeth , that i shift , and cannot deny but the forbearance of these duties flow as a consequence from our principle , nor is my saying , that they who come to perfection , witness the true use of these things any shift at all , though he be pleased to term it so without any proof , after his wonted manner , according to which he addeth , that under the pretence of perfection we take men off from the practice of these duties , and so strike at christianity in the vitals of it ; which though it fall of it self as being a meer assertion , yet the contrary is above abundantly shown ; he saith , he doth not contradict himself in inferring a sinless man to be sinful ; he affirmed onely the quakers conceitedly sinless men to be sinful , who discover much sin in their pride , passion , bitterness , railing accusations , adding , if such say they have no sin they are but liars , and the truth is not in them . answ. there was no such addition in his dialogue as conceitedly sinless , but absolutly , he said , bring me to the man that is sinless , and therefore his contradiction remains : moreover let him name that quaker if he can , that tould him he was perfectly free from all sin , and yet was guilty of those crimes he speaks of , else he can deduce nothing from his own false supposition . pag. 127. to prove the saints continuance allwayes in sin , he desires to remark that , 1 joh. 18 it is even such , who have heard , seen and handled of the word of god &c. who sayeth , if we have no sin we are liars ; and here indeed is to be observed his detestable impudence in adding to the scripture words , citing vers . 7. which he repeats thus , we who are cleansed from the guilt of sin , whereas there is no such word as guilt in that place , but onely , we are cleansed from all sin , which imports a cleansing from the filth ; mark these words vers . 9. from all unrighteousness ; now when the guilt is onely taken away and the filth remaineth , as w. m. falsly supposes , they could not be said to be cleansed from all unrighteousness ; for it is an improper speech to say we are cleansed from guilt , it is from the filth we are cleansed , and the guilt is forgiven us ; therefore saith the apostle , vers . 9. first , he is faithful to forgive us , and next he adds , to cleanse us from all unrighteousness ; nor will johns saying , if we say we have no sin , import john himself to be of that number , more then the apostle james spaking of the tongue jam. 3. 9. saying , there-with curse we men who are made after the similitude of god ; will prove james to have been of these cursers . now in answer to me showing that scripture 1 job . 1. 8. is conditional else it would contradict what followes , vers . 9. chap. 24. and chap. 3 , 9. he returneth no answer but his own assertions ; he saith , the 9. vers speaketh of forgiveness , but it also adds cleansing as is above observed . he saith , that 1 joh. 2 , 4. is understood of a sincere not absolute keeping of the commands of god , but for this he brings no proof at all ; he saith , that joh. 3. 9. whosoever is born of god sinneth not , is meant of sinning unto death , from which the child of god is secured , the reason he gives of this gloss is , because the apostle , ch . 5. v. 16. speaketh , of a sin unto death , which sin w. m. supposeth to be that the apostle means , he that 's born of god cannot commit : but to prove this supposition we have nothing but his own meer assertion : reader , these are the best and strongest arguments he hath to prove his doctrines . his seventeenth head , pag. 128. is to shew his doctrines , not to be acceptable to the wicked , and his eighteenth head , pag. 131. is to prove ours to be so , but he is so pittifully ridiculous in this matter , that such as have the least measure of understanding , and are unprejudiced , cannot but see his weakness : yet that he may be left altogether without a cover , i shall answer his objections , and leave the unbiassed reader as he desires to judge , which principles in their nature have most tendency to strike at or foster wickedness : to prove that it is not acceptable to the wicked to hear they must alwayes sin , he sayes , some are so conceited of their honesty that they cannot be convineed of their sins , and that mortification of sin is distastful to them ; but how he makes this to answer the other is not tould us , if hypocrites love not to hear of their sins , it doth not therefore follow , that pleading for a constant continuance in sin , is not acceptable to the wicked , they may be the easier induced to acknowledg their sins , that they hear it tould them for sound and solid doctrine , that they may be reputed good saints and christians though they alwayes remain in them , to prove that their doctrine of imputative righteousness , and of election and reprobation , is not pleasing to the wicked , he sayes , some wicked men scof at them , what then , so some wicked men scof at the folly of machumetanism , will it therefore follow their doctrine is good ? the question is , whether their doctrine of mens being altogether reputed righteous in the sight of god , by a righteousness altogether without them , and mens being elected to life from all eternity , without any respect to their deeds be not more acceptable to the wicked , then to tell them they must seek to be justified by the righteousness of god wrought in them ? and as they are joyned to the elect seed christ jesus , born again and brought forth in them which worketh out all iniquity and unrighteousness in them . now this he hath not in the least offered to answer : after the like manner , whereas i shew it is more acceptable to the wicked to hear that the outward letter is the rule , which they can bend and twin , then the inward which cannot be so twisted , he sayes , some wicked men could wish there were no such outward rule , and that some understand not what is intended by gods immediate speaking , but hate the ministery of the word , both which answers make nothing to the purpose ; what though wicked men hate the scripture and the ministry , doth it therefore follow that it is not more acceptable to them to hear ; this is their only rule which they can twin as they please , then the inward which cannot be twined as the scriptures may , nor bribed as the ministry of men . he confesses , they allow of laces , ribbons , gold rings , &c. and other superfluities , and therefore cannot deny , but that their doctrine therein is acceptable to the wicked ; his shift is here , that people ought not to exceed their rank and quallity , aledging , the apostle onely condems this , 1 tim. 2. 9. but that his detestable wresting of the scripture may be manifest i shall cite the apostles words : in like manner also , that women adorn themselves in modest apparel , with shamfastness and sobriety ; not with broydred hair , or gold , or pearls , or costly aray ; is there any word here that they should only not exceed their rank ; who cannot but abeminate his abusing of scripture . and whereas he says , he thinks they should be sparing of lawful games and recreations , it seemes their deeds sute not their thoughts in this matter , or else it must be accounted a sparingness with him , not onely to spend much of the day in field sports , but even largely of the night in carding , &c. for so to my certain knowledg , some of his brethren in the priesthood , of the synod of aberd en , are found doing and justifying themselves in it . as to the sabbath , he offereth not in the least to answer , that wherein i shew it was acceptable to the wicked , according to the same rate ; in answer to my assertion , that the wicked love well to hear that they may be members of the church without having infallible evidence of holyness ; he asketh , if all the members of the quakers church have so , adding , that our raw conceited proselytes , are so ignorant and yet so confident , that sober men suspect them to be in a fools paradice ; first , as this is a meer shift and no reply , to disprove the principle aforesaid to be acceptable to the wicked , so likewise if his spirit had not been in a raw conceited posture , filled both with ignorance and confidence , he had not suffered himself so far to fall in a fools paradice , as to imagine this his meer proofeless calumny , with many more his groundless assertions would have any weight with sober men , not being backed with any argument : he addeth , their doctrine , once in grace and ever in grace , hath no tendency to please the wicked , because such never had grace , and therefore have no ground to think that belongeth unto them ; but seeing he himself confesseth , that such as had true grace , may fall both unto detestable practices , and blasphemous or erronious principles , may not such then foster themselves in these evils , by saying , that since they once had true grace they can never totally fall from it : that part of page 72. of mine , where i shew by example how the wicked living among them , and being their church members , and also opposing and vilisiing us did declare their principles to be more acceptable to the wicked then ours , he hath wholly waved , it seems he knew of no shift how to shufle by this , and therefore found it fittest altogether to omit it . head 18. pag. 131. he saith , the quakers religion is exceeding suitable to carnal hearts , and thereupon he instanceth some particulars saying , they are pleasing to the wicked , without offering any reason ; the reader upon the particular debate of these matters in their places , will observe how he was necessitated to bottom this conclusion of these principles being sutable to carnal hearts , upon the meer credit of his own affirmation , and therefore it is no wonder he adds , that he is wearied raking in this dunghil ; it is high time for him to leave of trampling in such miry stuff as is the whole bulk of his book , and no doubt a dunghil is a very fit term for such a durty product , as is these drossy dregs of his dark understanding ; i charged him in the end of mine for lying to god , for that in the prayer , he endeth his dialogue with , he useth these words , follow with thy blessing , that which we have been about , which now he is so far from clearing himself of , that he now acknowledges it was onely a supposed conference , and therefore it was a lie , yea a mocking of god , to desire him to accompany a meer supposition with his blessing ; as for his expressing pitty towards the seduced and wishing god to reclaim them , it was not for that i challenged him , but for his desiring god to accompany with his blessing a meer chymaera , which never was , and therefore his best shift for this is , what is it that some men will not carp at especially the quakers , of whom he addeth , a pious minister hath said , that their religion consists in railing ; and then he goes on and tels some terms , wherewith that person sayes , the quakers have named the ministers of christ. answ. first , the testimony of his supposed pious minister is no more to be recieved in this case then w. m. his own , and to say the quakers gave these names he mentions to the ministers of christ , is to take for granted the thing in debate , for the quakers deny them to be such : and is just one as if a papist should say , luther and his assotiates religion consisted in railling , because they called ( as to the papists ) their holy mother the church of rome a srumpet , a whore , the mother of fornications , babilon , &c. and all her devote clergy no better then balls priests , filthy dogs , blind giuds , liars , dissemblers , &c. and all these other denominations w. m. men ions the quakers give his brethren ; dare he deny but there are some of his fraternity guilty of all these terms , and what knoweth he but the quakers have applied them aright ; it is manifest enough , some of these terms are too applicable to them all , such as blind guids , persecutors : it is here observeable , that among all these denominations he aledges , the quakers give him and his brethren , he hath omitted the two , both most frequently used against them by the quakers , and most universally deserved by his fellow priests , viz. hirelings and time-servers ; it seems he feared every reader would have found them applicable : herein do we find our selves justified both before god and good men , that we have nameed them no otherwayes then as their guilt deserved , and that we have no enmity nor hatred at any mans person , nor have desired to harme it , wheras while they plead forbearance for themselves , that we should not speak the truth plainly to them , and of them , terming our so doing railing and reviling , yet they are not ashamed to speak all manner of evil falsly against us , railing at us without a cause ; and not onely so , but stiring up so far as they can the magistrate , to cause us to be beat , imprisoned , and persecuted , both in our bodies , estates , and libertys ; by offering to banish us out of our native contryes : yea and cut us off if they could from the face of the earth . let the unprejudiced judge who showes forth here most meekness or most wrath . post-script . vvhereas w. m. in his fifth head concerning the scriptures , and in his twelfth head , pag. 96. concerning the ministry , aledgeth , that these words of the apostle paul mentioned by me , 1 cor. 14. 30. ye may all prophecy one by one ; is restricted to prophets &c. not for the common order of the church : adding , that except we could prove all our teachers to be prophets , we ought not to lay claime to that scripture : i would desire him to answer his brother samuel rutherfords ( professor of devinity at st. andrews , so called ; who in his book intitled , the due right of presbytery , page 466 , 467. ) eight arguments , wherein he hath proved it to be of pastors , &c. not of extraordinary prophets , and thereby hath saved me that labour . this coming to my hands after the other was committed to the press , was the cause of its not being inserted in the due place . the end . the key of saving knovvledge, opening out of the holy scriptures, the right way, and straight passage to eternall life, or, a dialogue wherein the chiefe principles of the christian religion are unfolded for the enabling of christian people, to understand the word of god ... composed by geo. walker ... walker, george, 1581?-1651. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a67085 of text r39413 in the english short title catalog (wing w360). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67085) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 107490) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1134:16) the key of saving knovvledge, opening out of the holy scriptures, the right way, and straight passage to eternall life, or, a dialogue wherein the chiefe principles of the christian religion are unfolded for the enabling of christian people, to understand the word of god ... composed by geo. walker ... walker, george, 1581?-1651. [10], 113 p. printed by tho. badger, london : mdcxli [1641] imperfect: print show-through. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library. eng puritans -england -apologetic works. theology, doctrinal -17th century. a67085 r39413 (wing w360). civilwar no the key of saving knovvledge, opening out of the holy scriptures, the right way, and straight passage to eternall life. or a dialogue wherei walker, george 1641 24881 52 0 0 0 0 0 21 c the rate of 21 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2004-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-01 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2005-01 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the key of saving knowledge , opening out of the holy scriptures , the right way , and straight passage to eternall life . or a dialogue wherein the chiefe principles of christian religion are unfolded for the enabling of christian people , to understand the word of god and to atteine to the true sense and mean●ng thereof . composed by geo. walker b. of div. and pastor of s iohn the evangelists church in london . london , printed by tho. badger . m.dc.xli . to his little flock , the inhabitants of the parish of s. iohn the evangelist in watlingstreet in london , georg● walker their weake , but wellwishing ●astor , commendeth this small token of his unfeined love , and hearty desire of their eternall happinesse in the fruition of god ; by their fellowship and communion with him in the lord iesus christ . beloved in the lord christ , seeing now i have spent one halfe of my dayes in preaching to you and your predecessors the gospell of christ , in expounding the sacred scriptures , & in watching and labouring for the good of your soules , to wit , for the space of 29 yeares , untill there is not one left alive of all those inhabitants , who were masters of families at my first coming to this place , and did all with one consent and voyce make choyce of me to be their pastor : i hold it high time for me , to thinke of my departure from hence by putting off this earthly tabernacle , and of leaving you as your predecessors who were my first flocke , have left me their pastor behind them to feed you a succeeding generation . and least my labour and paines , which i spent among them for the good of their soules should seeme to die with them , and to bee buried in their graves : i have thought good to renew the memory of them ; and to leave to the world some monuments of that doctrin i have preached to them heretofore , as also to you of latter times , by gods gracious assistance , though in great weaknesse of body , yet with a willing mind , and with a courage never daunted with any menacings and threatenings of potent adversaries , and malicious persecutors . the principall heads and true platforme of which doctrine i have briefly comprised , and compendiously set forth in this short dialogue , which containes in it the principles and foundations of christian religion and which i do here commend to you , as a testimony of that unfeigned love which i beare to you , and of my fervent desire of the salvation of your soules . i have already published , and have ready for the presse divers larger treatises , wherein are conteined many particular doctrines which may be reduced to these principall heads ; and are there largely handled , plainly opened , and fully proved by scriptures ; and the true use of them shewed in such manner as they have beene by my mouth publikly preached among you . but this golden key , which is the quintessence of them all , will open heaven unto you , if you can learn to use it aright . it is made of divine metall , even the word of god revealed from heaven , which is more pure than the most refined gold . it will teach you by a short and compendious way to know god , not only in the unity of essence in his essentiall attributes ; in the trinity of persons , and in his works of creation , and actuall providence overruling mans fall , and disposing it and all the evils which entered in by it , to his own glory , and the good of his elect : but also in iesus christ , in whom to know him the only true god is eternall life , as our saviour testifieth , iohn 12. 3. here gods eternall counsell and decree of predestination is discovered : here you may learn the saving works of god , in and by christ , god and man humbled in our nature . what love god hath shewed in giving his son for us ; and what christ hath done and suffered for our redemption . here you may see what saving works god works by his spirit , shed on his elect through christ , as regeneration , renovation , effectuall calling , vnion with christ , adoption , communion of his ransome for redemption , of his righteousnesse for iustification , of his satisfaction for remission of sins , and reconciliation . and what gods spirit works in us and by us , as mortification , sanctification , faith , repentance and all holy graces ; and how and by what meanes he enables us to apply christ and his benefits unto us , and to enioy him and them for salvation ; and also doth beget and increase grace in his elect , to wit , by the word preached and heard , the sacraments rightly administred and received , faithfull and fervent prayer , and the like . and how these worke in the elect to eternall life and blessednesse , and are abused by wicked reprobates , to their owne everlasting damnation and destruction . these things have i written to you fathers and masters , that you may read them your selves , and commend them to your children and families ; i commend them to you young men , that you may grow strong , and may overcome the wicked one . and i commend them to you litle children ; that you may learne to know his name , and that your sins may be forgiven you for his names sake . if after so much preaching & teaching you be found ignorant & unprofitable , it is because the god of this world hath blinded your minds , least the light of the glorious gospell of christ , who is the image of god , should shine unto you . this word will be to you the savour of death unto death , and this booke shall witnesse for me against you , that you are wilfully ignorant and a lost people . but if , as i hope , and pray fervently and wish from my heart ; you do chearefully receive the love of this truth : then shall my doctrine bee to you the savour of life unto life , and wee shall both together , i of my worke and labour in preaching , and you of your reverence in hearing , and faithfulnesse in obeying the word preached , receive the reward of righteousnesse , which christ hath purchased for them that beleeve and obey the gospell , even the crown of glorie , which never fadeth . this briefe summe of christian religion , with other more large treatises i have written in my bonds , for the common benefit of you and others , to testifie unto you , that the many waters of troubles and persecutions , which i suffer for the truth sake , which i have preached unto you , cannot quench my love to you , nor my desire of your salvation , nor hinder mee from labouring for your good . in all which i seeke not yours , but you . and as i have preached the gospell freelie to you , never seeking any of your temporall goods , for my ministring of spirituall things plentifullie unto you ; but spending besides my spirits , much substance over and above the revenues of my smal benefice , which from you i have received ; so i commend to you freely this and all other works and labours of my love , which if you do lovinglie accept and use , and imploy to your own advantage , i shall thinke my work in some good measure rewarded , and shall ever remaine a faithfull labourer for the good of your soules , according to the utmost of my power , and your welwilling , though weake pastor , geo. walker . a briefe dialogue , wherein the father examineth his son , concerning the principles of religion , in which he hath formerly instructed him . quest . my deare child , why doest thou complaine because of thy sicknesse , and many paines and infirmities which often doe befall thee , seeing thou by thy sins pullest them upon thee , and causest god thus to punish and correct thee ? answer . indeed in my book of the of the psalmes of david , i am taught to confesse , that i was shapen in iniquity , and that in sin hath my mother conceived me , but this is the fault of you that are my parents , from whom i received in my birth and with my first being this sinfull corruption . quest . it is true , that wee brought thee into this world a poore sinfull wretch . but doest thou not know , that this corruption commeth not from our selves , as the first causes of it , but from our first parents in whom thou and we and all mankind have sinned against god , and lost that image and likenesse of god , in which wee were created , and are so infected with the poyson a●d malice of the devill , which hee breathed into our first parents , that wee have no power , or will to do the good which god requireth of us in his law ; but are forward to run into all sins which god forbiddeth . answ. i remember now when you put me in mind of it , that you have taught me oftentimes , that god created all things good at the first , and in adam he created all man-kind in his owne image and likenesse ; and that the devill by the serpent did tempt the woman , and breathed into her his poyson and drew her into sin , and by her infected adam , who was the root and stock of all man-kind ; and by drawing him into transgression , did corrupt him and all man-kind , defaced gods image in us al , and stained and defiled our nature , so that eversince we are by nature children of wrath and disobedience , who of our selves have no power to will or do any good , but do run into sin and actuall transgression continually . quest . i see and perceive by this , that you are ready to forget those instructions of godlinesse which you have often learned , and have need to have your memory often rubbed up . and therefore i will stirre you up to remember the things which i have often taught you , by asking you questions concerning the chiefe points of christian religion which you have learned , that they may be more deeply printed in your mind , and that you may have them more ready to put them in practise when occasion shall be offered . answ. i acknowledge my selfe bound in a double bond of thankefulnesse unto you , both for your godly paines in t●aching me saving knowledge , and for your fatherly care , to ma●e me remember the things which you have taught me , that i may both beleeve and practise the things which god requireth of me , for the obteining of eternall life , and blessednesse . quest . my paines of teaching you , are a pleasure to me , when i see you willing to bee instructed . and if you answer readily the questions which i shall aske you concerning the grounds of religion , which i have heretofore taught you , i shall rejoice in hope and confidence that god hath chosen you to be a vessell of honour ▪ called you to the state of grace , and prepared you for the state of glory in heaven . answ. i acknowledge with all thankfulnesse gods infinite love , mercy and bounty to me , in that hee hath ordeined me to be borne of godly and christian parents , who as they were meanes to bring me into the world , a corrupt sinfull child of adam , so are gods speciall instruments to beget me to god a new creature in iesus christ , by instructing me in his holy word , by which his holy spirit doth take possession of my soule , worketh in me faith , and renueth me after the image of christ ; wherefore i am ready according to my best understanding and memory to answer every question which you shall aske , concerning the things which i have before heard and learned from your mouth , humbly beseeching god to print in my heart , and to enable me by his grace to practise in my life the things , which by your often urging and pressing are printed in my memory . quest . my first question therefore shall be about that which is the first work of god , by which he gave to man-kind their first being , i meane the creation of adam and all man-kind in him , tell mee what you have been taught concerning it ? answ. first , i have learned that god created the whole world and all things therein , gen. 1. & 2. quest . what god is he who did performe and perfect so great a work ? answ ▪ he who is the one only true god , and besides whom there is no other god , deut. 6. 4. & isay 45. 5. quest . what a one do you conceive this god to be ? answ. i conceive him to bee such a one as his most proper name jehovah doth signifie . quest . what doth that name signifie ? answ. it signifieth that he is and hath his being of himselfe from all eternity , without beginning and without end , and that bee giveth being , motion , breath , life , and all other things , to all creatures which live , move , and breath , and to all other things which have been , are , or shall bee in the world , and without him nothing can ●e or come to passe , exod. 3. 14. quest . what do you learn from thence ? answ. i learne , first , that god is most absolute of himselfe , and depends upon none other , neither needeth , either for his being , glory , or blessednesse any help , or for the increase of them . secondly , that he is before all things , and is the first cause of them . thirdly , that he is eternall , even one who was before all times , and is and shall be the same for ever , without beginning , and without end . fourthly , that he is immutable and unchangeable in his nature , essence and being , and in his counsels , will and all other his attributes and properties . fiftly , that he is most perfect , one who wanteth nothing , but hath in him all excellencies to the full , so that nothing can bee added to him to increase his goodnesse or blessednesse . sixthly , that he is infinite and incomprehensible , no tongue can utter , no eye can see , nor eare heare , nor heart conceive , nor reason and understanding comprehend him or his excellencies . quest . wherein doth his infinitnesse consist ? answ. it consists in this , that he hath no bounds , nor limits , but is above all degrees of comparison , his whole essence is at all times pr●sent in all places ; and neither heaven , nor the heaven of heavens , nor all places in the world can conteine him , or measure his substance . he is infinit in wisdome , knowledge , power , goodnesse , mercy , iustice , will , counsell , and all other attributes and properties , able to do whatsoever he will . he seeth and knoweth all things , which are , have beene , shall be , or can be , and his will is the rule of all things , and is limitted to no rule or law , but is it selfe the rule and law of all things . quest . if god be infinite in essence and will , and all attributes , and wholy present in all places by his whole essence , and all his attributes : how comes it to passe that he sheweth his glory above the heavens more than in the world which is below , and in one place hee do●h shew more power , and justice , and in another place , and to other persons hee sheweth more goodnesse , gra●e and mercy ? answ. there is great difference betweene god , as he is in himselfe , and as he is seene , felt , and apprehended by his creatures in his word , and workes : though he is omnipotent and can do all things , yet he doth not worke all things in all to the full , according to his infinite power , but only so much as he pleaseth , when , & where and in whom he will , as in his wisdome he thinkes fit for every one neither can wee see and conceive gods essence , and properties in themselves , but in the effects and works of them , which are limitted by his will and wisdome . and though hee worketh by degrees and by measure : yet his essence and essentiall properties are without measure and degree , and his word is fitted to our capacy . quest . what other properties do you conceive to be in god ? answ. there is no shadow of excellency , vertue , goodnesse , or grace in any creature , but it is in god essentially , and substancially , one and the same thing with his very essence and substance . he is essentially , good , wise , iust , mercifull , gracious and loving , and even goodnesse , wisdome , iustice and mercy it selfe : and as the apostle saith , that god is love , so we may truely and most properly say of him , that he is goodnesse , wisdom , iustice , and mercy ; and yet hee is in himselfe a most pure and simple essence , free from all mixture , composition and division . quest . wherein doth this purity , and simplicity of god consist ? answ. it consists , first in this , that though god filleth heaven & earth , and is in and withall creatures : yet his substance is not mingled with any of them . secondly , that hee is not compounded of things different , neither of act and power as other spiriturall substances are , nor of matter and forme , substance and accidents , such as quantity , quality and the like , as bodily creatures are . thirdly , that he cannot bee divided into severall parts , as mens bodies are . he is not of the same kind and nature with any other thing whatsoever : but is a most pure simple spirit , or spirituall substance , in comparison of whom the most pure spirits and angels are but grosse substances and impure : in a word his substance and properties are all one and the same thing ; and wheresoever he is present , there his whole essence , and all and every one of his essentiall properties are actually present , even in all places at once . quest . if god be only one most pure and simple : why do the scriptures speak of three persons , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost , and doe call every one of them iehovah and god ? though there is but one god , and one iehovah , even one most pure and simple nature and essence : yet in this one pure simple , undivided essence , there are three distinct persons , the father , son , and holy ghost , all which three are but one iehovah , and one god , and every one of them is called iehovah and god ; because they are all of one and the same simple and divine essence . quest . how are they then three persons distinguished one from another ? answ. they are distinguished , not by their essence , and nature , which in all three is one singular and undivided : but by their personall subsistence and properties . quest . which are they ? answ. first , the father subsists of himself and is not begotten of any , but begets the son : the son is begotten of the father from all eternity , and receives his personall subsistence , from the person of the father alone : the father and the son together breath out the spirit , and the spirit hath his subsistence by proceeding from them from all eternity . secondly , in order the father is the first , the son the second , and the holy ghost the third ; though in time and dignity , none of them is before or after other ; but all are coeternall , consubstantiall and coequall of the same dignity , glory and majesty . quest . how can he who is jehovah and god eternall , proceed and receive his personall subsistence from another ? seeing jehovah the true god , is of himselfe and can receive nothing from any ? answ. it is true that the persons considered according to their nature and substance , which is common to all three , and is one and the same in them all , cannot beget nor be begotten , nor proceed one from another . for if god absolutely considered , could beget , as he is an absolut essence , or be begotten , or proceed ; then there might be more gods than one . but a person or personall subsistence in that one simple essence of god may beget another person , but not another god , and may be begotten and proceed , not from the simple essence of god , but from another person in that one essence ▪ wherefore the son is begotten not as he is one and the same essence with the father , but as hee is another person in that essence : and so the holy ghost proceeds from the father and the son , as he is another person in the same essence : and so iehovah the true god doth proceed from none , nor receiveth any thing from any : but a person which subsists in the essence of god , and is iehovah the true god , receiveth subsistence from another person in the same essence . quest . i see you do rightly conceive of god the creator , both in the unity of his essence , and in the trinity of persons . now tell me which of the three persons created the world ? answ. though the father is called the creator of whom are all things : yet he alone did not create the world , nor any thing in it , but the son and the spirit also did work with the father , and had an equall hand in the creation of every thing : for in all the outward works of god , that is the joynt operation of all the three persons . quest . how doth it appeare that the creation is the work of all the three persons ? answ. by plaine testimonies of holy scripture , for in the description of the creation , we have expresse mention of the word , that is the sonne , and of the spirit , gen. 1. 1 , 2 , 3. and david , psal. 33. 6. saith , by the word of the lord were the heavens made , and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth , that is , b● the son & the spirit . for the sonne is called the eternall word , one god with the father , by whom all things were made , and without whom nothing was made that was made , john 1 ▪ 1 , 2 , 3. and the apostle , colos. 1. 16. saith that by christ the son all things were created that are in heaven and earth , visible and invisible , and by him all things consist . quest . you have well declared the truth concerning the creator , now tell mee whereof the world was made ? answ. god made all things of nothing at the first , to wit , the highest heavens with the angels and all the host of them ; and also the earth that is the rude masse without forme and voyd , which was the common matter of all the visible world , and this is called simple and primary creation . afterwards god created out of that rude matter the li●ht , that is , the fiery and starry heavens and the large element of the aire , which is called the firmament , and the sea , and the dry land , and then out of those foure elements hee formed and made all other things , as the sunne , moone and stars , the herbs , plants , and trees ; the stones and mettals , the fishes , birds and all other living creatures ; and this is called , secondary creation , because all those things were not made first and immediatly of nothing : but secondarily were formed out of a matter , which god had before created of nothing ; and so al creatures had their first beginning , and being out of nothing ▪ so mighty and omnipotent is gods hand farre above the reach of mans reason . quest . after what manner did god create the world and all things therein ? answ. the scriptures teach us that hee created all things : first , most freely by the liberty of his will , not by necessity of nature ▪ secondly , not rashly , but according to his most wise counsell and eternall purpose . thirdly , with great ease , and facility , without paines , toyle or labour . quest . how doth that appeare ? answ. by the words of moses in the history of the creation , where it is recorded , that god in the creation did but say let things be , and so they were made ; so he is said to creat the light , the firmament , the waters , the dry land , the lights in heaven , the hearbes and trees , and all things living and moving on the earth and in the sea . he said let them be , and they were made and brought into being , gen. 1 ▪ 2 ▪ 6 , 9 , &c. quest . how doth this speech shew that god created all things in such manner as you have said , to wit , freely , wisely , and with ease and facility ? answ. very plainely , for these words are not to bee understood properly that god uttered a sound of words : but the phrase is metaphoricall borrowed from the doings of men . for workes done by necessity of nature , men do without consulting or speaking , or any pr●scription or direction given by word of mouth . the things which men first speake of , and then do , are done by liberty of will ; and therfore this phrase teacheth us , that the creation was a work done , not by necessity of nature , but by liberty of will , that is a work which god , if he had so been pleased , might have left undone , and did therefore do , because it was his free will to do it . secondly , wise men do not command , or prescribe things to be done unlesse they have consulted , purposed , and determined , that they shall be so done . their words by which they command , and prescribe the doing of great works , are the open manifestation of their mind , will purpose , and decree ; and the first thing which belongs to the actuall performing and effecting of the worke . and therefore this phrase teacheth us , that as god in his eternall counsell had wisely purposed and decreed ; so now god the father by his word the son , and by his spirit , began to put his wise counsell in execution , and actually to create and make all things , and to bring them outwardly into being according to his wise counsell , and as hee had inwardly purposed in himselfe , so the creation was a work not rashly done , but wisely according to counsell . thirdly this phrase sheweth , that as among men , nothing can bee done with greater ease and facility , and with lesse toyle or labour , then when they only say the word let it be done , and presently it is done , without any more paines : so it was with god in the creation , he did as easily and without paines create all things as a man doth a thing by saying let it be , which of al things is most easie as experience teacheth . quest . what speciall things have you learned concerning the creation of man-kind ? answ. foure things especially . first , that god consulted about it saying , let us make man . secondly , that hee made man after his owne image and likenesse , male and female . thirdly , that he gave them domination over all other creatures in the inferiour world . fourthly , that he created a place of pleasure for them to dwell in , and there placed them . quest . how doe you understand these words ? and god said , let us make man in our image and after our likenesse ? answ. they are thus to bee understood , not that god the father , sonne , and holy ghost did then first enter into consultation about mans creation : but that as god in the common counsell of the blessed trinity , had from all eternity purposed and decreed ; so now hee began to put his decree into execution and actually to create man , after such a manner and such a creature as hee had decreed , even stamped with his image , fit to rule over other creatures . quest . shew me more particularly how god created man in his own image male and female ? answ. first , he made adam of the dust of the earth , and with breath of life , created a soule in him , and hee made him one only , that he might bee the common stocke and roote of all mankind , from whom the woman also might have her beginning , and bee made of his flesh and bone , even of a fleshy rib taken out of him . secondly , he made them both in his own image , the man first , and when man appeared so excellent above all living creatures , that among them all there could not be found a mate , or help meet for him ; then hee tooke a rib of the man and made a female , the woman meete for him in the same image , and after the same likenesse . quest . wherein did the image ●f god consist , and how was man like unto god ? answ. this image did consist , first and principally in his soule , s●condarily in his body , and thirdly in his whole person . first , in the substance of his soule , he was like to god ; for as god is a spirit , so mans soule was created a spirit or spirituall living substance . secondly , in the powers and faculties of his soule , to wit , his reason , will , desires , and affections , in all which created perfect and upright in him , he was like unto god ; for as god knoweth and understandeth all things : so man by his reason was able to know and understand all things , meet for him . as god hath liberty of will , so man had liberty of will to do all things , which by his upright reason , he knew to bee good & in his power . as god loveth goodnesse and delighteth in it , so man loved and desired all good things , which his upright reason and will did lead him unto . in all this did the image of god primarily consist . quest . how did he beare gods image , and was like to him in his body ? answ. first , in the upright stature , beauty , glory , and majesty of his body ; secondly , in the abilities , actuity and fitnesse of all members of his body , to move , work and performe all things , unto which his upright reason , will , and affections did move him and direct him . quest . how was man like to god in his whole person ? answ. first , as he was perfectly upright , both in soule , and body , and in his whole person conformable to gods will , and fit and able to serve and obey him . secondly , as he was in his whole person , soule and body , endowed with all ability and fitnesse , to rule over all other visible living creatures , and to bee the lord of them ; so hee bare the image of god , and was like to him the supreme lord of all . quest . did not gods image in adam consist in holinesse also , as some do teach from the apostles words , ephes. 4. 24. answ. the image of the first adam consisted only in naturall uprightnesse , as wise salomon teacheth , eccles. 7. 29. and his perfections , gifts , and endowments were only naturall . but holynesse is a property of the 2 adam christ , and is a supernaturall work and gift of the spirit , which in our new birth is shed on us only through iesus christ , and is the image of the new man made a new creature in christ , as the apostles words plainly sh●w in the fore-named place , ephes. 4. ●4 . & 1 cor. 15. 49. & tit. 3. 6. if man had been holy , he could not have fallen as hee did . quest . wherein did mans dominion over the creatures consist ? answ. it consisted in this , that as man was in nature above them all , and had reason and wisdome to order and rule them : so god made them all obedient to man , and put in them a reverence and love of man , insomuch that they delighted , and rejoyced to look on man and to come to him at his call and to shew their nature and severall qualities , that man might admire gods manifold wisdome shewed in their creation , and in the workemanship of them . quest . had not man power to sacrifice , kill , and eat them ▪ as men have had since the fall ? answ. no verily , for all death , groaning and vanity of the creatures came in by mans sin : mans meat in the state of innocency was only fruits of trees , and herbes bearing seed , gen. 1 29. but after mans fall , and the promise of christ , god through christ inlarged mans dominion over the creatures , and appointed the killing and sacrificing of birds , and beasts to foreshew christs death for mans redemption from sin , and withall gave the flesh of them to man for meat , and their skins to cloath him ; and hereby wee see that wee gaine more by christ , than we lost in adam . quest . what place of pleasure was that which god made for mans dwelling and habitation ? answ. it was the garden which god planted in eden , the most fruitfull place of mesopotamia , in which he made to grow out of the ground , all trees pleasant to the sight , and good for food ; and in that paradise of pleasure , all delights did abound which the world could afford to a naturall man . a river divided into foure streames watered it , and there was no want of any thing , which mans upright heart could conceive or desire . quest . what service did god require of man for all this bounty and goodnesse , and all the delights and honour bestowed on him ? answ. hee required no more service of man over and above that which his own reason , will , naturall appetite and affection did lead him to do of himselfe ; but only to abstaine from the fruit of one tree , even the tree of knowledge of good and evill , gen. 2. 16. 17. quest . was the fruit of that tree by nature evill , and hurtfull ? answ ▪ surely no , for all things which god made were very good , gen. 1. 31 and the fruit was pleasant to the eye , and good for food , gen. 3. 6. quest ▪ why then did god forbid man to eat of it ? answ ▪ for good reasons . first , to exercise and prove mans obedience . secondly , to shew that all other trees were of free gift given to man , and that god might as well have kept back all other trees , as this , if hee had would , which consideration might justly have moved man to acknowledge gods large bounty in giving him dominion over the whole earth , the sea , and all the creatures in them . quest . when god had made the world and al things therein very good , did he not by his wisedome and providence , rule , order and governe them ? answ. yes verily , he did and doth still by his wisdome so order , governe , and dispose all things , that without his will nothing can come to passe in all the world . quest . wherein doth that providence of god consist ? answ. first , in doing and working all the good which comes to passe in the world . for as he gave being to all things ; so he susteineth and keepeth them in their being by the word of his power , and by him all things consist . there is no good done in the world , but he bringeth it to passe , either immediatly by his own hand , or else by the power which he hath given and continueth to his creatures , and by his inclining and moving them to it . for hee worketh in them both to will and to do , philip . 2. 13. secondly , his providence consists in permitting and suffering his creatures to abuse his power and strength which he gives them , and to imploy it to sin and transgression . and if god had not wittingly and willingly suffered the devil and the evill angels to sin and fall , and to tempt and draw man into sinne , no evill nor sinne could have entered into the world . quest . how could god who is infinit in goodnesse willingly suffer sinne to enter into the world , which is a thing so hatefull to him ? answ. hee suffered it in his wisdome and goodnesse , not out of any pleasure , which he takes in sin , or any evill , or in the destruction of his creatures , but because by his omnipotency hee can out of evill bring greater good , than any , which is lost and forfeited by sin . for by hating sin hee sheweth his holinesse , by punishing it his justice , by redeeming his elect from it , his mercy , free grace , and goodnesse , by the evils which his elect do undergo for their tryall and correction , and the misery and torment which they see inflicted on reprobates , they are made more sensible of their own happinesse , and more blessed in the fruition of god and of his glory at last . and as a man who was never pinched with hunger , and paine of sicknesse , cannot so fully know the goodnesse of health , nor so sweetly tast and relish his meat ; so without sight and sense of evill we cannot so fully know , nor so sweetly enjoy our own happinesse , nor so perfectly rejoyce and glory in the fruition of god and all his goodnesse . quest . if sin comes to passe by the will and providence of god , how is god excused from being the author of sin ? answ. very well , for the bare willing and permitting of a thing , makes not him who willingly permits it the author and cause thereof . to make god the author of sin , or any way guilty of it ; there are three things required . first , that god do command , counsell , or perswade men to commit sin : or secondly , that he move , incline , or stir them up to it . or thirdly , that when he willingly permits and suffers it , and is able to hinde● it , he be bound by some law and bond of duty ( as men are ) to hinder it to the utmost of his power , and in no case to will it . but gods will hath no law besides it selfe ; as he is supreme lord of all , so he may will or not will where hee pleaseth . hee is bound by no law to restraine men from sin : hee may have mercy on whom he will , and whom he will , he may leave to be hardened . neither doth god command , counsell or perswade any man to sin by his word ; but hath given a law to the contrary , by which he forbids sin under paine of death . and never did hee tempt , move , incline , or stir up any to sinne : therefore he can neither bee the cause or author of sinne , nor any way partaker in the staine and guilt of it . quest . but doth not gods providence meddle any more with sinne , but only to permit it willingly and wittingly ? answ. yes certeinly , god by his providence doth hinder and limit sin , that it doth not break forth in all wicked men , nor prevaile to the utmost extremity . he doth also order and dispose the sins of the wicked to his own glory , and the good of his elect : he made the fiercenesse of pharaoh and senacherib turne to his honor , fame , and praise ; and the trechery of judas in betraying , and the cruelty and malice of the jewes , in murthering christ , he turned to the redemption of the world , and the salvation of his elect in christ , by his overruling power and goodnesse . quest . you have fully justified god from being the authour of sin . now tell me how man being made in gods image perfectly upright and good could bee drawne to disobey his commandement , which was so just , equall and easie to bee observed ? answ. by the power , malice and subtlety of the devill . for every creature is in it selfe mutable , and may decline and bee corrupted , unlesse it bee brought by covenant into communion with god , who onely hath immortality , and is of himselfe unchangeable . man though made perfect with all naturall perfection , was mutable in innocency , and therefore god made a covenant of life with him , upon condition of his obedience , hee gave him the tree of life to bee a seale of this covenant , and to confirme it , and to settle man so steadfastly in that naturall estate , that hee could not have beene seduced by any power or subtlety of the devill , if hee had received the seale by eating of the tree of life . but the devill prevented our first parents , before they had time to eat of that tree , and subtlety by the serpent insinuated himselfe into the woman , and by her , into the man before they were setled and established by the sealing of the covenant , breathed into them infidelity and ambition , and by his lyes brought them into an evill opinion of god , and so drew them into disobedience and transgression of gods commandement , and made both adam and all mankind , who were then in his loyns guilty before god , worthy of death , and subject to all the evils and curses which follow sin and disobedience . for adam the root and stock being corrupted , and stained with sin ; all the branches which spring from him , must needs bee partakers of the same corruption , and of the malice & enmity against god , which the devill breathed into him . thus the devil was the first author of mans sin and fall , and the serpent was his instrument . quest . if this be so , why do not the devill the author , and the serpent his instrument beare the punishment , but man and his posterity suffer for it ? answ ▪ the devill and the serpent are cursed for this sinne with an eternall curse , from which there is no redemption . and adam because by infidelity , pride , ambition , and an ill and false opinion of god , which satan suggested into his heart , did willingly yeeld to the temptation , and transgressed gods commandement , and as a voluntary agent did work with the devill in that act of disobedience , therefore hee is guilty : yet so as that his sin is pardonable , and both he himselfe and all his elect and faithfull posterity are redeemed from it by christ . quest . how comes it to passe , that so small a thing as that wherein adam transgressed , to wit , eating of a forbidden fruit is counted so great a sin before god , and brings on all man-kind so many evils and curses ? answ. the smaller the thing was in which god required obedience of adam , the greater was his sin , and the more blame he deserved ; in that having received so many gifts from god , and such large dominion over all earthly creatures by the free gift of god ; he would not upon gods just command which was so easie to bee observed , obey his creator in absteining but onely from one tree ▪ besides hee disobeyed god out of infidelity , pride , ambition , a false opinion of god , and enmity against his majesty . for hee beleeved the devils words , who said hee should not dye , and not gods word , who had said that in the day hee did eate hee should surely dye . hee in pride and ambition sought by eating to become as god ; and imagined wickedly , that god out of envie did forbid him to eate , of purpose that hee might not become wise as himselfe : so that this disobedience in so small a matter did include in it all kindes of sinnes , whereby the whole law of god is transgressed . quest . you have well shewed that this act of disobedience was an heinous sin . now tell me what evils it brought upon man-kind ? answ. first , it stript man naked of all those perfections of nature , and all that uprightnesse and image of god , in which hee was created ; so that his person , which before for the beauty , majesty , and comelinesse of it was reverenced , loved , and served of all creatures , came to be feared and abhorred of them , as an enemy , his nakednesse made him ashamed , and his paines and sorrows made his life a burden to him . secondly , mans nature and frame , was so stained and corrupted by this sin , that neither he nor any of his posterity can understand things aright , nor will , nor do any good ; but are altogether perverse & froward , prone to all wickednesse , very slaves of sinne and satan , and by nature children of wrath . thirdly , it brought a curse upon the ground for mans sake , so that without his hard labour and sweet it yeelds no good fruit , but only thornes , thistles & other noysom weeds & plants . lastly , it brought all mankind in bondage to death , both temporal ( wch is such a corruption of the body , as doth separat the soule frō it & make it utterly unfit for the soule to lodge in ) and also eternall , which is the punishment of him with eternall destruction from the presence of god , and from the glory of his power . quest . is there any hope of deliverance , from this foule staine , & guilt of sins , and from death , and all evill of wrath , which are the fruits and effects of it ? answ. there is no hope of deliverance in any thing which mans wit and reason can devise , or man by his art , skil , and power can performe . all creatures in the world can yield him no help . god only of his infinit mercy , free grace , love and kindnesse to man-kind hath from all eternity , ordeined an all-sufficient saviour , and redeemer , even his only begotten son , who immediatly after mans sin and fall , did undertake for man , staid the execution of the sentence and punishment of death , and was promised to become the seed of the woman , and by suffering death and all the punishments due to sin in our nature , to redeeme man-kind from sin , and death , and to destroy the devill , who had the power of death , and to dissolve all his workes . quest . who is this son of god , which did undertake to redeeme man ? answ. it is the lord iesus christ , who was first promised under the name of the seed of the woman , gen. 3. 15. which should break the serpents head , and afterward was promised to abraham , isaac , and jacob , under the name of the blessed seed , in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed . and to david , and by the prophets , by the name of messiah , that is the annoynted saviour of the seed of david . and at last in the fulnesse of the time , when hee was made flesh , tooke our nature upon him , and was borne of a virgin , did beare the name of iesus ; and is now preached and made knowne to the world , under the name of the lord iesus christ . quest . why did not christ come in the flesh in the beginning or first age of the world , and worke mans redemption , that the fathers who lived under the old testament ▪ might bee redeemed and saved by him , as we now are under the gospell ? answ. the incarnation of christ , and all things which he did and suffered for our redemption in the dayes of his flesh , were present with god from all eternity , ( as all times , and all things which come to passe in all times past , present and to come , are continually present with him ) and were as effectuall to satisfie his justice , appease his wrath , and to purchase and procure perfect salvation to men at his hands ; as they are now ever since they were actually performed . and through christ promised , god did shed his spirit on the fathers of old , as hee now doth on us through christ given and exhibited , and by the spirit united them to him in one spirituall body , and wrought in them faith , by which they did ( as it said of abraham ) see the day of christ beleeve in him , were partakers of all his benefits , and were made conformable to him both in his death and life by mortification and sanctification . quest . why did christ come and satisfie for sinfull men , in the mids of yeares between the times of the old and new testament ? answ. because that was the most fit and seasonable of all times for man-kind for divers reasons . first , if he had appeared in the first ages of the world , the memory of him would have been worne out . for as the people of the gentiles within a few ages forgot the promises of christ made to adam , noah and sem , and lost the knowledge of them : so men would have forgotten christ , and all his doings , and sufferings long ago ; for the world loveth changes , and loathing old things , seeketh after novelties . secondly , the deferring of christs comming held the world in suspence and expectation with promises from age to age , still more plainely renued ; that after much longing his comming might be so much more welcome , and men might with greater joy receive him . thirdly , the world increasing in sin and corruption , and being growne so hard , that weaker meanes and obscurer revelation could worke litle upon men ; it was gods wisdome to reserve the appearance of christ , and the publishing of the powerfull gospell for these latter evill days , as being the fittest meanes for these harder times . fourthly , if christ in our nature had made satisfaction in the first ages of the world , and had paid our ransome so many ages before wee were borne or had our being ; it had not been so equall and proportionable to justice , as now it is , by reason of his comming in the midst of yeares , between the old and the new testament . for by this meanes gods forbearance of the ransome and satisfaction for the sinnes of the fathers before christs death , is recompensed with payment of our debt , and making a full satisfaction for our sinnes as much before hand , even many ages before our committing of sinne , or running in debt to his majesty in our own persons . lastly , it was necessary that many of the members of his elect and faithfull church should by the spirit bee united to him , and by faith have communion with him before and at his comming & appearing in the flesh , that being the head of the church actually through them , he might by cōmunion and imputation of the sins of so great a body & multitude , justly suffer the punishments due to the sins of his people even of them who were in after ages to grow up into the same mystical body by the same spirit . if he had beene borne in the beginning of the world , before the church of the old testament had any actuall being , he could not have been the actuall head of the body , nor united to the church , which as yet was not in being , and so could not have borne the sins of his church , nor justly suffered the punishment of them . therefore the apostle very fitly cals the time of christs comming in the flesh the fulnesse of time , that is , the time most seasonable , gal. 4 ▪ 4. quest . what have you learned concerning christs person needfull to be knowne and beleeved ? answ. i have learned , that as he was the eternall son of god , one and the same god , and of the same nature and substance with the father , and the spirit , hee did undertake , according to gods eternall counsell to bee the mediator between god and man , and to mediate for man from the day of his fall ; and as hee was promised to bee the seed of the woman , so hee did in fulnesse of time assume and take into personall union with himselfe , the whole nature , and substance of a man , and was made of the seed of abraham and david in the womb of a virgin , of their seed , a man like unto us in all things , but without sin , even the holy one of god , and so was god and man in one person . quest . how could hee bee borne a pure holy man without sinne , of a woman , a daughter of evah , and of the same nature with the rest of man-kind , who are all corrupted in adam ? answ. god almighty , who alone is able to bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane , did by his power over-shadow the virgin his mother , and the holy ghost came upon her , and framed out of her seed and substance an holy seed , and so hee was conceived and borne without sinne , perfectly holy both in soule and body , and filled with the holy ghost . quest . how could he being so perfectly holy , be subject to infirmities , and to death , and other punishments due to sin ? answ ▪ though he knew no sin , yet he was made sin for us , 2 cor. 5. 21. and being most holy and righteous in himselfe , he tooke all our sins upon him , and bare all our sorrows and infirmities , that he might thereby satisfie gods infinit justice , pay our ransome , and redeeme and reconcile us unto god , isa. 53. 4 , 6. quest . how and by what meanes hath christ redeemed us from wrath , and wrought our salvation ? answ. by executing and performing the office of a mediator between god and men . quest . how is he a mediator ? answ. as he is god the son , equall with the father , so he is a person of infinite value , and worthy to be accepted , and able to make a full satisfaction for all sin to gods iustice , and to pay a ransome of infinit value . and as hee is man of the same nature and substance with all man-kind , and the first fruits of the whole lumpe ; so hee is fit to make satisfaction in the same nature which sinned , and is our brother and friend , and one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities , and is compassionate towards us , and deales faithfully for us . as he is god , so he is too high to be a mediator for man , and as he is man , so hee is too low to mediate and plead to god for us sinners : but as he is god and man in one person , so he is most fit to come as a mediatour betweene god and men . quest . wherein doth christs mediation consist ? answ. in the faithful execution of a threefold office : the first , of a prophet . the second , of a priest . the third , of a king . quest . how did he execute the office of a prophet ? answ. by prophecying , preaching , and revealing the will of god from the beginning , both in his own person , and also by his prophets , apostles and ministers of the word and gospell . in the old world he went forth in the spirit , and soake to the godly fathers , enoch , methushelah , noah and others , and by them preached to the wicked , especially while the arke was a preparing , as the apostle testifieth ▪ 1 pet. 3. 19. he in the forme of man , and sometimes of an angell spake to abraham , isaac and jacob , gen. 18. 26. & 32 ▪ 24. hee was the angell of the covenant , which appeared to moses in the bush , and said , i am the god of abraham , the god of isaac , and the god of jacob , exod. 3. hee spake also at sundry times , and in divers manners , as apparitions , dreames and visions to the fathers in times past , and by his spirit inspiring and moving the prophets , heb. 1. 1. and in the dayes of his flesh he preached the gospell with his own mouth . and as after his ascension , he sent down the holy ghost upon his apostles , and gave them the gifts of tongues , and of knowledge to prophecy and preach the gospell to all nations , act. 2. so he is with them in their true successors the ministers of the gospell to the end of the world , mat. 28. 20. and by his spirit gives them knowledge and utterance , to teach and expound the scriptures , and to bring men to the saving knowledge of the truth . and in a word he is the great prophet whom god promised to raise up to his people , like unto moses , whom all ought to heare and obey in all things , deut. 18. 15. and no other prophets or preachers , are to be heard , but those which preach in his name , truly according to his word conteined in the holy scriptures . quest . wherein doth the office of his priesthood consist ? answ. in making attonement betweene god and men , both by offering up himselfe , and all sufficient sacrifice for all our sins , in his obedience unto death , and in suffering all punishments due to sin , and by bringing in eternall righteousnes , which is his perfect fulfilling of the law in the obedience of his whole life , dan. 9. 24. rom. 8. 3 , 4. & 1 cor. 5. 21. for in these two consists the whole work of mans redemption , and the full ransome and sacrifice of attonement which is needfull to reconcile men unto god . quest . how can the sufferings of one man satisfie for all men , and the righteousnesse of one be able to justifie all that are to bee justified ? answ. the man christ as hee fulfilled the law , and suffered in our nature , so his righteousnesse and satisfaction is humane , and is proper only to mankind , for as man sinned , so man satisfied ▪ but as this man christ , is also god in the same person : so his righteousnes and satisfaction is divine of infinite value and worth , even the righteousnesse and suffering of god ; and that is more than if all men had suffered eternall death , and fulfilled in their own persons every jot and title of the law , and all the righteousnesse thereof . quest . if christs infinite godhead doth adde so much to his obedience performed in our nature , and makes his sufferings of infinite worth and value : what need was there of shedding his bloud unto death , and of suffering all the stormes of gods wrath , was not ( as some say ) one drop of his bloud sufficient to redeeme the world ? answ. though christ is a person of infinite value , because he is god ; yet as he could not be a compleat and perfect mediator , if hee had taken into his person the body only of a man , and not a complete manhood consisting both of soule and body : so suffering in part , and obeying the law in part , could not bee made a complete satisfaction , for justice requires a full suffering of all kinds of punishment due to man for sin , even of death it selfe , and a perfect fulfilling of the whole law ; otherwise there is no righteousnesse : if one drop of christs bloud shed for sin had beene a sufficient price of redemption : than it had been injustice in god to exact more , and undiscreet , and vaine prodigality in christ to poure out all his bloud , and his soule to death , when one drop was enough . quest . is this all that christ doth as a priest ? answ. this is all that christ did in paying mans ransome and price of attonement , but to make men partakers of it , and of the benefit thereof , he doth make intercession to god for them , as appeares , rom. 8. 34. and heb. 7. 25. quest . how doth christ make intercession ? answ. first , by praying for his elect and faithfull , whom the father had given him out of the world , this he did in the dayes of his humiliation . secondly , by sitting at gods right hand , hee presents continually before god his perfect satisfaction and righteousnesse in the behalf of all his faithfull members , and with his sacrifice and intercession , doth as it were perfume all their prayers , and make them acceptable in the sight of god . quest . doth not christ as well make intercession for all , as hee dyed for all man-kind ? answ. though christ dyed and fulfilled the law for a common benefit to all man-kind and his ransome is sufficient to save all ; yet he never purposed to redeeme all men by his death . for hee knew that many were already damned , and past all hope of redemption before he dyed , and that iudas was a son of perdition , and therefore hee did not purpose to give himselfe a ransome for them . besides he himself testifieth that hee did not pray for the world , but only for his elect given to him by his father out of the world , ioh. 17 ▪ 9. therefore he did much lesse dye with an intent purpose and desire to redeeme and save them . quest . how doth christ execute his kingly office ? answ. by ruling spiritually in his church , and giving his spirit and all spirituall gifts to men , by which they are fitted and furnished with severall gifts , for severall offices , and functions , in that his mysticall body . the distribution of all honors , offices , and dignities , as of some to be apostles , some prophets , some evangelists , others pastors and teachers , is in his hand . no man is capable of such honours , and dignities , nor fit for such offices , but by his gifts and qualifications . whosoever thrusts himselfe into the office of a bishop , elder , pastor , or publike preacher without such gifts , and calling , as hee hath in his word prescribed , hee is a thiefe , and an usurper , as our saviour himselfe testifieth , who is the onely doore by which men must enter into his sheep-fold , iohn 10. hee ruleth also in the hearts of all faithfull people by his word and spirit , as by a law , and that law is the rule of their life , and of all their actions . hee also by his power defends his church from all enemies , and takes just revenge on their persecutors and oppressors for all power is given him in heaven and earth , matth. 28. 18. and hee hath all judgment committed to him , iohn 5. 27. all the saints fight under his royall standard against the devill , the world , the flesh , sinne and antichrist , being armed by him with the whole armour of god , eph. 6 11. he will treade down satan under their feet , rom. 16. 20. and by the spirit of his lips will destroy the wicked one , 2 thes. 2. and by his iron rod break in pieces all his enemies , like a potters vessell , psal. 2. so that whatsoever can be required in a king , for the well ordering and ruling of his kingdome , by judgement and righteousnesse ; for the mercifull relieving and he ping of them in their need . for the powerfull defending of them from all dangers , and for the execution of just revenge on their enemies ; all this is abundantly found in christ as he is the lord and king of his church . quest . you have well shewed that christ both in respect of his person and offices , is an all-sufficient redeemer and saviour , and is able by the infinite worth of his mediation to save all men : now then tell me why all men are not saved ? answ. though christ his ransome and satisfaction is able to save and redeeme all that are partakers thereof , even all mankind , if they had grace to receive and apply him and all his merits by faith , yet because none have spirituall communion with him , but only they whom god hath chosen to eternall life in him , and predestinated to be effectually called , according to his purpose , to the state of grace , and to be made conformable to his image : therfore many who are not elect , follow their own evil ways , and have no will nor care to repent of their sins , and beleeve in christ , but run wilfully into destruction and perish . quest . hath god then chosen from all eternity a certeine number only of man-kind to salvation in christ ? answ. yea verily . for the scriptures plainly testifie ▪ first , that god hath a certain number of particular persons , whom hee hath from all eternity predestinated both to eternall life in christ , and also to the meanes which lead unto life , to wit , redemption , effectuall calling , adoption , faith and the like , ephes. 1. 4. 5 , 11. & rom. 11. 5 ▪ 7. & act. 13. 48. secondly , that the persons elected are they only who are called in time , according to his purpose , iustified ▪ made conformable to the image of his son , and at length glorified , rom. 8 ▪ 28 , 29 , 30. thirdly , that they are chosen not for any work which god foresaw in them , but meerely according to the good pleasure of his own will , rom. 9. 11. 15. eph. 1. 5. and fourthly , that all they who continue in obstinacy and impenitency unto the end , and are damned , were of old ordeined to that damnation , & destructiō . 1 thes. 5. 9. 1 pet. 2. 8. jud. 4. quest . if god hath not ordeined men to faith in christ repentance , and good works , but hath willingly rejected them , as he did esau before he had done any evill ; and given them up to hardnesse , and impenitency , as he did pharaoh : why is he angry with them , for none can resist his will ? answ. it is too much presumption in men to dispute against god , and to judge of his actions by their owne shallow reason . for he is not to give account of any of his matters , nor to answer for his doings , iob 33. 13. rom. 9. 19. and yet it is reason that every absolute lord should do what he list with his own , & that as the potter hath power over the clay to make of the same lump one vessell unto honour , and another unto dishonor ; so god much more should have power over his creatures , to ordaine and make some vessels of honor , and leave others to follow their own evil ways which they have found out to themselves , and are not lead into by him , and so to perish ; seeing their evill and destruction by his over-ruling wisdome and power doth turne to the greater good of his elect , and makes the glory of his holinesse , iustice , power and mercy shine forth more clearely to them . quest . doth the benefit of christ the mediator , and redeemer reach only to the elect ? answ. though the saving vertue of christ belongeth only to the elect ; yet there is a common benefit of christ , wherof reprobates are partakers , which reacheth also to all the world . for hee is said to preserve man and beasts , that is , to keep them in life and being , psal. 36 6. and to be the saviour of all , especially of them that beleeve , 1 tim. 4. 10. and to give himselfe a ransome for all , 1 tim. 26. and by him all things are said to consist , coloss. 1. 17. quest . how can christs vertue reach to them who are a far off aliens and strangers from him , and enemies to his crosse and sufferings ? answ. it reacheth to them not immediatly by vertue of union with him , as it doth to the faithfull , but after a secondary manner for his elects sake . for christ by his mediation hath obteined of god , that all the world which was made for mans use , should be upheld by his generall providence , that the heavens , and the sun , moon and stars , should keep their course , and continue in their naturall being , and give light and influence to the good and the bad , the just and unjust , and that the aire , the earth , and the sea , should breed and nourish living creatures , and herbes , plantes , fruit-trees and all other things usefull for men , yea the wicked prosper and flourish in wealth and strength , either that they may be a wall of defence to the elect which live among them , or that they may build houses , plant vineyards , and subdue the earth for them , as the cursed canaanites did for israel ; or that they may be progenitors , and instruments , to bring forth an elect seed , as our fore-fathers the heathen gentiles were to us their christian progeny ; or for the punishing and correcting of the sins of the elect , as the canaanites were kept alive to punish the israelites when they sinned ; and for the tryall and exercise of their faith and patience by unjust persecution . christ by his mediation hath procured all these things for his elects sake , to all creatures , which otherwise should have perished with man being all stained and corrupted by his sin . and hence it is that he is said to beare up the pillars of the world , when the earth and the inhabitants thereof are dissolved , psal. 75 3. and thus farre we may grant and acknowledge an universall grace , which christ by his mediation hath procured to all the world , even to the wicked reprobates which perish . quest ▪ hath not christ procured to all man-kind grace and ability , to beleeve , repent and be saved , if they will do as much as they are able for the obteining of regeneration , and other saving graces of the spirit ? answ. no certeinely , for regeneration , effectuall calling , faith , and all saving graces are purchased and given by christ , only to the elect , for whom alone he prayed , and doth still make intercession : and they also while they remaine in the common state of nature , have no power in themselves , either to will or to do any work truly good , but are dead in trespasses and sins , ephes. 2. 1. they are aliens and enemies in their minds , and all their thoughts incline to evill , colos. 1. 21. if all men , even they who perish , had power and liberty of will , to beleeve and be saved , certeinely some of them who are not elect , would beleeve and be regenerate , and use their liberty to the saving of their soules . for it is given for that end , that it might be brought into act , and take effect ; if it never doth , it is given by god in vaine . but nature , as the philosophers observed , never gives power in vaine , and much more doth the god of nature , abhorre to give men a vaine power which never comes into act . quest . if it be not in their power to do any worke tending to life , nor to beleeve and repent : why are they condemned for infidelity , impenitency , and omission of good works ? answ. though they cannot beleeve nor repent to salvation , yet they have a power left by common grace , to use the meanes which lead to faith , and repentance , as hearing of the word , reading the scriptures , hearkning to reproofes and to good admonitions and exhortations , and this naturall power they refuse to exercise , and wickedly and wilfully neglect and reject those outward meanes . also by their sin in adam ▪ they have disabled themselves , are become froward and averse from all actions truly good , and are a cursed generation justly condemned . quest . how come the elect to bee redeemed , and saved by the mediation of christ ; seeing they by nature have no more interest in christ than others ? answ. they are redeemed and saved by the most gracious supernaturall working of god in them , according to his eternall counsel , purpose and decree . for as he hath ordeined them to eternall life in christ , before the foundation of the world , so it doth in the time appointed , gather them to himselfe , in and by the lord iesus christ . quest . by what meanes doth god worke saving grace in them ? answ. by the ministery and preaching of his holy word , which is a worke of the propheticall office of christ . for by that word spoken to the elect fathers of old , in dremes , visions , and apparitions ; and after spoken and written by moses , the prophets and holy men of god , who spake as they were moved by the holy ghost ; and since by the mouth of christ and his apostles , evangelists and their successors ; hee hath revealed and doth continually reveale himselfe to them in christ , teacheth them the onely right way to salvation , cals upon them , and invites them by gracious promises to come unto him ; and by the threatenings of the law , he drives them out of themselvs , discovers their sins , and the dangerous estate in which they are by reason of sinne , and suffers them to find no place wherein to rest , untill like noahs dove , they flee unto his arke the true church . quest . can the word preached bring men to christ , and to salvation in him ? answ. it is the only outward ordinary meanes which god useth for that purpose , and we never read of any , who without the word beleeved , were called effectually to christ and saved . all heathen , infidels , turks and pagans , who either never heard the word preached , or hearing do refuse and reject it , do undoubtedly perish in their unbeliefe . for he that beleeveth not is condemned already . john 3. 18. and without the word heard none can beleeve , rom. 10. 14. quest . what then shall wee thinke of infants borne of beleeving parents , which dye before they heare , or are able to beleeve the word ? answ : god teacheth and inclineth them inwardly by his spirit to long after christ and to grope after him , as they do after their mothers breasts for milk and bodily nourishment : but yet not without the word . for by the word preached to their fathers , hee workes faith in them , and makes his covenant of life in christ with them and their seed ; and so by the ministery of the word , their infants come to be in the covenant . and god doth often times sanctifie them by his spirit from the wombe ( as we read of jeremy and john the baptist ) or in their baptisme at the prayers of his church . and therefore we ought charitably to beleeve and judge , that children of beleeving parents , as they are from the wombe holy by dedication , 1 cor. 7. 14. and capable of baptisme , so are inwardly baptized by the spirit into christ ; and if they dye in their infancy , are saved by the free grace of god , who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will . quest . how doth the word preached worke saving grace in men ? answ. not barely by it selfe , nor by any divine vertue inherent in it ; but by the free grace of god , and the inward operation of the spirit working with it , when and where , and in whom he will . for the word preached doth not profit , when it s notmingled with faith in them that heare it , heb. 4. 2. as we see in the iewes , to whom christ himselfe preached , and yet they were not turned to god ; but the word by him spoken , through their infidelity turned to their hurt , wrought to the hardening of them in their sins , and left them without all excuse or any cloak for their wickednesse , iohn 15. 22. quest . what are those necessary works and saving graces , which god by his word and spirit worketh in men to bring them to salvation in christ ? answ. they are works and graces , which flow from gods eternall election and are only wrought in the elect . they are necessary , because without them none can be saved , and they are called saving works and graces , because the persons in whom they are once wrought , can never fall away and perish , but shall certeinely persevere in them and be saved : and they all may be brought under two heads . the first are the works , which god alone by his word and spirit worketh in his elect. the second sort , are the works which god so worketh , that they also do cooperat with him , and work together with his spirit . quest . which are the works which god alone by his spirit worketh in the elect ? answ. the first is regeneration , from which all the rest do flow , to wit , renovation , which is called renuing of the holy ghost , tit. 3. 5. effectuall calling , union with christ , adoption and communion of all christs benefits , as of his ransome , satisfaction , righteousnesse and intercession for redemption , remission of sins , justification , and perfect reconciliation . quest . which is the first saving grace ? answ. the first , which is the ground of al the rest , is regeneration . quest . what is regeneration ? answ. it is that worke of god by which he sheds the holy ghost on his elect , through iesus christ , of which spirit given to dwell in them as his immortall seed , they are borne again and become new creatures , and spirituall members of christ , and children of god by a new birth and generation . quest . what is renovation ? answ. it is the work of god , which he by his spirit shed on them , and dwelling in them , doth work in them , renuing them after the image of christ , and making them conformable to him , both in his death , by mortification , and in his life , by vivification . quest . what is mortification ? answ. it is that work of gods spirit wherein hee deriveth the vertue of christs death unto them , and worketh in them such a sense of their misery , sin , and corruption , and such a godly griefe , sorrow , contrition of heart , loathing and abhorring of themselvs , as doth tame their rebellious lusts , and gives a deadly blow to the old man of sinfull corruption in them ; so that sinne can no more reigne in their mortall bodies , but by grace they prevaile more and more over their corruption and do mortifie it continually . quest . what is vivification ? answ. it is that worke of the spirit by which he derives the vertue of christs holy life unto them to quicken them , and sanctifie them by inherit holines , and to make them in the whole course of their life conformable to the holy and upright life of christ . quest . what gifts and graces are wrought in the elect by renovation ? answ. the first which is , as it were , the root of the rest is faith . for as the devill did first breath into adam an unbeleefe , and distrust of god and his truth , so that hee beleeved not the word and threatning of god , but gave credit to satans lyes , and relyed on them , and by his false beliefe , satan drew him on to a false opinion of god , and a conceipt that god envyed his greater good , whereupon hee began proudly to imagine that he might by eating of the forbidden tree become wise as god , and did conceive enmity in his mind against god , ambitious lusts , and evill affections : so god in renuing man doth first worke faith in him , which is the gift of beleeving in god , and relying on his word and promises . and by his word beleeved , he gives light of unde●standing , and knowledge , which drives out errors , and false opinions , and enables man to see his owne vilenesse , and gods goodnesse towards him , whence ariseth the grace of humility and repentance ; also a sincere holy love of god , feare and reverence of his majesty , joy , rejoycing , hope , and delight in god , and a will and desire to obey him in all things , and in a word , all christian vertues , by which a man becomes conformable to christ . quest . what is effectuall calling ! answ. it is the work of the spirit of regeneration , who by giving to the elect a new heart and spirit , doth incline and enable them to follow the outward calling of the word , and to turne from darknesse to light , and from the power of satan unto god , act. 26. 18. quest . what is the vnion of the elect with christ ? answ. it is not a making of their severall persons one undivided essence and substance with the person of christ . for that unity is only in god , and in the three persons of the blessed trinity : neither is it a making of them one person with christ , by such a personal union as is between his godhead , and manhood , and betweene the soule and body of every man : neither is it a bodily uniting of them with christ , by a bodily mixture and composition of the substance of their soules , and bodyes , with the substance of the soule and body of christ , as wine and water are mingled together : for such an union makes the things united inseparable in place one from another ; so that wheresoever christs body is , there they must needs be , and can be in no other proper place who are thus united : neither is this union only in heart and affection . but this is a spirituall , mysticall and substantiall union , in which christ sitting at gods right hand above the heavens , and they dispersed over all the earth , are made one spirituall , and mysticall body , whereof christ is the head and they members , by meanes of the same spirit dwelling and working in them , after the same maner as he dwelleth and worketh in the humane nature of christ from his first conception and framing in the wombe . for by one spirit they are all baptized into one body , whereof christ is the head , and being many members , they make up one body , even as all members in naturall body , though they be many , make up but one body , because they all have but one soule and life , the holy spirit of which they are regenerate , borne againe , and made new creatures is the sure spirituall band of union betweene christ the head , and them the members of the same mysticall body . quest . what is adoption ? answ. it is a necessary consequent of the union of the elect with christ . for christ being the only begotten son of god by eternall generation , as hee is god , and as hee is man by personall union with god the sonne , and by a supernaturall and miraculous generation , and so heire of all things , heb. 1. 2. it must necessarily follow , that whosoever are in him , one body with him , and lead by his spirit , do thereby come under the account of children and heires of god , and of coheires with christ , and so god the father doth esteeme , respect and accoumpt them , & the spirit dwelling in them doth witnesse with their spirit that they are the children of god . rom. 8. 16. quest . what is the communion with christ of all his benefits ? answ. it is a consequent that is a grace necessarily following from union with christ . for whosoever are by one spirit baptized into christ , and made one spirituall body with him , as really and substantially as all members in a mans body , are one naturall body with the head , they must needs have such a spirituall communion of all christs treasures , vertues , and endowents as is the naturall communion which all the members in a mans body have with the head . christs sufferings , satisfaction for sin , righteousnesse , ransome and intercession are theirs , and they have a right and interest in them , and communion of them all . and thus god justifies and makes them fundamentally righteous by christs perfect righteousnesse , frees them from the guilt of all their sins , by his satisfactory sufferings , and accepts them for his redeemed , and reconciled ones through christs intercession , and makes them actually accepted in his beloved christ , eph. 1. 6. quest . what are the works of saving grace , which god so worketh in the elect , that they also being moved by his spirit , do cooperat and worke together with him ? answ. they are the actions of the elect regenerat , exercising by the motion of the spirit those spirituall gifts , and christian vertues , which were given them by renovation or renuing of the holy ghost . quest . which is the first of them ? answ ▪ the first is actuall faith , or beleeving in god and in christ , for as the gift of faith is the first of all spirituall gifts , which by the renuing of the holy ghost , is wrought in the elect regenerate : so the worke of their faith , that is , actuall beleeving is the first of all , which by the motion of the spirit , they performe after they are quickned and raised up to live a spirituall life . quest . why is the work of their faith the first before the acts of knowledge , repentance , love , hope , and the rest ? answ. because faith possesseth the whole heart and soule of man , and informeth after a sort all the powers and faculties thereof : even the understanding , will , and affections . it is the opening of the understanding to take notice of gods goodnesse , and of the truth of his word . it is the inclining of the will , to give assent to the whole word of god and all truth therein revealed , and to acknowledge all gods truth , goodnesse , and mercy in christ . it is the rectifying of the affections , and the plyablenesse of them to trust in god , to rely on him , to hope in his mercy ; to love , feare , and reverence him , and to hate all offence of his holy majesty , to sorrow for sin with godly sorrow to repentance , to rejoyce and delight in the things of god , and to bee zealous of good works , and resolve to serve , honour , and obey god in a constant course of life . this saving faith sets a work all other graces , and therefore all works of true godlinesse , holinesse , and righteousnesse performed by the elect regenerate , and sanctified , are called fruits of faith , by which their faith is openly shewed , and made knowne as a tree by the fruits of it . quest . which is the proper work of true saving faith ? answ : the proper work of it by which all other graces are set a work is a firme , and stedfast beleeving with the whole heart , of the word of god , and all things therein revealed , which concerne their salvation by christ , that is , both eternall life in the fruition of god , and the way to it . quest . what difference is there betweene this beleeving and that which is in devils , and in carnall hypocrites who beleeve these things , or at least many of them at some times ? answ. there is as great difference between them , as between light and darknesse . the beleeving of the elect regenerat proceeds from a supernaturall cause , and from a divine and holyroot , even the spirit of god dwelling in them , as gods immortall seed , and sanctifying them , and therefore it is holy , firme , and stedfast , and reacheth beyond all hope , sense and reason . but that of the devils and carnall hypocrites , proceeds from their own naturall reason , convinced by sense , experience and plaine arguments , or by a common illumination of the spirit , shining from without into the hearts of hypocrites , and temporary beleevers , as we read of simon magus , act. 8. 13. and the hypocriticall iews who beleeved in christs name , when they saw his miracles , john 2. 23. and therefore their beleeving is carnall temporary and vanishing , and goeth no further than sense and naturall reason do lead . the beleeving of the elect is the subsisting of things hoped for , and the evidence of things not seen , heb. 11. 1. that is , they have the things which they beleeve , as certainly as they beleeve that they have them and hope for them , and their beleeving is a cleare evidence to them of their being in christ , and of their communion with him in grace , and of their portion in heaven , which things are not seene with carnall eyes of sense or reason . for the spirit which works this beleefe , hath united them to christ , and made christ and all his benefits theirs already , so that their beleeving is infallible and cannot deceive them . but devils , carnall men , and hypocrites cannot reach so far as to beleeve their own particular salvation in christ , or their having of things thereto belonging : and if any of them do at any time , mich. 3. 11. it is but a false and vanishing beliefe . in a word whosoever doth by a true saving faith , beleeve historically the word of god , and the truth therein conteined , he hath withall an affiance in god , and grace to beleeve by all other acts of faith , even to apply to himselfe all gods promise by beleeving steadfastly that they belong to himself in particular . for as the spirit wch works this faith is the fountain of all grace , and unites the beleevers to christ , & makes him & all his benefits theirs . so this faith necessarily produceth all acts of beleeving in them , and makes them able by beleeving , to apply to themselvs & to enjoy all blessings , which are to be found in christ . quest . what benefits do the elect receive by their actuall beliefe , and exercise of their saving faith ? answ. they receive hereby , first a comfortable sense , feeling and fruition of their regeneration , renovation , effectuall calling , union , adoption , remission of sins , justification , reconciliation , and in a word communion of all christs benefits , and hence it is , that they are said by faith to turne to god to be united to christ adopted , justified , and to obtaine remission of all their sins , that is , in their own sense , and feeling . and secondly , by this actuall beleeving , and by the sense and feeling , which it brings to the beleevers , all other graces are set a worke , and more and more increased in them . quest . how doth beleeving give to the elect a feeling of their regeneration , renovation , effectuall calling union , adoption , and other saving works of god in them ? answ. first , as it is a fruit and work of the spirit of regeneration and adoption , which hee never workes in any but them who are regenerate , made new creatures effectually called , united to christ , adopted and have communion of all his benefits : so it is a cleare evidence to them of those graces in themselves , and by it the spirit witnesseth with their spirits , that they are the children of god by regeneration and adoption , and are effectually cald and engraffed into christ , become new creatures , heires of god and coheires with christ . secondly , the act of beleeving by a true saving faith is an applying of the things beleeved to themselvs , and by beleeving that they are regenerat , renued , effectually cald , united , adopted and have cōmunion of christs perfect satisfaction , intercession and righteousnesse , they possesse and injoy all those graces , and are in their own sense fully reconciled to god . quest . how are they justified and have their sins pardoned by faith ? answ. they are justified and have their sins remitted by faith , not as by an instrumentall cause and meanes to make them righteous before god ; but as by the hand of the soule , receiving and applying to themselves the righteousnesse of christ to make them righteous in their own sense and feeling . and their actuall beleeving that they are justified and pardoned , is neither their righteousnesse , nor the satisfaction for their sins , nor any thing which in it selfe properly is accepted of god or reputed for righteousnesse and satisfaction , but is only the applying of christs righteousnes and satisfaction to themselves , and an assuring of themselves , that by communion thereof they are justified . and by this beleeving they possesse and sweetly enjoy them , and are in their owne sense and feeling , justified and absolved from the guilt of al their sins , and obteine this testimony from god that they are righteous , rom. 4. 3. quest . can any man bee justified before hee doth actually beleeve ? answ. if we take justification in the first most proper and principall sense , as it is the act of god alone , communicating christs righteousnesse and satisfaction to his elect , when hee doth first unite them to christ by his spirit , and make christ theirs with all his treasures : then it must bee granted that men may be and are justified , before and without any expresse act of beleeving : as for example , elect infants which dye in their infancy , when they are regenerated and united to christ by his spirit , they have communion of his righteousnesse , and are justified and made righteous , and all their sins are abolished and blotted out , and yet they do not actually beleeve , nor performe any explicit and expresse act of faith . also they who are not effectually called to the state of grace , and to communion with christ till they come to yeares of discretion , though they have the gift of faith immediatly at the same time infused into them : yet christs righteousnesse is in order of nature communicated to them and they are made righteous by it before god , before they do actually beleeve , or can truly beleeve that christ is made to them righteousnesse , or can by beleeving possesse and enjoy his righteousnesse for justification . as a child may bee borne , or made an heire to lands , honor and riches , and may have a true right and interest in them , and bee lord of all , before hee hath wit to know his own estate , or discretion to possesse actually and use them : so men may be justified by christs righteousnesse madetheirs , in the first instant of their regeneration and spirituall union with christ , before they do actually beleeve , and sensibly possesse , and enjoy christ and his obedience for justification . but if we take justification in a secondary sense , as it is an act wherein the elect themselves do cooperat and work together with god , by receiving and applying to themselves particularly the gift of righteousnesse freely given unto them , and by possessing and enjoying it ; then must actuall beleeving go before it as the instrumentall cause , by which god justifieth them in their own sense and feeling , and upon which he doth esteeme and account them righteous in the intercourse betweene him and them , and gives them his warrant to esteeme themselves justified with him . but if we take justification in a iudiciary sense , as it is used in courts of iustice and iudgement , for proving , declaring and pronouncing men righteous : then not only faith and actuall beleeving , but also repentance , amendment of life , and all holy christian duties , and good works of piety , mercy and charity must necessarily go before as evidences , testimonies , and proofes by which men must be justified , that is judged declared and pronounced righteous . first , in the court of their owne conscience , so often as sin and satan stand up against them to accuse them . secondly , in the common judgement of men . thirdly , in the generall judgement at the last day . of the first , iustification , the apostle speakes , rom. 5. 19. where he saith that by the obedience of christ many are made righteous , and rom. 8. 4. and 1 cor. 5. 21. of the second he speakes , rom. 3. 28. and 4. 3. and gal. 3. 8. where he saith , we are justified by saith without workes or deedes of the law . of the third saint james speakes , where he saith , that abraham was justified by works , jam. 2. 21. and job 13. 18. where he saith , behold now i have ordered my cause , i know that i shall be justified , and this s. paul cals justification of life , rom. 5. 18. because it is an adjudging of men to eternall life , according to the evidence of their works , as our saviour sheweth , mat. 24. 35. quest . how doth justifying faith differ from that which they call historicall faith ? answ. they both in the elect are one and the same faith , and differ onely as severall acts of the same faith exercised about severall objects . for when they beleeve the history of the scripture , and that those things are true which they heare , or read out of gods word , this is called historicall faith . but when they beleeve firmely and confidently , that the promises of god in christ belong to them , and that christ , with his righteousnes is given to them of god , & made theirs , this beleeving & applying of christs righteousnes to themselves is the justifying act of faith . and whereas the historicall saith of devils and carnall men , is only an assent unto the word of god , that it is true , arising from carnal reason , and arguments convincing the judgement without any affection to the truth , or any relying on it . on the contrary every act of beleeving any word or promise of god ; if it proceeds from a true faith in the elect , is not a naked assent ruled by humane and naturall reason , but guided by gods spirit , and joyned with a relying on god , and his word , upon the divine authority of the speaker , and may be brought as an evidence of their salvation , & may in that respect be called a saving beliefe , as we see at large , heb. 11. where beleeving that the worlds were framed by the word of god . and that god would bring a flood upon the world and destroy all except them that were in the arke made by his appointment ; and that he would give the land of canaan to the seed of abraham the israelites , and after 400 yeares deliver them out of aegypt , and such like acts of beleeving , proceeding from an holy spirituall faith , are declared to bee saving faith . quest . how doth actuall beleeving set a work all other graces , and increase them more and more in the elect regenerate , and justified ? answ. by the sense , feeling , and sweet fruition of christ and his righteousnesse , satisfaction , and intercession , it brings us to the sight and experimentall knowledge of the goodnesse , bounty , love and mercy of god to us in christ . and being justified by faith , we have peace with god through our lord iesus christ , and rejoyce in hope of the glory of god , and hereby the holy ghost sheddeth the love of god abroad in our hearts , so that being inflamed with the love of god , wee begin more and more to hate and abhorre our owne vile corruptions and sins , which are offensive to his holy majesty : we are ashamed and confounded , because we have by our sins so often provoked so gracious a god , and mercifull father , wee grieve and mourne and sorrow with godly sorrow to repentance , wee strive and wrastle against our lusts , and by the assistance of the spirit , tame and subdue them ; so that sinne can no more reigne in our mortall bodies , we contend to sollow hard after god , to cleave to him in love , and to bee still more & more united to christ in love and zealous affection of heart : and in holinesse and newnesse of life we study and strive to be conformable to his image ; and in a word we are stirred up to use all care and endeavour , that wee may abound in all good works , and still forgetting those things which are behind , may reach forth unto those things which are before and presse hard towards the marke for the price of the high calling of god in christ iesus : in all which workes of saving grace , as god moves us by his spirit , so we being moved , enabled , and made a free people , do cooperate and work together with him , till we come to the measure of the age of the fulnesse of christ , and be fitted to see god in glory . quest . what outward meanes are to bee used whereby the spirit of god may worke in the elect , and beget and increase faith and beliefe with all other saving graces in them ? answ. the chiefe outward meanes is the word of god , without which god doth not ordinarily shed his spirit on them , beget them again and by his spirit work saving grace , and the works of grace in them . for they are borne again of incorruptible seed , that is , of the spirit by the word of god , 1 pet. 1. 23. and regeneration which is gods shedding of the holy ghost on them , through christ and the first saving worke , even the ground worke of all other saving graces is not to be found where the word is not preached . by the word of christ the holy gospell only , the spirit speaks inwardly to mens hearts , and leads them into all truth , john 16. 13. by the word preached hee begets faith , for faith commeth by hearing , and none can beleeve except heheare , rom. 10. 14 , 17. the word is the whole and perfect rule of faith , and whatsoever the elect beleeve to salvation , is conteined in the word , and there only to be learned , john 3. 39. the threatenings of the law are the meanes by which the spirit discovers to beleevers the danger of sin , and their own misery , humbles them in their own eies , and drives them out of themselves to christ by repentance . the precepts of the law prescribe to them the right way in which they ought to walk , and is a lamp to their feet , and light to their steps , psa. 119 105. the word of the gospell is the covenant of life , and sets before them the goodnesse , bounty , love and mercy of god in christ , and by it the spirit inflames them with the love of god , with joy and delight in god , and with zeale for his glory , and stirres them up to imitate god in works of mercy , love , and charity , and in all holinesse and sanctification , till they be conformed to christ , and to serve , honour , and worship god . and in a word , the whole scripture , which is the sure , infallible word of god , given by divine inspiration , is profitable for doctrine , for reproofe , for correction , and for instruction in righteousnes , that the man of god may bee perfect thorowly furnished unto all good works , 2 tim. 3. 16. 17. quest . how must the word of god bee used , that it may be such an effectuall meanes of the spirit to worke all these gracious effects in gods elect people ? answ. it must not only be read out of the sacred scriptures , in which it is recorded by the prophets and apostles ; but also preached , and expounded by godly , able and learned ministers , who are called and sent of god , rom. 10. 15. for they are gods watchmen , who have a charge given to watch for mens soules , ezek. 3. 17. & heb. 13. 17. they are his shepheards and overseers to feed his flock with his word , the bread of life , act. 20. 28. & ezek. 34. & 1 pet. 5. 2. ephes. 4. 11. and by delivering gods message faithfuly , they obteine this honour to themselves to bee called the angels of the lord , mal. 2. 7. and gods ambassadours , 2 cor. 5. 20. and to be spirituall fathers under god , who beget children to god in christ by the gospell , 1 cor. 4. 15. quest . what other meanes are to be used ? answ : none but such as god hath prescribed in his holy word , to wit , the sacraments which are seales annexed to the word , publike prayers , invocation , and worship of god , and also good education , and private prayers , and instruction , and often reading of gods word alone , and in private families . quest . what is a sacrament ? answ. it is a religious action prescribed by god , in which by using outward visible rites consecrated to be signes , seales , pledges , and remembrances of the invisible graces promised and given in christ , the covenant of grace is sealed to his people , their faith confirmed , and all holy graces stirred up , quickened , and increased in them . quest . how many sacraments are now in use under the gospell ? answ. there are but two properly so cald , and ordeined to be seales of the whole covenant of grace : baptisme , and the lords supper . for these two are expresly commanded and commended by our saviour , to the church in the gospell , and to every true member thereof . there are divers other signes , pledges , and remembrances of benefits and blessings past or to come ; but they either do not belong to all christians , as imposition of hands in ordeining pastors and elders , is proper to them who are so ordeined : or els beside their signification , they have other more principall uses , as the weekely sabbath , besides that it is a pledge of the eternall rest in heaven , and a signe that god is our god , who doth sanctifie us . it serves chiefly to be the first fruits of our time , and is to be spent wholly in the worship of god publike and private , preaching and hearing of the word , prayer and other religious exercises , by which god is immediatly served , and our soules edified . so also holy feasts , and dayes which are remembrances of some great blessings , as easter , pentecost , the dayes of christs nativity , passion and ascension , besides their signification have other far more principall use , to wit , the solemne worship , and service of god , such as is used on the sabbath , and therefore they are called holy signes and sacraments improperly , and in a secondary sense . but baptisme and the eucharist serve only for signes , seales and pledges , and have no other notable use . quest . what is the sacrament of baptisme ? answ. it is an outward washing of the body with pure water , applyed therto by dipping or sprinkling , ordeined by god to be a sacrament , that is , a signe , seale and pledge of regeneration to the party baptized , by which outward rite , hee is received into the true visible church , and dedicated to christ , to bee a member of his body , and a faithfull servant of god all the dayes of his life . quest . to whom doth this sacrament belong ? answ. it belongs to all that are either borne in the church of god , or by the word preached are called to beleeve in christ , and to professe true christian religion , after they are come to yeares of discretion . quest . what warrant have gods ministers to baptize infants , and to give them the signe , seals , and pledge of regeneration , which a great number of them , that are borne in the church never have , but are reprobates and shew themselves so to be , by living in sin all their dayes , and dying in impenitency ? answ. they have sufficient warrant in the word of god . for the apostle saith , that children of beleeving parents are not uncleane but holy , 1 cor. 7. 14. that is , they are so far within the covenant ( being in their infancy , as it were members of their beleeving parents and wholy at their disposing ) that they may justly bee dedicated to god by baptisme , ( as samuel was by his mothers vow ) and received into the true church . the vow which their parents and guardians made for them in baptisme , is a band to tye them to serve god so soon as they begin to have knowledge and discretion . certeinly gods grace and bounty towards infants of christian parents under the gospell , is not straitened more than to infants in the old testament , whose males were circumcised the eight day after their birth . baptisme , and the promise and vow therein ma●e for them is as powerfull a meanes and motive to provoke them from their youth to serve god , as circumcision was to the children of israel . also christ hath taught us that his blessing & the kingdom of eaven belongs to them , marc. 10. 13. and the apostles baptized whole housholds of beleeving men and women , not refusing any children , as we read of lydias and the iaylors houshold , acts 16. 15. 33. in a word , many who were at full age called by the gospel preached to beleeve by a temporary carnall saith , and to professe christ , were never truly regenerate , as judas , simon magus , demas , and others , but proved hypocrites and backsliding reprobates ; and yet this was never counted a just cause to hinder or restraine the apostles from baptizing al who professed christ outwardly , for feare of prophaning the sacrament of baptisme , and abusing the holy ordinance of christ . quest . how doth the spirit of god by baptisme increase grace in men , and set it a worke ? answ. so often as they are put in minde of their baptisme , either by the name of christians or their owne proper names given in baptisme , when they are called by them , or by seeing others baptized ; the spirit of god doth thereby as by a sure pledge assure the faithfull that god is their father , and they are his children in his son christ , borne againe of the spirit , and so confirmes their faith in that communion which they have with god the father and his son iesus christ ; hereby he stirs them up to remember , that their endeavour ought to be to walke in newnesse of life , as new creatures , adopted to god , called unto christ out of the world mortified and dead to the world , and sinfull lusts , and sanctified to lead a godly life in all righteousnesse and true holynesse . quest . what is the sacrament of the lords supper ? answ. it is that holy ordinance instituted by christ after his last supper , in which by bread and wine consecrated , with blessing and giving of thankes , and by the publike minister given and distributed ; and received , eaten and drunk , by the people assembled , christ god and man their redeemer , together with all his obedience and full satisfaction , made and performed in the dayes of his humiliation , in the forme of fraile flesh and bloud , is signified and sealed to them and in greater measure given , and of them received by faith , as a spirituall nourishment to feed their soules to life eternall . quest . is christ given to all , and received of all who partake of this sacrament ? answ. he is sacramentally given , that is , the true signes and pledges , of him , are given to all , and of them received ; but he is not spiritually given to any but true beleevers , and worthy receivers ; neither do any effectually receive him or his benefits to the feeding of their soules , but only they who lay hold on him by a lively working faith . for the giving , receiving , eating , drinking , is not carnall , but spirituall , as our saviour himselfe sheweth , john 6. 63. saying , it is the spirit that quickeneth , the flesh profiteth nothing , the words that i speake they are spirit , and they are life . quest . why doth christ call the bread given and eaten , his body , and the wine his bloud , if hee be not in them bodily present , and his flesh and bloud given and received bodily ? answ. the true reason of his speaking so is to call our thoughts to the remembrance of him in the state of humiliation , and of his infirmities , obedience and sufferings , which in that estate he did undergo in the forme of fraile flesh and bloud for us , and to stirre us up so to apprehend him , and feed on him by faith . for christ did not redeeme us , and pay our ransome by any thing which he did as god before his incarnation , nor by any thing which he doth as man exalted and glorified ; but as hee god and man in the dayes of his flesh , fulfilled the whole law , and suffered all punishments due to mans sin , so hee paid our ransome , brought in eternall righteousnesse , and made full satisfaction to gods iustice , and these are the things which together with himselfe are signified and sealed by bread and wine , and are spiritually given to , and received by the faithfull in this sacrament . quest . how can true beleevers bee said to receive christ and his benefits , seeing they are already united to him , and have communion of them all , and his satisfaction and righteousnesse is made theirs before in their regeneration , when they were first effectually called , and made fit to partake of this sacrament ? answ. the spirit of god by this sacrament rightly administred , doth as by a sure pledge confirme and increase their faith , and set it a worke to lay hold on christ , and to apply him and his righteousnesse , and satisfaction to themselvs more strongly and sensibly , and by this meanes they are more feelingly united to him in love and affection , and have a more sweet communion with him of all his benefits , which doth like a plentifull feast , refresh and feed their soules , strengthen them in all grace , and this is as it were a new and fresh receiving of christ and the benefits of his life and death , more abundantly & in greater measure than they had him before . quest . you have well declared the efficacy of the sacraments , and how the spirit worketh by them . now tell me what the other meanes are , and first what is prayer and invocation both publike and private ? answ. prayer and invocation , if it bee publike , is the speech of the whole congregation , and if it be private of one person or more directed to god , in the name of iesus christ , wherein all needfull blessings and increase of grace , are asked and desired in faith , and hope , that god will give them for christ his sake , in such a measure as he in his wisdome doth know to be fit for every one . quest . how is grace thereby increased ? answ. the spirit of god by stirring our hearts to pray , and by putting fit words in our mouths , or in the mouths of them who are the mouth of the congregation , inflameth our affections , exerciseth our faith , kindleth our desires , and reviveth the sense and feeling of our wants . and by directing us to pray to god in the name of iesus christ , he maketh us implicitely to acknowledge and confesse that god is the author of all blessings , and giver of all grace , and so maketh us to give to him in our prayers all the glory with all humble thankfulnesse . and god who is gracious , rich in mercy , faithfull , and true in his promises , will accept our holy and humble desires , and for christs sake and his own truths sake , grant our requests and give a supply of grace , and an increase of blessings . quest : how doth the publike worship of god increase grace ? answ. the publike worship of god performed outwardly and frequently in the congregation of his people , by holy preaching and reverent hearing of his word , prayses , thankes , singing of psalmes , and reverent gestures and behaviour , according to gods word , is a speciall meanes by the inward operation of the spirit , to kindle and increase devotion in the hearts of all his people . it is their using of his talents , and improving of his graces in them to his glory . and god hath promised that as they get more gaine of grace , mat. 25. 29. so hee will still adde more unto them , and will surely establish them , give them the gift of perseverance and uphold them by his grace unto the end , till they be received to glory and come to eternall life and blessednesse . quest . wherein doth the eternall life and blessednesse of the elect consist ? answ. in the eternall sight , knowledge , and fruition of god in his heavenly glory , ephes. 5. 27. for when christ hath fully purged , and sanctified his church and people , and made them fit to see god , then will he present them before his glorious maiesty to dwell in his presence , where is fulnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore , psal. 16. 11. quest . where shall they enjoy this blessednes ? answ. in the heavens where a kingdom is prepared for them , luk. 12. 32. and john 14. 2. an inheritance incorruptible , and undefiled which shall never fade away , 1 pet. 1. 4. which is farre above all that the eye hath seen , or the eare heard , or that ever entered into the heart of man , 1 cor. 2. 9. quest . when shall they come to possesse this blessed inheritance ? answ. they have the earnest of it in this life in the state of grace , even the spirit of adoption by which they are sealed up to the day of full redemption , and even here in this life they finde that sweetnesse and communion with god , that though they see him not , yet beleeving they rejoyce with joy unspeakeable and full of glory . but when their soules are loosed out of the prison of the body , then shall their spirit bee made perfect , and they shall in that better part depart hence and be with christ , and reigne in glory , untill the last great day of account , the generall judgement . at which time the lord iesus christ shall descend from heaven , & bring them with him . and he the prince of angels with the commanding voyce of the archangell shall call all the angels of god to attend him , and to gather before him al his elect from the foure winds , from one end of heaven to the other , and by the power of his voyce and the sound of the trumpet of god , shall raise up their dead bodies purged in the grave , from all the degrees of corruption , and brought up in a most glorious forme like unto his own glorious body : which bodies shall not be prevented by the elect and faithfull then alive on earth , but shall bee first raised up and joyned with their glorified soules , before those then living shall be changed , and in a moment in the twinckling of an eye shall they all together be ready to meet the lord in the ayre , whither they shall be caught up , and being set at his right hand shall receive this comfortable sentence , come yee blessed of my father , inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world , and so they shall bee ever with the lord and raigne with him in glory world without end , 1 thes. 4. 17. & 2 tim , 2. 12. & rev. 22. 5. quest . but what shall become of all wicked reprobates , who were never chosen , nor called to be of this number ? answ. their bodies also shall be raised up to everlasting shame , and joyned with their cursed soules , that as they have sinned in both , so they may in both be punished , dan. 12. 2. they shall also be gathered together like a flock of ill savouring goates by themselves and brought before the judgement seat of christ full sore against their will , with horror , howling and trembling : and tumbling and groveling on the earth as if they would creep into the ground intermingled among the devils and wishing that the rocks and mountaines might fall on them , and the hils cover them , but all in vaine ; luke 23. 30. they shall receive an heavy doome . for the iudge sitting above in the aire , attended with all his glorious angels , & with all his elect saints , caught up to meet him in their glorious bodies , and to sit with him in judgement , shall with a dreadfull voice passe this woful sentence against them , math. 25. 41. depart from me ye● cursed into everlasting fire , prepared for the devill and his angels . and then shal they go into everlasting destruction , and be punished in unquenchahle fire , from the presence of god , and from the glory of his power ; where a gnawing worme which never dyeth , shall torment them world without end , 2 thes. 1. 9. isa. 66. 24. mark . 9. 44. quest . what may wee conceive of the punishment , and torment of the wicked after this judgement ? answ. it far surpasseth all conceipt of mortall man , being such as all the tongues of men and angels are not able to expresse . but this is plaine by scripture , that whatsoever can be conceived , or is named among men as a cause of extreme torment , or a meanes to increase it beyond all measure , that shall be in their damnation & punishment . first , the lord christ whom they have skorned , provoked and perfecuted , both in himselfe and in his members , shall be their iudge , and shall give the sentence against them . and all his saints whom they have mocked , misused , proudly insulted over , despightfully handled , and evill intreated , and put to death , shall sit as assessors with christ in judgement , and with their voyces shall approve and applaud the sentence of condemnation , as the scriptures testifie , mat. 22. 28. & 1 cor. 6. 2. and shall judge the evill angels , v. 3. now for malicious proud skorners full of envy , to be judged and condemned by those who they have most of all others hated , skorned and abused with despight , is worse than a thousand deaths , as experience teacheth . secondly , their torment unto which they shall bee adjudged is said to be in everlasting fire , in that lake of hell burning with fire and brimstone , mat. 25 41. which of all torments that men by sense can discerne , or reason conceive is the greatest and most intollerable , rev. 19. 22. and yet as if that were not enough , our saviour saith , that they shall have a worm inwardly gnawing them which shall never dye , even the worme of devillish malice , rancour and envy , which shall make them fret and rage against the lord christ , and against his saints gnawing their tongues for griefe : for the sight of their glory shall be to them inwardly as great a torment , as the torture of fire and brimstone are outwardly unto them . thirdly , they shall have no light of comfort or refreshing from god , but shall be imprisoned in the dungeon of everlasting darknesse , for the blacknesse of darknes is reserved for them for ever , iude v. 13 which is a thing most horrid to the eyes . also the sound of horror and a dolefull noyse shall fill their eares , even weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth , matth. 13. 42. & 25. 30. luk. 16. 24. and all the world shall not yeeld them a drop of water to coole their tongues when they are tormented in that flame . fourthly , their misery and torment shall bee endlesse , easelesse , and remedilesse , when they have endured it many thousands and millions of yeares and ages , more in number then the stars of heaven , and drops of water in the sea , and sands by the sea shore ; they shall bee as far from any end as they were at the first beginning . now we know that when men suffer any paine or misery , without hope of any end thereof , it is made by this meanes most grievous and intollerable , though in it selfe it be not so great . and therefore the extremity of torment to them who are cut off from all hope of ease or end , must needs exceed all conceipt and utterance , and bee more than can by tongue bee expressed . quest . how can their sins committed in the short time of their life deserve such an endlesse torment in so great extremity ? answ. very well , for first their sinnes being committed against an infinite majesty , and having offended the infinite god , and provoked his infinite wrath , do by the rule of reason and justice deserve an infinite punishment . secondly , as the elect saints , shall in the last resurrection be all filled up to the full with holinesse , and with the image of christ , and shall every one have as much as his vessell can conteine , so that hee can desire no more , even so wicked reprobates after the last judgement shall be transformed into the image of the devill , and filled up with malice and rage against god to the brimme , insomuch that they shall blaspheme and curse god , for tying them in everlasting chaines , that they can doe no more mischiefe , and gnash their teeth with anger against themselves , because they have no more provoked the lord by transcendent wickednesse , so far shall they be from relenting and from remorse and repentance for their sins . and therefore the more and the longer they suffer the torments of hell , the more they deserve to suffer them for ever with increase , if it were possible . that they are past all hope and possibility of repentance , may easily bee proved by that which the scriptures testifie of apostatas and such as sinne against the holy ghost , to wit , that it is impossible to renew them by repentance , heb. 6. 6. and it is a vaine thing to pray for them , 1 iohn 5. 16. for their hearts are hardned to commit all iniquity with greedinesse : and therefore much more the damned in hell being turned into the image of the devill , are past hope of repentance , and must needs be hardened in eternall malice and impenitency to the utmost . quest : is there no difference of glory among the saints in heaven , and of torment among the damned in hell ? answ. the apostle saith , that as one star differeth from another in glory ; so it is in the resurrection of the saints to glory , 1 cor. 15. 41. but though some of the saints are capable of more glory then others , because they have beene more excellent members of christ in the state of grace , and instruments of great good to the church , as appeares , dan. 12. 3. and mat. 19. 28. and some reprobates are more capacious vessels of wrath , as they have more outragiously and despightfully provoked god in the time of their life ; and both these shall bee filled up to the utmost fulnes of their measure , the one sort with glory , the other with shame and wrath , and so they shall have the one more glory , the other more misery : yet hee that hath the least glory , shal have as much as he can conceive or desire , and hee who hath the least torment and misery shall have as much as his vessell can conteine , and as hee is capable of , and can beare . this may be made plain by a familiar similitude . if divers bottles or earthen vessels of divers measures and different capacity beeplunged into the deep sea with open mouths ; every vessell will be filled to the brim , that it cannot conteine one drop more , the least as well as the greatest ; and though the greatest conteines more ; yet the least is as full , as it is , even to the utmost . so it is both in the saints glorified in heaven , and the wicked tormented in hell . though some are like vessels more capacious , and being filled with glory , or with misery , have more than others : yet the least saint is as full as hee can bee of glory , and can desire no more ; and the least among the damned is filled up with torment and with the wrath of god to the utmost , and hath as much as his vessell can hold . the one wants nothing , but hath a fulnesse of glory , to make him , as blessed , as hee can desire , for ever . and the other hath so much torment , as makes him to the utmost extremity miserable : and as there is no possibility of the falling away of the saints from their glory in the least degree . so it is impossible to ease the damned of the least graine of his heavy and intollerable misery ; but gods wrath shall cleave to them for ever , and abide on them to the utmost , world without end . quest . seeing now i have lead you on by questions to the utmost ends both of the godly elect , and wicked reprobates : now tell mee what remaines ? answ. no more but this : that , as god hath set before us life and death ; for the godly , life eternall in the fruition of himselfe in glory ; but for the wicked and ungodly eternall death , misery and torment in hell : so wee by following hard after god by faith in iesus christ , and making his glory , the marke which wee shoote at in the whole course of our lives , and the maine end of all our labours , may bee free from all danger and feare of eternall death in hell , and may obteine the inheritance of heavenly glory , and with christ our head , and all his elect saints , may see god and enjoy all his goodnesse , as our portion for ever , world without end . to this blessed god who hath vouchsafed thus farre to reveale himselfe unto us , and to shew us the right way , by which wee may come to him , bee all glory , honour and praise giuen , and ascribed by us and his whole church , now and for ever . amen . trin-uni deo gloria . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a67085e-180 1 kin. 8. 27 psa. 147 ▪ 5 isa. 46. 10. 1 ioh. 4. 8. phil. 2. 6. heb. 1. 3. ● colo. 1. 17 rom. 9. 18 iam. 1. 13. gen 3. 10 psa. 49. 12 gen. 3. 17. vers. 19. 2 thes. 1. 9. heb. 2. 14. 1 ioh. 4. 8. gen. 12 8. 22. iohn 8. 5● . luk 1. 35. iob 16. 21. heb. 2. 17. & 4. 11. iohn 17. rev. 8. 3. 2 cor. 3. 5. tit. 3. 5 , 6. rom. 5. 19. & 10. 4. rom. 3. 7 : 2 cor. 5. 21. rom. 5. 1. 1 pet. 1. 8. heb. 12. 23. phil. 1. 23. mat. 24. 31 1 thes. 4. 15 , 16. phil. 3. 21 : 1 cor. 15. 52. mat. 25. 33 satans fiery darts quenched, or, temptations repelled in three decades : for the help, comfort, and preservation of weak christians in these dangerous times of errour and seduction / by i.h. ... hall, joseph, 1574-1656. 1647 approx. 277 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 193 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a45313 wing h410a estc r34452 14444085 ocm 14444085 102348 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a45313) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102348) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1060:5) satans fiery darts quenched, or, temptations repelled in three decades : for the help, comfort, and preservation of weak christians in these dangerous times of errour and seduction / by i.h. ... hall, joseph, 1574-1656. 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proofread 2006-11 ali jakobson text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion vera effigies-reverendi do ni iosephi hall norwici epis copi . this picture represents the forme , where dwells a mind , which nothing but that mind excells . there 's wisdome , learning , witt ; there grace & love rule over all the rest : enough to prove , against the froward conscience of this time , the reverend name of bishop is no crime . w. m. scul●●it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 portrait of joseph hall satans fiery darts quenched , or , temptations repelled . in three decades . for the help , comfort , and preservation of weak christians in these dangerous times of errour and seduction . by i. h. d. d. b. n. london , printed by m. f. for n : butter . and are to be sold in pauls church-yard at the bishops-head and golden-lyon , and in corn-hill by n. brooks . 1647. to the christian reader grace and peace . some few months are past , since a worthy and eminent divine from the west ( once part of my charge ) earnestly moved mee to undertake this taske of temptations , seconding his letters with the lines of a deare intercessour from those parts ; upon the first view , i sleighted the motion ; returning only this answer ; that i remembred this work , was already so compleatly performed by the reverend , and learned m r downame , in his christian warfare , as that who so should meddle with this subject , should but seem to gleane after his sickle : but when i had sadly considered the matter ; my second thoughts told me that there is no one point of divinity , wherein many pens have not profitably laboured in severall formes of discourse : and that the course which i was solicited unto , was in a quite different way of tractation ; namely , to furnish my fellow-christians with short and punctuall answers to the particular suggestions of our great enemy ; and that our deplored age had rifely yeelded publicke temptations of impiety , which durst not looke forth into the world in those happy daies ; i was thereupon soon convinced in my selfe , how usefull and beneficiall such a tractate might be to weak soules ; and embraced the motion as sent from god ; whose good hand i found sensibly with me in the pursuance of it ; i therefore cheerfully addressed my self to the work ; wherein what i have assaied or done , i humbly leave to the judgement of others ; with onely this ; that if in this treatise my decrepit hand can have let fall any thing that may be to the service of gods church , to the raising up of drooping hearts , to the convincing of blasphemous errours , to the preventing of the dangerous insinuations of wickednesse , i desire to be thankfull to my good god , whose grace hath been pleased to improve those few sands that remaine in my glasse to so happy an advantage : that god , the father of all mercies fetch from these poor labours of his weake servant , much glory to his own name , and much benefit to the souls of his people . and may the same god be pleased to stir up the hearts of all his faithfull ones , that shall ( through his goodnesse ) receive any help by these wel-meant indeavours , to interchange their prayers with and for me , the unworthiest of his ministers , that i may finish the small remainder of my course with joy . amen . from my cottage at higham near norwich , feb. 12. 1646. a list of the hellish temptations here repelled . i. decade . i. temptation foolish sinner , thou leanest upon a broken reed whiles thou reposest all thy trust in a crucified saviour . pag. 1. ii. temptation still thou hast upon all occasions recourse to the scriptures as some divine oracles , and think'st thou maist safely build thy soule upon every text of that written word , as inspired from heaven , whereas indeed this is nothing but an humane devise to keep men in awe , and never came nearer heaven then the braines of those politicians that invented it . p. 17. iii. temptation art thou so sottish to suffer thy understanding to be captivated to ( i know not what ) divine authority , proposing unto thee things contrary to sense and reason , and therfore absurd and impossible ? be thou no other then thy self , a man : and follow the light and guidance of that which makes thee so , right reason , and whatsoever disagrees from that , turn it off as no part of thy beliefe , to those superstitious bigots which are willing to lose their reason in their faith , and to bury their braines in their heart . p 29. iv. temptation in how vain and causelesse awe art thou held , of dangers threatned to thy soule ; and horrors of punishment after this life ; whereas these are nothing but politique bugs , to affright simple , and credulous men ? sinne freely man ; and feare nothing ; take full scope to thy pleasures ; after this life there is nothing ; the soule dies together with the body , as in brute creatures ; there is no further reckoning to bee made . p. 40. v. temptation put case that the soul after the departure from the body , may live ; but art thou so foolishly credulous , as to beleeve that thy body , after it is moldred into dust , and resolved into all its elements , having passed through all the degrees of putrefaction , and annihilation shall at last return to it selfe again , and recover the former shape and substance ? dost thou not apprehend the impossibility of this so absurd assertion ? p. 54. vi. temptation if the soule must live , and the body shall rise , yet what needst thou affright thy selfe with the terrors of an universall judgement ? credulous soule , when shall these things be ? thou talkst of an awfull iudge , but where is the promise of his comming ? these sixteen hundred years hath he been look't and yet he is not come ; and when will he ? p. 69. vii . temptation if there must be a resurrection , and a judgement , yet god is not so rigid an exactor , as to call thee to account for every petty sin ; th●se great sessions are for haynous malefactors : god is too mercyfull to condemne thee for small offences : be not thou too rigorous to thy self , in denying to thy selfe the pleasure of some harmlesse sinnes . p. 83. viii . temptation what a vaine imagination is this wherewith thou pleasest thy self ; that thy sins are discharged in another mans person ; that anothers righteousnesse should be thine ; that thine offence should be satisfied by anothers punishment . tush , they abuse thee that perswade thee god is angry with mankind which he loves and favours ; or that his anger is appeased by the bloudy satisfaction of a saviour ; and that thou standest acquitted in heaven by that which another hath done and suffered : these are fancies not fit to find place in the heads of wise men . p. 91. ix . temptation how confidently thou buildest upon a promise ; and if thou have but a word for it , mak'st thy selfe sure of any blessing ; whereas thou mayst know that many of those promises which thou accountest sacred and divine , have sbrunk in the performance . how hath god promised deliverance to those that trust in him , yet how many of his faithfull servants have mis-carried ? what liberall promises hath he made of provision for those that wait upon him ; yet how many of them have miserably perished in want ? p. 100. x. temptation thou art more nice then needs ; your preachers are too strait-laced in their opinions ; and make the way to heaven narrower then god ever meant it : tush , man ; thou maist be saved in any religion , is it likely that god will be so cruell as to cast away all the world of men in the severall varieties of their professions ; and save onely one poor handfull of reformed christians ; away with these scruples ; a generall beliefe and a good meaning will serve to bring thee to heaven without these busie disquisitions of the articles of faith . p. 114. ii. decade . i. temptation were it for some few sins of ignorance or infirmity , thou might'st hope to find place for mercy ; but thy sins are , as for multitude innumerable , so for quality , haynous . presumptuous , unpardonable ; with what face canst thou look up to heaven and expect remission from a just god ? p. 127. ii. temptation alas poor man , how willing thou art to make thy self beleeve that thou hast truly repented ; whereas this is nothing , but some dump of melancholy , or some relenting of nature , after too much expence of spirits , or some irksome discontentment after a satiety , and wearinesse of pleasure ; or some slavish shrinking in upon the expectation of a lash ; true penitence is a spirituall businesse , an effect of that grace which was never incident into thy bosome . p. 138. iii. temptation thou hast small reason to beare thy selfe upon thy repentance ; it is too sleight ; seconded with too many relapses ; too late to yeeld any true comfort to thy soule . p. 145. iv. temptation tush , what dost thou please thy selfe with these vaine thoughts ; if god cared for thee , couldst thou be thus miserable ? p 155. v. temptation foolish man ! how vainly dost thou flatter thy self in calling that a chastisement , which god intends for a judgment ; in mistaking that for a rod of fatherly correction which god lays on , as a scourge of just anger and punishment . p. 165. vi. temptation away with these superstitious feares , and needless scruples , wherewith thou fondly troublest thy selfe ; as if god that sits above in the circle of heaven ▪ regarded these poor businesses that are done upon earth , or cared what this man doth , or that man suffereth : dost thou not see that none prosper so much in the world as those that are most noted for wickednesse ? & dost thou se any so miserable upon earth as the holiest ? could it be thus , if there were a providence that over-looks and over-rules these earthly affairs ? p. 173. vii . temptation if god be never so liberall in his promises , and sure in performances of mercy to his owne , yet what is that to thee ? thou art none of his ; neither canst lay any just claim to his election . p. 195. viii . temptation alas , poor man , how grosly deludest thou thy selfe ? thou talkest of thy faith ; and bearest thy selfe high upon this grace ; and think'st to doe great matters by it , whereas the truth is , thou hast no faith , but that which thou mis-callest so , is nothing else but meer presumption p. 208. ix . temptation thou thoughtst perhaps once that thou hadst some tokens of gods favour ; but now thou canst not but find that he hath utterly forsaken thee ; and withdrawing himselfe from thee hath given thee up into my hands , into which thy sins have justly forfaited thee . p. 216. x. temptation had god indeed ever given thee any sure testimonies of his love , thou mightst perhaps pretend to some reason of comfort and confidence ; but the truth is , god never loved thee ; he may have cast upon thee ▪ some common favours , such as he throwes away upon reprobates ; but for the tokens of any speciall love that he beares to thee , thou never didst , never shalt receive any frō him p. 2●6 . iii. decade . i. temptation thou hast hitherto thus long given entertainment to thy sin , and no inconvenience hath ensued ; no evill hath befallen thee ; thy affaires have prospered better then thy scrupulous neighbours : why shouldst thou shake off a companion that hath been both harmlesse and pleasant ? go on man , sin fearlesly , thou shalt speed no worse then thou hast done . go on , and thrive in thine old course , whiles some precisely conscientious beg and starve in their innocency . p. 237. ii. temptation sin still ; thou shalt repent soon enough , when thou canst sin no more ; thine old age , and death-bed are fit seasons for those sad thoughts ; it will go hard if thou canst not , at the last , have a mouthfull of breath left thee , to cry god mercy ; and that is no sooner askt , then had ; thou hast to do with a god of mercies ; with whom no time is too late , no measure too sleight to be accepted . p. 246. iii. temptation . thou art one of gods chosen ; now god sees no sin in his elect ; none therefore in thee ; neither maist thou then take notice of any sin in thy self ; or needest any repentance for thy sin . p. 256. iv. temptation . thou maist live as thou listest ; thy destiny is irreversible ; if thou be predestined to life , thy sins cannot damne thee ; for gods election remaineth certaine : if thou be ordained to damnation , all thy good endevours cannot save thee ; please thy selfe on earth , thou canst not alter what is done in heaven . p. 271. v. temptation why wilt thou be singular amongst and above thy neighbours ; to draw needlesse censures upon thy self ? be wise , and do as the most . be not so over-squemish as not to dispense with thy conscience in some small matters ; lend a lye to a friend , swallow an oath for feare , be drunke sometimes for good fellowship , ●alsify thy word for an advantage , serve the time , frame thy selfe to all companies ; thus shalt thou be both warme , and safe , and well respected . p. 284. vi. temptation it is but for a while that thou hast to live ; and when thou art gone , all the world is gone with thee ; improve thy life to the best contentment ; take thy pleasure whiles thou maist . p. 297. vii . temptation it is for common wits to walk in the plain road of opinions . if thou wouldst be eminent amongst men , leave the beaten track , and tread in new paths of thine owne : neither let it content thee to guide thy steps by the dim lanterns of the antient ; he he is no body that hath not new lights either to hold out , or follow . p. 306. viii . temptation pretend religion , and doe any thing : what face is so foule as that maske will not cleanly cover ? seem holy , and be what thou wilt . p. 315. ix . temptation why shouldst thou lose any thing of thy height ? thou art not made of common mold ; neither art thou as others ; if thou knowst thy self , thou art more holy , more wise , better gifted , more inlightned then thy neighbours ; justly therefore maist thou over look the vulgar of christians , with pity , contempt , censure ; and beare thy selfe as too good for ordinary conversation , go apart , & avoid the contagion of common breath . p. 323. x. temptation however the zeale of your scrupulous preachers is wont to make the worst of every thing ; and to damne the least slip to no lesse then hell : yet there are certaine favourable temperaments of circumstances , which may ( if not excuse , yet ) extenuate a fault , such as age , complexion , custome , profit , importunity , necessity , which are justly pleadable at the barre both of god , and the conscience , and are sufficient to rebate the edge of divine severity . p. 335. march the 14. 1646. i have perused this treatise , intituled , satans fiery darts quenched ; in which i find so many excellent helps for the strengthning of the christians faith , the repelling of temptations , and the comforting of afflicted consciences in the day of triall , that i judge it well worthy to be printed and published . john downame . temptations repelled . the first decade . temptations of impiety . satans fiery darts quenched . i. decade . i. temptation , foolish sinner , thou leanest upon a broken reed whiles thou reposest all thy trust in a crucified saviour , repelled . blasphemous spirit ; it is not the ignominy of the crosse that can blemish the honour of my saviour ; thou feelst to thy endlesse pain and regret , that he who would die upon the tree of shame hath triumph't victoriously over death , and all the powers of hell ; the greater his abasement was , the greater is the glory of his mercy : he that is the eternall god would put on man , that he might work mans redemption , and satisfie god for man ; who but a man could suffer ? and who but a god could conquer by suffering ? it is man that had sinned ; it is god that was offended ; who but he that was god & man could reconcile god unto man ? he was crucified through weaknesse , yet he liveth ( and triumpheth ) in the power of his ( omnipotent ) god-head ; neither was it so much weaknesse to yeeld unto death ; as it was power to vanquish it ; yea , in this very dying there was strength ; for here was no violence that could force him into his grave ; who should offer it ? i and the father are one , saith that word of truth ; and in unity there can be no constraint ; and , if the persons be divers ; he thought it no robbery to be equall with god the father ; and there is no authority over equals ; and for men or devils , what could they do to the lord of life ? i lay down my life , saith the almighty redeemer , that i might take it again ; no man taketh it from me , but i lay it down of my self . i have power to lay it down , and i have power to ●●ke it againe ; oh infinitenesse both of power and mercy met in the center of a willing death ! impudent tempter , doest thou not remember thine owne language ? the time was , indeed , when thou couldst say , if thou be the son of god ; but when thou foundest thy self quelled by that divine power , and saw'st those miraculous works fall from him which were only proper to an infinite god-head ; now thou wert forced to confesse , i know who thou art , even the holy one of god ; and againe , jesus the son of the most high god ; and yet againe , what have we to do with thee , jesus the son of god ? art thou come to torment us before the time ? lo then , even in the time of his humane weakness , thou couldst with horrour enough acknowledge him the sonne of the most high god , and dar'st thou now that he sits crowned with celestiall glory , disparage his ever-blessed deity ? thy malice hath raised up , as in the former , so in these later daies , certaine cursed imps of hereticall pravitie , who under the name of christians , have wickedly re-crucified the lord that bought them ; not sparing to call into question the eternall deity of him whom they dare call saviour ; whom if thou hadst not steeled with an hellish impudence , certainly , they could not professe to admit the word written , and yet the whiles , deny the personall word : how clear testimony doth the one of them give to the other ? when thou presumedst to set upon the son of god by thy personall temptations , he stopt thy mouth with a scriptum est ; how much more shall these pseudo-christian agents of thine be thus convinced ? surely , there is no truth , wherein those oracles of god have beene more clear and punctuall ; are we not there required to a beleeve in him as god , upon the promise of eternall life , b under the paine of everlasting condemnation ? are we not commanded c to baptize in his name as god ? is not the holy ghost d given as a seale to that baptisme ? are we not charged to give divine e honour to him ? is not this required and reported to be done not only by the f kings of the earth , but by the g saints and angels in heaven ? is he not there declared to be h equall with god ? is he not there asserted to be i one with the father ? doth he not there challenge a joynt k right with the father in all things both in heaven , and earth ? are not the great works of divine power attributed to him ? l hath not he created the earth , and man upon it ? have not his hands stretched out the heavens ? hath not he commanded all their host ? are not all the attributes of god , his ? is he not eternall ? is it not he of whom the psalmist , m thy throne o god is for ever and ever ; the scepter of thy kingdome is a right scepter ? is not he the n father of eternity ; o the first and the last ; p have not his goings forth been from everlasting ? q had not he glory with the father before the world was ? is not he the r word which was in the beginning ; the word that was with god ; and the word that was god ? is he not infinite and incomprehensible ? is it not he that ſ filleth all things ; t that was in heaven , whiles he was on earth ? is he not u almighty ? even the x mighty god who upholds all things by the word of his power ▪ yea , is he not expresly stiled ▪ the lord , y jehovah , the z lord of hosts ; a god blessed for ever ; b the true god , and eternall life ; c the great god and saviour ; d the lord of glory ? hath he not abundantly convinced the world of his godhead , by those miraculous works which he did both in his owne person whiles he was here on earth , and by the hands of his followers ? works so transcending the possibility of nature , that they could not be wrought by any lesse then the god of nature ? as ejecting of devils by command ; raising the dead after degrees of putrefaction ; giving eyes to the borne blind , conquering death in his own resuscitation , ascending gloriously into heaven ? charming the winds , and waters , healing diseases by the very shadow of his transient disciples ? yea tell me , by what power was it that thine oracles ( wherby all the world was held in superstition ) were silenced ? what-power whereby the gospel so opposite to flesh and bloud hath conquered the world , and in spight of all the violence of tyrants , and oppugnation of rebellious nature , hath prevailed ? upon all these grounds how can i do lesse then cry our with the late-believing disciple , my lord , and my god ? malignant spirit , thou dost but set a face of checking me by my saviours crosse ; thou knowest and feel'st that he was the chariot of his triumph , whereupon being exalted , he dragged all the powers of hell captive after him , making a show of them openly , to their confusion , and his glory ; thou knowst that had it not been for that crosse , those infernall regions of thine had been peopled with whole mankind ; a great part whereof is now delivered out of thy hands , by that victorious redemption . never had heaven been so stored ; never had hell been so foyled , if it had not been for that crosse . and canst thou think to daunt me with the mention of that crosse , which by the eternall decree of god was determined to be the means of the deliverance of all the soules of the elect ? dost thou not hear the prophet say of old ; he was cut off from the land of the living ; for the transgression of my people was he striken ; and , he made his grave with the wicked and the rich in his death . he hath poured out his soule unto death , and he was numbred with the transgressors ; and he ●ar● the sin of many ? didst thou not hear my saviour himself , after his glorious resurrection , checking cleopas , and his fellow-traveller , for their ignorance of this predetermination ? o fools , and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken : ought not christ to have suffered these things , and to enter into his glory ? yea lastly , when had my saviour more glory then in this very act of his ignominious suffering , and crucifixion ? it is true , there hangs the son of man despicably upon the tree of shame ; he is mocked , spit upon , buffered , scourged , nail'd , revil'd , dead : now have men and devils done their worst ; but , this while , is the son of god acknowledged and magnified in his almighty power , both by earth and heaven ; the sun for three hours hides his head in darknesse , as hating to behold this tort offered to his creator ; the earth quakes to bear the weight of this suffering ; the rocks rend in peeces , the dead rise from their graves to see , and wonder at , and attend their late dying , and now risen saviour ; the vayle of the temple tears from the top to the bottome , for the blasphemous indignity offered to the god of the temple ; and the centurion upon sight of all this , is forced to say , truly , this was the son of god. and now after all these irrefragable attestations , his easter makes abundant amends for his passion ; there could not be so much weaknesse in dying , as there was power in rising from death ; his resurrection proves him the lord of life and death , and shews that he died not out of necessity , but will ; since he that could shake off the grave , could with more ease have avoided death : oh then the happy and glorious conquest of my blessed saviour , declared to be the son of god with power , according to the spirit of holinesse , by the resurrection from the dead ! go now wicked spirit , and twit me with the crosse of my saviour ; that which thou objectest to me as my shame , is my onely glory ; god forbid that i should glory save in the crosse of my lord jesus christ ; whereby the world is crucified unto me and i unto the world . ii. temptation , still thou hast ( upon all vocasions ) recourse to the scriptures as some divine oracles ; and think'st thou maist safely build thy soul upon every text of that written word , as inspired from heaven , whereas indeed this is nothing but an humane devise to keep men in awe , and never came neerer heaven , then the brains of those politicians that invented it , repelled . wicked spirit ; when thou presumedst personally to tempt my saviour ; and hadst that cursed mouth stopped by him , with an [ it is written ] thou daredst not then , to raise such a blasphemous suggestion against this word of truth : successe in wickednesse hath made thee more impudent ; and now , thou art bold to strike despitefully at the very root of religion : but know , that after all thy malicious detractions , this word shall stand , when heaven and earth shall vanish ; and is that , whereby both thou , and all thy complices shall be judged at that great day : it is not more sure that there is a god , then that this god ought to be served and worshipped by the creature : neither is it more sure that god is , then that he is most wise , most just , most holy ; this most wise just and holy god , then , requiring and expecting to be served , and worshipped by his creature , must of necessity have imparted his will to his creature , how , and in what manner he would be served , and what he would have man to believe concerning himselfe , and his proceedings ; else , man should be left to utter uncertainties , and there should be a failing of those ends , which the infinite wisdome , and justice , hath proposed to it selfe : there must be therefore some word of god , wherein he hath revealed himselfe to man ; and that this is , and must be acknowledged to be that onely word ▪ it is clear , and evident ; for that there neither was , nor is , nor can be any other word , that could , or durst stand in competition , or rivality with this word of the eternall god : and , if any other have presumed to offer a contestation , it hath soone vanished into contempt , and shame ; moreover , this is the only word , which god ownes for his ; under no lesse stile then [ thus saith the lord , ] which the son of god hath so acknowledged for the genuine word of his eternall father , as that out of it ( as such ) he hath pleased to refell both thy suggestions , and the malicious arguments of his iewish opposites . it drives wholly at the glory of god ; not sparing to disparage those very persons , whose pens are imployed in it ; in blazoning their owne infirmities in what they have offended ; which could not have been , if those pens had not been guided by an higher hand ; it discovers , and oppugnes the corruptions of nature , which to meer men are either hid ; or , if revealed , are cherished , and upheld ; it laies forth the misery , and danger of our estate under sin ; and the remedies , and means of our deliverance , which no other word hath ever pretended to undertake . besides , that there is such a majesty in the stile wherein it is written , as is unimitable by any humane author whatsoever ; the matter of it is wholly divine ; ayming altogether at purity of worship , and integrity of life ; not admitting of any the least mixture either of idolatry & superstition , or of any plausible enormities of life ; but unpartially laying forth gods judgements against these , and whatever other wickednesses . this word reveals those things which never could be known to the world by any humane skill or industry ; as the creation of the world , and the order and degrees of it ; and the course of gods administration of it , from the beginning ; thousands of years before any records of history were extant ; as it was onely the spirit of the most high god in daniel that could fetch back and give an account of a vision fore-passed ; all the soothsayers and magicians confesse this a work of no lesse then divine omniscience . and as for things future , the predictions of this word of things to be done after many hundreds , yea some thousands of years ( the events having then no pre-existence in their causes ) being accordingly accomplished , show it to proceed from an absolute unfailing , and therefore infinite prescience . and whereas there are two parts of this word ; the law , and the gospel : the law is more exact then humane braines can reach unto ; meeting with those aberrations , which the most wise and curious law-givers could not give order for ; extending it selfe to those very thoughts which nature knows not to accuse , or restrain ; the gospel is made good , as by the signes and wonders wrought in all the primitive ages ; so by the powerfull operation that it hath upon the soul ; such , as the word of the most prudent man on earth , or of the greatest angel in heaven should in vain hope to parallel : and whereas the pen-men of both these , were prophets , and apostles ; the prophets are sufficiently attested by the apostles , to be men holy , & inspired by the holy ghost ; the apostles are abundantly attested by the holy ghost powred out upon them in their pentecost , & ( besides variety of tongues ) enabling them to do such miraculous works , as astonished , & convinced their very enemies . to these may be added the perfect harmony of the law , & the gospel ; the law being a prefigured gospel , & the gospel a law consummate ; both of them lively setting forth christ the redeemer of the world , both future & exhibited . neither is it lightly to be esteemed , that this word hath been by holy men in all ages received as of sacred and divine authority ; men , whose lives and deaths have approved them eminent saints of god ; who have not only professed , but sealed with their bloud , this truth which they had learned from him that was rapt into the third heaven , that all scripture is given by inspiration of god ; a truth which cannot but be contested by their own hearts , which have sensibly found the power of this word , convincing them of sin ; working effectually in them a lively faith , and unfaigned conversion ; which no humane means could ever have effected . lastly , it is a strong evidence to my soule , that this is no other then the word of a god ; that i find it so eagerly opposed by thee , and all thy malignant instruments in all ages ; philosophers both naturall , and morall , and politique , have left large volumes behind them in their severall professions , all which are suffered to live in peace ; and to enjoy their opinions with freedome , and leave ; but , so soon as ever this sacred book of god looks forth into the world , hell is in an uproar , and raises all the forces of malice , and wit , and violence against it ; wherefore would it be thus , if there were not some more divine thing in these holy leaves , then in all the monuments of learned humanity : but the protection is yet more convictive then the opposition , that not withstanding all the machinations of the powers of darknesse this word is preserved intire ; that the simplicity of it , prevails against all worldly policy ; that the power of it subdues all nations , and triumphs over all the wickednesse of men and devils ; it is proof enough to me that the god of heaven is both the author , and owner and giver of it : shortly then , let my soul be built upon this rocky foundation of the prophets and apostles ; let thy storms rise , and thy flouds come , and thy winds blow , and beat upon it ; it shall mock at thy fury , and shall stand firme against all the rage of hell . iii. temptation , art thou so sottish to suffer thy understanding to be captivated to ( i know not what ) divine authority , proposing unto thee things contrary to sense and reason ; and therefore absurd , and impossible ? be thou no other then thy self , a man ; and follow the light and guidance of that which makes thee so , right reason ; and what soever disagrees from that , turn it off as no part of thy beliefe , to those superstitious bigots which are willing to lose their reason in their faith , and to bury their brains in their heart , repelled . wicked tempter , thou wishest me to my losse ; wo were to me if i were but a man ; and if i had no better guide to follow , then that which thou call'st reason ; it is from nature that i am a man ; it is from grace that i am a man regenerate ; nature holds forth to me as a man , the dim and weak rush-candle-light of carnall reason ; the grace of regeneration shows me the bright torch-light , yea , the sun of divine illumination ; thou bid'st me , as a man , to follow the light of reason ; god bids me as a regenerate man to follow the light of faith ; whether should i beleeve , whether should i listen to ? it is true , that reason is the great gift of my creator , and that which was intended to distinguish us from brute creatures ; but where is it in the originall purity to be found under heaven ? surely it can now appear to us in no other shape then either as corrupted by thy depravation , or by gods renovating grace restored ; as it is marred by thee , even naturall truths are too high for it ; as it is renued by god , it can apprehend and imbrace supernaturall verities : it is regenerate reason that i shall ever follow ; and that will teach me to subscribe to all those truths , which the un-erring spirit of the holy god hath revealed in his sacred word ; how ever contrary to the ratiocination of flesh , and bloud ; onely this is the right reason , which is illuminated by gods spirit , and willingly subjected to faith ; which represents to me those things , which thou suggestest to me for unreasonable and impossible , as not faisible only , but most certain . that in one deity there are three most glorious persons ; distinguished in their subsistences ; not divided in their substance ; that in one person of christ the mediator , there are two natures , divine and humane , not converted into each other ; not confounded each with other ; that the creator of all things should become a creature ; that a creature should be the mother of him that is her god ; how ever they be points which carnall reason can not put over , yet they are such , as reason illuminate and regenerate can both easily , and most comfortably digest : great is the mystery of godlinesse ; god manifested in the flesh : what mystery were there in godlinesse , if the deepest secrets of religion did lie open to the common apprehension of nature ? my saviour , who is truth it self , hath told me , that no man knoweth the father , but the son , and he to whom the son will reveal him ; and with the same breath gives thanks to his heavenly father , that he hath hid these things from the wise and prudent ( who were most likely , if reason might be the meet judge of spirituall matters , to attaine the perfect knowledge of them ) & hath revealed them to babes . it is therefore gods revelation , not the ratiocination of man that must give us light into these divine mysteries . were it a matter of humane disquisition , why did not those sages of nature , the learned philosophers of former times , reach unto it ? but now a more learned man then they , the great doctor of the gentiles , tels us , that the gospel and preaching of jesus christ yeelds forth the revelation of the mysteries , which was kept secret since the world began ; but now manifested by the scriptures of the prophets , and , according to the commandement of the everlasting god , made known to all nations , for the obedience of faith ; lo , he saith not to the obedience of reason , but of faith ; and that faith doth more transcend reason , then reason doth sense , thou urgest me therefore to be a man ; i professe my self to be a christian man ; it is reason that makes me a man , it is faith that makes me a christian ; the wise & bountifull god hath vouchsafed to hold forth four severall lights to men ; all which move in four severall orbes , one above another ; the light of sense , the light of reason , the light of faith , the light of ecstaticall , or divine vision ; and all of these are taken up with their own proper objects : sense is busied about these outward and materiall things ; reason is confined to things intelligible ; faith is imployed in matters spirituall and supernaturall ; divine vision in objects celestiall , and infinitely glorious ; none of these can exceed their bounds , and extend to a sphere above their owne ; what can the brute creature , which is led by meer sense , do , or apprehend in matters of understanding and discourse ? what can meer man who is led by reason , discerne in spirituall and supernaturall things ? what can the christian , who is led by faith , which is the evidence of things not seen attain unto in the clear vision of god , and heavenly glory ? that god , who is a god of order , hath determined due limits to all our powers , and faculties : thou that art a spirit of confusion goest about to disturb , and disorder all those just ranks ; labouring to jumble together those distinct orbes of reason , and faith ; and by the light of reason , to extinguish the light of faith ; & wouldst have us so to put on the man , as that we should put off the christian ; but i have learned in this case to defie thee ; grounding my self upon that word , which is mighty through god to the pulling down of strong holds ; casting downe imaginations , and every high thing , that exalts it selfe against the knowledge of god , and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ ; i will therefore follow my sense so far as that will lead me ; and not suffer my self to be beaten off from so sure a guide ; where my sense leaves me , i will betake my self to the direction of reason , and in all naturall & morall things , shall be willingly led by the guidance thereof ; but when it comes to supernaturall and divine truths ; when i have the word of a god , for my assurance , farewell reason , and welcome faith ; as when i shall have dispatcht this weary pilgrimage , and from a traveller shall come to be a comprehensor , farewel faith , & welcome vision . in the mean time i shall labour what i may to understand all revealed truths ; and where i cannot apprehend , i shall adore ; humbly submitting to that word of the great and holy god ; my thoughts are not your thoughts ; neither are your ways my ways , saith the lord ; for as the heavens are higher then the earth , so are my wayes higher then your wayes , and my thoughts , then your thoughts . iiii. temptation in how vaine and causelesse awe art thou held , of dangers threatned to thy soule ; and horrors of punishment after this life ; whereas these are nothing but politique bugs , to affright simple , and credulous men ? sin freely , man ; and feare nothing ; take full scope to thy pleasures ; after this life there is nothing ; the soule dyes together with the body , as in brute creatures ; there is no further reckoning to be made repelled . deceitfull spirit ; how thou goest about to perswade me to that , which thy selfe would be most loathe should be true ? for if the soule of man expired with the body , what subject shouldest thou have of that tyranny , and torment which thou so much affectest ? how willingly dost thou seem to fight against thy selfe , that thou mighrest overcome me ? but this dart of thine is too blunt to pierce even a rationall brest ; why dost thou not go about to perswade me that i am not a man , but a brute creature ? such i should be , if my soul were no other then theirs ; for as for bodily shape , there are of them not much unlike me : why dost thou not perswade me , that those brute creatures are men ; if their soules were as ours ; what were the difference ? canst thou hope i can so abdicate my self , as to put my selfe into the ranke of beasts ? canst thou think so to prevaile with thy suggestions , as to make reason it selfe turne irrationall ? how palpably dost thou confound thy selfe in this very act of temptation ? for , if i had not a soul beyond the condition of brute creatures , how am i capable of sinning ? why dost thou perswade me to that whereof my nature ( if but brutish ) can have no capacity ? dost thou labour to prevaile with thy temptations upon beasts ? dost thou importune their yeildance to sinfull motions ? if they had such a soul as mine , why should they not sin , as well as i ? why should they not be equally guilty ? contrarily , are those brute things capable of doing those works which may be pleasing unto god ; the performāce whereof thou so much envyest unto me ? can they desire and indeavour to be holy ? are they capable of making conscience of their waies ? know then , o thou wicked spirit , that i know my selfe animated with another , and more noble spirity , then these other materiall creatures ; and that i am sufficiently conscious of my own powers ; that i have an inmate in my bosome of a divine originall ; w ch , though it takes part with the body , whiles it is included in this case of clay ; yet , can and will ( when it is freed from this earth ) subsist alone , and be eternally happy in the present , and perpetuall vision of the god that made and redeem'd it : and in the meane time exerciseth such faculties , as well shew whence it is derived ; & farre transcend the possibility of all bodily temperament ? can it not compare one thing with another ? can it not deduce one sequel from another ? can it not attaine to the knowledg of the secrets of nature , of the perfection of arts ? can it not reach to the scanning of humane plots ; and the apprehension of divine mysteries ? yea , can it not judge of spirits ? how should it doe althis , if it were not a spirit ? how evidently then doth the present estate of my soul convince thee of the future ? al operations proceed from the formes of things ; and every thing works as it is ; canst thou now denye , that my soule whiles it is within me , can , and doth produce such actions , as have no derivation from the body , no dependence on the body ? for however in matter of sensation , it sees by the eyes , and heares by the eares , and imagines by those fantasmes that are represented unto it ; yet when it comes to the higher works of intellectuall elevations , how doth it leave the body below it ? raising to it selfe such notions , as wherein the body can challenge no interest ? how can it now denude and abstract the thing conceived from all consideration of quantity , quality , place ; and so work upon its owne object , as becomes an active spirit ? thou canst not be so impudent , as to say the body doth these things by the soule ; or that the soule doth them by the ayd & concurrence of the body ; and if the soule doth them alone , whiles it is thus clogged ; how much more operative shall it be when it is alone separated from this earthen lump ? and if the very voice of nature did not so sufficiently confute thee , that even thine owne most eminent heathens have herein taken part against thee , living and dying strong assertors of the soules immortality ; how fully might thine accursed mouth be stopped by the most sure words of divine truth ? yea , wert thou disposed to play at some smaller game , and by thy damnable clients to plead , not so much for the utter extinction , as for the dormition of the soule , those oracles of god have enough to charme thee , and them ; and can with one blow cut the throat of both those blasphemies : that penitent theefe , whose soule thou madest full account of , when he was led to his execution , ( which yet my dying saviour snatcht out of thy hands ) could hear comfortably from those blessed lips , this day thou shalt be with me in paradise : shal we think this malefactor in any other , in any better conditiō then the rest of gods saints ? doth not the chosen vessel tel us , that upon the dissolution of our earthly house ▪ of this tabernacle , we have a building of god not made with hands eternal in the heavens ? presently therfore after our flitting hence , we have a being , & that glorious ; who can think of a being in heaven without a ful sense of joy ? doth not our saviour tell us , that the soul of poor lazarus was immediately carried by angels into abrahams boome ? the damned glutton knew so wel that he was not layd there to sleep , that he sues to have him sēt on the message of his refrigeration : did not the beloved disciple , when he was in pathmos , upon the opening of the fifth feale , see under the altar the soules of them that were slaine for the word of god , and for the testimony which they held ? did he not heare them cry , how long lord , holy ▪ and true ? what ? shall wee think they cryed in their sleep ? did he not see and heare the hundred forty four thousand saints , before the throne , harping , and singing a new song to the praise of their god ? canst thou perswade us they made this heavenly musick in their sleep ? doth he not tell us most plainely from the mouth of one of the heavenly elders , that those which stood before the throne & the lamb , cloathed with white robes , and palmes in their hands , were they that came out of great tribulation , and have washed their robes , and made them white in the blood of the lamb ; therefore are they before the throne of god , and serve him day and night in his temple ; and he that sitteth on the throne shal dwell among them ; they shall hunger no more , neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them , nor any heat ; for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne , shall feed them , and shall lead them unto living fountaines , and god shall wipe away all teares from their eyes ; this service both day and night , and 〈◊〉 leading forth can suppose nothing lesse then a perpetuall waking ; neither is this the happy condition of holy martyrs and confessors only ; but is common to all the saints of god , in what ever profession ; blessed are the dead , which dye in the lord ; how should the dead be blessed , if they did not live to know themselves blessed ? what blessednesse can be incident into those that either are not at all , or are senselesse ? they rest , but sleepe not ; they rest from their labours , not from the improvement of their glorified faculties : their works followthē : yea and overtake them , in heaven ; to what purpose should their works follow the if they lived not to injoy the comfort of their works ? this is the estate of all good soules , in despight of all thine infernall powers ; and what becomes of the wicked ones , thou too well knowest ; dissemble thou how thou wilt those torments ; and hide the sight of that pit of horrour from the eyes ofthy sinfull followers ; he that hath the keyes of hell and of death hath given us intimation enough ; feare not them which kill the body , but are not able to kill the soule ; but rather feare him , who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell : neither is he more able out of his omnipotence , then willing out of his justice , to execute this righteous vengeance on the impenitent , and unbeleevers ; tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evill . in vaine therefore dost thou seek to delude me with these pretences of indemnity , and annihilation ; since it cannot but stand with the mercy , and justice of the almighty , to dispose of every soule according to what they have beene , and what they have done ; to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality , eternall life ; but unto them that are contentious , and doe not obey the truth , but obey unrighteousnesse indignation and wrath : shortly , after all thy devillish suggestions , on the one part , the soules of the righteous are in the hand of god , and there shall no torment touch them : on the other , in flaming fire shal vengeance be taken on them that know not god , and that obey not the gospell of our lord jesus christ : who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord , and from the glory of his power . v. temptation put case that the soule after the departure from the body may live ; but art thou so foolishly credulous , as to beleeve that thy body , after it is moldred into dust , and resolved into all its elements , having passed through al the degrees of putrefaction , and annihilation , shall at last returne to it selfe againe , and recover the former shape and substance ? dost thou not apprehend the impossibility of this so absurd assertion ? repelled . no , tempter , it is true and holy faith , which thou reproachest for fond credulity : had i to doe with no greater power then thine , or then any angels in heaven , that is , meerely finite ; i might well be censured for too light beleefe in giving my assent to so difficult a truth : but now that i have to doe with omnipotence ; it is no lesse then blasphemie in thee , to talk of impossibility : doe not thy very mahumetan vassals tell thee , that the same power which made man , can as well restore him ? and canst thou be other then apposed with the question of that jew , who asked whether it were more possible to make a mans body of water , or of earth ? all things are alike easie to an infinite power . it is true , the resuscitation of the body from its dust is a supernaturall work ; yet such as whereof god hath beene pleased to give us many images , and prefigurations even in nature it selfe ; in the face of the earth , doe we not see the image of death in winter season ; and in the spring of a cheerfull resurrection ? is not the life of all herbs , flowers , trees buried in the earth , during that whole dead season ? and doth it not rise up againe with the approching sun , into stemmes and branches ; and send forth blossomes , leaves , fruits , in all beautifull variety ? what need we any other then the apostles instance ; thou foole , that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die : and that which thou sowest , thou sowest not that body that shall be , but bare graine ; it may chance of wheat , or of some other graine ; but god giveth it a body as it pleaseth him , and to every seed his own body ; lo , it must be rottenesse and corruption that must make way for a flourishing increase : if i should come to a man that is ignorant of these fruitfull productions of the earth ; and shewing him a little naked grayne should tell him ; this which thou seest shall rot in the ground ; and after that , shall rise up a yard high , into divers stalkes , and every stalk shall beare an eare ; and every eare shall yeild twenty or thirty such graines as it selfe is ; or shewing him an akorne , should say ; this shal be buried in the earth , and after that , shall rise up twenty or thirty foot high ; and shall spread so far , as to give comfortable shade to an hundred persons ; surely , i should not win beleefe from him ; yet our experience daily makes good these ordinary proofes of the wonderful providence of the almighty ? or should i shew a man that is unacquainted with these great marvells of nature , the small seed of the silk-worme , lying scattered upon a paper , and seemingly dead , all winter long ; and should tell him , these little atomes , so soon as the mulberry tree puts forth , will yeild a worme ; which shall work it selfe into so rich a house , as the great princes of the earth shall be glad to shelter themselvs with & after that , shall turn to a large flye ; and in that shape , shall live to generate , & then speedily die ; i should seem to tell incredible things , yet this is so familiar to the experiēced that they cease t owōder at it . if from these vegetables we shall cast our eyes upon some sensitive creatures ; do we not see snayles , and flyes , & some birds lye as senslesse , and livelesse all the winter time , & yet , when the spring comes , they recover their wonted vivacity ? besides these resemblances , have we not many clear instances and examples of our resurrection ? did not the touch of elishaes bones raise up the partner of his grave ? was not lazarus called up out of his sepulcher after four daies possess●ion ; and many noysome degrees of rottenesse ? were not the graves opened of many bodies of the saints , w ch slept ? did not they arise , and come out of their graves , after my saviours resurrection , and go into the holy city , and appeare unto many ? besides examples , have we not an all sufficient pledg of our certaine rising againe , in the victorious refurrection of the lord of life ? is not he our head ? are not we his members ? is not he the first fruits of them that slept ? did not he conquer death for us ? can the head be alive and glorious , whiles the limmes doe utterly perish in a finall corruption ? certainely then , if we beleeve that iesus dyed & rose again ; even so them also which sleep in iesus , wil god bring with him . and if there were no more , that one argument wherewith my saviour of old confounded thy sadduces lives still to confound thee , god is the god of abraham , and the god of isaac , and the god of jacob ; but god is not the god of the dead , but of the living : the soule alone is not abraham ; whole abraham lives not if the body were not to be joyned to that soule . neither is it onely certain that the resurrection will be ; but also necessary that it must be : neither can the contrary consist with the infinite wisdome , goodnesse , justice , mercy of the almighty : for , first , how can it stand with the infinite goodnesse of the all-wise god , that the creature which he esteemes dearest , and loves best , should be the most miserable of all other ? man is doubtlesse the best piece of his earthly workmanship ; holy men are the best of men ; were there no resurrection , surely no creature under heaven were so miserable as the holiest man : the basest of brute creatures find a kind of contentment in their being , and ( were it not for the tyranny of man ) would live and dye at ease ; and others of them in what jollity and pleasure do they wear out their time ? as for wicked men who let the reynes loose to their licentious appetite , how doe they place their heaven here below , and glory in this that they are yet somewhere happy ? but for the mortifyed christian , were it not for the comfort and amends of a resurrection , who can expresse the miserie of his condition ? he beates down his body in the willing exercises of sharp austerity ; and ( as he would use some sturdy slave ) keeps it under , holding short the appetite ( oftentimes ) even from lawfull desires ; so as his whole life is little other then a perpetuall penance ; and as for his measure from others , how open doth he ly to the indignities , oppressions , persecutions of men ? how is he trampled upon , by scornful malignity ; how is he reputed the off-scouring of the world ? how is he made a gazing stock of reproch to the world , to angels , and to men ? did there not therefore abide for them the recompence of a better estate in another world , the earth could afford no match to them in perfect wretchednesse : which how far it abhorreth from that goodnesse which made all the world for his elect , and so loves them , that he gave his owne son for their redemption , let any enemy besides thine accursed selfe , judge : how can it stand with the infinite justice of god ( who dispenseth due rewards to good and evill ) to retribute them by halves ? the wages of sin is death , the gift of god is eternall life ; both these are given to the man not to the soule ; the body is copartner in the sin , it must therefore share in the torment ; it must therefore be raysed that it may be punished ; eternity of joy or paine , is awarded to the just , or to the sinner ; how can the body be capable of either if it should finally perish in the dust ? how can it stand with the infinite mercy of god , who hath given his sonne intirely for the ransome of the whole man , and by him salvation to every beleever , that he should shrink in his gracious performances , making good onely one part of his eternall word to the spirituall halfe , leaving the bodily part utterly forlorne to an absolute corruption ? know then , o thou wicked one , that when all the rabble of thine athenian scoffers , and atheous sadduces , and carnall epicureans shall have mis-spent all their spleene , my faith shall triumph over all their sensuall reason , and shall afford me sound comfort against all the terrors of death frō the firme assurance of my resurrection ; and shall confidently take up those precious words , which the mirror of patience wished to be written in a book , and graven with an iron pen in the rock for ever ; i know that my redeemer liveth , and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth : and though after my skin worms destroy this body , yet in my flesh shall i see god : and my soule shall set up her rest in that triumphant conclusion of the blessed apostle , this corruptible must put on incorruption ; and this mortall must put on immortality ; so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption , and this mortall shall have put on immortality , then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written , death is swallowed up in victory ? o death where is thy sting ? o grave , where is thy victory ? the sting of death is sin ; the strength of sin is the law ; but thanks be to god which giveth us the victory , through our lord jesus christ . vi. temptation if the soule must live ; and the body shall rise : yet what needest thou to affright thy selfe with the terrours of an universall judgement ? credulous soule , when shall these things be ? thou talkest of an awfull judge : but where is the promise of his comming ? these sixteene hundred yeares hath he beene lookt for : and yet he is not come , and when will he ? repelled . thy damned scoffers were betimes foreseene to move this question , even by that blessed apostle , whose eyes saw his saviour ascending up to his glory , and who then heard the angell say , ye men of galilee , why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? this same jesus , which is taken up from you into heaven , shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven . what dost thou and they but make good that sacred truth , which was delivered before so many hundred generations ? dissemble how thou wilt , that there shall be a generall assise of the world , thou knowest , and tremblest to know : what other couldst thou meane , when thou askedst my saviour that question of horror , art thou come to torment us before the time ? that time thou knowest to be the day , in which god will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance to all men , in that he hath raised him from the dead ; how clear attestation have the inspired prophets of god given of old to this truth ? the ancientest prophet that ever was , henoch the seventh from adam , in the time of the old world , foretels of this dreadful day ; behold , the lord commeth , with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgement upon all ; and to convince all that are ungodly among them , of all their ungodly deeds , which they have ungodly committed ; and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him ; from the old world is this verity deduced to the new , and through the succession of those holy seers derived to the blessed apostles ; and from them to the present generation ; yea , the sacred mouth of him , who shall come down , and sit as judge in this awfull tribunall , hath fully laid forth not the truth onely , but the manner of this universall judicature ; the sonne of man shall come in his glory , and all the holy angels with him ; then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory ; and before him shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall separate them one from another , as a shepheard divideth his sheep : and if this most sure word of the prophets , apostles , yea , and of the eternall son of god be not enough conviction to thee ; yet to my soul they are an abundant confirmation of this main point of my christian faith , that from heaven he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead ; indeed , thus it must be : how many condemned innocents have in the bitternesse of their souls , appealed from that unrighteous bar of men , to the supreame judge , that shall come ; those appeals are entred in heaven and sued out ; how can it stand with divine justice that they should not have a day of hearing ? as for mean oppressors , there are good laws to meet with them ; and there are higher then the highest to give life of execution to those lawes ; but if the greatest among men offend , if there were not an higher then they , what right would at last be done ? those that have the most power and will to doe the greatest mischiefe , would escape the fairest : and though there be a privy sessions in heaven upon every guilty soule , immediatly upon the dissolution ; yet the same justice , which will not admit publique offences to be passed over with a private satisfaction , thinks fit to exhibite a publique declaration of his righteous vengeance upon notorious sinners , before men and angels : so as those very bodies which have been ingaged in their wickednesse , shall be in the view of the whole world , sent downe to take part of their torment ; and indeed wherefore should those bodies be raised , if not with the intent of a further disposition either to joy , or paine ? contrarily , how can it consist with the praise of that infinite justice , that those poore saints of his , which have been vilified and condemned at every barre : persecuted , afflicted , tormented , and have passed through all manner of painful & ignominious deaths , should not at the last be gloriously righted in the face of their cruell enemies ? surely , faith the apostle , it is a righteous thing with god to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you ; and to you who are troubled rest with us , when the lord jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels . what is it , o thou wicked spirit , whereto thou art reserved in chaines of darknesse ? is it not the judgement of the great day ? what is it whereto the manifestation of all hidden truthes , and the accomplishment of all gods gracious promises are referred ? is it not the great day of the lord ? shall the all-wise and righteous arbiter of the world decree , and reverse ? hath he not from eternity determined , and set this day ; wherein we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ , that every one may receive the things done in his body ; according to that he hath done , whether it be good , or evill ? that there is therefore such a day of the lord ; in the which the heavens shall passe away with a great noyse , and the elements shall melt with fervent heate , the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up ; wherein the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , with the voice of the archangel , and with the trump of god , is no lesse certaine then that there is an heaven from whence he shall descend . all thy cavill is concerning the time ; thou , and thine are ready to say , with the evill servant in the gospell , my master defers his comming ; and was not this wicked suggestion of thine foretold many hundred yeares agoe , by the prime apostle , and by the same pen answered ? hath he not told thee that our computations of time are nothing to the infinite ? that one day with the lord , is as a thousand yeares , and a thousand yeares as one day ? hath he not told us , that this mis-construed slacknesse is in mans vaine opinion , not in gods performance ? he is slack to man that coms not when he is lookt for , he is really slack that comes not when he hath appointed to come ; had the lord broken the day which he hath set in his everlasting counsel , thou mightst have some pretence to cavill at his delay ; but now that he onely overstayes the time of our misgrounded expectation , ●he doth not slacken his pace , but correct our errour : it is true , that christians began to look for their saviour betimes ; insomuch , as the blessed apostles were fayne to perswade their eyes not to make such haste ; putting them in mind of those great occurrences of remarkable change , that must befall the church of god ( in a generall apostasie , & the revelation of the great antichrist ) before that great day of his appearance . and the prime apostle sends them to the last dayes ( which are ours ) for those scoffers , which shall say , where is the promise of his comming ? if they lookt for him too soon , we cannot expect him too late ; he that is amen , will be sure to be within his owne time ; when that comes , he that should come will come , and not tarry : in the meane while , not onely in the just observation of his owne eternall decree , but in much mercy , doth he prolong his returne , mercy to his elect , whose conversion he waits for , with infinite patience ; it is for their sake that the world stands ; the angel that was sent to destroy sodom could tell lot , that he could doe nothing till that righteous man were removed ; no sooner was lot entred into zoar , then sodome is on a flame : mercy , even to the wicked , that they may have ample leisure of repentance ; neither is it any small respect that the wise and holy god hath to the exercise of the faith , and hope , and patience of his deare servants upon earth ; faith in his promises , hope of his performances , and patience under his delayes ; whereof there could be no use in a speedy retribution . in vaine therefore dost thou , who fearest this glorious judge will come too soone , go about to perswade me , that he will not come at all : i beleeve , and know , by all the foregoing signes of his appearance that he is now even at the threshold ; lo , he commeth , he commeth for the consummation of thy torment , and my joy ; i expect him as my saviour , tremble thou at him as thy judge , who shall fully repay to thee al those blasphemies which thine accursed mouth hath dared to utter against him . vii . temptation if there must be a resurrection and a judgment ; yet god is not so rigid an exactor , as to call thee to account for every petty sin ; those great sessions are for hainous malefactors ; god is too mercifull to condemn thee for small offences ; be not thou too rigorous to thy self in denying to thy selfe the pleasure of some harmelesse sinnes . repelled . false tempter ; there is not the least of those harmelesse sinnes , which thou wilt not be ready to aggravate against me , one day , before the dreadfull tribunall of that infinite justice : those that are now small , will be then hainous ; and hardly capable of remission : thy suggestions are no meet measures of the degrees of sin : it is true that there are some sinnes more grievous then others ; there are faults , there are crimes , there are flagitious wickednesses ; if some offences be foule , others are horrible , and some others irremissible ; but that holy god , against whose onely majesty sin can be committed , hath taught me to call no sin , small : the violation of that law which is the rule of good , cannot but be evill ; and betwixt good and evill there can be no lesse then an in finite disproportion : it is no smal proofe of thy cunning , that thou hast suborned some of thy religious panders to proclaime some sinnes veniall , and such , as , in their very nature , merit pardon : neither thou , nor they , shall be casuists for me , who have heard my god say ; cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the law to doe them . sin must be greater , or lesse according to the value of the command , against which it is committed ; there is , ( as my saviour hath rated it ) a least commandement ; and there are mo points then one in that least command ; now the spirit of truth hath told me , that whosoever shall keepe the whole law , and yet offend in one point , he is guilty of all ; and shall he that is guilty of the breach of the whole law escape with such ease ? i am sure a greater saint then i can ever hope to be , hath said , if i sin , thou markest me , and wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity ; and , old eli , as indulgent as he was to his wicked sonnes , could tell them ; if one man sin against another , the judge shall judg him ; but if a man sin against the lord , who shall intreat for him ? what need is there , thou sayest , of any intreaty ? gods mercy is such that he will pardon thy sinnes unasked ; neither will he ever stick at small faults ; malignant spirit , how fain wouldst thou have gods mercy , and justice clash together ? but thou shalt as soon wind thy selfe out of the power of that justice , and put thy selfe into the capacity of that mercy , as thou shalt set the least jarre between that infinite justice and mercy ; it is true , it were wide with my soule , if there were any limits to that mercy ; that mercy can doe any thing but be unjust ; it can forgive a sinner , it cannot incourage him ; forgive him upon his penitence , when he hath sinned ; not incourage him in his resolution to sin : if thou lord shouldest marke iniquities , o lord , who shall stand ? but there is forgivenesse with thee that thou maist be feared . i know therefore whither to have my recourse , when i have offended my god ; even to that throne of grace where there is plenteous redemption ; free and full remission ; i heare the heavenly voice of him that saith , i , even i , am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake , and will not remember thy sins ; but , i dare not offend because his grace aboundeth : justly doth the psalmist make the use and effect of his mercy , to be our feare : we must feare him for his mercyes ; and for his judge ments , love him ; so far am i from giving my selfe leave to sin because i have to doe with a mercifull god ; as that his judgements have not so much power to drive me , as his mercies have to draw me from my dearest sinnes . as therefore my greatest sinnes are not too bigge for his mercy to remit , so my least sinnes are great enough to deserve his eternall displeasure . he that shal come to be judge at those great assises , hath told us , that even of eve ry idle word that men shal speak they shal give an acccount ; what can be sleighter then the wind of our words ? and what words more harmelesse then those which have no evill quality in them , though no good ? such are our idle words ; yet even those may not passe without an account ; and if our thoughts be yet lesse then they ; even those must so try us , as either to accuse or excuse us ; and , if evill , may condemne us : think not therefore to draw me into sin because it is little ; the wages of sin is death ; here is no stint of quantities ; if sin be the work , death is the wages ; perswade me now , if thou canst , that there is a little death for a little sin ; perswade me that there is a lesser infinitenesse ; and a shorter eternity : til the great judge of the world reverse his most just sentence , i shall looke upon every sin as my death , and hate thee for the cause of both . but as thy suggestion shall never move me to take liberty to my selfe of yeilding to the smallest sin ; so the greatnesse of my most hainous sin , shall not daunt me whiles i rely upon an infinite mercy ; even my bloodiest sinnes are expiated by the blood of my saviour ; that my all-sufficient surety hath cleared all my scores in heaven ; in him i stand fully discharged of all my debts ; and shall ( after all thy wicked temptations ) hold resolute , as not to commit the least sin , so not feare the greatest . viii . temptation what a vaine imagination is this , wherewith thou pleasest thy selfe , that thy sins are discharged in another mans person ; that anothers righteousnesse should be thine ; that thine offences should be satisfied by anothers punishment : tush , they abuse thee that perswade thee god is angry with mankind , which he loves , and favours ; or that his anger is appeased by the bloody satisfaction of a saviour ; that thou standest acquitted in heaven by that which another hath done and suffered : these are fancies not fit to find place in the heads of wise men repelled . nay rather , these are blasphemies not fit to fall from any but a malignant devill : what is this but to flatter man , that thou maist sclander god ? is not the anger of a just god deservedly kindled against man for sin ? do not our iniquities separate between us & our god ? do not our sins hide his face from us , that he will not hear ? are we not all by nature the childrē of wrath ? doth not the wrath of god come ( for sin ) upon the children of disobedience ? doth not every willing sinner ( after his hardnesse and impenitent heart ) teasure up unto himself lest he should not have enough wrath against the day of wrath , & the revelation of the just judgment of god ? why do not thy socinian clients go about to perswade us ( as wel ) that god is not angry with thee , though he torment thee perpetually ; and hold thee in everlasting chaynes under darknesse ? what proofes can we have of anger but the effects of displeasure ? was it not from hence that man was driven out of paradise ? was it not from hence that both he , and we in him , were adjudged to death ? as it is written , by one man sin entred into the world , and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men , for that all men have sinned : yea , not only to a temporal death , but , by the offence of one , judgment came upon all men to condemnation . thou who art the dreadfull executioner knowest too wel who it is that had the power of death ; over those who through the feare of death were all their lives long subject unto bondage . under this wofull captivity did we lye ; sold under sinne , vassals to it , and death , and thee ; till that one mediator between god and man , the man christ iesus was pleased to give himselfe a ransome for all ; that he might redeem us from all iniquity ; who by his owne blood entred in once into the holy place making an eternall redemption for us : lo , it is not doctrine , and example , it is no lesse then blood , the blood of the sonne of god shed for our redemption , that renders him a perfect mediator , and cleanseth us from all sin , he hath loved us , and hath given himself for us , an offering and a sacrifice to god for a sweet smelling savour : he hath redeemed us from the curse of the law ; from the power of darknes ; & hath reconciled us in the body of his flesh , through death to present us holy , unblameabl ; & unreproveable in his sight , he it is that bare our sins in his own body on the tree , that we being dead to sinnes , should live unto righteousnesse . so abundant and cleare testimony hath god beene pleased to give to the infinite merit , and efficacy of the bloody satisfaction of his sonne iesus made for us , that wert thou not as unmeasurably impudent as malicious , thou couldst not indeavour to out-face so manifest a truth : thinke not to beate mee off from this sure & saving hold by suggesting the improbability of anothers satisfaction , and obedience becomming mine ; what is more familiar then this ? our sins are debts , ( so my saviour hath styled them ) how commona a thing is it for debts to be set over to anothers hand ? how ordinary for a bond to be discharged by the surety ? if the debt then be paid for me , and that payment accepted of the creditor , as mine , how fully am i acquitted ? indeed , thou dost no other then sclander our title ; the righteousnesse wherby wee stand just before our god , is not meerly anothers ; it is by application ours ; it is christs ; and christ is ours ; he is our head , we , as members , are united to him ; and by vertue of this blessed union , partake of his perfect obedience , and satisfaction : it is true , were we strangers to a saviour , his righteousnesse could have no relation to us ; but now that wee are incorporated into him , by a lively faith , his graces , his merits are so ours , that all thy malice cannot sever them : i , even i who sinned in the first adam , have satisfied in the second : the first adams sinne was mine ; the second adam was made sin for me ; i made my selfe sinfull in the first adam , and in my selfe ; my christ is made to me of god righteousnesse and redemption : the curse was my inheritance ; christ hath redeemed me from the curse of the law ; being made a curse for me , that i might be made the righteousnesse of god in him . it is thy deep envy thus to grudg unto man , the mercy of that redemption , which was not extended to thy self ; but in despight of all thy snarling , and repining , wee are safe . being justified by faith , wee have peace with god through our lord iesus christ . ix . temptation how confidently thou buildest upon a promise ; and if thou have but a word for it , mak'st thy selfe sure of any blessing : whereas thou maist know , that many of those promises , which thou accountest sacred and divine , have shrunk in the performance ; how hath god promised deliverance to those that trust in him ; yet how many of his faithfullest servants have miscarried ? what liberall promises hath he made of provision for those that wait upon him ; yet how many of them have miserably perished in want ? repelled . blasphemous spirit ; that which is thine own guise thou art ever apt to impute unto the holy one of israel ; it is indeed thy manner to draw on thy clients with golden promises of life , wealth , honour , and to say ( as once to my saviour ) all these will i give thee , when thou neither mean'st , nor canst give any thing but misery and torment . as for my god , whom thou wickedly slanderest , his just title is , holy , and true : his promises are amen , as himself : thy balaam could let fall so much truth , that god is not a man that he should lie , nor the sonne of man that he should repent ; hath he said , and shall he not do it ; or hath he spoken , and shall he not make it good ? cast thine eyes back upon his dealings with his israel , a people unthankfull enough : and deny , if thou canst , how punctuall he was in all his proceedings with them ? heare old joshua , now towards his parting , professe : behold , this day i am going the way of all flesh , & ye know in your hearts , & in all your souls , that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the lord your god spake concerning you ; all are come to passe unto you , and not one thing hath failed therof ; heare the same truth attested many ages after by the wifest king ; blessed be the lord ( saith he ) that hath given rest unto his people israel , according to all that he promised : there hath not failed one word of all his good promise , which he promised by the hand of moses his servant . and lest thou shouldst cavil that perhaps god takes greater liberty to himself in matter of his promises under the gospel , then he formerly did under the law ; let me challenge thy malice to instance in any one absolute promise , which god hath made since the beginning of the world unto this day , which he hath failed to performe ; it is not , i grant , uneasie to name divers conditionate ingagements , both of favours , and judgements , wherein god hath been pleased to vary from his former intimations ; and such alteration doth ful-well consist with the infinite wisdome , mercy , and justice of the almighty , for where the condition required , is not performed by man , how just is it with god either to with-hold a favour , or to inflict a judgement ; or , where he sees that an outward blessing promised ( such a disposition of the soul as it may meet withall ) may turn to our prejudice , and to our spirituall losse , how is it other then mercy to withdraw it ? and in stead thereof to gratifie us with a greater blessing undesired ? in all which , even our own reason is able to justifie the almighty ; for can we think god should be so obliged to us , as to force favours upon us , when we will needs render our selves uncapable of them ? or so tied up to the punctuality of a promise , as that he may not exchange it for a better ? the former was eli's case who received this message from the man of god sent to him for that purpose : the lord god of israel saith , i said indeed that thy house , and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever ; but now the lord saith ; be it far from me ; for them that honour me i will honour , and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed . god meant the honour of the priesthood to the family of eli ; but what ? was it in so absolute termes , that how ever they dishonored god , yet god was bound to honour them ? all these promises of outward favours do never other then suppose an answerable capacity in the receiver ; like as the menaces of judgement ( how ever they sound ) do still intend the favourable exception of a timely prevention by a serious repentance . and though there be no expresse mention of such condition in the promises and threatnings of the almighty : yet it is enough that he hath once for all made knowne his holy intentions to this purpose by his prophet ; at what instant i shall speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdome to pluck up , and to pull down , and to destroy it ; if that nation against whom i have pronounced , turn from their evill ; i will repent of the evill that i thought to do unto them ; and , at what instant i shall speak concerning a nation , and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it ; if it do evill in my sight , that it obey not my voice , then i will repent of the good , wherewith i said i would benefit them . the message of hezekiah's death , and niniveh's destruction was , in the letter , absolute , but in the sense and intention , conditionate ; with such holy and just reservations are all the promises and threats of the almighty in these temporall regards ; whiles they alter therefore , he changeth not ; but for his spirituall ingagements , that word of his shall stand everlastingly , i will not suffer my faithfulnesse to faile ; my covenant will i not break , nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth : indeed this is the tentation , wherewith thou hast formerly set some prime saints of god , very hard : how doth the holy psalmist hereupon break out into a dangerous passion ? will the lord cast off for ever ? and will be favorable no more ? is his mercy clean gone for ever ? doth his promise faile for evermore ? hath god forgotten to be gracious ? hath he shut up his tender mercies in displeasure ? lo , the man was even falling , yet happily recovers his feet ; and i said , this is mine infirmity ; thine infirmity sure enough ( o asaph ) to make question of the veracity and unfailablenesse of the sure mercies , and promises of the god of truth : well was it for thee , that thy god , not taking advantage of thy weaknesse , puts forth his gracious hand , and staies thee with the seasonable consideration of the years of the right hand of the most high ; with the remembrance of the works of the lord , and of his wonders of old ; these were enough to teach thee the omnipotent power , the never-failing mercy of thy maker and redeemer . in no other plight through the impetuousnesse of this temptation was the man after gods owne heart , whiles he cried out ; i was greatly afflicted , i said in my haste all men are liers : the men that he mis-doubted were surely no other then gods prophets , w ch had foretold him his future prosperity , & peaceable setlement in the throne ; these ( upon the cross occurrences he met with ) is he ready to censure as lyers , and through their sides , what doth he but strike at him that sent them ? but the word was not spoke in more haste , then it was retracted ; i believed , therefore i spake ; and then sense of mercies doth so overtake the sense of his sufferings , that now he takes more care what to retribute to god for his bounty , then he did before how to receive it , & pitches himselfe upon that firme ground of all comfort , oh lord , truly i am thy servant ; i am thy servant , and the son of thy handmaid ; thou hast loosed my bonds . here shall i stay my soul against all thy suggestions of distrust , o thou malicious enemy of mankind ; building my self upon that steddy rock of israel , whose word is , i am jehovah , i change not . thou tel'st me of deliverances promised , yet ending in utter mis-carriages ; of provisions vanished into want : why dost thou not tell me that even good men die ? these promises of earthly favours to the godly declare to us the ordinary course , that god pleaseth to hold in the dispensation of his blessings : which he so ordereth , as that generally they are the lot of his faithfull ones , for the incouragement and reward of their services ; and contrarily his judgements befall his enemies , in part of payment ; but yet the great god , who is a most free agent , holds fit to leave himselfe at such liberty , as that sometimes for his own most holy purposes , hee may change the scene : which yet he never doth , but to the advantage of his owne ; so as the oppressions & wrongs which are done to them , turn favours ; the hermite in the story could thank the thiefe that rob'd him of his provision , for that he helpt him so much the sooner to his journies end ; and indeed , if being stripped of our earthly goods , we be stored with spirituall riches ; if whiles the outward man perisheth , the inward man be renewed in us ; if for a little bootlesse honour here , we be advanced to an immortall glory ; if we have exchanged a short and miserable life , for a life eternally blessed ; finally if we lose earth , and win heaven , what cause have we to be other then thankfull ? whereto we have reason to adde , that in all these gracious promises of temporall mercies , there is ever to be understood the exception of expedient castigation , and the meet portage of the crosse ; which were it not to be supplied , gods children should want one of the greatest proofs of his fatherly love towards them : which they can read even written in their own bloud ; and can blesse god in killing them for a present blessednesse . so as after all thy malice , gods promises are holy , his performances certain , his judgments just , his servants happy . x. temptation thou art more nice then needs ; your preachers are too strait-laced in their opinions , and make the way to heaven narrower then god ever meant it ; tush , man , thou maist be saved in any religion : is it likely that god will be so cruell , as to cast away all the world of men in the severall varieties of their professions , and save only one poor handfull of reformed christians ? away with these scruples ; a generall belief , and a good meaning will serve to bring thee to heaven , without these busie disquisitions of the articles of faith . repelled . it is not for good that thou makest such liberall tenders to my soule ; thou well know'st how ready mans nature is to lay hold on any just liberty that may be allowed him ; and how repiningly it stoops to a restraint ; but this which thou craftily suggestest to mee ( wicked spirit ) is not liberty , it is licentiousnesse : thou tell'st me the way to heaven is as wide as the world ; but the spirit of truth hath taught me , that strait is the gate , and narrow is the way , that leadeth unto life , and few there be that find it : i know there is but one truth , and one life , and one way to that life ; and i know who it was that said , i am the way , the truth , and the life . he who is one of these , is all ; my saviour who is life , the end of that way , is likewise the way that leads unto that end ; neither is there any way to heaven but he ; all that is besides him , is by-pathes and errour ; and if any teacher shall enlarge , or straiten this way christ , let him be accursed . and if any teacher shall presume to chalk out any other way then christ , let him be accursed ; tell not me therefore of the multitudes of men , and varieties of religions that there are in the world ; if there were as many worlds as men , and every of those men in those worlds , were severed in religion ; yet , i tell thee , there is but one heaven , and but one gate to that heaven , and but one way to that gate ; and that one gate , and way , is christ ; without whom therefore there can be no entrance . it is thy blasphemy to charge cruelty upon god , if he do not ( that , whereof thou wouldst most complaine , as the greatest loser ) set heaven open on all sides to whatsoever commers : even that god and saviours which possesseth and disposeth it , hath told us of a strait gate , and a narrow way ; and few passagers . in vaine dost thou move me to affect to be more charitable then my redeemer : he best knows what he hath to do with that mankind , for whom he hath paid so dear a price ; yet , to stop thy wicked mouth ; that way , which in comparison of the broad world is narrow , in it selfe ▪ hath a comfortable latitude ; christ extendeth himselfe largely to a world of believers : this way lies open to all ; no nation , no person under heaven is excluded from walking in it ; yea all are invited by the voice of the gospel to tread in it : and whosoever walks in it with a right foot , is accepted to salvation . how far it may please my saviour to cōmunicate himselfe to men , in an implicite way of beliefe ; and what place those generall and involved apprehensions of the redeemer may find for mercy , at the hands of god , he only knows that shall judge : this i am sure of , that without this saviour , there can be no salvation ; that in every nation he that feareth god , and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him ; that he that hath the son , hath life , and he that hath not the son hath not life . as therefore we do justly abhor that wild scope of all religions , which thou suggestest ; so we do willingly admit a large scope in one true religion ; so large as the author of it hath thought good to allow : for we have not to do with a god that stands upon curiosities of beliefe ; or that , upon pain of damnation , requires of every believer an exquisite perfection of judgment , concerning every capillar veyne of theologicall truth ; it is enough for him if we be right for the main substance of the body ; he doth not , call rigorously for every stone in the battlements , it sufficeth , for the capacity of our salvation if the foundation be hold in tire : it is thy sclander therefore that wee confine truth ; and blessednesse to a corner of reformed . christians ▪ no ; wee seek and find it every where , where god hath a church and gods church we know to be universall : let them be abassines , cophties , armeniant , georgians , jacobites , or what ever names either sclander , or distinction hath put upon them ; if they hold the foundation firme ( howsoever disgracefully built upon with wood , hay , stubble ) wee hold them christs , we hold them ours . hence it is , that the new jerusalem is for her beauty , and uniformity set forth with 12 precious gates , ( though for use and substance , one ) for that from all coasts of heaven there is free accesse to the church of christ , and in him to life and glory . he who is the truth and the life hath said , this is eternall life to know thee , and him whom thou hast sent . this knowledge which is our way to life , is not alike at tained of all ; fome have greater light , and deeper insight into it then others , that mercy which accepts of the least degree or the true apprehension of christ , hath not promised to dispense with the wilfull neglect of those who might know him more clearly , more exactly : let those carelesse soules , therefore , which stand indifferent betwixt life and death , upon thy perswasion , content themselves with good meanings , and generalities of beliefe , but for me i shall labour to furnish my self with all requisite truths ; and above all shall aspire towards the excellency of the knowledge of my lord jesus christ ; that i may know him , and the power of his resurrection , and the fellowship of his sufferings . temptations repelled . the second decade . temptations of discouragement . ii. decade . i. temptation were it for some few sins of ignorance , or infirmity , thou might'st hope to find place for mercy ; but thy sins are , as for multitude innumerable , so ; for quality , haynous , presumptuous , unpardonable : with what face canst thou look up to heaven and expect remission from a just god ? repelled . even with the face of an humble penitent , justly confounded in himself , in the sense of his owne vilenesse , but awfully confident in a promised mercy : malicious tempter ; how like thou art to thy selfe ? when thou wouldst draw me on to my sins ; then , how small , sleight , harmlesse , plausible they were ? now thou hast fetch 't me in , to the guilt of those foule offences , they are no lesse then deadly and irremissible . may i but keep within the verge of mercy , thou canst not more aggravate my wickednesse against me , thē i do against my selfe ; thou canst not be more ready to accuse , then i to judge and condemn my selfe ; oh me , the wretchedest of all creatures , how do i hate my selfe for mine abominable sins ; done with so high a hand , against such a majesty , after such light of knowledge , such enforcements of warning , such indearments of mercy , such reluctations of spirit , such check of conscience ; what lesse then hell have i deserved from that infinite justice ? thou canst not write more bitter things against me , then i can plead against my owne soule ; but when thou hast cast up all thy venome ; and when i have passed the heaviest sentence against my selfe , i , who am in my selfe utterly lost , and forfeited to eternall death , in despight of the gates of hell shall live , and am safe , in my almighty , and ever-blessed saviour who hath conquered death and hell for me . set thou me against my selfe ; i shall set my saviour against thee ; urge thou my debts , i show his full acquittance : sue thou my bonds , i shall exhibit them cancell'd , and nayled to his crosse : presse thou my horrible crimes , i plead a pardon sealed in heaven : thou tell'st me of the multitude , and hainousnesse of my sins , i tell thee of an infinite mercy ; and what are numbers and magnitudes to the infinite ? to an illimited power what difference is there betwixt a mountaine and an ant-heape ? betwixt one and a million ? were my sins a thousand times more and worse then they are , there is worth abundantly enough in every drop of that precious blood which was shed for my redemption , to expiate them : know , o tempter , that i have to doe with a mercy which can die my scarlet sins , white as snow ; & make my crimson , as wooll ; whose grace is so boundlesse , that if thou thy selfe hadst , upon thy fall , been capable of repentance , thou hadst not everlastingly perished ; the lord is gracious , and full of compassion , slow to anger , and of great mercy ; the lord is good to all ; and his tender mercies are over all his works ; and if there be a sin of man unpardonable , it is not for the insufficiency of grace to forgive it , but for the incapacity of the subject that should receive remissision . thou feel'st to thy paine , and losse , wherefore it was that the eternall sonne of god , jesus christ , came into the world ; even to save sinners ! and if my owne heart shall conspire with thee to accuse me as the chiefe of those sinners , my repentance gives me so much the more claim , and interest in his blessed redemption : let me be the most laden with the chaines of my captivity , so i may have the greatest share in that all-sufficient ransome . and if thou who art the true fiery serpent in this miserable wildernesse , hast by sin stung my soul to death ; let me ( as i do ) with penitent and faithfull eyes but look up to that brazen serpent which is lift up far above all heavens , thy poyson cannot kill , cannot hurt me . it is the word of eternall truth , which cannot faile us , if we confesse our sins , he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins , and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse . lo , here , not mercy only , but justice on my side ; the spirit of god saith not only , if we confesse our sins , he is mercifull to forgive our sins , as he elswhere speaks by the pen of salomon : but more ; he is faithfull and just to forgive our sins ; our weaknesse and ignorance is wont to flie from the justice of our god , unto his mercy ; what can we feare , when his very justice yeilds remission ? that justice relates to his gracious promise of pardon to the penitent ; whiles i do truly repent therefore , his very justice necessarily infers mercy , and that mercy forgivenesse : think not therefore , o thou malicious spirit , to affright me with the mention of divine justice ; wo were me if god were not as just , as mercifull ; yea if he were not therefore mercifull because he is just ; mercifull in giving me repentance , just in vouchsafing me the promised mercy and forgivenesse , upon the repentance which he hath given me . after all thy hainous exaggerations of my guilt , it is not the quality of the sin , but the disposition of the sinner that damns the soule ; if we compare the offensive acts of a david , and a saul , it is not easie to judge whether were more foul ; thou which stirred'st them up both to those odious sinnes , madest account of an equall advantage against both ; but thine ayme failed thee ; the humble and true penitence of the one saved him out of thy hands , the obdurednesse , and false-heartednesse of the other gave him up , as a prey to thy malice ; it is enough for me that though i had not the grace to avoid my sinnes , yet i have the grace to hate and bewaile them ; that good spirit which thought not good to restraine me from sinning , hath beene graciously pleased to humble me for sinning . yea such is the infinite goodnesse of my god to my poor soule , that those sins which thou hast drawn me into , with an intent of my utmost prejudice , and damnation , are happily turned , through his grace , unto my greatest advantage ; for had it not been for these my sinfull miscarriages , had i ever attained to so cleare a sight of my owne frailty and wretchednesse ? so deep a contrition of soule ? so reall experience of temptation ? so hearty a detestation of sin ? such tendernesse of heart ? such awe of offending ? so fervent zeale of obedience ? so sweet a sense of mercy ? so thankfull a recognition of deliverance ? what hast thou now gained , o thou wicked spirit , by thy prevalent temptations ? what trophees hast thou cause to erect for thy victory and my soyle ? couldst thou have won me to a trade of sinning , to a resolution in evill , to a pleasure as in the commission , so in the memory of my sin , to a glorying in wickednesse , & then mightst have taken the advantage of snatching mee away in a state of unrepentance , thou mightst have had just cause to triumph in thy prey ; but now , that it hath pleased my god to shew me so much mercy , as to check me in my evill way , to work in me an abhorring of my sin , and of my selfe for it , and to pull me out of thy clutches , by a true and seasonable repentance , thou hast lost a soule , and i have found a saviour ; thou maist upbraid me with the foulnesse of my sins , i shall blesse god for their improvement . ii. temptation alas , poore man , how willing thou art to make thy selfe believe that thou hast truly repented ; whereas this is nothing but some dump of melancholy ; or some relenting of nature after too much expence of spirits ; or some irksome discontentment after a satiety and wearinesse of pleasure , or some slavish shrinking in upon the expectation of a lash ; true penitence is a spirituall business , an effect of that grace which was never incident into thy bosome repelled . malicious tempter , it is my no small happinesse that thou art not admitted to keep the key of my heart , or to look into my brest , to see what is in my bosome ; and therefore thou canst not , out of knowledge , passe any censure of my inward dispositions ; onely wilt be sure to suggest the worst ; which the falser it is , the better doth it become the father of lies ; but that good spirit which hath wrought true repentance in my heart , witnesseth , together with my heart , the truth of my repentance . canst thou hope to perswade me , that i do belie , or mis-know my own grief ? do not i feele this heart of mine bleed with a true inward remorse for my sinnes ? have i not poured out many hearty sighs , and tears for mine offences ? do i not ever looke backe upon them with a vehement loathing and detestation ? have i not with much anguish of soule confessed them before the face of that god whom i have provoked ? think not now to choak me with a cain , or saul , or judas , which did more , and repented not ; & to fasten upon me a worldly sorrow that worketh death ; no wicked one , after all thy depravations , this grief of mine looks with a farre other face then theirs , and is no other then a godly sorrow working repentance to salvation , not to be repented of ; theirs was out of the horror of punishment , mine out of the sense of displeasure ; their 's for the doom and execution of a severe judge , mine for the frownes of an offended father ; theirs attended with a wofull despaire , mine with a weeping confidence ; their 's a preface to hell , mine an introduction to salvation . and since thou wilt needs disparage , and mis-call this godly disposition of mine ; lo , i challenge this envie of thine to call it to the test , and to examine it thoroughly whether it agree not with those unfayling rules of the sympcomes and effects of the sorrow , which is according to god : hath not here been a true carefulnesse ; as to be freed and acquitted from the present guilt of my sin ; so to keep my soul unspotted for the future ; both to work my peace with my god , and to 〈◊〉 it ? hath not my heard earnestly ▪ laboured to cleare it selfe before god ▪ not with shuffling excuses , and flattering mitigations ; but by humble and syncere confessions of my owne vilenesse ? hath not my brest swell'd up with an angry indignation at my sinfull mis-carriages ? have i not seriously rated my selfe , for giving way to thy wicked temptations ? have i not trembled , not only at the apprehension of my owne danger by sin , but at the very suggestion of the like offence ? have i not been kept in awe with the jealous feares of my miserable frailties , lest i should be againe ensnared in thy mischievous ginnes ? have i not felt in my selfe a servent desire above all things to stand right , in the recovered favour of my god ; and to be strengthned in the inner man with a further increase of grace ; for the preventing of future sins ; and giving more glory to my god , and saviour ? hath not my heart within me burn'd with so much more zeale to the honour and service of that majesty which i have offended , as i have more dishonoured him by my offence ? hath it not been inflamed with just displeasure at my selfe , and all the instruments & means of my mis-leading ? lastly , have i not falne foule upon my selfe for so easie a seduction ? have i not chastised my self with sharp reproofs ▪ have i not held my appetite short , and upon these very grounds punished it with a deniall of lawfull contentments ? have i not thereupon tasked my selfe with the harder duties of obedience ▪ and doe i not now resolve , and carefully indeavour to walke conscionably in all the wayes of god ; maligne therefore how thou wilt , my repentance stands firme against all thy detractions , and is not more impugned by thee on earth , then it is accepted in heaven . iii. temptation thou hast small reason to bear thy self upon thy repentance ; it is too slight ; seconded with too many relapses , too late , to yeild any true comfort to thy soule repelled . nor thus can i be discouraged by thee , malicious spirit ; the mercy of my god hath not ●et any stint to the allowed measure of repentance ; where hath he ever said ; thus farre shall thy penitence come , else it shall not be accepted ? it is truth that he calls for , not measure ; that happy thief , whom my dying saviour rescued out of thy hands , gave no other proofe of his repentance , but , we are justly here ; and receive due reward of our deeds ; yet was admitted to attend his redeemer from his crosse to his paradise . neither do we heare any words from penitent david after his foule crimes , but , i have sinned , not that any true penitent can be afraid of too much compunction of heart ; and is ready to dry up his teares too soone ; rather pleasing himselfe with the continuance and paine of his own smart ; but that our indulgent father , who takes no pleasure in our misery , is apt to wipe away the teares from our eyes , contenting himself only w th the syncernesse , not the extremity of our contrition : thy malice is altogether for extreams ; either a wild security , or an utter desperation ; that holy and mercifull spirit , who is a professed lover of mankind , is ever for the meane ; so hating our carelesnesse that he will not suffer us to want the exercises of a due humiliation ; so abhorring despaire , that he abides not to have us driven to the brinke of that fearfull precipice . as for my repentance , therefore it is enough for me that it is sound , and serious for the substance ; yet , withall , ( thanks be to that good spirit that wrought it ) it is graciously approveable even for the measure ; i have heartily mourned for my sinnes , though i pined not away with sorrow ; i have broken my sleep for them , though i have not watered my couch with my teares ; and , next to thy selfe , i have hated them most : i have beaten my brest , though i have not rent my heart ; and what would i not have done , or given that i had not sinned ? tell not me that some worldly crosses have gone nearer to my heart , then my sins ; and that i have spent more teares upon the losse of a sonne , then the displeasure of my heavenly father ; the father of mercies will not measure our repentance by these crooked lines of thine ; he knows the flesh and bloud we are made of ; and therefore expects not we should have so quick a sense of our spirituall , as of our bodily affliction ; it contents him that we set a valuation of his favour , above all earthly things ; and esteeme his offence the greatest of all evils that can befall us : and of this judgement and affection it is not in thy power to bereave my soule . as for my relapses ; i confesse them with sorrow and shame : i know their danger ; and ( had i not to do with an infinite mercy ) their deadlinesse : yet after all my confusion of face , and thine enforcement of justice , my soul is safe ; for upon those perilous recidivations my hearty repentance hath made my peace ; the long-suffering god , whom i have offended , hath set no limits to his remission : after ten miraculous signes in egypt , his israel tempted him no lesse then ten times in the wildernesse , yet his mercy forbore them : not rewarding their reiterated sin with deserved vengeance ; hath not that gracious saviour of mankind charged us to forgive our offending brother no lesse then seventy times seven times ? and what proportion is there between our mercy , and his ? could'st thou charge mee with incouraging my selfe to continue my sin upon this presumption of pardon , thou hadst cause to boast of the advantage , but now that my remorse hath been syncere , and my falls weak , my god will not with-hold mercy from his penitent ; that hath not only confessed but forsaken his sin . as for the late season of my repentance , i confesse i have highly wronged and hazarded my soule in the delay of so often required , and so often purposed a worke ; and given thee faire advantages against my selfe , by so dangerous a neglect ; but blessed be my god that he suffer'd not these advantages to be taken ; i had been utterly lost , if thou hadst surprized me in my impenitence : but now , i can look back upon my perill well passed , and defie thy malice : no time can be prejudiciall to the king of heaven ; no season can be any barre either to our conversion , or his mercifull acceptance : it is true , that latenesse gives shrewd suspitions of the truth of repentance ; but where our repentance is true , it cannot come too late . object this to some formall soules , that having lavisht out the whole course of their lives in wilfull sensuality & profanenesse , thinke to make an abundant amends for all , on their death-beds with a fashionable , lord have mercy ; these whom thou hast mockt and drawn on with a stupid security all their days , may well be upbraided by thee , with the irrecoverable delay of what they have not grace to seek ; but that soule which is truly touched with the sense of his sin ; and in an humble contrition makes his addresse to god , and interposes christ betwixt god and it selfe , is in vain scarred with delay ; and finds that his god makes no difference of houres . do i not see the prodigall in the gospel , after he had run himselfe quite out of breath & means , yet at the last cast , returning , and accepted ▪ i do not hear his father austerely say , nay , unthrift , hadst thou come whiles thou hadst some bags left , i should have welcomed thy returne as an argument of some grace , and love : but now that thou hast spent all ; and necessity , not affection drives thee home , keep off , and starve ; but the good old man runs , and meets him ; and falls on his neck and kisses him , and calls for the best robe , and the fatted calfe : thus , thus deals our heavenly father with us wretched sinners ; if after all refuges vainly sought , and all gracious opportunities carelesly neglected , we shall yet have sincere recourse to his infinite mercy the best things in heaven shall not be too good for us . iv. temptation tush ! what doest thou please thy selfe with these vaine thoughts ? if god cared for thee couldst thou be thus miserable ? repelled . away thou lying spirit ; i am afflicted ; but it is not in thy power to make me miserable : and did i yet smart much more , wouldst thou perswade me to measure the favour of my god by these outward events ? hath not the spirit of truth taught me that in these externall matters , all things come alike to all ; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked ; to the good and cleane , and to the uncleane ; to him that sacrificeth , and to him that sacrificeth not ; as is the good , so is the sinner ; & he that sweareth , as he that feareth an oath : but if there were any judgement to be passed upon these grounds , the advantage is mine ; i smart , yea i bleed under the hand of my heavenly father ; whom the lord loveth he chasteneth ; and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth : lo , there cannot e so much paine in the stripes , as there is comfort in the love of him that layes them on ; he were not my father if he whip't me not ; truth hath said it , if ye be without chastisements , ye are bastards , and not sonnes : he cannot but love me , whiles he is my father : and let him fetch bloud on me , so he love me : after all thy malice , let me be a bleeding son to such a father ; whiles thy base-borne children enjoy their ease . impudent tempter , how canst thou from my sufferings argue gods disfavour , when thou knowest that he whom god loved best , suffered most ? the eternall sonne of his love , that could truly say , i and the father are one , indured more from the hand of that his heavenly father then all the whole world of mankind was capable to suffer ▪ surely he hath borne our griefs , and carried our sorrows ; he was wounded for oue transgressions , he was bruised for our iniquities ▪ the chastisements of our peace were upon him ▪ the lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all . what poore flea bitings are these that i am afflicted with ▪ in respect of those torments which the sonne of god under went for me ? thou that sawest the bloudy sweat of his agony , the cruell tortures of his crucifixion , the pangs of worse then death , the sense of his fathers wrath & our curse , dost thou move me , whom he hath bought with so dear a price , to murmur , and recoyle upon divine providence for a petty affliction ? besides , this is the load which my blessed saviour hath with his owne hands laid upon my shoulders ; if any man will come after me , let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse daily , and follow me . lo , every crosse is not christs ; each man hath a crosse of his owne , and this crosse he may not think to tread upon , but he must take up ; and not once perhaps in his life , but daily , and with that weight on his neck he must follow the lord of life , not to his tabor only , but to his golgotha : and thus following him on earth , he shall surely overtake him in heaven ; for if we suffer with him , we shall also reigne with him ▪ it is still thy policy , o thou envious spirit , to fill mine eyes with the crosse , and to represent nothing to my thoughts , but the horror and paine of suffering , that so thou may'st drive me to a languishing dejectednesse of spirit , and despaire of mercy ; but my god hath raised and directed mine eyes to a better prospect , quite beyond thine , which is a crowne of glory . i see that ready to be set upon my head after my strife , and victory , which were more then enough to make amends for an hell upon earth : in vaine should i hope to obtaine it without a conflict ; how should i overcome if i strive not ? these struglings are the way to a conquest ; after all these assaults the foyle shall bee thine , and mine shall be the glory and triumph ; the god of truth hath said it : be faithfull to the death , and i will give thee a crown of life . thine advantage lies in the way , mine in the end ; the way of affliction is rugged , deep , stiffe , dangerous ; the end is faire , and greene , and strewed with flowers ; no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous , but grievous ; neverthelesse afterwards , it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby . what if i be in paine here for a while ? the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us . it is thy maliciousnesse that would make the affliction of my body the bane of my soule : but if the fault be not mine , that which thou intendest for a poyson shall prove a cordiall : let patience have her perfect work , and i am happy in my sufferings : for our light affliction , which is but for a moment , worketh for us a farre more exceeding , and eternall weight of glory ▪ lo ; it doth not only admir of glory , but works it for us ; so as we are infinitely more beholden to our paine , then to our ease ; and have reason not onely to be well apayd , but to rejoyce in tribulations ; knowing , that tribulation worketh patience , and patience experience , & experience hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed . tell mee if thou canst , which of those saints that are now shining bright in their heaven , hath got thither un-afflicted ? how many of those blessed ones have indured more , then my god wil allow thee to inflict upon my weaknesse ? some more , and some lesse sorrowes ; all some , yea many : so true is that word of the chosen vessell , that through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdome of god. by this then i see that i am in my right way to that blessednesse i am travelling towards ; did i find my self in the smooth , pleasant and flowry path of carnall ease and contentment ; i should have just reason to think my selfe quite out of that happy road ; now i know i am going directly towards my home ; the abiding city which is above ; so far therefore are my sufferings from arguing me miserable , that i could not be happy if i suffered not . v. temptation foolish man , how vainly dost thou flatter thy selfe in calling that a chastisement , which god intends for a judgment ; in mistaking that for a rod of fatherly correction , which god laies on as a scourge of just anger , and punishment . repelled . it is thy maliciousnesse , o thou wicked spirit , ever to mis-interpret gods actions ; and to sclander the footsteps of the almighty ; but notwithstanding all thy mischievous suggestions , i can read mercy , and favour in my affliction ; neither shall it be in the power of thy temptation to put me out of this just construction of my sufferings ; for , what ? is it the measure of my smart that should argue gods displeasure ? how many of gods dearlings on earth have indured more ? what say'st thou to the man , with whom the almighty did once challenge and foyle thee , the great patterne of patience ; was not his calamity as much beyond mine , as my graces are short of his ? dost thou not heare the man after gods owne heart say , lord , remember david and all his troubles ? dost thou not hear the chosen vessell who was rapt up into the third heaven , complaine , we are troubled on every side , yet not distressed ; perplexed , but not in despaire ; persecuted , but not forsaken ; cast downe , but not destroyed . of the jewes five times received i forty stripes save one ; thrice was i beaten with rods ; once was i stoned ; thrice i suffered shipwrack , a night and a day i have been in the deep ; in journying often , in perils of waters , in perils of robbers , in perils by my owne countrymen , in perils by the heathen , &c. in wearinesse and painfulnesse , in watchings often , in hunger and thirst , in fastings often , in cold and nakednesse ; yea which was worse then all these , dost thou not heare him say , there was given to me a thorne in the flesh , the messenger of satan to buffet me ? dost thou not too well know ( for thou wert the maine actor in those wofull tragedies ) what cruell torments the blessed martyrs of god in all ages have undergone for their holy profession ? none upon earth ever found gods hand so heavy upon them , none upon earth were so dear to heaven ; the sharpnesse therefore of my pangs can be no proofe of the displeasure of my god ; yea contrarily , this visitation of mine ( what ever thou suggestest ) is in much love and mercy : had my god let me loose to my owne waies , and suffered me to run on carelesly in a course of sinning without check , or controll , this had been a manifest argument of an high and hainous displeasure : god is grievously angry when he punishes sinners with prosperity ; for this shows them reserved to a fearfull damnation ; but whom he reclaims from evil by a severe correction , those he loves , there cannot be a greater favour then those saving stripes ; when wee are judged , we are chastened of the lord that we should not be condemned with the world . besides , the manner of the infliction speaks nothing but mercy ; for , what a gentle hand doth my god lay upon me ? as if he said , i must correct thee , but i will not hurt thee ; what gracious respites are here ; what favourable inter-spirations ; as if god bade me to recollect my selfe ; and invited me to meet him by a seasonable humiliation ; this is not the fashion of anger and enmity ; which ayming only at destruction , indevours to surprise the adversary , and to hurry him to a sudden execution . neither is it a meer affliction that can evince either love or hatred ; all is in the attendants , and entertainment of afflictions ; where god means favour , he gives together with the crosse an humble heart , a meek spirit , a patient submission to his good pleasure , a willingnesse to kisse the rod , and the hand that wields it , a faithfull dependence upon that arme from which he smarts ; and lastly , an happy use and improvement of the suffering , to the bettering of the soule ; who so finds these dispositions in himselfe may well take up that resolution of the sweet singer of israel , it is good for me that i have been afflicted ; i know , o lord , that thy judgements are right ; and that thou in very faithfulnesse hast afflicted me : contrarily , where god smites in anger , those stroakes are followed and accompanied with wofull symptomes of a spirituall maladie ; either a stupid senslesnesse and obdurednesse of heart ; or an impatient murmuring at the stripes ; saucy and presumptuous expostulations , fretting and repining at the smart ; a perverse alienation of affection , and a rebellious swelling against god ; an utter dejection of spirit , and lastly an heartlesse despaire of mercy . those with home thou hast prevailed so far as to draw them into this deadly condition of soule , have just cause to thinke themselves smitten in displeasure , but as for me , blessed be the name of my god , my stripes are medicinall , and healing : let the righteous god thus smite me , it shall be a kindnesse ; and let him reprove me , it shall be an excellent oyle that shall not break my head . vi. temptation away with these superstitious feares , and needlesse scruples wherewith thou fondly troublest thy selfe ; as if god that sits above in the circle of heaven regarded these poore businesses that passe here below upon earth ; or cared what this man doth , or that man suffereth : dost thou not see that none prosper so much in the world as those that are most noted for wickednesse ? and dost thou see any so miserable upon earth as the holiest ? could it be thus if there were providence that over looks and over-rules these earthly affairs ? repelled . the lord rebuke thee , satan . even that great lord of heaven and earth , whom thou so wickedly blasphemest ; wouldst thou perswade me that he who is infinite in power , is not also infinite in providence ? he whose infinite power made all creatures , both in heaven above , and in earth beneath , shall not his infinite providence govern and dispose of all that he hath made ? lo , how justly the spirit of wisdome calls thee , and thy clients , fools , & brutish things ; they say , the lord shall not see , neither shall the god of jacob regard ; vnderstand ye brutish among the people ; and ye fools , when will ye be wise ? he that planted the eare , shall he not heare ? he that formed the eye , shall not he see ? he that teacheth man knowledge , shall not he know ? it was no limited power , that could make this eye to see , this eare to heare , this heart to understand ; and if that eye which he hath given us , can see all things that are within our prospect ; and that eare that he hath planted , can heare all sounds that are within our compasse ; and that heart that he hath given us , can know all matters within the reach of our comprehension ; how much more shall the sight , and hearing , and knowledge of that infinite spirit ( which can admit of no bounds ) extend to all the actions and events of all the creatures , that lie open before him that ma●e them ? it is in him that we live , and move , and have our being ; and can we be so sottish , as to think we can steale a life from him , which he knows not of ? or a motion that he discerneth not ? that word of his by whom all creatures were made , hath told me , that not one sparrow ( two whereof are sold for a farthing ) can fall to the ground without my heavenly father ; yea , that the very hairs of our heads ( though a poor , neglected excrement ) are all numbred : and can there be any thing more sleight then they ? how great care must we needs think is taken of the head , since not an haire can fall unregarded ? the lord maketh poor and maketh rich ; he bringeth down and lifteth up : he raiseth up the poor out of the dust , and lifteth up the begger from the dunghill , to set them among princes , and to make them inherit the throne of glory ; for the pillars of the earth are the lords , and he hath set the world upon them . even rabshakeh himselfe spake truer then he was aware of ; am i now comne up without the lord against this place ? no certainly , thou insolent blasphemer , thou couldst not move thy tongue , nor wag thy finger against gods inheritance , without the providence of that god , who returned answer to thy proud master , the king of assyria , i know thy abode , and thy going out , and thy comming in , and thy rage against me ; thy rage , and thy tumult is come up into my ears ; therefore i will put an hooke in thy nose , and my bridle in thy lips , and i will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest : so true is that word of elihu ; his eyes are upon the waies of man ; and he soeth all his goings ; there is no darknesse , nor shadow of death , where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves ; seconded by the holy psalmist ; the lord looketh from heaven , he beholdeth all the sons of men ; from the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth . neither is this divine providence confined onely to man , the prime peece of this visible creation ; but ; it extends it self to all the workmanship of the almighty : o. lord how manifold are , thy works ; in wisdome hast thoumade them all ; the earth is full of thy riches : so is the great and wide sea ; wherein are things creeping innumerable , both small and great beasts ; these wait all upon thee , that thou maist give them their meat in due season , thou givest it them , they gather ; thou openest thy hand , they are filled with good : the young lyons roar after their prey ; and seek their meat from god ; the ravens neither sow nor reap , no● have any store-house , or barne , yet god feedeth them ; the lillies toyle not , nor sp●● , yet the great god cloaths them with more then salomons glory . who knoweth not in all these , that the hand of the lord hath wrought this ? in whose hand is the soule of every living thing ; and the breath of all mankind . what dost thou then , o thou false spirit , thinke to choak divine providence with the smalnesse , and multitude of objects ? as if quantities or numbers could make any difference in the infinite ? as if one drop of water were not all one to the almighty , with the whole deep ? one corne of sand with the whole masse of the earth ? as if that hand which graspeth the large circumference of the highest heaven could let slip the least flye , or worme upon earth ? when thou feelest , to thy paine , that this eye of omniscience , and this hand of power reaches even to thy neither most hell ; and sees and orders every of those torments wherewith thou art everlastingly punished ; and at pleasure puts bounds to thy malicious indevours against his meanest creatures upon earth ? thou tellest me of the wickedest mens prosperity ; this is no new dart of thine , but the same which thou hast throwne , of old , at many a faithfull heart ; holy job , david , jeremie felt the dint of it ; not without danger , but without hurt . it is true ; wicked men flourish ; what marvell is this ? the world loves his owne : doth any man wonder to see the weeds overtop the good herbes ? they are natives to that soyle , whereto the other are but strangers . wicked men prosper ; it is all the heaven they are like to have ; and yet , alas , at the best , it is but a wofull one ; how intermixed with sorrows and discontentments ? how full of uncertainties ? how certain of ruine , and confusion ? it is a sure and sad interchange , whereof father abraham minds the man who was now more full of torment , then formerly of wealth ; son , remember , that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things , and lazarus evill ; but now he is comforted , and thou art tormented . the wicked man prospers ; but how long ? i have seen the wicked in great power ; and spreading himselfe like a green bay-tree ; yet he passed away , and , lo , he was not ; i sought him , but he could not be found . the wicked prosper ; alas , their welfare is their judgement ; god doth not owe them so much favour , as to afflict them : they walk on mertily towards a deadly precipice : the just god lets them alone ; and will not so much as molest their jollity with a painfull check . the wicked thrive in the world ; how should they do other ? mammon is the god they serve , and what can he doe lesse then blesse them with a miserable advantage ? for thus their wealth is made to them an occasion of falling ; the prosperity of fools shall destroy them . the wicked prosper ; let me never prosper if i envy them : do not i see their day coming ? do not i know that they are meerly fed up to the slaughter ? wherefore do the cram'd fowles , and fatted oxen fare better then their fellows ? is it out of favour , or is it that they are designed to the dresser ? amnon is feasted with his brethren , those that serve him see death in his face : belshazzar triumphs in mirth , and carouseth freely in the sacred vessels ; the hand writes upon the wall , thy dayes are numbred , thy kingdome finished : the revelling of the wicked , is but a lightning before an eternall death . thou tell'st me on the the contrary , that the godly are persecuted , afflicted , tormented . it is true ; none knows it better then thy selfe , who under the permission of the most high , art the author of all their sufferings . it is thou , the red dragon , that standest ready to devoure the masculine issue of gods church ; it is thou , that when the persecuted woman flees into the wildernesse , powrest out of thy mouth , after her , flouds of water to drowne her : it is thou that inspirest tyrants w th rage against the innocent saints of god ; and actuatest their hellish cruelty : but , when thou hast all done , the most wise and mighty arbiter of heaven turnes all this to the advantage of his deare ones upon earth : the bloud of the martyrs doth , and shall prove the seed of the church ; whereof every grain yeelds thirty , sixty , an hundred fold : neither had the church of god been so numerous , if there had been lesse malice in thy prosecution : and as for those severall christians , that have undergone the worst of thy fury , they are so far from finding cause of complaint , that they rejoyce and triumph in the happy issue of their intended miseries ; they can say to thee as joseph said of old , to his once-envious brethren ; thou thoughtst evill against us , but god meant it unto good ; they had not now sate so gloriously crowned in the highest heaven , if thou hadst not persecuted them unto bloud . none are so afflicted ( thou saist ) as the godly ; true , their saviour hath told them before hand what to trust to ; in the world ye shall have tribulation ; have they any reason to looke for better measure then their blessed redeemer ? if the world hate you , ( saith he ) ye know that it hated me before it hated you : if ye were of the world , the world would love his owne , but because ye are not of the world , but i have chosen you out of the world , therefore the world hateth you ; now , welcome , welcome that hate that is raised from our deare saviours love and election ; wo were us if we were not thus hated : let the world hate , and hurt us thus still , so we may be the favorites of heaven . none fare so ill on earth as the godly , both living and dead ; the dead bodies of gods servants , have they given to be meat to the fowls of the heaven , the flesh of his saints , unto the beasts of the field , their bloud have they shed like water , and there was none to bury thē ; they are become a reproach to their neighbours ; a scorn and derision to them that are round about them . oh the poor impotent malice of wicked spirits , and men ! what matters it if our carcasses rot upon earth , whiles our souls shine in heavenly glory ? what matters it , if for a while we be made a gazing-stock to the world , to angels , and to men ; whiles the son of god hath assured us of an eternall royalty ? to him that over-commeth will i grant to sit with me in my throne ; even as i also overcame and am set downe with my father in his throne . none are so ill intreated as the godly : it is true , for none are so happy as they : blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake ; for theirs is the kingdome of heaven . blessed are ye , when men shall revile you , and persecute you , and say all manner of evill of you , falsly , for my sake . rejoice , and be exceeding glad , for great is your reward in heaven : who would not endure wrongs a while to be everlastingly recompenced ? here is not place onely for patience , but for joy , and that exceeding ; in respect of a reward so infinitely glorious . it is no marvell then , if we be bidden to pray for them which despitefully use us , and persecute us ; these are the men that are our great benefactors , & ( though full sore against their wills ) contribute to our eternall blessednesse . the wicked triumph , whiles the righteous are trampled upon ; what marvell ? we are in a middle region betwixt heaven , and hell ; but nearer to this latter , which is the place of confusion : it is but staying a while ; and each place will be distinctly peopled with his owne ; there is a large and glorious heaven appointed for the everlasting receptacle of the just , an hell for the godlesse : till then , the eternall wisdome hath determined for his most holy ends to give way to this confused mixture , and to this seeming-inequality of events . how easie were it for him to make all heaven ; but he hath a justice to glorifie , as well as a mercy : and ( in the mean time ) it is the just praise of his infinite power , wisdome , goodnesse , that he can fetch the greatest good , out of the worst of evils . all things go crosse here ; the righteous droop , the wicked flourish : the end shall make amends for all ; the world is a stage ; every man acts his part ; the wise compiler of this great interlude hath so contrived it ; that the middle scenes show nothing but intricacy ; and perplexednesse ; the unskilfull spectator is ready to censure the plot ; and thinks he sees such unpleasing difficulties in the carriage of affaires , as can never be reconciled ; but by that time he have sate it out , he shall see all brought about to a meet accordance ; and all shut up in a happy applause . blessed is the man that endureth temptation ; for when he is tried , he shall receive the crowne of life , which the lord hath promised to them that love him . the world is an apothecaries shop , wherein there are all manner of drugs , some poysonous , others cordiall ; an ignorant , that comes in , and knows only the quality , not the use of those receits , will straight be ready to say ; what do these unwholsome simples , these dangerous mineralls , these deadly juices here ? but the learned , and skilfull artist knows how so to temper all these noxious ingredients , that they shall turn antidotes , and serve for the health of his patient . thus doth the most high and holy god order these earthly ( though noxious ) compositions , to the glory of his great name , and to the advantage of his chosen : so as that suggestion , wherewith thou meant'st to batter the divine providence of the almighty , doth invincibly fortifie it ; his most wise permission and powerfull over-ruling of evill actions and men through the whole world to his owne honour , & the benefit of his church . vii . temptation if god be never so liberall in in his promises and sure in performances of mercy , to his own , yet what is that to thee ? thou art none of his , neither canst lay any just claime to his election ; repelled . how boldly can i defie thee , o thou lying spirit , whiles i have the assurance of him , who is the word of truth ; how confidently dare i challenge thee upon that unfailing testimony , which shall stand till heaven and earth shall passe ; ye that have believed in christ , are sealed with that holy spirit of promise , which is the earnest of our inheritance , untill the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory : lo here a double assurance , which all the powers of hell shall in vaine labour to defeat ; the almighties scale , and his earnest : both made , and given to the believer ; and therefore to me : in spight of all temptations i believe , and know whom i have believed ; i can accuse my faith of weaknesse , thou canst not convince it of untruth ; and all the precious promises of the gospel , and all the gracious ingagements of god , are made , not to the measure , but to the truth of our beliefe , and why should not i as truly know that i relie upon the word of my saviour , as i know that i distrust , and reject thine ? since then i am a subject truly capable of this mercy , what can hinder me from enjoying it ? cheare thy selfe up therefore , o my soule , with this undefeisible confidence , that thou hast gods seale , and his earnest for thy salvation . even an honest man will not be lesse then his word ; but if his hand have seconded his tongue , he holds the obligation yet stronger ; but if his seale shall be further added to his hand , there is nothing that can give more validity to the graunt , or contract : yet , even of the value of seales there is much difference : the seale of a private man carries so much authority as his person ; the seale of a community hath so much more security in it , as there are more persons interessed : but the signet of a king hath wont to be held , to all purposes , authenticall ; as we find ( to omit ahab ) in the signatures of ahasuerus , and darius ; who desires any better assurance for the estate of him and his posterity , then the great seale ? and behold here is no lesse then the great seale of heaven for my election and salvation ; ye are sealed with the spirit of promise . but lest thou shouldest plead this to be but a graunt of the future , and therefore , perhaps , upon some intervenient mis-deamures , or unkindnesse taken , reversible ; know that here is yet further , an actuall conveyance of this mercy to me ; in that here is an earnest given me before-hand of a perfect accomplishment : an earnest , that both binds the assurance , and stands for part of payment of that great sum of glory which abides for me in heaven . this seale i shew , this earnest i produce ; so as my securance is unfailable : and , that thou maist not plead this seale to be counterfeit , set on only with a stamp of presumption and self-love ; know that here is the true and cleare impression of gods spirit in all the lines of that gracious signanature ; a right ( though weak ) illumination of mind in the true apprehension of heavenly things , sincerity of holy desires , truth of inchoate holiness , unfainedness of christian charity , constant purposes and indeavours of perfect obedience : and as for my earnest , it can no more disappoint me , then the hand that gave it ; my soule is possessed with true ( how ever imperfect ) grace : and what is grace but the beginning of glory ? and what is glory but the consummation of grace ? what should i regard thy cavils , whiles i have these pledges of the almighty ? it is not in thy power , malicious spirit , to sever those things which gods eternall decree hath put together : our calling ▪ and election are thus conjoyned from eternity ; all the craft and force of hell cannot divorce them : whom he did predestinate them also he called ; and whom he called them he also justified ; and whom he justifieth them also he glorifieth ; it is true that outwardly many are called , but few chosen ; but none are inwardly called which are not also chosen : in which number is my poore soule , whereto god hath shewed mercy in singling it out of this wicked world , into the liberty of the sons of god ; for , do not i find my selfe sensibly changed from what i was ? am i not evidently freed from the bondage of those naturall corruptions , under which thou heldst mo miserably captiv'd ? do i not hate the courses of my former disobedience ? do i not give willing eare to the voice of the gospel ? do i not desire and indeavour to conforme my selfe wholly to the will of my god and saviour ? do i not heartily grieve for my spirituall faylings ? do not i earnestly pray for grace to resist all thy temptations ? do not i cordially affect the means of grace and salvation ? do i not labour in all things to keep a good conscience before god , and men ? are not these the infallible proofs of my calling , and the sure and certaine fruits of mine election ? canst thou hope to perswade me , that god will bestow these favours where he loves not ? that he wil repent him of such mercies ? that he will lose the thanks and honour of so gracious proceedings ? suggest what thou wilt ; i am more then confident , that he who hath begun this good work in me , will perform it untill the day of jesus christ . do not i heare the chosen vessel tell his thessalonians , that he knows them to be elected of god ? and upon what grounds doth he raise this assurance ? for ( saith he ) our gospel came not to you in word only , but also in power , and in the holy ghost : that which can assure us of another mans election , may much more secure us of our owne : the entertainment & successe of the gospel in our souls . lo , that blessed word hath wrought in me a sensible abatement of my corrupt affections ; and hath produced an apparent renovation of my mind ; and hath quickned me to a new life of grace , and obedience ; this can be no work of nature ; this can be no other then the work of that spirit , whereby i am sealed to the day of redemption ; my heart feels the power of the gospel ; my life expresses it ; maugre all thy malice ; therefore i am elected . when the gates of hell have done their worst , none of gods children can miscarry ; for if children , then they are heirs ; heirs of god , and joynt-heirs with christ . now , as many as are led by the spirit of god , they are the sons of god ; and this is the direction that i follow . there are but three guides that i can be led by ; my own will , thy suggestions , the motions of gods spirit . for my owne will , i were no christian if i had not learn'd to deny it , where it stands opposite to the will of my god ; as for thy suggestions , i hate and defie them ; they are onely therefore the motions of that good spirit which i desire to follow ; and if at any time , my owne frailty have betraied me to some aberrations , my repentance hath overtaken my offence ; and in sincerity of heart , i can say with an holier man ; i have gone astray like a sheep : seek thy servant , for i do not forget thy commandements : all thy malice therefore cannot rob me of the comfort of mine adoption . it is no marvell if thou , who art all enmity , canst not abide to heare of love ; but god , who is love , hath told me ; that love is of god , and that every one that loveth is borne of god ; and that by this we know that we have passed from death to life , because we love the brethren ; now , my heart can irrefragably witnesse to me , that i love god because he is good ; infinitely good in himself , and infinitely good to me ; and that i love good men because they are his sons , my brethren ; i am therefore as surely passed from death to life , as if i had set my foot over the threshold of heaven . viii . temptation alas , poor man , how grosly deludest thou thy selfe ? thou talk'st of thy faith , and bearest thy selfe high upon this grace ; and think'st to doe great matters by it ; whereas the truth is , thou hast no faith , but that which thou mis-callest so , is nothing else but meer presumption . repelled . is it any wonder that thou should'st sclander the graces of god , who art ever ready to calumniate the giver ? no , tempter ; canst thou challenge this faith of mine , which thou censurest , to be thine owne worke ? such it should be , if it were presumption ; were it presumption , would'st thou oppose it ? would'st thou not foster and applaud it as thine ? the presumption is thine , who darest thus derogate from the gracious work of the almighty ; and fasten sin upon the holy spirit ; mine is faith ; yet so mine , as that it is his that wrought it : there is not more difference betwixt thee , and an angel of light , then betwixt my faith , and thy presumption : true faith ( such is mine , after all thy sclanderous suggestions ) is grounded upon sound knowledge , and that knowledge upon an infallible word ; whereas presumption rests only upon opinion , and conceit , built upon the sands of self-love : whence it is that the most ignorant are ever the most presumptuous ; when the knowing soule sees what dangers it is to encounter , and provides for them with an awfull resolution . true faith never comes without carefull and diligent use of meanes ; the word , sacraments , praier , meditation are but enough with their conjoyned forces to produce so divine a work ; whereas presumption comes with ease ; it costs nothing , no strife , no labour to draw forth so worthlesse and vicious a disposition ; yea rather corrupt nature is forward not only to offer it to us , but even to force it upon our admission ; and it is no small maistery to repell it . true faith struggles with infidelity ; this iacob is wrestling with this esau in the womb of the soule ; and , if at any time , the worse part ( through the violence of a temptation ) get the start of the better , the hand laies hold on the heel , and suffers not it selfe to be any other then insensibly prevented ; but recovers the light ere the suggestion can be fully compleated ; and at last so far prevails , that the elder shall serve the younger ; this is the victory that overcomes the world , even our faith : whereas presumption is ever quiet and secure ; not fearing any perill ; not combating with any doubt ; pleasing it selfe in its owne ease and safety ; and in the confidence of a perpetuall prosperity can say , i shall never be moved . true faith , wheresoever it is , purifieth the heart , and will not suffer any known sin to harbour there ; and is ever attended with care , awfulnesse , love , obedience : whereas presumption impures the soule , and works it to boldnesse , obduration , false joy , security , senslesnesse . true faith grows daily ; like the graine of mustard-seed in the gospel , which from small beginnings arises to a tall , and large-spreading plant : presumption hath enough , and sits down contented with its own measure , applauding the happinesse of its own condition . true faith , like gold , comes out pure from the fire of temptation ; and , like to sound friendship , is most helpfull in the greatest need ; presumption , upon the easiest triall , vanisheth into smoak and drosse , and is never so sure to faile us as in the evill day . so then this firme affiance of mine , being grounded upon the most sure promises of the god of truth , upon frequent use and improvement of all holy means ; after many bickerings with thy motions of unbelief ; being attended with holy and purifying dispositions of the soule ; and gathering still more strength , and growing up dayly towards a longed-for perfection ; and which , now , thy experience convinces thee , to be most present and comfortable in the hour of temptation , is true faith , not as thou falsly suggestest , a false presumption . it is true , my unworthinesse is great , but i have to do with an infinite mercy ; so as my wretched unworthinesse doth but heighten the glory of his most mercifull pardon and acceptation . shortly then , where there is a divine promise of free grace and mercy , a true apprehension and embracing of that promise ; a warrant and acceptance of that apprehension , a willing relyance upon that warrant , a sure knowledge and sense of that relyance , there can be no place for presumption ; this is the case betwixt god and my soule ; his word of promise , and warrant that cannot deceive me , is : he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life ; and , he that believes in him that sent me hath everlasting life ; and shall not come into condemnation , but hath passed from death to life ; my owne heart irrefragably makes out the rest ; which is the truth of my apprehension , relyance , knowledge . mine therefore is the faith ; the presumption in casting sclander upon the grace of gods spirit is thine owne . ix . temptation thou thoughtest perhaps once , that thou hadst some tokens of gods favour ; but now , thou canst not but find that he hath utterly forsaken thee , and withdrawing himself from thee , hath given thee up into my hands , to which thy sins have justly forfaited thee . repelled . be not discouraged , o thou weak soule , with this malicious suggestion of the enemy : thou art not the first , nor the holiest that hath been thus assailed ; so hard was the man after gods owne heart driven with this temptation ; that he cries out in the bitternesse of his soul , will the lord cast ( me ) off for ever ? and will he be favourable no more ? hath god forgotten to be gracious ? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ? is his mercy cleane gone for ever ? doth his promise faile for evermore ? thy case was his for the sense of the desertion , why should not his case be thine for the remedy ? mark how happily and how soon he recovers himself : and i said , this is my infirmity ; but i will remember the years of the right hand of the most high ; i will remember the works of the lord ; surely i will remember the wonders of old ; i will meditate of all thy works : lo , how wisely , and faithfully david retreats back to the sure hold of gods formerlyexperimented mercies , and there finds a sensible reliefe : he , that when he was to encounter with the proud giant , could before-hand arme himselfe with the proof of gods former deliverances and victories , ( thy servant slew both the lyon and the bear ; and this uncircumcised philistim shall be as one of them ; ) now animates himself after the temptation against the spirituall goliah , with the like remembrance of gods ancient mercies , and indearments to his soule ; as well knowing that , what ever we are , god cannot but be himself ; god is not as a man , that he should lie , neither the son of man , that he should repent ; having loved his own , which were in the world , he loved them unto the end : hast thou therefore formerly found the sure testimonies of gods favour to thee , in the reall pledges of his holy graces ; live thou still , whiles thou art thus besieged with temptations , upon the old store ; know , that thou hast to do with a god , that can no more change , then not be : satan cannot be more constant to his malice then thy god is to his everlasting mercies . he may for a time be pleased to withdraw himself from thee ; but it is , that he may make thee so much more happy in his re-appearance : it is his owne word , for a small moment have i forsaken thee , but with great mercies will i gather thee . in a little wrath i hid my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindnesse will i have mercy on thee , saith the lord thy redeemer . in the case wherein thou now art , thou canst be no meet judge either of gods respects to thee , or thine owne condition ; can the aguish palate passe any true judgement upon the tast of liquors ? can the child entertaine any apprehension of his parents favour whiles he is under the lash ? can any man looke that the fire should give either flame or heat , whiles it lies covered with ashes ? can any man expect fruit , or leaves from the tree in the midst of winter ? thou art now in a fit of temptation ; thou art now smarting under the rod of correction ; thy faith lies raked up under the cold ashes of a seeming desertion ; the vegetative life of thy soul is , in this hard season of thy triall , drawne inward , and run downe to the root ; thine estate is never the lesse safe for this , though more uncomfortable : wait thou upon gods leisure with all humble submission ; the event shall be happy ; when the distemper is once over , thou shalt returne to thy true relish of gods mercy ; when thine heavenly father shall smile upon thee , and take thee up in his armes , thou wilt see love in his late stripes ; when those dead ashes shall be removed , and the gleeds of grace stirred up againe in thee , thou shalt yeild both light , and warmth ; when the sun of righteousnesse shall approch to thee , and with his comfortable beams draw up the sap into the branches , thou shalt blossome and flourish ; in the meane time feare nothing ; only believe , and thou shalt see the salvation of the lord ; thy soule is in surer hands then thine owne , yea then of the greatest angel in heaven ; far out of the reach of all the powers of hell ; for our life is hid with christ in god ; hid ; not lost , not laid open to all eyes ; but hid ; hid , where satan cannot touch it , cannot find it ; even with christ in the heaven of heavens . feare not therefore , o thou feeble soule , any utter dereliction of thy god ; thou art bought with a price : god paid too deare for thee , and is too deeply ingaged to thee , to lose thee willingly ; and for any force to be offered to the almighty , what can men or devils do ? and if that malignant spirit shall challenge any forfeiture ; plead thou thy full redemption : it is true ; the eternall and inviolable law hath said , cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them ; and , the soule that sinneth shall die ; death and curse is therefore due to thee ; but thou hast paid both of these , in thy blessed redeemer ; christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law , being made a curse for us ; where sin abounded , grace did much more abound ; that as sin hath reigned unto death , even so might grace raigne through righteousnesse unto eternall life by iesus christ our lord ; it is all one to pay thy debt in thine owne person , and by thy surety ; thy gracious suerty hath staked it down for thee to the utmost farthing : be confident therefore of thy safe condition ; thou art no lesse sure , then thine adversary is malicious . x. temptation had god ever given thee any sure testimonies of his love , thou might'st perhaps pretend to some reason of comfort and confidence . but the truth is , god never loved thee ; he may have cast upon thee some common favours , such as he throwes away upon reprobates , but for the tokens of any speciall love that he bears to thee , thou never didst ; never shalt receive any from him . repelled . this is language well-befitting the professed make-bate betwixt god and man ; but know , o thou false tempter , that i have received sure and infallible testimonies of that speciall love , which is proper to his elect : first then , ( as i have to do with a bountiful god , who where he loves , there he inriches ; so ) i have received most precious gifts from his hands ; such as do not import a common , and ordinary beneficence , ( w ch he scatters promiscuously amongst the sons of men ) but such as carry in them a dearnesse , and singularity of divine favour : even the greatest gifts , that either he can give , or man receive ; for first he hath given me his spirit , the spirit of adoption , whereby i can call him father ; for the assurance whereof , the spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit , that we are the children of god : deny , if thou canst , the invaluablenesse of this heavenly gift ; and if thy malice cannot detract from the worth , but from the propriety ; yeelding it to be great , but denying it to be mine ; know , o thou envious spirit , that here is the witnesse of two spirits combined against thine ; were the testimonies single , surely i had reason to believe my owne spirit , rather then thine , which is a spirit of errour ; but now , that the spirit of god conjoines his inerrable testimony together with my spirit , against thy single suggestion , how just cause have i to be confident of my possession of that glorious , and blessed gift ? neither is that good spirit dead , or dumb , but vocall , and operative : it gives mee a tongue to call , god , father ; it teacheth me to pray ; it helpeth mine infirmities , and maketh intercession for me , with groanings which cannot be uttered ; it worketh effectually in me a sensible conversion ; even when i was dead in sins and trespasses , god , who is rich in mercy , for his great love wherewith he loved me , hath by this spirit of his quickned me together with christ , and hath raised me up together with him : by the blessed effects therefore of this regenerating spirit happily begun in my soule i find how rich a treasure the father of mercies hath conveighed into my bosome . besides , my life shows what is in my heart ; it was a gracious word , that god spake to his people of old , and holds for ever ; i will put my spirit within you , and cause you to walk in my statutes ; i will also save you from all your uncleannesses ; the spirit of god can never be severed from obedience ; if the heart be taken up with the holy spirit , the feet must walke in gods statutes ; & both heart and life must be freed from all wilfull uncleannesses ; i feel that god hath wrought all this in me ; from him it is , that i do sincerely desire , & indevour to make straight steps in all the ways of god ; and to avoid , and abhor all those foule corruptions of my sinfull nature ; flesh and bloud hath not , would not , could not work this in me ; the spirit therefore of him who raised up jesus from the dead dwels in me ; and if this be not a pledge of his dearest love , heaven cannot yeeld one . moreover , he hath bestowed upon mee another gift , more worth then all the world ; his own son , the son of his love , the son of his nature by eternall generation ; whom he hath not only given for me , in a generality with the rest of mankind , but hath by a speciall donation conveighed unto me , and , as it were put into my bosome ; in that he hath enabled me by a lively faith to bring him home unto my soule ; and hath thus by a particular application made him mine : so as my soule is not more mine , then he is my soules ; and having given me his son , he hath with him given me all things : if there can be greater tokens of love then these , let me want them . besides his gifts , his carriage doth abundantly argue his love ; were there a strangenesse betweene god and my soule , i might well feare there were no other then overly respects from him towards me : but now , when i find he doth so freely and familiarly converse with his servant , and so graciously imparts himself to me ; renuing the daily testimonies of his holy presence in the frequent motions of his good spirit , answered by the returns of an humble and thankfull obedience ; here is not love onely , but intirenesse . what other is that poor measure of love , which our wretched meannesse can return unto our god , but a weak reflection of that fervent love which he bears unto us ? it is the word of divine wisdome , i love them that love me , and the disciple of love can tell us the due order of love , we love him , because he first loved us . the love of god therefore which is shed abroad in our hearts , by the holy ghost , which is given unto us , is an all-sufficient conviction of gods tender love unto us : my heart tels me , then , that i love god truly , though weakly ; god tels me that he embraceth me with an everlasting love , which thy malice may snarle at , but can never abate . temptations repelled . the third decade . temptations of allurement . iii. decade . i. temptation thou hast hitherto thus long given entertainment to thy sin , and no inconvenience hath ensued ; no evill hath befallen thee , thy affaires have prospered better then thy scrupulous neighbours ; why shouldst thou shake off a companion , that hath been both harmlesse , and pleasant ? go on man , sin fearlesly ; thou shalt speed no worse then thou hast done ; go on , and thrive in thine old course , whiles some precisely conscientious beg , and starve in their innocence . repelled . it is right so as wise salomon observd of old : because sentence against an evil worke is not executed speedily ; therfore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evill . wicked spirit ; what a deadly fallacy is this which thou puttest upon miserable soules ? because they have aged in their sins , therefore they must die in them : because they have lived in sin , therefore they must age in it ; because they have prospered in their sin , therefore they must live in it ; whereas all these should be strong arguments to the contrary ; there cannot be a greater proofe of gods disfavour then for a man to prosper in wickednesse ; neither can there be a more forcible inducement to a man to forsake his sin , then this , that he hath entertain'd it : what dost thou other in this then perswade the poor sinner to despise the riches of the goodnesse and forbearance , and long suffering of god ; which should lead him to repentance ; and after his hardnesse , and impenitent heart to treasure up unto himselfe wrath against the day of wrath , and revelation of the righteous judgement of god ? what an horrible abuse is this of divine mercy ? that which is intended to lead us to repentance , is now urged by thee to draw us from repentance ; should the justice of god have cut off the sinner in the flagrance of his wicked fact ; there had been no roome for his penitence , and now god gives him a faire respite for his repentance , thou turnest this into a provocation of sinning ; let the case for the present be mine ; if sin have so far bewitcht me as to win me to dally with it ; must i therefore be wedded to it ? or if i be once wedded to it , through the importunity of temptation , shall i be tyed to a perpetuall cohabitation with that fiend , and not free my self by a just divorce ? because i have once yeilded to be evill , must i therefore be worse ? because i have happily , by the mercy of my god , escaped hell in sinning , shall i wilfully run my self headlong into the pit , by continuing in sin ? no , wicked one , i know how to make better use of gods favour , and my own miscarriages : i cannot reckon it amongst my comforts , that i prospered in evill ; let obdured hearts blesse themselves in such advantages ; but i adore that goodnesse , that forbore me in my iniquity ; neither dare provoke it any more . thinke not to draw me on by the lucky successe of my sin ; which thou hast wanted no indeavour to promote ; better had it been for me , if i had fared worse in the course of my sinning ; but had i been yet outwardly more happy , do i not know that god vouchsases his showers , & his sun-shine to the fields of those , whose persons he destines to the fire ? can i be ignorant of that , which holy iob observed in his time , that the tabernacles of the wicked prosper ; and they that provoke god are secure , into whose hands god bringeth abundantly ; that they spend their days in wealth , and in a moment go downe to the grave ; and ( as the psalmist seconds him ) there are no bands in their death ; but their strength is firme ; they are not in trouble like other men , therefore pride compasseth them about as achaine ; and let these jolly men brave it out in the glorious pompe of their unjust greatnesse ; the same eyes that noted their exaltation , have also observed their downefall . they are exalted for a little while ( saith job ) but they are gone , and brought low ; they are taken out of the way , as all others ; and cut off , as the tops of the ears of corne . and in his answer to zophar ; where are the dwelling places of the wicked ? have ye not asked them that go by the way , and do ye not know their tokens ? that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction ; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath ; the eyes of the wicked ( even those scornfull and contemptuous eyes , which they have cast upon gods poor despised ones ) shall faile , and they shall not escape ; and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost . how false an inference then is this , whereby 〈◊〉 goest about to delude ●y soule ; thou hast hitherto prospered in thy wickedness , therefore thou shalt prosper in it still , and ever ; to morrow shall be as yesterday , and more abundant ; as if the just god had not set a period to iniquity ? as if he had not said to the most insolent sinner , as to the raging sea , here shalt thou stay thy proud waves : how many rich epicures have with crassus , sup't in apollo , and broken their fast with beelzebub , the prince of devils ? how many have lien downe to sleep out their furfeit , and have waked in hell ? were my times in thy hand , thou wouldst not suffer me long to enjoy my sin ; and forbeare the seizure of my soule ; but now they are in the hands of a righteous god , who is jealous of his owne glory , he will be sure not to over-pass those hours , which he hath set for thy torment , or my account . shortly therefore , i will withdraw my foot from every evil way ; and walk holily with my god ; however i speed in the world ; let me with the conscientious men beg , or starve in my innocence ; rather then thrive in my wickednesse and get hell to boot . ii. temptation sin still ; thou shall repent soon enough , when thou canst sin no more ; thine old age , and death-bed are fit seasons for those sad thoughts ; it will go hard if thou maist not , at the last , have a mouthfull of breath left thee , to cry god mercy ; and that is no sooner askt , then had ; thou hast to do with a god of mercies ; with whom no time is too late , no measure too sleight to be accepted . repelled . of all the blessed attributes of god , whereby he is willing to make himself known unto men , there is none by which he more delights to be set forth , then that of mercy ; when therefore he would proclaime his stile to moses , this is the title which he most insists upon : the lord , the lord god ; mercifull and gracious , long suffering , and abundant in goodnesse , and truth ; keeping mercy for thousands , forgiving iniquity , and transgression , and sin ; and all his holy heralds the prophets have still been carefull to blazon him thus to the world ; neither is there any of those divine attributes , that is so much abused by men , as this which is most beneficiall to mankind ; for the wisdome of god every man professes to adore it ; for the power of god every man magnifies it ; for the justice of god , every man trembles at it ; but , for the mercy , and long-sufferance of god , how apt are men and devils to wrong it by a sinfull mis-application ? wicked tempter , how ready art thou to mis-improve gods patience to the encouragement of my sin ; and to perswade me therefore to offend him , because he is good ; and to continue in sin , because grace abounds ; thou bidst me sin still ; god forbids me upon paine of death to sin at all ; whether should i listen to ? god cals me to a speedy repentance , thou perswadest me to defer it ; whether counsell should i hold more safe ? surely there cannot be but danger in the delay of it ; in the speed there can be nothing but a comfortable hope of acceptation : it is not possible for me to repent too soone ; too late i may : to repent for my sin , when i can sinne no more , what would it be other then to be sory that i can no more sin ? and what thank is it to me , that i would , and am disabled to offend ? thou telst me that mine age , and death-bed are meet seasons for my repentance ; as if time and grace were in my power to command ; how know i whether i shall live till age ? yea till to morrow ? yea till the next hour ? doe not i see how fickle my life is ? and shall i with the foolish virgins , delay the buying of my oyle , till the doores be shut ? but , let me live ; have i repentance in a string , that i may pull it to me when i list ? is it not the great gift of that good spirit , which breatheth when , and where it pleaseth ? it is now offered to me in this time of grace ; if i now refuse it , perhaps i may seek it , with teares , in vaine : i know the gates of hell stand alwaies wide open to receive all commers , not so the gates of heaven ; they are shut upon the impenitent , and never opened but in the seasons of mercy ; the porches of bethesda were full of cripples expecting cure ; those waters were not alwaies sanative ; if when the angel descends and moves the water , we take not our first turne , we may wait too long : but of all other , that season whereon thou pitchest , my death-bed , is most unseasonable for this work , most serviceable for thy purpose ; how many thousand souls hast thou deluded with this plausible , but deadly , suggestion ? for then , alas , how is the whole man taken up with the sense of paine , with grapling with the disease , with answering the condoling of friends , with disposing the remainder of our estate , with repelling ( then most importunate ) temptations , with encountring the horrours and pangs of an imminent dissolution ; and what roome is there then for a serious task of repentance ? no , wicked one , i see thy drift ; thou wouldst faine perswade me to do like some idle wanton servants , who play , and talk out their candle-light , & then go darklings to bed ; i hate the motion , and do gladly embrace this happy opportunity , which god holds forth to me , of my present conversion . thou tell'st me how hard it would be , if i should not have one mouth-full of breath , at the last , to implore mercy ; i tell thee of many a one that hath not had so much ; neither hath it been hard , but just , that those who have had so many and earnest solicitations from a mercifull god , and have given a deafe eare to them ; should not at the last have a tongue to aske that mercy , which they have so often refused . but let me have wind enough left to redouble the name of mercy ; am i sure upon so short warning to obtaine it ? how many are there that shall say , lord , lord ; and yet shall be answer'd , with depart from me , i know you not ? do i not hear that god , whom vaine men frame all of mercy , say , even of his israel ; i will not pity , nor spare , nor have mercy , but destroy them ? there is a time for judgement , as well as a time for mercy ; neither of these may encroach upon other ; as judgement may not be allowed to seize upon the soule , during the season of mercy , so neither may mercy put forth it selfe to rescue the soule in an execution of judgement ; both must have their due turnes ; let me sue therefore for grace , ere the time of grace be over-passed ; heaven is as a strong castle , whereto there is but one way of entrance ; the draw-bridge is let down all the day ; all that while the passage is open ; let me stay till night ; the bridge is hoysed up , the way precluded ; i may now stand without , and call long enough for an hopelesse admittance . it shall be my care to get within those gates , ere my sun be set ; whiles the willing neglecters of mercy shal find hell open , heaven inaccessible . iii. temptation thou art one of gods chosen ; now god sees no sin in his elect ; none therefore in thee ; neither maist thou then take notice of any sin in thy selfe ; or needest any repentance for thy sin . repelled . deceitfull tempter ; now thou wouldst faine flatter me into hell ; and make gods favour a motive of my damnation ; i doubt not but i am , through gods mercy , one of his chosen ; his free grace in christ my saviour , hath put upon me this honour ; neither will i fear to challenge any of the happy priviledges of my election ; but that this should be one of the speciall prerogatives of grace , that god should see no sin in me , i hate to hear ; that god imputes no sin to his elect , is a divine truth ; but that he sees no sin in his elect , is a conceit hatch't in hell : for , tell me , thou antinomian spirit , if god see no sin in his elect , is the reason on the behalfe of god , or of the sin ? either for that there is no sin at all to be seen , or for that though there be sin in them , yet god sees it not ; if the former ; it must be either in relation to the person of the sinner , or to the act and nature of the sin : either , that he cannot do that act which is formally sinne , or , that though he do such an act , yet in him it is no sin . if the latter ; it must be either for the defect of his omniscience , or upon a willing connivence ; in each of these there is grosse errour , in some of them blasphemy : for first , what can be more evident then that the holiest of gods elect upon earth fall ( and that not infrequently ) into sin ? who can say , i have made my heart clean , i am pure from my sin ? was the just challenge of wise salomon ; and his father before him said no lesse , there is none that doeth good , no not one ; and , elswhere , who can understand his errours ? cleanse thou me from my secret faults : we all ( saith the prophet esay ) putting himself into the number , have like sheep gone astray ; we have turned every one to his owne waies : and wherefore were those legall expiations of old by the bloud of their sacrifices , but for the acknowledged sins both of priests , and people ? perswade us if thou canst , that our election exempts us from being men : for certainly , whiles we are men we cannot but be sinners : so sure is that parenthesis of salomon , there is no man that sinneth not , as that , if we say we have no sin , we both deceive our selves , and make god a lier . what then ? that which in it self is sin , is it not sin in the elect ? doth evill turne good as it falls from their person ? where did the holy god infuse such vertue into any creature ? surely , so deadly is the infection of sin , that it makes the person evill ; but that the holinesse of the person should make the sin lesse evill , is an hellish monster of opinion ; yea so far is it from that ; as that the holinesse of the person addes to the haynousnesse of the sin ; the adultery had not been so odious , if a david had not committed it ; nor the abjuration of christ so grievous , if it had not fallen from him that said , though all men , yet not i : sin is sin even in an angel ; and the worse for the eminence of the actor : for what is sin but the transgression of the law in whomsoever ? whersoever therefore transgression is ; there is guilt ; and such the best of all gods saints have acknowledged & lamented in themselves ; wo is me , saith the prophet esay , for i am undone , because i am a man of unclean lips : the evill that i would not doe , that i doe , saith the chosen vessel ; yea in many things , saith st. james , we offend all . it is true , that as the beloved disciple hath taught us , he that is borne of god sinneth not ; not that he may not fall into the same act of sin with the most carnall man , but that he sins not in the same manner ; the one sins with all his heart , with the full sway of his will , the other not without a kind of renitency : the one makes a trade of his sin ; the other steps onely aside through the vehemence of a temptation ; the one sins with an high hand , the other out of meer infirmity ; the one walks on securely and resolutely , as obfirmed in his wickednesse , the other is smitten with a seasonable remorse for his offence . the one delights and prides himselfe in his sin ; the other , as he sinned bashfully , so he hates himself for sinning ; the one grows up daily to a greater height of iniquity ; the other improves his sin to the bettering of his soule ; but this difference of sin , as it makes sin unmeasurably sinfull in the worst men ; so it doth not quite anull it in the holiest ; it is their sin still , though it raigne not in them , though it kill them not . whiles then there cannot but be sin in the elect , is it possible that god should not see it there ? is there any thing in heaven , or earth , or hell that can be hid from his all-seeing eyes ? where should this sin lurk , that he should not espy it ? do not the secrets of all hearts lie open before him ? are not his eyes a flame of fire ? is it not expresly noted , as an aggravation of evill ; iudah did evill in the sight of the lord ; and , our transgressions ( faith isaiah ) are multiplied before thee : it is out of his infinite holinesse , that he cannot abide to behold sin ; but it is out of his absolute omniscience , that there is no sin which he beholds not ; and out of his infinite justice , that he beholds no sin which he hates not . is it then for that sin hath no being , as that which is onely a failing , and privation of that rectitude and integrity which should be in us , and our actions , without any positive entity in it selfe ? upon this ground god should see no sin at all ; no not in the wickedest man upon earth ; and , whereas wicked men do nothing but sin , it should follow that god takes no notice of most of the actions that are done in the world ; whereof the very thought were blasphemy . since then it cannot bee out of defect of knowledge , that god sees not the sinnes of his elect ; is it out of a favourable connivence that he is willing not to see , what he sees ? surely , if the meaning be , that god sees not the sinnes of the penitent with a revengefull eye ; that out of a mercifull indulgence , he will not prosecute the sins whereof we have repented , with due vengeance , but passes them by , as if they had not been ; we do so gladly yeeld to this truth , that we can never blesse god enough for this wonderfull mercy to poore sinners ; it is his gracious word , which we lay redy hold upon ; i , even i am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake , and will not remember thy sinnes . but if the meaning be , that god beares with sin , because theirs ; that he so winkes at it as that he neither sees nor detests it , as it falls from so deare actors ; it is no other , then a blasphemous charge of injustice upon the holy one of israel ; your iniquities , faith isaiah , speaking of gods chosen people , have separated between you and your god ; and your sinnes have hid his face from you , that he will not hear ; who was dearer to god then the man after his own heart ; yet when he had given way to those foule sinnes of adultery and murder ; nathan tells him from god ; now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house , because thou hast despised me , and hast taken the wife of vriah the hittite to be thy wife ; thus saith the lord , behold i will raise up evill against thee out of thine owne house &c. how full and clear is that complaint of moses the man of god ? we are consumed by thine anger , and by thy wrath are we troubled ; thou hast set our iniquities before thee , our secret sinnes in the light of thy countenance ; and ieremy to the same purpose ; we have transgressed and have rebelled , thou hast not pardoned ; thou hast covered with anger , and persecuted us , thou hast slaine , thou hast not pityed us : thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud , that our prayer should not passe thorough : doubtlesse then god so sees sin in his elect : that he both more notes and hates sin more in his dearest children then in any other . upon this impious supposition of gods not seeing sin in his chosen , wouldst thou raise that hellish suggestion , that a man must see no sin in himselfe ; no repentance for sin : then which , what wider gappe can be opened to a licentious stupidity ? for , that a man should commit sinne , as lot did his incest , not knowing that hee doth the fact , what is it but to bereave him of his senses ? to commit that fact which he may not know to be sin , what is it but to bereave him of reason ; not to be sorry for the sin he hath commited , what is it but to bereave him of grace ? how contrary is this to the mind and practise of al gods saints ? holy iob could say ; how many are mine iniquities and sinnes ; make me to know my transgression and my sinne ? and at last , when god had wrought accordingly upon his heart ; i abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes ; penitent david could say , i acknowledg my transgression , and my sin is ever before me ; and elsewhere , i will declare mine iniquity , and be sorry for my sin ; and solomons suppliant that would hope for audience in heaven , must know the plague of his own heart . carry on therefore thy deluded clients in a willing ignorance of their finnes , and a secure regardlesnesse of their repentance ; for me , i will ransack my heart for my secret sinnes ; and finde no peace in my soule till it bee truly sensible of my owne repentance , and gods remission . iv. temptation thou maist live as thou listest ; thy destiny is irreversible ; if thou be predestined to life , thy sins cannot damne thee ; for gods election remaineth certaine . if thou be ordained to damnation , all thy good endevours cannot save thee ; please thy selfe on earth , thou canst not alter what is done in heaven . repelled . the suggestion is pernicious ; and such , as that satans quiver hath not many shafts more deadly ; for where ever it enters , it renders a man carelesly desperate , and utterly regardlesse either of good , or evill : bereaving him at once both of grace , and wit. the story tells us of a great prince tainted with this poyson ; whom his wise physician happily cured ; for being called to the sicke bed of him , whom he knew thus dangerously resolved ; in stead of medicine , he administers to his patient this just conviction : sir , you are conscious of your stiffe opinion concerning predestination ; why doe you send to mee for the cure of your sicknesse ? either you are predestinated to recover and live , or else you are in gods decree appointed to dye : if you be ordained to live and recover , you shall live , though you take noe helps of physick from me ; but if to dye , all my art and meanes cannot save you . the convinced prince saw , and felt his errour , and recanted it : as well perceiving , how absurd , and unreasonable it is , in whatsoever decree of either temporall or spiritual good , to sever the means from the end ; being both equally determined ; and the one in way to the other : the comparison is cleare and irrefragable ; gods decree is equally both certaine , and secret , for bodily health , and life eternall ; the meanes appointed , are food and medicine for the one , and for the other , repentance , fait● , obedience : in the use of these we may live , we cannot but dye in their neglect : were it any other then madnesse in mee to relye upon a presupposed decree , willingly forbearing the while the means whereby it is brought about ? to say , if i shall live i shall live , though i eat not ; if i shall dye , though i eate i shall not live ; therefore i will not eate , but cast my self upon gods providence , whether to dye or live : in doing thus , what am i other then a selfe murderer ? it is a prevailing policy of the devill so to work by his temptations , upon the heart of man , that in temporall things he shall trust to the meanes without regard to the providence of the god that gives them ; in spirituall , he should cast himself upon the providence of a god , without respect to the meanes , whereby they are effected ; whereas , if both these goe not together , we lose either god , or our selves , or both . it is true , that if god had peremptorily declared his absolute will concerning the state or event of any creature , we might not indevour , or hope to alter his decree ; if god have said to a moses ; goe up to the mount and dye there , it is not for that obedient servant of god , to say ; yet i will lay up some years provision , if perchance i may yet live ; although , even thus , in the minatory declarations of gods purpose ( because we know not what conditions may be secretly intended ) we may use what meanes we may for a diversion : the ninivites heard that expresse word from ionah [ yet fourty daies and nineveh shall be destroyed ] and though they beleeved the prophet , yet they betooke themselves to an universall humiliation for the prevention of the judgement : david heard from the mouth of nathan ; the child that is born unto thee shall surely dye ; yet he besought god , and fasted , and lay all night upon the earth , and could say , who can tell whether god will bee gracious to mee that the child may live ? good hezekiah was sick unto death , and heares from isaiah ; set thy house in order , for thou shalt dye and not live ; yet he turnes his face to the wall , and praies ; and makes use of his bunch of figges ; and recovers ; but , where the counsell of god is altogether secret , without the least glimpse of revelation , for a man to passe a peremptory doome upon himselfe , and either thereupon wilfully to neglect the knowne meanes of his good , or to run willingly upō those courses which will necessarily work his destruction , it is the highest degree of madnesse , that can be incident into a reasonable creature . the father of mercies hath appointed meanes of the salvation of mankind , which lye open to them , if they would not be wanting to themselves ; but especially to us , who are within the bosome of his church , he hath held forth saving helpes in abundance . what warnings , what reproofes , what exhortations , what invitations , what intreaties , what importunities , hath he forborn for our conversion ? what menaces , what afflictions , what judgments hath he not made use of , for the prevention of our damnation ? can there be now any man so desperately mad , as to shut heaven gates against himselfe , which the mercifull god leaves open for him ? or , as to breake open the gates of hell , and rush violently into the pit of destruction , which god had latched against him ? thou sayst , if i be predestin'd to life , my sinnes cannot damne me . man ; thou beginnest at the wrong end ; in that thou takest thy first rise at gods eternall counsails , and then judgest doubtfully of thine owne waies ; it is not for thee to beginne first at heaven , and then to descend to earth ; this course is presumptuous and damnable ; what are those secret and closed bookes of gods eternall decree , and preordination , unto thee ? they are onely for the eyes of him that wrote them ; the lord knoweth them that are his ; look if thou wilt upon the outer seale of those divine secrets ; and , read , let every one that nameth the name of christ depart from iniquity . thy way lies from earth to heaven ; the revealed wil of god , by which onely wee are to be regulated , is ; repent , beleeve , obey , and thou shalt be saved ; live and dye in thy sinnes , impenitent , unbeleeving , thou shalt be damned ; according to this rule frame thou thy courses , and resolutions ; and if thou canst be so great an enemy to thine own soule , as determinately to contemne the meanes of salvation , and to tread wilfully in the paths of death , who can say other , but thou art faire for hell ? but if thou shalt carefully use and improve those good meanes which god hath ordained for thy conversion , and shalt thereupon find that true grace is wrought in thy soule ; that thou abhorrest al evill waies , that thou dost truly beleeve in the lord iesus , and heartily purposest , and indevourest to live holily , and conscionably in this present world , thou maiest now as assuredly know thy name written in heaven , as if thou hadst read it in those eternal characters of gods secret counsell : plainely , it is not for thee to say , i am predestinate to life , therefore thus i shall doe , and , thus i shall speed ; but contrarily , thus hath god wrought in me , therefore i am predestinate ; let me doe well , it cannot but be well with mee ; glory , and honour , and peace to every man that worketh good ; let me doe my utmost diligence to make my calling and election sure ; i am safe , and shall be happy . but if thou hast been mis-carried to lewd courses , and hast lived as without god in the world ; whiles thou dost so , thy case is fearefull : but who allowed thee to ●it judg upon thine own soule ? and to passe a peremptory doome of necessary damnation upon thy selfe ? are not the meanes of grace ( gods blessed ordinances ) stil held forth unto thee ? doth not god still gratiously invite thee to repentance ? doth not thy saviour stand ready with his armes spread abroad to receive thee into his bosome ? and canst thou be so desperately , and presumptuously mercilesse to thy selfe , as to say , i shall be damned , therefore i will sinne ? thou canst not be so wicked but there may be a possibility of thy reclamation ; whiles god gives thee respite , there may be hope ; be not thou so injurious to thy selfe as to usurpe the office both of god , and the devill ; of god , in passing a finall judgment upon thy selfe ; of the devill , in drawing thy selfe into damnation . returne therefore , o sinner , and live , break off thy sinnes by repentance , and be saved ; but if otherwise , know , that gods decree doth neither necessitate thy sin , nor thy damnation ; thou maist thank thy selfe for both ; thy perdition is of thy selfe , o israel . v. temptation why wilt thou be singular amongst and above thy neighbours ; to draw needlesse censures upon thy self ? be wise , and do as the most . be not so over-squemish as not to dispense with thy conscience in some small matters ; lend a lye to a friend , swallow an oath for feare , be drunke sometimes for good fellowship , falsify thy word for an advantage , serve the time , frame thy selfe to all companies ; thus thou shalt be both warme , and safe , and kindly respected . repelled . plausible tempter , what care wouldest thou seeme to take of my ease , and reputation , that , in the mean time , thou mightst run away with my soule ? thou perswadest mee not to be singular amongst my neighbours ; it shall not be my fault if i bee so : if my neighbours bee good , and vertuous , i am with , and for them ; let mee be hissed at , to goe alone ; but if otherwise , let me rather go upright alone , then halt with company : thou tellst mee of censures ; they are spent in vaine that would disharten mee from good , or draw me into evill ; i am too deep rooted in my resolutions of good , then to be turnd up by every slight wind , i know who it is that hath said , blessed are ye when men shall revile you , and persecute you , and shall say all manner of evill against you falsly for my names sake . let men take leave to talk their pleasure ; in what i know i do wel , i am censure-proofe . thou bidst me bee wise , and doe as the most ; these two cannot agree together ; not to follow the most , but the best , is true wisdome ; my saviour hath told me , that the many goe in the broadway , which leadeth to destruction ; and it is the charge of god , thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe evill ; whiles i follow the guidance of my god , i walk confidently , as knowing , i cannot goe amisse ; as for others , let them look to their own feet , they shall be no guides of mine . thou bidst me dispense with my conscience in small matters ; i have learnt to call nothing small , that may offend the majesty of the god of heaven ; dispensations must onely proceed from a greater power ; onely god is greater then my conscience ; where he dispenseth not , it were a vaine presumption for me to dispense with my selfe : and what are those small matters wherein thou solicitest my dispensation ? to lend a ly to a friend ; why dost thou not perswade mee to lend him my soule ? yea to give it unto thee for him ? it is a sure word of the wise man ; the mouth that lyeth , slayeth the soule ; how vehement a charge hath the god of truth layd upon me , to avoid this sinne , which thou , the father of lies , wouldst draw me unto ? what marvell is it , if each speak for his own ? he who is truth it selfe , and loveth truth in the inward parts , justly calles for it in the tongue ; laying aside lying ( saith the spirit of god ) speak every man truth with his neighbour ; thou , who art a lying spirit , wouldst be willing to advance thine own brood under the faire pretence offriendship ; but what ? shall i to gratifie a friend , make god mine enemy ? shall i to rescue a friend from danger , bring destruction upon my selfe ? thou shalt destroy them that speake leasings , saith the psalmist : without shall be every one that loveth , or maketh lies . if therefore my true attestation may availe my friend , my tongue is his , but if he must be supported by falshood ; my tongue is neither his , nor mine ; but is his that made it . to swallow an oath for fear ? no , tempter ; i can let down none such morsels ; an oath is too sacred , & too awfull a thing for me to put over out of any outward respects against my conscience ? if i sweare , the oath is not mine , it is gods ; and the revenge will be his , whose the offence is . it is a charge to be trembled at ; yee shall not sweare by my name falsly ; neither shalt thou profane the name of thy god , i am the lord ; and if the word of charge be so dreadfull , what terrour shall we find in the word of judgment ? lo , god sweares too ; and because there is no greater to sweare by , he swears by himself ; as i live , surely mine oath that he hath despised , and my covenant which he hath broken , even it will i recompence upon his owne head : it was one of the words that were delivered in fire and smoak and thunder and lightning , in sinai ; the lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine . i dare not therefore feare any thing so much as the displeasure of the almighty ; and ( to dye for ) will neither take an unlawfull oath , nor violate a just one . as for that sociable excesse , whereto thou temptest me , how ever the commonness of the vice may have seemed to abate of the reputation of hainousnes , in the opinion of others , yet to me it representeth it so much more hatefull ; as an universall contagion is more grievous then a local : i cannot puchase the name of good fellowship with the losse of my reason , or with the price of a curse ; dayly experience makes good that word of solomon , that wine is a mocker , robbing a man of himselfe , and leaving a beast in his roome : and what woes do i heare denounced against those that rise up earely in the morning that they may follow strong drink , that continue till night til the wine inflame them : if any man thinke he may pride himselfe in a strong brain , and a vigorous body ; woe to them that are mighty to drink wine , & men of strength to mingle strong drinkes : let the iovialists of the world drink wine in bowles , and feast themselves without feare , let me never joyne my selfe with that fellowship , where god is banisht from the companie . wouldst thou perswade me to falsifie my word for an advantage ? what advantage can be so great as the conscience of truth , and fidelity ? that man is for gods tabernacle , that sweareth to his owne hurt , and changeth not ; let me rather lose honestly , then gaine by falshood and perfidiousnesse . thou biddest me serve the time ; so i will doe ; whiles the time serves not thee ; but if thou shalt have so corrupted the time , that the whole world is set in wickednesse , i will serve my god in opposing it : gladly will i serve the time in all good offices , that may tend to rectifie it , but to serve it in a way of flattery , i hate and scorn . i shall willingly frame my selfe to all companies ; not for a partnership in their vice , but for their reclamation from evil , or incouragement in good ; the chosen vessell hath by his example taught me this charitable , and holy pliablenesse ; though i be free from all men , yet have i made my self a servant unto all , that i might gain the more . to the jewes i became as a jew , that i might gaine the jewes ; to them that are under the law , as under the law , that i might gaine them that are under the law ; to them that are without law , as without law , ( being not without law to god , but under the law to christ that i might gain them that are without law ; to the weake i became weake that i might gaine the weake ; i am made all things to all men that i might by al means save some : my onely scope shall be spirituall gaine ; for this will i ( like some good merchant ) trafique with all nations , with all persons . but for carnall respects , to put my selfe ( like the first matter ) into all formes , to be demure with the strictly-severe , to be debaucht with the drunkard , with the atheist profane , with the bigot superstitious , what were this but to give away my soule to every one , save to the god that ownes it ; and whiles i would be all , to be nothing ; and to professe an affront to him that hath charged me be not conformed to this world . shortly , let me be despicable , and starve , and perish in my innocent integrity , rather then be warme and safe , and honoured upon so evill conditions . vi. temptation it is but for a while that thou hast to live ; and when thou art gone , all the world is gone with thee ; improve thy life to the best contentment ; take thy pleasure whiles thou maist . repelled . even this was the very no●e of thine old epicurean clients , let us eat and drink , for to morrow we shall die , i acknowledg the same dart and the same hand that flings it ; a dart dipped in that deadly poison that causeth the man to dye laughing ; a dart that pierceth as deeply into the sensuall heart , as it easily retorted by the regenerate . these wilde inferences of sensuality are for those , that know no heaven , no hell : but to me that know this world to be nothing but a thorow-fare to eternity either way , they abhorre , not from grace onely , but from reason it selfe ; in the intuition of this immortality , what wise man would not rather say , my life is short , therefore it must bee holy ? i shall not live long , let me live well ; so let mee live for a while , that i may live for ever ? these have been still the thoughts of gracious hearts , moses the man of god , after he hath computed the short periods of our age , and confined it to fourescore yeares , ( so soon is it cut off , and we fly away ) inferres with the same breath , so teach us to number our daies that we may apply our hearts to wisdome ; as implying that this holy arithmeticke should be an introduction to divinity ; that the search of heavenly wisdome should be the true use of our short life ; and the sweet singer of israel after he hath said , behold , thou hast made my daies as a span long , mine age is nothing to thee ; findes cause , to look up from earth to heaven , and now , lord , what wait i for ? surely my hope is even in thee : he that desired to know the measure of his life , findes it but a span ; and recompences the shortnesse of his continuance , with hopes everlasting , as the tender mercy of our god pities our frailtie , remembring that we are but flesh , a wind that passeth away , and cometh not againe ; so our frailty supports it selfe with the meditation of his blessed eternity ; my daies ( saith the psalmist ) are like a shadow that declineth , and i am withered like grasse ; but thou , o lord , shalt endure for ever , and thy remembrance to all generations . as therefore every man walketh in a vain shadow , in respect of his transitorinesse , so the good man in respect of his holy conversation , can say , i will walke before the lord in the land of the living ; and knowes himselfe made for better ends then vaine pleasure ; i shall not dye but live , and declare the works of the lord it is for them who have their portion in this life ; who have made their belly their god , and the world their heaven , to place their felicity in these carnall delights ; gods secret ones injoy their higher contentments ; thy loving kindnesse is better then life , saith the prophet ; thou hast put gladnesse in my heart , more then ( they had ) in the time that their corne and their wine increased . miserable worldlings , who walke in the vanitie of their mindes , being alienated from the life of god , through the ignorance that is in them , because of the blindnesse of their hearts ; who being past feeling , have given themselves over to lasciviousnesse , to work all uncleanenesse with greedinesse : what wonder is it , if as their life is meerely brutish , so the happinesse that they affect is no other then bestiall ; and if they snatch at those vanishing shadowes of pleasure , which a poore momentany life can afford them : according to the improvement of our best faculties , so is our felicity ; the best facultie of brute creatures is their sense , they therefore seeke their happinesse in the delectation of their senses : mans best facultie is reason ; he places his happinesse therefore in the delights of the mind , in the perfection of knowledg , and height of speculation ; the christians best sacultie is faith ; his felieity therefore consists in those things which are not perceptible by sense , not fadomeable by reason , but apprehensible by his faith , which is the evidence of things not seen , either by the eye of sense or reason : and as his felicity , so is his life , spirituall . to mee to live is christ , saith he that was rapt into the third heaven ; i live , yet not i , but christ liveth in mee , our life is hid with christ in god , and , when christ which is our life , shall appeare , then shall we also appeare with him in glory . lo then , when the worldling dies , his life dies with him , and , to him , the world is gone with both ; but when i die to nature , i have a life that lives still ; a life that cannot die ; a life that both is , and makes mee glorious : it is not for mee therefore to hunt after these unsatisfying , and momentany pleasures , which perish in their use , and shut up in repentance ; but to lay up those sure comforts , which shall never have an end , but after this transitory life shall accompany mee to eternity . tell not mee therefore of taking my full scope to the pleasures of sinne ; i know there is an hell , and i looke for an heaven ; upon this short moment of my life depends everlastingnesse . let me therfore be carefull to bestow this short life , as that i may be sure to avoid eternity of torments , and to lay up for eternity of blessednesse . vii . temptation it is for common wits to walk in the plain road of opinions . if thou wouldst be eminent amongst men , leave the beaten track , and tread in new paths of thine owne : neither let it content thee to guide thy steps by the dim lanterns of the antient ; he is no body that hath not new lights either to hold out , or follow . repelled . vvicked tempter ; i know thou wouldst have me go any waies , save good ; were those new waies , right , thou wouldst never perswade me to walk in them ; now i have just reason to mis-doubt and shun those paths which thou invitest me unto ; both as private , and as new : it is enough that they are my owne ; for canst thou think to bring me to believe my selfe wiser then the whole church of god ? who am i , that i should over-know not the present world of men only , but the eminent saints , and learned doctors of all former ages ? why should i not rather suspect my owne judgement , then oppose theirs ? when the church in that heavenly marriage-song inquires of the great shepheard of our souls ; tell me , o thou whom my soule loveth , where thou feedest , where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noone ; for why should i be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions ? she receives answer ; if thou know not ( o thou fairest among women ) go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock , and feed thy kids beside the shepheards tents . lo , the tracks of the flock , and the tents of the shepheards are my direction to find my saviour ; if i turn aside , i misse him , and lose my selfe . it is more then enough that those waies are new : for truth is eternall ; and that is therefore most true , that comes nearest to eternity ; as contrarily , novelty is a brand of falshood , and errour : thus saith the lord ; stand ye in the ways , and see ; and ask for the old paths , where is the good way , and walk therein , and ye shall find rest for your soules : far be it from me then , that i should be guilty of that contempt , whereof the prophet , with the same breath , accuseth his jewes ; but they said , we will not walk therein . it is a fearfull word that i heare from the mouth of the same prophet ; because my people have forgotten me ; and have caused them to stumble in their waies from the antient paths , in a way not cast up : i will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy ; i will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity ; wo is me for these heavy times , wherein it is not the least part of our sin , nor the least cause of our miseries , that we have stumbled from the ancient pathes , into the untrodden waies of schisme and errour , and find not the face , but the back of our god turned to us , in this day of our calamity ; o god , thou art just ; we cannot complain that have made our selves miserable . it is true , where our forefathers have manifestly started aside like a broken bow ; and having corrupted their wayes , have burnt incense to vanity , we must be so far from making their precedent a warrant for our imitation , as that we hear god say to us , be ye not like unto your fathers ; walk not in the statutes of your forefathers , neither observe their judgements ; for those that turne aside to crooked waies , the lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity ; but where wee see them walke with a right foot , in the holy waies of god , and continue stedfastly in the faith which was once delivered to the saints , we have reason to be followers of them , who through faith and patience inherit the promises ; that walking in their waies , we may attaine to their end , the salvation of our soules . let me see those steps wherein the holy prophets have trod ; those wherein the blessed apostles have traced the prophets , those wherein the primitive fathers and martyrs have followed the apostles ; those wherein the godly and learned doctors of the succeeding ages have followed those primitive fathers ; and if i follow not them , let me wander , and perish ; it is for true men to walke in the kings high-way , theeves & suspected persons crosse over through by-paths , and make way where they find none . thou tell'st me of new lights ; i ask whence they rise : i know who it was that said , i am the light of the world , he that followeth me shall not walk in darknesse , but shall have the light of life ; and i know that light was the true light ; of whom holy david spake long before , thou art my lampe , o lord ; and the lord wil lighten my darkenesse ; and in thy light shall we see light ; those that doe truly hold forth this light shall be my guides , and i shall follow them with all confidence ; and shall find the path of the just , as the shining light , that shineth more and more unto the perfect day ; as for any new light , that should now break forth , and shine upon our waies ; certainely it is but darknesse ; such a light as bildad prophesied of long agoe ; the light of the wicked shall be put out , and the sparke of his fire shall not shine ; the light shall be darknesse in his tabernacle , and his candle shall be put out with him ; so as the seduced followers of these new lights may have just cause to take up that complaint of the prophet , we wait for light , but behold obscurity , for brightnesse , but we walk in darknesse ; we grope for the wall like the blinde , wee stumble at noone day as in the night . shortly then , that light which the father of lights hath held forth in his will revealed in his word , as it hath been interpreted by his holy church in all ages , shal be my guide , till i shall see as i am seen ; as for any other lights , they are but as those wandring fires that appear in damp marishes , which lead the travailer into a ditch . viii . temptation pretend religion , and doe any thing : what face is so foule as that maske will not cleanly cover ? seem holy , and be what thou wilt . repelled . yea , there thou wouldest have mee ; this is that deadly dart , wherewith thou hast slain millions of soules ; hence it is that the mahumetan saints may commit publique filthinesse with thanks ; hence , that corrupt christians bury such abominable crimes in their cowls hence , that false professors shroude so much villanies under the shelter of piety ; hence , that the world abounds with so many sheep without , wolves within ; faire tombes full of inward rottennesse ; filthy dunghills covered over with snow : rich herse-clothes hiding ill-sented carkasses ; broken potsheards covered with silver drosse ; hence , that the adversaries of iudah offer to zerobabel their aid in building the temple ; the harlot hath her peace offerings ; absolom hath his vow to pay ; herod will worship the infant ; iudas hath a kisse for his master ; simon magus will be a convert ; ananias and sapphira will part with all ; the angell of the church of sardis will pretend to live ; the beast hath hornes like a lamb , but speakes like a dragon ; in a word , the wickedest of men will counterfeit saints , and false saints are very devills : for so much more eminent as the vertue is , which they would seeme to put on , so much the more odious is the simulation both to god and man : now the most eminent of all vertues is holinesse : whereby we both come nearest unto god , and most resemble him : of all creatures therefore out of hell , there is none so loathsome to god as the hypocrites , & that upon a double provocation ; both for doing of evil , & for doing evil under a colour of good ; the face that the wicked man sets upon his sin , is worse then the sin it self : bring no more vain oblations , ( saith the lord ) incense is an abomination to mee ; the new moones and sabbaths , the calling of assemblies i cannot away with ; it is iniquity ; even the solemne meeting ; your new moones , and your appointed feasts my soule hateth , they are a trouble to me , i am weary to be are them . how faine wouldst thou therefore draw mee into a double condemnation both for being evill , and seeming good , both w ch are an abomination to the lord ; doe i not hear him say , for as much as this people draw neare me with their mouth , and with their lips doe honour mee , but have removed their hearts from me ; therefore behold i will proceed to doe a marvellous work amongst this people , even a marvellous work and a wonder , for the wisdome of the wise shall perish ; doe i not heare him say by his prophet jeremiah ; they will deceive every one his neghbour and will not speake the truth : their tongue is an arrow shot out , it speaketh deceit ; one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth , but in heart he layeth his wait ; shall i not visit them for these things , saith the lord : shall not my soule be avenged of such a nation as this ? indeed this is the way to beguile the eyes of men like our selves ; for who would mistrust a mortifyed face ? an eye and hand lift up to heaven ? a tongue that speakes holy things ? but when we have to doe with a searcher of hearts , what madnesse is it to think there can be any wisdome or understanding , or counsail against the lord ? woe bee to them therefore that seeke deepe to hide their counsell from the lord ; and their workes are in the darke , and they say , who seeth us ; and who knoweth us ? woe bee to the rebellious children , saith the lord , that take counsell , but not of mee , that cover with a covering , but not of my spirit , that they may add sin to sin . shall i then cleanse the out-side of the cup , whiles i am within full of extortion , & excesse ? shall i fast for strife and debate , and to smite with the fist of wickednesse ? shall i under pretence of long prayers devoure widowes houses ? shal i put on thy forme , and transfigure my selfe into an angell of light ? shall not the all-seeing eye of the righteous god find me out in my damnable simulation ? hath not he said , & wil make it good , though thou wash thee with nitre , and take thee much sope , yet thine iniquity is marked before mee ? hath not my saviour , who shall be our judge , said , therefore thou shalt receive the greater damnation ? can there be any heavier doom that can fall from that awfull mouth , then , receive thy portion with hypocrites ? let those therefore that are ambitious of an higher roome in hell , maintaine a forme of godlinesse , and deny the power of it : face wickednesse with piety : stalke under religion for the aimes of policy : juggle with god and the world , case a devill with a saint , and row towards hell whiles they looke heaven-ward . for me , all the while my breath is in me , & the spirit which god gives mee , is in my nostrills , i shall walke in mine uprightnesse : all false waies , and false semblances shal my soule utterly abhorre : that so at the parting , my rejoiceing may be the testimony of my conscience , that in simplicity , and godly sincerity , not with fleshly wisdome , but by the grace of god i have had my conversation in the world . ix . temptation why shouldst thou lose any thing of thy height ? thou art not made of common mold ; neither art thou as others ; if thou knowst thy self , thou art more holy , more wise , better gifted , more inlightned then thy neighbours ; justly therefore maist thou over-look the vulgar of christians , with pity , contempt , censure ; and beare thy selfe as too good for ordinary conversation , go apart , and avoid the contagion of common breath . repelled . if pride were thy ruine , wicked spirit , how faine wouldst thou make it mine also ? this was thy first killing suggestion to our first parents in paradise , soone after thine owne fall , ( as if it had been lately before , thy owne case ) ye shall be as gods , knowing good and evill : that which thou foundest ▪ so deadly to thy selfe , thou art enviously willing to feoffe upon man , that if through thy temptation , pride may compasse him about as a chaine , he may beare thee company in those everlasting chaines wherein thou art reserved under darknesse to the judgement of the great day . thou well knowest that the ready way to make me odious unto god , is to make me proud of my selfe ; pride and arrogancy , and the evill way doth he hate ; the day of the lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty , saith the prophet : he hath scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts , saith the blessed virgin ; god resisteth the proud , and giveth grace to the humble , saith the apostle ; the lord will destroy the house of the proud , saith salomon ; and his father david before him , thine eyes are upon the haughty that thou maist bring them downe ; downe , indeed , even to the bottome of that pit of perdition . make me but proud therefore , & i am thine ; sure i am , god will not owne me ; and if i could be in heaven with this sin , would cast me downe headlong into hell . thou bidst me not to lose any thing of my height ; alas , ( poore wretched dwarfe that i am ! ) what height have i ? if i have but grace enough to know and bewaile my owne misery , and nothingnesse , it is the great mercy of my god ; who maketh mee to differ from another ? and what have i that i have not received ? and if i have received it , why should i glory in it as my owne ? whatsoever thou perswadest me , let me rather lose of my height , then adde to my stature , and affect too high a pitch ; that humility is rewarded with honour , this pride with ruine ; it is the word of truth himselfe , whosoever shall exalt himselfe shall be abased ; and he that shall humble himselfe shall be exalted ; the way then to lose my whole height , yea my being , is to be lifted up , in , and above my selfe ; for though i should build my nest as high as the eagle ; or advance a throne among the stars , yet how soone shall he cast me downe into the dust ; yea , ( without my repentance ) into the nethermost hell ? thou telst me that ( which the pharisee said of himselfe ) i am not as others ; true , for i can say with the chosen vessell , that i am the chiefe of sinners : thou wouldst bring me into an opinion that i am more holy , and more wise then my neighbours ; i am a stranger to other mens graces , i am acquainted with my owne wants ; yea i so well know my own sinfulness and folly that i hang downe my head in a just shame for both ; i know that he who was holier then i , could say , i know that in me ( that is , in my flesh ) dwelleth no good thing ; and he that was wiser then i , could say , surely i am more brutish then any man , and have not the understanding of a man ; i neither learned wisdome , nor have the knowledge of the holy : all the holinesse that i have attained unto is to see and lament my defects of holinesse ; and all my wisdome is to descry and complaine of my own ignorance and foolishnesse . am i better gifted then another ? thou art an ill judge of either , who enviest the gifts of both ; but if i be so , they are gifts still ; and such gifts as the donour hath not absolutely given away from himselfe to me , but hath given ( or lent them rather ) to me , for an improvement to his owne use ; which i have no more reason to be proud of , then the honest factor , of his masters stock ; received by him , not for possession , but for trafique . am i more inlightned then others ? the more do i discerne my owne darknesse ; and the more do i find cause to be humbled under the sense of it ; but if the greater light which thou saist is in me , were not of an humane imagination , but of divine irradiation , what more reason should i have to be proud of it , then that in this more temperate clime i have more sun shine then those of lapland and finland , and the rest of those more northerne nations ; so much the more reason have i to be thankfull ; none to be proud . why should i therefore over-looke the meanest of my fellow christians ; who may perhaps have more interest in god then my selfe ; for it is not our knowledge that so much indeares us to god , as our affections ; perhaps he that knows lesse may love more ; and if he had been blessed with my means , would have known more ; neither is it the distribution of the talents that argues favour , but the grace to imploy them to the benefit of the giver : if he that received the one talent had gained another , he had received more thanks then he that upon the receit of five talents had gained one . the spirit breathes where it listeth ; and there may lie secret graces in the bosome of those , who passe for common christians , that may find greater acceptation in heaven , then those whose profession makes a fairer ostentation of holinesse . i can pity therefore those that are ignorant , and apparently gracelesse ; but for those that professe both to know , and to love christ ; whiles their lives deny not the power of godlinesse , i dare not spend upon them either my contempt , or censure , lest whiles i judge wrongfully , i be justly judged : much lesse dare i separate my self from their communion as contagious ; thou knowest how little it were to thine advantage , that i should be perswaded to depart from the tents of the notoriously wicked ; and to have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darknesse ; as too well understanding that evill conversation corrupts good manners ; and that a participation in sin drawes on a partnership in judgement ; neither know i whether thou shouldst gaine more by my joyning with evill society , or my separating from good ; infection follows upon the one , distraction upon the other : those then which cast off their communion with christ and his church , whether in doctrine or practise , i shall avoid ( as the plague ) soone , and far : but those who truly professe a reall conjunction , with that head , and this body : into their secret let my soule come , and unto their assembly let mine honour be united : but if , where i find weaknesse of grace , and involuntary failings of obedience , i shall say , stand by thy selfe , come not neer me , for i am holier then thou ; how can i make other account then that this pride shall be a smoke in the nostrils of the almighty , a fire that burneth all day ; and that he will recompence it into my bosome ? shortly , i know none so fit to depart from , as from my selfe , my owne pride , self love , and the rest of my inbred corruptions ; and am so far from over-looking others , that i know none worse then my selfe . x. temptation however the zeale of your scrupulous preachers is wont to make the worst of every thing ; and to damne the least slip to no lesse then hell : yet there are certaine favour able temperaments of circumstances , which may ( if not excuse yet ) extenuate a fault , such as age , complexion , custome , profit , importunity , necessity , which are justly pleadable at the barre both of god , and the conscience , and are sufficient to rebate the edge of divine severity . repelled . vvicked tempter , i know there is nothing upon earth , that so much either troubles thee , or impairs thy kingdome of darknesse , as the zeale of conscionable preachers ; those , who lift up their voice like a trumpet , and shew gods people their transgression , and the house of jacob their sin ; this is it that rescues millions of souls from the hand of hell , and gives thee so many foyles in thy spirituall assaults ; this godly and faithful zeal represents mens sins to them as they are , and , by sins , the danger of their damnation ; which thy malicious subtilty would faine blanch over , and palliate to their destruction ; but when thou hast all done , it is not in their power to make sin worse then it is , or in thine to make it better : as for those favourable temperaments which thou mentionest , they are meere pandarismes of wickednesse ; faire visors of deformity : for to cast a glance upon each of them ; age is not a more common plea , then unjust : the young man pretends it for his wanton , and inordinate lust : the old , for his gripplenesse ; techinesse ; loquacity : all wrongfully , and not without foule abuse . youth is taught by thee to call for a swing : and to make vigour , and heate of blood , a priviledge for a wild licentiousnesse ; for which it can have no claime but from a charter sealed in hell : i am sure that god who gives this marrow to his bones , and brawne to his armes , and strength to his sinewes , and vivacity to his spirits , lookes for another improvement ; remember thy creator in the days of thy youth , saith solomon ; and his father before him ; wherewithall shall a young man cleanse his way ? by taking heed thereto according to thy word : lo , the young mans waies are foule with lusts and distempered passions , and they must be cleansed ; and the way to cleanse them is attendance ( not of his owne vaine pleasures , but ) of the holy ordinances of his maker : thou wouldst have him run loose like the wild asse in the desert , god tells him , it is good for a man to beare the yoake in his youth ; even the yoke of the divine precepts , the stooping whereunto is the best , & truest of al freedoms , so as he may be able to say with the best courtier of the wickedest king ; i thy servant feare the lord from my youth ; the aberrations from which holy lawes of god are so far from finding an excuse from the prime of our years , as that holy iob cries out of them in the bitternesse of his soule , thou hast made mee to possesse the iniquities of my youth : and as david vehemently deprecates gods anger for them ; remember not , lord , the sins of my youth ; so zophar the naamathite notes it for an especiall brand of gods judgement upon the wicked man , that his bones are full of the sins of his youth ; and god declares it as an especiall mercy to his people ; thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth ; the more head-strong therefore my youth is , the more straite shall i curbe it , and hold it in : and the more vigorous it is , so much the fitter it is to be consecrated to that god who is most worthy to be served with the best of his own . as for old age , it hath i grant its humours and infirmities ; but rather for our humiliation , then for our excuse . it is not more common then absurd and unreasonable , that when we are necessarily leaving the world , we should be most fond in holding it ; when wee are ceasing to have any use of riches , then , to endeavour most eagerly to get them ; when we should bee laying up treasure in heaven , to be treasuring up wrath for our selves , and baggs , for we know not whom : to be unwilling to spend what we cannot keep ; and to be mad on getting what we have not the wit or grace to spend : if then thou canst perswade any man to bee so gracelesse , as to make his vicious disposition an apology for wickednesse , let him plead the faults of his age for the excuse of his avarice . as for morosity of nature , and garrulity of tongue , they are not the imperfections of the age , but of the persons ; there are meek spirits under gray haires , and wrinkled skinnes ; there are old men , who , ( as that wise heathen said of old ) can keepe silence , even at a feast ; he hath ill spent his age that hath not attained to so good an hand over himselfe , as in some meet measure to moderate both his speech and passion . if some complexions both incline us more , and crave indulgence to some sinnes , more then other , ( the sanguine to lust , the cholerick to rage , &c. ) wherfore serves grace but to correct them ? if we must be over-ruled by nature , what doe we professing christianity ? neither humours , nor stars can necessitate us to evill ; whiles thou therefore pretendest my naturall constitution , i tell thee of my spirituall regeneration ; the power whereof if it have not mortified my evill and corrupt affections , i am not ( what i professe to be ) a christian . the strongest plea for the mitigation of sinne , is custome ; the power whereof is wont to be esteemed so great , as that it hath seemed to alter the quality of the fact , and of sin , to make no sin : hence the holy patriarchs admitted many consorts into their marriage-bed , without the conscience of offending ; which , if it had not been for the mediation of custome , had beene justly esteemed no better then criminous : but however where is no contrary injunction , custome may so far usurp , as to take upon it to be no lesse then a law it selfe ; yet , where there is a just regulation of law , the plea of custome is so quite out of countenance , as that it is strongly retorted against it selfe ; neither is there any more powerfull reason for the abolition of an ill use , then that is a custome ; so much the more need therefore to be opposed and reformed . hence was that vehement charge of god to his israel : after the doings of the land of egypt , wherein ye dwelt , shall ye not do ; and after the doings of the land of canaan , whither i bring you , shall ye not do ; neither shall ye walk after their ordinances . ye shall keep mine ordinance , that ye commit not any of these abominable customes , which were committed before you ; and that ye defile not your selves therein , i am the lord your god. it is too true that the bonds of custome are so strong and close , that they are not easily loosed ; in so much as custome puts on the face of another nature ; can the ethiopian change his skin , or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good , that are accustomed to doe evill ; how stifly did the men of judah , ( after all the dreadfull threatnings of the prophet ) hold to their idolatrous customes , which they had learn't in egypt ; wee will burne incense to the queen of heaven , and poure out drink-offerings to her , as wee have done ; we , and our fathers , our kings , and our princes , in the cities of judah ▪ and in the streets of jerusalem ; it is with ill customes , as with diseases ; which if they grow inveterate , are so much the harder to be cured ; but shall i therefore hug my malady , because i have long had it ? because it will not part away with ease ? shall i bid a theefe welcome , because he had wont to rob me ? shortly then , so far is an ill custome from extenuating my sin , as that it aggravates it ; neither shall i offend the lesse , because i offend with more ; but rather double it , both , as in my act , and , as in my imitation ; in following others amisse , and in helping to make up an ill precedent for others following of me . as for the profit that may accrew by sinning ; let those carnall hearts value it , that have made the world their god ; to me , the greatest gain this way is losse : might i have that house-full of gold and silver that balaam talke of ; or all those kingdomes of the earth , and the glory of them which thou shewedst to my saviour , what are all these to the price of a sin , when they meet with a man that hath learnt from the mouth of christ ; what profit shall it be to a man , if he shall gaine the whole world , and lose his owne soule ? importunity is wont to be a prevalent suitor ; how many have been dragg'd to hell by the force of others solicitations , who never else meant to have trod in those pathes of death ? what marvell is it , if that which moved the unjust judge to do right , against the bent of his will , be able to draw the weak sinner awry ? but if in these earthly angariations , one mile ( according to our saviours counsel ) may bring on another ; yet in spirituall evill ways , no compulsion can prevaile upon a resolved spirit . it is not the change of stations , nor the building of twice seven altars , nor the sacrificing of seven bullocks and seven rams that can win a true prophet of god to curse israel ; the christian heart is fixed upon sure grounds of his own , never to be removed ; if therefore his father sue to him ; if his mother weep , and wring , and kneele ; and beseech him by the womb that bore him , and the brests that gave him suck ; if his crying children cling about his knees , and crave his yeildance to some advantageous evill , or his declining some bitter sufferings for the cause of christ , he can shake them off with an holy neglect ; and say , what do you weeping and breaking my heart ? for i am ready not to be bound only , but also to die for the name of the lord jesus ; none of these things move me , neither count i my life deare unto my self , so that i may finish my course with joy ; and if any soule be so weak , as to be led rather by the earnest motions of others , then by his owne setled determinations , he shall find no other ease before the tribunal of heaven , then our first parents did in shifting the guilt of their sin , the man to the woman , the woman to the serpent ; in the meane while that word shall ever stand with me inviolable , my son , if sinners entise thee , consent thou not . lastly , what can be the necessity which may either induce to sin ; or excuse for sinning ? what can the world do to make me say i must doe evill ? losse , restraint , exile , paine , death are the worst , that either malice can do , or patience suffer ; these may put me hard to the question , but , when all is done , they must leave me free , either to act , or indure ; i need not therefore sin , since there is a remedy against sin , suffering . it is true that we are in the hands of a most gracious and indulgent god , who considers what we are made of , pities our infirmities , and knows to put a difference betwixt wilfull rebellion and weak revolt ; his mercy can distinguish of offenders ; but his justice hath said , without shall be the fearfull ; finally then howsoever these circumstantiall temperaments may receive pardon , after the fact , for the penitent at the mercy-seat of heaven ; yet none of them can be pleadable at the bar of divine justice ; and if any sinner shall hearten himselfe to offend out of the hopes and confidence of these favorable mitigations , the comfort that i can give him , is , that he may howle in hell , with thee , for his presumption . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a45313-e400 m r hannibal gammon of cornwall . notes for div a45313-e560 temptations of impiety . temptations of discouragement . temptations of allurement . notes for div a45313-e1750 2 cor. 13. 4. philip. 2. 6. joh. 10. 17 , 18. matth. 4. 3 , 6. mar. 1. 24. mar. 5. 7. mat. 8. 20. a joh. 3. 13 , 18. b joh. 18. c mat. 28. 29. act. 2. 35. d 10. 48. e psal . 22. 27. f psal . 72. 11 , 15. g rev. 5. 11 , 12. & 4. 9 , 11. h philip. 2. 6. i joh. 10. 30. 1 joh. 5. 7. k joh. 16. 15. & 17. 19. l ●sa . 45. 12. psal . 33. 6. & 102. 26. m psal . 45. 6 , 7. n esa . 9. 6. o revel . 1. 17. p micah 5. 2. q joh 17. 5. r joh. 1. 1. ſ ephes . 4. 10. t joh. 3. 13. u rev. 1. 8. x esa . 9. 6. y esa . 40. 3. & 45. 21 , 22. z esa . 45. 13. esa . 6. 3. a rom. 9. 5. b 1 joh. 5. 20. c tit. 2. 13. d 1 cor. 2. 8. joh. 20. 28. colos . 2. 15. esa . 53. 8 , 9. esa 53. 12. luke 24. 25 , 26. luke 23. 35 , 36. mat. 27. 51. mat. 27. 54. rom. 1. 4. gal. 6. 14. dan. 2. 11. rom. 7. 7. 2 tim. 3. 15. 2 pet. 1. 21. 2 tim. 3. 16. mat. 7. 24 , 25. 1 tim. 3. 16. mat. 11. 27. mat. 11. 25. rom. 16. 25 , 26. 2 cor. 10. 4 , 5. esa . 55. 8 , 9. luk. 23. 42. 2 cor. 5. 1. luc. 16. 22. revel . 6. 9. revel . 14. 1 , 3. revel . 7. 14. 1. 16. 17. revel . 14 13. revel . 1. 18. mat. 10. 28. rom. 2. 9. ro m. 2 ▪ 8. wisd . 2. 1. 2 thess . 1 8 , 9. 1 cor. 15. 36 , 37 , 38. 2 kings 13. 21. mat. 27. 52 , 53. 1 cor. 15. 20. 1 cor. 15. 57. 1 thes . 4. 14. mat. 22. 32. 1 cor. 15. 19. job 19. 23 24 , 25 , 26. 1 cor. 15. 53 , 54 , 55 , 56. 57. 2 pet. 3. 3. act. 1. 11. mat. 8. 29. acts 17. 31. jude 14. 15. mat. 25. 31. heb. 11. 37. 2 thesl . 1. 6 , 7. iude 6. 2 cor. 5. 10. 2 pet. 3. 10. 1 thes . 4. 16. 2 pet. 3. 8 , 9. 2 thess . 2. 1. 2 pet. 3. 3. gen. 19 ▪ 22. gen. 19. 22. 24. gal. 3. 10. deut. 27. 26. mat. 5. 19. iam. 2. 10. iob 10. 14. 1 sam. 2. 25. psal . 130. 3 , 4. esa . 43. 25. mat. 12. 36. rom. 2. 15. mat. 15. 14. esa . 59. 2. eph. 2. 3. eph. 5. 6. rom. 2. 5. iude 6. rom. 5 : 12. rom. 5. 18 : heb. 2. 14 , 15. rom. 7 : 14. rom. 6 : 16. 1 tim : 2 : 5. tit. 2. 14 : heb : 9. 12. eph. 1. 7 : 1 ioh. 1. 7. eph. 5. 2 : gal. 3 : 13 : col. 1. 13 : col. 1. 22. 1 pet. 2. 24 : mat. 6. 12 : 2 cor. 5. 21. 1 cor. 1. 30. gal. 3 : 13 : 2 cor. 5 : 21. rom. 5. 1. rev. 6. 10. 2 cor. 2. 20 : revel . 1. numb : 23. 10. josh . 23. 14. 1 king. 8. 56. 1 sam. 2. 30. jer. 18. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. psal . 89. 33 , 34. psal . 77. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. v. 11. psal . 116. 10 , 11 , v. 10 , 12 , 16. mat. 7. 13. act. 10. 35. 1 joh. 5. 12. 1 cor. 3. 12. revel . 21. 12. philip. 3. 8 , 10. notes for div a45313-e6780 esa . 1. 18. psal . 145. 8 , 9 , 1 tim. 1. 15. 1 joh. 1. 9. proverb . 28 : 13. 2 cor. 7. 10. 1 cor. 7. 11. luke 23. 41. numb . 14. 22. mat. 18. 22. prov. 28. 13. luke 15. 14 , 15 , &c. eccles . 9. 2. heb. 12. 6. heb. 12. 8. esa . 53. 4 , 5 , 6. luk. 9. 23. mat. 16. 24. mar. 8. 34. 2 tim. 2. 12. heb. 12. 11. rom. 8. 18. jam. 1. 4. 2 cor. 4. 17. rom. 5. 3. act. 14. 22. 2 cor. 4. 8. 2 cor. 11. 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 1 cor. 11. 32. psal . 119. 71 , 75. psal . 94. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. act. 17. 28. mat. 10. 29. v. 30. 1 sam. 2. 7 , v. 8. 2 kings 18. 25. 2 kings 19. 27 , 28. job 34. 21. psal . 33. 13 , 14. psal . 104. 24 , 25 , 27. psal . 104. 21. luk. 12. 24 , 27. job 12. 9 , 10. luk. 16. 25. psalm . 37. 35 , 36. prov. 1. 32. dan. 5. 26. heb. 11. 37. revel . 12. 4 , 13 , v. 15. act. 7. 52. gen. 50. 20. joh. 16. 33. mat. 24. 9. luk. 21. 12 , 13. joh. 15. 18. 2 tim. 3. 12 , 19. psal . 79. 2 , 3 , 4. rev. 16. 6. 1 cor. 4. 9. rev. 3. 21. mat. 5. 10 , 11 , 12. mat. 5. 44. jam. 1. 12. mat. 5. 18. ephes . 1. 13 , 14. 2 pet. 1. 10. rom. 8. 30. philip. 1. 6. 1 thessal . 1. 4 , 5. ephes . 4. 30. rom. 8. 17. rom. 8. 14. psal . 119. 176. 1 joh. 4. 8. 4. 7. 1 joh. 3. 14. 1 joh. 5. 4. psal . 30. 6. act. 15. 9. joh. 3. 36. joh. 5. 24. psal . 77. 7. 9. 8. 77. v. 10 , 11 , 12. 1 sam. 17. 36. num. 23. 19. joh. 13. 1. esay 54. 7 , 8. coloss . 3. galat. 3. 10. galat. 3. 13. rom. 5. 20 , 21. 1 joh. 4. 13. rom. 8. 15 , 16. rom. 8. 26. ephes . 2. 1 , 4 , 5 , 6. ezek. 36. 27 , 29. 1 joh. 5. 3. rom. 8. 11. prov. 8. 17. 1 joh. 4. 19. rom. 5. 5. notes for div a45313-e11440 eccles . 8. 11. rom. 2. 4 , 5. job 12. 6. job 21. 13. psal . 73. 4. iob 24. 24. job 11. 20. exod. 34. 6. num. 14. 18. psal . 103. 8. psal . 145. 8 , 9. exod. 20. 6. psal . 86. 15. nehem. 9. 30 , 31. lament . 3. 31. jona . 4. 2. mic. 7. 18. psal . 72. 13. jerem. 13. 14. prov. 20. 9. psal . 14. 3. rom. 3. 12. ps . 19. 12. esa . 53. 6. levit. 4. 2. 13. 22. num. 15. 24. 2 kings 8. 46. 1 joh. 1. 8 , 10. jam. 3. 2. esa . 6. 5. rom. 7. 19. jam. 3. 2. 1 joh. 5 ▪ 18. 1 joh. 3. 9. rev. 1. 14. 1 king. 14. 22. esa . 43. 25. esa . 59. 2. 2 sam. 12. 10 , 11. psal . 90. 78. lam. 3. 42 , 43. 44. iob 13. 13. iob 42. 6. ps . 51. 3. ps . 38. 18. 1 kings 8. 38. 2 sam. 12. 14. ▪ verse 22. 2 kings 20. 1 , 2. verse 7. 2 tim. 2. 19. rom. 2. 10. 2 pet. 1 10. mat. 5. 11. mat. 7. 13. exod. 23 2. wis . 1. 11. ioh. 8. lev. 19. 11. col. 3. 9. eph. 4. 25. psal . 5. 6. rev. 22. 15. exod. 22. 8. eccl. 16. 59. lev. 19. 12. ezek. 17. 19. exod. 20. 7. prov. 20. 1. esa . 5. 11. es . 5. 22. amos 6. 6. psal . 15. 4. 1 ioh. 5. 19. 1 cor. 9. 19. 20. 21. 22. rom. 12. 2. 1 cor. 15 32. psal . 90. 10. psal . 90. 10. 12. psal . 39. 4. 5. 7. ps . 78. 39. ps . 102. 11 , 12. ps . 16. 9. ps . 118. 17. ps . 117. 14. ps . 63. 3. ps . 4. 7. eph. 4. 17 18. 19. heb. 11. 1. phil. 1. 21. gal. 2. 20. col. 2. 3 , 4. cant. 1. 7. 8. jer. 6. 16. jer. 18. 15. 17. gen. 6. 12. jer. 18. 15. 2 chro. 30. 7. ezek. 20. 18. ps . 125. 5. gal. 2. 14. jude 3. heb. 6. 12. joh. 8. 12. joh. 12. 46. joh. 1. 8 , 9. 2 sam. 22 29. ps . 36. 10. prov. 4. 18. iob 22. 28. luc. 11. 35. iob. 18. 5. 6. esay . 59. 9. 10. math. 7. 15. mat. 23. 27. pro. 26. 23. ezr. 4. 2. pro. 7. 14. mat. 2. 8. mat. 26. 49 acts 8. 13. rev. 3. 2. rev. 13. 11. 1 pet. 1. 19. lev. 11. 44. 19. 2. isa . 1. 13. es . 1. 13. 14. isa . 29. 13. 14. ier. 9. 5. 8. 9. isa . 29. 15. isa . 80. 1. mat. 23. 25. esay 58. 4. mat. 23. 14. 2 cor. 1. 14. ier. 2. ●2 . mat. 23. 14. 2 tim. 3. 5. iob 27. 3. psal . 26. 11 2 cor. 1. 12. gen. 3. psal . 73. 6. jude 6. prov. 8. 13. esa . 2. 11 , 12. luke 1. 51. jam. 4. 6. 1 pet. 5. 5. prov. 15. 25. 2 sam. 22. 28. esa . 14. 12. 1 cor. 4. 7. mat. 23. 13 , 14. luc. 14. 11. 18. 14. rom. 7. 18. prov. 30. 2 , 3. num. 16. 20 , 21. 2 cor. 6. 17. ephes . 5. 11. num. 16. 26. esay 65. 5. 6. esa . 58. 1. ecl. 12. 1. psal . 119. 9. lam. 3. 27. obadiah in 1 kings 18. 12. iob 13. 26. psal . 25. 7. iob 20. 11. esa . 54. 2. lev. 18. 3. v. 30. jer. 13. 23. jer. 44. 17. num. 24. 13. mat. 16. 26. mark. 8. 36. mat 5. 41. num. 23. 14. & 29. act. 21. 13. act. 20. 24. prov. 1. 10. a practical discourse concerning death by william sherlock ... sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. 1689 approx. 408 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 180 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a59840 wing s3312 estc r226804 31355700 ocm 31355700 110611 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a59840) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 110611) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1753:3) a practical discourse concerning death by william sherlock ... sherlock, william, 1641?-1707. [7], 353 [i.e 352] p. printed for w. rogers ..., london : mdclxxxix [1689] errata: p. [7]. error in paging: p. 352 numbered 353. advertisement: p. 353 [sic]. "imprimatur, z. isham, r.p.d. hen. episc. lond. à sacris. septemb. 11, 1689." -p. [1] reproduction of original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng death. theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2003-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-02 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion imprimatur , z. isham , r. p. d. hen. episc. lond. à sacris . septemb. 11 , 1689. a practical discourse concerning death . by william sherlock , d. d. master of the temple . london : printed for w. rogers , at the sun over against st. dunstan's church in fleet-street . mdclxxxix . to the worshipful the masters of the bench , and the rest of the members of the two honourable societies of the temple . my much honoured friends , one reason of publishing this plain discourse is , because i cannot now preach to you , as formerly i have done , and have no other way left of discharging my duty to you , but by making the press supply the place of the pulpit . part of this you have already heard , and should have heard the rest , had i enjoyed the same liberty still ; which god restore to me again , when he sees fit , if not , his will be done . and the only reason of this dedication is , to make this publick and thankful acknowledgment ( before i am forced from you , if i must be so unhappy ) of your great respects , and many singular favours to me ; which have been always so free and generous , that they never gave time , nor left any room for me to ask ; especially that obliging welcome you gave me at my first coming , i mean your present of a house , which besides the conveniencies and pleasure of a delightful habitation , has afforded me that , which i value much more , the frequent opportunities of your conversation . though i am able to make you no better return than thanks , i hope , that great master , whom i serve , will ; and that god would multiply all temporal and spiritual blessings on you , is , and always shall be , the sincere and hearty prayer of , gentlemen , your most obliged and humble servant , w. sherlock . the contents . the introduction page 1 chap. i. the several notions of death , and the improvement of them 4 sect . i. the first notion of death , that it is our leaving this world , with the improvement of it 6 sect . ii. the second notion of death , that it is our putting off these bodies 35 sect . iii. death considered as our entrance upon a new and unknown state of life 69 chap. ii. concerning the certainty of our death 89 sect . i. a vindication of the iustice and goodness of god in appointing death for all men 92 sect . ii. how to improve this consideration , that we must certainly die 110 chap. iii. concerning the time of our death , and the proper improvement of it 125 sect . i. that the general period of humane life is fixt and determined by god , and that it is but very short 128 sect . ii. what little reason we have to complain of the shortness of humane life 184 sect . iii. what use to make of the fixt term of humane life 144 sect . iv. what use to make of the shortness of humane life 162 sect . v. the time , and manner , and circumstances of every particular man's death , are not determined by an absolute and unconditional decree 185 sect . vi. the particular time when we are to die , is unknown and uncertain to us 196 sect . vii . that we must die but once , or that death translates us to an unchangeable state ; with the improvement of it 234 chap. iv. concerning the fear of death , and the remedies against it 328 the conclusion 351 errata . page 130. l. 8. for unreasonable read unanswerable . p. 214. l. 13. r. at present . a practical discourse concerning death . 9 hebrews 27. it is appointed for men once to die . the introduction . there is not a more effectual way to revive the true spirit of christianity in the world , than seriously to meditate on what we commonly call the four last things ; death , judgment , heaven , and hell : for it is morally impossible men should live such careless lives , should so wholly devote themselves to this world , and the service of their lusts , should either cast off the fear of god , and all reverence for his laws , or satisfie themselves with some cold and formal devotions , were they possest with a warm and constant sense of these things . for what manner of men ought we to be , who know that we must shortly die , and come to judgment , and receive according to what we have done in this world , whether it be good or evil ; either eternal rewards in the kingdom of heaven , or eternal punishments with the devil and his angels . that which first presents it self to our thoughts , and shall be the subject of this following treatise , is death , a very terrible thing , the very naming of which is apt to chill our blood and spirits , and to draw a dark veil over all the glories of this life . and yet this is the condition of all mankind , we must as surely die , as we are born : for it is appointed unto men once to die . this is not the original law of our nature ; for though man was made of the dust of the earth , and therefore was by nature mortal , ( for that which is made of dust is by nature corruptible , and may be resolved into dust again ) yet had he not sinned , he should never have died ; he should have been immortal by grace , and therefore had the sacrament of immortality , the tree of life , planted in paradise . but now by man sin entred into the world , and death by sin , and so death passed upon all men , for that all have sinned , 5 rom. 12. and thus it is decreed and appointed by god by an irreversible sentence , dust thou art , and unto dust thou shalt return . now to improve this meditation to the best advantage , i shall 1. consider what death is , and what wisdom that should teach us . 2. the certainty of our death , that it is appointed unto men once to die . 3. the time of our death , it must be once , but when we know not . 4. the natural fears and terrors of death , or our natural aversions to it , and how they may be allayed and sweetned . chap. i. the several notions of death , and the improvement of them . 1. what death is ; and i shall consider three things in it . 1. that it is our leaving this world. 2. our putting off these earthly bodies . 3. our entrance into a new and unknown state of life ; for when we die , we do not fall into nothing , or into a profound sleep , into a state of silence and insensibility till the resurrection : but we only change our place , and our dwelling ; we remove out of this world , and leave our bodies to sleep in the earth till the resurrection , but our souls and spirits live still in an invisible state. i shall not go about to prove these things , but take it for granted , that you all believe them : for that we leave this world , and that our bodies rot and putrifie in the grave needs no proof , for we see it with our eyes ; and that our souls cannot die , but are by nature immortal , has been the belief of all mankind ; the gods which the heathens worshipped , were most of them no other but dead men , and therefore they did believe , that the soul survived the funeral of the body , or they could never have made gods of them : nay , there is such a strong sense of immortality imprinted on our natures , that very few men , how much soever they have debauched their natural sentiments , can wholly deliver themselves from the fears of another world. but we have a more sure word of prophesie than this ; since life and immortality is now brought to light by the gospel . for this is so plainly taught in scripture , that no man , who believes that , needs any other proof . my business therefore only shall be to show you , how such thoughts as these should affect our minds : what that wisdom is , which the thoughts of death will naturally teach us ; how that man ought to live , who knows , that he must die , and leave his body behind him to rot in the grave , and go himself into a new world of spirits . sect . i. the first notion of death , that it is our , leaving this world , with the improvement of it . 1. first then let us consider death only as our leaving this world : a very delightful place you 'l say , especially when our circumstances are easie and prosperous ; here a man finds whatever he most naturally loves , whatever he takes pleasure in ; the supply of all his wants , the gratification of all his senses , whatever an earthly creature can wish for or desire ; the truth is , few men know any other happiness , much less any thing above it ; they feel what strikes upon their senses ; this they think a real and substantial good , but as for more pure and intellectual joys , they know no more what to make of them , than of ghosts and spirits ; they account them thin vanishing things , and wonder what men mean who talk so much of them : nay good men themselves are apt to be too much pleased with this world , while they are easy here ; something else is necessary to wean them from it , and to cure their fondness of it , besides the thoughts of dying , which makes the sufferings and afflictions and disappointments of this life , so necessary for the best of men. this is one thing which makes the thoughts of death so terrible ; men think themselves very well as they are , and most men think that they cannot be better , and therefore very few are desirous of a change : extream miseries may conquer the love of life , and some few divine souls may long with st. paul to be dissolved and to be with christ , which is best of all , but this world is a beloved place to the generality of mankind , and that makes it a very troublesom thing to leave it : whereas did we rightly consider this matter , it would rectifie our mistakes about these things , and teach us how to value and how to use them . for 1. if we must leave this world , how valuable soever these things are in themselves , they are not so valuable to us . for besides the intrinsick worth of things , there is somthing more required to engage the affections of wise men. viz. propriety and a secure enjoyment . what is not our own , we may admire if it be excellent , but cannot dote on ; and what is worth having , increases or decreases in value proportionably to the length and certainty of its continuance , what we cannot enjoy is nothing to us , how excellent soever it be , and to enjoy it but a little while , is next to not enjoying it , for we cannot enjoy it always ; and such things cannot be called our own , and this shows us , what value we ought to set upon this world , and all things in it ; e'en just so much as upon things that are not our own , and which we cannot keep . we use indeed to call things our own , which we have a legal title to , which no man can by law or justice deprive us of , and this is the only property we can have in these things , a property against all other human claims ; but nothing which can be taken from us , nothing which we must leave , is properly our own ; for in a strict sense nothing is our own but what is essential , either to our being or to our happiness . creatures are proprietors of nothing , not so much as of themselves , for we are his who made us , and who may unmake us again when he pleases ; but yet there are some things proper to our natures , and that is all the natural propriety ; we have ; but what is thus proper to us we cannot be deprived of without ceasing to be , or being miserable . and this proves that the things of this world are not our own , that they are not proper and peculiar to our natures , though they are necessary to this present state of life : while we live here we want them , but when we leave this world we must live without them , and may be happy without them too : there is a great agreeableness between the things of this world and an earthly nature , they are a great support and comfort to us in this mortal state ; and therefore while we live in this world we may value the enjoyments of it , for the ease and conveniencies of life ; but we must neither call this life nor any enjoyments of it our own , because they are short and perishing ; we are here but as travellers in an inn , it is not our home and country , it is not our portion and inheritance but a moveable and changeable scene , which is entertaining at present , but cannot last . let us then consider , how we ought to value such things as these , and to make it as plain and self-evident as i can , i shall put some easie and familiar cases . 1. suppose you were a travelling through a very delightful country , where you met with all the pleasures and conveniencies of life , but knew , that you must not tarry there , but only pass through it ; would you think it reasonable to set your affections so much upon it , as to make it uneasie to you to leave it ? and shall we then grow so fond of this world , which we must only pass thorough , where we have no abiding city , as to enslave our selves to the lusts and pleasures of it , and to carry out of this world such a passion for it , as shall make us miserable in the next : for tho' death will separate us from this world , we are not sure that it will cure our earthly passions ; we may still find the torment of sensual appetites , when all sensual objects are removed : this was all the purgatory-fire st. austin could think of , that those who loved this world too much here , though otherwise innocent and vertuous men , should be punished with fruitless desires and hankerings after this world in the next ; which is a mixt torment of desire and despair . for though indeed it is only living in these bodies , which betrays the soul to such earthly affections , yet when the impression is once made , and is strong and vigorous , we are not sure that merely putting off these bodies will cure it ; as we see age it self in old sinners does not cure the wantonness of desire , when the body is effaete and languid ; and this i should think were reason enough to convince every man , who considers , that he is not to live here always , how much it concerns him not to grow over-fond of present things ; for to contract an eternal passion for what we cannot always enjoy , must needs make us miserable . 2. if then we must not entertain a fondness for those things , which we cannot keep , let us in the next place consider , how we must use those things , which we have but a present and momentary possession of ; for use is apt to beget a fondness . suppose then again , that in your travels abroad , you pass through such a delightful country , what is it , that prevents your fondness , but only considering , that you are not at home , that you must not always see and enjoy what you now do ; and therefore all the fine things you meet with , you rather look upon as curiosities to be remarked in story , or to be tried by way of experiment , or to be used for present necessity , than as such things which are to be enjoyed , which you know they are not : and did we use the world thus , we should never grow over fond of it . those , who marry would be as though they married not , and those who weep , as though they wept not ; and those who rejoyce , as though they rejoyced not , and those who use this world , as not abusing it , because the fashion of this world passeth away : the world it self will not last long , though it will outlast us , but we are to continue here so little a while , that we have no reason to call it our home , or to place our enjoyment in it : it is an old and a good distinction , that some things are only for use , and somethings for enjoyment . the first we value only for their use , the second we account our happiness . now it is certain , that what is transient and momentary can be only for use , for man is a miserable creature , if what is his happiness , be not lasting ; and a very foolish creature if he places his happiness in what is not lasting . now this should make a vast difference in our affections to things . we cannot blame any man who lets loose his affections upon that which is his happiness ; for there neither can nor ought to be any bounds set to our desires or enjoyment of our true happiness ; but what we account only for use , we have no farther concernment for , but only as it is of use to us ; and this confines our desires and affections to its use ; and were this the measure of our love to present things as it ought to be , we could not err , nor entertain any troublesom or vicious passion for them : as for instance ; what is the natural use of eating and drinking but to repair the decays of nature , and preserve our bodies in health and vigour ? now as great delicacies , and curiosities , as there are in nature both of food and liquors , if men valued them only for their use , they would never be guilty of excess , nor grow so fond of them , as if they were made only to eat and drink , and to judge of the differences of tasts . to value things for their use , is to value them no farther than they are useful , and this is the only value which is due to things which we must leave ; for they can be only for present use : but when we come to place our happiness , as all sensual men do , in things which were designed only for our use ; it both makes us extravagant in the use of them , [ which often proves a great mischief to us in this world ; ] and creates such an unnatural passion for them , as they cannot answer , which makes them vain and empty and unsatisfactory while we have them , and fills us with vexation , and all the restlesness of a furious passion and appetite when we want them ; as we must do at one time or other , either before , or to be sure when we leave this world. 3. let us suppose again , that in our passage through forreign countries , where we are not to stay long , we should not meet with all those necessaries and conveniencies of life , which we have at home ; that the country is barren , the way rough and mountainous ; the road infested with thieves and robbers , but without any convenient reception for travellers ; the people rude and barbarous , and insolent to strangers : will a wise man be over-solicitous about such hardships as these in travelling ? does he not comfort himself , that he is not to stay there , that this will not last long ; that these difficulties will only recommend his own country to him , and make him hasten home again , where he shall remember with pleasure , what is now uneasy and troublesom ? and is there not as much reason for christians to bear all the evils and casualties and sufferings of this life with an equal mind , remembring that they are not to stay always here ? that this life is but their pilgrimage , they are from home , and therefore must expect the usage , which strangers and travellers ordinarily meet with : that they are not to live here always , is a sufficient proof , that their happiness does not consist in present things , and then if they can make a shift , though it may be it is a hard shift , to pass through this world , the scene will be altered , and they shall find a kinder reception in the next . this is the foundation of contentment in all conditions , and of patience under sufferings , that death , which is not far off , when it removes us out of this world , will remove us from all the sufferings of it : and why should we not bear up with the courage and resolution of travellers in the mean time ; when we have home , a peaceful and eternal home in our prospect . 4. once more , to conclude this argument : suppose a man in his travels through a forreign country , should be commanded immediately to leave the country , unless he would forswear ever returning to his own country again . would not a wise man consider , that if he had not been commanded to leave that country , he did not intend to have staid long in it ; and therefore it would be an unaccountable folly and madness in him , to abjure his own country , where his father and kindred and inheritance is , only to gratifie his curiosity in staying a little longer there . and can we then think it a hard command ( when we know we must shortly die , and leave this world , that whether we will or no , we cannot stay long in it ) to sacrifice our very lives , rather than renounce our hopes of heaven and a better life : when we know that we must leave this world ; what does it signifie to die a little sooner than it may be in the course of nature we should , to obtain an immortal life ? to go to that blessed jesus , who lived in this world for us , and died for us , and is ready to receive us into that blessed place where he is , that we may behold his glory . i am sure it is a very foolish thing for a man , who must die to forfeit an immortal life , to reprieve a mortal and perishing life for some few years . ii. as death , which is our leaving this world , proves that these present things are not very valuable to us , so it proves , that they are not the most valuable things in their own natures ; though we were to enjoy them always , it would be but a very mean and imperfect state in comparison of that better life , which is reserved for good men in the next world. for 1. it is congruous to the divine wisdom and goodness , that the best things should be the most lasting . wisdom dictates this ; for it is no more than to give the preference to those things which are best . the longest continuance gives a natural preference to things ; we always value those things most , which we shall enjoy longest , and therefore to give the longest duration to the worst things , is to set the greatest value on them , and to teach mankind to prefer them before that , which is better . what we value most , we desire to enjoy longest , and were it in our power , we would make such things the most lasting ; which shows , that it is the natural sense of mankind , that the best things deserve to continue longest , and therefore we need not doubt , but that infinite wisdom , which made the world , has proportioned the continuance of things to their true worth . and if god have made the best things the most lasting , then the next world in its own intrinsick nature is as much better then this world , as it will last longer . for this is most agreeable to the divine goodness too , and gods love to his creatures , that what is their greatest and truest happiness should be most lasting . for if god have made man capable of different degrees and states of happiness , of living in this world and in the next , it is an expression of more perfect goodness ( as it is most for the happiness of his creatures ) that the most perfect state of happiness should last the longest ; for the more perfectly happy we are , the more do we experience the divine goodness , and he is the most perfectly happy , who has the longest enjoyment of the best things . 2. it seems most agreeable also to the divine wisdom and goodness , that where god makes such a vast change in the state of his creatures , as to remove them from this world to the next , the last state should be the most perfect and happy . i speak now of such creatures , as god designs for happiness , for the reason alters where he intends to punish . but where god intends to do good to creatures , it seems a very improper method to translate them from a more perfect and happy to a less happy state . every abatement of happiness is a degree of punishment , and that which those men are very sensible of , who have enjoyed a more perfect happiness : and therefore we may certainly conclude , that god would not remove good men out of this world , were this the happiest place . yes , you 'l say , death is the punishment of sin , and therefore it is a punishment to be removed out of this world , which spoils that argument , that this world is not the happiest place , because god removes good men out of it : for this is the effect of that curse , which was entailed on mankind for the sin of adam , dust thou art , and to dust thou shalt return . now i grant , death , as it signifies a separation of soul and body , and the death of both , which was included in that curse , was a curse and a punishment , but not as it signifies leaving this world , and living in the next . we have some reason to think , that though man should never have died , if he had not sinned , yet he should not always have lived in this world. human nature was certainly made for greater things than the enjoyment of sense : it is capable of nobler advancements ; it is related to heaven , and to the world of spirits : and therefore it seems more likely , that had man continued innocent , and by the constant exercise of wisdom and vertue improved his faculties , and raised himself above this body , and grown up into the divine nature and life , after a long and happy life here , he should have been translated into heaven , as enoch and elias were without dying . for had all men continued innocent , and lived to this day , and propagated their kind , this little spot of earth had many ages since been over-peopled , and could not have subsisted without transplanting some colonies of the most divine and purified souls into the other world. but however that be , it is certain , that being removed out of this world and living in heaven is not the curse : this fallen man had no right to ; for he , who by sin had forfeited an earthly paradise , could not hereby gain a title to heaven . eternal life is the gift of god through iesus christ our lord , it is the reward of good men , of a well spent life in this world , of our faith and patience in doing and suffering the will of god ; it is our last and final state , where we shall live for ever , and therefore the argument is still good , that this world cannot be the happiest place , for then heaven could not be a reward . though all men are under the necessity of dying , yet if this world had been the happiest place , god would have raised good men to have lived again in this world , which he could as easily have done , as have translated them to heaven . now if this world be not the happiest place , if present things be not the most valuable , as appears from this very consideration , that we must leave this world ( for to this i must confine my discourse at present ) there are several very good uses to be made of this . as 1. to rectifie our notions about present things . 2. to live in expectation of some better things . 3. not to be over-concerned about the shortness of our lives here . 1. to rectify our notions about present things . 't is our opinions of things which ruin us . for what mankind account their greatest happiness , they must love , and they must love without bounds or measures : and it would go a great way to cure our extravagant fondness and passion for these things , could we perswade our selves that there is any thing better . but this i confess , is a very hard thing for most men to do , because present things have much the advantage of what is absent and future . some who believe another life after this , what ever great things they may talk of the other world , yet do not seem throughly perswaded , that the next world is a happier state than this ; for i think they could not be so fond of this world , if they were . and the reason of it is plain , because happiness cannot be so well known , as by feeling ; now men feel the pleasures and happiness of this world , but do not feel the happiness of the next , and therefore are apt to think , that that is the greatest happiness , which does most sensibly affect them . but would they but seriously consider things , they might see reason to think otherwise , that the unknown joys and pleasures of the other world are much greater than any pleasures , which they feel here . for let us thus reason with our selves . i find i am mortal , and must shortly leave this world ; and yet i believe , that my soul cannot die , as my body does , but shall only be translated to another state : whatever i take pleasure in in this world , i must leave behind me , and know not what i shall find in the next : but surely the other world , where i must live for ever , is not worse furnished than this world , which i must so quickly leave . for has god made me immortal , and provided no sorts of pleasures and entertainments for an immortal state , when he has so liberally furnished the short and changeable scene of this life ? i know not indeed what the pleasures of the next world are , but no more did i know , what the pleasures of this world were till i came into it , and therefore that is no argument that there are no pleasures there , because i do not yet know them ; and if there be any pleasures there , surely they must be greater , than what are here , because it is a more lasting state : for can we think , that god has emptied all his stores and treasures into this world ? nay , can we think , that he has given us the best things first , where we can only just tast them , and leave them behind us ? which is to excite and provoke an appetite , which shall be restless and uneasy to eternity . no surely ! the other world must be infinitely a more happy place than this , because it will last infinitely longer ; the divine wisdom and goodness has certainly reserved the best things for eternity ; for as eternal beings are the most perfect , so they must be the most happy too ; unless we can separate perfection and happiness : and therefore i cannot but conclude , that there are greater pleasures , that there is a happier state of life then this , because there is a life which lasts for ever . 2. this will naturally teach us to live in expectation of better things , of greater , though unknown and unexperienced pleasures , which methinks all men should do , who know , that there are better things to be had ; and that they must go into that state , where these better things are to be had . for can any man be contented with a less degree of happiness , who knows there is a greater ? this is stupidity and baseness of spirit ; an ignoble mind , which is not capable of great hopes ; ambition and covetousness indeed are ill names , but yet they are symptoms of a great and generous soul , and are excellent vertues , when directed to their right objects , that is , to such objects as are truely great and excellent , for it is only the meanness of the object , which makes them vices ; to be ambitious of true honour , of the true glory and perfection of our natures , is the very principle and incentive of vertue : but to be ambitious of titles , of place , of some ceremonious respects , and civil pageantry , is as vain and little , as the things are which they court . to be covetous of true and real happiness , to set no bounds nor measures to our desire or pursuit of it , is true greatness of mind , which will take up with nothing on this side perfection ; for god and nature have set no bounds to our desires of happiness , but as it is in natural , so it ought to be in moral agents , every thing grows till it comes to its maturity and perfection ; but then covetousness is a vice , when men mistake their object , and are insatiable in their desires of that which is not their happiness ; as gold and silver , houses and lands , what is more than we want , and more than we can use , cannot be the happiness of a man. and thus it is on the other hand ; though humility be a great vertue , as it is opposed to earthly ambitions , as it sets us above the little opinions and courtship of the world , which are such mean things , as argue meanness of spirit to stoop to them ; yet it is not humility , but sordidness , to be regardless of true honour . thus to be contented with our external fortune in this world , what ever it be ; to be able to see the greater prosperity and splendor of other men , without envy , and without repining at our own meanness is a great vertue ; because these things are not our happiness , but for the use and conveniencies of this present life , and to be contented with a little of them for present use , is an argument , that we do not think them our happiness , which is the true excellency of this vertue of contentment ; but to be contented , if we may so call it , to want that which is our true happiness , or any degree or portion of it , to be contented never to enjoy the greatest and the best things , is a vice which contradicts the natural desires of happiness , and you may call it what you will , if you can think of any name bad enough for it . it is the most despicable temper in the world , to have no sense of true honour or happiness , or when we know there are greater and better things , to take up with some low enjoyments . and therefore let the thoughts of this ennoble our minds , and since there are better things in the other world , let us use our utmost endeavours to possess our selves of them ; let us live like men , who are born for greater things then this world affords ; let us endeavour to inform our selves , what the happiness of the next world is , and how we may attain it , and let us use all present things , as those who know there are infinitely greater and better things , reserved for us in the next world. iii. this should teach us also , not to be over-concerned for the shortness of our lives . our lives indeed are very short , they flie away like a shadow , and fade like the flowers of the field , and this were a very unsupportable thought , were there either no life after this , or not so happy a life as this . but besides all the other proofs we have of another life , the very shortness of our lives may convince us , that death does not put an end to our being . for can we imagine , that so noble a creature as man is , was made for a day . man , i say , who is big with such immortal designs , full of projects for future ages , who can look backward and forward , and see an eternity without beginning and without end . who was made to contemplate the wonders of nature and providence , and to admire and adore his maker ? who is the lord of this lower world , but has eyes to look up to heaven , and view all the glories of it , and to pry into that invisible world which this veil of flesh intercepts the sight of : man , who is so long a child , and by such slow steps arrives to the use of reason , and by that time he has got a little knowledge , and is earnestly seeking after more ; by that time he knows , what it is to be a man , and to what purpose he ought to live , what god is , and how much he is bound to love and worship him ; while he is ennobling his soul with all heavenly qualities and vertues , and coppying out the divine image ; when the glories of humane nature begin to appear , and to shine in him , that is , when he is most fit to live , to serve god and men ; then i say , either this mortal nature decays , and dust returns to its dust again , or some violent distemper or evil accident cuts him off in a vigorous age , and when with great labour and industry he is become fit to live , he must live no longer . how is it possible to reconcile this with the wisdom of god , if man perishes when he dies ; if he ceases to be , as soon as he comes to be a man. and therefore we have reason to believe , that death only translates us into another world , where the beginnings of wisdom and vertue here grow up into perfection ; and if that be a more happy place than this world , as you have already heard , we have no reason to quarrel , that we live so little a while here . for seting aside the miseries and calamities , the troubles and inconveniencies of this life , which the happiest men are exposed to ( for our experience tells us , that there is no complete and unmixt happiness here ) setting aside , that this world is little else than a scene of misery to a great part of mankind , who struggle with want and poverty , labour under the oppressions of men , or the pains and sicknesses of diseased bodies , yet if we were as happy as this world could make us , we should have no reason to complain that we must exchange it for a much greater happiness . we now call it death to leave this world , but were we once out of it , and enstated in the happiness of the next , we should think it were dying indeed to come into it again . we read of none of the apostles , who did so passionately desire to be dissolved and to be with christ , as st. paul , and there was some reason for it , because he had had a tast of that happiness , being snatched up into the third heavens indeed could we see the glories of that place , it would make us impatient of living here , and possibly , that is one reason , why they are concealed from us , but yet reason tells us , that if death translate us to a better place , the shortness of our lives here is an advantage to us , if we take care to spend them well , for we shall be the sooner possest of a much happier life . iii. from this notion of death , that it is our leaving this world , i observe farther , what this life is , only a state of growth and improvement of trial and probation for the next : there can be no doubt of this , if we consider what the scripture tells us of it , that we shall be rewarded in the next world , as we have behaved our selves in this : that we shall receive according to what we have done in the body whether good or evil : which proves , that this life is only in order to the next ; that our eternal happiness or misery shall bare proportion to the good or evil , which we have done here . and when we only consider , that after a short continuance here , man must be removed out of this world , if we believe , that he does not utterly perish when he dies , but subsists still in another state , we have reason to believe , that this life is only a preparation for the next . for why should a man come into this world , and afterwards be removed into another , if this world had no relation , nor subordination to the next ? indeed it is evident that man is an improvable creature , not created at first in the utmost perfection of his nature , nor put into the happiest state he is capable of , but trained up to perfection and happiness by degrees . adam himself in a state of innocence was but upon his good behaviour , was but a probationer for immortality , which he forfeited by his sin ; and as i observed before , it is most probable , that had he continued innocent , and refined and exalted his nature by the practise of divine vertues , he should not have lived always in this world , but have been translated into heaven . and i cannot see , how it is inconsistent with the wisdom of god to make some creatures in a state of probation ; that as the angelical nature was created so pure at first , as to be fit to live in heaven ; so man , though an earthly , yet a reasonable creature , might be in a capacity , by the improvement of his natural powers , of advancing himself thither : as it became the manifold wisdom of god to create the earth as well as the heavens , so it became his wisdom to make man to inhabitate this earth , for it was not fitting , that any part of the world should be destitute of reasonable beings to know and adore their maker , and to ascribe to him the glory of his works : but then since a reasonable nature is capable of greater improvements than to live always in this world , it became the divine goodness to make this world only a state of probation and discipline for the next , that those who by a long and constant practice of vertue had spiritualized their natures into a divine purity , might ascend into heaven , which is the true center of all intelligent beings . this seems to be the original intention of god in making man , and then this earthly life was from the beginning but a state of growth and improvement to make us fit for heaven , though without dying . but to be sure the scene is much alter'd now , for adam by his sin made himself mortal , and corrupted his own nature , and propagated a mortal and corrupt nature to his posterity ; and therefore we have no natural right to immortality , nor can we refine our souls into such a divine purity as is fit for heaven , by the weakned and corrupted powers of nature ; but what we cannot do , christ has done for us ; he has purchast immortality for us by his death , and quickens and raises us into a new life by his spirit ; but since still we must die , before we are immortal , it is more plain than ever , that this life is only in order to the next , that the great business we have to do in this world , is to prepare ourselves for immortality and glory . now if our life in this world be onely in order to another life , we ought not to expect our complete happiness here , for we are only in the way to it ; we must finish the work god has given us to do in this world , and expect our reward in the next : and if our reward cannot be had in this world , we may conclude , that there is something much better in the next world , than any thing here . if this life be our time to work in , we should not consult our ease and softness and pleasures here , for this is a place of labour and diligence , not of rest : we are a travelling to heaven , and must have our eye on our journeys end , and not hunt after pleasures and diversions in the way . the great end of living in this world is to be happy in the next , and therefore we must wisely improve present things , that they may turn to our future account . must make to our selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness , that when we fail , they may receive us into everlasting habitations . what concerns a better life must take up most of our thoughts and care , and whatever endangers our future happiness must be rejected with all its charms . it would not be worth the while to live some few years here , were we not to live for ever , and therefore it becomes a wise man , who remembers , that he must shortly leave this world , to make this present life wholly subservient to his future happiness . sect . ii. the second notion of death , that it is our putting off these bodies . ii. let us now consider death as it is our putting off these bodies ; for this is the proper notion of death , the separation of soul and body , that the body returns to dust , the soul or spirit unto god , who gave it : when we die , we do not cease to be , nor cease to live , but only cease to live in these earthly bodies , the vital union between soul and body is dissolved , we are no longer encloister'd in a tabernacle of flesh , we no longer feel the impressions of it , neither the pains nor pleasures of the body can affect us , it can charm , it can tempt no longer . this needs no proof , but very well deserves our most serious meditations . for , 1. this teaches us the difference and distinction between soul and body , which men , who are sunk into flesh and sense are so apt to forget , nay , to lose the very notion and belief of it : all their delights are fleshly , they know no other pleasures , but what their five senses furnish them with ; they cannot raise their thoughts above this body , nor entertain any noble designs , and therefore they imagine , that they are nothing but flesh and blood , a little organized and animated clay , and it is no great wonder , that men who feel the workings and motions of no higher principle of life in them , but flesh and sense , should imagine that they are nothing but flesh themselves : tho' methinks when we see the senseless and putrefying remains of a brave man before us , it is hard to conceive , that this is all of him , that this is the thing which some few hours ago could reason and discourse , was fit to govern a kingdom , or to instruct mankind , could despise flesh and sense , and govern all his bodily appetites and inclinations , was adorned with all divine graces and vertues , was the glory and pride of the age ; and is this dead carkase , which we now see , the whole of him ? or was there a more divine inhabitant , which animated this earthly machine , which gave life , and beauty , and motion to it , but is now removed ? to be sure , those who believe , that death does not put an end to their being , but only removes them out of this body , which rots in the grave , while their souls survive , live and act , and may be happy in a separate state , should carefully consider this distinction between soul and body , which would teach them a most divine and heavenly wisdom . for when we consider , that we consist of soul and body , which are the two distinct parts of man , this will teach us to take care of both : for can any man , who believes he has a soul , be concerned only for his body ? a compound creature cannot be happy , unless both parts of him enjoy their proper pleasures . he who enjoys onely the pleasures of the body , is never the happier for having a humane and reasonable soul ; the soul of a beast would have done as well , and it may be better ; for bruit creatures relish bodily pleasures as much , and it may be more , than men do , and reason is very troublesome to men who resolve to live like bruits ; for it makes them ashamed and afraid , which in many cases hinders , or at least allays their pleasures : and why should not a man desire the full and entire happiness of a man ? why should he despise any part of himself , and that , as you shall hear presently , the best part too ? and therefore at least we ought to take as much care of our souls as of our bodies : do we adorn our bodies that we may be fit to be seen , and to converse with men , and may receive those respects which are due to our quality and fortune ; and shall we not adorn our souls too , with those christian graces which make us lovely in the sight of god and men ? the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit , which is in the sight of god of great price ; which st. peter especially recommends to christian women as a more valuable ornament than the outward adorning of plaiting the hair , or wearing gold , or putting on of apparel , 1 peter 3. 3 , 4. the ornaments of wisdom and prudence , of well governed passions , of goodness and charity , give a grace and beauty to all our actions , and such a pleasing and charming air to our very countenance , as the most natural beauty , or artificial washes and paints can never imitate . are we careful to preserve our bodies from any hurt , from pains and sickness , from burning feavers , or the racking gout or stone , and shall we not be as careful of the ease of the mind too ? to quiet and calm those passions which when they grow outragious , are more intollerable than all natural or artificial tortures ; to moderate those desires , which rage like hunger and thirst ; those fears which convulse the mind with trembling and paralytick motions ; those furious tempests of anger , revenge , and envy , which rufle our minds , and fill us with vexation , restlesness and confusion of thoughts ; especially those guilty reflections upon ourselves , that worm in the conscience which gnaws the soul , and torments us with shame and remorse , and dreadful expectations of an avenger ▪ these are the sicknesses and distempers of the soul ; these are pains indeed more sharp and pungent and killing pains than our bodies are capable of ; the spirit of a man can bear his infirmity , natural courage , or the powers of reason , or the comforts of religion , can support us under all other sufferings , but a wounded spirit who can bear ? and therefore a man , who loves ease , should in the first place take care of the ease of his mind , for that will make all other sufferings easie ; but nothing can support a man whose mind is wounded . are we fond of bodily pleasures ? are we ready to purchase them at any rate ? and if we be men , why should we despise the pleasures of the mind ? if we have souls , why should we not reap the benefit and the pleasures of them ? do you think there are no pleasures proper to the soul ? have we souls that are good for nothing ? of no use to us , but only to relish the pleasures of the body ? ask those who have tried , what the pleasures of wisdom and knowledge are , which does as much excel the pleasures of seeing , as truth is more beautiful and glorious than the sun : ask them what a pleasure it is to know god , the greatest and best being , and the brightest object of our minds , to contemplate his wisdom and goodness and power in the works of creation and providence ; to be swallowed up in that stupendious mystery of love , the redemption of sinners by the incarnation and sufferings of the son of god : ask them , what the pleasures of innocence and vertue are ; what the feast of a good conscience means ; which is the greatest happiness , to give or to receive ; what the joys even of sufferings and persecutions , of want and poverty and reproach are for the sake of christ : ask a devout soul , what transports and ravishments of spirit he feels , when he is upon his knees , when with st. paul he is even snatched up into the third heavens , filled with god , overflowing with praises and divine joys : and does it not then become a man , who has a reasonable soul , to seek after these rational , these manly , these divine pleasures , the pleasures of the mind and spirit , which are proper and peculiar to a reasonable creature ? let him do this , and then let him enjoy the pleasures of the body as much as he can , which will be very insipid and tastless , when his soul is ravished with more noble delights . in a word , if we are so careful to preserve the life of our bodies , which we know must die , and rot and putrifie in the grave , methinks we should not be less careful to preserve the life of our souls , which is the only immortal part of us : for though our souls cannot die , as our bodies do , yet they may be miserable , and that is called eternal death , where the worm never dieth , and the fire never goeth out : for to be always miserable , is infinitely worse than not to be at all , and therefore is the most formidable death . and if we are so unwilling to part with these mortal bodies , we ought in reason to be much more afraid to lose our souls . ii. that death is our putting off these bodies , teaches us , that the soul is the only principle of life and sensation : the body cannot live without the soul , but as soon as it is parted from it , it loses all sence and motion , and returns to its original dust ; but the soul can and does live without the body , and therefore there is the principle of life . this may be thought a very common and obvious observation , and indeed so it is ; but the consequences of this are not so commonly observed , and yet are of great use and moment . for 1. this shews us , that the soul is the best part of us , that the soul indeed is the man , because it is the only seat of life and knowledge , and all sensations ; for a man is a living , reasonable , and understanding being , and therefore a living reasonable soul ( not an earthly body , which has no life or sense , but what it derives from the soul ) must be the man : hence in scripture soul so frequently signifies the man ; thus we read of the souls that were born to iacob , and the souls that came with him into aegypt , 46. gen. that is his sons : and soul signifies our selves , a friend which is as thy own soul , that is , as dear to us as our selves , 13. deut. 6. and ionathan loved david as his own soul , that is , as himself , 1 sam. 18. 3. for in propriety of speech , the body has no sense at all , but the soul lives in the body , and feels all the motions and impressions of it ; so that it is the soul only that is capable of happiness or misery , of pain or pleasure ; and therefore it is the only concernment of a wise man to take care of his soul ; as our saviour tells us , what shall it profit a man , though he gain the whole world , and lose his own soul , or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? 16. matth. 26. the reason of which is easily apprehended , when we remember , that the soul only is capable of happiness or misery , that it is the soul which must enjoy every thing else ; and what can the whole world then signifie to him who has no soul to enjoy it , whose soul is condemned to endless and eternal miseries ? such a miserable soul is as uncapable of enjoying the world , or any thing in it , as if it had lost its being . 2ly , hence we learn the true notion of bodily pleasures , that they are such pleasures as the soul feels by its union to the body ; for it is not the body that feels the pleasures , but the soul , though the body be the instrument of them : and therefore how fond soever we are of them , we may certainly conclude , that bodily pleasures are the meanest pleasures of humane nature ; because the union to these earthly bodies is the meanest and most despicable state of reasonable souls . these are not its proper and genuine pleasures , which must result from its own nature and powers , but are only external impressions , the light and superficial touches of matter ; and it would be very absurd to conceive , that the soul , which is the onely subject of pleasure , should have no pleasures of its own , but borrow its whole happiness from its affinity and alliance to matter ; or that its greatest pleasures should be owing to external impressions , not to the actings of its own natural faculties and powers : which may convince us , as i observed before , that the pleasures of the mind are much the greatest and noblest pleasures of the man ; and he who would be truly happy , must seek for it not in bodily entertainments , but in the improvements and exercise of reason and religion . 3ly , hence we learn also , that the body was made for the soul , not the soul for the body ; as that which in it self has no life and sense , is made for the use of that which has . the body is only a convenient habitation for the soul in this world , an instrument of action , and a tryal and exercise of vertue ; but the soul is to use the body and to govern it , to tast its pleasures , and to set bounds to them , to make the body serviceable to the ends and purposes of reason and vertue , not to subject reason to passion and sense : if the body was made for the use of the soul , it was never intended the soul should wholly consorm it self to it , and by its sympathy with corporeal passions , transform it self into a sensual and brutish nature . such degenerate creatures are those , who live only to serve the body , who value nothing else , and seek for nothing else , but how to gratifie their appetites and lusts , which is to invert the order of nature , to fall in love with our slaves , and change fortunes and shackles with them . that our saviour might well say , he that commiteth sin is the servant of sin ; for this is a vile and unnatural subjection to serve the body , which was made to serve the soul ; such men shall receive the reward of slaves , to be turned out of god's family , and not to inherit with sons and freemen , as our saviour adds , the servant abideth not in the house for ever , but the son abideth for ever , if the son therefore shall make you free , ye shall be free indeed , 8 john 31 , 32. iii. that death , which is our leaving this world , is nothing else but our putting off these bodies , teaches us , that it is only our union to these bodies , which intercepts the sight of the other world : the other world is not at such a distance from us , as we may imagine ; the throne of god indeed is at a great remove from this earth , above the third heavens , where he displays his glory to those blessed spirits which encompass his throne ; but as soon as we step out of these bodies , we step into the other world , which is not so properly another world ( for there is the same heaven and earth still ) as a new state of life . to live in these bodies is to live in this world , to live out of them , is to remove into the next : for while our souls are confined to these bodies , and can look only through these material casements , nothing but what is material can affect us , nay nothing but what is so gross , that it can reflect light , and convey the shapes and colours of things with it to the eye : so that though within this visible world , there be a more glorious scene of things , than what appears to us , we perceive nothing at all of it . for this vail of flesh parts the visible and invisible world : but when we put off these bodies , there are new and surprizing wonders present themselves to our view , when these material spectacles are taken off , our souls with its own naked eyes , sees what was invisible before : and then we are in the other world , when we can see it , and converse with it : thus st. paul tells us , that when we are at home in the body , we are absent from the lord ; but when we are absent from the body , we are present with the lord , 2 cor. 5. 6 , 8. and methinks this is enough to cure us of our fondness for these bodies , unless we think it more desirable to be confined to a prison , and to look through a grate all our lives , which gives us but a very narrow prospect , and that none of the best neither , then to be set at liberty to view all the glories of the world. what would we give now for the least glimpse of that invisible world , which the first step we take out of these bodies will present us with : there are such things as eye hath not seen , nor ear heard , neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive : death opens ours eyes , enlarges our prospect , presents us with a new and more glorious world , which we can never see , while we are shut up in flesh , which should make us as willing to part with this vail , as to take the film off of our eyes , which hinders our sight . iv. if we must put off these bodies , methinks we should not much glory nor pride ourselves in them , nor spend too much of our time about them ; for why should that be our pride , why should that be our business , which we must shortly part with ? and yet as for pride , these mortal corruptible bodies , and what relates to them , administer most of the occasions of it : some men glory in their birth , and in their descent from noble ancestors , and ancient families ; which , besides the vanity of it , for if we trace our pedigrees to their original , it is certain , that all our families are equally ancient , and equally noble , for we descend all from adam ; and in such a long descent as this , no man can tell , whether there have not been beggars and princes in those which are the noblest and meanest families now : yet , i say , what is all this , but to pride ourselves in our bodies , and our bodily descent , unless men think that their souls are derived from their parents too . indeed our birth is so very ignoble , whatever our ancestors are , or however it may be dissembled with some pompous circumstances , that no man has any reason to glory in it ; for the greatest prince is born like the wild asses colt. others glory in their external beauty ; which how great and charming soever it be , is but the beauty of the body , which if it be spared by sickness and old age , must perish in the grave ; death will spoil those features and colours which are now admired , and after a short time , there will be no distinction between this beautiful body , and common dust. others are guilty of greater vanity than this , and what nature has denied , they supply by art ; they adorn their bodies with rich attire , and many times such bodies as will not be adorned , and then they glory in their borrowed feathers : but what a sorry beauty is that , which they cannot carry into the other world ? and if they must leave their bodies in the grave , i think there will be no great occasion in the other world for their rich and splendid apparel , which will not fit a soul. thus what do riches signifie , but to minister to the wants and conveniences and pleasures of the body ? and therefore to pride ourselves in riches , is to glory in the body too ; to think our selves more considerable than other men , because we can provide better for our bodies than they can . and what a mean and contemptible vice is pride , whose subject and occasion is so mean and contemptible ? to pride ourselves in these bodies which have so ignoble an extraction , are of so short a continuance , and will have so ignoble an end , must lie down in the grave , and be food for worms . as for the care of our bodies ; that must unavoidably take up great part of our time , to supply the necessities of nature , and to provide the conveniences of life ; but this may be for the good of our souls too , as honest labour and industry and ingenious arts are ; but for men to spend their whole time in sloth and luxury , in eating and drinking and sleeping , in dressing and adorning their bodies , or gratifying their lusts , this is to be vile slaves and servants to the body , to bodies which neither need nor deserve this from us : after all our care , they will tumble into dust , and commonly much the sooner for our indulgence of them . v. if death be our putting off these bodies , then it is certain , that we must live without these bodies , till the resurrection ; nay , that we must always live without such bodies as these are : for though our bodies shall rise again , yet they shall be changed and transformed into a spiritual nature ; as st. paul expresly tells us , 1 cor. 15. 42 , 43 , 44. it is sown in corruption , it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dishonour , it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness , it is raised in power ; it is sown a natural body , it is raised a spiritual body : for as he adds , 50 v. flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god , neither can corruption inherit incorruption . which is true of a fleshly soul , but here is understood of a body of flesh and blood , which is of a corruptible nature : as our reason may satisfie us , that such gross earthly bodies , as we now carry about with us , cannot live and subsist in those pure regions of light and glory , which god inhabits ; no more than you can lodge a stone in the air , or breathe nothing but pure aether : and therefore our glorified bodies will have none of those earthly passions which these earthly bodies have , will relish none of the pleasures of flesh and blood ; that upon this account we may truly say , that when we once put off these bodies , we shall ever after live without them . now the use of this observation is so very obvious , that methinks no man can miss it ; for when we consider , that we must put off these bodies , and for ever live without them , the very next thought in course is , that we ought to live without our bodies now , as much as possibly we can , while we do live in them ; to have but very little commerce with flesh and sense ; to wean ourselves from all bodily pleasures , to stifle its appetites and inclinations , and to bring them under perfect command and government ; that when we see it fit , we may use bodily pleasures without fondness , or let them alone without being uneasie for want of them ; that is , that we may govern all our bodily appetites , not they govern us . for a wise man should thus reason with himself : if i grow so fond of this body , and the pleasures of it , if i can relish no other pleasures , if i value nothing else , what shall i do , when i leave this body ? for bodily pleasures can last no longer than my body does ; what shall i do in the next world , when i shall be striped of this body , when i shall be a naked soul ? or whatever other covering i may have , shall have no flesh and blood about me ; and therefore all the pleasures i value now , will then vanish like a dream ; for it is impossible to enjoy bodily pleasures when i have no body : and though there were no other punishments in the next life , yet it is a great pain to me now , to have my desires disappointed , or delayed ; and should i retain the same fondness for these things in the next world , where they cannot be had , the eternal despair of enjoying them would be punishment enough . indeed we cannot tell what alteration our putting off these bodies will make in the temper and disposition of our minds . we see that a long and severe fit of sickness , while it lasts , will make men absolute philosophers , and give them a great contempt of bodily pleasures , nay , will make the very thoughts of those pleasures nauseous to them , which they were very fond of in health . long fasting and abstinence , and other bodily severities , are an excellent means to alter the habits and inclinations of the mind ; and one would think , that to be separated from these bodies , must needs make a greater alteration in our minds , than either sickness or bodily severities : that i dare not say , that a sensual man , when he is separated from this body , shall feel the same sensual desires and inclinations , which he had in it , and shall be tormented with a violent thirst after those pleasures which he cannot enjoy in a separate state : but this i dare say , that a man who is wholly sunk into flesh and sense , and relishes no other pleasures , is not capable of living happily out of this body ; unless you could find out a new scene of material and sensible pleasures to entertain him ; for though the particular appetites and inclinations of the body may cease , yet his very soul is sensualized , and therefore is uncapable of the pleasures of a spiritual life . for indeed setting aside that mischief , which the unruly lusts and appetites of men , and the immoderate use of bodily pleasures does either to the persons themselves , or to publick societies ; and the true reason why we must mortifie our sensual inclinations , is to improve our minds in all divine graces ; for the flesh and the spirit cannot thrive together ; sensual and spiritual joys are so contrary to each other , that which of them soever prevails , according to the degrees of its prevalence , it stifles and and suppresses , or wholly subdues the other . a soul which is ravished with the love of god , and the blessed jesus , transported with the spiritual hopes of another life , which feels the passions of devotion , and is enamour'd with the glories and beauties of holiness and divine vertues , must have such a very mean opinion of flesh and sense , as will make it disgust bodily pleasures , or be very indifferent about them : and a soul which is under the government of sense and passion , cannot tast those more intellectual and divine joys ; for it is our esteem of things which gives a relish to them , and it is impossible we can highly esteem one , without depretiating and undervaluing the other : it is universally true in this case , what our saviour tells us , no man can serve two masters ; for either he will hate the one , and love the other , or else he will hold to the one and despise the other : ye cannot serve god and mammon , 6. matth. 24. the least beginnings of a divine nature in us , is to love god above all the world ; and as we every day grow more devoutly and passionately in love with god , and take greater pleasure in the spiritual acts of religion , in praising god , and contemplating the divine nature and perfections , and meditating on the spiritual glories of another life , so we abate of our value for present things , till we get a perfect conquest and mastery of them . but he who is perfectly devoted to the pleasures of the body , and the service of his lusts , has no spiritual life in him ; and tho' putting off these bodies may cure our bodily appetites and passions , yet it cannot give us a new principle of life , nor work an essential change in a fleshly nature : and therefore such a man , when he is removed from this body , and all the enjoyments of it , is capable of no other happiness : nay , though we are renewed by the divine spirit , and have a principle of a new life in us , yet , according to the degree of our love to present things , so much the more indisposed are we for the happiness of unbodied spirits . and therefore , since we must put off these bodies , if we would live for ever happily without them , we must begin betimes to shake off matter and sense , to govern our bodily appetites and passions , to grow indifferent to the pleasures of sense , to use them for the refreshment and necessities of nature , but not to be over-curious about them , not to be fond of enjoying them , nor troubled for the want of them ; never to indulge ourselves in unlawful pleasures , and to be very temperate in our use of lawful ones ; to be sure we must take care , that the spiritual part , that the sense of god , and of religion , be always predominant in us ; and this will be a principle of life in us , a principle of divine sensations and joys , when this body shall tumble into dust. vi. if death be our putting off these bodies , then the resurrection from the dead , is the re-union of soul and body : the soul does not die , and therefore cannot be said to rise again from the dead ; but it is the body , which like seed falls into the earth , and springs up again more beautiful and glorious at the resurrection of the just. to believe the resurrection of the body , or of the flesh , and to believe another life after this , are two very different things : the heathens believed a future state , but never dreamt of the resurrection of the body , which is the peculiar article of the christian faith. and yet it is the resurrection of our bodies , which is our victory and triumph over death : for death was the punishment of adam's sin ; and those who are in a separate state , still suffer the curse of the law , dust thou art , and to dust thou shalt return . christ came to deliver us from this curse , by being made a curse for us ; that is , to deliver us from death by dying for us . but no man can be said to be delivered from death , till his body rise again , for part of him is under the power of death still , while his body rots in the grave : nay , he is properly in a state of death , while he is in a state of separation of soul and body , which is the true notion of death : and therefore st. paul calls the resurrection of the body , the destroying death , 1 cor. 15. 25 , 26. he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet , the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death : that is , by the resurrection of the dead ; as appears from the whole scope of the place , and is particularly expressed 54 , 55 , &c. so when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption , and this mortal shall have put on immortality , then shall be brought to pass , that saying which is written , death is swallowed up in victory : o death where is thy sting ! o grave where is thy victory ! the sting of death is sin , and the strength of sin is the law ; but blessed be god , who hath given us the victory through our lord iesus christ. this is the perfection and consummation of our reward , when our bodies shall be raised incorruptible and glorious , when christ shall change our vile bodies , and make them like to his own most glorious body . i doubt not , but good men are in a very happy state before the resurrection , but yet their happiness is not complete , for the very state of separation is an imperfect state , because a separate soul is not a perfect man : a man , by the original constitution of his nature , consists of soul and body ; and therefore his perfect happiness requires the united glory and happiness of both parts of the whole man. which is not considered by those who cannot apprehend any necessity , why the body should rise again , since , as they conceive , the soul might be as completely and perfectly happy without it . but yet the soul would not be an intire and perfect man , for a man consists of soul and body : a soul in a state of separation , how happy soever otherwise it may be , has still this mark of god's displeasure on it , that it has lost its body , and therefore the reunion of our souls and bodies has at least this advantage in it , that it is a perfect restoring of us to the divine favour , that the badge and memorial of our sin and apostacy is done away , in the resurrection of our bodies ; and therefore this is called the adoption , viz. the redemption of our bodies , 8. rom. 23. for then it is that god publickly owns us for his sons , when he raises our dead bodies into a glorious and immortal life . and besides this , i think , we have no reason to doubt , but the reunion of soul and body will be a new addition of happiness and glory ; for though we cannot guess what the pleasures of glorified bodies are , yet sure we cannot imagine , that when these earthly bodies are the instruments of so many pleasures , a spiritual and glorified body should be of no use : a soul and body cannot be vitally united , but there must be a sympathy between them , and receive mutual impressions from each other ; and then we need not doubt , but that such glorified bodies will highly minister , though in a way unknown to us , to the pleasures of a divine and perfect soul ; will infinitely more contribute to the divine pleasures of the mind , then these earthly bodies do to our sensual pleasures . that all who have this hope and expectation , may , as st. paul speaks , earnestly groan within themselves , waiting for the adoption , even the redemption of our bodies , 8. rom. 23. this being the day of the marriage of the lamb , this consummates our happiness ; when our bodies and souls meet again , not to disturb and oppose each other , as they do in this world , where the flesh and the spirit are at perpetual enmity , but to live in eternal harmony , and to heighten and inflame each others joys . now this consideration , that death being a putting off these bodies , the resurrection of the dead must be the raising our bodies into a new and immortal life ; and the reunion of them to our souls , suggests many useful thoughts to us : for this teaches us how we are to use our bodies , how we are to prepare them for immortality and glory . death , which is the separation of soul and body , is the punishment of sin , and indeed it is the cure of it too : for sin is such a leprosie as cannot be perfectly cleansed without pulling down the house , which it has once infected : but if we would have these bodies raised up again immortal and glorious , we must begin the cleansing and purification of them here . we must be sanctified throughout , both in body , soul , and spirit , 1 thess. 5. 23. our bodies must be the temples of the holy ghost , must be holy and consecrated places , 1 cor. 6. 19. must not be polluted with filthy lusts , if we would have them rebuilt again by the divine spirit , after the desolations which sin hath made . thus st. paul tells us at large , 8. rom. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. and if christ be in you , the body is dead , because of sin ; but the spirit is life , because of righteousness ; that is , that divine and holy nature , which we receive from christ , will secure the life of our souls , and translate us to a happy state after death ; but it will not secure us from the necessity of dying : our bodies must die as a punishment of sin , and putrifie in the grave ; but yet they are not lost for ever , for if the spirit of him that raised up iesus from the dead , dwell in you ; he that raised up iesus from the dead , shall quicken your mortal bodies , by his spirit which dwelleth in you ; that is , if your bodies be cleansed and sanctified , be the temples of the holy spirit , he will raise them up again into a new life . therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh , to live after the flesh , for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die ; but if ye through the spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body , ye shall live : if ye subdue the fleshly principle , if ye bring the flesh into subjection to the spirit , not only your souls shall live , but your bodies shall be raised again to immortal life . and this is a mighty obligation on us , if we love our bodies , and would have them glorious and immortal , not to pamper the flesh , and gratifie its appetites and lusts ; not to yeild your members servants to uncleanness , and to iniquity unto iniquity , but to yeild your members servants to righteousness unto holiness ; that being made free from sin , and becoming the servants of god , ye may have your fruit unto holiness , and the end everlasting life . as the same apostle speaks 6. rom. 19 , 22. it is our relation to christ , that our very bodies are his members ; it is our relation to the holy spirit , that our bodies are his temples , which entitles our bodies to a glorious resurrection : but will christ own such bodies for his members , as are members of a harlot ? will the holy spirit dwell in such a temple as is defiled with impure lusts ? and therefore such polluted bodies will rise as they lay down , in dishonour , will rise not to immortal life , but to eternal death . for can we think those bodies well prepared for a glorious resurrection , to be refined into spiritual bodies , which are become ten times more flesh than god made them , which are the instruments and the tempters to all impurity ? is there any reason to expect that such a body should rise again spiritual and glorious , which expires in the flames of lust , which falls a sacrifice in the quarrel of a strumpet , which sinks under the load of its own excesses , and eats and drinks itself into the grave , which scorns to die by adam's sin , but will die by its own , without expecting till the laws of mortality , according to the ordinary course of nature , must take place ? holiness is the only principle of immortality , both to soul and body ; those love their bodies best , those honour them most , who make them instruments of vertue ; who endeavour to refine and spiritualize them , and leave nothing of fleshly appetites and inclinations in them ; those are kindest to their bodies , who consecrate them for immortality , who take care they shall rise again into the partnership of eternal joys : all the severities of mortification , abstinence from bodily pleasures , watchings , fastings , hard lodging , when they are instruments of a real vertue , not the arts of superstition , when they are intended to subdue our lusts , not to purchase a liberty of sinning , are the most real expressions of honour and respect to these bodies ; it shews how unwilling we are to part with them , or to have them miserable , how desirous we are of their advancement into eternal glories ; for the less of flesh they carry to the grave with them , the more glorious will they rise again . this is offering up our bodies a living sacrifice , when we intirely devote them to the service of god ; and such living sacrifices shall live for ever : for if god receives them a living sacrifice , he will preserve them to immortal life . but the highest honour we can do these bodies , and the noblest use we can put them to , is to offer them up , in a proper sence , a sacrifice to god , that is , willingly and chearfully to die for god , when he calls us to suffering : first to offer up our souls to god in the pure flames of love and devotion , and then freely to give up our bodies to the stake , or to the gibbet , to wild beasts , or more savage men. this vindicates our bodies from the natural shame and reproach of death ; what we call a natural death is very inglorious , it is a mark of dishonour , because it is a punishment of sin : such bodies at best are sown in dishonour and corruption , as st. paul speaks ; but to die a martyr , to fall a sacrifice to god , this is a glorious death ; this is not to yeild to the laws of mortality , to necessity and fate , but to give back our bodies to god , who gave them to us ; and he will keep that , which we have committed to his trust , to a glorious resurrection : and it will be a surprizing and astonishing glory with which such bodies shall rise again , as have suffered for their lord ; for if we suffer with him , we shall also be glorified together : which seems to imply , that those shall nearest resemble the glory of christ himself , who suffer as he did . this is the way to make our bodies immortal and glorious . we cannot keep them long here , they are corruptible bodies , and will tumble into dust ; we must part with them for a while , and if ever we expect and desire a happy meeting again , we must use them with modesty and reverence now . we dishonour our bodies in this world , when we make them instruments of wickedness and lust , and lay an eternal foundation of shame and infamy for them in the next world ; it is a mortal and killing love to cherish the fleshly principle , to make provision for the flesh , to fulfil the lusts thereof : but if you love your bodies , make them immortal , that though they die , they may rise again out of their graves , with a youthful vigour and beauty ; that they may live for ever without pain or sickness , without the decays of age , or the interruptions of sleep , or the fatigue and weariness of labour , without wanting either food or raiment , without the least remains of corruptions , without knowing what it is to tempt , or to be tempted , without the least uneasie thought , the least disappointment , the least care , in the full and blissful enjoyment of the eternal and soveraign good. sect . iii. death considered as our entrance upon a new and unknown state of life . iii. let us now consider death as it is an entrance upon a new and unknown state of life ; for it is a new thing to us , to live without these bodies , it is what we have never tried yet , and we cannot guess how we shall feel ourselves , when we are stript of flesh and blood ; what entertainments we shall find in that place , where there is neither eating nor drinking , neither marrying nor giving in marriage ; what kind of business and employment we shall have there , where we shall have no occasion for any of these things , which employ our time here : for when we have no use of food , or raiment , or physick , or houses to dwell in , or whatever our union to these bodies makes necessary to us now ; all those trades and arts , which are to provide these conveniences for us , must then cease : this must needs be a very surprizing change ; and though we are assured of a very great happiness in the next world , which infinitely exceeds whatever men call happiness or pleasure here , yet most men are very unwilling to change a known for an unknown happiness ; and it confounds and amazes them to think of going out of these bodies , they know not whither . now this consideration will suggest several very wise and useful thoughts to us . 1. how necessary an entire trust and faith in god is : we cannot live happily without it in this world , and i am sure we cannot die comfortably without it , for this is the noblest exercise of faith , to be able chearfully to resign up our spirits into the hands of god , when we know so little of the state of the other world , whither we are going . this was the first trial of abraham's faith , when in obedience to the command of god , he forsook his own country , and his father's house , and followed god into a strange land , 11. hebr. 8. by faith abraham , when he was called to go into a place , which he should after receive for an inheritance , obeyed , and he went out , not knowing whither he went. canaan was a type of heaven , and heaven is as unknown a country to us , as canaan was to abraham : and herein we must imitate this father of the faithful , to be contented to leave our native country , and the world we know , to follow god , whithersoever he leads us , into unknown regions , and to an unknown and unexperienced happiness . this indeed all men must do , because they cannot avoid leaving this world , but must go , when god calls for them ; but that which makes it our choice , and an act of faith and vertue , is this , such a strong perswasion of , and firm reliance on the goodness and wisdom and promises of god , that though we are ignorant of the state of the other world , we can chearfully forsake all our known enjoyments , and embrace the promises of an unknown happiness . and there are two distinct acts of this , which answer to abraham's faith in leaving his own country , and following god into a strange land : the first is the exercise of our faith while we live , the second when we die . to mortifie all our inordinate appetites and desires , to deny ourselves the sinful vanities and pleasures of this life , for the promises of an unknown happiness , in the next world , is our mystical dying to this world , leaving our native country , and following god into a strange and unknown land ; to quit all our present possessions in this world , to forfeit our estates , our liberties , all that is dear to us here ; nay , to forsake our native country , rather than offend god , and lose our title to the promises of an unknown happiness , is , in a literal sence , to leave our own country at god's command , not knowing whither we go ; which is like abraham's going out of his own country , and living as a sojourner in the land of promise , without having any inheritance in it : this is that faith which overcomes the world , which makes us live as pilgrims and strangers here , as those who seek for another country , for a heavenly canaan , as the apostle tells us abraham did ; for by faith he sojourned in the land of promise , as in a strange country , dwelling in tabernacles with isaac and iacob , the heirs with him of the same promise ; for he looked for a city which hath foundations , whose builder and maker is god , 11. heb. 9 , 10. and when we come to die , and can with joy and triumph in an assurance of god's promises , commend our spirits to him , and trust him with our souls , when we know not the country we go to , and never experienced what the happiness of it is , without any concern or solocitude about it ; this is a noble act of faith , which does great honour to god , and conquers all the natural aversions to death , and makes it an easie thing to leave this world , and the object of our desire and choice to see that promised land , and tast those pleasures which we are yet strangers to . we must live , and we must die in faith too , as the patriarchs did , who all died in faith , not having received the promises , but seeing them a far off ; and for that reason , the other world must be in a great measure unknown to us , for could we see it , could we before hand tast the pleasures of it , or know what they are , it would be no act of faith to leave this world for it , to be willing to be translated from earth to heaven ; but no man is worthy of heaven , who dares not take god's word for it ; and therefore god has concealed those glories from us , and given us only a promise of a great but an unknown happiness , for the object of our hope , to be a tryal of our faith and obedience and trust in him . that the other world is an unknown state to us , trains us up to a great trust and confidence in god ; for we must trust god for our souls , and for the next world , and this naturally teaches us to trust god in this world too ; to live securely upon his providence , and to suffer him to dispose of us , as he pleases . indeed no man can trust god in this world , who has not a stedfast faith in god , for the rewards of the next : for the external administrations of providence , are not always what we could wish ; but good men are very well contented , and have great reason to be so , to take this world and the next together ; and therefore are not solicitous about present things , but leave god to chuse what condition for them he pleases , as being well assured of his goodness , who has prepared for them eternal rewards . and those who can trust god with their souls , who can trust him for an immortal life , for an unseen and unknown happiness , will find no difficulty in trusting him for this world ; i mean those who are concerned for their future happiness , and take any care of their souls . if all who are unconcerned for their souls , and never trouble their heads , what will become of them hereafter , may be said to trust god with their souls , then , i confess , this will not hold true ; for the greatest number of those who thus trust god with their souls , will trust him for nothing else : but ▪ this is not to trust god , but to be careless of our souls ; but now , when a man who stedfastly believes another life after this , and is heartily concerned , what will become of him for ever , can securely rely on god's promises , beyond his own knowledge and prospect of things ; he will very easily trust god for every thing else : for he is not so solicitous about any thing in this world , as he is for his soul ; and if he can trust god with his dearest interests , surely he will trust him in less matters . the promises of eternal life , through our lord jesus christ , are the highest demonstration of god's love to us ; and he who is so well assured of god's love , that he can trust him for heaven , can never distrust his care and providence in this world. the methods of god's providence can never be so unknown to us in this world , as the state of the other world is unknown ; and if we can chearfully follow god into an unseen and unknown world , cannot we be contented to follow him through the most dark and perplexed tracks of providence here . so that we have as little reason to complain , that the state of the other world is unknown to us , as we have , that we must live by faith in this world ; for absent , unseen , and unknown things , are the objects of our faith : and those who will trust god no farther than they can see , neither in this world nor in the next , have no reason to depend upon his providence here , nor to expect heaven hereafter . 2ly , the state of the other world being so much unknown to us , is a very good reason , why we should chearfully comply with all the terms and conditions of the gospel ; to do whatever our saviour requires , that we may obtain eternal life . this , it may be , you will not so readily apprehend , and yet the reason of it is very plain ; for since the state of the other world is so much unknown to us , we do not , and cannot know neither , what dispositions and habits and complexion of soul are necessary to fit and qualifie us for this unknown happiness . but our saviour , who knew what that state is , knew also what is necessary to that state ; and therefore the wisest course we can take , is to obey all his laws without any dispute , not only as the conditions of happiness , without which we shall not be admitted into heaven , but as the necessary preparations for it . as to explain this by a paralel case , which you will easily understand ; suppose we had pre-existed in a former state , as some say we did , before we came into these bodies , and before we knew any thing of this world , or what the pleasures and entertainments of it are , should have been told what kind of bodies we must go into , no doubt but there would have been wonderful wise disputes about the make and frame of our bodies ; we should have thought some parts superfluous , or useless , or ill contrived ; indeed , should have wonder'd what such a body was made for , as well we might , before we understood the use of any part of it : but god , who knew what he intended us for , provided such a body for us , as is both beautiful and useful ; and we cannot want any part of it , but we are deprived of some conveniences and pleasures of life . and thus we may easily suppose it to be , with reference to the next world , that the habits and tempers of our minds are as necessary to relish the pleasures of that state , as our bodily senses are to tast bodily pleasures ; and since we do not particularly know what the delights of that state are , and christ does , we ought as perfectly to resign up ourselves to his directions for the fashioning our minds , as we trust god to form our bodies for us . whatever graces and vertues he requires us to exercise in this world , though we do not see the present use of them , though we may think them an unnecessary restraint of our liberties , and very needless and unreasonable severities , yet we ought to conclude , that christ knew the reason of such commands , and that such qualities and dispositions of mind will be found as necessary in the next world , as our bodily senses are here . and this we ought especially to conclude of such degrees and instances of vertue , as seem above our present state , and not so well fitted to our condition of life in this world ; for why should our saviour give us such laws , and exact such a degree of vertue from us here , as abridges our present enjoyments , and it may be exposes us to great inconveniencies and sufferings , were not that temper of mind , which these vertues form in us , of great use and necessity in the next life ? as for instance : we should think it sufficient , while we live in this world , where there are so many inviting objects , and while we are clothed with bodies of flesh , which are made for the enjoyments of sense , and have natural appetites and inclinations to them , so to govern ourselves in the use of these pleasures , as neither to make ourselves beasts , nor to injure our neighbours ; and while we keep within these bounds , to gratifie our appetites and inclinations to the full ; for it is certainly the happiness of an earthly creature to enjoy this world , though a reasonable creature must do it reasonably : but not to love this world , seems a hard command to a creature who lives in it , and was made to enjoy it ; to despise bodily pleasures , to subdue the fleshly principle in us , not only to reason , but to the spirit , to live above the body , and to strive to stifle not only its irregular , but even its natural appetites , and to tast the pleasures of it very sparingly , and with great indifference of mind , seems a very hard saying to flesh and blood : we should think it time enough to have our conversation in heaven , when we come thither ; but it is plainly above the state of an earthly creature to live in heaven , to have all our joys , our hopes , our treasure , and our hearts there : the state of this world would be very happy and prosperous without such a raised and refined and spiritualized mind , and therefore these are such vertues as are not necessary to the present constitution of this world , and therefore can be only in order to the next . thus it is sufficient to the happiness and good government of this world , that men do no injury to each other , and that they express mutual civilities and respects , that they take care of those whom nature has endeared to them , and that they be just , and in ordinary cases helpful to others ; and therefore this is all , that the state of this world requires . but that divine and universal charity , which teaches us to love all men as ourselves , even our enemies , and those who hate and persecute us ; to forgive the injuries we suffer , and not to revenge and retaliate them , not to render evil for evil , nor railing for railing , but contrariwise , blessing : i say , this wonderful vertue does not only lie extreamly cross to self-love , but is hardly reconcileable with the state of this world : for the practise of it is very dangerous , when we live among bad men , who will take advantage of such a bearing and forgiving vertue , to give great occasions for the constant exercise of it , and nothing but a particular providence , which watches over such good men , can secure them from being an easie prey to the wicked and unjust : nay , we see , this is not practicable in the government of the world ; civil magistrates are forced to punish evil doers , or the world would be a bedlam ; and therefore those who have thought such publick executions of justice , to be inconsistent with this law of forgiving injuries , and not revenging ourselves , have made it unlawful for christians to be magistrates , because hanging , or whipping , or pilloring malefactors , is not forgiving them , as certainly it is not : a very absurd doctrine , which makes it necessary that there should always be heathens in every nation , to govern even a christian kingdom , or that the christian world should have no government at all , though nominal and profest christians have as much need of government , as ever any heathens had . but this forgiving enemies is only a private vertue , not the rule of publick government , which shews , that the state of this world is so far from requiring this vertue , that it will admit only the private exercise of it , and that too under the protection of a particular providence , to defend those good men who must not avenge themselves . now such vertues as the state of this world does not require , we must conclude , are only in order to the next , and that though we do not so well discern the reason , and use of this divine charity here , yet this temper of mind is absolutely necessary to the happiness of the other world ; and for that reason it is , that christ requires the exercise of it now ; for we cannot imagine any other reason why our saviour should make any acts of vertue , which the state of this world does not require the present exercise of , the necessary terms and conditions of our future happiness , but onely that such dispositions of mind are as necessary to qualifie us to relish those divine pleasures , as our bodily senses are to perceive the delights and pleasures of this world. this is a mighty obligation on us to obey the laws of our saviour , as the methods of our advancement to eternal glory ; not to dispute his commands , how uneasy or unreasonable soever they may now appear , for the reasons of them are not to be fetched from this world , but from the next ; and therefore are such , as we cannot so well understand now , because we know so little of the next world ; but we may safely conclude , that christ knows a reason for it , and that we shall quickly understand the reason of it , when we come into the other world : and therefore we should endeavour to exercise all those heights of vertue , which the gospel recommends to us , for as much as we fall short of these , so will our glory and happiness abate in the other world. 3ly , tho' the state we enter on at death , be in a great measure unknown to us , yet this is no reasonable discouragement to good men , nor encouragement to the bad : 1. it is no reasonable discouragement to good men ; for though we do not know what it is , yet we know it is a great happiness ; so it is represented to us in scripture , as a kingdom , and a crown , an eternal kingdom , and a never fading crown : now would any man be unwilling to leave a mean and homely cottage to go and take possession of a kingdom , because he had never yet seen it , though he had heard very glorious things of it , from very faithful and credible witnesses ? for let us a little consider in what sence the happiness of the other world is unknown . 1. that it is not such a kind of happiness as is in this world , that it is like nothing , which we have seen or tasted yet : but a wise and good man cannot think this any disparagement to the other world , though it would have been a real disparagement to it , had it been like this world : for here is nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit , nothing but an empty scene , which makes a fine show , but has no real and solid joys : good men have enough of this world , and are sufficiently satisfied , that none of these things can make them happy , and therefore cannot think it any disadvantage to change the scene , and try some unknown and unexperienced joys ; for if there be such a thing as happiness to be found , it must be something which they have not known yet , something that this world does not afford . 2. when we say , that the state of the other world is unknown , the only meaning of it is , that it is a state of such happiness , so far beyond any thing we ever experienced yet , that we cannot form any notion or idea of it ; we know that there is such a happiness , we know in some measure wherein this happiness consists , viz. in seeing god , and the blessed jesus , who loved us , and gave himself for us ; in praising our great creator and redeemer ; in conversing with saints and angels ; but how great , how ravishing and transporting a pleasure this is , we cannot tell , because we never yet felt it ; our dull devotions , our imperfect conceptions of god in this world , cannot help us to guess what the joys of heaven are ; we know not how the sight of god , how the thoughts of him , will peirce our souls , with what extasies and raptures we shall sing the song of the lamb , with what melting affections perfect souls shall embrace , what glories and wonders we shall there see and know , such things as neither eye hath seen , nor ear heard , neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive . now methinks this should not make the thoughts of death uneasie to us , should not make us unwilling to go to heaven ; that the happiness of heaven is too great for us to know , or to conceive in this world : for , 3. men are naturally fond of unknown and untried pleasures ; which is so far from being a disparagement to them , that it raises our expectations of them , that they are unknown : in the things of this world , enjoyment usually lessens our esteem and value for them , and we always value that most , which we have never tried ; and methinks the happiness of the other world , should not be the only thing we despise , before we try it ; all present things are mean , and appear to be so , when they are enjoyed : but what ever expectations we have of the unknown happiness of the other world , the enjoyment of them will as much exceed our biggest expectations , as other things usually fall below them ; that we shall be forced to confess , with the queen of sheba , when she saw solomon's glory , that not the half of it was told her : it is some encouragement to us , that the happiness of heaven is too big to be known in this world ; for did we perfectly know it now , it could not be very great ; and therefore we should entertain ourselves with the hopes of this unknown happiness , of those joys , which now we have such imperfect conceptions of . 2. nor is it on the other hand any encouragement to bad men , that the miseries of the other world are unknown ; for it is known , that god has threatned very terrible punishments against bad men ; and that what these punishments are , is unknown , makes them a great deal more formidable ; for who knows the power of god's wrath ? who knows how miserable god can make bad men ? this makes it a sensless thing for men to harden themselves against the fears of the other world , because they know not what it is : and how then can they tell , though they could bear up under all known miseries , but that there may be such punishments as they cannot bear ? that they are unknown , argues , that they are something more terrible than they are aquainted with in this world ; they are represented indeed by the most dreadful and terrible things , by lakes of fire and brimstone , blackness of darkness , the worm that never dieth , and the fire that never goeth out : but bad men think this cannot be true in a literal sence , that there can be no fire to burn souls , and torment them eternally . now suppose it were so , yet if they believe these threatnings , they must believe that some terrible thing is signified by everlasting burnings ; and if fire and brimstone serve only for metaphors to describe these torments by , what will the real sufferings of the damned be ! for the spirit of god does not use to describe things by such metaphors as are greater than the things themselves . and therefore let no bad man encourage himself in sin , because he does not know what the punishments of the other world are . this should possess us with the greater awe and dread of them , since every thing in the other world , not only the happiness , but the miseries of it , will prove greater , not less , than we expect . chap. ii. concerning the certainty of our death . having thus shewed you under what notions we are to consider death , and what wisdom we should learn from them , i proceed to the second thing , the certainty of death ; it is appointed to men once to die : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it remains , it is reserved , and as it were , laid up for them . i believe no man will desire a proof of this , which he sees with his eyes ; one generation succeeds another , and those who live longest , at last yeild to the fatal stroke . there were two men indeed , enoch and elias , who did not die , as death signifies the separation of soul and body , but were translated to heaven without dying ; but this is the general law for mankind , from which none are excepted , but those whom god by his soveraign authority , and for wise reasons thinks fit to except ; which have been but two since the creation , and will be no more till christ comes to judge the world : for then st. paul tells us , those who are alive at christ's second coming , shall not die , but shall be changed , 1 cor. 15. 51 , 52. behold , i shew you a mystery , we shall not all sleep , but we shall all be changed , in a moment , in the twinkling of an eye , at the last trump ; for the trumpet shall sound , and the dead shall be raised incorruptible , and we shall be changed . this is such a change as is equivalent to death , it puts us in the same state with those who are dead , and at the last judgment rise again . sect . i. a vindication of the iustice and goodness of god , in appointing death for all men. but before i shew you what use to make of this consideration , that we must all certainly die , let us examine , how mankind comes to be mortal : this was no dispute among the heathens , for it was no great wonder that an earthly body should die , and dissolve again into dust : it would be a much greater wonder to see a body of flesh and blood preserved in perpetual youth and vigour , without any decays of nature , without being sick or growing old . but this is a question among us , or if it may not be called a question , yet it is what deserves our consideration , since we learn from the history of moses , that as frail and brittle as these earthly tabernacles are , yet if man had not sinned , he had not died . when god created man , and placed him in paradise , he forbad him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil : of every tree of the garden , thou mayest freely eat , but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day thou eatest thereof , thou shalt surely die , 2. gen. 16 , 17. and when , notwithstanding this threatning , our first parents had eat of it , god confirms and ratifies the sentence , dust thou art , and to dust thou shalt return , 3. gen. 19. what this tree of knowledge of good and evil was , is as great a mystery to us , as what the tree of life was , for we understand neither of them ; which makes some men , who would not be thought to be ignorant of any thing , to flie to allegorical sences : but though i would be glad to know this , if i could , yet i must be contented to leave it a mystery , as i find it . that which we are concerned in is , that this sentence of death and mortality , which was pronounced on adam , fell on all his posterity : as st. paul tells us , 1 cor. 15. 21 , 22. that by man came death , and in adam all die . and this he does not only assert , but prove , 5. rom. 12 , 13 , 14. wherefore by man sin entred into the world , and death by sin , and so death passed upon all men , for that all have sinned : for until the law sin was in the world , but sin is not imputed , where there is no law ; nevertheless death reigned from adam till moses , even over them who had not sinned , after the similitude of adam's trangressions . the design of all which is to prove , that men die , or are mortal , not for their own sins , but for the sin of adam : which the apostle proves by this argument , because tho' all men , as well as adam , have sinned , yet till the giving the law of moses , there was no law , which threatned death against sin , but only that law given to adam in paradise , which no man else ever did , or ever could transgress , but he : now sin is not imputed where there is no law ; that is , it is not imputed to any man to death , before there is any law which threatens death against it : that no man can be reckoned to die for those sins , which no law punishes with death . upon what account then , says the apostle , could those men die , who lived , between adam and moses , before the law was given , which threatens death ? and yet die they all did , even those who had not sinned after the similitude of adam's transgression ; who had neither eaten the forbidden fruit , nor sinned against any other express law threatning death : this could be for no other sin but adam's ; he sinned and brought death into the world , and thus death passed upon all men for his sin , notwithstanding they themselves were sinners ; for tho' they were sinners , yet that they died , was not owing to their own sins , because they had not sinned against any law , which threatned death , but to the sin of adam ; and therefore in a proper sence , in adam all die . now this is thought very hard , that the sin of adam should bring death upon all his posterity , that one man sinned , and all men must die ; and therefore , i suppose , no man will think it improper to my present argument , to give you such an account of this matter , as will evidently justifie the wisdom and goodness , as well as the justice of god in it . i. in the first place then i observe , that an immortal life in this world , is not the original right of earthly creatures , but was wholly owing to the grace and favour of god. i call that an original right , which is founded in the nature of things ; for otherwise , properly speaking , no creatures have any right either to being , or to subsistance , which is a continuance in being : it is the goodness and the power of god , which both made the world , and upholds and sustains all things in being . and therefore plato confesses , that the inferiour gods , those immortal spirits , which he thought worthy of divine honours , were both made by the supreme god , and did subsist by his will : for he who made all things , can annihilate them again , when he pleases ; and therefore their subsistence is as much owing to the divine goodness , as their creation : but yet there is a great difference between the natural gift and bounty of god , and what is supernatural , or above the nature of things : what god makes by nature immortal , so that it has no principles of mortality in its constitution , immortality may be said to be its natural right , because it is by nature immortal , as spirits and the souls of men are : and in this case it would be thought very hard , that a whole race of immortal beings should be made mortal for the sin of one ; which would be to deprive them of their natural right to immortality , without their own fault . but when any creature is immortal not by nature , but by supernatural grace , god may bestow this supernatural immortality upon what conditions he pleases , and take the forfeiture of it , when he sees fit ; and this was the case of man in innocence . his body was not by nature immortal , for a body made of dust , will naturally resolve into dust again ; and therefore without a supernatural power , an earthly body must die ; for which reason god provided a remedy against mortality , the tree of life , which he planted in paradise , and without which man could not be immortal : so that mortality was a necessary consequence of his losing paradise , for when he was banished from the tree of life , he could have no remedy nor preservative against death . now , i suppose , no man will question , but god might very justly turn adam out of paradise for his disobedience , and then he must die , and all his posterity die in him : for he being by nature mortal , must beget mortal children , and having forfeited the tree of life , he and his posterity , who are all shut out of paradise with him , must necessarily die : which takes nothing from them to which any man had a right , ( for no man had a natural right to paradise , or the tree of life ) but only leaves them to those laws of mortality , to which an earthly creature is naturally subject . god had promised paradise and the tree of life to no man , but to adam himself , whom he created and placed in paradise ; and therefore he took nothing away from any man , but from adam , when he thrust him out of paradise ; children indeed must follow the condition of their parents ; had adam preserved his right to the tree of life , we had enjoyed it too , but he forfeiting it , we lost it in him , and in him die : we lost , i say , not any thing that we had a right to , but such a supernatural priviledge , as we might have had ; had he preserved his innocence : and this is a sufficient vindication of the justice of god in it . he has done us no injury ; we are by nature mortal creatures , and he leaves us in that mortal state : and to withdraw favours upon a reasonable provocation , is neither hard nor unjust . ii. for we must consider farther , when sin was once entred into the world , an immortal life here became impossible , without a constant series of miracles . adam had sinned , and thereby corrupted his own nature , and therefore must necessarily propagate a corrupt nature to his posterity : his earthly passions were broke loose , he now knew good and evil , and therefore was in the hands of his own counsel , to refuse or choose the good or evil : and when the animal life was once awakned in him , there was no great dispute , which way his affections would incline . to be sure it is evident enough in his posterity , whose boisterous passions act such tragedies in the world. now suppose in a state of innocence , that the tree of life would have preserved men immortal , when no man would injure himself , nor another ; when there was no danger from wild beasts , or an intemperate air , or poisonous herbs ; yet , i suppose , no man will say , but that even in paradise itself , ( could we suppose any such thing ) adam might have been devoured by a beast , or killed with a stab at the heart , or had there been any poison there , it would have killed him , had he eaten or drunk it , or else he had another kind of body in paradise than we have now , for i am sure that these things would kill us : consider then how impossible it is , that in this fallen and apostate state , god should preserve man immortal without working miracles every minute : mens passions are now very unruly , and they fall out with one another , and will kill one another , if they can ; of which the world had a very early example in gain , who slew his brother abel ; and all those murders and bloody wars since that day , put this matter out of doubt : now this can never be prevented , unless god should make our bodies invulnerable , which a body of flesh and blood cannot be without a miracle : some die by their own hands , others by wild beasts , others by evil accidents , and there are so many ways of destroying these brittle bodies , that it is the greatest wonder that they last so long ; and yet adam's body in paradise was as very earth , and as brittle as our bodies are ; but all this had been prevented , had men continued innocent ; they would not then have quarrelled or fought , they would not have died by their own hands , nor drunk themselves into a feavour , nor over-loaded nature with riotous excesses ; there had been no wild beasts to devour , no infectious air , or poisonous herbs , and then the tree of life would have repaired all the decays of nature , and preserved a perpetual youth ; but in this state we are now , the tree of life could not preserve us immortal ; if a sword or poison can kill , which shews us how impossible it was , but that sin and death must come into the world together : man might have been immortal , had he never sinned ; but brutish and ungovern'd passions will destroy us , without a miracle . and therefore we have no reason now to quarrel at the divine providence , that we are mortal , for in the ordinary course of providence , it is impossible it should be otherwise . iii. considering what the state of this world necessarily is , since the fall of man , an immortal life here is not desireable : no state ought to be immortal , if it be designed as an act of favour and kindness , but what is completely happy ; but this world is far enough from being such a state . some few years give wise men enough of it , tho' they are not oppressed with any great calamities ; and there are a great many miseries , which nothing but death can give relief to : this puts an end to the sorrows of the poor , of the oppressed , of the persecuted ; it is a haven of rest after all the tempests of a troublesome world ; it knocks off the prisoners shackles , and sets him at liberty ; it dries up the tears of the widdows and fatherless ; it cases the complaints of a hungry belly , and naked back ; it tames the proudest tyrants , and restores peace to the world ; it puts an end to all our labours , and supports men under their present adversities , especially when they have a prospect of a better life after this . the labour and the misery of man under the sun is very great , but it would be intolerable , were it endless : and therefore since sin is entred into the world , and so many necessary miseries and calamities attend it , it is an act of goodness , as well as justice , in god , to shorten this miserable life , and transplant good men into a more happy , as well as immortal state. iv. since the fall of man , mortality and death is necessary to the good government of the world : nothing else can give check to some mens wickedness , but either the fear of death , or the execution of it ; some men are so outragiously wicked , that nothing can put a stop to them , and prevent that mischief they do in the world , but to cut them off : this is the reason of capital punishments among men , to remove those out of the world , who will be a plague to mankind , while they live in it . for this reason god destroyed the whole race of mankind by a deluge of water , excepting noah and his family , because they were incurably wicked : for this reason he sends plagues , and famines , and sword , to correct the exorbitant growth of wickedness , to lessen the numbers of sinners , and to lay restraints on them : and if the world be such a bedlam as it is , under all these restraints , what would it be , were it filled with immortal sinners ! ever since the fall of adam , there always was , and ever will be a mixture of good and bad men in the world : and justice requires that god should reward the good , and punish the wicked : but that cannot be done in this world , for these present external enjoyments are not the proper rewards of vertue . there is no complete happiness here ; man was never turned into this world , till he sinned , and was flung out of paradise ; which is an argument , that god never intended this world for a place of reward and perfect happiness ; nor is this world a proper place for the final punishment of bad men , because good men live among them ; and without a miracle bad men cannot be greatly punished , but good men must share with them ; and were all bad men punisht to their deserts , it would make this world the very image and picture of hell , which would be a very unfit place for good men to live and to be happy in : as much as good men suffer from the wicked in this world , it is much more tolerable , then to have their ears filled with the perpetual cries of such miserable sinners , and their eyes terrified with such perpetual and amazing executions : good and bad men must be separated , before the one can be finally rewarded , or the other punished , and such a separation as this , cannot be made in this world , but must be reserved for the next . so that considering the fallen state of man , it was not fitting , it was not for the good of mankind , that they should be immortal here . both the wisdom , and goodness , and justice of god required , that man should die , which is an abundant justification of this divine decree , that it is appointed for men once to die . v. as a farther justification of the divine goodness in this , we may observe , that before god pronounced that sentence on adam , dust thou art , and to dust thou shalt return , he expresly promised , that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head , 3. gen. 15. in his curse upon the serpent , who beguiled eve , i will put enmity between thee and the woman , and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head , and thou shalt bruise his heel : which contains the promise of sending christ into the world , who by death should destroy him , who had the power of death , that is , the devil , and deliver them , who through fear of death , were all their life time subject to bondage ; i. e. before he denounces the sentence of death against man , he promises a saviour and deliverer , who should triumph over death , and raise our dead bodies out of the dust , immortal and glorious . here is a most admirable mixture of mercy and judgment ! man had forfeited an earthly immortality , and must die ; but before god would denounce the sentence of death against him , he promises to raise up his dead body again to a new and endless life : and have we any reason to complain then , that god has dealt hardly with us , in involving us in the sad consequences of adam's sin , and exposing us to a temporal death , when he has promised to raise us from the dead again , and to bestow a more glorious immortality on us , which we shall never lose . when man had sinned , it was necessary that he should die , because he could never be completely and perfectly happy in this world , as you have already heard ; and the only possible way to make him happy , was to translate him into another world , and to bestow a better immortality on him : this god has done , and that in a very stupendious way , by giving his own son to die for us ; and now we have little reason to complain , that we all die in adam , since we are made alive in christ : to have died in adam , never to have lived more , had indeed been very severe upon mankind ; but when death signifies only a necessity of going out of these bodies , and living without them for some time , in order to re-assume them again immortal and glorious , we have no reason to think this any great hurt : nay , indeed , if we consider things aright , the divine goodness has improved the fall of adam , to the raising of mankind to a more happy and perfect state : for though paradise , where god placed adam in innocence , was a happier state of life than this world , freed from all the disorders of a mortal body , and from all the necessary cares and troubles of this life , yet you 'll all grant , that heaven is a happier place than an earthly paradise ; and therefore it is more for our happiness to be translated from earth to heaven , than to have lived always in an earthly paradise : you will all grant , that the state of good men , when they go out of these bodies , before the resurrection , is a happier life than paradise was , for it is to be with christ , as st. paul tells us , which is far better , 1. phil. 23. and when our bodies rise again from the dead , you will grant , they will be more glorious bodies than adam's was in innocence : for the first man was of the earth earthy , but the second man is the lord from heaven , 1 cor. 15. 47. adam had an earthly mortal body , tho' it should have been immortal by grace ; but at the resurrection our bodies shall be fashioned like unto christ's most glorious body : the righteous shall shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of the father , that as we have born the image of the earthy , we shall also bear the image of the heavenly , 1 cor. 15 49. so that our redemption by christ has infinitely the advantage of adam's fall , and we have no reason to complain , that by man came death , since by man also came the resurrection of the dead . that st. paul might well magnifie the grace of god in our redemption by christ , above his justice and severity , in punshing adam's sin with death , 5. rom. 15 , 16 , 17. but not as the offence , so also is the free gift : for if through the offence of one many be dead ; much more the grace of god , and the gift by grace , which is by one man , iesus christ , hath abounded unto many . and not as it was by one that sinned , so is the gift : for the judgment was by one to condemnation ; but the free gift is of many offences unto justification . for if by one man's offence , death reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace , and of the gift of righteousness , shall reign in life by one , iesus christ. where the apostle magnifies the grace of god upon a fourfold account : 1. that death was the just reward of sin , it came by the offence of one , and was an act of justice in god ; whereas our redemption by christ is the gift of grace , the free gift , which we had no just claim to . 2. that by christ we are not only delivered from the effects of adam's sin , but from the guilt of our own : for though the judgement was by one to condemnation ; the free gift is of many offences unto justification . 3. that though we die in adam , we are not barely made alive again in christ , but shall reign in life by one iesus christ ; which is a much happier life , than what we lost in adam . 4. that as we die by one man's offence , so we live by one too ; by the righteousness of one , the free gift comes upon all men unto justification of life . we have no reason to complain , that the sin of adam is imputed to us to death , if the righteousness of christ purchase for us eternal life . the first was a necessary consequence of adam's losing paradise ; the second is wholly owing to the grace of god. thus we see , what it is that makes us mortal : god did not make death ; he created us in a happy and immortal state , but by man sin entred into the world , and death by sin . what ever aversion then we have to death , should beget in us a greater horrour of sin , which did not only at first make us mortal , but is to this day both the cause of death , and the sting of it : no degree indeed of vertue now can preserve us from dying ; but yet vertue may prolong our lives , and make them happy , while sin very often hastens us to the grave , and cuts us off in the very midst of our days . an intemperate and lustful man destroys the most vigorous constitution of body , dies of a feavour , or a dropsie , of rottenness and consumptions , others fall a sacrifice to private revenge , or publick justice , or a divine vengeance , for the wicked shall not live out half their days . however , setting aside some little natural aversions , which are more easily conquered , and death were a very innocent , harmless , nay , desirable thing , did not sin give a sting to it , and terrifie us with the thoughts of that judgment , which is to follow : quarrel not then at the divine justice in appointing death , god is very good , as well as just in it , but vent all your indignation against sin ; pull out this sting of death , and then you will see nothing but smiles and charms in it , then it is nothing but putting off these mortal bodies , to reassume them again with all the advantages of an immortal youth . it is certain indeed we must die , this is appointed for us , and the very certainty of our death will teach us that wisdom which may help us to regain a better immortality then we have lost . sect . ii. how to improve this consideration , that we must certainly die. for , 1. if it be certain that we must die , this should teach us frequently to think of death , to keep it always in our eye and view : for , why should we cast off the thoughts of that which will certainly come , especially when it is so necessary to the good government of our lives , to remember that we must die ? if we must die , i think it concerns us to take care , that we may die happily , and that depends upon our living well ; and nothing has such a powerful influence upon the good government of our lives , as the thoughts of death : i have already shewed you , what wisdom death will teach us ; but no man will learn this , who does not consider , what it is to die ; and no man will practise it , who does not often remember , that he must die : but he that lives under a constant sence of death , has a perpetual antidote against the follies and vanities of this world , and a perpetual spur to vertue . when such a man finds his desires after this world enlarge beyond , not onely the wants , but the conveniencies of nature , thou fool , says he , to himself , what is the meaning of all this ? what kindles this insatiable thirst of riches ? why must there be no end of adding house to house , and field to field ? is this world thy home , is this thy abiding city ? dost thou hope to take up an eternal rest here ? vain man ! thou must shortly remove thy dwelling , and then whose shall all these things be ? death will shortly close thy eyes , and then thou shalt not so much as see the god thou worshippest ; the earth shall shortly cover thee , and then thou shalt have thy mouth and belly full of clay and dust . such thoughts as these will cool our desires to this present world ; will make us contented when we have enough , and very charitable and liberal of what we can spare : for what should we do with more in this world , than will carry us thorough it ? what better and wiser use can we make of such riches , as we cannot carry with us into the other world , than to return them thither before hand in acts of piety and charity , that we may receive the rewards and recompences of them in a better life ? that we may make to our selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness , that when we fail , they may receive us into everlasting habitations . when he finds his mind begin to swell , and to encrease as his fortune and honours do , lord , thinks he , what a bubble is this ! which every breath of air can blow away . how vain a thing is man in his greatest glory , who appears gay and beautiful like a flower in the spring , and is as soon cut down and withered ! though we should meet with no change in our fortune here , yet we shall suddenly be removed out of this world ; the scene of this life will change , and there is an end of earthly greatness . and what a contemptible mind is that , which is swelled with dying honours , which looks big indeed , as a body does which is swelled out of all proportion with a dropsy , or timpany , but that is its disease , not a natural beauty . what am i better than the poorest man , who beggs an alms , unless i be wiser and more vertuous than he ? can lands and houses , great places and titles , things which are not ours , and which we cannot keep , make such a mighty difference between one man and another ? are these the riches , are these the beauties and glories of a spirit ? are we not all made of the same mould ? is not god the father of us all ? must we not all die alike , and lie down in the dust together ? and can the different parts we act in this world , which are not so long as the scene of a play , compared to an eternal duration , make such a vast difference between men ? this will make men humble and modest in the highest fortune , as minding them , that when they are got to the top-round of honour , if they keep from falling , yet they must be carried down again , and laid as low as the dust . thus , when he finds the body growing upon the mind , and intoxicating it with the love of sensual pleasures , he remembers , that his body must die , and all these pleasures must die with it ; that they are indeed killing pleasures , which kill a mortal body before its time ; that it does not become a man who is but a traveller in this world , but a pilgrim and a stranger here , to study ease , and softness , and luxury ; that a soul , which must live for ever , should seek after more lasting pleasures , which may survive the funeral of the body , and be a spring of ravishing joys , when he is stript of flesh and blood. these are the thoughts which the consideration of death will suggest to us , as i have already shewed you : and it is impossible for a man , who has always these thoughts at hand , to be much imposed on by the pageantry of this world , by the transient honours and pleasures of it . it is indeed , i think , a very impracticable rule , which some men give , to live always , as if we were to die the next moment . our lives should always be as innocent , as if we were immediately to give up our accounts to god ; but it is impossible to have always those sensible apprehensions of death about us , which we have when we see it approaching : but though we cannot live as if we were immediately to die , ( which would put an end not only to all innocent mirth , but to all the necessary business of the world , which i believe no dying man would concern himself for , ) yet we may , and we ought to live as those who must certainly die , and ought to have these thoughts continually about us , as a guard upon our actions : for whatever is of such mighty consequence to us , as death is , if it be certain , ought always to give laws to our behaviour and conversation . 2ly , if it be certain we must die , the very first thing we ought to do in this world , after we come to years of understanding , should be to prepare for death , that whenever death comes , we may be ready for it . this , i confess , is not according to the way of this world ; for dying is usually the last thing they take care of : this is thought a little unseasonable , while men are young and healthful and vigorous ; but , besides the uncertainty of our lives , and that it is possible , while we delay , death may seize on us before we are provided for it ; and then we must be miserable for ever ; which i shall speak to under the next head. i doubt not but to convince every considering man , that an early preparation for death is the very best means to make our lives happy in this world , while we do continue here . nor shall i urge here , how a life of holiness and vertue , which is the best and only preparation for death , tends to make us happy in this world , delivers us from all those mischiefs which the wildness and giddiness of youth , and the more confirmed debaucheries of riper years expose men too ; for this is properly the commendation of vertue , not of an early preparation for death : and yet this is really a great engagement and motive to prepare betimes for death , since such a preparation for death will put us to no greater hardships and inconveniencies , than the practice of such vertues as will prolong our lives , preserve or increase our fortunes , give us honour and reputation in the world , and makes us beloved both by god and men . but setting aside these things , there are two advantages of an early preparation for death , which contribute more to our happiness , than all the world besides , 1. that it betimes delivers us from the fears of death , and consequently from most other fears . 2ly , that it supports us under all the troubles and calamities of this life . 1. it betimes delivers us from the sears of death ; and indeed it is then only a man begins to live , when he is got above the fears of death . were men thoughtful and considerate , death would hang over them in all their mirth and jollity , like a fatal sword by a single hair ; it would sowre all their enjoyments , and strike terror into their hearts and looks : but the security of most men is , that they put off the thoughts of death , as they do their preparation for it : they live secure and free from danger , onely because they will not open their eyes to see it . but these are such examples as no wise man will propose to himself , because they are not safe : and there are so many occasions to put these men in mind of death , that it is a very hard thing not to think of it , and when ever they do , it chills their blood and spirits , and draws a black and melancholly veil over all the glories in the world. how are such men surprized , when any danger approaches ? when death comes within view , and shews his sithe , and only some few sands at the bottom of the glass ? this is a very frightful sight to men who are not prepared to die ; and yet should they give themselves liberty to think , in what danger they live every minute , how many thousand accidents may cut them off , which they can neither foresee nor prevent ; fear , and horror , and consternation would be their constant entertainment , till they could think of death without fear ; till they were reconciled to the thoughts of dying , by great and certain hopes of a better life after death . so that no man can live happily , if he lives like a man , with his thoughts , and reason , and consideration about him , but he who takes care betimes to prepare for death and another world : till this be done , a wise man will see himself always in danger , and then he must always fear : but he is a happy man who knows and considers himself to be mortal , and is not afraid to die : his pleasures and enjoyments are sincere and unmixt , never disturbed with a hand writing upon the wall , nor with some secret qualms and misgivings of mind ; he is not terrified with present dangers , at least not amazed and distracted with them . a man who is delivered from the fears of death , fears nothing else in excess , but god : and fear is so troublesome a passion , that nothing is more for the happiness of our lives , than to be delivered from it . 2. as a consequent of this , an early preparation for death will support men under all the troubles and calamities of this life : there are so many troubles , that mankind are exposed to in this world , that no man must expect to escape them all ; nay , there are a great many troubles , which are unsupportable to humane nature , which there can be no releif for in this world : the hopes and expectations of a better life , are , in most cases , the safest retreat : a man may bear his present sufferings with some courage , when he knows that he shall quickly see an end of them , that death will put an end to them , and place him out of their reach : for there the wicked cease from troubling , and there the weary be at rest ; there the prisoners rest together , they hear not the voice of the oppressor ; the small and great are there , and the servant is free from his master , 3. job 17 , 18 , 19. so that in many cases the thoughts and expectations of death is the only thing , that can support us under present sufferings ; but while the thoughts of death itself are terrible to us , this will be a poor comfort : men who are under the sence of guilt , are more afraid of death , than they are of all the evils of this world : whatever their present sufferings are , they are not so terrible as lakes of fire and brimstone , the worm that never dieth , and the fire that never goeth out : so that such men , while they are under the fears and terrors of death , have nothing to support them under present miseries . the next world , which death puts us into the possession of , is a very delightful prospect to good men ; there they see the rewards of their labour and sufferings , of their faith and patience : they can suffer shame and reproach , and take joyfully the spoiling of their goods ; since these light afflictions , which are but for a season , will work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory . but men who are not prepared to die , while they are afraid of death , can find no relief in the thoughts of it , and therefore want the greatest support that we can have in this life against the sufferings of it : the sooner we prepare to die , the sooner we are delivered from the fears of death , and then the hope of a better life will carry us chearfully through this world whatever storms we meet with . 3ly , since we must certainly die , it makes it extreamly reasonable to sacrifice our lives to god , whenever he calls for them ; that is , rather to chuse to die a little before our time , then to renounce god , or to give his worship to idols , or any created beings , or to corrupt the faith and religion of christ : there are arguments indeed enough to encourage christians to martyrdom , when god calls them to suffer for his sake : the love of christ in dying for us , is a sufficient reason why we should chearfully die for him ; and the great rewards of martyrdom , that glorious crown which is reserved for such conquerors , made the primitive christians ambitious of it : it is certain there is no hurt in it , nay , that it is a peculiar favour to die for christ , because those persons who were most dear to him were crowned with martyrdom ; but our present argument shews us , at what an easie rate we may purchase so glorious a crown ; for we part with nothing for it : we die for god , and we must die whether we die martyrs or not : and what man then , who knows he must die , and believes the rewards of martyrdom , can think it so terrible to die a martyr ? no good christian can think that he loses any thing by the bargain , to exchange this life for a better : for as many years as he goes sooner out of this world , then he should have done by the course of nature , so many years he gets sooner to heaven ; and i suppose that is no great loss : it is indeed a noble expression of our love to god , and our entire obedience and subjection to him , and of a perfect trust in him , to part with our lives for his sake ; but what can a man , who knows he must die , do less for god then this , to part with a life , which he cannot keep , willingly to lay down a life for god , which would shortly be taken from him , whether he will or not . 4ly , this shews us also , what little reason we have to be afraid of the power of men ; the utmost they can do , is to kill the body ; a mortal body which will die whether they kill it or not : which is no mighty argument of power , no more than it is to break a brittle glass ; nor any great hurt to us , no more than it is to die , which we are all born to , and which is no injury to a good man : and therefore our saviour's counsel is very reasonable , 12. luke 4 , 5. be not afraid of them who kill the body , and after that have no more that they can do : but i will forewarn you , whom you shall fear , fear him , which after he hath killed , hath power to cast into hell ; yea , i say unto you , fear him . this is very reasonable , when the fear of god and men is opposed to each other , which is the only case our saviour supposes . no man ought foolishly to fling away his life , nor to provoke and affront princes , who have the power of life and death : this is not to die like a martyr , but like a fool , or a rebel . but when a prince threatens death , and god threatens damnation , then our saviour's counsel takes place , not to fear men but god : for indeed god's power in this is equal to mens at least ; men can kill , for men are mortal , and may be killed ; and this is only for a mortal creature to die a little out of order : but god can kill too ; and thus far the case is the same . it is true , most men are of the mind , in such a case , rather to trust god then men , because he does not always punish in this world , nor execute a speedy vengeance . and yet when our saviour takes notice , that god kills as well as men , it seems to intimate to us , that such apostates , who rather chuse to provoke god then men , may meet with their deserts in this world : for no man is secure , that god will not punish him in this world ; and apostates of all others , have least reason to expect it . those who renounce god , for fear of men , are the fittest persons to be examples of a sudden vengeance . but then when men have killed , they can do no more , they cannot kill the soul ; and here the power of god and men is very unequal , for when he has killed , he can cast both body and soul into hell fire : this is a very formidable power indeed , and we have reason to fear him ; but the power of men , who can only kill a mortal body , is not very terrible ; it ought not to fright us into any sin , which will make us obnoxious to that more terrible power , which can destroy the soul. chap. iii. concerning the time of our death , and the proper improvement of it . let us now consider the time of our death , which is once , but when uncertain . now when i say the time of our death is uncertain , i need not tell you that i mean only it is uncertain to us , that is , that no man knows when he shall die ; for god certainly knows when we shall die , because he knows all things , and therefore , with respect to the foreknowledge of god , the time of our death is certain . thus much is certain as to death , that we must all die ; and it is certain also , that death is not far off , because we know our lives are very short : before the flood men lived many hundred years ; but it is a great while now since the psalmist observed , that the ordinary term of humane life had very narrow bounds set to it , the days of our years are threescore years and ten ; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years , yet is their strength labour and sorrow : for it is soon cut off , and we flie away , 90. psal. 10. there are some exceptions from this general rule , but this is the ordinary period of humane life , when it is spun out to the greatest length ; and therefore within this term we may reasonably expect it , for in the ordinary course of nature our bodies are not made to last much longer . thus far we are certain ; but then , how much of this time we shall run out , how soon , or how late we shall die , we know not , for we see no age exempted from death ; some expire in the cradle , and at their mother's breasts , others in the heat and vigour of youth , others survive to a decrepit age , and it may be follow their whole family to their graves . death very often surprizeth us , when we least think of it , without giving us any warning of its approach ; and that is proof enough , that the time of our death is unknown and uncertain to us . but these things deserve to be particularly discoursed ; and therefore with reference to the time of our death , i shall observe these four things , not so much to explain them , for most of them are plain enough of themselves , as to improve them for the government of our lives : i. that the general period of humane life , which is the same thing with the time of our death , is fixt and determin'd by god. ii. that the particular time of every man's death , though it be foreknown by god , who foreknows all things , yet it does not appear , that it is peremtorily decreed and determined by god. iii. that the particular time , when any of us shall die , is unknown and uncertain to us . iv. that we must die but once ; it is appointed for all men once to die . sect . i. that the general period of humane life is fixt and determin'd by god , and that it is but very short . i. that the general period of humane life , which is the same thing with the time of our death , is fixt and determin'd by god : that is , there is a time set to humane life , beyond which no man shall live , as iob speaks : 14 job 5. his days are determined , the number of his months are with thee , thou hast appointed his bounds , that he cannot pass . which does not refer to the period of every particular man's life , but is spoken of man in general , that there are fixt bounds set to humane life , which no man can exceed . what these bounds are , god has not expresly declared , but that must be learnt from observation : such a time as most commonly puts a period to mens lives , who live longest , may generally pass for the common measure of humane life , though there may be some few exceptions . before the flood , no man lived a thousand years , and therefore we may conclude , that the longest term of humane life , after the sentence of death was passed on man , was confined within a thousand years . methusalah , who was the longest liver , lived but nine hundred sixty nine years , and he died ; so that no man ever lived a thousand years : and comparing this observation with that promise of a thousand years reign with christ , which is called the first resurrection , and is the portion only of martyrs and confessors , and pure and sincere christians , 20 revel . i have been apt to conclude , that to live a thousand years , is the priviledge only of immortal creatures ; that if adam had continued innocent , he should have lived no longer on earth , but have been translated to heaven without dying ; for this thousand 's years reign of the saints with christ , whatever that signifies , seems to be intended as a reparation of that death which they fell under by adam's sin : but then these thousand years do not put an end to the happiness of these glorious saints , but they are immortal creatures , and though this reign with christ continues but a thousand years , their happiness shall have no end , though the scene may change and vary ; for over such men the second death hath no power : or else this thousand years reign with christ must signifie an eternal and unchangable kingdom , a thousand years being a certain earnest of immortality ; but there is an unreasonable objection against that , because we read of the expiring of these thousand years , and what shall come after them , even the final judgment of all the world. but this is a great mystery , which we must not hope perfectly to understand , till we see the blessed accomplishment of it . but though before the flood some persons lived very near the thousand years , yet after the flood the term of life was much shortned : some think this was done by god , when he pronounced that sentence , 6 gen. 3. and the lord said , my spirit shall not always strive with man , for that he also is flesh , yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years . as if god had then decreed , that the life of man should not exceed an hundred and twenty years ; but this does not agree with that account we have of mens lives after the flood ; for not only noah and his sons , who were with him in the ark , lived much longer than this after the flood ; but arphazad lived five hundred and thirty years , salah four hundred and three years , eber four hundred and thirty years , and abraham himself a hundred seventy five years , and therefore this hundred and twenty years cannot refer to the ordinary term of man's life , but to the continuance of god's patience with that wicked world , before he would bring the flood upon them to destroy that corrupt generation of men ; that is , that he would bear with them a hundred and twenty years , before he would send the flood to destroy them . but afterwards by degrees life was shortned , insomuch that though moses himself lived a great deal longer , yet if the 90 psalm were composed by him , as the title tells us it was , the ordinary term of life in his days , was but threescore and ten , or fourscore years , 10 v. the days of our years are threescore years and ten ; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years , yet is their strength labour and sorrow ; so soon passeth it away , and it is gone . and this has continued the ordinary measure of life ever since ; which is so very short , that david might well say , behold , thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth , and mine age is as nothing before thee : verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity , 39 psal. 5. i shall not scrupulously inquire into the reason of this great change , why our lives are reduced into so narrow a compass : some will not believe that it was so , but think that there is a mistake in the manner of the account ; that when they are said to live eight or nine hundred years , they computed their years by the moon , not by the sun ; that is , their years were months , twelve of which make but one of our years ; and then indeed the longest livers of them did not live so long as many men do at this day , for methusalah himself , who lived nine hundred sixty nine years , according to this computation of months for years , lived but fourscore years and five months . but it is very absurd to imagine , that moses should use two such different accounts of time , that sometimes by a year he should mean no more than a month , and sometimes twelve months , without giving the least notice of it , which is unpardonable in any historian : and therefore others complain much that they were not born in those days , when the life of man was prolonged for so many hundred years : there had been some comfort in living then , when they enjoyed all the vigour and gaiety of youth , and could relish the pleasure of life for seven , eight or nine hundred years . a blessing which men would purchase at any rate in our days : but now we can scarce turn ourselves about in the world , but we are admonished by gray hairs , or the sensible decays of nature , to prepare for our winding-sheet . and therefore , for the farther improvement of this argument , i shall , 1. shew you , what little reason we have to complain of the shortness of life . 2. what wise use we are to make of it . sect . ii. what little reason we have to complain of the shortness of humane life . 1. what little reason we have to complain of the shortness of life , and the too hasty approaches of death to us : for , 1. such a long life is not reconcileable with the present state of the world. and , 2ly , our lives are long enough for all the wise purposes of living . 1. such a long life is not reconcileable with the present state of the world. what the state of the world was before the flood , in what manner they lived , and how they employed their time , we cannot tell , for moses has given no account of it ; but taking the world as it is , and as we find it , i dare undertake to convince those men , who are most apt to complain of the shortness of life , that it would not be for the general happiness of mankind , to have it much longer : for , 1. the world is at present very unequally divided ; some have a large share and portion of it , others have nothing , but what they earn by very hard labour , or extort from other mens charity by their restless importunities , or gain by more ungodly arts : now , though the rich and prosperous , who have the world at command , and live in ease and pleasure , would be very well contented to spend some hundred years in this world , yet i should think , fifty or threescore years abundantly enough for slaves and beggars ; enough to spend in hunger and want , in a jaol and a prison . and those who are so foolish as not to think this enough , owe a great deal to the wisdom and goodness of god , that he does : so that the greatest part of mankind have great reason to be contented with the shortness of life , because they have no temptation to wish it longer . 2ly , the present state of this world requires a more quick succession : the world is pretty well peopled , and is divided among its present inhabitants ; and but very few , in comparison , as i observed before , have any considerable share in the division : now let us but suppose , that all our ancestors , who lived an hundred , or two hundred years ago , were alive still , and possessed their old estates and honours , what had become of this present generation of men , who have now taken their places , and make as great a show and busle in the world as they did ? and if you look back three , or four , or five hundred years , the case is still so much the worse ; the world would be over-peopl'd , and where there is one poor miserable man now , there must have been five hundred , or the world must have been common , and all men reduced to the same level ; which i believe the rich and happy people , who are so fond of long life , would not like very well . this would utterly undo our young prodigal heirs , were their hopes of succession three or four hundred years off , who , as short as life is now , think their fathers make very little hast to their graves : this would spoil their trade of spending their estates before they have them , and make them live a dull sober life , whether they would or no ; and such a life , i know , they don't think worth having : and therefore , i hope , at least they will not make the shortness of their fathers lives an argument against providence ; and yet such kind of sparks as these , are commonly the wits , that set up for atheism , and , when it is put into their heads , quarrel with every thing which they fondly conceive will weaken the belief of a god , and a providence , and among other things , with the shortness of life , which they have little reason to do , when they so often out-live their estates . 3ly , the world is very bad as it is , so bad , that good men scarce know how to spend fifty or threescore years in it ; but consider how bad it would probably be , were the life of man extended to six , seven or eight hundred years . if so near a prospect of the other world , as forty or fifty years , cannot restrain men from the greatest villanies , what would they do , if they could as reasonably suppose death to be three or four hundred years off ? if men make such improvements in wickedness in twenty or thirty years , what would they do in hundreds ? and what a blessed place then would this world be to live in ? we see in the old world , when the life of man was drawn out to so great a length , the wickedness of mankind grew so insufferable , that it repented god he had made man , and he resolved to destroy that whole generation excepting noah and his family : and the most probable account that can be given , how they came to grow so universally wicked , is the long and prosperous lives of such wicked men , who by degrees corrupted others , and they others , till there was but one righteous family left , and no other remedy left , but to destroy them all , leaving only that righteous family as the seed and future hopes of the new world. and when god had determined in himself , and promised to noah , never to destroy the world again by such an universal destruction , till the last and final judgment , it was necessary by degrees to shorten the lives of men , which was the most effectual means to make them more governable , and to remove bad examples out of the world ; which would hinder the spreading of the infection , and people and reform the world again by new examples of piety and vertue : for when there are such quick successions of men , there are few ages but have some great and brave examples , which give a new and better spirit to the world. many other things might be added , to convince those who complain of the shortness of humane life , that it would be no desirable thing , as the state of the world now is , to live seven or eight hundred years in it ; but this i suppose is enough , if i can make good the second thing i proposed , that our lives are long enough for all the wise purposes of living . now i will not promise myself to satisfie all men in this matter ; for those who think it the only end of living , to eat and drink , and enjoy the more impure delights of flesh and sence , will never be satisfied , that threescore and ten years are as good as eight or nine hundred for this purpose ; for the longer they enjoy these pleasures , and the oftner they repeat them , the better it is : but these men ought to be convinced , that this is not the true end of living , that these are only means to preserve life , which god has sweetned with such proper satisfactions , or made the neglect of them so uneasie and painful , that no man might forget to take care to preserve himself ; but man was made at first for higher and nobler ends , and since by the sin of adam we are all become mortal , this life is not for itself , but in order to a better life . we come into this world , not to stay here , or to take up our abode and rest , for then indeed the longer we lived the better ; but this world is only a state of trial and discipline , to exercise our vertues , to perfect our minds , to prepare and qualifie ourselves for the more pure and refined and spiritual enjoyments of the other world : we come into this world , not so much to enjoy , as to conquer it , and to triumph over it , to baffle its temptations , to despise its flatteries , and to endure its terrors ; and if we live long enough to do this , we live long enough , and ought to thank god , that our work , and labour , and temptations are at an end ; for what labouring man is not glad that his work is over , and he may go to rest ? what mariner is not glad that he has weathered all storms , and steered a safe course to his desired haven ? there are two things necessary to the improvement of our minds , knowledge and vertue : and as god has shortned our lives , so he has shortned our work too , and given us a more easie and compendious way to both . knowledge indeed is an infinite and endless thing , and it is impossible thoroughly to satisfie that appetite in great and genorous minds , in this blind and obscure state of life ; but the comfort is , all the knowledge that is necessary to carry us to heaven , is now plain and easie , and will not take up many years to learn it , for , this is life eternal to know god , and iesus christ whom he hath sent ; which is plainly revealed to us in the gospel : and when we get to heaven , we shall quickly understand all the difficulties of nature and providence in another manner , then the greatest philosophers do now , or can do , though they should live many hundred years . and as for vertue , we have as short and easie a way to it : the plainest and most perfect precepts , the most admirable examples , the most encouraging and inviting promises , and which is more than all , the most powerful assistances of the divine spirit to renew and sanctifie us ; and he who is not reformed by these divine and supernatural methods of grace , in forty or fifty years , is not likely to be the better for them , though he should live to methusalah's age . as for doing good , i confess , the longer a good man lives , the more good he will do , and make himself the more useful to the world ; but this is god's care , and whenever he calls him out of the world , he excuses him from doing any more good in it . the truth is , nothing could be more improper , under the state of the gospel , then such a long life , as worldly men are very fond of ; for our saviour has taught us to expect persecutions and sufferings for his name ; and this is very often the portion of true and sincere christians , that st. paul could say , if in this life only we had hope , we were of all men the most miserable . thanks be to god , it is not always so , but when it is , it would be too great a temptation for humane nature , to live some hundred years in a state of persecution , as they might , if they and the persecuting prince should live so long . nay , such a long life as these men talk of , would greatly weaken the promises and threatnings of the gospel , which are all absent and unseen things , to be expected in the other world ; but if the next world were so many hundred years off , both the promises and threatnings of it , would lose their effect upon the generality of mankind : nay , it might be thought very hard upon good men , who are taught by the gospel of christ to live above this world , and to have a very mean opinion of , and a great indifferency to all the delights of it , to live so many hundred years in it ; not so much to enjoy it , as to despise it , and to contend with it . and it is not less hard for men , who are transported with the ravishing hopes and expectations of a better life , whose hearts and conversations are already in heaven , to be kept so long out of it : this is a severe trial of their patience , for hope when it is so long delayed , is a very troublesome and uneasie passion ; and though few men long to die , yet a great many good men do very impatiently long to be in heaven , and can be contented , whenever god pleases , to submit to dying , though with some natural reluctancy , that they may get to heaven . in short , this life is long enough for a race , for a warfare , for a pilgrimage ; it is long enough to fight and contend with this world , and all the temptations of it ; it is long enough to know this world , to discover the vanity of it , and to live above it ; it is long enough , by the grace of god , to purge and refine our minds , and to prepare ourselves to live for ever in god's presence ; and when we are in any measure prepared for heaven , and possessed with great and passionate desires of it , we shall think it a great deal too long to be kept out of it . sect . iii. what use to make of the fixt term of humane life . 2. let us consider what wise use is to be made of this ; and here are two things distinctly to be considered : 1. that the general term of humane life is fixt and determined by god. 2. that this common term and period of life , at the utmost extent of it , is but very short . 1. that the general term of humane life is fixt and determined by god ; and this is capable of very wise improvements : for , 1. when we know that we cannot live above threescore or fourscore years , or some few years over or under , we should not extend our hopes and expectations and designs beyond this term . 2. we should frequently count our days , and observe how our lives wast , and draw near to eternity . 3. when this period draws nigh , and death comes within view , it more especially concerns us to apply ourselves to a more serious and solemn preparation for death . 1. we should not extend our hopes and expectations and designs beyond this term , which god has fixt for the conclusion of our lives : we should not live as if we were immortal creatures , who are never to die ; for if god have set bounds to our lives , it is absurd for us to expect to live any longer , unless we hope to alter the decrees of heaven . and yet it is more absurd , if it be possible , to extend our hopes and desires , our projects and designs for this world , beyond the term of our living here ; for how unreasonable is it for us to trouble ourselves about this world longer then we are like to continue in it ? and yet if this were observed , it would ease us of a great deal of labour and care , and deliver the world from those great troubles and disorders , which the designs and projects for future ages create . men might see some end of their labours , and of their cares , of increasing riches , and adding house to house , and field to field , did they stint their desires with their lives ; did they consider how long they were to live , and what is a sufficient and necessary provision for their continuance here : whereas now the generality of mankind drudge on to the last moment they have to live , and still heap up riches till they know no end of them , as if their lives and their enjoyment of them , were to have no end neither . the only tolerable excuse , that can be made for this , is the care of posterity , to leave a liberal provision for children , that they may live happily after us : but this indeed is rather an excuse than a reason , for thus we see it is , when there is no such reason for it ; when men have no children to provide for , nor it may be any relations , for whom they are much concerned ; on when they have a sufficient provision for all their children , to encourage their industry and vertue , though not to maintain them in idleness and vice , which no wise and good father would desire ; nay , it may be , when they have no other heir to an over-grown estate , but either a daughter , whose fortune may make her a rich prey , as is too often seen , or a prodigal son , who is ruined already by the expectation of so great a fortune , and will quickly be even with his fortune , and ruine that , when he has it . a competent provision for children , is a just reason to continue our industry , though we have enough for our selves , as long as we live , but to make them rich and great , is not . the piety and charity of parents , which entails a blessing upon their posterity , and an industrious and vertuous education of children , is a better inheritance for them , than a great estate : but men who are so intent to the very last upon encreasing their estates , seldom do it for any other reason , but to satisfie their own insatiable thirst , which is to hoard up riches for a time when they can't enjoy them , to provide for their living in this world a much longer time , than they know they can possibly live in it . this is much greater folly than the man in the parable was guilty of , whose ground brought forth plentifully , and he pulled down his barns , and built greater , and said to his soul , soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years , take thine ease , eat , drink , and be merry . he was so wise as to know when he had enough , and when it was fit to retire and take his ease : yet god said unto him , thou fool , this night shall thy soul be required of thee ; and then whose shall all these things be , which thou hast provided ? 12 luke 16 , &c. thus how big are most men with projects and designs , which there is little hope should ever take effect , while they live ? especially aspiring monarchs , and busie politicians , who draw the scheme , and frame their design of an universal empire , through a long series of events , or meditate changes and alterations of government , of the laws and religion of a nation , by insensible steps and methods ; which , though it were never so hopeful a project , they can't hope to live to see effected , and therefore exceed their own bounds , and trouble the world at present , with what no body now living may ever be concerned in ; they undertake to govern the world , when they are dead and gone , whereas every age brings forth new projects and counsels , as it does a new generation of men , and new scenes of affairs , and a new set of politicians : would but men confine their cares and projects within the bounds of their own lives , and mind only what concerns themselves , and their own times , and they would live more at ease , and the world enjoy more peace and quiet , than now it is ever likely to do : and yet one would think this very reasonable , not to concern our selves about the world any longer than we are like to live in it ; to do no injury to posterity as near as we can , and to do what good we can for them , without disturbing the present peace and good government of the world , but to leave the care of the next age to those who shall succeed , and to that good providence which governs and takes care of all ages and generations of men. 2. since we know the common period of humane life , we should frequently count our days , and observe how our lives wast , and draw near to eternity . our time slides away insensibly , and fow men take notice how it goes ; they find their strength and vigour continues without any decay ; and they reckon upon living threescore and ten , or fourscore years , but seldom consider that it may be thirty or forty years are already gone , that is , the best half of their lives ; they put a cheat upon themselves by computing the whole duration of their lives , without considering how much of this is already past , and how little of it is to come ; which if men would seriously think of , they would not be so apt to flatter themselves with a long life ; for no man accounts twenty or thirty years a long life , and that is the most they have to live now , though they should attain to the longest period of humane life , much less could they flatter themselves with a long life , when they could not probably reckon above fifteen or ten years to come . and would men observe how their life shortens every day , this , if any thing , would make them grow chary of their time , and begin to think of living , that is , of minding the true ends and purposes of life , of doing the work for which they came into the world , and which they must do before they die , or they are miserable for ever . 3. when men draw near the end of their reckoning , nay , it may be are past the common reckoning of mankind , it more especially concerns them to apply themselves to a more serious and solemn preparation for death : for how vigorous soever their age is , death cannot be far off ; it will be unpardonable in them , to be deceived with the hopes of living much longer , who have already attained to the common period of humane life , and are in the borders and confines , nay in the very quarters of death , and have already , if i may so speak , borrowed some years from the other world. now when i speak of such mens preparing for death , i do not mean , that they should then begin to think of dying , that is a great deal of the latest to begin such a work ; though if they have not done it before , it is without doubt high time to begin it then , in the last minute of their lives , and to do what they can in that little time that remains , to obtain their pardon of god for spending a long life in sin and vanity , and in a forgetfulness of their maker and redeemer . but that which i now intend , concerns those who have thought of dying long before , and govern'd their lives under the conduct and influence of such thoughts , and therefore are not wholly unprepared for death , but are ready to welcome it , whenever it comes ; but there is a decent way of meeting death , which becomes such men , which i call a more solemn preparation for it ; that is , when their condition and circumstances of life will permit it , to take a timely leave of the world , and to withdraw from the noise and business of it ; when they are placed just in the confines of both worlds , to direct their face wholly to that world whither they are a going , to spend the little remains of their lives in conversing with themselves , with god , and with the other world. 1. in conversing with themselves , which god knows very few men do , while they are engaged in the business of this world ; the cares of life , or the pleasures of it , our families , or our friends , or strangers themselves , take us from ourselves , and therefore it is fit , before men go out of this world , that they should recover the possession of themselves , and grow a little more acquainted and intimate with themselves ; retire from the world to take a more thorough review of their lives and actions , what they have still to do , to make their peace with god , and their own consciences ; whether there be any sin which they have not thoroughly repented of , and heartily begged god's pardon for ; any injury they have done their neighbour , for which they have not made sufficient restitution and reparation ; whether they have any quarrel with any man , which is not composed and reconciled ; whether there is any part of their duty , which they have formerly too much neglected , as charity to the poor , the wise education and instruction of their children and families , and to apply themselves to a more diligent discharge of it ; what distempers there are in their minds , which still need to be rectified , what graces are weakest , what passions are most disorderly and unmortified , and to apply proper remedies to them . this is an excellent preparation for death , because it will give us great hope and assurance in dying ; it gives us peace and satisfaction in our own minds , by a thorough knowledge of our own state , and by rectifying whatever was amiss ; it delivers our consciences from guilty fears , and so disarms death of its sting and terrors , for the sting of death is sin , and when this sting is pulled out , we have nothing else to contend with , but some little natural aversions to dying , which are more easily conquered . 2. thus in this preparatory retirement from the world , we should spend great portions of our time in the worship of god , in our publick or private devotions ; for commonly men of business are very much in arrears with god upon this account : in their active age they had little time to spare , or little mind to spare it for the uses of religion ; and therefore we may well retire some time before we die , to make up that defect , and when we have done with the world , to give up ourselves wholly to the service of god : we should now be very importunate in our prayers to god , that for the merits and intercession of christ , he would freely pardon all the sins , and frailties , and errors of our past life , and give us such a comfortable hope and sence of his love to us , as may support us in the hour of death , and sweeten the terrors and agonies of it : we should meditate on the great love of god in sending christ into the world to save sinners ; and contemplate the height and depth and length and breadth of that love of god , which passeth all humane understanding : we should represent to ourselves the wonderful condescension of the son of god in becoming man , his amazing goodness in dying for sinners , the just for the unjust , to reconcile us to god : and when we have warmed our souls with such thoughts as these , we should break forth into raptures and extasies of devotion in the praise of our maker and redeemer : worthy is the lamb that was slain , to receive power , and riches , and wisdom , and strength , and honour , and glory , and blessing . blessing , and honour , and glory , and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne , and to the lamb for ever and ever , 5 revel . 12 , 13. and besides other reasons , which makes this a very proper preparation for death , this accustoms us to the work and employment of the next world , for heaven is a life of devotion and praise ; there we shall see god and admire and adore him , and sing eternal halelujahs to him : and therefore nothing can so dispose and prepare us for heaven , as to have our hearts ready tuned to the praises of god , ravished with his love , transported with his glory and perfections , and swallowed up in the most profound and humble adorations of him . 3. thus when we are going into another world , it becomes us most to have our thoughts there ; to consider what a blessed place that is , where we shall be delivered from all the fears and sorrows and temptations of this world , where we shall see god and the blessed jesus , and converse with angels and glorified spirits , and live an endless life without fear of dying ; where there is nothing but perfect love and peace , no cross interests and factions to contend with , no storms to ruffle or discompose our joy and rest to eternity ; where there is no pain , no sickness , no labour , no care to refresh the weariness , or to repair the decays of a mortal body , not so much as the image of death to interrupt our constant enjoyments ; where there is a perpetual day , and an eternal calm , where our souls shall attain their utmost perfection of knowledge and vertue ; where we shall serve god not with dull , and sleepy , and unaffecting devotion , but with piercing thoughts , with life and vigour , with ravishment and transport ; in a word , where there are such things , as neither eye hath seen , nor ear heard , neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive . these are proper thoughts for a man who is to compose himself for death , not to think of the pale and ghastly looks of death , when he shall be wrapt up in his winding-sheet ; not to think of the dark and melancholly retirements of the grave , where his body must rot and putrifie , till it be raised up again immortal and glorious , but to lift up his eyes to heaven , to view that lightsom and happy country , with moses to ascend up into the mount , and take a prospect of the heavenly canaan , whither he is going : this will conquer even the natural aversions to death , and make us with st. paul , desirous to be dissolved , and to be with christ , which is best of all ; make it as easie to us to leave this world for heaven , as it is to remove into a more pleasant and wholesome air , or into a more convenient and beautiful house ; so easie , so pleasant will it be to die with such thoughts as these about us . this indeed ought to be the constant exercise of the christian life ; it is fit for all times and for all persons , and without some degree of it , it is impossible to conquer the temptations of the world , or to live in the practice of divine and heavenly vertues : but this ought to be the constant business , or entertainment rather , of those happy men who have lived long enough in the world , to take a fair leave of it , who have run through all the scenes and stages of humane life , and have now death and another world in view and prospect . and it is this makes a retirement from the world so necessary or very useful , not meerly to ease our bodily labours , and to get a little rest from business , to dissolve in sloth and idleness , or to wander about to seek a companion , or to hear news , or to talk politicks , or to find out some way to spend time , which now lies upon their hands , and is more uneasy and troublesom to them than business was : this is a more dangerous state , and does more indispose them for a happy death , than all the cares and troubles of an active life ; but we must retire from this world to have more leisure and greater opportunities to prepare for the next , to adorn and cultivate our minds , and dress our souls like a bride , who is adorned to meet her bridegroom . when men converse much in this world , and are distracted with the cares and business of it , when they live in a crowd of customers or clients , and are hurried from their shops to the exchange or custom-house , or from their chambers to the bar , and when they have discharged one obligation , are pressed hard by another , that at night they have hardly spirits left to say their prayers , nor any time for them in the morning , and the lord's day itself is thought more proper for rest and refreshment , than devotion ; i say , what dull cold apprehensions must such men have of another world ? and after all the care we can take , how will this world insinuate itself into our affections , when it imploys our time and thoughts , when our whole business is buying and selling , and driving good bargains , and making conveyances and settlements of estates ? how will this disorder our passions , occasion feuds and quarrels , give us a tincture of pride , ambition , covetuousness ; that there is work enough after a busie life , even for very good men , to wash out these stains and pollutions , and to get the tast and relish of this world out of their mouths , and to revive and quicken the sence of god and of another world. this is a sufficient reason for such men , as i observed before , to think when it is time to leave off , and if not wholly to withdraw from the world , yet to contract their business , and to have the command of it , that they may have more leisure to take care of their souls , before they have so near a call and summons to death ; but much more necessary is it , when death is even at the door , and by the course of nature we know that it is so . it is very proper to leave the world , before we are removed out of it , that we may know how to live without it , that we may not carry any hanckerings after this world with us into the next ; and therefore it is very fitting , that there should be a kind of a middle state between this world and the next ; that is , that we should withdraw from this world , to wean ourselves from it , even while we are in it ; which will make it more easie to part with this world , and make us more fit to go to the next . but it seems strangely undecent , unless the necessities of their families , or the necessities of the publick call for it , and exact it , to see men who are just a going out of the world , who it may be bow as much under their riches , as under their age , plunging themselves over head and ears in this world , courting new honours and preferments with as much zeal , as those who are but entring into the world. it is to be feared , such men think very little of another world , and will never be satisfied with earth , till they are buried in it . sect . iv. what use to make of the shortness of humane life . 2. as the general period of humane life is fixt and determin'd by god , so this term of life at the utmost extent of it , is but very short : for what are threescore and ten , or fourscore years ? how soon do they pass away like a dream , and when they are gone , how few and empty do they appear ? the best way to be sensible of this , is not to look forward , for we fancy time to come , to be much longer than we find it , but to look backward upon the time which is past , and as long as we can remember ; and how suddenly are thirty or forty years gone ? how little do we remember , how they past ? but gone they are , and the rest are a going apace , while we eat , and drink , and sleep , and when they are gone too , we shall be sensible , that all together was but very short . now from hence i shall observe several things of very great use for the government of our lives . 1. if our lives be so very short , it concerns us to lose none of our time ; for does it become us to be prodigal of our time , when we have so little of it ? we either ought to make as much of our lives as we can , or not complain , that they are short , for that is a greater reproach to ourselves , than to the order of nature , and the providence of god : for it seems we have more time than we care to live in , more than we think necessary to improve to the true ends and purposes of living ; and if we can spare so much of our lives , it seems they are too long for us , how short soever they are in themselves : and when our lives are too long already for the generallity of mankind to improve wisely , why should god give us more time to play with , and to squander away ? and yet let us all reflect upon ourselves , and consider , how much of our lives we have perfectly lost , how careless we have been of our time , which is the most precious thing in the world ; how we have given it to every body that will take it , and given away so much of ourselves , and our own being with it . should men set down , and take a review of their lives , and draw up a particular account of the expence of their time , after they came to years of discretion and understanding , what a shameful bill would it be ? what unreasonable abatements of life ? how little time would there be at the foot of the account , which might be called living ? so much extraordinary for eating , and drinking , and sleeping , beyond what the support and refreshment of nature required ; so much in courtship , wantonness and lust ; so much in drinking and revelling ; so much for the recovery of the last night's debauch ; so much in gaming and mascarades ; so much in paying and receiving formal and impertinent visits , in idle and extravagant discourses , in censuring and reviling our neighbours or our governours ; so much in dressing and adorning our bodies ; so many blanck and long parentheses of life , wasted in doing nothing , or in counting the slow and tedious minutes , or chiding the sun for making no more haste down , and delaying their evening assignations : but how little would there appear in most mens account , spent to the true ends of living ? the very naming of these things is sufficient to convince any considering man , that this is really a mispending of time , and a flinging away great part of a very short life to no purpose ; but to make you all sensible of this , consider with me , when we may be said to lose our time ; for time passes away very swiftly , and we can no more hold it , than we can stop the charriot wheels of the sun , but all time that is past , is not lost ; indeed no time is our own , but what is past or present , and its being past makes it never the less our own , if ever it was so ; but then we lose our time . 1. when it turns to no account to us , when it is gone ; when we are never the better for it in body or soul : this is the true way of judging , by our own sense and feeling , whether we have spent our time well or ill , by observing what relish it leaves upon our minds , and what the effects of it are , when it is past ; how vainly soever men spend their time , they find some pleasure and diversion and entertainment in it , while it lasts , but the next morning it is all vanished , as their night dreams are ; and if they are not the worse for it , they find themselves never the better : and this is a certain sign , that our time was vainly and foolishly spent , that when it is gone , it can be brought into no account of our lives , but that of idle expences . whatever is good , whatever is in any degree useful , leaves some satisfaction when it is gone , and time so spent , we can place to our account , and all such time is not lost ; but men who spend one day after another in mirth , and jollity , and entertainments , in visits or gaming , &c. can give no other account of it , but that it is a pleasant way of spending time : and that is the true name for it , not living , but spending time , which they know not how otherwise to pass away ; when their time is spent , they have all they intended , and their enjoyments pass away with their time , and there is an end of both ; and it were somewhat more tolerable , if they themselves could end with their time too : but when men must out-live time , and the effects of time must last to eternity , that time , which if it have no ill , yet has no good effects more lasting than itself , is utterly lost . 2dly , to be sure that time is doubly lost , which we cannot review without amazement and horror ; i mean , in which we have contracted some great guilt , which we have not only spent vainly , but wickedly , which we ourselves wish had never been , which we desire to forget , and could be glad , that both god and men would forget it too : for is not that lost time , which loses us , which undoes us , which distracts us with guilty fears , which we would give all the world we could lose out of the account of our lives , and could lose the very remembrance of it ? i think that somewhat worse than lost time , which forfeits a blessed eternity , and for which men must lose their souls for ever . 3dly , that is lost time too , which men must live over again , and tread back their steps like him who has mistaken his way : not that we can recal our past time , and those minutes that are fled from us , but we must substitute some of our remaining time in its room , and begin our lives again , and undo what we had formerly done . this is the case of those who have spent great part of their lives ill , whenever they are convinced of their folly and danger ; they must give all their past lives for lost , and it may be , when half or two thirds , or more of their lives are spent , they must then begin to live , and to undo , by repentance and reformation , the errours , and follies , and impieties of their former lives : now i suppose all men will confess that time to be lost , which they must unlive again ; to be sure penitents are very sensible it is , and i wish all those would consider it , who resolve to spend their youthful and vigorous age in sin , and to repent hereafter ; that is , they resolve to fling away the greatest and best part of their lives , and to begin to live when they see themselves a dying : this i am sure is no remedy against a short life , to resolve not to live one third of it . 2dly , since our life is so very short , it becomes us to live as much as we can in so short a time ; for we must not measure the length or shortness of our lives by days or months or years , that is the measure of our duration or being , but to live and to be , are two things , and of a distinct consideration and account . to live , when we speak of a man , signifies to act like a reasonable creature , to exercise his understanding and will upon such objects as answer the dignity and perfection of humane nature , to be employed in such actions as are proper to his nature , and distinguish a man from all other creatures : and therefore though a man must eat and drink , and perform the other offices of a natural life , which are common to him with beasts ; yet this is not to live like a man , any otherwise than as these common actions are governed by reason and rules of vertue , but he who minds nothing higher than this , lives like a beast , not like a man : a life of reason , religion , and vertue , is properly the life of a man , because it is peculiar to him , and distinguishes him from all other creatures in this world ; and therefore he who improves his knowledge and understanding most , who has his passions and appetites under the best government , who does most good , and makes himself most useful to the world , though he does not continue longer , yet he lives more and longer than other men ; that is , he exerts more frequent and more perfect acts of a rational life . but besides this , this life is only in order to a better life ; it is not for it self , but only a passage to , a state of trial and probation for immortality ; and it were hardly worth the while to come into the world upon any meaner design : and therefore he lives most , who improves the grace of god to make himself most fit for heaven , and qualified for the greatest rewards , for the richest and the brightest crown : who knows god most , and worships him in the most perfect manner , with the greatest ravishments and transports of spirit , who lives most above this world in the exercise of the most divine vertues , who does most service to god in the world , and improves all his talents to the best advantage ; in a word , who most adorns and perfects his own mind , brings most glory to god , and does most good to men : such a man at thirty years old , has lived more , nay , indeed may properly be said to have lived longer , than an old decrepit sinner ; for he has not lived at all to the purposes of a man , or to the ends of the other world. that man has lived a great while , how short soever the time be , who is old enough for heaven , and for eternity , who has laid up rich and glorious treasures for himself in the other world ; who has answered the ends of this life , and is fit to remove out of it : this is the true way of measuring our lives by acts of piety and vertue , by our improvements in knowledge , and grace , and wisdom , by our ripeness for another world ; and therefore if we would live a great while in this world , we must 1. begin to live betimes . 2. we must have a care of all interruptions and intermissions of life . 3. we must live apace . 1. we must begin to live betimes ; that is , must begin betimes to live like men , and like christians , to live to god , and to another world , that is in a word , to be good betimes : for those who begin to live with the first bloomings of reason and understanding , and give early and youthful specimens of piety and vertue , if they reach to old age , they live three times as long as those who count indeed as many years as they do , but it may be have not lived a third of their time , but have lost it in sin and folly. the first can look back to the very beginning of his life , and enjoy all his past years still , review them with pleasure and satisfaction , and bring them all to account : but a late penitent must date his life from his repentance and reformation ; he dares look no farther back , for all beyond is lost , or worse than lost : it is like looking back upon the rude chaos , which was nothing but confusion and darkness before god formed the world , such is the life of a sinner before this new birth and new creation ; and therefore he has but a very little way to look back , can give but a very short account of his life , has but a very few years of his life which he dares own , and carry into the other world with him . 2. we must have a care of all interruptions and intermissions of life ; that is of falling back into sin again , after some hopeful beginnings : this is too often seen , that those , who by the care , and good government , and wise instructions of parents and tutors , have had the principles of vertue and piety early instilled into them , and have had a good relish of it themselves , yet when they are got loose from these restraints , and fall into ill company , and into the way of temptations , have a mind to try another kind of life , and to tast those pleasures which they see mankind so fond of , and too often try so long till they grow as great strangers to piety and vertue , as they were ignorant of vice before . now if such men ever be reclaimed again , yet all their early beginnings of life are lost , for here is a long interruption and intermission of life , which sets them back in the account of eternity ; and thus it is proportionably in every wilful sin we commit , it makes a break in our lives , does not only stop our progress for a while , but sets us backward . but he who begins betimes to live , without any or very few , and very short interruptions , will be able to reckon a very long life , by that time he attains to the common period of humane life : 3. especially if he live apace : there is a living apace , as some call it , not to lengthen but to shorten life ; when men by minding their business well , can in ten or twenty years destroy such a constitution of body , and exhaust that vital heat and vigour , which would have lasted another man sixty or eighty years : this is to live much in a little time , and to make an end of their lives quickly ; and the living apace , i mean ▪ is to live much also in a little time , but to double and treble our lives , not to shorten them : that is , to do all the good that ever we can , for the more good we do , the more we live ; life is not meer duration , but action ; time is not life , but we live , that is , we act in time ; and he who does two days work in one , lives as much in one day , as other men do in two : he who in one year does as much improve his mind in knowledge and wisdom , and all christian graces and vertues , worships god as much and more devoutly , does as much good to the world in all capacities and relations of life , as another man does in two or three or four , he lives so much proportionably longer than those other men ; he does the work of so much time , and this is equivalent to , nay much better than being so much time ; for he who can have the reward of two hundred years in the next world , and not live above threescore or fourscore here , i take to be a much happier man , than he who spends two hundred years in this world : this is the best way of lengthening our lives by living doubly and trebly , which will make a vast addition to our lives in fifty or sixty years ; and then there will be no reason to complain of the shortness of them . 3dly , if our lives are so very short as most men complain they are , surely we have little reason to complain of spending the whole of these short lives in the service of god , for an eternal reward : what are threescore or fourscore years , when compared to eternity ? and therefore setting aside all the present advantages and pleasures of a life of religion , that this only is to live to improve and perfect our own natures , to serve god , and to do good in the world : suppose there were nothing in religion , but hardships and difficulties , a perpetual force and violence to nature , a constant war with the world and the flesh ; cannot we indure all this so short a time , for an endless reward ? men think their day's work very well spent , when they receive their wages at night , and can go home and sup chearfully with their family , and sleep sweetly , as labouring men use to do , all night ; and yet our saviour compares all the work and industry of our lives , to day-labourers , in the parable of the housholder , who at several hours of the day , hired labourers to work in his vineyard , and paid them their wages at night , 20 matth. 1 , &c. we all confess , that threescore and ten years , if we live so long , is but a very short time in itself , and quickly passes away ; i am sure we all think so , when it is gone ; and yet consider , how much of this time is cut off by infancy , childhood , and youth , while we are under the care and conduct of parents and governours , and are not our own men ; how much is spent in sleeping , in eating and drinking , and necessary diversions , for the support and repair of these mortal bodies ; in our necessary business to provide for our families , or to serve the publick , which god allows and requires of us , and accounts it serving himself ; while we live like men , are sober and temperate , and just and faithful to our trust , which we should do for our own sakes , and which all well governed societies require of us , without any consideration of another world ; so that there is but very little of this very short life spent purely in the service of god , and in the care of our souls , and the concernments of a future state ; and is this too much for an eternity of bliss and happiness ? to complain of sobriety and temperance and moral honesty , as such unsufferable burdens , that a man had better be damned than submit to them , is not so much to complain of the laws of god , as of all the wise governments in the world , even in the heathen world , which branded all these vices with infamy , and restrained and corrected them with condign punishments ; it is to complain of humane nature , which has made all these vices infamous , and to think it better to be damned than to live like men ; and yet above two thirds of our time require the exercise of few other vertues but these ; and whatever difficulties men may imagine in other acts of religion , if they can possibly think it so intolerable to love the greatest and the best being , to praise and adore him to whom we owe ourselves and all we have , to ask the supply of our wants from him who will be sure to give , if we faithfully ask ; to raise our hearts above this world , which is a scene of vanity , emptiness , or misery , and to delight ourselves in the hope and expectations of great and eternal happiness , wherein the very life of religion consists : i say , if these be such very difficult and uneasy things , which one would wonder how they came to be difficult , or why they should be thought so ; yet they imploy very little of our time , and methinks a man might bear it to be happy for ever : i am sure men take a great deal more pains for this world , than heaven would cost them , and when they have it ▪ don't live to enjoy it ; and if this be thought worth their while , surely to spend a short life in the service of god , to obtain an endless and eternal happiness , is the best and most advantageous spending our time ; and we must have a very mean opinion of heaven and eternal happiness , if we think it not worth the obedience and service of a few years , how difficult soever that were ? 4hly , if our lives are so very short at their utmost extent , the sinful pleasures of this world can be no great temptation , when compared with an eternity of happiness or misery ? those sensual pleasures , which men are so fond of , and for the sake of which they break the laws of god , and provoke his justice , forfeit immortal life , and expose themselves to all the miseries and sufferings of an eternal death , can last no longer than we live in this world ; and how little a while is that ? when we put off these bodies , all bodily pleasures perish with them ; nay , indeed as our bodies die and decay by degrees , before they tumble into the grave , so do our pleasures sensibly decay too : as short as our lives are , men may out-live some of their most beloved vices , and therefore how luscious soever they may be , such short and dying pleasures ought not to come in competition with eternal happiness or mifery ; what ever things are in their own nature , the value of them increases or diminishes according to the length or shortness of their enjoyment ; that which will last our lives , and make them easy and comfortable , is to be prefered , by wise men , before the most ravishing enjoyments of a day ; and a happiness which will out-last our lives , and reach to eternity , is to be preferred before the perishing enjoyments of a short life ; unless men can think it better to be happy for threescore years , than for ever ; nay , unless men think the enjoyments of threescore years a sufficient recompence for eternal want and misery . 5hly , the shortness of our lives are a sufficient answer to all these arguments against providence , taken from the prosperity of bad men , and the miseries and afflictions of the good ; for both of them are so short , that they are nothing in the account of eternity . were this life to be considered by it self , without any relation to a future state , the difficulty would be greater , but not v●ry great ; because a short happiness , or a short misery , chequered and intermixt as all the happiness and miseries of this life are , is not very considerable ; nor were it worth the while either to make objections against providence , or to answer them , if death put an end to us . bad men who make these objections against providence , are very well contented to take the world as they find it , so they may have it without a providence , which is a sign that it is not their dislike of this world ( though many times they suffer as much in it , as good men do ) which makes them quarrel at providence , but the dread and fear of another world : and this proves , that they think this world a very tolerable place , whether there be a providence or not . and if so short a life as this is , be but tolerable , it is a sufficient justification of providence , that this life is well enough for its continuance , a very mixt and imperfect state indeed , but very short too ; such a state as bad men themselves would like very well without another world after it , and such a state as good men like very well with another life to follow : it is not a spight at humane life , which makes them reject a providence , as any one would guess , who hears them object their own prosperity , and the calamities of good men , as arguments against providence , both which they like very well ; and whatever there may be in these objections , supposing there were no other life after this , yet when they all vanish at the very naming of another life , where good men shall be rewarded , and the wicked punished , it is ridiculous to prove , that there is no other life after this , because rewards and punishments are not dispensed with that exact justice in this life , as we might suppose god would observe , if there were no other life . to prove that there is no other life after this , because good and bad men do not receive their just rewards in this life , is an argument which becomes the wit and understanding of an atheist ; for they must first take it for granted , that there is no providence , before this argument can prove any thing ; for if there be a providence , then the prosperity of bad men , and the sufferings of the good , is a much better argument , that there is another life after this , where rewards and punishments shall be more equally distributed : thus when they dispute against providence from the prosperity of bad men , and the calamities of the good , before this can prove any thing , they must take it for granted , that there is no other life after this , where good men shall be rewarded , and the wicked punished ; for if there be , it is easie enough to justifie the providence of god , as to the present prosperity of bad men , and the sufferings of the good : so that they must of necessity dispute in a circle , as the papists do between the church and the scriptures , when they either prove , that there is no providence , or no life after this , from the unequal rewards and punishments of bad and good men in this world : for in effect they prove that there is no providence , because there is no life after this , or that there is no life after this , because there is no providence ; for the prosperity of bad men , and the sufferings of the good , proves ne●●her of them , unless you take the other for granted ; and if you will prove them both by this medium , you must take them both for granted by turns ; and that is the easier and safer way to take them for granted , without exposing themselves to the scorn of wise men by such kind of proofs . but yet though this were no objection against the being of another world , and a providence , yet had the prosperity of bad men , and the calamities of the good continued some hundred years , it had been a greater difficulty , and a greater temptation , than now it is : the prosperity of the wicked is a much less objection , when it is so easily answered , as the psalmist does , yet a little while , and the wicked shall not be ; yea , thou shalt diligently consider his place , and it shall not be , 37 psal. 10. when the very same persons , who have been the spectators and witnesses of his prosperous villanies , live to see a quick and sudden end of him : i have seen the wicked in great power , and spreading himself like a green bay-tree ; yet he passed away , and lo he was not ; yea , i sought him , but he could not be found , 35 , 36 ▪ and this is enough also to support the spirits of good men : for this cause we faint not , but though our outward man perish , yet the inward man is renewed day by day ; for our light affliction , which is but for a moment , worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory , 2 cor. 4. 16 , 17. sect . v. the time , and manner , and circumstances of every particular man's death , is not determined by an absolute and unconditional decree . ii. though god , who knows all things , does know also the time and manner and circumstances of every particular man's death , yet it does not appear , that he has by an absolute and unconditional decree , fixed and determined the particular time of every man's death . this is that famous question , which beverovicius , a learned physitian , was so much concerned to have resolved , and consulted so many learned men about , as supposing it would be a great injury to his profession , did men believe , that the time of their death was so absolutely determined by god , that they could neither die sooner , nor live longer then that fatal period , whether they took the advice and prescriptions of the physicians or not . but this was a vain fear , for there are some speculations , which men never live by , how vehemently soever they contend for them : a sceptick , who pretends that there is nothing certain , and will dispute with you as long as you please about it , yet will not venture his own arguments so far as to leap into fire or water , nor to stand before the mouth of a loaded canon , when you give fire to it . thus men who talk most about fatal necessity , and absolute decrees , yet they will eat and drink to preserve themselves in health , and take physick when they are sick , and as heartily repent of their sins , and vow amendment and reformation , when they think themselves a dying , as if they did not believe one word of such absolute decrees , and fatal necessity , as they talk of at other times . i do not intend to engage in this dispute of necessity and fate , of prescience and absolute decrees , which will be disputes as long as the world lasts , unless men grow wiser than to trouble themselves with such questions as are above their reach , and which they can never have a clear notion and perception of ; but all that i intend is to shew you , according to the scripture account of it , that the period of our lives is not so peremptorily determined by god , but that we may lengthen or shorten them , live longer or die sooner , according as we behave ourselves in this world. now this is very plain from all those places of scripture , where god promises long life to good men , and threatens to shorten the lives of the wicked , 91 psal. 16. with long life will i satisfie him , and shew him my salvation . solomon tells us of wisdom , length of days is in her right hand , and in her left riches and honours , 3 prov. 16. the fear of the lord prolongeth days , but the years of the wicked shall be shortned , 10 prov. 27. thus god has promised long life to those who honour their parents , in the fifth commandment ; and the same promise is made in more general terms to those who observe the statutes and commandments of god , 4 deut. 40. upon the same condition god promised long life to king solomon , 1 kings 3. 14. and if thou wilt walk in my ways , to keep my statutes and commandments ; as thy father david did walk , then will i lengthen thy days . the same is supposed in david's prayer to god , not to take him away in the midst of his days , 102 psal. 24. and in 55 psal. 23. he tells us , that bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days . now one would reasonably conclude from hence , that god has not absolutely and unconditionally determined the fatal period of every man's life , because he has conditionally promised to prolong mens lives , or threatned to shorten them ; for what place can there be for conditional promises , where an absolute decree is past ? how can any man be said not to live out half his days , if he lives as long as god has decreed he shall live ? for if the period of every particular man's life be determined by god , none are his days , but what god has decreed for him . as for matter of fact , it is plain and evident , both that men shorten their own lives , and that god shortens them for them , and that in such a manner as will not admit of an absolute and unconditional decree : thus some men destroy a healthful and vigorous constitution of body by intemperance and lust , and do as manifestly kill themselves , as those who hang , or poison , or drown themselves ; and both these sorts of men , i suppose , may be said to shorten their own lives ; and so do those who rob or murder , or commit any oother villany , which forfeits their lives to publick justice , or quarrel and fall in a duel , and the like ; and yet you will no more say , that god decreed and determined the death of these men , then he did their sin . thus god himself very often shortens the lives of men , by plague , and famine , and sword , and such other judgments , as he executes upon a wicked world ; and this must be confest to be the effect of god's counsel and decrees , as a judge decrees and pronounces the death of a malefactor ; but this is not an absolute and unconditional decree , but is occasioned by their sins and provocations , as all judgments are ; they might have lived longer , and escaped these judgments , had they been vertuous , and obedient to god : for if they should have lived no longer , whether they had sinned or not , their death , by what judgments soever they are cut off , is not so properly the execution of justice , as of a peremtory decree ; their lives are not shortned , but their fatal period is come . indeed , unless we make the providence of god , not the government of a wise and free agent , who acts pro re nata , and rewards and punishes as men deserve , as the scripture represents it , but an unavoidable execution of a long series of fatal and necessary events from the beginning to the end of the world , as the stoicks thought ; we must acknowledge , that in the government of free agents , god has reserved to himself a free liberty of lengthning or shortning mens lives , as will best serve the ends of providence : for if we will allow man to be a free agent , and that he is not under a necessity of sinning , and deserving to be cut off at such a time , or in such a manner , the application of rewards and punishments to him must be free also , or else they may be ill applied : he may be punished when he deserves to be rewarded ; the fatal period of life may fall out at such a time when he most of all deserves long life , and when the lengthning his life would be a publick blessing to the world. fatal and necessary events can never be fitted to the government of free agents , no more than you can make a clock , which shall strike exactly for time and number , when such a man speaks , let him speak when , or name what number he pleases : and yet there is nothing of greater moment in the government of the world , than a free power and liberty of lengthning or shortning mens lives ; for nothing more over-aws mankind , and keeps them more in dependance on god ; nothing gives a more signal demonstration of a divine power , or vengeance , or protection ; nothing is a greater blessing to families or kingdoms , or a greater punishment to them , than the life or death of a parent , of a child , of a prince , and therefore it is as necessary to reserve this power to god , as to assert a providence . there are two or three places of scripture , which are urged in favour of the contrary opinion , 14 job 5. seeing his days are determined , the number of his months are with thee , thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass . 7 job 1. is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? are not his days also like the days of an hireling ? which refer not to the particular period of every man's life , but as i observed before , to the general period of humane life , which is fixt and determined , which is therefore called the days or the years of man , because god has appointed this the ordinary time of man's life ; as when god threatens , that the wicked shall not live out half their days , that is , half that time which is allotted for men to live on earth ; for they have no other interest in these days , but that they are the days of a man , and therefore might be their days too . from what i have now discoursed , there are two things very plainly to be observed : 1. that men may contribute very much to the lengthening or shortning their own lives . 2. that the providence of god does peculiarly over-rule and determine this matter . 1. as for the first , there is no need to prove it , for we see men destroy their own lives every day , either by intemperance and lust , or more open violence ; by forfeiting their lives to publick justice , or by provoking the divine vengeance ; and therefore who ever desires a long life , to fill up the number of his days , which god has allotted us in this world , must keep himself from such destructive vices , must practise the most healthful vertues , must make god his friend , and engage his providence for his defence : can any thing be more absurd , than to hear men promise themselves long life , and reckon upon forty or fifty years to come , when they run into those excesses , which will make a quick and speedy end of them ? which will either inflame and corrupt their bloud , and let a feavour or a dropsy into their veins , or bring rottenness into their bones , or engage them in some fatal quarrel , or ruine their estates , and send them to seek their fortune upon the road , which commonly brings them to the gallows ; what a fatal cheat is this , which men put upon themselves ? especially when they sin in hope of time to repent , and commit such sins as will give them no time to repent in . the advice of the psalmist is much better , what man is he , that desireth life , and loveth many days , that he may see good ? keep thy tongue from evil , and thy lips from speaking guile , depart from evil , and do good , seek peace and persue it : these are natural and moral causes of a long life ; but that is not all , for the eyes of the lord are upon the righteous , and his ears are open unto their cry ; the face of the lord is against them that do evil , to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth : that is , god will prolong the lives of good men , and cut off the wicked ; not that this is a general rule without exception , but it is the ordinary method of providence , 34 psal. 12 , 13 , &c. 2. for though god has not determined how long every man shall live , by an absolute and unconditional decree , yet if a sparrow does not fall to the ground without our father , much less does man : no man can go out of this world , no more than he can come into it , but by a special providence ; no man can destroy himself , but by god's leave ; no disease can kill , but when god pleases ; no mortal accident can befal us , but by god's appointment ; who is therefore said to deliver the man into the hands of his neighbour , who is killed by any evil accident , 19 deut. 4 , 5. those wasting judgments of plague and pestilence , famine and sword , are appointed by god , and have their particular commissions where to strike ; as we may see 26 lev. 47. ier. 6. 7. 65 isai. 12. 15 ierem. 2. 91 psal. and several other places . all the rage and fury of men cannot take away our lives , but by god's particular permission , 10 matth. 28 , 29 , 30 , 31. and this lays as great an obligation on us , as the love of life can , which is the dearest thing in this world , to serve and please god ; this will make us secure from all fears and dangers : my times , saith david , are in thy hand , deliver me from the hand of mine enemies , and from them that persecute me , 31 psal. 15. this encourages us to pray to god for ourselves , or our friends , whatever danger our lives are in , either from sickness or from men : there is no case wherein he can't help us , when he sees fit ; he can rectify the disorders of nature , and correct an ill habit of body , and rebuke the most raging distempers which mock at all the arts of physick , and powers of drugs , and many times does so by insensible methods : to conclude , this is a great satisfaction to good men , that our lives are in the hands of god ; that though there be not such a fixt and immoveable period set to them , yet death cannot come but by god's appointment . sect . vi. the particular time , when we are to die is unknown and uncertain to us . iii. the particular time when any of us are to die , is unknown and uncertain to us ; and this is that which we properly call the uncertainty of our lives ; that we know not when we shall die , whether this night or to morrow , or twenty years hence . there is no need to prove this , but only to mind you of it , and to acquaint you , what wise use you are to make of it : 1. this shews how unreasonable it is to flatter ourselves with the hope of long life ; i mean of prolonging our lives near the utmost term and period of humane life , which though it be but short in itself , is yet the longest that any man can hope to live : no wise man will promise himself that which he can have no reason to expect , but what has very often failed others : for let us seriously consider , what reason any of us have to expect a long life ; is it because we are young and healthful and vigorous ? and do we not daily see young men die ? can youth or beauty or strength secure us from the arrests of death ? is it because we see some men live to a great age ? but this was no security to those , who died young , and left a great many men behind them , who had lived twice or thrice their age , and therefore we also may see a great many old men , and die young ourselves . it is possible , we may live to old age , because some do ; but it is more likely we shall not , because there are more that die young . the truth is , the time of dying is so uncertain , the ways of dying so infinite , so unseen , so casual and fortuitous to us , that instead of promising ourselves long life , no wise man will promise himself a week , nor venture any thing of great moment and consequence upon it : the hope of long life is nothing else but self-flattery ; the fondness men have for life , and that partiality they have for themselves , perswades them , that they shall live as long as any man can live , and shall escape those diseases and fatal accidents , with which our bills of mortality are filled every week : but then you should consider , that other men are as dear to themselves , as you are , and flatter themselves as much with long life , as you do , but their hopes very often deceive them , and so may yours . but you 'll say , to what purpose is all this ? why so much pains to put us out of conceit with the hopes of living long ? for what hurt is it , if we do flatter ourselves a little more in this matter , than we have reason for ? if it should prove only a deceitful dream , yet it makes life chearful and comfortable , and gives us a true relish of it ; and why should we disturb ourselves , and make life uneasy , by the perpetual thoughts of dying ? now , i confess , were there no hurt and danger in it , this were as ill-natured and spightful a thing , as could be done ; and the least recompence i could make , would be to ask your pardon for it , and leave you to enjoy the comforts of life securely for the future , to live on as long as you can , and let death come when it will , without being lookt for ; but i apprehend a great deal of danger in such deceitful and flattering hopes , and that is the reason why i disswade you from it . for , 1. the hope of long life is apt to make us fond of this world , which is as great a mischief to us , as to expose us to all the temptations and flatteries of it : that we must die , and leave this world , is a good reason indeed , why we ought not to be fond of it , why we should live like pilgrims and strangers here , as i observed before : but few men , who hope to live threescore or fourscore years , think much of this ; though it be comparatively short in respect of eternity , yet it is a great while to live , and a great while to enjoy this world in , and that is thought a very valuable happiness , which can be enjoyed so long ; and then men let loose their desires and affections , endeavour to get as much of this world as they can , and to enjoy as much of it as they can , and not only to tast , but to take full and plentiful draughts of the intoxicating pleasures of it : and how dangerous this is , i need not tell any man , who considers , that all the wickedness of mankind , is owing to too great a fondness and passion for this world. and therefore if we would live like pilgrims , and set loose from all the enjoyments of this world , we must remember , that our stay is uncertain here ; that we have no lease of our lives , but may be turned out of our earthly tenements at pleasure : for what man would be fond of laying up great treasures on earth , who remembers , that this night his soul may be taken from him , and then , whose shall all these things be ? what man would place his happiness in such enjoyments , which for ought he knows , he may be taken from to morrow ? these are indeed melancholy and mortifying considerations , and that is the true use of them ; for it is necessary , we should be mortified to this world , to cure the love of it , and conquer its temptations ; for if any man love the world , the love of the father is not in him : for all that is in the world , the lusts of the flesh , the lusts of the eye , and the pride of life , is not of the father , but of the world . 2. as the hopes of long life give great advantage to the temptations of this world , so they weaken the hopes and fears of the other world ; they strengthen our temptations , and weaken us , which must needs be of very fatal consequence to us in our spiritual warfare . all that we have to oppose against the flattering temptations of this world , are the hopes and fears of the world to come ; but the hope of long life sets the next world at too great a distance to conquer this : what is present , works more powerfully upon our minds , than what is abfent , and the farther any thing is off , the less powerful it is . to make you sensible of this , i shall only desire you to remember , what thoughts you have had of another world , when the present fears of dying have given you a nearer view of it : good lord , what agonies have i seen dying sinners in ! how penitent , how devout , how resolved upon a new course of life , which too often vanish like a dream , when the fear of death is over ; what is the reason of this difference ? heaven and hell is the very same , when we are in health , as when we are sick ; and i will suppose , that you do as firmly believe a heaven and a hell in health , as in sickness ; the onely thing then , that makes the thoughts of the other world so strong and powerful and affecting , when we are sick , is that we see the other world near us , that we are just a stepping into it , and this makes it our present concernment ; but in health , we see the other world a great way off , and therefore do not think it of such near and present concernment ; and what we do not think ourselves at present concerned in , or not much concerned in , how great and valuable soever it be in itself , will either not affect us at all , or very little . thus while bad men place the other world at a great distance from them , and out of sight , they have no restraint at all upon their lusts and passions ; and good men themselves at the greater distance they see the other world , are so much the less affected by it , which damps their zeal and their devotion , and makes them less active and vigorous in doing good . and there is so much the more danger in this , because men look upon the other world as farthest off , and so are least concerned about it , when the thoughts of the other world are most useful and most necessary to them : in the heat and vigour of youth , men are most exposed to the temptations of flesh and sense , and have most need to think of another world , and a future judgment ; but those who promise themselves a long life , see death and another world so far off , while they are young , that it moves them as little , as if there were no other world. and though one would think , that as our lives wast , and the other world grows near , so we should recover a more lively sence of it , yet we find it quite otherwise : when men have been used to think the next world a great way off , they will never think it near , till it comes ; and when they have been used to think of the other world without any passion or concernment for it , it is almost an impossible thing , to give any quickness and passion to such thoughts ; for when any thoughts , and the passion that properly belongs to such thoughts , have been a great while separated , it is a hard thing to unite them again ; to begin to think of that with passion and concern , which we have been used for thirty or forty years to think of without any concernment . 3. another dangerous effect of flattering ourselves with long life , is , that it encourages men to sin with the vain hopes and resolutions of repenting before they die : when men are convinced , that if they live and die in sin , they must be miserable for ever ; as i believe most profest christians are , as i am sure all must be , who believe the gospel of our saviour ; there is no other possible way to ward off this blow , and to sin securely under such convictions , but by resolving to repent , and to make their peace with god before they die : they flatter themselves , they have a great while yet to live , judgment is a great way off , and therefore they may indulge themselves a while , and enjoy the sweets of sin , and gratifie their youthful inclinations , and learn the vanity of the world by experience , as their forefathers have done before them , and then they will grow as wise and grave , and declaim against the follies and vanities of youth , and be as penitent , and as devout and religious , as any of them all . whoever considers the uncertainty of humane life , if he should hear men talk at this rate , would either conclude , that they were mad , or merrily disposed , but could never guess , that they were in their wits , and in good earnest too : but if he will allow men to be in their wits , who can promise themselves long life , when they see every day , how uncertain life is ; ( and if we will not allow such men to be in their wits , above two thirds of the world are mad ) this gives a plain account , how men may resolve to sin , while they are young , and to repent when they are old : for it is only the flattering hopes of long life , that can encourage men in a course of sin : men , indeed , who do not promise themselves long life , may commit a particular sin , and resolve to repent of it , as soon as they have done , which are a more modest sort of sinners , of which more presently ; but i speak now of those ( and too many such there are ) who resolve to take their fill of this world , while youth and strength and health last , and to grow sober and religious , when they grow old ; the consequent of which is , that they resolve to be damned , unless they live till they are old , or till they grow weary of their sins , and learn more wisdom by age and experience . now i shall not insist at present upon the hazard such men run , of not living till the time comes , which they have allotted for their repentance , which belongs to another argument , but onely what a dangerous thing it is to be tempted to a custom and habit of sinning , by the hope of long life , and of time enough to repent in ; for there is not a greater cheat in the world , that men put upon themselves , than to indulge themselves in all manner of wickednesses , to contract strong and powerful habits of vice , with a resolution to repent of their sins , and to forsake them before they die . the experience of the world sufficiently proves , how vain this is ; for though some such men may live while they are old , how seldom is it seen , that they repent of their youthful debaucheries , when they grow old ? they still retain their love and affection for those sins , which they can commit no longer ; and repent of nothing , but that they are grown old , and cannot be so wicked as they were , when they were young . and is there any reason in the world to expect it should be otherwise ? do we not know , what the power of habit and custom is ? how the love of sin increases , with the repeated commission of it ? and is the spending our youthful strength and vigour in sin , likely to dispose and prepare us to be sincere penitents , when we grow old ? do we not see , that a custom of sinning , in some men , destroys the modesty of humane nature , in others all sence of god and of religion , or of the natural differences of good and evil ? some men sin on till they despise repentance , others till they think repentance is too late ; so that though men were sure , that they should live long enough to grow wiser , and to repent and reform the sins and extravagances of youth , yet no man , who enters upon a wicked course of life , has any reason to expect , that he shall ever repent : and therefore it is extreamly dangerous to flatter ourselves into a habit and custom of sinning , with the hopes and expectations that we shall live to repent of our sins ; and if this be dangerous , it must be very dangerous to flatter ourselves with the hopes of long life , which is the great temptation to men to sin on , and to delay their repentance till old age . 2. since the time of our death is so unknown and uncertain to us , we ought always to live in expectation of it ; to be so far from promising ourselves long life , that we should not promise ourselves a day : and the reason for it is plain and necessary , because we are not sure of a day . this you 'll say is hard indeed , to live always in expectation of dying , which is no better then dying every day , or enduring the repeated fears and terrors of death every day , which is the most uncomfortable part of dying ; at this rate we never live , but instead of dying once , as god has appointed , we are always a dying : nay , this indeed is a fine saying , but signifies nothing ; for no man does it , nor can do it ; though we may die every day , we see that men live on forty , fifty , threescore years ; and therefore though we know , that our lives are uncertain , yet no man can think every day , that he shall die to day . this is very true , and therefore to live always in expectation of dying , does not signifie a belief that we shall die to day , but only that we may ; which answers the objection against the uncomfortableness of it ; for such an expectation as this , has nothing of dread and terror in it , but only prudence and caution . men may live very comfortably , and enjoy all the innocent pleasures of life , with these thoughts about them : to expect death every day , is like expecting thieves every night , which does not disturb our rest , but only makes us lock and bar our doors , and provide for our own defence : thus to expect death , is not to live under the perpetual fears of dying , but to live as a wise man would do , who knows , not that he must , but that he may die to day . that is , to be always prepared for death , not to defer our repentance , and return to god one moment ; not to commit any wilful sin , least death should surprize us in it ; not to be slothful and negligent , but to be always imployed in our master's business , according to our saviour's counsel , 12 luke 35 , &c. let your loyns be girded about , and your lamps burning ; and ye yourselves like unto men , that wait for their lord , when he will return from the wedding , that when he cometh and knocketh , they may open unto him immediately . blessed are those servants , whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching . and this know , that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come , he would have watched , and not suffered his house to be broken through . be ye therefore ready also ; for the son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not . this our saviour also warns us of in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins , 25 mat. while the bridegroom tarried they all slept ; but the wise virgins they presently arose and trimmed their lamps , and went in with him to the marriage , and the door was shut : the foolish virgins had no oyl , and their lamps were gone out , and while they went to buy oyl , they were shut out , and could afterwards procure no admission , watch therefore , for ye know neither the day nor the hour , when the son of man cometh . this is the danger of a sudden death , and the reason why our church prays against it ; for were we always in a preparation to die , with our lamps trimmed and burning , like virgins , who expect the bridegroom , to die then without notice , without fear and apprehension , without the melancholy solemnities of dying , were a true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the most desirable way of dying ; but the danger of a sudden death is , that men are surprized in their sins , and hurried away to judgment , before their accounts are ready , that they are snatched out of this world before they have made any provision for the next ; and the only way to prevent this , is to be always upon our watch , always in expectation of death , and always prepared for it . some men think themselves very safe , if after an age of sin and vanity , they have but so much notice of death , as to ask god's pardon upon a sick bed , to confess and bewail the wickedness of their past lives , to die in horrors and agonies of mind , which they call repentance , but indeed are nothing else , but the sad presages of an awakened conscience , distracted with its own guilt , and the terrible expectations of vengeance : but though this be a very comfortless way of dying , and i fear generally very hopeless too ; yet no man can promise himself so much as this , who does not live in a constant expectation of death . we may be cut off by a sudden stroke , or seized with distraction or stupidness , that if only asking god pardon before we die , would save our souls , we could not do it : and this is the case of so many sinners , that it should be a warning to all : men , who know not when , nor how , or in what manner they must die , ought to be ready prepared against all accidents and surprizing events . 3. since the time of our death is so very uncertain , it concerns us to improve our present time , because no time is ours , but what is present : i observed before , that the shortness of our lives , though we were to live to the utmost extent of them , threescore and ten , or fourscore years , was a sufficient reason to lose none of our time , but to improve it to the best and wisest purposes ; and the surest way to lose none of our time , is to improve the present time ; and there is a plain necessary reason , why we should do that , because our lives are uncertain , and therefore no time is ours , but what is present . the time past was ours , but that is gone , and we can never recal it , nor live it over again ; if we have spent it well , we shall find it ours still in our account , but it is no longer our time to live and act in ; the time to come may be ours , and it may not , because we know not whether we shall live to it , and therefore we cannot reckon upon it ; the time present is ours , and that is the only time that is ours ; and therefore if we will improve our time , we must improve our present time , we must live to day , and not put off living till to morrow . all mankind are sensible of the necessity and prudence of this in all other matters , excepting the concernments of their souls : an epicurean sensualist is for the present gratification of his lusts ; vive hodie , is his motto , let us eat and drink , for to morrow we die . men who are intent upon increasing riches , and advancing their fortune and honors , are for taking the present time and opportunity to do it : indeed , setting aside the consideration of the uncertainty of our lives , there are some things which a wise man will not delay , or put off to another time , when he has opportunity to do it at present . what is necessary to be done , he will do as soon as he can , the very first moment , that it becomes necessary , if opportunity serves . what is necessary every day , he will not put off from one day to another , but will do it every day ; as eating and drinking and sleeping are . what he resolves to do , and may as well do at present , and is as fit to be done at present , as at any other time , he will do at present . what may suffer by delays , he will do the first time he can do it . what is proper for some peculiar times and seasons , he will do , when those times and seasons come : as the husbandman observes the seasons for sowing and reaping ; the tradesman his markets and fairs . what is of present use and convenience to him , what he takes great pleasure in , or what he mightily longs for and desires , he will by no means delay , but is for doing it present . now all these are very weighty reasons , why we should take care of our souls , repent of our sins , live in the practise of all christian graces and vertues , and do all the good we can at present , but much more , when we consider , that our lives are so uncertain , that we may have no other time to do any thing of this in , but what is present . for , 1. is any thing of more absolute necessity , than the salvation of our souls ? this is that one thing needful ; the salvation of our souls is needful as a necessary end ; and the practise of true religion needful as subservient to that end : if to escape eternal misery , and to obtain eternal happiness , be not necessary , i know not what can make any thing necessary ? and if this cannot be done without the knowledge and practise of true religion , that is as necessary as the salvation of our souls is : and can any present time , how early soever it be , be too soon to do that , which is necessary to be done ? especially when we are not sure of any other time to do it in : no time is too soon to do that which is absolutely necessary ; and no wise man will neglect doing that at present , which unless it be done , he must be miserable for ever ; and yet it may never be done , if it be not done at present . 2. is not religion , and the care of our souls , the work of every day , as much as eating and drinking to preserve our bodily health and strength is ? must we not pray to god every day , and make his laws the rule of our actions every day , and repent of our sins , and do what good we can every day ? and what is the work of every day , we ought to do every day , though we were secure of living till to morrow , much more when we know that we may die before another day comes ? 3. do ye not all resolve to repent of your sins , and reform your lives , before ye die ? and is it not as necessary to repent of your sins to day , as ever it will be ? is not to day as proper a time to repent in , as ever you are likely to have ? are you sure of having another day to repent in , if you neglect this ? this may convince any considering man , that no resolutions of repenting hereafter , can be sincere , because such men resolve indeed to repent , but do not resolve to do it at such a time when they can do it ; that is , the present time , which alone they are sure of , but put it off till another time , which may never be theirs : i grant , men may sincerely resolve to do that hereafter , a month , or half a year , or a year hence , which they do not think so fitting and convenient to do at present ; but then this is not an absolute resolution to do such a thing ; but a conditional resolution , that they will do it , if they live till such a time , when it will be convenient to be done . consider then , which of these you mean , when you resolve to repent ; is it onely a conditional resolution , that you will repent , if you live till such a time ? i grant , there is some sence in this resolution ; but i wish you would consider , what danger there is in it too ; for are you contented to be eternally miserable , if you do not live , till your time of repentance comes ? no , this you tremble at the thoughts of , and resolve to repent , because you resolve not to be miserable for ever ; that is , you absolutely resolve to repent ; you are convinced this is absolutely necessary ; it is a work that must be done , and you are resolved to do it : consider then , how vain and contradictory this resolution is , to resolve to repent hereafter ; which is an absolute resolution , with a condition annexed to it , and a very uncertain one too ; a resolution certainly to repent , but not in a certain , but uncertain time ; and yet those who repent , must repent in some time ; and repentance can never be certain , when the time to repent in , is uncertain . indeed no resolution is good , which is not for the present time , when there are no exceptions against doing it at present , especially when there is such manifest danger in deferring it . to resolve to repent hereafter , when the present time is the only certain time to repent in , only signifies , that men are convinc'd of the necessity of repentance ; but love their sins so well , that they cannot part with them yet , and therefore , that they may sin on securely , without the perpetual fears and terrors of another world , they resolve to repent hereafter . now though there were no such manifest danger in a delay , from the uncertainty of our lives , yet let any man judge , whether such resolutions as these , are ever like to take effect ; a resolution which is owing to a great love to sin , and is intended onely to silence mens guilty fears , and give them a present security in sinning : for this reason they resolve not to repent now , but to repent hereafter ; and if they keep this resolution , they will never repent , for their hereafter will never come , which does not signifie any set and determined time , but any time which is not present : the reason why they resolve not to repent to day , will extend to every day , when it comes ; that is , that they love their sins , and are unwilling to part with them ; and the reason why they resolve to repent hereafter , will serve for all hereafters , but will never serve for any time present , viz. because they will not repent yet , and yet will flatter themselves into security with the vain hopes of repentance : flatter not yourselves then with vain hopes ; he who resolves to repent , but does not resolve to repent presently , though he knows he is sure of no other time but the present to repent in , does not sincerely resolve to repent , but only resolves to delay his repentance . the like may be said concerning the danger of delays , concerning missing the proper times and seasons of action , and neglecting that which is of present use to us , and which we ought above all things to desire , viz. to secure the happiness of our immortal souls ; but i shall only add this one thing to make you sensible , what it is to let slip the present time , without improving it to any wise purposes ; that he who loses his present time , loses all the time he has , all the time that he can call his own ; which is the sum of all other arguments ; that the present time is the only time he has to live in , to repent in , to serve god , and to do good to men in , to improve his knowledge , and to exercise his graces , and to prepare himself for a blessed immortality ; which are the most necessary , the most useful , the most desirable things in the world ; and that which gives the value to time itself , which is valuable only for the sake of what may be done , and what may be enjoyed in it . but you 'll say , at this rate we must spend our whole lives in the duties of religion , in thinking of god , and another world , in acts of repentance and mortification , in prayer and fasting , and such like exercises of devotion : here will be no time left for the ordinary affairs of life , scarce to eat or drink , or sleep in , but that they will have some of our time , whether we will or no ; but here is no allowance made for recreations and diversions , for the conversation of friends , and innocent mirth and pastime , to refresh our wearied bodies and minds ; for if we must be so careful to improve our present time to the best purposes , our present time is our whole time , for we have no time , but what is present , and as one minute succeeds another , still we must improve it to the best purposes ; that is , we can do but one thing all our lives , and the best way then would be to turn hermits , and sequester ourselves from the world and humane conversation . the answer to this objection will teach us , what it is to improve our present time , and how it must be done : now , 1. i allow the objection so far , that if a man have mis-spent great part of his life , have contracted great guilt , and powerful habits of vice , the chief , and almost the only thing such a man can do , is to bewail his sins before god , and with earnest and repeated importunities to beg his pardon ; to live in a state of penance and mortification , to deny himself the pleasures and comforts of life , till he has in some measure subdued his love to sin , and regained the command and government of his passions , and has recovered the peace of his mind , and some good hopes , that god has forgiven him , and received him into favour for the sake of christ : thus he ought to do , and when he is made thoroughly sensible of his sins , and the danger he is in , he can do no otherwise : while he is terrified with the fears of hell , he has little stomach to the necessary affairs and business of life , much less to the mirth and pleasures of it ; but this is such an interruption to the ordinary and regular course of life , as a fit of sickness is , which confines us to our bed , or to our chamber , and makes us incapable of minding any thing , but the recovery of our health : and when this is the case , then indeed the care of our souls is the only necessary business and imployment of our time . 2. but when this is not the case , the wise improvement of our present time does not confine us always to be upon our knees , or doing something which has a direct and immediate aspect upon god and another world , for the state of this world will not admit of that : but he imploys his time well , who divides it among all the affairs and and offices of life , between this world and the next , and imploys the several portions of his time in things fit and proper for such a season ; who begins and ends the day with adoring his maker and redeemer , blessing him for all his mercies both temporal and spiritual , begging the pardon of all his sins , the protection of his providence , the assistance of his grace , and then minds his secular affairs , with justice and righteousness , eats and drinks with sobriety and temperance , does all good offices for men , as occasion serves , and if he have any spare time , improves it for the encrease of his knowledge , by reading and meditating on the scriptures , or other useful books , or refreshes himself with the innocent and chearful conversation of his friends , or such other diversions as are not so much a loss and expence of time , as a necessary relaxation of the mind , to recruit our spirits , and to make us more fit either for business or devotion ; but then on days set apart for the more publick and solemn acts of worship , religion is his chief employment , for that is the proper work of the day , to worship god , and to examine the state of his own soul , to learn his duty more perfectly , and to affect his mind with such a powerful sence of god and another world , as may arm him against all temptations , when he returns to this world again . this is to improve our present time well , to observe the proper times and seasons of action , and to do , what is fit and proper for such seasons ; never to do any thing which is evil , and as for the several kinds of good actions , to do what particular times and seasons require . thus we may give a good account of our whole time , even of our most loose and vacant hours ; which it becomes us to do , though we were certain to live many years , but does more nearly concern us , when our time is so uncertain . 4. since our lives are so very uncertain , this ought to cure an anxious care and solicitude for times to come : we may live many years , though our lives are uncertain ; and therefore a provident care becomes us ; but we may die also very quickly , and why then should we disturb ourselves with to-morrow's cares , much less with some remoter possibilities ? hast thou at any time an ill prospect before thee of private or publick calamities ? do the storms gather ? are the clouds black and lowring , and charged with thunder , and ready to break over thy head ? shelter thy self as well as thou canst , make all prudent provisions for a storm , because thou maist live to see it ; but be not too much dismaied and terrified with a storm at a distance , for thy head may be laid low enough , and out of its reach , before it breaks ; and then all this trouble and perplexity is in vain . many such examples have i seen , of men disturbed with ill presages of what was coming , which besides that these things did not happen , which they expected , or were not so black and dismal as their affrighted fancy painted them , if they had come , they were very safe first , and got out of their way . i do not intend by this to comfort men against foreseen evils , that they may die , before they come ; which is a small comfort to most men , when it may be , death is the most formidable thing in the evils they fear ; but since our lives are uncertain , and we may die , and never see the evils we fear , it is unreasonable to be as much distracted with them , as if they were present and certain : the uncertainty of future events , is one reason why we ought not to be anxious and solicitous about them , and the uncertainty of our lives is another ; and what is so very uncertain , ought not to be the object of any great concern or passion . 5. for the same reason we ought not to be greatly afraid of men , nor to put our trust and confidence in them , because their lives are very uncertain , they may not be able to hurt us , when we are most apprehensive of danger from them , nor to help us , when we need them most : this is the psalmist's argument , 146 psal. 3 , 4. put not your trust in princes , nor in the son of man , in whom there is no help : his breath goeth forth , he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his thoughts perish . 2 isai. 22. cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to be accounted of ? men , especially great and powerful men , may do us a great deal of hurt , and may do us a great deal of good ; and therefore common prudence will teach us by all wise and honest arts to gain their favour , and to avoid all unreasonable and needless provocations ; but yet at best they are such brittle creatures , that they can be the objects only of a subordinate fear or hope ; when the fear of man comes in competition with the fear of god , it is wise counsel which the prophet isaiah gives , say ye not , a confederacy , to all them to whom this people shall say , a confederacy ; neither fear ye their fear , nor be afraid . sanctifie the lord god of hosts himself , and let him be your fear , and let him be your dread : and he shall be for a sanctuary , 8 isai. 12 , 13 , 14. there is a vast difference between the power of god and men , which is our saviour's reason , why we should fear god more than men : be not afraid of them who can kill the body , and after that , have no more that they can do ; but i will forewarn ye , whom ye shall fear , fear him which after he hath killed , hath power to cast into hell ; yea , i say unto you , fear him , 12 luke 4 , 5. but whatever power men may have to hurt , while they live , they can do us no hurt when they are dead , and their lives are so very uncertain , that we may be quickly eased of those fears . the same may be said with respect to hope and confidence in men ; though their word and promise were always sacred , yet their lives are uncertain ; their breath goeth forth , they return to the earth ; in that very day their thoughts perish ; all the good and all the evil they intended to do : but happy is he , that hath the god of iacob for his help , whose hope is in the lord his god , which made heaven and earth , the sea , and all that therein is , who keepeth truth for ever , 146 psal. 5. 6. 6. for a conclusion of this argument , i shall briefly vindicate the wisdom and goodness of god , in concealing from us the time of our death : this we are very apt to complain of , that our lives are so very uncertain , that we know not to day , but that we may die to morrow ; and we would be mighty glad to meet with any one who could certainly inform us in this matter , how long we are to live : but if we think a little better of it , we shall be of another mind . for , 1. though i presume many of you would be glad to know , that you shall certainly live twenty or thirty or forty years longer , yet would it be any comfort to know , that you must die to morrow , or some few months , or a year or two hence ? which may be your case for ought you know ; and this i believe you are not very desirous to know ; for how would this chill your blood and spirits ? how would it overcast all the pleasures and comforts of life ? you would spend your days like men under the sentence of death , while the execution is suspended . did all men , who must die young , certainly know it , it would destroy the industry and improvements of half mankind , which would half destroy the world , or be an insupportable mischief to humane societies : for what man who knows that he must die at twenty or five and twenty , a little sooner or later , would trouble himself with ingenious or gainful arts , or concern himself any more with this world , than just to live so long in it ? and yet how necessary is the service of such men in the world ? what great things do they many times do ? and what great improvements do they make ? how pleasant and diverting is their conversation , while it is innocent ? how do they enjoy themselves , and give life and spirit to the graver age ? how thin would our schools , our shops , our universities , and all places of education be , did they know how little time many of them were to live in the world ? for would such men concern themselves to learn the arts of living , who must die as soon as they have learnt them ? would any father be at a great expence in educating his child , only that he might die with a little latine and greek , logick and philosophy ? no : half the world must be divided into cloysters , and nunneries , and nurseries for the grave . well , you 'll say , suppose that ; and is not this an advantage above all the inconveniencies , you can think of , to secure the salvation of so many thousands , who are now eternally ruined by youthful lusts and vanities , but would spend their days in piety and devotion , and make the next world their only care , if they knew , how little while they were to live here ? right ! i grant , this might be a good way to correct the heat and extravagancies of youth ; and so it would be to shew them heaven and hell ; but god does not think fit to do either , because it offers too much force and violence to mens minds ; it is no trial of their vertue , of their reverence for god , of their conquests and victory over this world by the power of faith , but makes religion a matter of necessity , not of choice ; now god will force and drive no man to heaven ; the gospel-dispensation is the trial and discipline of ingenuous spirits ; and if the certain hopes and fears of another world , and the uncertainty of our living here , will not conquer these flattering temptations , and make men seriously religious , as those who must certainly die , and go into another world , and they know not how soon , god will not try , whether the certain knowledge of the time of their death , will make them religious : that they may die young , and that thousands do so , is reason enough to engage young men to expect death , and prepare for it ; if they will venture , they must take their chance , and not say they had no warning of dying young , if they eternally miscarry by their wilful delays . and besides this , god expects our youthful service and obedience , though we were to live on till old age : that we may die young , is not the proper , much less the only reason , why we should remember our creator in the days of our youth , but because god has a right to our youthful strength and vigour ; and if this will not oblige us to an early piety , we must not expect that god will set death in our view , to fright and terrifie us ; as if the only design god had in requiring our obedience , was not that we might live like reasonable creatures , to the glory of their maker and redeemer , but that we might repent of our sins time enough to escape hell. god is so merciful , as to accept of returning prodigals , but does not think fit to encourage us in sin , by giving us notice , when we shall die , and when it is time to think of repentance . 2dly , though i doubt not , but that it would be a great pleasure to you to know , that you shall live till old age ; yet consider a little with yourselves , and then tell me , whether you yourselves can judge it wise and fitting for god to let you know this . i observed to you before , what danger there is in flattering ourselves with the hopes of long life , that it is apt to make us too fond of this world , when we expect to live so long in it ; that it weakens the hopes and fears of the next world , by removing it at too great a distance from us ; that it encourages men to live in sin , because they have time enough before them to indulge their lusts , and to repent of their sins , and make their peace with god before they die ; and if the uncertain hopes of this undoes so many men , what would the certain knowledge of it do ? those who are too wise and considerate to be imposed on by such uncertain hopes , might be conquered by the certain knowledge of a long life : this would take off all restraints from men , and give free scope to their vicious inclinations , when they know , that how wicked soever they were , they should not die before their time was come , and could never be surpiz'd by death , since they certainly knew when it will come ; which destroys one great motive to obedience , that sin shall shorten mens lives , and that vertue and piety shall prolong them ; that the wicked shall not live out half their days ; that the fear of the lord prolongeth days , but the years of the wicked shall be shortned , 10 prov. 27. such promises and threatnings as these , must be struck out of the bible , should god let all men know the time of their death : nay , this would frustrate the methods and designs of providence for the reclaiming sinners : some times publick calamities , plague , and famine , and sword , alarum a wicked world , and summon men to repentance ; sometimes a dangerous fit of sickness awakens men into a sence of their sins , and works in them a true and lasting repentance ; but all this would be ineffectual , did men know the time of their death , and that such publick judgments , or threatning sickness , should not kill them . the uncertainty of our lives , is a great motive to constant watchfulness , to an early and persevering piety ; but to know when we shall die , could serve no good end , but would encrease the wickedness of mankind , which is too great already ; which is a sufficient vindication of the wisdom of god , in leaving the time of death unknown and uncertain to us . sect . vii . that we must die but once , or that death translates us to an unchangable state , with the improvement of it . the last thing to be consider'd is , that we must die but once ; it is appointed for men once to die : there are some exceptions from this rule , as there are from dying ; that as enoch and elias did not die , so some have been raised again from the dead , to live in this world , and such men died twice : but this is a certain rule in general , that as all men must die once , so they must die but once ; which needs no other proof , but the daily experience and observation of mankind . but that which i intend by it is this : that once dying , determines our state and condition for ever ; when we put off these mortal bodies , we must not return into them again , to act over a new part in this world , and to correct the errours and miscarriages of our former lives ; death translates us to an immutable and unchangeable state ; that in this sence , what the wise man tells us is true , if the tree fall towards the south , or toward the north , in the place where the tree falleth , there it shall be , 11 eccles. 3. this is a consideration of very great moment , and deserves to be more particularly explain'd , which i shall do in these following propositions : 1. that this life is the only state of trial and probation for eternity : and therefore , 2. death when ever it comes , as it puts a final period to this life , that we die once for all , and must never live again , as we do now in this world , so it puts a final end to our work too , that our day of grace , and time of working for another world ends with this life : and 3dly , as a necessary consequence of both these , once dying puts us into an immutable and unchangeable state . 1. that this life only is our state of trial and probation for eternity ; whatever is to be done by us , to obtain the favour of god , and a blessed immortality , must be done in this life . i observed before , that this life is wholly in order to the next ; that the great , the only necessary , business we have to do in this world , is to fit and prepare ourselves to live for ever in god's presence ; to finish the work god has given us to do , that we may receive the reward of good and faithful servants , to enter into our master's rest ; i now add , that the only time we have to do this in , is while we live in this world : this is evident from what s. paul tells us , that we must all appear before the judgement-seat of christ , that every one may receive the things done in his body , according to that he hath done , whether it be good or bad , 2 cor. 5. 10. now if we must be judged , and receive our final sentence according to what we have done in the body , then our only time of trial and working is , while we live in these bodies ; for the future judgment relates only to what is done in the body . the gospel of christ is the rule , whereby we must be judged , even that gospel which st. paul preached , 2 rom. 16. and all the laws and precepts of the gospel concern the government of our conversation in this world ; and therefore if we be judged by the gospel , we must be judged only for what we have done in this world. this life , throughout the scripture , is represented as the time of working ; as a race , a warfare , a labouring in the vineyard ; the other world , as a place of recompence , of rewards , or punishments : and if there be such a relation between this world and the next , as between fighting and conquering , and receiving the crown , as between running a race and obtaining a prize , as between the work and the reward ; then we must fight and conquer , run our race , and finish our work in this world , if we expect the rewards of the next . many of those graces and vertues , which our saviour has promised to reward with eternal life , can be exercised only in this world : faith and hope are peculiar only to this life , while the other world is absent and unseen : and these are the great principles and graces of the christian life , to believe what we do not see , and to live and act upon the hopes of future rewards ; the government of our bodily appetites and passions , by the rules of temperance , sobriety , and chastity , necessarily supposes , that we have bodies , and bodily appetites and passions to govern ; and therefore these vertues can be exercised only while we live in these bodies , which solicite and tempt us to sensual excesses . to live above this world , to despise the tempting glories of it , is a vertue only while we live in it , and are tempted by it ; to have our conversation in heaven , which is the most divine temper of mind , is a gospel-grace , only while we live in this world , at a great distance from heaven ; to be contented in all conditions , to trust god in the greatest dangers , to suffer patiently for righteousness sake , &c. i need not tell you , are vertues proper only for this world , for there can be no exercise for them in heaven , unless we can think it a vertue to be patient and contented with the happiness and glory of that blessed place . thus most of the sins , which the gospel forbids under the penalty of eternal damnation , can be committed by us only in this world , and in these bodies , such as fornication , adultery , uncleanness , rioting , drunkenness , injustice , murder , theft , oppression of the poor and fatherless , earthly pride and ambition , covetuousness , a fond idolatry of this world , disobedience to parents and governours , &c. now if these be the things , for which men shall be saved or damned , it is certain , that men must be saved or damned only for what they do in this life . bad men , who are fond of this world , and of bodily pleasures , which makes them impatient of the severe restraints of religion , complain very much of this , that their eternal happiness or misery depends upon such a short and uncertain life ; that they must spend this life under the awe and terrour of the next ; that some few momentary pleasures must be punished with endless misery ; and that if they out-slip their time of repentance , if they venture to sin on too long , or die a little too soon , there is no remedy for them for ever . but let bad men look to this , and consider the folly of their choice ; i am sure , how hard soever it may be thought , to be eternally damned for the short pleasures of sin , no man can reasonably think it a hard condition of eternal salvation , to spend a short life in the service of god : and if we will allow , that god may justly require our service and obedience for so great a reward as heaven is , where can we do him this service , but on earth ? if a corrupt nature must be cleansed and purified , if an earthly nature must be spiritualized and refined , before it can be fit to live in heaven , where can this be done , but on earth , while we live in these bodies of flesh , and are encompass'd with sensible objects ? this is the time for a divine soul , which aspires after immortality , to raise itself above the body , to conquer this present world , by the belief and hope of unseen things , to awaken and exercise its spiritual powers and faculties , and to adorn itself with those graces and vertues , which come down from heaven , and by the mercies of god , and the merits of our saviour , will carry us up thither . there is no middle state , between living in this body , and out of it , and therefore whatever habits and dispositions of mind are necessary to make a spirit happy , when it goes out of this body , must be formed and exercised while it is in it ; earth and heaven are two extreams , and opposite states of life , and therefore it is impossible immediately to pass from one to t'other ; a soul , which is wholly sensualiz'd by living in the body , if it be turn'd out of the body without any change , cannot ascend into heaven , which is a state of perfect purity ; for in all reason , the place and state of life must be fitted to the nature of things ; and therefore a life of holiness , while we live in these bodies , is a kind of a middle state , between earth and heaven ; such a man belongs to both worlds ; he is united to this world by his body , which is made of earth , and feels the impression of sensible objects , but his heart and affections are in heaven ; by faith he contemplates those invisible glories , and feels and relishes the pleasures of a heavenly life ; and he who has his conversation in heaven , while he lives in this body , is ready prepared and fitted to ascend thither , when he goes out of it : he passes from earth to heaven , through the middle region ( if i may so speak ) of a holy and divine life . besides this , it was necessary to the happiness and good government of this present world , that future rewards or punishments should have relation to the good or evil , which we do in this life . this in many cases lays restraints upon the lusts and passions of men , when the rods and axes of princes cannot reach them ; it over-awes them with invisible terrours , and makes a guilty conscience it s own judge and tormenter ; it sowers all the pleasures of sin , stuffs the adulterer's pillow with thorns , and mingles gall and wormwood with the drunkard's cups ; it governs those , who are under no other government , whose boundless and uncontroulable power gives them opportunity of doing what mischief they please , and gives them impunity in doing it : but the most lawless tyrants , who fear no other power , yet feel the invisible restraints of conscience , and those secret and severe rebukes , which make them tremble : nay , many times the fear of the other world governs those , whom no present evils or punishments could govern : men who would venture whatever they could suffer in this life by their sins , are yet afraid of hell , and dare not venture that : those who would venture being sick after a debauch , who would venture to sacrifice their bodies , their estates , their reputation , in the service of their lusts , who are contented to take their fortune at the gallows , or at the whipping-post , yet dare not venture lakes of fire and brimstone , the worm that never dieth , and the fire that never goeth out . thus on the other hand , how much is it for the present happiness of the world , that men should live in the practise of those christian graces and vertues , which no humane laws command , and the neglect of which no humane laws will punish ? as to instance only in the love of enemies , and forgiveness of injuries , and such an universal charity , as does all the good it can to all men. i need not prove , that the exercise of these vertues is for the good of the world , or that no humane laws require the exercise of them , in such noble measures and degrees , as the gospel does . the laws of the land allow scope enough , to satisfie the most revengful man , who will use all the extremities , and all the vexatious arts of prosecution , unless nothing will satisfie his revenge , but bloud , and a speedy execution ; for the laws ought to punish those injuries which a good christian ought to forgive ; and then some men may be undone by legal revenge , and others damned for taking it . if no man should do any good offices ▪ for others , but what the law commands , there would be very little good done in the world ; for laws are principally intended for the preservation of justice , but the acts of a generous and bountiful charity , are free : and men may be as charitable , as the law requires , without any degree of that divine charity , which will carry them to heaven . nothing , but the hopes and fears of the next world , can enforce these duties on us ; and this justifies the wisdom and goodness of god , in making the present exercise of these vertues necessary to our future rewards . i shall only add , that whatever complaints bad men may make , that their future happiness or misery depends upon the government and conduct of their lives , in this world , i am sure , all mankind would have had great reason to complain , if it had been otherwise : for how miserable must it have made us , to have certainly known , that we must be eternally happy , or eternally miserable in the next world , and not to have as certainly known how to escape the miseries and obtain the hap●iness of it ? and how could that be possibly known , if the trial of it had been reserved for an unknown state ? what a terrible thing had it been to die , could no man have been sure , what would have become of him in the next world , as no man could have been upon this supposal ; for how can any man know what his reward shall be , when he is so far from having done his work , that he knows not what he is to do , till he comes into the next world. but now since we shall be rewarded according to what we have done in this body , every man certainly knows , what will make him happy or miserable in the next world , and it is his own fault , if he do not live so as to secure immortal life ; and what a blessed state is this , to have so joyful a prospect beyond the grave , and to put off these bodies with the certain hopes of a glorious resurrection ! this , i think , is sufficient to vindicate the wisdom and goodness of god , in making this present life a state of trial and probation for the happiness of the next . but to proceed : 2. if this life only be our state of trial and probation for eternity , then death , as it puts a final period to this life , so it puts a final end to our work too ; our day of grace , and time of working for another world , ends with this life . we shall easily apprehend the necessity of this , if we remember , that death , which is the punishment of sin , is not meerly the death of the body , but that state of misery , to which death translates sinners : and therefore if we die , while we are in a state of sin , under the curse , and under the power of death , there is no redemption for us , because the justice of god has already seiz'd us ; the sentence is already executed , and that is too late to obtain a pardon : for in this case death answers to our casting into prison , from whence we shall never come forth , till we have paid the uttermost farthing , as our saviour represents it , 5 matt. 25 , 26 : for indeed sin is the death of the soul ; and those who are under the power of sin , are in a state of death , and if they die , before they have a principle of a new life in them , they fall under the power of death , that is , into that state of misery and punishment , which is appointed for such dead souls : and therefore our redemption from death , by christ is begun in our dying to sin , and walking in newness of life , which is our conformity to the death , and the resurrection of christ , 6 rom. 4. this is to be dead to sin , and to be alive to god , as christ is ; and if we die with christ , we shall rise with him also into immortal life , which is begun in this world , and will be perfected in the next , which is the sum of st. paul's argument , v. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. thus he tells us , 8 rom. 10 , 11. if christ be in you , the body is dead , because of sin , but the spirit is life , because of righteousness ; that is , our bodies are mortal , and must die , by an irreversible sentence , which god pronounc'd against adam , when he had sinned ; but the soul and spirit has a new principle of life , a principle of righteousness and holiness , by which it lives to god , and therefore cannot fall into a state of death , when the body dies ; but if the spirit of him that raised up iesus from the dead , dwell in you ; he that raised up christ from the dead , shall also quicken your mortal bodies , by his spirit that dwelleth in you : that is , when the divine spirit has quicken'd our souls , and raised them into a new life , though our bodies must die , yet the same divine spirit will raise them up also into immortal life . this is the plain account of the matter : if death arrests us while we are in a state of sin and death , we must die for ever ; but if our souls are alive to god , by a principle of grace and holiness , before our bodies die , they must live for ever : a dead soul must die with its body ; that is , sink into a state of misery , which is the death , and the loss of the soul : a living soul survives the body in a state of bliss and happiness , and shall receive its body again , glorious and immortal , at the resurrection of the just : but this change of state must be made while we live in these bodies ; a dead soul cannot revive in the other world , nor a living soul die there ; and therefore this life is the day of god's grace and patience , the next world is the place of judgment . and the reason st. peter gives , why god is not hasty in executing judgment , but is long suffering to us ward , is because he is not willing , that any should perish , but that all should come to repentance , 2 pet. 3. 5. hence the apostle to the hebrews exhorts them , wherefore as the holy ghost saith , to day if ye will hear his voice , harden not your hearts , as in the provocation , in the day of temptation in the wilderness , when your fathers tempted me , proved me , and saw my works forty years : wherefore i was grieved with that generation , and said , they do alway err in their hearts ; and they have not known my ways . so i swear in my wrath , they shall not enter into my rest . there is some dispute , what is meant by to day , whether it be the day of this life , or such a fixt and determin'd day and season of grace , as may end long before this life : the example of the israelites , of whom god swear in his wrath , that they should die in the wilderness , and never enter into his rest , that is , into the land of canaan , seems to incline it to the latter sence ; for this sentence , that they should not enter into his rest , was pronounc'd against them long before they died ; for which reason they wandered forty years in the wilderness , till all that generation of men were dead : and if we are concern'd in this example , then we also may provoke god to such a degree , that he may pronounce the final sentence on us , that we shall never enter into heaven , long before we leave this world : our day of grace may have a shorter period than our lives , and we may wander about in this world , as the israelites did in the wilderness , under an irreversible doom and sentence . and the scope of the apostle's argument seems to require this sence , which is to engage them to a speedy repentance , to day if you will hear his voice , harden not your hearts : but why to day ? is it because our lives are uncertain , and we may die before to morrow ? no ; but lest we provoke god to swear in his wrath , that we shall not enter into his rest . all men know , that if they die in a state of sin , they must be miserable for ever ; and this is a reason to repent before they die : but the apostle seems to argue farther , that by their delays , and repeated provocations , they may tempt god to shorten their day of grace , and pronounce an irrevocable sentence on them , which leaves no place for repentance ; which else where he inforces from the example of esau , who sold his birth-right , 12 heb. 15 , 16 , 17. v. looking diligently , lest any man fail of the grace of god ; lest any root of bitterness springing up , trouble you , and thereby many be desiled : lest there be any fornicator , or prophane person , as esau , who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right . for ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing , he was rejected : for he found no place of repentance , though he sought it carefully with tears ? the stating of this matter may be thought a digression from my present design , but indeed it is not ; for if by to day , be meant the whole time of this life , that proves , that death puts a final period to our day of grace ; and if any shorter period than this life be meant by it , it proves it much stronger ; for if our sentence be passed before we die , it will not be revoked after death . but the stating this question , is a matter of so great consequence to us , that if it were a digression , it were very pardonable : for many devout minds , when they are disturbed and clouded with melancholy , are afflied with such thoughts as these , that their day of grace is past , that god has sworn in his wrath , that they shall not enter into his rest ; and therefore their repentance and tears will be as fruitless as esau's were , which could not obtain the blessing . now for the resolving this question , i shall say these three things : 1. that the day of grace , according to the terms of the gospel , is commensurate with our lives . 2. that notwithstanding this , men may shorten their own day of grace , and god may in wrath and justice confirm the sentence . 3. that the reasons for lengthning the day of grace , together with our lives , do not extend to the other world , and therefore death must put a final period to it . 1. that the day of grace , according to the terms of the gospel , is commensurate with our lives ; and there needs no other proof of this , but that the promise of pardon and forgiveness is made to all true penitents , without any limitation of time : whoever believes in christ , and repents of his sins , he shall be saved ; this is the doctrine of the gospel : and if this be true , then it is certain , that at what time soever a sinner sincerely repenteth of his sins , he shall be saved ; for otherwise some true and sincere penitents , if they repent too late , after the day of grace is expired , shall be damned , and then it is not true , that all sincere penitents shall be saved . i know but one objection against this , from the example of esau , who having sold his birth-right , when afterwards he would have inherited the blessing , was rejected ; for he found no place for repentance , though he sought it carefully with tears . it seems then , that esau repented too late , and so may we ; his repentance would not be accepted : and if we are concerned in this example , as the apostle intimates we are , then we may repent of our sins when it is too late , and lose the blessing as esau did . but this objection is founded on a mistake of esau's case ; the repentance here mentioned , is not esau's repentance , but isaac's ; that is , when isaac had blessed iacob , esau with all his tears and importunity , could not make him recal it ; i. e. isaac would not repent of the blessing he had given to iacob , i have blessed him , yea and he shall be blessed , 27 gen. 33. esau's case then was not , that his repentance came too late to be accepted , but that he could not obtain the blessing , after he had sold his birth-right , to which the blessing was annexed . now to apply this to the state of christians , that which answers to esau's birth-right , is their right and title to future glory , being made the sons of god by baptismal regeneration , and faith in christ ; to sell this birth-right , is to part with our hopes of heaven , for the pleasures , or riches , or honours of this world , as esau sold his birth-right for one morsel of meat ; that is , as the apostle speaks , to fail of the grace of god , either through unbelief , which he calls the root of bitterness , a renouncing the faith of christ , and returning to iudaism , or pagan idolatries , or by an impure and wicked life , lest there be any fornicater , or prophane person , as esau , who for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right ; i. e. who despises the hopes of heaven , for the sinful pleasures and transient enjoyments of this world : men , who thus fail of the grace of god , and finally do so , as esau finally sold his birth-right , when our heavenly father comes to give his blessing , those great rewards he has promised in his gospel , how importunate soever they shall then be for a blessing , as esau was , who sought it carefully with tears , they shall find no place for repentance ; god will not alter his purposes and decrees for their sakes . our saviour has given us a plain comment on this , 7 mat. 21 , 22 , 23. not every one that saith unto me , lord , lord , shall enter into the kingdom of heaven : but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven . many will say unto me at that day , that is , the day of judgment , when the blessing is to be given , lord , lord , have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name cast out devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ? here is esau's importunity for the blessing . and then will i profess unto them , i never knew you : depart from me ye that work iniquity . they were profane esau's , who had sold their birth-right for a morsel of meat , and now they found no place for repentance : our lord will not be perswaded by all their importunities to alter his sentence , but depart from me ye that work iniquity . this example then of esau does not concern our present case ; it does not prove , that a wicked man , who hath spent the greatest part of his life in sin and folly , shall not be accepted and rewarded by god , if he sincerely repent of his sins , and reform his life ; but it only proves , that a wicked & ungodly christian who prefers the pleasures and enjoyments of this world , before the hopes of heaven , and defiles his soul with impure and worldly lusts , what pretences soever he may make to the blessing , or how importunate soever he may be for it , shall receive no blessing from god ; that is , that without holiness no man shall see god , which is the very thing the apostle intended to prove by this example , as you may see , v. 14. i grant the case is different , as to churches and nations ; sometimes their day of grace is fixt and determin'd , beyond which without repentance , they shall no longer enjoy the light of the gospel . thus the appearance of christ in the flesh , and his preaching the gospel to them , was the last trial of ierusalem , and determin'd the fate of that beloved city : and therefore when christ rode into ierusalem , in order to his crucifixion , when he was come near , he beheld the city , and wept over it , saying , if thou hadst known , even thou , at least in this thy day , the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes . for the days shall come upon thee , that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee , and compass thee round , and keep thee in on every side ; and shall lay thee even with the ground , and thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another : because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation , 19 luke 41 , &c. and this our saviour warned them of before , 12 joh. 35 , 36. yet a little is the light with you : walk while ye have the light , lest darkness come upon you : for he that walketh in darkness , knoweth not whither he goeth . while ye have light , believe in the light , that ye may be the children of light : which signifies , that unless they believed on him , while he was with them , they must be utterly destroyed , the kingdom of god should be taken from them , and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof ; as he proves by the parable of the housholder who planted a vineyard , 21 mat. 33 , &c. and this was in some measure the case of the seven churches of asia , to whom st. iohn directed his epistles , to summon them to repentance , and to threaten them with the removal of the candlestick , if they did not repent . the judgments of god in the overthrow of some flourishing churches , and in transplanting the gospel from one nation to another , are very mysterious and unsearchable ; but as for particular persons , who enjoy the light of the gospel , unless they shorten their day of grace themselves , god does not shorten it : as long as they live in this world , they are capable of grace and mercy , if they truly repent . 2. men may shorten their own day of grace ; not by shortning the time of grace and mercy , for that lasts as long as this life does ; but by out-living the possibility of repentance , and when they are past repentance , their day of grace is at an end , and this may be much shorter than their lives : that is , men may so harden themselves in sin , as to make their repentance morally impossible , and god in his just and righteous judgments may give up such men to a state of hardness and impenitence . every degree of love to sin , proportionably enslaves men to the practice of it ; makes repentance as uneasie and difficult , as it is to pluck out a right eye , and cut off a right hand , 5 mat. 29 , 30 ; as painful as dying , as crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts , which few men will submit to , 8 rom. 13. 3 col. 5. an habit and custom of sin turns into nature , and is as difficultly altered as nature is ; can the aethiopian change his skin , or the leopard his spots ? then may you also do good , who are accustomed to do evil , 13 jer. 23. some sins are of such a hardening nature , that few men , who are once entangled by them , can ever break the snare ; such as adultery , or the love of strange women ; of whom solomon tells us , her house inclineth unto death , and her paths unto the dead ; none that go unto her return again , neither take they hold of the paths of life , 2 prov. 18 , 19. covetuousness is such another hardening sin , that our saviour tells us , it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle , than for a rich man to enter into heaven ; those who love , and those who trust in their riches , 10 matth. 23 , 24 , 25. those who have been once enlightned , and fall back again into infidelity ; who have been instructed in the reasons of faith , and the motives of obedience ; who have had the heavenly seed of god's word sown in their hearts , but have not brought forth the fruits of it , are near the curse of barren ground , which drinketh in the dews and rain of heaven , and brings forth briars and thorns , which is rejected , and is nigh unto cursing , whose end is to be burnt , 6 heb. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. when men obstinately resist the perpetual motions and solicitations of the holy spirit , he withdraws from them , and gives them up to their own counsels , as we leave off perswading those who will not be perswaded . and when the spirit of god forsakes such men , the evil spirit seizeth them , that spirit which ruleth in the children of disobedience , 2 eph. 3. for the world is divided into the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light , 1 col. 13 ; and those who are not under the government of the divine spirit , are led captive by the devil at his will , 2 tim. 2. 6 : and therefore our saviour hath taught us to pray to be delivered from evil , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , from the evil one , that is , from the devil : for that is a hopeless state , when god gives us up to the government of evil spirits : nay , when men harden themselves in sin , they are rejected by the good providence of god , which secures good men from , or delivers them out of temptations , as our saviour has taught us to pray , lead us not into temptation ; as a father keeps a watchful eye over a dutiful child , to preserve him from any harm , and to choose the most proper condition and circumstances of life for him , but suffers a prodigal to go where he pleases , and undo himself as fast as he can . and whoever considers the weakness and folly of humane nature , and the power of temptations , must needs conclude that man given up to ruine , who is rejected by the good spirit of god , and cast out of the care of his providence . into this miserable state men may bring themselves by sin , which though it does not make them uncapable of mercy , if they do repent , yet it makes it morally impossible , that they should repent . it is this the apostle to the hebrews warns them against , from the example of the hardness and infidelity of the israelites in the wilderness , of whom god swear , that they should not enter into his rest ; as appears from the application he himself makes of it , 3 heb. 12 , 13. take heed , brethren , lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief , in departing from the living god : but exhort one another daily , while it is called , to day ; lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin . this is a plain account of that great question , concerning the length of the day of grace : men may out-live the time of repentance , may so harden themselves in sin , as to make their repentance morally impossible ; but they cannot out-live the mercies of god to true penitents : this is reason enough to discourage men from delaying their repentance , and indulging themselves in a vicious course of life , lest they should be hardned by the deceitfulness of sin , and should be forsaken by god ; but it is no reason to discourage true penitents from trusting in the mercy of god , how late soever their repentance be ; for while we live in this world , the door of grace and mercy is not shut against true penitents . 3. but yet the reasons of lengthning the day of grace and mercy , do not reach beyond this life : this sufficiently appears from what i have already said ; and for a further confirmation of it , i shall add but this one comprehensive reason , viz. that the grace of the gospel is confined to the church on earth ; and therefore this life is the only time to obtain the remission of our sins , and a title to future glory : we shall be finally absolved from all our sins , and rewarded with eternal life at the day of judgment ; but we must sue out our pardon , and make our calling and election sure in this world. the gospel of christ , which is the gospel of grace , and contains the promises of pardon and immortal life , is preached only to men on earth , and concerns none else . for this reason christ became man , cloathed with flesh and blood as we are , that he might be the saviour of mankind ; which he need not have done , had not their salvation been to be wrought in this world ; for could they have been saved in the next , his grace might have met them soon enough there : and therefore , at the birth of our saviour , the angels sang , glory be to god in the highest , on earth peace , good will towards men , 2 luke 14. the sacrifice of christ upon the cross , ( as all iewish sacrifices , which were types of the sacrifice of the cross , were ) was offered for the expiation of the sins of living men , or at least considered as living , not of the dead . he carried his blood into heaven , as the high-priest did the blood of the sacrifice into the holy of holies ) there to make expiation , and to interceed for us ; but this intercession , though made in heaven , relates only to men on earth , as his sacrifice did : the earthly tabernacle was a type of the church on earth , and that only , and the worshippers in it , was expiated by sacrifices . there are two sacraments whereby the grace of the gospel is applied to us , and which are the ordinary means of salvation , baptism and the lord's supper , and they are confined to the church on earth , and if they have not their effect here , they cannot have it in the next world : these unite us to christ , as members of his body , and then the holy spirit , which animates the body of christ , takes possession of us , renews and sanctifies us ; but if we prove dead and barren branches in this spiritual vine , if the censures of the church do not cut us off from the body of christ , death will , and then we can never be re-united to him , nor saved by him in the next world. faith in christ , and repentance from dead works , are the great gospel-terms of pardon and salvation , and these are confined to this world : there may be something like them in the next world ; such a faith as makes the devils tremble ; such a repentance as is nothing else but despairing agonies , and a hopeless and tormenting remorse ; but such a faith as purifies the heart , as conquers this present world , as brings forth the fruits of righteousness ; such a repentance as reforms our lives , as undoes all our past sins , as redresses the injuries we have done to our neighbours , and the scandal we have given to the world ; such a faith , and such a repentance , which alone are the true christian graces of faith and repentance , are proper only for this life , and can be exercised only in this life , while we have this world to conquer , and the flesh to subdue to the spirit , while we can restore our ill-gotten riches , and set a visible example of piety and vertue . from hence it is very evident , that no man , who dies in a state of sin and impenitence , can be saved by christ , and by the grace of the gospel in the next world , for the whole ministration of gospel-grace is confined to this life , and if they cannot be saved by christ , i know no other name , whereby they can be saved : and thus death puts an end to all the flattering hopes of sinners . 3. now if this life be our only state of trial and probation for eternity ; if death puts a final end to our day of grace and time of working , then death must translate us to an immutable and unchangeable state . by this i do not mean , that as soon as we go out of these bodies , our souls will immediately be as happy or miserable , as ever they shall be ; the perfect rewards of good men are reserved for the day of judgment , as the final punishments of bad men are ; when our lord shall say to those on his right hand , come ye blessed of my father , inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : and to them on the left hand , go ye cursed into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels , 25 mat. 34 , 41. but though the happiness or miseries of the next world may increase , yet the state can never alter ; that is , if we die in a state of grace and favour with god , we shall always continue so ; if we die in a state of sin , under the wrath and displeasure of god , there is no altering our state in the other world ; we must abide under his wrath for ever . this is the necessary consequence of what i have already said , which all aimed at this point , that once dying puts us into an immutable and unchangeable state : and therefore i shall wave any further proof of this , and only desire you seriously to consider of it . 1. now first , since death puts an end to our day of grace , and determines our final state for ever , and this death comes but once , all men must confess of what mighty consequence it is to die well , that death find us well disposed and well prepared for another world. men use their utmost prudence and caution in doing that , which can be done but once for their whole lives , especially if the happiness of their whole lives depends on it ; for no errour can be corrected in what is to be done but once ; and certainly we have much more reason to prepare to die once , which translates us to an immutable state of happiness or misery . this ought to be the work and business of our whole lives , to prepare for death , which comes but once , but that once is for eternity : what unpardonable folly is it , for any man to be surprized by death ! to fall into the grave without thinking of it ! to commit a mistake , which may be retrieved again , to be guilty of some neglect and inadvertency , when the hurt we suffer by it , may be repair'd by future diligence and caution , is much more excusable , because it is not so fatal and irreparable a folly : in this case experience may teach wisdom , and wisdom is a good purchase , though we may pay dear for it : but a wise man will use great caution in making an experiment , which if it fail , will cost him his life , because that can never be tried a second time ; and experience is of no use in such things , as can be done but once . and this is the case of dying ; we can die but once , and if we miscarry that once , we are undone for ever : and what considering man would make such dangerous experiments , as sinnres do every day , when their souls are the price of the experiment ! who would try , how long death will delay its coming ? how long he may sin on safely , without thinking of death or judgment ? whether death will give him timely notice to repent ? or whether god will give him grace to repent , if it does ? who would venture the infinite hazards of a death-bed-repentance ? whether after a long life of sin and wickedness , a few distracted , confused , and almost despairing sighs and groans will carry him to heaven ? if such bold adventurers as these , when they have discovered their mistake and folly , could return back into this world , and live over their lives again , the hazard were not so great ; but this is an experiment not to be twice made : if they sin on , till they harden themselves in sin , and are forsaken of the grace of god ; if death comes long before they expected , and cut them off by surprize , and without warning ; if their dying and despairing agonies and horrours should not prove a true godly sorrow , not that repentance to salvation never to be repented of , they are lost to eternity : and what wise man would expose his soul to such a hazard as this ? who would not take care to make his calling and election sure , before death comes , and in a matter of such infinite concernment , wherein one miscarriage is irreparable , to prevent danger at a distance ? 2dly , we hence learn , how necessary it is for those who begin well , to persevere unto the end : it is the conclusion of our lives , which determines our future state ; as god expresly tells us by his prophet ezekiel , 18 ezek. 21 , 24. if the wicked will turn from all his sins , that he hath committed , and keep my statutes , and do that which is lawful and right , he shall surely live , he shall not die : all his transgressions that he hath committed , they shall not be mentioned unto him ; in his righteousness that he hath done , he shall live . — but when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness , and committeth iniquity , and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth , shall he live ? all the righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned ; in his trespass that he hath trespassed , and in his sin that he hath sinned , in them shall he die . and throughout the new testament the reward is promised only to those who continue to the end . and what i have now discoursed , gives a plain account of this ; for our whole life is a state of trial and probation , and if we leave off before our work be done , if we stop or run backwards , before we come to the end of our race , we must lose our reward , our crown : the christian life is a state of warfare , and we know the last battel gives the final conquest : and this cannot be otherwise , because what comes last , undoes what went before ; when a wicked man turns from his wickedness , and does good , god in infinite mercy , thro' the merits and mediation of christ , will forgive his sins , because he has put them away from him , and undone them by repentance and a new life ; when a righteous man turns from his righteousness , and does wickedly , his righteousness shall be forgotten , because he has renounced it , and parted with it , and is a righteous man no longer : now when god comes to judge the world , he will judge men as he then finds them ; he will not inquire what they have been , but what they are ; he will not condemn a righteous man , because he has been wicked , nor justifie a wicked man , because he has been righteous ; for this would be to punish the righteous , and to reward the wicked : such as we are , when we die , such we shall continue for ever ; and therefore it is the last scene of our lives , which determines our future state . and should not this make us very jealous and watchful over ourselves ? to take heed , lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief , in departing from the living god. looking diligently , lest any man fail of the grace of god ; lest any root of bitterness springing up , trouble you , and thereby many be defiled : lest after we have escaped the pollutions of the world , through the knowledge of the lord and saviour iesus christ , we are again entangled therein , and overcome , and it happen to us according to the true proverb , the dog is turned to his vomit again ; and the sow that was washed , to her wallowing in the mire . this , as the same apostle tells us , makes our latter end worse than the beginning ; for it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness , than after we have known it , to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us . let those consider this , who have been blessed with a religious education , and trained up in the exercises of piety and vertue ; who have preserved themselves from the pollutions of youthful lusts , and spent their vigorous age in the service of god ; can you be contented to lose all these hopeful beginnings ? to lose all your triumphs and victories over the world and the flesh ? when you have out-rid all the storms and hurricanes of a tempting world for so many years , will you suffer yourselves to be shipwracked in the haven ? when you are come within view of the promised land , will you suffer your hearts then to fail you ? will you then murmur and rebel against god , and die in the wilderness ? there has been a very warm dispute about the perseverance of saints , whether those who are once in a state of grace , shall always continue so ? i will not undertake to decide this controversie ; but thus much i will say , ( and that i think is all that is needful for a christian to know about it ) that to be in a state of grace , is to have an inward principle of holiness , which brings forth the fruits of a holy life ; that to persevere in a state of grace , is to persevere in the practice of holiness and vertue ; that many who have begun well , and have thought themselves , and have been thought by others , to be truly good men , have afterwards been overcome by the temptations of the world , and defiled themselves with the impure lusts of it ; that if such men ever were good men , and in a state of grace , they fall from grace when they forsake the paths of holiness ; and that those who do thus fall away , who after promising beginnings , do all the abominations of the wicked , and live and die in such a state , shall never enter into heaven : we shall receive our final doom and sentence according to that state and condition in which death finds us : what is said upon another account , that we must call no man happy before death , is true in this sence ; no man is a conqueror , but he who dies so : those men deceive themselves , who confidently pretend to be still in a state of grace and favour with god , because formerly they were good men , though now they are grown very bad : this is to persevere in a state of favour with god , without persevering in holiness , which overthrows the gospel of our saviour , and will miserably deceive those men , who have no better foundation for their hopes . 3. we hence learn , how dangerous it is to die in the actual commission of any known and wilful sin : such men go into the other world , and go to judgement with actual guilt upon them , they die in their sins ; for they could not repent of them before they died , because they died in the commission of them , and there is no repentance , and therefore no pardon in the next world. this has been , and very often is , the miserable , and i fear the hopeless state of a great many sinners : how many are there , who not only drink themselves into a feavour , which takes some time to kill them , and gives them some time to repent of their sins , and to ask god's pardon , but drink themselves dead , or which is much at one , as to this case , drink away their reason and senses , and then fall from their horses , or down a precipiece , and perish by some evil accident ; or when they are inflamed with wine , forget their old friendships , and fall by each others hands ? how many others have perished in the very act of adultery , or which is much the same , in quarrelling for a strumpet , in the rage and fury of lust ? how many die in the very act of theft and robbery ? all such men receive the present punishment of their sins in this world , and carry the unrepented guilt of them into the next ; and if men shall be damned , who die in their sins without repentance , such mens condition is desperate . and this may be the case of any man who ventures upon a wilful sin ; he may die in the very act of it , and then his repentance will come too late in the next world : and this so often happens , that no wise man would venture his soul upon it . but there are two sins especially , which this consideration should deter men from , viz. duelling and self-murder . when men have such a resentment of affronts and injuries , as to revenge themselves with their swords , and either to thirst after each others blood , or at least to stake their lives , and to venture killing or being killed , to decide the quarrel : these men have the hearts of murderers , who would kill if they could ; or at least will venture killing their brother to appease their resentments or revenge , which is a mortal and a murdering revenge , whether it murder or not ; and therefore if such men fall in the quarrel , as many do , without time to ask god's pardon with their last breath , they die under the guilt of murder unrepented of ; though they do not kill , but are killed , yet they die with murderous intentions , with a mortal hatred and revenge , for they would have killed , if they could : and st. iohn tells us , he that hateth his brother , is a murderer ; and we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him , 1 john 3. 15. so that these duellers do not only venture their lives , but their souls too , if they fall in the quarrel : and how little soever they value their lives , it is a little too much to pawn their souls upon a point of honour . as for self-murder , if we will allow it to be a sin , it is certain that no man who commits it , can repent of it in this world , and there is no pardon for sins in the next world , which are not repented of in this . and yet why we should not think it as great a sin to murder ourselves , as to murder our brother , i cannot imagine , for it has all the marks of a very great sin upon it . it is as much murder to kill ourselves , as it is to kill another man ; and therefore it is a breach of the sixth commandment , thou shalt not kill : the reason against murder is the same , for in the image of god made he man , 9 gen. 6 ; and he who kills himself destroys god's image , as much as he who kills another man. the more unnatural the sin is , or the greater obligations we have to preserve the life of the person whom we kill , the greater the sin is : to murder a kind friend , and a benefactor , is a greater evil than to murder a stranger ; to murder a parent or a child , a wife or a husband , is still a greater evil , because they are so much nearer ourselves ; and if the nearness of the relation increases the sin , no body is so near to us as our selves , and therefore there is no such unnatural murder as this . the excuses which are made for self-murder , will not justifie the murder of any other man in the world : though we should see a friend whom we love like ourselves , labouring under intolerable pains , or insupportable misfortunes and calamities of life , though he should importune and beseech us to put an end to his sufferings , by putting an end to a miserable life ; though out of great kindness and compassion we heartily desire to follow him to his grave , yet we must not kill him ; neither the laws of god nor man will allow this : and yet if self-love be the measure of our love to other men , and will justifie self-murder , when we are grown weary of life , when we either despise the world , or think it best to make our escape out of it , i cannot imagine , why we may not do the same kindness for a friend or a brother , when he desires it , as we may do for ourselves ; the reason is the same in both , and if it will not justifie both , it can justifie neither . for there is no foundation , that i know of , for what some pretend , that god has given us greater power over our own lives , than over other mens : we find no such power given us in scripture , which is the only revelation of god's will ; and i am sure nature teaches us no such thing ; nay , nature teaches the quite contrary ; the natural aversions to death , and the natural principle of self-preservation , were not only intended to make us cautious of any hurt or mischief , which other men may do us , but to make us careful to do no hurt to , much less to destroy ourselves ; and therefore the voice of nature is , that we must preserve our own lives and being . when god made us , he did not make us the absolute lords and masters of our selves ; we cannot dispose of ourselves as we please , but are his creatures and subjects , and must receive laws from him , and that in such instances , wherein the injury is done only to ourselves : we must not abuse our own bodies by intemperance and luxury , or lust , though neither the publick , nor any private persons are injured by it ; and if we have not power over our own bodies in lesser instances , much less to kill them . and if it be a sin to destroy our own lives , it is the most mortal and damning sin , for it destroys soul and body together , because it makes our repentance impossible , unless men can repent of their sin , and obtain god's pardon for it , before they have committed it , or can repent and obtain their pardon in the next world. did men seriously consider this , it is impossible , that the greatest shame and infamy , want or suffering , or whatever it is , that makes them weary of life , should be thought so intolerable , as to make them force their passage into the other world , to escape it , when such a violent and unnatural escape will cost them their souls : men may be in such evil circumstances as make death desirable ; but no considering man will exchange the sufferings of this life , for the endless miseries of the next : if we cannot destroy our lives , and put an end to our present sufferings , without destroying our souls too , we must be contented to live on , and bear our lot patiently in this world , which , whatever it is , is much more easie and tolerable than to be eternally miserable . and yet god forbid , that i should pronounce a final and peremptory sentence upon all those unfortunate persons who have died by their own hands : we know not what allowances god may make for some mens opinion of the lawfulness of it ; and for the distraction of other mens thoughts and passions thro' a setled melancholy , or some violent temptation : my business is not to limit the soveraign and prerogative grace of god , but to declare the nature of the thing according to the terms of the gospel : to murder ourselves , is the most unnatural murder ; it is a damning sin , and such a sin as no man can repent of in this world , and therefore unless god forgive it without repentance , it can never be forgiven ; and the gospel of christ gives us no commission to preach forgiveness of sin , without repentance ; the gospel-grace , which only forgives penitents , cannot save such men ; and he is a very bold man , and ventures very far upon unpromised and uncovenanted mercy , who will commit a sin , which the grace of the gospel cannot pardon . all that i have to add under this head , is the case of those who die in despair of god's mercy : this is commonly thought a very hopeless state ; for to despair of the mercy of god , is a great sin , and therefore such men die in the actual commission of sin unrepented of ; and by-standers are apt to suspect their despair to be little better than their final doom and sentence ; and yet many times we see men labouring under despair in their last agonies , who have to all outward appearance lived very innocent and vertuous lives ; and it is hard to judge so severely of them , as to think they were secret hypocrites , and that god has finally rejected them , because they pass such a severe judgment upon themselves . now i confess , despair is as uncomfortable a state as any man can die in ; but i cannot think it so fatal and dangerous as some imagine ; for let us consider , what the nature of despair is , and wherein the sinfulness of it consists . to disbelieve the promises of grace and mercy , made to true penitent sinners by jesus christ , is infidelity , not despair : and this indeed is a great and unpardonable sin , for it is to renounce the faith of christ , and the grace of the gospel ; but this is not what we commonly call despair : such men believe the gospel of christ , and all the promises of it , as firmly as others do ; they do not doubt but god will forgive all true penitents , through the merits and mediation of jesus christ ; and therefore are as true and sincere believers , as those who do not despair ; but their despair is in the application of these promises to themselves ; that is , they fear that they are not within the terms and conditions of gospel-grace ; that they are not true penitents ; that their day of grace is expired , and now they shall not receive the blessing , though , as esau did , they seek it earnestly with tears ; or it may be , that they are reprobates who have no right to the promises of the gospel . now if these men may upon all other accounts be very good christians , but are either oppressed with melancholy , or disturbed with false and mistaken notions of religion , can we think that their melancholy or mistakes , which make them pass so false a judgment upon themselves , shall make god condemn them too , who knows them better than they know themselves ? should a man , who has a delirous fancy , accuse himself of theft , or murder , or treason , which he was never guilty of ; would a just and righteous judge , who certainly knows , that he is not gulty of these crimes , condemn him , only because he condemns himself ? suppose a man , who is in the right way to heaven , should be perswaded by some travellers he meets , that he has mistaken his way ; and upon this he should fall into great horrors and agonies , and give himself for lost ; is this man ever the further off of heaven , because he is perswaded that he has mistaken the way ? the false judgments dying men make of themselves , either through enthusiasm , presumption , or despair , shall not determine their final state : men may go to hell with all the triumphs of a deluded fancy , which promises nothing less than eternal glories ; and those who go trembling out of this world , may find themselves happily mistaken in the next . it is a wrong notion of justifying faith , which makes men conclude despair to be so damning and unpardonable a sin : if justifying faith were nothing else but a strong belief and perswasion , that we are justified , there were good reason to conclude despair to be a mortal sin , because it is a direct contradiction to justifying faith : nay , if the justifying act of faith were an actual reliance and recumbency on christ for salvation , despair must be very mortal , because while men are under these agonies , they do not , they cannot rely on christ for salvation ; for they believe , that christ has cast them off , and will not save them : but if to believe in christ , that he is the saviour of the world , that he has made expiation for our sins , and intercedes for us at the right hand of god , and is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto god by him ; that he will save all true penitent sinners , and will save us , if we be true penitents ; i say , if such a faith as this , when it brings forth the genuine fruits of repentance , and a holy life , be a true justifing faith , this is consistent with the blackest despair ; and then men may be in a justified state , though they are never so strongly perswaded , that they are reprobates : a very good man may have his fancy disturbed , and may pass a false judgment upon himself ; but this is no reason for god to condemn him , no more than god will justifie a presuming and enthusiastick hypocrite , because he justifies himself . 4. if death put a final end to our work and labour , and shuts up our accounts , then it concerns us to do all the good that we can , while we live : what ever our hand findeth to do , we should do it with all our might , seeing there is no wisdom , nor knowledge , nor working in the grave , whither we are hasting . not that the next world is an idle and unactive state , where we shall know nothing , and have nothing to do ; but death puts an end to our working for the other world : nothing can be brought to our account at the day of judgment , but the good we do while we live here ; for this onely we shall receive our reward , proportionable to the encrease and wise improvement of our talents . and is not this a good reason why we should begin to serve god betimes , and to take all opportunities of doing good , since we have only a short life to work in for eternity . there are great and glorious rewards prepared for good men , but those shall have the brightest crown , who do the most good in the world ; who are rich in good works , and lay up for themselves treasures in heaven . indeed the meanest place in heaven is a happiness too great for us to conceive , i 'm sure much greater than our greatest deserts ; but since our bountiful lord will reward all the good service we do , why should we neglect doing any good , when such neglects will lessen our reward ? why should we be contented to lose any degrees of glory ? this is a holy ambition , to be as good , and to be as happy as god can make us . this is never thought of by those men who have no greater designs than to escape hell ; but as for the glories of heaven , they can be contented with the least share of them . no man will ever get to heaven , who so despises the glories of it : and if a late repentance should open our eyes , not only to see our sins , but to alter our opinions of this world and of the next , yet we can never recal our past time , and that little time that remains , which is the very dregs and sediment of our lives , the dead and unactive scene , will minister very few opportunities of doing good , and if it did , we are capable of doing very little , and if we get to heaven , that will be all ; but the bright and triumphant crowns shall be bestowed upon those who have improved their time and their talents better . it is the good we do , while we live , that shall be rewarded ; and therefore we must take care to do good while we live : it is well when men who do no good while they live , will remember to do some good when they die . but if god should accept such presents as these , yet it will make great abatements in the account , that they kept their riches themselves as long as they could , and would part with nothing to god , till they could keep it no longer : it is not the gift , but the mind of the giver that is accepted . under the gospel god is pleased with a living sacrifice ; but the offerings of the dead ( and such these testimentary charities are , which are intended to have no effect as long as we live , ) are no better than dead sacrifices ; and it may be questioned , whether they will be brought into the account of our lives , if we did no good while we lived : the case is different as to those who did all the good they could , while they lived , and when they saw they could live no longer , took care to do good after death ; such surviving charities as these prolong our lives , and add daily to our account ; when such men are removed into the other world , they are doing good in this would still ; they have a stock a going below , the increase and improvements of which will follow them into the other world : men who have been charitable all their lives , may prolong their charity after death , and this will be brought to the account of their lives ; but i cannot see , how a charity , which commences after death , can be called doing good while we live ; and then it cannot belong to the account of our lives : all that can be said for it is this : that they make their wills , whereby they bequeath these charities , while they live , and therefore their bequeathing these charities is an act of their lives ; but they never intend they shall take place while they live , but after their death : and when they never intend their charity to be an act of their lives , i know not why god should account it so . these death-bed charities are too like a death-bed repentance ; men seem to give their estates to god and the poor , just as they part with their sins , when they can keep them no longer : this is much such a charity , as it is devotion to bequeath our dead bodies to the church or chancel , which we would never visit while we lived . but yet , as i have already intimated , this is the only way to prolong our lives , and to have an increasing account after death , to lay the foundations of some great good to the world , which shall out live us ; which like seed sown in the earth , shall spring up , and yeild a plentiful harvest , while we sleep sweetly in the dust ; such as , the religious education of our children and families , which may propagate itself in the world , and last many ▪ ages after we are dead ; the endowment of publick schools and hospitals ; in a word , whatever is for the relief of the necessities , or for the instruction and good government of mankind , when we are gone : to do good while we live , and to lay designs of great good to future generations , will both come into our account ; and this may extend the account of our lives , much beyond the short period of them in this world. 5. if death puts an end to our account , methinks a dying-bed is a little of the latest to begin it ; for this is to begin just where we must end . the account of our lives , is the account of the good or evil we have done while we lived : and what account can a dying man give of this , who has spent his whole life in sin and wickedness ? if he must be judged according to what he hath done in the body , how sad is his account , and how impossible is it for him to mend it now ? for when he is just a dying , it is too late for him to begin to live : if without holiness no man shall see god , how hopeless is his condition , who has lived a wicked and profligate life all his days , and is now past living , and therefore past living a holy life ? a man who is confined to a sick and dying bed , is uncapable of exercising the vertues of life ; his time of work is over , almost as perfectly over as if he were dead ; and therefore his account is finished , and he must expect his reward according to what he has already done . no , you 'll say , he may still repent of his sins , and a true penitent shall find mercy even at his last gasp . now i readily grant , that all true penitents shall be saved , whensoever they truly repent ; but it is hard to think , that any dying sorrows , or the dying vows and resolutions of sinners , shall be accepted by god for true repentance : the mistakes of this matter are very fatal , and therefore i shall briefly explain it . in expounding the promises of the gospel , we must take care to reconcile the gospel to itself , and not make one part of it contradict or overthrow another : now as the gospel promises pardon of sin to true repentance , so it makes holiness of life as necessary a condition of salvation , as true repentance : without holiness no man shall see god. god will render to every man according to his deeds : to them who by patient continuance in well doing , seek for glory , and honour , and immortality , eternal life : but unto them that are contentious , and do not obey the truth , but obey unrighteousness , indignation and wrath , tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man , that doth evil ; — but glory , honour , and peace , to every man that worketh good . be not deceived , god is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth , that shall he also reap : for he that soweth to his flesh , shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit , shall of the spirit reap life everlasting . the promises of forgiveness to repentance , are not more express than these texts are , which declare , that we shall be rewarded according to our works ; and we have as much reason to believe the one as the other ; and if we believe the gospel , we must believe them both ; and then repentance and a holy life are both necessary to salvation : and then the dying sorrows of sinners , who have lived very wicked lives , and are past mending them now , cannot be true saving repentance . if sorrow for sin , without a holy life , can carry men to heaven , then i 'm sure holiness is not necessary , then men may see god without holiness ; and then the promises of pardon to repentance ( if this dying sorrow be true repentance ) overthrows the necessity of a holy life ; the necessity of a holy life , contradicts the promises of pardon to such penitents , and then either one or both of them must be false . to state this matter plainly , and in a few words , we must distinguish between two kinds of repentance : 1. the baptismal repentance . 2. repentance upon a relapse , or falling into any known and wilful sin. i. by baptismal repentance i mean , that repentance which is necessary in adult persons , in order to their receiving christian baptism : this is the repentance which is most frequently mentioned in the new testament , and to which the promise of remission and forgiveness is annexed ; this our saviour preached , repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand , 4 matth. 17. this he gave authority to his apostles to preach , that repentance and remission of sins , should be preached in his name among all nations , 24 luke 47. now this repentance , both as to iews and heathens , who embraced the faith of christ , was a renouncing all their former sins , and false , superstitious , or idolatrous worship ; and this qualified them for baptism , in which they obtain'd the remission of all their sins in the name of christ ; and for this reason remission of sins is promised to repentance , because all such penitents are received to baptism , which is the washing of regeneration , which washes away all their sins , and puts them into a state of grace and favour with god ; as st. peter tells the iews , repent , and be baptized every one of you in the name of iesus christ , for the remission of sins , 2 acts 38. and much to the same purpose ananias told st. paul , arise , and be baptized , and wash away thy sins , calling on the name of the lord , 22 acts 16. and i know not any one . text in the new testament , wherein the remission of sins is absolutely promised to repentance , but what must be understood of this baptismal repentance ; and then repentance and remission of sin are inseparably annexed , because such penitents wash away all their sins in baptism ; and come pure and undefiled out of that mystical fountain , which is set open for sin and for uncleanness to wash in , and to be clean . now i grant , should any person who comes to baptism rightly qualified and disposed , with a sincere repentance and stedfast faith in christ , die soon after he is baptized , before he has time and opportunity to exercise any of the graces of the christian life , such a man shall go to heaven without actual holiness ; the remission of his sins in baptism , upon his repentance , will save him , though he have not time to bring forth the fruits of repentance in a holy life ; and this is the only case i know of , wherein a penitent can be saved without actual holiness , viz. by baptismal grace and regeneration . only the primitive church , and i think with very good reason , allowed the same to martyrdom , when it prevented the baptism of young converts , as we know under the pagan persecutions , young converts who made bold confessions of their faith in christ , were hurried away to martyrdom , before they had opportunity of being baptized ; but such men were baptized in their own bloud , and that supplied the want of water-baptism , which they could not have : now in this case also , if martyrdom be instead of baptism , as the primitive church thought it , then had any heathen been converted from a lewd and profligate life , to the faith of christ , and been immediately apprehended , and halled to martyrdom , before he could either be baptized , or give any other testimony of the reformation of his life and manners , but by dying a martyr , this man also would go to heaven without actual holiness of life , as a baptized penitent , who dies immediately after his baptism , shall . and this seems to me , to give the best account of the case of the penitent thief upon the cross , which one example has encouraged so many sinners to delay their repentance to the last minute , and has destroyed so many souls by such delays . his case seems to be this : it is probable , he had heard of christ , and the fame of his great miracles before , and that opinion some had of him , that he was that messias whom god had promised to send into the world ; for we can hardly think , that any man , who lived in those days , should never have heard of christ , whose fame went through the whole nation : but yet the course of life this thief lead , gave him no great curiosity to inquire into such matters , till he was apprehended for robbery , and condemned to die at the same time with christ ; this extraordinary accident made him more curiously inquire after him , and learn all the circumstances of his apprehension , and trial , and usage , and behaviour , and answers , especially when he saw him , and was to die with him ; and in short , he observed so much as convinced him , that he was the true messias , though he saw him nailed in so shameful a manner to the cross. now if this was his case , ( and we must suppose this , or something like it , unless we will say , that he was miraculously inspired upon the cross , with the faith of christ , without knowing any thing of him before , which has no foundation in the story , and is without any president or example ; i say , if this was his case , ) according to the principles laid down , we must grant , that if this thief had renounced his wicked course of life , and professed his faith in christ , and been baptized in his name , though he had immediately suffered upon the cross , he must have gone directly to heaven or paradise , as christ promised him he should , by vertue of the remission of all his sins in baptism : nay , we must grant farther , that if instead of baptism , he had at that time died a martyr for the profession of his faith in christ ; this would have supplied the place of baptism , and translated him to paradise : all then that we have to enquire is , whether his confession of christ upon the cross , might not as well supply the want of water-baptism , as martyrdom ; nay , whether it were not equivalent to martyrdom it self , and might not reasonably be accepted by our saviour as such . water-baptism he could not have , a martyr he could not die , for he died a malefactor , but he confessed his faith in christ , when he saw him hanging upon the cross , which was a more glorious act of faith , than to have died upon the cross for him : he confessed christ when his own disciples fled from him , and when peter himself denied him , and discovered his glory through the meanest disguise , that ever it was concealed under even in this world ; and why should not this pass for the faith and confession of martyrdom ? and then the thief upon the cross was saved as by baptism ; which is , no tthe putting away of the filth of the flesh , but the answer of a good conscience towards god , 1 pet. 3. 21. which description of baptism , gives us a plain reason , why martyrdom should supply the place of baptism ; and is as good a reason , why the thief 's confession of christ upon the cross , should do so . this example then of the thief upon the cross , is no reasonable encouragement to any baptized christian , to live a wicked life , and delay his repentance till the hour of death , in hopes of being saved at last , as he was ; for he was saved , as new repenting converts are , by baptism , not as baptized sinners hope to be , by a death-bed sorrow , and remorse of concience . and yet this is the only example , which with any shew of reason is alledged to prove the sufficiency of a death-bed repentance ; for the parable of the labourers , who were called to work in the vineyard at different hours , some early in the morning , others at the third , the sixth , the eleventh hour of the day , is nothing at all to this purpose : the several hours of the day in that parable , do not signifie the several hours of mens lives , but the different ages of the world ; and therefore those labourers , who are called into the vineyard about the eleventh hour of the world , that is , towards the end , or in the last age of the world , might be called at the beginning of their lives , and work on to the end of them : for the design of that parable is to shew , that the gentiles , who were called into the vine-yard , or received into the church of christ towards the conclusion of the world , should be admitted to equal priviledges and rewards with the iews , who were god's ancient people , and had been called into the vine-yard early in the morning , which occasioned their murmuring against the good man of the house ; as we know the iews murmured upon this account ; and nothing more prejudiced them against the gospel of our saviour , than that the gentiles were received into the church without circumcision . the same thing our saviour represents in the parable of the prodigal : the return of the prodigal to his father's house , is the conversion of the gentiles , who were the younger brother , and had been a great prodigal for many ages : the elder brother , who always lived at home with his father , was the iewish church ; but when this young prodigal was received by his father with feasting , and musick , and all the expressions of joy ; the elder brother grew jealous of it , and thought himself much injured by his father's fondness for the returning prodigal , and refused to come in , and bear his part in the solemnity ; as the iews rejected the gospel , because the gentiles were received into the church . and that this must be the true meaning of the parable of the labourers , appears from this , that those who were called into the vine-yard at the eleventh hour , received a reward equal to those who had born the heat and burden of the day ; which is agreeable enough , if we expound it of different ages of the church , for there is great reason , why the gentiles , though they came later into the vine-yard , should be made at least equal with the iews , who were god's ancient people : but if we expound this of entring into the vine-yard at different ages of our life , it seems very unequal , that those who begin a life of vertue just at the conclusion of their lives , should be equally rewarded with those who have spent their whole lives in the service of god ; that is , that these who do very little good , shall receive as great a reward as those who do a hundred times as much ; which is a direct contradiction to the scope and design of our saviour's parables about the pounds and talents , 25 matt. 14 , &c. 19 luke 12 ▪ &c. but suppose it were to be understood , not of the iewish and christian church , but of particular christians , yet their being called to work in the vine-yard , at what hour soever it was , though the eleventh hour , was their first admission into the christian church , their first conversion to the faith of christ , and from this time they laboured in the vine-yard , lived a holy and religious life ; and i readily grant , should a iew , a turk , or a pagan , be converted to christianity in the eleventh hour , in his declining age , and from that time live in obedience to the gospel of christ , there is no doubt but he shall be greatly rewarded : but what is this to any of us , who were born of christian parents , baptized in our very infancy , instructed in the christian religion from the very beginning , and have always professed the faith of christ , but lived like pagans and infidels ! we were not called into the vineyard at the eleventh hour , but early in the morning ; and though men who were called at the last hour , shall be rewarded for that hours work ; this does not prove , that men , who enter into the vineyard in the morning , and play or riot away their time till the eleventh hour , shall receive a day's wages for an hour's work . but suppose this too , yet it will not answer the case of a death-bed repentance ; such men delay not till the eleventh hour , but till night comes , when they can do no work at all ; whereas those who came last into the vineyard , wrought an hour ; now that god in infinite grace and goodness will reward men for one hour's work , does not prove , that he will reward those who do no work , but spend their whole day idlely or wickedly , and only ask his pardon for not working at night . ii. but what a fatal cheat these men put upon themselves , will better appear , if we consider the second kind of repentance , which is repentance after baptism , when men have relapsed into the commission of new sins , after they have washed away all their old sins in the laver of regeneration ; which is the only notion of repentance concerned in this question ; for such sinners , when they come to die , are to repent of a whole life spent in wickedness , after baptism ; and this extreamly alters the case , for though faith and repentance , ( as that repentance signifies a sorrow for past sins , and the purposes and resolutions of a new life ) be the only conditions of baptismal remission and justification ; yet when we are baptized , we then covenant with god for an actual obedience and holiness of life ; to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts , and to live soberly , righteously , and godly in this present world : and therefore meer repentance , or a sorrow for sin , with the most solemn resolutions and vows of a new life ( which is all the repentance dying men can have ) cannot according to the terms of the gospel be accepted instead of the obedience and holiness of our lives . had the gospel said , you shall either abstain from all sin , and do good while you live , or repent of all your sins , when you die ; this had been a sufficient encouragement for a death-bed repentance ; but when holiness of life is made the necessary condition of seeing god , and the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men ; when we are so expresly forewarned , that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of god : be not deceived , neither fornicators , nor idolaters , nor aduliers , nor effeminate , nor abusers of themselves with mankind , nor thieves , nor covetuous , nor drunkards , nor extortioners , shall inherit the kingdom of god : when our saviour expresly tells us , that it is only the doers of the word are blessed ; that not every one that saith lord , lord , shall enter into the kingdom of heaven , but he that doth the will of my father , which is in heaven ; that as for all others , what pretences soever they make , he will profess to them , i never knew you , depart from me ye that work iniquity : i say , whoever after such express declarations as these , can perswade himself , that sorrow for sin , and some good resolutions and fair promises upon a death-bed , shall carry him to heaven , though he has done no good in his life , and has been guilty of all , or many of those sins which the gospel has threatned with damnation , makes void the whole gospel of our saviour . but you 'll say , is there no place then for repentance under the gospel ? no remission of sins committed after baptism ? god forbid ! for who then could be saved ? our saviour has taught us to pray every day , forgive us our trespasses , as we forgive them , that trespass against us ; and has taught us to forgive our brother , though he offend against us seventy times seven , in imitation of god's goodness in forgiving us ; and if we must forgive so often , surely god will forgive more than once . but then repentance after baptism requires not only a sorrow for sin , and some good purposes and resolutions of a new life for the future , but the actual forsaking of sin , and amendment of our lives : in baptism god justifies the ungodly , 4 rom. 5 ; that is , how wicked soever men have been , whenever they repent of their sins , renounce their former wicked practices , and believe in christ , and enter into covenant with him by baptism ; all their former sins are immediately forgiven and washed away , without expecting the actual reformation of their lives : this was plainly the case both of iewish and heathen converts , wh●●●pon the profession of faith in christ , and renouncing their former wicked lives , whatever they had been , were immediately received to baptism ; as st. peter exhorted the iews , repent , and be baptized every one of you in the name of iesus christ , for the remission of sins , and ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost . and the same day there were three thousand baptized : this is gospel-grace , which is the purchase of christ's blood , that the greatest sinners , upon their repentance and faith in christ , are received to mercy , and wash away all their sins in baptism ; but when they are in covenant , they shall then be judged according to the terms and conditions of that covenant , which requires the practice of an universal righteousness ; such persons must not expect , as st paul reasons , that if they continue still in sin , grace will abound ; the very covenant of grace , which we enter into at baptism , confutes all such ungodly hopes ; for how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein : know ye not , that so many of us as were baptized into iesus christ , were baptized into his death ; therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death , that like as christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father , so we also should walk in newness of life , 6 rom. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. this is the difference st. paul makes between the grace of the gospel in receiving the greatest sinners to baptism , and justifying them by the blood of christ ; and what the gospel requires of baptized christians to continue in this justified state : in the first case nothing is required but faith and repentance , upon which account we are so frequently said to be justified by faith , not by the deeds of the law ; to be justified freely by his grace , through the redemption that is in christ iesus : to be saved by grace thro' faith ; not of works least any man should boast . and i believe upon inquiry it will be found , that justification by faith always relates to this baptismal justification , when by baptism we are received into covenant with god , and into a justified state , only for the sake of christ , and through faith in his blood ; which one thing well considered , would put an end to most of the disputes about justification , and about faith and works , which i cannot explain now ; but shall only observe , that the constant opposition between justification by the faith of christ , and justification by circumcision , and the works of the law , to the observation of which they were obliged by circumcision , is a manifest proof , that justification by faith , is our justification by the faith of christ in baptism , which is our admission into the christian church , makes us the members of christ , and the children of god , which is a state of grace and justification ; as circumcision formerly made them god's peculiar people in covenant with him , which is the justification of circumcision : and justification by faith , and justification by circumcision , would not be duly opposed , if they did not relate to the same kind of justification , that is , that justification which is the immediate effect of our being in covenant with god. but now , when we are justified by a general repentance and faith in christ at baptism , we also vow a conformity to the death of christ , by dying to sin , and walking in newness of life ; that is , we vow an universal obedience to all the laws of righteousness , which the gospel requires of us , as circumcision made them debtors to the whole law ; which is the reason why the works of the law , and that evangelical righteousness , which the faith of christ requires of us , are so often opposed in this dispute , the one the righteousness of the law , or of works , the other the righteousness of faith ; and therefore as circumcision could not justifie those who transgressed the law , no more will faith justifie those who disobey the gospel ; but the righteousness of the law must be fulfilled in us , who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit . now the necessary consequence of this is , that meer sorrow for sin , and the meer vows and resolutions of obedience , without actual holiness and obedience of life , according to the terms and conditions of the gospel , will not save a baptized christian ; for meer sorrow for sin , and vows of obedience , will be accepted only in baptism ; but when we are baptized we must put our vows in execution , or we fall from our baptismal grace and justification : and therefore when we relapse into sin after baptism , no repentance will be accepted but that which actually reforms our lives ; for baptismal grace is not ordinarily repeated , no more than we can repeat our baptism . this i take to be the true meaning of that very difficult place , 6 heb. 4 , 5 , 6. for it is impossible for those who were once enlightned , and have tasted of the heavenly gift , and were made partakers of the holy ghost , and have tasted the good word of god , and the powers of the world to come ; if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance , seeing they crucify to themselves the son of god afresh , and put him to open shame . this severe passage occasioned some dispute about the canonical authority of this epistle ; for it was thought , that the apostle here excluded all men from the benefit of repentance , who fell into sin again after baptism : but it is certain this is not the apostle's meaning , nor do the words import any such doctrine ; but his meaning is , either that men who have been baptized , and thoroughly instructed in the christian religion , may sin themselves into an impossibility of repentance , ( which is the most ordinary interpretation of the words , and which sence i gave before of them , and is in part the true sence , though i think not the whole ) or that men after baptism may fall into such a state , as nothing can deliver them out of , but baptismal grace and regeneration ; and since baptism cannot be repeated , the state of such men is hopeless and desperate , according to the terms of the gospel , however god may deal with them by a soveraign and prerogative grace ; for tho' we can expect and rely on no other grace , but what god has promised in his gospel , yet god does not absolutely confine himself , nor must we confine his grace : and this he tells us is the case of all apostates from the christian faith : the understanding of this is necessary to my present purpose , and therefore i shall briefly explain it : 1. that the apostle here speaks of persons who were baptized , is plain from the words , those who were once enlightned , the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are those who have been once baptized ; for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the ancient writers signifies baptism ; as iustin martyr himself tells us in his second apology , that baptism is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or illumination , because their minds are enlightned by it ; and being once enlightned , plainly refers it to baptism , which can be administred but once ; and what follows proves this to be the meaning of it , and have tasted of the heavenly gift ; that is , saith st. chrysostom , received remission of sins in baptism ; and were made partakers of the holy ghost , the holy spirit being given at baptism ; and have tasted of the good word of god , been instructed in the doctrines of the gospel , which in the apostolick age immediately followed baptism ; for men were then admitted to baptism immediately upon their profession of repentance and faith in christ , and were afterwards instructed in the christian religion ; and the powers of the world to come ; that is , those miraculous gifts and powers which were bestowed on the apostles for a confirmation of the faith of christ , and which most christians did in some degree or other partake of in baptism . this is a plain description of baptism , with the effects and consequents of it . 2. that he speaks of such as after baptism totally apostatize from the faith of christ , is as plain ; for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , those who fall away ; from what ? from their christian profession , which they made at their baptism ; that is , who renounce the faith of christ , and turn iews or heathens again ; for these men crucify to themselves the son of god afresh , and put him to open shame : that is , they declare him to be an impostor , as the iews did when they crucified him , which is as much crucifying him again , and exposing him to publick shame and infamy , as they can possibly do : but now this description can relate only to total apostates ; for whatever sins professed christians are guilty of , though thereby they reproach their lord and saviour , yet they do not declare him to be an impostor , who justly suffered on the cross , and whom they would condemn to the same ignominious death again , if they could ; nay , those who are conquered by some powerful and surprizing fears to deny christ , as peter did , or to offer sacrifice to idols , as many christians did under the heathen persecutions , and recover themselves again by repentance , are not included in this severe sentence ; for such men do really believe in christ still , do not heartily renounce their baptismal faith , and therefore do not lose their baptism , though in word and deed at present they deny christ ; the case of such men is very dangerous , for our saviour tells us , whosoever shall deny me before men , him will i also deny before my father which is in heaven , 10 mat. 33. those who through fear of men persist in such a denial , shall not be saved by a secret and dissembled faith ; for we must not only believe in christ , but we must openly profess our faith in him : but such men may be recovered by repentance , and by a bold confession of christ in new dangers and temptations ; these are lapsed christians , but not apostates , as iulian was , who hated the name and religion of christ ; and therefore they were admitted to repentance in the christian church , as not having lost their baptismal faith , though through fear they denied it . 3. of these total apostates , the apostle tells us , that it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as st. chrysostom renders it , to make them new creatures again by baptismal repentance ; for so he tells us , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that to be renewed is to be made new , which can be done only by baptism , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; baptism only can make us new creatures . the danger then of these mens case , as the apostle represents it , is this : that they having totally apostatized from the faith of christ , together with their faith have lost their baptism , and are become iews and pagans again ; now iews and pagans can never be made christians without baptism , wherein they are regenerated and new made ; and by the same reason these apostatized christians , who are become iews and pagans , can never become christians again , unless they be rebaptized ; and that they cannot be , because there is but one baptism in the christian church : and therefore , though we could suppose , that they should believe again , and repent of their sins , they could never recover a legal right and title to mercy and the promises of the gospel-covenant ; faith and repentance will not justifie a heathen without baptism , for he that believes and is baptized shall be saved , are the express terms of the covenant ; and therefore the condition of apostates is very hopeless , who are relapsed into such a state , that nothing but baptismal grace and regeneration , nothing but being new made , and new born , can save them ; and that they cannot have , for they must not be baptized again . a christian must be but once born , no more than a man is ; which possibly is the reason why st. peter tells us of such apostates , that their later end is worse with them than their beginning , 2 pet. 2. 20. for iews and heathens , how wicked soever they were , might wash away all their sins in baptism ; but such apostates are like a sow that was washed , that returns again to her wallowing in the mire : when they had washed away their sins and infidelity in baptism , they return to their forsaken paganism again , and lose the effect of their first washing , and there is no second baptismal washing to be had . the apostle does not say , that it is impossible these men should be saved , but it is impossible they should be regenerated again by baptism , which is the only gospel-state of salvation : if any such men be saved , they must be saved , as i observed before , by uncovenanted grace and mercy ; they are in the state of unbaptized iews and heathens , not of christians , who have a covenant-right to god's promises : and i would desire the baptized atheists and infidels of our age to consider of this , whose case is so very like this , if it be not the same , that it should make them afraid of setting up for wits , at such infinite peril of their souls . to apply this then to our present purpose : what i have now discoursed plainly shews , that a baptized christian must not always expect to be saved by such grace , as saves and justifies in baptism ; baptismal grace is inseparably annexed to baptism , and can be no more repeated than baptism . this makes the case of apostates so desparate , that infidelity can be washed away only in baptism , and those who apostatize after baptism can never be rebaptized again ; and therefore can never have any covenant-title to pardon and forgiveness . and this proportionably holds good in our present case ; the grace of baptism washes away all the sins of our past lives , how many , how great soever they have been , only upon our profession of our faith in christ , and repentance of all our sins , and vows of obedience to the laws of christ for the future ; but whoever after baptism lives a wicked and profligate life , and hopes to be saved at last only by faith in christ , and sorrow for his sins , and vows of living better , when he is just a dying , will be miserably mistaken ; for this is onely the grace of baptism , which can never be repeated , not the rule and measure whereby god will judge baptized christians , who have had time and opportunity of exercising those christian graces which they vowed at their baptism . a man who retains the faith of christ , though he lives wickedly , does not forfeit his baptism , but shall be forgiven whenever he repents , and forsakes his sins , and lives a holy life ; but if he delays this so long , that he has no time to amend his life , that he can do nothing , but be sorry for his sins , and vow a new life , i cannot promise him , that this shall be accepted at the hour of death , because the gospel requires a holy life , not meerly a death-bed sorrow and remorse for sin : sorrow for sin , and vows of a new life , will be accepted at baptism , as the beginnings of a new life , but that is no reason why they should be accepted at our death , when they are only the forrowful conclusion of a wicked life : god will receive us to grace and mercy at baptism upon our solemn vows of living to him ; but he has no where promised to accept of our dying vows , instead of holiness and obedience , as a recompence for a whole life spent in wickedness and folly . it is very seldom that such dying sorrows , or dying vows are sincere and hearty , but were they never so sincere , ( as sometimes though very rarely we see that men who recover from a dangerous sickness keep the vows and promises they then made , and that is a good proof , that they were very sincere in making them ) yet i do not know any one promise in scripture to a dying repentance ; the gospel requires actual holiness of life ; and when god cuts off such men in their sins , without allowing them any time to reform their lives , it is very suspicious , that he rejects their sorrows and their vows ; as wisdom threatens , 1 prov. 24 , &c. because i have called and ye refused , i have stretched out my hand , and no man regarded — i also will laugh at your calamity , and mock when your fear cometh : — then shall they call upon me , but i will not answer ; they shall seek me early , but they shall not find me . i will not pre-judge the final state of these men , but if god accept of such a death-bed repentance , which cannot produce the actual fruits , of righteousness , it is more than he has promised , and more than he has given us authority to preach : and we should consider , what infinite hazard we run by such delays of repentance , that we cannot be saved by the express terms of the gospel , but if we be saved , we must be saved by an unpromised and uncovenanted grace and mercy ; which , how good soever god be , we have no reason to rely on . this , i know , will be thought very severe , but i cannot help it : it may terrify dying sinners , but there is less danger in that , than in nursing men up in the deluding hopes of a death-bed repentance , which renders all the arguments and motives to a holy life ineffectual , and i fear , eternally destroys as many as trust in it . if you ask , why faith and repentance , without the actual obedience of our lives , should not as well be accepted by god on our death-bed , as it is at our baptism ? i shall ask another very plain question , why a husbandman who hires labourers into his vineyard in the morning , receives them into his service , protection , and pay , only upon their promise to be faithful and diligent in his work , before they have done any thing ; i say , when these men have loitered away the day without working , why should not he reward them at night , because they then also profess themselves very sorry , that they did not work , and make a great many promises and vows , that if they were to begin the day again , they would ? a promise of faithfulness and diligence was reason enough why he should take them into his service , but their sorrow for not working , and their resolutions of working , when the time of working is past , is no reason why they should be rewarded , or escape the punishment of loiterers . this is the very case here ; we are saved by the mercies of god , and the merits of christ , which we partake of by our union to him ; this union is made in baptism , which incorporates us into the body of christ , and from the very first moment of our union , we are in a state of grace and justification ; our sins are washed away in his blood , as water purges all bodily defilements , and the spirit of christ dwells in us to renew and sanctify us : now all that is required by god , or that seems in the nature of the thing necessary to this union , is a general repentance of all our sins , renouncing our former wicked course of life , professing our faith in christ , as the son of god , and saviour of the world , and vowing obedience to his laws , for this qualifies us to be his disciples , and to be received into his service , and into the communion of his body and church ; and therefore this faith and repentance justifies in baptism , because those who thus repent of their sins , and believe in christ , are received to baptism , and in baptism have all their sins forgiven , and are put into a state of grace and favour with god. but now though faith and repentance , and the vows of obedience , are sufficient to make us the disciples of christ , and to put us into a state of justification , yet they are not sufficient to save those who are the disciples of christ , without actual holiness and obedience of life ; for to be a disciple of christ , does not signifie meerly to believe in him , and to vow obedience to him , but to obey him : it is reasonable ●nough , that upon our vows of obedience , we should be received into his service , but it is not reasonable that we should be rewarded without performing our vows ; for it is as ridiculous a thing to think , that our repeated sorows for not obeying , and our repeated and fruitless resolutions of obeying our saviour , should pass for obedience , as that that son should be thought to do his father's will , who said , i go sir , but went not ; especially when after our vow of baptism we live a very ungodly life , and never think it time to repent , and to renew our vows again till we come to die : if we consider the difference between what is necessary to make us the disciples of christ , and what is required of us when we are disciples , we shall see a plain reason why faith and repentance , as that signifies sorrow for sin , and vows of obedience , will justifie us in baptism , but will not be accepted upon a death-bed , after a life spent in wickedness ; for when a baptized christian comes to die , he is not then to be made a disciple of christ , and to be baptized again , but to give an account of his life , since he has been christ's disciple , and meer faith in christ , sorrow for sin , and vows of obedience , without actual holiness of life , though with the sacrament of baptism it will make a disciple , yet it will not pass in a disciple's account , especially when the sum total of his life , is nothing but sin , and sorrow , and fruitless vows , for this is not that holiness of life , which christ requires of his disciples . the ancient discipline of the church was a plain proof of this , that they thought a great deal more necessary for a baptized christian , than was required to qualifie men for baptism : in the apostles days , they baptized both iews and heathens immediately upon their profession of faith in christ , and renouncing their former wicked lives ; but in case they fell into any gross and scandalous sin after baptism , they were cast out of the communion of the church , and the profession of sorrow and repentance for their sins , and the most solemn vows of a new life , was not thought sufficient to restore them to the peace of the church , but they were kept under the severities of repentance , till they had made satisfaction for the scandal they had given to the church , and given sufficient testimonies of the actual reformation of their lives ; and in the ages succeeding the apostles , this state of penitence in some cases was continued many years , in other cases such sinners were never reconciled till the hour of death : now if they had thought , as many among us now do , that sorrow for sin , and the vows of obedience do immediately obtain our pardon from god , for sins committed after baptism , it is not imaginable , why they should have imposed such a long and severe discipline on penitents : if they believed god had forgiven them , why should not the church forgive them , and receive them them to her communion again , upon their promises of amendment , without such a long trial of their reformation ? but it is evident , they thought sins after baptism not forgiven without actual reformation , and therefore would not receive them to communion again without a tried and visible reformation of their lives . we know what disputes there were about this matter in the primitive church ; the ancient discipline allowed but of one repentance after baptism ; and some would not allow of that in the case of adultery , murder , and idolatry , but denied the authority of the church to receive such sinners to communion again : this was the pretence of novatus's schism ; and tertullian , after he turn'd montanist , said many bitter things against the catholicks upon this argument , which seemed to question the validity of repentance it self after baptism , though it did reform mens lives : but though this was a great deal too much , and did both lessen the grace of the gospel , and the authority which christ had given to his church , yet it is evident that all this time , they were very far from thinking , that some dying sorrows , or dying vows after a wicked life , would carry men to heaven : and the judgment of those first and purest ages of the church , ought at least to make men afraid of relying on such a death-bed repentance , as they thought very ineffectual to save sinners . chap. iv. concerning the fear of death , and the remedies against it . death is commonly and very truly called the king of terrors , as being the most formidable thing to humane nature ; the love of life , and the natural principle of self-preservation , begets in all men a natural aversion against death , and this is the natural fear of dying ; this is very much encreased by a great fondness and passion for this world , which makes such men , especially while they are happy and prosperous , very unwilling to leave it ; and this is still encreased by a sence of guilt , and the fear of punishment in the next world : all these are of a distinct nature , and require sutable remedies , and therefore i shall distinctly consider them : i. the natural fear of death results from self-preservation , and the love of our own being ; for light is sweet , and a pleasant thing it is , for the eyes to behold the sun , 11 eccles. 7. all men love life , and the necessary consequence of that is to fear death ; though this is rather a natural instinct , than the effect of reason and discourse . there are great and wise reasons why god should imprint this aversion to death on humane nature , because it obliges us to take care of ourselves , and to avoid every thing which will destroy or shorten our lives ; this in many cases is a great principle of vertue , as it preserves us from all fatal and destructive vices ; it is a great instrument of government , and makes men afraid of committing such villanies , as the laws of their country have made capital ; and therefore since the natural fear of death is of such great advantage to us , we must be contented with it , though it makes the thoughts of dying a little uneasie ; especially if we consider , that when this natural fear of death is not encreased by other causes , ( of which more presently ) it may be conquered or allayed by reason and wise consideration : for this is not so strong an aversion , but it may be conquered ; the miseries and calamities of this life very often reconcile men to death , and make them passionately desire it : wherefore is light given to him that is in misery , and life to the bitter in soul ? which long for death , but it cometh not , and digg for it more then for hid treasures : which rejoyce exceedingly , and are glad when they can find the grave , 3 job 20 , 21 , 22. my soul chuseth strangling , and death rather than life : i loath it , i would not live alway ; let me alone , for my days are vanity , 7 job 15 , 16. and if the sence of present sufferings can conquer the fears of death , there is no doubt but the hope of immortal life may do it also : for the fear of death is not an original and primitive passion , but results from the love of ourselves , from the love of life , and our own being ; and therefore when we can separate the fear of death from self-love , it is easily conquered : when men are sensible , that life is no kindness to them , but only serves to prolong their misery , they are so far from being afraid of death , that they court it ; and were they as thoroughly convinc'd , that when they die , death will translate them to a more happy life , it would be as easie a thing to put off these bodies , as to change their cloaths , or to leave an old and ruinous house for a more beautiful and convenient habitation . if we set aside the natural aversion , and inquire into the reasons of this natural fear of death , we can think of but these two ; either men are afraid , that when they die they shall cease to be , or at least they know not what they shall be , and are unwilling to exchange this present life , which they like very well , for they know not what . but now both these reasons of fear are taken away by the revelation of the gospel , which has brought life and immortality to light ; and when the reasons of our fear are gone , such an unaccountable aversion and reluctancy to death , signifies little more than to make us patient of living , rather than unwilling to die ; for a man who has such a new glorious world , such a happy immortal life in his view , could not very contentedly delay his removal thither , were not death in the way , which he naturally startles at , and draws back from , though his reason sees nothing frightful or terrible in it . the plain and short account then of this matter is this : we must not expect wholly to conquer our natural aversion to death ; st. paul himself did not desire to be uncloathed , but cloathed upon , that mortality might be swallowed up of life , 2 cor. 3 , 4. were there not some remaining aversions to death mixed with our hopes and desires of immortality , martyrdom itself , excepting the patient enduring the shame and the torments of it , would be no vertue ; but though this natural aversion to death cannot be wholly conquered , it may be extreamly lessened , and brought next to nothing , by the certain belief and expectation of a glorious immortality ; and therefore the only way to arm ourselves against these natural fears of dying , is to confirm our selves in this belief , that death does not put an end to us , that our souls shall survive in a state of bliss and happiness , when our bodies shall rot in their graves , and that these mortal bodies themselves shall at the sound of the last trump rise again out of the dust immortal and glorious . a man who believes and expects this , can have no reason to be afraid of death ; nay he has great reason not to fear death , and that will reconcile him to the thoughts of it , though he trembles a little under the weaknesses and aversions of nature . ii. besides the natural aversions to death , most men have contracted a great fondness and passion for this world , and that makes them so unwilling to leave it , whatever glorious things they hear of another world , they see what is to be had in this , and they like it so well , that they do not expect to mend themselves , but if they were at their choice , would stay where they are : and this is a double death to them to be snatched away from their admired enjoyments , and to leave whatever they love and delight in behind them : and there is no remedy , that i know of , for these men to cure their fears of death , but only to rectifie their mistaken opinions of things , to open their eyes to see the vanity of this world , and the brighter and more dazling glories of the next . there are different degrees of this , and therefore this remedy must be differently applied : some men are wholly sunk into flesh and sence , and have no tast at all of rational and manly pleasures , much less of those which are purely intellectual and divine : they are slaves to their lusts , lay no restraints on their bruitish appetites , the world is their god , and they dote on the riches , and pleasures , and honours of it , as the only real and substantial goods : now these men have great reason to be afraid of death ; for when they go out of this world , they will find nothing that belongs to this world in the next ; and thus their happiness and their lives must end together : it is fitting they should fear death , for if the fear of death will not cure their fondness for this world , nothing else can ; you must not expect to perswade them , that the next world is a happier place than this ; but the best way is to set before them the terrors of the next world ; those lakes of fire and brimstone prepared for the devil and his angels ; to ask them our saviour's question , what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world , and to lose his own soul : or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? these men ought to fear on , till the fear of death cures their vicious passion and fondness for this world , and then the fear of death will by degrees cure itself . others there are , who have a true reverence for god , and govern their inclinations and passions to the things of this world with regard to his laws ; they will not raise an estate by injustice , oppression , or perjury ; they will not transgress the rules of sobriety and modesty in the use of sensual pleasures ; they will not purchase the honours and preferments of this world at the price of their souls ; but yet they love this world very well , and are extreamly delighted in the enjoyments of it ; they have a plentiful fortune , or a thriving trade , or the favour of their prince ; they live at ease , and think this world a very pleasant place , and are ready to cry , it is good for us to be here : now it cannot be avoided , but that in proportion to mens love of this world , though it be not an immoral and irregular passion , they will be more afraid , and more unwilling to leave it : when we are in the full enjoyment of an earthly felicity , it is difficult for very good men to have such a strong and vigorous sence of the next world , as to make them willing and contented to leave this : they desire to go to heaven , but they are not over-hasty in their desires ; they can be better pleased , if god sees fit , to stay here a little longer , and when they find themselves a going , are apt to cast back their eyes upon this world , as those who are loth to part . this makes it so necessary for god to exercise even good men with afflictions and sufferings , to wean them from this world , which is a scene of misery , and to raise their hearts to heaven , where true and unmixt happiness dwells . the only way then to cure this fear of death , is to mortifie all remains of love and affection for this world ; to withdraw ourselves as much as may be from the conversation of it , to use it very sparingly , and with great indifferency , to supply the wants of nature , rather than to enjoy the pleasures of it ; to have our conversation in heaven , to meditate on the glories of that blessed place , to live in this world upon the hopes of unseen things ; to accustom our selves to the work and to the pleasures of heaven , to praise and adore the great maker and redeemer of the world , to mingle ourselves with the heavenly quire , and possess our very fancies and imaginations with the glory and happiness of seeing god and the blessed jesus , of dwelling in his immediate presence , of conversing with saints and angels ; this is to live like strangers in this world , and like citizens of heaven ; and then it will be as easie to us to leave this world for heaven , as it is for a traveller to leave a foreign country to return home . this is the height and perfection of christian vertue ; it is our mortifying the flesh with its affections and lusts , it is our dying to this world , and living to god ; and when we are dead to this world , the fear of dying and leaving this world is over ; for what should a man do in this world , who is dead to it ? when we are alive to god , nothing can be so desirable as to go to him ; for here we live to god only by faith and hope , but that is the proper place for this divine life , where god dwells : so that in short , a life of faith , as it is our victory over this world , so it is our victory over death too ; it disarms it of all its fears and terrors , it raises our hearts so much above this world , that we are very well pleased to get rid of these bodies , which keep us here , and to leave them in the grave in hopes of a blessed resurrection . iii. the most tormenting fears of death are owing to a sence of guilt , which indeed are rather a fear of judgement than of death , or a fear of death as it sends us to judgment ; and here we must distinguish between three sorts of men , whose case is very different : 1. those who are very good men , who have made it the care of their lives to please god , and to save their souls . 2. those who have lived very ungodly lives , and are now awakened by the approaches of death , to see an angry and provoked judge , an injured saviour , a righteous tribunal , and think they hear that fatal doom and sentence pronounced on them by their own consciences , go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels . 3. those who are doubtful of their own condition , and are apt to fear the worst . 1. as for the first sort of these men , who have sincerely endeavour'd to please god , and have the testimony of their consciences , that in simplicity and godly sincerity they have had their conversation in this world , christ has delivered them from all their fears by his death upon the cross , and his intercession for them at the right hand of god : the best men dare not stand the trial of strict and impartial justice ; they are conscious to themselves of so many sins , or such great imperfections and defects , that their onely hope is in the mercy of god , thro' the merits and mediation of christ ; and in this hope they can triumph over death , as st. paul does ; o death ! where is thy sting ? o grave ! where is thy victory ? the sting of death is sin , and the strength of sin is the law ; but thanks be to god , who hath given us the victory by our lord iesus christ ; who destroyed sin , and plucked out the sting of death by his death upon the cross , who triumphed over death by his resurrection from the dead , and is invested with power to raise all his true disciples from the dead ; is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto god by him , seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them . this is the happy state of good men , when they come to die , they can look into the other world without terrour , where they see , not a court of justice , but , a throne of grace ; where they see a father , not a judge ; a saviour who died for them , and has redeemed them with his own blood : what a blessed calm and serenity possesses their souls ! nay , what joy and triumph transports them ! how do their souls magnifie the lord , and their spirits rejoyce in god their saviour ! when they see him ready to pronounce them blessed , and to set the crown upon their heads ? who would not die the death of the righteous , and desire that his latter end may be like his ! what wise man would not live the life of the righteous , that his latter end may be like his ; that in the agonies of death , and in the very jaws of the grave , no disturbed thoughts may discompose him ; no guilty fears distract him , but he may go out of the world with all the joyful presages of eternal rest and peace . 2. as for wicked men , who never concerned themselves with the thoughts of god and another world , while they were in health , many times a dangerous sickness , which gives them a nearer view of death and judgment , awakens their consciences , and overwhelms them with the unsupportable terrors of future vengeance ; then they begin to lament their ill-spent lives , to tremble before that just and righteous judge , whom they have provoked by repeated villanies ; whose being they formerly denied , or whose power and justice they desied ; now they cry passionately to christ for mercy , and will needs have him to be their saviour , though they would not own him for their lord , nor submit to his laws and government ; now these men are mighty earnest for comfort , the minister , who was the subject of their drollery before , is sent for in great hast , and it is expected from him , that he should lull their consciences asleep , and send them quietly into another world , to receive their doom there . now it is very fitting to let these men know , while they are well , that there is no comfort to be had , when they come to die : for there is no peace saith my god to the wicked ; and no man who knows them , can speak peace to them , without making a new gospel , or corrupting the old one . what i have already discourst concerning a death-bed repentance , is a plain proof of this ; but though we set aside all that , and proceed upon the common principle , that a true penitent , whenever he sincerely repents , thô it be upon his death-bed , after a long life of wickedness , shall be pardoned and rewarded by god ; yet upon these principles it is impossible that a wicked man , when he comes to die , should have any comfort without a vain and enthusiastick presumption , and the reason is very plain , because it is impossible , either for himself or others to judge , whether his repentance be true and sincere ; such a repentance as , if he were to live longer , would reform his life , and bring forth the fruits of an universal righteousness ; and it is agreed on all hands , that no other repentance but this can be accepted by god. now it is absolutely impossible , without a revelation , for any man to know this , who begins his repentance upon a death-bed : he may feel indeed the bitter pangs and agonies of sorrow , and may be sincerely and heartily sorry that he has sinned : and this every dying sinner is , who is sorrowful , he is sincerely sorrowful , that is , he does not counterfeit a sorrow , but really feels it : and i know nothing else to make sorrow sincere , but that it is real and not counterfeited ; and therefore to be sorrowful , and to be sincerely sorrowful , is the same thing ; and will any man say , that whoever is sorry for his sins when he comes to die , shall be saved ? then no sinner can be damned , who does not die an atheist , or stupid and distracted , or suddenly , without any warning ; for it is impossible for a sinner , who is in his wits , and believes that wicked men shall be eternally punished in the next world , not to feel an amazing remorse and sorrow of mind , when he sees himself just a falling into hell. a dying sorrow then , though it may be sharp and severe , almost to the degree of amazement and distraction ( and it is hard , if such a sorrow be not real and sincere ) is not saving repentance ; and therefore though sinners may feel themselves very heartily sorrowful , this does not prove them to be true penitents ; and yet this is the only evidence they can have of their repentance , and the only thing they rely on , that they are sure their sorrow is very sincere ; and i doubt not but it is , for all true sorrow is sincere ; but sinners who are very sorry for their sins may be damned . since then sorrow for sin is the onely evidence such men can have of the sincerity of their repentance , let us consider , whether the meer dying sorrows of sinners be any evidence at all of this , or what kind of evidence it is : true repentance does at least include a change of mind , a turning from our sins to god , a deep sence of the evil of sin , and an abhorrance of ourselves for it , a great reverence for god and for his laws , as well as a dread of his judgements , and deliberate and serious resolutions of changing our course of life , and for the time to come , of living to god , and to the purposes of his glory , never to return to our old sins again , but diligently to exercise ourselves in all the duties and offices of a christian life . now suppose a man , who has lived wickedly all his life , should be thus changed in a moment , and prove such a true penitent , as i have now described , and that god , who knows the hearts of men , sees that his promises and vows are sincere , and that if he were to live any longer , he would be a good man , and therefore will pardon and reward him , not according to what he has done , but according to what he foresees he would have done , had he lived any longer , ( which is to judge men not according to their works , but according to his own fore-knowledge , which the scripture never makes the rule of future judgment ; ) i say , suppose such men may be true penitents , and pardoned by god , who knows that they are so ? yet they can never have the comfort of it before they die , because it is impossible for them to know it . when men see themselves a dying , they are very sorrowful for their sins so they say , but the most likely account of it is , that they are very sorry they are a going to hell , as a malefactor is very sorrowful , when he is going to the gibbet : this may be the whole of his sorrow , and it is impossible to prove that there should be any thing more in it , and extreamly improbable that there is ; for what likelihood is there , that men who yesterday were very much in love with their sins , and as little thought of falling out with them , as they did of their dying day , should to day , as soon as ever they are arrested with a threatning sickness , be penitents in good earnest , and abhor their sins in a minute , and be quite other men upon the view of the other world : this is the case of all sinners , when they come to die , which makes it very suspicious , that there is nothing extraordinary in it , no miraculous power of the divine spirit to change their hearts in a moment , and make them new men , but only the common effect of a great fear , which makes men sorry for their sins , when they come to suffer for them . now if such dying sinners can never be sure that their sorrow for sin is any thing more than a great fright , they can be sure of nothing else ; for such a sorrow as this , will counterfeit all the other acts of repentance : men who are terribly afraid of punishment , are not only sorry for their sins , but this very sorrow makes them ashamed of them , gives them a great indignation against themselves for them , makes them flatter their judge , and vow and promise reformation , if they could escape this one time ; and this is so very common and familiar , that in all other cases no man regards it ; a judge , a father , or a master , will not spare upon such promises as these ; and why should this be thought any thing more in a dying sinner , than in other malefactors ? why should that be thought a sufficient reason for god to pardon , which we ourselves think no reason , in all other cases ? all this may be no more than the fear of hell ; and i doubt the meer fear of hell , when men are a dying , tho' it may imitate all the scenes of repentance , will not keep them out of hell. it is so very probable , that this is the whole of a death-bed repentance , that no such dying sinner can have any reasonable hope , that he does truly repent ; and therefore , unless he flatters himself , when he dies with a false and counterfeit repentance , as he did , while he lived , with the hopes of repenting before he died , he must expire in all the terrors and agonies of guilty fears . this is so miserable a condition , that tho' we should suppose such a sinner may be a true penitent , and go to heaven at last , yet no wise man would endure these dying agonies for all the false and deceitful pleasures of sin : and yet there is no possible way of avoiding this , but by such a timely repentance , while we are well , and death at a distance , as may bring forth the actual fruits of holiness , that when we come to die , we may have some better evidence of the sincerity of our repentance , than meer dying sorrows . 3. let us now consider the case of those who are doubtful , what their condition is ; who are neither so good , as to be out of all danger and fear , nor so bad , as to be out of hope ; and i need not tell any man , that this is a state between hope and fear , which is a very uneasie state , when eternal happiness or misery is the matter of the doubt : this is the case of those men , who after all their good resolution , are ever and anon conquered by temptations ; who as soon as their tears are dried up for their last fall , fall again , and then lament their sins , and resolve again ; and while they are thus interchangeably sinning , repenting , and resolving , before they have got a lasting victory , or are arrived to a steady vertue , are summon'd by death to judgement ; or those who have a reverence for god , but are not so constant and frequent in their devotions , or if they abstain from gross and scandalous vices , yet they have not a due government of their passions , or do very little good in the world , &c. here is such a mixture of good and evil , that it is hard to know which is predominant ; while such men are in health , they are very uneasie , and know not what to judge of themselves ; but they fall into much greater perplexities when they are alarm'd with the near aproaches of death and judgment : and what a deplorable state is this , when we are a dying , to be uncertain and anxious , what will become of us to eternity ! now there is no possible way to prevent these fears , when we come to die , but by giving all diligence to make our calling and election sure ; by living such holy and innocent lives , that our consciences may not condemn us ; and then we shall have confidence towards god. but this is such a remedy , as few of these men like : they would be glad to be sure of heaven , but yet would go as near hell as they can without danger of falling into it ; they will serve god , but must reserve a little favour and indulgence to their lusts ; though they dare not take full draughts of sensual pleasures , yet they must be sipping now and then , as often as they can pacifie their consciences , and get rid of the fear of god , and of another world ; and therefore they are very inquisitive after other cures for an accusing and condemning conscience : are mighty fond of such marks and signs of grace as will secure them of heaven without the severities of mortification , or the constant and uniform practice of an universal righteousness : and a great many such signs have been invented , which like strong opiates asswage their pain and smart , till their consciences awake , when it is too late , in the next world. for all this is cheat and delusion , as st. iohn assures us : little children , let no man deceive you : he that doth righteousness is righteous , even as he is righteous . he that committeth sin , is of the devil , for the devil sinneth from the beginning : for this purpose the son of god was manifested , that he might destroy the works of the devil . whosoever is born of god , doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him , and he cannot sin , because he is born of god. in this the children of god are manifest , and the children of the devil : whosoever doth not righteousness , is not of god , neither he that loveth not his brother . this is the only sure evidence for heaven ; and therefore every sin men commit , makes their state doubtful , and this must fill them with perplexities and fears : men may cheat themselves with vain hopes and imaginations , when they come to die ; but nothing can be a solid foundation for peace and security , but an universal righteousness . the conclusion . for the conclusion of this discourse , i shall only observe in a few words , that it must be the business of our whole lives to prepare for death : our accounts must be always ready , because we know not how soon we may be called to give an account of our stewardship ; we must be always upon our watch , as not knowing at what hour our lord will come . a good man , who has taken care all his life to please god , has little more to do , when he sees death approaching , than to take leave of his friends , to bless his children ; to support and comfort himself with the hopes of immortal life , and a glorious resurrection , and to resign up his spirit into the hands of god , and of his saviour : his lamp is full of oyl , and always burning , tho' it may need a little trimming , when the bridegroom comes ; some new acts of faith and hope , and such devout passions as are proper to be exercised at our leaving the world , and going to god : but when the bridegroom is at the door , it is too late with the foolish virgins to buy oyl for our lamps : unless we be ready , when the bridegroom comes , to enter in with him to the marriage , the door will be shut against us : watch therefore for ye know neither the day , nor the hour , wherein the son of man cometh . some men talk of preparing for death , as if it were a thing that could be done in two or three days , and that the proper time of doing it , were a little before they die : but i know no other preparation for death , but living well ; and thus we must every day prepare for death , and then we shall be well prepared , when death comes ; that is , we shall be able to give a good account of our lives , and of the improvement of our talents ; and he who can do this , is well prepared to die , and to go to judgment : but he who has spent all his days wickedly , whatever care he may take when he comes to die , to prepare himself for it , it is certain he can never prepare a good account of his past life ; and all his other preparations are little worth . the end . advertisement . a preservative against popery , in two parts : with a vindication , in answer to the cavils of lewis sabran a jesuit . by william sherlock , d. d. master of the temple . printed for w. rogers . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a59840-e2450 2. heb. 14 , 15. notes for div a59840-e3610 see 5 prov. 22 , 23. 7. 22 , 23 , 26 , 27. 3 heb. 12. 12 heb. 15. 2 pet. 2. 20 , 21 , 22. 12 heb. 14. 2 rom. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. 6 gal. 7 , 8. 20 mat. 1 , &c. 15 luk. 11 , &c. 1 rom. 18. 1 cor. 6 , 9 , 10. 7 mat. 21. 18 mat. 21 , 22. 2 acts 38 , 41. 3 rom. 20 , 21 , 22 , 24. 5 rom. 1. 2 eph. 8 , 9. 5 gal. 2 , 3. ibid. 2 rom. 13 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29. 8 rom. 4. notes for div a59840-e10030 1 cor. 15. 55 , 56 , 57. 7 heb. 25. 1 john 3. 20 , 21. 1 john 3. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. notes for div a59840-e10610 25 mat. 1 , &c. the resurrection of the dead and eternall judgement, or, the truth of the resurrection of the bodies both of good and bad at the last day asserted and proved by gods word : also, the manner and order of their coming forth of their graves, as also, with what bodies they do arise : together with a discourse of the last judgement, and the finall conclusion of the whole world / by john bunyan. bunyan, john, 1628-1688. 1665 approx. 257 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 100 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a30200 wing b5590 estc r34391 14396378 ocm 14396378 102285 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a30200) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102285) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1565:26) the resurrection of the dead and eternall judgement, or, the truth of the resurrection of the bodies both of good and bad at the last day asserted and proved by gods word : also, the manner and order of their coming forth of their graves, as also, with what bodies they do arise : together with a discourse of the last judgement, and the finall conclusion of the whole world / by john bunyan. bunyan, john, 1628-1688. [4], 190 p. printed for francis smith ..., london : [1665] reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng resurrection. theology, doctrinal. 2005-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-02 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 melanie sanders sampled and proofread 2005-04 melanie sanders text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the resurrection of the dead , and eternall judgement : or , the truth of the resurrection of the bodies , both of good and bad at the last day : asserted , and proved by , gods word . also , the manner and order of their coming forth of their graves ; as also , with what bodies they do arise . together , with a discourse of the last judgement , and the finall conclusion of the whole world. by john bunyan , a servant of the lord's christ. 1 cor. 15. 51 , 52. behold i shew you a mystery , we shall not all sleep , but we shall all be changed , in a moment , in the twinkling of an eye , at the last trump ; ( for the trump shall sound , and the dead shall be raised incorruptible , and we shall be changed . ) john 5. 28 , 29. marvel not at this , for the houre is coming , in which all that are ●n their graves , shall hear his voyce , and shall come forth ; they that have done good , to the resurrection of life , and they that have done evill , to the resurrection of damnation . london , printed for francis smith , at the elephant and castle , without temple-barre . courteous reader , though this be a small treatise , yet it doth present thee with things of the greatest , and most weighty concernment , even with a discourse of life and death to eternity : opening , and clearing , by the scriptures of god , that the time is at hand , when , there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just and unjust ; even of the bodies of both , from the graves where they are , or shall be , at the approach of that day . thou hast also in these few lines , the order and manner of the rising of these two sorts of people , wherein is shewed thee with what body they shall then rise ; as also their states and condition at this day , with great clearness . for here thou shalt see the truth , and manner of the terrible judgement , the opening of the books , the examining of witnesses , with a finall conclusion upon good and bad . which , i hope will be profitable to thy soul that shall read it . for if thou art godly , then here is that which will through gods blessing , incourage thee to go on in the faith of the truth of the gospel ; but if thou art ungodly , then here thou mayst meet with conviction : yea , and that of what will be without fail , thy end , at the end of the world : whether thou continue in thy sins , or repent . if thou continue in them , blackness , and darkness , and everlasting destruction ; but if thou repent and believe the gospel , then light and life , and joy , and comfort , and glory , and happiness , and that to eternity . wherefore let me here beg these things at thy hand . first , that thou take heed of that spirit of mockery , that saith , 2 pet. 3. 4 , 5. where is the promise of his coming ? secondly , take heed that thy heart be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness , and the cares of this life , and so that day come upon thee unawares . luke 21. 34 , 35. thirdly , but be diligent in making thy calling and election sure ; that thou in the day , of which thou shalt read more in this book , be not found without that glorious righteousness that will then stand thee instead , and present thee before his glorious presence , with exceeding joy ; to him be glory in the church by christ jesus , world without end , amen . john bunyan . of the resurrection of the dead , and eternal judgement but this i confess unto thee , that after the way which they call heresie , so worship i the god of my father , believing all things that are written in the law and the prophets , and have hope towards god , which they themselves also allow , that there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust , acts ▪ 24. 14 , 15. my discourse upon this text , will chiefly concern the resurrection of the dead : wherefore to that i shall immediately apply my self not medling with what else is couched in the words . you see here , that paul , being upon his arraignment , accused of many things , by some that were violent for his blood ; and being licenced to speak for himself by the then heathen magistrate ; he doth in few words tell them , that as touching the crimes wherewith they charged him , he was utterly faultless , onely this he confessed , that after that way which they call heresie , so he worshipped the god of his fathers ; believing all things that are written in the law and the prophets , and that he had the same hope towards god , which they themselves did allow , that there should be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just ▪ and unjust . whence note by the way , that an hypocritical people , will persecute the power of those truths in others , which themselves in words profess . i have hopes towards god , and that such a hope which themselves do allow , and yet i am this day , and that for this very thing persecuted by them . but to come to my purpose , there shall be a resurrection of the dead &c. by these words , the apostle sheweth us what was the substance of his doctrine , to wit , that there should be a resurrection of the dead ; and by these words also , what was the great argument with his soul , to carry him through these temptations , afflictions , reproaches , and necessities he met with in this world , even the doctrine of a resurrection . i have hope towards god , saith he , and there is my mind fixed , for there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . the reason why i cannot do what these jews would have me ; also why i cannot live as do the gentiles , it is , because i have in my soul , the faith of the resurrection . this is the doctrine i say , which maketh me fear to offend , and that is , as an undergirder to my soul , whereby i am kept from destruction and confusion , under all the storms and tempests i here go through . in a word , this is it that hath more awe upon my conscience , then all the laws of men , with all the penalties they inflict . vers. 17. and herein do i exercise my self to have alwayes a conscience void of offence , both towards god and towards men . now here , seeing this doctrine of the resurrection of the dead ▪ hath that power , both to bear up and to awe ; both to incourage and to keep within compass , the spirit and body of the people of god : it will be requisite , and profitable for us , to inquire into the true me●ning and nature of this word , the resurrection of the dead . and for the better compassing of this matter , i shall briefly inquire . first , what this place is meant by the dead . secondly , what is meant by the resurrection . thirdly , why the apostle doth here speak of the resurrection of the dead , as of a thing yet to come , there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . for the first , the dead in scripture , go under a five-fold consideration , as , 1. such as die a natural death , or as when a man ceaseth to be any more in this world , as david , whom peter tells us , is both dead and buried , and his sepulchre remaineth with us to this day . acts 2. 29. 2. there is a people that are reckoned dead in trespasses and sins , as those are , who never yet were translated from darkness to light , and from the power of satan to god. such i say , who yet never felt the power of the word and spirit of god , to raise them from that state , to walk with him in the regeneration : making a life out of christ , and his present benefits . ephes. 2. 1 , 2. john 5. 25. 3. there is a death seizeth men often after some measure of light received from god , and some profession of the gospel of christ. these , for the certainty of their damnation , are said to be dead , dead ; twise dead , and plucked up by the roots . jude 12. 4. there is in scripture mention made of a death to sin , and the lusts of the flesh ; this death is the beginning of true life and happiness , and is a certain fore-runner of a share in christ , and with him in another world , rom. 6. 6 , 7 , 8. 2 tim. 2. 11. 5. lastly , there is also in the word , a relation of eternal death . this is the death that those are in , and swallowed up of , that go out of this world godless , christless , and graceless ; dying in sin , and so under the curse of the dreadful god , who i say , because they have missed of the lord jesus christ , the saviour in this day of grace : are fallen into the gulf and jaws of eternal death and misery , in the fire that never shall be quenched . mark 9. 43 , 44. luk 16. 23 , 24 , 25 , 26. now then , seeing there is death , or to be dead , taken under so many considerations in the scripture ; it is evident , that to be dead in christ , the text is not meant of them all : i then must distinguish , and inquire which of these deaths it is , that here the apostle did look for a resurrection from . first then , it cannot be meant a resurrection from eternal death , for from that there is no redemption . psal. 49. 38. secondly , neither is it a resurrection from that double death ; for they that are in that , are past recovery also . thirdly , and so for those that are dead to sin , it is non-sence , to say there shall , or can be a resurrection from that : for that it self is a resurrection . colos. 2. 12 , 13. 20. which resurrection also , the apostle had then passed through . and also all the brethren , as he saith , you hath he quickned , who were dead in trespasses and sins ; and again , if ye then be risen with christ ▪ and again , wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of god , who raised him from the dead . col. 3. 1. lastly , the dead therefore in this scripture , must be understood of those that have departed this life , that have body and soul seperated each from the other ; and so the resurrection , a resurrection of the body out of the grave ; as daniel saith , many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise ; and again , the hour is coming , when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice , and shall come forth , &c. dan. 12. 2. john 5. 28. the resurrection of the just then , is the rising of the bodies of the just , and the resurrection of the unjust , the rising of their bodies at the last judgement . this also is the meaning of that saying of paul , to agrippa , i stand , saith he , and am judged , for the hope of the promise made unto our fathers , which promise at first began to be fulfilled in the resurrection of the body of christ , acts 13. 32 , 33. and hat its accomplishment , when the dead , small and great , are raised out of their graves : wherefore , though paul saith in the 13th of the acts , it is already fulfilled : yet here he saith , he hopes it shall come . which promise , saith he , our twelve tribes instantly serving god day and might , hope to come , as god told daniel , saying , go thy way , for thou shalt stand in thy lot at the end of the dayes . dan. 12 , 13. christ is already risen , and therefore so far the promise is fulfilled , but his saints are yet in their graves , and therefore that part of the fulfilling of it , is yet to come , as he saith , why should it be an incredible thing with you , that god should raise the dead . acts 26. 6 , 7 , 8. again , that it is the resurrection of the dead bodies of both saints and sinners that is here inserted , it is further evident , because the apostle saith , it is the resurrection , that the very pharises themselves allowed . i have hope towards god , saith he , which themselves also allow , then what that hope is , he in the next words sheweth , namely , that there shall be a resurrection of the dead , &c. now we know , that the pharises did not allow of a resurrection from a state of nature , to a state of grace , which is the same with the new birth ; but did confidently allow and teach , that they were the children of abraham , according to the flesh . yea , when any of them began to adhere , or incline to christ's doctrine in some things , yet the doctrine of the new birth , or of being raised from a state of nature , to a state of grace , they would very much stick at ; though in the mean time , they utterly were against the doctrine of the sadduces , which denyed the resurrection of the body , john 31. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. john 8. 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35. acts 23. 6 , 7 , 8. further , the resurrection here spoken of , must needs be the resurrection of the body , because it is called , a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust , that is , of both saints and sinners , according to the saying of christ , the hour is coming , when all that are in their graves shall hear his voyce , and shall come forth , they that have done good , to the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evill , to the resurrection of damnation . joh. 5. 28 , 29. again , the resurrection here mentioned , is a resurrection to come , not already injoyed , either by saints or sinners , there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . now i say , the resurrection here being yet deferred by the just , and counted also the resurrection of the dead , both of the just and unjust : it must needs be the same resurrection that is spoken of by jobe , who saith , so man lyeth down , and riseth not again , till the heavens be no more , they shall not awake , nor be raised out of their sleep , job . 14. 12. having thus in few words opened this scripture unto you , i shall in the next place , for the further satisfaction of those that are yet wavering , and for the refreshment of those that are strong and stedfast : lay down before you , several undeniable scripture demonstrations , of the resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . i shall first begin with the resurrection of the just. the just must arise , because christ is risen from the dead . christ is the head of the just , and they are the members of his body ; and because of this union , therefore the just must arise . this is the apostles own argument , if christ , saith he , be preached , that he rose from the dead , how say some among you , that there is no resurrection of the dead ; but if there be no resurrection of the dead , then is not christ risen . 1 cor. 15. 12 , 13. now i say , the reason why the apostle thus argueth the resurrection from the dead , by the resurrection of christ. it is , because the saints ( of whose resurrection he here chiefly discourseth , are in their bodies , as well as in their soul , the members of christ ; know you not , saith he , that your bodies are the members of christ , 1 cor. 6. 15. a very weighty argument ; for if a good man be a member of christ , then he must either be raised out of his grave , or else sin and death must have power over a member of christ. i say again , if if this body be not raised , then also christ is not a compleat conquerour over his enemies ; for as much as death and the grave , hath still power over his members . the last enemy that shall be destroyed , is death . now though christ in his own person , hath a compleat conquest over death , &c. yet death hath still power over the bodies of all that are in their graves : now i say , christ being considered with relation to his members , then he hath not yet a compleat conquest over death , neither will he , until they every one be brought forth of their graves ; for then , and not till then , shall that saying be every way fulfilled : death is swallowed up of victory , 1 cor. 15. 26. and 53 , 54. secondly , as there must be a resurrection of the just , because christ is their head , and they his members : so also , because the body of the saints , as well as their soul , is the purchase of christs blood . ye are bought with a price , saith paul : wherefore glorifie god in your body , and in your spirit , which are gods. 1 cor. 6. 20. christ will not lose the purchase of his blood , o death , saith christ , i will have them ; o grave , i will make thee let them go , i will ransom them from the power of the grave , i will redeem them from death . ( i have bought them , and they shall be mine ) o death , i will be thy plague , o grave , i will be thy destruction , hos. 13 , 14. job 18. 13 , 14. revel . 1. 18. i say , though the power of the grave be invincible , and death be the king of terrours , yet he who hath the keys of hell and of death , at his girdle , to him belongeth the issues from death . he that is our god , is the god of salvation , and to god the lord , belongeth the issues from death . psal. 68. 20. and we the price of his blood , shall be delivered . thirdly , as the body is the member of christ , and the price of his blood : so it is the temple of the holy ghost , which is in us . what , know you not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you ? and you are not your own . the body is no such rediculous thing in the account of christ , as it was in the account of the saduces . the body is not for fornication , but for the lord , and the lord for the body , and that no onely in this world , but that which is to come : wherefore he saith , god hath both raised up the lord jesus , and will raise us up also by his power . 1 cor. 6. 13 , 14. 19. that is , as he hath raised up the body of christ : so will he raise up ours also by christ. fourthly , the bodies of the just must arise again , because of that similitude , that must be betwixt the body of the lord jesus christ , and the bodies of the saints . when he shall appear , we shall be like him . 1 john 3. 2. now we have it abundantly manifest in scripture , that the body of the lord jesus , was raised out of the grave , caught up into heaven , and that it ever remaineth in the holiest of all , a glorified body , luk 24. 3 , 4 , 5 6 , 7 , 8. 35. 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42. john 20. 24 , 25 , 26 , 27. acts 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. acts 2. 31. acts 17. 30 , 31 , 32. mar. 16. 6 , 7 , 19. heb. 7. 24 , 25 , 26. eb . 8. 2 , 3. heb. 10. 12. now i say , it would be very strange to me , if christ should be raised , ascended , and glorified in that body ; and yet that his people should be with him , no otherwise then in their spirits ; especially , seeing that he in his resurrection , is said to be but the first begotten from the dead , and the first fruits of them that sleep , col. 1. 18. 1 cor. 15. 23. for we know , that a first begotten , doth imply more sons , and that first-fruits do foreshew an after crop : wherefore we conclude , that as in adam all die , so in christ shall all be made alive , but every man in his own order : christ the first fruits , and afterwards them that are his at ●is coming . 1 cor. 15. 22 , 23. and hence it is , that the scripture saith , he shall change our vile body , that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body . and hence it is again , that the day of christ is said to be the day of the manifestation of the sons of god , and of the redemption of our body ; for then shall the saints of god not onely be , but appear as their saviour , being delivered from their graves , as he is from his , and glorified in their bodies , as he is in his . phil. 3. 20 , 21. rom. 8. 21 , 22 , 23. fifthly , there must be a resurrection of the body of the saints , because the body , as well as the mind , hath been a deep sharer in the afflictions that we meet with for the gospel sake . yea , the body is oft-times the greater sufferer , in all the calamities , that for christs sake we here undergo ; it is the body that feels the stocks , the whip , hunger and cold , the fire and rack , and a thousand calamities : it is the body in which we have the dying marks of the lord jesus : that the life of jesus , also might be made manifest in our mortall slesh . gal. 6. 17. 2 cor. 4. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. god is so just a god , and so merciful to his people , that though the bodies of his saints should , through the malice of the enemy , be never so dishonourably tortured , killed and sown in the grave : yet he will ( as further will be shewed anon ) raise it again in incorruption , glory and honour : as he saith also in another place , that we who have continued with christ in his temptations ; that have for his sake underwent the reproach and malice of the world ; to you , saith christ , i appoint a kingdom as my father hath appointed unto me . luk. 22. 28 , 29. if we suffer with him , we shall reign with him , & he that hateth his life in this world , shall keep it to life eternall , 2 tim. 2. 12. john 12. 29. all this is to be injoyed , especially at the resurrection of the just. but sixthly , there must be a resurrection of the just , otherwise , there will be the greatest disappointment on all sides that ever was , since man had a being on the earth . a disappointment i say , first , of the will of god ; for this is the will of the father that sent me , saith christ , that of all that he hath given me , i should lose nothing , ( not a dust ) but should raise it up again at the last day . john 6. 39. secondly , a disappointment of the power of god ; for he that hath raised up the lord jesus , doth also intend to raise us up by his power , even our bodies , as paul saith , the body is not for fornication , but for the lord , and the lord for the body , and god hath both raised up the lord , and will also raise us up by his power . 1 cor. 6. 13 , 14. thirdly , if there should be no resurrection of the just , christ also would be wonderfully disappointed of the fruits of all his sufferings . as i told you before , his people are the price of his blood , and the members of his body , and he is now at the right hand of god ( far above all principalities and powers , and every name that is named ) expecting till his enemies be made his footstool , and brought under heb. 1. 13. the foot of the weakest saint , which will not be , untill the last enemy death is destroyed . we know that he said , when he went away , that he would come again , and fetch all his people to himself , even up into heaven , that where he is , there we may be also . joh. 12. 26. joh. 14. 1 , 2 , 3. joh. 17. 24. but i say , how will he be disappointed , if when he comes , the grave and death should prevent and hinder him , and with its bars , keep down those , whom he hath ransomed with his blood , from the power thereof . fourthly , if the bodies of the just arise from the dead , then they also will be disappointed . 't is true , the saints departed , have far more fellowship , and communion with god and the lord jesus , then we have , or are not yet capable of having , luke 23. 43. they being in paradise , and we in this world ; but yet , i say for all that , they are , though there , very much longing for the day of the lords vengeance , which will be the day in which they will , and must arise from the dead . this i say , is the time that they long for , when they cry under the altar , how long o lord , holy and true , dost thou not judge and avenge our blood , on them that dwell on the earth ? when they died , they heb. 11. 35. died , in hope to obtain a better resurrection , and now they are gone , they long till that day be come , rev. 6. 10 , 11. till the day come , i say , when the dead , even all the enemies of christ , shall be judged ; for then will he give reward to his servants the prophets , and to his saints , and to 〈◊〉 that fear his name , small and great . revel . 11. 1. 8. fifthly , if the just arise not , great disappointment also will be to the saints yet alive in this world : for , notwithstanding they have already received the first-fruits of the spirit , yet the wait , not onely for more of that , but also for the resurrection , redemption , and changing of this vile body , rom. 8. 20 , 21 , 22 , 23. phil. 3. 20 , 21. for our conversation is in heaven , saith paul , from whence we look for the saviour , the lord jesus christ , who shall change our vile body , that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body . but now i say , if the body riseth not , then how can it be made like to the glorious body of christ jesus : yea , what a sad disappointment , infatuation , and delusion , are those poor creatures under , that look , and that by scripture warrant , for such a thing ? they look for good , but behold evill ; they expect to be delivered in their whole man from every enemy ; but lo , both death and the grave , their great enemies , do swallow them up for ever ; but beloved , be not deceived , psal. 9. 10. t●e needy shall not always be forgotten , the expect●tion of the poor shall not perish for ever , saith christ , he that seeth the son , and believeth on him that sent him , hath everlasting life , and i will raise him up at the last day , john 6. 40. sixthly , if the just arise not out of their graves , then also is every grace of god in our souls defeated ; for though the spirit of devotion can put forth a feigned shew of holiness , with the denyal of the resurrection , yet every grace of god in the elect , doth prompt them forward to live as becomes the gospel , by pointing at this day , as first , 't is this that faith looks at , according as it is written , i believed , and therefore have i spoken ; we believed , and therefore speak , knowing that he that hath raised up the lord jesus , shall raise us up also by jesus , and shall present us with you . 2 cor. 4 13 , 14. secondly , hope looks at this , we saith p●ul , which have the first fruits of the spirit , even we our selves groan within our selves , waiting for the ad●ption , to wit , the redemption of our body , that is , we expect this by hope : but hope which is seen , is not hope , for what a man seeth , or hath in present possession , why doth he yet hope for it . rom. 8. 23 , 24 , 25. thirdly , the grace of self-denyal also wo●keth by this doctrine , if after the manner of men , i have fought with beasts at ephesus ; what advantageth it me , if the dead rise not ? as who should say ; wherefore do i deny my self of those mercies and priviledges , that the men of this world injoy ? why do not i also , as well as they , shun persecution for the cross of christ ? if the dead rise not , what shall i be the better for all my trouble that here i met with for the gospel of christ ? 1 cor. 15. 32. fourthly , both zeal and patience , with all other the graces of the spirit of god in our hearts , are much , yea chiefly , incouraged , animated , and supported by this doctrine , as james saith , be patient therefore my brethren , unto the coming of the lord , ( for then shall the dead be raised . 1 thes. 4. 16 , 17. ) behold , the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth , and hath long patience , till he receive both the early and latter rayn ; be ye also patient , stablish your hearts , for the coming of the lord draws nigh . jam. 5. 7 , 8. seventhly , the doctrine of the resurrection of the just , must needs be a certain truth of god , if we consider the devilish , and satanical errours and absurdities that must unavoidably follow the denyal thereof , as first , he that holdeth no resurrection of our body , he denyeth the resurrection of the body of christ : this is the spirits own doctrine ; for if the dead rise not , then is not christ risen , 1 cor. 15 , 16. he that denyeth the resurrection of the members , denyeth the resurrection of the head ; for seeing the resurrection of the saints is proved by the resurrection of christ , he that doth deny the resurrection of the saints , must needs deny the resurrection of christ , that proves it . now this errour , as it is in it self destructive to all christian religion : so it , like an adder , carrieth within its bowels , many other alike devilish and filthy , as 1. he that denyeth the resurrection of the saints , he concludeth , that to preach deliverance from sin and death , it is vain preaching ; for how can he be freed of sin , that is swallowed up for ever of death , & the grave ? as he most certainly is , that is always contained therin as paul saith , if christ be not risen , ( whose resurrection is the ground of ours ) then our preaching is vain , and your faith is also vain ; then we preach fables , and you receive them for truth . 1 cor. 15. 14. 2. this errour , casteth the lie in the face of god , of christ , and the scriptures , ye , and we also , saith paul , are found false witnesses of god , because we have testified of god , that he raised christ up , if so be that the dead rise not . 1 cor. 15. 15. mark , before he said , christ in his resurrection , doth prove our resurrection ; but now he saith , that our resurrection will prove the truth of his , and indeed , both are true ; for as by christs rising , ours is affirmed : so by ours , his is demonstrated : o● 3. the denyal of the resurrection , it also damneth all those that have departed this world in the faith of this doctrine . if christ be not raised ( as if he is not , we rise not ) then is not onely your faith vain , and ye are yet in your sins that are alive ; but then they also that are fallen asleep in christ , are perished . 1 cor. 15. 17 , 18. 4 he that denyeth the resurrection of the just , he concludeth , that the christian is of all men , the most miserable . mark the words , if in this life onely , we have hope in christ , we are of all men the most miserable . 1 cor. 15. 19. first of all , men the most miserable , because we let go present injoyments of those that will never come if the dea● rise not ? of all men most miserable , because our faith , our hope , our joy and peace , are all but a lie , if the dead rise not . but you will say , he that giveth up himself to god shall have comfort in this life . ah , but if the dead rise not , all our comfort that now we think we have from god , will then be found presumption and madness , because we believe , that god hath so loved us , as to have us in his day , in body and soul to heaven : which will be nothing so , if the dead rise not . if in this 〈◊〉 onely , we have hope in christ , we are of all men most miserable . poor christian , thou that lookest for the blessed hope of the resurrection of the body , at the glorious appearing of the great god , and our saviour jesus christ : how wilt thou be deceived , if the dead rise not ? but now is christ risen and become he first fruits of them that sleep ; for since by man came death , by man came also the resurrection from the dead . 1 cor. 15. 20 , 21. 5. but again , he that 〈◊〉 the resurrection of the dead , he setteth open a ●●●udgate to all manner of impiety , he cutteth ●he throat of a truly holy life , and layeth the reins upon the neck of the most outragi●us ●ust● , for if the dead rise not , let us eat and drink ▪ that is , do anything , though never so diabolical and hellish , let us eat and drink , for tomorrow we die ; and there is an end of us , we shall not arise again , to receive either evill or good . 1 cor. 15. 32. 6. to deny this resurrection , nay if a man do but say , it is past either with him or any christian : his so saying tendeth directly to the dest●uction and overthrow of the faith of them that hear him ; and is so far from being according to the doctrine of god , that it eateth out good and wholsome doctrine , even as cankers eat the face and flesh of a man : how ill favouredly do they look , that have their nose and lips eat off with the canker ? even so badly doth the doctrine of no resurrection of the dead , look in the eyes of god , christ , saints and scripture . 2 tim. 2. 18. lastly , i conclude then , that to deny the resurrection of the bodies of the just , it argueth , first , great ignorance of god , ignorant of his power to raise , ignorant of his promise to raise , ignorant of his faithfulness to raise ; and that both to himself , son , and saints , as i shewed before : therefore saith paul to those that were thus deluded , awake to righteousness , and sin not , for some have not the knowledge of god ▪ i speak this to your shame , 1 cor. 18. 32 , 33 , 34. as if he had said , do you profess christianity ? and do you question the resurrection of the body ? do you not know , that the resurrection of the body , and glory to follow , is the very quintessence of the gospel of jesus christ ? are you ignorant of the resurrection of the lord jesus , and do you question the power and faithfulness of god , both to his son and his saints , because you say , there shall be no resurrection of the dead ? you are ignorant of god ; of what he can do , of what he will do , and of what he will by doing , glorifie himself . secondly , as it argueth very great ignorance of gods power , faithfulness , &c. so it argueth gross ignorance of the tenor and cur●ant of the scriptures ; for as touching the dead , that they are raised , have ye not read in the book of moses ( saith christ ) how that god said unto him in the bush , i am the god of abraham , the god of isaac , and the god of jacob ? god is not the god of the dead , but of the living : ye do therefore greatly erre , mark 12. 26 , 27. to be the god of abraham , isaac and jacob , it is to be understood of his being their god , under a new covenant-consideration , as he saith , i will be their god , and they shall be my people . heb. 8. 10 , 11. john 8. 44. 1 john 38. 9 , 10. hos. 6. 2. col. 3. 4. ephes. 1. 4. now thus he is not the god of the dead , that is , of those that perish , whether they be angels or men . now , i say , they that are the children of god , as abraham , isaac , and jacob , they are counted the living under a threefold consideration . 1. in their lord and head , and thus all the elect may be said to live ; for they are from eternity chosen in him , who also is their life , though possibly many of them yet unconverted . i say , yet christ is their life , by the eternal purpose of god. 2. the children of the new covenant , do live both in their spirits in glory , by open vision , and here by faith gal. 2. 20. and the continu●l communication of grace from christ into their souls . 3. they live also with respect to their rising again ; for god calleth those things that are not , as though they were , rom. 4. 17. to be born , dead , buried , risen and ascended , are all present with god , he liveth not by time , as we do , a thousand years to him , are but as the day that is past , 2 pet. 3. 8. heb. 4. 13. isa. 46. 9 , 10. rom. 8. 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33. and again , one day is as a thousand years . eternity , which is god himself , admitteth of no first , second , and third , all things are naked and bare before him , and present with him , all ( his ) live unto him . there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . a resurrection , of what ? of that which is sown , or of that which was never sown ; if of that which is sown , then it must be either of that nature that was sown , or else of the corruption that cleaveth to it ; but it is the nature , and not the corruption that cleaveth unto it that riseth again . and verily , the very terme resurrection , is a forcible argument , to prove the dead shall come forth of their graves ; for the holy ghost hath alwayes spoke more properly , then to say , there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just and unjust , when yet neither the good , nor the bad shall come forth of their graves , but rather something else to delude the world withall . having thus in few words , shewed you the truth of the resurrection of the dead , i now come to the manner of their rising . the manner of the resurrection of the dead : and first of the just. the apostle , when he had in the fifteenth of the first of the corinthians , proved the truth and certainty of the resurrection , he descends to the discovery of the manner of it ; and to the end , he might remove those foolish scruples that attend the hearts of the ignorant , he begins with one of their questions ; but some will say , saith he , how are the dead raised ? and with what vers. 35. body do they come ? to which he answereth : first by a similitude of seed , that is sown in the earth . in which similitude , he inserteth three things . first , that our reviving or rising , must be after death , that which thou sowest , is not quickned , except it die . vers. 36. secondly , that at our rising , we shall not onely revive and live , but be changed into a far more glorious state , then when we were sown . vers. 37. that which thou sowest , thou sowest not that body that shall be , &c. but god giveth it a body as it pleaseth him , that is , he giveth the body more splendor , luster , and beauty , at its resurrection . but thirdly , neither its quickning , not yet transcendent , splendor , shall hinder it from being the same body , ( as to the nature of it ) that was sown in the earth ; for as god giveth it a body , for honour and splendor , as it pleaseth him , so vers. 38. to every seed his own body . and indeed , this similitude by which he here reasoneth the manner of the resurrection of the just , is very natural , and fitly suiteth each particular ; for , as to its burial , first , the corn of wheat is first dead , and after sown and buried in the earth , and so is the body of man. secondly , after the corn is thus dead and buried , then it quickneth , and reviveth to life : so also shall it be with our body ; for after it is laid in the grave and buried , it shall then quicken , rise , and revive . again , as to the manner of its change in its rising , this similitude also doth fitly suit , as first , it is sown a dead corn , it is raised a living one . secondly , it is sown dry , and without comliness , it riseth green and beautiful . thirdly , it is sown a single corn , it riseth a full ear. fourthly , it is sown in its husk , but in its rising it leaveth that husk behind it . further , though the curnel thus dy , be buried , and meet with all this change and alteration in these things : yet none of them can cause the nature of the curnel to cease ; it is wheat still . wheat was sown , and wheat ariseth , onely it was sown dead , drie , and baren wheat ; and riseth living , beautiful , and fruitful wheat . it hath this alteration then , that it doth greatly change its resemblance , though yet it hath this power , as still to retain its own nature . god giveth it a body , as it pleaseth him ; but to every seed his own body . the apostle having thus presented the manner of the resurrection of the saints , by the nature of seed sown , and rising again : he proceedeth , for further illustration , to three more similitudes . the first is , to shew us the variety and glory of flesh . the second is , to shew us the difference of glory that if between heavenly bodies , and those that are earthy . the third is to shew us the difference that is between the glory of the light of the sun , from that of the moon ; and also how one star differeth from another in glory . and then concludeth , so is the resurrection of the dead . 1 cor. 15. 39 40 41 , 42. as who should say , at the resurrection of the bodies , they will be ab●●●●lantly more al●e●ed and changed , then if the flesh of beasts and fouls were made as noble as the flesh of men ; or the bodies of earth , were made as excellent as the heavenly bodies ; or as if the glory of the moon should be made as bright , and as clear as the glory of the sun ; or as if the glory of the least star was as glorious , and as shining , as the biggest in the firmament of heaven . it is a resurrection indeed , a resurrection every way . the body ariseth as to the nature of it ; the self-same nature ; but as to the manner of it : how far transcendant is it ! there is a poor , dry , wrinkled curnel cast into the ground , and there it lyeth , and swelleth , breatheth , and one would think , perisheth ; but behold , it receiveth life , it chitteth , it putteth forth a blade , and groweth into a stalk ; there also appeareth an ear ; it also sweetly blossoms , with a full curnel in the ear , it is the same wheat , yet behold how the form and fashion of that which now ariseth , doth differ from that which then was sown , its glory also when 't was sown , is no glory : when compared with that in which it riseth . and yet it is the same that riseth that was sown , and no other : though the same after a far more glorious manner , not the same with its husk , but without it . our brun shall be left behind us when we rise again . the comparison also between the bodies heavenly , and bodies earthly , hold forth the same . the glory of the celestial is one , and the glory of the terrestial is another . now mark it , he doth not speak here of the natures of each of these bodies : but of the transcendant glory of one above another . the glory of the heavenly is one , and the glory of the earthly is another . wherefore i say , at our rising , we shall not change our nature , but our glory , we shall be equal to the angels , luke 20. 36. not with respect to their nature , but glory . the nature also of the moon is one thing , and the glory of the moon is another : and so , one star also differeth from another in glory . a beggar hath the same nature as a king , and gold in the ore , the same nature with that which is best refined ; but the beggar hath not the same glory with the king , nor yet the gold in ore , the same glory with that which is refined . but our state will be far more altered , than any of these in the dayes when we like so many suns in the firmament of heaven , arise out of the heart and bowels of the earth . these things thus considered , do shew you how vainly they argue , that say , our humane nature consisting of body and soul , shall not inherit the kingdom of god , and also how far from their purpose , that saying of the apostle is , which saith , [ that flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of god. ] and now also because i am fallen upon the objection it self , i shall not passe it , but with a short dash at it . wherefore reader , whoever thou art , consider , that frequently in scripture , the word flesh and blood ( as also in the place alledged ) is not to be understood of that matter which god made ; which flesh cleaveth to our bones , and blood runs in our veins : but is taken for that corruption , weakness , mortality , and evil that cleaveth to it . which weakness and corruption , because it possesseth all men , & also wholy ruleth where the soul is unconverted : therefore it beareth the name of that which is ruled , and acted by it , to wit , our whole man consisting of body and soul ; yet i say , is a thing distinct from that flesh and blood which is essential to our being , and without which , we are no men . as for instance , he that is christs , saith paul , gal. 5. 24. hath crucified the flesh , with the affections and lusts . who is so vain as to think that the apostle by these words , should mean our material flesh that hangeth on our bones , and that is mixed with our natural blood , sinews , and veins . and not rather of that inward fountain of sin , corruption and wickedness , which in another place he calleth the old man with his deceitful lusts , ephes. 4. 22. again , the flesh lusteth against the spirit , and the spirit against the flesh : is it our flesh that hangeth on our bones , which lusteth against the spirit ? and that also against which the spirit lusteth ? certainly , if the spirit lusteth against our material flesh , then it is our duty not to nourish it at all , because , by nourishing of it , we nourish that against which the spirit of god fighteth , and warreth . nay , if the spirit lust against the flesh on our bones , simply considered as flesh ; and if it be our duty to follow the spirit , as it is , then we must needs kill our selves , or cut our flesh from our bones . for whatever the spirit of god lusteth against , it must be destroyed , yea , it is our duty with all speed to destroy it . but wilt thou know o vain man , that by flesh here , is to be understood , not the nature that god hath made , but the corrupt apprehension , and wisdom , with those inclinations to evil , that lodg within us . which in another place is called , the wisdom of the flesh . yea , in plain termes , flesh and blood , where christ saith , flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee , but my father which is in heaven . mat. 16. 16. nay , observe it , all these places , with many others , do rather point at a corrupt soul , then a corrupt body ; for indeed , sin and all spiritual wickedness , they have their seat in the heart and soul of a man , and by their using this or that member of the body , so defile the man ; the weaknesses of the body , or that attend our material flesh and blood , they are weaknesses of another kind , as sickness , aches , pains , soars , wounds , defection of members , &c. wherefore , where you read of flesh and blood , as rejected of god ; especially , when it speaks of the flesh and blood of saints , you are not to understand it as me●nt of the flesh , which is their proper humane nature ; but of that weakness which cleaveth to it . paul in another place , reckoneth up the works of the flesh , in many things , as in witchcraft , hatred , variance , strife , emulation , fornication , and many others . but can any imagine , that he there , should strike at that flesh that hangeth on our bone ? or rather at that malignity and rebellion that is in the mind of man against the lord , gal. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. by reason of which , the members of the body are used this way , and also sometimes that , to accomplish its most filthy and abusive deeds . they are enemies in their minds by wicked works , col. 1. 21. thus you see that flesh and blood is not to be taken always for the flesh , that is upon our hands and feet , and other parts of our body ; but for that sinne , weakness , and infirmity , that cleaveth to our whole man. further then , touching our reall substantiall flesh , it may be either considered as god's creature purely , or as corrupted with sinne and infirmity . now if you consider it as corrupted , so it shall not inherit the kingdom of god : but yet consider it as god's creature , and so all that god hath converted to himself , through jesus christ , shall , even with that body , when changed , inherit the kingdom of god. the woman whose cloaths are foul , can yet distinguish between the dirt and the cloth on which it hangeth ; and so deals god with us . 't is true , there is not one saint , but while he liveth here , his body is arrayed and infected with many corrupt and filthy things , as touching bodily weaknesses ; yea , and also with many sinful infirmities , by reason of that body of sin and death that yet remains in us : but yet god i say , distinguisheth between our weaknesses , and his workmanship , and can tell how to save the whole man of his people , while he is destroying the corruption and weakness that cleaveth to them . and now to return to the place objected , flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of god. it cannot be truly understood , that that flesh which is man's nature , shall not enter the kingdom : for then , as i said before , christ must lose his members , the purchase of his bloud , the vessels and temples of his spirit ; for all this is our body . again , then christ also in that his body , which is also our flesh and blood , is not in glory , contrary to the whole current of the new testament , heb. 2. 14 , 15. heb. 7. 24 , 25. heb. 8. 3 , 4. heb. 10. 10 , 11 , 12. rev. 1. 18. rev. 2. 8. yea , it would be non-sence to say , there should be a resurrection , and that our vile body shall be changed , and made like to the glorious body of the son of god ; if this body do not at all rise again , but some other thing , which is not in us , and our nature . but to be short , the apostle here , when he saith , flesh and blood shall not inherit , &c. speaks properly of that mortality and weakness , that now attends our whole man , and not of our reall substantial body it self . for after he had said , flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of god ; he adds , neither doth corruption inherit in corruption : which two sayings , are answerable to what he presently adds ; saying , behold ! i shew you a mystery , we shall not all sleep , but we shall all be changed in a moment , in the twinckling of an eye , at the last trump , for the trumpet shall sound , and the dead ; mark , the dead shall be raised incorruptible ; that is , the dead shall be so raised , as that in their rising , incorruption shall possess them , in stead of corruption , and immortality , instead of that mortality that descended to the grave with them . for this corruptible ; mark , this corruptible , shall put on incorruption ; and this mortal shall put on mortality : mark , i say , it is this corruptible , and this mortal , that must be raised , though not corruptible and mortal , as it was buried ; but immortal and incorruptible : it shall leave its grave-cloaths of corruption and mortality behind it , cor. 15. 50 , 51. 52 , 53. the manner of which their rising , the apostle doth more distinctly branch out a little above in four particulars : which particulars , are these that follow , 1. it is sown in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption . 2. it is sown in dishonour , it is raised in glory . 3. it is sown in weakness , it is raised in power . 4. it is sown a natural body , it is raised a spiritual body , 1 cor. 15. first , it is raised in incorruption : we are brought into this world by sin and corruption ; corruption is our father , and in sin did our mother conceive us , job 17. 14. psal. 51. 5. and hence it is , that we have our life ; nnt onely like a span , shadow , or post , for shortness , but also , that it is attended with so much vanity and vexation of spirit : but now being raised from the dead incorruptible , ( which is also called a begetting and birth ) these things that now in our life annoy us , and at last take away our life , are effectually destroy'd : and therefore we live for ever , as saith the spirit ; and there shall be no more death , nor sorrow , nor crying ; neither shall there be any more pain , for the former things ( that is , all our corruptibleness ) are passed away , rev. 21. 4. there shall be in our resurrection no corruption , either of body , of soul ; no weakness , nor sickness , nor any thing tending that way ; as he saith , he will present us to himself a glorious church , not having spot or wrinkle , or any such thing , ephes. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. therefore when he saith , it is raised in incorruption , it is , as if he had said , it is impossible that they should ever sin more , be sick more , sorrow more , or die more . they that shall be counted worthy of that world , and the resurrection from the dead , neither marry , nor are given in marriage , ( though 't was thus with them in this world ) neither can they die any more , for they are equal unto the angels , and are the children of god , being the children of the resurrection , luk. 20. 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36. secondly , it is raised in glory ; the dishonour that doth attend the saint at his departing this world , it is very great , he is sown in dishonour ; he is so loathsom at his death , that his dearest friends are weary of him , stop their noses at him , see no beauty in him , nor set any price upon him . ( i speak nothing here , how some of them are banged , starved , banished , and so die , torn to pieces , and not suffered to be put into graves ; ) but it is raised in glory . glory is the sweetness , comliness , purity , and perfection of a thing . the light is the glory of the sun , strength is the glory of youth , and gray hairs is the glory of old age. that is , it is the excellency of these things , and that which makes them shine . 1 cor. 15 , 40 , 41. prov. 20. 29. therefore to arise in glory , it is first to arise in all the beauty , and utmost compleatness that is possible to possess a humane creature , i say , in all its features & members , inconceivably beautifull : sin and corruption hath made mad work in our bodies , as well as in our souls ; 't is sin commonly that is the cause of all that deformity , and ill-favouredness , that now cleaveth to us , and that also rendereth us so dishonourable at our death ; but now at our rising , we being raised incorruptible , we shall appear in such perfections , and that of all sorts belonging to the body , that all the beauty and comeliness , sweetness and amiableness , that hath at any time been in this world , it shall be swallowed up a thousand times told with this glory . the psalmist saith of christ , that he was fairer than the children of men , psal. 45. 2. and that as i believe , in his outward man , as well as in his inward part , he was the exactest , purest , compleatest , and beautifullest creature that ever god made , isa. 42. 14. col. 1. 18. till his visage was so marred by his persecutions : for in all things he had , and shall have , the preheminence . why our bodies at our resurrection , will not onely be as free from sin , as his was before he died ; but also as free from all other infirmities , as he was after he was raised again . in a word , if incorruptibleness can put a beauty upon our bodies , when they arise , we shall have it . there shall be no lame legs , nor crump-shoulders , no blare-eyes , nor yet wrinkled faces , phil. 3. 20 , 21. he shall change our vile body , that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body . again , all the glory that a glorified soul can help this body to , it at this day shall enjoy . that soul that hath been these hundreds or thousands of years in the heavens , soaking in the bosom of christ , it shall in a moment come spangling into the body again , and inhabit every member and vein of the body , as it did before its departure . that spirit of god also , that took its leave of the body , when it went to the grave , shall now in all perfection dwell in this body again i tell you , the body at this day , will shine brighter than the face of moses or stephen , even as bright as the sun , the stars , and angels . when christ who is our life shall appear , we shall appear with him in glory , exod. 34. 29. 35. acts 6. 15. dan. 12. 3. mat. 13. 42 , 43. luk. 20. 26. col. 3. 3 , 4. thirdly , it is raised in power . while we are here , we are attended with so many weaknesses and infirmities , that in time the least sin or sickness is too hard for us , and taketh away both our strength , our beauty , our dayes , our breath and life , and all . but behold , we are raised in power , in that power that all these things are as far below us , as a grashopper is below a gyant , at the first appearance of us , the world will tremble . job 38. 17. judges 16. 3. behold the gates of death , and the bars of the grave are now carried away on our shoulders , as sampson carried away the gates of the city . death quaketh , and destruction falleth down dead at our feet : what then can stand before us ? we shall then carry that grace , majesty , terrour , and commanding power in our souls , that our countenances shall be like lightning , compare luke 20. 36. with mat. 28. 2 , 3. for this mortall must put on immortality , and this corruptible must put on incorruption : so when this corruptible , shall have put on incorruption , and this mortall , shall have put on immortality : then shall be brought to passe that saying which is written , death is swallowed up of victory . 1 cor. 15. 53 , 54. fourthly , it is raised a spiritual body . this is the last particular , and is indeed the reason of the other three ; it is an incorruptible body , because it is a spiritual one ; it is a glorious body , because it is a spiritual one ; it doth rise in power , because it is a spiritual body . when the body is buried , or sown in the earth , it is a body corruptible , dishonourable , weak and natural : but when it ariseth , it doth rise incorruptible , glorious , powerfully , and spiritual . so that so far as incorruption is above corruption , glory above dishonour , powerfull above weakness , and spiritual above naturall : so great an alteration will there be in our body , when raised again . and yet it is this body and not another , this in nature , though changed into a far more glorious state ; a thousand times further , then if a hoggard was changed to be an emperour . mark , it is sown a natural body : a very fit word ; for though there dwell never so much of the spirit and grace of god in it while it liveth , yet so soon as the soul is separate from it , so soon also doth the spirit of god separate from it ; and so will continue while the day of its rising be come . therefore it is laid into the earth , a meer lump of man's nature : it is sown a natural body : but now at the day , when the heavens shall be no more , as job saith , job 14. 12. then the trump shall sound , even the trump of god , and , in a moment , the dead shall be raised incorruptible , glorious , and spiritual , 1 cor. 15. 52. 1 thes. 24. 16 , 17. so that i say , the body when it ariseth , will be so swallowed up of life and immortality , that it will be , as if it had lost its own humane nature ; though , in truth , the same substantial real nature is every whit there still . 't is the same [ it ] that riseth , that was sown ; it is sown , it is raised : it is sown , it is raised , saith the apostle . you know , that things which are candied , by the art of the apothecary , they are so swallow'd up with the sweetness and vertue of that in which it is candied , that they are now , as though they had no other nature , than that in which they are boiled : when yet , in truth , the thing candied doth still retain its own proper nature and essence ; though by vertue of its being candied , it loseth its former sourness , bitterness , stinking , smell , or the like . just thus , at the last day , it will be with our bodies ; we shall be so candied , by being swallow'd up of life , as before is shewed , that we shall be , as if we were all spirit , when in truth , it is but this body that is swallowed up of life : and it must needs be , that our nature still remain , otherwise it cannot be us that sh●ll be in heaven , but something besides us. let us lose our proper humane nature , and we lose absolutely our being & so are annihalated into nothing . wherefore , it , the same it , that is sown a natural body , it shall rise a spiritual body . but again , as i said , concerning things that are candied ; our body , when thus risen , it shall lose all that sourness and stinck , that now , by reason of sinne and infirmity , cleaveth to it : neither shall its lumpishness , or unweildiness , be any impediment to its acting after the manner of angels . christ hath shewed us , what our body at our resurrection shall be , by shewing of us , in his word , what his body was at , and after , his resurrection : we read , that his body , after he was risen from the dead , though it yet retained the very same flesh and bones , that did hang upon the cross , yet how angelical was it at all times , upon all occasions ! he could come in to his disciples with that very body , when the doors were shut upon them : he could , at pleasure , to their amazement , appear in the twinckling of an eye , in the midst of them : he could be visible and invisible as he pleased , when he sat at meat with them . in a word , he could pass and re-pass , ascend and descend in that body , with far more pleasure and ease , than the bird by the art of her wing , luk 24. 38 , 39 , 40 , 41. joh. 20. 24 , 25. luk. 24. 31 , 32 , 50 , 51. joh. 20. 19 , 26. act. 1. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. mark 16. 19. eph. 4. 7 , 8 , 9. now , i say , as we have in this world born the image of our first father ; so , at that day , we shall have the image of jesus christ , and be as he is . as is the earthly , such are they that are earthly ; and as is the heavenly , such are they that are heavenly ; and as we have been the image of the earthly , we shall ( at our resurrection ) bear the image of the heavenly : it is so in part now , but shall so be in perfection then , 1 cor. 15. 48 , 49. to mount up to heaven , and to descend again at pleasure , shall , with us , in that day , be ordinary . if there were ten thousand bars of iron , or walls of brass , to separate between us , and our pleasure and desire , at that day , they should as easily be pierced by us , as is the cobweb , or air by the beams of the sun : and the reason is , because to the spirit , wherewith we shall be unconceiveably filled at that day , nothing is unpossible , mat. 10. 27. and the working of it at that day , shall be in that nature and measure , as to swallow up all impossibilities . he shall change our vile body , and fashion it like unto his glorious body ; now mark , according to the working , whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself , phil. 3. 21. as who should say , i know that there are many things , that in this world hinder us from having our bodies like the body of christ ; but when god shall raise us from the dead , because he will then have our body like the body of his son : he will stretch forth such a power to work upon , and in our body , that he will remove all impossibilities and hinderances . nay further , we do not onely see what operation the spirit will have in our body , by the carriage of christ , after his resurrection ; but even by many a saint before their death . the spirit used to catch elijah away , no man could tell whether . it carryed ezekiel hither and thither : it carryed christ from the top of the pinacle of the temple into galilee ; through it he walked on the sea ; the spirit caught away philip from the eunuch , and carryed him as far as azotus , 1 king. 17. 11 , 12. 2 king. 2. 11. ezek 3. 14. luke 4. 14. matth. 14. 25. act. 8. 39. 40. thus the great god hath given us a tast of the power and glory that is in himself , and how easily it will help us , by its possessing of us at the resurrection , to act and do like angels ; as christ s●ith , they that shall be counted worthy of that world , and of the resurrection from the dead , they shall not die , but be equal to the angels , luk. 23. 36. further , as the body by being thus spiritualized , shall be as i have said ; so again it must needs be , that hereby all the service of the body , and faculties of the soul , must be infinitely inlarged also . now we shall see him as he is , and now we shall know , even as we are known , 1 joh. 3. 2. 1 cor. 13. 12. first , now we shall see him ; to wit , christ in his glory : not by revelation onely , as we do now , but then face to face ; and he will have us with him , to this very end , joh. 17. 24. though john was in the spirit , when he had the vision of christ , rev. 1. 17. yet it made him fall at his feet as dead ; and also turned daniel's beauty into corruption , dan. 10. 8. it was so glorious , and so over-weighing a glory , that he appeared in ; but we shall , at the day of our resurrection , be so furnished , that we shall with the eagle , be able to look upon the sun in his strength : we shall then , i say , see him as he is ; who now is in the light , that no eye hath seen , nor any man can see till that day , 1 tim. 6. 16. now we shall see into all things : there shall not be any thing hid from us ; there shall not be a saint , a prophet , or saved soul , small or great ; but we shall then perfectly know them : also , all the works of creation , election , and redemption , and shall see and know as throughly , all the things of heaven , and earth , and hell , even as perfectly , as now we know our a , b , c. for the spirit , with which we shall in every crany of soul and body , be filled , i say , that searche●h all things , yea the deep things of god , 1 cor. 2. 10. we see that strange things have been known by the prophets and saints of god , and that when they knew but in part . abraham could , by it , tell to a day , how long his seed should be under persecution in egypt , gen. 15. 13. elisha , by it , could tell what was done in the king of assyria's bed-chamber , 2 king. 6. 12. ahijah could know by this , jeroboam's wife , so soon , yea before her feet entred within his door , though he saw her not , 1 king. 14. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. the prophet of judah could tell by this , what god would do to bethel , for the idolatry there committed ; and could also point out the man by name that should do the execution , long before he was born , 1 kin. 13. 2. what shall i say , enoch by it could tell , what should be done at the end of the world , jud. 14 , 15. how did the prophets , to a circumstance , prophecie of christ's birth , his death , his burial , of their giving him call and vinegar , of their parting his raiment , and piercing his hands and feet , isa. 53. of his riding on an ass , also , all this they saw , when they spake of him , joh. 12. 41. peter also , though half asleep , could at the very first word , call moses and elias by their names , when they appeared to christ in the holy mount , luk. 9. 33. he is very ignorant of the operation of the spirit of god , that scrupleth these things : but now , i say , if these things have been done , seen , and known , by spiritual men , while their knowledge hath been but in part , how shall we know , see , and discern , when that which is perfect is come ? which will be at the resurrection ; it is raised a spiritual body . thus , in few words , have i shewed you the truth of the resurrection of the just , and also the manner of their rising : had i judged it convenient , i might have much inlarged on each particular , and have added many more : for the doctrine of the resurrection , however question'd by hereticks , and erroneous persons ; yet is such a truth , that almost all the holy scriptures of god point at , and center in it . god hath , from the beginning of the world , shewed to us , that our body must be with him , as well as our soul , in the kingdom of heaven . i say , he hath shew'd ; first he hath shewed us , how he will deal with those that are alive at christs coming , by his translating of enoch , gen. 5. 24. heb. 1. 5. and taking him body and soul to himself : as also , by his catching of elias , 1 king. 2. 10 , 11. up body and soul into heaven , in a fiery chariot . secondly , he hath often put us in remembrance of the rising of those that are dead , at that day . first , by the faith he gave abraham , concerning the offering of his son : for when he offered him , he accounted that god was able to raise him up , even from the dead : from whence also he received him in a figure . in a figure of the resurrection of christ , for abraham's justification , and of abraham's resurrection by christ at the last day , for his glorification , heb. 11. 19. secondly , by the faith he gave joseph , consuming his bones ; which charge , the godly in egypt did diligently observe , and to that end , did keep them four hundred years ; and , at length , carryed them , i say , from egypt to canaan , heb. 11. 22. which was a tipe of our being carryed in our body , from this world to heaven . besides , how oft did god give power to his prophets , servants , and christ jesus , to raise some that was now dead , and some that had been long so ; and all , no doubt , to put the present generations ; as also the generations yet unborn , in mind of the resurrection of the dead . to this end , i say , how was the shunamites son raised from the dead ? 2 king. 4. the man also at the touching of the bones of elisha , 2 king. 13. 20 , 21. together with the body of lazarus , with jairus daughter , and tabitha , and many others , luke 8. 53 , 54 , 55. joh. 11. 43 , 44 , 45. acts 9. 40 , 41. who after their soul was departed from them , lazarus lying in his grave four dayes , were all raised to life again , and lived with that very body out of which the soul , at their death , had departed . but above all , that notable place in matthew , at the resurrection of the lord jesus , gives us a notable fore-word of the resurrection of the just : saith the text , and the graves were opened , and many bodies of saints which slept , arose , and came out of their graves after his resurrection , and went into the holy city , and appeared unto many , matth. 27. 50 , 51 , 52 , 53. when the authour to the hebrews had given us a catalogue of the worthies of the old testament , he saith at last , these all died in faith. in the faith of what ? that they should lie and rot in their graves eternally ? no , verily this is the faith of ranters , not of christians . they all died in faith , that they should rise again ; and therefore counted this world not worth the living in [ upon unworthy terms ] that after death they might obtain a better resurrection , heb. 11. 13 , 35. 't is also worth the considering , that of paul to the philippians , where he saith , that he was confident , that that god , that had begun a good work in them , would perform it untill the day of christ , phil. 1. 6. which day of christ , was not the day of their conversion , for that was past with them already , they were now the children of god ; but this day of christ , it is the same which in other places is called the day when he shall come with the sound of the last trump to raise the dead . for you must know , that the work of salvation is not at an end with them that are now in heaven ; no , nor ever will , untill ( as i shewed you before ) their bodies be raised again . god , as i have told you , hath made our bodies the members of christ , and god doth not count us thoroughly saved , untill our bodies be as well redeemed and ransomed out of the grave and death , as our soul from the curse of the law , and dominion of sin , though gods saints have felt the power of much of his grace , and have had many a sweet word fulfilled on them ; yet one word will be unfulfilled on their particular person , so long as the grave can shut her mouth upon them : but , as i said before , when the gates of death do open before them , and the barrs of the grave do fall asunder ; then shall be brought to pass that saying that is written , death is swallowed up of victory : and then will they hear that most pleasant voyce , awake , and sing , ye that dwell in the dust ; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs , and the earth shall cast forth her dead , isa. 26. 19. thus much touching the truth of the resurrection of the just , with the manner of their rising . now you must know , that the time of the rising of these just , will be at the coming of the lord : for when they arise , nay just before they are raised , the lord jesus christ will appear in the clouds in flaming fire with all his mighty angels ; the effect of which appearing , will be the rising of the dead , &c. for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , saith paul , and with the voice of the arch-angell , and with the trump of god , and the dead shall rise , 1 thess. 7 , 8. 2 thess. 4. 16. 1 cor. 15. 52. now at the time of the lords coming , there will be found in the world alive both saints and sinners . as for the saints that then shall be found alive , they shall so soon as all the saints are raised out of their graves , not die , but be changed and swallowed up of incorruption , immortality , and glory ; and have the soul-spiritual translation , as the raised saints shall have ; as he saith , we shall not all die , or sleep , but we shall all be changed in a moment , in the twinkling of an eye ; for the trump shall sound , and the dead shall be raised incorruptible , and we shall be changed . and again , for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , with the voice of the arch-angel , and with the trump of god , and the dead in christ shall rise first , and then we which are alive and remain , shall be caught up together with them in the clouds , to meet the lord in the ayr , and so shall we ever be with the lord. as he saith also in another place , he shall judg the quick and the dead at his appearing , and his kingdome , 1 cor. 15. 52. 1 thess. 4. 15 , 16 , 17. and 2 tim. 4. 1. now when the saints that sleep shall be raised thus incorruptible , powerful , glorious , and spiritual ; and also those that then shall be found alive , made like them : then forthwith , before the unjust are raised , the saints shall appear before the judgment seat of the lord jesus christ , there to give an account to their lord the judge , of all things they have done ; and to receive a reward for their good according to their labour . they shall rise , i say , before the wicked , they being themselves the proper children of the resurrection ; that is , those that must have all the glory of it , both as to preheminencie , and sweetness ; and therefore they are said , when they rise , to rise from the dead ; that is , in their rising , they leave the reprobate world behind them , luke 20. 35 , 36. acts 3. 15. acts 4. 10. acts 13. 30. joh. 12. 1 , 9 , 17. and it must be so , because also the saints will have done their account , and be set upon the throne with christ as kings and princes with him , to judge the world , when the wicked world are raised . the saints shall judg the world ; they shall judge angels : yea , they shall sit upon the thrones of judgment to do it . but to pass that , 1 cor. 6. 2 , 3. psal. 122. 5. now when the saints are raised , as ye have heard , they must give an account of all things , in general , that they have done , while they were in the world : of all things , i say , whether they be good or bad . first , of all their bad ; but mark , not under the consideration of vagabonds , slaves and sinners , but as sons , stewards , and servants of the lord jesus . that this shall be , it is evident from divers places of the holy scriptures : first paul saith , we must all stand before the judgment seat of christ , we saints . for it is written , as i live , saith the lord , every knee shall bowe to me , and every tongue shall confess to god. so then every one of us shall give an account of himself to god. again , wherefore we labour , that whether present or absent , we may be accepted of him : for we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ , that every one of us may receive the things done in his body , according to what he hath done , whether it be good , or whether it be evil , rom. 14. 10 , 11 , 12. 2 cor. 5. 10. 't is true , god loveth his people , but yet he loveth not their sins , nor any thing they do , though with the greatest zeal for him , if it be contrary to his word ; wherefore as truly as god will give a reward to his saints and children for all that they have indeed well done . so truly will he at this day distinguish their good and bad : and when both are manifest by the righteous judgment of christ : he will burn up their bad , with all their labour , travail , and paints in it for ever . he can tell how to save his people , and yet take vengeance on their inventions , psal. 99. 8. that is an observable place , in the first epistle of paul to the corinthians , and the third chapter , if any man build , saith he , upon this foundation ( christ ) gold , silver , pretious stones , wood , hay , stubble , every mans work shall be manifest , for the day shall declare it , because it shall be revealed by fire , and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is . if any mans work shall abide that he hath built thereupon , he shall receive a reward . if any mans work shall be burnt , that man shall suffer losse , but he himself shall be saved , yet so as by fire , 1 cor. 3. 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. now observe first , as i said before , the foundation is christ , vers. 11. 2. the gold , silver , and pretious stones , that here are said to be built upon him , are all the actings in faith and love according to the word , that the saints are found doing for his sake in the world , 1 pet. 1. 7. rev. 3. 18. 3. to build on him wood , hay , and stubble , it is to build , together with what is right in it self , humane inventions , and carnall ordinances ; fathering them still on god and his allowance . 4. the fire that here you read of , it is the pure word and law of god , jer. 23. 29. joh. 12. 48. 5. the day that here you read of , it is the day of christ's coming to judgment , to reveal the hidden things of darkness , and to make manifest the counsels of the heart , 1 cor. 4. 5. 6. at this day , the gold , silver , pretious stones , wood , hay , and stubble , and that of every man , shall be tryed by this fire , that it may be manifest of what sort it is ; the wind , the rain , and flouds , beat now as vehemently against the house upon the rock , as against that on the sand , luke 6. 48 , 49. observe again , 1. that the apostle speaks here of the saved , not of the reprobate , he himself shall be saved . 2. that this saved man may have wood , hay , and stubble ; that is , things that will not abide the tryal . 3. that neither this mans goodness , not yet gods love to him , shall hinder all his wood ; hay , or stubble for coming on the stage , every mans work shall be manifest : the fire shall try every mans work , of what sort it is . 4. thus , a good man shall see all his wood , hay , and stubble burnt up in the tryal before his face . 5. that good man then shall suffer loss , or the loss of all things that are not then according to the word of god. if any mans works shall be burnt ( or any of them ) he shall suffer loss ; but he himself shall be saved , yet so as by fire , that is , yet so as that all that ever he hath done , shall be tryed , and squared by the word of god. from all which , it must be unavoidably concluded , that the whole body of the elect must count with their lord for all things they have done , whether good or bad , and that he will destroy all their bad , with the purity of his word , yea , and all their pains , travel , and labour that they have spent about it . i am perswaded , that there are now many things done by the best of saints , that then they will gladly disown and be ashamed of : yea , which they have and do still do with great devotion . alas , what gross things do some of the saints in their devotion father upon god , and do reckon him the authour thereof , and so he also prompts them forward to the doing thereof , and doth give them his presence in the performance of them ! yea , and as they father many superstitions and scriptureless things upon him : so they die in the same opinion , and never come in this world , to the sight of their evill and ignorance herein . but now the judgment day is the principall time wherein every thing shall be fet in its proper place ; that which is of god in its place , and that which is not , shall now be discovered , and made manifest . in many things now , we offend all , and then we shall see the many offences we have committed , and shall our selves judge them as they are . the christian , is in this world , so candid a creature , that take him when he is not under some great temptation , and he will ingeniously confess to his god , before all men , how he hath sinned and transgressed against his father ; and will fall down at the feet of god , and cry , thou art righteous , for i have sinned ; and thou art gracious , that notwithstanding my sin , thou shouldest save me : now i say , if the christian is so simple and plain-hearted with god , in the days of his imperfection , when he is accompanied with many infirmities and temptations : how freely will he confess and acknowledge his miscarriages , when he comes before his lord and saviour : absolutely stript of all temptation and imperfection . rom. 14. 11. phil. 2. 10 , 11. as i live , saith the lord , every knee shall how to me , and every tongue shall confess to god. every knee shall bow , and reverence god the creator , and christ the redeemer of the world ; and every tongue shall confess , that his will alone ought by them to have bin obeyed in all things ; and shall confess also , and that most naturally and freely . i mean , the saints shall in how many things they were deceived , mistaken , deluded , and drawn aside in their intended devotion and honour to god. but yet take notice , that in this day , when the saints are thus counting for their evill before their saviour and judg : they shall not then , as now , at the remembrance and confession of sin , be filled with that guilt , confusion and shame that now through the weakness of faith attendeth their souls : neither shall they in the least be grieved or offended , that god hath before the angels and the rest of their holy brethren , laid open to a tittle their infirmities from the least and first , to the biggest and last . for first , the god to whom they confess all , they will now more perfectly then ever , see he doth love them , and free them from all , even when and before they confess and acknowledg them to him , and they shall , i say , have their soul so full of the ravishing raptures of the life and glory that now they are in , that they shall be of it swallowed up in that measure , and manner , that neither fear nor guilt , nor confusion can come near them , or touch them . their judge is their saviour , their husband , and head : who , though he will bring every one of them for all things to judgment , yet he will keep them for ever out of condemnation , and any thing that tendeth that way . perfect love casts out fear , even while we are here : much more then , when we are with our saviour our jesus , being passed from death to life . john 5. 24. 1 john 4. 18. secondly , the saints at this day , shall have their hearts and souls so wrapped up in the pleasure of god their saviour , that it shall be their delight , to see all things , though once never so near and dear unto them ; yet now to perish , if not according to his word and will : thy will be done , is to be always our language here ; but to delight to see it done in all things , though it tend never so much to the distruction of what we love : to delight , i say , to see it done in the height and perfection of delight : it will be when we come to heaven , or when the lord shall come to judge the world. mat. 6. 10. but thirdly , the sole end of the counting of the saints at the day of god , it will be , not onely for the vindication of the righteousness , holiness , and purity of the word , neither will it center onely in the manifestation of the knowledg and heart-discerning nature of christ ( though both these will be in it . revel . 2. 22 , 23. ) but their very remembrances and sight of the sin and vanity that they have done while here : it shall both set off , and heighten the tender affections of their god unto them ; and also increase their joy and sweetness of soul ; and clinging of heart to their god. saints while here , are swee●ly sensible , that the sense of sin , and the assurance of pardon , will make famous work in their poor hearts . ah ; what meltings without guilt ! what humility without casting down ! and what a sight of the creatures nothingness yet without fear ! will this sense of sin work in the soul. the sweetest frame , the most heart-indearing frame , that possibly , a christian can get into , while in this world , is to have a warm sight of sin , and of a saviour upon the heart at one time . now it weeps not for fear , and through torment , but by vertue of constraining grace and mercy , and is at this very time , so far off of disquietness of heart , by reason of the fight of its wickedness , that it is driven into an extasie , by reason of the love and mercy that is mingled with the sense of sin in the soul. the heart never sees so much of the power of mercy as now , nor of the vertue , value , and excellency of christ in all his offices as now , and the tongue so sweetly inlarged to proclaim and cry up grace as now ; now will christ come to be glorified in his saints , and admired in them that believe . 2 thes. 1. 10 , 11. wherefore , though the saints receive by faith the forgiveness of sins in this life , and so are passed from death to life ; yet again , christ jesus , and god his father , will have every one of these sins reckoned up again , and brought fresh upon the stage in the day of judgment , that they may see and be sensible for ever , what grace and mercy hath laid hold upon them . and this i take to be the reason of that remarkable saying of the apostle peter . repent therefore and be converted , that your sins may be blotted out , when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the lord , and he shall send jesus christ , who before was preached unto you , whom the heaven must receive till the restitution of all things , spoken of by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began . acts 3. 19 , 20 , 21. if a sense of some sin ( for who sees all ? psa. 19. 12. ) and a sight of the love of god , will here so work upon the spirit of the godly : what will a sight of all sin do , when together with it they are personally present with their lord and saviour ? yea , if a sight of some sins , with a possibility of pardon , will make the heart love , reverence , and fear with guiltless and heart-affecting fears : what will a general sight of all sin , and together with them an eternall acquittance from them , work on the heart of the saint for ever ? yea , i say again , if a sight of sin , and the love of god , will make such work in that soul where yet there is unbelief , blindness , mistrust , and forgetfulness : what will a sight of sin do in that soul , who is swallowed up of love , who is sinless , and temptationless ; who hath all the faculties of soul and body strained , by love and grace , to the highest pin of perfection , that is possible to be in glory injoyed and possessed ? o the wisdom and goodness of god , that he at this day , should so cast about the worst of our things , even those that naturally tend to sink us , and damnus , for our great advantage ! all things that shall work together for good , indeed , to them that love god. rom. 8. 28. those sins that brought a curse upon the whole world , that spilt the heart-blood of our dearest saviour , and that laid his tender soul under the flaming wrath of god , shall by his wisdom and love , tend to the exaltation of his grace , and the inflaming of our affections to him for ever and ever . revel . 5. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. 't will not be thus with devils , 't will not be thus with reprobates ; the saved onely have this priviledge peculiar to themselves : ( wherefore to vary a little from the matter in hand , will god make that use of sin , even in our counting for it , that shall in this manner work for our advantage ? why then , let saints also make that advantage of their sin , as to glorifie god thereby , which is to be done , not by saying , let us do evill that good may come , or , let us sin that grace may abound ; but by taking occasion by the sin that is past to set the crown upon the head of the christ for our justification . continually looking upon it , so as to press us to cleave close to the lord jesus , to grace and mercy through him , and to the keeping of us humble for ever , under all his dispensations and cariages to us . now having counted for all their evil , and confessed to gods glory , how they fell short , and did not the truth in this , or that , or other particulars ; and having received their eternall acquittance from the lord and judg , in the sight of both angels and saints : forthwith the lord jesus will make inquiry into all the good and holy actions and deeds they did do in the world. now there shall all things be reckoned up , from the very first good thing that was done by adam or abel , to the last that will fall out to be done in the world. the good of all the holy prophets , of all apostles , pastors , teachers , and helps in the church : here also will be brought forth and to light , all the good cariages of masters of families , of parents , of children , of servants , of neighbours , or what ever good thing any man doth ; but to be general and short , first , here will be a recompence for all that have sincerely laboured in the word and doctrine , i say , a recompence for all the souls they have saved by their word , and watered by the same . now shall paul the planter , and apollo the waterer , with every one of their companions , receive the reward that is according to their works . 1 cor. 3. 6 , 7 , 8. now all the preaching , praying , watching , and labour thou hast been at , in thy endeavouring to catch men from satan to god , shall be rewarded with spangling glory . not a soul thou hast converted to the lord jesus , nor a soul thou hast comforted , strengthned , or helped by thy wholsom counsel , admonition , and comfortable speech ; but it shall stick , as a pearl in that crown which the lord the righteous judge shall give thee at that day . 2 tim. 4. 7 , 8. that is , if thou dost it willingly , delighting to lift up the name of god among men ; if thou doest it with love , and longing after the salvation of sinners , ( otherwise thou wilt have onely thy labour for thy pains , and no more : if i do this willingly , i have a reward ; but if against my will , a dispensation of the gospel is committed to my charge . 1 cor. 9. 17. phil. 1. 15. but i say , if thou do it graciously , then a reward followeth ; for what is our hope , or joy , or crown of rejoycing , are not even ye , saith paul , in the presence of our lord jesus christ at his coming , for ye are our glory and joy . 1 thes. 2. 19 , 20. let him therefore that christ hath put into this harvest , take comfort in the midst of all his sorrow , and know , that god acknowledgeth that he that converteth a sinner from the errour of his way , doth even save that soul from death , and covereth a multitude of sins . wherefore labour to convert , labour to water , labour to build up , and to feed the flock of god which is among you , taking the oversight thereof not by constraint ; but willingly , not for filthy lucre , but of a ready mind ; and when the chief shepheard shall appear , ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away jam. 5. 20. 1 pet. 5. 2 , 3 , 4. secondly , and as the ministers of christs gospel shall at this day be recompensed : so shall also those more private saints be with tender affections , and love looked on , and rewarded for all their work and labour of love , which they have shewed to the name of christ , in ministring to his saints , and suffering for his sake . whatsoever good thing any man doth , the same shall he receive of the lord , whether he be bond or free . heb. 6. 10. ephes. 6. 8. ah! little do the people of god think , how largely and thorowly , god will at that day , own and recompence all the good and holy acts of his people . every bit , every drop , every rag , and every nights harbour , though but in a wisp of straw , shall be rewarded in that day before men and angels . whosoever shall give to drink , to one of these little ones , a cup of cold water , onely in the name of a disciple : verily i say unto you , saith christ , he shall in no wise loose a disciples reward . mat. 10. 40 , 41 , 42. therefore when thou makest a feast , saith he , call the poor , the maimed , the lame , and the blind , and thou shalt be blessed ; for they cannot recompence thee , for thou shalt be recompenced at the resurrection of the just. luk. 14. 13 , 14. if there be any repentance among the godly at this day , it will be , because the lord jesus in his person , members , and word , was no more owned , honoured , entertained , and provided for by them , when they were in this world : for it will be ravishing to all , to see what notice the lord jesus will then take of every widows mite . he , i say , will call to mind , even all those acts of me●cy and kindness , which thou hast shewed to him , when thou wast among men . i say , he will remember , cry up , and proclaim before angels and saints , those very acts of thine , which thou hast either forgotten , or through bashfulness wilt not at that day count worth the owning . he will reckon them up so fast , and so fully , that thou wilt cry lord , when did i do this ? and when did i do the other ? when saw we thee a hungry , and fed thee ? or a thirst , and gave thee drink ? when saw we thee a stranger , and took thee in ? or naked , and cloathed thee ? or when saw we thee sick , or in prison , and came unto thee ? and the king shall answer and say unto them , verily i say unto you , in as much as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren , ye did it unto me . mat. 25. 37 , 38 , 39 , 40. the good works of some are manifest before hand , and they that are otherwise cannot be hid . 1 tim. 5. 25. whatever thou hast done to one of the least of these my brethren , thou hast done it unto me . i felt the nourishment of thy food , and the warmth of thy fleece . i remember thy loving and holy visits , when my poor members were sick , and in prison , and the like . when they were strangers , and wanderers in the world , thou tookest them in . well thou good and faithful servant , enter thou into the joy of thy lord. matth. 25. 21 , 22 , 23 , 34 , 35 , 36. thirdly , here also will be a reward for all that hardness , and christian induring of affliction that thou hast met with for thy lord , while thou wast in the world. here now will christ begin from the greatest suffering , even to the least , and bestow a reward on them all : from the blood of the suffering saint , to the loss of an hair : nothing shall go unrewarded . heb. 11. 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40. 2 cor. 4. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. for these light afflictions which are but for a moment , they work out for us , a far more exceeding , and eternall weight of glory . 2 cor. 4. 17. behold by the scriptures , how god hath recorded the sufferings of his people , and also how he hath promised to reward them . blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake , for theirs is the kingdom of heaven . blessed are ye , when men shall revile you , and speak all manner of evil against you , falsly for my sake , rejoyce , luk. 6. 22 , 23. leap for joy , and be exceeding glad , for great is your reward in heaven . mat. 5. 16 , 17 , 18. and every one that hath forsaken houses , or brethren , or sisters , or father , or mother , or wife , or children , or laws for my names sake , shall receive an hundred fold , and shall inherit everlasting life . matth. 19. 29. fourthly , there is also a reward at this day , for all the more secret , and more retired works of christianity : there is not now one act of faith in thy soul , either upon christ , or against the devil , and antichrist ; but it shall in this day be found out , and praysed , honoured and glorified ; in the face of heaven , 1 pet. 1. 7. 2. there is not one groan to god in secret , against thy own lusts , and for more grace , light , spirit , sanctification , and strength to go thorow this world like a christian ; but it shall even at the coming of christ , be rewarded openly . matth. 6. 6. 3. there hath not one tear dropped from thy tender eye against thy lusts , the love of this world , or for more communion with jesus christ , but as it is now in the bottle of god ; so then it shall bring forth such plenty of reward , that it shall return upon thee with abundance of increase . blessed are ye that weep now ; for ye shall laugh . thou tell est my wonderings , and puttest my tears into thy bottle , are they not in thy book ? they that sow in tears , shall reap in joy . he that goeth forth and weepeth , bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again , bringing his sheaves with him . psal. 56. 8. psal. 126. 5 6. luk. 6. 21. having thus in brief shewed you something concerning the resurrection of the saints , and that they shall count with their lord at his coming , both for the burning up what was not according to the truth , and rewarding them for all their good . it remains , that i now in few words , shew you something also of that with which they shall be rewarded . first then , those that shall be found in the day of their resurrection , when they shall have all their good things brought upon the stage ; they i say , that then shall be found the people most laborious for god while here : they shall at that day injoy the greatest portion of god , or shall be possessed with most of the glory of the god-head then . for that is the portion of saints in general . rom. 8. 17. lam. 3. 24. and why shall he that doth most for god in this world , injoy most of him in that which is to come ? but because by doing and acting , the heart , and every faculty of the soul is inlarged , and more capatiated , whereby more room is made for glory . every vessel of glory shall at that day be full of it ; but every one will not be capable to contain a like measure . and so if they should have it communicated to them , would not be able to stand under it ; for there is an eternall weight in the glory that saints shall then injoy ; and every vessel must be at that day filled , that is , have its heavenly load of it . 2 cor. 4. 17. all christians have not the same injoyment of god in this life , neither indeed were they able to bear it , if they had it . 1 cor. 3. 2. but those christians that are most laborious for god in this world , they have already most of him in their souls , and that not onely because diligence in gods wayes , is the meanes whereby god communicates himself ; but also because thereby the senses are made more strong , and able , by reason of use to understand god , and to discern both good and evill . heb. 5. 13 , 14. mat. 13. 11 , 12. to him that hath , to him shall be given , and he shall have more abundance . he that laid out his pound for his master , and gained ten therewith , he was made ruler over ten cities ; but he that by his pound gained but five , he was made ruler over but five . luk. 19. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19. dan. 1. 3 , 4. often , he that is best bred in his youth , he is best able to manage most , when he is a man touching things of this life ) but alwayes he that is best bred , and that is most in the bosom of god , and that so acts for him here : he is the man that will be best able to injoy most of god in the kingdom of heaven . it is observable , that paul saith , our afflictions work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory . our afflictions do it , not onely because there is laid up a reward for the afflicted ; according to the measure of affliction ; but because afflictions , and so every service of god , doth make the heart more deep , more experimentall , more knowing , and profound ; and so more able to hold , contain , and bear more . every man shall receive his own reward , according to his own labour . 1 cor. 4. 17. psal. 119. 71. 1 cor. 3. 8. and this is the reason of such sayings as these ; lay up for your selves a good foundation against the time to come , that you may lay hold on eternall life : which eternall life , is not the matter of our justification from sin in the sight of god ; for that is done freely by grace , through faith in christs bloud ; ( but here the apostle speaks of giving of alms ) but it is the same that in the other place he calls the far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory . and hence it is , that he in his stirring them up to be diligent in good works , doth tell them , that he doth not exhort them to it , because he wanted , but because he would have fruit that might abound to their acco●●n● , as he saith also in another place , beloved brethren , be stedfast , unmoveable , alwayes abounding in the work of the lord ; for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the lord. 1 tim. 6. 18 , 19. phil. 4. 16 , 17. 1 cor. 15. 58. therefore i say , the reward that the saints shall have at this day for all the good they have done , it is the injoyment of god , according to their works : though they shall be freely justified and glorified without works . secondly , as the injoyment of god at that day , will be to the saints , according to their works and doings . ( i speak not now of justification from sin ) so will their prayse and commendations at that day , be according to the same , and both of them their degrees of glory ; for i say , as god by communicating of himself unto us at that day , will thereby glorifie us , so also he will for the adding all things that may furnish with glory every way , cause to be proclaimed in the face of heaven , and in the presence of all the holy angels : every thing that hath for god , his ways , and people , been done by us while here we have been . whatsoever hath bin spoken in darkness , shall be heard in the light : and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets , shall be proclaimed upon the house tops . again , he that shall confess me , saith christ , before men , him will i confess before the angels of god. now as he of whom christ is ashamed when he comes in his glory , and in the glory of the holy angels , will then lie under unconceiveable disgrace , shame , dishonour , and contempt : so he whom christ shall confess , own , commend , and prayse at that day , must needs have very great dignity , honour , and renown ; for then shall every man have prayse of god , to wit , according to his works . luke 12. 2 , 3. mark 8. 38. mat. 10. 32. 1 cor. 4 , 5. now will christ proclaim before thee , and all others , what thou hast done , and what thou hast suffered , what thou hast owned , and what thou hast withstood for his name . this is he that forsook his goods , his relations , his country , and life for me : this is the man that overcame the flatteries and threats , allurements and inticings of a whole world for me ; behold ●i● , he is an israelite indeed , the top man in his generation , none like him in all the earth . it is said , that when king ahasuerus , had understanding of how good service mordeeai the jew had done to , and for him , he commanded that the royall apparel , and the crown , with the horse that the king did ride on , should be given to him , and that he should with that crown , apparel , and horse , be had through the city , in the presence of all his nobles , and that proclamation should be made before him : thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour . esth. 6. 9 , 10 , 11. ahasuerus in this was a type , to hold forth to the children of god , how kindly he will take all their labour and service of love , and how he will honour and dignifie the same , as christ saith , let your loins be girded about , and your lights burning , and you your selves like unto men that wait for their lord , when he will return from the wedding : that when he cometh and knocketh , ye may open to him immediately , blessed are those servants , whom their lord when he cometh , shall find watching . verily i say unto you , that he shall gird himself , and shall make them sit down to meat , and shall come forth and serve them . luke 12. 35 , 36 , 37. the meaning is , that those souls that shall make it their business to honour the lord jesus christ , in the day of their temptation , he will make it his business to honour and glotifie them in the day of his glorification . verily , i say unto you , that he will make them sit down to meat , and shall come forth and serve them ; if any man will serve me , saith he , him will my father honour . joh. 12. 26. job 1. 8. joh. 1. 47. mark 14. 9. rev. 3 , 4. rev. 14. 12. 3 , 4 , 5. it hath bin gods way in this world , to proclaim the acts and doing of his saints in his word , before all in this world , and he will do it in that which is to come . thirdly , another thing that shall be yet added to the glory of the saints , in the kingdom of their saviour , at his coming , is , they shall every one of them then have his throne and place of degree on christs right hand , and on his left , in his glorious kingdom , according to the relation they stand in to christ , as the members of his body ; for as christ will have a special eye on us , and a tender and affectionate heart , to recompence to the full every good thing that any man doth for his name in this world : so also he will have as great regard , that there be to every member of his body , the place , and state that is comely for every such member . when the mother of zebedees children petitioned our saviour , that he would grant to her , that her two sons might fit the one on his right hand , and the other on his left in his kingdom : though he did not grant to her the request for her children , yet he affirmed , that there would be places of degrees and honour in heaven , saying , to sit on my right hand and on my left , is not mine to give , but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father . see mat. 20. 20 , 21 , 22 , 23. in the temple , there were chambers bigger , and lesser , higher and lower , more inward and more outward : which chambers were types of the mansions that our lord when he went away , told us he went to prepare for us . in my fathers house are many mansions , if it were not so , i would have told you , i go to prepare a place for you , &c. joh 14. 1 , 2 , 3. the foot here , shall not have the place prepared for the eye , nor yet the hand , that which is prepared for the ear ; but every one shall have his own place in the body of christ , and the glory also prepared for such a relation : order , as it is comely in earth , so much more in the kingdom of the god of order , in heaven ; where all things shall be done in their utmost perfections . here shall euoch , noah , abraham , moses , joshuah , david , with the prophets , have every one his place , according to the degree of old testament saints . as god said to daniel , go thy way till the end be ; for thou shalt rest , and stand in the lot at the end of the days . dan. 12. 13. and here also , shall peter , paul , timothy , and all other the church-officers have their place , and heavenly state , according as god hath set them in the church in the new testament . as paul saith of the deacons , they that use the office of a deacon well , they purchase to themselves a good degree , and great boldness in the faith which is in christ. 1 tim. 3. 13. and so of all other saints , be they here of what ranck , quality , or place in the church soever , they shall have every one his state , his heavenly state , according as he standeth in the body . as he saith , seeing those members that are most feeble , are necessary , to them shall be given more abundant honour . 1 cor. 12. 22 , 23. of this heavenly order in the kingdom of christ , when his saints are risen from the dead , was solomon a notable type in his family , and among his servants and officers , who kept such exactness in the famous order , in which he had placed all about him , that it did amaze and confound beholders . for when the queen of sheba had seen the wisdom of solomon , and the house which he built , and the meat of his table , the sitting of his servants , and the attendance of his ministers , and their apparel , his cup-bearers also , and their apparel , and the ascent by which he went up into the house of the lord : there was no more spirit in her . 2 chron. 9. 3 , 4. glorious things are spoken of thee , o thou city of god. having gone thus far , i shall now come to the second part of the text , to wit , that there shall be a resurrection of the wicked . there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just and unjust . for as the just go before the unjust , in name and dignity , and honour , so they shall in the last day , go before them in the resurrection . now then , when the saints have thus risen out of their graves , given up their accounts , received their glory , and are set upon the thrones , ( for there are set thrones of judgement , the thrones of the house of david . ) psal. 122. 5. when i say , they are all of them in their royall apparel , with crowns of glory , every one presenting the person of a king : then come the unjust out of their graves , to receive their judgment for what they have done in the body . as paul saith , we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ , that every one , ( both saints and sinner ) may receive the things done in the body , whether it be good , or whether it be bad . but now because i would prove by the words , whatever i would have others receive for a truth : therefore i shall in few particulars , prove the resurrection of the wicked . first then , it is evident , that the wicked shall rise from the very termes and names that the raised shall then go under , which is the very same names that they did go under when they lived in this world. they are called the heathen , the nations , the world , the wicked , and those that do iniquity ; they are called men , women , sodom , sidon , bethsaida , capernaum , and tire . the men of ninive shall rise up in judgment , the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment , and it shall be more tolerable for sodom in the day of judgment , then for other sinners that have resisted more light . the heavens and the earth that now are , are kept in store , reserved unto fire against the day of judgement , and perdition of ungodly men . 2 pet. 3. 7. mat. 12. 41 , 42. mat. 11. 21 , 22 , 23 , 24. luk. 10. 12 , 13 , 14. joel 3. 12 , 13 , 14. mat. 25. 32. jud. 14. 15. now these termes , or names , are not given to the spirits of the wicked onely ; but to them as consisting of body and soul. further , christ tells his adversaries , when they had apprehended him , and shamefully intreated him , that yet they should see him sit on the right hand of power , and coming in the clouds of heaven , as john also doth testifie , saying , behold he cometh with clouds , and every eye shall see him , and they also that pierced him , and all the kinreds of the earth shall wail because of him . mat. 26. 64. revel . 1. 7. now none of these sayings are yet fulfilled , neither shall they , untill his second coming ; for though the jews did many of them see him , when he did hang upon the cross , yet then he was not coming in the clouds of heaven , neither did then all kinreds of the earth wail because of him . no , this is reserved till he comes to judge the world ; for then shall the ungodly be so put to it , that gladly they would creep into the most invincible rock or mountain under heaven , to hide themselves from his face , and the majesty of his heavenly presence . rev. 6. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. there shall therefore , that this may be brought to passe , be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . for though an opinion of no resurrection may now lull men asleep , in security and impiety , yet the lord , when he comes , will rouse them , and cause them to awake ; not onely out of their security , but out of their graves , to their doom , that they may receive for their errour , the recompence that is meet . secondly , the body of the ungodly must , at the last , arise out of the grave , because that body and their soul , while they lived in the world , were co-partners in their lusts and wickedness . god is a god of knowledge , and by him actions are weighed . 1 sam. 2 , 3. eccles. 12. 14. he will therefore bring every work into judgement , with every secret thing . and as he will bring into judgement every work , so will he also the worker thereof , revel . 20. 12 , 13 , 14. even the dead , small and great . it is not in god to lay the punishment where the fault is not , neither to punish a part of the damned for the whole . with righteousness shall be judge the world , and the people with equity , shall not the judge of all the earth do right ? psal. 98. 9. gen. 18. 25. as therefore the body was copartner with the soul in sinning , so shall every man receive the things done in his body , according to what he hath done . wherefore he saith in another place , behold i come quickly , and my reward is with me , to give every man according as his work shall be , rev. 22. 12. there shall therefore be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . 3. the body of the wicked must rise again , because as the whole man of the just also that is the vessel of mercy & glory : so the whole man of the unjust , is the vessel of wrath and destruction . there are , saith paul , in a great house , not onely . vessels of gold and of silver , but also of wood and of earth , and some to honour , and some to dishonour . now as he sheweth us these vessels to honour , they are good men , and the vessels to dishonour are the bad . 2 tim. 2. 20 , 21. now as these vessels to dishonour , are called the vessels of wrath : so it is said , that god with much long suffering , doth suffer them to be fitted to destruction . rom. 9. 22. how they are thus fitted , he also further sheweth , where he saith , they do after their hardness and impenitent heart , treasure up wrath against the day of wrath , and the revelation of the righteous judgement of god. rom. 2. 5. which treasures of wickedness , james saith , it is treasured up against the last dayes , ( which is the time of judgement , ) and observe it , he saith , that then it shall eat their flesh , as it were fire . jam. 5. 12. 3. now then their bodies being the vessels of the wrath of god , and again , seeing with this wrath they must be possessed at the last day , that their flesh must with it be eaten , it is evident , that their body must rise again out of their graves , and before the judgement seat appear ; for it is from thence , that each of them must go with his full load to their long and eternal home , where their worm dieth not , and their fire is not quenched . mark 9. 47 , 48. fourthly , the severity of the hand of god towards his children , with his forbearance of his enemies , doth clearly bespeak a resurrection of the ungodly , that they may receive the reward for their wickedness which they have committed in this world. we know , that while the eyes of the wicked start out with fatness , the godly are plagued all the day long , and chastned every morning . psal. 73. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. wherefore it is evident , that the place and time of the punishment of the ungodly , it is another world. if judgement begin at the house of god , what will the end of them be , that obey not the gospel of god ? and if the righteous scarcely be saved , where shall the ungodly and sinner appear ? 1 pet. 4. 17 , 18. alas , poor creatures ! they now plot against the righteous , and gnash upon them with their teeth ; but the lord laugheth at them , for he seeth their day is coming ; for as he saith , the wicked is reserved , or let alone in his wickedness , to the day of destruction , and shall then be brought forth to the day of wrath , psal. 37. 12 , 13. though in the mean time , he may go to his grave in his banner , and rest within his tomb. as peter saith again , job 21. 29 , 30 , 31 , 32. the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation , but to reserve the unjust to the day of judgement to be punished , 2 pet. 2. 9. and jude saith , for them is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever . jude 13. the punishment of the ungodly , it is reserved till the day of judgement , which will be the time of their resurrection . observe , first , the wicked must be punished . secondly , the time of their punishment , is not now , but at the day of judgement . thirdly , this day of judgement , must be the same with the resurrection of the dead , at the end of this world. as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire , so shall it be in the end of this world. the son of man shall send forth his angels , and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend , and them that do iniquity , and shall cast them into a furnace of fire , there shall be weeping , and gnashing of teeth . mat. 13. 40 , 41. there shall then be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . fourthly , the soveraignty of the lord jesus over all creatures , doth plainly foreshew a resurrection of the bad , as well as of the good . indeed , the unjust shall not arise , by vertue of any relation they stand in to the lord jesus , as the saints shall ; but yet , because all are delivered into his hand , and he made soveraign lord over them : therefore , by an act of his soveraign power , they that are ungodly , shall arise , this is christs own argument , the father judgeth no man , saith he , but hath committed all judgment unto the son , that is , count him , and fall before him as their soveraign lord , even as they honour the father , and he hath given him authority , to execute judgement also , because he is the son of man. and then he adds , marvel not at this , for the hower is coming , that all that are in their graves shall hear his voyce , and shall come forth , they that have done good , to the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evill , to the resurrection of damnation . joh. 5. 22 , 23 , 27 , 28 , 29. from hence also paul argueth , saying , for this cause he both dyed , rose , and revived , that he might be lord both of the dead and living . and then adds , we must all stand before the judgement seat of christ. rom. 14. 9. 10. pray mind these words , jesus christ by his death and resurrection , did not onely purchase grace , and remission of sins , for his elect , with their eternal glory ; but did thereby also obtain of the father , to be lord , and head over all things , whether they be things in heaven , or things on earth , or things under the earth , all power , saith he , in heaven and in earth , is given unto me , and i have the keys of hell and of death . mat. 28. 18. rev , 1. 18. so that all things , i say , whether they be visible , or invisible , whether they be thrones or dominions , or principalities or powers ; all things were created by him , and for him . col. 1. 16. this being thus , at the name of jesus , every knee must bow , and every tongue confess that he is soveraign lord , to the glory of god the father . phil. 2. 9 , 10 , 11. now that this may be done , he hath his resolutions upon a judgement-day , in which , he to shew himself his people , his way , and word in their glory , will have all his enemies raised out of their graves , and brought before him , where he will sit upon them in the throne of his glo●y , and will shew them then , who is the onely potentate , the king of kings , and lord of lords . mat. 25. 31 , 32. 1 tim. 6. 14 , 15. beloved , he comes with ten thousand of his saints , to execute judgement upon all , and to convince all that are ungodly among them , of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed , and of all their wicked speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him . jude 14 , 15. fifthly , the great preparation that god hath made for the judgement of the wicked , doth clearly demonstrate their rising forth out of their graves . first , he hath appointed the day of their rising . secondly , he hath appointed their judge , to judge them . thirdly , he hath recorded all their acts and doings against that day . fourthly , he hath also , already appointed the witnesses to come in against them . fifthly , the instruments of death and misery , are already prepared for them . for the first , he hath appointed the day of their rising , which day , john calleth the time of the dead , that they should be judged . which time , paul saith , is a time fixed ; he hath appointed a day , in which he will judge the world , &c. this time and day , christ brings down to an houre , saying , the hour is coming , when all that are in their graves , shall hear his voyce , and shall come forth , &c. revel . 11. 18. acts 17. 30 , 31. joh. 5. 28 , 29. secondly , as he hath appointed the day , so he hath appointed the judge , he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness , by that man whom he hath ordained , of which he hath given assurance to all men , in that he hath raised him from the dead . this man is jesus christ ; for it is he that is ordained of god , to be the judge of the quick and the dead . acts 17. 30 , 31. acts 10. 40 41 , 42. thirdly , all their deeds and works , to a word and thought , and every one already recorded and inrolled in the books of the laws of heaven against that day . the sin of judah , is written with a pen of iron , and with the point of a diamond , upon the tables of their heart . and again , saith god , write it in a table , and note it in a book , that it may be for the time to come , even for ever and ever , that this is a rebellious house , &c. jer. 17. 1. isa. 30. 8 , 9. fourthly , god hath prepared his witnesses against this day , james 5. 1. job 20. 27. mat. 24. 14. rom. 2. 14 , 15. malac. 3. 5. fifthly , the instruments of death , and eternal misery , are all already prepared , he hath prepared for them the instruments of death , he hath ordained his arrows against the face of persecutors , psal. 7. 11 , 12 , 13. psal. 21. 12. hell is of old prepared , he hath made it deep and large , the fire , the everlasting fire is also now of a long time prepared ; the heavy weights of gods curse , are also ready , and their damnation now of a long time slumbereth not . isa. 30 , 33. mat. 25. 41. deut. 29. 19 , 30. 2 pet. 2 , 3. but now i say , how rediculous a business would all this be , if these things should be all prepared of the onely wise god , and there should be none to be judged ; or if he that is ordained judge , should not either through want of power , or will , command these rebels , and force them before his judgement-seat . glad indeed , would the sinners be , if these things might be true . glad i say , at very heart , if they might be in their secret places of darkness , and the grave for ever ; but it must not be , the day of their rising is set ; the judge is appointed , their deeds are written ; the deep dungeon is with open mouth , ever waiting for them ; wherefore at the day appointed , neither earth , nor death , nor hell can hinder : there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . lastly , besides what hath been said , i cannot but believe , there shall be a resurrection of the wicked at the last day , because of the ungodly consequences , and errours that do most naturally follow the denyal thereof . for first , he that taketh away the doctrine of the resurrection of the wicked : he taketh away one of the main arguments that god hath provided for to convince a sinner , of the evill of his w●yes ; for how shall a sinner be convinced of the evill of sin , if he be not convinced of the certainty of eternall judgement ? and how shall be he be convinced of eternall judgement , if you perswade him , that when he is dead , he shall not at all arise ? ( especially seeing the resurrection of the dead , and eternall judgement , must unavoidably be one the forerunner of the other . heb. 6. 2. it was pauls reasoning of righteousness , temperance , and judgement to come , that made felix tremble . 't is this also he calleth the argument of terrour , wherewith he perswaded men . this was solomons argument , and christs also , where he saith , that every idle word that man shall speak he shall give an account thereof , in the day of judgement . acts 24 , 25. 2 cor. 5. 10 , 11. eccles. 11. 9. mat. 12. 36. secondly , they that deny the resurrection of the wicked , they do both allow and maintain the chief doctrine of the ranters , with most of the debauched persons in the world. for the ranters deny it both in principle and practice , and the other in practice , at least . now to me it is very strange , that these men above all other , should both know and live in the doctrines of the kingdom of god : especially , seeing the denyal hereof is an evident token of one appointed to wrath and destruction . 2 tim. 2. 18. but to be plain , there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust : wherefore , whatever others may say , or profess , being beguiled by satan , and their own hearts , yet do thou fear him that can destroy both body and soul in hell. matth. 10. 28. there shall be a resurrection of the dead , both of the just , and unjust . rev. 20. 13. and the sea gave up the dead that were in it , and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them . having in the first place shewed you , that the wicked must arise ; i shall in the next place shew you the manner of their rising . and observe it , as the very title of the just , and unjust , are opposites , so they are in all other matters , and in their resurrections . first then , as the just in their resurrection do come forth in incorruption : the unjust in their resurrection , shall come forth in their corruptions ; for though the ungodly at their resurrection , shall for ever after , be incapable of having body and soul separate : or of their being annihilated into nothing , yet it shall be far from them to rise in incorruption ; for if they arise in incorruption , they must arise to life , and also must have the conquest over sin and death ; 1 cor. 15. 54. but that they shall not ; for it is the righteous onely , that put on incorruption , that are swallowed up of life . the wickeds resurrection , it is called the resurrection of damnation . joh. 5. 28. these in their very resurrection , shall be hurt of the second death . they shall arise in death , and shall be under it , under the gnawings , and terrours of it , all the time of their arraignment . as it were , a living death shall feed upon them , they shall never be spiritually alive , nor yet absolutely dead ; but much after that manner , that natural death , and hell , by reason of guilt , doth feed on him , that is going before the judge , to receive his condemnation to the gallows . you know , though a felon go forth of the goal , when he is going to the bar for his arraignment , yet he is not out of prison , or out of his irons for that ; his fetters are still making a noise on his heels , and the thoughts of what he is to hear by and by from the judge , is still frighting and afflicting his heart , death , like some evil spirit of ghost , doth continually haunt him , and playeth the butcher continually in his soul and conscience , with frights and fears about the thoughts of the sudden , and unsupportable after-clap , by and by he is to meet withall . thus i say , will the wicked come out of their graves , having yet the chains of eternal death hanging on them , and the talons of that dreadful ghost fastned in their souls . so that life will be far from them , even as far as heaven is from hell. this morning to them , is even as the shadow of death . they will then be in the very terrours of the shadow of death . job 24. 17. as christ saith , their worm never dies , and their fire is never quenched . mark 8. 43 , 44. from death to eternity , it never shall be quenched , their bed is now among the flames ; and when they rise , they will rise in flames ; while they stand before the judge , it will be in flames , even in the flames of a guilty conscience : they will in their coming before the judge , be within the very jaws of death and destruction . thus i say , the ungodly shall be far off from rising as the saints ; for they will be even in the region and shadow of death . the first moment of their rising , death will be ever over them , ever feeding on their souls ; and ever presenting to their hearts , the heights , and depths , of the misery that now must seize them , and like a bottomless gulf ▪ must swallow them up . they shall come out of their holes , like worms of the earth , and be afraid of the lord our god. micah 7. 17. secondly , as the resurrection of the godly , shall be a resurrection in glory : so the resurrection of the wicked , it will be a resurrection in dishonour . yea , as the glory of saints , at the day of their rising , will be glory unspeakable : so the dishonour of the ungodly at that day , it will be dishonour beyond expression . as daniel saith , the good shall , arise to everlasting life ; but the wicked to shame , and everlasting contempt . dan. 12. 2. and again , when thou , o god , awakest , that is , to judge them , thou shalt despise their image . psal. 73. 20. never was toad or serpent more loathsome to any , then these will be in the eyes of god , in their rising forth of their graves . when they go to their graves , saith job , their bones are full of the sin of their youth , which lyeth down in the dust with them . job 20. 11. and a rise they shall , in the same noisom and stinking condition ; foras death leaves , so judgment finds them . at the resurrection then of these ungodly : they will be in a very loathsom condition . the ungodly at their death , are like the thistle-seed ; but at their rising , they will be like the thistle grown ; more noysom , offensive , and provoking to rejection abundance . then such dishonour , shame and contempt , will appear in them : that neither god nor christ , saints nor angels , will so much as once regard them , or vouchsafe one to come near them . he beholdeth the wicked a far off ; because in the day of grace , they would not come to hand , and be saved , therefore now they shall , all as thorns , be thrust away , as with fences of iron . 2. sam. 23. 6 , 7. their rising , is called the resurrection of the unjust , and so they at that day will appear , and will more stink in the nostrils of god , and all the heavenly hosts : then if they had the most irksome plague-soars in the world running on them . if a man at his birth , be counted as one cast forth to the loathing of his person : how loathsom , and irksom , dishonourable , and contemptible , will those be that shall arise godless , christless , spiritless , and graceless , when the trumpet sounds to their judgement , they coming out of their graves , far more loathsom , and filthy , then if they should ascend out of the most filthy hole on earth . thirdly , as the just shall arise in power , so the wicked and unjust , in weakness and astonishment . sin and guilt bringeth weakness , and faintness in this life : how much more , when both with all their power and force , like a gyant , fasten on them , as god saith , can thy hands be strong , and can thy heart indure in the day that i shall deal with thee ? eccless . 22. 14. now will the gastly jaws of despair gape upon thee , and now will condemnings of conscience , like thunder-claps , continually batter against thy weary spirit . it is the godly that have boldness in the day of judgement ; but the wicked will be like the chaffe which the wind driveth away . 1 john 4. 17. psal. 1. 4. o the fear , and the heart-aking that will seiz them in their rising ! the frightful thoughts that then will fill their throbbing hearts ! now must that soul that hath been in hell-fire among the devils , possess the body again . possess it i say , with the hot scalding stink of hell upon it . they shall not be able to lift up the head for ever , pangs shall take hold on them , all their hands shall faint , and every mans heart shall melt , they shall be amazed one at another , their faces shall be as flames . isa. 13. 6 , 7 , 8. every thing they see , hear , or think of , shall tend to their discomfort . they must needs be weak , whom god hath left , whom guilt hath seized , and whom death is swallowing up for ever . fourthly , as the just shall arise spiritual bodies , so the unjust shall arise onely as meer and naked lumps of sinful nature : not having the least help from god , to bear them up under this condition . wherefore , so soon as ever they are risen out of their graves : they will feel a continual sinking under every remembrance of every sin , and thoughts of judgement , in their rising they fall , fall i say from thenceforth , and for ever . and for this reason , the dungeon into which they fall , is called bottomless , rev. 20. 1. because , as there will be no end of their misery , so there will be no stay or prop , to bare them up in it . onely , as i said before , they shall not now , as afore , be separate body from soul ; but both together , be bound in the cords of sin and iniquity , in which they shall now tremble as theeves and murderers , &c. as they go before the judge , to hear what he will say unto them . now when the wicked are thus raised out of their graves , they shall , together with all the angels of darkness , their fellow prisoners ; be brought up , being shackled in their sins , to the place of judgement ; where there shall fit upon them jesus christ , the king of kings , and lord of lords , the lord chief judge of things in heaven , and things in earth , and things under the earth . on whose right hand , and left , shall fit all the princes , and heavenly nobles ; the saints and prophets , the apostles , and witnesses of jesus : every one in his kingly attire , upon the throne of his glory . joel 3. 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. then shall be fulfilled that which is written , as for these my enemies , that would not that i should reign over them , bring them before me to slay them . luk. 19. 27. when every one is thus set in his proper place , the judge on his throne , with his attendants , and the prisoners coming up to judgement : forthwith there shall issue forth a mighty fire and tempest from before the throne , which shall compass it round about . which fire , shall be as bars and bounds to the wicked , to keep them at a certain distance from the heavenly majesty . as david saith , psal. 50. 3. our god will come , and not keep silence , a fire shall devour before him , and it shall be very tempestuous round about him . and again , dan. 7. 9. his throne was like the fiery flame , and his wheels like burning fire . a fiery stream issued , and came forth from before him , &c. this preparation being made , to wit , the judge with his attendance on the throne ; the bar for the prisoners , and the rebels all standing with gastly jaws , to look for what comes after : presently the books are brought forth , to wit , the books both of death and life . and every one of them opened before the sinners , now to be judged and condemned . for after that he had said before , dan. 7. 10. a fiery stream issued , and came ●orth from before him : he adds , thousands , thousands ministred to him , and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him : the judgement was set , and the books was opened . and again , i saw a great white throne , and him that sate upon it , from whose face , the earth and the heaven fled away , and there was found no more place for them ; and i saw the dead , small and great , stand before god , and the books were opened : and another book were opened , which is the book of life . and the dead were judged out of the things that were written in the books , according to their works . rev. 20. 11 , 12. he doth not say , the book was opened , as of one , but the books , as of many . and indeed , they are more than one , two , or three , out of which the dead shall in the judgement , be proceeded against . first then , there is the book of the creatures to be opened . secondly , the book of gods remembrance . thirdly , the book of the law. and fourthly , the book of life . for by every one of these , that is , out of what is written in them , shall the world of the ungodly be judged . and the books were opened . first , the book of the creatures shall be opened , and that first it concerns mans nature , and next , as it relates to all other creatures . first , he will shew in what the principles if nature were , as they were gods creation ; and how contrary to these principles , the world have walked , acted , and done . the principles of nature are concluded under these three generall heads . first , that man by his own natural reason and judgement , may gather , that there is a god , a deity , a chief , or first , or principal being , who is over all , and supreme above all . this instinct , i say , man meerly as he is rational creature , findeth in himself ; and hence it is , that all heathens that mind their own natural reason , do conclude , that we are his off-spring ; that is , his creation and wormanship . that he made heaven and earth , and hath made of one blood , all nations of men ; that in him we live , and move , and have our being , &c. acts 17. 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28. it appears further , that man by his own nature , doth know that there is such a god. 1. by his being able to judge by nature , that there is such a thing as sin , as christ saith , why do ye not even of your selves , judge that which is right , as if he had said , you are degenerated even from the principles of nature , and right reason ; as paul saith in another place , doth not even nature it self teach you , luke 12. 57. 1 cor. 11. 14. now he that can judge , that there is such a thing as sin , it must of necessity be , that he understandeth that there is a god , to whom sin is opposite ; for if there be no god , there is no sin against him , and he that knowes not the one , knowes not the other . 2. it is evident further , that man by nature , knowes that there is a god , by those fits of fear , and dread that is often begotten in themselves , even in every man that breatheth in this world ; for they are by their own consciences , and thoughts , convicted and reproved , judged and condemned , though they know neither moses , nor christ. for the gentiles which have not the law , these are a law to themselves , and shew the works of the law , written in their hearts . rom. 2. 14 , 15. that is , by this very thing , they hold forth to all men , that god created them in that state and quality , that they might , in , and by their own nature , judge , and know , that there is a god. and it further sheweth it self , saith he , by those workings of heart , convictions of conscience , and accusations , that every thought maketh within them , together with the fear that is begotten in them , when they transgress , or do those things that are irrational , or contrary to what they see they shall do . i might add further , that the natural proneness that is in all men , to devotion and religion , that is , of one kind or another , doth clearly tell us , that they by the book of nature , which book is themselves , do read , that there is one great and eternall god. secondly , the second principle of nature is , that this god should by man be sought after , that they might injoy communion with him for ever . as i said before , the light of nature sheweth man , that there is a great god , even god that made the world ; and the end of its shewing him this is , that they might seek the lord , if happily they may feel after him , and find him , though he be not far from every one of them , &c. acts 17. 26 , 27. thirdly , this light of nature teache●● , that men between themselves , should do that which is just and equall . as moses said , and that long before the law was given , acts 7. 26. exod. 2. 13. sirs , ye are brethren , why do ye wrong one another ? as who should say , you are of equall creation , you are the same flesh ; you both judge , that it is not equally done of any , to do you wrong , and therefore ought to judge by the same reason , that ye ought not to wrong one another . now against every one of these three principles , hath every man in the whole world transgressed , as paul saith ; for both jews and gentiles , are all under sin . rom. 3. 9. for as touching the first , who is he that hath honoured , reverenced , worshipped , and adored the living god , to the heighth , both of what they saw in him , and also according to the goodness and mercy they have as men , received from him . rom. 1. 25. all have served , and worshipped the creature , more then the creator , who is blessed for ever and so have walkt contrary to , and have sinned against this bond of nature , in this first principle of it . secondly , men instead of minding their own future happiness , as nature teacheth , they have , through their giving way to sin and satan , minded nothing less ; for though reason teacheth all men to love that which is good and profitable , yet they contrary to this , have loved that which is hurtfull , and destructive . yea , though sense teacheth , to avoid the danger that is manifest : yet man , contrary to reason and sense both , even all men , have both against light and feeling , rejected their own happiness , as paul saith , though they kn●w the judgements of god , that they which do such things , are worthy of death : not onely do the same , but take pleasure in them that do them . rom. 1. 33. thirdly , man instead of doing equity , and as he would be done by , which nature it self teacheth : he hath given up himself to vile affections , being filled , by refusing the dictates of nature , with all unrighteousness , fornication , wickedness , covetousness , maliciousness , envy , murder , debate , deceit , malignity , whispering , backbiting : to hate god , to be dispiteful , proud , bosters , inventors of evill things , disobedient to parents , without understanding , covenant-breakers , without naturall affections , implacable , unmerciful . rom. 1. 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32. and observe it , he doth not say , that all these things are by every man , put into practice ; but every man hath all these in his heart , which there defile the soul , and make it abominable in the sight of god. they are filled with all unrighteousness , which also appears , as occasion serveth , sometimes one of them , sometimes more . now man having sinned against that natural light , judgement , reason , and conscience , that god hath given him : therefore , though as i said before , he neither knew moses nor christ , yet he shall perish ; as many , saith paul , as have sinned without law , they shall perish without law. rom. 2. 12. yea , here will man be found , not onely a sinner against god , but an ( 2 tim. 12. 25. ) opposer of himself , a contradictor of his own nature , and one that will not do that which he judgeth even of himself to be right . their sin is written upon the tables of their own heart , and their own wickedness and back-sliding , shall both correct , and reprove them . jer. 17. 1. jer. 2. 19. it is marvellous , ( if we consider ) how curious a creature man was made of god : to behold how much below , besides and against that state and place , man acts and does in this state of sin and degeneracy . man in his creation , was made in the image of god , gen. 1. 26. but man , by reason of his yielding to the tempter , hath made himself the very figure and image of the devil . man by creation was made upright , and sinless ; but man by sin , hath made himself crooked and sinful . eccless . 7. 29. man by creation , had all the faculties of his soul at liberty to study god , his creator , and his glorious attributes and being ; but man by sin , hath so bound up his own senses and reason , and hath given way for blindness and ignorance of god , so to reign in his soul , that now he is captivated , and held bound in alienation and estrangedness , both from god , and all things truly spiritually good ; because , saith he , that when they knew god , they glorified him not as god , but became vain in their imaginations , and their foolish he arts were darkened . and again , having the understanding darkened , being alienated from the life of god , through the ignorance that is in them , through the blindness of their hearts . rom. 1. 21. ephef . 4. 18. now for this abuse of the workmanship of god , shall man be brought forth to the judgement , shall be convicted , cast , and condemned as a rebel , against both god , and his own soul , as paul affirmeth , and that when he reasoned but as a man. rom. 3. 5 , 6. when this part of the book touching mans nature , is opened , and man convicted and caft by it , by reason of his sinning against the three general principles thereof : then forthwith is the second part of the book opened , which is the mystery of the creatures ; for the whole creation , that is before thee , are not onely made to shew the power of god in themselves ; but also to teach thee , and to preach unto thee , both much of god and thy self ; as also the righteousness , and justice of god against sin ; for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven , against all ungodliness , and unrighteousness of men , who hold the truth in unrighteousness ; because that which may be known of god , is manifest in them ; for god hath shewed it unto them ; for the invisible things of him , from the creation of the world , are clearly seen , being understood by the things that are made , even his eternall power , and god-head : so that they are left without excuse . rom. 1. 18. 19 , 20. the creation then of the world , namely , of the heavens , earth , sun , moon , stars , with all other the creatures of god : they preach aloud to all men , the eternal power and godhead of their creator . psal. 8. 3. in wisdom he hath made them all : to be teachable , and carrying instruction in them : and he that is wise . and will understand these things , even he shall understand the loving kindness of the lord ; for the works of the lord are great , and sought out of all them that have pleasure therein . psal. 104. 24. psal. 107. psal. 111. 2. secondly , as the creation in generall , preacheth to every man something of god : so they do hold forth , how man should behave himself both to god , and one to another ; and will assuredly come in , in the judgement , against all those that shall be found crossers , and to thwarters of what god by the creatures doth hold fo●th to us . as first , the obedience of the creatures , both to god and thee ; first to god , they are all in subjection ( set devils and men aside ) even the very dragons , and all deeps , fire , hail , snow , and vapours , fulfilling his word . yea , the winds and seas obey him . psal. 148. 7 , 8. psal. 147. 15 , 16 , 17 , 18. mark 4. 41. thus i say , by their obedience to god , they teach the obedience , and by their obedience , shall thy disobedience be condemned , in the judgement . 2. their obedience to thee also , teacheth thee obedience to all superiours ; for every kind of beasts , and of birds , and serpents , and things in the sea , is tamed , and hath been tamed , and brought into obedience by mankind . man onely remains untamed , and untruly , and therefore by these are condemned . jam. 3. 7 , 8. secondly , the fruitfulness of all the creatures , in their kind , doth teach and admonish thee to a fruitful life to godward , and in the things of his holy word . god did but say in the beginning , let the earth bring forth fruit , grass , herbs , trees , beasts , creeping things , and cattell after their kind ; and it was so . gen. 115. 24. but to man , he hath sent his prophets , rising early , and sending them , saying , o do not this abominable thing that i hate ; but they will not obey . jer. 44. 4 , 5. for if the gentiles which have not the law , do by some acts of obedience , condemn the wickedness of those who do by the letter and circumcision , break the law : how much more shall the fruitfulness of all the creatures come in , in the judgement , against the whole world. as job saith , by the obedience and fruitfulness of the creatures he judgeth , ( and so will judge ) the people . job 36. 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31. thirdly , the knowledge and wisdom of the creatures , do with a check , command thee to be wise , and do teach thee wisdom . 1. the stork in the heaven , the swallow and the crane , by observing the time and season of their coming , do admonish thee to learn the time of grace , and of the mercy of god. jer. 8 , 7. 2. the ox and the ass , by the knowledge they have of their masters crib , do admonish thee to know the bread and table of god , and both do and shall condemn thy ignorance of the food of heaven . isa. 1. 3. fourthly , the labour and coyl of the creatures , doth convict thee of sloath and idleness . go to the ant thou sluggard , consider her wayes , and be wise ; for she provideth her food in the summer , and layeth up against the day of tryall . prov. 6. 6 , 7. but thou spendest the whole summer of thy life , in wasting both time and soul. all things are full of labour , saith solomon , onely man spendeth all the day idle , and his years like a tale that is told . eccles. 1. 8. mat. 20. 6. psal. 90. 9. rom. 10. 21. the cony is but a feeble folk , yet laboureth for a house in the rock , to be safe from the rage of the hunter . the spider also , taketh hold with her hands , and is in kings palaces . 't is man onely , that turneth himself upon the bed of sloath , as the door doth it self upon the hinges : 't is man i say , that will neither lay hold on the rock christ , as the coney doth teach , nor lay hold on the kingdom of heaven , as the spider doth bid him . prov. 30. 26. 28. joh. 5. 40. fifthly , the fear that is in all creatures , when they perceive that danger is near , it teacheth men to fly from the wrath to come , in vain is the snare laid in the sight of any bird ; prov. 1. 17 18. but man , man onely is the fool-hardy creature , that layeth wait for his own blood , and that lurketh privily for his own life . how i say , will every creature flie , run , strive , and struggle , to escape the danger it is sensible of ? 't is man onely , that delighteth to dance about the mouth of hell , and to be knowingly smitted with satans snare . rom. 1. 33. sixthly , the dependence that all the creatures have upon god : they teach thee to depend on him that made thee ; yea , and will in the judgement condemn thee for thy unlawful practices , and dealings for thy preservation . the young ravens seek their food from god , and will condemn thy lying , cheating over-reaching , defrauding , and the like : they provide neither store-house , nor barn ; but th● art so greedy of these things , that thou for them shuttest thy self out of the kingdom of heaven . psal. 147. 9. job 38. 41. luk. 12. 24. prov. 17. 16. seventhly , the love and pitty that is in their hearts to their young , and one another : will judge and condemn the hard-heartedness that is in thee to thy own soul. what shall i say , the heavens shall reveal thy iniquity , and the earth shall rise up against thee . job 20. 27. that is , all the creatures of god , they will by their fruitfulness and subjection to the will of their creator , judge and condemn thee for thy disobedience , and rebellion against him . now as these creatures do every day call unto thee , and lay before thee these things : so he hath for thy awakening , in case thou be asleep , and senseless , creatures of another nature , as 1. thy bed when thou lyest down in it , preacheth to thee thy grave ; thy sleep , thy death , and thy rising in the morning , thy resurrection to judgement . job 14. 12. job 17. 13. isa. 26. 19. 2. the goal that thou seest with thy eyes , and the felons that look out at the grate , they put thee in mind of the prison of hell , and of the dreadful state of those that are there . luke 12. 58 , 59. 3. the fire that burns in thy chimney , it holds forth the fire to hell unto thee . isa. 10. 16. rev. 20. 14. 4. the ugly smell , stench , and steam , of the burning brimstone , it shews thee the loathsom , odious , and dreadful torments of hell. rev. 19 , 20. 5. the darkness of the night in solitary places , and the fears that do commonly haunt those that walk therein : it preacheth to thee the fears and frights , the scares and amazements , that will for ever attend all damned souls . matth. 8. 12. deut. 28. 65 , 66 , 6. 7. 6. by thy delighting , when thou art cold , to lay sticks on the fire to warm thy self , not caring how fiercely they flame therein , so thou canst be warm , and be refreshed thereby : by this i say , god preacheth to thee , with what delight he will burn sinners in the flames of hell , for the easing of his mind , and the satisfaction of his justice . ah! saith he , i will ease me of my adversaries , and avenge me of mine enemies . isa. 1. 24. 7. yea , by thy blowing the fire , that it may fasten upon the wood the better : thou preachest to thy self , how god will blow the fire of hell by the rigour of his law , to the end , it may be its flames , to purpose , kindle upon damned sinners . isa. 3. 33. all these things , as inconsiderable and unlikely as they may appear to you now , yet in the judgement will be found the items , and warning words of god to your souls . and know , that he who could overthrow the land of egypt , with frogs , lice , flies , locusts , &c. will overthrow the world , at the last day , by the book of the creatures ; and that by the least , and most inconsiderable of them , as well as by the rest . this book of the creatures , it is so excellent , and so full , so easie , and so suiting the capacity of all , that there is not one man in the world , but is catched , convicted , and cast by it . this is the book , that he who knows no letters , may read in : yea , and that he who neither saw new testament , nor old , may know both much of god , and himself , by . 't is this book , out of which generally , both job and his friends did so profoundly discourse of the judgements of god , and that out of which god himself did so convincingly answer job . job was as perfect in this book , as we are , many of us in the scriptures , yea , and could see further by it , then many now a dayes do see by the new testament and old . this is the book out of which , both christ , the prophets , and apostles , do so frequently discourse by their similitudes , proverbs , and parables : as being the most easie way to convince the world , though by reason of their ignorance , nothing will work with them , but what is set on their heart by the holy ghost . one word further , and i have done with this , and that is , god hath sealed the judgement of the world by the book of the creatures , even by mans own carriage unto such of them , which , through any impediment , have disappointed his expectations . as thus , if thou hast but a tree in thy orchard , that neither beareth fruit , nor ought else that is good : why thou art for hewing it down , and for appointing it , as fewel for the fire : now thou little thinkest , that by thy thus judging , thou shouldest passe sentence upon thy own fruitless soul ; but it is so , for now is the ax laid to the roots of the trees , and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit , is hewen down , and cast into the fire . for as truly as thou sayest of thy fruitless tree , cut it down , why doth it cumbet the ground ? so truly doth thy voyce cause heaven to eccho again upon thy head : cut him down , why doth he cumber the ground ? mat. 3. 10. luk. 13. 6 , 7 , 8. ezek. 15. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. further , the inclination of thy heart towards fruitless and unprofitable creatures , doth fore-preach to thee , the inclination of the heart of god towards thee in the judgement : if thou hast either cow , or any other beast , that is now unprofitable to thee , though thou mayst suffer them for some time , to be with thee , as god suffereth sinners in the world , yet all this while , thy heart is not with them ; but thou wilt take thy time to clear thy hands of them . why , just so shall thy judgement be , as god saith , though moses and samuel stood before me , that is , to pray me to spare this people , yet my heart could not be towards them , therefore cast them out of my sight , and let them go forth . jer. 15. 1. ezek. 14. 13 , 14. thus i say , will god judge the world at the last day ; he will open before them , how they have degenerated and gone back from the principles of nature , in which he created them . also how they have slighted all the instructions that he hath given them , even by the obedience , fruitfulness , wisdom , labour , fear , and love of the creatures ; and he will tell them , that as to their judgement , they themselves have decided it , both by their cutting down that which was fruitless , and by the withdrawing of their hearts from those things , which to them were unprofitable , as therefore the tar●s are gathered , and burned in the fire , so shall it be in the end of this world. as men deal with weeds , and rotten wood : so will god deal with sinners in the day of judgement : and will bring in , i say , all the counsels and warnings he hath given men by these things , both to clear up , and to agravate their judgement to them . the second book that will be opened at this day , it will be the book of gods remembrance . mal. 3. 16. for as god hath in his remembrance , recorded all and every particular good thing that his own people hath done to , and for his name , while they were in this world : so he hath in his remembrance , recorded all the evill and sin of his adversaries ; even every thing . eccles. 12. 14. now gods remembrance is so perfect every way , that it is impossible , that any thing should be lost , that is committed to it to be kept , and brought forth to the judgement at the time appointed ; for as a thousand years are but as yesterday , with his eternity : so the sins that have been committed thousands of years since , they are all so firmly fixed in the remembrance of the eternal god , that they are always as fresh and clear in his sight , as if they were but just now in committing . he calleth again the things that are past , eccles. 3. 15. and hath set our most securest things in the light of his countenance , psal. 90. 8. as he also saith in another place , hell it self is naked before him , and destruction hath no covering . job 26. 6. that is the most secret , cunning , and hidden contrivances of the most subtle of the infernal spirits , which yet are far more slethy , then men , to hide their wickedness ; yet , i say , all their wayes , hearts , and most secret doings , are clear , to the very bottom of them , in the eyes of the great god. all things are open and bare , before the eyes of him with whom we have to do : who will bring to light , the hidden things of darkness , and will make manifest the counsels of the heart . heb. 4. 13. 1 cor. 4 , 5. ye that say , the lord shall not see , neither shall the god of jacob regard it . understand , o ye bruitish among the people , and ye fools , when will ye be wise ? he that planted the ear , shall not he hear ? he that formed the eye , shall not he see ? he that chasteneth the heathen , shall not he correct ? he that teacheth man knowledge , shall not he know ? psal. 94. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. see also , hos. 7. 2. & 8. 13. can any hide himself in secret places , that i should not see him ? that is , when he is committing wickedness , saith the lord , do not i fill heaven and earth , saith the lord ? jer. 23. 24. now to know and see things , it is the cause among men , of their remembrance . wherefore , god to shew us , that he will remember all our sins , if we die out of christ , he tells us , that he knoweth , and seeth them all , and therefore must needs remember them ; for as is his sight and knowledge , so is his remembrance of all things . when this book of his remembrance therefore is opened , as it shall be , in the judgement : then shall be brought forth of their hidden holes , all things , whatsoever hath been done since the world began , whether by kingdoms in general , or persons in particular . now also shall be brought forth to open view , all the transactions of god and his son , among the sons of men , and every thing shall be applyed to every particular person , in equity and justice , to whom they belong : the sins that thou hast committed shall be thy own , and thou thy self shall bear them . the lord is a god of knowledge , and by him actions are weighed . it will be marvellous to behold , how by thousands , and ten thousands , god will call from their secret places , those sins , that one would have thought , had been dead , and buried , and forgotten ; yea , how he will shew before the sun , such things , so base , and so horrid , that one would think , it was not in the hearts of any to commit ; for all is recorded in the book of gods remembrance . while men are here , they have a thousand tricks to present themselves one to another , far more fair , and honest then they are , or ever were . as christ said to the pharisees , ye are they , who justifie your selves before men , but god knoweth your hearts , luk. 16. 15. i , god knoweth indeed , what a nest , what a heap , what swarms ; yea , what legions of hellish wickednesses , there is with power lurking , like cockatrices , in those men , that one would swear a thousand times , are good and honest men . the way of men in their sins , it is like an eagle in the air , a serpent upon the rock , a ship in the midst of the sea , and of a young man with a maid : saith solomon , prov. 30. 19 , 20. that is , hiddenly , closely , covertly , burying all under fair pretences , wipeth their mouths in the close of their evill , saying , i have done wickedness . but this , though it may serve for the time present , and no longer , god will not be deluded , nor blinded , nor mocked , nor put off . gal. 6. 7. they consider not that i remember all their wickedness , saith he , but i will reprove thee , and will set them in order before thine eyes . hos. 7. 2. psal. 50. 21. here will be laid open , the very heart of cain the murderer , of judas the traytor , of saul the adversary of david , and of those that under pretences of holiness , have persecuted christ , his word and people . now shall every drunkard , whoremaster , thief , and other wicked person , be turned , their inside outward ; their hearts right open , and every sin , with every circumstance of place , time , person with whom , with the causes also that drew them to the commission of every evill , be discovered to all . here will be no hiding your selves behind curtains , nor no covering your selves with the black and dark night . if i say , surely the darkness shall cover me , even the night shall be light about me ; yea , ( o god ) darkness hideth not from thee , but the night shineth as the day , the darkness and light are both alike unto thee . psal. 139. 11 , 12. the piercing eye of god , beholds all places , persons , and things ; the holy hand of his justice writeth them down in the book of his remembrance ; and by his power , and wisdom , will he open and read to all men exactly , distinctly , and convincingly , whatever hath passed from them , or bin done by them in their whole life ; for , for all these things , god will bring thee into judgement . eccles. 11. 9. again , as god will bring out of the book of his remembrance , what ever hath passed from thee , against him : so also will he then bring forth by the same book , all things and carriages of his towards thee . here will he bring to thy mind , every sermon thou hast heard , every chapter thou hast read ; every conviction thou hast had on thy conscience : and every admonition that hath been given thee in all thy life , when thou wast in the land of the living . now will god lay open before thee , what patience he extended to thee , how he let thee l●ve one year , two years , ten , yea twenty and twenty years , and all to try thee . yea , now also will he bring to thy view , how many times he warned , rebuked , threatned , and chastised thee for thy wickedness ; how many awakening providences and judgements he continually laid before thy face ; yea , how many a time , thou didst like balaam , run upon the point of the sword of justice , and how he gave back , as being loath to kill thee . numb . 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33. now also again , shall be brought before thee and all men , how many struglings god had with thy heart , on thy sick bed , to do thee good ; yea , and at such times , how many vowes , promises , ingagements , and resolutions , thou madest before god , to turn , if he would release thee from thy affliction , and take off his rod from thy back : mar. 5. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ▪ 5. and yet how thou didst like the man possessed , break , and snap in twain all these chains of iron , with which thou hadst bound thy soul ; and that for a very lust and sin . here also , will be opened before thee , how often thou hast sinned against thy light and knowledge ; how often thou hast laid violent hands on thy own conscience ; how often thou hast laboured to put out that light that hath stood in thy way , to hinder thee from sinning against thy soul. ah lord , what a condition will the christless soul be in at this day ? how will every one of these things afflict the damned soul ? they will pierce like arrows , and bite like serpents , and sting like an adder . with what shame , will that man stand before the judgement seat of christ , who must have all things he hath done against god , to provoke the eyes of his glory to jealousie : laid open before the whole host of the heavenly train ! it would make a man blush , to have his pockets searched , for things that are stolen , in the midst of a market , especially , if he stand upon his reputation and honour . but thou must have thy heart searched , the bottom of thy heart searched ; and that , i say , before thy neighbour , whom thou hast wronged , and before the devills , whom thou hast served ; yea , before god , whom thou hast despised , and before the angels , those holy and delicate creatures , whose holy and chast faces , will scarce forbear blushing , while god is making thee vomit up , all thou hast swallowed ; for god shall bring it out of thy belly . job . 20. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. for as for god to forget iniquity , is one of the chief heads of the covenant of grace , and is an argument of the highest nature , to beget , and to continue consolation in the godly : so the remembrance of iniquity , by the lord , it is one of the heaviest loads , and judgements that can befall any poor creature . lord , saith the prophet , remember not against us , former iniquities . and again , if thou lord , shouldest mark iniquity , o lord , who shall stand ? psal. 130. 3. and the reason is , because , that which the lord forgetteth , is forgiven for ever ; but that which he remembreth , it is charged for ever , and nothing can take it away . heb. 8. 12. rom. 4. 6 , 7 , 8. though thou wash thee with nitre , and take thee much soap , yet thine iniquity is marked before me , saith the lord god. jer. 2 , 22. the third book that will at this day be opened , and out of which god will judge the world : it is the book of the law , or ten words given forth on the mount sinai , but this book will more specially concern those that have received it , or that have had knowledge thereof . every one shall not be judged by this book , as there delivered , though they shall be judged by the works of it , which are written in their hearts . rom. 2. 14. as many as have sinned without law , shall perish without law , and they that have sinned in the law , shall be judged by the law. rom. 2. 12. that is , the heathens that never knew the law , as delivered on sinai , they shall be judged by the law , as it was written in mans heart in his creation , ( which is comprised within the book of the creatures ; ) but those that have knowledge of the law , as delivered on sinai : they shall be judged by the law as there given . now then , this book when it is opened , at the day of judgement , it will , to those to whom it especially relates , be a most terrible law , far surpassing the two afore-mentioned . this law , as i may so say , it is the chief , and most pure resemblance of the justice and holiness of the heavenly majesty , and doth hold forth to all men , the sharpness and keenness of his wrath ' above the other two that i have before mentioned . i say , both because it hath been delivered more plain and open , both as to the duty injoyned , and the sin prohibited ; and therefore must of necessity , fall with the more violence upon the head of all that shall be found within the compass of it . this law , it hath in it to be opened at this day , these two general heads . first , a discovery of the evill of sin , that is so , against plain light and truth . and secondly , a discovery of the vanity of all things , that will at this day be brought by sinners , for their help and plea at the judgement . alas , who can but imagine , that the poor world , at the day of their arraignment , should muster up all that ever they can think of , as arguments to shelter them from the execution of that fierce wrath , that then with sinking souls , they will see prepared for them . as to the first of these , the apostle tells us , that the law was added , that the offence might aboun● , or be discovered what it is . as he saith again , i had not known sin but by the law. rom. 5. 20. rom. 7. 7. rom. 7. 13. thus it is in this life , and thus it will be in the day of judgement , that is , those that see sin , and that in its abounding nature , and in its exceeding sinfulness , they must see it by the law , for that is indeed , the glass by which god discovereth sin . jam. 1. 22 , 23 , 24 , 25. and the filthy spots of leprosie , that is in the soul. now those that have not the happiness to see their sin by the law in this life , while there is a fountain of grace to wash in , and be clean : they must have the misery to see it at the judgement , when nothing is left but misery , and pain , as the punishment for the same . at which day , those little titles of this holy law , that now men so easily look over , and sin against with ease , they will every one of them appear with such dread , and with such flaming justice against every offence committed : that if heaven and earth it self , should step in to shelter the sinner from the justice and wrath due to sin , it would turn them up by the roots . it is easier for heaven and earth to passe away , then for one tittle of the law to fail . luke 16. 17. if there appeared such flames , such thunderings , and tempests , as there were at the giving of the law : what flames and blackness will there appear at the execution thereof ; and if at the giving of the law , there appeared so much holiness and justice , that it made all israel flie ; yea , holy moses exceedingly fear and quake : what will become of these that god shall judge by the rigour of this law in the day of judgement ? exod. 19. 16. heb. 11. 21. o what thunderings and lightnings , what earthquakes and tempests , will there be in every damned soul , at the opening of this book ? then indeed , will god visit them with thunder , and earthquake , and great noyse : with storm and tempest , and the flame of a devouring fire . for behold , saith the prophet , the lord will come with fire , and with his chariots , like a whirl-wind , to render his anger with fury ; and his rebukes with flames of fire . isa. 29. 6. isa. 66. 15. the lord will come with fire , that is , in the flaming heat of his justice and holiness against sin , and sinners , to execute the rigour of his threatnings upon their perishing souls . secondly , the second general head , that is contained in this law , to be opened at this day , is its exactness , and purity , and strictness as to all acts of good that any poor creature hath done in this life , whereby he in the judgement will think to shelter , or secure himself from the wrath of god. this is the rule , and line , and plummet , whereby every act of every man , shall be measured ; and he whose righteousness is not found every way answerable to this law , which all will fall short of , but they that have the righteousness of god by faith in jesus christ : he must perish , as he saith , rom. 3. 21. 22. judgement also will i lay to the line , and righteousness will i lay to the plummet , and the ha●l shall sweep away the refuge of lies , and the water shall overflow the hiding places . isa. 28. 17 , 18. that is , though men may now shelter themselves under legall repentance , cold profession , good meaning , thinkings , and doings : yet all these things must be measured , and weighed in the ballance of gods most righteous law : and as i said , whatever in that day , is not found the righteousness of god , it will be found a re●uge of lies , and will be drowned by the over-flowing of the wrath of god , as the waters of noah over-flowed the world. mal. 4. 1. and hence it is , that all the ungodly will at this day , be found as stubble , and the law as fire . as it saith , from his right hand went a fiery law. and again , his lips are full of indignation , and his tongue as a devouring fire . deut. 33 , 2 : isa. 30. 27. for as fire , where it se●zeth , doth burn , eat , destroy , devoure and consume : so will the law , all those that at this day , shall be found under the transgressio● of the least tittle of it . it will be with the●● souls at the day of judgement , as it is wit● those countries that are over-run with mo●● merciless conquerours , who leave not any thing behind them , but swallow up all with fire and sword . for by fire , and by his sword , will the lord plead with all flesh , and the slain of the lord shall be many . isa. 66. 16. there are two things at the day of judgement , will meet in their height and utmost strength , and they are sin and the law ; for the judgement will not be , till the iniquity of the world be full ripe . joel . 3. 13. rev. 14. 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. now then , when sin is come to its full , having plaid all its pranks , and done all the mischief it can against the lord of glory : then god brings forth the law , his holy and righteous law , one of which will now reign for ever , that is , either the law or sin : wherefore sin and sinners , they must tremble with all that help , and hold them up ; for god will magnifie the law , and make it honourable . isa. 42. 21. that is , will give it the victory over the world for ever ; for that is holy , just , and good : they are unholy , unjust , and bad . therefore by this law , will the lord rain snares , fire and brimstone , and a horrible tempest , this shall be the potion of their cup. psal. 11. 5 , 6. let no man say then , that because god is so famous in his mercy and patience , in this day of his grace , that therefore he will not be fierce , and dreadful in his justice , in the day of judgement ; for judgement and justice , is the last thing that god intends to bring upon the stage , which will then be to the full , as terrible , as now his goodness and patience , and long sufferance , is admirable . lord , who knoweth the power of thine anger ? even according to thy fear , so is thy wrath . psal. 90. 11. you may see , if you will , a few of the sparks of the justice of god ▪ against sin and sinners : by his casting off angels for sin , from heaven to hell ; by his drowning the old world ; by his burning of sodom , and gomorah , to ashes ; condemning them with an overthrow , making them an example to those that after should live ungodly . 2 pet. 2. 4 , 5 , 6. jude 6. 7. for whatsoever the law saith , it saith it to them that are under the law , that every mouth may be stopped , and all the world become guilty before god. rom. 3. 19. moses seems to wonder , that the children of israel could continue to live , when they did but hear the law delivered on the mountain , did ever people , saith he , hear the lord speak out of the midst of the fire , as thou hast done , and live . deut. 4. 73. o that ye did but know the law , and the wonderous things that are written therein , before the lord cause that fearful voyce to be heard , cursed is every one , that continueth not in every thing that is written in the book of the law to do them : which curse must fall on all that walk not in all the commandements of god , without iniquity , which none do , i say , but they that walk in christ , who hath alone fulfilled them all . gal. 3. 10. ezek. 33. 15. col. 2. 10. the law is that which standeth at the entrance of the paradice of god , as a flaming sword turning every way to keep out those that are not righteous with the righteousness of god ; that have not skill to come to the throne of grace by that new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil ; that is to say , his flesh , gen. 3. 24. heb. 1. 19 , 20. for though this law , i say , be taken away by christ jesus , for all that truly and savingly believe ; yet it remains in full force and power in every tittle of it , against every soul of man , that now shall be found in his tabernacle ; that is , in himself , and out of the lord jesus , col. 2. 14. rom. 3. 19. job 18. 14. it lyeth , i say , like a lyon rampant at the gates of heaven , and will roar upon every unconverted soul , fiercely accusing every one , that now would gladly enter in through the gates into this city , joh. 5. 45. so then , he that can answer all its most perfect and legal commands , and that can live in the midst of devouring fire , and there injoy god and solace himself ; he shall dwell on high and shall not be hurt by this law , his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks ; bread shall be given him , and his waters shall be sure ; thine eyes shall behold the king in his beauty , they shall see the land that is very far off , isa. 33. 14. 15 ▪ 16 , 17. blessed then is he whose righteousness doth answer every point of the law of god , according to 1 cor. 1. 30. he shall be able to escape all those things that shall come to pass , and to stand before the son of man ; for in himself , ou● god is a consuming fire , and man out of christ , is but as stubble , chaff , thorns , briers , and fuel for the wrath of this holy and sinner-consuming god to seize upon for ever . nah. 1. 6. heb. 12. 29. mala. 4. 1. mat. 3. 12. heb. 6. 7 , 8. isa. 27. 4. 2 sam. 23. 6 , 7. who can stand before his indignation ? who can abide the fierceness of his anger ? his fury is poured ou● like fire , and the rocks are thrown down by him . now when these three books are thus opened , there will without doubt , be sad throbbing and pricking , in every heart that now stands for his life , before the judgement-seat of christ the righteous judge ; and without all question , they will be studying a thousand wayes to evade and shift the stroak , that by the sin that these three books do charge them with , will immediately fall upon them . but now to cut off all these at a blow , forthwith appear the witnesses , who are ready to evince , and make full , and soul-killing proof of every particular charged against them . and the first is , god himself . i , saith he , will be a swift witness against the sorcerers , and against the adulterers , and against false swearers , and against those that oppress the hireling of his wages ; the widow and the fatherless , and that turn aside the stranger from his right , and that feareth not me , saith the lord. mal. 3. 5. this must needs be of great sway with every soul , that god should now come in . i will witness , saith god , that these things of which you are accused before the judge , is true . i h●ve seen all ▪ know all , and writ down all . there hath not been a thought in your heart , nor a wo●d in your tongue , but i have known it altogether , all things have alwayes bin open , and naked to my eye . yea , my eye-lids try the children of men . i have known your down-sitting , and your up-rising ; and have understood your th●ughts a far off ▪ i have compassed your path , and am well acquainted with all your wayes . heb. 4. 13. psal. 11. 4. psal. 139. 1 , 2 3 , 4. 1. you have not continued in that state of nature in which i did at first create you : eccles. 7. 29. you have not liked to retain that knowledge and understanding of god , that you had , and might have had , by the very book of the creatures , rom. 1. you gave way ●o the suggestions of fallen angels , and so your foolish ●earts were darkned and alienated , and estranged from god. 2. all the creatures that were in the world , have even condemned you , they have been fruitful , but you fruitless ; they have been fearfull of danger , but you fool-hardy ; they have taken the fittest opportunity for their own preservation , but th●● 〈◊〉 both blindly , and confidently gone on to thy punishment . prov. 22. 3. 3. touching the book of my remembrance , who can contradict it ? do not i fill heaven and earth , saith the lord ? was not i in all places to behold , to see , and to observe thee in all thy ways ? my eye s●w the thief , and the adulterer , and i heard every lye and oath of the wicked . i saw the hypocrisie of the dissembler . they have committed villany in israel , and have committed adultery with their neighbours wives , and have spoken lying words in my name , which i have not commanded them , even i know , and am a witness , saith the lord. jer. 29. 23. 4. god will also come in against them for their transgressing his law , even the law which he delivered on mount sinai , he will , i say , open every tittle thereof in such order , and truth : and apply the breach of each particular person with such con●●●●g argument , that they will fall down silenced for ever . every mouth shall be stopped , and all the world shall become guilty before god. secondly , there is yet another w●●●●s , for the condemning the transgressors of these laws , and that is , conscience : their consciences also beating witness , saith 〈◊〉 apostle , rom. 2. 14 , 15. conscience is a 〈◊〉 witnesses . conscience , it will cry , amen , to every word that the great god doth speak against thee . conscience is a terrible accuser , it will hold pace with the witness of god , as to the truth of evidence , to a hairs bredth . the witnesses of conscience , it is of great authority , it commands guilt , and fastneth it on every soul which it accuseth . and hence it is said , if our hearts or conscience condemn us . 1 joh. 3. 20. conscience will thunder and lighten at this day ; even the consciences of the most pagan sinners in the world , will have sufficiently wherewith to accuse , to condemn , and to make paleness appear in their faces , and breaking in their loins , by reason of the force of its conviction . o the mire and dirt , that a guilty conscience , when it is forced to speak , will cast up , and throw out before the judgment-seat ! it must out , none can speak peace , nor health , to that man upon whom god hath let loose his own conscience , cain will now cry , my punishment is greater then i can bear , judas will hang himself ; and both belshazzer and felix will feel the joynts of their loins to be loosened , and their knees to smite one against another , when conscience stirreth . gen. 4. 13. mat. 27. 3. dan. 5. 6. acts 24. 23. when conscience is once thorowly awakened , as it shall be before the judgment-seat : god need say no more to the sinner , then solomon said to filthy shimei , thou knowest all the wickedness that thy heart is privy to . 1 king. 2. 44. as who should say , thy conscience knoweth , and can well inform thee of all the evill , and sin that thou art guilty of . to all which it answereth , even as face answereth to face in a glass ; or as an eccho answereth the man that speaketh , as fa●● i say , as god chargeth conscience will cry out , guilty , guilty ; lord , guilty of all , of every whit , i remember clearly all the crimes thou layest before me . thus i say , will conscience be a witness against the soul , in the day of god. thirdly , as god and conscience , will at this day be most dreadful witnesses against the sinful man at this day : so also will those severall thoughts that have passed through mans heart , be a witness also against him . as he said before , their conscience also bearing witness , and their thoughts the mean while accusing , or else excusing one another , in the day when god shall judge the secrets of men by jesus christ , according to the gospel . rom. 2. 14 , 15. the thoughts come in as a witness for god against the sinner , upon the account of that unsteddiness and variety that was in them , both touching god , and their own selves . sometimes the man thinks there is no god , but that every thing hath its rise of it self , or by chance , or fortune , the fool hath said in his heart , there is no god. psal. 14. 1. sometimes again , they think there is a god ; but yet they think and imagine of him falsly , thou thoughtest that i was altogether such a one as thy self , saith god , but i will reprove thee . psal. 50. 21. men think , that because they can sin with delight : that therefore god can let them esscape without punishment . nay , oftentimes they think , that god doth either quite forget their wickedness , or else that he will be pleased with such satisfaction as they are pleased to give him , even a few howling prayers , fained and hypocritical tears , and weepings , which passe from them . hos. 7. 14. mal. 2. 13. more for fear of the punishment of hell-fire , then because they have offended so holy , so just , and so glorious a god ; and so loving , and so condescending a jesus . sometimes again , they have had right thoughts of something of god , but not of him together : either thinking so of his justice , as to drive them from him , and also cause them to put him out of their mind : job 21. 14. or else so thinking of his mercy , as that they quite forget his holiness and justice . now both these are but base thoughts of god , and so erronious , and sinful thoughts . sometimes also , they have prety right thoughts of god , both as to justice and mercy , but then through the wretchedness of their unsatisfied nature , they , against this light and knowledge , do with shut eyes , and hardened hearts , rush fiercely , knowingly , and willingly again into their sins and wickedness . heb. 6. 2 , 3 , 4. heb. 10. 26. 2. pet. 2. 20. secondly , as men have these various thoughts of god , so also their thoughts are not steddy about themselves . 1. sometimes they think they are sinners , and therefore they have need of mercy . 2. sometimes again , they think they are righteous , and so have not so much need ; mark , and yet both alike rotten , and base : because , as the last is altogether senseless : so the first is not at all savingly senseable , mark 10. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22. luk. 18. 11 , 12. 3. sometime again , they think they are gods ; that they shall never die , or that if they do die , yet they shall never rise again ; or if they do rise again , yet they shall be saved , though they have lived vilely , and in their sins all the dayes of their life . ezek. 28. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. 1 cor. 15. 12. deut. 29. 18. 12. 20. now i say , every one of these thoughts , with ten thousand more of the like nature , will god bring in against the rebels in the judgment-day . which thoughts , shall every one of them be brought forth in their distinct order . he sheweth to man what is his thought . and again , i know that thou canst do every thing , and that no thought can be hid from thee . amos 4. 13. job . 42. 2. we read , that when the strangers at jerusalem , did but hear the apostle speak to every one of them in their own language , how it amazed and confounded them . acts 2. 6 , 7 , 8. but i say , how will they look , and be amazed , when god shall evidently , clearly , and fully speak out all their hearts , and every thought they have had , before them . now the reason and strength of this witness , will lie here , that god will by the variety and crossness that their thoughts had one to another , and by the contradiction that was in them , prove them sinners and ungodly ; because that i say , sometimes they thought there was a god , sometimes again they thought , there was none . sometimes they thought , that he was such a god , and sometimes again , they thought of him quite contrary ; sometimes they thought he was worth regarding , and sometimes they thought he was not : as also sometimes they thought he would be faithful , both to mercy and justice , and sinners ; and sometimes again , they thought he would not . what greater argument now can there be , to prove men , vanity , froth , a lie , sinners , deluded by the devil , and such as had false apprehensions of god , his waye● , his word , his justice , his holiness , of themselves , their sins , and every action ? now they will indeed appear , a very lump of confusion , a mass of sin , a bundle of ignorance , of atheism , of unbelief , and of all things that should lay them obnoxious to the judgments of god. this will god , i say , by mustering up the thoughts of man , and by shewing of them , that every imagination and thought of their heart was onely evill , and that continually ( by shewing of them what staggering , drunken , wild , and uncomely thoughts they have had , both of him , and of themselves ) convince them , cast them , and condemn them for sinners , and transgressors against the book of creatures , the book of his remembrance , and the book of the law. by the variety of their thoughts , they shall be proved unstable , ignorant , wandring stars , clouds carryed with a tempest , without order or guidance , and taken captive of the devil at his will. now while the wicked are thus standing upon their tryal , and lives before the judgement-seat , and that in the view of heaven and hell ▪ they i say , hearing and seeing such dreadful things , both written and witnessed against every one of them ; and that by such books , and such witnesses , as do not onely talk , but testifie , and that with the whole strength of truth against them : they will then begin , though poorly , and without any advantage , to plead for themselves , which plea will be to this effect . lord , we did find in the scriptures , that thou didst send a saviour into the world , to deliver us from these sins and miseries . we heard this saviour also published , and openly profered to such poor sinners as we are . lord , lord , we also made profession of this saviour , and were many of us frequenters of his holy ordinances . we have eat and drunk in thy presence , and thou hast taught in our streets , lord , we have also some of us , bin preachers our selves , we have prophecied in thy name , and in thy name have we cast out devils , and done many wonderous works : nay lord , we did herd among thy people , we forsook the profain and wicked world ; and carryed our shining lamps before us in the face of all men : lord , lord , open to us . mat. 7. 21 , 22 , 23. luk. 13. 24 , 25 , 26 , 27. mat. 25. 1 , 2. 10 , 11. and all the while they are thus pleading , and speaking for themselves : behold , how earnestly they groan , how gastly they look , and how now the brinish tears flow down like rivers from their eyes , ever re-doubling their petition , lord , lord , lord , lord : first thinking of this thing , and then of that , ever contending , seeking , and striving to enter in at this strait gate . as christ saith , when once the masters of the house is risen up , that is , when christ hath laid aside his mediation for sinners , and hath taken upon him onely to judge and condemn : then will the wicked begin to stand without , and to knock and contend , for a portion among them that are the blessed . ah how will their hearts twitter , while they look upon the kingdom of glory ! and how will they ake and throb at every view of hell , their proper place ! still crying , o that we might inherit life , and o that we might escape eternal death ! but now to take away al● cavils and objections , that of this nature will arise , in the hearts of these men : forthwith the book of life is brought ou● for a conclusion , and a finall end of eternall judgment . as john saith , the books were opened , and another book was opened , which is the book of life , and the dead were judg●● out of those things that were written in the books , according to their works . rev. 20. 12. but this book of life , it is not at this time opened , because there are not any godly to be tryed ; for as i have shewed before , their judgment is past , and over , before the wicked rise . the book of life then , it is now opened for further conviction of damned reprobates , that their mouths may be stoped for ever , as touching all their cavils , contendings and arguments against gods proceeding in judgement with them . for believe it , while god is judging them , they will fall to judging him again , but he will be justified in his sayings , and will overcome when he is judged at this day . rom. 3. 1 , 2 , 3 ▪ 4 , 5 , 6. yet not by a hasty and and angry casting them away , but by a legall and convincing proceeding against them , and overthrowing all their cavils , by his manifest and invincible truth . wherefore , to cut off all that they can say , he will now open the book of life before them , and will shew them what is written therein , both as to election , conversion , and a truly gospel-conversation . and will convince them , that they neither are of the number of his elect , neither were they ever regenerate , neither had they ever a truly gospel-conversation in 〈◊〉 world. by these three things then , out of this book , thou , who art not saved , must at last be judged , and overcome . first , here will be tryed , whether thou art within that part of this book , wherein all the elect are recorded ; for all the elect are written here , as christ saith , rejoyce , that your names are written in heaven ; and again , in thy book , saith he to his father , are all my members written , luk. 10. 20. psal. 139. 16. heb , 12. 22 , 23. now then , if thy name be not found , either among the prophets , apostles , or the rest of saints , thou must be put by , as one that is cast away , as one polluted , and as an abominable branch . isa. 14. 18 , 19. thy name is wanting in the genealogies , and rolls of heaven . ezra 2. 62. thou art not prickt for everlasting life , therefore thou must not be delivered from that soul-amazing misery ; for there are no souls can , though they would give a thousand worlds , be delivered at the day of god , but such that are found written in this book . every one of those that are written , though never a one of those that are not written shall in that day be delivered from the wrath to c●me . dan. 12. 1. but , o methinks , with what careful hearts will ▪ the damned now begin to look for their names in this book ? those that , when once the long suffering of god waited on them , made light of all admonition , and slighted the counsel of making their calling and election sure : would now give thousands of treasures , that they could but spy their names , though last and least among the sons of god ▪ but i say , how will they fail ? how will they faint ? how will they die and languish in their souls ? when they shall still as they look , see their names wanting . what a pinch will it be to cain , to see his brother there recorded , and he himself left out . absalon will now sound , and be as one that giveth up the ghost , when he shall see david his father , and solomon his brother written here , while he with all is written in the earth , among the damned ? thus i say , will sadness be added to sadness , in the soul of the perishing world , when they fail of finding their names in this part of the book of the life of the lamb , slain from the foundation of the world. rev. 13. 8. secondly , the second part of this book , is that in which is recorded , the nature of conversion , of faith , love , &c. and those that have not had the effectual word of god upon them , and the true and saving operation of grace in their hearts , which is indeed the true life which is begun in every christian , they will be found still not written in this book ; for the living , the holy living souls , are they onely that are written therein : as the prophet saith , and he that remaineth in jerusalem , shall be called holy , even every one that is written among the living in jerusalem . isa. 4. 3. eternal life is already in this life , begun in every soul that shall be saved , as christ saith , he that believeth in me , hath everlasting life . and again , who so eateth my flesh , and drinketh my blood , hath eternall life , and i will raise him up at the last day . joh. 6. 54. and hence they a●e called the living ▪ that are written in this book . here then the lord will open before thee , what conversion is , in the true and simple nature of it , which wher thou beholdest , thou wilt then be convinced , that this thou hast mist of ; for it must needs be , that when thou beholdest by the records of heaven , what a change . what a turn ; what an alteration the work of regeneration maketh on every soul , and in every heart , where the effectual call , or the call according to his purpose , is , that thou who hast lived a stranger to this , or that hast contented thy self with the notion onely , or a formal , and feigned profession thereef : i say , it cannot be , but that thou must forthwith fall down , and with grief conclude , that thou hast no share in this part of the book of life neither , the living onely , are written herein . there is not one dead , carnall , wicked man recorded here . no , but when the lord shall at this day make mention of rah●b , of babylon , of philistia , and ethiopia : that is , of all the cursed ●abble and crue of the damned : then he will say , that this man was born there , that is amongst them , and so hath his name where they have theirs ; namely , under the black rod , in the kings black book , where he hath recorded all his enemies and traytors . it shall be said of this man , of this ungodly man , that he was born there . psal. 87. 4. that he lived and dyed in the state of nature , and so under the curse of god , even as others ; for as he said of wicked coniah , jer. 22. 30. write this man childless : so he saith , of every ungodly man that so departeth out of this world , write this man graceless . wherefore , i say , among the babylonians , and phylistians ; among the unbelieving moors and pagans , his name will be found in the day when it will be inquired where every man was born ; for god at this day , will divide the whole world into these two ranks , the children of the world , and the children of zion . wherefore , here is the honour , the priviledge , and advantage that the godly above the wicked , will have at the day of their counting , when the lord maketh mention of zion , it shall be then acknowledged , that this and that ( good ) man was born in her , the lord shall count , saith the prophet , when he wrighteth up the people , that this man was born there . psal. 87. 5 , 6. this man had the work of conversion of faith , and grace i● his soul. this man 〈◊〉 child of zion of the heavenly jerusalem ▪ which is also written in heaven ▪ blessed is the people , that are in such a case gal. 4 ▪ 26 ▪ heb ▪ 12. 22 , 23. psal. 144. 1●● ▪ but poor soul , counters will not go for gold now ; for though so long as thou didst judge thy self by the crooked rule of thy own reason , fancy , and affection , thou wast pure in thy own eyes : yet ●ow th●u must be judged alone , by the words and rule of the lord jesus . which word shall not now , as in times past , be wrested and wrung , both ▪ this way and that to smooth thee up in thy hypocrites hope , and carnall confidence ; but be thou king , or keser , be thou who thou wilt , the word of christ , and that with this interpretation onely , it shall judge thee in the last day . joh. 12. 44. now will sinners begin to cry with loud and bitter cryes , oh! ten thousand worlds for a saving work of grace , crowns and kingdoms for the least measure of saving faith , and for the love , that christ will say , is the love of his own spirit . now they will begin also to see the work of a broken and a contrite spirit , and of walking with god , as living 〈◊〉 , in this world. but alas , these things appear in their hearts , to the damned too late ; as also do all things else . this will be but like the repentance of the thief , about whose neck is the ●alter , and he turning off the ladder ; for the unfortunate hap of the damned will be , that the glory of heavenly things will not appear to them , till out of season . christ must now indeed be shewed to them ; as also the true nature of faith , and all grace ; but it will be , when the door is shut , and mercy gone : they will pray , and repent most earnestly ; but it will be in the time of great waters of the flouds of eternall wrath , when they cannot come nigh him . 1 tim. 6. 15. matth. 25. 10 , 11. psal. 32. 6. well then , tell me sinner , if christ shou●d now come to judge the world , canst thou abide the tryal of the book of life ? art thou confident that thy profession , that thy conversion , thy faith , and all other graces , thou thinkest thou hast , will prove gold , silver , and precious stones in this day ? behold , he comes as a refiners fire , and as full●rs soap , shalt thou indeed abide the melting and washing of this day ? examine , i say , before hand , and try thy self unfeignedly ; for every one that doth ●ruth , cometh to the light , that their deeds may be made manifest , that they are wrought in god. joh. 3. 21. thou sayest thou art a christian , that also thou hast repented , dost believe , and love the lord jesus ; but the question is , whether these things will be found of equall length , heighth , and bredth with the book of life . or whether , when thou art weighed in the ballance , thou wilt yet be found wanting . dan. 5. 27. how , if when thou comest to speak for thy self before god , thou shouldest say siboleth , instead of shiboleth : that is , though almost , yet not rightly , and naturally the language of the christians . judg. 12. 4 ▪ 5 , 6. if thou miss but one letter in thy evidence , thou art gone ; for though thou mayst deceive thy own heart with brass , instead of gold , and with tin instead of silver : gal. 6. 7. yet god will not be so put off . you know how confident the foolish virgins were , and yet how they were deceived . they herded with the saints , they went forth from the gross pollutions of the world , they , every one had shining lamps , and all went forth to meet the bridegroom , and yet they mist the kingdom . they were not written among the living in jerusalem ; they had not the true , powerful , saving work of conversion , of faith , and grace in their souls , they that are foolish , take their lamps , but take no oyl , no saving grace with them . mat. 25. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. thus you see how sinners will be put to it before the judgment-seat , from these two parts of this book of life . but thirdly , there is yet another part of this book to be opened , and that is , that part of it , in which is recorded those noble and christian acts , that they have done since the time of their conversion , and turning to christ. here i say , is recorded the testimony of the saints against sin and antichrist ; their suffering for the sake of god , their love to the members of christ , their patience under the cross , and their faithful frequenting the assemblies of the saints , and their incouraging one another to bear up in his wayes in the worst of times ; even when the proud was called happy , and when they that wrought wickedness were even set up . as he there saith , then they that feared the lord , spake often one to another , and the lord hearkened and heard it , and a book of rememrance was written before him , for them that feared the lord , and that thought upon his name . mat. 3. 14 , 15 , 16. for indeed , as truly as any person hath his name found in the first part of this book of life , and his conversion in the second : so there is a third part , in which there is his noble spiritual and holy actions recorded , and set down . as it is said by the spirit , to john , concerning those that suffered martyrdom for the truth of jesus , write , blessed are the dead that die in the lord , yea saith the spirit , that they may rest from their labours , and their works follow them . rev. 14. 13. and hence it is , that the labours of the saints , and the book of life , are mentioned together , signifying , that the travels , and labours , and acts of the godly , are recorded therein . phil. 4. 3. and hence it is again , that the lord doth tell sardis , that those among them that stood it out to the last gasp , in the faith and love of the gospel , should not be blotted out of the book of life ; but they , with the work of god , on their soul , and their labour for god in this world : should be confessed before his father , and before his angels . rev. 3. 5. this part of this book , is in another place , called , the book of the word of the lord , because in it , i say is recorded those famous acts of the saints , against the world , flesh , and the devil . numb . 21. 14. you find also , how exact the holy ghost is , in recording the travels , pains , labour , and goodness of any of the children of israel , in their journey from egypt to canaan , which was a representation of the travels of the saints , from nature to grace , and from grace to glory . king ahasuerus , kept in his library a book of records , wherein was w●it , the good service that his subjects did for him at any time , which was a type also of the manner and order of heaven . and as sure as ever mordecai , when search was made in the rolls , was found there to have done such and such service for the king , and his kingdom : esth. 6. 1. 2. so surely will it be found , what every saint hath done for god , at the day of inquiry . you find in the old testament also , still as any of the kings of judah dyed , there was surely a record in the book of chronicles , of their memorable acts and doings for their god , the church , and the common-wealth of israel , which still doth further hold forth unto the children of men , this very thing , that all the kings of the new testament , which are the saints of god , have all their acts , and what they have done for their god ▪ &c. recorded in the book of chronicles , in the heavenly jerusalem . now i say , when this part of the book of life shall be opened , what can be found in it , of the good deeds , and heaven-born actions of wicked men ? just nothing ; for as it is not to be expected , that thorns should bring forth grapes , or that thistles should bear as figs : so it cannot be imagined , that ungodly men should have any thing to their commendations , recorded in this part of the book of life . what hast thou done man , for god , in this world ? art thou one of them that hast set thy self against those strong struglings of pride , lust , covetousness , and secret wickedness , that remain in thy heart , like job and paul , job 1. 8 ▪ 2 cor. 10. 4 , 5. 2. and do these struglings against these things , arise from pure love to the lord jesus , or from some legall terrours and conviction for sin ? gal. 5 , 6. 3. doest thou i say , struggle against thy lusts , because thou doest in truth , love the sweet , holy , and blessed leadings of the spirit of the lord jesus , its leadings of thee i say , into his blood and death , for thy justification , and deliverance from wrath to com● phil. 3. 6 , 7 , 8. 2 cor. 5. 14. 4. what acts of self-denyal , hast thou done for the name of the lord jesus , among the sons of men ? i say , what house , what friend , what wife , what children , and the like , hast thou lost , or left , for the word of god , and the testimony of his truth in the world. matth. 19. 27 , 28. revel . 12. 10 , 11. 5. wast thou one of them , that didst sigh , and afflict thy self for the abominations of the times ? and that christ hath marked , and recorded for such a one ? ezek. 9. 3 , 4. zeph. 3. 18. 6. in a word , art thou one of them , that wouldest not be won , by neither fear , frowns , nor flatteries , to forsake the wayes of god , or wrong thy conscience ? or art thou one of them that slightest those opportunities , that satan and this world did often give thee to return to sin in secret . heb. 11. 14 , 15. these be the men whose prayse is in the gospel ; and whose commendable and worthy acts , are recorded before the judge of all the world. alas , alas , these things are strange things to a carnal and wicked man. nothing of this hath bin done by him in this life , and therefore how can any such be recorded for him in the book of life : wherefore he must needs be shut out of this part also . as david saith , let them be blotted out of the book of the living , and not be written with the righteous . psal. 69. 28. thus i say , the wicked will find nothing for their comfort , either in the first part of this book , where all the names of the elect are , neither will they find any thing in the second part thereof , where is recorded the true nature and operation of effectual conversion , of faith , or love , or the like ; and i say , neither can any thing be found in this third part , wherein is recorded the worthy acts , and memorable deeds of the saints of the lord jesus . thus when christ therefore hath opened before them this book of life , and convinced the ungodly at this day out of it ; he will then shut it up again , saying , i find nothing herein that will do you good , you are none of my elect , you are the sons of perdition : for as these things will be found clear and full in the book of life , so they will be found effectually wrought in the hearts of the elect , all whose conversion and perseverance shall now be opened before ●hy eyes , as a witness , i say , of the truth of what thou here seest opened before thee , and also of thy unregenerate estate : now thou wilt see what a turn , what a change , and what a clinging to god , to christ , and his word and wayes ; there was found in the souls of the saved ones ! here shall be seen also how resolvedly , unfeignedly , and heartily the true child of god did oppose , resist , and war against his most dearest and darling lusts and corruptions : now the saints are hidden ones , but then they shall be manifest , this is the morrow in which the lord will shew who are his , and who they are that fear the lord , and who that fear him not , psal. 83. 3. sam. 8. 19. numb . 16. 5. mal. 3. 18. now , you shall see how abraham left his country , how close good lot did stick to god in prophane and wicked sodom ; heb. 11. 8. 2 pet. 2. 7 , 8. mat. 19. 29. how the apostles left all to fo●low jesus christ , and how patiently they took all crosses , afflictions , persecutions , and necessities for the kingdome of heavens s●ke ; how they indured burning , starving , stoning , hanging , and a thousand calamities ; how they manifested their love to their lord , his cause and people in the worst of times , and in the dayes when they were most rejected , slighted , abused , and abased , then shall the king say to them on his right hand ( and that when all the devils and damned sinners stand by ) come ye blessed of my father , inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world ▪ ( you are indeed the truly converted souls , as appears by the grace that was in your hearts ) for i was an hungred , and you gave me meat : ! was thirsty , and you gave me drink : i was a stranger , and ye took me in ; naked , and ye cloathed me ; i was sick , and you visited me ; and in prison , and you came unto me , matth. 25. 34 , 35 , 36. you owned me , stood by me , and denyed your selves to nourish me and my poor members , in our low , and weak , and most despised condition . this , i say , the world shall see , hear , and be witnesses of , against themselves and their souls for ever ; for how can it be , but these poor damned sinners should be forced to confess , that they were both christless and graceless , when they shall find , both in the book of life , and in the hearts of the holy and beloved souls , that which themselves are quite barren of , and greatest strangers to . the saints , by the fruits of regeneration , even in this world , do testify to the world , not only the truth of conversion in themselves , but also that they are yet christless , and so heavenless , and salvationless , that are not converted , 1 tim. 6. 12. 1 thess. 2. 10. 2 tim. 2. 2. but alas , while we are here , they will evade this testimony , both of our happiness , by calling our faith , fantacy ; our communion with god , delusion ; and the sincere profession of his word before the world , hypocrisy , pride , and arrogancy : yet , i say , when they see us on the right hand of christ , commingled among the angels of light , and themselves on his left hand , and commingled with the angels of darkness ; and , i say , when they shall see our hearts and wayes opened before their eyes , and owned by the judg for honest hearts , and good wayes , and yet the same wayes that they hated , slighted , disowned and contemned ; what will they , or what can they say , but thus , we fools counted their lives madness , and their end to be without honour , but how are they numbred with the saints , and owned by god and christ. and truly , was it not that the world might , by seeing the turn that is wrought on the godly at their conversion , be convinced of the evil of their wayes , or be left without excuse the more in the day of god ( with some other reasons ) they should not , i am perswaded , stay so long from heaven as they do , nor undergo so much abuse and hardship as frequently befalls them . god , by the lengthening out the life of his people that are scattered here and there among men in this world , is making work for the day of judgment , and the overthrow of the implacable , for ever and ever , and , as i have said , will by the conversion , life , patience , self-denyal , and heavenly mindedness of his dear children , give them a heavy and most dreadful blow . now when god hath thus laid open the work of grace , both by the boo● of life , and the christians heart ; then , of 〈◊〉 self , will fall to the ground , their pleading what gifts and abilities they had in this world , they will now see that gifts , and grace , are two things ; and also , that whosoever is graceless , let their gifts be never so excellent , they must perish and be lost for ever : wherefore for all their gifts , they shall be found the workers of iniquity , and shall so be judged and condemned , matth. 7. 22 , 23. that is a notable place in the prophecy of ezekiel , thus saith the lord , saith he , if the prince ( the prince of life ) give a gift to any of his sons , that is , to any that are truly gracious , the inheritance , o● the profit that he gets thereby , shall be his sons ; that is , for the exercise of his gift , he shall receive a reward ; but if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants , ( that is not a son ) then it shall be his ( but ) to the year of liberty ▪ after it shall return to the prince , &c. ezek. 46. 16 , 17. this day of liberty , it is now , when the judg is set upon the throne to judgment , even the glorious liberty of the children of god , rom. 8. 21. wherefore then will christ say to them that stand by , take from him the pound , and give it to him that hath ten p●unds , this servant must not abide in the house for ever , though with the son it shall be so , joh. 8. 35. luke 19. 24. a man may be used as a servant in the church of god , and may receive many gifts , and much knowledg of the things of heaven , and yet at last , himself be no more than a very bubble and nothing , 1 cor. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. but now i say , at this day , they shall clearly see the difference between gifts and grace , even as clearly , as now they that have eyes can see the difference between gifts and ignorance , and very foolishness : this our day doth indeed abound with gifts ; many sparkling wits are seen in every corner , men have the word and truths of christ at their fingers ends ; but alas , with many , yea , a great many , there is naught but wits and gifts , they are but words , all their religion lyeth in their tongues and heads , the power of what they say and know , it is seen in others , not in themselves : these are like the lord on whom the king of israel leaned , they shall see the plenty , the blessed plenty that god doth provide , and will bestow upon his church , but they shall not tast thereof , 2 kings 7. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. before i conclude this matter , observe , that among all the objections and cavils that are made , and will be made , by the ungodly , in the day of the lord jesus , they have not one hump abou● election and reprobation , they murmur not at all that they were not predestinated to eternal life ; and the reason is , because then they shall see , though now they are blind , that god could in his prerogative royal , without prejudice to them that are damned , chuse and refuse at pleasure ; and besides , they at that day shall be convinced , that the●e was so much reality , and downright willingness in god , in every tender of grace and mercy , to the worst of men ; and also so much goodness , justness , and reasonableness in every command of the gospel of grace , which they were so often intreated and beseeched to imbrace , that they will be drowned in the conviction of this , that they did refuse love , grace , reason , &c. love , i say , for hatred , grace for sin , and things reasonable , for things unreasonable and vain . now they shall see they left glory for shame , god for the devil , heaven for hell , light for darkness . now they shall see , that though they made themselves beasts , yet god made the● reasonable creatures , and that he did with reason expect that they should have adhered to , and have delighted in , things that are good , and according to god : yea , now they shall see , that though god did not determine to bring them to heaven against their hearts and wills , and the love that they had to their sins : yet then they shall be convinced , that god was far from infusing any thing into their souls , that should in the least hinder , weaken , obstruct , or let them in seeking the welfare of their souls . now men will tattle and prattle at a mad ra●e , about election and reprobation , and conclude , that because all are not elected , therefore god is to blame that any are damned : but then they will see , that they are not damned because they were not elected , but because they sinned , and also that they sinned , not because god put any weakness into their souls , but because they gave way , and that wilfully , knowingly , and desperately , to satan and his suggestions ; and so turned away from the holy commandment delivered unto them ; yea , then they will see , that though god at sometimes did fasten his cords about your heads , and heels , and hands , both by godly education , and smarting convictions : yet you rusht away with violence from all , saying , let us break these bonds asunder , and cast their cords from us . psal. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. god will be justified in his sayings , and clear when he judgeth ; though thy proud ignorance thinks to have , and to multiply , cavills against him , psal. 51. 4. but secondly , as the whole body of the elect , by the nature of conversion in their hearts , shall witness a non-conversion in the hearts of the wicked ; and as the ungodly shall fall under the conviction of this cloud of witnesses . so to increase their conviction , there will also be opened before them all the labours of the godly , both ministers and others , and the pains that they have taken , to save , if it had been possible , these damned wretches ; and now will it come burning hot upon their souls , how often they were forewarned of this day ; now they shall see , that there was never any quarter-sessions , nor general goal-delivery more publickly foretold of , then this day . you know that the judges , before they begin their assizes , do give to the countrey in charge , that they take heed to the laws and statutes of the king : why r●bel , thou shalt be at this day convicted , that every sermon thou hast heard , and that every serious debate thou hast bin at about the things of god , and laws of eternity , they were to thee as the judges charge before the assizes and judgment began . every exhortation of every minister of god , it is as that which paul gave to timothy , and commanded hi● to give in charge to others : i charge thee before god , and the lord jesus christ , and the elect angells , saith he that thou observe these things , and again , i give thee charge in the sight of god , who quickneth all things , and before jesus christ , who before pon●us p●la●e witnessed a go●d confession , that thou keep this commandment without spot , unrebukable , untill the appearing of jesus christ ; these things give in charge , saith he , that they may be blameless , 1 tim. 3. 21. and c. 6. v. 13. this , i say , hast thou heard , and seen , and yet thou hast not held fast , but hast cast away the things that thou hast heard , and hast bin warned of ; alas , god will multiply his witnesses against thee . 1. thy own vows and promises shall be a witness against thee , that thou hast , contrary to thy light and knowledg , destroyed thy soul , as joshuah said to the children of israel , when they said the lord should be their god. well , saith he , ye are witnesses against your selves , that ye have chosen the lord to serve him ; that is , if now you turn back again , even this covenant and resolution of yours will in the great day be a witness against you , and they said , we are witnesses , jos. 24. 20 , 21 , 22. 2. every time you have with your mouth said well of godliness , and yet gone on in wickedness ; or every time you have condemned sin in others , and yet have not refrained it your selves ; i say , every such word and conclusion that hath passed out of thy mouth , sinner , it shall be as a witness against thee in the day of god , and the lord jesus christ , as christ saith , matth. 12. 36 , 37. by thy words thou shalt be justified , and by thy words thou shalt be condemned . i observe , that talk with who you will , they will with their mouth , say , serving of god , and loving of christ , and walking in wayes of holiness is best , and best will come of it . i observe again , that men that are grosly wicked themselves , will yet , with heavy censures and judgments , condemn drunkenness , lying , cove●ousness , pride , and whoring , with all manner of abominations in others ; and yet , in the mean time , continue to be neglectors of god , and imbracers of sin and the allurements of the flesh themselves . why such souls , every time they speak well of godliness , and continue in their sins ; they do pass judgment upon themselves , and provide a witness , even their own mouth , against their own soul , at the judgment seat ; out of thy own mouth , saith christ , will i judg thee thou wicked servant ; thou knewest what i was , and that i loved to see all my servants zealous , and active for me , that at my comming , i might have received again what i gave thee with increase : thou oughtest therefore to have bin busying thy self in my work for my glory , and thy own good , but seeing thou hast , against thy own light , and mouth , gone contrary ; angels , take this unprofitable servant , and cast ye him into utter darkness , there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth ; he sinned against his light , he shall go to hell against his will , matth. 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30. the very same i say , will befall all those that have used their mouth to condemn the sins of others , while they themselves live in their sins . saith god , o thou wicked wretch , thou didst know that sin was bad , thou didst condemn it in others ; thou didst also condemn , and passe judgment upon them for their sin , thou art therefore inexcusable , a man , whosoever thou art , that hast thus judged ; for thou that judgest , dost the same thing : wherefore , wherein thou hast judged another , thou hast condemned thy self . i must therefore , saith christ , look upon thee to be no other but a sinner against thy own mouth , and cannot but judge thee as a despiser of my goodness , and the riches of my forbearance ; by which means , thou hast treasured up wrath against this day of wrath , and revellation of the righteous judgment of god , he that knoweth to do good , and doth it not , to him it is sin . rom. 2. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. thus will god , i say , judge and condemn poor sinners , even from and by themselves , to the fire , that lake of brimstone and fire . thirdly , god hath said in his word , that rather then there shall want witness at the day of judgment , against the works of iniquity : the very dust of their city , that shall cleave to his messengers that publish the gospel , shall it self be a witness against them ; and so christ bid his servants say , into whatsoever city , ye enter , and they receive you not , go your wayes out into the streets of the same , and say , even the very dust of your city , which cleaveth to us , we do wipe off against you , &c. but i say unto you , saith he to his ministers , it shall be more tolerable for sodom at the judgement , then for that city . luk. 10. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. it may be , that when thou hearest that the dust of the street , ( that cleaveth to a minister of the gospel , while thou rejectest his word of salvation ) shall be a witness against thee at the day of judgment : though wilt be apt to laugh , and say , the dust a witness ! witnesses will be scarce where dust is forced to come in to plead against a man. well sinner , mock not , god doth use to confound the great and mighty , by things that are not , and that are despised . and how sayst thou ? if god had said by a prophet to pharaoh , but two years before the plague , that he would shortly come against him with one army of lice , and a second army of frogs , and with a third army of locusts , &c. and would destroy his land ; dost thou think it had bin wisdom in pharaoh , now to have laughed such tydings to scorn ? is any thing to hard for the lord ? hath he said it , and shall he not bring it to passe ? you shall see , in the day of judgment , of what force all these things will be , as witnesses against the ungodly . many more witnesses might i here reckon up , but these at this time shall suffice to be nominated ; for out of the mouth of two or three witnesses , every word shall be established . and at the mouth of two or three witnesses , shall he that is worthy of death , be put to death . 2 cor. 13. 1. deut. 17. 6. joh. 8. 17. thus then the books being opened , the laws read , the witnesses heard , and the ungodly convicted : forthwith the lord and judge proceeds to execution . and to that end , doth passe the sentence of eternall death upon them , saying , depart from me ye cursed , into everlasting fire , prepared for the devill and his angels . you are now by the book of the creatures , by the book of gods remembrance , by the book of the law , and by the book of life , adjudged guilty of high treason against god , and me ; and as murderers of your own souls . as these faithful and true witnesses here have testified , every one of them appearing in their most upright testimony against you . also you never had a saving work of conversion , and faith , past upon you , you died in your sins ; neither can i find any thing in the last part of this book that will serve your turn , no worthy act is here recorded of you . when i was an hungred , you gave me no meat ; when i was a thirsty , you gave me no drink ; when i was a stranger , you took me not in ; i was naked , but ye cloathed me not ; i was sick and in prison , but ye visited me not . i have made a thorow search among the records of the living , and find nothing of you , or of your deeds therein : depart from me ye cursed , &c. mat. 25. 41 , 42 , 43. thus will these poor ungodly creatures be stript of all hope and comfort , and therefore must needs fall into great sadness and wailing , before the judge ; yea , crying out , as being loath to let go all for lost , and even as the man that is fallen into the river , will catch hold of any thing , when he is struggling for life , though it tend to hold him faster under the water , to drownd him . so , i say , while these poor creatures , as they lie strugling and twining under the ireful countenance of the judge ; they will bring out yet one more faint and weak groan , and there goes life and all ; their last sigh is this , lord , when saw we thee an hungred , and gave thee no meat ? or when saw we thee thirsty , and gave thee no drink ? when saw we thee a stranger , and took thee not in ? or naked , and cloathed thee not ? or when wast thou sick , or in prison , and we did not minister unto thee ? mat. 25. 44. thus you see , how loath the sinner is now to take a nay of life everlasting . he that once would not be perswaded to close with the lord jesus , though one should have perswaded him with tears of blood : behold how fast he now hangs about the lord , what arguments he frames with mournful groans ; how with shifts and words , he seeks to gain the time , and to defer the execution ; matth. 25. 10 , 11. lord open unto us ! lord , lord , open unto us ! lord , thou hast taught in our streets , and we have both taught in thy name , and in thy name have we cast out devils . mat. 7. 21 , 22 , 23. vve have eat and drank in thy presence . and when did we see thee an hungry , or thirsty , or a stranger , or naked , or sick , or in prison , and did not minister to thee ? luk. 13. 25 , 26 , 27 , 28. o poor hearts , how loath ? how unwillingly do they turn away from christ ? how loath are they to partake of the fruit of their ungodly doings ? christ must say , depart once , and depart twice , before they will depart . when he hath shut the door upon them , yet they knock , and cry , lord open unto us ; when he hath given them their answer , that he knowes them not , yet they plead and mourn . wherefore , he is fain to answer again , i tell you , i know you not whence you are , depart . luk. 13. 25 , 26 , 27. depart ] o this word , depart ! how dreadful is it ? with what weight will it fall on the head of every condemned sinner ! for you must note , that while the ungodly stand thus before the judge : they cannot chuse but have a most famous view , both of the kingdom of heaven , and of the damned wights in hell. now they see the god of glory , the king of glory , the saints of glory , and the angels of glory ; and the kingdom in which they have their eternal aboad . now , they also begin to see the worth of christ , and what it is to be miled upon by him ; from all which they must depart , and as i say , they shall have the view of this , so they will most famously behold ●he pit , the bottomless pit , the fire , the brimstone , and the flaming beds that justice hath prep●red for them of old . jud. 4. their associates also , will be very co●spicuous , and clear before their watery eyes . they will see now , what and which are devils , and who are damned souls ; now their great grandfather cain , and all his brood , with judas and his companions , must be their fellow-sighers in the flames and pangs for ever . o heavy day ! o heavy word ! this word [ depart ] therefore , it looketh two wayes , and commands the damned to do so too . depart from heaven , depart to hell : depart from life , depart to death : depart from me ] now the ladder doth turn from under them in deed . the saviour turns them off , the saviour throwes them down . he hath given him authority to execute judgment also , because he is the son of man. joh. 5. 27. depart from me . i would come to have done you good ; but then you would not : now then , though you would have it never so willingly , yet you shall not . depart from me ye cursed ] you lie open to the stroak of justice for your sins ; ye forsaken , and left off god , ye vessels of wrath , ye despisers of god and goodness . you must now have vengeance feed on you ; for you did , when you were in the world , feed on sin , and treasure up wrath against this day of wrath , and revelation of the righteous judgment of god. rom. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ▪ 6. depart ye cursed into everlasting fire . ] fire is that which of all things is the most insufferable , and insupportable . wherefore , by fire , is shewed the grievous state of the ungodly , after judgment . who can eat fire , drink fire , and ly down in the midst of flames of fire ? yet this must the wicked do . again , not onely fire , but everlasting fire . behold how great a fire a little matter kindleth . a little sin , a little pleasure , a little unjust dealing and doing : what preparation is made for the punishment thereof . and hence it is , that the fire into which the damned f●ll , is called the lake , or sea of fire . and whosoever , saith john , was not found written in the ro●k of life , was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone . revel . 20. 15. little did the sinner seriously think , that when he was sinning against god , he was making such provision for his poor soul ; but now 't is to late to repent , his worm must never die , and his fire never shall be quenched . mark 9. 49. though the time in which men commit sin , is short , yet the time of gods punishing of them for their sin , is long . depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels . ] in that he saith , prepared for the devil and his angels : he insinuates a further conviction upon the consciences of the damned . as if he had said , as for this fire and lake that you must go to , though you thought but little of it , because you were careless , yet i did betimes , put you in mind of what would be the fruits of sin , even by preparing of this judgment for the devil and his angels . the devil in his creation , is far more noble then you , yet when he sinned , i spared him not . he sinned also before man and i , upon his sinning , did cast him down from heaven to hell , and did hang the chains of everlasting darkness upon him , which might , yea , ought to have bin a fair item to you to take heed ; but you would not . jud. 6. gen. 31. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. rev. 20. 1. wherefore , seeing you have sinned as he hath done , and that too , after he had both sinned , and was bound over to eternal punishment : the same justice that layeth hold on these more noble creatures , must surely seize on you . the world should be convinced of judgment then , because the prince of the world is judged . joh. 6. 8 , 9 , 10. and that before they came to this condition of hearing the eternal sentence rattle in their ears ; but seeing they did not regard it then , they must and shall feel the smart of it now . depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels . god would have men learn both what mercy and justice is to them , by his shewing it to others ; but if they be sottish and careless in the day of forbearance , they must learn by smarting in the day of rebukes , and vengeance . thus it was with the old world , god gave them one hundred and twenty years warning , by the preparation of noah for the floud that should come ; but for as much as they then were careless , and would not consider the works of the lord , nor his threatning them by this preparation : therefore he brought in the floud upon the world of the ungodly . as he doth hear the last judgment upon the workers of iniquity , and sweep them all away in their wilful ignorance . mat. 24. 37 , 38 , 39. wherefore i say , the lord chief judge , by these words [ prepared for the devill and his angels ] doth as good as say , this fire into which now i send you , it did of it self , even in the preparation of it , ( had you considered it ) forewarn you of this that now is come upon you . hell fire is no new , or unheard of thing , you cannot now plead , that you heard not of it in the wo●ld , neither could you with any reason judge , that seeing i prepared it for angels , for noble , powerful , and mighty angels ; that you poor dust and ashes should escape the vengeance . depart from me ye cursed , into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels . the sentence being thus passed , it remains now , the work being done , that every one goeth to his eternal station . wherefore , forthwith this mighty company , do now with heavy heart , return again from before the judgment-seat : and that full hastily , god knoweth , for their proper center , is the hell of hell ; into which they descend like a stone into a well , or like pharaoh into the bottom of the red sea. exod. 15. 10. for all hope being now taken from them , they must needs fall with violence , into the jaws of eternal desperation , which will deal far worse with the souls of men , and make a greater slaughter in their tortured consciences , then the lions in the den with daniel , could possibly do with the men that were cast in among them . dan. 6. 24. this is that which paul calleth eternall judgement , heb. 6 ▪ 2. because it is that which is last and finall . many are the judgments that god doth execute among the sons of men , some after this manner , and some after that , divers of which , continue but for a while , and none of them are eternal , no , the very devils and damned spirits in hell , though there is the longest and most terrible of all the judgments of god , yet on foot : yet i say , they must pass under another judgment , even this last , great and finall judgment . the angels that kept not their first state , but left their own habitation , he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness , unto the judgment of the great day . jude 6. and so also it is with damned souls ; for bo●h sodom and gomorah , with all other , though already in hell in their souls : yet they must ( as i have before shewed ) all arise to this judgement , which will be their finall judgement . other of the judgements of god , as they have an end , so the end of many of them prove the profit of those on whom they are inflicted , being i say , gods instruments of conversion to sinners : and so may fitly be compared to those petty judgements among men , as putting in the stocks , whipping , or burning in the hand : which punishments , and judgements , do often prove profitable to those that are punished with them ; but eternal judgement , it is like those more severe judgements among men , as beheading , shooting to death , hanging , drawing , and quartering which soop all , even health , time , and the like , and cut off all opportunity of good , leaving no place for mercy or amendment : these shall go away into everlasting punishment , &c. mat. 25. 40. this word , depart , &c. is the last word the damned for ever are like to hear . i say , it is the last voice , and therefore will stick longest , and with most power on their slaughtered souls : there is no calling of it back again , it is the very wind-up of eternall judgement . thus then , the judgement being over , the kingdom ceaseth to be any longer in the hand of the man christ jesus ; for as the judges here among men , when they have gone their circuit , do deliver up their commission to the king : so christ the judge , doth now deliver up his kingdom to his father . and now all is swallowed up of eternity . mat. 21. 8. the damned are swallowed up of eternal justice and wrath ; the saved , of eternal life and felicity ; and the son also delivereth up , i say , the kingdom to the father , and subjects himself under him that did put all things under him , that god may be all in all , 1 cor. 15. 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28. for now is the end come , and not before , even the end of the reign of death it self ; for death , and hell , and sinners , and devils , must now together into the lake , that burns with fire and brimstone . rev. 20. 14 , 15. and now is the end of christs reign , as the son of man , and the end of the reign of the saints , with him in this his kingdom , which he hath received of his father , for his work sake , which he did for him , and for his elect. then cometh the end faith paul , when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to god the father : but when shall that be ? why , he answers , saying , when he shall have put down all rule , and all authority and power ; for he must reign , saith he , untill he hath put all his enemies under his feet , ( which will not be , untill the finall sentence and judgment be over ; ) for the last enemy that shall be destroyed , is death . for god hath put all things under his feet , but when he saith , all things are put under him : it is manifested , he is accepted , that did put all things under him . and when all things shall be subdued unto him , then shall the son also himself be subject to him , that did put all things under him , that god may be all in all . all things being now at this pass , to wit , every one being in its proper place , god in his , christ in his , the saint in his , and the sinner in his ; i shall conclude with this brief touch upon both the state of the good and bad after this eternal judgment . 1. the righteous now shall never fear death , the devill , and hell more : and the wicked shall never hope of life . 2. the just shall ever have the victory over these things : but the wicked shall everlastingly be swallowed up of them . 3. the holy shall be in everlasting light : but the sinner in everlasting darkness . without light , i say , yet in fire ever burning , yet not consumed , always afraid of death and hell , vehemently desiring to be annihi●●ted to nothing . continually fearing to stay long in hell , and yet certainly sure they shall never come out of it . ever desiring the saints happiness , and yet alwayes envying their felicity . they would have it , because it is easie and comfortable ; yet cannot abide to think of it , because they have lost it for ever . ever loaden with the delight of sin : and yet that is the greatest torture , alwayes desiring to put it out of their mind , and yet assuredly know they must for ever abide the guilt and torment thereof . 4. the saints are always inflamed with the consideration of the grace that once they imbraced : but the wicked , most flamingly tormented with the thoughts of rejecting and refusing it . 5. the just , when they think of their sins , they are comforted with the thoughts of their being delivered from them ; but the ungodly , when they think of their righteousness , will gnaw themselves , to think that this would not deliver them from hell. 6. when the godly think of hell , it will increase their comfort ; but when the wicked think of heaven , it will twinge them like a serpent . oh this eternal judgment ! what would a damned soul give , that there might be , though after thousands and hundreds of thousands of millions of years , an end put to this eternal judgment . but their misery is , they have sinned against a god that is eternal ; they have offended that justice that will never be satisfied ; and therefore they must abide the fire that never shall be quenched . here is judgment , just , and sad. again , as it will be thus with good and bad in general , so again , more particularly , when the wicked are thus adjudged and condemned , and also received of the fiery gulph ; then they shall find , that as he that busieth himself to do good , shall have more glory than others ; so they that have been more busie and active in sin than others , they shall have more wrath and torment than others . for as doing good abundantly , doth inlarge the heart to receive and hold more glory ; so doing evil abundantly , doth inlarge the heart and soul to receive punishment so much the more . and hence it is that you have such sayings as these , it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for sodome , than for others ; that is , then for those that had sinned against much greater light and mercy : for these , as he saith in another place , shall receive greater damnation ; yea , it standeth to reason , that he who had most light , most conviction , most means of conversion , and that was highest towards heaven , he must needs have the greatest fall , and so sink deepest into the jaws of eternal misery , luke 10. 12. luke 20. 47. as one star , that is , as one saint , differeth from another in heaven ; so one damned soul shall differ from another in hell. it is so among the devils themselves , they are some worse than others : matth. 9. 34. mar. 3. 22. belzebub is the prince ; or the chief of the devils ; that is , one that was most glorious in heaven ; chief among the reprobate angels before his fall , isa. 14. 2. and therefore sinned against the greater light , mercy , and goodness : and so became the chief for wickedness , and will also have as the wages thereof , the chief of torments . for that will be true of the damned in hell , which is prayed for against babylon . revel . 18. 7. how much she hath glorified her self , and lived deliciously ; so much torment and sorrow give her . can it be imagined , that judas should have no more torment , who betrayed the prince of life and saviour of the world , than others who never came near his wickedness by ten thousand degrees ? he that know his masters will , and prepared not himself , neither did according to his will , shall be beaten with many stripes . with many mo●e stripes , than others that through ignorance did commit sin worthy of many stripes . but what should i thus discourse of the degrees of the torments of the damned souls in hell ? for he that suffers least , will the waters of a full cup be wrung out to him . the least measure of wrath , it will be the wrath of god , eternal and fiery wrath , insupportable wrath ; it will lay the soul in the gulph of that second death , which will for ever have the mastery over the poor damned perishing sinner . and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire : which is the second death . and whosoever was not found in the book of life , was cast into the lake of fire , rev. 20. 14 , 15. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a30200-e360 see more of this in their judgement . the first book opened in its first part . mans nature is a book , or law to it self . the book of gods remembrance opened . the witnesses give in their evidence . the sinners plea for himself at the judgment-seat . the book of life opened . subjection to christ in all his ordinances and appointments the best means to preserve our liberty : together with a treatise of ineffectual hearing the word ... : with some remarkable passages of his life / by thomas shepard ... shepard, thomas, 1605-1649. 1657 approx. 296 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 64 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a59692 wing s3143 estc r34250 14170990 ocm 14170990 102140 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a59692) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102140) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1069:19) subjection to christ in all his ordinances and appointments the best means to preserve our liberty : together with a treatise of ineffectual hearing the word ... : with some remarkable passages of his life / by thomas shepard ... shepard, thomas, 1605-1649. [16], 110 p. printed by s.g. for john rothwell ..., london : 1657. includes index. imperfect: pages stained. reproduction of original in the union theological seminary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng jesus christ -sermons. christian life. theology, practical. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2003-07 aptara rekeyed and resubmitted 2003-10 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2003-10 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion subjection to christ in all his ordinances , and appointments , the best means to preserve our liberty . together with a treatise of ineffectual hearing the word ; how we may know whether we have heard the same effectually : and by what means it may become effectuall unto us . with some remarkable passages of his life . by thomas shephard , late pastor of the church of christ in cambridge in new-england . matth . 11. 29. take my yoke upon you , &c. london , printed by s. g. for iohn rothwell at the fountain in cheap-side . 1657. to the reader . one of the sweetest refreshing mercies of god , to his new england people , amidst all their wilderness-tryals , and straits , and sorrows , wherewith they at first conflicted in those ends of the earth , hath been their sanctuary-enjoyments , in the beauties of holinesse , where they have seen and met with him whom their soules love , and had familiar and full converse with him , above what they could then enjoy in the land from whence they came . this is that that hath sweetned many a bitter cup to the remnant of israel . the lord alone led him , and there was no strange god with him , was said concerning israel of old , and this was accounted mercy enough when he led them into a land where no man dwelt , and which no man passed thorough . what god hath done for new-england in this re●●●ct , and what their sanctuary mercies be , thou hast here a taste , though but a taste . these notes may well be thought to be lesse accurate , than if the author himself had published them , and to want some polishments and trimmings , which it were not fit for any other to adde ▪ however thou wilt find them full of usefull truths , and mayest easily discern his spirit , and a spirit above his own breathing in them . concerning the author ; it were worth the while to write the story of his life . it is needlesse to speak in his commendation , his works praise him in the gates . they that know him , know he had as real apprehensions of the things of god , and lived as much with god , and with his own heart , and more than the most of christians do . he had his education at immanuel-college in cambridge . the conversion and change of his heart was wrought betimes when he lived in the vniversity , and enjoyed dr. prestons ministery , whereby god had the very best and strength of his parts and years for himself . when he was first awakened to lookt after religion , having before swam quietly in th● stream of the times , he was utterly at a losse which way to take , being much molested with suggestions of atheism , ( in the depths whereof junius was quite lost for a time ) and moved and tempted to the wayes of familism also ; for some advised him in this condition to go to grindlestone and to hear mr. brierley , and being informed that the people were wont to find a mighty possessing over powering presence , and work of the spirit when they heard him , he resolved upon the journey ; but god in mercy diverted him ; having reserved him for better things . yet he read what they said , and the books of h. n. amongst the rest , where meeting with this passage , that a christian is so swallow'd up in the spirit , that what action soever the spirit moves him to , suppose whoredome , he may do it , and it is no sin to him ; this was enough : for being against the light of his natural conscience , it bred in him an utter abhorrency of th●se loose and vile wayes and principles ever after . this ada●tage also he had , that doctor tuckney was then his tutor , whom he acquainted with his condition , and had his direction and help in those mis●rable fluctuations and straits of his soul. happy is the man whose doubtings end in establishments , nil tam certum , quàm quod de dubio certum , but when men arrive in scepticism , as the last issue & result of all their debates and thoughts of heart about religion , it had been good for such if they had never been born . after his heart was changed , it was observed of him , that his abilities of mind were also much enlarged , divinity , though it be chiefly the art and rule of the will , yet raising and perfecting the understanding also ; which i conceive came to pass chiefly by this means , that the fear of god fixed him , and made him serious , and taught him to meditate , which is the main improvement of the understanding . therefore such as came to him for direction about their studies , he would often advise them to be much in meditation , professing , that having spent some time in meditation every day in his beginning times , and written down his thoughts ; he saw cause now to blesse god for it . he was assigned to the work of the ministery at a solemn meeting and conference of sundry godly ministers about it , there were to the number of twelve present at the meeting , whose solemn advice was that he should serve the lord in the gospel of his son ; wherein they have been the salvation of many a soul : for upon this he addrest himself to the work , with that reality and seriousnesse in wooing and winning souls , that his words made deep impressions , and seldome or never sell to the ground . he was lecturer a while at e●rles-cone in essex ( which i take it was the first place of his ministery ) where he did much good , and the people there , though now it is long since , and many are gone , yet they have a very precious and deep remembrance of him , of the mighty power of god by him to this day . but w. lawd then bishop of london soon stopt his mouth , and drove him away , as he did many other godly ministers from essex at the same time . after this he lived at butter-chrome in yorkshire , at sir richard darleys house , till the iniquity of those times hunted him thence also . then he went to northumberland till silenced there also ; and being thus molested and chased up and down at home , he fled to new-england , and after some difficulties and delayes , by great storms and disasters at sea upon the sands and coasts of yarmouth , which retarded his voyage till another year , he arrived there at last ; where he was pastor to a precious flock at cambridge about fourteen yeers . he was but 46. or 47. years old when he dyed . his sicknesse began with a sore throat , and then a squinacy , and then a fever , whereof be dyed august 25. 1649. this was one thing he said upon his deathbed , lord , i am vile , but thou art righteous ; and to those that were about him , he bade them loue iesus christ dearly , that little part that i have in him , is no small comfort to me now . his manner of preaching was close and searching , and with abundance of affection and compassion to his hearers . he took great pains in his preparations for his publick labours , accounting it a cursed thing to do the work of the lord negligently ; and therefore spending usually two or three whole dayes in preparing for the work of the sabbath , had his sermons finished usually on saturday by two of the clock ; he hath some●ime exprest himself thus in publick ▪ god will curse that mans labours that lumbers up and down in the world all the week , and then upon saturday in the afternoon goes to his study , when as god knows that time were little enough to pray and weep in , and to get his heart in frame , &c. he affected plainnesse together with power in preaching , not seeking abstrusities , nor liking to hover and soar aloft in dark expressions , and so shoot his arrows ( as many preachers do ) over the heads of his hearers . it is a wretched stumbling block to some , that his sermons are somewhat strict , and ( as they term it ) legall : some souls can relish none but meal-mouth'd preachers , who come with soft and smooth , and toothlesse words , byssina verba byssinis viris : but these times need humbling ministeries , and blessed be god that there are any ; for where there are no law-sermons , there will be few gospel-lives , and were there more law-preaching in england by the men of gifts , there would be more gospel-walking both by themselves and the people . to preach the law , not in a forc'd affected manner , but wisely and powerfully , together with the gospel , as christ himself was wont to do ( mat. 5. and elsewhere ) is the way to carry on all three together , sense of misery , the application of the remedy , and the returns of thankefulnesse and duty . nor is any doctrine more comforting than this humbling way of god , if rightly managed . it is certain the foundations of after-●orrows and ruines to the church , have ever been laid in the days of her prosperity , and peace , and rest , when she injoyes all her pleasant things . this the watchmen of israel should foresee , and therefore what shoul● they do but seek to humble and awaken , and search and melt mens hearts , and warn every one night and day with tears , that in the day of their peace , they may not sin away the things of their peace . there are therefore three requests , which we would desire to beg of god , with bended knees for england , to prepetuate the present prosperity and peace thereof ; and let us commend them to the mourning and praying ones amongst us , that they would be the lords remembrancers in these petitions . 1. a right understanding and sober use of liberty . for when people come first out of bondage , they are apt to be not only somewhat fond of their liberties , but to wax giddy and wanton with liberty , and instead of shaking off the bl●ody yokes of men , to cast off at least in part the government and blessed yoke of christ also . hence it ●o●es about , that a day of rest from persecution , which should be a day of liberty to the saints to serve god , may become a day of great seduction , and of liberty to seducing spirits , to deceive , and damn , and mislead them from the truths and wayes of god. but the machin●tions of men , though in conjunction with the powers and gates of hell , shall certainly fall at last before truth and prayer . and of this is the first treatise which is seasonably publish'd . to be fast bound to the rule with all the bonds and cords of god and man is the perfection of liberty . hence there is not a surer corner-stone of ruine to a christian commonwealth , that god will break them with unparallell'd destructions by some overflowing scourge , when the day of vengeance is in his heart , than to think that religion is none of their liberties , and yet how many sons of belial , are there void of counsell , neither is there any understanding in them , who imagine vain things , and say , let us break his bands asunder , and cast away his cord● from us ? how do men run into extremes , either stretching and paring every one to the gyants bed , and thereby denying liberty to the saints to serve him , according to the measure of their stature in christ , or else on the other hand opening the door so wide , as to plead for liberty to all the disguised enemies and sins against christ , thereby instead of uniting the saints in one , indeavouring though a dreadfull mistake to unite christ and belial ? it is a sad thing when a man is come to this passe , that he is not able to resolve his conscience whether baal be god , or the lord be god , and therefore would not have the worshippers of baal punisht , for fear lest baal should be god. is liberty nothing but indifferency and irresolution of spirit in the things of god ? wo to the valley of vision , even to a sinfull nation laden with iniquity , and led away from the truth as it is in jesus , and to the host of the high ones that sit on high , in the day of his visitation , if this be the spirit of these times ; for in the day when he visits , god will visit for these things . 2. that his word , especially the word of his gospel , may be precious and powerfull , may run and be glorified in england . alas ! as there is much preaching , but few serious , few heart-breaking sermons : so there is much hearing , but little effectual hearing . men stand like the oakes of bashan , before the words of the god of israel , no terrour of the lord , no news of everlasting destruction , no evidence of the fierce anger of god upon them , which burns down to the bottom of hell , can take hold upon their spirits , or awaken their consciences , to make inquiries after god in this their day : yea if the bars of the pit of hel , were broken , and if the devils of hell should come flying up amongst us , in our solemn assemblies , from the fiery corners of the pit helow , with everlasting burnings about their eares , and with chains of darkness ratling at their heels , they might fright men out of their wits perhaps , or from the acts of sin it may be for a time , but it would not work upon their hearts , their desperate , dead , besotted hearts . the fooles in israel will have their swinge in their lusts , and go to hell in a full cariere , let god do his best . oh the hardnesse of mens hearts ! and the main reason of it , is because they hear but a sound of words , but they do not hear the lord in that word : they hear words that are spoken by god , but they hear not , they see not god himself therein . if ever thou wouldest profit by reading or hearing , take every word as a speciall message to thee from god ; and of this fruitless hearing , and the rules of hearing aright is the other treatise . 3. conscience of his sabbaths . of which there is an elaborate discourse of this author , formerly publish'd by himself . therefore we shall adde no more . the blessing of heaven go with these , to make us a willing people in the day of his power , to submit to his word , and to come under the wing of the government of iesus christ , as esteeming these spirituall mercies our best mercies , our choycest and dearest liberties . if ever the lord iesus ( which mercy forbid ) should take his dolefull and finall farewell of the english nation , as when he laid the tomb-stone upon jerusalem , such as these will be his mournings over us : oh jerusalem , jerusalem , thou that killest the prophets and burnest them that are sent unto thee , as they did in the time of popery , how often would i have gathered thy children together ( by my word and spirit therein ) even as a hen gathereth her chickens under the wings ( of my speciall government and protection ? ) but ye would not ; behold your house is left unto you desolate . but the lord who doth not only make the day dark with night , but also turneth the shadow of death into the morning , even the lord avert these evils , and the lord make the english nation his hephfibah , and the land beulah , which is the prayer of his mourners in sion , and of thy servants in jesus , and for jesus sake , william greenhill . samuel mather . to the christian reader . the precious memory of the author of these ensuing sermons , needs no reviving to any gracious heart , that had any knowledge of him . yea the world knows in part ( though but in a little part ) by some pieces of his formerly printed ( while he was y●t 〈…〉 ) who this author was , what it owes to god for him , and how justly it might sigh over his grave , with that of the apostle , of whom the world was not worthy ! his praise throughout all the churches , is farre above any addition by so mean a pen as writes these lines . but it is not fit that the first page of any thing published after his death ( for i doubt not but his death is long ago publickly took notice of ) should go without some witnesse of a mournfull remembrance thereof , which indeed no tears can sufficiently lament . we who sometimes sate under his shadow , and were fed from god by him , ( the poor flock of this shepherd ) among whom he lived , testifying repentance towards god , and faith towards our lord iesus christ ; and whom he sometimes exhorted , comforted and charged euery one of us as a father doth his children ; we cannot but carry sorrow in the bottome of our hearts to this day , that wee must here see his face no more . neither do we believe that his losse remains with us alone , or only within the limits of this remote wildernesse ; the benefit ( and consequently the want ) of such a burning and shining light , is of more generall concernment that we easily apprehend , especially in this age , wherein not only many ●it in utter darknesse , but which is more , the new light thereof is darknesse ; and the love of many waxing cold . but we must all be silent before him , whose judgements are unsearchable . neither may we presume to say to him , what doest thou ? it is instantly and not without cause desired by many , that such reliques of his labours as do survive him , may be ( at least some of them ) imparted to the publick . to effect any thing considerable that way , is not an easie or sudden work . but this small piece being at present attained ; it seemed not amisse to let it pass the press . these were some of his lecture-sermons , preached most of them in the year , 1641. they are now transcribed by a godly brother , partly from the authors own notes , partly from what he took from his mouth : the subject ( in both the texts ) is of great use , and needfull for these times ; wherin there is more liberty , than good use of it ; and much more common and outward , than saving and effectuall knowledge of the word of god. these posthumous editions are far short of what the author was wont to do , and of what the sermons were in preaching . but though the sense be not every where so full , nor every thing so thorowly spoken to , nor the stile so good by far , ( as the authors manner was ) yet the intelligent reader will find a precious treasure of truth in it , not fit to be buried or neglected . the prophets do not live for ever , but their words do : the lord make them such ever-living words as may take hold of all our hearts , not for judgement , but for mercy , for one of these waye● they shall live ; yea , rise up at the last day . imprimatur , march 29. 1652. edm. calamy . the table . b. bondage : what it is to which god delivers them that cast off his government . page 7 iuvasion by forein enemies . 7 by setting authority against them . 7 oppressing them by one another . 8 taking away good governours . 8 giving them up to satan , 9 and to their own lusts . 9 what are the sins , for which god brings into bondage ? 13 bondage of the good and the wicked , how it differs . 15 c. church of god , why deprived of her liberty . 11 church-members that are private men in their duties are . 48. what &c. the causes of their neglect of their duty . 52 ▪ &c. why men receive not more good from them than they do . 53 covenant of god , if broken , god rejects such as break it . 3 to break covenant with christ , is to cast off his government as king. 31 people of god may be said to break covenant , and how . 33 g. government : see power . to cast of gods government , provokes god , to bring into bondage . 3 reasons of it . 9 , 10 &c. what gods government is . 4 the sorts of it . 4 internall . 4 and externall . 5 want of government , a judgement . 8 when men may be said to cast off christs government . 18. see 24. and see ordinances , when men submit to christ. 20 , 21. to 29 in christs government , he useth a threefold power . 30 motives to come under christs government . 81 l. lawes , the causes of the breach of lawes . 67 what prudence is to be used in making laws . 70 and how for human laws bind . 70 &c ▪ gods law onely can immediately bind the conscience . 70 good lawes have relation to the word and law of god. 71 this proved . ib. of penall laws . 74 liberty see government ; the sweetest liberty , is to be under christ. 11 liberty , how it s abused . 79 love to christ , a sign of subjection to him . 84 love to gods people , another sign . 84 who do not love gods people . 85 m. magistrates , we are to be subject to them , and why ▪ 64 when christs power is cast off in this respect , not being subject to them . 64 and objections about this answered . 66 ministeriall power what it is . 54 and if this be not submitted , christ is cast off . 69 and when men despised it . 62 o. ordinances , when men adde their own inventions to gods ordinances , they cast off christs government . 34 we must take heed off this ; and why . 35 when men destroy ordinances and deny them , they cast off christs government . 35 to cast of ordinances , is a temptation of satan . 36 when christ is thrust out of ordinances , his government is cast off . 39 to pollute ordinances what it is . 39 1. to contemn them . 39. 40 2. to use them with unbroken hearts . 40 3. to use them without faith . 41 4. by not looking to christ in them . 41 p. power , see government . power of christ in government . 1. absolute . 2. derivative . 3. ministeriall . 30 1. absolute and kingly : & when men cast off this . 31 2. derivative power which christ gives to the church , what this is , see 45 , &c ▪ what power a private member of the church hath . 41 , &c. 3. there is a ministeriall power . 54 what this power is . 55 , &c. power of christ ▪ in a commonwealth , when it s cast off . 63 see majestrates . of inferiors power , and when that is cast off . 68 r. reproofs , to be taken , and the taking of them , is the tryall of a christian , and a hypocrite . 47 s. satan , to be given over to him , a judgement of god. 9 service , what it is . 2 servants censured for running from their masters . 75 subjection , see government . dangerous not to yeeld subjection to christ. 76 subjection to christ , when it is to be yeelded . 82 directions how to yeeld subjection to christ. 85 t. thankefulness . we are to be thankefull for our liberty and freedom from bondage . 77 motives and directions to it . 77 , &c. objections answered that hinder this duty . 80 u. unbelief ; the occasions of it . 83 w. will of christ , twofold . 23 how man cast off christ● will. ●4 a wholesome caveat for a time of liberty . 2 chron. 12. 8. neverthelesse they shall be his servants , that they may know my service , and the service of the kingdoms of the countrey . the greatest part of this chapter is spent in setting down that famous war which shishak king of egypt made against rehoboam king of iudah . the cause of this war in regard of shishak is not set down ; probable conjectures there be : ieroboam probably might be treacherous , who having a party in egypt , lest rehoboam should grow too great , together with some other pretended wrongs , might awaken this bear from his den ; but in regard of god , you may see the reason set down , vers. 2. because they had transgressed against the lord. the time of this war is set down in the 1. vers. when he had established the kingdome by wholesome lawes , erecting gods worship , and countenancing godly men , 2 chro. 11. 16 , 17. which continued three years , and strengthened himself by fortified places , and munition fit for war , as in the foregoing chapter appears . now when he had most peace and quiet , he and all israel suddenly forsake the lord , which was the fourth year ; and in the fifth year comes shishak , and with a mighty hoast wastes all before him untill he come to the chief city . now in vers. the 5. and 6. is set down the repentance of the people with their princes especially . shemajah , who no doubt had spoke against their idolatrous courses before , takes his season when they were low and tamed , and tels them the true cause of their misery , vers. 5. many sins there were in the land , as idolatty , and whoredoines , &c. yet the venom was , they had forsaken the lord : let the sin be what it will be , yet let it be such a one as men forsake the lord by it , that 's the provocation ; hereupon they humble themselves , some effectually , some hypocritically , yet all outwardly , and say the lord is righteous ; they extenuate not their sin , they lay not the blame on man , no not on shishak , but see the lord , justifie his proceedings , the lord is righteous , we unrighteous , although it were more heavy then it is . now in the 7. vers. and in the words read is set down the mitigation of gods plague , and the moderation of his chastisement , i will not pour out all my wrath , yet i think it not fit to shew perfect deliverance , i 'le make them servants , to let them know , &c. there are two parts in the words read . 1. the punishment or chastisement on iudah for forsaking the lord , and backsliding from him , which is hondage and privation of the liberty they had , they must be shishaks servants . 2. the lords end , it was very gracious , that they may know my service , &c. for explication . 1. what is meant by service ? answ. there are two things in service . 1. government . 2. subjection : cheerfull obedience to that governemt . both the hebrew word , as also the nature of the thing it self hath these two . god sets up his government over a people , his people do or should subject cheefully to this government ; by my service is therefore meant my government , and your subjection wrought by me to this governmemt . 2. they shall know . 1. not by the knowledge of the brain , for that they know now , but knowledge of experience , as it 's said in ezek. 6. ult . when i shall have made the land desolate in all their habitations , they shall know that i am the lord. now what shall they know of it ? answ. the difference betwe●n them , the sorrow of the one , the sweet of the other ; the misery of the one , and blessednesse of the other ; the bondage of the one , and the liberty of the other . there might be many things observed from the words , but i note only the generall . obser. that when any people of god forsake the lord , and cast off his government ●ver them , they provoke the lord to put them under the bondage of another government . they that abuse gods liberty must be under bondage ; the lord hath a kingdome in this world most glorious ; hence when men will not be under it , if they will not be ruled by him , they must be ruled by the whip ; and if christs laws cannot bind , christs chains must . ier. 5. 19. and it shall come to passe when ye shall say , where●ore doth the lord all these things unto us ? then shalt thou answer them , like as ye have forsaken me , and served strange gods in your land , so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours . psal , 107. 10 , 11. such as sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death , being ●ound in affliction and iron , because they rebelled against the words of god , and contemned the counsell of the most high . ezek. 20. 24 , 25. because they had not executed my iudgements , but had despised my statutes , and polluted my sabbaths , &c. wherefore i gave them also statutes that were not good , and judgements , whereby they should not live , &c. zach. 11. 15 , 16. and the lord said unto me , take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd . vers. 16. for lo i will raise up a shepherd in the land which shall not visit those that be cut off , nor seek the young one , nor heal that that is broken , nor feed that that standeth still , &c. when people break convenant with god , and loath him , then saith the lord , i 'ie not feed and then he sets over them idol shepherds . this is certain , when the soul will not subject it self to god , he goes about to subject god to him , nay to his lusts , isa. 43. 24. thou hast made me to serve with thy sins . for one of them must stoop , and a man would have the lord be mercifull , patient , and pittifull to him , when he is in league with his lusts , now this the lord will not do : and hence , if he does not destroy him , he with-draws himself from serving of the creature , and hence other evils take hold of it , and bring it under . when adam stood , and was for god , all creatures served him , and the riches of gods goodnesse preserved him , the lord communicated the sweet of his government or service to him : but when turned away from the right wayes of god : now if the lord should serve him by governing of him in goodnesse , he should serve a lust , and bow to the creature , nay to a lust , which is a viler thing , then for one creature to fall down and worship another . therefore now hence it comes to passe , because the lord will not be a servant to any mans lust , there must be some other government that must seize upon them . hence set all the saints in the churches with their faces subjected to the lord , his good wil and righteous wayes , and then his goodness shall flow down upon them in a through christ , for otherwise we have nothing to do with good , but when we are set right for god. hos. 2. 19. i will betroth thee unto me for ever , yea i will betroth thee unto me in righteousnesse , in judgement , in loving kindnesse and mercy , &c. the lord will then command all creatures to be serviceable to his church and people ; vers. 21 , 22. but on the contrary misery must needs seiz upon the soul that doth cast off the government of the lord jesus : thus much for the generall explication of the point . now in particular . 1. what is this government or service of god ? 2. what is the bondage he captivates his unto ? 3. why doth the lord do thus ? quest. 1. what is this government or service of god which being shaken off the lord gives them over to bondage ? ans. there is a double government of the lord over his people . 1. internall or inward , of which our saviour speaks , luk. 17. 21. the kingdome of god ( saith christ ) comes not by observation and outward pomp ; for behold the kingdome of god is within you : and this is nothing else in generall , but when the lord doth by his spirit in the word of his grace cause the whole soul willingly to submit and subject it self to the whole will of god so far as it 's made known to it ; this is the inward kingdom of god and government of christ in the soul. ro. 8 ▪ 14. so many as are led by the spirit are the sons of god. ps. 110. 2. the lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of zion , &c. 2. cor. 10. 4. for the weapons of our warfare are not carnall , but mighty through god the pulling down of strong holds . vers. 5. bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ. there are mighty boisterous distemp●rs , but the lord when he comes in his kingdome , to sit upon the royall throne of the hearts of his people , now they flie : and this is the inward kingdom of christ , like a poor subject pardoned and received to favour , he is before the face of the prince continually attending on him . revel . 7. 14 , 15. these are they which came out of great tribulation , and have washed their robes , and made them white in the blood of the lamb. vers. 15. therefore are they before the throne of god , and serve him day and night in his temple , &c. now this is meant in part by gods service in these dayes ; do you think the lord cared for thousands of rams ? no , but to walk humbly , mica . 6. did he care for temple aud ordinances ? no , but isa. 1. 19. if he be willing and obedient , ye shall eat the good of the land . neh. 9. 20. in those dayes hee gave them his good spirit to instruct them . 2. externall or outward , the end and instigation of which was to set up and help forward the inward ; for externall ordinances are nothing in themselves , mean things , but as they are appointed and sanctified for this end , they are most glorious : and therefore christ threatens the jewes , matth. 21. 43. that the kingdome should be taken from them ; what was that ? surely not inward , for that they had not , but the outward and externall means called gods kingdom ; all these helps and means shall be taken from you , and all laid ruinous . now this externall kingdom of christ is double . 1. the externall kingdome or government of god by his church , in the administration an● execution , and subjection to the blessed ordinances of god , wherein the power and kingdome of christ is seen , and thus , dan. 2. 44 , 45. dan. 7. 27. it shall be given to the saints of the most high , &c. not to prophane herds of beasts , or cages of unclean birds , but to the saints of the most high , whose kingdome is an everlasting kingdome , and all the princes of the world shall subject themselves to this kingdom of christ. this outward kingdom christ administreth amongst his people in this world : and this was part of the lords government over his people herein , though various from our form now . 2. of the common-wealth , which may have divers forms , and had in the time of israel ; but it receiving its law from god , and governing for god , hence it was the government of god , and subjection hereunto was subjection and service to god himself : and hence when the people cast off samuel , 1 sam 8. 7. they have not rejected thee but me , rev. 11. 15. the kingdomes of the world are become the kingdomes of our lord and of his christ , and he shall reign for ever and ever . for although the common-wealth of israel was made up of the church , and hence iosephus cals it a theocracy , where the lord governed ; and yet the same thing had divers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , formes and respects , and hence there was a diverse government then , and hence made diverse , 2 chron. 19. 5 , 8. iehosaphat sets iudges in the land throughout all the fenced cities . such is the wildnesse , boldness , & carelesness of mens hearts , that they do not only need lawes , but watchmen over them to see they be kept : and hence the lord appointed some chief , some judges in every city , and also some in every village , as by proportion may be gathered , exod. 18. every ten men had one over them . now this was the blessed wisdome of god to put all into sweet subordination one unto another for himself . 1. every one professing his name is made for god , for christ , as lord of lords , unto whom every knee must bow , and inwardly subject . 2. hence the lord ( it being not good to leave man to himself ) erects a kingdome of the church with his own power , and authority , and government in it for that end . 3. this being poor shiftlesse against inward and outward revenge , hence the lords sets up kingdoms of the world , which either rule for this end of these ends or not , if they do not , they are to answer it , and shall one days to christ , whom god hath made head over all things to the church . eph. 1. 22. if they do , then their government , judgement and kingdome is the lords in a speciall manner : and hence break the yoak of subjection to any one of these , you cast off christ , the lords government and service ; and being so linked together , in truth if you break one you break all , and this will provoke the lord to make you kisse the clink , and to put your necks under iron bondage that refuse subjection to him . quest. 2. what is that bondage or other government to which the lord gives over his people when they have cast off his government , this will provoke the lord if the lord be cast off , and the casting off the government of christ will bring the most famous kingdoms , churches and families into bondage ; you will say what is this bondage ? when is it that the lord takes his season for the execution of it ? a. 1. the lord takes his own times to do it , these were a 12. moneth before the lord sent shishak : here he was more quick . nebuchadnezza● comes at last , and many years 't is before the lord doth it . 2. the lord is various in working , as he is wonderfull and hath divers wayes or means of bondage , he hath more prisons and chaines than one . first , sometimes the lord opens the door of a kingdom or state , for the inrode of some forraign , or it may be barbarous enemy , breaking in sometime by power , comming in sometime by craft , and then ruling like lions , which the lord makes to vex and prick the people of god ; thus here their lives were spared , but liberties lost . thus iudg. 2. 13 , 14. they forsook the lord , and served baal and ashtaroth . and in vers . 14. the anger of the lord waxed hot against israel , and he dilivered them into the hands of spoylers that spoyled them . ver. 15 whithersoever they went out , the hand of the lord was against them for evill . and this the lord doth many ●imes suddenly , that one would never think that ever the lord should be so sudden ; the lord can be as quick to punish , as man to sin , and that unexpectedly . eccl , 9. 12. man knows 〈◊〉 his time but are taken like fish in an evill net suddenly , lam. 4. 12. the kingdomes of the earth , and all the inhabitants of the world would not have beleeved , judg. 5. 8. they set up new gods , and war was in the gate . ● . sometimes the lord turns the edge of that lawfull authority god hath set over them against themselves , to be a heavy scourge from god upon them : thus it was with israel in egypt , exod. 1. 8 , 9. there arose a king which knew not ioseph , and it 's said then they were oppressed . thus ieroboam whom the ten tribes chose , hos. 5. 11. he oppressed the people he will be in novating , and this becomes their oppression : thus the people under the reign of degenerate solomon ( though their complaint might be in part unjust . ) such is the venome of sin an unsubduednesse to the kingdom god , that the lord turns light into darknesse , and makes an aking head matter of sorrow to all the state and body of people . eccles. 10. 16. wo to thee , o land , when thy king is a child . and one man shall do a world of hurt , one shebna or amaziah , and this the lord doth in justice many times for casting off his government . 3. sometimes the lord gives a people up into the hands of one another to be mutuall oppressors of each other , that a man neighbour shall be his oppressor . zach. 11. 9 i will pitty no more the inhabitaents of the , land , i will deliver them every one into his neighbours hands . i will feed you no more , that which dyeth let it dye , & that which is cut off let it be cut off , and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another . sometimes the lord is pleased to send marvellous straits into a place , that men are forced to imbondage themselves sometimes by words as bitter as death , as sharp as arrows ; the lord is pleased for the forsaking of his righteous wayes to make a mans self rip his own bowels , the father against the childe , the master shall be a scourage to the servant , and the servant shall be a scourge to his master , weary him of his lffe , the government of the lord in a mans heart or family being cast off , mic. 7. 4 , 5. trust not in a friend : no greater bondage in the world then for men professing the lord , to be desperately set one against another . 4. by taking from a people all that righteous power of government the lord hath set over them , when a people despising the lord and inward government first ( for there all begins ) and so not prizing what they have , nor praying for them , nor subjecting to them , the lord hereupon sends some sicknesse , or some other evill , that they are either suddenly taken away , or gradually , and when they are gone , all sink , or else such crosse carriages , that as moses said , so say they , i cannot bear this people . thus iudges 21. 25. men did what was right in their own eyes when there was no king in israel . no state so miserable as an anarchie , when every one is a slave , because every one will be a master . thus , isa. 3. 1 , 2. 6. be a ruler to us . no , i 'le not undertake to rule . so , 2 chro. 15. 3. 5. when without a teaching priest , then no peace at all , men will not be under government of them , you shall not have them , they shall rest in peace , and you shall then know the want of them . 5. by giving them over to satans , and their own hearts lusts , that seeing they will not serve the lord , they shall serve their lusts and their sins , that now the lord he hath left off chastising of men , and conscience shall check no more , prosper , saith the lord , & go on in thy sin , psal. 81. 12. so i gave them up to their own hearts lusts , and they walked after their own counsels . rev. 22. 11. let him that is filthy be filthy still . when the lord shall give a man over to satan , not only to window him , to let out the chaffe , and so to make the grain the purer , or to buffet them as he did paul , but to insnare them , and hold them , that he shall not only tempt , but his temptations shall take , and not onely take , but holds , 2 tim. 2. ult . who are taken captive by him at his will ; taken alive as a snare doth , that now a man is beyond the reach of all means , only peradventure god may give repentance , isa. 1. 5. why should ye be stricken any more ? ye wi●● revolt yet more and more . the lord leaves smiting , and sayes , go on and prosper in thy sinne : and which is the worst of all , satan shall so blinde him and harden him , fill him with pride , passion , lying , hatred of gods people , cavilling against the lords wayes of grace , slighting of his betters despising of wholesome counsell from his dearest friends , that he knows not that gray hairs are upon him . and after this when god hath cast out , in may be the church doth also , a most fearfull bondage that the lord gives such a foul over unto . there are two reasons of this point , which i collect only from the story in this chapter . reason ▪ 1. inregard of the righteous judgement of god. it 's just and equall that he that will not be ruled by this blessed lord jesus , he should be ruled by his lusts ; he that will ●ot be in subjection to a mercifull christ , he should be in bondage to unmercifull men : this an humbled heart will acknowledge , as these do here , vers. 6. they acknowledged the lord to be righteous : man being fallen it had been righteous with god to have left all men as the angels that fell in chains of darknesse for ever ▪ but among his church and people the lord sends the gospel to proclaim liberty , and with it sends christ with his spirit , to come to the prison-doores of poor sinners , to give repentance as well as remission of sins , and now if they will not come out of their bondage , accept of the lords liberty , 't is exceeding righteous to deal with them as we do with prisone●s condemned to die ; if the prince comes to the prison-doores , and sayes , i am come to give thee thy life , nay and here is pardon ; nay favour , and to pull off thy chaines also , now if he saies no , i had rather be in prison ; every one will say it is just ; and as it was in the year of jubile he that would not go free was to be a bondman for ever . 't is very righteous to give men their own choyce , 't is no wrong to let them have their own will : if indeed the laws of christ were draco's lawes , hard and heavy , there were something to object , but they are most sweet , and for which of all other blessings men have cause to blesse him , psal. 147. ult . reason 2. in regard of the mercy or mercifull wisdom of the lord towards his church and people , especially his peculiar ones , that hereby they keep the closer to the lord , set a higher price upon the rules and government of the lord , love his kingdome the more , and the liberties thereof , and use them better when they have them again , so here , that they may know my service , &c. 1. how sweet it is , experience we say is the mistress of fools ; such is the foolishness of mens hearts that men are many times never truly taught a truth till they are taught it by sense , prov. 5. 11. and thou mourn at last when thy flesh is consumed ; tell a man of all the glory of the saints , they never understand it till they feel it , tell men of the woe of their wayes ; they will not believe it till they see it , psal. 32. 9. be not as the horse or mule that hath no understanding , whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle . hosea 10. 11. ephraim is like an heifer that is taught . like untamed horses that will cast their rider , unlesse they be held under and backt , and then they are gentle , so 't is here ; and truly 't is long before a man can learn the sweet of christs government : hence israel must be long in egyptian bondage , and many long miseries , so that if there be either justice or mercy in the lord he will do this , and this point shall be true . vse . 1. hence then see that the greatest liberty and sweetest liberty is to be under the government of christ jesus , although men do not think so : hence the lord tells them here they shall know my service , they might have replyed we do know it . no , till they be in bonds they know it not , nor cannot learn it . so 't is now ; and hence let men observe whiles they live loosly , and are guided by their own wisdome , for their own ends , according to their own will , at peradventures , at rovers , as they please , they do think this liberty very sweet ; and 't is better than to be curb'd in : but let the lord strike an arrow in the heart of these wilde bucks , that have broke park and pale , send affliction , and an iron yoke of sorrow upon them , or distresse of conscience , if there be any sense and feeling left , they will bemoan themselves , and say , i did think my liberty sweet , but now i see 't is bitter in a sinfull way : and the lords way was most sweet , by their own confession . hence psal. 2. 3. let us break their bands , &c. but oh now hence learn this truth , and digest it throughly , that the greatest liberty lies here : do not in thy judgement think christian liberty lies , in being freed from the law as a rule of obedience in respect of the matter of it to be done , nor in thy practice ; but know , though thou didst meet with a thousand sorrows with it and griefs , yet 't is sweet . christs yoke , ( mat. 11. 30. ) is easie , and his burthen light . what ? when not a hole to hide his head in , when a reproach of men , a worm and no man , when he bore the fathers wrath ? yes , when he was meek under it , ( not mine but thy will be done ) it was then most sweet , 1 kings 9. 21 , 22. to be a servant to solomon is no bondage , psalm , 119. 32. i will run , when thou shalt inlarge my heart . vse 2. hence see the reason why the lord hath deprived his churches of their liberty , and his government over them at sundry times , and hath put them under iron yokes , and bonds , and sore pressures , the reason is shewn , they have either openly or more secretly cast off the government of the lord , here hath been the very wound the aile of all churches famous and glorious , psal. 81. 14. oh that they had hearkened , i should then soon have subdued their enemies . the cause is not so hard to find to a discerning spirit who is privy in any measure to the counsels of god , 1 king. 9. 8 , 9. solomon hath a promise that the lords eyes and heart shall be to his people which are under him : but if once they slip the coller , then wo ; and why ? because they forsook the lord that brought them out of egypt , they had liberty , but they cast it off . what do you think was the moving cause of all those bloody persecutions , when the blood of dogs was more precious then of christian churches ? were not they godly ? yes , i do not doubt of it : but as it was here , though humbled they must be in bondage , because they had cast off the government of the lord jesus . and hence in the apostles time evill times were come , sad apostasies from the truth , and because it was long before they were low enough . and hence , revel . 6. till the 〈…〉 was opened ; no crying , as it was with israel in bondage , no prayer to purpose , and because the lord saw they would abuse all liberties if they had them . and hence in constantines time , when peace came in , contention came with it , and so abused all , that their peace was their poyson . and hence in the primitive churches , they began to cast off the government of the lord jesus , murmurings there were , hence came persecution ; but they were a precious people , and made blessed use of it . and the lord couples their chief persecution with their rest . and 't is said , acts 9. 31. then had the churches rest , &c. and what do you think of the reason of the long reign of antichrist , exalting himself above god and all that 's called god , bringing the church under the heaviest bondage for body and soul that ever the earth saw ? men did not love the truth , either speculative to guide their minds , or practicall to rule their wills ; and hence left to this day . what is the cause of bleeding germanies wo ? oh poor germany ! whence the gospell first brake out in its full strength , that now 't is a field of blood , that men in woods like satyres are afraid of men , and men in cities glad to eat the intrailes of beasts , and sometimes the flesh of their own babes to preserve their lives . what was there no evill , but the common condition of the church to be under the crosse ? ask them , they cannot tell what ailes them , but curse the emperour and swedes , &c. oh think of it with sorrow in secret for them that know it not themselves , they have secretly , i say , secretly cast off the government of a mercifull christ , and hence are under the hand of unmercifull men . what is the cause in our native countrey , notwithstanding all prayers and tears no diliverance ? truly men do not know it but the lord sees it , they know not how to use their liberty . and for our selves , what shall i say , i cannot but blesse god and wonder to see how 't is with many , and rejoyce to see many precious holy ones , to whom one day in gods court is sweeter than a thousand elsewhere : but i must professe and cannot but mourn for others , men that were eminent under bondage , but never worse then here ; as if the lord should say , look here by your eminent ones ; look , and fear , and mourn you ministers of my house ; here be the people you had thought had been converted , and that of all others such a one would never a fallen so ; one an opinion takes him , another a lot , another loose company , another his lust , another gowes proud , another fierce , another murmuring : what should i name all ? oh that my words might be healing , &c. vse 3. hence see what will become of us that are now under the government of the lord ; if ever we cast it off , either inward , or outward , or both . we are not dearer to him then his people israel here , nay iudah . when old israel the great and numerous tribes of israel had set up calves , little iudah and benjamin received the priests , and yet they fell and were in bondage . i know we are not yet in bondage ; yet it is not more unseasonable to speak now then for the lord to solomon , 1 king 9. 1 quest. but there being much unsubduedness in the hearts of the best , how shall one know when there be such sins for which the lord will cast from under his government ? answer 1. when men do not loath their own hearts for the unprofitablenesse , but loath gods ordinances secretly , and grow weary of them as of their burdens , because of the unprofitablenesse of them . when a people find not that speciall good by them which recompenseth all losses , and so prize them , but lay blame on them , because unfruitfull to them , malachie 3. 13. he speaks to a people got out of captivity , your words have been stout against me , no say they , 't is in vain to serve the lord , what profit is there in this ? you must conceive they had many losses , were very poor , as vers . 11. a temptation which a proud heart cannot indure above any , here is now no profit in mourning , fasting &c. and gods own people began to think so : and hence , vers. 16. then they spake often one to another , there was good effect of his sermon : now what follows ? chapter 4. 1. hence the wicked shall come and cut off branch and root in antiochus time , there is a burning day a comming , that shall burn down house , root and branch ! and hence , matthew●1 ●1 . 43. the kingdome shall be given to them that bring forth fruit . you will say , we do ; no thy own mouth shall condemn thee , you do not , you find no good by all the ordinances of god , and hence come those questions : what warrant for such an ordinance ? the bottome is , they never felt good of it , and hence grow weary of it : well if it be your burthen , the lord will ease you of it . 2. when you see men ( professing the fear of god ) mutually naturally contentious , and continuing so : i say , contentious with saints which they say they love , & which they are by covenant bound to love , either from some conceived wrong , and hence cannot forgive as christ doth them ; or from a prejudicate groundlesse opinion , they care not for me , nor i for them ; or from a spirit of scornfull censoriousnesse , what are such and such ? or because distasted , because of some reproof in their sin ; or by some opinion , or by some worldly conveniency , or laying out lots , or restraint of some liberty , &c. or because of some sin : now can sit and censure ; and i say , when this is mutual ; for a godly man may be contended with , but he prayes and mourns and pitties , unlesse it be at some time ; but when it shall continually abide so fierce and implacable eccles. 7. 9. anger resteth in the bosome of fools ; when a man shall be glad of an occasion of difference , that so he may depart and have something to quiet conscience for breach of covenant , that there can be no healing , but bellies of pigs are more dear then bowels of saints , and when quiet , upon the least occasion apt to p●ck holes and quarrel . now it 's time for the lord to give over to another government . zach. 11. 14 , 15. when brotherhood is broken , then an idol-shepheard is set up . exodus 2. moses was sent to deliver israel , but he finds two hebrews oppressed striving , and must not be checkt neither , well then fare-well deliverance if you be of that spirit ; you shall love one another better if ever the lord doth that for you . it hath been the wisdome of some princes , when their subjects have been at civill wars , to call them forth to a common enemy , and there they can agree . oh brethren , there is no sin like this , and yet none so slighted . you shall know what it is either by being yoked under enemies or sins . the first of these breaking bonds of union to christ , the other with his members . vse 4. hence see the reason why many men are delivered up to the bondage of their own lusts , the most sad bondage and power of satan , who have seemed to be delivered from it ; truly they have cast off the government of the lord. men wonder why in this countrey men are more vile then ever they were , men that gave great hopes ; the reason is this , they have seemed to be under christs government , but secretly cast it off : and hence filthy and vile lusts are their apparitors and pursevants , &c. objection ▪ the saints feel a bondage , how shall one know the difference ? answer . the first and greatest inthralment is , when satan and sin so rule as that they know them not , this is lamentable , that like those , iohn 8. 33. when christ told them , if they continued in the truth it should make them free , they would not believe that ever they were in bondage : so here a man thinks himself free when he is a slave , thus psalm . 81. 13. god gave them up to their own hearts lusts , and they were led by their own councels . the saints may be much carried away by the power of satans temptations , but never so far as to think their bondage is their freedome , and to have reasons and arguments prevailing against the good wayes of gods grace , and to have reasons to maintain their sinfull courses , and that is in such as have wit , and parts , and knowledge , which through the righteous judgement of god are le●t so far to abuse it , as to make use of it to maintain their sin-full lusts . 2. when men if they see their bondage yet have no heart to come out of it , in using all means for that end . when the will is in captivity , no captivity like it , no gally-slave like it : a childe of god hath a bondage and is led into captivity , but oh miserable man he cries ; but these , prov. 17. 10. have a price in their hand , but no heart to make use of it , ezra . 1. 5. so many whose hearts the lordo stirred , they gat up to go to ierusalem : but the lord never stirs the hearts of these poor creatures : they know and fear , yet have no heart to get out of that condition , nay rather willingly are so . they sell themselves to their lusts , and sins , and satan : here is ( saith satan ) this gain , neglect prayer for it , tell a lye for it , break covenant for it , lose thy peace for it : here is this honour and credit , look big on it : here is this estate , carry thy countenance high , and thus apparrel thy self with these trappings , walk thus with thy boots french-like : here is this pleasure and mirth , keep thou this company , loose thy heart , neglect thy god , give thy self over to it : here is this ease , deferre thy repentance , be cold in prayer , neglect thy family ; and a man sels himself to his lust , pleasures and honours ; thou art thus provok't , and therefore now thou must fret , and murmur , and rage , and hold thy own , and so ease thy heart , thus men set themselves to sale willingly . 3. when men have some heart to come out of it , but the lord leaves men to an indifferency , and consequently to apostasie , as it was with agrippa almost perswaded , and like the israelites that refused to go into the good land , numbers 14. and hereupon the lord was wroth , and said they should not , but they repented and would fain have had some pitty shewed in regard of their misery , but their enemies felt upon them and destroyed them : all the plea of the arminians is for this , which is nothing else but mens misery . luke 14. those that were invited made their excuses and said , i must needs go and see it : but found no necessity to come to christ. now the saints the lord never leaves them to a spirit of indifferency , but keeps them in a spirit of necessity . i must come out of this miserable condition , saith the poor soul , they say not , flesh is weak , but i must have help . psalm . 110. because 't is the day of the lords power , they must not rest contented without help ; and if the lord delayes them and hears not , they will follow the lord so much the harder . 4. if they have any resolution to come out , and think it must not be thus , and purpose never to live thus again ▪ yet notwithstanding all their purposes and resolutions , they fall again , and never get any reall conquest , their un●anied hearts and wills are never a whit more subdued . isaiah 63. 7 , 8. for he said , surely they are my people , children that will not lie . so he was their saviour , but they soon rebelled , and vexed his holy spirit : their wills were never subdued . but now the saints either the lord preserves them from such falls and apostasies : or if they do depart from the lord by reason of the prevailing power of any temptation , they ever get reall conquest by their fall , their sinfull corruption thereby gets its deadly wound . rom. 11. 10. their backs are not alwaies bowed down , but the lord raiseth their bowed-down spirits , psalm 145. 14. and upholdeth their spirits for them when they think they shall one day fall by the hand of such saul-like sins and distempers . a carnall heart may carry a fair profession , and be in subjection to christ for a time , but his back stands alwaies bowed down under his profession , is is his berthen , and hence at last he casts it off as a man doth his wearisome burden ▪ but on the contrary , a child of god being indeed weary of his sin , and carrying that up and down with him as his burden , with his soul bowed down in the sense of his own vilenesse , by this means , through the help of christ , at last he comes to get reall conquest over his sin , and cast it off . 5. when the lord in this case lets them alone without inward or outward troubles , this is a fearfull signe . hosea 4. 17. ephraim is joyned to his idols , let him alone , the lord will take no more pains with them , he is wearied out with striving . isaiah 1. 5. why should ye be stricken ? ye will revolt yet more and more ; when the lord sees men the worse for his mercifull corrections , he deals like parents that have striven long with their children , and can do no good on them , they then resolve to let them take their own course , and will own them no longer to be of their family : the lord never deals thus long with his ; but if their sinne will not waste by words , the lord will then try what chaines will do , and now they shall finde good , now they shall remember their backslidings and apostasies from god , and their impeni●ency in sin , in secret sins , especially in the dayes of their peace and prosperity ; now the lord will make sinne as bitter as ever it was sweet . oh consider this you that are prosperous , and because the lord is good to you , therefore you think the lord likes well of your wayes . no greater plague then for the lord to give a man peace in his sinne , or if the lord begins to afflict thee in thy name , on estate begin to be blasted , and thou canst see gods hand on thee , and knowest it , and yet thou remainest unhumbled , this is a signe thou art under the bondage of thy sin . vse 5. for examination , whether we do , or when a people do cast off the government of the lord and destroy his kingdome ? it's needfull to know the sin , that we may prevent the misery ; and 't is certain , let new-england be watchfull , and make sure here , to advance the prince of peace , and to keep the right and government in his hand , and you shall have the blessing of god and his ordinances , peace and mercy in your times , and continued to your children ; for his kingdome is an everlasting kingdome , and of the encrease of his kingdome there is no end . and on the contrary , if new-england cast off the government from over them ▪ and refuse his service , the lord will then take the kingdome from you , and you shall then know the want of what now ye enjoy . now because christs government or kingdome is 1. inward . 2. outward in church . in state. i shall let you know 1. when the inward kingdome of christ is set up , and when 't is razed down , which i shall do by giving you a briefe view of the nature of it , and wherein it confists , and so you may the better judge of your own hearts in this particular . as satan hath an inward kingdome in the hearts of those that are without , so the lord jesus hath an inward kingdome in the hearts of all his saints . col. 1. 13. blessed be god ( saith the apostle ) which hath translated us from darknesse to light , and from the power of satan into the kingdome of his dear sonne , which is very spirituall , little seen , a man may be under all outward government , and yet naught here ; and therefore attend : this inward kingdome therefore consists in four things , or when the whole soul submits it self to god in these four particulars . 1. when the whole soul gives entertainment unto the lord himself to come into it : for if a people shall say they are under such a government , and yet will not admit the prince himself to come amongst them , but keep him out of the kingdome , they cast of his government and his kingdome . 2. when the whole soul closeth with the whole will of the lord ; for if a people shall receive a ●●nce amongst them , but he shall make 〈◊〉 wholsome laws to governe them but will be led by their own wills and lusts , they pull down his kingdome . 3. when the whole soul thus closeth with the will of christ by vertue of the power and spirit of christ : for if a people submit to the will of their prince , but 't is not by vertue of his authority over them , command of them , and helps he hath given them for that end , but it is by reason of some forreign power , that underhand encourageth them to yield , this is poor subjection . 4. when the soul thus submits to christ's will for the lords ends , denying its own wisedome or will , and is led by the lord to his end : for if a people shall submit to their prince , but 't is to set up other princes , he is cast off from his throne . when a man shall serve god , and be under his government because it is profitable or honourable , it suits his own end , this is poor service in the lords account . 1. i say then , the soul is under the inward kingdome or goverment of christ , when the whole soul gives entertainment to the lord of lords , the lord himself with all his traine , in and by the gospell of grace , the royall sword and scepter of christs kingdome ; for when christ himself is thus received , the kingdome of god is come to that soul , and entred into that heart ; and hence mark 1. 14 , 15. the gospel is called the gospel of the kingdome , and when iohn and christ preached beleive and repent , for the kingdome of god is at hand . under which word is comprehended much , but principally christ jesus ready to enter the souls of his people ; and hence iohn preached christ. now 't is said , those that were effectually wrought upon , matt. 11. 12 that the kingdome of heaven did suffer violence , and the violent take it by force ; so that the kingdome of god is come into the hearts of all the elect of god , when the soul uses a holy violence , and the lord do's draw the heart to an entertainment of the lord himself ; many difficulties there be between them and christ , and yet they break through all . this is the condition of all men by nature , they are strangers to christ , and live without god and christ in the world , and christ from them , and so satan takes possession , and rules them , and so men are under the kingdome of darknesse , so that the devill himself possesses every naturall man , as the apostle speaks , he worketh in the children of disobedience , to run on so , and remain so . now the gospel of the kingdom● , and the meanes to advance christ in his kingdome , makes a free offer of christ hims●lf ; indeed it offers pardon , grace , mercy , life , glory , but all these are in christ himself , and we possesse them by possessing and receiving of christ himself ; as a poor woman hath all the wealth of the man by entertaining of the man. so that the gospell firstly and primarily offers christ himself , and faith doth pitch on christ himself , and doth open those everlasting doores , that the king of glory may come in , john 1. 12. 't is said , so many as received him , he gave power to be the sons of god , 1 john 5. 12. he that hath the son , hath life ; so that now let a man refuse or reject the lord himself as he is thus offered in the gospel , he does refuse the kingdome of the lord , and does refuse to be under the power of the lord. true , it may be said the kingdom of god hath been nigh to him , when christ is offered in the gospell , and god sayes as it were nothing shall please me so mu●h as this , if thou dost receive me . luke 10. go and preach to these and these cities , and if they will not receive you , shake off the dust of your fe●t , and let them know the kingdome of god hath been nigh to them ; then christ comes into the soul when the whole soul takes the lord for himself , christ , and all that christ hath , christ in a pardon , and christ in a promise : at that very day the lord gave the heart to receive him , then is the kingdome of god come in that heart , and with him all , life , peace , joy , and glory , god , spirit , and all . now the whole soul receives him , when 1. the mind sees him in the glory of his grace ▪ that though it had low , mean thoughts of christ before , for which it mourns ; yet the rising of this glorious sun upon him , he esteems all things losse for him that he may win christ , and be found in christ , i in him , and he in me , in vocation : and not having my own righteousnesse , in justification : and to feel the life of christ and death also , in sanctification : and to attain to the resurrection of the dead , in glorification : and now nothing is dear to the soul but christ. — 2. when the will , after the soul hath had some hopes the lord may look towards it in his grace , and having had many heart-breaking tears before the lord , the lord is now pleased by the glad tidings of the gospell to give the will power not only to receive and entertain the lord , but gladly to receive him . the soul wonders that ever the lord should bow down to him , and offer mercy to him ; and when as together with this , by the sweet ●avour of his grace that he doth let into the heart , the soul doth receive the lord with most dear imbracings into his soul , that now there is none like to the lord. cant. 1. 3. thy name is like an 〈◊〉 poured out , where the very feet of the messengers of glad tidings are beautifull : but the lord himself is the only crown and joy of the soul , when the least look of love to a castaway is more sweet than kingdomes , ay and much more , that 's love it self . isaiah 52 9. b●●ak forth into joy , sing together ye waste pla●●s of jerusalem ; for the lord hath comforted his people . when kings shall stop their mouths as vile in themselves , and not able to set forth that glory they never heard of before , and the soul for joy sells away all to buy this pearl , that it sayes with david , how do i love thy law ! now beloved when the soul does thus receive the lord , the kingdome of god is come to that soul ; and theref●re try and examin , is it thus with you ? or hath the lord begun to deal thus with thee , to give himself , the glory of angels , the wonderment of heaven , the mighty god of heaven , to come to thy heart ? thou art then under the government of the kingdome of god. but now on the contrary , if thou canst be content to receive the ordinances of christ , or the consolations of christ , or some of the commands of christ , and that is all , and the lord never gave thee a heart to close with christ himself , it 's a strange thing to thee , that which is the main thing , the diamond in the ring of the gospel ; thou art yet far enough off from the kingdome of god ; i dare not say , not think for all the world , that ever the kingdome of god came to thy heart . again , if you have received christ , but not with thy whole soul : that now the offer , promises , blood , life , grace , glory in the gospell , are grown common things to thee ; that the lord never sent thee home wondering at the glory of gods grace to a poor wretch , never yet said'st , lord●●he ●he lord never yet lay next thy heart , or if thou hast had some liking , and some love and affections in pangs ; yet the lord is not only precious , and exceeding dear in thy heart , thy heart breaks not for grief that thou hast so much slighted him , so little born him of thy heart ; it is a sign that the lord hath begun to reveal himself to thy soul , when he gives thee a heart to mourn for thy standing our against him , but this never came to thy soul. certainly , here is the wound of many men : the gospell of god never hath its proper effect , till the lord help thee to give thy whole heart thus to a saviour , to a god , to the prince of peace ; and till this is done , the gospel is ineffectuall , it doth nothing . it was a sweet prayer of him , make thy son dear , very dear , exceeding dear , only dear and precious , or not at all ; if thou hadst a thousand hearts , it was too little for christ to love him , and do'st grudge him one ? when thou hast imparted thy heart , and esteem to thy lusts and creature , do'st thou love the lord with part of thy heart ? but a vile lust , a poor creature must have a share , and the remnant will serve christ , is he not the onely pearl of thy heart , to give him daily communion , know this thou art a stranger to . hear ye despisers , and wonder , and perish , god will work a work in your dayes . what is that ? the infinit god cannot express as it were the wrath that shall come against such a soul , nor i cannot expresse the wrath that shall come upon such a despiser of the lord jesus . give him all thy heart or none : if thou hast the lord , thou hast his whole heart ▪ if he had a thousand lives , he would have laid them all down for thee . he poured out his bloud for every one of his , but for the present thou art out of the kingdom of god to this day . 2. when the whole soul closeth with the whole will of christ , having thus received him , for if a prince be come , and people will not be ruled by him , nor any laws that he makes , though never so good , but what they list , the kingdome is cast off ; for , beloved , there is a marvellous common deceit in mens hearts , they would not for all the world but have christ ; ay , but the will of christ is neglected , that is a clog , and the burden of the lord of hosts ; christ is sweet and his will is 〈◊〉 , christ is precious , and his will is vile . why do you make him a king , and ye will make lawes for christ , and you will rule christ , and his will shall not stand ? here is no king ; such kind of idle libertines were in the apostles time , 1 ioh. 1. 6. if we say we have fellowship with him , and walk in darkness , we lie , and there is no truth in us : but now when the whole soul does submit to the whole will of the lord , now his kingdome is come indeed , when his will is thus sweet , dan. 7. 27. his kingdome is an everlasting kingdome , and all nations shall serve him : and his servants ye are whom ye obey , whether christ , the devill , or your own hearts . now the whole wil of christ is 1. directing . 2. correctin . now when the soul submits to both , then christ rules in his kingdome ; sometime you meet with christs directing will ; now this is mens frame , naturally they will not see it , they will not come to the light , iohn 3. ●0 . they are led by their own counsell , and will not regard the light and counsell of god in his word ; they will quarrell with the light when it is crosse to their ends , gain , honour and the like ; men have high thoughts against the lord jesus , 2 cor. 10. 5. casting down imaginations , and every high thought that exalteth it self against the knowledge of god. and again , if men do see it , yet like the devill that has much light , they do not love it , nor out of love ( not unlesse it be out of fear ) subject to it ▪ like balaam that had no love to gods command , but onely was acted by fear and constraint ; now when the soul continues thus , it casts off christs kingdom ; but if the whole soul first comes to the light , though it sees little , sets the whole will of christ before it , psal. 18. 22. saith david ; i have kept the wayes of the lord , and have not wickedly departed from my god : and though it hath had many quarrellings against the truth of god , yet now it hath not , nor dares not , but sayes , lord , teach me ; the lord gives them hearts to lye down at the feet of any man that shall shew them any thing that is amisse in them , and they say with david , lord , search me , and try me : i have many crooked wayes , and therefore , good lord , find them out , and therefore come to the lord for that end ; and though there be something in them that is desperately contrary to the good wil of god , yet there is an inward man that does delight in the law of god , and when the lord is pleased to give them an heart to submit to the will of god ; oh the soul doth wonder at the lord , that the lord should shew him any thing , and help him against temptations ; and though there be a great deal of wearinesse in the wayes of god , yet there is a spirit within him , that it is indeed heaven it self to him to be in the ordinances of god ; now ye stoop to the directing will of christ , when this is thy way , though thou goest oft out of it , yet comest in it again , as sin is a wicked mans way , although he goeth a thousand times out of it . now for the other , the correcting will of christ ; the l. hath strong trials : now here subjection to christ is required as well as to the directing will of christ ; then the soul submits to this will when the mind objects not , charges not god with folly , as eli , 1 sam. 3. 18. it is the lord , let him do what seemeth him good ; and likewise the will , though it hath had many sad bouts , yet this is his frame in the conclusion , that the wil of christ is better than every thing else , the wil of christ is alone sweet to him . isa. 38. saith hezekiah , good is the wil of the lord , & so lam. 3. it 's good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth , and to turn his cheeks to him that smites him ; nay when there is spiritual evils on the soul , as was on christ himself , spiritual desertions , nothing but bitterness & sorrow ; yet the soul saith , as christ did , not my will , but thine be done , father save me from this hour , yet father glorifie thy self , and so the soul does humbly submit it self to the lord ; though the lord should never pitty it , yet it will lye down at the feet of the lord , now is gods kingdome come . but if the soul wil have christ , and yet cast off the wil of christ , 1. either in his judgement , that the law of god as given by christ , should be no rule to a christian ; suppose you were in england , and were there prest to bow before an altar , or image ; what shall lead you , if that gods will and law must not be your rule ? the lord will one day make you know his blessed will , in that blessed law of his , that ye shall never find peace to the end of the world , except the lord do help ye thus to walk . again , when men cannot endure the wil of christ , cannot ēdure exho●tations , what doth the man mean to exhort us thus ? i tell thee , there goeth forth power with the exhorta●ions of christ. i say , take heed of casting off the will of christ here ; and so when men in their practice shall quarrel against any of gods truths , and are loath to see it , or if they do , yet not love dearly every truth of god , but it 's a burden to them ; especially if it crosse their own ends and gain , they will not see it to be a truth , lest they should be convinced , and turn ro the rule of it ; if the will and ordinances of christ be a burden to a man , and a man is not weary of his wearinesse , but weary of them all the while : art thou under the government of christ ? if a man forsaken of god , led by his own counsels , be under the kingdom of christ , then thou art ; so long as there is credit for the truth , so long it is entertained ; but now suppose it be costly , rhat it should bring beggery & affliction with it , is it now sweet to you ? doth this support thy heart ? i am in gods way , canst lye dowu and subscribe to the equity of christs proceedings with thee , though he should never shew favour to thee ; if it be not thus , i dare not say thou art under the kingdome of christ. and so for the correcting wil of christ , many sad afflictions the lord tries thee withall , the lord tries men marvellously ; when thou art under the hand of the lord , those very things that should make men cry to heaven , and wean thee from the world , those very things do harden thee , and make thee grudge & repine . the l. be merciful to thee , if this be thy frame , the kingdom of christ never came into that heart ; you are begging for mercy ; & the lord sayes , you mercy ? you have abused it ; no saith the lord , go to your lust that have despised the day of grace , & so now you cast off the lord , because the lord will not give you mercy when you would have it . will you now quarrel with the lord ? no , down proud heart ; pray still , and mourn still , and turn to the lord ; and say , lord do with me what thou wilt , i am clay in thine hand , thou may'st make me a vessell of dishonour , i deserve not the least bit of bread ; such a one as is above the lord and his will , is not under the lord , therefore submit thy self to the good will of christ. 3. when the soul doth thus submit to the wil of christ , by vertue of the power and spirit of christ , i.e. when the soul doth not submit by vertue of its own power , strength or ability , for this is forreign power ; but as it doth seek to submit to the will of christ , so it would have christ himself act it and rule it , and so inable it to submit there unto ; now is the kingdome of god come neer to that heart . and herein christs kingdom is different from princes , they give laws that men may keep them by their ●wn might ; hence they command no impossible things ; but the will of christ is so crosse to a carnal hear● , that 't is impossible man of himself should submit to it : but the lord doth it for this end , that the soul should then come to christ in its need , that he would do all the good pleasure of his will , and now the lord himself reigns , and that gloriously , ro. 8. 1 , 2. for the law of the spirit of life which is in christ iesus , hath made me free from the law of sin and death , acts 5 , 31. a prince an saviour , for to give repentance and remission of sins . it is part of his princely power for to give remission of sins ; both in turning from sin , and to god , and all the wayes of god , and now you exalt him when he is thus set up : 1 cor. 4. 20. the kingdome of god is not in word , but in power . the power of christ jesus is come into thy soul , and the soul is under the kingdome of the lord jesus , when it doth lye under the mighty power of the lord jesus christ , 2 thess. 1 , 11 , 12. we pray always for you , that the lord would work and fulfill the good pleasure of his will , and the work of faith in power , that christ may be glorified . yea , then is christ glorified , when god omnipotent reigns over sin and unbelief ; & when the lord doth this , not only the kingdome of god is now come , but the kingdome of christ in glory is come ; there is many a poor soul thinks christ rules him not , because he cannot do this nor that , because he finds his heart unable , & unwilling for to submit to the will of christ ; i find no strength at all , saith the soul , and i go to christ and find not strength conveyed , and now he thinks he is not under the kingdom of christ. i answer , that is not the question ; but hath the lord made thee willing in the day of his power ? when the soul doth lye under the power of the lord jesus christ , when the soul doth lye like wax before the lord jesus ; when the soul saith , lord there was never any change of my nature ; the good lord change it , and if there be any change , the good lord increase and stir up the graces of thy spirit in my soul , and do thou lead me and guide me . brethren , the kingdome of christ is come to this soul : iohn 5. 40. you will not come to me for life ; he doth not say , you do not quicken your selves , or ye cannot come to me , but will not ; here is their wound , they will not come to christ for life , rom. 6. 19. as yee have yeelded your members serva●●s to sin and satan , so now yeeld up your selves servants to righteousnesse and to holinesse , psal. 119. 5 , 6. thou hast commanded that we should keep thy precepts continually . oh that my heart were directed to keep thy precepts continually ! oh that my heart were directed to keep thy statutes ! when a christian is grapling with his own heart , ye will never be able to overcome the unsubduednesse thereof ; but when ye bring them to the lord jesus christ , that he would take a course with them . 1. now ye please christ. 2. ye take a sure course to have the will of god done , he being in office for that end ; for him hath god exalted to be a prince and saviour to israel : when the soul doth look up to the lord jesus , and lye under the power and spirit of the lord jesus . 3. you now make the yoke of christ sweet , and his name glorious ; nothing glorifies christ so much as this , when jesus doth work in a christian , now the kingdome of christ is come to the soul , and that in power . but now when men will not submit thus far to christ : 1. they can do nothing , but will not come to him , on whom god hath laid salvation ; you say , you cannot understand , nor edifie by the sermons ye hear , and you cannot part with your lusts . ay , but now this is thy condemnation , thou wilt not go to a saviour that he may teach thee and help thee , when men will not have the lord jesus to reign over them : or 2. if men do come ▪ they will not come to him where he may be found ; but say , i can do nothing ; christ must do all , and so neglect the means wherein he will be found : or 3. will submit and come in means to him , but not then at the speciall time when he is to be sought , and may be found , viz. in time of temptation . but then forget and forsake him , and cry not hosanna : lord , now save , now help me against this lust : when temptation comes , when passion and pride come , do you now go to jesus christ ? when the world begins to draw thy heart away ; dost thou say thus , lord i have prayed this day against this sin , and lord i have no strength against it , now lord help me ? but here is the misery of the soul , it doth not go to christ , and by this means live in complaints all their life-time . 4. if lastly any thing be to be done , they will do it themselves ; as paul , gal. 1. 12. not but that a christian should put forth himself , a christian is not a dead-hearted christian at all times , but the grace of god which comes from christ , doth act the soul in a continuall dependance on christ ; and where christ acts not , there satan doth . now i say the kingdome of god is come , when the soul doth thus submit to the stream of the bles●ed spirit of the lord , that the lord may guide it . oh beloved , here is the skill , that poseth the angels how to tell you ; so to yield your selves to christ , as that christ may come , so to abide in the stock , that all your fruit may be from him : so to lye under the lord , as that the stream of the spirit of life may fall on thee ; so to be implanted in the lord , as to fetch life from him , and bring forth fruit to him . but try this course , submit to the will of the lord jesus , be nothing in thy own eyes ; and if the lord do give thee any thing , blesse the lord for it ; if any strength against thy sin , be vile in thy own eyes , and try and see if ye find not the kingdome of god , the glory of heaven come into thy soul. oh the light , life , prayers you might have , the heavenly conference ye will have together , that it would do a mans heart good to be with such a christian ; that those that are with you might say , verily god is in this man ; verily there is joy in heaven when the saints keep in this frame . 4. when the soul yields thus to the will of christ for christs ends ; for such is the subtill wretchednesse of mens hearts , that men would have christ glorifie himself , that he may glorifie and honour them ; like simon magus , that would give any money for apostolicall gifts , that he might be some body that way also : now if a man shall submit , go to christ for gifts and parts , that 's to set up another king , to advance a mans self ; and so also sin and the devill , and christ must be made a servant for this end ; he is now no king : like a rebell that is not content , that thousands of the kings subjects should serve him , but he will have the prince serve him a so : every man will say , this doth utterly overthrow the kingdom of such a prince . when a man shall secretly fight against the lord , and be for himself ; and for the devil and sin within ; when a man shall make all the creatures serve him , the souldiers of his army ; meat , drink , and outward comforts , this is a marvellous thing ; ay , but when a man shall make jesus christ , & god himself , and profession of christ , make these to serve him , to raise up his name , this the lord takes very ill . only this i would adde ; when the soul doth look at christ with a single eye , that christ is sweet and precious , and lyes under the blessed spirit of christ for that end ; and now looks up to christ , that he may submit to him with a single eye , that the name of christ may be glorified by life , and death : true it is , self will be in every duty , and so is contrary to the lord in all , and not for the lord. yet though it be thus , there is another thing in the soul that is wholly for god and christ : and hence seeks that he may do his work ; his heart loves him , and so seeks him ; and he begs it with many tears . oh that my children might serve and love this god ; nay , that all the world might see , and blesse , and admire this god , and the lord inlargeth his heart herein , psal. 72. 19. and truly now the kingdom of god is come to thy soul , rom. 5. 17. as sin and satan do reign by death : so iesus christ doth reign by life to eternall life . matth. 25. 14. he is the true subject that improves his talents for the king : christ will subdue all his to himself , psal. 66. 3. through the greatnesse of thy power , shall thine enemies submit themselves to thee . rom. 14. 17. for the kingdome of god is not in meat and drink ; but in righteousnesse , and peace , and joy in the holy ghost . when a man shall be picking fault with things , & this and that offends him ; get ye gone , the kingdom of god consists not in that . but when the soul do's go to the lord , and maintain his peace with god , and love to the people of god , and joy in the holy ghost , here is the kingdome of god. he that serves christ in these things , the kingdome of god is come into his soul. he that thus submits to the lord christ , he must first be a man weary of his own counsels , and must loath himself : when the lord hath wearied a man of his own wayes ; he sayes , what am i , that the lord should shew me any mercy ? and when the lord calls him to any service ; lord , what am i , that i should now pray to thee ? bless the lord , when the lord doth keep thy heart in this frame ; but now when men will honour christ , and yet saul-like have christ honour them : many poor creatures they think it a credit to be in church-fellowship , and they wil seek to know christ , that they may attain church fellowship , and have honour , but know it , till the lord do pull down thy base ends , and make thee loath thy self , and so to submit to his blessed will ; truly till then , the kingdome of god is not come to thy soul : think of these things , for if the kingdome of god be in our hearts , then look for good dayes ; brethren , let new-england be confident of it : but if this be gone from the soules and hearts of men and women in their severall families and places ; though they may have the outward kingdome of christ , yet the inward kingdome being not set up ; i say no more but what he said , go to palestina and bohemia . certainly , if they had not cast off the lords government , they had never seen those lamentable dayes ; they had outward ordinances ; oh , but here was the thing ; the inward kingdome of the lord jesus christ , and subjection to the will of the lord jesus , and to be for the lord jesus ▪ this the lord saw , was not in them , therefore the lord hath left them to be lamentable spectacles . therefore dear brethren . i do beseech you , pray and beg for this kingdome : thou sayest , i fall short of this : know this kingdome of god is at first like a grain of mustard-seed , some little lying under the will of christ ; if it be in truth , blessed be god ●or it ; the kingdome of god is come , and the soul doth weep and mourn after the lord , that the lord would bring every thought into subjection . know it , the kingdome of god is come to thy soul ; and know it , thou hast jesus christ at the right hand of god the father , interceding for thee ; therfore , go home and blesse the lord , and wonder at his grace , that hath translated thee from the kingdome of darknesse , to the kingdome of his dear son : if the lord hath let thee finde the beginning of these things in truth , go home , and blesse the lord for it . 2. try when the externall kingdome of christ in his church is cast off , for we told you , this was christs kingdome . 't is called the kingdome of heaven , matth. 25. 1. and 't is it which the lord gives up at the last day to god the father : and hence , mat. 8. 12. the members thereof are the children of the kingdome ; and hence we read of the rulers and governours of it ; and the keys , not only of doctrine ; but of power and jurisdiction committed by christ jesus to it , punctually exprest in scripture . now we know , in the church there is a three-fold power of christ in government : 1. the supreme monarchicall absolute power of christ , in and by his ordinances . 2. there is some derivative power of the church from christ joyntly together . 3. there is a ministeriall power of the officers of the church it self . hence the kingdome of christ is overthrown when these three are , when this three-fold cord is broken by the sons of men ; and if whole america cast off these , or any of these ; then they fall to bondage ; and if particular persons in churches do , the lord will do the like to them much more : 1 kings 9. 4 , 5. when solomon had been praying much , the lord tells him ; if he would walk before him as david his father had done , to keep his statutes and obey his commandments ; then he would be a god , making good his promise ; but if not , then the lord would cast off him and that place . so zach. 14. 17. and it shall be , that who so will not come up of all the families of the earth , to worship the king the lord of hosts ; even upon them shall be no rain . the lord is quick in his judgements , and will spare none . 1. there is a supreme power of jesus christ in his church and ordinances thereof , isa. 9. 6. the government is on his shoulders ; it is true this power is on others also , but he is the main , heb. 3. moses was only a servant in his house , christ as a son. the guidance of all things in the church doth lye chiefly on him , or else it would never be carried along . christ is a son , and that in his own house ; into whose hands the supreme power of guiding , and ordering all things in the church of god is put ; the experience of gods saints and people doth find another power , which shewes that the lord jesus hath , and doth exercise a mighty power in the ordinances of his worship ; the supreme and kingly power which he exerciseth in the hearts of his people . now cast off this kingly power , the lord himself is cast off ; i speak not immediately as in the internall kingdom , but mediately . and for this , the lord will bring into bondage , luk. 19. 17. those mine enemies , saith christ : which would not that i should reign over them ; bring them hither , that i may slay them ; which is meant of the lords external administration by his servants . quest. when is this done ? answ. 1. when men impenitently break covenant made with the lord. especially in his ordinances of cleaving and submitting to him therein , and remain so with impenitency . this is the main and first original of all the rest . now it is manifest , the power of christ jesus , the supreme power of christ is cast off ; for a man do's professe by this , that not the will of christ , but his own will shall rule him ; christ shall not be lord , but as they said , ier. 2. 31. we are lords , we will come no more at thee . when the league and covenant between prince and people is broke , then he is cast off from being king ; this is certain , the lord never did receive any people to himself from the beginning of the world to this day , but he hath done it by some covenant : nor never any people took the lord to be their god , but by some covenant , they bound themselves to the lord. whereby they were either made his people , or continued to be his people , and he their god ; but i cannot now stand to clear this . now look , as when the lord breaks his covenant , he casts them off from being his people ; ( though this he never doth to the elect ) so when people break covenant with him , they cast him off as much as in them lies , from being their god ; they do as much as in them lyes , make the lord to be no god. you shall see therefore , hosea 10. 3. they say , we have no king ; because we feared not the lord. it is the speech of conscience , and that at a sad time , wherein they did not fear the lord ; they have spoken words , swearing falsly , and breaking the covenant . in their time of covenanting with the lord , there seemed to be much sorrow and humiliation ; yet in these very covenants , hemlock did spring up , and hence captivity came . many times the covenants that are made , there is such outward seeming reality , that not only men , but the lord speaking after the manner of men , he thinks certainly these promises , these covenants will never be broke ; yet they are broken , isa. 65. 8 , 9 , 10. i said , surely , saith the lord ; this is a people that will not lie . such profession , and such acknowledgements , &c. so it is said ; in all their afflictions , he was afflicted , and the angel of his presence did redeem them : but afterward , they rebelled , and vexed his holy spirit : they cast off the government of the lord , they would not be under the bonds of the lord , and so he was turned to be their enemy ; this is that which brings captivity and bondage , ierm . 2. 14 , 15 , &c. is israel a servant saith the lord ? ye shall see the reason why he was so ; i have broken their iron yoke , saith the lord , and i have burst thy bonds , and i have planted thee a nohle vine ; yet hast thou degenerated : and this is that which doth make them vassals or slaves . and in truth you never see churches laid desolate ; but when that time comes , men shall see , and shall professe it . when other nations shall ask ; why hath the the lord dealt thus with his people ? the answer shall be clear ; they have broken the covenant of the lord. when many miseries come upon particular persons , what is the cause of it ? then remember the covenant thou hast broken with the lord. isa. 24. 5 , 6. they have transgressed the ●aw , speaking of the whole earth ; and they have changed their ordinances , and broken the everlasting covenant . a people that might have had everlasting mercy , they would not submit to the lord , they have broken this everlasting covenant of the lord : now what followes ? the earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof ; and hence heavy things that are there written , shal befall the whole world ; it is a sin that defiles the earth men tread on , and the houses men inhabite in , for it is a sin against most light : they which make covenants have a great deal of light , and also most will. and that do's aggravate a sin ; when the whole heart , as it were , do's give up it self to a lust , and breaks hereby all bonds . and it is a sin that men might avoid , if they would be watchfull against : for it is a sinfull thing to make a covenant of impossible things , therefore it lyes heavy on the co●science of men afterwa●ds ; i might have been better , & might have walked better ; nay , it is a ●●n that do's destroy the law of the lord : this sin it do's destroy the very will of christ. had'st thou never been bound in covenant ; hadst thou laid by this covenant , the wil of god had been kept whole . as cords not used , are kept whole ; but when broke , are utterly spoiled . when a man do's bind himself by a covenant to the lord , and then break it ; he do's as much as in him lyes , to destroy the lord from being king. 't is true , the saints and people of god may be said in some case to break covenant , but yet they never impenitently break covenant with the lord ; they may break covenant with the lord very often ▪ but yet it is with them as those in iudges● . 1 , 4. when the angel of the lord came to them , and they were under grievous sad bondage ; saith he to them from the lord : i have brought you up out of the land of egypt , and i have broke your bonds ; and i have said , i would never break covenant with you : & i said , you should make no league with the canaanites , but ye have not obeyed my voyce ; why have ye done this ? and all the people heard this ; and it is said , all the people wept . doubtlesse some were sincere , though happily many were full of hypocrisie ; and so the sincere heart laments it , and renewes his covenant . the poor soul hath nothing to say many times , though the lord should bring never so much misery on it ; yet the soul stands weeping before the lord , that it hath broke the covenant of the lord , and made void the covenant of the lord ; yet the saints they never break it wholly , they never depart wholly from the lord. now when a people shall impenitently break covenant , as hath been said : that men can study arguments , how to nullifie church covenant ; nay , worse when in covenant , then ever before ; and the businesse is , they are loath to be in bonds ; when men shall grudge the truth of the lord , others if their judgements be not set against it ; yet notwithstanding , in deed and practice , they live as if they had never been in covenant . once they were a pleasant plant ; but now they are degenerated , as the lord doth there complain . beloved , when it is thus , the league between the prince of peace , and the church is broke ; they do as much as in them lies , seek to cast off the lord from ruling over them . 2. when there be additions made to the ordinances of christ , by humane ordinances and inventions of men ; let any set up new ordinances , new inventions of men , they set up new gods ; and they do as subjects set up new kings , which is indeed to pull down him that was , and so they do to jesus christ ; they do deny the supreme headship of christ , and his authority over them ; though it may seem a small thing , yet thus it is : and hence ye shall observe ieroboams calves , though they worshipped the same god which was at ierusalem , varying only in circumstance ; yet the lord professeth , that they had set up new gods , and so indeed did pull down the true god and his government from over them , and this brought bondage . and hence , col. 2. 18 , 16. let no man heguile you of your reward with a voluntary humility , saith the apostle , and worshipping of angels , intruding into those things which he hath not seen , &c , whatsoever pretence be upon the inventions of men , take heed of that ; if it be the inventions of men , in vers. 19. and not holding the head ; the very headship of christ is denied , and the ground is this ; to say that christ is is not a sufficient means of salvation , of saving his people , and ruling his people ; it is to deny the headship of christ : and likewise to say , that christ hath not appointed for his people sufficient means for that end ; is to say , that christ is not a sufficient means to rule his people ; and he that shall say , jesus christ is not a sufficient means , he do's deny the headship of christ. now to set up any inventions of men in the worship of god , to be a means to carry the heart to god , is to say , that jesus christ hath not appointed sufficient means for that end ; and therefore he is not a sufficient means of guiding , and saving , and ruling his people . nay , this i will adde ; let there be any invention added to the worship of god , that 's meerly the will of man ; nothing else , but only this i would have ye do it ; they are such things as do neither make a man better nor worse , but only use them , and ye are commanded to use them , and nothing but the will of man : this is to set up a new christ , and to pull down the power of christ jesus , to submit herein to the authority of man , meerly because of the will of man , that there is nothing seen but his will : there is ( it may be ) neither good nor hurt in it ; it is to make that man a god and christ ; it is peculiar to christ to do it , and this do's pull down the lord jesus christ from his throne ; when there is adding to the worship of the lord. i need not i suppose speak any thing this way ; only remember to be watchfull against this ; when the lord doth send tentations this way into churches , or into any place ; be watchfull against new inventions of men to be added or made , they are very sinfull ; and if ye ask me when we shall look for such times ; i need not go far from my text. it is said , that rehoboam and all the people walked in the worship of the lord three years ; but in one year , rehoboam and all the people fell off from the worship of the lord. o therefore take heed of this , when the tentation comes : 1. when the lord bows the hearts of those in authority , men of eminency to fall this way , then multitudes follow ; as , vers . 1. rehoboam sinned and israel with him . 2. when persecution ariseth for the truth , gal. 5. 12. they must be circumcised to avoid persecution , 3. when mens hearts are surfetted with the ordinances of god , and weary of them ; when the ordinances of the lord jesus christ , men find no benefit by them , the heart of man will then be making out after some thing of its own ; then we must look for apostles , prophets , and evangelists , and this curiosity , and the other nicity ; then a conceit and imaginary picture of a mans own , is more beautifull than all gods ordinances besides , and all religion is placed there ; it may be in extending too far any ordinance it self , though it may seem little at first ; yet when it is thus , then look for evil times . 3. when as a people seek to abolish and destroy any ordinance of christ , but especially if on this ground ; either because of some outward evill they bring with them , in the fruition of them , or hope of some outward good they shall receive by casting them off , or because of no good they reap by the enjoyment of them : whensoever ye see this , that they are cast off on this ground , then look for bondage ; for it will come on whole countreys in generall , and on particular persons : for jesus christ is in his ordinances , and his throne is not only in heaven among the angels ; but , isa. 9. 7 , 8 , 9. he sits on the throne of david , among his church and people ; and pull these down , you pull down christs throne , the prince of peace ; when ye pull down his ordinances . 1 iohn 2. 19. there were many that did seem to be for christ , and yet against christ , this is one sign by which he notes them ; they went out from us , for they were not of us : that it might be made manifest they were not of us . now i say , when men shall pull down the ordinances of christ , and withdraw themselves from the communion of saints ; and when it is for one of these ends , in regard of some outward evill that the ordinances do bring with them , or some outward good they shall get by casting them off ; then certainly look for bondage . as a prince that hath one near him , he may attempt change of things in state ; but when he is set a work by a forein state , and is a pensioner to the pope or spaniard : now he is reall to root out the prince ; and this provokes . so here many times a christian , he may in conscience speak against some of the wayes of the lord , and this may be the condition of the saints and people of god , and they may speak it in conscience ; and this may be tolerated , when it is for want of light ; nay , they may through stubb●rnnesse of spirit , cast off ordinances ; but when now it is for this reason , though he hath indeed his colours for it ; you shall , saith satan , have this gain , and this ease , and these conveniences ; and what do you do with ordinances ? and now a man begins to find out arguments ; and saith , satan , if ye attend to the enjoyment of ordinances , here be these miseries , therefore away with some of gods ordinances at least . oh , brethren , when it is thus , that there is this secret pension from the world , that now had the lord jesus , the honours of the world attending on them , then they could make much of them ; but because they come with poverty , therefore they can plot and speak against them , and in time come to cast off the ordinances of the lord jesus ; it is certain the lord hath bondage for such soules , and you will certainly find this true one day . mal. 3. 14 , 15. the people , they say ; what profit is it that we have served the lord , and that we have walked mournfully before him ? and hence , they forsook the lord ; hence , chap. ● . 1. the lord threatens , that he will burn them up , both root and branch . the lord hath consuming fire for such one day . the ordinances of the lord were too costly for you . mark 12. 9. 8. the lord hath his vine-yard , he lets it out to husbandmen , and he sends for the fruit ▪ and at last the son bimself comes to call for fruit . now say they ▪ here is the son , let us kill him . why , what is the matter ? out of gain , that is the businesse ; that the inheritance may be ours . here is this gain to be without them , and therefore to cast off christ : what will the lord do to these husband-men ? he will take away his vine-yard frrom them , &c. it is the speech of luth●r ▪ venter in omni religione potentissi●um idolum : when the belly is served , christ must be destroyed . men may have this quiet life without these ordinances ; and hence men bear a privy grudge against the ordinances of the lord , because the belly is not served . look as it was with the ●ews ; they looked for a glorious king to come to them , and christ c●me and though they were told of it before ; when he came , he had nothing but his cr●sse ; and he tels them , if they will be his disciples , they must take his crosse. but now , because he came not with pomp , but only with his crosse , this is the great reason , why to this day the je●es do set themselves against the lord jesus chr●●● ; the crosse came with christ , that 's the cause of it : so when men shall look for great things from the ordinances of christ , and when they come to enjoy them , they meet with nothing else but christ and his cr●sse , and disappointments , and desertions ; when they meet with this ▪ then christ is cast off , and they professe he is no king , and cesar is our king : and if we take this man to be our king ; the romanes will ruine us . i know it is a hard trial for a man to be put to such a strait ; for the lord to advance the price of his ordinances at that high rate , that all must be parted with for the enjoyment of them . but yet notwithstanding , he is for ever unworthy to have the lord jesus to rule him , that shall therefore make him a king as they did , iohn 6. he was their cook , therefore they made him king. therefore this i say , take heed of disputing against , or denying , or nullifying , not only outwardly , but in thy very heart secretly , any of gods ordinances : for that the lord complains of his people , that their hearts went after their wickednesse . oh take heed of doing thus against any one of gods ordinances , because straits do attend on them : it was the speech of david , ps. 119. thy law is pure , therefore thy servant loveth it . suppose thou shouldest never get any good by any of gods ordinances ; yet thy law is pure , the fault is in thy own heart ; and certainly the lord he will remember , as there he speaketh , ierem. ● . 2. i remember the love of thine espousals , when thou didst follow me in a land of barrennesse , in a land where there was no water . thy life shall be precious to the lord , that shall follow the lord in all afflictions ; yet thy heatt doth cleave to the lord , and follow the lord in all his ordinances ; therefore this is that i would say , there are many wants now in the countrey ; but yet notwithstanding , let the people of god get neer to christ ; speak often one to another , and find out wayes and means to pay your debts , and lye down at the feet of the lord jesus , and be content if the lord will have it so , to be nothing , be content thus ; and though thou dost not find any benefit from the ordinance of the lord as yet , yet notwithstanding loath thy own heart , but love them ; yet seek after the lord , and look to the lord in them . and this is certain , the lord hath blessings for his people ; not only in this life , but as he there speaketh to his disciples , when they say to him , lord , what shall we have ? saith the lord to them ; you that have followed me , you shall sit on thrones . but take heed of this , if once ye come to slight ordinances , and cast off ordinances , because of these straits and wants , and so forth : and what are your ordinances , & c ? and a generation of men risen up ( i think christians should send forth their gronings to the lord , that the terrour of the lord may fall upon them ) they deny all the ordinances of the lord , and the spirit must teach us only . 't is true , the spirit must do it , but will ye therefore take away the means ? and hence , the very scripture is made an alphabet for children , and so they do destroy the ordinances of the lord. beloved , if it be from this principle , take heed of it ; for if it be , ye will certainly find bondage . 4. when men do not thus pull down the ordinances , the throne of christ ; but drive the lord jesus away out of his ordinances , ( though they have his ordinances with them ) by their secret defilings , pollutions , spiritual pollutions of the glorious ordinances of christ ; this the lord frequently complaineth of in ierem. and ezek. the very great reason why the lord did leave his temple , where their fathers did praise the lord : they had polluted and defiled it , that was the reason of it : they had driven the lord away from his throne , and this doth pull down the princely power of the lord in his churches . i know , there be many sins and defilements ; and the sons of men have hidden wayes of polluting the ordinances of the lord , that a man shall sit undet all the ordinances of the lord ; and as it is said of mount gilboah , not any dew fall upon him ; never see good , when good comes ; the lord is not dear , that is the reason of it . oh , thy secret defilements of the ordinances of the lord , have driven the lord far from you . there are many , i shall only name three principally , that there may be a little heed taken of them . first . when there is a secret contempt grown upon a mans spirit of the ordinances of christ , attended with a secret wearinesse of them : this doth now pollute the ordinances of the lord , and this doth drive the lord from his ordinances : mal. 1. 7. ye have offered polluted bread ; wherein have we done it , say they ? this was the cause of it ; ye say , that the table of the lord is contemptible ; the meaning is , you do despise my table and ordinances , and so now do despise me too , and so ye do vilifie and contemne the ordinances of the lord : therefore saith the lord , in the conclusion of that chapter , vers . 11. from the rising of the sun , my name it shall be known . as if he should say , i am uot bound to you , i can have a people , among whom my name shall be great ; for , saith the lord , i am a great king. if one should have asked men in those dayes what good is in your sacrifices ? what great glory can ye see in them ? the saints can see a great deal of glory in mean outsides : now when this is wanting , the name of the lord is polluted , and so the lord driven from his ordinances . heb. 12. 15. take heed , lest there be in any of you an evil root of bitternesse springing up , and many thereby be defiled . when men do live in secret lusts , or open pro●nenes●e ; a man that hath a profane heart , such a heart as doth contemne the portion of mercy the lord doth offer to him ; who like esau did sell his birth-right for a m●sse of pottage . secondly , unbrokennesse of heart in the enjoyment of ordinances , when men live not in a daily sense of the extreme need they stand in of mercy , isa. 66. 1. 2. heaven is my throne , and the earth is my foot-stool ; now observe what the lord doth there speak , to him will i look that is poor in spirit & contrite ; such a poor soul , saith the lord , will i look to ; and to these are opposed , such as have not such hearts , but do look only to the ordinances of the lord : now , saith the lord to such ; he that offereth a lamb ; is as if he cut off a dogs neck ; and he that offereth incense , as he that blesseth an idol . these were a people that did plead for the temple of the lord , and had the ordinances of the lord according to his command ; but here was their wound , they were not broken under the ordinances of the lord : this you shall find , the saints have many sins and wants under the ordinances of the lord : but little does the world know their gronings before the lord , and the lord hath mercy for such soules as are sensible of their need they stand in of the ordinances of the lord. but now when men have found the lord in an ordinance subduing some particular sin : there are other sins remaining in their hearts , and they stand unremoveable in their hearts ; and hence , are the strongest and dearest of all the rest : now , i say , when men having these sins , and knowing these sins in their hearts and spirits ; when as , because i cannot subdue these sins ; and they have attended on the lord in the use of meanes , and the lord helps them not ; and because , they hope to be saved at last for all these : hence they come to a truce with their sin , and never go mourning to the lord ; nor say , the lord hath begun to subdue some of these lusts : now lord , go on , but the soul is at truce with his s●nnes . beloved , if there be any pollution of the ordinances of the lord , here it is ; that men come with unbroken hearts to the ordinances of the lord ; that never feel your need of them , & wounds and sores that are in your hearts , that men do stand with those very sins , that they think they cannot subdue ; and because , they cannot ease themselves of them , therefore they give way to them . when men keep these sins with unsensible hearts of them , ye do resist the holy ghost , ye feel not your need of the lord ; therefore ye keep your sins , and your woes you shall have for them . thirdly , where there is a spirit of unbelief , that there is not a seeking to christ jesus , to wash away the pollutions of his heart and life , in his attending upon the lord in his ordinances . tit. 1. 15. to the unbelieving nothing is pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled . exod. 30. 29. it is said , every thing that touched the altar , was clean ; and hence , without this , all is unclean : when a poor soul shall come to the lords ordinances , and prepare himself before he come ; and in all , it hath many weaknesses , yet it doth leave it self with jesus christ ; every thing that doth touch this altar , is sanctified , and is not polluted . but now when men shall enjoy ordinances , and make no great matter of sins in ordinances ; especially if secret : such is the venemous nature of sin , it doth defile the earth a man doth tread on : now when men shall have these sins , and know them , and yet never leave themselves with christ , and lay themselves on this blessed altar by faith ; they do pollute the ordinances of the lord , fourthly , when the soul doth not so openly , manifestly drive away the lord ; but when men shall ●ome to the ordinances , and never come to the lord jesus in them ; now the lord is cast off . a great prince that comes to a mans house , though he be not driven out of doors ; yet if not attended on , he accounts himself cast off . the lord jesus christ is in his ordinances , ezek. 48. 35. the lord is there ; the saints , they come to god in them and are carried to him by them : therefore , 't is said , acts 10. 33 , 34. now therefore , we are all present before god , to hear all things that are commanded thee of god , and psal. 84. 7. every one of them in sion appeareth before god. now the saints and people of god , when they do thus come to the lord , they find many difficulties to break through , a vally of baca. sometimes their heart is turned from the lord , and sometimes god is turned from them : so that now , the saints when they do come to the lord in his ordinances ; they go through the vallie of baca , that they may see god in sion . but now , when men do never break through difficulties , but give way to a sluggish heart ; when it is thus with a people , it is certain the lord is now cast off ; and ye do as good now as live without christ in the world . amos 5. 21. faith the lord , i hate your new moons , and sabbaths ; for these forty years ye never sacrificed to me , vers . 25. did they not sacrifice those forty years to the lord in the wildernesse ? it was the very thing they came out of egypt for , that they might sacrifice to the lord : yet saith the lord , ye did not sacrifice to me ; truly here was the thing , they did sacrifice , but to enjoy communion with a god , that they did not ; the lord he saw none of that , and this is the frame of many a man , ye never heard a sermon ; ye never broke through your difficulties to come to a god in ordinances : therefore , in truth , though you had them , yet it is as if you never had them ; because , ye never did enjoy the lord in them . therefore , this is that i would say : oh , brethren , let the saints , let it be the care of all the faithfull and people of god ; the first thing that ye do , before ye come to hear a sermon , or receive a sacrament , or to any christian communion , or other ordinance of god : before thou do'st come , indeavour it at least to bring thy soul to a god , to christ , above all ordinances , and break through the difficulties ; heart is dead , and minde is blind , and god is gone ; but yet break through difficulties , and wrestle with the lord in prayer , and then ye wil find the blessing of the lord. the great reason why we enjoy not that mighty presence of the lord in his ordinances , it is this ; men come to ordinances , and would enjoy ordinances , but they never broke through difficulties , to come to a god : when men shall come to ordinances only , ( & blessed be god we have the temple of the lord ; ) truly this wil do you no good in the world . the 5th degree of casting off the supreme power of christ in his ordinances ; many times when the soul cannot come to christ , the lord comes to it : now then the supreme power of christ is cast off , when the soul is unwilling or carelesse , to receive the stroke of the eternall power of the life of jesus into his heart ; but contents himself with some beginnings , some sips and tastes , and doth not lye under the stroke of the eternall spirit of the life of christ. look as it is with a company of subjects , they are in some great town , that stands it out against a prince ; if the prince send to them , and they parlie with him , and they are thankfull for his gifts , and glad of his parly ; but yet notwithstanding , they are unwilling to receive the prince , with all his power to come into the town ; if they be unwilling to do that , and are loath to joyn sides against the other party , they cast him off from being king : so it is here , when men come to the lord in ordinances , the lord he parlies with them , the lord he sends promises , and they are marvellous precious things ; and they have some taste of what the lord do's send , and it is sweet to them ; but now , because they have lusts in their hearts ; the lord saith , make warre against thy lust , and open the gates that i may come in : if so be , a man now out of secret love to his sin , he content himself with the promises of christ ; but the life of christ , he cares not for that , he uses not all means that he may find that , the supreme power of the lord jesus is now cast off , and i know no difference between such a people and capernaum ; they did enjoy the gospell of god , but now to entertain the lord jesus in his spirituall power , this they were loath to come to ; therefore , saith the lord , w● to thee capernaum ; the mighty work of jesus christ in their hearts , this they never cared for , saith the apostle , 2 cor. 10. 5. the weapons of our warfare , they are mighty through god. as poor things as you think the ordinances of the lord to be , they are mighty through the lord : when christians shall not be willing to receive this mighty power of the lord jesus christ truly , now the kingdome of christ is cast off . iohn 6. 49. your fathers ate manna in the wildernesse , and are dead , that was outward manna ; but he that eateth me , shall live for ever . in one word thus ; this is certain , a man never gets good by any ordinance , nor the lord jesus doth never attain his end in any ordinance , till there be an everlasting power and life of christ jesus communicated by the ordinance . there , saith he , god commandeth his blessing , life for evermore ; mercy , for ever comforting ; and light , for ever teaching ; and humbling , for ever continuing : and a man will never think he doth receive any good till he doth it . for if a man be healed of his blindnesse , and be blind presently again ; what is he the better ? so , if a man hath some flash of light in the ordinance , blesse the lord for it . the lord quickens up the heart to walk with the lord , blessed be the lord for it : ay , but when the heart now shall lose that life , and strength which it had , ( not but that a christian do's lose to his feeling , but it will return again . ) when he is a hearing , some affection , but he goes away dead as hee came : no , but when the lord comes by his everlasting power and mercy , and life in any ordinance ; now christ comes in his power , and now ye receive the king in his power , and christ attains his end in the ordinance . this is all that i would say , i do beseech you brethren , in the lord jesus christ : oh seek for this blessed life , everlasting life lord , everlasting power lord ; beg for that , and seek for that , and pray for that , and weep for that ; do not content thy self with sippings and tastings , look for everlasting life and power to come with the ordinance ; though means be weak in themselves , do not therefore vilifie them : look upon the brazen serpent , what a poor thing was that to heal the people that were stung ? yet the institution of christ did put vertue into it : so do thou attend on the ordinances , and never be content , till thou dost find the lord , and feel the lord , and say as some have said ; though i feel not the lord now as i have done , yet i think i shall for ever blesse the lord. never be content till ye find the lord bringing your heart to this passe , and then the king of glory , the prince of peace is come ; though ye find not the same power at all times , yet if ye finde that power which do's inure your heart for ever to blesse the lord , here is everlasting power . jesus is now come to thy soul ; ay , but when ye content your selves with some movings and beginnings ; and sin and satan as strong again as ever , and ye find not your sin wasting and consuming ; in truth the lord jesus is cast off , and ye have not the end for which ye come to the ordinances of the lord. but then , ye are blessed for ever when ye find this . 2. there is a derivative power of christ to the church , joyntly considered together . mat. 18. 17. go and tell the church , is the highest tribunal christ hath on earth in the kingdome of saints . 't is christs high court of parliament , beyond which there is no appeal to any higher power than the church ; and it cannot be meant of the officers of the church ( which is the fairest interpretation . ) for the case may be that there is but one officer , and is he the church ? as also that he may sin , and not hear of his sin , and must they leave him to himself , at least to judge of his sin ? they power of keys was given to peter , quia fidelis , and the power to bind and loose to two or three gathered together in christs name , mat. 18. but these things are known . for the clearing up of this , know that there is a three-fold derivative power , which the lord hath given to the church joyntly , and not to elders only : which may be miserably abused , and so provoke the lord to take it away from their hands till they know better how to use it ; yet when 't is used according to christ , now not to be under the power of it , which is christ , power delegated to it , is to cast off christs government . and i am confident , the bondage of all the churches in christendome , if ye examine the churches , is continued , because the lord sees hearts unwilling to submit to him in the government of churches ; and will continue it till churches know how to use it , and men lye down to the power of it . 1. they have a power given them from christ , of opening and shutting the doors of the church , the kingdome of god on earth : i. e. of letting in , and keeping out any according to christ ; into , or out of their communion : and this i conceive to be one part of the power of the keys , committed to the church : the chief office of which , is to open and shut ; to receive in , and keep out according to christ ; and hence the three thousand were added to the church , though the apostles were guides therein : and acts 9. 26. paul would have joyned himself , but they would not accept of him ; because , they were afraid of him . no body naturall or politick , but they have power to receive to them the usefull , & keep from them the hurtfull ; so , much more christs spirituall body . and hence , the church of ephesus is commended , revel . 2. 2. together with their angel , for trying those that seemed good , and were not . now 't is true , this power may be miserably abused in opening doores too wide , or locking them up too long , or too fast ; and in many sad disorders this way , yet there is this power . now when men shall refuse church-tryall , and so communion with the church ; and that not from sense of their unfitnesse and unworthinesse , or some other reason , which is in the fight of god of great weight ; but from a carelesse contempt of gods ordinances , or gods people ; a man sayes , what care i for the one ? and what are the other ? and from a resolution never to grow better ; they know they are not like to be accepted of them , and they are resolved they will grow no better ; they think themselves as good as they , and from a secret unwillingnesse to come to the light , they know things are amisse , and will not be known of it ; they appear better than they are , and hence they are loath to be seen and jodged as they are : certainly , this is to casts christs power ; and if continued in , the salvation of your soules is also cast off : acts 2. ult . the lord added to the church daily , such as should be saved . to the church . i. e. not the universal church , but visible church , where it may be had ; such as should be saved . isa. 60. 14 , 15. for the nation and kingdome that will not serve thee , shall perish ; yea , those nations shall utterly perish : lamentable is the condition of many ; not so much for not joyning themselves to the church , as not seeking of the lord for that mercy ; that they may be first joyned to the lord , and so to his people for the lords sake . there are great heaps of people amongst the churches here that do stand guilty of this , the lord humble us for it ; that content themselves to stand aliens from the common-wealth of israel , eph. 2. 12. strangers from the covenant of promise ; having no hope , and without god in the world . the lord is slow to wrath ; but there is a threefold bondage . 1. of sin and satan . rev. 22. 14 , 15. let him that is filthy , be filthy still ; nay , though there be some beginnings , yet apt to fall back ; because , not planted in the courts of the lord. and hence , col. 2. 5. ioying , and beholding your order , and the sted fastnesse of your faith in christ , order and stedfastnesse are joyned together . 2. of misery , zach. 14. 17. and it shall be , that whosoever will not come up of all the families of the earth unto jerusalem , to worship the king , the lord of hosts ; even upon them shall be no rain . 3. sadnesse , hence , isa. 56. 7. even them i will bring to my holy mountain , and make them joyfull in my house of prayer . to be joyfull in the house of prayer , is promised to such as joyn themselves to gods covenant . 2. they have a power given them of binding and loosing ; by admonition of any one , that being received in , shall sin against their communion , and the lord in it ; thereby to defile the whole body , and to provoke the wrath of the lord against the same ; and this is mentioned , matth. 18. and by the apostle , 1 cor. 5. 1 , 4. and this is given to them , to use against whatever sinner or offender it be ; be he great or small , prince or peer ; if he be a brother , he is to lye down here : an admonition is an arrest and message from god , from christ jesus the king of kings ; eglon must come down from his throne , when this is brought . now i grant again , this power may be abused miserably ; as to admonish without conviction , or without compassion and love , but in heat and passion , &c. yet this is part of christs binding power in his church ; which when 't is done , 't is bound in heaven . now when men come to that passe , that they do not only sin ( for that the lord pardons ) but are grown to that height , that they cast off all reproofs , and christ-like admonitions for sin : steept it may be in many tears and prayers before they came , and sweetned with the spirit of mercy and terror of christ jesus in the mouths of his servants , this brings under bondage . 't is not sin so much , for this will be ; but when they cannot abide reproofs , they are iron morsels , cannot be digested ; and hence , sometime hide it , and twenty shifts , and half as many lies ; or if it be found out , defend it , and fall a fencing and thrusting , and try it out to the last , or extenuate it twenty wayes , that a beam is a more ; and which is worse , their hearts rise and swell , and they bear a privy grudge against them , as if they were their enemies , because they tell them the truth ; when they should say ; let the righteous smite me . exod. 2. 14. who made thee a prince and iudge over us ? when moses , the israelites deliverer was raised up , he thereupon departs , and they lye under heavy bondage , when they cast off his reproof . it 's true , a saint may not for a time submit ; but yet it argues a height of spirit for the present , unfit for communion with god , and the lord will bring them off , and humble them for their pride . 2 sam. 23. 6. 〈◊〉 . but the sons of belial shall be all of them as thorns 〈…〉 cause they cannot be taken with hands . a childe of god may have many 〈…〉 many excellencies ▪ 〈…〉 when they come to be 〈…〉 now they yield there , and that as 〈…〉 shall either 〈…〉 question their grace . snakes will not hisse nor sting , till touched ; a sheep will be led to the slaughter , and turn the cheek to him that smites : so should one poor brother do to another , when he comes to him in the name of the lord ; but not many that will so do , but resist and oppose against all reason . 3. they have a power of communication of good one to another , in way of edification , according to their places in this their communion : so that now , 't is not only left in the hands of the officers , but of the whole church , and each member in the church ; according to his place and ability , to edifie the whole , eph. 4. 16. from whom the whole body , fitly joyned and compacted together , by that which every joynt supplyeth , according to the effectuall working in the measure of every part , making increase of the body , unto the edifying it self in love . members are not to stand like beautifull pictures in church-windows , and as costly images in churches ; that have eyes , and see not , eares , and hear not ; but they are to be living stones in gods building ; not only to build up themselves , but one another also , that so a man may not only get no hurt from communion of churches , but he may get good indeed from the same . and if i mistake not , here is the wound of churches : when members seek not , and indeavour not the good one of another ; and so have ordinances and means of doing one another good , but exercise them not ; or if they do , receive not the good they might hereby ; but may say , and shall say at last as he , prov. 5. 14. i was almost in all evill in the midst of the congregation : sin prevailing , and sorrows by little and little , like water in a leaking ship , sinking the poor bark . quest. what are those means that are left to the saints themselves , even private members to exercise in christian communion for men and women ; and so you may see when these are neglected , or not improved , the power of christ in his church is cast off so far forth ? answ. 1. the first is , a spirit of dear christ-like love one to another , every one to all , and all to that again ; being ready to expresse it self , in procuring the good of others as well as its own : this doth sweeten communion very much , and edifies , quickens , and encourageth a christian in his whole course marvelously . eph. 4. 16. making increase of the body , unto the edifying it self in love . love edifieth , 1 cor. 8. 1. knowledge puffeth up , but charity edifieth . it 's the joy of the saints , and that which makes the saints to blesse god in heaven ; where , take any one singly , all joyntly besides honour it , tender it , and seek the good of it ; and that one blesseth god , and seeks their good more than its own again ; and this is prophesied , zeph. 3. 9. that they may call upon the name of the lord , to serve him with one ●●●sent , to serve the lord with one shoulder ; to help one another spiritually and outwardly , where there be many griefs and burdens which depresse the spirits , and make it unserviceable , is removed : as , what is there that doth alienate the hearts of men more from god and his church , but want of love ? now when mens love grows cold , that a godly man is not esteemed whiles he lives , nor his death lamented so much as the losse of a swine . when people grow strange one to another , and take distastes and prejudices ; when they can sit by the fire-side , and censure , and whisper ; and make offences , and take offences ; and minds divide , and hearts divide ; that if you ask what such a one is good for ? the answer is ; he is good for himself , and good to breed brawles , and divide a church ; a kingdome divided against it self , cannot stand ; & therfore hereby you cast off this kingdom . oh , christians should pray for this , and mourn for want of this ; and study peace , & follow it : it should be death to differ , or side , or make a party , one against another . 2. earnest prayer for the church , & all in it besides thy self : and that with striving with god , till an answer is given : stretcht-out prayers , as they made for peer . james 5. 16. confess your faults one to another , and pray one for ather , that you may be healed . and so iude 20. but ye beloved , building up your selves in your most holy saith , praying in the holy ghost . this is a meanes to edifie one another , when there is inlargednesse of heart to pray one for another ; psalme 122. 8. for my bret●●●● sake , i 'le wish thy peace . sometimes a christian can do others little good ; yet he will wrastle for him in his prayers to god : one knowes not the good comes here●● ; if withall a man keeps a good conscience , making conscience of his wayes . and 't is one of the greatest priviledges that a man hath , when once he hath a share in all the prayers of the saints as his own ; and it answers that quere , what is a christian the better for the liberties of the church ? matth. 18. 19. again , i say unto you ; that if two of you shall agree on earth , as touching any thing they shall ask , it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven . v. 20. for where two or three are gathered together in my name , there i am in the midd'st of them . now when people are false herein to their brethren , and to their covenant ; to their god , and to their own soules ; ( for there is no one prayer thou makest that shall be lost ; but if it attain not a blessing for others , it shall return again into thy bosome . ) when there shall be no heart to spend prayer , or shed tears for them , whom christ hath shed his blood for ; now , you cast off the kingdome of christ. oh brethren , consider of it , when there shall be many a soul in a church taken by satans temptations , and held in temptations , and ready to be overcome by temptations ; and it may bee , would not be so , but because thou dost not pray ; publick ordinances , the ministery of the word , little good done thereby ; because thou hast no heart to pray . acts 4. 31. and when they had prayed , the place was shaken where they were met together ; and they were all filled with the holy ghost . this is the reason , the hearts of thy children , servants , and fellow-brethren remain secure and unshaken by all the sermons they hear ; nothing doth them good , nothing will pierce or penetrate their adamant-like hearts ; because , thou hast no heart to pray for them , or at least , not to purpose . 3. timely exhortation ; when brethren are dead-hearted , and heartlesse in their christian course . heb. 3. 12 , 13. take heed brethren , lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living god ; but exhort one another whiles it is called to day , lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sin . brotherly exhortation is a remedy against apostasie of heart ; for though a man cannot convince another , yet he may exhort him ; and 't is to be done in season , whiles it 's called to day , with due respect , and taking notice of what good there is , with much wisdome , and a spirit of humility , or else thou spoilest all thou medlest withall ; putting your selves in their estate , and with hearty unfeigned prayer , that the lord would accompany the same with his blessing . heb. 10. 24. consider one another , to provoke unto love and good works . look over the congregation , and consider such a brothers or sisters estate ; one is poor and low , another falling , another very much altered : now in some cases , a private brother may do more than a minister ; the lord help us , and stir us up to this work : now when this is neglected , many soules are hardned . 4. instructing and teaching one another , as occasion serves ; rom. 15. 14. and i my self also am perswaded of you my brethren , that you also are full of goodnesse , filled with all knowledge , able to admonish one another . they were able for to instruct and teach one another . isa. 54. 13. they shall be all taught of god. what god teacheth thee , that do thou teach others ; what thou gainest by hearing , or by praying , or meditation ; by putting questions to others , sometimes to teach , and sometimes to be taught ; and this do , if possible , in all occasionall meetings , and worldly discourses ; mix with it some sweet truth that god hath taught thee . but now on the other side , when christians shall meet , and a 〈◊〉 is the worse for their fruitlesse discourse , no savo●● of any thing of god ; let them meet never so long or o●●en , walking or sitting , this is sad . 5. in comforting those that be sad ; thes. 5. 14. and 4. ult . comfort the feeble-minded , and support the weak ; wherefore , comfort one another with these wo●●s . there are many sad hearts in gods church , and sad things are as wounds to a mans limbs , that make him halt or fall . oh brethren , be much in this work , 2 cor. 1. 4. who comforteth us in all our tribulation , that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble , by the comfort wherewith we our selves are comforted of god. that a soul may say , such a one came to me , and spake some few words to me ; but they were as seasonable , as though the lord had sent an angel from heaven to speak to me , and of more worth , than if he had given me ●any pounds : but now , when this also is neglected , that one christian hath not a word of encouragement to another , but dry and savourless discourse ; this the lord takes very ill at the hands of his people , that have received comfort from himself in the day of their sorrow and distresse . 6. restoring a brother fallen with a spirit of meekness ; gal. 6. 1 , 2. brethren , of any be overtaken with a fault , ye which are sprituall , restore such a one with a spirit of meeknesse . oh , how will a poor soul blesse the for such a brothers prayers , admonitions , and exhortations , when the lord shall have brought his heart back again to himself ; although before he did most of all disesteem and vil●fie him . now , when these are not used , or not with a spirit of meeknesse improved , that a man never blesseth god for these ; the lord jesus is pulled down from his throne , when not done according to the ability , time and place that the lord affords . and this i wish , the churches mourn not for another day : for my own part , i do adjudge my self before god and men , as most guilty of this , that i enjoy many sweet ordinances , and we improve them not ; and hence , the glory of the lord fils not his tabernacle , abides not on his churches , either to draw others to them , or to make others abundantly blesse god for them . now here i will shew you the causes of this . 1. not gaining much in private duties , in prayer , meditation , reading , and daily examination of a mans own heart : and hence they cannot do good , because they receive none , or very little themselves ; they have not a treasure within , hence they can spend little , have no heart or ability to exhort , instruct , comfort : he that keeps not his shop , his shop will never keep him . as psal 41. 6. his heart gathereth iniquity to it self , when he goeth abroad , he telleth it . 2. a low spirit , which makes a man to have low thoughts , and endeavours , i mean not an humble , but a narrow spirit , not inlarged to hold much , or to do much , hence it doth little . as take a plain countrey-man , he neither seeks or regards the affaires of the state in publick , because his spirit and condition is low ; but princes do mind and attend to the affaires of the kingdome , to advance it ; because their condition is high , and they know it . moses , he suffered reproach with the people of god , losse of all the honour and pleasure of phara●hs out ; feared not pharaoh , nor losse of life for their sakes : for , he saw that god which is invisible ; like saul , when once a ringdome comes to be in his eye , he leaves off to seek the asses . 3. sloth . there are thornes , prov. 15. 19. and lions , prov. 26. 13. in a sluggards way : there be many difficulties , businesses , occasions , and objections ; when as if once he were resolved to break thorough them , then the work would go on : like a man , when he is in his warm bed , he is loth to rise ; but when he is up , he would not be in his bed again , if he might be hired again to put off his clothes : i shall get no good ; saith one , nor do none , saith another ; and when these businesses are past , and occasions over ; and at another time , i will seek god , and go about gods work ; and thus a slothfull spirit hinders . 4. want of faith. 2 cor. 4. 13. we believe , and hence we speak . faith empties us most , and hence fils us with spirit and life of christ jesus ; hence steven , full of faith , and the holy ghost . a lively christian , when he comes in another christians company , it may be he knows not what to speak ; but he looks up to christ , and sayes ; now lord , here is an opportunity in doing or receiving some good ; and therefore now lord help . 5. want of fear of god , and consolation of the spirit of god ▪ from the sense of gods love . acts 9. 31. they wal●●● 〈◊〉 the fear of the lord , and consolations of th● holy ghost : the church was edified by the consolations of the holy ghost . a man that 's wounded , keeps within , and stirs not ; but when he is in health and strength , now hard work is his meat , he cannot live except he work . 1 cor. 15. ult . 6. not considering the shortnesse of our time of sowing . heb. 10. 25. whereas , if men were on their death-bed , they would wish , oh , that i had walked more blamelesly , and fruitfully ; men care not for a comfortable reckoning as yet . there are two causes why they receive no good . 1. from a mean esteem of the saints ; looking on them as men , and not as an ordinance of christ ; their persons , prayers , and speeches . and this is a rule ; men never gain any good by that ordinance which they despise : if all were scholars , ministers , or saints glorified , they could then esteem them . hence , eph 4. 16. edifying is by love ; making increase of the body , edifying it self in love . 2. from want of being poor in spirit , and sensible of their extream need of christ , continually in all means : beggers will pick up crums , and watch for a word of encouragement . isa. 11. 6. a little childe shall lead the wolf and the lion ; that is , when the lord hath humbled the heart of a man. oh , when a christian thinks none so poor and shallow , and heartlesse as i , and every one is better than i , however i need more than any : this soul will be glad to suck the brest ; and the lord will fill others with light and life , and his own bowels , to do such a one good . whereas , else they are shut up , and they find no good conveyed to them by any of the ordinances of the lord , nor any presence of god in them . 3. there is a ministeriall power , committed from christ by the church to the ruling officers thereof . i say , by the church , for all power in the church , is properly christs , yet he nextly communicates it ordinarily to his church , or multitude of beleevers , to whom is committed the supreme power of the keyes in his word , and a binding and loosing , as hath been shewen ; and by this church , this power hath been by christs appointment , and still is , to be communicated to those that are chosen out of themselves , to be officers and rulers over them in the lord , to exercise the power of christ over them according to his will. hence the very power of binding and loosing , opening and shutting , given to the church , is also given to peter and the rest of the apostles , and the successors of christs apostles in doctrine , sent of christ , iohn 20. 23. whosoevers sins ye remit , they are remitted ; &c. because , though the power of communication of it is in the churches hand , yet the power of usuall administration of it is in their hand ; whiles they exercise it according to christ , yet by the church . and hence paul puts a difference between this extraordinary ministery , as apos●leship , and ordinary . gal. 1. 1. an apostle not of men , not by the will of men , but by christ ; for the church , not by it : now this i say , is by the church from christ. hence , acts 20. 28. the holy ghost haoh made them overseers ; so that 't is no invention of man , or act of man , or the power of man ; but of christ , and hence refuse to be under this power ; men cast off the yoke and power of christ jesus . for though the estate of the church be democraticall and popular ; and hence no publick administrations or ordinances are to be administrated publickly , without notice and consent of the church ; yet the government of it under christ , the mediator and monarch of his church ; t is aristocraticall , and by some chief , gifted by christ , chosen by the people to rule them in the name of christ , who are unable , and unfit to be all rulers themselves ; and to cast off these , or not to be ruled by these ; is to cast off christ. luke 10. 16. he that rejecteth you , rejecteth me . numb . 16. 3. you are gathered together against the lord ; the lord accounts himself opposed and resisted , when the officers of his church are slighted , and their government despised . quest. what is this power ? answ. 1. negatively : 1. it is not any lordly pompous power , to bear the bell of great smoakie titles , to govern in worldly pomp ; or by worldly rewards , and civill punishments . 2 cor. 10. 4. the weapons of our warfare are not carnal , but mighty through god , to the pulling down of strong holds . it shall not be so with you , saith christ ; but as i have been without all worldly s●ate , so must you be one to another . and hence , 1 peter 5. 4. not being lords over gods heritage : christ never gave his ministers power of opening and shutting the doors of new-gate , and bonners cole-house if they would not sub●●●ibe , or to confute mens opinions with their own lawes , and bind consciences with chaines of iron , or to promote his servants by spirituall livings . christ himself refused to be a judge in civill causes ; hence some of our divines , when they would grant that peter was christs successor , and the bishop of rome peters and christs vicar ; yet as christ being on earth , exercised no civill power , so much less may these . 2. 't is not any antichristian illimated power , viz. to have power over many churches ( for that 's the main spiritual antichristian externall power ) and the ministers thereof ; for we read in scripture of many elders and bishops in the same church , acts 20. 28. but never of any one ordinary minister , or officer over many churches ; either to govern , or to baptize , as the anabaptists would among them , as many godly plead for now in the misty confusion of england . and look as we cry out of one minister non-resident , that shall have six or ten livings , though he give never so good a stipend ; not only because of his pride and covetousnesse , but because of his unconscionablenesse , &c. so here much more of one man overseer over many congregations , it may be an hundred at least . 3. 't is not any magisterial power , diotrephes-like ; either to do what they will , mat. 23. 8. and their wills to be their law ; no , matth. 28. 20 , teach , all that i command you : if they do sin , their persons are under the censure of the church , in case of manifest offence and scandall by the mouthes of two or three witnesses who being members of the whole church , and under it , and being sinfull members ; may , if the case need it , be proceeded against by the whole . neither have they any power to act any publick ordinance which concerns the whole church , and where 't is bound by christ to judge , without the privity and consent of the church , as to elect officers , admit members , cast out offenders in the vestry without the knowledge of the church , one of the blaines of the reformed churches , which the apostles with their extraordinary power never did themselves , much le●e should these . 1 cor. 5. 4. they have no immediate power of rule immediately given by christ , over any one particular church , but mediate by that church where they are ; their gifts of teaching and ruling are immediately from christ ; but their actuall power to exercise it over this or that particular congregation , is by that church only . hence deacons that were only to take care for the outward estate of the church . act 6. 3 , 4. they were ordained by lifting up their hands . this is apostolicall power , and an intrusion , and cuts asunder the force of the argument of master ball his book of power for presbytery , &c. 2. what is their power affirmatively ? answ. 1. they have a power given them of ruling and governing from christ by the people ; hence they are called rulers , and such as rule , and are over gods church ; hence they have strict charge and command from the lord to do it . hence paul at ephesus , when he was with them three years , yet had rulers there ; and vers . 28. feed gods stock bought by bloud ; over which , not men , but the holy ghost hath made you overseers ; christs church being like sheep , apt to stray and perish , unlesse these watch against wolves , and these the apostle at his last parting left ; hence also , they are to give an account of it at the last day . heb. 13. hence th●se cast off the lords government over them , who will have no rulers or governours in churches , who shall either speak it or think it , but leave all to themselves and their liberty ; to teach , baptize , to order things in church , and so by this means they are not only single members or officers ; but pastor , and teacher , and elder and all . this generation of men , sons of korah ▪ are risen up in these latter times ; especially amongst ana●aptists , familists , and rigid separatists , and who are privily crept into new-england churches ; whose condemnation sleeps not , satan carrying them to extreams , and pride lifting them up above themselves , above men , above officers , above ordinances , and above god. that look as common-wealths are under greatest bondage , where there is an anarchy , where every one must be a slave , because every one must be a master ; so in the churches , no greater bondage can come than this , the foundation of all confusion , and the scand●ll of the wayes of god which through mercy his people here enjoy . 2. this power is more than any one private member hath in the church , who is not an officer ; it would be a most simple ridiculous thing , if there should be election , ordination , many prayers , much triall of men , for to rule , and guide , and govern , separation from the rest , and yet not to have any more power than one private member . hence the apostle sayes , submit to them that are over you , 1 thessalonians 5. 12. and hebrews 13. 17. obey them ●●at guide you , or rule over you . hence those that do acknowledge governours in the church for names sake , but they are such as have no more power than a private brother ; they do but allow the name , but deny the thing : hence say they , they are to watch ; so are private members : they are to admonish ; so is every private member : they are to rule ; the word signifies to guide and go before another . answ. 1. the word to rule , 1 thes. 5. 12. is the same word with 1. tim. 3. 4 , 5. he that rules his own house , which is a little more than they that are besides him in the family ; though this be not such a paternall power , yet it is somewhat more than that of private members . and that heb. 13. 17. is a word which is the same with that in matth. 2. 6. governour , particularly spoken of christs government , to feed otherwise than private members . answ. 2. 't is true , they are to watch and admonish in way of christian duty ; but others in way of christs authority , as being his ambassadors , and sent of him ; as in a family , one servant should watch over another ; but the chief steward , he is to do it with authority in the absence of his lord. and hence doth it with more majesty and power , and it takes , or should take deeper impression ; so it is in elders of a church . hence also , when men shall cry for liberty to speak , an elder forbids it ; what , may not the church have liberty ? true , but you are not a church . an elder reproves , and they will reprove again : what , shall not the church have liberty ? an elder gives reasons strong , and unanswerable for some thing to be done ; a young fellow shall step up , and say , without ground , or shew of it , that 's your light , and mine is otherwise : what , may not the church have liberty ? yes , but you are not the church ; this is very sad , and hath been a root of greatest scandall that ever gods wayes had . if elders sin openly , 't is another case , and somewhat also is there to be done ; submit your selves one to another , much more to an elder , &c. 3. in the execution of their office according to christ , they are over the whole church . their persons indeed ase under them , in case they sin , and sin in the execution of their office , they are to be subject , not only to the whole , but to the last member of the church : suppose the sin be not only suspected , or reported , or apprehended by one , but two or three witnesses at least , as 1 tim. 5. 19. but whiles they execute it according to christ , they are therein above the church , and 't is bound to be subject therein ; and not to be subject , is to refuse to be under christs government . hence , heb. 13. obey them that rule you ; he speaks to the whole church , which was not in evill , but in good things according to god ; and yet in evill things , look on them as those over them . exempli gratiâ , a minister in the execution of his office , let him preach christs eternall truth , deliver it and prove it ; what ever humane weaknesses there be in him , what ever darknesse there is in others , yet he is therein above churches , kings or angels ; and they shall answer it at the great day , that do not submit . in regard of my person said luther , i 'le fall down before any , but in regard of the truth i administer , i look on the kings of the earth as nits , nay dust , &c. ad regem angl. so in the power of the keys in opening and shutting out members ; they have tried and proved such a one ; if they sin , as they may , then give them reasons ; but if not , they are bound to submit . and that not as unto other christians , but as unto an ordinance , stampt with an authority of god upon them ; in ●eed they are not to do any such thing without the presence , consent , and judiciary power of the church ; and the church may not submit to what elders propose to be christs mind ; but then they cast ●ff the lords power , which they are to answer for another day . 1 cor. 12. 28. they are called governours . now as a ruler of a ship is to order it , though a king be in it , over him in that respect , and the king is to be guided by him , whiles he guides it right ; but if not , the king hath power over him , to command others to take the place , or cast him over board . 't is true , they are but servants to the church , because they are by the church , for the church , and to help the church , 2 cor. 1. 24. and are subject to them if they sin ; but yet they are servants unto christ , and in exercising his power according to him ▪ above the church . 2 cor. 4 , 5. we preach christ , and our selves your servants for christ ; yet therein above them : hence being their servants ; if they sin , they are under the censure of the church , and the church may cast them by . so being christs servants ; if not submitted to , the lord doth account himself cast off . 1. because their power thus rightly executed , is the power of christ jesus : hence refuse it , you refuse to be subject to him ; if men wil not be ruled by gods ordinances . but will rule ordinances , they go about to tule christ. 2. because , if there shall be no subjection here , 't is profest licentiousnesse , and not liberty in churches ; you have liberty , but what liberty ? to be subject to christs power in pure liberty , and that in his servants . now when men will not , and shall refuse , without shewing reason , or convicting elders of sin ; this is to cast off the government of christ. 3. elders are helpers of people , and there is no people but will stand in need of such helps , if humble , and able to discern , to attend the publick good , to teach and convince , &c. hence , when there is no sin appearing in the execution of their office , they should with a holy ●ear submit ; and say , if ye be faithfull watchmen , what am i that i should be unsatisfied ? my ignorance may mislead others , &c. 4. they have power to over-see , when they see cause , acts 20. 28. and to see into , and enquire into the estate of the stock of god , to know their spirituall condition , so far as is fit to be known , that so they may be comforted in the work of christ ; though there be no sin break out , not they come to them , 1. thes. 3. 5 , 6. the apostle enquired into their faith , charity , and prayer , vers . 7. and hence was comforted , &c. and this paul doth not as an extraordinary man , but leaves his example as a president to the elders of ephesus ; to go from house to house , and enquire , to teach and exhort , acts 20. for elders are to prevent scandals as well as to remove them , left when they come they say , oh that i had known this before , especially where they see need . now hence it is that men cast off the government of christ , when they will not have their spirituall condition searched into , the elders foot is now too great for his shoe , i am to give an account to god ; so are they also of thee ; now thou canst not give it if thou enquirest not how thy condition stands , neither can they with comfort unlesse thou tellest them how it stands with thee . 't is true there are many secret things they can never find out yet they are to attend their duty . the ministers charge is to cast the seed , the elders duty is to enquire after the fruit in the husbandry of christ ; it is a sad condition when a man hath such a wound that he will not go to the lord for help , because hee loves it ; and will not have man to know it , at because hee is ashamed of it ; but you shall know it , the last day that the lord would have healed you , and you would not , but can quarrell and snap at the elders when they come to enquire of your condition ? and why do ye inquire ; you take too much on you . 5. they have power to guide , and counsell , and warn the church , at least in all weighty affaires which may concern them and their common good : hence they are called guides and leaders to the people , heb. 13. 17. mal. 2. 7. i do not mean in all personall things . acts 20. 31. i warned you of wolves , &c. hence 1. for members in matters of great and weighty affaires which concern the good of the whole church , may all churches , never to enquire at abel is casting off the lord , as in election of offices in church , and magistrates in the common-wealth , &c. 2. hence to receive any opinion different from all the elders in the church , and never ●o much as speak , much lesse come to a sad debate about it , is to cast off this yoke , and contrary to covenant , and elders would never have undertook the care of the church without it ; and it sads their hearts that they do their work feebly . 3. hence to propose a doubtfull question to the church , which may trouble , or bring an offenders sin to the church without counsell of the elders , who may encourage them if of god , and ripen it for the church , or discourage it if not of god. christ when he writes to the churches , he superscribes his epistles to the angels ; and if one man may propose a doubtfull opinion , another may , and a third , and one may side with another , and so much confusion will follow . 4. hence when men shall not take warning of evils to come upon evident grounds , it 's casting off the lords yoke ; and when they come on thee , thou mayest say it is because i have refused to hearken to my watchers , they warned me of this , and it may be you will find else such evils which the seripture notes , according to the word of the lord by his servant elisha , so will the lord make good the words and threatnings of his faithfull servants . 5. they have power of publick reproof of any member of the church , in case of plain , open and publick offences ; others without leave cannot , nor ought not , although others may tell them , reproofs are part of the power peculiar to the governours in any society , where governours are present especially , and at hand ; as now in a family , no wise man will suffer brawles amongst his children or servants , but sayes he , tell me . 1. tim 5. 20. now this is sad when a man cannot forbear reproof of others , nor hear reproofs of elder , but turns again , and will be judge in his own cause though never so grosse , a sign of an extream froward high spirit , hosea 4. 4. which makes the lord to take away elders as soon as any sin is committed , and stop their mouths . exod. 2. who made thee a iudge , &c. and when afflictions come , and you then enquire , what is the cause of it ? you may be sure this is one , even by the confession of the blindest deboist ones . prov. 5. 12. how have i hated instruction , and not obeyed the voice of my teachers ? 6. they are to feed with power , as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth , every one in their places , publickly instructing , exhorting , comforting , and privately also ; which though private men may do , yet here is the stamp of authority also , and so the more power the more blessing usually , if god be acknowledged therein . acts. 20. 28. hence . 1. when men despise their food ; they are poor things they speak , and they can see no matter in them ; and that after study , prayers and tears , &c. and so cast it by ; this is to cast off the lord. 2. when men grow glutted and full , mal. 1. ult . although they cannot a bit , and hence thrive not , but a spirit of slumber and a deep sleep grows on them , that they cannot be awakened by all the ordinances of god , these things call for chains . amos 8. 12. when will these sabbaths be ended ? for which the lord threatens a ●amin , and then you shall know the worth of them in the want of them . these things i speak . 1. because i see the apostle in many of his epistles layes this charge on the people . heb. 13. 7 , 17. 't is twice repeated . 1. lest officers be sadded in their work that 's heavy . 2. lest it be unprofitable for you ; you think to get this and that good by it , but it will be nothing in the conclusion . 2. because we lie under slander of many , and that godly , as if elders in churches were but only ciphers . 3. because people begin to run to extreames , elders taking all to themselves , and people taking all for themselves . 4. because if here be not attendance you quickly see the miserable ruine and fall of churches , more sad than the burning of solomons temple . 't is observed of ierobeam when he was sacrificing he had no leprosie , but whe● he stretched out his hand against the prophet it was withered ; for the lord will not bear here , they may be depised , and you may think your selves kings without them , 1 cor. 4. 8. and they will say so , they may rule as they will , but you will do as you list . but the lord will be provoked for this , all satans subtilty lies here ; disgrace the elder sayes one , divide them sayes ▪ another , pull thom down sayes the third , that there may be no king in israel , no nor in sion , that we may do what is right in our own eyes . 3. try when the externall kingdome of christ in a common-wealth is cast off ; for when any common-wealth is ordered according to the sacred will of christ , by such persons especially whose aim is to advance the kingdome of christ by their rule and power , 't is then become the kingdome of christ jesus . and hence , revel . 11. 15. when the seventh trumpet is blown , and the lords last wo is come upon the world and the kingdoms thereof , which have opposed christ , and those kingdomes are turned to imbrace the gospell , and submit to the power of christ in the same , then it 's said , the kingdomes of the world are become the kingdomes of christ ; it 's not said , christs kingdome is become the kingdome of the word , as if christ should put down civill authority , and exercise rule by it himself , but the kingdomes of the world , i.e. the various kingdomes are become christs , i.e. to advance it , and debase themselves at his feet . eph. 1. 2● . it 's said , all things are put under christs feet , and he is head over all things to the church , ( that is universally , chiefly ▪ nextly , particularly , ) so then earths kingdomes when they are subject to christ , for his ends , now they exercise the kingdome of christ , in a manner ; and hence to cast off this , is to cast off the kingdome of christ , and so to provoke the lord to put us under bondage . quest. when is christs power and kingdome cast off here ? answ. there is a double power in the kingdoms of the world , which i suppose , when they become christs kingdomes , they will retain . first , there is some supreme or higher power ; in the chief magistrates , ptinces , or chief court of justice . secondly , there is some inferiour power , by some superiour power , set over particular persons , cities , and towns , for the well ordering of them . the ground of this is , that naturall necessity which iethro propounded from god to moses , exod. 18. 17 , 18. ' t is not good for thee to be alone , but thou wilt both wear out thy self , and thy people . publick authority must have many eyes , and many hands ; and like a river that is to water a countrey , it must have many streams : and hence they had in the common-wealth of israel , which was for god , in every city judges , and in towns , such as were over fifties and tens , exod. 18. 25. which it seemes continued long , till all fit men for government were taken away ; and then isaiah 3. 3. their condition is lamented . now the form of this government is not in all common-wealths alike ; the lord not binding to any ; and hence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an ordinance of men . hence it is a foolish vanity to ask a warrant in scripture for such a form of government ; for humane wisdome may teach this , though not in church-government . yet this supreme and inferiour government hath been in all kingdomes , 1 pet. 2. 13 , 14. to both which subjection is required ; to refuse to give it , is to cast off the lords government ; and there are couched four reasons in that place to prove this . 1. do it for the lords sake , for the name of christ ; and that honour and majesty of christ stamped on them , submit ; hence cast them off , you cast by respect unto ; nay , the name of christ jesus . 2. because they are in the room of the lord , to do the work of the lord ; in punishing evil doers , and for the praise of them that do well . it 's true , they may abuse their power otherwise ; but yet their power is one thing , and their abuse of it another . 3. because , this is the will of christ , and you do well in it ; and so you shall stop the mouthes of foolishmen , apt to speak against you for sin . 4. because , this is the liberty of christ , vers . 6. and you are servants to christ in it ; and to do otherwise is licentiousnesse ; and their liberty to exempt themselves from the power of lawfull authority , was but a cloak of it . for so it seems in those dayes , some held it part of their christian liberty to be free from all bonds ; and said , that christ had made them kings on earth , &c. so that if they did cast off subjection , they did cast of the name of christ , power of christ , will of christ , liberty of christ jesus . even under heathen magistrates ; what then do they that cast it off under others ? quest. 2 ▪ when is christs government cast off in respect of the supreme power ? answ. those that know the questions about the power of princes and people , especially revived in these last dayes ; cannot but know the field is large , where now i am , i shall be wholly silent ; unlesse i saw greater cause of speaking than i do , and only point out two or three particulars to prevent such sins as stand next to the door ; to break in upon this power . 1. when men cast off secretly dread , and fear , and reverence of the majesty , dominion and sovereignty that god stamps upon authority ; and so come to have low , mean thoughts of them , and contempt of them . it 's true , none should be elected , but such as men can honour for some eminency or other , and that of god , seen in them . able men fearing god , chief amongst the people ; was the counsell of god by iethro and m●ses ; but when they be elected , now to despise them , and hence not to bow the knee , or stir the hat , and speak rudely before them ; it 's casting off , not only their power in sight of god ; but the very root of it , which is honour : and hence in the fifth commandment , all duties to them are comprehended under the word honour . and who sees not but this is a sin , which is apt to attend the spirits of men in a place of liberty , and in our weak beginnings , and day of small things ? reports are abroad , that no men of worth are respected ; and hence the countrey is neglected . i cannot say so after many thoughts ; for i am perswaded no place in europe more ready to honour men of publick spirits , and of eminency in piety , and humility ; without the seeing of which , no countrey more apt to vilisie ; because grace is the glory in the eye of a countrey led by religion : but take heed , lest such a spirit be all us ; lest the lord put out our lamps , and cast our crown down to the ground . 2. when men seek to pluck the sword of revenge for sin hurting the commonwealth , out of their hands ; without which , the greatest power in a common-wealth , is but a pageant , and a meer vanity , almost a nullity . hence , rom. 13. 4. he is gods minister ; y●s ; when he gives good counsell ▪ and when he is a revenger , to execute wrath on him that doth evill : so that be the evill what it will be , if it hurt the common-wealth , or be against any wholesome law thereof ; he is gods minister to punish it civilly . in the first reformation of geneva , there were as many heresies and errours almost as truths of god ; servetus , he denyed the deity of christ ; whereupon the magistrate put him to death , who dyed with extream horror ; whereupon heresies being begun to be s●ibb'd aud blasted , bellius writes a book : 1. that men should punish no heresie at all ; but be mercifull and ●eek , as christ was to the adulterous woman . 2. if they did ; yet that magistrates they should not punish for errors or heresies . 3. if they did , yet not with such severity as they begun . to all which , beza hath given a most learned and solid answer , detesting the hypocrisie of the man , and the sad consequences of such opinions , if their power should be diminished . i conceive , 't is casting off christs power , to take away power from magistrates to punish sins against the first table , of which errors and heresi●s in religion are part . it 's as clear as the sun , that the kings of ia●ah that were g●dly did it , and were commended for it ; and 't is as clear , they were commended for it ; not as types of christ , but because they did therein that which was right in gods eyes , and according to the commandment of the lord ; which judiciall commandments , concerning the punishing of sabbath-breakers , false prophets , hereticks , &c. g●ds fence to preserve morall lawes ; 〈◊〉 are of morall equity , and so to be observed to this day of christian magistrates , &c. to exempt clergy-men in matters of religion from the power of the civill sword , is that ●●pery ; by means of which antichrist hath risen , and hath continued in his pomp and power so long together , the indulgence of princes towards the papal function in matters of religion , hath undone christendome . 't is true , every error is not to be immediately committed but when 't is like a gangrene , of a spreading nature , then the magistrate in due time must cut it off speedily . ohject . leave them to the church . answ. true ▪ leave them 1. there . but 2. sometimes the church will not , sometimes they are not of any church . a ●apist , an arminian may come in and leaven and damne many a soul , for which they had better never been ; if it were but one , and if he sayes , i do it with a meek spirit , ( their trick of late ) and none must meddle , because mercy must be shewen to their wolves : a wise shepherd had rather let a hunter come in and kill one of his sheep , then let a wolf or fox escape , acts 20. 29 and see his people persecuted , than their soules worried . heresie and error hath this property ; it ever dies by severe opposition , and truth ever riseth the more ; because christ is against the one , hence it must fall ; but or the other , hence it shall rise by its fall : hence , set your selves against this , 't is to oppose the power of christ jesus and hence in henry the 8th time , the abbies fell , and never could rise to this day ; but the six articles against the saints pursued with blood , made them increase the more . 3. when men will not submit to the wholesome laws of magistra●●s ; which are either fundamentall , and continuing ; or o●ders that have their date and time of expiring , made for common good . when men will either have 〈◊〉 laws , or as good as none , or submit to none but what they please , deut. 17. 12. he that will not hea●ken , but do pres●mptuously , shall dye ; he being the minister of the 〈◊〉 ; and indeed it is to cast off the lord. i go not about here to establish a sovereign power in magistrates , when is proper to god , to ma●e what lawes they will , about civi●l , religious , or indifferent things , and then people to 〈…〉 for no other ●eason , but because of their will● under which notion , superstition in churches hath been ushered and maintained , you must 〈…〉 : in that case , it 's better to s●ffer than to sin , and nor to do , than do . but suppose the lawes just , righteous , holy , and for publick good , and that apparently so , and not in saying so only : now here , to cast off lawes , is to cast off christ. there are two things especially , which are the cause and occasion of the breach of all other lawes ; and the strongest sins and sweetest , which men , young men especially , the hopes of the common wealth , are catcht with , prov. 2. 13 , 16. 1. who●edome , secret lusts and wa●tonnesse , and other strange lusts which i ●●ase a●d dare not name , 1 kings 1● . 24. the sin before shishah came , a sin which many times solomon cannot see thorow his window , nor the eye of authority discern ; but god will judge for it , heb. 13. 5 ▪ and if he be ●udge , who shall be thy jailor , but satan ? and what shall be thy sentence , but death ? and what thy ●naines , but a hard heart for the present , and horrour afterward ? a sin which pollutes the very earth , the land , the very dust of the ground ; and the cause of all sin almost in a place , as drunkennesse , idleness , corrupt opinions , scoffing at the ministers of god , and wayes of god : for i seldom knew a persecutor , but he was an adulterer , though it 's not alwayes true ; and in the end , poverty and ruine . and know it , though no mans eye has seen thee , no power of magistrate can reach thee ; this word shall be fire to consume thee , unlesse thou repent : for thy looks , thy lusts , thy dalliances , thy thoughts , thy speeches , thy endeavours this way , much more for the thing . mans law shall not bind you here , because it cannot reach you ; but know , that christ is cast off by you . 2. loose company , vain men , prov. 25. 3 , 4. a common-wealth is a refined vessell of use of god , and judgement is established ; when these are taken away , your knors of loose company . take a poor souldier alone , he is as other men , but when they are got into a knot together ; now they grow strong against all ●aws of god or men . so here , the knot of good fellowship hath been the bane of the flourishing state of england , meeting in tavernes and such places ; and the cause of wheredome , and of all evill commonly in a nation . for hence ▪ much precious time is lost ; which if spent in praying , as in sporting with th●● , many a young mans soul had been blessed : hence , s●metimes dicing , feasting , excessive drinking , merry 〈◊〉 , which take off all spiritual joy : hence filthy songs , and lascivious speeches ; by which hopefull young men are i●s●a●ed , and taught to do wickedly , and so knit to them ; that it's death to part with them , and it 's better to burn a whole town , than to poyson one hopefull young man. next to communion with wanton women , i have ever looked on unnecessary fellowship with graceless men , as the next . well , know it , you cast off the lords g●vernment from you by his servants , which will be sad to answer for another day . and as the prophet said to iehosaphat , shouldest thou love them that hate the lord ? his wrath is against thee for this : so say i to thee . quest. 3. inferiour power , when is that cast off , viz. in particular cities or townes by meaner persons ? answ. i shall expresse it in three things chiefly . 1. when souldiers in particular towns , cast off respect , care , conscience to the commands of their leaders set over them of god , and who under god are the walls of outward safety for the countrey ; 't is not now an artillery day , only i must speak a word , because it 's a thing of moment , and matter of great conscience with me . ●suppose , in such a place at least , according to the centurio●s example amongst heathens , mat. 8. 9. a word of a commander to any of them should be a law . i say to one , go , ●ee goes . now for men to come when they l●st to those meetings , and so time is lost , and when they do come , no care ; i had almost said conscience , to mind their work in hand , and do it with all their might , as it to which they are called ; but officers may speak , charge , cry , yea strike sometimes , yet heed not , it 's intolerable ; but that members of churches , which should be examples to others should do this , at least it is but brutishnesse . but i do wonder what rules of conscience such do walk by , and if they do , where is their tendernesse to withdraw their shoulders from under the work ? which if there be but english blood in a christian , he will endeavour to be perfect in his art herein : but if grace , much more , that he may make one stone in the wall , and be fit to shed his blood , if need be , for the defence of christs servants , churches , and cause of god. 2. when any town doth cast off the power and rule of townsmen , set by the supreme magistrate to make such orders as may make for the publick weal thereof . i know sometimes men may not be so able , wise , and carry matters imprudently : town-orders may also sometimes want that weight , that wisdome , those cautions , that mature consideration as is meet , as also that due & prudent publication , that all may know of them , with records 〈◊〉 them . but take town-orders that be deliberatly 〈…〉 published , for the publick peace , prof●●● , 〈…〉 place , to oppose these , or persons that 〈…〉 much care , fear , tendernesse ; if i know 〈…〉 of a crying nature , provoking god , 〈…〉 government . i confesse , if there be not 〈…〉 no way of living under any gov●●nment 〈…〉 or common-wealth , if the publick affaires of 〈…〉 cast off . i know sometimes , godly 〈…〉 through weaknesse , want of light , 〈…〉 and violent tentation , oppose here ; but i am perswaded if they be the lords , he will in time humble them for it , and make them better after it . i know the answer to two questions would clear up all the doubts about this matter , 1. what prudence should be used in making lawes ? 2. how farre those humane lawes and town-orders bind conscience ? but i cannot attend these ; only six things i would here say . 1. the will and law of god only hath supreme absolute and sovereign power to bind conscience ( i. e. to urge it or constrain either to excuse for doing well , or to accuse for sin ; for conscience is at liberty without this ) this is a truth urged by all orthodox protestant divines against the papists ; so that no law can immediately bind conscience but gods. 1. because he only is lord of conscience ; because he made it , and governs it , and only knows it ; and hence he only is fit to prescribe rules for it . 2. because he only can save or destroy the soul ; hath only power to make lawes for the soul to bind conscience . iames 4. 12. there is one law-giver , who is able to save or d●stry . isa. 33. 22. for the law which so binds conscience to a duty that the breach of it is a sin , and that against god : we know that the least sin of it self destroyes the soul , binds it over to death , but none have power to destroy it but the lord himself . 3. because the law is sufficient to guide the whole man , in its whole course , in all the actions or occasions it meddles with , or takes in hand , even in civill as well as in religious matters . prov. 2. 9. wisdom teacheth every good path . psal. 119. 11. i have hid thy word , that i might not sin . whatever one doth without a rule from the word , is not of faith . hence the word descends to the most petty occasions of our lives , it teacheth men how to look , psal. 131. 1. how to speak , mat. 12. 36. it descends to the plaiting of the hair , 1 pet. 3. 5. moving of the feet , isa. 3. 16. and what is of christian liberty hath its freedome from the word : a man must give an account at the last day of every stirring of heart , thoughts , motives , and secret words ; and if so , then it must be according to the rule of the word : and hence the word only hath absolute power to bind masters , servants , and princes how they govern , and people how they subject ; and this the lord hath done to make men take counsell from him , and walk in fear before him , and approve themselves to him , especially townsmen in their places not to consult without god. 2. all good laws and orders inacted in any place by men , are either expresly mentioned in the word , or are to be collected and deducted from the word , as being able to give sufficient direction herein . for all the authority of the highest power on earth in ●●rri●ing of laws , is in this alone , viz. to make prudent ●llection and speciall application of the generall rules , recorded in scripture , to such speciall and peculiar circumstances which may promote the publick weal and good of persons , places , proceedings . prov. 8. 85. by me princes decree justice . ioshua 1. 7 , 8. do what moses commanded , turn not on either hand . object . but i cannot see my way from hence alwayes . meditate therefore on it much , and then thy way shall prosper , &c. many things ioshua did , not particularly set down by moses , but may be collected from it . deut. 1. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. the king is to have it , that he may prolong his dayes in the midst of israel , in his kingdome . what made rehoboam to turn from these wayes ? he thought he could not stablish his kingdome without it ; that was therefore the ruine of him and his kingdome . 1. this appears , because the word is sufficient to direct , as hath been shewn ; and hence all directions and rules are to be taken from hence . 2. because either men have rules to walk by , or their own wills and apprehensions are to be rules ; but not so , because mens wills are not only corrupt , but it 's a peculiar prerogative to god to be obeyed , because of his will. the reason or wisdome which makes a rule , binds ; which if it be right , is part of the law writ in the heart , which is most plainly seen and fully opened in the word , whence direction is to to be had . 3. humane lawes or orders thus , either set down in the word , or deducted from the word , and applied by those that be in place in townes ; though they do not binde conscience firstly , as humane , or by human● power , ( i. e. as published and imposed by man ; ) 〈…〉 do binde secondarily , i. e. by vertue of the law of god , wherein they are contained , or from whence they are derived and deducted , and according to which 〈…〉 opposed ; they are like subpoenas in the king● name , or writ of arrest , which by vertue of higher power challenge obedience ; and thus to break these , is to 〈◊〉 against god , and makes the conscience liable to punishment from god : and the reason is . 1. because men sin hereby against the lord , and his holy righteous law , because gods law is contained in these ; and what is deducted from the word , is gods word . 1 sam. 8 7. they have not rejected thee , but me . 2. because they sin against the power of the magistrate hereby , and against men in place , and so against more means ; rom. 13. 2. he that resisteth the power , resisteth the ordinance of god , i. e. when they command thee according to god , which the lord takes very ill ; & the meaner the power is ( as in towns ) the more terrible will the lord be , when he comes to visit for it ; hence they receive to themselves damnation , both by god and men . 't is true , if they be not thus according to the word , but rather against the generall rules of it : though men in towns and places are not to be obeyed , yet subjection is their due even then ; i. e. not to refuse obedience with contempt of their persons , places , power , or scandal to their proceedings , or profession of the gospell . revile not the lords high priest ; speak evill of no man ; but rather come in private , and confer with them ; and hear what may be said , and be willing to give and take reason . 4. humane lawes and orders may be known to be according to the word , when they command or forbid such things , as really advance or tend to promote the publick good . this i adde to answer that great question in many scrupulous minds . i cannot see ( so ignorant ) when an order is collected from the generall rules of the word ; n●w this conclusion answers that doubt : for look as the main work of men in place , is to promote publick good ; ( and hence publick spirited men are to be chosen for i● ) so the principall rule is that which god and his word gives them to walk by : whatever really doth tend to the advancement of that ; publish that , record that , and execute that , rom. 13. 4. he is gods m●nister to thee for good : i. e. for the publick good . he is for mens private good , but 't is in reference to publick good ; that as private persons are to attend their work , so publick persons publick g●od . hence , 1. if a law be made for publick hurt , th●t law is not of god. 2. hence , if the law be made only for the private good of themselves , or any particular person , and hurts the publick , that 's not according to god. admirable was ioshuas spirit herein , iosh. 19. 49 , 50. 3. if laws be only in appearance and pretence for publick good , and not really , they bind not ; none must do evill , much lesse make a law of it , for publick good . nothing more usuall than to make civill lawes and orders , crossing gods law , and to pretend publick good ; which ever prove the publick pests and plagues , and cankers of that place , as ieroboams command for religion . some things are forbidden plainly , they make not for publick good , but hurt , the statues of omri . other things are indifferent in their nature , as swine to go abroad , or to be shut up ; but inconvenient in their use , and hurtfull and scandalous , and that really to the generall . they are not for publick good , whatever is pretended . something 's are plainly commanded , they are for the publick good circumstantiated ; some things are indifferent in their nature , but convenient and comfortable in their use , those are indeed according to god. and such things may be discerned , they are so obvious and sensible , of such necessity and such profit , when duly considered by persons not blinded with their private interests . 4. hence things indifferent , which may as well be left undone as done , and so publick good no way advanced , are not of god that any should restrain them : for the liberty which christ hath purchased by his blood , and which gods law gives ; no law of man can abolish , or take away . it 's the cry of the claw-backs of princes , that they have power in things indifferent , i. e. such things which make as much for publick good , not to use , as use ; the truth is , he hath least power here ; because they are idle and idol-lawes , no hurt , nor is there good in them : and hence , some of the most rigid schoolmen maintain such lawes bind not conscience ; we are not to seek our private only ; now all human lawes are helps to seek publick . 5. that lawes made for and according to god for publick good , if they do not destroy some mens particular ; only for some time pinch and presse hard upon his particular good ; or their particular good , men are bound in conscience here to submit . true , 1. if it were possible , all lawes for publick good , should hurt no particular man , and townsmen , if they can ; should help those that are hurt ; yet because no lawes , but usually they will presse on some mans particular ; the heaviest end of a staffe that is to be born , must fall on some mans shoulder , and such lawes must be made . hence a man is to bear and submit cheerfully , i. e. from the rule of love , which will abate of particular for the generall good ; love that more than mine own . 2. the law of justice , a man is to do as he would be done by ; there is no man , but if his good was advanced by the generall , but would be conteut that some particular should be pinched . 3. the law of nature : the stomack is content to be sick , and body weak , to heal the whole body . hence christians should not think that tow●smen are carelesse , unjust , and aimed at their hurt , when it is thus , 1 king. 12. 4. 6. a meer penal law when 't is broke ; the forfeiture is sufficient for the satisfaction of the offence , or trespasse ; but not in a mixt law. first , a penall law is about things of small moment , secondly , 't is not made by way of command , but with an aut , a disjunctive copula ; and is indeed rather a proviso than a law . thirdly , it is in the mind of the law , make satisfactory if the penalty be payed , though the law be not performed , because the publick good in the mind of the law-maker is known to be set forward that way as by obedience to the law . in these cases penalty is enough ; but if the law be mixt , i. e. there is a command it shall de done ; and law-giver is sad , though penalty being paid , as being about a matter of weight ; it may be the livelyhood and comfort of men , as keeping hogs out of corn , and peace in a town , that there be no complaining ; here the penalty will not satisfie , because this is no penall law , but a law indeed deducted from rules of the word of god ; as it is in theft , he that steals , shall pay fourfold ; or that brawles , shall be duckt in the water : suppose one should say , i will suffer my servant to steal or revile ; i hope 't is no offence if he suffer the penalty . yes , but it is , beeause it is not a meer penall law ; the thing is of weight , peace between neighbours , so peace in a town . it 's a flat charge not to break it , and thou knowst such is the honesty and justice of a magistrate , that he will say , i would rather you would never do thus , than offer those to do . hence in gods law christ must suffer , and do also , because gods law is not meerly penal ; but doing the thing , gives more content than the punishment . 3. when servants cast off all subjection to their governours . families being the members and foundations of towns , and so of common-wealths . when they are not obedient ; but answer again ; if they be let alone , then idle ; if rebuked and curb'd , then stubborn and proud , and worse for chiding , and find fault with their wages , and victuals , and lodging ; weary , and vex out the heart of master and mistresse , and make them weary of their lives , and their god also almost sometimes ; and that by such professing religion , and all that they might be from under the yoke . and here i cannot but set a mark upon servants broke loose from their masters , and got out of their time , that are under no family nor church-government ; nor desiring of it , or preparing for it ; but their reigns are on their necks . i confesse , if under heathen masters , then desire liberty rather ; but when men will live as they list , without any over them , and unfit to rule themselves ; i much doubt , whether this be according to god. 1. hence they come to live idly , and work when they list . 2. hence men of publick use , can have little use but when they please of them . 3. when they be with them , they have no power to correct or examine , and call them to account , in regard of spirituall matters . 4. hence they lye in wait to oppresse men that must have help from them , and so will do what they list . 5 , hence they break out to drunkenness , whoring , and loose company . 6. hence they make other servants unruly , and to desire liberty . now examine and try these things : is the kingdome of christ come into us ? that though there be a law in our members warring , yet there is a law of the mind warring against it , and delighting in the will of christ , and setting him up as chief . are we under the kingdome of christ in his church and common-wealth ; so as the soul is willing in the day of the lords power , though there be , and have been some pangs of resistance against persons and against ordinances ; so as 't is thy liberty to be subject to christ in his ordinances , in his servants ; and 't is thy bondage to be otherwise , and thou longest for that day , that the lord would subdne all those boistrous lusts , and pride , and passions ; and bruise sin , satan and self under their feet ? then i say , as the lord , isa. 33. 20 , 21 , 2● . look upon zion , the city of your solemnity , &c. see rom. 8. 7 , 1. but if the heart grows loose and licentious , and breaks the lords bonds and yokes , and will be led by your own fleshly ends and lusts , and so go on quietly : be you assured , this truth shall have a time to take hold of such spirits ; and know it assuredly , 't is not to be in christs family or kingdome ; 't is not scrambling for promises , catching at gods grace , talking of assurance of gods love , which will shelter you from the wrath of the king of kings , and lord of lords ; to whom god hath sworn , that every knee shall bow . 't is service and subjection which the lord aims at , and which the lord looks for . i know 't is gods grace which only can save ; but it will never save when it is turned into licentiousnesse . do not say , there is no danger of it , here where we have such means , and such liberties are . answ. 1. never such danger of being licentious , as in places of liberty ; when no bit nor bridle of externall tyranny to curb in . 2. look on the kingdom of iudah here , which in one year all fell . 3. why doth the lord exercise us with wants and straits ? 't is to humble us , and abate our unrulinesse . and 't is the lords quarrel with his best people to this day ; desperate rebellious hearts , that close not with his government . do not say , we know not how bondage should come here , though we should cast off the lords government . answ. 1. the lord can let loose the natives against us . ahab kills 1000000 of benhadads men , but afterwards within seven yeares he returns again . 2. the lord can raise up brambles , and abimelechs to be the king of the trees , when the olives and the vines are loth to forsake their places , and to lose their fatnesse and sweetnesse . 3. the lord can turn the hearts of those in power against people , and let satan sowe suspicions , and sowe seditions and clashings . 4. the lord can leave us into one anothers hands to oppresse , to take away the nether milstones . 5. if none of these , satan , nay christ himself will come out with garments dipt in blood . 3. do not say , 't is not so , there is sweet subjection , i. e. 't is so , and blessed be god for it , yet beware , i speak to prevent . but yet 1. some seem to do so , and yet are not so , 2 cor. 10. 4 , 5. mighty to pull down every high thought , who attains this , who can be thus ? yet there are means mighty for this end , not that all be abolished , but all are abolishing . 2. others otherwise , openly how zealous for an opinion , when it should be death to differ , & things in your own heart lying miserably waste , and some wretched lust the root of all , for which gods saints mourn in secret . let such know , that will not be ruled by christ , or his servants or ordinances , but will have them to rule them , and ●ot to be ruled by them . the lords chains are near , and therefore now take your time and come in submit to the lord , and do as these here did , acknowledge the lord to be righteous , and turn unto the lord. vse 6. of thankfulnesse , for our present liberties and freedome from the bondage of men , bondage of conscience , bondage of satan and sin : need there is of laying this use seriously to heart , considering two things principally . 1. the general complaints of the countrey , as they of iericho , 2 kings 2. 10. the waters are bad , and the ground barren , and these are engraven in marble , all other our liberties are written on the water . 2. the disgrace and reproach cast upon gods people and wayes of god , and that unjustly , which i am afraid to mention ; whence there grows a contempt of them , and the rivers of damascus now are better than iordan . oh beloved , if it be an heavy hand of god to be under bondage , then look on it as a speciall grace of god to free us from bondage . deut. 32. 11 , 12. the lord alone did lead them , &c. and moses , chap. 33. 29. when he had blessed them , happy art thou oh israel , a people saved by the lord. and the greater cause we have to do this , a people that have abused all liberties . is. 9. 8 , 9 , 10. he laments it , but yet is thankfull for it to gods grace : no man that can say but he may be as holy as he will , and none to curb or snib . 1 : means , consider what all the liberties gods people enjoy have cost , gal. 5. christ hath made you free , i. e. by his blood . liberty of conscience from the bondage , not of jewish , but of antichristian ceremonies , and government , and pressures : liberty of will from any sin ; 't is by christs blood and cost , that ( as i am perswaded ) our liberties have cost saints their blood . the tears , prayers and blood of men are much ; but of christ much more , and are they not worth thanks that are of this price ? the great reason why unthankfulnesse comes in , is ; because they cost so much , as losse of estate , of wife , or of childe by sea ; dost thou repent now ? christ doth not repent that his blood hath been paid for them ; and if they be of so little value , as there 't is said , he repented that he made man , so may he that ever he gave them such glorious liberties . 2. consider oft of the sad condition of them that be in bondage . men in bondage prize liberty , and think them happy that enjoy it ; but men out of it do not . how sad is the consideration of them that be in bonds , it will make thy heart sympathize with them , and blesse god for your deliverance . hence saith christ , luke 22. 20. when you see jerusalem compast with enemies , &c. flie to the mountains , and wo to them that give suck . consider them that are taken with the turks ; if you were in their condition you would say so ; to bring forth little ones to the murderer or idolater , isa. 42. 22. and 26. mens hearts failing for fear , this you should see some-where . a mote or a thorn is a little thing , but no man would have it alwayes vexing for all the estate he hath , if he hath any eye or tendernesse in it ; so those small matters for which the saints have suffered , and for which god is provoked , and under which some have roared , and others have been loaded one after another ; 't is worth a world ; oh , blesse god for it : but consider those that be under the dominion of sin and satan , so strong and miserable ; sin so dear , that there is not so much as a sigh under that ; be thankfull for that . 3. labour to maintain in the heart a holy fear of abusing liberties , every one in his place ; for what makes them despised , but principally the abuse of them ; in such a congregation there was such contention , such affront to the elders , there is that degenerating of spirit , and back sliding from god , that men grow worse under means than ever , i and so must be if men grow not better . deut. 6. 10 , 12. the lord exhorts them , that when they be at liberty , they would not then forget the lord , but then fear . 't is luthers note on the place : when in trouble , you rejoyce ; but when in peace , you fear . i 'le only name the sins of liberty . 1. take heed of a prayerlesse spirit , and that that lamp go not out . men under some pressures cry , and 't is long before they do cry under them , and under their sin ; but then at last they do , and when the lord gives liberty , though they have the guilt of the same sins , and more sins lie on them , yet then like marriners , when the storms are over , fall asleep . it s strange that israel under pharaoh cried , and under gods afflicting hand in denying them water murmured . true thankfulnesse will help to prize what liberty affords . 2. an unloving spirit to the saints . it 's that i have oft said ; souldiers when they are set against a common enemy are all one , but when at liberty , then they fling javelins at one anothers heads , differ in opinion , and in heart and affection , & 't is not death so to do . take heed of a rigid , censorious , unloving spirit . 3. extreme ignorance how to use our liberties ; and hence running to extremes . as we say of christ , there is good enough in him , but men know not how to fetch and improve it : so there is great advantage in liberties ; but men misse of it through their ignorance and abuse . hence many times more hurt done by an admonition than by the sin , when administred in passion , and without compassion . hence under pretence of liberty , extream licentiousnesse . 4. imperiousnesse of spirit , arising from a frothy emptinesse , and an overweening opinion , and conceitednesse of their own abilities and wisdom above others : and hence will not be led , ( being at liberty ) by the counsell and advice of others . it 's naturall for man to affect sovereignty , and when the time comes of liberty , then it hath a vent : who made thee a lord and iudge over us ? though in bondage , much more in liberty ; they think wills commonwealth is in their heads chiefly , and hence will not be ruled by gods ordinances ; and hence if once taken with an opinion , hardly ever removed , &c. 5. resting with liberties and in liberties . we were never in bondage , john 8. 33. yet servants to sin . we be abrahams seed , better than all the world ; yet under all the power of sin and satan , and must not be told of their wayes , but hate them that censure them for their sins . men in bondage are like sick men , that will cry if they were in another bed , oh then they should be well ; but they must first be cured of their disease . 4. make use of liberties . he that hath them , but sees not so much glory in them , or gets not much good from them ; he will be no more thankfull than one that hath large grounds may walk at liberty , but the trees for want of manuring bear no fruit , nor ground corn through sloth ; such a man will starve there . look as they , deut. 15. 5 , 10 , 11. they were to bring the first fruits , and present them before the lord , and rejoyce in all : so should you if ever you be thankfull for them , bring the first fruits to the lord , and think there is more behind , and more in heaven . object . but our outward streights are many , and temptations sad . answ. if christ himself should come on earth , what would you have with him ? would you have him come and set up an earthly paradise ? would you have better entertainme●t than he , who had not that which foxes and birds had ? or would you have him come from his crosse , and then you will make him king ? if you despise his ordinances and liberties because of wants , you would despise himself if he were present . but you will reply and say , what if we can have both ? if that can be , and christ cals to take both , refuse not his love . but it may be an heavy indictment against some at the last day , in that they forsake christ , because he is poor and naked ; for they are therefore called to cloath him : and this will be your peace , and you will be no losers your selves another day . 2. suppose he doth keep us low ; yet psal. 145. 13 , 14. his dominion is alway , and raiseth up all that are bowed down . oh be humbled ; he is said , deut. 32. 13. to make the people suck honey out of the rock , and oyl out of the flint , sweetnesse and mercy out of the hardest condition . 3. they that are not recompenced for their enjoyment of liberties , by the spirituall refreshings which the lord gives , shewing them more of their own hearts ; the lord proclaims liberty to them to depart . i am perswaded the whole countrey would flouruish the more . 4. lament rather your own vilenesse , who in the midst of all mercy , know not how to use , but abuse our liberties : and hence the lord forsakes us , as ezza 9. 8 , 10 , 11. what grace hath been shewed us ? what shall we say , that after this , & c ? wouldest thou not be angry with us till thou hast consumed us ? psal. 81. 13 , 16. oh that my people had heard my voice , i would have subdued their enemies . god would not be wanting unto us , if we were not to him . take therefore that example to imitate , in acts 9. 31 , having rest , they were edified : if we be not so , truly , as none have the like liberties ; so no bondage so sad , no where such poverty , no where such anguish of conscience , no where such spirit and power of sin , no where such sad anger ; if in practice we be unthankfull , or can mouth and speak against long sermons , and against the countrey and christians , or in hearts undervalue them ; and when you see indians rise , brambles , abimelechs and shebnas raised , &c. then know this is for abuse of liberty . vse 7. of exhortation , to come under christs government , and be in his service ; lest ye come to know the difference between it and some other by experience . mot. 1. you must be either under christs yoke , or satans and sins , and so all other miseries : and therefore as ioshua said , so say i to you ; choose you whom you will serve . mot. 2. consider the difference between the service of the lord and shishak . 1. the government of others , tyrannicall proud men , or sin or satan , or outward miseries ; 't is full of rigour , force and cruelty . ezek. 34. 4. with force and cruelty have ye ruled them . but christs government is there shewen to be in mercy , and full of mercy ; though sometimes lost , he will fetch thee in again ; though sick and weak , he will heal thee again . vers . 16. deut. 4. 6. 't is for thy good the lord hath no need of thy service , &c. true it is , the lord may shew his people hard things , and give them sid miseries ; but these wounds do not kill them , only make way for healing the distempers of their hearts , that are in his poor weak ones ; and his end is to bring them to himself . 2. their government is in it self hard and bitter . to serve a lust now , 't is a torment , sometimes to conscience , if that be awake ; if not , 't is a curse of curses : much reluctancy against it ; much chiding after it , and god hides himself ; dreadfull fears , and heart it self unquiet , but christs yoke is easie and his burden light ; his assistance , and pre●ence , and love , and peace makes it so , and that daily , and at death especially . 3. there is little recompence for their service ; the best that saul can give , are olive-fields and vine-yards ; but anguish of conscience after the work is done : but the lord gives a kingdome ; and not a word or thought , but there is a book of remembrance writ ; not a cup of cold water , or rag to any of christs naked servants , but it will be recompenced . you have followed me , you shall sit on thrones . mot. 3. consider how fain the lord would have you under his government ; for many will say , i have refused so oft ; and what shall i now do ? the lord will cast me by . true , he may do so , and you may be glad if the lord will honour you in doing his work . yet , prov. 2. 23. return you scorners at my reproof , and i 'le power out my spirit upon you . ier. 36. 3 , 7. read ( sayes god ) the words of the roll to them : it may be they will hear , and present their supplications before the lord , and turn every man from his evill way , that i may forgive their iniquity and their sin . read the place if you can without tears . you that have departed from god and christ , and provoked gods wrath , when there is but little hope left it may be ; oh , yet read the roll. mot. 4. once christs , and under his government , you shall never be cast off ; as sin hath reigned unto death , so shal grace reign unto eternall life , rom. 5. 21. he will bestow on you the sure mercies of david , by an everlasting covenant , isa. 55. 5. quest. but wherein should i submit to the lord ? answ. none have power to rule conscience but christ , give him therefore this glory ; that wherein he bindes conscience ; conscience not out of fear , but love may indeed submit . i have instanced the particulars formerly , yet more distinctly . there be two great commands or charges of christ , that lye upon all mens consciences to whom the gospell comes , and therein lyes our service of him generally : which two i name , because there we think we are free , or do not know our liberty . first , the command of christ is , that every one to whom the gospell comes , and is preached , do believe , i. e. receive christ jesus in all his fulnesse in the gospel . iohn 1. 12. for that is to believe ; in which command lies gods offer . 1 iohn 5. 23. this is his commandment , that ye believe , john 6. 25 , 37 , 38. this is the work of god , that ye believe . now here men think they are free . 1. they say they are unworthy ; and hence they say , depart from me , lord , i am a sinfull man ; as if gods grace was built on mans worthinesse . 2. because unhumbled , whereas gods grace calls in men unhumbled . rev. 8. 17 , 18. for gods call and offer is generall though none but the humble will hearken to it . but there are none , but it may be said to them ; if they can believe , let them . 3. because christ is not theirs , & are they bound to believe he is ? whereas the first act of faith , is not to believe christ is mine , then men were bound to believe a lie . but to receive christ as a woman her husband , that he may be mine by saith ; and so a man may know and say , he is mine . the gospell doth no where say to any man , christ is thine ; but if thou receive him , he is thine , and consequently the spirit speaks so also . 4. because they cannot believe , unlesse they should presume ; as if the gospell bound the conscience of none to believe , but them that were able to believe it , and receive christ in it : yet 't is otherwise : for it binds all to receive christ jesus ; to go up and possesse him , to feed , eat 〈◊〉 , and live for ever . and i will leave this one 〈◊〉 argument ; if men are liable to eternall con●●●mation at the great and last day , and to bear the 〈◊〉 wrath of god and christ also , for disobeying the gospell , for refusing christ and the offer of his grace therein : then those mens consciences are bound to obey the gospell ; i. e. to believe and receive christ now in this life . — but all that have the gospell preached to them , are liable to eternall condemnation , for disobedience to it . iohn 3. 18 , 19. psal. 2. 12. kisse the son , lest he be ang●y . so. 2 thes. 2. 8 , 9. he comes to render vengeance on them that obey not the gospell . rom. ● . 10. the lord shall judge the secrets of all hearts by my gospell . that is , where ever the gospell comes ; for they that have no law , having no law shall not by judged by it : but men that have had the gospell , shall be judged by it , and therefore are bound to obedience thereunto . the serious consideration of which one truth , is enough to draw all 〈…〉 from the power of unbelief ; especially they that say ▪ i cannot , or ought not believe . for the reason why me● do not come , is , 1. they think the gospell concerns not them ; what doth the lord say to me , come so vile , and sinfull ? yes , that he doth ; if there was no such law , there could be no transgression or condemnation . 2. they think they shall presume . no , if conscience be bound to it , 't is no prefumption , to keep a sabbath aright , or to receive christ as god offers him : oh , this quiets conscience . 3. the lord layes his chain on the most tender place of conscience , as it will answer it at the great day , or will have any peace ; take heed you refuse not so great salvation . 4. 't is a chain , not of bondage , but of liberty , and mercy , and love : come and receive , not a kingdome ; but christ , peace , pardon , and grace freely ; which may draw the heart , as it will at the great and last day . come ye blessed , take a kingdome ; take a christ prepared for you from before the foundation of the world . oh that this might sound in your eares : this is the first and chiefest ; without this , all your obedience is hypocrisie , and abominable ; but this will please , and then all poor obedience shall please . secondly , love unto the whole will of christ ; especially to that part of it , to love those that be the members of christ. some christians they believe , and feeling a heart so crosse to christ , and the will of god ; think they are from under the government of god and christ , & so from under the grace of christ , ( and the argument is strong , if true ; ) but why not under his government ? because they find daily a spirit so crosse to the will of christ ; and hence under continuall fears of condemnation . oh but consider , hast thou no love to the will of christ and law of god ? ( for if any believe , this is found in him ) if so , then under christs government . rom. 8. 2. the law of the spirit of life hath made me free . what is that law ? see chap. 7. 23 , 24. spirit of delight in the law in the inner man , and mourning for contrary captivity . know therefore , though you cannot do all ; yet love the whole will of god , and mourn where you do not ; and then say . now no condemnation . do not say , 't is impossible , oh , here is mens wo , and tryall of subjection to christs will ! how do you love it , love his sabbaths and ordinances , because of his love to you ? how do's this constrain you ? in particular ; love the people of god , that is , his speciall commandment , 1 iohn 3. 23. iohn 13. 34. but now the want hereof , or the contrary hereto : as when a man shall become , 1. a distaster . 2. a contemner . 3. a censurer , and whisperer . 4. a sooffer . 5. if met on a bridge , an opposer of the truths or servants of god. this is that which kindles wrath , and wherein the inward venome of hypocrisie appears . there 's many duties neglected , and not that spirit of prayer , and holy conferences amongst christians ; yet do you keep love to them ; that what you cannot do your selves , yet you love others that can do it , and account it your blessednesse to be like them , and daily mourn under your neglects ; that in every thing , the gospel is not adorned by you : & on the other side , although you have many duties , sabbaths , and good acts ; yet if not love , all is vile . i fear 't is not mens joy , sweetnesse , delight to hear the least good word that falls from a good mans lips , but rather the truths and things of god despised ; if so , then look for wo. and for 〈…〉 christ , their lives not desired , their deaths not lamented , but you know how to contend , and are carelesse though the gospell and god be slandered ; you 〈◊〉 of the lords yoke . it was one mans speech , that the great sin of this countrey will be hatred of the saints , a scornful contempt of them ; it will come by degrees , first distaste , and then censure and contemne . o● , but if herein you submit , herein christ is honoured , and gospell glorified in love and amiablenesse : not in a rigorous austerity of spirit , and diabolicall censoriousnesse ; but in word and deed , countenance and gesture , comforting and encouraging one another . when david would know what to do ; truly saith he , my goodnesse extends not to thee ; but to the saints , in whom is all my delight ; oh therefore submit here ; this conscience calls for , and christ must have . to conclude with a word for help here . means 1. look to gods ordinances , not as they be in themselves ; but as appointed of god , to communicate an almighty power of spirit to them that wait on the lord in them . an almighty power must overcome , and go on conquering , and to conquer . how shall we have this by gods ordinances ? some more principall , as word and sacraments ; some lesse , how shall we partake of this power in them ? look not on them in themselves , but as appointed and sanctified , and so as glorious . and there pray and wait , and look for the power ; nay , believe you shall receive this power . as the 〈◊〉 of iordan to na●man ; how did they cleanse ? whe● 〈◊〉 lookt upon them without the command and 〈◊〉 , he despised the● , and so found not the benefit of them , but afterwards hee found the benefit of them , when he washed seven times in attendance to the appointment of god. brethren , it is but go and wash here . 1 cor. 10. 5. means 2. know your disobedience , the breadth of it : some things christians see , and pray against them , and then all is well ; but see the breadth of evill in your disobedience . there is something that doth oppose god in every lawfull thing , in whole or in part , ( for flesh is in it ) or else you are blinded if you see it not . oh therefore feel the breadth of evill in it ; that being sensible of , and humbled under , and striving against your continuall disobedience ; every thought may be brought into subjection and obedience to christ. of ineffectvall hearing . john . 5. 37. ye have neither heard his voice at any time , nor seen his shape . from the 31. vers. to the end of this chapter , our saviour proves that he was the messiah to come , from four testimonies . 1. from the testimony of iohn ; the first , yet the least , yet very strong and full , vers . 32 , 33. 2. from the testimony of his works , greater than that of iohn , vers . 36. 3. from the testimony of the father , by his voice from heaven , vers . 37. 4. from the voice of the scriptures , the highest of all , and surer than a voice from heaven , ( 2 pet. 1. 19. ) vers . 39 , 46. now these words are annexed to the third testimony , which i told you is the voyce of god from heaven , set down , mat. 3. 17. for this testimony of the father ●s not the inward testimony of the spirit only ; because christ speaks of publick , and evident testimonies in this place ; no● is it meant of the testimony of the father in the scripture ; for that is a distinct testimony : and ●●ough the father doth testifie of christ in the scriptures ; yet 't is not as his testimony , no more than the testimony of iohn , and of his works , whereby the father did testifie also : nor is it probable that our saviour would at this time , omit that famous testimony of the father at his baptism ; which if it be not here , is no where in this chapter . beside , how is this testimony the fathers more than the spirits ; but then , being called his son , he did evidently declare himself to be the father that spake . lastly , the spirits testimony is spoken of , as the testimony of moses and the prophets , vers. 46 , 47. for had ye believed moses , ye would have believed me , for he w●ote of me , vers . 47. for if ye beleeve not his writings how , shall ye believe my words . now our saviour in these words answers an objection which the jewes ( ever conceited of their own knowledge ) might make . we know the father as well as you ; and yet we know no such testimony that he gives . christ answers , you do not know him ; for the certain knowledge of a thing , is either by seeing or hearing ; now you never saw him nor heard him ; you have therefore no acquaintance with him . so that the words contain 1. christs fearfull accusation of the jews to be ignorant of god , 2. the aggravation and extent of it , at no time , i. e. not only at baptism , but at no other time , in any ministery , or in any scripture , &c. quest. 1. what is it not to see his shape nor hear his voice ? answ. some think they are metaphorical speeches , to expresse their ignorance of god ; now though this be the scope , and the general truth , yet i conceive , the lord speaking particularly , and knowing what he spake , intends something particularly : and it is a rule , never to flie to metaphors , where there can be a plain sense given . there is therefore two degrees of true knowledge of god in this life , or 't is attained unto by a double means . 1. by hearing of him , for hence our faith comes by the word . 2. by hearing thus from him , the mind also comes to have a true idea of god , as he reveals himself in the word and means by the spirit , iob 42. 5. i have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear , but now mine eye seeth thee ; and this is the shape here spoken of , not bodily and carnall . now christ doth professe that they did want both . carnal and unregenerate hearts , neither hear gods voyce , nor have a right idea of god in their minds , but become vain in their minds , though they have means of knowing , and their foolish hearts are darkned ; the wiser they be , the more foolish they grow . 2. at no time , i. e. neither at baptism , nor else in any mans ministery , nor in any of the scriptures which you read , and where the lord speaks . 3. but did they not hear the voice of god at christs baptism , and at the mount when christ preach't , when the scriptures were opened every lords day , and at other times amongst them ? answ. no , they never heard it . it 's a strange thing , that such men that read , heard , preach'd , remembred the scriptures , and could tell you mysteries in titles , never heard the voice of god ; and yet it is most true . observat. that many men may a long time together know and hear the word of god written and spoken , yet never hear the lord speaking that word , no not so much as one word , tittle or syllable ; no not so much at once , at any time . this was the estate of the jews , and this is the estate of all unregenerate men . hence christ , luke 19. 41. laments and weeps over ierusalem , saying , oh that thou hadst known in this thy day , &c. 1. quest. how did the iewes hear , and yet not hear god speaking ? answ. there is a twofold word , or rather a double declaration of the same word . 1. there is gods externall or outward word , containing letters and syllables , and this is his externall voice . 2. there is god internal word and voice , which secretly speaks to the heart , even by the externall word , when that only speaks to the ear . the first the jewes did hear , at christs baptism , in christs ministery , and in reading the scriptures , and when they did hear it , it was gods word they heard , full of glory , and so they heard the word spoken , but only man speaking it : the other comes to few , who hear not only the word spoken , but god speaking the word , rom. 10. 18 , 19. israel did hear , but israel did not know . christ speaks in parables ; hence in seeing they did not see , luke 8. 10. and this is one way , how 't is true that christ sayes , they never heard his voice . as 't is with a painted sun on the wall , you see the sun and stars , but there is a difference between seeing this and the sun and starres themselves , wherein is an admirable glory : go to a painted sun , it gives you no heat , nor cherisheth you not ; so it is here , &c. 2. this inward word is double . 1. ineffectuall , ( though inward . ) 2. effectual . 1. ineffectuall , is that which hath some inward operation upon the heart , but it attains not gods end to bring a man into a state of life ; and thus , heb. 6. 2 , 5. many tasted of the good word of god , yet fell away . and such a heart is compared to a field which a man plowes and sowes , and rain falls on it , and yet the end is not attained , it brings forth thistles ; and this many jewes did hear , and hence had some kind of faith in christ. 2. effectual , is that which hath such an inward efficacy upon mens hearts , as that god attains his end thereby , isa. 55. 11. and brings men to a state of life , of which christ speaks , iohn 6. 45. and this voice none but the elect hear ; and of this christ speaks here , as appears , v. 38. him whom he sent , ye beleeve not . hence it is you have heard god at no time . hence he speaks of such a hearing & knowing , such a hearing outwardly , as is accompanied with such a hearing inwardly , ioh. 14. 17. so that many men may hear the word spoken outwardly , but never inwardly : they may hear it inwardly , but never effectually , translating them from state to state , from death to life , from life to life and glory . no sense of the majesty of god speaking , nor effectuall hearing of the word spoken . when the sun is down the moon may arise , but yet a man is cold and dark ; but when the sun ariseth , oh it warms , nourisheth and cherisheth , &c. nothing is hid from it ; so it is here , when the lord speaks inwardly and effectually to the heart . reas. 1. from that great distance and infinite separation of mens souls from god , that though god cals , yet they can't hear no more than men a 1000 mile off . eph. 2. 1. men are dead in sin . now what is spirituall death , but separation of the soul from god , and god from it . a dead man cannot hear one word at no one time , he was not dead if he could . mens minds are far from god , and hearts also , that they are neither stricken with the sight of his glory , nor sense and savour of his goodnesse , but must be vain , and have worldly hearts in the church , nay adulterous eyes , or if they listen , god is gone from them , and from his word also , hos. 5. 6. reas. 2. from the mighty and wonderfull strange power of satan , which blinds their eyes they cannot see nor hear , 2 corinthians 4. 4. never such clear light , never such an effectuall word , as that of the apostles , yet it was hid ; why ? the god of this world blinded them , either he will keep such a noise and lumber in their heads , that they cannot hear god speaking for the noise , or else turn himself into an angel of light , and speak , and by their light will blind them , that the light in them shall be darknesse . rom. 1. 22. when men with naturall light began to be most wise , then they became the greatest fools : so 't is with other knowledge of scripture , and things they hear . happy were it for many a man if he had never heard nor seen ; for that which he hath heard and seen keeps him from hearing . tyre and sidon would hear sooner than capernaum that heard most . reas. 3. from the righteous judgement of god , in leaving men to be blinded and made deaf , from and by the means whereby they should hear and know ; that as it is with the saints , all evill things are for their good , so all good things are for their hurt , isa. 6 : 10. the meriting cause is unbelief and sin , but the deep and hidden rise of all is gods eternal dereliction of them , god never intended love , speciall love to them ; hence he never speaks one word to them ; 2 cor. 4. 3. iohn 6. 65. many were offended at his words and forsook him . now to take off this offence , i said , none can come to me , except it be given him of the father , what is that ? see v. 45. and 37. vse 1. hence see the reason , why the word is so wonderfully ineffectual to the souls of many men , that it never stirs them , that it 's a strange thing to them ; it 's , heb. 12. 19. like the law , a voice of words , a sound of words , so they hear men speak , but understand no more than if they spake in a strange language , or if they do , it concerns not them ; or if it stirs , 't is but as the blowing of the wind upon a rock , which blusters for a time ; but when the wind is down they are still . truly they hear the word spoken , but they do not hear god speaking . they heard latimer speak , but not god speaking , they hear a sound , which every one sayes , and they think is the word● but they hear not god speaking it . one would wonder that those jews that heard iohn and his disciples , moses and the prophets , nay gods voice from heaven , saying , this is my sonne , that they should not hear this , and receive him with all their hearts , but they did not hear his voice . one would wonder to see , that such things which a gracious heart thinks , this would draw every heart , yet main not stirr'd , things which the devils tremble at , and others which angels wonder at , yet they hear not . oh they hear not god speak , they are dead in their graves farre from god ; and there they are kept by the mighty power of satan , like one in a deep dark cave , kept by fiery dragons under the ground , and the tombit●ne is laid upon them . if christ spake he would make the dead to hear , and the blind to see . vse 2. hence see why the saints find such changes and alterations in themselves when they come to hear ; sometimes their hearts are quickned , fed and cherished healed and comforted , relieved and visited ; sometime again dead and senselesse , heavy and hardned . mark 8. 17 , 18 , 21. how is it ye do not understand ? nay which is more , that the same truth which they hear at one time , should affect them , and at another time doth not ; the same thing which they have heard a hundred times , and never stirr'd them , at last should . the reason is , they heard the word of god spoken at one time , but not god speaking ; and they heard the lord speaking that same word at another time ; the lord is in his word at one time , the word goes alone at another time ; as in eliah , the lord was not in the whirlwind , but he spake in the still voice and hence there he was to elijah , luke 24. 25. with 32. not that you are to lay blame on the lord ; for he blows where he listeth ; but to make us see 't is not in outward means , nor 't is not in our own spirits to quicken our selves ; and to make us ashamed of our own darknesse , that when he speaks , yet we cannot hear , there is so much power of spiritual death and satan yet within us , only out of his pitty he speaks sometimes ; not that you should despise the outward word ; no , no , the lord is there shining in perfection of glory , and that which doth thee no good , the lord makes powerfull to some others . but prize the spirit of god in that word , which alone can speak to thee . vse 3. of dread and terrour to all unregenerate men . hence see the heavy wrath of god against them : they have indeed the scriptures , and the precious word of god dispensed to them ; but the lord never speakes one word unto them . if any one from whom we expect and look for love , passe by us and never speak ; what not speak a word ? and we call to him and he will not speak , we conclude he is angry and displeased with us . you look for love , do you not ? you that hear every sabbath , and come to lectures , and you must out ; t is well , yes , you will say , his love is better than life , & frowns more bitter than death ; love ? wo to me if the lord do not love me , better never been born . i hope he loves me . happy i if the mountains might fall on me , to crush me in pieces if he loves me not , &c. but consider if he loves he will then speak peace unspeakable to thy conscience when humbled , life to thy heart , joy in the holy ghost , isa. 57. 19. iohn 6. 63. 1 thes. 1. 6. but look upon thy soul , and see this day in the sight of god , whether ever the lordspake one word to thee : outwardly indeed he hath , but not inwardly ; inwardly also , but not effectually , to turn them from darknesse to light , and the power of satan to god , &c. the voyce of god is full of majesty , it shakes the heart ; 't is full of life , it quickens the dead , and light , and peace , and gives wisdom to the simple . ps. 119. opening of thy word gives light to the eyes . how many women , ever learning and never knowing , and many men learning and knowing what is said , but never hear god speak ? then know the wrath of the lord , see and go home mourning under it . there is a fourfold wrath in this . 1. 't is the lords sore wrath and displeasure , zach. 1. 2. with vers . 4. if one should expect love from another to do much for him , and he did not , it may be he would not take it as a signe of displeasure : but if he will not do a small thing , not speak a word to him , oh this is bitter ; what will not the lord speak a word , not one word ▪ especially when thy life lies on it , thy soul lies on it , eternity lies on it , especially the lord that is so mercifull and and pittifull ? this is a sign of sore anger . 2. 't is a token of gods old displeasure , eternall displeasure ; i know you cannot hear ; hence though god speaks , you hear him not : but why doth not the lord remove that deafnesse ? you old hearers , that have ears fat with hearing , but heavy , he never intended love , else he would speak , there would be some time of love . rom. 11. 7 , 8. the elect have had it , others are blinded , as 't is written , god hath given them the spirit of slumber , eyes that they should not see , and ears that they should not hear to this day . 3. 't is the lords present displeasure . when a man looks for love and speech , and he doth not speak at those times he is not wont to speak ; one may take it as no sign of anger : but when the lord shall speak usually , and then he speaks not , this is a sad sign . 1 sam. 28. 6 , 15. he cries out of this , he answors me not by urim nor dreams , nor thee by the gospel nor law , neither where he useth to answer . if this anger were to come , it were some comfort : but when 't is now upon thee , even that very sermon and word whereby he speaks to others , but not a word to thee . 4. 't is his insensible anger : for a fat heart , and an heavy ear ever go together ; for you will say , i feel no hurt in this , i have heard and been never the better , but yet that hath made me never the worse . oh poor creature ! 't is because you feel it not ; but when the time of misery shall come , you will say , this is wo and load enough , for the lord to give no answer . psal. 71. 9. we see not our prophets , nor any to tell us how long : so you that despise means you shall then lament and say , none can tell how long . oh therefore , lament this thy condition now , that the lord may hear some of your cries , &c. vse 4. hence examine whether ever you heard the lords voice or no : not only outwardly ( for that you know you have often done ) but inwardly ; and not only so , for so ye may do , and yet your eares heavy ; but effectually , that if it be not so , you may be humble , and say , lord how have i spent my time in vain ? and if it be so , you may be thankfull , and say , lord , what am i that the infinite god should speak to me ? there is great need of trial of this , for a man may read , hear and understand externally , what ever another may ; and yet the whole scripture a sealed book . there are therefore these three degrees , by which you shall discern the effectuall voice of god , you must take them joyntly . 1. the voice of god singles a man out , and ( though it be generally written or spoken ) speaks particularly to the very heart of a man , with a marvellous kind of majesty and glory of god stamp't upon it ; and shining in it . when a man hears things generally delivered , the blessed estate of the saints , the cursed estate of the wicked , consolations to the one , curses to the other , exhortations to faith and obedience , to both , and a man sits by , and never thinks the lord is now speaking , and means me . or if it doth so , yet thinks he intends me no more than others , he hears not the lord speaking ; for when he speaks , he speaks particularly to the very heart of a man : he doth so fit the word to him , whether it be the word of the law to humble him , or of gospel to comfort , or of command to guide , as if the lord meant none but them . the word is like an exact picture , it looks every man in the face that looks on it , if god speaks in it , heb. 4. 12 , 13. it searcheth the heart , vers . 12. but vers . 13. he speaks of god , how comes that in ? because god , the majesty of god comes with it when god speaks it ; with whom we have to do , why is that put in ? because when the lord speaks , a man thinks now i have to do with god , if i resist i oppose a god. before this a ma● thinks he hath nothing to do with god , they are such strangers . hence it is one man is wrought on in a sermon , another not . god hath singled out one , not the other that day . hence take a man unhumbled , he hears many things , and it may be understands not ; if so , yet they concern not him ; if they do , and conscience is stirr'd , yet they think man means them , and speaks by hap , and others 〈…〉 bad as they , and his troubie is not much . at last he hears his secret thoughts and sins discovered , all his life is made known , and thinks 't is the lord verily that hath done this ; now god speaks , 1 cor. 14. 2● . those things he did neither believe nor imagine ; &c. iohn 4. 29. see the man that hath told me all that ever i did . hence take a soul that is humbled , he heares of the free offer of grace , he refuseth it ; why , this is to all , and to hypocrit●s as well as to me . apply any promise to it , it casts by all , it looks upon them as things generally spoken , and ●polyed by man , but they hear not god speaking ; but when the lord comes , he doth so meet with their objections , and speaks what they have been thinking may be true , that they think this is the lord , this is to me . hosea 2. 14. i 'le speak to her heart : and hence 't is called the ingraffed word , james 1 : 21. like one branch of many , applied to the stock . iob 33. 14 , 16. 2. the voice of the lord doth not only speak particularly , but it goes further ; it comes not only with an almighty power , but with a certain everlasting efficacy and power on the soul. thus 't is here , vers . 38. ye have not his word in you , they had it out of them ; and not only in you , but abiding in you , 1 pet. 1. 23. born of incorruptible seed , the apostle seems to speak of a kind of birth by corruptible seed , and such are like goodly flowers which soon wither , but you are born of incorruptible seed , which hath an eternall savour , sweetnesse and power . mat. 13. of the four grounds three of them fall away . iohn 15. 16. their fruit does not remain : they have some living affection at the present , but they go away and it dies . look but upon particulars , doth the lord once speak by the word , and humble the heart ? it never lists up its head more ; doth he reveal the glory of christ ? that light never goes out more . isa. 60. 19. 2 cor. 4. 4 , 5. as at the first creation , there was light , and so continues to this day ; so doth he give life , iohn 11. 26. you shall never die more ; doth he give peace and joy ? no man shall take their joy from them . isa. 32. 17. fruit of righteousnesse and peace , and assurance for ever . doth he give the spirit of all these , which gal. 3. comes by hearing of faith ? it shall abide for ever , iohn 14. 17. that look as gods love is everlasting , so his words have an everlasting excellency and efficacy in them , and goodness in them , the sweetest token of his love : and as christs purchase is only of eternall good things ; so the application of this purchase by the word , 't is of eternall worth : peace , but peace eternal ; life , light , favour , joy , but joy eternal ; like mustard seed , though very little , yet mighty in increase , and never subdued again ; so that though it be but little , yet 't is eternal ; and hence observe where god hath spoken effectually , the longer the man lives , the more he grows in the vertue and power of the word ; another though wonderfully ravished for a time , yet dies , most commonly outwardly in externall profession , but ever in inward savour ; so that when you hear the word , and it moves you , affects you , and iohn is a burning light , and you rejoyce therein , but 't is but for a season . the ●vill spirit comes on you , and david playes upon his harp , and ministers preach sweet things , but as soon as the musick is done , the evill spirit returns , i say you never heard the lords voyce . the peace and joy of the lord enters into eternity , and the apostle expresly cals him an un●ruitfull hearer , iames 1. 21 that sees his face and forgets himself . a gracious heart can say , this peace shall go to heaven ; and joy , and love , and fear , it 's part of eternall glory . 3. the voyce of the lord comes not only thus particularly , and with eternal efficacy , but with such efficacy as carries unto , and centers in christ ; so 't is here : for him whom god hath sent , you believe not . iohn 6. 41. they shall be taught of god : wherein doth that appear ? they shall hear , and learn so as to come to me ; if the law humbles them , it 's such a humbling as drives them unto christ , poor and undon , rom 10. 4. if the word gives peace to them , 't is such a peace , which at the last they find in christ , eph. 2. 17 , 18. with 14. i it live holily , it lives unto christ , not meerly as to god , and to quiet conscience , unto a creator , as adam , but for christs sake . 2 cor. 5. 14. 15. we judge that if we were dead , and christ dyed for us , we should then live unto him ; if they grow up by the word , 't is in christ , eph. 4. 14. though christ be not mentioned , yet it is strange to see , let the word speak what it will , whether terrour , oh my need of christ ! mercy and grace ; oh the love of christ ! oh the blood of christ ! command ; oh that i may live to honour christ , and wrong him no more ! duties ; oh the easie yoke of christ ! they look upon the whole word rightly dispensed as the bridegrooms voice , and truly his words are sweet . for a man may have some such fear , reformation , affection , as may continue , but never carry him out of himself unto christ. the pharisees knew the law , were very exact even till their death , profited as paul said he did ; yet they had not the word abiding in them ; because not driven out of themselves to christ , to rest there . hence when men shall hear many things , but to what end do you hear , or what vertue have the things you hear ? do they only please fancy for a time ? or do you hear to increase your knowledge & parts ; or do you hear for custome and company , and to quiet conscience ? or are you affected and sunk , but not driven by all to lay thy head on christ ? the lord never spake yet to thee ; when the word hath laid you on this foundation , truly it's office is done and ended , gods end is now attained , &c. oh try your selves here , have you heard , but never heard the voyce of the lord , rushing upon thee with majesty , speaking to thy heart , and the very secrets of it , but have said , this is for oth●rs , and when you have thought the man hath spoken to you , your hearts have then swollen against him ? or have you thus heard , but all dies and withers like flowers ? the same heart still , or have you had some powerfull stroke which remains , but it forceth you not out of your selves to christ , there to rest , there to joy , there to live , there to die ? truly your time hath been spent in vain , you never yet heard the lord speak . oh mourn for it , thou art still in thy blood , if he never said live ; in thy bondage , if the lord never said , come forth . this is the condition of many to be lamented with tears . but if thou hast thus heard particularly , and though but little light , life and peace , yet it is of eternal efficacy , and all to draw thee to christ ; then blesse the lord ; for blessed are your ears that hear , and i say as moses said , deut. 4. 32. ask , if ever people heard god speaking and live . the apostle , heb. 〈…〉 makes it a greater matter to come to hear god on mount sion , and yet live ; blessed be god i live . obj. but may not many of the saints hear , & hear the lord speak ; but not feel this everlasting power and efficacy ? answ. i would not lay a foundation of unthankfulnesse , nor discourage any ; and therefore , note for answer these particulars . 1. there may be an eternal efficacy of the word , and yet lye hid , and not felt for a time . the word is compared , you know , to seed , and that in this respect ; the seed it is cast under the clod in the winter-time , and ●t hath a vertue in it to grow ; but it is hid , and comes not to blade , of a good while , and when it doth blade , yet it bears not fruit of a long time : so here , the lord may cast the seed of his word into the heart ; but it is hidden for a time , it is not felt as yet , but there it is ; a word of threatning , a word of promise , a word of command ; a man may cast it by , and say , it belongs not to me ; a man may slight the command for a time : yet notwithstanding , the lord having cast his seed into the heart ; it shall spring up . as many a child , the father speaks to it , and applies the word home to it , when it is of some years , the child regards it not : but now stay some time , till the lord do bring it into some sad affliction ; now a man begins to think , i remember what my father spake to me once , and i regarded it not then : now this seed which was cast when the child was young , it shall spring up twenty years after . iohn 2. 22. christ had said , he would destroy the temple , and raise it again in three dayes : now when he was risen from the dead , his disciples remembred that which he had spoken to them , but they regarded it not before ; these things , saith christ , have i spoken to you whiles i was with you ; but when the comforter is come , he shall bring all these words to your remembrance that i have said unto you . one sentence it may be that hath discovered a mans sin , it lies hid ; but when the time of ripening draws near , you shall see the word will have marvelous increase ; and that sin it may be will bring to mind twenty sins ; and that promise of god which gives but a little consolation , consider'd in it self , it shall give marvelous consolation . one would wonder to see what one word will do , when the lords time of blessing it is come . 2. after that a christian hath had the feeling of the efficacy of the word , he may lose the feeling of it again , and yet the being of it may remain ; and the reason is this , partly because there is not alwayes need of feeling the like efficacy in the word . a man may have by the word a marvelous deal of assurance of gods love , and sense of mercy and joy in the holy ghost , he may have this in the feeling of it : this word , it did lye hid for a time ; afterward it springs up and gives him peace . but he loses his peace again , his sun do's set , and it is midnight with with him within twenty four hours , and he is as much in the dark as before ; now the being of this peace is there , but he hath no need of the feeling of it at all times ; the lord he will reserve that till some time of tentation , that he shall meet withall . as paul , he had marvellous revelations ; but paul had more need of humiliation , than exaltation ; and there was not that use of pauls having those glorious manifestations to him ; i will glory in my infirmities : there was need for paul to know the evils of his heart , that he might walk humbly ; and it did not make so much for the glory of the lord , as this , that paul should say , i have this misery and darkness , and sins , and yet jesus christ he will take away all : there was not need for paul to have those joyes at all times , that he had at one time . so the lord he gives a christian joy and peace , now there is no need for a christian to have it alwayes . i will pour floods of water on dry ground . beloved , if there should be nothing but rain , rain every day and night , the ground would be glutted with rain , and so turned into a puddle , but when the land is dry and thirsty , now the ground hath need of rain : let the earth make use of that rain it hath : and when it is dry and thirsty , i will give more , saith the lord. so the lord he gives the soul joy and peace ; now , if it should continue , the very peace and joy of god , would not be pleasant to the soul ; or at least , not so pleasant as it will be , when the lord takes it away , and gives it the soul again . a christians comes to the meeting-house , and the lord fills the sailes of a poor soul , that he wonders the lord should meet him , and speak so suitably to him : but as soon as he is gone out again , this is the complaint of the soul , all is lost again ; now the soul it sals a mourning again . it is not for the glory of god to give the soul such peace out of his ordinances , as he doth in them ; the soul it would not prize the ordinances of the lord so much ; yet there it is ; and when they come again , the lord , he either gives them the same refreshings again , or else there is a new spring . 3. the eternall efficacy of the word and voyce of god ; it may be preserved in an internall spirit of prayer , for the continuance of it while he hath it , and for the return of it when it is lost . psalm . 119. 4 , 5. thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently . david he knew his own weakness ; yet he intimates with what power it came on his heart : oh that my soul were directed to keep thy statutes ; when the soul sees the bea●ty of a command , and the good will of god , how sweet it is , and how amiable the way and work of god is : oh that my heart were directed to keep thy statutes . and so when it is gone , psal. 63. 3. my soul thirsteth after thee , lord , saith david , that i may see thy glory and power , as i have seen thee in thy sanctuary . he doth not say , that i may see thy glory and power in thy sanctuary , though that might be too ; no , but that i may see thy glory and power , as i have seen thee in the sanctuary . david he did find a want of seeing him as he had done ; yet the vertue of it did remain in a spirit of thirsting , and desire : my soul thirrsteth for thee , as in a dry land where no water is , that i may see thee . a christian may have at some time such a glimpse ( in hearing the word ) of gods grace , of the exceeding riches of gods grace , and the love of god to him , that he may be in a little heaven at that time ; ravished in the admiration of that mercy , that ever god should look to him . it is so , and the word sayes so , and the soul is ravished with wonderment at it ; yet god is gone again , and the soul loses it . now the soul thinks , i have lost the efficacy of gods word , but it is not so ; for thus it may be preserved . oh that i may see this god as i have done : and all his life-time the soul may find the want of this , & yet it may be preserved in a spirit of prayer . for whem the lord hath given once a glimpse of his glory ; the soul it cannot be at rest , but it breatheth for more of that mercy and presence ; a christian may find his spirit marvellously refreshed at the word , he may taste how good the lord is , and he may lose it again : but this may be preserved in a spirit of longing after this god , and presence again . and i will say this , brethren , a christian may find no good by the word to his apprehension ; he sees the admirable blessed estate of the saints , and exceeding riches of god in christ , sees the sweetness of the waies of god ▪ goes home & thinks within himself , happy they that are in this condition : blessed are they that can walk thus with god ; but i cannot , saith the soul. i say it may find it thus , when he cannot find the reall efficacy of the word as he would do ; he may receive the benefit of that word , if the lord do but only give him a heart to desire it . oh that the lord would but thus manifest himself to me ; the soul may go away poor and hungry from the word , and the lord may yet reserve a spirit of thirsting after that good which a man desires to find ; and there is the efficacy of the word there . as now there are two golden vessels ; one a man fills , and it is every day dropping , and he preserves it ; another vessel he do's not fill , but with something that he hath , he is every day widening of it . so some christians , the lord he 's a filling of them ; others , the lord he do's not fill them with such peace and joy ; ay , but though the lord is not filling of them , he is a widening of them : there is such a vertue that the lord do's enlarge the heart with secret desires and longings after more of gods grace , and christs : the lord he saith , i intend to make this man a vessell of glory ; and i intend he shall have a great deal of glory and peace at the last . the lord he leaves such an impression of the word upon him , as that thereby he enlargeth the heart ▪ open thy mouth wide , & i will fill it . 4. a christian may have the everlasting efficacy of the word and voice of god preserved in a spirit of thankfulnesse and love to the lord , for those joys , and good that it finds by the word sometimes . when it feels that the sweet and savour of the word is gone , a spirit of thankfulnesse and love to the word that doth remain ; the lord he preserves the efficacy of the word in this way . psal. 119. 7. i shall , saith david , then praise thee with uprightnesse of heart , when i shall have learned thy righteous judgements . the lord he may teach his people his righteous judgements ; and the savour and feeling , and strength of them to their feeling may be gone , and yet it is preserved in a spirit of thankfulnesse and praise , that ever the lord should shew it such mercy . when the spirit is gone , the spirit of love and thankfulnesse remains . as now a man hath heard the word , the lord he hath effectually wrought on him , and changed his heart , and drawn him to himself ; a christian it may be he may lose those sorrows and humiliations , and the remembrance of those things ; yet there remaineth to his dying day this spirit , he blesseth god , and wondereth at god , that ever he should make the word effectuall ; that he should leave so many thousands in the world , and cast his skirt over him , and say to him , live ; this do's remain still . brethren , the lord do's sometimes let light into a mans mind to discover his sin : now this light it do's not sensibly overcome the power of sin : but now the s●ul blesseth god for that word which hath convinced it ; had i never seen my sin , saith the soul , i should never a sought for power against it , and pardon of it ; and this continues now , and cannot but continue ; here is the efficacy of the word , the word of gods grace ; though the flower of it be gone , yet there is an eternal power of the word ; that the soul can say , it hath come to me , and helped me against these sins ; and the soul wonders at the lord , it should be so much as it is . so again , a christian he finds marvellous refreshings and affection whiles he is a hearing ; when he is gone away , he finds not the same , but he blesseth god for those affections he finds , and there remains an eternall efficacy of the word . 5. the eternall efficacy of the word , it may be and is preserved , by nourishing , increasing and restoring the new man that is eternall . there is a double efficacy that the word hath ; the first is to beget a christian to life , and this new man is eternall . i conceive all the actions of the new man may be suspended , and the increasings of the new creature may be decayed , though god doth renew it again : but this never do's decay , it never dies : he that is born of god cannot sin , because he is born of god ; and because the seed of god remains in him . 2. there is efficacy in the word when it hath begotten a man to nourish him up ; and so the word it is food to him , that was seed to him to beget him , which food is eternall . how is it eternal ? is it in this , that now the sweetnesse , savour and remembrance of every thing that doth refresh him , shall last in it self ? no , but in this respect it is eternall , in that it leaveth its secret vertue in the nourishing of that which is eternall . as now adam when he was in innocency , and had an immortall body , his food it should have been an immortall food to him ; but how should that have been ? should ●e alwayes have had the same strength , from the same diet , which he ate long before ? no , but in this respect it should have been an immortall food to him , in that it was to nourish that which was to be eternal : so it is here , the word of gods grace it begets a man , it humbles a man , and draws the soul to christ ; but afterwards , there are many things that god speaks to the soul in the word that hath an eternall vertue , 〈…〉 the new creature ; the word hath a secret vertue in it 〈◊〉 this end . i wil shew it you thus ; isa. 58. 11. the lord he 〈◊〉 to his people thy soul shal be as a water'd garden , the 〈◊〉 wil make the souls of his people like watered gardens , in peace , and joy , and life . now look as if so be trees by water or by some springs that run by it , and slide away , and ye cannot tell , which it is that makes them to grow ; yet ye know this , there is in all of them joyned together , a secret insensible vertue ; that every one of them addes something to 〈◊〉 flourishing of the tree : so it is here , the saints of god , the word of god it comes to them , and passes by them ; and ye cannot tell whether this part or that part of the word leave any vertue , but many times a man feels no vertue ; yet it is manifest , here is a flourishing christian , here is heart , and life , and peace that it hath with god , and the soul it remains flourishing ; there is a secret vertue , all the words that run by and passe by the souls of gods people , they do leave a marvellous vertue , to make the soules of gods people like watered gardens , and to increase in grace . note it by the way you that live under the means of grace , your souls shall be like watered gardens ; if god have spoken to you first or last , the lord speaks many times to you , sometimes affecting , and sometimes warning , sometimes convincing and humbling , and speaking peace , and there is a vertue that remaines , and if ye find it not , know that god hath not spoken to you . 6. the eternall efficacy of the word may be preserved in a power of conflict against the power of sin : for therein the lords power of the word does principally appear in this life , though not in a power of victory , i mean a compleat victory , yet an imperfect and incompleat victory , there ever is first or last where ever there is a power of conflict . i mean thus , the word it singles a man out , and speaks to his heart , & sets him at variance with his sin , and with himself for his sin , and he joynes 〈◊〉 with god in the use of all meanes ▪ that his unbeli●vi●g heart and proud spirit may be subdued ; it s●ts him at variance with his sin ; now there is many a christian thinks there is no power of the word : oh my unbelief continues still and my vain mind , and i can find little strength ; no , ye m●st not look for a power of compleat victory , but yet there is a power of conflict ; god he sets the soul at an everlasting distance with his 〈◊〉 , never to be rec●nciled , and looks to the lord , that by his word and spirit he would subdue them ▪ that so he may see the de●th of them , & he sides with the lord in the use of all means , comes to the word , and comes to prayer , and sayes , speak against my sin , lord , lord , waste these distempers & so the 〈◊〉 is thus at variance with his sin , although his 〈…〉 and hill of him , he goes again , and to them again : and though he perisheth , and never ha●e mercy from the ●ord , yet , ●ord , that i may never sin against thee m●re , help therefore , lord , by his promise , and mercy and means , and here he keeps him , and here he holds . truly , brethren , here is an eternall vertue , and such a vertue as no hypocrites have , that have some sting of conscience , and after they have some peace , they are at truce with their sins . no , there is an everlasting conflict and warfare , and i do assure you there is an everlasting power gone forth , mat. 12. 20. christ will not break the bruised reeed , nor quench the smoaking flax , till judgement come to victory ; therefore there may be judgement , but it may not come to victory , there may be smoak and fire , and it may almost go out , and the lord he blowes it up again , and at the last , though it be weak and little , and he think with himself he shall never get strength again , yet the lord will give victory in his time . only be cautious here ; i told you there is an incompleat victory , the lord never sets his people at variance with their sin , but they have victory , but it 's an incompleat victory ; saith the lord , i will drive out the hittites , and canaanites , and perizzites before you , but i will do it by little and little . there is many a christian that findes within himself a spirit of warfare against his sin , and did he examin himself , he should find a spirit of victory ; but hee thinkes he hath none because his victory is not compleat . if he had a heart so to believe as never to doubt more , and such quickning as never to be dead more , never to depart from god more , now i should think the word comes with power ; but i find that these evils prevaile against me . there is many a one does scorn the kindnesse of christ , because he finds not compleat victory , but darknesse remaines still , and sinfull lusts remain still , therefore the word doth me no good at all , saith he . the lord he hath given thee a spirit of conflict , and hath s●t thee at an everlasting distance with thy sin , and he doth give thee some victory . beloved , a christian may decay in the power of the grace of christ , which he hath received from the word , and voice of god in the word , and he may decay , and grow to a very low estate ; yet he shall find this , the word of the lord hath come with power to him , it will recover his soul again , and so the efficacy of the word is eternall . psalm . 72. it s said of christ , that his people shall fear him so long as sun and moon shall endure , that is , continually , all their life-time . it may be said , there be many that find decay of their service and obedience , and lose their fear of the lord , and their dread , and their humble walking before him , he shall come as the rain on the mowen grasse : many times a christian hath his flourishing time as the grasse , but when the grasse is mowen , it is as a dry chip ; so the soul it may grow dry , as dry as a chip . now where is your sap and savour ? but i tell you , if you belong to the lord jesus , the rain it will fall again , the word of god set on by the spirit of christ , it shall fall upon you as the rain on the mowen grasse , and you know that it recovers little by little , and puts on a green coat again . here is the eternal love of the lord jesus to his people , and thus the eternal efficacy of the word does continue . 3. vse is of exhortation . oh brethren and beloved in the lord jesus , may a christian hear the word of god spoken , and yet never hear god speak ? may he hear it externally and not internally ? then rest not in externall hearing , and with some little movings , and affections , and stirrings of the word of gods grace in hearing . let not the word be to you as the sound of many waters , and a noise , no efficacy of the word that do remain on your soules . brethren and beloved in christ , i lay my finger on the sore in these times . oh the contempt of the gospel of christ , though i believe it hath its efficacy in the heart of the elect : that is the thing that i presse , never be content with external hearing , though thou mayest have some affection , and know new things , unlesse thou find the lord speaking with an eternall efficacy to thy soul. i conceive two things are to be done , that the word may come with an everlasting efficacy ; although something is to be done by ministers ; that is , to preach truth , and gospel-truth , fetch 't from heaven with many prayers , & soaked truth with many tears . ye shall know the truth , & that truth shal make you free . convicting truth . we preach , saith the apostle , in the demonstration of the spirit . the spirit of god when he commeth , he convinceth the world of sin . let ministes do so . preach convincing truth and gospel-truth , fetch'd from heaven , and bathed in tears . oh brethren , let the fire burn clear , let there not be more smoak than fire , it will never come with power then ; convincing gospel-truth , set on by the demonstration of the spirit of the lord , and this will set a christian at liberty ; there is never such a sermon that the faithful ones of god preach to you ; if it come not with a power to loosen you and call you home ; it comes with a power to blind you : it is an ax at the root of the trees ; but i leave this . what means ought the people to use , that the word of god may come with efficacy ? them that are in their unregenerate estate , the lord only knows how to work on their hearts ; they must come to the outward means . i speak to the saints of god , i leave others to the infinite mercy of the lord ; it is not in him that willeth or runneth , but in the lord that sheweth mercy . in the use of means . 1. means . do not only see thy infirmities and weaknesses , but pray to god to give thee a heart bleeding under the sense of thy many infirmities . many times men slight them , and are not sensible of them ; i do not say wickednesses and wilfulnesses , but thy infirmities and weaknesses , get a heart mourning under them , a christian is made up of infirmities and weaknesses , a man would not think there is that in another , which he knows by himself . oh brethren , labour for a broken heart in the sense of your many infirmities and weaknesses , darknesse and enmity , vanity and unsavourinesse , the lord will have his time to speak to such a soul. break up the fallow ground of your hearts , — lest my wrath break out with fire : the lord hath promised to dwell with the poor and contrite . look as it was with our saviour christ , they brought the sick and the lame ones to him , and vertue went out from christ to heal them all . bring thy sick and blind heart to christ , and vertue shall go forth from christ to heal it . 2. draw near to god in the word , by looking on it as god speaking to thee . we are far from god , and therefore we cannot hear him : draw near to him when you come to the external word , when you come to hear the word , hear it as the voyce of god ; you heard the word as the word of god , which you felt in you . i do not speak that the soul should take every thing that ministers speak as the word of god , but that which is the word of god , take it as god speaking . i am not able to expresse the infinite unknown sweetnesse , and mercy , and presence of god , that you shall find thus comming . i know it is a common truth , but i am not ashamed to tell you , i have not for many a year understood this truth , and i see but little of it yet ; ye have heard of it , but ye do not understand what it is to hear god speaking . when god hath an intent to harden a mans heart and to damn him , either he shall have a prejudice against the man , or else if he hath not a prejudice against the man , there is a secret loathing of the truth , in regard of the commands of it , and that is all , and the lord he hardens , and blinds , and prepares for eternall ruin , all the men in the world by this means , that live under the means . when the lord spake to samuel , samuel heard a voyce , but he heard it not as spoken by god , but when he took elies counsel , and saw it was the lord that spoke ; now he listens to the voice of the lord , and now the lord opens all his mind to him . 3. do not trust to the external word . it is a heaven on earth to hear the word exalted , a glorious thing to hear the word of god as gods word ; but trust to the free grace of god in it , and the spirit of god in christ to set on that word . when they brought the lame , and blind , and halt to christ , they looked for the word and the power of it ; speak the word , lord , and thy servants shall be whole ; so bring you blind , lame , and halt souls to christ , and trust to the free grace of the lord jesus christ. the work of the lord it shall prosper in his hand ; so the word of the lord it shall prosper in his hand also . lastly , so seek the lord , and so hear the word , so see the truth , and so hear the truth , as that you lay up your happinesse in this world , in closing with the truth and with the word . brethren , what is a mans happiness in heaven , but to close with god and christ ? i cannot come to god now , the most that i can have of god now is in his word ; if it be happiness in heaven to close with god in christ , truly then it is a mans happinesse to close with god in his word on earth ; and if it be your happiness , lay up your happiness in it . my son , saith solomon , if thou wilt hear my words , let them not depart from thine eies ; keep them in thy middest of thy heart ; place thy happiness in them . so shall they be life to thy soul. neverthelesse brethren , let a mans soul be set upon anything in the world , when he comes to hear , besides the word ; if he lay not up his happinesse in closing with the word ; truly , the word it will be like a song to him . the prophet ezekiel tells them , their hearts were gone after their covetousness : when a man comes to hear a sermon , there is a sermon and the market , there is a sermon and a friend to speak withall ; and so many young people will go abroad to hear sermons ; what is the end of it ? it is , that yee may get wives and husbands many of you ; but it is not your blessednesse to close with the lord in his word . i have known some men that have had a distaste against the truth of the lord ; and i have known them for many a day , they have not bee able to understand the truth of the lord. when it shall be thus with a man , that a mans heart is set on something else besides the word of the lord , that it is not my happinesse to close with the truth of the lord ; such a man shall never understand the truth of the lord. though the word be sweet to you sometimes , if your blessednesse do not lye in this , to enjoy god ; oh this gospel of god , and these commands of god , that your blessednesse do not lye in cleaving to the lord in his word ; i say , it is a certain truth , you shall be blinded and harned by the word : for here is a rule ; whatsoever a mans heart is set on , as his chiefest good , the presence of that good it comes with power : so here , the precious gospell of christ , when the presence of it commands the heart , nothing is good enough for it , and it closeth with it , and with christ in it . i beseech you therefore , beloved in christ , set upon the use of these meanes , think within your selves , what if the lord had left me without the word ? i will tell you what ye would have been . look upon these poor indians , herds of beasts ; look upon others on their ale-benches , enemies to the lord , such a one thou hadst been . this blessed word and voyce of god , every tittle of it cost the blood of christ ; written all the lines of it in the blood of christ. oh , make much of it , and it will make much of you ; it will comfort you , and strengthen you , and revive you ; & if the word come not with power , ye shall be under the power of something else ; if not under the power of the word , then under the power of some lust . what is the reason that these poor creatures , that are come to the tryall for life and death , that have fallen into such sinnes as were never heard of ? what is the reason that they are under the power of their lusts ? i will tell you what solomon saith , my son , if wisdome enter into thy heart , and discretion be pleasant to thy soul , it shall keep thee from the strange woman , and sinful companion . if it be pleasant , here is the reason , the word of gods grace it never came with power , or if it came with power , powerless the word of gods grace hath been to them ; and because it hath not come with power , the lord hee hath given them over to the power of their lusts , and sinfull distempers . oh brethren , truly i cannot see how any man can maintain any evidence of gods electing love , that shall hear and hear , and good dayes mend him not , nor bad dayes pair him : that can commend a sermon , and speak of it ; but that efficacy is not known to him , neither doth he mourn for the want of it ; but the eternall efficacy thereof is a stranger to it . 1 thes. 1. 5. knowing , saith the apostle , your election of god ; how did he know it ? for , saith he , our gospel came not to you in word , but in power ; ye will rejoyce the hearts of your ministers , when the word comes with power . let me say this , and so i conclude . i remember the lords threatning ; i will take away the staffe of bread , and ye shall eat , and shall not be satisfied ; when the lord shall let men have the word , when the lord shall not take away the word , but the staffe of the word . suppose you poor parents , fathers , and mothers ; your families should have good corn , but when you come to eat it , no strength at all , but ye dye and wear away ; and others that are about you , they have planted the same corn , and eat and are satisfied ; what will ye do in this case ? you would set apart a day of fasting and prayer , and say , good lord , what a curse is upon me ? my poor children are dying before me , others have the staffe of corn ; but my family have no strength at all . ye would mourn if it were thus with your poor cattell . oh , for poor creatures to have the word , but the efficacy of it to be taken away ; no blessing , no power at all . oh poor creatures , go and say ! oh the curse of god that lies on me , the wrath of god that lyes on my servants , it is a heavy plague . but oh the sweetnesse and excellency of it , when a christian shall find everlasting vertue and efficacy conveyed to him by the word . all you that are before the lord this day , ye shall see an end of all perfection ; but eternall things are not they worth something ? you shall see an end of all delights and contentments ; but this shall comfort you when you are a dying , that the word which you attended upon the lord in , such peace , and such consolations i have found by it ; and the efficacy of that word then remaines with you ; nay , goes to heaven with you . i commend you therefore to the word of his grace , which is able to build you up unto an eternall inheritance amongst them that are sanctified , acts 20. 32. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a59692-e2360 doctr. 1. quest. 1. answ. quest. 2. answ. 1. answ. 2. reas. 2 : vse 1. vse 2. vse 3. quest. vse 4. objection . answ. 1. answ. 2 answ. 3. vse 5. quest. answ. 1. psal. 133. ult . quest. answ. acts 5. 12. quest. answ. 1. answ. 1. answ. 2. quest. answ. quest. 2 : answ. object . answ. quest. 3 answ. tit. 2. 9 , 10. 1 pet. 3. 18 : eph. 6. 5. 1 pet. 3. 18. tit. 2. 9 , 10. eph. 6. 5 answ. 1. answ. 1. vse 6. ier. 2. 20. object . answ. vse 7. mot. 1. mot. 2. mot. 3. mot. 4. quest. answ. means 1. 〈◊〉 2. notes for div a59692-e14420 quest. 1. answ. answ. observ. quest. 1. answ. reason 1. reason . 2. rev. 12. 9. rom. 1. 22. reas. 3. vse 1. vse 2. vse 3. vse 4. object . answ. 1. vse 3. 1 thes. 2. 3. prov. 3. vers. 22. the pious communicant rightly prepar'd, or, a discourse concerning the blessed sacrament wherein the nature of it is described, our obligation to frequent communion enforced, and directions given for due preparation for it, behaviour at, and after it, and profiting by it : with prayers and hymns, suited to the several parts of that holy office : to which is added, a short discourse of baptism / by samuel wesley ... wesley, samuel, 1662-1735. 1700 approx. 424 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 151 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-07 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a65465 wing w1376 estc r38528 17544603 ocm 17544603 106561 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a65465) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 106561) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1108:18) the pious communicant rightly prepar'd, or, a discourse concerning the blessed sacrament wherein the nature of it is described, our obligation to frequent communion enforced, and directions given for due preparation for it, behaviour at, and after it, and profiting by it : with prayers and hymns, suited to the several parts of that holy office : to which is added, a short discourse of baptism / by samuel wesley ... wesley, samuel, 1662-1735. [11], 187, [22], 189-263, [1] p. printed for charles harper ..., london : mdcc. advertisements: opposite t.p. and p. [1] at end. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. includes bibliographical references. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng lord's supper. baptism. theology, doctrinal. 2003-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-04 john latta sampled and proofread 2003-04 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-06 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the pious communicant rightly prepar'd ; or , a discourse concerning the blessed sacrament : wherein the nature of it is described , our obligation to frequent communion enforced , and directions given for due preparation for it , behaviour at , and after it , and profiting by it . with prayers and hymns , suited to the several parts of that holy office. to which is added , a short discourse of baptism . by samuel wesley , a. m chaplain to the most honourable iohn lord marquess of normanby , and rector of epworth in the diocese of lincoln . london , printed for charles harper , at the flower-de-luce over-against st. dunstan's church in fleetstreet . mdcc . the life of our blessed lord and saviour jesus christ. an heroic poem : dedicated to her most sacred majesty . in ten books . in folio . each book illustrated by necessary notes : with sixty copper-plates , by the celebrated hand of w. faithorn . the second edition , revised and improved with the addition of a large map of the holy-land , and a table of the principal matters . written by the author of this manual on the sacrament . printed for c. harper . preface . when so many excellent treatises have already appear'd on this subject , it may well be wonder'd why , after all , so mean a pen should attempt so weighty an argument ; since 't is almost impossible to say any thing new upon it , and the mildest question a man must expect , who now handles it , would be of the same nature with that of iob to his friends ; who knoweth not such things as these ? but one that is resolved to write a book , seldom wants an excuse for doing it , and will be ready to draw one , even from the number of those which have gone before him , since this might have hinder'd others as well as him : and besides , there is a different size of writers , suitable to the different capacities of readers ; and acquaintance , or inclination , or sometimes pure accident , may be the occasion of some persons reading one book , when they would not have read another , and perhaps , to profit more by it , than they might by another better written on the same subject . what i have aim'd at in this manual , is to be as clear and methodical as i could , both in the description of the nature of the sacrament , and the occasion and ends of its institution , and in the directions for our behaviour in relation to the reception of it . i have endeavour'd to give a rational and distinct view of it in all the notions , wherein learned and pious men have represented it : to press home the indispensible , tho' much neglected duty of frequent communion , which i am persuaded would highly conduce to a general reformation of manners , and to repair the decays of christian piety amongst us . to lay down some plain rules for our preparation , and heads of examination , in order to our worthy receiving , with meditations or prayers suited to every part of the office , and inserted in their proper places . as to the double appendix , the former relating to our religious societies , whose rules and orders have been published and defended by mr. woodward , in his late book on that subject ; and my lord bishop of bath and wells , in the life of dr. horneck , and for whom , her late majesty of blessed memory was so much concerned while she was living ; their whole design appeared to me so highly serviceable to christianity , that i could not but take this opportunity to recommend it , and shall still be of the same mind , till i can see , what i have here offered on that head , fairly answered . and the latter , which relates to baptism , will be granted not unnecessary , when several ( i hope ) well-meaning persons , especially in those parts where i live , are unsatisfied about it : and 't is the same which has been done before by the right reverend and pious bishop of ely , in his aqua genitalis , after his mensa mystica ; and by others who have laboured on the same subject . likewise , i have added the great hallel , or paschal hymn , which was usually sung by the iews at their passover , and by our saviour and his apostles , at the institution of this sacrament . nor am i unwilling to own that i have thro' the whole , wrought in any memorable thoughts which i have met with in such authors , as have handled the same argument ; having done all as plainly and compendiously as i was able . to conclude ; if the whole , or any part of this little book , may any ways tend to promote the glory of god , or the piety and happiness of mankind , especially of that dear flock , over which it has pleased god to give me charge , i shall not much regret my composing , and adventuring it abroad into the world. the contents . introduction . pag. 1. chap. i. of the nature of the sacrament . 3. chap. ii. of the perpetual obligation that lies upon christians of riper years to communicate , and even to frequent communion . 42. chap. iii. of examination before the sacrament , and preparation for it . 94. a confession when we are preparing for the communion . 128. a collect for perseverance . 132. for faith. 134. a thanksgiving before the sacrament . 135. a collect for charity . 137. chap. iv. of our behaviour immediately before the communion , and when we receive it . 143. an act of penitence . 163. an act of faith. 165. an act of humility immediately before receiving . 167. an act of praise after receiving . 169. an act of love. 170. chap. v. of our behaviour after we have received , and during the whole course of our lives , especially the time betwixt different celebrations . 173. questions for the evening . 186. questions for the morning . 187. short directions for those who are really straightned for time , and cannot go thro' the larger methods of examination already given . and a prayer for one in affliction and want. 187 , &c. of baptism . 189. the great hallel or pasehal hymn , &c. 251. the worthy communicant . introduction . the end of every christian duty , is to make us still better and holier : the height of our perfection , consists in the imitation of god : unless we know god , we cannot be like him ; and the clearest revelation of his nature , and of his will is left us by his son , in his holy gospel : the blessed sacrament of the body and blood of the lord , is an epitome of that gospel * , and a lively representation of our saviour's sufferings : he therefore who frequently and devoutly receives it , cannot be an ill man , but must needs make a more than ordinary progress in virtue and holiness . for the promoting whereof , i have undertaken to write this little manual , wherein i shall endeavour in the i. chapter , to give a clear and rational account of the nature of this sacrament , and the occasion and ends of its institution . as in the ii. of the perpetual obligation which lies upon all adult christians to communicate , and even to frequent communion . in the iii. of our examination before it , and preparation for it . the iv. our behaviour in it . and in the v. after we have received , and during the whole course of our lives , especially the time betwixt different celebrations . to which shall be added prayers , meditations , and hymns suited to the several parts of this holy office. chap. i. of the nature of the sacrament . § i. the sacrament of the lord's supper may be thus described . 't is a memorial , and representation of the sacrifice of the death of christ , instituted by christ himself in the room of the jewish passover ; wherein , by the breaking of bread , and drinking of wine , we renew our covenant with god , praising him for all his goodness , and testify our union with all good men ; and whereby the benefits of our saviour's death are sealed and applyed to every faithful receiver . § . ii. [ 't is a memorial of the sacrifice of the death of christ. ] i confess , the whole sacred action has been stiled by the fathers , as well as by some excellent persons of our own church , the christian sacrifice , the unbloody sacrifice ; and is indeed such , in the same sense that prayer and praise , whereof it is in a great measure compos'd , are styled under the gospel , spiritual sacrifices : nay , it comes yet nearer to the nature of the old eucharistical , and other sacrifices , because 't is an oblation of something visible , namely , bread and wine , to be consum'd to god's honor ; which are then offer'd when the minister places them on the christian altar , or holy table ; ( as was done more solemnly by lifting them up in the antient church ) immediately after which , in the prayer for the church militant , he beseeches god to receive our oblations , ( as well as alms and prayers ) ; which may relate to the bread and wine , newly offered : but since it has no shedding of blood therein , which has been thought essential to a proper sacrifice * , and that the shedding of our saviour's blood , is only sacramentally represented in it , and not actually and properly poured forth , as it was upon the cross , whereon he was once offered , to take away sin ; and since the sacrament is a memorial of that one oblation of christ , and 't is contrary to the nature of a memorial or remembrance of the sacrifice of the death of christ , to be the same with that sacrifice it remembers ; for these reasons we cannot own any such proper , propitiatory , attoning sacrifice * in the sacrament as the romanists do believe , any more than we can think with them , that 't is available both for quick and dead ; of neither of which we find any footsteps in the holy scriptures . suffice it therefore , that we believe it a sacrifice in the highest sense , that prayer and praise are so call'd in the new testament , because it requires , and is compos'd of the most exalted acts of both ; that we believe it an offering , or dedication of the bread and wine to the sacred use , as well as we therein offer our selves anew to god ; and that we believe the whole action , a memorial , a commemoration , and representation of the inestimable sacrifice of the death of christ , whereby alone we expect life and salvation . § iii. first , 't is a ' [ memorial or commemoration of christ's death , and of the sacrifice which he thereby offer'd for us . ] that is , by this sacred action , we record , and keep it in mind , till he come again to iudgment . and that according to his own command , as st. luke * relates it of the bread , and st. paul both of the bread and wine ; this do in remembrance of me . as forgetfulness of god's goodness and ingratitude for it , must needs have been great occasions of the fall of man , so that very fall renders us still more forgetful and ungrateful . mankind will therefore have always need enough of helps to their memory in religious matters : and some of these , god has appointed wherever there has been a revealed religion . thus the sacrifice of the passover was instituted for a remembrance of what the israelites suffered in egypt , and of god's wonderful mercy in delivering them from it , as well as to typify or shadow forth unto them christ himself , our great passover . the sacrament of the lord's supper was in like manner instituted ; that we might keep in memory that which christ suffered for us , and delivered to us ; such a sensible sign , and remarkable solemn action , being much more likely to preserve a lively impression of it , than if it had been only barely recorded in history . now this commemoration may be considered either with respect to our selves , or with respect to god : as it respects our selves , we not only therein commemorate god's love in general to mankind , in giving his son , and our saviour's love , in giving himself a ransom for all men , to bring them into a capacity of salvation on their faith and obedience ; but yet farther , the actual application of his meritorious sacrifice to our selves , on our performing the conditions of his covenant , and his infinite goodness in making us partakers of his holy word and sacraments , and thereby calling us to this state of salvation , and preserving us in it . as this commemoration relates to god , we do also , in the communion , present a memorial of a sweet savour before him , and beseech him for the sake of his dear son , and by his agonies , and bloody sweat , by his cross , and passion , and precious death , to have mercy upon us , and grant us the remission of our sins , and all other benefits of his sufferings . not that god is either ignorant of our wants , or unwilling to relieve us , or forgetful of us : but we must be sensible of these things our selves , and of god's power to help us , and seek for relief in those ways he has appointed . and well may we more solemnly commemorate our saviour's sacrifice in this sacrament , when we do the same in some degree , even in our daily prayers , and ask all for his sake , and in a sense , offer him anew to his father , applying his attonement , and pleading his merits , and trusting in his intercession and meditation . nor ought we to forget that the antient liturgies , did not only commemorate our saviour's death in the sacrament , but likewise his resurrection and ascention into heaven . § iv. secondly . but there is not only a commemoration , but a representation too of our saviour's death , in the holy communion . 't is not a bare remembrance of it , 't is a lively scheme and figure of what he endur'd : as oft as ye eat of this bread , and drink of this cup , says the apostle , ye do shew forth , or rather , by way of command , shew ye forth , the lord's death till he come . declare it , proclaim it , tell the people what great things he has done ! whence this representation of christ's death in the sacrament has a respect to others to whom we are to declare it , as well as it relates , like the commemoration before-mention'd , to our selves and to god. we do by this proclaim unto men and angels , the manifold wisdom and goodness of god , and the kindness and condescention of our ever blessed redeemer ; and in a manner preach the gospel to every creature , while we here represent so considerable a part of it , as our saviour's death , and own that we are not asham'd of his cross , but rather glory in it . § v. we represent it also to our selves : that is , we do by this sacred significant , and lively action , fix it more deeply in our affections and memories . the bread represents our saviour's body , who is the true bread of life that came down from heaven : the wine , his blood : the breaking of the bread , the torments he endur'd on the cross , and the wounding of his sacred body ; as the pouring out of the wine is a most lively figure of the shedding his most precious blood. but of this , more hereafter . § vi. but in the last place , we also represent our saviour's death , to god the father , in the holy communion : this we do by those actions which he himself has appointed , as means of supplicating him , and obtaining his favour : beseeching our heavenly father , who of his tender mercy , did give his only son jesus christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption , that we duly receiving the holy mysteries , according to our lord jesus christ's holy institution , in remembrance of his death and passion , may be partakers of his most blessed body and blood. the priest neither makes nor offers the real natural body of christ , in the holy communion , but he makes his spiritual or sacramental body , and therein represents his natural body as well as he also represents what he really suffer'd for us , in the verity of that body ; this he represents to god as well as to us , and every devout communicant should faithfully joyn in the representation : § vii . the next thing observable in our description of the holy communion is , [ that 't was instituted by christ in the room of the iewish passover : ] this as it gives great light into the nature of it , and the most weighty controversies concerning it , so the matter of fact it self , is too evident to be doubted or denied , and of too great moment to be lightly pass'd over : as will appear if we consider the time , the form , the end of the institution of this sacrament , compared with that of the passover , and the expressions of iohn the baptist and the apostles , relating to the communion it self , or to our saviour , who ordained it . the time of its first institution and celebration , was the night of the paschal supper , immediately after supper . we are told by * learned men , that the old iews had a very antient tradition amongst them , that the messias should come to redeem them the very same night in which god brought them out of egypt , the night of the passover , whereon they also say that god vouchsafed to the old patriarchs and holy men , most , or all of those famous blessings and deliverances which we read of in the sacred writings ; which is no obscure indication , that the sacrament of the lord's supper was to succeed the paschal supper . § viii . the manner of their celebrating the passover also proves the same ; for the master of the house , took bread , and brake it , and gave it to those about him , and said , this is the bread of affliction which our fathers did eat in egypt . * that is , the memorial of that bread , in the same sense that our saviour said , this is my body ; after he had taken bread , and blessed and brake it , and gave to his disciples , as the iews also call'd the passover , the body of the paschal lamb. and in like manner , the cap. the master of the feast took it after supper , and when he had given thanks , gave it to the rest , and said , this is the fruit of the vine , and the blood of the grape . this was the third cup which they drank at the passover , and call'd it , the cup of blessing . * all the company drank of it , the sick as well as the healthy . † thus our savior after supper took the cup , this third cup , and when he had given thanks , gave it to his disciples , and said , drink ye all of this , for this is my blood of the new testament [ new covenant ] or this cup is the new testament [ new covenant ] in my blood. * as moses said , when he sprinkled all the people with blood. † this is the blood of the covenant which god made with you ; it was not only the seal of the new covenant , but likewise the sanction of it : and 't is remarkable that our saviour calls it the fruit of the vine , as did the master of the feast at the passover . and so the apostle calls the sacramental cup , the cup of blessing . § ix . there 's yet another thing remarkable in the passover , which our saviour retain'd in his sacrament , and that is the hymn , or great hallel , which the iews always sung at this festival , and still continue to use it in that shadow of the passover which they yet retain . * it consisted of six psalms , from the 113 to the 118. inclusively ; wherein were mentioned , as their rabbins teach . 1. their deliverance from egypt . 2. the division of the red sea. 3. the giving of the law. 4. the resurrection from the dead . and 5. the sorrows of the messias . † 't is expresly said , that our saviour and his apostles sung a hymn after they had eaten , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; they all doubtless joyn'd in it , as was the custom of their country-men , which they could not have done , had it not been a form well known unto them : and what more proper than those psalms already mentioned ? which shows the lawfulness of singing in the christian church , and of the whole congregations joyning in it , some think iudas not being here excepted , ‖ and that in a set form , out of the psalms of david , which have made a great part of the liturgy of the church , for near three thousand years . nor was this sacrament ever celebrated without singing by any regular christians : st. chrysostom on heb. 10. says of those of his time , that in the sacrament they did offer thanksgiving for their salvation , by devout hymns and prayers to god. and before him , pliny's famous letter mentions the christians as jointly singing hymns to christ : and tertullian in his apology , has left it on record , that it was the custom of christians to close their agapae , or love-feasts , with singing , either some portion of scripture , or something of their own composure . * i 've insisted the longer on this head , because there are some persons , who , i think , very unreasonably , not only neglect the practice of this angelical duty themselves , but even censure it as unlawful in others : to whom we may answer , we have such a laudable custom , and so have the churches of god had , in all places and all ages . § x. yet farther , there is a remarkable analogy , or resemblance in the end of their institution , between the passover and the supper of the lord : god said concerning the passover , to the children of israel ; this day shall be to you for a memorial † , and you shall keep it a feast to the lord throughout all your generations . ‖ remember this day in which you came out of egypt , and thou shalt shew thy son , &c. * and the red wine which they made use of therein , was to signifie either the blood of their children , shed by pharoah ; or rather , the death of pharoah's first-born , as well as afterwards of himself and the rest of the egyptians , in just vengeance for their cruelty to the israelites ; and of the blood which was on their own door-posts , whereby they were preserv'd from the pestilence . thus in the lord's supper , our saviour commands his followers , to do this in remembrance of him , and thereby to shew forth his death till he come , as the israelites were to keep the passover for ever , or throughout all their generations . much the same word being here used by the apostle , to express our celebration , or annuntiation of our saviour's death in the sacrament , that is used by the antient greek translators of the bible , to signifie that of the passover enjoyn'd to the iews † . in which sacramental feast we are to preserve the memory of our deliverance from the slavery of sin , much worse than that of egypt . § xi . lastly , there are several expressions in the new testament which will not suffer us to doubt of the analogy between them . thus the baptist calls our saviour , the lamb of god * ; and st. peter says , that we were not redeemed with corruptible things , but with the precious blood of christ , as of a lamb without blemish † . and st. paul , alludes most manifestly unto it ; christ our passover is sacrificed for us , therefore let us keep the feast , not with the old leaven , &c. ‖ from all which it appears , that the sacrament of the lord's supper was instituted in the room of the passover , and that our saviour retained many of the ceremonies therein , as well such as god himself had immediately appointed , as such as the jewish church had added , either for the more lively representation of the thing , or else for decency and order : and from what has been said , we may have great light into the nature of the holy communion , especially as to the last head insisted on , that 't is a memorial and representation of our saviour's death , of his body which was broken , and his blood which was shed for us . § xii . i proceed to the matter of this sacrament , the exterior matter , or outward elements , the visible and sensible signs , namely , bread and wine which the lord has commanded to be taken and received . 't was from the fruits of the ground , that the first offerings were made to the lord : some have been of opinion that noah was the first that offer'd bread in sacrifice , and that thence he received a name among the antients . * melchisedeck's bringing forth bread and wine , has also been thought an act of his sacerdotal office , and not an instance of hospitality only . we are sure that the mincha , meat-offering , or bread-offering , so often mention'd by moses , which was to be offer'd every morning and evening , and is call'd the most holy of all the offerings of the lord , was composed of fine-flower , with a proportion of wine added unto it † . bread is the most simple and common food , the most easie to be obtained , and yet the most necessary , the staff of life : wine was also as common in those countries , as it is useful and refreshing , making glad the heart of man , psal. 104. 15. nay , cheering god and man , iudg. 9. 13. that is , wine was acceptable to god in sacrifices : for some , or all of which reasons was our saviour pleased to make choice of bread and wine in the celebration of these mysteries , as well as because they were used by the iewish church , in the passover . and these are in the sacrament solemnly offered to god , as an acknowledgment of his being the creator of all things , and sovereign lord of the world ; according to the antient doxology * at the presenting of them on the lord's table ; which was much the same with that in the revelations , thou art worthy , o lord , to receive glory , and honour , and power , for thou hast created all things , and for thy pleasure , they are , and were created . § xiii . and bread and wine they are still after the consecration ; not common , but sacred and sacramental . they are changed in their use , but not in their substance . they are not changed into the substance of the natural body of christ , which hung upon the cross , and his blood which was there shed for us ; a monstrous and novel opinion , first established by the concil of lateran , above twelve hundred years after christ ; and then by that of trent , among other articles of their new creed ; no where to be found in scripture , ( as some of the most learned romanists have confessed ) but directly contrary to it , as 't is to the writings of the fathers ; not believed at present by many learned men in the church of rome * ; overthrowing the very nature of a sacrament , and leaving nothing for an outward sign ; destroying the foundation of our faith , which is grounded on miracles , which imply the certainty of the judgment of our senses on their proper objects ; introducing the most monstrous absurdities , which if granted , would render the christian religion , which is the only reasonable religion in the world , the most absurd , and most unreasonable ; supposing actual length , without any thing long , and the same of whiteness , redness , solidity , moisture , breadth , and thickness ; involving the most horrid , as well as most ridiculous consequences : that our saviour did eat his own body , and gave it to his disciples to eat ; making christians the worst of cannibals , to eat their god a thousand times over * ; implying penetration of dimensions ; contradicting the very nature of a body , which cannot be in two places at the same time † , much less in earth and heaven ; contradicting our saviour's own words , that we should not have him always , ‖ that is , his body , with us , tho' in his divinity , his spirit , his power , his graces , he 's with the church to the end of the world * ; contrary to the end of the institution , which was to be a memorial of his body broken , and blood shed for us ; contrary to the words of the apostle † , who calls it bread and wine , after consecration , thrice in one chapter ‖ . for which reasons , and many others that might be alledged , our church declares , in her twenty eighth article , of the lord's supper , that transubstantiation , or the change of the substance of the bread and wine in the supper of the lord , cannot be proved in holy writ , but it is repugnant to the plain words of scripture , overthroweth the nature of a sacrament , and hath given occasion to many superstitions . § xiv . but how is it then called the sacrament of the body and blood of christ , and in what sense is he present there , and how are the faithful said therein , to eat his body and drink his blood , both by the antient fathers , and by our own church , and most other protestants of all denominations * ? that this is true in some sense is evident from holy scripture it self , as well as from the consent of all christian churches . our saviour said , this is my body , and this is my blood. and the apostle * , the cup of blessing ; is it not the communion of the blood of christ , the bread of the body of christ ? and to the same purpose in the next chapter . thus our fore-mentioned article , that the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of christ , and the cup of blessing a partaking of the blood of christ. and in the catechism , that the inward part , or thing signified in the sacrament is , the body and blood of christ , which are verily , and indeed taken and received [ by the faithful ] in the lord's supper . and the like in several places in the communion-office . from all which it appears how little reason our adversaries have to brand us for sacramentarians , or such as deny the body and blood of christ , in a sound sense , to be received in the lord's supper . § xv. but what sense that is , we come now to enquire . first , the symbols , the very bread and wine , are in a figurative , typical , and sacramental sense , the body and blood of our saviour . they are more than a bare or ordinary figure ; they do really and actually from their institution , represent and exhibit christ's death unto us , as did the paschal lamb , the delivery of the iews out of egypt . this our church affirms in her homily of the sacrament , part i. that we must be sure to hold , that in the supper of the lord , there is no vain ceremony , no untrue figure of a thing absent , but the bread and cup of the lord , the memory of christ , the annunciation of his death , &c. § xvi . but there 's yet more in it ; for , 2. there is , in the blessed sacrament , a real spiritual presence of the body and blood of our saviour , to every faithful receiver . christ , as to his divinity , is every where , and more effectually and graciously present to his own institutions , and will make his promise good , to be with his church to the end of the world * ; and doubtless is so in this sacrament , as well as in the other of baptism ; and herein he conveys all the real benefits obtained by his sufferings , to every faithful receiver . his natural body is in heaven , where it will remain till he comes to iudgment . he is spiritually present in the sacrament , present by faith to our spirits . the fore-mentioned homily tells us that in the supper of the lord , we are not only to hold that there is a memory of christ's death , but that there is likewise the communion of his body and blood in a marvellous incorporation wrought in the souls of the faithful . and again ; if god hath purified our hearts by faith , we do at this table receive , not only the outward sacrament , but the spiritual thing also , not the figure , but the truth , not the shadow only , but the body . and to the same purpose , our learned bishop iewell , that not the naked figure , and bare sign and token only , but christ's body and blood are verily and indeed given unto us in the sacrament ; we verily eat it , and drink it , and live by it , and [ thereby ] christ dwells in us , and we in him . yet , he goes on , ' we say not that the substance of bread and wine is done away , or that christ's body is fleshly present in the sacrament , but we lift up our hearts to heaven , there to feed on him . tho' , by the way , what need would there have been of the sursum corda , or invitation to the people in the primitive church , to lift up their hearts to christ in heaven , if whole christ , god and man , were actually present upon the altar ? § xvii . but neither the apostles , nor the primitive church , nor our church of england , ever held that the sacrament was so much as in this latter sense , the body and blood of christ , to all that received , but only to the faithful receivers . for those who received unworthily , the apostle tells us , they were guilty of the body and blood of the lord , therefore surely they did not properly communicate of his body and blood , which he that does has eternal life ; nay , they did eat and drink their own iudgment or condemnation , not discerning the lords body . and to the same purpose is that famous saying of one of the fathers , that the wicked do only press with their teeth the sacrament or outward sign of the lords body , but do not really communicate in it . neither did the fathers ever think that we were to eat the flesh of christ in a gross carnal , capernaitical sense , whatever high expressions they may have sometime used concerning this mystery , wherein they may have been followed by devout modern writers . hear one for all : 't is st. augustine , de doctrinâ christianâ , lib. 3. cap. 16. where , in his rules for interpreting scripture , he instances in that text , which has been so much controverted of late years , the 6th of st. iohn ver. 53. except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood , ye have no life in you : si praeceptiva locutio , &c. if , says he , the expression forbid any wicked action , or command a good one , then 't is not figurative ; but if it appears to command any wickedness , or forbid any good , it must be figurative . thus he goes on , that expression , except ye eat the flesh of the son of man , and drink his blood , you have no life in you , seems to command a very wicked thing ; it must therefore be understood in a figure , and the meaning of it is , that we are to communicate in our lords sufferings , and to lay it up in our remembrance , that his flesh was crucified and wounded for us . and when any romanist fairly answers this , we may safely promise them to believe transubstantiation . § xvii . but if christ be no otherwise in the sacrament than figuratively in the symbols , as they are a commemoration of his death , and spiritually and effectually present to the faithful reeeiver ; where is then , it may be asked , the mystery , which all acknowledge in this sacrament , and which is so often called by ancient writers , the venerable , the awful and the tremendous mystery or mysteries of our faith ? in answer , we do own , that as in general great is the mystery of godliness ; so there is something , which far transcends our reason , in this sacrament , and in the manner of our saviours acting on our minds therein , though the fact it self be clearly revealed in scripture . the manner , i say , is still mysterious , how it becomes to us the body and blood of christ : how the inestimable benefits of christs death are communicated to us by the reception of the humble signs ; how we are thereby united to him , and he to us : this , as the apostle says , perhaps on the same occasion , is indeed a great mystery , * and we can no more give an account thereof than we can of ' the wind which ' bloweth where it listeth . we ought therefore firmly to believe it , we ought to adore the depth of the divine wisdom in it , without going about so fruitless an attempt as to fathom and comprehend it . but to go on with our description of this sacrament . § xviii . by the eating this bread and drinking this wine , continuing thus in their proper substances , tho' grace is added to them by their being taken and blessed , or set apart to this sacred use , we do most solemnly and sacramentally [ renew our covenant with god. ] god made a covenant in paradice with all mankind in our first parents , which was called , the first covenant , the condition whereof was , do this and live ; the sanction , in the day thou eatest of the tree of knowledge thou shalt surely dye , or become obnoxious to death , both temporal and eternal : adam broke this covenant by his disobedience ; and being the head and representative of mankind , by him sin and death entred into the world ; he lost his original righteousness , and became the parent of a sinful and a miserable offspring , and in him all died ; † or were obnoxious to the same curse , which he was to suffer . § xix . yet god , who is rich in mercy , did not leave him to despair , but immediately made another covenant with him , called the covenant of grace , or the second covenant , established on a better security and on better promises , which was briefly contained in those words , gen. 3. 15. the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head , ‖ that is , christ , the promised seed , should destroy the principality of the devil , rescue lost mankind from his slavery , and again reconcile us to god. this was yet more clearly reveal'd to abraham , that in his seed , that is , in christ , should all the nations of the earth be blessed . * 't was farther illustrated in the types and figures of the old law ; but the full and compleat discovery thereof was reserved to the times of the gospel , which is called the new covenant ; containing the most perfect revelation of the divine will , the promises of god , and those conditions on which he accepts and forgives us ; which were on christs part his suffering in our room , as our surety , and a sacrifice for us to attone his fathers anger ; * as on our part , faith , † repentance and not a sinless , as in the first covenant , but a sincere obedience . ‖ § xx. this general covenant is first applyed to particular persons by baptism , wherein we are now admitted into it , as abraham and his posterity were by circumcision into the same evangelical covenant , * and are thereby actually dedicated to gods service , and renounce the world , the flesh and the devil ; and because there are none who come to age without having been guilty of some breaches of this covenant , we do , after we have taken it upon our selves in confirmation , renew it again at the holy communion : of which we shall still have a clearer notion , if we consider it as 't is a feast , or as 't is a solemn oath , and on both accounts a federal rite , or a token , pledge or instituted sign of our being actually in covenant with god ; without which what right had we to approach unto him , or how could we expect any mercy from him ? § xxi . let us consider the holy communion as a feast , a sacred feast , which was used among the ancients at the confirmation of covenants , in token of amity and friendship between the guests . thus in that noted instance , at the ratifying the league between isaac and abimelech , isaac made a feast , and they did eat and drink and sware one to another . † but this was more than an ordinary feast , there was generally a sacrifice added to it , at which they believed god himself present , a partaker thereof , and a witness of their agreement . thus when iacob and laban made a covenant , iacob offered sacrifice upon the mount , and called his brethren to eat bread. gen. 29 54. and the passover was both a feast and a sacrifice : and 't is the character which god himself gives of his saints , or those that were relatively or federally holy , that they had made a covenant with him with sacrifice , psal. 50. 5. and the apostle speaking , as 't is very probable , of this christian banquet the holy communion which comes in the room of the passover , exhorts the corinthians to keep the feast not with old leaven , &c. * thus 't is called the table of the † lord : and the wine , the cup of the lord. and god vouchsafes therein to come in unto us , and sup with us ; nay to kill the fatted calf for us , and feast us with his own sacramental body and blood ; and thereby assures us of his favour and goodness to us , and renews his covenant with us , and gives us leave to do the same with him . § xxii . but we confirm this covenant by a most solemn oath , as well as a feast , in this holy communion ; for it partakes of both . the very word sacrament originally signified that military oath which soldiers took to their general , to bear faith and true allegiance to him , to obey his commands . in the lords supper we swear fealty and homage to the great king of earth and heaven ; and , as well as in baptism , engage to be his faithful servants and soldiers to our lives end . which oath , as all others , does imply an imprecation , as did the ancient sacrifices used at the ratification of leagues , wherein the beast being cut in pieces , the parties agreeing went between them , wishing that their blood might be so poured out , and they themselves cut in pieces , if they ever brake their vow and covenant . to which the breaking of the bread , and pouring out of the wine does answer in the communion : as it may farther signifie , that we resolve to be faithful even to the death , to our great lord and master ; and if there be occasion are ready to shed our blood for him , as he did for us . the commemoration whereof is indeed the main end of the sacrament , and the principal notion wherein we are to represent it to our minds ; but there are subordinate ends and other useful notions , under which we may consider it , in order to profit by it . among which is , § xxiii . the next thing in our description of this sacrament [ that we therein praise god for all his goodness : ] as much as this is included in that very ancient name of it , the eucharist , which is used in the scripture for giving of thanks in general ‖ , but applied to this most solemn act of thanksgiving in the blessed sacrament , not only by the earliest ecclesiastical writers , but even by an ancient version of the new testament . for the syriac retains the word eucharist both in the 2d of the acts 42. and in the 20th v. 7. in both of which places , what we render breaking of bread is with them * breaking the eucharist . and a word of the same original is used both by the apostle and the evangelists in the description of its institution † ; and where our saviour is said to give thanks over the bread , by st. luke and st. paul ; and to bless it , by st. matthew ‖ , the same thing is intended , for he blest and praised god for his gifts ; and by that thanksgiving did sanctifie the bread ; both derive god's blessing upon it , and set it apart to a sacred use , to be the thankful memory of his own death till he come to judgment . and accordingly in this sacrament the church does render most solemn thanks and praise to god the father , for his inestimable love in the redemption of the world by the death and passion of his dear son ; and to christ himself , who gave his body to be broken and his precious blood to be shed for us ; as well as for all the benefits of his passion , especially the pardon of our sins and eternal life . § xxiv . the next thing to be taken notice of in this sacrament is , that we do therein [ testifie and express our unfeigned union with all our christian brethren , ] with all those that bear the image of the heavenly . this was doubtless one great end of its institution , that thereby all the followers of our saviour might be united together in the most sacred and indissoluble bands , and that all men might know them for his true disciples by their loving one another : * and thus the apostle argues , the cup of blessing which we bless , is it not the communion of the blood of christ , the bread which we break , is it not the communion of the body of christ ? for we being many are one body , for we are all partakers of that one bread : where he hints at the mystical union between christ and his church , and of all the members thereof one with another . ‖ feasting in common has been always esteemed both a token of amity and friendship , and the way to increase and preserve it . in the holy communion we may be said to renew our covenant with one another , † as well as with god , and seem yet further , even to imprecate his wrath upon our selves if we break that sacred band. and to the same purpose were the agapae or love-feasts among the christians , both in the apostles times and a century or two after : * and the frequent reception of the communion must needs render christians more charitable and increase a holy love among them , because without this charity they know they ought not to communicate ; as the too general neglect of this sacrament may well be reckoned one great cause of the great decay of that grace amongst us . for the partaking of this divine feast , and the consideration of christs wonderful love to us in laying down his life for us , even when we were enemies , must needs constrain us to forgive all those that trespass against us , and with a pure heart servently to love one another . § xxv . hitherto we have for the most part discoursed of what we our selves are to do in the reception of the holy sacrament . to commemorate and represent the sacrifice of our saviours death , according to his institution , by eating of bread and drinking of wine ; therein renewing our covenant with god , praising him for his goodness , and testifying and exercising our unity and charity towards all our christian brethren . § xxvi . i proceed , in the last place , to that which we are to receive from god in the conscientious discharge of our duty , and devout reception of this holy communion : which is contained in the last part of our description , [ that thereby all the benefits of our saviour's death are sealed and applyed to every faithful receiver . ] § xxvii . the sacraments are seals of god's covenant with us . the apostle expresly affirms it of circumcision , * as it was a sign of the evangelical covenant made with abraham and all his faithful children , that is , all that should believe in god as he did . in the room whereof baptism was introduced by our saviour as another seal of the same covenant , and means our initiation into it : and one sacrament being a seal , it follows by parity of reason that the other must be so also . the holy symbols , when duly received , do exhibit and convey unto us divine virtue and assistance , and all the inestimable benefits which were purchas'd for us , and reached out unto us by the death of a redeemer ; as justification or actual pardon of our sins , the reinstating us in god's favour , and assuring us that he is reconciled to us , and that we are accounted righteous before him ; as well as sanctification , or actual strength and grace to conquer our sins and to obey his commands . 't is true , the beginnings of these are conferred in baptism ; we are so far regenerate therein , as to be grafted into the body of christs church , and to partake of its privileges by the operation of his holy spirit within us , who will never be wanting to us or forsake us , unless we our selves do put a bar to the divine assistance by confirm'd ill habits and by a wicked life . but since the divine image , which we there recovered , is very often obscured again by the temptations of the world and the devil , and the remains of sin within us , there is need enough of our being renewed again by repentance ; nor has god here left us without hope or comfort , but notwithstanding the dream of the old novatians , has appointed a remedy even for those who sin after baptism , and that is this other sacrament of the body and blood of the lord , wherein as we renew our covenant with him , we receive new strength to obey his commands , as hath been the constant faith of all good christians in all ages : we therein obtain not only the strengthning , but likewise the refreshing of our souls , as the catechism expresses it , which includes divine consolation , and ioy in believing , and such peace as passes all understanding . § xxviii . but may some here object , where is this blessedness you speak of ? where are these promises in holy scripture , of such wonderful assistance in this sacrament ? in answer , this holy communion is the substance of all other christian duties , to which so many blessings are promised throughout the whole gospel ( or else why do we perform them ? ) of faith , and repentance and thanksgiving , and holy vows , and prayer , and praise , and confession , and adoration ; and consequently it must share in all their blessings and benefits . 't is a memorial or commemoration of our saviour's love and sufferings ; and if god has promised in the old law that in every place where there is a memorial of his name , he will meet and bless his people , * much more may we expect it under the gospel . if our saviour has so solemnly promised , that where two or three are gathered together in his name , there he will be in the midst of 'em and bless 'em , much more will he be so at this great synaxis , this more general and solemn assembly of christians to celebrate his name , and record his praises . † he has not commanded us to seek his face in vain ; nor is it in vain to do this in remembrance of him . the shewing forth the lord's death cannot be without exceeding comfort to those who have reason to hope they have a share in it . 't is a big expression [ the communion of the body and blood of christ : ] 't is surely far more than an empty figure : 't is not a little matter to eat the lords supper , to partake of the table of the lord , wherein if he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation ; surely he that does it worthily must eat and drink salvation . no less can be intended in our communion of christ's body and blood , than the eternal son of god's uniting himself by his spirit to our souls in this holy sacrament ; and even by his own divine nature , whereby he in a sense , and in some degree , makes us partakers thereof ; and communicates unto us all the blessings he has obtained for us , by this heavenly food nourishing up our souls to everlasting life : giving us herein the earnest and pledge of our immortality , as well as the means of it ; and assuring us , that because he lives we shall live also ; which is the meaning of those expressions dwelling in christ and christ in us , and being one with christ and christ with us ; and of the ministers praying in the very delivery of the elements , that the body and blood of our lord jesus christ may preserve our bodies and souls to everlasting life ; according to our saviour's own words , he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me , and i in him ; he shall live by me ; he shall never die ; he hath eternal life , and i will raise him up at the last day . and whether or no these expressions were then precisely meant of the sacrament , which they might well be by anticipation and prophesie , though it were not then actually instituted ; for he speaks in the same place of his death in the same manner ; they are yet certainly true of the partaking of christs sacramental body and blood , and feeding on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving . § xxix . which brings to the close of our description , that all these benefits are conferred in the sacrament , only on [ the faithful receiver . ] for none but such are properly partakers of the body and blood of the lord. if iudas did outwardly partake of this sacrament , as our church seems to have thought he did † satan did but the sooner enter into him , because he received with a heart full of treachery , covetousness and malice . i take faith here in the largest sense , for a practical assent to the whole scheme of the gospel , and consequently a ready and firm belief of its revelations , threatnings and promises , accompanied with sincere resolutions and endeavours to obey its commands . tho' the more peculiar object of faith in this sacrament must be the merits of our saviour , and that pardon which he purchased for us by his own blood. but of these hereafter more at large under those qualifications which are requisite to those who would partake worthily and profitably of this holy communion . chap. ii. of the perpetual obligation that lies upon adult christians to communicate , and even to frequent communion . § i. wherein i shall first prove in general , the indispensible obligation which our saviour has laid upon us to receive this sacrament . 2. the extent of it , it reaches all adult christians . 3. it s duration , 't is perpetual , it lasts till the end of the world. 4. that we ought to receive it frequently ; and in the 5th and last place , i shall answer those objections which are brought either against receiving the communion in general , or against frequently receiving it . § ii. 1st . of the obligation in general to receive . and one would wonder how any , who are called christians , and do but remember the reason of that name , should ever think themselves dispensed with from that obligation ; since there is scarce any so ignorant as not to know that 't is the express command of our lord christ , do this in remembrance of me . * he has the supream authority over us , and we have professed an entire obedience unto his laws , and have vowed at baptism to keep gods holy will and commandments ; and there is not one command in the gospel more express than this is . every part of the sacrament , every notion wherein we can represent it to our minds , is an argument for our receiving it . 't is the remembrance of our saviour's death ; and does not that deserve to be remembred ? 't is the lively representation thereof to our minds ; and do we not need this , for are we not too apt to forget it ? 't is done by the breaking of bread and drinking of wine , and is this so hard a thing that god requires of us ? or if our saviour had ask'd some great ●hing , should we not have done it ? much more when he requires so easie a testimony of our gratitude and obedience ? we think our first parents very inexcusable , who could not keep one command , and refrain from one tree , to please their creator : 't was no difficult task , but yet there is less difficulty in what our saviour requires of us , to eat of this bread and drink of this cup. he requires us not to abstain , but to feast , in order to obtain his favour . have we not all broken our covenant with god , and ought it not to be the most welcome tidings to us in the world that we may again renew it ? have we nothing to thank him for , that we are so backward to render him this sacrifice of praise ? or is it not to him we owe our life and breath , and being , and yet more , if it be not our own faults , our redemption , our salvation and our eternal happiness ? have we no ingenuity , have we no gratitude left , or can we give god thanks in a better way than in that which he himself has appointed ; in the highest and most solemn ordinance of his holy gospel ? is holy friendship , is christian unity and love so frightful a thing , that we will not so much as endure this symbol of it ? is it not a good and pleasant thing for brethren to dwell together in unity ? is there any amity , any endearment so close so intimate among men , as that which is professed , encreased and exercised among christians at this holy table ? is it not a desirable , a necessary thing to be at peace , to be friends with all mankind , to forgive our enemies , to have the love and the prayers of all good men ? and must not all this render the mind exceeding quiet and happy ? and is not this happy temper to be very much heightened and strengthened by our coming to the lord's table , and even by our preparation for it , as well as by our actually partaking of it . § iii. and if all this be not enough , if it be not sufficient to have peace on earth , or we do not much regard it ; are we not however desirous to be at peace with heaven ? god reaches out to us in this holy sacrament the pledges of his love , and pardon and friendship ; he sends his ministers to assure us hereof ; nay , he sends his own son ( surely we will reverence the son ! ) as an hostage , to satisfie us of the kindness of his intentions : we entertained him not , 't is true , as we ought to have done : the heir was killed , he was stoned , he was cast out of the vineyard by ungrateful husbandmen : well , he only requires that we should remember his death , and not crucifie him anew by our sins , by our neglecting this or other duties : and is this our kindness to our friend , that we think this too much to do for him , especially when he has done so much for us ? surely he left us such a legacy as deserved that we should think on him that left it ; tho' 't is true , the payment thereof is conditional , and among other conditions on which we expect life and pardon , this is not the least , that we should receive this holy sacrament , which is the very seal of that pardon sent down unto us from the oftended majesty of heaven . are we so very strong and secure , so rooted and grounded in faith and love that we need no more assistance , no more help from god's spirit , or his institutions ; that we thus reject the counsel of god , and that grace which he so freely offers us ? is it a small thing to dwell in christ , and christ in us , to be one with christ , and christ with us ? to be united to him ? to see him whom our souls ought to love ? to despise the world in comparison of him ? to sit under his shadow with unspeakable delight ? to have our hearts pant after him , and long for him , and be ravished with his perfections , and assur'd of his love , and impatient to break through this earthly prison , to shake off this importunate clog , this troublesome companion , this weary flesh and blood which hangs about us ; and groan earnestly to be delivered ; and cry out , oh that i had the wings of a dove , that i might fly away and be at rest , that i might rest for ever in the bosome of my redeemer , in whose presence is fulness of ioy , and at whose right hand are pleasures , unexhausted rivers of pleasure for evermore ? § iv. is this worth desiring ? or are these only fancies , and the fair , but fading colours of rhetorick and imagination ? ask any very pious person , who comes with humility and devotion to this sacrament , whether they are not as sure of all this as that they breath ? whether iesus has not been known of 'em in breaking of bread , and they have not been often fill'd at his holy table with ioy unspeakable and full of glory ? a rational , nay we may call it , a divine ioy and satisfaction , because we know its author , we know its object . good men speak what they know , and testifie what they have seen , and can almost arise to that testimony of the apostle concerning christs actual bodily presence here upon earth , * that which we have heard , which we have seen with our eyes , which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life ; that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you , that ye also may have fellowship with us , and truly our fellowship is with the father , and with his son iesus christ. § v. well , if we believe the foretasts of heaven worth desiring , worth thirsting after ; our blessed immortality , our happy resurrection worth securing ; the earnest thereof worth enjoying ; we shall think all these no contemptible arguments or weak motives to perswade us to the reception of this holy communion : we shall not easily slight our saviour's command , or those great and inestimable benefits we shall all partake of , if we are worthily present at it . § vi. but our obligation to receive will appear yet stronger , if we consider the great sin we are guilty of in neglecting it , and the heavy punishment we may expect for the same . whatever our pretences are for it , we do hereby in effect slight the inviter and invitation ; as well as that divine feast , that heavenly food which he has provided ; saying in our hearts , and by our actions , as israel of the manna , our soul loaths this light bread. we separate from our brethren , and are guilty of a partial schism . we are disobedient to the just laws of our country , both civil and ecclesiastical . we discourage our pastors by the thinness of the appearance on these occasions . we neglect the means which god has appointed to strengthen us in virtue . we are unthankful as well as disobedient ; and too like those in the gospel , who slighted the repeated invitations of the king , who sent out his messengers to call 'em to the marriage , but they would not come , st. matt. 22. 2 , 3 , &c. for which he justly declared , that those who were bidden were not worthy , v. 8 ( there are unworthy non-communicants , as well as unworthy communicants ) and that none of them should taste of his feast ; nor was this all , for he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers , and burnt up their city . v. 7. which parable , tho' it seems to relate more immediately to the iews , whose city and nation were destroyed for rejecting the gospel ; yet those must likewise be included in it by parity of reason , who refuse to obey that gospel which they pretend to receive , and will not come to this marriage-supper of the lamb , tho' so often and so kindly invited , but neglect it , either for the most part , or even for all their lives ( upon how frivolous pretences we shall see hereafter ) and it is accordingly applied to such by our church , in the exhortation which is appointed to be read when the minister perceives the people backward to come to the communion . § vii . [ next as to the extent of this obligation . ] it reaches all adult persons who have been baptised . this was carried so high by the antient church , that they thought the communion was absolutely necessary to salvation , and therefore gave it to infants as soon as baptised , as do the greeks to this day : wherein , tho' i think 'em mistaken , it shews their opinion , of the universality of its obligation , and the necessity of receiving it . the apostle says of the iews in the wilderness , 1 cor. 10. 3 , 4. that they did all eat of the same spiritual meat , and did all drink of the same spiritual drink ; and much more ought all christians to do so , who have a much more spiritual religion . the passover was enjoyn'd to all the congregation , and even to every man's servant that was circumcised ; with this severe sanction , that the man who neglected it , without a lawful excuse , that soul should be cut off from among his people . * our lord said to all his disciples , take eat ; and particularly of the cup , drink ye all of this ; his infallible spirit foreseeing that some would deny it to the laity in after-ages : and it 's said in st. mark , they all drank of it . st. paul stiles it the communion , because all christians did partake of it ; as appears from that expression , * we are all partakers of that one bread ; and in the next chapter , he fairly implys , that the main end of all regular christians meeting together in publick , was to eat the lord's body . and all that believed , at the first planting of the gospel , continued stedfastly in the apostle's doctrine , and in the communion * , ( as it ought to be translated ) † whose outward part consisted in the breaking of bread , and drinking of wine , as the inward in prayer and thanksgiving . to this agrees antiquity : for the primitive christians allowed no such thing as coming to the publick assemblies , and going away without receiving , which none did , unless the catechumens and excommunicate , there being a very antient canon ‖ among those which are called the apostles , that forbids any such disorderly practice on pain of excommunication . our own church reckons all persons who are of years of discretion , as communicants , which has been also the opinion of the wisest and most learned among our dissenting brethren : the covenant we all enter'd into at baptism must be renewed by us in the lord's supper , unless there be any such as do repent the making it , or as have never broke it . and the same might be made appear from the nature of the sacrament , insisted on at large in the first chapter . § viii . [ and its duration is as perpetual as its obligation is universal . ] the passover was to be kept by the iews for a memorial for ever , exod. 12. 14. throughout all their generations . this for ever lasted till the end of the jewish age or world , and the passover is to be observed till the end of the visible world , the consummation of all things . the institution it self being without any term , and christ having commanded his followers to do this in remembrance of him , they must still continue doing it , unless he fixes a term , or gives them a dispensation for the doing it . but the nature of it proves that it still remains ; for a remembrance implys absence , and the reason of the remembrance lasts as long as the absence continues ; and since christ will not be with us , as to his corporeal presence till the time of the restitution of all things , or the end of the world , we must till then , remember him in this holy sacrament . § ix . [ which is as evident from scripture as 't is from reason . ] as oft as ye eat of this bread , shew ye forth the lord's death till he come , 1 cor. 11. 26. namely , till his second coming to judge the world ; in which sense that expression is generally used in scripture , especially by this apostle . thus he tells us , that at the last day , those which are alive , and remain till the coming of the lord , shall not prevent those which are asleep * ; which whole description evidently relates to the last iudgment . and our saviour uses that expression in the same sense in relation to st. iohn , who himself interprets that phrase , [ if i will that he carry till i come , ] by that other , that that disciple should not die . now it 's evident that what st. paul here declared , was by express command and revelation , and that he committed no more to writing , than he had before in the name of christ delivered to the churches . for thus he himself assures them ; i received of the lord that which i also delivered unto you , &c. † whence he goes on to give an exact account of the institution of this sacrament . § x. but further : none will deny that we must offer the sacrifice of prayer and praise unto god thro' christ , to the end of the world : that we must commemorate , and represent our saviour's death , in such manner as he has appointed . that we may , and ought to renew our covenant with god , and solemnly to express our union with all good men , and dedicate our selves to the most high , and sacrifice our sins before him ; and that all this shall never cease till time shall be no more : if then we ought to perform all these things singly , why not altogether in this sacrament , as we are sure the church of god has done ever since its institution in all places and all ages ? § xi . and as the arguments for the perpetual obligations of our saviour's commands in relation to this sacrament , are unanswerable , so the objections against it appear so thin and contemptible , that one would wonder how any men of sense should ever stumble upon them . the chief pretences of those who oppose the perpetuity of this sacrament are , that the coming of the lord mentioned by st. paul , was only his spiritual * coming , and that the communion of his body and blood is also spiritual , as oppos'd to any outward partaking of it . § xii but that the coming of christ here mentioned , must be understood of his last coming to judgment , has been already proved from st. paul's use of that expression in other places : nor does it appear that he ever uses it in any other sense . however , it cannot be taken here for his appearance , or coming by his spirit only in the hearts of believers , because that was already accomplished in those who were baptised , and had sincerely embrac'd the gospel . he was certainly come to the apostle himself , in a very high and miraculous degree and manner , far beyond what any christians can now expect , and yet he received the sacrament ; for he says , we are all partakers of that one bread , that outward literal bread whereof he was discoursing . nor was it only the mystery which he had received of the lord * , but directions for the whole outward administration , which he describes at large in the place formerly quoted † , which we do truly perform as far as the outward celebration , if we eat the bread and drink the wine , and there is far more than a permission for our doing it , since we have a positive command . § xiii . nor therefore is it enough to pretend that we receive inwardly and spiritually , unless we do it outwardly also , since christ has appointed such an outward administration ? 't is true , the outward part , without the inward , is so far from being beneficial , that 't is thro' his own fault highly dangerous to the receiver : but god's word enjoyns us both , and the latter is conveyed by the former . teaching all nations , as well as baptising them , was to continue to the end of the world ; but yet all own , that neither the outward teaching , nor baptism can avail , without the inward teaching and baptism of the spirit ; and the same may be said of prayer , and other christian duties . i shall conclude this head with the concessions of the chief teachers of those who deny the perpetuity of this ordinance , one of whom says , * that they do not censure those who are conscientiously tender in observation of these things , and for practising what they believe is their duty , either in breaking of bread , or in water-baptism . and another before him † who pretends a concern for those who were troubled in mind about this sacrament , owns , that the lord's supper is of great use and profit to weak believers , for bringing them into one mind and heart . for us therefore who dare not pretend to perfection , but whose best plea must be that of the publican , god be merciful to me a sinner ; let us cry out with the disciples , lord increase our faith ; and make use of the same means , the same holy sacraments which they made use of , that we may obtain our desires . which we shall be more careful to do , if we set before our eyes the dreadful examples of those who by slighting and forsaking the sacraments , and especially this memorial of christ's death , have fallen into damnable heresies , denying the lord that bought them ; either denying his divinity , or even his very ▪ existence without themselves ; or else forsaking him by wicked works , and falling into all manner of licentiousness and lewdness ; all which might have been prevented , had they been devoutly and frequently present at this holy ordinance . § xiv . nor is it less evident that we are to receive the communion frequently , than that the obligation to receive it is perpetual ; which will appear from the nature of the sacrament , and from the words of institution . from the apostle's example , and that of the primitive church , and the commands and example of the church of england , and of all others who think themselves at any time obliged to receive it ; as well as from the great benefits to be obtained by frequent and devout communion . § xv. 1. the nature of the sacrament , the very form and words of institution , sufficiently prove , that we ought frequently to communicate . 't is a commemoration of our saviour's death , a renewing of our covenant with god , a solemn profession of our religion and badge of our christianity , a means to receive divine assistance , and how then can we be too frequently present at it ? our lord has not , 't is true , precisely determined how often we should come , for he has left this to the discretion of the church , and as a tryal of our devotion : but the very words of institution seem to require our presence frequently ; for if we are to do this in remembrance of our saviour , and the oftner we do it , the better and more lively will be our remembrance of him , if we perform it with due reverence and devotion ; if this be granted , we cannot , i think , be too frequent at the holy table . nay , the apostle hints something to this purpose as our saviour's own command , who at the institution , when he spake of the cup , required his disciples to do this [ as oft ] as they drank it : whence the apostle draws this consequence . for [ as often ] as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup , &c. which words do at the least imply some frequency in the reception of the holy sacrament , both as commanded by our saviour and practised by his apostles . § xvi . whose undoubted practice , as it may be evinced from other places , is a farther argument for frequent communion . for the first christians , we read , continued daily with one accord , breaking bread from house to house . and again , continued stedfastly in the apostle's doctrine and their communion , in breaking of bread and in prayer * , acts 2. 42 , 46. which few or none deny to relate to the holy sacrament : and it has been well observed , that the word which we translate continuing stedfastly , does relate to the frequency of their receiving , as well as to their constancy in it , or not being tired with it . and it appears from the history of these corinthians , that they did not use to come together into one place , or meet in publick worship , without eating the lord's supper . § xvii . and the practice of the primitive christians , is a good proof of the practice of the apostles , since doubtless they derived it from them . there are learned men who are of opinion , that some of the primitive christians received twice a day † , as the mincha or bread-offering in the old law , was offered morning and evening . and if they met publickly twice a day , there 's no doubt but they received as often , because they had no religious assemblies without the communion . they thought the whole sacred action imperfect without it ; and this was so well known among them , that the word synaxis , which properly signifies no more than a convention , or congregation , was yet generally appropriated to the holy communion , because , as is said , they knew no such thing as one without the other . for they thought the sacrament was appointed by christ , as a means of supplicating and obtaining god's favour , nay , as the only means to do it in publick assemblies * . and therefore do unanimously apply that prophecy in malachi † , in every place incense shall be offered unto me , and a pure offering ; to this christian sacrifice . and the apostolical canon before-mentioned , does expresly excommunicate those as disorderly livers , who were present at prayers , and went away without the communion ; which the antients call , iuge sacrificium , the continual or daily sacrifice : and the penitents among them who were excluded from it , did prostrate themselves on the earth , at the gates of the church , and earnestly entreat with tears and sad lamentations all that went in , to pray for them , that they might be again reconciled and admitted to the lord's table . and 't was to this their frequent communions , that we may in great measure attribute their exemplary piety , and fervent charity , and stedfastness in the faith , and ardor and zeal for martyrdem : and for this last reason , in order to arm them against that fiery tryal , st. cyprian says they communicated every day in the african churches ; and they did the same in st. ierom's time , in those of spain and rome ; and the same seems to have been the practice at milan , when st. ambrose was bishop there ; for he says , [ that this sacramental food was daily received for a remedy against daily infirmities , ] adding , that there 's no remedy more effectual for refreshing and comforting the soul , and restoring it to that grace from whence it had faln , than the frequent partaking of this sacrament with purity and humility . the ethiopian church does to this day celebrate the communion every sunday , and that with the addition of those antient feasts of charity * , which are now disus'd in other churches ; which shews that the gospel was planted amongst them very early , and before those feasts were abrogated . § xviii . and indeed , one would wonder how this sacrament came to be so rarely received , and what should be the original of that inexcusable neglect which we find at present in the western churches , and particularly amongst our own people , in relation to that holy ordinance . now upon an impartial enquiry , it will appear that this is chiefly owing to two causes : first , the great decay of piety and degeneracy of christianity , when the love of many waxed cold , and the great apostacy broke in upon the western patriarchate . but there seems to be a second cause of it , namely , the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation , already mentioned and confuted ; which when the romanists had once stumbled upon , it seems they dared not trust the laity with frequent communions , lest if they often saw the bread , and touched and tasted it , they should be tempted , as many of their priests now are , from the same reason , at last to believe their senses , and to think it really bread , and not that natural flesh and body of christ which hung upon the cross. to prevent which , they took care to let the laity receive but very rarely , tho' the priest himself does it every day , at least if the mass be the communion , tho' how he can communicate by himself , is something difficult to a protestant understanding ; but since 't is a flat contradiction in terms , we must acknowledge 't is the more like transubstantiation . § xix . and for our own nation , 't is well if the same enemy which has sown so many other tares among us , has not had a hand in these also ; for it had been impossible to have form'd any schism amongst us , had we still practised frequent communion . however , thus much we are sure of , that the unwary expressions of some who had the guidance of consciences in the last age , and their insisting only on the terrible danger of unworthy receiving , but seldom or never on that of resusing to receive at all , or neglecting an opportunity when offer'd , was a great occasion of this inconvenience ; which as it went so high in those days that in some places they had never received the communion in five , six or seven , nay , not in fourteen years , * so we are assured , by authors of good credit , that the use of the sacraments was in divers parishes at length hardly known or named . and tho' this very ill custom has been since amended by those who began it , at least here in england , yet the leven of it remains so diffus'd thro' a great part of the nation , that it will not be easie to bring them to a better mind . § xx. however , we have both the command , and the practice of the church of england , to engage us to frequent communion . three times a year , at the least , it was brought to at the reformation . his present majesty's injunctions require the clergy to administer the holy sacrament frequently ; and most of the episcopal charges , and articles do the same . and the rubrick , that in cathedral and collegiate-churches , they shall all receive at least every sunday . and the communion service is still continued on sundays and holidays in all our churches , to put persons in mind of their duty , and there 's no doubt but the church would have the communion actually celebrated where-ever there is a sufficient number to receive * ; and there are now monthly communions in many , and 't is to be hoped , most of the considerable towns in england , and in london , in several churches , every lord's day . and even our dissenting brethren are so far convinced of their former miscarriages in this matter , that they have now , generally , monthly communions ; and if we have followed them in their errors , ought we not much more to do so in their reformation ? § xxi . the advantages of frequent communion , to the great ends of christianity and reformation , to all the parts of a good life , shall be the last argument to engage to the practice of it . how far the sacrament it self conduces to those ends has been already declared , and the more frequently we receive it , as we ought ; the greater benefit shall we obtain by it . the oftner the vows of god are renewed upon us , the stronger will the cord be , and with more difficulty to be broken . the oftner we come to these waters of life , the more will our souls be refresht by them ; the more frequently we partake of this bread of life , the greater strength shall we receive in the inward man , and higher degrees of grace and assistance in god's service . and as the great zeal and piety of the primitive christians already mention'd , was very much owing to their daily communion ; so if we impartially consider those amongst us who do most frequently communicate , i 'm persuaded we should find them the most devout and rational christians , and generally the best of men ; whilst those are the most profligate wretches who have no regard at all to this blessed feast , and thro' the whole course of their lives scarce ever receive it . § xxii . but 't will now be time to consider those objections which are brought against receiving this sacrament , or at least against frequent communion . for the first , against receiving in general , the most common objections may be reduc'd to the following heads . either a bad life , or multiplicity of business , or want of preparation , or the danger of receiving unworthily ; or else the manner of receiving , and the ill characters , perhaps of some of the communicants : the four former being usually brought by persons of all persuasions ; the two latter , principally by those who are dissatisfied with our way of worship . § xxiii . as for the first , and more common rank of excuses , before we come to the particular consideration of them , it may deserve a remark , that our church has already fully answered them ; and all persons have heard as much , as often as they have heard the minister read the exhortations at the warning for the celebration before the communion ; and therefore 't is neither fair nor modest , it argues neither ingenuity nor conscience , still to insist upon them , without any addition to their strength , or taking notice of what has been said to satisfy them . the two former objections , business and a bad life , are answer'd in the second exhortation , in these words . it 's an easie matter for a man to say , i will not communicate , because i am otherwise hinder'd by worldly business . but such excuses are not so easily accepted and allowed before god. they that refus'd the feast in the gospel , because they had bought a farm , &c were not so excused , but counted unworthy of the heavenly feast . and as to that which is taken from a bad life , 't is added , if any man say i am a grievous sinner , and therefore am afraid to come , wherefore then do ye not repent and a mend ? the two latter , unpreparedness , and the fear of eating and drinking unworthily , are also fairly hinted at in the end of the first exhortation , and a remedy appointed for them . if any man cannot quiet his conscience , but requires farther comfort or counsel , he is directed to go to the minister of his parish , or ( such is the church's caution and indulgence in so tender an affair ) to any other discreet and learned minister of god's word , and open his grief , that he may receive ghostly counsel , or spiritual advice , suitable to his condition . and he who neglects to take this method , it 's evident that he either does not understand , or does not regard the churches direction in these matters . § xxiv . but to come to the more particular examination of these objections . the first of which is taken from a wicked life , a man's being a most grievous sinner , and therefore he comes not to the holy table . this is , indeed , a most inexcusable excuse , for tho' some have thought that a duty may attone for a sin , yet one would think none should be so wild to persuade themselves that one sin could ever attone for another ? but in answer to it , we must say of this sacrament , as ananias did to st. paul of that of baptism , * why tarriest thou ? arise and be baptised and wash away thy sins . the sacraments are doubtless , means to confer grace on those that are truly penitent , truly sensible of their sins , and afflicted for them ; as well as to confirm and strengthen it in those who already lead a holy life . it 's true , that the lord's table is no place for a wicked man who resolves to continue in his wickedness , who does not heartily resolve , by god's grace , to strive against it , and actually and immediately forsake it : for it is not meet to cast the children's bread to dogs , and the holy sacrament is a token and pledge of pardon and reconciliation , the seal of a covenant between god and man : but what has any to do with the sign who has not the substance ? what has a stubborn rebel to do with his prince's pardon ? yet after all , we know that christ came into the world to save sinners , tho' he saves them no other way but by repentance ; nor is it while they remain so , but upon a change of their minds , that he actually justifies the ungodly . 't is not the repenting sinner , but the obstinate sinner that is excluded from the lord s table , who is also , if he lives and dyes such , as certainly as god is true , excluded out of heaven . but for those who are indeed desirous to do better , tho' their faith be yet but as a grain of mustard-seed , they shall not be rejected , by that merciful redeemer who will not break the bruised reed , nor quench the smoaking flax : and surely , the sacrament cannot but have that good effect on all who are not quite harden'd , as to make them think on their ways , and amend their lives when they approach unto it . and 't is well if the great reason which keeps many from it , be not , lest they should be thereby obliged to forsake their sins , ( which they are not yet willing to do , ) and to the exercise of an exact examination , and severe repentance . § xxv . and as some have raised objections against receiving , because of sins that are past , or of which they may be at that very time guilty , so there are others who say they dare not come to the sacrament , for fear of falling into sin after they have received , as if that were unpardonable ; an error much of the same nature with that which some persons ran into in the primitive church , who deferr'd their baptism till the point of death for the same reason . but in answer ; as 't is granted that sins after baptism may be forgiven , on true repentance , so doubtless they may after the other sacrament ; for not only the corinthians , but even the apostles themselves were guilty of failings after the communion . a confirm'd habit , or inveterate course of sin is damnable , as well before the sacrament as after it : but the devout and frequent receiving of it , is the best way to prevent the falling into such a desperate condition : and for lesser failings , from which none are free , those will be forgiven if we are truly penitent for them , and constantly strive against them . § xxvi . another pretence , something allied to this last , is , that men are at variance with their neighbours , and that keeps them from the sacrament . in answer , 't is own'd that we ought to come to this feast of love with true charity , forgiving all our enemies , which if we do not practise every day , we cannot so much as repeat the lord's prayer , without imprecating a heavy curse upon our selves : but in the present case , the matter may be brought to a short issue : either you have really offended your neighbour , or he has offended you , or as it often happens , you are both to blame : if the former , you know your duty ; leave thy gift before the altar , and be reconciled to thy brother , and then come and offer thy gift : if the second , and he trespass against thee seven times a day , and say , i have offended , forgive him , and receive together with him . if both are in fault , both must make satisfaction : if either refuses to be reconciled , the fault is in the refuser , not in him that is willing , who shall not be punish'd for the other's guilt ; tho' the uncharitable person , is by no means fit for this holy table , while he continues in that unchristian temper . § xxvii . [ multiplicity of business is another excuse , or objection against receiving . ] the cumber of worldly affairs , and being troubled , like martha , about many things , while this one thing , which is so very needful , is too often postpon'd and neglected : exactly the same pretence with theirs in the parable already mention'd , who when the king sent to invite them to the marriage of his son , began with one consent to make excuses , and went their way , one to his farm , another to his merchandise . one said , i have bought a piece of ground , and must needs go to see it ; which as indifferent an excuse as it was , was yet better than theirs who absent themselves from god's publick worship , only to go and see their ground , when they long before have bought it . another , i have bought five yoke of oxen , and i go to prove them . he had his stock to look after , which he thought an unanswerable reason for his absence . as the third did , who had married a wife and could not come , but must stay at home to look after the affairs of his family . 't is well worthy our consideration how open the holy spirit has here laid the common springs of mens neglect and indevotion in these and the like matters : all which excuses are so contriv'd that they seem to insinuate , as if the sacrament were only for recluse persons , such as are abstracted from the world , and live like monks and hermits ; whereas it 's evident that 't was designed for all christians , and one great end of it , was , to take off our hearts from the world , and fit us for heaven . but to be more particular , 't will be easie to shew , that this pretence of business to excuse persons from receiving the sacrament is almost always either false , or vain , or wicked , or altogether . § xxviii . 1. it 's often false in fact , and we are not really so hinder'd by business , but we might be there , if we had any regard either to the feast or to the inviter : since that business can only excuse us , which could not possibly be done before , which cannot be done after , and which must of necessity be done at the very time when we should receive : but if men would be ingenuous , they would be forced to acknowledge that they very rarely have any business of this nature . and indeed , what business , unless of such high necessity and mercy has a christian to do on the lord's day ; the very name whereof shews the propriety ; and that 't is none of our own , but set apart for a holy rest , and christian sabbath , and the immediate service of our blessed redeemer ? nor is it at all probable , that those who can find time , notwithstanding all this urgent business , for visits , for the entertainment of their friends , for idle and unprofitable discourse , ( both before the lord's . day , and even upon it ) and it 's well , if not for their sins too , should yet be able to find no time for their saviour , when he invites them to his own table . judge then how wretched an excuse this is , when by a palpable falshood men would defend their disobedience . § xxix . but secondly . this excuse is weak and foolish : for supposing we should really find out some little business to employ our selves in , just before , and during the celebration , yet what can be more foolish than to put off a greater affair for a less ; a matter of life and death , for what 's of little or no moment ? but what 's the whole world to my own soul ; and what a miserable exchange should i make , if thro' the cares of this world , and the deceitfulness of riches , i should by gaining the one , eternally lose the other ? besides , if business could defend a person for one neglect or omission , how immodest , as well as foolish , is it to bring always the same excuse , and still to postpone our own happiness , included in our obedience ? § xxx . and such a practice is as wicked as 't is foolish . for 't is a high affront and injury both to the king and the king's son ; and will they not both extremely and justly resent it ? 't is a wrong and injury done unto them , as much as 't is in our power to injure them : like him in the gospel , rather to leave our saviour than to part with our possessions , or so much as to step out of the world for a few moments . to say we 'll not come because we are busie , is in effect , to say we 'll come when we have nothing else to do . to put it off till another time , is fairly to own , we think it a matter of no great concern , for whatever we think so , we set immediately about it . § xxxi . but there 's oftentimes something very bad at the bottom of this excuse , and those who make it , would do well seriously to ask themselves whether by business they mean not something worse ? some appendage to it , which stings their consciences , and dares not let them come to the sacrament . are they not guilty of intemperance , or injustice in their dealings in the world ? if they are , they must be remitted to the answer given to those under the former head , for no pretended necessity can excuse their sin , and they have no other way to escape god's anger , but repentance and amendment . § xxxii . a superstitious fear , and mistaken reverence for this ordinance , and terrible apprehensions concerning it , chiefly grounded on some misapplied texts of scripture , do very frequently keep persons from the lord's table . but if we are but as willing to know and to do our duty as to make excuses for the neglecting it , such a full answer may be brought to these objections , as would scarce fail to give satisfaction . § xxxiii . the first and chiefest text , and which many have so often in their mouths , as if do this in remembrance of me , were never to be taken notice of ; is that in the 1 cor. 11. 29. he that eateth and drinketh unworthily , eateth and drinketh damnation to himself . and there are several expressions sounding much the same way in the first exhortation before the communion , that we ought to be very careful when we come thither , lest it encrease our damnation , and lest satan enter into us as he did into iudas , and fill us full of all iniquity , and bring us to destruction both of body and soul : which very severe sentences are here made use of , to perswade men to true repentance before they come to the sacrament ; but they can mean no more than that of st. paul , whereon they are grounded , and therefore must be interpreted by it . and to understand that aright , we must enquire into the meaning of those two phrases , receiving unworthily , and that damnation which is threaten'd upon it . § xxxiv . and the context evidently shews , that the receiving unworthily , for which the corinthians are here blamed , was receiving with that inexcusable disorder , whereof they were guilty at the sacrament : one was hungry , and another drunken , at their feasts of charity , which then accompanied that ordinance . there were schisms and divisions among them , even at that feast ; one great end whereof was to promote christian unity and love. one came before another , and the rich despised the poor . they did not discern the lord's body . they made no difference between that and common food , at least , consider'd it not as the spiritual body of the lord , or , as some think , * not as a christian sacrament , but as a heathen feast , or a iewish passover . § xxxv . whereby they did eat and drink damnation to themselves . by which cannot be immediately intended eternal damnation , but temporal iudgment , as the word here undoubtedly signifies , which we translate more harshly by damnation . for the following words explain it ; for this cause many are sick and weak , and many are faln asleep ; that is , god's heavy iudgments fell upon them in this life , some think a plague , or some contagious disease , in order to bring them to repentance ; which sense is confirm'd by the two following verses . if we would judge our selves , or consider of our faults and repent and amend , we should not be judged , that is , afflicted with these temporal evils . tho' , even those were in order to amendment , and such punishments as were proper to a state of probation , for it follows ; when we are judged we are chasten'd of the lord , that we should not be condemn'd with the world ; namely , at gods last dreadful tribunal . § xxxvi . but it may be askt , is there no other unworthy receiving , and no other damnation as a consequent thereon , but what have been now describ'd ? yes doubtless ; for we then receive unworthily , when we continue in our sins , notwithstanding our obligations to leave them when we come to the sacrament : and if we do not repent of this very hainous sin and that in some proportion to the high aggravations of it , the consequence of such impenitence will be no less than eternal misery . but still , it 's evident from the foregoing considerations , that neither of these are here in the text immediately intended ; and i think all sober divines are agreed herein . § xxxvii . add to this , that there is not the least ground in the words , or in the whole chapter , or indeed in any other scripture , to excuse any person for not receiving , or to deter them from doing it , but rather quite the contrary . because the man who had not the wedding garment was bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkness , did this excuse those , who would not come to the marriage ? no , 't was so far from it , that the king sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers , and burnt up their city . christ commands us to come , his ministers invite us , 't is our own faults , if we come unprepared , but nothing can excuse our neglect and refusal . let a man examine himself , and so let him ( not stay away and refuse to receive , but ) eat of this bread and drink of this cup. § xxxviii . there 's another text which has been widely mistaken in the same manner , and on the same occasion . 't is that of st. paul to the romans , he that doubteth is damned if he eat . but nothing can be plainer , than that this place has no manner of relation to the sacrament , any more than to any other food ; for it 's to be understood of eating meats sacrificed to idols , or of any of those meats which the iews , from the ceremonial law , accounted an abomination ; whereof the apostle says , that he who did it with a doubting conscience , without being satisfied of the lawfulness of it , he was damned or condemned , namely , by his own conscience , which accused and judged him for it : and this appears to be the immediate sense of the words , by comparing them with the 14. v. i know , and am perswaded by the lord jesus , that is , either by christ's words , that nothing which enters into the mouth defiles the man : or else , by immediate inspiration , as he received many other things . i know , says he , that there 's nothing unclean of it self , but to him that esteemeth any thing unclean , to him it is unclean ; which evidently refers to those distinctions of meats , which at that time made so great a disturbance in the church of god. § xxxix . but since it may be urged , that acting with a doubting conscience is a sin , in what case soever , and therefore much more in relation to the sacrament , we must in the last place consider the different degrees of doubting , which compared with our obligation to duty , will quite remove this objection . we may reckon three degrees of doubting . 1. when men have some small remaining scruples , and unreasonable unaccountable fears , after the strictest examination into the rules of their duty , and all moral satisfaction therein , concerning their obligation unto it , or of the lawfulness of any action . 2. when the mind is as it were in a ballance , unresolved , whether a thing be lawful or unlawful , a duty , or otherwise , and the reasons on neither side do sensibly and visibly preponderate , so as to incline to acting or not acting ; and this is the most true and proper doubt . or else , 3. when men are absolutely dissatisfied , by reason of some mistaken principles , or the temptation of the devil , so that they directly question god's mercy ; or at least their own fitness for it , and for the seals of it , and thence are on the very brink of despair . § xl. as to the first of these cases , where there only remain some unaccountable scruples , so that a person says , i am afraid to do such or such a thing , tho' i know not why i am afraid ; and when whatsoever bears the face of an objection , has been fairly answered ; the rule is , we may perform any indifferent action , for that very reason , because it is indifferent , and there are no circumstances that alter its nature ; we must perform what is a certain duty , as is in the case before us , receiving the sacrament , because we are to look on any unreasonable scruples to the contrary , as no other than the temptations of the enemy . if as in the second place , we do properly doubt , and the arguments appear to us equal for the doing or not doing such an action , we must omit an indifferent action , because there can be no hurt in such omission , but there may be in the doing it ; as in the case of eating flesh lately mentioned ; we may not omit a certain duty , as receiving the sacrament , but ought rather to suspect our own reasoning where our duty is so clear by undoubted revelation ; tho' we must carefully use those means which god has appointed for removing that scruple and doubtfulness . but in the third place , where the degree of doubting is so high , as to reach even to despair of god's mercy , from which dreadful condition he evermore preserve us , and which is often the effect of some grievous sin , continued in without examination and repentance ; this , i think , is the only doubting which incapacitates us for receiving . and that this does so , is intimated in the first exhortation before the communion , that 't is requisite no man should come to it , but with a full trust in god's mercy , and with a quiet conscience . but then due methods must be used to obtain this happy temper , and he must open his grief to his spiritual physitian , that he may give his advice and prayers against the tempter , and that he may receive the benefit of absolution , or a solemn authoritative declaration of pardon on his sincere repentance . to which , if he adds his own prayers and endeavours , he may well hope that god will restore unto him the ioy of his salvation , and that he shall be admitted to this blessed feast : to the neglect of which formerly , he ought to examine if he does not owe his present trouble . § xli . want of preparation is also often brought as an excuse for not receiving . persons have not had time for such strict examination , as they think necessary , and therefore , they say , they dare not come . now to this common and popular objection , i shall first oppose , both the authority and reason of a very excellent person , who clears the whole difficulty in a few words , * it is , says he , a pious and commendable custom in christians before their coming to the sacrament , to set apart some particular time for the work of examination ; but how much every person should allot , is a matter of prudence , some have reason to spend more time , because their accounts are heavier , and some have more leisure and freedom : but the end is to be principally regarded , which is to understand our condition , and to reform what 's amiss ; and if that be observed , whether more or less time be allowed , matters not much . he goes on . the best preparation for the sacrament , is the general care of a good life , and he that is thus prepared , may receive at all times , when opportunity is offered , tho' he had no particular foresight of that opportunity , and he shall do much better to receive than to refrain , because he 's habitually prepared , tho' he had no time for actual preparation ; and ( to quote no more ) we cannot imagine that the primitive christians , who received so constantly , could allot any more time for the preparation for it , than for any other part of divine worship . thus far the most reverend author , wherein he says nothing against either preparation or examination , which he owns to be highly useful , but only against refusing to receive for want of actual preparation , or always allotting a considerable portion of time to this exercise , even when persons are before habitually prepared to receive , and have not time for such actual preparation . § xlii . i cannot think of any other objections made against receiving the sacrament by any persons who own themselves satisfied with the publick way of worship ; tho' there are two more , which have been brought by such as differ from us therein . the first from the posture of receiving . the second from the company . our saviour and his disciples , they say , did at the first institution , receive in a table-posture : and they dare not take it kneeling , because it looks so like that adoration of the sacrament , which we blame in the church of rome : nor can they , without great scandal , join with such a promiscuous society , some of whom , perhaps , to their own knowledge , may be very ill men. § xliii . in answer to the first . the sacrament being instituted in the room of the paschal feast , and during the celebration of it , our saviour made use of the same posture wherein he and his disciples were before placed , which being according to the custom of the antients in feasting , a sort of recumbency or leaning on one another's bosoms , neither sitting nor kneeling , it could not perhaps be changed without disorder , till the whole ceremony was over . but from hence none can justly conclude , that the gesture of kneeling at the sacrament , in order to express our deep humility , is any ways unlawful : kneeling is a fit posture for all acts of devotion . the eucharist is the highest act of worship , or rather , it contains in it many other acts , prayer , praise , thanksgiving and adoration : and why should we not then in the celebration thereof , fall down and kneel before the lord our maker ? the jewish church added the bread and the cup to the passover ; these our saviour himself used in the administration thereof ; and is not this a much greater alteration , than that of a single gesture ? he retained the second cup of blessing , used by the iews , he received after supper , with several other circumstances which are not at present observed , even by those who make these . objections against our form , for much less considerable alterations . the main reason why some well-meaning persons might at first scruple kneeling at the sacrament , seems to have been the fear lest this should tend to the adoration of the elements , or of any fansied corporal presence of christ's body and blood in them : but this is entirely precluded by our church , who must be allowed to know best the meaning of her own injunctions and practice ; and in order to prevent any misinterpretation of this innocent and decent ceremony , she has expresly declared * , that thereby no adoration is intended , or ought to be done either unto the sacramental bread and wine , which is bodily received , or unto any corporal presence of christ's natural flesh and blood. and this has so far satisfied all persons who are not extreamly prejudic'd , that the members of foreign churches , who have received the communion here in england , have willingly , and gladly done it kneeling . † and one would think none of those who differ from us should any more object against this practice , till they had answered what one of their own opinion in other things , has offer'd in the defence of it . * who acknowledges , that for kneeling , he never heard any thing to prove it unlawful : if there be any thing , says he , it must be either some word of god , or the nature of the ordinance which is supposed to be contradicted : but 1. there is no word of god for , or against any gesture : christ's example can never be intended to oblige us more in this , than in many other circumstances that are confessedly not obligatory , as that he delivered it but to ministers , but to a family , &c. and his gesture was not such a sitting as ours . 2. and for the nature of the ordinance , it is mixed , and if it be lawful to take a pardon from a king upon our knees , i know not what can make it unlawful to take a sealed pardon from christ by his ambassador , in the same manner . § xliv . to the second objection , that persons cannot joyn with unworthy communicants ; we may first ask , who made any man the iudge of hearts , and how we are sure any person is unworthy , since none is so but the impenitent ? when our saviour told his disciples at the institution of this supper that one of them should betray him , they did not ask him , lord is it my neighbour ? but lord is it i ? and accordingly , we ought surely to be more concerned for our selves than for others . and is it not suspicious that there 's something very much amiss in our selves , when we are so ready to censure our neighbours ? does it not look as if we were solicitous to take off mens eyes from our own faults , tho' at the expence of another's reputation ? let any one consider the world , and he 'll soon acknowledge that the worst of men are the most uncharitable . but farther , 't is certain that the visible church will always be made up of good and bad , and the tares will never be entirely separated from the wheat till the end of the world. our saviour knew that iudas was a devil , and yet he did not remove him from the sacrament , nor refuse to receive with him . if other men receive unworthily , to their own master , they stand or fall , but that shall never injure me , if i my self am a worthy receiver . but supposing there ought to be more exact discipline in any church ( and we know too well who those are that have now render'd that almost impracticable among us ) yet this can be no just reason for our not communicating with it : since the church of corinth was more notoriously corrupt in this matter , than they can pretend ours to be : there were not only drunkards , but even an incestuous person in their communion ; and yet st. paul did never advise any to separate from them , or to call a more pure church out of that church , but only to try and examine themselves , and so to receive . besides , if any person be publickly scandalous , so as to give offence to the congregation , we know our rubrick permits him not to receive , but orders the minister to put him back from the communion : tho' in large parishes , 't is perhaps impossible for him to know every person ; and if any be really scandalized at another's wicked life , he ought to make the minister acquainted with it , if he has first reproved him himself without success ; and till he has done both these , he has not the least pretence for an objection on that account against receiving . and as this is agreeable to the constant practice of the church of god , so 't is also the opinion of the most sensible of those who are dissatisfied with some things in our communion . * § xlv . the objections against receiving in general being thus , i hope , fully answered , there remains only something like one against frequent communion ; and that is , that there 's danger lest , as in other things , familiarity breeds contempt , so the commoness of this sacrament should take away the reverence due to it : but this is easily answered , because the same might be said of prayer and preaching : besides , if it were a good argument against frequent communion now , it had been so in the primitive times , when they received every day ; but this rather encreased than diminished their reverence for the sacrament , and would do the same by us if we received with that care that we ought , and with a just consideration of the dignity of this sacred ordinance . chap. iii. of examination before the sacrament , and preparation for it . § i. what has been said in the former chapter is by no means intended to disswade persons from a due preparation before they receive the holy sacrament ; it being certain that none ought to come thither without being habitually prepar'd ; none , if it may be had , without some superadded actual preparation . he that comes without the former of these , is certainly without the wedding-garment , and in danger of being bound hand and foot , and cast into utter darkness : he that comes without the latter where it may be had , will fall short of that comfort and benefit which he might otherwise have in this holy ordinance . it may not therefore be unnecessary to enquire more distinctly into each of these , and to shew wherein they consist . § ii. by habitual preparation , is meant , that which is transacted in the entire frame , the uniform course of a religious life . when a person has made it the main business of his life to mortify all ill habits , and to introduce better in their room ; to cleanse himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit , to perform his vow in baptism , to be sanctified and renewed , to repent and be converted , and holy as god is holy. and he that is in this happy condition , as he is always fit to die , so is he always fit to receive the sacrament , even tho' he should be hindered from any actual preparation . § iii. nor yet does it hence follow that such actual preparation is to be neglected where it may be had ; nay , it is undoubtedly highly useful , and tends very much to the perfection of a christian life . this preparation chiefly consists in examination , or the strict trial of our lives and conversations by the rule of god's word . a due knowledge of the nature of this sacrament . the solemn seal of god's covenant with us , and of the nature of that covenant , which he has made with us by his son , is presupposed in every communicant : tho' where any are ignorant of these first principles , they may find some account of them in the first chapter of this manual : nor ought any to presume to receive , without they have such knowledge , however , an equal clearness in these matters cannot be expected , nor is it required from all sorts of people , but a man shall be accepted according to what he hath , if he has made the best of his opportunities of knowledge . and after all , a person that is truely humbled for some degrees of ignorance in these and other spiritual matters , is in a much safer condition , than those whom knowledge puffs up , without either humility or charity . § iv. a competent knowledge being presupposed , of the nature of these holy mysteries , there will not need much proof that some actual preparation is highly requisite before we receive them . 't is true , the preparation of man's heart , in this , as well as all other cases , is from the lord : but none are so weak , as not to know their own endeavours , are also necessary ; we must judge our selves if we would not be judged of the lord. we must purify our selves before we eat the passover , for he that presumes to eat it in his uncleanness , that is , without repenting of his sins , that soul shall be cut off from among his people . we ought to be cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary , and if we have done our endeavours , the good lord will pardon what is unavoidably wanting . iosiah commanded the levites to prepare and sanctify themselves , and to prepare their brethren against that famous passover which was kept in his time . and if preparation was so necessary for the jewish passover , we cannot think it altogether needless when we are to partake of this christian feast ; which we ought to keep neither with the old leaven , of judaism or heathenism , or an open notorious wicked life ; neither with the as dangerous leaven of malice and hypocrisie ; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth . without such preparation , we may eat and drink unworthily , kindle god's wrath against us , and provoke him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death . § v. but a great part of this preparation , as has been said , consists in examination : for how can we know how accounts are between heaven and us , unless we look into them ? what our debts are ? what mercies we receive ? what we still want , and which the best way to obtain them ? what sins we are to confess , and to fight against ? where we are to plant our batteries ? where to expect an assault ? what the best methods of defence ? what auxiliaries we want , and where to obtain them ? this the apostle strictly commands every man to do , to examine , or prove himself , and so to come to the holy table ; not to come without examination , or to stay away on pretence of not being examined . something indeed of this nature is the practice of every good christian every day of his life , ( as it has been even of moral heathens ) to examine his conscience before he sleeps , what sins he has that day committed , and by what steps he fell into them , and penitently and earnestly to implore forgiveness for what 's past , and grace for the future , to do better : and 't is not easie to imagine how any man should be a very good christian without it ; whereas whoever does constantly and carefully practise it , ( for which he may find excellent rules and directions among the devotions annexed to the whole duty of man , and for want of that , there are some questions added at the end of this treatise ) must needs make a more than ordinary progress in christianity , and will more especially find a wonderful advantage therein , as to the easiness of his actual examination and preparation for the communion . § vi. which actual preparation and examination immediately before we receceive are highly requisite , because they may make up for defects in the habitual , as being more exact and more solemn than our daily inquisition into the state of our minds . and this may be done with very great advantage , by setting apart some one day in the week before the communion , where a person is at his own disposal , and his necessary affairs will permit him , entirely , for this great concern , in order to search and try our ways and turn again to the lord. this would be near the end of the week , because otherwise the impression made by it , may be apt to wear away again before the sacrament , or at least not to be so deep and lively as at less distance : nor might it be so convenient to put it off to the very last day of the week , lest something or other should intervene and hinder it . but for those who have not really leisure for such a solemn preparation , or in the case of an accidental communion , which could not be foreseen ; if they are before habitually prepared , we have already seen the opinion of our best divines , that they ought not to reject such an opportunity , for want of a more solemn actual preparation . however , he who has but a little time , ought to do his diligence to give of that little. a servant or labouring man , may at least redeem an hour or two , either in mornings or evenings , for this great work , which they can do for their worldly interest , on any extraordinary occasion . few have so much business but they can find time for their diversions , many for their sins , and are our souls only not worth a few hours , which he who bought them so dearly , assures us , are more worth than all the world ? besides , most of the following directions may be observed while a person is employed in many sorts of work , especially in the fields , and concerns of husbandry : and for many tradesmen , they have yet greater leisure , which one would think should be much better filled up this way , than in a shameful idleness , or in what is yet worse , the reading ill books , and profane and immoral plays , which scarce ever fail of rendring the mind , not only weak and trivial , but even averse to piety and unfit for all the offices of a holy life . for those who are really straitned as to time , there will be particular directions for examination , and for their ease , the following rules are abbreviated . but this is not the case of so many persons as plead that excuse , since we shall frequently hear men complain , that their time lies upon their hands , and they know not how to employ it : and for such as these , and all those who can command so much time , as to go through them , the larger directions which now follow , are chiefly intended . § vii . when the day approaches , whereon we expect one happy opportunity more to meet our saviour at his own table , whose invitation , by his ministers , we are to receive with the greatest ioy , and the greatest reverence ; the first thing we do , would be to sequester our selves from the world , nay , even from all worldly thoughts , and the troublesome cares of life . to do this with all possible intention , and with the whole force of our minds , with firm resolves and full purpose of heart , not to admit any other business , any other thoughts , unsuitable to this great work. which having begun with devout prayer for the divine assistance , let us proceed in the impartial examen of our consciences on the following heads . 1. of our repentance . 2. holy resolutions . 3. faith. 4. thankfulness . and 5. charity . all which if we find in some good degree wrought in us by god's holy spirit , we may approach with comfort to this sacrament . § viii . and first : we are to examine our selves concerning our repentance ; wherein the nature of it consists , whether habitual or actual ; and under actual repentance , may be included our particular examination by the rule of god's commands , before we approach the sacrament . the general nature of repentance , consists in a thorough change of heart and life , so as to hate all sin , and turn to god ; to love god more than the world , or our lusts , or even , than our own lives , in the prevailing bent , the settled choice of our minds , and to evidence this by keeping his commandments : to live in the course of no greater sin , such as drunkenness , swearing , uncleanness , neglect of publick worship , or the like ; which waste the conscience , and are a perfect contradiction to true repentance , and must be left immediately , as we would avoid eternal misery : not to indulge so much as sins of infirmity , nor to say , is it not a little one ? such as sloth , passion , forgetfulness of our duty in some instances , wandring thoughts , or the like : for a christian is to fight against all sin , and such as are at first comparatively little , yet do all deserve god's anger , and eternal punishments , and will if they are neglected , grow bigger , and at last perhaps , irresistible . i say , true repentance is a thorough change , of the whole man , the principles , inclinations and desires , as well as outward actions ; and hence it 's call'd in scripture , the new-man , the new-heart , the new-creature , because we are all by nature the children of wrath , and guilty of original sin * ; nor is there any who has lived to years of discretion , but what has made that sad use of his reason , to sin against his maker , and to commit many actual transgressions , if not to fall into grosser habits of wickedness ; from which god knows , very few can say they are wholly innocent in this degenerate age : now there is no way to recover from this , and to escape god's anger , but by forsaking sin , with the greatest abhorrence and detestation . 't is therefore evident that those are miserably and dangerously mistaken , who fansie they repent , because they have some fear of hell , some light checks of conscience , and transient sorrow for offending god , without effectually leaving all wickedness , and coming to god from whom they have wander'd , and leading a holy life . then have we this habitual repentance , when by god's grace we do in the main course of our lives , express our love to god , and hatred of sin , and sorrow for it , and are become new men , and make it our chief business to strive against our corruptions , manfully to resist them , effectually to work out our own salvation : to have that image of god renewed in us , which we lost by the fall. and thus much for habitual repentance . § ix . actual repentance , is that which every good man puts in practice on his falling into any sin ; and which he should renew more particularly and exactly , before he comes to the lord's table ; whereunto we are directed in the first exhortation on the sunday before the communion , which we would therefore do very well seriously to peruse , in order to our preparation for it . wherein we are taught , that 't is our duty to search and examine our own consciences , and that not lightly and after the manner of dissemblers with god , but so as that we may come holy and clean to this heavenly feast . and we are further directed to do this , by the rule of god's commands , and whereinsoever we shall perceive our selves to have offended , either by will , word or deed , there to bewail our own sinfulness , and to confess our selves to almighty god. and to assist us herein , we may find large and exact catalogues of sins in several books of devotion , particularly those annexed to the whole duty of man ; which if you have not , you may if you please , make use of this following , and examine your self concerning the particular breaches of god's commands , either of the first or second table . § x. the breaches of the first command of the first table , are ; 1. atheism , or at least , atheistical thoughts or discourse ( too common among the foolish wits of the age ) 2. polytheism , or believing , or worshipping more gods than one , the main thing forbidden in this command ; under which may be included ditheism , or worshipping two gods , of which those cannot clear themselves who pay divine honours to any , whom they believe not essentially one with the father ; and tritheism , if any now are guilty of it , which is worshipping three gods , whereas there is but one supreme ; there can be but one god , ( tho' three persons , ) who is over all , blessed for ever . 3. covetousness , which is idolatry . immoderate love of our selves , or of the world , that carnal-mindedness , which is death . a violent and unreasonable passion for any person or thing in this world. 4. wilful ignorance of god or of his word ; carelessness of our souls , neglecting or despising instruction . 5. presumption upon god's mercy . a false peace and security in sin. as on the other side , distrusting his power or goodness , or murmuring against him , or despairing of his mercy . 6. worshipping angels or saints . 7. witchcraft , or doing interpretative homage to the devil , by using charms , consulting with wizards , cunning men and the like ; which is esteemed by our greatest divines , a degree of renouncing our christianity . * 8. unthankfulness , lukewarmness , indevotion , pride , impenitence . 9. want of love to god , faith in him , dependance on him , submission and resignation . the breaches of the second command , are ; 1. idolatry , which is making any images with intent to bow down to them , or worship them ; or actually paying such worship to them , even tho' god himself be represented by them ; any visible corporeal representation of god , being a contradiction to his pure spiritual nature , and a high breach of this command ; * as is even the forming any corporeal image of him in our mind , much more believing a material god. 2. sacrilege . robbing or profaning churches , detaining tythes , or any thing that is dedicated to god , ( god forgive all nations , families and persons that are guilty of it ! ) 3. loathing manna ; neglecting , or disesteeming , or ridiculing god's word , or not profiting by it ; contemning , abusing , causless grieving his ministers . 4. adding to his word ; making any thing necessary to salvation , which he has not made necessary ; coining and imposing new articles of faith , not contained in scripture . superstitious scrupling what is lawful , without endeavouring to have the conscience better informed . irreverence or undecency in god's worship , refusing to glorifie god with our bodies as well as souls , when both are his . 5. want of inward spiritual worship , without which , the outward is but like a dead carcass ; ( tho' this may be referred also to the first command . ) the breaches of the third command , are ; 1. taking god's name in vain ( which those who do are particularly branded as god's enemies , * either by false or rash oaths ; or rash or impossible vows ; or by breaking lawful or possible oaths or vows , the vow in baptism , or at the other sacrament ; or by mentioning that glorious and fearful name the lord our god , without an act of reverence and devotion . 2. swearing by any creature . 3. want of a just concern for god's honour ; encouraging , or not discouraging , or reproving , or punishing , where 't is possible and practicable , those monsters of men , who blaspheme , or prosane god's holy name ; † or discouraging , or not assisting to our power those who would do it , and who have more zeal for god's glory : or not heartily lamenting those sins , if we are where the tide of wickedness runs so high , that we cannot have them punished . the breaches of the fourth command , are ; 1. the taking it quite away , and mocking god in desi●ing him ; to have mercy upon us for our offences against it , and to incline our hearts to keep it , when we believe it , ( as some do ) purely typical and iudaical ; whereas a seventh part of time is evidently of moral-positive obligation , being enjoyned before the fall , and there 's little doubt , was observed by the patriarchs before the law , ( for 't is not reasonable to suppose , that religion could continue sixteen hundred years in the world , without a stated time of publick worship ) * as by all christians since our saviour ; tho the precise seventh day of the week was indeed peculiar to the iews . 2. all profanation of it , by weekly , or work day labour , or any works , but of necessity or charity . unnecessary , worldly , or vain discourse or visits ; much more by playing , dancing , or the like ; which make it indeed a iewish , not a christian sabbath . 3. neglecting to imploy the whole day , as far as our strength and necessities permit , in publick or private acts of religios worship . 4. suffering any to profane it , who are under our charge , and whom we can binder from doing it , or not giving them time for god's service . 5. not permitting our servants , or very beasts to rest on that day , or any manner of cruelty towards them . 6. refusing to observe any other days appointed by lawful authority , for god's publick worship , either fasts or feasts , ( if our occasions and circumstances will permit . ) § xi . as for the second table , containing our duty to our neighbour , as the first does our duty to god. we offend against the first command of it , the fifth in the decalogue , by any ways dishonouring our parents , whether natural , our father and mother ; or civil , the magistrates , the king , and those that are in authority under him ; or ecclesiastical , our ministers and lawful pastors ; or any other superiors , as masters or mistresses , or our betters and elders . by being undutiful , stubborn or unnatural to those to whom we are indebted for our birth and education : by rebelling against our prince , or being unthankful to him , or reviling him , or lightly believing ill of him , or of those commissioned by him , or opposing them in the exercise of that lawful authority he has deputed unto them . by contemning or defrauding our lawful ministers , or forsaking them , or discouraging them by neglecting publick worship ( of which also under the third . ) by being unfaithful to masters , or careless of their concerns , or stubborn and refractory and disobedient to their lawful commands . by incivility and rudeness and want of due respect to our superiors , rising up before the hoary head : or in the reciprocal duties , want of kindness , watchfulness , support , instruction , provision , from superiors , and doing what in them lies for the souls and bodies of those committed to their charge . for the sixth : 1. the direct breach of it is murder , the old version , thou shalt do no murder , being better than the new , thou shalt not kill ; for all know that all killing is not murder , nor is it unlawful , as in a just war , or the like : but murder is killing without , or against law , or by a wrested pretence of law , worse than all the rest . and under murder , are doubtless included duels , for such the laws have justly made them ; and 't is little better to fight in an unjust war , or without enquiring into the justice of it , meerly for pay or plunder . * 2. the next breach of this command , is , by wounding or hurting our neighbour , or procuring others to do it . 3. procuring abortion , or onan's sin. † 4. malice , or envy , or revenge against our neighbour , with which none must come to this feast of love. 5. causless , rash , immoderate . or implacable anger , and any expressions of it by word or action . 7. murthering the souls of any , by ill advice , or command , or temptation , or example . 6 self-murder ; the highest , and most unnatural breach of this command , which argues the heighth of discontent and despair , and where it once proceeds to action , cuts off all repentance ; and therefore the least inclinations to it , are to be abhorred and repelled , as a most dangerous temptation of the devil , and to be as severely repented of , where they have found any admission . 8. want of meekness , and forgiveness , and charity , and compassion towards our neighbour . in the seventh , are forbidden ; 1. expresly , adultery . 2. fornication , and all actual impurity . 3. all incentives to this odious sin. unchast looks , dresses , books , plays , songs , poetry , pictures , conversation ; idleness , pampering the body ; and lastly , drunkenness , which is so often the occasion of this , and almost , all other sins . the direct breach of the eighth command is , stealing , either open , and forcibly , which is robbery ; or private , which is these and pilfering ; and so is injuring our neighbour by pretence of law , by extortion , by oppression , by unequal laying of taxes , or otherwise . 3. cheating in trade ; false lights , weights , coin , measures , imposing on our neighbour in buying or selling , lying , to raise the price of goods . 4. denying , detaining , or delaying the hire of the labourer , or lessening , or raising it beyond a just proportion . 5. living extravagantly , not proportioning expences to incoms , thence running into unnecessary debts without an honest care , and greatest diligence to discharge them . 6. fraudulent conveyances , forgeries , breach of trust , removing landmarks , extravagant or covetous gaming , neglecting to provide for our own . 7. refusing or delaying to make restitution to any we have injured by any of these means , without which , no repentance , no forgiveness , whenever we are in a capacity to do it ; or else giving it to the poor , or to religious uses , if we cannot find the person injured . the breaches of the ninth , are ; 1. bearing false witness , by direct perjury . 2. pleading against our conscience ; or not swearing the whole truth , and nothing but the truth , when required in courts of judicature . 3. slandering our neighbour , or lightly taking up an evil report against him , or spreading malicious truth , or any way speaking ill of him , unless when god's glory , or our own reputation , or another's welfare is concerned . 4. uncharitable censures , deriding or exposing any one's infirmities . 5. tale-bearing and whispering , the vice of mean and ignoble souls . 6. dissembling , flattering , and lying . 7. neglecting to defend our neighbour's reputation , where we can do it with decency and honesty . in the tenth , are forbidden ; 1. the desiring any . thing that 's my neighbour's , without a just compensation , or where he is not willing to part with it . 2. discontent and repining at our own condition , or envying our neighbours . 3. the first allowed pleasing motions to any sin , especially to impurity , or delightful reflections on past wickedness . § xii . thus much for the chief breaches of god's commands , upon all of which , we would do well distinctly to examine our selves in our preparation for the sacrament , especially , as to those sins whereunto we have formerly found our selves most strongly inclined , and whereof we have been most frequently guilty . we ought also to reflect on all the aggravations of them , how frequently , how inexcusably , against how much goodness and patience of god , how many checks of our own conscience , and perhaps , advice of friends , against how many vows and resolutions we have committed them . especially , if after we have vowed against them formerly at the holy sacrament , concerning which we are to make an exact disquisition , for god certainly remembers all those vows , tho' we may have broken them , and forgot them . and if we do not yet find our hearts sufficiently affected for it , if the love of christ and all his sufferings for us , cannot melt us into an ingenious sorrow for our offences , let us consider god's dreadful iudgment , his terrible indignation against impenitent sinners , and earnestly pray to god , for the sake of his dear son , to take away our stony hearts , and give us that godly sorrow which works repentance to salvation . and proportionable to our sins , must be our sorrow and our repentance , tho' here it may be necessary to interpose a caution : there are some pious persons of such weak iudgments , and tender consciences , that they are , it may be , ready to accuse themselves of many sins , whereof they were never guilty : but we must not lie to god , nor belie our selves , nor charge our selves , any more than charge god , foolishly : and where we find in our examination , that god has preserved us from any sins , or given us more strength against any which have formerly been too hard for us , we ought not by any means to be unthankful for his goodness , but ascribe all to him , and praise him for his grace , and endeavour so well to improve it , and those talents which we have , that he may still bestow more upon us , and make us perfect in repentance and all good works . § xiii . having thus strictly examined our selves concerning our breaches of god's commands , and our serious effectual repentance for them , we proceed in the next place , to firm and holy resolves to do better for the future ; to avoid those evils we have faln into , to perform those duties we have hitherto neglected . we are to ask our selves in the presence of god , whether we do indeed , stedfastly purpose to lead a new life , without which , 't is the highest presumption to approach these dreadful mysteries : and accordingly , we are actually to make most solemn vows , as well as resolutions , of better obedience : the force of resolution only , is not small , it gives new strength and energy to the mind , and helps to perform what one would think at first sight almost impossible : bodily diseases , we are told , have been cured by it , which have been thought desperate , and why may not also diseases of the mind . there is a spirit in man , and 't is the breath of the almighty , and it has a noble force , if we will but stir it up , and make use of it : but when vows are added to these resolves , when we resolve in god's name , and in his sight , and thro' his strength , and by the assistance of his grace , and pray earnestly and faithfully for it , and conscientiously use the means to obtain it , to avoid sin , to encrease in goodness ; all these make such a cord as is not easily broken . nor are we to be discouraged from making new resolves , because we may have broken such as we have formerly made : no , we are to be troubled for our fall , but not to lie still in the dirt , but to rise immediately , and endeavour to recover the ground we have lost , in our way towards heaven : we are to observe what was the occasion of our stumbling , how we came to break our former resolves against our sins . if it was ill company that led us into it , we are carefully for the future , as much as possible , to avoid such company , as we value the favour of god , and our own eternal happiness . and so if love of this world have made us neglect our duty to god , or our neighbour , we are to resolve against that ; actually to draw off our minds from these perishing objects , and fix them on the unfading treasures of a better world. and thus are we particularly to level our holy resolutions against those sins which do most easily beset us , most frequently prevail over us ; solemnly , upon our knees , before god , to renounce those works of the devil , or to renew that solemn renunciation of them , which we made in our baptism , as well as to renew those sacred vows which we then made to keep god's holy will and commandment , and to walk in the same all the days of our lives . which will not only have a very great influence on our future actions , to preserve us from running upon any temptation to our former sins , or from the neglect of our duty ; but will be also by god's grace , a mighty guard upon us , even when we are actually tempted ; the impression of those good resolves being still deep and fresh on our minds , and giving them a strong tendency to good , and aversion to evil , and the horrid guilt of perjury appearing before our eyes , if we should again break god's commands : nor had the psalmist himself any stronger guard against temptation than the sense of his vows , and the awful presence of that god to whom he had made them . psal. 16. 8. i have set the lord always before my face , that i might not sin against him . and , psal. 119. 106. i have sworn , and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous iudgments . § xiv . the third thing concerning which we are to examine our selves before we approach this holy table , is , whether we have a lively faith in god's mercy thro' christ. not a dead , cold , and unactive , but a lively faith ; for , faith without works is dead : and such is the ungrounded fatal presumption of every impenitent sinner ; for what is more common than for bad men , who live in direct contradiction to our saviour's laws , in repeated acts of intemperance , injustice , uncleanness , immoderate love to this world , and in the neglect of their duty , of praying , of god's word and sacrament ; what is more common than to hear such mistaken wretches as these cry out , that god is merciful , that christ has died , and they hope to be saved , tho' they bring forth no fruits meet for faith or repentance ? they believe the promise of the gospel , tho' they never take care to perform the conditions of it : but they forget , or are willingly ignorant that it contains threatnings too , and that very terrible ones against the impenitent and disobedient ; and that christ himself has told such , that he 'll say to them at the last day , depart from me , i never knew you , because workers of iniquity . but the true lively faith here required is , such a belief of god's word , and such a trust in his mercy , thro' his promises by our saviour , as produces a constant and ingenuous obedience . now if we find this faith weak and languishing , we must pray as the disciples did , lord encrease our faith ! and to that end , we must consider the promises of god unto us , for the sake of his dear son our lord , in whom all the promises are yea and amen , ratified and certain . in whom alone the father is well pleased , by the merits , of whose obedience and sufferings , his satisfaction , his intercession and mediation , he is reconciled to lost mankind , and offers pardon to all that are penitent and obedient . and this is all our salvation , and all our desire ; the hope of holy souls , the ground of their consolation and their triumph , which are fixed so firmly upon that rock of ages , that they can never be moved ; who has told us , that if we believe in god , we must believe also in him , as the means of conveying all the father's blessings ; nay , as being himself , as he is , god , the author and finisher of our faith. whence it follows , that he himself , the second person of the glorious trinity , may , and ought to be the object of our trust , our faith , and our adoration , both in this life , and in the hour of death , as he was of blessed st. steven's who cried out in his last agonies , lord jesus ! receive my spirit * and thus in our preparation for the holy sacrament , without the reception whereof , i see not how any can live comfortably , or die happily , we must actually advert unto , deeply and seriously consider those promises which god has made us by his son , of grace and pardon , on our repentance and obedience : that those who come to the father by him , he will in no wise cast out . st. iohn 6. 37. that they shall not see death , but are passed from death unto life . st. iohn 8. 51. 5. 24. that there is no condemnation for them which are in christ iesus , and who those are , we are immediately told , who walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit . rom. 8. 1. that all who are weary and heavy laden with the burthen of their sins , if they come unto him , he will refresh them ; st. matt. 11. 28. and several others of the same nature ; the substance of the gospel being promises of eternal life to those who yield a sincere , and impartial , tho' not absolutely sinless and perfect obedience to the commands of it ; all the threatnings thereof , being only the unavoidable consequences of wilfully rejecting it . now the very nature of the sacrament shows the necessity of faith towards worthy receiving ; for how can we renew our covenant with god , unless we believe he 's really willing to be reconciled to us , and have a firm faith in his truth , his power and his goodness ? and how could we have any well grounded hopes of pardon , but from the revelation of the gospel , and by the merits of a redeemer ? and to the exercise of this grace , the church also directs us when we approach this holy table , requiring us , to have a lively and stedfast faith in christ our saviour ; and so in the exhortation , the sunday before the communion , that 't is requisite that those who come thither , should have a full trust in god's mercy . not that all are required to have the same degrees of faith ; for there are doubtless different measures of it as in the resurrection , one star shall differ from another in glory : 1 cor. 15. 43. but our faith ought certainly to be so strong as to overcome our infidelity , to over come the world : it is to be sincere , and then it will not want acceptance , tho' it be but as a grain of mustard-seed , for our gracious lord has promised that he will not break the bruised reed , nor quench the smoaking flax : st. matt. 12. 20. tho' we are always to press forward , that this as well as all other graces may still be encreased , towards which , nothing can more highly conduce , than the frequent and devout reception of this sacrament . § xv. the 4th . thing concerning which we are to examine our selves in our preparation , is , whether we have [ a thankful remembrance of christ's death ; ] whereunto the church directs us in such pathetical expressions as were scarce ever excelled , and i question whether equalled in any other liturgy ; tho' not only the antient churches , but our protestant brethren , particularly the french , and the tigurine , have excellent forms on this occasion : i mean that passage wherein we are exhorted * above all things to give most humble and hearty thanks to god the father , the son , and the holy ghost , for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our saviour christ , both god and man ; who did humble himself even to the death , upon the cross , for us miserable sinners ; who lay in darkness and the shadow of death , that he might make us the children of god , and exalt us to everlasting life . this we are to do [ above all things ] because this true and unfeigned gratitude is the principal ornament of the wedding-garment . this seems to have been the chief and immediate end of the institution , do this in remembrance of me ; and hereby ye shew forth the lord's death till he come : and how is it possible for any ingenuous mind to remember , to reflect upon our saviour's sufferings , without the most tender resentments , the highest thankfulness and love ? for how can a rebel be fit for pardon , if he is not thankful when 't is offered him ? 't is therefore necessary that we should so long , so seriously remember the exceeding great love of our master , and only saviour thus dying for us , even before we come to the solemn sacramental commemoration of it , till our hearts burn within us , as did the two disciples , that we may thereby be in some measure fitted to meet our saviour , and that he may make himself known unto us , as he did unto them , in breaking of bread : st. luke 24. 32. but we must take care that this remembrance have a future lasting influence on our lives : ill men may remember christ's death , but it 's certain that whatever they may pretend , they do it presumptuously , not thankfully , because it is not productive of a holy life . it makes them nothing better , but rather encourages them to go on in their sins ; whereas true thankfulness will naturally produce unfeigned obedience : and to make us both obedient and thankful , one would think there should need no more than to consider deeply from what evils christ has saved us by his death ; no less than the power of sin , the wrath of god , and everlasting misery : and what benefits he has obtained for us by it ; the pardon of sin , the favour of god , grace to serve him , and eternal happiness ; some of which are actually conveyed , as all of them are assur'd and seal'd in this blessed sacrament , to every penitent , faithful , grateful receiver . § xv. the last thing necessary to a worthy communicant , is charity . [ to be in charity with all men. ] when we bring our gift to the altar , we must be first reconciled to our brother : we must offer it , and sincerely desire and endeavour it ; and if he refuses to be reconciled , the fault is on his side , nor ought another's crime to keep us from our duty and happiness . this charity must also show it self in an universal love to mankind , wishing , praying for , endeavouring , and as much as in us lies , promoting their temporal and spiritual welfare . but especially , this holy love is to be acted and exercised towards all christians , and particularly towards those with whom we communicate ; not forgetting the poor , whom we are to relieve , as well at the offering , which ought not to be neglected at the sacrament , as any other way that lies in our power . the exercise of this divine grace , is more eminently necessary when we approach to this blessed feast , because 't was one great end of its institution ; it being designed to increase christian unity , and holy love among the faithful , who herein communicate both in temporal and spiritual good things ; who feast and make a covenant with each other , as well as with the great inviter ; and being many are hereby made one body and one bread. 1 cor. 10. 17. we are therefore carefully to examine our selves before we come thither , whether we heartily forgive our enemies , and are ready to render good for evil ? whether we feel this divine flame in our hearts , and dearly love all those that bear the image of the heavenly ? and in order to produce in us both parts of this grace , one would think we should need do no more than consider seriously how many talents our lord has forgiven us ; how much he has done and suffered for us , even while we were his enemies ; and that we are all members of one body , whereof christ is the head. § xvii . and thus have we finished what relates to our preparation for the sacrament , and those several graces concerning which we are to examine our selves before we approach unto it : repentance , attended by good resolves , faith , thankfulness , and charity . not that we should forbear to come thither , if we do not find all these in the utmost perfection ; but where we find any of them weak and languid , we must strengthen the things that remain , and be humbled for our imperfections , and endeavour earnestly after higher degrees of grace , and consider the means appointed to encrease them , especially the holy sacrament , wherein they are to be all exercised and renewed , as will appear in the next chapter . and in the mean time , most humbly and devoutly to fall upon our knees , and in the following , or any better forms * of prayer , thus address our selves to the giver of all good things , for a supply of our necessities . a confession , when we are preparing for the communion . almighty and most merciful father ! who mayst for my sins be most justly displeased with me , for ever cast me off from thy presence , and condemn me to everlasting misery . i am ashamed , o lord , and blush to lift up my face unto thee , for all my misdeeds are before thee , and my most secret sins in the light of thy countenance . i was shapen in iniquity , and conceived in sin ; by nature dead in trespasses and sins , averse to good , and violently inclined to evil ; ignorant of god , and an enemy to him , in a lost and undone condition , and utterly unable to help and to deliver my self . and i have added to this original sin many hainous actual trangressions , [ here let the penitent repeat those sins whereof , on the former examination , he has found himself guilty . ] the remembrance of all which , i desire may be most grievous as their burden is most intolerable unto me ; for i have done all these abominations , with many aggravating circumstances , which have highly encreased the guilt of them ; without regard to thy tender mercies , or to thy terrible judgments , or to my own repeated vows and resolves of repentance and obedience . o make me to abhor them , and my self for them , and to repent in dust and ashes . i know that my sorrow for them is no satisfaction to thy offended justice ; yet since thou dost require it of me , to render me capable of thy mercy , work in me , i beseech thee , by thy holy spirit , such a true and unfeigned remorse for them , that i may entirely forsake them , and come pure and holy to thy heavenly feast . o god be merciful to me a sinner , who cry unto thee in an acceptable time , and in the day of salvation ! o holy , blessed and glorious trinity , three persons and one god , have mercy upon me a miserable sinner ! o god the father of heaven , who didst send thine only son out of thy bosom to tast death for every man , that we might not die eternally ; accept his attonement , accept his intercession , and be reconciled unto me thro' his blood. in my father's house is bread enough and to spare : o let me not perish with hunger . o son of david have mercy on me , and if thou canst do any thing , since thou canst do all things , help me . by thine agony and bloody sweat , by thy cross and passion , by thy precious death and burial , good lord deliver me ! i desire not to be saved from the guilt of my sins only , or from those heavy punishments that are due unto them , but from their power and prevailing influence on my mind : from all my sins , even those which have been most dear unto me ; and am willing to cut off my right hand , or pluck out my right eye , so i may but enter into the kingdom of heaven . my saviour came to take away the sins of the world ; he has born all our griefs , he has carried our sorrows ; he was wounded for our transgressions ; he was grieved for our iniquities ; he has excepted none out of that general pardon which he has purchased for mankind , and offered to all those , who are qualified for receiving it . i present the merits of his inestimable sacrifice before thee , o offended majesty of heaven ! i have no merits of my own ; i have nothing , i am nothing , but vile dust and sin : but he is worthy , for whose sake i beg mercy of thee , which i most humbly implore and expect , only in that way which thou hast appointed , and on those conditions which thy son has revealed in his holy gospel ; by an unfeigned repentance , a firm faith , a sincere , and an impartial obedience . o therefore take away all mine iniquities and receive me graciously , who like the prodigal , desire to return to my father's house . and since 't is thou alone who dost both put into our minds good desires , and canst also give us grace to perform the same , assist me now and ever in those holy resolves which i make of new and better obedience . vouchsafe me thy grace to avoid all those occasions and temptations , whereby i have been too often drawn to evil. let thy blessed spirit evermore comfort and guide me , and lead me into all truth , and all goodness . let me henceforth evidence my unfeigned love to my saviour , by keeping his commandments ; and let that and all other graces be excited and encreased in me at this time in my approaches to his holy table . pardon the frivolous and sinful excuses which i have too often made for my absence from it ; my want of preparation for it ; the deadness and indevotion of my soul in receiving it ; and my shameful unprofitableness by it ! o that i may now sit under my saviour's shadow with great delight , and that his fruit may be sweet unto my taste : that i may in this sacrament , receive greater strength than ever against my sins , and be thereby nourished up unto everlasting life ; that so after this painful life is ended , i may sit down with abraham , isaac and iacob in the kingdom of heaven ; for the sake of jesus christ , who ever lives to make intercession for us , in whose most perfect form of word , i conclude my unworthy and imperfect prayers , saying . our father , &c. collect for perseverance . o god of all power , and all love , who art the same yesterday , to day , and for ever , and hast assured us in thy holy word , that thou wilt not break the bruised reed , nor quench the smoaking flax. accept , i beseech thee , for the sake of thy dear son , any weak beginnings of goodness which thou mayst have wrought in me by thy holy spirit . despise not the day of small things . help me to continue to the end , that i may be saved . and now that i have put my hand to the plough , grant i may never look back , lest i be accounted unworthy of the kingdom of heaven . my strength , o lord ! i ascribe unto thee , for my own heart has often deceived me , and i know that all my strength is weakness , and my wisdom folly . assist me therefore by the mighty aids of thy holy spirit , and while i am to wrestle , not only against flesh and blood , but against principalites and powers , let the strong man be bound by a stronger than he , and the god of love bruise satan under my feet . let me be content to suffer shame for thy sake , and never be drawn away by the number or greatness of bad examples . lead me not into temptation , and let me never be so hardy and presumptuous as to rush into it . keep me always sober and vigilant , temperate and humble , ever upon my guard , watching and praying , that the enemy may obtain no advantage against me . accept and confirm all my vows and resolutions of obedience . let me have a constant respect unto the blessed recompence of reward , and by patient continuance in well doing , seek for , and at length obtain glory , immortality , and eternal life , thro' thy mercies in jesus christ my lord. amen! amen . for faith. o lord , who hast said that he who has but faith as a grain of mustard-seed , may remove mountains , and that without faith it is impossible to please thee , increase my faith , and let me thereby overcome the world and the flesh , and quench all the fiery darts of the devil . let me firmly believe all thy promises to the penitent and obedient , and all thy threatnings against impenitent sinners . let me not rest in a dead faith , a presumptuous opinion , that i shall be pardoned or saved , without performing all those good works which thou hast prepared for me to walk in . give me that faith which worketh by love , and by an impartial obedience to thy commands . let me firmly believe in the lord jesus , that i may be saved ; and not trust in my own righteousness , but in his merits , who is the way , the truth , and the life . let me always hope in him for pardon of what 's past , and grace to serve thee better for the future . let me have a lively and stedfast faith in him , when i approach to his table , that i may draw near and take the holy sacrament to my comsort , and that it may powerfully help me forward in the right way which leads unto everlasting life . to the unfading glories of that happy state , where faith shall be changed into sight : where , with holy souls , who are departed this life in the true faith and fear of thy holy name , i may enjoy the end of my faith , the salvation of my soul , and see , and love thee to all eternity , thro' jesus , amen . a thanksgiving before the sacrament . what shall i render to thee , o god of all grace , for the riches of thy goodness towards me a miserable sinner ! how utterly unworthy am i , even of the common blessings of life ! and yet art thou pleased out of thy infinite mercies once more to permit me , to invite me to tread thy courts , to sit at thy table , and to feast on angels food . o that my heart could be fully possest with thoughts of gratitude and love ! o let my mouth be filled with thanks , and my lips with praise , for those inestimable benefits ! god will in very deed dwell with man , tho' the heaven of heavens cannot contain him . my saviour will fulfil his gracious promise , and be present with his church in his own institutions , till the end of the world. i have now one happy opportunity more offered me to renew that covenant which i have so often broken ; to obtain greater strength against my sins , and to sacrifice them all before god at his holy altar , even after i have either frequently slighted the like invitations , or been present at thy holy table without due preparation and devotion , or have soon forgotten those promises which i there made , and those vows of god which have been upon me . but , o lord ! as my utter unworthiness does more magnifie thy infinite goodness , so let the sense of the one produce in my mind more lively and lasting acknowledgements of the other . for which , help me to magnifie thee o god my king , and to praise thy name for ever and ever ! and grant that i may now approach thy table with such devout praises , such true gratitude , such humble love , as may there be accepted of thee ; and being increased and confirmed by the renewed pledges of thy favours , i may continue to shew forth thy praise in the steddy course of a fruitful , thankful , and obedient life , thro' jesus christ our lord. amen! a collect for charity . o lord , who hast told us , that all our doings without charity are nothing worth , pour into my heart , i beseech thee , the most excellent gift of charity , that i may love thee above all things , and love my neighbour as my self . i am now approaching once more to that feast of love which my saviour has provided for me : o that my heart may be entirely penetrated with his love , and that the endearing thoughts of what he has done and suffered for me even while i was an enemy , may wholly subdue in me all hatred and wrath , and malice , and revenge , and criminal self-love , and peevishness , and immoderate anger ; and may render it as delightful to me , as 't is necessary , to forgive all that have offended me , as i expect that god for christ's sake should forgive me . give me a constant disposition to love my enemies , to bless them that curse me , do good to them that hate me , and pray for them that despightfully use me , and persecute me . [ here , if you have any enemies , 't would be well in particular to name them , and ask pardon for them , and then add , ] forgive , o lord ! my trespasses , as i desire from the bottom of my heart , to forgive all those that trespass against me ; and help me by a wise , a gentle , and a peaceable behaviour , and by all good offices towards them , to heap coals of fire upon their heads , and melt them down into a better temper . grant that i may more and more covet that best gift of charity , and may feel it daily encrease in my heart towards all my christian brethren . let my love unto them be advanced in proportion to their excellency in piety , and nearer resemblance to god. especially , unite me in the most fervent and tender affection to all those with whom , by thy grace , i shall partake of the bread of life at the approaching communion . let us be all one body and one bread ; and grant that i may heartily seek the welfare both of their souls and bodies bless thy holy catholick church , especially that part of it planted in these kingdoms : reform her professors , heal her breaches , disappoint and convert her enemies . pity all that suffer for righteousness sake . [ here add any particular church that is persecuted , as suppose in france , scotland , &c. ] comfort the afflicted , support the miserable , help those that have no helper , and in thy due time , deliver thine israel out of all their trouble , for christ his sake . amen! § xviii . having thus finished the directions concerning such a stated examination and preparation as is necessary or highly convenient to those who have opportunities for it , in the week before the communion , i should here add a summary of them for the use of such as have not time or convenience for such a larger preparation : but think it more proper to remit that to the end of this tract , and shall add a word or two in the conclusion of this chapter , concerning our behaviour betwixt this forementioned preparation , and our actual approach to the sacrament , especially in the morning of the communion . § xix . for the former ; as for the time that passes between our preparation and reception , he who desires to be a worthy communicant , can hardly be too careful , or too much upon his guard , lest he should build again the things he had destroyed , and fall from his stedfastness . he cannot therefore do better than to repeat his examen , not only every evening , which has been the custom even of heathens , and every evening and morning as many serious christians , but even oftner in the day , if there be opportunity , according to the practice of devout persons of other communions , * for , why should we not follow a good example , whoever it be that gives it ? and hereby we shall preserve that good frame which 't is to be hoped we have already acquired by our solemn preparation , and if any criminal thought , word , or action should escape us , may immediately wash it off again by a speedy recollection and repentance , that our wedding garment may be clean and unspotted when we enter into the marriage . in order whereunto , 't would be advisable to avoid mingling with worldly business , as much as possible ; however , to shun such conversation and diversion as would be apt to efface , or lessen those good impressions which with so much pains , may have lately been fixed on our minds . § xix . in the morning which immediately precedes the communion , shake off sloth betimes , remember who 't is that calls , rise early to meet your redeemer . and with the royal psalmist , psal. 5. 3. in the morning direct your prayer unto him , and look up for his grace and assistance : contrary to the very ill custom of too many who make the lord's day as short as they can , and indulge their sloth and idleness on the day more than on any other . but so will not the pious christian , especially when he designs and desires to be a worthy communicant ; but considers the great advantages of being early at his devotions , before his mind be filled or diverted by any other object ; and that wonderful spirit and life , which it adds to his meditations and prayers , when his mind is thus fresh and vigorous , his body refresht by rest and sleep , and his spirits recreated and révived ; when he sees and hears all the creation round him praising god : with whom he may joyn , and make it his first happy employment to sing his praises ; either in the lxiii psalm , o god my gracious god , &c. the five first verses . or ( if he pleases ) in the sacramental morning hymn , awake my heart , &c. annexed , among others to this treatise . then , after his examen , he may repeat the devotions used at the preparation , or any other from the whole duty of man , or other pious books , or of his own composing . as for eating , or not eating any thing the morning before we receive , 't is a thing in it self indifferent , and therefore must be determined according to the constitution of the communicant . if a person be strong and healthy , and finds no inconvenience from abstinence , but rather that his mind is thereby more abstracted from the world , and more fixed and intent on what he is going about , as well as he gains more time to fit himself for it ; in such cases it may be better to abstain from any food , as our ancestors did formerly from other lawful things , before the communion . * but on the other side , if persons be of a weak constitution , and find that such fasting the morning before they receive , does really disorder them , and render them less fit for god's service , they may be assured in such cases , as st. paul says of another indifferent action , they may do what they will , they sin not ; or rather they would here do better to eat than to forbear , because fasting is no farther a duty or acceptable , than as it tends to the better performance of other duties . besides , there is no such thing as fasting here enjoyned , or any example of it in the scriptures ; and our saviour instituted this sacrament after supper . which i mention , because some weak persons may have brought this among other frivolous pretences against receiving , that when they have tried to fast , as that morning , they have been thereby thrown into great disorder . chap. iv. of our behaviour immediately before the communion , and when we receive it . § i. when the pious communicant is going to the house of god , and more nearly approaching to his holy table , he ought to keep his heart with all diligence ; steddily to fix his thoughts , and intentions , and expectations , and all little enough , considering the subtilty and vigilance of his adversary , who , as he does all he can to hinder men from coming to this sacrament , so doubtless he will not be wanting in his endeavours to disturb them when they come , and obstruct their profiting by it and happiness in it . if we have any discourse in our way thither , it ought to be only such as that in the 122 psalm , which is thought to have been repeated by the pious worshippers of old , when going up to offer at the temple in ierusalem . in the first and second verse . i was glad when they said unto me , let us go into the house of the lord. our feet shall stand in thy gates o ierusalem . now as this accurate care , and steady intention of mind is highly necessary when we approach the house of god , so is it more particularly and eminently needful when we draw near to the holy table : if we suffer our words , our eyes , or even our thoughts , to wander in our way thither , we shall find it very difficult , and next to impossible to retain those good dispositions , which we brought with us from our private devotions , or even to retrieve them when we are present at the place , and in the act of worship . and indeed , this seems to be the very reason why we are so often disturbed with wandring thoughts in god's service , and find so little comfort or benefit sometimes in the highest acts of it , because we are seldom upon our guard in our approaches to it . a prudent christian will therefore be so far from indulging himself in unprofitable discourse or wandring thoughts when he is coming to this heavenly banquet that as soon as he is entred the house of god , he will fall on his knees , and acknowledge his glorious presence , who inhabit therein , and humbly implore his assistance and grace , and retire deeply into himself , and endeavour to compose his mind to such a devout frame as may some way qualifie him to meet his saviour and receive a blessing from him . § ii. which leads to our behaviour during the actual celebration of this sacrament . and after the most strict and impartial enquiry into the useful labors of good men on this subject , one must be forced to acknowledge , that nothing can be found so compleat so rational , and so moving , as those exhortations and directions which the church has provided on this occasion , in her communion-service ; containing the quintesence of all the ancient offices , and carrying so much of the primitive simplicity , gravity , and piety through every part of it , that it has been acknowledged to be very full and excellent , even by those who are so unhappy as not to use it . i shall therefore take those directions which are necessary to regulate our behaviour at the time of receiving , from the several parts of the churches office , which will be of great advantage in order to fix the ensuing advices in our memories , and assist us in their practice , when we shall meet with them all in order ( except some few things which relate to our private devotions ) in the churches excellent form already mentioned ; on every part whereof we ought therefore to bend our minds with the utmost intention , and go to along with every word which the minister pronounces ; which if we are careful to do , and to observe those directions he therein gives us , we cannot fail of being worthy receivers . and we are therein directed to most of the same things which were before mentioned , as necessary to our preparation , tho' here they are to be all exercised and acted anew , with the utmost intention of our minds . and they are , first , repentance . 2. faith. 3. devotion . 4. humility . 5. thanksgiving . 6. charity . and in the last place a particular , actual , and solemn remembrance of our saviour's death , and the ends of it , and of the institution of this sacrament . § iii. and first , for repentance , which we must renew and exercise at the table of the lord , because we are there to renew our covenant with him , and must consequently with the deepest contrition , implore his pardon for our frequent breaches of it . i do not know whether ever there were in any humane writings , so lively , full and pathetick a form of confession , as that which the church here uses , in the name of all those which are minded to receive the holy communion ; and one would think it were scarce possible for any , unless the most hardned sinner , to repeat this confession after the minister without being touched and moved by it , and without feeling something of contrition and sorrow for his offences . this i dare affirm , that there 's no good man , who has duly prepared himself for this ordinance , but when he comes to this part of the office , will find himself most sensibly and deeply affected with it : for as the church has immediately before invited those who do truly and earnestly repent of their sins , to draw near and take this holy sacrament ; so it instructs them in this most humble confession to almighty god , how to exercise that repentance : in the first part whereof , we are taught , to acknowledge and bewail our sins . in the second , actually to repent of them , to detest and abhor them . in the third , 'to beg mercy for jesus christ's sake ; and in the last place , to implore strength against them . § iv. 1. to acknowledge them , and to bewail our manifold sins and wickedness , since we can by no means hide them from the eye of heaven , and they are the truest and justest causes of lamentation and sorrow . nor are we to rest in generals , but here again , to call to mind the greatest and most hainous sins , whereof on our former examination , we have found our selves guilty , whether in thought , word , or outward action . these we are to acknowledge , we have most grievously committed ; which may imply the hainous aggravation of them , for which we must own , that we have provoked most justly god's wrath and indignation against us , that we have deserved his anger , and all the dreadful consequences thereof , in the punishments both of this and another world. § v. and having thus confest and acknowledged our sins , their number , continuance , extent , and aggravation , we are directed to proceed to the formal act of repentance for them ; to profess , that we do earnestly repent , and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings ; and woe to him , who , tho' he joyns in this solemn protestation with all good christians yet does not truly and earnestly repent of his sins , nor is heartily sorry for them , which how can he be thought to be when he falls into them again , on the next temptation ? whereas , if we do truly repent of them , the remembrance of them will be indeed grievous unto us , and their burthen intolerable . we shall know how evil and bitter a thing it is to depart from the living god , and be weary and heavy laden , and fly to christ to give us rest . which repentance and abhorrence of our sins , ought to be raised to the greatest heighth , at the time of consecration , when we see christ's sacramental body broken , and his blood poured out for us : and just at the time of receiving , when we ought with an holy indignation to bring our sins , and nail them to the cross of christ ; to kill those murderers , as benaiah did ioab , at the horns of the altar ; to sacrifice them there , and hew them in pieces before the lord ; in short , to be deeply afflicted for them , and to make firm resolves to forsake them . § vi. in order to which , we must in the third place , ask mercy for christ's sake , and pardon for all our sins ; as the church teaches us in those moving and tender expressions ; have mercy upon us ! have mercy upon us most merciful father ! for thy son our lord jesus christ's sake , forgive us all that is past . and this we have need to pray for , since without forgiveness , the past guilt remains , as well as the punishment due for our sins , tho' we should no more commit them . but both are remitted in this sacrament to the worthy receiver , not by virtue of our own merits , or any preparation , examination , or repentance , or even of the very act of outward receiving , but merely for christ's sake , on account of his merits and intercession , and by the virtue which flows from his wounded side , his spiritual flesh and blood , inwardly received by the faithful in this ordinance . § vii . now we are taught to conclude this confession , with praying , that god would grant us that we may ever hereafter serve and please him in newness of life , without which , all that 's past is in vain ; nor is there any that 's so perfectly renewed that he has not still need to purge out something of the old leaven . and tho' god will give such grace to those who worthily partake of this sacrament , yet has he appointed prayer as the means to obtain it , and of our perseverance in well-doing , and daily encreasing in goodness ; which prayer does virtually contain a promise to use our own utmost endeavors to amend our lives ; that resolution of better obedience , which seems to be the very act wherein we renew our covenant with god , and engage to fulfil our part of it ; which if we do faithfully perform , he will never be wanting to his . § viii . thus much for repentance . the second grace to be exercised at the sacrament is faith , which we are to reduce into act when the minister declares in the absolution ; that almighty god has promised forgivenness of sins to all them that with hearty repentance , and true faith , turn unto him ; further praying , ' that god would have mercy upon us , pardon and deliver us from all our sins , confirm and strengthen us in all goodness , and bring us to everlasting life . which absolution we are humbly to receive upon our knees , as an authoritative declaration , from one commissioned by christ himself to bind and loose , and to remit and retain sins : to which we are to add a hearty and faithful amen ; as being fully assured that god will perform what he has promised by his son , if we neglect not our parts in the covenant . faith is here more eminently necessary , as well with respect to all the promises of the gospel , as to the particular benefits of this sacrament , and the application of them to our selves . for our lord has said , he that eateth my flesh , and drinketh my blood , hath eternal life , and i will raise him up at the last day . the faithful receiver eats and drinks salvation ; this sacrament shall eminently conduce unto it . he is thereby united to christ , one with christ and christ with him , and by virtue of that indissoluble union , sealed in this holy ordinance , he receives a principle of immortality , whereby he shall be , not only raised from the death of sin in this world , but at length raised from the grave , and live in endless happiness : which also seems to be the meaning of the prayer in the very delivery of the elements , the body and blood of our lord jesus christ preserve the body and soul to everlasting life ; to which , most devout christians add their private amen , as being fully perswaded that it shall have that happy efficacy to every worthy receiver . and the same act of faith they are to exert when they hear the minister read those comfortable words which our saviour saith by himself and his apostles , to all that truly turn unto him , come unto me all that travel and are heavy laden , and i will refresh you , &c. to which the devout soul will be ready to answer , draw me , and we will run after thee ! or with st. peter , to whom should we go but to thee ; thou hast the words of eternal life . and so in the rest of the sentences , applying them to himself by a particular act of faith , and saying , lord , i believe , help my unbelief . and this faith will be mightily advanced by our actual advertence to christ's spiritual presence in this holy ordinance , more eminently , graciously and peculiarly , than in any other . and the highest act of it , is to be exercised at the very instant of receiving . § ix . devotion is in the third place highly necessary to a worthy communicant , at the time of celebration , and in all the parts of that holy office. by which devotion is meant , the intense abstraction , or withdrawing of the mind from all wordly things , till it acquires a contrary bent and inclination , and mounts freely and vigorously towards heaven , despising and trampling all the ridiculous trifles of this perishing world , and counting all things but dung and dross , for the knowledge , for the love of a crucified redeemer ; which every very good man experiences in some happier moments of his life . now the way to obtain this , is the vigorous acting of faith , repentance , humility , and divine love ; and the energy and inward free motion of the mind towards heaven . and to this , the church invites in those words which were used on this occasion in the primitive times . the sursum corda ! or , life up your hearts ! to which the congregation replys , we lift them up unto the lord : which we have the highest reason to do , when he confers such inestimable favours upon us , and when christ instituted this feast , as has been said principally for this reason , that we should think upon him , our absent friend ; give our selves a little ease and breathing from the amusements and care of life ; escape from this world , and fix our hearts upon a better , upon that happy place , where christ sits at the right hand of god , and whither , if we are faithful to him , we shall at length also arrive , seeing he has prayed to his father , that all those whom he has given him , may be with him where he is , that they may behold his glory . st. iohn 17. 24. § x. a fourth grace is humility . this is indeed included in repentance , for a true penitent must be humble : but we must be more explicite in it , and are directed by the church , to form a particular act thereof , immediately before the consecration ; when the priest kneeling at the lord's table , says in the name of all that communicate , we do not presume to come to this thy table , o merciful lord ! trusting in our own righteousness , but only in thy manifold and great mercies . we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table . and indeed , one would wonder that any christian should think he could express too great humility , either of body or mind , when he comes before the throne of god to receive his pardon . 't is this most humble prostration of soul , this abasement , and annihilation of our selves , and utterly disclaiming our own merits , which seems to be the bottom of that seraphical divinity , which has made so much noise in the world. if they make it more than this , 't is dangerous enthusiasm , as has appeared both in the church of rome and others . if they rest it here , as is done in some part at least , of sancta sophia , it is accountable and rational , and may be of great advantage in the course of a christian life ; especially in the sacrament , where the lower we abase our selves , the higher will god raise us . and this we ought particularly to exercise when we see the minister approaching to us , with the bread or wine , and firmly to believe , that we shall receive our saviour together with them . § xi . but yet fifthly ; this ought not to hinder , but rather to encrease our thankfulness ; because , as has been said , the sense of god's goodness must needs be advanced by the consideration of our own unworthiness . to this the church especially , directs us : above all things , ye must render most humble and hearty thanks to god the father , son and holy ghost , for the redemption of the world by the death and passion of our lord and saviour jesus christ. and again , after the sursum corda , we are invited , to give thanks to our lord god , to which the congregation answers , 't is meet and right so to do . on which follows that solemn act of thanks and praise which the priest alone pronounces , as 't is said our saviour did in st. luk. 22. 19. and in 1 cor. 11. 24. he took bread , and when he had given thanks , he broke it . from which actions , the whole sacrament obtained two names ; the eucharist , from giving thanks , as 't is expresly called in two or three places of the new testament , in the syriac version ; and breaking of bread , as 't is stiled in the acts of the apostles . now this praising god , and acknowledging and adoring his infinite goodness , ought to spread it self thro' every part of the office : and even our repentance and humility would be so managed , as to encrease our praises . but we should more especially , exercise our thankfulness , when the minister says , it is meet , right , and our bounden duty , that we should at all times , * and in all places give thanks unto god ; on which follows that seraphical anthem , repeated by saints here below , and angels above : therefore with angels and arch-angels , &c. in which the pious communicant joins both in heart and voice , as well as in the particular prefaces before it , wherein we are directed to praise god , either for the birth of christ , or his resurrection , or ascension , or for his sending the holy ghost ; or else we adore the divine trinity in the unity of the godhead : which prefaces seem to have been added , because the church does not doubt , but that so often at least , as these greater festivals return , there will be a communion . and after we have received , we entirely desire our heavenly father , mercifully to accept our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ; and we most heartily thank him , that he has vouchsafed to feed us , who have duly received these holy mysteries , with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of his dear son , and assured us thereby , of his favour and goodness towards us : and then we again break out into that hymn of praise to the whole blessed trinity , part of which is the same that was sung by the angels at the birth of our saviour ; glory to god on high , on earth peace , good-will toward men. but more especially , are we to have our hearts filled with the most exalted praises , in the very act of receiving , to which the minister exhorts us in the delivery both of the bread and wine . nothing but faith , and holy ioy , and humble praise , are then to be admitted . then , when the holy soul is in the mount with god , and says , 't is good for her to be here , and if any thing of disturbance can find entrance , 't is because she must so soon return again to a sordid , vexatious , impertinent world , when she is now already on the wing for heaven , is advanced so far upward in that glorious road , and would so gladly fly away and be at rest in the bosom of her redeemer . § xii . the last grace is charity , taken in the largest sense , for love to god and to our neighbour . 1. love to god , the soul of all piety , which quickens and enlivens every christian duty . this is here encreased by remembring god's love to us , in sending his son , and our saviour's love , in giving himself to die for us . this sacrament is the dearest token of his love , and the church accordingly tells us , that to the end , we should always remember the exceeding great love of our master , and only saviour jesus christ in dying for us , he has instituted and ordained holy mysteries as pledges of it . and the actual and lively consideration hereof , of christ's wonderful love towards us , miserable sinners , so ungrateful , so unworthy , so often guilty of broken faith , and broken vows , who have loved the world and our own lusts , more than him , who have grieved him , who have wounded him , who have crucified him by our sins , and who continue to do so ; ( for there is no man that lives and sins not , ) and all this , to him who still loves us , and still offers us peace , and pardon , and grace , and heaven , and even his own blessed body and blood in this heavenly feast : shall not all this prevail with us to give him our worthless love again for the rest of our lives ? to give it him without exception , and without reserve . it must , it will , it cannot fail of having this happy effect , if we carefully regard every part of this sacred action , and intently consider our saviour's death , as represented therein ; especially while the minister is consecrating the elements , the whole prayer of consecration being made up of a lively and thankful recognition of our saviour's sufferings , and of his instituting the sacrament in memory of them . we are therefore , in order to the exercising and encreasing of our love to christ diligently at that time , to regard the minister with our eye , and christ with our hearts . when we see the bread broken , and the wine poured out , then to consider with all the agonies of our souls , and with hearts pierced and melted with the love of jesus , what agonies he himself endured for us , both in his body and mind . then to look on him whom we have pierced , and mourn for him , and delight in him , and hate those sins which were the cause of this , and which can only divide us from his love ; and especially when we actually receive . then are our souls to be intimately united to his divine person . then are we to embrace him as the chiefest of ten thousands , and fairer than all the children of men ; to adore his infinite perfections , to be lost in the contemplation and admiration of them , and to be wholly ravished with his love. § xiii . which will mightily assist us in the exercise of the other branch of charity , love to our neighbour , for this cannot but be easie to us when our minds are raised to this happy temper . the love of christ will subdue the enmity of our natures towards each other , that pride which is the cause of almost all quarrels , that bitterness of spirit , and rancor , and malice , and revenge and anger . those obscene birds will all fly away before the beams of the blessed sun of righteousness , as did the devils of old from their oracles . all our hatred will be against our sins , all our indignation , our resentments , our revenge , ( for neither were those in vain implanted in our minds ) will be turned quite another way . o how happy would the world be , did but the body of christians frequently and worthily receive the communion . i am confident , nothing could sooner heal the wide wounds of christendom , as i believe the neglect of it has been the great original of them , as well as of all our own factions and divisions . all good men must love one another , if they often met at this holy table . they could not , they dared not there retain , or nourish any pique against each other . they would love much , both christ and his members , because they so often considered that much was forgiven them . and tho' this may seem a digression , yet the truth and consequences thereof appear so plain , and so considerable , that i knew not how to omit it . but to return ; charity is here to be actually exercised towards all christ's members , especially towards those with whom we communicate . we are to knit our hearts most closely and intimately to them , with the bands of holy love. poor and rich , without exception , only loving those most that love god most . we are to pray for them all , and not only in the offertory , but on other occasions , to do them all the good we can , by faithful counsel , by tender and prudent reproof , and by all lawful and possible means , promoting the welfare of their souls and bodies . and lastly , by devout prayer to god for them , as we are directed : that all who are partakers of this holy communion , may be filled with his grace and heavenly benediction . but tho' our charity is to begin there , we are not to confine the exercise thereof to those only who then actually communicate with us , for we are also directed by the excellent spirit of our church , shewing it self in those holy confessors and martyrs who composed her liturgy ; humbly to beseech god to grant , by the merits and death of his son jesus christ , and thro' faith in his blood , that not only we , but also his whole church may obtain remission of our sins , and all other benefits of his passion . which may he grant who has so dearly purchased it for us , to whom with the father and holy ghost , be all glory , honour and dominion , now , and to eternal ages . amen! if there be any time between the consecration and actual receiving , the communicant may make use of these following devotions . an act of penitence . o infinite offended goodness ! who art a consuming fire to the obstinate sinner ; but infinite to pardon those who confess and forsake their sins . i desire earnestly to repent of all my misdeeds ! i will acknowledge my transgressions before thee , and mine iniquities will i not hide . i have sinned ! i have sinned ! o father , against heaven and before thee . against thy mercies and thy judgments , the thunder of thy law , and the still small voice of thy gospel . against the clearest manifestations of thy wonderful love , in sending thy son to shed his blood as an attonement for the sins of the whole world ; which precious blood of his , i have too often trampled under foot , and crucified the son of god afresh by my repeated iniquities . not all his bitter agonies have been so far able to pierce my hard heart , as to make me entirely forsake my sins which were the cause of them . tho' he sweat drops of blood in the garden ; tho' his soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death ; tho' he endured the contradiction of sinners ; tho' he was mocked , and buffeted , and spit on , and crowned with thorns , and scourged , and fainted under his cross , and was nailed unto it , and raised in the air a spectacle to men and angels ; tho' he there groaned under the weight of our guilt , and of our sins imputed unto him , tho' he thirsted , tho' he fainted , tho' he cried out as if thou thy self couldst have forsaken him ; tho' he bowed his head , and gave up the ghost . o! shall all this nothing move me ! shall my heart be as hard as the nether milstone ! cannot the blood of jesus soften it , and cleanse it ; that blood of sprinkling which speaks better things than that of abel ? shall i not now at least detest , abhor , forsake all those sins which cost my saviour so dear ! shall i again commit them ! shall i any more favour those iudas's which betrayed , those herods which mocked , those pilates which crucified the lord of glory ! o lord , my heart is deceitful , and desperately wicked , and has often already deceived me , and my goodness is as the morning cloud , and early dew which soon passeth away , and without thy grace i shall again fall into those very sins which i now detest and abhor : which that i may never more do , imprint , i beseech thee , in my mind , so lively a sense of my saviour's sufferings , and let me receive , and carry away so lasting an impression of them from this sacrament , that i may henceforth die unto sin , and live unto righteousness ; that i may subdue and mortifie more and more all criminal desires , and the whole body of death , thro' jesus christ my lord. amen! an act of faith. i desire to believe , lord help my unbelief ! i believe that thou canst do all things , and if thou wilt , canst make me clean . i chuse thee for my chief good , i depend upon thee , as my only happiness . i believe all thy promises are yea , and amen , faithful and true in thy son jesus , and that those who come unto thee by him , thou wilt in no wise cast off . he is able to save to the uttermost ; he is mighty to save and to forgive . in him alone thou art well pleased ; thro' him , o god , art thou reconciled to mankind , and hast made them capable of everlasting happiness ; from whence none shall be excluded who believe in the name of the lord jesus , and obey his commands . on him therefore do i cast my self , and on his merits is all my hope for time and for eternity ; believing that there is no other name given under heaven , by whom i may receive health and salvation . in this perswasion do i now approach to thy holy table , humbly believing and expecting , that my saviour will be known unto me there , and will meet me and bless me ; that his body and blood shall preserve my body and soul to everlasting life ; that he will pardon my sins , and strengthen me in grace ; guide me by his counsel , and bring me to his glory . amen! an act of humility immediately before receiving . whence is it , o lord , that such a wretch as i , so loathsome and deformed with sin , should once more be admitted to thy presence to taste the bread of life ! whence is it that my saviour should be guest to one that is such a sinner ? o lord , i am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof , nor that i should come under thine : i desire to humble my self before thee , with the utmost prostration and adoration . i cast my self at the feet of jesus , and will not let him go , except he bless me . i am nothing , i have nothing , i desire nothing , but jesus , and to be with him in peace , in the heavenly ierusalem . the lowest place in heaven will be infinitely above what i can deserve , who wonder why thou shouldst cast thine eyes on such a nothing . a covenant and league uses to be made between those that are equals ; but there is an infinite distance between god and me by nature , and if possible , a yet greater distance by my sins : yet has that god who dwells in the high and holy place , vouchsafed to promise that he will also dwell with the humble and contrite spirit , that trembles at his word . come therefore , o lover of souls ! o ever blessed jesus ! who , tho' thou fillest heaven and earth with the majesty of thy glory , didst yet humble thy self when thou camest into the world , to the inconveniences of a cave , a stable , and a manger : my heart is yet meaner than any of these , but thou canst purifie and cleanse it , and make it a temple fit for thy self to dwell in . come and meet me in thy own comfortable ordinance , who hast promised , tho' thou wilt resist the proud , to give grace to the humble . i beg this , o father , for the sake of jesus christ my saviour , who humbled himself to the death upon the cross , for me a miserable sinner ; to whom with thee and the holy ghost , three and one , be all honour and glory , now and for ever . amen! an act of praise after receiving . all glory and honour , and praise , to him who sits upon the throne , and to the lamb for ever ! to him who has loved us , and washed us from our sins in his own blood , and has now entertained us with that heavenly food , which those who taste with faith , shall never die . i have tasted that god is good , and that blessed are all those that trust in him ; he is not a barren land , or a dry wilderness . he has given me meat to eat at his own table , which the world knows not of : such joy as no man can give or take from me . he has assured me of his favour and goodness towards me , and given me the seals of his pardon , and the pledges of everlasting happiness . alas ! how poor am i of thanks for such inestimable benefits ! what have i to render to the lord of life and glory for these and all his favours ! i devote and dedicate all my little all unto him ; my soul and body , for time and eternity , without exception , and without reserve . 't is but a mite , but 't is my all ! o give me more , that i may restore it to the giver . accept , o gracious god , this my poor sacrifice of praise , and help me also to order my conversation aright , that i may see thy salvation : that in heaven , the place of eternal praises , i may with angels and arch-angels , and all the glorious company there , adore , and magnifie , and bless thee , and sing hallelujabs and hymns of praise unto thee for ever and ever . amen! an act of love. o infinite goodness ! o amiable jesu ! o bleeding , dying , agonizing love ! what man , what angel in heaven durst have ever thought of such a way to appease god's anger against sinners , as the death of thee the only begotten son of god , had not thy father freely sent thee , hadst not thou thy self as freely descended to earth , and taken our mortal clay upon thee , to do , and to suffer the will of god ? who could have believed this , hadst not thou thy self revealed it , and confirmed it by so many miracles ! nay , as if it had not been sufficient to die for us , thou hast also given us the heavenly food of thy blessed body and blood , to be our spiritual nourishment in this holy sacrament . thou hast made me partaker of those venerable mysteries : thou hast renewed that covenant with me , which i trust shall never be broken ! o! was there no other way to save mankind , but the death of him that lives for ever ! were all the souls of the lost sons of adam worth one groan , one torment , one drop of the precious blood of the son of god! so thou didst think , who madest us out of nothing , who didst take this most endearing method to obtain our love : and wilt thou accept it ? may i offer it ? wilt thou receive a magdalen , after she has so long wandred from thee ? wilt thou dwell in such a breast , which has been so long a cage of unclean spirits ! yes , thou thy self hast said it , thou hast assured me of it , thou hast sealed my pardon at thy own table , and requirest nothing of me in return , but my worthless love. i grieve , and i love , o my redeemer , for all that thou hast done for me , for all that i have done against thee . o when shall i love thee without any interruption , any disturbance from this intruding world ! when shall i be ever with thee , and be satisfied with thy love ! my heart beats towards thee , my soul desires , and pants , and longs earnestly to be united with thee , never , never more to be divided . i would fain be more like thee , i would refuse nothing for thee . o how shall i express my love , and what shall i do for him who has done all for me ! come , o thou whom my soul desires to love ! thou chiefest of ten thousands , and all together lovely , and fill my heart so full with the sense of thy goodness , and with longing desires after thee , that i may frequently , that i may constantly present my self here at thy table , to meet thee , and bless thee . that i may shew i have been with jesus , by telling what great things he has done for me , by endeavouring to make all others admire and love him ; that i may still aspire more earnestly towards those blessed regions of peace and love , where he is entered before me to prepare a place for me ; and in the mean time , let all my actions be guided by the love of jesus , that i may be made perfect in his love , and it may expel all other loves from my heart , that are inconsistent with it . that so when he shall appear , i may be like him , and see him no longer in types and sacraments , but face to face ; see him as he is , and be for ever with the lord. make haste my beloved and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices ! amen! amen! chap. v. § i. having already in the first chapter of this little treatise , given an account of the nature of the sacrament . in the second ; of the obligation which lies on all adult christians to receive it , and even to frequent communion ; and answered the objections which are commonly brought against it . in the third ; given some rules for our preparation for it , and heads of examination in order thereunto . in the fourth ; discoursed of our behaviour at the time of the celebration , and those graces which are then in a particular manner to be exercised . i proceed in the fifth and last chapter , to add some plain directions after we have received , and what influence this holy sacrament ought to have upon us ; and how we ought to behave our selves in relation to it , both immediately after , and between one sacrament and another , as well as through the whole course of our lives . § ii. first . immediately after our receiving . the first thing to be done at our return , would be to retire from the world , and fall upon our knees before our father which sees in secret , and bless and adore him , with all the ardor of our souls , for his undeserved mercy , in having admitted us once more to his holy table , and for all the good things which he has there bestowed upon us . after this , to reflect on the whole action , and carefully to examine our selves how we have performed every part of it . whether our minds have been deeply affected with the sense of our sins , and of our saviour's love in dying for us . whether our thoughts have been wandring , or fixed on the engaging objects before us ? whether the sacred food of our saviour's spiritual body and blood has been sweet and delightful to us , and we thereby find our selves comfortably satisfied of god's favour and goodness , and strengthened in his fear and love , and our hearts more raised towards heaven ? if we find the contrary , and that we have been cold or wandring , and opprest with that deadness , or aridity of spirit ( as some call it ) which even good men sometimes complain of , we must enquire into the reasons thereof ; as whether this was not for want of due preparation , or from sloth or negligence in the morning , or want of earnestness in our private devotions , or of taking a just care to raise our hearts towards heaven , and to fix them on the feast and the inviter ; or from our unnecessary mingling over-much with the world soon afterwards ; or not keeping our feet , our thoughts and affections in good order , when going to the house of god , or when present there , or not bending and fixing them with the utmost intention to what we were employed in ; or not considering as we ought , christ's love , and god's presence , and goodness , and majesty , and glory ; or coming in our own strength , and depending too much upon it , not casting our selves entirely on god's mercy thro' christ ; some or more of which miscarriages may have been the cause of our want of comfort or advantage from this sacrament , for which we therefore ought to blame our selves , and not to charge god foolishly ; to be humbled for them ; and carefully to note them down , or remember them against the next sacrament , that we may be then more watchful against them , and avoid what has now been so disadvantageous unto us . nor are we to be unthankful , if on reflection we find that god's grace has preserved us from any such inconveniences ; that our hearts have been fixed , our devotions enflam'd , our affections raised , our love to god , and hatred of sin , heightened and augmented by what has past at that heavenly feast ; and that it has been sweeter to us than the honey and the honey-comb , and helpt us to despise the world , and to long for heaven . these are blessings which ought not to be forgotten , but the remembrance of them should be dear unto us ; we ought to revive the impression of them upon our hearts , and to sink them deeper there , that they may have a future lasting influence on our practice . § iii. and here it may be necessary to interpose a double caution as to these matters . there are some who are so afraid of enthusiasm , that they almost forbid a devout christian to expect or to desire any more than ordinary ioy or delight in god's service ; nay , to suspect it when ever he finds it : while others fansie that they have no communion with god in any duty , nor are indeed any thing the better for it , if they have not always these sensible tasts of his goodness . a rational christian ought to keep the mean between these two extreams , so as neither to despise , far be it from him , that heavenly manna , that angel's food of ioy , in believing ; the pleasures of god's house and table , the fruits of the tree of life , the foretasts of heaven ; for which he pants , as the thirsty hart does after the refreshing streams ; being fully perswaded , by reason , experience , and scripture , that ioy in the holy ghost , and fellowship with the father and the son , are something more than enthusiastical fancies ; that god can communicate himself to his creatures , in what measure , and by what means he pleases ; and that his own institutions are those means whereby he does thus communicate himself to prepar'd and holy minds ; and therefore he cannot rest in the outward only , but prays for the light of god's countenance , and the ioy of his salvation , which make up so great a part of the happiness of heaven ; and when he has thus tasted how good the lord is , he cannot but be entirely thankful for it . but yet , neither does he estimate his profit in any religious duty , or the presence of god in them by these sensible ioys only : he knows our weak nature is neither able long to bear them , nor is often fit for them . he expects not all canaan , while on this side iordan , tho' he cannot but be delighted with a taste , sometimes of the fruits of that happy country . he believes he has then benefit by any duty , and particularly by this sacrament , and that then god is present with him in it , when he finds that he is thereby more settled in his faith , his hope , and his obedience ; more rooted and grounded in holy love both to god and his christian brother ; when he finds his will more submissive , and entirely resigned to god's sovereign will , and the duties of religion growing gradually , more easie , and as it were natural , and delightful to him : and consequently , he cannot be so well satisfied of his profiting by a sacrament immediately after he has received , ( for he expects it not all at once , ) as at some distance of time , when the grace he then received , is as it were digested in his mind , and spreads it self thro' all the parts and offices of an holy life . § iv. after examining the frame of our minds at the past communion , we are , in the next place , exactly to reflect on those holy vows and resolves which we have made at god's altar , whether , against passion , impurity , intemperance , immoderate love to the world , neglect of sacraments , or of publick , private , or family devotion , or of the souls of those whom god's providence has committed to our charge , or any other failure whereof we found our selves guilty in our former preparation and examination , and which we have anew vowed against at the communion ; all which vows , if we did now again solemnly renew , and implore , and expect the continuance of divine strength to perform them , and consider the means to obtain and preserve it , we should doubtless find great advantage by it ; especially if we renewed the same in our daily examination ; which must needs preserve both the sense of god's goodness , and of our own obligations more fresh and lively on our minds , and have a good influence on our practice , tho' at greater distance from the communion . § v. and indeed , this is the main hinge of the whole matter ; the great means whereby we must gain advantage by the sacrament , and which , if we neglect , we must at least , expect the loss of our comfort , if not our souls . 't is , to remember all is not over as soon as we have received : no , nor that day , nor week , nor indeed , while we live ; for the obligation is for ever . we do in the sacrament shew forth the lord's death , till he come , we engage our selves by this oath , as well as by that at baptism , to be his faithful soldiers and servants to our lives end. we are not to think the oath it self is all , since 't is but a security to our future faith , and true allegiance : 't is not enough to vow ; nay , 't is better not to vow at all , than to vow and not to pay ; tho' to do both is still better than either . we cannot too often remember that those graces which we exercise at this ordinance , must also be put in practice thro' the whole course of our lives , and 't is the reason of its institution , that they may by degrees be reduced into holy habits . we must be inwardly better'd by the sacrament , as well as by other duties , or else , indeed , we are not better at all , for as one well observes , religion is not a road of performances , but a new nature , evidenced by a new life . § vi. but more especially , are we to call to mind these promises and obligations , when we find our selves again attack'd by any temptation , either to those sins which we have formerly committed , or to any others . wo to him who after he has escaped the pollutions of the world , and tasted the good word of god , and the powers of the world to come in this ordinance , shall yet fall away again , return like a dog to his vomit , shamefully yield to the same sin , which he has before so solemnly renounced , and pretended to forsake , and thereby , in a great measure , trample under foot the blood of the covenant , crucifie the son of god afresh , and put him to open shame . i speak not of lesser unavoidable infirmities , such as wandring thoughts , the first motions of passion , or being ready to give way to the violence of temptation , tho' recovering again ; but what i here intend , is the relapsing into any grosser sins , such as uncleanness , injustice , drunkenness , habitual carelessness of duty , and neglect of god's word and sacraments , and our private stated devotions ; which last may justly be ranked among greater sins , as being too frequently the beginning of all the rest . not that even these are unpardonable on true repentance ; but that the aggravations of them are so exceedingly heightned by the addition of ingratitude and perjury . an old wound may possibly be cured at last , even when 't is badly healed ; but then there 's a necessity of its being laid open again , and the pain will be more exquisite than it was at the first . we ought therefore , when attack'd by any old temptation , to oppose immediately this powerful armor against it ; and whatever pleasure or profit it 's baited with by the great deceiver , with indignation to reject it . to reflect vigorously on our new obligations to the contrary , both of promises , of interest , and of gratitude . to say within our selves , i have sworn , and am stedfastly purposed to keep god's righteous judgments . and , ' get thee behind me satan , the god of peace , whose i am , and who has promised to help me , shall bruise thee under my feet . and to this end we must be always upon our guard , we must be temperate and sober , or else we can never be vigilant . we must avoid ill company , the great emissaries of satan , as we would satan himself . a great end of the sacrament is to make us look forward , and remember christ's last coming , as well as backward , in remembrance of his death ; and he who eats and drinks with the drunken , will soon be apt to say , my lord delays his coming ; tho' to such he himself has said , that he will come in a day when he looks not for him , and in an hour that he is not aware of , and will cut him in sunder , and divide him his portion with the hypocrites . the frequent reflection on our latter end , will also mightily confirm us in our holy purposes of obedience ; the time of our own particular iudgment , or at least of our passing into our unchangeable eternity , which we should often meditate upon , and discourse concerning it with our fellow christians , instead of those impertinencies , and worse , which make up so great a part of common conversation . and those who thus speak often one to another , and remind each other of their duty , need not be much concerned , tho' they are despised for it by ill men , since the lord himself will hearken and hear , and remember them for it when he comes in vengeance to destroy the ungodly . malac. 3. 16. 4. 1 , 2. § vii . in the next place , we would do well to consider that the sacrament is appointed for our perfection in grace , as well as conquest over our sins . 't is not enough merely to escape the pollutions of the world , but we must also aspire towards perfection , to be strong men in christ. we are all called to be saints , to glory , as well as to vertue , and why should we then be content with the lowest measures ? he that thinks he 'll be just good enough to be saved , if he does not miss of that , must not , however , expect much comfort . nay , not to go forward , is to go backward in the way to heaven . we are obliged by the sacrament , to do all we can for him who has done so much for us : always to abound in the work of the lord , since when we have done our best , we shall be so far from supererrogation however , as health and strength are infallible signs of life , so we shall obtain this great advantage by stronger degrees of grace , that we may be better satisfied of the truth and sincerity thereof . consider , that this would render god's service much more easie and delightful to us . but this must cost us constant pains and labour , for sloth is the greatest obstruction to our growing in grace , and in the knowledge of our lord iesus christ ; and is commonly the last enemy in this world that is destroyed in a christian. conquer that and all is done . shake off that ague of the soul ; remember your vows , call for strength , believe and all things are possible . give diligence to make your calling and election sure , for he that does these things shall never fall ; and the higher we rise in piety here , the shorter steps we shall have to heaven , and it 's very probable , the higher degrees of glory among those many different mansions in our father's house . § viii . in the last place , when we are called again by god's providence to another sacrament , which happy opportunity we will be careful never to neglect ; let us , in our preparation and examination , impartially enquire how we have performed those vows we made in the last , and how we have profited by it . to rejoyce and bless god , if well , to be humbled if otherwise , and the greater the defect , the deeper the humiliation . i speak here , of lesser infirmities , rather than of presumptuous , scandalous sins , the habits whereof , while unreformed and unrepented , do utterly exclude from the sacrament , as well as from heaven . nor ought we by any means to be ungrateful , if we find that thro' god's grace , preventing us that we might be willing , and assisting us when we were willing , we may have obtained any advantage against our spiritual enemies : if any sin be weaker , any vertue stronger ; whether patience , or humility , or resignation , or devotion ; for which we are again to approach full of gratitude to the holy table , to offer the sacrifice of praise and take the cup of salvation , and call upon the name of the lord. these things if we observe and do , thro' the whole course of our lives , we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord and saviour , but an abundant entrance shall be ministred unto us into his everlasting kingdom . to whom be glory in the church throughout all ages . amen! questions for the evening . 1. what mercies have i received this day , answers of prayer , deliverance from evil , common or extraordinary blessings ? 2. what sin have i committed ? what duty omitted ? 3. what have i done , endeavoured , or designed for god's glory , or the good of my neighbour ; or have i lost any opportunity for either ? 4. with what success have i encounter'd those sins to which my circumstances or constitution most incline me ; passion , sloth , impurity , intemperance , vanity , &c. 5. how have i improved my time this day ? am i any wiser or better than i was the last ? have i thought of death and judgment ? 6. have i pray'd ? and how ? and the same of meditation and reading ? 7. what mercy do i want for soul or body , my self , or relations , that i may now ask it ? 8. have i remembred my promises made at the last sacrament , and how have i performed them ? questions for the morning . 1 did i read and pray , meditate and examine my self last night ; and in what manner ? 2. did i think of god , last and first ? 3. what sin have i committed , in thought , word or deed ? what duty omitted since evening ? 4. what occasions may i probably have this day of serving god , or my neighbour ? 5. to what temptations am i like to be exposed ? 6. what mercies have i received ? what do i want ? short directions for those who are ( really ) straightned for time , and cannot go through the larger methods of examination already given . 1. be sure this be more than a pretended necessity ; as in the case of indispensible and unavoidable business or the like ; since the more conscientious and exact you are in your preparation and examination , you may , generally speaking , expect the greater advantage by the sacrament . turtle-doves or young pigeons , were not accepted of old , unless where the presenter could not reach a more costly sacrifice . 2. this being taken care of , never indulge any ill grounded scruples so far as to suffer them to hinder you from coming to this divine banquet . see what has been already said on this head , both from authority and reason , in answer to the objections against receiving . 3. it can scarce be supposed but you may redeem some time on the morning of the lord's day , when you may retire from the world ; and , 1. use the prayers here at preparation , or any other that is proper for that occasion . 2. consider the nature of the sacrament , and your happiness in having one opportunity more of partaking in it . 3. examine your conscience , by the ten commandments , as they are in our communion-service ; and in the versicle added to every one of them , implore pardon where you find any breach , and grace for the future to observe them better . and the same of any other sin , not so easily reducible under any particular command , such as drunkenness , neglect or abuse of the sacrament , and the like . 4. fix your main battery against that sin which you find the strongest ; whether discontent with your condition , hard thoughts of god , intemperance , passion , pride , sloth , impurity , or what ever else . most heartily lament it , most earnestly resolve and implore strength against it , and draw near to the holy table , with faith to obtain it , and fear not but your saviour will meet and bless you . a prayer for one in affliction and want. o god ! who art infinite in power , and compassion , and goodness , and truth ! who hast promised in thy holy word , that thou wilt hear the prayer of the poor distitute , and wilt not despise his desire . look down i beseech thee from heaven , the habitation of thy holiness and glory upon me a miserable sinner , now lying under thy hand in great affliction and sorrow , who fly to thee alone for help and comfort . i am weary of my groaning , my heart faileth me , the light of my eyes is gone from me , i sink in the deep waters , and there is none to help me , yet i wait still upon thee my god. tho' all the world forsake me , let the lord still uphold me , and in him let me always find the truest , the kindest , the most compassionate , unwearied almighty friendship ; to him let me ease my wearied soul , and unbosom all my sorrows ! help me , o lord ! against hope , to believe in hope ! grant that i may not be moved with all the slights and censures of a mistaken world. let me look by faith beyond this vale of tears and misery , to that happy place which knows no pain , or want , or sorrows , as being assur'd that there is an end , and my expectation shall not be cut off . i know , o lord ! that a man's life consists not in the abundance of things that he possesses , but that he who has the most here , as he brought nothing with him into this world , so he shall carry nothing out . i bless thee that thou hast not given me my portion among those who have received all their consolation here , whose portion is in this life only . neither let me expect those blessings which thou hast promised to the poor , unless i am really poor in spirit , and meek and humble . i know nothing is impossible with god , and that it is thou alone who givest power to get riches , and that thou canst by thy good providence , raise me from this mean condition whenever thou pleasest , and wilt certainly do it if it be best for me , and therefore humbly submit all unto thy wise and kind disposal . i desire not wealth or greatness : give me neither extreme poverty , nor do i ask riches of thee , but only to be fed with food convenient for me . i desire earnestly to seek first the kingdom of god and the righteousness thereof , well hoping that in thy good time , food and raiment , all other things that be needful , shall be added unto me . i believe , o lord ! that thou who feedest the ravens , and clothest the lilies , wilt not neglect me ( and mine . ) that thou wilt make good thy own unfailing promises , wilt give meat to them that fear thee , and be ever mindful of thy covenant . in the mean time , let me not be querulous or impatient , or envious at the prosperity of the wicked , or judge uncharitably of those to whom thou hast given a larger portion of the good things of this life , or be cruel to those who are in the same circumstances with my self . let me never sink or despond under my heavy pressures and continued misfortunes . tho' i fall let me rise again , because the lord taketh me up . let my heart never be sunk so low that i should be afraid to own the cause of despised vertue . give me diligence , and prudence , and industry , and let me neglect nothing that lies in me to provide honestly for my own house , least i be worse than an infidel . help me carefully to examine my life past , and if by my own carelesness , or imprudence , i have reduced my self into this low condition , let me be more deeply afflicted for it ; but yet still hope in thy goodness , avoiding those failures whereof i have been formerly guilty . or if for my sins thou hast brought this upon me , my unthankfulness for thy mercies or abuse of them , help me now with submission and patience , to bear the punishment of my iniquity : or if by thy wise providence thou art pleas'd thus to afflict me for tryal , and for the examples of others ; thy will , o my god! not mine , be done ! help me , and any who are in the same circumstances , in patience to possess our souls , and let all thy fatherly chastisements advance us still nearer towards christian perfection , teach us the emptiness of all things here below , wean us more and more from a vain world , fix our hearts more upon heaven , and help us forward in the right way that leads to everlasting life ; thro' jesus christ our lord , to whom with the father and holy ghost , be glory , honour and power , now and for ever . amen! appendix . a letter concerning the religious societies . sir , having in conversation accidentally mentioned those religious societies which have been for some time erected in and about the cities of london and westminster , and of late in some other places , you were pleased to desire a more particular account concerning them , of their orders , and manner of life , and what my thoughts were as to what we then heard objected against them . i must confess i have had the curiosity to make a particular enquiry about them , and the informations i have received , have been from such persons , as i think , i may entirely depend upon for the truth of them , and what i have from them , i here very briefly give you , referring them for a larger account to mr. woodward's little book on that subject . in the first place , i find many persons are in the same mistake which you were once in , and confound these religious societies with the societies for reformation , tho' they are quite different as to their institution and immediate ends , and for the most part , as to the persons whereof they are composed . the immediate business of the societies for reformation , is to assist the civil magistrates in putting the laws in execution against profaneness and immorality , and consists of sober persons of any persuasion among protestants , tho' most of them , as far as i can observe , of the church of england : but the religious societies , as we call them for distinction from the other , are composed of such as meet together wholly upon a religious account , to promote true piety in themselves and others ; and are all of them strict members of the church of england , none being admitted or suffered to continue , who are not constant communicants : many of these , indeed , are likewise engaged in the business of the reformation , and so on the other side , but this is only accidental , and these two are distinct bodies of men one from the other . i cannot tell , whether i can give you a better character of those persons who compose these religious societies , and their design and employment in them , than what tertullian and other antient writers have left us of the first christians , in the best and purest ages of the church : i am sure i cannot speak more truth of them in fewer words . they often meet together , say the antients of those first christians ; ad confoederandam disciplinam ; and to pray , and sing hymns to christ as god. we assemble our selves , says tertullian , to the repetition of the holy scriptures , we support our faith by religious discourse , we excite our hope , we fix our confidence , we encrease our knowledge , by the exhortations of our teachers ; we gather a stock for the poor according to every man's ability , which we expend , not in riotous feasting , but in helping the indigent , and orphans , and the aged , and those who are persecuted for the cause of god. this is their design and employment in their meetings , and for the methods whereby they regulate them , they appear to be chosen with all christian prudence ; but they are too large to be here inserted , and therefore i must again refer you to mr. woodward's book for a full account of them . the main thing for which i am concerned , is to give you my reasons why i believe such societies as these , if further propagated , would be so far from being any injury to the church , as may be the opinion of some persons who either may not fully understand them , or are prejudiced against them , that i think , i can make it appear they would be of great advantage to it . i know few good men but lament that after the destruction of monasteries , there were not some societies founded in their stead , but reformed from their errors , and reduced to the primitive standard . none who has but lookt into our own church history , can be ignorant how highly instrumental such . bodies of men as these , were to the first planting and propagating christianity amongst our forefathers : 't is notorious that the first monks wrought honestly for their livings , and only met together at the hours of prayer , and necessary refection , as do most of those in the eastern countries to this day : and those who read the exemplary piety of the old british monks , and what indefatigable pains they took , and what hazards they ran in the conversion of our heathen ancestors , as well as how stoutly they withstood the early . encroachments of rome , cannot but entertain an extraordinary opinion of them , and will be apt to judge charitably of their great austerities and ascetic way of living , tho' perhaps we may be in the right , when we think they were in some things mistaken . however , this is certain , that a great part of the good effects of that way of life , may be attained without many of the inconveniencies of it , by such societies as we are now discoursing of , which may be erected in the most populous towns and cities , without depriving the commonwealth of the service and support of so many useful members . it will be owned a desirable thing that we had among us some places wherein those who are religiously disposed might have the liberty , for a time , of a voluntary retirement ; that they might escape the world , & vacare deo , & sibimet ipsis . this was once practised with great applause of all good men , by mr. farrar , of which we have an account in mr. herbert's life , and a larger ( as i have heard ) in bishop hacket's life of bishop williams ; and the same has been lately attempted by mr. st — . but if this should not be practicable , at least generally , by men of trade and business , tho' of never so devout inclinations , i see nothing that could come nearer it , than these religious societies . the design of that excellent person , archbishop cranmer to have founded so many collegiate churches out of the broken monaste●ies , to consist of some laity , as well as clergy , seems to have had something in it of the same nature , ( tho' in a higher degree ) with that of these christian societies now erected , namely , to make a stand for religion and virtue , so many redoubts against an encroaching world , where any might receive counsel , and advice , who addressed themselves unto them ; but since we were not so happy to have this accomplished , why may not these societies in some measure supply the want of them ? for if they were once erected in the most considerable towns and populous villages , or where one was not large enough , out of more neighbouring villages united , they might be able notably to assist the rural deans , where there are any , and in some measure supply their want where there are none : and would not this disarm that objection against diocesan episcopaey , which is brought from the extent of its iurisdiction ? however , if this be ultra crepidam , it 's certain that this would hold of parish priests , and they would , as some have already done , soon find extraordinary advantages by it . there are a great many parishes in this kingdom , which consist of several thousands , some of some myriads of souls : now , what one man , or two , or three , is sufficient for such a multitude ? what strength to visit them ? what memory , unless very extraordinary , to retain but their names ? those who have but one or two thousand , will find their cares heavy enough , especially now they have neither the catechists of the antients to assist them , nor those clerks which are mentioned in the rubrick , and seem to have been designed for that end , at the reformation : and may not we say of these great numbers , as the disciples did to our saviour when they saw the multitudes , from whence shall we buy bread , that these may eat ? but would not these things be rendred much more easie to the careful pastor ; when such considerable bodies should act [ in subordination to him , and with direction from him , ] to promote those great ends , for which he has so solemnly dedicated himself to god ? they would be as so many church-wardens , or overseers , or almost deacons under him , caring for the sick and poor , giving him an account of the spiritual estate of themselves and others ; persuading parents and sureties to catechise their children , and fitting them for confirmation ; discoursing with those who have already left the church , to bring them back to it , or who are tempted to leave it , in order to preserve them in it ; the effect whereof we may guess by the contrary , there being , it 's likely , ten , who are persuaded to leave the church by their neighbours , to one , who is immediately wrought upon by the dissenting teachers . this assistance would in all probability conduce as much to the health of the minister's body , by easing him of many a weary step and fruitless journey , as to the great satisfaction of his mind , in the visible success of his labours . in short , it seems a necessary consequence , both from what success the design has already had , and from the very nature of it , that if it went forward in such manner , and with such limitations as are proposed , it would be so far from injuring the church , that these several societies would be so many new bulwarks against its enemies , would give it daily more strength , and beauty , and reputation , and it may be more than many wish to see it ever have . and for the state , they might also be not inconsiderably serviceable to it , and highly promote loyalty and obedience , as well as all other parts of religion and virtue . there is hardly any considerable design , but may be carried on with much greater success , by united bodies of men , than by single persons . we see it in trades every day ; and why should we not learn from those who are wise in their generation ? we see what a wide progress , heresie and infidelity have made by their poisonous clubs and combinations : the very players are formed into companies , or they could not be half so mischievous to religion and morality : the church of rome owes , perhaps , her very subsistence , at least , most of the progress she has made of late years , to those several societies she nourishes in her bosom : why may not we learn from enemies ; and what better way than to fight with their own weapons ? at least , why may not we have congrogations to propagate good manners , as they have one to propagate their ill faith ? nay , it must be owned there have been some devout persons among them , who by this very method of forming lesser religious societies in towns and villages , as well as the greater cities , have done great things towards the reformation of manners , and promoting piety and virtue . the noble and pious monsieur de renty , in france was of this number : he employed much of his time in this happy exercise , particularly at caen , where he settled many societies of devout persons , to meet weekly , and consult about the relief of the poor , and preventing offences against god , which succeeded to admiration : he did the same among tradesmen , both at paris and tolose , whom he brought constantly to go to prayers , sing psalms , read books of devotion , and discourse of their spiritual concerns one with another ; and used all his interest with gentlemen of his acquaintance to erect petty societies of the same nature , even in lesser villages , where they had any influence over the inhabitants * . and why should we not transplant any excellent fruit into our own soil , and get all the good we can from persons of all communions ? publick assemblies , in the church , tho' constantly and devoutly attended by the members of these societies , yet must be owned to be improper , on several accounts , for those excellent ends which they propose in their stated meetings : 't is not there proper to discourse of many things which fall under their care , nor is there any room for christian conversation , if it were decent to practise it . pious discourse must be owned as necessary as it is a delightful employment to all good christians , and yet what more generally and shamefully neglected , and even by the accursed rules of civility , exploded out of the world. this practice , that late excellent person , dr. goodman , has endeavoured to retrieve , and has recommended it in so charming a manner in his winter-evening conference , that he would not have failed of making many converts to it , had there been virtue enough left in the world to make use of his directions : now if this religious discourse be lawful and commendable where it is accidental , or among a few persons only , i would fain know how it should come to be otherwise when it is stated and regulated , and among a greater number ? is it any more a conventicle than any other meetings ? is there any law that it offends against ? is it any greater crime to meet and sing psalms together , than to sing profane songs , or waste hours in impertinent chat or drinking ? indeed , one would almost wonder how a design of this nature should come to have any , enemies , nor can i see any reason why good men should be discouraged from joyning in it by those hard words , faction , singularity , and the like , when all possible care is taken to give no just offence in the management of it . the design of these societies , as i am satisfied by considering the first founder , and the encouragers of them , and their rules as well as practice , is , by no means to gather churches out of churches , to foment new schisms and divisions , and to make heathens of all the rest of their christian brethren ; which would be as indefensible in it self , as dangerous and fatal in its consequences both to themselves and others : so far are they from this , that they have brought back several to the church who were divided from it ; but their aim is purely , and only to promote , in a regular manner , that which is the end of every christian , the glory of god , included in the welfare and salvation of themselves and their neighbours ; and if any rational method could be proposed , besides those they have already pitched upon , to guard against these possible inconveniencies , there is no doubt but they would embrace it . tho' after all , how there can possibly be any occasion of schism , any crevice for it to creep in at , where nothing is done but in subordination to the lawful ministry , and by direction from it , and where one of the very bonds of the society is the constant frequenting of publick prayers , and communions , while on the other side , there is no visible private interest to serve , no faction to flatter or humour , i must confess i am not sharp-sighted enough to discern , and dare challenge any instance of a schism any where occasioned , in such circumstances , ever since the birth of christianity . it cannot be denied but that there may , and will be some persons in these societies of more heat than light , more zeal and warmth , than iudgment and discretion ; but where was ever any body of men without some of such a character ? they are of like passions with other men , and why may not they expect the same allowances ? but since the very rules of their institution do strictly oblige them to the practice of humility and charity , and to avoid censoriousness and spiritual pride , the common rocks of those who make a more than ordinary profession of religion . i see not what humane prudence can provide any farther in this matter . i had like to have forgot one considerable advantage of these religious societies , if they should once come to be more common amongst us , and that is , that out of them it would be easie to form societies for reformation ; for persons must be first truly and deeply concerned for religion themselves , before they are likely to be so concerned for others , as to be willing to sacrifice all to make them better . that there is need of a general reformation of manners , has not been denied even by those who have had the most need of it themselves : and that the governours both in church and state , do most earnestly desire it , we can no less doubt without the highest affront to both , when they have by so many repeated acts , solemnly declared as much to the nation . that a firm combination of good men , is the best way to bring this design to a good issue , we may more than guess by what has been already done by such methods ; and for all the objections which have been brought against those who have embarkt in this pious and generous undertaking , i believe there is no unprejudiced person who has read the right reverend bishop of glocester's defence of them , but are fully satisfied that they have but very little weight , and are there fairly answered . and as it is known that the late archbishop was a hearty friend of them , and their design , so his most reverend successor has given them a just and noble commendation in his letter to the bishops of his province , wherein he requires them , to press the clergy of their respective dioceses , to invite their church-wardens and other pious persons among the laity , to ioyn with them in carrying on the reformation of manners ; after which he adds , [ we may very reasonably expect the happy effects of such a concurrence , from the visible success of that noble zeal wherewith so many about the great cities do promote true piety and a reformation of manners . ] thus far our most reverend metropolitan , and since that time , the same design has been publickly espoused and recommended by several others of the highest character . and indeed , if the general reformation of mens manners be ever effected by the terror of the laws without execution , or those laws be ever effectually executed by the straggling endeavours of a few good men , who charge singly against such infernal hosts of infidelity and lewdness ; if any thing considerable herein be accomplished , unless by such a combination , i shall own my self happily mistaken ; but whether i am or no , the event will teach posterity . i shall conclude this long letter with the remarkable words of the excellent author of the whole duty of man , in his causes of the decay of the christian piety , the close of the twentieth chapter . that scandal , says he , which we have brought upon our religion , as it was not contracted by the irregularities of one or two persons , but by associated and common crimes , so neither will it be removed by a few single and private reformations . there must be combinations , and publick confederacies in virtue , to balance and counterpoise those of vice , or they will never recover that honour which she acquired by the general piety of her professors . he goes on ; in those primitive days , there was such an abhorrence of all that was ill , that a vicious person was lookt upon as a kind of a monster or prodigy , and like a putrified member cut off , as being not only dangerous but noisome to the body : but , alas ! the scene is so changed , that the church is now made up of such as she would then have cast out , and 't is now as remarkable an occurrent to find a good christian , as it was then to see a bad. i shall add no more , but that it was well the worthy author concealed his name , when he published such disobliging truths : at least , if he had been now living , he would scarce have escaped the censure of forwardness , and a zeal not according to knowledge . sir , i am your obliged friend , sam wesley . appendix . of baptism . § i. concerning which , i shall briefly enquire what it is ; what benefits we receive by it ; what are our obligations from it ; whether our saviour designed it to remain always in his church ; and lastly , who are the proper subjects of it . § ii. first , what it is ; and baptism may be thus described . 't is the first sacrament of the new testament , instituted by our saviour in the room of circumcision , and the iewish baptisms , to continue to the end of the world , wherein by sprinkling , dipping , or washing with water , in the name of the father , son and holy ghost , the damning guilt of original sin is washt away , we enter into covenant with god , are taken into the church of christ , and made partakers of all the privileges thereof ; god's grace here , and endless bliss hereafter , on our performing the conditions of the covenant . § iii. 't is the first , or initiatory sacrament , entring us into that covenant , which we renew in the lord's supper . 't was instituted by our saviour , who alone has power to institute a proper sacrament or sign , seal , pledge , and means of grace , perpetually obligatory on all christians . we know not indeed the express time of its institution ; for iesus made and baptised more disciples than iohn , * long before he enlarged the commission of his apostles , to go and make disciples out of all nations by baptising them † . but we know 't was in the room of circumcision , for as that was a figure , sign , ‖ and seal of god's covenant , and means of admission into the church , so is this . it seems also to have had respect to the way of admitting proselytes among the iews , which both formerly was , and still is by baptism * : and perhaps also to the lustrations or purifications among the heathen , which grotius thinks with great reason , were the remains of a patriarchal tradition , in memory of the universal flood ; which the apostle also seems to intimate when he calls baptism , the antitype to the ark , or the deluge . * § iv. the matter of this sacrament is water , which as it has a natural power of cleansing , is in it self more fit for such a symbolical and sacramental use. some of the ancients have thought that god gave the first blessing to the waters , gen. 1. 10. because they were designed for baptism . which is performed by washing , dipping or sprinkling the person in the name of the father , son and holy ghost . that is , by this ceremony , the baptised person is obliged to believe in the holy trinity , and to receive and obey the gospel . the gentiles therefore were generally baptised in the name of the whole trinity , because they did not before believe aright of any of the three persons : tho' the iews and proselytes who before did believe aright of god , seem to have been sometimes baptised only in the name of the lord iesus . † § . v. i said washing , dipping , or sprinkling ▪ ( according to our catechism ) was the manner of baptism , tho' neither of them are , i think , expresly determined in scripture , either by precept , or such example as clearly proves it ; or by the force or meaning of the word baptise . nay , there are several places in the sacred scripture which make it very probable they did wash , or sprinkle , as well as dip or plunge the baptised , and we have instances of it in the known practice of the antient churches . iohn's baptism , in some things agreeing with our saviour's , in others differing from it , cannot certainly be proved from scripture , to have been performed by dipping . not that * of enon near to salim , where there was much water ; for this might relate to breadth rather than depth , since a narrow place would not have been sufficient for so great a multitude , ierusalem and all iudea , &c. † that is , a great part , if not the generality of them . nor any of our saviour or his disciples baptisms , nor even that of philip and the eunuch ‖ , tho'they both went down into the water ; for that going down , may relate to the eunuch's chariot , when they descended , but implys no determinate depth of water : it might be to their knees , it might not reach their ancles . the words baptise and baptism do not necessarily conclude for dipping , because they are used in other senses in several places of scripture . thus we read that the iews were all baptised to moses in the cloud , and in the sea * ; in neither of which were they plunged , the body of the water not touching them ( tho' the egyptians were dipt indeed when they sank like lead in the mighty waters † ) they could therefore be only sprinkled by drops of the sea water , and refreshing dews from the cloud , while in the wilderness ; which seems not obscurely hinted in that of the psalmist . thou sentest a gracious rain upon thine inheritance , and refreshedst it when it was weary . ‖ again , christ said to his two disciples , that they should be baptised with the baptism that he was baptised with * , namely , the baptism of blood , or martyrdom ; but neither he nor they were dipt , but only sprinkled , or washed with their own blood. again , we read in the gospel * of the washing , 't is in the original baptisms of pots , and cups , and brazen vessels and tables , or beds : yet pots and cups are not necessarily dipt , when they are washt , but water is often poured upon them . nay , the pharisees washt the outsides of them only † , and as for tables or beds , none will suppose they could be dipt , but only sprinkled , or at most washt over . here is the word baptism , not in a figurative , but natural sense , taken otherwise than for dipping , namely for washing or cleansing , and that this is the true meaning of the word baptise , is the opinion of the greatest scholars , and most proper iudges in this matter . ‖ 't is true , we read of being buried with christ in baptism , but we cannot argue with any certainty from such a figurative expression ; which if it held exactly , seems as much for sprinkling as plunging , because in burials the earth is sprinkled on the body , not the body plunged through the solid substance of the earth ; and a man is not buried , tho' he is put into his grave , till he is covered by thus casting , or sprinkling the earth upon him ; and on the other side , we read that baptism is called * the washing of regeneration . and as there is no certain proof of dipping from sacred scripture , so there is very great probability from the history of the apostles , that great numbers were baptised by the apostles themselves without any such dipping , only by washing , sprinkling , or pouring water upon them , or some part of them , sufficient to a ceremonial washing † , and clearly representing the inward part of the sacrament , or cleansing from sin ; not the quantity but the quality being chiefly considerable , as 't is not much or little of the bread and wine , but the substance of them only , which with the grace of god , makes the other sacrament . the iaylor and all his house were baptised in the prison . ‖ cornelius and his friends at home * , and several housholds . but is it likely they had all of them ponds , pools , or rivers , in , or near their houses , sufficient to plunge all these ? i think the contrary is far more probable . and the same even of the 5000 at one time , and 3000 at another , which were converted and baptised by saint peter in ierusalem * , where they had none but the gentle waters of siloam , as some think , the same with gihon , which were by hezekiah brought into the city † . 't is true , it was an antient custom to dip the baptised , which was rather refreshing than dangerous in the warm eastern and southern countries : but the case is otherwise in our cold and frozen climate , where oftentimes we have no ponds or rivers unfrozen to dip in , and if we did , it would endanger the health or life , both of sick and weakly grown persons ( as some of those who practise it cannot be ignorant ) and especially of tender infants , and be more hard to them than circumcision it self ; and as the antients did undoubtedly baptise the clinics , or sick persons on their beds , by washing or sprinkling , not dipping them , so may we do with children or others in these northern parts , where the danger seems much the same , since god will have mercy , and not sacrifice : especially when he has not determined any thing concerning it in his holy word . tho' where adult persons are baptised , or children are able to bear it , our church is not against dipping * ; nor can this therefore be any valid objection against it , or just cause of separation from it . i shall close this head with an observation concerning the hebrew word which signifies to baptise † , which a reverend person who was as well acquainted with that language as most in europe ‖ , has largely proved , to imply no more than sprinkling , not plunging , or dipping ; challenging all those who are of a different opinion , to produce any place in the old testament , where the word when it is used in sacreds , and in a transient action , is not taken for sprinkling only . § vi. the first of the benefits we receive by baptism , is the washing away the damning guilt of original sin , by the application of the merits of christ's death . that we are all born under the guilt of adam's sin , and that all sin deserves eternal misery , has been the unanimous sense of the primitive church , as well as it is positively and strongly asserted in the ninth article of the church of england : and even heathens have been sensible of a fall , though they have been ignorant of the manner of it , and means to recover from it ( and yet , as before , they generally used washing or sprinkling for purification . * ) and it is no less certain , that we all feel the effects of this original guilt , tho' there may be difficulties in the manner of its propagation : for no modest good man can be insensible of an inward strong propension to evil : and the scripture plainly asserts ; that we were shapen in iniquity , and in sin did our mothers conceive us † . that we were all by nature children of wrath , and dead in trespasses and sins . that none can bring a clean thing out of an unclean . that in adam all died . that by one man's disobedience many ( that is all ) were made sinners . by one man , sin entred into the world , and death by sin , which came upon all men , for that all have sinned , and come short of the glory of god. nay , this almost in express terms as to infants , who if they had not any sin at all , no original sin , how come they to die , and what need would they have of a saviour , since they have no actual sin ? but , 't is said , that death reigned from adam to moses , even in those who had not sinned ( actually ) according to the similitude of adam's transgression * ; which can relate to infants only : which texts are allowed by all but pelagians , to be clear proofs that the whole race of mankind are obnoxious both to the guilt and punishments of adam's transgression : to the punishment as well as the guilt of it , which doubtless was not only temporal death , but extended likewise to spiritual and eternal . the scripture having concluded all under sin , as the iews under unbelief , that god might have mercy upon all † : which takes off any mistaken imputation on god's mercy , or his iustice , since the remedy is as wide as the wound , the obedience and death of the second adam have repaired the ruins which were occasioned by the crime of the first , and brought mankind into a possibility , and capacity of salvation : and as by the offence of one , iudgment came upon all men to condemnation , so by the righteousness of one , the free-gift came upon all men to iustification of life . * which virtue of christ's death and resurrection are applied to us in baptism : † for he loved , us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. he gave himself for the church , that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water , by the word ‖ ; namely , by baptism , as an instrument of our iustification , as our church fully asserts in the office of baptism . that all men are conceived and born in sin , * in the old adam , † in original sin , and in the wrath of god ; and prays , that the person to be baptised , may be washed and sanctifyed with the holy ghost , and delivered from god's wrath , and by baptism , receive remission of sins , and enjoy the everlasting benediction of god's heavenly washing : and again , that the water may be sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin ; ‖ and teaches us , that those who are born in original sin , and in the wrath of god , are by the laver of regeneration in baptism , received into the number of god's children , &c. and accordingly , does upon good ground affirm in the rubrick at the end of the office , that it is certain by god's word , that children which are baptised , dying before they commit actual sin , are saved : and this is agreeable to the unanimous opinion of the antient fathers * , and of the primitive church , which differ'd from the pelagian hereticks in this very point ; those hereticks pretending that children were baptised only that they might be admitted into the kingdom of heaven , whereas the orthodox held , that they ought to be baptised , especially in case of danger , for the washing away the guilt of original sin. § vii . another benefit of baptism , is , that we thereby enter into covenant with god , without which , as has been said on the other sacrament , what has a sinful creature to do with his offended maker ? into that everlasting covenant , which he has commanded for ever † ; that new covenant , which he has promised to make with the spiritual israel . to give them a new heart , and a new spirit , ( new principles , new inclinations ) to sprinkle clean water upon them , that they may be clean , and to remember their sins and iniquities no more . in short , to be their god , as he promised to abraham , in the evangelical covenant which he made with him , and all his spiritual offspring . * that circumcision was then the way of admitting into covenant with god , and that baptism is the same now , i suppose none deny , who own any sacraments : baptism being also stiled in scripture , the stipulation , contract , or covenant of a good conscience , as good interpreters translate that place in st. peter already mentioned . † our part of the covenant , ( which includes an oath and a vow , ) is to renounce the devil , to believe what god has revealed , to observe what he has commanded ; god's part , to give us his grace to perform what we promise , and unspeakable rewards for our imperfect obedience . § viii . by baptism , we are admitted into the church ; and consequently made members of christ , the churches head. the iews were admitted into the church , or made proselytes , by circumcision , the christians by baptism . for as many as are baptised into christ , have put on christ * ; that is , are mystically united to him , and made one with him . for by one spirit we are all baptised into one body † , namely , the church , which is called the body of christ ‖ ; whence the fathers stile baptism , the door of the church , and the sacrament of our initiation , or entrance into christianity . from which vital , more than political , because spiritual , mystical and sacramental union with christ , proceeds the influence of his grace on those who are baptised ; the honour and exaltation of our nature ; the benefit of his protection and intercession for us with the father ; as from our union with the church , a share in its instructions , in its privileges , in all the promises christ has made to it , in its intercessions and supplications , and in the other sacrament of the lord's supper , as soon as we come to age and understanding to receive it . § ix . by baptism we are made the children of god , who were by nature children of wrath. 't is the sacrament of adoption , as our church affirms * , which seems to mean these two things by that regeneration , which in so many places it ascribes to baptism , namely , the being grafted into the body of christ's church , and being made the children of god by adoption and grace . † there is something more in this baptismal regeneration , than barely being admitted into the church , or having the guilt of original sin washed away : it relates to some actual positive benefit conferred on the believers , and is the effect of our being engrafted into the church , and therefore not the thing it self only . except a man be born again of water and of the spirit , says our saviour , he cannot enter into the kingdom of god. ‖ by water then , as a means , the water of baptism , we are regenerated , or born again , whence it is also called the washing of regeneration . our church affirms no more of baptism , ascribes no greater virtue to it , than christ himself has done : nor does she ascribe it to the outward washing only , but to the inward grace , which is added to the outward to make it a sacrament . we say not that regeneration is always compleated in this sacrament , but that it is begun in it : a principle of grace is infused , which we lost by the fall , which shall never be wholly withdrawn , unless we quench god's holy spirit by obstinate habits of wickedness : there are babes as well as strong men in christ. a christian's life is progressive , as is our natural life ; and tho' the seeds of grace , should like the reasonable soul , the principle of life , and of all action , be infused in a moment , yet there requires time to produce strong habits of grace , as well as of reason ; as every one knows , who is any thing acquainted with his own mind , or with the word of god. and the same our church affirms in her devout collect for the nativity , where she prays , that we being ( namely already in baptism ) regenerate , and made god's children by adoption and grace , may daily be renewed by his holy spirit which we learn from st. austin , to have been also in his time , the judgment of the catholick church , who has these expressions near the end of his discourse , de morihus eccles. cathol . in that most holy law , says he , the renovation of the new man is begun , that by going on it may be perfected : in some indeed this is done sooner , in others later , but in many it proceeds to a new life , if any man diligently regard it . for thus saith the apostle , tho' the outward man perisheth , the inward man is renewed day by day . he says , 't is renewed that it may be perfected . thus far he , and indeed 't is evident that this renovation , tho' to be daily perfected in the course of a religious life is yet begun in baptism . that which is born of the flesh , is flesh , and that which is born of the spirit is spirit . * the holy spirit of god descended visibly on our saviour at his baptism . † it descended miraculously on the first christians after they were baptised ; on simon magus himself , there seems to be little doubt , act. 8. 13 , 17. as well as on others , and doubtless 't was his own fault that he lost it , because he did not improve it , but grieve and quench it by wilful obstinate sin : and from hence it is that the apostle says , that the bodies even of very bad christians were the temples of the holy ghost , 1 cor. 6. 19. and we are not to doubt but this holy spirit descends as really still on those that are baptised , tho' not so visibly , so miraculously as he did formerly ; whence christians are in baptism sacramentally washed , sanctified , and justified in the name of our lord iesus , and by the spirit of god. * nor will this holy spirit ever leave us , but strive with us to perfect what is now begun , unless we finally leave him , and forfeit his protection , by neglecting to perform our engagements in baptism . now in consequence of this baptismal regeneration , and our being therein made the children of god , we are also inheritors of the kingdom of heaven . for by this we enter into it : if children , then heirs , heirs with god , and joynt heirs with christ ; and inheritors of that kingdom which cannot be moved † . baptism doth now save us , if we live answerable thereunto , repent , believe , and obey the gospel . 't is that which admits us into the church here , and glory hereafter . and many have been of opinion , that by the sea of glass like unto crystal , which is mentioned in the revelation ‖ , before the throne of god , was figured out our baptism , through which we must pass if we ever come to heaven . § x. but all these privileges imply obligations : something to be done on our parts for the obtaining them : a contract or covenant without conditions , being little better than a contradiction ; and the conditions of this covenant , are repentance , faith and obedience . baptism is but the way of our entrance into covenant with god , into the church of god , but the obligations thereof remain as long as our lives , as the benefits reach yet further . faith only without repentance will never save us . the doctrine of the apostles was repent and be baptised * for the remission of sins ; and repent and believe the gospel : and truth itself has assur'd us , that except we repent we shall all perish . but yet we are indispensibly obliged by our baptism ; first , to believe all divine revelation , especially the holy gospel ; to believe christ the true messiah , the eternal son of god , the saviour of the world , and actually to trust in him for remission of sins , and eternal happiness . and because all the gospel cannot be repeated at baptism , the church has all along made use of a form of sound words , comprehending the substance thereof ; and for many ages , that particular form which is called the apostles creed , containing that doctrine which they preacht to all nations : and to this the person to be baptised , is obliged to testify his assent , either by himself or others . but tho' this be a good step , yet this alone will not save him . for he must not only believe gods word , but likewise obediently keep his commandments . those who are buried with christ in baptism , must remember they are to be dead to sin , to walk in newness of life , and to be careful that they maintain good works , * agreeable whereunto is the excellent advice of our church to the baptised . † that 't is their parts and dutys being made the children of god and of the light by faith in jesus christ to walk answerably to their christian calling , and as becomes the children of the light. remembring always that baptism represents unto us our profession , which is to follow the example of our saviour christ , and to be made like unto him , that as he dyed and rose again for us ; so should we who are baptised , dye from sin , and rise again unto righteousness , continually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections , and daily proceeding in all vertue and godliness of living . and would to god all who are baptised , would but act according to these directions , which would prevent the unspeakable scandal which is given by the bad lives of christians , the high dishonour of god , and their own eternal ruine . § xi . and this baptism is to be perpetual , to last as long as the church , into which it gives entrance ; to the end of the world. it must doubtless be highly necessary , since without it , in an ordinary way there is no entrance into the church or into heaven . the outward baptism is thus necessary , as a means to the inward ; as was outward circumcision to the circumcision of the heart ; nor would it have availed the iews to plead that they had the inward , and that was sufficient , because whoever had not the outward too , that soul was to be cut off from among his people ; he had despised , he had broken gods everlasting covenant , by despising and neglecting the seal of it . gen. 17. 14. a seal must be something visible : a sacrament must consist of something outward as well as inward . the very nature of a type implys the same : the seal of circumcision was to last among the iews , as long as the ceremonial law lasted , whereunto it obliged them , making them debters to the whole law , * and when that was abolished , and baptism came in its room , that must also last by parity of reason , as long as the gospel covenant , into which it admits , and whereunto it obliges all nations . there is no doubt but our saviour's commission was to make proselytes by baptizing with water , for so the apostles did , which they dared not have done , had not it been contained in their commission : and this of gentiles as well as iews , as is undeniably clear from the acts of the apostles ; nay they did not only permit but command and exhort to outward baptism . thus ananias to st. paul. arise and be baptised , and wash away thy sins † ▪ thus st. peter to the iews , repent and be baptised . ‖ and to the gentiles , and that with water . can any man forbid water that these should not be baptised ? and it follows he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the lord : which was certainly more than a bare permission or condescension * . and as long as the commission to the apostles lasted , as long as christ promised to be with them , in the execution of it , so long doubtless were they to exercise it , and to baptise as well as to teach ; for the commission is to both , as the promise is to both : but christ hath promised to be with them , that is by his spirit , in their lawful successors , till the end of the world. which explains that expression of the apostle concerning the other sacrament , that therein christians were to shew forth the lords death until he come ; that is till he come at the last day to judge the world , personally and visibly , in like manner as his disciples saw him bodily ascend into heaven * : which cannot therefore relate to his coming at pentecost by his spirit ; nor his coming to destroy the iewish city and nation , which was by his power , not his person . nor can the end of the world be here restrained to the destruction of ierusalem , because that was but about forty years after christs ascension , and we are not to think the commission was then voided , or that he has forsaken his church ever since : which was rather much confirmed by this terrible destruction which he had foretold should befal his enemies and crucifiers . besides that there 's another word added , always ; lo i am with you always * ; which strengthens and explains that expression , to the end of the world. and accordingly we are sure that as well the apostles as their immediate successors , did receive all nations into the christian church by baptism , and none without it ; and have continued to do the same ever since , and doubtless will do so to the end of the world. nor therefore are those to be heard , who deny the necessity or perpetuity of outward water-baptism . § xii . but there 's a yet greater difficulty concerning the subjects of baptism , whether only adult persons , who can make a personal , publick profession of their faith and repentance ; or the children also of believers , who are brought unto it on account of the faith of their parents , and sponsors or sureties , and may have the beginnings of faith and holiness wrought in them by gods spirit . § xiii . and here before i enter upon this argument , i think it may not be inconvenient to declare , that i do it not for argument's sake only . i would have no controversie with any christian but who should be most charitable , nor would i willingly provoke any , but to love and to good works : but yet i am obliged to do what i can to preserve any that are under my charge from what i my self am convinced is an error , and such is , i am satisfied , the denying of baptism to infants , and i shall be very glad if these mean papers may be useful to any others on the same occasion . wherein i shall first lay down the grounds of infant baptism , taken from scripture , reason , and primitive , and universal custom : and secondly , endeavour to answer the objections against it . § xiv . our grounds for baptising the infants , ( at least ) of believing parents , are such as these . 1. because all children are guilty of original sin , and consequently cannot be saved in an ordinary way , unless that be washt away in baptism . 2. because such children are capable of making a covenant , and were , and still are under the evangelical covenant , and consequently have a right to baptism , which is the initiating seal thereof . 3. because they may , and ought to come to christ , are capable of being admitted into the church of god , and of solemn sacramental dedication to him . 4. because the iews did make proselytes of children by baptising as well as by circumcising them ; and consequently , our saviour commanding his disciples to make proselytes out of all nations by baptism , and not forbidding them to receive children , they must needs baptise them also . 5. it is very probable , if not positively certain , from the acts of the apostles , that the apostles did baptise infants . 6. as it is certain that the first christians did so , and the church of god have continued to do it , in all places and all ages . § xv. the first argument for infants baptism , may be taken from their being guilty of original sin , and consequently , in an ordinary way they cannot be saved , unless that be washed away by baptism . that there is such a thing as this original guilt or stain of our natures , see section vi. where it is also proved , that it is in it self damnable , as it must certainly be , if it makes us the children of wrath ; and if the offence of the first adam has rendred all mankind obnoxious to iudgment , to condemnation , and to death . it is true , the second adam has found a remedy by his own death , but the merits thereof are only to be applied in the use of those means he has appointed , the chief of which are the sacraments . all good christians believe one baptism for the remission of sins ; we being therein born again , not of corruptible seed , but of incorruptible . * baptism is the ordinary way , to which god has tied us , tho' he may not have tied himself . where it is not to be had indeed , the case is different , but what are extraordinary cases against a certain standing rule ? that original sin is really washt away in baptism , has been already proved ; and that the same has been the unanimous opinion of the antient churches : and on that account , we think we have great reason to baptise infants , as did the holy fathers of old , that they may thereby be made inheritors of the kingdom of heaven . § xvi . a second argument for the lawfulness of infant 's baptism , is , because they are capable of making a covenant , and were , and still are , under the evangelical covenant , and consequently have a right to baptism , which is the entring seal there of . that infants are capable of entring into a covenant , i prove from god's own words to the people of israel , deut. 29. 10 , 11 , 12. ye stand this day all of you before the lord your god , your captains , &c. with all the men of israel . your little ones , your wives , and thy stranger , &c. that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the lord thy god. god would never have made a covenant with little ones , if they had not been capable of it ; 't is not said children only , but little ones ( such as christ particularly orders his disciples to suffer to come to him , of which more below ) and is translated in the greek by a word that signifies infants , or innocents * the custom of nations , and common reason of mankind , does also prove that infants may enter into a covenant , and may be obliged by compacts made in their names by others , and may receive advantage by them . the apostle argues from a man's covenant , which he says cannot be disanull'd to god's covenant † ; and surely , we may follow his example . infants may be still , as they were of old in circumcision , actually obliged to perform that for the future , which they cannot actually perform at the time of their entring into such obligation . the infants of believers , the true children of faithful abraham , always were under the gospel covenant . they were included in it , they had a right unto it , and to the seal of it ; as an heir has right to an estate , an infant prince to a crown , tho' there are some solemnities required to give them investiture , and actual possession of them . the covenant with abraham was a gospel covenant . the condition the same , namely faith , which the apostle tells us , was accounted unto him for righteousness * ; the inseparable fruit of which faith was obedience , for by faith he left his country , and offered his son † . the benefits were the same , for god promises to be his god , and the god of his seed after him ‖ ; and he can promise no more to any creature , for this includes all blessings of this life and a better . the mediator the same , for it was in his seed , that is , in christ * ; that all the nations of the earth were to be blessed : on which account the apostle says , that the gospel was preached unto abraham † . the same promise that was made to him , the same covenant that was made with him , was made with his children after him , for so it is expresly said * ; and upon that account it is called an everlasting covenant . in this covenant , children were obliged to what they knew not , to the same faith and obedience which abraham performed , or else no benefit by it . it reaches beyond the law ; for the apostle expresly distinguishes this from it † . 't is true , there was something legal that was a sort of an appendage unto it , namely , a temporal promise of canaan to abraham and his posterity ‖ ; to thee and to thy seed after thee , will i give the land of canaan . but this was but like a codicil annexed to a will , not the chief or main part of it ; for neither abraham nor the patriarchs did actually inherit canaan ; but as the apostle argues , god had prepared better blessings for them , even spiritual and heavenly , for which cause he was not ashamed to be called their god * . now , to abraham and his spiritual offspring were the promises made in christ , and the same which are of faith , the same are the children of abraham , and blessed together with him * . circumcision was the seal of that covenant , and therefore 't is it self figuratively called the covenant † . the children of those who profess'd the true religion were hereby admitted into the covenant which god then made with his people , and obliged to the conditions of it , as when the law was added , to the observation of that also ; for he that is circumcised , saith the apostle , is debtor to the whole law ; gal. 5. 3. that is , was obliged to fulfil it when he came to age , as being thereby made a member of the iewish church , and bound to observe all its political and ceremonial constitutions , as were the proselytes of iustice , who were circumcised , whereas the iewish writers tell us , that the proselytes of the gate , who were admitted by baptism only , were only obliged to the seven precepts of noah : and this st. paul very well knew , having been bred a pharisee , and well acquainted with their traditions . when therefore the old seal of circumcision was taken off , this of baptism was added by our saviour in its room ; one positive institution succeeding another . a new seal to abraham's covenant ; the seals differred , but the deed was the same , only that part of it struck off , which was purely polical , relating to the iewish nation and temporal canaan only . and that baptism did really come in the room of circumcision , we may learn as well from the clear reason of the thing , as from the apostle's argument * , where after circumcision , he mentions baptism , as that wherein god has forgiven us our trespasses ; to which he adds , the blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances , relating plainly to circumcision , and other usages among the iews † ; which as fairly implies that baptism came in the room of circumcision , as our saviour's stiling the other sacrament , the passover , does prove that it was instituted instead of it , st. luke 22. 15. nor is it any more a proof that baptism did not succeed circumcision , because it differs in some circumstances ( as that they were generally ( not always ) circumcised the 8th . day , that the males only were circumcised for obvious reasons of decency , and the like , whereas both sexes are baptised ) then the same reason would prove , that the lord's supper did not succeed the passover , which we know did in many more circumstances differ from it , than circumcision did from the other sacrament . § xvii . a third argument for the baptising of infants is , because they may , and ought to be made proselytes ; they ought to come to christ , being capable of admission into the church of god , and consequently of solemn , sacramental dedication to him . that infants ought to be made proselytes , or which is the same , to come to christ , is evident from his own words , st. matth. 14. 13 , 14. they brought little children to christ and the disciples rebuked them . and jesus said , suffer little children to come unto me , and forbid them not , for of such is the kingdom of heaven . which is carried yet farther by st. luke 14. 18. they brought unto him also ( it should be render'd even ) infants , that he should touch them , &c. and again , st. matth. 18. 2. and onward . he called a little child , and said , except ye be converted and become as little children , ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven . and ver . 5. whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name , receives me . 6. but whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me , it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck , and that he were drowned in the debth of the sea. in which place our saviour having spoken of little children , infants , children in age , in all the former part of his discourse , and undoubtedly mentioned them four times one after another , it cannot be reasonably supposed that he should all of the sudden change the sense of the word , and speak of little children in a metaphorical or figurative sense in the sixth verse , when he says that they believed in him . these children were so little , that they were brought to him , which yet our saviour says , did come unto him ; so little , that he took them up in his arms. and yet he rebuked his disciples for end●●vouring to hinder their coming unto him . christ's command respected the future as well as present : his disciples or ministers are still to suffer infants to come , that is , to be brought unto christ. they cannot now come unto him , but by being brought unto the church , by being made proselytes to christianity . they cannot do this but by baptism , therefore they ought to be baptised . for of such is the kingdom of heaven , or of god ; not of such only as were like these infants , but of those very infants , for if they themselves were not fit to be subjects of that kingdom , how could others be so , because they were like them ? but except a man be born of water and of the spirit , he cannot enter into the kingdom of god. infants are therefore capable of being thus born in holy baptism . they are capable of being admitted into the church , and have a right unto it . they were in the church of god under the old testament , being admitted by circumcision , nor are we to suppose that they are in a worse condition under the gospel , than they were under the law ; nor would our saviour , surely , take away any privileges which they enjoyed , but rather make additions to them . he , indeed , actually commands his disciples to admit children as proselytes , when he bids them suffer such to come unto him . the children of believing parents have a right to the kingdom of heaven , therefore to admission into the church , and consequently to baptism , there being no other way of admitting them . again , christ here expressly stiles them believers ; one of these little ones which believe in me : why therefore , should not the infants of believers be thought capable of the beginnings , of the first principles of faith as well as of reason ; and therefore of baptism , according to our adversary's own argument ? they are said to have holiness as well as faith ; your children are holy , says the apostle to the corinthians , * and that even of one believing parent , initially and federally holy : and if they are so , who can forbid water , that they should be baptised ? it has been the custom of some of the most sensible leaders of the antipoedobaptist's themselves , solemnly to dedicate children to god soon after their births , with prayer , and the like : and if they are capable of this , why not also of a sacramental dedication , which i cannot imagine how any person can oppose , who considers the need which infants have of it , the capacity they have for it , the great benefits they receive by it , and the terrible danger of neglecting it . § xviii . a sourth argument for the baptising of infants is , because the iews did make proselytes of children by baptism , as well as by circumcision , and consequently our saviour commanding his disciples to gather proselytes out of all nations by baptising them , and not forbidding them to receive children as well as others , they must needs baptise children also . that the iews did certainly admit proselytes by baptism , as well as by circumcision , and that whole families together , children , as well as their parents ; we have the unanimous testimony of their most ancient , learned , and authentic writers , as has been abundantly made good by dr. hammond , dr. lightfoot and others , who have laboured on this subject . the males they received by baptism and circumcision ; the women , by baptism only , which includes a sufficient answer to a little cavil against the succeeding of baptism in the room of circumcision . that this is not a novel custom , which the iews have learnt from the christians , we may be satisfied by their inveterate hatred against them , and especially against their sacraments . besides , they themselves deduce this practice from the old testament , from iacob's commanding all his houshold to be clean , and change their garments , wherein were included the maid servants , those captives which his sons took from sechem , and others . * and the same custom it 's said they continue to this day , and receive proselytes by baptism , as well as by circumcision . as for the consequence , it seems unavoidable , unless the matter of fact could be disproved , on which it is grounded nay , it would hold firm , were it from circumcision only , which has been proved to succeed baptism . for if it was the custom of the iews , when they gathered proselytes out of all nations , to admit children among others by circumcision , tho' they could not actually signify their belief of the law , nor promise obedience to it ; then the apostles who were sent to make proselytes to christianity by baptism , could never think of excluding children , whom the iews before admitted , ( seeing the reason for their admission was the same in both cases , ) unless our saviour had expresly forbidden it . if it be asked wherefore infants are not as capable of receiving the lord's supper as of baptism , we answer , that the reason is plain , because the lord's supper is a confirming seal , baptism only the entring seal of the covenant , by which children may now be admitted into it , as they were of old by circumcision . but we may argue more strongly , that the apostles did admit children for proselytes by baptism , as well as we know they admitted women , tho' neither of them actually mentioned in their commission , because it was the custom of their country to do both , and neither was forbidden by our saviour : as if any of our ministers goes among the heathens , and converts them , he would certainly baptise infants , and give the other sacrament in both kinds to the adult , because such was the practice of those protestant churches whence he went. § xix . a fifth argument for the baptising of infants , is because it is very probable , if not positively certain , that the apostles themselves did baptise them . supposing those two instances of baptising women had not been recorded in the acts of the apostles , yet we might fairly have concluded , that when so many thousands , so many entire housholds were baptised , women were not excluded , especially when it was the known custom of the iews to admit them proselytes by baptism : and the same holds of children , nay , more strongly , on the account of circumcision : three thousand were baptised in one day by the apostles * , and it is likely five thousand in another † ; and can it rationally be supposed that there were no children among such vast numbers ? nay , does it not seem highly probable there might be many such there , some in their mothers arms , others in their hands , as is usual in such a publick concourse , especially when there were children present at the repetition of the law already mentioned ; and likewise at our saviour's preaching , who in his miraculous feast , is said to have sed five thousand men besides women and children * . again , the apostles baptised many families , or housholds ; nay , we hardly read of the master of a family who was made a convert , and baptised , but his whole family , as was before the custom among the iews , were converted , proselyted , and baptised together with him . thus the iaylor's houshold † , he and all his . the houshold of gaius , which was so large , that he is called the host of the whole church ‖ , of stephanus ; and crispus , the chief ruler of the synagogue , and all his house . can we , i say , suppose , that in all these housholds , which we read , were without exception , baptised , there should not be so much as one child or infant , when we may observe very few of our own little families , taking them one with another , that are wholly without children ? but what if besides all this we should find someting still more express for the baptising of children in the acts of the apostles ? in st. peter's sermon already mentioned , acts 2. 38. thus he exhorts , repent and be baptised every one of you , in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins , &c. for the promise is to you , and to your children . the answer was indeed to those adult persons , who ask'd , what shall we do ? these he bids repent and be baptised ; but it reacht further than to those that made the question ; and tho' children could not actually repent , yet they might be baptised ; and there are two things in the words which shew they were here included . 1. because the apostle addresses himself to every one of them , and among every one , children must be contained . 2. they are expresly mentioned , the promise is to you , and to your children , without any exception , and to all that are afar off , even as many as the lord your god shall call . that is , all gentiles to whom the apostles or their successors should come to gather proselytes from among them . § xx. the last argument for baptising of infants , may be taken from the general practice of the christian church , in all places , and all ages since the first planting of christianity . for the truth whereof , we have unexceptionable evidence in antient writers . st. austin * , for the latin church , who flourished before the year four hundred , and origen † for the greek , who was born in the second century , and famous about the middle of the third , both affirming , not only that the universal church did then baptise infants , but likewise that they received this custom of baptising them from the apostlos themselves , as we know they also did the change of the sabbath , and other things of like nature , not clearly asserted in the scriptures . st. austin speaks of it in the most posicive expressions , proculdubio , says he , without doubt , it was delivered down from our lord and his apostles . st. cyprian is likewise clear for it , and a whole council with him , as appears in his epistle to fidus , and other places . so is athanasius , who flourished anno three hundred twenty six , and he founds infant-baptism on the same places which we still make use of to the same purpose , suffer little children to come unto me . now are your children holy , &c. st. chrysostom is of the same mind , and proves the necessity of children's baptism , from their being guilty of original sin. and even gregory nazianzen is for having them baptised in mere infancy , in case of danger , which he founds on the circumcision on the eighth day ; and tho' in no danger , he would not have it deferred till they were above three year old . tho' even this was a singular opinion of his , but such as does no service to the cause of the antipoedobaptists , since they are for baptising adult persons only . siricius bishop of rome , about the middle of the fourth century , was for the baptising of infants . so was st. ambrose . and to go higher , tho' tertullian seems to have been much of the same mind with nazianzen , as to the delaying their baptism , yet his very advice in this matter , fairly implys , that it was then the general custom to baptise infants . and he in other places affirms that of baptism , which is a sound argument for admitting infants to it , namely , that it is necessary to salvation , and that without it , none can enter into heaven . iustin martyr says , that the outward circumcision which was to be performed on the eighth day , was a type of the true circumcision ; that christians received this true spiritual circumcision by baptism , thro' god's mercy , we having need of it , because all born sinners , and that it was free for all persons to receive it * ; and therefore he must include infants as well as others . and to the same purpose , irenaeus bishop of lyons in france , who was partly cotemporary with iustin martyr , both of them flourishing near the middle of the second century ; for he mentions , infants , children , young and old , as born again unto god by christ : now 't is notorious , that by being born again , or regeneration , the fathers understand baptism , which is called in the scriptures also , as has been already observed , the laver of regeneration . nor is it any valid objection , that several in the primitive church did delay their baptism , and some of them to the hour of death ; since this proves more than the objectors would have it , who are not for delaying it till this time ; and besides they did this upon particular reasons † some because they thought all sins damnable which were committed after baptism ; others , because they were of opinion that baptism purg'd away all sin , original and actual ; and it may be more than either , because they were unwilling to leave their sins , and live a strict and an holy life ; but this no more shows the deferring of baptism to have been the received doctrine of the church , than it is the doctrine of the church of england , that people may without sin absent themselves from the other sacrament , because too many actually do it , and 't is to be feared for the same reason , namely , lest they should be obliged to forsake their sins , and lead a better life . but this , we affirm , that there is not one instance to be found in antiquity of any orthodox christian , who denied baptism to children , when brought to be baptised ; and believe we may be positive that not one of the fathers , or antient writers , for the first eight hundred years at least , ever held it unlawful . and that it has been the practice of all the regular churches ever since , is as clear and manifest , whereas we know that whenever the popish errors were brought into the church , they were neither early , nor universally received . for , not only our own ancestors when first converted to christianity , not only all our european churches , but the african too , formerly did , and still do baptise their children , both the coptis in egypt , and the abyssines in ethiopia ; as well as the churches of asia , and even those of st. thomas , who had for many ages , scarce any correspondence with our parts of the world. the matter of fact being thus cleared , we may reasonably conclude from it , that since infant-baptism has been generally received and practised by the church of god in all places and ages ; since we can track it up as high as those who lived in the purest ages of the church , and were almost cotemporaries with some of the apostles , ( for polycarp , who was irenaeus his master , lived in some part of the first century ) for these reasons we cannot think it unlawful , we must believe as st. austin says , that it was certainly handed down from christ and his apostles , and that as it has now continued without interruption in the church of god for near seventeen hundred years , so it will by god's grace continue therein , in like manner , to the end of the world. whereas on the contrary , it would follow that if infant-baprism were not true baptism , there has been yet no true church since our saviour , since there has been none which did not baptise infants ; no entire church which has thought it unlawful , though some private persons should have had private opinions . not even those of piedmont , though it is true , they often delaid baptism when they could not have it without the superstitious appendages of the romanists ; and if there were any sheltered amongst them who did wholly deny baptism to infants , they also denied baptism it self , and the other sacrament . i shall close this head , and the whole argument for infant-baptism , with this one remark ; that if there be no true church but that of the antipoedobaptists , that promise has never yet been fulfilled , that kings should be nursing fathers , and queens nursing mothers to the church ; for they never had but one king and queen of their opinion , and those they do not love to hear of : now , we are not to think that god has forgotten this promise for 1700 years together ; nor will they affirm it , there having been many excellent kings and princes . protectors of churches , which have baptised infants , and have been in their infancy themselves baptised ; whence it it follows , that infant-baptism is true baptism , and that tthose are true churches who use it if there ever yet were any since our saviour . § xxi . to sum up the evidence for infant-baptism : if outward baptism be generally , and in an ordinary way necessary to salvation ; if infants may be saved as well as others , and we ought to neglect no means to save them . if our saviour commands such to come , to be brought unto him , and did himself put his hands upon them , and bless them , and called them believers , and says , that of such is the kingdom of heaven , and was angry with those that would have kept them from him , and said , it was better for any to have a mill-stone tied about his neck and be cast into the sea , than to offend them ; and it be the greatest offence to keep them from baptism , which is the gate to the church , and so to heaven ; if the children even of one believing parent have holiness , federal holiness , by their parents charter , and may have the beginnings of real actual holiness wrought in them by the holy ghost , because they have had extraordinary gifts , and are therefore much more capable of the ordinary ; if they are capable of making a covenant , or having a covenant made for them by others , with privileges and obligations annexed ; if they have right to be members of a church ; if they were in the iewish church , and even in abraham's covenant , which was a covenant of faith , an evangelical covenant , and were never excluded by christ , who would rather give them new privileges , than lessen the old ; if supposing our saviour had designed that children should not be baptised , he must have expresly and formally excepted them from baptism , and have forbidden his apostles to baptise them , which otherwise they would certainly have done , because the iews did admit children to be proselytes by baptism , as well as grown persons ; and yet 't is not so much as pretended that he ever did thus forbid them ; nay , he commanded his apostles to make disciples out of all nations by baptism , as the iews did before them ; if it is highly probable , even from the letter of the sacred scripture , that the apostles did baptise children , because they frequently baptised whole housholds , and it would be strange if there should be no children among them ; and it was the way among the iews , to make proselytes of whole families , small and great together ; if the whole church of god , has in all places and ages , for almost seventeen hundred years together , baptised children , and continue it now , and were never opposed till the last century by some in germany , who were far from being of the best characters , and if they were in the right , and we mistaken , it would follow , that there has been no true church since our saviour and his apostles , and that all the old fathers , and bishops , and our first protestant reformers , and martyrs were either deceived themselves , after their most diligent search for the truth , or else did delude wilfully , and deceive others : lastly , if there are so many high and inestimable benefits conferred in baptism , no less than washing away the damning guilt of original sin , and weakning the power of it , by the application of our saviour's merits , the engrafting us into christ , by making us members of his church , and thereby giving us a right to all the graces and promises of the gospel , the beginning of regeneration , the solemn early sacramental dedication of us to the service of the blessed trinity , all which infants are capable of , as well as grown persons : if all this be true , as i hope i have made it out from the word of god , from good reason , and from the iudgment and practice of the universal church ; then surely it follows , that infants may be baptised , that they ought to be baptised , that our church does well in baptising them , that the universal church has done well in baptising them ; that those do extremely ill who neglect it , that those are dangerously mistaken who forsake the church , because she continues in the true faith , doctrine and practice of the apostles , and yet deny not to communicate with those who hold dangerous and damnable heresies , who some of them deny the lord that bought them , by denying the divinity of our saviour , who many of them believe , affirm , and too many teach , that the soul sleeps till the resurrection : as on the other side , it will follow , that those are in a safe and happy condition , who lead a holy life , and continue in the fellowship of the regular established church of this nation , a sound member of the universal church of christ ; and therefore , tho' some may leave it , tho' many live unworthy of it , yet we are assured christ will not forsake his own , he will not forget his promises , it is founded on the rock of ages , and we trust , the gates of hell shall never prevail against it . § xxii . having thus established the truth in controversie , i come to answer those objections which are commonly brought against it , tho' indeed they may be all , or most of them easily answered from what has been already said , and an honest , and well meaning christian , may be well established in the faith , and yet not fit for doubtful disputations , which are to be left to those who have more learning , time and ability to manage them . § xxiii . i think their main objection , and which they most frequently make use of , is drawn from the mistaken interpretation and application of our saviour's words to his disciples , in the 28 of st. matthew and 19. go and teach all nations , baptising them in the name of the father , &c. here , say they , teaching is put before baptising whence they argue that all persons ought to be taught before they are baptised , and that since infants are uncapable of being taught , they are also uncapable of baptism in answer , 1. the order of words is no certain rule for the order of things , either in common speech , or in scripture : we usually say , a man was bred and born in such a place ( and the latins accordingly , nutrit , peperitque ) by a common figure : and many instances of the same nature might be given from the scripture , which as the rabbies tell us , speaks with the tongue of the sons of men. instances we have of this in the first of st. mark , v. 4. iohn did baptise in the wilderness , and preach the baptism of repentance . again , v. 5. they were baptised of him in iordan , confessing their sins . now either the order of words in scripture , does not always infer the same order of things , or else it follows that st. iohn did baptise before he preached , and before his hearers confession and repentance . again , it is said in st. mark 1. 15. repent and believe the gospel . but repentance does not always go before faith , for faith rather in order of time as well as of nature , precedes repentance , because the belief of the promises , and threatnings of the gospel , is that which induces sinners to repent . last of all ; the place is certainly mistranslated . for whereas we read , go and teach all nations , baptising them . and again , teaching them to observe all things , &c. which makes a plain tautology , or improper and undecent repetition of the same word in the same sense ; it ought to be render'd , go and make disciples of all nations by baptising them . this is plain from the very construction of the words . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , included in the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; but if it had only been teach or preach to all nations , baptising them , it might have agreed with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and must have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , now that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to proselyte , or make proselytes , disciple , or make disciples , has been sufficiently proved by learned men who have wrote on this controversie * ; the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same signification , being here used by the syriack , but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 20 v. which answers the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , truly rendered teaching . but that children are capable of being made proselytes , has been already proved , as they are of being further taught , when they are by baptism entred into the school of christ. § xxiv . their next objection is taken from those expressions in scripture , repent and be baptised ; believe and be baptised . he that believes and is baptised shall be saved , and the like ; whence they argue , as before , that faith and repentance are to go before baptism . in answer ; as to the order of the words , we have already proved that there is nothing in it , tho' it is not denied , but that where a person is capable of making an actual declaration of faith and repentance , he is obliged to do it before baptism . and such were those adult , or grown persons to whom the gospel was at first preached , as oral profession was required by the iews of adult proselytes ; and the same does our church require in the most solemn manner of those who are baptised when of riper age. but neither god or man require more of any than they are capable of performing : nor is therefore such an actual personal declaration of their faith and repentance required of infants . repentance , indeed , they need none , for any actual sin ; faith they may have in principle , tho' they cannot outwardly express it . this is therefore done by the church in their names , by the intervention of sureties , who may lawfully and usefully stipulate for them , and they remain obliged by such a stipulation , parents being naturally , these voluntarily bound to see to the pious education of such children , towards which they cannot have too many helps : and would all who have undertaken this solemn and weighty charge , be but truly careful to perform it , which without grievous sin , they cannot neglect , would they do what they promised for them , which surely is not impossible or very difficult to be done ; would they call upon these children to hear sermons , see that they learned their catechism , and do their best to have them brought up in the fear of god and fitted for confirmation ; and brought unto it , when of sufficient age and understanding , there to discharge their sureties , and to take the baptismal vow upon themselves , in order to receive the other sacrament , we should soon see another face of christianity among us , and i believe , few things would go further in silencing the objections which are brought either against baptising infants , or against our peculiar form of baptism . § xxv . another objection against infant-baptism is , that there is no express command for it in scripture ; one positive text , say they , would end all the dispute . on which they argue farther , that god was angry with his own people because they did that , which , says he , i commanded them not , neither came it not into my heart ; and the like in other places . ier. 7. 31. in answer , as to what they so often affirm , that one positive text for infant-baptism would end the controversie , we have great reason to question the truth of it ; for it is as positively commanded in the new testament ( tho' were it only in the old , and not a part of the ceremonial or political law , none but manichees would deny it , or a fair consequence from it ) it is , i say , as positively commanded , that christians should teach and admonish . one another in psalms and hymns , and spiritual songs , singing to the lord with grace in their hearts , ephes. 5. 14. as it is to honour our father and mother : but yet , these persons absolutely refuse to do it , and they not only object against our way of singing , but they are against any outward singing at all , and never practise it in religious worship but are angry with us , and with some few of their own , who still keep up that most heavenly part of god's service * . so strange a power has an inveterate prejudice , which will neither yield to the practice of all the churches of god , nor to plain scripture , experience or reason . but to let that pass , as to their requiring an express command for infant-baptism , we answer , it is unreasonable to ask it , when they themselves do practise some things for which there is neither command , nor so much as any clear example in the holy scripture ; as for instance , the change of the sabbath ; the admitting women to the lord's supper , and even to baptism , for which last , they have no express command , and , i think , but one example . for baptism , they say that women are included under all nations , and we say the same of children , but neither are expresly named . as for admitting women to the lord's supper , we are not sure from express words of scripture , that ever any woman did receive it . they have in vain attempted to bring one express text for it , tho' there is no more doubt that they did receive , than that the apostles did baptise infants . nor can they evince any example of womens receiving from the first and second chapters of the acts , where it is said , that the apostles continued in prayer and supplication with the women ; and afterwards , ' that those that believed continued daily with one accord in the temple , and breaking bread from house to house . for that place where the women are expresly mentioned relates only to prayer and supplication , not to the lord's supper ; and for the latter place , where those that believed are said to be together , breaking bread , it s all along spoken of men in the original * ; as st. peter when he preach'd that sermon which converted so many thousands , addressed himself to the men only , men of israel , ver . 22. and men and brethren , ver . 29. and if women and sisters were included under men and brethren , may not we as well argue that some of the twelve apostles were women , because those who were convinced by st. peter's sermon , said to him and to the rest of the apostles , men and brethren what shall we do ? ver . 37. nor is there any more express command for admitting women to the communion , than there is example . the place that is pleaded for it comes short of proof ; let a man examin himself , and so let him eat of that bread * . for tho' the word men does in the original include both sexes , yet what follows , binds it to the masculine only , the word himself , being of the masculine gender † . since then they admit women to the communion without any express command or example , but only by consequences from scripture , they can never show any reason why infants should not be admitted to baptism , when there are so many scriptures which , as has been proved , do by fair consequence , show they have a right unto it , and are capable of it . as for those places wherein god reproves his people for doing what he never commanded them , it is evident that it is only a way of speech common to the hebrews , which signifies his express forbidding them to do such things , particularly that in ieremy , as what goes before makes fully evident . they have built the high places of tophet , to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire , which i commanded them not . now god had expresly forbidden them to do this , and that on pain of death * but surely , there is a difference between the iews offering their sons and daughters to devils , and christians offering theirs to god , which even those do , who will not baptise them , tho' they have no more express command for it , than we have for their baptism , or than they themselves for admitting women to the communion . § xxvi . having thus given a short account of the nature of baptism , laid down the grounds of the churches practice in baptising infants , and given , i hope , a satisfactory answer to the most plausible objections against this practice , i shall conclude this small treatise with an earnest request to all those who were baptised in their infancy , that they would always remember the vows of god that are upon them , and evidence the same by their care , to fulfil what they have so solemnly promised ; to renounce the devil , the world , and the flesh , and stedfastly believe god's word , and obediently keep his commandments . that they would continue stedfastly in the doctrine and fellowship which is so agreeable to the apostolical practice , and to the word of god. and lastly , that they would by no means forget to pray earnestly for their mistaken brethren , that god would please to bring into the way of truth , all such as have erred and are deceived . that he would take away all pride , uncharitableness , prejudice and blindness , and whatever may hinder godly union and concord . that as we have but one lord , and one faith , so we may have but one baptism , that so we may come in the unity of the faith , and the knowledge of the son of god , to true christian perfection , to the measure and stature of the fulness of christ. to whom with the father and holy ghost , three and one , be glory in the church throughout all ages . amen! amen! the great hallel or paschal hymn , which was sung by the jews at the passover , and by our saviour and his apostles at the institution of the lord's supper , consisting of psalms 113 , 114 , 115 , 116 , 117 , 118. the two former were sung towards the beginning of the feast , the rest at the end of it * . the first of these psalms ( the 113. ) is still used by the tigurine churches at the communion † . and any of them , as they are here turned into metre , may be sung , either in private , or by a family , before or after sacrament . psalm cxiii . the same tune with that in the old version . 1. ye priests of god , whose happy days are spent in your creators praise , still more and more his fame express ! ye pious worshippers , proclaim , with shouts of joy his holy name , nor satisfy'd with praising , bless ! 2. 3. let god's high praises ay resound , beyond old times too scanty bound , and thro' eternal ages pierce ; from where the sun first gilds the streams , to where he sets with purple beams , thro' all the outstretcht universe . 4. the various tribes of earth obey god's awful and imperial sway ; nor earth his boundless power confines : above the sun's all-cheering light , above the stars , and far more bright his pure essential glory shines . 5. 6. what mortal , form'd of dust and clay , what idol , even more weak than they , can with the god of heav'n compare ! pure angels round his glorious throne he stoops to view , nor those alone , even earth born men his goodness share . 7. 8. the poor he raises from the dust , the needy if on him they trust from sordid want and shame he 'll raise ; that they with mighty princes plac'd with wealth , and power , and honor grac'd may sing aloud their saviour's praise . 9. the barren womb , whose hopes were past his boundless power unseals at last , and saves her memory and fame : he fills the house with hopeful boys who their glad mother's heart rejoyce ; o therefore praise his holy name . psam cxiv . like the cxlviii . 1. 2. when ransom'd israel came from faithless egypt's bands the house of iacob's name from hostile foreign lands ; iudah alone god's holy place , and israel's grace was his bright throne . 3. 4. amaz'd old ocean saw , and to its chambers fled , while iordan's streams withdraw , to seek their distant head : tall mountains bound like jocund rams , the hills like lambs skipt lightly round . 5. 6. what ail'd thee , o thou sea to leave thy antient bed ? why did old iordan flee and seek its distant head ? ye mountains why leapt ye like rams while hills like lambs skipt lightly by ? 7. 8. all natures utmost bound the god of iacob own ! where sea or land is found fall trembling at his throne ; at whose command , hard rocks distill a crystal rill , and drench the sand. psalm cxv . like the c. 1. not unto us ! we all disclaim : glory alone to god's blest name ! whose truth shall stand for ever fast , whose love to endless ages last . 2. why shou'd th' insulting heathens pride , our hopes alike and him deride ? where is your god , why shou'd they cry ye hebrew slaves ! o saviour , why ? 3. blasphemers know he reigns above , and soon will your vain hopes remove : he all events disposes still , and all obey his sovereign will. 4. not so the gods to whom they pray , of silver and of gold are they : to whom in vain their vows are paid , adoring what their hands have made . 5. tho' mouths they have , yet all their art can neither breath nor speech impart : nor can they turn their useless eyes on those who kneel and sacrifice . 6. tho' loud their slaves for succour cry , they neither hear nor make reply ; nor can their nostrils ought receive , tho' they rich clouds of incense give . 7. 8. the bolts they wield they cannot throw , their feet can neither move nor go : with neither breath nor sense , nor more who them erect , and them adore . 9. the rock of israel is not so in whom we trust , and whom we know ; still trust his watchful providence who is our help and strong defence . 10. ye priests of god who daily bring incense and praise to heav'ns high king , o trust in that almighty friend who still will help and still defend . 11. 12. he 'll such whose hope on him is staid against all fears and dangers aid : still he 'll his love on israel place , still smile on aaron's sacred race . 12. those who from regions wide away their vows at his high altar pay , in vain they shall not thither come , but go with blessings loaden home . 14. their pious children too shall share , th' almighty's kindness and his care ; whose wondrous bounty shall extend to future days , and know no end . 15. o happy israel ! who partake his blessings who the world did make : 16. who o're the heavens triumphant rides , and earth's wide globe to man divides . 17. 18. the silent dead no praises give , but we who by his favour live , while we have breath will offerings bring , and grateful hallelujahs sing . psalm cxvi . like the xcv . 1. o god , who when i did complain did all my griefs remove ; o saviour ! do not now disdain my humble praise and love ! 2. since thou a gentle ear didst give and hear me when i pray'd , i 'll call upon thee while i live and never doubt thine aid . 3. pale death with all its ghastly train my soul encompast round ; anguish , and wo , and hellish pain , too soon , alas ! i found . 4. then to the lord of life i pray'd , and did for succour flee : o save in my distress , i said , the soul that trusts in thee ! 5. 6. how good and just ! how large his grace ! how easie to forgive ! the simple he delights to raise , and by his love i live . 7. then , o my soul , be still , nor more with anxious thoughts distrest ! god's bounteous love does thee restore , to wonted ease and rest . 8. 9. my eyes no longer drown'd in tears , my feet from stumbling free , redeem'd from death and deadly fears , o lord , i 'll live to thee . 10. when nearest press'd , i still believ'd , 11. still glori'd in thy aid ; tho' when by faithless men deceiv'd all , all are false i said . 12. to him what offerings shall i make , whence my salvation came ? the cup of blessing * now i 'll take , 13. and call upon his name . 14. those vows which in my greatest straits unto the lord i made , shall now be at his temple gates , before his people paid . 15. that life which thou , o lord , didst save , from raging tyrants free , 16. that ransom'd life thy bounty gave , i dedicate to thee . 17. my heart and voice at once i 'll raise , thy goodness to proclaim : with loud and grateful songs * of praise , i 'll call upon thy name . 18. yes , all those vows which in my straits , unto the lord i made ; shall now be at his temple gates , before his people paid . 19. his priests shall mix their hymns with mine , his goodness to record ; and all ierusalem shall joyn , with me to praise the lord. psalm cxvii . 1. ye nations who the globe divide , ye numerous people scatter'd wide , to god your grateful voices raise . 2. to all his boundless mercy shown , his truth to endless ages known , require our endless laud and praise . doxology . to him who reigns enthron'd on high , to his dear son who deign'd to die . our guilt and errors to remove : to that bless'd spirit who grace imparts , and rules in all believing hearts , be endless glory , praise and love. psalm cxviii . 1. glad hymns and songs of praise rehearse , to th'maker of the universe , whose goodness does so far extend , whose wondrous mercy knows no end. 2. let israel , now no more oppress'd , with quiet and with plenty bless'd , praise him who all their bliss did send whose wondrous mercy knows no end. 3. let aaron's sons who round his throne , in sacred hymns his goodness own ; while his bless'd service they attend , confess his mercy knows no end. 4. let all who with religious fear , approach his gates , and every year , with gifts fair sion's hill ascend , confess his mercy knows no end. 5. with deep distress encompast round , to him i cry'd , and succour found ; he me from exile did retrieve , and safe , and free as air i live . 6. he 's on my side , and i 'll despise , 7. th' efforts of all my enemies ; 8. on him 't is safer to rely , 9. than princes who may fail or die . 10. tho' troops of foes besieg'd me round , 11. as angry insects swarming sound , 12. their short liv'd mischief i can scorn , noise without strength , like fire in thorn. 13. at once they charg'd and prest me all , yet staid by god , i could not fall . 14. my saviour he , to whom belongs , the tribute of my grateful songs . 15. nor shall my single thanks be paid , lend me , ye saints ! o lend your aid ; let health and joy be spread around , with praise let your glad gates resound . 16. god's own right hand has wonders wrought , and conquer'd those against him fought . 17. he smiles , and grants me happier days , and here i now my saviour praise . 18. heavy his angry strokes did fall , but ah ! i well deserv'd 'em all : yet in the confines of despair and death , he found and sav'd me there . 19. now to his holy house return'd , who late a helpless exile mourn'd thro' th' everlasting gates i 'll go , and pay him part of what i owe. 20. 21. a pious crowd i 'll with me bring , and with glad heart my saviour sing : 22. that stone the builders once displac'd , now to the corner's head is rais'd . 23. god's hand the great event has wrought , wondrous and passing human thought ; 24. this is the day the lord has made , therein let all our vows be paid . 25. still hear and save ! o still defend , and heavenly joy and comfort send . 26. blessed be he who'll blessings bring , pardon and grace from heav'ns high king. we who from his high altar bless , will for his people ask success ; 27. he from the confines of despair , has rais'd us to the lightsome air. let the crown'd victims haste away , and thousands after thousands slay : wash the broad courts with sacred gore , till bashan's fields can send no more . 28. and what thou valuest far above , thee , o my god! i 'll praise and love ; 29. whose goodness does so far extend , whose wondrous mercy knows no end. finis . books printed for , and sold by charles harper at the flower-de-luce over-against st. dunstan's church in fleetstreet . the life of our blessed lord and saviour jesus christ. an heroic poem : dedicated to her most sacred majesty , in ten books . attempted by samuel wesley , m. a. each book illustrated by necessary notes , explaining all the more difficult matters in the whole history : also a prefatory discourse concerning heroic poetry . the second edition revised by the author , and improved with the addition of a large map of the holy land ; and a table of the principal matters ; with sixty copper-plates , by the celebrated hand of w. faithorn . folio . linguae rom. dict. luculentum novum . a new dictionary in five alphabets . representing first , the english words and phrases before the latin. second , the latin classic before the english. third , the latin proper names of persons , countries , &c. fourth , the latin barbarous . fifth , the law-latin . the whole compleated and improved from the several works of stephens , cooper , gouldman , holyoke , dr littleton ; a large manuscript in three volumes of mr. iohn milton , &c. in the use of all which for greater exactness , recourse has always been had to the authors themselves . cole's dictionary in octavo , eng. lat. and lat. and eng. the pantheon ; representing the fabulous histories of the heathen gods , and most illustrious heroes , in a short , plain and familiar method , by way of dialogue . written by f. pomey . for the use of schools . the second edition ; wherein the whole translation is revised and much amended , and the work is illustrated and adorned with elegant copper-cuts of the several deities , &c. the lives of the roman emperors from demitian , where suetonius ends , to constantine the great . containing those of nerva and trajan from dion cassius : a translation of the six writers of the augustean history . and those of dioclesian and his associates , from eusebius and others , with the heads of the emperors in copper-plates ; dedicated to his most sacred majesty . in two volumes . by iohn bernard , a. m. english examples to lily's grammar rules for children's latin exercises , with an explanation to each rule . for the use of eton school . gratii falisci cynegeticon , cum poematio cognomine m. a. olympii nemesiani carthaginensis ; notis perpetuis variisque lectionibus adernavit tho. johnson , m. a. accedunt hier. fracastorii alcon . carmen pastoritium : jo. caii de canibus libellus . ut & opusculum vetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dict . seu de cura canum incerto auctore . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a65465-e360 iob xii . 3. notes for div a65465-e2130 * the word sacrament is often used in the fathers for the whole christian religion . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , macto : & facio , is used in the same sense . * homily of the sacrament , part 1. we must take heed lest of the memory it be made a sacrifice , exactly as eusebius , who says our saviour left us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * st. luk. 22. 19. 1 cor. 11. 24 , 25. * buxtorf . synag . cap. 13. p. 302. de paschat celebrando . fagius in exod. 12. * buxtorf . ubi supra . * lightfoot , vol. ii. p. 260. † buxtorf . p. 296. * st. mat. 26. 28. st. luk. 22. 20. † heb. 9. 20. exod. 24. 8. * buxtorf . ubi supr . patrick in 113 psalm . † lightfoot , vol. ii. p. 354. ‖ lightfoot . * tertull. apol. cap. 39. p. 106. edit . cantab. † exod. 12. 14. ver. 27. ‖ exod. 12. 3. * exod. 13. 8. lxx. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * st. ioh. 1. 29. † 1 st. pet. 1. 18 , 19. ‖ 1 cor. 5. 7. vid. cudworth , and discourse of the holy eucharist , p. 6. * dickenson in delphi phoeniciss . p. 169. and dr. spencer de sacrificiis , thinks that noah was called ogyges , from ogh , which signifies panis subcineritius , bread baked under the embers , and offered in sacrifice . p. 659. † exod. 29. 40. levit. 2. 3. * vid. mede of christian sacrifice , p. 359. * vid. preface to discourse of the eucharist . * eoquem tam amentem esse putas , qui illud quo vescatur credat deum esse ? tully de natura deorum . † rubrick after communion . ‖ st. mat. 26. 11. * st. mat. 28. 20. † 1 cor. 11. 26 , 27 , 28. ‖ vide supra . * lutherans , calvin , beza , assemb . catechism , great and less ; cranmer , ridley ; communion service english , tigur . liturg. &c. * 1 cor. 10. 16. * st. mat. 28. 20. * ephes. 5. 32. † 1 cor. 15. 22. ‖ see the excellent discourse of these two covenants in the preface to the whole duty of man. * gen. 22. 18. * heb. 9. 12. 10. 10. † st. mark 16. 16. ‖ acts 3. 19 , 25 , 26. * gal. 3. 17. † gen. 26. 30. * 1 cor. 7. 8. † 1 cor. 10. 21. ‖ eph. 5. 4. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 † 1 cor. 11. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so st. luke 22. 19. ‖ st. mat. 26. 26. * st. iohn 13. 35. ‖ 1 cor. 10. 16 , 17. † pliny , ad confaederandam disciplinam coetus chrianorum . * vid. tertul. apol . c. 39. p. 105. * rom. 4. 11. galat. 3. 14. * exod. 20. 24. † thus ignatius in epist. ad ephes. if the prayer of one or two be of so great force , that it brings christ among them ; how much more will the unanimous prayers of the bishop and the whole church ascending to god , prevail with him to grant all they desire ? † see the exhortation , lest after the taking of the holy sacrament , the devil enter into you , as he entred into judas . * st. luke 22. 19. * 1 st. iohn 1. 3. * numb . 9. 14. * 1 cor. 10. 17. chap. 11. v. 20. * acts 2. 42. † vid. mede of the christian sacrifice . ‖ can. ix . * 1 thess. 4. 15. † 1 cor. 11. 23. * answer to snake in grass , p. 113. naylor's love to the lost , p. 77. * vide supra . † 1 cor. ii. 23. * answer to snake , &c. p. 114. † naylor . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vid. patrick , p. 8. † patrick , which he gathers from tertull. in his coron . milit. cap. 3. * mede of the christian sacrifice . † malac. 1. 11. * ludolphus his hist. of ethiop . lib. 3 p. 298 , 299. * mr. jeans and dr. casaubon , in the bp. of derry's admonit . lightfoot , vol. 2. p. 1127. * vid. rubrick after communion . parag. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. * act. 22. 16. * lightfoot . * arch-bishop tillotson of frequent communion , fol. edit . p. 283 , 284. * rubrick after communion service . † tigurin liturgy , p. 139. * baxter ' s christian directory , part 2. pag. 3. * baxter ubi supra . * vid. discourse of baptism . * bp. hopkins , bp. andrews , w. d. of man , &c. * deut. 4. 15. * psal. 139. 20. † levit. 5. 1. * so st. athanasius , st. chrysost. bede , many old councils , in england and other places , our book of homilies , mr. hooker , archbishop usher , bishop stillingfleet , bp. patrick , bp. hopkins , &c. * bishop sanderson's cases of conscience . † gen. 38. 9. * act. 7. 59. * exhortation at the time of the celebration . * see the excellent devotions added to the whole duty of man , or those in the christian sacrifice . * marquis de renti , father paul the venetian , &c. * vide bede's ecclesiastical history . * 1 thess. 5. 16. note , that this sheet is to be plac'd after page 186. notes for div a65465-e58380 * see his life , p. 149 , 155 , 158 , 159. notes for div a65465-e61590 * st. iohn 4. 1. † st. matt. 28. 19. see below of the right translation of the words . ‖ rom. 4. 11. * lightfoot , grotius , &c. ammian . epictet . * 1 st. pet. 3. 20 , 21. † acts 10. 42. 19. 5. * st. iohn 3. 23. † st. matt. 3. 5. ‖ acts 8. 38 , 39. * 1 cor. 10. 2. † exod. 14. 28. 15. 10. ‖ psal. 68. 9. * st. mark 10. 38. * st. mark 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . † st. luke 11. 39. ‖ hesychius , stephanus , scapula . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lavo to wash . so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lavatio , ablutio . washing , which may be done without dipping . * tit. 3. 5. † st. iohn 13. 10. ‖ acts 16. 33. * acts 10. 48. * acts 2. 41. 4. 5. † 2 kings 20. 20. fuller says , there were no water-mills in jerusalem , because no streams large enough to drive them . pisgah sigh't . lib. 3. p. 329. * vid. rubrick in publick baptism . † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ‖ dr. lightfoot's appendix to his life . vol. 11. p. 16. * i believe they had it from orpheus , as he from the phoenicians , and they perhaps from jacob. † psal. 51. 5. ephes. 2. 1 , 3. iob 14. 4. and 25. 4. 1 cor. 15. 22. rom. 5. 10 , 12. rom. 3. 10 , 23. * rom. 5. 13 , 14. † gal. 3. 22. rom. 11. 32. * rom. 5. 18. † rev. 1. 5. ‖ ephes. 5. 25 , 26. * first exhortation before baptism . † ministers certifying after private baptism . ‖ prayer immediately before baptism . * st. cyprian , theophylact. lactant . greg. naz. origen , st. august . st. ambrose , st. ierom , &c. † psal. 109. 11. * gen. 17. 7 , 8. † § 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stipulatio , luther , beza , grotius , &c. * gal. 3. 27. † 1 cor. 12. 13. ‖ ephes. 4. 12. * thanksgiving after baptism . † thanksgiving after baptism , and collect for sunday after christmas . ‖ st. iohn 3. 5. * st. iohn 3. 6. † st. matt. 3. 16. * 1 cor. 6. 11. † rom. 8. 17. ‖ rev. 4. 6. * acts 2. 38. * rom. 6. 3 , 4. tit. 3. 8. † office of baptism , exhortation at the end. * galat. 5. 3. † acts 22. 16. ‖ acts 2. 38. * acts 10. 47. * acts 1. 11. * st. matt. 28. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 1 st. pet. 1. 23. * ezek. 9. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the same word that is used in those antient constitutions ascrib'd to the apostles . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . baptise your infants . † galat. 3. 15. * gal. 3. 15. † heb. 11. 8 , 17. ‖ gen. 17. 8. * gen. 22. 18. gal. 3. 16. † gal. 3. 8. * gen. 17. 7. gal. 3. 7. † gal. 3. 17. ‖ gen. 17. 8. * acts 7. 5. heb. 11. 10 , 14 , 16. * gal. 3. 7. rom. 4. 13. † acts 7. 8. * col. 2. 11. 12 , 13. † the fathers are unanimous that this is the meaning of the scripture now quoted . * 1 cor. 7. 14. * gen. 24. 24. 25. 2. * acts 2. 41. † acts 4. 4. * st. matt. 14. 21. † acts 16. 33. ‖ rom. 16. 23. * st. august . de genesi ad literam . lib. x. cap. 23. † origen on the 6th . of the rom. * iust. mart. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . † see this elaborately handled by mr. walker in his excellent treatise of infant-baptism . * this is now owned by the antipedobaptists themselves , for dr. russel in the late dispute at gosport , renders the word , disciple , or make disciples . * see grantham's works , and axe to the root . * see this matter fully clear'd in mr. walker's appendix to his discourse of infant-baptism . * 1 cor. 11. 28. † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * lev. 18. 21 , 29. and deut. 13. per tot . * lightfoot ' s vol. ii. pag. 258 , 260. † tigurine liturgy , p. 116. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ouranognōsia. heauenly knowledge a manuduction to theologie. written in latin by barthol. keckerm. done into english by t.v. mr. of arts. keckermann, bartholomäus, ca. 1571-1608 or 9. 1622 approx. 256 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 114 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a04766 stc 14896 estc 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a04766) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 4144) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 802:14) ouranognōsia. heauenly knowledge a manuduction to theologie. written in latin by barthol. keckerm. done into english by t.v. mr. of arts. keckermann, bartholomäus, ca. 1571-1608 or 9. vicars, thomas, d. 1638. vicars, thomas, d. 1638. briefe direction how to examine our selues before we go to the lords table. [32], 168, [4], 169-181, [7] p. printed by aug. math[ewes, [london] : 1622] barthol. keckerm. = bartholomæus keckermann. t.v. = thomas vicars. the first three words of the title and the imprint are xylographic, part of a woodcut border made up for this work.--stc. printer's name and publication date from stc. "a briefe direction how to examine our selues before we go to the lords table, how to behaue ourselues there, and hovv to try our selues aftervvards. by t.v." has a separate title page. verso of title page blank. print faded and show-through. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. 2003-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-02 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-03 olivia bottum sampled and proofread 2003-03 olivia bottum text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a manuduction to theologie . written in latin by barthol . keckerm . done into english by t. v. mr. of arts. pro. 14.6 . knowledge is easie to him that will vnderstand . ecclus. 6.35 . be willing to heare euerie godly discourse . printed by aug. math. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . an vpright heart seeketh after knowledge . to the service and good of the church of god , vnder the patronage and protection of the thrice worthy and religious , his much honoured friends , the lady anne neuill , wife to the right honourable , lo. b. of chichester , the lady anne fetiplace of chilrey in barkshire , and his much esteemed cousin , mistris mabell blenerhasset , wife to the right worshipfull master thom. blenerhasset esqui●e , and one of his maiesties iustices of peace for the countie of cumberland , t. v. consecrateth himselfe , and his labours in this translation . a parenetiqve directed especially to them that call themselues catholicks . good r. there be now some yeres past , since i gaue the onset to the translation of this booke , a booke of small volume , but of great valour , of a little price , but very precious . the author himselfe is famous , well knowne to haue beene a man rarely qualified , and beautified with admirable endowments , the characters whereof are to bee seene in his writings ; a man , by whose exquisite skill and exact endeauors i perswade my selfe we should haue had ( if the thred of his life had beene a little more lengthened that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fathers dreamed of liuely portrayed , fully perfected but i list not to stand any longer on this theame , this only wil i ad , that it is hard to say whether the author doth more commend the workes or the workes the author . in this little theologicall tract ( wherein summarily are deliuered the heads of christian religion ) i haue trac'd his steppes with all diligence and faithfulnesse , and that out of a longing desire from my hearts root in christ iesus , to further the simplest of my country-mens growth in all godlinesse , wishing that they would not thinke light of my labours (a) ( slender though they bee ) for whose sakes they were primarily vndertaken . and those are all vnlettered & ignorant persons , which are either such as haue liued vnder the gospel , and that so long , that (b) for their time they might haue beene teachers , but by reason of their grosse and dull eares they bee but babes in vnderstanding , and haue need to bee instructed in the very first principles of religion ; or they be such as doe liue in the bondage and captiuitie of more then egyptiacall darkenesse of popery , who being beclouded with the myst of erroneous doctrine , haue not as yet had the cleare beames of the gospell shining in their hearts . with the former sort , or at lest such of them who seeke for knowledge as for gold , my pains ( whatsoeuer it bee ) i am perswaded will not altogether be lost . but for the latter i am afear'd , i shal but bee accounted to sing a song to deafe eares . for such ( alasse ! ) is the bewitching cup of that whore of fornications , although her vanitie and vilenesse bee as open as the sun , that shee not onely keepeth fast in bondage whom shee hath once lull'd asleepe , but (c) entangleth also euery day more and more louers , the lord of heauen permitting , the diuel of hell seducing , the locusts of the infernall pit assayling both by sea and land to gaine vnto them proselytes . such is the impuq●●ce of this whorish presumptuous woman of rome , that shee doth not after the manner of other women . for other harlots are wooed , but shee doth wooe ▪ others haue gifts sent vnto them from their louers , but shee sendeth to her louers gifts and faire promises of preferments and promotion , if they will take part in her whoredomes . and this ( to giue one instance for all ) that learned and religious doctour thinkes to haue beene the chiefest motiue of dd. carriers apostacie , in that perceiuing his ambitious hopes to quayle at home , he would trie his fortune there where abbeys and bishoprickes and perhaps cardinalships are promised to such as with more diligence then others negotiate for the pope . her proctors and factors shee sets about this worke are the iesuits and seminaries , men that haue deuoted themselues to all ill seruices , quibus quaes●ui sunt animi superstitione capti , that is , as saint peter seemes to mee elegantly to expresse it , through couetousnesse with fained words make merchandise of mens soules , and so in fine , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely peruerting , but subuerting silly soules , as the word imports , act. 15.24 . and surely such as the mistresse is , such are her messengers , shee of a most impudent face , they of most impudent carriage : she a strumpet queane , they her bastardly brood . these pandars to their owne mother , for the enhansing of her power , and the enlarging of her pompe , according to their commission , get themselues with all ill-speed to forraine nations . what sta● is not haunted with these ill spirits ? yea what house ? yea what soule ? &c. dd. halls censure of trauel , p. 57. we see the proof of their importunitie at home . no bulwarkes of law , no barres of iustice ( though made of three trees ) can keepe our rebanished fugitiues from returning , from intermedling . id , ibid. pag. 56. his holinesse knowes full well what a sweet morsell hee lost , when this kingdome shakt of his tyrannicall yoke , and therefore for regaining hereof , hee blowes ouer whole (e) svvarmes of these locusts into england , where sitting theeuishly in the blind corners of our streets they entrap the simple folke , and lurking in their secret dens of darknesse they ensnare the poore and wauering minded , making them , being once caught in their grin (f) two times more the children of darknes then they themselues are . which indeed how can it otherwise fal out , sithence their doctrine and their doings be both of darknes (*) their doctrine , as it is a hotch potch of beggarly rudiments like a beggars cloak full of patches , some of iudaisme , some of turcisme , some of paganisme , some of pelagianisme ( & in sum what is it els but a * compound of errours ? ) so in nothing more does it bewray it selfe to bee raked out of the pit of darkenesse , then that it will not abide the light of gods word to be tryed by . for what (g) communion hath darkenesse with light ? are not these two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heereupon , well knowing what would betide them (h) if the gospel should cleerely shine forth in all mens hearts ; they mufflle the vnderstanding of the simple people , giuing them to wit , that all is oracles that they speake , not giuing them once leaue or leasure , yea , which is more , interdicting them to search the holy scriptures with the (i) noblemen of beraea , and to see whether those things bee so as they speake them . let our late worthies , who haue descried the imposture of the church of rome , let them speake in this case and heare their verdict . nos luci fidimus , ( saith blessed (k) ●ewel ) isti tenebris , wee trust and desire to bee tried by the light of gods word , they put their confidence in darkenes , * whereupon it is that a thiefe stands not in more feare of the gallowes , then they doe of the scriptures : wee labour to plant knowledge in all ( saith the reuerend , and my much honoured (l) lord of chichester ) and are desirous that euery man may know the things needfull for his saluation ; they labour to hold all in ignorance : their hope is not in the goodnesse of their cause , for they see the ruines of babylon falling euery day ; onely their care is to blind you , and keepe you ignorant . if the light of knowledge might freely shine to the world , popery would soone be ashamed of it selfe , saith (m) another worthy in our ch. and not to bee infinite in this kind , m. anton. de dominis ( who was once welcommed by vs from the tents of antichrist , and is ours still , if couetousnesse , the root of euill , and hypocrisie , the colour of good hath not put out both his eyes ) confesseth in that little booke wherein he expresseth the reason of his departure out of the ch. of rome ; the prodromus to his larger and more fruitfull labours , that this closing vp of the scripture from the people , gaue him occasion to suspect their religion , and to feare his estate , and to thinke on conuersion freely professing there in these termes , scripturae summa apud nos ignoratio , that there is nothing whereof the papists are more ignorant , then of the scriptures . nay , a certaine bishop of italy was not ashamed to tel claudius espencaeus , a famous pontifician , that the learned men of italy it selfe were afraid to study the holy scriptures , least thereby they should become heretiques , and that therefore they employed themselues in commenting vpon the popes law-bookes , decrees , and the decretals ; the which booke , though full of lies , contradictions , impertinences , yet because it is the popes booke it must be respected , whilest the holy scripture lieth as it were in the streets neglected . and therefore to barre their seduced followers vtterly from this godly exercise of reading , they beare them in hand that to read the scripture is very (n) perillous and the cause of erring from the faith . sed execratione ac detestatione dignior est ista vox quam responsione . hiper . de quot id . lectione s. script lib. 1. pag. 175. wicked impostors ! as if god our heauenly father , who hath made his will and testament , and hath reuealed it by writing vnto vs his children , would not haue it (o) read and vnderstood by vs ? blasphemous wretches ! as if god , who can neither bee deceiued nor deceiue , causing his holy will to be penned both as touching his owne worship , and also as touching the meanes of mans saluation and that so powerfully & yet plainly withall , * that he should seeke hereby to (p) entrap and enfold his glorious creature man , the creature of his good-will , with the mists of ignorance and errour ? farre bee it from the thought of euery good christian , once to thinke that from such a good tree should come such bad fruit , that from such a blessed cause should proceed such a disastrous effect , that from the light should flow darkenes , * from the reuerend reading of the scriptures , errors . * as for their doings , that they also are of darknesse , it would ( if i should particularize them ) require a large volume . but to single out and to instance in one , wherein they much resemble their prince of darkenesse , the deuill , who hath been a murtherer from the beginning . let their cruell and barbarous butchering of so many saints of god , meerely in the matter of religion ; let the bloudie stabbing and violent murthering of so good and gracious kings , which shewed themselues like good ezekias forward and bent to reformation ; (q) let the diuell in the vault , who was the contriuer of that matchlesse treason , and the powder pioners , that should haue beene the actors of the intended tragedie ; let all these speake if they belong not to darknesse , if they bee not the sonnes of the night ? (r) quo male agit odit lucem . aske the powder-plotters , if they hated not and shunned the shining light , least their deeds should haue beene reprooued , censured , condemned , as they were , and as it fell out happily to this state and country by the watchfull eye of his prouidence , who is the (s) keeper of our israel , and neuer slumb●rs nor sleepes , but is alwayes ready at hand to shend and defend his people , whom he hath set his loue vpon , euen for his owne mercie and goodnesse sake ; howbeit we haue by our sinnes deserued to be cassier'd out of his fauour , to bee ouertaken with imminent dangers , and to be ouerturned with the power and powder , the fire and fury of our enemies . but euer loued and blessed bee his mercifull goodnesse and patience , that he hath not giuen vs ouer as a prey vnto their teeth . their snare was broken , and our soule was deliuered . o let this mightie and wonderfull deliuerance bee written on the posts of our gates , let vs be euer talking of it to our neighbours and friends , to our children , and strangers , that all with ioynt mouth and consent of heart may praise the lord god of israel for euer . now i doe from my soule desire that the blindfolded papists , and ignorant catholiques ( as they will be termed ) would but a little consider of these doings , of this doctrine , and then tell me if they be not nuzled in most pernicious heresie , and most tyrannically held vnder the very power of darknesse it selfe . (t) they that haue but the least spink of ingenuitie , will bewray betime , and will timely bewayle their woeful estate . these ( to vse the words of the (u) words of the prophet ) shall remember one day their wayes , and all their doings , wherein they haue been defiled , and they shall loath themselues in their owne sight for all their euills that they haue committed . and they shal know that the lord is god , when hee hath wrought in them this conuersion for his owne names sake , not according to their wicked wayes , nor according to their corrupt doings . * but for the ignorant , obstinate , obdurate papist , who will not heare and vnderstand , and bee conuerted , who spurnes at the very motion of reformation , and being settled on his lees groweth bold and impudent in the cause , ( for who so bold as blind bayard ? ) let him bee ignorant , * let him be mis●ed , let him bee misled still . these men shall one day know that there hath beene many prophets among them , who are cleare from the bloud of all men ; and they shall find that their bloud must rest vpon their owne hard hearts and stiffe-neckes . what sir ? may some of them say , doe you so hastily include vs all in the pit of confusion , because wee professe another religion ? i tell you truely , wee haue as good hope to come to heauen as your selfe . doe wee walke in any other saue in the steps of our (x) forefathers and progenitors ? do wee professe any other religion , then that which they bequeath'd vnto vs , and which we wil liue and dye in too ? * we our forefathers customs still obay , doe as they did , and follovv their blind vvay : not striuing busily our vvits to approue by searching doubts , but rather shevv our loue , by louing euen their errours that are gone , or reuerendly belieuing they had none . true , it is like enough you will doe so , whatsoeuer be said to the contrary . for as the wise king saith of a foole ) bray a foole in a morter and hee will neuer be the wiser . the holy spirit hath branded those people with black , who practiz'd that long since which you plead for now . so those nations feared the lord and serued their images too : so did their children , and their childrens children : as did their fathers , so doe they vnto this day . it was but a pagans argument to theodosius the emperour ; seruanda est tot saeculis fides nostra , & sequendi sunt maiores nostri , qui secuti sunt foeliciter suos . and the emperors letter to the states of germany assembled at wormes against luther , sounds and runnes in the same tenour . our predecessours were obedient to the romish church , and therefore wee cannot without great infamy and staine of honour , degenerate from the examples of our elders , but will maintaine the ancient faith and giue ayd to the see of rome . but here first of al we desire no better aduocate for our selues then gratian : i will set downe his owne words . si consuetudinem fortassis opponas , duertendum quod dominus dicit , ego sum via & veritas . non dixit , ego sum consuetudo , sed veritas . et certe ( vt beati cypriani vtamur sententia ) quaelibet consuetudo quantumuis vetusta , quantumuis vulgata veritati omnino est postponenda , & vsus , qui veritati contrarius est , abolendus . secondly , m. caluins note on the fourth of iohns euangell and the 20. verse is here worth the noting . verae pietatis desertoribus solenne est , vt patrocinium sibi ex patrum exemplis quaerant . it 's a very ordinary thing with sectaries and apostates from religion , to vrge for their doings their fathers examples . oh ye apostaticall generation , which doe as much as in you lies to resist the holy ghost , as your fathers haue done so will you do too . but your tame-blind obedience vvell befits such earth-bred , do●eish , dull , and sluggish vvits , but ayerie spirits acquainted vvith the light , vvill not be led by custome from the right . no loue , no friends , no predecessors shall peruert their iudgements ; they examine all . your fathers haue stepp'd awry in some points of doctrine , and you hauing once entred their by-paths will needs runne into the desert of errour . your fathers liuing in the stinking ayre of popery , could not choose but be tainted with some infection of heresie ; what then ? dare you say they died in their pollution ? did god reueale vnto you the time , the houre of their conuersion ? do you not know that god might haue his secret working performed vpon them , euen at the very last gaspe ? doe you not acknowledge that god can saue such as are not pertinacious in their heresies , euen , inter pontem & fontem ? when there is no sensible hope ? when there is no sensible hope ? when their soule is at the pits brinke , hee can call it backe againe , that the pit shall not shut its mouth vpon it . i haue often greatly wondred ( saith m. d. luther ) how that in all the time of that tyrannizing sect of the sonne of perdition , for so many hundreths of yeres together , the church should subsist in the midst of such great darknesse , and in the throng of so many errours . afterward , i conceiued that there were certaine called of god by the word of his gospel and baptisme , who walked in the simplicitie and humilitie of their heart , thinking the monkes only , and such as were anointed of bishops to bee holy men and religious , but themselues to bee profane and irreligious , and in no wise to bee compared with the other . whereupon finding themselues emptie of all good workes and merits which they might oppose to the displeasure , and rigour of gods iustice , they clung close to the passion and death of christ , and so in that simplicitie were saued . neither was this the case of simple ones onely , but euen of their deepe doctors , their holy hermites , there sanctified monkes , of whom i may truely say , that howsoeuer they liu'd among them , yet were they not of them , which assertion though it might haue beene doubted of all their life time , their habits , and cooles , and manner of liuing , colouring it out to the world that they were papists , yet the point of death approaching put the matter out of question ; when for all their regularities and obseruances , as monkish as euer : for all their comport and carriage , as superstitious as euer ; for all their meanes and maner of liuing , as popish as euer could bee deuised ▪ they will bee found to haue dyed true protestants , casting from them all trust and relyance on their owne works , and putting their whole trust and affiance in the mercies of god through christ iesus . such was that good hermit agatho , good in name , and in truth good . such was that blessed saint bernard , v the best monke that euer was . both which on their death beds to haue renounced themselues vtterly , and to haue had recourse onely vnto christ , you may reade in that worthy author afore cited . and i thinke verily ( saith luther ) that ierome and gregory , and many other fathers and hermites were after the same manner saued . and the ground of this his thus reasoning is , for that wee are not to doubt , but that euen in the old testament many of the kings of israel , and other idolaters likewise were saued , for because it pleased god euen in the houre of death to turne their hearts , causing them to cast away all their vaine confidence they put in their idols , and to apprehend that promise of god as concerning that seed of abraham which was to come , to wit , christ , in whom all the nations of the world should bee blessed . (y) hence proceed our charitable censures of such of your fathers , who liuing in the darkenesse of superstition● , could not so well see the way to heauen , and to reformation in their life time , as their meek hearts could haue wished . but as for those obstinate wretches , furious spirits , branded with the marke of the beast , and therefore firebrands of hell , too too heady in the pursuit of errour , and too too headstrong in their erroneous opinations , as the lord gaue them vp to a reprobate sense , that they should not receiue the loue of the truth and so bee saued , and they now fry for it : so assure your selues , if yee insist in their steps and resist all good admonitions , you can neuer flye their (z) punishment . for it is iust with god , that those which haue beene pares culpa , shall be also pares paena . be partakers of their sinnes , you shall certainely be sharers in their punishment . o then ye (a) generation of those vipers bee forewarned of the heauy vengeance to come . doe not with the deafe adder alwayes stoppe your eares to all godly and christian admonitions , but take thē at length to hart , and say not with your selues , wee haue had ranke papists to our fathers , wee haue had such as haue derided & mocked your orthodoxe religion , for our patterns and presidents : for i dare boldly affirme in the wordes of our sauiour , that vnlesse yee repent and be conuerted , you shall likewise perish . (b) be not like them in saint austine , verum est quod diciti● , to professe all true that we say , non est quod respondeatur , and that you haue nothing to say against it , sed durum est nobis traditionem parentum relinquere ; but it seemeth a hard thing vnto vs to forsake the faith and tradition of our fathers . for ( consider it well in your hearts ) why should your fathers examples mislead you into errour ? o vvhat a senselesse part is this in you , your fathers faults and errors to allovv ? and not much rather to reforme your ovvne , by shunning the defect vvhich they haue shovven ! shall the vaine conceit of your fathers worth , weigh downe gods holy word ? will you conferre , nay preferre man to god ? if the fathers of your bodies lead you one way , and father of spirits bid you go another , haue you not learn'd to obey god rather then men ? will you not grant that which reason hath alwayes held for certaine and grounded truth , viuendum est legibus non exemplis ? goe to then , thinke not to shrowd your doings with your fathers exemplarie dealings . for as it is well vttered by the heathen oratour , impudens est oratio dicere , sic sactum est . but let the bright and cleare law of god shine in your hearts , let it dwell in you plentifully in all wisedome , heare the word of god from others , (c) read it by your selues , (d) pray to god for a right vnderstanding of it , marke it well , ponder it in your heart , and examine all your tenents and courses by it , and then the lord opening your eyes to see your own mis-doings , and your fathers mis-leadings , you will confesse your fathers follies , wherein you haue liued , and professe to leaue them with all speedie reformation in new obedience vnto god holy will and commandements . and this i pray god that of his infinite goodnesse hee will grant vnto you , that so , by the conuersion of your soules , his holy name may be glorified , his angels gladded , his faithfull confirmed ▪ your hearts comforted , and the borders of christs church enlarged ; and that for the merits of christ iesus , his onely true naturall sonne , our alone all-sufficient sauiour and redeemer , amen . an apologetique to the christian reader for the work in and about the translation . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . hinc omne principium , huc refer exitum . of all thy studies and intentions see , that god the alpha and omega be . daveniam scriptis — remembring that of the apostle , 1. cor. 12.7 . the manifestation of the spirit is giuen to euery man to profit vvithall . the spirit , that is the gifts and graces of the spirit of god are bestovved vpon vs , not to be wrapt vp in a napkin and hid in the earth , but for manifestation . whereupon the ancient greekes well expressed man and light by one common name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as plutarch shewes in the confutation of that common mott. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and what our sauiour spake with a primarie direction to his apostles : vos estis lux mundi , yee are the lights of the world , may in a secondary application be affirmed of euery christian , or else saint paul would not say , among whom ye shine as lights in the world . now least any one should exempt himselfe , therefore euery one is put in the text. for as there are none furnish'd with all gifts , so there are none but they haue some gift , and the doner will looke for his owne with aduantage . as euery man therefore hath receiued the gi●t so let him minister thereof to others , for the good of others . looke not euery one on your owne things , but euery one on the things of other . a good lesson for this incroaching and monopolizing world , wherein euery man is for himselfe , as the prouerb saith , and as the apostle complaineth , euery man seeketh his owne things , and none the things of christ iesus . but what saith the scripture ? non prohibet euangelium nisi cupiditatem , non precipit nisi charitatem . the gospell ( saith austin ) doth not prohibite any thing more then incroaching couetousnesse , it inioynes nothing so much as dilating charitie . it is a poore center of a mans action , himselfe . it is right earth , as a great scholler speaketh . wherfore , let vs attend then to the apostles rule , who wills , that euery one should seeke anothers vvealth ; and hee prescribes vs no other rule , then that he himselfe walked in . non quaero quid mihi vtile sed quid multis , i seeke not mine owne profit , but the profit of many , that they may be saued . by him that desires thy profit and proficiency in knowledge and godlines t.v. the attestation of a friend touching this booke , inserted in a letter to the translatour . — in your translation you haue laboured , that they that will read may haue delight ; and that they that are desirous to commit to memory might haue ease ; & that all into whose hands it commeth might haue profit , 2. mac. 2.25 adam airay s. s. theol. bac. m. d. esquire to his good friend , t. v. what thou do'st teach , by others heretofore hath likewise bin . but yet by no man more to the true life . that by thy godly care , thou and thine authour equally doe share . thou praisest him translating , but if he vnderstood english he would more praise thee . thou to our nation ha'st his doctrine showne , which to our vulgar else had not beene knowne ; as much by this thou get'st as ere he wanne : england , praise vicars , dantsk her keckerman . mich. drayton . errata . in the preface reade rob. grosth . page 45. in the margin , for syst , t● . reade syst. log. p. 50. offices , r. p. 60. in the margin . r. afflictiones . p. 72. in the margin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 80. for not certainly , r. no certainty . p. 85. r. doctrine . p. 86. r. other are bare proprieties . p. 87. r. accident . p. 95. for hearts . r. sects . p. 96. for matthias iohn , r. matth. illyric . p 121. in the last line , r. as before . p. 123. for christ , r. chrysostome . p. 126. for heb. 7. r. heb. 12. p. 142. in the margin , r. 139. p. 153. r. peruersly . there are also other mistakings in figures , vvhich you may bee pleased to mend of your selues . a godly and deuout treatise , teaching with what due preparation wee ought to come to the holy communion , which is indeed an abbridgement of the systeme of diuinitie , and may serue for a catechisme of christianitie . what is christian religion ? it is that worship and seruice which euery good & godly man ought by vertue of bond and obligation to tender vnto god himselfe . wherein is chalked out vnto vs the way as wel of liuing heere honestly , as liuing hereafter happily ; as augustine saith in his booke of true religion , the first chapter . the onely course of liuing well and happily consists in true religion , whereby we know the onely true god , and worship him in holy purenesse . for by religion the soule of man , which before by sin was separate from god , being now reconciled , is againe tied and re-vnited to god , from whence religion hath its very name : for when we re-lige , as it were ; that is , oblige and binde ouer againe our soules vnto god , then we empty our selues of all superstitious worship contrary to gods seruice . so saith lactant. lib. 4. ca. 28. & l. 6. c. 1. we are by the tye of religion bound and obliged vnto god , whereupon it is called re-ligion , not as cicero wil haue it , of relection , but of religation , in as much as god doth heereby binde vs ouer to his seruice , whom it is our part to serue as our lord , and to obey as our father . for in very deed this is the dutie of man , wherein the sum of all , and the summitie of a blessed life doth consist . this is the very first step in wisdome , to know what it is for god truely to be a father vnto vs , and him with all sanctitie to worship and reuere , obeying his will , and wholy deuoting our selues to his seruice . which be then the principall parts wherin christian religion , or , the speciall actions wherein the worship of god standeth . there be three of them . 1. the meditation of the word of god , and consequently of faith in christ our sauiour , which is especially comprehended in the word of god , to whom wee must referre all in our meditation . 2. the vse of the sacraments instituted by christ. 3. inuocation of gods holy name ioyned with the loue of god , and our neighbour . of the formost and last part of christian religion , we haue spoken elsewhere , and at another time ; at this opportunity it is our purpose only to treat of the middle or second branch of christian religion , or the seruice of god , and therin touching the vse of the principall sacrament of the new testament , namely the lords supper , which is called commonly the holy communion , as also the eucharist , that is , a most eminent sacrifice of thanksgiuing to christ our sauiour . wherein consisteth the true vse and due preparation to the holy communion ? in two things ; to wit , in knowledge , and deuotion . of what sort is that knowledge , which appertaineth to our commendable preparation vnto , and our lawfull vsing of the holy communion ? it is of two sorts , generall , and particular . of how many kindes is our generall knowledge ? of two , either it is primary and independant , or secondary , and arising from the former . how many parts hath the former kind ? it consists of a double doctrine , the one of god , the other of gods word . what is god ? god is a spirituall essence , 1 1. before all , 2 most perfect , eternall , 2. infinite , 3. almighty , 3 of incomprehensible wisedom , goodnesse , 4. mercy , 5. iustice , 4 subsisting in three persons , the father , 5 the sonne , and the holy ghost . what are we to consider in god ? two things , the essence , and person . what , and of what sort is the essence of god ? it is most simple , and onely one , so that god , in regard of his essence , is simply one , as the scripture witnesseth , deuter. 6. vers . 4. heare oh israel , the lord our god is one god. 1. tim. 2. v. 5. one god , and one mediatour . what is the person ? it is the maner of being in god , whereby gods essence is made relatiue , and respectiue ; which relation notwithstanding neither multiplieth the essence , nor diuides it into parts , which may in some sort appeare by the degrees of light and heat . for in the sunnes light , there are certaine degrees , as morning , or twilight , and noon-light , or perfect sunne-shine . and yet for all those degrees , the light is the same . so in heate luke-warm , and scalding hote , though they make two degrees , yet they make vp but one numericall caliditie , which in a higher degree is in boyling water now , before being in the same water inclining to feruent heat , in a lower degree . so then , that we may apply this instance to our present purpose , in some resemblance , the persons of the deitie , or these diuers maners of gods being , do not multiply the diuine essēce , no more then the diuers degrees of heate or light , do multiply the light or heat : so that i speak right whē i say there are mo persons in the diuine essence but it cannot bee vttered without blasphemy , to say there are in god more natures , or mo gods thē one . how many persons are there ? three , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost , which is prooued by manifest testimonies of holy writ . matt. 28.19 goe teach all nations , baptizing them in the name ( so by the authoritie and appoyntment ) of the father , the sonne , and of the holy ghost . iohn 15.26 . when that comforter shall come , whom i will send to you from the father , euen the spirit of truth , who proceedeth from the father , hee will testifie of me : where they are all three plainly named ; the father , from whome the holy spirit is sent ; the sonne , who sendeth ; and the holy ghost who is sent , 1. ioh. 5.7 . there bee three which beare record in heauen , the father , the word , and the spirit , and these three are one in essence or nature how prooue you that these three persons be that one god ? first , i must haue it granted , that these three persons are distinct , because he that sendeth , is distinguished from him that is sent , & he frō whō , is distinguished frō him that is sent . now io. c. 15. plainly saith , that christ is hee that sendeth , the holy ghost him that is sent , and the father , from whom the sonne sendeth the holy ghost . whence i doe necessarily infer , that these three manners of being in god are distinct : which being graunted , i shall easily prooue this three-fold manner of being , or these three persons in the diuine essence , to be that true god. for first , as touching the father , the very aduersaries themselues yeeld , that he is truely god. and touching the sonne , we haue manifest testimonies of the scripture , rom. 9.5 . of whom ( namely the israelites ) are the fathers , of whom christ came as concerning the flesh , who is god aboue all , blessed for euer . if aboue all , therfore aboue those , who by reason of their excellent guifts are called gods that the holy spirit is god , these sentences of scripture plainely prooue : acts 5.3 . peter saith to ananias , why hath satan filled thy heart , that thou shouldest lye against the holy ghost ? and presently he addeth v. 4 thou hast not lyed vnto men , but vnto god therefore the holy ghost is god. another place is 1. cor. 2.10 . the spirit searcheth all things , euen the profound things of god : and the verse following , for who knoweth the things &c. whence we may thus reason , whosoeuer knoweth the secrets , the profound secrets of god ; or which is all one , whosoeuer is omniscient , is god : but the holy ghost is omniscient . ergo. the maior is euident , the minor is expressely in the text. secondly , whatsoeuer is in god , is god : but the holy ghost is in god : ergo. the proposition is of certaine truth , for that god , who is a most simple essence , voyd of all difference and composition , cannot consist of any thing which is not god. the assumption is in the text , vers . 10. where it is said ; as the reasonable soule is in man : that is , of the essence of man , so the holy spirit is in god. hitherto may that testimony 1. cor. 3.16 . be referred ; know yee not that ye are the temple of god , and that the holy spirit dwelleth in you ? where the latter words do expound the former : for it is all one , as if the apostle had said ; know ye not that yee are the temple of god , seeing that the holy ghost dwelleth in you , who is god ? but if the aduersaries say , that the spirit is nothing else , saue the effects and gifts of god , they are most manifestly confuted , and confounded by the words of the scripture , 1. cor. 12.4 , 5 , 6. there are diuersities of gifts , but the same spirit ; there are diuersities of ministrations , but the same lord , &c. and verse 11 : all these gifts worketh that one and selfe same spirit distributing , &c. whence ariseth this argument ; he that distributeth a gift , is not himselfe that gift that is distributed , but the holy ghost is the distributer of all those gifts : ergo. the proposition is cleare enough . the assumption is plaine in the text , where it is said , that the spirit worketh , and distributeth all those gifts . another argument out of the same text may be this : he that is endued with a will , he cannot be a bare vertue or accidēt , but is a substāce subsisting by it self , but the holy ghost , &c. ergo. the maior is cleare : for whosoeuer willeth , he vnderstādeth , and whosoeuer willeth and vnderstandeth , he must be a substance by it selfe subsisting . the minor is clearely set down in the text , where it is said ; the spirit distributeth to euery one as he will i haue heard the doctrine concerning god , tell me now besides what the holy scripture is ? it is that testimony and witnesse which god hath giuen to mankind , as touching his owne nature and will , and as touching those things which appertaine to the saluation of man. how is the holy scripture diuided ? three manner of waies : first , by reason of the time wherein it was reuealed : secondly , by reason of that authority it hath in prouing : thirdly , by reason of the matter which it handleth . how is the scripture diuided in respect of the time wherein it was reuealed ? into the old and new testament . the old testament therefore is that part of the scripture , which god reuealed to the first of mankind , and people of the iewes which liued vntill the ministery of christ , which he reuealed , i say , by the prophets , as by his scribes and notaries . but the new testament is called that part of the scripture which god hath reuealed to mankind after the birth of christ , by the euangelists and apostles , as by his pen men or notaries . how is the scripture diuided , in respect of that authoritie it hath in prouing ? so it is diuided into the bookes which are canonicall , and those which are not canonicall , but apocryphall ? which do you call the canonicall books ? those which are of vndoubted authoritie , in prouing the articles of faith , or which are the square , and rule of our faith : for canonical is deriued from canon , which signifieth as much as a rule or square . of what sort are the canonicall books ? of two sorts , either of the old , or of the new testament . vvhich bookes of the old testament are canonicall ? the canonicall scripture of the old testament is deuided into foure rancks ; the first containeth the fiue bookes of moses ; the second , those bookes which are called historicall , as these ; ioshua , iudges , ruth , the two bookes of samuel , the two bookes of kings , the two bookes of the chronicles , the books of esdras , nehemiah , ester . the third , bookes which are written in verse , which are called poeticall , as these ; iob , the psalmes of dauid , the prouerbs of salomon , ecclesiastes , and the song of songs : the fourth comprehendeth the prophets , which are either greater prophets , in number foure , or lesser , to wit , twelue . which books of the new testament are canonicall ? the canonicall scriptures of the new testament is diuided into the history of the euangelists , the acts of the apostles , the apostles epistles , and the prophecy , or reuelation of iohn . which are called apocryphall , or not canonicall ? which are not of infallible truth and authority in prouing the articles of faith , & consequently which are not the rule , and square of our beliefe , but containe precepts of life , and historicall instructions . which are those apochriphall books ? among the books of the old testament , as wee haue before said , there are some found not to bee canonicall , such as the booke of tobias , iudith , wisdome , which falsely is ascribed to salomon ; ecclesiasticus , or syracides , the third and fourth books of esdras , all the bookes of the maccabees , baruch with ieremy his epistle , the prayer of manasses , the fragments of ester , the additions to daniel , as is the song of the three children , the historie of susanna , the historie of bell and the dragon . none of all these bookes are to bee found in the hebrew tongue , in which language onely god would haue the bookes of the old testament to be written , neither were they written by the prophets , or any person immediately called of god. neither doth christ , the euangelists , or the apostles cite them at any time : and to conclude , there be many vntruths in them . wherefore when the papists vrge any thing out of these bookes against vs , we must answer , that those bookes containe not the infallible word of god , and consequently that they haue no firme force , or validity in prouing . how is the scripture diuided , in respect of the matter it handleth ? into the law and the gospell : for that part of gods word is called the law , wherein wee are taught what we ought to doe , but the gosspell is that part of gods word . wherein we are taught , what wee ought to belieue , and consequently wherein we haue the remission of our sinnes promised vs by faith in christ. i haue heard sufficiently touching the diuision of the word of god , i pray you also instruct mee in the proprieties of it ? that will i willingly do , so i first admonish you , that hereafter wee shal alwaies take the holy scripture for the canonicall bookes only , and not at all for the apocryphall . vvhat is the first proprietie of the holy scripture ? the first proprietie is , that it deriues all its authority from god alone , not from the assembly of godly men , which is called the church how prooue you this ? i prooue it by these reasons : first , the testimony of god hath not any authoritie from men . the scripture is the testimony of god alone : ergo it hath none authority from men ; yea , the most holy men that be ; and consequently not from the church , which is nothing else but a company of godly and sanctified men . the force and pith of the argument you shall find , 1. ioh. 5. if we receiue the witnesse of men , the testimony of god certainely is greater . secondly , that must needs be before the scripture in naturall order , of which the authoritie of the scripture dependeth : but the church is not before the word of god : ergo. the maior proposition is euident , because that which dependeth of another , must needs come after that , on which it dependeth . the minor is thus prooued : that which is gathered , gouerned , regenerated by the word , or by the scripture , that is in order after the scripture . but the ch. ergo. the maior is plaine , the minor is prooued by 1. pet. 1.23 . vvee are regenerated , & borne a new by the word of god. iames 1.18 . hee hath begotten vs by the word of truth . ioh. 17.20 . vvhich by their word shall belieue in me . thirdly , the foundation of any building depends not on the roofe , or vpper roomes , which are built vpon the foundation , but contrarily those same vpper roomes , and the roofe depend vpon the foundation : but the word of god is the foundation : ergo. the maior is plaine in it selfe . the minor is confirmed by that , ephes. 2.20 . you are built vpon the foundations of the prophets and apostles . the papists obiect to vs that place , 1. tim. 3.15 . vvhere the church is said to be the pillar and ground of truth . whereto we answer , that this argument is sophisticall , or a fallacie , commonly called a dicto secundum quid ad dictum simpliciter : for the church is not called the piller and ground of truth , in regard of it selfe , but in regard of christ the head , who is that corner stone . and further it is so called , in regard it is the keeper of the scripture , forsomuch as god hath made the church onely to haue to doe with the treasurie of his word , and in the church , as on the pillar and doore of his house , or pallace , he hangeth those holy tables , which euery man must go thither to reade . no otherwise then the magistrate hangeth vp on pillars , and gates of his court , tables , containing in them his lawes and decrees , to the end that his subiects may there reade them , as in a publike place . lastly , the church is called the pillar of truth in this respect , because that god vseth the testimony of the church as his instrument , and meanes for the proposing , teaching , and expounding of the holy scripture vnto men : for the ministers of the church are the conseruers of truth , and the interpreters of the scriptures , yet not so , as if the authority of the scripture did depend on them , but because god vseth them as his seruants and ministers to propound , and to beate into the memories of men his holy scripture ; euen as a prince vseth a cryer for the promulgation of his lawes vnto his subiects . and here take this similitude with you : a man goeth to the vniuersitie , as vnto the very shop and store-house of learning , yet herevpon it followeth not , that the truth of that learning we are taught there in the vniuersitie , doth depend on the authoritie of the vniuersity . besides , this must also bee obserued , that whatsoeuer the papists say , touching the authoritie of the church aboue the scripture doth nothing at all profit them , but that they manifestly begge the point in question , whilest they thus argue : the church hath authoritie aboue the scriptures : the pope of rome is the church : ergo. for suppose wee grant them their maior ( which notwithstanding is false , as wee haue manifestly prooued ) , yet they are neuer able to proue their minor , as shal be showne anon more distinctly . vvhat is the second propriety of the word of god , or the holy scripture ? that it be entire , perfect , and sufficient to saluation , which is proued by that , ioh. 20.30 . many other signes did iesus which are not written in this booke ; but these things are written that you may belieue , that iesus is the christ , that sonne of god ; and that you belieuing , might haue life by his name . out of which place i thus reason : that which is so written , that by it wee may belieue in christ iesus , and so obtaine eternall life , that , i say , is sufficient to life eternall : but the scripture is so written : ergo. againe thence i thus argue : the holy scripture was written to this end , that wee might belieue in the sonne of god , and get eternall life : ergo , whatsoeuer word is not written , profiteth , or auaileth vs nothing to faith , and to eternal life , which must diligently be noted against the errour of the papists , which say , there are two words of god , the one written , the other vnwritten ; vpon which pretence they will needs obtrude vnto vs traditions , which they call apostolicall , the decrees of the popes , and the custome of the church . of which the councell of trent in the fourth sessiō thus speaketh : vvhosoeuer doth not with like affection of mind , reuerence the traditions of the church , as he doth the holy scriptures , let him be accursed . but against these traditions , first , note the sufficiency of the scriptures . secondly , this argument : the traditions of the church either agree with the holy writ , or they dissent from it . if they be consonant to it , then they say the selfe same thing the scripture saith , and so they are scripture : for that ought not in all reason to be done by moe , which may be performed by fewer . or they dissent from the scripture ( as all the traditions of the popes , as namely , that tradition , whereby the cup in the lords supper is prohibited to be administred vnto the lay people , and such like ) . and if they disagree with the scripture , they cannot fill vp the scripture , for that which is repugnant to any thing , doth not fil vp , but rather quite ouerthrow it . another testimony of the perfection of the holy scripture is most manifest , in the 2. tim. 3.6 . the whole scripture is giuen by inspiration from god , and is profitable to teach , to reproue , to correct , to instruct ; that the man of god may be perfect , and perfectly instructed to euery good worke . from whence wee may frame these arguments . first , the scripture is a totum , an entire thing : ergo , it is perfect ; for a totum is that , which wanteth no necessary parts . secondly , that which sufficeth vs for doctrin , for reproof , for correction , and instruction , that is full and compleate : for there is none that can shew any thing besides , wherunto the scripture should be profitable . but the scripture is sufficient to those things : ergo. thirdly , that which maketh a man perfect , and furnished to euery good worke that same must needs be perfect : but the scripture doth so . ergo. the maior is therefore true , because there is no effect which is more perfect then its cause , or because a perfect effect presupposeth the cause to be perfect , and nothing can giue that to another , which it hath not it selfe , if the scripture therefore make men perfect , then it must also be perfect . vvhat is the third proprietie of the holy scripture ? that in the articles of faith , which are necessary to saluatiō it be plaine , easie and perspicuous ; easie , i say , and perspicuous ; first , in respect of them to whom it ought to bee a light for their saluation , according vnto that , 2. cor. 4.3 . if our gospell be hid , it is hid to thē which perish : whence it necessarily followes , that the gospell is not hid , but cleare , and open to those which do not perish , as peter saith , 2. pet. 1.19 . you doe well , in that you attend to the word of the prophets , as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place , psal. 19.15 . the word of god is cleare . psal. 119. the word of god is a light to our feete and steppes . secondly , the scripture is easie , as it is an instrument , which it hath deriued to it from the principal guide , the holy spirit , who is that true teacher and interpreter of the scripture , ioh 14.26 . the aduocate which is the holy ghost , he shall teach you althings . 1. ioh. 2 27. that anointing , that is , the holy spirit , teacheth vs of all things . also , ioh. 16.13 . vvhen that spirit of truth shall come , he shall leade you in all truth . lastly , it is easie , if that in the handling of it wee vse conuenient meanes , and expound one place by another , according to the rules of good and lawfull exposition , which you may reade in the 201 page of my systeme of diuinitie . if then any shall demand , who hath the authoritie to interpret the scripture , if the pope of rome bee hee ? i answere , that euery one is the best interpreter of his owne words , whereas therefore the scripture is the word of god , & of the holy ghost , and not of the pope of rome , therefore the holy spirit hath the authoritie to interpret , as that true aduocate and teacher of verity . but why then doth the bishop of rome chalenge to himselfe this authority to interpret the scriptures ? i answer ; because hee knowes well enough , how bad his cause is , and therefore dares not submit his tenents to the word of god , or the scripture , if it be rightly vnderstood , and therfore will he wrest , and stretch the scriptures at his owne pleasure . touching which point , i would haue you note the words of a certaine apostate from the faith , caspar schoppius papist , who is now at rome with the pope ; he in that epistle he wrote touching his defection from vs vnto the papists , about sixe yeares agoe , set out at ingolstadium , in the 24 page , saith thus , the summe of all controuersies betwixt the catholikes & the lutherans consists in these two things ; that besides the holy scripture , the traditions of the apostles , & of the church , are necessary to be belieued . and that the holy scriptures themselues , neither can , nor ought to be interpreted of any with authoritie , saue of the catholike romane church . in which two doctrines , if one be once perswaded and setled , he will easily yeeld and adioine himselfe to the church of rome in the rest of the chiefe points of faith : for if i were to dispute with the heretikes , about any article of faith , it must needes be that there be somewhat set downe in the bible , touching my opinion , or that there be nothing at all to be found for it . if there be nothing in the bible for me , presently then i say , that it was wont so to be obserued by tradition from the apostles , in the church of rome . but if there be somewhat contained in the bible , touching mine opinion , and the heretike will interprete it another way then might serue my turne , then presently i oppose to him , the church of rome , that it hath so interpreted it : so that euery dispute ought to be reduced to these two heads . thus farre he . and truly this is it that the pope of rome labours for , that he may wrest the scripture as seemeth him good ; and then it is , as if any offering to fight with another , and the weapon should be a sword , he would fight vpon this condition , that he may be suffered to weild his aduersaries sword as he will. and so it is likewise , as if any would haue a suit in law , tryed before the iudge according to the lawes , but vpon this conditiō , that it may be lawfull for him to interpret the law on his owne side ; iust so the pope doth , for he saith , i will dispute with you out of the scripture , but so , that it may be lawfull for me to interpret the scripture on mine owne behalfe . i would haue this also noted , that if the papists demand , who is the iudge in the controuersies of faith ? wee answer , that the chiefe and highest iudge of controuersies of faith , is he who is the author , both of faith and of the scripture , to wit , the holy ghost . according to that of ioh. 16. when the comforter shall come , he shal reprooue , he will iudge the world of sin . and then only the scripture to be the law and sentence of this iudge , according whereunto iudgement must be giuen concerning controuersies of faith , as it doth most manifestly appeare by iohn 5.45 . there is one who accuseth you , euen moses , i. e. the writings of moses which giue iudgement against you ; and yet more manifestly , iohn . 18. vers . 48. he that reiecteth and receiueth not my words , hath one that iudgeth him . this word , &c. it is not true therefore which the pope of rome saith , that he is the chiefe iudge and decider of controuersies : for he is not fit to be a iudge who is accused and found guiltie of deprauing and falsifying the word of god. i haue heard you sufficiently about the former sort of knowledge of christian religion , or touching the principles of diuinitie , to wit , god and gods word : now i desire to be instructed in the second kinde of knowledge , arising from the former , that is touching the parts of this heauenly doctrine which doth spring from the doctrine which is of god and of the holy scriptures ? you tell me right , and i perceiue you well vnderstand the method and progresse , which ought to be obserued in vnderstanding the doctrine of religion , and therefore now will i instruct you touching the parts of diuinitie or christian religion . how many parts hath this secondarie or deriued knowledge ? two : whereof the former , is of the end it selfe , the latter is of the meanes that leade vs to that end . what is the end of diuinitie ? saluation , or life euerlasting . how many waies is the saluation of man considered ? two manner of waies : either as it is perfect and complete , or as it is but begun and imperfect : or , either in respect of the life to come , or of this present life . what is perfect & eternall saluation ? it consisteth in 3. things . first , in most absolute perfection of bodie and soule . secondly , in that vnvtterable ioy wherewith we shall triumph before god , the holy angels , and godly men . thirdly , in that most euident maiesty , glory , and honour , wherein we shall triumph ouer death , sathan , sinne and sinfull men . and this is that which peter saith , 2. pet. 1. v. 4. we shall be made partakers saith he , of the diuine nature , of diuine perfection , ioy and glory . and phil. 3. v. 21. christ shall transforme our base body , that it may be like the glorious body of christ. esay 64. v. 4. 1. cor. 2. v. 9. the things which eye hath not seene , nor the eare heard , nor euer entred into the heart of man to conceiue , are those which god hath prepared for them that loue him . what is imperfect saluation , or that which is begun only ? it is a taste of eternall saluation , or that comfort and ioy of conscience which we haue in this life arising from the forgiuenesse of our sinnes , and from that confidence we haue towards god , whom we certainly know to be reconciled vnto vs by christ iesus : so that no calamitie whatsoeuer can be able to separate vs from his loue , no not death it selfe , or that anxitie and horror which vsually we feele at the houre of death . of this the apostle speaketh , rom. 5. v. 1. therefore being iustified by faith , we haue peace , i. e. a ioyfull and merry conscience in the very midst of calamitie and death , rom. 8. v. 35. who shall separate vs from the loue of christ ? shall oppression ? shall anguish ? &c. i see now what the end is i may expect to reape from this heauenly doctrine , which how much the more it is desirable , so much the more i long to know the meanes , by which i may be conducted to this end ? the meanes whereby thou mayst come to this most desired end , are two . first , the knowledge of thy misery . secondly , thy redemption out of that misery ; the former part of this heauenly science touching the diseases of the soule . how may i come by the right knowledge of my misery , or of the sores of my soule ? if thou shalt weigh well with thy selfe these foure things . 1. that which went before thy misery . 2. the efficient cause of thy misery ▪ 3. the parts of it . 4. the exemplary cause , or glasse wherein thou hast represented vnto thee thy misery . what is that which went before the misery of mankinde ? that happy and blessed estate wherein man was inuested by god before his fall , or the image of god which was in man. what is the image of god in man , or rather what was it ? it was nothing else but that absolute and perfect estate before the fall , consisting in the perfection of the vnderstanding and the will of man , and further in the maiesty of man whereby hee farre excelled all other of the creatures ; or , that i may speake yet more plainly , the image of god in man was either prime and principall , or secondary and depending of the former . the prime image was both in his minde and in his body . in his body there was perfect health and safety . in his minde there was vnderstanding without errour ; will without staine of sinne . that other image which depended or arose from this , was that maiestie and alacritie was in man , springing from the perfection of his body and soule ; touching which , the scripture speaketh , gen. 1. v. 26 let vs make man according to our image , and according to our likenesse : ephes. 4. v. 24. paul cals true righteousnesse and holinesse the image of god. hitherto must be referred the whole doctrine touching the state of man before the fall , and touching his liuing in paradise , anent which , you may reade gen. 1. v. 27 , 28 , 29. and all the second chapter of that booke . what is the cause of mans miserie ? the fall of our first parents , or the defection of adam and eue , from god in their first estate of innocency , which was by the eating of the forbidden fruit . what haue we to doe with the fall of adam and eue , seeing then wee had no being at all ? adam and eue did represent all mankind , and therefore they had giuen them felicitie and the image of god for all mankinde ; wherefore in regard , they by their offence lost that which they had receiued for all mankinde , they lost it not in themselues alone , but in all their posteritie . euen as if a king should giue any one some priuiledges for himselfe and his post●ritie , and he that had these priuiledges granted , should be attainted of treason against the king , then surely he himselfe should loose all those priuiledges which hee had gotten of the king , and his posteritie should get no benefit of them neither . and was this so great a matter to bite an apple , and to eate of it ? the eating of the apple was a most grieuous offence not in regard of the apple it selfe , the losse thereof was but small , for there were apples good store in paradise : but because that eating flowed and issued as it were from the fountaine of most horrible sinnes , to wit , from pride , man thereby affecting the seate and maiestie of god , and so became guiltie of high treason against gods maiestie , as god mockingly casts man in the teeth , gen. 3. behold adam is made like vnto one of vs , that is , he is made as it were one of the persons in the sacred trinitie . another sinne is vnbeleefe , in that our first parents did not beleeue gods words to be true , when he said , in what day soeuer ye shall ea●● of it , ye shall die the death . but contrariwise , in that they readily beleeued the diuell , who spake vnto them by the serpent as by his instrument , and told them , that they should not die at all , and so they gaue more credit to him then vnto god. the third sinne is contemptuousnesse , and disobedience , for we ought to obey god in all his commands , euen in those which wee thinke are but of little reckoning . the fourth sinne is vnthankefulnesse , for man was created after the likenesse and image of god , and therefore it was his duty to obey gods commandements in token of his thankfulnesse for the benefit . the fift and most grieuous sinne was that apparant reuolt and falling from god to the diuell , namely when man went about to attaine to be like vnto god by the counsell and helpe of the diuell , and so conspired as it were with the diuell against god. i haue also heard of the cause of miserie , or of the diseases of the soule , tell me now further , what be the parts of our misery ? they be two : sinne , and the punishment for sinne ; for in these two things our misery consisteth . first , that we are sinners : and secondly , that we for sinners are lyable to temporall and eternall punishments . what is sinne ? * it is a stepping aside from that rule of perfection and righteousnesse which god requireth at our hands . or it is whatsoeuer is repugnant to the law of god. what sorts of sinne be there ? two : originall and actuall . what is originall sinne ? it is that staine and corruption of humane nature , of the vnderstanding and will of man , whereby a man euen from his very birth is carryed , and haled along to sinfull actions ; of this sinne speaketh the scripture , gen. 6.5 . the imaginations and thoughts of mans heart are onely euill continually : psal. 51.7 . in iniquitie was i formed and conceiued , and in sinne hath my mother brought me forth . that is , my sinne was conceiued and borne with me . rom. 5.12 . by one man sinne entred into the world , and death by sinne . also ; by the disobedience of one man , many were made sinners . what is actuall sinne ? it is that obliquitie or prauity , by which the actions and doings of a man , are carried in a course contrarie to the law of god , or else when a man offends against the will of god , not onely in inclination and pronenesse , but in deed it selfe . i haue heard of the former part of mans miserie , namely , of sinne ; what is the other part of humane misery ? the punishment of sinne . how many kinds of punishments for sinne be there ? two , temporary and eternall . temporary punishment , what is it ? it is that misery which a man endures in this life , as pouerty , disgrace , diseases , and at the last death it selfe , which is called , the wages of sinne , rom. 6. what is eternall punishment ? it is that vnspeakable sorrow , torment , and disgrace , which the damned shall suffer in hell with the diuell and his angles . i conceiue now the parts of mans miserie , shew mee also the exemplarie cause ▪ whereby as in a glasse , i may come to the knowledge of my miserie ? the glasse wherein we may perfectly see our misery , is that high and strict rigour of the law of god , both in exacting that righteousnes , which wee are neuer able to performe , and also in threatning most grieuous punishments which they must abide , which doe not satisfie the law of god , either by themselues , or by another . whence may wee know that rigour of gods law ? first , euen by euery commandement of the decalogue , of which wee cannot in this life performe so much as one perfectly ; the summe of which commandements are contained in those words , which saint matthew hath , chap. 22. luke ▪ 10 thou shalt loue the lord thy god , &c. secondly , by those grieuous comminations , which are added to these commandements : cursed is euery one that abideth not , &c deut. 27.26 . gal 3.10 . this then is our greatest misery , that wee cannot satisfie the law of god , sithence wee are not able nor apt of our selues to thinke any good : 2. cor. 3.5 . and consequently that according to gods word wee must be cursed both in this life , and in the life to come , vnlesse wee can obtaine from the great mercy of god , redemption and remission of our sinnes ; which is another thing , euen an excellent remedy agaist our misery , that this heauenly discipline setteth out vnto vs , and which we meane now to handle . the second part of this celestiall science , which is touching the freeing of man from his misery , that is , from sinne , and the punishment of sinne . i know well my misery , i would gladly know how i may be freed from this misery , or what remedy there is for these diseases of my soule ? the remedy is two fold , either prim● and independant , or secondarie , and depending of the former . which is the prime , or independant remedie ? it is our free predestination and election , whe● by god hath decreed from all eternity , to redeeme and saue euerlastingly some certaine men by his son , of which these sayings of the scripture beare witnesse ; ephes. 2.4 , 5. hee hath elected vs in christ before the foundations of the world were layd . hee hath predestinated vs , whom he might adopt for sonnes in christ iesus , euen out of the good pleasure of his owne will. rom 8 vers . 30. whom he hath predestinated , them also he called . rom. 9. i will haue mercy on whom i will haue mercy : therefore election is not in him that willeth , or in him that runneth , but in god which sheweth mercie , psalm . 15.16 . acts 13. vers . 4 , 5. and so many of them as were predestinated vnto life eternall belieued mat. 20. vers . 16. many are called , but few elected . i haue heard , as touching the prime remedy of our misery , to wit , election vnto life eternall , now instruct me in the other kind of remedy ? that is diuided into three heads , 1. redemption : 2. iustification : 3. sanctification . what is redemption ? it is the setting of vs free from sinne , and the punishment of sinne , wrought by christ iesus , the son of god our redeemer . how many things offer themselues to be considered about our redemption ? two : the efficient cause , or author of redemption : secondly the obiect of it , whereunto redemption appertaineth . who is our redeemer ? iesus christ : for he is made vnto vs of god wisdome , righteousnesse , sanctification and redemption . 1 cor. 1.36 . 1. tim. 3 16. there is one mediatour betwixt god and man , euen the man christ iesus . how many things are we to consider in christ our redeemer ? two : his person , and his office . how many things are there to bee considered in the person of christ ? two : to wit , the parts of it , and there vnion . of how many parts doth the person of christ consist ? of two : the diuine nature , and the humane . and this i proue , that christ consisteth on these two natures , because hee is true god , and true man. that he is true god , wee haue spoken before , when wee proued the son to bee god. and truly that there is another nature in the son of god , besides the humane nature , may bee proued by two manifest arguments , the former whereof is this : in what person soeuer there is made a distinction & limitation , so that one thing is attributed to it , by reason of one part , and another thing agreeth vnto it , by reason of another part , in that person of necessity there must be two natures : but in the person of christ there is such a limitation : ergo. the minor is proued out of rom. 1.3 . where the apostle saith , that the son of god was made the seed of dauid according to his flesh . whereupon it necessarily followeth , that there is another thing in christ besides his flesh ; for when as i say , that man is immortall according to his soule , it must needs follow , that there is som other thing in man beside his soule : for euery limitation , argueth a diuersity in that which is limited . the other argument is , to whom many things are attributed , which can in no wise agree to humane nature , in him there must needes be another nature or essence distinct from the humane nature . but vnto christ many things are so attributed : ergo. the minor is proued by that , iohn 8. v. 19. verely , verely , i say vnto you , before abraham was i am . this can by no meanes be vnderstood of the humane nature , because christs natiuity was two thousand yeares after abraham . that trifling exposition which the samosateuian heretikes giue of this place , before abraham was , to wit , the father of the faithfull , i am , is altogether vnsound , and not sounding with the text , neither with the scope and intention of christ in this place ; for he was to answer to the obiection of the iewes , who had said in the verse going before , thou art not yet fiftie yeares old , and hast thou seene abraham ? now what an answer should this haue beene , if he had said , before abraham was the father of the faithfull , i am ; for that should haue beene as ridiculous an answer , as if when one should say to me , thou art not yet forty yeares old , and hast thou seene sigismund king of polonia ? and i should answer , before my sonne shall get a sonne , and be a father , i am ; would not all laugh at such an answer , giuen to that question ? and that christ is man , it needes no prouing , because all grant it . why is not the sole humane nature of christ , called a person as well as euery one of vs be called persons ? although the humane nature of christ consisteth of a soule and a body , euen as we doe , notwithstanding it can not subsist a part by it selfe , without adioyning it to the diuine nature , whereas we can subsist euery one by himselfe seuerally ; otherwise he is like vnto vs in other things , sinne only excepted , as the scripture witnesseth , heb. 2. v. 14. because therefore the children are partakers of flesh and blood , euen christ also was made partakers of them . and v. 16. he tooke not the angels , but the seede of abraham , whereupon hee ought to bee made like vnto all his brethren in substance ; namely , according to his soule and body : which may be obserued against the vbiquitaries , who conceit there was another kind of humane substance in christ , then such as we haue ; namely , such a one as can be in one , and the selfe-same instant of time euery where in all places both in heauen and earth , and so they confound the diuine and humane nature one with the other . i haue heard what be the parts of christs person : now shew me what is the vnion of those two parts in christs person ? it is that indissoluble knot , wherby the humane nature is so surely tied vnto the diuine , and the diuine nature so linked to the humane , that of them two is made but one person , and that those natures for euer cannot be dis-ioyned the one from the other . what are we to consider in this vnion ? two things , to wit , the cause of the vnion of the two natures in christ , and then the proprieties of this vnion ? what is the cause of the vnion of these two natures in christ ? the conception of the humane nature in the virgin maries wombe wrought by the holy ghost , and then the natiuitie and incarnation , whereby after that most straite coniunction of the humane nature with the diuine in the virgin maries wombe , the man christ was borne and brought forth into this light , see syst. theolog pag. 323. how many proprieties hath this vnion ? three : first , that it is exceeding fast and sure . secondly , that it can not possible be dissolued . thirdly , that by reason thereof , those things that agree only to the one nature , are notwithstanding attributed to the whole person , because of either of those two natures . see syst. theolog . pag. 320. i haue heard as touching the person of christ , now it remaines , that i be instructed in the office of christ , and first of all that you tell mee how the office of christ is called generally ? it is in generall termed the office of a mediatour . what is a mediatour ? generally a mediatour importeth such an one as doth reconcile the party offending to the party offended , which reconciliation consisteth in these three things . 1 the mediatour must take intercession for him that hath grieued the partie offended . 2. he must satisfie the partie offended for the iniurie and wrong done 3. he must promise and likewise prouide that the offender shall not offend any more . and therefore when we say christ is a mediatour , it is as if we say that christ is that person that hath appeased god , whom mankinde by their sinnes had most grieuously offended , and who hath giuen satisfaction to the iustice of god by his passion and death , who prayeth for sinners , and applyeth his merit vnto them by faith , who regenerateth them by his holy spirit , that they may begin in this life to hate sinne , and to be warie that they offend god no more . of how many sorts is the office of christ our mediatour ? of three sorts . propheticall , sacerdotall , and regall , in regard wherof our sauiour is called christ , i. e. anointed and appointed vnto this triple office , because in the old testament by gods own command , there were anointed prophets , priests , and kings . which is the propheticall office of christ , and in what doth it consist ? it consists in two things . 1. in the office of teaching : and 2. in the efficacie of his teaching : for christ is called a prophet . 1. because hee hath reuealed god and gods will vnto angels and vnto men . for god could no otherwise be knowne , then by the sonne , according vnto that : the sonne who is in the bosome of the father , he hath reuealed him vnto vs. 2. because hee hath appointed and preserued in his church the ministery of the gospel , and bestoweth on his church able teachers and ministers , fitting and furnishing them with gifts necessarie for teaching , ephes. 4. v. 3. christ hath giuen some to be prophets , other to be apostles , and teachers . 3. because he is powerfull by the ministerie of the word , and inclineth the hearts of such men as are elect , to beleeue and obey the gospell , luk. 24. v. 25. then he opened their vnderstanding , that they might vnderstand the scriptures , act. 16. v 14. the lord opened the heart of lydia , to attend vnto those things which were spoken by paul. which is the priestly office of christ , and wherein doth it consist ? it consists in three things . 1. in the purging of our sinnes 2 in the vertue and applying of that purgation . 3. in his intercession for vs : for as the priest in the old testament had two officers , the one to make attonement for sinne , and the other to pray for the people . so likewise the priestly office of christ heerein consisteth . 1. that he should offer himselfe as a sacrifice to his eternall father for our sinnes . 2. that he should make intercession for vs vnto his eternall father . what are there to be considered in the first part of christs priestly office , to wit , in the satisfaction for our sinnes ? there be two : namely , the causes or meanes whereby christ wrought this expiation , and so satisfied for our sinnes , and 2 the proprieties of that expiation . what be the causes by which christ wrought this expiation ? these be of two sorts , either prime , or arising from the prime causes . what is the prime cause ? the obedience of christ in that he humbled himselfe , and was subiect to the law , to the end that he might satisfie for vs , who had broken the law. according to that , rom. 5. v. 19. as by the disobedience of one man , to wit , of adam , many were made sinners ; so by the obedience of one , to wit , of christ , many shall be made righteous . what is the other cause arising and springing from this prime cause ? it is twofold . the passion ; and the death of christ. of what sort is the passion of christ ? it is of two sorts . externall , and internall . what is the externall passion ? it is both that anguish which christ endured in his most sanctified body ; and also that ignominy and shame which hee sustained for our sakes . which was the internall passion ? that wonderfull sadnesse , and heauinesse , which christ felt in his soule for our sinne ; of which it is said , math. 26. v. 38. my soule is heauy euen vnto the death , where by death hee vnderstandeth not only corporall death , but eternall , as if he had said , my soule is as heauy and sorrowfull , as their soules are which must for euer be damned . how many were the torments of christ in soule ? two. which is the former ? the former was in the garden before he was apprehended and led to publike iudgement : for there began he to be affraid of himselfe , lest god should leaue and forsake him , whom he then beheld as one who was grieuously offended by the sins of mankinde , and consequently who was extremely angry with him that had taken and translated vpon himselfe the sinnes of the whole world . whereby doe you know the greatnesse of these torments , and sufferings in the soule of christ ? by two tokens . first , in that christ there needed angels to comfort him , and to hold him vp , lest being too much affraid by that horrible sight of the angry and wrathfull god , he should haue fainted , see luk. 22. v. 13. and hence it was that he vttered that speach , my soule is heauy vnto death , euen to eternall death . what is the other token of those most grieuous torments in the soule of christ ? his bloody sweat : for this was a manifest signe that all the naturall forces in christ were much weakened and as it were bound from doing their office , by reason of that great torment and terrour , so that nature could not keepe the blood any more in the veines , but was faine being congealed , and clotted , to cast it out as it were , and driue it to the exteriour parts , of which great violence and terrour , the like example can no where be read in any historie . which is the other suffering or torment of christ in soule ? the latter was that which a little before his death hee felt vpon the crosse , when he stroue against that temptation of his perpetuall separation and abiection from the face of god , whereupon hee sent forth that dolefull cry , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? where by a metonymy he calleth that fearefull temptation ( wherewith those are wont to be troubled whom god hath cast from his sight , and quite forsaken ) desertion or forsaking . for requisite it was , that christ should endure such a temptation , that hee might deliuer vs from eternall damnation . i haue seene the passion of christ , now tell me his death ? the death of christ , is the separation of his soule from his body , whereby he satisfied for , and purged our sinnes and deliuered vs from eternall death . and so much the very shedding of blood and water out of christs side did manifest , of which iohn speaketh , iohn 19. v. 34. one of the souldiers ( saith he ) pearced his side , and presently issued out blood and water ; by the blood , christ signified that our sinnes were ransomed , and satisfied for : by the water , that we are washed from the filth of our sinnes . it followeth now in order that you instruct me as touching the proprieties and benefits of christs passion , tell me therefore what is the first proprietie of christs passion ? this it is , that it was altogether necessary , in regard that mankinde could no way else be freed from eternall death , but by the death of the sonne of god : and that for this reason , because the most high god is most iust , and therefore neuer remitteth sinnes without satisfaction ; sithence , that by nature he hateth sinnes , and can in no wise endure them : for he that is iustice , most eminently , cannot away with iniustice , euen as the fire cannot abide water . as it is said , psal. 5. thou art not a god that willeth wickednesse . againe , plaine places of the scripture doe testifie the same , rom. 8. v. 3. that which was impossible to the law , that hath god done by sending his sonne , i. e. that which by no other meanes could haue beene performed , was done by the death of the sonne of god , heb. 2. v. 14. therefore because the children are partakers of flesh and blood , he also in like manner was made partaker of them , that hee might abolish by death him that had the power of death , that is , the deuill ; and in the verse following , and might set at libertie those which through the feare of death were subiect vnto bondage all their life long , that is , that he might redeeme those which otherwise should haue perished eternally , vnlesse christ had wrought their redemption . and truly if there had beene any other way to haue satisfied for sinne , then that might haue beene performed , either by our selues , or by some other creature . but we could not haue done this for our selues . 1. because whatsoeuer good we doe , we doe already owe it vnto god , and that which wee owe vnto god , is not the price of redemption or satisfaction : but it is due debt . 2. because wee adde somewhat to the score of our debts euery day , and therefore wee can neuer bee able to satisfie and pay them . and that wee doe daily adde sinne vnto sinne , see iohn 15. vers . 15 , 16. psal. 130. v. 3. math. 6. v. 12. math. 18. v. 25. thirdly , because sinne is a hurt and iniurie to god , and so an infinite euill , and therefore also deserueth either eternall punishment , or one equall thereunto , out of which ( if it had beene laid vpon vs ) we could neuer haue beene able to haue freed ourselues . no other creature could satisfie for vs , for example , not the angels : first , because man , and no other creature may be punished for that sinne man had committed , the iustice of god requiring that it should be so , as it is said , ezech. 18. v. 30. that soule that hath sinned , euen that shall die . secondly , because no creature , no not the angels are able to escape and free themselues out of eternall punishment . whereupon it followeth , that it was requisite , that hee who should satisfie the iustice of god for our sinnes , should be truly god , and truly man. man he was to be , because man had sinned , and therefore gods iustice so requiring , he that should pay and smart he must be man , as it is said , heb. 9.22 . without shedding of blood , there is no remission of sinnes : wherefore that christ might shedde blood , it was meete he should be man. and he was to be god too : first , that by the power of his diuinitie , he might vndergoe the infinite anger of god against the sinne of mankinde , with which anger christ should certainly haue beene ouerwhelmed , if he had beene but bare man ; because god is a consuming fire , deut. 4. v. 24. and therefore as man he desireth the cup of his passion might be taken away frō him , as being that which he could not beare , as he was man : and as man he cryeth out vpon the crosse , oh god why hast thou forsaken me ? secondly , it was needfull that hee should be truly god , who would satisfie for our sinnes , that his suffering and punishment might be of infinite worth , and so equiualent to eternall damnation : for , because we by our sinnes had deserued not only temporall put eternal punishment , it was necessary that he who would take in hand our deliuerance , should vndergoe not the temporall punishment alone , but the eternall too ; the eternall not by reason of the extent and continuance of it , but in value and equiualence , that is , his punishment was to be equiualent to eternall punishment , or to haue an equall proportion with eternall punishment , but no mans punishment can equiualize eternall punishment , but only of him who is himselfe eternall who is truly god , whereupon the fathers said very right and deuoutly . for god to suffer it is more , then for all men to be damned eternally . 3. because the satisfaction must needes haue beene of infinite worth and valour , to the end it might sufficiently serue for the purging and ransoming of all mens sins . but none there is that can work such a satisfaction of infinite valour , vnlesse he himself be infinite , that is god. what is the 2. propriety of christs passion ? that it was truly expiatory , and satisfactory , that is , our sins by vertue of christs expiation were forgiuen vs , which must be noted , 1. against the samosatenians , who blasphemously say , that the passion of christ was only exemplary , that is , that christ by his passion would giue vs onely an example to obey god in all things , and to beare the crosse which god shall lay vpon vs patiently , as christ before vs patiently did beare his crosse. this dangerous doctrine , that throweth our consciences headlong into the pit of despaire , arose from no other spring , then the deniall of the godhead of the sonne of god. for , because there was none could satisfie for our sinnes , except hee were god , as wee haue also a little before prooued , and the samosatenians deny christ to bee truely god , therefore no farly was it , if they thought , that the passion of christ was not satisfactory but only exemplarie but to their blasphemies we oppose ; first , the diuinity of the son of god , proued and euicted already by euident testimonies , to wit , when we necessarily inforced that christ who suffered for vs was the sonne of god , and hence it will follow that his suffering was of infinite valour , and consequently , that it was satisfactory . secondly , most apparent testimonies of holy writ , esay 53. v. 4. he himselfe carried and bare our infirmities truly , and v. 5. he was tormented for our sinnes , and hee was broken for our iniquities , rom. 5. v. 9. now then being iustified by his blood , we shall be saued . 2. cor. 5. v. 18. all these things are of god , who hath reconciled vs vnto himselfe by iesus christ , and vers . 21. he made him who knew no sinne to be sinne for vs. 1. tim. 2. v. 5 , 6. there is one god , one mediatour of god and men , euen the man christ iesus who gaue himselfe , a price of our redemption . an example is one thing , and a price or ransome is another thing , galat. 2. v. 20. the sonne of god hath giuen himselfe for me , for if righteousnesse be by the law , then christ died with out a cause ; as if he had said , christ dyed to that end , that by his death he might bestow on vs righteousnesse , in satisfying gods iustice thereby for our offences : but there is a very plaine place , gal. 3. v 13. christ redeemed vs from the curse of the law , when he was made a curse for vs : for it is written , cursed is he that hangeth on the tree . 1. iohn 1. v. 7. the blood of iesus christ , the sonne of god , purgeth vs from all our sinnes . 1. iohn 2. v. 2. he is the propitiation for our sinnes . these are the most pregnant places of scripture for this point , whereunto wee may adde this argument . if the passion of christ was but exemplary , surely he would neuer haue cryed out with a loud voice , my god ▪ my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? for those words are not set down as an example for vs to follow , nay rather we ought to do quite contrary to them , euen to haue alwaies sure cōfidence in god , & neuer to thinke , or cry out , that we are forsaken of him , as it is said , rom. 8. v. 15. wee must cry abba father , in thee doe i settle my soule . againe , if the passion of christ was but exemplary , how were then the fathers saued which were before christ , and so had not his example ? and how was the thiefe saued , that could not imitate christ in his example , whereas he was now hanged on the crosse as well as christ , and that before his conuersion . secondly , this same propriety of christs passion must be noted against all such , as attribute the purging of their sinnes , and the merit of the forgiuenes of them to almes-deeds , or other workes of their owne : for if so bee that there is no remission of sinnes , but by shedding of bloud , as wee haue showne before , and almes-deeds , or other workes , euen the best of them shed no bloud , certainely then by no workes of ours whatsoeuer can there be wrought expiation or remission of sinne . what is the third proprietie of christs passion ? that it was most sufficient , neither need wee any more expiation , which is proued by that heb. 9. verse 26 now was hee in the ende of the world made manifest by that that offering vp of himselfe once to take away sinne . and vers. 28. christ was once offered vp , that he might take away the sinnes of many . and yet more euidently , heb. 10.12 . this man after the offering of his sacrifice , sitteth for euer at the right hand of the father . and vers . 14. by his one oblation ; that is , by that his oblation , which onely is most perfect and sufficient . now that is said , col. 1.24 . i fulfill the remainders of christs suffering or passion in the flesh ; it must not bee so vnderstood , as if the passion of christ were not of it selfe sufficient , but needed some additament to fil it vp , but there by a synecdoche , the passions of christ he calleth all such , as the members of christ were to suffer : as if he said ; i must also endure those afflictions , which christ shall feele in his members , as he expresly annexeth ; i fulfill the remnant of christs passion in the flesh , for the body of christ which is his church : that he might plainely shew , that hee spake not of that passion which christ suffered for our sinnes , but of the crosses and afflictions which the church must sustaine in this world , which church by a metaphorical kind of speaking is the body of christ. and this which wee haue spoken about the sufficiency of the passion of christ , wee must note againe against the papists , who teach and say , that expiation and purging of sin , is partly by good workes , which shall be confuted in the doctrine of iustification , partly by the masse , which shal likewise be confuted in the point of , and concerning the lords supper , and partly by purgatory , which ( they say ) is a fire , in which the soules of men after this life are tormented with temporall paines , and are purged from sinnes , and from which the soules of such as are aliue by fauour and by prayers , may be deliuered , as the councell of trent saith in the fifth session . against which obserue these reasons : first , in the sacred volume there is no one testimony of purgatory , no not so much as one example of any one that was in that purgatorie fire : ergo , it is a nice inuention of their own braine ; they vrge a place , 1. co. 8. vers . 13. where it is said , that by the fire shall be made manifest , and proued , euery mans worke of what sort it is . but they apply this to purgatory very foolishly : for the apostle speaketh as touching the edification of the church , and saith , that the time shall come , when it shal be tried and examined , how much euery one hath profited in edifying the church by the word of god , and the holy spirit , which two he calleth fire , by a metaphor . he addeth further , vers. 15. he shall be saued but euen as it were by the fire : where abiding still in the metaphor and similitude , hee saith , that not all those who haue not edified aright , shall straightway bee damned for euer , but that they shall suffer a tryall in their own conscience , because they haue not so faithfully discharged their office as they should . secondly , obserue two manifest sayings of the holy writ , wherein you shall find but two places only that must bee in the next world pointed out vnto you , the one for the blessed , the other for those , who are eternally damned . mark the last . ioh 5. verely , verely , i say vnto you , who so heareth my word , and belieueth in him that sent mee , shall not come into iudgement ; and by consequence not into purgatorie , which is a part of iudgement ; but shall passe from death to life . reuel . 4 vers , 14. blessed are they henceforth which die in the lord. henceforth ; that is , frō the very moment wherein they die . there is also a plaine place , luke 23.43 . where christ saith to the thiefe ; to day shalt thou bee with mee in paradice : whereas he ( if any ) needed this purgatorie fire . i haue heard sufficiently , as concerning the first part of christs priestly office , namely , the purging away of our sinnes ; tell me what is the second part of the priestly office of christ ? it is that effectuall application , whereby christ doth all sufficiently and powerfully apply that his purging performed by him vnto the faithfull , so that by it they may obtaine remission of sinnes , reconciliation and peace . what is the third part of this office of christ. it is his intercession for vs. what doe you meane by intercession ? i doe not meane any prayer , or sute , whereby christ would get vnto vs againe the fauour of god , as one man is said to interceed for an other , that he may procure him somwhat ; but i vnderstād , first that perpetuall value & force of the sacrifice of christ , namely , in that christ presenteth his passion , which he suffered for vs , vnto the eternall father . secondly , the fathers consent resting in this passion of christ , contented and agreeing , that this passion of christ shall bee of force for vs for euer . which is the third office of christ ? his regall office : for christ is not only a prophet , and a priest vnto vs , but he is also a king. in what points consisteth the regall office of christ ? in foure : first , in that he gouerneth the church by his spirit , and by his word ; and doth not onely shew vnto vs by his word what we ought to doe , but by the worke of the spirit in vs , enableth vs to doe them . secondly , in that hee defendeth vs against our enemies , satan , sinne and death , that they haue no power to hinder our saluation . thirdly , in that hee beautifieth his church with excellent gifts , and appointeth the ministerie of his word , making men obedient vnto this his owne ordinance . fourthly , in that at the end of the world hee shall appeare to be iudge of all men , and shall condemne the wicked to eternall punishments , but shal make the godly to shine with eternal glorie . i doe already conceiue the office of christ what it is , and of how diuers sorts it is : now i would haue you tell me what the obiect is about which christ exercises this his office ? it is the church . how many waies is church taken . two waies : in a large , or in a more strict signification . what is the church taken in the large acception ? it is the multitude or company of all such men , as haue the word of god preached vnto them , in which company there be many hypocrites which doe not belieue truly , and therefore are damned for euer . what is the church as it is strictly taken ? it is that number and company of men , which are elect of christ by faith vnto eternall life . and this company is wont to be parted into two rankes , the one militant , the other triumphant . that company of the elect and godly is called the militant church , which remaineth yet on earth ; but the triumphant is that company of the faithfull that is already in heauen . and so the rule of the fathers is to be vnderstood : he shal neuer be a member of the church triumphant , that hath not been a member of the church militant . but whereas the church is diuided into the visible and inuisible church , that is no true diuision to speake properly , but onely a distinction of diuers respects in the church . for the church is said to be visible , in respect of the men themselues which are in the church , and may be seene , and inuisible , in respect of the internall graces , to wit , of faith , and other gifts of the holy spirit , which are not so obuious to the senses . which must be noted against the papists , who would haue the church to be a glorious appearing company , which may by the very senses bee pointed out , and acknowledged by the externall pompe of ceremonies , as bellarmine affirmeth : the church is as visible , as the common wealth of venice . contrary whereunto our sauiour speaketh , luk. 17.20 . the kingdome of god commeth not with obseruation ; where it is apparent enough out of the text , hee speaketh of the church in this world , namely , that it shall bee no such glorious company , as should be knowne by externall ceremonies and obseruations , or by solemnities , apparrelling of senatours , of counsellors , and other such like what are to bee considered about the church ? the head , the members , and the proprieties . who is the head of the church ? christ alone is the head of the church aswell of the millitant , as of the triumphant , which is confirmed , first by a apparāt testimonies of holy writ , eph. 1.22 . god hath put all things vnder the feete of christ , and hath appointed him ouer all to bee the head to the church , which is his body . and eph. 4.15 . christ is the head , by whom the whole body is coupled and knit together . col. 1.18 . christ is the head of his body , the church a like place there is , col. 2.19 . it is proued , secondly , by reason , because euery head ought to infuse vigor and liuely vertue into all the mēbers , as our head for instance infuseth vitall spirits into euerie part of our bodie for sence and motion : but christ alone can infuse that liuely vigour into the members : ergo. true ( say the papists ) christ is the head of the church but he is the inuisible head , therefore there is neede of another visible head , who must be christs vicar on earth , and peter the apostles successor ; to wit , the pope of rome . whereunto we answer , that in this strange doctrine of the papists , there are contained many puddles of errour . the first errour is , that christ hath need of a vicar , or deputie in earth , whereunto wee oppose these arguments . first , there is no vicar , but implyeth the weaknesse of the principall regent , or gouernor , for therefore kings haue their deputies , because they be but weake men , not able to looke vnto all their subiects by themselues , but christ is an omnipotent king. secondly , he needeth a deputie , who cannot vpon all occasions be euery where present with his subiects , but christ is alwaies euerie where present with his members , as hee promiseth , matthew 28. wheresoeuer two or three are gathered together in my name , there am i in the midst of them : that is , immediately am i present with them , as the hebrew phrase teacheth . the second error is , that they thinke it a righteous thing for some one man , and hee a bishop , or minister of the church , to attribute vnto himselfe this power , to bee the vniuersall head and governour of the whole church , whereunto wee oppose these arguments : first , because christ doth plainely forbid primacie in the church , matth. 20. luk. 22. secondly , because the apostles themselues diuided the office of the apostleship among themselues , for that they saw , that one man could not be ouer all churches , as the scripture witnesseth , gal. 2.7 , 8 , 9. where paul saith ; when they saw that the gospell of vncircumcision was committed vnto me , as the gospell of circumcision vnto peter , and when iames , and cephas , and iohn , which were counted pillars , knew of the grace giuen vnto me , they gaue vnto me and barnabas the right hands of fellowship , that we should doe the office of the apostles among the gentiles , and they execute the same office among the iews 3. moses , who was a far greater mā thē pope , could not beare the burden of iudging the people of israel alone , but was constrained to part it , as it is exod. 18. much lesse therefore can the pope gouerne the whole church . the third errour is , that they faine peter to haue bin head of the church , whereas notwithstanding , 1. christ flatly forbiddeth peter and his other apostles , to seek after this headship ; and 2. paul to the gal. 2.7 . in plaine termes saith , that iames and peter and iohn were counted , or thought to be pillars , that is , by an erroneous conceit they were taken to be such by thē , who might by the abuse of that title , deceiue the galath . they obiect that place , mat 16. thou art peter , and vpon this rock , super hanc petrā , will i build my church . whereunto we answer , that he saith not , and vpon thee ( peter ) will i build my church ; but we say this is the intention and scope of christs speech namely , to commend the confession of peter , which hee setteth out by a paranomasie , or allusion vnto the name of peter ; as if he said , i rightly set vpon thee the name of peter ( see the first chapter of iohn , where christ gaue peter his name ) , because thou in the name of the other apostles , hast made such a confession , and vttered such a doctrine , as vpon which , as it were on a rocke my church shall bee builded . first then , christ commendeth peter , and in the person of peter , all the apostles , for that they belieued christ to be the son of god. secondly , he sheweth the profit and fruit of that confession , to wit , for that this doctrine and confession was to be the foundation whereupon christs church should bee built , so that it should neuer bee ouerturned by satan . otherwise that peter neuer vnderstood these wordes of himself , as if he were that stone , vpon which the ch. is reared ▪ he himself professeth openly , 1. pet. 2.4 . where he saith , that christ is that very stone , vpon the which the church was to be built . the fourth errour is , that they take for certaintie , that peter was bishop of rome , and so consequently , that he was at rome , which notwithstanding is vncertaine , neither can it be firmely proued , that peter was euer at rome , but the contrary ; for that place which before wee cited , gal. 2. is very remarkeable ; namely , in that paul did so deuide the apostleship , and part it with peter , they shaking hands of the motion , that paul should goe to the gentiles , to conuert them , and peter should labour in the conuersion of the iewes : this promise , the right hand being giuen vpon it , peter should haue broke , if he had gone to rome to conuert the gentiles ; neither doe we reade that two apostles went into the same citie , especially , it being so farre off , to preach the gospell . wherefore sithence by the confession of all , it is apparent , that paul preached the gospell at rome ; what neede was there that peter should come thither , especially at the very same time , as the papists say that they were both at rome in nero his time . ii. out of the last chapter of the second to timoth. v. 16. in my first defence , saith paul , when i appeared before nero , there was none that stood to me , but all forsooke me , i pray god it bee not laid to their charge : but if peter had then beene bishop of rome , as the papists will haue it , what a disgracefull thing had it been and vnworthy a bishop to forsake his brother and his owne companion ? bellarm. saith , that peter was at that time gone abroad to visit the churches . but we answer , that it was not meete that he should go away , then when hee should haue assisted his brother , but should rather haue put off the visitation vnto some other time , which hee would haue done , doubtlesse , if he had been at rome . againe i say , that bellarm . coines that answer of his , because he neither backs it with any place of scripture , nor of any historian , but speaketh it out of his owne braine . iii. this may be concluded by the circumstance of time , for they say that peter was 25 yeares at rome , and 7 yeares at antiocheia , which he make 32 yeares , and yet they say that peter was crucified at rome vnder nero , and that hee came to rome the 2 of claudius the emperour . now claudius raigned but 13 yeares , and nero 13 , so that both their regiments lasted but 26 yeares ; how then could peter come the 2 of claudius , and continue 27 yeares bishop of rome , and yet be crucified vnder nero. iv. we say that eusebius and hierome who are of that opinion , do not agree with themselues ; yea , and hierome especially manifestly contradicts himself . for when as hee in one place had said , that peter was crucified vnder nero , afterward expounding those words of christ , matt. 23. luke 11 behold i send vnto you prophets , &c. flatly affirmes that peter was crucified by the iewes at ierusalem . when the ancients therefore are opposite vnto themselues , hereby it may appeare that they knew not certainely in this point , and consequently how much we are to detest the impudency of the popes , which set downe for certainty , that peter was bishop of rome . the fifth errour is , that they inferre the pope of rome to be peters successour : for first , there is no sure ground to euince that peter was euer at rome ; how then could the pope of rome succeede peter . secondly , if wee grant this to the papists out of pitty , that peter was at rome , yet it doth not follow , that the pope of rome was peters successour : for the turke also hath his seate at constantinople , notwithstanding it doth not follow , that the turke is the lawfull emperour of the east , or of greece , the emperours before hauing their lawfull residency , and abode at constantinople : for the place makes not the succession lawfull , but two things there bee which make lawfull succession : first , the power giuen of god ; secondly , the imitation of the predecessors in life and manners . as cyprian saith in a certaine place , and after him ambrose and hierome : true succession is succession in doctrine , and hee cannot bee said lawfully to hold the chaire of peter , who holdeth not the doctrine of peter . but neither of these the pope of rome hath : first , whence will hee proue , that god hath giuen him that power to sit at rome , as the monarch of the church ? surely he cannot bring so much as one letter out of the scripture of god , to proue this ; nay , christ enioyned the contrary to his disciples , to wit , that one of them should not desire to bee aboue another . 2. the true succession , which is in doctrine , the pope of rome hath not : for if the decrees of the pope , and the epistles of peter be compared together , there will appeare as great difference betwixt them , as betwixt light and darknes : yea , we are about to proue by and by , that the pope of rome is the ringleader of idolaters , so farre is he off from being peters successor in doctrine . which bee the members of the church ? they be all the faithfull which do belieue in christ vnto eternall life ; for they all are vnited to christ , euen as the members of our body vnto their head . they are vnited , i say , by the holy spirit , who produceth such like motions in them , as are in the humane nature of christ assumed ; that is , he maketh that the faithful become partakers of the sacerdotall , propheticall , and regall power which is in christ. about which matter peter , epist. 2. c. 2. v. 9. speaketh most sweetly , you are a chosen generation , a royall priesthood , a holy nation , a people whom god hath chosen as peculiar to himselfe , that the virtues of him might be manifest , who hath called you out of darknes into his admirable light . see concerning this most comfortable doctrine , to wit , the vnion of the members with christ the head , in the syst. of diuinitie . pag. 376. what sorts be the members of christ ? they be of two sorts , the ministers of the word , and the hearers . here the papists challenge vs , that wee haue no lawfull ministers in the church , and by consequence that there be no lawfull sheepe , because ( say they ) where there are no lawfull and true pastors and shepheards , there can be there no lawful or true sheepe . but wee deny the antecedent , where they say , that in our churches there bee no lawfull pastors , because he is a right pastor , who rightly and lawfully executes his charge , which is don by the pure preaching of the word , & the administration of the sacraments . but ( say they ) from whom had your luther and caluin their callings ? we answere : that we depend not on caluin and luther , but of the prophets themselues , and the apostles . as for luther and caluin , they were neither prophets nor apostles ; but if they would know what kind of calling caluins and luther his was , we answere ; it was ordinarie : for luther by the publike authoritie of the vniuersitie at witenberg , was created doctor of diuinity , and so was hee called to teach by an ordinary vocation . yea , but the vniuersity at witenberg , it was papisticall ? answere ; true , it was so at that time , yet it called luther to the sincere preaching of the gospell . for the papists themselues say not , that when luther was called by them to teach , that he was called to teach heresies , but to teach the truth . therefore when afterwards he taught the truth , he taught it , being ordinarily called thereunto , although he taught it not according to the popes mind and his bishops . yea , but hee taught errou●s of papistrie before ? i answer : that that fault of luther made not his vocation voyd ; the same we say of zwinglius , caluin , and others , which were created by bishops ; where notwithstanding it must bee considered , that vnto that ordinarie calling , there was somewhat extraordinary adioined , to wit , in that god set forth , and adorned those first ministers of the dostrine of the gospel with a singular vertue to discouer the terrible abominations of poperie , for the rest of our ministers , which haue , and yet doe teach in the reformed church : they were called ordinarily by them who haue authoritie , and as yet to this day are so called now i much desire to heare of the proprieties of the church , & first tel me what kinds be the proprieties of the church of ? they bee of two kinds , some of them doe notifie and point out vnto vs where the church is , other are proprieties . how many demonstratiue proprieties of the church be there , or how many be the true markes of the church ? there be onely two ; first , the puritie of doctrine and sacraments secondly , obedience and sanctity of conuersatiō answerable to the word of god , which is proued out of the tenth of iohn : my sheep heare my voyce . mat 28. go , and teach ye all nations , baptising thē . ioh. 5.4 . ye are my friends , &c. ioh. 13.32 . by this shall all men know , that ye are my disciples , &c. the papists say , these are not the notes of the true church : for , say they , all heretic●s can challenge to themselues thus much , that they haue the pure word of god , and the lawfull vse of the sacraments . therefore i answer ; that that which is but by an accedent , doth not take away that which is per se. now it is but by accedent , that the heretiques take this vsurpation on themselues : for what is there more excellēt in the church then the pure word of god , and the lawfull vse of the sacraments ? but in setting downe the markes of the church , they doe not agree among themselues . see the 396 page of my syst. of diuinitie . yet generally they say , that these are those marks , 1. antiquitie . whereto i answere ; that if they brag of antiquity simply , the diuell also is a most ancient serpent , neither is he in that regard any whit the better ; therefore wee ought to seeke after antiquitie of true doctrine , which wee say and affirme to bee in our church , in that , namely , her note and marke is the pure word of god , then which nothing is more anciēt . but your church ( do they obiect ) began but with luther some 80 yeeres agoe , therefore it is not the true church ? i answer : that it is an vntruth that our church did but begin then . for our church begun presently in paradice , and was also in the time of the prophets . the second marke they make a continuall succession , or a perpetuitie of doctrine in the church , and so condemning our church , as in which there hath been no such continuall succession , they insult ouer vs saying ; where were your churches before luther those 600 yeares , wherein you say , the world was obscured by the darkenesse of poperie ? whereto we answer , that the church is somtime more clearely manifest , sometime it is more obscurely apparant ; if therefore by succession they vnderstand the state of the church alwaies alike flourishing , then wee say , that it is false that such a succession is a propriety and mark of the true church : for the visible state of the church consisteth in religious worship , and in doctrine , wherein the church is not alwaies like vnto it self , hauing her obscurings , and as it were eclipses , such as the sunne and moone haue ; and sometimes it is wrapped about with errours , so that it cannot shew its head by any visible estate , or ministerie , whereunto the scripture beares manifest testimony , 2. chro. chap. 28. where it is plaine , that the estate of the church was altogether obscured , insomuch that elias thought with himselfe , that he alone was left aliue of all the members of the church , being priuie to none beside himselfe , that worshipped god purely ; yet euen then the lord said vnto him , i haue reserued vnto my selfe seuen thousand , which haue not bowed their knees before baal . so in the time of christ his liuing vpon the earth , the state of the church was a most corrupt state , so that beside christ and his apostles , there were very few members of the true church ; yea , and before christs birth a little , marie , ioseph , zacharie , and elizabeth , and a few more , which lay so secret , that there was no shew of them to any man , made vp the true church . such like vnto these was that estate of the church those 600 yeares vnder the papacie , of which time there was expresse prediction before , reuel . 12. that the time , to wit , should come , that the church should be obscure , as it were hid in the wildernesse . but therefore can any conclude , that there was no church ? no surely , no more then it doth follow ; this man is hid , therefore hee is not a man. there were in that most thicke darkenesse of poperie , and vnder the kingdome of that antichrist of rome , true members of the church , although by reason of that cruell tyrannie of the pope they lay hid , neither was there so few of them as the papists faine , which at that very time vnder poperie had the pure doctrine and the sacraments , but there were verie many of them , euen whole countries that were not defiled by the corrupt doctrine of the papists , as the albingenses , and the valdenses , and they of picardie , who propagated the holy truth in bohemia , and polonia , in spite of all the popes resistance . as also a hundred yeares before luther , there were the hussites , brethren of bohemia , who maintained the true doctrine of the gospell , as those times would giue them leaue . yea , and further in all and euerie of those yeares , there were by gods working , continually raised vp witnesses and teachers , who openly , and before all , shewed their detestation of the pope , and popish errours , which witnesses of the truth , euen in the time of papacie , they are all gathered together in a booke most worthie the perusing , which we ought alwaies to oppose to the papists , which hath for its title , catalogus testium veritatis : that is ; a catologue of the witnesses of the truth . the third note the papists do make vniuersality , because forsooth the church dispersed ouer all the world , ought to bee catholike ? i answer : that the papists here do contradict themselues , when they say , the church of god must be catholike , and yet the romish church must be that church of god ; which is all one , as if i should say ; the church must be the vniuersall dantiscan church , or the vniuersal cracouian church , or a particular vniuersall church ; for to bee the romish church , and to be a particular one , is all one . againe , we answer , that we doe not denie , that the church ought to be catholike , in that sence wherein the word is vsed in the creed , as afterward it shal be made plaine . and we say , that our church hath alwaies been , and now also is catholike , because that after the apostles had gathered the church out of all nations , there did alwaies from time to time remaine some reliques of the true church in all nations , although those reliques were hid and obscured , as that book catalogus testium veritatis , which wee haue a little before cited , doth testifie , that in the very time of popery , there was alwaies in greece , italie , spaine . germany , bohemia , polonia , some found that opposed and resisted the pope . but whereas the iesuites obiect vnto vs , that in america , and in the east indies , there are no protestant preachers of the gospell as yet , but all papists , and especially iesuites labouring the conuersion of the people ? i answere them : first , that the pharisies also did run about both by sea and land , to draw men vnto their faith , and yet for all that , their religion was not true . secondly , i say , that the papists haue slaine moe in the indies then they haue conuerted , as you may see by a place , which i haue cited in my politiques l. 1. c. 4. that in a very short time a hundred fortie thousand men were murdered by them . thirdly , i am sure the diuell also goes a compassing the whole world , and seduceth many , yet is hee for that neuer a whit the better . fourthly , i auerre , that our ministers also haue taught the true gospell in america : inasmuch as calum sent thither two ministers of the church from geneua , the one whereof was ioannes lerius , who committed that storie to writing . and at this day there are orthodoxe ministers in the east indies ▪ which do publikely preach the true doctrine of the gospell , carried ouer thither by the merchants of the low-countries and doubtlesse toward the end of this world , the true religion shall be in america ; as god now is preparing the way for it by the english and low-countrie merchants ; that that of christ may bee fulfilled , matth. 23. the gospell shall bee preached throughout the whole world , that it may bee a witnesse to all nations . for god in all his workes is wont to effect a thing successiuely , and therefore first hee sends vnto those nations some light of his essence and his truth , by the papists , and afterward will make these things shine more clearely vnvnto them by the true and faithfull ministers of the gospel . the fourth note the papists say , is vnitie and good agreement ? i answere : consent and vnitie is but so farre a marke of the church , as the consent is in truth and goodnesse , and not in euill and falsehood : for such an agreement in euill and falsity is among the very deuils , and what greater agreement & consent then among robbers ? so also among the turkes , there is very great consent , so that mahometisme is farre and neare by them propagated ; yet doth it not hence follow , that mahometisme is the true church . secondly , i answer , that in our church there is great consent in the truth ; for howsoeuer after luthers time , there arose many churches , the diuel being alwaies busie to cast his plots against the true church , and to stirre vp in it diuers hearts ; yet the orthodoxe professours are at good agreement about the articles of faith , as that excellent booke , called , the harmony of confessions , doth testifie ; wherein it is manifestly prooued , that there is exceeding great consent betwixt the churches of france , england , scotland , bohemia , and those which are in germany neere vnto rhene , and in other prouinces : for that disagreement which is betwixt the lutherans and the orthodoxe professours , doth not straightway quite dissolue the vnitie which is betwixt the true church . thirdly , i deny that there is so great agreement in the romish church , as they boast of , for it can bee easily showne , that the popish writers agree not in any one article among themselues , as it doth appeare out of bellarmine , who ordinarily disputed against other papists , and alleageth their oppositions , and contradictions to themselues : this may further appeare by ioh. pappius and matthias . iohn his booke of the sects and dissentions , and contradictions among popish doctours , printed at basil , 1565 ; whereunto the papists haue not as yet answered . andr. chrastouius likewise hath written a book he cals bellum iesuiticum , the good agreement the iesuits haue among themselues , who neither is as yet cōfuted . that same booke of chrastouius was printed at basil in quarto 1593 , & it contains 205 iesuiticall contradictions . which is that bare , or secondary proprietie of the church ? to the church of the new testament , this propriety doth also agree that it is catholick & that first in respect of places , not because it possesseth many kingdoms , but because it is scattred ouer the whole world , & not tied to any certain place , to any determinate country , or city . secondly , in respect of men , because it doth consist of men of all sorts , gathered out of the conditiō of all men of al nations , act. 10. thirdly , in respect of times , because it shall continue all times , euen vnto the end of the world , as it is said , mat. 28. i will be with you euen vntill the end of the world . fourthly , in respect of vnitie , because the catholike church is at all times but one , to wit , in vnity of doctrin , & consent in that doctrine . and thus much wee haue spoken of the proprieties of the church . now if we shall examine and trie the popish church by these proprieties , it will appeare to be no pure church , but be very corrupt , euen as a rotten apple is an apple corrupted , and no otherwise , then a man that is infected with the plague , is a man , but no sound man. and that the popish church is not the pure church , i will prooue it by two manifest reasons : the first , an idolatrous church is not the true & pure church , but such a one is the popish church , ergo . the proposition is euident , because god doth abhorre nothing more then idolatrie ; therefore hee saith , flie from idols ; and , no idolater shall bee saued . the assumption i confirme thus : that church which giues that honor , which dauid giues vnto god the creator , in the very same words vnto the creature , to wit , the virgin marie , that same church is idolatrous . but the church of rome doth so goe now , that the church of rome doth attribute that honour which is due vnto god , vnto the virgin marie : i proue it by a most euident testimonie out of that same psalter of marie the virgin , which was compiled by bonauentura , who liued 250 yeres agoe , and canonized of the pope of rome , so that hee is accounted among the saints , and the title of a seraphicall doctour , which is more then angelicall , giuen vnto him . this same psalter was by the permission of the higher powers printed in latin at brixia , and bononia in italy eight yeares since , being before printed at ingolstadium in the dutch tongue some 20 yeares agoe : in the preface wherevnto it is expressely said , that it was compiled , the holy ghost inditing and dictating it . and further , that very psalter is in speciall vse in the romish church , but especially is it currant among the monkes of saint bennets order , which are called cistercians . now in this psalter , all those things which dauid attributes to the high and most mighty god , are by them put vpon the virgin marie , as psal. 51. haue mercy vpon me , o lady , and cleanse me from all mine offences . but that of all other is most blasphemous , which they apply vnto her out of the psa. 109. according to that distinctiō , the lord said vnto my lady , sit thou mother mine at my right hand ; where mary is made the mother of god the father , as though the father had bin incarnat , & made man , that i may not say further , that to be set on the right hand of god , is to haue a like power , and equall glory with god himselfe . againe , that the romish church is an idolatrous assembly , i proue it out of the romish masse booke , where in the seruice appointed for good friday , it is said , that the priest so soone as hee hath put off his shooes , and then approcheth to adore the crosse , shall kneele three times , before he kisse the crosse , and then afterward the ministers of the altar , they must also kneele , and three times adore the crosse. ii. arg. that church which approueth manifest crimes , is not the pure church : but the church of rome is such . ergo. the proposition is herein manifest , for that the papists themselues do yeeld sanctity and holinesse of manners to be a note of the church . the assumption i confirme , for that the pope doth dispence for incest , sodomy , and other most grieuous crimes . see the taxes , fines , or nundinations of the court of rome described at large in musculus his common places . 2. it is confirmed out of costers enchiridion , where you shall find it written , that a priest committing fornication , or keeping a concubine in his house , does not so grieuously sinne , as he that doth marrie . this doth gretzer allow of in his history of the iesuiticall order : pag 115. most truly wrote our coster , that a priest should not so grieuously offend , if hee should commit fornication , then if hee should marrie . and hee addeth ; yea , it is truly spoken , that a priest doth lesse sin in committing adulterie , then in marrying a wife . bellar. 2. lib. de monach. cap. 30. it cannot be truly said of a nun that hath vowed continence , that it is better to bee married , then to burne , for both in her is euill , to bee married , and to burne ; yea , worse it is to bee married , then to burne , whatsoeuer our aduersaries say to the contrarie , that it is written , 1. cor. 7. it is better to marry , then to burne . here that is worthy marking , which sleidan sets downe in his first booke , that a certaine italian bishop , casa by name , hath written a whole booke in the praise of filthy sodomy : where we may note for a conclusion , that although al those things be granted to the papists , which they most gloriously dispute about the church , yet they can gaine nothing hereby , because they ought to make it plaine first vnto vs , that the popedome is the true church ; which in that they haue not as yet prooued , nor shall euer bee able to prooue it , they do but delude themselues with a vaine title of the church . and whereas they say , that it is absurd , before the point of the church bee discussed , to take in hand to dispute of any of the articles of faith ; that also can little auaile them , because wee doe dispute , and iudge of doctrine and faith by the word of god , and it may so bee disputed , although that point of the church be not before handled : for the word of god is before the church , and aboue the church , neither hath the church any authoritie to wrest the scripture , as we haue formerly proued in the common place of scripture . but here i would haue noted the exceeding fraud of the popish writers , that when they haue made a great stirre about the church , and stood long vpon it , at length they conclude , the church to be a councell , consisting of the pope , the cardinals , and bishops ; and so exclude all other , which are neither cardinals nor bishops , from the church ; at least remouing them so farre , that they shall not make vp the church , properly so called , and principally , that hereby they might the more establish the insolent pride of their spiritualtie , against the manifest word of god. you haue made plaine the doctrine of redemption vnto mee , now it followes , that you instruct me in the matter of iustification of man before god ; wherfore shew me i pray you what is iustification ? it is the absoluing of sinfull man from his sinnes ; or it is a forgiuing of sinnes by the meere grace and fauour of god for the merits of christ imputed and applied vnto vs by faith . what are to bee considered about iustification ? foure things : 1. the principall cause : 2. the instrumentall cause : 3. the effect and fruite : and lastly , the necessary adiunct . what is the principall cause of iustification before god ? the principal cause is either primarie , or secondary : the prime cause , is the grace and mercy of god , the other cause is the merit of christ , or the death and passion of christ made ours , imputed vnto vs , or appropriated vnto vs , so truely , that the passion of christ should besteede vs as much , as if we our selues had hanged on the crosse , and had died for our owne sinnes ▪ hereof wee haue manifest testimonies of the scripture , rom. 5. vers . 8. as by one man many were made sinners , &c. rom. 4. vers . 5 , 6. blessed is that man , vnto whom god imputeth righteousnesse , without the workes of the law. 2. cor. 5. vers . 8. he made him which knew not sin , to be sinne for vs that we might bee made the righteousnesse of god in him . gal. 3.15 . christ hath redeemed vs from the curse of the law , whilest hee was made a curse for vs. philip. 3. vers . 8. that i may bee found not hauing my owne righteousnesse , but that which is by the faith of christ. now there is no opposition in this wee say , that a sinner is iustified by the meere grace of god , and yet by the merit of christ , because it was brought about by the meere mercie and grace of god , that christ performed that meritorious worke for vs : for christ was in no wise bound vnto vs , to die for vs , but hee out of his meere grace and mercy did vndergoe death for vs. what is the instrumentall cause of iustification ? onely faith in christ , insomuch as by faith , euen as by a hand and instrument we lay hold on , and apply vnto vs the merit and satisfaction which christ hath performed for vs. what is faith ? faith is not onely a bare knowledge of the historie of christ , but it is also a sure confidence of the heart , whereby we set downe in our selues for certainty , and be perswaded that our sinnes are forgiuen vs of god for the death and passion of christ. note here two maine errors of poperie , whereof the first is , that faith is onely a certaine historicall knowledge , and no true and sure confidence of the heart : whereunto the scripture it selfe directly speaketh , rom. 8.20 . where faith is called a sure trust and perswasion . see my gymnasium logicum , wherein you haue this in that theame fides , somewhat opened . the second errour is that we come by the remission of sinnes , not by faith alone , but also by the merit of good workes ; contrary vnto those sayings in the scripture , ephes 2.8 . by the grace of god you are saued through faith , and not of your selues . rom. 4. abraham belieued , and that was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse . againe , vnto him not that worketh , but that belieueth in him , which iustifieth the wicked , his faith is counted for righteousnesse . luk. 8 mark. 6. saith christ , onely belieue : which is all one , as if he had said ; by faith alone thou shalt obtaine euerlasting life . so then although these words bee not manifestly extant , by faith alone we are iustified , yet the sense is manifestly put downe , and other words therevnto equiualent are contained in the scripture : for whereas the apostle saith , rom. 3.28 . we conclude , that a man is iustified by faith without the workes of the law. certainely it is all one , as if he said , wee conclude that a man is iustified only by faith ; for a man must needs be iustified either by faith , or by workes ; a third way none can be able to shew , paul plainely saith to the galath . we know that a man is not iustified by the workes of the law , but by the faith of iesus christ. not by those righteous deeds which wee haue done , but by his owne mercy he hath saued vs through the lauer of regeneration , and renewing of the holy spirit . therfore it remaineth that we say , that faith alone doth iustifie a man. and that no man is iustified by workes , and so consequently , that our works doe not merit for vs forgiuenesse of sinnes , i prooue it by euident testimonies of holy writ , i. tit. 3.5 . eph. 2.8 . by grace are ye saued through faith , & that not of your selues , it is the gift of god , not of workes , lest any should boast . secondly , philip. 3.9 . rom. 3.24 . ii. we are iustified before we do any works , as s. paul expressely witnesseth of abraham , that before hee had done any good work , he was iustified before god. rom. 4.2 . where he saith ; if abraham had been iustified by workes , he had wherein to boast , but not with god. to him that worketh , the wages is not giuen vpon fauour , but debt : but he that worketh not , but belieueth only in him , who iustifieth the wicked , his faith is imputed vnto him for righteousnes . iii. arg. is taken from the proprietie of our works . our works are debts , therfore by them can we deserue nothing . antec . is confirmed by luk. 17. when you haue done all that you can do &c. 2. good works are not ours , but gods ; now by that which is anothers , and not our owne , wee can merit nothing . antecedent is proued , phil 2.13 . god it is who worketh good in you , and perfects it , eph. 2.10 we are his workmanship , created in christ iesus vnto good workes which hee hath prepared , that we should walke in them . thirdly , our good workes are not perfect , therefore wee can merit nothing by them ; for three things there bee required of him that will merit ; first , that hee hath that , by which he will merit of his owne : secondly , that it be no debt : thirdly , that that bee perfect : which three conditions our good workes haue not , as it is said , esay 6. all our righteousnesse is like vnto a menstruous cloath . and philip. 3.8 . paul calleth his workes dung . i vnderstand what iustifying faith is , now tell mee the cause thereof whereby it is begotten in vs ? the principall cause whereby sauing faith is ingendred , is the holy spirit , the instrumentall cause or meanes is either ordinarie , or extraordinarie . what is the ordinarie meaner , whereby the holy spirit worketh faith in vs ? it is twofold , namely , the word of god , and the sacraments . the word of god you haue already touched , now tell mee what is a sacrament ? it is a holy signe instituted of god , whereby god maketh the belieuers sure of his fauour , the forgiuenesse of their sinnes , and other benefits likewise by christ his passion and death to be bestowed vpon them . of what sorts are the sacraments ? of two sorts , sacraments of the old and new testament . how many sacraments were there in the old testament ? two , to wit , circumcision , and the paschall lambe . how many sacraments be there in the new testament ? two onely , baptisme , and the supper of the lord ? what is baptisme ? it is a sacrament of the new testament , whereby sprinkling of the water in the name of father , sonne , and holy ghost being made , we are initiated & grafted into the church , and whereby there is sealed vnto the faithfull forgiuenesse of sinnes by the bloud of christ , and regeneration vnto life eternall . see more in my syst. of diuin . pag. 451. and in the comment on vrsins catechisme , pag. 429. according to the last edition . what is the lords supper ? this wee shall handle afterward in the opening of our particular knowledge , wherewith wee must furnish our selues , in regard that the knowledge hereof comes nearest vnto our lawfull and seemely preparing of our selues to the lords supper . here onely would be noted that e●rour of the papists , who haue made seuen sacraments of the new testament , to wit , baptisme , confirmation , pennance , the eucharist , extreeme vnction , orders and matrimony . but that number of sacraments is neither vpholden by any testimonie of holy writ , neither is it propped by the authoritie of any of the ancient fathers , but it is a new deuise , hatched not aboue 200 yeares agoe in the time of lombard , the master of the sentences . besides , euery sacrament should haue a signe and thing signified ; but pennance , orders , matrimony haue no signes at all . further yet , euery sacrament hath annexed promise of grace , and appertaines to all belieuers in the church : and to conclude , it is more then manifest , that all sacraments ought to be instituted by christ ; euery of which markes of a sacrament cannot bee auerred , and truly attributed vnto those fiue sacraments the papists faine , no , to none , saue baptisme and the lords supper . what is the extraordinarie meanes of faith ? miracles , which are extraordinarie signes , wherby god after a wonderfull manner , wrought and confirmed faith in the time of the primitiue church and here must be obserued a double error of the papists ; first , in that they are of opinion , that now there is neede of miracles ; whereas this is onely the vse of miracles , namely , to confirme doctrine at the beginning , and first setting a broach of it ; and therefore must cease after the doctrine bee sufficiently confirmed . second errour is , in that they thinke , that miracles is a marke of the true church , when as euen very hypocrites oftentimes haue done miracles ; yea , and can doe them , marke 13. v. 22. luke 21. where it is plainly told vs , that toward the ende of the world , there shall arise false prophets , which shall worke miracles but 2. thess. 2. v. 9. is a notable place against the papists that doe so brag of their miracles . the comming of antichrist is in the power of satan , with all power and signes , and lying wonders ; whence it may appeare , that before the end of the world to doe many miracles , is a marke of antichrist ; and the apostle cals those miracles lying wonders ; time and long experience testifieth so much : for in the monasteries , how many sleights and inuentions doe the monkes finde out to deceiue the common people and make them beleeue that they worke miracles . i haue heard the causes of iustification , tell mee also what is the fruit of iustification ? it is that peace of conscience , by which a man is made sure of the grace and fauour of god , and of eternall life , which must especially bee noted against that detestable errour of the papists ; who in their trent councell , session 6. boldly affirme , that a man cannot heereof bee certaine in this life , but ought alwaies to doubt of it ; and they adde , that there can bee no greater sinne before god , then that a miserable sinner , should assure himselfe of gods fauour ; yea , and further they adde , that whosoeuer shall hold that opinion , ought to bee accursed . to this their abominable errour , wee oppose most plaine places of holy writ , rom. 8. vers . 15. yee haue not receiued the spirit of bondage , but that spirit of adoption , by which we cry abba , father ; which spirit beareth witnesse to our spirit , that we are the sonnes of god : this is a very horrible impiety that we will not receiue the testimonie of the spirit , but doubt of the truth , and certaintie thereof ▪ 1. iohn 5. he that belieueth in the sonne of god hath the testimonie in himselfe . and surely if god would haue had vs to haue doubted , he would neuer haue sworne , that hee would bee compassionate vnto vs. but now hee hath sworne thus much very euidently , ezech. 18. as i liue ( saith the lord ) , that is , as truly as i am , and liue , i will not the death of a sinner , but that he liue . also , iohn 5. verely , verely , i say vnto you , whosoeuer belieueth in the sonne , hath eternall life ? and , woe be to thee then ( saith saint austine ) if thou belieue not god , when he sweares to thee . but the papists obiect ; they that are weak , are subiect to falling , and they cannot be sure of the grace of god. answ. who so are weake they may easily fall , i limit the proposition thus , vnlesse there bee one that is mightier , who vpholdeth them . now god it is that holds vs vp , and that helpeth our infirmities . and therefore certaine we may bee of the forgiuenes of sins , & of the grace of god , not by our owne nature indeed , which is weake but by the helpe , and assistance of the holy ghost , making vs strong according to those sayings of holy writ , psal. 37. vers . 24. though the righteous fall , he shall not bee cast off , because the lord putteth vnder his hand . iohn 10.38 . i giue vnto my sheepe eternall life , neither shall they perish for euer , neither shall any one take them out of my hand , my father which hath giuen mee them , is greater then all ; that is , he can supply their wants readily , and vphold them mightily . rom. 8.38 . i am perswaded , that neither life nor death , neither things present , nor things to come , shall be able to separate vs from the loue of god , which is in christ. againe , they obiect that place , 1. cor. 10. hee that standeth , let him take heed that hee fall not . i answere : that the apostle there speaketh of hypocrites , which doe perswade themselues falsly that they stand ; & further he speakes also of the weakenesse of men , touching which we cannot be enough admonished , to the end that we may think saluation not to lye in our owne strength , but in the grace of god onely . they vrge also that place , eccles. 9. a man knoweth not whether he is worthy loue or hatred . whereto i answere , first , that this is a fallacie not being limmited , wee ought then thus to limet it ; a man knoweth not of himselfe , but hee may knowe it , god reuealing it vnto him , and the holy spirit witnessing it . secondly , a man knoweth not by those humane causes , and by the euent of fortune , and the chances and changes of these outward things . and therein the text it selfe is a mouth to expound it selfe , for there it is said , that a man by externall changes , such as are riches , pouerty , health , sickenesse , honour , contempt , that a man cannot by these things nor any other externall estate , iudge , and certainely know , whether hee bee in the fauour of god , or be hated by him . and therefore that there argument is not sound , which argue thus , as many doe , i am rich , ergo. i am the sonne of god : or , i am poore , ergo. god doth hate mee . this iudgement then whether wee bee in the fauour of god or not , we must take from gods word . sithence therefore it is certaine that a faithfull soule may bee assured of the fauour of god , and the forgiuenesse of sinnes , and may bee made partaker of the peace of conscience , as it said , romans 5. verse 1. being iustified by faith wee haue peace : thence another thing doth necessarily follow , to witt , that a man when hee is once receiued into the fauour of god , and hath obtaitained remission of his sinnes , that hee ( i say ) cannot fall away from the grace of god , nor loose his faith , nor bee obnoxious vnto eternall damnation for because wee ought not to doubt of the grace of god , therefore , neither can wee fall away from the grace of god : for if wee could fall away from it , then wee might doubt of it ; but wee being once receiued into the grace and fauour of god , that wee cannot altogether loose that grace of god , the scripture witnesseth , rom. 8.1 . there is no condemnation to those which are in christ iesus : if no condemnation , then perpetuall fauour , and if no condemnation , then also no time is there wherein they may slide from the grace of god , and fall into condemnation : for by no condemnation , is excluded both all the kinds thereof , and all occasions of falling thereinto . hitherto appertaineth that place , which before we haue cited , ioh. 10 my sheepe , none shall take out of my hand , which is all one , as if hee had said , my sheepe shall neuer be taken out of my hand ; which must bee diligently noted against the papists , who affirme , that a man after that he is taken into the fauour of god , may fall againe out of his fauour , euen as if hee had neuer been in fauour , but may haue of a mercifull god , an vncompassionate , and irreconciliable god , euen as when one falles out of the fauour of the king in stead of a gentle and kind master , hee hath now an angry and cruell king but here they obiect that place in the 51. psalme , where dauid after that horrible sinne of his was committed , prayeth , restore vnto me the ioy of my saluation , therefore , say they , he had lost the fauour of god. i answere , that the papists doe not halfe well enough looke into the text , for it is not said , restore vnto me my spirit which i had lost ; but he saith , restore my ioy , my comfort againe to me . therefore that text makes against themselues ; for if dauid had lost that grace and spirit of god , then had he lost that his saluation , but he speakes otherwise , he saith onely restore comfort vnto me ; for a true belieuer , when that he falleth into sinnes , the holy spirit for all that remaineth in him , yet it doth not cherish his conscience , but it groweth sad and heauy , and so ceaseth to bee glad , and merry before times he vsed to be , he doth therfore desire of god that hee would take away this sadnesse and heauinesse of heart from him , and that hee would restore vnto him a ioyfull and gladsome spirit . i haue heard as touching the fruit of iustification , what is that you told me was necessarily conioyned and annexed thereunto ? because the iust man falls seuen timeseuen in a day , therefore to iustification there must alwaies bee adioyned repentance . true repentance of what parts doth it consist ? of two parts , one of them as it were contrary vnto the the other ; to wit , griefe , or sorrow for sinnes committed , and the offending or displeasing of god , and then comfort and confidence of the forgiuenesse of sinnes , which is to be had , by and for the merits of christ. see the 467. page of my syst. of diuinity , and in the comment vpon vrsins catechisme , page 640. here note a double error of the papists , whereof the first is , that vnto true repentance there is required confession to a priest. to which error we oppose our iudgements : first , because such a confession is no where commanded of god. secondly , because there is no one example for it of any saint throughout the whole booke of god ▪ no example i say , but which teacheth vs to make confession of our sinnes only to god : so doth dauid psalm . 51. against thee onely haue i sinned o lord. and the publicane luke 18. standing in th● temple confessed his sinnes onely to god , and thence went away iustified : whereupon ( saith chryst. ) confesse thy sinnes to god , for to doe this to man it is not safe for thee , for that men may either discouer them or vpbrayd thee with them . the other popish error is , that repentance which they call pennance is satisfactory , as if wee by our repentance did satisfie for our sinnes : vnto which detestable errour , those places of the holy bible are to be opposed , by which we haue before made cleare that the passion of christ doth sufficiently satisfie for all our sinnes . you haue already sufficiently instructed me about redemption : now take the paines , i pray you , to instruct me about sanctification ? sanctification , regenaration , and new obedience , or conuersion vnto god , are all one in signification . and it is nothing els saue the changing of our depraued , or corrupt nature into better , and then a setled resolution to auoyd sinne hereafter , and to frame our liues to some newe course which may bee pleasing vnto god , and beseeming our profession of faith and religion ; which regeneration in this life certainely cannot bee perfect , but onely inchoate , and alwaies conioyned with a combating , and a reluctance against sinne , or of the flesh and the spirit , as the apostle very largely setts it downe , rom. 7. galat. 5. the good ( saith he ) that i would , i doe not . but in that other life we shal perfectly be regenerated , sanctified , and reformed vnto the image of god ; yet for all this , gods will it is our regeneration should bee begun in this life , and that good workes bee done by vs , as our sauiour commandeth , math. 5. let your light so shine before men , &c. 2. peter 1.16 . labour to make your vocation and election sure by good workes , that is , labour to giue vnto your selues a sure , and to others , an euident testimonie , that you haue true faith from whence doe spring and arise good workes ; for faith without workes is dead , and indeed is no faith. 1. thess. 4. this is the will of god euen your sanctification . rom. 6.12 . make your members hencefoorth weapons of righteousnesse . and most dreadfull is that speach . heb. 13. without holinesse none shall see god : wherefore if it be demanded whether good workes are necessary vnto saluation . i answer , that if wee take saluation for our first entry thereunto : namely , remission of sinnes , and iustification ; then good workes are not necessary : because it is most necessarily required , that first our sinnes , be forgiuen vs , before wee can doe any good works pleasing vnto god : good workes therefore are of no force to procure remission of sinnes , which we doe obtaine onely by faith , contrary to the papists tenent : but if the word be not taken for the remission of sins , but for life eternall , which hereafter we shal be possessed of : there is neede then of good works , as a meane and way , but not as any meritorious cause of saluation ; for then indeede shall we bee cloathed vpon , if we be not found naked : that is , in that other life , we shall be fully renewed & conformed , if that we begin that reformation and sanctification in this life . and this is that which the apostle speaketh , heb. 7.14 . follow peace with all men , and holinesse without which none shall see the lord. how many parts are there of our sanctification . two : good workes , and prayer ; for in these two standeth our whole regeneration and conuersion ; namely , to doe good workes , and dayly to call vpon god by prayer . what are good workes , or what things are required vnto works which are good , or pleasing vnto god ? three things be requisit to good workes : first , that they spring from a true faith : for whatsoeuer is not of faith , is sinne . rom. 14.23 . heb. 11.6 . without fath it is impossible to please god , &c. secondly , that they bee commanded by god ; for what works soeuer are enioyned by men , and not by god , those are not good works . ezech. 9.19 . you must walke in my commandements , and not in the commandements of your fathers . matth. 18.9 . they worship me in vaine , teaching for doctrines mens precepts . thirdly , that our good works bee alwaies referred to the glory of god ; and not vnto vaine glory & hypocrisie . 1. cor. 11.31 . doe all vnto the glory of god. mat. 5.16 . that men seeing your good workes , may glorifie your father which is in heauen . hereby may easily be discerned , what is to bee thought of the most of the papists workes , wherewith they thinke that they worshippe god , such as are their watchings , and pilgrimages to holy places , and adoring of churches with shrines and images : for such workes are no good workes ; first , because they are not done out of faith , but out of a most pestilent opinion of meriting and satisfying for sinnes . secondly , because they are not commanded by god , but inuented and appointed by popes and bishops against the expresse commandement of god : as that of fasting and abstaining from flesh on friday ; which manner of fasting and difference of meate is expressely against the word of god. matt. 15. that which entreth into the mouth doth not defile the man ; but that which commeth out of the mouth , that defileth the man. 1. tim. 4. the apostle expressly and plainely nameth the forbidding of certaine meates , and so of flesh , among the doctrines of diuels . colos. 2. let no man condemne you in meate and drinke , or in respect of holydaies . rom. 14. i am perswaded by our lord iesus christ that nothing is vncleane , or common of it selfe ; but to him that thinketh any thing to be common or prophane : for the kingdome of god is neither meate nor drinke , but righteousnesse , peace and ioy in the holy ghost . what is then the rule and square of our good workes , and so consequently whence doe we know what works be commanded by god ? the morall law , or the decalogue is the onely square of our good works , wherby we may know , what workes are acceptable vnto god. this law is reduced to two heads , to wit , the true worship of god , and then the works of charity , which wee performe to our neighbour . the worship of god is set downe in the former part of the decalogue ; and the loue of our neighbour , with the workes of charitie , is comprised in the second table . which is the other part of sanctification ? inuocation of gods name . how many waies is god inuocated , or called vpon ? two waies ; the first way is petition , or begging of those things whereof we stand in need : and the second is thanksgiuing for those which we haue receiued : both which kinds of inuocation is either publike or priuate . as touching both of them , reade my syst. of diuinity , pag. 487. and here must be obserued two maine errours of poperie : first is , touching the inuocation of saints : secondly , about the worshipping of images , and adoring of reliques . as touching the former of these twaine , wee in opposition thereunto maintaine , that god alone is to be called vpon in prayer ; that is , the deuout affection of our mind , is to bee directed euen vnto god , and not vnto angels , nor vnto the virgin mary , nor vnto the apostles , nor yet vnto those fourteene helpers , as they call them ; by whose mediation and merits , the papists doe most blasphemously say , that they are rid , and deliuered from all aduersities ; as are , george , erasmus , basil , pantaleon , vitus , christopher , dennis , * dominick , achatius , eustachius , gyles , margaret , barbara , and catherine . hence is the masse of the fourteene helpers . but vnto this their praying vnto saints , wee oppose the plaine word of god : whereby will bee conuinced ▪ that we owe ●he deuout affection of our mindes onely vnto god : deut. 6. the lord thy god shalt thou worship , &c. which place christ repeating , matth. 4. expounds thus : and him onely shalt thou serue ; producing it against satans ▪ temptation . see the like places , exod. 20. psal. 50. v. 15. psal. 95. v. 6. psal. 90.9 . & 10. the angels themselues forbid this , and refuse to bee worshipped , as being idolatrous ▪ iudg. 13.16 . where the angell saith vnto ma●oah : if thou wilt make a burnt offering , offer it vp vnto the lord ▪ and not vnto me ? reuel . 19 vers. 20. also the 22. v. 9. the angell forbiddeth iohn and stayes him from falling downe before him , and worshipping of him . whereupon hee saith to him ; see thou doe not this , for i am thy fellow seruant : that is , i am also a creature as well as thy selfe . paul , coloss. 2. expressely condemnes worshipping of angels . and note i pray you a very plaine place , rom. 10. how shall they call on him , in whom they haue not belieued ? whence thus i argue : wee ought not to belieue in the saints ; therefore neither ought wee call , or pray to them . and the apostle further in his epistle to the galathians , chap. 4. vers . 5. blameth the heathen , for that they called on them , which by nature are not gods. whence i also argue : * the saints are not by nature gods : ergo , they are not to be called vpon : or if they be called vpon , then is committed most filthy idolatrie . yea , but the saints may mediate for vs , therefore they are to be called vpon . whereto wee answere , denying the antecedent , that the saints can mediate for vs with god : first , because we haue one onely mediator , to wit , christ iesus , as it is written ; there is one mediatour betwixt god and man , euen the man christ iesus . 1. tim. 2. v. 5. like places hereunto , see ioh. 19.11.13 . rom. 3.35 . rom. 8.34 . heb. 2.17 heb. 7.25 . heb 9 12. secondly , the saints cannot be mediators , for that they doe not know the gronings , and sighes of our hearts , and vnderstand not our priuate troubles and afflictions : for these be the conditions of an aduocate or mediator ; first , that our mediatour be nominated and commended vnto vs by plaine and euident testimonies : secondly that that same intercessour bee perfectly righteous and holy : thirdly , that hee also know the gronings and afflictions of him , for whom he meanes to mediate : none of al which agreeth vnto the saints ; for the saints are neither appointed vnto vs by god to be our intercessours , neither haue wee any command in holy scripture , that we are to make the saints mediatours for vs , or to call on them . nay , rather quite contrary precepts hereunto , which we haue before cited . againe wee find not through the whole volume of gods booke , any one example of any saint , that hath prayed vnto a saint , and entreated him to play the mediatour for him . neither does the second condition agree to them , for that they are not altogether pure before god , that they may mediate for others : but they themselues rather haue need of a mediatour : as it is said , iob. 15. yea , in his saints he found vncleannesse . thirdly , the saints are ignorant of our afflictions and affections , how can they therefore interceede for vs , if they wo● not what wee aske ? for god alone challengeth this priuiledge to himselfe , to be the searcher of the heart , and the discouerer of the thoughts and groanings of men . yea , but ( say the papists ) the saints as the friends of god haue all our groanings and praiers disclosed vnto them in the glasse of the trinitie . whereto i answere : first , that if the saints come to the knowledge of our groanings by god , what need is there , that first wee should call on the saints , and to what end is it to haue any such mediators with god , sithence he to whom they mediate , knoweth better what is wanting to vs , then the mediators themselues ? for it should seeme to be a preposterous course to vse any intercessour vnto a king , if the king knew the party , for whom the mediatour would interceed , better then the mediator himselfe . and how absurde should it bee , if the intercessour should say : tell me , i pray you , o my king , what this fellow asks , for whom i am to mediate ? secondly , i say , that the scripture hath broken that prospectiue glasse al to shiuers . esay 62. heare from heauen thine holy dwelling place : for thou art our father ; abraham heareth vs not , and israel is ignorant of vs : but thou art our father , thy name is from euerlasting . where it is plainely affirmed , that abraham and israel , which long agoe were dead , and whose soules rested with god in the heauens , did not in any glasse behold and know the gronings and afflictions of the church militant on earth ; and indeed that the saints departed are not priuie to our affaires done vpon the earth , nor know any thing in specialtie , what happeneth among the liuing , that place in the 2. of kings , chap. 22. witnesseth , where god saith vnto iosiah , a most religious and holy king : i will gather thee vnto thy fathers , that thine eyes may not see all the euils : which i will bring vpon this place , esay 57. the iust and the righteous are taken away from the sight of the euill , that in his yeares he may not behold the calamities , which are to be sent vpon the land for wretched impiety . eccl. 9. the dead know nothing any more , to wit , of those things , which are done vpon the earth . hence therefore is it rightly inferred , that the saints cannot be mediators and indeed we haue no need of them to be our intercessours : first , because god knoweth our afflictions better then they , yea , better then the angels : secondly , because god is more mercifull then any saint , and more desirous that we should liue , then any saint can be . now that we do vse the intercession of some noble man , or great man vnto kings ( which is their most plausible argument ) , it is for the great defect and weakenesse that is in man : for that princes are not acquainted with all mens grieuances : secondly , because princes are more affected vnto one man , then vnto another ; but no such respect of persons is there with god , as it is said , acts 10. the papists bring vs in a distinction betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seruice , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adoration : and say that the one , to wit , seruice is due to saints , the other , that is , adoration is due to god. against which distinction , you may reade a most cleare disputation in the exposition of vrsins catechisme , pag. 739. where it is proued by holy scripture , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both the one and the other agrees vnto god , and neither of them both vnto saints . onely this one thing i will not let passe , that the papists themselues break downe their owne distinction , which i proue by this reason : all those things which dauid in the psalmes giues vnto god , he giues them all by the way of adoration : but all those very things which dauid giues vnto god , are attributed vnto the virgin marie in bonauentures psalter : ergo. the other errour of the papists is , about the worshipping of images , and so also of that worship , which they make vnto the reliques of the saints . and first of all the papists hold , that those prayers which are made in , or at certaine set chappels and churches , and before the images of the saints , are of greater efficacie , and greater worth , then those which are in other places powred forth before god : quite against the holy word of god , ioh. 4. the time shall come , when the true worshippers shall neither be at ierusalem , nor in this mountaine , but in spirit and truth worship the father . matth. 6. christ bids , goe into our chamber , and there the doores being shut , to powre out our prayers . 1. tim. 2. the apostle willeth men to pray in euery place , lifting vp pure hands . now against reliques and images , let that place bee well obserued , esay 24. my glory will i not giue vnto another , nor mine honour vnto the grauen images . but we ( say the papists ) doe not worship images , and we know , that it is said in the second commandement ; thou shalt not how downe thy selfe vnto them , &c. to this what shall we answere , but that they say one thing , and doe another : for we haue already prooued , that they fall downe , and worship the crosse ; behold the signe of the crosse , come and let vs worship it . againe , it is impossible , that ones whole affection should bee bent and settled on an image , and yet that hee should not direct some deuotion vnto the image ; as one of the ancients hath well said : it cannot possible be that the affection should be withdrawne from that , where on our whole sense is fixed , and fastned . therefore lactunirus saith , that there can bee no true worship performed , where it is done with respect vnto images . thirdly , we say , that both these are equally forbidden of god , namely , the worshipping of the image it selfe , and the worshipping of god at , or before an image . for this you haue a plaine place , leuit. 26. 1. you shall make you none idols , nor grauen image , neither reare you vp any pillar , neither shall you set vp any stone or image within your land to worship before it : for i am iehouah , the lord your god. but images ( say they ) are lay-mens bibles , and therefore they may bee borne with , as certaine historicall documents for the good of lay people : whereto i answere : first , that it is no little blasphemy to affirme , that images are bibles , that is , the word of god : for the authoritie of gods word , and of the bible , is the greatest that may bee , and it is vnspeakable : but who dare say , that the authoritie of images is as diuine and eternall , as that of god himself . secondly , images cannot be lay-peoples bibles , because the bible containes the true doctrine of god : but images are deceitfull and lying teachers , teaching lyes , as it is manifestly written by ier. 10. and by habb . 2.18 , 19. further , wee ought not to be wiser then god , who hath instituted , that his church should be taught , not by dumbe pictures and images , but by the liuely preaching of his word , and the lawfull vse of the sacraments . and these things be spoken also , as touching the adoration of reliques , for the worshipping of them is confuted by those very same places of scripture , by which the worshipping of images hath been ouerthrowne . you haue led mee by the hand through all diuinitie , and so haue holpen mee to some generall knowledge , whereby i may insome sort be prepared vnto the holy supper of our lord : now it remaines that you furnish me with some particular knowledge about the same supper of the lord , whereunto i desire to prepare myselfe ? you say well indeed , and i will doe it very willingly , so be that , before all , you note that the word sacrament is no where extant in holy scripture , but there are diuers words aequiual●nt vnto it ; as romans 4. the word signe or seale ; where paul calleth circumcision the seale of the righteousnesse of faith. a sacrament then is a holy signe or seale annexed to the word of god , as vnto tables and letters , wherein god promiseth vnto vs his fauour , and the forgiuenesse of sinnes by the death and suffering of our mediatour ▪ iesus christ. now signes be of three sorts : some there bee , which are onely significatiue , and noting out somewhat , as the meare-stone signifieth the fields , which it parts , to be diuers : some are memoratiue , representing vs the memory of somewhat , and exciting our affection and will , thankefully to thinke on it : as when one friend giues vnto another some excellent booke , or a piece of gold to be a signe vnto him of his friendly remembrance . lastly , some signes are confirmatiue , whereby some benefit or other promised vnto vs by any man , is made certaine vnto vs. as the seale hanging at the kings letters patents doth not onely signifie and put the party in remembrance of some benefit , but it doth especially certifie him ; as namely , by which he , to whom the letters are granted , is certainely assured to obtaine that benefit or good thing , which is promised him in the letters . a sacrament then is a seale or signe assuring vs the forgiuenesse of sinnes , promised in the letter pattens of the gospell . in which short and plaine description , the whole nature of sacraments doth consist ; neither is it here any whit needfull that the godly heart should bee troubled or molested with any subtilties either of papists , or of vbiquitaries . i conceiue what a sacrament in generall is , i would haue you to shew me what the supper of the lord is ? it is a sacrament of the new testament , or , it is a holy signe ordained by christ in the new testament , that by bread broken and eaten , wee may be admonished and certified , that the body of christ was broken vpon the crosse , and giuen for vs : and by wine powred out , and drunke , wee may bee remembred & assured , that the blood of christ was shed for vs , for the remission of sinnes . how many things are we to consider in the lords supper ? three things , as in euery other relation ; first , the two termes of the relation , the relate , and the correlate : secondly , the foundation and ground of this relation : thirdly , the end or finall cause of this relation . what is the relate in the lords supper , and what is it called ? it is called the signe , or the thing , which puts vs in mind , and giues vs assurance of some other matter . how many kind of signes be there in the lords supper ? the relatum or signe in the lords supper is twofold , substantiall and accidentall . which is the substantiall ? it is true bread , and true wine . which is the accidentall ? it is the breaking of the bread , and the taking of it ; likewise the powring out of the wine , and the taking of it . what is the correlate in the lords supper ? it is called the thing signified , or that thing whereof wee are put in mind , and assured in the lords supper . the ancient church called the relatum , the earthly matter , as is bread and wine , for both of them spring from the earth ; and the thing signified , it called the heauenly matter ; whereupon it rightly and religiously taught that the supper of the lord did consist in two things , a terrene or earthly , and a celestiall or heauenly matter ; and therefore that it behooued those which came vnto the lords supper , to thinke that there they should receiue two things , to wit , an earthly thing after an earthly fashion ; that is , bread and wine with the mouth of the body , and an heauenly thing after an heauenly manner , that is , the body and blood of christ by a true faith . what bee the things signified in the lords supper ? the thing signified is of two sorts , substantiall , or accidentall . what is the substantiall ? euen whole christ our mediator , according to both natures , diuine & humane , but especially according to his body and bloud , inasmuch as in his body , as the subiect of his pasiō he suffered for our sinnes , and by his blood shed he purged our sins . and this it is which christ saith , this is my body which is giuen for you ; that is , in the supper of the lord you are pu● in remembrance , and assured of my body , as it hung vpon the crosse , and also of my bloud which was she● likewise for you vpon the crosse . what is the accidentall ? euen all those benefits , which do accrew vnto vs by the passion and death of christ , as the forgiuenes of sins , regeneration , sanctification , & in fine life euerlasting ; as christ saith , my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sinnes . i haue heard of both the termes in the lords supper to wit , the relate and the correlate : now i would bee instructed about the foundation & ground of that holy admonition and certification , as you calld it ? the fundamētall or efficient cause of the lords upper is , partly in respect of the thing it selfe , or the sacrament , partly in respect of vs which doe vse the sacrament . what is the foundation , in respect of the sacrament it selfe ? it is twofold , the institution of christ , and the agreement or correspondencie betwixt the signe , and the thing signified . what are to be considered in the institution of christ ? two things : first , the historie of the institution of the lords supper , set downe by the euangelists : secondly , the especiall wordes of the institution , which are , this bread is my bodie which is giuen for you : this cup is the new testament in my blood. how are those words to bee vnderstood ? they are to bee construed according to the nature of signes or sacraments , which are not transubstantiations of things , but as wee haue a little before noted , significations and seales of things . these words therefore are not substantially to be vnderstood , as if the bread were the substance of the bodie of christ , for by that reason bread should haue been crucified for vs , bread should haue been giuen to die for vs ; and so the cup likewise should haue been shed for vs vpon the crosse , the cup should haue issued out of christs side . neither are they to be vnderstood consubstantially , as if the body of christ were included in the bread , and the bloud of christ included in the wine ; for christ saith not , in this bread is my body , or in this wine is contained my blood , neither would our sauior teach his disciples , where his body or his blood was , for they saw that well enough , in that christ was sitting with them at the table . but those words are to be vnderstood in a commemoratiue , or certificatiue signification : as if christ had said , the bread doth for a certaintie signifie vnto you , and giues you notice of my body , which is deliuered vnto death for you ; and the wine doth most certainely notifie and assure you of my bloud which is shed for you , for the remission of sinnes . christs speech then is altogether the like , as if when a prince hath granted to any one a faire mannor , and he giue withal vnto the graunt his letters with his broad seale , and deliuering the man these his letters with the seale , hee should say , loe , there 's your mannor . now he giues not the land substantially into his hands ; & by consequēt it wil follow , that that speech of the prince must not be vnderstood substantially , as if those letters & the sealewere the very substāce of the demain or because the demaine were inclosed in the seale , but it is a significatiue & certificatiue kind of speaking , which must be thus vnderstood & interpreted these letters of min● , & this seale do import and assure thee of the certaine hauing and possessing of that manor , farme , or demain . wherfore we conclude , that the body & bloud of christ according to the substāce therof , is neither in the bread , nor in the place where the supper of the lord is administred ; but in truth in heauen , as it is vsually said , he ascended into the heauens , from whence he shal only come at the last iudgement ; but that the bread & wine do giue vs notice & assurāce , that the very body which now is in heauen , was giuen for vs on the crosse , and that the bloud of christ was shed for vs : which must be obserued against the papists & vbiquitaries , who seeke after the body and bloud of christ in that very place where is the bread and wine . what is the other foundation , in respect of the sacrament ? it is the agreement or meet analogie betwixt the signe , & the thing signified , or it is that fi●nes , wherby the bread may signifie & certain vs of c. body giuen for vs , & the wine may notifie and assure vs of the bloud of c. shed for vs. wherin consists that fitnes which true bread hath to signifie the body of christ ? it consists in 3 things : 1 that like as the bread is broken , so the body of c. was broken & torne vpō the crosse for vs : as paul saith this bread it is the communion of the body of christ. 2 that like as bread hath the force of nourishing , so the body of christ giuen for vs vnto death , hath power to refresh our cōsciences fo●lorne , & almost spent & pin'd away , by reason of sin . 3. like as bread doth not only nourish , but it doth also strengthen our body ; so the body of christ in like manner deliuered vnto death for vs , hath power continually to cherish and sustaine our drooping miserable consciences . wherein consists the correspondencie that wine hath vnto the blood of christ ? in three things also ; first , euen as the wine is poured out into the cup , and poured also out of the cup : so the bloud of christ sprung out of his body , and was shed vpon the crosse . secondly , euen as wine hath the power of reuiuing and quickning , or of heating and moystening of our body , and of increasing vitall and animall spirits ; so the bloud of christ , or the merit of the bloud of christ hath the power of quickning our benummed & drie consciences , by reason of sinne . thirdly , euen as wine maketh glad the heart of man , and hath great vertue in it to cheare vp the mind : so the merit of christ , or the bloud of christ worketh an vnspeakable ioy in our soules : whereof dauid speaketh , psalm . 51. restore vnto me my ioy againe . i haue heard what the foundation of the lords supper is in respect of the sacrament it selfe , or the things themselues ; now tell mee what is their ground and foundation which do vse it , or the foundation in respect of vs ? it is true faith , whereby wee doe so looke vpon these signes , as they signifie , remember , and assure vs of the body of christ , of the bloud of christ , and so consequently of his whole merit : and so likewise of certaine remission following vpon that merit . for in the supper of the lord remission of sinnes is not granted vnto vs , neither hath the bread or the wine any power to purifie from sins , as the papists peruresly do imagine . but our faith is confirmed and strengthned by these signes in the remission of sinnes , which was granted and giuen vnto vs , before that we approached the supper . wherein consists that faith , which we must bring to the lords suppur , thereby to bee confirmed and strengthned . it consists in two things : first in a sure trust and confidence , whereby we beleeue for certaintie , that christs body was giuen and his bloud shedde for vs : that is , for that person that commeth to be partaker of the lords supper . secondly , it consisteth in application , whereby we appropriate vnto our selues christs passion , steadfastly beleeuing that wee as christs members are so made one with christ our head , that as he suffered for our sinnes , euen so the pardon for all those sinnes for his passion sake we should as certainely bee perswaded of , as if we our selues had been crucified , and there haue giuen our owne proper bodies , and shedde our owne hearts bloud . i haue heard as concerning the foundation and ground of the lords supper ; it remaineth that i learne somewhat of the end or the finall cause , for which the lords supper was instituted , and for which it becommeth mee to communicate at the lords table ? the end or finall cause is first in respect of christ , then in respect of our selues in respect of christ , the ende is the commemoration of that his most bitter passion , which he endured for vs both in his soule , and in his body . a commemoration ( i say ) that is a gratulatorie remembrance , to the ende that for that so great a benefit , and vnutterable loue towards vs , we should in the publike assembly and congregation , in the very face of the church , yeeld together with that remembrance most hearty thankes . as christ saith , doe this in remembrance of me , in an eucharisticall or thankefull wise . whereupon this sacrament is also called the eucharist , for this principall vse of the lords supper . in respect of our selues the vse of the lords supper is either primary or secondarie . what is the primarie vse of it in respect of our selues ? it is two ●old : first , the confirming and establishing of our faith as touching the forgiuenesse of our sinnes , for christs body giuen vnto death for vs , and for his blood shed vpon the crosse likewise for vs. the other vse is the nourishing , strengthening , reuiuing , and chearing of our consciences , which were by the burthen of sinne oppressed , dried vp , and disconsolate . which is the secondary vse arising from the former ? it is threefold : first , the consecration of our selues , that euen as christ offered himselfe once vpon the altar of the crosse for vs ; so we should in this publike action of the church offer vp our selues , and our whole life , euen all that are ours vnto god and his sonne . secondly , the publike confession of our faith , to wit , that by these external symboles and tokens , as by a militarie marke and signet wee may testifie , vnto what company we belong , and to what religion wee adioyne our selues . thirdly , the obligation of our selues , that wee should also by this publike action in the sight of the church , bind our selues to loue our neighbour , and to do the works of charitie , especially to them that are partakers with vs in the same beliefe and religion . and hereupon it was , that the ancients called this supper of the lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , a loue-feast ; and that they were alwaies wont , which came vnto the supper , to giue some almes vnto the poore , that so they might testi●ie , how that by the vse of the lords supper , they were obliged to performe workes of loue and charitie towards their neighbours . and this is the true doctrine of the lords supper , drawne out of the onelie word of god , and taken from the nature of sacraments . but contrariwise , the masse is an horrible monster , an idoll composed by antichrist , & consisting of diuers horrible blasphemies ; whereby the whole dignitie and excellencie of the lords supper is defaced , and quite taken away , namely , while they say , that christ in the institution of the holy supper , before that euer he gaue his body and blood vnto his disciples , did vnder the bread and wine offer vp himselfe truly , though after an vnbloody manner , for the honour of his father , and that he did appoint then his disciples , and all ministers afterward to doe the like . as the masse-priests indeede after a few words vttered , like magical spels and charmes , & after a few histrionicall gestures and ceremonies doe beare vs in hand that they doe . and further they blush not to affirme , that this sacrament is a sacrifice , a most true propitiatorie sacrifice for the sins , punishments , and all wants not only of the liuing , but of the dead too . and so most blasphemously tread , as it were , vnder foote the passion of christ , which as formerly we haue prooued , is the alone and only propitiation for our sinnes , which was onely to bee made and performed by christ , and not often to be reiterated , as are the expresse words of the apostle against that idoll of the masse worthy to bee obserued . heb. 10.12 . christ hauing made that one onely offering for sinnes for euer sitteth at the right hand of god : and vers . 14. by that one oblation hath he consecrated for euer those which are iustified . you may reade more abuses and abominations of the popish masse very plainely propounded in the explication of vrsins catechisme , at the eightieth question . you haue fitted mee for the lords supper by knowledge , both generall and particular : now it remaineth , that you prepare mee also by true deuotion . what things then , i pray you , doe appertaine vnto that true deuotion ? two things : first , that you bethink with your selfe , how oft you are to vse the lords supper ▪ secondly , that you consider well , how you may vse it worthily . how oft must i vse the lords supper ? very often ; where truely there can bee no certaine number of times prescribed vnto any man : because euery one out of his godly vnderstanding , is to set downe that with himselfe . but in the primitiue church , the christians surely did vse the lords supper , as often as euer they came together to heare the word of god ; as may appeare out of the 3. of the acts , where the christians are said to haue met to heare the word of god , and to the breaking of bread , that is , the supper of the lord. but it would be very conuenient foure times in the yeare , or twise at the least euery yeare to approach the lords table ; and that for these reasons . first , because frequent and solemne thankesgiuing is by vs to bee performed for that so excellent benefit which was affoorded vnto vs by christs passion . secondly , because christ in expresse termes commands . how often soeuer you shall doe it in remembrance of me ; where the word how often soeuer , enforceth an often vsage : that is , so often , as often as you shall come ; so that it presupposeth , that wee are often to come . 3. and thus farre are wee indebted to our faith , that wee often strengthen it , so much we owe vnto our consciences , that we may often hereby cherish , quicken and cheare them vp : for by this good helpe and meanes , wee stirre our selues vp to leade a new life , whilest that we consecrate and offer vp our selues to god by the vse of the lords supper . thus much we owe likewise to the ch. that we may hereby make open profession , and giue a publike testimony , that we be fellowes & members of it . lastly , thus much we are bound to performe for the auoiding of corporal punishments : for 1 cor. 11.30 . it is said , for this cause many are weak & sick among you , & many sleep , &c. where the apostle teacheth , that god punisht many in the ch. of corinth with diseases & death , because they did not rightly vse the l. supper . now if god did lay his punishing hand on thē by diseases & death for the wrong vse , how much more will he punish for the rare vse of the l. supper . teach me now further how i may worthily vse the lords supper , and so how my deuotion must be qualified ? that indeed is it , which aboue all other is most necessary , because of that most sharp sentence pronounced by the apostle , 1. cor. 11. v. 7. whosoeuer therefore eateth this bread or drinketh this cup vnworthily , he is guiltie of the body and bloud of christ ; that is , he is held guiltie of the violating of this sacred signe and seale , whereby the body and bloud of the lord is represented , and withall assured vnto vs. whereupon hee further addeth ; let euery man therefore examine himselfe , and so let him eat of this bread and drinke of this cup ; for who so eateth and drinketh vnworthily , eateth and drinketh his owne damnation , not discerning the lords body , that is , not vsing with reuerence those most holy signes and pledges , whereby wee are assured of the lords body , and so consequently not discerning , or putting any difference between common bread , which wee eat euery day at our tables , and this bread , which by reason of the vse and office of certifying and assuring is made holy ; and so likewise of the wine . of what sorts is that deuotion , i pray you tell me ? it must be of two sorts : either antecedent , going before the receiuing , or concomitant , and ioyned to the receiuing of those holy mysteries . how is the antecedent deuotion called ? it is called , the examining of a mans selfe , according to that wee erstwhile vrged out of the apostle ; let euerie man therefore examine himselfe , &c. what is the true trying of a mans selfe , & of what parts does it consist ? the examination , or proouing of a mans selfe , is nothing else but the sifting of ones conscience , what a man thinketh of himselfe ; and this examination is threefold . which is the first examination ? the first examination is as touching our misery , which againe is either general , namely , when we consider with our selues the misery of whole mankind ; which did betide vs by the fal of our first parents , which doth consist in sin , & the punishment of sin ; or special , when our thoughts are occupied about our own peculiar misery ; which examinatiō stands in 2 things : first , in the acknowledging of those sins , which thou euery day hast committed , either by omitting good things , which should haue beene done , or committing euill , which should haue beene left vndone , and that both in respect of good workes , which wee ought to doe , as also in respect of praiers , and daily inuocating on gods name , which hath beene either altogether neglected , or but coldly performed , together with a due and diligent consideration of those punishments both corporall and eternall , which we might for those our sinnes feare would iustly fall vpon vs. secondly , in a serious griefe and repenting sorrow for those our sinnes . it were , me thinkes , very meet to make such an examination of our selues on the third day ( as it were ) for examples sake , on friday before the celebration of the lords supper ; and on that day to bee read both the first part of sacred theologie , and also the 20. chapt. of exod. the 28. of deut. and thereunto to be added that prayer of dauid out of the 51. and 38. psalmes . which is the second examination ? the second is concerning our faith , namely , whereby wee recouer our selues out of our former sorrowfull meditation , fixing our faith and beliefe on christ , thinking on his person , his office , and especially his passion and death , and applying that his passion and death to our selues , euery one of vs assuring our selues , that for that his passion all our sinnes are forgiuen . where it will also be expedient to read ouer the whole doctrine of the remedies against our miseries , euen vnto the doctrine of iustification , and thereunto to adioyne the 26. and 27. chapters of matthew the 17 , 18 , 19. of iohn ; the 53 of esay , and likewise the 8. of the epistle vnto the romanes . which is the third examination ? the third must be occupied about our sanctification , or new life ; which consideration is absolued by a double resolution , and steady purpose of hart : the first , of doing those good workes hereafter , which are to bee performed either towards god , or towards our neighbour . the second , of daily calling on god by prayer , where it shal not be impertinent to recall the whole doctrine of sanctification , and to reade the fith and sixth chapters of matthew ; the 12 , and the following chapters of the epistle to the romans ; the 12 of the epistle to the hebrews ; the latter chapters of the epistle to the galath . the epistle to the col. to the eph. both the epist. of iohn and of iames. and this may be done vpon the sabbath day . thus farre i haue heard of that deuotion which ought to goe before the vse of the lords supper : now tell me also somwhat of that deuotion , which i ought to vse at the receiuing of the holy communion ? that deuotion is either externall , namely , that we doe soberly and reuerently approach vnto this holy action , in regard of our outward gesture , or internall and principall , which consists in these foure points , first , that thou render vnto christ most deuout and hearty thanks for that his passion and death , which for thy sake hee suffered and sustained . secondly , that thou taking the sacred bread doe make sure thy faith and appropriate vnto thy selfe the merit of christs passion , and so of the breaking of his body vpon the crosse , cherishing and strengthening thy conscience with that assurance ; and then taking the wine , that thou bethinke with thy selfe , how that the blood of christ was shed for thy sinnes , and so withal reuiuing and filling with ioy thy drooping conscience . thirdly , this deuotion must bee also in consideration of thine owne selfe , that thou do hereafter dedicate & consecrate thy self wholly both in soule and in body , and all thy works vnto god. fou●thlie , that thou doe also remember the church , in whose sight thou vsest the lords supper , firmelie resoluing with thy selfe to abide alwaies in that church , and to do the works of charity vnto the brethren . for the better effecting of these 4 points of this internall deuotion , euerie one may vse some pithy forme of prayers about the verie act of receiuing . and so haue wee finished the doctrine of true preparation vnto the lords supper , and together with it haue laid downe the summe and epitome of all diuinity . now what remaineth , but that wee earnestly entreate of god , that sithence his word is a lanthorne vnto our feet , and a light to our paths , that he would illuminate and open our harts , that wee may vnderstand the vndoubted truth of his holy word , and be piously transformed vnto those things which wee vnderstand , so that wee may not in any thing displease his heauenly maiesty , and that for christ iesus sake our lord. amen . finis . a briefe direction how to examine our selues before we go to the lords table , how to behaue our selues there , and hovv to try our selues aftervvards . by t. v. printed by aug. math. to the right honorable and religious lady , the countesse of deuonshire , health and peace in christ iesus . right honorable , all that is mine own in this little booke , namely , these short directions how to examine our selues , before wee goe to the lords table , how to behaue our selues there , and how to try our selues afterward , gathered for their sakes , which loue the most concise method and way of preparation , i make bold to consecrate vnto your name , and that in a double respect : first , in regard of your honours great goodwill and bounty to my vncle , my lords and your ladiships seruant , of whom ( setting aside the affectiō of a kinsman ) i dare say thus much without flattery , that he is one that truly feares god , and is faithfull in all his busines . secondly , in regard of your honours great affection to the gospell , and exceeding good respect towards the ministerie thereof , which doth make your name renowned ouer the whole land now , and will make your memory blessed hereafter . the lord keepe you and all yours , and remember you in mercie according to all the good you haue done to the house of god , and the officers thereof . i betake your honour to gods holy protection , and humbly take my leaue . your honours to be commanded in the lord iesus , t. v. a briefe direction , how to examine our selues before we goe to the lords table , how to behaue our selues there , and how to trie our selues afterwards . before wee must dare to come to the holy communion , we must diligently and carefully sift and examine our selues . first , the subiect of our examination is our selues , and not others , as the apostle saith ; let euery man examine himselfe , and so let him eate , &c. 1. cor. 11.28 . secondly , the matter wherein our examination must chiefly consist ( presupposing our generall and particular knowledge ) is of three sorts . the first is , as touching our repentance : the second concerneth our faith. the third is about our charitie . touching our repentance thus . we cannot choose but know ( our consciences witnessing vnto vs ) how grieuously wee doe daily offend against gods holy statutes , both in thought , word , and deed : wherefore wee seeing our hideous sinnes and misdeeds ; for which , if god in his iustice would deale with vs , wee might expect nothing but destruction and damnation . let vs enter into the closets of our owne hearts , and see whether we find our selues inwardly sorry for all our misdoings : secondly , confessing all our sinnes vnto the lord : and thirdly , growing to an inward hatred and loathing of sin , both in our selues and others : fourthly , fully purposing to conforme our selues according to gods holy lawes and commandements . which sorrow of heart for by-past sinne , and good purpose of mind to preuent sinne hereafter if wee shall find in vs ▪ then may wee perswade our selues of true and vnfained repentance . touching our faith in this manner . sin was that by which man became miserable , and because he brake the commandements of god , and lightly regarded the behests of the most high , therefore was he not onely turned out of his most blissefull and happy estate ; but stood guiltie of eternall death and condemnation both of body and soule for sinne . when man , sinfull man , stood in this dolefull case , destitute of all help and succour either from himselfe , or other creature liuing in the world , it pleased god of his owne loue and free mercy graciously to behold wretched man , and to send him a sauiour , euen iesus christ the righteous , promising remission of sins , libertie from the snare of the diuell ; and in stead of condemnation , euerlasting life to all those , which with a true faith and stedfast beliefe lay hold on christs merits , applying the promises of god in christ to their owne soules in particular . this , when wee shall haue diligently weighed in our mindes , then let vs turne to our hearts , and see whether wee 1 feele our consciences assured by the spirit of god , that the punishment of our sinne is fully in christ discharged ; and that 2 whatsoeuer ●ee hath done for man , appertaineth not onely vnto others , but euen to vs also . and thus , if wee shall perceiue our hearts affected , wee may perswade our selues of a true and liuely faith . touching charitie on this wise . as charitie is the fruit and effect of a true and liuely faith ( so that it is impossible we should haue a sound faith , but wee must bee fruitfull in good workes and deeds of charitie ; for as the light can in no wise bee separated from the sunne , nor heate from the fire ; so neither can these two inseparable vertues be disioyned , but if faith be the root , good workes and charitable deeds will be the fruit , insomuch that hereby may wee more then probably iudge of the purenesse and sinceritie of our faith : ) so likewise many be those fruits and effects of true charitie and christian loue ; which if by our search wee shall find in vs , wee may certainely assure our hearts of the possesion of that rich gemme , and precious vertue charitie . they be set downe by gods own spirit : the pen-man is the apostle paul 1. cor. 13.4 ▪ 5 , 1 &c. loue suffereth long : is bountiful ; loue enuieth not ; loue doth not boast it selfe ; it is not pussed vp ; it disdaineth not ; it seeketh not her owne things ; it is not prouoked to anger ; 2 it thinketh not euill , &c. this place when wee haue read distinctly and discreetly , let vs enter into a serious cogitation , and examine our selues , first , whether wee bee reconciled vnto such as wee haue offended , and heartily forgiue such as haue offended vs : and secondly , bee read●e withall to doe them all the good wee can : and this affection , if wee shall find in our selues vpon our suruey and examination , wee may perswade our selues of true and sound charitie . iii. the forme of our scrutinie is after a iudiciall manner of proceeding . first wee must examine our selues , 1 and take a catalogue of our sins , the diuell himselfe hath in store against vs , by which wee haue offended gods iustice . 2 secondly , then according to the ten words of the law , we may frame ten seuerall actions and inditements ; as for instance ( because i would gladly speake to the capacity of my weakest brethren ) muster vp before thee all thy atheistical conceits , or at least so many as thou canst remember , and then indite thy selfe for the first commandement ; looke and see whether thou hast not set vp an image or an idoll in thine heart , and so indite thy selfe for the second commandement . call to mind thirdly , whether thou hast not by swearing and blaspheming taken gods name in vaine ; remember fourthly , whether thou hast not often profaned gods holy sabbath : fithly , whether thou hast not beene disobedient and refractory to parents and gouernours : sixthly , whether thou hast not harboured in thy breast murthering malice and enuie : seuenthly , whether thou hast not set open thine eyes to vncleannesse and vanitie : eightthly , whether thou hast not iniured thy neighbour in his goods . ninthly , whether thou hast not wronged him in his good name , nay , whether tenthly , thou hast not giuen the reines loose to all concupiscence ; and so for the breach of euery commandement , frame a seuerall inditement , and plead guiltie . this maist thou do by thy selfe , yet if thou art weake , and desirest helpe , thou shalt find the inditement drawne at large for thee in the practice of pietie , pag. 565 , 566. & seqq . of the eighth edition . for further helpe see maister theologus schooling asunetus in dents plaine mans path-way to heauen , pag. 322. & seqq . of the fifteenth impression . thirdly , 3 then adde thereto so many seuerall sentences of condemnation and so foorthwith , fourthly , pronounce a perpetuall confusion due to vs , 4 with a shame for that which is past , with a griefe for that which is present , and with a feare of that may come hereafter . ( and when wee can thus bring our selues into the worst taking that can be , tunc optime habet , saith bucer , qui pessime habet . for hauing thus pronounced this shame of face dew vnto vs , god will cease from his sentence of anger ; nay , hee will say , this man hath condemned himselfe , i need not to condemne : seeing hee hath straightly examined himselfe , i remit all , i will examine him no further , hee is free , let him come , and so let him eat of my bread , and drinke of my cup. ) then being constrained to conclude wee are vnworthy ; wee must in the next place goe out of our selues , and faint after the righteousnesse can make vs worthy , which cannot bee effected but by faith , which commeth by the blessing of the gospel : whereby we ( being conscious of our owne vnworthinesse ) doe seeke wisedome out of our selues , and sue for obedience in the sonne of god christ iesus our lord. these are those duties which we must thinke vpon , before we come to the lords holy table : now for our behauiour there , obserue thus much . the duties which are required of vs in the celebration of the holy communion are of two kinds , either generall , or common to this , and other times , or peculiar and proper to this seruice . i. the generall and common duties are to ioyne with the congregation in confessing of sinnes , in singing of psalmes and hymnes , in hearing with reuerence and deuotion gods holy word preached , in praying , and the like . secondly , touching the proper duties more peculiarly belonging to this seruice , and our behauiour in the receiuing of those holy mysteries , as the church hath retained it , there is a commandement giuen , that wee lift vp our hearts to the lord. and we must indeed bee as eagles soaring vp to heauen , by hauing carefull meditations on heauenly and inuisible things , arising from the due consideration of the things themselues offered vnto vs , that is , the outward elements of bread and wine ; as also from a regardfull contemplation of euery action in that holy ministration . first therefore when wee see the bread and wine set before vs on the lords table , we know that they are appointed for the nourishing & strengthening of our bodies , but here wee must not stay . our hearts heereby are to be led to meditate on the body and bloud of christ ; which is appointed to be our soules nourishment to feed vs to eternall life ; for so he professeth of himselfe , ioh. 6.55 . my flesh is meat indeed , & my blood is drink indeed . secondly , when wee see the breaking of the bread , and powring out of the wine ▪ our hearts are to bee led to the meditation on the cruell death of the crosse , which christ suffered for the remission of our sinnes , when his most blessed body was broken , and his most precious blood shed for the redemption of mankind . againe , when wee see that the bread which is broken and giuen vnto vs by the minister , is all of the same loafe , or at the least of the same graine ; and the wine whereof wee drinke , that it commeth from the same grapes , and receiued by vs in the same cup , wee are hereby to bee led to the meditation on that communion , which we haue with al gods saints , which are partakers of those holy mysteries , and to the consideration of that vnion , which wee haue , or should haue among our selues , as members of one mysticall body , whereof c. iesus is the head . lastly , when we eate that holied bread , and drinke that consecrated wine , wee know , that they turne to nutriment for our bodies , and so consequently that they grow into one substance : hereby are wee led to a further meditation on our incorporation into christ iesus , to be made one with him , and hee with vs : so that hereby we may assure our hearts of our reconciliation with god , and of all the benefits of christs death and passion : for seeing christ is become ours , how shal not god with christ giue vs all things ? and these are those holy meditations whereupon we must bestow the best of our thoughts in that so sacred a businesse : now as touching the triall of our soules , after the receiuing of those holy mysteries , note but this . after that the lord hath fed our soules so graciously at his owne table , we must take heed we proue not vnthankfull to the louing kindnesse of the lord. and therefore it is required of vs , and that not for a day or a weeke , or some small time , but euen for euer continually to retaine a thankfull remembrance of those blessings , whereof we are made partakers in christ iesus ; as also neuer to let slip out of our mind that interchangeable promise , which hath past betwixt god and vs. the lord promising to be our god , and wee promising henceforth to become gods faithfull & obedient seruants , to serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the remainder of our life . whence the ordinarie custome in these dayes may worthily bee reprehended : for ▪ howsoeuer men for a day , or a short space seeme to haue a christian sense of that holy duty , whereto they haue bound themselues by their promise ; yet notwithstanding within a while they returne with the dogge to the vomit , and with the sow , to wallowing in the mire . wherefore to good purpose it is , that we propose to our hearts a triall of our selues , euen after our receiuing : for though a man by the sight of the soyle may gather by some gesse , what fruit wil come vp ; yet when he sees the fruit , the matter is farre more sure . and therefore because those accidents antecedent , as repentance from dead workes , faith in christ , and lou● toward men may sometime deceiue vs , it is good ( to put the matter out of all doubt ) to trie our selues afterward , if we can heare the word more ioyfully ; if wee trauell for the righteousnesse of faith more soundly , & make the score of our sins lesse then they were before and these indeed are comfortable fruits of the truth of our holinesse . finis . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or recapitulation of the chiefe points handled in this treatise . christian religion is the seruing of god in christ. the actions thereof are 3 most eminently . 1. meditation of gods vvord , which testifies of christ. 2. p●ayer vnto god through christ. 3. the vse of the sacraments , instituted by christ. of the two first elsewhere , here onely of the third . page 1. & seqq . that wee may vse the sacraments aright , wee haue need of preparation , which in this booke is both largely deciphered and concisely proposed . preparation largely deciphered consists in 2. things , knovvledge and devotion . our knowledge is either generall in points of religion , or particular about a sacrament . our generall knowledge is either primarie and independant , or secondarie and deriued . the primary and independant consists of a double doctrine . ● . of god according to the essence , which is one , & persons which are there . pag. 4. ii. of gods vvord , or the scripture , of which see the definition , pa. ii. the diuision which is threefold . p. ii. the properties which are 3 i. it deriues its authoritie from god alone pa. 16.2 . it is perfect and sufficient to saluation . p. 20. 3. in the articles of faith , and matters necessary to saluation it is easie and perspicuous . pa. 23 the secondarie and deriued knowledge consists of two parts . i. of the end it selfe , saluation , considered in respect of the life to come , perfect ; or this present life , inchoate , p. 29. ii. of the meanes to come by that end ; and that 's a double knowledge , i. of thy miserie . ii. of the remedie for thy miserie . thy misery is throughly knowne by the consideration of 4. things , i. that which went before miserie ; the image of god. ii. the efficient cause of thy misery ; adam● fall . iii. the parts thereof , to wit , sinne originall and actuall , and the punishment for sin temporall and eternall . iv. the exemplary cause or glasse representing thy miserie , which is the rigour of the lavv. pag. 32. & seqq the remedie for thy miserie is twofold ; prime and independant ; which is predestination to lise . pag. 40. or secondary and dependant diuided into 3. heads : redemption , iustification , sanctification . redemption here is . i. defined . ii. it is further opened both by the efficient cause thereof and by the obiect thereof . the efficient cause of our redemption is christ , in him consider , i. his person , and so 1. the parts thereof , the humane and diuine natures : 2. the vnion of those two natures : ii. his office , of which 1. in generall , as it is called a mediatourship : 2. in speciall , and so it is propheticall , sacerdotall , and regall . p. 41. & seqq . the obiect of redemption is the church , which is largely taken pag. 71. strictly and properly , of it are considered the head , the members , the proprieties . p. 73. & seqq . so of redemption , there followes iustification , which you haue i. defined p. 104. ii. vnfolded by the cause , the effect , and the adiunct . the cause of iustification is either principall , the mercy of god , and merit of christ : or instrumentall , faith , which is defined , and then further opened by the causes , which are principall , gods spirit : instrumentall , and and those either ordinarie , the word and sacraments : or extraordinarie , miracles . p. 105. & seqq . the effect or fruit of iustification , is the peace of conscience , by which a man is assured of the fauour of god , and his owne saluation . p. 115. the adiunct of iustification is repentance , of which see p. 122. so of iustification , there remaines sanctification , or regeneration , which is i. defined , and then further opened by the parts thereof , 2. goodvvorks & prayer or inuocation . p. 124. thus farre goes our generall knowledge , our particular knowledge i said , was touching a sacrament , and that is either common to both sacraments , where you haue the name and nature of a sacrament ; p. 142. or appropriate to the supper ▪ which you haue , i. defined p. 143. and then further opened by three considerable things , the matter , the forme , the end . the matter is both elementarie and spirituall , which are called the termes of the relation ( for a sacrament is a relation ) . p. 144. the forme or ground , or foundation of the relation is , 1. in respect of the sacrament , i. the institution of christ , ii. the analogie betwixt the signe , and the thing signified : 2. in respect of vs it is faith. p. 147. & seqq . the end or final cause of this relation is two-fold , namely , in respect , i. of christ , and it is a gratefull commemoration of his death and passion . ii. of our selues , and it is either primarie , the confirming of our faith , or secondarie , and it is threefold , i. a consecrating of our selues to god , 2. a publike acknowledgement of christianitie , 3. a profession of our charitie . p. 155. & seqq . thus haue we briefly run ouer the first maine part of preparation , consisting of knowledge : the other maine part is deuotion , which consists , i. in a frequent vse of the lords supper , pag. 159. ii. in worthy receiuing . and this deuotion is twofold , antecedent , or going before receiuing , which is examination : concomitant , or ioyned with that sacred act , which is the deeent gesture of our body , and the deuout affection of our soule in the time of receiuing those holy mysteries . p. 163. & seqq . thus farre haue you heard preparation largely deciphered . preparation concisely proposed , is wholly spent in these three short directions : i. how to examine our selues before we come to the lords table : ii. how to behaue our selues there : iii. how to trie our selues afterward ; written for their sakes that study piety , and loue breuitie . p. 169. & seqq . finis . a postscript to the readers . gentle readers , i am to satisfie you anent ●vvo things you haue met vvithall in reading the foregoing treatise , first , that the reasons and arguments novv and then are very concisely proposed , the syllogismes vvanting one of the premisses , or the conclusion , or both . and my reason of thus doing vvas , because i vvrote vnto men endued vvith logick , at least , naturall , vvhich hauing the pith of the argument , is able enough to suggest inferences . the other thing is , that vvhereas there is sometimes cited ke●ker . system of diuinitie , you vvould be pleased to haue recourse vnto that vvhich vvas printed at geneua ann. dom. mdc . x● . vvhere according to the order of pages , you shall find the points enlarged , vvhich are here but briefly touched . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a04766-e290 (a) in t●mplo dei offert vnus quisque quod potest : aurum , argentum & lapides pr●ciosos , alii b●●suni & purp●●●am & coccum offerunt : nobiscum benè agitur , si obtulerimus pelles & caprarum pilos et tamen apostolus contemptibi●●o●a nostra magis necessaria indicat . hier● in prolog● galea●o . (b) heb. 5.12 . pro. 2.4 . reuel . 17.1.2 . (c) dd. halls quo vadis ? p. 15.1 . edition . ierem. 3.3 . ezec. 16.30 ezec. 16.34 . ezec. 23.40 . dd. hakewel● answ : to the 2. letter pag. 25. li● ▪ alicubi . 2. pet. 2.3 dd. halls quo vadis ? page 76. reuel . 16.13 . (e) iesuites like apri●ocks heretofore , here and there one succored in a great mans hous , now you may haue them in euery countrie village , i.d. so that we may say ( i feare me ) of them , as richard grosthead , a good b. of linc. in h●n . 3. daies , said of the popes legates , so many disguised daily come into the realme , that the verie names of them recited would bee tedious for anie man to heare . fox mar●yrol . page ( mihi ) 326. (f) mat. 23.15 . (*) the doctrine of the papists a doctrine of darknes * vt quicquid passim in variis regionib est sordium , tandem per diuersa flumino in mare vnum deportatur : ita quicquid blasphemiarum in variis ac diuersissimis sectis reperitur , totum id confluxit in romanam colluuiem . tilleman hesbus . (g) 2. cor. 6 14. (h) iuel apolog . pag. 116. the religion of papistrie is like a curtaine made to keepe out the light . b. r. (i) acts 17.11 . (k) apolog. ●celesie , aug. p. 147. * vt latro crucem , ita isti horrent verbum dei. iuel . (l) my lord of chichester in his preface to his booke entituled , directions to knovv the true church . (m) dd. halls quo vadis ▪ p. 32.1 . edit . m. anton. de dominis archiep . spalat . master sheldon ex claud espenc . coment in cap. 1. epist. ad titum . (n) quia ex●perimento manifestum est , si sacra biblia vulgari lingua passim sine discrimine permittan●tur , plus inde ob homiuum temeritatem detrimenti quam vtilitatis oriri , id●irco &c. index lib. prohibit confect . à deput . concilii trident . reg . 4. quid quod populus non solum caperet fructum ex scripturis , sed etiam caperet detrimentum acciperet enim facillime occasionē errandi tum in doctrina ●idei , tum in praeceptis vitae & morum . b●●larm ▪ lib. ● . de verbo dei. cap. 15. see dd hakevv●lls answ. likewise to dd. car. second letter , pag. 11. (o) vehementer ab istis dissentio , qui nolint ab idiotis legi diuinas literas in vulgi linguam transfusas , siue quasi christus tam inuoluta docuerit , vt vix à pauculis theologis possint intelligi , siue quasi religionis christianae praesidium in hoc situm sit , si nesciatur , &c. erasm. in paracles . ad christian. philosophiae studiū . * woe vnto you ( saith christ ) that take away the key of knowledge , luk. 11.52 . (p) neque adeo inhumanus fuit deus , vt voluerit huius rei ignoratione per omnes aetates homines torque●i , cum neque vllum in sacris scripturis passus est esse locum , quem siaccuratè pensitemus , interpretari non possimus . aug. steu●hius in genes . cap 2. * dei ordinatio non potest esse peccatorum obstetrix . cyprian . * the papists doing● workes of darknesse . ioh. 8.44 . (q) though wee bee in dd. carriers bookes no lesse then schismatiks for obiecting the hainousnesse of of this horrible treason , yet wee will not leaue to obiect it , but cry and thunder against it , being as his sacred maiesty hath rightly obserued not onely a crying sinne of bloud , but a roaring and thundring sinne of fire and brimstone dd. hakvv , answer to dd carr. cap. 2. sect. 13. see likewise the worthy sir francis bacon ( now lord saint albon ) his essaies , part & . ess. 1. o religion . (r) iohn 3.2 . they that digge through houses in the darke , &c. iob 24.26.17 . (s) psalm 121. ● . ps. 124.6 . v. hispan . reformat . c. 10 (t) quod si illi haec o●a tranquillo animo & ad audiendum dis●endumque compara to spectare velint , non tantum probabunt institutum nostrum , qui relictis errorib christū eiusque apostalos secut● sumus sed ipsi etiam à se desicient , seque vltro aggregabunt ad partes nostras iuel apolog. pag. 148. see the occasions of master copleys conuersion , and among the rest you shall finde the powderplot . copl doctr. and mor. obseruat . cap. 2. sect . 6. (u) ezech. 20.43 . * such desperate ones as ieremy describes , ier. 18.12 . noluerunt veritati consentire nec victi . & , quod volumus , sanctum est . august . vincent . epist. 48. * quaerimus vos quiae peristis , vt de inu●ntis gaudeamus , de quibus perditis dolebamus . august . vincent . epist ▪ 48. si sapitia , bene & rectè si autem non sapitis , nos vestri curam gessisse non paenitebit . august . lib. 3. contra epist. petilian . c. 59. ad sinem . proleps . (x) — with them still , custome hath borne most way , and euer will , and good or bad what their forefathers did , they 'l put in practice too ( else god forbid . ) g.vv. tantum sc. isti debent inscitie ac tenebris superiorum temporum . iuel . apol. pag. 138. * the moales speech in mast. scots vnio . pag. 37. of his philomythology . prou. 27.22 . 2. king. 17.41 . v. mast. scots vnio , in the ep●mythium . p. 48. ex ambros. epist lib. 5. epist. 30. fox martyrol . pag. 851. col . 2. distinct. 8. cap. 5. ioh caluin . in euangel . ioh. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . acts 7.51 . mast. scots philomytie . pag. 40 this is the practice of some in france obserued out of caluin by rog. on the artic of religion . art . 21 luther . in epist. ad galat . cap. 2. tom ▪ 5. operum . ●ol . 311. 1. ioh. 2.19 . we do iustly conclude that many papists especially our forefathers , laying their whole trust vpon christ and his merits at their last breath , may be , and oftentimes are saued . v his maiesties speach in the parliam . 1605. de agathone vide luther . vbi supra . fol. 313. de bernardo in 4. cap ad galat ●ol . 400. ●om . 5. gen. 22.18 . (y) vide in hanc sententiam dd. hakevv . in his answ . to dd carier , an english italionated doctor . c. 2. sect . 19. p. 127. potens est dominus misericordia sua indulgentiam dare non tamen quia aliquando erratum est , ideo semper errandum est . cyprian epst . 73. vetîam , directions to know the true churc● , pag. 83. non intelligendi viuacitas sed credendi simplicitas tutissimos facit . aug. apostolus de iudeis dicit ▪ zelum dei habent sed non secundum scientiam : pares estis omnino , exceptis duntaxat illis , quicunque in vobis sunt , scientes quid verum sit , & pro animositate su● peruersitatis , contra veritatem etiam sibi notissimam dimicantes . august vincent . epist. 48. (z) mat. 23.33 quos similis culpa coinquinat , par quoque paena constringet . gregor . (a) mat. 3.7 . (b) august . vincent . epist. 48. mast. scots phylomythologie . p. 41. ezech. 20.18.19.20 . quos christus vocat secum in aerernum mansuros , pater forsan reuocat s●cum in aeternum ar●u●o● v bern. ep. 2. demosth. contra aristocrat . (c) si non de dignentur legere , malē mihi sit , ita enim in tanta causa invare ausim , nisi tandem capiantur . petr. mart. loc. com . c. 6. clasi 1. sect . 14. (d) ab eo speranda est intelligentia , qui & pul●antibus aperiet , & quaerentibus demonstra●it , & petentib . non denegabit . hilar in ps. 1●5 . mu●tum domine d● tua bonitate prae . sumo , quoniam tu ipse doces petere , quaerere , pulsare , & tu domine , qui iubes petere , fac accipere : consulis quaerere , da & inuenire : doces pulsare , operi pulsanti : & confirma me infirmum , restaura me perditum , suscitame mortuum , &c. august . meditat. cap. 39. sect 9. notes for div a04766-e2980 gregor . nazian . monostich . horat. carm. l. 3. od 6. reuel . 1.8 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes for div a04766-e4160 theologia disciplina est non contempla●rix● sed practica syst● theol. pag. 2. i● diuinas scripturas recte legit , qui vertit verbain opera . bern. hoc philosophiae genus in ●ffectibus situm verius , quam in syllogismis , vita est magis quā disputatio , &c. eras. in paracles . ad studiis christian . philosoph . syst. theol. pag. 4. 1 syst. theol. pag. 10. 2 ibid. p 93. 3 ibid p 105. & seqq . 4 ibid. p. 116 5 ibid p. 117 si non est vnus , non est . tertul. deus est vnus imo , si dici potest , vnissimus , bern. syst. theol p. 14. contra tritheitas & manichaeos . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iustin. mar. & damasc. syst. theol. pag. 19. de deo loqui etiam vera periculosissimum est . arnob. s. th. p. 56. & 58. ibid. p. 16. in deo èst alius & alius non aliud & aliud . vinc. lerinens . meus deus tam non ha●bet hoc & i●●lud . quam non haec & il●a . bern. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . nazianzin . qui n●scis trinitatem , i●o ad io●●danem . mat. 3. aug. syst. th p. 46. vide etiam p. 35. & seqq . dicamus tres sed non ad praeiudicium vnitatis , dicamus vnum sed non ad con●●sionem trinitatis . bern. v. syst. theol p. 49. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . na. quomodo pluralitas in vnitate sit , aut ipsa vnitas in plurali●tate , scrutari hoc tomeritas est , credere pietas est , nosse vita , & vit●aeterna est . bern. christus est deus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra apolina● . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra nestor . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra eutych . syst. theol. pag. 52. & seqq . v. august . enchirid. cap. 56. fuit principium es●endi devs , sequitur cognoscendi principium verevm dei. non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbum christus , sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbum christi . syst. th. p. 167. qui scripturam ignorat , ' christum ignorat , hieronym . s. th. p. 169. item p 173. hi constituunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chrysost. s. th. p. 82. s. th. p. 190. s. th p. 171. obiect . answ. s. th. p. 181. s. th. p. 176. quod non legi , vsurpare non debeo . amb. non sum aliorum sermonum discipulus , nisi co●lestium , origen . adoro plenitudinem scripturarum . tertul. s. th. p. 199. s. th. p. 201. s. th. p. 174. item p. 203. s. th p. 210. s. th p. 211. partes theologiae duae , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . s. th. p. 212. quanto videmus maiora fuisse bona , qua amisimus ; tanto gra●iora cognoscemus esse mala in quae incidimus vrsm. s. th p. 218. s. th. p. 224. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . nazianzen . s. th. p. 233. v. aug enchind ad l●ur●●t ca 4● . & 46. qui manducouerunt vt essent quasi dii , perdiderunt quod eran● facti homines immortales . augustin . * s. th. p. 247. geminū peccati formale , pugnantia cum lege & ordinatio ad poenā . vrsin . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 1. io● . 3.4 . est dictum factū concupitum contra ●ogem de● . augustin . s. th. p 251. nihil peccato originali ad praedicandum notius , nihil ad intelligendum secretius . august . peccatum originis est carentia iustitiae originalis d●bitae inesse . aug. peccatum originis est , quod trohimus à natiuitate per ignorantiam in mente , & per concupiscentiam in carne , hugo . s. th. p. 268. committendo quae vetantur vel omit●endo , quae mandantur nam boni virte●t non tantum rectè ●gere , sed etiam rectè ociari . s. th. p. 285. s. th. p. 286. s. th. p 296. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disputare vis mecum ● mirare mecū & exclama , o altitudo ! augustin . s. th. p. 312. persona est 1. substantia 2. singularis 3. intelligens 4. non pars alterius . 5. non sustentata ab alio . 6. incommunicabilis . v. syst. th. l. ● . c. 5. totus totum me assumpsit ut toti mihi salutem gratificaretur : quod n. inassumptibi●e est incurab●le est . lumbard . s. th. p. 320. s. th. p 323. assumpsit quod non erat , non amisit quod erat . august . s. th. p. 316. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . cyril . salua proprietate vtriusque naturae , suscepta est à maiestate humilitas , à virtute infiro mitas , ab ●teruitate mortalitas . leo. v. pet. lumbard . l. 3 sent . distinct . 2● . s. th. p. 326. non mediator homo praeter de itatem , non mediator deus praeter humanitatem sed inter diuinitatem solam & humanitatem solam mediatrix est humana diuinitas & diuina hummitas . august . s. th. p. 333. s. th. p. 340. s. th. p. 342. s. th. p. 347. deum pati plus est quam omnes homines in omne aeternitatem pati . s. th. p. 348. audi vtramque vocem , tum carnis iu●●●mae , pater , si possibile sit , transeat à me calix : tum prompti animi , non tamen vt ego volo sed vt tu v●s fiat . ambros . s. th. p. 355. homo debuit sed no potuit , deus potuit sed non debuit , &c. o sapientia potens attingens vbique fortiter ● ô potentia sapiens , disponens omnia suauiter bern. non satiabar dulcedine mirabili , considerare altitudinem consilii tui super salutē generis humani . aug. opus sine exemplo , gratia sine merito , charitas fine modo bern. o foelix culpa , quae talē & tantum meruit redemptorem ! per christum hominem iustitiae dei plenissimè satisfactum progenere humano bellarm. lib de ascensment ▪ in deum , grad . 13. cap. 3. obiect . solu . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 christi sunt duplicia quaedam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in carne , sua , quaedam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in membri● , quae sunt chrsti , quia membrorum . zanch. omnes sanctorum affectiones , vel sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , quibus puniuntur peccata , vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quibus probatur fides , vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quibus confirmatur doctrina , & de his loquitur . melanct. obiect . solut. s. th. p. 357. s. th. p. 359. s. th. p. 368. s. th. p. 371. s. th. p. 38● . non peruenit ad pramia christi qui relinquit ecclesiam christi . cypr. non deus buic pater est , cui non ecclesia mater . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . s. th. p. 374. obiect . solut. ego fidenter dico , quia quisquis se vniuersalem sacerdotem vocat , vel vocari desiderat , in elatione sue antichristum praecurrit . greg mag. planum est , apostolis interdicitur dominatus , bern. quicunque desiderauerit primatum in terra , inueniet confusionem in caelo . distinct. 40. cap. multi . obiect . solut. tu es petrus & supra hanc petram , &c. saepius exposui , vt super hunc intelligeretur , quem confessus est petrus dicens , tu es christus filius dei viui . non enim dictum est ei , tu es petra , sed tu es petrus . petra autem erat christus , quem confessus simon dictus est petrus aug. secundum hieronim . solut. obiect . s. th. p. 393. solu . obiect . solut. id est verius quod prius , id prius quod ab initio , id ab initio quod ab apostolis . tertul. obiect . pietatis successio proprie successio est aestimanda . greg naz. non habent haereditatem petri , qui si dem petri non habent . ambros. solut. ecclesia est quae aliquando obscuratur & tanquam obnubilatur multitudine scandalorum , aliquando tribulationum & tentationum fluctibus operitur atque turvatur . cum arriani &c. august s. th. p 389. s. th. p. 408. etsi papatus non sit ecclesia vo●uit tamen deu● in papatu seruare ecclesiam . theod. beza . obiect . s. th. p. 404. solut. obiect . solut. vt est ecclesia dei vna , sic est diaboli vna babylon aug. s. th. p. 404. ye haue this psalter in bonauentures works printed in seauen tomes at rome 1588 vol. 6. pag. 502 in latin , in english ye haue diuers passages of it , and amongst the rest , these in foxes martyrology , printed 1583. fol. 1600. missale roman . edit . salmanticae a.d. 1588. feria 6. in parasceue p. 223. coster . enchirid . c. 5. propos . 9. gritzer ingo●flad . a.d. 1594. s. th. p. 390. s. th. p. 413. ipse peccatum & nos iustitia ▪ nec nostra sed dei , nec in nobis sed in ipso , sicut ipse peccatum non su●um s●d nostrum , nec in ●e sed in nobis . sic ergo sumus iustitia dei in ipso , vt ille est peccatum in nobis , nempe imputatione . aug. s. th. p. 420. s. th p. 427. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si credis , fidei cur alia infer● ? quasi iustificare non sufficiat sola . chrysost. gal. 3.15 . non opus est lege , quando impius per solam fidem iustificatur . ambros. ephes. 2. tit. 3.5 . quantaelibet fuisse virtutis antiquos praedices iustos , non eos saluos fecit nisi fides . aug. non praecedunt iustificandum sed sequuntur iustificatum . aug. nihil es per te , deum inuoca . tua peccata sunt , merita dei sunt , supplicium tibi debetur , & cum praemium ad venerit , sua dona coronabit non merita tua . aug. v●● etiam laudabili hominum vitae , si remota misericordia , eam discutias . aug. ipsa nostra iustitia , quamuis vera sit , talis tamen est , vt potius peccatorum remissione constet quam virtutum perfectione . idem . nostra siqua est humilis iustitia , recta forsan , sed non pura ; nisi forte meliores nos esse credimus quam patres nostros , qui non minus veraciter quam humiliter dicebant . omnes iustitiae nostre sunt tanquam pannus mulieris menstruatae . bern. s. th. p. 436. s. th. p. 439. s. th. p. 448. s. th. p. 451. s. th. p. 465. miracula necessaria erant vt crederet mundus , post quam vero tam mundus credidit , qui miraculum quaerit magnum est ipse prodigium . aug. quasi hoc nō scriptum esset venturos qui maximas virtutes edēt ad corrumpendem veritatem . tertullian . s. th. p. 41● . hoc dixit deus , hoc promisit , si parum est , hoc iurauit . aug. obiect . tria considero , in quibus tota spes me a consistit , charitate adoptionis , veritatem promissionis , potestatem redditionis , &c. bern. obiect . solut. obiect . solut. ipse ergo eos facit perseue rare in bono , qui facit bonos : qui autē cadunt & per●unt , in praedestinatorum numero non fuerunt . august . obiect . s●lut . not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only , but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . quid mihi ergo est cum hominibus vt audiant confessiones meas , quasi sanaturi sint omnes languores meos . curiosum genus ad cognoscendum vitam alienā , desidiosum ad corrigendum suā quid à me quaerunt audir quisum qui nolunt à te audire qui sint . aug non gloriabor quia iustu sum , sed gloriabor quia redemptus sum . gloriabor non quia vacuus peccati sum , sed quia mihi remissa sunt peccata . non gloriabor quia profui , neque quia profuit mihi quisquam , sed quia pro me aduocatus apud patrem christus est , sed quia pro me christs sanguis effusus est . ambros. s. th. p. 471. s. th. p. 475. s. th. p. 480. s. th. p. 487. honorandi sunt sancti propter imitationem , non adorandi propter religionem , & angelos honoramus choritate non seruitute , nec eis templa construimus no●unt enim sic se honorari à nobis , quia nos ipsos quum boni sumus , templum summi dei esse nouerunt . aug. * in antoninus his time , vnder pauls picture was written , per hunc itur ad christum : and vnder dominicks , sed per istum sicilius . flac. illyric . martyribus no● sacrificamus sed ●ni deo. aug. ab alio orare non possum , quam a quo sciam me consecuturum : quoniam & ipse est q●i solus praestat ▪ & ego sum cui impetrare debetur , famulus eius , qui eum solum obseru● , qui ei offero opimam hostiam , quam mandauit orationem de ●arne pudica , de anima innocen●i , de spiritu sancto profectam . tertull. * reuera sanctum erat corpus mariae , non tamen deus : reuera virgo crat maria & honorata , sed non ad adorationem nobis data . epiphan . ibi sunt spiritus defunctorum , vbi non vident quaecunque aguntur aut eueniunt in ista vita hominum . aug. note si quando homines exorare opo●tet , ianitorib . prius occurrere oportet &c. in deo nihil tale , ad quem confugies ? ad abrahamum ? non te audiet . ille s●lus precandus & exorandus qui & scriptam in te da●●●ationem delere potes● & incendium res●inguere . chrys●●● . solent tamen pudor●m passi miserà vti excusatione per i●●os posse in ad deum , sicut per comites peruenitur ad regem ; age nunquid tam demens &c. v. amb. in 1. cap. epist. ad rom. ideo ad reg●m per tribunos aut comites itur , quia homo vtique est rex , & nesci● , quib . debeat rempub . credere . ad deum au●●m , quem vtique nihil latet , &c. ● . amb. vbi supra in 1. cap. ad rom. placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere : i. e. quod colitur , aut adoratur , in parietib . pinga●ur . concil-elibert . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . atha . quis ergo iste honor dei est . per lapideas & ligneas formas discurrere , & inanes atque examines figuras tanquam numina venerari , & hominem , in quo vere imago dei est , spernere . clem. rom. s. th. p. 449. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . s. th. p. 454. s. th. p. 440. sub vtraque specie sumitur ipse totus christus , sed si in altera tantum sumeretur , ad alterius tantum , id est , animae vel corporis , non viriusque pariter tuitionem valere significaretur . ambros. aut integra sacramenta percipiaut , aut ab integris arceantur , quia diuisio vnius eiusdemque mysterii sine grandi sacrilegio fieri non potest . gelasius . s. th. p. 446. s. th. p. 457. dominus non dubitauit dicere hoc est corpus meum , cum signum da ret corporis sui . aug. hoc est corpus meum , id est , hoc est figura corporis mei . tert. panis dicitur corpus suo modo , cum sit sacramentum ; non autem dicitur rei veritate sed mysterio significante . august . vt quid paras dentes & ventrem ? crede & manducasti . idem . antequam sanctificetur panis , panem nominamus ; diuina autem illa sanctificante gra liberatus est ab appellatione panis , dignus autem habitus est dominici corporis appellatione , etsi natura panis in eo romansit . chrysost. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . macar seruator noster nomina cōmutauit , & corpori quidem id , quod erat symboli ac signi , nomen imposuit ; symbolo autem , quod erat corporis , causa mutationis manifesta est iis , qui &c. theodoret. si sacramenta aliquam similitudinem earum rerum quarum sunt sacramenta non haberent ne sacramenta quidem essent . aug. siquis manducauerit ex ipso non mori etur in eternum . hoc pertinet ad virtutem sacramenti non ad visibile sacramentum . qui mandu cat intus , non ●oris ; qui manduca● corde , non qui premit dente . aug. quasi non possit tangi quum iam ascenderit , at vtique poterit , sed affectu , non manu ; voto , non oculo ; side , non sensibus . be● . reliquit nobis christus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. monumenta suae salutaris passionis , quae proposuimus iuxta ●iu ▪ mandata . basil. s. th. p. 459. si deus dimisit peccata per vnam hostiam nec dum iam opus est secunda . chrys. saluatoris hostia semel oblata absoluit omnia fidaque in omne tēpus ꝓdurat . aaroni successores dati fuerunt ; dominus autem sine transitione & successire sacerdotium obtinit in aeternum . athanas. non est audaciae saepiús accedere ad dominicam mensam sed indigné accedere , etiāsisemel tanid fiat in tota vita . chrys scio romae hanc esse consuetudinē , vt fideels semper christi corpus accipiant hiero. accipe quo●tidie , quod quotidie tibi prosit : sic vine vt merearis quotidi accipere . qui non meretur quotidie accipere , non mer●tur post annum accipere . ambr. qui vu●nus habet , medicinam quaerit ; vulnus habemus dum sub pecca●o sumus , medicina est sacramentum . bern. qui sibi nullius maliest conscius , hūc oportet singulis diebus accedere : qui vero peccatis occupatus est neque poenitet , ei nec in festis accedere tutum est . nec . n. semel in anno accedere liberat nos à peccatis , si indignè accesserimus : quin hoc ipsum auget damnationē , quod cum semel tantum accedamus , ne tum quidem pu●è accedimus . chrysostom . apprehensio . applicatio . si credis peccata tua non posse del●ri , nisi ab eo ●ui soli peccasti & in quem peccatum non cadit , benè facis : sed adde adhuc vt credas quia per ipsum tibi peccata dimittuntur . hoc enim est testimonium spiritus sācti , dimissa sunt tibi peccata . bern. notes for div a04766-e19580 1. contrition for , 2 , 3. confession and detestation of 4. resolution to forsake sinne . 1 apprehensiue perswasion . 2 particular application . ego non credam veram fidem esse intra , nisi bona operavideam extra . ioh. huss . 1 reconciliation , which wee must affect and seeke after , mat. 5 23. eph. 4.32 2 entire affection , which wee must harbour towards our neighbour , rom. 12.17 , 20. cui semel ignoueris cura vt ille sentiat bona fide id esse actum et si qua in re illum iuuar● potes experiatur te amicum . lud. viues . 1 examination as iustices . 2 enditement , as clerkes . 3 verdict of condemnation , as iurers . 4 sentence , as iudges . m. greeneham . see master brinsteys true watch 1. part , page 183 of the eig●t edition . corpus christi dicimus esse cadauer , nosque oporter● esse aquilas , vt intelligagamus in altum subuolandum esse , si velimus ad christi corpus accedere ▪ haec enim aquilarum mensa est non graculorum . chrysost. saint augustine his enchiridion to laurence, or, the chiefe and principall heads of all christian religion a most profitable booke to all those which desire to haue a most compendious briefe of augustines doctrine, out of augustine himselfe, when he was old, being repurged, by the old manuscript, of many faults and vnusuall wordes, wherewith it formerly flowed. augustine, saint, bishop of hippo. 1607 approx. 263 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 155 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2006-06 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a22701 stc 921.5 estc s1512 20190286 ocm 20190286 23777 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a22701) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 23777) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1700:18) saint augustine his enchiridion to laurence, or, the chiefe and principall heads of all christian religion a most profitable booke to all those which desire to haue a most compendious briefe of augustines doctrine, out of augustine himselfe, when he was old, being repurged, by the old manuscript, of many faults and vnusuall wordes, wherewith it formerly flowed. augustine, saint, bishop of hippo. [14], 294 p. printed by humfrey lownes, for thomas clarke, at london : 1607. "epistola dedicatoria" in latin by antonius alcock. signatures: a-m¹², n¹⁰. imperfect: pages stained with print slow-through. reproduction of original in the harvard university. library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology -early works to 1800. theology -history -early church, ca. 30-600. 2005-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-11 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-01 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2006-01 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion saint avgvstine his enchiridion to lavrence : or , the chiefe and principall heads of all christian religion . a most profitable booke to all those which desire to haue a most compendious briefe of augustines doctrine , out of augustine himselfe , when he was old ; being repurged , by the old manuscript , of many faults and vnusuall wordes , wherewith it formerly flowed . at london , printed by humfrey lownes , for thomas clarke . 1607. egregio viro , d. doctori movntagve , regiae capellae decano dignissimo , antonius alcock omnem optat sanitatem & felicitatem . cvm primùm ( erudite vir ) opusculum hoc diui augustini in sermonem vulgarem vertere susceperim , illud quidem transtuli , aulici cuiusdam amici rogatu ; qui , operis encomio , illud intelligendi , magno animi desiderio inflammatus , nec ad id latinis literis satis imbutus , mecum egit facilemque inuenit , lumen intellectus sui de meo lumine accendere . in amicitia enim non minor est charitas ( mea certè opinione ) illiterati , quàm indigentis amici supplere inopiam . temerè tamen & inconsultò hoc onus primitus subiui , grauitate eiusdem non priùs tentata : in quo ferendo , pondere eiusdem vehementer pressus , in medio itinere penè defecissē ; nisi me , locis aliquot intricatis , quasi nocte tenebrarum inuolutum , egregius ille theologus , d. doctor field , è tenebris illis , face ingenij sui edux isset . quod quidē fateri non erubesco : quantū enim merito meo detrahit illa agnitio , tātū addit operis opinioni , tanti viri auxiliū , siue concurrens iudiciū . trāslationis verò susceptae licet primo mepoenituit , aifficultate eiusdē stupefactū ; ca tamē peracta , labor meus in illo colendo agro multiplicē reportauit sacrae scientiae fructum . quem denuò , bono publico proferre , preloque committere satius esse putaui , quám priuato meo commodo clausum tenere . non enim nobis , parentibus , & amicis , verùm etiam patris , communi omnium parenti , nati sumus . vt igitur aliorum mentes , ad amandum & legendum enchiridium hoc á me conuersum , incitarem , operaepretium esse duxi , obseruationes meas in vniuersū hunc tractatū breuiter enarrare . corpus autem istius operis , doctrinae christianae , fundamenta praecipua complectitur : in quo perlegendo , tria obseruatione digna , notaui ; doctrinarum , nimirum , & questionum theologicarum , varietatem , & veritatem inconcussam : in distributione earundem , methodum singularem : omniumque narratione , breuitatem quandam , pugno dialectico consimilem . primò enim , praecipua quaedam capita discutienda subijcit , eaque maximi momenti , quoad dei cultum , fidem & spem , errorem & mendacium , causas boni & mali , adami peccatum , angelorum ruinam & transgressionem , hominis liberum arbitrium , christum mediatorem , eius incarnationem , regenerationem & eiusdem partes , originale & actuale peccatum , mortem , passionem , resurrectionem , & ascensionem christi , fructumque eorum omnium , spiritum sanctum & ecclesiam , bonos angelos & eum illis reconciliationem , & pacem nostram , remissionem peccatorum , & iustificationem , peccatorum varietatem , peccatū inspiritum sanctum , mortuorum resurrectionem , vitam aeternam , dei omnipotentiam , sanctorum gratiam & praedestinationem , voluntatem dei , eius praescientiam , humanam voluntatem , animaelocum & statū post mortem , &c. vnumquodque caput ita depositum , suum habet corpus & membra benè cohaerentia , tota fabricaistius operis , humano corpori , eiusque partibus , siue arborifacundae eiusque ramis germinantibus , ritè assimilanda . rerum denique omnium medulla ( manu gerenda ) compēdiosè comprehenditur : vnde , enchiridian siue manuale , propriè nuncupatur . siverò finem ipsius operis respicias , illud praecipuè , ad instructionem laurentij discipuli sui , compositum fuit , haereticorum impugnationibus conflictati , grassanti vndique prauitate haeretica , numeróque & viribus indies crescenti : quae , tanquam pestis , latè dispersa , vniuersam perniciem minabatur , si primitiuae ecclesiae patres , quasi medici vigilantes , morbidae ecclesiae sanitatem , lucubrationibus suis pijsque laboribus , non curassent , & contagionem illam auertissent militabant etiā reuerendi illi patres aduersus hostilitatē tyrannorum , fidem catholicam radicitus euellere conantium ; seséque non solum periculis exposuerūt , sacrifoeder is ductri nam propagantes , euāgelijque professores lucrātes , verūentiā ecclesiaemilitātos martyres , vigilijs suis , in fide confirmarunt . quorum egregia merita , si nostrae aetatis homines oculis suis praeponerent , tum , maiori animorum studio volumina sua legerent , tum etiā memoriam tantorum virorū reuerentia condigniori colerent . inter huiusmodi catholicae fidei propugnatores , divum augustinum nemini postponendum esse puto , qui in messe illa dominica operarius extitit , omnium illustrissimus , & in hoc enchiridij sui libro , verbum vexitatis , omni ferè lolio impurae doctrinae perpurgatū , priori illi seculo , & posteritati etiam tradidit . prodeatigitur libellus iste in lucem , qui non nisi latinis priùs notus , nunc anglis anglicè loquens , possit proficere , si tuo etiam saniori iudicio visus fuerit vtilis ; tibique placuerit patrocinium praebere homini humanioribus literis tantum versato , nec in retheologica priùs exercitato . in hoc opere publicando , illud tibi dedicandū esse destinaui , quem inter ecclesiae nostrae praelatos , non solum diuinis , sed generosis etiam animi virtutibus ornatum esse video , generosae prosapiae tuae congruentibus . speroque deum opt . max. vitaemeae filum protracturum , donecte aspiciam ( quod maximè intueri cupio ) celsiori loco positum , adclauē scilicet nauis , aliquo nostrae ecclesiae pelago , sedentem : in te enim , & promotione tua , spes maxima mea . nunc verò in tenebris vitae priuatae neglect us iaceo , donec in apricum vitae eminētior is , melior protulerit occasio . praebeo interim demonstrationem hanc obseruantiae , in te , meae ; cupioque in catalogo eorum inscribi , quos fauor is tui patrocinio , fouere dignaris . sed ne tibi fastidium pariat epistolae meae prolixitas , verte ( quaeso ) oculos ad libri à me conuersi , lectionem : quem , si prelo dignum fore dijudices , sententia tua in ea parte lata , animabit ad omnem alieni iudicij euentum , fortiori animo ferēdum . sin minus , sententia tua trāsibit in rem vtcunque à te iudicatam , nec alium patronum appellabo . sic vale , vir ornatissime , te que longaevum , felicem , & incolumen faciat omnipotentia diuina . febrvarii penvltimo . 1606. tovching christian diuinitie , to which kinde of wisdom it may be directed vnto . chap. 1. the proeme : wherin is contained both a commendation of the worke , and declaration also , that no wisedome is perfect , but that onely which is giuen by god , the light thereof , and deriued also from his word . it cannot be expressed , my best beloued son laurence , what singular comfort i take in thy knowledge , and how earnestly i desire to haue thee wise ; howbeit , not in the number of them , of whom it is said , where is the wise mā , where is the scribe , and where the searcher or disputer of this world ? for , did not god make the wisdome of the world meere foolishnes ? but of the number of those , of whom it is said , the number of the wise is the worlds health and preseruation : & also of that quality which the apostle desireth to be in men , to whom he saith , verely , i would haue you wise in that which is good and simple in that which is euill . for , as no man can bee his owne maker ; so can hee not be wise of himselfe , but by the illumination of him , of whom it is written , a● wisdom is from god. chap. 2. pietie to be true wisedome , which is more aptly called in greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . pietie therefore , or religion , is the wisdome of man. which thing is verified in the booke of holy iob : for there is read , that wisdom her selfe saith to man , behold , pietie is wisdome . now , if you aske what pietie he meaneth in that place , you shall find it more distinctly in the greeke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , which is the worship or seruice of god. for in greeke it is called pietie : and otherwise also in the same tongue , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by which name is meant true worship ; albeit also , that worship is chiefly referred to the seruice of god. but there is no name more significant than that whereby the 〈◊〉 of god is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pressed ; as namely , when it is signified thereby what should be the wisdome of man. seekest thou to haue anything more briefly deliuered , who requirest at my bāds a compendious narration of weighty matters ? or doest thou ( perhapps ) desire that this one point may be briefly laid open , and gathered into a short speech , declaring in what manner god is to bee worshipped . chap. 3. of the worship of god & the parts thereof , and what the matter and obiect of true pietie . that the worship of god is comprehended in these three things ; namely , faith , hope , and charitie . here if i should answer , that god is to be worshipped by faith , hope , and charitie ; no doubt you would say , that the answer were shorter than you would haue it : and then againe , you would presse mee farther , with a briefe explication of all things which pertained to the sense and vnderstanding of euery of these three words ; namely , what that is which is to be beleeued , to be hoped for , and to bee loued . which , when i haue performed , then are you answered to all the questions proposed in your letter . the copie whereof , if you haue lying by you , it is an easie matter to reuolue and read it againe . and , if you haue it not , you may reduce it to memorie by the helpe of this my remembrance . chap. 4. by the explication or definition of faith , hope , and charity , wee learne what is to be followed in christian religion , and what is to bee eschewed . the vnderstanding whereof , is partly to be apprehended by humane reason , and partly by faith alone . will you therefore that i make a booke for you , as you write , which may be an enchiridion vnto you , as it is called ; and neuer be out of your hands , containing in it your desires ; that ●s to say , what is chiefly to be followed , and what againe in respect of diuers heresies retained , is principally to bee shunned : how farre-forth reason fighteth for religion , or wherein reason and faith bee repugnant : what first , and what last to bee embraced and held : ●hat is the summe of the totall definition : and what the summe and proper foundation of catholike faith . all these things which you require , you shall vndoubtedly knowe , by learning diligently what is to be beleeued , hoped for , and loued . for all these be chiefly , nay solely , to be sought 〈◊〉 〈…〉 ed in the course of religion . which things , whoso doth contradict or denie , is either not to bee called by the name of a christian , or else is a flatte heretique . and these things be also to be maintained by reason , as beeing either deriued from the senses of the bodie , or else found out and conceiued by the light of the mind . and those things which we neither can perceiue by the sense of the body , nor yet vnderstand by the light of the mind , then are they without all doubt to be bēleeued , in respect of those witnesses , by whom that which deserueth to be called holy scripture , is written ; who were able either to see , or foresee those mysteries , either corporally , or spiritually , beeing therein assisted by the spirit or reuelation of god. of faith and hope what they are , and what difference & agreement there is betweene them . chap. 5. the first thing in christian religion is faith : and the last is the full sight of gods presence , iesus christ beeing the end of faith. when the minde is first of al seasoned with faith , which worketh by charity , it proceedeth by good life at length to come to a visible knowledge and sight of god ; in which place , to the godly and pure in heart , there is a knowen and vnspeakable beauty ; the full sight and contemplation whereof , is accounted the highest happinesse . and this is that indeede which may satisfie you in your desire to know , what is the first , and what the last in religion , which hath his beginning in faith , and consummation in christ . this is also the summe and effect of the generall definition of religion . and to know christ , is the true and proper foundation of catholike faith . for an other foundation , saith the apostle , no mā can lay , other then that which is already laid , which is christ iesus . neither is this therefore to be denied to be the proper and onely foundation of catholike faith , because some heretiques are deemed to holde vpon the same ground that we doe . for , if those things which pertaine to christ , bee diligently considered , christ is to bee found in all heretickes but onely in name , who would bee called christiās , though christ indeed dwelleth not in them . which to demonstrate , is too long a worke , because all kinds of heresies were then to be specified ; either those that were , they which now bee , or else might bee vnder the title of a christian : and so should it be also tedious to discourse of the truth it selfe particularly , and in all points thereof . which disputation , would make so many volumes , as it would seeme infinite and endlesse . chap. 6. sound doctrine may with more facility and breuity be deliuered , than heresies confuted . thou therefore desirest at my hands an enchiridion , that is to say , a thing which may bee comprehended in your hands , and not load a librarie . to returne therefore to these three things ; namely , faith , hope , and charitie , by which we affirmed that god was to be worshipped ; it is easily declared , what it is wee must beleeue , what wee must hope for , and what wee are to affect or loue . but how it may bee defended against the detractions and slaunders of those which hold varietie of opinions , that is a doctrine of greater labour and circumstance . for the accomplishment whereof , the hand must be filled , not with a short enchiridion , but the breast inflamed with a vehement affection . chap. 7. in the apostles creed and the lords praier , those three principall positions touching the seruice of god ; namely , faith , hope , and charitie , be contained , and most briefly deliuered . for this matter looke vpon the creede , and the lords praier : then the which , what is there to bee heard or read , of greater breuitie , or what more easily committed to memorie ? because therefore , mankinde in respect of sin , was pressed down with the heauy burthen of miserie , and stood in neede of gods mercie ; and that the prophet foreseeing the time of gods fauour , saith , and euery one which calleth vpon the name of god , shall besaued : for this cause was the lords praier vsed . howbeit , the apostle after hee had cited that propheticall testimony , to set forth the mercy of god ; hee forth-with laieth down this also , saying , how can they call vpon him , of whom they haue not beleeued ? for which cause the creed was deuised . in which two wordes , looke vpon these three things : faith beleeueth , and hope and charitie bee our orators . but , without faith , these two cannot be ; by which reason faith also is a partie in our petitions . whereupon it is said , how shall they call vpon him , of whom they haue not beleeued ? chap. 8. what difference there is betweene hope and faith : of what things faith doth consist , and of what also hope : also what christian faith did properly apprehēd . finally , that the knot and bond of these three vertues , namely . faith , hope , and charity , was not to be seuered or diuided amongst themselues . now what can be hoped for , which is not beleeued ? but yet on the contrary , something may bee beleeued , which is not hoped for . for which of the faithfull doe not beleeue that there be punishments ordained for the wicked ? yet doth he not hope to taste therof . which punishments who so beleeueth may fall vpon himselfe , and is inwardly troubled with the horror thereof , in the vanishing cōceit of his own minde ; that man is more rightly said to feare , in this case , then to hope . which two wordes , lucan distinguishing , doeth thus describe them ; the feareful man may yet haue hope . howbeit , on the other side , it is not so properly spoken by an other poet , though he be the better in reputation : if i could hope for no more griefe but this . finally , diuers in the rules of grammar doe borrow this word for an example , to shewe how improperly it is vsed ; who say , he vsed that word sperare ( which is to hope ) for , or in stead of timere , which is to fear . ther is a faith therefore , both of euill things & of good ; because both good and bad be beleeued , and that with a cheerefull , and not a fearefull faith . there is a faith also of things past , things present , and things to come . for , we beleeue that christ died , which is already past . we beleeue that he sitteth at the right hand of his father , which is at this instant . we beleeue that he shall come to iudge ; a thing that shall be . a. faith , likewise , of things appertaining to our selues , and also of things concerning other men . for euery man beleeueth that he had a beginning , and therefore that hee was not from euerlasting ; whereof there bee many semblable instances . neither do we onely beleeue many , things ! touching other men in matter of religion , but likewise also of angels . hope also is not but of good euents ; and not also , but of things to come : properly likewise concerning him , who is thought to put a trust and confidence in the same . which being so , faith is to bee distinguished from hope , as well by a difference agreeing with reason , as with the sense of the word . for , as touching those wordes , non videre , that is to say , not to see ; in that sense , faith and hope be all one . for in the epistle to the hebrewes , which testimony the famous defenders of the catholique doctrine haue vsed , faith is said to be a knowledge of things which be not seene . although on the other side , when any man shall say , that he beleeued not , either wordes , witnesses , or any reasons ; but things present , which he plainely saw ( that is to say , grounded his faith thereupon ) seemeth not to be so absurd , ●s that he may be rightly reprehēded in the sense of the word ; out of the which , it may be said vnto him , thou didst see , therefore thou didst not beleeue . wherupon may be gathered , that it is no consequence , that the thing is not to be seene , which is to be beleeued . but indeede , wee doe more properly call that faith , which , as the sacred scriptures haue taught vs , is of things inuisible . touching hope also , the apostle saith , that that hope is no hope at all , which is of things visible . for to what ende doth a man hope in those things which he seeth ? but , if wee hope for those things which wee see not , we patiently tarry in expectance thereof . whereas the godly doe beleeue , that good things shall fall vnto their portion : it is as much to say , as they bee hoped for of the good . but now , what shall i say of loue , without which , faith is of no force ? for indeed , hope cannot bee without loue. finally , as the apostle iames saith , the very diuels doe beleeue , and tremble : howebe it , they neither hope , nor yet loue ; but rather feare , in belieuing that the same shall come to passe hereafter , which wee doe hope for , and affect . for which cause , the apostle paul doth allow of that faith , which worketh by loue , and which also cannot bee without hope . to conclude therefore , neither loue can bee without hope , nor hope without loue ; nor either of them without faith . chap. 9. for the vnderstanding of christian faith , the tedious and darke knowledge of naturall causes is not needfull ; but only the knowledge of that cause , which is the efficient of all things , the same beeing god , that trinitie ; that is to say , the father , sonne , and holy ghost . when the question is therefore , what we ought to beleeue in matter of religion ; in this case , the nature of things is not so curiously to be looked into , as it is of them , whom the greekes call naturall philosophers . neither let it be fearefull to any christian , if hee bee ignorant in some thing , touching the force and number of the elemēts , the motion , order , and effects of the planets , the celestiall globe , the kinds and natures of liuing creatures , hearbs , stones , springs , riuers , mountaines ; as also of the distances betvveene places and times , the signes of imminent stormes , and sixe hundred the like matters , which they haue found out , or else doe impute to their ovvne inuention : because they haue not been the authors of these things , albeit they vvere inducd vvith excellent vvits , feruent in desire , full of leasure , discouering some things by humane coniecture , and other things againe , by historicall obseruation ; and in those things also , which they do appropriate to their owne inuention , they do in most matters rather guesse at them , then knovv them certainly . it is enough for a christian to beleeue , that the cause of all things which bee created , either in heauen , or vpon earth , visible or inuisible , is not othervvise then of the goodnesse of the creator , which is the onely and true god : and that there is no nature , which either hee himselfe is not , or else is not deriued from him : himselfe beeing the trinitie ; that is to say , the father , and the sonne begottē of the father ; and the holy ghost proceeding from the same father ; hovvebeit one and the selfe same spirit , as vvell of the father , as of the sonne . chap. 10. all things were created good of god , howbeit not without their mutation or change , ne yet absolute , nor of one correspondencie amongst themselues . of this absolute , correspondent , & vnchangeable good trinitie , all things vvere created , beeing yet in themselues , neither absolutely , semblably , or vnchangeably good ; hovvbeit , euery one of them particularly good , and beeing also vnited , they are likevvise in that vniuersall body , or masse of all-together , exceeding good : because of this generalitie and all-together , that vvonderfull beauty of the vvorld is composed . chap. 11. the reason why god doth suffer euils to raigne in the world . that euill is none other thing then a priuation of naturall goodnesse , which priuation is not a thing of it selfe . in which matter , that also which is called euill , beeing vvell marshalled , and rightly placed , doth more visibly commend those things which be called good , to the end they might be more plausible and commendable , beeing compared vvith those things which be euill . for neither vvould the omnipotent god ( which the infidels also doe confesse ) in as much as himselfe is vniuersally good , by any meanes suffer any euill to bee in his ovvne vvorkes ; but that also his omnipotency and goodnesse is such , as that he maketh that e-euill to be beneficiall vnto vs. for god , either in reforming , or in punishing of the integritie of nature , beeing corrupted and vitious , doeth turne it to the good of man. by which meanes consequently that which is euill , shall not be a perpetuall blemish ; because it is not any thing when it is purged & remooued . for , what other thing is that which is called euill , than a priuacion of that which is tearmed good ? for it fareth , as it is in the bodies of liuing creatures , wherein to be infected vvith diseases , and hurtes , is nothing els , but to vvāt health : neither doeth it fall out , when there is a remedie applied , that those euils which had gotten possession of the bodie ( that is to say , diseases and hurts ) should remooue from thence , and remain or be else-where ; but rather that they should haue no beeing at all . for , that which is called a disease or hurt , is not any substance or matter of it selfe , but rather a corruption or infection of a carnall substance . seeing therefore flesh is onely that which is called substance , certainely there is some good whereunto those euils be accidentall ; that is to say , priuations of that good , which is called health . euen so , whatsoeuer faults be in the minde , they bee the priuations of naturall goodnesses . which , when they be cured , they be not translated to any other place : but they which had a locall beeing , haue now no beeing at all , seeing they shall not haue any place or abode in that which is cured and made whole . chap. 12. albeit all creatures , as they be natures , be made good by god ; yet , because they be not immutably good , certain of them may bee corrupted . and that their corruption or vice , is nothing els , but a losse , or depriuation of that good which god did graft in them : insomuch , is wheresoeuer there is left no sparke of naturall goodnesse , there likewise is there abiding no corruption , neither is sin or vice predominant & solely remaining . all natures therefore , because god their creator is absolutely good and perfect , bee also good . howbeit , because they be not like as their maker is , absolutely and vnchangeably good ; therefore may that good which is in them , be both decreased & increased . but that diminution of good , is that which is called euill : although notwithstāding , howsoeuer it bee diminished , something consequently remaineth and is abiding still , if nature be not vtterly extinguished , whereof it hath a beeing , and is nature still . for howsoeuer , and in what quantitie or measure soeuer nature is yet liuing , that good which is called nature , cānot be vtterly consumed , vnlesse nature her selfe be vtterly extinguished and consumed : & therefore is nature worthily commended . further , if that be incorruptible , then without all question , is shee much more praise-worthy . now , when it is corrupted , that corruption therof maketh it therefore euill , because it depriueth and spoileth it of all goodnesse whatsoeuer . for , if it bereaue it not of any good , it is not consequently obnoxious or hurtful : but it is hurtfull in depriuing it of that which is good . as long therefore , as nature is corrupted , so long is it possessed of a good , whereof it is againe dispossessed . by which reason , if there bee a dramme of good remaining , which cannot be cleane put out ; then without all doubt is nature also incorruptible . and againe , if it be subiect to continuall corruption , there is also a permanent good , whereof that corruption hath a power to depriue it . which naturall facultie , if that which is called euill , shall vtterly and wholy consume ; by that reason , there shall bee no good at all abiding , because nature also is dead and extinguished . corruption therefore cannot vtterly abolishe and consume that which is good , but by the consumption also of nature . all that which is called nature therefore , is good ; beeing great and diuine , if it canot be polluted : and on the other side , little and weake , if it be subiect to infection : and yet can it not be absolutely denied to be good without note of folly and ignorance . which thing , called nature , i●ut bee vtterly extinguished by corruption , neither can that corruption also haue any continuance , as hauing no being where no nature is left to harbour or entertaine the same . chap. 13. two strange positions maintained contrary to the vulgar opinion : the one , that there can bee no euill said to be there , where there is not any good : and the other , that good is called euill ; that is to say , one and the selfe same thing is both good and bad . by this agument , there is not any euill , if there be not any good . but good which is void of euill , is absolutely good . on the other side , in whom euill hath gotten a possession , in that person , good is either more or lesse polluted : neither can there bee by any means , any euill , where ther is no good at all . there is a great mysterie therefore herein : as wherein , because all nature , in as much as it is nature , is of it selfe good , it can haue none other meaning or construction , beeing said to be a nature that is polluted and euil , but that which is good , is also euill : and that cōuertibly it cannot be euill , which is not likewise good . because all which is called by the name of nature , is good : neither should any thing become euill , if the thing it selfe which is euill , had not an essence , nature , or being . there can therefore bee none euill , if there be no good . which assertion , though it may seeme absurd , yet the coherence of this argument , doth as it were without euasion , driue vs to this conclusion . and we must take heed , lest we stumble vpon that saying of the prophet , where we reade , woe be vnto them which say that good is euill , and that euill is good : who say that sweet is sower , and sower sweet : who call darkenesse light , and light darkenesse . but yet god doth say , that an euill man out of the treasure of his owne heart , doth bring forth euils . now what is an euill man , but an euill nature , because mā is that which we call nature ? and if man bee in some measure good , or a kind of good , because hee is nature ; what other thing is an euil man , but an euill good ? howbeit , when wee separate and distinguish these two properties , wee doe also find , that he is not therfore euill , because he is a man : nor therefore good , because hee is sinfull : but good , in as much as he is a man and euill because he is a sinner . whosoeuer therefore affirmeth , that man , as he is man is euill , or saith that that which is called good , is euil , he incurreth the sētece of the prophet saying , woe vnto thē which say that good is euill . for he doth depraue the work of god , which is mā ; & cōmendeth the fault of man , which is sinne . for all nature , although it is vitious , is good , in as much as it is nature : & euill , in as much as it is polluted and corrupted . chap. 14. good and euill , which be in themselues repugnant , may ( contrary to the rules of logicke ) stand together , and be in one and the selfe same thing ; yea and euill may spring out of that which is good . wherefore in these contraries which be called good and euill , that rule of logicke faileth ; affirming , that two cotraries cannot stand together in any one thing . for there is no firmament clowdy and cleere at one instant : no meat or drinke sweet and sower together : no mans body white and blacke in one & the selfe same place : no beauty & deformity in one face at once . which thing is obserued in many and almost in all contraries , that they cannot be in any one thing together . now , seeing no man doubteth that good & euill be contraries , so may they not onely be together ; but also euils cannot simply be without good things , or but in things which be good : although on the contrary , things which be good may bee without euils . for a man , or an angel , may bee not vnrighteous , because vnrighteousnes cannot be in any but either in a man , or in an angel . and these two contraries be so combined , as if ther were not good , wherein euill might dwell , euill should haue no beeing at all . because corruption should not haue any subiect , not onely where to abide , but also from whence it may spring , and haue a beginning , except there were something that might be corrupted . for , if good were not , neither should there be corruptiō , which is none other thing than a banishmēt of that which is good . euils therfore take their roote frō goodnesses , and bee not at all but in things that be good ; neither hath any nature of euil any other foudatiō for , if it should consist of it selfe , no doubt it should be good , as it is a nature ; and beeing an vncorrupted nature , should becom either a notable good , or else could not possibly bee a nature subiect to corruption , except it were also good in some measure , and that good in like sort blemished with corruption . chap. 15. he doth meete with a double obiection : the one drawne from the words of christ , the other from the obseruation of nature it selfe . now , when we say , that euils doe spring originally from things that be good , let it not be taken to be repugnant to the saying of christ , affirming , that a good tree cannot bring forth euill fruits : for , as it is truely said , a grape cannot be gathered from thornes , because a grape cannot spring out of them ; and so by the selfe same reason , as an euill tree cannot yield good fruits : no more can an euill wil or disposition , yield good workes . howbeit , good ground may , as wee see , beare both grapes , and also thornes . in like maner , from the nature of man which is good , may spring both a will that is good , and a will that is badde . neither hath that will , which is euill and vitious , any other roote originally , but from the good nature of an angell , or of a man. which thing , christ himselfe , in that place where he speaketh of a tree and fruits , most plainely sheweth . for , he saith , either make the tree good , and the fruit thereof good ; or make the tree had and the fruit bad . giuing vs therby a sufficient caueat , or example , that euill fruits grow not of a good tree , nor good of an euil : and yet both these trees may grow in that ground , to which ●e directed his speech . chap. 16. how farre forth the knowledge of naturall things is necessarie for vs , to the obtaining of true felicitie . which matters standing thus as they doe although that verse of vi●gill doth like vs very well , saying : right happy doe i , co●nt that man , of things the reasons giue that can ; yet doe we not , think it enough and sufficient for the attainment of felicitie , to know the causes of the wonderfull corporall motions of the world ( namely , the motions of the planets , and the reuolutions of the celestiall globes and spheres ) which causes lie hidden in the inscrutable bowels of nature namely , what makes the earth to quake , what swels the ocean maine , where of the bowels beeing broke , do fall into their ioynts again : with many other things of like nature ; but rather we ought to search out the causes of good & euill : and that also , so farre-forth as it is in mans power and facultie in this life , beeing full of errors and miseries . for , we are to direct our course to that marke of felicity , where no miserie shal afflict vs , nor any error intrappe vs. for , if the causes of corporall motions were so needfull for our instruction , then ought there none to bee preferred before the reasons of the health of our own bodies . wherein beeing ignorant our selues , seeing wee seeke vnto physicians to knowe the same , who then doth not see a reason , how patiently to content himselfe with his owne blindenesse and ignorance in that , which to mortal creatures is vnseene , as touching the secrets of heauen and earth ? tovching error and lying . chap. 17. here he meeteth with with an obiection , teaching vs , that neither euery one which is ignorat in something , doth therefore erre : nor yet that euery error is damnable . albeit , error therefore is with all diligēce to be eschewed , not onely in greater , but also in lesser matters ; and that error also cannot bee without ignorance : yet doth it not follow● , that hee should euermore erre , who is ignorant in some particular thing ; but rather hee which thinketh hee vnderstandeth that , which ( indeed ) hee knoweth not . for , such a kinde of person alloweth that for veritie , which is false , being alwaies the propertie of error . howbeit , the matter wherein euery one erreth , maketh all the difference . for , in one & the selfe same matter , both the man that vnderstandeth , is to be preferred before the ignorant person ; and he that erreth not , before him that erreth , and that by the rule of reason . againe , in diuers things ( that is to say ) wheras this man knoweth these things , another other things ; and this man is seene in matters of greater vtilitie , and another in things of lesse vtilitie , or rather which be hurtfull ; who will not in these differences , account him in better case , that knoweth thē not , than him that is skilfull therein ? for there be some things , which were better vnknowen then knowen . also to many it hath beene sometimes good to haue erred , and gone astray ; howbeit in the way of their worldly iourneys , and not in the course of their life and cōuersation . for , it happened vnto ●●r selues , that wee were deceiued by a double way , whereby wee went not that way , where the armed forces of the donatists lay in wait for vs to shut vp the passages . by which accident it fell out , that we came to the place whither wee trauailed , though wee went about out of the way : hauing cause to bee glad , and thanke full vnto god , in that we erred and went out of the right way , knowing the traines which were laied for vs. who therefore will be afraid , to prefer such a wandring trauailer , before a theefe that neuer goeth out of his courses ? for confirmation whereof , that forlorne louer is fained by that excellent poet , to say , how was her sight my bane , how did blinde error me mis-lead ? because that error is good , which not onely hurteth not at all , but also is in some sort profitable . to set downe the truth therefore herein , for as much as error is nothing else , but to think that to be true , which is false ; & that againe to be false , which is true ; or to hold that for certaine , which is vncertaine : or on the contrary , to take that for vncertaine , which is certaine , whether it be false , or whether it be true : which mistaking , beeing a great deformitie and blemish to the minde , how beautifull then and seemly may we account it to bee , when either in our assertion wee deale plainely and say , either yea , yea , or no , no , to any questiō propoūded . in respect whereof , truely our life in this world wherin we liue , is most wretched , because error is oftētimes needfull in the course thereof , for the preseruation of the same . god forbid thē , that such should be the estate of that life to come , where onely truth is the life of the soule , and where neither any man doth deceiue , nor is deceiued . but , in this world , men both deceiue , & be deceiued ; being the more ●amentable , when as they rather beguile by lying , than be beguiled themselues by beleeuing lyars . howbeit , our nature beeing indued with reason , doth by all meanes so eschewe the snare of deceipt , and as much as it may , shun error ; that euen they which loue to deceiue others , will not themselues willingly bee deceiued . for , he which lyeth , will not perswade himselfe that hee erreth therein , but rather that hee seduceth him thereby who doth beleeue him . neither doth that man erre in that matter , which he cloaketh with a lie , in case himselfe did vnderstand the truth : but he is deceiued in this , that he thinketh that hee woundeth not himselfe by lying ; whereas euery sinne in it selfe is more hurtfull to the agent , than to the patient . chap. 18. albeit it is not the part of an honest and godly man to lie ; yet in lies , one is greater than another in respect of the minde and intention : and so also in respect of the matters about which we doe lie , one is more dangerous and pernicious than another . bvt now out of this matter there riseth a most intricate and darke question , whereof we did write a great booke , at such time as we were necessarily inforced to answer , whether 〈◊〉 were the part of a iust man , to lie or dissemble at any time . truely , i am of opinion , that any kind of lie is a sinne . wherein , notwithstanding there is a great alteration of the case , in respect of the quality of the minde , and also of the causes moouing any man to lie . for , he doth not commit so great a sinne , which lieth in aduising or directing another mā , as he which lieth with an intent to doe hurt thereby . as for example , that mā doth not so much hurt , which setteth a trauailer into a wrong way by lying , as hee which corrupteth the way of mans life , by deceiuing him with vntruths . and againe , no man is to bee held a liar , who affirmeth a falshood , taking it for a trueth ; because , in as much as in him is , he hath no meaning to deceiue , but is rather deceiued himselfe . hee is not therefore to bee condemned for a liar , but to be censured either for temerity & rashnes , who inconsiderately beleeuing vntruthes , entertaineth thē for truthes : but rather on the cōtrarie , that man , as much as in him is , doth he indeede , who affirmeth that to be true , which he thinketh in his conscience to be false . for , as touching his minde and inward motion ; because his tongue declareth not that which his heart thinketh , hee saith not the trueth , although in examination , it fall out to be true which he affirmeth . neither is he by any meanes to be freed from the guilt of a lie , which with his mouth ignorantly vttereth a truth , and yet wittingly lieth in his heart . setting apart therefore things themselues , by occasion whereof , any thing is auouched , and onely setting before our eies the intention of the speaker , that man is better of the two , which through want of knowledge and capacitie , affirmeth an vntrueth , because hee taketh it for a veritie ; than hee which contrary to his conscience , carrieth a minde to lie and deceiue , although indeede hee cannot truely iudge of that to be truth which hee affirmeth . for , the first of these 2. hath not one thing in his heart , and another in his mouth : but the second ( no doubt ) howsoeuer it bee false or true which hee saith , yet hath hee , notwithstanding , one thing shut vp in his breast , and another thing in his tongue , which euill is a propertie incident to the liar . and now to come to the consideration of things which be held and maintained , there is as great a difference in the matter wherein any man is deceiued , or doth lie : albeit , that to bee deceiued is a lesse euill than to lie , weighing therein , the intention of the inward man , yet is it much more tolerable , in matters out of the compasse of religion , to lie and dissemble , than to bee deceiued and misled in those things , without the beleefe and knowledge whereof , god cannot bee worshipped : as in many particularities it may more cleerely bee found out by him that will seeke after the truth . which to demonstrate by some examples , let vs see what difference there is betweene him , who in lying , reporteth that a man is liuing , who is dead ; and another , who beeing deceiued , beleeueth that christ after many ages to come , shall suffer a second death . in which two things , is it not without all comparison , a lesser matter in that sort to be a liar , than in this sort to be deceiued ? and it is a lesse euill , to induce any man to that error , than by any man to be induced into this . chap. 19. although wee are diuersly deceiued and misled , in respect of the euent ; yet is it alwaies an euill in it selfe , to be deceiued and misledd . in some particular matters therefore , wee are seduced to our great hurt ; in certaine again , to our lesse hurt ; in some also without any hurt at all ; and in some againe , to our great good . as for example , that man is deceiued to his great hurt , which beleeueth not that which bringeth him to his saluation . hee againe is seduced with little hu●t to himselfe , who entertaining error for trueth , falleth thereby into some worldly troubles ; and yet bearing the same with faithfull patience , maketh good vse thereof : as for example , if any man by holding another man to be honest and iust , who indeed is a bad man , doth sustaine some hurt by him . thirdly , hee which so farre-forth beleeueth an euill man to bee good , as that hee suffereth no hurt by him at all , is not thereby seduced to any hurt to himselfe , neither doeth that detestation of the prophet fall vpon him , pronouncing a woe vnto those who affirme , that euill is good . for that saying is to bee vnderstood of the things wherein men do offend , or commit euill , and not of the persons themselues . and therefore , he which saith that adulterie is good , is rightly taxed by that saying of the prophet : but he who pronounceth that man to be honest , whom he taketh to be chaste , not knowing him to be an adulterer , that man is deceiued , not in the true sense of that doctrine of things that bee good and euill , but is deceiued by the close carriage of men in their manners ; calling him a good man , whom he thinketh to be indued with that which hee knoweth to be good , and yet affirming still , that an adulterous person is euill , and a continent person good : howbeit , saying that this man is good , not knowing that he is an adulterer , and that man to be euill , not knowing that hee is an honest liuer . furthermore , if any man doe escape mischief by error , as it hapned to vs in our iorney which we formerly remembred , by that it may appear , that some good cōmeth vnto a man by error . but whē i say that any man is deceiued , either without any hurt to himselfe , or else to his particular good , i doe not therein affirme , that error is no euill , or that it is a good after a sort : but i speake of that euill , whereinto a man falleth not ; or of that good whervnto a man attaineth by erring , expressing what doth fall out , or not fall out vpon precedent error . for error , simply by it selfe , beeing either a great euill in a great matter , or a little euill in a little matter , is alwaies notwithstanding an euill . for , who but a man that is ignorant , will denie that it is an euill , to allowe of vntruths for truths , or adiudge truths to be vntruths , embracing incertainties for certainties , and certainties for incertainties ? but , it is one thing to thinke a man to be good that is bad , whereof error is the occasion ; and another thing , by this euill not to bee endammaged , or not to incurre another euill , although wee receiue no detriment by an euill man , who is deemed good . also , it is one thing to thinke that to be the way , which is not the way : and another thing by this euill of ignorance , to get some good ; as namely , to escape the conspiracies of euill persons . chap. 20. that euery kind of error is not sinne : neither because we often erre in some things , all assent in matters is to be abrogated and taken away , as the academical philosophers would haue it . yet can i not certainely set downe , whether it may bee called an error , when a man holdeth a good opinion of an euill man , not knowing what he is in manners and conuersation : or else when , in stead of those things which wee discerne by our corporall senses , the like are presented vnto vs , beeing either spiritually perceiued , as it were , with the body ; or bodily perceiued , as it were in the spirit . much like vnto that which the apostle peter beleeued to be sor indeed , when he thought he saw a sight , beeing suddainely deliuered out of prison and fetters by the angel : or in corporall things , when that which is hard , is accounted easic ; or that sweet , which is sower : or that which is vnsauourie , to be pleasāt in smel : or else that it thundreth , when a chariot runneth : or when one man is taken for another , two beeing alike ; which oftentimes happeneth in twins ; whereupon the poet affirmeth , that mistaking in such cases , is an acceptable error in parents . and so whether many other things of like condition , be to be pronounced sinnes . this question , though it be most knottie and intangled , hauing troubled the heads of the subt 〈…〉 t academiees , yet haue i vndertaken to vnfould it ; that is to say , whether a wife man ought to giue his approbatiō of any thing to 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 he should allow of falshood for truth ; seeing all things , as they do affirm , lie either hidden in the secrets of nature , or els be ambiguous & vncertaine . whereupon i composed three books , when i was first conuerted , to take away those stūbling blocks , which stood in the dore ( as it were ) to withstand me . also the despaire of finding out the truth , was to be remooued , the same beeing fortified by their reasons & arguments . with thē therefore , all error is accounted sin : which they defend to be ineuitable , ●nles euery mans particular approbation in any thing , be vtterly suspēded . for , they do hold that mā to be in error , whosoeuer assenteth vnto things vncertaine , affirming that nothing subiect vnto the eie of mā●s certain & infallible ; because ther is no sensible difference betweene falshoode and truth in outward appearance ; although sometimes , that falleth out to bee truth , which seemeth to bee the same , a positiō maintained with most impudent , though ingenious arguments . howbeit , with vs in diuinitie , it is said , that the righteous man liueth by faith . but , if assent and approbation be taken away , faith also is destroyed . because , without approbation or allowance , wee beleeue in nothing . and those inuisible things concerning our saluation , bee most true and certaine , though they be vnseene ; which , if they be not beleeued , it is impossible to come to euerlasting life , which is not otherwise but eternall . i know not therefore , whether we may say as they say , who bee so farre from thinking that they shall liue for euer , as they know not whether they do liue while they be in this world : wherein they doe plead ignorance , although it bee a thing which they cannot but know . for , there is no man admitted in reason to say , that hee knoweth not whether hee liueth or not ; because , if hee bee not a liuing creature , hee hath no sense or vnderstanding at all : because , not onely to know , but also not to know , be properties incident onely to the liuing . howebeit , in denying that they doe liue , they would seeme to preuent error : when as in very deede , by that matter of error , they are cōuinced as by a consequence , that they beleeue hee cannot erre which liueth not . as therefore , it is not onely true , but also very certaine , that wee liue ; so likewise bee many things true and very certaine , whereof for vs to giue allowance and approbation , god forbid but that it should bee rather accounted wisdom , than madnesse in vs. chap. 21. although to erre , is not alwaies a sinne , yet is it a perpetuall effect and note of mans infirmity and wretchednes . in certaine things therefore , it is not materiall to saluation , whether they bee beleeued , or not ; as whether they be belieued indeed , or reputed ●o to be , or els be deemed false . in which things to be deceiued , that is to say , to mistake , or take one for another , is not to bee adiudged a sin : or if it be , it is the least & lightest sin . finally , let it be of what quality soeuer , it is no part of that way which bringeth vs to god : which way is faith in christ , working by loue and charitie . out of this way were not those parents misled in that acceptable error , and mistaking of their twinnes . neither did the apostle peter wander out of this path , when as , supposing he sawe a vision , he tooke one thing for another in such sort , as through the shadow of those bodies wherin he thought he was , he did not know the true bodies wherein he walked , vntil such time as the angel parted from him , by whom hee was se● at libertie , being a prisoner : neither did iacob the patriarke wāder out of this way , in supposing that his son was s●aine by a wild beast , when as he was yet liuing . in these and such like falsities we be deceiued , without shipwrack of our ●aith in god ; and goe also amisse , althogh we leaue not the way which leadeth vs vnto him . which errors , or mistakings , although they bee no sins , yet are they to bee accounted in the number of the euils of this life , which is so prone to vanity , as in this world vntruths bee entertained for trueths , trueths discarded for lies , and things vncertaine retained for certaine . for , although these things be set apart from that faith which bringeth vs to the true , vndoubted , and eternall felilicitie ; yet be they not separated from that miserie wherein we liue , beeing in the flesh . for , we shall in no sort be deceiued , either in any sense of the mind or body , if we were once inuested in that perfect state of felicity . chap. 22. that euery lie is a sinne , yea euen that which is called an officious lie ; that is to say , a lie made for , the safetie of another , albeit it is not so hainous as that lie which is made with an intent to doe hurt . moreouer , euery lie is therefore said to be a sinne , because euery man , not onely when himselfe knoweth what is true ; but also , if at any time hee erre , and is deceiued as a man , ought to speake as he thinketh in his heart , whether it bee the truth indeed , or a reputed veritie , and yet not the same . for , euery one that lieth in any thing which his conscience telleth him to bee otherwise , that man speaketh with ( a will to deceiue . words therefore were deuised , not as meanes for men to beguile one another , but whereby they might open their thoughts each to other . to make therefore wordes the instruments of deceipt , beeing not ordained to that ende , is a sinne . neither is any kinde of lie not to bee deemed a sinne , for that wee may thereby perhaps pleasure one another . for we may happily do good to some , by stealing from others : as in case the poore man , to whom that is openly giuen , which we haue stolne , ●eele benefit thereby ; and the rich man whom we haue priuily robbed , feeleth not the losse hee hath sustained . let therefore no man hold , that such a theft is not a sinne . wee may in like manner ; by committing adulterie , make shewe of a good turne done vnto her , who beeing in case to die for loue , if a man doe not cōsent to her desire , howsoeuer shee may be purged by repentance , if shee happen afterwards to recouer and liue . neither by that reason , shall any such sinne bee denied to bee adulterie . for , if chastitie doeth please vs in the strict obseruation thereof , what doeth then that word truth , i pray you imply , that chastitie should not be broken by fornication beeing done for the good of another ; and that truth on the contrary , should bee violated by lying , in respect of any like sequel of profit to others ? a lie therefore , cannot at any time deserue praise or allowance , although wee lie sometimes for other mens safetie . it is therefore a sinne , although a veniall sinne , beeing on the one side excusable by reason of our affection to doe good , & condemned on the other side , because it is fraudulent . for , it cannot be denied , but that men doe greatly further other mens profit and good who do not lie but for the preseruation of some other body . howbeit , in that their actiō , their kindnes and affection , and not the fraude or deceipt vsed therein , is vnworthily commended in respect of the fact , or else is recompenced in this world : which , to bee remitted and pardoned , is sufficient and enough , although also it bee not made common , especially to the heirs of the new testament ; to whom it is said , let yea , yea , & no , no , bee in your mouthes . for , whatsoeuer is beyond the limitation therof , proceedeth from the motion of euil . in respect of which euil , neuer ceasing to vndermine vs while wee liue in the flesh , the co-heires of christ doe therefore vse this saying , forgiue vs our trespasses . of the cavses of good and euill . chap. 23. the chiefe and onely cause of good is gods goodnesse ; defection or falling from god , beeing also the originall cause of euill . these matters therefore beeing thus handled , according to that brru●tie whereunto i am tied ; forsomuch also , as the causes of good and euill are to bee vnderstood and learned , as also our selues so farre forth instructed touching the way it selfe , as may suffice to lead vs to that kingdome ( where there is life without death , truth without error , and felicitie without interruption ) we ought not to doubt , that the cause of good effects or things pertaining vnto vs , doth growe out of any other ground , than of the goodnesse of god ; and that the reuolting will , first of angels , and afterwards of men , reiecting an immortall good , and imbracing the contrarie , was the originall cause of euill or sinne . chap. 24. there be foure secondarie causes of euill , namely , ignorance , concupiscence , sorrow , and pleasure . the first and originall euill which happeneth vnto man , beeing a reasonable creature , is , his priuation of good : afterwards also , ignorance in the actions of this life did creepe in , whether man would or no ; as also a concupiscence , or feruent desire of things hurtfull and pernicious , with whom as companions , be brought in priuily , error , and griefe or sorrow . which two euils , after they be sensibly perceiued to hang ouer our heads , that motion of the minde which mooueth vs to shun thē is called feare . moreouer , the mind after it hath obtained the things it earnestly desireth , although they bee hurtfull and friuolous ; yet the same beeing voide of sense and vnderstanding therof , by reason of error wherewith it is blinded ; or else beeing bewitched with a contagious delight and pleasure therein , it is carried as it were , this way , and that way , with a false conceit of ioy . from which fountaines ( as it were ) of corruption , not of fulnesse , but of enptinesse , all mans miserie and wretchednesse doth spring . of the sinne of adam . chap. 25. that the damnation , both of angels and men , because they sinned , was iust ; howbeit their punishment not alike , or the selfe same . also , what was the condition or state of man before he fell into sinne . which nature notwithstanding , amidst his miseries , could not leese his desire to obtaine eternal life : howbeit , these euils were generall , both to mē and angels , who were damned in respect of their malice , by the iustice of god. but man hath his peculiar punishment in the death of his body . for the lord did threaten death vnto him , in case hee sinned . and god so induing him with free-will , as that yet hee would haue him subiect to his will , and kept in awe to fall for feare of destruction , did also place him in the blisse of paradise , as it were in the shadow of life ; from which he should haue beene aduanced to greater felicities , if hee had kept himselfe righteous . chap. 26. the sinne of the first man , and his punishment , fell not onely vpon adam ; but flowed also to all his posteritie . and so by one man , sinne came into the world . hereupon adam , after he had sinned , beeing a banished man , did binde ouer vnto death and destruction , his whole posteritie and off-spring ; whom by sinning hee did pollute in himselfe , as in the roote : insomuch , as whatsoeuer issue was begotten in the concupiscence of the flesh , ( in which , a punishment of quality like to disobedience was inflicted ) by adam and his wife , who was the cause of his transgression , being ioyntly damned , should draw original sinne from them ; by which also , they should be drawen by errors and many agonies , into those endlesse punishments , with the reuolting angels , the corrupters of mankind , the possessors of that infernall place , and with their consorts & companions . thus came sinne into the world by one mā , and death by sinne ; and so it is conuaied into all mankinde , all hauing sinned in , and through one . for , the apostle in that place , calleth the world , all mankinde . chap. 27. it was wrought by the onely and great mercy of god , that onely men , of sinnefull nature , should hope for reformation ; that is to say , redemption : which hope is not , either in the angels that sinned , or in the diuels . it followeth therefore , that the whole masse and lump of mākind , lay damned in sinnes , or rather wallowed therein , and ran head long from vices to vices : and beeing combined with the angels that sinned , receiued most condigne punishment for their wicked reuolting . whatsoeuer therefore , the wicked doe wittingly commit in their blinde and vnbridled concupiscence , & whatsoeuer punishments they do outwardly suffer in the face of the world , against their wils , is to bee imputed to the iustice of gods wrath ; neither doeth the iustice of god cease to giue life and strong cōstitution to the wicked angels , who die if his diuine helpe bee withdrawen : and likewise , to giue forme and life vnto the ●eedes of men , in what progenie or stocke soeuer , beeing either defiled or damned , fashioning the limbes and parts of the body betweene times , quickening the senses by degrees , and in their places , as they lie in the body , and giuing them inward nutriment . for , hee thought it better to drawe goodnesse out of euils , rather than not to tolerate any euills to be at all . and in case it had beene his will , not to haue had any reformation in man , to make him better ( as it was in wicked angels , in whome there is no amendment ) might it not very condignely haue comne to passe , that that nature which hee hath spurned vnder his feete by abusing the power or will hee had giuen him , the commandement of his creator , and transgressed the same , ( which he might very easily haue obserued ) which hath blemished the image of his creator , being in him , by a contemptuous turning away from the light thereof , which wickedly violated by the power of free-wil , the wholsom seruitude that hee should haue performed to his lawes , should vniuersally therefore bee forsaken of him , and sustaine an euerlasting punishment by due desert ? truely thus hee should haue done , if he had beene onely iust , and not mercifull also , and had not giuen more euident demonstration of his mercie , which he was no waies bound by promise , or duty to haue performed ; especially , in the redemption of such as were vnworthy thereof . of the fall and sinne of the angels . chap. 28. the reuolting and wicked angels , did all of them sinne together & dwell together perpetually damned . but the good angels , and such as cleaned vnto god , doe inioy eternall felicitie . certaine therefore of the angels , which left god by their sinfull pride , were throwen downe from the high habitation of heauen , to the vttermost darkenes of the ayre or element belowe ; and the number of angels which remained , had their dwelling with god in euerlasting happinesse and holinesse . for , neither were the rest of the angels begotten of that one angell which fell and was damned , whereby originall sin did binde them , as it did mortall creatures in the chaines of guiltie posteritie , drawing the whole multitude into the punishments due to the offenders , but that one angell who exalted himselfe with his associates impitie , and is therefore made a diuel , by that his pride and exaltation is cast downe with them ; the rest which cleaued vnto god in godly obedience , receiuing a certaine light and knowledge , which the others had not , wherby they rested assured of their eternall and permanent estate . chap. 29. to supply the places of the angels that fell , certaine are chosen by god , out of the number of mortall sinners vpon earth , to inioy euerlasting life and heauen . it pleased therefore the creator of the whole world , and moderator thereof , almighty god ; that , because the whole company of the angels did not sinne by forsaking god , that the number of them which perished , should remaine in euerlasting destruction : and that the number of them which stood firmely vnto god , should dwell in securitie of their most certaine , knowen , and euerlasting felicitie : and that the other reasonable creature , which was man , because hee was generally in the state of perdition by reason of sinnes and punishments , as well originall , as personall , by that part of mankinde which was restored , that which the fall of the diuell had diminished from the societie of angels , might be supplied againe . for , so it was promised to the saints at their resurrection , that they should be equals with the angels of god. that heauenly hierusalem therefore , beeing our mother , and gods citie , shal not be destitute of the full number of 〈◊〉 citizens , but rather shall be more populous in her kingdome . for , we knowe not either the number of holy men , or of these fowle fiendes that fell ; in whose places , the succeeding sone of the church , that holy mother , who seemed to be barren vpon carth , shall haue their perpetuall habitations , in that peace and tranquillitie , from whence they fell ; and that without either terme , or limitation of time . but the number of those citizens , which either now is , or hereafter shall bee , is inwardly seene to their maker and workman ; who calleth those which yet are not , as wel as those which now bee : disposing of all things in measure , number , and weight . of mans free-will . chap. 30. that sinnefull men cannot be redeemed nor saued , other by the 〈◊〉 of their owne works , or on the free-with of their owne minde . bvt may that part of mankind to whom god hath promised freedome & fruition of his kingdome , be redeemed by the merits of their own workes . god forbid . for what good can a reprobate worke vnto himselfe , except he be deliuered from the state of perdition ? can his free-will performe that worke ? god also forbid that . for , man abusing the libertie of his free-will , lost both himselfe , and the benefit of his free-will . for , euen as he which killeth himselfe , doth that facte while he is in life , but is no more a liuing creature after hee hath murdered himselfe , wanting power to reuiue himselfe after hee is slaine , euen so , when man did sinne in his free-will , he lost the same after sinne had got the victorie . for , if any man be subdued , he is a vassaile and slaue to him that vanquisheth him . this saying is out of peter the apostle : which , seeing it is true , what other libertie ( i pray you ) hath such a bondslaue , except it be to take his pleasure in sinning ? for , hee is a dutifull seruant , which willingly doth his masters will. by which reason , hee hath free libertie and scope to sinne , that is the seruant of sinne . whereupon also it followeth , that no man shall haue freedome to doe well , except he be freed from sinne , and become the seruant of righteousnes . for , to reioyce in wel doing is true freedome ; as also to obey the commandement of god , is godly ●eruitude . which libertie to doe well , how can it be in man , that is a slaue , & solde to 〈◊〉 ? except he be redeemed by him , whose saying i● is ; if the sonne shall make you free , then shal yee be free indeede . which thing , before it beginne to be in man , how may any creature boast of free-will in any good action , 〈…〉 ch hath not ye● a libertie giuen him to doe well ? except a man , being puffed vp with vaine pride , will arrogate that vnto himselfe , which the apostle forbiddeth ; saying , by grace are yee saued through faith . chap. 31. that we ●e not s●ued by the merit or worthinesse of our owne faith . and 〈◊〉 not men so farre-forth arrogate this faith vnto themselues , as they will not knowe that it is giuen of god : according to the saying of the same apostle in another place , who confesseth that himselfe obtained the mercy of god to make him beleeue : who addeth further in that place , saying , and that also , not of your selues , but it is the gift of god ; not of works , lest any man should boast of himselfe . and lest there should bee deemed any defect of good workes in the faithfull , hee saith againe ; for wee are his workemanship created in christ iesus vnto good workes , which god hath ordained that wee should walke in . then are wee therefore truely made free , when as god hath made vs anewe ; that is to say , doeth fashion , or alter , and create vs againe , not as wee are men , which is already done ; but that we may become good men , which now hee accomplisheth by his grace : that wee may bee made a new creature in christ iesus , according as it is said by dauid , create in me , o lord , a new heart . for , god had already created his heart , as much as pertaineth to the naturall perfection of the heart of man. chap. 32. that wee are not in any part or sort , the cause of our own saluation , and of that will which is in vs to doe wel ; but that the same only and solely consisteth of the mercy of god. now , lest any man should boast of that liberty or freedome of his own will , albeit he will not brag of works , as thogh merit were deriued from free-will , and that the libertie or facultie to doe well were to be ascribed therevnto , as a rewarde due vnto the same : let him listē vnto the same preacher of grace , saying , for it is god which worketh in you both the will and the deed , euen of his good pleasure . and in another place , so then it is not in him that willeth , nor in him that runneth , but in god that sheweth mercy . whereby it appeareth without all doubt , that although a man be of that ripenesse of yeares , as his own reason may direct him ; yet can hee not belieue , hope , or loue , except he wil himselfe : nor yet come to the crowne of that high calling of god , except hee runne by his owne will. how is it therefore said , not in him that willeth , nor in him that runneth , but in god that sheweth mercie ; but because that the will it selfe , as it is formerly written , is prepared by god or else perhaps that this saying , not in him that will 〈…〉 , nor in him that runneth , is so written , because it consisteth of both ; that is to say , of the will of man , and of the mercy of god : to the ende , that we may so vnderstand that saying of not of him that willeth , nor of him that runneth , but in god that sheweth mercy ; as thogh he said , the will of man is not sufficient of it selfe , and alone , if also gods mercy doe not accōpany it , & that therfore the mercie of god by it selfe , and alone , doth not suffice , if also mans will goe not with it . by which reasō , if it be truly said , that it is not in him that willeth , but in god that sheweth mercy , because the wil of man doth not simply and alone accomplish that worke ; why is it not of the contrary truely inferred , that it is not in god that sheweth mercy , but in mā that willeth ; because gods mercy doeth not solely performe that action ? furthermore , if no christiā dare affirme , that it is not in god that sheweth mercy , but in man that willeth , lest hee should most plainly gainesay the apostle ; it followeth thē , that we take this his saying , ( viz. that it is not in him that willeth , nor in him that runneth , but in god that sheweth mercy ) to be true , in as much as the whole work is to be attributed vnto god , who both prepareth that good will which is in man , as standing in neede of his assistance ; and afterwards also helpeth the same , beeing so prepared . for , the good will , or will to doe good in man , goeth before many of gods gifts , but it is not precedent to all . and when it followeth & commeth after gods gifts , yet is it a companion amongst them . for it is both waies read in holy scripture ; viz. both his mercy shall goe before me , & also his mercy shall follow me . it preuenteth or goeth before him that is backward , to make him willing ; and followeth him that is forward and willing , lest his will become frustrate . for why are we admonished to pray for our enemies , beeing of themselues vnwilling to liue vertuously , but onely that god would worke a will in thē to doe well ? wherefore also , are we willed to ask at gods hands , to the end we may obtaine , but that our petition may bee performed by him , to whom we are petitioners ? by whom also it is wrought , that we will or desire that which wee pray for . we pray therefore for our enemies , that gods mercy may preuent and goe before them , as it hath done before vs. we pray also for our selues , that his mercy may attend vpon vs. of christ the mediator . chap. 33. that christ is our mediator & peace-maker with god , because he maketh him our friend by the oblation of that sole sacrifice , which is himselfe . mankinde therefore was detained in the state of iust damnation , and all were the children of wrath ; of which wrath it is written , because all our daies are in declination , and we our selues are fallen into thy displeasure , our yeares are folded vp as a spiders webbe . of which wrath , io● also saith , for man which is borne of woman , is short of life , and his daies full of sorrow . of which wrath also , our lord iesus saith , he that beleeueth in the sonne , he shall inioy euerlasting life , but he which doth not beleeue in him , is not in the state of saluation , but gods wrath and indignation abideth vpon him . hee saieth not , it shall come vpon him ; but , it abideth vpō him . with this euery mortall creature is borne . whereupon the apostle saith , for wee were also by nature the children of gods wrath , euen as others were . seeing therefore , all mortall creatures were by originall sinne in this displeasure of god , the same lying so much the more heauily vpon vs , by how much our own sins , added therunto , did also aggrauate the same by their greatnesse and aboundance ; a mediator in this case was behoouefull and necessarie , that is to say , a reconciler , who pacified gods wrath , by the oblation of that sole sacrifice , whereof all the sacrifices of the law and prophets were but shadows . wherupon the apostle saith ; for , if when wee were enemies , we were recōciled to god by the death of his son , much more now beeing reconciled , shall himself by his blood-shedding be a protection vnto vs against his wrath and indignation . for , when god is angry , the perturbation which is in him , is not such as is in the minde of a man when hee is offended ; but the word being borrowed from the passion which is in mortall creatures , gods reuēge which of it self is neuer but iust , putteth on the appellatiō of anger or wrath . inasmuch therefore , as we are reconciled vnto god by a mediatour , receiuing the holy ghost , whereby we are made friēds of foes ( for that how many soeuer be sanctified by the spirit of god , become the sonns of god ) this recōciliatiō cōmeth of the meere mercy of god , thorough iesus christ our lord. chap. 34. that christ ( who is the word of god ) to the end he might be our mediator & peace-maker with god , did take flesh and was incarnate of the virgin , marie . of which mediator , to speak in that ample manner , as the matter it selfe doeth deserue , would aske a long discourse , & yet could not worthily bee expressed by the pen of any man. for , who could with fit words set forth this onely thing , namely , that the word was made flesh and dwelled in vs , to the ende we should beleeue in the onely sonne of god the father , beeing omnipotent , borne of the holy ghost , and the virgin marie ? and that the word was so made flesh , as , although the flesh was begotten by his diuinitie or deitie , yet was there not any mutation or change of his diuinitie or deitie into the flesh . moreouer , in this place we are to take this word caro , which is flesh , to bee homo , that is , man ; the speech figuratiuely signifying the whole , by the part : which , for example , this saying doeth demonstrate ; namely , because by the workes of the lawe , all flesh , that is to say , euery man , shall not be saued . for , we may lawfully say , that in this susception , or incarnation , there was no defect in the humane nature : the same nature beeing yet voide of all sinnefull copulation , & not such as is begotten betweene man and woman in carnall concupiscence , wrapping vs in the bond of sinne , the staine of which originall guilt is washed away by regeneration ; but such as was fit to bee borne of a virgin , beeing a thing conceiued in the faith , & not in the lust or sinnefull appetite of the mother . for , if in the birth of him that was borne , her integritie had beene blemished , then should he not haue beene borne of a pure virgin : and the whole church should also vntruly confesse ( which god forbid ) that hee was borne of a virgin : which church , following the example of christs mother , doth daiely bring forth members of that mysticall body , and yet notwithstanding is a virgin still . read ( if you list ) my letters touching the virginity of saint mary , writtē to that renowmed man volusianus , of whome i doe here make mention with all reuerence and loue . chap. 35. that christ , who consisteth of two natures , namely diuine and humane , is notwithstanding but one in subsistence . christ iesus therefore , the son of god , is both god and man. god before all worlds , and man in this age or world wherin we liue . god , because hee is the word , ( for god was the word ) and man ; because , to make an vnitie of the person , a reasonable soule and the flesh were adioyned to the word . wherfore , as he is god , he and the father be one : and , as he is man , the father greater than he . for , beeing the onely sonne of god , and that not of grace , but by nature , to the end therefore , that he might be replete with grace , he is also made the sonne of man ; and the selfe same hee , beeing both of both , is yet but one christ , because , when he was in the figure of his deitie , hee thought it to be no robberie vnto god , for that it was his naturall essence , which was to bee equall with god the father . but hee afterwards debased himselfe , taking vpon him the habite of a seruant , and yet not leesing or diminishing the habite of his godhead . by reason whereof , both he became an inferiour , and remained also an equall with god the father ; beeing yet but one , though , as is before affirmed , of two natures . howbeit , one in respect of the worde , whereby is meant his godhead , and another in respect of his manhood . for , in respect of the word , or his deitie , hee is equall with his father ; and in respect of his manhood , inferior to the father . the onely sonne of god , and yet also the sonne of man : the onely sonne of man , and yet the same also the sonne of god : beeing not two sonnes vnto god , as he is god and man , but the sole &c onely sonne of god , our lord and sauiour iesus christ , beeing god without all beginning , and man with a beginning . chap. 36. it was not vpon any merit of mā , no not of the manhood which was in christ himselfe , that he was made man. the mercy of god , in this chapter , is by it selfe most highly and euidently extolled . for , what deserued the humane nature which was in the man christ , that it should be specially chosen to bee vnited in the person of the onely begotten sonne of god ? what will to doe well , what deuotion or zeale to any good intent , or what precedencie of good works whereby this man deserued to be vnited to the person of god ? and , was he first a man , and this singular benefit ordained for him , that hee should of himselfe tie god vnto him by some speciall desert ? for , from the time that hee was made man by the assumption of the flesh , he began to be none other thing , than the onely sonne of god ; and that also in respect of the godhead , which was the worde , by the assumption whereof he was made flesh ; that is to say , man as well as he was god : that euen as euery man is but one in person , though hee consist of two parts , that is to say , the reasonable soule , and the flesh : so was christ but one person , beeing both the worde , and also man. to what other ende then was this so great glory , freely ( no doubt ) bestowed vpon mākind , without any merits precedent ▪ but onely to giue euident demonstration and testimony of gods great and only mercy in this vnion , to such as looke into the same truely , and with good consideration : that all mortall creatures may vnderstand , they be iustified from their sins , by the same mercy & fauour , by which it was wrought and came to passe , that the man christ could not bee polluted with sinne . in which manner , the angell saluted his mother , when hee brought her tidings of this birth which followed ; saying . haile , full of grace . and a little after he saith , thou hast found fauour in gods sight . which two sayings , of beeing filled with grace , and finding fauour in gods sight , doe import , that she should not only become the mother of him that was her lord and sauiour , but also of the lord and sauiour of all mankinde . and of christ himselfe , iohn the euangelist saith , and the worde was made flesh , and dwelled in vs : and we sawe , said he , his glory , beeing the glory of the only begottē of his father , full of grace & verity . wherin it is to be obserued , that where hee saith , that the word was made flesh , that was to say , full of grace . and wher he saith , the glory of the onely begotten of the father ; that is to say , fulnesse of veritie or truth . for truth it was , that he was the only sonne of god , not by grace , but by nature . and , of meere fauour and grace hee tooke vpon him the manhood , and that in such an vnitie or coniunction of the person , as he himselfe also became the sonne of man. tovching christs incarnation . chap. 37. chap. 37. now , by the manner of his conception , wee are to vnderstand , that the word did through grace onely , and not through any merit of his humanitie , assume and put vpon him the body of man , vniting the same vnto him . now therfore , the selfe same iesus christ , the onely begotten sonne of god , that is to say , our onely lord , was borne of the holy ghost , and the virgin marie . and on the other side , the holy ghost is of the gift of god ; which gift also , is equall with the giuer . by which reason , the holy ghost is god , not inferior either to the father , or to the sonne . whereupon it is to be inferred , that seeing the birth of christ touching his man-kinde , is to be imputed to the influence of the holy ghost , what other thing is demonstrated therin , than the meere grace of god ? for , when the virgin demanded of the angel , how it should come to passe which hee told her , because shee did not carnally knowe any man ? the angel answered , the holy ghost shall replenish thee , and the power of the highest shall ouershadowe thee : and therefore that holy one which shall be borne of thee , shall be called the sonne of god. and , whereas ioseph would haue put her away , accounting her to bee an adulteresse , because he knew shee was not with child by him , hee receiued this answer from the angell , bee not afraid to retaine marie as thy wife still : for , that which is borne or conceiued in her ( that is to say , that which thou suspectest to bee begotten by another body ) is of the holy ghost . chap. 38. that christ is neither the sonne of the holy ghost , no yet begotten or conceiued by him , as by a naturall father . are wee yet therefore to affirme , that the holy ghost is father vnto christ , as he is man , as namely , that god the father begot the word , and the holy ghost his humanity ; of which substances , christ beeing vnited & made one , is by that reasō on the one side , the son of the father , in that he is the word , and on the other side , the sonne of the holy ghost , as he is man ; as though the holy ghost , as it were his father , did beget him of the virgin his mother ? who dare be so bold , as to auouch this ? neither is it needful by argument or disputation to declare , what other absurdities doe followe hereof ; seeing this one assertion is so absurd in it selfe , as the eares of the faithfull cannot indure to heare it . therefore , as it is in the creed , our lord iesus christ beeing god of god , and man begottē of mary the virgin and the holy ghost , consisting of either substance , that is to say , both diuine and humane , is notwithstanding , the onely begotten son of god the father , from whome the holy . ghost doth proceed . how then doe we say that christ was borne of the h. ghost , if the holy ghost did not beget him ? or is it so said , because he made him ? the reason is , because as iesus christ is god , all things were of his creation ; but , as hee was man , he himselfe was created & made , according to the saying of the apostle , for , he was made of the seed of dauid according to the flesh . but , seeing the whole trinitie did create and make that creature , which the virgin did conceiue and bring forth , tho appertaining and adioyned to the person of the sonne ( for the workes of the trinitie be inseparable ) why is the holy ghost onely named in the making of this creature ? is it because , whē one of these three bee named in any one worke , that the whole trinitie is assistant in that work ? it is euen so , and may be made plaine vnto vs by example or demonstration . howbeit , wee must no● any longer stand vpon this point . for , it remaineth , that wee declare how it is said , that he was borne of the holy ghost , beeing no way the sonne of one same holy ghost . for , no more may the world , without impietie , be called the sonne of god , because god made the same ; neither else , that it was borne of him : but rather , wee may rightly say , that it was made , or created , or builded , or ordained by him ; or vse wordes of the like sense . seeing therefore wee doe confesse , that hee was borne of the holy ghost , and the virgin marie , it is a matter of great difficultie to discusse , how he should not bee the sonne of the holy ghost , but the sonne of the virgin mary ; notwithstanding , that hee was begotten both of the one , and of the other . without all doubt he was not borne of him , as of a father , though hee were so of her , as of a mother . chap. 39. not euery thing that is said to be borne of any thing , may properly be called the sonne of that it is said to be borne of . it is not therefore to be granted , that whatsoeuer is borne of any thing , it should straightway bee called the sonne of the selfe same thing . for , to omit other instances , the begetting of a sonne by a man , is after one manner , and the growing of the haire of a mans head , the breeding of a lowse , and of a worme in mans body , is after another sort ; not any of which kinds is to be tearmed a sonne . therfore , to speak no more of these ( because it is vnseemly to compare them with a thing of so diuine a nature ) they verely , which be born of water , and the holy ghost , no man can properly call them the sonnes of the water , but be truely called the sonns of god , & of the church their mother . in like manner therefore is christ , beeing begotten of the holy ghost , the sonne of god the father , and not of the holy ghost . for that also , which we haue spoken touching the haire of the head , and the rest , maketh onely for this purpose , to let vs to vnderstand , that not euery thing begotten of any mās body , may consequētly bee called the sonne of him , of whom hee is so borne , no more than it followeth , that all they which be called the sons of any person , must therefore of necessitie be begottē of the same person , whose sonns they be called ; such as be they which be adopted sonnes . againe , some be called the sons of gehenna , or hell , not because hell was their father , or begot them ; but because they be prepared for that place : much like to them which be called the sons of gods kingdome , because they are prepared for the same . chap. 40. in that christ is said to be borne of the holy ghost , is meant , that man in like manner , by the meere grace of god ( which is called the holy ghost ) and the word of god , is partaker of the diuine nature , and vnited or ingrafted into the person of christ . seing therefore , something may bee borne of any creature , and yet not so , as it needs must bee his sonne : neither on the other side , euery one which is called a sonne , must necessarily be the naturall childe of that person , whose sonne hee is called ; then , without all doubt , this maner of generation , wherby christ was borne of the holy ghost , not as it were his sonne , and yet as it were the sonne of the virgin mary , doth couertly conuaie into vs the grace of god , whereby man , without any workes or merits precedent , in his first conception or generation , whereby he had his beeing , is so vnited to the word , and the diuine nature , in the vnitie of the person of christ , as that consequently one and the same creature should be the sonne of god , which was the sonne of man ; and likewise the sonne of man , beeing gods childe . by which incarnation or assumption of humane nature in christ , the grace of god should be after a sort naturall to that man which was the childe of god , the same being incapable of sinne : which grace , was in that regard to bee expressed vnder the name or title of the holy ghost ; because he is so properly god , that also hee may bee called the gift of god. whereof to speake sufficiently , were too tedious in discourse . tovching regeneration , and the parts thereof . chap. 41. that christ was without original sinne , and that he was that sacrifice for our sinnes , by the which wee were reconciled to god. hee therefore , beeing not ingendred or conceiued by any pleasure of carnall concupiscence , ( and therefore not infected with any originall sinne ) & also by the grace of god beeing , in respect of the vnitie of his person , by a wonderfull and vnspeakable meanes annexed and conioyned to the worde , which was the onely begotten sonne of god , not by grace , but by nature ( and therefore no actuall sinner himselfe ) yet was hee notwithstanding , in respect of the similitude of sinfull flesh wherin he came , called a sinner , or sin , beeing to become a sacrifice for satisfaction of sinnes : which sacrifice or oblation he truely became , whereof other sacrifices , performed in the old law , were but shadowes . hereupon , after the apostle had said , let vs beg reconciliation or attonement with god , for his christs sake ; he forth-with addeth this , affirming , that god , for our sakes , made him to become sinne , who was of himselfe blamelesse , and without sin , that through him we should be righteous in gods sight . he saith not , as it is reade in certaine vitious books , he that knew no sinne , becam sinful for our sakes ; as thogh christ in regard of vs , should commit sin : but he saith , that man which knew no sinne , which was christ , was made sin by god , to whome wee were to be reconciled : that is to say , was made an oblation or sacrifice for sinnes , wherby that attonement should be wrought . he therfore was made a sinner , that wee might be righteous . yet is hee not our righteousnes , but gods : neither yet righteousnes in regard of vs , but in respect of himselfe : like as he gaue demonstration that he was sinne , not of his owne nature , but of ours : not in himselfe , but in respect of vs , put vpon him in the similitude of sinnefull flesh , wherein he suffered , and was crucified . that although there dwell no sinne in him , yet should hee after a sort die vnto sinne , in that death which hee suffered of the flesh , wherein there was a resemblāce of sin . and , for that hee was not an ancient transgressor with adam , hee doth by his new resurrection , declare or prefigure our restitution to life , from that olde death , wherein wee were dead through sinne . chap. 42. that our death and resurrection by christ , is sealed in the sacrament of baptisme . this is that great sacrament of baptisme , which is celebrated in vs , to the ende that all they which be capable of grace , are made dead vnto sinne ; because his flesh beeing the similitude of sinne , suffered the death : and so shall they also be renewed in their liues by baptisme , euen as christ was raised from death to life , out of the sepulchre , of whatsoeuer age they shall happen to bee at the time of their baptisme . chap. 43. that all sinnes , as well of infants as olde men , which be baptized , be washed away in baptisme . as no man therefore , from the new borne babe , to the most aged creature , is to be excluded from baptisme ; so is none again which dieth not vnto sinne through baptisme . howbeit , infants doe onely die vnto originall sinne ; and they which bee olde , doe die vnto all such sinnes as by euill life they haue added to originall sinne , deriued from adam in their natiuitie . tovching originall and actuall sinne . chap. 44. vnder the name of that word sin in the singular number , many sinnes be many times included : and so againe , vnder the appellation of many sinnes , one particular sinne is comprehended . they be therefore most commonly said to bee dead vnto sinne , when as yet without all question , they be dead to many , nay to all manner of sins which they haue particularly committed , either in thought , word , or deed : because the singular number doth most commonly imply the plurall ; as for example , it is said of that verse of virgil touching the horse of wood broght into troy ; vterumque armato milite complent , with souldier arm'd they fill'd his belly full ; albeit the same was repleate with many souldiers . and in the booke of numbers it is written , beseech therefore the lord that he will take from vs the serpent , he saith not the serpents , wherewith the people were afflicted ; meaning by one , infinit serpents like vnto that one . and so on the other side , is that one originall sinne included in the plurall number ( when wee say that infants be baptized to the remission of sinnes , and not to the remission of sinne ) wherein the speech is inuerted or contrarily vsed ; as whereby the singular number is signified by the plurall : like as it is spoken at herod in the gospel , when he was dead , they are dead which sought the life of the childe ; it was not said , he is dead . so likewise in exodus , they made ( said he ) vnto themselues golden gods : whereas indeed they made but one calfe alone , whereof it is spoken , o israel these bee thy gods , which brought thee out of the land of egypt . in which place the plurall is put for the singular . chap. 45. that in the first sinne of man , which is called originall , there be diuers kindes of sinne included , and not one alone . howbeit , in that one sinne , which by one man entred into the world , and passed thorough all mankind , & for which also infants be baptized , many sinnes may be vnderstood , if the same were seuered and diuided ( as it were ) into his members . for pride is there also to bee found ; because man loued rather to bee subiect to himselfe , than to the will of god. sacriledge also , is to be ascribed vnto man because he beleeued not . and homicide also , because hee threw humselfe downe vnto death . as also spirituall fornication , because the integritie of mans will was corrupted by the perswasion of the serpent . and likewise theft , because hee did eate of the forbidden meate . auarice also , because hee desired more thā might haue contented him . and so of any sin besides : which , vpon more diligent examination , may be found or gathered out of this actuall or committed sinne . chap. 46. that infants be not onely guiltie of the sinnes of their gift father's , that is to say , adam and eue ; but of their owne , and the sinnes of their immediate parents added to originall sinne . that therefore regeneration is necessarie for them , because that generation or of 〈…〉 is 〈◊〉 . it is also not impropably said , that ininfants stand-found for their fathers faults , not onely of the first parents adam & eue , but also of their owne fathers , from whom they did naturally descend . for , that text of holy scripture , where it is said , i will lay the sinnes of the fathers vpon the children , doth make them liable to that 〈◊〉 alwaies , before such time as by regeneration they beginne to haue a● neerest in the new testamēt : which testament was prophesied in the saying of ezechiel , that children should not beare the burthen of their fathers iniquities , neither yet , that that proverbe should bee more vsed in israel affirming , the fathers haue eaten sower grapes , and the childrens ●ecth were set on edge . euery one therfore is to be borne anew , whether he may be freed from that sinne , wherein he was borne . for , the sinnes which hee afterwards committed by euill life , may be salued by repentāce , whereof we haue visible examples after baptisme . by which reason recreation was ordained for none other coūsel , but because our generation is vicious ; insomuch as the man which is borne in pure wedlooke may say , i am conceived in iniquities , and my mother hath borne 〈◊〉 with my sinne while i was 〈◊〉 wombe . in which place hee hath not say , i was conceiued in iniquitie and sinne , which hee might very well haue said : but hee had rather say , in iniquities and sinns ; because , both in that one sinne , which hath infected all mankinde ( and is so great , as thereby the whole nature of man was consequently changed , & made subiect vnto death , as i haue formerly maintained by reason ) many other be included , and other also committed by parents : which albeit they cannot alter or confound nature , as originall ( sin doth ; yet do they by imputation make the childrē answerable for the same , except the free mercy & grace of god do helpe to make satisfaction . chap. 47. it is a matter left vncertaine , whether all the sinnes of forefathers , as well actuall as originall , be extended to posteritie , and to how many descents they be conuaied . bvt now as touching the sins of the parents , wherein ( from adam , to euery mans own father , beeing their progenetors ) euery child doth succeed his father : it is a disputable questiō , & that not without cause , whether the childe that is borne , shall be guiltie both of actuall and originall sinnes of all his ancestors , whereby euery one , the later he is borne , the greater sinner hee shall be borne ? or , whether god doth therefore threaten posteritie with reuenge for the sinnes of their parents , vnto the third and fourth generation , because hee doeth not extend his wrath any further vpon the children for their fathers faults ) , staying his proceedings therein by his owne mercy lost they vpon whom the benefit or grace of regeneration is not bestowed , should bee pressed downe with too heauie a burthen in their euerlasting damnation , if or necessitie they should be capable , euen from their cradle , or their forefathers sinnes originally , and punishable also for the same : or whether any other conclusion 〈◊〉 so great controuersie , vpon ●ector 〈◊〉 and conference of holy scriptures , may be found out , or not found out , 〈◊〉 not rashly giue my definitiue sentence , or resolute opinion therein . chap. 48. originall sinne is by christ onely abolished . howbeit that one sin , which beeing 〈…〉 ainous in respect of the place and state of so great felicitie wherein it was committed , as that in offence of one man originally ; and ( as i may say radically , all mankinde was in the state of damnation , is not satisfied nor 〈◊〉 , but onely by the mediator of god and man , christ iesus , who onely was o 〈…〉 to be borne , as that he had an neede of regeneration or new birth . tovching the baptizing of iohn baptist . chap. 49. that iohns baptisme did not wash away sins , but was onely a preparatiue to christs baptisme : & why christ would bee baptized by iohn . they were not therefore regenerate , who were baptized by iohns baptisme , wherein ●e himselfe was also baptized : but , they which receiued baptisme at his hands , were prepared by his fore-running ministry , it were , who said , prepare the way of the lord , to him onely , by whom onely they bee regenerate . for , his baptisme was not in water onely , as iohns was , but also in the holy ghost ; that by the same holy ghost , euery one might be regenerated which beleeued in christ ; of which holy ghost , christ being borne , needed no regeneration . whereupon , the speech of god the father vsed vnto him that was baptised , thou art my sonne , this day haue i begotten thee , doth not only point at that particular day wherein he was baptised , but hath relation also to the time of his immutable eternitie , thereby to giue demonstration that the man christ appertained to the person of the onely begotten sonne . for , whereas that day , neither taketh his beginning from the end of yesterday , nor endeth at the beginning of to morrow , it is therefore alwaies to day . hee would therefore be baptized by iohn in the water , not because any iniquitie that was in him should be therby washed away ; but that his humility might 〈…〉 . so therefore 〈◊〉 to passe , that baptism● 〈…〉 him that needed washing , no more then death found any cause in him worthy punishment : that the diuell beeing oppressed &c. vanquished by the veritie of his righteousnes , and not by the force of his power ( because hee had most vniustly slaine him , without any desert of sinne ) hee might iustly lose the interest & possession , which he had of those which he held as prisoners , for the debt of sinne . hee therefore was partaker of both , ( that is to say , of baptisme & of death ) and that cruely , in regard of gods fauourable decree , or disposition , it should be so , and not vpon any vrgent cause to bee pittl●d ; but other vpon his pittifull will and disposition to vndergoe the same , that que mā might free the worlde of sinne , euen as one mā brought sinne into the world ; that is to say , vpon all mankinde . tovching the death , crucifying , resurrection , and ascension of christ : is also of the fruit following all these . chap. 50. by christ , not onely originall sin is abolished , but also all other sinnes forgiuen . onely this beeing the difference , that one man had brought one sinne vpon the 〈◊〉 , and this one man hath taken away , not onely that one sinne , but also all other sinnes which he found added thereunto . wherupon the apostle faith , the hurt done by one hauing sinnes , is not comparable with the benefit 〈…〉 〈◊〉 which came by one . for , one sinne pulled vpon vs the iustice of god to our condemnation ; but his grace or fauour iustifieth vs from many sinnes ; because , verely , that one sinne wherewith wee bee originally stained , although , it bee 〈◊〉 and but one , maketh euery one subiect to damnation ; and the grace or mercy of god , on the other side , iustifieth a man from many sinnes , who besides that one , whereof generally and originally hee is partaker with all mankinde , hath manifoldly sinned by his owne transgression . chap. 51. all in adam were damned : but all 〈◊〉 christ , be fraud from this damnation . howbeit , inasmuch as a little after he saith , as 〈◊〉 mans transgression 〈◊〉 the condem● 〈◊〉 of all 〈◊〉 the righteousnesse of one man was wrought the ●●stificatione of all , it doth plainly declare , that there were none of adam 〈◊〉 , but sonnes of damnation : and none on the other side deliuered from damnation except he were borne againe with christ . chap. 52. that baptisme beeing in or the similitude both of christ death , and his resurrection , doth euidently declare , that all which be baptized , as well infants , as they which bee at mans esate , doe die to sinne in christ , and in him also doe rise againe to newnesse and holinesse of life . after he had said as much as he thought sufficient for his epistle , touching the punishment brought vpon vs by one man , and the fauour by another , he doth consequently commād vnto vs the wonderful mysterie or holy baptisme therby to make vs kn●w , that baptisme in christ is none other thing , than a similitude of christs death , and on the other side , that the death of christ , is nothing else but a resemblance of the remission of sinne , that , as he died indeed , so are our sinnes truely forgiuen : & as his resurrection was certaine , so is our iùstification . for hee saith , what therefore shall we say ? shall we remaine in sin that grace may abound ? for he had said before , where sinne did abound grace did super abound . whereupon hee propounded vnto himselfe this question , whether in respect of the aboundance of grace to bee expected ; we are to abide in sinne whereunto he answereth , god forbid . and hee laieth downe a reason , saying , if wee be dead to sinne , howe shall we liue therein ? afterwardes , to shewe that we were dead to sinne , he saith , doe yee not knowe the same , in as much as : all wee which bee baptized in christ iesu , 〈◊〉 baptized in his death ? one of which text , if wee bee taught , that wee are dead vnto sin , because we are baptized in christs death ; then vndoubtedly bee infants dead vnto sinne , which be baptized in christ , because they be baptized in his death . for , it is spoken without exception of any , whosoeuer therefore wee be which bee baptized in christ , wee are baptized in his death . for , to what sinne doe infants die by regeneration , but to that which they conceiued in their birth and generation ? by which reason , that which followeth doeth belong also vnto infants , where it is said , wee are buried with him by baptisme , into his death , that 〈◊〉 christ chose from the dead by the glory of the f 〈…〉 n , so wee should walke in newnesse of 〈◊〉 . for , if we be fellow plants in the resemblance of his death , euen so should we bee in the like cale of his resurrection ; beeing assured thereof , because the old man in 〈…〉 with christ , that the bo 〈…〉 sinne might be extinguished , whereby wee might bee no longer the set●●ts of sinne . for , hee that dead , is iustified from sinne , or 〈◊〉 no sinne . and , in case wee 〈◊〉 with christ , we beleeue we 〈◊〉 also liue with him ; beeing assulred thereof , because , christ , rising from death , doeth not now die for euer , and that death also had no further power ouer him . for , in that he died to sinne , hee died but once ; and in that he liueth , hee liueth vnto god. in like manner , thinke you that you are dead to sinne , and yet liuing to god in christ iesus . out of this doctrine he began to proue that wee ought not to persist in sinne , that grace might abound , saying , if wee bee dead to sinne , how shall we liue in it ? and to shew that we are dead to sinne , he addeth , saying , doe yee not know , that whosoeuer we be which be baptized in christ iesu , we be baptized in his death ? he therefore concluded that place as hee began : for in such sord he specifieth the death of christ , that he pronounceth christ died vnto sinne . and to what other sinne did he 〈◊〉 , but to sinne of the flesh , wherein 〈◊〉 as no sinne , but a similitude onely or 〈◊〉 and therfore he calleth it by the name of sinne ? hee saith therefore vnto those which be baptized in christ death ( wherein not onely men , but also infants me baptized ) for also we yowe that is to son , 〈◊〉 , christ ; so 〈◊〉 also to thinke , than yee art dead vnto sinne , liuing also vnto god in christ iesu . chap. 53. that the crucifying of christ , his buriall , resurrection , ascension into heauen , and sitting at the right hand of his father , doe demonstrate what the life of a christian ought to bee in this world . what soeuer therefore was actually performed in the crucifying of christ , in his buriall , resurrection the third day , ascension into heauen , and sitting at the right hand of his father , was done to that ende , that the life of a christian , acted vpon this terrestriall stage , should resemble these actions of christ , which were not mystically performed , onely by relation , but actually indeede suffered . for , as touching his crosse , it is saide to those which will follow him therein , they which be christs , haue crucified their flesh with their sins & concupiscences . and , as touching his buriall it is said , wee are also buried with christ , by baptisme , into his death . also , concerning his resurrection , that , as christ did rise againe from the dead by the glory of his father , euen so wee should liue in newenesse of life . and , as touching his ascension into heauen , and sitting at the right hand of his father , if ye be risen againe with christ , seeke those things which bee aboue , where christ is sitting on the right hand of god. seeke after celestiall things , and not terrestriall . for , ye are already dead , and your life laid vp with christ in god. tovching the last day of iudgement . chap. 54. that article touching the second comming of christ , and the day of iudgement , concerneth euerlasting life and saluation . now , as touching that part of our creede , which concerneth christ , inasmuch as hee is to come downe from heauen , to iudge both the quicke & the dead , that matter is not pertinent to our life in this world , because it was no part of his actions formerly done , but of things to be performed in the ende of the world . for , it doth concerne vs so ●arre , as it agreeth with that saying vsed by the apostle afterwards , when christ your life shall appeare , then shall ye also appeare with him in glory . chap. 55. the signification of these wordes , liuing , and dead . christs comming , to iudge the quicke and dead , may be taken two waies ; as namely , whether we will vnderstand the liuing to be those , whom his second comming shall find in this world , not then dead , but still liuing in the flesh : as also , that the dead signifie those which either are dead , or shall die before his comming ▪ or els , that the righteous are those liuing , and the vnrighteous those dead ; because the vnrighteous shall also be iudged . for , sometimes gods iudgements are taken in y ● worst sense . whereupon it is said , because they haue liued wickedly , they shall rise to their condemnation . and sometimes againe , it is taken in good part , according to that saying , saue me , o god , for thy names sake , and iudge me in thy strength . for , through that iudgement of god , there is a separation of the good from the euill ; that the good , being to be diuided from the euil and the destruction incident to thē , may bee selected to sit at the right hand of god. for which cause dauid cryed out , giue sentence with me o god : and in the same vers . to expound himself he saith , and defend my cause against the vngodly people . tovching the holy ghost and the church . chap. 56. that the trinitie might be compleat , that article in the creede is added , touching the h. ghost : after which consequently & in a most conuen●ent order , is remembred the church : because , that is the temple and house of the trinitie , that is to say of the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost . now that wee haue spoken of iesus christ , the onely sonne of god , our lord and sauiour , as it is briefly laide down in our creede ; wee are consequently so to beleeue in the holy ghost , that thereby the trinitie may be complete , which is god. afterwardes , the holy church is to bee spoken of . whereby we are to vnderstand , that the reasonable creature , being a citizen of that free citie ierusalem , after commemoration of the creator , which is the eternall trinitie , should bee put downe . because , whatsoeuer hath beene said of the man● christ doth appertaine to the vnitie of the person of the onely begotten . therefore , to follow the direct rule of the creede , it requireth , that the trinitie may haue a church , as an inhabitant his house , god his temple , and the builder his owne citie . all which laied together , is in this place to be vnderstood , not onely of that part which wandreth in this world , from the sunne rising , till the setting of the same , praysing the name of the lord , as also after this worldly peregrination is finished , which singeth that newe song mentioned in the apocalips : but also is meant of that church , which , sithence the fabrication thereof , cleaued alwayes vnto god , and neuer felt the punishment of her falling from god. this part , consisting of the holy angels , remaineth happie , and is assistant to that part , which is militant vpon earth , as it ought to do : because both parts , shall be one in that eternall coniunction : and is now one in the bonde of charitie ; all being ordained to worship god. and therefore , neither this vniuersall church , not any part thereof , will generally or particularly be worshipped for , or as a god ; neither yet bee a god vnto any person which is a member of gods church : the same being composed of the gods , which the god ( not made ) doth make . by which reason the holy ghost , if it were a creature , and not a creatour ; should , no doubt , haue beene a creature indued with reason . for , hee should haue beene the chiefest creature ; & by that reason he should not haue beene preferred before the church in that article of our faith : because hee should haue beene a branch of that church , in respect of that part thereof , which inhabiteth the heauens . neither should he bee prouided of a temple or church , but rather should haue been a church himselfe . but he hath a church ; wherof the apostle made mention : saying , are yee ignorant , that your bodies be the temple of ●●e holy ghost which is in you , being giuen vnto you by god ? of whome hee spake in another place : saying , knowe yee not , that your bodies are the members of christ ? how then commeth it to passe , that he should not be a god , or inferiour to christ , whose members that church cōtaineth , who in this sort hath his temple ? for , neither is his church one thing , and gods church another ; when as the selfe same apostle saith , knowe yee not that yee are the temple of the lord ? for confirmation whereof hee further affirmeth ; and the spirit of god dwelleth in vs. god therefore dwelleth in his church : and not the holy ghost alone , but the father also , and the sonne , who saith of his bodie ( by which he is made the head of the church instituted amongst men vpon earth , wherby he houldeth the pri 〈…〉 acie ouer all ) destroy this temple , and i will builde it vp againe in three dayes . gods temple therefore , is none other than the holy church ordained for the whole and highest trinitie , being that vniuersall church which is both in heauen and on earth . tovching good angels . chap. 57. that the state of the church in heauen is permanent and certaine . bvt as touching that church which is in heauen , what may we say of it ? otherwise , then that there is not any one bad member therein : and that , there neither hath beene any that ●ell , or was like to fall from the same sithence that time that god spared not the angells that trespassed , as peter , the apostle writeth ; but casting thē into chaines of infernall darkenesse , deliuered them to be kept to receiue punishment in the day of iudgement . chap. 58. it is vncertaine whether there be be any superioritie or differēces amongst the angels . also , some things there be which may breede argument and question concerning the stars and planets . how it is in that blessed and heauenly societie , and what differences of persons there bee there , as wherein albeit all of that number are called as it were by that generall name of angels ( according as wee reade in the epistle to the hebrewes , for to whom of the angels hath god at any time said , sit on my right hand ? whereby , hee comprehended all vnder that vniuersall name of angels ) yet notwithstanding that there should bee some in that place that were called arch-angels : and whether those arch-angels were called powers , whereupon that saying was grounded where it is said , praise him all his angels , prayse him all his powers : as though hee should haue saide , prayse him all his angels , prayse him all his arch-angels : as also what difference there is amongst those fower appellatiōs , vnder which the apostle seemeth to comprehend that vniuersal societie in heauen ( saying , whether the thrones , whether the kingdomes , whether the principalities , whether the powers ) let them say that can , if yet they proue that which they say : yet wil i acknowledge mine ignorance in all these things . neither can i certainly say , whether the sunne , the moone , and al the planets may be said to be of that heauenly societie , albeit they seeme vnto some to bee onely lightsome bodies , voyd of sense and vnderstanding . chap. 59. it is a matter without perill , to be ignoraunt how , and in what manner the blessed angels doe speake vnto vs , or appeare vnto vs , either in our sleepe , or waking . againe , who can expresse in what shapes or formes of bodies , angels do appeare vnto mortal creatures ; whereby they are not onely seene , but touched and felt : and likewise how , not by any solide corpulencie or firme substance , but rather spirituall power , they do present , not to our bodily eyes , but to our spirits and mindes , certaine visions and apparitions : or whether they speake any thing , not to the outward eare , but rather inwardly ; thēselues hauing inward possession in the minde of man : as it is written in the booke of the prophets ; and the angell tould me , which spake in me : hee doth not say , that spake vnto me , but in me ; or whether they do appeare in dreames , & speake vnto vs , ( for wee haue in the gospell , this text ; behould , the angell of the lord appeared vnto him in his dreame , saying ) : by these meanes , angells , do as it were , themselues declare , that they haue no bodies that are to be felt : making thereby a verie doubtfull question , how the fathers of olde time washed their feete , and in what manner iacob wrestled with the angell , grappling with him so hard as he did . when these last and first questions bee propounded , euery one coniecturing thereof according to his reach and capacitie ; mens wittes bee therein not vnprofitably exercised , if these questions be soberly disputed , and the erroneous iudgements of such suspended , which suppose they knowe that which they vnderstand not . for , what necessitie is there , that these , and such like things should either be affirmed or denied , or yet discussed with daunger ? seeing , without perill , they may be vnknowen . chap. 60. wee are chiefly to take heede , least satan deceiue vs , who putteth on the similitude of an angell of light . vve haue more neede , to iudge and discern when satan doth transforme himselfe into an angell of light : least , by deceiuing vs , hee seduce vs to some pernicious errors . for , when hee deceiueth the bodily senses , and doth not peruert the minde in matter of truth , and veritie , thē is there no daunger for matter of religion . or when , in the coūterfeit shew of goodnesse , hee doth , or speaketh those thinges , which are correspondent with good angels , although in this case hee is beleeued to be good : yet is this errour nothing pernicious to christian faith . but , when by these shewes of good borrowed from others , hee beginneth to drawe vs to those euills , which are his owne ; then , and in such case to descry him , and not to follow him , is a matter greatly , and needfully , to bee looked vnto . but , how is euery man apt of himselfe , to eschue all his deadly eleceipts , except god be his guide , & protectour ? the difficultie whereof is profitable to this ende , lest any man presume too much of himselfe , or one man depend too much vpon another ; but that euerie one should repose his hope and helpe in god. which to do , none of the godly , certainely , make any doubt , but that it is our better course by much . chap. 61. that the church militant vpon the earth , consisteth of the faithfull liuing in this world : which also is redeemed by christes blood , and vnder his protection . this part of the church therfore , consisting of the angels , and powers of god , shall then , as it is , be knowen vnto vs when wee are vnited thereunto , in the laten day , to dwell together in eternall felicitie . wherfore , this church , which is farre distant from that by reason of her peregrmation vpon earth , is the better knowen vnto vs , in that wee be in the same ; and because also , it consisteth of mortall creatures , which wee are . and this church is freed from al sinne , by the blood of the mediator , who was without sinne ; and therefore she vseth this confident speach ; if god bee with vs , who can bee against vs ? which god , spared not his onely sonne , but gaue him for vs generally . for , christ suffered not for angels : howbeit , whatsoeuer freedome , and deliuerie from destruction mankinde receiued by his death , is therefore auaileable for angels also ; because hee is likewise after a sort reconciled vnto them after those differences , whereof sinne was the cause , between men and holy angels : as also , for that the number that was impaired by the fall of the angels , was repaired by the redemption of mankind . tovching ovr reconciliation and peace with the holy angells . chap. 62. that all things bee restored by the blood and death of christ : and that thereby , the blessed angels , and faithfull amongst men , be reconciled . in like manner , the holy angels doe knowe , being taught by god ( through the eternall contemplation of whose truth , they are made happie ) what an infinite supply the sanctitie of that citie exspecteth from mankinde . whereupon , the apostle saith , all things are repaired in christ , which were decayed , either in heauen , or in earth . for , as touching the ruine in heauenly things , all was made whole againe by christ : in as much , as whatsoeuer member was wāting in heauen , by the fall of the angels , was restored out of the inhabitants vpon earth . and , on the other side , they which liue vpon the earth , are restored to integritie : whereas mortall creatures , predestinate to eternall saluation , be renewed , hauing put off their auncient corruption . and so , by that sole sacrifice , wherein the mediator was offered vp , ( whereof , the manifold sacrifices vsed in the old lawe were but figures ) there was an attonement made betweene celestiall and terrestiall ; earthly and heauenly things , or creatures ; because , as the same apostle saith , in him it pleased the fulnesse of the trinitie to dwell , and through him to reconcile all things to himselfe , by his bloodshed vniting whatsoeuer either in heauen , or vpon earth , in the bond of peace . chap. 63. that peace , is the fruit of this reconciliation ; which peace with god , is alwayes aboue our vnderstanding : and that also which we haue with the good angels , is a thing whereof wee are not capable in this life ; although in that to come , wee shall vnderstand the same . this peace passeth ( as it is written ) all vnderstanding : neither can it be knowen of vs vntill wee come where it is . for , peace is alwayes in that place & ioyntly amongst all intellectuall creatures , as also with the creator therof . which peace passeth ( as is said ) all vnderstanding , particularly ours , not theirs which alwayes see the face of the father . for , wee mortall creatures , notwithstanding we haue all the vnderstanding that man can haue , yet do we know but in parte : our sight in this world being obscurely by a glasse . but , when wee shall bee associates to the angels of god ; then , euen as they , shall we also behould those things face to face , and beare as charitable an affection towards them as they do to vs , because we shall loue them as much as they do vs. and so shall their loue towards vs be made knowne vnto vs , because ours shall bee such , and as great towards them : neither , shall it then passe our vnderstanding . but the peace , or loue of god which is in heauen towards thē , shall , without all doubt , exceede both theirs , and our vnderstanding . for , by god , the reasonable creature which is blessed , is made happie : and not god by the creature . which being so , it followeth vpon that which hath beene said , that that saying , the peace of god , which passeth all vnderstanding , is taken in the better sense ; when , in that hee saith , all , no , not the vnderstanding of the holy angells , may bee exempted , but onely gods. for , his owne peace , or loue passeth not his owne vnderstanding . tovching remission of sinnes and iustification . chap. 64. that remission of sinnes is necessarie to all the godly : because , although many of them liue without fault in action , yet not without sinne . now , when as our sinnes be pardoned , then be the holy angels reconciled vnto vs , and at peace with vs. therfore , after memorie made of the church , forgiuenesse of sinnes followeth the same , as it is set downe in the order of the creede . for , vpon this foundation standeth the church , which is vpō earth . by this also that is not lost , which was lost and found againe . for , set a-part the gift of baptisme ; which was bestowed to redeeme originall sinne ( whereby , that which was vitious in our first birth , might bee taken away by our second birth or regeneration , freeing vs also from al offences cōmitted in thought , word , or deede , which it meeteth with ) this great indulgencie therefore , i say , excepted ( from whence mans renouation hath his beginning ) and by which indulgencie●al guiltinesse or imputation of sinne , as well originall as actuall , is satisfied : yet the rest of mans life , after such time as hee hath vse or reason , howsoeuer it excell in fruitfulnesse of good workes , cannot run on his course in this world , without remission of sinnes ; because the children of god , so long as theyliue in the flesh , haue conflict with death . and , albeit , it is truely said of them , that as many as be led by the spirit of god , be the sonnes of god : yet , are they so prouoked by the spirit of god , and as the children of god learne to become his , as that also , ( chiefly through the burthen of the bodie , being corrupted ) euen by the weakenesse of their owne spirit , and as they are the children of men , are they imperfect in themselues & sinnefull , by reason of certaine humane motions : wherin there is a difference , as hath beene sufficiently said thereof . for , it followeth not , that because euerie crime is a sinne ; therefore euery sinne should be a crime . wherfore we say , that the life of godly men in this world , wherein they liue , may bee found to bee without crime ; but , if we should say , without sinne , wee deceiue our selues , and there is no truth in vs , as the holy apostle saith . chap. 65. wee are not to despaire of any sinner in the church , in respect of the benefitte of penance left thereunto : howbeit , the solemne and set times , appointed for those which are to do open penance in the church , were ordained to a good ende . neither are they to despaire of the mercie of god in the remission of their sinnes , be they neuer so great , in his holy church , which performe penance according to the qualitie of the sin , which euery one particularly committeth . and , in the dooing of penance , when the fact committed , is of that qualitie as the offender is cut off from the body of christ ; in such a case , the measure or limitation of time is not so much to be respected , as the sorrow and griefe of the offender . for , god doth notdespise an heart that is contrite and humbled . but because , for the most part , one man doth not knowe the sorrowe of another mans heart , the same not being made apparant to other men , either by wordes or other kind of demonstration , because it is onely knowen to him to whom it is said , my mourning is not hidden from thee ; times therefore of penance were well appointed by those which beare authoritie in the church , that the church might be satisfied , in the which such sinnes are committed . for , out of the church there is no remission of sins : because the church most properly retaineth the holy ghost for an earnest , without whome no sinnes be forgiuen : in so much , as whosoeuer be absolued therby , such be made partakers of euerlasting life . chap. 66. that the force and effect of remission of sinnes , as also the punishment of our sins , is rather found and felt in the world to come , then in this world . for , remission of sinnes is ordained chiefly in respect of the day of iudgement which is to come . for , in this life that saying of ecclesiasticus , falleth out to bee true ; that there is an heauie yoak vpon the sonnes of adam , from the day of their comming out of their mothers woombe , vntill the day of their burial into the earth , the mother of all mankind ; insomuch , as wee see that infants , after their baptisme , bee tormented with the affliction of many euills . whereby we may learne , that whatsoeuer is accomplished by the sacraments for our saluation , is rather to giue vs hope of future ioyes , then hould or adeption of present felicities . for , in this life many sinnes seeme to be pardoned and not reuenged by any correction , but their punishments reserued till the later day ( which is not vainely as it is properly called the day of iudgement , wherein the iudge of the quicke and the dead , shall appeare ) : euen as on the contrary , many sins bee reuenged in this world , and not withstanding they be here not forgiuen , shal not stand vp against vs in the world to come . wherfore touching certaine of those temporall punishments which bee inflicted in this life vpō sinners , to those whose faults are forgiuen , the apostle saith , for , if we would iudge our selues , wee should not be iudged by god. but , when wee are indged , wee are chastned of the lord , because we should not be cōdemned with the world . tovching pvrgarie fire . chap. 67. to those that liue wickedly in this world , neither faith doth auaile any thing , neither doth there remaine for them any fier of purgatorie to purifie them from their sinnes after this life . certaine there be which beleeue , that they which renounce not the name of christ , & are baptized in his baptisme in the church , being not cut off from the church by any schisme or heresie , shall be saued by fier , whatsoeuer sinnes they commit in this life , although they neither put them away by repentance , nor yet redeeme them by almes deedes , but obstinately continue in them vntill the last day of their life vpō earth : howbeit , that , in respect of the greatnesse of such horrible and execrable sinnes they shall not bee punished with an euerlasting fier , but with a fier that lasteth long . but they which be of this beleefe , and yet beare the name of catholickes , bee deceiued in mine opinion , through a kinde of humane charitie or good will. for , if wee aske counsell of the holy scripture in that point , it giueth an other resolution thereof . and , for mine owne part , i haue written a booke touching this question , intitled , of faith , and workes : wherein i did demonstrate , according to the holy scriptures , so well as i could by gods assistance , that that faith did worke saluation . which paul the apostle most plainly expresseth saying , for in iesus christ , neither circumcision auaileth any thing neither vncircumcision , but faith ; which worketh by loue . againe , in in case it worke wickedly and not well , truely according to iames the apostle , that faith is dead in it self ; who saith againe , if any sayth hee hath faith , when hee hath no workes , can the faith saue him ? now , if a wicked man shall bee saued by fier through faith alone , & that it is to be taken on that sort which the blessed apostle paul saith , but hee shall be safe himselfe ; neuerthelesse yet as it were by fier : then consequently may faith saue without workes , and that bee false which his fellow apostle iames formerly affirmed . and that also shall bee vntrue which paul also himselfe deliuereth in an other place , saying , be not deceiued : neither fornicators , nor idolaters , nor adulterers , nor wantons , nor buggerers , nor theeues , nor couetous persons , nor railers , nor drunkards , nor extortioners , shall inherite the kingdome of god. for , in case they shall bee saued , by faith , notwithstanding their perseuerance in these sinnes , how then shall they not bee partakers of the kingdome of god ? chap. 68. what these words of paul do signifie , that the fier shall trie the qualitie of euery mans worke . bvt forasmuch , as these most manifest & euident testimonies of the apostle cannot bee false , that which is darkely spoken of them which build vpon that foundation ( which is christ ) not goulde , nor siluer , nor pretious stones ; but wood , grasse , and stubble ( for of those it is saide , that they shall bee saued by fire , because they shall not perish euerlastingly by reason of the merit of christ their foundation ) is so to bee vnderstoode , as these thinges precedent , being apparantly so in the letter , there bee not any thing contradictorie to the same . for , wood , grasse , and stubble may not absurdly bee taken for such loue of worldly things , although lawfully giuen vs to vse , as that wee cannot yet lose thē without anguish of minde . for , when as sorrow is a fier which inwardely burneth : if then christ be layde as a foundation in our heart , that is to say , that nothing bee preferred by vs , before the loue of him , and that the man burning inwardly with such sorrowe , had rather want the thinges hee so much affecteth , than christ , this man is saued by the fier . but on the contrarie , if hee had rather houlde these temporall and earthly things in time of temptation , then christ , then had hee not him for his foundation , in as much as hee preferred them before christ ; the foundation being the first thing that is to bee layed in any building . for , fier , whereof paul the apostle spake in that place , ought to be taken for such a thing , as thorow which , both these parties which are to bee tried , must passe : that is to say , as well as he which buildeth gold , siluer & pretious stones vpō this foundation , as hee which buildeth wood , grasse , and stubble vpon the same . for , after hee had deliuered this doctrine , he addeth thereunto this saying , the fier shall trie euerie mans worke of what sort it is . if any mans worke , that hee hath built vpon , abide , hee shall receiue wages . if any mans worke burne , hee shall lose , but hee shall bee safe himselfe : nouerthelesse yet as it were by the fier . the fier therefore shall trie , not one , but both their works . for fier is the touchstone of tribulation : whereof in another place it is plainely sayd , that the fornace tryeth the potters vessell , and tribulation tryeth the righteous . this fier while wee are in the flesh , hath this effect which the apostle spake of : saying , if it happē vnto two which be faithfull , the one whereof hath his minde fixed vppon celestiall things , thinking how to please god , that is to say building vpon christ his foundation , golde , siluer , and pretious stones : and the other hath his thoughts vpon worldly things , studying how to please his wife , that is to say building vppon the same foundation wodde , grasse , & stubble ; the first mans labour burneth not , because hee set not his fancie vpon those things , the losse wherof might grieue him . but the other mans labour burneth , because the losse of those things is greeuous , which are possessed with pleasure and delectation . howbeit , in either of these two cases , forasmuch as , the partie thus tried , had rather lose worldly delectation then christ , and doth not forsake christ vppon any feare to lose those transitorie things albeit it grieue him to part with them , hee saueth himselfe no doubt therein , and yet as it were by fier : because the griefe of the losse of things which he loued , doth burne him , but it doth not ouerthrowe or consume him , being fortified with a foundation that is permanent and euerlasting . chap. 69. that all this disputation of purgatorie fier , is doubtfull , and the fier it selfe auaileable to fewe . that such a thing may bee after this life , is not incredible ; the matter being questionable whether it be so indeed : as also that it may bee found out , or concealed , how diuers of the faithfull bee so much the later , or sooner saued by a certaine purgatorie fier , by how much the more or lesse they loue these transitorie goods : beeing notwithstandinge not of that sorte of whome it is written , that they shall not inherit the kingdome of god , vnlesse their sinnes be forgiuen , as competent petitioners : i say competent , meaning that they should not be barren in almes deedes ; wherevnto the scripture doth attribute so much honor , as the lord affirmeth , that he will impute the fruitfulnesse therof onely to those which stand on his right hand : vpbraiding them with barrennesse of such fruite , which stand on his left hand , when he shall say vnto the first sort , come ye blessed of my father and receiue the kingdome of god ; and to the second sort , goe yee into euerlasting fier . animaduersions vpon the 69. chap. that such a thing may be after this life , is not incredible : the matter being questionable , whether it be so indeed , &c. bishop iewell , in his apologie alleageth this place , and diuers others out of saint augustine , shewing that sometime hee saieth , there is such a certain place ; sometime denieth not , but there may be such a one : sometime he doubteth ; sometime againe he vtterly denyeth there is any at all , & thinketh that men are therein deceiued by a certaine naturall good will they beare their friends departed . out of which variable assertions , hee gathereth verie concludently , that saint augustine tooke this matter of purgatorie fier , neither for an article of the christian faith ( for thereof it had not beene lawfull for him to doubt ) nor for any tradition of the apostles . let no man therefore bee led by this place to beleeue any such fabulous doctrine . tovching almes deedes . chap. 70. wee may not take a libertie to sin , presuming of almes deedes . truely , wee must take heede least any man do thinke , that those enormious crimes , the doers whereof shall not inherite the kingdome of heauen , may bee dayly committed , and dayly redeemed with almes deedes . for , our life is to be amended , and god to be made propitious vnto vs for our sinnes past in regard of almes deedes , and not as it were hired therunto , wherby wee may purchase a libertie to sinne without punishment . for god hath not giuen to anie man the raines to sin ( although in this worlde hee pardoneth sinnes alreadie done through his owne mercie ) in case there bee a neglect of conuenient satisfaction . chap. 71. that light or small sinnes obtaine pardon at gods hands by saying of the lords prayer ●●ds also that it is an almes deede , if any man forgiue his brothers offence . the dayly prayer of the faithfull maketh satisfaction for dayly and small sinnes , without which this life is not ledde . wherfore it properly belongeth to them to say , our father which art in heauen , which are regenerated to such a father by water and the holy ghost . this prayer doth whollye procure remission of small and daylye sinnes : and it blotteth out all those trespasses , which the life of the faithfull , wickedly spent , but reformed by repentance , doth forsake ; in case , as it is truely said , forgiue vs our sins ( because there is no want of sins in vs to be forgiuen ) so , on the other side it be as truely and vnfainedly said , as we forgiue them which trespasse against vs , that is to say , that that bee fulfilled which is desired : because it is almes to forgiue a man that asketh pardon . animaduersions vpon the 71. chap. the dayly prayer of the faithful , maketh satisfaction for dayly and small sinnes , &c. this chapter seemeth a little to leane vnto the doctrine of ueniall sins : but , danaeus ( commenting vpon this very place ) doth discusse and clear that doubt : saying , that by a figuratiue kinde of speaking , that thing is attributed here , to the effect of prayer , which belongeth onely to the passion of christ ; whose blood is the expiation , and cause of remission , both of light and heauy sinnes . for , praier is the waie and meanes , directed by christ himselfe , to obteine our petitions of god , saying in the seauenth of mathew , ask and it shall be giuen you . which attribute of prayer , is much like vnto the merchant , who , if hee haue made a prosperous voyage , or aduenture , vseth to saie , that he hath been enriched by that his voyage or aduenture . finally , danaeus doth cite a comparatiue speech of auntient fathers , who affirmed that great sinnes were to bee done away by penance , and small offences by iteration or daily saying of the lords praier : lest any man should take a liberty to sinne , hearing that enormious sinnes might be redeemed by penance ; or on the other side , should bee terrified and driuen to despair if he were inioyned penance for euery small fault and insirmitie . prayer therefore maketh way to the remission of both these degrees of sinnes , by the blood of christ alone , howsoeuer the discipline of the church teacheth vs to knowe , how to obtaine forgiuenesse in either kinde . let not therefore this chapter preiudice saint augustine , in that point of doctrine , nor peruert any other therein . chap. 72. there bee many kindes of almes : howbeit that best , whereby we pardon our brother whē he hath offended vs. by this it appeareth , that that saying vttered by the lord , giue almes , and all things shall bee cleane vnto you , reacheth to all good actions done out or mercie and compassion that is profitable . for , not onelie hee which giueth meate vnto the hungrie , drinke vnto the thirstie , apparell vnto the naked , harbour vnto the harbourlesse , a place of refuge to the persecuted , to the sicke or prisoner visitation , helpe to the weak , conduct to the blinde , comfort to the mourner , physicke to the sicke , direct●ō to him that is out of the way , counsaile to him that doubteth , and to euery one in want that which he needeth ; but also hee which forgiueth him who hath offended him , giueth almes : yea , and hee who by stripes amendeth him ouer whom hee hath authoritie , or reformeth him by any discipline , and yet notwithstanding forgiueth him with all his heart the trespasse of him , whereby he was either damaged , or offended , or els praieth that it may be forgiue him , he doth not onely perform an almes deed in y ● he pardoneth and prayeth withall , but also in that he correcteth , or inflicteth some punishmēt that reformeth , because therein he doth a deede of mercy . for , there bee many good offices done vnto men against their wills , where their good is sought , and their owne liking not regarded , because they are found to bee their own enemies . and they in verie deed become rather their friendes , whom they take to be their enemies . through which errour they render euil for good : wheras a christian ought not to render euill for euill . there be therfore many kinds of almes , the performance whereof helpeth vs in the remission of our owne sinnes . chap. 73. that euerie christian ought to be such a proficient , as that he can frame himselfe to loue his very enemies . bvt , there is nothing of greater excellencie than that charitie , whereby wee forgiue from out hart that trespasse which any other man hath done vnto vs. for it is not so great a matter to bee kinde or liberall towardes him who hath done thee no harme ; but it is a more notable thing and effect of an heroicall disposition , to loue thine enemie also , and for thine owne part alwayes to wish well and to do wel , when thou maist , to him which wisheth euill vnto thee , and would harme thee if hee could ; giuing eare vnto christes saying , loue your enemies , bee good vnto them which hate you , and pray for them which persecute you . but because these things be onely in the power of the perfect sonnes of god to performe ( to the attainement of which perfection euerie faithful person ought to extend his vttermost indeuour , and by praying vnto god , striuing with himself , & perswasion to bring his minde to that affection ) yet , because this so great a vertue , is not intertained by so great a multitude , as wee may beleeue are heard in that part of the lords prayer , where it is saide , forgiue vs our trespasses , as wee also forgiue our debters : without all doubt the words of this promise bee fulfilled , if a man which is not as yet of that perfection , as he can vpon the sodain loue his enemy ; yet , when hee is intreated by one that hath trespassed against him to forgiue him , doth vnfainedly and from his heart forgiue him , being led by the same reason that hee would in like manner bee forgiuen himselfe being a petitioner to god when hee prayeth and sayth , euē as we forgiue our debters : that is to say , so forgiue vs our debts , when wee our selues do aske remission thereof , as wee forgiue our debters , when they desire the same . chap. 74. they which forgiue not other men the trespasses done vnto them , do not obtaine pardon at gods hand in the like case . now againe he that prayeth that man to forgiue him whom hee hath offended , being inwardly stirred vp to that motion vpon a remorse of the offence or wrong he hath done him , such a person is not now to bee accounted for an enemy , so as it should bee as harde a matter to loue him in this case as it was whē he was a professed enemie : and whosoeuer doth not vnfainedly forgiue another man , which seeketh peace , the iniurie he hath done him , being penitēt for the same , let him not think by any meanes to find remission of his owne sinnes at gods hands ; because truth cannot lie . for , how can it be vnknowne vnto any that heareth , or readeth the gospell , who it is that pronounceth this saying , i am the truth ? who , after that he had taught vs a forme of prayer , doth exceedingly cōmend that sentence in the same prayer , saying ; for , if you doe forgiue men their trespasses , your heauenly father will also forgiue you your offenses . hee that is not awaked with so great a thunderclap , is not asleepe , but rather dead and yet is it able to raise vp the dead . chap. 75. that almes doth neither profite infidels , nor those which obstinately continue in sinfull life . truely , they which liue most wickedly , & will not amend such a life and so bad conditions , and in the midst of their highest offences and execrable sinnes , cease not to multiply their almes deedes , they do vainely flatter themselues , presuming of that which the lord speaketh , saying , giue almes ; & behould , all things shall be made cleane vnto you . for they do not vnderstand how far this saying is to bee extended . but , to the end they may vnderstand it , let thē harken to whom it was spoken . for , it is written in the gospell , that a pharisie desired christ as hee was speaking , that hee would dine with him : and christ , being within his house , set him down to dinner . now the pharisie began to say within himselfe , wherfore did hee not wash before dinner ? and the lord said vnto him , yee pharisies doe make cleane the outside of the cuppe and dish , but that which is within you , is full of rapine and iniquitie . yee fooles , did not hee which made the outside , make the inside also ? howbeit , of your superfluitie giue almes , & all things shall be made cleane vnto you . are we so to vnderstand this saying , as that all things were cleane vnto the pharisies because they gaue almes , as these sinnefull persons before spoken of , thinke they are to do , albeit the pharisies beleeued not in the gospell , nor in christ , neither were regenerate by water , and the holy ghost ? and seeing all creatures bee vncleane , whom the faith of christ doth not purifie , thereupon was that saying , purifying their harts by faith . also the apostle saith , ther is nothing pure to them that are defiled and vnbeleeuing , but euen their minde and consciences are defiled . how therfore should all things be pure vnto the pharisies , though they gaue almes , and were without faith ? or how could they haue faith , if they refused to beleeue in christ , and to be borne anewe by his spirit ? and yet is it true which they haue heard , giue almes , and all thinges shall be made cleane vnto you . chap. 76. that is the best almes amongst all others , if any man haue compassion of his own sinnefull life , to the ende hee may amend the same , and please god. now , he that will giue almes according to the rule of gods word , must begin at himselfe , and bestowe the same first vpon himselfe . for , almes is a worke of mercie , that saying being agreeable to that definition , thou that seekest to please god , haue pity vpō thine owne soule . for this cause are we regenerate , to the end wee might please god ; that sin worthily displeasing him , where with we were infected in our first birth . this is the first kind of almes , which we bestow vpō ourselues , in as much as we haue reclaimed our selues being sinners by the mercy of god , hauing pity vpon vs ; acknowledging the iustice of his iudgement wherby wee were become miserable : of whom the apostle meāt saying , the iudgement of one was on al to condēnation : yeelding him thāks for his exceeding loue , whereof he speaketh himselfe being the trumpet of his own mercy , god himself cōmending his loue towards vs ; because whē we were sinners , christ died for vs ; that also we , truly sentecing our miserable estate , & honouring gods mercy towards vs , might leade a godly and vertuous life . which iudgmēt & loue of god because the pharisies regarded not ( yet had they tithes of the least kind of fruits in respect of the almes which they gaue ) therefore gaue they not almes , beginning therwith at thēselues , towards whom they should first of al haue beene mercifull : in regard of which order of affectiō it is said , thou shalt loue thy neighbor as thy self . whē therfore he had reproued thē because they washed themselues in the outward part , & were inward ly ful of rapine & iniquity , giuing them to vnderstād that ther was a kinde of almes first to be ministred to themselues , & that they ought to purifie the inward man howbeit saith he , giue almes & behold , al things shall be pure to you : afterwards , to declare vnto them what he exhorted and what they neglected to do , least they shuld thinke that their almes was vnknowen vnto him , hee sayeth , woe bee vnto yee pharisies : as though hee should haue sayde , i did exhort yee indeede to giue almes whereby all things should bee made cleane vnto you . but woe bee vnto you which tythe mynte and anniseedes and euery kinde of herbe ; for i know these almes which yee giue ( whereunto i would not haue yee to thinke that mine exhortation tended ) : but ye vtterly neglect the iudgement & mercy of god , by which kinde of almes ye might be purified of all inwarde pollution , your bodies also made clean , which yee wash outwardly . for , this is the meaning of all things , that is to say , both things inwarde and outwarde as it is written in other places , make cleane those things which be within , and those things which be outward shall be also cleane . but least hee should seeme to refuse these almes which are yeelded out of the fruites of the earth ; these things , saith hee , which i haue formerly mentioned ought yee to do , and yet not to omit the others : that is to say , the tythes and the fruites of the earth . chap. 77. this true almes which wee giue to our selues in amending our wicked liues , & that which we giue to others , be not of our selues , but of gods gift . let them not therfore deceiue thēselues , which , by the most liberall almes giuen either out of their fruites or out of their purse , doe thinke to purchase impunity of themselues , continuing still in the sauage crueltie of heynous offences and wickednesse of enormious crimes . for , they doe not onely commit these sinnes , but take such delite therein , as they wish alwayes to continue in the same , if they could , without punishment . but hee that loueth iniquitie hateth his owne soule : and he that hateth his own soule , is not mercifull , but cruell . for , in louing the same as concerning the world , hee hateth it as touching god. if therefore he would giue almes vnto himselfe , whereby all things might be cleane to himselfe , he should hate the same as touching the world , and loue it according to god. no man therefore giueth any kinde of almes , but to enable himselfe to giue , hee first receiueth it from him that wanteth not : and therefore it is said , his mercie shall pardon me . tovching the varietie of sinnes . chap. 78. that certaine things seeme little in respect of the kinde and qualitie thereof : which are sinnes notwithstanding , albeit reputed in the number of lesser sinnes . it resteth in the iudgement of god , and not of man , to determin of sins , which of them be little , & which be great . for we see that certain things were permitted by the apostles thēselues by way of pardō ; as was that which venerable paul saith vnto man and wife , defraude not one another except it be with consent for a time , that ye may giue your selues to prayer , & againe come togither that satan tempt you not for your incontinencie . it might be thought not to be a sin for a man to haue carnall knowledge with his wife vpon any other motion then to beget children ( which is the good of matrimonie ) but for carnall pleasure , that therby the weakenesse of those which cannot liue chastly might auoyd the deadly sin of fornication , adulterie , or any other kinde of vncleānesses ( too filthie to bee vttered , and whereunto lust may inforce vs through the tentatîon of sathan ) therfore might be thought not to be a sinne as i saide , but that he addeth afterwardes , this i say of fauour and not of commādement . who now denieth it to be a sinne , when as the authority of the apostle confesseth that they are to haue toleratiō which do the same ? it is also of the like nature where it is said , dare any of you hauing businesse with an other , be in aged vnder the vniust , & not rather vnder the saints ? and a little afterwards , if then yee haue iudgement of things pertaining to this life , set vp them to iudge which are least esteemed in the church . i speake it to your shame ; is , it so that there is not a wise man among you , no not one that shall be able to iudge between his brethren ? but brother goeth to lawe with brother , and that vnder the vnbeleeuers ? for , there it may be thought , that to haue sued one against another , were no sinne : but because hee would haue his cause iudged out of the church , therfore in the prosecution of that matter , he saith further , now , therfore there is vtterly a fault amongst you , because yee goe to lawe one with another . and , lest any man should excuse this sinne in this sort : saying , that he hath iust occasion to goe in law in suffering a wrong which hee seeketh to auoide by the sentence of such as set in place of authoritie ; by and by hee meeteth with such surmises , and excuses : saying , why rather sufferre not wrong ? why rather suffer yee not barned ? to come to that again which the lord speaketh , saying , if any man will sue thee at the law to take away thy cloake , let him haue thy coat also . and in another place hee sayeth , hee that taketh from thee those things which be thine , doe not seek them againe . hee therefore forbad those which were his , to goe to law with other men for worldly things . out of which doctrin the apostle saith that it is sin to sue : howbeit , when hee suffreth such trials of lawe to passe betweene brethren , brethren being iudges , but vehemently forbiddeth the same out of the church ; it appeareth here , what by leaue may be granted to the weak . in respect whereof , and of the like sins , with others though lesse then these committed through offences growing out of our owne words or thoughts ( the apostle iames saying and confessing for in many thinges wee all affend ) it is necessarie that wee dayly and often pray ( vnto the lord , saying , forgiue vs our trespasses : not lying in that which followeth , as wee forgiue them which trespasse against vs. chap. 79. the scripture condemneth many thinges , which men would not thinke to bee sinnes , but that the word of god doth admonish vs thereof . there be certain sinnes , which might be thoughtto be of no regard , but that by the sciptures they are denounced to be greater then the world taketh them to bee . for , who would thinke that a man which calleth his brother foole , should be guiltie of hell fier , but that the trueth it selfe affirmeth as much ? howbeit , presently afterwardes hee giueth a salue for that sore , giuing there with a precept howe to reconcile thy selfe to thy brother . for , by and by afterwards he saith , if therfore thou dost make oblation of thy gift vnto the altar , and thy selfe there remembring that thy brother haue ought against thee , &c. or , who would thinke it so great a sinne to obserue daies & months and yeares and times , as they do which will or will not begin any thing vpon certain dayes or monenthes , or in certain yeares ( because according to the vaine and superstitious doctrine of some , times be held to be luckie or vnlucky ) vnlesse the feare of the apostle made vs dreadfull of the greatnesse of this euill , saying to such persons , i feare lest i haue laboured in vaine amongst you . chap. 80. certaine sinnes againe , which bee verie great and fearefull , are , through vse and custome , helde light . hereupō it commeth to passe , that sinnes , although they be great and horrible , yet through a custome of committing them , they are taken to bee verie small ones , or nothing at all : in so much as men are so farre from concealing them , as it is their glorie to make them knowen , & memorable to the world ; because as it is written , the sinner is commended in the wicked desires of his owne heart : and he that dot 〈…〉 ill , doth therein blesse himselfe . such a kinde of sinne is called in holy scripture by the title of iniquitie and clamor ; according to that place of isa● , the prophet ●ouching the barraine vyneyard , i 〈◊〉 , ●aith he , that it should haue done iustice , but it did iniustice : and did not that which was right , but that which gaue cause of clamor and exclamation . w●ereunto that which is said in genesis , doth agree . the complaint or cry of the people of sodom and gomorah is increased , because not onely those heinous sinnes which raigned amongst them , were vnpunished , but also were openly and vsually committed , as though they had a warrant therein by law . euen so in these our times , as many euils , though not of like qualitie , are grow●n to bee as visible and common ; in so much , as wee neither dare excommunicate any of the laitie , nor yet degrade a clergy man for the same . whereupon , when i did certaine yeares past , expound the epistle to the galatians in that place , where the apostle saith , i feare lest that i haue laboured in vain amongst you , i was by that occasion forced to cry● o●t , woe to those sinnes amongst men which are simply of thēselues most fearefull vnto vs before wee see them in exāple ; yet afterwards being vulgar and vsuall ( for the purgation whereof the blood of the sonne of god was shed ) although they become so great and heynous , as they cause the kingdome of god to be viterly shut vp against thē , yet are we inforced by seeing them often , to tolerate them generally , and by oft toleration , to become sinners also our selues in many of them . but would to god , o lord , wee were not transgressors our selues in all those sinnes which we cannot restraine in others . but now wil i weigh my words whether the vehemencie of my griefe hath drawen me to say something that may bring me into question . chap. 81. there be two causes of sinne , that is to say , ignorance and weakenesse , or frailtie as he calleth it , or rather obstinacie . of the first , which is ignorance , we are called sinners : of the other ( called weakenesse or obstinacie ) wee are said to be trangressors . i will now , or in this place , affirme that , which , no doubt , i haue often deliuered in other places of my workes , that wee sinne two wayes : as , either in not seeing what we should do , or else in omitting to doe that which we see ought to be done . of which two sorts of sinning , the first is imputed to the euill of ignorance , the second to the euill of weakenesse or frailtie of our nature . against which euils , we ought indeede to striue ; howbeit we are no doubt subdued & vanquished except the grace of god do assist vs , that we do not onely see what we ought to do , but also through the recouerie of our affection lost , our delite in righteousnesse may ouercome the delites of those things , wherin wittingly and seeingly wee sinne , either by desiring to haue them , or fearing to lose them : whereby wee are not onely sinners ( which wee were before , when wee sinned through ignorance ) but also transgressors of the law , in as much as we do not that which we knowe we ought to doe , or doe that which wee knowe wee ought not to doe . wherefore , if wee haue sinned , wee not onely say , for remission of our sinnes , forgine vs our trespasses , as wee forgiue them that trespasse against vs : but also further , for our assistance and helpe , lest wee should fall into sinne , wee say in that respect , lead vs not into temptation : hee being therefore to bee prayed vnto , of whom it is saide in the psalme , god is my light , and my saluation ; to the ende his illumination might disperse the cloud of our naturall ignorance , and his saluation supply our infirmitie and weakenesse . chap. 82. that our repentance commeth from god , as well in respect of the inward motion thereunto , as of the effect and open confession of our fault . for , repentance it self , when it is to bee performed vpon an vrgent cause , according to the maner or custom of the church , is for the most part pretermitted through our own defalt & weaknes ; because , shame maketh vs fearefull to bee a scorne vnto the world , whilest we more regarde our reputation amongst men , than our duetie to god. the consideration wherof shuld humble vs to the performāce of penance . by which reason the mercie of god , is requisit , not onely in the action of repentance , but also to incite and stir vs vp therunto . els would not the apostle haue said of some , least perhaps god did not giue them repentance . and the euangelist , foretelling the occasion why peter wept so bitterly , saith , the lord looked back vpon him . tovching sinne against the holy ghost . chap. 83. that is sin against the holy ghost , when any man doth obstinately deny , that ther can be no remissiō of sins in the church of god. whosoeuer therfore , in not beleeuing that sins are forgiuen in the church , doth contēn so great a liberalitie of gods gift and endeth his life in that obstinate minde , is guiltie of that vnpardonable sinne against the holy ghost . of which intricate question , i haue discoursed as conspicuously as i could , in a booke purposely composed of that matter . tovching the resurrection of the dead . chap. 84. all and singular persons of mankinde , which now are borne , or hereafter shall be borne , shal rise againe at the later day . now verely touching the resurrectiō of the flesh ( which is not to be raised from death to life againe , as some haue beene , and to die againe , but to bemoūted to eternall life as the flesh of christ did rise ) is a matter beyond my reach how to handle it briefly , and to discusse all questions vsually propounded therein . howbeit , no christian ought to make doubt of the resurrection of the flesh of all men , either liuing , or to be borne , now dead , or hereafter to die . chap. 85. touching children borne before their time , whether they shall rise againe . heereupon first of all their riseth a questiō touching children borne before their time , which at this present are borne in their mothers wombe , howbeit , not in that ripenesse and perfection as that they come to a second birth . for , if wee shall affirme that they are to rise againe ; then , whatsoeuer is said of those which are complete in forme , may be admitted . but , as touching children borne before their naturall time , and those without forme or fashion , who thinketh not that such doe most quickly perish and dye euen as the seeds which neuer took root being sowen ? howbeit , who dare deny ( although none dare on the contrary affirme ) that the resurrection will bring to passe that whatsoeuer wanted forme shall be at that time fulfilled ? by which meanes there shall not want any perfectiō which might haue growen in time ; euen as there shall not be on the contratrary any deformities which happened to any by processe of time : so as nature should neither bee defrauded of that which fulnesse of time might accomplish in all parts : nor yet bee blemished in that which time had made defectiue or deformed ; but that made perfect which was imperfect , & that amended which was deformed or monstrous . chap. 86. at what time infants beginne to quicken and haue life in their mothers wombe . by this occasion it may be verie doubtfully questioned and disputed amongst the learned ( and yet can i not tell , whether any man can discusse the trueth therin ) at what time a man doth quicken in his mothers wombe ? and whether he secretly liueth in the same , althogh that life which is in him , doth not appeare by any motions or stirrings of the creature so liuing . for , to denie that infants be deliuered , such as bee cut out by peace meale and cast foorth of their mothers woombe , least their mothers should also perish if they were left dead in their bodies , it seemeth to bee a matter of great impudencie and bouldnesse . for , at what time soeuer a man beginneth to liue , after that time also may he in like manner die . and now being dead , i see not in my conceit why he shuld not bee included in the number of those which rise at the later day . chap. 87. touching men which be monsters , how they shall rise in the later day . for neither may it be denied that monsters which are so borne and do liue afterwards ( although they dye presently after they are borne ) shall rise againe ; nor yet are we to beleeue , that they shall rise againe in that deformity they dyed , but rather reformed and amended in that naturall defect . for , farre be it from vs to beleeue , that the centaure lately borne in the east parts ( of whom both our faithful brethren which sawe him made report , and ierome the priest , memorable for piety , left a record in writing ) god forbid i say we should thinke , that one man ; being in shape two , and not rather two ( which should haue been , if they had beene twinnes ) shall rise againe in those seuerall deformities . in like man her , all other humane things ( which be called monsters ; by reason euerie creature so borne , haue more or lesse , or bee more deformed in their creation then they should haue beene ) shall in the day of their refurrection , bee reduced to the shape of humane nature in perfection : in so much as all soules , particularly , shall inioy their proper bodies , no such thinges cleauing vnto them as were coherent and borne with them in their natiuitie ; but contrariwise euery one particularly being furnished with his proper parts and members , whereby the bodie of man may be complete in all perfection . chap. 88. that it is an easie matter with god to restore vnto vs our flesh againe , howsoeuer it be consumed . this earthly matter whereof the flesh of man is created , is not lost with god : but , into what soeuer dust or ashes it is resolued , into whatsoeuer vapors or coasts it is carryed , into whatsoeuer substance of other bodies , or the elements themselues it bee turned , into the flesh of whatsoeuer beasts or men it is incorporated and changed ; it returneth again in a moment of time to the same soule of man which at first breathed life into it , whereby it was made man , increased , and liued . chap. 89. in the resurrection of the dead , the question is , whether the whole substance of the flesh shal be restored : or that euerie particular part & member therof , shall come together again , as , & where it was at the first : and whether the excrements , shall be in like sort restored . that same earthly matter therefore which becommeth a dead carcasse when the soule is gone out of it , shall not so and in such sort bee renewed in the resurrection thereof , as that those things which perish with the bodie and bee turned into these and these shapes and formes of other thinges ( although they doe returne to the bodie againe , from whence they fell ) should of necessitie turne vnto the same parts and members of the bodie againe where they were placed at the first . otherwise , in case that which often powling had cut away , should bee restored to the haires of the head againe , and that also to the nayles of our fingers which often cutting had taken away ; the excessiue and vncomely imperfection that wold follow thereof , doth breede an impossibilitie of restitution in all those that enter into the consideration thereof , and therefore beleeue not in the resurrection at al. but euē as in any image made of any soluble matter , if it bee melted , or beaten to powder , or else wrought into one lumpe or masse , if that a workman would make the same again of the substance and matter thus resolued , is it materall for the perfection thereof , which part of the substance thus resolued , should bee vsed againe in the making of any part or member of the same image , so as the same being made a-newe , doe resume the whole substance of that wherof it was at the first composed ? in like sort , god being the workemaster of man , after a maruailous and vnspeakeable manner , shall of that whole consistence whereof our flesh was originally made , repaire the same againe , with wonderfull and vnspeakeable speede . neither is it material to perfection in the new making thereof , whether the haires that were before , become haires againe , or the nailes returne to be nailes againe : or whatsoeuer thereof did perish , bee changed into flesh , or vsed to bee other parts of the body , so as the chiefe workmaster in that newe worke do foresee that nothing bee made vndecently therein . chap. 90. touching the stature , the similitude or dissimilitude of forme which shall bee in the bodies of the godly that shall rise . neither doth it followe , that there should bee difference in the stature of euery particular person that riseth againe , because they differed when they liued : or that they which were spare and leane , should be reuiued in the same leanenesse ; nor they which were fat , in the same fatnesse . but , if this be a matter of secrecie and counsaile in the creatour , that as touching the forme of euerie man , the propertie and knowen similitude of euerie one should bee retained , but yet all alike in the participation of the rest of the bodies felicities : then doth it follow that there shall bee a measure obserued in the ordering of this matter in euery one whereof he was made , so as neither any part therof do perish , and be lost ; and if there be any thing wanting in any man , it may bee supplyed by him , who of nothing was able to make al things that he wold . now then , if in the bodies of them that shall rise at the later day there shall bee a reasonable difference and inequalitie ( such as is in voyces , making perfect harmonie ) that shall be effected to euery one out of the matter and substance of his own body , making man equall to the companie of angels , and yet bringing nothing with it that may be vnfitting to the view of those heauenly creatures . for , there shal be nothing there that is vnseemely : but whatsoeuer shall bee hereafter , shall be comely , because it shall not be at all , if it be not decent . chap. 91. that the bodies of the elect , and godly shall rise againe in their bodily substance , but not with their former faults and deformities . the bodies therefore of the godly shall rise againe without any fault or deformity of bodie , as also without any corruption , burthen of flesh , or difficultie . of which sort their facilitie in rising , shall be aunswerable to their felicitie after their resurrection . for which cause they bee called spirituall , albeit no doubt they shall become bodies and not spirits . but , euen as now in this life the bodie is said to bee naturall , being not withstanding yet a body and not a soule : euen so at that time the body shal bee spirituall , howbeit a body and not a spirit . yet , as touching that corruption which in our life time doth oppresse the soule , as also concerning the sinnes wherewith our flesh fighteth against the spirit , at that time it shall not become flesh , but a body , because they shal be reputed for celestiall bodies . by reason whereof it is said , that flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdome of god. and therefore as it were interpreting his owne saying , hee affirmeth , neither shall corruption enioy incorruption . that which before hee called flesh & blood , he afterwards called corruption . and that which formerly he called the kingdome of god , he afterwards called incorruption . now , as touching that which concerneth the substance , that same also shall bee flesh at that time . for which reason , the body of iesus christ after his resurrection , is called flesh . therupon doth the apostle say , the body is put into the ground in naturall substance , but it shall shall rise a spirituall bodie ; because of the great agreement and concord which shall be between the flesh and the spirit ; the spirit hauing a vitall power ouer the flesh , which then shall not rebell , and that without the help of any manner of supportation : in so much as nothing pertaining to our owne bodies shal resistive ; but , as outwardly we shal finde none , so inwardly we shall haue no enemies of our selues . chap. 92. of what sort or forme the bodies of the damned shal be in the resurrection . whosoeuer verily being of that masse of perdition which the first man made , and are not redeemed by the onely mediatour of god and man , shal generally also rise in the later day , euery man in his own flesh , howbeit to bee punished with the diuell and his angels . now , whether they shall rise againe with the faults and deformities of their former bodies , whosoeuer of that number were misshapen or deformed in their limmes , to what purpose should wee spend our labour , to informe our selues therein ? neither indeede ought the vncertaine forme or feature of those persons to wearie vs , whose damnation shall bee certaine and euerlasting . neither let it trouble vs to thinke , how in them the bodie shall bee incorruptible , if it bee subject to anguish ; or else how it may be corruptible , if it cannot die . for , it is noe true life , but there where it liueth in all felicitie and happinesse : nor no true inccorruption but there where the health is impeached with no manner of griefe . nowe , therefore in that place , where the person that is forlorne and vnhappie , is not suffered to dye ( as i maye saye ) there death , it selfe doth not dye : and where perpetuall paine doth not kill , but doth afflict , corruption it self hath no ende or determination . this in the holy scripture is called the second death . chap. 93. which sort of the damned shall receiue the easiest punishment after the resurrection . neither yet the first death whereby the soule is compelled to forsake his body , nor the second death whereby the soule is not suffred to depart out of the body that shall bee punished , should euer haue happened to man ; if no man had sinned . and truely the punishment of such persons , shall be most easie , who , besides the guilt of originall sinne haue not added more thereunto of themselues : and amongst those additionall sinnes , euerie mans damnation shall be the more tolerable by how much the lesse hee hath sinned in the first life . tovching eternall life . chap. 94. that the blessed in the state of eternall life , which by gods mercie they shall obtaine , shall most fully perceiue the force of gods grace . when the reprobate of angells and men , shall remaine and haue their being in the place of euerlasting punishment , then shal the blessed more sensibly feele and vnderstand what the fauour and grace of god hath voutsafed vpon them . then shall appeare in the euidence of things themselues , that which is written in the psalmes , to thee o lord shall i sing mercie and iudgement ; because no man is deliuered from euerlasting destruction , but by a mercie not due vnto vs by any specialtie of debt ; nor any againe condemned to eternall death , but by a iudgement duely inflicted vpon him . chap. 95. in the life eternall wee shall knowe , why rather they , then the other were the chosen of god. at that day it shall bee reuealed ( which now is concealed ) as touching the two infants , whereof the one through the mercie of god , was to bee chosen , the other in his secret iudgement to bee refused ( in which iudgement hee that shall bee elected shall vnderstand what in iustice was due vnto him vnlesse mercy had holpen him ) why he rather then the other was elected , whē the cause was alike to both : why miracles or strange works were not done amongst some ; which if they had beene done , such persons should haue repented : and yet were done amongst those concerning whom god did know that they would not beleeue . for , the lord doth plainely affirme , woe to thee corazin , wo to thee bethsaida : for , if in tyre and sidon those great workes had been done , which were do●e amongst you , they had long sithence repented in sacke-cloath and ashes . neither , therefore would not god vniustly haue them to bee saued , when as they might haue beene saued if they woulde . then shall that appeare in the clearest light of wisedome , which the godly in this world doe apprehend by faith : that is to say , howe certaine , immutable , and most effectuall the will of god is : how much he can do and yet will not : and that he willeth not that thing which he cannot performe : as also how truely it is sung in the psalme , our god which is in heauen aboue hath done all things in heauen & earth which hee would . which assertion is not true , if hee would haue had somthings yet did thē not , and ( which had been more derogatorie ) did not therfore accomplish it , by reason the wil of man did hinder the performance of that which the omnipotent would haue done . and therfore there is not any thing acted , vnlesse the omnipotent would haue it so , either in suffering it to be done , or effecting it himselfe . tovching gods . omnipotencie . chap. 96. that god is said to be omnipotent , because all thinges that bee , are by his wil or permission , neither can hee bee crossed by any creature . neither ought wee to doubt that god doth well in suffering of euills whatsoeuer to bee done . for , his permission thereof is not without a iust iudgement . and no doubt but that euerie thing is good which is iust . although therefore these thinges which be euill in that they are euill , cannot be also good ; yet is it good , that there be not onely good , but euill actions also . for , if this were not good , that there should be also euils , the almightie , who is good , would not by any meanes suffer the same . to which almightie , as it is , no doubt , easie to doe what hee will : so is it as easie for him , not to permitte that which hee will not haue done . which vnlesse wee doe beleeue , it shaketh the verie foundation and beginning of the confession of our faith : whereby wee doe confesse that we do beleeue in god the father almightie . neither , is he truely called omnipotent for any other cause , but because he can doe whatsoeuer hee will : neither is the will of the almightie interrupted by the will of any creature . tovching grace , and predestination of the saints . chap. 97. the question is , whether certaine things which god would haue done , may bee crossed by men , that they cannot take effect . whērefore wee are to consider how it is said of god in that which the apostle most truely affirmed , forasmuch as god would that al should be saued . for , seeing not all , but the most part , or greater number is not saued , it seemeth therefore that that which god wold haue done , is not done ; mans will forsooth resisting gods will. for , when the cause is examined , why all bee not saued , it is wont to be aunswered , because they themselues will not haue it so . which saying , cannot bee extended to infants , in whom ther is no power to will or nill . for , that which infants do by instinct of nature , if the same were ascribed to their wil , when in baptisme they resist and shrinke from that water as much as they can , by that reason wee should affirme , that they were saued against their wils . but the lord speaketh more plainely in his gospel talking with the wicked citie . how often , sayth he , would i haue gathered together thy children , euen as the henne doth her chickens , and thou wouldest not ? as though gods will were ouerruled by mans will , and that men being most weake of all creatures , by their vnwillingnes hindering the same , the most mightie could not accomplish that which hee desired . where then is that his omnipotencie , whereby hee did all things in heauen and in earth which hee would , if hee would haue brought home the lost children of israell , and did it not ? or rather would not that citie that hee should bringe home her children , and yet notwithstānding whether shee would or noe , did not the lorde reduce such of them as hee would ? for as much as both in heauen and in earth , hee did not will certaine thinges and doe them , not dooing some other things which hee would haue done , but hee did whatsoeuer hee would . chap. 98. albeit god can , when hee will , conuert the euill dispositions of men , yet doth hee iustly although hee doe not reforme the same : and when hee turneth them vnto him , hee doth it of his owne meere grace and mercie . who moreouer is so wickedly vnwise , as that hee will affirme , that god cannot make good when hee will the euill dispositions of men , which of them hee will , when he will , and where hee will ? howbeit , when hee doth it , hee doth it of his owne mercy : and when hee doth it not , he doth it not , by reason of iustice ; because he taketh mercie on whom hee will , and hardeneth whome hee will. which when the apostle did speake , hee therein extolled grace ; for the commendation whereof hee was forthwith to speake of those twinnes in rebeccaes woomb : which being vnborne and doing nothing that was either good or euill , to the ende yet that gods decree touching election might stand immutable , it was saide vnto him that was elected , beeing not chosen in respect of his workes but by the mercie of him that called , because the elder shall serue the yonger . for confirmation whereof hee addeth another saying of the prophet where it is written , iacob haue i loued , but esau haue i hated . hee therefore perceiuing how this which hee had spoken might worke in those which were not of capacitie to reach vnto the height of this doctrine of grace , what therefore shall ●ee say ? sayth hee : is there any iniustice with god ? far bee it from vs to thinke so . for it seemeth to sauour somewhat of iniustice , that without any merits of good or euil works , god should elect the one , and hate the o●●er . in which matter if god had meant of ●uture workes , either good in iacob , or bad in esau ( both which god did fore knowe ) hee would not haue said , not by workes : but he would haue said , by futureworks , and by that meanes would hee haue discus●ed this controuersie ; nay , rather haue made it no question at all necessary to bee satisfied . now , in that he answered , god forbid , that is to say , god forbid that there should bee any iniustice with god , presently thereupon to prooue that this matter came not to passe throgh any iniustice in god , hee sayth , for hee saide to moses , i will haue mercie on whom i will haue mercie , and i will shewe mercie to whom i will shewe mercy . who therefore but hee that is vnwise will think god to be iniust , whether he do inflict any penal iudgment vpon the worthy , or shewe mercie vnto the vnworthie ? finally , he inferreth saying , therfore is it not in him that willeth , nor in him that rūneth , but in god which taketh mercie . for , both the twinnes were borne by nature the children of wrath , not by any of their owne workes , but being originally tyed in the bonde of damnation through adams fault . but , hee which sayde , i will showe mercie to whome i will shewe mercie , did loue iacob through a mercie freely proceeding out of himselfe , and hated esau through a fatall iudgement . which iudgement seeing it was due to both , hee that was chosen did acknowledge in that which happened to the other that was refused , that hee was not to boast of the difference of their seuerall works , in that the same punishment did not fall vpon him , beeing in the selfe same predicament of damnation , but to reioyce in the liberalitie of gods grace and mercie , because it was of gods mercie , and not of him that willed , or of him that runned . for , the vniuersall face and countenaunce ( as i may so saye ) of the holy scriptures , is obserued by a most highe and profitable mysterie , to admonish all the behoulders thereof , that hee which glorieth should glorie in the lord. chap. 99. although certaine bee reiected by god , yet they which bee damned , may neither complaine of gods iniustice , nor are they therefore to be helde excusable for their transgressions . for , the reason of gods secret decree and counsaile , is beyonde our vnderstanding . vvhen as the apostle had commended the mercie of god in that which he sayth , therefore it is not in him that willeth , nor in him that runneth , but in the lord that taketh mercie : afterwards also , to commend his iustice ( for , towards whom mercy is not extended , it is not iniustice but iustice ; for there is no iniustice with god ) hee by and by addeth saying , for the scripture saith to pharao , because i haue stirred thee vp to this action , that i might shewe my power in thee , and that my name might bee knowen throughout all the world. by which sayings iustifying both his assertions both of mercie and iustice , hee sayth , therefore doth the lord take mercie on whome hee will , and harden the hearts of whome hee will. hee is , no doubt , mercifull in all goodnesse , and bardeneth whome hee will without imputation of iniustice : to the ende that neither the person pardoned should boast of his owne merites , nor the partie damned , complaine but of his owne deserts . for , by his mercies onely hee maketh knowen the redeemed from the reprobate : both which the generall occasion drawen from adam originally , had conioyned in one masse or lumpe of perdition . which saying who so doth heare in that sort as that hee sayth , what cause is there of further complaint ? for who can resist his owne will ? as though therefore the sinner were not to bee blamed , because god taketh mercie on whome hee wil , and ( againe ) hardeneth whom hee will. god forbidde that wee should bee ashamed to aunswere heereunto , as wee see the apostle hath aunswered it already : saying , o thou man , what art thou that makest this aunswere vnto god ? dare the vessell say vnto him that made it , why didst thou make mee so ? is it not in the power of the potter , of one and the selfe same masse or lump of clay , to make one vessel to honour , and another to dishonour ? for , in this place certaine foolish persons do suppose that the apostle was wanting in his aunswere , checking the boldnesse of the partie opposite to supplye the want of reason to maintaine that which hee had affirmed . howbeit , that saying , o man what art thou ? is of greate waight and efficacie . by which question , hee reduceth man briefly , in one worde , to a consideration of his owne capacitie , howbeit rendering indeed a notable reason thereof . for , if hee bee incapable of these assertions , what is hee that dare aunswere god therein ? and if hee bee of vnderstanding to apprehende the doctrine , hee wanteth matter to make any further replie . for , hee plainely seeth , if hee vnderstand it rightly , that all mankinde generally by the iust iudgement of god , is originally damned in the apostasie of adam . in so much as , if noe man thereby bee freede from perdition , no man canne take exception to the iustice of god , or they on the contrarie ought to be pardoned which inioy gods fauour and mercie therein : to the ende it might appeare out of the multitude of persons vnpardoned , and left in the state of deserued damnation , what the vniuersall pollution of mankinde did merite , and whether the iust iudgement of god would haue brought all men , if his vndeserued mercie had not assisted vs ; that the mouth of euerie one which would glorie in his owne merits , might bee stopped , and that he that gloried should glorie in the lord. tovching the will of god. chap. 100. that nothing happeneth without the will of god. for , when men doe sinne , gods will hath a part therein . svch be the wonderful works of the lorde , being most exquisite in all things which hee will haue accomplished , and so wisely also contriued , as when as both the nature of angells and man had sinned , that is to say had done that , which not god , but their owne nature willed : yet did hee effect that which himselfe would haue done , by the will of the creature ( whereby that was done which the creatour was against ) making thereby a good vse of euilles as himselfe is absolutely good , to the condēnation of those whom he hath iustly predestinated to eternall punishment , and to the saluation of those whom in mercy hee hath predestinated to grace and fauour . for , in respect of their owne natures they did that which was against the will of god : but , as touching the omnipotencie of god , they would by no meanes haue done the same . in which acte done against the will of god , his will was wrought by themselues and their owne meanes . and therefore bee the workes of the lorde exceeding great and inscrutable in the accomplishment of all thinges which hee will haue done : in so much as by a maruailous and vnspeakable meane , that commeth not to passe besides his will , which is cleane contrary to his will ; because it should not bee done but by his permission : neither yet doth he permit the same , to bee done vnwillingly , but with his will. neither would , he , being god , suffer that which is euill to be done , but that in respect of his omnipotencie , hee could make that which is euill , to become good . chap. 101. that the good will or disposition which is in man , doth many times dissent from the will of god. and many times the euill will and disposition of man agreeth with gods will. sometimes , out of a good dispositiō , mā willeth that which is repugnant to gods will , although the same bee better by many degrees , and more infallible then mans will ( for gods will cannot be euill ) : as for example , if a good sonne desireth the life of his father , whose death also god in a good disposition doth desire . on the contrarie , it may bee , that man is willing to haue another thing come to passe in an euill affection , which god desireth also , in a good disposition : as for example , if an euill sonne desire the death of his father , and god would haue the same also ; in the first of these two examples , man would that which god would not : but in the second man wold that , which god also would : and yet notwithstanding the godly disposition of the first man doth better agree with the good wil of god , albeit his will was contrarie to gods ; then the impietie of the second man , although hee willed the same which god also willed . the onely difference therefore in this case is , what it is which man willeth , and what may agree with the will of god , and to what ende euerie mans will tendeth , wherby it is either to bee approued or disallowed . for , god doth accomplish certaine of his wills being good , or to a good ende , by the euill desiers of euill men : as namely , in that action wherein christ was slaine for vs by the malicious iewes , through the good will of the father . which fact was helde to be of that consequence for goodnes , as that the apostle peter being in his will against the suffering of christ , was therupon called satan by him which came to be slaine . againe , how good and charitable seeme the dispositions of the godly faithful to be , which would not haue had paule the apostle to haue gone to ierusalem , to suffer iniurious dealings in that place , according to the predictions of the prophet agabus , albeit god vvould that hee should suffer the same for a testimonie of the faith of christ , being therin the martyr of christ : in which action he did not execute his good will and pleasure by means of these good dispositions appearing in the christians , but by the maleuolent wills of the iewes : wherin they , which vvere against his will , were rather gods , than they by whose willinguesse that was done which was desired ; because they did it out of an euill disposition being gods agents , who performed it by them out of his gracious and good disposition or vvil . chap. 102. that nothing commeth to passe , or is done without the will of god which is also iust , how diuers soeuer . bvt the wils of angels or men good or euill , hovve diuerse soeuer they happen to be , vvhether they vvill the same that god vvil , or the contrary , yet is the will of the almightie neuer hindered , but alwayes hath his effect ; which can neuer bee euill in it selfe , because also when it doth inflict euils vpon any persons , it is iust and right : which being iust , is by consequence not euill . almightie god therefore , whether out of his owne commiseration hee hath mercie on whom hee will haue mercie , or in his iudgement doth obdurate whome hee will haue so , doth not any thing that is vniust , neither doth hee any thing against his owne will , but all things which he will. chap. 103. how this saying of paul is to bee vnderstood , namely , god would haue all men to be saued . and when by this saying of paule , wee heare and likewise reade in holy scriptures that hee would haue all men saued , albeit wee certainely knowe all men bee not saued yet ought we not therefore to derogate any thing from the most omnipotēt will of god , but so to vnderstand that which is written , who will haue all men to bee saued , as though he should say , that no man is saued but whome hee will haue saued : not because there is not any one of mankind but such as he wold haue saued , but rather that there is not any man saued but whome hee will haue saued : and therefore hee is to be prayed vnto that he would saue vs ; because if hee will haue it so , it must bee so of necessitie . for the apostle treated of prayer to bee made vnto god , wherupon hee grounded this former speech . for in the same sense wee vnderstande that sayinge which is written in the gospel , hee which enlightneth all creatures : not because there is not any man that is not illuminated ; but because there is not any man illuminated . or else it is is taken in this sense , which would haue all men to bee saued , not because there was not any that hee would not haue saued , which refused to performe the vertue of miracles amongst such as hee s●eth would haue beene brought to repentance , if that worke had beene performed : but that by al men , we shuld vnderstand all sorts of men , of what differēces or : distinctions soeuer ; as , kings and priuate persons , noble and vnnoble , highe and lowe , learned and vnlearned , stronge and weake , and the wittie , dullards and fooles : the rich , the poore , and persons of meane degree : men and women , infants , children : youths betweene 12. & 21. years , yong men , elder persōs , and olde men , men of all languages , conditions , arts and professions , or whosoeuer being in the innumerable varietie & differences of dispositions and consciences , or knowen by anyother differēces amongst mortall creatures . for , what is there amongst them , out of which god wil not by his onely son our lord & redeemer haue to be saued thrughout al nations ? and therfore doth whatsoeuer he will ; because the desire on will of the omnipotent cannot bee friuolous or vaine . for the apostle hereupon willed prayers and intercessions to bee made for al mē , but specially for kings and such as were in hig●e place of calling ; who by reaso of honor & secular pride , might be thought to despise the humilitie of christian faith . for , it is good in the sight of god our sauiour , that is , that wepray for such , adding presently or forth with thereupon ( to preuent desperation ) because hee would haue all men to bee saued , and to come to the knowledge of saluation . for , god thought it good that by the mediation of the humble and poore hee might vouchsafe saluation vpon the high and rich : which thing wee see performed accordingly . the like manner of speach the lord doth also vse in his gospel ; wher he saith vnto the pharisees ; yee t●●he mynte● , ●u● , and oueri● p●tt● hearbe . neither yet did the pharisees take tythes of all other kinds whatsoeuer , or all the po●hearbes of all strangers throughout the world . as therefore in this place euerie pothearbe is taken for euery kinde of pothearb : so in the other place where all men be named , we may vnderstand all sorts of men . and it may be taken in any other sense whatsouer , so as wee be not inforced to beleeue that almighty god would haue had any thing done which was not done : who without all ambiguitie , if he did both in heauen and vpon earth all thinges which hee would as the scripture reporteth of him ; then without all doubt , whatsoeuer he did not , he would not do it . tovching gods foreknowledge . chap. 104. that the first man had not sinned , if god had foreknowen that hee should not haue sinned . for , the foreknowledge of god cannot erre or be deceiued . wherfore also , god would haue preserued man in that state and happinesse ( where in he was first made ) and in conuenient time , after he had had children , haue brought him without mortalitie or death , vnto greater blessinges ( where hee should neither haue sinned actually , nor had any will to haue sinned ) if god had foreknowen that he should haue had constācie of will to haue remained without sinne , as hee was first of all made . but , because hee did foreknowe that he would abuse his free will , that is to say , that hee would commit sinne , he did the rather prepare his will thereunto ; that hee might doe good by that euill which man should do , and so the good will of the omnipotent should not be made frustrate by the euill will of man , but rather be fulfilled . chap. 105. that both the conditions of man were well ordained of god : as well the first wherein hee was subiect to sinne , as the last wherein hee could noe longer sinne . it was necessarie that man should be made in that sort at the first , as that hee had power both to do well and ill , though afterwardes such shall bee his estate as that hee cannot will that which is euill : and yet notwithstanding shall hee not bee without free will ; which shall bee of greater libertie and freedome , because it cannot at all be subiect vnto sinne . for there is no man that will blame that will , or deny it to be a will , or a freewil , whereby we so desire to be happie , as that not onely wee doe not will that which may make vs miserable , but our will is so settled , that wee cannot will any such thing . therefore as in this life our soule retaineth a propertie of not willing infel●●tie , so in the life to come it willeth not any iniquitie or sinne . howbeit , order in this case was not to be pretermitted , wherein god would shewe how good a blessing it was to bee a reasonable creature , though subiect to sinne ; albeit it were better he could not sinne at all : euen as it was a lesser immortalitie , though yet in immortalitie , wherein hee might haue dyed , although that other shal be greater , wherin it shall not be possible for him to die at all . tovching mans will. chap. 106. mans will at this day is a seruāt to sinne , and is not freed from that thraldom but by the grace and mercie of god. the first will of man before hee fell by sinne , was free : howbeit it could not retaine originall righteousnesse without the helpe of god. mans nature lost originall righteousnesse by free will , being now made capable thereof through grace , which ( if he had not sinned ) he had by merite or desert , albeit euen in his first estate he could not haue done anything that was meritorious , without grace . because , albeit free will was the onely cause of sinne , yet was not free will of power to retaine righteousnesse without the help of god by the participation of his vnchangeable goodnesse . for , as it is in the power of man to dye when hee will ( for there is no man but may kill himselfe by forbearing to eate , to speake of no other thing ) yet mans will is not enough to maintaine life in man , if the helpe of meates and other preseruatiues bee wanting . euen so man being in paradise , had power by his will to worke his owne destruction , by forsaking righteousnes : but , for him to haue liued in righteousnes , his wil vvas insufficient , vnles god , who made him , had giuen him assistance . howbeit , after his fall , the mercy of god is of greater efficacie , in as much as free-will it selfe was to be freed from bondage , being subiect to the power of sinne and death . neither doth it obtaine freedome solie by it selfe , but by the onely grace of god ( apprehended by ●aith in christ ) whereby the will of man , as it is written , is prepared by the lord , and wee made capaple of other gifts of god , bringing vs to the reward which is reposed for vs in in heauen . chap. 107. man sinned through free wil , & therefore death was his reward and deseruedly inflicted vpon him . but , life euerlasting was from the beginning , that is to say , freely bestowed both vpon the first man , and also vpon vs by gods mercy . vvhereupon the apostle calleth life euerlasting which is the reward of good works the mercie of god. for , saith he , death is the reward of sinne , and the mercie of god is euerlasting life in christ iesu our lord. reward for militarie seruice is a matter of debt and not of gift . and therfore hee said , that death was the reward of sinne ; thereby to demonstrate vnto vs , that death was not vnworthyly inflicted , but was a debt and due recompence . but , mercy or grace , except it come freely , is not mercie or grace indeede . wee are therefore to learne hereby , that the good workes in man , be the very gifts of god : which good workes being rewarded with eternall life , what is rēdred in this case but grace for grace ? man therfore was in such sort created righteous , that hee might haue continued in that righteousnesse , though not without diuine helpe and assistance , and might leaue it and depart from it vpon the onely motion of his owne will : yet so , that which soeuer of these he should choose , gods will should bee fulfilled , either by him , if man chose the better , or vpon him if hee chose the worse . whether of these two hee is to make choyse , resteth in gods will , comming certainly either from , or of god. therfore , because man would rather fulfill his owne will then gods ; god did in like sort execute his will vpon him : who of the selfe same masse of perdition deriued from his own stocke and progenie , doth make one vessell to honour , and another to dishonour ; that , to honour , by his mermercie : the other , to dishonour through his iudgemente ; to the ende that no man might make too great estimate of the condition of man , or thereby consequently of himselfe . chap. 108. our saluation is so certainely of god , as that we could not haue beene saued by christ , vnlesse , as hee was made man , so also hee had beene god. for , neither should wee haue been redeemed by that onely mediatour betweene god and man the man christ iesus , vnlesse also he had been god. when adam was created ( that is , man in his righteousnes ) at that time he needed no mediatour . but when sinnes had made a separation between god and man , wee stood in need of the helpe of a mediatour to reconcile vs to god ( being such an one as was solely born without sin , and so liued & was slaine ) vntil the day of resurrection of the flesh to life euerlasting , to the ende that the pride of man might bee reprooued by the humilitie of god , and therby made whole , as also to make man knowe how farre hee was departed from god , when as he was to be brought backe againe by god incarnate : and that disobedient man must be taught obedience by the exāple of god being made man ; as also that the fountaine of mercie should be opened by the onely begotten taking vpon him the forme of a seruant , who had not by any former action deserued such indignitie ; and that also the redeemer himselfe should goe before and shew vnto vs in his own person , the resurrection promised to the redeemed ; and that the diuell should be subdued by the same nature which he reioyced that he had deceiued : notwithstanding al which , man was not to boast , least pride should be eftsoones reuiued in him : and if any thing else can be inwardly conceiued or said concerning so great a mystery of the mediator by such as growe and increase with the increasings of god : or onely may bee conceiued in thought , if it cannot be vttered in speech . tovching the place and state wherin our soules remaine after this life . chap. cix . that the soules of men , presently after death , remaine in certaine receptacles , vntill the later day . the time that is betweene the death of man and the resurrection , doth containe the soules of the deceased in certaine secret and vnseene receptacles , accordingly as euerie of them haue deserued rest or paine , by the deeds of the flesh whil'st they liued . animaduersions vpon the cix . chapter . that the soules of men , presently after death , remaine in certaine receptacles , vntill the later day . howsoeuer augustine , in this chapter , affirmeth that the soules of men after death , remain in certaine receptacles , vntill the day of doome , being drawen to that opinion , as is thought , by irenaeus , a most auncient writer , who ( as danaeus setteth downe in his comment vpon this chapter ) sayeth plainely , that the soules of christes disciples , for whome hee had wrought these happinesses or eternall blessinges , should depart away into an inuisible place appointed vnto them by god , where they should remaine vntill the resurrection ; and that being done , should afterwardes put on their bodies againe , and rise in greater perfection : yet afterwards in an other place , augustine doth make a question thereof , being doubtfull of that doctrine , and thinketh it may be for certaine affirmed , that the soules of the godly be transported , presently after death , into that place which is more glorious and excellent , than mortall bodies , or any shapes of bodies ; that place being aboue all the heauens , and that heauen , where christ is dwelling . afterwards , writing vpon s. iohn . tract . 49. vpon better iudgement , hee would haue the soules of the godly , after they be out of this body , as touching the place , to be with christ , according to that of iohn , cap. 17. ver . 24. father , i will , that they which thou hast giuen me , be with me , euen where i am , &c. and luk. 23. v. 43. this day shalt thou bee with me in paradise . and more plainely augustine in his fift sermon touching saints , saith , that the soules of the holy , are to be beleeued to be with christ . and afterwards , discoursing of paradise , whether it were locall or spirituall , hee saith , that the lotte ordained for the godly , is called abrahams bosome . which his opinions being laid together , lot the later and better , bee preferred before the worse , looking into saint augustines booke of retractations , wherunto danaeus dot brefer those who would be better satisfied of him , in matters wherein he was either ledor misled by the error of himselfe , or of that age. chap. cx. how farre-forth the godly workes of men , while they liue , bee auaileable . neither is it to be denied , that the soules of the deceased are releeued by the godlinesse of their liuing friendes , when as either the sacrifice of the mediatour is offered for them or almes distributed in the church . but these thinges bee auaileable but onelie to such , who when they liued , did meritorious workes to make them auailcable vnto thē . for , there is a kinde of life , neither so good , but that it needeth these helpes , after death ; neither so euill , but that it may bee benefited by them . and there is a kinde of liuing so good as needeth not these helpes : and there is a kinde of liuing so euill , that it can receiue no helpe or benefit by these , when the course of this life is finished . wherefore in this life man procureth a possibilitie of being releeued after this life , or subiecteth himselfe to a necessitie of greeuous and helpelesse punishment . for , let no man hope when hee is dead , by any after-merite to redeeme his neglect of well dooing while he liued , with god. therfore these , deuotions , which the church , doth sooftē vse in praying for the dead , bee not repugnant to that sentence or assertion of the apostle , wherin it is said , for we shal al appear before the tribunal of christ to receiue iudgement according to our deedes in the flesh , as they haue beene either good or euill ; because euery man while hee liued in the flesh did such thinges as deserued this fauour of god , that the prayers of the church might bee effectuall for him after his departure & death . for , they are not auaileable for all . and wherefore are they not auaileable for all , but in respect of the diuersitie of euery mans action in this life ? when as therefore either the sacrifices of the altar , or of any sort of almes be offered for all such as bee baptized and dead , they become actions of thankes-giuing for such as were exceeding good , and peace offrings for such as were not exceeding euill : albeit for such as bee exceeding euil , these helpes preuail not at al after they are dead : howsoeuer they which be liuing do take comfort thereby . and to whom soeuer these things shall bee auaileable , they bee either auaileable to the full remission of their sinnes : or else that thereby their damnation may be the more easie and tolerable . animaduersions vpon the 110. chapter . how far forth the godly workes of the liuing , doe releeue the dead . neither is it to be denyed , that the soules of the dead , &c. saint augustines greatest blemish in all this booke , is contained in this chapter , as danaeus saith ; this error of his growing out of the doctrine of purgatorie , which of a little sparke , grewe to a great fier , the opinion of that time being , that the soules of men , being not reprobats , were after death releeued and purged from their sinnes , by the charitable prayers of the godly that liued . which opinion was rather destroyed , then founded out of the word of god. howbeit , hereupon afterwardes grewe praiers for the dead , masses , anniuersaries , and indulgences : the cause thereof being imputed to a booke which augustine did write , touching the care that was to bee had of the dead , the same being ●reduced by the fau●tors of that error of praying for the dead ; that his book being writtē to those onely and chiefly , who were desirous to knowe , whether it were auaileable to a christian after death , that his body should be buried , apud sanctial●cu●us memoriam , his meaning therein being corrupted by other mens interpretations . and howsoeuer hee thinketh in this chapter , yet augustine was not permanent in that opinion . for , he writeth in other places , that there can bee no helpe of mercy performed , by the ●ust , to the soules of the deceased , although the godly were neuer so much inclined to mercy in that case : because the sentence of god , is immu 〈…〉 being alreadie pronounced of them at their death , for , saith hee in an other place , gods iudgement hangeth not in suspence touching the soules of the dead , but is instantly giuen and certainely set downe : because , as hee affirmeth , as euery man dyeth , so is hee iudged of god : neither can gods sentence be altered , corrected or diminished . seeing therefore augustine is not constant herein himselfe , wee ought not to bee mooued by his assertion , because it wanteth the true leuain of gods word and assurance or warrant of faith danoeus moreouer affirmeth , that in the celebration of the lords supper , at the first there was a commemoration of the dead martyrs of god , who dyed memorablie and triumphantly for the name of christ , to incourage others to bee resolute and constant in the profess on of the gospell . afterwards , in time , the memorie of them beganne to be celebrated in that 〈◊〉 of the l. supper , which were no martyrs at all ; but dying , desired that they might bee remembred in the celebration of the same : and so at length , euery one that was baptized , was remembred therein , as austin writeth in this place , wher he calleth the lords supper a sacrifice , because , as hee saith in his 10. booke , de ciuitate dei , and 20. chapter , it is the sacrament of the sacrifice of christ . for it is the commemoration of christ his death , and our thansgiuing , for so great a benefit , at gods hand . anselmus also saith , that which men call a sacrafice , is a signe of the true sacrifice . in which sense the auncient writers called the lords supper a sacrifice , not because christ himself should again be offered vp by any mortall creature . this appellation therfore doth nothing at all releeue either the papists , or their masse . besides , it appeareth in many of saint augustines writings , what hee calleth a sacrifice , that is to say , either workes of mercy towards our selues , or towards our neighbours , which bee rendred vnto god ; as also the prayses & celebration of gods name . in other places of scripture , and of his owne workes , hee sheweth by what reason euerie christian is a pr●est . the frequent deuotions vsed in the church , is the principall reason mouing saint augustine , to thinke , the soules of the godly deceased , to bee releeued by the almes and prayers of the liuing , because they began to be commonly and vsually performed in the church for the dead . howbeit , m. caluin asketh how , or by what warrant out of gods word , or example , men dare do this . against whom if it bee replyed , that in the 2. maccabees , 23. v. 44. it is written , that it is godly to pray for the dead ; i aunswere , that the excuse of the author is to be read , appearing in the 15. chapter . from thenceforth it is not said , that iudas did sacrifice for the dead : and these words , pium est ergo , it is godly therefore , be contained in the glosse , and are no part of the text the ancient writers vsed fower reasons or arguments chiefely , to make them beleeue that these things were truely obserued in the church for the dead . the first was drawen from that which luke doth write touching lazarus , and the rich glutton . to which i aunswere , that , that whole storie , or narration , was but a parable : and , if any the like reason be collected from that place , for reliefe of mens soules , by the liuing after death , i may as well gather out of the same that soules haue teeth , a tongue , and an hand : augustine himselfe affirming , that this argument is weake and noddeth . the second argument is this , why , say they doe men that dye , make wills , if they can receiue no helpe or reliefe by the liuing ? this matter is aunswered againe by augustine , writing vppon the hundred and eigh●th psalme : because there is , saith hee , a naturall care of posteritie , ingrafted in all the godly while they liue , vsing no wayes the crewell and profane speach of nero , saying , when i am dead , let there be a confusion of heauen and earth . the thirde argument is this , why , say they , shuld the soules of the godly being dead , appeare vnto the liuing , if they felt not an effect of the workes of the liuing , or that the liuing againe , had none affinitie with them ? or did not belong vnto them ? i aunswere to this , that the soules themselues are not sent ; but that these visions , if god will so haue them appeare , are presented vnto them by the dispensation of his prouidence , for the comfort of the godly , and terrour of the wicked , being done by the operation of angels , and sometimes also by the power of satan . and where augustine saith in his booke , de cura pro mortuis , cap. 15. that certaine which were dead , we set vnto those which were liuing , namely samuel , and on the contrarie amongst the liuing , paule was taken vp to paradise , i say plainely , saith hee , that this reason is weake and reeleth . their fourth and last reason is this , the godly be taken out of this world , before those euils , which god meant to send amongst them , were comne to passe : as for example , king ezechias . to this i aunswere , that this their own reason doth teach , that thinges done heere vpon earth , or in this world , doe not belong at all vnto those which be dead , nor be felt by them . for , to what purpose should this prouidence for them bee made by death , if they should be partakers of them after death ? and how should they become quiet and happie indeede , if the vnquiet life of the liuing , should trouble them , sayth augustine ? but the godly are happie and quiet , as it is in the apocalipse , cap. 14. v. 13. finally , if no man can perform that office of repentance for the dead , as the schoolmen themselues confesse , how can he mitigate their punishment ? all this collected out of danaus comment . chap. cxi . there shall be two companies vniuersally after the day of iudgement : the one of the godly , as well angels as men : the other of the wicked , consisting of both the others . now after the resurrection , the generall iudgement being done and finished , the two cities shal be setled in their final or last estate : the one being of god , the other of the diuell : the one replenished with the good , the other with the bad ; howbeit , both consisting of angels and men : wherein the good shall haue no will at all , nor the euil any power to sinne or to die in any sort : the good , liuing indeed and ioyfully in that euerlasting life , & the wicked being cōtinued with al vnhappines in eternal death without dying ; because both their states are perpetuall . but , in this blessednesse allotted to the good , the conditiō or state of the one , shall be better then the other : and in the miserie or-ordained for the bad , one shall haue lesse torment then another . tovching the punishments of the damned . chap. cxii . that the punishments of the damned be euerlasting and the least of them are exceeding great & fearefull , in respect of the weaknes of our nature . diuers therefore , nay , verie many , doe vainely ( out of humane affection ) lament the euerlasting paine of the damned , and their perpetuall torment , without intermission ; and doe beleeue that it shall not be so indeed : wherein though they wil not contradict the scriptures , yet doe they priuately in their owne conceipts mitigate the seueritie therof & drawe god to a more merciful sentence , supposing that the report therof in the holy scriptures , is more terrible , then true . for , say they , god will not forget to be merciful , or shut vp his louing kindnes in displeasure . this saying is indeed contained in a godly psalme ; but it is meant , without all doubt , of such as be called the vessels of gods mercie : because they are deliuered out of their calamitie & miserie , nor in respect of their own merites , but of god who hath commiseration of them . or , if this may be thought to be generally spoken , it followeth not therefore that they should think there may bee an ende of theit damnation , of whome it is spoken , and they shal goe to eternall punishment : lest by this means the felicitie also of them might be thought to hau an ende and determination in time , to whom it is also saide , the iust shall go to life euerlasting . but let them suppose , if that may content them , that the punishmōts of the damned bee mitigated in some measure betweene whiles . for , so it may bee vnderstood that gods anger remaineth stil vpon them , that is to say , their damnation is euerlasting . for , this damnation , is called the anger of god , and not a perturbation of gods minde ; so that in his anger , or during the continuance thereof , his mercies should neuerthelesse not bee shut vp , howbeit the same should not make an end of eternall punishment , but onely giue an intermission or some ease of their torments , because the psalme sayeth not , to make an ende of his anger , or after his anger was past , but during his anger . the which his anger if it were alone and by itselfe , or howsoeuer it may bee thought to be the least and smallest punishment , to leese the kingdome of god , to bee exiled from that citie , to bee a straunger from the life of god , & to want the infinite choice of loyes with god , which he hideth from such as despise him , and affordeth to all such as put their trust in him : yet is it so great a punishment , as no torments , which wee haue knowen , may equall the same , in case gods anger bee eternall , and these torments doe last but for certain ages , how long soeuer . chap. cxiii . that in the world to come , neither the feticitie of the godly , not the punishment of the damned afterwards shall be equall . the death of the damned shal bee euerlasting , and haue none ende . that is , they shall bee estraunged for euer from the life of god , and this miserie shall bee common to them an , whatsoeuer men imagine being led by their humane affections touching the difference of their punishments , the mitigating or intermission of their paines : as also the happie life of the saints shall likewise indure for euer . in which consideration they shal be all equall howsoeuer they shine and glitter in great varietie and difference of degrees , in happinesse , yet with absolute peace and sweet agreement amongst themselues . of the lordes prayer . chap. cxiiii . that the lords prayer containeth all those things which wee are to hope for , and to desire of god. ovt of the confession of faith which is briefly comprized in the creede and which , being imperfectly vnderstood , is milke for babes , but more fully and spiritually conceiued , & expressed , is meate for stronge men , springeth and groweth that good and happy hope of the faithful , which is alwayes accompanied with holy loue . but , among all those things which the faithfull must beleeue , they onely appertaine vnto hope , which are contained in the lords prayer . for , cursed is euery one , as the diuine oracles doe testifie , which putteth his trust in man : & so euerie one is wrapped vp in this curse , which putteth his trust in himself . wherfore we must not seeke but at the hands of our lord god , any thing which wee hope we shall well performe , or for which well performed , wee looke for any prayse or reward . chap. cxv. that the lords prayer consisteth of seauen petitions : and what the meaning and scope of them is . vvherefore the lords prayer , as it is deliuered by mathewe the euangelist , seemeth to containe seauen petitions : in three of the which wee aske for things eternal ; in the other fower for things temporall : which yet notwithstanding are necessary for the attaining of things eternall . for , whereas we say , hallowed be thy name , thy kingdom come , thy wil be done , in earth as it is in heauen , which some men haue not vnfitly vnderstood , that gods wil should be done both in our spirit and in our body , all these things are such as must be cōtinued for euer ; & , being here begun , by dayly proceeding are increased in vs : which being perfected , which thing wee hope shall bee performed in the other life , wee shall possesse and inioy them for euer . but where wee say , giue vs this day our dayly bread , and forgiue vs our trespasses , as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs , and leade vs not into temption , but deliuer vs from euill ; who doth not see , that al these things respect the wants and necessities of this present life . in that euerlasting life therefore in which wee hope to liue for euer , the sanctisication of gods name , his kingdome , and the fulfilling of his will , shal remaine euerlastingly in great perfection in our spirit , and in our bodies . but the bread which we aske , is therefore called dayly bread because in the state of this life it is necessarie ; being a supply of the want , either of soule , or body , whether wee vnderstand thereby , either carnall , or spirituall food , or both . heere is vse of that remission of sinnes , which we desire ; because heere those sinnes bee committed , the remission whereof wee pray for . heere are those temptations which allure and drawe vs vnto sinne . to conclude , here is that euill , from which we desire to be deliuered . but there , that is to say in heauen , and the state of the other life , there is none of these things . chap. cxvi . that the euangelistes , mathewe and luke , doe differ in setting downe the petitions of the lords prayer . lvke the euangelist comprehendeth in the lords prayer , not seauen , but fiue petitions , and yet doth not hee farre from mathewe : but , by expressing thē more briefly , put vs in mind , how those seauen are to bee vnderstood . for , the name of god is hallowed in spirit . but his kingdome shall come when the flesh shall rise againe . luke therefore shewing that the third petition is in some sort a repetition ; by omitting it , makes vs the better to vnderstand it . thē doth hee adde the other three concerning dayly bread , the remission of sinnes , the auoyding of temptation . but , wheras hee addeth in the first place , but deliuer vs from euill , this euangelist hath it not : that therby we might vnderstand , that it pertaineth to that which formerly was expressed concerning temptation . for , therefore it is hee sayth , but deliuer vs ; and not , and deliuer vs , thereby shewing vs that they are but one petition . for he saith let not this be , that wee bee led into temptation , but deliuer ; that euerle one may knowe he is deliuered from euill , in that he is not led into temptation . of christ . chap. cxvli . that true charitie is an effect of true faith and hope : and that there is not true faith , but that , that doth worke by loue . now , for charitie , which the apostle pronounceth to be greater then these two , that is , faith and hope ; by how much the greater it is in any man , by so much hee is the better in whome it is . for , when wee aske whether a man bee good or not , wee aske not , what hee beleeues or hopes for , but what hee loueth . for , hee that loues aright , doubtlesse beleeues and hopes aright . but hee which loues not , beleeues in vaine , though the thinges bee true hee doth beleeue : and hopes in vaine , though the things hee hope for , pertaine to true felicitie : vnlesse he beleeue and hope for this also : that god , at his humble suite , both can and will giue vnto him , the affection of loue . for , although no man can hope without loue , yet it may and doth sometimes fal out , that a man loues not that , without which hee cannot attaine the thing hee hopeth for . as , if a man hope for eternall life , and yet neither hath , nor loueth righteousnesse , without which no man attaineth eternall life . this is that faith of christ which the apostle commendes , which works by loue : and what it findes defectiue in loue , it asketh , that it may receiue , and seeketh that it may finde , and knocketh that it may bee opened vnto it . for , faith obtaineth what the lawe commandeth . for , without the gift of god ; that is , without the holy ghost , by which the loue of god is shed abroade in our hearts , the lawe may require obedience , but worketh no obedience , but rather maketh a man a more greenous transgressor , because it taketh from him the excuse of ignorance . for , there , doubtlesse , carnall concupiscēce swayeth all , where the loue of god hath no place . chap. cxvlii . that , as of the whole church , so of euerie faithfull man , there are fower ages and degrees , by which they goe forwarde and growe to perfection . when as a man liueth and abideth in palpable darknesse of ignorance , following those things the flesh most desireth reason making no re 〈…〉 , this is the first 〈◊〉 of the condition of a man. afterwardes , when by the lawe hee getteth the knowledge of sinne , it the spirit of god assist him not , endeuouring to liue according to the lawe , hee is ouercommen of sinne , sinneth wittingly , becomes the seruant of sinne , ( for of whom soeuer a man is ouercommen , his seruant hee is ) the knowledge of the commandement being an occasion that sin worketh in man all manner of concupiscence , the transgression of the law now knowen being added to the heap of former sins ( and so is that fulfilled which is written , the lawe entred , that sin might abound ) this is the second estate or condition of man. but , if god looke so gratiously vpon man , that hee helpe him to performe those things he requireth , and man beginne to bee ledde by the spirite of god , his desires and endeuours against the flesh are strengthened with the strength of loue ; so that although as yet there be in man that resists , in his best endeuours , the whole infirmitie of sinne being not healed , yet the iust doth liue by faith , and liues righteously , in that hee yeeldeth not to euill concupiscence , the loue of righteousnes preuailing in him . this is the third estate of man. in which causes if with happy continuance hee goe forward , the last part remaineth , the complement whereof shall bee after this life : first , in the happie rest of the soule or spirit , and afterwards in the resurrection of the body . of these ●ower different estates , the first was before the lawe : the second vnder the lawe : the thirde vnder grace : the fourth , in full and perfect peace . so was the estate of gods people ordered in the seuerall diuersities of times , accordingly as it pleased him , which disposeth all thinges in measure , number and weight . for , the people of god was first before the law. secondly , vnder the lawe which was giuen by moyses . thirdly , vnder grace which was reuealed by the first comming of the mediatour : which grace notwithstanding was not wanting before to them vpon whom god wold bestowe it , although it were vailed and hid in obscurities , according to the dispensation of time . for , there was none of the righteous in olde time , that could obtaine saluation without the faith of christ . and , vnlesse hee had beene knowen of them , they could not haue prophecied vnto vs of him , sometimes more plainely , sometimes more obscurely , as they did . of baptisme . chap. cxix . that baptisme doth profit vs , in which soeuer of these former ages or degrees wee be in . in which soeuer of these fower ages or conditions the grace of regeneration findeth each man , there are all his sinnes past remitted vnto him ; and the guilt , contracted by the first birth , is dissolued by the second . and of so great force is that the spirit breatheth where it wil , that there bee some which neuer enter into that second estate of seruitude vnder the lawe ; but in the first receiuing of the commandemēt haue the hands of gods helping grace reached forth vnto them . chap. cxx. that they which die immediately after baptisme , are happie . before a man can receiue commandement , it is of necessity that he must first liue , according to the flesh . but if , being initiated with the sacrament of regeneration , hee presently departe out of this life , death shall not hurt him , because christ therefore died and rose againe , that he might haue dominion ouer the liuing and the dead . neither shall the kingdome of death hould him , for whom he died that was free among the dead . chap. cxxi . that charitie is the law and the gospell , which now hath her dayly increases ; but , in the world to come shall haue her absolute perfection . that all the diuine precepts are referred vnto charitie whereof the apostle sayth , the ende of the commandement is charitie out of a pure heart , a good conscience , and faith vnfained ; the ende therfore of euerie precept , is charitie . that is , euery precept is referred vnto charitie . but whatsoeuer is so done , either for feare of punishment , or any other carnall respect , that it is not referred to charitie , which the holye ghost doth shedde abroade in our hearts , it is not done as it should bee done , though it seeme to bee done . for , charitie reacheth both to god and our neighbour . and truely in these two precepts hangeth all the lawe and the prophets : whereunto wee may adde the gospell and the apostles also . for , whēce haue we that saying , the ende of the lawe is charitie , and god is charitie , but out of their writings what-euer things therefore god commandeth , of which one is , thou shalt not commit adulterie , and what-euer things are not commanded , but men are aduised thereunto by speciall counsaile , of which one is , it is good for a man not to touch a woman , both these kindes of things are then well performed when they are referred to the loue of god , and of our neighbour for god both in this world and the worlde to come : the loue of god , i say , whome now wee behould through faith , but then shall see him face to face : and our neighbour also now we knowe but by faith . for , wee mortall men , know not the harts of mortall men : but then god shall enlighten the hid things of darkenesse , and manifest the thoughts of our harts . then shal euerie one haue prayse of god , because each neighbour shall prayse and loue that in other , which diuine illumination will not suffer to be hid in them , but will present it to the viewe of each other . now concupiscence is diminished and weakned , charitie increasing till it come , euen in this world , to such a greatnes , as greater it cannot be . no greater loue then this can any man haue , than that a man should giue his life for his friends . but , who shall bee able to expresse what height of loue shall bee there , where there shall bee no concupiscence nor no inordinate desire to be repressed ? how whole & sound all things shal be there , where there shall be no striuing● of direfull death . chap. cxxii . what name is most fitly to be giuen to this worke . bvt let vs now at the last make an end of this worke , which chuse you , whether you will call or vse in the nature of an enchiridion . but , i truely not thinking your studies and endeuours in christ iesus to be such as should be despised , and promising my selfe all good of you ; trusting & hoping in the help of our redeemer , and louing you most dearly in the sweete fellowship of his members , i haue written and dedicated vnto you ( endeuouring my self to the vttermost ) a book of faith , hope and charitie : which , god grant bee as pleasing & profitable vnto you , as it is large . finis . the substance of christian religion, or, a plain and easie draught of the christian catechisme in lii lectures on chosen texts of scripture, for each lords-day of the year, learnedly and perspicuously illustrated with doctrines, reasons, and uses / by that reverend and worthy laborer in the lord's vineyard, william ames ... ames, william, 1576-1633. 1659 approx. 523 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 161 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a25294 wing a3003 estc r6622 12192946 ocm 12192946 55920 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a25294) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 55920) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 118:5) the substance of christian religion, or, a plain and easie draught of the christian catechisme in lii lectures on chosen texts of scripture, for each lords-day of the year, learnedly and perspicuously illustrated with doctrines, reasons, and uses / by that reverend and worthy laborer in the lord's vineyard, william ames ... ames, william, 1576-1633. 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the svbstance of christian religion : or , a plain and easie draught of the christian catechisme , in lii . lectures , on chosen texts of scripture , for each lords-day of the year , learnedly and perspicuously illustrated with doctrines , reasons and uses . by that reverend and worthy laborer in the lord's vineyard , william ames , doctor in divinity , and late professor thereof , at franeker in friezeland . london , printed by t. mabb for thomas davies , and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the bible over against the little-north-doore of paul , church , 1659. to the reader . some years are now passed , since it pleased divine providence to put a period to the life of dr. william ames , in whose death very many did interest themselves , as no indifferent mourners . not onely those , who either under the notion of schollers or friends were become his familiars ; but universally all such , who had been sensible of injoying the fruits of his labours : and who were fervent lovers of sound literature , purity of heavenly doctrine , and godlinesse in sincerity of heart . knowing indeed , that in ames , the garden of learning had lost one of its choisest flowers , the fortresse of truth , one of its stoutest defenders , piety its most faithfull favourite , the school a most able and reverent doctor , and studious youth their most diligent instructor . that we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , those , who have derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of learning from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; ●…und ●…able witnesses . in further testimony are those his elabourate 〈◊〉 in opposition to the idolatrous tyrany of popery , and the spreading gangrene of arminianisme , especially his * coroni●… , whereby he obtained the crown in the conflict . as also those things which he dedicated to both religion and p●…ty ; his marrow of divinity ▪ his c●…ses of conscience , explication of the psa●…mes , pe●…er , &c. and these his catechistical commentations , which indeed he designed for the private use of his schollers ▪ upon whose intreaty he laid th●…n down : but things so eminently conducing to the publick , were not to be confined to the narrower limits of private profit . amongst those divers wayes by which diverse doe handle catechistical doctrine , this author thought fit above all to make use of this method : he takes out of the word of god a text most apposite , resolves and explaines it su●…inctly , then drawes out examples containing doctrinal instructions , and lastly , applies them to their several uses . if this shall be disgusted by some ●…cer pa●…at , i intreat him onl●… by little and little to remit that prejudicate opinion , which he can deduce from nothing but a slight perusal ; and must upon a more setled introspection confess , that in this piece ames hath most prudently chose , and dexterously handled , the most plain and regular method , for the preachers function , and christian instruction . but if any should please themselves with any other method , they may with little pains and exceeding profit produce a compliance between it and our amesian system . the truth of this is sufficiently attested , not onely by our own country men , but also by the dutch , french , and others , among whose catechistical treatises this was and is in no small esteem . i need not have taken thus much pains to premise a prefatory epistle , when indeed i am not ignorant how that the least knowing among us , will conclude me but weak to suppose , that i might induce them to prize this piece by a second motive , when the title hath already presented them with the name of ames : but least a total silence should bring this work at first sight to be questioned for spurious , i thought it not altogether unnecessary to usher it into the world with this short preface . farewell . a catalogue of books printed for , and to be sold by thomas davies , at the bible over against the little north doore of st. paul's church . the history of this iron age , wherein is set downe the true state of europe , as it was in the year 1500. also the original and causes of all the warrs and commotions that have happened , together with a description of the most memorable battels , sieges , actions , and transactions , both in court and camp , from that time untill this present year 1659. illustrated with the lively effigies of the most renowned persons of this present time . folio . bp. andrewes his lectures , which he preached at st. giles cripplegate , and elswhere ; with a preface written by mr. th. pierce , minister of brington in northampton shire . folio . a commentary upon the whole epistle of the apostle paul to the ephesians , wherein the text is learnedly , and fruitfully opened ; with a logical analysis , spiritual and holy observations , confutation of arminianisme and popery , and sound edification of the diligent reader , by mr. paul bain , sometimes preacher of gods word at st. andrews in cambridge : the fith edition , to which is added the life of the author , and a table of all the doctrines . folio ▪ hewes his phrases in english and latin with an augmentation of several phrases by a●… . rosse , a book very usefull for all 〈◊〉 school●… ▪ octavo . the preachers patterne , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 handling in 52. lectures on chosen texts of scripture , the substance of christian religion , learnedly and solidly illustrated , with apt doctrines , reasons , and uses ; by that late , famous labourer in gods vineyard , wil. ames , doctor in divinity , and professor thereof at franeker in friezeland . octavo . basilius valentius his last will and testament , shewing the ways he wrought to obtain the philosopher's stone , and taught it to his fellow ▪ collegians . octavo . ougtredi trigonometria , hoc est modus computandi triangulorum latera & angulos , ex canone mathamatico traditus & demonstratus . 〈◊〉 . a discourse of the empire of germany , and of the election and crowning the emperour and king of the romans , with the interests of the electors , and the reasons why the present emperour was lately chosen ; by james howell esq. octavo . a discourse made in the solemne assembly of nobles and learned men , at montpelleier in france , of the cure of wounds by the powder of sympathy , with the manner of making and applying the said powder ; by sr kenelme digby kt. 12. by whom also all sorts of latine books transported from beyond the seas , are to be sold. the substance of christian religion . the first lords day psalm 4. vers . 6 , 7 , 8. there be many that say , who will shew us any good ? lord , lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us . 7. thou hast put gladness in my heart , more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased . 8. i will both lay me down in peace , and sleep : for , thou lord , onely makest me dwell in safety . the scope of this psalm is , to teach us by the example of david how we ought to carry our selves , when we are compassed about with the greatest dangers . now , two things are here performed by david , which make up the two parts of this psalm . first , he prayeth for the turning away of imminent danger , verse 1. secondly , he setteth out the effect of this his prayer , in the strengthening of his minde , which he attained to by this means : and of that in the rest of the verses . this confirmation is declared by a double reason , first , by an adhortation , which he useth towards his enemies , vers 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. secondly , by a profession of his confidence that he had in god , from the sixth verse to the end of the psalm . in this profession of his confidence , the royal prophet sheweth , that he places his chief felicity in gods favour towards him . and this profession is , first illustrated from a comparison with a very unlike and vanishing care of worldly men , that they have concerning their owne happinesse or felicity , verse 6. secondly , from the effect of gods favour ; to wit , that it brings with its self wonderfull gladnesse to the mindes and consciences of those that have received it , verse 7. in which words the reason and cause is given of the former confession . and then this gladness is illustrated by a comparison of a less joy or gladness , which yet by the world is taken for a full joy ; and that is , the joy that arises from the plenty and abundance of the goods of this life , verse 7. lastly , this profession of the prophet is illustrated from another effect , that it brings with it , to wit , security and safety from fear , and all cause of fear ; the true cause whereof is placed in gods protection , ver●… . 8. that all these things may be the better understood , we must know and observe , for the explication of the words , that by many in this place , all are understood ▪ because what is here attributed to many , 〈◊〉 to all . secondly , that by the word , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is not heer understood properly an externall and vocall sp●…ech , but the inward affections , desire , and endeavour ; because this saying is affirmed of such also as abstain from outward speech , and perhaps cannot speak . thirdly , that by this exclamation [ who will shew us any good ? ] a vehement desire is imported . fourthly , that by good , all and every thing is understood , which appeares delectable , whether it seem profitable , pleasant , or any other way desirable . fifthly , that by lifting up of gods countenance upon us , by a constant phrase of scripture is understood , the communication and manifestation of gods gratious presence and favour ; for it is a metaphor or speech that seems to be borrowed from the sun arising and spreading abroad the beams of his light , whereby he brings a certain lif●… and gladness to all creatures here below . doctrines from hence arising . doct. 1. our chief felicity and happiness ought above all other things to be regarded and sought after , and that throughout our whole life . this doctrine is thus raised and gathered ; in that david proposeth this , as his onely comfort which he regarded in the time of his affliction , and which he would regard all his life time . now by the chief good ▪ that properly is to be understood , wherein our felicity consists ; in which felicity , is contained an affluence or fulness of all desirable good things . and this chief good , as it is imperfectly here attained to , and possessed in this life , is properly called our consolation , or comfort : it is called comfort , because it is that , which as it were strengthens and comforts the minde , and makes it strong and firm against all oppressing pains , griefs and terrours , for consolation or comfort is properly a mitigation of pain and grief , or a remedy against sorrow and fear . reason 1. the first reason of this doctrine , is ; because in this chief good the end of our life doth consist ; and the end in all things is chiefly to be looked on ; because whosoever doth any thing not in order to a fixed end , he doth it but rashly , and without reason . so he also , who lives without having his eye still fixed upon his chief good , lives but rashly and at randome , and like unto a brute and unreasonable creature . reas. 2. is , because from the regard we have to this end , all our actions are to be governed ; whereof these onely can be called right , which , as it were in a right or streight line tend to this end ; and all others are wrong , and like crooked lines , or by-pathes turning out of the right , and streight way . he therefore that lives without regard to this chief and last end , doth just as he , that intending to shoot at a butte , would not yet look at the mark , but let his arrow loose at randome ; or as he that would commit his ship to the wind and waves , never looking to the load-starre , or having any care of the haven whereunto he would arrive . reas. 3. because the chief good is of chief excellency and worth , and therefore also deserves to have the chief place in our thoughts , studies , and cares . whoso therefore neglecting this , suffer themselves to be taken up with other things , ▪ are like unto children , who misregarding commonly things of 〈◊〉 worth , busy themselves altogether with 〈◊〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 the use of this doctrine is for reproof , against such as seldome or never think of the end and mark ▪ whereunto their life should tend ; and are not carefull about that perfection ▪ and chief good , whereunto they ought mainly to contend ; and such mens lives are neither christian nor rational , but rather brutish and bestial . doct. 2. is this , that a mans chief good or happiness cannot be found in the goods of this life . and this is gathered from verse 6. where this opinion of worldly men , that it may be found in such things , is rejected , as vain . the meaning of the doctrine is , that a mans happiness consisteth not either in riches , or in honours , or in renown , or in power , or in any goods of the body ; nor yet in pleasure , nor in any perfection of the minde , nor in any other the like created good . reas. 1. because such goods do not make the man himself good , and therefore neither can they make him happy ; but they are common to the worst of men , as well as to good men . 2. because such goods are oftentimes the instruments and means of sin and misery . 3. because there is none of them , which ought not to be referred to a further good : therefore in them cannot consist the last , chief , and perfectest good . 4. because none of them can perfect the soul and spirit of man. 5. because most of these goods are common to beasts with men ; and yet beasts are not capable of happiness . 6. because oftentimes it is a mans vertue and perfection to neglect and contemne such goods ; so that such are the best and perfectest men , that make least account of these outward and worldly goods . use. the use is of reproof against such , who esteem as much of these goods , seek after them as lawfully , keep them with as great care , when acquired , and are as loath to leave them , as if they placed their true and onely bliss and happiness in them . doct. 3. is , that our true and chief good consists in our union and communion , that we have with god. this is gathered from these words ; lift up the light of thy countenance upon us , o lord. the meaning is , that god himself is our true chief good , as well effectively , as objectively ; because he alone makes us happy , as the efficient ; and makes us happy in himself , as the object ; that is , by communicating himself unto us , according to that modell of the covenant ; i will be thy god : i will be thy rich reward : and that our communion with god , is our formall or inherent happiness , which is wont to be called the vision o●… seeing of god , and the beatificall vision . now to see god , in scripture-phrase , signifies not either the sight of the eyes , or the bare speculation and beholding with the understanding , but the full fruition and enjoyment of god , as farre as 〈◊〉 makes for our blessedness . and to this fruition and communion we attain by jesus christ our lord ; and therefore this consolation must be referred to christ , as to its cause ; and all that belongs to our happiness , must be acknowledged to come by him . reas. 1. because there is nothing else that can bring 〈◊〉 & solid quiet & peace to our soules , or satisfie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the nature of man ; for all other things 〈◊〉 well noted by isa. 35. 2. to be things unsatisfa●… ; where also on the contrary , the fat and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our soules , is said to consist in this 〈◊〉 communion . and this same in like manner is preached unto us in severall places of the psalms , that 〈◊〉 the lords house , that is , in the communion that we have with god , our soules are filled as it were with f●…t and marrow , psal. 83 6. and 65. 5. and as any naturall body , out of its own place , hath never that kindly and naturall rest which it desireth : so also man standing without god , is as it were out of his own place , and so cannot rest with true and solid contentment . also as nothing which is less can fill up the whole capacity of a vessell that is bigger ; so nothing that is worldly can 〈◊〉 up the capacity of our soules , and that because our soules are of an higher and larger capacity , than 〈◊〉 whole world is . reas. 2. because there is no other thing without or besides god , which for its self , is in the last place to be desired ; for all things ought always to be referred to god , because he is the first efficient and last end of all things . therefore as one going a journey , can never perform it , so long as he stayes at half the way ; but ought to proceed to the end thereof : so they , that stick either at any creature , or at any worldly matter , which are but parts of the way , whereby we ought to be led unto god ; can never arrive at the end and perfection of their life . reas. 3. because there is no other independent good ; for he that trusts in him , that depends on another is not sure in his trust , because the other is uncertain , in that he depends upon anothers pleasure . reas. 4. there is no other good , that can be imparted to all , and every man together and at once , that are heires of happiness : for that which is wholly communicated to all , and every one at once and together , ought to be infinite . reas. 5. lastly , there is nothing else , which either in it self is free from all mixture of imperfection , or can keep us free from all kinde of evill , or make us partakers of all sorts of good . use 1. of exhortation , to seek god and his face and favour above all things else whatsoever . use 2. of comfort for the faithfull , who have god for their god , in christ ; for they are partakers of that chief good , and so are truly blessed or happy , whatever otherwayes befall them in this world . doct 4. is ; that joy that the faithfull have from the commi●…ion that they have with god , in its sweetnesse , surpasses all other humane delights and joyes . this is gathered from vers . 7. and from 1. pet. 1. 8. from these places this doctrine may be illustrated and cleared , as from the place cited , and such like . reas. 1. because this joy is about the true and chief good ; and other worldly joyes are either about false and counterfeit goods ; or about such , as in comparison of the chief , are but light and of no great value . there is a great difference between these joyes as is between the phansie and affection of a childe , that is moved by the picture , or resemblance of meat or drink , or of some other delightfull thing ; and that affection ▪ that men feel in themselves arising from the use of convenient & 〈◊〉 meat & drink , after great thirst & hunger . 〈◊〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 . because the conjunction and presence 〈◊〉 this good , is ●…ost intimate and inward to our 〈◊〉 ▪ for it doth not onely tickle the senses , whether external , or internal ; but it also seizes upon and possesses the soul it self , and spirit of our mind . hence it is also , that in scripture , ps. 103. not onely the soul , but all that is in a faithfull man , is said to 〈◊〉 in god. in this respect , there is as much difference between this spiritual joy , and that worldly gladness that arises from other things , as is between the small besprinkling of the earth , with the morning or evening dew , and the through wet●…ing of it with a plentifull and seasonable rain . reas. 3. because all other worldly joyes are ●…ding , temporary and but for a moment ; and doe often end in mourning and sorrow : whereas , that spiritual joy endureth to eternity , as doth the good , from whose possession it ariseth : in this regard also , there is as much difference between this spirituall joy and gladness , and that of this world , as is between the flame of straw , or of thorns burning under a pot , and the light of the sun it self . reas. 4. because worldly joy is overcome and interrupted by the travails and afflictions of this life , and much more by terrours and anguishes of conscience : but this spiritual joy doth so overcome all other afflictions and swallow them up ▪ that not onely it makes a man to rejoyce while he is in them , but also to rejoyce of them and for them , act. 5. 41. iam. 1. 2. use 1. of admonition , that we suffer not our selves to be deceived by the pleasures and delights of this world , so that they may not in the least take us off from seeking of god ; as the apostle saith , that the afflictions of this world are not worthy that eternal weight of glory , which we expect in heaven : for indeed we ought to think of the pleasures of this world , as not worthy to be compared with that spiritual joy , whereunto we are called in christ , and in our god through christ. for such as are led away by the pleasures of this life , from seeking that solid joy in god , do as if they should rest in the smell of meat or drink , and should so think to feed themselves , neglecting the solid food it self , untill they perish for ●…inger . use ▪ 2. of refutation against that carnal imagination of the world , whereby many think that there is no joy nor gladness in the practice of godliness , and so they shun godliness , and the care of it , as that which is full of sadness and melancholy : but the scriptures teach otherwayes , that the godly are called to this , that they may alwayes rejoyce , phil. 4. 4. and that they alwayes are as it were , feasting with all gladness , according to that of solomon , prov. 15. 15. the proper cause of this errour is , ignorance & a depraved sense of their sins , 〈◊〉 in this like unto an herd of swine , who make it their greatest pleasure and delight , to wallow in the 〈◊〉 . use ▪ 3. of consolation for the godly , in that 〈◊〉 their outward condition is , yet they have 〈◊〉 of more true joy , than can be either felt , or understood by worldly men . use 4. of exhortation , that striving with our utmost indeavour , we must labour more and more to receive , and be sensible of this joy . now the mean●… , which we ought chiefly to use for attaining and 〈◊〉 thereof , are these ; 1. we must in good 〈◊〉 remove all hinderances of this joy ; that is , that by repentance & a real amendment of life , we 〈◊〉 cleanse and disburthen our selves of our sins . 〈◊〉 we ought to have a true care , that we daily make more sure and constant to our selves our union and communion with god , by diligent examination and confirmation of our faith and hope . 3. that we 〈◊〉 much and often exercised in the religious meditation of gods promises , which promise all good things to such , as have god for their god. 4. i●…●…duceth much to this purpose , if in our selves we exercise and excite this joy , in and by the daily praise of gods name ; that is , as well in private as publick thanksgiving , coming from the bottom of our heart , for all those blessings , with which god hath blessed us in christ jesus . doct. 5. that this joy●… and this comfort brings a certain holy security to the consciences of believers . this is gathered from the last verse of the psalm . and this is that security , wherein the apostle ●…oasts and glories , rom. 8. if god be for 〈◊〉 , who 〈◊〉 be against us , &c. for i am perswaded that nothing can separate me , &c. and david every where in the 〈◊〉 ; why do i fear ? god is my rock , &c. this security differs much from carnall security , wherein men of this world lye and sleep . 1. because true and prais-worthy security is grounded upon true faith , and not upon vain imagination . 2. because it is bred in us by the word and promises , and by the preaching and knowledge of the word of god : it doth not proceed from traditions or mens dreams , and customes in sin , as that doth . 3. because this security relies alwayes upon gods protection , as it is in the text , thou onely makest me , &c. it doth not rely on outward means , or on our own strength and wisdome . 4. because this security is fed , cherished , and advanced by diligent use of calling upon gods name , and of all other means that god hath prescribed and appointed us reas ▪ 1. because gods protection secureth believers from all evill , at least from the sting of it , by reason whereof it is onely truly evill ; for god hath all things , both evill and good in his own power . reas ▪ 2. because gods presence brings all other good things with it , for god is so good in himself , that in himself virtually and eminently he contains all things , that can be called good . reas. 3. because gods goodness towards believers is unchangeable , so that there can be no danger of the changing of this happiness into misery . use , the use of this doctrine , is for consolation to the faithfull , to wit , that from this ground they 〈◊〉 and ought to depend upon god ; and lay aside all those anxieties , whereby they may be discouraged from adhering to god with joy and gladness . the second lords day rom. 7. vers . 7. what shall we say then ? is the law sin ? god forbid . yea , i had not known sin but by the law. for i had not , 〈◊〉 that concupiscence or lust was a sin , unless the law had said , thou shalt not covet . the apostle , that he might stir up the faithfull to a new obedience , had proposed to them the difference of their condition that are under the law , and of them that are under grace ; to wit , that such as are under the law of the flesh and sin , bring forth fruits unto death ; but such as are under the grace of the spirit , bring forth fruits in a new obedience unto life eternall . but because of this opposition between the law and grace , some might gather , that there was then a very great agreement between the law and sin ; therefore in this seventh verse , this objection is preoccupated by the apostle . 1. then the objection is proposed ; what shall we say ? is the law sin ? 2. it is rejected with a certain kinde of detestation ; god forbid . 3. the case is plainly set down and resolved in these words ; i had not known sin , &c. where the singular effect and use of the law is declared ; to wit , that by forbidding and reproving , is begotten in man a sense and acknowledgement of sin , as of that which is contrary to its self ; and therefore it cannot be the cause of sin . the explication . by the law is understood in common ▪ a way and rule of walking . now this way and rule is imposed upon reasonable creatures by divine authority , and the greatest obligations that can be . and this is the law , to wit , of god , which the apostle heer understands ; especially the moral law. by sin here is not onely understood the transgression of gods will , but also all those things that follow upon such a transgression , which in this chapter is defined by the name of death , and is called sometimes misery : sin is either known confusedly and speculatively onely , or more exactly and practically . now the accurate and practicall knowledge of sin is here understood , whereby it is efficaciously concluded in our consciences , that sin is a detestable thing , and by all means to be avoided . doct. 1. men of their own nature are so blinded , that although they be altogether drowned in sin and death , yet of themselves they cannot know it . this is gathered from these words ; i had not known sin . reas. 1. because the very mind and conscience of man , which is his eye and light , is corrupted after a twofold manner . 1. privitively , in that it is deprived of that light , whereby it might rightly judge of it self , and of such things as belong unto its spiritual life . a. positively , in as much as it is possessed with a certain perverse disposition , whence it often calls evill good , and good evill : for as the eye being put quite out feeleth nothing , and as the eye infected with humours , and depraved by the indispositions of the organe , sees all things otherwise than they are presented ; so is it with the eye of the soul. reas. 2. because the whole man is possessed with a certain spiritual distemper , and as it were with a drunkennesse , and lethargick stupidity , whereby he is sensible of nothing rightly and spiritually . reas ▪ 3 because we are so borne in sin , that in a manner it becomes natural to us , nor ever have had we experience of any other condition . as those that are borne with deformed and crooked limbs , and never saw aright and well proportioned disposition of all the members , do not know that their own limbs are deformed and ill proportioned , but esteem their distortion and disproportion to be the right proportion it self ; even so is it in this case of sin , and corruption of nature . use 1. of admonition , that for this cause we might more and more humble our selves before god , seeing that we are so miserable , that of our selves we can never know our own misery . use 2. is of direction , to deny all our natural wisdome ; that so we may flie to god , and seek wisdome from him , that we may know our selves and him aright . doctr. 2. the onely way to know sin aright , and the cause of our mysery is by the law of god. it is gathered from these words , for unlesse the law had said , &c. reas. 1. because the law of god doth in some way enlinghten the eyes of our minde , psal. 19. reas. 2. because the law of god is the rule of our life , and is therefore the touchstone , not onely of the straightness , but also of all the obliquity and crookedness of it . reas. 3. because the law of god is set before us , as a glasse , wherein we may clearly see our faces , and quality . iames 1. 23. now it performs this use of a glass to us , by a comparison made between the perfection which the law requires of us , and the manifold defects and deformities that are found in our life . questions hence arising . quest. 1. whether did not some wise men , at least among the heathen , know sin without this law of god ? i answer ; 1. that they were not altogether without this law of god , because in part they had it written and ingraven in their hearts . but yet , 2. they knew not many sins , which by the law might easily have been known . 3. they knew not sin under the first and most proper reason of it ; to wit , as it was an offence against god ; but onely as it was repugnant to reason in man himself . 4. they knew not those spiritual miseries which accompanie sin . 5. they did not know sin practically and efficaciously , so as to be by that knowledge driven to a spiritual humbling of themselves before god. quest. 2. in what manner doth this law of god shew us our sin ? i answer ; 1. it sheweth us our duty , or the will of god , that we should do . 2. it shews us our fault in transgressing of this will. 3. it shewes us our guilt , whereby for this guiltiness we are bound over unto punishment . 4. it shewes also the punishment it self : for the threatenings of the law , wherein the punishments are contained and denounced , are parts of the law , and belong unto its sanctification or ratification . use 1. of direction ; that in passing judgement upon our lives , we follow not either our own fancies , nor the tenets and opinions of the vulgar , but the law of god alone . use 2. of admonition , that we often make trial of our life according to that law ; and that as well for time past , for our greater humiliation ; as for the time to come , for our caution and better direction in every part of our conversation . the third lords day , rom. 5. vers . 12. wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world , and death by sin : and so death passed upon all men , in whom all have sinned . the apostles purpose in this place is to illustrate that doctrine , which he had before taught concerning justification by iesus christ ; for which end he makes a comparison of the likeness between this grace of our lord iesus christ , and the sin of adam , our first father after the flesh . and the comparison runs upon the efficacy and effects of each of them : the proposition of the comparison is in ●… . 12. and the reddition to that is after explicated by way of parenthesis . in the proposition , adam is set forth , as the cause of a twofold effect ; to wit , of the bringing in of sin , and of the bringing in of death . and the reason of the connexion of these effects with that cause is given in the last words of this verse , to wit , from the conjunction that all had with adam in that first sin ; in these words , in whom all men , &c. doct. 1. sin entered into the world , not by gods creation , but by mans defection . this is manifest in the text , by man , not by god , &c. reas. 1. because god made man upright and after his own image ; that is , not onely free from all sin ( which may in some sort also be said of all other creatures ) but also adorned him with all those endowments and faculties , whereby gods nature might , as it were in a pourtrait be expressed and represented ; and by help whereof in keeping of the law , he might have attained unto a certain sort of divine blessedness or felicity . for as there is no fault in a pourtrait , so it be well drawn or made by a perfect workman , unless the fault be in the original , from whence the pourtait is taken : so also no fault could be in man created according to gods image , and that by god himself , unlesse some fault be attributed to god himself , whose image man is . reas. 2. is , because god did not onely prescribe a law unto man in the creation , but also engraved it upon his heart ; by which means it was , that man had in himself a most certain testimony of his uprightness , in which and to which , he was created , and withall a most sufficient and ready means of living well and unblameably to god : for the law of god perfectly & purely written in the heart of man , is as it were a solemn testimony registred in a table or book , that man was made fit and able to keep that law. it is as it were the voice of god sent down from heaven , whereby man was called and stirred up to observe that way of living , which is taught thereby . reas. 3. because god added thereunto a pledge and sacrament in the tree of life , whereby he would have that covenant of the law , written in the heart , more clearly confirmed also outwardly ; to wit , that he would by the observation of his law , first perpetuate mans life in this world unto the solemn justification of him , at his appointed time ; and then advance him to a further and heavenly felicity . and on the other side , he threatens death unto him , in case he should depart from that will and law of god : all which had been done to no purpose , if man had been at first made by god himself , in any measure or manner sinfull and perverse . reas. 4. so far was god from being the cause of sin in the first creation of man , that by no means it can be conceived , how god at any time can be the cause of any sin ; because , seeing sin is a defect , it can have no other cause , but a deficient one ; and god , seeing he is perfection it self , can no ways , nor ever be deficient . use of direction ; that in all our speeches and thoughts we may keep gods glory untouched and unspotted , and confesse that all the good we have comes alwayes from him ; but that all the evill that either we doe , or suffer , ariseth not from him , but from our selves . doct. 2. through adams first disobedience sin passed upon all his posterity . nor did this happen onely by way of imitation ▪ as the pelagians teach ; but also by way of propagation or natural descent . this is proved by this argument . if this had onely come to pass by imitation , then the apostle might as properly have said , that adam with all his posterity sinned in the angels , who first fell from god ; as to have said , that all men sinned in adam ; because they as much follow the example of the angels , as of adam . for it is expressely said , vers . 14. that death ( and so also sin ) reigned over them , that sinned not after the similitude of adam : that is , by the imitation of adam ; therefore vers . 19. men are said to be made sinners by adams disobedience it self . the manner of this propagation is taken up and understood , 1. to stand in imputation , because that first transgression was held as the transgression of the whole nature of mankinde : for as in the receiving of the benefits and endowments that belonged to all mankinde , adam bore the place and person of all men ; so also it was but right and reason , that he should maintain their place , either in their conservation by obedience , or losse by disobedience , untill they were capable of standing to , or falling from their primitive condition in their own persons . herein he was as it were the surety of all mankinde , so that what he did in this businesse , was to be held valid by all , as done in their names . 2. the second degree of this propagation stands in the derivation , or traduction of that corruption , which by our first transgression seised upon the person of adam himself . this corruption is usually called the languishing of nature , the seed or tinder of sin , the law of our members , the law of the flesh , lust and sin that dwels in us ; but most usually originall sin , because it cleaves unto us even from our first original , and is some way natural unto us , to wit , as in our nature corrupted ; also it is the original of all other sins : for all actuall sins flow from this as from their fountain . this corruption first and principally consists in the privation of original righteousness , the absence whereof , so far as it is penall , is inflicted by god ▪ but as it is a privation , having the nature of a fault , to wit , the losse of that rectitude , or right constitution , which we should have kept and preserved entire , it depends upon that relation , that all men have to adam , and to his first sin . now that such corruption naturally is found in all men , is not onely proved from scriptures , but seems also to be confirmed by experience it self . reas. 1. for in all men there appears a manifest perversion of our wils , and inward appetite ; as much as spirituall and truly good things are of no good relish to all animall and naturall men : but the contrary evils , which of their own nature have no good rellish , seem to them most sweet : now as the perversion of the sensitive appetite doth denotate bodily sicknesse ; so the perversion of the inmost & most spiritual appetite , doth point forth unto us sicknesse that is inward and in the spirit . the same also may be observed of the perversion of the judgement and understanding , from whence come so many and shamefull errours , whereby good is esteemed evill , and evill good . reas. 2. it is manifest that there is in all men a certain rebellion of the inferiour and animall faculties and appetites against the superiour and most spiritual faculties of the soul ; which shews the ficknesse of the upper part , as not having strength enough to govern the lower ; and again a disorder and confusion of the inferiour faculties , whereby they will not be subject to their superiour . for as as every infirmity , debility and perturbation in the body , so also in the soul , hath its cause of sicknesse , disease , or certain corruption from the depravation of other parts . reas. 3. there may be observed in all , a certain natural crouching of our selves to things that are below us ; and a certain aversion and turning away from those , that are above us , and for which we were made ; so that there are few amongst men , that live not more like beasts , stooping naturally to their belly-food , and bowing towards the ground , than according to the nature of man whose body was erected to look up to heaven and seek after god. now as a crouching in the constitution and fashioning of the body , is a sign of a bodily : sicknesse ; so also this soul crouching of the spirit doth manifestly declare some foul sickness of the spirit . reas. 4. there appears manifestly in all men , a certain insensibleness from nature it self , in discerning of things truly good , and truly evill ; howbeit there is a far greater sweetness in true spiritual good things , than in corporall ; and a far greater bitterness and sowreness in spiritual , than in carnall evils : now this insensibleness and spiritual blockishnes is a manifest defect , and vice cleaving to us from our very original , even as the want of any outward sense is a great defect and fault of the body . reas. 5. experience teatheth with how great difficulty and slowness men are stirred up to things that are truly good ; therefore as it is the definition of a good habit , that makes a man ready and quick unto good works ; so must it be an evill and corrupt habit , whereby the contrary comes to passe ; because slowly and with difficulty men set themselves to any good endeavours . reas. 6. it is well enough known to all , that man hath not the power to do so much good , as he knows should be done , and as he desires to doe : wherefore when one hath not the power to move the members of his body , it is a manifest disease that hinders its motion ; so where one hath not the power to move himself spiritually , it is a manifest spiritual disease ; as when there is difficulty of corporal motion , and one moves his body with great pains , it discovers a great weaknesse of his body ; even as this other doth a weaknesse of the spirit . use 1. for humiliation , by reason of this misery . 2. of exhortation , that we rest not , till we perceive that by the grace of god we are freed from this misery . 3. for direction , that in our prayers before god ; and in all parts of our care for amendment of our life , we may chiefly go about this , that not onely in our outward words and works , as being but the rivulets and branches of our sin , we be reformed ; but that in the fountain and root of this sin dwelling in us , we may be cleansed and renewed . the fourth lords day . ephes. 5. 6. let no man deceive you with vain words ; for because of these things the wrath of god comes upon the children of disobedience . in these words is contained an argument , whereby the apostle labours to perswade all the faithfull , that they may keep themselves from those sinnes , whereof he had made mention a little before . the argument is drawn from an adjunct , that follows upon sin , to wit , the wrath of god , of which sinnes are not onely the antecedents , but also meritory causes , certainly procuring it , as is intimated in these words ; for these things : the connexion of this effect with its cause , is limited and confirmed . 1. it is limited by a description of the subject , wherein gods wrath doth alway pursue sin , in these words ; upon the children of disobedience . 2. it is confirmed by rejecting of all vain shifts , in these words ; let no man deceive you . the explication , by the wrath of god. 1. is understood gods vindicative justice . 2. his will to inflict punishment according to that justice . 3. the punishment it self , that is so inflicted . and in this place most properly the punishment is understood , which in other places is often called death , distress , severities , hot anger , and the like . this wrath of god , is said to come against , or upon men , because as it were coming down from heaven , it suddenly fals upon and overwhelms , and holds as intangled in a net the sinners ; so that by no means they can escape it . in the same sense , that not unlike phrase is used , rom. 1. 18. by the expression of the children of contumacie or stubbornness , upon whom this wrath comes , those sinners are understood , which can by no means be perswaded to leave their sins and seek god by true faith and repentance ; where this is to be marked , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be turned both children of incredulity , and children of disobedience ; but it agrees better to this place , to be turned children of disobedience and of rebellion ; because we read not this phrase , the children of saith , but of obedience , 1 pet. 1. 14. doct. 1. such mens condition is most desperate , because they are not onely sinners , but also stubborn in their sins . it s gathered out of these words ; upon the children of disobedience or stubbornnesse : so they are named here , as men , whose condition is much to be abhorred , and whose example and company is most to be shunned , as appears from vers . 7. be not therefore partakers , &c. reas. 1. because such men serve a most miserable servitude to a very base master , that is , to sin : for sin exercises a spiritual kingly power and dominion over them , because they do all that the lusts of sin commands them ; and can by no means be perswaded to shake off that slavish yoke ; and so much the lesse , as they perceive that slavery , by so much are they the more fully under its command , because by this means it comes to passe , that their very will it selfe , and the spirit of their minde is possessed by this slavery and oppressed : for as a brute or a man that comes neer to a brute , serving some cruell master , takes no thought for that his condition , because of his stupidity ; neither cares nor wishes for a better ; is a more full and perfect slave , than some free-born and free-minded man , who is by force constrained to serve one , but yet under such servitude and force , keeps a free minde ▪ even so it fares in this matter . reas. 2. because such men are furthest off from repentance , and so from the kingdome of god , and from salvation : for repentance doth most consist in the turning of the heart from sin to god , by perswasion of the word and holy spirit : and to this temper the obstinacy and unperswasibleness of such men , is flat opposite ; who are not onely not perswaded to turn to god , but are perswaded to the contrary ; that such perswasion of converting is not to be embraced or regarded ; for such are properly called the children of rebellion or disobedience . as therefore those diseases are most mortal , which admit of no cure , and are but the more exasperated , the more they are dealt with ; even so also is it with such kinde of men . reas. 3. because these men do most grievously encrease their guilt in this , that they withstand the means , that god hath sanctified for procuring their salvation : for while they will not suffer themselves to be perswaded to that conversion unto faith and repentance , they directly fight against god , and not onely so , but in this very thing , that he would , and is some way striving , as it were , to save them . use of adm●…nition ; that most of all we be carefull of this stubbornnesse or rebellion , which is not onely to be understood in common of that con●…umacy , whereby men refuse altogether to be converted ; but also specially , and in every part of obedience : for if we perceive that god calls us to this or that special duty , t is then our part mainly to take care , that even in that , we present our hearts to god flexible and perswasible whereunto we are invited . doct. 2. upon the children of disobedience , certainly and unevitably the horrible wrath of god comes . this is clear in the text without any collection made from it . that this wrath is horrible , and altogether intolerable , the scripture every were testifies , as heb. 10. 27. apoc. 6. 16 , 17. and elswhere . and the thing it self doth sufficiently shew it , if we consider gods anger as to its intensness , extensness and duration ; as to its intensnesse , it is called in scripture a consuming fire , heb. 12. 29. now this fire of the wrath of god consumes not lightly , or light things onely as in the superficies , but as it is said , deutro . 32. 22. gods wrath set on fire will burn down to the grave , &c. nah●…m 1. 6. where there is a most likely & pithy description . by all which descriptions is signified , that the wrath of god doth throughly peirce not onely into the body , but into the soul and inward part of the spirit , for which reason in many places of scripture , it is compared unto sharpe arrows peircing into the heart its self , and consuming the spirit and life . as to the extension ; this wrath of god contains in it all sort of evils , whether corporal or spiritual ; whether in this life , or at the end of it , and in death , or at death . ●…ither belong those catalogues or inventories of curses , that are found deutr. 28. and levit. 26. 3. as to the duration , it remaineth upon impe●…ient sinners , iohn ▪ 3. 36. not for some short space , but unto all eternity , and without end : for as that obligation , whereby we are bound to render god all obedienees without end ; so consequently the transgression whereby sinners break that obligation , is in a manner infinite & without end : so also the punishment , which taketh away its measure from the nature of the transgression , will be without end & infinite , and that as wel in the privation of an infinite good , as in the endles duration of this privation or losse . neither ought it to seem strange , that for a sin , which is committed in a short time , an endlesse punishment should be inflicted ; because equity its ●…elf requires this , that every one should be deprived of that good , of which by his own fault he hath turned from . but every ●…inner hath turn'd himself away from an endless good , by a fault he can never come out of by himself , and make an end of ; and therefore it is but reason , that he be endlesly deprived of that good . and moreover , because he hath disturbed that order that god set & appointed ; it is but ju●…tice if he never be freed from the punishment of this fault , untill he have repaired god his honor ; which an unrepenting sinner can never do unto eternity . it ought not therefore to move any , that sin , which is but momentary , should be punished eternally . reas. 1. the committing of it , is as it were a spiritual wounding ; and yet a wounding , in what ●…ort time soever done , doth often leave behinde it a wound of long duration , and often endlesse and eternal death . reas. 2. the committing of sin , is as it were a spiritual fall , or sliding : and yet the fall in short time passed , may be such , that thereby for a very long time , or without end , the party may remain in the depth or pit , whereinto he fell . reas. 3. the committing of sin , is as it were a ●…ying with bands or thongs ; whose nature is , that it may quickly be done , and yet for ever keep the party bound , as long as the bands themselves remain unloosed , or unbroken . reas. 4. t is as it were a bargain , in which the sinner for the enjoyment or use of some short pleasure , out of a madnesse sells himself into slavery . now from a bargain of buying and selling , though passed in a short time , the right is conveyed to the buyer for ever ; and the alienation is eternal or endlesse in its own way . reason 1. it is as it were the putting out of a lamp ; for a sinner once drowning himself in the ●…ilth of sin , puts out as it were the whole light of his mind ; and a lamp once put out , though it be done in a moment , yet by vertue of that putting out , remains of its self endlesly extinct and put out . use 1. of condemnation , against such as remain in their carnal security and please themselves in this condition , over which perpetually hangs the so horrible wrath and anger of god. use 2. is of admonition , that with all care above all things else we go about this , to shew this wrath of god , matt. 3. 7. where also the way to shun it , is shewed to be by repentance , verse 8. and yet this is not so to be taken , as if this shunning lay in our repentance , as it is our action , and as if that had some vircue of freeing from the wrath of god ; for christ alone is our enfranchizer from the wrath to come , 1 thess. 1. 10. we therefore truly flee from the wrath of god , when we flie to this mercy in christ jesus by true faith in him , and repentance unfained . doct. 3. all such speeches as promise impunity of sin , and indempnity from the wrath of god , are but vain and seducing . this is also cleare in the text. now that they are vain , hence it appeareth , because they are against his decree , and his will clearly revealed ; and therefore can have no solid truth in them . and that they are seducing , is apparent enough also from the first author of such speeches . for the devill , when he would seduce our first parents , promised them this impunity in these words ; ye shall not dye . the fifth lords-day . rom. 8. 3. for what the law could not doe , in that it was weak through the flesh , god sending his own son in the likenesse of sinfull flesh , and for sin , condemned sin in the flesh . the apostle in this place expounds , why the faithfull may be freed from sin and death by christ : the reason is given as it were from the cause moving god to this giving of christ. and this moving cause was the needinesse of our want , which appears in the defect of power in any other means to produce such an effect , as if the apostle had said ; because it was needfull for us , to be delivered from sin and death ; and yet this could be effected by no other means , therefore god performed it by christ. the strength and necessity of this consequence depends upon the will of god , which tacitly supposeth , that god would not have mankinde fall , utterly to perish , but to be restored again . the whole syllogism or reason is this . if by no other means faln men could be restored , but by christ , then that way was to be taken , because god would that some way it should be done : but the first is true ; and therefore also the latter . the assumption is proved , to wit , that man could be restored by no other means ; by the most likely instance of the law , which once had been of great power , and of force sufficient to bring man to happinesse : for except christ and the gospel , never any thing was given of god to man , that was more perfect and divine than the law. that therefore which the apostle says here of the law , hath the force of such an argument as this : if by vertue of the law man could not be restored , than by no other means could he be but by christ ; but the first is true , and therefore the latter also . the apostle both proves and expounds the assumption at once , from the reason or cause of this defect or weakness of the law , to restore man ; that it is not properly inherent in the law it self , but in our flesh or corruption , whereby it is , that we cannot fulfill the law , that so it might save us ; much lesse by the law rise up again from death to life . doct. 1. it is the will of god , that miserable men may be delivered from their misery , and restored to life eternal . this is here presupposed by the apostle , as granted , and is used by him as the ground of his reasoning . reas. 1. is taken partly from gods mercy , partly from his wisdome , partly from his power , and partly from the stability of his decrees : from his mercy god would relieve miserable men , therein to shew the glory of his grace and free mercy , as it is called ephes. 1. 6. the riches of his mercy , his great love , and the supereminent riches or treasures of his grace and bounty , ephes. 4. 7. for unlesse god had helped miserable men , that were all drown'd in sin and death , he had not accomplished above the half of his goodness and bounty towards mankind . for that bounty that was manifested in the creating of us , was neither fully compleated in its last perfection and end , because no man by it arrived to eternal happiness ; neither was it in its self the greatest , the highest , the fullest goodness of god ; because an higher , fuller , and more surpassing sort of goodness appeared in the preservation of the elect angells ; and that also is far greater , which is now revealed in the gospell , and brings perfect salvation to mankind that is fallen . now this was most sitting , that the goodness and mercy of god should as well be perfected towards men , as his justice . from his wisdome god knew the best way , whereby he could conveniently help miserable man , and therefore it was meet that his wisdome should be made manifest in its effect . and this is it , which the apostle every where teacheth , that in this mystery of the gospell there was a wisdome of god , which was kept up , and hidden from all the heathen ; which therefore by way of excellencie , he calls that wisdome of god , into which the angells themselves with desire and wonder are said to look , 1 pet. 1. 12. for such was our misery , that not onely we could not rise out of it ourselves by our own power ; but could not so much as think upon , or devise a way or means , whereby we might be delivered : but this was the proper work of the wisedome of god himself conjoyned with his own mercy . from his power also , he had the ability of helping and bringing to perfection therein , what he would . for so our redemption in scripture is not onely usually adscribed to gods grace and mercy , but also to his power . for the highest power and soveraignty was required to dissolve the works of the devill , and the bonds of death and the grave , for raising of dead men to life again , for guiding and protecting them so , as they might be brought to life eternal , maugre all opposition of their enemy ; and most of all for laying that ground-stone of the whole , and uniting the second person of the deity , his own son , and the nature of man , into one person . from the immutability also of his decree , it was in some sort necessary for god to procure their deliverance from death , whom from eternity he had chosen , and appointed unto life . hence a twofold necessity of the restauration and liberation of mankind is rightly by some determined ; on our part , the necessity of want ; on gods part , the necessity of his immutability . use , of exhortation , that with all admiration we behold and look into this good will of god , and with all thankfulness as well in our thoughts , as in our speeches , all our life time we publish and praise it . doct. 2. the law cannot deliver miserable men from their misery . it is clear enough in the text ; and is grounded moreover on the following reasons ; reas 1. because the law promiseth no good to miserable sinners , but onely to just persons , and such as keep it . reason 2. because in it self , it hath no force of taking away sin , but onely of punishing it . reas 3. because by no sinner can it be fulfilled , and that because of the weakness of the flesh , or the impotency of carnall and fallen mankind , as it is in the text. reas. 4. because though it might be fulfilled for time to come , yet by-past sins would take away all hope of receiving the reward of life from the law. hence is it that the law is called a killing l●…tter , and the minister of death and of condemnation . use , of re●…utation , against such as put their trust in their own workes , and look for salvation from their good intentions and endeavours : which is the errour of papists , remonstrants or arminians , and anabaptists , who cry up alwayes an honest life , and good works . doct. 3. no sinner can deliver himself from this misery . this is thus gathered , because none go above the law. for if the law cannot for the weakness of our flesh , then neither can we our selves , for the same weakness of our flesh . reason 1. no debt can duly be blotted out by the debtor ; till payed . reas. 2. because , though any one never augmented his first debt , by sinning , yet should he in all this do no more , but pay what he owes , in so doing ; and so could not by that means make satisfaction for his former transgression . reas. 3. because , if man could not preserve himself , nor did not do it , in that integrity wherein he was created , it cannot reasonably be thought that now he can recover it again . reas. 4. if he could recover his first integrity , he would be as subject and easy to lose it again , as our first father was at first . use , of direction , that we put no confidence in our selves , nor in our own strength , but denying our selves , we depend altogether on gods grace and mercy in jesus christ. doct. 4. no meer creature in heaven , or in earth , can deliver miserable men from sin and death . it followeth from the text , because no such creature is above the law. reason 1. because no external thing , that is a meer creature , hath in it self that worth , that it can be a compensation for sin to gods justice and truth , and so a price of redemption from death , mat. 16. 26. yea , not all the world . for that is it that i●… hinted , 1 pet. 1. 18. where all corruptible things , amongst the best whereof are gold and silver and the like , are determined to be below the redeeming of man. reas. 2. because whatsoever any meer creature , whether man or angell , can do , ows all that for its self , and on its own behalf . reas. 3 because if we were redeemed by a meer creature , for this very cause we should become the servants of that meer creature , and that of justice and gratitude ; as we are the servants of christ our redeemer , because our redeemer , as is already taught . but this would be an unworthy thing , and would infer a kind of contradiction to it self : for seeing man before his fall was not the servant of any creature , but of god alone ; if by redemption he should become the servant of any creature , he should not be redeemed and restored into that perfect liberty , from which he fell ; and so though redeemed ( as we suppose ) yet he should not be properly redeemed , that is , by redemption made free . reas. 4. the evills that are to be removed from us , are greater than can be taken away by any meer creature ; as the wrath of god infinite and eternal , the guilt of sin confirmed by the force of an eternal law ; the command that sin and death hath over us . of these that is true which we have , luke 10. 21 , 22. reas. 5. the good things to be imparted , and before that to be purchased , are of greater worth , than that they can be communicated to us from any meer creature ; as namely a righteousness going beyond the righteousness of the law ; and the resurrection as well corporal as spiritual ; the communication of the divine nature , life eternal , and a happiness that surmounts that of adam in his innocency ; that is , a kingdome that cannot be shaken , heb. 11. last verse . use. of instruction , that in the business of our salvation we turn away our eyes from all creatures , and lift them up above in manner aforesaid to the fountain of salvation . the sixth lords day 1 tim. 3. 16. and without controversy , great is the mystery of godliness ▪ god was manifest in the flesh , justified in the spirit , seen of angelis , preached unto the gentiles , believed on in the world , received up into glory . in these words is contained an argument , whereby the apostle endeavours to stir up timothy to procure diligence and care in the church of god. it is drawn from the object , if we consider timothy's ministry , which now ought to be busied about the greatest mysteries , and so to be exercised with greatest reverence , diligence , and care : or from an adjunct , if the church her self be considered , that was to be cared for by timothy , whereof mention was made in the preceding verse ; to wit , because a matter of all others , the greatest was concredited to this church , to wit , the mystery of godliness ; and so timothy's greatest diligence and care ought to be bestowed upon the church . in these words then properly is expounded the nature of the gospell , 1. from its genius , or general notion , that it is a mystery ; 2. from its end , that it is a mystery of godliness . 3. from the degree of its worth and excellency ; that it is a great , or noble mystery . 4. from the most certain and undoubted truth of all these , in complexion and communication ; without controversy . and all these are demonstrated by induction of the parts or members , that make up this mystery , as the whole . for seeing in every part there is something altogether singular and wonderfull , it follows necessarily that the whole mystery is altogether admirable , and to be stood amazed at . these parts are they which are contained in these words ; god manifested in the flesh , &c. doct. 1. our lord iesus christ is true god and true man. this is clear from the text , god manifested in the flesh ; and that he is true god , appears from the following reasons . reas. 1. from plain testimonies of this sort , whereby the name of god is simply and absolutely given unto him in the same manner altogether as unto the father ; as in this place , and so isa. 9. 6. ioh. 1. 1. r●…m . 9. 5. 1 ioh. 5. 20. reas. 2. from the divine properties that are given unto him , as eternity , ioh 1. 1. 7 5. omnipotency , ioh. 3. 21. phil. 4 14 and the like . reas 3. from the divine works whereof he is made author ; as of creatio●… , col. 1. 16. the sustaining of all things , heb. 〈◊〉 . 2. and of all sorts of miracles . reas. 4. from the divine authority that every where is given to him in scriptures , as he gives authority to the w●…rd and sacraments , and other divine ordinances . reas 5. from the divine worship , honour , and adoration that is due unto him , he●… . 1. 8. and in other places . reas. 6. from that efficacie which by his ministers , through the power of the holy ghost , he puts forth in the preaching of this his doctrine , as it is evident in our text in these words , justified in the spirit , preached unto the gentiles , and believed on in the world . that he is true man , from hence is apparent enough , that he was made like unto us in all things except in sin , heb. 4. 15. why our mediator ought to be true god. reason 1. is that he might be able to sustain the weight of gods wrath , and performe the other divine duties , that belong to the perfecting of our redemption and salvation . reas. 2. that the works of his mediation , which on our behalf he was to perform , might have divine vertue and worth from his person . why he should be also man ; reas. 1. is that he might be fit to suffer and do all those things which were necessary for the redemption of men , and were below the divine nature alone to do or suffer . reas. 2 because without effusion of blood , or death , whereof the divine nature is not capable , there could be no remission nor redemption , heb. 9. 22. reas. 3. that the whole mystery as well of our redemption , as of the deity it self might be some way made familiar to us , so as to be seen with our eyes , heard with our ears , and handled with our hands , 1 iohn 1. 1 , 2. use 1. of instruction , that we may alwayes keep a right and pure belief about the divine and humane nature of christ , both in our hearts , and in our mouths or confessions . use 2. of comfort to all such as are by true faith ingrafted into christ ; because in him they are advanced into a state more than humane , and are made partakers of the divine nature , 2 pet. 1. 4. use 3. of exhortation , that we may more and more exercise our selves in the religious contemplation , and study of this mystery ; so will that love of god in christ , which shines forth in this dispensation of god , confirm our hearts , that it will powerfully stir us up unto all care of thankfulness for glorifying the name of god and christ. doct. 2. the nature of god and the nature of man were ●…onjoyned in christ into one person . this is gathered from these words , was made manifest in the flesh , for thereby is signified the conjunction of the divine with the humane nature , so that god , because not conspicuous in his divine nature , was made manifest in his humane . this communication in respect of the divine nature , is rightly called an assumption , incarnation , manifestation in the flesh , as in this place . but in respect of both natures together , it is called an union personal , because these two natures are together united in the same person . in respect of the humane nature , it cannot be called an assumption ( actively understood , that is an assuming , but passively onely , that is a being assumed ) nor a de●…fication , because the divine person existed from eternity , and took unto himself and adjoyned the humane nature ( not the person ) in time , because the humane nature assumed , did never exist apart , and by it self , and therefore never had in it self the formal reason of a person ; and therefore also it cannot be said to have assumed the nature , or person divine , but onely to have been assumed by it ; seeing actions are of suppositions or persons , and not of the nature : but the divine person ( not the nature properly ) is said to have assumed the humane nature , not the person . therefore the humane nature cannot so properly and rightly be said to be deified , as either the divine nature or person is said to be incarnate , or made man ; for that is equivalent to made flesh , which the scripture often useth . we read then in this place , and its like that god was made manifest , or visible in the flesh , that is , in the nature of man ( for flesh there ) by a synecdoche signifies the whole nature of man , as well the soul as the body , and to the like sense we read that the word was made flesh , iohn 1. 14. but we no where read that flesh was made god , or that the flesh or humane nature was made invisible in god ; although these things may be said , but not so properly , nor so freely from danger and abuse . but here we must not think , that for the union of the divine nature with the humane , that therefore there was any real change properly produced or made in the divine nature , but relative and of reason , or notional onely ; all the reall mutation being in the humane nature onely . for whatsoever is mutable is imperfect , but the divine nature is no wayes imperfect . therefore though the divine nature in christ be under another relation or habitude , than before the incarnation ; yet that is for no real change in it self , but in the humane nature assumed : as the sun is called illum●…nating from his action that he hath on the ayr , which was not before ( let us suppose this ) and yet the sun is not thereby changed in it self , but the ayr onely is changed . in this conjunction , when the flesh or humane nature is said to have been assumed , is so to be understood , that not onely the essence of humane nature is assumed , and all that necessarily follow the essence , but that also were assumed all the weaknesses , qualities , and common or universal defects ( which follow not from nature , but from sin ) that are in themselves si●…less , and as they are si●…les ▪ onely and penall ; and these onely are excepted that have in them the nature of sin , or tend of themselves to sin . reas. 1. because the mediatory actions of christ ought to be both humane and divine , and all his actions are of the person , as of the principle which acteth ; though they be of this or of that nature , as of the principle whereby , or by vertue of which they are extracted from the person therefore the divine and humane nature ought joyntly to subsist in one and the same person . reas. 2. this union of the divine and humane nature ought to have been most intimate , and of all unions the highest , because the perfection of the person assuming , from which the union flowed , was absolutely the greatest , but the inwardest union with him that could be , was personal ; therefore also that union of men with god , that flows from , and depends upon this union , is of very great perfection , though not personal . therefore next unto the unity of the three persons in one divine nature , there is no other union of more things , more in ward and perfect , than is this of two natures in one person , in christ. reas. 3. the essential worth of the mediatory obedience and passion of christ , which properly agreed to him , according to the humane nature , ought to have been also in some kinde divine ; but that divinity of worth is derived from the person , or this union ; as the esteem of all the actions and passions depends upon the person ; and therefore the humane nature ought to have subsisted , and been sustained in the nature or person divine . use 1. of instruction , for directing and establishing our faith , about the person of christ , that we may neither here imagine confusion of the natures , nor multiplication of the persons in any sort ; but the union onely of two natures into one and a single person , to wit , the second person of the trinity , which is the primary principle of christian faith. use 2. of direction , that in seeking union and communion with god , wherein our whole happinesse doth consist , we wholly adheere to christ above ; because there alone we have the certain and manifest foundation of this union between god and men , so that in this very respect christ may no lesse truly be called the way , than the truth , and the life ; because as he hath the truest and highest union of man with god ; so is he the way because of this union , whereby we may come to the beatifical union , which is our eternal life . doct. 3. this of the divine and humane nature in christ , is a mysterie most divine . it is called a mystery , 1. as it contains in it self that divine wisdome of highest and rarest price , or that treasure of wisdome , 1 cor. 2. 6 , 7. 2 cor. 4. v. 7. 2. because this wisdome is a thing hidden and remote , not onely from humane sense , but also from our understanding and comprehension . 1. cor. 2. 7. 8 , 9 , 10. it is called a depth for this cause ; so also eph. 3. 8 , 9. and it is called hidden or secret , 1. because it was not possible for the wit of man or angels to have so much as thought upon , or devised such a means of redemption and salvation , much lesse to have gone through with it . 2. because it was not revealed to the church her self for many ages , but under a certain vaile , and sparingly . 3. because by our selves now in the light of greatest revelation , it is not understood but very imperfectly , and in the least part of it . 1 cor. 13. 12. in part ; a little but in comparison of the whole ; as in a glasse , and like a riddle , do we know here , for the darkening and lessening of our knowledge by sin , which is signified by these phrases . the reason why this wisdome is not fuller comprehended , is not in the darknesse of scripture , as some blasphemously will have it : but partly in the depth of the thing it self , and partly in the blindnesse of our minds ; 2 cor. 4 , 4. unto the depth of the thing it self belongs this , that in christs person highest power with lowest weaknes ; greatest glory with greatest humility , highest justice with highest mercy , eternity with novelty of being , agree together , and abide in one subject . use of admonition , that we suffer not the nature of our faith to be troubled in any sort with vain speculation of humane reason , whereby this mystery is wont to be opposed : for though it hath nothing in it contrary to reason ; yet it contains many things above reason , and the capacity of the minde of man : otherwayes it would not be a great mystery , as here it is called , but the vulgar and common verity . use 2. of exhortation , that we may seek from god the spirit of wisdome and of revelation in the acknowledging of him , that the eyes of our minds being enlightned , we may perceive so much of this mystery as is needfull for us unto salvation , and glorifying of gods name as it requires , ephes. 1. vers . 17. 18. use 3. is of special admonition , to the ministers of the word chiefly , that with all reverence and religious faithfulnesse , they behave themselves in their charge , because they are called to this , to be stewards of this great mystery , 1 cor. 4. 1. where this reverence and fidelity are pointed out to them . doct. 4. all true godlinesse depends on the beliefe of this mystery , so that there is no true and solid or sound godliness without this beliefe : neither can this belief be true and solid ▪ unlesse it have also true godlinesse joyned with it . this is gathered from that title ; the mystery of godlinesse : because godliness both riseth up to this faith , and floweth down from it . this most practical doctrine , is the generall use of all the rest that went before . reas. 1. because in this mystery appears gods greatest goodnesse , grace , mercy and love ; which if they be rightly taken up , cannot but stir up our mindes unto care and zeale of honouring , loving and adhearing to god , and pleasing him in all things , wherein he hath shown us , that true godlinesse consists . reas. 2. in this mystery is contained both the merits and efficacy or power , by vertue whereof men are regenerated , that they may live acceptably to god and christ ; that is , godlily . reas. 3. because in christ we have the perfectest pattern of all godlinesse , and with all the perfectest doctrine , which is called the doctrine of godlinesse , or according to godlinesse . use the use of reproof , against such as professe the faith of this great mystery , but in the mean time most foully prophane it , and make it to be blasphemed through their impiety . the seventh lords day acts 16. vers . 31. and they said , believe on the lord iesus christ , and thou shalt be saved and thine house . in this text is contain'd paul and silas their answer to the question proposed by the jailor concerning the way how to be saved ; wherein these two things are proposed : 1. an act absolutely necessary for attaining of salvation , to wit , that of faith , believe , say they : and this act is declared by its proper object , our lord iesus christ. 2. the effect , that is certainly to follow upon this act , is set down , and that is the salvation of him , that believeth . doct. 1. all are not saved by christ , but such onely as are united or grafted into christ by faith. it is gathered from this text ; in that one carefull how to be saved , is sent to christ , to believe in him , and so to have union with him by this belief , that he may be saved . reas. 1. because although there be sufficiency enough in christ , and in abundance , to save all , and any man ; yet this sufficiency is not reduced to efficiency or into act , unlesse a due application be 〈◊〉 ▪ as neither meat nourisheth , nor physick cureth , nor cloth covereth , nor silver maketh rich , unlesse they be rightly applyed tothe party to be nourished , cured , clothed and made rich : so it is in this businesse . reas. ●… . as the first adam neither received , nor lost his righteousnesse , and life , but for such , as were some way , that is , vertually in him , and afterwards actually descended from him , or were in union of the same blood with him : so also the second adam christ restores not righteousnesse and life , but unto such as are in him , to wit , ingrafted by faith , and adhear unto him by the union of one and the same spirit . hence it is , that effectuall vocation , whereby this application of christ , or this conjunction with him , is brought to passe , doth in order go before , not onely our glorification and salvation , but also justification and all sound consolation , that we have concerning salvation . use of admonition , that we may chiefly care for and go about this , that we may both be and remain in christ , and live in him ; because without this union with him , we cannot come to be saved . the signe or mark , whereby we know , that is ordinarily , or according to the order of means appointed , that this or that man is in christ , is this , if drawing vertue from christ , as a branch drawing spirituall ●…ap from the stock , he hath care to bring forth fruits to him and in him , iohn 15. verse 〈◊〉 , 4. doct. 2. faith is the tye whereby we are first united to christ , and ingrafted into him . this doctrine is couched in the text , in the word believe : for there are three tyes of union , whereof there is need in our conjunction with god , and christ ; the spirit , faith and love. the spirit is that tye , whereby christ layeth hold upon us , and tyeth us to himself . faith , is that tye whereby we lay hold upon christ , and apply him to our selves , and is alway the effect of the spirit in some measure . love , is the band of perfection , whereby we wholly give over our selves to christ , and consecrate our selves to his will , and is the effect of both the former : amongst these , faith is the first bond by which we lay hold on christ. for though it follow the operation of the spirit , as its effect , in that respect , it is called the gift of god , and the gift of the spirit of god ; yet it goes before both love and hope that are saving . reas. 1. because the proper nature of faith is , to be a spiritual hand , whereby we lay hold on , and receive that good , that is needfull to us for salvation , iohn 1. 12. where to believe is meant to receive , that the true office and nature of faith may be se●… forth . reas. 2. because a faith receiving christ , doth also receive life in christ , and faith is the principle of our spiritual life , according to that of the apostle , the just shall live by faith. 3. because christ is not proposed unto us to salvation , but in the promise of the gospel ; and the proper and immediate end and fruit of this proposal , is to make faith , or to gain belief ; and so the first receiving as well of the promise , as of the thing where about the promise is , is by faith. use of direction , and that such , as upon another occasion the apostle hath eph. 6. 16. to wit , that above all things we be carefull to acquire , keep , and increase true faith. doct. 3. the adequate object of faith , as it justifies , is iesus christ , as offered in the gospell for righteousness and life ; or the mercie of god in and through iesus christ thus offered . it is evident in the text. the explication is , that although with our understanding we ought to assent to all things that are contain'd in the word of god ; and especially to those that are contained in the promises of the gospel ; yet the power of justifying us doth proceed from no other object , but from christ alone : and so faith , though it look at other objects also , yet it justifies not , nor absolves from guilt of sin and death , but as it looks at christ alone , as offered us to that end . reason 1. because christ alone is our righteousness and redemption ; but our justification consists in the application of this righteousnesse and redemption ; therefore faith in that respect justifies , as it lookes at christ and applieth him . reas. 2. because if all other things revealed in scriptures , and to be believed by us , belonged to our justification , as objects of justifying faith ; then not onely the belief of the creation would justify us , but also the belief of mans falling into sin , and of being dead therein : and so faith about sin and death should as well justifie us , as faith in christ. reas. 3. unless christ be looked upon by faith , faith hath nothing in it , why it should more justifie us , than any other vertue , or grace and gift of god , as charity , temperance , and the like . use 1. is of refutation , against such as attribute justification to faith , as it is an act and part of our obedience , as a condition required of god. for thus the strength and life of justifying faith is destroyed , and christ is robbed of his glory , and the consciences of christians of their solid comfort and tranquility of minde . use 2. is of direction , that we may alwayes set the the eye of our faith directly upon christ , or on the grace and mercy of god in him , that so we may from him draw righteousness and salvation . doct. 4. iustifying & saving faith consists not properly in any knowledge , but in certain , solid or sound affiance or trust . justifying faith is an act and fruit of the experience of faith ; and not the first affiance and trust , that justifies . our doctrine is hence gathered , in that the object of faith in this place , is no intellectual or logical truth , as such ; but some good , as the object of the practical mind & of preelection , viz. the means of salvation , which is a single or incomplex terme ( as logicians call it ) in these words ; on the lord iesus christ ; where not any thing of or about christ , but christ himself is the object . next , because faith is said to be busied about this object , as about a prop or stay ; so that the heart of a man otherwise destitute of all help , and about to run into despair , casts it self upon christ , as a stay , that by him it may be sustained and upheld ; which is intimated by this phrase , believe in our lord iesus christ. by affiance , we understand not any assent or act of the understanding about logical truth , or affirmation , or negation ; nor yet properly the confident expectation of the will , which is assigned to our hope , and confidence therein contained , or from thence arising ; but that act of the will or heart , which properly is called e●…ection or choyse : whereby we rely upon christ , repose and rest on him , and adhere to him , as a fit and sufficient mediator , by whom we may be saved . by this affiance we are said every where in the old testament to be united or joyned to god , as isa. 48. 2. & 50. 10. and by this affiance properly we come unto christ , ioh. 6. and are said to receive christ , ioh. 1. 12. which things cannot be affirmed of any complex knowledge , or assent of the understanding , whether general or special . it is true , that such a knowledge , on the behalf of such as belong to christ , is a necessary antecedent , and the cause of this faith , and affiance that justifies ; and so in that respect , it hath the title of this faith as well in scriptures , as in commn discourse : but yet when faith is considered precisely as it justifies and saves , then it is understood either as an act or as a disposition of the will or heart , which followes the foresaid knowledge , and for the begetting whereof that knowledge doth serve . from this affiance if it be lively and vigorous , and joyned with fitting knowledge , there followes a certain perswasion of remission of our sins ; and therefore true faith useth often to be described by this perswasion ; especially when the controversy is with papists , who oppose this perswasion , as a vain presumption . yet this perswasion is not properly justifying faith , but an act of hope and experience ( rather a fruit ) in him , who already is justified . it is also such an act , that for some time may be wanting , where yet true justifying faith is , though insirm , as experience in the godly teacheth ; and therefore it ought not to be proposed in the essence and definition of justifying faith , least so the weak consciences of some believers should thence be heavily troubled , as if they had not tru faith , when they feel themselves to have no such certain perswasion of the remission of their sins . it will appear then to any rightly weighing all things , that justifying faith , as such , is properly , the affiance of the hear , not any complex knowledge , or judgement of the understanding . reason 1. because nothing in the whole gospell is promised to any that hath yet no affiance or trust in christ ; before this affiance therefore , nothing can be known , that hath the vertue to justify , until it be trusted on ; and therefore no knowledge going before this faith of affiance , can justify . reas. 2. we cannot conceive any knowledge before this affiance , which is not found sometimes in such as are not justified : as for example , such as have a spirit of illumination and light , but not of regeneration ; and therefore fall away afterwards from that glory , which inseparably followes justification , sinning against the holy ghost . reas. 3 because in every part of religion , and so in faith also , these two things are distinguished ; to wit , to know and to do . to know what is to be believed , and what all ought to believe ; and to give assent to truthes that are to be believed , is not yet to do that which believing imports , and is the proper obedience of faith it self , which is the root of all other obedience , and therefore joyntly to be understood under this , as both comes from faith , rom. 1. 5. and in very truth such is the formal reason of obedience in true faith , that under this name and nature it ought to be referred unto the will properly , because it is the part of the will , and not of the understanding , to obey . reas. 4 because by this act of the will , we have an inward union with god in christ , even as amongst men there is a greater conjunction , by a constant inclination , and affection of the will , than by the judgement of the intellect . reas. 5. because the act of faith is such , that by it we cast our selves wholly upon christ , or upon the mercy of god in christ. but the act of the understanding properly and immediately doth not transfer the whole man , but the act of the will , which alone therefore properly is called the act of the whole man : nor can it be heer answered that faith is an aggregate thing . consisting partly of knowledge , and partly of affiance ; because unto such aggregate things , single and distinct operations can not be attributed , as are attributed unto faith. for example , the health of the whole body , hath no distinct operation , but is conceived as a single thing , extends it self alike to soundness of all , and of every part ; and as holiness , as it is in this , or that virtue , hath no distinct and single operation . moreover , no more reason can be given why knowledge & affiance should make up one aggregate thing , than knowledge and hope , or knowledge and love , or than knowledge and justice or temperance . besides all this , however knowledge be aggregated with true faith , yet because a great part of this knowledge which goes before affiance , is found also in the devills themselves , neither yet can any knowledge be shewn that goes before affiance , which is not found in some unregenerate persons ; no reason admits , that this knowledge should be an essential part of faith , and of the spiritual life , because it is found in them that have no part of spiritual life . use. is of exhortation , against papists , and others , who know nor acknowledge no other faith , but knowledge , and a certain material assent , which yet may may consist with greatest diffidence , and most wretched desperation . use 2. is of direction , that we may enquire of the knowledge of the truth , which is necessary for us unto faith , and to salvation ; and that we be wary that we rest not on any bare knowledge ; but then think we have true faith onely , when according to the knowledge of the truth , we rely upon christ with our whole heart for salvation , to be obtayned by him alone . use 3. is of consolation , to those who with all their heart strive to rest upon christ , and yet cannot for a time , or presently and certainly perswade themselves , that god is reconciled unto th●…m , for such have true faith , though weak . for this certainty of perswasion , is the effect of a more strong and perfect faith , whereunto also in their own time such believers shall be brought . a question is here propounded ; by what means is such a faith begotten , and promoted in our hearts ? answer . this faith is properly begotten in us by the holy ghost , through the ministry and preaching of the gospell , because faith is above nature , while we believe these things that surmount all reason , and are lifted up above our selves by faith , as the apostle saith , that abraham hoped above hope , that is , beyond humane , natural , and ordinary hope ; so also they that truly believe , believe beyond belief , or above belief . it is begotten in us by the gospell , because in the promises of the gospell christ is offered and exhibited to us ; and the efficacy or power of the holy ghost accompanieth the preaching of the holy gospell . now from these things it followeth , that such have not true faith , who either believe nothing above what is natural , or in a supernaturall way , or else have not their faith from the gospell and word of god. doct. 5. such as truly believe in christ , may and ought to be sure of their salvation . this is gathered from the connexion between the antecedent and consequent , in the text ; believe and thou shalt be saved . for as particular men while they remain in their particular sins may be assured , that for that time they are subject to the curse of god ; so may some believers be particularly assured , that they are partakers of eternal blessing and salvation . for as that other assurance of the curse , comes from the law towards impenitent sinners , or breakers of it ; so this other assurance of the blessing , comes to repenting and believing sinners , through the promises of the gospell . the whole order therefore of this consolation , whereby we may be certain of salvation , is as followeth ; in such a syllogism ( wherein both will and understanding have their parts ) whereof the proposition stands in the assent of the understanding , and makes up a dogmatical faith. the assumption is not principally in the compounding understanding , but in the single apprehension and will , so as to make it true and of force to infer the certainty in the conclusion ; which the heart doth by this act of affiance , that being the property of justifying faith , and thus existing in the heart . the conclusion is also principally & ultimately in the single apprehension and will , or in the heart , by the grace of hope ; and both it , and the experimental reflexion joyn'd with it ( which is in the understanding , and the other also , by this reflexion ) are the effects of the experimental knowledge and reflexion of our understanding , in the assumption upon the true existence of the single term in the heart or will , which bears the whole burthen of the assurance . use , is of great consolation to believers , whereof they are sacrilegiously robbed by papists and all such , who impugne this certainty of salvation . the eighth lords day . mat. 28. 19. go ye therefore , and teach all nations , baptising them in the name of the father , and of the son , and of the holy ghost . in this verse is contained that principal command , which christ left to his apostles and ministers ; and it consists of two parts ; whereof , in the first , the preaching of the word ; and in the other , the administration of the sacraments is commanded . the chief scope of both parts is shewed in the last words ; to wit , that men may be taught and confirmed in the true faith and obedience of the father , son , and holy ghost . from this place was the creed taken and framed , which is called the apostles creed ▪ but as to the foundation of it in these words , not first taught by the apostles , but to the apostles by christ himself , at that very time , when he spake those words : 2. by the apostles at the command of christ to all christians , for a rule of faith , and a badge , whereby christians should be discovered ▪ as well fro●… heathens , as from jews and other sects . nor was there any other or longer creed than this , contained in the words of our lord , in the times of the apostles , and of the church that next followed their times . but afterwards diverse heresies laid a necessity upon the church of adding diverse articles to this creed , not that they should be new additions to the old faith , but needfull explications of the same . hence it is , that all things that are now contained in the creed , are referred unto these three heads , which are set down in these words ; viz. either unto the father , or the sonne , or the holy ghost . doct. 1. though god be one in essence onely , yet is he three in persons ; the fathe●… , the son , and the holy spirit . reas. 1. because in this place faith is presupposed , and prerequired , for baptising one of age , whereby he believeth in the father , son , and holy ghost , and this same faith , is as it were sealed by baptism , as with a seal ; and the open profession of this faith is solemnised by this badge , or confession , and creed , that our lord himself taught , and gave in command . and these things were not done for once , or in a temporary way , but by an unchangeable institution , and perpetual covenant , they were delivered to the church to be observed through all ages , as necessary foundations of salvation . the consequence of this argument hath certainty and confirmation from thence , in that divine faith and spiritual neither ought●… , nor is any where used in scripture to be directed to any creature , but to god alone . reas. 2. because one and the self-same authority and power is attributed to the father , the son , and the holy ghost . for when the word is preached and baptism administred , not onely in the name of the father , but likewise also of the son , and of the holy ghost ; it is manifestly shewed , that by the authority and power of this most holy trinity , baptisme with other the like sacred institutions , were delivered to the church ; and that for the same authority they are by all men to be received and acknowledged , with religious subjection of soules and consciences thereto . the reason of this consequence is , because however supplication useth to be made in some parties name , without respect had to his authority , and power , and with respect onely to the grace of god , to whom we make our supplication , yet when an institution is published as a law , and proclaimed in the name of this , or that party , the authority and power of him in whose name this was done , is alwayes declared , and is used as a sanction or means to make inviolable the institution . reas. 3. because an operation truly divine , and an omnipotency is heer attributed to these three , while they are set out and acknowledged as the authors of all the spirituall good things , which are imparted to the faithfull , and in baptism are signified and sealed . for in vain had mention been made of their name and authorities in that solemn promise , unless they had the power and faculties to perform and perfect the things promised . reas. 4. because in this place we are taught to invocate the father , the son , & the holy spirit , that by their grace and power baptism may have its due effect , in the same manner almost , as the same is done in the apostles salutation : the grace of our lord iesus christ , the love of god the father , and the communion of the holy spirit be with you all . and the reason of the variety or little difference that is between the these formes , seems to be this ; that in baptisme , where authority and power are regarded , there the first place is given to the father ; but in the salutation aforesaid , where regard is had to the receiving consolation , whereunto none doth attain , unless he first come to christ , & lay hold of his grace , that by him he may be reconciled to the father , and made partaker of the holy ghost , there in the first place mention is made of the grace of christ ; and then afterwards of the love of god the father . the strength of this whole argument hangs on this , that invocation of , or praying to , and the worship of god , belongs to none but to god alone . reas. 5. divine honour and glory are not onely here given to the father , but also to the sonne , and to the holy ghost , in as much as all baptised in these names , are directly consecrated to these three , that they may alway live unto the father , son , and holy spirit . and hence are these apostolick phrases , wherein the faithfull are said not onely barely to live to god , but also to live to christ the sonne , and to the spirit of god. this reason is confirmed from hence , that neither it is lawfull wholly to consecrate ones self to any other , but to god , and this also is the tenor of the new covenant , that god be acknowledged for our good , and we be ▪ to him for ever his people . hence also hangs the direction of our whole life , that we may alwayes have this proposed to our selves , to be serviceable to his glory in all things , whereunto we were consecrated from the beginning . use of instruction , that we may alwayes keep this rule of christian faith , safe , pure , and unviolated , against all the gates of hell , as the chief principle and foundation of salvation , on which both our baptism , and all things that in our baptism are signified and sealed , do depend . doct. 2. the divine essence , and all its essential attributes , and all divine workes external , equally agree to the father , son , and holy spirit . it is gathered from the text. reas. 1. because the same name , the same honour , the same power and glory is attributed to the three . reas. 2. our faith is here in like manner directed towards all , as the same in father , son , and holy spirit . reas. 3. all things that belong to the divine essence , are such , as can neither be multiplied , nor divided , nor admit of variety of degrees , for their immensity and perfection . if therefore at all they agree to the son and holy ghost , as that they do is apparent from what hath been said ; it must needs be that they agree to them idemtically , that is , in the greatest equality they are one and the same . use , of direction , that in exercises of our faith , hope , charity , and in all parts and appurtenances of religious worship , and the practise of godliness , we lift up our mindes as much as can be , not onely to the name of god in common , but distinctly , to the name of god the father , the son , and the holy spirit , as equally in all our addresses to be honoured and celebrated . doct. 3. between these three persons there is a certain distinction , as to the form and manner , or order of subsisting . it is gathered from the text ; because they are disposed or set in a copulative enunciation . for if there were no distinction between them , then would that copulative be impertinent ; and it would have no more ground for it , than if one should say , in the name of the righteous god , and the mercifull god , and the omnipotent god , &c. which are not to be taken in propriety and rigor of conjnction , but exegitically . they differ then from the essence , as essential , or substantial concretes do from their abstracts . they differ from themselves as relatives , and some wayes as unlike ; this unlikeliness or dissimilitude , is in certain as it were , of their individuant and characteristical proprieties , which are not inherent qualities , but relative affections or properties . as to the point of order , the father is the first , the son the second , the holy ghost the third , not in order of time , or of nature properly so called , but in order of origination . hence is it , that such works , wherein the beginnings of things are most apparent , are attributed to the father by appropriation , as the creation . but those things wherein the second , and successive dispensations or procurations are most conspicuous , are attributed to the son ; as redemption : and such , wherein the perfection and last consummation are manifest , are attributed to the holy ghost , as our sanctification , and glorification . use , of direction , that as well in receiving such blessings as are bestowed on us by god , as in performing the duties of religion and obedience , we have regard to 〈◊〉 observe this distinction , as much as may be , to the glory of god , and our own consolation . for this is every way a divine meditation , whereby the hearts of the faithfull are singularly affected , and lifted up , if they well ponder with themselves , that in the descent or coming down on us of gods benefits , whereof we are made partakers , the beginning is taken from the father , the progress is by the son , & the accomplishment is through the holy spirit . and morever the ascent or sending up of our duties to god , which we ow to him ; the beginning is taken from or through the holy spirit , the progress is made by the son , and termination or resting is made by the father . for thus through the holy spirit his teaching , and assisting or helping us , we begin to pray ; that is , conceive and make our prayers here ; and our prayers so conceived or made , ascend , and enter into heaven by jesus christ ; and lastly , they are ultimately heard and accepted by the father . the ninth lords day . rev. 4. 11. thou art worthy , o lord , that thou shouldst have glory , and honour , and power ; because thou didst create all things , and for thy pleasure they are , and were created . a reason is given in these words , why all glory should be given to god ; and it is taken from the effects . for that is more praise-worthy , that it be taken from the effects , because the power and virtue of the cause , whereunto the praise is due , exists and is properly seen in its effects . the effect of god is creation , which in this place is illustrated , first , by his effects , which are declared by the universality conjoyned with them in these words ; because thou didst create all things . secondly , from his manner of creating ; that god out of a wise purpose created all things ; and for thy pleasure , &c. thirdly , from the adjunct of duration or lasting , and for thy pleasure they are , and were created . for one thing is understood by the words , they are , and another by , thou createdst , &c. as might be evident from the tense , thou createdst in the preter-tense ; they now are in the present-tense , by which the duration of things is evident . doct. 1. all things that now are in the world , were produced and made out of nothing by god. reas. 1. scriptures evidenceth this truth . reas. 2. partly also all nations testify it , because there is no nation which believeth not , and tells us not something concerning its beginning . reas. 3. the world it self witnesseth this of it self , for as much as in all creatures almost there appeareth such imperfection in their power and mutability , whereunto they are subject , that of themselves they could not have their own act and first existence , but of necessity they must depend upon some pure and perfect act , and that is god. reas. 4. the world also witnesseth this same , for as much as in its parts a certain perfection appeareth , which is such , as that it cannot be the first , and yet it is such as must needs be from the first perfection . such are these perfections that use to be observed in this sentence , whereby all things are said to be made in number , weight , and measure : where , by measure is meant the perfection that each thing hath in it self ; and number that which is referred to others , as to defect or excess ; and weight , that of motion and inclination that all have to their own ends and uses , as well particular to themselves , as common to others and the whole . reas. 5. lastly , all right reason confirmes the same , because in all order of causes , and things existent , common reason brings us to one first cause , and to one first existence . besides it implies a manifest contradiction , to conceive the world to have been eternal . for if the world was from eternity , then infinite dayes were before this day , and so these dayes are not yet ended , and consequently this day exists not , because it cannot exist but after the other dayes before it were ended , and gone . also , if the world was from eternity , there was no one day of the world , before there was a thousand years of the same world , because in eternity no point or moment of time can be defined , before which there were not many thousand of years : but this is a manifest contradiction , that one year of the world that is made up of many dayes , should be together , at once with the first day ; or that there is no day of any year before which there was not a thousand years ; or lastly , that there were as many thousands of years already , as there were dayes in the world . use 1. is of instruction , that in this part of our faith , we study more and more solidity to ground and strengthen our selves , because this ground being well laid , our faith and affiance doth much more easily & freely make progress about all such things , as god hath revealed in his word , that either he hath done , or will do about this world , or some parts of it , or other things that require the like might and power to that which was snewed in the creation of the world . use 2. is of admonition , that we suffer not our mindes to cleave to this world , or stick there , but that we lift them up higher , and adhere to him , that made the world . for it were a very great folly and perverseness , if after we know that all these things were made by god , we love the world better than god , and for the love of the world should forsake god. doct. 2. god of his wise purpose and good pleasure created all things , not out of any necessity . it is gathered from these words ; and for or by thy pleasure or will , &c. there be some philosophers that have said , that all created things do come from god by way of emanation , as little rivulets come and flow from their fountain . but that which doth proceed in this kinde , must be part of that river from whence it flows , which cannot properly be affirmed of things created , if we reflect on god the creatour . others are of opinion that the universe came from the creatour , even as the forme or fashion of him that looketh into a glass passeth from him into the glass . neither is this fitting to be affirmed , because the universe is in no other subject , as the shape is represented in a glass or mirrour . others have said , that the universe went from god , as a shadow from its body . but this is altogether impertinent , because a shadow goes not out of its body , but followes it by a privation of light , and by reason of the interposition of the opacous or gross body between the light and that place . others have said , that the universe went forth from the creatour , like 〈◊〉 the footstep is made by the print of the foot of one that walkes . but god had nothing without himself , upon which by his walking he could imprint such a footstep . all these had a good intention , though they spake not accurately and properly enough . for even as these comparisons are otherwise profitable to raise the minde of man in the contemplation of the eminency and majesty of god the creatour : for they point out the eminency of the creatour to be incomparably greater , than that of the whole universe it self ; and the vanity , or at lest littleness of all things , even such as seem greatest in the world , if they be compared with gods perfection . for they are in respect of god as little streams , or as little droppings are in respect of an ever and over-flowing fountain , or of the whole sea ; or as a light resemblance of ones feature appearing in a glass , is in respect of the solid substance or party himself , and as dark and vanishing shadows in respect of a most firm body ; lastly , also as the footstep of a man imprinted on the sand , is in respect of the living man himself . these same comparisons shew also , that the world and all its parts , or all things in this universe , are certain tokens and way-markes , ●…s it were leading us to the creatour , as the streams leads to the fountain , the image in the glass shews the mans face , and the shadow respects the body ; or brings one to find it out , as the footstep of the foot doth to the man. but the holy scripture leaving these comparisons , is wont to make use of a truer and fitter one , when it sayes , that the world so came from the creatour , as the workmanship from the workman , and every building from its builder , heb. 11. 10. now every workman doth what he doth of a determinate reason , purpose and will , in as much as he is a workman . and in this sense it is said both in our text , and every where else i●… scripture , that god made all things by his word , of his determinate purpose of minde and will. yet there is this difference between other artists and god , that all other artificers bring to perfection their works by divers motions . for so soon as they have taken up a purpose with themseves to make some work , first , they move their own members ; secondly , by their members they move other external instruments ; thirdly , by these instruments they move the matter unto the form , or act , which they intend to imprint upon it . but god perfects his work with saying and willing . and this is it that the scripture every where inculcates to us , psal. 33. 6 , 9 , &c. reas. 1. because there is nothing in the world , that hath a necessary connexion with the divine essence ; and so nothing external comes from god by any necessity of his nature , but from his wisdome and free-will . reas. 2. because this is the noblest and perfectest way of working , to work advisedly and with a free-will . reas. 3. in the beginning of the creation there was nothing , that could have the place either of matter or of instrument ; nor can we conceive in god any other power really distinct from his understanding and will. this therefore is of necessity to be granted and believed , that god created all things out of his own free wisdome and will alone . use 1. is of instruction , for by this foundation we may forearm our faith against the curious queries of some men , who are used to ask , or wonder why the world was not created before that time , in which it was indeed created ; or why such a part of it was not in such and such a manner ? the scripture answers , that god created all things by his own free choice , wisdome , and will ; so that in this work , he was neither subject to any necessity , neither should any other reason be enquired for , beyond or above his free will. use 2. is of direction , that from this consolation , we establish our faith about all things that he hath revealed in his word , that he will do . for howbeit they may seem very improbable or impossible to our staggering reason , yet seeing god doth whatsoever he wills , and he made the whole world onely with saying and willing , it is not to be doubted of , but that he will most truly perform all such things as he hath said , that he will do . doct. 3. by the same efficiency whereby god created all things , he sustains also , and preserves all things in being . from these words in the text ; and for thy pleasure , or by thy will they are . heb. 1. 3. acts 17. 28. in him we are or have our being . for as in the beginning , when god cherished the world of waters , or the waters , the spirit moved upon them , and so did sustain , conserve and cherish them ; even so also perpetually the same spirit sustains , governs , and cherisheth all created things . now god is said to sustain and conserve created things , not onely indirectly , as he removes and hinders from them causes that would corrupt or destroy them ; but also directly , as he gives a conserving power for continuance of their existence . neither doth he this alone by means , as he sustains an infant by its nurse ; and a building by its pillars ; but also immediately , in as much as being most inwardly present to all things , he furnisheth the means themselves with all their efficacy , when at his will they concur , and doth also many things himself for their conservation , for the doing whereof there is found no virtue at all in any means . this sustaining of all things is rightly by some called maintenance , because thereby god ●…olds as it were in his hand the creature , that it fall not back to that nothing from which it was at first brought by that same hand . for as if one with his hand lift up something from the ground , unless he hold it also , after it is lifted up in his hand , of its own accord , it will fall again to the ground : so also after that god by his omnipotent hand , lifted up the creature from nothing , with the same hand he upheld it also , otherwise it would fall back and return to nothing again . reas. 1. because sustentation is a sort of continued creation . for creation brings it to pass , that a thing first is ; and sustentation brings this about , that the same thing yet is : so that creation hath almost nothing in it beyond sustentation , but onely a newness of being , wherein it is terminated . the same omnipotencie therefore and power of god , is required unto sustentation of things , which was required at first to their creation . reas. 2. because to be , or to exist , agreeth so imperfectly to the creature , that if it were removed or separated from the first being , whence the beginning of its being was , it would presently cease to be . for as in the enlightening of the aire , the light is so received by the aire , that so soon as ever the sun is removed from it , whence this illumination dependeth , the air presently ceaseth to be illuminated ; so is it in this busiess . reas. 3. because god is so universally and inwardly the cause of the creature , that he is not onely in place of an external efficient cause , but also of an internal , and doth no whit less communica●…e to things their being , than matter and form , which are other internal causes , and essential too , which being taken away , the essence and being of such things is taken away it self . although therefore many effects consist or keep their being , when their efficient causes are remov'd or ceas'd , as a building remains after the death of its builder ; yet without the presence and power of god the creature can no more consist and keep its being , than without its matter and form . use 1 ▪ is of direction , that we may strive to open the eyes of our mind , and may pray that by the grace of god they may be more and more opened , that we may see both god in our selves , and in every other thing in some manner . for that is it which the apostle teacheth , act. 17 27 use 2. is of admonition , that for this cause we take heed to our selves , that we sin not against god , because we are held up , in and by the hand of god. if therefore witting and willing we offend god , it is even as if a child out of petulancie should hurt his fathers face , while he is held by his father in his arms , and in his bosom . doct. 4. all the glory that can be given by a creature to god , is due unto him ●…y reason of his onely creating and ●…ustaining of all things . it is out of the text ; thou art worthy , &c. where this glory is expounded by three words , which designe one and the same thing , though in a diverse manner , because no one word can be found , which can sufficiently mark out the duty of a creature to god its creator . r●…as . 1. the reason in general is , because the greatest perfection of all divine power appears in the work of creation , and such things as therefrom depend . now by how much the more the power of the cause appears in the effect ; by so much the more praise and glory is due to the efficient cause . the●… first , gods goodness appears , for whose sake chiefly he is ever to be glorified ; because what ever good is in the creature , all this is derived from gods goodness ; and it is nothing else as it were , but a certain slender scent , that is breathed from the infinite goodness of god , and flowes from it . this is some way pointed at in these words ; god saw all that 〈◊〉 made , and they were very good . secondly , his greatest and infinit power appears in the creation , in that by his word , and his command he made the whole world suddenly , and of nothing , or matter praeexistent . thirdly , his highest wisdome also appears , in that he made all things , not confusedly , that there should be and remain a chaos ; but in all perfection of order and proportion ; so that to one who attentively considers things , so much wisdome appears , not onely in the fabrick of the whole , but in the disposition of the parts in one man , or in one flea , as all the wisest men in this world can never be able either to in●…itate , or to explicate , or by all the diligence they can use , sound the bottom of it . use , is of exhortation , that with heart , ●…ind , and work , we study alwayes to give this glory unto god , that he deserveth , and which justice requireth from us ; to which we are perpetually called and stirred up by all creatures in heaven and in earth . the tenth lords day . rom. 11. 36. for of him , and through him , and to him are all things . the apostle brings an argument here to prove that which he had before put , viz. that god ows no man any thing . he proves it from the opposition thus ; the cause ows nothing to its effect ; but contrarily the effect ows all to the cause . now god is as the cause , not as the effect , in respect of all things whatsoever , that either are , or are done in this world . but god as a cause comes under a threefold reason or notion ; as 1. either of a procreating cause ; 〈◊〉 ●…im are all things : or 2. of a conserving and directing cause ; and through him or by him are all things : or 3. of a final cause , or for which ; and to him , or for him are all things . in the first notion , creation is attributed to him ; in the second susten●…ation and gubernation of all things ; in which two , the providence of god doth properly consist : in the third notion , perfection and conservation of all things is attributed to god ; in which the end and accomplishment of creation , sustentation , and gubernation is seen and consists . doct. 1. god 〈◊〉 a sure providence , whereby he takes care for al●… things ▪ and directs them to his own glory . it is 〈◊〉 from the text , in as much as all things by him , and for him are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 directed . 〈◊〉 . 1. because god is the 〈◊〉 of things from reason and wisdome of the greatest excellency , 〈◊〉 from any necessity of his nature , nor yet from 〈◊〉 ca●…ualtie or coaction . and in such a cause , there is alway a regard had to the end , and an efficacions willing of it , together with an ordering of the means for attaining of that end accordingly . reas. 2. because if god had onely made the creatures , and had no care of them afterwards , or did not direct and govern them , the work of creation had been but idle , vain , and as done in jest . for workmen use not to take pains to perfect a work , and then neglect it , unless from too much leisure , and sport , or pastime they do it ; which agreeth not to god. reas. 3. unless god directed and governed all things that he created , his work would be imperfect , as not bringing it to its destinate end . it would also be subordinate to the operation or influence of some other upon it , that is not the principal , as we see it is among men . for he that makes a ship , and directs , and governs her not afterwards in her ●…ailing ; his work about her , it is but imperfect , and as it were vain , and his art and work is subordinated to the art of sailing , which doth the other and better sort of the work about that ship. reas. 4. common experience teacheth , that there is some present and powerfull wisdome every where , that is efficacious in its workings and intentions , whereby creatures are directed in their operations . for without it , the kinds of all things could not have been preserved , and propagated under the same forms and figures , parts and dispositions , through all generations . without it also , creatures that want reason , could not be directed to tend to some certain end unknown to themselves , and to possess certain places most convenient for them , and to seek the order and preservation of the universe or whole , rather than their own particular . without this providence it cannot be understood , how some beastshave such instinct , & as it were some beams of a certain wisdome imparted unto them , as they have ; as may be seen , in ants , bees , spiders , swallows , storks , of which the scripture it self speaks , and in many other beasts , which are rightly said to be borne , as it were with a law , a book and a lanthorne ; with a law , which they follow and observe constantly ▪ in all their operations , in which law a certain art and wisdome manifestly appears . with a book , wherein they have that law written down to them , because it is ever present with them , and indeed written or engraven on their soules . with a lanthorne also , because at all times they so radily read therein , and perceive all such things , as agree to their condition . use 1. of information , that we may have a care solidly to establish our faith in this behalf , because providence is amongst the first principles of religion , whence the glory of god mainly depends , and our affiance , patience , reverence , humility , and all the rest , that belong to the real practice of religion . use 2. of direction , that we lean not to our own , or to other mens wisdome and providence , but to apply our selves alwayes to lay hold on the providence of god , that we may rely on it in all things . doct. 2. the providence of god includes in it self not onely the intention , but also the attainment of its end . for all things are no less certainly for him , than they are either by him , or from him . reas. 1. because divine providence is most perfect , and therefore alwayes attains what it intends properly . for that is the imperfection of mans providence , that it often attains not its end , but is hindered by some other causes . reas. 2. because if god attained not his purposed end , then would he suffer some change in his blessedness and happiness of condition ; because it is a more blessed thing to have all ones desires and purposes fulfilled , than to fall beside some of them . reas. 3. because thence also would follow diminution of gods eternal knowledge . for no wise man proposes that to himself to be attained , which from the beginning he knows , that he shall never attain . use 1. is of refutation , against such that turn divine providence into a humane providence . use 2. of consolation to all believers , to whom god hath promised , that he will provide and see for them , so as all things at last shall turn to their good and eternal happiness . doct. 2. this providence of god extends it self to all things . this is clear in the text. reas. 1. it is as much extended to all in the world as a good and wise master of a family , hath a care ( as much as in him lieth ) of all things , that are done in his house . reas. 2. it is extended to every thing that was created of god. for in the same manner providence follows upon creation , as the apostle teacheth that provision doth upon procreation , and seeing to children and others in the family , 1 tim. 5. 8. for god in some sort is called the father of all things that he created . reas. 3. he hath a care of all noble and great things , because the direction of such makes evidently for his glory . reas. 4. he cares also for the least and vilest things , as the haires of our head , and the like , mat. 10. 29. because his wisdome being infinite , these cannot escape it . as from the greatness of them , his being is not helped , so from the littleness of them , he is not hindered to care for them . oftentimes also , from least things , very great things depend , and from vile or base things , a noble change followeth , either for the better or for the worse . reas ▪ 5 ▪ this providence is extended not onely to things that of necessity are , or must be , but to contingents also , or things voluntary ; because contingents , they are mutable , and subject to many casualties , coming from the course of many causes , & do most of all require the government of a superior power , that they may be rightly ordered , left all should run into confusion . and voluntary things are of a most noble operation , and of a higher nature , than any natural things are , and therefore most of all do depend upon gods care for them and over them . and these things are so cared for of god , that their nature is not thereby overthrown , but established and governed . for it is rightly said of divine providence , that though it attains to its end with strength , yet even in doing so , it disposeth all things sweetly ; that is , according to the nature of all and each , that he himself put into them in the creation , and yet conserves and governs by his providence . for there is nothing in gods providence that brings a necessity upon any thing properly so called ; but onely a certainty which no wayes withstand the nature of contingency and liberty . reas. 6. this providence is extended not onely to things good , but also to evill ; nor yet onely to evills of punishment , but also to evils of sin ; because , though evill was not created of god , and in this respect is not properly and in it self the subject of divine providence ; yet because it comes from the creature of god , and of its owne nature disorders the work of god , and is contrary to the order that god appointed , and therefore ought of necessity to be ordered and limited of god ; otherwise the most noble work of god , if he had no care to the contrary , would run into great disorder : and because there is in sins the greatest confusion and disorder , therefore it is mo●…t of all required here , that god exercise the power of his providence ; in regard of whom onely evill hath some kinde of good in it ; to wit , as far as it is ordered by him , and turned to good . use 1. is of exhortation , that we may alwayes have our affiance firm , and immovable , and fixed on god ; because , if god be for us , who can be against us ? seeing all things are directed and governed of god. use 2. is of admonition , that we depend upon no creature , but upon god alone ; because all things are governed of god. and then that we learn to reverence and fear god in all things , seeing his providence , that is to be reverenced and feared , hath a hand in all things . the eleventh lords day . act. 4. 12. neither is there salvation in any other : for there is no other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved . in these words , is contained the reason of the answer , that peter gave to the multitude being come together , to the question they made , about the good work done to the impotent man , verse 9. the question was , how he was healed , and delivered from his sickness ? the answer was , that he was made whole by the name of jesus christ ; that is , by that divine authority and power whereof jesus christ was the author . the reason of this answer and deed is taken from the nature and power of jesus christ , which is shown & declared in this verse , from its effect ; to wit , that it brings salvation as well spiritual as corporal to men . and this effect is so affirmed of this cause ; that is , of christ , that it is denied of all others : so that there are two assertions contained in these words ; whereof the first is , that jesus christ offereth salvation to men : the second , that no other can bring salvation . the reason of both assertions is given , because the name , that is the power and authority of saving , signified by the name iesus , is given to him and to none else . for by name in this place , as it is referred to christ , christ himself is understood , as signified by that name of jesus or saviour ; as by the name of god , god himself is oft thus understood in scripture ; but withall the power and authority of christ to save , is made known in more illustrious persons , titles , and solemn stiles , whereby is declared their quality , and what they import . for the signification of the name iesus is here taught . lastly , regard is had to our faith ▪ which properly lookes at the name of jesus christ , and of god the father , that is christ and god the father as they are proposed to us , and as it were named in the gospell . doct. 1. iesus christ saveth us from all our sins . this is it that is signified by the appellation of his name ; and is proper to the name , containing in it self the whole summe of our redemption , and its application : the end also of his incarnation , humiliation , and exaltation . now christ saves us by his satisfaction , merit , and efficacy . by satisfaction , because he removes the guilt of sin and wrath of god , that were the hinderances of our safety , and could not be removed by us . by his merit , because he procures to us the favour and right to all those blessings , that use to be communicated to the sonnes of god. by his efficacy , because by his spirit he effects indeed , & works all in us that belongs to our salvation . in this sort therefore doth he save us from all our sins , as to the guilt , to the punishment , and to the andduration , to the defilement . reas. 1. because he was given of god his father for this end ; that is , he was for that end eternally predestinated , from the beginning promised ; in the fulness of time exhibited , for this end , i say ( as himself professeth ) that he might save sinners ; in which speech the apostle paul glorieth much , as in a 〈◊〉 ▪ 1 tim. ●… . 5. reas. 2. because he was fit every way to produce this effect ; that is , to procure this salvation ; which followes most certainly , even from this , that he was for this end sent of god. for god sends none to performe any duty , whom he instructs not , and makes fit for the accomplishment of it ▪ hither belongs also , all that before was said of the divine and humane nature of christ ; and what hereafter shall be said of the spirit resting upon him without measure , and the like . reas. 3. because willingly and of his pleasure he gave himself to the performance of all these things , that were necessary for our salvation . use 1. is of direction , that we may yeeld up , and give over our selves wholly to christ to be saved . use 2. that with all admiration of the grace of our lord jesus christ , we may live to him ; that is , as being saved by him , we may yeeld him all thankfulness , and strive to do him all honour and homage to his glory . doct. 2. beside iesus christ , there is no saviour . this is expresly enough in the text : neither is there salvation in any other &c. there are no other saviours neither in whole , nor in part , nor joint with him . there are no other causes of our salvation , neither subordinate , nor ministrating , properly so called . not total . reas. 1. because none is like , or equall to christ , that could do the same that christ did for our salvation . for he is the onely begotten son of the father , the onely imm●…nue , god with us , god-man in one person , the onely medrator between god and man , 1 tim. 2. 5. reas. 2. because god gave and proposed none oother saviour to us , as it is in the text. reas. 3. because if there were any other saviour , then such exclusive assertions could have no place , as every where occur in scripture . whosoever believeth not in christ , he shall dy : the wrath of god shall abide upon him : without him we can do nothing , and the like . nor yet mediators in part . reas. 1. because christ perfectly saveth those that believe in him , so that they need not in any sort to seek salvation in any other , heb. 7. 25. reas. 2. because our salvation cannot be so divided into parts , that part from one , and part may be sought from another ; for so it might come to pass , that one might be partly saved , and partly damned . neither yet subordinate , and ministring causes . because properly he saves us by himself , heb. 1. 3. now the saviours that were typical ; and the ministers of the word , who now also are said to save many , together with the word and sacraments , which save also ; all these are onely said to save , because they are the adjuncts and instruments of this onely saviour , serving him in the application of salvation before purchased by himself ; not that they are causes together with him of his salvation , and have in themselves power and vertue of saving any , if we speak properly . use 1. of refutation , against papists , who many wayes joyn other saviours to christ : as , 1. while they thrust angells and blessed spirits upon us for saviours , to be religiously invocated . 2. while they teach men to place their trust and hope in satisfactions of men , and pardons or indulgences of roman bishops . 3. while they will be saved by themselves by merit of their own workes , and place in them some faith and confidence . use 2. of exbortation , that in every great and lesse●… part of our salvation we not onely fly to christ , but depend also purely , onely , and wholly on him , saying with the psalmist ; whom have i in heaven but thee , and i delight in none on earth beside thee . psal. 73. 25. doct. 3. all that is made known to us in scriptures concerning our lord iesus christ , to be done , ought most of all to be done by us , as bringing salvation to our souls . for in this sense it is said in the text not simply that iesus saves us , but that the name of jesus christ doth it ; that is jesus christ , as he is proposed to us in scriptures to be apprehended by faith. reas. 1. because such is the nature of our faith , as it differs from sight , which we are to have in the life to come , that it is not carried simply and absolutely to christ , but onely as he is proposed to us in gods promises . reas. 2. because in the word of god nothing is taught of christ , which doth not directly make for our faith , and for advancing and confirming of oursalvation , ioh. 20. 31. reas. 3. because that charity and thankfulnesse that we owe to christ , requires this , that we make high esteem of all things that belong to him ; seeing otherwayes we are not worthy of him . use 1. is of reproof , against the slowness and sluggishness of our mindes , who can hear and read many things concerning christ , without any affection , or lifting up of our hearts to him . use 2. is of direction , that we may get unto our selves that knowledge of the name of christ , that may be sufficient to us in all our necessities ; and that we put this in practise and use it , when we are pressed either with our sins , or our inward corruptions , or the devills tentations , or the worlds allurements , or with afflictions , or when we are in the midst or danger of death . for thus in the name of christ we have a magazine or rich well , from which at all times , or any occasion we may draw , or take something of salvation , according to that of the prophet , isa. 12. 3. when ye have drawn waters with joy out of the wells of this salvation ; ye shall say , &c. the twelfth lords day . acts 2. 36. therefore let all the house of israel know assuredly , that god hath made that same iesus , whom ye have crucified , both lord and christ. this is one of the last parcells of that first sermon , which the apostle peter made to the jews after christs resurrection . it contains the principal conclusion of the whole sermon , as appears by the illative particle , therefore ; and the necessity of the consequence it self , certainly know , therefore , &c. the conclusion it self is , that jesus is the lord himself , and the messias that was promised . the arguments from which it is deduced , are testimonies of preceding prophets , and the present effusion of the holy spirit , which could be the effect of none other , but of christ the lord or the messias . in the conclusion it self two things are explicated ; the function or charge of christ ; and the calling to that charge . the function is included in these titles , lord and christ ; the calling is declared in this , that he is said to have been made lord and christ , and constituted so by god. we have three names here , that are attributes of our saviour , iesus , christ , and lord , which also elswhere use commonly to be joyned in scripture ; and between them this distinction may be observed . iesus is his proper name ; christ is his name of authority ; and lord his name of power . iesus points at the end which our saviour had before him ; christ , the means and way how to come to that end ; lord , the perfect execution and attainment of that end : between christ and lord there is no reall difference , nor yet so great a notional difference , as is between christ and iesus the lordship or dominion , is as it were an adjunct following that function , which is designed by the titles of christ ▪ messias , or anointed . but between christ & iesus this is the difference , that iesus , as before hath been said , designes the end , and christ the means and manner of attaining it . iesus denotates christs action on our behalf properly ; and christ , his perfection for it , and reception of that dignity from the father . doct. 1. our saviour iesus was ordained and constituted by the father for the performing of all these things , that were necessary for our salvation . it is hence gathered , that he is said to be made lord and christ ; that is to say , that messias , whom all the prophets from the beginning of the world foretold and preach'd that he was to come , for procuring and perfecting the salvation of man ; and whom all the faithfull with great desire looked for , the onely author of their salvation . the things that were necessary for our salvation to be brought about , are contained in these three functions , which are intimated in the name messias and christ ; to wit , of prophet , priest and king. our saviour was the anointed prophet . reas. 1. because by outward ministry he proclaimed and revealed the whole counsell of god about our salvation , deut. 18. 8 ioh. 15. 15. & 17. 8. reas. 2. because inwardly he illuminates the mindes , and opens our hearts , that we may be taught of god. reas. 3. because he told us all things to come , that are necessary to be known , and belong to his church and kingdome . our saviour was also the anointed priest. reas. 1. because by offering up of himself he reconciled us to god. reas. 2. because he yet effectually intercedes at the hands of the father for us . reas. 3. because he makes us and our imperfect works acceptable to god , by the vertue of his own oblation and intercession . our saviour is also the anointed king. reas. 1. because he overcame and gloriously triumphed over all the enemies of our soules and of our salvation . reas. 2 because as prince and head of his church he governes the same , protects and conserves her by his efficacious power . reas. 3. because he shall with the greatest glory perfect the government , protection and salvation of his church , deservedly shall at last not onely be called and acknowledged king , but king of kings and lord of lords . use 1. is of information , that by true faith and distinctly we may see that in christ , which in all our necessities may supply our wants . if we would have our ignorance and blindness taken away , that we may fly to christ , as our prophet , to be taught of him ; and to seek wisdome from him ; who is himself the wisdome of god. if we be pressed with the guilt of our sins , and be accused by our own consciences , that we may fly to the blood and oblation of christ our priest , which he made of himself for us . if we would attain any thing from god , that we may use christ , as our intercessor . if lastly , our own weakness , and strength of our enemies discourage and terrify us , that we may look to christ our king , by whose help all the faithfull shall become more than conquerours . use 2. is of consolation , that we never give place to despair , because god hath provided for us so sufficient and able a saviour . use 3. is of admonition , that by no means we separate such things , as god hath conjoyned in christ. and they are separated by such , as either seek for knowledge onely , but care not to be cleansed from their sins , nor to be subjected themselves under the obedience of christ , as king ; or seek only remission of their sins , in the name of christ , but neglect knowledge , and other means of this , and refuse flatly to bear christs yoke , or to acknowledg his scepter and crown . doct. 2. christ was called to perform all the duties of these offices . it ariseth from these words ; god made this man lord and christ. this calling contains in it , his election , preordination , mission or sending , and all other things , that belongs to preparation , inauguration , confirmation , and consummation of this anointed one now sent . by vertue of election , and preordination , or predestination , christ was mediator from all eternity . by vertue of this purpose revealed , he exercised the office of mediator , immediatly after the fall of adam . by vertue of his mission or sending , in the fulness of time he was manifested ; and after he had manifestly and openly exercised these functions upon earth , the time appointed for that end , he was taken up to the greatest glory and dignity , in which with great glory and majesty he yet exercises these functions that become so divine and exalted a mediator . whence also in the text ▪ where jesus is said to be made lord and christ , a singular respect seems to be carried to this exaltation of christ , after and in which he came as to the consummate possession of this his dominion , in respect whereof he is called lord and christ. reas. 1. because none could or ought to usurp or assume to himself this honour , but he that was called of god , heb. 5. 4 , 5 , 6. reas. 2. because the whole nature of christs mediatory office stood in this , that he should do the will of the father , heb. 10. 7 , 9. reas. 3. because in christ an example is set down of that procedure , which god observes in us to be brought into life and glory by him . for our life and glory have their first foundation in gods electing of us , and begins at his effectual calling of us . use 1. is of information , for the establishing of our faith ; because we may certainly know , that god made christ every way fit for accomplishing our salvation . use 2. is of consolation , against all terrours and tumults , whereby either our salvation or the church of christ is impugned ; because we ought certainly to know , that christ is made lord , & hath all power of restraining his enemies at his own pleasure . if therefore nothing at present appear , from which we may be confirmed against such tentations ; yet we ought to live by this faith ; according to that , the just shall live by faith. doct. 3. all that by true faith rely upon christ , are made partakers according to their measure , of the dignity of christ. this is hence collected , that the apostle so earnestly exhorts to this faith ; especially if we compare this conclusion with the occasion of the question , as it is explicated , verses 17 , 1●… . for they are some way partakers of the fruition and dignity prophetical , as they have the spirit of christ ; as ver . 17 18 is apparent , by which spirit they are taught all things , 1 ioh. 2. 27 so that in some sort they may discern all things , 1 cor. ●… . 15. secondly , they are made partakers also of the function and priestly dignity , as it is granted to them , to offer unto god sacrifices and oblations , while they offer themselves to god , rom 12. 1. and while all that they can , & have , they dedicated & consecrated to god ; & lastly , while they continually cause to ascend unto the presence of god the sacrifice of praise and thanksgigiving . thirdly , they are made partakers of the kingly dignity , 1 pet. 2. 9. apoc. 1. 6. as they have through the grace of god got the dominion over themselves , nor are servants any more of this world , but rather masters of it ; and as lastly , they are heirs of heavenly glory , and receive the right and first fruits of it in this life . reas. 1. because so great is the spiritual and mystical union , that beleevers have with their head , that they must of necessity some way or other participate of his dignity , as the members of the body partake of the dignity of the head , and as the wife participates of the dignity of her husband . reas. 2. because all things that christ doth as mediator , he doth them for us , and to our good , in our name , and in a manner in our person ; that is , representing , and standing in our stead . reas. 3. bceause so great is the love of christ towards his own , that he would have that is his , as far as can be , to be communicated to others . use 1. is of information , that we may umderstand the force & reason of this name , whereby we are called christians . now believers were rather call'd christians , than iesu●…s , because as hath been said , iesus properly denotats christ's action of ●…aving us , but christ the receiving of that offi●…e ; so that we are not made saviours of our selves so much , as fitted receivers of this salvation from him . for what he doth as our iesus , this he doth not communicate to us , but only the fruit of it ; but what he received as our christ ▪ therefore he received it , that to us he might some way communicate it , and make us fit to receive it of him . such therefore alone are truly christians , that have spiritual and effectual communion with christ , or with god in christ. use 2. is of admoni ion , that we make not the divine name of christian to be dishonoured and blasphemed by the filthiness of our life and manners . the thirteenth lords day . mat. 16. 16. thou art christ the son of the living god. this is peter's answer to the question propounded by christ to the apostles . the question was about their judgement and faith , as to the person of our saviour . in the answer , there is contained the confession of the disciples concerning christ , and together with this , a description of christ. in this description the person of our saviour is described ; 1. from his office , thou art christ. 2. from his essence , which is pointed out to us by his essential relation to that principle , from whence he came forth . this principle is god , who is illustrated by his attribute of life , the living god. the relation of our saviour to god , is that of a son to a father ; the son of the living god. and he is also illustrated by a tacite comparison of that unlikeness , that is between this son and others that use to get the same name also : and this comparison is illustrated to us in the particle prefixt to sonne ; the sonne , or that sonne . doct. 1. iesus christ is the coeternal or natural son of god. he is called the son of god , because he proceeds from the father , not by way of creation , but by way of generation . and generation is here used by similitude or proportion , that this emanation of the son from the father , hath with that production , which a child hath from its parent ; in the comparison of which similitude or analogy , as in all others that are attributed to god , the perfections onely of the denomination are to be understood to agree ; and all the imperfections and defects are to be removed in our thoughts . hence , that which is proper to corporal generation , that he who begets , doth it with some transmutation ; and that the thing begotten , is something out of the begetter ; these are not to be imagined in this divine mystery ; nor that which is found in the spiritual generation , in , or by a creature ; to wit , that the thing begotten is of another essence from that of the begetter , as in the production of the w●…rd of the mind in humane understanding . but the perfection that is in the generation of a body ; to wit , that the begotten be in essence and nature like unto the begetter , is here to be con oyned with that perfection that is found in spiritual generation of creatures ; to wit , that the begotten be in the begetter , by the most inward and inseparable way of being so ; and so we come ●…ighest to apprehend , that which can be conceived or apprehended of this divine generation of the son by the father . for christ proceeding from god the father , hath the same common nature and essence with him , and is his substantial image , heb. 1. 3. yet he remains still in the father , and the father in him , without total separation of either from other , as god understanding himself , is in god understood by himself ; and god understood by himself , is in god understanding himself . use 1. is of consolation , towards all believers ▪ because while they have communion with christ , who is the son , and heir of all the goods of the father , they may thence see their felicity ; to wit , that they are coheirs with christ in the heirship of life and eternal glory , rom. 8. 7. use 2. is of admonition , to all , that they hear the voice of christ with all submission , according to that command sent down from heaven , this is my son in whom i am well pleased , hear him . doct. 2. christ is the son of god in a farre more perfect , and a divine way , than any creature is . this is from the particle the , or that son. the reason is , because christ is the son of god by nature , not by adoption , or creation . christ is called the natural son of god , not because in his first or proper nature he is the son of god ; for so the good angells may be called the natural sons of god , if they be compared with men , who now after the fall , are not thus the natural sons of god , but onely in their second nature and generation ; that is , their regeneration and adoption : but christ is the natural son of god , because the father begot him , not of free choice , or decree of wisdome and will going before , but of natural necessity , as light engenders light . moreover christ hath the same most single and singular nature with the father ; wherof there can be no resemblance found on earth , in any creature , but that which is unperfect . therefore christ is also called the onely son of god , and the onely begotten . for though as to the general denomination , he hath many , whom he vouchsafes to call brothers ; yet as to the special manner ▪ and foundation of this filiation of his , he hath no brothers at all , or like unto himself , nor can he have any . use 1. is of direction , of our faith and thoughts ●…bout christ. for though we use the same words of christ , and of our selves , in relation to god , for the ●…overty and want of peculiar , and more proper expressions ; because god is called the father of christ , and our father ; and we together with christ are called the sonnes of god ; yet we ought alwayes to conceive all divine perfection in these titles and words , that are attributed to christ ; and in the same , as attributed unto us a far inferiour dignity , yet which is sufficient enough to our consolation . use 2. is of information , how we ought to seek all that belong to our adoption , and happiness , onely in christ , and by him . for because christ is that son of god , in whom is the principality , and all the excellency of divine filiation , or sonship ; therefore in him , and by him , we alwayes ought to seek all ▪ our participation of this dignity , that we can have , or may crave . doct. 3. christ is the supream lord in the church of god. though this be not expressed in our text , yet because it is in order conjoyned with the antecedent words in the apostles creed ( commonly so called ) it will be conveniently in this place joyned to the preceding matter . it is thus gathered from our text ; peter in the words set down had regard to the messias , whom all the prophets had preached , that he would be a king , a lord , and a most glorious vindicator or restorer of his people and hither also the particle the or that looks in part . for such a messias the jews at that time did look for , as appears from ioh. ●… . 10. thou art that son of god , thou art the king of israel ; as also in the words of the high-priest , mat. 26. 63 ▪ and christ in his answer following , explaines the matter , how that his dominion is contained in these words . reas. 1. because christ is one and the self same god with the father ; and god is the lord of all that he made , as well in the order of grace , as of nature ; so also christ is lord of them all by right of creation ; for by him all things were made , and by right of sustentation , because he sustains all that he made , with his mighty hand , heb. 1. 3. reas. 2. christ he is mediator , is lord of the church by right of redemption . for he that redeemed the whole , bought the whole man to himself ; therefore he hath him in whole & in part in his power , and that by a debt of justice ; whereunto also accrues another debt of thankfulness : whence it comes to pass , that a redeemed one wholly yeilds and gives up himself to his redeemer . reas. 3. as christ is considered , as the party to whom we subject our selves , and oblige our truth and fidelity to him by a most holy sacrament , oath or vow sealed sole●…ly with an outward badge or confession ; so he is our lord by right ▪ of contract or bargain , of covenant , of our religious assurance or truth giving , & of our promise . and for these two last reasons , more peculiarly and specially he is every where in the new testament called our lord , even when he is together named with the father and with the holy spirit , viz. because he alone is thus our lord in our nature , he is onely our lord , who thus onely redeemed us . lastly , we in special manner chuse him to be our lord , in our calling to faith , by our answer of a good conscience , as peter calls it ; whence it is also , that we are called christians , or subjects of christ , and his kingdome and call upon his name , as his name is called upon us , and professed that he is our lord. use 1. is of instruction , to establish our faith , concerning the godhead of christ ; because none either can or may be called our lord absolutely , or god of the church , except god alone . for , first , god onely is the lord of mans life , and of such things as belong to the goods of nature . for magistrates and commonwealths are onely by gods institution keepers of the lives of their subjects under them , in order to the publick good of all : and every citizen or subject is but a tutor and keeper of his own life , and no absolute lord , or maker of it . secondly , god onely may use , or apply to his use the whole man according to his own free arbitrement . thirdly , the things that belong to the goods of grace , are of a more noble rank , than those of nature . if therefore god alone be lord of this natural life , than much more must it be granted , that he is onely lord of grace and spiritual life . fourthly , he that dischargeth the part of lord of the church of god , ought of necessiity to be omniscient , omnipotent , and omnipresent , because to him belongs to have the care over the church , and all its members dispersed over all the earth , and under the whole compass of heaven , and to direct them in all their wayes , and defend them against all sorts of evills , and lastly , to heap upon them all sort of good to their happiness . seeing then this is the sole●…e title of christ , that he is lord in the church of god , it followes necessarily that he is also essentially and by nature god , and not by office onely . use 2. is of consolation , to all the faithfull , that they have him for their lord , who gave himself to the death for them . use 3. is of admonition , that we subject our selves wholly to this lord , and his will ; and do him all honour in all and every part of our life and conversation . the fourteenth lords day . mat. 1. 20. but while he thought on these things , behold the angell of the lord appeared to him in a dream , saying , joseph , thou son of david , fear not to take unto thee mary thy wife , for that which is conceived in her , is of the holy ghost . these words contain a reason given by the angell of the lord , why ioseph should receive his wife mary . and the reason is , from removing the cause , for which ioseph might have been induced to put her away . now the cause was , that she appeared to be with child by another than her own husband . this cause is removed , by putting another unblamable cause in its place ; and this cause is determined by the angell to be the holy ghost . the effect then is placed with its causes in this enunciation . the effect then is jesus christ , as to his humane nature . the causes are two ; to wit , the holy ghost , and the virgin mary . mary is the efficient cause less principal , and supplier also of the material cause ; but the holy ghost is the most principal and first cause , which brings the less principal efficient , and the material together into acting , for the production of this effect . doct. 1. christ the son of god took unto himself into the unity of his person , the nature of man truly such , together with the conditions of humane weakness . this is taught in the text. when it is said , in time a man born and begotten of a woman ▪ it is but the same expressed in these words of the creed , conceived of the holy ghost , and born of the virgin mary , &c. he might have assumed the nature of another creature , as of angells ; he might also have assumed mans nature in its greatest perfection , as adam was made ( who was never in propriety of speech ) either conceived , or born an infant . but it was his pleasure to assume the nature of man truly such , and in this manner of sinless imperfections , and not of angells . reas. 1. that he might do mans businesse and work ; that is , make satisfaction for them , and save them . reas. 2. he would also take this our nature in its weak and low condition ; first , because he would come down ( as farre as could be without sin ) into the same very place and condition , out of which he intended to lift us up higher . secondly , that by this means he might some way sanctify all the states and conditions of humane life , least any might imagine that any such low ▪ estate separateth a man from communion with christ. thirdly , that he might leave this to us in his own experience as a pledge of his knowledge and like sufferings and affections with us , from whence he might look upon our infirmities . use 1. is of information , for establishing our faith on this behalf , that we give no place to phantastical imaginations of hereticks , who impugne directly or indirectly , and fight against the humane nature of christ ; which sort of errours are some way countenanced by papists , in their doctrine of transubstantiation ; and by ubiquitaries in theirs of consubstantiation , in as much as they attribute omnipresence and other the like divine attributes to the humane nature , which is no way agreeable unto the same . use 2. is of exhortation , to extoll and solemnly to praise the grace of our lord jesus christ , with all admiration and thanksgiving , who not only vouchsafes to become man for us , but also in the nature of man disdained not to become an infant , to be conceived , and born after our manner ; and to undergo other the like infirmities and humiliations for our sake ; it is that the apostle points at , heb. 2. 16 , 17. use 3. is of consolation , that we should make no difference between an infant newly conceived , or born , and a perfect man , or one of age ; or between any other conditions of the nature and life of man , as to our interest in christ , as if any sinless condition of nature could make us less regardable by him , 〈◊〉 exclude us from him . for christ descended to the lowest and imperfectest sinless degree and condition of the life of man ; in that he was , 1. conceived ; and 2. shut up in his mothers womb the ordinary time of other births ; and 3. born . doct. 2. christ assumed this humane nature from mary , as from his mother . for though he is said in the text to be begotten in her ; yet elswhere he is said to be made after the flesh of the seed of a woman ; and a woman is said to have conceived him , and to have born him as her son ; hence also he is called the son of mary , the son of david , the son of abraham , and the like ; whereby that phrase is expounded , and the truth of it confirmed . reas. 1. he should have been born of a woman , as of his mother , to the end that that first evangelicall promise of the seed of the woman , that was to tread down the serpent's head , might be fulfilled . reas. 2. it was according to right that he was born of mary , that so it might be certain , how he descended of the tribe of iudah ▪ and of the family of david , according to the promises , and prophesies that went before of him . use 1. is of refutation , against anabaptists , and such like , who phantastically think that the humanity of christ onely passed through mary , and was not assumed from her nature . of which imagination the first reason seems to have been , that some simple men could not conceive , how any could without sin be born of a woman after the fall . but the anabaptists afterwards , though they took away this ground of their errour , of denying original sin , yet they adhered to this conclusion of meer wilfulness , without any reason . use 2. is of information , for directing our faith about christs son-ship . for he is the son of god and the son of man both , yet so , as he is not two sons , but in a certain way twice one son in one person . the first , from eternity ; the next , in time ; and consequently two wayes a son , as both by generation eternal , and by generation in time ; yet but one son of god , and of man , because but one person , who according to his divine nature is the son of god , and according to his humane nature is the son of man : so is every man twice a son , in essence first to father and paternal generation , and then to mother and maternal generation . doct. 3. christ was born of mary , remaining still a virgin after he was born . this is gathered from the scope of the words ; the question being about this , whether mary were a virgin or no ; and the words of the angell were to assure him , that she was . reas. 1. is , that this might be a singular and miraculous signe to the whole house of israel , and this is it that is pointed at , in isa ▪ 1. 14. reas. 2. that the prophesies going before of this thing might be fulfilled . reas. 3. that gods omnipotency in this so divine a mystery , and principal a work of god , might be evidently shewn . now it was not difficult to the power of god , that a son should be born of a virgin . for seeing all second causes act by their vertue which they received from god , it is not to be doubted , but that god can produce all these effects , without this o●… that cause co-operating , which otherwayes use to exist by them . yet not onely the power of god appeared in that work , but also his wisdome , to which it was most agreeable , that so singular a substance of humane nature , should in as singular a manner be brought to pass , that differed from all others . for in three manners all men were made before , 1. without the concurrence of either man or woman , as in the creation of adom . 2. without the concurrence of woman , as in the production of eve. 3. by the concurrence of man and woman , as in all ordinary generation afterwards . and this onely is the proper and peculiar one of christ , by and of a woman , without concurrence of a man. reas. 4. that it might easily appear how the contagion of sin might be removed from the humane nature of christ. use , is of confirmation , for strengthening of our faith about the person of christ ; to wit , that he was both the messias of old promised , and the promised seed of the woman in that peculiar manner , as that promise seems to have intended ; to wit , the son of man ; that is , of a woman descending of adam and other men in ordinary way , but made mother of a son not vulgarly or after the common manner , but miraculously and without the company of a man begotten , and born ; so that from his first conception all things were in him supernatural ; about which our mindes being busied , ought alwayes to be lifted up to supernatural contemplations , laying aside carnal and worldly thoughts . doct. 4. the holy ghost was the principal efficient cause of this generation . it is from these words in the text ; is of the holy ghost ; the particle of denotes not any material cause , but the efficient ; so that of the holy ghost , signifies as much , as if it had been said , by the power of the holy ghost , and his operation . now this is attributed to the holy spirit for these reasons . reas. 1. because it was a miracle ; and all miracles by appropriation are attributed to the holy spirit . reas. 2. because the principal work here was of sanctification , forasmuch as the lump of the humane nature , which was to be assumed by christ , was in a singular manner sanctified and cleansed from all spot of sin , and all sanctification peculiarly attributed to the holy spirit . reas ▪ 3. because the holy spirit was without measure to rest on , & to dwell in christ. it 〈◊〉 but reason therefore , that the holy spirit should prepare and make such a dwelling for himself , as he also prepares his dwelling in the sons of god by adoption . quest. it may be th●…n questioned , whether christ may be called the son of the holy ghost ? ans ▪ it cannot be said ; 1. because it would bring some confusion of relations and proprieties personal in god , and in the persons . 2. because the holy spirit neither produced a new person , when he made christ to be begotten , or generated ; neither produced the nature , which he produced , after his own nature , or of the same essence with his own . use 1. is of direction , in our faith , and in all our thoughts , that we have of christ ; that we admit of all that is in him , to be spiritual , holy , and full of mystery ; nor that we ever doubt of any part of this mystery ; because all this , as it is above common order , so is it above the reach of common nature . yet we may always receive and conceive this , that none of all these things are above the divine power of the holy spirit ; nor any thing impertinent or unfitting in that thing , which is wholly mannaged by the holy ghost . use 2. is of direction , in our practice , as to the certainty of our salvation ; which depends upon this , if we be sure , that we are conformable to christ in his nativity , life , death , and resurrection . and from thence is the beginning of this conformity to be taken , if we be spiritually regenerated by the holy spirit , as christ was borne of mary through the efficiencie and operation of the holy ghost . and this is the self same thing , which the apostle peter admonisheth us to , that we study to make our vocation and election sure . the fifteenth lords day . 1 pet. 3. 18. for christ also hath once suffered for sinners ; the just for the unjust ; that he might bring us to god , being put to death in the flesh , but quickened by the spirit . an argument is brought in these words , whereby all christians may be perswaded , that undeserved afflictions are patiently to be born . the argument is taken from the greater to the less , in which also is contained the force and nature of a simily , or example , and also of some dissimilitude . for such logical assertions are oft joyned together in the same thing , as they make to the same purpose . the argumeat is this ; if christ that was just , hath suffered for sinnes , and for unjust men , then much more ought we to suffer afflictions imposed upon us ; but the first is true , and therefore the latter also . christ considered in himself is the greater , and his sufferings are the greater ; and so the argument is from the greater . but considered as our head , and saviour , he hath the place and nature of a simily or example to be imitated by us in tolerating afflictions , so it is an argument from a like , or from an example . lastly , considered as just , suffering for the sinnes of others that are uniust , he is altogether unlike unto us ; and so also some force and emphaticalness of this argument is from the unlikeness . they are ordered in this enunciation , in which as the assumption of the syllogism , the cause is contained with the effect ; to wit , christ with his suffering . for though suffering of its own nature be an adjunct of the sufferer ; yet as it 's voluntarily admitted and undertaken it is an effect . yet these arguments are so ordered , that they have mixed with them the affection or property of the argument so called , from diversit . for christ and his passions of their own nature are dissentaneous ; when therefore it is said , christ suffered , it is as if he had said , though christ were the son of god , yet was he not fr●…e from 〈◊〉 . that this may be the better understood , it is to be known , that suffering in this place , and in such others , is attributed to christ by the 〈◊〉 of synecdoche ▪ of the more general for the special ; and that it signifies the special suffering of a grievous evill : then are these two very dissentaneous between themselves , that christ should suffer a great evill : now that he is said to have suffered for sinnes , and for the unjust ; the particle for designes the cause of his suffering , and that is threefold ; a meritory or material , a formal cause and a final . the meritory cause , because christ suffered for the things , which the sinnes of unjust men had deserved . the formal cause , because for our sinnes christ was induced , as the form , as of divine imputation ; as of that which by god was imputed ; so of the suretiship undertaken by christ , or that form which by christ was undertaken , or accepted to be accounted his , when he underwent these sufferings . lastly , also the final cause , because for this end set before him , or for this very purpose christ suffered , that he might take away the sins of unjust men , and make unjust men to become just , and so might bring them to salvation . doct. 1. christ the lord suffered all these evills of punishment , which were due to us for our sins . this is not so to be understood , as if in kind and particularly he had undergone all the evills , but in value onely , and generally ; in the summe or upcast of all , and in that which was equivalent and equipollent to all ; and so , he is said to have suffered all the evills of punishment . reas. 1. because he suffered generally all sorts of evill ; to wit , as well spiritual in the agony and horror of his mind , as corporal in his body ; and the extreme , as well positive , as privative , both in a kind of loss , and in kind of sorrow or feeling . reas ▪ 2. because he suffered from all , from whom any evill could be inflicted . he suffered from men , as well jews , as gentiles ; as well his own domesticks , as forrainers ; he suffered from the powers of darkness and hell , which were the murtherers from the beginning , and the authors of all these evills , which christ suffered from them , and their instruments ; lastly , he suffered from god himself , whose cup full of wrath he drunk out . reas. 3. because he suffered in every part of himself , every way that he could suffer . for he suffered in his soul horrors and unspeakable sorrowes ; he suffered in his body hunger , thirst , nakednesse , wounds , spitting , stripes , and buffetings , and whatsoever witty malice and cruelty could devise . use 1. of direction , that continually in meditating on the passion of christ , we may look upon the singular and incomprehensible goodnesse , grace , love , mercy , justice and wisdome of god , by which he sent his eternal son to suffer such things for us , and for our salvation ; and together also the abundant grace of our lord jesus christ , who was willing to it , and did suffer so many and so grievous things for us . use 2. of exhortation , that from the consideration of this suffering of our lord and saviour , we strive to stir up our selves powerfully , that we may daily have more faith and hope about grace and our salvation to be perfected by christ ; and that our hearts may be kindled with greater heat of love towards god and christ , and with greater zeal of the glory of his name ; lastly , that with more courage , constancy , and patience , we bear all the troubles of this life , for christ's sake , who suffer'd all things for us . doct. 2. christ suffer'd all these things , neither out of any necessity of nature , neither by constraint , neither by casualty and chance , but of his own ●…ree choice of wisdome and will. this is gathered from the text , in that it is put amongst christ's praises , as an example of obedience , that he thus suffered . but there is no place for praise , nor obedience , in such things as one suffers out of necessity , or chance , without the free consent of the will. reas. 1. because this was the will of the father , whereunto he would conform his will in all things , so far forth as he laid this charge upon him . reas. 2. because this was the very thing , for which christ came into the world , according to the form of covenant made between the father and the son , isa 53 10. reas. 3. because in this consisted the most perfect obediences , which is the way to the most perfect glory , phil 2. 9. object . every evill of punishment is against the will of the sufferer ; but what christ suffered for us were very great evills of punishment ; they were therefore suffered against his will. ans. that evills of punishment are said alwayes to be against the will of the sufferer ; first , because they are against his natural inclination . for therefore punishment is onely evill , because it tends to the destroying of nature , and so is against inclination of nature , whereby every thing seeks the conservation of it self . secondly , the evill of punishment is against the will of the sufferer , conditionally ; to wit , if by no other means the sufferer can attain to his wished end ; but it is not alwayes against his will absolutely . the first had place in christ , because these passions were against the inclinations of nature , since otherwise they had brought him no pain ; and they were also against his conditional will , as appears by these words ; father , if it be possible , let this cup pas●… from me : but they were not against his deliberate , determinate , and absolute will. the reason is , because he suffered all out of obedience to the father , and of love to us , and our salvation . use ●… . of instruction , how we may from this ground arme our mindes against those tentations , that use to come by occasion of christ's sufferings . for in this respect christ was a stumbling stone unto the jewes , and foolishness unto the grecians . but if we will well weigh with our selves , that christ suffered all these things not out of coaction , or any necessity , or any external violence , but from the obedience of love towards mankind , and that he might give us a most perfect pattern of obedience in his own person : we shall be so far from finding any stumbling block , or foolishness in these sufferings , that on the contrary , nothing could be found that was , or is more suitable to the saviour of the world . use 2. of exhortation , that calling seriously to mind this grace of our lord jesus christ , out of thankfulness and mutual love to him , we may be ready with all willingness and chearfulness of mind to undergo all sufferings , and afflictions for his sake . doct. 3. christ's sufferings were an expiatory sacrifice for our sins . this is it , which is said in the text , that he suffered for sins , for the unjust ▪ that is , he had the virtue to take away the punishment from us , the guilt also and the spot , and to acquire to us the favour of god , and righteousness , and life eternal . it is the same that useth to be signified by satisfaction , by merit , by redemption , by restitution , or restauration made by christ. reas. 1. because this was the covenant between the father and the son , that if he would undergo that obedience for us , then we should be freed from our disobedience , and death , and should live thorough him , isa. 53. 10. for this suffering was the perfecting of all his obedience . reas. 2. because christ by his suffering made satisfaction to divine justice , and repayed god as much of his honour in our name , as he had suffered in it by our sins . therefore gods justice is now appeased ; the grace of god hath had its free course , that it may derive all good upon us . reas. 3. because that christ now by virtue of his passion and consummate obedience , as it were of his own right that he acquired , makes intercession with the father for us , that we may be , and live with him , ioh. 17. 24. use 1. of consolation , to the faithfull against the guilt of their sin , and terrors of their conscience , that arise from sin . for in christ , and his sufferings , we have a remedy against these wounds , that are otherwayes deadly . use 2. of admonition , that we would detest all sinnes , as things that brought our saviour to death , and would wave brought a thousand deaths upon us , unless he had turned them away from us . the sixteenth lords day . joh. 10. 17 , 18. therefore the father loveth me , because i lay down my life ▪ that i may take it up again : none taketh it from me ; but i lay it down of my self . i have power to lay it down , and i have power to take it up again . this commandment received i from my father . christ in these words expounds what he had said before of the duty , effect , and signe of a good shepherd ; to wit , that he layes down his life for his sheep . this he had applied to himself , verse 15. where two things were propounded ; 1. the object , to which this laying down of the life is referred , or which be those sheep of christ ? 2. the manner of this laying down the life . this is explained in the 16 , and these two following verses . the death of christ , or laying down of his soul or life , is explicated from the efficient cause ; which is christ himself . i lay down my life . 2. from the manner of doing of it , that christ is a cause voluntary , and doing it from a counsell and deliberation , not of coaction . none taketh it from me , but i lay it down . 3. from the adjunct of this efficiency ; that he did it not of weakness , but from power . i have authority to lay it down . this is shewn from another effect that followes this ; to wit , from his resuming it again , or his resurrection . i have authority to take it up again ; as if he would say , he that so layes down his life , that with power he takes it up again , he layes it not down out of coaction with weakness ; but voluntarily of his own accord he doth it : but i so lay downmy life ; ergo . which is illustrated here from the impulsive cause ; the fathers commandment . this commandment i received of my father . 4. from the end , and effect ; to wit , the fathers love and delight , or complacency in this . therefore my father loveth me , because &c. doct. 1. christ so far humbled himself for us , that he underwent death it self for us . i lay down my life , &c. now he underwent a double death for us ; a spiritual , and a corporal death . the spiritual is about christ's descent into hell ▪ this consisted in the separation of god's favour from the soul of christ for a time , not really , but as to sense and feeling , and that influence , from which comfort useth to be felt ; as also in impressions of divine wrath , which with horror did strike all the faculties of the soul ; so that for the time the soul was at so low an ebbe and concussion of all its happiness , as any creature could be , that was without sin formally inherent in it self . the death of the body is that which consists in the separation of the soul from the body ; the confirmation and continuance was in the burial of christ. now such was the separation of the soul from the body in christs death , that the conjunction and union of both of them with the divine person , remained the same that it was before ; as if one drawing a sword , held the scabberd in the one hand , and the sword in the other ▪ there would be there a separation between the scabberd and the sword ; but of neither of them from the man , that so held them : so also in this mystery , there is a separation of the soul from the body ; but neither of them was separated from the divine nature , nor person , but the person still sustained both in the unity of it self , as one person with him . the reason is , because if there had been any such separation from the di : vine person , then the second person had ceased to be god-man , and so could not for that time have been our priest or mediator . also a new incarnation or assumption had been made again , in the resurrection of christ. it is most true therefore , which is in the mouthes of many divines , and used proverbially almost ; that what the son of god assumed he never laid aside again . reas. 1. because the perfection and consummation of humiliation is in undergoing death , phil. 2 8. and this also was the first reason , why he did not onely undergo death , but the most vise , contemptible , and contumelious death ; that is , the death of the cross , as in that place is more especially set down . reas. 2. because his charge of redeeming us required this ; to wit , that he should pay that price to divine justice , which we did ow , and so be subject to the same punishment , that we were liable to . and this was also the reason , why he chose the death of the cross , that he might shew , that he did not barely sustain death , but that cursed death that was due to us , and that in our place , or for us , gal. 3. 12. reas. 3. that by the most convenient way he might procure the death of sin in us , by assimiliation , and making us conform to himself , rom. 6. from verse 1. to the 8. use 1. is of information , for directing of our faith ; ●…o wit , that while we seek remission of our sins , and reconciliation , and salvation in god ; we so have our faith in christ , that we may be specially united to him in his sufferings , blood-shedding , and death , rom. 3. 25. use 2. is of consolation , to all those as have such true faith ; because they are out of all hazard of death or condemnation , according to that of the apostle , rom 8. 34. use 3. is of direction , 1. in the study of sanctification , that with christ we may dy to sin . 2. in the study of all obedience , love , and humility , according to the example of christ , in whom all the perfections of these vertues we have marvelously shining to us in a most eminent and excellent way . doct. 2. christ ordained his own death from certain wise deliberation and power , to dispose of it as he pleased . i have power to lay down my li●…e . from which words it appears first , that the death of christ was voluntary . for though it was violent also , as it came from external agents , and was against christs internal natural inclinations ; and in some sort natural also , as it was wrought by external causes naturally producing such an effect : yet it was voluntary , not onely as to the willing disposition , and choice of it , whereby christ set himself to suffer it ; but also as he suspended his own power of hindering it , and averting death , and so gave way and power to the enemies inflicting it , in which respect also his death may be called miraculous , or wonderful ; because he himself , who was dying , ordered his owne death , and willingly admitted the same : so that by doing he suffered , and by suffering he acted , and had his owne action in it all , without which he could not have suffered by any creature whatsoever . reas. 1. because it became him to dy so , that was god. for since the humane nature subsisted in the f●…me person with the divine , nothing could befall the humane nature either in doing , or suffering , but as the divine willed and ordained it . reas. 2. because otherwise christ in his death had not been together both priest , sacrifice , and altar . for though it be the part of a sacrifice to be passive , and to be offered up to the father ; yet it is the part of the priest by being active about it , and ordering the whole , to offer up the sacrifice . use 1. is of information , for arming our faith against tentations and scandals , which use to arise hence , in that christ , in whom we believe , as our god , was subject to death . for christ died not of weakness and coaction , but by certain resolution , and of his own proper will and power ; so that the divine nature and power of christ appeared not onely in his resurrection , but if the thing be rightly considered , had as great a hand , and was as evident in his death also . use 2. is of direction , for our preparation to undergo death , in whatsoever way god would have it come to pass . for from these two things that were in christ , that he both willingly underwent death ; and then also ordered it himself ; the first of these lies upon us all , out of duty ; that we be ready at such time , and such manner to dy , as god is pleased we should . the other , though it cannot be performed by us , because we have not the power of laying down our lives , and ordering our deaths ; yet by faith , and holy desire to our comfort , we ought to seek this of god , and look for it , that in christ , who ordered his own death for us , he would order our death unto our salvation , and unto his own glory . doct. 3. christ underwent this death by his fathers command . it is in the text ; this command i received of my father . and this command was neither any of the law of nature , nor of the moral , ceremonial , or judicial ; but it was a peculiar condition of the mediatory office , that was laid upon christ by the father , and of his own free consent . it was therefore a command to the messias alone , as he was our mediator . reas. 1. because as by disobedience of the first adam sin and death entered into the world ; so by the obedience of the second adam , righteousnesse and salvation shoud be brought us ; and as the disobedience of adam was the breach of the command given to him ; so also the obedience of christ , was to be in the keeping of that command that was given him with his office of mediatorship , or whereby the office it self was also imposed upon him . reas. 2. because in christ we were to have such an example of obedience , as was most perfect in keeping the commandments of god. use 1. of resutation against the superstition & presumption of popish monks , who have devised a kind of perfection in obedience of councells , beside and beyond that , which stands in keeping of the commandments of god ; when yet christ himself , that hath given us the whole pourtraict and pattern of perfect obedience , confesses , that he went no further than to obey that , which the father cōmanded him . use 2. of admonition , that we may set our selves to follow christ in this point , that we may even unto death it self , cleave fast unto the commandements of god. doct. 4. god the father loveth christ for this obedience . this is in the text ; therefore the father loveth me ; that is , is delighted with this obedience , and so delighted , that he commends it to be looked upon by every christian , and all such as are christ's . reas. 1. because by christ's death , god was most glorified by christ , ioh. 12. 18. and 17. 4. reas. 2. because by that death of christ , the counsell of god was fulfilled , whereby he had from eternity appointed in himself to communicate his grace and glorious good will unto men , ephes. 1. 5 , 6 , 7 , 9. use 1. of resutation , against such as use to conclude from such phrases , whereby god is said to love men for this , and not for that ; that such mens works were the first causes of gods love . for christ was the son of god beloved of him from all eternity ; and yet the father is said to have loved him also for his obedience . use 2. of consolation , to all such as are in christ by faith. for as the father loveth christ , so will he also love them , that are in christ. use 3. of exhortation , that with all chearfulness we stir up our selves to obey god ; because god loveth such as obey him . the seventeenth lords day . joh. 10. 17 , 18. 17 , i lay down my life , that i may take it up again . 18. none taketh it from me , but i lay it down of my self . i have authority to lay it down , and i have authority or power to take it up again . this commandment received i of my father . seeing the text is the same , that it was before , the same analysis , that was there , may here also serve , and be made use of . doct. 5. christ rose again from the dead . for this is it , that is understood in the text , by taking up his life again . for this taking up again , is a reunion of things that were separated before : and in this reunion of the soul and body , there was a change or motion from an inferior condition to a superior of that , which was before in a better also or superior to this , from which the change is now : and therefore it is properly called a reassumption , or taking again , and not barely a resurrection . the forme then from which this change was made , was from his state of humiliation ; and the forme to which , was the state of exaltation and glory ; the subject of this transmutation or motion was christs humane nature , which had fallen unto the lowest and abjectest condition of his humiliation . christ's own body arose again from true death , and from the grave : and his soul also is said to have risen again , as it was now restored and reunited unto the body , and so delivered from the state and dominion of death ; or as delivered from the privation of its act in the body , wherein there was some diminution in its ralative perfection . there were two parts of this resurrection , revivification or a quickening again of the humane nature , by the renewed union of soul and body ; and its going out of the grave , to make it manifest , that it was restored . this resurrection was confirmed moreover by angells , by the scriptures , by christ himself , and by the assent and eye-witness , or experience of many witnesses , in divers apparitions reiterated from time to time during the space of forty dayes . reas. 1. because it was unbeseeming and impossible that the son of god , and author of life , could be long detained by the power of death , acts 2. 24. reas. 2. that by this means christ himself might be justified in the spirit , or according to the spirit of holiness , that is by the power of his god-head justified to be god as well as man in one person ; justly and fully declared and proved to be god , by his raising of himself again from the dead , rom. 1. 4. 1 tim. 3. 16. and might shew that we were justified by him from our sins , for which he died , and rose also again to shew that he had overcome for us , and delivered us from them , rom. 4. 25. reas. 3. that being now alive , he might powerfully apply to us , what before he had purchased by his death , rom. 5 10. reas 4. that he hereby might be the cause , foundation , and sign of assurance , and earnest to us of our resurrection , as well spiritual , as bodily , rom. & ▪ 1 cor. 15. 12 , 13 , 14. use , is of information , for the direction of our faith , that believing in christ unto justification and salvation , we may so lay hold on christ's death , that we still also look upon his resurrection , wherein his victory for us was shewn , and his power over death , and efficacy to work in us appeared , and which renders his death full of comfort to us , rom. 5. 34. 1 pet. 3 2. doct. 6. christ's resurrection came to pass by his own proper vertue and power . it is clear in the text ; i take it up again ; and i have power of taking it up again . for this is the difference between christ's resurrection , and that of others ; that they rise again by the power of another , to wit , of christ , as many , as are his : but christ by his own power , as lord of life and death , and therefore hath the disposing of both , as he sees good . neither doth it make any thing against this truth , that it is often said , that god raised him again from the dead ; and the spirit of god. for the works of the trinity from without are undivided , common to all the three persons . reas. 1. because what is thus attributed to god , is therefore also attributed to the son together with the father , and holy spirit , and is not taken from him , as is clear by our text. reas. 2. when christ is said to be raised by god , or the spirit of god , then properly his humane nature is considered , as raised by father , son and holy spirit , though not alwayes all three expressed ; but now one , now another : but when he is said to have raised himself , his divine nature and person is spoken of and considered , as raising his assumed humane nature , together with the father , and the spirit . reas. 3. because by the spirit and glory of god whereby christ is said to be raised ; no other vertue or power can be understood , than that of the divine nature , which was in christ. use 1. of information to confirm our faith about the person of christ. for he that by his own power ●…rose from death , can not be a bare man onely ; but must of necessity be acknowledged to have been god also . for the raising of a dead body , is no less divine a work , than the creation of a live body . he that raised himself from the dead , at the same time while he was dead in one of his natures , yet had life , and the fountain of life in his other nature ; to wit , the divine , at his command , whereby he did so great a work , as to raise his other nature to life again . as christ therefore by his death proved himself to be true man ; so also in and by his resurrection , he proved himself to be the eternal and natural son of god , and true god especially ; not by office onelie , and that most manifestly . use 2. of consolation to all such as are in christ. for they are in him , who hath vertue and power to raise them again from the dead , and to give them eternal life , iohn 6. 39 , 40 doct. 7. christ's resurrection was for us , or to do us good . this is hence gathered , because in the text , the common end of laying down his life , and taking it up again for all , is mentioned . for , for such as he laid down his life , for such also he took it up again . now the resurrection of christ turnes to our good , in another way than his death doth . for his death hath the account of satisfying and deserving for us : but his resurrection not so , but it hath the place and account of a samplar and efficient cause , and some way of an efficacious and powerfull applier and perfecter . reas. 1. because christ in his resurrection represented some way all the elect of god , and by a virtuall containing had them all in himself , and brought them all back from death . reas. 2. because the same spirit , that raised christ again from the dead , by a certain sort of communicating the same resurrection , quickened as well the soules , as bodyes of the faithfull , that they may be made conforme to the likenesse of his resurrection , rom 8. 11. reas. 3. because that same spirit quickens us by the power and vertue of the resurrection of christ. reas. 4. because the whole reparation of our nature will be after the image and pattern of the resurrection of christ , rom. 6. 5. use 1. of consolation , because in the resurrection of christ , as brought to pass for us , or for our good , we have our victory over death , devill , sin , and hell , and all our enemies , ready purchased and prepared for us . it is not therefore left to us to fight , that we may overcome , but onely in sincerity that we may mind this , to lay hold on the victory already acquired by christ for us , and that in the same manner we may strive to keep it , prosecute it , and more and more put ourselves in perfect possession of it by faith in christ. use 2. of admonition , that by no means we suffer sin to reigne in our mortal bodies , but that we may spiritually imitate such as arise from the dead . the eighteenth lords day . mark 16. 19. so then after the lord had spoken unto them , he was received up into heaven , and sat on the right hand of god. here is explicated a singular act of christ , after his resurrection : where mark , 1. the motion , wherein the act is designed . and 2. the thing brought to pass by that motion . the motion is but the means : the thing done by the motion , was its end . the motion was as it were the way : and the thing done by it , the end of that way , and the rest and perfection , that was to be attained by it . this motion was christ's ascending into heaven : the thing brought to pass by it , was christ's sitting down at the right hand of god. the motion then is described from the terme to which it was made , which was heaven ; but the terme from which it was , is also understood , which was the earth . the thing done by this motion , is also explained by its adjuncts ; to wit , christ's glory and power , and his quiet and setled possession of these ; all which are metaphorically signified in these words ; he sate down on the right hand of god. for the placing on god's right hand , signifies a communication of divine glory and power ; and sitting on his right hand , denotates the quiet and setled possession of this glory and power . doct. 1. christ ceased to be upon earth by his bod●…ly presence after the fortieth day after his resurrection . this is clearly enough signified in the text ; by these words , he was received up into heaven ; that is , ●…e ceased to be here upon earth . the time is here but generally intimated , act. 1. 3. we say , by his bodily presence ; because by his spiritual , and divine presence , by his godhead and his spirit , he is present with his own in a gracious manner , according to his promise , even unto the end of the world , mat. 28. 20. we call it also his bodily presence ; rather than his real presence , because real presence is more properly opposite to an imaginary , or fained presence onely , than to a divine and spiritual . reas. 1. because it because not christ to abide longer upon earth , when now he had left off to be earthly , as he was in the state of his humility : which leaving off to be earthly , we understand not of the substance of his body , but of the manner , quality , and suit or garb , as it were of his body , which now from earthly or infirme , was turned to be heavenly and glorious . reas. 2. because his bodily presence had not been for our good , but rather to our hurt , for as much as the spirit , the comforter , his true vicegerent here upon earth , could not be poured out , and given , before christ did ascend into heaven , iob. 16. 7. reas. 3. because christ had now done the work , which he had to do upon earth , for glorifying his father there ; and therefore was now to return to that he had before the world was made , and manifest it by exaltation of his humane nature , as much as before he had hidden it , by laying it aside as it were , during the dayes of his weakness , or humility , ioh. 17. 4. use , is of refutation , against papists , ubiquitaries , and other false prophets , who designing some definite and determinate places upon earth , dare say , behold , here christ is bodily , and behold , there christ is bodily , according to that of mat. 24. 23. doct. 2. christ , when he left the earth , went up into the highest heavens . this is clear enough in the text , compared with other scriptures , where the heaven of glory and of bliss is called the highest heaven , and the third heaven , which is all one . reas. 1. because it is most fit , that his humane nature , which is now made immortal and glorious , should be seised and possessed of a place , that was convenient for it self , and its condition ; and such was onely the highest , or third heavens : the other two being subject to corruption , or to a change . reas. 2. as he opened that heaven for us , which was shut upon us for our sins ; so it was expedient , that by his own proper ascension and going thither , he should make this plain unto us . reas. 3. he ascended , that he might on our behalves also take possession of the kingdome of heaven , and might raise us to certain hope , that thorough him , we should come to the same place and condition . reas. 4. he ascended , that he might dispatch such other things , as yet remained to be done for us . now such were his intercession , and mediation at the right hand of his father , for us ; his giving , and sending , and shedding abroad of his spirit , to supply his room , and to be the comforter of his ; lastly , the universal government of all things for our good ; and the like . use 1. of refutation , against such as fain christ's humane nature so to be in heaven , as that yet it is together and at the same time bodily upon earth . for that he might ascend to heaven , it is clearly said , that he was received up into heaven ; and therefore that he might ascend into heaven , he left the earth . for if the consequence be good , where unto the good angell dictates ; he is arisen ; therefore , he is not here ; to wit , in the grave : then no more doubt can be made of this consequence ; he is ascended into heanen ; therefore is not here on earth . use 2. of direction in our faith , and worshipping or adoration of christ ; to wit , that we think not now carnally and in an earthly manner of christ , but worship him in spirit and in truth , as placed in highest glory , and divine power in the heavens . use 3. of admonition , that we may remove our mindes and affections from things earthly , and set them upon things heavenly , and that are above , where christ our treasure , sits at the right hand of the father , that there , and with him our conversation may be , mat. 6 21. col. 3. 1. phil. 3. 20. doct. 3. christ in heaven hath the possession of all highest glory that a created nature can be capable of . this is hence gathered , in that he is said to be seated on the right hand of god ; whereby is signified , that unto god himself he hath the next place in dignity , and so not onely above all men , and their blessed spirits , but above the glorious angells themselves . reas. 1. because christ's humane nature , of which we here peculiarly speak , came next up in dignity to god himself , by free grace , and personal union and communion with the god-head ; and therefore it was most meet also , that in pr●…eminence of glory and dignity , he should be next unto god himself . reas. 2. because christ is the head of all saints and blessed ones , both men and angells ; from whom is derived all dignity & glory upon all such as are gathered together in one body under him , as the angells also are . it was needfull therefore , that as he received the spirit of grace without measure ; that so also he should be adorned with glory and majesty above all other creatures . reas. 3. because both the grace and glory of the church , tends to the glory of christ ; as the glory of christ tends to the glory of god , 1 cor. 3. 22 , 23. use , is of consolation , to all the faithfull in christ ; because not onely the glory of the head redounds to the glory of all its members , but we have also a sure promise concerning this , that as in this life we are partakers of the sufferings and patience of jesus christ , so also in the life to come , we shall be made partakers of his glory , rom. 8. 17. doct. 4. christ together with his highest dignity , bath also highest power . this the text evidenceth , in as much as god's right hand signifieth his power ; and sitting down on his right hand , signifies the highest communion and society with god in this power , that can be . reas. 1. because dignity and power might so have the same degrees . for dignity separated from power , is no more but a dead title , and therefore seeing christ hath highest dignity and glory , it followes also that he is endued with highest power . reas. 2. because christ is constituted lord , as well to correct & governe , as to preserve & glorify his church . he must therefore of necessity both have the power of right , and the power of strength , fitting and competent for these ends . for the lord hath both a power of right , and of might , to exercise and put in execution all this , as well immediately , and by himself , as mediately , and by instruments , or servants . and this is that power that christ professeth was given unto him , in heaven , and on earth , mat. 28. 18. now it is given to christ , and agreeth to him most properly , as he is mediator , or as man assumed to the unity of one person with god , but not so properly as god ; and therefore it is said to agree to him , as he is the son of man , ioh 5. 27. use , is of consolation . for though this divine power of christ be terrible to his enemies , yet to believers it brings firm hope , and affiance , and comfort ; because as christ himself saith , ioh. ●…0 . 24. such an one hath everlasting life , and shall not come into condemnation , but is passed from death unto life . and hither also tendeth , rom. 8. 34 , 35. when there the apostle proves , that nothing can separate from the love of christ ; because he sits on the right hand of god. doct. 5. christ hath the quiet and unmovable possession of this power for in this sense it is , that he is said to sit on the right hand of god. reas. 1. because he hath overcome all his enemies virtually ; and shall actually in his own appointed time subdue them all fully , and bring them under the yoak . reas. 2. because there is nothing on earth , or under the earth , can in the least trouble or molest this his possession . reas. 3. because this state and condition of christ is not onely immortal and free from all change by vertue of covenant and divine promise , but also of its own nature , being now accomplished according to free covenant ; and such will the happiness of the least saint be . use , this also is of consolation , which though it may strike terror and amazement in the hearts of christ's enemies , yet it raiseth and rouseth up the dejected and drooping spirits of all such , as put their trust and confidence in him ; for he sitteth on the right hand of god in power and majesty , there making intercession for us . the nineteenth lords day . mat. 25. from verse 31. to 39. vers. 31 when the son of man shall come in his glory , and all the holy angells with him , then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory . 32 and before him shall be gathered all nations , and he shall separate them one from another , as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats . 33 and he shall set the sheep on his right hand , but the goats on the left . 34 then shall the king say to them on his right hand , come ye blessed of my father , inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world . 35 for i was an hungred , and ye gave me meat : i was thirsty , and ye gave me drink : i was a stranger , and ye took me in : 36 naked , and ye clothed me : i was sick , and ye visited me : i was in prison , and ye came unto me . 37 then shall the righteous answer him , saying , lord , when saw we thee an hungred , and fed thee ? or thirsty , and gave thee drink ? 38 when saw we thee a stranger , and took thee in ? or naked , and clothed thee ? in this place the acts or procedure of the last day are expounded . the parts are two ; christ's coming , and the end of his coming , which is the last ●…udgement . in this last judgement ; 1. the preparation thereto is described . 2. the execution of the sentence . in the preparation , christ's majesty and glory , in which he shall then appear , is c●…iefly here set down ; 1. from his train and attendance that shall wait upon him ; consisting chiefly of the glorious angells . 2. from his glorious throne . 3. from the effect of this coming ; to wit , to the gathering of all mankind together , and separating of the good from the bad . the sentence to be pronounced , is twofold ; 1. of salvation to the good . 2. of condemnation to the evill . the sentence of salvation is declared ; 1. from its causes . 2. from its adjuncts . the principal cause is god's good will , which is shewn ; 1. from the effect of that grace or favour , that is the cause of our salvation , which is the blessing of god. 2. from the relatiou that thence ariseth ; which is that of a father giving an inheritance , and of a son 's receiving the same . 3. from the adjunct of time , that this salvation was not then first appointed for them , but prepared for them from the beginning of the world . the adjunct signs also , whereby this salvation is declared , are good works ; which by the trope or borrowed manner of speaking , called syne●…doche of the special put for the general , by the learned , are designed by the works of mercy ; and are amplified by that relation , which these works have to christ himself , whilest they are exercised towards his members . the sentence of condemnation is quite contrary to the former , handled by the comparison and proportion of like things . the execution of the sentence , is briefly set down in the last verse of this chapter . doct. 1. the universal or general judgement is most certainly to come to pass . this judgement is called universal , that it may be distinguished from that particular one , which in some sort is exercised on the greatest part of men even in this life , upon every one in particular , when they pass out of this life . for this comprehends all men together , and therefore is called universal . it may be also called universal , or understood so , because in it upon all mens and angels deeds , and matters generally without exception , sentence shal pass . it is also called the last judgement , because after it no new judgement is to be looked for ; but the execution of that judgement only shall follow upon it . reas. 1. because before that time the judgement of god towards men is not compleated and fully perfected ; because in this life through god's forbearance and long patience , evill men in joy many good things ; and good men are oppressed with many evills . from this consideration many of the very heathens themselves collected , that rewards and punishments were more justly and equally to be distributed , where it should be ill with evill men , and not well at all ; and should go well with good men , and not ill at all . which reason seems also to be confirmed by our lord himself , luke 26. 15. and the apostle paus , 1 cor. 15. 19. now after this life , while the soul remaines separate from the body , the judgement of god is not compleat , nor fully accomplished , because it is not passed upon the whole man in his full being , as he was in this life , while he committed the things that were to be judged . therefore another and fuller ●…udgement than that on the souls departed onely , followeth to be looked for , which is this last judgement , and shall be certainly in its own time . reas. 2. it is most convenient & agreeable to gods glory , that god in & by christ , in a most glorious manner should make manifest before all , as well angels as men , as well his mercy as his justice ; that he might have the publick and solemne glory of both mercy and justice ; and this is the thing , that at that time is topass come in that universal and last judgement . reas 3. this belongs also to the glory of god , the joy of the faithfull , and just confusion of the unfaithfull , that before their faces they may see the promises , and threatenings of god almost perfectly and accurately fulfilled , not onely particularly on their own persons now in the body , as before death ; but universally upon all others , both men and angells : which shall then onely be , when this last and universal judgement shall be held . use 1. of information , that we take care to have our faith and hope solidly confirmed and strongly rooted about this article ; least we be any wayes troubled with prophane blasphemies and mockings of infidells and heathens , who first cast downe and trample upon the profession of this article by their life and manners ; and then also by words and speeches fight and dispute against it : concerning whom we are admonished by the apostle st. peter , 2 pet. 3. 3 , 4. &c. use 2. of admonition , that with all fear and trembling we watch over our wayes , as those that certainly mind and look for the day of this judgement , 1 pet. 1. 17. 2 pet. 3. 11 , 12. doct. 2. our lord iesus christ will be iudge in this judgement . reas 1. because it belongs to his kingly office and power , whereby he was made lord and king ; and had all judgement committed to him . reas. 2. because christ is he , from whom , and by whom the faithfull have salvation adjud●…ed unto them , even in this life ; and from whom also unbelievers have death adjudged unto them . now it is the same judgement , that in this life both wayes is begun , and in the last judgement shall be fully manifested and perfected . reas. 3. because at that time it is , that christ should fully and actually triumph over all enemies and opposite power , and crown all his own servants , souldiers , and adherents . and this is most conveniently and gloriously done in forme of publick and solemne judgement . use , is of consolation , chiefly to the faithfull , because they shall have him for their judge , whom they received for their redeemer , justifier , sanctifier , and intercessor , or advocate ; from whom therefore they may with all confidence expect all good . doct. 3. christ's glory at that time shall be incomparable . it hence appears from the text ; that if the angells so glorious shall then be his ministers of state and attendants ; and his throne with all the rest of that procedure shall be so glorious , it mmst needs be , that christ himself be excellent in glory above all that we can think of . reas. 1. because the exercise of this judgement belongs to the manifestation of christ's highest exaltation . reas. 2. because the very end of his coming was to give glory to such as sought god in him . it is fit then that christ appear in greatest glory . reas. 3. the majesty of the supreme judge of the world , and the terror and confusion of his enemies , that they must be put to , require that he should come clothed in the greatest glory . use , of consolation , to the faithfull , against the crosses and contempts , they are liable to in this world together with christ ; because as now they are partakers of the cross of christ , so then they shall be partakers of his glory . doct. 4. in this judgement the condition of the godly and ungodly shall be quite unlike and opposite one to another . this is taught in the text ; by the separation of the sheep from the goats ; by the right hand and the left ; by ●…ome ye blessed , and go ye cursed . reas. 1. because there is a great unlikeness and opposition in the lives and wayes of the godly , and ungodly , while they are in this world . reas. 2. because there is a great dissimilitude or opposition between the promises that belong to the godly , and the threatenings that belong to the ungodly . reas. 3. because there is great disparity and opposition between the manifestation of greatest mercy , and of greatest execution of justice . use , of admonition , that we separate our selves from ungodly men , as much , and in such manner , as we can ; that is , if we cannot separate in places , yet in internal affections , as well as external conversation , we should be as unlike unto them as can be in that wherein they are ungodly . doct. 5. the cause of any blessing to the godly , is the mercy of god ; but the cause of any ca●…se to the ungodly , is their own sault . this is clear in the text , when the godly are called blessed of the father , but the ungodly , barely are called ye cursed , not of the father , nor from the father , nor from god ; because though it is god that curseth them , yet the first cause of this curse is in their sins . reas. 1. because all good is from god , who is the greatest good , and chiefly good in himself . but all evill of punishment ariseth from evill of fault ; and this evill of fault is from the creature it self , breaking the law and order that god hath set to it . reas. 2. because the blessing of life is the meer free gift of god ; but the curse of death is the reward or wages of sin , rom. 6. 23. reas. 3. preservation from the curse , which is by gods favour , is necessary for our blessing ; but to incur the curse , there is nothing more needfull , but onely to neglect or contemne that way , that leads unto the blessing . use , of direction , that we may alway give god the glory in every good thing , that we either have , or seek , or look for ; and alwayes blame our selves for any evill that befalls us . doct. 6. the blessing of the godly consists in the communion that they shall have with god in christ ; and the curse of the ungodly , in the separation of them from such communion : this is plaine in the words , come ye blessed , and go ye cursed . reas. 1. because this is the end , whereunto all the godly look ; desiring nothing more , than still to apprach nearer , and nearer unto god. the ungodly , on the contrary , shunne nothing more than god , and such things wherein god hath appointed to shew and impart his gracious and singular presence . reas. 2. because man's happiness not coming of man himself , is therefore to be sought from without himself , and that from his union or conjunction with the greatest good , and that is the cause and fountain of all good . therefore of necessity it consists in communion with god ; and from deprivation of this communion , greatest misery must needs follow . reas. 3. because the perfectest act of our life , is that which is most closely and intimately carried towards god ; as all that we do well consists in this , that therein we live unto god ; and the privation of such acting , its want and absence all misery must accompany . use , of direction , that even in this life we may wholly be taken up with this , to seek communion with god , and shun and take heed of all separation from him . doct. 7. the certaine signes and tokens of this blessing , are good workes ; and of this curse , are evill workes . this is largely and clearly laid open in the text. reas. 1. because good works came from the same grace or favour of god , from which the blessing it self comes upon them ; and evill workes joyned with obstinacy and impenitency , comes from that same malice , and malignancy , which god hath cursed and adjudged . reas. 2. because god of his free grace hath promised the blessing unto good workes ; and of his unspotted justice hath appointed the curse unto evill workes . reas. 3. because in good works there is a certain disposal and preparation of the way to obtain the blessing ; and in evill workes , there is not onely the proportion of a way , but of deserving , or a mertitorious cause even unto the curse . use , of admonition , that we have great care of our actions through every part of our life , because according to them , men are either condemned or saved . for such as the life is , such is the end . the twentieth lords day . 1 cor. 6. 19. what , know you not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you , which ye have of god , and ye are not your own ? in the words of the text are contained a most powerfull argument against fornication and the like sinnes ; and it is taken from the contrary end , because the end of christian's bodies is quite opposite to this sin . and that end is declared from the subject possessed , and possessor and indweller of it , the holy ghost ; the subject is again explained by a metaphor of a temple , because namely our bodies are as it were houses consecrated to him . and that this argument may be made the clearer and stronger , the apostle ads , that so the holy ghost is the possessor of this temple , or house , that he himself also is the indweller of it . and both these relations that we have to the holy ghost , are illustrated from their efficient cause ; to wit , that they are of god ; and from their consequent effect and adjunct ; to wit , faith and certain knowledge of these relations between our bodies and the holy spirit , in these words ; know ye not brethren , &c. doct 1. the holy ghost is true and coeternal god with the father , and eternal son. the text doth give many reasons for this doctrine . reas. 1. because to have one and the same spirit with god , is all one as to be glewed or joyned to god , vers . 17. reas. 2. because a temple is not lawfully consecrated to any but to god ; much less could it be lawfull that a man in stead of , or for a temple should be consecrated to that which is not god. but here such a temple which is most sacred is said to be consecrated to the holy ghost . reas. 3. because the holy ghost is so said to be in us , as that we become his of right ; and of duty ; that is , god's rightfull possession , as the scope of the words clearly demonstrate . use 1. of information , for directing our faith arightly , not onely unto the father , and son , but also unto the holy ghost , as the same one and true god. use 2. of admonition , that we diligently take heed to our selves , that we neither contemne nor neglect any holy thing , that comes or is breathed from the holy spirit ; as the whole scripture is said to have come from the inbreathing , or inspiration of the holy spirit ; and all the motions of godliness are onely attributed to the holy spirit , as to their author . likewise all the gifts of grace are bred in us from and by this spirit of grace . in these all therefore we must take heed , that in no wise we resist the holy ghost , or wittingly , and willingly sin against him . doct 2. the holy ghost himself is given unto the faithfull . this appears in the text. reas. 1. in that our bodyes are called the temples of the holy ghost . reas. 2. in that he is said to be in us . reas. 3. in that we are said to have him , or to get him from god. now the holy ghost is said to be given unto us , when he hath a singular relation unto us , and that for our good ; that is , for our sanctification , & salvation of our soules ; & moreover , because he powerfully works these things in us , that are agreable to his most holy nature , and which can no way be derived to us from flesh and blood . and hence it is also , that the gifts of the holy ghost , are called the holy ghost also , by that trope or borrowed kinde of speech , whereby the cause is put for the effect , which schollers call a metonymie . use 1. of exhortation , as well to thanksgiving to god , that gives so divine a gift ; as to religious prayers , and calling upon god's name , that he would keep unto us , and more and more communicate to us this divine gift , luk 11. 13. use 2 of admonition , to take heed of all such things , whereby the holy spirit is said either to be grieved , or extinguished ; that is , from the grievousness of all such sin , as fights against the holiness of this divine spirit , so that he cannot delight to dwell in us , but wholly , or in great measure withdrawes himself from us . doct. 3. the holy spirit is not communicated to our soules onely , but to our bodies also . it is in the text , when our bodies are also called the temples of the spirit . reas. 1. because as christ redeemed not our soules onely , but the whole man ; so also the holy spirit ought to bring into subjection and possession the whole man to god , and to christ. reas. 2. because many duties of a spiritual life must be performed by the body also , and therefore the body ought to be subject to the holy spirit , and as a vessell , or instrument , be wholly in his power . reas. 3. because our bodies are made liable to sin , and by sin to death , from which we must be freed by the holy spirit dwelling in us , rom. 8. 11. use 1. of admonition , that we suffer not sin to reigne in our natural bodies ; that we offer not our members weapons of unrighteousnesse to sin , but weapons of righteousnesse to god , rom. 6. 12 , 13. use 2. of exhortation , that we glorify god in our body , as it followes in the text , verse 20. for we ought to have that care of our body in order to things spiritual , that is due to the temple of god , as in the text ; and to an offering to be offered up in the temple of god , rom. 12. 1. doct. 4. the indwelling of this spirit is a flat enemy to the 〈◊〉 of sin in us . this is the consequence of the argument in the text ; to wit , that the temple of god cannot be prostituted to whoredome and other such sinnes , without sacriledge . reas. 1. because there should be an agreement between the temple , and him whose temple it is , or to whom it is dedicated , as it is , 2 cor. 6. 16. what agreement hath the temple of god with idolls ? for by a like reason we may say ; what agreement hath the temple of god with reigning sin ? reas. 2. because therefore the holy spirit dwels in believers , that he might impart holiness to them ; and as his nature , and name , so also his indwelling and operation is an enemy to all ungodliness . reas. 3. because if the kingdome of sin should prevail in the temple and dwelling of the holy spirit , this would turn to the disgrace , and disho●… of the holy spirit himself . and this is indeed the thing , that is done , when some prophane men blaspheme and mock at the name of god , & of the holy ghost , because of the unworthy carriage of those , that make profession to be led by this holy spirit . use 1. of reproof , against such as turn the temple of the holy ghost into 〈◊〉 den of thieves , or into a cage of unclean birds . use 2. of admonition , that we give no place to sin either in our soules or bodies , but as farre as is possible , that we imitate christ , who , as it is written , mat. 25. did cast out of the temple of god , even buyers and sellers , and the tables of money changers , and iohn 2 15. with a wl●…ip drave out of the temple sheep and beeves . doct. 5. all the faithfull ought : to have both faith and experience about this indwelling of the holy spirit in them . this is intimated in these words ; do ye not know brethren ; that is ye ought not to be ignorant of this , but to believe this , and 〈◊〉 know it from your own proper experience , or fe●…ling . reas. 1. because this is amongst the greatest benefits that belong to our salvation . reas. 2. because from this benefit depends the knowledge of all the rest that god hath freely given to us , 1 cor. 2. 12. so that the same may here ●…e said , that is said of christ , 2 cor. 13. 5. know ye not that christ is in you , &c. so here , know ye not what the holy ghost is in you &c. use 1. of direction , that we try our selves in this point , and never rest , as if it were well with us , untill unto our comfort , we can perceive that the holy spirit dwelleth in us . use 2. of exhortation , that we study to have this knowledge lively and powerfully , according to the intent of the apostle here , who intimates to us , that this knowledge , if it be such as it should be , cannot consist with whoredome , or any such like impurity of life . the one and twentieth lords day . eph. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. vers. 25 , husbands , love your wives , even as christ also loved the church , and gave himself for it . 26 , that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word . 27 , that he might present it to himself a glorious church , not having spot or wrinkle , or any such thing : but that it should be holy and without blemish . it is the apostle's purpose in this place to stir up men to the duty of love to their wives . and he illustrates this duty and perswades it from the example of christ's love to his church ; and in the example , the love of christ towards his church is declared from its effects ; whereof the first is , that he laid down his life for her . the second is , the end and effect of the former ; to wit , that by vertue of his death , he sanctified and purified the church unto himself . the third is , the effect and end of both the former , that he namely makes her glorious . the fourth is , the conjunction and union that the church hath with christ ; to wit , that she is his body , and of his flesh and bones , verse 30. the manner of which union and its nature is shewn to consist in a mystery , and not in any carnal or bodily way , but in a most spiritual and hidden way . doct. 1. the church is the whole company and community of the elect . this is hence gathered , because she is here described and designed by christ's spiritual love to her , as ought the love of an husband to be to his wife . now this love includes alwayes in it self a differenceing of her beloved , separating of her from all other , and so it is nothing else but an election or choice made of her before others . this is to be understood of a company chosen unto eternall life . now this company is considered of , two manner of wayes : first , as election lies in the absolute and internal counsell of god. secondly , as it is described and manifested by its effect of calling , and the blessing that followes on it . they that are chosen the first way they are members of the church onely virtually , and potentially to be such in time ; but such a power as is determinate , and certainly to be brought forth into act in due time , by the decrees of god. therefore the elect not yet called , are not yet actually , and in themselves formal members of the church . the second way , as the act of vocation and effect of election is there , it makes men actual and formal members of the church . now that first effect of election internal , which is proper to the elect , is effectual calling ▪ which 〈◊〉 a kinde of external election as it were made in time . therefore the church hath her name rather from this calling , than from justification , sanctification , or glorification , unto which this accrues moreover , that by this meanes the company or community of actual believers is fitly designed , seeing that none are ordinarily called effectually , but such , as by actual faith answer that call . use , is of direction , how we may obtaine to our selves the certainty of our election ; to wit , if we can be certain of our effectual calling ; that is , be sure by inward feeling and experience of our true faith and unfaigned repentance , of their operations on , and in our hearts , and by the effects , that thence follow . doct. 2. this church is the body of christ. reas. 1. it is called his body by way of proportion or similitude , not unto a body politick , as is found in worldly cities , or commonwealths ; but unto a natural body , such as is that of man. now it is called the body of christ ; for its most neer union that it hath with christ , as being as it were flesh of his flesh , and bone of his bone , as it is in the text. reas. 2. because of that dependance it hath from christ , as its head . for as all sense and motion of a sensitive creature is derived from the head into every particular member , so also all spiritual vertue is derived by influence from christ into his church . reas. 3 because of the union and communion that the faithfull have amongst themselevs in christ , which is the communion of saints ; and the joynts , whereby these members are coupled together . the bonds also of this conjunction , are the spirit , faith and charity . by the spirit they are properly conjoyn'd with god in christ , and also amongst themselves : but by faith they are properly conjoyn'd to god in christ onely : and by charity most properly , they are conjoyn'd amongst themselves . use 1. of consolation to all believers , because they are made partakers of so great dignity , as to be assum'd to the body of christ ; on which behalf , they may also certainly expect all good things from christ. use 2 is of admonition , that we dishonour not this most holy body of christ with our life and manners ; but with all our care and diligence may go about this , that our conversation may be such , as is worthy of them , that have so neer a conjunction with christ and his most holy servants . doct. 3. the church in that acception of the word , as she is mystically considered , is one onely , holy and universally , catholike . these things are understood of her mysticall estate , because in her visible or external estate , she is neither one , nor catholike , nor altogether holy . these things are thus gathered from the text : she is one , because she makes but up one body of christ : neither hath he more bodies but one : she is holy , because she is said to be sanctified and purified by christ , to wit , by separation from the world , by pardon of her sins in justification ; by renovation of our inherent righteousness in sanctification of this life , and perfecting of it in the life to come . she is lastly universal or catholike , because all the elect or faithfull of all nations , and of all times , and places , make up but one and the same mysticall body of christ. use 1. is of resutation , against papists , who wrest all , that are proposed to be believed and spiritually understood of christs mystical body , unto the popish state of their romane visible church , which is neither one , because not now the same , that she was , when the apostles wrote to her ; neither holy , because by their own confession many popes , that is , heads of the romane church , were most wicked beasts ; nor is ●…he catholike , or universall , because it implies a contradiction , that one particular church , as the romane properly is , should be universall in any propriety of speech . use 2. is of consolation , to all believers ; because in this very thing , that they are actuall believers , they are members of this church , that is proposed to us to be believed ; and they are in the same condition , as to the main business , in which the patriarches , prophets , and apostles , and all the saints were , that ever lived , or shall live hereafter , in any place , or time of the world . doct. 4. unto th●…s church all those benefits relate and belong , that christ hath procured for men by his death . it is gathered from hence ; because christ is said to have done all that he did , out of love to his church . reas. 1. because it was the wise purpose and intention of god , gloriously by christ to communicate his grace unto certain men . for else the whole dispensation of christ's incarnation , life and death , had been of uncertain success or event . reas. 2. because christ not onely promerited this , but also brings it to pass , and that to perfection , by his efficacy or power . use , of consolation , chiefly to all true believers . for whatsoever is said of the whole church in common , is extended unto each member of the same ; because the church is nothing else , but a collection of believers , or believers considered as gathered together , or conjoyned in one body , or multitude . the two and twentieth lords day . phil. 3. 20 , 21. verse 20 for our conversation is in heaven , from whence also we look for a saviour , the lord iesus christ. 21 who shall change our vile body , that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body , according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself . a reason is given in these words , why believers should rather follow the true apostles , than false teachers ; and it is taken from the comparison of unlike things . the unlike qualities , are a care for the things of the world , in false teachers ; and a care for things heavenly in the true apostles . this care of the apostle is illustrated by a double argument : 1. from the adjunct manner , which is set out to us , by the similitude of burgesses . 2. from the efficient cause of this care , which is faith , and hope of the glory that is to come . this glory , again is illustrated : 1. from its principal cause , which is christ jesus . 2. from the subject of it , which is extended also to the body , and not to the soule alone . 3. from the quality of the body , which is pointed out to us , by a similitude with the body of christ. 4. from the virtue and power of that efficient cause aforesaid , for producing such an effect ; which is no other , than omnipotency ; according to that mighty power whereby ▪ &c. doct. 1. the resurrection of mans body is certainly to be . this is taught in the text ; 1. in that a transmutation of our bodies is determined on . 2. in that it is said , they shall be made conformable to the body of christ , which by its resurrection was raised unto glory . the foundations or grounds of that article , are two ; the power of god , and the truth of the scriptures , as christ himself teacheth in his answer to the sadduces , ye erre ; to wit , about the resurrection , now knowing the scriptures , and the power of god. by the power of god , the raising of our bodyes again , is possible ; it being as easie to god to do that , as at first to make all things out of nothing ; yea , as to make man out of the clay of the earth . for it is easy to conceive , that the same efficient cause , can again joyn the same principles , which once before he did conjoyn , and moreover made them all out of nothing . as for the scriptures , the truth and certainty of this resurrection is expresly declared by its testimony . reas. 1. because man was created for eternity , and therefore must be set free from death , which assaults the whole race of man kind against its nature , that so it may again attain to eternity . reas. 2. because the soule cannot come to its perfect and compleat glory , by its reunion with the body ; because it would be as it were maimed , as to such faculties , the operations whereof it exerciseth by the body ; and so in some sort it should remain , as it were blind , deaf , dumb , &c. reas. 3. because the equity of divine dispensation requireth this , that those bodies , which had their own share in the labours and workes that belong unto this life ; should also have their share in such rewards , as belong unto the end of this life . use , is to establish our faith about this truth , which is one of the principal articles of the christian faith . doct. 2. the same bodies that we had , as to their essences and natures , shall arise again ; though not the same , as to their dispositions and qualities . this is hence gather'd , that in the text our bodies are not onely said that they shall be transfigured , by which phrase we are to understand , that the substance of our bodies shall remain the same , and that the outward figure or fashion , or manner of its disposition and complexion shall onely be changed : but also that they are said that they shall be transfigured after the manner of christs body . for christ had the same flesh and bones , which he had before , and this he made manifest unto his disciples . reas 1. because neither reward ▪ nor punishment would have any place in the body after its resurrection , unless the very same bodies were restored to men , whereof they made use here upon earth before , either for doing evill , or doing good . reas. 2. because otherwayes after the resurrection the party should not remain the same man , determinately this man , that man , or that he was before . reas. 3. because it is as easie to god to glorifie the same bodily substance that he had before , as any other . use , of resutation against such hereticks , who having almost blended their own dogmatical fictions and phancies with the true doctrine , would also have our bodies after the resurrection not to be the same , but new ones , even as to their substance . doct. 3. perfection , glory , and eternal happinesse shall be given to believers , after that in the resurrection they shall be clothed with their bodies again . it is in the text. this glory is partly in the soul , and partly in the body ; but in both there shall be a removal of all imperfection , and a communication of all perfection , which shall be thought fit for every one to receive . in the soul shall be the fruition of god , whereby all desire of desirable things shall be in a certain eminent way satisfied . there shall be also an abundantly heaped perfection of all gifts and virtues , as is in the blessed angells . this glory shall also so stream forth unto the bodies , that they shall be like unto heavenly bodies ; which is the point chiefly expounded in the text : our body shall be made conformable , &c. reas. 1. because it is god's purpose singularly to glorify himself in that supernaturall blessednesse that is to be given unto us . reas. 2. because christ already glorified , is not onely the efficient cause , but the pattern of our glory . we shall not therefore have onely such a likenesse to christ ; as is between any effect and its cause , according to that maxime ; as the cause is , such is the effect : but also that proportion which is between the pattern and its pourtraict . reas. 3. in order of dignity , by the bountiful appointment of god , believers shall next after christ have their place together with the blessed angells . use , of direction , that we may often set before our eyes in our meditation , the greatnesse of this glory , unto which we are called , that so we may both stirre up thankfulnesse in our selves to god , and a certaine holy contempt and neglect of all things in this world . doct. 4. this resurrection of our bodies from the dead , and the glorification of them , shall be by the most powerfull operation of christ. from these words ; according to that mighty power of working , he should transforme , &c. and this agrees to christ , as he is one and the self same god with the father . reas. 1. because it is the work of that supereminent greatnesse of power , that is proper unto god , 〈◊〉 . 1. 19. reas. 2. because that most wonderfull quickening of our bodies , should come from the living , and alive-making god , who is the fountain and source of all life . therefore in the same manner it is not attributed onely to the father , but also to the son , and holy spirit , rom. 8. 11. this agreeth also to christ , as he is mediator , but still as united unto god essentially ; also as he submits himself together with the humane nature in one person , to be mediator , ioh. 5. 26. and 6. 40. reas. 1. because it belongs to the mediatory office of christ , not onely that by his merit , he should procure life eternal to us ; but also by his powerfull working actually bring the same to pass . reas. 2. because christ as mediator is the head of his church , from whom is derived and communicated to us the spirit of life , whereby as well our soules , as our bodies are quickened ; our soules especially in this life , and our bodies in the day of the resurrection . reas. 3. because christ as mediator , and as the son of man ( but as united pesonally in the godhead , in the son of god ) shall judge the world , ioh. 5. 27. now this belongs to the power of the judge , that he can bring before himself , and make the parties to be judged , to appear . use , of direction , that by all meanes we do this , as in our prayers , so in our meditations and other our spiritual exercises ; to wit , that we may behold this supereminent power , and greatnesse of christ's might , as the apostle wisheth to the ephesians , and to us , as one of the greatest gifts of god , ephes. 1. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20. for by this meanes , 1. our faith and confidence in christ is established . 2. we will be forearmed against all terrours of this world , and of hell it self . 3. with all cherefulnesse we shall recommend our soules to christ in well-doing , because he is able to performe all that he hath promised , all that we seek of him , and above all that can come into our thoughts . doct. 5. we should so look for this glory to come , in this present life , as that we lead in some sort an heavenly life ●…ven here upon earth . this is it , which is said in the beginning of the text ; we behave our selves as burgesses , or citizens of heaven . reas. 1. because where our treasure , or chief good is , there will our hearts be also ; and where the ●…cart is , there will the whole man be . if therefore we have our treasure and chief good in heaven , our heart will be in heaven also ; and our conversation will be heavenly . reas. 2. because all these worldly things , whereabout men are busied , and most are drowned in , can never come in competition with the blisse of heaven , neither as to their worth , nor as to their durance , nor by any love-worthy quality . reas. 3. because to this we are called , that denying our selves , and leaving the world ; we may seek the kingdome of god , and his righteousnesse , and glory . reas. 4. because while we believe and hope in christ , and have the eyes of our mind set upon him , as our captain and patterne of our salvation , we must be changed into his likenesse and image , 1 ioh. 3. 3. 2 cor. 3. 18. use 1. of direction , for discerning of our condition , whether we have any such faith and hope , or no. use 2. of exhortation , to stirre up and rouse our mindes to a more earnest and diligent study and care of all godlinesse . the three and twentieth lords day . rom. 3. 24 , 25. verse 24 bei●…g justified freely by his grace through the r●…demption that is in iesus christ. 25 ▪ whom god ●…ath ●…et forth to be a propitiation , through faith in his blood ▪ to declare his right●…ousnesse for the r●…mission of sinnes that are past , through the 〈◊〉 of god. the apostle had before proved , that all mankind was unde●… most grievous guilt of sin , a●…d therefore had need of justification , that they might be saved ▪ which justification also he had sh●…wn that it could not be had from any 〈◊〉 , no●… from the law ; which he had set down as the conclusion of his discourse●… in the 20 ▪ verse of this chapter ▪ from then●…e he also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 further , 〈◊〉 justification is of necessity to be 〈◊〉 in that way of the gospell , which is proposed in christ jesus . the whole dispute may be summed up in this syllogisme ▪ men are either justified by nature , or by law , or by the gospell : but neither by nature , nor by the law ; and therefore of necessity by the gospell . the proposition is presupposed and tacitly understood , as manifest in it self . the assumption is prov●…d in the first part of the epistle , unto the 21. verse of this chapter . the conclusion is proposed and illustrated in that 21. verse to the end of that chapter , and afterwards . the words in our text set down , contain a description of this gospell-justification ▪ and it is described , 1. from its principal and highest cause , god ; whom god appointed . 2. from the manner of this cause , which consists not in comm●…tative justice , that gives like for like , or so much for so much ; nor yet from distributive justice , which looks at the worth of men , and deales with them in a proportionable manner ; but in meer and pure grace , or free favour ; in these words , we are iustified freely of his free grace , or free favour ▪ where a singular emphasis or force of speech is laid on this part of the description , by this doubling or repetion , freely , and of his fr●…e favour . 3. it is is described from its impulsive , or meritorious cause , which becomes also in some sort the formal cause of our ●…ustification ; to wit , our redemption ma●…e by iesus christ. 4. from its instrumental cause ; which is faith ; by ▪ faith in his blood . 5. from its final cause ; which is the manifestation of the justice and mercy of god ; for shewing of his justice , &c. doct. 1. it is god that justifieth us . he is said to justify us , not in that he in●…useth righteousness unto us , or makes us fit to do things that are just ; which is the errour of papists , placing justification first in the infusion of the habits of faith , hope , and charity ; and next in the good works that comes from those habits ; with which they mix a certain sort of remission of sinnes : but therefore he is said to justify us , because by his judicial sentence he absolves us from the guilt of all sin , and accepts or accounts of us , as fully just and righteous for eternal life , by the righteousness of christ , which he giveth us . this appears from hence , that this justification is used in scripture to be opposed unto a charging with crimes , and unto condemnation ; rom. 8. 33. and this is done of god , as it were by these degrees . 1. in his eternal counsell and decree , because from eternity he intended to justify us . 2. in our head christ rising again from the dead , we were virtually justified , & in some sort actually ; as in adam sinning all his posterity were virtually condemned to death by the law , and in some sort actually , because in some sort actual sinners . 3. he justifies us fullier actually and formally in our selves , and not onely in our head ; when by his spirit , and our faith the work of his spirit , he applies christ unto us , to our justification . 4. and further yet , he justifies us actually and formally to our sense and feeling , when by our own reflex knowledge , and examination of our estate , he gives us to perceive this application of christ made , and so to have peace and ●…oy in him . reas. 1. because ou●… sins from which we ought to be justified , are done against the majesty of god , 1 ▪ sam ▪ 2. 25. and none can forgive an offence done against another , or an injury done to another , in a proper way of speaking . reas. 2. because the guiit of sin depends on the obligation of the law , and of divine justice and truth : and therefore cannot be taken away but by him that is above the law , and knowes what is agreeable to his own truth and meaning , in the first making of it . reas. 3. because by justification we are received into the favour of god , and life eternal , and god himself ( in some sort ) is given unto us : all which can no otherwise be done , but by god himself alone . use 1. of refutation , against papists , who set down manners and means of justification , from humane tradition , and their owne authority , unto ●…retched men ; as if it were in their power to justi●…ie men after what way they please , when it is god ●…lone that justifieth , and that therefore prescribes ●…he manner and means of justification onely . use 2. of consolation , as it is set down , rom. 8. 33. who shall lay any thing to our charge , it is god that justifi●…th ? and verse 31. if god be for us , who can be against ●…s ? doct. 2. this justification is meer , pure , and infinite grace , or favour . so in the text ; freely , his free favour . the grace of god in justification appears as it were by these degrees . 1. in that god pursues not his right against us and our sins , according to that rigour that his law might have been taken in , and his revenging justice might have extended its self to ; but left place for some reconciliation . 2. in that being himself the party offended ; yet he himself of his own good-will both invented , appointed or ordered , and revealed both the manner and means of this reconciliation . 3. in that he spared not his onely begotten son , for procuring of this reconciliation . 4. that without any merits or worth of ours , he ingrafts us into his son and our lord jesus christ , and so makes us partakers of that reconciliation which is in him . this was altogether necessary , that our justification might be of free favour . reas. 1. because it was impossible for the laws and the righteousnes thereof to justifie sinners , rom. 8. vers . 1 ▪ reas. 2. because in the justification of a sinner is remission or pardon of ●…in ; and all pardon is of free ●…avour ▪ reas. 3. because in justification is a free donation of righteousness , and of life eternal , which to sinners , cannot be done , but with especial grace and favour . the satisfaction made by christ for us , withstands not the freenesse of this favour of justification ; because it was of free favour and grace , that christ himself was given us , and by calling appointed to this satisfaction for us ; and of his own free-grace also accepted of that calling . use 1. is of refutation , against papists and many others ; who will have our justification to depend upon our works ; which yet every where , by the apostle are opposed to this free grace in our justification . use 2. is of consolation to believers , and repenters against all these shakings of minde , which they feel , or can feel from the unworthinesse of themselves , that their own consciences tell them of ; because our whole justification hangs on the free favour , or grace of god , and not upon our worth or merits . use 3. is of exhortation : 1. that we alwayes flee to the free-grace of god , as to the onely garrison of our souls . 2. that from admiration of this grace of god , we alwayes study to be thankfull to god. doct. 3. the obedience of iesus christ imputed unto us , or given us , and so accounted ours , justifies or makes us righte●… and is the foundation of all our righteousnesse . it is in the text , by the redemption made by iesus christ. 1. for he that is justified by the redemption 〈◊〉 other , as by paying a ransom : that price is conceived as it were to be paid for him who is redeemed . ●… . if christ be the pacification in our justification , when we please god , as it is in the text , then we please him for something , which christ hath performed for our good . 3. if faith justifies , as it hath relation to christ , and the shedding of his blood , then there is something in his blood thus shed , or in his obedience unto death , by vertue whereof we are justified . now the obedience of christ in respect of our justification , hath 1. the place of a meriting cause , which obtains it for us , because it was the means that gods justice required to be performed to him , before his grace could justify us . 2 ▪ it hath the place of the formal cause , in as much as it is so accepted and taken for ours , being given us by free-gift , and so made ours indeed , as that we are lookt on by god , as truly clothed with it : when he pronounces the sentence of our justification : whence that phrase of the apostle is , not having mine own righteousnesse , but that which is christs , phil. 3. 9. reas. 1. is , because this is most agreeable both to the justice and mercy of god , joyntly : for if our justification had stood in the bare remission of sin , without the imputation of a sufficient righteousness , or obedience for satisfaction to justice , then onely gods mercy and favour had had place in this businesse , no regard being had of the justice of god , that satisfaction might be made . reas. 2. because if we had been pronounced just without any imputation of a satisfying righteousness , or obedience performed , then there could have been no just ground of such a sentence ; to wit , that he should be pronounced just , which was no way just , neither by his own inherent justice or righteousness ; nor yet by anothers justification freely given him . rea. 3. because by this means , we have in some manner a divine righteousnesse , or the righteousnesse of god himself ; to wit , that which christ , who is god , performed for us ( not the essential righteousnes of god , as soliander dream'd ) as god-man in one person ; on which therefore we may rely , and with the greater confidence appear before god , and for it hope for all divine and good things at the hands of god. reas. 4. because in this manner we the more own our salvation as wrought by christ. use 1. is of refutation against papists , anabaptists , remonstrants or arminians , and almost all sects and sectarians , who all agree in this errour , that our justification depends upon our works , and is not to be sought by the imputation of christs righteousnesse to us , or accounting his obedience ours . use 2. is of exhortation , unto due thankfulness towards christ , by whose redemption or ransoming of us , we are justified , and set free from sin and death , the wages of sin ; and adjudged unto life and glory , above what any meer creatures righteousness could ever have deserved . doct. 4. the obedience of iesus christ is powerful for justifying of us , by being accepted and laid hold on by our faith. it is in the text. through faith in his blood. reas ▪ 1. the very nature and duty of faith is to rely on christ , or on the favour and mercy of god in christ , for pardon of sins . reas. 2. because by faith , we are united unto christ , and ingrafted into him , that so we may be partakers of all the blessings , that in him are prepared for men . reas. 3. because faith receives , layes hold on , and embraces all the promises of god , and the things in them contained , offered , or proposed ; amongst which pardon of sins , and justification in christ hath a chief place . the use is of direction , that it may be our onely care in the business of our justification , to direct our faith and confidence towards christ , and to stir up and confirm it more and more , that we may thence have firm and aboundant comfort . the twenty fourth lords day . james 2. 22. seeft thou how faith wrought with his works , and by works was faith made perfect ? in these words is contain'd the conclusion of that disputation , which iames had against such as vant of faith , that is , destitute of good-works : for the apostle concludes , that such faith is of no worth unto justification : and this conclusion is often repeated , as vers . 14 , 17. and 20. 22. and 24. under sundry formes of words ; but to one and the same sense . now this conclusion which the apostle proves , is not that good-works are any part , or cause of our justification before god , as papists take it ; nor yet ( as many of our own think ) that our works justifie us before men , however that contain a truth in it ; but this is the conclusion , that justifying faith is such , that it worketh , and puts forth its operation by good-works . and it is proved 1. from a comparison of likes ▪ from vers . 15. to the 18. 2. by another comparison of likes , to wit , of such a fruitlesse faith in men , and devils , vers . 19. 3. from the example and pattern of that faith that was in abraham , vers . 21. of all which the conclusion is set down in this 22. vers . in which two things are determined , 1. that true and justifying faith is fruitfull of good works . 2. that good works are the end and perfection of faith ; for faith is said to co-operate with good works , because together with the command of god , it furnisheth its strength and force of working , for producing of good works : and that works are called the perfection of faith ; it is not so to be understood , as if they were the internal and formal perfection of faith ; as the form is the formal and essential perfection of every thing : but in that they contain and shew the external perfection of faith , in as much as they flow from it , and as every effect contains in it self some perfection of its course ; to wit , as it partakes of the force and vertue that comes from the internal perfection of the cause . doct. 1. our good workes are no wayes the cause of our justification , but the effects and fruits of a man justified . it is gathered from the text , for as much as workes are the effects of faith : and faith and justification according to the nature of relatives , are at once or together in nature . a true believer and a justified man are the same thing . if therefore good works are the effects of a believer , then are they the effects of one justified also . and that works justify us not , is apparent from four reasons . reas. 1. because believers are not now under the covenant of workes , and therefore cannot be justified by works ▪ but are all condemned by them ; if we stand to them in that point , because none of them come up to what the law requires , and so are sinfull and imperfect . reas. 2. because all our good workes are debts ▪ and therefore they can never properly merit or deserve pardon . reas. 3. because the good works we do , came not from our own strength , but from the grace of god. reas. 4. because our best good works are in themselves imperfect , and defiled with many uncleannesses . object . 1. our good workes are perfect , as they come from the holy spirit , whose workes are all perfect . ans. 1. if in respect of us they be imperfect , they cannot as ours be of force to our justification , though in some other respect they may be perfect . 2. that perfection which they have in reference to the holy spirit , doth not redound properly unto our meriting or deserving by them , because the holy ghost is no wayes united unto us , into one person , which is the onely ground , why the works of christ had a divine merit and worth in them ; namely , because they were divine workes , as being his , that was , as man personally united unto the god-head and person of the son , so as they made but one person . the holy spirit , then though he be the principal cause of our good works , yet this is in its own manner , as an external efficient , as having no personal union with the party working . object . 2. our reward is given according to our works . ans. that reward is not of our merit , but of god's free grace and favour . for there is a reward of servants and a reward of sons ; the reward of servants lookes not to the person , but to the merit , or desert of the work ; but the reward of sons look●… at the person chiefly ▪ and so is given of grace and good will to the person of the worker , more than to the merit of the work . for the father in his sonne crownes that with reward , which in it self deserves no such thing for the most part : otherwayes he were unjust not to reward it so in servants likewise . use , of admonition , that we never glory in our selves or our own workes before god , but alwayes acknowledge , when we have done all that we can ; that we are but unprofitable servants , as our lord himself teacheth us to do ; and that we depend wholly on the grace of god ▪ putting no trust in our own works . doct 2. good workes by a necessary coherence follow true faith . it is gathered from this , that faith is to work together in and with good works , and by good works to be brought to its end . now good works are necessary to a believer : 1. by necessity of precept , because god from that right and power he had to do so , was pleased to command us them . 2. by necessity of means without which we cannot attain the end : and that 1. in respect of god , or his glory , as the end , because without them we cannot attain to the enjoyment of god , nor to glorify him , as we should and must for that attainment . 2. in respect of the church and others without the church , whose edification without good works we cannot attain : and good men are edified by good workes , as by examples , more and more ; and to others a hoping light is as it were held out , whereby they may discerne their right way . let your light so shine before men , &c. 3. in respect of our own salvation , because good works are necessary to salvation though not as meritorious causes , yet as dispositions , qualifications , and wayes , that must be had and insisted in , because our election and calling is to them , and by them our salvation , and these other are made surer to our consciences . for in them consists that way of a new obedience , and gospell thankfulnesse , which onely leads unto life ; also as holinesse not onely internal , but also external , is such an inseparable disposition or qualification from such as are to be saved , as that without it , none shall ever see god to his comfort , or happiness . 3. they are necessary by necessity of the end ; because election , redemption , vocation , tend and look to this end , that we may live to god , and to christ , in all holinesse and righteousnesse : and a necessity as well of thankfulnesse as of covenant lies upon us , that with all our vigour and with all our strength , we endeavour to attain unto this end . 4. good works are necessary by a certain sort of natural necessity . for just as good fruits come of a good tree , and sweet waters come from a sweet fountain , by a like manner and necessity , good works come from true faith . or as our vital operations and motions do alwayes accompany natural life ; so also spiritual life , which is from faith , whereby the just man liveth , puts forth it self alwayes in good works , as the proper operations and acts of a spiritual life . it may sometimes happen , that as in one in a swound scarce any matter or operation doth appear , though yet the ●…fe it self remain ; so also by some extraordinary ●…entation , for some time the seed of faith may remain in the heart of this , or that man , the fruits whereof can hardly be discovered . but this is 1. as much against the nature of faith , and of a faithfull man , as sicknesse is against health and life . 2. it is an extraordinary case ▪ by which we must not judge of the ordinary operations and fruits of faith , nor of its nature , or the necessity of good works . 3. in such a case both the degree of faith it self is deminished , and the comfort of it ceases for that time . 4. although in such a case such fruits of faith appears not , as are required to our comfort●… yet it is hardly ever so overwhelmed , but that it hath some operation , at least in that fight , which then the spirit hath against the flesh . use 1. of reproof , against such mens most vain presumption , as bragge of a sort of faith of their own , that is separated from all care of good works . use 2. of exhortation , that with such considerations we stirre up our minds to greater zeal and chearfulness in every good work . the five and twentieth lords day . rom. 4. 11. and be received the sign of circumcision , a seal of the righteousnes of the faith , which he had yet being uncircumcis●…d ▪ that he might be th●… father of all them that believe , though they be not circumcised ; that righteousnesse might be imputed unto them also . the apostle in this place treats of the justificatification of abraham which he so ascribes to him , that in him he sets down a pattern of justification to life ▪ as well in respect of uncircumcised gentiles , as of jewes themselves . for this end the apostle observes , and proposeth to be observed , that faith was reputed to abraham unto righteousnesse , while he was yet uncircumcised , or in the fore-skin . against which doctrine , because it might be objected , that then circumcision was of no use to him : the apostle answers by a probation in this verse , and denies the consequence ; and gives a reason of this his denial thence , because there was another end and use of that sacrament . for he was not therefore circumcised , that by circumcision he might be justified , but that by circumcision , as by a seal and sign he might have his righteousness , that was before imputed to him , the better confirmed . we have then in these words a description of a sacrament of the covenant of grace . 1. from its general notion ; that it is a signe . 2. from its differencing notion , in which it is described by the use and end of this sign . the end is designed . 1. from its manner of signifying ; being not onely called a signe , but a seal . 2. from the object , or thing signified , which is the righteousness of faith , & the receiving thereof . doct. 1. the proper end and use of a sacrament is , that it may confirm our faith . this is hence collected ; because circumcision is here called a seal of faith , or of the righteousnesse of faith : for a seal , when it is set to deeds , hath this proper use , that it ratifies and confirmes them ; that is declares them solemnly to be sealed . reas. 1. because since sacraments are fitly and conveniently referred to faith and to grace , they ought of necessity to tend either to the first begetting of grace , or to the confirmation of it . and the first is performed by the holy spirit in our first calling , by the preaching of the gospell ; and the sacraments are not instruments of our first call ; therefore they tend not to the first breeding of faith in us , but to the confirming and strengthening of it more and more in us , after it is first begotten in us . reas. 2. because often faith is begotten , though sacraments be wanting , if they be not despised : but in any ordinary way , it is never so confirmed and strengthened , as it is when sacraments are joyned with the word . reas. 3. because sacraments properly belong not but to such as have faith already , and so can have no other use , but to confirm such parties faith , and to advance by it all other graces in them . use , of direction , what we ought to look to properly in the use of sacraments ; to wit , that by such holy ordinances of god we may be more and more built up in our most holy faith . doct. 2. the sacraments do no other way confirm our faith , or advance our salvation , then by way of signe and seal . this is hence collected , in that the apostle gives unto them this onely way of operating in this place . which that we may better understand , it is to be taken notice of , that a sign is either natural , or by institution or appointment ; and that sacraments are signes by appointment . now in signes by appointment , the author appointing is alwayes to be looked to , and the end of his appointing . for seeing any appointment is as a mean , it hath an essential relation and dependance as well to the efficient , by which it is directed , as to the end whereunto it is directed . the author and appointer of a sacrament is god alone , because no creature can appoint one , seeing none can perform that which in a sacrament is signed and sealed , nor ●…ind god to perform it for them . the end of a sacrament in general , is to help our infirmity , and a sacrament helps it in a three fold manner . reas. 1. in respect of our understanding , whereunto they are notifying or knowledge-begetting signes , or as it were clear mirrours , wherein by the intermediate ministry of our external senses we may behold the mysteries of god. reas. 2. in respect of our memory , whereunto they are admonishing signes , and as it were made perpetual remembrances or memorandums , by their orderly reiteration and renovation . reas. 3. in respect of our will , faith , and affiance , whereunto they are sealing signes , or most certain seals and pledges . use 1. of refutation , against papists , who will have the sacraments to work righteousnesse and grace in us , as physicall instruments , by the work done . use 2. of direction , in the use of them , that our chief care may be , by these means to lay hold on , and more and more to apply to our selves all these spiritual things , which by the sacraments are signed and sealed unto us . doct. 3. the things which in the sacraments are signified and sealed unto us , are in one word all the blessings of the new covenant . this is gathered from hence , in that the righteousness of faith is said to be sealed by the sacrament of circumcision . now that righteousnesse by the trope synecdoche , signifies all the blessings of the new covenant , as appeares from verse 9. where the imputation of this righteousnesse is called the declaration of blessednesse ▪ now the same that is signified in one sacrament , is also signified in another , as to the substance of the matter ; though the manner be diverse ; and so some benefits are more expresly signified in one sacrament than in another . reas. 1. because a sacrament is after the fall a seal of the new covenant , not as to this , or that part of it , but of the whole . for no covenant , or charter , though sometimes it may have many seals , uses to be confirmed as to one part of it by one seal , and to another part of it by another seal ; but by all and every seal the whole is confirmed . reas. 2. because christ from whom every blessing floweth , is exhibited to us in every sacrament . for as the sacraments in the old testament , looked at christ , as shadowes do at their bodies ; so also , and that much more clearly in the new testament , we are both baptized into christ , and have communion with him in his body and blood , in his supper . and w●…en christ is exhibited , there all the blessings that are prepared for us in christ , are together with him exhibited to us . reas. 3. because the blessings of life and salvation cannot be separated from one another ; as for example , effectual vocation , justification , adoption , sanctification , consolation ▪ and eternal glorification . when therefore one of these blessings is directly represented , indirectly also , and by consequence all the rest are signified and sealed . use 1. of information ; 1. that we may learn rightly to distinguish between compleat sacraments , and other sacramental signes . for other signes and ceremonies , that do not signify and seal the blessings of the new covenant , as they are such ; though they are sacred signes , yet are they not presently sacraments , to speak properly ; that is , they are not of that nature and rank with baptisme and the supper . that we have in great esteem christs most holy sacraments , because in them we go about no less , than all that belongs to our eternal happiness . use 2. of admonition , that we never separate what god hath joyned together in the use of the sacraments , which useth to be done by such , as seek onely for remission of sins , but not for sanctification and preservation from sin ; and that because they have not determined with themselves to amend their lives . doct. 4. by the sacraments these blessings are not onely signed generally , but also particularly to all that partake of them with true faith . this is hence gathered , in that a●…raham particular ly is said to have received the seal of his own righteousnesse in particular . reas. 1. because the sacraments are not so proposed to us , that they may seal on this condi●…ion , t●…at we have faith ; but they alwaves presuppose faith al●…eady to be in us ; and so then they are offered to confirm , and do singularly confirm it . reas. 2. because to every one in particular , and by name they are exhibited for their confirmation ; and not in common onely , as the word is preached publickly . reas. 3. because the manner of administration , and the sacramentall actions that belong unto them , as washing in baptisme , taking , eating , drinking in the lord's supper , consist in a particular application of the signes ; and therefore also they signify a particular sealing of the things signified , unto particular persons . use 1. is of comfort , against scruples and doubts wherewith our minds are sometimes troubled . because in the sacraments duly administred to such as have right , god as it were from heaven stretcheth out his owne hand , and holds forth in it his grace , and all the spiritual blessings of the covenant , alike unto every one of us ( thus participating ) in our own proper and singular persons particularly . use 2. of admonition , that we neglect not the sacraments , but diligently both prepare and fit our selves for them , and then seek after them , & receive them ; because to neglect them , were to neglect our owne proper and singular consolation in particular . use 3. of direction , how we may rightly use the sacraments ; to wit , ●…o as in a singular manner , we seek our edification and advancement in this , that we see christ there offering and giving his grace to us by name , and in particular , and accordingly , thus sealing to us in particular our salvation . the six and seven and twentieth lords day . mat. 28. 19. go ye therefore and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , and of the sonne , and of the holy ghost . here is expounded the command of christ , which being now about to ascend into heaven , he left unto his apostles . it contains two principal duties . 1. the preaching and publishing of that doctrine taught by christ. 2. the administration of the sacraments by him appointed . for in this place by baptisme ( according to that usual borrowing of speech , called synecdoche , that puts sometimes one sort for the whole kind , and sometimes contrarily ) the other sacrament of the supper is understood ; but here baptisme is rather named than the other : 1. because it is the first sacrament , and that of initiation , and receiving solemnly into the church , on which the other for this cause doth depend . 2. because it chiefly belonged unto the apostles office , by themselves , or by others to see this sacrament rightly administred , who were rather sent to plant , and gather or build churches from their first beginnings , than to feed , govern , and further build , or advance them , after they were first planted . and baptisme belongs particularly to the first ingrafting into christ , and to plan●…ation ; and the supper unto feeding , and growth after planting . now baptisme is expounded in this place●… 1. from its object , or parties to be baptized ▪ baptizing them : that is , such as are already trained up ▪ in christ's doctrine , or ●…ade his 〈◊〉 or ●…lars , as the greek word signifies , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , make them my ●…chollars , or disciples . 2. from the ●…orme , or manner of doing it ; to wit , in the name of the father ▪ son , and holy ghost . by which forme or modell are designed : 1. the efficient causes , by whose authority baptisme ▪ is exercised , and made effectual ; and that is by the name , or authority and power of father , son , and holy ghost . ●… . the union of the baptized , that they are to have with the father , sonne , and holy spirit , in the participation of all their graces of justification , sanctification , adoption , &c. that from the father , in the son , and by the spirit , are derived unto all the heirs of eternal salvation ; and in the profession and practice of all the outward ordinances and meanes , that christ taught them , whereby to attain to those inward gra●…es , and to keep , and advance them , by the same spirit in the son and from the father . doct. 1. baptisme is the sacrament of our ingrafting , and initiation or first reception into christ. this is hence gathered , in that all that are already taught christ's doctrine , and made his schollars professedly , are the●… presently to be haptized , that so they may be registred as it were amongst the domesticks or housholders of christ. reas. 1. this appears in that baptisme came in the place of circumcision ; and circumcision was the sacrament of first admition amongst the people of god. reas. 2. in baptisme is represented the death of fin , and mortifying of the old man ; a washing and cleansing from sin ; and bringing of a man from death to life : all which do most properly denote our first vocation and therefore also baptism is called by scripture it self , the sacrament of regeneration , or washing of regeneration . reas. 3. because by our baptisme our first solem●… reception into christ's family , and kingdome is represented ; and therefore also we are said to be baptised into christ ; by this therefore baptisme is distinguished from the lord's supper , because however it seal the same blessings , as to the main businesse that the other doth , yet it doth it not after the same manner , but baptisme denotates their beginning , and the supper their progress and advancement . use , of direction , how we should make constant and perpetual use of our baptisme ; to wit , if we take occasion often to meditate on it , and the graces of god sealed in it on god's part , and our return of universal obedience sealed too on our part ▪ and of the favour god did us , thus solemnly to receive us into covenant with him , and into his church , the true confederates of god , or number of them that are saved by christ ; and if from this faith and belief , thus sealed and continued , we more and more study to take care in all things to walk worthy of this condition , and to glorify god in christ , as becomes , and as he requireth of us . doct. 2. in baptisme by washing of water , our adoption , ●…ustification ▪ and salvation is sealed to us . this is hence collected , in that our union in the forme of baptisme is designed to be with the father , son , and holy ghost ▪ for sealing our communion in those benefits , which flow from this union . and we are properly adopted by the father , justified by the son , and sanctified by the holy spirit . reas. 1. because these three are directly necessary for us , that we may have true entrance into the kingdome of god. for 1. we must be accepted of as god's children , that he may be our father ; which is by adoption . 2. we must be freed from the guilt of sin , by which we are separated from god ; and this is done by justification . 3. we must be cleansed and purged from the remainders and corruptions of sin , whereby men are made unfit to injoy god ; and this is done by sanctification . reas. 2. because the washing with water in baptisme designeth and some way respecteth our cleansing as well from the guilt , as corruption of sinne , whereby we were made strangers to the estate of the sons of god , that thence it may appear , that now by grace we are adopted , justified , and sanctified . neither by any other visible sign could these things so conveniently have been shadowed out , as by the washing of water ; because both of its owne nature it hath a principal fitness to cleanse , and amongst all nations it is ea●…ie to be had at hand , and then also it had been before sanctified under the old testament for such uses . use 1. of information , how greatly we ought to esteem our baptisme , wherein so great benefits or blessings spiritual , were first sealed unto us . use 2. of direction , that upon occasion of seeing baptisme administred at any time , we both with all devo●…t meditation on our own baptism , lift up our mindes unto the lively apprehensions of these blessings , of our adoption , ●…ustification , & sanctification , namely ; and withall think upon what is due to god from us , for so great benefits , and what we engaged in and by our baptisme , to perform in all manner of holy , thankfull and christian obedience . doct. 3. those saving blessings , which are signified in baptism , do not properly depend on the washing of water , as to their reall efficacies ; but on the operation of the father , son and holy spirit . this is hence gathered , because by these words of the institution , our hearts as it were are commanded to be lifted up , that we may look for all the grace and efficacy of this sacrament out of heaven , from father , son and holy ghost . reas. 1. because the sacramental signs are no causes of grace , neither principal , nor instrumental , by any virtue or efficacy that is either inherent , or adherent in themselves ; that is , are no physical causes ( as the phrase is us'd & receiv'd in the schools about this point ) but onely moral , and in a moral way put forth any vertue they have ; to wit , in as much as they seal onely that , which god the father , in the son , and by the spirit worketh in us . reas. 2. because our ●…ustification and adoption , which consists in the remission of ●…ins , and accepting of us into favour , are moral effects of their own nature , and not physical , and therefore cannot by any meanes be otherwayes produced than morally . reas. 3. because it can no way be conceived , how these external elements of the sacraments should physically work upon the soul to the production of spiritual effects , seeing themselves are but corporal , and therefore can onely work physically upon th●… body . indeed in holy scriptures such spiritual effects use to be attributed unto such signes , as well in the old , as in the new testament ; but this is onely in the moral sense aforesaid , and by trope or borrowed speech , because of the union , or relation of likeness that is between signes , and things signified by them ; from which union , or relation of likeness ( grounded partly on the analogy between the things themselves ; and partly , but chiefly on the divine institution ) there ariseth , in common manner of speaking , almost such a mutual & interchangeable giving or communicating of the attributes , or qualities of each of these to the other , as is found in christ between his human & divine nature , because of the hypostatical , or personal union between them : though otherwayes there be no other union here , but of likeness and proportion between the signe , and things signified , or sealed , when the signes are rightly used ; which performance or making present of the graces signified , depend wholly on the truth of god's institution and promise ; and that in a moral way , as was said before , not properly physical ; though this sacramental union was devised by school divines , or mistaken and imagined physical , for maintaining their corporal presence of christ's body , in propriety of words , or their monster of transubstantiation . and all forsooth , because the things that are proper to the signes , are sometimes attributed to the things signified ; and countrarily , the properties of the things signified , are attributed to the signes : the true reasons , and manner whereof we have sufficiently explained . use 1. of refutation , against papists , who in som●… sort turn the sacraments into idols , while not by ●…rope or borrowed speech ( which is usual , as we have declared ) but in propriety of words , they give unto the the signes , and external elements , such things as are proper unto god. use 2. of direction ▪ that in the use of the ●…acraments , we lift up alwayes our hearts , and by faith and devout desires look for and seek from god such divine blessings , as are represented by the outward signes . doct. 4. all and onely such are to be baptized as are the disciples or schollars of christ ; that is , that are of his family before , and as it were his housholders , and th●…refore fit to be solemnly declared and enrolled for ●…uch . this is hence gathered , because the apostles are here commanded first to gather disciples or schollars unto christ out of all nations ; and then to baptize them , after they were made such . reas 1. because the saraments are appendices of the word , so that they are often understood under it , in scriptures ; to wit , when the gospell and word of the kingdome are onely mentioned ; because they are appendants and connexed to it : and hence it is also , that if the sacraments be separated from the word , they are of no value . where therefore the word is not received , the sacraments cannot be received . reas. 2. because the sacraments are both priviledges , and markes or badges of the church ; and therefore they belong not but to such as are members of the church . reas. 3 because a sacrament cannot be a sealing signe , but unto such as have some grant to be sealed . but who so are no wayes pa●…takers of christ , the●…e have no grant , or promise made to them , that can , or ought to be sealed unto them . a question here ariseth about infants ; whether they are to be baptized , or not , seeing they cannot be taught , or instructed about faith ? i answer , that the children , or infants of believers ought to be baptized , because while they are yet infants , as to the external priviledges of the covenant with god , they are accounted both persons and parties of , or belonging to their parents ; and therefore they are of the family of christ , or of the number of his disciples . for if the covenant made with abraham be the same for substance ; by which we are saved , and belongeth as much to us , and to our children , as it did to abraham , and his posterity ; then not only we , but our children also ought to be partakers of the seal of this covenant . but the first is true , as appeareth by rom. 4. and other places ; and therefore the latter also is true . furthermore , it makes to this purpose , that the grace of this covenant after christ's coming , is no way more straitened , or made narrow , than it was before his coming ; but in many sorts made wider , larger , an●… more extended . what is objected about faith , whic●… is required of such , as are to be baptized , it 〈◊〉 no more the baptisme of infants , than of old it 〈◊〉 the circumcision of them , which required faith 〈◊〉 well as baptisme , because it was by its institution 〈◊〉 seal of the righteousness of faith , rom. 4. 11 ▪ as ther●…fore in circumcision , distinct knowledge , 〈◊〉 faith , and profession of it , were not necessary for 〈◊〉 fants ; but the state of faith , and of its professio●… where●…n ( by meanes of their parents professio●… they were born , did suffice ; so it is also in 〈◊〉 use 1. of confutation , against anabaptists . use 2. of comfort , in respect of this great favour done us by god , even from our infancy , whereby he deems not to receive our selves , but also our children . the eight and nine twentieth lords dayes . 1 cor. 10. 16. the cup of blessing which we bless , is it not the communion of the blood of christ ? the bread which we break , is it not the comunion of the body of christ ? the apostle in the beginning of the eighth chapter exhorted christians that they would abstain from the unclean feasts of the gentiles . in these words of the text , after a digression , whereby he had prevented some objections , he brings an argument from comparison of likes , whereby he proves , that communication or partaking with gentiles in their idolatrous feasts , cannot be exercised without communion with the idols themselves . the comparing argument proposed for illustrating and proving of this , is the lord's supper , wherein we have communion with christ. the argument then comes to this : if in partaking of the lord's supper we have communion with christ , then also in partaking of the feasts of idols , we have communion with the idols : but the first is true ; and therefore the latter likewise . the assumption is set down and explained in our text ; and it is explained by the parts of the lord's supper , or feast ; which are bread and wine . the use of these is shewn , 1. from the things which they serve to signify , as things like unto themselves , and subjects or objects which they signify . 2. from the manner of signifying ; that they do not barely signify , or represent onely ; but also ratify and seal a communion in , or partaking of the things signified . 3. from the reason , or cause whence this relation and connexion between the signes and things signified , doth arise ; which is the blessing of the signes , or by using of them , according as christ did appoint . doct. 1. the lord's supper is a sacrament of the new testament , whereby our nourishment and growth in christ , is sealed unto us . this is hence gathered , in that bread and wine were the external signes appointed by christ in this sacrament , which are the chief meanes of bodily nourishment , as not onely experience , but also the holy ghost teacheth us , psal ▪ 10 ▪ now , not bread alone , not yet wine alone is used , but both together partly that so the mystery of our spiritual nourishment might be better explained , by such a distribution of the whole into its parts ; & partly , that the sufficiency of our nourishment might be thereby declared ; to wit , that we need to seek nothing for it one of christ. reas. 1. because as we have the principle of grace and spiritual life in christ ; so also we ought to look for all progress and advancement in christ by faith . and as the first is signified in baptisme ; so this last is most fitly declared in the lord's supper . and this is it properly wherein the supper differs from baptisme . reas. 2. because for our often infirmities and falls , it was needfull to us , that we had some sacrament , for the frequent renewing of our confirmation , as indeed our faith stands in need of such renovation , and corroboration . but baptism is not to be renewed , because it is enough once to be born again , as it was once to be born . most conveniently therefore the supper was instituted , often by us to celebrated , that in faith and all grace we might glow more and more , and be confirmed and strengthened therein . reas. 3. because we receive from god all the increases of grace , so is it fit , that by publick profession we acknowledge this , to the glory of his name , and stirring up of our thankfulnesse to him ; unto which use the holy supper doth most fitly serve us . reas. 4. because that communion , which is between the members of the church , as belonging to the same family , and as they eat all of the same spiritual food at the same table of their owne and the same master and lord , cannot be fi●…lier declared , than by such a sacred and solemn spiritual feast , or banquet . use 1. of comfort , that we may be refreshed because that in this manner , both by word , and sacrament or seal , we have this confirmed unto us , that all that is necessary to our nourishment , growth and advancement in grace , for attaining of spiritual perfection , is prepared for us in christ , and is to be by him derived unto us . use 2. of exhortation , that we may diligently bestow all care and industry , that we may really and in operation attain this nourishment , growth and advancement in grace , which in this sacrament rightly used , is exhibited unto us . doct. 2. this nourishment , which in christ we receive , it by the working of fath . this is hence gathered , in that we are said in the text to have communion with the flesh and blood of christ , which yet are not bodily present with us , but are onely spiritually partaken of by faith , as is apparent by other places . reas. 1. because by faith it is that we have union with christ. reas. 2. because by faith in christ , we draw as it were , and suck unto us all grace and spiritual life . reas. 3. because as the principle of our spiritual life is faith , so from the further intention and extention of this faith , depends our nourishment and growth in the same life . for all spiritual endowments & riches are not only vigorous , & grow cold , according as our faith is vigorous , and grows cold . use 1. of refutation , against such as will have christ to be given us in the sacrament by the outward work only bodily , and by the mouth to be received , whether we have faith , or not . use 2. of direction , that in the use of the lord's supper , we take great care to stirre up our faith , because unto nourishment and growth , is not only required the habit and disposition of faith , but also the actual exercise of it , in so much that all , even believers and faithfull , are not worthy receivers of this supper , unless they rouse up the faith that they have , and exercise it according as the exigent of that time and business doth require . doct. 3. for this spiritual nourishment in the supper it is not required , that the bread and wine be substantially changed into the body and blood of christ ; nor that christ be bodily present , in , with , and under the bread and wine ; but onely that they be changed 〈◊〉 to relation , and application or use ; and that christ be spiritually present onely to such as partake in faith . this is hence gathered , in that bread and wine are said to remain here in the supper ; and our communion with christ , is in a sort said to be such , as idolaters have with their idols ; which stands in relation onely . therefore transubstantiation of papists and consubstantiation of lutherans fight . reas. 1. with the nature of sacraments in general , whose nature consist in a relative union , or likeness , as hath been explained ; not in a bodily succession of the one in the others place , or a substantial change of the one into the other ; nor yet in a bodily conjunction or presence of the one with , in , and under the other . reas. 2. with the analogy of this to the other sacrament of baptisme , wherein neither transubstantiation , nor consustantiation useth to be made , nor is dream'd of to be made . reas. 3. with all the sacramental phrases , or manners of speaking , used through all the scriptures . reas. 4. with the humane nature of christ , which , with its essentiall properties safely can neither be every where , nor yet in so innumerable places , at once , as the supper of the lord useth to be given at one time . reas. 5. with the state and condition of the glorified body of christ , which suffers not that the flesh and blood of christ , should be divided or sundred , broken , devoured and chawed by the teeth , concocted and digested by the stomack , &c. handled in other such manner . reas. 6. with the revealed will of god , by which it is certain , that christ remains bodily in the heavens , and shall do so , untill he come again to judge the 〈◊〉 and the dead . use ●… . of 〈◊〉 , against the errors and mad 〈◊〉 of such , as defend such monstrous doctrines without any shame , as they were at first hatched and received without any ground . use 2. of direction , that in the use of this supper we 〈◊〉 of no gross and carnall thoughts into our minds , as if the spiritual eating of , and feeding upon 〈◊〉 dayly in the word preached , were not the 〈◊〉 altogether as to the substance , with this in the 〈◊〉 : for they differ onely in this , that the 〈◊〉 eating differs onely in the manner , or external adjunct of sealing , or obsignative exhibition , or ratification , from the others that are meerly spiritual , and without this outward obsignation , in the word preached , though it hath often the inward , and substantial obsignation by the spirit , for which onely the other was instituted . doct. 4. the onely 〈◊〉 of this operative presence of christ in the sacrament , is that blessing , whereby we bless , 〈◊〉 , or set apart to such an holy use , the bread and wine , according to christ's appointment , who cannot but be 〈◊〉 with him own ordinance , by his spirit and operation , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his promise ▪ when it is used , as he appointed this is taught in the text ; the cup of blessing , which we bless &c. this blessing containes in it self , 1. the institution recited and explained in celebration of the upper , as the ground of the whole action , and of the benefit and blessing , that is to follow on it . 2. a thanks giving for christ , and for this his appointment , unto the father , through him , and by the spirit , that in this ordinance we are more and more made partakers of christ and his benefits . 3. a petition , wherereby the grace of god is sought , for directing and keeping us in the right use of it , and making this ordinance powerfull unto all the ends , for which it was appointad by him : and this is properly the consecrating of the signes , or outward elements . reas. 1. because by this blessing , bodily things are separated from a common use , and are set apart to an holy , and so are consecrated , and sanctified . reas. 2. because by these acts both the will of god by his institution , and our will or consent in this business , sanctified by our prayers , come both together and to one , for procuring spiritual power and operation in the formes or use of these signes . reas. 3. because christ himself did this , and commanded that we should do the same , that we doing so , may look for the spiritual blessing from him . use 1. of resutation against those kind of inchantments , or sorceries , that the papists have put in place of this blessing or consecration . use 2. of direction ▪ that in the celebration of this supper , we may alwayes have christs institution before our eyes with thanksgiving , and seeking of grace or favour , that we may approve our selves in the right use of it ; because from these comes all the blessing , and power of the sacrament . the thirtieth lords day . 1 cor. 11. 28 , 29. verse 28. but let a man examine himself , and so let him eat of that bread , and drink of that cup. 29 for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily , eateth and drinketh damnation to himself , not discerning the lord's body . the apostle in this part of his epistle corrects many abuses , which had got some strength in the church of corinth ; amongst which was the prophanation of the lord's supper ; and of the correction of it , this is the conclusion , wherein he expounds the duty of believers in receiving the lords supper . this duty may be referred to two heads ; whereof the 1. is concerning the action it self , whereby the faithfull are made partakers of this mystery by eating and drinking . 2. is about the manner of this action , which is specified to us in the word 〈◊〉 . and this manner is again contained in three acts , whereof the 1. is that which is set in the last place , that every communicant discerne the lord's body . 2. is , that he try himself . 3. is , that he furnish himself with such a disposition , as is worthy of so great a mystery . and these three acts are set down in these three words ; discerning the lord's body ; let a man examine himself ; and he that eats 〈◊〉 drinks unworthily . doct. 1. all our work , that is ours onely in the lord's supper , is to eat and to drink the body and blood of christ. it is gathered from these words ; let him eat of that bread , and drink of that cup ; and not discerning the lord's body . reas. 1. because this is the sacrament of our spiritual nourishment in and by christ. reas. 2. because in the very institution of this sacrament no other thing is prescribed , but that we should take , eat , and drink ; to wit , as the signs with our bodies , so the body and blood of christ spiritually or by faith , to the nourishment of our soules . reas. 3. because nothing else is represented in the external signes and actions , but this nourishment on christ , which by the institution of christ , is in this sacrament used . use , of refutation , against papists , what the difference is between the supper and the popish mass : because papists have taken away the sacrament that was instituted by christ , and have set up in its place the sacrifice of the mass , that was devised by men . and this is the difference between a sacrament and a sacrifice , that the formal reason of a sacrifice consists in this , that in it men offer something to god ; and god receives something from men : but the formal reason of a sacrament is in this , that god offers something to men by visible signes , and men receive it from god , on the conditions and manner that he offers it . in this supper god offers christ unto us for our spiritual nourishment ; and we receive christ as the food of our soules , by eating and drinking of him by faith . hence the popish mass is a meer stranger to christ's institution , while they make its principal use to be a sacrifice for the quick and the dead ; and while they officiate their private masses , wherein the people neither eat nor drink ; while in the publick masses , they take away the cup from the people , so that though they eat in some sort , yet they drink in no manner ; while they hold up the host , or sacrifice ; that is , the consecrated bread and wine , rather to be adored and worshiped , than to be eaten , or drunk ; while lastly , they do all this in an unknown tongue , so that the people cannot understand , either what , or how they should eat , or drink . doct. 2. that we may rightly partake in the lords supper , it is chiefly required , that we rightly discerne the lords body . by this discerning of the lords body , is understood an act of the understanding , whereby we observe the difference between this bread , thus consecrated to be a signe , and exhibitive seal of the lords body ( that is of all his benefits and graces ) to our faith , and common bread : or it is that judgement of our mind , whereby we have a right apprehension and pronounce right sentence concerning this whole mystery , or business . the want of this discerning is that which is reproved here by the apostle . reas. 1. because without judgement and prudence agreeable to the thing undertaken , nothing can be rightly , or perfectly , done or performed . reas. 2 because in the sacraments , where the external appearances are bodily and gross , and yet a spiritual mystery or secret ( as to sense ) lies hid in them , there is need of spiritual heed and judgement , that we may rightly pierce and dive into that spiritual secret it self . reas. 3. because the want of this discerning , brings with it a prophanation of this holy feast , as appears by the example of the corinthians . for who so discerne not what it is about which they are busied , can never fit themselves so , as to behave themselves arightly in handling of such a business . use , is both of direction and exhortation together , that every one earnestly set his mind and iudgement arightly to discerne , before he come to the table of the lord ; what it is , that is there done ; and what it is that himself should there do . now the special points , that ought by all communicants to be discerned , are these . 1. the occasion and necessity that there was , that christ should be broken and given for us , and to us , which was no other but the deepest guilt of our sin , & heaviest punishment due to it ; and the misery that to us would thence have followed . 2. the proper cause and reason of this donation , which was the infinite mercy of god towards us . 3. the manner in which christ was given for us ; which was both in body and soul to the sufferance of death [ though they were the soul and body of god personally ] that by this his obedience we might be both freed from death , and the consequent of its misery ; and made partakers of all the blessings of grace , and glory , and happiness , which were in him prepared for us ; and he had deserved to us . 4. the meanes by which christ is thus applied unto us , and made ours ; as in this sacrament , externally by the signes of eating of bread , and drinking of wine , and internally , by the operation of the holy ghost , and our faith stirred up by him , to rely upon christ for life , and nourishment and growth unto life eternal , and all the blessings aforesaid . doct. 3. the second duty required unto a right communicating , or partaking of this sacrament , is that we seriously examine or try our selves . the object of the former duty was the supper it self , instituted of god. the object of this is our selves , wherein by a reflex act we behold and consider our selves , that we may understand how our disposition and condition agrees , or disagrees with the nature and use of this institution . and this inquiry should be made with greatest care and diligence , as the word used for it , doth sufficiently express ; wherein is properly expressed the goldsmiths pains in diligently trying of silver and gold , that he may know true coyne from false . reas. 1. because it would be in vain to discerne the lords body , unless we discern aright also , how our selves agree with , or disagree from the lords body , and whether we have such requisites , as necessarily we must , for the saving participation of his body . for in the sacrament there is a mutual relation between the gift offered , and our receiving of it ; nor doth it bestead us at all , to know of what sort , and how precious the gift is , unless we know also that our selves are such , as to whom this gift doth belong . reas. 2. because great is the deceit of mans heart , whereby men use to deceive themselves , while they think that all is right , although it be nothing so . it is needfull therefore , that we diligently examine our owne hearts , least we be deceived with a false faith , and rest in a phancie and vain imagination instead thereof . reas. 3. because it is not enough to our comfort , that we be sometimes well disposed to partake of these good blessings of god , unless we also discerne this disposition to be in us . for our comfort dependeth not onely on the presence , or having of grace ; but also on our inward feeling , and perceiving that we have it : which perceiving that we may attain to , it is needfull that we seriously examine our selves , and know what is in us . use , of exhortation , that we may have a care of this duty , and deal not too gently with our selves , nor slightly ; but bring all to a very punctual and rigorous trial . now the special points that we ought to examine in our selves , are these : 1. whether we have knowledge and understanding of the things that belong to the institution of the supper ; that is , whether we rightly discerne the lords body , as hath been taught in the precedent doctrine . 2. whether we have a true acknowledgement and repentance for our sins , from the guilt whereof we would be disburthened ; i. e. the pardon whereof we seek to be sealed unto us in the use of this sacrament . 3. whether we have that faith , whereby we flee onely to christ , that we may be freed from 〈◊〉 sins . 4. whether we be so far in charity , and love with our neighbour , as that we carry no spite , hatred , malice , or revenge to his person , but can pray heartily for him to god , for his forgivenesse ( in case he be froward to convenient and fitting meanes of reconciliation ) as for our selves , though we may not outwardly testify our forgivenesse of him in such case , where ecclesiastical procedure cannot be had for fear of hardening him in his sin , or exposing our selves and these mysteries to dirision ; or because some other hinderance will not suffer us , as remote absence of the parties , and others the like ; and can where occasion offereth , yea , are desirous to do him really all the good that we can . doct. 4. the third duty for right communicating , is that we have the disposition , that is worthy and fitting for so great a mystery . it is gathered from these words ; he that eats or drinks unworthily . now the worthinesse that is here required , is not the worth of quantity , or of merit ; but of quality , or uprightness in the business ; and of suitableness , as when st. iohn baptist saith , bring forth fruits worthy of repentance ; he understands not fruits that deserve repentance to be given us ; but are agreeable to true repentance ; that is , true fruits of true repentance , and suitable to the nature of it . reas. 1. because these mysteries cannot be unworthily used , but that the grace of our lord jesus christ must needs withall be unworthily affronted , as it were by contempt . and hence it is , that unworthy partakers are said to eat and drink judgement unto themselves ; to wit , from god's wrath , who by this most unworthy ignomony put upon his son , is provoked . reas. 2. because no noble forme is introduced ordinarily into matter , nor fitly disposed and prepared before ; so the grace and comfort of this sacrament , useth not to be received but by such , as are suitably disposed and prepared for it ; so that who so comes unworthily , doth of necessity go unfruitful from this sacrament , as to any solid fruits thereof . reas. 3. because unfitness and unpreparation makes this most holy ordinance become an occasion unto many of greater hardening in their sinnes . for as the preaching of the gospell is to some a savour of death unto death , not of its owne nature , but by their perverse dispositions ; so also this sacrament unto unworthy communicants , is not the cup of blessing , but occasion of a curse . now the specialties that are required unto this disposition , are these : 1. a right and pure intention , whereby we look at all and onely such ends in partaking of the supper , as god looked at , in the appointing of it , and giving of it to us . 2. a good conscience , whereby we have a sure and firm purpose and resolution of obeying god in all things , commanded by him ; and of shunning all sins , in obedience unto him . 3. an awfull reverence flowing from the right discerning of the lords body . 4. humility , which flows from a right examination of our selves , whereby we cannot but perceive our owne unworthinesse . 5. a great desire to the spiritual good things , which are offered us in this sacrament . 6. thankfulnesse to god for the goods bestowed and imparted to us . 7. charity towards our brethren , who are together with us partakers of these blessings in christ ; as in the former doctrine were further declared . doct. 5. whoso neglect openly these duties , are not to be admitted unto the lord's supper . the one and thirtieth lords day . mat. 16. 19. and i will give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth , shall be bound in heaven : whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth , shall be loosed in heaven . in these words is contained an explication of that promise , which christ in the last preceding verse had made to peter , of building his church upon the rock , and of the strength of that building , which the gates or power of hell should not overcome . now the building of his church is signified by the instrumental cause thereof ; that is , the ministry of the gospell . the strength or firmness of this building is shewn in the firmness it hath from heaven , which is its principal cause . and the building of the church by the ministry is metaphorically explained , by the keyes of the kingdome of heaven , because the giving of the keyes to bear , is the signe of power given over that house , or town unto which they belong ; therefore christ most fitly designed the power of the ministry , in such things as belong unto the kingdome of heaven by this simile . the confirmation or strength of this heavenly building is explained from things compared in likeness ; to wit , between the administration of men about these keys ; and the approbation thereof , and ratification by god. this parity or likeness is explained in two parts , according to the two uses that keys use to serve for , of 〈◊〉 and binding ; and of opening and loosing . doct. 1. christ appointed in his church a certain order ●…r rank of ministers , for the building of her up , and keeping ●…er in repair or strength . he appointed a ministry , not a magistry , mastership or lordly power ; because he ordained not that any in the church should do any thing from or of his owne authority , or according to his owne pleasure ; but onely from and by the authority of christ himself , who is the only king , lord , and law-giver in his church . he appointed a certain order . reas. 1. because god is the god of order , and not of confusion , which ought to be far from his house . reas. 2. because no other but the lord of the church had power to ordain any such thing ; or make it effectual for its ends . reas. 3. because thus it became christ to shew himself faithfull in the house of god , as moses was , heb 3. he appointed this order for the building of his church , or keeping her in repair , or strengthening of her . reas. 1. because he would deal with men in a man-like and moral manner , as was suitable to their nature . and this servantship or ministry is a moral meanes of building up and confirming the faithfull . reas. 2. because believers imperfections and diverse tentations , require such means , whereby they may be established and ordained in the faith . reas. 3. because he would so put forth his powerfull working by such earthen vessels , and weak meanes , for the greater praise end illustration of his grace . use , of information , that we understand how to esteem the ministry of the gospell ; to wit , as a most holy and saving ordinance of christ ought to be esteemed . doct. 2. to this ministry is adjoyned a ministerial , or servant-like power , in things that belong to the kingdome of heaven . this is collected from giving of the keyes . for although by a key is sometimes designed supreme , or lordlike power and command , as rev. 1. 18. yet sometimes also a ministerial power onely , as isa. 22. 22. and that it is so understood here is clear , in that christ alone is king of his church , and commander , endowed with supreme power . and by this he is distinguished from the apostles themselves , mat. 18. 19 , 20. as also by this , that the apostles every where profess themselves the ministers of christ. reas. 1. because every order , rank , or degree instituted of god , hath some suitable power adjoyned to it . as therefore a commanding or an imperial power is adjoyned unto empire or the state ; so a ministerial power is adjoyned unto ministers . reas. 2. because the building and keeping in repair , and strengthening and advancing the church , in which the end of this ministry consists , cannot be procured by men , but by such a power . reas. 3. because the kingdome of heaven is of that nature , that it can be sub●…ect to no imperial or commanding power of sinfull man , but to him onely that is infallible , and imperable , god and man , christ jesus ; and to a ministerial or servant-like power of sinfull men only . use 1. of refutation , against papists , who give an imperial and commanding power to peter , and to the popes of rome : which also they would fain pick out of this place . but the power here spoken of , is equally given , or joyned to all the ministers of the word , and not to peter alone , as they would have it . for , 1. peter here represented the persons of all the apostles , and of all ministers of the word , their successors ; and in some kinde of the whole church . for as christ thus proposed the question to them all , and had the answer given by peter by the approbation and consent of them all , as that to which they adhered , and allowed as well as he , and therefore might be said to have been made in the name of all , he being the senior , and so often the speaker for all ; so also in this promise instead of them all , christ directs his speech to peter . 2. this same power is solemnly given unto all the apostles , and to their successors , ioh. 20. 23. 3. unto every true church this power is in some kind extended . use 2. of direction as well of ministers , that they attempt nothing but from the command of christ , as his ministers ; as of others , that they so look at ministers , as they keep not still their eye upon their persons , and look no further ; but that they lift up their eyes to christ , whose ministers they are , and love and honour them for his sake , and the imployment he hath laid upon them , wherein , and as far as they carry themselves sutably to both . doct. 3. this power is properly exercised in binding and loosing , or in shutting and opening ; that is , in retaining , or remitting of sins . reas. 1. because the whole consolation and edification of the church chiefly consists in the remission of sins given and granted unto believers , which is also set out and illustrated by retaining of sins , or denial of remission , which is denounced to unbelievers in the church . reas ▪ 2. because all other duties that belong unto the ministry depend on these , and may conveniently be reduced into them , either as meanes , effects , adjuncts , and the like . reas. 3. because in these the excellency and worth of the ministry of the gospell do singularly appear ; because that chief work of forgiving sins , which properly and absolutely agreeth onely to god , is in some sort communicated to the ministers of christ , or made common to them with god ; to wit , because the denunciation , testification , declaration , and certification of forgiveness of sins , belongs unto the ministers of christ , by their office ; and that in two wayes ; to wit , either in the preaching of the word , or in the exercise of discipline . use 1. of information , about the excellency and worth of the ministry of the gospell , that it may not be disgraced by ministers themselves , nor condemned , or spoken against by others . use 2. of comfort to believers , because the whole ministry of the gospell labours for this , that believers may be ascertained of the forgiveness of their sins . the thirty third lords day . ephes. 4. 20 , 21 , 22. verse 20 but ye have not so learned christ : 21 if so be that ye have heard him , and have been taught by him , as the truth is in iesus . 22. that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man , which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts : the apostle is here taken up in that most weighty exhoration , whereby he began at the entry of this chapter to stirre up christians to that conversation , which agreeth unto their calling unto christianity . and this exhortation he began verse 17. to illustrate from a comparison of unlike things . and the parties that are compared , are christians , and other people : the quality wherein they are compared , is their manner and way of living . the unlikeness in this quality , is either in the principles and causes of living , or in their effects . as to their principles , heathens are said to have all their faculties corrupted ; and as to the faith , all their actions and motions are deformed . on the contrary , all the faculties of a christian are renewed , and the motions of them holy and honest . the reddition or second part of this comparison , which belongs to christians , is contained in these five verses , wherein the unlike condition of christians and unbelievers is explained : 1. from its external cause , which is the doctrine and discipline of the gospell , verses 20 , 21. 2. from the internal causes , which is conversion and sanctification . this again consists of two parts : 1. the mortification and laying off of the old man. 2. it s vivification and putting on of the new man ; that is , renovation of the whole man , each part is illustrated by its description , which are from their effects . the effects of the old man are corruptions and errours , verse 22. of the new man , righteousness and holiness , v. 23 , 24. doct. 1. there is a great unlikenesse of condition and life between men regenerated and unregenerated . this is gathered from the scope of the text , and these words ; the old man , and the new man , as if a man were not the same man after regeneration , that he was before . hither belong all these comparisons which through most of the proverbs of solomon are made between the godly and ungodly . it is pointed at also every where in the new testament , and also in the old , by the difference between light and darknesse , and between a quick man and a dead , and between one that being defiled with all sort of uncleannesse , like the sow that wallowes in the mire , and one that is washed and cleansed . reas. 1. because they have a diverse nature ; believers being made partakers of the divine nature , 2 pet. 1. 4. and unbelievers are scarcely to be said to have a mans nature in a moral consideration . hither belongs it , that the apostle every where teacheth that believers are led and governed by the spirit of god , to walk thereafter ; and that unbelievers are led by their own flesh . reas. 2. because as the internal principle of operations is quite unlike ; so also the outward rule of all their conversation is quite contrary ; the regenerate ordering his whole life after the will of god revealed in his word ; the unregenerate after his owne suggestions , and corrupt imaginations , or worldly opinions . reas. 3. because the end to which they tend , is unlike and contrary ; the regenerate breathing after god and heaven , as he is called to the hope of eternal life ; the unregenerate seeking himself , and this present world . hither belongs it , that the unregenerate are said to be of this world ; but the regenerate citizens of heaven it self , phil. 3. 20. and often elswhere . use 1. of reproof . of such as will be thought , and think themselves perhaps true believers and regenerate , when yet in their whole conversation scarce any thing can be marked , which is not common to them , and unregenerate persons . use 2. of comfort , for the godly , that lead a life worthy of christian profession , but are sometimes from infirmity troubled , because most with whom they live , or have to do , become strange to them ; and make it plain that they are offended some way with the strictnesse of their conversation ; which offence ariseth properly from this unlikenesse of conversation , whereby the corrupt walking of others according to the fashions of the world , are tacitly reproved , ephes. 5. now this unlikenesse ought to be our greatest comfort , as it is a sign of our regeration . use 3. of exhortation , that by change of our life and conversation , we may more and more study to shew unto others , and confirme unto our selves this grace of our regeneration , whereunto we are called in christ. doct. 2. th●… cause of this unlikenesse of regenerate from unregen●…rate , is the doctrine of the gospell . it is in the text clear enough . reas. 1. because the doctrine of the gospell teacheth us to deny all ungodlinesse , and worldlinesse , and to live holily , 〈◊〉 . 2. 12. reas. 2. because the mighty and powerfull operation of the holy spirit is present with the preaching of the gospell , for producing this change in man ; for which cause it is called the ministry of the spirit , and the law of the spirit of life , and the arme of god. reas. 3. because the proper power of faith is to cleanse the hearts of those that it is in , act●… 5. 9. and to make us from our hearts to harken to the doctrine unto which we were delivered , r●…m 6. 17. use , of admonition . that we beware least by hearing in vain the preaching of the gospell , without this fruit of conversion and change of life , we perniciously deceive our selves . doct. 3. one part of this conversion made by the gospell , is mortification of all our corrupt dispositions and customes . it is gathered from verse 22. where by the old man , all the corrupt dispositions are understood , because they possessing all the parts and faculties of the man from our birth , and that with dominion and power over us to keep us still under them , do therefore carry the name of the old man iustly , and that for these reasons . 1. because they thus possessed us from the beginning of our conception . 2. because they ought by christians to be esteemed as things old , and useless , and to be put off , and laid away : and that , reas. 1. because the end of christ's death , and the gospell it self , is to dissolve the workes of the devill , ●…oh . 3. 8. and these inordinate dispositions and customes are amongst the first and chief works of the devill . reas. 2 ▪ because by these we were separated from god ; and the gospell calls us and drawes us to god again ; and therefore to lay these aside . reas. 3. because life and obedience cannot have place in such , as these lusts and customes have power in ; and the gospell calls us to a spiritual life , and a new obedience . use 1. of r●…proof ▪ of such , as would have themselves thought regenerate , when yet they are the servants of such carnal lusts . use 2. of exhortation , that we manfully set our selves not onely to repress such lusts , but quite also to root them out . now the old man is mortified , 1. by that firme and constant purpose of changing our life , which is effectually begun in our first repentance , and dayly ought to be renewed , and extended to all new emergencies . 2. by the vertue of christ's death applied to us by faith , whence our old man is said to be crucified with christ ; and it may be rightly added , with the same nailes , that christ was crucified with . for christ was fastned unto the cross , partly because of the guilt of our sins ; partly out of the love of the father to us , that we might be saved : partly out of christ's ▪ owne love to us , whereby he was willing to lay down his life for us . and by the earnest meditation of these things , the power of sin is most diminished in us . 3. by the power of the holy spirit , to whom we ough●… to give up our selves , in the use of all the meanes ordained of god , whereby he useth to put forth his powerfull working . doct. 4. the other part of this conversion , is vivification , or renewing of the inward man. by the inward , new , or renewed man , are understood the new dispositions , that are agreeable unto the will of god : they are called the man , as these other dispositions were , because they should be diffused over the whole man , as they were . and they are called the new man partly in respect to order , because they follow the other ; partly in respect of their excellency , because they are so much better than the other , as new things are to old , out-worn , and decayed things ; in which respect , many things of greater excellency than others are called new , in comparison to the other . and this new man is said both to be repaired , and to be put on , because as these inward dispositions in the spirit of our minde are acquired , they are the renewing of the man , and the innerman , verse 23. and the same is said to be put on as a garment , as both outwardly and inwardly it hath full hold of us , and wrappes us wholly up in it self , so that it containes not oney imputed righteousnesse , but together also that of inherence , which consists in the actions of a new obedience . reas. 1. this new man must be put on , because it is according to god , or the image of god , as it is in the text. for it is our duty in our whole life to live unto god , and to aspire to be like to the image of god , according to which we were created , and whereunto we are now again called . reas. 2. because in this new man , or in this image of god our spiritual perfection consisteth , and so are almost the chief parts of our glorification . reas. 3. because as by this image we please god , who delighteth in his owne image ; so by the same alone we are made fit , and apt to glorifie god as we ought . reas. 4. because we cannot be freed from the corruption and perversenesse of the old man , but by vertue of this new man , as darkness is not removed out of this or that place but by letting in of light . use , that with all care and by all means sanctified of god for this end , we may more and more labour to put on this new man. now he is put on . 1. by virue of that effectual desire & purpose we have to please god in our first repentance . 2. by vertue of christ's resurection applied to us by faith . 3. by vertue of the holy spirit given us in the word of christ , and in his sacraments . doct. 5. the old man brings us errours and coruptions ; and the new man brings forth righteousnesse and true holinesse , verses 22 , 23. the old man corrupts 1. the understanding with all secret errours . 2. the other faculties , by all sorts of lusts and concupiscences . 3. the life and conversation , by all sort of misleadings from the right way . in all these there is corruption properly so called , because there is want of such a life and perfection , as should not be wanting ; and a perturbation of that order that belongs to the state of perfection . now that the new man produceth the workes of righteousnesse and holinesse , appears by these reasons . reas. 1. because he observes the rule of righteousnesse , which is the law of god. reas. 2. because he belongs to our spiritual perfection , wherein we resemble the divine nature , according to our proportion which is our holinesse . reas. 3. because he brings alwayes forth kindly fruits , or like unto himself , seeking both his owne conservation and improvement from the common conspiration of all our inclinations . use , of exhortation , that with the same care and zeal we may labour for the mortification of the old man and vivification of the new , wherewith we desire to shun corruption and death , and to attaine unto an holy and blessed perfection . the thirty fourth lords day . exod. 20. 1 , 2 , 3. ver. 1 and god spake all these words , saying , 2 i am the lord thy god , which brought thee out out of the land of egypt , out of the house of bondage . 3 thou shalt have no other gods before me . in these words are contained the preface of the moral law , and the first precept thereof . in the preface is contained the definition , division , and confirmation of the law : the difinition is pointed at by circumstances , which are as it were the specificative or differencing notions of it , whereby this law is distinguished from all others : whereof the 1. is , that god himself spoke it , or immediately by himself pronounced the words of this law. 2. that then he spoke it ; that is , after such a singular preparation of the people , as never was used in the giving of any other law. the division of it is contained in these words ; that god is said to have spoken all the words of it ; that is , of both the tables , or all the t●…n words ; where respect to the whole , and to its parts is plainly pointed at . the confirmation , or perswasion used to confirm it , is verse 2. where a most strong argument is brought to induce to obedience suitable to this law ; and it is twofold , 1. in general from the covenant ; i am thy god. 2. from a special benefit bestowed upon them by vertue of that covenant . the first precept it self , is verse 3. whereby is injoyned us , that we have iehovah for our god ; or iehovah alone : so that in it two points are together injoyned us . 1. that we acknowledge jehovah to be the true god , and none else . 2. that with all religious honour and worship , we worship him , and that with all our heart , &c. for that is to have jehovah for our god ; and not to be understood speculatively onely , but practically , effectively , and really . doct 1. this law of god contained in the decalogue , or ten words ( that is brief sentences ) is the most perfect rule for directing of the life of man. this is gathered from the definition , which we said ; before was pointed out in two circumstances ; because it hath not onely god for its author , but is also given with singular majesty in the perfectest manner , as after extraordinary preparation : that we may understand all perfection that can be desired in any law , is to be found in this . reas. 1. because it prescribes all the duties of man , whether they look at god himself directly , as in the first table ; or our neighbour , as in the second . reas. 2. because in all those duties , it not onely requires the workes themselves , but also the most perfect way of working them ; to wit , that they come from the whole heart , and from the bottome of the heart ; that is , from the intire strength of the whole man , and with perfect purity and sincerity ; and that they be directed to the glory of god. reas. 3. because it containes in it self a delineation or draught of that perfection , whereunto man in his first or innocent nature was created , according to the image of god. and therefore also it is called the law of nature , because that rule of life , which was written in the heart of man , according to its primitive and pure nature , is in this law explained . reas. 4 because it belongs not onely to one nation , as the judicial law did ; nor unto some certain time onely , as the ceremonial law did ; but it is the common-law of all nations , times , and persons . use 1. of information , that we esteem this law of god as we ought ; that is , that we think no otherwayes of it , than as of the will of god omnipotent , and as of that will of his , which most intimately belongs to us , as the onely rule of our life ; and as of such a rule , as hath no defect , but is both perfect in it self , and requires all perfection in us . use 2. of admoni●…ion , that with all reverence we give heed unto this law , and beware of all neglect and contempt of it , as we would shun death . doct. 2. the moral law is divided into diverse words , or precepts . it is gathered from this , in that god is said to have spoken all these words . they are called words , because they are short ; and as it were spoken summarily , or in one word . the chief division of them is into two tables ; the next into ten precepts , or commands . reas. 1. that we might the more easily understand the will of god , by parts delivered ; which wholly together , and at once declared as it were in heaps , we could not so well understand . for the parts in a distribution , or division , make much for the declaration and illustration of any whole . reas. 2. that by this meanes our memory may be helped ; because naturally our memory is strengthened from the order of the parts amongst themselves . reas. 3. that in every part and act of our conversation , we may have light of singular direction , from some part of this law. use , of admonition , that we neglect nor contemne no word of this law ; because they are all parts of one and the same law , and have the same sanction of authority ; so that who so stumbles against any one , is guilty of them all , iam. 2. 10. doct. 3. whatsoever is commanded in any part of the law , we are bound for may causes to perform the same to god. this is gathered from that confirmation of the law ; i am iehovah , &c. reas. 1. because god commands us nothing , he may not with very good right require from us , as well by reason of his absolute power and dominion , as of our dependance on him , by which we require to be supplied and upheld by him in all things . reas. 2. because he requires nothing from us , the observance whereof he did not deserve at 〈◊〉 hands before , as well by spiritual benefits and blessings , as temporal and bodily , in regard whereof , out of thankfulness we owe him all obedience , as is plain in the text ; i brought thee out of the land , &c. reas. 3. because god is ready to reward our obedience most abundantly in every point . use , of direction , that by often meditation of the manifold obligations , whereby we are bound to performe our obedience to god , we may more and more stir up our mindes to a care of observing him in all things . doct. 4. every command of the law , requires the whole obedience of the whole man. that is , as well inward as outward ; of the heart , as of the mouth , and hand or worke : thou shalt have no other , &c. make not unto ●…hy self &c. are formes of speaking , whereby formally such an universal obedience is required . reas. 1. because god the giver of this law , ought to be glorified with obedience of the whole man , as well of soule as of body , and of both these parts of man. reas. 2. because this is the excellent perfection of the law of god , whereby it goes beyond all humane lawes , in that it subjects unto it self the heart , and the reines , and the most inward retirement of of men , as god himself alone , who is the author of this law , knowes what is in man. reas. 3. because this law is the rule of spiritual life , and so ought to peirce even to our spirits themselves . use 1. of information , that for the right understanding of this law , we look not onely to such things , or think that they onely are contained under the law , as in express words are there contained ; but all such things also , as belongs to such an head of obedience , whether they be outward or inward . for in every command , as is certain by the summe of entire and whole obedience , the words are to be taken not according to the bare letter , but in a modification of diverse tropes , or borrowed sorts of speaking , as agree to the perfection of such a law of nature . the trope of synecdoche that puts the special for the general to be understood by it , is here frequent ; as when abstinence from some one vice by name , is put for the whole obedience , whereby we not onely abstain from all faults of that kind ; but also are bound to the performance of the contrary affirmative good ; and when some action is put for all of its kind and of affinity of nature with it . the trope also of me●…onymie is every where in these commands , whereby all the adjuncts are understood under the name of their objects ; the effects in their causes , and contrarily ; with which is complicated the trope of metaphor some way ; so as all the decalogue is metaleptick , or to be understood by transsumption . and these rules must of necessity be understood in the explication of every precept , as our saviour's exposition of them , and other scriptures make clear . use 2. of admonition , that we rest not , nor please our selves in obedience of any sort done to the law ; but that we may aspire to the entire and perfect observance of it , and ever acknowledge just matter of our humbling in this , that we are so farre from that perfection , that it requires . doct. 5. the first and greatest command is that , which containes our duty to god. hence is it that it is both put in the first place , and hath also the expresse testimony of christ , mat. 22. 28. reas. 1. because god himself being the object of this duty , from him a sort of noblenesse and dignity is derived unto the duty it self . reas. 2. because more and greater things are contained in our duty to god , than either can or may be used in duties to man ; as is clear by that form , with ●…he whole minde , and the whole heart , &c. reas. 3. because this duty is the foundation and principle of all others , in as much as in god , and for god onely , we ought to perform all other duties ; and so the duties of the second table are thus virtually contained in the first commandment . use is of direction , that our first and chief care may be taken up in those duties , that belong to god. doct. 6. the principall duty to god is , that we have him onely for our god. and to have god for our god , is in general to give god that honour , which is due unto his excellent majesty : and to this are required . 1. that we seek the true knowledge of him , with all care , as he hath revealed himself in his word ; because we cannot honour him rightly , whose nature and will we are ignorant of : iohn 4. 12. rom. 10 14. 2. that from a most humble reverence , we subject our selves unto him , because the honour that we give to god , as to our god , is the honour of a creature towards its creator , of a son towards his father ; of a servant towards his master , and that such a master as hath power of life and death over us ; not of the body onely , but of the soul , or that which is eternal . 3. that we believe all , and rest in them , by true faith , which he witnesseth and proposeth unto us ; because otherwayes we cannot give him the glory of his omnis●…ience , truth , &c. 4. that with certain hope we look for all that he hath promised ; because also we cannot give him the honour of the truth of his promises , unless with belief of them , we be so affected with them , as to desire and hope for the accomplishment of them . 5. that with greatest love we cleave to him , as the chief good ; because as the quidditative notion of god , doth its self denotate the fountaine and author , and so the possessor of all highest and most perfect goodnesse ; so the honour due to god , contains in it that affection , that is raised up by the meditation and apprehension of the chief good ; which is pure and perfect love . 6. that we expresse all these duties , and exercise them by a devout hearing of his word , and calling upon his name , with the like exercise of divine worship ; because we can neither powerfully be affected about the honour of god , without such operations , wherein such affections are put forth : neither is the honour we owe to god , contained within the bounds of individual disposition or affection ; nor lastly , can a lively affection of honouring god be cherished or kept in our minds , without such means , whereby it is as well begotten in us , as preserved and improved . use 1. is of reproof , against such as think they have god for their god , and keep this command well enough , if they deny not god with their mouths , though they never rouse up themselves to give god this honour before spoken of : of which sort of men are all such , as 1. deny not themselves , that they may be wholy subject to god and his will. 2. all such as rest in their ignorance . 3. such as endeavour not to build up themselves in true faith , hope , and love. 4. such as contemn or neglect the exercise of piety , publick or private ; of all these it may truly be affirmed , that while they endeavour not thus to give god his due honour , they have him not really for their god. use is of exhortation , that by such considerations we stir up our selves to a greater care of piety , unlesse we would be like such , as are without god in this world , and so can look for no other than to be separated from god in the world to come . doct. 7. who so giveth this honour , or any part of it , to any other than god , they set up a false god to themselves , and so are idolaters . it is gathered from this ; ye shall have no other god. that is ; give not this honour to another , that is not true god by nature or essence : for against this cōmand men sin three manner of ways , 1. if we give not this honour to god 2 ▪ if we give it to another , that is not god. 3. if we fight or dispute against god , or this honour of his : who so sin against god in the first way , they are prophane ; in the second , they are idolaters ; in the third , they are enemies to god. use 1. is of refutation , against papists , who give a great part of this honour to creatures use 2. of condemnation against such as have their minds so fastned to worldly things , that it may be truly said of them , that they have their affiance , hope and love chiefly placed in them : concerning whom the apostle warns us , that they have their belly for their god , and their substance , riches and the like . the thirty fifth lords dayes . exod. 20. 4 , 5 , 6. verse 4. thou shalt not make to thee any graven image , or the likenesse of any thing that is in heaven above , or in the earth beneath , or that is in the water under the earth . 5 thou shalt not bow down thy self to them , nor worship them , nor serve them ; for i the lord am a jealous god , visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children , to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me . 6 and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me , and keep my commandments . vve have here the second command , and the sanctification of it . it concerns the means of worshipping god. it is expressed by negation and distribution of means , and description of the use , that is wont to be exercised about such means : the distribution is taken from the places of the means , heaven , earth , waters . the description is from the adjunct of adoration , or bowing down to them . the sanction consists in a threatning and promise , the nature and ratifying power whereof is expounded from the nature of god , i am iehovah , thy strong god. this command is distinguished from the former , in that there essential and natural worship of god was commanded ; but here accidental and of free institution . and this instituted worship , as to the negative par●… is declared synecdochically by an image ; because by the abuse of images , this worship of god useth most to be violated . doct. 1. in such way , and by such means god is onely to be worshipped , as he hath commanded himself to be worshipped by his word . this is gathered from this precept , in that by image is to be condemned all will worship , brought in by men ; so that no other is approved , but that which himself hath prescribed . this doctrine seems also to be clear in these words ; thou shalt not make unto thy self : that is , at thine own pleasure , and as thou likest best , thou shalt bring no worship to god. for although this phrase hath sometimes the sense , thou shalt not make any thing , so as to have it for thy self alone ; yet both the short and comprehensive manner of speech in the decalogue , and the matter it self that is here handled , perswade us ; that it should be here taken in the former sense . this doctrine is expressed , exod. 23. 33. deut. 12. last verse . reas. 1. because god alone knows what is acceptable to him , and sutable to his nature and will. reas. 2. because the whole blessing and fruit of our worship that we owe to god , depends on him : and it is not for us to prescribe to god , by what means he should work on us , or we blesse him . reas. 3. because worship not commanded , hath not the nature of obedience in it . but it is gods will and it belongs to his honour , that by obeying we worship him , and by worshipping we obey him . reas. 4. because such is the vanity and futility of mens imaginations in things divine , that if it had been left to us , to choose unto our selves the means of divine worship , it would have been turned all into traditions and vain observations ; as experience witnesseth , that the devill by this way hath led away men into empty superstitio●…s , almost through all the world . use 1. is of refutation against papists , who have defiled all parts of divine-worship , with their will-worship , traditions of mens devising , and their own ordinance . use 2. is of direction , that in worshipping god , we have a precise regard of gods own holy ordinances in the ministry of the word , sacraments , and discipline ; and on the other part , that we despise all humane devises , with how soever faire colour and pretence they may be commended to us . doct. 2. god is not to be worshipped , at , or before an image . for otherwayes images in this place are not absolutely forbidden , because there is a civill , lawfull , use of some images ; but onely the use of images in gods worship : neither are such images onely forbidden in gods worship , as are of counterfeit gods , as papists will have it ; but also of the true god , deut. 4 1●… . where moses opposeth the voice of the true god , which the people had heard in the mount , unto all images of the same god , and not of other counterfeit gods . this was also said expresly to have been signified in the sin of the israelites , about the image that they made , exod. 22. verse 6. that they would make a calf for an image , or representation of iehovah : the distinction therefore between an image and an idoll , in which , and by the which image god is served , hath no ground neither in writing , nor right reason , nor in common use of words . the grievousnesse of this sin every where appeareth , that in scripture it is commonly called idolatry : for such as worship the true god at or before an image , they do not altogether and professedly forsake the true god ; and therefore do not commit that principal and essential idolatry ; yet are they guilty of secondary idolatry , and that which is such indirectly , and by participation . reas. 1. because in some sort , they make unto themselves another god besides the true god ; to wit , such an one as will be represented by an image , and worshipped there by us . reas. 2. because they not onely diminish that glory which they ought to give unto god , but they also refer a part of it either expresly , or implyedly unto the image , which is due unto god alone . reas. 3. because also they honour in some sort with divine honour the authors of images , while they grant them the power or authority of instituting divine worship , which belongs to god alone : and by that means also ▪ they are said to worship the devill himself , because he is the principal authour of image worship . hence it is that scripture useth to call this grievous sin by some special phrases ; as when in the sanction of this commandment , it is called a hating of god , and in other places , treachery or perfidiousness , adultery and violation of the wedlock-covenant . hence also it is , that so heavy a punishment is denounced against this sin , as is in the threatning laid down in this commandment , whereby it is said , that god will visit this iniquity on the sons , nephews and their children again unto the the thrid and fourth generation . use 1. is of refutation against the idolatry of papists , who as they commit idolatry against the first commandment , in praying to angels and saints departed , and the like ; so here they commit secondary idolatry , 1. in that they make images of god the father , son and holy-ghost ; which is expressely forbidden . 2. in that they honour with divine worship these and other images . 3. in that they make the worship it self idolatrous , which they would offer to god , while by the intervention of an image they thrust it upon god , against his own revealed will. and this amongst others , gives just and necessary cause to all the godly of making separation from the church and worship of papists : because such a worship is abhominable to god , and ought to be in abhomination and detestation with all the godly . use 2. is of exhortation , as well for thanksgiving to god , that he hath delivered us from such idolatry , as unto care and caution , that we communicate in no manner with such idolatrous ordinances . doct. 3. such images are diligently to be shunned of us . it is gathered from the manner of setting forth the command , whereby with such care and so precisely all and every sort of images are forbidden : and this is it that thē apostle iohn means in 1 epistle ▪ chap. and last verse●… reas. 1. because such images belong to that greatest abhomination , to wit , of idolatry ; from which all the godly ought to keep themselves very far . reas. 2. because there is great danger in these humane inventions , least they should insensibly allure us unto an apostacy or defection from god ; as is evident by the words of this precept , thou shalt not bow thy self , neither worship , &c. reas. 3. because by this means we should reprove idolaters , and as much as in us lies , call them back from their idolatry . use is of direction , that we alwayes have a care to be precise in this kinde , that so we may preserve unto our selves the worship of god pure and undefiled : neither then are any images of god to be admitted , nor any other images for holy use , nor any thing of our devising , that hath analogy or proportion to an image , as are all symbolike , or signifying ceremonies in divine worship introduced by men : and the instructing of rude and ignorant people hereby , is but of vain pretence , because images are teachers of lies , hab. 2. 9. ier. 10 18. the thirty six and seventh lords day . on exod. 20. 7. verse 7 thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain : for the lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain . the third command is here proposed , and its sanction or confirmation . the command is concerning the manner of worshipping god , or the right use of such things , as have a speciall relation to god and his worship : for by the name of iehovah , all is understood , whereby god is made known to us , or discernable , as a man is by his name . by taking of gods name into our mouths , is understood then , the use of all such things ; because things use to be taken up so commonly , that they may be applied unto use . and by in vain , or vainly , is understood all pravity of this use , by a synecdoche of the special put for the more general kinde ; and that because a vain using of sacred and holy ▪ things , is a grievous abuse of them , though there may be others that are more grievous , as when not onely without their just and true end and fruit , they are used , or for no settled end , that is , rashly , or in vain ; but also setledly and purposely , they turn and wrest them about to some wicked and impious uses . so then , by taking gods name in vain , all abuse of sacred things is understood . the sanction of this precept is by its threatning ; which is generally of all misery . this misery is explicated by its proper causes ; that is , the prosecution of that guilt , which followeth the breach of this command , god will not leave him or hold him guiltless , &c. for as the blessednesse of a man is declared by the taking away of the guilt of sins , rom. 4. 6. 7. so also mans misery is declared by prosecution of the same guilt . doct. 1 ▪ we ought with all religion , or devotion to be conversant about such things ▪ , as belong unto gods worship , both as to the things themselves , and as to the manner of handling them . it is clear enough in the words themselves ; take not the name of the lord thy god in vain . reas. 1. because this manner of handling things , belongs some way to the form of the action , and of our duty : and it more inwardly belongs to our duties ▪ that we rightly direct our actions , as to the point of their form than of their matter and object ; though a care must be had of both , and that with a devotion of the same kinde . reas. 2. because in such things the name of god is as it were committed and recommended to our trust , that it may appear with what devotion and respect we will use the same . reas. 3. because that name of god hath so much worth and excellency in it , that it is with little or no lesse wickednesse used with contempt or sight , than when it is altogether neglected . now the religious manner of using gods name , consists chiefly in these things : first , in the sincerity of our intentions , whereby we are to look at the very end in the use of it , and worship of god , unto which of ●…s own nature , and by gods appointment it tends and was ordained . 2. in the reverence wherewith we use it , which is to be such , as thereby we may shew , that we are careful to preserve & keep up the honour of god , and of his worship , in good esteem , and save it from all contempt , slight , dishonour , and reproach . 3. in our zeal , whereby we endeavour with all earnestnesse of minde to glorifie god in the use of these things , and so advance our own salvation . these and the like wayes are pointed out to us in the very forbidding the using of them vainly . reas. 1. because that is used rashly and vainly , which is not used to its own end ; therefore to exclude this vanity , sincerity about our intention must first be used . reas. 2. because that is counted but vain and empty , which is but light and slightly handled , as if it were a thing of no weight or importance , therefore the forbidding to use vainly , commands us by the same means to use it , with reverence , earnestnesse and gravity . reas. 3. because a thing is used in vaine , when it attains not to its end , uses and fruit it was ordained for ; therefore for the taking away of this vanity also a diligent endeavour is required , of reaping and receiving the just fruits of such ordinances ; thus is done by zeale . use 1. is of reformation , against papists , who in many things look onely to the worke done , and neglect the manner of doing , and disposition of the d●…er . use 2. is of reproof , of all carnall and irreligious manners of men in the use of gods worship , and sacred things ; when as they go about them , either after a wonted fashion of their owne , or out of custome rather than from conscience , and a knowing , and feeling resentment of duties ; and have in them , for the most part , other ends set down and proposed to themselves , than such as god appointed , and they ought onely to intend ; or they are lightly touched with them , and therefore but slightly busied in them , as if they were matters of sport , or high-way pastimes ; or lastly , these are so old in the good duties they do , though they look not like men in sport , that yet they look as such , that never either looked for , nor had any great care of reaping any great benefit from the things they did . use 3. is of exhortation , that we may more and more stir up in our selves , and in our minds and consciences , this religious care . doct. 2. this religious care ought singularly to be had in the use of oathes , and such things as are of the like nature thereto . it is gathered from hence , because the name of god in a special manner is taken up into our mouths , in oaths , vows , promises , covenants and the like ; and a reverence of gods dreadfull name is especially here commended unto us . reas. 1. because in every oath , there is a certain calling upon the name of god , in a speciall sort . reas. 2. because god is not barely and onely called upon , as in other businesses , to help us ; but as a witnesse , judge and an avenger , if we speak not and think not truth , and do not right . reas. 3. because in an oath we binde our selves not onely to man , or our party on earth , but also unto god , and for the most part of our own accord ; and where otherwaies we needed not put our souls under the wrath and curse of god , and his fearful ●…engeance , if we should deceive . reas. 4 ▪ because as it were , we here interpose god and his name for our surety ; all which respects require a singular religious care of the use of gods name in such a behalf . use of condemnation against such as are given to ●…ash oathes , or to superstitious , blasphemous and prophane ones . doct. 3. it is a most grievous sin , and such as god will ●…n a singular man●…er avenge , to abuse gods name in this manner . this is gathered from the sanction , adjoyn'd to the precept : god will not leave him unpunished , &c. and this sanction is grounded on two reasons , reas. 1. because this sin amongst men is accounted venial , and is daily committed without any punishment . reas 2. because it is our natural corruption , little or nothing to regard the dispositions of our minds in worshipping god ; which yet god chiefly looks at . now the grievousnesse of the sin , appeareth in this ; 1. that god is in this , as it were , mocked : 2. that gods worship is turned as it were , into a stage-play . 3. that an occasion hereby is given of contemning and blaspheming of gods name : and amongst the punishments , wherewith god follows this sin , that spiritual revenge is most horrid , whereby he so deserts such men , that things which of their own nature are a savour of life unto life , become unto them a savour of death unto death ; which also by the very order of nature follows upon this kinde of sin . use of admonition is , that we take heed of such sort of sins ; and these are not to play and make a sport with passages of holy scripture ; or to make use of them to charms , or inchantments , and witchcraft : without any reverence or gravity , to tosse them to and fro like tennis-bals , in common discourse , and purposes ; lastly , to be exercised in any part of gods worship , meerly for a shift , and for the fashion , and for the custome that is in use . doct. 4. that for the fear or horrour of such a sin , we ought not altogether to abstain from oathes , as things in themselves and absolutely unlawfull . for in some cases , times and matters , we are bound unto them by the affirmative or commanding part of this precept . the thirty eighth lords day . on exod. 20. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. verse 8. remember the sabbath day to keep it holy : 9. six dayes shalt thou labour , and do all thy work : 10. but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy gods in it thou shalt not do any work : thou , nor thy son , nor thy daughter , thy man-servant , nor thy maid-servant , nor thy cattel , nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : 11 for in six dayes the lord made heaven and earth , the sea , and all that in them is , and rested the seventh day , wherefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it . this fourth command , which is about the time of more solemn worship , is , explicated 1. generally , vers . 8. remember , &c. 2. speciall , vers . 9 , 10. that this is the seventh , or one of seven ; whereunto is adjoyned the duty about keeping this day . this duty consists of two parts , to wit , of rest , and of the sanctification of that rest : the rest is a ceasing from all our workes ; and is illustrated from its causes , by a distribuition ; neither thou , nor thy son , &c. the sanctifying of this rest is consecrating , or holy application of it to gods worship . and this sentence is not onely proposed , but also confirmed , and that with a double reason ; whereof 1. is taken from a tacit comparison of the greater . god hath promised us six dayes for our works ; and therefore by very good right and reason , he may challenge the seventh to himself , to be consecrated to his worship . ●… . reason is taken from the exemplar cause , because god by his own example of resting on the seventh day , went before us , as it were to give us a coppy to follow . 3 , reason is from the efficient , that is , gods institution or appointment which consisteth of two parts ; sanctifying of it , and blessing it . the sanctifying of it , was the separating of this day from a worldly use to an holy . the blessing of it , was the promise to blesse them , that rightly blesse this day . doct. 1. certaine times are both privately and publickly to be appointed and set apart for more solemn worship . this is understood in the command by that synecdoche , that names the special for the general . those times in general are due unto publick worship which are most agreeable to the societies , in which we live . and to the private exercises of godliness , by night order ; some part of the morning , and of the evening time is due ; and this is alwayes the practice of the prophets and apostles approved in scripture , and proposed unto us , as an example to be followed . reas. 1. because we ought to have this care , that we orderly and decently worship god ; which cannot be without setting apart such a certaine time . 2. because our vanities , and straglingnes of mind and forgetfulness about spirituall duties requires of us the help of such an ordinance , as this . 3. because these appointed times keep us from many sins , while in our thoughts we are either preparing our selves for these exercises , or else keep still the fresh remembrance and power of them in our memories . use , is of reproofe , against their negligence , who though they professe themselves to be worshippers of god , yet can scarce finde any time , to give god the worship that is due to him doct. 2. that one day of seven be holily observed , is of morall and perpetuall duty ; as with us , the lords day . reas. 1. because this is expresly commanded in this morall law , as spoken immediatly by god himself , together with the other commands , and written by his own finger on tables of stone , as they were ; which things were onely proper to the morall law . reas. 2. because it was thus ordain'd from the beginning of the creation . reas. 3. because it is never lesse necessary , that some seventh day be observed , than it was at the first institution . and that the lords day , or first of the week , or seventh is now by divine authority appointed to us , that it be holily kept , appeareth : 1. from the ground and reason of the change , because as god from the beginning , appointed the seventh day of the week , or septenary circuit of dayes for his rest from creating of things : so christ appointed the first of the week , or of the seventh days of ordinary recourse , because on that day he rested from his penall and afflictious labours of his humiliation , or emptying himself , whereby he restored and created the world , as it were new again , unto a better condition than it had lost . 2. by the frequent apparitions of christ in the convention of his disciples on this day . 3. from the sending and shedding abroad of the holy-ghost , on this day . 4. by the practise of the apostles . 5. by apostolike constitution , 1 cor 16. 6 from the very title and name of the lords day , that it hath in the new testament 7. from the rigorous observation of this day in the primitive church , by occasion whereof they were accounted worshippers of the sun ; because this first day of the week was by heathens attributed to the planet of the sun , as the rest were to the rest of the planets . use is of exhortation ▪ that out of conscience towards god , and obedience to this command , we have a care of observing the lords day . doct. 3. one part of our duty is that on the lords day , we cease from all our own works . it is gathered from the text ; in six dayes shalt thou doe all thy work ; but on the seventh day thou shal●… doe no work . &c. that is , no work that is thme . now that work is said to be our work , which neither directly belongs to the worship of god , nor yet is otherways imposed upon us by any necessity from god ; but is chosen by our selves for some humane , or worldly end . now such are 1. all our common and mer●…enary works . 2 all things , that call away our mind from that intention that is required unto the worship of god on that day , though otherwaies they be not servile . yet such things are not forbidden , as either belong unto common honesty , or are of a very urgent and not of a made necessity of our own . the reason of this rest is , that we may be at convenient leisure for divine worship : for worldly businesses do in divers wayes withstand this more solemn worship of god. reas. 1. because the very external acts of both are for the most part such , as that they cannot consist or stand together at one time . reas. 2. because the minde being distracted with such worldly businesse , cannot compose or settle it self in good order to perform solemn worship to god , as it ought . reas. 3. because the taste , and savour , and power of holy exercises is impaired , and dulled at least , or blunted by mixture of such things with them , which in comparison should be but vile to them . use is of reproof , of such as easily break the rest of this day , either by their ordinary and vulgar occupations ; or with merchandizes , or with sports or plays , or with troublesome and long feastings on it , &c. doct. 4. the other part of our duty on the lords day , is to sanctifie this our rest ; that is , to apply the leisure that we have , to gods worship , as well publikely as privately . duties of this kinde are first , a preparing of our minds to gods solemn worship . secondly , hearing of his word . thirdly , solemn prayers . fourthly , partaking of the sacraments . fifthly , works of charity . sixthly , meditation and conference about holy things . seventhly , a religious considering of the works of god , of creation and providence , and even of such as occasionally we then hear or see , though they be otherwayes worldly . reas. 1. because in such duties , we make profession of religion , and of that honour , that is due unto god ; which therefore is to him honourable , and accepted . reas. 2. because by this means , we build up our selves , and advance our communion that we have with god : for seeing that by worldly occupations through the six days of the week , our mind is somewhat pressed towards the earth , it was by a most wise purpose and counsel of god ordain'd , that every seventh day at least again they should be lifted up to heaven , and sent up thitherwards by all such means , that they might be restored to their former step or degree , from which they had been declining : and seeing we contract also some filthynesse from such worldly businesses , on the lords day they should be wiped off , and we cleansed from them by the exercises of sanctification . and seeing many occasions fall on the other days , which bring their own difficulties and tentations with them ; on this day we ought to be well furnished and armed , so that it ought to be our day of spirituall mustering or weapon showing ; and a day of lustration . a cleansing our selves from all filthinesses before contracted ; and a day of our ascending into heaven , in as far as our faith and charity , with other heavenly gifts , on this day should be singularly kindled in our hearts . reas. 3. because by this means also we build up one another in the practise of our religion , so that he who hears the preaching of the word , though he learn nothing himself , yet he teaches others some good thing , even in this , that he hears , and thereby presses that he both should do so and other too : so hereby he teaches others , that god is to be solemnly worshipped , and his word with reverence to be heard . use 1. is of admonition , that we beware of the neglect of these duties , which can not consist with any vigour either of religion to god , or of love and care of our own salvation : or lastly , of love and christian affection towards the church , and our neighbours . use 2. is of direction , that according to this rule we judge of the duties , which on this day we perform about gods worship : for all of them in common should rise up so high as to a sanctifying of this day ; and this sanctifying again of the day , depends on our sanctifying of the name of god , and our advancing of our own salvation : unlesse therefore we seek such fruits in our consciences , we have therein just cause of great humiliation ; but if we feel them in any degree , we have as great reason to give the lord as great thanks for it . doct. 5. it is the duty of every christian , that not onely themselves sanctifie that day , but also that they make all such to do it , as far as in them lies , that are under their power . this is hence collected , because this commandement is in a singular manner directed to such as are over others , magistrates , parents , masters , &c. neither thou , nor thy son . reas. 1. because such servile works , as are forbidden on that day , are for the most part made to be done by command of fathers to children , masters to servants , magistrates to subjects : so that though they be performed by others , yet the works are theirs , at whose command they are done . reas. 2. because the sanctifying of this day was ordained as well for the cause and use of sons and servants , as of parents and masters . reas. 3. because it is the duty of all superiours , to further the salvation , as much as they can , of all that are under them ; and to procure by them and from them that honour to god , that is due to him from them . use , 1. is of reproof , against that most unworthy carelesness of men , who as they are not diligent enough themselves in doing their own duty on this behalf , so they think that they are free from all charge of children and servants about this matter . use 2. is of direction , to inferiors , that are under others power . 1. that herein they willingly obey their superiours , when they call them to serve god. 2. yea , that they be thankfull towards them for this cause . 3. that such as have the liberty should chuse out such superiours to be under , as from whom they may look for this help . doct. 6. for keeping of this duty , we must have a special remembrancer , remember that ye keep holy . &c. reas. 1. because this command is not written naturally on our hearts , as the other ; but it was a command of institution rather than of natural light . reas. 2. because the command concernes not all dayes and houres ; but one special time , therefore we may the more easily forget . reas. 3. because the many businesses of this life , do easily turne away our mindes from this duty , unless with care and some diligence we set our selves to the contrary . reas. 4. because that we may rightly and conveniently sanctify this day , we had need before-hand to think of the same , and set our worldly business in such order , that they be no hinderance to us in that day , to sanctify it arightly ; and so also on other dayes be busied about them , that when that day comes we may be disposed and ready with freedome of minde and chearfulnesse to lay them aside , and betake our selves to , and go about the solemne worship of god , with our whole mindes . use , is of reproof , against the lazinesse and carelesnesse of many , who are so farre from an holy remembering of this day , that they remember it rather to this end , that they may bestow it on their private pleasures , or other businesses of their owne ; on which they cannot have the leisure to bestow any other day . for if they must run abroad a little , or some sport and easy journey must be made , or some trouble-feast to be held , before any day else , they chuse the lords-day for these ; as if otherwayes that day should be lost to them , as an idle day , if it were onely bestowed on gods solemne worship . others there be , that do not so much as remember the day of the week , unless by the bell they be put in rememberance of it . the thirty nineth lords day . exod. 20. 12. honour thy father and thy mother : that thy dayes may be long upon the land which the lord thy god giveth thee . in the fifth command of the decalogue that duty is handled , which is due to our neighbour , in regard of his rank , degree , or quality , that he is of : a●…d it is expounded by the synecdoche , that denominates one special for all the kind ; which is honour : for honour is a principal part of this duty , and also an impulsive cause unto other parts of it . for by honour is understood a just and right esteem , and respect of worth ( what ever it be ) which appeareth in our neighbour , whether he be our superiour , or our inferiour , or our equal . yet ( as we said ) it hath its special denomination from that special respect , which we owe unto them , in whome some singular and eminent excellency appears . whence it is also , that the degree of our neighbour , in regard whereof , honour is to be given him , is by like synecdoche signified to us , by the titles of father , and mother , in whom nature it self , however very corrupt , yet doth evidently acknowledge , a rank and degree of dignity , whereunto honour is due . the sanction of this command is in a promise of long life , because the continuation of our life , and of all our quietnesse thereof , depends on the preservation of the societies of mankind ; whereof the first , and source of all the rest almost , is between parents and children ; and this also is the true reason , why this command hath the first place in the second table . doct. 1. all men whatsoever are in some sort or other to be honoured by us . it is hence gathered , in that all precepts of the second table regard our neighbour , whatever he be , according to mat. 22. where the summe of this table is made , thou shalt love th●… neighbour , &c. though therefore this honour is referred by name to father and mother , as its chief objects ; yet in some sort it is to be extended unto every neighbour ; that is , unto all mankind . reas. 1. because none is found so base and vile , but that he hath something in him , that ought to be esteemed by us , and much valued . for if nothing else could be remarked in one , yet the very common nature of man hath that worth and dignity in it , as unto it regard should ▪ be had , and the party not altogether contemined , or accounted less of than indeed he deserveth ; and in such respect some honour is contained . reas. 2. seeing all men are either our superiours , or inferiours , or our equals ; religion , charity , and natute it self in a sort , leads us thither , that we should honour all superiours , because they are superiour to us , as parents ; as by the very phrase of this command appears , where all superiours are called fathers and mothers , and by a like reason , all inferiours should be respected by us like sonnes ; and equals , as brothers or sisters . reas. 3. because such honour makes much for advancing of love , and mutual duties of all kinds . for all do the more willingly performe their duties , when they see themselves and what they do , to be had in some respect . use , of reproof , against that barbarous pride , which so possesses the mindes of many , that they can finde but very few , that they think worthy of any honour from them . whether are such to be from hence excepted , as make some such poor shew of respect towards others , by their puppit and moris-like behaviours , as signs of the honour forsooth , that they do you ; but they go no further ▪ unto any reality . for the honour here commanded ought to have sound roots in our hearts , and to bring forth some found fruits , and not onely colours , and pre●… and lying shews . doct. 2. a special honour is due to our superiours , and that according to the nature and quality wherein they are superiour to us . this is contained in naming of father and mother specially to be honoured , in the general duty of honour due to all . reas. 1. justice requires that to every one his due be given ; and superiours have a special worth and excellency , unto which a special esteem , and respect of honour is due . reas. 2. religion commands that we acknowledge that special manner of gods image , which appears in every supereminence of dignity ; whence it is also , that all such respect towards superiours , is called piety , partly because by piety , or religion towards god it is in special manner commanded ; partly also , because it hath some likenesse of that piety and worship , that is due unto god. reas. 3. charity and thankfulnesse perswade the same also , as from superiours to inferiours some good thing ordinarily useth to descend , if it were but from the rank and order ; by reason whereof a special sort of honour is due to them , even from such , as in their owne proper persons perhaps receive no particular good from them . reas. 4. because , even for the society of mankinde , nature teacheth us to honour them that deserve well of others , though we should receive no profit by them . use 1. of admonition , that we take heed of such barbarous and uncivill manners , whereby respect towards superiours is taken away . use 2. of direction , that we alwayes give reverence to such , as in authority or power are superiour , as to the fathers of the country , the fathers of our bodies , the fathers of families , fathers in christ , and the like . doct. 3. superiours owe a kinde of honour to their inferiours , suitable to their place . this is hence gathered , in that father and mother are put here by a synecdoche . 1. for all superiours . 2. for all neighbours , as hath been said . so men are commanded to honour their wives , 1 pet. 3. 7. the meaning is , that so they ought to behave themselves towards their inferiours , that their inferiours may chearfully acknowledge that degree of dignity they have over them , and shew the same . reas. 1. because this is but that general and universal justice , whereby every one is bound to render to another his due . reas. 2. because humility inclines all godly men , that as farre as conveniently may be , they condescend to inferiours , and as it were lift them up rather to themselves , than stand too much upon their owne title , or superiority . reas 3. because that esteeme and respect which descends from the superior to the inferior hath much more weight than that which ascends from the inferior to the superior , and therefore makes more for preserving of the safety of mankinde in its right order . use 1. that superiours uphold with their dignity , that resemblance of god , which they ought to carry before there inferiours . 2. that they have a care of going before them in a right way and by a good example . 3. that they alway use all their wisedome , authority , and power , that they have , to the procuring of the good of them that are under them ▪ doct. 4. this mutuall honouring of each other makes much for the prolonging , and making our lives the more pleasant in this world , and improving of our hope about the life eternal . this is clear from the promise that is subjoyned to the precept . reas. 1. because the conformation of humane society tends derectly to the conservation of the life and livelihood of each one in particular . reas. 2. because sins that are committed against parents , by whom we received this life are most sutably punished by the losse of this life , and of the comforts thereof ; and there is a like reason sinnes against such , as are placed in stead of parents . use. is of exhortation , that by this and the like considerations we stir up our selves to a generall care of the performance of this duty . the fortieth lords day . exod. 20. 13. thou shalt not kill . in this sixth command of the decalogue moses treats of the person and life of man , and this is the reason , why this command is placed before the other two following , in which onely are ●…andled , only the adjuncts of these . for the person and life are of greater importance , than the things that belongs to the person . therefore care was first ●…o be had of this , and then of these . the command is proposed negatively , without the rest that follow , when yet the praecedent were proposed affirmatively . the reason is , because in things belonging to the fifth precept , privation is more used than contrariety ; that is , it is more commendable not to give the honour to such as it is due , than to load them with manifest injuries , and reproaches . but in these commands nothing is more usuall , than that unto the duties commanded , we run into the quite contrary faults as to hurt our neighbours life or his livelihood in his goods , or to beare a false testimony against him , or to desire any thing inordinately , that is his . it was therefore very sutable that in the fifth commandement the perfect duty opposite unto the privation of honour should affirmatively be commanded us ; but in the rest it was more necessary that we should be recalled from the contrary faults , and sinnes by a negative prohibition . now the life , for which provision is made in this command , is both bodily and spirituall ; and both these ought to be considered not onely in their esteem and existence , but also in all their accessarie qualities , that makes for their comfort and conveniency . doct. 1. out of conscience to god and his law , we ought to abstaine from all such things , as tend to the hurt of our neighbours bodily life . this is gathered from the words of this command ; because while murther or killing is forbidden all causes also , and effectuall occasions thereof are forbidden . reas. 1. because man is made after the image of god , and so any unjust violence done to the pe●…son or life of man , makes against the honour of god , gen. 9. 6. &c. reas. 2. because god alone is the father of spirits , and the lord of our life . he doth therefore an injury to god who unjustly hurts his brothers life , and arrogates to himself that power which belongs properly to no other but to god alone . reas. 3. because this is the greatest wrong that can be done to a man , as to this life , to deprive him of life , in which all other injuries are privatively contained . use 1. is of admonition that we diligently keep our selves not onely from effusion of blood , in which consists the height of this injury ; but also from all cruelty , and from all both words and deeds , whereby mans life , or the comforts and conveniencies of his life , may be hurt , or impaired . use. 2. is of admonition also that by like reason and conscience we keep our selves from all those inward dispositions and affections , whereby men use to be led and provoked to hurt their neighbour unjustly ; as are . 1. anger . 2. hatred , which is as it were a vehement anger now strengthned and rooted in the minde , whence it is , that men wish great evils to such as they hate and that constantly ; form which affection indeavour follow 's ; and from endeavour the act it self of hurting . 3. envy , whereby men so repine at others good estates that they wish them worse , or some evil . 4 desire of revenge , whereby men use to render evil for evil , and that as it is evil . for although the desire of restitution of what is taken away , or of satisfaction for wrong , or of chastisement , or punishment , against such or such an one , that hath offended , be honest sometimes and laudable ; to wit , because and when some evill in these and the like , is wished to the party , not as evil , but as it tends to his good , and so as it may be good for him : yet desire of revenge , whereby we desire some evill to another , as it is , and may be evill to him onely , without any reference to his good , can never be either honest , laudable , nor lawfull . doct. 2. but most of all we ought to keep our selves from such things , whereby the life of the soul of our brother is 〈◊〉 . this is gathered from the words of the text , because of all other this is the deadl●…est sort of killing a man ; of which also the scripture admonisheth us in the same phrase , whereby bodily killing is forbidden , i will require his blood at thy hands . ezek. 36. yet this difference there is between bodily and spiritual killing , that no man can be spiritually killed , or murthered by violence and meer force , as bodily many are . reas. 1. because the spiritual life of a man is his preciousest possession , farre surmounting his bodily life . reas 2. because the hurting of this life , belongs to the hurt of his eternal state and condition . reas. 3. because the depriving of this life drawes with it the deprivation of all the true comfort of the bodily life also . reas. 4. because in hurting this life , gods glory is directly wronged , by reason that this life cannot be hurt , but by the sin as well of him that hurts it , as him that is hurt ; though bodily life may be taken away without the sin of him whose it is . use , of admonition , that with great care & conscience we keep our selves from all things whereby this life of the soul is hurt ; as , 1. from heretical doctrines . ●… . from evill and corrupt counsells ▪ ●… . from scandalous and pernitious examples . 4. from all neglect of such duties , as we owe unto our neighbour , in order to this eternal salvation . doct. 3. it is our duty not onely ●…o abstain from all such things , as the life of our neighbour bodily or spiritual is hurt by ▪ but also carefully to do all such things whereby he may be fu●…red in either life , and it may be made more lively and comfortable to him . it is hence gathered , that as no command is altogether negative , but containes alwayes and commands the contrary duties to the sinnes forbidden , so is it also in this sixt commandment . reas. 1 because there is a certaine communion of nature and life bodily amongst all the posterity of adam as they do all come of one and the same blood . there is likewise a like communion of spiritual life amongst many , as to the act and exercise it self ; and amongst all , as to the hope and possibility . reas 2. because religion sets up a sort of society amongst men , and as it were , a spiritual or city o●… commonwealth ; wherein every one is bound to procure the common good , and advance it as much as he can . reas 3 because god in such duties is glorified , and according to the power and occasion given us , there ariseth to us , a calling , and a divine allowance , whereby we are in special manner to perform this duty . use. of exhortation to all sorts of duties , whereby the life of our neighbour may be cherished ; as , ●… . to a care of peace and love . 2. to patience . 3. to courtesie . 4. to pitty , mercy , and bounty . 5. to spiritual almes of instruction , exhortation , admonition , consolation , as occasion shall require . hither also are such sinnes to be referred , as we commit against our owne lives , as drunkennesse , surfet , the evills of whoredomes , and uncleanness , and the like ; and contrarily , those duties , whereby we ought to procure and further our owne comfort both of life and health , as also of body and soul ▪ the forty first lords day . exod. 20. 14. thou shalt not commit adultery . in this seventh commandment are handled such duties as belong to the begetting & propagating of humane life . for these have place next after such as belong to preservation of life , which were ranked in the sixth commandment , which takes care for continuing the life of this and that party in particular ; but this seventh commandement , of all men in general . by name then one special impurity and dishonesty is onely forbidden ; but by the usual synecdoche ▪ or comprehensive sort of speech , all others of that kinde are understood , whether disordered actions like unto this , or whether such as tend either of their owne nature , or of the intention of the doer , to the furtherance of such impure acts . doct. 1. we ought out of conscience towards god to keep our selves from all impurity and unchastity . reas. 1. because sins of this kind bring disorder into such things as belong to the propagation of mans life , and so tend some way to the corrupting of mankind . reas. 2. because from such sins a sort of most inward uncleannesse followeth in the person or body of man ; whence it is , that the apostle , 1 cor. 6. 18. distinguisheth this sin from all others , in that others are without the body , this in and against the body it self ; though there be some other sins that seem to be in and against the body , as drunkennesse , surfet , &c. yet they neither so inwardly arise from the body , nor so directly affect it , and primarily , as these lustfull dishonesties . reas. 3. because from this kind of uncleannesse followeth that dishonouring of our owne bodies , the contrary whereof is naturally due to them , and to our persons , as appears , ●… thes. 4. 4. reas. 4. because these impurities in a special manner withstand inward holiness , as appears both from that place of the thessalonians , where holinesse is conjoyned with the honour of the body in opposition to this uncleannesse ; and from that to the corinthians , where our bodies by these faults , are said of temples of the holy ghost , and of members of christ , to become the members of an harlot . use , of admonition , that with the greater care and conscience we shunne all such uncleannesses , which ought so much the more to be called to mind by us , as the depravednesse of mans nature useth most to appear in these kind of sins , because they are most common , most prevalenr ; and keep strongest dominion in him , possessing the whole man , in whom they are , and that most deeply , and with a kind of violence and force . hence it is , that in scripture they are called a burning , because they burne up all in their way , and by little and little consume the whole man , as fire doth the thing that it burnes ; more especially we ought to keep our selves , 1. from that lust which is properly called carnal , that we be not subject to , or obey the affections and dispositions of it . 2. from all outward conversation , whereby such lust is cherished and furthered in our selves , or in others ; as are , 1. such thoughts , as with pleasure and delight are taken up and used about unchast matters . 2. wanton apparel and behaviour , or which savour of wantonnesse , or cherish it . 3. filthy and unclean communication , either in common discourses , or songs . 4. unclean company , and wanton representations , as are commonly in stage-playes and interludes , pictures , and rooms hung with such , &c. 5. all occasions and provocations to lust , as idlenesse , drunkennesse , surfetting , and the like . 6. most of all the acts themselves , of unchastnesse in whordome , adultery , fornication , and the like . doct. 2. by vertue of this command we are bound to study all cleannesse of soule and body , that belongs unto procreation . this is commanded in the same words , that the contrary faults are forbidden by , according to the constant use of speech in the decalogue . reas. 1. because this cleannese is a part of our inward sanctification . reas 2. because from this part of our sanctification a special sort of honour ariseth , 1 thes. 4. 4. while our bodies are not made drudges for the fulfilling the base and vile affections of the flesh , but are applied unto nobler uses . reas ▪ 3. because this purity is needfull , that we may be fit to worship god , as we should . for carnal impurity where it prevailes and gets the dominion , it not onely presses downe and burthens the minde , so that it cannot raise up it self unto spiritual thoughts and affections , but also it infecteth with contagion , and pollutes those very thoughts and endeavours , whereby we seek after and breath for spiritual life . use , of admonition , that we indulge not , nor allow the inclinations of our corrupt natures in these things , nor suffer our selves to be carried away with the evill manners and examples of the vulgar sort , who in this kind , are more beasts often , than christians ; but let us alwayes be thinking , how we may keep our selves clean , as well from these lusts of the flesh , as from other sins : this cleannesse is maintained by modesty and temperance . modesty is herein kept , if neither by words , nor by gestures , nor by any other such way , we uncover as it were without reverence , what nature tells us should be covered and hid , and be ashamed of the uncovering . temperance or sobriety consists in the keeping a moderation or measure in the pleasures of the flesh or body , especially in meat and drink . the cleannesse or chastity , as to the diversity of manner , is divided into chastity of single life , and chastity of mariage for mariage is appointed now since the fall , by god , to be a meanes of keeping this cleannesse or chastity , in things that belongs to the generation of mankinde . we ought therefore to have a care , 1. that we so marry as that it be in such cleannesse ; that is , with such a person , in such a manner , for such an end , that from a good conscience it may be said , that the contract or bargaine was made in the lord , and in his fear . 2. that it be used and exercised in this cleannesse ; that is , that neither the end of it may be broken , nor it self be drawne beyond the bounds of modesty and temperance ; nor that it be any way from a remedy of sin and lust , turned into a cover for uncleannesse and wantonnesse . the forty second lords day . exod. 20. 15. thou shalt not steal . in this eighth commandement mens possessions are handled as things that come under the name of their outward goods , and commodities . for thus god would shew what a care he hath of us , in that not onely by his law he hath provided for the safety of our life , and chastity , and honour of our persons , but also for our possessions and external goods . he would also hereby admonish us how confidently we may trust all that is ours to him ; where by his eternal law he would have us secured about these lesser matters . there is in this commandment ordained and presupposed a propriety to every particular man in his own goods , by reason whereof it s truly said , his is mine , and that is ●…hine for though at the beginning of the creation all things were in a manner common ; yet afterwards by lawful seizure and possession of this , or that , a division of things ensued , the unjust breach of which division is condemn'd in this commandment , with all such things as make for it , or lead to it . for as in a feast some dish is set downe in common and is no more this guests , than that 's ; yet when any guest hath taken to himself a portion or share of it , then that is more his owne , than any others , so that it cannot by any other be taken from him without uncivility ; so were all the commodities of this life at the first set out in common to all ; but when one took to himself a certain portion of them , another could not by violence take it from him without sin . now by name theft onely is forbidden , because it is one of the grossest and manifestest sins of this kinde ; because in theft to every one is apparent the breach of that right which every one hath to his own commodity , and so the unjustice and the wrong is clear : yet together with it also , according to the perpetual use of speech in all the other commandments , all the degrees , and causes , principles , and occasions or provocations to it , are forbidden . doct. 1. we must keep our selves out of cons●…ience towards god , from all unjust hurting of our neighbour , in point of his possession ▪ or outward goods . reas. 1. because otherwayes we sin against god and that after diverse manners : 1. that dispensation of his providence , whereby he hath made division of such things amongst men , is disturbed against his revealed will. 2. the dominion of god himself , which he exercises in the dispensing of such things as seems best to himself , seems this way to be contemned . 3. we invade as it were this soveraignty and dominion of god , while at our pleasure we will make ours whatsoever we list . reas. 2. because we do our neighbour grosse and manifest injury , while we take by force to our selves , what belongs to him , and so take away from his his goods . reas. 3. because in this manner , charity is directly broken , while instead of that good , which we both ought to wish , and procure to our neighbour ; we do him reall evill , in depriving him of his own goods . reas 4. because from such sins follow strifes , hatred and the disturbance of all society . use is of admonition , that we not onely shun that which is commonly called theft , but also all those sins , which in scripture are referred to theft ; as their common head ; as 1. the too great love of riches . 2. the desire of our own profit with our neighbours losse . 3. all unjustice of bargains and commerce , how ever it may be done with colour of right . 4. all using or appropriating to our selves that which is anothers without its masters consent , whether this be done by force , or by deceit and circumvention . doct. 2. with the same religion or conscience that we ought to abstain from theft , we ought to s●…t ou●…selves to this on the contrary , that we may seek our neighbours good , and further it in his outward goods . it is gathered from the likeness of reason , that is between the sins ▪ forbidden , and the duties commanded , that are contrary to the same . reas. 1. because by this means we make our selves instruments of gods bounty and good providence , whereby it is his pleasure , that all be provided for in things necessary to this life . reas. 2. because it is the exercise of our charity towards our neighbour . reas. 3. because it belongs also some way to iustice , in as much as we ought to behave our selves as members of the same society , and every one hath right to such duties from others , as far as conveniently they can be by them performed . reas. 4. because our lord admonisheth us , that we make unto our selves , freinds from the use of this communion ; and so further others by our good example , and our selves by their good desires and prayers for us , in the way to salvation . use is of direction , that we set our selves with all care , that according to this duty of humanity , we further the profits of others , as our occasion and power shall require . hence 1. we ought to purchase nothing to our selves , but by honest means , and just titles of right : for whatsoever is otherwise purchased or acquired , turns alwayes to the wronging of another . 2. every one should betake himself to some honest exercise of life , which is in its self lawfull , sutable to our selves , and profitable to others , and such as live at ease : for who so live disorderly , as stout beggars , with him in the gospel , who having full bags and barns , sings a requiem to their souls ; saying , soul take thine ease ▪ thou hast much laid up ; these as in other things , so they sin in this , that they take not upon them such a condition of like , whereby they may doe good unto others . 3. diligence is to be used in our calling , without which we cannot keep the things we have , much lesse increase them ; that we may spare something from them , and lay it out unto the common good of others . 4. frugality and moderation in our expenses about our selves ought to be used , least the fountain should be drawn dry , whence such streams should flow , for helping and refreshing others . 5. bounty and mercy ought to be exercised , in communicating our goods unto others , especially persons that are to be pittied ; and of these , chiefly such as are of the houshold of faith : for in this duty is most of all exercised , and most manifestly that vertue that is most contrary to theft ; because as in theft we take unjustly to our selves , what is not our own ; so in liberality and alms , we justly take from our selves what is our own , and freely bestow it on another . the forty third lords day . on exod. 20. 18. thou shalt not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour . in this commandment , is handled the testimony of one given on the behalf of another , for getting of belief or trust of them . this then is also amongst the things that belong to our neighbours : for it either tends to his good , or to his hurt , as the belief that is given to this testimony , may either do him good or do him harm . god in this commandment therefore shews us , that we ought not onely , not to hurt our neighbour , in his honour , or life , or chastity ▪ or goods ; but also that no effectual occasion of harm should be given him , either by words , or by a witnessing , though he should not thereby be immediately hurt , but either by the comming between of his own , or some other bodies credit or endavour . the general sin that is here forbidden , is called a false witnessing ; that is , whensoever by our credit , authority , or testimony , we confirm that as truth , which we know to be false , which is the very nature and definition of a lye . doct. 1. every lye with whatsoever pretence it may be excused , as it is a witnessing of falshood , it is a sin . reas. 1 because it contains an in●…ury to our neighbour , who from the very law of nature , hath this right , that he may challenge of us , that we say nothing to him , as true as that is not true ; no more than we would thrust upon him a piece of false coin , for true or currant gold or silver , which yet is but a counterfeit . reas. 2. because there is a base and dishonest disorder in the false witnesse , that lyes while his tongue and speech disagree quite from his minde ; and it is as if the interpreter of some princes should speak things quite contrary to those , that he got in commission from his prince to declare . reas. 3. because the inconveniences that are brought forth and furthered in the world by lyes are very grievous and heavy ; because by them all trust , in which lyes the very knot and foundation of humane society , is troubled in every kinde ; and there is no evill that in any other sort is done to any , but both may and useth also to be brought about by lies ; so as by lies sin is committed against the honour , the life , the chastity , and the outward goods of men , as also against his religion , so that all the foregoing commandments , by breaking of this commandment by lies , may also be some way broken . reas. 4 because by a lie the nature of the devill himself is in a special manner followed , and as it were put on like a garment , ioh 8. 44. you are of your father the devill , and the lusts o●… your father you will do . he was a murtherer from the beginning , and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him . when he speaketh a ly , he speaketh his own ; for he is a lier , and the father of it . the use is of admonition , that out of conscience towards god , we keep our selves from all lying , whether it be that of a pernicious lye , or an officious lye , or a merry lye : whether it be spoken of our selves , as in our vaunting and dissimulations , or of others , as in calumnies , slanders , backbitings , flatteries , soothings , &c but these lyes are chiefly to be shunn'd , as use to be committed in publick judgments , and matter of great weight and importance . 1 because with how much more advisedness a man lyes , by so much his sin is the greater . 2. because by how much the greater the danger is , that another is brought into by the lye , by so much the sin is the heavier . 3 by how much the greater obligations come together , binding us to speak truth : by so much the sinne is multiplied . and that we may abstain from lying , we must abstain from such things as make way for lying ; as are rash suspicions , and too great easiness to believe and receive false reports ; and a talkative and twatling nature , which by many useth so to be exercised , as without that consideration , whereby they should alwayes put a difference between truth and falseshood , and the like . doct. 2. we ought to love truth , and according as occasion serves , further and advance it . this is gathered from the words of the commandment , because veracity , whereby we both love truth , and according to occasion , witnesse the same , is that virtue here commanded ; and is contrary to that sin that is here condemned , in bearing false-witnesse : so that speculative truth is not properly here treated of , neither that which is true generally ; but onely morall truth , that is , such as belongs to mens manners and consciences ; and that is such a truth of our words , as that they agree with our minde , and our minde also with the thing it self , as far as we are bound to know , or professe that we know . and this veracity is to be followed and highly to be prised for these reasons . reas. 1. because it is not the least part of that image of god , that we ought to shew ; because in a speciall manner god is , and is called the god of truth , psal. 31. 6. and his word the word of truth , and truth it self : so that truth hath a peculiar agreement with the nature and perfection of god : whence also it is , that god , though in other commands hath sometimes used a kinde of exception , and as it were dispensed with it for a time , as in the matter of theft , with the israelites ( for he made that to be no theft , by a speciall explication of that command , which otherwise had been theft ) and of some marriages both before and under the law , which by extraordinary approving of them he made lawfull ; yet in this command about speaking truth , he never granted any explication or dispensation , because from the very nature of the thing it self , it hath more of gods image in it , and of divine and immutable justice ; yea , which is more , god hath absolutely forbidden us , that we lye not , although for his cause , much lesse for our own , or for any mortal mans . reas. 2. because this veracity is a speciall perfection of man , while it excludes these deviations and crookednesses of mens minds , whereby they are perverted unto a custome of lying , and subjected unto the base affections either of fear , or fraud , or the like : hence also from the very light of nature , it is a singular honour to any , if they be lovers of truth , and stick fast to it , and are constant both in defending and furthering of the same . reas. 3. this is also the foundation of all civill society and conversation ; so that it being taken away , men would become rather wolves and foxes to one another , than men . reas. 4 by the exercise hereof and the love of it , our mindes are the better disposed for embracing that truth , which leads to our salvation . the use is of direction , that in our conversation with men , we follow after this truth , for though it be not required , either that we know all that is true , nor yet that at all times we speak all , that we know to be true ; yet against the truth at no time , in no place , for no party whatsoever , no not for god himself ( as hath been said ) we ever witnesse any thing : moreover we are always bound to give witnesse unto the truth , and to confirm it , when either religion or conscience towards god , or iustice and charity towards our neighbour shall require this duty from us . the forty fourth lords day . exod. 20. 17. thou shalt not covet thy neighbours 〈◊〉 , thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife , nor his man-servant , nor his maid-servant , nor his ox , nor his ass , nor any thing that is thy neighbours . in this last commandment is handled , the estate and condition of our neighbour in common , as appeareth by these last words ; or 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 neighbours : for as in the first commandment of the first table , that duty is commanded , whereon all other duties lye and depend ; so also in this last commandment of the last table , that duty is handled , on which all others , that relate to our neighbour do depend . about this state of our neighbour in common , coveteousness is forbidden ; by which neither is understood the natural faculty of coveting or desiring , which is of it self good and lawfull , and not to be ranked in the place of things forbidden : nor yet every concupiscence or lust is here to be understood ; because such acts of filthy lust , as have the consent of the will joyned with them , for the accomplishing the acts of sin , if occasion were given , are prohibited in the other commandments , according to their kindes , whereunto they belong , as christ himself teacheth of a man inordinately lusting after a woman : which while he calls adultery , he shows that it is forbidden in the seventh commandment : nor yet is understood that innate , and inbred lust in us , which is original sin , and the ●…inder to all actuall sin ; because that is no more forbidden in any one commandement , than the contrary original righteousness and innocency is commanded in the whole law , but as this primitive righteousness is commanded us in all the law throughout ; so the contrary original sin , lust or inclination and propensity to evill , in general , is forbidden in the whole law , and not in any one commandment : here then is properly understood , that coveteousness , which is a disorderly desire or longing after any thing , that is our neighbours , though we do not fully consent thereto , and though we never desire to accomplish the same by unlawfull means . doct. 1. the first motions , wherein we are touched with an inordinate desire , are to be holden ●…or sins , that are to be shunn'd . it is gathered from the words of the commanment ; because that first lusting after any thing , that is our neighbours , is expresly condemned ; and all other inordinate motions are of the same kinde . reas. 1 because such motions are contrary to the perfection of gods image , which we are every where bound to keep intire in our selves , as much as is possible . reas. 2. because such motions are contrary to charity , whereby we ought to love god with our whole hearts , and our neighbour as our selves ▪ for if this charity were perfect in us , no place would be left in us for such motions of affections either against god , or against our neighbour . reas. 3. because in such motions there is a certain beginning of a consent to evill , though it be not full and perfect ; which appeareth from that hidden liking and delight , that useth to accompany such motions , untill seriously they be repressed . use 1. of refutation , against papists , who hold not such first motions for sins , and so do not acknowledge the spiritual depth of sin ; and by the same meanes in great part take away the power of repentance and spiritual humiliation . use 2. of admonition . that with all diligence we keep our hearts , that however we cannot be altogether free from such motions , yet as much as may be , we may keep our selves from them ; and that for two causes : 1. because they have something of sinfulnesse in them , and tend also to the promotion of heavier sins . 2. because in some sort they defile our mind and make it less fit for excercising and preserving holy motions . doct. 2. every one ought to be content with that portion and condition that god hath measur●…d out unto him this is hence gathered ; because contentment with our owne , is the duty directly contrary to desiring what is anothers . reas. 1. because we ought to rest in gods dispensation , as in our fathers good providence , who knowes best what is good for us . reas. 2. because this contentment makes much for the quietnesse of our minde , and so for the happinesse of our life . reas. 3. because the want of this content argues our too great love of the world , and of our selves ; and it comes from a perverse affection , that we are not content with our lot ▪ use 1. of reproof , against such , as do , or think nothing else almost , than how they may compasse such or such a worldly thing , that they have not ; so that their whole life is nothing else but a continual exercise of avarice and ambition . use 2 of exhortation , that we may more and more strive unto this contentment of minde , which is the companion of true piety , as is said ; godlinesse is great gain , with a minde contented with its owne condition . for we brought nothing with us into this world , nor can we take any thing out of it with us ; but having fo●…d and raiment , let us there ●…ith be content . but such as will be rich fall into tentation , and into a s●…are , and many lusts or covetousnesses , &c. 1 tim. 6. 6 , 7. doct. 3. we ought to desire our neighbours good as well as our owne . this is hence gathered ; that here is forbidden the coveting of that , which is our neighbours ; whence followes , that we ought not onely to leave to him such things as are his ; but also , which is more , desire heartily that he may keep and enjoy his owne to his owne content , not that we should have them , or desire them . so that as the love of god above all things else is commanded in the first commandment , so this love of our neighbour , as of our selves , seems chiefly to be commanded , and as it were summed up in this last commandment . reas. 1. because love to our neighbour ought to follow from our love to god ; and god may be as well honoured by the things he gives to our neighbour , as the things that he gives to us . reas. 2. because however it be more natural to wish well to our selves , yet it is more divine and perfect to wish well to others in such external things . reas. 3. because by wishing well to others , we wish well to ourselves , in as much as by the exercise of this duty , we further our owne salvation use , of ●…eproof , against the common frailty of us all . for from this , as from the commandment of a loving god above all things , it followes that none can perfectly keep this moral law , in this life ; to wit , if we understand such perfection as consists in compleat obedience . for otherwise in all believers is found such a perfection , or integrity and sincerity , as is opposed unto fainednesse and dissimulation ; and such as is opposed unto halting or lamenesse , by which some duties seem to be looked after , but not all ; and such a perfection also as is opposed to lukewarmnesse . for all believers both worship god sincerely , and desire to keep all his commandments , and pant after a compleat obedience also : yet the law is not for this proposed to us in vain , though we be unable to keep it fully . for hence we understand , 1. what is our duty . 2. what are the defects under which we lie . 3. what we may require of god ; to wit , that we may be freed from guilt , & renewed to a performance of duties . 4. that we have a mark set us , whereat we may aim in all our endeavours . 5. that we may in part take notice of the perfection of that life which we shall enjoy in another world . the forty fifth lords day . on ephes. 6. 18. praying alwayes with 〈◊〉 prayer and supplication in the spirit , and watching thereunto with all perseverance , and supplication f●…r all saints . the apostle after explication of our spiritual armour , which every christian ought to furnish himself with , addes exhortations to prayers , by which this spiritual armour is taken up , put on , strengthened , made sure , and of proof , and is encreased . in the exhortation it self several things are expounded as the duty of praying ▪ which duty is declared , 1. by a distribution , with all prayer and supplication ; 2. from the adj●…nct of time , alway , or at all times . 3. from the ob●…ect , unto whose good these prayers are to serve ; to wit not onely for our selves , but for all saints 4. from the efficient cause , by the holy ghost . 5. from its singular manner that must accompany it , which consists in watching and in perseverance . doct. 1. prayer is amongst those p●…incipal duties , which ought to be had a care of by us . it is hence gathered from the text ; because the apostle so carefully urgeth it . reas 1 because it gives very great glory to god ; for god in all our prayers is acknowledged the principle and fountain of all our good . reas. 2. it contains mans greatest subjection and homage to god. 1. because it seeks all things of free ▪ gift and grace . 2. because the soul and conscience themselves are prostrated before god , and cast at his feet as it were , when we pray . reas. 3. because by prayer , we receive all the spiritual gifts of god. reas. 4 because by the same , we sanctifie to our selves all the corporal gifts of god. reas. 5. because by prayer we flie unto god , that in him we may be secured from all evill . reas. 6. because we have most sweet communion and communication of the grace of god in the exercise of prayer . reas. 7. because in prayer either expressely , or implyed we give up our selves unto god , so as after and from prayer , we rise more obliged and bound to god than we were before ; because all prayer hath alwayes adjoyn'd to it some promise of thankfulnes , for hearing our prayer and granting our desires . use is of of exhortation , that we may more and more give our selves to this holy exercise of prayer , as well in publick as in private unto which care many considerations ought to stir us up : as first , that holy prayer is so acceptable to god , that in scriptures it useth to be called incense , or perfume , and sacrifice . 2. in that it is so proper to the godly ▪ that in scriptures godly men , and such as call upon the name of god , are without difference put for the same . 3. in that it is so inseparable a fruit of the holy spirit dwelling in the heart of a believing man , that from thence it is called the spirit of prayer ; and prayer is almost the same to spiritual life , as breathing is to naturall or animal life . moreover that by prayers we best resist all sort of temptations ; whence also it is , that we are bid resist the devill by praying ; and to pray and watch , that we fall not into temptation : lastly , in that all grace is stirred up , and increased by the exercise of prayer . doct. 2. in prayer we ought to exercise our selves in all the kindes and sorts of it . this is hence gathered in that the apostles exhorts us here , to all prayer , and supplication , and thanksgiving . reas. 1. because our manifold necessities , as well in respect of evils , wherewith we are pressed ; as in respect of good things that we want , or for receiving whereof we ow thanks ; as also the necessities and occasions of others , unto whom we ow this ▪ duty of prayer , do require manifold sorts of prayer . reas. 2. because by this means , not one onely , or another , but all the graces of god are put forth and exercised in us , according to their proper objects and natures . reas 3. because god by this means is many ways glorified of us . use is of direction , that we rest not on forms of prayers , as if the saying over of such were enough , for the fulfilling of our duty in general ; because according to divers occasions , we ought to betake ourselves to divers manners or wayes of praying . doct. 3. in godly prayers the holy spirit exercises a speciall power of his own . from the words , by the holy spirit . reas. 1. because we of our selves know not , neither how , nor what to pray for : and although we be taught about such things in the word of god , yet for the practise it self , a special direction of the holy spirit is requisite . reas. 2. because our weaknesses are so many , in the exercise of prayer , that they must be helped by the holy spirit . reas. 3. because no prayers can be holy and acceptable to god , unlesse they come from the holy spirit . use , of direction , that in making our prayers , we trust not to our own wit , and volubility of gifts , and to our own strength ; but that we rely alwayes on the grace and help of the holy spirit . doct. 4. in some sort or other we ought alwayes , or at all times to be praying . from the words , praying alwayes . reas. 1. because we ought always to have a praying disposition of minde , or a mind ready to pray : for in this consists the right disposition and ordering of our minde . reas. 2. because we ought to take all just occasion of this exercise of prayer . reas. 3. because we ought not to passe over our set and established times of prayer . use is of reproof against such , as are so far from this exercise , that they cannot onely passe over whole dayes , but weeks also without any serious thoughts of prayer . doct. 5. the manner of praying , is as much to be taken care of , as prayer it self . this is here gathered , in that watching unto prayer is commanded in the same manner with prayer . now watching unto prayer , belongs unto the manner of praying , and in some sort it contains all things , that belongs unto it . for , first , we ought to watch before prayer , that we may so prepare our selves thereto , as all hinderances may be removed , and we our selves get a fit disposition of mind and spirit . secondly , in prayer we must watch against lukewarmnesse , want of reverence , wandring thoughts , and the like . thirdly , after prayers we must be watchfull , against forgetfulnesse and slothfulnesse , whereby we come short of the fruit of our prayers ; neither indeed for our carelesnesse ought we to expect any . reas. 1. because in every moral action the manner of doing is of greatest weight , by which it onely is , that we not onely do that which is good , but do it well . reas 2. because in prayer , after a special manner we are in gods presence , in whose sight , how we behave our selves is a matter of no small concernement . reas. 3. because a corrupt manner of praying , sometimes not only blasts the power of our prayers , but also makes them to be turned into sin to us . use , of direction , that we may have a care of all such things , as make for the right manner of praying ; such as are faith , humility , zeal , or fervour , and constancy . the forty sixth lords day . mat. 6. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. verse 9 after this manner therefore pray ye : our father which a●…t in heaven , hallowed be thy name . 10 thy kingdome come : thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven . 11 give us this day our dayly bread . 12 and forgive us our debts , as we forgive our debtors . 13 and lead us not into temptation , but deliver us from evill , for thine is the kingdome , and the power , and the glory , for ever , amen . this prayer was dictated by christ , and for this reason ought chiefly by all christians to be had in esteem , as coming from him that was the wisdome of god it self , which therefore both knew well all our necessities , & knew also most perfectly , what the will of god is towards us : and it was dictated , that it might be an example or pattern of all prayers , that we ought to use ; not that we should be bound up to this very frame and form of words ; however it may also be freely used by us : for we read not that this very form of words was used by the apostles , though otherwayes divers prayers of theirs are mentioned as well in the acts as in their epistles . this prayer is made up of certain petitions , whereunto are adjoyned a foregoing preface , and a following conclusion . the preface is in these words ; our father wh●…ch art in h●…aven . and herein is proposed and commended unto us a certain description of god , to whom our prayers are alwayes to be directed . this description sutably to its occasion ; that is , unto praying , layes out unto us those perfections of god , which are most needfull to be knowne and considered of us for a devout calling upon his name . and because nothing makes more for this , than that we be assured of gods goodnesse , and good will towards us , whereby he intends good to us ; and of his power , whereby he is able to do all that he pleaseth in heaven or on earth ; therefore , ●… the goodnesse of god is declared by that title of , our father . and 2. his greatest power and majesty is designed in these other words ; which art in heaven . he is called father not onely from the benefit of creation and providence , whereby as with a fatherly care he provides for us in all things ; but chiefly also for the benefit of adoption , whereby of his special favour he chuses us to be of the rank and number of his sons . and he is said to be in heaven ▪ because in heaven , especially the third heaven , he manifests his ma●…esty , as it were in his royal throne , amongst the blessed and glorious spirits ; and from thence he sends out his word , as a royal declaration of his will , through all parts of the world , for the powerfull effectuating of all and every thing , that he wills , or pleaseth . doct. 1. some preparation of minde is necessary for ●…ight making of our prayers . this is hence gathered , in that a preface is here used , and that such a one , as directly makes for preparing of our mindes , that we may make our prayers the more directly before god. reas. 1. because so great is the majesty of god , that to appear before him , and rashly as it were to rush into conference with him , and so negligently without any care of our fitnesse , and predisposition to it , would be such an indignity , as it were great incivility , and want of wisedome , to use towards any worldly prince , or great man. reas 2. because so great is our weaknesse , that unlesse our mindes be strengthened by some religious meditation , they will never lift up themselves to god , so as becomes them . reas. 3. because so great is our unworthinesse , that hardly can our mindes be raised up to consider and believe , how our prayers are heard of god , unless we seriously meditate on the favour or grace of god , and his promises . u●…e , of direction how we ought to dispose and settle our selves to prayer ; namely by such a preparation , which chiefly doth consist in two things : 1. in calling away of our minde , and thoughts , and cares , from all other things , not onely unlawfull , but otherwise lawfull , though worldly , during that time , and exercise . 2 in setting of our mindes , and thoughts , and affections on heavenly things , and that according to that occasion , which our prayers in general , and in their special and particular natures , give us . doct. 2. god alone by religious prayer is to be called upon . this is hence gathered ; because in this most perfect pattern of christian prayer , we are not taught to call upon any in that kinde , but whom we may call , our father which art in heaven . reas. 1. because prayer is so divine a worship , and gives so much glory to the party that it is made to , that without idolatry it cannot be offered to any creature ; whence also in scripture every where it is called a sacrifice , which the very papists themselves confess cannot be offered but to god alone . reas. 2 because no creature can sufficiently know our prayers ; to wit , as they come from the heart , and not from the mouth onely . r. 3. because no creature can always & every where be present to hear prayers , where they are made . reas. 4. we cannot religiously call on such , as we do not religiously believe in , rom. 10. but we may not religiously believe in a creature , i●…r . 17. 5. use. of resutation , against the perverse superstion of papists . doct. 3. in all our prayers we ought to come unto god with confidence , as unto our father . it is gathered from the word , father . reas. 1. because prayer in its most inward and essential nature , is an action of affiance and trust . for we seek nothing from god , but out of trust and hope grounded on his promises . reas. 2. because we ought to strive unto this , that we our selves may be accepted of god , as his sons , that so we may know that our prayers will be accepted of him : and this we onely attain by faith and affiance placed on god , through jesus christ. reas. 3. because we ought to give god this glory , that as a bountifull father he will liberally give unto us , when we doe ask of him , all that is good for us . quest. what shall they do then , that have not yet received the spirit of adoption , so that with any certainty they may ●…all upon god , as their father ? ans. though such cannot for that time receive that comfort of their prayers , that others do , yet they ought not therefore to cease from the exercise of prayer , because this it self is a most fit meanes to attain to this confidence ; when by lifting up the heart to god , we wish at least , if we cannot with downright confidence and affirmation say of the word , that yet we could , and might truly call upon god , as our father . use , of direction , that we alwayes call upon god in christ , in whom alone god is our father by adopting us , and reconciled unto us , and accepts of our selves and of our prayers . doct. 4. in our prayers together with confidence towards god , charity towards our brethren ought always to be joyned . it is gathered from the word , our for though it be both lawfull , and sometimes expedient and profitable , that a believer say in his prayers ; o my father , for manifesting his particular confidence in god ; and not for designing any specialler sonship that he hath in god , than others ; as christ the lord alone might and did use that forme of speaking ; yet even for designing our particular confidence , it ought never to be joyned with excluding thoughts of others , but what ever our own particular feelings be , in respect of charity , & the judgment & desire thereof towards others , we ought alwayes either expresly or impliedly , to call upon god , as the common father , as of our selves , so of others also . reas. 1. because it belongs to our comfort , that we so call on god , as being members with others of that mystical body , whereunto god hath prepared and promised all good things . reas. 2. because it belongs to the communion of saints , that they have a perpetual communication or mutual partaking and benefit of prayers amongst themselves . reas. 3 because charity towards others , is a disposition , which is in a special manner required of us , that our prayers may be acceptable to god , according to that of our lord ; if ye forgive ●…hers , y●…u shall be forgiven . us of reproof , against such , who burning with hatred , and desire of revenge , rush into praying , not that we ought to abstain from praying , because of such perturbations of ours ; as neither from the lords supper : but that we ought to lay aside and purge out such perturbations , not onely when we come to partake publickly of the lords supper ; but also daily , and privately , when ever we set our selves to make our daily prayers to god. doct. 5. the majesty and power of god are to be set before us , when we call upon god. it is gathered from the words ; which art in heaven . reas. 1. because this majesty of god rightly set before us , and thought upon , strikes us into an awfull reverence and fear of god , which is required unto all humble and rightly conceived prayers . reas. 2. because the consideration of the same majesty lifts up our mindes above all earthly and worldly things , to think upon and seek for things heavenly . reas. 3. because the heavenly power of god directly strengthens our confidence , according to that of the apostle , rom 4 21. he believed , and d●…ubted not , that ●…e who had promised , could also performe . use , of direction how in our prayers we may resist sundry thoughts and temptations ; to wit , by lifting up our mindes to behold and think upon the majesty and power of god , in whose presence we are . the forty seventh lords day . on the first petition of the lords prayer . hallowed be thy name . all the petitions of the lords prayer are very short , & yet such , as contain all things that are to be sought for in their own way , and that in an order most convenient . for the four first petitions concerne the obtaining of good ; and the two last , the removing of evill . amongst the former , these have the first place , which nearliest concerne the glory of god : and first of all the glory of god it self is sought and prayed for in the first petition , where by the name of god , god himself is understood , & such things as most intimately belong unto him , in as much as he hath reveal'd himself unto the creatures . by sanctifying of this name then is understood , the manifestation of gods glory , as most becomes his most holy majesty . doct. 1. all prayers that we offer to god , are to be followed with great zeal and affection . this is hence gathered ; because all these petitions are so short , but yet pithy and comprehensive , that it may from thence appear that the power of prayer consists not so much in multitude of words , and empty or vain repititions or bablings , as in the servent and well composed desires of the heart . reas. 1. because the abundance of the heart is here chiefly regarded , according to which the mouth ought onely to speak : and the abundance of the heart consists in such desires with zeal and fervour , or heat of affections . reas. 2. because god knowes what we stand in need of , so that a long and artificial or skilfull expounding of things to god , is not needfull , nor doth at all profit , further than it proceeds from an overflowing abundance of the heart . use , of reproof , against such bablings , as being expresly condemned by christ our lord himself , are yet wilfully and professedly used by papists ; and by others also out of a lukewarme formality , in as much as they use a forme of praying , but deny the power of it . doct. 2. such things are in the first place , and with greatest affection to be sought after , as most concerne the glory of gods name . this is gathered from the order of the petitions . reas. 1. because in the order of intention , and of a well ordered desire , the end is first to be desired : and the glory of god is the end of all . reas. 2. that which is first in worth , ought to be put before all other things : and the glory of god hath infinite excellency and worth beyond all things else . reas. 3 because this is one the difference between true and sincere prayer , and that which is hypocritical and vain ; in that hypocrites then onely seek after god , when by their owne private and proper necessities they are constrained to it , and seek not to him first , and for himself . but the godly call upon god for the esteem that they have of himself especially , although even then also with him , they seek their owne happiness in him , and in him alone ; because this is most of all to glorify god in that manner that himself hath prescribed . use. of exhortation , that by all means we stir up in our selves this servent desire towards the glory of gods name , not onely beyond and above all profits and pleasures of this life , but also above our life it self , both in this world , and in the world to come , if it were possible that we could desire gods glory separately from our owne salvation , and glorification in heaven . doct. 3. our hallowing or sanctifying and glorifying of go●…s name depends upon his owne 〈◊〉 gift and bounty ▪ for we are here taught to seek and pray for it from him . reas. 1 because no mortal creature of it self knows the way how gods name is to be sanctified ; nor doth any by that illumination which he hath got , so understand it , but that he still stands in need yet more and more from time to time to be taught it of god. reas 2. because when we understand how gods name ought to be sanctified of us , yet the direction , and leading , and grace of the spirit of god is needfull for the performing of that , which we know belongs unto our duty . reas 3. because there be many things without us , that belong to the sanctifying of gods name , that cannot be brought to any effect by us , but by the special and powerfull working of god himself . use ▪ of information , that by this we may understand , that all the duties that we perform unto god are gods owne gifts . for nothing can be by us offered unto god for sanctifying of his name , unless that first were freely given us of god. and thus god is alpha and omega , the beginning and the end , in all that spiritual communion , that we have with him . first he forgives us our sins ; then he gives us the grace both to will and to do that which is good and well-pleasing in his sight ; and lastly , all these his owne gifts he crownes in us , both with grace to the end , and glory in the end . doct. 4. it is a great benefit of god to us , when we see his name to be hallowed or glorified . for here we seek this first , as our principal desire and benefit , that the name of god may be hallowed . reas. 1. because this hallowing of gods name , turnes alwayes to the profit and building up of the children of god , who in some sort are made partakers of his glory . reas. 2. because all such as love god above all things else , are made possessors of their chief desire , when they see the name of god to be hallowed and glorified . reas. 3. because god often vouchsafes us this honour , to be made some way instruments of hallowing and glorifying his name ; and this ought to be acknowledged for a great honour and benefit . use ▪ of reproof , against the base and earthly mindes of men , that are more taken with a little profit of the things of this world , than with the glorious hallowing of the name of god. doct. 5. it ought to be our greatest grief , if the name of god be prophaned or blasphemed . for this is it , that is directly contrary to this first and great petition , and the greatest hearts desire of all the godly . reas. 1. because gods majesty ought to be most dear unto us . reas. 2 because the actors of such a sin are most wretched , and therfore much to be pittied , for the miserable blindnesse and perversnesse wherein they lie . reas. 3. because great scandal is given to others . reas. 4. because by this meanes gods judgements are in a singular manner thus provoked and procured , for god will alwayes have his glory , will we , nill we ; either from us freely , or upon us fiercely ; either the glory of his mercy from us , or the glory of his justice and wrath upon us . use , of direction ▪ how we ought to be affected , when the name of god is prophaned or blasphemed ; that is , if it be done by others , we ought to grieve at the thing , and as far as in us lies , to mend it ; but if it be done by our selves , or by occasion of us ; that is , for a life led altogether unworthy of , and unsutable to the glorious god , that we profess to serve ; then we ought as it were to repair god of his honour , by our humiliation and repentance for such misdoings , and by zeal of glorifying him afterwards , as we had offended and dishonoured him before . the forty eighth lords day . on the second petition of the lords prayer . let thy kingdome come . in the second petition is handled the principal meanes , whereby the name of god is hallowed , or glorified amongst men ; and that is , the kingdome of god , and its coming is sought for . and by the kingdome of god properly is understood that state of the church , wherein she is made partaker of that happinesse , that she hath in her communion with god. for a kingdome in its general notion , is a kinde of politie or publick government and state of men , wherein one hath the supreme and chief command , and all others are subject ( less or more ) for their own good . for unless it be for the good of the subjects , or people , it is not a kingdome , but a tyrany . so the kingdome of god , is a politie or state , wherein god hath the soveraignty or supreme power and command ; and men are sub●…ect in such a sort , that from thence they may reap and receive their chief good , that can be desired , or eternal and true happinesse . by a 〈◊〉 also all such meanes are understood by the kingdome of god , whereby such a state of the church is procured . of this kingdome there are two most remarkable degrees ; one in that administration which belongs unto this present life , in respect whereof it is called the kingdome of grace : the other unto the life to come , in regard whereof it is called the k●…ngdome of glory . by the coming of this kingdome then , is understood its state ▪ or condition ; and the giving , or bringing to pass of all such things , together with the advancing and perfection of them , as belong to this state , for its accomplishment . doct. 1. the chief mea●…s to hallow , or glorify gods name by , is the kingdome of god , which consists in his church . this is gathered from the connexion of this petition with the preceding . reas. 1. because the name of god , or the greatest perfections of god , are more manifested in this kingdome , than in any other of his works , but especially his grace , or mercy , justice , truth , and wisdome . reas. 2 because this kingdome of god in its perfection comes nighest unto god himself . for there is nothing out of god himself , that can be compared with his church ; yea , in a manner all things else are subject to the church . rea. 3. because nothing is more contrary to the glory of gods name , than the impairment of this kingdome , or trenching upon it , or than the troubling and deforming of it . use , of direction and exhortation , that first of all we seek the kingdome of god. doct. 2. this kingdome is not set up , nor brought about by any other , than god himself . this is hence gathered , in that the coming hereof is sought from god alone , as the author and principal cause and procurer of it . reas. 1. because the adversaries and enemies of this kingdome are more and mightier , than that they can be overcome by any creature . reas. 2. because the profits and advantages that this kingdome brings , are greater , than that they can be imparted to any by any creature . reas. 3. because the administration of this kingdome is more spiritual , than that it can be performed by any creature in chief . use , 1. of refutation , as well against pelagians , who go about to rob god of a great part of this kingdome , and ascribe it to nature ; as against papists , and others , who will have the external government of the church at least to depend upon humane power and pleasure . use 2. of direction , that in seeking this kindome we fly to god by faithfull prayers . doct. 3. this kingdom is come to us , but in part , as yet . this is hence gathered , in that the coming of this kingdome is by all during this life alwayes to be sought for . reas. 1. because alwayes in this life something cleaves to us , which belongs to the kingdome of darkness , and must be put off , and laid away . reas. 2. because alwayes something is wanting to us , that belongs to the kingdome of light , and must be put on . reas 3 because we must alwayes pant and breath after the accomplishment of this kingdome , which is to be revealed and perfected in the last coming of christ. use , of admonition , that we never so set up our rest here , as if we were arrived at the end and last perfection , but strive unto a further perfection , than any we have attained . doct. 4. it belongs to our duty , that we use all care and pains to advance this kingdome of god , by our desires , prayers , and all other lawfull meanes and endeavours within the compass of our power , place , and calling , that god hath set 〈◊〉 in . this is gathered , because we are here taught to do this by prayer ; and what we are bound to pray for , we are bound to use all lawfull and expedient meanes to bring it to pass : else we should but tempt and mock god by such prayers , by dividing the right means from the end , and disjoyning of things that god hath conjoyned . reas. 1. because the zeal of the house and kingdome of god ( for gods kingdome and his family or house , are all one ) ought to take up and possess our mindes as farre as makes for the glory of god. reas. 2. because from it depends our owne salvation . reas. 3. because such endeavours , if they be sincere , are never in vain . for though perhaps they profit little with men sometimes , yet they alwayes advance the kingdome of god in our selves , and have the promise of the blessing . use , of reproof , of such as care nothing what the estate of the church be , how the word is preached , the sacraments administred , discipline exercised , and the like ; but it is to be feared that such gallio's have no part nor portion in this kingdome , which they entertain with such slight and neglect . doct. 5. we ought to wish for the uttermost perfection of this kingdome , which is to be after the day of judgement . this is hence gathered , in that believers here on earth are taught still unto the day of judgement to pray for this kingdome . for further illustration it needs no more , than what hath been said on the former doctrines . doct. 6. the kingdome of the devill , and of darkness , and of antichrist , and all other such things , as are opposite to the kingdome of god , and enemies to it , we ought with all our heart to detest , and with all our strength to oppose . this is gathered from the distinctive particle , thy : wherein is held out an opposition of this kingdome to all other kingdomes and things , that are contrary to it . the forty nineth lords day . on the third petition of the lords prayer . thy will be done on earth , as it is in heaven . in this petition is sought the fulfilling of gods will , and in that manner , that it ought to be sought to be fulfilled : which is explicated by a comparison of the like ; where the things compared are the fulfilling of gods will by men , and by angels : the quality or manner , wherein they are compared , is the manner of obedience , that ought to be given to this will : now by the will of god here properly is understood that which god hath revealed unto us concerning our duty , or that which he hath laid upon us to doe , by his revealed will ; though the secret will of god also is so farre contained under this petition , as that we ought to rest content with it , when it appears now to us by the event , that it was the will of god , acts 25. 14. this petition hath dependance on the first , in as much as it is a m●…an te●…ding to that end , that is there proposed . it depends also on the second , because it is the effect of that kingdome and administration ; and it is also the perfection and accomplishment of the same kingdome : for god is not said to have a perfect kingdome of grace , untill he have got all the faithfull absolutely subject in all things unto his will : the fulfilling therefore of the will of god , differs from his kingdome , as the government differs from the obedience that is given to it ; in the same sort almost , as the kingdom of god and the righteousness thereof differ : mat. 6. 33. seek ●…e first the kingdome of god , and the righteousness thereof , and all these things shall be added unto you . doct. 1. the name of god is hallowed by men , and his kingdome is advanced , when his will is religiously and devoutly done . this flows from the former connexion already shown . reas. 1. because reverence to the name of god , which is the hallowing or glorifying of it , brings with it of necessity obedience to his will. reas. 2. in this very thing , that we subject our selves to the will of god , we give god glory and power , and command over our very souls and lives ; and so we highly glorifie him . reas. 3. by this doing of the will of god , the kingdome of god comes to be within us ; and within us is his place of ma●…esty and state , and his throne powerfully set up to him , in our hearts . use is of direction , according to this rule , we judge of our love and care towards the name and kingdome of god. doct. 2. the revealed will of god sh●…uld be the rule of our life . this follows from the substance of the petition . reas. 1. because the will of god is the law , partly , written in our hearts , and partly revealed in the scriptures for this very end , that according to it , we should direct our wayes . reas. 2. because it contains in it self all perfection , which belongs to the imprinting upon us the image of god , and making of our life divine . reas. 3. because according to this will , and the doing of it , god both in this life , and in the life to come , distributes and disposeth of all rewards and punishments . use is of admonition , that we deny our own carnal wills and affections or lusts , with all things that disagree from this will of god ; and that we conform our selves altogether to it , which seems here to be insinuated to us in the particle thy , which is put here in opposition to our will , and to the lusts of this world . doct. 3. it is god that gives us both to will and to doe any thing , that is according to his will. for this is the very thing , that here we seek of god. reas. 1. because of our selves we can do nothing that is truly good , and pleasing to god , in a spiritual sort . reas. 2. because there are so many things both in us and without us , that fight against this good will of god ; that unlesse god gave us to will and to do what he will 's , and kept us in this minde , we should never be able to attain it . reas. 3. because god ought to have all the glory of any good , which yet could not be given him , unlesse he were the author and giver of all good . use is of admonition , that with all humility we think of our selves , and of our own endeavours , and learn to depend altogether upon god , that from him we may receive both to will and to ●…oe that which is good . doct. 4. in this doing of gods will , we ought to strive and endeavour unto an heavenly and angell-like perfection . from the words , on earth , as it is in heaven . reas. 1. because this is the best way to help our imperfections , if we alwayes aim at the chiefest perfection . reas. 2. because we are called unto the same society and communion with those blessed spirits that are in heaven , therefore we ought to aspire unto the imitation of them . reas. 3. because we seek the same happiness and glory that they possess ; and therefore ought to follow the same holinesse . use , is , that we alwayes study to obey god with all cherefulnesse , sincerity , readinesse , and intirenesse , that in scriptures are attributed to angells in their obedience , as special properties and qualifications of the same . the fiftieth lords day . on the fourth petition of the lords prayer . give us this day , &c. the summe of this petition containes things needfull for this present life . for by bread is understood by a synecdoche , all that sustaines and comforts bodily life . the act of god that is humbly desired about these necessary things , is that he would give us , by which also , by another synecdoche , is understood , not onely the first free imparting of things to us , that we have not , but also the continuation of them that we have , together with the right use and fruit of them , by the blessing of god : and moreover the removing of all other things , as on the other side are contrary to this present life , or to the comfort , quietnesse , and contentment of it . this bread then thus understood , is illustrated from its subject , and adjunct . from its subject , in that it is called our bread : and from its adjunct , in that it is called daily bread ; that is , fit for us , and our use , day by day , or from day to day . the giving of god that we desire , is illustrated also from the adjunct of time , this day ; that is , now when we have need : and from its object , to whom ; to wit , us m●…n of all sorts , or all men , but especially such as are of the houshold of faith. this petition depends on the first , in as much as all other comforts of this life , ought no otherwayes , nor no further to be made use of , than as they are instrumental , or made necessary to the hallowing of gods name , or glorifying of him . it depends also upon the last preceding petition ( and by it also on that going before it ) because by the necessaries of this life we are made the fitter , and ought to be readier for doing the will of god upon earth , as it is done by the holy angells in heaven . doct. 1. necessaries of this li●…e are on this ground chiefly to be desired and sought for , that by them we may be the better fitted and inabled for the doing of the will of god , and glorifying of his name . this followes from the connexion that we have shewed . reas. 1 because thus all things are referred to the glory of god , as their last end , according as they should . reas. 2. because while thus we receive these outward goods , we get all the good that is in them , and at once also keep our selves free from all the evill , that someway cleaves to them ; in regard whereof , they are called snares , thornes , and all designed in scripture by such like names , that set forth unto us great danger by them , or from them . reas. 3 because thus such bodily goods are turned in some sort into spiritual goods , as they are looked upon , as effects and signes of gods blessing , and are received as pledges of his love , and directed in their use to the encrease and furtherance of spiritual good things . use , of reproof , against worldly men , who in a carnal manner seek the goods of this life , and use them also onely carnally . doct. 2. all the necessaries of this life , both the greatest of them , and the least , come ●…o mens use by the free gift and bounty of god. this follows from the manner of seeking them ; give us &c. reas. 1. because god is absolute lord of all that is in heaven and in earth ; and therefore whatsoever any creature possesses or enjoyes , it hath all this from gods free indulgence . reas. 2. because as from god , the thing it self that we possesse , depends ; so also doth the whole fruit , use , and benefit of it , every way . reas. 3. because this gift of god , is herein singular , and freely bountifull , in that he gives them to such as are unworthy , and such as too too unworthily use them , and abuse his gifts . use 1. is of refutation , against the doctrine of papists about mens merits , which have no place so much as in our daily bread , or in one ●…crum of bread , much lesse in respect of the life to come , or eternal glory . use 2. is of direction , that we place not our confidence in second causes , but in god alone , even for these outward things ; and that we shew all thankfulness to god , even for these worldly things ; and specially beware , that we abuse not these gifts of god , and make them an occasion and matter of sinning against the author and donour of them . doct. 3. we ought all to live contentedly on that pittance , that god hath measured out unto us , of the conditions of this life . this follows from hence , in that we are taught to seek onely our daily bread : so proverb 30. 8. feed me with the food of my daily portion , or pittance , measured ●…ut to me . reas. 1 ▪ because we ought not to be carried towards such things with such a desire , as we should seek the kingdome of god with , and the righteousness thereof , but with greater moderation , and with far lower desires . reas. 2 because we . ought not to bind , and prescribe god the measure of the things , that we desire of him , but for that we ought to rest content with his pleasure . reas. 3 because that as he gives , and we have of him , if we enjoy it with contentment , it brings more true good with it to us , than all the greatest riches bring , or can bring to worldly men . use is of exhortation , to keep our selves from all inordinate care and sollicitude about worldly things . doct. 4. our confidence or trust in god , and prayer to him , even about the necessaries of this life , is daily to be renewed . this follows from the word , this day . reas. 1 ▪ because there is no day wherein we stand not in need of gods favour and blessing , even in such things . reas. 2. because daily the blessings of god are renewed towards us , and therefore also our worship towards him ought daily to be renewed . reas. 3 because every day hath in it as it were a picture which represents the whole life of man ; and we are uncertain whether we shall live unto the next day ; therefore every day , as it goes over us , we ought to take care of this duty . reas. ●… . because there is great danger , that we shall finde no time , that we may apply to such duties , but that we will forget and over-passe them altogether ▪ unlesse daily we do renew the duty ▪ and do it every day in its own day . use is of reproof against such , as either daily neglect these daily prayers , or very slightly and coldly go about them to perform them . doct. 5. we ought not onely to pray for , and procure such things to our selves , but to all others also , as much as in us ly●… . from hence give us , not give me . reas. 1. because this belongs to charity . reas. 2. because it is the duty of a good steward of the gifts of god. use is of reproof , not onely against such as exercise thefts and robberies , but also against all such as are guilty of too great sparing niggardliness and envy . the one and fifty lords day . on the fifth petition of the lords prayer : forgive us our debts , &c. the following petitions , treats of the removing of spiritual evill , or sin : and sin is two ways removed ; either 1. by forgiveness of sin committed ; or 2. by preservation from sin , that it be not committed : the first is the substance of the fifth petition ; the last of the sixth and last : in the fifth the petition is proposed , and then afterwards it is confirmed . in the petition because sins are chiefly considered , as to their adjoyned guilt : therefore 1. they are under that notion by a metaphor , or simily marked out to us , and declared , when they are called debts : the reason of the simily or metaphor is , because by the law and justice , we are bound to god , to give him intire obedience ; and for omission of any part , or point of this whole or intire obedience , we were bound to undergo the punishment or penalty of the curse of the law . sins therefore are called debts . 1 ▪ because of the want of that obedience ▪ in them , which we owed to god. 2 because they did bring with them an obligation of undergoing those punishments . now of both these debts the forgiveness is sought for ; that is , the removing of our guiltinesse , that we contracted by our sins ; and by consequence justification and adoption . the argument whereby this petition is enforced , is taken partly from the place of like things ; because from our forgiveness and mercy to others , we must expect the forgiveness and mercy of god ; and partly from the place of unlikenesse , or of that from the less to the more ; in this , or such ●… syllogisme : if we , who scarce have a drop , or small resemblance of that mercy , that is in god , do yet forgive men their offences , whereby they have offended us ; then much more will god forgive us our offences out of his infinite mercy , that we have done against him : but the first is true ; and therefore the latter also . this argument is thus expounded , luke 11. 4. this petition hath its dependance rrom all the foregoing , as a means whereby way is made for the obtaining of them ; because god of his mercy forgiving us our sins , by so doing removes the hinderance of his grace and blessing , whereby other things are obtained ; and so he gives us all good things that we want , or desire . it is expresly coupled to the next foregoing petition , by the conjunction and , which was not used in the former petitions ; because the three former petitions were so nere allied , that of themselves they depended one upon another , by a natural connextion and consequence ; and the fourth did upon the last of the cther three , by that kindlinesse of connexion , that the well-being of the whole , or person , for the better exercising of its duties and actions well , hath on the well-being of a very necessary and essential part of it self . but this petition , and that fourth , are of farre different kindes , and have not so direct and immediate a connexion in the nature of the things ; but that they required to be coupled together by such a grammatical conjunction , and. doct. 1. our sins are the heaviest of all evills . this is hence gathered , in that we are taught to pray for the removal of this evill absolutely , and of none other . reas 1. because they are most opposite to the chief good ; that is , unto the image and holinesse of god , as they may be partaken of by us , to our felicity ; and so some way to god himself . whose will , as much as in us lay , we have violated . reas. 2. because they spoyl us of our greatest perfection . reas. 3. because they beget unto us the greatest miseries . use , of direction , that having a right esteem of our sins , we may the more abhor them , and all other evill that comes by them . doct. 1. sin●…s bring with them an obligation of the greatest debt . it is hence gathered , that they are here called debts . reas. 1. because the law of god bindes sinners to suffer paines , and that no common ones , but of the wrath and curse of god. reas. 2. because this debt is such , that for it , we can never be able to satisfy god. for whatsoever sinners do , it rather augments , than diminisheth the nature , or account of the debt . reas. 3 because the justice of god exacting so rigorous a discharge of this debt for sinners , is still upon them , and is as it were perpetually threatening condemnation to them in their owne consciences . use. of admonition , that neither by a mad kind of secureness , or secure and careless madness , we neglect these so heavy debts ; but go about this by all meanes , that we may be set free from them . doct. 3. the mercy of god in christ is sufficient to forgive and remit all our debts . this is hence gathered , in that we are here taught to this end to fly to the forgiving mercy of god. reas. 1. because god is not onely a just judge , but also a mercifull father , as is in the preface of this prayer . reas. 2. because god according to his infinite wisedome hath so ordered things in christ , that he can with safety to his justice , of his free mercy forgive us our sins . reas. 3. because this mercy being infinite , farre surpasseth our sins , though in themselves they be horrible . use ▪ of exhortation , that with all our hearts we fly to this mercy , and rest in it , and on it . doct. 4. unto remission of sins , together with ●…aith , is required a confession of them , and repentance or a change of minde and amendment . this followes from the nature of the petition . reas. 1 ▪ because none can earnestly desire the blotting out of his sins , unless he both confess and also hate and detest them . reas. 2. because otherwise he can by no meanes rightly magnify the mercy of god , whereunto he flies ; but rather goes about to prostitute it , and make it a pander or baud to his sins . reas. 3. because without these , none is fitted for receiving comfort from the mercy of god in remission of his sins . use , of reproof , against such as presume on the mercy of god , though they never thus seriously repent of their sins , nor can be brought to confess or acknowledge their cruell dispositious to men . doct. 5. mercy and love to our brethren , is a signe of the mercy and love of god to our selves . from these words ; as we forgive our debtors . reas. 1. because the mercy and love of god shed abroad in our hearts , begets mercy in us to our bretheren , as heat begets heat . reas. 2. because this mercy and love towards men , is for its conformity thereto , and suitableness to it , a special condition of obtaining the mercy of god ; and so is declared to be tied to it , mat. 6. 14. if ye forgive men their trespasses , your father also that is in heaven ; will forgive you . reas. 3. because this forgiving of all injuries and wrongs done to us , by others , is taken of the special and free mercy of god communicated unto us ; and this grace is the effect of gods mercy forgiving us our sins . use ▪ of admonition , that we deceive not our selves , and promise to our selves the mercy of god , whilst we nourish in our own hearts hatred and ran●…our against our brethren . the fifty second lords day . on the sixth petition of the lords prayer . 〈◊〉 u●… not into temptation , &c. in this petition the business is about the evill of sin in respect of its dominion , which it uses to have over men ; concerning which , we have first the petition ; and secondly , its declaration , or opposition . in the petition we pray against this evill in its twofold cause ; whereof the first is , the proper cause of sin , intending it ; which is the temptation of the devill , or the devill tempting us to sin . now temptation is nothing else but an argument propos●…d to us , whereby we are induced to be perswaded , and drawne into sin . the other cause , that is looked at in this petition , is not properly the cause of the sin , nor any efficient or author of it , but a governour and orderer as well of the sin it self , as of the tempting to sin , and of the effects of both ; but the true cause of the evill of punishment , that followes sin : and this is gods effectual and powerfull way of working about sin , or exercising of his providence , which usually is called gods permission , although it be more than a bare and an idle permitting . the explication of this petition is in praying for the contrary to this evill , that we prayed against in the words going before ; which is prayed against from gods gracious acting towards us , contrary to that , which before was called a leading into temptation . for it is called a delivering or plucking of us out of temptation . doct. 1. the guilt of former sins committed , deserveth altogether at gods hands , that we should be quite given over to temptations and sins . this is gathered from the connexion ; wherein first forgivenesse of sins is sought , and then deliverance from temptations , and evill for sin . reas. 1. because sin being an aversion , or turning away from god , therefore it deserves , that he should turne away himself , and his grace from us . reas. 2. because for sin , we both give our selves up as it were servants to sin , and to him that tempts to sin ; we deserve therefore directly , and very rightly , that we should be given to such masters , as we our selves have chosen . reas. 3 when we rush into sin , we neglect that grace of god , by which we might have been preserved from sin ; and therefore we deserve to be deserted by him . use 1. of admonition ▪ that we so much the more take care to keep our selves from sin . use 2. of direction , that we daily seek from god , the forgivenesse of our sins , even for this end , that we be not further given up to sin , and to temptation , but that we may be preserved from both . doct. 2. whosoever have forgivenesse of sins , or seriously se●…k after it , they have a desire , and true purpose to abstain and keep themselves from sinning in time to come . this is also clear from the connexion of these two petitions . reas. 1. because otherwayes they would not truly abhor sin , and so would shew themselves altogegether indisposed , and not qualified for remission of sins . reas. 2. because else they would not be thankfull to god , that forgave them their sins . reas. 3. because else that forgivenesse would be in vain , if they should again purpose to themselves to returne to the like condition , wherein they were before . use , of reproof , of such as seem to wish for forgivenesse of sin , but in the mean time have no care to fly from sin . doct. 3. who so desires to keep himself from sin , ought also to keep himself from all temptations and occasions that lead into sin . it is clear from the petition , which prayes against temptations to sins reas. 1. because the end of such temptations is sin , and the misery that followes upon sin . reas. 2. temptations are so many , so subtile , and so powerfull , that unless with great care we take heed to our selves , it cannot be , but they lead us into sin . reas. 3. because of our selves we are carried that way , and incline unto this , that by giving place to temptations we may betray our owne soules to the tempter . use , of admonition , to such as from too much security and boldness , rashly expose themselves to the danger of diverse temptations and inticements to sin , for temptation is not to be desired and sought after , but as wisely as we can to be shunn'd ; and where that cannot be , stoutly and couragiously to be repulsed . doct. 4. our father that is in heaven , disposeth also of our temptations according to his owne good pleasure . for thus it is here held out to us , that it is he , that either leads us into temptation , or causes us not to be brought into it ; but kept from it . reas. 1. because he exercises his providence in guiding and measuring of every temptation . reas ▪ 2. from him depends the strengthening of our soules against such temptations , as we are vexed with . reas ▪ 3 ▪ from him depends the issue of the temptation it self , together with its effects , which follow on it , either of their owne nature , or by accident . use of comfort , because from hence we may have comfort against all temptations , that we be never fully led into them , as 1 cor. 10. 13. no other temptation hath overtaken you , but as useth to befall men ; but god is faithfull , who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape , that ye may be able to bear it . use 2. of exhortation to thanksgiving , that we are not led unto this and that temptation ; because this should not be attributed to our owne strength and wisedome , but to the grace of god. use 3. of admonition , that with horrour , fear and trembling , we pray chiefly against this judgement of god ▪ which he exercises upon many sinners , when he leads them into manifold temptations . doct. 5. it is a great benefit of god towards his owne , that he thus delivers them from evill , that they be not delivered into temptation . this is hence gathered , in that this is sought from god by a doubling of the same petition in a man●… lead us not into , but deliver us from . reas. 1. because a mischief to man lies in the prevaleuey of temptations , when he is not onely tempted , and led somewhither unto temptation , but also led into it , so as he is inwrapped in it , and held intangled therein , after the will of the tempter sathan , and so is kept captive in the slavery of sin . reas. 2. because so great is the force of temptations , and such is our natures slipperinesse , and deceitfulnesse , that from this evill of temptation we cannot be delivered , but by god. reas 3. because god delivers not all , but of his just judgement suffers many to be led into temptation , of whom a great part ( for ought we know ) were no worse than we our selves , who yet are delivered from them . use , of direction , 1. what evill it is , that we should chiefly pray against at gods hands to be delivered from ; to wit , not against outward afflictions , which are also temptations ; nor yet against all other temptations absolutely , but against that deadly evill of sin in them , that is intended to us by sathan , both by afflictions , and all other his temptations , which in truth are often times no less dangerously couched in prosperity , than in adversity . 2. how we should wholly depend upon god for deliverance from this evill , and so give him the glory . on the conclusion of the lords prayer . for thine is the kingdome , power , and glory , &c. this is the conclusion of the lords prayer , wherein two things are contained ; 1. the confirmation of all the foregoing petitions . 2. the obligation of our affection , that moves us to offer up these petitions to god , and in some sort moves god also to hear the petitions offered . the confirmation is taken from the causes , which concur in god for strengthening of our confidence about the hearing of our petitions at his hands . the efficient cause is , 1. the right and authority of god , by which he can and may dispense and dispose of all , according to his owne pleasure ; and it is here called the kingdome of god ▪ for thine is the kingdome ; that is , the soveraignty , the supreme dominion , and right . 2. the same efficient is also , that power of god , or his might , whereby he is able to put in execution all to what he hath right ; that is , all that he pleases , or whatsoever he will : thine is the power . 3. the final cause , is his owne glory ; thine is the glory . all which are illustrated by their adjunct of duration , not for a time onely , and then either to cease , or to pass to another ; but for ever and ever : but unto ages of ages , or worlds of worlds , as the old english did bear ; or world without end ▪ as now it goes ; that is , to all eternity . the obligation of sealing up of our affection , is in the word of acclamation , amen ; whereby is shown ▪ 1. the strength of our desire , wherewith we follow after all these things , that were proposed in these petitions . 2. the strength of our faith , whereby we rest in , and rely on gods mercy , for them all . 3. of our hope , whereby we look for and wish , that god would ratify and hold firme all our petitions , in the same manner as he doth the promises , whereunto himself hath prefixed this same word of strong asseveration ( for it is of both ) amen , amen , that is , verily , verily , a kind of oath ; and so hold our acclamation as firme , as his owne asseveration : and that is beyond exception . doct. 1. no petition , nor p●…r ought to be made to god , without some praise of his name at least implied . this is hence gathered , that in the very brief patterne of petitions , a solemne praise of the name of god is subjoyned , how ever it be in order to confirme all the petitions foregoing . reas. 1. because it is not our selves that we ought either onely , or chieflie to look at in the worship of god ; but it is the honour of gods name , that we should so much regard . reas. 2. because this is a most powerfull motive , to obtain what we seek , if in all things we give god his glory . reas. 3. because it is a chief part of worship . use , of reprof , against our negligence on this behalf , who are so wholly taken up with the things that belong to our own necessities , that we neglect the giving god his honour by duly praising of his name ; when yet it is the sole thing aimed at in this prayer of our lords , that the glory of god may have the first and the last place , as the alpha and omega of all his worship , the beginning and the end of ●…ight serving him . for the first petition is about the hallowing or glorifying of his name ; and the last conclusion is the extolling and praising of him to the same glory . doct. 2. it makes very much for the strengthening and confirming us in our prayers , if we set before our eyes the infinite soveraignty and right , and the infinite might , and glory of god. from the words ; thine i●… the kingdome , power , and glory . reas. 1. because hence it appears , that we doe rightly , and according as just order doth require , fly unto god in our prayers ; and seek all good things from him , because he onely hath the absolute right and might , to dispense all these things , according as his own honour and glory requires . reas. 2. because hence it appears , that we may have certain and sure confidence , that he will hear our prayers , because it is as easie to him to do all this , as to will it ; and it belongs also to his glory in some sort , to will the same . reas. 3. because from hence we are taught , both in what manner , and for what end , we ought to look for the accomplishment of our desires ; to wit , in such manner as shall seem good unto god , according to that wisedome and power of his , whereby he exercises soveraignty of kingdome and command , or dominion in all things , and in such manner , as may make most for the glory of his name . use , of direction , that we use these and the like titles of god , in our prayers , not for a fashion , but from religious resentment and intention , that our prayers may be the more powerfull , from the greater feeling , and abundance of our hearts . doct. 3. all thing●… that uphold our faith and our pr●…ers , are from the everlasting and eternal god. from these words ; for ever and ever . or thus rather it makes for the same purpose ; that we consider , that all things that sustain our faith , and our prayers , are in the eternal god , unto eternity , or for ever and ever , &c reas. 1 because from hence it appears , that now god is the same , and such unto us , as he was from the beginning of the world to any other , that called upon his name , isa 59. 1. & ●…1 . 17. reas. 2. because from hence we are confirmed in this , that god will unto eternity remain still our god , even then when he will cease by changeable dispensations to doe us any more good , as here he doth , because then we shall be setled in the possession of our last and highest good use , of direction ▪ for the right use of this divine attribute of eternity . doct. 4. while we pray , and especially towards the end of prayer , we ought to put forth our petitions with all earnestness of desire , and lively strength of faith , and of affections . from the word amen . reas. 1. because as at the end our prayer is as it were come to its perfection , so we ought there to exercise the perfection of our faith , affection , conscience , and desire . reas. 2 because every natural and kindly motion growes stronger and faster towards its end ; otherwise if it be flashy in the beginning , and flag towards the end , it is a token it was forced , or framed upon some wrong ground , and will not prove durable and kindly unto the end . reas. 3 because our affection in the end of prayer ought then to act from the doubled and recollected force and power of all the affections going before . reas. 4 ▪ because by this meanes in a sort we redouble our whole prayer , while first we propose all our petitions one by one in order , with their own measure of desire and affection ; and thereafter press vehemently and earnestly for them all together , that they may all be granted us , and so according to our earnestnesse , ●…est as confident that they will. use ▪ of reproof , against the negligence of men on this behalf , which is grown so great , that now it is gone out of use amongst us , to signify such our affections , or strong wishes and desires , by saying , amen ; as the apostle witnesseth and saith , that all christians of old were taught , and did use to practise ▪ 1 cor. 14. 16. a table of the texts of scripture , fitted for each lords day of the year . i. psalm 4. vers . 6 , 7 , 8. lords day , there are many that say , &c. page 1 ii. rom 7 ▪ 7. what shall we say then ? is the law sin ? &c. p. 13 iii. rom 5 12. wherefore as by one man sin entered , &c. p. 17 iiii. ephes. 5. 6. let no man deceive you with vain words , &c. p. 24 v. rom. 8 3. for what the law could not do , &c. p. 30 vi. 1 tim 3. 16. and without controversy great , &c. p. 37 vii . act. 16 31. and they said believe on the lord jesus , &c. p. 46 viii . mat. 28. 19. go ye therefore and teach all nations , &c. p. 56 ix rev. 4. 11. thou art worthy , o lord , that thou , &c. p. 62 x. rom. 11. 36. for of him , and through him , and to him , &c. p. 72 xi . acts 4 12. neither is there salvation in any other , &c. p. 78 xii . acts 2. 36. therefore let all the house of israel know , &c. p. 83 xiii . math. 16. 16. thou art christ the son of the living god. &c. p. 90 xiv . mat. 1. 20. but while he thought on these things , &c. p. 96. xv : 1 pet. 3. 18. for christ also hath once suffered for sinners , &c. p. 103 xvi . iohn 10. 17 , 18. therefore the father loveth me , that i lay , &c. p. 110 xvii . ioh. 10. 17 , 18. ibidem , &c. p. 117. xviii : mark. 16. 19. so then after the lord had spoken unto them , &c. p. 122 xix . math. 25 , 31. to 39. when the son of man shall come . &c , p. 129. xx. 1 cor. 6. 19. what know ye not that your body , &c. p. 137 xxi . ephes. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. husbands love your wives even as , &c. p. 142 xxii . phillip ▪ 3. 20 , 21. for our conversation i●… in heaven , &c. p. 147 xxiii . rom. 3. 24 , 25. being justified freely by his grace , &c. p. 154 xxiiii . iam. 2. 22. see●… thou how faith wrought with , &c. p. 161 xxv . rom. 4. 11. and he received the signe of circumcision , &c. p. 166 xxvi . and xxvii . mat. 28. 19. go therefore and teach all nations , &c. p. 173 xxviii . and xxix . 1 cor. 10. 16. the cup of blessing which we blesse , &c. p. 181 xxx . 1 cor. 11. 28 , 29. but let a man examine himself , &c. p. 188 xxxi . mat. 16. 19. and i will give unto thee the keys , &c. p , 196 xxxii , as in the 24 , lecture , p ▪ 161 xxxiii . lords day e●…s . 4 ▪ 〈◊〉 . 20 , 21 , 〈◊〉 have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 christ , 〈◊〉 ▪ ●… ▪ 201 xxxiii●… ▪ exod ▪ ●…0 ▪ vers ▪ 1 , 2 , 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 th●…se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…aying , 〈◊〉 ▪ ●… . 308 xxxv . exo●… 〈◊〉 vers 4 , 5 ▪ 6. tho●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by self any gra●… , &c p ▪ 217 xxxvi . and xxxvii . exod. 〈◊〉 ▪ vers . 7. thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain , &c. p. 223 xxxviii ▪ ex●… ▪ 〈◊〉 . vers . 8 , 9 , 10 , ●… . remember the sabbath day to keep , &c. p. 229 xxxix ▪ e●…od . 20 vers ▪ 12. honour thy father and thy mother that the , &c. p. 237 xl ▪ e●…od ▪ 20. ●…rs ▪ 13 ▪ thou shalt not 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 ▪ p. 242. xli . exod ▪ 20 ▪ vers ▪ ●…4 . thou shalt not commit adultery ▪ p. 247 xlii . exod. 20. vers . 15. thou shalt not 〈◊〉 . p. 251 xliii . exod. 20. vers 16. thou shalt not 〈◊〉 false witnesse , &c. p. 255 〈◊〉 ▪ exod ▪ 20 ▪ 〈◊〉 ▪ 17. thou shalt not co●…t ●…hy 〈◊〉 wife , &c. p. 260 xlv . ephes. ●… . vers ▪ 18. praying alwayes with all praye●… , &c. p. 265 xlvi . mat. 6. vers . 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. after th●… manner therefore pray ye●… our father , &c. p. 270 xlvii . on the first petition . hallowed be thy name . p. 276 xlviii . on the second petition . let thy kingdome come . p. 281 xlix ▪ on the third petition . thy will be done on earth a●… it is in heaven . p 285 l. on the forth petition . give us this day our daily bread p. 289 li. on the fifth petition . forgive us our trespasses as we forgive , &c. p. 293 lii . on the sixth petition . lead us not into temptation . p. 298 the conclusion of the lords prayer . because thine is the kingdome , &c. p. 303 finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a25294-e160 * a book so called . the pretensions of the triple crown examined in thrice three familiar letters ... / written some years ago by sir christopher wyvill ... wyvill, christopher, sir, 1614-1672? 1672 approx. 273 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 102 1-bit group-iv tiff page 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a67237) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 101827) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1055:15) the pretensions of the triple crown examined in thrice three familiar letters ... / written some years ago by sir christopher wyvill ... wyvill, christopher, sir, 1614-1672? [6], 194, [2] p. printed by e.t. and r.h. for matthias walker ..., london : 1672. imperfect: pages stained. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng catholic church -controversial literature -protestant authors. church of england -apologetic works. theology, doctrinal. 2004-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-06 john latta sampled and proofread 2004-06 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the pretensions of the triple crown examined : in thrice three familiar letters , upon so many controverted points , which require more than a single consideration . written some years ago by sir christopher wyvill baronet . with certain later reflections on the same subjects london , printed by e. t. and r. h. for matthias walker , under st. dunstan's church in fleet-street . 1672. to all my near relations , and esteemed acquaintance of the romish persvvasion . those that have the fancie , or the fate to come under ▪ the press , have ( for most part ) the wit , in their dedications , to cull out such persons whose inclinations , they know , are well set towards the subject matter of the book ; and who are , they hope , willing to afford it their patronage . by this address , i have deprived my self of those advantages : instead of favour , ( which i cannot antecedently expect ) i request , only , that you will not bring prejudice , and , in the room of protection , i court you but for fair perusal . i know not whether any of you may be convinc'd or no ; yet , at the least , i am desirous ( as never affecting fire-side or table-disputes of this nature ) to let you see , upon what grounds my judgment leads me to stand off from you , in those principles , which administer sad occasions of contention to all the ( christian ) world , and wherein only , you can , at any time , be disagreeable unto him , who is yours , with sincere and real love , to serve you , christopher wyvill . to the readers in general . finding all those little sophisms which laid hold on me , when i was a child , ( or thought as a childe ) new-vampt , for the seduction of the growing generation ; i am not unwilling ( nay , methinks , i am in a manner obliged ) to communicate what antidotes i found most effectual . what is offered here , is , i hope , fully consonant to the true standard of the reformation , and genuine sence of our english church . if the antinomian in his impetuous flights from rome , have run quite out from any habitable zone ; if the rigid anabaptists , or quakers , have , in their heady , and heedless course , brought back the quintessence of popery , by a side-wind , into the body of their belief ; if the socinian , or his younger brother , have warpt aside from once establish'd truths , i have not a word to say for them : nor , will i add more to you , save farewell . part i. you have now spent a lustre and an half , or thereabout , in that adventurous calling , which hath let you see the wonders of the deep ; and acquainted you with the admirably various dispositions and customs of several people and places : it has been a joy to my self , with many others of your friends and well-wishers , to hear that in your imployments abroad , you have gone through much , both with reputation and success . of late a rumour ( for i would not willingly think it any more ) hath arrived here , as if you should have made shipwrack of your religion , and not past scylla and charybdis in safety , without drinking in , or rather being swallowed up of , the italian delusions . i am no affector of scurrilous or foul language ; yet , if i should enquire of you , with what deceitful tincture that roman curtizan had washt over her deformities so , as you could become inamoured on her , the nature of her apostasie would , perhaps , justifie the term. i shall endeavour in this address , to wipe off the varnish ( whereby , i know well , she allures a great part of the prejudiced or interessed world ) and discover to you blemishes of too large a size to pass for beauty-spots . and , whilst i declare unto you what considerations they were , which , by god's blessing , removed out of my way all those stumbling blocks that i found cast in it , and whereby i was reduced into the right paths , even when my feet had almost slipt ; i do humbly supplicate the father of mercies , that it may please him to inable you , and all that desire to seek him in truth , to see through the dark mist which popery draws before the eyes of its proselytes , stuffing the phancies even of her babes and sucklings ( in stead of wholsom food drawn from the sincere milk of god's word ) with i know not what conceits of romes infallibilitie , perspicuity , succession , supremacy , perpetuity and the like , till she have brought them under a gross and blind submission to all her dictates ; and , before they understand things that differ , made them ready to swear to all the words of that most imperious mistress . thus it was , that a young lady within my knowledge , being in discourse brought to such a point of convincement , as compelled her reason to go over into the tents of her antagonist ; at the last , clapt her self down upon her knees , made the sign of the cross , and rejected all as a temptation . but let us remember we are advised to be able to give a reason of the faith that is in us ; and take courage to examine how sufficient the foundation is , whereupon the church of romè would build so vast a claim to perpetual exemption from error , and fix the pillars of truth within her territories only : yet first i think it necessary to desire you not to despise the animadversions i offer you , because they are transmitted from an hand which you know weak and insufficient for the undertaking . there is here little of mine besides what is , indeed , the only culpable part , the composure , or lying together ; the materials being decerped from many learned and pious authours , who now , most of them , rest from their labours , and enjoy that crown of righteousness , which they strove for in their several generations . that minatory admonition , to the whole church of the gentiles , and particularly directed to that of rome ( wherein the apostle bids her beware of high-mindedness , ( as if he had foreseen what would be her ruine ) makes it clear to me , that her standing was not assured to her less-conditionally , than that of the temple of hierusalem , whereof it was said 2 chron. 33. 4. 7. the lord would dwell for ever in it ; as in psal. 132. 14. this is my rest for ever : here will i dwell . when did the great disposer of all things devest himself of that prerogative , whereby he usually punisheth the sins of any nation , by removing his candlestick from thence ? doth not the very appellation of catholick ( given to the gospel church , in opposition to that administration , whereby it was confined within the pale of the jews synagogue ) strongly intimate , that all the climates of the world are equally gods temple ? what reason i pray to terminate all the promises at rome ? if you will argue , as i know those of that communion do , from the words of our saviour to st. peter , thou art peter , and upon this rock , &c. this quaere will arise , whether the promise relate to peter's preceding words , which had newly poynted out the chief corner stone ; or , whether the design of it were to fasten an infallibility of judgment , not only upon peter , but to convey it even to his heirs and successors till the end of time ? it has , long since , been observed , that in the original there is an apparent distinction betwixt the name and the person , interwoven in christ's answer : tu es petrus leads up the van ; but then , not in te petrum , but super hanc petram marches next ; and so that interpretation which would seem to interess the pope in the place , is left in some disorder . but it may be you are apt to think this a new sence put upon the words ; i will therefore bring you doctors , ancient enough , that were satisfied with this exposition . st. hillary thus ; this faith is the one unmoveable foundation , the alone happy rock , confessed by the mouth of peter , thou art the son of the living god : and again , this is the foundation of the church , by it the gates of hell are made weak against her . ambrose in his epistles is of the same mind ; so is hierom in many places ; as upon psal. 40. math. 18. and amos 9. so is st. augustin on john in his 6th . sermon de verbo dom. and having in a certain place , slipt into the other acception of the meaning , he solemnly retracts the same ; and notes , besides , the ( it seems ) then usual mistake in singing the verses of st. ambrose concerning the cock. the truth is , when any of them seem to favour that sence which we oppose , they do it in a certain rhetorical way ( whereby they were accustomed to give high applauds to the bishop of rome , sitting in the then imperial city , and therefore accounted chief ) rather than seriously and dogmatically . yet will it not at all disadvantage us , to grant that st. peter was a rock , that is , a main pillar , and a master-builder in the church of god : nay , what would it harm our cause , if we should confess that it was promised to peter , he should become the founder of an eminent church ? and that the faith he was to preach should surmount the power of hell ? yea let us further suppose , what we will not grant ; that there is some particular place or succession of men , whereto , by vertue of the promise made to peter , perpetual truth were to be affixed : why may not antioch in syria ( within the verge of his peculiar charge ) or babylon in aegypt ( the first place of his residence amongst the gentiles ) put in for a right of succession to that grand privilege , rather than rome ; since , whether ever he came there or no , at most , whether any otherwise than to suffer , is a controversie not yet decided ? but that he could sit 26. years bishop ( as some of them affirm ) is a thing utterly impossible , if we regard the computation of times , and reflect upon those years , he must necessarily have spent in other places . vid. bunting's itinerarium totius scripturae , pag. 496. as for that other place , weakly enough urged by some , i prayed for thee that thy faith fail not : it 's clear that was spoken only to fortifie st. peter against the approaching time wherein satan had desired to winnow him , and cannot with any front be transferred beyond his own person in the application . next you may , i suppose , put a question to me which i have , not unfrequently , put to my self ; where was the truth , if not at rome ? have patience , but a little , and i hope i shall return you an answer more satisfactory and rational than i could ever have from any of those papists , who make the decision of all controversies , a priviledge fitted only to the narrow dimensions of the pope's breast : when i have demanded of them what course they would have taken to have found out truth in a disputable point , if they had then lived when there was sometimes * two , once three , and more than once no pope at all for many years together , a thing evident enough in history . now for the solving of your doubt ; we willingly do acknowledge , that at rome there was a very early and famous church ; her faith was spoken of through the whole world : and when it pleased god by the conversion of the emperour constantine , to clear a way for the farther increment of the gospel , she grew in eminency and splendour ; till overset , as it were , with the indulgence and bounty of him and some of his successors , she began to recoyl , and study grandeur , more than grace . we do not imagine that all in one day , or year , or age , she became so infected , that it was presently necessary to separate from her : but we think the manner of her defection was well foreshewen ( and perhaps aimed at ) in that parable of the tares , injected by night , and hardly discerned in their growth ; yet increasing still , as the negligence , avarice or ambition of the priests and people did serve-in an opportunity . thus , the wisdom of the primitive church , dispensing her admonitions , her suspensions , excommunications , her pennances , relaxations , absolutions , &c. in such manner as the condition of her refractory , or penitent , delinquents might require , ( things conducing meerly to the outward regiment & discipline of those times ) degenerated at last into such conceits , as kindled the fire of purgatory , and gave birth to pardons and indulgences prodigally extended to whole families and their descendants , for many ages yet to come : and by this means were the purses , in a manner , of the whole world opened , and their owners made inclinable to pour out their treasure into the popes lap. for , who would not , both easily be perswaded to taste the tempting sweets of sin here , and to part with a good proportion of his worldly goods at his death , under the notion of bringing so much health to the estate of his soul in the next life ? thus the stile which the ancient fathers thought fit to use when they treated of the lords supper , wherein they often held to the tropes and metaphors of the institution , was at length perverted into the opinion of absolute transubstantiation ; a pyx commanded to be made for a cover to the bread , and a bell to ring before it , anno 1215. adoration of it enjoyned , anno 1226. corpus christi day instituted , anno 1264. and further confirmed in the council of vienna , anno 1310. all which served well to settle in the people a greater veneration towards the workers of such miracles , the priests . and that such a thing was much in the business may surely seem not improbable to any , that will impartially eye the posture and inclination of those times , * when the bishop of rome had his great design on foot to exalt himself above all civil magistracy . when i find erasmus making this return to our tunstall , who had provoked him to write against luther ; that he ought to take heed , lest he had a zeal not according to knowledge ; and that there was a sort of men too tenacious of some things unluckily crept into the church . when i over-hear him complaining to his freind stephanus rhodericus , that the vulgar sort of divines examined all scripture by the text of certain school-disputes , attributing very little to the ancient doctors of the church ; when i observe him going on , with a kind of indignation , thus ; now ( and therefore but newly ) we learn , that christ in the business committed to him by the father , owed to his mother obedience ; that , now in heaven , she may command him , according to a form of invocation ( it seems then usual ) shew thy self a mother ; that heaven is a debt to our works of condignity . when , i say , such a man as he groans , as it were , under the burthen of the innovations in his time , it 's enough to establish in me this belief , that , ab initio non fuit sic . the first divinely inspired workmen , upon a good foundation , built up a noble structure of gold and silver ; but their degenerating prentices laid thereupon rows of stone , brick , lome , slime , rubbish . yet , though the church of rome was , in respect of many of the chief prelates , and a predominant faction , guilty of errors ; there were divers disliked them , and desired a reformation ; though not holding themselves obliged to refuse her communion , till she with open face , owned some grosser tenets , and enjoyned them to be received under a curse , about the year 1160. and then came out from her a people professing the same affirmatives and negatives with us . and there wanted not some , who may be said to have even prophesied , long before luther , of that restauration of primitive truth , which we and our fathers have seen . i suppose those mens faith ( which eyes onely the splendour and outward glory of professors ) if they had been to chuse their religion , when god was pleased to support his almost despairing , because ( to his own sight ) single prophet , with an assurance , that there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee unto baal , would have been at a sore loss . and , however those who sat in moses's chair had , at our saviour's coming , made the law of god of none effect by their traditions ; yet many believed on him ( old simeon , zachary and elizabeth &c. ) who communicated in the outward sacraments , and discipline of the church , but were the flock of another fold . you will reply here , perhaps , the word of god is large in promises concerning the great extent , and flocking of the gentiles to the church of christ. how are they fulfill'd ? the very taking down the partition-wall , when the whole world was cried free to come to god ; and the enlarging of the churches bounds ( till then impaled within the confines of jury ) even to as many as the lord our god shall ( before his second coming ) call , was certainly a very glorious work , and the main end of such predictions . thus st. paul affirms the gospel to have , in his time , been preached to every creature under heaven ; and doubtless there was grand access to the church by the labours of the apostles and their successors : yet we are told of a mystery of iniquity , beginning to creep even then ; and ought not to forget , that we are fore-warned of a season , when the woman was to be forced into the wilderness . the estate of the church is like that of the moon , sometimes in the wane , and sometimes , by god's permission , suffering grievous eclipses : but since by his goodness she can again , at other seasons , elevate her head , the gates of hell cannot be said to have prevailed against her . next , let me intreat you to put one question to those ne'er-erring doctors ; and , if they give you a positive answer , it may incourage you to take more of their advices : is it the pope , is it a councel , or both together ; or , which of them severed is it , upon which you ought to pinn your belief ? believe me , and that were a thing worth knowing : but let not the romanists vaunt so much of their unity , so long as in this cardinal point , ( for , no less than the whole frame of their religion turns with it ) they are at variance amongst themselves . the jesuits for the most part cry up the pope , many others , both ancient and modern , stand for the councils ; in my judgment , the third sort , who plead for them conjoin'd , are the least irrational ; though 't is evident enough , that even their united results have deviated ; for we discover them poynt-blank thwarting one another , and that of trent ( protested against even by the french ) domineering over them all . sixtus the fifth , and clement the eighth authorized both their very much disagreeing editions of the bible ; both injoyned their own , and only that , to be used under an anathema ; both were back'd with the authority of a council . what stir has been about the introducing and rejecting images ? what animosities and bickerings between stephen the sixth , formosus , theodorus the second , romanus , john the tenth , and sergius ? even such as would not suffer them to rest in their graves , without being taken thence dismembred , and thrown into tyber . the first nicene council allowed the marriage of priests and communion in both kinds : the later councils of constance and basil forbid the laity the use of the cup ; and trent interdicteth both marriage to the clergy , and the cup to the people . the general council of constantinople overthrows images , the second nicene decrees for them ; again , that of franckford under charles the great determines them idolatrous , and goes so far as solemnly to accurse the council of nice . the third council of carthage pronounceth him accursed that shall call himself universal bishop , and terms such an one the forerunner of antichrist . the tridentine assembly threatens in no lower phrase , all , whosoever do deny the pope that title ; which he could never scrue himself into , till ( the eastern patriarchs and their jurisdiction , now swallowed up by the turk , and the western empire weakned by its own divisions , gives him lieve still to think himself secure in it ) he drove on his ends , by striking such a bargain with phocas that murthering usurper . lastly , to draw off something from the opinion which may , i suspect , possess you of their perfect unity at present ( though their religion , consisting much in the shell of outward rites and performances , is more easily conspired in ) i shall let you see , how even since the famous definition of trent , as vasquez phrases it , their disagreements and differences are not inconsiderable . else , why could not that council declare what was its own meaning , when it was called on to arbitrate betwixt dominicus soto , and ambrose catherinus , who both were present at the drawing the canons , yet writ ( in books now extant ) irreconcileably concerning original sin , and the doctrine of justification . but those fathers had it certainly in design to speak ambiguously in most of their decrees , framing them so as every one might take them in a sence best suting to his own apprehension , and then forbad all manner of commentaries to be made upon them ; so their words were unisons , not regarding what differing crotchets were retained in their opinions , &c. now , for our selves , though i do infinitely bewail the differences amongst us ; it lessens my scandal at them every time i read the tenth chap. of s. matthew , since i am there told , what is ( through the fault of gain-sayers ) an ordinary consequence of the truths presence . perfect unity in opinion is the privilege of minds triumphant above , and the churches of the apostles themselves were some of paul , some of cephas , &c. if you will strain at a gnat , because you hear there are dissentions amongst us , and yet swallow such a camel as this , that the creed of every christian must be resolved into the present dictates of the roman church ; and that you ought not to question whether she tread in the good old paths ( a shift that some of her champions are driven to ) i must confess i am at a stand what to say to you . but let us by one particular , make a ghess what her posture hath been in the rest . the fathers of the first five centuries may , i think , with a safe confidence be affirmed to have intended nothing by their merita , but such a title to the recompence of reward , as is plainly co-incident in its meaning with our expectation of that crown which god , the righteous judge , hath laid up against the last day , for them that have finished their course , and kept the faith ; therefore are they well called by some certain seminaries of hope . and they were so far from any thought of a proportionate value or condignity , as they every where speak against it . when the high-soaring schoolmen hatcht that opinion ( since fledg'd and much improved by the industrious care of the jesuits with their adherents ) how unhandsome it appeared to men of sober minds , you may observe from that place of erasmus given you before ; two others the next epistle shall acquaint you with , and abundance more cited by the primate of ireland , and davenant , in the point . we will here lay together the judgment of theodoret and cyril of alexandria ; with the late positions of the rhemists ; then judge whether there be such a consonancy and identitie betwixt antiquity and rome at this day , as is pretended : the former tells us , that the salvation of men depends upon the sole mercy of god : for we do not obtain it as a reward and wages of our righteousness ; but it is the gift of god's goodness . the crowns do excel the fights ; the rewards are not to be compared with the labours , &c. and therefore ( says he ) the apostle called those things that are looked for , not wages , but glory , rom. 8. 18. and again , not wages , but grace , rom. 6. 23. although a man should perform the most absolute righteousness , things eternal do not answer temporal labours in equal poyse . the same is cyril's mind too : for he tells us , the crown doth much surpass the pains which we take . not a paying a price for labour , but pouring out the riches of his goodness , saith prosper . well , now hear the rhemists in another note . all good works done by god's grace after the first justification , be truly and properly meritorious , and fully worthy of everlasting life : and thereupon heaven is the just stipend , crown , or recompence , which god by his justice oweth to the persons so working by his grace , &c. and in another place they therefore will have us to think , that the word reward ( which in our english may signifie a voluntary , or bountiful gift ) is not expressive enough of the original which they will render better by a very stipend that the hired workman or journey-man covenanteth to have of him whose work he doth ; and is a thing equally and justly answering to the weight and time of his travels , rather than a free gift . but let them answer st. paul who calls it so , rom. 6. 23. and it were their best , in their next edition of their expurgatory indexes , to wipe out such pestilent places ( of former writers ) as will not suffer them to hugg their diana in quietness . thus you may discern in part , how unsafe it will be to take up religion upon trust , without laying the several poynts thereof to the square of gods word ; a course which the commendation fixed upon the bereans may incourage all men unto , and which i do ( god willing ) intend to make the subject of some future letters . letter ii. although it be an old received truth ; that discords in religion are the most bitter , and for the most part prosecuted with most violence ; i shall desire to contract , rather than widen , the differences betwixt us ; and ( leaving the out-works which fortifie our cause in other points we hold in opposition to the roman church , to stand a while upon their own guard ) set my self , at present , to the defence of that which is most oppugned by papists , against which the jesuites have raised their fiercest batteries ; i mean our doctrine of justification . our answers are so consonant in the first quaere , that , one would think we were almost agreed , and dispute at an end ; for this maxim is , as i conceive , imbraced on both sides , we are saved by grace but , . alas ! they have framed such strange comments , and affixed so perverse a definition to the nature of their grace , as will , and must needs , keep us at a grand and perpetual distance : * forasmuch as i have observed most of the objections brought in against us , to arise merely from a mis-understanding of that faith to which only we dare trust our justification ; i will in the first place sub-joyn it's nature and office in three propositions . first , the faith we desire to establish , is not a bare opinion , is not a mere notion , but it is a grace , a purifying , a cleansing , reforming grace of god's spirit . and though the principal and main act of faith be an accepting , receiving and resting upon christ alone for justification , by vertue of the covenant ; yet they who are effectually called and regenerate , have a new heart created in them , and are farther really and personally sanctified ; the dominion of the whole body of sin destroyed , the several lusts thereof by degrees mortified ; and they more and more strengthned in all saving graces to the practice of true holiness , without which no man shall see the lord. nor do we say that good works done by such an one are , of their own nature , sins ( as we are slanderously reported to do ; ) no , so far as they are good , they are the product of god's own spirit , and he approves them : but because of a mixture of imperfections , adhering to the best of men , in this life , and their works ; we think they are no better than the reeds of egypt , which if a man lean on them , with hopes of justice from them , will break and wound his sides . we are justified by faith alone without works ; not that works are separated from faith , or can be ; but only excluded from the act of justifying . a dead faith cannot justifie ; a living faith cannot be idle . the concurrence of works is certain , their agreement amiable , in the life of one justified : yet their contrariety irreconcileable in the procurement of justification . those terms rom. 4. 5 , 6. of justifying the ungodly , and of imputing righteousness without works , are not so to be taken , as if god ever did , or ever would , save any person , who resolved to continue impious , or contemn the practice of good works ; but they stand in opposition to all conceit of any justifying power in good works ; and may teach us , that no man's holiness can be such in this life , but he will at god's tribunal , stand in need of that covering , which st. paul fetcheth out of the 32. psal. and points out to us in ver . 7. ponder too ver . 8. and tell me then , whether you can conceal from your self the whole plat-form of the protestant doctrine in this point : for , the not imputing of sins , and the imputing of righteousness without works , make up the whole of our belief . secondly , a sinner is not justified by faith , as it is a quality which deserves remission of guilt , and the glory of heaven ; nor as it is by god's favourable acceptance , taken for the whole and perfect righteousness of the law ; but it justifies only with reference to its object christ ; faith being that grace which the soul makes use of to close in with him , receive , and imbrace the promises ; by it we are ingrafted into that olive-tree , and are made members of that glorious head. we do not here ( as some traduce us ) erect a justification merely supposititious ; or state , betwixt christ and the believer , only an imaginary relation ; but we hold the interest we have in him to be of most real and true participation ; forasmuch as ( having by god's effectual and gratious ordination , taken upon him the humane nature , so entirely put on ) he communicates ( by vertue of the mystical union through the covenant , whereto god the father , the son , and man , are parties ) really , his satisfaction and merits to all believers , joh. 6. 27. isa. 42. 1. heb. 5. 4 ▪ 5. jer. 31. 31. thus he who knew no sin , was made sin for us , and we not having any righteousness in our selves are made the righteousness of god in him , rom. 3. 26. who rose again for our justification , as he died for our sins . thus he is the justifier , and thus the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes , rom. 10. 4. let but faith be the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things un-seen ; whereby we receive and imbrace , as well as are perswaded of , the promises , heb. 11. suffer us but to draw consolation , by laying hold on the hope set before us , heb. 6. 18. let it be an eying of christ offering his body , shedding his blood , and fulfilling the law perfectly , as the church of england speaks in the homilies of salvation , very clearly ; let it be a fiducial recumbence upon our saviour in his whole mediatorial office ; which is , certainly , our duty , as well as privilege ; and we desire no more . heb. 12. 1 , 2. the free gift , which is said to come upon all men to the justification of life , is held forth as the immediate consequence and effect of that exact and complete justice which was in our saviour christ only , and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used , imports the very act of justifyng , or judicially pronouncing just , and not infusion into the soul of any habit of justice . we have no obscure intimation what righteousness is able to appear before god , in all those places where the scriptures ( treating of man's justification in his sight ) points out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the righteousness of god , affixing it to the very person of christ , and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as it were only derived from him , into the regenerate . thirdly , we are justified by faith in opposition to the righteousness of works , by fulfilling the law in our own persons , or else making satisfaction for what we come short . paul's disputations are levelled against the moral law , as well as the ceremonial , for in the point of justification he waves even that law , rom. 7. 12 , 13. which he terms holy , and just , and good , and which to other uses he is careful to establish . here again , if we consult the original , where the righteousness of the law is said to be fulfilled in us , we may ( by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rom. 8. 4. ( never applied to that inherent righteousness , which is our sanctification , but to that righteousness of christ whereby he satisfied the utmost demands of the law ) be guided through the labyrinth of disputes , to a right understanding of this unum necessarium : wherein having expatiated a little more than the brevity i at first proposed to my self would permit ; let me now represent to your view these three former heads , copied out in little. 1. faith is not an empty speculation , but an operative grace of god's spirit . 2. the righteousness wherewith we shall be clothed in the world to come , is both perfect and inherent . the former in christ , the latter in us . 3. the righteousness which is our sanctification is , indeed , inherent but not perfect . and 1. justificatio apprehensiva , called often justifying faith , is not properly justification , but an apprehension or knowledge of it . 2. justificatio effectiva , termed causal justification , none but christ can have a claim unto . 3. justificatio declarativa is by st. james styled justifying by works , as it is the manifestation or testimony of true conversion . thus those scriptures do sweetly agree , which say we are justified , sometimes by grace , sometimes by faith , sometimes by christ ; and , that once , by works . let us do evil that good may come thereof , rom. 6. 1. was the devil's rhetorick , in the mouths of licentious men , to bring an obloquie upon st. paul's doctrine of free grace : but , doubtless , satan is a more cunning sophister than to frame an argument of so much inconsequence as to say , continue in sin , that inherent grace may abound . whence i think , we may , not improbably , conclude , that nothing else is intended by all the preceding discourse , but the gracious act of almighty god , whereby he absolves a believing sinner at the tribunal of his justice , pronouncing him righteous , acquitting , and accepting him to glory only for christ's sake . thus when he had assigned to sin , its proper effect , due wages , and merit , death ; coming to speak of life eternal , we find no such terms in his mouth ; but he suddenly cuts off the file of his contexture , and calls it rom. 6. ult . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the free gift of god through jesus christ our lord. there is justification by remission of sins ; there is justification , by having the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us ; there is the justification of life , or the receiving that crown of life . all these are laid up in the person of christ for the use of his church ; and brought home to every true member by the hand of faith. there is , too , another sort of justification , viz. at the bar of conscience , and in foro humano , by works of righteousness which we are to do , after the pattern , but cannot do up to the measure shewed in the mount ; not for these , nor yet without these , can we have entrance into the desired rest. according to which we draw forth this abridgment of our belief and practice . in sanctification we renounce all our sins . in justification we renounce all our graces . in stead of this most holy faith once delivered to the saints , jude 3. and for the profession whereof rome was spoken of throughout the world , she has now introduced such a doctrine of works foreseen , of free-will , of works having merits of several sizes , before and after conversion , of works of penance and satisfaction , of suffering to the last mite in purgatory , of indulgences , pardons , and the like , of opus operatum , or the very doing the work , in holy duties ; as gets their entertainment in the world , by their consistency with the pope's ends of gain and power ; and by their obviousness and sutableness to the proud nature of man. 1. bellarmine and the rhemists go far , when they tell us , that the good works of just persons do merit eternal life condignly , not onely by reason of god's covenant or acceptation , but also by reason of the work it self . 2. maldonat a little more roughly affirms , that we do as properly and truly merit rewards , when with the grace of god we do well , as punishments when we do ill . so the progeny of catholicks and hereticks , a book full of cunning mistakes , and slander , gives us these as their tenents , that good works do truly merit and deserve grace in this world , and glory in the next ; that a man may perfectly fulfil and keep all god's commandments . which surely stands need of bellarmine to help it out , who hath this fine phansie . if , says he , i sin not when i love god no otherwise than in the first degree of love ; then i am not , in strictness , bound to love him more than so ; therefore if i do adde one farther degree of love , i love god more than i am bound to , and perform an act of supererogation . but we will think ( having so good a warrant for it , math. 5. 17 , 18. and 22. 37 , 38. ) that we are obliged to love the lord our god , with all our might . the terms of the gospel do not at all alter or mollifie the demands of the law ; only it shews how they are fulfilled by christ : who having the law transferred from us ( in our own persons ) unto his most sacred person , as mediator , performed ( for so it behoved him to do ) all righteousness , matth. 3. became the end of the law , for righteousness , rom. 10. and makes his true members just , by his obedience . bernard tells us , the law ( even under the gospel ) requires no less than obedience [ rectam ] according to rule ; all that is prescribed , and only what is prescribed ; [ puram ] free from blemish in manner and measure ; [ firmam ] steady for continuance without intermission . a yoak that neither we nor our fathers are able to bear . and august . in epist. 29. ad heron. charitas in aliis major , in aliis minor , in aliis nulla ; plenissima verò , quae jam non potest augeri , quamdiu hîc homo vivit , in nemine est ; quamdiu autem augeri potest , profectò illud quod minus est quàm debet , ex vitio est . the full mystery of their iniquity is held forth at large by the audacious vasquez , pretending fully to know the minds of the trent fathers , thus ; that good works of just persons are , of themselves , without any covenant or acceptation , worthy of the reward of life eternal , and they have an equal value of condignity to the obtaining of everlasting glory : that no accession of dignity doth come to the works of the just by the merits or person of christ , which the same works should not have otherwise , if they had been done by the same grace , bestowed , liberally , by god alone , without christ : that god's promise is annexed indeed to the works of just men ; yet it belongeth not to the reason , or cause why they become meritorious , but cometh rather to the works themselves , which are already so : that , after grace infused , our works are so perfectly meritorious of life , that it cannot be denied them ; therefore ( going on in terms wherewith i am almost afraid to black my paper ) says he , in vain do we require a continued imputation of christ's merits , or justice , after the receipt of inherent grace . agreeable hereto , is , what he tells us farther . they never request of god by the merits of christ , that the reward of eternal life may be given to their worthy and meritorious works ; but that by christ , grace may be given them , whereby they may be inabled worthily to merit that reward . that besides that imputation of christ's merits for the obteining of grace ; it 's not needful for atteining of life in heaven : and from that time forward , they do not expect any any other imputation , than what at first they did receive , viz. grace to keep the commandments and thereby become just . we will leave this man to his own inventions , when we have viewed him a while , fallen foul upon both the ancient and modern doctors , because they run not with him to the same excess in this business . i cannot but wonder , saith he , at those ancient school-men , whom i have named , that thought so meanly of our inherent justice , as that they were afraid to ascribe thereto , such a true existency of justice , as must , of its own nature , needs be pleasing to god. but ( goes he on ) i do much more admire the later divines , who after the famous definition of the council of trent , afford to the just so diminutive an inherent righteousness , as hath not , of it self , power to wipe off the stains of sin , unless they be eased or lightned by the favour and condonation of god : they both , adds he , if they be well weighed , do destroy the true essence of inherent justice , which the council , so much , set it self to hold forth and maintain . this confession , or rather complaint , of the jesuite , might save us a labour of culling out the testimonies of such learned men as , even through the umbrage of popery , had glimpses of so pure a truth ; since he grants , that if our works ( before or without the promise , covenant , or acceptation , of god ) were not worthy ; and ( after such promise ) became worthy ; it would thence follow , that to this dignification , arising from the promise , the application and imputation of christ's merits must , of necessity , intervene : a thing , it seems , he is afraid to discover . we are thus far of vasquez his mind , rather than of those other romanists ; that the promise of god does not affix any condignity to the works of the regenerate , by changing their quality , so as to render them , in themselves meritorious : but whereas he will have them not need such indulgence , we know they need much more ; and the tenour of god's promise to be this , that he will look upon christ , our mediatour ( who is the end ( or chief aim ) of the law , rom. 10. 4. for it was given with a design to drive us to him , gal. 3. 24. and is a yoak , which we nor our fathers were able to bear , acts 15. 10. ) and ( in contemplation of that righteousness he performed , in our nature , for us ) by vertue of the covenant of grace , deal with us and our works , so as the imperfections , which we acknowledge , and bewail in them , shall never come in sight . well-fare those men , ( if they can ) for the condignity of their services : it is enough for us ( under the sense of the skars and blemishes in our , too often , lame obedience ) to look up to the hills , from whence cometh our help ; and to shelter our selves under his feathers who hath healing in his wings . we will now hear what the old fathers of the new ( i mean the primitive ) church will say to this business . but let us take along with us the advice of vincentius lirinensis , who highly commends this way of confuting errors ; yet with this caveat : neither all ways , nor all kinds are to be impugned after this manner ; but such only as are new , and lately sprung ; whilst , by the straitness of time , they be hindred from falsifying the rules of the ancient faith , and before their poyson spreading farther , they attempt to corrupt the writings of the elders , &c. which i mention , not because i am diffident of their testimony , but to give you an hint that the policy of rome has been notorious in curtaling , expunging , depraving the fathers , yea , and foysting in new matter to many of their works . note , again , in what sence the word merit ( often indeed occurring in their writings , before ever that acception the jesuits , now , have it in , was dream'd of ) was used by them . it ordinarily imports no more , when they say merita , than if they had said opera ; and to merit , no more than simply to attain unto , or procure , without any relation , at all , to the dignity either of the person or the work. thus st. augustin saith ; paul for his persecutions and blasphemies , merited to be made a vessel of election : and cyprian , misericordiam merui , i obtained mercy . so gregory ; paul , when he went about to extinguish the name of our redeemer upon earth , merited to hear his words from heaven : and lest you have a conceit that he means of paul's works fore-seen : see the same manner of rhetorick concerning adam's sin , o happy sin that merited to have such and so great a redeemer ! meaning , that gave the occasion of his coming . and now i am to acquaint you with a secret has been hid from your eyes , by the cunningness of those you build your belief upon : st. chrysostome , cyprian , augustin , and the rest , will , i think in my conscience , prove as arrant hereticks as we ▪ for the first , peremptorily , affirms , against vasquez , that no man can shew such a conversation of life , as may be worthy of the kingdom , but this ( kingdom ) is wholly the gift of god : and in another place , although we did die a thousand deaths , and perform all vertuous actions ; yet we should come far short of rendring any thing worthy of those honours which are conferr'd on us by god. take one more of his : that one destitute of works should be justified by faith , might , perhaps , seem well to be ; but that * one , adorned with vertues and good works , should yet not be justified by them , but only by faith , is admirable . who would have thought good old chrysostom had so much dissented from the reverend society at rhemes ? who teach us another lesson : that good works are meritorious , and the very cause of salvation ; so far , as god should be unjust if he rendred not heaven for them . take the next testimony out of gregory , in the original , because there 's one word , whose just force and emphasis , as it stands , here , our english can , i think , but hardly reach . justus noster advocatus nos defendet in judicio , quia nosmetipsos & cognoscimus & accusamus injustos : non ergo in fletibus , non in actionibus nostris , sed in advocati nostri allegatione confidamus . when the day of judgment or our death shall come , saith hierom ; all hands shall fail , because no work shall be found worthy of the justice of god. that is a known place of augustin : he ( viz. christ ) is sin as we are justice , not our own but god's , not in our selves but in him ; as he is sin not in himself , but in us : and remarkable that of athanasius ; impossibile est puritatem & innocentiam in humana natura exhiberi , nisi deus credatur in carne fuisse , qui justitiam omni ex parte liberam in mundum introduxit . cujus quia participes sumus vivemus & salvabimur . illud enim , non est justus in terra , &c. in commune ad omnes pertinet ; unde ex coelo descendit qui immaculatam justitiam , ex se , daturus erat : no less this of gregory nyssenus in his oration upon beati qui esuriunt justitiam . it seems to me ( saith that father ) that our lord by mentioning justice , doth propose to the appetite of his hearers , his own self , who is made unto us wisdom from god , justice , sanctification , &c. that proverb , bernardus non videt omnia , may perhaps be true ; yet in this , omne tulit punctum ; he has hit the right nail on the head , and rivetted it in , so strongly , as not even the teeth of time shall be able to pull it out . we find in him , these words , fit to be writ in letters of gold ; i will make mention of thy righteousness only , for even that is mine too ; to wit , thou art made unto me justice ; i need not fear but it will serve us both ; it is not a short cloak that will not cover two , &c. we will ; here , take lieve of these stars of the first magnitude ; and come to those of later note in the church's constellation , that lived after the light of this doctrine had been clouded ; and set themselves to enquire how it came so , and to deliver their opinions more distinctly and apposite to the present question , than the ancient doctors could do , who had finished their course , before the corruption was discoverable , or the controversie started . but take in , as we pass , another instance or two out of the last named doctor ; it 's necessary , first of all to believe , that we cannot have remission of sins , but by the ▪ mercy or condonation of god. 2. then , that we cannot , at all , have any whit of good works , unless he give it . lastly , that by no good works we can merit life eternal , nisi gratis de●ur & illa . in another place thu● . if we must speak properly of that which we call merits , they are certain seminaries of hope , incitements of love , signs of secret predestination ; the way to the kingdom , not the cause of reigning : dangerous is the way and dwelling of those that trust in their merits ; dangerous , because ruinous . thomas waldensis , our compatriot , and the others contemporary , professes his utter dislike of that saying , that a man may by merits be worthy of heaven , or this grace , or that glory : however ( loe here their rise ) certain schoolmen had invented the terms of condignity and congruity . i do repute him , ( adds he ) the more faithful catholick , and more sound christian , more consonant to the holy scripture , who doth simply deny such merit ; and confesseth , that no man merits heaven , but by the grace of god , or will of the giver . as all the former saints , and whole church ( until the late schoolmen ) have written . here 's even enough to end withal ; yet wee 'l have one instance more of our truth , but romes falshood , and departure from the faith of her fore-fathers : we will bring it thus . our libraries were ordinarily stored with certain old instructions , and consolations to be used to departing sick persons ; out of which the spanish inquisitors thought fit to expunge these dangerous interrogations . dost thou believe to come to glory , not by thine own merits , but by the vertue and merit of the passion of our lord ? dost thou believe that our lord jesus christ did die for our salvation ; and that none can be saved by his own merits , or by any other means but by the merit of his passion ? uincentius his rule now appears prudent , when we have to deal with a sort of men that care not how they deal with old records , and endeavour , all they can , to make the tongue of an. tiquity to have a tangue of their novelties : and can frame new decrees , fathering them on old councils , as both hath , and may be proved . i shall shut up all with the result of two assemblies , and the astipulations of two eminent persons . the canons of colen in a set meeting establish the imputed righteousness of christ , as the formal cause of justification . we are justified , say they , two ways ; the one and first of which , is that absolute righteousness of christ ; not as it is clearly without us in him , but as , when it is , whilst apprehended by faith , imputed to us for righteousness ; this very same so imputed , is the chief and great cause of our justification . this was much , considering the time they lived in ; but better explained in that colloquy of ratisbon , whose words are ; though he who is justified , does receive inherent justice ; yet a faithful soul rests not upon that , but only upon the justice of christ , given to us , without which there can , clearly , be no justice at all . i mention these ( being soon after the reformation begun ) not as entirely reformed ; but as such unto whom , in this great point , the light of truth ( even to a good degree ) could not be hid . the next is a remarkable passage concerning ernestus arch-bishop of magdeburge , witnessed by his own chaplain clement schaw , who was present at his death , about five years before luther . a friar minor offered him consolation , thus ; take good heart , most worthy prince ; we do communicate to your excellence all the good works , not only of our selves , but of our whole order ; and therefore doubt not but receiving them , you shall appear before the tribunal of god , blessed and righteous . he replied ; i do not desire your works to any thing ; the works of my lord christ must wholly do it ; on these i relie . and bellarmine himself ( who spent so much time and sweat , in oppugning imputed , and propugning inherent grace , under the notion of condign merit ) was at last brought to say ; propter incertitudinem , &c. for the uncertainty of our works , it is the safest to put all our confidence in the sole mercy and bounty of god , and relie upon christ. which totally unravels again the thinn wrought covering , he had before ( with other jesuits ) patch'd up . thus have we followed this pure stream of living water , through the meanders of many ages of several constitutions , even to the confines of our own ; wherein , if you look at the present outward face of things , we may almost say , the enemy has got the upper hand . yet , praise be to god , we are not without many eminent and faithful labourers in his harvest , who , i hope , will leave it upon record , that the truth is not left without witnesses . and thus too , if you take it ( as we say ) at the right end , i have given you a testimony that i am , &c. letter iii. arising from , depending on , and subservient to the doctrine of meritorious inherent justice , are all those opinions of free-will , satisfactions , here and in purgatory ; prayer and sacrifices for the dead , indulgences ; and vendable pardons ; from the extreme grossness whereof ( when he saw those goodly advantages made the wager in a game at dice ) luther first took occasion to discountenance them . we think they are but as super-structures reared with untempered mortar , which we are sure will all as wood , hay , stubble , perish and be consumed by that fire , the spirit of burning , mentioned , isa. 4. 4. matth. 3. 11. 1 cor. 3. 13. and therefore , waving them ; the next point wherein i shall endeavour , if it may so please god , to rectifie your judgment , is that much controverted business of the sacraments . which are visible signs of invisible grace given , and conferred unto us ; instituted by christ himself , and ordained to be a means to receive , and a seal to confirm the same . let us review this definition , and draw from it some observations in the words of a learned author . many things do here occurr , which require a deep and serious consideration by those who desire throughly to understand the nature and essential parts of sacraments : for first , there must be a conferrence of grace , of which the sacraments are termed seals : ( yet this conferrence of grace , is not causatively , but instrumentally , not physically , but metaphysically in them . ) therefore those are not properly sacraments , which relate to any thing but matters of religion . by this argument is matrimony excluded from the list , as not being in it self considered a religious work , neither is any grace at all conferred or exhibited thereby . so that ( though marriage doth legitimate many ) one may say , it self is but a bastard sacrament . 2. next , these signs of grace ought to be subject to the senses : for so it seemed good to god , by sensible and external things , to lead by the hand , as it were , us who , for the most part , live by sense , towards intelligible , internal and spiritual matters : they must , farther , be visible and subject to the eyes ; hence absolution and ordination cannot fall within the number of sacraments , not having any visible element or material sign . thirdly , they are said to be ordained , and instituted by christ : signs they are by the institution of him , and not of their own nature ; he only , who created the elements , can by his word make of them sacraments : nor is it from the choice of men that the signs become sacraments ; but by the ordinance of god , who super-added the word to the sign . the relation is mutual , betwixt the word and the sign , as betwixt the form and the matter . the word as the form , the sign as the matter : conjoyn them , and they are a sacrament : by the word we are to understand the mandate of christ , enjoyning us to use them , and to expect spiritual grace thereby . so we think , we have good right to root out the other two , and whole five supernumerary sacraments : since confirmation and extreme unction have , indeed , the element but , wanting the word , ought not to be accounted sacraments ; since absolution and ordination have no element ; since matrimony has no promise of grace . and thus we may more than ghess at the just number of sacraments . wherefore laying aside the supposititious , we find but two sacraments of the gospel , baptism , and the lord's supper . in the first of these we have no dispute with the church of rome , but will i hope in some sort be cleared by our disquisitions concerning the latter , save about such trifles , as their mixing of salt and spittle , their exorcisms , their suffering women sometimes to administer it , &c. come we then to that which is , commonly , called the communion . how far the real presence of christs body is allowed by us , i shall in the first place declare . we are , then , to distinguish betwixt the outward and inward act of the communicant : in the outward , with our bodily mouths , we receive really the elements of bread and wine ; in the inward we do by faith , really receive the body and bloud of the lord ; that is , we are , truly and indeed , by vertue of the covenant , where the sacrament is a seal , made partakers of christ crucified to the spiritual strengthening of our souls . our adversaries of the roman perswasion have made such a confusion of these things , that ▪ for the former , they deny that after consecration , there remains any bread or wine at all to be received ; though paul does in my mind ▪ give a strong intimation , 1 cor. 11. 26. — 10. 16. that it is bread at breaking or distribution , at eating or participation . then for the second , they affirm , that the body and blood of christ is in such a manner present under the outward shewes of bread and wine , as whosoever receives the one ( be he good or bad , believer or infidel ) does therewith really receive the other . a tenent not consistent with that place in john 6. where our saviour saith , he that eateth my flesh , and drinketh my blood , hath eternal life abiding in him ; and i will raise him up at the last day . hence hath that reverend usher , ( often before quoted , in that answer to the jesuits challenge , where you may find many clear testimonies out of the fathers to this purpose ) framed this syllogism . the body and blood of christ is received unto life , by all that do receive it ; and by none unto condemnation . but that which is outwardly delivered in the sacrament , is not received by all , unto life ; but by many unto condemnation . therefore , that which is outwardly delivered in the sacrament , is not really the body and blood of christ. what was his last shall be my first proof out of st. augustin , handling this very place . the sacrament of this thing ( viz. of eating the flesh of christ ) is taken from the lord's table ; by some unto life , by some unto destruction : but the thing it self , whereof it is a sacrament , is received by every man that doth receive it unto life , and by none that is made partaker thereof , unto destruction . now , seriously , if protestants could adde no more arguments to this , and my self were as much an adorour of that way and church as ever i was ; i am perswaded that it alone had been sufficient ( by the blessing of god ) to have gained me to the reformed belief . but let us ponder well the words of institution . 't is true this is my body , and this is my blood , is the phrase used . but were not the sacraments of the old testament instituted with the same manner of speech ? this is my covenant ; and the slaying of the lamb called the passover ? the former is presently expounded by god himself , when he says , it shall be a sign of the covenant . the other is known to have been the commemoration of passing by the israelites when the first-born of egypt were slain . thus our saviour having said , this is my body ; goes on , this do , in remembrance of me , luke 22. 19. the disciples ( having been trained up to the meaning of the old sacraments ) could not ; and we ( if we will compare them with the new ) need not think the expression at all obscure . as the lamb was the passover , as the sign of the covenant was the covenant , as the rock was christ : so we acknowledge the bread to be his body . in the institution of the other part of this sacrament , the words are clear , matth. 26. he took the cup , blessed , and gave it them , saying : drink ye all of this , for it is my blood of the new testament , or , ( as st. paul and luke relate it ) this cup is the new testament in my blood. how is the cup , or that conteined therein , the new testament , otherwise than as a sacrament of it ? and , generally , for all sacraments the rule is thus laid down by st. augustin : if sacraments did not , some way , resemble the things whereof they are sacraments , they should not be sacraments at all ; for this resemblance they do often bear the names of the things : as therefore the sacrament of the body of christ , is after a certain manner the body of christ , &c. in another place he tells us the seven ears of corn were seven years , and the blood is called the soul of man , after the manner of sacraments . it 's evident , the fathers though they delighted to imitate our saviour's manner of locution , yet their meaning ( even when they followed the metaphor through large discourses ) were not dissonant from that of origen who , after he had playd the rhetorician , in this sort concludes : et haec quidem de typico symbolicóque corpore . if you will but observe what strange relations my authour gives ( you have full lieve to examine the truth of them , though for my part , i believe them ; ) what can you think ? but that some by-ended priests , the better to increase their esteem with the people ( such as marcus radbertus , damascen and amalalarius , there named ) wrought up the vulgar ignorance to an amazed admiration of those mens power , who could perform such great wonders , and were the makers of that they were taught to adore . in charles the bald's time , this phansie had got some ground , and several questions and debates arose about it : that emperour required ratrannus to deliver his thoughts upon it ; whereunto he obeyed , in such terms , as turrian the jesuite is forced to say , that to cite bertram ( so is ratrannus more usually named ) what is it else , but to say , the heresie , ( so he thinks fit to phrase it ) of calvin is not new ? one allfrick of malmesburie , in an homily writ 650 years ago , and publickly read on easter dayes before the communion , fully consents with the reformed churches herein : and in another book dedicated to woulstan arch-bishop of york , he says , the bread is christ's body , and the wine his blood , as manna , and the water out of the rock , mentioned by paul 1 cor. 10. 3 , 4. were of old to the israelites . by these and some others , was the right and true doctrine contended for , and in good measure held-forth ; ( though in the midst of those times , wherein knowledge , both as to the concernments of religion , and of humane literature , was at a low ebb ) till at length that council at lateran , anno 1215. decreed , that the body and blood of christ must be believed to be in the sacrament by transubstantiation i know . they will to this answer ; this council did but invent a significant word to express , what was before the tenent of the church : but i am in some hopes , what has been said , will convince you of the contrary : if not ; i wish i could prevail with you , laying aside prejudice , to peruse the never enough honoured primate , and a late well writ piece of doctor taylor 's . but what need we go farther for the sence of the words of institution , than that place , joh. 6. ver . 35. whereby our lord himself had prepared his disciples to receive them , plainly attributing the quenching of that appetite he desired to excite in them , unto faith , or believing . letter iv. let us , in the next place , use what means we can , to discover that fitting esteem , and value we ought to put upon the heavenly hoste ; i mean the blessed quire of angels and saints , who now rest from their labours , and reign with god. you shall find us ready , to afford them as much reverence and respect , as the word of god doth either commend or command ; and to deny them no honor , which the purest , or primitive times thought requisite to give them . we read , in the new testament , of divers who made supplications immediately to christ , rom. 5. 2. ephes. 3. 12. heb. 4. 16. john 2. 1. ( for he is by the wisdom of the father , appointed to be our intercessor and advocate ) but not of one that prayed to the blessed virgin mary , or other saint : and , with hierom , we fear not to say , non credimus , quia non legimus . we read farther of some who being forward to prostrate themselves before appearing angels , were prevented by a see you do it not , revel . 22. 9. we cannot but take notice of that interdictive precept which disswades us from voluntarie humilitie , &c. col. 2. 18 , 23. and , therefore , though we doubt not but those glorious spirits do rejoyce at any access of happiness that befals the church militant , or any member thereof : though we should grant that they are instant with god for the consummation of the felicity of his elect ; and that , perhaps too , they sollicite him , for the particular concernments of his servants here below : yet , invocation being a prerogative belonging to the great creator only , and intercession being an office affixed so clearly to the person of jesus christ only , we hold it safe for us , and no way derogatorie from them , to propose them to our selves , for our imitation , but not for our adoration . 2 chron. 6. 30. for thou ( lord ) only knowest the hearts of the children of men . if i had an express precept for it , really i would do it with all my heart , and i am perswaded i could be a great zealot in the way ; but in religious , as well as other affairs , sunt certi fines , quos ultra citráque nequit consistere rectum ; and will-worship is no venial idolatry . the church of rome has attributed so much of merit to the devotions , vows and pilgrimages made to saints , and their shrines ; that they have almost justled all other piety out of door , and drawn a dark cloud betwixt the eyes of the vulgar , and the offices , and functions of our saviour . whatever artifice is used by the great ones , to usher in this very gainful tenent unto the well-meaning sort of papists under the notion of dulia , a sort of worship , which they will have to consist of an under-qualification , to their latria ; yet the reverend davenant hath made it apparent enough , that the orisons , vows , dedication of churches , with altars , as they are , by romanists directed to them , are inconsistent with truth , reason , or practice of antiquity . and here i shall insert , what i promised in my first letter , an ejaculation so strange , that , methinks , it is sufficient to turn the stomachs of any , and make them ( nauseating so absurd a practice ) not swallow down all that 's offer'd to them as wholesome food . mary of portugal , wife to prince alexander farnezes , calls upon her husband in the church of scala to joyn in prayer to the blessed virgin , supplicating christ , that in obedience to his mother he would give them another son. this yet hath more of modesty in it than those particular applications to her in terms which erasmus ( a man that stood enough in awe of the churches name ) hath , as before is hinted , taxed of both vanity and novelty . such as this found in their psalters , compel him to have mercy upon us . i am resolved before i end this letter to rake together a huge bundle of such applications made to , and appellations obtruded upon her ( out of authors you will not disown ) as the wisest papists will , i believe , not approve , and the learnedst of them never can prove to be rightly used towards her . which may extenuate , if not excuse , the tartness of some of ours , who seem to have mingled a great deal of vinegar into their ink ; when they inveigh , not against her person , but the performance of such devoyrs as are not due unto her . yet first i will give you in a few places out of the fathers which speak my very thoughts , to the full , as to this point . epiphanius askes ; what scripture hath delivered any thing concerning this ? which of the prophets have permitted a man ( that i may not say a woman ) to he worshipped ? for a choice vessel she is indeed , but yet a woman . let mary be in honour ; but let the father , son and holy ghost be worshipped : this mystery is appointed , i do not say for a woman , nor for a man , but for god : the angels themselves are not capable of such kind of glorifying : although mary be most excellent , and holy , and to be honoured , yet she is not to be worshipped ; the virgin , indeed , was a virgin , and honourable , but not given unto us for adoration , &c. next origen against celsus , exhorts us to endeavour to please god , and to have him propitious unto us ; and if celsus will yet have us to procure the good will of any other , after him that is god over all ; let him consider , that as when the body is moved , the motion of the shadow follows it ; so , having god favourable , we shall have all his friends both angels and spirits so too . and in another place , thus : away with celsus his counsel that we must pray to angels ; for we must pray to him alone , who is god over all , and we must pray to the word of god his only son : we must intreat him , that he , as high-priest , would present our prayers unto his god , and our god. consonant to these ( besides a number more ) is st. ambrose ; a miserable excuse , says he , have they that think to go to god by these , ( viz. angels ) as men go to a prince by an officer : men go to a king by officers , because he is but a man , &c. but to procure the favour of god , from whom is nothing hid , we need to no spokesman , but a devout soul. behold here a three-fold cord so firmly twisted by the hands of three eminent doctors , as the strongest arm , no nor the united forces of the romish synagogue can untye , or break asunder . it 's true , that in the times of persecution , some men were so exemplary for their active zeal , and passive fortitude in the cause of god , and their memory was so precious to their surviving friends , scholars and auditors ; as , they conceived , it heightned their devotions to pray , and perform their religious services near their monuments , which sometimes they did ; yet addressed them only to god. and in their commemoratory orations ( such as , now , we have divers on the anniversary days of the dissolutions of certain extraordinary persons , especially in our universities ) recorded their praises in expressions , whereby the martyr was vocatus , but not invocatus ; where , the lord being pleased to give a gratious answer to their prayers , and to honour that christian profession , which those worthies had maintained unto the death ; men began , afterwards , to conceive that it was at their suit and mediation those things were effected ; and that therefore they were themselves to be prayed unto . the former part of which conjecture we need not much oppose , but with origen : we do think , that all those fathers who are departed this life before us , do fight with us and assist us with their prayers : and yet with the same origen hold fast the truth in opposition to the latter part , thus : all prayers and supplications , intercessions and thanksgivings , are to be sent up to god the lord of all , by the high-priest who is above all ; being the living word and god : for , to call upon angels ( we do not comprehend the knowledge of them , which is above the reach of man ) is not agreeable to reason : and if by supposition it were granted , that the knowledge of them might be comprehended ; that very knowledge , declaring their nature , and the charge over which every one of them is set , would not permit us to pray unto them , or any other but god. now for those strange apparitions and cures , said to be made at the places of their sepulture , or otherwhere ; whether it was so and so , or how it was , i am content with st. augustin ( knowing the way of god , in permitting such events to be inscrutable , and the wisdom of man , in making application thereof to be often meer foolishness ) they should remain the objects of my admiration , rather than the subjects of my scrutinie ; and i hold them , in some sort , able ( especially in the eyes of young believers ) to confirm a point which is consonant to the word of god ; but no proofs of any thing without or against it . deut. 13. and here it will be no unseasonable enquiry ; how it can be lawful for any sort or calling of men , to vaunt themselves , at all times impowered , to command unclean spirits ; or , by exorcisms , at their own arbitrement , to pretend to order them ? a device whereof the factors of rome do , at this day , make great advantage , and insinuate strangely into the minds of unstable people . we know the arm of the lord is not shortned , nor infeebled from what it was : we acknowledge , that he may , and sometimes does , exert his own almighty power , in a wondrous manner . we are not ignorant , that in the apostles days there were many extraordinary gifts , of which that of doing miracles , for the better settling of the infant church was one ; nor that their is a certain miraculous faith , which , pitching only upon the power of god as it's object , may be where there is neither truth of piety nor principles . but withal , we have observed that our saviour has told us how , at the last day , some should come before him and allege , they had cast out devils in his name , whom yet he would not own , matth. 7. 22. revel . 13. 14. we cannot forget that we are fairly warned of him , whose coming was to be in great deceiveableness of signs and lying wonders , 2 thess. 2. 9 , 10. and therefore think such unfit to be the over-rulers of our faith , especially where ( in the things they would perswade us unto ) they have not a , probable at least , concurrence of the written word . we cannot understand how those pretenders ( by vertue of any calling whereto it is always affixed ) appropriate to themselves the gift of doing such miracles , in the truth thereof , unless they will lay their claim to all ; and see , if they can perswade the world , they have the gift of speaking with strange tongues too . to enervate all arguments drawn from their practices in this ; there needs no other convincement than the frequent discoveries of most gross forgeries : of this sort ( to give in one for instance , omitting many that are of unquestionable record ) was that , accidentally made by bishop morton , in his journey towards london , when he found , the boy of bilson had been long trained up by the popish priests , and become a fit subject for those impostors to shew feats upon . but if we should say , satan himself may submissively comply with their designs , that go about to introduce a belief in others , suitable to the interests of his own kingdom : who could either question his forwardness to act in , or gods justice in permitting such a fraud upon those ( revel . 13. 14. ) who , neglecting the wells of salvation , whence flows the water of life , have merited to see strong delusions , that they may believe a lye , 2 thess. 2. 10 , 11. one , known to my self , altered his religion upon no better ground , than because , going in company with a papist , and a friend of his , thought to be possest ; the suppos'd demoniack imbraced him , and would not come near the papist . both st. augustine puts us in mind that men are sometimes led into great errours by deceiptful dreams , and that it is just they should suffer such things : and st. chrysostome giveth a good admonition that little heed should be given to the devil's sayings , in a case of the same nature with this we have been in hand withal . these are his words : what is it , then , that the devils do say ? i am the soul of such a monk : surely , for this i will not believe it , because the devil says it , for they do deceive their hearers ; and therefore paul silenced them , though they spake truth , acts 16. 18. lest taking occasion from thence they might mingle false things again with those truths , and get credit . and in another place . if this once were setled in mens minds , that many of those that are departed did come again to us ; for this cause god has shut up the doors , and doth not suffer any of the deceased to return ; lest he , taking occasion from thence , should bring in all his own devices . who can digest such relations as are made of st. theclae , that she may be yearly seen driving a fiery chariot , & c ? such was the pleasantness of dalisandus scituation , as both she in that , and other saints deceased , rejoyced much in the like solitary places . that she was after her death much delighted with oratory and poetry ; rewarding alipius , a grammarian ( for aptly answering her in a verse of homer , which seemed to ascribe to her an all-discerning and universal knowledge ) with the present cure of his desperate sickness . can these be lookt at any otherwise than as the froth of an idle brain , writ on purpose , to help forward those superstitions , whereof the pope has since made very advantagious uses ? the primate of ireland hath evidenced how clear the first ages of the church were herein ; by what steps the errors received growth ; and how much , and how long the difference was betwixt the former ( even when declining ) times , and the stupendious height the romanists now have flown to in these later days . when bonaventure in his psalter ( amongst his works ) printed at rome , anno 1588. could think it reasonable where david advances the honour of our lord , to turn all ( by a simple conversion indeed ) unto the honour of our lady . out of which i thought to have given you a long bead-rowel ; but this letter having out-grown my first purposes , i 'l only call out some of the most notorious expressions . we will begin with the first . blessed is the man that loveth thy name , o virgin mary : thy grace shall comfort his soul. judge me , lady , for i have not departed from mine innocencie ; but because i will trust in thee , i shall not be weakned . blessed are they whose hearts do love thee , o virgin mary : their sins by thee shall be mercifully washed away . have mercy upon me , o lady , who art called the mother of mercie , and according to the bowels of thy mercie , cleanse me from all mine iniquity . lady , the gentiles are come into the inheritance of god ; whom thou by thy merits hast confederated unto christ. god is the lord of revenges ; but thou , the mother of mercie , dost bow him to take pitty . and what will you say to him that quotes the places in your own authors , which affirm that the blessed virgin appear'd twice in the place of two nuns , the fruit of whose wantonness would not suffer them to endure the probation ? 't is dr. du moulin , in his accomplishment of prophecies . till you disprove him , suffer me to stand amazed at so prodigious a relation . if here be not enough to fright away your affection ; i shall think , that religious love is blinder , than ( we use to term ) carnal . letter v. what hath been said , as to the invocation of saints , will necessarily lead us on to make some enquiries into the lawfulness of the adoration of images ; a practice , which seeing it is every where spoken against in the old testament , and has not so much as one syllable to countenance it in the new , we may justly wonder , how it could gain so much ground , even as to set a foot on , in the christian church ; especially since the ancient champions and defenders of the faith did so strenuously oppose it . when adrian the emperour had commanded , that temples should be made in all cities without images , it was presently conceived , he did prepare those temples for christ ( as the primate of ireland noteth out of aelius lamprid. in the life of severus ) which is an evidence , that it was not the use of christians , in those days , to have images in their churches . and soon after , in the time of the great constantine , the voice of a whole council , that of illiberis in spain , decries them ; which hath so troubled the minds of our late romanists , that melchior canus sticks not to charge them , not only with imprudence , but also with impiety , for making such a law as this . ambrose in his epistles to valentinian tells him , and us , that god would not have himself worshipped in stones . in another place , that the church knoweth no vain idaeas , nor divers figures of images ; but the true substance of the trinity . what amphilochius said , to this purpose , is memorable : we have no care to figure by colours the visages of the saints in tables , because we have no need of such things , &c. what epiphanius did , more remarkable ; take it in his own words . i found there , viz. in the church of anablatha , a veil hanging in the door , dyed and painted , having the image as it were of christ , or some saints ; for i do not well remember whose image it was . when , therefore , i saw this , that contrary to the authority of the scriptures , the image of a man was hanged up in the church of christ ; i cut it , and gave counsel to the keeper of the place , that they should rather wrap or bury some dead man in it . and afterwards he entreats the bishop , under whose government that church was , that no such veils might be suffered . that we may not leave epiphanius alone , let us joyn to him serenus bishop of marseiles ( who brake down the images in his church , because he found they drew the people to idolatry ) and then view the fierce contentions that arose about this matter ; three hundred thirty and eight prelates at constantinople , solemnly condemning all image worship , anno 754. and about thirty three years after , something more in number , that advanced it , at nice ; though to the dissatisfaction of the best part of the christian world , as was demonstrated by the resolutions of the council at franck ford , an. 794. in france the doctors declared as much , an. 824. as our english had before done . we cannot here sufficiently wonder at the frontless impudence of that double renegado , mar. anton. de dominis , aliàs the bishop of spalato , who would bear the world in hand , that the christian church , even the most ancient , the whole , and the universal , without any opposition , or contradiction , did with wonderful consent worship images . by many passages , as well as this , you may , if you please ; or , to speak better and more near the truth of the case ( for it 's a strange slavish credulity under which the church of rome would yoke up her disciples ) if you dare , easily see , they care not with how many untruths they temper the lime , wherein they mean to catch their deceived proselytes . if yet you will plead for the use of images , as not worshiping them , but god , or the saint they do represent ; and argue for them , under the notion of instructing the ignorant by the eye : be intreated to consider , whether what has already been said , doth not quite overthrow that end ; and whether , in the judgments of those , whose sentence we have laid before you , the ignorant would not be in more peril of idolatry by them , than otherwise . indeed they had never been tolerated so much as they were , unless they had crept in by that pretence of being lay-mens books ; but , because they proved rather their bane , they are , with justice enough , rejected . there is one consideration which relates to our saviour alone , from whence i cannot but think it 's very absurd to make his image . as he is to us a jesus , it was necessary to unite both the natures , divine and humane ; why then should we hold it convenient , to fix him before our eyes , and consequently in our minds , by halfs , when we go to speak to him , to perform his office of mediator to the father for us ? the custom of representing god the father like an old man , is so gross , as , i hope , you will not put me to disprove it ; if you do , i shall only mind you , it was he asked moses , whether he had seen any image in the mount , and so left him with cave ne facias . how fair soever you may think the intentions of papists may be in their use of images , i am sure 't was fowl play to leave the second commandement quite out , and the fourth reduced to , remember thou sanctifie the holy days , as my self have , to my amazement , seen it in some of their catechisms . speak truth , and tell me , does it not smell rank of some design ? but , i think , i was once informed , it was for brevities sake . alas , within two small leaves after , or not many more , i found , i know not how many commandements of the church , laid in equal ballance with those of sinai . doubtless they had a mind to instill into the apprehensions of the vulgar , such notions of image worship , and saint adoration , as the too common sight of those precepts would not a little have discountenanced . but i will leave this under your consideration , to ask the romish church , how she will piece together those rents , which her members ( by the ears , about the manner and nature of that worship due , as they say , to images ) have made in her coat , which she would have thought to be seamless : and she must be careful too , since it is a main article of her faith , to draw it up so dexterously , as protestants may not discover where the slit was , lest they get an hole in 't , do what she can . durand and his followers , not a few , could be content ( honest men ! ) only to worship god , or the saint , represented by the image : but , for this , friar pedro has mark'd them with the black coal of parcel heresie ; and francis victoria minceth it not at all , calling it plain heresie . i shall conclude this discourse in wonder , what is meant by granting pardon of sins to all who wore a medal of the queen of heaven , as famianus strada tels us , the pope did ; and what they meant , whom erasmus blames for placing confidence in the wearing of st. christopher's image to prevent sudden death . the naming of that author brings to my memory a sad story of his ; and i cannot end , before i have help'd him to lament the fate of his acquaintance , ludovicus berquinus , who after a long imprisonment at paris , was at the last burnt , i know not , whether for any greater crimes , than because he had taught , that it was necessary for the increase of piety , to have the holy scriptures in the vulgar tongue , read by the people . that it was incongruous to invoke ( a thing it seems usual in those times ) the assistance of the virgin mary , instead of the holy ghost , by those that were going to preach . that she could not fitly be called the fountain of all grace ; nor ( as they had it commonly in their evening songs ) our hope , and our life , since those eulogies were more properly the right of her son. certainly that blessed mother of christ , if she now at all resent things below ( for you must suffer me to hold it disputable , since i find nazianzen doubtful in the case ) is far from taking any pleasure in addresses of this nature . this last , it 's true , ought to have come in more seasonably in the former letter : but it 's no matter what place it have here ; so that it may gain so much room in your thoughts , as to keep thence such vile guests , these opinions . and , me thinks , if you weigh these things well , you must needs either become no papist , at all , or hold your self , not yet popish enough . thus you have it laid before you , how , 1. we look at rome as sometime a famous , but now a miserably depraved church . 2. we account good works necessary in the person justified , but not to his justification . 3. we , in a sound sence , retain the real presence , but reject transubstantiation . 4. we reverence the saints departed , but dare not adore them . 5. we forbid not absolutely the making of all sorts of images , but cannot be perswaded to worship any . christ himself hath , luke 4. 8. told me ( and i dare not but take his word for it ) that i must worship and serve god only ; and that not represented by any similitude , deut. 4. 15. letter vi. since his word , who was from the beginning both the word and god , is our early warrant for it , whatsoever the church of rome can say to the contrary , we hold it our duty ( and rejoice in the privilege ) to search the scriptures ; for those , he hath told us , are they that testifie of him , john 5. 39. and in them we look to have eternal life , 7. 17. though the well be deep , lett-down the bucket of a conscionable , fervent , unbyassed , pious , humble address to the almighty , and , my life for yours , you need not fear miscarrying . it must needs be confest , and had no less need be lamented , that many , of impertinently-curious , contentiously-inquisitive , politickly-subtil , and unstable minds , do daily wrest some things to their own destruction , and the perversion of others ; but this is a personal deviation , and ought to increase our care , not to abate our constancy in doing that which is an absolute and positive command . if it had not been so , i cannot believe that the bereans would have had such a mark of nobleness put upon them for their searching the scriptures daily , whether those things were so ; nor would st. chrysostome , applying his speech even to the shop-keepers and mechanicks of his time , have lifted up his voice like a trumpet in this ingeminated note , get you bibles , o ye people , get you bibles . so that all that will fall within our present dispute , is concerning the number of those books which are to be held for canonical ; wherein we must necessarily suffer our selves to be ruled much by the usage and custom of the primitive church , not having any clearer certain enumeration of them in holy writ ; though the last little chapter of malachi , pointing so directly to the sun of righteousness , who was the expectation of all nations , and to his fore-runner , the baptist , may seem to have been designed for the period of those that were to be before his coming . our saviour himself divides all scripture into the law and the prophets , luke 16. 29. but none of the apocryphal books were writ by either . we retein the same canon of scripture which the christian church received from the jews , unto whom were committed the oracles of god , being therein , as st. augustin terms them , our library-keepers . they never had deposited to them those books which are called aprocryphal ; whereof epiphanius saith , they are profitable , but yet not reckoned amongst those that are by the church held canonical ; and were not laid up with aaron's rod , nor in the ark of the new testament ▪ isidore flies as high as i would desire any man to do , where he tells us ; although there is some truth to be found in them , yet propter multa falsa , for many things that are not so , they are not of divine authority . melito bishop of sardis , having drawn , at the instance of onesimus , a catalogue of the books of the old testament , makes no mention of judith , tobit , ecclesiasticus or the maccabees ; though he professeth to have made a very diligent search ; as witnesseth eusebius ; who affirms too , that origen , as he received the canon of the jews , viz. 22 books , so he rejected those that we admit not of . so st. hierom , who was a great linguist , and was not without the best helps to further his quest , after he had laboured much , nominates all those books which we make use of ; and afterwards denies that any but they are impowered to prove or confirm a point of doctrine . that council of carthage , where augustin was present , commanding that none should be read in the church , as canonical , but such as were indeed so , leaves out the maccabees ; and as for wisdom , ecclesiasticus , judith , &c. that father gives us to understand , they were reputed no part of the jews canon , which he determines to be most authentick . peruse , i pray , and believe , if you cannot confute , what doctor cosin has lately held forth unto us , that the council of trent first drest up a new additional canon , whereon to build their religion ; equalling the apocryphal writings and traditions of men , to the sovereign dictates of god , and allowing them the same power in fideal contests . with how much reason we deny to the bishop of rome the sole superintendency , and in what sort we decline all humane writings , and councils ( whilst yet we willingly subscribe to this , that they are of singular use ) for the absolute decision of such like controversies , you may best learn out of the right reverend davenant his tractate de judice & norma fidei : and i forbear to quote any thing from thence here , because i would put you upon the perusal of the whole ; which you may do at a small and wise expence , both of money and time , i will take lieve at present of you , when i have told you in the words of that golden mouth'd father : that whatever is necessary , is in the holy scriptures manifest , and they are the most exact ballance , rule and square of divine verity . in them the lamb may with no less safety wade , than the elephant swim . though it may seem to stand like an independent to this place , i shall here lie before the reader , a collect ( which came to my eye , in a missal , or , at least , an authorized prayer-book ) so gross , as i could not have imagined : thus it runs , per thomae sanguinem , quem pro te impendit , fac nos ascendere quò thomas ascendit . and all this of our becket , who surely does not merit , either to be concluded a fit saviour , or a good subject ; however odious their part was , who slew him ( with that aggravating circumstance ) in his own church . letter vi. my task in this is not so much to make good our doctrine ( which so soon as understood aright , stands clear upon its own basis ) as to wipe off the calumnies which our adversaries do very disingenuously endeavour to load us withal ; whilest they frame themselves , and would obtrude upon us , such positions , as have indeed no being at all , but in the apprehensions , and mouths of those bitter antagonists ; and if one of their great accusations could be justly fastened upon us , it would certainly stop our mouths for ever , and spread our faces all over with confusion . but , if there be any , in these worst , and giddy times , that dare flatly say , god is the author of sin , 't is a poyson they have like enough suck'd even out of the popish volumes ; for they were the first ( though only with design to make protestants odious ) that brought the world acquainted , and that in print , with such conceits : their own hands have both put on , and scrued up ( even to a note beyond ela ) those strings which are of harsh sound , and make a jarring discord in our ears . if you turn over our publish'd authors , weighing their greatest latitude of expression in an equal ballance , you may , i believe , observe the word of god himself running parallel with them . for which of them has gone about to interess our ever holy creator in the sinfulness of any action , otherwise than as they cannot be perswaded , that the most remote event doth escape the all-discerning eye of his prescience , or outreach the arm of his almighty power ? compare 2 sam. 24. 1. with 1 chron. 21. 1. you may then discover , how god is said to move , and satan to provoke david unto that act of numbring the people , in a forbidden , and therefore sinful way : the first did it only permissively ( forasmuch as he did foreknow it , and , if it had stood with his will , could have prevented it ) the other so , as he really had an hand in its pravity , and a partnership in the guilt . it 's here , i confess , that we ought to put on abundance of fear and trembling ; that we must cloath all our words , and our very thoughts in a profound and cautious reverence . but since the protestant doctrine of predestination , rightly understood , makes very much for the consolation and establishment of a christian ; let us not refuse to make such modest enquiries thereinto , as may repel those invenomed arrows , even bitter words , wherewith some ( who will needs pervert our order in handling this point ) do incessantly molest us , and strive to fasten a sad reproach upon an innocent cause . we are far , even as far as any papist or arminian can be , from thinking that the motions of sin invade the soul by the impulse of our holy , merciful , and good god ; yet we do so much adore his wisdom , and power ( attributes no less essential in him than the other ) as we know all events are within the verge of his cognisance , and do not fall out otherwise , than as it seemed good unto him . adam , who laid not , as we , under original guilt and stain , might blame his wifes perswasion , she , the deceit of satan ; but his deviation could no way reflect upon god ; for it was not by nor through the divine decre , but only according to it : and though it cannot be denied , but god did permit the fall ( because he foreknew , and if it had stood with his determinate counsel , could have prevented it ) yet the delinquency of that common root of mankind ( in whom we all have sinned ) was a voluntary , free and uncompelled action : he came out from under the hand of his creator , upright and undefiled ; but he sought unto himself vain inventions : he tasted sowr grapes , and our teeth are set on edge ; and it 's now true ( what augustin , i think it was , affirmed long ago ) man sins necessarily , yet freely . thus far , even as far as to , and beyond the beginning of time , we are to look back , if we must have a reason for the almighty's dispensations to the children of men ; and there we shall presently find ( i use the words of the last named father , quoted by mr. yates , in his model of divinity , pag. 257 , 258. ) that we all are , as it were , one mass or heap of sin , liable to divine wrath ; which whether god exact or remit , there is no iniquity with him : of the twins , esau and jacob , the one is taken and the other left ; their ends are different , their deserts alike : let none argue god of injustice , if he render to one his merited punishments , and do bestow upon the other immerited favour . that there is an election , no body will , i think , gain-say ; that that election is not grounded upon foreseen faith or obedience , i shall , i hope , before i end this letter , demonstrate ; and that it is the exceeding greatness of god's own mighty power , ( ephes. 1. 19. ) whereby any man is brought from being dead , in trespasses and sins , to become alive unto god. the wisdom of the church of england , in her 17. article , layeth down the doctrine of predestination thus far very clearly ; and doth not so much as name that other part , which the disputes of men call reprobation , leaving us to conceive , that the one is the meer just negation or denial of the special grace , and immerited favour , which is mercifully bestowed on the other . faith is the effect of election , but infidelity not so of reprobation ; for there is no efficient , but deficient cause of unbelief . god's eternal purpose , his foreknowledge , his election are acts of his all at a time and before all time : the first news that comes to us of these things , is in his effectual calling ; here , and here only , it will become us to prove and examine . election is an action of the father , means . in the son , according to the dispensation of means . by the holy ghost , for the consummation of means . to faith the instrument of applying those means . upon man the object of his mercy through means . by the same decree , and from the same eternity hath god ordained all the means to every end , respectively , and those means to lead unto that end ; so that none can further assure themselves of the end , than they are careful to use the means . he that takes his aim by the means need not fear to fail of the end ; but he that by a preposterous haste to see the end , looks and leaps over the means , can expect nothing but a fearful and destructive end . in reprobation ( the reverend davenant choseth rather to term it non-election ) none of the sacred and undivided trinity are interessed farther , than that god contracts his hand , and suffers man to remain overwhelmed under the ruine he hath brought upon himself . election communicates good things to the creature immediately ; reprobation only forbears to confer those good things upon some men ; yet brings not upon them the evil of punishment but in contemplation of intervening sin. man as fallen is the proper object of predestination , and the fall of man is an annexed condition which god looks at , both in the elect whom he snatcheth , by his free mercy , as brands out of the fire , and in the reprobate , whom he leaves under a conviction as great as their crimes or sufferings . of this we draw a resemblance , not from an horse already lamed by his owner , and then beaten for not going sound ( as our adversaries , the more to facilitate to themselves an imaginary victory , will have it ) but from a man holding a greyhound in a slip , and suffering him to pursue an hare ; the man , sure , did not plant in the dog his rapacity or thirstiness after the blood of that animal ; neither did he endue him with the faculty of running ; only he did not with-hold him . thus , say we , was it the voluntary transgression of adam , arising from his own free choice ( for he was created upright , and left by god capable of continuing so ) which introduced upon the whole world , his successors ( since in him we all have sinned ) such an enmity , as god was no way bound to restrain ; and out of this perdid and lost heap none , we think , can come , but such as the father is pleased to draw , according to the good pleasure of his will. when we come to heaven , we shall know even as we are known , and perhaps see into the bottom of this abyss : in the mean time we must rest content with our partial knowledge ; yet acknowledge this for truth , ignota possit esse , non injusta causa . our saviour christ's satisfaction takes in the common lump of humane nature , making it capable of redintegration with god , and a fit subject for mercy ; a thing denied to the fallen angels , whose nature he assumed not ; and , without which , none of humane race , no more than they , had been within possibility of salvation . his intercession ( that other part of his priestly office ) makes particular application of that benefit , and brings it home to those the father hath given him , even to as many as the lord our god shall effectually call. these know , they are to give him the glory of his works in them and for them : whilest those that are left to their own devices know too , they justly suffer ( for those wickednesses they have adhered to , and perpetrated of their own accord , and with full bent of will , so as they must needs say , ex me perditio mea , hosea 13. 9. ) let those whom this will not satisfie , ponder what is written for their learning , and to stop their mouths , rom. 9. 20. we willingly grant , we are so much dissatisfied with their doctrine of justification , which they place in inherent righteousness , that we think we do well when we oppose it in the first seeds thereof , the opinion of free-will . is it not enough to say , that when god hath , in the first act of conversion , made the will free indeed , by quickning , enabling , rectifying , reforming it , then it acts , and operates , according to its true , proper , and original principles , in some good measure , and is , forthwith , not meerly passive ? or must we hold , that he only proposes to the depraved will of man , the choice of life , or death , and leaves him room to sacrifice to his own net , in case he miscarry not in the election ? is 't not safe to hold , that , in the commission of sin , man's will acts of it self ( as never since the fall of adam in a posture to do otherwise : ) but in the performance of good , god acts by it , effectually restoring its lost faculty ? or shall we take out of the crown of the almighty's prerogative , so fair a flower as that of election , by saying , he offereth the means of salvation alike , to all , both in their sufficiency and efficacy ? uue all know that man is not drawn up to heaven ( as the bulk of a tree from the place where it grew , with a team and strength of oxen ) by the cords of an absolute violence ; we think not , that god so compels him to come in , as he has ( through the whole ) neither sense , nor motion , or acts not in the duty : but we say with saint augustine : to will , god works without us ; but when we do will , and so will that we act , god co-works with us . uue say not that any is made a believer without free-will ; yet are we made believers only by his grace that freed the will. we do not absolutely deny the freeness of the will ; but we deny that the will is free of it self . for , whether out of a true judgement it move one way , or out of a false another ; yet , in both , it moves naturally , in a manner sutable to its own condition ; either as depraved in it self ; or freed by god's effectual operation . those very things which he himself works in the soul , he produceth in it by such allurements and threats , expostulations and adhortations , as are sutable unto , and fit to move a rational creature , and make the will follow without constraint . for that power of god which subjects a man to christ , comes not by moral perswasion only , nor yet by violent impulses ; but is sweetly tempered to the disposition of the will it self ; which is so drawn with these cords , as that it cannot resist , because it cannot but yield . none of those scriptures ( usually brought in opposition ) are such conditions , whose effects stand determinable by man himself : but they are such motives as god makes instrumental , to accomplish his own purposes , and manuduct us to our duties . this obviates all contrary reasonings , drawn from some passages in holy writ , clearly reconciles those with other parts of the same undoubted verity ( unpossible to be done by any other doctrine ; ) and ascribes most glory to god , bottoming all our rejoycing only in him , wherein there is no danger . mr. gery , a late writer , explicates this in a fivefold order . first , saith he , though we have no power , now , to turn , since we are fallen in our first parent , yet he , and we in his loins , might have stood : and therefore it 's no severity in god to require that at our hands , which he once gave us , both a command , and power to do . 2. god's commands , as ( since that ) directed to us , do not alway import what we can do , but what we should ; they do not argue , ever , our ability , but our duty . 3. god requires it , though we cannot perform it of our selves , to put us in mind of craving his aide . 4. god's end in this proceeding is to excite us to joyn in with such means as are by his appointment conducible and available thereunto . fifthly and lastly , such commands aim not only at our first conversion ; but at our secondary and subsequent returns to god , upon our prevarications from him , and after the first infusion of his grace ; when , we grant , the will hath some power and ability to co-operate , but not at all before . they who would introduce that free-will , which will not down with us , besides many other pernitious consequences , put upon themselves a necessity of holding ; that sufficient means is afforded to all , whereby they may come to salvation if they list : than which , what can be uttered more alien to truth ? for , how great a part of the world do we know not to have any means at all ; not any , either notional as to the adult , or foederal interest as to infants , amongst them . if you admit of original sin either in the guilt , or contagion it brings upon mankind , we have there a sufficient ground for god's election of some , and dereliction of others ; since the whole lump being equally subject to wrath , it 's mercy and mere grace that saves any . if you deny it , why are children , who have not yet sinned according to the similitude of adam's transgression , subject to death , which had never invaded the world , but for sin ? i use st. paul's way of arguing , in a case much like this , rom. 5. 13 , 14. where he proves the obligatory power of the law to antecede the promulgation of it by moses , from this very ground : or , how would such children be under a necessity of regeneration , as all are declared to be ? john 3. 5 , 6. but , if it be true , as needs it must , even by this last proof , that we have a delinquencie and vitiousness of nature too about us , even from , and in the womb ; how can the will be free to any thing but evil , till it be healed , rectified , and made-a-new by god. there is no hope , that a sinner of himself , no nor by any arguments ( and , as i conceive , the papists with the arminians , allow to the grace of vocation no more but a moral swasion , or probable inclination of the will , which they say , the outward preaching of the words may effect ) should be won over to like the motion that christ makes , so long as the ground of the dislike remains in man's earthly , sensual , and devilish nature , james 3. 15. first therefore , god , by his spirit , makes approach to the understanding , and on it puts forth an act of illumination ; he beats out a window in the soul , and lets in light from heaven , renewing the spirit of the mind in knowledge , ephes. 4. 23. with coloss. 3. 10. secondly , an act of conviction , which is a reflection of that light , formerly wrought , in the understanding upon the conscience : by it we feel the weight and force of those truths we know . thirdly , an act of renovation , whereby he doth both powerfully and sweetly incline the will to accept of christ , and to make a free , deliberate choice of him : without any compulsion , other than such , as wherewith the soul cannot chuse but most willingly go along . and certainly , they stand upon very hard terms with god almighty , who are loth to ascribe to him as much as this comes to , in a work which is not brought to pass without his exceeding great and mighty power , ephes. 1. 18 , 19. and take the sum of all , that i desire should be lookt at as my belief , in reference to those points here touched , from no less orthodox a pen than st. augustins : many hear the word of truth , but some believe , others do contradict . therefore these have a will to believe , the others have not . who is ignorant of this ? who would deny it ? but seeing the will is to some prepared by the lord , to others not ; we are to discern what doth proceed from his mercie , and what from his judgement . that which israel did seek , saith the apostle , he obtained not : but the election hath obtained it , and the rest were blinded . behold mercy and judgement ; mercie in the election , which hath obtained righteousness of god , but judgement upon the rest that were blinded : because they would not , did not believe , mercy , therefore , and judgement were executed even upon the wills themselves . thus far he . but because a verse may take him , that has not patience for a long discourse , hear prosper , astipulating this truth , that god powerfully leads man in the first act of conversion . non hoc consilio , tantùm , hortatúque benigno suadens , atque docens , ( quasi norman legis haberet gratia ) sed mutans intus mentem atque reformans : vásque novum ex fracto fingens , virtute creandi . till i considered upon what foundation the doctrine of perseverance was built , and with how many cautions it is strongly impaled , i was as forward as any to cry out , there was by it an open gap made for men to leap out at , and beyond the bounds of that fear and trembling , with which we are exhorted to work out our salvation . but when i found that there were many cases wherein a christian must needs lye down in darkness , sorrow , and despair too ; notwithstanding all the sparks of comfort , which can any way arise from the collision of his own thoughts with his greatest measure of charity and obedience ; or , from any support offered from a weaker arm , than that of the almighty : and especially , when i find so many places in the word of truth to countenance it ; i am almost induced to make a question , whether he that questions the truth of this tenent , did ever truly know what it means . those that may seem to make against it , are either directed to whole churches ( which in the future succession of professors , may fall away ) or do speak of common illuminations , or outward works of righteousness . to say , that one may at this instant be truly a member of christ , and , dying now , received into glory ; yet , living but a while longer , may drop off from that incorporation , and perish for ever , hath , surely , in it something of derogation from him , whose gifts and callings are said to be without repentance , rom. 11. 29. isai. 54. 8. john 15. 16. it 's true , if the spring-head of our adoption were laid in our free-will , our assurance could mount no higher , than a level proportionable to that : but we have this aqua perennis , this water of life given us to drink , by one who hath annexed thereto a promise , joh. 4. 14. and whoever eateth that manna which came down from heaven , hath eternal life , and shall be raised up , at the last day , john 6. 54. here is both meat and drink prepared and fitted to become the nutriment of an immortal soul ; and in case of accidental wounds or distemper ( such as wherewith our common enemy , and many inbred traytors do conspire to infest us ) the good samaritan , and great physician ( able , willing , and ever at hand , near to all such as call upon him ) can cure our imperfections , heal our back-slidings , and receive us graciously . why ought we not then to be perswaded that he who hath begun a good work in us , will perform it until the day of his coming ? heb. 12. 2. he is the finisher as well as the author of our faith ; ( and in his power , onely , it is that we found our confidence of being kept unto salvation . ) since we are often call'd upon , to examine our selves , whether we are in the faith ; and may know the things that are freely given us of god ; i cannot but wonder at those men , who hold it either impossible ( without an extraordinary revelation ) or unnecessary to discover whether a man be , at any time , himself in god's favour or no. indeed the fulness of perswasion is more commended , than commanded : it is not absolutely necessary to the very being of a christian , but it is of great importance to his well-being . it 's not an absolute precept , but a gracious privilege : without it a christian may dye well ; but without it he cannot dye so comfortably : neither , if he seek it right , can he be too covetous of it . what if some vain persons , by a preposterous haste ( never staying to take in truly those principles whereof the ladder is framed that should help them to ascend ) will yet pretend to have reach'd the top of this excellent knowledge , ( which is too hard for the most , yea , scarce atteined by any , but after long experiences of the ways of god ) if such will needs perish in , because they are , no better than players with , these flames ? shall , for this , the doctrine of the saints perseverance be thought criminal ? without which i cannot see , how in certain cases and exigencies , any balm can be found that 's likely to heal a wounded conscience . every one that has been present at the pressing of this point , might hear the preacher say , in seeking after the grace of assurance , you must not begin where god begins , but where god ends ; you must not begin at the root to find the branch , but by the branch and fruit to descry the root ; you must not , at first dash , eye gods decree in predestination , but through regeneration take view of , and judge your interest . the truth is ; he that will not believe , until he reads gods decree in heaven , must never look for any assurance of heaven here , nor fruition of it hereafter . it 's more possible for the sun to co-habit with undissolved ice , than for true faith to lodge in an heart hardned to sin : every right believer applies christ to himself , and himself to christ ; the promises to himself , and himself to the condition of those promises . if thy hearing of free-justification by christ , rom. 3. 24. of gods good pleasure to give thee a kingdom , and of his promise to keep thee by his power , through faith unto salvation , 2 thess. 2. 13. make thee not to stand in awe , and not sin , because his mercy is great ; thou hast not yet , either part or share in any of them . but if upon good and infallible grounds , thou hast arrived at the blessed knowledge , that god in christ is at peace with thee ; yet take heed of slipping into sin , or growing careless of duty ; lest he hide the light of his countenance , withdraw from thee the testimony of his spirit ( that main part of thine evidence ) and leave thee to roar day and night , for the very disquietness of thy soul , till thou becomest like a pelican in the wilderness , or an owl in the desert . if such a night of desertion come , if a dark cloud be quite drawn over thy once-enjoyed comforts , thou wilt soon confess , thy best pleasing , or most gainful sin , to have been full dear bought , and that sweet condition of peace and joy in believing far to fetch . so that thy self shall , ever after , be a witness , that the doctrine of perseverance , rightly understood , brings along with it , what is as proper to the repelling of sin , as it is to the establishing of consolation : since the fear of losing gods favourable aspect , hath something more of terrible in it , than the unconverted , who never had any feeling of such matter , can apprehend . i will fold up this sheet with the words of st. john , whosoever is born of god , sinneth not , for his seed remaineth in him , 1 joh. 3. 9. and leave it to you to find out his meaning , if it import any thing less , than the being sealed unto the day of redemption , ephes. 1. 13. 4. 30. letter viii . having made some reflections upon those words of yours , when in our last discourse ( we rambled over many things very immethodically ) you named a great and pious doctor of the protestant church , who , from the pulpit , had long since told you ; that the difference betwixt the papists and us lay principally in this , that we believed not so much as they . so great an inadvertencie was then upon me , that i made but little reply , not indeed reaching so far as to deduce any objection which might concern us , from the doctors words ; nor , i dare answer for him , did he dream of such an acception of them , as might represent the choice betwixt the religions any way indifferent . but by the manner of your speech i have since conjectured , you perhaps thought there might be some weight in a surmise which would flow from the assertion , as if they went beyond us in credible things ; or that our belief , consisting more in negatives , were not sure , but it might come short of what it ought to be ; whilst theirs , taking in all , might be look'd upon as safe . i hope the former letters , if you please to re-view them , will give you some satisfaction , and may serve to demonstrate that we , who dare not go beyond the pillars set up by god himself , in the holy scriptures , to bound our faith , are in a far safer way and posture , than they who leap over , or trample them down at their pleasures ; and , that if we leave not them till they forsake the guidance of gods word , and primitive practice of his church , we run no hazard at all , nor ought to find less esteem upon that score ; but do indeed shun and avoid the danger of will-worship , than which there is nothing more prejudicial to man , nor more displeasing to god , because of ill consequence to his truth . 1. we do know , that no man is made a believer without a freeness of will ; that is , he is not drawn up to heaven , whether he will or no , and all along by meer compulsion , or without acting in the duty ( as the papists , with other adversaries of the protestant doctrine , seem to mistake us : ) but he is made a believer , by gods grace , that frees the will , and inables it to act according to the motions of the spirit , and to follow him in the way of his precepts , promises , threats and exhortations . but , we acknowledge not , that the will of man ( on which , in its natural capacity , the apostle james hath fixt the appellations of sensual and devilish ) can of it self , chuse the better part , being only help'd forward by some perswasions , or probable inclinations , such as the outward preaching of the word may effect , till god by an act of renovation , without any compulsion , other than such as wherewith the soul cannot chuse but willingly go along ( so sweetly are his operations tempered and suitable to the disposition of the will ) hath brought to pass a work , which never would be effected , but by his exceeding great and mighty power . ephes. 1. 18 , 19. 2. we do know , that in the lords-supper all christ , with all the benefits of his life and passion , are ( not barely represented but ) really and truly , yet spiritually exhibited to every faithful , penitent , humble , charitable communicant . but we acknowledge not , that all receivers do , in a corporal and carnal manner ( john 7. 37 , 38. ) tear their redeemer with their teeth ; since the sacramental way of locution in the old testament leads us to the true understanding of this is my body , in the new. compare gen. 17. 10 , 11. exod. 12. 11. with john 6. 47 , 48. & 63. we do know , that the act of justification passeth not upon the soul , without a work of sanctification in the soul. that good works are of such necessity in the business of justification , that there can be no justification where the practice of them is contemned . that the good works of the regenerate ( so far as they are good , and the product of gods own spirit ) are not displeasing to him , nor of their own nature sin : yet , that in regard of much imperfection ( which the best of men will confess is adherent to their works , in this life ) we take a safe course not to place confidence , or set any value upon them ; but on him , who is the lord our righteousness , and our advocate with the father , jer. 23. 6. 1 john 2. 1. but we acknowledge not , that the good works of just persons do truly merit , and deserve grace , in this world , and glory in the next : nor , that such good works are of themselves , without any covenant or acceptation on god's part , worthy of eternal life , and have an equal value of condignity to the obtaining of everlasting glory : nor , that that is the just stipend , crown or recompence , answering to the weight and time of our labours , rather than a free gift : nor , that no accession of dignity comes to the works of the just by the merit or person of christ , which they should not have , if they were done by the same grace bestowed , liberally , by god alone without christ : nor , that it 's vain , after grace received , or infused , to expect a continued imputation of christs righteousness . according to the best definitions of that grace which the romanist allow to be procured for us by christ , their plea for heaven must run after this manner : lord , by the strength of that grace , which ( because thou didst foresee , i would use it well ) thou hast extended to me , i have so performed my duty in doing or suffering for thee , as thou canst not in justice deny me ( for that ) the kingdom of heaven . see the rhemish annotations upon 2 tim. 4. 8. 1 cor. 3. 8. but let them consider what reply they could make , if god should enter the lists with them , and say : i have a law that requires perfect , unerring , universal , constant , perpetual obedience ; a law that exacts truth in the inward parts , that is a discerner of the thoughts and spirit , that is not satisfied without the whole heart : i have said , not one jot or tittle of it shall pass away , till all be fulfilled , matth. 5. 17 , 18. 22. 37 , 38. these habits and acts of righteousness which thou seemest to relye upon , even thine own conscience will tell thee have been imperfect , unconstant , partial , yea , sometimes , none at all , but thy soul hath frequently been inslaved to contrary vices ; therefore , thou must have something of more integrity , a more immaculate and spotless obedience , to present me withal , and make out thy interest therein too , before thy claim be just . now let us see what answer the protestant principles will put into our mouths ; and let the safer , the truer , the modester carry it . thus then : lord , i know thy law is holy just and good , 't is likewise eternal : by the righteousness of this law , justification is to be had even yet , as well as in the covenant of works , made with adam , before his fall ; onely here is the difference : it 's now accepted in the hands of a mediator , the lord our righteousness , who , as surety of a better covenant , and as head of his body the church , hath fulfill'd the law in its utmost demands . my faith , my obedience , my charity , are all weak , poor inconsiderable things ; eternal life , and the whole of my salvation from the one end to the other , is purely a free gift . though i have had some graces of thy spirit , in such a measure as have been a comfortable evidence , that my heart was set aright to serve thee ( for without a conformity to thy son in holiness , begun in the life below , no flesh may hope with joy to see thy face above ) yet i dare not , i ought not , to present these unto thee as the matter of my justification ; i have through thy mercy been sincere , but it is in christ only that i am compleat . we do know , that we ought to have in honour the saints departed ; and not to think meanly of the angels , those ministring spirits . but we do not acknowledge , that we ought to invocate them , or direct our prayers or vows unto them , much less place confidence in the wearing their reliques or pictures , to prevent lightning , sudden death , &c. 5. we do know , that an high and profound reverence is due to fathers , councils , voice of the church . but we acknowledge not , that any particular place , or succession of men , is exempt from all possibility of error : nor , that rome keeps her first principles . 6. we do know , that men of ungodly , unstable , contentious dispositions , do not look upon the bible , without danger to their own souls , and pervert many things therein to their destruction . but we acknowledge not , that , therefore , the sincere milk of the word is to be lock'd up from those that might grow thereby : nor , that meat is to be kept from the children , because it is sometimes abused to excess and riot , by dissolute and licentious men . letter ix . that person ( to me yet unknown ) whom you did , some years since , substitute to shape me an answer unto a few lines i then hastily offered to your view , cut his work into a very uncourtly mode ; and takes it for granted , that i have not so much understanding as to know , they would be understood to place the condignity of merit in works done by grace not by nature ; nor so much learning , as to english opus operatum . for the first , i would have both him and you to know , that we oppose , as to justifying before god , all works both of nature and grace . for certainly , if we consider the testimony alledged ; rom. 4. by paul out of genesis 15. to prove that abraham was not then justified by works ; it will appear he was ( long before that ) regenerate , and had sundry works of faith. it was a work of faith that he followed god's call out of his countrey : compare gen. 12. 4. with heb. 11. 8. other works of piety and love see recorded , gen. 12. 8. and 13. 8 , 9. and 14. 16 , 20. yet none of these , but after them all , gen. 15. faith was imputed to him for righteousness ; and he obtained the promise , ( that is , saw christ afar off , and had his share in him ) not by working , but believing . and if works merely natural had been in question , why comes in the example of abraham , rather than of abimelech , socrates , or the like . that st. james meant not to reach beyond justification in foro humano , by that which he attributes to works , is evident from what he subjoyns , ver . 18. shew me thy faith by thy works . he denies a saving power , only , to such a faith as is not operative ; and to such a one , neither do we ascribe any thing at all . the two apostles both instancing in him , to confirm their seeming contrary assertions , makes it evident , they are to be referred to the several tribunals , of god , and of conscience . but if he will give me lieve to mind him , that the franciscans in the council of trent were of opinion , that works done before faith , were truly meritorious in the sight of god ; and how sir kenelme digby doubts not to say , the old philosophers ( without christ , for so we all know they were ) if any of them followed the dictates of right reason ( no grace is there mentioned ) might attain heaven ; it may abate his anger at the expression i there used . i have set my self to school again , that i might improve my knowledge in the romane , as well as the latine tongue ; and have learnt from those doctors at trent , that there are some actions which cause grace , not by the devotion of him that worketh , or of him that does receive the work ; but by virtue of the work it self . and , that prayers in absolution are only laudable , not necessarily added to , i absolve thee : so making the efficacie to flow , ab opere operato . thus i conceive is to be understood what i have more than once read in their books ; that to the merit of prayer , it suffices that the words be repeated ; but , if a man have a particular request to put up , it 's necessary the heart and affections accompany them in that desire . i think now , there 's no great difficulty in construing opus operatum ; nor was i much out of the way , when i applied it to their practice in their sacraments . i do not conclude , that all those who delight to be styled roman catholicks ( making light of the latter appellation , if not ushered in by the former ) are guilty of all this high treason against god's truth ; nor of misprision of that treason neither : for i am confident , very few of the laity amongst them are privy to such bold positions as are maintained by vasquez , with the now predominant faction of the jesuits , and their adherents ; yet it were well they would consider , whereunto their implicite credulity would lead them . i once had from the mouth of a romanist , ( whose memory has all the reason in the world , to be ever dear to me ) an expression wherewith i was much taken , as neighbouring very near unto truth , and far from the malignity of some i have before cited . when i insisted upon the righteousness of christ , as our justification ; it was answered , the difference laid only in the means of applying it ; and , that , not only faith , but the exercise of all other vertues was that means . i have already declared , how this is attributed to the instrumentality of faith ; it alone being that grace which is capable of laying hold upon christ , held forth to the soul , in the promises of the gospel ; and as it is a quality inherent , it does not justifie , no more than other graces . now , if all papists would grant , that only the righteousness of christ is to be brought before the tribunal of gods justice ; i should , without any difficulty , yield , that all other vertues are inseparable adjuncts to faith , and admit them to the office of applying ( as without which faith has no such power , nor indeed can at all subsist ) though not to the office of justifying . cloath me but with the garments of our elder brother , so that nothing of my own may come in sight , & i shall be less sollicitous after what manner it be got on . the pelagians , for all their confession that they had their souls , and all the faculties of them , their wills , and all the abilities thereof from god , yet could not free their opinions touching free-will from the just imputation of heresie : so the church of rome , though she draw the fairest colours she can over her doctrine of inherent righteousness & merit thereby ( acknowledging the first rise of that power to be from god ) yet ( for as much as she places the formal cause of justification in a wrong place , whilst that is made a quality within man ) cannot wipe off the error of their tenent , which puts them under the condition of , do this and live , never since the fall , required by god , in the full extent thereof ( the perfect fulfilling and keeping all his commandments , yet this all papists are obliged unto ) from any meer man. for the gospel , in its epitome , was early preacht to adam presently after his defection , and so ran through the administration under moses ( whose ordinances , sacrifices , and ceremonies were full of representations of christ ) as believers are truly said to have imbraced the promises , heb. 11. 15. to have drank of him ( 1 cor. 10. 3 , 4. ) in those times ; and were not under the covenant of works . but i am almost driven back into the ocean , when it 's time to bring my bark to shore ; i will therefore draw in the sails , and strike anchor , only adding this advertisement . they have long since been invited by the pen of a very modest and temperate adversary to demonstrate , that certain articles of their creed , which surely are main ones in their esteem ( for they proclaim every oppugner of them no less than heretick ) were held for orthodox during the first five hundred years after our saviour , viz. 1. that there is a treasury of saints merits , and superabundant satisfactions to be disposed of by the pope . 2. that private masses , wherein the priest says , edite & bibite ex hoc omnes , eat and drink ye all of this , yet eats and drinks only himself , have their authority from the practice of christ or his apostles . 3. that the laity are excluded from receiving the sacrament of the lords supper in both kinds by christs institution . 4. that the publique worship of god in the church , may , or ought to be celebrated in an unknown tongue . 5. that the popes pardons are useful or necessary to release souls out of purgatory . 6. that extream unction is a sacrament , properly so call'd . 7. that we may adore god by an image . 8. that the pope cannot err , in matters of faith. if they have already made this out ; i pray you inrich me with the knowledge of it : if they have not yet gone about it ; put them upon it , and suspend your compliance with them till they have effected it : but if they fail , as i suspect they must , of performing it ; what excuse can you have , if you disclaim not their communion , who have so grosly abused the world , with glorious nothings , and meer pretences ? finis . part ii. some rubs laid in the way of those jehu's , who at this time seem to drive-on so furiously ; which they must , necessarily , either remove , or leap-over , before they can arrive at the supremacy , or infallibility of the roman church . 1. if those words , tu es petrus , vested him in an absolute preheminency over the rest ; why did the apostles afterwards ask , which of them should be chief ? and why did not our saviour thereupon plainly satisfie them ; but chose so to determine the question , as to convince them of the vanity in that enquiry ? mark 9. 34 , 35. but if an infallible judge , in all controversies , were thereby to have been for ever introduced , the wisdom and goodness of almighty god would not have left a point of so vast concernment to the whole world ( in all its successive generations ) without a clear and evident precept . 2. from that minatory exhortation ( rom. 11. 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. ) we collect a possibility ( for it 's indifferently level'd at all gentile churches ) and particularly directed to rome ) that no less she , than any other , may be cut off . 3. where st. paul , gal. 2. magnifies his office in reference to his apostleship over the uncircumcision , and seems to confine the jurisdiction of st. peter within the limits of the jewish pale ; he ought , rather , without more to do ( if a succession of infallible truth , to be derived from cephas , to the chair of rome , had been foreknown by him ) to have directed our eyes thither . again , where acts 20. 29 , 30 , 31 , 32. he sadly foretels the church , that after his departure , grievous wolves should enter in , and amongst them many should arise speaking perverse things : he adviseth them , not to make ( in that case ) their addresses to him , that should then happen to be st. peter's successour at rome ; but commends them to the word of god's grace to be built up and established by it . 4. st. john an evangelist and the beloved disciple ( out-living peter about thirty years ) should have ought subjection and obedience to linus or cletus , if the primacy of rome had risen out of st. peter's ashes . 5. the apostles send from jerusalem to samaria , peter , and john , acts 8. 14. which is not , certainly , any great sign of st. peter's jurisdiction over the rest ; since the very best in a nation , are never sent out , be the embassage never so great or honourable ; and where those that seemed pillars are named , cephas has but the second place . 6. when that article which relates to the catholick church was made a part of the creed ; there was not a bishop , nor a form'd church , nor peradventureso much as any particular christian at rome . 7. ere ever rome durst be so hardy , constantinople ( in the person of john her bishop ) grasped at the title of universal ; which , then , was lookt at as so prodigious a claim , that for it gregory the first pronounced whomsoever should aspire towards it anti-christian . and good reason had he so to do , since the third council of carthage , canon 26. provides , the bishop of the first should not be termed head or prince of priests . and when afterwards rome would needs challenge an authoritative supremacy ( not from the emperours laws or presence , which , indeed , was the true foundation of all the preheminency the antients do at any time give her ; but ) from st. peter ; she should have remembred that st. basil , in his epistle 32. gives to alexandria , and in his 50. to antioch , the better right : which yet he speaks not as conceding to any of the seats of st. peter's infallibility or supremacy over the rest : but to convince the western great pretenders , by their own way of argument , ( as st. paul does the denyers of the resurrection , 1 cor. 15. 29. ) having in his 10. left something of another nature for the westerlings to chaw upon . and in truth that smoaky pride he there mentions , could never ascend to its heighth , or any fixation , till in the midst of the distractions that fell upon the empire , the bargain was ( add fairly , if you can ) struck up with phocas that murthering usurper of his masters dignity ; and the possession continued by the weak concessions upon strange interests , and perswasions , of some late converted , and but lately catechised princes . 8. the contradictory sentences of pope sextus the fifth , and clement the eighth , as to the use of their different editions of the bible ; the inconsistent results of councils , the first of nice , and those later of constance and basil , as to the priests marrying , and the cup to the laity ; that general one , the seventh of constantinople , as well as that of frank ford compared with the second of nice , as to the use of images ; nay , the undoubted mistakes of the roman council approved by nicholas the second ( vide daven . de jud. cap. 23. ) of that held at neocaesaria , confirmed by leo the fourth , do clearly speak out thus much , that infallibility is not to be expected below the moon . during the great arrian deluge , several general councils obtruded their errours upon the world ; and at last , liberius subscribed to them ; whether through fear , infirmity of old age , tediousness of banishment is not material , done it was ; and what hath been , may be . 9. the contests betwixt councils and popes for superiority , could never have hapned ; nor would so many learned men have militated , with their pens , so freely on the councils part , if then , or in the ages before them , the popes infallibilitie had been setled an article ( yea the chief article , as now 't is held forth ) of the christian faith : nay sure those of constance , and basil , durst not have decreed themselves above the pope . 10. if his holiness have indeed the undoubted privilege of never erring decision , he might do well to exert its vertue in those points of the seat of supremacy , the power of the will , and the reason or ground of merit . why will he suffer , for want of clear speaking , his own great doctours to clash , and the whole world to fluctuate in uncertainties , and under dis-satisfactions ? 11. if we had lived when two or three popes were up together , each one anathematizing the adherents of his antagonist ( which was once and more for a long time the case ) what course could we have taken to discern the infallible head ? 12. since hieroine informs us , si authoritas quaeratur , orbis major est urbe , in his epistle to euagrius , printed at basil , anno 1565. since cyprian assures us , pari omnes inter se fuisse authoritate apostolos , tract . de simplicitate praet . printed at colen , anno 1544. ( neither was st. peter himself , if we consult his first epistle chap. 5. ver . 2. and 3. at all ambitious of being chief amongst his fellow-elders , or a lord over god's heritage . ) since amb. de poen . hath taught us to say , non habent haereditatem petri qui fidem petri non habent . but especially since we find the bereans not only approved but commended for searching ( even in case of the apostles own doctrine ) the scriptures , whether these things were so ; we are bold to call them ( our adversaries ) to that test. and since the value of this cardinal point ( for no less than the whole frame of their religion , as it is distinguished from ours , turns with it ) must stand or fall , according to the success of the several controverted heads ; i shall single out one which seems to me to be more considerable than any of the rest , and give a short , but , i hope , a clear prospect , into the grounds whereupon we build our dissent from them , in the great doctrine of justification . and if that church may be discovered to have trod awry in one particular , the more than stupendious fabrick of her infallibility , mole ruet suâ , must fall of it self . reflect then upon it under the notion ( for i desire rather to contract than widen our differences ; though i have not a few things to say against that congruous kind of merit , which they 'l have to deserve the grace which makes their after good works meritorious ) of that by them termed the second justification , that inherent righteousness , whereby , they say , they may perfectly fullfil and keep all gods commandements , truly deserve grace in this world , and glory in the next , together with remission of sins ( prog. of catho . lib. 2. cap. 21. which their rhemists rather chuse to say is recompensed than rewarded ( because that word is sometimes applied to the alms we bestow upon a meer beggar , who deserves nothing at our hands ) with eternal life ; justly and equally answering to the weight and time of our travel ; a debt , but by no means a free gift , on 1 cor. 3. on 2 tim. 4. in respect to which vasquez is not afraid to affirm , post infusam gratiam , after grace infused our works are so perfectly meritorious of eternal life , that it cannot in justice be denied them . frustra igitur , in vain therefore after such inherent grace were it to expect a continued imputation or application ( by faith ) of christ's merits . yea so violent is that jesuite , in propugning these audacious expressions , that he lets flie on all sides against both antient and modern divines , that flie not to the same height , calling in the definitions of the trent council to bear witness , that inherent righteousness has ( of it self , without being eased or lightned by the favour or condonation of god ) power enough to wipe off the staines of sin . and to clear all , he will have us to understand , that they never request of god , that by the merits of christ the reward of life may be given to their worthy and meritorious works , but that grace may by christ be given them , whereby they may be inabled worthily to merit that reward ; and , that no accession of dignity does come to the works of the just by the merits or person of christ , which should not have had , if done by the same grace bestowed by god alone without christ. these are duri sermones , hard of digestion ; and yet they would have us by one strenuous act of implicit credulity , to down with them , and to suspend our whole belief , upon the most imperious dictates of their supposed infallible church : but we have not so learned christ. and ( as to my part ) after a long and diligent search ( whereto never any could be more ingaged than my self ) i despair of ever finding any more sure , or near way to heaven , than by renouncing in sanctification all my sins 1 john 8. 3. justification all my graces dan. 9. 18. than by having unfeigned repentance towards god acts 20. 21. faith towards christ isaiah 64. 6. matth. 5. 17 , 18. matth. 22. 36 , 37. luke 10. 27 , 28. rom. 3. 31. we find that law which , had it not been weak through the flesh , should have given life , both declared and established : expounded too we find it by bernard de verb. es. serm. 4. who reminds us , that it requires ( even yet ) obedientiam rectam , according to the rule ; all that is , only what is prescribed ; puram , free from all blemish in manner and measure ; firmam , steady , and without any intermission . chrysostome , upon 2 cor. 5. holds out , as requisite to our justification , a righteousness wherein there must not be either spot or stain . the law , thus applied and understood , is still ( before god's tribunal ) the matter of our justification , and there to be pleaded : but where to be found ? if we confine our search to within our selves , and fall seriously to ponder our best works , either of nature or by grace ; we shall find it a yoak , which we ( no more than our fathers were ) are not able to bear . hath god any where discovered that he has drawn off something from its expectation , in order to its giving us justice ( in his sight ) upon more facile terms ? i think not . if then , a fulfilled law , and that the same was first given , must be presented to god for our justification , that we may appear faultless before the presence of his glory , jude , ver . 24. where may we seek it , and not lose our labour ? let them that have a mind look amongst the rubbish of their performances ; whilst we , with a thankfully-humble boldness , do contemplate what it is , dan. 9. 24. jer. 23. 6. rom. 10. 4. isai. 45. 25. 46. 13. where , col. 1. 19. joh. 1. 16. rom. 5. 17. col. 2. 10. 2 cor. 5. 21. 1 joh. 5. 11. how had , joh. 3. 14 , 15. rom. 3. 22. gal. 3. 24. phil. 3. 9. let us now call in some evidence , and enquire whether the protestant cause be so altogether unbefriended by antiquity , as some of our adversaries are desirous the world , should believe : and 1. what we meet with in athanasius . we find tom. 2. that the fulfilling of the law wrought by the first fruits , christ , is imputed to the whole lump . 2. gregory upon ezek. hom. 8. i will give it you in the original ; because there is one word , the just force and importance whereof our english can , i think , but hardly reach : justus noster advocatus nos defendet in judicio ; quia nosmetipsos & cognoscimus , & accusamus injustos : non in fletibus , non in actionibus nostris , sed in advocati nostri allegatione considamus . 3. chrysostom upon 1 cor. 1. 30. it is not said he made us wise , just , and holy ; but he is made unto us , wisdom , righteousness , justification , &c. upon rom. 10. there is no cause thou shouldest fear as a transgressor of the law , if thou believest in christ ; because thou hast fulfilled it , and received a far greater righteousness . 4. basil. de humil. hom. 51. this is perfect and full rejoycing in god , when a man boasts not of his righteousness ; but knows himself void of true sanctity , yet justified by faith. 5. gregory nyssen , on those words of our saviour , beati qui esuriant justitiam . it seems to me , saith he , that our lord , by mentioning justice , doth propose to the appetite of his hearers his own self , who is made unto us wisdom from god , justice , &c. 6. another from chrysostom upon rom. 4. that one destitute of works should be justified by faith , might , perhaps , seem well to be : but that one adorned with vertues and good works should , yet , be justified not by them , but by faith only , is admirable . 7. bernard , who every where gives us clear glimpses of this light , lets it shine broad out in his 61. sermon on canticles , where he calls us under shelter of that long , large eternal righteousness of christ ; professing , he will make mention of that only . and why must not jacob attain the blessing without the garments of his elder brother ? but to impart to us the knowledge , that we must have ingress into heaven , no otherwise , than under the tegument of christ's merits . i may well , says he again , ep. 190. call my self just , but 't is by his , christ's , justice ; and what 's that ? even christ the end of the law , for righteousness , to all believers . it is not a short cloak ( adds he further ) that cannot cover two . 8. besides augustin's non nobis , and his sicut found and usually observed in his peruse his 45th . sermon de temp. and you will find by him , that it 's the fulness of vertue which the law means , when it says , thou shalt not covet ; then adds he after this manner , it cannot be fulfilled . 9. but sedulius , on rom. 10. shews how it may ; saying , perfectionem legis habet qui credit in christo. 10. both irenaeus and augustine do most clearly design that particular act and office of faith , which respects our saviour , whilest they expound john 3. 14. 11. ambrose de vita beata , lib. 2. cap. 2. upon these words , odoratus est odorem vestimentorum : peradventure ( he saith ) it 's meant , that we are not justified by works , but by faith ; because the weakness of our flesh is an impediment to our works ; but the excellency of faith doth cover the errors of them . 12. as we begun , so we will end ( though it were easie to bring a whole cloud of reverend authors to attest this thing ) with athanasius , de incarnatione verbi : it's impossible that purity and innocence can be exhibited in humane nature ; unless it be believed that god was in the flesh , who brought into the world a justice free from all sin : because we are made partakers hujus , ( render it how you will of him , or of this ) we shall live , and be saved : for , illud , non est justus in terra ( adds he ) belongs equally to us all ; and for that reason , he descended from heaven , who was to impart righteousness ( ex se ) out of himself . these proofs are not cited in order of time , as they were writ ; but in course , as they seemed best to make out , what i have said before in this point . 13. ambrose upon rom. 10. he that believes on christ hath attained the perfection of the law : for ; seeing ( of old ) none were to be justified by the law , because none fulfilled it otherwise than by hoping in christ promised ; faith is introduced to believe the law fulfilled : that , all things else laid aside , faith might satisfie , both for the law and prophets . 14. augustine again , in his 200. epist. the law says , thou shalt not covet , and it says so , not for that here we are absolutely able to perform that command ; but to shew towards what our endeavours are to bend themselves . 15. theophylact on gal. 3. no man can do what is prescribed in the law ; and by its sentence he that does it not is accurst : so it comes to be the office of faith to give the blessing . 16. to all such as esteem the law so easie or possible to be fulfilled , let me recommend bishop davenant's treatise de justitia habituali & actuali ; and particularly the 49th . cap. 17. hierom on 2 cor. 5. 21. christ being offered for our sins , received the name of sin ; that we might be made the justice of god in him , not our own , nor in our selves . 18. origen on rom. 6. 23. well does the apostle here continue the metaphor he had before taken up , that he might affirm death , the due pay of such as fight under the standard of the king of sin , to be their wages : but it would have been as much unfit to say , god gives stipends to his souldiers , but a free gift and grace . 19. theodoret in sophoniam cap. 3. the salvation of men dependeth upon god's mercy alone , for we do not attain unto it as wages . and on this very place ( viz. rom. 6. 23. ) his words are : hic non dicit mercedem , sed gratiam . 20. lastly , our venerable country-man bede on psal. 23. and thus , that the godly man shall be well rewarded , non ex meritis , sed ex sola gratia . anselm , once our archbishop , has left behind him this great truth ( inconsistent , sure , with those rhemish annotations i formerly touched , or the bold dictates of vasquez ) that if a man should serve god , and that most fervently a thousand years , he should not condignly merit to be half a day in the kingdom of heaven . and more fully to our purpose in his book de modo visitandi infirmos ; if satan say , thou hast deserved damnation ; answer thou , i set christ's death betwixt me and my evil merits ; and i offer his merits for that merit which i should have had , but do want now . lest we should apprehend ( as the confident and diligent factors for the roman cause could be content to have us ) that their opinion in this point , had been derived to them through the long current of 1600 years , let us ponder the words of thomas waldensis , who lived a man of great learning ( even when the thickness of this darkness began to overspread the face of the earth ) tom. 3. de sacram. he professeth his utter dislike of that saying , a man may by merits be worthy of heaven , of this grace , or that glory : however , says he , ( lo here their rise ) certain schoolmen have invented the terms of congruity and condignity . i do repute him ( adds he again ) the more faithful catholick , more sound christian , and more consonant to holy scripture , who does simply deny such merit : and confesseth ; that no man merits heaven , but by the grace of god , or will of the giver ; as all the former saints and whole church have written . the same may be collected from erasmus , who may certainly pass for a sufficient witness in matter of fact , epist. ad stephanum rhodricum . from these premises we , i hope , may with safety and confidence ( after it is past for law , upon the venerable bench of primitive antiquity , and veritas , truth , is , non quod antiquum , not what had got a prevalence in our grandfathers or great-grand-fathers days ; but , quod antiquissimum , what from the beginning was so ) affirm , that even now , under the gospel , justification cannot be absolved towards a sinner , but in the contemplation of christ's righteousness , whereby he , and none but he , fully answered all the demands of the law. nor is it any prejudice to our cause at all , that in the writings of the latin fathers . the terms merita , mereri , and justificationes do frequently occur ; since their importance with them for the most part is , singly , works , not the desert of working , but particular acts of justice ; and mereri , to attain unto , or procure ( as the way whereby , not the cause wherefore ) the reward of heaven : which is largely , as well as clearly manifested by our bishops , usher , davenant , and downham ; their true sence and meaning being not contrary , but subordinate to our doctrine . we shall not fear therefore to say with st. paul ( compare rom. 4. 3. ja. 2. 21. ) that the best man living must expect blessedness without works , by faith alone ; and yet that faith must not , nor indeed can , be alone in any good man : for it is as infallibly true , which st. james tells us cap. 2. that works do in the sight of men , and to our own consciences justifie us : supposed or mistaken faith alone , being dead and ineffectual , can do nothing at all thereto . how this goodly building of condign merit , or justification by the desert of inherent righteousness , hath a very congruous foundation on the doctrine of free-will , alphonsus à castro gives us to understand , lib. 7. de haeres . when he says ; for this , even because we consent to god's monition , when we might have dissented , wages are ow'n to us , and from thence is our merit . if by this monition they intend but a bare ineffectual swasion , and then leave nature to determine in that work , which is not brought to pass but by the mighty power of god , eph. 1. 19. the difference betwixt them and the pelagians of old , is sure but very minute , and scarce perceptible : the one ( though they would not hear of the energy of grace , yet ) acknowledge , that nature , which they so much exalted , was the gift and work of god : the other ( though they seem to assign a kind of grace to the conversion of a sinner ) coarct its operation under such terms as render the whole business , in a manner , the fruit of a man 's own acquisition . three questions there are very pertinent to this 〈◊〉 , which being resolved , are so determinative of the point , as leaves the judgement no more room further to hesitate . 1. what state the father of the faithful was in , whenas st. paul , rom. 4. assures us , he was justified without works ? the romanists allege , that this is to be understood of natural works , done before , or without faith. well , but abrahani was called of god , and answered his call , had received and imbraced the promise , gen. 12. built an altar , and twice thereat invoked the name of the lord , gen. 13. had solemnly been blessed by melchizedek , gen. 14. had a testimony given by god , that he was his particular care , gen. 15. had performed several acts of righteousness in faith , as is apparent from heb. 11. 8 , 9. and was now about an hundred years old , rom. 4. 19. yet after all this , of him it is spoken , and by st. paul drawn to general application , that by faith without works , ( this is without any consideration had on god's part to their merit ) he was justified . 2. what law is it whereby st. paul affirms , rom. 3. 20. that no flesh can be justified ? even that law which to other necessary uses he was careful to establish , ver . 31. by which cometh the knowledge of sin , rom. 7. 7. which is holy , just , and good , ver . 12 , spiritual , ver . 14. encomiums that cannot be given to the ceremonial , and therefore must be of force against that doctrine , whereby justification is made to consist , in either habitual , or actual holiness ; all which is nothing but conformity to the moral-law , too weak , through the flesh , for such an end . 3. what sort of grace is there designed , where st. paul ( having by all his preceding discourses , thereto ascribed justification ) subjoyns , rom. 6. this caution , what then ? shall we continue in sin , that grace may abound ? it 's not at all possible , or imaginable , that any body , how egregiously wicked , or how stupidly gross and dull soever he were , should be of opinion , that by continuing in sin grace inherent could abound . by infallible deduction , then , it follows , that the power of justifying is not by the apostle left in the hands of such grace , but rests in that gratious imputation of righteousness through faith , which makes our salvation from one end to another , the free gift of god ; as we find it contradistinguished to the wages of sin , rom. 6. 23. let not any romanist , here , think to come off by alleging , that they hold the eternal punishments of sin to be remitted by the sacrifice of christ ; which being done , there then remains their good deeds to merit glory in heaven : for , pardon relates only to the person of the repenting sinner , not at all unto the devious works , so as to render legitimate what was in the commission criminal . but the law , which takes no notice of pardon , remains unfulfilled by the party absolved , still : and a righteousness , adequate to that , must be found , before we can claim the rewards of life . nor let them imagine the business is salved , because some of them build the reason or ground of merit on the promise and acceptation of god : for neither can they shew that ever god made his promise of such a tenure ; nor yet will vasquez ( and therein he pretends fully to know the mind of the trent council ) suffer that to pass as catholick doctrine : for he tells us , if our works be not of themselves , before the promise , worthy ; and after the promise do become worthy ; it must follow , that for their dignification , or to make them acceptable , the merit of christ must needs intervene , and be imputed ▪ disp. 214. chap. 6. that what i have delivered in this point , is the very mind , sence and precept of the english church , whereto i desire to approve and submit my self , is manifest by her eleventh article , thus made up : that we are justified by faith alone , is a most wholesome doctrine ; referring us for farther explication to her homilie of salvation : and there we are directed to the right object of faith , as it justifies , viz. christ suffered death for us , christ fulfilled the law for us . as utensils , or a kind of hang-by's on to their main point of justification by the merit of works , follow an whole legion of vendible pardons , indulgences , dispensations ; termes which in the primitive church signified no more than certain relaxations of penances imposed upon delinquents , and upon evident signs of their amendment mitigated to the persons yet living : whereas , in the after practice of the romanists , they degenerated into such notorious superstition ( as applyed to the dead , ) and into so great impiety ( as extended to the living , ) that they have left skars upon the face of their church , which cannot pass for beauty-spots . of this we have all germany for a witness : for not onely luther ( from the extream grossness thereof ( when he saw those goodly advantages made the wagers in a game at dice ) took occasion to write against them : but the whole imperial dyet at norimberg , anno 1522. gives them a chief place among their 100 grievances represented to the popes nuntio then amongst them : so that we doubt not but we do well , in accompting them but as superstructures reared with untempered mortar , which we are sure will ( as wood , hay , stubble ) perish , and not abide the fire , that spirit of burning mentioned , isai. 4. 4. matth. 3. 11. cor. 3. 13. it will be worthy the while to hearlien ( perhaps with more attention than the legate franciscus theregatus did , for i do not find there was any present redress ) to the complaints of those germans . you shall have them then , out of a copie printed 141 years since , and published by authory , faithfully done into english. they usher in all the rest by this comprehensive one , which might have indeed a great many in the belly of it : and , as we pass the threshold , we cannot but take up this note , they fix the blame not upon the irregular exorbitant actings of some particular ill-governing minister . but the preamble runs thus : an hundred grievances of the sacred roman empire , princes and nobles , which they put up to his holiness his legate against the roman chair , and the whole ecclesiastical order . anno 1522. first , this is not the least , nor the last to be mentioned , that many things are prohibited , many things imposed , by humane constitutions , which are not commanded or forbid by any divine precept : of such sort are , the innumerable obstacles invented for the prohibition of marriage , drawn through so many degrees of affinity , and consanguinity : the injunction to forbear meats , which god , notwithstanding , has created , indifferently , for the use of man ; and the apostle so teacheth , they may be taken with thanksgiving : these and the like stand in force , till money ( which thus makes the same thing lawful to rich , and criminal to poor ) procure a dispensation . by the casting of such illegal nets , not only a vast quantity of treasure is caught in germany , and hoysted over the alpes ; but a most unreasonable iniquity is exercised upon persons equal in christianity : whence arises great scandal , and heart-burning , whilst the less able sort do find themselves intrapped and held fast , only because they have not those thornes of the gospel riches ; as christ more than once terms them . 2. of the same stamp are the proceedings as to set times for marriage ; done it must not be at such and such seasons ; that is to say , if the parties think to do 't for nothing ; though in the mean time both ecclesiasticks and seculars live most luxuriously : but if coyn enough appear , that makes all pass into just and right : this likewise is a cunning pick-lock to the german coffers . 3. they tell him how long this unsupportable burthen has laid upon their backs ; that , whensoever some church is pretended to be in building at rome , or an expedition to be made against the turk , then , under the notion of a pious contribution , the very bottom of the german bags must be turned out ; and , what is more considerable , by these impostures managed by a sort of preachers for the carrying on that work purposely set , true christian piety is almost justled out of the nation . for , ( that they may to most advantage put off that sort of ware ) no end is made of crying up those bulls , ascribing thereto a wonderful and unutterable power of pardoning sins , not only past and to come unto the living , but also , unto the dead , who are , as they call it , in the fire of purgatory ; yet not unless something jingle from the fist . by these mercenary indulgences , not only our country is drayn'd of treasure , but the fear of god extinguished , when every one must needs frame to himself a perswasion , that he has purchased a secure liberty of sinning . hence are whoredoms , adulteries , perjuries , slaughters , thefts , rapines , extortions , and the whole kennel of such-like wickedness . for who will any more be aw'd from evil , when once he is brought to think , that for money he may have a license to sin here , and impunity in the world to come ? especially ( add they ) our germans , who are behind none in forwardness to imbrace any thing , that has the countenance of piety . 4. but they assure him , the people are now grown by use so knowing of those deceipts , ( since they discern the corn goes to the wrong mill ) that now when there is really a need of their aid , they will not part with it . next is represented , how particular causes are referred to rome it self , and there , if the just have no money , he cannot be quit ; if the unjust have , he may return home not freed from censure , but fenced with a dispensation for the future : and then , what cares he how flagitiously he live , since every hedge-priest has power by the already procured indulgence to absolve him ? then they follow another sort of indulgence-mongers ( their stationary preachers of them ) through all sorts of villages and habitations of men ; standing amazed to hear how confidently they bear the vulgar in hand , that it will make highly for the thriving of their families , if they give somewhat yearly to such a saint , whose prayer they set forth ( suppose st. valentine , st. hubert , &c. ) but this pension must go through the hands of those priests . again , they inroll every one of these poor men for a reward , under the protection of some saint , making them believe an immunity from some disease or other , which would for the year be the consequent thereof . in all which there is no greater design , than to exhaust their wealth . this custom taking its rise from st. anthony , has now got an universal influence upon all maladies ; for you cannot name one , over which these stationaries do not assign some such saint to superintend : by this , sucking the very heart-bloud from these credulous persons , and eating the very bread out of their childrens mouths . then they lay open all the practices of another sort of begging-fryars terminarii , who play their pranks too , and put in for a share of the peoples sustenance . next they travel forward into a large field , fruitful beyond measure , in enormities of various kinds , as abuse of church-censures , multitude of holy days , &c. at length bringing us to the sight of one , which though i had formerly heard of from authors of unquestionable credit , yet could not take root with me , till i viewed it irrefragably made out by this authentick copy of so solemn and great a transaction , viz. that the church of rome ( for it 's not to be considered singly as a prevarication , in the managements of some private persons ) could suffer a weed of so vile and poysonous nature , to spread its branches so far and so thick : we see it full blown , and bearing fruit too , where their complaint is thus renewed . 75. furthermore , the officials , drawn with infamous and insatiable thirst after gold , not only not discountenance usury and unlawful gain , but do every where advance it . they suffer clergy-men and religious of all sorts , ( for money still ) freely to enjoy concubines , whores , strumpets , and on them to beget children . but , 91. this grievance is superadded , that in most places , even chaste priests , such as had no intent to use concubines , are , nevertheless , compelled to pay the rate that such dispensation would come to , and then let them chuse whether they will take it out or no. these are corruptions that naturally , and almost necessarily flow from the doctrines of indulgences , pardons , dispensations , of catholick ( i mean universal ) practice amongst the pontificians ; for , with us in england , we find grants of the same frame , nay worse , if worse can be : two towns in essex given to the church of ely , by leofwin , to expiate and satisfie for the murther of his mother . ( cambd. fol. 440. of the large english edition . ) and alfrid , the relict of king edgar , founded a nunnery near ambersbury , having made away edward , who was by the former wife , that her son might succeed , cambd. fol. 254. these are deeds of darkness acted in the light : and must we have the gate of heaven shut against us , because we cannot but believe , that the pope , who interdicteth marriage to men in orders , and yet by a law establisheth the iniquity of concubination , who winked at such things as these , might , at length , fall asleep , and give the envious man large opportunities to sow tares , matth. 13. and 25. or because we cannot swear to all the words of that most imperious master . let us now crave , or if that will not be granted , take lieve to examine how well they have stated this business amongst themselves ; how , or whether at all , they agree therein . some would have us to think ( for so 't is often proposed in gross , and so the greatest part of their own , especially laicks , understand it ) that the high-priest of rome is no way subject to mistake . but that 's not to be defended . then they inform us , that in matters of faith , he cannot err . when they are driven by the testimony of their best historians , in the examples of liberius , honorius , and many others , to confess , that this has come to pass : then ; not when he undertakes to teach the church . which likewise being demonstrated by the instance of john 22. who both believed , and proposed to others a notable error about the souls of the departed : and of john 23. who publickly taught , that there was no life after this : oh then ; not in a general council . but where is then their always visible , easily to be consulted , continually necessary judge of controversies : for under these notions they commonly infer the reasonableness of their tenent . the 300 years next to the apostolick times knew no such thing as an oecumenical assembly : the first that ever was would not ( if all truth had been to be fetch'd , if all power had been to be derived , from rome ) by their quadripartite division of jurisdiction , have limited sylvester , as well as the other three , to his proper bounds . the third of carthage would not have made a decree to the contrary : nor that of milevetum have denounced excommunication against all such as should appeal beyond their sees . neither would the sixth carthaginian council , so stifly , have opposed zosymus , then bishop of rome , and his successour boniface ; till at last they evidenced his pretensions to be false , by the attestation which cyrillus bishop of alexandria , and atticus of constantinople gave to the nicene canons . the pope had his deputy at the council of basil : its decrees , together with those of constance , confirmed by apostolick letters of eugenius , anno 1449. ratified by nicholas 5. in them the authority of a council is set above the pope , and he is subjected to it . this is certainly to them a very pungent dilemma : either let them confess that a council confirmed by the pope may err ; or let the decrees pass for catholick doctrine ▪ for our parts , we think , we can bring an infallible instance from this council , i mean of constance , that they may err : since in that very decree which they dared to make against the communion in both kinds , they acknowledge that they went against the first institution . but the jesuites now at last ( for what reason they know best ) will , after all this poother , have the whole privilege fitted to the narrow dimensions of the pope's breast . bellarmine lib. 2. de conc. cap. 12. & 18. thus at last , all councils must be brought back to the bishop of rome's examination , that what he approves may pass , what he is not satisfied in may fall to the ground : gregory de valentia ann. lib. 8. cap. 3. thus the pope indeed ought to use all good means and diligence to find out truth : but whether doth he so or no ? if he undertake to determine , in a controversie , he always does it infallibly . this is well and soundly to the purpose : yet before they do vest him with that prerogative , or ascertain it to him , they put such conditionary qualifications upon him ( he must be duly elected , whereto abundance of odd things must concur : he must not openly nor in his heart , which no body can ever understand , be a favourer of heresie , and the like ) as 't is the hardest thing in the world to know when it is fix'd , and therefore no competent ground-work to rear our faith upon . popery has its several depths , wherein the members of the romish communion ( however they would bear others in hand , and divers of them may themselves believe , that there 's nothing but unity among them ) are more or less immers'd . yet from a concession made by their daring vasquez , though not made with any design of reconciliation , but upon grounds that must perpetuate the breach , i can ( methinks ) bring the most of our english papists , and a great part of their more ancient and more modest writers , within the comprehension of true , though not in all regards sound , belief . that bold jesuite , where he so eagerly contends for the condigne merit of works done by infused grace , and scorns to derive it from any covenant or acceptation , on god's part made , thus argues : ( and indeed the consequence is very strong , though the use he would make of it be very impertinent . ) his words are : if our works were not ( of themselves ) before any promise worthy , but became so by vertue of a promise ; the merits of christ must necessarily be applied , and imputed , to bring such dignification to them . ( quaest. 1 , 2. disp. 3. cap. 6. ) now for such among them , as do owne a tenent that will undeniably fetch in the merits of christ ( though it be not in a way so explicit as is proper for the raising the soul to those discoveries of strong consolation , which may flow from the doctrine rightly understood ) i dare not but be so charitable as to think , that if they joyned a sincere piety to that measure of faith , they shall have their share in the resurrection of the just , at the last day . their notions seem ( as to this great business ) to run into disorder upon a supposition , that the merits of christ are applied to the works , not to the persons of the regenerate . to sift , therefore , these things a little ; consider : 1. that the gratious condonation , whereby god is pleased not to animadvert the obliquities , nor the gratuitous acceptation , which he vouchsafes to our best actions , can neither of them relate to the works themselves , nor have such influence upon them , as to render them ( now ) legitimate , which were ( before ) anomious . will any body say , or think , that those illegal proceedings , whereof many in england were guilty , ceased to be treason , as soon as the king's grace had , by the act of oblivion , quitted their persons from punishment ? though god , in like manner , through the greatness of his mercy , do let all our guilt pass into the land of forgetfulness ; yet , there is an holy , just , good , eternal , exceeding broad law , which must not pass away till all be fulfilled , which requires the whole heart , and reaches the very inmost thoughts . notwithstanding remission , this law remains unfulfilled still ; and poor dust and ashes ( in whose hands , through the weakness of the flesh , it fail'd of its end ) would be left groveling on this side heaven , if the glorious light of the gospel did not manifest a new way thither ; not by patching up or ekeing out the rags of our works , but by putting on us the garments of our elder brother , and by directing us ( when we plead with our maker , for the blessing ) to make mention of his righteousness only . the clearest intimation of this is had from jer. 23. 6. and 33. 16. laid together ; where the spouse and her heavenly bridegroom are united , and put together under one appellation , he shall be called , yea and she shall be called too , the lord our righteousness . 't is prodigiously strange , it should seem strange to any , that there should be a communication betwixt the head and the members , such as may derive the fulness which is in the one ( purposely for that end ) unto the other ( see colos. 1. 19. john 1. 16. colos. 2. 9. 10. ) especially when they admit of a communication of the members , one with another , by supererrogation , whereof scripture is absolutely silent . of prayer to saints . the agents for the church of rome ( who have , indeed , a singular dexterity in adapting their discourses to the frame of the times wherein , and to the temper of the persons wherewith , they are conversant ) do think fit to assault this generation ( train'd up to a deplorable inadvertency , through the unsetledness , and discomposure , which lately was upon us ) by mincing , or veiling those doctrines and practices , most lyable to exception ; putting upon them such a varnish as may look best to the eyes of transient , slight beholders . thus they bear us in hand , that the adoration paid by them to saints and angels , is an innocent , humble , safe thing , whereby they only bespeak ( and who will not desire to make a friend in the court ? ) those favourites of heaven to be on their side . if this were all ; yet , since we are sure , that he with whom we have to do , perfectly discerns all the desires , all the necessities of his supplicants : ( a prerogative no potentate on earth is capable of , and therefore several patrons are there sought out , the more effectually to inform them : ) since we are sure , there 's no mediator betwixt god and man , but the man christ jesus : since to be adored is so peculiarly due to our great creator : since to intercede , is , exclusively to all others , in things pertaining to god , the office of our saviour : we dare not make the angels or saints departed the objects of our devotions ; especially since it is written ( certainly for our instruction ) see thou do it not , revel . 22. 9. but they will give us ( or at least we must take ) lieve to view a little , by the perspective of their own authors , those immediate , down-right applications , they would have it believed , st. hierom , ( for they are publisht with the third part of his epistles , though the style plainly speaks them five hundred years younger ) had not only accepted , but rewarded ; being now in heaven a favourite . 1. therefore we must make no question , but st. hierom is equal to any of the apostles ; john the baptist having accompanied him ( soon after his departure out of this life ) unto st. augustine's cell , purposely to assure that father , he would not take it ill , if st. hierom were as much venerated as himself , and to be feared above the rest of the saints , having more power to prevail with god for whatsoever he please , than almost any other has . we must understand too , that christ himself , with all the glorified souls , and the blessed virgin , went out to meet the spirit of st. hierom , the same instant it left the flesh , to conduct it with more honour into heaven . 2. where it had not been long , before , three men , dying all about a time , were brought before the judgement seat of god , and were upon the point of being condemned to everlasting chains ; when st. hierom ( accompanied by john baptist and st. peter ) desired those three might be given back to him , for the reverence and devotion , ( i use the very words i find ) they had always born him . his suit would not be denyed . he then takes them , shews them heaven , hell , yea and purgatory ; then joyns them to their bodies again , and sends them unto earth for twenty days , under this condition , that , if in that space they could perform the penance due to their sins , they should then be admitted into heaven . 3. during which twenty days , they conversed with several persons here , told many strange and wonderful things ( particularly one of them said , that whilst he was dying , many devils beset his bed , till st. hierom came to send them away , and gave him a better guard of angels ) at the time prefixed departed this life over again , and were buried together in the yard of that church where st. hierom's body lyes : and our author is confident of their salvation . 4. thither , upon a certain day , when his body was to be removed from its first earthy into a marble tomb , an innumerable company of people came crowding : the restoring of sight to the blind ; the freeing of demoniacks , upon the touch of his reliques , were at that time nothing : but a certain poor widow , having one only little son , was there , and the child pressed to death in the throng : in a sad taking she carries her lifeless darling to the grave , whence st. hierom had been taken ; with these words : holy , glorious hierom , i will never go hence , till thou restorest me my boy : as soon as ever his body touch'd the ground , the soul return'd again . and the like befel another also , that had been no less than three days before buryed , whom his father took up and cast into the sepulchre of st. hierom , receiving him immediately from thence alive , whole and sound . 5. we are reminded that st. john the baptist made one expedition more , on his birth-day , into the church of alexandria , accompanied by st. hierom , both clad alike in rich and precious garments : in great state and majesty they came hand in hand through the body of the church , top-full of people , and in two golden chairs ( placed there , by something like two most beautiful youths , for the very nonce ) set themselves directly before the altar ; a good while they remain'd silent , civilly offering to each other the precedence of speech ; at last it was agreed , that because the day was solemn for st. john's birth , the other should first chaunt his praises , which he did succinctly and elegantly beyond humane expression : but then st. john fell to work , and so extol'd his companion , that he left in the good bishop cyril ( whose vision this was ) a great deal of joy and admiration ; and he published what he had seen unto all the people . 6. a certain man was infinitely troubled to think what condition his nephew's soul ( a fine , but wild , young man lately dead ) was in : at last , by importunities , st. hierom set him before his eyes , manacled all in burning fetters ; because he had forgot , at his last confession , to acknowledge how vainly he had been addicted to plays . 7. subjoyn to this another story of an excellently featured young man , who had entred into the monastical life , but was by his elder brother over-perswaded to marry ; which having done , the same brother of his abused his bed , and both he and the offending wife were slain by the hand of this youngster : after which he fled the city , turn'd high-way-man , committed many flagitious acts ; but in the midst of all , forgot not to recommend himself to st. hierom , and let scarce any day go over his head , but , once before night , he would perform something that was good to his honour . well , at last st. hierom catcht him , by this device ; he put himself on the way , where this votary of his used ( with his companions ) to play his pranks , habited like a travelling merchant ; is assaulted by him ; but the lifted-up arm , and drawn sword , both remain'd unmoveable in the air : at which being strangely inraged , the robber call'd his fellows to fall on : the seeming merchant besought him ( even for st. hierom's sake ) to hear him , which words , being uttered by st. hierom himself , wrought so , as they all listned to his advices , and became new men . 8. let us fetch our next remarque ( as my author has done ) out of egypt . one of the same long robe , a monk i mean , had , for twelve years , been an example of singular piety to all his fellows , and so chaste he was , that he abhor'd the sight of a woman , worse than of a toad : the devil though , that old serpent , made many assaults upon , and grievously tempted , him night and day ; for two months he valiantly resisted him by fasting , prayer , and providently putting himself under st. hierom's protection : at length , it so fell out , that his father fell desperately sick , and above all things desired to have one sight of this long absented son before his death , which would infallibly be hastned and ascertained to him , if he had it not . the scrupulous vertue of the man was such , as ( had not all the convent perswaded him ) he would sooner have suffered his father to dye for sorrow , than run the hazard of coming where a female might happen to be : over-ruled , home he went : after a while , a sister of his ( who , at his going away , had not age enough to bear a temptation about her , but was now a very miracle for beauty ) and he , from adverse-sides of the sick mans bed , met with their bare hands , whilst they were performing some necessary office about him : the touch set him all in a flame , and that so burnt up all devout inclinations in him , as , after their fathers recovery , he lingred there a long time without thought of returning to the monastery , till as well shame , as his parents commands , drove him back : but , alas ! he was there so perdidly given up to that new and vile affection , as after some while , he , knowing where the keys lay , resolved to steal out by night , and run all hazards for its satisfaction : this he attempted several times , yet was still so led in a maze , that he could never light on the place where the keys were , but run from place to place , till morning overtook him . and what , think we , was the cause of this ? he had in his cell the image of st. hierom , and every day on bended knees before it , did commend himself to the protection of that saint ; and therefore , that his admirable clemency might be known to all , he kept him from perpetrating the evil he intended : till seeing him obstinately bent , he appeared to another holy man of that fraternity , and sent him to tell this erring sheep , that ( for the reverence he accustomed to do him ) he had hitherto secured him : but , if he gave not over his folly quickly , he would throw him out of his protection . the admonition was scorn'd , the poor monk derided as an idle dreamer , and the next night the keys were found , and the man let loose to reap the shame and danger of his attempt : but yet st. hierom ( for he still kept some kind of devotion towards him ) forgot him not ; he suffer'd him to make this experiment of his folly for his own good : by his intercession it was , the man came afterwards to true penitence , and underwent such austerities for years almost two , as is not to be believed ; dying , at length , very happily . 9. take notice of a certain priest-cardinals story , andreas by name . he , dying at rome , was accompanied to his grave by the whole clergy , people , and his holiness to boot ; all on a sudden the corps stood up , as from sleep . whereupon , the pope ( which of them , tell you that can , for my author fails me here ) puts all out , and enters into conference with revived andrew , who tells him , that whilst he stood at gods tribunal , and was even going to be transmitted into everlasting torments , for the excess in meat , drink , and fine clothes , he had given himself unto , a certain man more glorious than the sun , and whiter than snow , whom he understood by others that stood by to have been st. hierom , came , and with bended knees supplicated the judge , that his soul might return again into the body , which was granted and done , in the twinkling of an eye . 10. worse fared poor cardinal caelestinus , who being ( it seems ) an emulator and despiser of st. hierom , on a day when they had a great meeting ( in the conclave , i suppose ) used some rash and audacious expressions concerning him ; upon which he was suddenly taken with horrible pain in his bowels ; and thinking to get ease , by the ordinary way of evacuation , retired himself , where he extruded guts and life together , never more returning to his companions . these are , doubtless , phancies of too gross and course a thred , to work up an acceptable devotion , or a reasonable service withal : but we 'l go a little farther , and see whether those ejaculations , and orasons , they bestow on ( or rather throw against ) the mother of our saviour , be such , as she is at all like to take in good part . in a psalter termed by them bonaventure's , printed at rome , an. 1588. they think it reasonable , where david advanceth the honour of our lord , to turn all ( by a simple conversion indeed ) to the honour of our lady . for , thus they invoke her . 1. blessed is the man that loveth thy name ( o virgin mary ) thy grace shall comfort his soul. 2. judge me ( lady ) for i have not departed from mine innocencie ; but because i trust in thee , i shall not be weakned . 3. blessed are they whose hearts do love thee , o virgin ; their sins by thee shall be mercifully washed away . 4. have mercy upon me , o lady , who art called the mother of mercy ; and according to the bowels of thy mercy , cleanse me from all mine iniquity . 5. lady , the gentiles are come into the inheritance of god ; whom thou , by thy merits , hast confederated unto thee . 6. god is the lord of revenge ; but , thou , the mother of mercy , dost bow him to take pity . 7. we are informed ( by sir robert stapylton in his translation of famianus strada ) that mary of portugal , wife to prince alexander farnezes , called upon her husband , in the church of scala , to joyn with her in prayer , to the blessed virgin ; supplicating christ , that , in obedience to his mother , he would give them another son. 8. which , yet , hath something more of modesty in it than what erasmus ( one that stood enough in awe of the roman church ) complains of in his time , and taxes both with vanity and novelty , ( epist. ad steph. rhodricum ) that it was then customary to beseech her to compel her son , &c. 9. and what will they say to him that quotes the places , in their own writers , which affirm , that the blessed virgin appeared , twice , in the place of two nuns , the fruit of whose wantonness would not suffer them to endure the probation ? till they disprove it ( 't is dr. du moulin has it in his accomplishment of prophesies ) i can do no less than stand amazed at so prodigious a relation . in a missal i have now by me , i find ( besides many other strange things ) the petition directed immediately to thomas becket , whom they hold a martyr , because he stifly maintained the incroachments of rome , made , about that time , upon all princes ; but our histories hold forth as a rebel . opem nobis , ô thoma , porrige ; rege stantes ; jacentes erige ; mores , actus , & vitam corrige ; & in pacis nos viam dirige . what can be said more to christ himself ? let them be ashamed of what they sometimes affirm ( when they would captivate the judgments of those they fear would be scandalized to hear the utmost , at first ) viz. they tell such ; prayer to saints they may chuse whether they will use or no , it 's but recommended to them : i say , let them for shame forbear insinuations of this nature : they know their council of trent has commanded the belief of it under an anathema . after all this , deserves it not a full consideration , that it is expresly hinted ( 2 chron. 6. 30. ) that god only knows the hearts of the children of men ? and this spoken in direct reference to the duty of prayer . we have good information from matthew , our honest monk of st. albans , in what channel the zeal , devotions , pietie , learning , and studies of that age ( viz. in the dayes of henry the second ) did run . to say nothing of all that bustle and disquiet this kingdom suffered about the rights , privileges , exemptions , jurisdictions of abbies and bishopricks , whereby he renders the designs , encroachments , and imperiousness of rome so plain , that one who runs may read , and discover , that they were both new and unjust . let us here transcribe , as near as we can to his own sence , a story or two , ejusdem farinae , of the same frame with those already noted . it was in those days that one godric , brought up at first a pedlar , then a merchant , would leave all and go a pilgrim to jerusalem ; return'd from thence , he must foot it to rome ; his mother also will not stay behind ; whom he dutifully carried upon his back as often as any rugged or uneasie way opposed it self . this journey happily effected , he brings back to his aged father his long absent wife again : but immediately betakes himself to an hermit's life . passing therefore out of northfolk ( for there he had his nativity ) northward , he comes at length to carlisle , and there by a kinsman was presented with a hierom's psalter ; which in a short time , he was able not only to read , but say all without book . then he slips from all his acquaintance , and to the wild woods he goes , which afford him herbs and fruit , his only sustenance for a great while . the ravenous wild inhabitants of desarts , ( that is , wolves , serpents , &c. ) would often come and look him in the face , and so quietly pass away . on a certain day , he stumbled upon a certain den or cave , into which as he was entring , he heard one bid him , by name , welcome ; whilest he returned the salute , by name too , to old ailric , though they had never seen , or heard of one the other , in their lives before . well ; the space of two years , these two made a shift to live together : and then ailric growing near to his departure , godric solemnly adjures ( by what warrant is worth a quaere ) the soul of his comrade , that it should not leave that feeble body , without giving him notice . very shortly after ailric breathes his last , and something of a round form , after the similitude of a fervid , burning wind ( this is the first time i have ever noted a similitude given to wind ) all shining like clear glass , and encircled round with incomparable white , appeared to godric : but yet ( as our author with great modesty and prudence adds ) it is beyond any man's reach absolutely to explicate modum qualitatis animae . ailric is now committed to the dust , and godric comes back again into the cell , to listen what god will farther reveal unto him , as to his future course of life . after many prayers , not only a voice , but st. cuthbert , appearing , tells him , it will be expedient to go the second time to jerusalem , and promises he will be his adjutor and patron , not only in all things during that journey , but afford him a safe place to serve god in ( viz. at finchale ) upon his return . let us briefly post over that peregrination , which cost him many a weary step , and meet him again in esk-dale , where he had ( forgetful , as should seem , of st. cuthberts invitation ) an huge mind to settle ; for he built him a little hut of boughs and sods , where he continued a year and some months ; till the rough-hewn lord of the soyl gave him disturbances so many , that he removed to durham . there he again conn'd his psalter with other hymns and prayers , till he had got learning even to his own wish . he took a walk , on a certain time , to a neighbour grove , and heard a certain shepherd calling his fellows , to go water their flocks at finchale . godric , hearing this , gave the poor fellow all he had ( an half-penny ) to be his guide to that place : got thither , he hastens into the thickest of all the wood , and is encountred by an huge fierce wolf , which menaced the tearing him to pieces : but godric well aware that it was the project of the old serpent ( shewing him the sign of the cross ) adjured him , in the name of the trinity , to depart , which the beast did , crouching on his impious knees , as if he had begged pardon . thus far well : but let us now see at what rate this man of god sets himself to do him service at finchale . upon those banks of were the bishop of durham gave him lieve to erect a little cottage , where he inhabited among wild beasts only ; not unfrequently the devil presented himself to his view , in the shape of a bear or lyon ( the only mention that i find of wild ones in england , but take it as it comes to me ) of a bull , or a wolf. he laid , to tame his flesh , not upon any bed , but on an hair-cloth upon the cold ground : nay , ( because satan tempted him often that way ) to suppress the burnings of lust , he would ( besides other severe remedies ) on frostie snowie nights stand up to the neck in the river , offering himself ( in that manner ) a sacrifice to god , and reciting prayers and psalms . yet , even in this posture the devil was often busie about his ( only not immersed ) head ; but , when he seemed ready to rush upon , and overwhelm him , he was sure to set him packing by the sign of the cross. on a certain day ( for i must needs keep to our author's words ) whilst he was sitting in his oratory , and ruminating on ( this is the very phrase ) his psalter ; a little boy seemed to come out at the mouth of his crucisix , and go straight into the lap of the virgin 's image , which was placed on the north-side , and bow'd it self so much to help her child up , that the beam it stood on seemed to threaten a fall , and ruin to the whole structure , both at his ascent and descent ; but after three hours time , he crope quietly in again , whence he had come out . at another time he saw two fair persons of the female sexe standing at the corners of his altar : he stood amazed , yet observed them well , and sometimes bowed himself , and said his prayers . at length they drew near to him , and she that had stood on the right hand , said ; godric , knowest thou not me ? he replying ; lady , that 's a thing none can do , but he to whom thou wilt reveal it . the virgin answered ; thou hast said right : i am the mother of christ ; and by my aid thou maist obtain his favour : that other is mary magdalen , the apostoless of the apostles . godric did all his devoyrs , committed himself for ever to her patronage : they went off stroking his head , and leaving an admirably sweet scent behind them . whether it were at this time or no , i do not certainly find ; but the blessed virgin did not only present to godric , but sang to him , as well as taught him to sing , a short song ; which he by often repeating , committed to safe memory , and thus it went : seint marie , clane uirgine , moder jesu christ nazarene , onfo seild thin godrich on fang haali widh the in gods rich : seint marie , christs burr , meidens clenhad , moders flur ; dielie men sinnen , rixe in min mod , bringe me to pinne widh self god. he that would master the original must study chaucer a long time ; but in our matthew's plain latin it sounds thus : sancta maria , christi thalamus , virginalis puritas , matris flos ; dele mea crimina , regna in me , due me ad foelicitatem cum solo deo. and in my plainer english thus : holy mary , christ's bed , virginal purity , flower of thy mother ; blot out mine offences , reign in me guide me to felicity , where god only is . whether this were likely to be either sent from heaven , or fit to be sent towards heaven , let the reader judge : we must return to our hermite . the parents of one only daughter , his neighbours brought ( in a sack ) their dead child , beseeching him to trie if he could not restore its life . the humble man ( far from holding himself worthy to work such a miracle ) seemed not to heed , and went out to his accustomed work . they had shak'd the corpse out on the floor : finding it at his return , he fell to his prayers , and continued his importunities , till on the third day he perceived the girl coming towards him , as he was prostrate at the altar , and delivered her to her joyful father and mother . this was done at our lord's altar ; but , lest our ladies altar be thought to come short , know , that having laid another dead male child on it , their son came smiling off to the admiring old people . poor godric ( having lived threescore long years in this wilderness ) had two sore bouts more with beelzebub . he betook him to his bed the last eight ; not able to stir without lifting : two divels come suddenly , and ( haleing his bed and all ) said , they would hurry him into hell for a doting old man , that had out-lived all his wisdom , and was become a fool . but he fortified himself with the sign of the cross , and upon his prayer they quit the place . the last encounter i find recorded was thus . he laid , one day , all alone upon his bed ; those that used to be about him , heard him ( though then at some distance ) calling aloud : they found him , lying all along on the floor naked ; after they had laid him in bed again , they askt him , why he would do so ? he replied ; the devil came on me so suddenly that i had not time to hold up my cross ; shewing them a lump upon his head , which he had got by that malignant's so violent thrusting him against a block . at length , he found death there , and lies buried in the north-side of his oratory , below the steps of st. john baptist's altar . the same author affords us a trim relation , concerning a certain monk of evesham , who ( having by a voluntary abstinence and watchings , not only neglected , but done outrage to his body ) fell at last into a temptation , ( as matthew styles it , and so he might well . ) he must needs know , by some extraordinary revelation , what the treatment of souls was presently upon their dissolution . to this end , he makes importunate applications to christ , to the blessed virgin , but with special expectation from st. nicholas his intercession . at length , that saint manuducts him into three or four sorts of purgatories , where he finds several of his known friends , under divers sorts of inexpressible punishments , which ( as some of them said ) they must undergo till the day of judgment , unless ( before that ) either the justice of god were fully satisfied by their sufferings , or the munificent devotions of the living gave them freedom . then going on to describe ( for such as had attained that immunity ) pleasant fields &c. just like those the philosophical poets , or poetick philosophers ( long since ) made for the old heathen . but in order to this discovery , and to confirm the poor delirous monk in a belief , that what he should see ( touching this ) was infallible , he must first find , behind the altar dedicated to st. laurence , in their oratory , a cross , which they used to adore , on such a day : with joy enough , it comes to pass even so : he falls a kissing the mouth and eyes of this crucifix : when ( by and by ) he felt something ( with a grateful warmness ) trickle down upon his face , and wiping it off with his hand , he found it pure blood . well ; beyond measure ( now ) transported , he saw flow from the image full as much as a phlebotomist would ordinarily take , when he had struck a vein : whereupon ( though he were not sure whether he might sin in so doing , yet ) he could not chuse but swallow down a little thereof ; but the rest he carefully preserved . what is ( let me tell you ) very strange , this weak decrepid man could not merit to have all these celestial discoveries , till he had not only undergone the usual discipline of rods , from the fraternity ; but , not till he had received ( i know not how many ) lashes ( six times over ) from the hands of st. nicholas himself , who , it seems ( or else the monk was mistaken ) afforded him both instruction and correction , in manner and form aforesaid . vide matth. paris circa annum 1196. regis richardi primi tempore . i cannot but here insert what i find our author very intent upon in two several places ; the fate of william rufus . this king had ( indeed ) not only a close hand , but something an heavy hand towards the clergy , especially abbots , and in time of their vacancies would often keep them long in his own hands ( induced perhaps thereto by what he had seen in the days of his father , when he of st. albans put fair for the depriving william the first of his newly setled royalty . ) for this , these men , from whom nothing of god's secret judgment must be concealed , tell us ; that the very night before rufus received his deaths wound ( by the glance of an arrow from a tree ) in the new forest , anselm the archbishop had an admirable vision ; and thus it was . all the english saints in heaven put up a complaint against the king ; almighty god ( in wrath ) bids st. alban draw near , gives into his hand a burning dart , and bids him take revenge ( for himself and all the rest ) upon the tyrant . he takes it , throws it down to the earth , and gives satan commission to put all in execution . well , william is slain , and his dead body , at the same hour , met two days journey from the place by the earl of cornwal ( i do not remember any such title on foot at that time ) on the back of a shag-hair'd , ugly , black goat . the earl adjur'd the beast to speak what that was : it replied ; he was carrying william rufus to his judgment . yet , we are informed too ( by honest matthew as well as by all other historians ) that his body was solemnly interr'd ( the very next day after he was slain ) at winchester . do but lie all this together , and you will find somewhat ( i can tell you ) worth your noting . oratio ad m. v. mariam pro cordis puritate . per sanctam virginitatem & immaculatam conceptionem tuam , purissima virgo ; emunda cor & carnem nostram ; in nomine patris ✚ & filii ✚ & spiritus sancti ✚ . amen . juxta exemplar romae incisum . this is subscribed to a cut ( black and white ) which serves for a chimney piece , at a gentleman's house i know very well . touching it , i cannot but make two observations . 1. that it is not true , what some papists ( when they would insinuate ( to such as they endeavour to make proselytes ) that their doctrine concerning prayer to saints is an innocent safe thing ) do affirm : viz. that they never pray to them for spiritual grace , immediately . 2. that it is a strange thing they should publickly authorize , in a prayer , such a clause , as is very stiffly denied by one half , i believe , of their church ; viz. that the blessed virgin was not born with original sin : or , that her own conception was immaculate . such a reverence towards the saints departed , as exerts it self in thanks to god for them , and excites in us a desire to follow their good examples , all christians , doubtless , are bound to retain : but with such sacrifices as the voluntary and culpable humility of multitudes , have , it seems , obtruded on them , 't is as certain , they themselves are far from being well , or at all , pleased . if the present romanists will owne practices , like these above ; their next task is to defend them : if they disclaim them , they must disprove the relations : in both cases , we are not without something more to say . of prayer for the dead . there is no controversie , wherein i found it more difficult to give my thoughts a settlement , than this . it was , strongly , the dictate of my nature , not to omit any office , which might possibly avail a dear departed friend : it was , hugely , my inclination to subject my judgment to the dictates of antiquity : and , indeed , the writings of some , justly to be reputed fathers old enough , are not without expressions , such as , taken in gross , and at first view , may seem to lean towards the practice of the romish church . but , upon the most sollicitous scrutinies i have been able to make , little is the conformity , betwixt its doctrine , and the notions of those venerable persons . bellarmine ( in his second book and 18th . chapter of purgatory ) will have it to be most certain , that prayers bring no advantage either to the blessed or damned ; only , then , to such as he places in purgatory . but a man with half an eye may discover , that those laudatory nominations , those gratulatory commemorations , those benevolent options , which , here and there , occurr in the antient doctors , with reference to the deceased , had no design to kindle that imaginary fire , which hath , since , been made so terribly to flame in the faces of departing souls ; unless , by a liberal donation , they would make the pot to boil lustily in the pope's kitchin. st. augustine seems ( lib. 9. cap. 13. of his confessions ) rather to indulge himself ( newly got from under some extraordinary transports upon the death of his mother ) than to give determinate laws for a necessary rite : for having signified his full belief , that the thing he prayed for was done already ; he intreats almighty god ( not without something of hesitancy ) to approve voluntaria cordis sui , words too feeble to sustain half the superstructures that rome would rear thereupon . in another place he solemnly professeth , that having wearied themselves to find out what manner of sins those could be , which should impede our admission into heaven , and yet receive pardon by the intercessions of our friends remaining on this earth , he was not able to attain the knowledge thereof ; and gives us lieve ( elsewhere ) to dissent from him , where there is not evident scripture to resolve our faith into : of which sort their own bredenbachius doth acknowledge , the oblations and sacrifices for the dead to be . vide morton's appeal , lib. 2. cap. 8. since nazianzen , praying for caesarias , since ambrose , praying for theodosius , do at the same time profess a confidence that the persons did possess christi requiem : nay since we read of certain liturgies wherein , not only supplications for patriarchs , prophets , apostles , but even for the blessed mother of our lord were inserted ( yea and termed sacrifices too ; ) what can we judge , but that those addresses were either merely gratulatory , or proceded more from the zeal they had of expressing their affections to those parties , than from any settled opinion of their necessity . the truth is , a phancie had then got some footing , which will not now generally pass for orthodox , either with them or us , viz. that souls ( of best saints ) departed were reserved in an outward court of heaven ( not in the verge of hell , nor under satan's jurisdiction , let this be noted by the way ) before they were admitted to the full fruition of god , nay even till the resurrection of the body . this might occasion some modes of prayer , which yet do not at all justifie that sort of orasons , oblations , sacrifices , indulgences , which we condemn in the present romanists . to conclude ; though we should suffer it to pass among the credibilia , that some access of felicity might accrew to a dead relation ; though i need not disclaim that opinion which tells me , a better resurrection may be procured for him , by the multiplied prayers on his behalf made , against that time when his body , now in the dust ( or dust it self ) shall be reunited to the soul : yet can i not think well of that doctrine , whereby so dark a cloud is drawn , betwixt the eye of my faith , and him , in whose blood i must be cleansed from all sin ; or whereby i may be seduced , by a deceivable hope of succour from other hands , after death , to venture upon the pleasures of sin , for a season ; under that most deluding expectation , of having my lamp lighted with the oyl of such devotions as are not at all mine own . of purgatory . because we find not ( in sacred writ ) a fire penal , after this life , but what is kindled with brimstone for evermore ; therefore we exhort all men to beware , they entertain not a vain hope of escaping everlasting burnings , by dwelling in an imaginary flame for a time . of penance . whether it be a sacrament or no is not here the question . the learned , on our side , have drawn many arguments , both from its constitution and institution , which sufficiently evince , that it cannot ( properly ) be so esteemed , nor come within either the nature or number of sacraments . amongst the genuine concomitants of repentance st. paul enumerates ( with godly sorrow , indignation , fear ) also revenge : and , in some other places , and cases , we understand restitution , reparation , satisfaction to take place ; but , in reference to all these , there may be a dead flie , to make them justly stink in the nostrils of god ; yea , there may be ( and 't is to be feared the thing falls out too often ) death in the pot. where the conscience is guilty of , and the church scandaliz'd by enormous crimes , it is absolutely necessary ( so far as means or opportunities are given ) to be much in exercise of such good works and vertues , as are contrary to the vices we were formerly given up unto ; both to ascertain peace at home , and to cause others to say of us , as 't was said of mary magdalen ; our sins that were many are shewn to be remitted , for we love much . but , if queen alfrida , or leofwin ( who were both deep dyed in bloud guiltiness ) give liberally to build monasteries , under a belief that by the merit of the work , they might leave this world in safety , and escape the punishment due to those crimes , after dissolution ; or that the prayers , there to be ratled over by the living monks , should merit remission for them , being already dead : there was , sure , an horrible indignity offered to our great high-priest , who , by once offering himself , hath perfected for ever , those that are sanctified ( heb. 10. 12 , 14. ) there 's no doubt , but it 's universally a duty , to curb the flesh , to keep under the body , and so to bridle the appetite , as to bring them under the yoke of obedience ; yet , if any monk , anchorite , or other person ( whereof you may see many examples in matth. paris ) should macerate his carcase , and deny himself all use of wholesome food , till he becomes fit for nothing but enthusiastical dosings ; at last ( when he felt the infallible prodromes of approaching death ) engaging the whole convent to flea him unmercifully with rods ; from a conceipt , that ( merely ) for such penances here , he should escape wrath to come , or deserve a greater degree of glory ; what can we say , or think , but that he was , in a manner , felo de se ; and that the best he shall , at any time , hear from the great judge will be ; who required this at thy hands ? for the real presence , but not transubstantiation . i perceive , by my saviours own words , recorded joh. 6. 23. that i am under an absolute necessity of eating his flesh , and drinking his bloud . in the first place ( having therefore considered of how great concern it is to arrive at the true meaning of them ) i do humbly supplicate the divine majesty ( in st. augustine's phrase ) that he will give me ever to think , comprehend , speak of , and to go about that great mystery , so , as may be best pleasing to him , and most expedient for my soul. his own paraphrase , on what he had said , cannot deceive me , in the sence i ought to give them . i dare believe ( since he so told his inquisitive disciples ( vers . 63. ) that the life of them is wrapt up in a spiritual acception . and , since he declares ( vers . 35. ) after he had termed himself the bread of life , that whoso cometh to him ( which is the peculiar act of faith , joh. 1. 12. ) shall never hunger ; and , attributes most clearly , in pursuit still of the same metaphor , the quenching of thirst to believing , as well in that place , as in joh. 7. 37 , 38 , 39. i can doubt no more concerning the matter . he takes not off their amazement , nor gives stop to their murmurs ( vers . 61. ) by assuring them ; that , though they were to see him ascend up where he was before ; yet they were ere long to have him corporally present , in the form of bread , upon ten thousand altars at once ; nay , in the very jaws of every person ( how wicked soever ) that comes but to eat there : he does not , i say , make his return , at this rate , but instructs them how to spiritualize the whole business , in their apprehensions ; as is evident from vers . 62 , 63. neither would any thing obscure or difficult be found in the words of institution , afterwards ; for ( besides that christ had , as we see in this chapter , informed and pre-instructed his hearers ) there was almost nothing among the jews , which had type , or significancie in it , but was expressed in this manner : circumcision , the pascal lamb , manna , the rock were all sufficiently known to carry the names of those things they did but adumbrate . if we may believe st. augustine ( in psal. 98. ) with the most holy sacrament , not the flesh which was crucified , is carnally eaten ; but the vertues of that flesh are , really , eaten by the soul , in such manner as the soul can eat ; that is , spiritually , by her affections , and other immanent real acts , or internal operations . of images . all that dust , wherewith the church of rome would blear our eyes , in reference to the use of images , is easily blown away by the breath of that one text , ( deut. 4. 15 ) which plainly speaks no less , than that it is mainly the mind and intent of god , by the second commandment , severely to prohibite all representations of him in his worship . the well-meaning papist makes , perhaps , full accompt , that he worships not the image , but god ( or some saint ) by the image : but , let them know , that most of their great doctors have determined it lawful ( yea , absolutely necessary ) to terminate a religious worship in the image it self ; and that even it is to be worshipped with the same sort of devotion , as is due to the anti-type : for instance ; if it be the image of a saint , i must adore it with doulia ; if of god , with latria . in this doughty dispute , they have been so keen and eager , as whoever notes it , can be no more , surely , of opinion that romanists are ( more than protestants ) at unity amongst themselves . since i have so good an author for what i am about to say , as della villa , that noble roman , let none be offended , if i insert here a ( pleasant , shall i say , or deplorable ) story ; however , it will evince , that there is abundance of grossness in the vulgar practice . thus it was : upon the persian gulph ( as i remember , and not very many years since ) the portugnise ship , he had taken his passage in , was in great stress and imminent danger ; the mariners having now no confidence in the sails or rudder , ply'd st. anthony with their orasons and vows ; but , all in vain , the storm still rages ▪ at last they tyed the image to the main mast , and whipt it most grievously ; because , they said , he would often do what they required of him for blows , when he could not be prevailed with by supplications . of miracles . concerning which , and more especially the dispossession of daemoniacks , our present romanists are got to so great a degree of confident boasting , that no place almost is free from the noise . we ought to regulate , and bound our notions by the light of scripture , by the light of history , by the light of reason , by the darkness of their practice . 1. in the book of god we have ▪ a direct prohibition , we must not make them the sole or principal rule of our faith ; yea , not though the sign or wonder should come to pass ( deut. 13. 1 , 2. ) . we have , farther , a clear caution , that we expose not ( by too easie a credulity ) our selves to such deceptions ( mark 13. 22. matth. 24. 11. ) . we have , too , an evident declaration , that it should so fall out ; the greatest part of the earths inhabitants should be led away by the prevalencie of certain stupendious works done by such as were , nevertheless , great impostors ( revel . 13. 13 , 14 , 15. ) . we read again , of some that were casters out of devils , yet followed not christ ( mark 9. 38 , 39. ) and if we should follow them into doctrines , which are without the concurrence of his word ( whether this be the case or no , betwixt rome and us , may be decided elsewhere ) we might easily go astray . st. augustine tell us , ( cap ▪ 8. de civit. dei ) he that , yet , requires wonders , in order to his believing , is himself a great wonder ▪ and this leads us on to enquire after historical discoveries . 2. whence , it will not be hard to learn what the church , in times ancient enough , held as to this question . it was , evidently , the opinion ( of old ) that the ordinarie working of miracles ceased , when the apostles deceased : that they were of use to allure heathens , and unbelievers then ; but , not to be expected , or singly relyed on , for the determination of a controverted point , where christianty has already been setled : that they have been done by some persons ( in justification of their tenents ) when truth was not on that side : that they may , indeed , soberly be eyed , as a concurrent testimony ( where it pleases god they happen ) for establishment of a truth , contained in the scriptures ; but , not for the introduction of any belief or practice , without or against it . as to the former of these , gregory , commonly called the great , bishop of rome , about an . 600 , hath affirmed ; that , as watering to young plants is necessary ; but not to rooted oakes : so miracles to the infant church , but not when grown up ( hom. in evang. 43. ) and st. augustine , about two ages before , makes a wonder , not only at , but of those that pinn'd their faith on wonders . that reverend african has taught me to say after him ; against the miracle-mungers ( he meant the donatists ) the lord hath made me cautious by saying , in the last times , false prophets shall arise , and shall shew signs and wonders , but take heed , behold i have told you ( tom. 29. tract . 13. in jo. ) mark 13. 22 , 23 , 24. the false prophets there said to do signs and wonders , were not to be ethnicks , without christ , but only to obtrude false christs , or a fallacious way to him . what need we say more , than what we have full and clear authority for , ( 1 cor. 14. 22. ) signs are not to them that do believe , but to them that believe not ? that great wonders have been done , or at least undeniably urged , by some that had not right on their side , may visibly be made good , from the testimony of bede , who informs us , that the argument from miracle-working was very rife , on both parts , in that grand contest about the time of celebrating easter , lib. 2. cap. 15. 16 , 29. this may serve , as to the two first enquiries : and so let us pass to the third disquisition , viz. by reason . 3. i would know , since sundry other miraculous operations , as well as casting out devils , are enumerated , in mark 16. and said to accompany those that were sent ; why do not our romish priests appropriate and take to themselves all the rest , as well as that domination over unclean spirits ? let us hear them , having never been taught , speak with strange tongues ; let us see them , unhurt , touch all sorts of venomous creatures , &c. let them shew us that , immediately and infallibly , they can cure all manner of diseases . for , i see not any differences in the grant , in the intentional end , or in the time of continuance . again , the promise may seem made to all true believers , not restrain'd to priests only : and it 's more than probable , that those exorcists ( mark 9. 38. ) were not in orders ; why then do they monopolize it , and think themselves as sure of it as the coats on their backs ? we acknowledge , there was , in the infant-churches , a sort of faith sometimes found , even amongst miss-believers , which was productive of admirable events ; ( not of satan's operation neither . ) this faith having for its object only that essential attribute of god , his power , and relying thereon by a strenuous act of credence , particular to that business , impetrated frequently then ( and may peradventure do so yet sometimes ) wonderful things at his hands ; though neither the person , nor the cause stood upon a right foot . st. augustine , not denying but the hereticks of his time might do true miracles ( i mean , things strange beyond understanding ) forbore not though to dehort his people from listening to them upon that accompt , as may be seen , tract . de unit. eccles. cap. 9. tom. 7. why may not we also , though we should see wonders done , ( even such as are mentioned , revel . 13. ) bring them to the test of gods word , and require proof from thence , that those doctrines designed for establishment thereby are true ? 4. but let us in the last place do what we can to see through the darkness of their practice . and , seriously , we can hardly be brought to think , that to out the devil of his hold , is the common , usual effect of their sprinklings , fumings , crossings ; of their beatings with the priestly stole , repetitions of latin words , &c. since we find not any of all these used by christ , nor instituted to any such end . again , we must not , nor can forget , what palpable collusions and deceipts they have been found to use in almost every place , where they met with any body that durst but peep under the veil , they at such times do hang before the eyes of the vulgar . let the boy of bilson ( as yet , i think , living a shooemaker in northhampton ) speak . and it is not so very long ago ( about a dozen years ) since a most gross cheat , of this sort , was re-acted , and fully discover'd at new-castle upon tine . but , whoever shall peruse the twenty fourth chapter of dr. du moulin's answer to cardinal perron , as it 's publisht , anno 1662. cannot , certainly , but discover what he ought to think , and how to demean himself upon such rancounters . what shall we conceive of their giving a solemn oath to satan , and then questioning him about controverted points ( as they did in the case of the boy of bilson ) oh! he would tear ( he told them , or made signs thereof ) a dying protestant ; but a good ( that is in their sence a roman ) catholick departing , he would be as quiet as a lamb. does not this smell rank of design ? spectatum admissi . a conjecture , how it is come to pass that the church of rome hath partly been plundered , and partly has cheated her self of so much primitive truth . the bitter contests which had arose , and for some ages continued , betwixt the orthodox , and manacheean , pelagian , but especially the arrian hereticks , had now alienated the minds of men , one from another , interrupted the correspondences they used formerly to hold , and so shaken the foundations , laid by the first master-builders ; when the sudden rise of the sarazen in the east , and the violent rushings of other barbarians upon the western empire , had either induced or compelled the most ( for the sense of danger is more pungent , ordinarily , in temporal than in spiritual concerns ) to suspend the care of religion , and lay it out more sedulously about their outward condition . it pleased the most high to permit those infidels to prevail to such a degree , as the world was ( in a manner ) turn'd up-side down : and , amongst those violent agitations , theology was forced to seek corners ( a thing that might happen to the greater part , since we know , 't was so here in this island , upon the invasions of danes and saxons ) so , as it was not easie to retain , either principles or practices right . it 's , beyond exception , certain , that by those perturbations , barbarism got so much the upper hand in the common-wealth of learning , that what we have in writing , from that time till erasmus , is ( the most of it ) very litte above pedantry ; and it 's probably true , that the marrow of religion was ( so far ) consumed , amidst these broils , as the drie bones thereof were much without life . from the days of st. augustine , downward , a kind of lethargick temper , as to the more spiritual part , did strangely , by little and little , insinuate it self ; till at last , the total of the credenda was summed up in the romish high priest's supposed infallibility : and , very agreable thereto , the agenda consisted in pilgrimages , made meritorious by his institution , in offerings , paid to saints of his canonization , in prayers to relieve souls out of a purgatory of his erection , in seeking after pardons for sin and indulgences , of his invention . it was not hard to rivet these perswasions into the minds of a people , the main body of whom was either lately converted , or lamentably perverted . neither yet do i believe that every particular bishop of rome , or every singular great man , who cooperated towards the introduction of these things , did act absolutely contrary to their consciences , or merely by rules of policy ( though the course of story informs us sufficiently , that many of them were of such frame ) but , one may , without violence ( i hope ) offered to reason , truth , or charity , entertain a conjecture , that , after their hold of right notions was lost , their very judgment might suffer depravation , and lead them to build with hay , and stubble , instead of more precious and durable materials . however it came to pass ( letting the contract with wicked phocas , the forgery of decrees and donations alone , till the review of the last day ) we find the pontifical see , in the 9th . and 10th . century , arrived at this height , to tread upon the necks of princes , to suffer them to hold his stirrop , to dispense with oaths of allegiance , to arm not only their subjects , but their sons against them , and , by an unheard of example , to kick off , or trample on their crowns and scepters ; whilest the parish priests stuff'd their auditors , with wonderful relations of visions , apparitions , revelations , which solitary monks or voluntary hermites ( those first enthusiasts ) obtruded on the world ; all tending either to advance the reputation , or inhance the revenues of the clergy . for , who would not lie at the feet of such men , as ( as they conceived ) did , ever and anon , bring them news from heaven ? or , who would not lie out their worldly substance in such ways as ( those men taught them ) were available to the redemption ( out of a firie lake ) of their own and all their friends souls ? nay , who would stick at a liberal distribution of his coyn , even here , for such large indulgences , as then went a begging ? during the disorders brought upon christendom ( touched before ) the writings of the primitive fathers were lock'd up in the privatest retirements of monasteries , rarely seen by the sun ; where they suffered a greater corruption than of moths , and were taught ( in several things ) to speak the language of ashdod , after the tone , and in the tune of the superstitions growing more and more epidemical : a great instance whereof i have , now , by me , an episte pretended to be st. augustin's ( bound up with the 3d. part of st. hierom's ) but without any thing that savours either of his style , spirit , or doctrine . one word , by way of return , to several discourses i have met with . of all the rules that ever were given to judge of religions by , you offer me the most fallacious , the examples of professors : for , if the austerity and strictness of discipline be it , we must look after ; the bonzi amongst the chinoyse carry it away from all i read of . if we must go to preciseness of conversation , or demure carriage , our present quaker might lay before us a great temptation . but , to speak seriously , holiness of life , being the great duty of every christian , is , doubtless , too , a grand glory to any church ; and that religion , the principles whereof do most effectually lead to sincerity therein , does deserve to bear away the bell. yet to constitute the sanctity of any man ( the outside whereof only is to us descernible ) the main guide in religious elections , cannot be other than a most unsafe course . 't is the roman examples of life ( not the controvertists ) you would have me to contemplate : well! but here you must not be allowed , to appropriate in gross to your side ( a conceit i have always observed you apt to take up at adventure ) the fathers of the primitive church , who had served their generations , before you put your tenents ( those , i mean , wherein we do not , nor dare go along you ) as a law upon the world : no! you may find them , in a matter of twelve or thirteen points , wherein we think you innovators , more ours than so . i suppose , then , the best way , to apply your directions to our purpose , will be , by examining the lives of popes , to discover , whether they have been universally endued with cardinal vertues . inform your self , i pray , by your own historians ( for such words from my pen might look like calumnies ) what pretious men your church was headed with , in the persons of john the thirteenth , julius the third , boniface the eighth , john the twenty third , sixtus the fourth , alexander the sixth , leo the tenth . what great scholars , the late innocent the tenth , and before him many others of them were ? is there any credit to be given platiná , who acquaints us freely , that all the popes , from sylvester the second , to gregory the seventh , in number about eighteen , were , what ? heark in your ear , and i 'le tell you , magicians . can we stop our ears against the out-cries of all germany , about the hundred grievances ( some of them thwackers ? ) we cannot hood-wink our selves so much as not to discover , a little , how things have gone , seeing we find cardinal julian telling eugenius the fourth , that all councils , since that of chalcedon , have been instituted , not for the investigation of truth , but for the defence or increase of power to clergy-men . will you suffer us to put any weight upon a known saying of st. basil's ; where , in his tenth epistle , he tells nazianzen thus ; if the wrath of god continue , what help shall we have from those westerlings ( so he terms them of rome ) who neither know the truth , nor can endure to be taught it ? if this be the case , and i were to chuse a religion ; i do seriously think , i might close in with any , now upon the face of the earth ( that does not in plain terms deny the lord who bought us ) less timorously than with rome . i am somewhat confident , and do hold it for a great truth ( which i speak neither timorously , nor temerariously ) that the arrian heresie , and the turkish arms , which pull'd all other things , where they came , down ; lifted up the pope ( by accident , and divine permission ) into his chair . for the eastern prelates , and men of eminency , being under persecutions at home , had a safe retreit into the west : and therefore made that patriarch their asylum : in order to which , or by way of gratitude for benefits received , they often made the frame of their addressive epistles to consist of complemental elogies ; these ( being no more than what the kindness and hospitality , wherewith they had been entertained did seem to deserve ) were yet due only to the persons , then sitting at the stern ( nor farther intended : ) but , afterwards , cunningly made use of , and represented to the credulous world for the popes advantage . one observation more , and i have done . the church of rome ( or at least her darling sons the jesuites ) will have the pomise of christ , that the holy spirit shall lead his people into all truth , to be suspended unto that very moment , wherein their bishop shall assent to the results of a council ; and the performance to depend on this contingency ( amongst a many more ) whether he will ( at all ) confirm them or no : then , at last , they judge them infallible , when the pope , either present or absent , signifies his pleasure so to declare them . well! but liberius ( as above hinted ) himself confirmed the arrian conclusions of the council at sermium . and the pope had his deputies at basil and constance , those decrees were confirmed by the apostolick letters of eugenius . yet i suppose few romanists will grant , these were infallible : and i think we may continue our opinion upon good ground , that the roman bishop's vote is but a sandy foundation to build our faith upon . i shall , last of all , request you , not to refuse your joyning with me in those words of our ( and i think too of your ) liturgy : that almighty god will grant , all who confess his holy name , may agree in the truth of his holy word ; and zion become a quiet habitation . finis . to the most reverend ; the right reverend , prelates ; and all the learned clergie in this kingdom . that i have , without a word of command , presum'd to engage in this war-fare , requires ( i confess ) a submiss apologie ; but , since i go upon that general precept , which bids us be ready to give a reason of our faith ( and it is as importunately demanded , now , as if never any thing had been done ( by your worthy predecessors ) for the protestant cause ) i will not despair of pardon . there may be need , i fear , not onely of the chariots and horse-men , but of the infantry too ; amongst whom he desires but to trail a pike , who is your just adorer , and humble servant , christopher wyvill . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a67237-e390 rom. 11. 20. mr. reynolds upon the 110. psal. morney lord du plessys . the saine du plessys . lib. 2. de trinitate . lib. sexto . gregory on the 5. penitent . psal. vid. the primate of ireland's answer to a jesuit's challenge . in sacriloquio , quando in singulari numero fundamentum dicitur , nullus alius nisi christus designatur . greg. lib. 28. in cap. josuae 6. gal. 2. 7. the jews and such as were circumcised . vide bunting his itinerarie in the travels of st. peter . jesuites and their followers . * europe for more than 40. years was almost equally divided in their judgments as well as in cruel hatred , one part against the other , about the right of clement and urbane 6. to the infallible chair . the authors of france painted to the life , pag. 16. * for if ordinary priests could do such things ; what submissions could be thought enough , towards the supreme bishop , as men were then learning to call him . ep. fol. 885. fol. 859. a further strange instance of this i shall hereafter give you . doctor chalanours unde zir. in a — the primate of ireland , lib. citato has their names . chalanours credo eccles. pag. 215. primate of ireland , as before . strongly disputed every way , as may be seen in bellarmine de concil . & eccles . milit. yet he boldly resolves all by the determinations of trent . eugenius was deposed by a general council ; and it was declared impossible for those to be saved that held him pope . yet he continued in by force , and from him is the so much vaunted of succession . baxter's winding sheet , pag. 10. sundry general councils obtruded arianism upon the world , and liberius bishop of rome confirmed it . davenant de judice & normâ fidei . cap. 21. fol. 125. the calling of councils formerly , was the right of the emperour undeniably , now usurped by the pope . that he had no such universal dominion , may strongly be proved out of sir roger twisden's vindication of the church of england , cap. 2. by the abbot of bangor's reply to augustin the monk , who demanded their obedience . gelasius the pope said , the sacrament without the cup , is a grand sacrilege , but half communion . what means the present bussle in france betwixt the jansenists and jesuits about efficacious grace and the next power ? bernard of clareval de grat. & liber . arbitr . theodoret in sophon . cap. 3. say not , this means natural works only , for the contrary is evident . hom. paschal . 4. annot. upon 2 tim. 4 ▪ 8. upon 1 cor. 3. 8. * with them , it is nothing else , but an ability to perform , in our own persons ( after we have received to believe the word of god ) such obedience to the law , as , for that , we become righteous , and deserve , by equal compensation , the kingdom of heaven . mr. allen. justifying faith is , when a man does , practically , believe the two great doctrines of justification and sanctification . paul the apostle in the terms of , toward god repentance , and faith toward christ , clearly points out this office of faith , acts 20. 21. it 's strange how those that hold a treasury of saints merits , can term our doctrine of imputation an empty speculation : for , is there a communion of the members one with another , and not with the head ? bearing by imputation , and no otherwise , the iniquities of us all . finis legis christus omni credenti . bernard . ad innoc. 190. davenant de justitia habituali , fol. 373. davenant , ut supra , cap. 28. how insincerely the the rhemists do render this place see in dr. fulk . de justifie . lib. 5. cap. 17. the arguments are good against all works . upon ezech. 18. 20. progeny of cathol . &c. lib. 2. cap. 21. pag. 86. lib. 2. de monach. cap. 13. rom. 8. 4. 2 cor. 5. 21. bernard . de verb. esa. serm. 4. in his com. disp. 214. cited by the primate of ireland , ut suprà ; and by davenant , de justitia habituali & actuali . paul declares his whole justification , both in his first conversion , and in the time of his writing , and at the resurrection , to be wholly absolved in faith. phil. 3. 9. disp. 222. cap. 3. if the works of righteousness which we have done must be our justification , though grace received from above , be conceived to enable us thereto ; yet are we under the covenant of do this ( wholly , purely , constantly ) and live . which if any man say , he deceives himself , 1 jo. 1. 8 , 9 , 10. bernard de verbo esa. serm. 4. disp. 204. cap. 2. the phariseo himself ( by thanking god that he was not as other men ) may seem to acknowledge his works to have been from grace infused , yet we know how he was dismist . cap. 3. primate of ireland's answer to the jesuite . in tim. 1. 13. it is not said , he has made us wise , just ▪ and holy ; but he is made unto us wisdom , &c. which is as if he had said . he hath given himself unto us . so chrysost. on 1 cor. 1. 30. homil. 2. on colof . de compunct . tom. 6. in rom. 4. hom. 8. * viz. abraham . annotat , on heb. 6. in isa. lib. 17. enchirid. cap. 41. math. 5. 6. and 1 cor. 1. 30. expounded by gregor . nyssen . serm. 61. in cantic . quoted by the incomparable davenant , de justitia habituali & actuali , cap. 28. fol. 369. why must jacob stand before his father in the garments of his elder brother , before he could have the blessing ? but to typifie the necessity of our being covered with christ's righteousness , who is the first born of his father . serm. 1. de annunciatione . tom. 3. de sacra . cap. 7. primate of ireland , ut suprá . johannes pi●us the bishop , interpreter of mareus the eremite , rendring not by the proportion of works of nature , where the original is not by the proportion of works of faith , is a gross falsifier . primate of ireland pag. 502. simpson of the church , cent. 5. so zosimus pretended a decree of the council of nice , which could never be found . davenant de justit . habituali , cap. 29. noted by bellarmine himself , lib. ●2 . de justifie . cap. 1 & 2. pag. 124. idem ut suprá . dr. twisse his resolutions of conscience , &c. de meritis bonorum operum . leofwin , a noble man , gave two towns in essex to the church of ely ; to expiate , and make satisfaction for the murther of his own mother , cambden , fol. 440. the large english impression . so alfrida , the relict of king edgar , built a nunnery near ambursbury , haveing murthered edward . cambden , ut suprá , fol. 254. the. trent faith is , that sacraments cause grace , not by the devotion of him that worketh , nor of him that receives the work , but by virtue of the work it self , hist. of that council , fol. 230. matrimony ▪ absolution and ordination , confirmation and extreme unction no sacraments . primate of ireland's answer to the jesuit . and since we find our saviour himself , joh. 6. 63. affirming that the flesh profiteth nothing ; i shall not at all fear to say , we ought to be satisfied with a spiritual manducation . idem . ibidem . qui discordat à christo , nec carnem ejus manducat , nec sanguinem bibit , &c. prosper ex aug. sent. 341. tract . 26. this must needs be a figurative speech ; why then not the other ? epist. 23. quaest. 37. in levit . upon matth. 15. primate of ireland , pag. 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , in the time of innocent 3. who made otho emperour , and put by frederick left to his care by henry his father . simpson's hist. fol. 371. fol. 44. &c. davenant in col. ●● naturâ & amore nobis conjunctior . tome 3. c●nra h●lvidium . origen bids us not to doubt , but when we commit our selves to him , who is god over all , through jesus christ , and desire of him the help and protection of those ministring spirits that do his pleasure , they shall all be propitious unto us . in col. 2. 18. recorded by famianus strada ▪ de bello belgico . strada de bello belgico . letter 1. psalt bonavent . edict . paris . 1596. tom 5. in rom. 1. see many more , and very pregnant proofs in the primate of ireland , p. 377. &c. in josue , hom. 16. idem ibidem , pag. 239. st. hierom assures that the power of miracles may be permitted to them that profess not the truth of the gospel . in epist. ad galat. tom. 9. tertullian in praescriptionibus , cap. 24. du moulin in his accomplishment of the prophecies . de cura pro mortuis , cap. 10. de lazaro conc . pag. 235 , 236. primate of ireland , pag. 396. how common is the conceipt now , that departed souls do appear ? basil. seleuc. de miraculis theclae , cap. 10. idem . cap. 21. idem , cap. 24. all quoted by the primate of ireland in his answer to the jesuit . pag. 397. chapt. 9. pag. 337. answer to the jesuit's challenge , pag. 504. loc. theol. lib. 5. cap. 4. prope finem . epist. ad johan . de hierusalym . tom. 1. oper. hieronym . epist . 60. he had sure been instructed out of such catechisms , who refused to shoot at buts on may day , because it was , he said , a dear holy day ; and yet i found him the next lords day with others at slide-groat . upon tho. in his 3d. part quoted by the primate , pag. 499. ▪ de bello belgico , lib. 5. allen's antidote , pag. 13. lib. 4. cap. 26. lib. 6. cap 24. in his prefaces before the kings and proverbs . de civitate dei. in his scholastical hist. &c. epist. to the reader . chrysost. upon 2 cor. homil. 13. sin is not a being , but rather a defect of what should be , and hath for its efficient cause , nothing but a deficient will. preston of converting grace , pag. 15. if our saviour knew that sodom and gomorrah ( had they enjoyed the same means as chorazin and bethsaida ) would have repented ; what can be said but their final impenitencie was according to god's will ? the fall of adam was not praeter voluntatem dei , that were to make a lame providence ; nor contra , that were to make a weak omnipotence ; but it was juxta , and that leaves all the attributes of god ( wrapt up by his wisdom ) in their full power . augustin . john 5. 21. that is , the will of the creature failing in obedience . mr. case in a sermon on rom. 8. 28. and this is it which frees our doctrine from all danger of working in men a secure or careless presumption ( as it is no less ignorantly than maliciously aspersed by some ) since our evidence doth so much consist in the sincerity tho : not in the perfection , of obedience . election may , at length , come to be known , and thence assurance ; but reprobation never . mr. sheffeild . primate of ireland in an epistle publisht by dr. bernard . mr. birkbeck in his protestants evidence . man is not active but passive in regeneration : in repentance man is the doer , complies with god in it , and turns himself . ephes. 2. 1. phil. 2. 13. that power of god which subjects a man to christ , comes not by moral perswasion only , or violent impulses ; but is tempered to the disposition of the will. lib. de gratia & libero arbitr . cap. 27. mr. gurnal's christian in compleat armour , part 2. pag. 526 , 527. 530. de praedest . sanctorum . cyrus , who was christus domini , and therein but a shadow of christus dominus , in this manner published his proclamation . who is amongst you of all his people ? the lord his god be with him : let him go up , ezra 1. 3. now they alone did follow this call , whose spirits god had raised to go up . but could those that stay'd still behind plead any thing but their love of slavery and idleness , why they also went not up ? vers. 5. this instance is by the primate of ireland brought in , and applyed to our purpose in a letter published by doctor bernard . jer. 32. 40. rom. 8. 15 , 16. 2 cor. 1. 22. 5. 5. gal. 4. 6. ephes. 1. 14. 1 john 2. 19. 2 pet. 1. 5. 1 joh. 5. 10. rom. 8. 15. jude vers . 1. a late treatise published by mr. calamy . doctor sibbs at grays inn chappel . vasquez disput. sasbout , upon the place , confesseth it 's meant of abraham's second justification , ( that is ) of his works done in faith. see selater , pag. 29. or the eyes and judgments of others history of that council fol. 197. in his observations upon religio medici . history of that council , fol. 237. fol. 349. faith does not consist in a belief that we do believe ; but in an affiance bottomed upon such trials as scripture holds out . progeny of catholicks and hereticks , lib. 2. cap. 21. pag. 80. for we will expect from them proofs both full , and legitimate ; beyond those usually brought . notes for div a67237-e17120 ambrose on rom. 1. the naturall mans case stated, or, an exact map of the little world man considered in both his capacities, either in the state of nature or grace / as is laid down in xvii sermons by that late truely orthodox divine, mr. christopher love ... ; whereunto is annexed the saints triumph over death, being his funeral sermon, by that painful labourer in the lords vineyard, mr. tho. manton ... love, christopher, 1618-1651. 1652 approx. 472 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 170 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a49252 wing l3169 estc r35003 14923277 ocm 14923277 102944 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a49252) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102944) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1574:13) the naturall mans case stated, or, an exact map of the little world man considered in both his capacities, either in the state of nature or grace / as is laid down in xvii sermons by that late truely orthodox divine, mr. christopher love ... ; whereunto is annexed the saints triumph over death, being his funeral sermon, by that painful labourer in the lords vineyard, mr. tho. manton ... love, christopher, 1618-1651. manton, thomas, 1620-1677. saints triumph over death. the second edition, corrected and amended. [9], 279, [3], 34, [8] p. printed by e. cotes for george eversden ..., london : 1652. engraved frontispiece portrait of love. "the saints triumph over death, or, a sermon preached at the funerall of mr. christopher love, in lawrence-church, august 25, 1651" ([3], 34 p. at end) has special t.p. and separate paging. imperfect: print show-through with some loss of print. includes index. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng man (christian theology) theology, doctrinal. funeral sermons. 2005-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-07 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-07 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the naturall mans case stated : or ; an exact map of the little world man , considered in both his capacities , either in the state of nature , or grace . as is laid down in xvii sermons , by that late truely orthodox divine mr. christopher love , pastor of lawrence jury , london . whereunto is annexed the saints triumph over death ; being his funeral sermon , by that painfull labourer in the lords vineyard , mr. tho. manton , minister of the gospell at stoak-newington near london . imprimatur edmund calamie . the second edition , corrected and amended . london , printed by e. cotes , for george eversden , at the golden ball in aldersgate street , 1652. to the reader . the exuberant spawns of illiterate books proceeding from the polluted wombs of the overloaded , and bejaded adulterate presses , which are all painted with fair titles , i can compare to nothing so fitly as a cheating lottery ; which when the greedy invader comes with hopes for a little money laid down , to carry away a great deal of wit with him , 't is nineteen at least to one when he opens it , but he finds to his shame , that he hath drawn a blank , perhaps a blasphemy ; and yet couched under the title of glorious truth , heavenly discoveries , beams of light , new jerusalem , gods minde clearly revealed , with multitudes of such paints upon their strumpets faces . the sacred bible which indeed is an alablaster-box full of sweet perfumes and precious ointments , is made ( alas ! ) like pandora's boxe ( in the humane story ) which ( epimetheus presumptuously opening ) filled the world with evils , diseases and calamities of all kindes . the sacred bible is made now the patron of prophane mens practises ; never were grosse sins at such an impudent height as now they are ; what horrid impudence is that of hel to take heaven by the hand ? sins that were wont to hide themselves in the holes and clefts of obscurity , not daring to be hold the light , but serpent-like , to creep under the low shrubs of deceitfull shifts , how do they eagle-like sit pearching on the goodly cedars ( i mean pulpits and thrones ) the cedars of god , and dare to cast up their eyes towards the sun ? who would think it ! yet what this day more common then to meet the devill with his eyes towards heaven , and a bible under his arme , cloathing all his words and actions cap a pea in scripture phrases ; murderers , traitors , rebels , blasphemers , soothsayers , adulterers , sabbath-breakers , perjurers , oppressours , and almost all notorious villains have marshalled themselves ( like the roman clergy ) into so many severall sects of religion , all impudently assuming to themselves the usurped title of eminent saints , and quoting scripture for their actions , and scot-free passe the presse into the world to make more proselytes : so that he that in this soul-frozen age shall go to gather books to warm his soul , ( as paul did sticks to warm his fingers ) will be sure , if he be not wary , to gather vipers into his bosome : and how am i stung with pain and horrour , whiles i meditate on the thousands of poor souls that are gnawed to death by these speckled vipers ! sure it cannot but sit sad one day upon the spirits of those licentious licencers , that are as the midwives of such monsters . for thy comfort therefore and incouragement ( reader ) i do assure thee this book is free from all such venomous beasts , no toad of malice , nor serpent of deceit lurks either in the matter or the phrase hereof . in plain english , it is a pleasant , heavenly , self-searching , soul-convincing , sin-condemning , heart-humbling , spirit-raising , grace-quickning , christ-exalting book . i need say no more , they are the sermons of mr. christopher love , master of arts , and minister of the gospell of christ , whose actions , life and death , will eternize his name ; i may truly say of his elegant style , and pleasant way of expressing himself , as he of gregory nazianzen , viribus eloquii valuit , linguaque diserta : mellisluos dulei protulitore sonos . the subject of these sermons is of generall use to all sorts of people , much like in that , to that text of chrysostomes in psal . 4. 2. which ( as he saith ) if hee had a voice like thunder , and a mighty mountain for his pulpit , and all the men and women in the world for his auditory , he would choose this text to preach on : o yee sons of men , how long will ye turn my glory into shame ? how long will ye love vanity , and seek after leasing ? had this been really effected , and i been there in mr. loves spirit , would chrysostome have lent me his voice , and allowed me the use of his monarchical pulpit , when he had done in the morning with his text , i would have come up in the evening with this text , eph. 2. 12. that at that time ye were without christ , being aliens from the commonwealth of israel , and strangers from the covenant of promise , having no hope , and without god in the world : but this need not , for it is in a manner effected already : this worthy minister hath ascended that pulpit from whence hee hath thundred into the world , he is now one of those blessed ones , that dyed in and for the lord , he is at rest from all his labours , and now behold his works do follow him ; some are already gone before , and these do follow after . these sermons were preached at st. anne's aldersgate , where this holy young man was pastor : i pray god they may prove as the great trumpet of god , to cause a spirituall resurrection amongst those people before they go down to the house of rottennesse ; it cannot but much rejoyce those people to hear their pastors voice again , those sheep cannot but know their shepherds voice ; which that they may doe , the lord of heaven blesse these his worthy labours to their , and thy spirituall advantage ; so as that the distressed churches losse in his sad and unexpected absence , may be made up in the blessing of god , upon these and the rest of his pious and painfull labours . so prayeth , thine , e. c. sermon , i. ephes. 2. 12. that at that time ye were without christ , being aliens from the common-wealth of israel , and strangers from the covenants of promise ; having no hope , and without god in the world . this chapter out of which my text is taken , is like a little map , containing in it a description of the little world man , and that in a double capacity ; considering man either in the state of grace , or in the state of nature ; if you consider man in the first capacity , in the state of grace , this chapter layes down a five fold description of bringing man into the state of grace . 1. here is laid down the efficient cause of bringing man out of the state of nature , into the state of grace , and that is god , in the 4. vers . 2. here is laid down the impulsive cause , and that is the riches of gods mercy in the same verse , but god who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us , &c. 3. here is laid down the meritorious cause of it , which is christ in his sufferings , in the 7. verse , that in the ages to come , he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse towards us , through jesus christ . 4. here is laid down the finall cause of it in the same verse also , that in ages to come , he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace . and , lastly , here is the instrumentall cause of bringing man out of the state of nature into the state of grace , and that is faith , in the 8. verse : for by grace are you saved through faith , and that not of your selves , it is the gift of god. now the other part of the map describes man in the second capacity , in the state of nature , and herein it gives a twofold description of mans condition ; 1. positively , what he is . 2. privatively , what he wants . 1. it describes man in the state of nature positively what he is , and that in five particulars ; 1. men in their naturall condition , are described to bee dead in trespasses and sinnes . 2. they walk according to the course of this world , as pagans and heathens do . 3. according to the prince of the power of the air , that is , the devill ; now the devill is called the prince of the air , either because he doth reside in the air , or else , because he hath the power of the winde and of the air . 4. they are called children of disobe dience ; that is , bor n in a state of disobedience quite contrary to the commands of god. 5. that they fulfill the lusts of the flesh and of the minde , and are by nature children of wrath . thus far you have the positive description of man in the state of nature . 2. now in the second place , the apostle describes him privatively what he wants ; and that in the words of my text , in five particulars , wherein hee plainly shews that he is the poorest man in the world that wants jesus christ , and the most miserable : that at that time you were without christ ; that is the first : you were aliens from the common-wealth of israel ; that is the second : you were strangers to the covenants of promise ; that is the third : you were without hope ; that is the fourth : and you were without god in the world ; that 's the fift . now these comprehensive expressions , contain in them the whole misery of man , and that in these five particulars here named ; 2. here is described the time how long , a man is in this condition , that at that time , that is , the time during your unconverted estate ; as long as you are unconverted , so long you are without christ , and an alien from the common wealth of israel , and a stranger to the covenants of promise , without hope and without god in the world . and now what a dismall text have i here to handle , and what a doleful tragedy am i now to act ? but yet out of every one of these , there is a great deal of comfort which may flow forth ; i shall only at present make entrance into the words , and speak more fully to them afterwards ; that at that time you were without christ ; that at that time : beloved here wants something to supply the sense of the words , and therefore read the foregoing words , and you will finde what must be brought in ; the verse before runs thus , wherefore remember , that you being in times past gentiles in the flesh , &c. wherefore remember , these words must be prefixt ; wherefore remember , that at that time you were without christ , and aliens to the common-wealth of israel , &c. i shall here by the way only draw out this one doctrine from the coherence of the words , wherefore remember that at that time ; the apostle would have these converted ephesians to remember , that they were men without christ , and aliens to the common-wealth of israel , and strangers to the covenants of promise , without hope , and without god in the world : now from hence i would commend this observation to you . doct. that it is the will of god that men in a converted estate should often call to minde the sinfulnesse and misery they were guilty of before their conversion . beloved , this is a subject i could never have occasion to speak to you of before , and yet it is a point of admirable use , especially in these times , wherein people think that when once they are brought into a state of grace , they must live in divine raptures , and revelations , and spirituall joyes , above duties and ordinances , and never look back into their former sinfulnesse and wickednesse they were guilty of before their conversion : why , here the ephesians were converted men , and had extraordinary priviledges , they were brought to sit in heavenly places in christ jesus ; and yet the apostle bids them remember their former sinfulnesse and misery , remember o you ephesians that ye were once without christ , and you were aliens to the common-wealth of israel , &c. therefore you must take heed of this , to think that when you are converted , you must be only rapt up into the third heavens , and never look back into your former condition ; you see here the apostle bids you remember what you were at that time during your unconverted estate , that you were then without christ , and strangers to the covenants of promise , &c. so that you see it is the will of god , that men in a converted estate should often cal to minde the sins and miserie they were in before conversion . now before i come to give you the reasons of the point , give me leave to premise these three cautions ; when i tell you , that after your cōversion , you should call to minde your sin and misery before conversion , you must not do it 1. with complacency of spirit ; nor 2. with stupidity of heart ; nor 3. with despondency of minde . caution 1 1. you must not cal to minde your former sinfulnesse with complacency of spirit , to please your humors ; you must not do as some great men use to do , that have been guilty of great and crying sins ; as adultery , drunkennesse , swearing , and the like , in their youth ; go tell and boast of them in their age ; this is a very great wickednesse : you must call to minde your former sinfulnesse not with complacency , but with bitternesse of spirit , with grief , sorrow , and perplexity of heart : many men will tel you large stories of the wickednesse , that they have committed ; but they do it with delight , and if they had strength and abilities , they would be guilty of the same sins and wickednesses stil ; which is a most ungodly practise , and that which the scripture condemns men for , as in the 23. of ezek. 23. 19 , 21. yet she multiplyed her whoredomes , in calling to remembrance the dayes of her youth , wherein she had played the harlot in the land of egypt ; thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdnesse of thy youth : the meaning of this is , she called her sins to remembrance , but it was so as to play the whore stil , and to be unclean stil , she did it with delight and complacency , with content and joy ; now i say you should call your sins to remembrance with a great deal of grief and sorrow , and bitternesse of spirit : and therefore when young gallants wil boast of their sins , and tel how often they have been drunk , and have made others to be so ; and how often they have plaid the whoremaster , and have drawn others to do so ; this is a most diabolical remembrance . 2. you must not cal your former sins to remembrance , with stupidity of heart neither : beloved , there are many men can remember what lewd courses they have taken , and what wicked lives they have lived ; how often they have been drunk and unclean , and the like ; and yet are never troubled at the remembrance of it ; their hearts do not smite them with remorse and sorrow , but are like a rock ; the sense of sin never troubles them : this is no way of calling sin to remembrance , with a blockish and stupid heart , this is not thanks worthy ; but it must be done with a broken , and a bleeding , and a contrite heart : and , 3. take in this caution too , it must not be done with despondency of minde neither . there are many converted ones , that do cal their sins to remembrance , but it makes them discouraged and unwilling to come to christ , it makes them think that they have no interest in the covenant of grace ; but this should not be , the true effect that the consideration of your former sinfulnesse should produce , should be your laying your souls low , and making them humble , and the more sensible of that indispensable need you have of christ , of going unto him for salvation and comfort . these are the cautions necessary to be premised ; i come now to give you the reasons of the point , why it is the will of god , that people in a converted estate , should often cal to minde the sin and misery they were in before conversion , and reas 1 1. god will have it so , because by so doing , you will be provoked the more highly to magnifie and admire the greatnesse and riches of gods grace to you ; there are none in the world greater admirers of gods grace and mercy , then those that are most studious of their own sin and misery : thou wilt never solemnly and throughly magnifie gods mercy , till thou art plunged into a deep sensiblenesse of thine own misery , till the lord hath brought thee to see in what a miserable and deplorable condition thou wert in before conversion , thou wilt then admire and magnifie the riches of gods free grace , in bringing thee out of that condition , into the estate of grace , as in 1 tim. 1. 13. the apostle paul when he would magnifie the free grace of god to him , saith he , i was a blasphemer , and a persecutor , and injurious ; and yet through the abundance of gods free grace and mercy , i have obtained mercy : the consideration of his former sinfulnesse did elevate and scrue up his heart , to make him admire the free grace of god to his soul ; that man can never prize liberty as he should do , that never was in prison : but , reas 2 2. another reason why god wil have it so is , because this will be as a spur to quicken and engage men to be more eminent in grace , after their conversion : when a man doth frequently and seriously consider how bad and sinful he was before conversion , it cannot but provoke him now to be more humble and holy , after his conversion . it is very observable in paul , that all those sins and wickednesses he was guilty of before conversion , he did most of all strive against , and labour to excell in the contrary graces after conversion : as first before conversion he did labour to hale others to prison , for worshipping of christ ; but after his conversion , he did labour to draw others to christ : act. 26. 10 , 11. many of the saints did i shut up in prison , and gave my voice against them , and punished them oft in every city , and i was exceeding mad against them , and banished them into other cities : and now you shall see that after conversion , paul did labour to outvie in grace , that evil course he was in before ; as before conversion , he did imprison those that did belong to christ , so after conversion , he was shut up himself in prison , for the cause of christ ; before conversion , he gave his voice against the people of god , but after conversion , he did pray to god for them ; before conversion , he did punish them often , but afterward he did preach to them often ; before conversion , he did compell men to blaspheme christ , but after conversion , he was very earnest to perswade people to beleive in christ ; he was exceeding mad against them before conversion , but afterward hee was so exceeding zealous for the people of god , that every one thought hee had been mad : and lastly , before conversion he did persecute saints to strange cities , but afterwards he did go preaching of the gospel to strange cities : oh my beloved , let pauls pattern be your task , cal to minde your sin and wickednesse in your unconverted condition , but so that it may provoke you , that now you are converted , you may labour to abound in grace , as formerly you have abounded in sin . reas 3 3. another reason why god will have us call to minde the sin and misery we were in before conversion , is , because this will be a means to kindle a great deal of pity and compassion in our souls , towards those that remain yet unconverted : this the apostle exhorts us to in tit. 3. 2 , 3. speak evill of no man , sayes he , be no brawler , but gentle , shewing all meeknesse unto all men , for we our selves also were sometime foolish , disobedient , deceived , serving divers lusts and pleasures , living in malice and envy , hatefull , and hating one another ; as if the apostle should have said , i paul , and thou titus , we were sinful as wel as they , and did serve divers lusts as wel as they once , let us therefore be pitiful , and merciful , and compassionate towards them , this consideration wil greatly provoke us to commiserate poor sinful souls ; the great reason why we pity them no more then we do , is because we do not cal to mind our own sinfulnesse , and what we were before conversion . reas 4 4. another reason may be this , because the consideration of our former misery , will greatly abate pride in the hearts of converted men ; this will be a great means to abate and keep under pride , and advance humility in the hearts of gods people : beloved , a good man naturally is apt to be proud , we are not proud of our sins , but of our graces ; pride is apt to grow in the best mans heart , and therefore god would have us sometime look back upon what we were in our unconverted estate , that so that might abate the pride of our spirits : you have an excellent place for this in ezek. 16. 3 , 4 , 5. compared with the last verse of that chapter . sayes god there to jerusalem , thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of canaan ; thy father was an amorite , and thy mother an hittite ; and as for thy nativity , in the day that thou wast born , thy navill was not cut , neither wert thou washed in water to supple thee , no eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee , but thou wert cast out into the open field , to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born ; that thou maist remember , and be confounded , and never open thy mouth any more , because of thy shame , when i am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done , saith the lord : they must remember their guilt and their shame when god is pacified towards them , and when god is reconciled to them ; and so you have another place for the same purpose , in ezek. 20. 43. and there shall you remember your wayes , and your doings , wherein you have been defiled , and you shal loath your selves in your sight , for al the evil that you have committed . i remember what plutarch relates of one agathocles , who was advanced from a potters son , a low , mean , and contemptible condition , to be king of sicilie , this man when he might have been served every day in golden dishes , yet he would stil have his provisions brought in earthen dishes , because sayes he , i may remember what i was , and what i am , a potters son , that so i may not be too much lifted up and exalted : why , so do you remember what you were , your father a potter , and you a poor miserable sinfull creature , and this will abate the pride of your hearts . reas 5 5. and lastly , god wil have us cal to minde our former sinfulnesse , because this wil make us more watchful and circumspect , that we do not run again into those sins that we were guilty of before conversion ; god would not have us do it , to drive us into despair , or to question our evidences for heaven , but to make us humble and watchful , that we run not again into the same sins . thou maist thus think with thy self , before conversion , i spent my dayes in sin and wickednesse , and consumed my years in vanity and pleasures , in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and of the mind ; and the consideration of this , will lay an engagement upon thy soul , to walk more carefully , and prudently , and holily in time to come ; this the apostle makes use of , in ephes . 5. 8. you were sometimes darknesse ( saith he ) but now are you light in the lord , walk therefore as children of the light ; we should now hate and abhorre those sins that formerly we have delighted in . use . these are the reasons of the point ; i shal only make one short use of it ; which shal be of reprehension to those , that ( notwithstanding it is the will of god , that men after conversion should cal to minde the sin they were guilty of before conversion ) do yet crosse this doctrine either in their judgement , or practice . 1. this reproves those that do contradict this doctrine in their judgement , and think that when once they are converted , they must never look back upon their former wretchednesse , but only now live in divine raptures , and revelations , and spirituall joyes , and comforts ; for , 1. if pauls precept be warrantable , then this opinion is unwarrantable , for he tels us that we must remember what we were in our unconverted estate , that we were at that time without christ , and without hope , and without god in the world. 2. paul tels the ephesians , that were an elected people , who were elected before the beginning of the world , that they must remember that they were dead in trespasses and sinnes heretofore , though now they were quickened : and if paul bids them call to minde their former sinfulnesse , then why should not we do it ? 2. this reproves those that though they do not deny this doctrine in judgement , yet do not make it their practise , to call to minde their former sins that they were guilty of before conversion : i dare warrant , that many of you can remember what you have done , and what debts have been owing you twenty years agoe , but yet cannot cal to minde what sins you have committed 20. yeares agoe , it may be some of you have been cheaters and swearers , adulterers and prophaners , and yet now you never think of it , but imagine all is well : i doe not know how to expresse what sad , dismall and deplorable condition thy poor soul is in , thou that dost never call to mind thy former sins : but thus much shall suffice for this first doctrine . sermon , ii. ephes. 2. 12. that at that time ye were without christ , — we come now to the body and bulk of the words , that at that time ye were without christ , from whence note , doctr. that every man during the time of his unregeneracy , is in a condition without jesus christ . my beloved , if i should tell you now that when you come home , you should have never a bit of bread to put in your mouths , that all your subsistence and livelihood should be taken away , that you should be heirs of never a foot of land , and that you should have nothing at all to live upon , you would count this a hard case , but i tel you my brethren , that to be without jesus christ is a far worse case , it is the saddest and miserablest thing in the world to be without jesus christ : when i tell you , that you are without christ , i tell you the saddest news in the world ; but before i can bring home this doctrine to you , there is one objection and one question , that i must spend a little time in answering , the objection is this : object . object . how can it be said of these ephesians here that were elected , that before their conversion they were without jesus christ , for they were chosen of god in christ before the world was made , and therefore how can the apostle say that when they were born they were without jesus christ , seeing they were chosen in christ before the beginning of the world ? answ . i answer , that the same man in a different sense may be said both to be in christ and out of christ ; it is true the apostle sayes in the first , that they were chosen in christ before the world was . 1 if you respect the eternall decree and determination of god , so they were in christ , for god did purpose to make jesus christ a mediatour between god and man , by whose bloud they should be saved . 2 though they were in christ in regard of gods decree , yet they were without christ in regard of the application of the bloud of christ to their souls : for till a man hath faith , he can make no application of the love of god to him , for he that hath not the spirit of christ , he is none of his , though they were in christ in regard of the eternall decree of god , yet they were without christ in regard of the actuall application of the love of god to them ; for they could not apply to their own souls that christ did love them and own them as his children , till they were brought into a converted estate . i come now to the question which i promised to resolve , which is this : quest . what it is to be without christ . answ . i answer it concludes in it these three things ; 1 to be without the saving knowledge of christ ; 2 to be without any actuall interest in christ ; and 3 to be without any spirituall communion with christ . now if you ask me which of these is chiefly here meant , that these ephesians were without ; i answer the two former , for they were both without the true knowledge of christ ; and also without any actuall interest in christ . 1. to be without christ is to be without the saving knowledge of jesus christ : though a man during his unconverted estate , may gather together a great deal of notionall knowledge , yet the scripture doth lay him under this condition , that he is a man without christ . now a man may be said to be without the knowledge of christ in these 5 particulars . 1 a man may have a common knowledge of christ , and yet be without a spirituall knowledge of christ , he may have a naturall knowledge by the works of god , by hearing , reading , or the like , and yet be without a spirituall knowledge , to know christ in a spirituall manner . 2 a man may have a notionall , and yet be without an experimentall knowledge of christ ; and hence it is that the scripture expresseth the difference between the knowledge of the righteous and of the wicked man ; the lord plants wisdome in the secret parts of his children , but in the outward parts , in the head and in the brain of wicked men , god makes his children to know christ in the inward parts . 3 an unregenerate man may have a contemplative , and yet be without an affective knowledge of jesus christ ; wicked men may have a speculative knowledge of christ , they may know christ as a man knowes his neighbour , but now a beleever knowes christ as a wife knowes her husband , a beleever knows christ and he loves christ too , an unregenerate man he may have much light , but he has but little heat in his knowledge , he may grow much in a contemplative , but not in an affective knowledge , he knows what he should doe , but he will not doe what he knows . a wicked mans knowledge is like the moon , it hath light with it but no heat , but a godly mans knowledge is like the sun , that hath heat as well as light , a beleever loves christ as well as he knows him . 4 an unregenerate man he is without an appropriating knowledge of christ , he doth not know christ to be his christ , there are none that do know christ to be theirs but those that do belong to christ , now in this sense , a man may be a great knowing man , and yet not know jesus christ . 5 and lastly , an unregenerate man , he is without a practicall knowledge of jesus christ ; they know much but do but little , as in tit. 1 16. in their words they professe to know him , but in their works they deny him , though they know god , yet they glorifie him not as god , they know many things , but will do nothing : now put all these together , wherein an unregenerate man is without the knowledge of christ , he is without a spiritual , and experimentall knowledg , without an affective , and apprehensive knowledg , & without an appropriating and practicall knowledge of christ . 2 to be without christ implies not only to be without a saving knowledge of christ , but also to be without an actuall interest in christ , that at that time you were without christ , that is , during the time of your unconverted estate , you were without any reall actuall interest in christ ; from whence observe , doctr. that every man during the time of his unregeneracy , is without any actuall interest in christ . in the handling of this point , i shall onely do these three things . 1 i shall shew you the propertles of a man without christ ; 2 i shall shew you the characters of a man without christ ; and 3 i shall shew you the misery of a man without christ : and then come to the uses . 1 i shall shew you the properties of a man without christ : and in treating of this subject , i wish from my soul that if i cannot allure you , yet that i might affright you , and throughly awaken you , to see the indispensable need that you have of getting an interest in jesus christ ; and here i shall discover to you eight particular properties of a man without christ . 1 every man without jesus christ he is a base man. 2 he is a bondman : 3 he is a beggerly man : 4 he is a blinde man : 5 he is a deformed man : 6 he is a disconsolate man : 7 he is a dead man ; and 8 he is a damn'd man. these are the eight properties of a man without jesus christ : 1 every man without jesus christ is a base man ; though thou art born of the bloud of nobles , and though thou art of the off-spring of princes , yet if thou hast not the royall bloud of jesus christ running in thy veins , thou art a base man. in dan. 11. 21. and in psal . 15. 4. in both those places you read of vile persons ; such is every man without christ : and he must needs be so , because it is only christ that can take off that basenesse wherein every one is by nature ; as in esa . 43. 4. sayes god , since thou wer 't precious in mine eyes , thou becamest honourable , and in 1 pet. 2. 7. unto you which believe christ is precious , it is jesus christ , that puts a diamond of honour and glory upon men , they are all base men that are out of jesus christ , and that in these three respects : 1 they come from a base originall ; 2 they commit base actions ; and 3 they aime at base ends . for the 1. every man that is out of christ he comes from a base originall , he hath not his origination from the spirit , but from the flesh , he proceeds not from god who is the father of lights , but from the devill who is the prince of darknesse . 2 he is base because he commits base actions , all the actions and services of a christlesse man , at the best are but as filthy rags , and dead works . a man in his unconverted estate , he is the slave and drudge of the devill , a worker of wickednesse , still fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the minde , being given over to vile affections . 3 he is a base man without christ , because he aims at base ends in whatsoever he does ; and that two wayes , 1 in this world he aims at base ends in his hearing , reading , praying , and profession of religion , he mindes himself and his own ends in all : and 2 all his actions tend to base ends in another world ; as the actions of a man in christ tend to salvation , so the actions of a christlesse man tend to damnation . 2 a man without christ is not only a base man , but a bondman ; this christ tels us of in john 8. 36. if the son make you free , then are you free indeed , intimating , that if you have an interest in christ to free you from the slavery of sin and satan , you are slaves indeed : this bondage and slavery likewise consists in three particulars : 1 they are slaves to sin ; 2 to the devill ; and 3 to the law. 1 every christlesse man he is a slave to sin ; in joh. 8. 34. sayes christ there , verily i say unto you , whosoever committeth sin , is the servant of sin , and in 2 pet. 2. 19. while they promise them liberty , the themselves are servants of corruption , for of whom a man is overcome , of the same he is brought in bondage . every man by nature is a slave to his lusts , and a slave to sin , and to the creatures ; god made man lord over all the creatures , but man hath made himself servant to all the creatures . 2 he is not only in bondage and slavery to sin , but to the devill too , as in 2 tim. 2. the two last verses , sayes the apostle , in meeknesse instructing those that oppose themselves , if god peradventure will give them repentance , to the acknowledging of the truth , that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devill , who are taken captive by him at his will. 3 he is in bondage to the law , that is , he does nothing in obedience to the law ; and this is the great misery of a man without christ , he is bound to keep the whole law of god : there is a very strange expression in rev. 18. 13. saint john tels there that all those that did worship the beast , shall cry woe and alas , for babylon is fallen , and shall cry for the slaves and souls of men : all wicked men are slaves to antichrist , to sin and to the law , and this is the great misery of an unregenerate man. 3 thou art not only a base and a bond man , but a beggerly man too without jesus christ ; for all the treasures of grace and mercy are hid and locked up in christ as in a common magazine or storehouse : col. 2. 3. in him are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge ; if you are out of christ you have nothing , as rev. 4. 17. thou sayest thou art rich and increast in goods , and hast need of nothing , and knowest not that thou art poor , and wretched , and miserable , and blind , and naked ; you will grant that he is a poor and beggerly man , that wants these four things , meat for his belly , cloathes for his back , money for his purse , and a house to put his head in , why in all these respects every man that is out of christ is a beggerly man. 1 a beggerly man is one that hath no meat to put in his belly , and all you that have no interest in jesus christ are beggerly , in this regard , because you do not feed upon that bread of life , nor drink of that water of life , the lord christ , whose flesh is meat indeed , and whose bloud is drink indeed , without which your soules will starve for hunger . 2 you will say he is a poor man , that hath no cloathes to put on his back : thus every man out of christ is not only poor but naked ; rev. 3. 17. thou knewest not that thou wer 't poor and miserable , and blinde and naked , that man that is not cloathed with the long robes of cerists righteousnesse , he is a naked man and exposed to the wrath and vengeance of almighty god , those men have only a cloak to cover their sinfull nakednesse and shame , that are cloathed with the robes of christs righteousnesse . it is said of jacob , that he obtained the blessing from his father by being clad in the garments of his eldest brother , and so are we only blessed by god our father , as we are cloathed with the robes of our elder brother jesus christ . 3. that man is a beggerly man that hath no money in his purse ; why so , though your purses be full of gold , yet if your hearts be not full of grace , you are very beggerly men , luk 16. 11. grace is only the true riches ; all the durable riches are bound up in christ . 4. and lastly , he is a beggerly man , that hath not a house to put his head in , that is destitute of a house to lodge in , and a bed to lie on ; why so , thou that hast no interest in christ , when thy dayes are expired and death comes , thou knowest not what to do , nor whither to go , thou canst not say with the godly man that when death takes thee hence thou shalt be received into everlasting habitations , you cannot say 〈◊〉 christ is gone before to prepare a place for thee in heaven : so that in these four particulars you see , that a christlesse man is a very beggerly man , having neither food for his body , nor cloathes for his back , nor money in his purse , nor a house to put his head in , unlesse it be in a dungeon of darknesse , with devils and damned spirits . 4. another property of a man without christ is , that he is a blinde man : rev. 3. 17. and knewest not that thou art wretched , and miserable , and poor , and blinde , and naked and hence it is , that wicked men during their unregeneracy are called darknesse , in ephes . 5. 8. you were sometime darknesse , but now are you like in the lord , walk as children of the light : so light is come into the world , and yet men love larknesse rather then light , because their deeds are evil . jesus christ is to the soul that which the son is to the earth , take away the sun from the earth , and it is nothing but a dungeon of darknesse : so take away christ from the soul and it is nothing but a dungeon of the devill ; though there be a christ in the world , yet if the heart be shut , and jesus christ be not in thee , thou art in a state of darknesse and blindenesse . 5 every man without christ , is a deformed man , as you may read in ezek. 16. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 , 11 , and 14. verses , thus saith the lord god , thy nativity is in the land of canaan , thy father was an amorite , &c. and in the 6. vers . when i passed by thee , and saw thee polluted in thine own blood , i said unto thee ( when thou wast in thy bloud ) live , yea i said unto thee when thou wast in thy bloud , live ; when a poor childe lies weltring it its bloud , not swadled , nor washed , nor looked after , what a sad condition is it in ? and thus were you sayes god ; but then read on in the 7. verse , i have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field , and thou hast encreased and waxen great , &c. and so again in the 14. verse , thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty ; for it was perfect through my comlinesse that i had put upon thee , saith the lord , intimating that before christ looks upon a soul , he lies weltring in his own bloud , and not able to help himself , but when he becoms comely through christs comlinesse that is cast upon him ; if you want christ , you want your best ornament : a man without christ is like a body full of sores and botches , he is like a dark house without light , and like a body without a head , and such a man must needs be a deformed man. 6. another property of a christlesse man is that he is a disconsolate man , christ is the only spring of comfort , and the fountain of all joy and consolation , take away christ from the soul , and it is all one , as if you did take away the sun from the firmament ; if a man hath all the blessings in the world , yet if he want christ , he wants that which should sweeten all the rest of his comforts . in exod. 15. 23. 25. you read there of the waters of marah , they were so bitter , that none could drink of them , but then the lord shewed moses a tree , which when he had cast into the waters , the waters were made sweet ; why jesus christ he is this tree , that sweetens the bitternesse of any outward affliction , and he can make all thy sorrowes to flee away ; there is nothing in the world that sweetens the comforts , and gives us joy , in the possession of the things of this world , more then the having an interest in jesus christ : it is not ( beloved ) the having of much of the creature in your house ; but the having of christ in your hearts , that makes you live comfortably ; all the bread you eat will be but bread of sorrow , if you do not feed upon the body of jesus christ , and all your drink will be but wine of astonishment , if you do not drink of the bloud of jesus christ ; without an interest in christ , al your comforts are but crosses , and al your mercies are but miseries , as in job 20. 22. in the fulnesse of his sufficiency he shall be in straits , though you have abundance of the things of this life , though you have more then enough , yet if you have not an interest in christ , you have nothing . 7. another property of a man out of christ is , that he is a dead man. you know that common place in 1 joh. 5. 12. he that hath the son he hath life , and he that hath not the son he hath not life , hence we read in eph. 2. 1. that unregenerate men are dead in trespasses and sins , and the reason is , because that christ is a beleevers life : col. 3. 3. our life is hid with christ in god , take away christ from a man and you take away his life , and take away life from a man and he is a dead lump of flesh ; unregenerate men are termed strangers to the life of godlinesse , and therefore must needs be dead in their sins ; though they do injoy the life of a man , yet if the life that he lives be not by the faith of the son of god , he is spiritually dead : as for example , you know a dead man he feels nothing , do what you will to him , he does not feel it ; so a man that is spiritually dead , he does not feel the weight of his sins , though they are a heavie burden pressing him down into the pit of hell , he is a stranger to the life of godlinesse , and past feeling , given over to a reprobate sense , so that he feels not the weight and burden of all his sins . 2. a dead man he hath a title to nothing here in this life , though he were never so rich , yet he loseth his title to all , and his riches goes from him to another ; why so , being spiritually dead , you can lay claim to nothing , neither to grace , nor mercy , heaven or happinesse by jesus christ . 3. a dead man is still rotting and returning to the dust from whence he came ; and so a man that is spiritually dead he fals from iniquity to iniquity , and from one sinne to another , till at last he drops down into hell fire . 8. the last property of a christlesse man is , that he is a damned man , if he live and dye without christ hee is a damned man. so joh. 3. 18. he that beleeveth not , he is condemned already , he is as surely damn'd as if he were in hell already , he that is without jesus christ , must needs goe without heaven , for heaven and glory and happinesse are entailed upon him ; heaven is given to none , but those that are heirs together with christ , and therefore you that are without christ must needs be without heaven , and consequently without happinesse and salvation , and therefore must needs be damn'd . so that you see in these eight particular properties , in what a sad and miserable condition every christlesse man is in , and oh ! that what has been now declared concerning the wretchednesse of a christlesse man , might provoke every soul of you to a holy eagernesse and earnestnesse of spirit , above all your gettings to labour to get jesus christ . sermon , iii. ephes. 2. 12. that at that time ye were without christ , — we come now to the 2. question , which i promised you to resolve . quest . what are the characters of a man without jesus christ . this query is very necessary , because hereby we may know , whether we are the men that are without jesus christ or no ; now i shall reduce these characters of a christlesse man into these seven heads , and go over them very briefly . 1. that man that is without the spirit of christ , he is without any reall actuall interest in christ : this the apostle layes down to us in so many expresse terms in rom. 8. 9. if any man hath not the spirit of christ , he is none of his : christ and the spirit are inseparable companions ; have the one , and you enjoy the other ; want the ione , and you are without the other ; and here ( beloved ) to apply this more particularly , you are without any interest in christ , if you are without the spirit of christ in the threefold operation of it . 1. if you are without the enlightning work of the spirit , to teach your minds to know christ . 2. if you are without the inclining work of the spirit , to draw your hearts to love christ ; and 3. if you are without the constraniing work of the spirit , to impower your wils to obey christ . if you are thus without the spirit of christ , in these three particulers , you can lay no just claim , to any interest in jesus christ . with what face therefore can any of you lay claim to christs person , that are not guided by his spirit , but are led by the corrupt dictates of your own hearts , and follow the desires of the flesh and of the minde ? you that are thus , can lay no claim to jesus christ , for whosoever hath not the spirit of christ , he is none of his : this is the first character . 2. he that is without any saving power , derived from jesus christ , enabling him to mortifie his bosome lusts , that man is without jesus christ , as in gal. 5. 24. the apostle tels us there , that they that are christs , have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts , thereby intimating , that they that have not crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof , have no interest in the lord jesus christ : when christ came in the flesh , we crucified him , but if ever christ comes into thy soul , he will crucifie thee ; they that are christs , they do crucifie the flesh : christ will be avenged on thy sins , and crucifie thy lusts , and kill thy corruptions , when he comes into thy soul . but here ( beloved ) i do not mean a totall subduing of sin , as if every lust and corruption should be quite subdued ; but only thus far , to give a deadly blow to sin , that sin shall not reign nor bear sway in thy soul as it hath done formerly : sin in the heart of one that is in christ , shall be like those monarchs spoken of in dan. 7. 12. it is said their dominions shall be taken away , but their lives shall be prolonged for a little season ; just so it is with sin in the heart of a beleever , the dominion of sin is taken away , but the life and beeing of it is preserved for a little season : there shall be some remainders of sin still , in the best of gods servants , but sin shall not reign in their mortall bodies , and therefore you that never had any power to mortifie your sins , that never had any bridle of restraint to any of your lusts , lay no claim to jesus christ , for they that are his have crucified the flesh with the lusts thereof . i might here make use of a story ( that i have often told you of ) in the history of scotland , there is mention made of an island , situate in the midst of the sea , between scotland , and ireland , and there was a great controversie between the two nations , to which of the kingdomes this island did belong , and a great polititian to decide the controversie , commands a great company of toads and frogs to be gathered together , and put into the island , and if those venomous and unclean beasts should live there , then the island belonged to scotland , but if they died , then it belonged to ireland , for no unclean creature does inhabit there : just so it is with us ; there is a great controversie between christ and the devill , to which thy soul does belong , why now if poisonsome lusts , & venomous sins , can live and thrive in thy soul , then you belong to the devil ; but if these lusts and sins dy in your soul , then you belong to jesus christ . 3. another character is this , that man that is without unfeigned love to the person of christ , that man is without any interest in christ ; for every one that hath christ loves him ; and every one that hath him not , loves him not : 1 cor. 16. 2. if any man loves not the lord christ , let him be accursed , he that does not love christ , hath no interest in christ , and shall be accursed when christ shall come to judgement . object . object . but some will be ready to say , if this be so , that the not loving of christ , be an argument of the not having of christ , wby then i think i am well enough , for i do love christ with all my heart . answ . answ . i will tell thee in the very words of christ , who it is that loves him : joh. 14. 24. he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings ; does not thy conscience tell thee o man , that thou dost not care for any command of jesus christ ? let him command what he will , you will do what you list ; you see here christ tels thee plainly , that he that loveth him not , keepeth not his sayings ; i beseech you therefore in the fear of god , take heed of deceiving your own souls , in thinking you love christ , when there is no such matter , but labour to love him in truth , and evidence your love to him , by keeping of his commandemants . 4. that man that is without any saving knowledge of christ , is without any actuall interest in christ , there is no man that hath christ but knows christ ; ( mistake me not ) i do not say that every man that hath christ knows he hath him , for a man may have christ , and yet not know of it , for the present ; but this i say , he that hath an interest in christ , whosoever he be , he must know christ in part , joh. 8. 54 , 55. you say that god is your god , and yet you have not known him , 't is a very strange place , you say that god and salvation by him , and all is yours , and yet you have not known him . ( oh my beloved ) you say you have christ , and yet you have not known christ , he himself will convince you at the last day , of laying a false claim to him , read joh. 1. 12. compared with the 24. and 26. verses . now when i tell you that a man without the knowledge of christ , is without any interest in christ , i do not say , that those are without christ , that have not so great a measure of knowledge as other men have ; but when you are without the knowledge of christ , accompanyed with these two circumstances , then i can safely pronounce you to be a christlesse man : 1. if you be without the knowledge of christ , and yet sit down contented in your ignorance , neither desiring , nor labouring after the knowledge of him , then i may safely say , that for the present thou art without jesus christ , if you are like those spoken of in 2 pet. 3. 5. for this they are willingly ignorant of , that by the word of god , the heavens were of old , and the earth standing out of the water , and in the water : or like those in job 2. 14. that say unto god ; depart from us ; for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes : if you are such as these , i can safely pronounce you to be christlesse men . 2. not only when you are contentedly ignorant , but likewise when with obscurity in your judgements , you adde obstinacy in your wils ; when thou art an ignorant , and dost not know , and wilt not know , that hast not learned , and yet will not learn , but art like those spoken of in psal . 82. 5. they know not , neither will they understand , he does not say , they know not , neither do they , but neither will they understand ; a godly man may have the former of these : although you be very ignorant , yet if you desire to know , you may have an interest in christ ; but i am bold to say ( in case you are ignorant and yet sit down contentedly and do not care to know more , and obstinately and will not learn more ) that you have no interest in christ , and therefore keep off your hands from christ , lay no claim to him , for you have nothing to do with him , he is none of yours . 5. another character is this , that man that is without a hearing ear to the voice of christ , and an obedient heart to the mands of christ , that man hath no interest in christ : i shall give you two plain texts of scripture to prove this , one is in joh. 8. 47. he that is of god heareth gods word ; you therefore hear them not , because you are not of god ; they that are of god , hear his word ; those that belong to christ , and have an interest in him , hear his word , not only with the ear , but with the heart , and so in 1 joh. 1. 6. sayes the apostle , we are of god , he that is of god , heareth us ; he that is not of god , heareth not us ; hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of errour : and therefore thou obstinate and stout hearted wretch , that canst lie like a flint under the word of god , and suffer no command to make impression upon thy spirit ; verily thou canst lay no just claim to jesus christ . 6. that man that uses greater industry , and takes greater complacency in the acting and committing of sin , then ever he did in the exercise of any grace or the performance of any duty , that man is without jesus christ . you have an excellent place for this purpose in joh. 3. 8. 10. he that committeth sin , is of the devill , he doth not say , he that does sin , is of the devill , but he that commits sin with delight , that makes a trade of sin , he is of the devill , and so on in the 10. ver . in this the children of god are manifest , and the children of the devill ; whosoever doth not righteousnesse , is not of god , he does not belong to god , he that does not righteousnesse with delight , and complacency , with joy and industry : as he that doth commit sin , that is , act it with delight , and makes a trade of it , is of the devill , so he that does not do righteousnesse , that is , with delight , and joy , and chearfulnesse , that man is not of christ : you then that can sin with delight , but perform holy duties with a flat , and dead , and dull spirit , you that never took so much delight to sanctifie the sabbath , as you have done in prophaning of it , you that never took so much delight , in the performing of duties to god , as you have done in sinning against god , lay off hands from jesus christ if your hearts be full of sin , you can have no interest in him ; in joh. 9. 16. some of the pharisees said , this man is not of god , because he keepeth not the sabbath : this had been a very good argument , had it been well applyed , had christ indeed not kept the sabbath : if it may be truly said of you , that thou dost not make conscience of keeping of the sabbath , or of performing any holy duties , i can truly say of you , that you are not of god : now then examine your selves by this argument , whether you are of god or no ; if you do prophane the sabbath day , and make no conscience of performing holy duties , nor of sinning against god ; this shews that you are not of god ; that man that acts sin with more delight then he performs holy duties , hath no interest in christ , as in 1 joh. 5. 18. hee that is born of god sinneth not , that is , he doth not commit it with that delight and complacency as wicked men do ; but he that belongs to god , he keepeth himself pure , and that wicked one toucheth him not ; that is , not so , as to make him commit sin in the former sense , but he keepeth himself , he will not give himself to commit sin with that cheerfulnesse as wicked men do ; and therefore saith the apostle , we know that we are of god , and the whole world lyeth in wickednesse . 7. the last character is this , that man is without any interest in christ that backslides from the wayes of christ , both in judgement , and in practise : ( beloved ) when a man shall backslide from the truth of christ in judgement , and from the exercises of holy duties in practise , when he backslides both these wayes , he is not in jesus christ : 2 joh. v. 9. whosoever transgresseth , and abideth not in the doctrine of christ hath not god , but he that abideth in the doctrine of christ , he hath both the father and the son ; that man that sins both in judgement and in practise , he is not of god ; but he that abides in the truth of god both in judgement and in practise , he hath both the father and the son. oh therefore i beseech you in the fear of god , look about you , to see whether you are the men that have a reall actuall interest in christ or no. are you such men as are without the spirit of christ ? or are you without a saving power derived from christ , enabling you to mortifie your bosome lusts ? are you without an unfeigned love to the person of christ , or without a true and saving knowledg of christ ? are you contentedly ignorant of christ , and care not to know more ? or are you obstinately ignorant , and wil not learn more ? are you without a hearing ear , and an obedient heart to the word of christ ? do you take greater industry , and complacency in the committing of sin , then ever you did in the performance of any holy duty ? or do you backslide from the wayes of christ both in judgement , and in practise ? if there be a concurrence of these seaven characters in you , then conclude that you have no interest at all in christ , conclude then that at this time you are without jesus christ . thus now i have done with the second question which i promised you to answer i shall now spend a little time in winding up what i have said in a practicall use , and then come to the third question . and in the application of this i shall direct my speech to two sorts of people : 1. to those that are plunged into a spirituall delusion , to say they have an interest in christ when they have not . 2. to those that say they have not an interest in christ when they have . use . 1 1. to you that say you have an interest in christ , when you have not ; give me leave to propound these 3 or 4 questions to you : first let me ask this question , were you ever without christ , yea or no ? if you answer no , then let me tell you thus much , that that man that sayes he had christ ever , i may safely say he had christ never : thou that dost say that thou hadst christ ever since thou wert born , i can safely say that thou hadst christ never since thou wert born , for every man is born a christlesse man. 2. thou that sayest thou hast an interest in christ , let me ask you this question , how came you by your interest in christ ? do you think that christ fel from heaven , into your bosome whether you would or no ? how came you by christ then ? did you ever make a powerfull prayer unto god for him ? did you ever sigh , and sob , and cry mightily unto god for him ? did you ever see your misery without him ? and beg the father earnestly for him ? for god is not prodigall of his son to give him to those that never ask him . 3. let me ask you this question , did you ever see an absolute necessity in your own souls , of getting an interest in jesus christ ? were you ever sensible of the want of christ , and of the worth of christ , of the need you have of christ , and in what a sad , and miserable , and deplorable , and damnable condition you are in without christ ? if you are not sensible of this , you are to this day without jesus christ . 4. let me ask you this question , how can you evidence that you have an interest in christ , by your walking ? what saith the apostle in 2 cor. 5. 17. if any man be in christ , he is a new creature , old things are passed away , and all things are become new ; are you new creatures ? are all your old sins passed away ? the apostle tels you , that they that are christs , have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts : why now , hast thou killed any lust in thy heart , or rather do not every lust reign in thee , with as much power as ever they did ? if it be so , then surely you have no interest in christ at all . use . 2 thus much for the first sort of people , those that are plunged into a spirituall delusion , we come now to the second sort of people , those that are doubting , and perplexed souls , that say they have not an interest in christ when they have ; those which say they are without christ , when indeed they are not , as there are many such people in the world : now to such as these i have two or three words of consolation . 1. let me speak this for your comfort , it is a very ordinary thing with the people of god , to passe very hard and uncharitable sentences upon their own souls , and to run upon very sad mistakes in reference to their own salvation . a childe of god he sees so many lusts in his own heart , and so many sins within him , that he can scarse have a charitable thought of his own soul , as david when he said , the lord had forsaken him , and cast him off for ever : godly men are very apt to passe very harsh censures upon their own souls . 2. let me tell you this for your comfort , you may have christ , and yet not know that you have him ; it may be with you as it was with mary magdalen when she was talking to christ face to face , yet sayes she , they have taken away my lord , and i know not where they have laid him ; so you may have an interest in christ , & yet not know of it ; in joh. 14. 4. christ told his disciples there , sayes he , whither i go you know , and the way you know , thomas saith unto him , lord we know not whither thou goest , therefore how can we know the way ? now the reason why they did not know , as augustine well observes , was because they did not know their own thoughts , they thought they did not know , but yet christ he knew that they did know . it is with a beleever sometimes as it was with benjamin , the cup was in his sack , and yet he did not know of it : now benjamin was the beloved of joseph , so you may be the beloved ones of christ , and yet not know of it . 3. to you that think you are without christ , when you are not , let me tell thee this for thy comfort , though the having of christ , be indispensably necessary for the bringing of our souls to heaven , yet the knowing that we have christ is not so much necessary . as it is with a man asleep in a ship , the ship may bring him home safe to the harbour , and yet he not know of it ? so christ may bring us through a sea of boisterous afflictions and temptations to heaven , our haven of rest , and yet we not know of it , till we come there . 4. let me tell you this likewise for your comfort , though you do not know that christ is yours , yet christ doth know that you are his : wil you count your child an unhappy childe because he does not know that you are his father ? 't is no matter though the childe does not know that you are his father , so long as you know that he is your childe ; so it is no great matter though you doe not know , that christ is yours , so long as christ knowes that you are his , for the foundation of the lord standeth sure , the lord knows who are his . thus now beloved i have done with this use that belongs to this examination , both for those that say they have christ , when they have not ; and also for those that say they have not christ when they have . sermon , iv. ephes. 2. 12. that at that time ye were without christ , — i come now to the 3. query which i promised to handle , which is this ; to shew the misery and sad condition of a man without an interest in jesus christ : and oh that i could speak it , & you hear it , with a bleeding heart , to see in what a dismall , and doleful , and deplorable condition every poor soul in the world without christ is plunged into : i shall reduce all that i have to say , touching this particular , under these two heads , to shew you 1. positively , what he undergoes : and 2. privatively , what he wants : i shall run over them briefly . 1. for the positive part , the misery of a man out of christ , lies in these three particulars : there are these three great evils , that every man out of jesus christ lies under . 1. a man out of christ is surrounded and compassed about with misery , which way soever he turns himselfe , and to illustrate this the more fully , i shall heare lay you down 8. particulars , wherein a christlesse man is compassed about with miseries on all sides ; thou art surrounded with misery , oh christlesse man , if thou lookest either outward , or inward ; upward or downward ; forward , or backward ; on thy righthand , or on thy left ; nothing but miseries accompany thee . 1. if thou lookest outward , all the creatures are armed against thee ; and hence it is so often exprest in scripture , that the beast shall be at war with the wicked , but at peace with the godly : all the creatures are against thee to avenge their masters quarrell . 2. look within thee , and there you shall finde a galling , an accusing , and a condemning conscience , haling thee to the judgement seat , and witnessing against thee , thy conscience shall be like a thousand witnesses , to witnesse against thee , and to register and enroll all thy sins till the day of judgement . 3. look upwards into the heavens , and there is nothing but an angry god , a severe judge ; that hath a flame of fire , a furbished sword , and a sharp arrow , and all against thee , as in rom. 1. 18. the wrath of god is revealed from heaven , against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men ; that hold the truth in unrighteousnesse . 4. if you look downwards , there is death ready to receive you , which is but as a back-door to let you into hell , and if you look lower , there is nothing but a dungeon of darknesse , where infernall spirits are reserved in chains of darknesse , to the judgement of the great day . which way soever a christlesse man looks there are nothing but miseries accompany him ; if he looks outward , there the creatures are against him ; if he looks inward , there is a galled , and accusing conscience ready to accuse him ; if he looke above him , there is an angry god against him ; if he look below him , there is the devill ready to receive him : a christlesse man is in a most sad and dolefull condition , as i might exemplifie by this familiar similitude ; suppose a man were falling into a great and dark dungeon , wherein there were nothing but toads and serpents , and all manner of venemous beasts , and as he were falling in , should catch hold of a twig of a tree that might grow over the mouth of the dungeon ; and then suppose a lean beast should come and begin to gnaw and bite off that twig , what a miserable case will that poor man be in ? why just so it is with thee oh christlesse man , thy life in this twig , and death is the lean beast that is biting off this twig of life , and then thou failest down into a dungeon of darknesse , there is nothing but the twig of life between thee and hell . 5. if you look before you , there is nothing but misery likewise approaching thee ; and these are the snares and temptations the devill layes in thy way to ensnare thee , and intice thee to sin ; there is not a step thou treadest , nor any company thou goest into , but the devill layes a trap to ensnare thee . 6. if you look behinde you , there is nothing but a huge heap of past sins unrepented of unsatisfied for , and unpardoned , that are able to sink thee into the bottomelesse pit of hell , how then canst thou think of thy past sins but with a sad heart ? how dreadfull is it to consider how many thousands of sins thou hast been guilty of and yet never hast been humbled for them , nor never shed one penitentiall tear for them ; the guilt of the least of them , being enough to plunge thee into hell for ever . 7. look on thy right hand , and there are all the blessings of god , all thy fullnesse and prosperity ; thy riches , and great estate , are all made a curse to thee : god gives a wicked man riches for his hurt , eccles . 5. 13. prosperity shall kill the soul of the wicked : oh christlesse man thy riches and prosperity , are all instruments and means to further thy everlasting ruin and destruction . 8. look on thy left hand , and there are all the miseries , and afflictions , and sufferings , and reproaches , and diseases , and sad accidents that you meet with , as so many forerunners of those unutterable , and untolerable , and unsupportable sufferings , which a christlesse man shall undergoe to all eternity . oh then unhappy man that thou art , that hast not an interest in jesus christ ! without thee , and within thee ; above thee , and below thee ; before thee , and behinde thee ; on thy right hand , and on thy left , there are nothing but miseries accompanie thee on every side . thus much for the first positive part , of the misery of a christlesse man ; it is a very sad point that i am now upon , and therefore i shall sweeten all in the close , with two or three words of consolation . but 2 ( beloved follow me now ) thou that art a christlesse man or woman , thy misery in the positive part of it lies in this , there wil be nothing in the world so dismal and intolerable to thy soul , as the apprehensions of a god without jesus christ : god that is an amiable , and desireable , and an universall good in christ , yet out of christ , this great god that is so good and rich in mercy , and free in grace , is cloathed with red , and scarlet ; you that are out of christ , cannot look upon god , but with dreadfull apprehensions of him : you cannot look upon god , as a god of mercy to pardon you , but as an angry judge ready to condemn you , not as a friend that seeks your welfare , but as an enemy that sets himself in battel array against you to ruin you : you cannot look upon him as the rock of ages , in the clifts whereof you may finde safety , but as a burdensome stone , the weight whereof will beat you down and grinde you to powder : you cannot look upon god as a refiners fire to purge away your drosse , but as a consuming fire and everlasting burning to consume you to ashes ; these , these are the awakening , and soul-affrightning apprehensions , which every poor soul that hath not an interest in christ , must see , the apprehensions of god will be very dreadfull to you . 3. your misery in the positive part of it , lies in this , that all the creatures and blessings you injoy in the world are acurse to you ; for all blessings are given in and through christ , there is no blessing given thee as a blessing , nor no mercy as a mercy , if christ which is the mercy of all mercies be not given to thee : and here i shall shew you your misery in this particular , under these five heads . 1. to have an estate is a blessing of god , but yet all the estate , and revenues , and substance which you have gotten , by the labour of your hands , and the sweat of your brows are all accursed to you , if you have not an interest in jesus christ , as in deut. 28. 17 , 18. cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field ; cursed shalt thou be in thy basket , and in thy store ; cursed shalt thou be in the fruit of thy body , and of thy land , in the encrease of thy kine , and in the flocks of thy sheep ; cursed shalt thou be when thou goest forth , and cursed when thou comest in : and so in job 20. 15. he shall swallow down riches , but he shall vomit them up again : and in eccles . 5. 13 sayes solomon , there is a sore evill which i have seen under the sun , namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt . 2. you are cursed in your house likewise , as in job 28. 15. the terrours of god shall dwell in the taberuacles of the wicked , and brimstone shall be scattered throughout his habitation : and so in that place i quoted before , deut. 28. 19. 3. he is cursed in his name , as in prov. 16. 7. the name of the wicked shall not . 4. he is cursed in his calling , as in prov. 21. 4. the ploughing , of the wicked is sin , and in deut. 28. 20. the lord shall send upon thee cursing , vexation , and rebuke , in all thou settest thy hand unto , for to doe . 5. he is cursed not only in his estate , in his house , in his land , in his calling , but in his eating and drinking too ; you have a strange expression for this in job . 20. 23. when he is about to fil his belly , god shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him , and shall rain it upon him when he is eating ; so in psal . 38. 30 , 31. while the meat was yet intheir months , the wrath of the lord came upon them . thus then you see the positive part of mans misery out of christ , what he undergoes : we come now to shew you the privative part , of his misery , what hee wants ; and here very much might be spoken in declaring the misery of a christlesse man in the privative part of it , in those things which he wants in being without an interest in christ ; but i shall run over this briefly , and comprise all that i have to say to you under these six heads , and then come to the application : first then , are you without christ ? why then you are without strength , as in joh. 25. 5. without me you can de nothing , saies christ ; nay paul goes further in 2 cor. 3. 5. we are of our selves as of our selves , sayes he , not able to think a good thought , but all our sufficiency is from god : herein lies the misery of a man out of christ , he is able to do nothing , he is like sampson without his hair , he that before could break iron bands like so many straws , now his strength was no more then another mans : ( beloved ) you are very weak indeed , if you want christ ; in esai . 45. 54. it is said there , that christ is made unto a beleever , righteousnesse and strength ; now if you want christ , you want righteousnesse by way of acceptance , and you want strength by way of assistance . but here to branch out this more particularly , i shall shew you in five particulars , wherein a man without jesus christ wants strength . 1. every man out of christ , wants strength to perform any duty , as in rom. 8. 26. we know not what to pray for , as wee ought , we are able to doe nothing that is spiritually good of our selves , all our duties and services , without the righteousnesse of christ added to them , are but like so many ciphers , now you know put 1000. ciphers together , and they make no sum , but if one figure be prefixt to them , they make an innumerable number ; why so all our duties of themselves are worth nothing , but then christ being added to them , that puts an estimate upon them , and makes them of a considerable value and worth . 2. you are without strength to exercise any grace ; a dead man is as well able to stir , as a man without christ is able to step one step heaven-ward ; if god should say , i will save thy soul and give thee heaven , couldst thou but perform one duty , or exercise one grace , thou couldst not do it , and therefore christ tels us in joh. 15. unlesse you be in me , you can bring forth no fruit . 3. without christ thou art without strength to subdue any lust ; oh how unable art thou to keep under a predominant and a turbulent lust ! every sin will prevail and domineer in thy soul : in gal. 2. 20. sayes paul , i have crucified sin , yet not i , but christ that liveth in me : the messenger of satan , that was sent to buffet paul , had prevailed over him , if christ had not helped him ; you are not able to subdue any lust without christ . 4. you are without strength to resist any temptation ; in ephes . 6. 10. paul exhorts them there , to be strong in the lord and in the power of his might , not in the power of their own might , for they were not able to stand of themselves by their own strength , but be strong in the lord , and in the power of his might ; so david when he came to fight against great goliah , had he gone out to meet him in his own strength , he had been overcome and devoured , but he went against him in the name , and in the strength of the lord of hosts . 5. a man without christ is without strength , to bear or undergoe any afflictions , every affliction that is but like a feather , to one that is in christ , will be like a lump of lead upon thee ; a godly man if he hath any way withdrawn himself from christs aid and assistance , a little affliction will sinck him , for , it is given us of god , not only to do but to suffer for his sake , phil. 2. 21. intimating , that unlesse god doth enable us to suffer , we are not able to bear up our spirits under any affliction . thus then you see , that if you want an interest in christ , you want strength in these five particulars , to perform any duty , to exercise any grace , to subdue any lust , to resist any temptation , or to bear any affliction ; but 2. if you are without christ , you are not onely without strength , but without growth likewise ; jesus christ is to the souls of men , what the warm beams of the sun are to the earth , take away the influence of the warm beams of the sun from the earth , and then all the grasse of the field and every hearb and green thing will die and wither away presently : so christ he is our sun of righteousnesse , take away christ from a man , and there wil no blossomes of grace bud forth in that mans heart : adams stock is a barren root , upon which no branch of grace will spring forth ; you can never bring forth any fruit unto god , unlesse you be graffed not upon adams stock , but upon the stock of the root of jesse ; a man during his unconverted estate , he is the devils slave , and he never brings forth fruit , till he come to be in christ ; only in and through christ , we are enabled to bring forth acceptable fruit unto god. 3. without christ , thou are likewise without worth , though thou art the son of a noble , and of the off-spring of princes , that canst lay claim to thousands and ten thousands per annum , yet without christ thou art poor , and wretched , and miserable , and blinde , and naked , rev. 3. 17. for it is christ alone that is the repository and storehouse of all wisdom and knowledge , and all the treasures of it are bound up in him . 4. without christ you are without comfort : this is a deplorable misery , a man without christ , is without comfort . as that would be an uncomfortable dwelling , where the sun should not shine by day , nor the moon by night : even so would thy soul be very disconsolate , if christ did not shine in upon thy heart , the comforts of a child of god does either ebbe or flow , as christ either comes to him , or goes from him . 5. without christ thou art without liberty . if the son make you free , then are you free indeed , joh. 8. 36. and unlesse the son make you free , you are slaves indeed , slaves to sin , slaves to your lusts , slaves to the creatures , and slaves to the devill by whom you are taken captive at his will , you are never free men and women till the son make you free . 6. if thou art without jesus christ , thou art without beauty , thou art only like a carkasse without life , or a body without a head ; it is christ only , that gives us beauty and comelinesse . ezek. 16. 14. and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty , for it was perfect through my comelinesse that i had put upon thee , saith the lord god ; if we have not the comelinesse of christ put upon us , we are not comely ; you have a pretty passage in luk. 2. 32. christ is there called the glory of the children of israel , christ is the glory of the children of israel that doe beleive in him : there is no glory , but a body full of sores and botches , in all those that are out of christ . and thus now ( beloved ) i have done with the doctrinall part of this point , that every man , during the state of his unregeneracy , is without any actuall interest in christ : we come now to the application , and here i might say to you as a learned author was wont to say , when he had been handling any terrible subject , and treating upon doctrines of terrour , he would alwayes say in the close , oh godly man , this belongs not to thee : so may i say to you , thou godly soul , this appertains not to thee , the misery and sad condition of a man out of christ , belongs not to thee , thou doest not now hear the sentence which shall be passed upon thee , but thou dost now hear the misery , that thou art freed from , and redeemed from : use . the use that i shall make of this , shall be by way of consolation , and the lord uphold and comfort the hearts of all you that can lay a just claim to jesus christ . 1. happy , oh thrice happy are you , that ever you were born , that have an interest in jesus christ , for though god be cloathed with majesty great and terrible in himself , yet you can look upon him , under apprehensions of love and mercy , peace , goodnesse , tendernesse , and kindnesse ; you are to look upon god not as an angry judge to condemn you , but as a father of mercy to comfort you ; not as an adversary in battell array against you , but as a friend reconciled to you ; not as a burdensome stone , that may grind you to powder , but as the rock of ages , in the clifts whereof you may finde safety : you are to look upon god , not as a consuming fire to burn you , but as a refiners fire to purge away your drosse , and sin , and corruption ; it is christs bloud only that quencheth the fire of gods anger . so that now you may look upon god under all these apprehensions of love and mercy , peace , pardon , and reconciliation , &c. if you have an interest in jesus christ . 2. happy , yea thrice happy are you , in having an interest in christ , for though you have nothing here in the world , yet you have all things : you have all things in having an interest in christ that hath all things : you may say as paul said of himself , 2 cor. 6. 10. as having nothing , and yet possessing all things ; though thou wantest many things here below , yet if thou hast an interest in christ , thou hast all things . it may be thou mayest eat of the bread of affliction , and drink of the water of adversity , yet happy art thou , if withall thou canst but drink draughts of christs bloud , if christ bids thee eat of his body , and drink of his bloud , as in cant. 5. 8. eat oh friends , drink , yea drink abundantly oh my beloved . happy are you that are cloathed with the long white robes of christs righteousnesse : though you have nothing here below , yet you have all things , in having christ that hath all things , 1 cor. 3. 22. all is yours , and you are christ . object . object . but here some may object and say , how can this be , how can it be said that a beleever hath all things , when many times he hath the least of the things of this world . answ . answ . i answer , a beleever may be said to have all things , these four ways : 1. he hath all things equivalently . 2. all things conditionally . 3. all things finally : and , 4. all things inheritively . 1. a beleever hath all things equivalently , that is , in having christ , he hath as good as if he had all things , he hath that which is of more worth , then if hee had all the world ; that man is not accounted a rich man that hath much lumber and houshold-stuffe in his house , but he that hath many jewels in his cabinet : why now christ hee is the pearle of great price , the jewel of all jewels , in having christ you have all things , in regard you have that which is more worth then all things . 2. a beleever hath all things conditionally : if such a thing bee for thy good that thou desirest , thou shalt have it , bee it what it will be , as in psal . 84. 11. the lord will give grace and glory , and no good thing will hee withhold from those that live uprightly , hee hath all things conditionally . 3. a beleever hath every thing finally , that is , the lord intended that every creature that he made , might be for his use , the sun , moon , and stars , and all the other creatures were made for them , nay and all the angels in heaven were made to be ministring spirits to the heirs of salvation . 4. all things are a beleevers inheritively , by way of right and inheritance : though he may not have all things in possession , yet he hath all things by way of reversion , hee hath a right and claim to every thing , psal . 37. 11. the meek shal inherit the earth . but now it may be i speak to many a poore godly man or woman , and tell them all is theirs , when it may be they have not a penny to buy bread to put in their bellies : why yet beloved let me tell you , though you have nothing , yet you have christ that is worth all things , though you want other things , yet you doe not want christ : beloved , you may want outward blessings , and yet not want jesus christ ; you may want food to put in your mouthes , and yet not want the bread of life , the lord jesus christ to feed upon ; you may want clothes to cover your nakedness , and yet not want the long robes of christs righteousnesse to cover your sinfull nakednesse ; you may want friends to comfort , help , and relieve you , and yet not want christ to be your friend . there is some thing yet behind , by way of consolation , but i must defer that till another opportunity . sermon , v. ephes. 2. 12. that at that time yee were without christ , — we come now to lay down some other things by way of comfort , to those that have an interest in christ : and oh that you that are citizens of heaven would read over your large charter of mercies , that is sealed to you in the bloud of christ , read over those many benefits , and comforts that you have by christ , that none in the world enjoy , but you onely that have an interest in him : i shall reduce all that i have to say concerning this particular under these 7 heads ; you that lay an undoubted claim to christ , you may lay claim to this sevenfold benefit by him . 1. you that have an interest in christ , you have all things though you have nothing : this i touched upon before , you may say with the apostle , as having nothing , yet possessing all things , though you may be without wealth and riches and olive yards , yet herein lies your comfort , you are not without christ , and in having him you have al things though you have nothing , for all things are given you , in and through christ by way of entaile , as in 1 cor. 3. 22. all things are yours , and yee are christs . i shall a little explain this place to you ; sayes the apostle , whether paul or apollos , or cephas , or the world , or life , or death , or things present , or things to come , all is yours , and you are christs , and christ is gods : whether paul , or apollos , or cephas , ( that is ) all the ministers of christ , if you have an interest in christ , christ hath given gifts to his ministers for your sakes : so that you may lay claim to all the ministers of christ , paul is yours , and apollos is yours , they are yours , because they are your lights , to guide you in the way to heaven , through the darke wildernesse of this world ; they are your pastors , to feed you with knowledge and understanding , in the mysteries of salvation ; they are your shepheards , to gather you into the fold of jesus christ ; they are your builders to hew and square and make you fit for christs spirituall building ; they are your con●●ctors or the friends of the bridegroome , to make up a compleat match between christ and you ; ( i speak only in scripture phrase ) they are your vine-dressers to prune you , and make you fit to bring forth fruit unto god : thus all the gifts of all the ministers in the world are intended by christ for the good of his children ; if there were no godly men in the world , there would be no ministers in the world , and therefore these people that will heare onely one kind of ministers , such as they affect , and slight all else , they straighten their own priviledges , for all the ministers in the world are given by christ for the benefit of his children . but then again says the apostle , whether paul , or apollos , or cephas , or the world , all is yours : you have a right to all the world , not only a civil right , but a religious right , the meek shall inherit the earth . so that if you could go to the top of an exceeding high mountain , and look over all the whole world , you may say , behold , i see all this is my fathers ground , and he hath given it to christ , even the heathen for his inheritance , and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession , and i having an interest in christ , am thereby a coheire and joint heire with him . 3. life is yours likewise ; god hath given you your lives that in that little space of time , you might provide for eternity , and labour to know god and worship him aright . 4. death is yours likewise , death is but as it were a lanching of you forth into an ocean of endlesse joyes and pleasures , but as a trap-doore to let you into heaven ; if you should never dye you would bee but miserable creatures ; but god hath appointed death to be a means to let you into heaven . whether wee live , we live unto the lord , or whether we dye , we dye unto the lord , so that living or dying , we are the lords . 5. things present are yours , which includes in it , either present mercies , or present afflictions ; 1. present mercies are yours , as having a right to them , and beholding the goodnesse of god in them , and praising god for them , and as serving god with them , and as doing good to others by them . 2. present afflictions are yours likewise , to humble your hearts , to wean you from the world , to quicken your desires after heaven , to purge out your corruptions , and exercise your graces , and the like ; whatsoever present condition thou art in , that present condition bee it what it will be , shall work for thy good . 6. things to come are yours too ; if afflictions come , or temptations come , or trouble , or want , or famine , or pestilence , or imprisonments , or any thing come , they are all yours , they are ordered by christ to be for your good ; and so if mercy comes , and the blessings of another world , they are all yours , heaven and happinesse , and glory , life & salvation are all yours . here then ( beloved ) you see the first branch of a mans happinesse , that hath an interest in christ , in having christ he hath all things , though hee hath nothing , because he hath him that hath all things : this is the first . 2. that man that hath an interest in christ , his second consolation lies in this , that all that christ hath is his : and ( oh my beloved ) this is a golden mine , that will afford you many pretious comforts , i shall give them to you under these five or six particulars . 1. if you have an interest in christ , then christs father is your father . 2. christs spirit is your spirit . 3. christs righteousnesse is your righteousnesse . 4. christs graces are your graces . 5. christs peace is your peace ; and 6. chr. sufferings are your sufferings . and ( oh beloved ) see what a large field you may here walk in : 1. if you have an interest in christ , his father is your father , as in joh. 20. 17. saith christ , behold i ascend to my father and your father , to my god and your god ; christs father is a beleevers father . 2. christs spirit is your spirit ; in john 14. 8. sayes christ , i will pray to my father , and he shall give you another comforter , which shall abide with you for ever , even the spirit of truth , whom the world cannot receive , because it seeth him not , but you see him and know him , for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you . 3. christs righteousnesse is your righteousnesse . jer. 23. 6. and this is the name whereby he shall be called , the lord our righteousnesse ; so in 1 cor. 1. 30. christ is made of god unto us wisdome , righteousnesse , sanctification and redemption . 4. his graces are your graces . joh. 1. 14. christ is full of grace and truth , why ? that out of his fulnesse we might all receive grace for grace , that is , for every grace that is in jesus christ , according to our proportion and capacity we shall receive from him . 5. his peace is your peace . joh. 14. 27. my peace , sayes christ , i leave with you , my peace i give unto you , the peace that we enjoy is from christ . 6. lastly , christs sufferings are your sufferings , god looks upon his sufferings for you , as if you in your own persons had done and suffered what he did , the just hath suffered for the unjust to bring you to god ; the sufferings of christ do as effectually bring you to god , as if you in your own persons had suffered upon the crosse as he did , nay it doth it a great deal more , for our sufferings could not have done it . thus having an interest in christ , all that christ hath is yours . 3. take this for your comfort , that all that you have is christs ; i shall sum up all that i have to say , concerning this , under these three comprehensive particulars : 1. your sinnes are christs to pardon them , and satisfie gods justice for them . 2. your sufferings are christs to sanctifie them ; and 3. your bodies and soules are christs to save them . 1. you that have an interest in christ , your sins are his to pardon them , esay 53. 6. the lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all , the chastisements of our peace were laid upon him , and by his stripes we are healed , hee bore our sins in his own body on the tree , and to this purpose the apostle hath an expression in 2 cor. 5. 21. he was made sin for us , that we might be the righteousnesse of god in him ; christ was no sinner , but hee was made a sinner for us , he bore our sins upon him , our sinnes are christs to pardon them . 2. our sufferings are christs sufferings to sanctifie them unto us . act. 9. christ says to saul ; saul , saul , why persecutest thou me ? hee lookes upon the injuries and wrongs , that are done to his people , as if they were done to him . 3. your bodies and soules are christs to save them ; our members are members of christs body , as in 1 cor. 6. 15. says the apostle , shall i take the members of christ , and make them members of an harlot ? god forbid : thy bodie is christs , and thy soule is christs , the apostle hath it in so many expresse tearms , in 1 cor. 6. 19 , 20. what know you not ( says the apostle ) that your bodies are the temples of the holy ghost , which is in you , which you have of god , and you are not your own ; for you are bought with a price , therefore glorifie god in your bodies and souls which are his . thus you see what a large field of mercie al you that have an interest in christ , have here to walk in , you have all things , though you have nothing , all things equivalently , all things conditionally , all things finally , and all things inheritively : all the ministers of christ are yours , the whole world is yours , life and death is yours , things present are yours , whether present afflictions , or present mercies , things to come are yours , whether afflictions , or temptations , or trouble , or want , or any things ; and mercie to come is yours , as life and salvation , heaven and happinesse , all is yours ; all that christ hath is yours , christs father is your father , his spirit is your spirit , his righteousnesse is your righteousnesse , his graces are your graces , his peace is your peace , and his sufferings are your sufferings ; and all that you have is christs , your sins are christs to pardon them , and your sufferings christs to sanctifie them , and your soules and bodies christs to save them : i might here adde one head more , that all your duties and services are christs too , he persumes them with the sweet odour of his merits , and so presents them , and makes them acceptable to god , hence it is that you read in the revelation , that christ addes his incense to the prayers of all his saints ; and this is a very great consolation . 4. all you that have an interest in christ , take this for your comfort , that the having of christ is that which will sweeten all the crosses and afflictions , and adverse conditions that you meet withall here in this world ; the having of christ will sweeten every trouble , as i told you before ; what the tree was to the waters of marah , that christ will be to every sad and dejected soul in every troublesome condition , the waters of marah were so exceeding bitter none could drink of them , but when the tree was cast into the waters then they became sweet : why so it may be thy condition here in this world is as the waters of marah , full of bitterness and sorrow , and trouble and affliction , but now doe but cast this tree of life , the lord jesus , into these waters , and then this will convert them from waters of marah , bitter and troublesome , to be rivers of joy and streams of comfort . christ will be to thy soul as the honie in the lions bellie was to samson , it became good for food to feed upon ; it may be afflictions and troubles may come in upon thee like a roaring lion , but christ is as the hony in this lion , that sweetens all thy sorrows and makes them advantagious and comfortable for thee . i might apply to this purpose what an author observes concerning the water of the sea , it is very salt in its self , but when it comes to run through the bowels of the earth , it then loseth its saltnesse and becomes pleasant ; why so though thy condition here in the world be full of sharp and sore afflictions , yet when these come to run through christ , he sweetens them all unto thee . great is your comfort in having an interest in christ , for this is that which sweetens all the crosses and troubles you meet withall here in the world : and ( beloved ) doe but seriously consider of it , and let mee a little reason the case with you , what though thou mayst feed upon the bread of sorrow , yet how canst thou be uncomfortable , when withall thou feedest upon the bread of life the lord jesus christ ? what though thou mayest drink the water of affliction and wine of astonishment , yet how canst thou be uncomfortable , so long as thou dost drink drops of christs bloud ? what though you have not a house to put your head in , yet let this be your comfort , that you have a house preserved for you , a building not made with hands , eternall in the heavens : what though you have nothing but a stone for your pillow to lay your head upon , when every night you lay your head in the bosome of jesus christ ? thus much concerning the fourth consolation . 5. all you that have a reall and well-grounded interest in christ , herein lies your comfort , that in and through christ , you may look upon god ( that in himselfe is cloathed with dread and terriblenesse ) with a great deal of joy and comfort . christ makes all the attributes of god to be delightfull and comfortable to thee , that though god be a consuming fire to burn up thy soul like stubble out of christ , yet in christ you may look upon god as fire , but yet so as that christ interposeth between you and it ; christ is as a skreen between the fire of gods wrath and you ; thou art to look upon god , not as an enemy that sets himselfe against thee , but as a friend reconciled to thee ; not as an angry judg that is desirous to condemne thee , but as a mercifull father that is willing to pardon thee , you are not to looke upon god cloathed with dread and terrour , but with mercy and compassion ; that god that will frown upon thee out of christ , yet bring but a christ in thy armes , and present him to god the father , and then hee will turn away his anger from thee , and behold thee with a smiling countenance , thou being in christ and christ in thee , and god being well pleased with his sonne , must needs bee well pleased with thee too ; great is your benefit by having an interest in christ ; i may say in this case what elisha the prophet said to king jeroboam , 2 king. 3. 14. verily , sayes hee , were it not that i regard the person of jehosaphat king of judah , i would not looke toward thee nor see thee ; just so does god say to us , were it not for my sonne jesus christ , you should never see my face , nor have a good look from me . 6. if thou hast a real interest in christ , then this is another part of thy comfort , that god the father doth as truly accept of thee in his sonne , as if thou hadst in thine own person done and suffered what christ did , this is a great benefit , god accepts of what christ hath done for us , as if we had none it our selves , as in ephes . 1. 6. hee hath made us accepted in the beloved , that is , in christ . god lookes upon thee in christ , and accepts of all thy duties and performances , as well as if thou hadst prayed as well as ever christ prayed , and done and suffered as much as ever christ did . 7. art thou now in christ ? well take this for thy comfort , thou maist be confidently assured , that thou shalt bee one day with christ . this is the last consolation , and i shall give you a pregnant text to prove it , though it be not so well understood in the common reading of it as it should bee , rom. 8. 10. ( sayes the apostle ) if christ be in you , the body is dead because of sinne , but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse . what is the meaning of this , the body is dead because of sinne ? the meaning is not , that the body does mortifie sin , but the body is dead because of sin , that is , sin shall bring your bodies to the grave , but your spirits shall live because of righteousnesse , ( that is ) the righteousnesse of jesus christ ; through the righteousnesse of christ your souls shall live for ever in glory with christ , though your bodies die , and sin bring them to the grave , yet the killing of your bodies shall but make way for the living of your spirits ; being in christ here , you shall for ever live with christ in glory hereafter , the death of your bodies shall but give you an entrance into glory , and therefore why should death be grievous to those that are in christ jesus ; for death is but as it were the marriage day wherein christ and their soules shall bee united together ; if christ bee in you , your bodies shall die because of sin , but your spirits shall live because of righteousnesse : you have another pertinent place to prove this in joh. 17. 23 , 24. sayes christ there , i in them , and thou in me , that they may be made perfect in one , and that the world may know that thou hast sent me , and hast loved them as thou hast loved me ; and father i will , that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where i am , that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me . some conceive that this prayer of christ was made onely for the apostles , that they might be where christ was in heaven ▪ but if you marke the precedent words , you shall find that it was for all beleevers , for saies christ himself , neither pray i for these alone , but for all those that shall beleeve in my name to the end of the world . great is your comfort in having an interest in christ here , you shall one day reign with him for ever in glory . thus i have done with these seven consolations to those that have a real and well grounded interest in christ , i have onely now a word or two , by way of use to apply and set home what i have said concerning this particular . use . here you see what unspeakable comforts redound to you that have an interest in christ , you have all things though you have nothing , christ is yours , and all that christ hath is yours , and all that you have is christs , christ sweetens all afflictions and crosses to you , and the having of christ represents god the father to you , not with terrour and dread , but with goodnesse , and meeknesse , and loving-kindnesse , and mercy , and long-suffering , and through christ god doth as freely accept of you , and of what you doe , as if it were done as well as ever christ did it , and being in christ here , you shall for ever live with christ in glory hereafter : oh how should all these mercies and priviledges , stir up all those that have yet no part in christ , never to give rest to their eyes , nor slumber to their eye-lids till they have gotten an interest in him ! sermon , vi. ephes. 2. 12. that at that time ye were without christ , — lest any of you that hear mee this day should lie under a spirit of delusion and think that all that i have said touching the happinesse of those that have an interest in christ belongs to them when it doth not ; i shall therefore spend this houre in shewing you some characters whereby you may know whether you have a real interest in christ or no : this is the needfullest point that ever in my life i prest upon you , and the lord give you grace to lay these characters close to your own hearts , and by them seriously to examine your own souls whether you have a reall interest in christ or no : but before i give you these characters , give me leave by the way to premise these three or four cautions or cautelary conclusions , which will the better make way to the handling the point in hand . caution 1 1. take this caution , that men may be strongly conceited and opinionated , that they have an interest in christ when they have not : i shall give you a plain text for this in 2 cor. 10. 7. doe you look on things after the outward appearance ? ( sayes the apostle ) if any man trust to himself , that hee is christs , let him of himself think this again , that as he is christs , even so are we christs : this is a very notable place ; there were some among the corinthians that were strongly conceited they did belong to christ , when they did not ; and had an ill opinion of the apostles , and thought they did not belong to christ ; and to such as these the apostle paul here speaks : men may be strongly conceited they have an interest in christ , when there is no such matter , as it was with the church of laodioea , in rev. 3. 17. thou sayest i am rich and increased in goods , and have need of nothing : and knowest not that thou art wretched , and miserable , and poor , and blinde , and naked . 2. another cautelary conclusion i would have you take notice of , is this ; that in laying down the characters of a man that hath an interest in christ , i do not so presse them , as that unlesse you have them all in you , you cannot have an interest in christ , for if you have but one of them in you , in truth and sincerity , it is an evidence that you have an interest in christ : i give you this caution for fear of casting down any poor dejected soul ; if you have but one link of this golden chain , you have as sure hold , as if you had all of it . 3. in laying down these characters of one that hath an interest in christ , i lay them down onely in the affirmative , not in the negative , that is , all those that have these characters in them , may be confidently assured , that they have an interest in christ : but i do not say , that those that have not these characters in them , have not an interest christ , for should i say so , i should cast down many a humble and dejected soul : i do not say , that if you have not these characters in you , you have no interest in christ ; but this i say , that you may confidently and indubitatively know and be assured , that you have an interest in christ , if you finde these things in you . 4. lastly , take in this caution likewise , that in giving you these characters , i shall not presse them so , as if the having of all these in exercise and feeling , and in your own apprehensions , can only evidence your having an interest in christ , but if you have them in habit , and in truth , though not in exercise and practise , it is sufficient to evidence your interest in christ . for a poor soul may have many graces of gods spirit in truth in him , though he doth not feel , and exercise , and apprehend them in himself , as i told you it was with mary magdalen ; she talked to christ face to face , and sayes she , they have taken away my lord , and i know not where they have laid him . and thus i have done with the cautions , or cautelary conclusions , wherein i have only made way for my better proceeding , in giving you the severall characters of a man that hath a reall interest in christ , and i wish to god they may be all engraven upon every one of your hearts , that you may be unquestionably assured in your own souls , of your interest in him ; i shall reduce all i have to say concerning this particular under these 12. heads . 1. that man that hath an interest in christ , he is cast out of himself ; that is , he is cast out of all conceit of his own self-sufficiency and righteousness , good works or merits : no man is in christ , but he is out of himself ; this character the apostle gives you in phil. 3. 8 , 9. yea doubtlesse , ( saith he ) i count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord , for whom i have suffered the losse of all things , and do count them but dung , that i may win christ , and be found in him , not having on my own righteousnesse : here paul having won christ , would not be found , having on his own righteousnesse ; the apostle doth not mean his own righteousnesse in point of being , but in point of dependence , not having on his own righteousnesse to be justified by it ; in that regard he would not be found having it on . so in 1 cor. 4. 4. sayes the apostle there , i know nothing by my self , now one would think this man were a very holy and exact man ; for sayes he , i know nothing by my self , that is , i know no sin upon my soul , that i perform wittingly or willingly : but mark the next words , yet sayes he , am i not hereby justified ; he was quite out of conceit of all the good works that ever he did : every man that is in christ , he is out of himself ; he sees his own in sufficiency , and christs all-sufficiency ; he sees his emptinesse of grace , and christs fulnesse of grace ; he sees himself to be nothing , and christ to be all in all . luk. 16. 15. sayes christ there to the pharisees , ye are they which justifie your selves before men , but god knoweth your hearts ; as if hee should have said , you think well of your selves and of your graces , but god knoweth your hearts , that you are not such as you seem to be ; and therefore ( beloved ) consider seriously of it , if god hath wrought this grace in your hearts , that you are cast out of your selves to see your own emptinesse , and vilenesse , and insufficiency and want of christ , if there be this work of grace wrought in you , then you may know you have a reall part and portion in jesus christ . character 2 2. another distinguishing character of a man in christ is this , that he makes conscience of keeping every known command of christ . this you have in 1 joh. 2. 5. whoso keepeth his word , in him verily is the love of god perfected , hereby know we that we are in him : hereby we know that we are in christ , if we keep every known command of christ , and therefore you that can appeal to heaven , that there is no one known command of christ , but bears sway in your heart , and carries an authority over your conscience , that you can subject your selves to it , although you have many weaknesses and failings , yet this is an undoubted character that you are in christ : as in 1 joh. 3. 22. if that therefore ( sayes the apostle ) that you have heard from the beginning , shall remain in the you , you also shall continue in the son and in father . you that keep every known command of christ , have an interest in him , and he in you ; and therefore ( beloved ) all you that doe make conscience of keeping the known and revealed wil of god , that there is no known sin but you labour to avoid , and no known grace but you labour to exercise , and no known duty , but you labour to perform ; if it be thus with you , you may comfort your selves in this , that you have a reall interest in christ . character 3 3. another character or discovery is this , he that hath an interest in christ , he hath a power derived from christ , enabling him to mortifie his inward and bosome lusts : as in gal. 5. 24. they that are christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts ; when christ came in the flesh amongst us we crucified him , but if ever christ come in thy heart , he will crucifie thee ; the crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts that the apostle here speaks of , is not the killing and totall extirpation of sin , but the giving a deadly blow to sin , that sin shall never reign in us , nor have dominion over us any more ; if you be in christ , sin will be like those beasts spoken of in daniel , their dominion was taken away , but their lives were preserved for a little season ; so the dominion of sin wil be taken away , that sin shal not reign in you , yet the life and being of sin will remain in you for a little season : but still as the house of saul grew weaker and weaker , when the house of david grew stronger and stronger , so if christ dwell in thy heart , sin in thy soul will every day grow weaker and weaker , and grace in thy heart will grow stronger and stronger ; and therefore beloved , all you whose hearts can bear you witnesse , that you have had the power of mortifying grace upon your souls , that you can bridle your beloved lusts , and subdue your bosom sins , & curb the pride of your hearts ; you may then lay an undoubted claim to jesus christ . character 4 4. that man that hath an interest in christ , doth keep a strict watch over his own heart , that he will not wittingly or willingly give way to the least sin to the dishonour of god ; a man in christ keeps a watchfull eye over himself , that he doth not give way to the least sin to the dishonour of jesus christ . we know that whosoever is born of god sinneth not , but he that is begotten of god keepeth himself , and that wicked one toucheth him not ; he that is begotten of god keepeth himself , he doth not keep himself from all sin , but he doth as much as in him lies resist every sin , and temptation ; he keepeth himself from every known sin : so in 1 joh. 3. 6. whosoever abideth in god sinneth not : this is not spoken absolutely , but comparatively , he sinneth not in comparison of those great sins that wicked men do commit , for they are slaves to their lusts : and secondly he sinneth not , that is deliberately , neither with a delightfull complacency , nor with a totall obduracy , nor in a way of finall impenitency : in these regards a man in christ sinneth not . and now beloved , you whose hearts and consciences can bear you witnesse that you doe keep a strict watch over your own souls , and that you have a care of committing the least sin against god , whereby you might dishonor him ; if it be thus with you , you have an infallible evidence of your interest in christ : that man that keeps sin out of his heart , may be confidently assured , he hath christ in his heart . character 5 5. another character or discovery is this , that man that hath an interest in christ jesus , christ hath wrought in him a reall change , both in his life and nature ; if thou art in christ , he will be in thee , to work an effectuall and saving change in thee , both in thy heart and life : as in 2 cor. 5. 17. sayes the apostle , if any man be in christ , he is a new creature , old things are past away , and all things are become new : why now ( beloved ) take this text and lay it close to your hearts ; hath god made you new creatures , and wrought a saving change in your heart ? can you evidence it to your own souls , that ever since you were first born , you were new born ? if it be so , you may lay a confident claim to jesus christ ; if any man be in christ , he is a new creature . character 6 6. another char this is , that man that hath an interest in christ , doth grow up in christ to be fruitfull in every good work ; hence it is that you often read in the scripture , of growing up in christ , & increasing in christ with the increase of god. jesus christ is the root of jesse , in whom whosoever is rooted and ingraffed , he will bring forth fruit unto god : whosoever is ingraffed into christ , he will bring forth the fruits of righteousnesse to the praise and glory of god. joh. 15. 5. i am the vine ( saies christ ) and you are the branches , he that abideth in me and i in him , the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for without me you can do nothing : why now beloved , you that make it out to your own souls , that you do grow in grace , and knowledge , and understanding , and in the duties of sanctification , humiliation , and mortification , this is a sure argument that you are planted into that root of jesse , that makes you to bring forth fruit unto god. character 7 7. that man that hath an interest in christ , he is most humble , and vile in his own eyes . of all the men in the world , there is no man so debased in his own esteem , as he that hath an interest in christ ; mark pauls description of a man in christ , 2 cor. 12. 2. i knew a man in christ ( saies he ) above 14. years ago , whether in the body , or out of the body , i cannot tell , god knoweth , such a man caught up into paradise , and heard unspeakable things , which is not lawfull for a man to utter , of such a one will i glory , yet of my self i will not glory , but in my infirmities . here paul speaking of himself , would not boast of what good either he had or did , or of what glory he beheld , left men should think of him above that which is meet ; this is the badge of a man in christ , he is most humble in his own eyes as those vessels that are fullest , sound the least , whereas those that are empty , make the greatest noise ; why so , those christians that are full of grace , & have christ dwelling in them , walk the humblest , and make the least noise ; when those that are out of christ , and empty of all grace and goodnesse , keep the greatest boasting of all ; as the shallow rivers make the greatest noise , in running over the peble-stones , when the deeper streams glide away silently ; so shallow brains , that know very little or nothing as they ought to know , make the greatest shew , of what they seem to have , when others that know more and are deeper learned are silent . it is very remarkable , what one observes concerning the prophet ezekiel , a very holy man , and much conversant with visions , and revelations , yet this man that was full of so many admirable parts , and gifts , and graces , the holy ghost doth no lesse then 93. times in that prophesie , call by the name of the son of man , which was ( saith he ) to keep him humble , and abate pride in his heart , and to shew that where there is most of christ and grace in the heart , that man should be most humble and vile in his own eyes . character 8 8. another discovery of a man in christ , is this , he will take care and make conscience of walking worthy of his interest in christ ; the apostle gives a caution for this in col. 2. 6. as you have therefore received christ jesus the lord , so walk you in him , rooted and built up in him , that is , according to those beginnings you have made , and those gospel-discoveries , god hath given you , and that entertainment you have already given to christ jesus the lord , so now it becomes you to make a sutable progresse , as truly , and really , and purely , as you have received him ; so let it be your every dayes work to be making progresse in him , and to walk worthy of him , so in the 1. epistle of joh. he that saith he abideth in him , ought himself so also to walk , even as he walked : hence it is that you finde in scripture , that being in christ , and living a godly life , are both joined together ; as 2 tim. 3. 12. all that will live godly in christ jesus : that man whose person is in christ , will labour that his wayes may be in christ too ; many a one would gladly have his person in christ , though his life be not in christ , but those whose persons and wayes are both in christ , they may lay a comfortable claim to him ; the difference between a man that hath an interest in christ , and one that hath none , i shall demonstrate to you by this familiar example : you know , a man that by experience knows what it is to make clean a room , he will be carefull that he does not upon every slight occasion , dirt it again , because he knowes , what a deal of pains and labour is taking in cleansing of it ; but now a dog or a spaniell he comes in and never cares for dirting of it , because he does not know what it is to make it clean ; why so a godly man , he will be carefull of walking worthy of his interest in christ , because he knowes how much it cost him , how many tears , and sighs , and groans , and prayers , before he got an interest in christ , and an assurance of his love ; but now a wicked man , he makes no conscience of sinning against christ , and displeasing of him , because he never knew what it was to get an interest in him . in gal. 3. 21. sayes the apostle there , as many as have christ , they have put on christ ; and a very learned interpreter hath an exceeding good note upon this text ; he sayes that this speech of the apostle here , is spoken in an allusion to an ancient custome among the heathens , that when they came to the profession of the faith , they were wont alwayes between easter and whitsuntide to put off their old garments , and put on white rayments ; the end of it was to typifie and note , that when once they were in christ , they must leave off their old courses and conversations , and now labour to walk after a more holy , and blamelesse , and innocent life , in their carriages towards god : thus ( beloved ) if you have an interest in christ , you have put on christ , walking worthy of him , in a holy , pure , spotlesse , and unblameable life and conversation . 9. a man that hath an interest in christ , doth so prize him , that he would not be without him for all the world ; there is no man that is in christ , but looks upon him as the most amiablest , and desireablest good in the world , he knowes the worth of christ , and counts him as an invaluable treasure . in 1 pet. 2. 7. the apostle after he had told them , of their being built upon christ , as lively stones upon the foundation ; he concludes , to you therefore which beleeve christ is precious ; intimating , that whosoever is founded and bottomed upon christ , christ is very precious to that soul , and therefore you ( beloved ) that have a sure testimony in your own consciences , that you doe set a high price and value , and esteem upon christ , above all things in the world , and that you count all other things as drosse and dung , in comparison of an interest in christ , this is a very good and undoubted evidence that you have an interest in him . it was an excellent speech of one concerning his interest in christ ; sayes he , if all the stones in my house were diamonds , and all the dust in my house shavings of gold , and every peble stone , an orient pearl , yet would i not prize nor value these in comparison of my interest in christ . character 10 10. he that hath an interest in christ , hath the spirit of christ dwelling in his soul , as in 1 joh. 4. 13. hereby wee know that we dwell in him , and he in us , because he hath given us of his spirit , he conveyes his spirit through the golden conduit-pipes of his ordinances , into thy heart ; this is a sure evidence to thee of thy interest in christ , if thou hast the spirit of christ dwelling in thee , in this threefold operation of it : 1. if thou hast the inlightning work of the spirit to inlighten thy mind to know christ : 2. if you have the inclining work of the spirit to incline thy heart to love christ : and 3. if you have the enforcing operation of the spirit to empower your wils to obey christ ; if you enjoy the spirit of god in these 3 operations of it , then you may certainly know , that you have an interest in christ . character 11 11. he that hath an interest in christ , labours by all possible means to bring others to the knowledge of christ : paul before he was in christ , did labour to drive men from christ , but afterwards , when he was converted , then he did labour to draw men to christ more abundantly then all the rest of the apostles ; oh ( beloved ) you that can compassionate poor souls in their naturall condition ; and can heartily wish all men to be in christ , as well as your selves ; you that can bemoan the christlesse condition of your friends and neighbours , this is a very evident discovery of your interest in christ . thus i have done with these severall characters of a man that is in christ ; if thou art cast out of thy self , and out of an opinion of thy own goodnesse and righteousnesse ; if thou makest conscience of keeping every known command of christ , and hast a power derived from christ enabling thee to mortifie thy bosome and inward lusts ; if you have a care to avoid every sin whereby you might dishonour christ ; if there be a reall change wrought in you both in heart and life , from nature to grace ; if you grow up in christ to be fruitfull in every good work , and are humble and base , and vile in your own eyes ; if you labour to walk worthy of your interest in christ , prizing him , and valuing him above all the desirable things in the world ; if the spirit of christ dwels in you , inlightning your mindes to know him , inclining your hearts to love him , and empowering your wils to obey him : and lastly , if you have in you ardent desires , and earnest endeavours to win others to christ , as well as your selves ; if you can finde any one of these in truth and sincerity in your hearts , it will be a very good evidence to you of your interest in christ . i have only a word or two more , to those that upon examination doe really finde themselves to be in a condition without jesus christ ; let me leave with you these two or three discoveries of your sad condition , to quicken you the more earnestly in your pursuits after him . 1. are you without christ ? why then you are without satisfaction , and contentation in all the things you enjoy here in this world : what solomon sayes is verified in you , that your eye shall not be satisfied with seeing , nor your ear with hearing , nothing without jesus christ , can give satisfaction to the demands of an immortall soul , the world being round , and your hearts triangular , and you know 't is impossible that a round thing should fill that which is three square : so neither is it possible that the world or any thing in it should satisfie the desires of your hearts . 2. as you can have no satisfaction in the world , so neither can you have any acceptation with god , god wil say to you as joseph did to his brethren , if you bring not up you brother benjamin with you , look me not in the face : so will god say to you , if you bring not jesus christ , your elder brother with you , doe not look mee in the face ; here is the misery of a christlesse man , he can have no acceptation with god. 3. without an interest in christ , you can have no salvation by christ ; he procures salvation for all that are in him , and for no other ; joh. 17. 12. those that thou hast given me , i have kept and none of them is lost : if you are without christ , your condition is like those that were in the old world before the floud ; all that were in the arke were saved and preserved , but all that were out of the arke were drowned ; so jesus christ is the arke whereinto every soul that can procure admittance shall bee saved , but all that are not in christ , shall be drowned in a river of brimstone , which the breath of the lord shall kindle , you shall be condemned and destroyed for ever , if you are without christ , you are without satisfaction from the creature , without acceptation with god , and without salvation by christ . and thus in these six sermons i have shewed you the happinesse of a man in christ ; and the characters of a man in christ ; and the misery of a man without christ ; and so i have done with this first part of mans misery by nature , and of the first branch of the text , that at that time you were without christ . sermon , vii . ephes. 2. 12. — being aliens from the common-wealth of israel — having finished the first , i am now to proceed to the second part of mans misery , in these words , being aliens from the common-wealth of israel , but before i fal opon this second branch of the text , i shall speak something to you , concerning the order of the words , why their being without christ , is put in the first place : i answer , it is put in the first place to shew that as the having of christ is the foundation ; and inlet of all happinesse and blessednesse ; so the want of an interest in christ is the spring and fountaine from whence all the miseries and calamities that are incident to the children of men doe flow , and therefore this deservedly is put in the first place , for if you are without christ , you must needs be aliens from the commonwealth of israel , and strangers to the covenant of promise , without hope , and without god in the world. but then again why is their being aliens to the commonwealth of israel put in the second place ? answ . because he that is without christ the head , must needs be without the church the body , for by the commonwealth of israel , is meant the whole body of the church , they were aliens from the common-wealth of israel , that is , this was the misery of the ephesians , while they were in a state of gentilism , not converted to the faith of christ , by the gospell , they had no interest in the benefits and priviledges that the people of god enjoyed that were in the church of israel , they had none of those spirituall and special priviledges and blessings , which god did bestow upon all those that were in covenant with him , they were aliens to the commonwealth of israel , that is , they were aliens to the ordinances of god , that were then in use in the jewish church , they were without all the ordinances of jesus christ . all the priviledges of the people of god , did the gentiles want , before they were in christ . here then you see the complete misery of those that were in a state of gentilism , they were aliens to the commonwealth of israel , and strangers to the divine worship of god , which he did institute and appoint in his church , and to all the priviledges and prerogatives which the people of god doe enjoy . in the words there are two parts observable : 1. a description of the church of god , and that by this term the common-wealth , the church of god is called the commonwealth of israel . 2. here is laid down the alienation of the ephesians , before conversion , from this church , from this commonwealth . now ( beloved ) from hence i shall only note to you , these two observations , which i intend to finish this sermon . doctr. 1. that the church of god is a spirituall commonwealth . doctr. 2. that it is a great part of a mans misery to be a stranger to the true church of god. doct. 1 for the first doctr. that the church of god is a spirituall commonwealth : in the handling of this , i shall doe these two things : 1. i shall shew wherein the church may be compared to a commonwealth , and 2. i shall shew you wherein they differ . 1. the church may be compared to a commonwealth , in these four particulars ; 1. in a commonwealth there are people of different degrees , ranks , callings , and qualities , all are not princes , nor are all rulers , all are not merchants , nor are all rich , there are men of all degrees , callings and qualities , some are rich , some poore , some high , some low , some masters , some servants , and the like ; now in this regard , the church may be compared to a commonwealth , for in the church of god some are high , some low , some rich , some poore , some men grown up to a full stature in christ , others are but new beginners and babes in christ ; some men are rich in gifts , when others are but poore and mean ; some are strong in grace , like the oak , when others are but like a broken reed . as in a commonwealth , so in the church of god , there are men of severall ranks , degrees , callings , qualities , and conditions , as in 1 cor. 12. 8 , 9 , 10. all men have not the same manner of gifts , for to one is given the word of wisdome , to another the word of knowledge , to another faith , to another the gifts of healing , to another the works of miracles , to another prophesie , to another discerning of spirits , and to another the interpretation of tongues , but all these worketh that one and the same spirit , dividing to every man severally as he will : as it is in the naturall body , so it is in the spirituall body , that body would be a monstrous body , if the thumb were as big as the arm , and the arm as big as the body , and every part as big as the whole ; just so it is in the church , it is the beauty of it , to have a variety of condition . 2. as in a commonwealth though there be multitudes of people , yet they are all governed by one & the same laws , and are all subjects to one and the same rulers : so it is in the church of god , though there be many people in it , yet they are all subject to the same laws , and are all to walk by the same rule ; and in this regard it may be compared to a common-wealth , for there is but one rule , the word of god , that swayes the whole church . 3. in a commonwealth it is accounted high treason to subvert or overthrow any law by which that commonwealth is governed ; for if it were not so , the laws of a commonwealth would be of no force , if any man might break them : add to them or take from them at his pleasure , and therefore a commonwealth does count the breaking and violation of their laws to be the greatest injury and dishonour , that can be done to them : and so it is in the church , the word of god is very severe in this regard , that if any man shall adde or diminish any jot or tittle to or from the word , god will blot his name out of the book of life . 4. they may be compared one to another in this regard , for as one common-wealth differeth from another , they have not both the same rulers , nor the same lawes , nor the same customes , nor charters , but differ in every thing almost : so the church of god is distinguished from all other parts , and people of the world , commonwealths are different one from another in four things . 1. in laws ; 2. in habit ; 3. in language ; 4. in government ; and so is the church of god. 1. it is different from others in its lawes ; law that rules in a common-wealth , but onely the word of god rules in the church . 2. as commonwealths differ from one another in their language , so the church of god has a language different from al the world , the church of god speaks the pure language of canaan , but all the world besides speaks a broken and corrupt language . 3. as commonwealths differ one from another in regard of habits , so in this regard does the church of god differ from all the world , the church of god hath put on the new man , when all the world have on their old ragges still , the church hath put on the long robes of christs righteousnesse which cover all her nakednesse , which all the world are without . 4. the church of god is different from all other in regard of their government ; all kingdomes and commonwealths have men to be their governours , but the church of god that hath christ to be her governour . thus i have shewed you wherein the church and a commonwealth doe agree , now i come to shew you wherein they differ ; as 1. they are different in their lawes ; a commonwealth hath laws , acts , and ordinances to govern them , but the church hath onely the word of god to be their rule . 2. there is a difference in the extent of those laws ; the law of a commonwealth doth onely reach and extend to the outward man , that cannot rule the inward man , therefore we commonly say our thoughts are free , god onely can search the heart and try the reins , but now the law of the church extends its self , to the searching of the soul and spirit , every thought and imagination of the heart ; as the apostle sayes , the law is spirituall , but i am carnall . 3. there is a difference in regard of the power and efficacy of these laws ; the laws of a commonwealth doe onely restrain the outward man , if you do amiss , but the law of god in the church , that cannot onely restrain in practise , but change the heart , and alter the affections , and make thee a new man. 4. they differ in this regard , a commonwealth may alter their laws at pleasure , if they see occasion , if they find any law grievous or burdensome to the kingdome , they may alter it , or take it away , and adde a new law in the room of it , but this the church of god cannot doe , the law that the church hath now , it must have to the end of the world , god himself gave the law to his church , and he cannot give a prejudicial or burdensome law , whereas rulers of commonwealths , they are but men , and cannot look into the events of things ; and therefore are ignorant whether this or that law may be good or no , and therefore doe change them at their pleasure when they see a necessity ; but the rule of the word of god is an unerring and unalterable rule , which all must follow and practise to the end of the world. 5. they differ in their censure , the censure of a commonwealth may extend so far as to confiscation of goods , to banishment , imprisonment , or death , but the censure of the church extends only to excommunication , or throwing the offender out of their society or fellowship , they can doe no more , and must doe no more , the church of christ can inflict no censure , but onely to excommunicate , and therefore their practise that doe imprison and censure and inflict punishment upon their people , is not warrantable but does contradict the rule of the word ; and those likewise that doe cry out against church government , as tyrannicall , do very much mistake , for the church of god their censure is not corporeall but spirituall . but though the church may not censure any man that is an offender , yet she may complain to the commonwealth , and they may restrain and quell them and keep them under , and inflict punishments upon them . thus then you see both wherein a church and a commonwealth doe agree , and wherein they difler , and if this be so that the church of god is a spirituall commonwealth , then give me leave to draw these three inferences from hence . use . 1 1. i may infer from hence the necessity of church government in a church ; did you ever see a commonwealth stand and flourish without rule and laws , and order ? order is the staffe of a common-wealth , if every man might doe what he list , and what is right in his own eyes , nothing but ruine and destruction would presently follow , as in psal . 11. 3. if the foundations be destroyed , what shall the righteous doe ? if the laws and foundations of a commonwealth be subverted and destroyed , there will be nothing but ruine . if the church be a spirituall common-wealth , then there is an absolute necessity of a government in it ; & therefore those that would either rob the church of their government , and would have none at all , or else would introduce a false government upon the church , and doe as much as in them lies to overthrow the government of the church , such as these are to be reproved . government to a common-wealth is like a hedge to a garden , now suppose you had a very fair garden , and a great many curious flowers and fine slips in it , and one should come to you and tell you , sir , i see many dainty flowers and slips in your garden , but i see none to grow upon your hedge , therefore pull it down , let it grow there no longer ; you would say to such a man , no by no means , for though nothing grows upon the hedg , yet the hedge does preserve the flowers , that grow in the garden , and keep them from the violences of wild beasts : so though a government in the church does not make us holy , a man may goe to heaven without a government , yet is it exceeding necessary to preserve the church of god. 2. i may infer from the churches being a spirituall commonwealth , the necessity of union in the church . common-wealths are preserved by union , you see what four years war have brought upon our kingdome , it hath almost destroyed the face of our commonwealth : union are the sinews and ligaments of a commonwealth , if men be disunited , and disjointed , that commonwealth cannot subsist , a kingdome divided against it self cannot stand , and the church of god being a spirituall commonwealth , this argues the great necessity of unity in the church , and the great danger of division , the church of god cannot be safe without union . i must tell you ( to the griefe of our hearts be it spoken ) there were never lesse unity in the church of god , since the very first plantation of it , by the apostles in the primitive times , then there is at this day , wherein every man almost is set one against another ; truly i look upon it , as a very sad omen and prediction , that god is bringing in upon us the most dismall persecution that ever yet our eyes beheld . i have read in the book of martyrs , that the coming in of the eighth persecution , was occasioned by the division & falling out of christians one with another ; i wish it may not be so with us ( beloved ) it is ordinary amongst a great many men to cry out & exclaim against the ministers of the gospel , as if they were the great incendiaries and causers of divisions and dissensions amongst you , but i would have you know that those that preach against division , are not dividers , but those that make divisions they are dividers , as the apostle sayes , mark them that cause divisions among you , and avoid them , those men that have caused divisions , and brought in strange opinions , and sects , and schisms into the land , they are the make-bates of the nation ; the staffe of union and the staffe of beauty , when one is broken , the other is broken . i have read a story of a man that had fourscore children , and lying upon his death bed , he caused his children to come before him , and desired that a bundle of small rods might be brought to him , his children began to wonder amongst themselves , what should be his design and purpose in doing it , but when they had brought them , their father commands every one of his sons beginning from the youngest to the eldest , to take the bundle , and try which of them could break it , but none of them was found able to doe it : at last taking the bundle himself he unbound it , breaking the sticks one by one , til he had broken them all , and now my children sayes he , this i doe to teach you , that if you doe combine and keep close together in unity like a bundle of sticks , there is none will be able to break you , or doe you any harm , but if you divide and fall off one from another , you will soon be ruined , and broken in pieces : why , so now if the members of the church of god would unite together and partake of publique ordinances together , hear , pray , and performe holy duties together , and still remaine conjoined in one , wee need not feare the power or policy of any , to doe us any harm . 3. if the church be a spirituall commonwealth , then i may inferre further , the necessity of our labouring to improve the churches interest in a common-wealth . nature will teach men to labour to preserve , and advance the good and benefit of the commonwealth , every man will contribute for the good of the body politique , and therefore let us labour to promote the good of the body ecclesiastique , and to improve the churches interest . doctr. 2 thus much for the first doctrine , we come now to the second doctrine , that it is a great misery for a man to be a stranger to the true churches of god. you may be in the true church , and yet not of the true church ; as ill humours in a mans body , they are in the body , though none of the constituent parts of the body : so you may be in the church , and of the church visible too , and yet none of the members of the church invisible , of the church of the first borne , you may not partake of the speciall and spirituall priviledges of the church of god. 1. wicked men are strangers to the effectuall calling of the church , in 1 pet. 2. you ( saith the apostle ) are called with a holy calling , which wicked men are without . 2. they are strangers to the comforts of the church of god , you want those joyes and comforts which the people of god doe enjoy . 3. you are strangers to a christian communion in the church , a wicked man does not know how to manage a spiritual communion with the people of god. use . now if this be so that wicked men are strangers to the church of god in their spirituall benefits and priviledges they have by christ , then by way of use i shall onely draw from hence these two inferences . 1. that you would not lay too much dependence and confidence upon your being members of the church ; you may be under the outward and common mercies , and yet want the inward and spirituall benefits of the church of god ; there is many a man that is born and brought up in the church of england , and yet notwithstanding unable to give any ground of his salvation by christ , thou mayest have the church of england to be thy mother , and yet never have god to be thy father . i do not speak this to the disparagement of the church of england , for christ and salvation by him is to be had in england as well as elsewhere , i would not have you think that england is no true church , for it is a church of jesus christ , but i say you may be of this church and borne and bred in this church and partake of all the ordinances and outward priviledges in this church , and yet never come to heaven , for ( as the apostlt sayes ) all are not israel that are of israel . 2. if this be so , then this may be matter of reprehension to wicked men , that seeing they are in the church , yet they are not of the church of jesus christ ; you are in the church , but as a wenne , a botch , or blaine is in the body , you are a blemish to the church of god , wicked men are spots and blemishes in the church , as in 2 pet. 2. 13. though they are in the church , yet they are a burden to the church , and i wish that godly men did count it a greater burden to them then they doe , that they have so many wicked men in their church ; a wicked man in the church , is like a wooden legge to the body of a man , a naturall legge that carries the body , but if a man hath a wooden legge , the body must carry it ; so wicked men are a great burden and trouble to the church , as paul sayes ( speaking of wicked men ) i wish ( sayes he ) they were even cut off that trouble you , such men as are loose in practise , and loose in opinion , truly both these have been great burdens and troublers to the church of god ; they are to the church , as jonah was to the ship , what a storm have they raised in this kingdome ! which god knowes , whether you or i shall ever live to see it blown over . thus much for the second part of mans misery by nature , that at that time ye were aliens to the common wealth of israel . sermon , viii . ephes. 2. 12. — and strangers to the covenants of promise — wee come now in order to the third part , and strangers to the covenant of promise , but before i shall draw out any doctrines from these words , i shall resolve these five questions which are very needfull to be discussed . quest . 1 1. what is the difference between the covenants and the promise ? for many look upon them to be both one and the same thing . 2. what is meant here by the covenants of promise . 3. why it is called the covenants of promise . 4. why it is called in the plurall number , the covenants of promise . and lastly , what it is to be a stranger to the covenants of promise . quest . 1 1. quest . what is the difference between a covenant and a promise ? answ . answ . in answer to this , you must know , that though every covenant is a promise , yet every promise is not a covenant , a covenant is a more comprehensive thing then a promise , for a covenant is nothing but a bundle of promises , all the promises in the gospell bound up together in a bundle , so that herein you see the difference between a covenant and a promise . quest . 2 2. what is meant by the covenants of promise ? answ . i answer , that it is the free and gratious promise , that god made with adam after the fall , and with the patriarchs , abraham , isaac , and jacob , and all the faithfull , wherein he promised them salvation and eternall life , through christ , which was to come , this is the covenant of promise , even the promise which god made with his children , before the coming of christ , wherein he did covenant to give them life and salvation , through christ which was promised to come . quest . 3 3. why is it called the covenants of promise ? answ . answ . it is called so , because christ the matter of this covenant was not actually come , but onely promised that he should come , that is the reason of this phrase here [ the covenant of promise ] . quest . 4 4. why is it called in the plurall number the covenants of promise , seeing there was but one covenant of grace , the covevenant of works was made to adam before the fall , and the covenant of grace after the fall ? answ . answ . it is called the covenants of promise , not as if there were severall kindes of covenants , and of salvation by christ , but because there were divers exhibitions and administrations of this one covenant ; not as if this covenant were many in kinde and substance , for it is the same now that it was at the beginning , but only it was diversly administred , explained and enlarged ; sometime it is called a new covenant , that is , new in regard of the urging , & exhibition of it : the like phrase you have touching love , behold , a new command i give unto you , that you love one another , it was called new , because it was then newly enforced upon the people : the covenant of grace , the tenor of which is , that we shall have life and salvation through the bloud of christ , it is called covenants , because it was so often renewed and administred , first it was made to adam after his fall , the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head , and then it was renewed to abraham , paul explains it in heb. 3. and after him , to isaac , and then to jacob , and david , and solomon , and all the faithfull , but the covenant was still for substance the same , though it was many times renewed , and so it continues the same to this very day , thus you have a brief account of these four queries . quest . 5 5. what is it to be a stranger to the covenants of promise ? answ . answ . did you but dive and look into the bottome of it , you would finde it to be the finall upshot of the misery of an unconverted man ; to be a stranger to the covenants of promise , is to be in such a dismall and lamentable and deplorable condition , as that none of all the promises of god , for grace , and life , and salvation by christ , doth appertaine to him : and is not this a very miserable and sad condition , that the lord lookes upon a man in an unregenerate estate , as uncapable of any mercy , life or salvation by christ ? a covenant ( as i told you ) is a bundle of promises , it containes all the promises of grace , life , and salvation , now if you be without the covenant , you must needes be destitute of all the promises by christ . thus having by way of premise opened these five particulars , i shall now draw out this one observation from the words . doctr. doctr. that all men during the time of their unregenorácy , are strangers to the covenants of grace , so that they can lay no just claim to any promise of having life and salvation by christ ; you are strangers to the covenants of promise ; and ( beloved ) when i tell you , that you have no title to any one promise of life or salvation by christ , it is the saddest news that ever you can open your ears to hear ; if you are a stranger to the covenant you are without all the promises , for the covenant is a bundle of promises , all the promises of god bound up together ; in the handling of this point i shall onely shew you two things , and then apply it . 1. i shall shew you what the covenant of grace is . 2. how you may know whether you are men without the covenant of grace , yea or no , and can lay no just claim to any promise of life and salvation by christ . 3. i shall winde up all in a practicall use , both for consolation to those , that are in the covenant , and for terrour to those that have no right to the covenant . 1. for the nature of the covenant of grace , it is that free and gracious covenant which god made with adam after the fall , promising him pardon of sin and eternall life , through the righteousnesse of jesus christ . this is the summe and substance of the covenant of grace , it is the promise of god first made to adam , and then renewed to abraham , isaac , and jacob , david and solomon , and all the faithfull , it is the solemn promise that god made to the elect of their obtaining salvation through the righteousness of jesus christ : now here you must be very careful lest you run into a mistake , for there are two sorts of people that run into very dangerous errours concerning this particular : as 1. the socinians , that are of an opinion , that all the patriarchs and good men in the old testament did none of them go to heaven , till christ came in the flesh ; a very uncharitable and ungodly opinion ; and 2. there are others that hold , that living in obedience to the morall law of moses , is to tye the people to the covenant of works , to be justified by it , they hold the jews did not live under a covenant of grace till christ came , but if it were so , none of them could possibly be saved , for by the workes of law shall no flesh living be justified , no man in the world can ever goe to heaven by the covenant of works . this i doe onely mention by the way , that you may see and understand , that since the fal of adam , al men are saved by the covenant of grace , the covenant of works was no longer in force then while adam lived and continued in innocency , but as soon as ever he fell , the gospel was presently preached unto them , as well as it is to us now , only it was preached unto them more darkly , and to us more clearly ; christ was preached unto them as to come , but he is preached unto us as come already . quest . ii we come now to the second question , to stir you up and put you upon enquiry , how you may know whether you are the people that are in covenant with god yea or no , so as that you can lay a just claim to the covenant of grace , and to all the promises therein contained for salvation and life eternall by christ . i shall handle this query not in the positive but in the negative part of it , how you may know , that you are not in the covenant of grace , i shall give you three or four discoveries of it . answ . 1 1. thou oh man art not in covenant with thy god , that hast not yet broken the league and covenant , which thou hast made with thy lusts , you that doe still keep up and maintain the league and covenant with your lusts and corruptions , you are not as yet come within the covenant of grace ; that man that makes a covenant with death and hell , cannot be under the covenant of grace , and therefore you that have not broken off your sins by repentance and righteousnesse , and your iniquities by shewing mercy , you that are in a wicked course and resolve to continue so , lay no claim to the covenant of grace ; you that are engaged to your lusts , you have been bad and you will be so stil , you have no interest in the covenant of grace . 2. you that think to be saved by a covenant of works , cannot be under a covenant of grace , you that hope to be justified by works , are faln from grace , as the apostle says in gal. 5 4. you are faln from grace , that is , not that you are faln from the habit of grace , you are faln from the doctrine of grace , that holds out justification by christ , that man shall never be saved by christ that thinks he cannot be saved by christ ; and therefore a papist , living and dying in this very opinion that he must be saved by a covenant of works , cannot be saved ; if you be not cast out of your selves , so as to rely wholly and only upon christ for life and salvation , you can lay no just claime of being under the covenant of grace . 3. you are strangers to the covenant of grace , that do make no conscience of breaking the engagements & promises you have made to god , you that are careless of keeping the covenants you have made with god , this is an evident demonstration , that you are not in covenant with god , those that are in covenant with god make conscience of keeping their covenants with god if in times of affliction & trouble , you can make large promises to god of better obedience , and yet afterwards return with the dogge to his vomit , and are as bad , or worse then ever you were , this argues , that you have no interest at all in the covenant of grace . thus i have done with the second query , the discoveries of those that are not in the covenant of grace ; i have onely now the application of the point to speak to , and the use that i shall make of it shall be use . 1. for consolation to all that are in the covenant of grace , you have a bundle of promises to which you may have recourse , and lay claim to them as your own . 2. by way ofterrour , to shew the misery of those that are strangers to this covenant of grace . 1. this may be matter of great consolation to you that are under the covenant of grace , that are in covenant with god , this should provoke you to joy and comfort , in the consideration of the great happinesse you enjoy in being under the covenant of grace , from the misery you would be exposed to , did you live under a covenant of works . and now ( beloved ) lend me your thoughts a little , while i shew you in fourteen particulars , the great happinesse you are now in , being in covenant with god under a covenant of grace , from the misery you had lain under , in being only under a covenant of workes , doe this and live , i shall but only name them to you , and run over them very briefly . 1. the covenant of works was given by god to adam , as a creator , but the covenant of grace is given by god to a believer , as a father ; god had not this term of a father before the fall , but only of a god and creator , but being under a covenant of grace , you may look upon that god that was only a creator to adam , as a father to you . 2. this had been your misery under a covenant of works ; for that exacts perfect obedience , and does punish the offendour in case of disobedience : but being under a covenant of grace , the lord accepts through christ of sincere obedience , though it be not perfect . 3. the covenant of works is not contented with perfect obedience neither , unlesse it be personall ; it must not be perfect , done for thee by another , but done by thy self in thy own person ; but now the conant of grace , accepts of perfect obedience , though it be not done by thy self , but in the person of jesus christ ; god the father doth as fully accept of christ obeying and fulfilling his will in doing and suffering in our behalfe , as if we had done and suffered what he did in our own persons , and herein lies the great happinesse of a man under the covenant of grace . 4. the covenant of works was made by god to adam without a mediator , there was no third person between god and adam , but the covenant of grace was made by god with us , in the hand of a mediator jesus christ . you may conceive it thus , suppose two men should be at discord and variance one with another , and a third person a friend to both these that are falne out , should come and endeavour to decide the difference , first going to one and desiring him to be reconciled to the other ; and then going to the second , and entreating him to be pacified towards the first , till he hath united and reconciled them both together ; so it is here , christ is a friend both to god and man , he is the son of god , and he is husband of his church , and being the mediatour of the new covenant , he comes first to his father , and sayes , father i know , that all mankind hath broken that first covenant which they made with thee , and are thereby justly lyable to all that wrath & punishment due to the breach of it , and i know thy anger and displeasure against them , but i pray thee oh father , be reconciled and well pleased with thy people , give them the sanctification of their natures , while they live here , and give them heaven and happinesse when they dye ; and then christ comes to beleevers , and tels them ; sirs , i have procured peace , and pardon , and reconciliation for you , the sanctification of your natures here , and heaven when you dye , and therefore lift up your heads with joy ; christ first goes to his father , and sues to him for pardon , and then comes to us , and begs of us to be comforted . 5. adam under the covenant of works he had nothing but works to save him , and he was to keep this covenant of works only by his own strength , he had no strength but his own , to perform any duty , he had no bottome , no foundation , but himselfe to stand on ; but under the covenant of grace we are kept by the mighty power of god through faith unto salvation ; we are under a far better condition under the covenant of grace , then adam was at first , in the state of innocency , for though hee was perfectly holy , yet he was not immutably holy , but now the foundation of god standeth sure , we are kept by the mighty power of god unto salvation . 6. the covenant of workes , if a man did once break them , that did admit of no repentance ; had adam and eve after the fall , wept their eyes out , or prayed their hearts out , all would have done them no good ; repentance will no way avail the covenant of works ; as it is in the civill law , if a man hath committed murder , the law does not enquire whether the man does repent , or is sorry for what he hath done , no , but the law takes notice whether he hath done the fact , or no , if he hath , he must dye , no repentance will avail ; but in the covenant of grace it is far otherwise , for though you have done the fact , and broken gods commandemants , yet if you repent , and mourn , and grieve for the sins you have committed against god , the lord will pardon and forgive them , as if they had never been committed , so that this is another great happinesse you enjoy in being under the covenant of grace . 7. adam being under the covenant of works , god took the very first forfeiture of breaking of this covenant , and one sinne made god to disanul that covenant , whereas the covenant of grace is not made void nor disanul'd although you commit many sins : as you may see in ro. 5. 16 , 17. says the apostle there , not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift , for the judgement was by one to condemnation , but the free gift is of many offences unto justification , that is , under the covenant of works , there one sin did condemne all the world , but being under the covenant of grace there the free gift is of many offences unto justification , many sins are pardoned and many offences are passed over , the covenant of grace pardons many sins and over lookes many weaknesses and failings , though you break your covenant often , time after time , yet the covenant of grace shall not be broken , the first covenant was disanuld for one sin , but the second covenant shall not be disanuld for many sins , as you may see in psal . 89. 31 , 32 , 33. sayes god there , if they break my statutes , and keep not my commandements , then will i visit their transgressions with the rod , and their iniquity with stripes , neverthelesse my loving kindenesse will i not uttery take from him , nor suffer my faithfulnesse to fail , my covenant will i not break , nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips , and so in psal . 11. 5. the lord will ever be mindefull of his covenant : so that this is another part of your happinesse . 8. ( pray observe this ) had adam continued still under the covenant of works , and kept the covenant , performing exact and perfect obedience to it , yet he could never have come to heaven , he should have had onely an ever lasting continuance in paradise , he should never have enjoyed heaven , but being under the covenant of grace , that entitles you to everlasting salvation and happinesse in heaven , by jesus christ . 9. under the covenant of workes , though god did promise life to adam , upon the performing of the covenant , yet god did not promise pardon to adam upon the breach of the covenant ; god promised him thus , do this and thou shalt live , but god did not promise him , that though he should break his commands and sin against him , yet hee should bee saved notwithstanding : in the covenant of works , there is no promise at all of pardon , but only of life ; but under the covenant of grace you have a double promise . 1. you shall obtain life eternall , and salvation by christ : and 2. you shall have all your sins pardoned and washed away in the bloud of christ , that you doe commit against him , you shall have pardon and remission of sins by christ , so that no sin shall be charged upon you . 10. under the covenant of works god did accept the person for the worke-sake , but under the covenant of grace , he doth accept of the work for the persons sake : and herein lies our happinesse , under the covenant of works god did accept of adams person meerly because his works were altogether righteous and good , and he accepted his person no longer then his works were good , for as soon as ever he broke the command , god was displeased with him , but under the covenant of grace god doth accept of the works for the person sake ; as you see in abel , he was first accepted , and then the sacrifice , first his person was well pleasing to god , and then the sacrifice for the persons sake : so god accepts of our praying , reading , hearing , and all that we doe through jesus christ , he being well pleased with our persons in christ , he is delighted and well pleased with all our services in him . 11. the covenant of works was made to all men generally and universally without exception , but the covenant of grace was made onely to a select and chosen people : all mankinde were in adam under a covenant of workes , if adam had kept the law , all mankinde had lived by him ; but herein lies your happinesse , in being under the covenant of grace , when it is made onely to a few , to a peculiar and chosen number of men . 12. the covenant of works that entitles men to no further honor , then to be a worthy and honourable servant of god , not a child of god , but under the covenant of grace , we doe not only become servants , but adopted sons , we are the children of promise by faith in christ , the covenant of grace puts us into a state of sonship : adam was the son of god by creation , but not by grace and adoption , till the covenant of grace was made . 13. creation was the foundation of the covenant of works , but it is redemption that is the foundation of the covenant of grace , the foundation of this is , because christ hath died for us , and shed his bloud for us . 14. in the covenant of works god did onely manifest the attributes of his greatnesse , and power , and wisdome , and justice ; but in the covenant of grace hee does demonstrate the attributes of his grace and mercy , goodnesse and patience , &c. god in the covenant of works was only a just god , do this and live , so long as thou keepest my commandments thou shalt live and no longer ; but in the covenant of grace , he is a mercifull god too , the lord did make the attributes of his mercy and goodnesse to shine forth in this covenant ; should god say to us , so long as you doe well it shall be well with you , but if even you break one command or commit one sin , you shall be damned , if god should say thus to us , we were in a most miserable and undone condition , and could not escape damnation ; but we being under the covenant of grace , by his son jesus christ , he tels us that although we doe break his commands , and sin against him , yet in his son he will pardon us , and passe by all our transgressions , as if they had never beene committed . sermon , ix . ephes. 2. 12. — and strangers to the covenants of promise — having shewn you in 14. particulars , your great happiness in being under the covenant of grace , from the misery you would have lain under , had you been under the covenant of works : i come now to the second use , use . 2 which is a use of dread and terrour , to lay before you the great misery of those that are strangers to this covenant of promise ; and here i might lay before you much astonishing and perplexing matter , to all those that are not in the covenant of grace : i shall be the larger upon this particular , because the last day i spent half an hour about a use of comfort , in shewing you your happinesse in being under the covenant of grace , and therefore now i shall spend the like time in declaring the misery of all those that are strangers to the covenant , which i shall comprise under these six heads . 1. this is one part of your misery , you are bound to keep the whole law of god , and that in your persons , else you can never be saved : and oh how impossible is this for any man to do ! he that is under the covenant of grace , god the father accepts of christs keeping and fulfilling of the law for him , as if it were done by him in his own person ; but to such as are not in this covenant of grace , god sayes to them , if you doe not keep the whole law , and that personally , you shall be damned eternally , as in gal. 5. 3. sayes the apostle there , i testifie again ●o every man that is circumcised , that he is bound to keep the whole law ; if you will not accept of christ , and accept of salvation by his bloud alone , but run to circumcision ; i tell you saith the apostle , that you are debters to keep the whole law of god , and he will cast you into hell , upon the least breach of the law. oh thou unhappy man , upon how hard termes canst thou hope for salvation , even upon impossible termes ; thou canst as well keep the sea in thy fist , as keep the whole law of god in thy own person ; god sayes to thee , if thou dost break but one command , though thou should keep all the rest , yet thou shalt die and be damned eternally ; but if you be under the covenant of grace , though you break the law again , and again , yet christ doth redeem you from the curse of the law , he being made a curse for you . 2. thou that art a stranger to the covenant of grace , thou hast no strength but thy own to help thee in the discharge of all thy duties ; but now a man that is under the covenant of grace , god doth command him a duty , and does with the command give him a power to perform the duty ; god bids him act grace , and powers upon him a spirit of grace ; he bids him pray , and gives him a spirit of prayer ; god commands him a duty , and gives him a flexible , willing , and an obedient heart , and abilities to perform the duty : when in scripture god does command a duty , he does likewise promise to assist and enable us to the performance of the duty ; as for example , the lord bids us , to wash us and make us clean , and put away the evill of our doings , and a poor soul saith , oh lord i am not able to wash my heart , nor cleanse my wayes , nor to do any thing that is good of my self , and therefore sayes god again , i will wash you and make you whiter then snow ; so god bids us to get new hearts , and then again he promiseth , to create in us new hearts , and renew rights spirits within us : i might instance in sundry other particulars ; but now this is thy unhappinesse oh man that art a stranger to the covenant of grace ; god bids thee keep his commands , but he gives thee no power to fulfill his commands ; he bids thee act grace , and never gives thee a spirit of grace ; he bids thee pray , and yet never powres out upon thee a spirit of prayer ; and if adam in his innocency , when he was perfect , was not able to keep gods commands ; how much more unable art thou to doe any thing that may please god ? thou by thy own strength art as well able to make a world , as to make one prayer , or perform any duty in a holy and spirituall manner ; thou canst as well destroy the whole world with thy own hands , as subdue any lust by thy own strength ; but under the covenant of grace , god tels us , that though we cannot keep the law , yet he will accept of his sons keeping it for us ; and he hath promised to help and assist us in the performance of every thing , that he commands us . 3. you that are strangers to the covenant of grace , herein lies your misery , you have no advocate to plead for you , nor mediator to stand between god and you ; you have an angry god frowning upon you , and a galled conscience ready to accuse you , and every thing else in the world against you , but no friend either in heaven or in earth to plead or speak for you ; christ is a mediator to those only that are under a covenant of grace ; now what canst thou say for thy self oh man , why thou shouldst not be condemned , and damned in hell for ever , for thy drunkennesse , adultery , sabbath-breaking , prophanenesse , swearing , lying , and thy ungodly practises ? thou canst have nothing to plead for thy selfe , but must needs be cast out into hell fire irrecoverably ; but now a godly man that is under the covenant of grace , he can say , lord here is christ my mediatour , that pleads with thee for the pardon of all my sins , and for the obtaining of heaven , and happinesse , and glory for me , through his obedience and merits ; but thou that art under the covenant of works , thou canst not say , i have christ to plead for me , and to be an advocate with the father , to beg for pardon of sin , and life and salvation for thee , thou canst not say so , for without the covenant of grace , there is no mediator , christ is the mediator onely of the new covenant ; therefore what sad condition art thou in , seeing as verily as thou standest here now , so thou must one day stand before gods tribunall to answer and be judged for every thing thou hast done in thy body , whether it be good or evill , and then thou wilt have no body to plead for thee , but must inevitably be cast into everlasting burnings . 4. being out of the covenant of grace , this is your misery , god will in exactnesse and rigour of justice proceed against you for your sins , without any mixture of mercy at all . ( beloved ) god hath no mercy without his covenant , but in the covenant of grace , he is a god gracious and mercifull , slow to anger , and of great kindnesse , abundant in mercy and truth , pardoning iniquity , transgressions , and sins , but he is cloathed with justice and rigour to all that are without this covenant . as it is in courts of judicature in point of life and death , the judge will take no notice whether the man be a sorrowfull man or no , the law is not to shew mercy , but to punish the offence , the law does not enquire whether the man be penitent and sorry for what he hath done , but whether the fact be done or no , if it be , he must dye for it , there is no remedy : just so it is here , god doth not enquire under a covenant of works , whether you are sorrowfull for breaking of his law , but he enquires whether you have broken it , or no ; and if you have , he will condemn thee , and cast thee into hell fire , and then the poor soul cryes out , oh lord be mercifull to me this once , it shall be a warning to me , i will never sin against thee , nor displease thee more , but will from henceforth walk more humbly , and holily , and circumspectly before thee , and yet all this that thou hast promised , if thou wert able to perform it , will not avail thee , for god will hear none out of christ , and out of the covenant of grace . 5. a man out of the covenant of grace , he hath no true and speciall title to any of the blessings of god here in this world , gods blessings go along with his covenant , and therefore it is very observable , that in that chapter where god does promise the blessings of the covenant of grace , in that very chapter he promiseth the blessings of this life , as you may see in the 36. of ezek. sayes god there , i will powre clean water upon you , and you shall be clean , yea from all your filthinesses , and from all your idols , will i cleanse you : a new heart will i also give you and a new spirit will i put within you , and will take away the stony heart from you , and will give you a heart of flesh , and will put my spirit within you , and cause you to walk in my statutes , and you shall keep my judgements and doe them , and you shall dwell in the land that i gave to your fathers , and you shall be my people , and i will be your god ; all these are the meroies of the covenant of grace : now mark the next words ( saith god ) i will call for corn , and will incerease it , and lay no famine upon you , but i will multiply the fruit of the trees , and the increase of the field , and so in the 10 , 11 ver . of that chap. and i will multiply men upon you , and the cities shall be inhabited , and the wastes shall be builded , and i will multiply upon man and beast , and they shall increase , and bring fruit , and i will do better to you then at your beginnings , and ye shall know that i am the lord : here the lord entails earthly blessings to the covenant of grace , intimating , that all that are under the covenant of grace they have a title not only to all spirituall , but to temporal blessings likewise ; but no wicked man out of the covenant of grace , hath any true title to any outward blessings ; they that are of the faithfull , are blessed with faithfull abraham , and enjoy outward blessings , as a blessing ; but wicked men , it is true they have something allowed them , but it it as to prisoners , in a prison they have something to keep them alive untill their execution ; and so wicked men they have prison allowances till the execution day . 6. your misery , ( that are strangers to the covenant of grace ) lies in this , god will not give acceptance to any of your services , though you may doe as much , for the matter of them , as any godly man doth ; nay thou mayst hear more sermons , and say more prayers , and perform more duties , then a godly man does , and yet not be accepted , when the others shall , as you may see in gen. 4. 4 , 5. cain and abel they both of them brought sacrifices to god , one of his flock , and the other , of his grounds ; and the apostle speaking of this , sayes , that by faith abel offered a more excellent offering then cain ; it was not more excellent in regard of the matter of it , for in all probability and likelihood , cains sacrifice was of more value then abels , for his was but a few young lambs , the firstlings of his flock , but cains was of the first fruits of his ground ; and yet abels sacrifice was accepted , and the others rejected , because abel was a godly man , under the covenant of grace , by which god did accept of what he did , though it were lesse then cains : and so solomon , the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the lord , but the prayer of the upright is his delight : a sacrifice you know is a great deal more costly then a prayer , for that costs a man nothing but his breath , when the other will cost a great deal of money , and yet a costly sacrifice is hated by god coming from a wicked man , when a pennilesse prayer coming from a godly man is accepted : so that under a covenant of grace , though you do less for the matter of the duty then wicked men doe , yet yours shall be accepted , when theirs shall be rejected . thus i have done with the use of terrour in laying down to you this sixfold misery of those men that are strangers to the covenant of grace ; and here because i would not have any poor soul , that is under the covenant of grace , and partaker of all the great priviledges of it , to goe away with a sad heart , i shall onely leave with you two or three words of comfort to them ; you children of the covenant , that are under the covenant of grace , let not your hearts be troubled , at what hath been said this day , concerning the misery of those men that are strangers to this covenant , and to bear : up and support your spirits , i shall give you two or three comfortable considerations . 1. that all the outward blessings that you enjoy , comes to you in a covenant way , god hath given you these blessings as an appendix to the covenant , and by vertue of an entail to his covenant ; the lord never gives you a common blessing , but you see the love of a father , and of a husband , and of a friend , and the love of god in that blessing ; and therefore as i told you before in that very chapter , where god promiseth the blessings of the covenant of grace , he promiseth the blessings of this life too , as an intail to the covenant ; wicked men may have blessings but not by vertue of a promise , not by vertue of the covenant of grace . but now if you ask mee how you may know , whether the blessings you enjoy come unto you by vertue of the covenant of grace : i answer , you may know it by these two things : 1. in case you doe use and imploy all the blessing you receive from god , to the honour of god : thus abraham did , as you may see in gen. 17. 1 , 2 , 8 , 12. his using the blessings of god to promote the service of god , did demonstrate that those blessings came to him from god , in a covenant way , but those that are strangers to this covenant , the mercies they enjoy are given them for their hurt . 2. when blessings are as cords to draw you nearer to god , and as bands to tye you fast to god , then they come to you in a covenant way : as in jer. 31. 11 , 12. for the lord hath redeemed jacob , and ransomed him from the hand of him that is stronger then he , therefore they shall come and rejoice in the height of sion , and shall run to the bountifulnesse of the lord , even for the wheat , and for the wine , and for the oyle , and for the increase of sheep and bullocks , &c. that is , all the mercies of god , shall make them to come nearer and nearer , and cleave closer to god ; you then that do enjoy your share of the blessings of god , and they do not endeer you and draw you nearer to god , you cannot look upon them as flowing in upon you in a covenant way . 2. you that are in covenant with god , know this for your comfort , that the lord does accept of a little , that you do in his service , better then a great deal that a wicked man performs to him ; god will accept of a few turtle doves of you , when he will not accept of 1000 rams , or 10000 rivers of oyle of the wicked , he will accept of a cup of cold water given to a righteous man , in the name of a righteous man , when he will not accept of the costliest sacrifice from the wicked : oh what a happy condition art thou in , that art under the covenant of grace , wicked men may heare more sermons , and performe more duties , and say more prayers to god then you , and yet in all their duties be rejected , when thou art accepted . 3. take this for your comfort that when ever you offend god , and provoke him to anger , you have a mediator to stand between god and you ; though you are guilty , yet you have an advocate to plead your cause for you ; you that are under the covenant of grace , you may say to christ your mediator , as the israelites said to moses , when they had offended god , goe thou and speak unto god for us ; so may you say when you have nothing , but thundring and lightning and tempests in your souls , and the flashings of hell fire in your consciences , then you may say to christ , go now to god and speak for me , mediate with thy father for the pardon of all my sins ; i have offended god , o● intercede with him in my behalf , i have committed a great offence , oh plead with thy father , and beg a pardon for me ; thus thou maist say to christ , being under the covenant of grace . but here lest any one should lye under a spirituall delusion , and think himself under the covenant of grace , when he is a stranger to it , lest the dogs should snatch at the childrens meat , i shall lay down to you some distinguishing characters , whereby you may know whether you are under the covenant of grace or no ; and before i make entrance upon this , i will only premise four sad and dismall conclusions , which will make way the better for what i have to handle in the examination . 1. take in this conclusion , that a man may be within the outward and common priviledges of the covenant of grace , and yet be without the saving and spirituall priviledges of it , as pardon of sin , having god to be your god , and christ to be your saviour , &c. as in deut. 29. 10 , 11 , 12. sayes moses there , you stand this day all of you before the lord your god , your captains of tribes , your elders , and your officers , with all the men of israel , your little ones , your wives , and the stranger that is in thy camp , from the hewer of thy wood , unto the drawer of thy water , that thou shouldst enter into covenant with the lord thy god : now here you see , were all from the rich to the poor , to enter into covevenant with god , and yet it is not imaginable that all these did partake of the inward priviledges of the covenant of grace , they did all partake of circumcision , which was the seal of the covenant , of the outward priviledges of it , but not all did partake of the inward and speciall mercies of the covenant of grace , as pardon of sin , peace of conscience , joy in beleeving , god to be their god , and christ to be their saviour ; and so in rom. 9. 4 , 5. sayes the apostle , they are the israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption , and the glory , and the covenants , and the giving of the law , and the service of god , and the promises , of whom are the fathers , and of whom as concerning the flesh christ came , these were very great priviledges , and yet saies the text in vers . 8. these are not all the children of god , though they had the externall blessings of the covenant , yet they were not all the children of god ; so that you see , you may be within the church of god , and partake of the outward blessings of the covenant , and yet want the inward and spirituall blessings of it . 2. take in this sad conclusion , that the most of men in the world , are without the common and outward mercies of the covenant of grace , as all that are in the state of judaisme , turcisme , and paganism , and these being without the outward priviledges of the church , they can hope for no salvation . if you should divide the world into one and thirty parts , there is but a fift part of them are christians , there is nineteen parts of the world that are jews , and turks , and seven parts that are pagans ; so that there is but five parts that are christians ; the most of men in the world are without the outward and common blessings of the covenant of grace , and therefore can obtain no salvation by christ . 3. take this conclusion yet further , that the most of those men that are within the outward and common blessings , are yet without the saving and spirituall blessings and priviledges of the covenant of grace ; this conclusion is answerable to that phrase in mat. 2. many are called , but few are chosen , there are but a few chosen to life and happinesse , amongst those that are partakers of the externall mercies of the covenant of grace , as in zach. 13. 8 , 9. and it shall c●me to passe , that in all the land , saith the lord , two parts therein shall be cut off and die , but the third shall be left therein , and i will bring the third part through the fire , and will refine them , as silver is refined , and will try them as gold is tryed , they shall call on my name and i will hear them ; i will say it is my people , and they shall say , the lord is my god : there was but one part of three that were godly , and as it was then , so it is now ; but one part of three that can say truly , they have an interest in the covenant of grace , and therefore ( beloved ) this may be some of your lot , there are many of you that have a share in the outward blessings of the covenant , that have the ordinances and meanes of grace , and make profession of christ , and yet few of you that have any speciall and peculiar blessing from christ . as when christ was thronged in the multitude , there were a great many that touched him , but one onely that got any vertue from him , so there are a very few that enjoy the speciall and peculiar blessings of the covenant , to have sin pardoned , and their corruptions subdued and their duties and services accepted , god to be their god , and christ to be their saviour . 4. take this conclusion likewise , that such is the pride and deceitfulnesse of mans heart naturally , that from their being within the compasse of the outward blessings of the covenant , that they will conclude themselves , to have an interest in the inward and spirituall blessings of the covenant of grace , as you shall finde the jews did in joh. 8. 33 , 39 , 41. in vers . 33. say they , we are the seed of abraham : and vers . 39. we have abraham to be our father ; and from hence they conclude in vers . 41. that god was their father too , though christ told them plainly they were of their father the devill : wicked men are very apt to deceive themselves , and think they have an interest in the spirituall blessings of the covenant of grace , because they partake of the sacraments , and outward ordinances ; whereas in baptisme you may have your face sprinkled with water , and yet never have your hearts sprinkled with the bloud of christ , you may be born in the church , and yet never be of the church of the first born in heaven ; you may have the church to be your mother , and yet never have god to be your father ; there is but a remnant according to the election of grace , the main body is cast away , there is but a remnant saved , and yet the jewes did boast of themselves , that because they had the adoption , and the glory , and the covenant , and the promise , &c. therefore god was theirs too , and heaven and happinesse , and all theirs , when there was no such matter . sermon , x. ephes. 2. 12. — and strangers to the covenants of promise — having formerly premised four conclusions that you might not harbour any secret conjectures and imaginations that you do belong to the covenant of grace , when you do not ; i come now to give you some trials and discoveries whereby you may know , whether you are the persons that can lay a just claim to life and salvation from god through his son jesus christ , by vertue of his promise , and i shall comprise them under these three heads : 1. you may know whether you do belong to the covenant of grace or no , in case you doe partake of the spirituall blessings of the covenant : 2. in case you have the inseparable concomitants of the covenant : and 3. in case you doe perform the conditions of the covenant of grace , which is faith ; beleeve and be saved : if you have these three , you may lay an undoubted claim to the covenant of grace . 1. if you have the saving and spirituall blessings of the covenant of grace ; and these are four ; 1. god will be your god , and you shall be his people ; this is the tenor of the covenant of grace , as in jer. 31. 33. i will be their god , and they shall my people . i shall a little open this blessing to you , for god to be our god , it notes these three things : 1. it notes a speciall propriety in god , which none have but the elect . 2. it notes an all-sufficiency in god for their good . 3. it notes an absolute authority , that god hath over them . 1. for god to be our god , it notes that god is yours in a speciall way of propriety , which none but those that are the children of god can have , wicked men cannot lay claim to god as their god ; as pharaoh , when he desired moses to pray for him , sayes he i have sinned against the lord your god , he could not say against the lord my god , you that can upon scripture grounds , lay claim to god as your god , as having a speciall propriety in him , you have an interest in the covenant of grace . 2. for god to be your god , it notes an all-sufficiency in god , put out for your good , as in gen. 17. 1. sayes god there to abraham , i am thy god all-sufficient walk before me , and be thou perfect ; you that can look upon god as having an interest and propriety in god ; and you finde by experience , that god is exceeding good to your soules in every thing , if you see the emptinesse of all things in the world , and that they are but particular helps to thee , as food against hunger , drink against thirst , cloathes against nakednesse , &c. but you finde god to be an all-sufficient help and remedy , the chiefest good , sufficing , and satisfying , and filling thy heart , thou that canst look upon god , as thy all-sufficient good , as having thy portion and interest in him and in none else ; this is an undoubted evidence , that you doe belong to the covenant of grace . 3. for god to be your god , it notes gods soveraignty and power over you , for your benefit , the lord will reign over you , and subdue corruptions in you , and quell your pride , and humble your heart , and give you a meek and quiet spirit . if you finde that god is yours in these three particulars , you may comfort your heart in an unquestionable interest in the covenant of grace , if god be your god , and you his people , that you have given up , and devoted your selves wholly to the service of god in every thing that you doe . 2. another speciall blessing of the covenant of grace is , that god hath promised to sanctifie and renew your natures : as in ezek. 36. 26 , 27. saies god there , a new heart also will i give you , and a new spirit will i put within you , and will take away the stony hearts out of your bosomes , and will give you hearts of flesh , and i will put my spirit within you , and cause you to walk in my statutes , and you shall keep my judgments and do them : god will not onely give us life for our happinesse , but grace for our holinesse ; he will not only give us imputed righteousnesse for our justification , but also inherent righteousnesse for our sanctification ; now therefore examine your selves , have your natures ever been sanctified , and regenerated ? have you been ever washed with clean water , and those stains of sin and corruption wiped away from you ? hath the beasom of sanctification ever swept your inward man , and made it not a cave for every unclean bird to lie in , but a habitation fit for the holy ghost to dwell in ? if it be so , you have a reall right to , and interest in the covenant of grace , for no man can have the blessings of the covenant , but he must have a beeing in the covenant of grace . it is very observable , that god is not only , as the covenant represents him , a god gracious and mercifull , slow to anger , and full of compassion , &c. but he is a holy god as well as a mercifull god ; and therefore he will work holinesse in us and expect holinesse from us , if ever we expect to have mercy and happinesse from him ; never lay claim to god , nor expect life and happinesse from him , as he is a mercifull god , unlesse you resolve to be conformable to him as he is a holy god. object . but here some may say , this is not so great a blessing as you speak of , to be sanctified by vertue of the covenant of grace ; for there are many men that may be sanctified by the covenant of grace , and yet never be saved by it ; and this objection they ground upon that place in heb. 10. 29. and they shall count the bloud of the covenant , wherewith they were sanctified , an unholy thing . answ . i answer that the sanctification here spoken of , is not a true sanctification , but onely in profession , in the sight of men , not in the fight of god ; it is not a sanctification in very deed and in truth , but onely in shew and in the judgement of men . 3. another blessing of the covenant of grace , is the forgivenesse of our sins : as in jer. 3. 34. they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest , saith the lord , for i will forgive their iniquity , and will remember their sins no more : now ( beloved ) can you say that god hath pardoned your sins , and done away your offences , if so , then you are under the covenant of grace . object . but here some poor soul may say , alas i have been a great sinner , and have committed offences against god ; and therefore , i fear i have no reall interest in the covenant of grace . answ . be not discouraged , for it is the glory of the covenant of grace to pardon great sins ; it puts a great deal of glory upon god , to pardon great sins , and passe by great offences , as in amos 5. 12 , 15. i know ( sayes god ) your manifold transgressions , and your mighty sins : here you see are manifold and mighty sins , and yet saies god , hate evill , and love good ; it may be the lord will be gracious to you , nay the lord he will be gracious to you ; though thou hast manifold and mighty sinnes , yet it is not the greatnesse nor mightinesse of them , but thy stubbornnesse of heart , in not coming in , and closing with jesus christ , that undoes thee . 4. another blessing of the covenant of grace , is gods writing his law in our hearts , that we shall never depart from him , as in jer. 31. 33. i will put my law in their inward parts , and write it in their hearts , i will be their god , and they shall be my people ; that is , god will put into our hearts a sutable frame and disposition answerable to every command of god in his law , that we shall be able to obey , observe , and keep it , and say that it is good ; and then saies god , you shall never depart from me ; now examine your selves , hath this effect beene wrought by the spirit of god in your hearts ? hath god written the sermons you have heard , not in your books , but in your hearts ? if so , these are good evidences of your interest in the covenant of grace . 2. another discovery or character of your interest in the covenant of grace is this , if you have in you the inseparable concomitances that belong to this covenant of grace ; there are some things that doe alwayes accompany the covenant of grace , as i shall instance in 3 or 4 particulars . 1. if you be a man under the covenant of grace , in covenant with god , then you are disingaged from that league and covenant which you have made and contracted with your lusts , whosoever is in covenant with god , he hath broken his league with his lusts ; you cannot be in covenant with christ , till you fall off from your lusts , and break off from your sins , as in act. 3. 25 , 26. sayes the apostle , you are the children of the prophets , and of the covenant , which god hath made with our fathers ; saying to abraham , even in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed : first unto you hath god raised up his son jesus christ , and him hee hath sent to blesse you , in turning every one of you from your iniquities ; so that if you are children of the covenant , the lord will turn every one of you from your wicked wayes , and therefore you that are not turned from the evill of your courses , that have not broken that league you have made with death and hell , you can lay no claim to the covenant of grace , as in psal . 50. 16. sayes god there to the wicked , what hast thou to doe , to take my covenant into thy mouth , seeing thou hatest to be reformed , and castest my words behinde thee ? thou wilt not forsake thy lusts , nor leave thy sins , and therefore what hast thou to do to meddle with my covenant of grace ? you can lay no claim to the covenant , till you have cast off the old man , and subdued and overcome your sins and corruptions . 2. another concomitant of the covenant of grace , that will accompany you , is this , you will be a people wholly devoted and given up to the service of god. jer. 31. i will be your god and you shall be my people , the covenant of grace is called an holy covenant , luk. 1. 72. not so much because it was made by a holy god , as because it was made for the holy creature , it will make them holy that do enter into it , and therefore those that are in covenant with god , are called a holy people , and they must be a holy people , as in 1 cor. 6. 20. sayes the apostle , you are bought with a price , therefore glorifie god in your bodies and souls , which are gods , and in 2 cor. 7. 1. seeing therefore we have these promises , ( dearly beloved ) let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit , perfecting holinesse in the fear of god : those that are in covenant with god , they are a holy and crucified people . 3. another concomitant is this , that man that hath a share in the blessings of the covenant , he doth make conscience to walk in the wayes of the covenant ; hee will not only close with the promise of the covenant , but also make conscience of keeping the commands of the covenant ; for the covenant of grace does not onely bestow blessings upon you , but require something of you too , as in esai . 55. sayes god , incline your ears and come unto me and hear , hearken , and your souls shall live : and i will make an everlasting covenant with you , even the sure mercies of david : the covenant of grace is a sure and everlasting covenant , but sayes god , you shall come unto me first , and then i will make with you an everlasting covenant : god will have you to obey him , if ever you think to have any share in the covenant of grace ; those that , let god command what he will , will doe what they please ; this argues , that they doe not belong to the covenant of grace ; but if the blessings of the covenant of grace are given by god to you , and the concomitants of it found with you : and lastly , the conditions of it found in you : which is faith , the only condition of the covenant of grace , beleeve and be saved ; if god hath brought thee into a believing estate , that there is not one promise in the gospell , but you do beartily assent unto , and close with : if it be thus , then you may conclude , that you do belong to the covenant of grace ; and thus i have done with these charactars by way of tryall . use . i have only now a word or two more by way of use , and so have done with this third part of mans misery ; and the use that i shall make of this , shall be for consolation , to all those whose hearts can bear them witnesse , that they doe enjoy the saving blessings of the covenant of grace , god to be their god , and they to be his people ; and that god hath sanctified and renewed your natures , and pardoned and passed by all your sins and iniquities , and hath written his law in your hearts , that you doe not depart from him ; if you have the concomitants of the covenant , that you are disingaged from the league and covenant you have made with sin , and death , and hell ; if you are wholly devoted and given up to the service of god , and doe make conscience to walk in the ways of the covenant ; and if the conditions of the covenant of faith in christ be found in you ; if you are brought into a beleeving condition ; if all these things be wrought in you , then hearken to the great happinesse and benefit you enjoy , by being under the covenant of grace . 1. thou hast that which is more worth then a kings ransome , nay then all the world , thou hast god to be thy god which is all in all , it is more then that which was promised to esther by king ahasuerus , to the half of his kingdome ; you have more then the devill promised to christ , when he carryed him to the top of the mountain , and shewed him all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them ; thou hast more then the whole world , for thou hast god to be thy god , and thou hast an interest in the covenant of grace , which is a bundle of promises , and includes in it all the promises of the gospell , which are all yours , and you may goe and apply them to your own soules in whatsoever condition you are in . 2. you that are in covenant with god , labour to admire the great condescension of god , that he would be pleased to proceed with you by way of a covenant : i have read of some authors that have more wondred , and stood amazed at this , then at any thing else in the world , that god that is the soveraign lord of all the workes of his hands , that he should not rule us and command us by a law , but deal with us by way of a covenant , for god is not bound to give us a reward , though we should serve him all the dayes of our lives ; god might command us as we are his creatures to serve and obey him , to pray , read , hear , and walk holily and humbly before him , and when we have done all this , yet he might say to us , i will never give you heaven nor happinesse , nor any reward at all ; he might have said thus to us , but he hath condescended so far , as to make a bargain with us ; that if we will beleeve in his son jesus christ , and live holily , and walk uprightly before him , then he will be our god , and we shall be his people , he will write his law in our hearts , and sanctifie , and renew our natures , and pardon and forgive all our sins , and give us heaven and hapninesse when we dye ; oh what an infinite condescension is this in god , and what unspeakable bounty and free grace ; that when he might say to us , you are bound to serve me , and obey me , and to love and fear me , but i am not bound to make a covenant with you , and promise you my son , and life , and salvation , through him , but though i am not bound to it , yet i will give you my son , and heaven , and happinesse , and i will be your god , and you shall be my people , and i will regenerate and sanctifie your natures ; and create in you new hearts , and write my law in your inward parts , i will freely do all this for you , sayes god , oh what infinite condescension and free grace and mercy is this ! 3. another great happinesse you doe enjoy under the covenant of grace , is this , the lord will pardon all the great sinnes you commit against him , and accept of all the weak duties and services you perform to him ; though you commit great and mighty sins , yet the lord is gracious and mercifull , and will pardon them ; the covenant of grace covers great sins : as the sea can cover a mountain as wel as a mole-hill ; so the covenant of grace can pardon mountainous sins as well as small ones . and again , the covenant of grace does accept of weak and imperfect duties , nay those very duties which wicked men doe perform , though they be more for the matter of them then ours are , yet by vertue of the covenant of grace , the lord does accept of ours , and will not accept of theirs , as in prov. 15. 8. the place that i quoted before , the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the lord , but the prayer of the upright is his delight ; a sacrifice is a great deal more costly then a prayer , and yet the lord will accept of a poore pennilesse prayer coming from a godly man , when he will reject a costly sacrifice from a wicked man ; god will accept of a cup of cold water , from one in covenant with him , when he will not accept of 10000 rivers of oile from a wicked man ; he will pardon your great sins , and accept of your weak services : indeed , were you under a covenant of works , that would require perfect obedience , but being under a covenant of grace , the lord accepts of sincere , though it be imperfect obedience : and thus i have done with the third part of mans misery , being strangers to the covenant of grace . sermon , xi . ephes. 2. 12. — having no hope — wee come now to fall upon the fourth part of an unconverted mans misery , ( which you will think to be a very strange one ) that he is without hope ; while these ephesians were in a state of gentilism , unconverted to the faith of christ , they were without hope , & the reason of it was , because they were without christ , who is the way , the truth , and the life , there is no other way to heaven but onely by jesus christ , and seeing they were out of the way to heaven , they must needs be without any hopes of coming to heaven ; it was the first branch of their misery , in being without christ that exposed them , and made them lyable to all the rest , because they were without christ , therefore they were aliens to the common-wealth of israel , & therefore they were strangers to the covenant of promise , and without hope , and without god in the world. object . ob. but here some will be ready to say , how can this be that the apostle should say , they were without hope , when were it not for hope , the heart would break ; and therefore it is not possible , they should be without hope ? answ . i answer , it is true , they had a hope , but it was a vain hope , an ungrounded and a deluding hope , and this kinde of hope is no better then no hope at all , so that the apostle might well say they had no hope , that is , no good nor well grounded hope for heaven , they had onely a presumptuous hope , such a hope as would make them ashamed in the latter end , they had only the hope of the hypocrite that shall perish , and therefore when the apostle sayes , that these ephesians during their unregeneracy , were without hope , his meaning is , that they were without any wel grounded hopes for heaven , they had no scripture grounds , to bottome or build any hopes upon , that god would bring them to heaven ; this is a very sad and dreadfull point i am now upon , in shewing you this part of mans misery , without hope ; the observation i shall draw out from hence shall be this ; doctr. that all men during the state of their unregeneracy , are without any true , or well grounded hopes of heaven . in the handling of this i shall first prove it in the generall , and then improve it ; first to prove it , an unconverted mans condition , in reference to his hopes for heaven , is just like pauls , and those mariners that were with him in the ship sailing towards rome , act. 27. 20. when neither sun nor stars appeared , but the winde and waves did beat upon the ship , insomuch that all the hopes they had of being saved were quite taken away ; so it is just your case that are without jesus christ , there is neither sun nor star does shine upon you , if christ does not shine upon you , you are like paul and the other mariners in the ship , all hopes of your being saved , is quite taken away from you . i shall confirm this truth to you by three or four demonstrations , that a wicked man is without any hopes for heaven . reas . 1 1. an unregene rate man must needs be without hope , because he is without christ who is the foundation of a christians hope , wherefore remember , sayes the apostle , that at that time ye were without christ , and therefore he tels them afterward , that they were without hope , in tit. 2. 2. christ is there called our hope , christ is that person in and upon whom we are to build all our hopes for heaven , and therefore he is called our hope , and this is the meaning of that expression , christ in you the hope of glory , intimating that you cannot hope for glory , but in and through jesus christ ; that man that is a christlesse man , must needs be a hopelesse man , that is the first demonstration . reas . 2 2. a man without christ , must needes be without hope , because he is without a title to any promise of life and salvation , which is the onely support and prop of mans hope ; you would count this a very fond and vain hope , for any man to hope that such a rich man would make him heir of all he hath , though hee never promised him one foot of land ; why just so vaine are the hopes of wicked men , but now the word of promise is like a pillar of marble to bear up the hearts of gods people , as in 1 tit. 2. in hope of eternall life , which god that cannot lye , promised before the world began , the promises doe ground that man that hath interest in them , to a hope of eternall life , he that is without the lord jesus christ the foundation of hope , and without the promises which is the pillar of hope , must needs be without all true hopes of heaven . reas . 3 3. he cannot but be without hope , because he is without faith which is the ground of hope , as in heb. 11. 1. faith is the ground of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen : where no true faith is there can be no hope , for faith is the mother , and hope is the daughter , hope is begotten by faith ; an unregenerate man must needs be without hope , because he is without christ the foundation of hope , and the promises the pillar of hope , and faith the ground of hope . reas . 4 4. it appeares that he is without hope , because when hee leaves the world , his hopes leave him , whereas the hope of a godly man never leaves him till it brings him to heaven ; when a wicked man dies his hopes are gone , and leave him when he hath most need of them , had his hopes been well grounded hopes , they would never make him ashamed of them . thus you see i have onely in the generall confirmed the point to you . i come now to speak of some more particular inquiries in the prosecution of this doctrin , ( beloved ) wil you lend me your thoughts a little , in the handling of these five inquiries ? as 1. i shall shew you the nature of this hope that unconverted men are without . 2. i shall shew you what are the characters of those men that are without any well grounded hopes for heaven . 3. i shall shew you the reason , why ( seeing the scripture sayes that a wicked man hath no hope ) that of any men in the world , a wicked man does nourish in his heart the greatest hopes for heaven . 4. i shall shew wherein lies the difference between those that have onely a presumptuous hope for heaven , and those that have a true and well grounded hope for heaven ; and lastly , i shall shew you the great misery of those men that have onely presumptuous hopes for heaven . quest . i will begin with the first of these , to shew you the nature of that hope , that unconverted men are without . answ . take this plain description of it , that true hope which wicked men are without it is a well grounded and patient expectation for the accomplishment of all those spirituall and eternall good things , which god hath promised through jesus christ , and which faith beleeves . i call it a well grounded expectation to distinguish true hope , from those presumptuous hopes that wicked men have : i call it a patient hope to distinguish it from a rash hope , in wicked men : and i say it is a patient expectation and looking for the accomplishing those spirituall and eternall good things , which god hath promised in christ , because that this is the ground of hope , it is called the hope of glory and the hope of eternall life , and the like ; thus you have the nature of this hope that wicked men are without , when the apostle sayes , they were without hope , his meaning is , that they were without any hope of those spirituall and eternall good things , which god hath promised to beleevers through christ . quest . 2 quest . 2. what are the characters of those men , that have no hopes for heaven , or if they have , it is onely a deluding and a presumptuous hope , a hope no better then no hope at all ? ( nay it were a great deal better to have no hope then a presumptuous hope , but that i shall speak to afterward . ) now before i shall lay down these characters by way of discovery , i will onely premise four or five particular conclusions , which are very necessary to prevent wicked men from running into mistakes concerning their hopes for heaven . 1. take this conclusion , that this grace of hope may as well be counterfeited as any other grace , there is a lively hope in a beleever , and a dead hope in a wicked man , there is a faigned hope as well as a true hope , a counterfeit hope as well as a good hope , and therefore it is said in joh. 8. 13. the hope of the hypocrite shall perish ; and in prov. 10. 28. the hope of the wicked shall perish . 2. take this conclusion , that those men , that have least grounds to build hopes of heaven upon , doe yet nourish most confident hopes of heaven in their hearts ; i shall give you two notable places of scripture to prove this , in prov. 14. 16. it is said there that a wise man feareth and departeth from evill , a wise man is jealous over his own heart , what followes ? but sayes he , a fool , that is , a wicked man , he rageth , and yet is confident , he runs on in wicked wayes and practises without any remorse or sorrow , and yet he is a confident man , that hee shall goe to heaven as well as the best ; a wise man feareth and departeth from evill but a wicked man rageth , and yet is confident , those that have least cause to hope , doe yet harbour the greatest hopes for heaven in their hearts . a like place to this you have in psal . 36. ●2 . the transgression of the wicked sayes in his heart , that there is no fear of god before his eyes , and yet the next words are , he flatters himself in his own eyes , though his iniquities are found worthy to be hated ; wicked men are very apt to have good conceits of themselves , and you shall finde it ordinarily , that a poor soul that walks conscionably before god , and neglects no known duty , and mortifies every known lust , and walkes humbly before god , this man is full of feares and jealousies , and doubts that all things are not well between god and his soul ; and yet you shall finde another ungodly wretch that gives way to all manner of sin and uncleannesse , and fulfills the lusts of his flesh and of his minde , and this man is very confident of his going to heaven , and that all is well with him when he is running headlong to hell . here then you see the second conclusion that those men that have least grounds to build hopes of heaven upon , doe yet nourish strongest hopes for heaven in their hearts . 3. another conclusion is this , that a man may live and dye with very strong hopes that he shall goe to heaven , till he bee throwne downe into hell ; hee may have no other thoughts but that hee shall goe to heaven till hee bee cast head-long into hell . i shall give you some plain text to prove this , as job 21. 23. job speaks there of a wicked man , sayes he , one dies in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet ; a learned divine sayes upon this place , that it is the note of a wicked man , when he lies upon his death bead , if you come to him and ask him if hee hath any hopes that he shall goe to heaven , hee will answer , that hee hath very strong hopes of it ; and if you ask him , whether my sin troubles him , he will tell you no , blessed be god i have no sin troubles me now , nor ever did all my life time ; what , does nothing at all disquiet you ? no , i am wholly at ease and quiet ; he hath no sinne troubles him , nor no misgiving thoughts , but that hee shall goe to heaven : but when a wicked man dies , then his expectation shall perish , and not till then : now beloved me thinkes this conclusion should a little startle you , and make you look about you to take heed lest you run hoodwinkt to hell , that you doe not live and dye in hopes of heaven , and never think otherwise till you drop down into hell . 4. to you that doe lay claim to strong hopes for heaven , let me tell you thus much , that you are not to hope for heaven , unlesse you can render a reason or ground of your hopes . beloved it is not naturall for every man to hope for heaven and to be saved , and you ought not to hope for heaven unlesse you can give some grounds for it , as the apostle sayes , but sanctifie the lord god in your hearts , and be ready alwayes to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you , with meeknesse and fear ; now examine your selves , what grounds can you give for your hopes of heaven , have you a promise for it ? or one scripture ground for it ? or the witnesse of the spirit for it ? if not , then doe not nourish any hopes of heaven in your hearts . thus i have laid down these four conclusions , i come now to handle the query it self which is this . quest . quest . what are the characters whereby it may be knowne whether you are such a one that hath no hopes for heaven , or a meer deluding , an ungrounded and presumptuous hope , as good as no hope ? answ . the hearts of all the sons of men are desperately wicked and deceitfull above all things , man is a proud creature and apt to have proud and high conceits of himself , and therefore i shall give you five distinguishing characters , whereby you may know whether your hopes for heaven be true , and well grounded hopes , or no. 1. that man that nourisheth in his heart great hopes for heaven , and yet at the same time fosters and favours great lusts and sins in himself , that man hath no true hopes for heaven . i shall give you a clear place to prove this , deut. 29. 15. and it come to passe when hee heareth the words of this curse , if he shall blesse himself in his heart , saying , i shall have peace though i walk after the imaginations of my heart , to add drunkennesse to thirst , &c. the lord will not spare such a man , but the anger of the lord and his jealousie shall smoak against that man : and so in esay 57. 20. sayes the prophet there , thou art wearied in the greatnesse of thy wicked wayes , yet saidst thou not , there is no hope , it is a very strange place , as if the prophet should say to them , you walk in a great course of sin and wickednesse , and yet you flatter you selves , you will not say there is no hope for you , you that doe nourish great sins and wickednesse in your bosomes , and allow your selves in the practise of great sins , you should say , there is no hope for you to goe to heaven , for god does here charge it upon you , that notwithstanding you walk on in wayes of sin , yet you say not , there is no hope ; but are rather very confident you shall go to heaven for all that ; and so in psal . 36. 1 , 2. the transgression of the wicked saith in his heart , there is no fear of god before his eyes , and yet sayes the psalmist , he flatters himselfe , with vain hopes of heaven ; wicked men have heaven and the hopes thereof in their eyes , when they have sinne in their hearts , and this shews that their hope is onely a deluding and a vain hope . 2. that man hath no true hope but onely a presumptuous and vain hope for heaven , that is strong in his expectations of heaven as his aim and end , but slow in his actions and endeavours after holinesse as his way : he that can with baalam desire to dye the death of the righteous , but never care nor desire to live the life of the righteous , that mans hope is but a vain hope , as the psalmist hath it in psalm . 119. 155. salvation is farre from the wicked , for they seek not thy statutes , and if salvation be far , the hope of salvation is as far ; but why is salvation far from the wicked ? because they seeke not gods statutes , those men that hope that salvation is neer them , when they are far from seeking after gods statutes , and endeavouring after holinesse , as the way to happinesse , these men are far from salvation , and the hope of salvation too . 3. that man hath only deluding hopes for heaven , that is unwilling to have his hope tryed , examined , and come to the touchstone , those that will not , as the apostle , bids us , be ready to give to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you , with meeknesse and fear ; now let me ask you what ground you can give for your hopes in heaven , have you the testimony of gods spirit for it , or the testimony of a good conscience . that in simplicity and godly sincerity , you have had your conversation here in this world ? have you a promise or any ground in scripture for your hopes ? if you have no ground for your hopes , and cannot indure to come to the triall or touchstone , it is an argument that you are counterfeit metall that you have no reall hopes for salvation and happinesse in another world. 4. that man that builds his hopes for heaven more upon his own performances then upon gods promises , his hope is only a deluding hope : this is that sandy ground christ speaks of in matth. 7. ult . to build your hopes of heaven upon any services you doe , or any duties you perform , it is all one , as if you should goe about to build a house upon the sand ; ask a wicked man whereon he grounds his hopes for heaven ; he will tell you that he does the works of charity , he gives every man his due , and he lives honestly , and civilly amongst his neighbours , hee hears and reads the word , he prayes and receives the sacrament , he does such and such good duties , and this is that which they build hopes for heaven upon , they think that christ is espoused for them , because they are bidden to the wedding supper , for the ordinances of christ are his marriage supper , they are ready to say with those in luk. 13. 26. we have eaten and drunken in they presence , lord , lord open to us . i doe not deny but a man may have evidence from his graces , & from the work of god upon his heart , but the great pillar of marble , that must bear up thy hope , must be the promise of god in christ ; he that builds his hopes for heaven only upon his own performances and good duties , his hope is a vain and deluding hope ; i doe not deny but the graces of gods spirit are reall evidences of . gods love to the soul , as the apostle sayes , by this we know that we are translated from death to life , because we love the brethren , and again , by this we know that we are of god , because of his spirit which he hath given us ; but i say this is not the main pillar and ground of our hope : we should be so fervent in prayer , and diligent in the performance of holy duties , as if we did expect to be saved by our duties , but when we have done all that we can , we must lay down all at the feet of christ , and conclude that our best righteousnesse is but as filthy rags , and when wee have done all that we can do , we are unprofitable servants , and we must wholly and only depend upon the merits and mercies of christ for salvation and comfort . 5. that man that thinks , there is neither difficulty in getting this grace of hope , nor efficacy in keeping of it , that man hath no true hope . 1. thou that thinkest there is no difficulty in obtaining this grace , thou never yet hadst it , for the least grace is beyond the power , and capacity of any man to get of himself , thou that thinkest it an easie matter to hope for heaven , thou never yet hadst a true hope , for it must be god that must work this grace in us , as the apostle sayes in rom. 15. 13. now the god of hope fill you with all peace and joy in beleeving . 2. those that think there is no efficacy in keeping this grace of hope , those have no true hope , for wheresoever true hope is , it hath these properties with it . 1. it hath a purifying vertue with it , as in 1. joh. 3. 3. every man that hath this hope in him , purifieth himself even as god is pure . 2. hope hath a pacifying property with it , it is the anchor of the soul , both sure and stedfast ; though the world , and the devill trouble and disquiet you , and afflictions and temptations molest and disturbe you , yet this grace of hope will quiet and pacifie you , those that hope in god shall be secure and at rest . 3. hope it hath a painful property with it , it is never a sluggard , where there is an impossibility , there hope is cut off . but that which a man hopes for , he will labour and endeavour after : as he that ploughs does plough in hope , so the hopes of heaven will make you plough up the fallow ground of your hearts , and make you indefatigable in your labours after heaven , so that you shall take a great deal of pains and use all your endeavours for it . sermon , xii . ephes. 2. 12. — having no hope — we come now to the third queston , which is this ( que. ) what is the reason ( seeing the scripture sayes that a wicked man hath no hope ) that of all the men in the world , wicked men doe nourish greatest hopes for heaven in their hearts ? answ . in resolving this question , i shall lay you down five false pillars or props , that doe bear up and nourish the hopes of wicked men , and as i name them to you , i shall shew you the rottennesse , and deceitfulnesse , and insufficiency of them , for any man to build hopes of heaven upon . 1. the first prop that wicked men doe build hopes of heaven upon is this , because they have committed but smal sins in their life time , and because they have not run out into the commission of such grosse and scandalous sins in the world as other men have , therefore say they , surely we have some ground to hope for heaven ; it is true , we are sinners , but my sins are but ordinary small sins and frailties , they are not sinnes of a double die , just as the pharisee sayes , lord i thank thee that i am not as other men are , extortioners , unjust , adulterers , or even as this publican , because he was not as bad as other men , therefore hee thought he had a right and title to heaven , because they are not as bad as the worst , therefore they think themselves as good as the best ; now i shall shew you the weaknesse and rottennesse of this pillar for any man to build hopes of heaven upon , and that in these five particulars . 1. you that make this a ground to build hopes for heaven upon , let me tell you thus much , that there are many men in the world that have kept themselves from great and crying sins , and yet remain in an unconverted estate : for instance , you may see this in paul , in phil. 3. 6. he tels us , that according to the law he was blamelesse , there was no command of god in the let t● of it , that he was guilty of the breach of , he was no swearer , nor lyer , nor stealer , nor drunkard , nor adulterer , &c. he was guilty of no great and grosse 〈◊〉 , and yet paul he had nothing to plead for heaven for him , if he had not had the righteousnesse of jesus christ to plead for him . sayes the young man to christ , what shall i doe to inherit eternall life ? christ tels him that he should not do any murther , nor commit adultery , nor steal , nor hear false witness , honor thy father and mother , and love thy neighbour as thy self ; the young man answered and said , all these things have i kept from my youth up : and jesus looked upon him and loved him , and pitied him , that such an ingenuous and blamelesse man as he was should yet go to hell ; this man did not break the law of god in the letter of it , but yet he went away sorrowfull , when christ bad him go & sell all that he had and give to the poor , the young man went away sorrowfull , for he had great possessions ; then says christ , how hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven ! and so the proud pharisee that boasted himself over the poor publican ; yet this man went away justified and not the other . 2. you that make small sins a prop to build hopes of heaven upon , it may be though your sins are little and small , yet what they want in bulk and magnitude , they may make up in number ; and many small sins are more dangerous then one great sin , many small scars upon the heart with a penknife is as bad as a thrust with a sword : it may be with thee in this regard , as it is in arithmetick , many small figures , amount to a greater sum , then a few great figures do , four small figures make a greater sum then three great figures , so many small sins will do thee more harm then a few great sins ? if what your sins do want in bulk and magnitude , you make it up in their number and multitude , you are as liable to damnation as if you had committed great and crying sins ; though you have not committed adultery in your life time , yet it may be you have had many sinfull and unclean thoughts in your heart ; and though you have not been guilty of murder , yet it may be you have had many revengefull thoughts in you , which is as bad as murther and so of any other sins . 3. you that plead exemption and freedom from great sins , to be a prop to build hopes for heavē upon , know thus much ; that smal sins are more capable of great aggravations , then great sins are , as i shall shew you in these 3. particulars , wherin smal sins do admit of greater aggravations then great sins . 1. smal sins are committed most commonly with more complacency and lesse reluctancy , then great sins are ; unclean thoughts do please the heart and tickle the fancy , and content the minde of a man , and are committed with a great deal more complacency & delight , and lesse reluctancy ; who would strain at a gnat ? now it layes your souls upon more guilt when you commit the smallest sins with delight and contentment , and satisfaction , then if you did commit great and gross sins , if you labor to resist them , and strive against them . 2. thou committest small sinnes with more security , and lesse penitency , then great sins ; when a man commits a great and scandalous sin , he is sensible of what he hath done , and layes it to heart , and is ashamed of it and must repent of it , or else it will be a shame to him all his life long ; but he can venture upon a small sin , & never be troubled at it , nor grieved for it , he can cōmit a smal sin with a great deal of security , & impenitency , so that hereby they do the soul more wrong then great sins . 3. you are apt to run into small sinnes with more frequency then you commit great sins , for they are so open to the reproof of the word , and so obvious to the eyes of all men , that you cannot find opportunities to commit them so often , whereas small sins you commit again and again , and one day after another , and a thousand times in one day , and yet never take notice of them , and therefore this may convince you , that your exemption from great sins , can be no sufficient ground to build your hopes for heaven upon . 4. you that build your hopes for heaven upon this ground , because your sins are none of the greatest , let me tell you , that the smallest sins that ever you committed in all your life time , without repentance on thy part , and satisfaction on christs part , will forever keep thy soul out of heaven , if you repent peradventure you shall be pardoned , the smallest sins cannot be forgiven , without the bloud of christ to wash them away , for without the shedding of bloud there is no remission : and thus i have shewed the insufficiency and deceitfulnesse of the first prop that wicked men do build their hopes for heaven upon , we come now to the second . 2. but sayes a wicked man , i have heard and read of those , that have committed far greater and more crying sins then ever i have been guilty of , and yet they hoped for heaven , and are gone to heaven , and therefore why should not i hope for heaven as well as they ? i read of david that committed adultery , and of noahs drunkennesse , and pauls persecuting christ , and peters denying of him , and divers others , and yet these men are gone to heaven , and why may not i as well as they ? concerning this plea of wicked men i shall give you these three things by way of answer . 1. you that make this a ground for your hope , you do pervert the end for which god hath recorded the examples of his servants in scripture , for god did not record them there , to be a provocation to thee to goe on presumptuously in sinning against him , but meerly to be a restraint and caveat to keep thee from falling into the same sins , which they did ; if noah , and lot , and david , and peter , &c. such holy and excellent men as these , had their failings , and did commit great and grosse sins , oh then let me take heed lest i am overtaken , and fall into the same sins ; this is the use that we should make of the failings of other man , as in 1 cor. 10. 11. all things are written for our example , to admonish us upon whom the ends of the world are come , and in 1 tim. 1. 16. sayes the apostle , iobtained mercy , that i might be an example to all that should hereafter beleeve in jesus christ. 2. you that make the sins of other men , that have obtained mercy , to be a ground to build your hopes of heaven upon , let me ask you this question ; you that do fall into the same sins with noah , or david , or peter , do you repent with them too ? it is true , noah did fall once into the sin of drunkenness , but yet the scripture records this of him , that he was an upright man in his generation : and so david , though he did once defile his bed , yet afterwards he repented of it , and made his couch to swim with tears for it : so peter after he had denyed christ , he went out and wept bitterly for it ; but i say , what is all this to thee , that doest make a trade of sin , and fall into grosse sins every day , time after time , and yet never mourn and grieve for them , as david did for his sin , nor weep bitterly for them with peter , what plea can this be for thee , to encourage thee to hope for heaven ? 3. know this further , that a godly man may fall into the same sins that others fall into , for the matter of them , but not for the manner , now it is the manner of falling into sin , and not the matter of it that dams a man ; it is true , noah did fall into the sin of drunkennesse , but i shall distinguish noah from any wicked drunkard in the world , and that in these five particular considerations , as 1. noah was drunk , but it was before he did know that wine would make him drunk , and if you read the story you shall finde , that there was never any wine drunk till that time , for noah did then begin to be a husbandman , and did plant a vineyard ; but now there is never a one of you but doe very well know that wine and strong beer and the like , will intoxicate you , and yet you will not refrain from excesse in drinking ; there is a great deal of difference between you and noah . 2. noah was drunk , but he did not proclaim his drunkennesse , but the text sayes he went into his tent and slept , he was ashamed of what he had done , but now you proclaim your sin , and swear , and stare , and commit many other sins in your drunkennesse . 3. it is true , noah was drunk , but you never read that he was drunk any more then once , but you are drunk again and again , one day after another . 4. though he did once fall into this sin , yet for the ordinary course and practise of his life , he was an upright man in his generation , whereas it may be your ordinary and frequent practise is drunkennesse . 5. noah was an aged man , and in this regard his age might call for more wine and strong liquor to chear up his spirits , then young people do want ; so that all these considerations do little mitigate , and allay noahs fault , though it be not wholly excusable . an so likewise david he committed the sin of adultery , he wallowed in an unclean bed , but yet his sin likewise may admit of some extenuation and excuse , as 1. david when he came up to the house top , he little dream't to have seen a naked woman there , which was a very great temptation to him , but it may be some of you do seek occasion , and contrive and plot how you may commit such a sin . 2. david did fall into this sinne neither but once , you shall commonly finde that godly men fall into great sins but once , they take warning by the first transgression , and seldome fall into the same sinne again , but now it may be you live in unclean thoughts and actions all your life long , and therefore this can be no prop for your hopes . 3. though david did fall into this sin , yet he did not continue in it long , for it was but nine moneths between nathan the prophets coming to david , and telling and reproving him for his sin , and the time that he fell into it ; but alas some of you it may be are adulterers of nine years standing , there are many amongst us that are old adulterers , and yet never had a melting and sorrowfull heart for their sins , that never wept as david did , nor mourn as he mourned . and so peter he fell into a sin of denying his lord and master ; but , 1. he was resolved , and did verily purpose before , to have confessed and not to have denyed him , and yet when the damsell came to him , and told him , that he was one of those that were with christ , & peter conceiving it may be that they would have put him to death and crucified him , as well as christ , upon this sodaine surprise ( which was a very great temptation to him , ) he denyed christ , and 2. though he denyed him thrice , yet afterwards he did confesse him as often as he denyed him , for when christ asked him , simon peter lovest thou me , he answered christ three times , lord thou knowest that i love thee . 3. peter denyed christ , but yet afterward he went out and wept bitterly for it , and therefore his obtaining mercy can be no ground for your hopes , that never yet repented of any of the sins you have committed , and thus you see that the falling of these three godly men into great sinnes can be no prop to bear up your hopes for heaven . i shall now shew you more particularly that though the godly do fall into sinne , yea even the same sinnes for the matter of them , as you do , yet they do not fall into them in the same manner , as 1. if a godly man fall into sin it is unwittingly and unawares ; in gal. 6. 1. sayes the apostle , if any man be overtaken with a fault . a godly man he runs away with all the speed he can from a sin and temptation , but sometimes it overtakes him against his will , but now a wicked man he runs after sin , and overtaketh it , he sins with set purpose of heart , he plots mischief upon his bed , and sets himself in a way that is not good . 2. a godly man fals into sin sometimes , but it is with reluctancy and opposition , the spirit striveth against the flesh ; there is an opposing , and striving against sin , they are not like cowards , but will fight as long as they can hold their weapon in their hands , but now wicked men they commit sin with greedinesse , with delight and complacency , without any reluctancy at all . 3. every sinne that a godly man committeth , maketh him more carefull and watchfull for the time to come : thus it was with david , psal . 38. the title of it , compared with psal . 39. 1. the title of psal . 38. is called a psalm of david to bring to remembrance , the subject matter of this psalme was to bring davids sinne to his remembrance , and having spent this , in remembring his sins , in the first words of the next psalme , sayes he , i have sinned , but i will take heed to my wayes , that i offend not with my tongue , after he had called to remembrance his sins past , then he resolved with himself to strive against them in time to come . a godly man never fals into a sin once , but he fears to fall into the same sin ever after . a godly man though he fals into sin sometimes , yet he will at length get the upper hand of sin ; though for the present he be not able to grapple with sin , yet he will overcome it at last , grace will out grow sinne , and get the victory over it ; and thus i have shewed you the second prop that wicked men build their hopes for heaven upon ; we come now to a third and that is this ; if you beat them off from the two former , then they flie to the mercies of god ; oh say they , god is a very mercifull god , and i hope he that made me will save me , and that i shall goe to heaven as well as other men , and the like . now i doe not deny but the mercies of god is the chiefest prop under heaven , that a man can build his hopes for heaven upon , but here i shall shew you the rottennesse of this prop likewise in four or five regards , and that the mercies of god in generall are no sufficient ground at all , to build thy hopes for heaven upon , unlesse thou canst lay claim to the mercies of god in particular , for if you build your hopes upon the mercies of god in generall , 1. the devils and damned spirits may then hope as well as you . 2. the common and outward mercies of god can be no good prop , to build hopes for heaven upon , unlesse you can lay claime to the saving and distinguishing mercies of god ; the common outward mercies of god wicked men may have , for god is good to al , and his tender mercy is over all his workes , the devils share in the common mercies of god as well as others ; but these generall mercies of god are no prop to build hopes for heaven upon , unlesse you can build upon the saving and distinguishing mercies of god , as david prayes , shew mercy unto me o god , ( sayes he ) with the mercy which thou bearest to thy own childeen ; it must be electing , redeeming , sanctifying , and saving mercies that you must build your hopes for heaven upon . 3. the generall mercies of god can be no ground of your hopes , unlesse you have an interest in jesus christ : for god is cloathed with greatnesse , and terrour , and dread , and wrath out of christ ; there is nothing to be looked upon but anger and wrath in god without jesus christ . there were two lawes that god did make concerning the mercy-seat . 1. the high priest was not upon pain of death to come to the mercy-seat , unlesse he brought incense with him ; now what does this signifie to us ? why , it represents the intercession of christ , that as aaron was not to come to the mercy-seat without incense , so neither can we goe to the throne of grace to beg mercy from god , with any hope of audience or acceptance , unlesse we carry incense with us , which is the lord jesus christ to plead for us . 2. aaron was to sprinkle the mercy-seat with bloud ; which typifies to us , that we are not to expect mercy from god , but as we have an interest in the bloud of christ . 4. to you that build your hopes for heaven upon the mercies of god in generally , let me tell you that god is not prodigall of his speciall mercies , as to bestow them upon all the world , but only upon a select number of men : he will have mercy onely on them that fear him ; as for the wicked those that run on in their sins , the lord sayes himself , that though he hath made them yet he will have no mercy on them ; the mercies of god in generall are no sufficient props to build hopes for heaven upon . ob. but here me thinks i hear some kind of people ready to object against me , and say , what , doe you go about to beat us off from our hopes of heaven ? would you bereave us of our hopes and drive us into despair ? 1. to this i answer , that all you that have good and well grounded hopes for heaven , i would not for all the world , stagger your hopes ; but as the great windes doe commonly root up , and blow down the smaller shrubs , but doe settle and root the stronger oakes the faster into the ground ; so i would have all that i have said this day concerning the vain & deceitfull hopes of wicked men , to confirm and establish your hopes and make them grow stronger and stronger . 2. god forbid , that this should be in my heart , to drive any of you to despair ; doe not think that my aim in what hath been said is to make any of you fall into desperation , but to keep you up and prevent you from falling into presumption , which is the more dangerous errour of the two , because where the rock of desperation hath split thousands , the rock of presumption hath split its ten thousands . 3. my intention in what hath been said , is not to make you cast away all your hopes for heaven , but only your false and ill grounded hopes ; i would have you to pull down all your tottering hopes , and to build them upon a more sure foundation ; jesus christ himself being the chiefe corner stone . sermon , xiii . ephes. 2. 12. — having no hope — wee come now to enquire further , what is the reason that wicked men doe nourish in their hearts most hopes for heaven , seeing the scripture sayes they have none : the last time i answered this question , by naming three false props , that they build hopes for heaven upon ; i shall now give you three or four more . 4. another false prop that wicked men build hopes for heaven upon is this ; their frequency in the performances of religious duties ; and thus they reason with themselves ; shall i use duties , all the dayes of my life , as my way to heaven , and shall i not hope for heaven at my journeys end ? though a wicked man does notionally hope for heaven through christ , yet he layes the chiefest foundation of his hopes in his own good works ; as christ sayes , in the last day they shal come to him & cry , lord , lord , open to us , for we have prophesied in thy name , and eat and drunk in thy presence , we have heard thy word , and done many miracles , and cast out devils in thy name , and the like ; they shall boast of their hearing , and praying , and good workes , and make that a plea for heaven , when christ shal say unto them , depart from me , i know you not . now i shall shew you the rottennesse and in sufficiency of this prop to build hopes for heaven upon ; but i would not have you mistake me , as if i went about to beat down good workes , and make duties uselesse ; for i would have you so to perform duties , as if you were to be saved by duties , but when you have done all that you can doe , to lay them down at the feet of christ , and wholly depend upon him , as if we had done no duties at all ; but if you make the bare performance of duties , to be a prop for your hopes of heaven , it will be a very rotten and deceitfull prop , as i shall shew you in these four particulars : for , 1. all performance of duties not tendered to god the father by jesus christ ; will not be accepted by him ; that were it possible you should kneel so long in prayer to god , as that you should wear out your knees ; were it possible that you should cry out your eyes with weeping , and by mourning and lamenting for your sins , you should dry up all the moisture of your body ; were it possible you should spend all the dayes of your life in hearing , reading , praying , and the performance of holy duties ; yet if you doe not offer them up to god in the name and mediation of jesus christ , they are all but like cyphers that amount to no sum at all , unlesse the righteousnesse of christ be added to them : it is christs righteousnesse that makes our services acceptable to god ; christ addes his incense to the prayers of all his saints : now ( beloved ) though you make never so many prayers , yet if you have no share in christ , nor in his sufferings , and prayers , and intercessions to god for thee , all thy prayers and holy duties are worth nothing , they will never bring thee to heaven ; our persons must be in christ , before our services can be accepted of god , and therefore the bare performance of duties , can be no prop to thee for to build hopes for heaven upon . 2. these things can be no prop of thy hopes for heaven , because hypocrites , whose persons and performances god doth hate , they are frequent in duties as well as you : the pharisees they did fast twice a week , and give almes , and perform holy duties , and so those spoken of in the prophet esay , they did delight to draw near to god , and to know his wayes , as a nation that did righteousnesse , and for sook not the ordinances of god : wherefore have we fasted , say they , and thou seest not ? god did not accept of any thing they did : and so those in zac. they kept four fasting dayes in a year for seven yeares together , and yet they said he did not regard them : and so likewise god doth not regard the prayer of the wicked , as in psal . 105. 9. the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the lord ; and so is their hearing too , for they come to hear when their hearts are after their covetousnesse . 3. know thus much , that those very duties which god does accept at the hands of his children , those very duties will he reject at the hands of wicked men , and therefore the bare performance of duty can be no prop to build hopes for heaven upon ; for though thou spendest longer time in prayer , & more time in hearing reading , fasting , &c. then a godly man does , yet the lord will accept of his duties and not of thine . i shall give you three instances for this ; the first is between cain and abel : abel he offered the firstlings of his sheep , and cattle and of his flock , and cain he offered the first-fruites of his ground ; now by faith abel offered a more excellent offering then cain , though cains offering was of more value then abels was yet abels was accepted , when the others was not ; abels sacrifice was accepted not in regard of the quantity , and worth , and value of it , but because abel was a beleever , and a justified man in the fight of god , and therefore he had respect first to his person , and then to his sacrifice . another instance is in 1 king. 18. 25. between elijah the prophet , and the prophets of baal ; elijah the prophet tooke two bullocks , and bid the prophets of baal to chuse one , and you must think they would not chuse the worst of them , and he took the other , and yet the lord shewed a token of acceptance to elijah and his sacrifice , though it was the worst of the bullocks , and shewed no acceptance to the prophets of baal , and the reason of it was because elijah was a justified man in the sight of god , when the others were not . and so again in prov. 15. 8. it is said there , that the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the lord , but the prayer of the wright is his delight : god doth delight in a poore pennilesse prayer coming from a godly man , when he will not accept of a costly sacrifice coming from a wicked man. 4. the bare performance of duties can be no prop to build hopes for heaven upon , because god doth not look so much upon the matter of the duty what you do perform , as to the manner how , and the end why you doe perform them , though it may be the duty which you perform be the same for the matter of them , as god requires and commands , yet if they be not done in a right manner , god lookes upon it as nothing ; god will not own those duties as done to him , that are not done in a right manner , and to a right end : as in joh. 16. 24. hitherto ( sayes christ ) you have asked nothing in my name , aske and receive that your joy may be full ; and yet they had put up many petitions in his name , but because they did it not in a right manner , christ lookt upon it as if they had asked nothing at all . 5. another false prop that wicked men build hopes of heaven upon , is a meere mistake of the promises and pillar of hope in scripture ; and this is done two wayes : either , 1. they make those promises to be props of hope which are not : or , 2. they doe misapply those promises that are true grounds of hope . 1. they make those to be props of hope which are not ; i shall name you three of them , the first is that passage in our common liturgy , at what time soever a sinner doth repent from the bottome of his heart , i will blot out all his sins out of my remembrance ( saith the lord ) . this very sentence hath been a means to delude a world of men , whereas indeed it is no ground at all to build hopes for heaven upon : for , 1. there are no such words as these to be found in the whole scripture : and , 2. the place where these words are found , it is onely in the common liturgie , which liturgie is but an abstract of the popish masse , for though all that is in the popish masse be not in the common-prayer , yet all that is in the common-prayer is in the popish masse ; it may be you will scarse beleeve this , but it is very true , as you may see , if you look into the second volume of the book of martyrs the 667. page , where there is a letter inserted of king edward the sixth , sent to the papists in cornwall , who were risen up in armes about the translating of the masse into englsh , which they would by no meanes agree to , but rose up to oppose it ; king edward to pacifie them , wrote to them on this manner , as for the service-booke , the translating of it may seem to you to be some new thing , but they are the very same words in english which were before in latine , and if the masse book which is in latine be good , then it is as good now , though it be translated into english . 3. you will say the lord himself said these words , at what time a sinner doth repent i will blot all his sins out of my remembrance , ( saith the lord ) . i answer , that it is not said so in the whole book of god , and if you look into that text of scripture which they ground these words upon , that the lord did say so , you shall finde it otherwise ; it is in ezek. 18. 21. mark the words , these are gods words indeed ; if a wicked man will turn from all the sins that he hath committed , and keep all my statutes , and doe that which is lawful and right , he shal surely live , and not dye . they say if a wicked man does repent of his sins ; now repentance is a generall work , judas did repent , but his repentance did him no good ; but here you see it is said that if a wicked man turn from all his evill wayes , and do that which is lawfull and right , then he shall surely live . 2. another scripture-prop which wicked men build their hopes for heaven upon , but is indeed no prop , is this , that the righteous man sinneth seven times a day ; this is one of the greatest props a wicked man hath , sayes he , what doe you tell me of my sins , the best men have their failings , the righteous sin seven times a day , and why may not i goe to heaven as well as they ? wicked men make this a great prop to their hopes , when indeed there is no place of scripture like this in the whole bible ; that which comes nearest to it , is in prov. 24. 16. a just man falleth seven times and riseth again , but the wicked fall into mischief : now here is no mention of falling into sin in the text , nor no mention of a day ; but only thus , a just man falleth seven times , and riseth again : st. austin gives this sense of the word ; a godly man falleth seven times , that is often times , expounding this place with that in job 5. 19. the lord will be with thee in six troubles , and in seven there shall no evill touch thee : a righteous man , sayes augustine , falleth seven times , not sinneth , seven times , he doth not fall into sin , but into affliction ; the righteous falleth seven times , that is , the godly in this world are liable to fall seven times into affliction , that is , very often into afflictions and troubles while he lives here in this world ; according to that of job , in six troubles and in seven the lord shall deliver thee , meaning oftentimes : and therefore this place carries no reference at all of falling into sin seven times a day . 2. suppose it were so , that the righteous did sin seven times a day , yet the text sayes in the next words , that as often as he falleth he riseth again ; now it may be , many of you that make this a prop for your hopes of heaven , doe fall into sin day after day , and never rise out of them again by repentance : you leave out these words , and riseth again , for many of you live your whole lives long in an evill course , you wallow and lye down in sin , and therefore this can be no prop for your hopes . 3. another sentence which they make a scripture prop , but is not , is this , that christ died for all and for every man in the world ; this comes within the arminian bounds , but this opinion is taken up by others too as well as them , that hold universall redemption ; but because i have already preached two or three sermons upon this subject , i shall therefore onely now speak so much as is needfull , to shew you the rottennesse and insufficiency of this prop ; 1. suppose christ did dye for all , yet those men that are of this opinion , that christ did dye for all , they doe not hold that all men are saved by christ , but some men may fall off from christ ; and be damned , notwithstanding christ dyed for them . 2. take this by way of answer , that it is not likely that they should have benefit by christs bloud , that have no benefit by this death . 3. to you that make this a plea for your hopes of heaven ; observe this , that where there are these generall expressions , they are very ill understood : if you say they speak of universal & generall redemption , as in 2 cor. 5. 14 , 15. because we thus judge , that if one died for all , then are all dead , and he died for all , that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves , but unto him that died for them and rose again ; why , here none can lay claim to christs death , but those that live to christ that died for them : and so in heb. 2. 9. but we see jesus that was made a little lower then the angels , for the suffering of death , cloathed with glory and honour , that hee by the grace of god should taste death for every man ; but mark the restraint in the next words ; for it became him for whom are all things , and by whom are all things , in bringing many sons unto glory ( here the apostle restrains the words ) to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings ; for both he that sanctifieth , and they that are sanctified are all one , for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren : the apostle does here again restrain the words , and therefore this can be no more prop for your hopes , that are not sanctified ; but thus much may suffice for the first branch , in shewing you how wicked men doe make those places to be scripture props for their hopes which are not . 2. if they do not make those places to be scripture props which are not , yet they doe misapply those places , which indeed are scripture promises and grounds of hope ; as that christ came into the world to save sinners ; now this is a scripture promise , for christ came to seek and save them that were lost : but now ( beloved ) men doe misapply this generall pillar of hope ; they take them in the generall notions of them , and this makes abundance of people to harbour great hopes of heaven in their hearts : but now i shall shew you , wherein they doe misapply them . 1. in not considering that a man must be first in christ , before he can lay claim to any promise of christ . they run to the promise , and never examine first whether or no they have an interest in christ . the promise is good and comfortable , but it cannot convey any comfort to thy soul , unlesse thou art in jesus christ , no more then a dry pipe can convey water to thee without the fountain : we are first made christs , and then we have a right to all the promises of christ : it is by our interest in christ , that we have a right and title to all the promises of god in christ . if you have an interest in christ , you have all the promises as it were bound up in a bundle , which you may have recourse to , and make use of when you will. 2. they object and say , that the promises doe run in free and generall termes having no conditions annext to them . answ . it is true , there are some promises that are absolute , so as to have no condition , going before them , but every promise in the gospell hath some condition or other annext to it , if it hath not a condition going before it as meritorious ; yet it hath a condition that followes after it , ●● in gen. 17. 1. i am thy god all sufficient , ( what then ? ) walk before me and be thou perfect . in 2 cor. 6. 16 , 18. i will be their god , and they shall be my people : and i will be a father unto you , and ye shall be my sons and daughters , saith the lord god almighty : what followes ? why in the 1. verse of the next chapter , saies the apostle there , having therefore these promises ( dearly beloved ) let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of the flesh and spirit , perfecting holinesse in the fear of god. so in heb. 5. 9. christ came into the world to save sinners , but there is a condition goes after it , he that sanctifieth , and they that are sanctified , must be all one : there is no promise in all the gospell , but that a condition is prefixt , or annext to it : in mat. 11. 28. saies christ , come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden , and i will give you rest : there is a foregoing condition , we must come unto christ : and other promises have conditions going after , as i could instance divers , but these shall suffice . there are two props more behind , they are but very short ones ; i shall goe over one of them now , because i would not be hindreed in my afternoons work , in shewing you the difference between those that have a reall and well grounded hope , and those that have only a false and deluding hope . 6. another false prop that wicked men build hopes for heaven on is this , because they live honestly and justly among their neighbours , they give every man his due , and do no body any wrong , and the like , and therefore they conclude themselves in a very good condition . ans . were this a sufficient ground for hope for heaven , there would more of the heathens goe to heaven , then of you ; for they walk very exactly , and are just and upright in all their dealings . but wicked and bad men may have very good meanings in them , as wee may see in balaam , numb . 23. 10. he desired to die the death of the righteous , and that his last end might be like his : this was a good desire and meaning in him . 2. take this for an answer , that though a bad meaning will defile and pollute a good action , yet a good meaning cannot advantage nor doe a bad action any good : as the scribes and pharisees , they performed very good actions in themselves , but they had self-ends , and bad meanings that spoiled all their duties ; good meanings cannot justifie bad actions . if thy actions be wicked , good meaning can do thee no good : rom. 8. those that say , let us doe evill that good may come of it , their damnation is just . 3. let your meaning be never so good , yet if you have an ignorant minde , it is worth nothing , as in prov. 19. 2. the minde without knowledge cannot be good ; as no man ever became rich by meaning and purposing to be rich , but by labouring and endeavouring after it , so no man ever went to heaven by good meanings without good actions accompanying them . 2. but say they , we do no body any harm , but pay every man his own . ans . 1. though you pay every man his own , yet do you give god his own ? or rather do you not wrong god , and do him infinite indignities ? 2. though you do not do man wrong , yet doe you not your own souls wrong ? as we use to say of free-hearted men , they are enemies to no man but themselves : so now do not you doe your own souls wrong by harbouring of bosome lusts and corruptions in your souls ? what benefit will it be to thee , that you do no body else wrong , when you doe your own souls wrong ? you are no better then the pharisees , for they were very exact in giving every man his due ; the proud pharisee could boast in luk. 18. 11. i am no extortioner nor unjust man : you may mean well and give every man his own , and yet be a wicked man. sermon , xiv . ephes. 2. 12. — having no hope — we come now to the last prop that wicked men doe build their hopes of heaven upon , which is this , if you beat them off from all the former props , from their small sins , from the mercies of god in generall , from their good duties , and good meanings , &c. then they run to this last plea ; say they , have not we reason to nourish hopes for heaven ; for we have been present with dying men , that have been as bad as wee in their life time , and yet they have had very strong hopes for heaven , and strong hopes in god : and you know dying men will speak the truth , and therefore why may not we nourish hopes for heaven , as well as they ? this is a very strong prop wicked men build their hopes upon : but i shall shew you the rottennesse and insufficiency of it in these three or four particulars . 1. you must know that it is one thing to die stupidly , and another thing to die hopefully and peaceably : indeed , the worst men in the world , may die stupidly , their consciences may not doe its office when they die : they may have their consciences feared as it were with a hot iron , and think they are going to heaven , and never think otherwise till they drop down into hell ; but now the godly , they die full of peace and comfort , as in psal . 37. 37. mark the upright man , and behold the just , for the end of that man is peace ; but there is no peace , saith my god , to the wicked , esai . 57. 41. there may be a fearednesse of conscience , and stupidity of heart , but they cannot die peaceably and in hope . 2. you that make this a prop for your hope , because you have seen wicked men die peaceably like lambs ; let me tell you thus much , that it is the greatest judgement in the world , for a wicked man to die peaceably , and quietly , in delusions , and conceits of going to heaven ; when they are tumbling down headlong to hell : it were better for him , that god did let the flashings of hell fire to flie in his face : it were better for him that his conscience did tell him his danger , and his doom , then thus to die in a stupid manner . in job 21. 23. it is said , that a wicked man dies in his full strength , being wholly at ease and quiet : no sin troubles him , nor no danger makes him afraid : so in psal . 73. 4 , 5. they have no bands in their death , but their strength is firm ; they are not in trouble , as other men , neither are they plagued as other men ; they have no trouble in their life time , and no bands in their death : now this is rather to be looked upon as a judgement upon them , and not as a mercy . 3. if this peace and quietnesse in a wicked mans conscience , did arise from any grounded assurance , or hope of heaven , then it might be lookt upon as a blessing ; but when it doth arise meerly from the delusions of his own heart , then it is nothing but as it were a golden dore to let him into hell : it shall be with him as in esai . 29. 8. an hungry man dreameth , and behold , he eateth : but he awaketh , and his soul is empty : so a wicked man dreams he is going to heaven , when he is falling down into hell . 4. there may be great hopes of heaven exprest in a dying mans words , when there is not so much peace and quietnesse in his heart , as in prov. 14. 23. in the midst of laughter , the heart is sorrowfull . in the midst of a wicked mans boasting , there is a fear of hel . 5. though you have seen some men that have dyed with stupidity of heart , depart quietly ; yet there are other wicked men , whose consciences are awakened , that die full of horror , and terror , and amazement . when their consciences tell them , they have dyed swearers , or lyers , or drunkards , or adulterers , &c. they are filled with horror , and terror of conscience ; that though he thought all his life time he should goe to heaven , yet he now fears he is going down into hell . and thus i have done with the third question , in shewing you the reasons why , ( seeing the scripture saies that a wicked man hath no hope ) that of all the men in the world , wicked men do nourish greatest hopes for heaven in their hearts ; there are only two queries more to handle , and then come to the fifth branch of mans misery . quest . 4 4. the fourth query in order is this ; that seeing the scripture sayes a wicked man hath no hope , and esteems of their false and presumptuous hope , to be as good as no hope ; then how shall we know the difference between those well grounded hopes a godly man hath , and those presumptuous and deluding hopes wicked men have ? answ . ans . i shall here give you six apparent differences between them . 1. the hopes of a godly and regenerate man for heaven ; it is gotten by , and grounded upon the word of god : and therefore it is called the hope of the gospell , because it is gotten by the gospell as the means , and grounded upon the gospell as the end : that we ( sayes the apostle ) through the comfort of the scriptures might have hope : a godly man hath his comforts from the scriptures . psal . 119. 49. good is the word of the lord , wherein thou hast caused thy servant to hope . but now the hopes of wicked men , as they are gotten they know not how , so neither do they know upon what they are grounded , and this is the reason why they are called presumptuous hopes ; for this is presumption , when a man does beleeve a thing , when he can have no visible nor likely means , to ground or bottome his hopes upon . 2. true and patient hope is bottomed upon the mercies of god , and the merits of jesus christ ; and hence it is , that christ is called our hope , because he is the foundation on whom beleevers do build all their hopes for heaven ; so likewise they build their hope on the mercies of god , in psal . 147. 11. the lord taketh pleasure in those that fear him , in those that hope in his mercy : and again in psal . 33. 18. the eye of the lord is upon them that fear him , upon them that trust in his mercy : and so in psal . 52. 8. saies david there , i trust in the mercies of god for ever and ever . a godly man he is cast out of himself , and out of an opinion of his own righteousnesse , and his hopes are only built upon the mercy of god , and on the merits of christ . but now the false and presumptuous hopes that wicked men have , are not built so much upon gods mercy as their own duties , and not so much upon the merits of christ , what he hath done for them , as upon their own duties what they have done for themselves . 3. true hope doth comfort and bear up the heart under all the discomforts , that it meets with in the world : as david saies , i had fainted under my afflictions , but that thy word is my hope : and hence it is that you have those two admirable expressions put together , rom. 5. 2 , 3. rejoycing in hope , and glorying in tribulation ; these are put together to shew , that when a man can rejoyce in hope , he can glory in all the tribulations , he meets with in the world . but now presumptuous hopes , are like lead , and ponderous weights , that will make you sink under every affliction . it is only a true and saving hope , that will enable you to hold up your heads under all afflictions and troubles . 4. true hope does as well act for heaven , as hope for heaven ; but a presumptuous hope , that hopes for heaven as its end , but yet never acts holinesse as its way to heaven ; true hope as it hopes for heaven , so it labours to work out its salvation with fear and trembling ; you have an admirable passage for this in psal . 119. 166. saies david there , lord i have trusted in thy salvation , and i have done thy commandements : here is both hoping and acting for heaven put both together , wicked men they hope for heaven , but they do not do gods commands , and so in psal . 37. 3. trust in the lord and do good , saies the psalmist , here is trusting and doing put together , true hope doth act for heaven as well as hope for heaven ; but false hope doth hope much and act little ; wicked men will hope for salvation , but not work out their salvation ; hope for heaven , but not labour for heaven : this is the fourth difference . 5. that man that hath true hope , he makes conscience to keep his heart pure , and free both from the love of sin , and from the dominion of sin , while he lives here in this world ; you have a plain text for this in 1 joh. 3. 3. he that hath this hope in him , purifieth himself even as god is pure ; he doth labour and endeavour to keep his heart upright , and pure , and free from sin . but now a false hope will hope for heaven , though they walk on after the imaginations of their own hearts , as in esai . 51. 10. thou hast walked in the greatnesse of thy wicked wayes , yet saidst thou not , there is no hope : though they had great sins , yet they had great hopes for heaven ; if thou art such a one as is mentioned in deut. 59. 18. that saiest , thou shalt have peace , though thou walkest after the imaginations of thy own heart , to adde drunkennesse to thirst , if thou art such a one , thy hope is only a presumptuous hope . 6. true hope flowes from a long and well grounded experience ; this is the reason of that expression in rom. 5. 4. patience worketh experience , and experience hope : true hope flowes from a long and well grounded experience in the waies of god ; and from an experience of the grace , and bounty , and love of god to his soul : and from experiences of the goodnesse , and mercy , and promises of god : and likewise from an experience of his own heart , in withstanding temptations , subduing corruption , and performing holy duties . such experiences as these are inlets to a well grounded hope for heaven ; but now the hopes of wicked men , are only the results of ignorance , they that never had any experience of themselves , nor of the waies of god ; they have most hopes , but their hopes are only deluding , and presumptuous hopes : wicked men that do so quickly get into a state of hope , without any former experiences of the wayes of god , it is a sign that their hopes are only vain and empty hopes ; they are but pithy hopes : just like your pithy trees , as elders , and withies , and such like trees , they shoot up fastest , and grow up soonest ; whereas the more firm and stronger wood , as oaks , and elme , and the like , are a great while longer in growing , before they come to maturity ; why , so it is a great while before a godly man can get a well grounded assurance of his hopes for heaven . use . and thus i have done with the doctrinall part of this fourth branch of mans misery , ( without hope ) we come now to the application , and the use that i shall make of it shall be threefold . 1. for consolation . 2. for terror : and , 3. for instruction . 1. for consolation , to the people of god , though the scripture saies a wicked man hath no hope , yet it sayes otherwise of you that are a people of god , the scripture tels you that your hope is laid up in heaven for you ; and the lord is your hope ; though wicked men have no hopes for heaven , yet you have grounded , and assured , and certain hopes for heaven : your hope is laid up for you in another world ; the wicked have only their hopes in this life , and when they die , their hopes shall perish , as in prov. 11. 7. when a wicked man dyeth , his expectation shall perish , and the hope of unjust men perisheth ; but it is not so with you , for the godly hope in their death . and this hope of a godly man , is not as the papists hold , for though they grant a beleever hath hope , yet they deny that any have assurance , they say that all a beleevers evidence for heaven is only a hope , a p●●l adventure , ( a most uncomfortable tenent ; ) whereas the scripture sayes , there is as full an assurance of hope , as of faith , in heb. 16. 11. saies the apostle , use all diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end , and so in rom. 15. 5. your hope is such as will not make you ashamed ; your hopes are not like the hopes of men that hope for dead 〈◊〉 shoes ( as the proverb is ) , for they may go on barefoot before they die , but christ , who is our hope , he hath dyed already , and risen again ; he hath made his will and testament ; and hath left us legacies , and be queathed riches to us : our hopes are well grounded hopes , not as other mens are , that will leave them , when they have most need of them . use 2 use 2. the second use shall be by way of terrour , to shew you the misery of those men , that have only presumptuous hopes for heaven . 1. you are in a state of unlikelihood to be converted , more then any other men in the world ; and this is the reason why the scripture tels us , that whores and harlots shall go to heaven , before the scribes and pharisees , and yet they were a very strict people , and did walk very outwardly holy ; and the reason is , because it is an easier matter to convince a harlot of her sins , then to convince a proud pharisee , that thinks himself as good as the best , and hath lived in peace all his life time . 2. let me tell you thus much , that your hopes will leave you , when you have most need of them . prov. 11. 7. the place before quoted ; the hope of the wicked shall be cut off , and when he dies , his expectations shall perish : he looks for heaven , but he shall be disappointed ; as in job 8. 14. his confidence shall be cut off , and his trust shall be sake a spiders web , as the spider wraps himself in his web , and dwels there securely all the week long , but at the end of the week , when the maid comes to sweep the windowes , she sweeps down the web , and the spider both ; just so the hopes of all wicked men shall come to nothing : and so in job 11. 20. the eyes of the wicked shall fail , and they shall not escape ; and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost . as a dying man , a little before his death , is pretty joyfull and merry , and entertains some hopes of a longer life , but when his eye-strings crack , and the tokens of death appear upon him , then his heart fails him , and all his hopes are dasht in pieces , and taken from him ; just so it is with wicked men , they are full of hopes for heaven , till they come to dye , but then their hopes leave them , and all their expectations perish . 3. your harbouring false and presumptuous hopes for heaven , does produce this threefold miserable and unavoidable effect upon you : 1. frustration : 2. vexation : and 3. damnation . 1. it produceth frustration and disappointment of all your hopes : when you are a dying , you hope that after death , you shall lanch forth into a sea of joy and pleasure , when on the contrary you shall lanch forth into a river of brimstone , which the breath of the lord shall kindle : you hope it may be , that after death , you shall be carryed by angels into abrahams bosome , when you may be carryed by the devils into beelzebubs bosome : you it may be hope that death shall be a dore to let you into heaven ; when it shall be only a back dore to let you fall down into hell . 2. it shall produce in you vexation . now vexation ariseth either from disappointment , or revenge : why , so wicked men shall not only have a privation of happinesse , but a vexation in the losse of happinesse . and hence it is , that some divines give the reason why it is said in mat. 8. 12. that in hell there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth ; some are of an opinion , that as our fire burns hot , so the fire of hell shall burn cold , but that is but a fancy : our divines say , that there shall be gnashing of teeth in hell , in token of that vexation of minde that shall be in wicked men , because all their hopes are so frustrated and disappointed , they shall gnash their teeth for vexation of minde , when they shall see abraham , and isaac , and jacob , and all the prophets in the kingdome of god , and they themselves thrust out . 3. these false hopes will likewise produce your damnation : a wicked man that harbours false hopes for heaven in his heart , is like a man sleeping upon 〈◊〉 mast of a ship , who ( it may be ) is dreaming a very pleasant and delightfull dream , and upon a sudden comes a blast of winde and blowes him into the sea ; so a wicked man he is but in a golden dream on his death bed , and he hopes that he is going to heaven , till he be plunged down into hell : all this represents to you the dreadfull condition of those men that have onely presumptuous hopes for heaven . use 3 we come now to the third use , which shall be for instruction ; and if this be so , then this may teach us these two or three lessons . 1. let us take heed lest we run into this easie delusion , there are some in the world that doe fall into it , and therefore why may not we as well as others ? therefore take heed that you doe not fancy to your selves false hopes of heaven . 2. doe you that are godly take heed that you do not cast off all your hopes for heaven : doe not you say that hope is cut off from you ; as wicked men are apt to harbour groundlesse hopes for heaven , so good men are too apt to cast off grounded hopes for heaven ; therefore do not say there is no hope for you , for there is hope for you . 3. do not harbour in your hearts , common and ordinary conceits of this grace of hope , as if it were so easie a matter to obtain it ; it is naturall for men to think that this grace of hope is very easie to be gotten , for say they , were it not for hope the heart would break ; wicked men are ready to thinke that this grace of hope is easie to be gotten by any body , and to be had of all , therefore take heed of this , and consider that there is the same certainty , the same excellency , and the same efficacy , in this grace of hope , as there is in faith . 1. there is the same certainty in it ; heb. 6. 11. it is called the full assurance of hope . 2. there is the same excellency in it , tit. 2. 13. it is called a blessed hope : and , 3. there is the same efficacy in it , as in the grace of faith , in act. 15. 9. it is said there , that faith purifieth the heart , and so likewise does hope , 1 joh 3. 3 every man that hath this hope in him , purifieth himself , even as god is pure : and , 4. there is the same difficulty in getting hope as in getting faith : for 1. this is gotten by the word of god , rom. 10. 17. and so is hope too , col. 1. 23. it is gotten by the ●●aching of the word . 2. faith is wrought in us by the power of god : heb. 12. 2. christ is the author and finisher of our faith ; and so is hope likewise wrought in us by the power of the holy ghost , rom. 15. 13 that ye may abound in hope through the power of the holy ghost . so that hereby you see that you ought not to have such low thoughts of this grace of hope , as if it were an easie matter for every man to get it ; for there is as much certainty , as much excellency , as much efficacy in this grace , and as much difficulty in getting this grace of hope , as there is in faith . and thus i have done with the 4. branch of an unconverted mans misery , that hee is without any well grounded hopes for heaven . sermon , xv. ephes. 2. 12. — and without god in the world. we come now to the fifth misery of men by nature , which is this , that they are without god in the world ; and here first i shall give you something from the order of the words , and then unfold them ; and then draw out some doctrines from them . quest. 1. for the order of the words , why is their being without christ put in the first place of the text , and their being without god put in the last place ? answ . answ . their being without christ , is put in the first place , because it was the inlet of all their misery , and their being without god is put in the last place , because it is the finall upshot of mans misery ; it is the inlet of a mans misery to bee without christ , and it is his misery to be an alien to the common-wealth of israel , and a stranger to the covenant of promise , and to be without hope , and it is the upshot of all thy misery to be without god in the world ; and here i shall shew you that there are multitudes of men and women in the world , that are without god , though they doe every day worship god , yet they may live all their dayes without god ; but before i speak to this , i must unfold two or three things in the words , as object . 1. how can it be said here that they were without god in the world , when the apostle says in another place , that the wicked cannot be without god , the lord is not farre from every one of us , for in him we live and move and have our being , here the apostle sayes that wicked men are not far from god , and that they live in god ; and therefore how can it be said in the text , that wicked men are without god in the world , whereas we are all gods off-spring , and come from god , how can this be ? answ . answ . the answer is very easie ; and that is this , that in some sense there is no man nor creature in the world without god ; and yet in another sense there are multitudes of men that are without god in the world. 1. in some sense there is no man can be said to be without god ; that is , by way of creation , preservation , sustentation , and ruling over us , every one is in god by way of creation and preservation , &c. but how in another sense there are multitudes of people without god ; this is in a way of speciall interest in him , without a reconciled god , without god as a father to you in jesus christ , without a god that you can lay claim to as yours , in this sense multitudes of people are without god in the world. 2. another thing that i shall explaine to you is this , what it is to be without god , and without god in the world. i answer , that to be without god it includes in it in scripture phrase these four things . 1. to be without the knowledge of the true god. 2. to be without the true worship of the true god. 3. to be without a true obedience to the true god ; and 4. to be without a peculiar interest and propriety in god. 1. to be without god , is to be without the knowledge of the true god ; then a man is said to be without god , when he doth not know the true god. every man in the world hath something or other to be his god , as in jonah 1. 5 , 6. when there was a great tempest upon the sea , and the ship like to be cast away that jonah was in , it is said , that every man prayed to his god , and jonah be prayed to the lord his god , and so in micah 4. 5. for all people will walk every one in the name of his god , and we wil walk in the name of our god for ever and ever . every man may have something to worship as a god , and yet be without the true god , those are said to be without god , that are without the knowledg of the true god , as you may see in 2 chr. 15. 3. it is said there , that for a long time israel was without the true god ; without god , how so ? doth not god rule and governe and preserve the world ? yes , but they are said to be without god , because they were without the knowledge of god , for if you mark the next words , it is said , they were without the teaching priest , and without the law , so that all the while they lay in ignorance of the true god , they were said to be without god. 2. men may be said to be without god , when they are without the true worship of the true god ; all the while the children of israel had the ark among them which was the signe of gods presence , all that while god was among them , but when the ark was taken god was gone too , the lord will be with you while you are with him , while you worship god sincerely and uprightly according to his wil , so long god will be with you . 3. to be without god is to live without true obedience to the true god , when men doe so live as that the commands of god bear no sway over them , it is a signe they are without god , as in psal . 81. 11. my people , saith god , would not hear my voyce , and israel would have none of me ; the not obeying of gods commands is a not having of god ; thou art without god in the world oh man , unto whose conscience the soveraignty and authority of a god cannot give a check , and a controll to thy lusts , to bring thee into obedience to him . 4. to be without god in the world , is to be without a peculiar interest and propriety in god as your god , when you cannot say that god is your father . now if you ask me in which of these four senses these ephesians here in the text , were without god , i answer , that they were without god in all of them , for while they were in a state of gentilism , they were without the knowledge of the true god , and without the worship of the true god , and without any obedience to the true god , and without any reall interest and propriety in god , but chiefly the two latter are included in this phrase ; the generall point of doctrine that i shall observe , from this last branch of mans misery shall be this , doctr. that every man during the state of his unregeneracy is without god in the world ; this only in the generall . but here some may enquire what is meant by this expression without god in the world ; the meaning is , that they were without any propriety or interest in god in this world , and if they are without god in this world , they must of necessity bee without god in another world . and thus you have the words explained to you , i shall now give you a more particular view of them ; without god in the world , the words as they are rendered in our translation , incline this way , for a man to be without any peculiar interest and propriety in god , but these words ( without god in the world ) in the greek signifies atheists in the world ; that is , they did so live as if there were no god in the world ; so then the words being thus opened , there are two things involved in this phrase without god in the world. 1. that they were atheists in the world , that is , so living , as if there were no god in the world. 2. they were living in the world without any peculiar interest or propriety in god. doctr. from the first of these , that they were atheists in the world , you may note this , doctr. that every man in the state of unregeneracy , hee is an atheist in the world ; he is a man that lives as if there were no god in the world , every man in the state of unregeneracy is a practicall atheist ; now when i tell you that every wicked man is an atheist , doe not mistake me , for there are two sorts of atheists , an atheist in judgement , and an atheist in practice ; an atheist in judgement is such a one , as pagans and heathens are , but an atheist in practice is such a one as lives , as if there were no god in the world ; so that the doctrine is , that every unregenerate man is a practicall atheist , that is , he so lives as if there were no god in the world , psal . 14. 1. the fool hath said in his heart there is no god , that is , he so lives as if there were no god that takes notice of what hee does ; thou art a practicall atheist oh man that so livest in the world , as if there were no god in the world : and here 1. i shall shew you how it comes to passe that any man is so grossely wicked to live as if there were no god in the world ; and 2. i shall give you the characters of a man that does live after this manner . 1. how it comes to passe that men should be so grossely wicked , such practicall atheists , to live as if there were no god in the world , i shall give you four grounds of it . 1. the first reason is because of gods forbearance towards them , eccles . 8. 11. because god doth not speedily execute judgement upon wicked men when they commit a finne , therefore they run into thoughts of atheism , and sinne with greedinesse , as if there were no god in the world , as in psal . 50. 21. these things , sayes god , thou hast done , and i held my tongue , therefore thou thoughtest that i was like thee , but i will reprove thee , and set thy sins in order before thee , because god held his tongue , and did not reprove them for their sins , therefore they thought him to be such a one as themselves , that he was a sinner as well as they ; because sentence against an evill work is not speedily executed , therefore the hearts of the sonnes of men are set in them to doe evill , the for bearance of god to wicked men makes them run on into practicall atheism , whereas this is no ground at all to encourage thee to run on in sin ; for 1. the forbearance of gods judgments was never intended by god to breed atheism in thy heart , but to provoke thee to repentance , as the apostle says , the bountifulnesse and long suffering of god should lead us to repentance . 2. this will aggravate thy condemnation , to make the forbearance of god , a provocation to thee to goe on in sinne ; and , 3. know this that though god doth forbeare a while from punishing of thee for thy sins , yet he does neither forgive thee nor forget thee , as in nahum . 1. 3. the lord is slow to anger , but he is great in power , and hee will not surely clear the wicked ; though god does forbear thee , yet he will not forget thee : so in eccles . 8. 12. though a sinner doth evill an hundred times , and his days be prolonged , yet it shall not bee well with him in the latter end . 2. another ground whereby wicked men do plunge themselves into atheism is this , because they see other men that are knowing men , and professing religion , men that doe pretend to know god , and love god , and worship god , when wicked men shall see such men as these fall into great and grosse sins , and live so unanswerable to their profession , this makes them conclude that there is no god in the world , as in rom. 2. 24. sayes the apostle there , the name of god is blasphemed among the gentiles through you . i have read a hrange story of a woman here in england , that called in question the deity , whether there was a god or no , and a minister coming to her to convince her , and satisfie her conscience , and to perswade her into a beleife that there was a god , asked of her this question , how she came to bee an atheist , shee answered the very first thing that caused her to entertaine thoughts of atheisme , to beleive there was no god , was the seeing of him live so wickedly and profanely ; for , sayes shee , i know you to be a learned and knowing man , and you preach good sermons , and exhort people well , and the very beholding you to live so wickedly , to be a swearer , a lyer , a drunkard , and a sabbath breaker , &c. this made me to question , whether there were a god in heaven or no , seeing he did let you run on still unpunished . 3. another thing that makes men live as if there were no god in the world , is the questioning of the authority of the scriptures . i have read of one ( a great scholar in this kingdome ) that the means whereby he came to be an atheist was this , he first began to question , whether the bible were the word of god or no , because he did not know whether moses that penned the beginning of it were a man of god or no ; then he questioned how moses could write of those things that were done before he was born , and then whether the papists might not alter it in the translating of it ; and many others questions till by degrees he came to be a very atheist , and to question whether there were a god or no : and so there are some errours now in print , that tend very much to atheism ; there are some that doe affirme , that that booke or volume of bookes called the bible is not the word of god , and such an opinion as this does very much worke upon mens hearts and perswade them , that there is no god , as in i pet. 3. 4. sayes the apostle , there shall come in the last dayes scoffers , walking after their owne lusts , ( there are the atheists , but how came they to be so ? mark the next words ) and saying , where is the promise of his coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning , say they , we have heard that all men must be judged , that after death they must appeare before the judgement-seat of god , to give an account of all their actions ; now because they did not see these things accomplisht already , they cryed out , where is the promise of his coming ? they would not beleeve there was any such thing , the questioning of the truths of god was that which brought them to be very atheists . 4. another ground from whence atheism doth flow is pride of heart ; it is very well observed by one , that most commonly atheists are of the greatest men ; you shall seldome see a poore man an atheist , but rich men altogether : as pharaoh in exod. 5. 2. who is the lord ( sayes he ) that i should obey his voice ? and so nebuchadnezzar , in dan. 3. who is that god ( sayes hee ) that shall deliver you out of my hands ? so alexander said himselfe was god. atheists are ordinarily of the greatest and richest and highest people . object . but here some may object and say ; what doe you tell us here in england , that wee are without god in the world ? you may say so to pagans and heathens , but wee hope you will not say so to us . answ . for answer to this objection , i shall here shew you 13 discoveries of a practicall atheist . i shall give you three of them out of the scripture , and ten more deduced from the scripture : in psal . 14. 1. where it is said , the foole hath said in his heart there is no god , in that very psalm there are three discoveries of an atheist . 1. a man living all his dayes in a prophane and disordered course of life towards god , such an one is an atheist in the first verse of that same psalme , the foole hath said in his heart there is no god , what follows ? they are corrupt , they have done abominable workes , there is none that doth good , that man that all his life time lives in a disorderly course of life , and addes drunkennesse to thirst , and commits one sinne after another , that man is a practicall atheist , hee lives as if there were no god in the world. 2. that man that doth wholly neglect the duty of prayer in the 4. verse of the 14. psalm , they eat up my people as they eat bread , and they call not upon the lord , such a man is a practicall atheist . 3. that man that hates and carries a grudge in his heart , against those that feare the lord , that man is an atheist : in psal . 14. 6. you have shamed the counsell of the poore , because the lord is his refuge . use . now give me leave a little to press these three discoveries home upon your consciences . are they atheists that live a disorderly life , and walk in a course of wickednesse all their dayes ? are such as these atheists ? oh then how many atheists are there now in the world , that doe spend all their days in sin and vanity , and in a moment goe down into the grave ! 2. are they atheists that doe neglect the duty of prayer ? oh then with grief of heart be it spoken , how many atheists are there in the world that doe wholly omit this duty , both in their families and in their closets ? how many are there that can say , they never goe to god upon their knees in secret , to beg for grace and mercy from god ? and this neglect of secret duties , is a palpable demonstration that you doe live as if there were no god in the world , and in so doing ye are very atheists . 3. is hatred and contempt of the people of god , a badge of an atheist ? then likewise are there many atheists in the world : how many are there that can love a swearer and adulterer , a prophaner , &c. yea , love a dog and yet hate a christian ? this proceed from a root of atheisme ; that is in their hearts . sermon , xvi . ephes. 2. 12. — and without god in the world . i have delivered you in my last , three scripture discoveries of an atheist ; there are ten other characters yet behinde , that are drawn from the scriptures : as , 1. that man is an atheist that does indulge and favour himself in the practise of secret sins ; he that does continually allow and favour himself in the practise of secret sins , that man lives as if there were no god in the world : reverend mr. perkins gives us this badge of an atheist , that that very sinne which he will not dare to commit in the presence of a child , yet that sin will he venture upon when no eye sees him ; thou that canst venture upon a sin , in hope of secrefie , thinking to hide it from the all-seeing eye of god , thou art a very atheist , thou that darest do that in the sight of god , that thou art afraid to doe in the presence of a man ; this proceeds meerly from a root of atheisme that is in the heart , as in job 22. 12 , 13 , 14. when a wicked man hath done wickedly , he is ready to say . how doth god know ? can he judge through the thick clouds ? thick clouds are a covering to him , that he seeth not ; these are the expressions of an atheisticall heart . an atheist if he can but keep himself from the censure and reproach of men , he is well enough , if men cannot say black to his eye , or there goes a drunkard , a swearer , an adulterer , or the like , he is never troubled for his sins . oh therefore thou that wouldst be accounted chast , where thou dwellest , and yet keepest thy dalilah in thy lap : and oh thou debaucht liver , that canst quietly and securely walk on in wayes of sin , so that thou canst but keep them from the eyes of men ; know thus much , that this proceeds from thy atheisticall heart . when the hope of secrefie imboldens any man to the practise of any sin , that man is a very atheist : you that can fear the eye of a mortall man , and yet not be afraid of the all-seeing eye of an immortall god , you that were never troubled for your sinnes , when no body knew them but your selves ; but now this is that which troubles you , that your sins are known to others , if it be thus with thee , thou art a practicall atheist : those that are troubled , not because god sees their sins , but because man sees them , they are very atheists , as in job 24. 13. 15. 17. these are they , that abhorre the light , that know not the way thereof , nor continue in the path thereof , the eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight , and saith no eye shall see me , and disguiseth his face , for the morning to them is as the shadow of death , and if one know them , they are in the terrours of the shadew of death : such as these are very atheists , they were not troubled because god saw their sins , but because man did see their sins , this is as the terrour of death to them : they would not have men see their sins , and yet they do not care what follies they are guilty of in the sight of god ; so that men cannot say black to their eyes , they are well enough . such men as indulge themselves in the practise of secret sins , are practicall atheists . a godly man will fear to commit a secret sin , as well as a known grosse and open sinne ; as joseph , how shall i doe this great wickednesse , and so sin against god ? if the apprehensions of a god do lie near your hear , you will have a care to avoid secret , as well as open ans . 2. another discovery is this , that man is a practicall atheist , that does not make conscience of the performance of secret duties : he that never prayes in secret , harbours this atheisticall thought in him , that god doth not hear him ; it is very observable of the scribes and pharisees in scripture , you shall never read of a secret fast they kept , nor of a private prayer they made , but they had publique fasts a great many , they did fast twice a week , and pray in the corners of the streets , and give almes , &c. but you never read of any private and secret duties they did perform ; which did proceed meerly from roots of atheisme in their hearts : and so this is an evidence of the atheisticall heart , if thou dost never make conscience of going to god in secret , and beg for grace and mercy from him ; he is a very atheist that lives in the neglect of secret duties ; for those men that retain in their hearts , an apprehension of a deity , they know that there is no time so well spent , as that which is imployed in secret prayer to god. cant. 2. 14. oh my dove ( sayes christ ) that art in the clifts of the rocks , in the secret places of the stairs : let mee see thy countenance , let me hear thy voyce , for sweet is they voice , and thy countenance is comely ; oh thou poor soul ( saies christ ) that dost pray in secret , and weep in secret corners , let me see thy face , and hear thy voice . a man that hath the apprehensions of a god before him , he knowes , that the lord sees and takes notice of the breathings of his heart before him in secret : and therefore they are as much in the closet to pray in secret , and to powre out their souls before god in private , as they are in publique . it is very observable that there were very few actions of christ that were recorded by all the four evangelists , and yet this of christs praying alone , when no body was with him , is recorded by them all : whereas other things , if they be recorded by one , they are left out by another ; but this is spoken of by all of them . now the reason of it is this , because christ would be an example to us , to teach us to be frequent in the performance of this duty : and therefore it is a sign of an atheisticall heart in any one that does not make conscience of powring out his heart in secret prayer to god. 3. another character is this , that man that doth make impunity to be a provocation to impiety ; my meaning is this , he that makes the patience and for bearance and long-suffering of god towards him , to be a provocation to sinne ; that because god doth not presently punish him for his sin , therefore he will go on in sin still , such a man is a very atheist : as in psal . 50. 21. these things hast thou done ( saies god ) and i held my tongue , therefore thou thoughtst that i was such a one as thy self . ( beloved ) if any of you harbour such thoughts as those in your hearts , that because god doth not presently punish you for your sins , therefore you will go on still in sin : let me tell you , that this is the practise of a very atheist . because the drunkard is not taken away by god , while the wine is in his head ; and because the swearer is not destroyed by god , while the oath is in his mouth ; and because the lyer is not cut off by god , while the lie is upon his tongue , therefore they will run on with greedinesse , and willingnesse in the same sins , all this flowes from the very root of atheisme , that is in thy heart . 4. that man is an atheist that carries in his heart a forgetfulnesse , and a carelesnesse of the day of judgement , as in 2 pet. 3 4. and there shall come in the last dayes scoffers , walking after their own lusts , saying , where is the promise of his coming ? thou that doest not harbour in thy heart , a mindfulnesse of the day of judgement , art a very atheist , for thou that doest not beleeve god to be a judge , doest not beleeve him to be a god ; when paul spake to felix of temperance , and of the judgement to come , his heart trembled at the hearing of it . eccles . 11. 9. rejoyce oh young man in thy youth , and let thy heart chear thee in the dayes of thy youth , and walk in the wayes of thy heart , and in the sight of thine eyes : but know thou that for all these things god will bring thee to judgement . thou that livest in the world , and never so much as thinkest of a day of judgement , thou art a very atheist ; and oh ( beloved ) how many atheists are there now in the world in this regard , that do put far from them the evill day ! 5. that man is a very atheist , that in the time of trouble and distresse , does mistrust the providence of god , and run unto base means for help and remedy : thus did saul discover himself to be an atheist , 1 sam. 28. 7 , 8. when he was in distresse , he went to the witch of endor for help and succour . and what does god say of such as run to witches and wizards ; is it not because there is not a god in israel , that you run to other gods to inquire of them ? it is meer atheisme for any to distrust god , and run unto others for help , or any other way to run into sinfull courses in times of danger , to finde relief , you do hereby declare , that you think there is no god in the world . 6. that man is an atheist that does place his affections upon any thing in the world more then upon god ; such a man lives without god in the world . a covetous man that placeth his love upon his money , more then upon any thing in the world , that man makes gold his god , and therefore these two are joyned together , ephes . 15. 5. the covetous person , who also is an idolater , he makes an idoll of his money : and this job frees himself from , in job 31. 24. saies he , i have not made gold my hope , nor 〈◊〉 gold my confidence , for , if i had done so , then i had denyed the god above , saies he in the 28. verse : why now ( beloved ) there are many among us that love money better then their own souls , that will sell their souls to gain a little wealth : many among us love money better then we love heaven it self , that do not care what sins they commit for it ; and had rather part with their souls , then with their riches . and so when you set your love upon your belly , you make your belly your god ; or if upon pleasures , then you make pleasures your god ; and so of any thing else . and therefore ( beloved ) i beseech you look to it , and examine your selves ; is not god undervalued sometimes , when your lusts are set in the throne ? is not god sometimes very low in your estimation , and other things set above him ? if it be so , it is meer atheisme in your hearts . 7. that man is an atheist , that makes no conscience of keeping those vowes and covenants he hath made with god. the scripture looks upon that man as an atheist , that does not make conscience of performing those covenants which he hath made with god ; in josh . 24. 25 , 26. there joshua made a covenant with the people ; and set them a statute , and an ordinance in shechem , and he wrote these words in the book of the law of god , and took a great stone , and set it up there under an oake that was by the sanctuary of the lord : and joshua said unto all the people , behold this stone shall be a witnesse unto us , for it hath heard all the words of the lord which he spake unto us , it shall be there for a witnesse unto you , lest ye deny your god : and therefore those men that do call the covenant that we have made , ( with hands lifted up to the high god ) an old almanack out of date , and do scorn and despise the oath they have taken , and make no conscience of keeping the vowes and covenants they have made with god , the scripture looks upon such men , as very atheists : and ( beloved ) in this regard , there are more atheists now in england , then ever there were since the world stood . but the lord will manifest himself to be a just god , though wicked men do despise his covenant , and count it as an unholy thing . 8. that man is a very atheist , whose conscience does never trouble him , nor check him for the commission of any sinne ; that man that can be drunk to day , and swear to morrow , and cheat the next day , and commit one sin after another , and yet his conscience never give him any controll , that man is a very atheist . those that can live in the world , and commit grosse sins every day , and their consciences never check them for their sinnes , it is a sad sign that such men are practicall atheists . if you have the fear of god in you , and the thoughts of a god upon you , it will make you reflect upon sins past , and be grieved for sinnes and miscarriages of twenty years standing : thus did josephs brethren call to minde their former sins , gen. 42. 21. and they said one to another , we have verily sinned against our brother , in that we saw the anguish of his soul , when he besought us , and we would not hear him , and therefore is this evill come upon us ; and so job , thou writest bitter things against me , and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth : and so david prays , that god would not remember the sins of his youth . but now you that can be drunk one day after another , and belch out one oath after another , and commit one sinne after another , and thy conscience never controll thee , the lord be mercifull to thee , for thou art plunged into a depth of atheisme . one compares an atheist to a duck in a pond , if a man throwes a stone into the water , where she is , she will presently dive under , but let it thunder or lighten never so much in the heavens , she takes no notice of it ; so an atheist he cannot endure , that men should take notice of him , or discover his wickednesse , to reprove him , or speak against him , but let god thunder upon him never so much , he will not be troubled at it ; did you live under the apprehensions of a deity , it is impossible your consciences should be so long and so frequently out of its office . 9. those men are very atheists , that do yeeld to a detestable indifferency in matters of religion : that man that will sleep in a whole skin , and not dare to do any thing , to the hazarding of his estate or person , for the advancement of true religion , such a man is a very atheist . i will give you a strange place for this , in 1 king. 18. 21. sayes elijah the prophet to the people , how long will you halt between two opinions ? if the lord be god , then follow him ; but if baal be god , then follow him : and the text saies , the people held their peace , and answered him not a word ; they neither said they would follow after god , neither did they say they would follow after baal : if god were too strong for baal , they would be for god ; but if baal did prevail , they would follow after him ; which did manifest their atheisme , and that god was not their god : that man that takes god to be his god , must follow him through whatsoever troubles or afflictions hee meets withall in the world ; and indifferency in matters of religion , does argue men to be very atheists . and therefore all time servers , that live according to the times , that are men of indifferent tempers , any religion rather then fail , will serve their turns , such men are practical atheists . 10. men do then shew themselves to be very atheists , when their practises shall palpably thwart , and contradict their professions , when they are such as those spoken of in tit. 2. 16. that in their words do professe to know christ , but in their works they deny him . those that do professe themselves to be christians , and yet live like heathens ; that professe themselves to have an inheritance with the saints in light , and yet walk here as children of darknesse , such men are very atheists . and thus i have done with these 10. discoveries of a practicall atheist , i have given you thirteen in all , three of them out of the scripture , and ten more deduced from the scripture . use . 1 now the use that i shall make of this , shall be by way of counsell and advice : if this be so as you have heart , that all unregenerate men are practicall atheists , they live as if there were no god in the world ; oh then that you would bewaile this practical atheism that is among you ; doest thou favour thy self in the practise of secret sinnes ? or dost thou make no conscience of the performance of secret duties ? doest thou make impunity to be a provocation to impiety ? and doest thou carry in thy minde a forgetfulnesse of the day of judgement ? or doest thou distrust the providence of god in times of trouble and distresse ? doest thou place thy affections upon any thing in the world more then upon god ? and doest thou make no conscience of performing the vowes and covenants thou hast made with god ? does thy conscience never trouble thee after the commission of sinnes ? art thou a luke warm and indifferent man in matters of religion ? doest thou professe to know god , and in thy works deny him ? doest thou any of these wayes entertain and harbour thoughts of atheisme in thy heart ? why , so farre as thou hast done so , labour to bemoan and bewaile it , and be humbled for it , and to strive against and keep under this great sinne of atheisme in time to come . use . 2 use 2. this shall be by way of consolation , to comfort and support your hearts : it may be there are some of you that hear me this day , that are the precious servants of god , and yet in some kinde or other have been tempted to this sinne of atheisme ; well , for your comfort consider these two or three things . 1. art thou tempted to atheisme ? why , yet consider that so was jesus christ himself , he was tempted to atheisme and blasphemy , when the devill tempted him to fall down and worship him : why so though thou hast been tempted to atheisme , and to forget gods al-seeing eye over thee , or the like , yet this may be for thy comfort , that christ himself was tempted as well as thee , as the apostle saies , in heb. 2. 18. in that christ suffered and was tempted , hee is able to succour those that are tempted ; christ was tempted to fall down and worship the very devill , but though christ was tempted , yet the devill could finde no corrupt matter in christ to work upon . when the devill shook christ , he shook a pure crystall-glasse of clear water , his nature was like a crystall-glasse full of clean water without any muddinesse or corruption at all , but if the devill should shake any of us , he would finde abundance of dirty and muddy water in the bottome , and corrupt matter enough in our natures to work upon . 2. consider , that though you are tempted by the devill to the sin of atheisme , yet these temptations , if you do not approve of them , nor yeeld to them , shall be charged upon the devill as his sins , and not upon you . and thus you see i have briefly dispatched this doctine , that every man by nature is a practicall atheist living in the world , as if there were no god in the world . sermon , xvii . ephes. 2. 12. — and without god in the world. besides that doctrine which i finisht , the last sabbath , there is something else in the text ; wicked men are without god in the world , that is , they are without any speciall interest or propriety in god as their god , the words doe not only imply that they live , as if there were no god in the world , but they live without any right , interest or propriety in god as their god , though they are not without wisdome or wealth , or goods and estate , or honour and esteeme in the world , yet they are without any reall interest or propriety in god as their god , they are without god in the world : from whence i would note you this doctrine , doctr. that every man by nature is without any reall interest or propriety in god as his god. now ( beloved ) before i come to handle the point . i shall onely premise three conclusions by way of explanation , to delucidate the point , and shew you what i mean by this doctrine : as 1. take this conclusion , that in some sense there is no creature in the world that is without god , though in other regards men may be truly said to be without god ; in some sense there are none without god , that is by way of creation , and preservation , so the worst devill in hell may say that god is his god : and 2. a wicked man may have god to be his god by way of profession , he may professe to know god , and professe that god is his god ; but now in another sense a wicked man cannot be said to have god for his god , ( that is ) in a way of relation and reconciliation for god to be a god in covenant with him through jesus christ . 2. take this conclusion , that though multitudes of people may lay claim to god as their god , yet there are but a few men in the world , that have god to be their god in a covenant way ; as in zach. 13. 8 9. the lord there lookes upon the jewish church under a threefold consideration . and it shall come to passe that in all the land ( saith the lord ) two parts therein shall be cut off and die , but the third shall be left therein , and i will bring the third part through the fire , and will refine them as silver is refined , and will try them as gold is tryed ; they shall call on my name , and i will hear them ; i will say , it is my people , and they shall say , the lord is my god : though you all lay claime to god , yet there may be but one part in three , that can truly say that god is their god in covenant with them . 3. take this conclusion , that such is the deceitfulnesse and delusion of mens hearts naturally , that the worst of men are ready to beleive and think that god is their god , when hee is not : as you may read in jer. 3. 4 , 5. sayes god there , they shall cry unto me , my father , thou act the guide of my youth , and yet sayes god thou hast done evill as much as thou couldst , so in psal . 14. 1. the 〈◊〉 hath said in his heart there is no god , they have corrupted and done abominable workes , there is none that doth good , those that have not god in their hearts , nor in all their ways , yet they will lay claim to god as their god , though they have committed abominable works and done evill as much as they could . thus much for the conclusion , i come now to handle a practicall question that necessarily must be spoken to in the purfuance of this doctrine , which is this . quest . quest . what are the characters of those men that are without any reall interest and propriety in god as their god , in a way of covenant and relation ? this question i do the rather resolve upon the consideration of the great delusion and mistake that mens hearts are very apt to run into , to think that god is their god when he is not , and therefore i shall lay down to you seven distinguishing characters of such men , and it may be i may come neer the bosomes of many of you , though the lord knows i would not stagger the hope of the least of you that have a reall and well grounded interest in jesus christ : those men are without any reall interest in god as their god , 1. that are without any effectual knowledge of god as their god. 2. those that live without making the word of god to be their rule . 3. those that live in the world , without making the wayes of god to be their pleasure . 4. those that live in the world without making the glory of god to be their aime . 5. those that live in the world without making the day of the lord to be their delight . 6. those that live in the world without making the people of god to be the objects of their love : and lastly , those that live in the world without making sinne to be the object of their hatred . for the first , those are without any reall interest or propriety in god as their god , that doe live in the world without a saving and effectuall knowledge of god : as in 2 chron. 15. 3. it is said there that for a long time , israel was without the true god , and without the teaching priest , and without the law , all that time ( while they were without the law , and the priest to teach them ) it is said they were without god , those that live without a saving knowledge of god , the scripture lookes upon them as having no reall interest in god. joh. 8. 54 , 55. you say ( sayes christ ) that he is your god , and yet you have not known him , intimating that god was not their god because they were utterly ignorant of him . now ( beloved ) every knowledge of god does not demonstrate your interest in god , unlesse it be , 1. a practicall knowledge of him , as in joh. 8. 55. sayes christ there , i am of god , i know him , and i keep his sayings : intimating that that man that does lay claim to god , as his god , must know him , and this knowledge of him will make him yeeld obedience to him , and keep his sayings ; and , 2. it must be an experimentall knowledge of god , as david sayes in psal . 51. 6. thou hast made me to know wisdom in my inward parts . if so bee you were persons living without a practicall and experimentall knowledge of god , you are without any interest in him as your god. but before i can leave this particular , i must answer an objection : me thinks i hear a poor perplexed soul say , if this be so that only those that know god aright have an interest in him , then the lord be mercifull unto me , for i am a poor ignorant sinfull wretch , that do know nothing of god at all as i ought to know him ; and therefore surely i have no interest in god my god. ans . now to such as you are , by way of answer , i shall leave these two or three words for your comfort . 1. take this for an answer , that in scripture account to complain of thy ignorance , is a good degree of knowledge : in prov. 30. 23. you read there of agur , who was an excellent man in vertue and knowledge , in the time of solomon , and yet you shall not read of a man that more complaines of his ignorance then this man doth : surely ( sayes hee ) i am more brutish then any man , and have not the understanding of a man : i have neither learned wisdome , nor attained to the knowledge of the holy ; and yet this man that so much complains of his ignorance , did demonstrate such fruits of grace and knowledge in his practise , as ever man did . 2. take this for an answer , that in gods account , he knowes most that doth most . he does not know most , that hath a great judgement to dive into and dispute about vain questions and niceties , but he is a knowing man in gods account , that does walk answerably to that small measure of knowledge that he hath , as in psal . 111. 10. a good understanding have all they that doe thy commandements : god does not measure your knowledge by your questions and disputes , but by your practise , as in jer. 22. 16. he judged the cause of the poore and needy , then it was well with him ; was not this to know me , saith the lord ? 3. take this for an answer , that it is not the wanting of some measures or degrees of knowledge , nor the having of much ignorance , that does demonstrate thy want of an interest in god , unlesse your ignorance hath these three properties with it : as , 1. suppose thou art ignorant of god , yet if thou are not conceitedly ignorant , if thou art not a self-conceited man , that thinkest thou knowest much when thou knowest little , thou art well enough : if you are not like those in hos. 8. 2. israel shall say unto me , my god we know thee , and yet there is no fear , nor knowledge of god in the land . 2. if thou doest not sit down contentedly in thy ignorance , but doest labour and endeavour after more knowledge , then thy condition is good enough . but if thou sayest unto god , depart from me , for i desire not the knowledge of thy wayes , like those spoken of in job : this is a sad signe , that you have no interest in god at all . 3. if thou art not obstinately ignorant , like those spoken of in psal . 82. 5. they know not , neither wil they understand when men are ignorant , and will be ignorant , this is an evidence that they have no interest in god ; in 2 pet. 3. 5. sayes the apostle , these things they are willingly ignorant of ; now if your ignorance bee accompanyed with these three circumstances , that you are conceitedly , and contentedly , and obstinately ignorant , if it be so , the lord be mercifull to you ; for these are apparent demonstrations , that you have yet no interest and propriety in god , as your god. but though you have abundance of ignorance in you , yet if you bewail your ignorance , and labour and desire after more knowledge , if you follow on to know the lord , and are not obstinately ignorant , but would doe more if you knew more , if it be thus with you , thy ignorance doth not evidence , that thou hast no interest in god. 2. another character of a man that is without an interest in god , is this , hee is such a one that lives in the world without making the word of god to bee his rule . joh. 8. 47. he that is of god , heareth gods word ; you therefore hear him not , because you are not of god : those that will not make the word of god to be their rule , and conform their practises in obedience thereunto , christ sayes the reason of it is because they are not of god : and so in 1 joh. 4. 6. hee that knoweth god , heareth us , and hee that is not of god , heareth not us ; and therefore you that walk after the vaine imaginations of your own hearts , that are swayed and ruled by your lusts , and will not make gods word a bridle to curb , and restrain your lusts and corruptions , but you will doe what you list , let god command what he will : all these are manifest arguments , that you are not of god. 3. that man is without an interest in god , that lives in the world without making the wayes of god to be his pleasure : as in joh. 3. 8. 10. in this the children of god are manifest and the children of the devill , whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of god : righteousness is not to be taken here only for justice or civil righteousness , but for the whole bulk of godliness & the body of christianity : he that doth not righteousnesse , is not of god : this not doing of righteousnesse is answerable to the committing of sin , in 1 joh. 3. 8. the text sayes , hee that committeth sin is of the devill , now this is not to be taken simply , that he that falls into sin is of the devill , but he that commits sin , ( that is ) with complacency and delight , and without any compulsion , such a man is of the devill . and so likewise he that cloth not doe righteousnesse , is not of god , that is , he that doth not act and doe it with delight , and alacrity , and complacency , such a one is not of god : so in joh. 3. 11. sayes the apostle , ( beloved ) follow not that which is evill , but that which is good : he that doth good , he is of god ; but he that doth evill , hath not seen god ; ( that is ) he that doth evill with delight and satisfaction , and he that doth not take delight in the wayes of god , and perform holy duties with chearfulnesse and complacency , such a man is not of god ; and therefore you that take more delight in the committing of sin , then you doe in the performance of holy duties , you are but in a bad condition . 4. another character is this , that man is without god , that lives in the world without making the glory of god to bee his aim : it is very observable , that when the jews did accuse christ , saying , hee was a samaritan , and bad a devill , but did not come from god ; he did convince them , that this was a slander cast upon him , because he fought not his own honour but the glory of god , joh. 8. 49. 50. jesus answered , i have not a devill , but i honour my father , and ye doe dishonour him , and i seek not my own glory , there is one that seeketh and judgeth . 5. that man is without an interest in god , that lives in the world without making the day of god his delight , hee that takes no delight in sanctifying of the lords day , but rather takes delight in prophaning it , that man is without god in the world , as in joh. 9. 26. it was the speech of the pharisees to christ , say they , this man is not of god , because he keepeth not the sabbath-day : this had been a very good argument , had it been rightly applyed , the argument had been very strong , if the application had been good , if christ had not indeed kept the sabbath , but they were greatly mistaken , for christ did keep the sabbath . why now ( beloved ) these pharisees , were they now alive , and should see you christians prophaning the sabbath day , spending and trifling it away in sports and pleasures , in swearing and drunkennesse , and dishonouring the name of god ; never imploying one hour of it in prayer , reading , or hearing , or any holy and religious exercise , they would presently conclude that you are not of god , because you doe not keep the sabbath day . 6. that man is without god , that lives without making the people of god to be the object of his love ; as you may see in 1 joh. 3. 10. he that doth not righteousnesse is not of god neither he that loveth not his brother , and so in 1 joh. 4. 20. if any man say , i love god and hateth his brother , he is a lyer , for hee that loveth not his brother whom be hath seen , how can he love god whom he hath not seen ? he that does not love his brother , the children and people of god , he cannot love god. you that carry in your hearts a secret malice and spleen against those that are godly , and more holy and religious then your selves : you that doe tiger-like , hate the very pictures of godly men , you that hate the people of god , and the ministers of the gospell , because they are so , that hate godlinesse as godlinesse , these are evident arguments that the love of god is not in you . 7. that man is without god , that lives in the world without making sinne to bee the object of his hatred , that man hath not god , that hates not sin ; though that man may have god , that hath sin , yet that man cannot have an interest in god , that doth not hate sin . and thus i have run over briefly these seven heads , whereby you may know whether you are the men that can lay a true claim to god as your god , yea , or no : if you are men that have a true knowledge of god , and make his word your rule , and his way your pleasure , and his day your delight , and his glory your aime , and good men the object of your love , and sin the object of your hatred ; if these things be in you , you may know undoubtedly , that you have an interest in god. we come now to the application , which may serve for unspeakable comfort to all you that are the people of god , that can lay a well grounded and scripture claim to god as your god. 1. if you have god , you have all things ; and let me tell you , you that have god for your god , you may outvie all the kings , and princes , and potentates in the world. other men may say , they have wealth , and you have none ; they have riches , and honours , and pleasures , and you have none : but you may goe further , and out-vye them all , for you can say , you have an interest in god , and they have none . wicked men cannot lay claim to god as theirs ; and therefore when they speak of god , they speak of him as a god to others , and not to them , as in gen. 31. 29. when laban spake to jacob , ( sayes he ) the god of your fathers : and so pharaoh in exod. 8. 25. 28. ( sayes he ) go sacrifice to your god in the land : and from hence divines doe observe , that the scriptures doe not suffer wicked men to name god , as in a way of propriety to them , as their god : but now those that are righteous and holy , that have indeed an interest in god , god is not ashamed to be called their god. you that have an interest in god though you are a poor despicable people , yet be not afraid to own god as your god , for the lord is not ashamed , that you should call him your god ; god is not ashamed of us whose dwellings are in the dust , he will own us : and therefore let this encourage you to goe to god as your god , and apply him as your god , and trust in him as your god , and pray to him and call upon him as your god , for he is not ashamed of you . and here that i may speak a little further to this particular , i would exhort you to two things . 1. to prove your interest in god : and , 2. to improve it . 1. labour to prove your interest in god : examine and try whether or no , upon conscientious grounds and scripture evidences , your hearts can be satisfied , that you are a people in covenant with god : rest not , and trust not upon it may bees , but labour to prove it to your own souls , that god is your god ; & that i may a little help and further you in this examination , i shall here lay you down three discoveries whereby you may know , & prove unquestionably that god is your god. 1. if thou art such a one that doest labour to keep thy inward man from secret defilement by sin , as well as thy outward man , from grosser and greater enormities , as in 2 cor. 6. 18. and in the first verse of the next chapter ; i will be your god and father , and you shall be my sons and daughters , saith the lord god almighty : having therefore these promises dearly beloved ( sayes the apostle ) let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse , both of flesh and spirit : and therefore if you have a care to abstain from all secret sins , whereby the inward man is defiled , it is a signe that you have a reall interest in god ; because god will be our god , and will own and accept of us to be his people ; we must not onely wash our legs and our outward man , but our inward parts too , and if we do thus , we may be confidently assured that we are a sacrifice well pleasing , and acceptable unto god through jesus christ : but now you that make conscience of your wayes , so far only , as that men may not say black to your eye , if you doe not labour to keep your inward man from defilements as well as your outward man , you have no interest in god at all . 2. another evidence of your interest in god is this ; if you have an earnest and unwearied labour and endeavour in your spirits to come to the nearest resemblance and conformity to jesus christ , as possibly you can . doe you labour to be holy as hee was holy ? and humble , and meeke , and lowly as hee was ? in 2 cor. 7. 1. sayes the apostle there ( dearly beloved ) let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit , perfecting holinesse in the fear of god. doe you labour still to resemble god in holinesse ? thy relation and interest in god will make thee labour to be like unto god , and to be still perfecting holinesse though you cannot be perfect in holinesse , if you have an interest in god , you will labour more and more to be holy as he is holy , and to come to the nearest resemblance to him that may be . 3. another discovery of your interest in god , is this , if god hath engraven upon thy soul those saving effects and blessings which he doth bestow upon all those that have an interest in him ; god hath promised that he will be their god , and they shall be his people : that he will give them a new heart taking away the heart of stone , and giving them a heart of flesh ; and that he will sanctifie and renew their natures , and write his law in their inward parts , and work in their hearts a sutable disposition to his law , and put his fear into their hearts that they shall never depart from him : these are the blessings of the covenant of grace . now you that can give abundant and evident testimonies in your own souls , that you have found god cleansing and purifying your hearts , and sanctifying and renewing your natures , and writing his law in your inward parts , and putting his fear into your hearts , that you doe never depart from him ; if you finde these things in you , they are undoubted evidences , that you have an interest in god. 2. as i would have you prove your interest in god , so i would exhort you to improve your interest in god too . many of you do let god lye by you , ( as i may so say ) and never make use of him for your spirituall comfort and support , and never goe to him for help , and succour , and relief in times of danger , you doe not improve your interest in god. object . but here it may be you would ask mee how you should improve your interest in god. answ . 1 i answer , 1. improve it thus , in making your interest in god , a great incentment and provocation to thee , to obey god ; thus david did in psal . 143. 10. teach me to doe thy will , ( sayes he ) for thou art the lord my god : here david did well improve his interest in god , so in psal . 119. 115. depart from me ye evill doers , ( sayes he ) for i will keep the commandements of my god. we should make our interest in god , an ingagement upon our souls , to keep the commands of god. 2. then you doe rightly improve your interest in god , when this doth stir you up , to aggravate all the sins you have committed against god , when your interest in god doth make you see , how exceeding sinfull sin is , and how greatly you have provoked the lord your god by your sins : as in jer. 3. 25. we have sinned against the lord our god , we and our fathers from our youth even to this day , and have not obeyed the voice of the lord our god : here the children of israel aggravate their sins against god as their god. and so daniel he makes his interest in god , a motive to stir him up to aggravate sin against god , in dan. 9. 5. sayes he there , we have sinned , and have committed iniquity , and done wickedly , and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts , and from thy judgements , and then in vers . 7. oh lord , ( sayes he ) righteousnesse belongeth unto thee , but unto us confusion of face as at this day : so again in vers . 8. oh lord to us belongeth confusion of face , to our kings , and to our princes , and to our fathers , because we have sinned against thee : but to the lord our god belongeth mercy and forgivenesse , though wee have rebelled against him : and so hee goes on all along , aggravating their sins against god : no lesse then ten times he mentions their interest in god , and ten times he aggravates their sinnes against god. it is the consideration of our interest in god , that does stir us up to aggravate our sins against god , when we doe consider that we have sinned against our god , against our gracious and mercifull father , who hath loved us , and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace ; who is infinite in goodness , and abundant in mercy and truth ; such considerations as these will exceedingly provoke us to aggravate our sins against him . 3. improve your interest in god by making it a prop and pillar of marble to bear up , and support your hearts under all the miseries , and afflictions , and troubles you meet withall here in the world : thus david incouraged himself in the lord his god , in psal . 3. 7. i am thine ( sayes hee ) lord save me : then you make a right improvement of your interest in god , when you go to him , and trust , and rely , and depend upon him in all times of danger and distresse , for you have an interest in that god that is both able and willing to relieve and succour you , a god that hath helped you , and doth help you , and will never leave you , nor forsake you , and therefore be incouraged to cast your care upon him . finis . the saints triumph over death : or , a sermon preached at the funerall of mr. christopher love , in lawrence-church , august . 25. 1651. by thomas manton , minister of the gospell , at stoak-newington near london . london , printed by e. cotes , for george eversden , at the golden-ball in aldersgate-street , 1652. the saints triumph over death : or , a sermon preached on a speciall occasion , on 1 cor. 15. 57. but thanks be to god , who giveth us the victory through our lord iesus christ . these words are a part of paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or triumphant song : in the song there are two parts , and this is the last . 1. a confident challenge . 2. a solemne thanksgiving . the one is directed to the enemies , the other to the giver of victory . 1. a confident challenge , in which he outbraveth death , and all the powers of the grave , o death , where is thy sting ? o grave , where is thy victory ? the words allude to ilos . 13. 14. where christ is brought in speaking , i will ransome them from the power of death , and redeem them from the grave : o death , i will be thy plagues ; o grave , i will be thy destruction ; there is christs ingagement and undertaking for a full conquest of death ; christ threatneth death , and the apostle insulteth over it : the form of the words is altered , because the enemy was now faln , and paul proclaimeth the victory : hitherto death and the grave had insulted over the misery and frailty of mankinde , all the tombes and charnels of the world were but so many monuments of deaths conquests ; golgotha the place of skuls seemed to be designed on purpose , to upbraid and discourage our redeemer ; so many skuls and rotten reliques of humane frailty , as there were in that place , so many trophies and monuments of triumph did death produce before the eyes of christ , as if it were said to him , canst thou , darest thou grapple and enter into the lists with such an enemy ? but our lord was not discouraged , when he ascended upon the crosse ; he did as it were answer these bravings of death thus , o death i will be thy plagues , o grave , i will be thy destruction ; and because he was as good as his word , and every way performed his ingagement , the apostle as one of christs followers cometh and insulteth over this proud adversary that was now faln , o death , where is thy sting ? o grave , where is thy victory ? this challenge is illustrated by a prolepsis or an anticipation of an objection : some might ask , what is this sting of death ? what is this power of the grave ? the apostle answereth , the sting of death is sin , the strength of sin is the law ; death cometh to have this power by sin , and sin to have this power by the law. [ the sting of death ] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the prick , it implyeth both the stroke of death , and the anguish of it ; as in the sting of a serpent , there is the deadly touch , and the pain and torment of the wound : and so it noteth the power of death over us , the prick or weapon by which it striketh is sin , rom. 5. 12. by one man sin entred into the world , and death by sin ; and the terrours and horrours of it , which also doe arise from sin ; now by horrours i mean not onely the naturall aversation , retirement or flight of the spirits , but the bondage , torment and despair that is upon the conscience , as death is a penall evill , inflicted by the justice of god , guilt maketh death terrible , so that a sinner is all his life time subject to bondage , heb. 2. 14 , 15. and kept under an awe of judgement to come ; 't is not alwayes felt , but soon awakened , especially in sicknesse and approaches of death ; when we feel the cold hands of it ready to pluck out our hearts , conscience is whipped with a scourge of six strings , fear , horrour , distrust , grief , rage , and shame . the strength of sin is the law ] how is that to be understood ? the law giveth strength to sin , ratione , cognitionis , obligationis , & augmentationis ; they are the words of a * german divine , and will yeeld us a fit method wherein to open the matter . 1. the law discovereth sin , and maketh it appear in its owne colours , the more light and knowledge of the law , the more sense of sin , as in transparent vessels , dregs are soon discerned ; rom. 6. 9. i was alive without the law , but when the law came , sin revived , and i dyed . when by a sound conviction all disguises are taken off from the conscience , we finde sin to be sin indeed ; paul was alive before , that is , in his owne hopes , as many a stupid soul maketh full account he shall goe to heaven , till conscience be opened , and then they finde themselves in the mouth of death and hell. 2. the law giveth strength to sin , in regard of the obligation of it , it bindeth over a sinner to the curse and wrath of god ; god hath made a righteous law , which must have satisfaction , and till the law be satisfied , we hear no news but of a curse , and that maketh death to be full of horrours , * there remaineth nothing but a fearfull expectation of the fiery indignation of the lord. 3 it augmenteth and increaseth sin by forbidding it ; lusts are exasperated and rage upon a restraint , as the yoke maketh the young bullock more unrulely . now put all together and you will understand the force of the expression , the strength of sin is the law , the discovery of the law stoppeth the sinners mouth , and the curse of the law shutteth him up and holdeth him fast , unto the judgement of the great day , by which restraint , sin groweth the more raging and furious all which put together , make death terrible , not an end of misery , but a door to open into hell. now this being the case of every man , what shall we do ? and how shall we extricate our souls from such a labyrinth of endlesse horrour ? you have an answer of that , in the next verse in the apostles thanksgiving , where he acquainteth you not onely with grounds of hope , but triumph ; thanks be to god , who giveth us the victory through our lord jesus christ . in this thanksgiving you may observe , 1. the author of the mercy ; god by jesus christ . 2. the manner how we come to be interested in it ; he giveth us victory . or rather you may observe , 1 the act of the father as to jesus christ , in that he appointed him to get the victory . 2 the act of the father as to us ; in that hee applyeth this victory to our souls ; christs victory and the application of it , are the two grounds of this thanksgiving . 1. christs victory over sin , death , and the law , for it must be extended to all the things mentioned in the context , they are enemies by combination , and knit together in a fast league ; the law giveth strength to sin , and sin giveth a sting to death ; as long as the law hath power , sin will be strong , and as long as sin hath strength , death will bee terrible : but christ hath overcome death , he foyled it in his own person , as i shall shew you anon fully ; and for sin , he hath taken away the guilt of it by his own merit , and will destroy it more and more by the power of the holy ghost ; when he stood before the tribunall of god he stood there , as a surety and undertaker , heb. 7. 22. a surety of a better restament , now he was a surety mutually gods and ours , to work gods work in us , and our work for us ; among other things which he undertook there , he undertook the abolition of sin on gods part , he obliged himself that it should be performed by his spirit ; on our part he obliged us to endeavours of mortification : now because christ is an able surety , the work is as good as done already , rom. 6. 6. knowing this , that our old man is crucified with him , that the body of sin might be destroyed , that henceforth we should not serve sin ; mark , 't is crucified with him , as implying his undertaking upon the crosse , that the body of death might be destroyed : as noting the work of gods spirit , which was ingaged and made sure by christs death upon the crosse , that we should not serve sin , as noting the concurrence of our endevours , to which wee are obliged by the same sponsory act of christ : thus much christ hath done for the abolition of sin : now for the law , that was an enemy that could not be overcome but must be satisfied , and so it was by christ who both performed the duty , and sustained the penalty of it , chiefly the latter , and therefore t is said , he was made a curse for us , gal. 3. 13. the sting is lost in christ , and the honey left for us . but this is matter of another respect and cognisance . 2 the next reason of the apostles thanksgiving is the application , he hath given us victory , for understanding of which you must note that 1 christs victory is imputed to us as if it were done in our own persons ; when we are actually united to him , wee are possessed of all his merit , christ fought our war , and joined battell in our stead ; we have a mysticall victory in christ , and are said to overcome , when christ overcame ; this is the reason why the acts of beleevers are complicated and folded up with christs acts in the expressions of scripture , crucified with him , quickened with him , and raised with him , and set down with him in , heavenly places , ephes . 2. &c. all which are terms proper to the judiciall vnion which is different both from the morall and mysticall , as i could easily shew you , were it not a matter of another nature : now this mysticall victory is of great use to a beleever in time of discouragements ; if the law challenge , satan and conscience say thou art a sinner under a curse , thou maist answer , i am a sinner , but i am crucified in christ , in my surety , his payment and suffering is mine : if death or the world discourage ; you may say , this is a beaten enemy , i foyled it in christ , i ascended in christ , &c. 2. the benefit of this victory is imparted and applyed to us , by which he maketh us conquerours over sin and death ; all christs worke was not done upon the crosse , there is much to be accomplished in our hearts , rom. 16. 20. the god of peace shall tread satan under your feet , &c. not onely under christs feet , but ours : as joshua called his fellowes to come and tread upon the necks of the canaanitish kings , * come put your feet upon the necks of these kings : so christ will see us conquer ; he that got a victory for us , will get a victory in us , over sin , and death , and hell ; christ hath trodden them under foot already when his own * heel was bruised , now he will doe it under your feet . doctr. having laid this foundation , the point and head of doctrine , which i shall discuss is , christs victory over death for the comfort and profit of beleevers . death is either the first , or second , temporall , or eternall , sinners are under the sentence of both , and both are in a sort put into the hands of satan , he had the power of death , heb. 2. 14. as gods executioner ; and the one maketh way for the other , death to the wicked is but a taking them away to torment , as unruly persons are committed to prison that they may molest no more ; gods patience expireth with their lives , and then his vengeance beginneth ; the curse of the first covenant was eternall death , gen. 2. 15. thou shalt dye , that is eternally , the curse must carry proportion with the blessing , the blessing was eternall life , and the curse was eternall death : i say the sorrow and pain must have bin perpetual , answerable to the life which he should have enjoyed ; therefore christ is said to have delivered us . from wrath to come , which certainly was our portion and inheritance by adam , and without christ there is no escape . but to come to particulars , i shall shew you , 1. how christ delivered us from death . 2. how far . 1. how be delivered us , the apostle answereth , that heb. 2. 14. by death he destroyed him that had the power of death , now christs death cometh under a twofold consideration , as a merit , or as a glorious act of warre and combate ; as the act of a redeemer , or the act of a conquerour : which answereth to the double evill in death , 't is a naturall evill , and a poenall evill ; 't is a naturall evill , as it is the dissolution of soul and body ; 't is a poenall evill , as 't is a curse of the covenant , or the punishment of sin : 1 there was merit in christs voluntary death , 't was * a ransome for the elect , he dyed not onely in bonum eorum , for their good and profit , but loco & vice ominium , in their room and stead ; as when the ram was taken , isaac was spared , so christs death was in stead of ours ; god will not exact the debt twice , of us , and our surety : job 33. delivered him from going down into the pit , for i have found a ransome . the sinner must dye , or the surety ; now saith the lord , i accept of the death and passion of christ for this penitent man ; if we go downe to the pit , we go not down by way of vengeance , by christs death the merit of our sin is expiated , justice satisfied , gods wrath appeased , the law fulfilled , sin pardoned , and so the jawes of death are broken : death in its self is the sentence of the law , the fruit of sin , and the recompense of angry justice , and so it hath no more to doe with us , for god hath found a ransome . 2 you may look upon it as the act of a conquerour , christ foiled death in his own person , ever since he rifled the grave , death hath lost its retentive power ; act. 2. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , loosing the pains , &c. t is an allusion to the throws of a travailing woman , the grave was in travail , till this precious burthen was egested , for he could not be holden of it , and over since the grave is a womb rather then a dungeon and pit of vengeance , * non vitam rapit sed refoomat , it doth not destroy life , but renew it ; in almost the same metaphor christ is called , col. 1. 18. the first born from the dead ; not that hee was the first that was raised from the dead , howbeit he was the first that arose , others were raised by the power of another , but christ arose by his own ; so he is called , 1 cor. 15 20. the first fruits from the dead as the offering of the first-fruits was a blessing to all the store , so christ dying and rising is a ground of conquest to all the elect ; christ before his death had beene combating with the powers of darknesse and all the subordinate instruments ; death was satans beast of prey , that was set upon him , but our lord foiled it in its own dungeon , the battail between christ and death was begun upon the crosse , he grappled with it there , and they went tugging and wrestling to the grave , christ like a prudent warriour carryed the war into his enemies countrey , and there got loose of the grasp of death , foiled it in its own territory , he arose and left death gasping behinde him , so that the quality of the grave is quite altered , before 't was a prison , satans dungeon , now 't is a chamber of repose , a bed of ease ever since christ slept there ; when the prophet speaketh of christs resurrection , he saith , isa . 53. 8. he shall be taken from prison and from judgement , by prison meaning the grave ; but speaking of the death of the faithfull , he saith , esai . 57. 2. they shall rest in their beds ; 't was for a while to christ a prison , that to us it might be a bed of ease . 2. the next question is , how far he hath delivered us from death ; we see the godly are obnoxious to the changes and decayes of nature , yea to the strokes of violence as well as others ; and how are we delivered ? i answer , 't is enough that the second death hath no power over us , rev. 20. 6. nothing to do with us . rom. 8. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not one condemnation , &c. we may dye , but we shall not be damned ; and though we go to the grave , yet we are freed from hell : but this is not all , in the first death beleevers have a priviledge , they doe not dye as others doe . 1. the habitude and nature of it is changed , that which is poenall in death is now gone , 't is not a destruction but a delivery , beleevers have wrong thoughts of death ; we are delivered from it as 't is a punishment and a curse , now 't is a blessing , one of christs legacies of the church , all things are yours , death is yours , 1 cor. 3. 18. while death was in the devils hands it was an enemy , but 't is made a friend and a blessing in christ , a passage from the vale of tears to the kingdome of glory , the end of a mortall life , and the beginning of that which is immortall ; as haman to mordecai , it intended a mischief , but it proved a priviledge : to a wicked man it is properly an execution , but to the godly a dismission of their souls into the bosome of christ , luk. 2. 28. now lettest thou thy servant to depart in peace , they quietly send away their souls , but a wicked mans soul is taken away ; t is twice so expressed , luk. 12. 20. this night shall they take away thy soul from thee , and job 27. 8. when god taketh away his soul , &c. they would fain keep it longer , but god taketh it away whether they will or no ; a godly man resigneth and sendeth away his soul in peace , his life cannot be taken away , t is only yeelded up upon the call of providence ; and he dyeth not because he must dye , but because he would dye , he may dye sooner then he thought , but not sooner then he would , for when god willeth it , he submitteth . but to return ; the blessing of death lieth in 3 things . 1. the funerals of the godly are but the funerals of their sins , and frailties , and weaknesses : peccatum moritur , miseria moritur , homo non moritur , 't is not the man dyeth , but the sin , the misery dyeth : all other means and dispensations doe but weaken sin , but death destroyeth it ; when god justifieth , the damning power is gone , when god sanctifieth , the reigning power is gone , but when by death we come to be glorified , then the very beeing of it is gone : when the house was infected with leprosie , so as scraping would not serve the turn , it was to be digged down , we are so infected with sin that all other remedies are too weak , nothing but death will serve the turn : when ivy is gotten into a wall it cannot be wholly destroyed , till the wall it self be demolished ; cut off the stump , the body , the boughes , the branches , still there are some strings that are ready to sprowt again ; so t is here , originall sin cannot be destroyed , the constant groans of the faithfull are , * who shall deliver us from this body and masse of sin ? but now death is a sudden cure , sinne brought in death , and as it were in revenge , death destroyeth sin . 2. there is a way made for a present and compleat vmon of the soul with christ . phil. 1. 23. i desire to be dissolved and be with christ , we are loosed from the body and joined to christ , t is better a soul be separated from the body then absent from christ ; we have an union here but not a presence , now judge you which is better , to be present with the body , or to be present with the lord ? to have the company of the body , or the company of christ ? here the soul is inclosed and imprisoned as it were , but there thou hast the free enjoyment of christ , without the clog of an earthly estate : the soul as soon as it departs the body , goeth immediately to christ ; as when potiphars wife laid hold on josephs coat he escaped ; so you leave your upper garment in deaths hand , but the soul flyeth to god : the body came from adam and runneth in a fleshly channell , and what we had from adam , must for a while be mouldred to dust , to purge it from the impurity of the conveyance ; but the soul by a naturall right returneth to god that gave it , and by a speciall interest to christ that redeemed and sanctified it by his own spirit . 3. the body which seemeth most to suffer , hath much advantage : a shed is taken down to raise up a better structure , 't is sown a naturall body , 't is raised a spirituall body , &c. 1 cor. 15. 44. here 't is not capable of high injoyments , 't is humbled with diseases unfit for duties ; again , it 's sown'd corruptible body , 't is raised an incorruptible body , here 't is liable to changes , there it may live forever , without change and decay ; if we love long life , there is eternall life ; 't is carnall self-love that maketh us willing to abide in the flesh ; if we did but love our selves , but love our own flesh , we would not be afraid to dye ; for to dye , is to be perfected , to have body and soul free from sin and incorruption . 2. the hurt of it is prevented : as you are chosen and sanctified in christ jesus , it cannot hurt you , i say again death may kill you , but it cannot hurt you , it hath no power over the better part , like a serpent it feedeth only upon your dust ; nay , and for your bodies , that which dyeth as a creature , is sure to live as a member of christ ; the lord jesus is our head in the grave ; your bodies have a principle of life within them ; beleevers are raised by the spirit of holinesse , the same spirit that quickneth them now to the offices of grace , shall raise their mortall bodies . so rom. 8. 11. he shall quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit , that dwelleth in you : the holy ghost can never leave his old mansion and dwelling place : how many grounds of comfort have we against the mortality of the body ! christ is united to body and soul , and he will not let his mysticall body want one sinew or joynt ; in the account that he is to make to the father , he saith he is to lose nothing , joh. 6. 39. mark , he doth not say none , but nothing : christ will not lose a leg , or a piece of an ear : again , god is in covenant with body and soul , when you go down to the chambers of death , you may challenge him upon the charter of his own grace ; god is the god of abrahams dust , of a beleevers dust , though it be mingled with the remains of wicked men , yet christ will sever it : mat. 22. 32. christ proveth the resurrection of the body , by that argument , that god is the god of abraham , the god of isaac , and the god of jacob , the ground of the argument is , that god made his covenant not only with the souls of the patriarchs , but with their whole persons : again , christ hath purchased body and soul , so much is intimated in that place 1 cor. 6. 20. ye are bought with a price , therefore glorifie god in your bodies ; christ had payed price enough to get a title to body and soul , and therefore he will not lose one bit of his purchase ; the lord will call the grave to an account , where is the body of my abraham , my isaac , my jacob ? t is said , rev. 20. 13. the sea gave up her dead , and the grave gave up her dead , and hell gave up her dead : let me note that hell is there taken for the state of the departed , or else what 's the meaning of that passage that followeth afterward , and death and hell were cast into the lake that burneth , &c. well then , all the dead shall be cast up , as the whale cast up jonah , so the grave shall cast up her dead : the grave is but a chest wherein our bodies are kept safe till the day of christ ; and the key of this chest is not in the devils hands , but christs , see rev. 1. 18. i have the keys of death and hell ; when the body is laid up in the cold pit , 't is laid up for another day ; god hath an especiall care of our dust and remains , when our friends and neighbours have left is , christ leaveth it not , but keepeth it till the great and glorious day . 3. we are eased from the terrours and horrors of death : death is terrible , as t is a poenall and a naturall evill , as i distinguished before ; 1 as it is naturall evill , death in it selfe is the greatest of all evils , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , said an * heathen , which in jobs language may be rendred , the king of terrours , job 18. 14. we gush to see a serpent , much more the grim visage of death ; morall philosophy could never finde out a remedy against it ; heathens were either desperate , rash , stupid , or else they dissembled their gripes and fears ; but christ hath provided a remedy , he hath delivered us not only from the hurt of death , but the fear of death ; heb. 2. 14. to deliver them from the fear of death , that all their life time were subject to bondage : by his spirit hee filleth the soul with the hopes of a better life ; nature may shrink , when we see the pale horse of death approaching ; but we may rejoyce , when we consider its errand , 't is to carry us home : as when old jacob saw the chariots come from egypt , how did his heart leap within him , because he should see his son joseph ! death however we figure it with the pencill of fancy , is sent to carry us to heaven , to transport us to jesus christ : now who would bee afraid to be happy ? to be in the armes of our beloved jesus ? let them fear death , that know not a better life ; a christian knoweth that when he dyeth , he shall not perish , but have everlasting life , joh. 3. 17. the world may thrust you out , but you may see heaven alluring , ready to receive you , as stephen saw heaven opened , act. 7. latter end : there is an intellectuall vision , or perswasion of faith , which is common to all the saints ; though every one hath not such an extasie and sensible representation , as stephen had , yet usually in the hours of their departure , faith is mightily strengthned and acted so , that they are exempted from all fear and sorrow . 2. as 't is a poenall evill , 't is sad when death is sent in justice , and cloathed with wrath , and cometh in the quality of a curse , you know what was said before , the sting of death is sin , they dye indeed that dye in their sins , death is a black and gloomy day to them , they drop down like rotten fruit into the lake of fire : now christ hath taken away the sting , the dolours and horrours of it ; he hath taken away death as he hath taken away sin , he hath not cast it out , but cast it down , taken away the guilt and power of it , though not the beeing of sin ; so the hurt , the sting is gone , though not death it self : 't is like a serpent disarmed and unstinged , we may put it into our bosomes without danger : there are many accusations , by which satan is apt to perplex a dying soul , these make death terrible and full of horrours ; but they overcome by the bloud of the lamb , rev. 12. 11. and get the victory of these doubts and fears ; when sins are pardoned fears vanish ; luther said , feri domine , feri , absolutus sum a peccatis meis , strike lord , strike , my sinnes are pardoned . 4. 't will be utterly abolished at the last day . we scarce know now what christs purchase meaneth , till the day of judgement ; 't is said 1 cor. 15. 26. the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death , t is weakened now , but then it shall be abolished as to the elect : rev. 20. 14. and death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire , this is the second death ; the dominion of death is reserved for hell , it must keep company with the damned , whilest you rejoyce with god : for the present t is continued out of dispensation , it doth service , to promote gods glory ; but then the wicked must share death and hell amongst them , and be kept under a dying life , or a living death : but * all tears shall be wiped from your eyes , death shall be no more , and you shall take the harps of god in your hands , and in an holy triumph say , o death , where is thy sting ? o grave , where is thy victory ? t is true we may say it , yea and sing it now in hope , as some birds sing in winter , but then we are properly said to triumph . application . to apply it now . use . 1 1. here is terrour for wicked men , you may think it strange , that i should draw terrour out of such a comfortable doctrine , but consider jesus christ hath conquered death for none but those that have an interest in him , others ( alas ! ) are under the full power of it ; for the present the case of wicked men is sad , in death 't will be worse , in hell 't will be worst of all . 1 't is sad for the present , there is a bondage upon your souls , not alwaies felt but soon awakened , you cannot think of death and hell without torment , the thought of it like belshazzers hand-writing against the wall , smiteth you with trembling , in the midst of all your cups and bravery ; a small thing will awaken a wicked mans conscience ; the fingers of a mans hand upon the wall : belshazzer seemed a jolly fellow : a brave spirit , sets light by the persian forces that were even at his door , but god soone taketh off the edge of his bravery ; and then his joints trembled , his knuckles smote one against another for fear ; if the lord will but whist to conscience , the bravest spirits are soon daunted , he needeth arm nothing against you but your own thoughts : certainly none but a childe of god can have a true and solid courage against death , you cannot suppose it without consternation , david said , psal . 23. 4. though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death , yet i will fear no evill , that 's a griesly , sad , dark place to walk in the very borders of death , side by side with terrours and destruction , yet there david would be confident : t is otherwise with wicked men , hereafter they would not live , and here they would not dye . 2. in death it will be worse , the nearer you draw to the everlasting estate , the more will conscience be opened , and scourge you with horrour and remorse , i confesse every wicked man doth not dye sensible , some are stupid and foolhardy , they may sacrifice a stout body to a stubborn minde : but at last they dye uncertain , doubtfull if not anxious , and full of horrour ; as adrian to his soul , o animula vagula , blandula , &c. oh poor soul whither doest thou now goe ? thou shall never sport it more , jest it more : or as he said , anxius vixi , dubius morior , heu quo vado ! i have lived doubtfully , and dye uncertainly , alas whither doe i go ! a man that leapeth in the dark near a deep gulfe knoweth not where his feet shall light , and this is the case of wicked men : but this is not all , usually their death is full of terrour ; things written with the juice of a lemmon , when they are brought to the fire are plain and legible ; so when wicked men are within the stench and smell of hell , they howl upon their beds , few or none are able to look death in the face with confidence . oh consider when you come to dye sin stareth in the face of conscience , and conscience remitteth you to the law , and the law bindeth you over to hell , and hell enlargeth her mouth to receive you ; what will you doe in such a case ? satan insulteth , your old tempter is become your new accuser , nay you are at oddes with your self , the body curseth the soul for an ill guide , and the soul curseth the body for a wicked instrument , 't is a sad parting when they can never expect to meet again , but in flames and torments , and therefore curse the memory of that day , when ever they were joyned together : a godly man can take fair leave of his body , farewell flesh , goe rest in hope , thou shalt one day awake out of the dust , and then i shall be satisfied with gods likenesse , i have a longing desire of thy reunion , we have lived together and glorified god together thus long , god will not suffer thee to see corruption , &c. 3 in hell t will be worst of all , envie will be a part of your torment as well as despair , luk. 16. 23. 't is said of the rich man , in hell he lifted up his eyes , and seeth . lazarus in abrahams bosome , and saith , i am tormented in this flame , 't will be an additionall torment , to compare the beleevers eternall happinesse with your own misery , they are in the presence of god , and his holy angels , you have no company but the devill , death , hell , and the damned , and are holden under the power of everlasting torments ; you would not live and cannot dye , when you have run through many thousands of years you cannot look for one minute of rest , conscience gnaweth more and more , you burn but consume not ; oh! * t is a dreadfull thing to fall into the hands of the living god , mark that attribute living god , we do not speak in the name of an idol that cannot avenge his quarrell upon you , or of a god that shall dye and suffer decay , but in the name of a living god , that liveth for ever to see vengeance executed upon his adversaries , there is no hope of release , as long as god is god , hell is hell. use . 2 2. it serveth to exhort us all to get an interest in this conquest of christ , every one is not fit to make use of christs victory over death , there are many things necessary to injoy the full comfort of it , i shall name them : 1. a care to get sinne pardoned ; all the power of the devill and death hangeth on sin , therefore see sinne buryed ere thou art buryed , or it will not be well with thee : there are two deep pits , wherein you may bury your sins , and you shall never hear of them any more , the ocean of divine mercy , and the grave of christ : see them buryed in the ocean of mercy , mich. 7. 18. thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea ; there is depth enough to bury them and drown them , that they may no more come into remembrance ; then there is the grave of christ , the merit of christ is a deep grave , deep enough wherein to bury all the sins of the world : buryed with him in baptisme , rom. 6. 3. otherwise , if this be not done , you will desire to be buryed eternally , and never to rise more : let me use one metaphor more in this matter , and it shall take its rise from that expression of the apostle , 2 cor. 5. 3. we shall be cloathed upon , saith he , if so be that we shall be not found altogether naked , t is the great fault of christians when they come to die , they are to seek of a shrowd , and are found altogether naked , 't is uncomely to see a man in his darknesse , you should bee wrapt in the winding sheet of christs righteousnesse , there is no shrowd like to that , come thus to the grave and the grave shall have no power over you : but to leave the metaphor , this must be your great work and care ( christians ) to reflect upon these things in the serious applications and discourses of faith , the infinite mercy of god , the abundant merit of christ , and the sufficiency of his righteousnesse for your acceptance with god. 2 doe not onely act faith , but strive after assurance of gods love to your souls . old simeon said , luk. 2. 29 , 30. mine eyes have seen thy salvation , now let me depart in peace ; he held the messiah not onely in his arms , but in his heart , and then he could comfortably dismisse his soul ; now let me dye , ( said jacob , when he had seen joseph ) , he can never dye too soon as for himself , his owne comfort and profit , that hath seen jesus , his death is not untimely and immature , by what stroke soever he be cut off ; whereas otherwise if you live an hundred yeares you dye too soon , if you dye before you have gotten an interest in christ , the sinner of an hundred years shall be accursed , old sinners that are left to be eaten out by their own rust , are chimneys long foul and come at last to be fired . 3 mortifie corruptions , sin must dye ere wee dye , he dyeth well whose sinnes are dead before him ; either sin must dye or the sinner , as the prophet said in another case , i say in this , thy life must goe for its life , you will find those sins mortall that are not mortified ; what should an unmortified man doe with heaven ? there are no sports nor carnall pleasures there , those blessed mansions seem to him but dark shades , and melancholy retirements : the apostle hath an expression , col 1. 12. he hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light , we are first made meet for heaven before we enter into it , we are weaned from the world before we leave it ; when men hang upon the world as long as they can , and when they can hang no longer , think then to make use of god , the lord will refuse them with disdain , * go to the gods which you have chosen , let the world now help you , and save you : in short , a mortified man is prepared and ready , he doth but wait for winde and tide , and falleth like a shock of corn in season . 4 an holy life and conversation ; men live as if they never thought to dye , and then dye as if they never thought to live ; the best way to dye well is to live well , they that are not ashamed to live , are not afraid to die ; balaam desired to dye the death of the righteous , but would not take pains to live a godly life ; every man cannot say , thanks be to god that giveth us victory through jesus christ , you can not dye in christ , unlesse you live in him , and in the power of his life advance towards heaven : oh labour to exercise your selves in these things , that you may be in a constant preparation ; you never enter into the combate of death but once , 't is impossible to mend oversights , either we are slain or saved eternally . now if you doe what i have here exhorted you to , you may wait till your change come ; and when it cometh , your last hour will prove your best . use . 3 3. it serveth to presse gods children to improve the comforts of christs victory , doe not let it goe out of your hands . 1 improve it for your friends that are departed in the lord ; our weeping puts some disparagement upon christs conquest , why should wee weep in the day of their preferment , in the day of their solemn espousals to jesus christ ? * in the primitive times at funerals they were wont to sing psalmes of thanksgiving , we should bring them as champions to the grave , as those that have passed the pikes , and finished their course , and kept the faith , and have conquered the world , and sin , and death , and danger : chrysostome in one of his homilies on the hebrews , speaketh of the ancient rites at funerals , of their hymnes , and psalmes , and praises , haec omnia sunt laetantium ( saith he ) all these signifie joy , and wilt thou weep , and sing a psalme of praise and triumph at the same time ? i confesse 't is said , act. 8. 2. that devout men carried stephen to his burial , and made great lamentation over him : 't is our losse when the church is bereaved of such excellent persons , there is cause of sorrow , but there should be a mixture , we should not mourn as those without hope , 1 thes . 4. 13. as christians must not rejoice without sorrow , so they must not be sorry without some mixture of joy ; let us declare that we hope for a resurrection , that we expect to meet our friends again in heaven , and when wee weep let it be like rain when the sun shineth , there should be somewhat of joy in our countenances as well as tears in our eyes . 2. improve it for your selves , and that , 1 in life time , that in your resolutions you may bee willing to dye ; many times we are like lot in sodome , or like the israelites in egypt , we could wish for canaan , but are loath to goe out of egypt , this argueth little faith . can we beleeve there is a heaven so excellent and glorious , and yet shun it ? can we hope for such an * incorruptible inheritance , and yet be afraid of it ? that we shall enter upon it too soon ? what prince would live uncrowned ? what heir would whine when hee is called to come and take the inheritance ? what thoughts have we of eternall life ? do we count it a priviledge , or a misery , and a burden ? and again , it argueth little love , can we pretend to love christ , and be shie of his company ! he should be unwilling to dye , * that is unwilling to goe to christ . and again , it argueth little judgement and consideration ; wherein is this life valuable ? the world is nothing else but a place of banishment , here is nothing but groaning , all the creatures join in consort with the heirs of promise , rom. 8. 23. what do you see in the world , or in the present life to make you in love with it ? are you not weary of misery and sin ? the longer thou livest , thou sinnest the more , certainly thou hast provoked god long enough already , 't is high time to breath after a better estate ; and thou hast had taste enough of the worlds misery and deceit , and of the frailties and weaknesses of the body , a longer life would be but a longer sicknesse ; what 's the matter , that we are so loath to let goe our hold of present things ? if it be not want of faith or want of love to christ , or too much love of the world , certainly it must be fear of death , & what a baseness & lowness of spirit is this ? to fear an enemy so often vanquished by christ and his saints ? if you be at this pass , i have preached al this while in vain , & the victory of christ , which i have discoursed of is to little purpose ; oh consider , generous heathens may shame you , you make all the provision of christ in the gospell , to be of lesse effect then meer morall principles . 2. especially improve this in the very season and hour of death ; the great goliah is now faln , and you may come forth and * look upon the carkasse ; death its self that startleth the creature , and seemeth to be the great check and prejudice of christian hopes , is vanquished by christ , therefore in the very season when it seemeth to prevail over you , apply the victory , and say , thanks be to god , &c. when the pangs come upon you , remember this is deaths last pull and assault , you may bear with it , it shall molest * you no more , as moses said , the egyptians which yee have seen to day , yee shall see them no more again for ever , so you shall feel these things no more , in heaven there are no groans , nor tears , nor sorrows , have but a little patience , and assoon as the last gasp is over , the soul shall be carryed by angels to christ , and by christ to god : beleevers have the same entertainment that christ had , he was carryed into heaven by angels , dan. 7. 13. they brought him to the ancient of dayes , and so we are carryed by angels into abrahams bosome , luk. 16. 22. they have a train to accompany them into heaven , as their friends accompany their bodies to the grave ; and as christ was welcomed into heaven with acclamations , and god saith , * sit down at my right hand , and * aske of me and i will give thee , &c. so are beleevers welcomed , well done good and faithfull servant , enter into thy masters joy . what remaineth then , but that we dye by faith as well as live by faith , but that we welcome death with confidence , and breath out our souls in triumph ? moses when he took up the serpent in his hand , 't was but a rod , death thus welcomed and entertained by faith will prove at most but a correction , yea rather a blessing of the covenant , a means of passage into glory . one thing i had almost forgotten , to presse you to thankfulnesse to christ : oh blesse your redeemer , that hath delivered you from the fear of death , admire his love and condescension , that he should come down from heaven and substitute himself into our room and place , and take the horrours of death into his own soul ; 't is said , mat. 20 : 28. the son of man came not to be ministred unto , but to minister and to give his life a ransome for many ; christ was a prince by birth , heir of all things , yet he came not in the pomp and equipage of a prince , if he had come in state to visit us , and to deliver comfort to us by word of mouth , it had been much ; but christ came not in this way , not in the pomp of a prince , but the form of a servant to minister to our necessities , and that in the highest way of self-deniall , he gave his life as a ransome for many ; other princes are lavish of their subjects bloud , and care not how many lay down their lives for them , many give their lives as a ransome for the prince , but here 't is quite otherwise , this prince layeth down his life to redeem the subjects , and he suffered death that it might not bee terrible and destructive to us , oh blessed be the lord jesus christ for this love for evermore . some may expect , that i should speak something concerning the servant of god , our dear brother now departed , but i need not say any more , then what i have spoken already ; all along the discourse , i have indeed spoken of him , and that in the judgement of your consciences , the duties which i pressed upon you , he performed , the comforts which i have propounded to you , he enjoyed . i shall not make any particular rehearsall of the passages of his exemplary life , i judge it not convenient ; only to you of this place i may take liberty to commend his doctrine , and intreat you to be carefull of those precious truths which he sowed among you , whilest the lord used him here as a skilfull seeds man : god looketh for some increase , and taketh speciall notice of the time , that you have enjoyed his labours , there is an exact account kept in heaven , in that parable , these three years came i seeking fruit , luk. 13. 7. probably the three years of christs ministery are intended , for then he was entring upon his last half year , god reckoneth how many yeares , how many moneths your minister hath been with you , and accordingly doth expect fruit : your pastour a little before his suffering , professed high and worthy thoughts of you , let him not be deceived ; 't will be sad for you in that great day of separation , that when he expecteth to finde you among the sheep , and to be his crown and rejoicing , he should see you among the goats ; he will know you there , memory in heaven is not abolished , but parfected . i say he will know you , though without any lessening of his own happinesse , or repining at gods rightous judgements . finis . an alphabeticall table . a. afflictions sweetned by christ , 75 , 76 atheist in practise ; and judgement , 238 grounds of atheisme , 239 discoveries of a practicall atheist , 243. 246 b. backsliders have no interest in christ , 43 baseness of a man without christ , 23 , 61 beggerlinesse of a man without christ , 26 a beleever hath all things , equivalently ; conditionally ; finally , and in heritively , 65 blessings turn curses without an interest in christ , 55 blindnesse of a man without christ , 28 c. carist ; how a man may be said to be in christ , and out of christ , 18 what it is to be without christ , 19 the properties of a man without christ , 22 characters of a man without christ , 34 the misery of a man without christ , 50. 101 christ is to the soul , as the sun to the earth , 60 the benefits derived from christ , 67 all that christ hath is a beleevers , 71 and all that a beleever hath , is christ's 73 characters of a mans interest in christ , 85 christ precious to a beleever . 97 church compared to a commonwealth , 103 wherein they differ , 107 necessity of church government , 109 necessity of church union , 110 a great misery to be a stranger to the church of god , 113 a wicked man in the church , like a wen in the body , or a woodden leg , 115 comfort . vid. joy. no comfort without christ , 61. 75 common-prayer-book , an abstract of the popish masse , 207 three sentences of scripture misinterpreted therein , 206. 208. 210 contentation only in christ , 98 covenant , and promise , how they differ , 118 divers administrations thereof , 119 covenant of grace , what , 121 how you may know whether you be within this covenant , 123 the difference in being under a covenant of works , and a covenant of grace , 126 the misery of strangers to the covenant of grace , 135 characters of a man under the covenant of grace , 152. 157 the great condescension of god to make a covenant with man , 161 d. dead ; a christlesse man is a dead man , 31 death as a marriage day . 8 deformity of a man without christ , 29. 62 duties accepted for the persons sake under the covenant of grace , 131 142. 145. 163. 204 performance of duties a sandie foundation , and a rotten prop of hopes for heaven ; 177. 202 f. for bearance of god breeds atheism , 239. 250 g. god dreadful to apprehension without christ , 55. 77 god to be our god , what it notes ; 152 and what a great happinesse it imports , 161 to be without god what , vide atheist . 234 characters of those that are without any real propriety in god , 265 , 269 our interest in god is to be proved ; 274 and improved , 277 growth in grace proceeds from christ , 60. 91 h. hope of the wicked , vain , 166 , 173 reasons why an unregenerate man is without hope ; 167 the nature of true hope , 170 characters if an ungrounded and presumptuous hope , 175 a true hope hath a purifying , pacifying , painfull property with it , 179 the false props of awicked mans hope 181. 186. 197. 201. 206. 214. 217 differences between a well-grounded , and a presumptuous hope , 221 the misery of presumptuous hopes , 227 the same certainty , excellency , efficacy , difficulty in hope , that is in faith , 230 , 231 humility how improved , 12 , 13 the badge of christianity , 91 , 92 i. ignorance , what properties it must have to demonstrate thy want of interest in god , 267 joy ; the fountain of it , christ , 29. 61 k. knowledg of christ , spirituall ; experimentall ; affective ; appropriating ; practicall . 20 , 21. 269 a man may have an interest in christ and yet not know it , 47 he knowes most that does most , 267 l. liturgie , v. common-prayer-book love of christ demonstrates interest in christ , 37 the object of love , the people of god , 272 m. mercy of god in generall , no good prop of hope , 193 misery of a christlesse man , 51. &c. mortification of lusts , a sign that we belong to christ , 36 , 37. 88 n. newnesse of life declares an interest in christ , 90 white garments a type of thereof , 95 p. prayer ; the neglect thereof atheisme , 244 presumption of the wicked , 172 how it differs from the hope of the godly , 221 presumption begets , frustration ; vexation ; and damnation ; 228 pride , a ground of atheism , 242 promise . vide covenant . covenants of promise , what , 117 the promise of god in christ , the main pillar of hope , 178 promises convey no comfort without christ , 212 every promise hath some condition annext to it , 213 r. remembrance of our sinfulnesse before conversion works in us an admiration of gods grace and mercy , 9 earnest contention to excell in grace , 10 compassion to the unconverted , 11 humility , 12 watchfulnesse over our wayes , 14 s. salvation by christ alone , 99 sanctification , a blessing of the new covenant , 154 scripture ; questioning the authority thereof makes atheists , 241 sins before conversion to be called to minde , 5 but not with complacency of spirit , 6 or stupidity of heart , 7 or despondency of minde . 8 reasons thereof , 9 the dominion of sin taken away , but not the life , 36 the dangers and aggravations of small sins , 182. 184 sins of the godly , no ground of hope to the wicked , 188 the same for the matter , but not for the manner , 188. 191 slavery of a man without christ , 24 spirit of christ , his threefold operation upon the heart , 35. 96 strength to perform any duty ; to exercise any grace ; to subdue any lust ; to resist any temptation ; to bear any affliction ; derived only from christ , 58. 59 u. unregenerate ; every unregenerate man is without christ , 17 and an atheist , 237 finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a49252-e260 p●ss●lli epigram . in vita gregor . nazianzeni . notes for div a49252-e540 ezek. 23. 19 , 21. 1 tim. 1. 13. act. 26. 10 , 11. tit. 3. 2 , 3. ezek. 16. 3 , 4 , 5. ezek. 20. 43. ephes . 5. 8. ephes . 1. 4. tit. 1. 16. eight properties of a man without christ . isa . 64. 6. joh. 8. 36. 1. joh. 8. 34. 2 pet. 2. 19. 2 tim. 2. rev. 18. 13. rev. 4. 17. joh. 6. 55. gen. 27. 4. rev. 3. 17. ephes . 5. 8. joh. 3. 19. ezek. 16. 3 , 4 , &c. job 20 22 ioh. 5. 12. ephes . 2. 1. col. 3. 3. ioh. 3. 18. seven characters of a man without christ rom 8. 9 gal. 5 24. dan. 7. 12. gal. 5. 24. ioh. 14. 24. ioh. 8. 54 , 55. 2 pet. 3. 5. iob 21. 14. psal . 82. 5. joh. 8 47. ioh. 9. 16. 1 ioh. 5. 18. 1 joh. 5. 19 2 ioh. v. 9. 2 cor. 5. 17. joh. 20. 13 joh. 14. 4. 2 tim. 2. 19. 1. joh. 25 5. 2 cor. 3. 5. 1. rom. 8. 26. gal. 2. 20. 4. ephes . 6. 10. phil. 2. 21. rev. 3. 17. ezek. 16. 14. 2 cor. 6. 10. cant. 5. 1. 1 cor. 3. 22. psal . 84. 11. seven benefits which the faithfull have by christ . 1 cor. 3. 22. psal . 2. 8. rom. 14 8. joh. 14. 8. 1 cor. 1. 30. ioh. 1. 14. ioh. 14. 27. esa . 53. 6. 2 cor. 5. 21. act. 9. 4. 1 cor 6. 19 , 20. ex. 15. 25. iudg. 14. 2 king. 3. 14. ephes . 1. 6. rom. 8. 10 ioh. 17. 23 , 24. vers . 20. 2 cor. 10. 7. rev. 3. 17. joh. 12. twelve characters of a mans interest in christ . phil. 3. 8. 9. 1 cor. 4. 4. luk. 16. 15. 1 joh. 2. 5. 2 sam. 3. 1. 1 ioh. 5. 18 , 19 , 20. 1 ioh. 3. 6 2 cor. 5. 17. joh. 15. 5. 1 ioh. 2. 6. 1 ioh. 4. 13. eccles . 1. 8. gen. 43. 5. joh. 17. 12. 1 cor. 12. 8 , 9 , 10. revel . 22. 18 , 19. rom. 7. 14 psal . 11. 3. mat. 12. 25 1 pet. 2. 2 pet. 2. 13 1 joh. gen. 3. 15. heb. 3. gal. 5. 4. the great happinesse in being under a covenant of grace . psal . 89. 31 , 32 , 33. psal . 11. 5. the misery of being strangers to the covenant of grace . isa . 1. 16. ezek. 36. 25 , 2 cor. 5. 10. exod. 34. 6 , 7. ezek. 36. v. 25 , 26. 27 , 28. ver . 29 , 30. v. 10 , 11. heb. 11. 4. prov. 15. 8. jer 31. 11 , 12. deut. 29 10 , 11 , 12. rom. 9. 4 , 5. vers . 8. zach. 13. 8 , 9. joh. 8. 33. 30. 41. three characters of a mans interest in the covenant of grace . ezek. 36. 26 , 27. ier. 31. 34. amos 5. 12 , 15. act. 3. 25 , 26. psal . 50. 16. 1 cor. 6. 20. 2 cor. 7. 1. esai . 55. 3. act. 27. 20. tit. 2. 2. 1 tit. 2. heb. 11. 1. joh 8. 13. prov. 10. 20. prov. 14. 16. psal . 36. ●2 . job 21. 23. prov 11. 7. 1 pet. 3. 15. deut. 29. 15. esa . 57. 10. psal . 36. 1 , 2. psal . 119. 155. 1 pet. 3. 15. mat. 7. ult . luk. 13. 26. 1 joh. 3. 14. rom. 15. 13. 2. heb. 16. 19. quest . 3. answ . five false props of a wicked mans hope . luk. 18. 11. phil. 3. 6. mat. 19. 18 , 19 , 20. 1 cor. 10. 11. 1. tim. 1. 16. gen. 9. psal . 36. 4. psal . 38. psal . 39. lev. 13 4. luk. 1. 50. object . answ . 1. isa . 58. 2 , 3. zach. 8. 19. psal . 105. 9 gen. 4. heb. 11. 1 king. 18. 25. prov. 15. 8. ezek. 18. prov. 24. 16. job 5. 19. 2 cor. 5. 14 , 15. mat. 18. 11. luk. 19. 10. gen. 17. 1. 2 cor. 6. 16 , 18. 2 cor. 7. 1. heb. 5. 9. mat. 11. 28. answ . 1. answ . 1. psal . 37. 37. esa . 57 41. col. 1. 23. rom. 15. 4 psal . 119. 49. 1 tim. 1. 1. psal . 147. 11. psal 33. 18. psal . 119. 81. rom. 5. 2 , 3. psal . 119. 166. psal . 37. 3. 1 joh. 3. 3. esai . 51. 10. deut. 59. 18. rom. 5. 4. col. 1. 5. jer. 17. 17. psal . 71. 5. job 8. 13. prov. 14. 32. heb. 16. 11. rom. 15. 5. luk. 13. 28. act. 15. 9. 1 joh. 3. 3. act. 17. 27. mic. 4. 5. psal . 81. 11 psal . 14. 1. foure grounds of atheism . eccles . 8. 11. psal . 50. 21 rom. 2. 4. eccles . 8. 12. rom. 2. 24 1 pet. 3. 4. exod. 5. 2. dan. 3. 15. thirteen characters of an atheist . psal . 14. 1. iob 22. 12 , 13 , 14. job 24 , 13 , 15 , 17. gen. 39. 9. cant. 2. 14 mat 26. 39. luk. 22. 41. mar. 14. 35. ioh. 17. act. 24. 25. eph. 15. 5. job 31. 24. vers . 28. iosh . 24. 25 , 26. gen. 42. 21. iob 13. 26. psal . 25. 7 1 king. 18. 21. heb. 2. 18. zach. 13. 8 , 9. jer. 3. 4 , 5. psal . 14. 1. seven characters of those men that have no reall propriety in god. 2 chr. 15. 3. ioh. 8. 54 , 55. 1. ioh. 8. 55. object . answ . prov. 30. 23. psal . 111. 10. ier. 22. 16. hos . 8. 2. iob 21. 14. ioh. 8. 47. 1 ioh. 4. 6. ioh. 8. 49. 50. 1 joh. 3. 10. use heb. 11. 16. three discoveries of our interest in god. 2 cor. 6. 18. ier. 3 25. dan. 9 5. notes for div a49252-e33730 a view of the context . * pareus in locum . * heb. 10. 33. diyision of the text. * iosh . 10. 24. * gen. 3. 15. * mat. 20. 28. 1 tim. 2. 6. iob 33. 24. * prudentius . * rom. 7. 23. * aristotle . * rev. 7. 17. * heb. 10. 33. * judg. 10. 14. * kinet cathol . orthed . ques . 40. primae ●●●is . * 1 pet. 3. 14. * illius est nolle mori , qui nolit 〈◊〉 ad christum-aug . * isai . 66. 24. * exod. 14. 13. * psa . 110. * 1. psal . 2. 8 the law of god ratified by the gospel of christ, or, the harmony of the doctrine of faith with the law of righteousness wherein many of the types and rites of the ceremonial law are unfolded, and the moral law adjusted a rule of holy living to all, though justified by faith / as it was delivered in several sermons preacht to the parochial congregation of mayfield in sussex by mr. mainard late rector thereof, publisht since his death. maynard, john, 1600-1665. 1674 approx. 481 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 150 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-08 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a50402 wing m1450 estc r33505 13431275 ocm 13431275 99532 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a50402) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 99532) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1552:26) the law of god ratified by the gospel of christ, or, the harmony of the doctrine of faith with the law of righteousness wherein many of the types and rites of the ceremonial law are unfolded, and the moral law adjusted a rule of holy living to all, though justified by faith / as it was delivered in several sermons preacht to the parochial congregation of mayfield in sussex by mr. mainard late rector thereof, publisht since his death. maynard, john, 1600-1665. [20], 271 [i.e. 273], [2] p. printed for francis tyton ..., london : 1674. "the epistle dedicatory" signed: h. hurst. numerous errors in paging. errata: preliminary p. 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bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng justification. authority -religious aspects. theology, doctrinal. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-05 tonya howe sampled and proofread 2004-05 tonya howe text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the law of god ratified , by the gospel of christ : or , the harmony of the doctrine of faith , with the law of righteousness . wherein , many of the types and rites of the ceremonial law are unfolded : and the moral law adjusted a rule of holy living to all , though justified by faith. as it was delivered in several sermons , preacht to the parochial congregation of mayfield in sussex , by mr. mainard late rector thereof , publisht since his death . col. 1. 27 , 28. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 2 cor. 3. 14. & 18. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 london , printed for francis tyton at the sign of the three daggers in fleet-street . 1674. the epistle dedicatory . to mrs. elizabeth baker widow : to captain iohn baker and his wife : and to mr. iohn baker and his wife . to mr. clement read : and to the rest of the inhabitants of mayfield in sussex , auditors of these ensuing sermons . much honoured and well-beloved in our lord , the high opinion he hath of you ( who desired me to dedicate these sermons to you ) commands me to make good my compellation , by bearing a particular respect to that worth , and love for those graces and profession in you , which were sufficient to determine the publisher of these sermons to the choice of you to be countenancers of them , now printed and exposed to publick view , which you first heard from your own privater pulpit . the publisher makes the church somewhat a debtor , but mayfield very much a debtor to him for his care of your spiritual profit and advantage : to which end these discourses ( delivered in such plainness ( as becomes the truth ) and with such clearness as may capacitate any amongst you to read , understand , and gain by them ) are set before you . that of your faithful monitor , now dead , might be said ( as is in somewhat different sense said of abel , ) being dead , he yet speaketh , instruction unfolding that which many would else not discern , caution , that you avoid what he knew was dangerous and might prove deadly , and exhortation , perswading you to weighty instances of obedience and constancy . if it be , as doubtless it is , a truth that the legal and mosaick rites were the gospel vailed , this piece deserveth your serious perusal ; for it takes the vail from off the face of moses , and doth with plainness and brevity explicate many of those divine riddles and heavenly hieroglyphicks , on whose out-side too many of the jews ( like unexperienced children gazing on pictures , ) determin'd their eye inapprehensive of the import of them . i would give you some account of the subjects handled in this ensuing treatise , but it is publisht that your reading might inform you . nor will i doubt your readiness to view that with your eye , which , i believe , much pleased your ear . and i hope your desires to profit by it , wish my epistle brief , that you may be taken up with the seasonableness and pertinency of the subject . a piece which , i assure you , doth very particularly express the temper of its author , who could have walked abroad ( as easily as most ) in a gorgeous dress of rich learning ; but he was as well versed in this part of self-denial , and resolved to practice it , as he was vers'd in authors , and knew how to use them . he preacht it to you , that you might understand it , and his son-in-law hath taken care it should be printed , that you might read and remember it . i wish that , among the many eagerly snatcht occasions men take to publish their own conceptions more would take this course , and print , for the use of particular places ; some of the choice and profitable sermons of their own ministers , as soon as might be after their death , when , in all likelihood , the mourning remembrance of their dead minister will enhance the value of his living sermons , whilst the sense of their loss , in the death of his person , would increase the care ( of some at least ) that they lose not his counsels , exhortations , reproofs and comforts which ( by this means ) do survive him . i know many are so obstinate in their vnbelief , and so unperswadable to obedience , they will not promise to believe or obey , unless one arose from the dead to witness to the promises , and to require their obedience . god shew them mercy , opening their blind eyes , and perswading their hard hearts ! if there be any such among your inhabitants of mayfield ( and alas ! in so great a parish there are too too many , ) behold here is that which of all courses seemeth to come nearest to such a condescension . though your minister be not sent from the dead , yet providence sends ( as it were ) from his grave : and if you will not obey commands , nor follow counsels , nor be warned by cautions in his writings , you would not be perswaded if he came from the dead . but of you in particular i have no jealousie , to whom this epistle and the book is dedicated . instead of perswading you to read it ( of which i am perswaded you are very forward of your selves ) i shall adventure ( and , i hope , with no more boldness than success ) to move you to bestow many of these books among your poorer neighbours , who will gladly read mr. maynard's book , when perhaps they have as little mind to read other mens works as they have knowledge of their persons . promote knowledge of christ , and saving grace , by the means which are most likely to do it ; hereby you shall ( through the blessing of the lord ) turn many to righteousness , and shine as the brightness of the firmament for ever , which is that great thing that ( with hope of success ) is for you all , and for the rest of the church-of god , the prayer of from my study in the house of the right honourable the countess of manchester , at waltham-abbey , april 3. 1674. yours , in our common lord , both servant to your souls , and coheir of your hopes , h. hurst . the contents of the several chapters . chap. i. no justification by works , to gentile or iew transgressours of the law , and how : yet the iew had advantage by the law , which is not voided by doctrine of faith. corrupt nature dispute perversely against the truths of god , partly out of ignorance and mistakes . christ's righteousness the matter of our justification . prepossession of false opinions pervert the scripture ; this ruin'd the iews , obstructed the gospel among the greeks . pride natural to us , and opposite to the gospel . love of sin , of the world , pervert truths of the gospel : the danger of this as rejecting the remedy , or turning it to the increase of the disease . errors easily increas'd . how errors found in godly men , while sometime the carnal are free from them . chap. ii. grace abhors the perverting of truth : so moses , elijah , &c. st. paul , &c. for , hereby god is dishonoured , the new nature is thwarted . errors broken out are hardly limited , easily overgrow the truth : so the bulk of popish errors did : so arianisme did . errors divide the church : so the errour of the necessity of circumcision , the errour about keeping easter in victor's time . pope's supremacy now divides the church . such divisions occasioned by preaching old forgotten truths ; but the fault in those that will not endure such doctrines . satans malice , and some mens weakness : so the inundation of popish superstitions broke in . how much we should resent these things : their danger : toleration of them discussed , in the objections for errours answered . chap. iii. objections against truth many times are double falshoods ; this riseth from ignorance , credulity , malice , and want of arguments to confirm errours . no strange or new thing that men erre and are slanderous . protestant ministers are no promoters of antichrist , but his great adversaries : lessening them greatens antichrists interest . seducing sectaries expedite antichrists affairs . satan hath still hindered reformation by such ways . chap. iv. a threefold law , first given to the gentiles with the iews : the other given only to the iew. law of nature and its use . the ceremonial cannot justifie , nor the moral , yet neither made void by faith. faith confirms the ceremonial law : what this is , 't is of god , how long to last ; abus'd or not understood by many of the iews , who precisely observed ceremonial cleanness , palpably neglecting moral purity . in what sense doctrine of faith doth not abolish the ceremonial law. the dispute between iews and samaritans , and whence it arose ; when , and how long continued . divine worship in spirit and truth , not limited to any place . law ceremonial , a school-master to bring us to christ , full of deep mysteries and spiritual realities , cleared by the gospel . these unfolded in explication of circumcision , seal of that promise , i will be their god , which contains all grace and comfort , is made good to us in christ : the covenant sealed by circumcision , the same that is sealed by baptisme . passeover what , its occasion , the circumstances of it ; its meaning in each particular applied to christ. actual faith in christ delivers from curse of the law , should excite to thanfulness , holiness , exercise faith , preparedness for our duties , godly sorrow . feast of first fruits , when enjoyned , excite to endeavour a rising to newness of life . chap. v. few creatures appointed for sacrifices : three sorts of beasts , two of fowls , all meek , resembling christ , as we should . korban whence derived , how apply'd to christ , through whom we are made nigh to god. burnt offering , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . it s import to us , the rites in offering it , blindness of the iews , and to be pittied : deep slaine of sin , it is deadly to the sinner or his surety : christs bloud precious , shed that we should not live in sin . the continual burnt-offering christians should offer morning and evening ; as most likely the iews did pray and praise god in their houses . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 its signification : imputation of sin to christ speaks gods love of compassion to sinners : sin base and shameful . the blood of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sprinkled before the lord on the golden altar ; the meaning hereof : it s inward fat burned , what meant : some other rites in the offering it , and their import . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it was , noted christ and how , a sufficient sacrifice therefore , fit to be trusted in . how the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth the christians sacrifice , and apply'd . oyle used in the meat offering : its purport with other rites of it explained . salt with all sacrifices , and its meaning . the covenant of salt. the drink offering wherein it consisted . the peace offering , what , and on what occasion ; meaneth whole christian duty in general , to be offered to god through christ. peace-offering might be male or female , part of it to be burnt , part for the priest , part for the offerer ; hence our communion with god inferr'd . how sacrificers are partakers of the altar . priests under the law were sacred persons , especially the high-priest , type of christ , whose is an eternal priesthood . the garments of the high-priest and their meaning , viz. the holiness , beauty , and glory of christ in general . a more particular view of each part of the garments , their import , and our instruction . ordinary priests were in a sort types of christians who are to be spiritual priests and sacrifices . ministers of the gospel no where called priests in the new testament . tabernacle and temple agreed in some , differed in other particulars : how each signified christ to dwell with us , in much humility and love , we ought therefore to unite our selves to him , estrange our selves from sin : scandalous sins should not be cause of gladness in any who observe them in others . temple and tabernacle signify'd each be liever . sin defiles the whole man , the heart first , the outward man next : sin begins in the heart . altar made of shittim wood , the meaning ; covered with brass , its purport ; the godheadpreserving the humane nature under its sufferings . where the altar was placed , its meaning . the altar of incense , its meaning . the ark what in it , and their import . the mercy seat , the cherubims looking down towards the ark. the fire used in sacrifices , its meaning : christs love to us , undergoing such sufferings for us , requireth love from us to him . this fire came from heaven , never was to go out ; such should christian zeal be . chap. vi. sacred observances , as restraint from unclean beasts : so not in their own nature ; the meaning equalleth all mankind in their original . gods soveraignty in chusing israel incomprehensible : his infinite goodness calling the gentiles , who should be thankful , and take heed of unbelief and all sin . our liberty to use all wholesome food : blood whether now forbidden ? probably a natural though secret reason , why so many creatures were forbidden to israel ? prohibition of eating blood , acts 15. explained . festivals religious among the iews , noted our christian joy . what feasts these were . at the time of the feast of harvest , christ sent down the spirit on his apostles , who were to gather in the harvest of the gentiles . feast of ingathering about our september . the meaning of it well applyed in three or four particulars . the feast of trumpets , the type of preaching the gospel , and calling to faith and repentance : who are deaf to this , shall be astonied at the last trumpets sound . the various washings in use among the iews well unfolded , shew christ the accomplishment of them , and our christian duty of dayly purging our selves in the fountain of his blood . chap. vii . st. pauls design to deliver to us the doctrine of justification by grace . this clear'd by reducing all men under an examen : the gentile examined and cast by law of nature transgressed : the iew examined and cast by the written law moral transgressed . there is a law of nature , this not nulled by faith : what this law is , in the particular description of it ? t is engraven on the heart , given by christ , yet different from that he gives believers who follow him . it was a perfect rule before the fall , it is yet of great use , though much impaired . the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that he was to be served , and worshipped , that he created all , being himself eternal and omnipotent , wise and good . this law declared what is good and what evil , in some measure . excellent discourses of philosophers . yet is it an imperfect rule now , cannot guide sinners to blessedness : discovers not the great mystery of the trinity , or the state of perfection man was created in ; his fall , and recovery , &c. an additional imperfection from the heart on which it is written , as from blurr'd paper the words or letters are imperfectly read : yet useful it is to gods glory , to humane societies , as remote preparators to receiving the gospel ; in which much above , nothing contrary to , the light of nature ; it justifies god , leaves man without excuse , not increasing this light , not acting up to it . this defect of theirs was sin against god , who as lawgiver to all , hath given this law , punisht the breakers of it , before the law given on mount sinai . rom. 5. 13 , 14. illustrated . these punishments were just , as severe , in every age , and ruine of several monarchies . the sins of christians greater than of heathens or iews . what christians are in name , in participation with christ , who is dishonoured by their sins , which many heathens abhor . seneca and pliny abhor'd drunkenness , tully decry'd frauds in contracts . chap. viii . moral law written , abridged in the ten commandments , established by the doctrine of justification by faith , though it excludes the righteousness of works from our justification , not excluded from all other use . none justified by works of the law , because all are born in state of sin . works of faith follow justification as fruit , are imperfect examined by the rigor of the law , which bears not the least aberration , requires the whole of mans heart alwaies , in highest degree of love to god , and for his sake to man our neighbour , nothing must be omitted , or wanting , or defective . mans works cannot justifie before the infinite justice , holiness and majesty of god our lawgiver . man to be saved , was found in sin ; is saved by grace : from which they fall , who would be justified by the law , being a covenant of nature quite different from the gospel . works justifying in st. james sense , jam. 2. 24. explained . iustifying faith is an active principle , as prevalent habits are . they miserable who are not in christ , because condemned : no middle state : outward fairness insufficient , inward change necessary . historical faith doth not justifie . iustifying faith hath sense of its need of christ , who is a complete saviour , and wherein this compleatness is . how earnest we should be to be found in him , careful to bring forth much fruit , but not to trust in it , keep the mean between the dangerous extreams of a dead faith , and resting on the works of faith. how christ establisht the law ; by fulfilling it which he did without destroying it , what occasion of that , mat. 5. 17. how made under the law though he was the lawgiver , bound therefore to fulfill the law perfectly , so became a perfect high-priest according to the type wherein every blemisht person was prohibited medling with the priestly function . sinless perfection necessary to the sacrifice christ offer'd in offering himself . fulfilling the righteousness of the law , is an establishing of the law ; to the exactness whereof man was at first created , the law of our creation afterwards exemplified in the decalogue : satans design to obliterate this law by our sin , to bring us under a law of sin , how this effected , hence god dishonoured , man destroyed , both arising from satans malice against the glory of god , and happiness of man : this work of satan christ came to destroy , and hath done it , which no meer creature could have done , angels could not , and why . this work is really a repairing man , though expressed by destroying of satans work : so raising up the dead , is called destruction of the grave . 1 joh. 3. 8. at large unfolded , christ god imprest on our nature in himself , the absolute perfection of that holiness the law required of mans nature , christ hath fully satisfied the law , and accomplisht the prophecies concerning him , which was god , the coessential word , who made all , supports all in heaven and earth , and doth it as primary efficient cause and final for his own glory , so was without robbery equal with god , yet became man , uniting the humane nature to the godhead , which supported the humane nature , gave value to the sufferings of it , in which nature , he made under the law , was in capacity of suffering the curse , which the godhead , fountain of life and blessedness was not liable to : who come not to christ , are expos'd to all that their sins deserve , and the law threatens : sin then is bitter , and will be the shame of sinners . who are in christ , have sound foundation of comfort , christ hath satisfied the law for them . to whom his perfect righteousness is imputed : so the law establisht , this enlarged and illustrated , debts paid by surety the debtor discharged the payment imputed , god imputes it , and of grace or freely to the believer on his believing in christ. so faith justifieth not meritoriously , nor efficiently , not materially or formally , but objectively and instrumental●y , as apprehending christ his righteousness : hence our blessedness , joyned with our sanctification . how christ establisht the law , by perfectly fulfilling all the righteousness which it required : contraiwise the doctrine of justification by our works makes void the law in great part , reducing its commands to the scantling of that obed●ence , which is pretended to justifie us . the mystery of christs immense love to us . believers should be humble and will be● great sinners may be encouraged to come to christ , whose righteousness is the righteousness of jehovah . look to the truth of your faith , the suitableness of your life : justified ones are sanctified ones . the law is made a rule of holiness in life , to those that are justified without works of the law , and this by the authority of christ , who hath for us satisfied it as a covenant , and now ratified it as a rule to us ; we cannot live justified by it , we must live sanctified to it . the law as covenant of works , useful to believers , to humble , awaken , and drive them to seek a remedy : the law a rule useful to believers , keeping them poor in spirit , in sight of what they once were , what they still are : it is useful to quicken and stir them up to greater study of holiness . our redemption no prejudice to the law , rather an exalting of it . the peaceable comport of the law and faith , which oppos'd to each other , is great error of antinomians . high presumption to boast of justification by faith , and yet be the servants of sin against the holiness of the commandment . he is out of christ who continues in sin , in contempt of the law , and to the abuse of free grace , which imparteth inherent righteousness to sanctification , as it imputeth christ his righteousness to justification . errata . page 5. line 2. read these . p. 17. l. ult . add here . p. 18. for when , l. 18. r. even . p. 21. for circumcellions , r. circumcellians . p. 32. l. 19. for corrupts , r. corrupt . p. 33. l. 2. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l 13. r. hymenaeus . p. 37. l. 16. r. consequents . p. 44. l. penult . r. exhort . p. 53. l. 12. r. tolerable . for chap. iv , r. v. p. 125. in the margin , for officers , r. offerer . p. 130. l. 33. dele him . p. 153. l. 22. r. persons . p. 160. l. 1. for an , r. any . p. 212. l. 2. for no , r not . p. 239. l. 21. r. woman . p. 240. l. 17. for state , r. stead . p. 243. l. 6. r. enduring . p. 263. l. 25. r. for. rom. 3. 31. do we then make void the law through faith ? god forbid ; yea , we establish the law. chap. i. the holy apostle in this divine epistle according to the wisdom given unto him ( as his fellow apostle saith of him ) having laid down that great fundamental truth of the gospel , that righteousness and everlasting life is to be obtained by faith ; that is , by the perfect righteousness of christ imputed to believers by god the father , and applied by faith , proveth it by shewing that none are justified any other way ; and this he cleareth by making it evident that all sorts of men israelites and gentiles are sinful and guilty before the lord , and therefore none of them justified by any works of their own in the fight of god. he proveth the gentiles to have sinned against the law , and light of nature and reason ; the israelites to have sinned against that law , not only so , but against the written law , and that both ceremonial and moral ; against th● ceremonial law , in that they rested in the outward observation of it , not looking to the substance and end of it , and so their circumcision was made uncircumcision : the moral law condemned them because their corrupt natures were enmity against it , contrary unto it ; they sinned against it in omissions , commissions , their best performances fell far short of the full perfection of it , and therefore they all stood condemned before the lord , whose exact justice alloweth of no righteousness but that which is every way perfect . these things being cleared from the 17th verse of the first chapter to the 20th verse of this third chapter : then he declareth another way of justification revealed in the gospel , even by the full satisfaction and perfect righteousness of the lord jesus christ , imputed by god the righteous judge of all the world to believers , and applied by faith : and having proved this , in the latter part of this and in the two next chapters , he in●●rt●th th●se words in the end of the third ▪ chapter , do we then & c. ? although he had not finished his discourse of free justification by faith through the righteousness of christ , yet he wou●d put in a caveat against the licentious ●buse of this excel●ent doctrine , though it seemeth a little out of order , not tying himself so precisely to method as to negl●ct the vindicating the honour of christ , and the preventing , or removing of such a mistake upon which poor souls are apt to make shipwrack . so that in these words we may note , first a question or objection , do we make void the law through faith ? secondly an answer : 1. by way of detestation or abhorrence , god forbid ! or , let it not be , far be it from us . 2. by way of denial implied in a contrary assertion , and that with advantage , we are so far from making void the law through faith , that by this doctrine we establish the law. do we make void the law ? do we make the law a vain , empty , useless thing , of no force ? do we take away all authority and binding power from the law ? through faith , through the doctrine of the gospel , teaching men another way of obtaining justification and righteousness , by the perfect righteousness of christ , apprehended by faith without any respect unto or consideration of the works of the law ? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it not be , far be it from us ; yea , we establish the law , we give more honour to the law , we acknowledge more fully and truly the perfection , purity , authority of the law , than they do , which teach and seek righteousness by the works of the law. from this objection may be noted this point : that ignorance and malice is apt to mistake , slander or pervert the most precious truths of the gospel ; or thus , the corrupt nature of man is apt to corrupt the most precious truths of the gospel . so in this present chapter : for the apostle having before proved the people of israel had as much need of the righteousness of christ to save them from condemnation , and to justifie them and present them as righteous before god , as the heathen ; their sins and guilt being as great as that of the heathens or rather greater . it seems hereupon some were ready to argue : what advantage then hath the iew , and what profit is there of circumcision ? as if they had said , this doctrine taketh away all difference betwixt iew and gentile ; it giveth unto israel the peculiar people of god no more priviledge or dignity in things pertaining to god , than to the worst of heathen idolaters ; it was to no purpose that god distinguished them from other nations by the ordinance of circumcision : thus is corrupt nature apt to corrupt the precious truths of the gospel . but the apostle shews that the iews had much advantage over the gentiles , chiefly , because that unto them were committed the oracles of god : they had the word of god , the writings of moses and the prophets given by the inspiration of the holy ghost , directing them to the messias to whom they were to seek for righteousness , and in whom they were to believe that they might be justified : they had sacrifices prescribed them by the wisdom of god , as special helps to strengthen their faith in the perfect sacrifice of christ the redeemer ; and therefore they had much advantage above the heathens , if they improved it for their eternal good ; and yet notwithstanding all this , it was as impossible for them to be justified by their own works and righteousness , as for the heathens , and they had as much need of christ and his righteousness for justification as a●ese . in this the iews had the advantage above the heathens , that they had far better means to lead them unto christ than the heathens : herein they were both alike , that neither the one nor the other could be justified and saved by their own works , but only by christ and his righteousness . again in this regard , the condition of the obstinate and unbelieving iews was worse than that of the profane gentiles , that they sinned against greater light and means , not improving their priviledges and advantages but receiving the grace of god in vain . then followeth another objection , if mans unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of god , if gods righteousness in justifying sinners be the more gloriously manifested by reason of mens wickedness , how then can it stand with the righteousness of god to punish men for sin ? and again , if the glory of god , his rich grace , do appear and shine forth so much the more admirably by the heinousness of peoples sins , why should any flee from sin , and not rather add sin to sin , doing evil that good may come , that gods grace may be the more manifested to his glory ? the apostle rejecteth these with detestation , shewing that notwithstanding all their perverse cavils , they shall find god a severe judge , and that their damnation is just : for it doth no way lessen the guilt of sin that god getteth glory by it ; for sin in its own nature tendeth to the darkning of gods glory , and men by sinning dishonour god ; but such is the infinite perfection of god , that as he commanded the light to shine out of darkness , though darkness be contrary to the light , so he can work good , and get himself glory out of the evil of sin , which in it self tendeth to rob him of his glory . so in the sixth chapter of this epistle , shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ? the apostle had shewed before that all had sinned in adam , besides the guilt of their own actual sins , yea , even such as lived before the law was given by moses ; and that by the publishing of the law sin abounded , the guilt of sin increased : but then withal , he added , that where sin abounded grace did much more abound ; the free love and favour of god was gloriously manifested in pardoning sin , thus heightned and aggravated by the express law , and in freely justifying sinners condemned by the written law. hence this question or objection , to which the apostle answers with detestation ( as before ) and withal sheweth that they who are justified by the righteousness of christ , have received the spirit , and so dye to sin and live to righteousness , and are engaged hereunto by their baptisme , and therefore it is in vain for any to hope for justification , and pardon of sin through christ , who yeild themselves up to the service of sin . so verse 14th , he saith to believers , ye are not under the law but under grace : hence again a question or objection of corrupt nature or carnal reason , what then ? shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace ; may we not therefore sin securely if we be free from the law , if the law have no power nor authority over us to condemn us ? the apostle answereth this after his usual manner with detestation , and then more fully , know ye not that to whom ye yeild your selves servants to obey , his servants ye are to whom ye obey , whether of sin unto death , or of obedience unto righteousness ? they that are just●fied by christ , and freed from the curse , the condemnation and rigour of the law , are the members of christ , and servants of righteousness ; but they that sin securely upon a conceit that they are freed from the law , are indeed the servants of sin , and this service of sin tendeth to everlasting death . the reason of this in general , is , the contrariety of mans nature unto god and his truth since the fall , since the image of god was defaced , and the nature of man corrupted by sin ; so that the powers of the soul thus degenerated are become cross and opposite unto the counsel and truth of god. they are of the world , therefore speak they of the world , and the world heareth them : we are of god , he that knoweth god heareth us , he that is not of god heareth not us ; hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error : all of us are naturally of the world , and all remain so , unless the lord do effectually by his grace call them out of the world , and so their worldly minds and hearts are unsutable and opposite unto the mind and truth of god. more particularly , 1. ignorance is a great cause why men deprave the scriptures and pervert the truths of god : the light shineth in darkness , and the darkness comprehendeth it not . all are naturally darkness , and therefore full of contrariety to the light and truth of god ; ye were sometimes darkness , saith the apostle , to those that then were light in the lord ; the best of those whom god hath savingly inlightned by his spirit , were sometimes darkness . lye not one to another , seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds , and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him . they that are regenerated are renewed as in other regards so in knowledge ; this sheweth that the old man is possessed with darkness ; corrupt nature is void of saving knowledge , and therefore in that condition men are apt to put light for darkness , and darkness for light . the sadduces that denied that great mystery of the resurrection of the body , i conceive , were much pleased with an argument whereby they hoped to non-plus the lord jesus christ ; they seemed not directly to deny the resurrection , but only to desire a resolution in a difficult case , concerning ●a woman that had seven husbands , & out-liv'd them all : the question was , which of those seven should enjoy her for his wife at the resurrection ; but the lord christ telleth them they shewed gross ignorance in that wherein they thought themselves ve●y acute : saith he , ye do err , not knowing the scriptures nor the power of god : and first sheweth them how by the almighty power of god , the bodies of the saints at the resurrection should be so wonderfully transformed and glorified , that they should not need nor desire marriage or other things of the like natrue , no more then the angels do which are spirits and have no bodies ; then he proveth by the scripture that the dead shall rise , now this ignorance is more or less gross in several persons ; some that are not so grossely ignorant as others , yet being weak in knowledge and judgement , are apt to miscarry in this kind : first by misunderstanding some texts or passages of holy scripture , so it seemeth the saints at thessalonica mistook what the apostle had written to them in his former epistle , when speaking of the last day , he saith , this we say unto you by the word of the lord , that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord , shall not prevent them which are asleep ; the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , with the voice of the archangel , and with the trumpet of god : and the dead in christ shall rise first , then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds , to meet the lord in the air. where twice he speaketh of himself ( if we look on the bare words ) as if he should live to the end of the world , as if christ should come in glory before paul should leave this world : i conceive , he spake by way of supposition , that if he , and other believers then living , should remain to the last day , then they should be thus translated to glory ; and as he saith elsewhere , they should not dye , but should be changed and this he might do to teach others by his example to live in a continual expectation o● christs gloriou● appearing , especially considering that the day of death was to them as the last day , not that he did peremtorily determine any thing concerning the time which was unknown : now compare this with what he writeth to the same church in the next epistle , now we beseech you brethren , by the coming of our lord iesus christ , and by our gathering together unto him , that ye be not shaken in mind or be troubled , neither by spirit or word , nor by letter as from us , as that the day of christ is at hand : let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come , except there come a falling away first , and that man of sin be revealed , the son of perdition &c. it seemeth some went about to deceive them under pretence of revelation implied in the word spirit , some by word of mouth , as if the day of the lord should come in that age , and these might abuse those words of the apostle in his former epistle , therefore he saith , by letter ( or epistle ) as from us . now satan might have this pollicy , and set a certain day , and that within a short time , that when they saw it did not come to pass at the time foretold , they might doubt of the thing it self , whether ever it would come to pass ; but the apostle shews them that there must be a great change before that day , a general apostacy or falling away , and the revealing that man of sin , the son of perdition . secondly , by drawing false inferences and conclusions from some places of scripture . so in the present text , from that ●ound doctrine of the apostle concerning free justification of sinners through the righteousness of christ , without any respect at all to the works of the law , it seemeth some drew this inference or conclusion , that the law was made void : and do not the antinomians the very same ●t this day ? yea , do not many among us harbour the same conceits in their minds , as if it were enough only to pray to god to pardon their sins for christ his sake ; as if they ●eed not labour after conformity to the law ●n righteousness and holiness . on the other ●●de , whereas christ saith , except ye repent ye shall likewise perish . except a man be born again , he cannot see the kingdom of god. follow holiness without which no man shall see the lord. from these and the like scriptures , some it seemeth draw false conclusions , as if by repentance , by holiness , by prayers , and other duties , they might in part satisfie for their former sins ; and as if repentance , regeneration , holiness , were not only things accompanying justification and salvation , but proper causes : but ye must consider , first , that christ his satisfaction and righteousness is the full , perfect , and only cause of ●ustification and pardon of sin , and that no holiness , no duties of the persons justified , do help any thing at all towards their justification ; it is the righteousness of christ imputed to them , which maketh up the whole matter of their righteousness in the sight of god , and covereth all their sins . secondly , on the other side , regeneration , repentance , holiness , are concomitants , things accompanying justification and salvation , and evidences of it : so that although none can procure pardon of sin , nor justification in the least degree , by any graces or duties of their own , yet none can have any ●ound hope that their sins are forgiven , or their persons accepted of god as righteous , without repentance , regeneration , and holiness ; because none have their sins pardoned , and their persons justified , but such as receive christ into their hearts by faith. now christ alwaies cometh by water and blood by his holy graces to wash and sanctifie the soul , as by his blood and merit to justifie and procure forgiveness of sin . as the light of the fire giveth no heat , and the heat of the fire giveth no light , yet the heat and light are joyned together in the fire ; so righteousness imputed to the soul for justification and forgiveness of sin do not sanctifie , and on the other side , repentance , regeneration , holiness in believers do not justifie , yet they are joyned together , and where one is , there is the other , and the latter is an evidence of the former . i conceive it is a common case with many to mistake in this kind , because they want judgement rightly to draw inferences from scripture gro●nds : so the anabaptists , because they read of persons baptized when they made profession of faith and repentance ; hereupon they draw conclusions against infant-baptisme : whereas the case is not alike , for those examples are of converted jews or heathens , not of such as are born of christian-parents ; whereas they should rather argue , that because infants born of church-members under the old testament , were circumcised as church-members by the lord command ; therefore infants born of church-members under the new testament are to be baptized as church-members now . thirdly , prejudicate opinions , false conceits , sutable to corrupt nature and carnal reason , forestalling the mind , and being entertained aforehand , make people very apt to deprave or deny the truth when it is presented to them . i conceive this was the cause why the jews were so obstinate in rejecting christ and his doctrine , not receiving and obeying him as christ ; because their carnal minds were forestalled with conceits of a messias that should come in state as an earthly prince , and erect a glorious worldly kingdom amongst them , and this prejudice moved them to corrupt the prophecies of the old testament , and to distaste the doctrines of the new ; they liked not to hear of a crucified redeemer , the doctrine of the cross was to them a stumbling-block , they did not close with a spiritual kingdom of christ , attended with persecution : yea , christ his disciples were not free from this disease , and therefore when christ foretold his own sufferings , peter presumed to rebuke him , and there was a contention among them for the chiefe place , as if they expected great worldly honours and dignities by following christ : on the other side , the grecians were prepossessed with the rational principles of worldly wisdom and philosophy , and so despised the gospel as foolishness , though indeed there were such heights and depths of divine wisdom in the mysteries of the gospel , as never came into the head of the wisest men amongst them . the carnal israelites were forestalled with an opinion of their own righteousness , and so rejected the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of christ , for they being ignorant of gods righteousness , and going about to establish their own righteousness , have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of god. ignorance and prejudice , the fruit of ignorance caused them to disrelish the truth of the gospel . secondly , the love of sin is a cause why men pervertor reject the truths of the gospel . the gospel and word of grac teacheth to deny ungodliness , and worldly lusts , &c. this is distastful to a soul wherein sin raigneth . the gospel requireth christians to dye to sin , to mortifie their members which are upon the earth , to live to righteousness , to walk in newness of life . thirdly , the pride of corrupt nature is very contrary to the gospel which teacheth to be poor in spirit , to empty our selves of all self-sufficiency , to go out of our selves , to become fools that we may be wise , to be less than nothing in our own eyes , to receive all of meer grace , the free love and favour of god , to present our selves in anothers garment before god in the righteousness of christ , for the covering of our shame , and cloathing of our nakedness , to look for no acceptance of any service but by anothers worthiness , the merit of christ. fourthly , corrupt and inordinate self-love may move men to reject or corrupt the truths of the gospel , which teacheth self denyal , and the renouncing of all that is dear unto us , so far as it standeth in opposition against christ , then saith iesus unto his disciples , if any man will come after me , let him deny himself , and take up his cross and follow me . the gospel striketh at the right eye , at the heart , and root of the most beloved lusts ; how then will self-love rise up against it ? fifty , inordinate love of the world , of things below , being deeply rooted in corrupt nature , raiseth rebellion against the gospel , and moveth men either to reject or corrupt the truths revealed in it . felix trembled at pauls discourse and commanded him away : the young man went away sorrowful , when christ required him to fell all and give to the poor , and follow him , in hope of treasures in heaven : the pharises who were covetous , when they heard christ speak against that sin de●ided him ; love not the world , neither the things that are in the world ; if any man love the world , the love of the father is not in him ; so if any man love the world inordinately , the love of the truth is not in him , for all that is in the world , the lust of the flesh , the lust of the eyes , and the pride of life , is not of the father but is of the world . the use of this may be , first , to teach us to see and bewayle the corruption of our nature , and withal , to make us sensible how dangerous it is to continue in our natural estate , destitute of the spirit of christ ; our corrupt nature is apt to corrupt and deny the precious truths of the gospel ▪ it were a dangerous and malignant disease of the body , that should turn the best physick into poyson , and either cast it out of the stomach as soon as it is taken in , or grow worse by occasion of the remedy : our natures are wholly overspread with the deadly disease of sin and corruption , and there is no part ●ound in them , as the apostle saith , i know that in me , that is , in my flesh dwelleth no good thing : he had much good in him through grace , a great measure of the spirit of christ , but in his flesh , so far as he was carnal , so far as he was not renewed by the holy ghost , ●o far there was no good thing dwelling in him ; which sheweth that in them which are not regenerate , there is nothing spiritually good , nothing suitable and pleasing to god : whence these two great evils follow ; first , an inclination to reject the remedy● ; like a corrupt stomack that gives no entertainment to the physick , leaveth it no time to work the cure , but presently casteth it out . so do many in the state of corrupt nature , they hear the truths of the gospel which the lord hath appoynted as pre●ious remedies against that disease , and reject them , cast them up again , either denying them in the secret thoughts , not believing them , or not seriously minding or regarding them . so the apostle told the unbelieving iews , it was necessary that the word of god should first have been spoken to you , but seeing ye put it from you , and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life ; lo we turn to the gentiles . he charged them for putting the word of god from them . the apostle had put the word of god home to them , and they put it from them ; thus it is with many : the gospel is tendered to them as necessary physick sent down from heaven , and ministred to them by the preachers of the word , but they put it from them ; either they do not take it down , or presently cast it up again . secondly , there is an inclination in corrupt nature , to corrupt the truths of the gospel , and to make them occasions of increasing the disease , and so to make the gospel to become the servant of death unto death . corrupt nature is apt to make both the law and the gospel occasions of increasing these diseases of the soul concerning the law , the apostle saith , when we were in the flesh , the motions of sin which were by the law , did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death : this explaineth afterwards as in other passages ; wherefore the law is holy , and the commandment holy , and just and good ; the law is perfectly holy , and just and good , and therefore cannot be properly the cause of any thing sinful and unholy , was that then which is good made death unto me ? god forbid ! but sin that it might appear sin , working death in me by that which is good , that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful ; such is the malignity of corrupt nature , that it worketh evil out of good , and maketh the pure and holy law of god an occasion of sin , the more sin is forbidden , reproved , threatned , condemned by the law ; the more vehemently is the corruption of nature carried after sin . so for the gospel , the apostle peter saith , that christ preached in the gospel , is to them that are disobedient , a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence ; when to them which stumble at the word , being disobedient , whereunto also they were appointed . they stumble and take offence because they like not those terms upon which christ is offered to them in the gospel . how dangerous is it then to continue in this estate of corrupt nature ? how earnest should poor souls be with the lord to deliver them ? the body is in a sad estate when all both food and physick increaseth some deadly disease in it . the word and gospel of god is both food and physick , and corrupt nature is apt to make it an occasion to increase sin , and aggravate condemnation . cry mightily to the lord to work a through cure upon your souls , to change and renew your natures , to send his spirit along with his word , that it may overpower the diseases of your souls , and be unto you the favour of life unto life . secondly , this may teach us not to think it strange , that so many pretious truths of the gospel are denyed and rejected in these days , so many parts of scripture abused with false interpretations and corrupt glosses , so many errors and lyes maintained instead of truths . corrupt nature is a full fountain sufficient to send forth a multitude of these poysoned streams . it is a fruitful wombe to conceive and bring forth abundantly , ignorance , mistaking the sense of scripture , drawing false conclusions from the word , filling the mind with mists and clouds of prejudice against the truth , love of sin , pride , corrupt and inordinate self-love , excessive love of the world and outward things . these and the like distempers of corrupt nature , what truths may they not corrupt or deny ? what errours and false opinions may they not breed and cherish ? now when satan the father of lyes , either more immediately by himself , or mediately by his instruments worketh upon corrupt nature , then followes strong delusion or efficacy of error whereby people are brought to believe lyes tending to damnation . yea , such is the power of satan joyning with corrupt nature in the producing of false doctrines , that one error begetteth many , and one seducer deceiveth many ; one blind guide draweth a multitude into the ditch with himself : yea , one heresie may soon over-run a whole country , and spread suddenly from one nation to another . how soon did the heresies of arius overcome the world , and how were the kings and kingdoms of the earth made drunk with the cup of the whore of babylon , lying drenched and drowned in popish errours , superstitions and idolatries ; and like horns fastned to the head of the beast , imploying their power to maintain the tyranny of antichrist , and to suppress and persecute the truth , and them that were sincere and zealous in professing and promoting it . and , thirdly , upon the same ground , we may see the cause of such wicked practices as are used to advance and establish errours : satan and mans corrupt nature joyn together in the breeding of them . false doctrines have an hellish original , and so are carried on by hellish means ; what juglings were used by the arians to delude the emperor constantine , to bring the champions of the truth , especially athanasius into disgrace and suspicion with him ? how importunate were they to obtain a toleration , and to be received into communion with the church ; covering their wolvish natures under sheeps cloathing , while they were weak and kept under , but casting off the sheeps skin when once they grew numerous and strong , and had emperours for their turn , and appearing in their own colours , devouring the sheep of christ , making havock of the church , and exercising outragious persecution against them ? much is related also of the fury and cruelty of the circumcellions ; as for the papists , what country in europe almost hath not had experience more or less of their bloody butcheries ? how many thousands of saints and martyrs have they murdered with fire and sword , and put to cruel torments in italy , germany , spain , france , netherlands , england and scotland ? among the rest the barbarous massacres acted upon the protestants at paris in france , under pretence of friendship , and a royal wedding , and the like cruelty executed in other cities of that kingdome , and the hellish powder plot here in england , are sufficient evidences by what spirit they are led : and this latter is on the one side , i conceive , matter of perpetual infamy and reproach to the whore of babylon ; and on the other side , an everlasting monument of the goodness of god , and his watchful eye over his church , in discovering this work of darkness , laughing to scorn the counsels of his enemies , and commanding deliverance for his people in this land , by which means the gospel and ordinances of god are continued among us to this day . but by these and the like examples it may appear , that satan and the corrupt nature of man closing together , do both bring forth dangerous errours , and contrive wicked means to maintain them . hence it is that they have dealt perfidiously with men to work their own ends , having first dealt falsly with god in denying his truth , and ( as much as lyeth in them ) falsifying his word , putting false constructions upon it , and drawing false conclusions from it . and therefore none ought to stumble at the multitude of errors and false opinions , so as to question the truth and certainty of religion , but rather so much the more to use means to be established in the truth , by searching the scriptures with diligence , earnestly praying to the lord to open their understandings , to lead them into all truth , and confirm them in it , to frame their hearts to receive the love of the truth , and to keep them from being led away with the error of the wicked . but some may question . if satan and corrupt nature are the cause of errours , what is the reason then , 1. that some of the godly are drawn into error ? 2. what is the cause that many carnal persons , and many notoriously wicked , are free from errours , yea , at such times and in such places where errours and sects abound . for answer to the former i conceive . first , that many who have been of note for godliness were never sound ; they were but chaffe in the lords floore , aud so easily blown away with every wind of false doctrine . saith the apostle iohn , little children , it is the last time , and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come , even now are there many antichrists , whereby we know that it is the last time : these lesser ant●●●ists were forerunners of the great anti●hrist , but whence came these petty antichrists , even out of the bosome of the primitive ? apostolical church ; for saith this apostle , they went out from us , but they were not of us : for if they had been of us , they would no doubt have continued with us ; but they went out , that they might be made manifest , that they were not all of us . if these that were in communion with the church of christ in those purest times , were unsound at the best ▪ and afterwards discovered their unsoundness by departing from the faith and church of christ , and becoming open enemies to the truth , have we not cause to think that many , who in these days imbrace false opinions , were never upright when they seemed most zealous for the truth and wayes of god ? and therefore what need have all to search their hearts , and while they seem to stand take heed least they fall , by l●bouring to ground themselves upon the lord jesus christ by faith unfeigned . secondly , i doubt not but sincere christians may fall into some lesser errors , because they do but know in part ; there are degrees of ignorance in them and the remainders of corrupt nature which may darken their minds , and expose them to the danger of erring , partly through the weakness of their own judgements , partly through the sleight of men and cunning craftiness , whereby they lye in wait to deceive , partly through the high esteem which they have of some men . so it is thought that multitudes were carried away with luthers name , and the eminency of his gifts , and the great service done by him to the church of christ. lastly , i conceive that the lord may in his wisdom suffer some eminent saints of his to err in some things , that men may learn not to think of men above that which is meet , but to give that great prerogative of infallibility to the god of truth alone , who hath revealed his truth in the holy scriptures : and therefore christians should try all spirits and doctrines by this rule , bring them all to the law and to the testimony , concluding that if they speak not according to this rule , it is because there is no light in them , no light in their doctrine , so far as it will not endure the trial of scripture light ; yea , the apostle speaks very high in this case , though we , or an angel from heaven , preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached , let him be accursed . if it were possible for a blessed angel to preach false doctrine , we must reject and cleave to the scripture against all contradiction . for answer to the second question : in as much as satan , and the corrupt nature of man , are the cause of errours and heresies , what is the reason that many carnal persons both such as are of civil conversation , and fair moral principles , and also such as are loose and licentious , yea openly profane , are free from errours in such places and ages , where & when false doctrines abound ; whereas they are such in whom the corruption of nature raigneth , and such as are held captive by satan according to his will ? for answer to this i conceive , first , that some such persons being naturally quick of apprehension , and judicious , may be so clearly convinced of some truths , that though many deny them and oppose them yet they will stand to them , especially when there is liberty for all sides to hold and profess what they list , and a man may stick to the truth without loss and danger : in such cases natural conscience is a strong tye upon mens spirits , to cause them not willfully to deny a known truth . secondly , some may affect the reputation of constancy , being loth to be noted for light vain and fickle persons ; and therefore in as much as it was their lot to be trained up from their childhood in the truth , they will cleave to it , howsoever others cast it off , so long as they see they may do it with safety . they account it a childish thing to hearken to every novelty and vain fancy ( as indeed it is ) and therefore not becoming their gravity . it may be they would have been as obstinate in error had they happened to have been taught it in their youth , as now they seem to be constant in the truth . is not this apparent in divers at this day , who stand firm in doctrinal truths , and remain perversely stiffe , in old ceremonyes and superstitious observances , which have no footing in the holy scriptures , because they have been trained up in both ? on the one side they were trained up under sound doctrine concerning the main points of faith : on the other side , they received some superstitious observances by tradition , and therefore they will part with neither , thirdly , i suppose satan having possession of carnal persons another way , doth not much temp● some of them to renounce the truth and entertain errours , because they are not such as are likely to do him any special service in promoting false doctrines . fourthly , many carnal persons may be engaged to stand for the truth against errors because some whom they respect , or upon whom they depend , or of whom they look for some advantage , go that way . fifthly , many carnal persons seem to be indifferent in matter of religion : they are serious , and hearty about things that bring in profit , in following their business , or in pursuing their pleasures , in satisfying their lusts ; they think it no great matter what men hold or profess in matter of doctrine . when the iews accused the apostle paul for teaching false doctrine , saith gallio the roman deputy , if it be a question of words and names , and of your law , look ye to it , for i will be no judge of such matters . see how slightly he speaks of matters of religion , as if they were but empty words , whereas the question between paul and the iews was one of the weigtiest that ever was in controversie . scil . whether the lord jesus were the christ ? and so festus another roman governour relating pauls case to king agrippa , accused by the iews ▪ said , when the accusers stood up they brought none accusation of such things as i supsed , but had certain questions against him of their own superstition , and of one iesus which was dead , whom paul affirmed to be alive . it seemeth he thought these things to be frivolous queries not worthy of the cognizance of so great a magistrate as himself : whereas the r●surrection of christ from the dead ( which was in question between paul and his adversaries ) was such a fundamental point , as that mans salvation depended upon it . thus it seemeth many are kept from embracing errours , because they hold it a matter of no great weight , what men profess in point of religion . but let all that mind their salvation receive the love of the truth and walk in it , hating and shunning every false opinion , and every false way , out of sincere love to the lord jesus christ , and true zeal for his glory . so much of the question or objection . chap. ii. the answer is , first by way of abhorrence or detestation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it not be , or far be it from ●s ; which our translaturs render , god forbid : i suppose because this english phrase is used in cases of like nature ; howsoever the apostle by these words signified that he abhorred and detested such a consequence , as to make void the law by the doctrine of free justification through the righteousness of christ applied by faith. hence may be noted this point : that gracious hearts do exceedingly abhor those opinions which corrupt or oppose the truth of god. heresies and false doctrines are odious to the godly . 1. this may appear in many examples , and first in the old testament . moses did exceedingly abhorre the wicked counsel of balaam whereby he taught the midianites to deceiv● the people of israel , so as to draw many of them from the worship of god to idolatry ; and therefore saith he to the people , arm some of your selves to the war , and let them go against the midianites and avenge the lord of midian : which they did , and slew the males , and five kings of midian , and balaam himself , who gave this wicked counsel : but moses was not satisfied with this execution , but was wroth with the officers of the host , and said unto them , have ye saved all the women alive ? behold , these caused the children of israel through the counsel of balaam , to commit trespass against the lord in the matter of peor , and there was a plague among the congregation of the lord ; and then he commanded them to kill all except the women children which were virgins : and it seemeth that this was one of the last acts of moses his life , for the lord said unto him , avenge the children of israel of the midianites , afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto thy people : it was a work fit for him to do when he was ready to leave the world . how odious were those prophets of baal , to that zealous prophet elijah ! saith he , take the prophets of baal , let not one of them escape : and they took them , and elijah brought them down to the brook chishon and slew them there . micaiah shewed his detestation of those lyes spoken by the false prophets , when he told the king , now therefore behold the lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets . the like may be shewed of the prophet ieremiah , how he abhorred the lyes of those false prophets , hananiah , ahab , zedekiah , and shemajah , but i come to the examples of the new testament . and first to begin with iohn baptist , who came to prepare the way of the lord , with what zeal did he detest the corruption of doctrine brought in by the pharises and sadduces ? when he saw many of them come to his baptisme , he said unto them , o generation of vipers , who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? but above all , take the blessed example of the lord jesus christ , with what heavenly zeal did he manifest his detestation of the false doctrine taught by the scribes and pharises ? thus have ye made the commandment of god of none effect by your tradition . and he gave his disciples this caveat , take heed and beware of the leaven of the pharises and of the sadduces : which is meant of their corrupt doctrine . how sharply doth he reprove them , and how many woes doth he denounce against them ? he calleth such , wolves , theeves and robbers . and the apostles and servants of the lord jesus christ , being led by the spirit of christ ▪ did abundantly discover how exceedingly they detested and abhorred heresies and fals● doctrines . the apostle peter inveigheth with much vehemency against false teachers , & calleth their corrupt doctrines damnable heresies , whereby they denyed the lord that bought them , and bring upon themselves swift destruction . he terms their ways pernicious , and shews how they make merchandise of souls . he calleth them pernicious , self-wil●ed , and such as are not afraid to speak evil of dignities , wells without water , speaking grea● swelling words of vanity : with divers other expressions . st. iude agreeth with st. peter , and among other passages , compareth false teachers to cain , balaam , core. the apostle iohn calleth them antichrists , adversaries to christ , and false prophets . they are called deceivers ; yea , it is said , ver . 10 , 11. if there come any unto you , and bring not thi● doctrine , receive him not into your house , neithe● bid him god speed , for he that biddeth him go● speed is partaker of his evil deeds . in the revelations written by st. iohn , the angel o● minister of the church at ephesus is commended for hating the deeds of the nicolaitans . pergamus is threatned , because in that church was found those that held the doctrine of balaam , and of the nicolaitans , and therefore t is added , repent , or else i will com● unto thee quickly , and will fight against the● with the sword of my mouth . thiatira is blamed for suffering the woman iezabel which called her self a prophetess to teach and seduce . a great part of this book declareth the wickedness of the whore of babylon , the antichristian popish faction , the mischief they do , the judgements of god hanging over them , and how odious their false doct●ines and false worship is to god and his people . the apostle st. paul as he laboured and wrote more than the rest , so he is very plentiful in declaring his detestation of false doctrines and false teachers : in his epistle to the romans , ●he earnestly exhorteth the saints , i beseech you brethren , mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned , and avoid them : for they that are such serve not the lord iesus christ but their own belly , and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple . he speaketh of those that cause divisions contrary to ●ound doctrine , not of those that oppose false doctrine and corrupt customes , whereupon sometimes divisions may follow through ob●tinacy of those that resist the truth . how largely doth he declare against that fundamental errour of them that denyed the resurrection : he calleth them corrupt teachers , false apostles , deceitful workers , transforming themselves into the apostles of christ , ministers of satan , and imitating their master , transforming themselves into the ministers of righteousness , as he being the prince of darkness transformeth himself into an angel of light . how sharp and severe is he this way , in the epistle to the galatians , though we , or an angel from heaven , preach any other gos●el unto you than that which ye have received , let him be accursed : as we said before , so say i now again , if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received , let him be accursed . yea , he spared not that great apostle peter , but withstood him to the face , and gave him a publick reproofe , because he did but warpe a little , and by withdrawing from the believing gentils , for fear of offending the iews , gave occasion to men to question the doctrine of free justific●t●on through the righteousness of christ alone , and to think that circumcision and the ceremonies of the law were necess●ry to justification . again , saith he , o foolish galatians , who hath bewitched you that y● should not obey the truth ? shewing , that t● be led by ●alse teachers , is to be befooled and bewitched . corrupts teachers bewitch and make fools of their followers . again , saith he , i would they were even cut off that troubl● you . he calleth false teachers dogs , evil workers , the concision ; and sheweth that such are apt to beguile others with enticing words , and to spoil them through philosophy and vain deceit , after the tradition of men , after the rudiments of the world , and not after christ , intruding into those things which they have not seen , vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds . how notably doth he set forth antichrist and his followers , speaking of a grand apostacy and general fal●ing away , and calleth the head of it , the man of sin , the son of per●ition , who opposeth and exalteth himself , &c. he calleth the mystery of antichrist , the mystery of iniquity . he calleth him that wicked one ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) signifying the lawless one , a term exactly agreeing to the pope , who trampleth upon the laws of christ at his pleasure , and exalteth his own laws . he sheweth that his coming is after the working of satan , with all power and signs , and lying wonders , and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish , &c. he sheweth that to fall into heresie , is to make shipwrack of faith , and that for this cause he delivered himeneus and alexander unto satan . he sheweth that heresies are doctrines of devils , and lyes spoken in hypocrisie ; and foretelling the perillous times that should come in these last dayes , that men should be lovers of their own selves , &c. then he addeth , of this sort are they which creep into houses , and lead captive silly women , laden with sins , led away with divers lusts , ever learning &c. he compareth them to iannes and iambres that withstood moses , meaning i suppose , the egyptian sorcerers or juglers : so do these also resist the truth , men of corrupt minds , reprobate concerning the faith ; and afterwards he sheweth the miserable progress that they shall make , scil . from bad to worse ; evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse , deceiving , and being deceived . yea , he sheweth the folly of those that hearken to seducers . the time will come , when they will not endure sound doctrine , but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers , having itching ears , and they shall turn away their ears from the truth , an● shall be turned unto fables . he calleth fals● teachers , unruly and vain talkers and deceivers whose mouths must be stopped , who subvert who●● houses , teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre sake : and he giveth this charg● to titus concerning such ; a man that is a● heretick after the first and second admonition reject , knowing that he that is such , is subverted and sinneth , being condemned of himself ▪ it is conceived that the epistle to the hebrew was written by this apostle , and how largely doth he there confute the corrupt doctrine of them that maintained the necessary use 〈◊〉 legal cremonies , and giveth this admonitio● be not carried about with divers and strang● doctrines , and saith , we have an altar where● they have have no right to eat , which serv● the tabernacle ; shewing they have no pa● in christ , which obstinately prefer the sh●dows of the old testament before christ the● substance . secondly , to these examples may be add● divers arguments or reasons , whereby it m●● appear why heresies , false doctrines , opinnions that oppose or corrupt the truths 〈◊〉 christ , are odious to the godly , and abho●red by them . first , because the glory of god is exceedingly wronged by false doctrines and heresies , an● the grosser any such heresies are , the more 〈◊〉 god dishonoured by them . god the fathe● is such as christ witnesseth of him , he th●● sent me is true , yea , he cannot lye . god the son is truth . god the holy ghost is the spirit of truth . now what a high disho●our is it to the god of truth , when lyes are fathered npon him , and attributed to him ? errours and false opinions in matters of religion are taught , professed , received as truths of god ? what is this but to go about to derive darkness from light ? lyes from the fountain of truth ? the apostle disputing against that great errour of them that denyed the resurrection of the dead , bringeth this argument amongst others , that christ is risen , and the resurrection of the head proveth the resurrection of the members ; and sheweth that divers absurdities would follow , if the resurrection of saints should be denyed , among the rest this , we are found false witnesses of god , because we have testified of god , that he raised up christ , whom be raised not up , if so be the dead rise not . they that maintain any falshood in point of religion as a truth , they bear false witness of god , as much as in them lies , they make him a lyar , the author of falshood : which tendeth highly to the dishonour of his great and glorious name ; and therefore all that are born of god , all that love the lord jesus in sincerity , abhor errours and heresies . secondly , there is a contrariety in the hearts of the godly , against errours and heresies . they have in them a principle of opposition against false doctrine . a stranger will they not follow , but will flee from him , for they know not the voice of strangers . there is something within them which suiteth not with strange doctrine , but is averse from it . for , 1. they are begotten with the word of truth ▪ of his own will begat he us with the word of truth . as they are new creatures , they have their original from the word of truth ; it i● as it were one of the ingredients of their new nature , and so in that regard there is a natural antipathy and contrariety betwixt them and false doctrines . the apostle iohn saith o● the godly , we know that we are of the truth they do as it were derive their new being from the truth ; and therefore errour and fals● doctrine is hateful and abominable in their sight . 2. they are the children of the god of truth ▪ they are united unto jesus christ who is ful● of grace and truth ; they are led by the spirit of christ who is the spirit of truth : and therefore abhor and detest lyes spoken in hypocrisie . thirdly , the godly have learned that errou● tend to the destruction of poor souls , and therefore peter calleth them damnable heresies paul calleth them doctrines of devils . it 〈◊〉 said they eat like a canker or gangrene , whic● is such a malignant disease , that it require●● the cutting off of a limb , otherwise the who● body is in danger to be destroyed . now 〈◊〉 people of god being tender and compassionate toward immortal souls , how can the● chuse but abhor such deadly poyson when the● find it offered by seducers , and readily swallowed down by the simple . is it not strange that some would have protection and encouragement given to all false doctrines , and to those that spread and propagate them , and that under a pretence of tenderness ? is it not rather a high degree of cruelty , to protect any in destroying souls , to give them full liberty to wander about with their plague-sores running upon them , freely to spread their contagious and pestilent errours to the infecting of thousands . fourthly , one errour begetteth many ; one false principle may be the cursed root of many rotten branches , and a spring of many streams . how many gross absurdities ( as the apostle sheweth , ) follow as conse●uents from that one grand errour of denying the resurrection of the body ; as that christ is not risen , the preaching of the gospel is vain , the faith of believers vain , and they still in their sins , under the guilt and power of them , and when they die they perish , and that they have hope only in this life , and so are of all men most miserable , because they expose themselves to the scorn and malice of the wicked in hope of a better life . and doth not experience shew how people , when once they depart from the truth , fall from errour to errour , and with giddy heads run about in a maze of vain delusions . satan the father of lyes having once seduced and gotten them into his circle , leadeth them from one by-path to another . now how can a man be truly godly and not abhor false doctrines , which are such a fruitful spawn of a venemous issue : many flying serpents being hatched of one cockatrice egg . fiftly , errours are apt to overgrow the truth , as tares and other weeds are ready to overcome the corn . and that 1. by corrupting one doctrine of the gospel after another . and 2. by oppressing and persecuting the sincere professors and preachers of the truth . it seemeth the errours and corruptions of popery were first winked at , being taken up by particular persons , not generally owned , then they became more general and overbore the truth , then they were armed with power , and so opposed and persecuted the sincere maintainers of the truth . the arian heresie at first was kept under , at length prevailed so as to raise most bloody persecutions against the truth ▪ the outrages of the anabaptists , and sue●● as pretended to revelations ; how notoriou● were they when once they got a head at munster in germany ? but our age seemeth to exceed former times in this kind that errours and heresies among us have been armed almost at their first appearance . it would appear a strange monster , if a child should b● born in armour : such a monster , if i mistake not , i have read of , born in germany about the time of the late wars . is it not prodigious to see armed monsters born amongst us , errours and heresies with swords by their sides , pistolls , muskets , pikes ●n their hands at their first coming into the world almost ? who knoweth the disma● events and mischief such things presage , if the lord christ who is the truth , and whose name is the word of god , should for our unworthiness forbear to ride forth on his white horse conquering and to conquer ? but what gracious heart doth not both abhor and tremble at those things that tend to the suppressing of the truth , and rooting out of those that are of the truth and for the truth ? sixthly , errours aud heresies are apt to spread far and wide in a short time , from a person to a family , from the family to a neighbourhood , then over a province or country , then over a nation , then from nation to nation , and so over the world . behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth . the arian heresie being a little spark at first in egypt , in a short time did spread over asia and africk , and took hold of divers parts of europe ; for the devil himself hath declared it , that his business is to go to and fro in the earth , and to walk up and down in it , and he is very swift in his motion , and active in his work , and who that hath any zeal for christ doth not abhor such a growing evil , such a spreading mischief ? seventhly , errours and heresies are apt to draw poor souls from the means of grace . they are deadly diseases , and withal , of such a cursed nature , that they take off the heart from the remedy . they cause people to withdraw from those assemblies where the truths of god are taught , and the unsoundness of such errours is laid open . and then it is as the devil would have it , when he can so bewitch poor souls , as to make them drink down deadly poyson , and then refuse to take a purge , but as this is pleasing to satan , so how grievous is it to them that tender the good of poor souls , to see them dangerously sick and altogether unwilling to be healed , or come near the means of the cure ? eightly , heresies and false doctrines make woful rents and divisions in the church . the church is one body under one head , the lord jesus christ. the apostle speaking to the church , says , now ye are the body of christ and members in particular . christ is the head of the church , and he is the saviour of the body ; and therefore the apostle exceedingly presseth the members of the church to endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace : heaping up arguments of unity . saith he , there is 1. one body . 2. one spirit . 3. one h●pe . 4. one lord. 5. one faith. 6. one baptisme . 7. one god and father of all . shall the members of one body fight each against other ? is it not monstrous for them that should be quickned with one spirit to strive against each other , as if they were acted by contrary spirits ? shall they that 〈◊〉 called to one hope be at defiance among them●selves ? can the servants of one lord bea● arms against each other , and one party no● fight against the lord himself , by contending with their fellow servants ? shall those that are called to the profession of one faith , embrace contrary beliefs ? is it not odious to see those that were washed in one laver of baptisme cast dirt upon each other ; or stain their hands , yea their consciences with the blood of each other ? is it not horrid to see the children of one heavenly father , ( or such as profess themselves to be so , ) to hate and destroy their brethren . now how clearly doth scripture witness , how sadly doth experience prove , that errours and heresies make woful rents and divisions ? in one of those places formerly mentioned , saith the apostle , i beseech you brethren mark them which cause di●visions and offences contrary to the doctrine which we have learned , and avoid them : by teaching contrary to sound doctrine , dangerous divisions are caused and great offences given . what a grievous rent was likely to have been made in the primitive church , by them which would have perswaded the believing gentiles that circumcision was necessary to salvation , had not the apostles and elders , meeting together in a synod at hierusalem , carefully suppressed this errour at the first appearing of it ? it is said paul aud barnabas had no small dissention and disputation with them that taught this false doctrine . in the synod it self there was much disputing . in the epistle directed by the synod to the churches of the gentiles , it is said , we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words , subverting your souls , saying ye must be circumcised , and keep the law ( scil . of ceremonies , ) to whom we gave no such commandment . and although this errour was for the present much restrained , yet how did it break out again afterward among the galatians ? and therefore the apostle calleth these false teachers the concision instead of the circumcision , cum ecclesiam conscinderent & lacerarent , seeing they did as it were cut and tear in pieces the church of christ with their false doctrine ; or as another saith , he called them the concision , tum quod ecclesiam pravo dogmate scinderent , tum quod simplciores a christo abscinderent , because by their corrupt opinion they did both cut asunder the unity of the church , and cut off the weaker sort from christ. but if we should speak of the rents that were in the church by errours and heresies mentioned in the ecclesiastical histories , it would amount to a large volumn . what a rent was like to be made in the churches by victor bishop of rome , about the year 198 , about a business of small moment , scil . the time of keeping easter , inclining to excommunicate many famous churches of asia dissenting from him , had not some more moderate men , especially irenaeus bishop of lions , restrained his rashness , though agreeing with him about the thing in controversie ? what worse divisions were made by the abominable heresie of the maniche's in iudea , egypt , greece , thrace , spain , and other places ? but as the blasphemous heresie of arius was raised in a time when the church was free from heathen persecutors , so what dismal rents and divisions did it make in the church , when there were bishops against bishops , churches against churches , councels against councels ? so the macedonians , nestorians , eutichians , monothelites , and others , how sadly did they tear the church in pieces ? that false and proud tenent of the papists , making the pope the universal bishop and head of the whole church , what a breach hath it made between the eastern and western churches for many hundred years ? and what is the reason that there is no reconciliation made all this while between them and the protestants , but because they remain so obstinate in their errours , heresies , and idolatries , against the manifest light of the holy scriptures ? the stiffeness of those that are called lutherans in adhering to their corrupt opinions , hath made a miserable and lasting breach amongst the protestant churches . but though we should not look either far back or far off for examples in this kind , our own land , and our present times , may afford us more then enough . have we not breach upon breach , divisions and subdivisions , many rending themselves from our churches , and then again making new rents among themselves ; and yet when there is an opportunity , to act mischief against the truth and the preachers and professors of it , they can make truce with each other for a time , and conspire together to carry on wretched designs , as the pharises and sadduces , as also herod and pilate did against christ. but here i think it needful to put in a caution or two . first , some are apt to lay the blame of these divisions upon those that maintain sound doctrine ; either when they labour to revive the truth after it hath been kept under by old errours and corrupt customes , or to defend it against new heresies and attempts of seducers . when men see them constant and inflexible , that they will not suffer themselves to be bowed and biassed according to the crooked fancies of those that are seducers , or seduced , how ready are they to condemn them for schismaticks , froward men , enemies of peace ? but this is a dangerous mistake and a very great injury to them that stand for the truth , and to the truth it self . for , 1. the people and ministers of christ are bound to stand fast in the truth against all opposition and contradiction : so the apostle sheweth that one end why christ ascending into heaven gave gifts unto men , ministers and ministerial abilities , was , that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro , and carried about with every wind of doctrine , by the slight of men , and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive , but speaking the truth in love , may grow up into him in all things , who is the head even christ. buy the truth and sell it not . the peace of the church is greatly to be esteemed and endeavoured , yet we must not sell the truth to buy peace . iude accounted it needful for him , to write unto the people of god , and exhrrt them that thoy should earnesty contend for the faith ( scil . the truth or doctrine of faith ) which was once delivered unto the saints ; for ( saith he ) there are certain men crept in unawares , &c. the apostle paul gives a strict charge to timothy , hold fast the form of sound words , which thou hast heard of me in faith , and love which is in christ iesus . hold it fast whatsoever means are used to wrest it from thee , that good thing which was committed to thee , keep by the holy ghost which dwelleth in us . then he addeth this , thou knowest that all they which are in asia be carried away from me . i conceive the word all is not to be taken universally here for all absolutely , but indefinitely , for the generality of those in asia the lesser ; and therefore timothy being left at ephesus , a chiefe city of asia was likely to meet with many adversaries , and much contention , in holding fast the form of sound words ; yet the apostle would not dispense with him in this case , he must stick close to the truth . so he telleth titus , that a minister must hold fast the faithful word as he hath been taught , that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers , for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers , especially they of the circumcision , whose mouthes must be stopped , &c. and then he addeth , wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith . is it not very likely that contentions and divisions would follow hereupon ? secondly , therefore consider that when contentions and divisions follow upon the faithful preaching , professing , maintaining of the truth , or the right administration of holy ordinances , the fault is in those that will not indure sound doctrine , but take offence when none is given , either because their errours are confuted , or their sinful practices reproved . if divisions and contentions follow upon the publishing and asserting the counsel of god ; they are the cause of it who resist the truth : for was not this the case of our lord jesus christ himself and his apostles ? many of the people when they heard christ , said , of a truth this is the prophet : others said this is the christ : but some said shall christ come out of galilee , &c. so there was a division among the people because of him . there was a division therefore again among the iews because of these sayings , and many of them said he hath a devil , and is mad , why hear ye him ? others said , these are not the words of him that hath a devil ; can a devil open the eyes of the blind ? yea , the lord christ forewarned his disciples , think not that i am come to send peace on the earth , i am not come to send peace but a sword , or ( as it is in luke ) division : for i am come to set a man at variance against his father , and the daughter against her mother , and the daughter in law against the mother in law , and a mans foes shall be they of his own houshold . christ is the prince of peace , and his gospel is the gospel of peace , and the proper end of his coming in the flesh , and the great business that he undertook was to make peace between god and men , and so by consequent , between men and men , and this design took effect accordingly in those that savingly received christ and his gospel , and yeilded up their hearts to him ; but divisions and stirs and contentions followed by accident , not from the nature of the doctrine delivered by christ and his apostles , but 1. from the malice of satan . 2. from the corruption , blindness , perverseness of mens spirits . first , from the malice of satan , who looked upon the powerful preaching of christ his gospel , as an engine of battery planted against his strong-holds . he being the prince of darkness , extreamly hateth the light ; and therefore whereas he possessed all in peace before , when the light of the gospel breaketh forth , he betaketh himself to his arms , standeth upon his guard , striveth to keep possession of the hearts and souls of men . yea , he is not content to make a defensive war only , but rageth and laboureth to put out the light , stirreth up his instruments to oppose and persecute those that receive the love of the truth , and give up their names and hearts to christ. secondly , the corruption of mans nature , the blindness and perverseness of their spirits is a cause of the●e divisions and commotions . their ignorance , errours , lusts , sinful courses are reproved by the word , yea , others receiving and obeying it , is a condemning of their unbelief , impenitency , disobedience ; and therefore they are easily perswaded by satan to oppose and persecute the truth , and them that embrace it . so that it is from the malignity of their hearts that divisions follow . i may add yet a third cause , thirdly , and that is the weakness of some who for the main do embrace and love the truth ▪ but for want of more clear and solid judgements do differ and dissent in things of les● moment , whereupon follow estrangements , and too much alienation of affection , and a● satan and the world took occasion to stir up contention and cause division , upon occasion of christ his coming and preaching : so also upon the publishing of the gospel by hi● apostles , and by consequent , by other faithful preachers of the truth . paul and barnabas at iconium , so spake , that a great multitude both of the iews and also of the greek● believed : here was the proper effect o● christs spirit working in the gospel preached ; it made peace between god and men , and united iews and gentiles together , who wer● odious to each other . now see also the effect of satans malice , and the perverseness o● unbelievers , in taking occasion hence to cause divisions , but the unbelieving iews stirred u● the gentiles , and made their minds evil affected against the brethren . it seemeth these mischievous persons then began to kindle the fire of contention in the breasts of ignorant persons , but it did not presently flame out . and therefore in the third verse we find that these faithful servants of christ went on in their work without interruption : long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the lord , which gave testimony to the word of his grace , and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands . but at length this fire of hell that lay smothered under the ashes brake forth , the multitude of the city was divided , and part held with the iews , and part with the apostles , and an assault was made both of the gentiles and iews , people and rulers , to use them despitefully and stone them , so that the apostles fled and preached the gospel elsewhere . here it is as clear as the sun , that the unbelievers and enemies of the truth were the cause of this division . if we should trace the apostle paul in his travels from place to place , where shall we find a place free from divisions ? not caused by his preaching , but following occasionally from his preaching , satan and his agents kindling the coals of contention . the apostle could not bring men to christ by his ministry , but he must of necessity wrest them out of the power of satan , and call them from the course of the world ; and thereupon satan and the world were enraged , and so contentions and divisions followed . second caution . the use of this may be , first , to teach us more seriously to lay to heart and bewayle the great and lamentable inundation and overflowing of errours and heresies among us . saith iohn , i beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven , saying with a loud voice , woe , woe , woe to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound . before we may read of seven angels with their seven trumpets , now after four of them had sounded and sad consequents followed , here is a solemn preparation made against the sounding of the three last . it seemeth the reaso● is because the calamities following , should be more grievous than the former , and accordingly an angel flying through the midst of heaven denounceth three woes to the inhabiters of the earth . it is supposed this angel was gregory 1. bishop of rome , said to fly through the midst of heaven , or the middle space between heaven and earth , because on the one side he came nearer the heavenly purity of doctrine and worship than his successors ; but was yet far below that heavenly purity of the primitive and apostolical times , and so declining toward the earth according to the corrupt times wherein he lived : who by foretelling that the king of pride was at hand , antichrist was at hand with an army of priests follow-him , gave warning of these woes approaching . soon after this warning given , the fifth angel sounded , which is the first of the three woe-bringing trumpets , ( as they may be called ) and the first consequent following is thus expressed , and i saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth , and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. it is conceived that this star noteth out both the pope in the west , and that false prophet mahomet in the east ; who though they differed far from each other in their particular way of acting , yet they both promoted the main design of the prince of darkness , and therefore may well be represented by one star falling from heaven , and said to have the key of the bottomless pit. they fell from heaven , from the heavenly purity of the true church often called heaven in this book . about three years after the death of gregory , his successor boniface the third , received of phocas the perfidious emperor ( who murdered his master mauritius the emperor with his children ) the title of universal bishop , and so a vast power to work mischief in the church , which accordingly was put in execution as it followeth , and he opened the bottomless-pit , and there arose a smoak out of the pit as a smoak of a great furnace , and the sun and the air were darkned by reason of the smoak of the pit : the smoak of errours and superstitions like a most loathsom fogg , came out of the bottomless pit darkning the light of the truth , and blinding the eyes of men , the efficacy of errour and strong delusion bewitching multitudes of poor souls . besides this , out of the smoak came locusts upon the earth , huge multitudes of monks and fryers like locusts overspreading the earth , devouring the fruits of it . these came out of the smoak of the bottomless pit , the smoak of errours and superstitions ; for when such doctrines passed for currant , that men might be saved by observing vain humane traditions , that there was a treasure in the church filled up with the merits of those that had an overplus besides what was needful for themselves , and that they who were benefactors to the monks should be partakers of their merits , how mad was the world in building monasteries , and giving their land and goods to the friers , devoting their children to that profession ? yea , it seemeth divers noble persons , and some kings and queens turning monks and nuns . and as the smoak of the pit did breed the locusts , so the locusts encreased the smoak , and made the mists of darkness greater and thicker , multiplying errours and superstitions . if this were one of those grievous woes , whereof the angel flying through the midst of heaven gave warning to the world ; how should we be humbled and ashamed in respect of the great earthliness , dulness , senselesness of spirit that is among us , yea too much in those that have some love to the truth , that this great and woful evil doth so abound with us , and is so little laid to heart ? should not the very thought of it startle us , that such thick and dark vollies of smoak in our days , should break out of the bottomless pit , and cover so great a part of our land , darkning the air and sun , eclipsing the light of the truth , and putting out the eyes of many , and so many locusts , deceivers , and deceived , coming out of the smoak of errours ? this ought to be for a lamentation . but how many that profess themselves christians set their hearts so much upon their own private concernments , their business , wealth , ease , and pleasure , &c. and those that have something of a publick spirit , yet confine their serious thoughts to the external good of the common-wealth , that they little or nothing regard these destructive evils that are of a spiritual nature . if gallio his temper ( who when complaint was made to him about differences in religion , slighted them as words and names , and cared for none of these things ) may be thought tolerably , or at at least , not much to be marvailed at in an heathen , yet doubtless it is shameful and odious in a christian. what! a christian , and not moved that christ who is the truth is so highly dishonoured , by lyes and falshood taught and received instead of truths ; that multitudes of poor souls are in a ready way to be destroyed by damnable doctrines ; that errours beget errours , and are likely to overgrow the truth , to spread far and wide ; that so many are both infected by them and alienated from the remedy , shunning the publick ordinances where sound doctrine is taught ; that such bleeding wounds and rents are made in the church . art thou a christian , and so one that pretendest to be begotten with the word of truth , and hast thou no such principle of contrariety planted in thee against errours and false doctrines , as to make them bitter and grievous to thee ? some may raile at those that are misled , and others may make a sport of their folly ; but how small is the number of those who like christians mourn for them as dishonourable to christ , pernicious to souls ? how deeply was the holy apostle affected with the obstinacy of the iews in their errours , in preferring the ceremonies of the law above christ the substance ; and their own imaginary legal righteousness , above the perfect righteousness of christ applied by faith . i say the truth in christ. i lye not , my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy ghost , that i have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart : for i could wish that i my self were accursed from christ for my brethren , my kinsmen , according to the flesh . how passionately did he express himself to the galatians , who had once embraced the pure doctrine of the gospel , but afterwards suffered themselves to be so deluded by seducers , as to seek justification by the law , my little children of whom i travel in birth again until christ be formed in you . he felt such sorrow , such fear , such strong and compassionate workings of heart towards them , as were answerable to the pangs of a woman in child-bearing . saith the psalmist , i beheld the transgressours and was grieved , because they kept not thy word : this i conceive doth plainly concern both transgressions in practice and in doctrine or belief . both these forts of transgressiours are guilty of not keeping gods word . they that live in a course of sin , they keep the word in their judgement and profession , but keep it not in their lives and actions . they that go on in errours keep not the word so much as in judgment and profession . besides , how can a man forsake any truth of god which he hath once received , but he must ipso facto , in that very act transgress in point of practise ? he transgresseth that precept , prov. 23 , buy the truth and sell it not : that of the apostle , be no more children tossed to and fro , and carried about with every wind of doctrine , &c. and that , hold fast the form of sound words , &c. now the psalmist beheld those with a mournful eye , i beheld the transgressours and was grieved , &c. is it not a sign of a graceless heart to behold transgressours without grief ? if we moan not for these things out of spiritual respects ; the lord may justly make us mourn for those outward evils that they may bring upon us . the divel as he is the father of lyes , so he is a murderer . spiritus mendax est homicida ; and they that are led by a lying spirit , if they can establish their facton and party so as to grow confident of their power , may soon discover a murtherous spirit ; and then those that are lukewarm and indifferent in matters of religion , may feel their fury as well as they that are most zealous . secondly , this truth may shame those who plead for a toleration of all sorts of errours , hereticks , seducers , false prophets . it seemeth the apostle paul accounted them intolerable , when he pronounced them accursed , and wished them cut off . but such pretend christian charity , meekness mercy . i answer , 1. will they boast of more love than paul had , who could have wished himself accursed that israel might have been saved ? will they pretend to more meekness than moses , who was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth ? and yet ye heard how he acted against balaam and the midianites , and we find also that he caused three thousand to be slain for idolatry . if men will approve themselves to be of such a spirit as paul and moses , let them shew meekness and love in ●earing and forgiving private and personal injuries offered to themselves : and on the other side , manifest true zeal for the truth and glory of christ. 2. charity and mercy is to be shewed to souls , especially that they may not be poysoned with damnable heresies . is it not gross hypocrisie to pretend much tenderness towards deceivers , and to have no bowels of compassion towards poor weak creatures whose simplicity is abused , and whose souls are daily insnared by their mischievous subtilties . is this become a point of charity , to desire that ravening wolves may have free liberty , without check or controul , to make havock of the flock of christ ? 3. i say that charity is to be shewed to hereticks not by suffering them to add sin to sin , and to give them protection and encouragement in acting mischief , but by restraining them from their sin : ministers and private christians doing their parts in discouraging their errrours , praying for them , &c. magistrates using their power to curb them . 4. i grant a difference is to be made ; as the apostle iude , having spoken very sharply against hereticks towards the end of the epistle saith , of some have compassion , making a difference and others save with fear , pulling them out of the fire . some may err in less matters , and out of simplicity , and carry themselves humbly and modestly , not troubling the peace of the church : such are to be tenderly dealt with as brethren , while they shew themselves willing to be informed . some may agree with the church in all main and most substantial points , and differ in things that seem not clearly laid down in scripture : these if they do not proudly and obstinately reject the truth , i suppose ought to have much moderation shewed towards them . again there is a great difference between the simple and weak that are misled , and those that are cunning seducers and deceivers of others . more severity is to be used towards seducers , than those that are misled by them : yet even these are to be heard and means used to convince them out of the scriptures , to be admonished exhorted , patience and long suffering to be exercised toward them . if after all such means used , they remain obstinate , neither forsaking their errours , nor ceasing to draw others from the truth : how can it suit either with zeal for christ , or love to souls , to suffer them to go on ? it may be objected that the weapons of this warfare are spiritual , and therefore no other are to be used . i answer , that ministers weapons are spiritual ; but they according to their calling , may call upon the magistrate to use other weapons against those that despise spiritual weapons , as against drunken●●●● adultery murder , &c. some it may be will say that many magi●●●●es are not able to judge of the truth or falshood of doctrines . i answer , it is the duty of christians in general to labour that the word of god may dwell in them richly in all wisdom and spiritual understanding . this is required of christians whether private persons or magistrates . 2. if some false doctrines be so artificially painted over , and have such fair colours put upon them , that it 's hard to discover their falshood : a godly magistrate may have the assistance of such as are more exercised in this kind than himself . fourtbly , it may be said , that conscience ought not to be compelled . i answer , i am fully of that judgement , and therefore i conceive none ought by any violent courses to be enforced to profess any doctrine contrary to their own consciences , though their judgements be never so erroneous . but when any cannot be content to err alone , but are restless and active in corrupting others , and will not forbear though often admonished ; in such a case , to remedy so great a mischief , either by banishment or imprisonment of the offenders , is no violence to their consciences , but a just punishment upon the outward man. it may be they will say , they are bound in conscience to teach others the same things which they believe themselves . i answer , then i conceive the magistrate should think himself bound in conscience to stop them in their course , and if nothing else will do it , to shut them up as he would do one , who having the pestilence , offereth to thrust himself into throngs of people to infect them . fifthly , some it seemeth have found out a strange conceit , that the examples of those godly kings of iudah in punishing idolaters , is no rule for christian magistrates now ; because they were tyes of christ , who is called the son of david according to the flesh , and of whom it is said , the lord god shall give unto him the throne of his father david , and he shall raign over the house of iacob for ever . i answer , 1. if this reason were of any force , it would as well take away from the magistrate all power of punishing other offences as well as this , or at least take away this proof . 2. as the reason is frivolous , so we find that others are commended in scripture that were not of the family of david nor types of christ. to pass by that execution of moses and the israelites upon balaam and the midianites , for seducing the people , observe the act of elijah , in slaying the prophets of baal . some may say elijah was a prophet . i answer , this execution was no prophetical act , but an act of magistracy , for which in this extraordinary case , elijah was authorized immediately by the lord himself , to whom all power and authority belongs . but how clear is th●● in the case of iehu king of the ten tribe● who though he was not upright , yet because he destroyed baal out of israel , brake down his image and house , and made it a draugh●-house , slew the worshippers of baal , and the idolatrous family of ahab , he was both commended and rewarded by the lord , in so much that the kingdom was settled upon him and his to the fourth generation . sixthly , some may say christians should be very tender of shedding of blood . i answer , 1. i am clearly of the same mind , and i wish some of our laws were mittigated , and some other punishment were laid upon some offences , which among us are made capital . but what shall we say to such that can be content to see men loose their lives for sheep-stealing and horse-stealing , and yet cry out upon it as an high degree of cruelty , if blasphemers , and those that draw others from the ordinances of god into damnable heresies , should be put to death ? have we not had such among us , who have been very tender hearted patrons of hereticks , not only sparing their lives , but countenancing and preferring them ; and yet when any out of principles of conscience have opposed their usurped power , their feet have been swift to shed blood . 2. i conceive magistrates in restraining heresies ought to be very wary in taking away life . i wish , 1. they would take them from all publick offices of trust and power . 2. discountenance them . 3. suppress their meetings . and if any be obstinate and refractory , there be other wayes to curb them besides capital punishments ; as fines , banishment , imprisonment . but for blasphemers , i know not what authority under heaven , hath power to dispense with that law so expressely delivered by the god of heaven , he that blasphemeth the name of the lord , he shall surely be put to death . seventhly , some i believe think they have a protection for hereticks , to preserve them from the hand of justice , in that parable of the tares , where the housholder would not have the tares rooted up , lest the wheat should be plucked up with them , but would have both grow together until the harvest . i answer , 1. i see not how this can exempt hereticks from punishment , more than perjured persons , theeves , traitours , rebels , adulterers , murderers , or other malefactours , for what are tares but all sorts of persons , that are not wheat to be gathered into the barn. and therefore in the exposition of the parable , the tares are declared to signifie all things that offend , and them that do iniquity . and therefore i conceive these servants are not the magistrates , who are not forbidden , but commanded to use their power for a terrour to evil works : but the angels whom the lord will not have to pluck up all the tares before the harvest day , scil . the end of the world . and in the exposition of the parable i find nothing either restraining civil magistrates , or church officers , in proceeding against notorious and scandalous offenders . 2. parables are not to be pressed and urged in every particular circumstance : but the scope is to be considered . and i conceive the scope and design of this parable is to shew that there shall be a mixture of good and bad in the world until the last day , when the separation shall be made . and therefore in the third place , how earnest should we be in praying to the lord , to preserve our selves and others from being led away with the errour of the wicked , to reduce those that are led aside , to open their eyes , and humble their hearts , that they may acknowledge their failings , and return to the truth , to frustrate the subtil devices and mischievous attempts of deceivers , to fill the magistrates with a spirit of wisdom , zeal , and courage to improve their authority for the lord jesus christ , in putting a restraint upon the enemies of his name and truth , to stir up in them bowels of compassion towards poor souls , who are dayly in danger to be insnared and bewitched by them . besides all the other mischiefs done by false teachers , i conceive this one were enough to stir up all that truly fear god , to desire their restraint , that they draw many poor creatures from publick ordinances , from the ordinary means of knowledge , grace , and salvation : and how can they do the divel a more acceptable service , or open a readier way for popery , profaneness , atheisme , and all manner of wickedness to break in upon us ? so much of the apostles answer by way of abhorrence or detestation . chap. iii. now followeth the other part of his answer , by way of negation o● denyal . concerning which , i grant it to be an affirmation in respect of the form of the words , if they be considered as a sentence by themselves ; but consider this clause as an answer to the former question or objection , and so it is a denial , and more than a denial , in regard of the matter of it , it is a denial with advantage . the question or objection is , do we make void the law thro●gh faith ? implying that the doctrine delivered by the apostle concerning justification by faith , doth make void the law , that is , that by maintaining this doctrine , that they who receive christ by a lively faith , applying his righteousness , obedience , and satisfaction , to themselves , and relying wholly upon him for justification and salvation , are accepted of god as truly righteous , without any consideration at all of any works of theirs done in obedience to the law ; that they hereby do make void the law , or take away the use and authority of it . this the apostle doth most strongly deny , by affirming the contrary , yea , we establish the law. if he had said no more but this , we do not make void the law through faith , it had been a denial of that which was objected . but to add strength to his denyal , he affirms the contrary , that the doctrine of justification by faith , is so far from making void the law , that it confirmeth and establisheth the law. so that the apostle shews that there was a double falshood in this objection : for if the doctrine objected against , had neither made void the law , nor established it , it had been false to say , it did make void the the law : but to say it made void the law , when it was so far from making it void , that it did establish it , was a double falshood . again , it seemeth the objection was made both against the doctrine , and them that taught it , do we make void the law through faith ? scil . the apostle and other gospel-preachers ? and the answer cleareth both , yea , we establish the law : the doctrine which we preach , and we in preaching this doctrine , are so far from making void the law , that both our doctrine , and we in teaching it , do establish the law. hence may be noted this point , that such things have been objected against the truth , and them that stand for the truth , as are doubly false . i conceive there is an objection implied in the speech of our lord christ , think not that i am come to destroy the law or the prophets ; i am not come to destroy but to fulfill . it seemeth some either did object , or were inclined to object against the son of god , that he came to destroy the law and the prophets . now he shews that there was a double falshood in this surmize : for 1. he did not come to destroy them . 2. he came to fulfill them in such an exact and perfect manner and measure , as the best of men that ever came before him were never able to do . so when he had cast the divel out of a dumb man , that was possessed , so that the dumb spake , and the multitude marveiled saying , it was never so seen in israel , the pharisees said , he casteth out devils through the prince of devils . there was a double falshood in this envious and blasphemous cavil . they accused him as a confederate of the devil , who both by his doctrine and works made it appear that he came to destroy the works of the devil . the lord christ having said , i am the light of the world : he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness , but shall have the light of life . the pharisees said unto him , thou bearest record of thy self , thy record is not true . this was doubly false ; for he is the truth it self , and neither did nor could speak any untruth . so when the lord jesus had opened the eyes of one that was born blind , on the sabbath day , some of the pharisees said , this man is not of god , because he keepeth not the sabbath day . this was doubly false : if a man be accused for breaking the sabbath , when he doth some work of necessity , which is permitted on the sabbath day , though not commanded , it is a false accusation : but when he is accused to break the sabbath , for such a work as is a work suitable to the sabbath ; there is a double falshood in such a charge . now such was this , and other miraculous works wrought by the lord christ on the sabbath . they were not only things permitted to be done on that day , but they were special and choice sabbath day works ; for they were divine works , works of divine and almighty power , works tending to prove and confirm his doctrine : yea , proofs and evidences of that great doctrine , that he was the son of god , the christ , the saviour of the world . so those enemies of the gospel at philippi fal●ly accused paul and silas , and slandered their doctrine , saying , these men being iews , do exceedingly trouble our city , and teach customes which are not lawful for us to receive , neither to observe , being romans . here was a double falshood . for , 1. it was lawful for them to receive and observe the things taught by paul , &c. 2. it was not only lawful but necessary . they were bound to receive them as the counsels and commands of the lord jesus , exalted to the right hand of god , as king of kings , and lord of lords , to whom every knee mnst bow , &c. to whose soveraignty both the romans , and all other nations of the world were subject . so the unbelieving iews of thessalonica cried out against them , these that have turned the world upside down , are come hither also . now this had been false , if paul and silas had done neither good nor harm in the world . but it was doubly false ; for they were so far from turning the world upside down , that they laboured mightily to set the world in order : they found the world wofully disordered , full of confusion , and as it were turned upside down , by the subtilty and malice of satan , and the wickedness of men : the divel the worst and basest of all the creatures raigning over the world : man at first made after the image of god , and lord of the rest of the creatures , so far abased as to worship stocks and stones , yea , the images of birds and beasts , &c. and inslaved to divers lusts and vile affections . now paul and silas , and other faithful preachers of the gospel , taught such a doctrine as tended to the remedying and rectifying of these disorders and confusions , to put the world into a right posture , to beat down the strong holds of satan , to cast him out of his usurped throne , to deliver the people of the world out of his power , to rescue them out of the slavery of sin , to reconcile them unto god by christ , to subject them to his authority , to restore them to his likeness . so there was also a double untruth in their other accusation , these all do contrary to the decrees of caesar. this had been false if paul , &c. had spoken nothing at all either for or against caesars authority : but it was a double untruth to lay such a charge upon them , that taught obedience and subjection to caesar. let every soul be subject , &c. yea , and paul directed titus to teach thus , put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers , to obey magistrates . this proceedeth , 1. from ignorance i suppose in some , who not having their senses exercised in the word of god , do grossely mistake things that are delivered , and misunderstand the words and meaning of those that bear witness to the truth . such it may be was the case of those unbelieving iews , who complained of paul and silas , that they turned the world upside down : and those heathens at athens who said of paul , he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods , because he preached unto them iesus and the resurrection : whereas his endeavour was to perswade them to renounce all strange gods , and to turn to the only true and living god. others seem to have taken his speech for vain babling : whereas i believe it was the most serious weighty discourse that ever was uttered within their walls since the foundation of their city was laid . but they were trained up in heathenish blindness and ignorance , and therefore no wonder if they were subject to such gross mistakes : for saith the apostle , we preach christ crucified , unto the greeks foolishness . the most excellent wisdom that ever was revealed to the children of men , is accounted foolishness by ignorant and foolish men . i conceive , secondly , this may proceed from misinformation in some , who being weak credulous persons do take things upon trust without judicious trial and examination , giving credit to false reports , of such as speak evil of that which they understand not , or of such as for base ends do slander the truth , or those that profess and preach the truth . so when demetrius minding his trade and gain , had stirred up an uproar among the ignorant people of ephesus , some cried one thing , and some another , for the assembly was confused , and the most part knew not wherefore they were come together . and yet it seemeth this rude and ignorant multitude joyned together to make up the common cry . all with one voice about the space of two hours cryed out , great is diana of the epbesians . how many have made loud clamours against the truth , and them that preach and profess it , upon the false suggestions of others , themselves not being able to give a reason for what they say ! 3. i conceive many do this out of malice against those that maintain the truth . the malignity of their spirits is not satisfied with lesser calumnies than those of a double dye . tertullus the oratour was not content to term the blessed apostle paul , a pestilent fellow , ( as our english hath it , ) but a pest or plague as in the original : and then accused him for a mover of sedition among all the iews throughout the world , and one that went about to prophane the temple : whereas he endeavoured to prevent or suppress sedition or tumults , and endured great afflictions , and was exposed to extream dangers by the turbulent and seditious adversaries of the truth , and instead of being a plague , he was one of the chiefest instruments of good to the world that ever was , and instead of going about to profane the temple , he shewed special regard of the supposed holiness of the temple even after the date of it was expired , that he might not give offence to the weak : and yet the iews assented to their oratour , in these most false suggestions , saying that these things were so . fourthly , it seemeth many do this for want of arguments to confirm their false opinions , and overthrow the truth : and therefore they lay on load , heaping up railings instead of reasons , false and reproachful accusations , instead of convincing demonstrations ; thinking to disgrace those truths which they cannot disprove , and to discredit those teachers the light of whose doctrine they cannot resist . and how ready are the weaker sort to be scared from the truth , and alienated from those assemblies where it is taught by such shifts as these ? a bold face and a rolling tongue pouring out store of opprobrious language against the truth , goes a great way with the simple . what an out-cry was made by the iews of asia against paul , men of israel help : this is the man that teacheth all men every where against the people , and the law , and this place : and farther , brought greeks also into the temple , and hath polluted this holy place . and all the city was moved , and the people ran together , and they took paul and drew him out of the temple , and went about to kill him . how soon are the multitude stirred up , and set in a rage by the meer clamours of those who outragiously exclaim against the truth , and them that maintain it ? men of israel help ; as if all were like to be lost , unless paul and his doctrine were suppressed . so when they that disputed with stephen , were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake , then they suborned men , which said , we have heard him speak blasphemous words against moses , and against god , and they stirred up the people . they were beaten from their arguments , and then sought to over-bear him with false accusations , and the ignorant people were ready to hearken to them . first , this may teach us not to think it strange , if the truth and those that profess it be evil spoken of in these times ; if things that are doubly false be objected against it and them . solomon saith , there is no new thing under the sun : certainly this is no new thing , as ye have heard by divers examples out of scripture ; it is a practice as antient as the apostles dayes . paul and his ministry did not escape these envenomed tongues . nay , the lord christ himself , together with his doctrine and works , was thus traduced . why should it be expected that the servants should be above their master , or the truth in their mouths be more free from false reproaches than it was in his ? if ye hear such things in these dayes , consider that the divel doth but keep his old wont . if the doctrine of free justification be slandered as licentious , and tending to carnal liberty , was it not so in pauls time ? if the ministers of the gospel be called antichristian , baals-priests , and the like , by hereticks and sectaries , it is no wonder ; the divel seeth them to stand in his way and hinder his work . i think it is easie to prove that there is a double falshood in this reproach . for first , they do not promote the interest and kingdom of antichrist either in regard of discipline , doctrine or worship . not in regard of discipline ; they are far from seeking to bring men into subjection to him as the visible head of the church , or to exalt his authority above kings and princes , and above the laws of christ. nor in doctrine ; they teach not popish opinions . nor in worship ; they are no patrons of idolatry and superstition . but secondly , they are so far from being antichristians , that i am perswaded that they are the greatest and most considerable opposites and adversaries to antichrist that are in the world . and therefore there is a double falshood in this charge . and i think it very probable that the jesuites were either the first instruments of satan in broaching this reproach , or else are very apt to promote it and set it on ; that by crying down the ministers of the gospel as antichristian , they may make way for antichrist to get ground amongst us with the more ease and speed . how easie were it to demonstrate , that ministers of the same order and the same judgement with those that now by foul-mouthed adversaries are branded for antichristian , have been principally instrumental under christ to overthrow popery , and to prevent it for recovering its former strength ? for the eminent instruments in this work were , luther , melanchthon , and bucer , and others of germany . calvin , beza , iunius , chamier of france . zuinglius , oe●olampadius , bullinger , grinaeus , of switzerland . whitaker and reinolds of england , and divers others . besides the diligent and constant endeavours of ministers in preaching , clearing , confirming the truth , and through the lords blessing , grounding and establishing the people in it against popish errours and antichristian corruptions . as for sectaries , who are so liberal in bestowing such titles upon the ministers of the gospel , have they not occasionally at least given much advantage to antichrist , and as it were opened a back door at which to let him in again ? 1. by seeking to discredit the ministers of the word and their ministry . 2. by drawing many people from the ordinances , and so preparing them to take such impressions as satan and his instruments are ready to put upon them , and ( if opportunity be ) to receive the mark of the beast . 3. by multiplying divisions and factions , and setting up party against party , and thereby taking a ready course to make religion ridiculous in the eyes of worldly politicians , filling the minds of the simple with doubting and amazement , as not knowing which way to take . and , 4. hereupon ministring occasion to the jesuites and friers to perswade the people that there will be no certainty , no end of divisions , no remedy against sects and errours , but by uniting themselves to one visible head the pope , and returning to the bosom of the mother church of rome : yea , it is verily thought that many of the popes agents and emissaries are now very active among us , disguised under the appearance of sectaries , labouring to encrease contention among us , for the designs of antichrist . i conceive it is very observable , that those sectaries which cry down the preachers and professours of the truth as antichristian , have usually come in the rear , and a day after the fight as it were ; for when they that are sound in their principles have set upon the work of reformation , and through the good hand of god some hopeful beginings have been made , then have crept in anabaptists and other sectaries : so in germany , switzerland , geneva , england . i conceive , the divel finding that , upon the bre●king forth of light , those old errours and corrupt customes will not be digested ; he then stirreth up some to pretend to reformation , disguising himself that way , that he may both hinder the work and blemish it . this it seemeth was his practice about the time of christs coming in the flesh , to raise up false christs and deceivers , &c. chap. iv. rom. 3. 31. i conceive it is clear , that the apostle , in the two first chapters of this epistle , speaketh of a threefold law : one of which was given to mankind in general , both gentiles and israelites ; the other two were peculiarly delivered to the people of israel . the first of these , scil . that which was given to mankind in general , is that which is called the law of nature , consisting of those notions of good and evil , which were left or new written by the lord in the minds of men and women , after that the nature of mankind was corrupted by sin ; which law , though it be now imperfect , yet in many things it sheweth the difference between good and evil , and hath power over the conscience to inform , convince , excuse , and accuse . the other two delivered peculiarly to the people of israel , are the law of ordinances of ceremonies , and the law moral . and the apostle proveth that none of these laws can justifie the strictest observers of them : all men and women being naturally corrupt , and possest with principles of opposition against the purity and perfection of the moral law : and those that are renewed by grace , being but imperfectly conformed to the law. as for the law of ceremonies : it is in its own nature no perfect rule of righteousness , but consisting of figures and shadows , and such earthly and carnal observances as had a mystical signification of spiritual and heavenly things . the law of nature is comprehended in the moral law , delivered in the scriptures , first published to israel , and then communicated together with the gospel to the nations of the world . so that that which is imperfectly written in the minds of men naturally , is perfectly declared by the law written by the finger of god in tables of stone , scil . the ten commandments , and more fully opened in other parts of scripture . and therefore though it was expedient for the apostle to speak distinctly of them in the former part of his discourse , to convince both israelites and heathens of their unrighteousness and g●ilt ; yet in this place i conceive , the law of nature and the written law , may well be comprehended under one , and so i take the apostles meaning to be , that by the doctrine of free justification through the righteousness of christ , both the ceremonial and moral law are established . to begin with the former , observe this point , that the law of ceremonies is established by the doctrine of the gospel . or thus , the doctrine of free justification through the righteousnes of christ apprehended by faith , establisheth the ceremonial law. for the right understanding of this , we may consider , first , in general , what these ceremonial institutions were . secondly , how they were misunderstood or abused by ignorant and carnal israelites . thirdly , how they are established by the gospel , or doctrine of justification by faith . first , these ceremonial ordinances were instituted by the authority of god himself , as parts of his outward worship and figures of heavenly and spiritual things , to be observed untill the death of christ. 1. they were instituted by the authority of god himself : so circumcision was commanded immediately by god himself , to abraham and his posterity . so the lord gave express directions to moses and aaron , concerning the ordinance of the passeover , and moses being fourty days and fourty nights in the mount , received ceremonial laws from the lord to be observed by the people . secondly , they were parts of gods outward worship . some of them more directly and properly , as the sacrifices which were to be offered to the lord only ; so also the sweet incense , and divers others . other of them , more improperly as things subservient to the worship of god : as the altar of burnt-offerings , the ark , the golden table , &c. thirdly , they were figures of heavenly and spiritual things . who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things , as moses was admonished of god , when he was about to make the tabernacle . for see ( saith he ) that thou make all things according to the patern shewed thee in the mount. fourthly , they were to be observed until the death of christ. above when he said , sacrifice and offerings and burnt-offerings , and offering for sin , thou wouldst not , neither hadst pleasure therein , which are offered by the law. th●● said he ( that is christ , ) lo , i come to do thy will o god. he taketh away the first that he may establish the second . by the which will we are sanctified , by the offering of the body of iesus christ once for all . the ceremonies of the law were to continue until christ offered himself in sacrifice , and then they were to be taken away , and to give place to his all-sufficient sacrifice : and accordingly the lord christ himself manifested in the flesh , and made under the law , did in his own person observe the ceremonies of the law. but at his death , the veile of the temple wa● rent in twain from the top to the bottom : which i conceive signified both the abolishing of legal ceremonies , and the opening of the way into the heavenly sanctuary by the death of christ. now there being great abundance and varieties of these ceremonial institutions , i conceive they may be reduced to four heads . 1. sacraments . 2. sacrifices . 3. sacred persons and things subservient to holy uses . 4. sacred observances . 1. sacraments ; and those ordinarily were two , 1. circumcision , whereby they were solemnly admitted into the church , and visibly sealed as parties to the covenant . 2. the passeover , wherein they were admitted by faith to feed upon christ the lamb of god , who taketh away the sins of the world , slain in the eternal counsel of god before the foundation of the world , and to be actually sacrificed in the fulness of time . 2. sacrifices . 1. whole burntofferings . 2. meat-offerings . 3. sin-offerings . 4. thank-offerings , or peace-offerings , and among these especially the daily burnt-offering presented to the lord morning and evening every day in the year . 3. sacred persons and things . such were the priests and levites , especially the high-priest . the holy places , 1. a tabernacle . 2. a temple , with the several parts . consecrated days and times ; the feasts of the passover , of pentecost , of tabernacles , the new moons , the weekly sabbaths as limited to the last day of the week , &c. the utensils of the sanctuary ; the altar of burntoffering , the golden altar of incense , the loaves , the table of shew-bread , the ark , mercy-seat , &c. 4. sacred observances . their divers washings and purifyings , absteining from divers creatures as unclean , with very many usages injoyned . in the second place consider how these things were understood or abused by ignorant or carnal israelites . i conceive 1. that many of them had little or no knowledge of the mystical signification or spiritual meaning of these types and shadows : they did not see christ in them . 2. that they rested in the outward work . if they were outwardly circumcised , they looked not after the circumcision of the heart , mortification of sin , self-denyal , regeneration : having fed upon the lamb with unlevened bread in the feast of the passeover , they minded not the lamb of god , nor sought after the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth . when they offered sacrifice they looked no farther than the beast that was slaine , not minding the perfect all-sufficient sacrifice of christ. it seemeth they were so far from this , that when christ according to the antient prophesies and types , had offered up himself in sacrifice for the sins of the world , they made his death an occasion of stumbling , and took that to be an argument that he was not the christ , which was one of the main evidences that he was the christ. in their legal washings , how did they rest in the purifying of the flesh , without any care to wash their hearts from wickedness ? did not they rest in the high-priest of the order of aaron , without minding an eternal high-priest after the order of melchisedeck ? a multitude of such instances might be given . thirdly , they seemed to have minded the outward observation of these ceremonial ordinances more than the keeping of the moral law. so the lord complaineth by the prophet isaiah , that they rebelled against him , knew him not , forsook him , provoked him to anger , revolted from him , had hands full of blood : and yet it seemeth they were very forward in the ceremonial observances , bringing a multitude of sacrifices , burnt offerings of rams , fat of fed beasts , bullocks , lambs , he-goats . though these were more costly , yet they were more forward in these services than in moral duties , cleansing their hearts and hands from sin , &c. is there not a notable evidence of this in the actings of those iews who killed the lord of life ? they seemed to be so scrupulous in point of ceremony , that they would not enter into the court or judgement-hall , least they should be defiled , but that they might eat the passeover , and therefore pilate the judge was fain to come out of the court and wait upon them to hear what they could say against him , and it seemeth being wearied with going in and out , at last he removed and sate upon a judgement-seat without doors : in the mean time , these wicked murtherers were so violently bent to shed innocent blood , that they defiled themselves with the guilt of a most heinous sin , straining at a gnat , and swallowing of a camel. fourthly , it seemeth they relied upon these ceremonies , or the observation of them , as a part of that righteousness whereby they hoped to be justified in the sight of god. the lord having planted a church at antioch , certain men which came down from iudea , taught the brethren , except ye be circumcised after the manner of moses ye cannot be saved . saith the apostle , i testifie again to every man that is circumcised ▪ that he is a debtor to do the whole law. christ is become of none effect to you . whosoever of you are justified by the law , ye are fallen from grace . doth not this intimate that they relied on the ceremony of circumcision , in part for justification , and under circumcision i understand other ceremonies of the law. fifthly , i conceive it is very clear , that they thought these legal ceremonies were to be obserfor ever unto the end of the world . so in the place mentioned before , they said , except ye be circumcised , &c. and so it seemeth they counted it blasphemy to say that the lord jesus should change the customes delivered by moses . thirdly , the question is , how the doctrine of the gospel concerning free justification through the righteousness of christ apprehended by faith , doth establish this law of ceremonies . to this i answer , 1. negatively . 2. affirmatively . 1. negatively , this doctrine of the gospel doth not establish the law of ceremonies by confirming and continuing the observation of it , but on the contrary , take it away . so stephen b●ing accused for saying that jesus christ should change the customes delivered by moses , told the iews , that moses said unto the children of israel , a prophet shall the lord your god raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me , him shall ye hear . the lord christ was the great propher , by whose spirit moses and the rest of the prophets were inspired . and as he had directed moses to deliver these ceremonial ordinances to israel , to be observed untill his manifestation in the flesh , and departure out of the world again : so now he was to be heard as one of unquestionable authority , declaring unto the church his will and pleasure , concerning the ceasing of these observances . that passage between the lord christ and the woman of samaria , is notable to this purpose : he by telling her of her sinful course , had convinced her thus far , that she made this acknowledgement , sir i perceive thou art a prophet , and therefore it seemeth thought that he might be able to resolve a question of great moment , wherein she desired satisfaction , and that was this , our fathers worshipped in this mountain , and ye say that in hierusalem is the place wherein men out to worship the father . i conceive , the occasion of this controversie between the iews and samaritans , was this ; the samaritans were the posterity of those heathens whom salmanasser king of assyria had placed there instead of the israelites whom he carried away captive , and embraced a corrupt religion mixed of heathenisme and judaisme . toward the end of the persian monarchy , manasses the brother of iaddus the high-priest married the daughter of sanballat a prime man of samaria : whereupon he was required of his brother to lay down his office , his marriage being condemned by the law. manasses acquainted sanballat with his loss , and let him know that though he loved his daughter , yet he would not for her sake lose so great a dignity as that of the priesthood . sanballat answered him , that if he would keep his daughter for his wife , he would make him an high-priest , and with the license and consent of darius king of persia build a temple upon mount gerizim for that purpose . but darius being overthrown in battel soon after by alexander of macedon , he made this suit to him , bringing him eight thousand souldiers to serve him in the wars , and readily obtained his desire . so that this became a receptacle to divers fugitive or apostate iews , who were guilty of breaking the law by pro●aning the sabbath , eating meats forbidden , or the like crimes . this temple having stood about 200 years , was ruined by hircanus , about a hundred years before christ his coming in the flesh or more . now as they that embrace errours and corrupt inventions of men in things pertaining to religion and religious worship , are obstinate in cleaving to their fancies : so the samaritans would make comparisons between their temple which was founded without warrant from god , yea , against his word , and the temple of hierusalem which the lord owned for the peculiar place of his worship . yea , and after their temple was laid desolate , they seemed to please themselves with the imagination of the holiness of the ground on which it once stood ; and therefore saith the woman , our fathers worshipped in this mountain , &c. as if mount gerizim were still an holy mount , though the temple was down : and so there was great enmity between the iews and samaritans . but observe the answer which the lord christ gave her , jesus saith unto her , woman beleeve me , the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain , nor yet at hierusalem worship the father . ye worship ye know not what : we know what we worship ; for salvation is of the iews . but the hour cometh , and now is , when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and truth , for the father seeketh such to wrship him ▪ god is a spirit , and they that worship him , must worship him in spirit and in truth . the woman saith unto him , i know that messias cometh , which is called christ : when he is come he will tell us all things . iesus saith unto her , i that speak unto thee am he . i conceive in this answer , the lord christ sheweth , 1. that both the iews and samaritans were in an errour : for it seemeth both of them thought that the lord had confined his most solemn worship to one certain place throughout all ages , as one party said at mount gerizim , the other at hierusalem ; and that the ceremonies and sacrifices there used should be alwaies continued : bus the lord christ told the woman , that god had not limited himself to either of these places , and that the time was now at hand , when it should be as free to worship god in any other place , as in either of these . 2. he passeth sentence for the iews against the samaritans in this controversie . so far as concerned the present state of things , saith he , ye ( scil . ye samaritans ) worship ye know not what : we ( scil . we iews ) know what we worship , for salvation is of the iews . ye samaritans do ye know not what in your worshipping , ye know not god aright , ye have no warrant from his word , either for your temple , once standing on this mount , or for limiting the worship of god to this place , or for the way of worship ; ye blindly follow the groundless traditions of your fathers : but we know what we worship , we follow the directions of god himself , delivered by moses and the prophets , both for the place and manner of gods worship , for salvation is of the iews . they are the church of god to whom god hath committed his oracles , teaching the way of salvation , and of whom as concerning the flesh , christ the saviour of the world was to come . 3. he confirmeth and amplifieth the first part of his answer , shewing that the lord in a short time would set up a more spiritual way of worship in his church , more sutable to his spiritual nature , to which these carnal ordinances and ceremonial ordinances should give place . secondly , i answer affirmatively , that the doctrine of the gospel , and in particular , this gospel-doctrine of free justification through the righteousness of christ , doth establish the ceremonial law. for , 1. then is a thing established , when it attaineth its proper end . now by the gospel , the law of ceremonies attained its proper end : for , 1. the end of it was , to be a school-master to bring men to christ. circumcision sealed the righteousness of faith , which circumcision it self could not give , but was to be found in christ : it taught men to look after the circumcision of the heart which was to be had in christ alone , by union with him , by faith , and partaking of his spirit . the passeover pointed out unto them christ , the lamb of god without spot , which taketh away the sins of the world . the sacrifices directed them to christ the perfect sacrifice . the blood of the sacrifices led them to the sprinkling of the blood of christ , which alone was sufficient to take away sin . now these and other ceremonies attained their end in christ , and in the justification of sinners through the blood , death , satisfaction , righteousness of christ apprehended and applied by faith , according to the doctrine of the gospel , and so this law of ceremonies was established , and the validity of it declared . but on the other side , they that pretend so much zeal for circumcision and other ceremonies of the law , making it a part of the matter of their justification , and resting in the bare outward observance as pleasing to the lord in it self did cross the main end of the ceremonial law , and propose such false ends as were impossible to be attained . secondly , the doctrine of the gospel , making christ the end of the law for righteousness , in whom wisdom , righteousness , sanctification , redemption and salvation alone is to be had , sheweth that the ceremonial ordinances were no empty shadowes and vain appearances , like those of the heathen , but significant signs and types full of deep mysteries of exceeding great weight and importance , pointing at the person of the lord jesus , his office , his actings , his sufferings , and the fruits and benefits of these : whereas they that so stiffely opposed the strict observation of the ceremonies of the law against the doctrine of christ delivered in the gospel , what did they make of them but begerly elements , empty appearances without fruit , use or profit ? so that the preachers of the gospel did honour the ceremonial law , though they took away the observation of them , by declaring the substance whereof they were shadowes ; and the observers of the ceremonies in the times of the gospel did greatly disparage them . thirdly , the doctrine of the gospel doth still establish the ceremonial law , as an illustration of the mystery of christ in the gospel , and sheweth that great use may still be made of them that way : for the ceremonies were as it were visible prophesies of christ , and the things of christ. and as prophesies are dark before they are fulfilled , but clear after they are accomplished , and do much illustrate the events : so these ceremonies were obscure resemblances of christ ; but now since what they signified is fulfilled , the comparing the types with the antitypes giveth much light . the use which i intend to make of this point is , to compare some of the principal ceremonies of the old testament , with the mysteries of the gospel , that so we may more clearly see how they are established by christ , and that we may improve them for our edification . and first to begin with the sacraments of the ceremonial law ; and there in , 1. circumcision . the institution of this sacrament is laid down , genesis the sevententh : saith the lord to abraham , this is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you , and thy seed after thee : every man child among you shall be circumcised , and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin , and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you . and elsewhere moses saith to the people of israel , circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiffe-necked . this sheweth that the circumcision of the flesh directed them to the inward circumcision of the heart , the mortification of sinful lusts , inordinate affections , and all sorts of corruptions . to which agreeth that of the apostle , circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit , and not in the letter , whose praise is not of men but of god. the same apostle saith that abraham received the sign of circumcision and seal of the righteousness of faith . these scriptures compared together , shew that circumcision did seal the covenant of grace between god and his people : on the one side confirming the promises of god to them , as a seal added to the blood of his covenant , on the other side engaging them to answer the ends of the covenant by circumcising their hearts , mortifying their corruptions , and forsaking their sins . the sum of gods , promises sealed by the sacrament of circumcision , is delivered in these words , i will establish my covenant between me and thee , and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant , to be a god unto thee and to thy seed after thee . i conceive this conteineth as much as all the promises of the gospel : for what is there in all the promises concerning pardon of sin , justification , adoption , the graces of sanctification , the comforts and joyes of the holy ghost , communion with god , strength against temptation , protection against the assaults of satan and the world , hearing and answering of prayers , support under afflictions , victory over death , everlasting life and salvation , and other promises and priviledges granted to believers in the gospel , i say , what is there in all these which is not comprehended in this promise , i will be their god ? god is all sufficient , he is all in all , and when he giveth himself he giveth all good things and blessings ; and this was sealed by circumcision : now this promise and covenant is fulfilled in christ ; for out of christ , men and women are both strangers and enemies to god , and have no interest in him . the lord is so far from being their god , that he is their enemy , saith the apostle , when we were enemies we were reconciled to god by the death of his son. the best of men and women are in a state of enmity with god until they are reconciled by christ. and that covenant sealed by circumcision wherein the lord promised to be the god of abraham and of his seed was the same for substance with that where he saith , i will bless thee , and make thy name great , and thou shalt be a blessing , and i will bless them that bless thee , and curse him that curseth thee , and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed . i conceive the promise of christ is twice included here : when it is said , i will make thee a blessing ; and again , in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed . abraham was made a blessing , and the nations and families of the earth were blessed in him , in this regard , because christ according to the flesh or humane nature was to issue out of his loynes ; according to that , in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed , that is in christ. so that abraham found that in christ which was sealed to him by circumcision , abraham believed god , and it was counted to him for righteousness , and he received the sign of circumcision , a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had , yet being uncircumcised . circumcision attained its end in christ , and he was the substance of this shadow : in him believers are reconciled to god , and he becometh their god , and they are made his people being justified by his righteousness ; and by his spirit they are circumcised in heart , their corruptions are mortified , and their body of sin destroyed , which is an evidence of their union with christ , and justification by him : and this may move us to labour to be found in christ , that we may be circumcised in heart , that the power of sin may be killed in us , that we may be conformed unto his death , our sinful lusts and affections being crucified by virtue of his death on the cross , that so as the apostle saith , we may be circumcised with the circumcision made without hands , in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of christ. 2. in as much as circumcision was a seal of that covenant whereby god gave himself to his people to be their god in christ , and a seal of the righteousness of saith , and so of the pardon of sin and justification through the righteousness of christ apprehended by faith , it is clear , that all the arguments of the anabaptists fall to the ground , which they build either upon the pretended difference of baptisme and circumcision , or of the covenants sealed by them , or upon the incapacitie of infants : for it is evident that the same covenant which is confirmed by baptisme was also sealed by circumcision , and if infants under the old testament were capable of circumcision , how are they made uncapable of baptism under the gospel ? and accordingly you may observe how the apostle compareth baptisme and circumcision together , and sheweth how the latter cometh in place of the former ; for having warned believers not to hearken to those who would bring them in bondage unto iewish ceremonies , he telleth them , ye are compleat in hi , ( scil . in christ ) a●d so need not to observe those shadows of the law , in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands , in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of christ. so that they have the same circumcision in christ w ch their fathers had under the law , and therefore needed not the outward circumcision : but lest any should think thus , our faith under the gospel needeth outward helps to confirm it , as well as theirs under the old testament , he addeth these words , ver . 12 , buried with him in baptisme , wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of god who hath raised him from the dead : as if he had said , instead of circumcision ye have the sacrament of baptisme , signifying the same thing , and sealing the covenant of grace and righteousness of faith . secondly , the other sacrament was that of the passeover : this was instituted by the lord while israel was in egypt , and was first celebrated that same night that they came out of that house of bondage . the sum of the ordinance was this , that every family should chuse a lamb , a male of the first year without blemish : they were to separate it from the rest of the flock on the tenth day of the month , setting apart four days until the fourteenth day at even : when it was to be killed , they were to take of the blood and strike it upon the two side-posts , and on the upper door-posts of the houses wherein the lambs was to be eaten , and the same night they were commanded to eat the flesh of the lamb roasted with fire , and with unleavened bread , and bitter herbs : but if any family were too little for a lamb , it was to joyne with the next , and they were to eat it in hast with their loines girded , their shoes on their feet , and their staffe in their hand , as men prepared to travel . the reason that was given for it is this in effect , that the lord that night would pass through the land o● egypt and smite all the first born , both of man and beast among the egyptians ; but would spare those houses of the israelite● when he saw the blood of the lamb on the door-posts . this in it self was a great deliverance , but there was a far greater mystery and deliverance intended , which was accomplished in christ. first then , the lamb was a figure of christ whom iohn baptist according to his office pointed out to the people , saying , behold the lamb of god which taketh away the sins of the world : and another day , behold the lamb of god. and the apostle saith , christ our passeover is sacrificed for us . and the apostle peter saith , ye were not redeemed with corruptible things , as silver and gold , from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers , but with the precious blood of christ , as of a lamb without blemish and without spot . as the lamb appointed for the passeover was to be without blemish , so christ the lamb of god was without all blemish or spot of sin actual or original , being conceived by the divine power of the holy ghost in the wombe of a pure virgin. again as the lamb of the passeover was taken from the rest of the flock , so christ in regard of his humane nature was taken from the rest of mankind , and made one person with the son of god , that he might be all-sufficient for this great end , scil . to take away the sins of the world . the lamb for the passeover was set apart certain days before it was slain , christ was set apart in the eternal counsel of god , fore-ordained before the foundation of the world . and as the blood of the lamb was to be put upon the door posts of the israelites houses , that so the destroyer might pass over them , and not destroy any of them ; whereas the first-born were slain in those houses that were not marked with the blood of the paschal lamb : so the most precious blood of christ is to be sprinkled by faith upon the souls of believers ; his blood , death , satisfaction , righteousness , is to be applied to their souls by faith unfeigned , that so the destroying curse of the law , and wrath of god may not abide upon them , but pass over them ; while others who have no interest in this lamb of god and his most precious blood , lye open to the curse of the law , and the wrath to come . so that we see also how this ceremony and sacrament of the passeover attained its end in christ , and is accomplished in him , and in that sense established . and in particular , this is declared in the doctrine of justification through the satisfaction and righteousness of christ apprehended by faith : for as the houses marked with the blood of the paschal lamb escaped the destroyer : so those souls who by faith unfeigned , apply the blood and righteousness of christ to themselves , are delivered from condemnation , and accepted of god as righteous . let us labour to improv● this , first , as the israelites were never delivered out of egyptian bondage until they kept the passeover : so let us assure our selves , that as it had been impossible for any men and women to get out of the slavery of sin and satan , unless the lamb of god had been slain for th●● redemption : so none are actually redeemed and delivered from this woful bondage , untill they keep the passeover in a spiritual manner , until they imbrace christ the lamb of god , and feed upon him by the lively actings and exercisings of faith unfeined . many may be convinced of their misery , and sigh for hard bondage as the israelites did in egypt , but they cannot be made free unless they keep this passeover . if the son shall make you free , ye shall be free indeed : if ye be found in christ , and feed upon this lamb of god , ye shall be free indeed , not otherwise . secondly , admire with all thankfulness the infinite goodness of god , who before the foundation of the world , provided such a precious remedy for poor sinners , even a lamb without blemish and without spot , ●eparated from the rest of the flock ; one of the seed of the woman , set apart from among all the rest of the children of men , and personally united to the eternal son of god , that so he might be a full and perfect propitiation for sin , thirdly , as christ is a lamb without spot , so let all that will be saved by him , labour to be more conformed to him in holiness , purging themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit , for every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure . what is that but an unsound self-deceiving hope , which doth not stir up the soul to conform it self to christ in purity and holiness ? fourthly , labour with all diligence for faith unfeigned , whereby ye may sprinkle the most precious blood of christ upon your souls , applying his death , suffering , satisfaction , righteousness to your selves , that ye may escape the destroying curse of the law , and wrath of god , that being justified by faith in the blood and righteousness of christ , there may be no condemnation unto you . what had it profited the israelites that the lamb for the passeover was slain , if they had not followed the lord his direction , in putting the blood upon the door posts of their houses ? what shall it profit any that live under the gospel that christ the lamb of god is slain , and in the preaching of the word , set forth as it were crucified before their eyes , if they do not sprinkle their souls in particular with his blood , rightly applying his satisfaction and righteousness to themselves ? will not the lord look upon them rather as egyptians then israelites , and deal with them accordingly ? fifthly , as they did eat the lamb at the feast of the passeover : so let christians endeavour every day to keep this feast unto the lord , by feeding upon this living bread , upon the body and blood of christ , in lively actings of faith upon him ; and more especially in the use of his ordinances , his word , and the holy supper . as they kept the passeover with unleavened bread , so let us keep the feast , not with old leven , neither with the leven of malice and of wickedness , but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth . the lord christ warned his disciples to beware of the leaven of the pharises and of the sadduces ; and though at the first they mistook his meaning , yet afterward they understood it of the doctrine of the pharises and sadduces ; so he said unto his disciples , beware of the leaven of the pharises which is hypocrisie : so that all manner of evil outward and inward , in heart , in opinion , in conversation , may be comprehended under this leaven ; and they that will rightly feast with christ , and feed upon him , must strive to purge out this leaven of sin and errour , and keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth . sixthly , this feast of unleavened bread which was joyned with the passover was to be kept seven days , and seven in scripture is noted for a number of perfection , and therefore let christians labour to purge out more and more the old leaven of sin and corruption , and to walk in sincerity and truth all the days of their life , even till the seventh day ; that is , until they come to keep an eternal feast and sabbath of rest with christ in his glorious kingdom . seventhly , as they kept the feast with their loins girded : so let your loins be girded about , and your lights burning , and ye your selves like unto men that wait for the lord , when he will return from the wedding , that when he cometh and knocketh , they may open unto him immediately : blessed are those servants whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching . they that wear long garments need to gird them up , when they are either to walk or to work . they that would have communion with him need to call in , and gather up their straggling thoughts , their wandring minds , their loose affections , to unite the powers of their souls , to fix them upon christ , and the things of christ , that they may be always ready for any way or work of christ. wherefore gird up the loins of your mind , be sober and hope to the end , for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of iesus christ. as they were to eat the passeover with their shoes on their feet , and their staffe in their hand , as being ready for their departure out of egypt : so let those that will rightly keep the spiritual passeover , and feed upon christ , be affected as strangers and sojourners , expecting daily their departure out of this world , labouring to be ready to enter into the heavenly canaan : how should they condemn that earthly mindedness , when they are of such a temper , as if they had a continuing city here , not seriously seeking one to come ? eighthly , they were to eat the passeover with bitter herbs ; let those then that would indeed feed upon christ unto eternal life , feed upon this lamb of god with bitter herbs of godly sorrow for sin , holy anger and indignation against themselves , afflicting their souls , looking upon him whom they have pierced by their sins , and mourning for him as one mourneth for his only son , and being in bitterness for him , as one that is in bitterness for his first-born . let them feed upon christ by faith with self-denial ( which is as it were a bitter herb to the flesh ) denying themselves in their dearest lusts and carnal affections , not sparing the right hand or the right eye . let them joyn repentance with faith , otherwise they can never keep the feast according to the mind of christ. lastly , ye may read of the law of the passeover and unleavened bread ; and presently after that the ordinance of the first-fruits . speak unto the children of israel , and say unto them , when ye be come into land which i give unto you , and shall reap the harvest thereof , then ye shall bring a sheafe of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest , and he shall wave this sheafe before the lord to be accepted for you , on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it . it is conceived that this sabbath , or day of rest , was the first day of unleavened bread , scil . the fifteenth day of the first month , on whatsoever day of the week it fell , but in the year wherein christ suffered , it fell upon the last day of the week , so that it was a double sabbath ; the paschal sabbath and the weekly sabbath meeting together upon the same day . now the sheaf of first-fruits was to be waved or offered before the lord on the morrow after the sabbath , which was the day on which christ rose from the dead . see how the apostle applyeth this , christ is risen from the dead , and become the first fruits of them that sleep . it seemeth there was such an exact agreement and correspondence between the type and the antetype , the shadow and the substance , that the lord christ arose from the dead , the very same day that the sheafe of first fruits was to be offered ; and he arose as the first fruits of them that slept , or of the dead . i conceive the meaning is , that as the first fruits being offered to god , did sanctifie the whole increase of the fruits of the earth that year ; so christ as the first fruits of the dead arose from death to eternal life and glory ; and in himself , and his resurrection , did as it were offer up to god the dead bodies of all his members , not always to lye under the power of death and corruption , but to be raised to immortality and everlasting glory . let us labour then to have part in the first resurrection , rising with christ by virtue of his quickning spirit to newness of life , that this may be an earnest and sure evidence unto us of a second resurrection to everlasting life . so much for the sacraments of the ceremonial law. chap. iv. secondly , in the next place follow the sacrifices . it seemeth there were but few sorts of creatures used for sacrifices . of sensible creatures such as have life and sense , but five sorts : whereof three were of four-footed beasts scil . bullocks , sheep , and goats , old or young , and so comprehending under them calves , lambs and kids ; and two sorts of fowls , as turtle doves and young pigeons . thefe were creatures that were meek and gentle above many others , and such as were in a special manner subject and serviceable to men : so the lord christ who was appointed to be a sacrifice to the justice of god , was meek and lowly in heart , he was lead as a sheep to the slaughter , and like a lamb dumb before the shearer , so opened he not his mouth : who being in the form of god thought it robbery to be equal with god , but made himself of no reputation , and took upon him the form of a se●vant and was made in the likeness of men , and being found in fashion as a man , he humbled himself and became obedient unto death , even the death of the cross. lions , bears , tigres , leopards , wild-beasts , beasts of prey , fierce and cruel creatures ; eagles , hawks , vultures , or other ravenous fouls were not appointed for sacrifice : these were not fit to represent the lord christ in his state of humiliation , in his suffering condition , as he was appointed to be a sacrifice for sin : it is true christ is called the lion of the tribe of iudah , i conceive to represent him in regard of his mighty powers , in protecting his church , and subduing his enemies , but not to resemble him as a sacrifice , for so he was in a state of suffering and of service ; and therefore christians according to his command should learn of him who is meek and lowly of heart , and be content to be conformed to him in sufferings , taking up his cross and following him . they should be useful and serviceable as christ was , who was figured by such creatures offered in sacrifice . 2. ye may note in general , that an offering presented to the lord , was called in the hebrew korban of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to draw near . this may teach us that none was fit to offer an offering to the lord , but only the lord jesus christ , and those that come to god by him ; for all mankind since the fall were a far off at a great distance from god , but the lord iesus christ being god and man , is nigh unto the father . in regard of his godhead , he is the only begotten son of god in the bosom of the father , as he is man personally united to the son of god , he is one person with the son of god , and being without spot of sin , he came near to god to present himself an offering and a sacrifice unto him . secondly , none can come nigh unto the lord to offer any spiritual sacrifice to him , or to have any inward communion with him , but in and by the lord jesus christ , but now in christ iesus , ye , who sometime were afar off , are made nigh by the blood of christ. christ being nigh to god , drew nigh unto him actually with the sacrifice and offering of himself , and so made way for sinners who were afar off from god by their sin and guilt , to draw nigh to god by virtue of his blood ; that applying his blood , satisfaction , and righteousness to themselves , they might be made nigh unto god in regard of their estate , being taken into covenant with him as his confederates , and so into communion , and that they might draw nigh unto him from time to time , in offering spiritual services and sacrifices to him by jesus christ. let us all see our great need of christ , there is no coming nigh unto god but by him , neither in respect of our estate , nor of our services , but in christ there is access to be had in both respects . but more especially , first , the burntoffering . this was called in hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth ascending or ascension , because all the flesh of the beast being burned upon the altar was to ascend or go up towards heaven in fire : so the lord jesus christ when he was here on earth in the flesh , offered up himself to his father in heaven ; the infinite virtue of his sacrifice ascending to the throne of god , for the appeasing of his wrath and satisfying of his justice for sin . this may teach us also that we should present our whole selves , souls and bodies , sacrifices living holy acceptable to god , and that they which will thus present themselves to the lord must be heavenly minded , their souls and hearts must be raised and ascend upward : how many carnal , outward , dead hearted services are dropped down before the lord , that never ascend upward , having nothing of heaven nor of christ his spirit in them . secondly , he that offered the burntoffering was to lay his hand upon the head of the creature that was to be slain : so he that will have benefit by the sacrifice of christ , must lay hold of him by the hand of faith . thirdly , the bullock for the burntoffering was to be killed , the blood of it to be poured out : this , 1. was fulfilled in christ , according as it was prophesied of him , he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter , he was cut off out of the land of the living , ver . 9. his grave and death are expresly mentioned , thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin , ver . 12. he hath poured out his soul unto death . and daniel prophesied that messiah or christ should be cut off or slain , and without shedding of blood there is no remission . 1. this may move christians to pitty , and earnestly pray for the poor blinded israelites , that the lord would be pleased to take the vail from their hearts : is it not lamentable to consider that they should make the cross and death of christ a stumbling block , whereas his death and sufferings are so clearly foretold in the law and the prophets which themselves acknowledge to be the word of god ? yea , all those millions of sacrific●s slain and offered according to the lord his appointment , did clearly foreshew the death of christ , and the shedding of his most pretious blood for the sins of the world . but how is man left to the darkness of his own mind , and blinded by satan ? secondly , see here how odious sin is in the sight of god which nothing could wash away but the blood of christ , figured by the death and blood of these legal sacrifices : for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins , these did signifie the blood of the son of god infinitely more pretious , of sufficient virtue to wash away the greatest and foulest sins . how should we tremble at sin ? should we not look upon every sin as bloody , as murtherous , either as slaying the sinner himself , or as killing his saviour ? either thy sin must be washed away with the blood of christ , or it will cost thee more then thy best blood is worth . thirdly , this is for comfort to souls burdened and oppressed with the guilt of sin , that that one sacrifice even christ himself , figured by so many millions o● sacrifices is offered to satisfie for sin ; that that blood figured by the blood of so many offerings is shed to take away sin ; and that god hath purchased his church with his own blood : it is the blood of god because of him who is god and man in one person , though not the blood of the god-head . the blood of jesus christ the son of god cleanseth from all sin ; it is of infinite value , it is of more virtue then all the bloody sacrifices of the law. 4. woe unto those wretches that dare to swear prophanely by this pretious blood , or by those bleeding wounds of the son of god. is not this to trample under foor the blood of the covenant ? 4. the death of these sacrifices may teach us 〈◊〉 kill our dearest sins , to slay our lusts , to mortifie our corruptions : christ did not dye for sin that thou mightest live in sin , but that thou mightest dye to sin , and live to him ye righteousness and holiness . i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god , that 〈◊〉 present your bodyes a sacrifice living , holy and acceptable to god ; a sacrifice and therefore slain and yet a living sacrifice . present your selves a sacrifice dying to sin , and a sacrifice living quickned with grace , living in the spirit . again , among all the burnt offerings , ye may take particular note of the continual burnt offerings sacrificed to the lord every day , one lamb in the morning and another in the evening : so the people of god had need every day morning and evening to flee to christ , and to apply his sacrifice and satisfaction to themselves , and through him to seek pardon of god for their dayly sins and infirmities , every day sprinkling the blood of christ the lamb of god upon their souls . 2. this may stir up christians dayly to offer up a morning & evening sacrifice to the lord , in confession of sins , prayers , praises , thanksgivings . we read of special blessings which the lord vouchsafed at those times . the king of iudah , israel , and edom , with their army , were in danger to perish for want of water , and in this great distress they had recourse to the prophet elisha : now it is said ver . 20 , and it came to pass in the morning when the meat-offering was offered , that behold there came water by the way of edom , and the country was filled with water . so dan●ul having prayed with much importunity for the church which was then in captivity , saith , the man gabriel ( to wit the angel gabriel in the likeness of a man ) being caused to fly swiftly , touched him about the time of the evening oblation , and so ( as it followeth there ) opened the counsels of god unto him according to his request . i conceive it is very probable , that the people of israel in their several houses did use to pour out their prayers to god about the time of the morning and evening sacrifices ; and that daniel and others of the godly , when they were in captivity did observe those times though then the temple was destroyed , and the daily sacrifice interrupted . a second sort of sacrifices were sin offerings , this kind of offering is called in the hebrew expresly † sin , because in a typical or figurative way , the guilt or sin of him for whom the sacrifice was offered , was laid upon the creature sacrificed . so the apostle sheweth that god hath made him ( scil . christ ) to be ●in for us who knew no sin , that we might be made the righteousness of god in him . the sin-offering called sin , figured the imputation of mens sin to christ , who had no sin of his own , bnt voluntarily took upon him the guilt of mens sins , as a surety taketh upon him anothers debt . 1. see here how exceedingly the son of god abased himself for sinners , as to stand under the guilt of numberless sins . if we consider the infinite holiness , glory and majesty of christ , is it not evident , that this degree of humiliation and abasement passeth all understanding ; admire therefore his infinite love and unconceivable goodness which moved him hereunto : learn highly to exalt and honour him . 2. see here the baseness of sin , which th● abased the son of god , when he took the guil● of it upon him , out of compassion to sinner● no outward estate , condition , calling , imployment , doth so abase any , as the least sin doth , in the lord his account ; and yet ho● vain is the corrupt heart of man , in being ashamed of many other things more th● of sin : yea , how many are there that ar● ashamed of holi●ess , and ready to glory i● sin . 3. if christ did thus abase himself for th● sins of others , as to be made a sin-offering or to be made sin by imputation : how shoul● we take shame to our selves , and be exceedingly humbled and abased for our own sins as david , i have sinned greatly in that i ha● done , i have done very foolishly . and 〈◊〉 i abhor my self , and repent in dust 〈◊〉 ashes . 2. the blood of the sin-offering was to sprinkled seven times before the lord , and se● is noted for a number of perfection . the sou● and consciences of sinners are so deeply sla●ned and defiled with sin , that they nee● much purging . how often should we labo● by ●aith to sprinkle the blood of christ upon our souls , and to apply it to our selves this blood of the sin-offering was to b● sprinkled seven times before the vail of 〈◊〉 holy place : so it is the blood of christ 〈◊〉 maketh way for believers to the mercy-seat which their sins had shut up against the● having therefore brethren boldness to ente● into the holiest by the blood of jesus , by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail , that is to say , his flesh : and having an high-priest over the house of god , let us draw near with a true ●eart in full assurance of faith , having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience , and our bodies washed with pure water : with hearts and souls sprinkled with the blood of christ by faith , and so purged from the guilt of sin ; and bodies washed with pure water , being baptized outwardly and inwardly with water , and the sanctifying graces of the holy spirit . 3. some of the blood was to be put upon the horns of the sweet incense altar , scil . the golden altar : so christians are to ground their faith and confidence in offering up the incense of prayer upon the blood and mediation of christ , having no hope of acceptance , but only through him and his satisfaction and intercession . the golden altar being a type of christ as he intercedeth for his people . the blood of the sin-offering put upon this altar may intimate unto us that christ intercedeth with his father , and pleadeth for his people , by presenting to him his blood , the merit of his death , and fulness of his satisfaction , which he underwent , not for himself ( who had no need ) but for them . 4. the fat of the inwards , kidneys , &c. were to be burned upon the altar . the fat may signifie carnal security , senselessness , and sottishness , in heavenly and spiritual things . make the heart of this people sat , and make their ears heavy , and shut their eyes : and the kidneys and fat upon them may signifie fleshly lusts ; and therefore as these things were consumed by fire upon the altar ; so let christians earnestly pray and labour for more and more of the spirit of christ , to consume and burn up their earthly and carnal affections and sinful lusts . and it shall come to pass , that he that is left in sion , and he that remaineth in ierusalem shall be called holy , even every one that is written among the living in hierusalem , when the lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of sion , and shall have purged the blood of hierusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of iudgement , and by the spirit of burning . 5. the skin of the bullock for the sin-offering and all his flesh , with his head , and with his leggs , and his inwards , and his dung , even the whole bullock was to be carried without the camp , where the ashes were poured , and there to be burnt ; and as this was to be done without the camp while they were in the wilderness ( as they were when these things were written ) so it seemeth after they were settled in canaan , it was done without the city . the apostle giveth us the interpretation of this mystery , for the bodyes of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin , are burnt without the camp : wherefore iesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood , suffered without the gate . and he bearing his cross , went forth unto a place called the place of a skull , which is called in the hebrew golgotha . it seemeth this was a loathsome place without the city , where they executed the vilest offenders : and so at that time there were two malefactours crucified with the lord jesus christ , one at each hand : a place of a skul where there were ( it is likely ) many skuls and bones of such as had been there put to death : even as the sin-offering was burnt at the place where the ashes were poured out . first , here we have an other evidence of the wonderful abasement of the lord of glory ; thrust out of the camp , out of the city , as an outcast , as an unclean and cursed thing : so extreamly was he vilified , whom all the angels of god worship , and to whom every knee must bow of those in heaven , &c , and therefore let us make the same use of it as was formerly hinted . secondly , in particular , let us make the use of it which the apostle points us to ; let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp , bearing his reproach . both iews and gentiles conspired together in crucifying the lord christ , and therefore believers must go out of the iews camp , and out of the worlds camp , bearing the reproach of christ ; they must not joyn with the obstinate iews in observing legal ceremonies , nor be conformed to the world , but labour to be conformed to a crucified saviour , and be content to endure scorn , reproach , persecution , for christ , following the lamb whithersoever he goeth . many will seem to close with christ if they can find him in the camp , if they can enjoy their credit , their favour with the world , their earthly interests : but how few will go forth to him out of the camp , bearing his reproach , so as to be rejected by the world , and dealt with as outcasts and the off scouring of all things ? for saith the apostle , here have we no continuing city , but we seek one to come . if christ suffered without the gate of the city , let us not be so affected as if this world were the place of our rest ; let us not mind earthly things , let us have our conversation in heaven , labouring to make sure of our interest in that everlasting inheritance ; let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest , any of you should seem to come short of it . the apostle urgeth from this type of the sin-offering , that they which would still rest in the observation of iewish ceremonies had no right in christ , we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle , for the bodies , &c. as before . the bodies of the sin-offerings were burnt without the camp , and so the priest did eat no part of their flesh , whereby was signified that they who would feed upon christ , and partake of the benefit of his sacrifice , must leave the tabernacle or temple , priesthood , sacrifices , ceremonies of the law , now that christ hath suffered ; for thus are all established by christ , not so as to be observed much less to be rested in , but so as to attain their end in christ , in whom it appeareth that they are no empty shadowes , but lively types of great and weighty mysteries whereof also they are useful illustrations . thirdly , i proceed to somewhat of meat-offerings . it seemeth these were sometimes offered by themselves , and sometimes joyned with other sacrifices , as they were offered by themselves , we have them set down lev. 2. the original word is taken for a gift or present : so these meat-offerings were to be given and presented to the lord , and this offering was to be fine flower of the purest part of the wheat , and so it is conceived to signifie the perfect purity of christ offering himself to god for his people , resembled by pure flower without any mixture of bran . the lord christ is brought in speaking to his father , sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not , but a body hast thou prepared me , in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure . then said i , loe i come ( in the volumn of the book it is written of me ) to do thy will o god. i conceive here those three sorts of sacrifices are mentioned , burnt-offerings , sin-offerings , and meat-offerings , none of these could satisfie the justice of god for the sins of men , and therefore he prepared or fitted a body for his son , an humane nature fitted to suffer for the sins of men , a pure humane nature ( as the pure flower of wheat ) by the miraculous operation of the holy ghost . this humane nature united in one person with the son of god , was sufficient to make full satisfaction to the infinite justice of god , which all the sacrifices of the law could not do . in respect of his body or humane nature , he was fitted for a sacrifice ; in respect of his god-head , he was an all sufficient sacrifice of infinite value . labour then to lay hold on christ by faith , and to turn to the lord by repentance , that ye may have interest in this most pretious offering , this compleat and most perfect sacrifice , every way fitted for this use ; for as christ is the only son of god , he is most nigh unto the father , the same god with the father , and infinitely beloved of the father , of infinite worth and excellency , and so able to make full satisfaction to his justice : as he is the son of man , so he is nigh unto men , their brother , one of the seed of that woman who was the mother of all living , one of the same nature , and so of a nature fit to suffer , and therefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto god by him . 2. this meat offering of fine flower seemeth also to signifie the offering up of believers to christ , because the members are to be conformed to their head . they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the lord out of all nations . the word there translated offering , is the same that elsewhere is rendred meat-offering . suitable whereunto is that of the apostle : saith he , that i should be the minister of iesus christ to the gentiles , ministring the gospel of god , that the offering up of the gentiles might be acceptable , being sanctified by the holy ghost . although the gentiles were prophane idolaters and defiled with manifold abominations , and so fitly resembled by the beasts that were unclean under the law , yet the apostle preaching the gospel to them , and the holy spirit of christ working in and with his ministry upon their souls , were renewed , cleansed , sanctified , and so presented as an acceptable offering to the lord , 1. let all christians pray for the success of the gospel in all places , particularly in the place where they live , that those that are unclean may become an acceptable offering unto the lord , being sanctified by the holy ghost . is it not much to be lamented , that where there are many people living under the gospel , the lord should have so few offerings ? that so few shloud give clear evidence that they are as fine flower sifted from the bran of their natural corruption , and so fit to be presented as meat-offerings to the lord ; and how restless should each particular soul be , until 't is thus sifted and sanctified by the holy spirit , that it may be a holy offering unto the lord. 2. oyl was to be poured upon the fine flower . this may signifie the annointing of christ concerning whom it is said , god even thy god hath annointed thee with the oyle of gladness above thy fellows . those pretious graces of the spirit poured forth abundantly upon christ , were resembled by oyle , and therefore it is said of him , he is full of grace and truth , and of his fulness have all we received and grace for grace . he hath an overflowing fulness of this heavenly oyl , of these spiritual graces enough for all that are united to him , for god giveth not the fpirit by measure unto him . let all be stirred up to come to christ , and turn unto him that they may receive of his fulness grace for grace . they that are wholly empty of saving grace may receive from him , they that have some beginnings may receive increase from him . is it not want of exercising faith upon christ , and keeping close to him , that maketh christians so defective in grace ? it is said the pretious ointment upon the head of aaron the high-priest went down to the skirts of his garment . the unconceivable fullness of grace poured upon christ the eternal high-priest , is ready to distill upon his members if they be not wanting to themselves . 3. there was also frankincense put upon this meat-offering : so the lord christ gave himself for his people an offering and a sacrifice to god for a sweet smelling favour , and god the father proclaimed from heaven concerning him , this is my beloved son in whom i am well-pleased . the sweet odour and savour of christs sacrifice is so pleasing unto the father , that he is appealed toward all that are truly united to christ , and reconciled to him by christ : and this also maketh the services of such well-pleasing to the lord ; the sweet savour of christ his sacrifice perfumeth their offerings . 4. an handful of this meat-offering was to be burnt upon the altar as a memorial , and the rest belonged to the priests , the sons of aaron . 1. the memorial may signifie that the lord is moved to remember his covenant of grace by the merit of christ his sacrifice . not that the lord is subject to forgetfulness , or needeth to be put in remembrance , but it is spoken after the manner of men , and to help the weak faith of his people , and therefore they may assure themselves that the lord will ever be mindful of his covenant and shew himself faithful in his promises . again in a secondary way it may be a ground of much comfort to the people of god in respect of their duties and services which they offer up to god by christ in sincerity . the lord will have them in remembrance : the lord hear thee in the day of trouble remember all thine offerings . so the angel told cornelius , thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before the lord. 5. the remnant of the meat offering was to be aarons and his sons who were priests of the lord. the apostle inspired and directed by the holy spirit argueth thus from hence , do ye not know that those which minister about holy things , live of the things of the temple , and they which wait on the altar are partakers with the altar ? even so hath the lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel . they that did service at the altar under the old testament did partake with the altar , as here in the meat offerings the altar had part , and they that waited on the altar had part . so the apostle shews that it is the lords own ordinance , that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel . they therefore that oppose the ma●ntenance of the preachers of the gospel , do resist the ordinance of god , and presumptuously oppose his supream authority . 6 , the meat offering was to be seasoned with salt . yea , it seemeth this was to be used , not only in this case , but also generally in all sacrifices , for so it is said , every oblation of this meat offering shalt thou season with salt , neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy god to be lacking from thy meat-offering , with all thy offerings thou shalt offer salt . 1. salt consumeth crude and raw humours and preserveth from putrefaction and rottenness : so christ by his spirit seasoneth the souls of true believers , and worketh out the natural corrupt distempers of their hearts , and where the spirit of christ is wanting , men are left to the bent of their own spirits : how wofully are they filled with corruption , and rottenness , and therefore it is said , have salt in your selves , get the graces of the spirit to season your hearts . 2. salt maketh things savory and of good relish : how unsavory and loathsome is a carnal unregenerate soul in gods account , that savoureth not the things of christ his spirit , for they that are after the flesh do mind or savour the things of the flesh . they are loathsome and unsavory unto the lord , they have not salt in themselves , but they that are after the spirit do mind or savour the things of the spirit , they have salt in themselves though not of themselves , they have it of christ , yet they have it in themselves . 3. salt when it meeteth with sores causeth smart . the grace of the spirit , and the word of grace in which the spirit worketh , seemeth smarting to corrupt hearts , yea , to gracious hearts so far as they have corruptions remaining in them ; but they that will present themselves living , holy , acceptable sacrifices to god through christ , must be willing to be salted with the grace of christ his spirit , and with the word of grace though the flesh smart , for every one shall be salted with fire , and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt . every one that will be acceptable to god must be salted with fire , the power of christs spirit as a fire from heaven to consume the dross of their lusts , and to refine their souls . and every sacrifice , &c. every one that will be a pleasing sacrifice to god ▪ must be salted with this salt of the sanctuary , he must have the graces of christ to mortifie his corruptions , and to cause him to savour the things that be of god ; and the spiritual sacrifices which he offereth , the duties which he performeth must have a tincture and favour of christs spirit in them . 4. salt preserveth things from perishing , and so may note unto us perpetuity ; therefore it is called the salt of the covenant of god , and a sure and everlasting covenant is called a covenant of salt : so abijah pleading the right of davids posterity to the kingdom of israel , said , ought ye not to know that the lord god of israel gave the kingdom over israel to david for ever , even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt ? this was imperfectly fulfilled in david and the kings that sprang from his loyns before christ his coming , but it was compleatly verified in christ the son of david after the flesh , to whom god gave the throne of his father david that he should raign over the house of iacob or israel for ever . the covenant of grace established by christ his sacrifice , is a covenant of salt that shall never fail . how earnestly should we labour to break off all leagues with sin and satan , and turn to the lord by unseigned repentance , and lay hold of christ by faith , that in him we may be reconciled to god , and made parties to this unchangeable covenant , enjoying the everlasting blessings and priviledges of it . 2● to the meat-offering was added a drink-offering , a quantity of wine . the meat-offering consisting of fine flower , and the drink-offering of wine , how fitly do they resemble the pretious body and blood of christ , which is meat and drink indeed , upon which christians are to feed by faith ? and how exactly doth the bread and wine in the sacramental supper of the new testament answer to this meat and drink offering consisting of the same materials ? fourthly , now followeth the peace-offering● conceive this was offered especially in a way of thankfulness for mercies and deliverances , ●ometimes upon a conditional vow made be●ore , sometimes without a vow ; and therefore may also be called thank-offering : and ●hese may signifie the duties of christians in general , their spiritual sacrifices and services , which they are to offer unto god continually in thankfulness for his saving mercies towards them in christ. and therefore the apostle having largely shewed that the sacrifices of the old testament were not to be observed in the times of the gospel , since they are fully accomplished in christ , toward the end of that epistle he calleth upon believers to offer spiritual sacrifices by him ( scil . by christ ; ) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to god continually , that is the fruit of our lips , giving thanks to his name , but to do good and to communicate forget not , for with such sacrifices god is well-pleased . all these and the like spiritual sacrifices believers are to offer up by christ their high-priest in his name , presenting them to the father by his hand , that they may find acceptance through him , and whatsoever we do in word or deed , do all in the name of the lord iesus , giving thanks to god and the father by him : all these sacrifices are to be offered in his name , and to be presented to god by and through him . 2. for a peace offering and thank-offering , liberty was given to sacrifice either male or female : so saith the apostle , there is neither iew nor greek there is neither bond nor free , there is neither male nor female , for y● are all one in christ iesus . the lord maketh no difference of persons now , either in respect of nation , condition , or sex , if they be in christ , ( whatsoever they are in other regards ) the lord accepteth them in his beloved son , and they may present themselves as living holy sacrifices unto him , assuring themselves that he will graciously receive them ; and by the same reason they may offer up their services and duties to him by christ as spiritual sacrifices . 3. the fat and the kidneys of the peac●-offerings were to be burnt upon the altar , but what was to be done with the rest of the flesh , that you may find in lev. 7. the breast and the right shoulder were to be given to the priests the sons of aaron , whereof the former was to be waved before the lord , the latter to be heaved or lifted upwards , and then they were to be given to the priests . it seemeth the rest of 〈◊〉 flesh of the peace-offerings was to be eaten by him that brought the sacrifice of the peace-offering before the lord , who together with his family was to celebrate a holy feast with spiritual rejoycings before the lord. 1. the breast was to be given to god ▪ for what was given to the priests was given to god , because it was given to the priest for the attending on the service of god. this may teach us to give up our breasts , hearts , affections to god in holiness and ob●dience , a my son give me thine heart . thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , b and with all thy soul , and with all thy mind . 2. the breast was to be waved before the lord , or shaken to and fro . the original word is taken for sifting with a five : so this waving of the breast may teach us what stir●ings of heart , what lively workings of spirit and affections there should be in christians in performing services to the lord. it is not a dead soul without spiritual , life and motion , which the lord regardeth , but it is a wave-breast that he calleth for , an active heart and soul , a stirring spirit like that of david , bless the lord o my soul , and all that is within me bless his holy name . 3. the right shoulder was to be heaved up before the lord , or to be lifted up . this may ●each christians to lift up their souls to the lord as david , vnto thee o lord do i lift up my soul : to seek the things which are above where christ sitteth on the right hand of god , ●o set their affections on things above , not on things on the earth , to have their conversation in heaven . these parts being to 〈◊〉 given to the priests by the lord his command , here we have another ground esta●lishing the maintenance of gospel ministers ●ecording to that of the apostle mentioned be● . the rest of the flesh of the peace-offerings ●●ting to be eaten by him that brought the ●●●rtices , with his houshold , rejoycing in the lord , may teach christians that as christ offered up himself in sacrifice to god to satisfie his justice for the sins of his people , so he inviteth them to feed and feast upon him by faith , with rejoycing , with joy of the holy ghost : this they should do in reading and hearing the gospel , in meditating upon the word , upon christ and the things of christ. and in the use of the lords supper , i conceive this feasting upon the remainder of the facrifice was a special act of communion which the people of israel had with god , part of the beast being offered to god on the altar , part being given to god for the use of his priests , and the remaining part being eaten by him and his houshold who presented his sacrifice : so that in this ordinance they had special fellowship with god , shewing the great priviledge of true believers who have fellowship with the father and with his son jesus christ. saith the lord christ , behold i stand at the door and knock , if any man hear my voice and open the door , i will come in to him and sup with him and he with me : how careful should christians be to keep constant communion with god , that their negligence may not deprive them of this blessed priviledge ? saith the apostle , behold israel after the flesh : are not they that eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar ? i conceive the apos●le in this place sheweth the christian corinthians that it was not lawful for them to feast with their idolatrous neighbours in their idol-temples , upon the remainders of their sacrifices offered to idols , because their feasts were idolatrous and kept in honour of their iidols : so the israelites in eating of their peace-offering , were partakers of , or with the altar : the altar had part , and they had part , then saith he , the things which the gentiles sacrifice , they sacrifice to divels and not to god , and i would not that ye should have fellowship with divels : the gentiles in scrificing to idols sacrificed to divels , and when they offered part of the sacrifice upon the idols altar , and feasted and fed upon the rest in honour of these idols , they had fellowship with divels : and on the other side , the godly israelitet in the time of the old testament , offering part of their peace-offerings to god upon the altar , and presenting part of it to him for the use of his priests by his command , and then feeding upon the rest , had fellowship with god. the lord christ having offered up himself to god for his people , doth also now offer himself to his people , that they may feed upon him , and in feeding upon him by faith , may have communion with the father and the son. so much of sacraments and sacrifices . now in the third place may be considered , sacred persons , and things subservient to sacred or holy uses : and first the persons ; and among these priests , and principally the high-priests or cheif preists : this officer was an eminent type of the lord jesus christ , and , 1. in regard of his commission or calling to the office. no man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of god as was aaron . so also christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest , but he that said unto him thou art my son this day have i begotten thee . as he saith also in another place , thou art a priest for ever after the order of melchisedeck . the lord christ as he was man , was immediately called of god to his office : as he is god , the act of calling was his as well as the fathers , their acts being the same . so god saith of christ as he is man , behold my servant whom i have chosen . he was called and chosen of god to be an eternal high-priest ; and how wonderfully was his calling and commission ratified and evidenced by many infallible signs and tokens ! when he had cured a leprous person , he said , go thy way ▪ shew thy self to the priest , and offer the gift that moses commanded for a testimony to them , that this work may witness that i am called and sent of god : and when he had cast a divel out of the dumb man that was possessed , so that the dumb spake , the multudes marv●lled saying , it was never so seen in israel ; since israel was a nation and a church , there never was a man raised up among them gave such evidence that he was called of god. nicodemus though a young scholar in the school of christ , saith unto him , we know that thou art a teacher come from god , for no ●an can do these miracles that thou dost except god be with him . had he known christ more perfectly , he might have said , except god be in him , except he be personally united to god ; for christ did these things by his own authority , and by his own power had declared so much , and yet such was the ignorance or insolence of the chief-priests and elders , that they took upon them to examine him saying , by what authority dost thou these things , and who gave thee this authority ? had they not been grossely ( if not wilfully ) blind , they might have seen his authority abundantly and most gloriously confirmed by his mighty works . 1. here see the unspeakable goodness of god , instead of those imperfect high-priests under the old testament , to call one to the office who is most perfect every way , even the man christ jesus , personally united to his only and eternal son , even one who is holy , harmless , undefiled , separate from sinners , and made higher then the heavens , one who continueth ever , and hath an unchangeable priesthood , being able to save them to the uttermost that come unto god by him , seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them . 2. therefore neglect not to come to him , and to god by him . and , 3. if ye come to him in truth , doubt not but he will save you to the uttermost , having a peculiar call from god for this end above all other creatures in heaven and earth . 4. see the humility of the man christ , who did not usurp this high office and dignity , but took it upon him as called of god : how great is their presumption who rashly thrust themselves into such imployments in the church to w ch they were never called of god. 2. in respect of his annointing , but of that i have spoken in the meat-offering . 3. the garments and ornaments of the high-priest were expresly appointed by the lord , who gave particular directions about them . these things might seem to be of small moment considered in themselves , but the spiritual mysteries are to be regarded which were shadowed by them . 1. in general , they are called holy garments for glory and for beauty . i conceive these may signifie the perfect holiness , the incomparable beauty and glory of the lord jesus . his perfect holiness both in his state of humiliation and exaltation , his beauty & glory chiefly in his state of exaltation , as he now sitteth on the right hand of god. labour for an eye of faith to behold the beauty and glory of the lord jesus christ , which if it were clearly discerned , would eclipse all worldly glory , take off the gloss of the creatures and make them appear as dead and withered things . the reason why we are so ensnared with earthly vanities is , because we look upon things in a carnal manner with fleshly eyes , not with a spiritual eye of faith , not with such an eye as moses did , seeing him him who is invisible , and so despising earthly things . labour for union with christ , that partaking of his spirit ye may partake of his holiness and graces , and so of his beauty and glory . holiness beautifieth and adorneth the soul and ptepareth it for perfection of heavenly beauty and glory , whereas sin doth both defile and disfigure the soul , filling it with deformity . this being noted in general i intend to mention some few of the particulars . first , the two precious stones upon the two shoulders of the ephod , or priestly robe , wherein were ingraven the names of the twelve tribes of israel , six in one stone and six in the other , so that the high-priest bare their names upon his two shoulders . 1. this may note unto us , the support which the lord giveth unto his church and to all the living members of it . he beareth them as it were upon his shoulders , hence it is that his little flock hath been preserved in the midst of so many wolves from age to age , vpon this rock i will build my church , aud the gates of hell shall not prevail against it . what a blessed priviledge have they that are in christ , being built upon him as a rock immoveable , and upheld by him , born upon his shoulders who is their eternal high-priest . 2. see how precious the people of christ are in his account , as if their names were engraven in precious stones and set in ouches or bosses of gold. 2. the breast-plate of iudgement , in which was to be set four rows of precious stones , three in a row , in all twelve stones of several kinds , and in these again were ingraven the twelve names of the twelve tribes of israel and so aaron was to bear the names of the children of israel in the breast-plate of judgment upon his heart , when he went into the holy place , for a memorial before the lord continually . 1. see the tender love and affection which the lord christ hath toward his people , he beareth them upon his breast , upon his heart continually ; he shall feed his flock like a shepherd , he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom , next his heart , and therefore it seemeth the church prayes to christ , set me as a seal upon thine heart : that tender love which moved him to let out his heart blood for their redemption is still so powerful and prevailing with him that he beareth them upon his heart in heaven . 2. ought not christians then to bear christ upon their hearts , to entertain him to dwell in their hearts by faith , to cleave unto him in love , and walk in him following the guidance of his spirit ? 3. christ this eternal high-priest beareth the names of his people upon his breast-plate or heart , now that he is in heaven , before his father , for a memorial before his face continually . i conceive this noteth christ his intercession for his people ; he presenteth their names before his father in heaven , as the high-priest did in the holy place on the earth , which was a figure of heaven . blessed are they whose names god the father readeth engraven upon the breast-plate written upon the heart of his beloved son , in whom he is well-pleased . what is there that such may not obtain of the father through the son ? and how should all labour to give in their names , and to give up their hearts to christ , that he may bear their names upon his heart for a memorial before the face of god continually . thirdly , vpon the hemme of the high-priests robe were placed golden bells , and pomegranates , that his sound might be heard when he went in unto the holy place before the lord , and when he came out : so the lord christ entring in to the most holy place in heaven , after his death and resurrection , maketh a most sweet and pleasing sound in the ears of his father far , beyond that of golden bells ; his mediation and intercession in behalf of his people , grounded upon the merit of his death , sacrifice and satisfaction , maketh heavenly melody before his father ; jesus the mediator of the new covenant and the blood of sprinking , which speaketh better things than the blood of abel . and these pomegranates may well resemble the sweet savour of christs sacrifice . again , aarons bells were heard to sound , not only when he went in to the holy place , but also when he came out . now although the lord christ as he is man continueth within the most holy place not made with hands , and doth not come out again , yet he sent down his spirit upon his apostles soon after , and caused these golden bells to give a most pleasant sound throughout the several quarters of the world , publishing the glad tidings of pardon and salvation through christ to the comfort and refreshing of many thousand souls , and the precious promises of the gospel published in the name of christ , were as pomegranats that yeilded a pleasant smell to the reviving of many fainting hearts and drooping spirits . had we circumcised hearts and ears , gracious spirits , heavenly affections , how pleasant would the sound of the gospel preached , how sweet would the promises of it be unto us ? fourthly , the lord gave this command , thou shalt make a plate of pure gold , and grave upon it like the engravings of a fignet , holiness to the lord , and this golden plate was put on the forefront of the mitre , and so to be worne on the forehead of the high-priest that he might bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of israel should hallow in all their holy gifts , and it was to be always upon his forehead , that they might be accepted before the lord. the inscription i suppose may be read , either holiness to the lord , or , the holiness of the lord. 1. here see how the lord christ whose holiness and righteousness is of infinite worth and value , the holiness and righteousness of iehovah , of him who is very god , taketh away the iniquities and pollutions of the duties , services , spiritual sacrifices offered by his people . aaron did bear these but in a figure and in a way of representation , christ did really bear them , and his holiness and righteousness of jehovah is imputed to them , and is alone sufficient to take away all their uncleanness , and to procure acceptance for them . how should christians be humbled , that such is the corruption of their natures and imperfection of their graces , that the best of their services , the holiest of their offerings , have such iniquity cleaving to them , that they need the imputation of christs righteousness to cover them . and again , this may comfort them that are in christ , and are sincere in their services , and stir them up to thankfulness , that such a precious remedy is provided them in this case , even the holiness of jehovah . 2. this golden plate with this inscription on the forehead of the high-priest , may intimate unto us , that god the father in the forehead and face of his beloved son , readeth such an inscription of perfect holiness and righteousness that beholding his people in him , he accepteth them as perfectly righteous through him : that as this golden plate with this inscription was placed so eminently on aarons forehead , that it was visible and obvious to the bodily eyes and sight of the people of israel : so the perfect righteousness and holiness of the lord jesus christ is eminently visible to the spiritual eye of his peoples faith , that they may receive sweet comfort in the assurance that their iniquities are taken away through him , and may behold the fatherly love and kindness of the father towards them , and his gracious acceptance of their sevices in the face of jesus christ. one thing more was to be added before , as belonging to the breast-plate of judgement , scil . vrim and thummim ▪ concerning which there is a great question what it was ? wherein it seemeth that neither iewish nor christian writers are yet agreed , whether it were these words engraven upon a golden plate and put upon a breast-plate , or whether the twelve precious stones upon the breast-plate were so called , or what other thing it might be ? howsoever the meaning of the words is plain , which being both of the plural number , signifie lights and perfections . these may point out unto us the fulness of heavenly light , wisdom ▪ and knowledge , and perfection of grace that is in the lord jesus christ. saith he , i am the light of the world : again , i am the truth . and the apostle saith , in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge , for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bedily . this may shew that all by nature are darkness and imperfection , and therefore needing such a saviour who is fullness of lights and perfections , ye were sometimes darkness ▪ but now are light in the lord. god who is rich in mercy , for his great love wherewith ●e loved us , even when we were dead in trespasses and sins , hath quickned us together with christ. and ye are compleat in him , who is the head of all principality and power . they that are natur●lly full of spiritual death , darkness , imperfection , receive spiritual life , light and grace from christ , when once they are truly united to him , and so are compleat not in themselves but in him , upon whose breast are vrim and thummim , in whom is fullness of lights and perfections . and malachy who seemeth to be one of the last prophets before christs coming , to raise up the hearts of the godly in expectation of christs appearing in the flesh , told them , or rather god speaking by him , assured them thus , but unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing under his wings , with light to deliver you from darkness , and with healing graces ; the influences of his heavenly perfections to cure the diseases , defects , distempers , of your souls . sixthly , the high priest was appointed for men in things pertaining to god , to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins : so the lord christ was ordained for men in things pertaining to god to offer sacrifice for sins . christ hath loved us and given himself for us , an offering and a sacrifice to god for a sweet smelling savour : how much more shall the blood of christ , who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to god , purge your conscience from dead works , to serve the living god ? where it is manifest that he is both the high-priest and the sacrifice , both the offerer and the offering ; as he is the offering or sacrifice , so he was figured by such sacrifices as those formerly spoken of . as he is the offerer or high-priest , so he is figured by the high-priest of the old testament . none was worthy to offer this sacrifice of infinite value but christ himself ; and the infinite worth of christ , god and man , who as the high-priest or sacrificer presented this offering to god the father , and the infinite worth of the same christ presented as an offering , may assure the greatest sinners which truly turn to the lord and come to him , that there is enough done to make atonement and reconciliation between god and them ; only take heed least by neglecting so great salvation , the infinite worth of the high priest and sacrifice prove in the issue an aggravation of your guilt and condemnation . seventhly , the high-priest having killed the bullock of the sin-offering , was to take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the lord , and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small , and bring it within the vail , scil . into the holy of holies , and then fire the incense , that the cloud of the incense might cover the mercy-seat , and then to sprinkle of the blood of the bullock upon the mercy-seat , and before the mercy-seat seven times● : so first the lord christ having sacrificed himself entred with his own blood , scil . with the merit and virtue of his blood , into the most holy place within the vail , that is , into heaven it self ; into the second , sci . the most holy place , went the high priest once every year , not without blood , which he offered for himself , and for the errours of the people , but christ being being become an high-priest of good things to come , by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands , that is to say , not of this building , neither by the blood of goats and calves , but by his own blood , he entred once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption : so that the merit and virtue of christ his most precious blood is always presented before god in heaven , in behalf of those that truly lay hold on christ. also the sweet incense put upon the fire in the golden censer , and resting as a cloud upon the mercy-seat , may teach us that the sweet incense of christ his sacrifice and offering make way for the persons , prayers , and services of gods people , that so they may approach to the mercy-seat or gracious presence of god in heaven . the blood also sprinkled upon and before the mercy-seat , may note unto us , that the blood of christ procures mercy with god for repenting and believing sinners , and maketh way for them to draw nigh unto god. and so much for this eminent type of christ. the high-priest of the old testament figuring christ the eternal high-priest . in the next place , somewhat might be spoken of the inferiour priests which were of the posterity of aaron . these i take to have been types of the members of christ , of whom it is said , that christ hath loved them , and washed them from their sins in his own blood , and made them kings and priests unto god and his father : to whom also peter saith , ye are are a chosen generation a royal priesthood , an holy nation , a peculiar people . and these are first to offer themselves as sacrifices to god ; i beseech you brethren by the mercies of god , that ye present your bodies , that is i conceive , taking a part for the whole , their bodies and souls , their whole selves , a sacrifice living , holy , acceptable unto god. and therefore all that will approve themselves unto god , must look upon themselves as under a double consecration , as dedicated to god under a twofold notion and respect , both as priests and as sacrifices ; how then should they study , labour , and follow after holiness ? both priests and sacrifices under the old testament were consecrated to god as holy . he that was unclean was not fit as a priest to sacrifice . how should they strive to be holy as the lord is holy , who should be both priests and sacrifices ? and therefore it is said , be not conformed to this world , but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind , that ye may prove what is that good , that perfect and acceptable will of god. as the priests were chosen out and separated from other men , and consecrated as holy to the lord , and the sacrifices were chosen out and severed from the common herds and flocks , to be offered up to god : so christians must not be conformed to this world , nor follow the common throngs and herds according to the course of the world , but be transformed , new framed in conformity to christ , that they may be both priests and sacrifices acceptable to the lord. secondly , as priests of the new testament , they must offer holy services and duties of obedience as spiritual sacrifices to the lord. offer the sacrifices of righteousness , and put your trust in the lord. the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit : a broken and a contrite heart o god thou wilt not despise . so the apostle speaking of that contribution which the philippians sent unto him , being a prisoner for the gospel of christ , said , i have all and abound , i am full having received of epaphroditus the things which were sent from you , an odour of a sweet smell , a sacrifice acceptable , well pleasing to the lord. it might also be noted how the priests and levites were teachers in israel , as christ is the great preacher and prophet of the church : but i know not whether herein he be not more lively represented by the prophets of the old testament , this belonging to his prophetical office . but here by the way , i think it seasonable to put you in mind that in all the new testament , i am confident it cannot be found that the ministers of the gospel are called priests in respect of their particular calling or office . the extraordinary ministers are called prophets , apostles , evangelists : the ordinary are termed pastors , teachers , sometimes bishops or overseers , elders or presbyters , never priests ; for a priest by office is one that offereth sacrifice for propitiation , for appeasing the wrath of god : and so there is no priest of the new testament but the lord jesus christ : and therefore when prophane persons do in scorn call the preachers of the gospel priests , they commit a double sin , and shew double prophaneness : 1. attributing that name to them which i● proper to christ. 2. accounting that title of christ a word of reproach . and therefore i find not , that ministers of the new testament are any where called priests in scripture , but only as all other true believers are , which christ hath made kings and priests to off●● spiritual sacrifices . if the popish shavelings will take upon them that title , as pretending to offer the very body of christ to god i● the mass , what is that to the ministers of the gospel who detest that abomina●●on ? sixthly , take notice of some sacred thing● that were subservient to sacred or holy ●ses . and , first , the tabernacle , which the lord directed moses to raise , instead whereof afterwards solomon erected a temple . in some things these two agreed , in some they differed . 1. both of them were framed by the lords appointment : for the tabernacle th● lord gave command to moses , exod. the 25 and the 26. and david shews that the lord made choice of solomon his son to build hi● house and his courts , and david gave to solomon the pattern of the temple , and th● things belonging to it by the spirit : all th● said david the lord made me to understand by his hand upon me , even all the works 〈◊〉 this pattern . 2. both were dedicated to god as places designed for his special presence , and therefore each of them was called his house , both were places appointed for special ordinances of god , not to be used elsewhere . they differed in that the tabernacle was a slight frame of boards and curtains , the temple a substantial building . the tabernacle was a moveable tent that might be carried from place to place : the temple fixt upon its foundation in one certain place . i conceive both of them did , 1. primarily signifie the precious body , the flesh , the humane nature of christ : the word was made flesh , and dwelt among us , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as in a tabernacle , in a mortal weak body , exposed to sufferings and death . christ being come a high-priest of good things to come , by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands , &c. so the lord christ calleth his body a temple , destroy this temple , and in three days i will raise it up : the iews seemed to take it of the temple of hierusalem , but he spake of the temple of his body . as god is said to dwell in the tabernacle and temple made with hands , because there he vouchsafed his special presence , there he setteth up his worship and ordinances : so god dwelleth in a peculiar manner , in the humane nature of christ ; in him dwelleth all the fullness of the god-head bodily , or substantially . the godhead is united personally to the humane nature of christ , for verily he took not on him the nature of angels , but he took on him the seed of abraham . the lord christ made choice of the nature of man for his tabernacle , rather than of the nature of glorious angels . hence that part of the great mystery of godliness , god was manifest in the flesh ; the invisible god taking the humane nature into the unity of his person became not only visible but actually seen and manifest in the flesh . this sheweth , 1. his wonderful condescension and voluntary abasement of himself , that he who filleth heaven and earth , was pleased to dwell as it were in a cottage , in the flesh , in the nature of man. the creator became a creature , yet still remaining the creator : the son of god became also the son of man. he who made all things as he is god , was made of a woman as he is man. 2. herein appeareth his unconceivable love to mankind , that he was pleased to become bone of their bone , and flesh of their flesh , their kinsman of the same blood ; for all nations of men are made of one blood : so that there is a consanguinity between christ and other men ; he was pleased to become their brother , he is not ashamed to call them brethren . 3. let all be stirred up to turn to the lord and lay hold of christ , that they may be united to him , as he is united to their nature , though not by the same kind of union ; but as he is personally joyned to the nature of man , so they may be spiritually united to him , receiving his spirit , embracing him , by faith that through union with him , they may be united to god , for the father is in the son. in as much as christ hath made so near an approach to us , as to become one person with our nature , let us take heed lest we become guilty of despising his love , in suffering sin or the world to keep us at a distance from him , to withhold us from closing with him ; for he partaking of our nature , hath made way for us to partake of his divine nature , by participation of his spirit and graces : for by the exceeding great and pretious promises of the gospel , men may be partakers of the divine nature , that is , by christ partaking of the humane nature , who is the substance of the promises , and in whom they are all , yea and amen . 4. how should christians abhor to defile themselves by sin , to pollute that nature of man in their own persons , which christ in his person hath exalted to the right hand of god , far above angels , principalities and powers . when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world , he saith , and let all the angels of god worship him , all the holy angels worship man in the person of christ. take heed then of abaseing the nature of man in your own persons to the service of sin ; and abase your selves exceedingly before the lord , for abaseing your nature in this kind . again in a secondary consideration , i take the tabernacle and temple , for a representation of the church of christ , the multitude of believers . iohn saw the new hierusalem , and heard a voice saying , behold the tabernacle of god is with men , and he will dwell with them . so the church of god is called the house of god , for ( saith the apostle ) ye are the temple of the living god , as god hath said , i will dwell in them and walk in them . 1. how should all that live within the church , professing themselves christians , take heed of defileing the lords tabernacle , and polluting his temple by sin ? how highly is god dishonoured when his temple is polluted ; when any live in a course of sin , or commit gross acts of sin where his gospel is preached or professed ? the priest was commanded to bring the blood of the goat of the sin-offering within the vail , and there to sprinkle it : then it followeth , he shall make an attonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of israel , and because of their transgressions in all their sins ; and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness . see the cursed ● nature of sin , it defileth the tabernacle and temple of the lord it polluteth his sanctuary , his church , when it is committed within his church , that is among those that profess themselves christians , attend upon his ordinances , believe his gospel : ye that harden your hearts in any evil ways , and make light of continuing in sin , though ye live in the visible church , humble and judge your selves before the lord , depart from iniquity , otherwise assure your selves your sin will find you out . secondly , it is a great height of wickedness when any rejoyce in scandalous sins committed within the church , and make a sport of them : do not these shew themselves prophane graceless wretches ? if thou hadst any sincere love and respect to his glory , thou wouldst not take pleasure in such things as tend highly to his dishonour , but rather bewail and lament them . i conceive the apostle in the 2. of corinth . mentioneth his former epistle written to the same church , and there he saith , out of much affliction and anguish of heart i wrote unto you with many tears , for in that epistle he had reproved divers disorders and scandalous sins committed in that primitive church which was of his planting , and it was such a matter of grief unto him , that he wrote about these things out of much affliction and anguish of heart , with many tears : with what a spirit are they led , who make a sport of such things ? scandalous sins i● the church are to be reproved and lamented as things that defile the sanctuary of christ , and dishonour him : but who can find in their hearts to rejoyce in them but they that are enemies to christ ? again , the tabernacle and temple represented particular christians , each true believer being a spiritual temple to the lord. know ye not that ye are the temple of god , and that the spirit of god dwelleth in you ? if any man defile the temple of god , him shall god destroy . flee fornication : every sin that a man doth is without the body : but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body . what! know ye not that the body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you ? both body and soul is to be consecrated and dedicated to god as his temple for him to dwell in by his spirit . the body is as it were the outward court ; the inferiour faculties of the soul may be compared to the inner court within the first vail : the superiour faculties , the understanding , judgement , conscience , will , may be likened to the inmost court within the second vail , the principal and most holy place of the temple . now as all the courts of the temple and tabernacle were holy being consecrated and dedicated to the most holy god , and sanctified to his holy services and ordinances , and were to be kept holy free from profanations and defilements : so the souls and bodies of christians are to be consecrated and sanctified as holy temples to the lord , and to be kept from all filthiness of flesh and spirit , and to be cleansed dayly ; and when they are defiled by sin , the lord is dishonoured and his wrath is provoked , he accounteth it a defiling of his temple ; whereas the apostle s●emeth to say that every sin except fornication is without the body , &c. i conceive it is to be understood comparatively , that fornication . adultery , whoredom , and sins of that kind , do in more special manner defile the body than other sins ; other sins defile the body also , scil . outward acts of sin wherein the body or any of the members of the body act sinfully . and when the body is defiled with sin , the heart and soul is first defiled , for sin beginneth there , for out of the heart proceed evil 〈…〉 murders , adulteries , fornications , thefts , 〈◊〉 witness , blasphemies , these are the things which defile a man : these and all other sins are the things which first defile the heart and soul , where they are conceived and bred , and then so many of them as are brought forth into outward act defile the body also , some of them more some less , according to their natures and degrees . now there is a severe threatning formerly mentioned , if any man defile the temple of god , him shall god destroy . as ye desire the salvation of your souls and bodies , to prevent the destruction of both , take heed of defiling these temples of god , make a through search , and cast out all the filth which ye find there , by sincere repentance and reformation ; watch against all future defilements : and as atonement was made for the tabernacle by the blood of the sin-offering , so seek to clear your selves from the guilt of your sins by the sprinkling of the blood of jesus applied by faith . seventhly , next to the tabernacle or temple , ye may take notice of the altar of burnt-offering , and as the sacrifices offered up on this altar , and high-priest who was the principal officer , were types of chirst , so it seemeth was the altar , we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle . 1. it was commanded to be made of shittim wood which is thought to have been a choice kind of wood that would not rot , and so fit to resemble the precious body of our lord jesus christ , of whom it is said , he whom god raised again , saw no corruption . the lord christ though he freely laid down his life for his people , and suffered death , yet he rose again in so short a time as to prevent all putrefaction and rottenness , he saw no corruption , and as he preserved his own natural body from corruption , so he shall deliver his mystical body , his church , and the members of it out of corruption , and raise them incorruptible . but , 2. the altar was to be over-laid with brass , for though the wood might be free from rotting and corrupting , yet i conceive it could not endure the force of that fire which was to burn upon it , and therefore it was to have a brazen covering . this seemeth to note unto us the godhead of christ united to his manhood , or that strength which the godhead thus united gave to the manhood , whereby it was so mightily for●ified , that the wrath of god due to the sons of men did not consume it , as the wood of the alta● was not consumed by the fire wherewith the sacrifices were burnt . 3. this altar was placed by the door of the tabernacle , of the tent of the congregation ; it seemeth this was set in the open court that all the people might see it , and behold the sacrifices offered upon it , that their hearts might be raised in expectation of that great and all-sufficient sacrifice of christ which alone satisfieth for sins : so now christ in the preaching of the gospel , is set forth as it were crucified before the eyes of believers . the altar upon which the sacrifices were offered was set by the door of the tabernacle at the entrance into it : whosoever will have a place in the courts of the lord , and abide in his house for ever , must get entrance by christ and his sacrifice ; sin shutteth the door against all , only christ makes way for those that truly come to him and by him to god. saith the lord christ , i am the door , by me if any man enter in he shall be saved . and again , i am the way , &c. no man cometh unto the father but by me : whosoever will come to god , enjoy his favour , enter into covenant , and have communion with him , must come to him by christ. 4. there was an altar to burn incense upon of the same wood with the former , but overlaid with pure gold : christ is the golden altar upon whom the prayers and other services of his people are offered up as sweet incense unto god , by whose merit and intercession they find acceptance . 2. no strange incense was to be offered thereon : so no strange worship must be offered to god in the name of christ of mans deviseing , only such services are to be presented to him as the lord himself hath appointed in his word . in vain do they worship me , teaching for doctrine the traditions of men . the lord alloweth not any strange incense to be offered up to him . eighthly , there was the ark overlaid with pure gold , into which was put the testimony : by which i understand the tables of stone wherein the law was written by the finger of god. this ark was a special token of god his presence with his people , and upon the ark was placed a mercy-seat of pure gold , and the mercy seat was put above upon the ark. as the mercy seat was set above upon the ark wherein the law was , so the lord in dealing with repenting and believing sinners in christ , exalteth and magnifieth his mercy , and covereth their sins whereby they have transgressed his holy law : he sitteth upon a mercy-seat to receive poor sinners that fly from the curse of the law for refuge to the riches of his grace in christ. let all poor souls without strive and hasten to escape from the severity of gods dreadful justice to his mercy-seat through christ , whose blood hath opened a way unto it . they that are sincerely willing to renounce their dearest sins , and to yeild subjection unto christ , may have free access to the mercy-seat , and receive an answer of peace in christ. this ark wherein the tables of the law were written , and the mercy-seat was of the same measure for breadth and length : so they that will have their hearts assured of the saving mercy of god in christ , must have the law of god written by the finger of god in their hearts ; they must be regenerate and renewed by the spirit of christ , and conformed to his holy law. poor souls pursued with the guilt of their consciences and curse of the law , must flee to the mercy-seat of god in christ ; though as yet they do not find any such work in themselves ; but they cannot have their hearts established in the assurance of this priviledge that their sins are forgiven , until they find this gracious work wrought in them , and therefore the lord in d●c●aring his covenant joyneth these two together , this is the covenant , &c. i will put my laws into their mind , and write them in their hearts : and i will be merciful unto their unrighteousness , and their sins and their iniquities will i remember no more . the lord promiseth to the same pr●sons to pardon their sins , and to write his laws in their hearts : as for those that go on securely in sin and yet rely upon the mercy of god in christ for pardon of sin , they deceive themselves . the ark wherein the law was put and the mercy-seat were just of the same size : and repentance which is a change of heart and life , is always joyned with forgiveness of sins . there were two cherubims of beaten gold at the two ends of the mercy-seat with their faces one to another looking towards the mercy-seat : so the holy angels attend upon god the father and the lord jesus christ , for the service of his church ministring for them who shall be heirs of salvation . they are ready with their wings stretched out to execute the will of christ , and do his pleasure for the protection and good of his people . 2. the holy angels look into the mysteries of christ in his gospel , as the cherubims toward the ark and mercy-seat , which thing the angels defire to look into . and the apostle having spoken of the glorious mysteries of christ in the gospel , made known to him by revelation , and made known by him in his ministery , who preached among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of christ , addeth this , to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of god. how inexcusable is the negligence of those that will not take pains to be acquainted with the mysteries of christ which the glorious angels did search into . ninthly , the fire that was used in the sacrifices of the law , may be considered , 1. as the fire burned the sacrifices which were offered to the lord : so the fire of gods wrath fell upon christ for the sins of the world , when he offered himself in sacrifice to his father to satisfie his justice ; and therefore he was in a grievous agony , and his sweat was it as were great drops of blood falling down to the ground , and he complained my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death . and when he was upon the cross , he cried out with a loud voice saying , my god my god why hast thou forsaken me ? 1. see here the love of christ toward sinners , interposing himself between the burning wrath of god and them ; that which was of such a scorching heat to him , would have been a consuming fire to them . 2. how should the hearts of believers be inflamed with love to christ , who endured the flames of divine wrath to save them from everlasting burnings ? 3. how restless should all be until they are sound in christ , that his righteousness may shelter them from the fire of gods wrath ? how unsufferable will that be to them which was so grievous to him . secondly , this fire came from heaven , there came a fire out from before the lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering , &c. and so in the temple built by solomon , fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt-offering and sacrifices : so the lord sends down that heavenly fire of his spirit upon his people to consume their dross , warm their hearts with holy flames of love and zeal , refine their spirits . so christ is said to baptize his people with the holy ghost and fire . thirdly , this fire was to be kept burning upon the altar continually and never to go out : christians having once the heavenly fire of grace and holy affections kindled in their hearts by the spirit of christ should labour to keep it continually burning , take heed of quenching the spirit . tenthly , the vail may be taken notice of : the apostle intimateth a twofold va●l , for he speaketh of a second vail : i conceive then this second and inward vail was that which was hanged before the most holy place , and the first was that hanging mentioned ; there being three courts in the tabernacle , the first and outermost where the people were : the second where the priests were , between the which two was the first vail : the third which was the most holy place , into which went none but the high-priest , and this was divided from the middle court by the second vail . so the mysteries of the gospel were hidden in a great measure before christ his coming in the flesh , by a vail of ceremonies which are now revealed in christ , at whose death the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to th●● bottom . chap. vi. something may be spoken also of sacred observances , which were required of israel under the ceremonial law , these being 〈◊〉 many and of great variety , i intend to touch some of them and pass by the 〈◊〉 . and , 1. consider that restraint that was laid upon them in the use of the creatures ; many of these they were forbidden to eat , as being unclean , not in their own nature , but by the ordinance of god , in this law of ceremonies . 1. this sheweth whereas israel and other nations were all alike by creation , being all ●ade of one blood in the first man and wo●●n , from whom they all descended as so many branches of one common root or stock , ●nd were all alike corrupted by sin unclean in the sight of god , and children of wrath : yet the lord according to the counsel of his own will , was pleased to make a diffe●●nce or distinction , separating the nation 〈◊〉 israel from the rest of mankind , conse●rating the people of israel as a peculiar people to himself , and rejecting the rest as ●nclean . so it is said to israel , thou art an ●oly people to the lord thy god , and the lord ●ath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth . then followeth this prohibition , restraining them from eating divers creatures , the lord hath chosen iacob for himself , and israel for his peculiar treasure . he sheweth his word unto iacob , his statutes and his judgements to israel . he hath not dealt so with any nation , and for his judgements they have not known them . balaam extolling the priviledges of israel , among other passages saith , for from the top of the rocks i see him , and from the hills i behold him . loe the people that dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations , although balaam spake it , yet the lord put the word in his mouth . the people of israel dwelt alone , being separated by the lord from the rest of the world , as a peculiar people and church of god , and was not reckoned among the nations ; they were not put into the common account , and therefore the hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated gentiles and heathen signifying properly nations , and being used in scripture for all people except the people of israel , agree exactly with this passage , and shewe●●● that israel was not reckoned among the nations . 1. this sheweth that the lord as a soveraign , a supreme and absolute lord dealeth with his creatures according to his pleasure . what man is able to give a reason why this people should be preferred above all others ? that for so many hundred years the rest of the world should be excluded as aliens from the common-wealth of israel , &c. and israel alone taken into covenant with god ? it was not for any righteousness the lord sound in them , as moses told them , understand that the lord thy god giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness , for thou art a stiff-necked people : it was not because of the greatness of thy nation , or the multitude of thy people . the lord did not set his love upon , and chuse you because you were more in number then any people ( for ye were the fewest of all people ) but because the lord loved you , &c. it was a pure act of grace , and work of gods free love towards israel ; and therefore the apostle as one transported with admiration of that which he could not comprehend , breaketh out into this exclamation , o the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of god , how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out ! 2. let us magnifie the goodness of god towards the nations of the world in these latter days , that he hath sent his only begotten son into the world , manifested in the flesh , to break down the partition-wall that was between iew and gentile ; that as now that difference between several sorts of beasts , &c. is taken away , so that they are not opposed to each other as legally clean and unclean , as they were under the law of ceremonies : so the difference between israel and other nations is now also abolished , and it is as free for an people as for the posterity of abraham to partake of the covenant of grace in church-priviledges , both was declared to peter by a vision and a voice from heaven ; for cornelius an heathen captain being directed by an angel to send for peter , the lord prepared this apostle for the journey , by casting him into a trance , and causing him to see heaven opened , and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great sheet , wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts , and wild-beasts , and creeping things , and fowls of the air ; and there came a voice to him , rise peter , kill and eat , but peter said , not so lord , for i have never eaten any thing common or unclean . and the voice spake unto him again the second time● what god hath cleansed , that call not thou common . now when peter came to cornelius and his company , he said unto them , ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a iew to keep company , or come unto one of another nation , but god hath shewed me that i should not call any common or unclean . the lord spake of beasts , &c. peter rightly applyeth it to men : so that the lord christ took away the difference of clean and unclean that was under the ceremonial law , both between men of several nations , and between other creatures . how should we in particular stir up our selves to be thankful to the lord , that he hath reserved us for these times , wherein it is as free for us descended from heathen ancestors , to partake of the priviledges of god his covenant , as for the people of israel ; yea , when the israelites being natural branches are cut off through unbelief , we may be grafted in by faith . let us take heed then least our unbelief , impenitency , security , deprive us of this blessed priviledge ; for though none now are unclean , in respect of the nation whereof they are , more then others , yet all are unclean in the sight of god , who remain dead in trespasses and sins , out of christ , whose natures are not renewed and cleansed from their filthiness . 3. observe with thankfulness the liberal use of the creatures which god hath given to his people now under the new testament through christ , above that which he allowed the people of israel under the old testament , for now every creature of god is good , and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving . nothing that is wholesome for mans body is to be refused as unlawful : and so the same apostle saith , all things are lawful for me , viz. all sorts of meats , for of such things he speaketh in that place ; and therefore whereas blood in particular was forbidden under the old testament , it is now lawful . but it hath been objected that blood was forbidden upon a moral reason , taken from the nature of the the thing forbidden , because the blood is called the life of the creature . for answer i conceive , this is no moral reason , but a natural reason , implying a mystery , scil . to shew that men should abhor cruelty and bloodshed : and so i suppose if we did throughly understand the natures of all the creatures which the israelites were forbidden to eat ; there might be some natural reason given for it comprehending the mystery . again , it seemeth there was also a farther mystery in the prohibition of blood ; for eating of blood and fat are both forbidden together ; scil . such fat as used to be sacrificed , because the blood and fat were both in a peculiar manner to be offered unto god. the blood poured forth signified the taking away the guilt of sin by the death of christ and shedding of his blood . the burning of the fat ( it seemeth ) signified the mortification of sin by the spirit of christ ; and so they might be forbidden both the eating the blood and fat , to teach all not to take to themselves the honour either of their justification or of their sanctification , but to ascribe it wholly unto christ. but it may be said , that blood was forbidden after christ his death and resurrection , by the apostles and elders in the synod of ierusalem . i answer , it was but a temporary decree imposed upon the believing gentiles , that they might not give offence to weak believers among the iews who were not yet clearly satisfied about the abolishing of legal ceremonies , and the extent of that christian liberty which christ had given them . secondly , an other ceremonial observance , was the keeping of their solemn festivals . 1. in general . these feasts may intimate unto christians that gound and matter of joy which true believers have through christ , and accordingly that duty of holy rejoycing in christ which they are called unto : so the angels said unto the shepherds , fear not , for behold i bring you good tidings of great joy , which shall be unto all people , for unto you is born this day in the city of david , a saviour which is christ the lord. and the apostle saith , we are the circumcision which worship god in the spirit , and rejoyce in christ iesus . this is that spiritual feast which the lord promised . in this mountain shall the lord of hosts make unto all people , a feast of fat things , a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow , of wines on the lees well refined . 2. in special , there were three solemne feasts which they were commanded to observe every year . 1. the feast of unleavened bread , which was annexed to the passeover : of this somewhat hath been formerly spoken . 2. the feast of harvest , which was called the feast of weeks , it seemeth because it was as it were a week of weeks , after that other feast of the passeover and unleavened bread ; scil ▪ seven weeks , the same that is called pentecost , it is called the feast of harvest , their harvest being much earlier then ours in that hot country . this may teach christians to stir up their hearts to sincere thankfulness unto the lord for all his blessings , particularly for the increase of the fruits of the earth , that they may serve the lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things . at this feast of harvest , of weeks , or pentecost , the lord christ having ascended into heaven about ten dayes before , did in a more glorious manner send down the holy ghost upon his apostles , that so he might furnish them abundantly with gifts , graces , abilities to gather in his harvest , to bring in the nations of the earth into his barn , into his church , which before were in the open field of ahe world , being strangers to christ , and subject to satan the god of the world and prince of darkness , he had said unto them , lift up your eyes and look on the fields , for they are white already to harvest . and herein is that saying true , one soweth and another reapeth : i sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour , other men laboured and ye are entred into their labours . the ancient prop●ets that foretold of christ his coming , death , resurrection and ascension into heaven , and that great and glorious harvest wherein the nations of the world should be gathered into christ , were ●eedsmen that did not live to see this rich crop brought into the barn : they died long before the son of god was manifested in the flesh , and the gentiles converted , but the apostles were called to harvest-work , to reap what the prophets had ●own , to gather in the nations of the earth unto christ ; and here the lord christ told them it was harvest-time , the fields looked white● , the fulness of time was come , and they were the reapers that must bring in his harvest , which he had so dearly paid for , even with the price of his most precious blood ; but it was needful that that they should be furnisht in an extraordinary measure and manner for such a work , and therefore the lord christ said unto them , behold i send the promise of my father upon you , but tarry ye in the city of hierusalem until ye be endued with power from on high : do not fall rashly upon the work until i have fitted you for it ; and so he told them , ye shall receive power after the holy ghost is come upon you , and ye shall be witnesses unto me , both in hierusalem and in all iudea , and in samaria , and unto the uttermost parts of the earth : after ye are thus fitted and enabled for so great a work , ye shall go over the large field of the world to bring in mine harvest ; and accordingly at this feast of harvest , the day of pentecost , the lord christ sent down his spirit upon them , wonderfully enabling them for this service . thirdly , there was a third feast , scil . the feast of ingathering , at the end of the year , when they had gathered in their labours out of the field ; i conceive when the last of their fruits , their vintage or grapes , &c. were gathered in : this i take to be the same which is called the feast of tabernacles : this was to begin on the fifteenth of the seventh month which seemeth to answer to our september , and continued seven days ; and again , it is said to be at the time when they had gathered in the fruit of the land ; and they were commanded to take boughs of goodly trees , branches of palm-trees , and the boughs of thick trees , and willows of the brook , and to rejoyce before the lord their god seven days ; they were also commanded to dwell in boothes seven days , that their generations might know that the lord made the children of israel to dwell in booths when he brought them out of the land of egypt . this feast was solemnly kept after the peoples return from captivity . 1. this again may stir up christians to thankfulness unto the lord for all his blessings , and particularly for the fruits of the earth as before . 2. this dwelling in booths and slight tents or tabernacles made of green boughs in memory of their condition when they came out of the land of egypt , the house of bondage , may teach christians often to call to mind their afflictions and low condition out of which the lord hath at any time delivered them ; especially they that are in christ should often and seriously remember that woful bondage and misery under sin and satan , and the danger of condemnation , out of which the lord christ hath delivered them , and labour to be exceedingly thankful for it . 3. they were to go out of their dwelling houses to dwell in booths when they had gathered in their fruits , least when their barns and store-houses were plentifully filled they might forget god who gave them all these things , and set their hearts upon the creatures , resting in their outward enjoyments , giving themselves up to voluptuousness , like him spoken of , luk. 12. soul thou hast goods laid up for many years , eat , drink and be merry : but god said unto him , thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee ; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ? learn then in the midst of the greatest abundance , to raise up your hearts above all earthly things , to make god your portion , to walk with him in the light of his countenance . 4. this dwelling in booths or tabernacles may teach christians to be affected as strangers here on earth , having no continuing city in this world , their bodies being slight and weak frames easily dissolved , like summer-houses made of green boughs that will suddenly wither ; labour then to make sure of a building of god , an house not made with hands , eternal in the heavens , purchased by the blood of christ for all those that are sound in him : in as much as ye have no continuing city here , seek one to come , and labour for sound evidence to clear your title to it . fourthly , besides these three great feasts , there was to be a memorial of blowing the trumpets upon the first of the same seventh month ; and then upon the tenth day of that month , a day of atonement , solemne humiliation , repentance , and afflicting the soul : so the silver trumpet being sounded in the preaching of the word , summons the hearers to repentance , to afflict their souls , to abase and humble themselves , to turn to the lord with all their hearts , cry aloud , spare not , lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of iacob their sins . this silver trumpet was sounded by iohn baptist preaching in the wilderness of iudea , and saying , repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand , for this is he that was spoken of by the prophet isaiah saying ; the voice of one crying in the wilderness , prepare ye the way of the lord , make his paths strait . yea , the lord christ himself in his own person sounded this silver trumpet , from that time iesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . he who gave himself for a sacrifice , and poured forth his blood to make atonement and reconciliation between god and sinners , did preach repentance to them to prepare them for atonement and reconciliation . it is very lamentable to consider how many live under the sound of the silver trumpet many years , and yet are not prepared for atonement and reconciliation to god through christ , nor brought to the beginnings of sound and saving repentance ; but either are secure , careless , dead-hearted , minding earthly things , or resting in outward performances , or openly profane and wicked . oh how dreadful will the sound of that trumpet be at the last day ? for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , with the voice of the arch-angel , and with the trumpet of god. i say how dreadful shall the sound of that trumpet be to such who go on hardning their hearts in security and impenitency against the sound of the silver trumpet of the gospel . 2. the day of atonement and humiliation was about four or five days before the feast of tabernacles wherein they were to rejoyce before the lord : so sincere humiliation and repentance make way for sound spiritual joy ; blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted ; godly sorrow maketh way for heavenly rejoycing : but when a man goeth on to glut himself with the pleasures of sins or earthly contents , not afflicting his soul for sin , he hath no part in this spiritual feast : to such belongs that sad threatning , wo unto you that laugh now , for ye shall mourn and weep . fifthly , consider their manifold washings with water in divers cases , to purifie themselves from legal uncleannesses , ceremonial pollutions ; as when any was cleansed from the leprosie he was to be sprinkled with water mingled with blood seven times , and afterwards to wash both his cloaths and his body in water ; so they that had running issues when they were cleansed from them , were commanded to wash their cloaths and their bodies in water , and so in divers other cases . now the apostle iohn proves that the lord jesus is the christ , thus , this is he that came by water and blood , even iesus christ , n●● by water only , but by water and blood , and i● is the spirit that beareth witness , because the spirit is truth : whereas there was great use of water and blood in the law of ceremonies , the blood of the 〈◊〉 and the water many wayes used for cleansing and purifying , it sheweth that all these things were accomplished in christ , and attained their end in him , he performed and fulfilled what was signified and typified both by water and blood . his blood was shed as the blood of the most perfect sacrifice to take away the guilt of sin , and to justifie sinners and save them from condemnation ; and the sanctifying spirit and grace of christ , cleansing his people from the filth of sin , washing their hearts from wickedness , and making them holy as he is holy , and therefore he addeth , ver . 8 , there are three that bear witness in earth , the spirit , the water , and the blood . and ver . 10 , he that believeth hath the witness in himself ; he that savingly believeth in christ , being united to him by faith , hath this threefold witness in himself : the spirit of christ witnessing with his spirit that he is in christ , reconciled to god by christ , an adopted child and heir of god through christ the only begotten son of god , and heir of all things : the blood of christ cleansing his conscience from the guilt of sin ; the grace of christ resembled by water , sanctifying him and conforming him to christ in holiness ; so that such an one hath an evidence in his own soul , both that jesus is the very christ , and that he is his christ ; for he findeth that christ hath fulfilled that in and upon his soul which was figured by the blood and water under the law of ceremonies . this is a blessed and most precious priviledge which all that are under the gospel should labour with all diligence to make their own . oh , what an happiness is it for christians to have this threefold witness in themselves ! in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established . here are three witnesses beyond exception . a christian having this threesold witness in himself , in the poorest outward estate , is richer and happier , then all the treasures of the earth and all the kingdoms of the world can make him ; but how few are they that have any other witness of their interest in christ but their own fancy ? how few do seriously and diligently seek for any other ? in that great and last day , how will ye stand in the presence of god when numberless sins are charged upon you ? will ye say christ hath satisfied for your sins , what shall this profit you unless ye be united unto christ ? will ye plead that ye believe in christ , and so are made one with him , where is your witness ? oh take heed of appearing before the all-seeing god without a witness ? and therefore i beseech you consider seriously of your condition , and rest not till ye are in christ , and until he come into your souls both by water and blood , and give you the witness of his spirit . 2. those frequent washings under the law of ceremonies , may stir up christians to frequent endeavours dayly to purifie themselves as christ is pure , to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit , perfecting holiness in the fear of god , to draw cleansing and sanctifying virtue from christ more and more by faith . they were to wash their bodies and cloaths , to be sprinkled with water seven times . there is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness , a fountain of most precious blood , and water of most soveraign virtue : the sufferings of christ and the grace of god are to wash away the guilt of sin , and the uncleanness and pollution of sin . do not forsake your own mercies and neglect so great salvation . it is sad that when such a precious fountain is opened , so few are washed and cleansed . thus much concerning the ceremonial law , to shew how and in what respects it is established by the doctrine of the gospel . chap. vii . there are two other laws mentioned by the apostle in the former part of this epistle , by neither of which men can be justified in the sight of god : one is the law of nature , the other is the moral law , written and delivered in the scriptures . it was needful for the apostle to speak distinctly of both these : for , 1. his great design was to make known the only way whereby men might be justified and accepted as righteous in the sight of god , the righteous judge of all the world , that so they might be everlastingly blessed and saved ; whether by their own works and performances , or by the grace and free favour of god , imputing to them the righteousness of the lord jesus christ , and working faith in their hearts by his spirit , thereby enabling them to receive christ and apply his righteousness to themselves . 2. for the deciding of this question , or the determining this controversie : the hearts , lives , and actions of men were to be tried and examined by a rule of righteousness which the supream law-giver had given unto men . 3. the apostle in this dispute having to do with two sorts of people : 1. the gentiles , or such as were strangers to the commonwealth or church of israel , who had no written law of divine authority among them , he dealeth with them another way , and goeth about to convince them of their guiltiness and unrighteousness and sinning against the law of nature . 2. the people of israel who for many hundred years had been the peculiar covenant-people or church of god , and who had the moral law of god written briefly with the finger of god in tables of stone , and more largely opened in other parts of scripture , by holy men inspired and moved by the holy ghost . these he trieth by this more full and perfect law , and proveth them guilty of sin against the law ; and so concludes that both israelites and gentiles were guilty before god , and there was none of them righteous by his own works , no not one : and therefore all of them were to go out of themselves and to flee to christ by faith , that being found in him they might be freely justified by his righteousness . i conceive therefore that the question or objection in this text being occasioned by the apostles former discourse , doth concern all those laws which he mentioned before , by which he proveth that men could not be justified , scil . the ceremonial law , the law of nature , and the moral law written ; and accordingly the answer taketh in all , yea we establish the law. but because these two do concern the same things , forbidding the same sins and commanding the same duties ; and what is more imperfectly contained in the law of nature , is far more perfectly declared in the moral law written . i do not hold it so necessary to shew how these two are severally established by the doctrine of the gospel ; for if this be made evident concerning the moral law written , which being more large and full comprehendeth the law of nature in it , it will follow that the law of nature is established also . notwithstanding in as much as the apostle hath shewed that none can be justified by the light and law of nature , i think fit to speak something briefly of that also , as conceiving it to be included in this objection , and the apostles answer to it . the point then which i observe is this , that god hath given to men a light and law of nature : this i take to be plainly expressed in divers passages of the first and second chapters of this epistle , and twice implyed in this verse : 1. in the objection , do we then make void the law through faith ? doth the doctrine of justification through the righteousness of christ applied by faith , excluding all other ways of justification , make the law of ceremonies , the law moral , the light and law of nature ( as formerly mentioned ) of no effect , altogether void , of no force or use ? 2. in the answer , we establish the law ; and as the law of ceremonies , and the law moral , so the law and light of nature : so that the apostle sheweth according to the point , that god hath given unto men a light and law of nature . that which may be known of god is manifest in them , for god hath shewed it unto them ; for the invisible things of god are clearly seen , being understood by the things that are made , even his eternal power and godhead , so that they are without excuse● , because that when they knew god , they glorified him not as god , &c. where it is manifest the apostle speaks of the law and light of nature common to men in general , even to those that had no light of scripture , nor written law of god , for when the gentiles which have not the law , do by nature the things contained in the law , these having not the law , are a law unto themselves : which shew the work of the law written in their hearts ; their conscience also hearing witness , and their thoughts the mean while ( or between themselves ) accusing or excusing one another . for the underderstanding of this point let us consider , 1. what this light or law of nature is ? it may be described thus , it is the knowledge which god hath given unto man in their natural estate since the fall of men , whereby he hath in some degree made known unto them himself , and the good they ought to do , and the evils they ought to shun . 1. it is given of god : so in both those places of scripture mentioned before , in the one 〈◊〉 is said , god hath shewed it unto them : in the other , they shew the work of the law written in their hearts . now who can write immediately upon the heart and soul , but god who is the father of spirits , who formeth the spirit of man within him , and therefore i do not call it the law of nature in this sense , as if it were propagated from adam by natural generation , but because it is given of god to men as generally , as if it were born with them . the prophet sheweth that god giveth to the husbandman his skill and knowledge , for his god doth instruct him unto discretion , and doth teach him ; this also cometh forth from the lord who is wonderful in counsel , and excellent in working . so the lord saith of bezaleel , i have filled him with the spirit of god in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge , and in all manner of workmanship , to devise cunning works , to work in gold and in silver , and in brass , &c. so that if god be the giver of skill and ability for arts and handy-crafts , we need not doubt but he is the author of the light and law of nature given unto man , whereby they see a difference between truth and falshood , good and evil ; and the lord may give excellent gifts of this kind to such men , to whom he giveth no sanctifying and saving graces . 2. it is a knowledge . so it is said , they knew god : they have a knowledge . so it is said of christ , that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world . the son of god giveth this common light generally to men . this light differeth much from that light of life which christ giveth to them that follow him , whereof he speaketh , chap. 8. i am the light of the world , he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness , but shall have the light of life . this is meant of a spiritual saving light leading men to everlasting life , which is given to none but them that follow christ : but there is a common light and knowledge which christ giveth to them that are strangers to him ; yea , to such as are his enemies . 3. this light and law of nature , is given unto men in their natural estate since the fall , since their nature was corrupted by sin . before the fall , while man was in the state of primitive integrity , as god had created him in his own likeness after his image , that is in wisdom righteousness and true holiness , the light and law which god implanted in man was clear and perfect , man had an exact rule imprinted upon his soul to walk by . but this rule being defaced by the sin of man , the lord gave men some degree of light and knowledge in this state of corrupt nature , which in many things might restrain their corruptions from breaking out into such extremities as satan and their own lusts might stir them up to , and whereby they might be reduced into a more orderly course of life : and manifest effects of this have been found , not only in natural persons living under the gospel which were strangers to the life of grace , but also in many heathens who never heard the doctrine of salvation ; yea , in some heathen persecutors of the church , as trajan , antoninus philosophus , and iulian the apostate . 4. it was said in the description that by this light of nature god hath in some degree made known himself unto them . so the apostle saith , that which may be known of god is manifest in them , for god hath shewed it unto them , i conceive by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that which may be known of god , the apostle meaneth that which may be known of god without special revelation , such as is declared in scripture ; this was manifest in them by that common general light of nature which god had given them : for , 1. they had inward principles of natural light . and , 2. they had the works of god , 1. his works of creation ; for the invisible things of him from the beginning of the world are clearly seen , being understood by the things that are made , even his eternal power and godhead . the heavens declare the glory of god , and the firmament sheweth his handy-work ; their line is gone out into all the earth , and their words unto the end of the world . the creatures do as it were speak out the excellency and glory of their creator to all the nations of the world . 2. his works of providence : god hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth , and hath determined the times before appointed , and the bounds of their habitation , that they should seek the lord , if happily they might feel after him and find him , though he be not far from every one of us , for in him we live , move , and have our being . so the same apostle told the heathens that god in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own waies , not giving them the light of his word to guide them in the way of salvation , nevertheless ( saith he ) he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven , and fruitful seasons , filling our hearts with food and gladness : by his works of providence he made some discovery of himself unto them . i conceive by this light of nature within them , and the light which was held forth unto them by the works of god from without , they might know that there was a god , and that this god was of infinite perfection , eternal , almighty , most wise , good , righteous , that he was to be served and worshipped iu such a way as was pleasing to him , that as the world was made by him , so both it and all the creatures in it were under his government , that as a righteous judge he would punish evil doers , and reward the righteous . they might by the light of reason , conclude that none of the creatures could make themselves ; for nothing can act before it hath a being , and therefore all the creatures must receive their beings from a cause that was before them : hereupon they might assuredly gather , that there is a first universal cause of all things , who is eternal without beginning , of infinite perfection . the orderly and perpetual motion of the heavens , sun , moon , and stars : the continual succession of day and night : the spring , summer , harvest , winter : the correspondency and harmony that is between the creatures , being fitted and suited to each other ; the sun drawing of vapours from the earth , and waters into the air , there to be botled up in the clouds , the clouds sending down showers upon the earth , the earth bringing forth grass , herbs , corn , and other fruits for the use of men , beasts and fowls ; and the beasts and fowls themselves , fitted for the use of men ; the senses of the body and their objects fitted and suited to each other : there are sounds and voices , and an ear to receive them , there are colours , and there is the eye fitted to behold them , so of the rest ; yea , how exactly are the several parts of the same body fitted and suited to each other ? these and many other things discernable by the light of nature , might clearly convince men that there is a god of infinite power and wisdom who is the cause and author of all . fifthly , it was said that by this light and law of nature , god hath given unto men in some degree to discern the good which they ought to do , and the evil which they ought to shun . so ye heard before , the apostle saith , the gentiles having not the law , do by nature the things contained in the law ; they do some things contained in the written law of god , though they have not this law : how ? by nature , by the light and law of nature ; and in so doing they shew the work of the law written in their hearts . the heathen philosophers have written much in commendation of moral virtues , and set forth the odiousness of many vices and dishonest practices . abimelech king of gerar blamed abraham , when out of weakness calling his wife his sister , he seemed to lay a snare before him , and give him occasion to commit adultery unawares : what hast thou done unto us ? and what have i offended thee that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin ? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done . so he said to sarah concerning her husband abraham , behold he is to thee a covering of the eyes , unto all that are with thee , and with all other : thus she was reproved . thus much of the description . secondly , we may consider the imperfection of this law and light of nature . 1. in general , it is not sufficient to bring men to blessedness and salvation . the lord christ saith , i am the way the truth and the life , no man cometh unto the father but by me , neither is there salvation in any other , for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved . whosoever shall call on the name of the lord shall be saved : how then shall they call on him on whom they have not believed ? it must be a prayer of faith , and where sound faith is there are other saving graces . and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? so that the light of nature was not sufficient unto salvation . 2. in special , i conceive the law and light of nature was defective and imperfect , 1. in it self : i suppose it did not make known unto men the great mystery of trinity in unity , three persons in one god , nor the state of perfection wherein man was created , nor his woful fall and revolt from god. their own experience taught them that the nature of man was inclined to evil , the powers of the soul disordered , the senses misleading the affections , the affections leading reason captive ; but they had no light to discover to them the first cause of all this mischief : they were as far to seek concerning the remedy . that great depth of the incarnation of the son of god , of god manifest in the flesh for mans redemption , was hidden from them : their own consciences accused them and condemned them as guilty , but they had no light to shew them how divine justice might be satisfied ; they knew not of the blood , righteousness , sacrifice , satisfaction of jesus christ god and man , that is sufficient to take away sin and to make peace between god and sinners . the light of nature could not enable them to see into the mystical union between christ and believers by his spirit and their faith . the doctrines of free justification by the righteousness of christ imputed , of regeneration , adoption , sanctification , communion with god , resnrrection unto glory , are not revealed by the light of nature . this light did nor shew them how to walk before god , unto all pleasing ; it did not teach them the right way of mortifying their lusts , of walking in the spirit ; it did not discover to them the special institutions of god , and ordinances of his worship . secondly , it was defective and imperfect by reason of the subject , the soul of man in which it was : this light and law of nature being given to men in their corrupt natural estate is much darkned by the natural blindness , errours , vanities , lusts that are in the minds and hearts of men ; as if a man write upon fowl and blurred paper , how much is lost of that which is written ? and how hardly is it read , sometimes a sentence broken off in the midst , here and there half words , one letter mistaken for another : so the light and law of nature being put into the defiled hearts and souls of men , hath many defects in it . thirdly , it may be considered of what use this light and law of nature was , sith ▪ it was defective , and not sufficient to lead men to salvation . it might be useful , 1. for the glory of god , who by this means had a witness in the hearts and consciences of men , of natural men , yea ▪ of heathens , that he loved righteousness and hated wickedness , their own consciences pleading for god against them . 2. it was of use for the preservation of humane societies , in families ●nd common-wealths , keeping men within some limits of common honesty , and preventing those outrages which the violence of mens lusts , and the power of satan might hurry them into . 3. i conceive it might be useful as a remote preparative for the receiving of the gospel in some to whom the word of salvation was tendred , for though the pride and prejudice of mens natural spirits might cause them to resist the holy ghost , speaking in the gospel preached : yet the light of nature well improved , finding nothing in the doctrine of the gospel contrary to it , but far above it , might incline the minds of many to attend to a far higher and more glorious light , shining in the doctrine of salvation . i speak of this but as a remote preparative whereby ingenuous spirits might be moved to give heed to the gospel , but it must be a far higher cause even the mighty power of christ his spirit , that can bring them to receive the gospel in an effectual and saving way . fourthly , how doth this light and law of nature leave men without excuse ? i conceive , first , because they did in many things shut their eyes against the light , not seeking to increase that light received , by improving their reason and understandings : as one candle lighteth another , so one degree of light improved begetteth another , and so there is lumen de lumine , light ( as it were ) springing from light , whereas light smothered endeth in darkness . 2. because they did not act according to that light received , nor walk according to those natural abilities which they had . the heathens lived in gross idolatry against the light of nature , whereby they might have learned that dead images were utterly unfit to represent the living god. carnal christians sin against the light of nature : as in many other things , so i conceive in not submitting to that higher light of spiritual mysteries , so as to receive the love of the truth that they may be saved . the use of this may be , 1. to inform us , that acts againt the law of nature are sings against god , not only as they are against his written law , but also as they are against the law of nature , because ( as the point sheweth ) god hath given unto men this light and law of nature : the impression of this law of nature upon the hearts and souls of men , is one of the acts of his legislative power . i conceive when the prophet saith , the lord is our iudge , the lord is our law-giver , the lord is our king , he will save us , he speaketh of god in reference to his church , to whom he hath a more peculiar relation of this kind : he gave them his law written in the scripture , and he raigneth over them as a king in a special maner , blessed is the nation whose god is the lord , and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance : the church is the lords inheritance . a king may have an hereditary ▪ kingdom which he maketh greatest account of , and he may have other tributary kingdoms subject to him to which he giveth law also . so david was king of israel in a peculiar manner , but he had also the kingdoms of edom , moa● , ammon , syria , &c. under him . the lord looketh upon the church as his peculiar kingdom , and to them he hath given a perfect law in writing in the holy scirptures ; but besides that , he hath a universal soveraignty and dominion , the authority of a law-giver over all the nations of the world , iews , turks , indians , &c. the lord most high is terrible , he is a great king over all the earth . and again , god is king of all the earth . and so he is a law-giver to all the nations of the earth : if he giveth not the light of his word and his law written in the scriptures to many nations , yet he giveth to them all the light and law of nature ; and therefore the transgressions of the law of nature are sins against god. the apostle saith , until the law sin was in the world , but sin is not imputed where there is no law : nevertheless death reigned from adam to moses , even over them that had not sinned after tbe similitude of adams transgression . sin was in the world before the law was given on mount sinai , but how can it be just to charge sin upon them who had no law against which to sin ? nevertheless death raigned from adam to moses , even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of adams transgression : who are they ? some seem to understand infants only , who sinned not actually in their own persons as adam did , yet dying in their infancy , were guilty of original sin . others take it for all that lived between the time of adam and moses who sinned not after the similitude of adams transgression , because they sinned not against an express law , given by revelation from heaven , as adam did , who sinned against that express prohibition of god , forbidding him to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil , under the pain of certain death and destruction . i conceive this latter sense more probable , because of that special limitation of time from adam to moses ; for the case of those that dye in their infancy , for ought i know , is the same , whether before or after the time of moses , before and after the law written ; but the condition of those that lived between adams time and that of moses differed from those that lived after . now the apostle sheweth that death the punishment of sin fell upon them , so did many other judgements , the flood destroying the old world , the showr of fire and brimstone upon sodom fell within the compass of that time ; and therefore certainly they were guilty of sin , and justly punished , because these calamities ▪ were the just judgements of god , who is the righteous judge of all the world ; and therefore although these sinned not against any positive law of god delivered to them either by word or writing , yet they sinned against the light and law of nature which god had given them . secondly , this may shew us the reason and the justice of those severe executions of god upon heathen nations , who had no scripture nor written law to sin against . they sinned against the light and law of nature , for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men , who hold the truth in unrighteousness , because that which may be known of god is manifest in them , for god hath shewed it unto them , &c. the judgements and calamities publick , national , private , personal , brought upon any of mankind in several ages , are evidences of gods wrath and displeasure against them , and therefore proofs of their sin and guiltiness against god ; otherwise the lord who is perfectly righteous would not bring these evils upon them : and among the rest , the death of the body is a universal declaration of the wrath of god against mankind for sin . if any should be free from all other evils , yet this alone would be a sufficient proof of their sinfulness ; and therefore the lord said unto adam , and in him to each particular person of his posterity , soon after he had sinned , and they had sinned in him , dust thou art , and to dust thou shalt return . by one man sin entred into the world , and death by sin , and so death passed upon all men , for that all have sinned . euery dead corps , every funeral that ye see or hear of , all the persons that have died from the beginning of the world unto this day , have by their death manifested the wrath of god against sin , and mens guiltiness before the lord : for though through the grace and mercy of god in christ , the death of a true believer is turned into a blessing and made an inlet or entrance into everlasting life , yet in its own nature it is a consequent of sin , and sin was the original of it . in special , the heathens who had not the mind of god so fully revealed to them as those within the church , yet had the light and law of nature , and in sinning against that light and law were justly punished ; for they held the truth in unrighteousness . this common light and law of nature was the truth of god , und they by opposing their wills and lusts against it , and so not following the guidance of it , were found guilty of fighting against god and crossing that light which the lord had given them , and therefore the lord dealt with them as enemies . so the lord punished sodom and the cities adjoynning with fire and brimstone . so the canaanites and amorites were destroyed for their sins against the light and law of nature , and israel was planted in their land. the lord told abraham that his seed should possess it , but not until after four hundred years , why ? because the iniquity of the amorites was not yet full : so that it was the fullness of their iniquity which was the cause of their destruction ; it was because their sin was come to its full height , that they were rooted out . so the lord having forbidden israel the practice of divers great sins saith , defile not your selves in any of these things , for in all these things the nations are defiled which i cast out before you . and the land is defiled , therefore i do visit the iniquity thereof upon it , and the land it self vomiteth out the inhabitants . the lord threatned divers grievous judgements by the prophet amos against many heathen nations , syria , the philistines , tyrus , edom , ammon , moab . all the miseries of war brought upon heathen nations , what were they but revelations and reall demonstrations of the wrath of god from heaven for their sins against the law and light of nature ? the ruining of the babylonish monarchy by the medes and persians , of the persian by the macedonians and grecians ; the macedonians by the romans ; of the roman by the saracens and turks on the one side and divers northern nations on the other ; these and the like were just judgements of god upon heathens for sins against the light and law of nature . so i conceive the cruel spaniards were unjust executioners of the righteous judgements of god upon the poor indians or americans for their sins against the same common light and law of nature : for the lord executeth just judgements by wicked men , yea by divels , who aime not at all at the lords end , but either delight to exercise their malice and cruelty , or act thus to make a ful conquest , and utterly disable a people to make head again . thirdly , this may clearly convince us that the sins of christians are far more heinous then the sins of infidels and heathens , because they sin against the same law and light of nature which heathens did , and beside against a far clearer light and more perfect law delivered to them in the holy scriptures of the old and new testament ; for the light and law of nature though it was given to the heathen , yet it was not peculiar to them , it was not limited to them alone , but was common to them with others : it is given also to iews who have the old testament also ; it is given to christians who have both old and new testament , and therefore their sins are highly aggravated . so the the lord by the prophet amos , having threatned heavy judgements against those heathen nations mentioned before , then turneth his speech to the people of iudah , thus saith the lord , for three transgressions of iudah and for four i will not turn away the punishment thereof , because they have defiled the law of the lord , and have not kept his commandment , and their lies caused them to err , after the which their fathers have walked ; but i will send a fire upon iudah and it shall devour the palaces of ierusalem : they had the written law and commandments of god which the other had not , and therefore they despised and kept not ; they had the truth of god revealed from heaven , and delivered to them by moses and the prophets immediately inspired by the holy spirit of god , but they rather chose to walk in lyes after the example of their fathers , and therefore their sins were much more sinful than those of the heathens . then he threatneth israel , scil . the rest of israel , the kingdom of the ten tribes who followed the sin of ieroboam ; charging them first with barbarous cruelty and oppression contrary to common humanity , because they sold the righteous for silver , and the poor for a pair of shoes . i conceive he speaketh especially against that great sin of judges and magistrates , in perverting justice for bribes , and withal against them which hired such corrupt officers to act unjustly by giving them rewards ; they sold the righteous for silver , they exposed the innocent to the lust and will of their adversaries for mony , and the poor for a pair of shooes . either because being once corrupted with some considerable gains , they afterward were so hardened in their sins , that they would pervert justice for a pair of shooes , for a triflle ; or else because they could not get much for giving sentence against a poor man in his cause , because their adversaries would not offer much to have their will of them who had little to loose : these corrupt judges would transgress for a petty-bribe where no more was to be had . that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor , or as one readeth it , that pant or breath after the head of the poor , that they may cast it down to the dust of the earth : if we take it the former way , the sense may seem to be this , when they have overthrown the poor and laid him in the dust , such is there inhumane cruelty , that they are not satisfied with his misery , but desire his utter ruine and destruction . 2. an other sin was abominable uncleannness , that father and son would lye with the same woman ; which is set forth and heightned with this aggravation , they prophaned the holy name of god , pretending to be the people of god , and yet committing such lewdness : this highly redounded to the lords dishonour above the sins of meer heathens . 3. their wicked glorying and triumphing in their oppression and prophaning that worship which themselves had embraced as religious , laying themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar , keeping the garments of the poor which they had taken to pledge , and being so far from restoring them according to the law , that they durst lye upon them by the very altars , and drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god , feasting themselves in the temple of their god with the very spoils taken from those whom they had unjustly condemned , these sins of israel are aggravated divers ways in the words following : there israel and iudah are both joyned together , hear this word that the lord hath spoken against you o children of israel , against the whole family which i brought up from the land of egypt , saying , you only have i known of all the families of the earth , therefore i will punish you for all your iniquities : the lord had owned them above others , and made himself known to them above all other people , and therefore their sin was greater than others , and they might expect more gievous punishments : how much more are sins of professed christians more heinous than those of the heathens ? who have greater light then the people of israel had , having the new testament added to the old ; who have the lord jesus christ set forth before them in the gospel , not under types and shadowes , but clearly , not as to come , but as already come , actually crucified for sin , buried , risen again , ascended into heaven ? the lord christ sheweth that the sins of corazin and bethsaida were more heinous than those of tyre and sidon , and their condemnation would be more intolerable in the day of judgement , because they sinned against greater light . the like comparison he maketh between capernaum and sodom . and the very name of christian is an aggravation of the sins of those who profess themselves christians . this name was first given to them that professed the faith of christ at antioch , because of the great success of the gospel there . barnabas and saul or paul , a whole year assembled themselves with the church and taught much people , and the disciples were called christians first at antioch . the denomination of a christian is derived from the blessed and glorious name of christ himself as he is annointed of god the father with the spirit above measure : what signifieth a christian then , but 1. a member of christ united to him as the head of the whole mystical body of the church ? how great is the sin of those that can themselves christians , and suffer themselves to be led by satan the enemy of 〈◊〉 , readily entertaining his suggestions and temptations , serving this prince of darkness in the work of darkness ? saith the apostle , shall i take the members of christ and make them the members of an harlot ? god forbid , or let it not be : what , know ye not that he which is joyned to an harlot is one body ? for two saith he , shall be one flesh . it is a fearful thing for a man professing himself a christian , that is , a member of christ , to make himself a member of an harlot : or for a woman making the same profession , to make her self the member of a fornicatour or adulterer . 2. the name of a christian signifieth one that partaketh of the annointing of christ , of the same spirit and the same graces , in some measure wherewith christ was annointed above his fellows , yea above measure : he which stablisheth us with you and anointeth us is god. the graces of christ derived from him to christians , are compared to that precious ointment under the ceremonial law , that was made of principal spices , pure myrrhe , sweet cynamon , sweet calamus and cassia , sweet aromatical choice ingredients , which being artificially compounded together , what a sweet and fragrant smell did it yeild ? but how far doth the sweet savour of that spiritual ointment , the graces of the spirit derived from christ to true christians , excel this material ointment ? how great is their guilt in the sight of god that profess themselves christians , that is , anointed of god , and yet cherish in their hearts noisome and unsavory lusts , and wallow in the mire , and in the stinking sinks of abominable sins ? who profess themselves christians , i. e. anointed with heavenly gragrac●s , and yet remain graceless and profane . 3. the name christian signifieth a disciple , a scholar , a follower of christ. how great is thy sin ? 1. if under this name thou livest in ignorance , dost thou not herein cast a great reproach upon the lord jesus christ ? hast thou been 20 , 30 , 40 years his disciple , his scholar , and hast thou learned little or nothing all this while ? hadst thou any sincere love to christ and his doctrine , how is it that thou hast profited no more ? 2. wilt thou call thy self a christian , that is , a disciple or follower of christ , and dost thou not cease to act and walk contrary to him , in drunkenness , in riot , revellings , chamberings , wantonness , &c. dost thou not herein highly dishonour christ in calling thy self a christian or follower of christ ? is not this as if thou shouldst say christ taught thee these things , and walkt before thee in such ways as these ? oh take heed lest thou be found guilty of a kind of real and implicite blasphemy ! is it not either a mocking of christ , or an implicite blaspheming of christ for people to call themselves christians , that is , followers and scholars of christ , and to go on from time to time in lewd and wicked courses ? how grievous is the sin of them that live under the gospel and are more obstinate , more stubborn , more hardned in their sins than divers of the heathens ! so the lord christ sheweth that the heathens of tyre and sidon would have repented in sackcloth and ashes , if the same means had been afforded them which corazin and bethsaida had . the men of nineve shall rise in judgement with this generation , and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of ionas , and behold a greater then ionas is here . if the ninevites abounding in wealth and pleasure , their city being the head of the assyrian monarchy , an heathenish people , did so far relent at the preaching of ionas who came among them from a strange nation ; oh tremb●e to think of your account if ye continue to harden your hearts against so many sermons , so many messages brought unto you in the name of christ and confirmed by his authority . will ye be able to hold up your faces before the men of nineve in the day of judgement ? how grievous is the sin of professed christians living under the light of the word and gospel of christ , who on the one side having nothing in them better then the wiser sort of heathens . and 2. live in such practices as the better sort of heathens abhorred and scorned ? 1. how many living under the gospel have nothing in them better then some of the heathens ; nothing practically better , no better frame of soul , no better resolutions and affections , nothing of christ his regenerating spirit , nothing of his renewing grace , nothing of the new creature . it may be they have some more knowledge of christ and his gospel then heathens ; so have the divels : but they have no better hearts than heathens . 2. how many such live in the ordinary practice of such sins which the wiser sort of heathens abhorred and scorned ? how disgraceful was drunkenness by the light of nature to sober heathens , and how did they despise drunkards ? what discourses have seneca and pliny against drunkenness , setting it forth not only as odious but as ridiculous , shewing the baseness and sillyness of such courses : yea , are there not many turks at this day who would scorn to make themselves such sotts as many professed christians do ? what notable passages hath tully against chearing and indirect dealing in matter of contracts , bargains , &c. the like may be said of many other cases . let us then lay to heart the abounding of sin and wickedness among us against the light and law of nature , aggravated by the light of the written law , the everlasting gospel of christ , and yet humble our selves and cry mightily unto the lord , if it be possible that his wrath may be turned away from us ; and let us every one in particular exceedingly tremble to be found christians in name , and heathens in heart and life , and therefore worse than meer heathens . chap. viii . i proceed now to the moral law , concerning which the apostle saith it is established by the doctrine of justification through the righteousness of christ apprehended by faith without any consideration of the works of the law performed by the person justified . by the the moral law i understand , the law written in the scripture , whereof we have a brief sum or abridgment in the ten commandments , which again is contracted into a narrower compass , thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart and with all soul , and with all thy mind . this is the first and greatest commandment , and the second is like unto it , thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self . the law thus abridged , is largely unfolded in other parts of scripture , with the additions of many threatnings against disobedience , and promises to obedience . 1. then i intend to propose a general point of doctrine , and then to point at the particulars comprehended in it . the general doctrine is this , that the gospel teaching the free justification of believers without consideration of any works of theirs done in obedience to the law , but through the righteousness of christ alone , applied by faith , doth establish the moral law. so it is shewed in this text , through faith the law is established . that which i desire to clear unto you is , how or wherein the moral law is established by faith : this may be shewed . 1. negatively . 2. affirmatively . and so we may come to the several branches or special doctrines comprised in this general . 1. negatively , thus , the moral law is not established , but declared to be of no use for the justification of sinners in the sight of god , by the doctrine of justification through the righteousness of christ imputed of god and applied by faith : or , more briefly for help of memory thus , iustification by faith in christ , excludeth justification by the works of the law. this ye may take as a point of doctrine implied in the text , if it be compared with the apostles foregoing discourse , to which it hath relation . for the apostle speaketh of it as of a thing strongly proved and concluded as clear and certain , that it being declared and demonstrated that none have fulfilled the law but all are found guilty of sin against the law , therefore none can be justified in the sight of god by the works of the law ; hence it followeth that there is no way remaining for any of mankind to be justified and approved righteous before god , but only through the righteousness of christ imputed to them of god and applied by faith : hereupon ariseth the q●estion or objection in the text , do we then , &c. and the answer is , yea , we establish the law , that is , it is established in other respects , and for other ends and uses , but is declared to be void and of no use at all for the justifying of sinners by any works which they can perform in obedience to the law. so that as the ceremonial law is declared by the doctrine of the gospel to be of no use either for justification of sinners or for outward observation , and yet established in other respects as hath been shewed : so the moral law by the same doctrine of the gospel , is declared to be of no force for justification of sinners , and yet established in other respects . for the present the negative is to be considered . so the apostle having spoken of the priviledges of the people of israel above the gentiles , as in other regards , so chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of god , then moveth a q●estion , what then ? are we better than they ? no in no wise : for , we have before proved both iews and gentiles that they are all under sin , as it is written , there is none righteous no not one . the israelites though they had outward church-priviledges above the gentiles , yet were no better by nature than they ; they were children of wrath by nature as well as others , and it was as impossible for them to be justified by their own righteousness or works of obedience to the law , as it was for the heathen . therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight . two things may be considered here for the opening and confirming this point . the first is this , what grounds there are in general to prove that none can be justified by their own works p●rformed in obedience to the law. 2. how this is declared by the doctrine of the gospel . of the former , the general grounds may be three , the first taken from the consideration of the state of man , as he is in and of himself . the second from the law. the third from god who is both the lawgiver and iudge . 1. from man. he is from his birth a lump of flesh filled with carnal lusts and fleshly corruptions . that which is born of the flesh is flesh ▪ and in this flesh dwelleth no good thing , and this carnal and fleshly mind is enmity against god ▪ it is not subservient to the law of god , neither indeed can be ; so then they that are in the flesh cannot please god , they are all dead in trespasses and sins ▪ inclined to walk according to the course of this world , according to the prince of the power of the air , the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience , and are by nature the children of wrath ; and therefore every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart by nature is only evil continually : and therefore the apostle counted all things which he had of himself out of christ loss and dung , for the excellency of the knowledge of christ jesus : all his own righteousness and best performances out of christ were as loss and dung , and therefore of no weight nor worth towards his justification , of no value at all towardrs the satisfying of gods justice . if any say that after he was in christ renewed by his spirit his works were of some value , i answer , 1. that is nothing to the business in hand ; for when once the soul is united to christ it is already justified upon another account , scil ▪ through the perfect righteousness of christ , and none can find acceptance with god for their persons or services until they are in christ and justified ; and therefore these services and duties make nothing towards their justification , but follow upon their justification . 2. the best duties of the best saints of god in this life are not answerable to the perfect purity and exactness of the law : and that is the second ground whereby it may appear that none can be justified , or approve themselves righteous before the lord by any works of obedience to the law , scil . 1. the consideration of the purity and perfection of the law. 2. the severity of the law , not bearing with the least aberration or swerving from it or transgression against it . 1. the perfection of the law. the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good . the law is spiritual , it is a compleat and perfect rule of righteousness , and it is not for the imperfection of the law that it doth not make men righteous , but it is because of the imperfection and corruption of men who cannot answer the perfection of the law. 1. the law requireth a full and perfect conformity of the whole man , of all the powers of the soul and affections of the heart , and so of all the sences and parts of the body , to the strait and pure rule of the law , that there should be nothing contrary to the law , nothing defective or wanting . this is the voice of the law , hear o israel , the lord our god is one lord , and thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart and with all thy soul , and with all thy migbt , and these words which i command thee this day shall be in thine heart . the law requireth a perfect conformity unto its self , that the whole heart and soul should be filled with the love of god , that the whole strength of the heart and soul , all the might of the inner man should be bent upon god , and carried after god in love , and so by consequent that there should be nothing in the heart or soul in the least degree contrary to the love of god , not the least love of any sin , nor the least inclination towards it ; for the least declining of the heart or soul toward sin is contrary to the law , which requireth the whole heart or soul to be given up to god in love , and that with all its strength or might : yea , the least remission of love , the want of love in the full perfection of it , is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , it is against the law , and condemned by the law : the want of the perfection of holiness and righteousness in the ●rame of the heart and soul is against the law. i am the lord your god , ye shall therefore sanctifie your selves , and ye shall be holy , for i am holy . the lord in his law proposeth himself , his own perfect holiness as a pattern of holiness to men and women . so the lord in his law saith , thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self . so that the least want of love unto our neighbour , the least defect in love is condemned , the least inclination contrary to love is forbidden . then again whatsoever is contrary to the right order of the affections in relation to god and our neighbour is against the law , for the law commandeth to love god with all the mind , &c. and this is the first and greatest commandment , that of love to our neighbour is the second , and therefore love to god is to hold the chiefest place : and so the weighty and principal duties of the first table , scil . those toward god are to be looked at as the principal , and love to our neighbour is to be subordinate unto this love to god. god is to be loved for himself : men are to be loved in the lord and for the lord. now every inordinate affection , every disorder of the affections this way , is against ●he law. when the first and greatest commandment is ( as it were ) turned into the second , when any man hath an higher place or greater share in thine affections then god. the law forbiddeth and condemneth whatsoever in the heart or soul is contrary to any commandment of the law : not only ●ctual thoughts , but the inherent corruption , every inclination to evil , whatsoever distemper there is in the heart and soul contrary to any branch of any command either of the first or second table . all sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is contrary to the law. now the very inclination to sin is contrary to the law and therefore sinful . every inclination to distrust , to idolatry , superstition , to the dishonour of god , &c. is condemned by the law. this is the sin that naturally dwelleth in every one , the corruption of nature propagated from adam , the body of sin cross and contrary to the body of the law in every point , in every iota or title . 3. all omissions of duties towards god and men are condemned by the law. 4. all commissions of sin in thought , word , and deed , are condemned by the law , every evil thought , every vain thought , every profane , ●ngodly , obscene , unchast , malicious speech , every idle word , every action contrary to the law , grosser actions , looks , gestures . and as we are to consider the perfection of the law : so on the the other side take notice of the severity of the law. the law spareth not the least sin , but denounceth a curse against every one , cursed is every one that confirmeth not all the words of the law to do them , and as the apostle hath it , cursed i● every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them . nothing contrary to the law can escape the curse o● the law. the word spoken by angels , was steadfast , and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward . this word was the law , in the delivering whereof , the lord was pleased to use the ministry of angels . such is the severity of the law , that it spareth no transgression or disobedience , but layeth a penalty upon every one . 3. consider the perfect , the infinite justice , holiness , purity , majesty of god , who is both the law giver and the judge , who gave his pure and perfect law , and who will judge impartially by the law , shall mortal man be more just than god ? shall a man be more pure than his maker ? behold he put no trust in his servants , and his angels he charged with folly . how much less on them which dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust . saith the psalmist , o lord my god thou art very great , thou art cloathed with honour and majesty , who coverest thy self with light as with a garment : behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket , and are counted as the small dust of the ballance : behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing . all nations before him are as nothing , and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity , the prophet isaiah in a glorious vision beheld a representation of the divine majesty , saith he , i saw the lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up , and his train filled the temple : about it stood the seraphims , each one had six wings , with twain he covered his face , and with twain he covered his feet , and with twain he did fly , and one cried unto another and said , holy , holy , holy is the lord of hosts , the whole earth is full of his glory . with what terrour , glory and majesty did the lord appear on mount sinai , when he published the law to the people of israel ? there were thunders and lightnings , and a thick cloud upon the mount , and the voice of a trum●et exceeding loud , so that all the people that was in the camp trembled , and mount sinai was altogether on a smoak because the lord decended upon it in fire , &c. and moses told the people , the lord thy god is a consuming ●re , even a jealous god. now lay these things together , the woful corruption of mans nature every way contrary to the holy law of god as darkness is to light , having nothing in it conformable to the law , the ●umberless sins of omission and commission ●f each person against the law , the just ●igour and severity of the law denouncing ●curse against every transgression and dis●bedience , the unspeakable , unconceivable , ●●finite purity , justice , majesty of god , who 〈◊〉 both law-giver and judge : and then ●ow clear is it that none can be justified in the sight of god by any works of theirs performed in obedience to the law ? secondly , but there was a second thing proposed , scil . to shew how it appeareth by the doctrine of the gospel , that none can be justified by any works performed by themselves in obedience to the law. the angel said to ioseph concerning christ , thou shalt call his name iesus , for he shall save his people from their sins . he shall save them , and therefore their own works shall not save them . he shall save them from their sins , and therefore he found them in their sins , poor , guilty , condemned creatures , and such as could not be saved or justified by their own works or righteousness . the lord christ the night before he died said , this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins . the lord christ did shed his most pretious blood for the remission or forgiveness of sins : he by his death and obedience satisfied the justice of god , for the sins of those who could not satisfie for themselves by any works of righteousness of their own : compare this with that of the apostle , i do not frustrate the grace of god , for if righteousness come by the law , then christ is dead in vain . this sheweth clearly that justification by the righteousness of christ and justification by a mans own works performed in obedience to the law cannot stand together . christ died to purchase forgiveness of sins , and justification for his people ; but if any would be justified by the law , they go about to frustrate the grace of god , as if christ had died in vain . christ is become of none effect to you , whosoever of you are justified by the law , ye are fallen from grace : when he saith , whosoever , &c. he doth not grant that any are or can be justified by the law , but whosoever rely upon the works of the law for justification , hoping to be justified by the law , they loose the benefit of christs death and satisfaction . the lord christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto god by him , and therefore none of them do save themselves , or justifie themselves in any part . there is a most clear place to shew that justification by works , and justification by faith cannot stand together , that no man is justified by the law in the sight of god is evident , for the just shall live by faith , or , the just by faith shall live , and the law is not of faith , but the man that doth them shall live in them . justification , righteousness , everlasting life and salvation , is obtained by faith in christ , applying his righteousness to the soul ; but the law is not of faith , but the man that doth them shall live in them . the law is a covenant of another nature , the man that doth the works of the law shall live in them . there is no possibility of being justified by the law , unless a man could perfectly fulfill it : this is impossible for any man to do . 1. because of the corruption of his nature which is every way contrary to the law. 2. because all , and far more than all that he can do for the time to come is due debt to the justice of god , and cannot make the least satisfaction for his sins past , no not for any one of those numberless sins whereof he was formerly guilty . 3. because the best mans righteousness is imperfect , and falleth short of the perfection of the law , & no righteousness can satisfie the justice of god , but that which is compleat and perfect ; and therefore the righteousness and performances of the holiest men are of no account at all in the sight of god towards their justification . but it may be said , that the apostle iames saith , ye see then how that by works a man is justified , and not by faith only . for answer to this , i conceive , that this apostle iames here directeth his speech to this end , s●il . to shew the vanity and folly of those who deceive themselves with a shadow of faith , presumptuously fancying to themselves an interest in christ , imagining that their sins are forgiven , and their persons justified by his death , satisfaction , and righteousness , but their faith is not sound , it is not such a faith as truly receiveth christ into the heart , whereby believers are made one with christ , possessing him , partaking of his spirit which stirreth them up to conform themselves to christ , to follow him , to bring forth the fruits of the spirit ; and therefore he saith , ver . 20. faith without works is dead . so it is a working faith which justifieth , because such a faith alone doth truly lay hold of christ and his righteousness : on the other side , holiness and good works do not at all justifie believers in a proper sense , but evidence the persons to be justified , because they shew that such by faith unfeigned are united unto christ , whose righteousness alone doth justifie , and therefore he saith , what doth it profit my brethren , if a man say he hath faith and have not works ? can faith save him ? he speaketh of such as say they have faith , not of those that have a lively saving faith indeed . so ver . 19. he speaketh to such , thou believest that there is one god ; thou dost well , the divels also believe and tremble . so that he sheweth that a dead faith is but such a faith as the divels have , which is far from justifying and saving those that have it . 2. i conceive his meaning is , that holiness and the fruits of faith do declare and manifest true believers to be justified before men . a man will say thou hast faith and i have works ; shew me thy faith without thy works , and i will shew thee my faith by my works : as if he had said , natural life shews it self by the motions and actings of life : so doth spiritual life evidence it self by the motions and actings of spiritual life . true faith embracing christ and his righteousness for justification , is a principle of spiritual life : thou therefore who pretendest to have this faith , how canst thou make it appear , how canst thou shew or declare it , when thou puttest forth no motions or actings of spiritual life ? the use of this may be , 1. to shew us the miserable and woful estat of all that are not in christ. they are no justified , they cannot be justified in that condition , for there is no way for men to be justified in the fight of god by any works of their own performed in obedience to the law , and if they be not justified , then they are condemned , there is no middle estate between these two . so the apostle implieth , where speaking of those that are in christ , he faith , it is god that justifieth , who is he that condemneth ? this sheweth that they that are justified and accepted as righteous in the sight of god are not condemned , and so on the contrary , they that are not justified are condemned : all then that are not in christ are in the state of condemnation , so it is implied , ver . 1. there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ iesus , who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit . so on the other side , there is no justification , no salvation to them that are not in christ jesus , he that believeth not is condemned already , he is condemned for his sin , the sentence of condemnation is passed upon him by the lord , and he wanteth a sound saving faith to lay hold on christ , and his righteousness , whereby alone he might be justified and freed from the sentence of condemnation , and therefore while poor souls remain in this condition , what can they do , but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath , and the revelation of the righteous judgement of god ? people may attend upon ordinances , perform divers duties in publick and in private , and yet still lye under the sentence of condemnation : they may make some kind of reformation , refraining from some outward gross acts of sin , they may be civil and orderly in their conversations above many other , and yet the wrath of god may still abide upon them . in this case it is not enough to alter your course in some things , but your state and condition must be altered : nothing can help you while you are out of christ and stand upon your own bottoms . israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness : wherefore ? because they sought it not by faith , but as it were by the works of the law. those israelites that were zealous of the law , and sought to be justified by it , while they were not in christ their zeal was not according to knowledge , and they might take a great deal of pains , and use earnest endeavours to attain righteousness , to approve themselves just in the sight of god , but all was in vain : they attained not to such a righteousness as could bear them out in the sight of god , the righteous judge of all the world . they were like men that run very swiftly , but run quite out of the way and never come near the mark . but some may say our case is not like that of the unbelieving israelites , for we look for justification , forgiveness of sin and salvation by jesus christ. i answer ; it is not the hearing of christ preached nor an historical faith , believing that none can be justified but by the righteousness of christ , no nor a conceipt that we are justified by him , that makes your case differ in the main from that of unbelieving israelites : ye have some notions which they had not , but ye are in the same state wherein they were , i. e. ye are out of christ , and therefore while ye content your selves with this condition , your endeavours after righteousness are like those that run out of the way . and therefore in the second place , see your extream need of the lord iesus , and go out of your selves , flee to him , and give your souls no rest untill ye are found in him . consider , as ye cannot be justified by your own righteousness or works done in obedience to the law , whether ye look upon your selves as ye are in your selves , or upon the purity , perfection , and severity of the law , or upon the infinite justice , holiness or majesty of god ; so on the contrary , christ and none but christ is able to justifie you by his righteousness in all these respects . 1. he is a lamb without spot and blemish , and that from the first moment of his conception . so the angel said to ioseph , thou son of david fear not to take unto thee mary thy wife , for that which is conceived in her is of the holy ghost , the blessed spirit framing a body for christ in the womb of a virgin , free from all stain of sin . there was never any thing in him contrary to the perfect purity of the law , no inclination to evil . saith he , the prince of this world cometh , and hath nothing in me . satan could find nothing of his in christ to fasten upon , no sinful infirmities or corruption in the least degree ; and therefore in respect of christ himself , he could have no power by his instruments to take away his life : but in regard of the sins of others which he took upon himself , and for which he voluntarily gave himself an offering and a sacrifice . 2. if we look to the law , christ hath that in him which is wanting in us , he answereth the exactest purity and highest perfection of the law. he was perfect in love. that which we have , psal. 40. is applied to christ by the apostle , sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire , mine ears hast thou opened : burnt offering and sin-offering hast thou not required : then said i , lo i come , in the volumn of the book it is written of me , i delight to do thy will o my god , yea thy law is within my heart : his heart was filled with the love of god , and full of the law of god , he was freely ready to do or suffer any thing for his fathers glory . as the law is holy , so he is the holy and the just one . as the law is spiritual , so he was annointed with the holy ghost . he received the spirit not by measure . he is a quickning spirit . as the law is a perfect rule of righteousness : so christ fulfilled all righteousness . 3. he endured the uttermost rigour and severity of the law. he bare the penalty of it , cursed is euery one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them : then it followeth , christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law , being made a curse for us , for it is written , cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree . the curse of the law is enough to swallow up all the guilty souls in the world , and to keep them under for ever , but christ bare this curse and overcame it , he payed the uttermost farthing that was due to the justice of god for the sins of his people : he fully discharged all those vast summs wherein they were indebted . saith the apostle , christ hath loved us and given himself for us , an offering and a sacrifice to god for a sweet smelling savor . christ through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to god. what tongues of men or angels are able to declare the weight and worth of that which is noted in this expression , that christ gave himself an offering and sacrifice for sins ; what could the extreamest severity of the law require more than this , when the son of god gave himself to satisfie it . 4. he is every way able and fit to stand before the infinite justice , purity , holiness , majesty of god ; he is the express image of his fathers person , and the brightness of his glory ; and he is able to bear the brightness of his glory . of him the father witnessed , this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased : he being in the form of god , thought it no robbery to be equal with god. he being god and man , as he was man did undergo the penalty and curse of the law , and by the power of his godhead overcame it , and being god and man , he is able to bear the brightness of his fathers glorious majesty , and to stand before his perfect justice : saith the scripture , when he had by himself purged our sin , he sate down on the right hand of the majesty on high . now then in as much as the lord christ is every way a compleat and most perfect saviour , labour out of a deep sense of your lost condition in your selves , and your extream need of him , his satisfaction and righteousness , to go out of your selves , to break off your sins by repentance , to flee to christ , to close with him by faith unfeigned ; that being found in him , his righteousness may be imputed to you of god , and accounted yours , and ye may be accepted through him : be exceedingly earnest with the lord to work in you that pretious faith of his elect : cry unto him to stretch out his hand , to put forth the divine power of his spirit and grace , to draw you effectually that you may come to christ , and being cloathed with his righteousness , ye may not be found naked , but the shame of your sins may be covered , and ye may have holy boldness and confidence before the lord. what a blessed priviledge hath the soul which can say with the apostle , i am crucified with christ , nevertheless i live , yet not i , but christ liveth in me , and the life which i now live in the flesh , i live by the faith of the son of god ▪ who loved me and gave himself for me . how happy shalt thou be , if finding thy self in christ , and finding christ dwelling in thine heart , thou canst assure thy self that thou art washed in his bloud from all thy sins , that he hath crossed all thy sins out of the debt book of gods justice , that he is thine advocate with the father , and the propitiation for thy sins , pleading thy cause at the right hand of god , and bearing thy name among the rest of the israel of god , upon his breast-plate for a memorial continually : bend thy care and endeavour to the uttermost toward this one thing necessary , to make sure of christ , and his most perfect righteousness . 5. renounce all trust , abhor any degree of confidence in thine own graces , duties , services . grow in grace and in the knowledge of the lord jesus christ , watch alwayes , fear alwaies , bring forth much fruit , labour to do holy duties in sincerity with servency of spirit , strive after perfection more & more , that thou maist fill thy mouth with arguments , abundance of evidence , that thou art truly united unto christ by a lively principle of faith unfeigned , and so justified by his righteousness ; but do not entertain the least thought that way , as if all that thou hast done or canst do should make the least satisfaction to the justice of god for any of thy sins , or any way help toward thy justification : in a word , take heed of splitting thy soul against either of these two rocks , either on the one side deceiving thy self with a dead faith without holiness and fruits of faith , and so thinking thy sins to be pardoned , and thy person justified , when it is nothing so : or on the other side resting with any confidence upon any graces or duties . labour after these , and look upon them as evidences of the soundness of thy faith , but lean not upon them as grounds to support thy faith . so much for the negative . let us now consider the affirmative , whereby it may appear how and in what regard the moral law is declared to be established by the doctrine of faith. i conceive the law is established in five respects : first , by that full obedience performed to the law by the lord iesus christ. secondly , by that full satisfaction which he made to the law in bearing the penalty of it . thirdly , in the imputation of his perfect righteousness to believers . fourthly , in that he establisheth the law as a rule of obedience for his people . fifthly , in that he conformeth his people to the law : and these may be so many branches of the general point , and therefore so many special points of doctrine . 1. then observe this point , that the lord iesus christ did establish the law by fulfilling it : or , he did perform full and perfect obedience to the law , and so establish the law : wherein you may note two particulars , first , that christ did fulfill the law. secondly , that in fulfilling it he did establish it , 1. of the former ; so he said , think not that i am come to destroy the law and the prophets , i am not come to destroy but to fulfill . i conceive this speech was delivered soon after the lord christ began publickly to preach , and this was seasonable to prevent or remove dangerous prejudices or mistakes . for besides that general expectation of the messias about that time , the scepter being departed from iudah , and they being subject to a forreign yoak , there were many extraordinary things which happened at the birth of christ ; then the testimony which iohn baptist gave him , the heavens opening , the holy ghost descending upon him in the visible form of a dove , god the father by an audible voice from heaven , proclaiming this is my beloved son in whom i am well-pleased ; his fasting forty days and forty nights when he was led of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the divel ; his wonderful diligence in preaching in divers places ; his glorious miracles in healing all manner of sickness and diseases , especially in delivering those that were possessed with divels ; the great multitudes of people following him from galilee , decapolis , hierusalem , iudea , and from beyond iordan , in somuch that his fame was spread abroad suddenly beyond the borders of the land of israel throughout all syria : these and the like things might well raise the peoples expectation , and give them occasion to look for some notable change to be wrought by him : and as men are lead by divers principles , are upon such occasions apt to fancy some one thing some another ; so it is likely the most did expect that he should set up an earthly kingdom ; some might think that he would take away the law , which god delivered to their fathers by moses , and the doctrine of the prophets , and hereupon some might seek advantage to disparage his person and his doctrine ; others might hope that he would open a door for carnal liberty , as in our dayes upon occasion of far lesser changes , some have embraced strange fancies , as if the time were come to cast off those ordinances , which christ hath appointed to be used until the end of the world , as if an universal liberty must be granted to all corrupt opinions , heresies , blasphemies , under colour of favouring tender consciences . now the lord to remedy these things , telleth plainly that he came not to destroy , but fulfill the law and the prophets . 1. he fulfilled the ceremonial law , by exhibiting the substance of those types , and accomplishing those things which were signified and represented by them . 2. he fulfilled the prophets , verifying their prophesies , teaching , doing , and suffering that which they foretold . 3. he fulfilled the moral law. 1. doctrinally rejecting the ●orrupt interpretations then received , and giving the true and full sense of the law. 2. he fulfilled the law practically , by performing full and perfect obedience to the law , which is the thing in hand : so he said before , it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness . god sent forth his son made of a woman under the law , he was made under the law by his own voluntary act , taking upon him the nature of man , and the office of a mediatour between god and men ( though as god he was the lawgiver ; ) and therefore having put himself into this estate , he was bound to obey the law fully in every particular , and could not have failed in one jot or tittle without being guilty of sin ; and therefore all those texts which declare his perfect righteousness being compared with this , do prove that he performed perfect obedience to the law : so where stephen calleth him the just one , and paul saith , he knew no sin , scil . no sin either original or actual , either of commission or omission , in thought word or deed : and peter saith , he was a lamb without blemish and without spot , who did no sin , neither was guile found in his mouth : and that he suffered for sins the just for the unjust : these and the like passages compared with that place , prove that he performed perfect obedience to the law , for being as was said made under the law , it was absolutely necessary that he should fulfill it , that he might approve himself to be the just one , knowing no sin , a lamb without blemish and without spot , &c. because every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is against the law is sin , whatsoever is contrary to the r●le of the law , whatsoever is defective and falleth short of the perfect purity of the law is sin ; and therefore in as much as the lord was made under the law , and yet was found to be without all spot of sin , when he offered up himself in sacrifice , and poured forth his blood for the sins of the world : it is most clear , that he performed full and perfect obedience to the law , and this was necessary : 1. that he might be a perfect high priest. the priest in the old testament being a type of christ , was to be without outward blemish in his person or body , no man that hath a blemish of the seed of aaron the priest , shall come nigh to offer the offering of the lord made by fire : and in the next chapter , there is a severe threatning against any of aarons posterity , if having any legal uncleanness upon them , they should presume to meddle with the holy things of the tabernacle : suppose they were polluted with leprosie , or a running issue , or by touching an other that was unclean , &c. this figured the perfect purity and holiness of christ , the true and eternal high-priest , who was to offer up himself in sacrifice to god , for such an high-priest became us , who is holy , harmless , undefiled , seperate from sinners , made higher than the heavens , who needeth not dayly as those high priests , to offer up sacrifice , first for his own sin , and then for the sins of the people , for this he did once , when he offered up himself . he is an high-priest , holy , harmless , undefiled , separate from sinners , and whereas the high-priests of the old testament were subject to sin , and therefore needed to offer sacrifice for their own sins , as well as for the peoples ; he being free from sin offered not , needed not to offer for any sins of his own : they offered dayly , often renewing their offerings , because they were imperfect , and had respect to the perfect offering of christ , but he offered himself once for all for the sins of his people ; his sacrifice being most perfect and compleat , never to be renewed . 2. it was necessary that the lord christ should perform full and perfect obedience to the law , that he might be a pure offering , a spotless sacrifice to take away the sins of his people . how much more shall the blood of christ , who through the eternal spirit , offered himself without spot to god , purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living god ? that the vertue and efficacy of christ's blood might reach to the inward man , and purge the soul and conscience from sin : it was necessary that he should offer up himself a sacrifice without spot , as one whom the law could not charge with the least aberration or swerving from the perfect purity of it . the second particular noted was , that the lord christ by fulfilling the law , did establish it . here we may consider , first , that god gave man his law in the creation , writing a perfect law of righteousness and true holiness in the mind and heart of the first man and woman , god created man in his own image , in the image of god created he him , male and female created he them . now what was this framing of man in the image of god , but the fashioning of his heart and soul according to the wisdom , purity , holiness and righteousness of god , which was the writing and imprinting his law upon the sould of man , as he gave to other creatures natural properties , and natural instincts according to their several kinds , each of which was a law unto them , scil . the law of their creation . so he imprinted the likeness of his own wisdom , righteousness and holiness upon the first man and woman , as the law of their creation . now this likeness of god , his holiness and righteousness imprinted upon the souls of our first parents , was the same for substance with that moral law written in the scriptures ; for as the moral law written in the scriptures is a declaration of the wisdom , righteousness and holiness of god , and a rule of righteousness and holiness to men : so was that image and likeness of god imprinted upon the souls of the first man and woman : it was the moral law written in their hearts and minds . secondly , consider that the great mischeivous design of the devil , 1. was to destroy this law of god written in the heart of man , to deface the likeness of god , his wisdom , holiness and righteousness , in their souls , to make void and abolish the law of mans creation for ever ; that none of mankind should ever have either knowledge or ability or will to do any thing pleasing unto god ; and therefore the apostle declaring the woful ruines of mankind brought upon them by sin and satan , and shewing what all are by nature , saith , there is none righteous , no not one , there is none that understandeth , there is none that seeketh after god , none righteous , none able to please god , none that understandeth , none that know how to do it , none that seek after god , none that have a will truly bent and resolved upon it . 2. to subject and enslave the souls of men and women to a contrary law , to the law of sin and death , called a law of sin in regard of the nature of it , and a law of death and destruction in respect of the end toward which it leadeth : his design was to fill the souls of men with darkness , errour , false conceits about things that concern salvation , with rebellion against god , and his law , with lusts and corruptions , inclining him to all manner of sins against the law , and therefore it is said , they are all gone out of the way , they have a law of sin in their hearts and souls , that hath turned them quite out of the way , to which the law of god directed them , and set them in a course derectly contrary to it . 3. i conceive the devil herein aimed at two things : 1. the dishonour of god. 2. the destruction of mankind , excercising his malice both against god and man. 1. the devils being cast down by the justice of god from their glorious estate and habitation for their apostacy from god , and reserved under chains in darkness , acted an high degree of rebellion against god , opposing him in his soveraignty , in h●s legislative power and authority , striving to abolish the law , and to deface the likeness of god's holiness out of the minds of all mankind for ever , that god should have none amongst the children of men , to serve , obey , and honour him , but all of them should become slaves and vassals to the devils , being led captive by them at their will. 2. they aimed at the destruction of mankind , to bring them into the same condemnation with themselves , by blotting out the law written in their minds according to which they should have walked , and according to which they shall be judged , and bringing them under a contrary law of sin and death : so then god having written this law in the soul , and the devil having blotted it out , and brought mankind under a contrary law of sin . in the third place let us consider the work of the lord iesus christ that was to destroy the works of the devil . saith the apostle iohn , he that committeth sin is of the devil , for the devil sinneth from the begining ; for this purpose the son of god was manifested , that he might destroy the works of the devil . he that committeth sin , he that maketh sin his business , sinning with the full bent of his will , is of the devil ; he remaineth in that condition into which the devil brought mankind at the first , subject to the law and power of sin , which is quite contrary to that law of righteousness and holiness which god imprinted upon the soul of man in the creation ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning , he sinned and fell from god , and he drew men into sin , and still leadeth them on in a course of sin and disobedience against god. now ( saith the apostle ) for this purpose the son of god was manifested , that he might destroy the works of the devil : he doth not say barely that the son of god destroyed the works of the devil ; but for this purpose the son of god was manifested , that &c. one great work of the devil , as ye heard , was to deface the likeness of god in the soul of man , and to bring him under a law of sin . this work among others , christ came to destroy , where note , 1. that no meer creature was able to destroy this work of the devil . it may be some may think that good and holy angels might be as able to undo this evil work , as devils or evil angels were to do it . but it is not so , the reason is not because the good angels have less power than the devils , but because of the nature of that work of the devil , for the work of the devil was a destroying work , as hath been shewed ; it was the destroying of the law of mans creation which was written in his soul , the defacing and blotting out of gods hand-writing , the likeness of gods holiness , and the subjecting of man to the destroying law of sin ; it was the taking away of mans spiritual life , by dividing him from god the fountain of life . now to destroy or undo this destructive work of satan , is to abolish that law of sin and death in man , and to write that contrary law in the soul of man , which satan had blotted out , that is to restore man to the likeness of god , to fashion him again after the image of god , in knowledge , righteousness , and holiness , to raise man , whom satan had murdered , to spiritual life . now it requireth a far greater power to repair and restore , then to destroy , one murderer may take away life , all the angels in heaven , nor all the men on earth cannot restore life to the dead : none but the living god can do it , who is the fountain of life : so the devil , and man yeilding to the devils suggestion , could destroy spiritual life . the law written in the heart of man , that primitive perfection and integrity of mans nature framed after the image of god , in knowledge , righteousness and holiness , but no meer creatures , none but the prince of life , the supream law-giver , by whom all things were made , could restore spiritual life , write this primitive law in the soul of man. but it may be objected , that this work which the apostle iohn saith christ came into the world to do , is a work of destroying . i answ. we are to consider the object of this destroying work of christ , what it was that christ destroyed ; that was a destructive work wrought by the devil that great destroyer and murderer : christ came to destroy that destruction which satan had wrought ; & to destroy destruction is to repair and restore that which was destroyed , to destroy death is to restore life : so the apostle speaking of the resurrection of believers to glory , saith when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption , and this mortal shall have put on immortality ; then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written , death is swallowed up in victory . death had slain thousands of saints , and christ by restoring them to life , raising them to immortality and everlasting life , shall swallow up death in victory : so in the prophecy of hosea , i will ransome them from the power of the grave , i will redeem them from death , o death i will be thy plague , o grave i will be thy destruction . the lord may be said as it were to kill death , and to destroy or bury the grave , when he ransometh his people from death and the grave , and raiseth them up to everlasting life : so in this case , when christ is said to destroy the destructive works of satan , ye must understand that he was to restore that which satan had ruined . this no meer creature in heaven and earth was able to do ; and therefore in the second place , the son of god undertook it , it was a work of almighty power to restore the law of mans creation , spiritual life , the likeness of god , his righteousness and holiness to any of adams posterity , to any of the seed of the woman , and to inable any of them to perform ●ull and perfect obedience to the law : none but god could do it , and therefore the son of god , who is very god performed it . the devil seemed for ever to have deprived mankind of the image of god , and for ever to have disabled all the sons of men from fulfilling the law , but the son of god confounded satan herein , and destroyed this destroying work of the devil , by restoring that which he had destroyed , by framing one of adams posterity , one of the seed of the woman , after the image of god in righteousness and holiness , and inabling him perfectly in every point to fulfill the law. thirdly , the apostle shews how the son of god performed this great work , it was by the manifestation of himself ; for this purpose the son of god was manifested , &c. his manifestation was his incarnation , his being made flesh , taking the nature of man into the unity of his person , for the son of god in his divine nature is invisible , not manifested , but when he became man he was manifested and made visible , and so framed this humane nature thus united to his god-head after the image of god in perfect righteousness and holiness , and inabled it to perform full and compleat obedience to the law. and thus the work of satan was destroyed , one of the sons of adam , one of the seed of the woman after the fall of mankind , being inabled to fulfill the righteousness of the law. fourthly , ye may note by the way , that i do not speak of this as the full sense of this text , as it this were all that christ did in destroying the works of the devil , and in restoring what he had ruined , but i speak of it as a part of the apostles meaning , and a part of that work of christ concerning the point in hand . fifthly , observe that by this work christ established the law : for first , as the law was given to man , so the son of god took upon him the nature of man , and subjected it to the law , as it is said , he was made under the law. 2. he wrote this law of perfect holiness and righteousness upon this humane soul , thus united to his god-head . 3. in this nature of man , he perfectly fulfilled the law , by all which he acknowledged the law to be a perfect rule of righteousness , which as man , he was bound to obey , and so did really confirm and ratifie the authority of it , whereas on the contrary , they that taught m●n to seek justification , and to approve themselves as righteous in the sight of god , by their own personal works of obedience to the law , though they pretended to magnifie the law , they did make void the law , because their righteousness was far short of what the law required ; and therefore to profess that they looked to be justified or found righteous in the sight of god by their own imperfect works done in obedience to the law , was to accuse the law of imperfection , and so to make void the law. saith david , the law of the lord is perfect , and therefore none can be justified by the law , unless their righteousness be perfect . now for sinful men whose natures are contrary to the law , whose sinful omissions and commissions are numberless , whose best works are exceedingly imperfect and defective , to profess themselves justified by the law , is to deny the perfection of the law , and so to abolish or make void the law. so much for the first particular point comprehended in the general doctrine . the second is this : that the lord iesus christ established the law by making full satisfaction to the law : where note two particulars : 1. that christ did make full satisfaction to the law. 2. that hereby he did establish it . 1. for the former , when christ was gloriously transfigured upon a certain mountain in the sight of three of his disciples , behold there talked with him two men , which were moses and elias , who appeared in glory and spake of his decease , which he should accomplish at ierusalem . these two holy men of god , who many ages before had been taken out of this world , by an extraordinary dispensation of god , were sent to meet the lord christ upon this mount ; and why these two ? moses was the lawgiver , i mean the ministerial law-giver , the minister , servant , or instrument of the lord , by whom god who is the only authentical , the supream law-giver , delivered , and as it were handed over his law to the people of israel ; elias was one of the most eminent among all the prophets , and exceeding zealous of the law , and by an extraordinary warrant from god , slew divers hundreds of false prophets for idolatary , and for teaching the people to transgress the law , and when he complained against israel for their heinous sins against the law , the lord directed him to annoint hazael to be king over syria , iehu to be king over israel , and elisha to be prophet in his stead , as so many executioners of gods justice upon backsliding israel for their horrible sins against the law. it seemeth then that these two were sent to shew that the lord jesus christ was he of whom the law and the prophets spake , whom the ceremonial law shadowed out by types and figures , who was to perform full obedience to the moral law , and make full satisfaction for the transgressions of men against the law , and to accomplish what was foretold by the prophets ; and it is said expresly , that they spake of his decease , which he should accomplish at hierusalem . they spake of his death and sufferings , whereby he should make full satisfaction for the sins and transgressions of men against the law , and fulfill the sayings of the prophets . it is not barely said he should dye or suffer death , but that he should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accomplish his decease , he should fully and compleatly suffer such a death as should make full satisfaction to the law : he should undergo the full penalty of the law , and make full payment of all the debts which the law could charge upon his people . to make this appear more clearly , consider these particulars : 1. that the lord iesus christ was very god , in the beginning was the word , and the word was with god , and the word was god , the same was in the beginning with god , all things were made by him , and without him was not any thing made that was made . the son of god is called the word , god the father manifesting himself by the son , as a man maketh known his mind by his words or speech . there is the coessential word of god , and there is the declarative word of god ; the son of god is the coessential word of god , of the same essence with god the father . the declarative word of god is that which we have in the holy scriptures : so christ prayed to his father for his people , sanctifie them through thy truth , thy word is truth . for this cause , saith the apostle , thank we god without ceasing , because when ye received the word of god which ye heard of us , ye received it not as the word of men , but ( as it is in truth ) the word of god which worketh effectually in you that believe . these and the like places shew the folly of those who seem to hold , that there is no other word of god but christ , whereas it is plain , that the holy ghost calleth the word written in the scriptures , and the word preached and taught according to the scriptures , the word of god , scil . his declarative word , but christ is the coessential or co substantial word of god : and here it i● said , he was in the beginning , declaring his eternity , when the world and the creatures in it were made , he was not made , but he was from eternity , before all things ; and accordingly he saith to his father , o father glorifie thou me with thine own self , with the glory which i had with thee before the world was , that is , from all eternity . and the word was with god , that sheweth the personal distinction betwixt the father and the son , who are one god and two distinct persons , then his god-head is expresly asserted . and the word was god , the same god with the father , all things were made by him , and without him was not any thing made that was made , all the creatures were made by christ of nothing , and therefore he is very god , for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth , visible and invisible , whether they be thrones or dominions , or principalities or powers , all things were created by him and for him , and he is before all things , and by him all things consist , not only all visible creatures on earth , but also all the glorious angels of heaven were created by him , and his eternity is declared , he is before all things , his almighty power is asserted , by him all things consist . the frame of the world would fall in peices , the beings of the creatures would be disjoynted , dissolved , did not his almighty arm hold all together : he upholdeth all things by the word of power , and least any blasphemous adversary of christ his god-head should object that christ might create the world as a● instrument and inferiour agent under the father . the apostle telleth us , all things were created , not only by him , but also for him ; he is the principal agent , and he is the cheif end of the creation : they were made for his glory , a clear evidence to prove him to be very god , the same god with the father , for it is the peculiar prerogative of god to be the highest of the whole creation , for whom all things were made ; for of him , and through him , and to him are all things ; to him in this place , and for him in the other , have the same sense , and the original is the same in both , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the apostle shews , that christ being in the form of god , thought or judged it to be no robbery to be equal with god , in all eternity he was in the form of god , he was really , properly , essentially god , and therefore judged it to be no robbery to be equal with god. this cutteth off all cavils , for how could it have been less then an high degree of robbery or sacriledge , for any one that was not as truly and properly god as the father , even the same god with the father , to judge himself equal with god , in as much as god the creator is infinitely above the most excellent of the creatures . secondly , he took upon him the nature of man , the word was made flesh . the eternal word or son of god who was before all time , without beginning of dayes , was pleased in the fulness of time to be made flesh , not by transmutation , but by assumption , not by turning his unchangeable god-head into flesh , but by taking flesh , that is , a true humane nature , soul and body , into the unity of his person , so uniting the nature of man to his god-head , as to make it properly his own ; to become one person with himself , the god-head being never separated again from the manhood , nor confounded with it , both natures remaining distinct , but never divided from each other , the same christ remaining perfect god and perfect man : so where it is shewed that being in the form of god , &c. it followeth , but made himself of no reputation , and took upon him the form of a servant , and was made in the likeness of men , and found in fashion as a man , &c. and without controversie great is the mystery of godliness , god was manifest in the flesh . this is indeed a great mystery , of such an height and depth , and far exceedeth the reach of mens understandings , yet a most certain and infallible truth to be received by faith , and it was necessary the redeemer of manking should be both god and man , that he might satisfie the justice of god , and bear the penalty of the law due to the sins of the world . first , it was necessary that he should be god. 1. that he might inable the humane nature to bear the weight of gods wrath and revenging justice to support the manhood from sinking under it , and being swallowed up of it , whom god hath raised up , having loosed the pains of death , because it was not possible that he should be holden of it ; death had taken a prisoner whom it was no way able to hold , jesus christ as he was man , suffered death , and lay dead in the grave , but as he was god , he raised his humane nature from the dead . secondly , that the infinite worth and excellency of his god-head might make his sufferings of sufficient value to satisfie the justice of god , and the severity of the law for the numberless sins of the world , the same man that suffered being one person with god , and so his sufferings , being , though not the sufferings of the god-head , yet the sufferings of god , that is , the sufferings of him who is god , and therefore it is said , that god hath purchased a church with his own blood . and what is there , which the blood of god was not sufficient to purchase ? secondly , it was necessary christ should be man , that he might satisfie the law , and bear the penalty . 1. that he might be subject to the law ; for it was impossible that the god-head should be made under the law , because the law received its authority from god , and therefore could have no authority over him ; therefore he was made of a womnn , and so made under the law. 2. that he might be in a capacity to suffer the full penalty of the law ; for it is impossible for the god-head which is the fountain of life to dye , or to bear the curse , being the fulness of blessedness : and therefore saith the apostle , we see jesus who was made a little lower then the angels for the suffering of death . he that being very god , was infinitely higher then the angels , took into the unity of his person , a nature a little lower then the angels , scil . the nature of man , and that for the suffering of death , and so for the satisfying of the law. 3. that he might make satisfaction to the law , and bear the punishment of it in the s●me nature of man , in which the law was transgressed and broken ; for verily , he took not on him the nature of angels , but he took on him the seed of abraham ▪ wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren , that he might be a merciful and faithful high-priest , in things pertaining to god , to make reconciliation for the sins of the people , to make satisfaction for the transgressions of the people against the law , and to reconcile them to god the law-giver . 3. he took upon him the guilt of mens sins , putting himself into the state , and standing in the state of guilty sinners , as it were putting his name into their bond , and voluntarily taking their debts upon himself ; all we , like sheep have gone astray , we have turned every one to his own way , and the lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all . if the whole congregation sinned , they were to bring a young bullock to be offered for their sin , and before it was killed , the elders of the congregation representing all the people under the government , were to lay their hands on the head of the bullock before the lord : it seemeth b● this ceremony , they did as it were put off the sins of all the people from the guilty sinners , upon the sacrifice : so the lord christ , before he suffered for the sins of his people , first took upon himself the guilt of all their sins , for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin , that we might be made the righteousness of god in him , the guilt of mens sins was imputed unto him , and put upon his account , as his righteousness is imputed to believers , and accounted theirs . 4. he subjected himself to the curse of the law , due to men for their sins against the law ; for it is written , cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them : then it followeth , ver . 13. christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law , being made a curse for us ; for it is written , cursed is every on that hangeth on a tree . thus he exposed himself to the flames of divine wrath , which would have been a consuming fire to a meer creature : but as the wood of the altar for burnt offering was overlaid with brass that it might not be devoured by the fire : so his humane nature being united to the god-head , was so fortified to endure the burning heat of the wrath and curse of god , that it was not consumed by it , but although the god-head was inseparably united to the manhood , and did not leave it for a moment , yet it did so withhold its divine influence from the manhood for a time , that it suffered extream and unconceivable torments in body , but especially in soul , as appeareth in the holy story ; for though god the father loved him infinitely as his son , and as one that was perfectly holy and righteous in his own person , yet he executed his justice upon him to the full , as he presented himself before him , burdened with the guilt of mans sins against the law. it pleased the lord to bruise him , he hath put him to grief . saith the apostle , he spared not his own son , but delivered him up for us . he spared not his own son ; he found him engaged to satisfie the law for the sins of men , and therefore he executed the severity of the law upon him , and spared him not , but delivered him up for us all , saith the text. he did as it were deliver him up with his own hand for sinners , delivering him up by the hand of his love , towards sinners , to the hand of his justice , to be punished for their sins : so that i conceive it may be said that christ had judgement without mercy , that through him mercy might glory over judgment toward repenting and believing sinners . fifthly , he actually suffered death ; he did shed his most precious blood , he humbled himself and became obedient unto death , even the death of the cross. he poured out his soul unto death . iesus when he had cried again with a loud voice , yeilded up the ghost . when they came to iesus , and saw that he was dead already , they brake not his leggs , but one of the souldiers with his spear pierced his side , and forthwith came thereout blood and water . lastly , that it might be manifest that the prince of life was really dead for the satisfaction of the law , he suffered his body to be caried to prison , to be shut up in the grave , and held under the power of death untill the third day . now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden , and in the garden a new sepulchre , wherein was never man yet laid , there laid they iesus . thus ye see the lord jesus christ satisfied the law to the full , endured the rigour , and bare the penalty of it . secondly , by satisfying the law , and endruing the severity of it , he established the law. i suppose it is not necessary to speak much of this particular , because the opening of the former giveth light unto it , breifly thus : 1. the law required perfect obedience , as ye heard , the full performance of every branch and tittle of it . 2. in case of disobedience , transgression , defect , and failing in obedience , the law denounced a grievous penalty , a curse , death and destruction , as was noted also , yea the law given to mankind in adam , had the sentence of death annexed , in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die . 3. hence it followeth , that if neither the law be fulfilled in a way of obedience , nor satisfied by the inflicting of the punishment , then it is made void , and declared to be of no force , to have lost its authority , its vigour , and to be frustrated of its end . 4. thereupon we may infer by the rule of contraries , that the lord jesus christ having in the nature of man born the full penalty , severity , and curse of the law , due to the sins of men against the law , and by his god-head , to which his humane nature wherein he suffered is personally united , gave sufficient value and worth to his sufferings , to make full satisfaction to the law , to the uttermost , that the law in its greatest rigour could require : hence it clearly followeth , that christ established the law. this was a reall and full acknowledgement of the authority of the law ; the wonderful abasement , the grievous sufferings of the son of god , were signal evidences , infallible demonstrations of the force and authority of the law ; the lord of glory appearing in the form of a servant , to make way for satisfying the law : he that is the brightness of the fathers glory , enduring the shame of the cross , did abundantly witness to the world the authority of the law. the lord jesus christ spared not his most precious blood , but freely poured it forth to satisfie the law , for the sins of his people , and thereby ratified and sealed the authority of the law. how should this be improved to stir up poor souls without delay to turn to the lord , and flee to christ ? for in as much as the lord jesus did both perform perfect obedience to the law , and bear the full penalty and curse of the law , and by both these establish the law ; it sheweth clearly that the law standeth in full force against all that are out of christ , they being guilty of sin against the law , are subject to the curse of the law ; for being not found in christ , they have no part in his perfect righteousness and full satisfaction , and therefore are every moment in danger of the sentence of condemnation denounced by the the law. it is true that christ hath fully satisfied the law : but what doth this help them that remain in their natural estate of impenitency and unbelief ? that full satisfaction which christ made to the law , ratifieth the authority of the law , and proclaimeth to the world , that the law spareth none that are under the law , and so are all that are not in christ , and so under grace ; and therefore rest not one day in this condition ; sin lieth at the door , he avenger of blood is at thy back , the voice of the law is , pay that thou owest : it is a groundless plea to say , christ hath paid all , if thou remainest out of christ. secondly , if sin were so exceeding grievous and bitter unto christ , oh let it not be sweet and delightful unto thee ! it sin imputed were such an unspeakable torment to the lord jesus christ , what a shame is it for any that pretend to be members of christ , to make it the matter of their contentment ? dost thou call thy self a christian , and canst thou see the son of god abased for sin , put to an open shame , buffetted , spit upon , crowned with thorns , and sweating drops of blood , exceedingly afflicted in soul , bleeding and dying upon the cross for sin , and yet canst thou hold up thy head , take a pride in sin , glory in it , despise reproof , gain by it , thrive by it , rise by it , get preferment by it , sport and solace thy se●f with it , and still own the name of a christian ? what is this but to be an enemy to the cross of christ , harbouring in thy bosom , that enemy which fastned and nailed him to the cross ? thirdly , here'i 's ground of sound comfort for them that are in christ , he hath made full satisfaction to the law , he hath paid the debts of his people , cancelled the bond of the law , redeemed them from the curse , the law can exact no satisfaction from them , he hath fully cleared all accounts , there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ iesus , who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit : but of this somewhat may be spoken upon the next point . the third particular followeth . viz. that the lord iesus christ established the law by communicating his perfect righteousness to believers : where , as in the former points there are two branches . 1. that the perfect righteousness of christ is communicated to believers . 2. that hereby the law is established . concerning the former , ye heard before of the perfect righteousness of christ , who both was a lamb without spot , knew no sin , and performed compleat obedience to the law , and also did undergo the punishment and curse of the law due to the sins of men and women , and so made full satisfaction to the law. now that which is to be cleared is this , that this perfect righteousness of christ is communicated to believers . 2. how it is received by believers . 3. what are the effects and consequents of the righteousness of christ thus communicated and received . for the first , 1. the righteousness of christ is communicated to believers , not by infusion , but by imputation , not so as to be inherent in them , but so as to be imputed to them ; so as to be accounted theirs ; for he hath made him to be sin for us that knew no sin , that we might be made the righteousness of god in him . as the sins of men were not infused into christ , so as to be inherent in him , but imputed to him : so the righteousness of christ is not infused into believers , so as to be inherent in them , but is imputed to them and accounted theirs . the satisfaction which christ hath made to the law is imputed to them , that is , reckoned to belong unto them , as if they had satisfied the law in their own persons . so it is said of abraham , it was imputed unto him for righteousness . now it was not written for his sake alone , that it was imputed to him : but for us also to whom it shall be imputed , if we believe on him who raised up iesus our lord from the dead . as if a king should pardon a great malefactour for his fathers sake , who had done some eminent service to the state , his fathers deservings might be said to be imputed to him , accounted his , as if they had been his own ; and when a surety payeth anothers debt , the payment is imputed to the debtour , and accounted as done by him , and he is as fully discharged and esteemed out of debt , as if he had paid it with his own mony : so believers have no righteousness of their own to satisfie the justice of god , but the righteousness of christ is imputed to them , that is accounted theirs ; as if they had been perf●ctly righteous by performing perfect obedience , and making full satisfaction in their own persons to the law ; and here ye may observe who it is that imputeth the righteousness of christ to believers 2. of what nature this act of imputation is . 1. it is god that imputeth the righteousness of christ to believers , saith the apostle . david describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom god imputeth righteousness without works ; it is god who imputeth righteousness unto justification , and it properly belongeth to him as the supream judge ; who shall lay any thing to the charge of gods elect ? it is god that justifieth , who is he that condemneth , it is christ that died , yea , rather that is risen again , who is even at the right hand of god , who also maketh intercession for us . here the apostle seemeth to set before us a representation of the highest tribunal or court of judicature , intimating or supposing the persons indicted , the accuser , the judge , the advocate ; the persons indicted or arraigned , the elect of god , true believers : the accuser , implied in those words who shall lay any thing to the charge of gods elect ? the judge , god ; it is god that justifieth , the advocate ▪ christ who , first died , and so made satisfaction for the sins of his people . 2. rose again , and by this his deliverance , out of the grave the prison of death , made it evident that their debts were fully discharged . 3. he is at the right hand of god , which is a sure argument that he is highly in the judges favour . 4. he improveth his interest in the judge , by making intercession for his people , presenting his merit and righteousness to his father , to be imputed to them , and accounted theirs , and therein pleading his satisfaction , made in their stead , for their pardon and justification . but the thing for which i bring this place at the present is , to shew that it is god who imputeth the righteousness of christ to believers , it is he that justifieth , god is the efficient cause , the authour of the imputation of christ his righteousness to his people , and so of their justification , it is one god which shall justifie the circumcision by faith , and the uncircumcision through faith , scil . all sincere believers , whether israelites or gentiles . now the works of god toward the creatures , are the works of all the three persons of the god-head , father , son , and holy ghost , and therefore christ , as he is mediator between god and man , presented his righteousness unto god , to be imputed to his people for their justification ; as he is god , he imputeth his righteousness , merit and satisfaction to them , and justifieth them . 2. consider of what nature this act of imputation is , whether it be an act of justice or of grace . i conceive this act of god , imputing the righteousness of christ to his people , is an act of grace or free favour , & undeserved love ; being justified freely by his grace , through the redemption that is in christ iesus , whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood . it is said believers are justified freely : and then again , by his grace , the latter explaining the former ; freely , that is , by his grace and free favour : for though the righteousness and satisfaction of christ is of infinite merit and worth ; yet 1. god the father by a pure act of grace , gave his son to dye for sinners : so it is said here , whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood : herein is love , not that we loved god , but that he loved us , and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins . 2. christ , as he was man , was freely chosen of god for this purpose ; so god saith concerning him , behold my servant whom i have chosen : the man christ jesus was freely chosen of god to become one person with the son of god ; the son of mary did not merit to be personally united to the son of god , but was freely chosen of god , to be exalted to this incomprehensible dignity , glory and majesty , far above all other creatures , angels and men , and from this personal union to which he was freely chosen , proceedeth the greatness and all-sufficiency of his merit . 3. god in his law hath denounced the penalty of death , the curse , everlasting destruction , against every one that was guilty of sin against the law , and he was not bound to accept of satisfaction at the hand of another in their stead , nor to hold them discharged of the guilt of their sins , upon the account of anothers sufferings for sin , and therefore it was an act of meer grace in god , to accept of christ his satisfaction in behalf of sinners , and to impute his righteousness to them , and to account it theirs for their justification . and so it was according to the covenant and agreement which god the father freely made with christ , according to which agreement , believers are given to christ : so he saith to his father , i pray for them which thou hast given me , for they are thine : behold i and the children which god hath given me , those lost sinners whom god gave to christ , as mediatour and redeemer , to save them by his death and satisfaction : to them god the father , by his grace , that is , freely imputeth the righteousness of christ , & accounteth it theirs , accepting them as righteous through him . secondly , observe how the righteousness of christ is received by believers , that is , by faith unfeigned : the righteousness of god without the law is manifested , being witnessed by the law and the prophets , even the righteousness of god which is by faith of jesus christ unto all , and upon all that beleive the righteousness whereby believers are justified , is the righteousness of god ; it is such a righteousness as god hath revealed ; as he hath appointed for this end ; as he approveth and accepteth ; such a righteousness as he giveth to believers , this righteousness is received and applied by the faith of jesus christ : not by the faith which christ hath , but by the faith which believers have in christ , not by the faith whereby christ believeth , but by the faith whereby men believe in christ. believers being united to christ by the spirit on the one side , and by faith on the other . god imputeth the righteousness of christ unto them , and they receive and apply it to themselves by faith : so in that conclusion of the apostle , therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law. in these and many other places , where faith is said to justifie , divines understand it to be meant not meritoriously ; for so christ justifieth by his merit , procuring justification for sinners : not by way of efficiency , for so god justifieth , as the author of justification , as the judge , imputing christ his righteousness to believers , and so justifying them : not materially , for so the righteousness of christ justifieth , as the matter of justification : not formally , for that is by way of imputation , but faith justifieth . 1. objective , not by force of its own act of believing , but by vertue of its object , which it apprehendeth , scil . christ his righteousness . 2. instrumentally , faith justifieth by applying the righteousness of christ to the believing soul , whereby it is justified . 3. observe the effects , or consequents of the righteousness of christ thus imputed of god , and received by faith , they are delivered from the guilt of sin , blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven , and whose sins are covered . blessed is the man to whom the lord will not impute sin . christ his righteousness is accounted theirs , and so their own sins are no longer accounted theirs , and so they are free from condemnation . there is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in christ iesus , who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit . they are accepted as righteous in the sight of god , because the perfect righteousness of christ is imputed to them , who perfectly obeyed the law ▪ and fully suffered the penalty of the law , hereby also they have an interest in everlasting life and salvation , whom he justifieth , them he also glorified . again , a constant consequent of the righteousness of christ communicated and imputed to believers , for their justification is regeneration , conversion , sanctification ; for the same faith which applieth the righteousness of christ to believers for the forgiveness of sin , and for their justification , doth unite them to christ , so that they partake of his spirit and sanctifying graces . the second branch of the point is , that the lord iesus christ by communicating his perfect righteousness to believers doth establish the law. this clearly followeth upon those things which have been spoken , for in as much as the lord jesus christ performed obedience to the law , and suffered the full penalty of the law , and then communicated his perfect righteousness to believers , making them one with himself , uniting himself to them by his spirit , and uniting them to himself by faith , that so himself and his perfect righteousness might become theirs , and that hereby they might be justified and accepted as righteous in the sight of god. this was an effectual declaration , a real acknowledgment of the force and authority of the law : for hereby he witnessed that the law was such an authentical and indispensable rule of righteousness , that none could be justified and accepted as righteous in the sight of god the supream lawgiver and judge , but by such a righteousness as was fully answerable to the rule of the law , and therefore because in this corrupt state of nature , wherein all mankind are , since the fall , no man could have performed perfect obedience to the law in his own person , but all must have lain under the sentence of condemnation , and utterly perished . the lord christ having taken upon him the name of jesus , and the office of a saviour and redeemer , to save his people from their sins , yet would not save them in an illegal and irregular way , not by his royal prerogative without respect to the law , but by fulfilling the righteousness of the law in his own person , and then communicating his perfect righteousness to them , investing them with it , cloathing them with this spotless and glorious robe of his righteousness . on the other side , the contrary doctrine of justification by the works of the law , teaching that men might be delivered from condemnation , and approve themselves as righteous in the sight of god , by their own inherent holiness and works performed by them in obedience to the law , did deny the force , the vigour and authority of the law , because the holiness and performances of the best of them did fall far short of the perfection of the law. now to say that men may be justified by the works of the law , whose works did not answer the righteousness required in the law , was to declare the law to be void , to have lost its power , to condemn the transgressours , of the law. but christ having fulfilled the righteousness of the law , and born the full punishment of it , and communicated his righteousness to believers ; hath dearly and abundantly ratified the authority of the law , and so as the apostle saith , christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth . the law attaineth its end in christ , because he hath fully answered and satisfied the law , and communicateth his perfect righteousness to his people , that they might be justified and saved without the least prejudice to the authority of the law. the use of this may be , to stir up believers exceedingly to admire and magnifie the lord iesus christ , who being very god , the supream law-giver , from whom the law received all its force and authority , was pleased by a voluntary act of his love to become man and so to be made under the law ; to subject himself to the authority and power of the law , to perform perfect obedience to the law , and to bear the curse of it , and then as it were to make over , and communicate to poor guilty condemned sinners , this his perfect righteousness for their justification and salvation ; and therefore the apostle prayed thus for believers that christ may dwell in their hearts by faith , that ye being rooted and grounded in love , may be able to comprehend with all saints , what is the breadth , and length , and depth , and height , and to know the love of christ which passeth knowledge . it is an height and depth which creatures cannot reach , a breadth and length which they cannot measure , but those that have interest in christ , and his perfect righteousness , should labour to view and surveigh it diligently , that they may see into it more and more , and advance and magnifie the lord jesus christ , who is iehovah their righteousness . secondly , this may take down the natural pride of mens hearts , the best of adams posterity except christ alone , would have been accursed and condemned wretches , had they not been justified and saved by a borrowed righteousness , by the righteousness of another , even of christ , communicated and imputed to them , and accounted theirs , where is boasting then ? it is excluded : by what law ? of works ? nay , but by the law of faith , that is , by the doctrine of the gospel , which declareth that the only way for men to escape condemnation , and to appear righteous before god , is to become poor in spirit , and as wretched , guilty , lost creatures , to go out of themselves , and renounce all hope and confidence in themselves , and all their own abilities , duties , and performances , and to flee to christ alone , that they may be justified by his righteousness , and accepted of god in him , to come as poor naked wretches , that have never a rag of their own to cover their shame , and to beg of christ white rayment , the spotless covering of his righteousness : this doctrine excludeth boasting , and confoundeth pride , if there be any thing for which thy heart is apt to be lifted up , either to think highly of thy self , or to despise others , remember that if thou art an unbeliever , thou standest guilty , and condemned before the lord , and so hast cause instead of exalting thy self to be exceedingly abased , and to be restless , until thou be delivered from condemnation , and hast obtained pardon and justification through the righteousness of christ : if thou art a true believer , remember thou art justified by a righteousness which was never wrought by thee in any part , but wholly and only by the lord jesus christ , and out of the riches of grace and mercy , communicated and imputed to thee , whereof thou wast as unworthy as any of them that lye under the sentence of condemnation ; hast thou not then a double cause of humiliation ? 1. because of thine own guiltiness and unworthiness in thy self . 2. because so rich a favour was freely bestowed upon thee ; for the greater the gift is which is bestowed upon unworthy persons , the more cause have they to be low in their own eyes , the bounty of the giver , and greatness of the gift , casteth shame upon the unworthiness of the receiver . thirdly , this may encourage the worst of men and women , the chief of sinners , to come to christ , and to turn to the lord. here is a perfect righteousness , a full satisfaction , here is a saviour and mediator between god and man , the man christ jesus , who hath performed perfect obedience to the law , and suffered the punishment of the law due to the greatest sinners , for the greatest sins : and therefore as was noted before , he is called iehovah our righteousness ; for though believers are not justified by the essential righteousness of christ , as god ; yet i conceive the infinite worth of the infinite iehovah , god the son , raiseth that righteousness which he hath wrought for sinners , to such an unspeakable value , as is sufficient for the sins of the whole world : how inexcusable then is their neglect , who rather lye in their sins , then seek to christ ? and on the other side , what a door of hope is opened to them who are discouraged through the greatness of their sins ; what can hinder thee from receiving pardon and obtaining full forgiveness ? not the greatness of sin , for christ hath done and suffered that which is abundantly sufficient to answer all , nothing can hinder thee but an impenitent and unbelieving heart . fourthly , let christians be stirred up exceedingly to labour after truth of faith , and strength of faith ; for as the righteousness of christ is that for which believers are accepted as righteous with god : so saith is that grace whereby it is applied to the soul , the father of the distressed child cryed out and said with tears , lord i believe , help mine unbelief : and the apostles said unto the lord , increase our faith. pray earnestly for faith , and for strength and increase of faith , that ye may be established in the faith , and confirmed in the assurance of your interest in christ , and his perfect righteousness : this is the sheild which quenched the fiery darts of the devil . what may christians expect , that the devil should rather aim at , than the destroying or weakning of their faith , to divide them from christ , to dissolve the marriage bond between him and them , to strip them of their wedding garment , the robe of christ's righteousness ? and what should christians endeavour more than the strengthning of their faith ? fifthly , let all that are in christ , justified by the righteousness of christ , labour to walk as becometh those that are partakers of so rich a blessing . this was one great end of christ his coming into the world , and performing this glorious work of redemption , that he would grant unto us , that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies , might serve him without fear , in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life : and therefore the apostle having spoken at large of this doctrine of justification by faith in christ his righteousness , exhorteth believers thus , i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god , that ye present your bodies as a sacrifice , living , holy , acceptable unto god , &c. of him are ye in christ iesus , who of god is made unto us , wisdom , righteousness , and sanctification , and redemption : those to whom christ is made righteousness for their justification , to them he is made sanctification , conforming them to himself in holiness . justification and sanctification are , 1. distinct. 2. unseparable , neither to be confounded together , nor separated from each other : they are distinct , sanctification is no cause nor part of justification . no man is justified for his holiness , but only for the righteousness of christ. on the other side , sanctification and holiness is unseparably joyned with justification ; whosoever is justified is also sanctified , when sin is forgiven , it is also mortified . do not flatter your selves with a perswasion of the pardon of your sins , and the justification of your persons , while ye want the beginning of sanctification . saith the apostle , ye are washed , ye are sanctified , ye are justified in the name of the lord iesus , and by the spirit of our god. all that are washed from the guilt of sin in the name of christ , and by the virtue of his blood , being made partakers of righteousness unto justification , are also washed by his sanctifying spirit and grace , from the filth and pollution of sin , and made partakers of his holiness . in the next place , we have the fourth particular , that the lord iesus christ established the law , by making it a rule of obedience to his people . 1. christ made the law a rule of obedience to his people . 2. hereby he established the law ▪ 1. concerning the former , the lord christ saith , think not that i am come to destroy the law and the prophets , i am not come to destroy , but to fulfill ; for verily i say unto you , till heaven and earth pass , one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled , the law is established as a perpetual rule to direct christians in the ordering of themselves , all the powers of their souls , affections of their hearts , their thoughts , words , and actions ; and therefore christ himself in divers passages following , presseth , not only the outward but also the inward observation of the law , a certain man asked christ this question , which is the great commandment in the law ? iesus said unto him , thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart , and with all thy soul , and with all thy mind : this is the first and great commandment , and the second is like unto it , thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self : on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets . i conceive the lord christ in this answer doth clearly confirm the law , as a rule of obedience by his authority . 1. he doth as it were open the bowels of the law , and discover the soul and spirit of it , shewing that it consisteth in two things , 1. intire , and perfect love to god. 2. as subordinate hereunto , sincere love to our neighbour . 1. because all things commanded in the law are , either love to god and man , or such things as love supposeth , as the knowledge of god , or such affections , thoughts , words , actions ▪ as accompany or flow from love . 2. all sins of omission or commission towards god or man , are either want of love , or such as proceed from the want of love . now in that christ doth so highly extol these two commandments which comprehend the substance of the law , he established the law as a rule of obedience for his people . secondly , in this speech , he had respect , not only to the ten commandments delivered exod. 20. but also to the doctrine of the prophets throughout the old testament , saying , on these two , &c. the prophets opening and enlarging in particulars , what is generally comprized in the ten commandments : and if we compare this with what we had before , where he saith , he came to fulfill the law and the prophets ; we may gather , that he established the law delivered by moses , and expounded by the prophets , as a rule of obedience to his people . again , how frequently doth the spirit of christ in his apostles establish the law , as a rule of obedience for his people . what are those things which the apostles by the authority of christ and his name , require of christians but things commanded in the law ? and what are those sins which they call upon christians to shun , but sins forbidden in the law ? let love be without dissimulation : abhor that which is evil , cleave to that which is good , &c. what multitudes of instances might be given in this kind , and therefore saith the apostle , the end of the commandments is charity out of a pure heart , and of a good conscience , and of faith unfeigned . these are things required in the law. the grace of god which bringeth salvation to all men , hath appeared , teaching us , that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts , we should live soberly , righteously and godly in this present world . the gospel and word of grace which christ hath revealed to the world , and confirmed by his death , teacheth those things which are the substance of the law ; and therefore christ hath established the law , for a rule by which his people are to act and walk , as he which hath called you is holy , so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; because it is written , be ye holy for i am holy . the spirit of christ in the apostle , alledgeth the very word of the law as ratified by the authority of christ , as a rule of holiness to which his people must conform their hearts and lives . but it may be objected , that divers passages of the new testament make against this , such as these , the law is not made for a righteous man , but for the lawless and disobedient . and the apostle saith to them that are in christ , ye are not under the law , but under grace . god sent forth his son made of a woman , made under the law , to redeem them that are under the law. fo answer to thes● things , consider , that the law may be considered two wayes . 1. as a covenant of works , severely requiring full and exact obedience and perfect righteousness upon pain of the curse : and so believers being in christ , are not under the law but under grace . the lord hath reconciled them to himself in christ , received them into a covenant of grace , discharged them of the curse of the law , and sentence of condemnation , justified and accepted them as righteous through the righteousness of christ , given them access to his mercy seat , so that the law is not made for a righteous man , as a covenant of works . believers are not to be judged according to the rigour and severity of the law , nor subject to the curse or condemnation of the law , and therefore the apostle saith , christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law , being made a curse for us : but the lawless and disobedient natural persons , being out of christ , and standing upon their own bottom , and so being to answer the justice of god upon their own account , are under the law as a covenant of works , and subject to the malediction , curse and condemnation of the law. secondly , the law may be considered as a rule of life , as a direction to true believers , guiding them in the wayes of god , teaching them how they ought to walk and to please god , how to walk answerably to his saving mercies , and spiritual blessings communicated to them in christ : and in this regard the law is established by christ , for the use of his people ; and so i conceive in this sense , the law is so far from being a covenant of works , that it becometh a part of the covenant of grace , or a rule subservient to the gospel . so the apostle telleth the believing thessalonians , ye know what commandments we gave you by the lord iesus , the commandments which he delivered to them were given by the lord jesus , in the name of the lord jesus christ , by vertue of his authority and commission received from him ? now what commandments were these ? even the same that are delivered in the law , in some of which the apostle giveth instance : first in general , this is the will of god , even your sanctification , that ye should be sanctified , and so conformed to the law of god in all things . then in special , that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour , not in the lusts of concupiscence , &c. in a word , the law is of use both unto them that are out of christ , and to them that are in christ : to the former it discovereth the contrariety of their natures , hearts , and lives , to the mind and will of god , their utter disability to fulfill the law , and thereupon makes known unto them their woful estate , that they lye open to the wrath and curse of god , and the danger of everlasting condemnation : and so the law may be of use : 1. to take down the natural pride that is in men and women , to cause them to see their own vileness and lost condition , to renounce all confidence in their own imaginary righteousness , to abase themselves to the dust before the lord , for by the law is the knowledge of sin . secondly , the law may be of use to such , to drive them out of themselves , to seek after the remedy , to cause them to flee to christ , that they may be washed in his blood from all their sins , justified by his perfect righteousness , and so redeemed from the curse of the law , and delivered from the wrath to come . 2. to true believers the law may be useful . 1. to humble them , and make them poor in spirit , and low in their own eyes . and that , 1. in respect of their state by nature . 2. in respect of their present condition , now that they are renewed by grace . in the former respect , they may see in the glass of the pure and holy law of god , the woful deformities and blemishes of their souls , as they were of themselves , their numberless omissions and commissions , and being inlightned by the spirit of christ , these things are the more manifest to them . secondly , in respect of their present condition , as they are renewed by grace though they have the spirit of christ conforming them in some degree to the law , yet by comparing both the frame of their souls , and their thoughts , words , actings , conversations , with the pure and spiritual law of god ; they find themselves far short of the mark , and that they need daily renewed acts of grace and free pardon from the mercy seat . secondly , the law is of use to direct them , to shew them what frame of spirit , what wayes are pleasing to the lord , who is the law-giver , and author of the law. 3. the law is useful to believers , to quicken them and stir them up more and more , to purge themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit , to cleanse their hearts from those corruptions which are contrary to the law , and to labour after an increase and growth in all holy and sanctifying graces , and to strive after farther perfection , saith the apostle , brethren , i count not my self to have apprehended , but this one thing i do , forgetting those things which are behind , and reaching forth unto those things which are before , i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ iesus . it seemeth the apostle , notwithstanding that great measure of the spirit of christ , which he had received , and the great improvement made of his talents , the eminent services done to the church , yet looked upon the mark , as being far before him , a great way beyond him , that is , that he was far short of the perfection of holiness and righteousness which the law required , and therefore he did reach forth and press forward with all his might . when the best christians find how far they fall short of that height of perfection which the law calleth for , scil . to love the lord their god with all the heart , and all the mind , and all the soul , and all the might , &c. may not this be a powerful motive to quicken them , to use all holy endeavours for the perfecting of holiness in the fear of god ? secondly , the lord christ , by making the law a rule of life and holy obedience for his people hath established the law. it is true he hath redeemed sincere believers from the curse of the law , but that was done without the least prejudice to the force and authority of the law , because himself did bear the curse in his own person , and so he did both save his people from the curse of the law , and yet fully satisfie the law , but herein did christ put an high degree of honour upon the law , that though he had made full satisfaction to the law , in behalf of his people , yet he will have the law to remain as a directory and rule of holiness and righteousness for those that are appointed hei●s of salvation . he hath made the law a rule for the ordering of his royal family , of his spiritual kingdom . the lord christ hath exalted the law to a great height of dignity , in that himself being the law-giver , and having united believers to himself by his spirit , and ruling in their hearts by his grace , yet requireth them to attend to the law as the rule by which they should regulate and order their hearts and wayes . the use of this may be , first to shew the errour of those who seem to deny the use of the law for believers in any kind , as if they were to bring them in bondage under a covenant of works . how usual is it with men to mistake the meaning of the holy scripture , and in special to take those things as absolutely meant , which are to be understood only in some respect . so in this case , because the scripture sheweth that christians are not under the law , therefore they seem to say , they have nothing to do with the law , and that the law hath not any thing to do with them : but though they are free from the curse of the law , yet the law is still of great use to them , to guide them in such a course of holy obedience wherein they are to glorifie god , and to walk worthy of the lord to all pleasing . the apostle i conceive speaketh of such licentious libertines , and antinomian teachers , who when they speak great swelling words of vanity , they allure through the lusts of the flesh , through much wantonness , those that were clean escaped from them that live in errour , while they promise them liberty , they themselves are yet servants of corruption ; for of whom a man is overcome , of the same he is brought in bondage . is it not common with many to complain of bondage under the law , who on the other side remain in a miserable bondage under their lusts ? secondly , this may open the eyes of those self-deceivers , who pretend faith in christ , as if their sins were pardoned through his satisfaction , and their persons justified by his righteousness without the works of the law , and thereupon sin securely , not caring to order their hearts and waye● according to the law , nor to make it the rule of their lives : the apostle notably sheweth the folly of such , for having proved that believers are freely pardoned and justified by the righteousness of christ , without any consideration of their own works done in obedience to the law , insomuch that he saith , where sin abounded , grace did much more abound : whereas sin abounded in men , the grace and free love of god did much more abound , and gloriously manifest it self through christ towards believers , in pardoning their sins , and accepting them as righteous ; thereupon he proposeth a question or objection , what shall i say then ? shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ? as if some licentious person turning the grace of god into laciviousness , should say , if our best works be of no force or weight at all towards our justification on the one side , and the grace of god on the other side , be gloriously illustrated by occasion of our sins , why should we fear to sin against the law , or be careful to walk according to that rule . the apostle answereth by way of detestation , god forbid ; or , let it not be : let not so vile a thought enter into the heart of any christian . secondly , by way of confutation , how shall we that are dead to sin , live any longer therein ? know we not that so many of us as were baptized into jesus christ , were baptized into his death ; therefore we are buried with him by baptisme into his death , that like as christ was raised up from the de●d by the glory of the father ; even so we also should walk in newness of life , as if he had said , they that are justified by the righteousness of christ applied by faith , are by the same faith united unto christ , and therefore dead to sin , as christ died for sin ; and raised to newness of life , as christ rose from the dead ; the spirit of christ thus manifesting the vertue of christ his death , and the power of his resurrection in them , and so leading them in the way of holy obedience according to the rule of the law. they therefore that fancy to themselves pardon of sin , justification , and salvation through faith in christ , and give up themselves to walk according to their own lusts , and not according to the law of god , do highly dishonour christ , and delude their own souls ; for the apostle peter speaking of him , and him hath god exalted with his right hand , to be a prince and a saviour , for to give repentance to israel , and forgiveness of sins . the lord jesus christ is exalted to be both a prince and a saviour , to rule and to save as a prince , to give repentance whereby men and women are subjected to his government , and to his holy law ; and as a saviour to procure for them forgiveness of sin and justification . they then who would have their sins pardoned through christ , but not their souls subjected to the will and law of christ , they would have but an half christ ; they would have christ the saviour , but not christ the prince ; and this is the way to have no christ at all , no portion nor interest in christ. i beseech you therefore as you love your souls , take heed of this soul deceiving fancy ; and as you desire christ for your saviour , so obey him as your prince , according to his holy law , which he hath established as a rule of life for his people . finis . texts of scripture explained occasionally . 2 thes. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. page 10. rom. 7. 18. p. 16. revel . 8. 13. p. 50. 1 king. 18. 40. p. 59. mat. 13. 22 , 30. p. 61. acts 7. 37. p. 83. joh. 4. 19 , 20 , 21. p. 83. gen. 22. 18. p. 91. lev. 1. 4. p. 105. 2 king. 3. 20. p. 108. dan. 9. 21. p. 108. heb. 10. 5 , 6 , 7. p. 115. 1 cor. 9. 13 , 14. p. 119. 1 cor. 10. 18. p. 126. 2 cor. 2. 4. p. 147. 1 cor. 6. 18 , 19. p. 148. num. 23. 5. p. 158. rom. 1. 19. p. 179. rom. 5. 13 , 14. p. 188. amos 2. 4 , 5. p. 191 , 192 , 193. gal. 5. 4. p. 209. james 2. 24. p. 210. 1 john 3. 8. p. 227 , &c. luke 9. 30 , 31. p. 233 , 234. john. 1. 1 , 2 , 3. p. 234 , 235. mat. 22. 35 , to 40. p. 261 , 262. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a50402-e1400 2 pet. 3. 15. rom. 1. 17. parts of the words . doctr. 1. rom. 3. 1 , 2. ro. 3. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. rom. 6. 1. &c. ver . 14. the general reason of the point . 1 joh. 4. 5 , 6 ▪ particular reasons . joh. 1. 5. eph. 7. 8. col. 3. 9 , 10. mat. 22. 23 , & 29. &c. ignorance greater or less and whence . 1 thes. 4. 15 , 16 , 17. 2 thes. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. luk. 13. 3. joh. 3. 3. heb. 12. 14. prejudicate opinion , the cause of perverting the truth through ignorance . rom. 10. 3. 2. reason of the point . tit. 2. 11 , ●2 . 3. reason of the point . 4th reason of the point . mat. 16. 24. 5th , reason of the point . 〈◊〉 16. 14. 〈…〉 1. use of the the first doctr. rom. 7. 18. act. 13. 46 ▪ 2 cor. 2. 16. rom. 7. 5 , 1 pet. 2. 8. ver . 12 , 13. use 2 , 2 thes. 2. 12. use 3. two questions answered . answ. to 1. some of note for profession unsound at heart . 1 joh. 2. 18 , 19. 2. answ. to 1. query . some err because their knowledge is but in part . 3. answ. to 1. quaere . god permits it to teach us how to esteem men . gal. 1. 8. answ. to 2. query . carnal persons may be constant to some truths , and whence . 1. answ. from natural quickness of judgment . 2. answ. from affectation of a seeming constancy . 3 answ. satan 〈◊〉 sure of them a●other way . 4. ans hoped advantage from those that hold the truth . 5. answ. from their indifferency to opinions in religion which keeps them from new ones . act. ●8 . 15. & 25 , 18 , 19. notes for div a50402-e3610 2. doct. gracious hearts abhor opinions which oppose the truth of god. proof . 1. from examples . of m●ses . num. 31. 3 , 7 , 8 , 14 , 15. ver . 1 , 2. of elijah . 1 king 18. 40. of micaiah . & ch. 22. 23. of ieremiah . jer. 28. 15 , 16. & 29. 21 , 22. ver . 31 , 32. of iohn baptist. mat. 3. 7. & 15. 6 , 7. of our blessed lord. mat. 16. 12. mat. 23. joh. 10 8. of st. peter . 2 pet. 2. of st. iude. jud. 11. 1 joh. 2. 19 , & 4. 1. 2 joh. 7. 10 , 11. rev. 2. 6. & 14 , 15 , 16. ver . 20. of st. paul. rom. 16. 17 , 18 1 cor. 15. 2 cor. 11. 13 , 14 , 15. gal. 1. 8 , 9 gal. 3. 1. & 5. 12. phil. 3. 2. col. 2. 4. 8 , 18. 2 thes. 2. 1 tim. 1. 19. 20. 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2. 2 tim. 2. 17. 2 tim. 3. 1. ver . 6. ver . 13. & 43 , 4. tit. 1. 10. 11. & 3. 10. 11. heb. 13. 9. 10. 2. proof of the doctr. by argument . 1. reason from the glory of god wronged , &c. joh. 7. 28. tit. 1. 2. joh. 14. 6. & ver . 17. 1 cor. 15. 15. 2. reason . godly have an antipathy to heresies . joh. 10. 5. 1. from the new birth . jam. 1. 18. 1 joh. 3. 19. 2. they are children of the god of truth ▪ reason 3. errours destructive to souls . 4. reason . spreading nature of errors 5. reason . errors apt to overtop truth and how . 6. reason . heresies spread speedily . job 1. 7. 7. reason . errors withdraw souls from the means of grace 8. reason . errours devides the church . 1 cor. 12. 27. eph. 5. 23. & 4. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. rom. 16. 17. act. 15. 1 , 2. ver . 7 , 24. phil 3. 2. beza . caution 1. eph. 4. 14. 15. prov. 23. 23. jude 3. 4. 2 tim. 1. 13 , 14 , 15. tit. 1. 9 , 10 , 11 , 13. joh. 7. 41 , 42 , 43. & 10. 19 , 20 , 21. mat. 10. 24 , 25 , 26. luk ▪ 12. 51. divisions from satans malice . mans frowardness . act. 14. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. 1. use. rev. 8. 13. rev. 9. 1. rom. 9. 1 , 2 , 3. gal. 4. 19. psal. 119. 158. vse 2. 1. obj. 1. plea for tolerating all &c. answered . ●um . 6. 12. 3. ex. 22. 28 , 29. 2. answer . 3. answ. answ. 4. jud. 22 , 23. 2. obj. 3. obj. answ. col. 3. 16. 25. 4. obj. answ. obj. 5. luk. 1. 32 , 33. answ. 1 king. 18. 40. 2 king 16. 24 , 25 , &c. 30. obj. 6. answ. lev. 24. 16. ob. 7. out of mat. 13 ▪ 22 , 30. answ. v. 41. vse 3. notes for div a50402-e7860 doct. 3. complicated falshood charged sometimes on truth and the preachers of it . mat. 5. 17. & mat. 9. 34. see luk. 23. 2. with mat 22. 21 joh. 8. 13. act. 16. 20 , 21. & 17. 6. rom. 13. tit. 3. 1. 1. reason of the point . act. 17. 18. 2 cor. 1. 13. reason 2. from credu●ity . act. 19. 32 , 33. reason 3. from malice . act. 24. 5 , 6. act. 6 : 9 , 10 , 11 vse 1. eccles. 1. 9. notes for div a50402-e8880 doct. 4. faith establisheth the ceremonial law. and how this is to be understood . sect. 1. sect. 2. sect. 3. 1. law of ceremonies instituted of god , and to what end . gen. 17 : 9 , 10 : exod , 12. 1 , &c. & 24 , 25. heb. 8. 5. heb. 10. 8 , 9 , 10. mat. 27. instituted ceremonies are of four sorts . 1. sacraments . 1. circumcision . it s use . 2. passeover . 2. sacrifices , which were of four kinds . vid. cap. 5 ▪ 3. sacred persons and things 4. sacred observances . sect. 2. ceremonies misunderstood by the iews . 1. many had very little knowledge of their mystical signification . 2. they rested in the outward work done . 3. they had more care to observe these than the moral law. isa. 1. joh. 18. 28 , 29 , 38. ch . 19. 4. ver . 13. 4. they rested on it as righteousness to justification . act. 15. 1. gal. 5. 3 , 4. 5. they thought these should be perpetuated to the ●●d of the world . act. 6. 13 , 14. sect. 3. how faith doth establish the law of ceremonies . 1. negatively not continuing he●m . act. 7. 37. joh. 4. 19 , 20. 21. ver . 25. 26. 2. affirmatively . 1. shewing how ceremonies attain'd their proper end . 1. leading to christ. 2. shewing that they were not empty appearances , but types of great things . 3. illustrating by them it self , and the great mystery of christ. vse 1. sect. 1. 1. circumcision instituted . gen. 17. 10 , 11. deut. 10. 16. and what it signified . rom. 2. 29 ▪ rom. 4. 11. gen. 7. 17. rom. 5. 10. gen. 12. 2 , 3. gen. 22. 18. rom. 4. 3 , 11. cor. 4. 11. col. 2. 10 , 11 , 12. sect. 2. 2. passeover instituted . ex. 12. 3 , &c. ver . 12 , 13. the mystical signification of the passeover . 1. purity and perfection of christ. joh. 1. 29 , 30. 1 cor. 5. 7. 1 pet. 1. 18 , 19. humane nature of christ. christs being set apart for this work . ver . 20. sprinkling of the blood of christ for salvation . 1. use of the mystical part of the passeover . keep the spiritual passeover with actual and lively faith . joh. 8. 36. vse 2. admire and be thankful to god. vse 3. imitate christ in his spotless life and nature . 1 joh. 3. 3. vse 4. get an unfeigned faith . vse 5. keep the passover always but especially at the lords supper , with love and sincerity . 1 cor. 5. 8. mat. 16. 6. 12. luk. 12. 1. vse 6. keep it more and more towards perfection . vse 7. be ever waiting ready for the lord. luk. 22. 35 , 36. 1 pet. 1. 13. vse 8. feed on the lamb of god with godly sorrow . zach. 10. 12. ult. improved as a pledge of our redemption . lev. 23. 5. 6 , &c. 10 , 11. 1 cor. 15. 20. notes for div a50402-e12450 of the second sacrifices and their meaning . what kind of beasts and used in sacrices . clean and meek . mat. 11. 29. act. 8. 32. phil. 1. 2 , 6 , 7 , 8. none that are unclean or cruel , used . rev. 5. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eph. 2. 13. sect. 1. special consideration of burntofferings . lev. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaning of it 1. in its ascension . 2. the offerer laid his hand on the head thereof . ver . 4. 3. the bullock to be killed and the blood poured out . isa. 53. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12. dan. 9. 26. vse 1. heb. 9. 22. vse 2. heb. 10. 4. vse 3. act. 20. 28. 1 joh. 1. 7. vse 4. rom. 12. 1. numb . 28. 3. 2 king. 3. 20. dan. 9. 21. sect. 2. sin offering considered , opened and applied . † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lev. 4. 3. it s name . 2 cor. 5. 21. vse 1. condescension of christ. 2. baseness of sin . 3. humiliation of our selves . 2 sam. 24. 12 ▪ job 42. 6. 2. the manner of sprinkling the blood of it . lev. 4. 6. seven times before the lord , or before the vail . heb. 10. 19 , 20 , 21 , 22. 3. sprinkled on the horns of the altar . lev. 4. 7. its meaning . 4. fat of &c. sin-offering to be burnt . it s meaning . lev. 4. 8 , 9 , 10 , isa. 6. 10. isa. 4. 3 , 4. 5. the sin-offering carried out of the camp , and its meaning . lev. 4. 11 , 12. without the city after they are setled . heb. 13. 11 , 12. joh. 19. 17. vse 1. vse 2. heb. 13. 13. ver . 14. heb. 4. 1. heb. 13. 19. sect. 3. meat-offerings considered . their name , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lev. 2. 1. of what matter fine flower . of the signification . heb. 10. 5 , 6 , 7. signification . isa. 66. 20. rom. 15. 16. vse 1. pray for success of the gospel . oyle to be added , a part of the meat offering . it s meaning . heb. 1. 9. joh. 1. 14 , 16. ● . 3. 34. psal. 133. 2. 3. frankincense . eph. 5. 2. mat. 3. 17. 1. part burnt on the altar . lev. 2. 3. psal. 20. 1 , 3. act. 10. 4. 5. remainder was the priests lev. 2. 3. 1cor . 9. 13 , 14. 6. salt added to the meat-offering and why . lev. 2. 13. 1. preserveth from putrefaction . mar. 9. 50. 2. it gives a savour . rom. 8. 5. 3. it causeth sores to smart . mar. 9. 49. 4. it seems to perpetuate the covenant . 2 chron. 13. 5. lev. 23. 13. sect. 4. 4. peace-offering considered . it s occasion . lev. 3. 1 , &c. 1. it s meaning , viz. whole christian duty in general . heb. 13. 15 , 16. col. 3. 17. it s matter : whether male or female at liberty . gal. 3. 28. 3. the fat to be burnt . the rest , lev. 7. 34. to the offerer . priest. ver . 15. with 1. 2 deut. 6. 7. the priests part , breast . a prov. 23. 26. b mat. 22. 37. must be waved . isa. 30. 28. psal. 103. 1. 3. ●●●ht shoulder priests due psal. 25. 1. col. 3. 1 , 2. phil. 3. 20. improved to prove gospel maintenance for ministers . the officers part . it s signification . 1 joh. 1. 3. rev. 3. 20 ▪ 1 cor. 10. 18. ver . 20 , sect. 5. sacred persons considered . priests , &c. heb. 4. 5. 6. mat. 12. 18. & 8. 4. mat. 9. 32. 33. joh. 3. 2. mat. 21. 23. vse 1. see gods unspeakable goodness , &c. heb : 7. 26. ver . 24. 25. 2. come to christ , neither 3. doubt in coming to him . 4. see christs humility , &c. 3. garments of high priest significative . 1. in general , what they signified . ex. 28. 2. heb. 11. 27. 2. what particular garments , &c. and their import . 2. stones . ex. 28. 9. &c. on his shoulder . 1. support by him . mat 16. 18. 2. the price christ sets on his people . 2. breast-plate of judgement . ex. 28. 15. &c. ● 1. signification . isa. 40. 11. cant. 8. 6. 2. signification . 3. signification . 3. part of garments of high-priests . exod. 28. 33 , 34 , 35. it s significaion . heb. 12. 24. 4. ornaments of the high-priest . exod. 28. 36 , 37 , 38. it s signification ▪ 2. signification : 5. ornaments , &c. urim and thummim . exod. 28. 30. their meaning . joh. 8. 12 ▪ & 14. ● . col. 2. 3 , 9. eph. 5. 8. & 2. 4 , 5. col. 2 , 10. mat. 4. 2. 6. high-priest appointed , &c. for men , &c. heb. 5. 1. eph. 5 2. heb. 9. 14. 7. what the high-priest did , &c. how it signified what christ should do . lev. 16 12. ●eb . 9. 7 , 11 , 12 rev. 1. 5 , 6. 1 pet. 2. 9. rom. 12. 1. ver . 2. psal. 4. 5. psal. 51. 17. phil. 4. 18. sect. 6. sacred things &c. as 1. tabernacle and temple . 1. agreeing . 1 chron. 28. 6 , 11 , 12 , 19. 2. in writing . yet they differed . 1. and chiefly signified christ dwelling in our nature . joh. 1. 14. heb. 9. 11. joh. 2. 19 , 21. col. 2. 9. heb. 2. 16. 2 tim. 3. 16. a& . 17. 26. heb. 2● 11. 2 pet. 1. 4. heb. 1. 6. 2. they signified the church of christ. rom. 21. 2 , 3. 1 tim. 3. 15. 2 cor. 6. 16. vse 1. lev. 16. 15 , 16. vse 2. 2 cor. 2 ▪ ● . 3. tabernacle &c. noted particular believers , 1 cor. 3. 16 , 17. chap. 6. 18 , 19. mat. 15. 18 , 19. s●ct . 7. altar and its import . heb. 13. 10. made of shittim wood , what is meant . exod. 27. 1. act. 13. 37. 2. over laid with brass . exod. 27. 2. it s import . 3. the place of altar , and its meaning . exod. 40. 29 joh. 10. 9. 14. 6. 4. altar of incense . exod. 30. 3. exod. 30. 9. mat. 15. 9. sect. 8. ark overlaid , &c. exod. 25. 10 , 11 , 16 , 17 , 21. ex. 25. 10 , 17. heb. 8. 10 , 12. act. 5. 31. exod. 25. 18 19 , 20. heb. 1. 14. 1 pet. 1. 12. eph. 3. 10. sect. 9. the fire on the altar , its meaning . 1. it consumed the sacrifice . luk. ●2 . 44. mat. 26. 38. ch . 27. 46. use of this . 1. 2. came from heaven . lev. 9. 24. 2 chron. 7. 1. mat. 3. 11. 3. kept always burning . lev. 6. 13. sect. 10. exod. 26. 31. heb. 9. 3. exod. 26. 36. mat. 27. 51. notes for div a50402-e19280 sect. 1. lev. 11. deut. 1. 4. ver . 2. psal. 135. 4. psa. 147. 19 , 20. num. 23. ver . 5. deut. 9. 6. ph. 7. 7. kom . 11. 33. act. 10. 10 , 11 , &c. ver . 28. 1. tim. 4. 4. 1 cor. 10. 23. obj. answ. gen. 9. 4. lev. 3. 17. 1 cor. 1. 30. obj. act. 15. answ. 1. sect. 2. observance of feasts . 1. in general . luk. 2. 10. phil. 3. 3. isa. 25. 6. in particular , three feasts ▪ exod. 23. 14 , 15 , 16. ch . 34. 22. deut. 28. 47. act. 2. joh. 4. 35 , 37 , 38. luk. 24. 49. act. 1. 8. 3. feast . exod. 23. 16. lev. 23. 34 , 39. 40. ver . 42 , 43. neh. 8. 15 , 16. luk. 12. 19 , 20. lev. 23. 24 , 27. isa. 58. 1. mat. 3. 1. 2 , 3. 2 thes. 4. 16. matth. 5. 4. luk. 6. 23. lev. 14. 6 , 7 , 9. & 15. 13. 1 joh , 5. 6 , 8. 10. 2 cor. 13. 1. 2 joh. 3. 3. 2 cor. 7. 1. zach. 13. 1. notes for div a50402-e21140 doct. 5. god hath given men a law of nature . rom. 1. 19 , 20 , 21. rom , 2. 14 , 15. 1. what this law is . description . it is given of god. isa. 28. 24. & 26. 28. rom. 1. 21. joh. 1. 9. joh. 8. 12. 3. in their natural state . 4. hereby they do somewhat know god. rom. 1. 19. ver . 20. act. 14. 16 , 17 , 5. by that light they know somewhat of good and evil . gen. 20. 9 , 16. this law of nature is imperfect . 1. not able to bring to bliss . joh. 14. 6. act. 4. 12. rom. 10. 13 , &c 2. particularly defective in , 1. it self . 2. in the subject in which it was . sect. 3. the use of this law of nature . 1. for gods glory . 2. for preservation of humane societies . 3. a remote preparatory for receiving the gospel . sect. 4. how doth it leave men without excuse . vse 1. isa. 33. 22. psal. 33. 62. psal. 47. 2 , 7. rom. 5. 13 , 14 vse 8. rom. 1. 18 , &c. gen. 3. 19. rom. 5. 12. gen. 15. 13. 16. lev. 18. 24. 25. amos 1. & 2. vse 3. am. 2. 4 , 5. amos 2. 4 , 5. ver . 6 , &c. ver . 7. chap. 3. 1 , 2. mat. 11. 22. act. 11. 26. 1 cor. 6. 15. 1 cor. 1. 21. ex. 30. 23 , 24. mat. 11. 2● . mat. 12. 41. notes for div a50402-e23780 mat. 22. 37 , 38 , 39. 6. doct. in general propounded . how the moral law stablisht by faith . sect. 1. negat . 1. particular doct. rom. 3. 9 , 10. ver . 20. the point cleared by , 1. general grounds . 2. particular declaration of the doctrine of the gospel . three general grounds 1. from mans state , 2. from the nature of the law. 3. from god. joh. 3. 6. rom. 7. 18. ch. 8. 7. 8. eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. gen. 6. 5. phil. 3. 7 , 8. obj. answ. 1. 2. from the law 's exactness . rom. 7. 12. 14. deut. 6. 4 , 56. this perfect love includeth perfect knowledge , faith , &c ▪ lev. 11. 44. & 19. 18. 1 joh. 3. 4 ▪ 2. laws severity . deut. 27. 26. gal. 3. 10. heb. 2. 2 : gal. 3. 19. 3. from the infinite purity of god. joh. 4. 17 , 18 , 19. psal. 104. 1. &c. isa. 40. 15 , 16. ch . 6. 1 , 2 , 3. exod. 19. 16. 10. 18. deut. 4. 24. rev. 1. 14. his eyes were as a flame of fire . 2. the doctrine of the gospel declares this . mat. 1. 21. mat. 26. 28. gal. 2. 21. gal. 5. 4. heb. 7. 25. gal. 3. 11 , 12. ohj. jam. 2. 24. answ. ver . 14. answ. 2. ver . 18. 1. vse . the misery of all out of christ. rom. 8. 33 , 34. joh. 3. 18. rom. 2. 5. rom. 9. 31 , 32. obj. answ. mat. 1. 20. job . 14. 30. psa 40. 6 , 7 , 8 heb. 10. mat. 3. 15. gal ▪ 3. 10. 13. eph. 5. 2. heb. 9. 14. mat. 3. 17. phil. 2. 6. heb. 1. 3. gal. 2. 20. affirmatively . sect. 2. mat. 5. 17. mat. 3. 16 , 17. mat. 4. mat. 3. 15. gal. 4. 4. act. 7. 12. 2 cor. 5. 21. 1 per. 1. 19. 1 pet. 2. 22 , 3 , 18. lev. 21. 21. chap. 22. 3. heb. 7. 26 , 27. heb. 9. 14. gen. ● . 27. see eph. 4. 24. & col. 3. 10. rom. 3. 10 , 11. rom. 8. 2. rom. 3. 12. 1 joh. 3. 8. obj. answ. obj. awsw. 1 cor. 15. 54. hos. 13. 14. psal. 19. 7. sect. 2. luk. ●9 . 30 , 31. 1 king. 18. 40. & 19. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17. joh. 1. 1 , 2 , 3. joh. 17. 17. 1 thes. 2. 13. joh. 17. 5. col. 1. 16. heb. 1. 3. rom. 11. 36. phil. 2. 6. joh. 1. 14. phil. 2. 7 , 8. 1 tim. 3. 16. act. 2. 24. act. 20. 28. heb. 2. 9. heb. 2. 16 , 17. isa. 53. 6. lev. 4. 15. 2 cor. 5. 21. gal. 3. 10 , 13. isa. 53. 10. rom. 8. 33. phil. 2. 8. isa. 53. 12. matth. 27. 50. joh. 19. 33 , 34. ver . 41 , 42. gen. 2. 17. vse 1. vse 2. vse 3. rom. 8. 1. sect 3. 1. branch . 2 cor. 5. 21. rom. 4. 22 , 23 , 24. rom. 4. 6. rom. 8. 33 , 34. rom. 3. 30. rom. 3. 24. 1 joh. 4. 18. mat : 12. 18. joh. 17. 9. heb. 2. 13. rom. 3. 21 , 22 : ver . 28. rom. 4. 7 , 8. & 8. 1. rom. 8. 30. 2. branch . rom. 10. 4. vse 1. eph. 3. 17 , 18 , 19. jer. 23. 6. vse 2. rom. 3. 27. vse 3. vse 4. mark 9. 24. luk. 17. 5. vse 5. luk. 1. 74 , 75. rom. 12. 1● . 1 cor. 1. 30. 1 cor. 6. 11. sect. 4. doct. mat. 5. 17 , 18. mat. 22. 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39. 40. rom. 12. 9. 1 tim. 1. 5. tit. 2. 11 , 12. 1 pet. 1. 15 , 16 lev. 11. 44. obj. 1 tim. 1 : 9. rom. 6. 14. gal. 4. 4 , 5. answ. gal. 3. 13. 1 thes. 4. 2 , 3. rom. 3. 20. phil. 3. 13 , 14 ▪ 2 pet. 2. 18 , 19 , 2. vse . rom. 5. 20. chap. 6. 1 , 2. gospel-truth stated and vindicated wherein some of dr. crisp's opinions are considered, and the opposite truths are plainly stated and confirmed / by daniel williams. williams, daniel, 1643?-1716. 1692 approx. 407 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 134 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-05 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a66347 wing w2649 estc r24559 08247194 ocm 08247194 41167 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66347) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 41167) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1244:12) gospel-truth stated and vindicated wherein some of dr. crisp's opinions are considered, and the opposite truths are plainly stated and confirmed / by daniel williams. williams, daniel, 1643?-1716. [11], 250, [2] p. printed for john dunton, london : 1692. errata: p. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng crisp, samuel, 1669 or 70-1704. antinomianism. theology, doctrinal. 2003-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-01 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-02 rina kor sampled and proofread 2004-02 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion gospel-truth stated and vindicated . wherein some of dr. crisp's opinions are considered ; and the opposite truths are plainly stated and confirmed . by daniel williams . london , printed for john dunton , at the raven in the poultrey , 1692. we whose names are subscribed , do judge that our reverend brother hath , in all that is material , fully and rightly stated the truths and errours mentioned as such in the following treatise : and do account he hath in this work done considerable service to the church of christ : adding our prayers , that these labours of his , may , as we hope they will , by the blessing of god upon them , be a means for the reclaiming of those that have been missed into such dangerous opinions ; and for the establishing those that waver in any of these truths : wiliam bates , samuel slater , john how , abraham hume , vinc. alsop , nich. blakey , w. lorimer , john reynolds , edw. lawrence , john showers , rich. mayo , nath. taylor , rich. stretton , tho. kentish , john quick , nath. oldfield . many more were ready to attest these truths , but the haste of the press prevents their subscription . to the reader . a dislike of contention hath long restrained my engaging in this work , tho oft sollicited thereto by several worthy ministers . peace is the blessing which i chearfully pursue ; and is , with the truth , what i propose in this very endeavour . i am convinced , after frequent prayers , and serious thoughts , that the revival of these errours , must not only exclude that ministry as legal , which is most apt in its nature , and by christ's ordination , to convert souls , and secure the practical power of religion ; but also renders unity among christians a thing impossible . every sermon will be matter of debate , and mutual censures of the severest kind , are unavoidable ; while one side justly press the terms of the gospel , under its promises and threats , for which they are accused as enemies to christ and grace ; and the other side ignorantly set up the name of christ , and free grace , against the government of christ , and the rule of judgment . i believe , many abettors of these mistakes , are honestly zealous for the honour of free grace , but have not light sufficient to see how god hath provided for this , in his rectoral distribution of benefits by a gospel-rule . by this pretence , antinomianism so corrupted germany ; it bid fair to overthrow church and state in new-england ; and by its stroke at the vitals of religion , it allarm'd most of the pulpits in england . many of our ablest pens were engaged against these errours ; as mr. gataker , mr. rutherford , anthony burgess , the provincial synod at london ; with very many others , whose labours god was pleased to bless to the stopping of the attempts of dr. crisp ( by name opposed by the foresaid divines ) saltmarsh , denne , eaton , hobson , &c. to the grief of such as perceive the tendency of these principles , we are engaged in a new opposition , or must betray the truth as it is in jesus . i believe many abettors of these notions , have grace to preserve their minds and practices from their influence : but they ought to consider , that the generality of mankind have no such antidote ; and themselves need not fortifie their own temptations , nor lose the defence which the wisdom of god hath provided against remissness in duty , and sinful backslidings . who can wonder at the security of sinners , the mistaking the motion of sensible passions for conversion , and the general abatement of exact and humble walking , when so many affirm , sins are not to be feared , as doing any hurt , even when the most flagitious are committed ? graces and holiness cannot do us the least good ; god hath no more to lay to the charge of the wickedest man , if he be elected , than he hath to lay to the charge of a saint in glory . the elect are not governed by fear or hope ; for the laws of christ have no promises nor threats to rule them by ; nor are they under the impressions of rewards or punishments , as motives to duty , or preservatives against sin , &c. in this present testimony to the truth of the gospel , i have studied plainness ; and to that end oft repeated the same things in my concessions , to prevent the mistakes of the less intelligent , though i could not think it fit to insist a new upon all . to the best of my knowledge , i have in nothing mis-represented . dr. crisp's opinion , nor mistaken his sence : for most of them he oft studiously pleadeth : of each i could multiply proofs , and all of them , be necessary from his scheme , though not consistent with all his other occasional expressions . his scheme is this ; that by god's mere electing decree , all saving blessings are by divine obligation made ours , and nothing more is needful to our title to these blessings . that on the cross , all the sins of the elect were transferred to christ , and ceased ever after to be theirs . that at the first moment of conception , a title to all those decreed blessings is personally applied to the elect , and they invested actually therein . hence the elect have nothing to do , in order to an interest in any of these blessings ; nor ought they to intend the least good to themselves in what they do : sin can do them no harm , because it is none of theirs ; nor can god afflict them for any sin. and all the rest of his opinions follow in a chain , to the dethroning of christ , enervating his laws and pleadings , obstructing the great designs of redemption , opposing the very scope of the gospel , and the ministry of christ , and his prophets and apostles . the doctor had not entertained these opinions , if he had considered , that god's electing decree is no legal grant , nor a formal promise to us : the decree includes the means and the end , willing the first , in order to the last ; and as it puts nothing in present being ; so it barrs not god , as a governour , to fix a connexion between benefits and duties by his revealed will : so if the doctor had animadverted , that christ's sufferings were the foundation of our pardon , but not formally our pardon ; for them our sins are forgiven , when-ever they be forgiven ; without them sin cannot be forgiven , and they were endured , that the sins of all the elect , when believers , should be forgiven . but yet they are not forgiven immediately upon , nor merely by his enduring those sufferings ; but there were , by divine appointment to interpose , a gospel-promise of pardon ; the work of the spirit , for a conformity to the rule of the promise in the person to be pardoned , and a judicial act of pardon by that promise on the person thus conformed to the rule thereof . to clear this point , consider , 1. the law is sometimes taken for the preceptive part of god's will , with the sanction of the covenant of works . in this covenant , life was promised to sinless obedience ; and death was threatned against every sin , without admitting repentance to forgiveness . upon the fall , life is impossible by the law with this sanction : and hence , to preach it to sinners as a way of blessedness , is sinful and vain , and no saving benefit is dispenced to any of us by this rule . 2. the gospel includes the moral preceptive part of the first law , with some additional precepts , which suppose our apostate state ; as faith in an atoneing saviour , and repentance for sin : these could not be enjoyned as duties on innocent man , by a rule of happiness and misery ; nor could they be necessary to his right to life , because they would suppose him a sinner . the gospel is taken in a large sence , when i say it includes all the moral precepts ; but yet the gospel doth so , and they are the commands of christ , as redeemer , ( to whom all judgment is committed , ) as well as the law of the creator . 3. the gospel hath another sanction to the preceptive part of the law , than the covenant of works had . though nothing be abated in the rule of sin and duty , yet blessings are promised to lower degrees of duty ; and a continuance in a state of deuth , with a barr to the blessing , are not threatned against every degree of sin , as the covenant of works did . can any doubt this to be the grace of the gospel-promise ? doth it promise life to all men , however vile and impenitent they be ? or doth it threaten damnation , or a continuance of it , on any true , penitent , believing , godly man , because he is imperfect ? this change of the sanction supposeth the death of christ , and his honouring the law by his perfect obedience ; wherein god hath provided for his own glory , while he promiseth life , by forgiveness , to imperfect man ; and yet he insists on some degree of obedience , to which of his mere grace he enableth us . this the covenant of redemption secures to the elect , tho' the grant therein is pleadable only by christ , as the stipulating party for us ; and our personal claim depends on the gospel-covenant , whereof christ is mediator . 4. this gospel-sanction determines as certain a rule of happiness and misery , as the law of works did , though it be not the same : for while it promiseth pardon to all believing , repenting sinners , and declares a barr to pardon to the impenitent rejecters of christ , and gospel-grace ; it fixeth true repentance , and faith unfeigned , to be the terms of pardon : so when it promiseth heaven to the sincerely holy , persevering believer ; it fixeth sincere holiness , and perseverance in faith , as the terms of possessing heaven . hence the use of faith , holiness , &c. to these benefits , is not from their conformity to the precept , but their conformity to the rule of the promise : our applying christ's righteousness , and relying on it , would no more justifie us , than our sincere holiness would save us , were it not for this gospel-promise , that god will justifie , for christ's sake , all such as believe . 5. hence , by gospel-grace , there is a great difference between perfect faith , and utter unbelief ; between sincere holiness , and formal profaneness , or wickedness : true love to god , and prevailing enmity ; imperfect spiritual duties , and rebellious neglects , &c. by the law of works , nothing was holiness , but what was perfectly so , &c. but read the bible , if thou doubtest whether there is not a true faith , holiness , love , &c. which be short of perfection . 6. god , in the dispensing of gospel-promised blessings , doth judicially determine a conformity to this rule of the promise : when he forgives , he judicially declareth a man hath true faith ; when he admits into heaven , he judicially declares a man sincerely holy and persevering . as upon a view of his guests , he cast out him that had not on the wedding-garment , viz. true-uniting faith ; so he judicially determined , that they who were not cast out , but admitted to share in the marriage feast , viz. made partakers of union with christ , and the benefits thereof , had true faith , and not a mere profession . as by keeping out the foolish virgins , for not having oyl in their lamps , viz. the spirit of grace , and persevering holiness : so by admitting the wise virgins , he judicially declared they had a spirit of grace , and persevering holiness . can any think , that forgiving , adopting , glorifying , or the conveyance of every other promised benefit given on god's terms , are not judicial acts of god , as rector ? if so , doth he dispence these blindly and promiseuously , without any regard to our being believers , &c. or no ? or whether our faith be true or no ? any one would blush to affirm it . with respect to what 's above declared , the gospel is called a law of faith , a law of liberty , &c. and it especially insists on that sincerity of grace and holiness which the rule of the promise makes necessary in its description of the person whom it makes partaker of its included benefit . and the main of our ministry consisteth in pressing men to answer the rule of the gospel-promises ; and disswading men from those things which the gospel threatens shall hinder their interest in all , or any of its benefits ; with an aggravation of their misery , if they be final rejecters of its grace . we call men to be reconeiled to god , upon which we know god will be at peace with them : these things will help thy conceptions , still remembring , that the merits of christ are the cause of this gospel-ordination : his righteousness imputed , is the cause for which we are justified and saved , when we do answer the gospel-rule . and i exclude not this righteousness , when i affirm , that the righteousness of god , phil. 3. 9. principally intends the gospel-holiness of a person justified by christ's righteousness ; both which , by faith in christ , all his members shall be perfect in . the grace of god is hereby stated as free as is consistent with his government , and judicial rectoral distribution of rewards and punishments ; and none need the riches of grace more than i. reader , note , that in this book i still speak of the adult , and not infants . when i say , the difference is not ; i state my own concessions , and mean not that the doctor is in all these of my mind . thou must expect to take up my full sence , by a view of several chapters , and not only one ; because sundry chapters referr to the same points , more or less : and forget not , that though the doctor oft in his book speaks to men , as believers ; yet every thing is true of the elect , viz. they have as much a title to all saving blessings , only they do not know it . this was his judgment . i have carefully avoided any reflexion on reverend dr. crisp , whom i believe a holy man , and abstained exposing many things according to the advantage offered , if by any means this book may become useful to such as most need it . that the father of lights would lead us into all truth and love , is the prayer of thy servant in the gospel , london , may 4. 1692. d. williams . errata . page 3. line 7. add 365. p. 5. l. 8. for ew r. we , p. 8. l. 15. for 289. r. 274. p. 10. l. 17. r. propogation , p. 28. l. 4 for chaist r. christ , p. 38. l. 5. for was r. is , p 62. l. 30. blot in : put ( ; ) p. 78. l. 4. blot out i am , p. 91. l. 10. add 616 , 617 , l. 15. for . 616. r. 609. p. 92. l. 5. for 618. r. 100 , 101 , p. 93. l. 14. r. ununited , 3. 98. l. 4. for mr. r. mrs. p. 101. l. 21. remove ( . ) from freely , to work , p. 140. l 22. for way r. may p. 166. l. 8. for its instrument r. joynt agent , p. 182. l. 4. for mad r. made , p. 198 l. 26. for is r. as , p , 214. l. 16. for hears r. hear , p. 208. l. 29. add to , p. 217. l. 20. for 1. r. 14. p. 234. l 27. r. meditation , p. 236. l. 10. for with r. unto , p. 66. l. 4. for grant r. grace . gospel-truth stated and vindicated . chap. i. of the state of the elect before effectual calling . truth . it is certain from god's decree of election that the elect shall in time be justified , adopted , and saved in the way god hath appointed ; and the whole meritorious cause and price of justification , adoption and eternal life , were perfect , when christ finished the work of satisfaction . nevertheless , the elect remain children of wrath , and subject to condemnation , till they are effectually called by the operation of the spirit . errour . the elect are at no time of their lives under the vvrath of god , nor are they subject to condemnation , if they should die before they believe ; yea , when they are under the dominion of sin , and in the practice of the grossest villainies , they are as much the sons of god , and justified , as the very saints in glory . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . the doctor tells us , pag. 363. 364. it is thought by some , that in case such a person should happen to die before god call him to grace , and give to him to believe , that person had been damned ; and that elect persons are in a damnable estate in the time they walk in excess of riot , before they are called . let me speak freely to you , and tell you ; that the lord hath no more to lay to the charge of an elect person , yet in the height of iniquity , and in the excess of riot , and committing all the abominations that can be committed ; i say even then , when an elect person runs such a course , the lord hath no more to lay to that person 's charge , than god hath to lay to the charge of a believer : nay , god hath no more to lay to the charge of such a person , than he hath to lay to the charge of a saint triumphant in glory . pag. 368. the elect of god , they are the heirs of god , and as they are heirs , so the first being of them puts them into the right of inheritance , and there is no time but such a person is a child of god. and this is a principle he oft asserts , and labours to prove , p. 354 , 355 , 365 , 577 , 578 , 579. but the readers will object , sure he meaneth no more , than that the elect are sure to be justified and adopted , and that christ hath fully merited it for them ; but not that they are actually justified and adopted before they are called . answer : the doctor frequently endeavours to prove , that we are actually justified before we are born , before we are baptized , before we believe , before we are converted , and reduceth the sum of his thoughts , p. 374. in these vvords , but when did the lord do this ? viz. justifie us . he answers , he did it from eternity , in respect of obligation ; but in respect of execution , he did it when christ was on the cross ; and in respect of application , he doth it while children are in the womb. and then shews , that they do mistake , who judge that god applies the pardon of sin at the time of conversion . in other places , he saith , we are actually justified , &c. wherein the difference is not . the difference is not , 1. whether god hath eternally decreed , that certain persons freely elected by him , shall certainly be justified and adopted . 2. nor whether these elect persons are the objects of god's love of good-will , even while they are sinners . 3. nor whether god continues his gracious purpose of doing them good in his appointed , ways : notwithstanding their provocations . 4. nor whether christ hath made full atonement for sin , and merited eternal life for the elect , which shall be in god's time and way applied ; and that he left nothing to be done by us in a way of atonement and merit . 5. nor whether there be not a great difference between an elect sinner and others , as to what they shall be in time . all these i affirm . wherein the real difference . is . 1. vvhether the elect , while uncalled , are actually pardon'd and adopted to life . this the doctor affirmeth , and i deny . 2. vvhether the elect , while dead in sin and unbelief , are children of vvrath , condemned by the law , and not justi ed by the promise . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . the truth confirmed . 1. the scriptures expresly declare the elect , before they be effectually called , to be children of wrath , eph. 2. 2 , 3. enemies . col. 1. 21. which were not my people , and not beloved . rom. 9. 25. 2. the gospel bars all unbelievers and dead sinners from pardon and adoption , and denounceth the continuance of condemnation against them , limiting its benefits to such as believe . joh. 3. 18. he that believeth not is condemned . ver. 36. the wrath of god abideth on him . 1 cor. 16. 22. and if any man love not the lord jesus , let him be anathema . 1 cor. 6. 11. such were some of you , but you are justified . 3. if it were not so , neither the spirit nor the vvord of god have any influence in the saving of sinners , which so oft they are affirmed to have . this is plain ; for these influence on our persons in time , and therefore suppose us in no state of salvation before . see tit. 3. 5. he saved us by the washing of regeneration , and renewing of the holy ghost . joh. 5. 34. these things , i say , that you may be saved . 2 thes. 2. 10. they received not the love of the truth , that they might be saved . jam. 1. 21. receive the word which is able to save . but the want of the gospel would be no damage , if we be heirs in the vvomb ; we should be freed from vvrath if we never heard it . 4. gospel benefits imply that there is a time , when we are actually guilty and miserable : there could be no forgivenss , if 〈◊〉 were not guilty , rom. 4. 7. they were at enmity , of whom the apostle saith , now hath he reconciled . col. 2. 12. if men were always sons , they could not be said in time to be adopted , nor to pass from death to life . 5. the doctor may as well infer , vve are sanctified , and possessed of heaven in the vvomb , for god hath elected us to these , as well as to pardon , and christ merited these also . reader , dost thou not find god justifies none but whom he calleth ? rom. 8. 30. would there be such joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner , luk. 15. 7 , 10. if they be pardoned and safe before ? how much is our ministry or concern for souls debased , if all that we can prevail with are actually pardoned ? who can reconcile to this notion the pleadings of god with sinners ? he speaks to them as wounded , undone , and miserable . look to me and be saved , why will you die ? turn to me and live , ezek. 33. 11. least they should be converted , and i should heal them , and the like . these sound strange , if matters are so perfected before they be born . testimonies . the assembly at westminster , conf. ch . 10. a. 1. and the congregational elders at the savoy , chap. 10. a. 1. are both fully of this mind . all those whom god hath predestinated to life , he is pleased in the appointed and accepted time , effectually to call by his word and spirit , out of that state of sin and death , in which they are by nature , to grace and salvation by jesus christ , by enlightning their minds , and taking away the heart of stone , &c. both also ch. 11. a. 4. say , god did from eternity , decree to justifie all the elect , and christ did in the fulness of time die for their sins , and rise again for their justification ; nevertheless they are not justified , untill the holy spirit doth in due time actually apply christ unto them . none that have read the assembles lesser catechism , but will see that the time the spirit applies christ , is in our effectual calling . the reverend dr. owen is as express , treatise of justification , p. 305. saith he , notwithstanding the full , plenary satisfaction of christ , yet all men continue equally to be born by nature children of wrath , and whilst they believe not , the wrath of god abideth on them , they are obnoxious unto , and under the curse of the law. see more of this point in chap. 11. and 12. wherein i speak of union and justification . the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . the doctor mistakes the nature of god's decree , because a decree ascertains a thing shall in time be , therefore he thinks it gives a thing a present subjective being : because jacob was an elect person , or the object of electing love in the womb ; therefore he was then actually a pardoned and adopted person : because an eldest son is an heir in the womb ; therefore an elect person , who is in time to be adopted , is an heir in the womb too : tho' the scripture be express , that it 's they who receive christ which only have power to become the sons of god , joh. 1. 12. and ye are the children of god by faith. gal. 3. 26. chap. ii. of god's laying sins on christ. truth . though our sins were imputed to christ with respect to the guilt thereof , so that he , by the father 's appointment , and his own consent , became obliged , as mediatour , to bear the punishment of our iniquities ; and he did bear those punishments to the full satisfaction of justice , and to our actual remission when we believe ; nevertheless , the filth of our sins was not laid upon christ ; nor can he be called the transgressor , or was he , in god's account , the blasphemer , murtherer , &c. errour . god did not only impute the guilt , and lay the punishment of the sins of the elect upon christ ; but he laid all the very sins of the elect upon christ , and that , as to their real filthiness and loathsomeness ; yea so , that christ was really the blasphemer , murtherer , and sinner , and so accounted by the father . proved , that this is doctor crisp 's opinion . the doctor , p. 312. tells us , it 's iniquity it self that the lord laid upon christ ; not only our punishment , but our very sin , &c. this transaction of our sins to christ , is a real act ; our sins so became christ's , that he stood the sinner in our stead , and we discharged . obj. but he may mean no more than the punishment ? a. no , he chuseth as express words as possible , to shew it 's the sin it self . p. 270. he saith , it 's the iniquity it self that the lord hath laid upon christ : i mean , it is the fault of the transgression it self , &c. to speak more plainly ; hast thou been an idolater , hast thou been a blasphemer , hast thou been a murtherer , an adulterer , a thief , a lyer or a drunkard ? if thou hast part in the lord , all these transgressions of thine , become actually the transgressions of christ. p. 268. nor are we so compleatly sinful , but christ , being made sin , was as compleatly sinful as we , &c. and god himself did account him among the number of transgressors . p. 286. he spends time to prove , that our very sins were transacted on christ ; yea , some sermons have this title , sins transacted really on christ. obj. but may not he mean , only that they were imputed as to the guilt ? a. no , he saith , p. 436. the loathsomness , abominableness , and hatefulness of rebellion , is laid upon christ's back : he bears the sin , as well as the shame and blame . he , p. 270 , 271 , 272 , 273. 280 , 281. endeavours to prove , it 's the sin opposed to guilt ; and , for that objection , that the lord lays on christ the guilt and punishment , but not simply the sin it self , ( he saith ) for ought i see , it is a simple objection . yea , p. 272. he affirms , that to say , that god did lay the guilt of sin , but not the sin it self , is contrary to scripture . and , p. 286 , 292. denies an imputation , that is not a real transacting of the sin : and , p. 289. he represents this by these similes ; the bloody coat of a deer-stealer is followed by the blood hound ; and stollen goods taken by the friend of the thief , and found with him , and not with the theif . he saith , p. 328. god makes christ as very a sinner as the creature himself was . p. 409. god lay upon him , the felony of thieves , the murthers of murtherers , &c. wherein the difference is not . the difference is not , 1. whether christ bare the punishment of our sins . 2. nor whether christ bare the guilt of our sins ; which is that respect of sin to the threatning of the law , whereby there is an obligation to bear the punishment . 3. nor whether christ was esteemed by men a transgressor and arraigned as such . 4. nor whether , what christ suffered , was not as effectual to put away sin , as if our very sin had been transacted on him . all these i affirm . the real difference . the real difference lies in these things , 1. whether sin it self , as to its filth and fault , was transacted on christ. this the doctor affirms , and i deny . 2. whether christ was made and accounted by the father , the very transgressor , the adulterer , the blasphemer , &c. this the doctor affirms , and i deny . the truth confirmed . 1. to transact our very sins on christ , as opposed to guilt is impossible ; for it would argue either a mistake in the divine mind , to account him the committer of our sins ; or a propagator of our corrupt qualities to him , which is as impossible ; and any other way to transact sin on him , besides imputing the guilt , there is none . 2. it is needless to the ends for which our sins were laid on christ. sins were laid on christ , that he might make atonement by suffering for them ; and so release us who had transgressed . now , christ , by submitting to the guilt , as an obligation to punishment according to the terms of the covenant of redemption , was sufficient to this end , and all that was needful . all that endangered us , was the threatning of the law ; that which was destructive to the offender , was the punishment included in that threat . hence christ by the father 's appointment , obliging himself to suffer , and actually suffering what he was obliged to ; and this upon an agreement , that , for his sufferings , we should be released ; where is the need of more ? the obliquity of the fact , as against the precept , shall not hurt , where the sanction of the law is answered ; and he that suffers as sponsor for another , need not sustain in himself the filthiness of the crime , to make him capable of giving satisfaction , gen. 44. 33. philem. 18. 3. this transacting of the filthiness of our sins on christ , is blasphemous . he that took care his body should not see corruption , act. 2. 3. would much more abhor to take in our pollution , to need ( as the doctor says ) a breathing it out . he was holy , harmless , undefiled , and separate from sinners , heb. 7. 26. it was condescension enough that he agreed to be treated as a sinner ; but how odious is it to load him with sin it self ? to spit that in his face , which the worst of men abused him with ? and it would justify his persecutors who punished him , if that he was really the person the doctor 's principle represents him . 4. had he been accounted , by the father , the very transgressor , his atonement had been unavailable to us . the person esteemed a sinner was uncapable of atoneing ; he that must redeem us was to be the just for the unjust , 1 pet. 3. 18. whilst offering himself a sacrifice , he must be accounted innocent and blameless ; an offering without spot , heb. 9. 14. all the typical sacrifices were to be clean . let none say he must have no sins of his own ; for if the filthiness of our sins is transferred on him , they are as much his own as if they had been originally his ; and the doctor saith , they made christodious to the father ; and more he had not been , if the sin had been committed by himself . 5. christ then suffered for his own sins , and not for ours ; this is plain : for by the doctor 's notion , they ceased to be our . sins before he suffered , and they became his own ; for they were laid on him before he suffered for them ; yea , before he was obliged to suffer for them : this laying of sins on him , was that without which ( the doctor saith , p. 294. ) he could not justly be put to suffer . but surely none can doubt , but it was the punishment of our sins was laid on christ , and not his own , heb. 7. 27. testimonies . let us hear the judgment of the assembly . if you see their confess . ch. 8. a. 4. they enumerating the instances of christ's humiliation , speak nothing of this , though it was far the greatest , if it were true , as doctor crisp observes , p. 380. and in the larger catechism , q. how doth christ execute the office of a priest ? they answer , in his own offering up himself , without spot , to god , to be a reconciliation for the sins of the people . surely without spot is very opposite to his having all sin and filth . doctor owen's tr. of justif. p. 284 , 285 , 287. he vindicates the reformed from what he calls a horrid consequence , viz. that christ was a sinner , which was objected , p. 283. and he tells us , that the guilt of sin is an external respect of it ; with respect of the sanction of the law only , this is separable from sin , and this alone was imputed to christ. and he at large proves that this imputation of guilt to christ , is the meaning of christ's being made sin for us : he laid on him the iniquities of us all . and , p. 511. he saith , the imputation of sin unto christ , did not carry along with it any of the filth or pollution of sin to be communicated to him by transfusion , a thing impossible : so that no denomination can thence arise , which should include in it any respect to them ; a thought hereof is impious , and dishonourable to the son of god. and then he next infers , that christ could not be called an idolater , adulterer , &c. reader , thou mayst in other places find doctor owen as positive against doctor crisp in this as vvords can express . the ground of doctor crisp 's mistake . he seems to speak of sin as a positive material thing , and doth not distinguish between god's laying our sins on christ as a physical act , and as a moral act ; and seems not to apprehend what the true notion of imputing a thing to another in law in criminal cases , is ; hence because laying a material burthen on a shoulder , is putting that very burthen there , he thinks god took our very ▪ sins and placed them on christ : whereas god's laying our sins on christ , is a moral act of god , as a rector ; i. e. he agreed and appointed , that christ should in his person stand obliged to bear the punishment of our sins , that we might obtain pardon ; and that punishment was actually laid upon him , and suffered by him . hence also , because a man bound in a bond for money becomes a debtor ; therefore he thinks because christ suffered to save the idolater , or blasphemer , therefore christ must be the very idolater and blasphemer ; whereas christ , paying our debts was a satisfaction for criminals , not a payment of money ; and yet it 's plain , that if i were bound for money for one , that by drunkenness wasts his estate , my being bound to pay the money , doth not argue that i was the drunkard , or must by the creditors be so accounted , when i make the payment . because christ was made sin , that is , an offering or sacrifice for sin ; therefore he thinks our very sin was on him , and he made filthy . to add no more , because men wickedly arraigned him as a blasphemer therefore the doctor thinks he was so indeed , and in god's account . chap. iii. of the discharge of the elect from sins upon their being laid on christ. truth . the atonement made by christ , by the appointment of god , is that , for which alone the elect are pardoned , when it is applied to them . but the elect are not immediately pardoned upon christ's being appointed to suffer for them , nor assoon as the atonement was made ; nor is that act of laying sins on christ , god's forgiving-act , by which we are personally discharged . errour . the very act of god's laying sins on christ upon the cross , is the very actual discharge of all the elect from all their sins . proved that this is doctor crisp's opinion . this is so much the declared opinion of the doctor , that it runs , as a line , through all his discourses ; and is the foundation he builds most upon . p. 298. i say , all the weight , and all the burthen , and all that very sin it self , is long agone laid upon christ ; and that laying of it upon him , is a full discharge , and a general release and acquittance unto thee ; that there is not any one sin now to be charged upon thee . see p. 375. 281 , 285. and hence he shews , that the elect are justified before they do believe ; otherwise , till such believing , the person of the elect doth bear his own transgression , and is chargeable for his own transgressions . p. 616 , 617. see more ch. 9. wherein the difference is not . the difference is not , 1. whether christ made a full atonement for sin . 2. nor whether that shall in time be applied to the elect for their actual remission as the effect of it . 3. nor whether we be so far released thereupon , as that god can demand no atonement from any who shall submit to the gospel-way of the application of it . 4. nor whether the law be answered , and god's honour so vindicated thereby , that the sins of men cannot hinder an offer and promise of forgiveness , and life . 5. nor whether , when we are pardoned , the whole meritorious cause of pardon be that atonement ; and what is required of sinners is only a meetness to receive the effects of it . 6. nor whether this atonement was the only way of forgiveness , which we can apprehend . all these i affirm . the real difference . the real difference is , 1. whether the elect were actually discharged of all their sins at the time that christ made atonement . this the doctor affirms ; and i deny . 2. whether that very act of god's laying sins upon christ , on the cross ; be the discharge of the elect from all sin . this the doctor affirms and i deny . the truth confirmed . the first point of difference thou mayst find handled in chap. 1 , 9 , 11 , 12. the last i do refer to in this chap. viz. that the very act of laying of sin on christ upon the cross , is not the actual immediate discharge of the elect from sin . 1. it was not the will or purpose of god or christ , that the laying of our sins on christ should be the immediate discharge of the elect. i suppose thou wilt grant , that if it was not the will of god or christ , that this should discharge them ; then it did not discharge them . and it 's plain , god did not will it should be so : for we have a full account , that it is the elect when he is a believer , that is to be discharged . joh. 6. 40. this is the will of him that sent me , that every one which seeth the son , and believeth on him , may have everlasting life . the decree it self adjusted this order : 1 pet. 1. 2. elect according to the fore-knowledge of god the father , through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience , and sprinkling of the blood of christ. this is further evidenced elsewhere ; even in all such places as be produced to prove that faith and repentance is required to our actual remission , and that declare the impenitent and unbelieving to be unpardoned : for we cannot suppose , that christ's revealed will in his word is repugnant to his purposes , when dying ; or that he should add other requisites to the pardon of the elect , if they were immediately pardoned on his death . 2. this overthrows the whole scheme so wisely contriv'd for the distribution of the effects of his death . things are so adjusted that , forgiving the elect , should be an effect of christ's kingly office , as well as his priestly office : he is exalted to be a prince , and a saviour , to give repentance , and remission of sins , acts 5. 31. the holy ghost is to influence in the application of christ's merits for forgiveness , 1 cor. 6. 11. but you are washed ; but you are sanctified , but you are justified , in the name of the lord jesus , and by the spirit of our god. hence the design of the gospel-ministry is to open mens eyes , and turn them from darkness to light , and from the power of satan to god , that they may receive forgiveness of sin , act. 26. 18. it 's a mercy received in this order , which is quite overturned , if the elect be discharged when christ died . 3. by the opposite errour , the elect would have been discharged , if christ had never risen again . for , if meer laying our sins on christ did acquit the elect , let christ never have risen , we were rid of them , they ceased to be ours ; and so could not condemn us , by returning upon our persons , tho' christ had continued dead ; yea , his continuing dead had been the surest release . whereas we are said to be begotten to a lively hope by christ's resurrection , 1 pet. 1. 3. and saved thereby , 1 pet. 3. 21. 4. yea , if taking sins off from the elect , and laying them on christ , was their discharge , they would be discharged before the sufferings and death of christ : this appears ; for they were laid on christ before he suffered ; and , according to the doctor 's scheme , were taken off us , to lay on christ ; and their being laid on christ , made the sufferings of christ to be just : from which it must follow , that the elect were eased of their burthen before christ suffered ; yea it would be easily proved , they were released tho' he had not suffered . 5. if this errour hold , the gospel-notion of forgiveness by the blood of christ , is destroyed . forgiveness denotes the person guilty ; and it 's a judicial act of god , as a rector , acting by the gospel-rule ; and this supposeth the full and perfect atonement made by christ , and the grant made in the virtue thereof . but , in the doctor 's opinion , the person is never guilty ; for sins were laid on christ before we were born , and therefore they were never upon us . a judicial act by a rule , there is none ; for the gospel-grant of pardon , is not to the elect , as elect ; but as penitent believers ; neither is the atonement of christ supposed to our forgiveness : for the doctor owneth , that our sins being laid on christ is before the making of the atonement ; and without our sins lay on christ , he could not justly be punished . so that , our discharge being a transferring of sin from us to christ , and this being done before christ made atonement , we are discharged , not for the atonement of christ , nor by an act of forgiveness for the sake of this atonement . i need not add , that by this notion , heathens may be in a pardoned state , and there 's no need of the gospel , or knowledge of christ , to bring them out of a state of wrath. testimonies . thou hast read before , ch. 1. how the assembly , and the elders at the savoy declare , we are not justified before the spirit apply christ to us in our effectual vocation . they both agree in conf. ch . 8. a. 1. that god , from eternity , gave christ a people to be his seed , and to be by him in time redeemed , called , justified , sanctified , and glorified . here thou seest redemption , and justification are distinct things ; and the elect are , in time , called before they be justified . in the larger catechis . q. what doth god require of us , that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us ? the assembly answer , that we may escape wrath , &c. he requireth of us , repentance towards god , and faith towards our lord jesus , and the diligent use of the outward means whereby christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation . here thou seest , that , 1. we may be , for a time , without the benefits of christ's mediation . 2. that , notwithstanding his mediation , we are under the curse and wrath , as still due to us for sin till we repent and believe : for it 's to escape these , god requires repentance and faith. 3. it 's by means attended to and operating on us ; that the benefits of christ's mediation are communicated for the removal of the curse and wrath. vvhat can be more fully spoken against our being discharged when christ suffered ; yea or before we repent and believe ? the synod of new-england condemn this speech , viz. to say , we are justified by faith , is an unsafe speech : vve must say we are justified by christ ; the synod tells us it is no unsafe speech . but on the contrary , to say a man is justified before faith , or without faith , is unsafe , as contrary to the language of the scripture , p. 17 , 18. — and they confute that as the 68. errour , viz. faith justifies an unbeliever , that is , the faith that is in christ justifies me that have no faith in my self . p. 13. doctor owen of justif. p. 306. saith , but yet the act of god , in laying our sins on christ , conveyed no actual right and title to us unto what he did and suffered : they are not immediately thereon , nor by virtue thereof ours , or esteemed ours ; because god hath appointed somewhat else , not only antecedent thereunto , but as the means of it , unto his own glory . the grounds of the doctor 's mistakes . because it was god's act to appoint christ to suffer for our sins , that we might in his vvay and time , be discharged ; therefore he thinks we are immediately discharged by that act. because christ's atonement is the sole meritorious cause of forgiveness ; therefore he thinks god suspends not forgiveness till he works any thing else in the soul , which he hath made requisite to our being forgiven ; tho' not as any meritorious cause . because the scape-goat carried their sins into the wilderness , who expressed their faith and repentance , by laying on hands on it , and confessing sin ; therefore the sins of men are taken away by christ , while they continue impenitent and unbelieving . chap. iv. of the elect's ceasing to be sinners , from the time their sins were laid on christ. reader , i shall premise , 1. men are sinners , or cease to be sinners , in several distinct respects : 1. as to the filth and obliquity of sin ; with respect to this , they are more or less sinners , according to the degree of their innocence and holiness . 2. with some , as to the guilt of sin , which refers to the sanction of the law against offenders : with respect to this , the offenders be more or less sinners , as they are forgiven , or not forgiven . 3. as to the charge of the fact , which was sinful , with respect to this neither after-sanctification nor pardon , will deliver a transgressor from having been a sinner ; the fact was his : the first and last denominate one a sinner most properly : the second denominates a man punishable , but not a sinner formally . 2. in the whole scheme of the doctor 's principles , it 's the elect , as elect , who cease to be sinners : therefore , when he speaks of a believer , he doth not mean , he was a sinner before he believed ; for he states the time to be when christ had our sins laid upon him , viz. on the cross. having explained the title of this chapter , i proceed . truth . an elect person ceaseth not to be a sinner , upon the laying of our sins upon christ ; that is , he remains a sinner , as to the guilt , till he believes ; ( if adult . ) he is a sinner , as to the filth of sin , till he be sanctified . he is a sinner , as to the charge of the sinful fact he commits , and that even after pardon and sanctification : nevertheless , he is free from the curse when he is pardoned , and shall be purged from all the filth of sin when he is perfect in holiness . and tho' christ did bear the punishment of our iniquity ; yet it never was christ's iniquity , but ours . errour . the elect upon the death of christ , ceased to be sinners ; and , ever since their sins are none of their sins , but they are the sins of christ. proved that this is doctor crisp 's opinion . the doctor puts this objection . p. 8. must not he be reckoned to be a sinner while he doth sin ? a. i answer , no : tho' he doth sin , yet he is not to be reckoned a sinner ; but his sins are reckoned to be taken away from him , &c. a man doth sin against god ; god reckons not his sin to be his ; he reckons it christ's , therefore he cannot reckon it his . this he endeavours to prove p. 270. if thou hast part in the lord christ , ( which he thinks all the unbelieving elect have ) all these transgressions of thine , are become actually the transgressions of christ , and so cease to be thine ; and thou ceasest to be a transgressor , from that time they were laid upon christ , to the last hour of thy life : so that now , thou art not an idolater ; thou art not a thief , &c. thou art not a sinful person , what sin soever thou committest , p. 271. so that , if you would speak of a sinner , supposing that person , of whom you speak , to be a member of christ ( i. e. elect ) you must not speak of what he manifests , but of what christ was . wherein the difference is not . the difference is not , 1. whether the pardoned sinner shall be delivered from condemnation . 2. nor whether god , for christ's sake , will deal with a pardoned sinner , as if he had not been a sinner . 3. nor whether forgiveness doth take away sin , as to its obligation to punishment . 4. nor whether the atonement of christ , when it 's applied in its full effects , will perfectly remove all punishment , and purge away all filth and defilement from the elect. each of these i affirm . the real difference . 1. whether , because christ obliged himself to bear the satisfactory punishment of our sins , did they therefore become the sins of christ ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . of which i have spoken , chap. 2. 2. whether our sins were pardoned when christ suffered on the cross ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny : of this , see ch . 1. and 3. and 12. &c. 3. whether even they that are members of christ , yet if they do sin , are they transgressors and sinners ; and are the sins they commit , their sins ? this the doctor denies and i affirm . the truth proved . one would think this needed no proof , unless it were a doubt , whether a rational subject , transgressing the law of god , be a transgressor ; or that he that doth a sinful fact is a doer of it ; or whether it be his sinfull fact who doth act it : and yet the point is included in these plain things . need i add ? 1. christ teacheth believers to pray for the pardon of sins as their own sins . forgive us our sins , luke 11. 4. it would be vain to object , they pray for the manife station of pardon ; for were it so ; yet it 's for our sins . it would sound strange to pray , forgive us the sins of christ. 2. the saints in scripture , esteemed their sins to be their own sins , and themselves sinners , when they committed sin , or found its motions : though our iniquities testify against us , jer. 14. 7. as for our iniquities we know them , isa. 59. 12. take away mine iniquity , job 7. 21. lord pardon my iniquity , ps. 25. 11. was it not his own sin that peter wept for ? and whose sin caused the incestuous man's sorrow ? see 1 joh. 1. 9. confess our sins . 3. god reckons mens sins to be their own ; he reproves them as theirs ; he forgave them as theirs , 1 joh. 2. 12. jer. 33. 8. surely , the few things which god had against thyatira , were the sins of that church , rev. 2. 20. were they not laodiceans sins which god calls her to repent of ? rev. 3. 19. and whose sin was that , which paul wished might not be laid to their charge who deserted him ? 2 tim. 4. 16. 4. mark what will follow hence : no elect members of a church is justly censured for offences , and no christian criminal should be punished ; for they are not the sinners ; the sin is not theirs . a hundred such consequences naturally proceed from this error , which fully tends to render sin and sinners innocent : not to say what popery is in it ; as if justification did remove the filth of sin . testimonies . whatever i shall hereafter cite from the assembly and elders at the savoy , to prove that god fees sin in believers , and what afflictions god brings on believers for sin , and the necessity of renewed pardon , will declare their full consent , and each of these heads prove the present truth ; of which , see chap. 1. 6 , 17. 18 , 19. the synod of new england condemn this as a blasphemous speech of their antinomians , if christ will let me sin , let him look to it , upon his honour be it , p. 19. and also , that if i be holy , i am never the better accepted of god ; if i be unholy , i am never the worse , &c. dr. owen of justif. faith , p. 284. to imagine such an imputation of our sins to christ , as that thereon they should cease to be our sins , and become his absolutely , is to overthrow that which is affirmed ; for on that supposition christ would not suffer for our sins . and a few lines after , he adds , no non-imputation of sin , as unto punishment , can free the person , in whom it is , from being formally a sinner . the grounds of the dr's . mistake . he thinks , because god removes our sins by pardon , so as to acquit us from punishment ; therefore our sins cease to be ours . because a pardoned person is discharged from condemnation ; therefore he thinks , that person is not to be denominated a sinner from the violation of the precept . because christ took upon him to make satisfaction for sin ; therefore he thinks no filth can cleave to the offender , nor he be a transgressor by the offence . i need not warn thee how the doctor speaks of laying our sins on christ , p. 339. and the actual forgiving them , as if they were the same thing ; but they differ , as is manifest in chap. 3. chap. v. of the time when our sins were laid on christ , and continued there . truth . the obligation of suffering for our sins was upon christ , from his undertaking the office of a mediator , to the moment wherein he finished his satisfactory atonement . the punishment of our sins lay upon christ , from the first moment , to the last of his state of humiliation . errour . the time when our sins were laid actually on christ , was , when he was nailed to the cross , and god actually forsook him ; and they continued on him till his resurrection . proved that this is the dr's . opinion . he tells us , p. 356. now there was a pitcht time wherein god did serve execution actually upon him , and that was , when god did forsake this son of his , when he called him forth , and charged sin upon him . and , p. 357. look upon the execution , or rather the serving of the execution , that is , the actual laying of iniquity upon christ ; this inniquity was laid upon him at that instant , when he was upon the cross , and god nailed the sins of men to the cross of christ , and from that time there was not one sin to be reckon'd , &c. 360. wherein the difference is not . it is not whether god withdraws , and the death of christ were the very eminent compleating parts of christ's propitiatory sufferings . this i affirm . the real difference . whether our sins were not laid upon christ ( in a scripture sence ) before he was upon the cross ; and whether , what he suffered before his crucifixion , were propitiatory sufferings for our sins . this the doctor 's assertion opposeth , and i affirm . the truth confirmed . reader , take with thee what hath been said chap. 2. that the filth of sin was not laid on christ ; and it remains , that what i am to prove , is either , 1. that christ was under an obligation to bear the punishment of sin before his crucifixion or , 2. that he actually suffered some of the punishment of sin before his crucifixion . and can there be a necessity of saying much of either ? as to the first , whatever proves a covenant of redemption , what ever grant was made of saving benefits to any fallen sinner , before the death of christ , in trust of his executing what he had engaged ; yea , all such expressions , as i come to do thy will , heb. 10. 57. for this cause i came unto this hour , and the like , do prove that he was bound to the bearing of punishment as our sponsor , before he was on the cross. as to the second , i would only note , 1. that the whole of his humiliation was a degree of his suffering for sin , and so a part of his satisfaction . his being made lower than the angels by being incarnate , his poverty , his temptations , his stoning , his reproaches , his whippings , his agony in the garden , his arraignment , his condemnation ▪ buffettings , spitting on him , being crowned with thorns , and many more ; were they real sufferings or no ? if they were punishments , what were they for ? except for sin : how could he otherwise be subject to them any more than to death it self ? 2 the effects and fruits of satisfactory sufferings , are ascribed to several of his sufferings , besides his crucifixion , 2 cor. 8. 9. for your sakes he became poor , that ye through his poverty might be rich . isa. 53. 5. with his stripes we are healed ; and sundry other places . nay , to suppose any degree of suffering on christ , and not our sins laid on christ , even though in the doctor 's sence , would overturn the whole christian religion , and justifie the socinians . testimonies . the assemblies lesser catechism , q. wherein did christ's humiliation consist ? a. in his being born , and that in a low condition , made under the law , undergoing the miseries of this life , the wrath of god , and the cursed death of the cross ; in being buried , and continuing under the power of death for a time . thou seest christ's incarnation , or being born , and several other things before christ's crucifixion , are parts of his humiliation . the ground of the doctor 's mistake . because the hidings of god's face , and especially the dying sacrifice of christ , did so compleat and finish the work of satisfaction as the principal parts thereof , therefore he thinks our sins were not laid on christ till then . chap. vi. of god's separation from , and abhorrence of christ , while our sins lay upon him . truth . though god testified his threatned indignation against sin , in the awful sufferings of christ's soul and body in his agony , and suspended those delightful communications of the divine nature , to the humane nature of christ , as to their wonted degrees ; yet god was never separated from christ , much less during his body's lying in the grave ; neither was the father ever displeased with christ ; and far less did he abhor him , because of the filthiness of sin upon him . errour . christ was on the account of the filthiness of sins , while they lay upon him , separated from god , odious to him , and even the object of god's abhorrence , and this to the time of his resurrection . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . he saith , p. 294. nay , from this i affirm , as christ did bear our iniquity , so christ for that iniquity was separated from god , and god was here separated from christ , or else christ spake untruth . p. 295. the doctor puts an objection , it may be this for saking was but for a little time . he saith , to this i answer , it was as long as sin was upon him ; had not christ breathed out the sins of men that were upon him , he had never seen god again ; he having taken sin upon him , he must unload himself of sin before he can be brought near to god , &c. there was a separation and forsaking when christ died but at his rising there was a meeting again , a kind of renewing his sonship . p. 408. it is a higher expression of love , that christ should bear the sins of men , than that he should be given to die for men , &c. affliction is not contrary to the nature of god ; god can smile upon persons when they are under the greatest scorn , &c. but where the lord doth charge any sin , the lord hath an abhorrence there . p. 379 , 380. he shews , that christ to be a scorn ; yea , for god to make him suffer the most accursed death of the cross , is far less than to make him sin , because all this may agree to the nature of god ; but iniquity is the hatefullest thing in the world to god ; where iniquity is found , a toad is not so odious nor ugly to man , as that person is in the sight of god. p. 180. all that filthiness and loathsomeness of our nature , is put upon christ ; he stands , as it were , the abhorred of the lord. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not whether the soul of christ endured the effects of gods wrath against sin , and was amazed thereat as well as at the importance of the work he was engaged in , and the enemies he was to encounter with , and the sacrifice he was to make , &c. 2. nor whether the divine nature suspended for a while on the cross the delightful communications of it self , as to the degrees it was accustomed to emit to the humane nature of christ. these with awe i freely affirm . the real difference : 1. whether christ was separated from god. this the doctor affirms , and i deny . 2. whether christ was at any time under god's abhorrency , or odious to him , because under the loathsomeness of sin. this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; yea , not without detestation . 3. whether christ was thus on the account of the filthiness of sin upon him , separated from , and under the abhorrency of the father , during his lying in the grave . this the doctor affirms , and i deny it of that time , and any other , or else it would be true for the whole time of his humiliation . the truth confirmed . 1. this separation was impossible , because of the union between the divine and humane nature of christ in one person . this union could not be dissolved , nor could all communications of comfort or strength from the divine nature be interrupted while the union remained . yea , the humane nature of christ had never a personal subsistence of its own , but was assumed by the eternal word , the second person , of one essence with the father . 2. the father had promised constant supports to christ , in the whole of his undertakings and sufferings , and his comfortable presence with him , isa. 42. 1 , 4 , 6. isa. 50. 7 , 8 , 9. 3. the doctor , of all men , had least reason to assert this separation , when he had so exceeded in telling us , p. 379. that the divine nature is a kind of soul to the humanity , consisting of soul and body , and is the form and strength of both , &c. the god-head gives life to christ , and so all the sufficiency to bear iniquity proceeds from the divine nature of christ. and , p. 378. should iniquity be laid on the humane nature , and the divine nature not support the humane nature , it would have sunk under sin . reader , is it not strange , that after this , the doctor should affirm a separation , and that for all the time when iniquity was upon christ ? 4. the lord jesus could not be abhorred , or odious to god , for in him god was always well pleased , isa. 42. 1. mat. 17. 5. he was now yielding the highest act of obedience , and so there was at least no cause of offence ; yea , god loved him for this , john 10. 17 , 18. the person of the son was always gods delight , from eternity to eternity , prov. 8. 30. and could not but be so . christ must have been as odious to himself as to the father , for he is of the same holy essence . reader , how horrid a sound must it have to a christian ear , to say , a christ odious to god , abhorred by the father , and that , because he was a loathsome , a detestable , an abominable and filthy sinner for a time . this point carries that aspect , that from regards for the doctor , i will not insist on it ▪ nor its necessary consequences , and yet upon this depend many of his positions . 5. christ could not be thus separated from , and be , as it were , the abhorred of the lord , while his body lay in the grave , for then his soul could not be in paradise , as it was when his body was in the grave , luk. 23. 43. alas ! how can any bear to think , that ( as the doctor affirms ) he never saw god's face all that while ? where was he ? yea , what tormenting agitations of soul must he be under , even after death , in the unseen state ? the papists indeed tell us he was in hell ; but they assign purposes more becoming christ's being there , than the doctor 's position imports . it was the height of hell , for christ to be banished from god's face , and be under his very wrath and abhorrence all that time , and his mind tormented with the filth of sin made his : he never would have been a saviour on terms so inconsistent with his person . but the whole notion is contrary to scripture , for under the greatest abatements of comfort , he owns god's presence and relation : my god , my god , matth. 27. 46. and just upon his loud cry , he said , father , into thy hands i commit my spirit ; and having said thus he gave up the ghost , luk. 22. 46. was there a separation or abhorrence , when he thus addresseth himself to god , as his god , and his father ? did he never come near god all that while , when god received his spirit , or rejected his prayer ? which god never did reject : joh. 11. 42. me thou hearest always . see ps. 69. 13 , 14 , 15 , 17 , 18. ps. 22. 18 , 19 , 20 , 24. heb. 5. 7. he was heard in that he feared , which refers to this time . testimonies . the opinion i oppose , is such , that i will only instance the words of doctor owen of justif. p. 286. there was no reason why god should hate christ for his taking on him our debt , and the payment of it . and suppose a person out of an heroick generosity of mind , an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for another , so as to answer for him with his life . would the most cruel tyrant under heaven , that should take away his life , in that case hate him . and then the doctor shews here , and p. 287. the word hate signifies either an aversion or detestation of mind , or only a will of punishment : in the first sence , saith he , there was no ground why god should hate christ on the imputation of guilt unto him ; sin inherent renders the soul polluted , abominable , and the only object of divine aversation : but christ was undefiled , &c. the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . the doctor doth not distinguish between the affects of vvrath , and the effects of vvrath . because god forsook christ , as to the usual degrees of comfort , he thinks christ was separated from god. because he that is formally a sinner , is odious to god ; therefore he thinks christ was odious to god , who had on him the punishment of sin , with the guilt or obligation to bear this punishment by his own consent ; neither of which have any thing of the loathsomeness of sin . i know not why he thinks christ came not near god from the time of his death , to his resurrection ; unless because of his conceit , that the loathsomeness of sin being on him , god could not bear the sight of him till he had sweat it out ; a reason too horrid for me to say more to , and indeed inconsistent with the notion of a mediator for the sins of others . chap. vii . of the change of person between christ and the elect , and their being as righteous as he . truth . the mediatorial righteousness of christ is so imputed to true believers , as that for the sake thereof they are pardoned and accepted unto life eternal , it being reckoned to them , and pleadable by them for these uses , as if they had personally done and suffered what christ did as mediator for them , whereby they are delivered from the curse , and no other atonement nor meriting price of saving benefits can be demanded from them . nevertheless this mediatorial righteousness is not subjectively in them ; nor is there a change of person betwixt them and christ , neither are they as righteous as he but there remain spots and blemishes in them , untill christ by his spirit perfect that holiness begun in all true believers ; which he will effect , before he bring them to heaven . errour . every believer ( or elect person ) is as righteous as christ , and there is a perfect change of person and condition betwixt christ and the elect ; he was what we are , and we are what he was , viz. perfectly holy , and without spot or blemish . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . p. 270 , 271. the doctor saith , mark it well , christ himself is not so compleatly righteous , but we are as righteous as he ; nor we so compleatly sinful , but christ became , being made sin , as compleatly sinful as we . nay , more , we are the same righteousness , for we are made the righteousness of god ; that very sinfulness that we were , christ is made that very sinfulness before god. so that here is a direct change , christ takes our person and condition , and stands in our stead ; we take christ's person and condition , and stand in his stead . what the lord beheld christ , that he beholds the members of christ to be , &c. so that if you reckon well , you must always reckon your selves in anothers person , and that other in your person . and , p. 180. god gives his son christ , &c. god gives the person of christ to men , as much as to say , god gives christ to stand in the room of men , and men stand in the room of christ. so that in giving christ , god is pleased , as it were , to make a change , and all the loveliness the person of christ hath , that is put upon us , and we are as lovely with him , even as the son himself . and , p. 158. here is a person in blood in a loathsome condition , but for all this , as loathsome as the person is in himself , and in his own nature , yet here is perfection of beauty , &c. on the account of this , he saith , p. 428. we appear before god perfect in holiness . and , p. 419 , 420. christ draws up and exhales that impurity which men live in , &c. and when men are without spot , and all fair , god falls in love with them , &c. the church hath no blemish at all , no imperfection . see more of this in chap. of union . wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not whether the mediatioral righteousness of christ ( habitual , active and passive ) be a righteousness sufficient to , and designed for the salvation of the elect. 2. nor whether our justification , and all other benefits , when we are made partakers of them , be the fruits of this righteousness , as the only meritorious cause of them . 3. nor whether christ's sufferings and obedience were so in our stead , that god cannot exact from us any other atonement for sin , or meriting price of any gospel-blessings . 4. nor whether christ , by his righteousness , merited for all the elect , that they should in his time and way be certainly partakers of its saving effects ; and did not only purchase a conditional grant of those effects , viz. that proposition , he that believeth shall be saved . 5. nor whether , besides these effects being made ours , the very righteousness of christ is imputed to true believers , as what was always undertaken and designed for their salvation , and is now effectual to their actual pardon and acceptance to life : yea , is pleadable by them as their security , and is as useful to their happiness , as if themselves had done and suffered what christ did . 6. nor whether christ by his righteousness merited and by his spirit doth renew the hearts of his members , and will in time so communicate of his grace to them , as that they shall be perfectly holy , even without spot and blemish . 7. nor whether the spots and blemishes remaining in a godly man , do consist with his justified state , and shall not cast him out of god's favours . all these i do affirm . the real difference . the difference lies in these points , 1. whether there be a change of person between christ and the elect ? yea , or betwixt christ and believers ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . 2. whether the mediatorial righteousness of christ be subjectively in us ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; though as it is in christ , i grant it is imputed to the saving advantages of all his seed as much as if it were in themselves . 3. whether we are as righteous as christ , is a proper or safe speech ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; though i yield , that we are for the sake of his righteousness delivered from the guilt of sin , and entitled to life ; yea , accepted with god against all excluding bars . 4. whether because christ is perfectly holy can we be said to be perfect in holiness upon the account of any imputation of his holiness to us ; or are we so esteemed by god ? this the doctor affirms and i deny . 5. whether the elect believer , before he is perfectly holy , is wholly without spot , filth and blemish ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; though i grant , that for the sake of christ , these spots , blemishes and filth shall not subject them to the curse and vvrath of god , nor forfeit saving benefits . the truth confirmed . my designed brevity prevents enlargement on so many points , and therefore i shall only glance at each . 1. there is not a change of person betwixt christ and the elect : for christ was the saviour , and never ceased to be so : vve are the saved , and not the saviours . christ was still the redeemer , and never the redeemed ; we are the redeemed , and never the redeemers . christ was he , who by his own merits forgives us , but never was forgiven ; we are forgiven , and never had merits of our own to forgive our selves , or others , eph. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. it 's prophane arrogance for us to pretend to his prerogatives ; and it 's blasphemy to debase him among their number , who were enemies without strength ; and sinners , for whom he was the dying sacrifice , rom. 5. 6 , 8 , 10. it 's enough , that he reserving the peculiars of a redeemer , should agree to suffer for our sins ; it 's enough that we are pardoned , and adopted for his sake , when we deserved endless vvoe and are never capable of making the least atonement . 2. the mediatorial righteousness of christ is not subjectively in us . i do not speak now of our inherent righteousness , of which he is not only the pattern , but also is the cause and vvorker , phil. 3. 9. the discourse is only of that righteousness which belongs to the person of christ , on the account of his fulfilling the law of his mediation , and his title to the rewards promised to him as mediator , for fulfilling that law , which he did to every iota . this righteousness is accounted to be for us , and to deliver all the elect , was the end of all his undertakings . nevertheless , it is not subjectively in us , because 1. it is inconsistent with the nature of gospel-imputation . to impute to one what is suffered by another , is to esteem the one undertaken for in the sufferings of the other , and to deal with him as if himself had suffered the same things ; yea , and had never deserved to suffer ; but it is not to judge , that he did in his own person suffer , for that were false , and a derogation to the honour of him who endured the sufferings ; especially , if he freely suffered in another's room , and for his advantage , as our lord did , heb. 9. 15. gal. 1. 4. much less is imputation an infusion of christ's righteousness into us , or a putting it subjectively in us . 2. the soul in all actings of faith on christ's righteousness , ought to look at this righteousness , as in christ , and not in himself , who believeth , 2 pet. 1. 1. 1 joh. 2. 12. vvould it not be strange language ? to say , i trust for new pardon or comfort to the righteousness that was once in christ ; but is now in me : in me , is the meritorious cause of my pardon : in me , is the fountain , to which i must look for vvashing and healing ; not as it is in christ , to whom i am united , but as it inheres in me as the immediate subject of it . but the gospel directs to look to him and be saved , isa. 45. 22. faith owns the foundation of our plea to be in christ , from whom are derived to us that pardon , and right to life , which are the effects of his righteousness . for this we are justified , for that righteousness which is in christ , we are acquitted and adopted . the efficient merit is in him , the effect of the judicial absolution for that merit is in us . the righteousness is still in christ , for the sake whereof we are absolved , or justified . god hath , for christ's sake , forgiven us , but not for the sake of what is in our selves , eph. 4. 32. had not he obeyed and suffered for us , we could not have been absolved for the sake of his obedience and sufferings : and now being absolved , or made righteous in a law sence , we have as much matter of glorying in him , as absolved , acquitted sinners can have : vve are justified by his righteousness , that is for that we are forgiven ; and also entitled to life , which we had forfeited our selves ; but we are not made innocent , nor so esteemed ; we are not accounted them who made the atonement . vve still take hold of ( or acknowledge and approve , with reliance on and submission to the terms of its application ) of christ's righteousness , that we by it may be forgiven ; and this is our blessedness , rom. 4. 7. and our gospel-righteousness , which all such refuse who reject redeeming love from a conceit of their own merits ; or refuse the terms of the gospel , which by the promise do make us capable of being justified and saved for the merits of christ. yet these still remain , his merits , though thus beneficial to us in their application , as the procuring cause of all our good. 3. if the mediatorial righteousness be subjectively in us , we must grant all those absurdities which the enemies of gospel-imputation object , and the orthodox deny . if it be in us , then we may be as truly intercessors as christ , and in the same sence , viz. in the virtue of merits made personally ours . we have a righteousness in us which is able to save the world , and capable of being imputed to their justification . vve need no forgiveness , but are saved by the covenant of vvorks as claiming life by its sanction immediately , which is inconsistent with all remission ; yea or imputation of christ's righteousness , which did no way consist in forgiveness , but in a full satisfaction . this would denominate us saviours from the moment we were justified , if not before . vvhereas , we still need pardon , and continue justified by the efficacy of the righteousness of another , and must look to christ as the only subject of it all our days . our justified state is a continuance of the blessed effects of he righteousness of christ from first to last . that cause is still productive of supplies , as our guilt returns , or necessities and capacities renew or grow ; but our redemption is ever in christ , rom. 3. 24. 3. that we are as righteous as christ , is not a proper or safe speech . it 's true indeed , our pardon and acceptance is firm and lasting , and will no more fail us , than the righteousness of christ will fail ; it being the meritorious cause and security thereof , and the benefits can abate to none who answer the gospel-rule of it's application . but yet we are not as righteous as christ : we are not so as to sanctification ; he being perfectly holy , we being imperfectly so , though really holy. and it 's to be noted , that believers are said to be righteous in the common sence of the scripture , on the account of sanctification , 1 joh. 3. 7. he that doth righteousness , is righteous : and to suppose the elect to be as sanctified as christ , even while they wallow in the mire , is a strange position . but suppose the phrase refers to justification , yet it is not proper . for , 1. christ is denominated righteous , on the account of what he personally did , and suffered : he derived not righteousness from another , but possessed it as originally his own . he is eminently the righteous , 1 joh. 2. 1. whereas we are reputed righteous for the sake of what christ did , and not for the merit of what we have done . is it not unagreeable to hear a redeemed sinner say , i am as worthy as he that paid the ransom ? or a pardoned worm say , i am as righteous as he who merited my pardon ? 2. christ was so righteous , as to merit the forgiveness of all his seed : he is so righteous , as to make many righteous , or safe from the threat , and entituled to the reward , according to the gospel-rule : but we cannot justifie one other person by our being righteous : we are not righteous enough to save a brother , psal. 49. 7. 4. though christ be perfectly holy , yet his holiness is not so imputed to us , as that we are therefore perfectly holy . this is evident : for , 1. holiness refers to sanctification , and not to justification . 2. holiness is a conformity to the precept , as describing what is sin and duty : but it refers not to the sanction , which determines the reward and punishment ; and so to be holy , and to be righteous , are distinct conceptions . having premised these , it follows , 3. that to be perfect in holiness , while we are in our own persons imperfect , is impossible , ungrounded , and absurd . 1. it 's impossible , being a contradiction . to be perfectly holy , and not perfectly holy at the same time , are inconsistent . if any doubt whether they are imperfect in holiness , they are little acquainted with the law , or with themselves . 2. it 's ungrounded . i know that it will be objected , that it 's so by imputation : but the gospel knows no imputation of this kind ; we may as well infer , that we are omnipotent ▪ and omniscient , because christ is so . i understand that the promise gives to the imperfectly holy , impunity , and right to life , on the account of christ's merits : but where hath god said he will esteem the imperfect to be perfect , as to what he declares them imperfect in ? or hath god ever said we are thus perfect ? he may deal with a sincere christian ( who is called perfect , in comparison of others , ) as if he were perfect ; having provided for his justice and honour in doing thus , by the satisfaction of christ : but he cannot account him perfectly holy. the very union in marriage , doth not transfer habitual qualifications from husband to wife : is a foolish wife perfectly wise , because her husband is so ? no , though she receives benefit by his wisdom . 3. it 's absurd . our restored holiness , is through the operations of the spirit , and not by transfusion . if the very holiness of christ's person be in us , it is his increated holiness , or created : if his increated , then we are gods , and not men ; for there is nothing increated but god : if the created holiness of christ's humane nature be in us , it must depart from him , or cease to be in him , as far as it 's derived to us ; for the same individual quality cannot be in two subjects at once , though the same for kind may be . if we are as holy as christ , what hinders us to be entituled to the same degrees of glory and honour as he ? and all this being founded on the change of person between christ and us , we may well say we are christ's , even every elect person severally : and if our perfect holiness should be surmised from the union between christ and believers , that indeed would not be a change of person , but the making christ and us one natural person . and then on the same grounds as we can say we are as holy as christ is , we may say we are as much gods as christ , as wise as christ ▪ as entituled to worship as christ ; we do all that christ doth in heaven or earth , and he doth all as we sinners do ; we give what he gives , and he receives what we receive ; distinction of persons is gone , christ and we do nothing , and are nothing as distinct persons . a thousand such things are unavoidable consequences . 4. can this be reconciled to the scope of the scriptures , wherein believers are called to grow up in christ ? eph. 4. 15. to perfect holiness , 2 cor. 5. 1. grow in grace ? the defect of holiness is bewailed by all the saints , wretched man that i am ! saith the apostle , rom. 7. 24. i press forward , &c. phil 3. 12 , 14. that is , oh , that i were as holy as christ designed to make me , and as i shall be at the resurrection ! and the want and weakness of holiness , is oft reproved by god , even in his own children . 5. the fifth head to be proved , is , that believers are not , as to holiness , without spot , blemish , &c. experience may convince of this : but i pass it by , as having occasion to speak to it in chap. 16. testimonies . the assemlies large catec . puts this question , what is the communion in grace which the members of the invisible church have with christ ? they answer ; in their partaking of the virtue of his mediation in their justification , adoption and sanctification , and whatever in this life manifests their union with him . so that , in their judgment , it 's the virtue of christ's mediation operates on us , and not that the mediatorial righteousness is in us . the elders at the savoy , c. 11. a. 1. say , those whom god effectually calleth , he also freely justifieth ; not by infusing righteousness into them , but by pardoning their sins , and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous ; not for any thing wrought in them , or done by them , but for christ's sake alone , &c. again , they add by imputing christ's active and passive obedience unto them . the same say the assemb . conf. ch . 11. a. 1. thou seest it s christ s righteousness is imputed for pardon , and not infused . the elders at the savoy inform us also , ch . 27. a 1. all saints that are united to christ , although they are not thereby made one person with him , have fellowship in his graces , sufferings and glory , &c. and have communion in each other's gifts and graces . thou findest they judge we are not one person with christ by our union ; and it 's a fellowship , for our good , we have by christ's graces , glory and sufferings ; but they are in him , as the subject and not in us . and ch . 19. a. 6. they declare , the law is useful to believers , to shew them the corruption of their natures and lives . it s plain then with them ▪ we are not without spot or blemish . the assemb . conf. ch . 32. a. 1. and the elders at the savoy , ch . 31. a. 1. agree , that it 's after death our souls are made perfect in holiness . one of the speeches condemned by the new-england synod , was this ; if christ be my sanctification , what need i look to any thing else in my self to evidence my justification ? to which they answer ; this position is unsound , because it holds forth christ to be my sanctification , so as that i need not look to any inherent holiness in my self ; whereas christ is said to be my sanctification , because he worketh sanctification in us , p. 20. & p. 63. they observe it as an errour , that christ is our sanctification , in the same sort as he is our justification . they elsewhere condemn such as made christ the subject of our graces : dr. owen , of justification , pag. 509 , 510. disowns , that it can be said we are as righteous as christ : and then asserts . to say we are as righteous as christ , is to make comparison between the personal righteousness of christ , and our personal righteousness if the comparison be of things of the same kind : but this is foolish and impious ; for notwithstanding our personal righteousness , we are sinful ; he knew no sin : and if the comparison be between christ's personal inherent righteousness , and righteousness imputed to us ; inhesion and imputation be things of divers kinds , and thus it 's fond , and of no consequence : christ was actively righteous , we are passively so , &c. the righteousness of christ , as it was his personally , was the righteousness of the son of god ; in which respect it had in it self an infinite perfection and value : but it is imputed to us only with respect to our personal want ; not as it was satisfactory for all but as our souls stand in need of it , &c. from the imputation of the righteousness of christ , it follows only , that those to whom it is imputed , are redeemed and saved , not at all that they are redeemers or saviours . and pag. 242 , 243. imputation is not the transmission or transfusion of the righteousness of another ( viz. christ ) into them that are to be justified , that they should become perfectly and inherently righteous thereby ; for it is impossible that the righteousness of one should be transfused into another , to become his subjectively and inherently . and the doctor adds ; that the righteousness of christ is imputed to us ; as unto its effects , hath this sound sence namely the effects of it are made ours , by reason of that imputation : it is so imputed , so reckoned unto us of god , as that he really communicates all the effects of it unto us : see pag. 310 , 311. what can be spoken more oppositely to dr. crisp ? i might add mr. norton , of new-england , who tells us , orth. evang. p. 305. though christ obeyed the law formally , yet it 's not the formal working of obedience , or doing of the command , but the good virtue and efficacy thereof that is imputed to the believer . what heaps of testimonies could i produce ? but i confine my self to these few . the ground of the doctor 's mistake . because christ suffered in our stead that the fruit of his suffering might be our deliverance from suffering , and our being saved at last ; therefore he thinks there is a change of person . because we are made the righteousness of god , that is , partakers of forgiveness , and a right to life , through christ's atonement for us , which be mercies so eminently the contrivance and gift of god ; therefore he thinks the very mediatorial righteousness of christ is subjectively in us . because we are accepted with god , for christ's sake ; therefore he thinks we have the perfect cause of that acceptance , viz. all loveliness upon our selves . because the church is now without spot , so as for christ's sake to be accepted , and not detested by god ; and is , on the account of the beginning 's of god's image , pleasing to christ , and will hereafter be perfectly sanctified , without the least blemish , or any such thing ; therefore he thinks it 's now without blemish or imperfection . because christ's perfect righteousness is security for our pardon , and inviolable right to glory ; therefore he thinks we are as righteous as he , as to justification and sanctification too . because christ is made of god to us , wisdom , sanctification , &c. therefore he thinks we are as holy as he ; whereas the meaning of that place is , that christ is appointed and given to enlighten , renew and redeem us by his merits , and by his spirit : if this be not the sence of it , we are as wise as christ ; for he is made to us wisdom . reader , observe that the doctor thinks all these great things are true of every elect person , whiles in his blood , and unregenerate state , as much as of any believer , who indeed hath the privilege to know it . chap. viii . of the conditionality of the covenant of grace . this being a point of great concern , i shall premise an enquiry into some particulars , for explaining the subject of this chapter . q. 1. what is the covenant of grace ? a. 1. it is not the covenant of redemption between the father and spirit as one party , and the eternal word , the lord jesus , as the other party . were this covenant understood , i think many well-meaning people would be undeceived : in that covenant , all the causes of man's salvation are adjusted and secured ; all satisfaction and merit are on christ , as his undertaking ; yea , it 's provided there , that the elect shall obey the terms of life , and certainly possess salvation : yea , as that covenant was not made with the elect , though for the elect ; so they have nothing to do , as a condition of this covenant . and to this all absolute promises and prophecies of grace are reducible , they being a transcript hereof : this dr. owen makes to be a distinct covenant from the covenant of grace . see his treatise of justif. pag. 268 , 269. 2. by covenant of grace , i mean , the way that god hath ordained to apply to sinners that salvation which is prepared by christ , and which he will enable the elect to comply with . q. 2. what is intended by condition ? a. i shall answer in the words of worthy mr. flavel , ( discourse of errors , pag. 248. ) an antecedent condition signifies no more than an act of ours ; which though it be neither perfect in every degree , nor in the least meritorious of the benefit conferred , nor performed in our own natural strength ; yet , according to the constitution of the covenant , it is required of us , in order to the blessings consequent thereupon , by virtue of the promise : and consequently , the benefits and mercies granted in this order , are and must be suspended by the donor , or desposer of them , till it be performed ; such a condition we affirm faith to be . some call this a consequent condition ; but they mean not consequent to the benefit promised , but consequent to christ's undertaking to enable us to do it . reader , i would have thee note , 1. the conditions do not merit the blessings promised . 2. the conditions are not uncertain ; for christ hath undertaken that the elect shall perform them . 3. they are performed by grace , and not by natural power . 4. they are performed by men , and not by christ , though it is by christ that any are enabled to perform them : it 's not christ repents , or believes in a saviour , but men themselves . 5. it 's from god's will in the promise , that they are made to be conditions , he connected the benefit and the duty ; though he chose conditions that were fit , yet their fitness would not have availed to our interest in the benefits , unless he had promised that they should so avail : a penitent believer had not been saved , but for the promise , though it 's unlike a god to have saved any that were not such . 6. these conditions are our duty by god's command ; and not less so , by being made terms of the benefit in the divine grant. 7. the covenant , though conditional , is a disposition of grace : there 's grace in giving ability to perform the condition , as well as in bestowing the benefits : god's enjoyning one , in order to the other , makes not the benefit to be less of grace ; but it is a display of god's wisdom , in conferring the benefit , suitably to the nature and state of men in this life , whose eternal condition is not eternally decided , but are in a state of tryal ; yea , the conditions are but a meetness to receive the blessings . 8. the reason why we use the word condition , is , because it best suits with man's relation to god , in his present dealings with us , as his subjects in tryal for eternity . christ , as a priest , hath merited all ; but as a king or a priest upon his throne , he dispenceth all : he enjoyns the conditions , in order to the benefits ; and makes the benefits motives to our compliance with the conditions : he treats with men as his subjects , whom he will now rule , and hereafter judge . now what word is so proper to express the duties as enjoyned means of benefits , like this word conditions ? the word conditions , is of the same nature as terms of the gospel . there be few authors of note , even of any persuasion , but they make use of this word in my sence ; as ames , twiss , rutherford , hooker of new-england , norton , preston , owen , synod of new-england , the assembly of divines , &c. and i know none have reason to scruple it , except such as think we are united to christ , and justified before we are born. to such indeed all such terms are improper , because they deny god's dispensing of saving benefits in a way of government . q. 3. what is intended by the benefits of the covenant ? a. the good things or privileges promised to such as by grace are enabled to comply with the terms of the covenant , especially whatever is essential to our felicity . q. 4. wherein do the conditions of the covenant of grace , differ from conditions in the covenant of innocency , or works , as vulgarly called ? for both lie in doingsomething , though not the same thing , nor to the same ends . a. 1. the conditions of the covenant of grace , are performed by the grace of christ freely given to sinners . the conditions of the covenant of innocency , were performed by a strength due to , and inherent in our innocent nature . 2. the principal conditions of the covenant of grace , express the guilt and misery of them that perform them : repentance owns our filth and guilt , and faith in a redeemer expresseth our sinful and lost state ; neither of these could have place in our legal righteousness , as being utterly inconsistent with an innocent condition : nor can they have much room in heaven , where we shall be perfect ; whereas the terms of the covenant of works implied nothing but innocency and happiness . 3. the conditions of the covenant of grace , make us capable of no happiness except what christ hath bought and prepared for us ; his blood is the price of all : but the happiness granted to sinless obedience , was immediately from the creator , and knew no atonement or mediator . 4. the blessings promised on the conditions of the covenant of grace , are meerly of grace : they be for another's sake , and not our own ; they are given to such as are condemned by the covenant of works , and that are still condemnable by the law for the imperfection of the performed gospel-conditions ; yea , it 's forgiveness , which renders these persons blessed , rom. 4. 7. whereas the sinless obedience of innocent adam made the reward to be of debt , rom. 4. 4. which we , as being happy by pardon , must renounce . 5. the use and interest of gospel-conditions , is not from the conformity of them to the preceptive part of the law , ( though in a degree there be that , ) but from their conformity to the rule of the grace of the promise : the promise of pardon through christ , being to the penitent believer , and no other ; repentance and faith become necessary and useful conditions of this pardon , by the order of god in that gracious promise : but by the covenant of works , the meer work gave an interest in the reward , as it was obedience to the precept , by a sanction that had goodness , but no such grace in it . on these accounts , i shall never fear that the conditionality of the covenant of grace should turn it into a covenant of works , till i see it proved , that god can promise , and apply no benefit purchased by christ to a poor sinner , upon the condition of any action he commands , and freely enableth the sinner to perform : the judgment-day is past , and a state of tryal is over , when-ever this is proved . these things i have premised , that , if possible , i may remove the mistakes which govern the minds of some well-meaning people . the truth . truth : i shall express it in the words of the assembly : the grace of god is manifested in the second covenant , in that he freely provideth , and offereth to sinners a mediator , and life and salvation by him ; requiring faith as the condition to interest them in him , promiseth and giveth his holy spirit to all his elect , to work in them that faith , with all other saving graces ; and to enable them unto all obedience , as the evidence of the truth of their fai●h and thankfulness to god , and as the way which he hath appointed them to salvation . large catech. quest. how is the grace of god manifested in the second covenant ? 1. thou canst not but observe , that the assembly did judge , 1. that though god hath provided a mediator for sinners , yet they have no interest in him till they believe . 2. that the covenant is conditional . they scruple not to call faith the condition of our interest in christ , and of salvation by him . 3. that christ and salvation are offered to all sinners on the same condition , though god effectually enable the elect to obey the condition . errour . the covenant of grace hath no condition to be performed on man's part , though in the strength of christ : neither is faith it self the condition of this covenant ; but all the saving benefits of this covenant , are actually ours before we are born : neither are we required so much as to believe that we may come to have an interest in the covenant benefits . proved that this is doctor crisp 's opinion . the doctor spends more than a sermon to prove this : and saith , p. 81. there is not any condition in this covenant . mark what i say , i know i shall go against the strain of some , &c. p. 82. observe , i pray you , and you shall plainly perceive , that man hath no tye upon him , to perform any thing whatsoever , on his part , as a condition that must be observed on his part ; and there is not one bond or obligation upon man , to the fulfilling of the covenant , or partaking of the benefits of it . p. 84. he puts this objection , though works be not the condition of the covenant , yet we hope you will yield faith is the condition of the covenant . he answers , i must needs tell you directly , that faith is not the condition of the covenant . but the reader may suppose the doctor only means there be no meritorious conditions . no , he excludes all things wrought by men , or in men , as necessary to their interest in the covenant blessings : for he tells us , p. 81. that after we are in covenant with god , he will bestow these things upon us , as effects of the covenant . and p. 83. the covenant in the actual substance of it , is made good to a man , before he can do any thing , i. e. from eternity , and in the womb. elsewhere he says , before our eyes be opened , &c. p. 600. &c. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not whether god hath promised , and christ engaged in the covenant of redemption , that the elect shall believe , and possess christ &c. this i affirm . 2. nor whether there be any duty on man's part , as a condition of christ's undertaking , or of the certainty of the things undertaken in that covenant . this i deny . 3. nor whether the conditions of the covenant of grace be performed in our own strength , or be uncertain , as to the elect. this i deny . 4. nor whether the performance of the conditions , move god to enact , offer , or appoint this covenant , whereby the grace of christ is applied . this i deny , and add , that god enacted this covenant before we were born and offers an interest in it on its proper terms , to men , when sinners . 5. nor whether the performance of the conditions of the covenant be a purchasing price , or meritorious of the benefits promised on such conditions . this i deny , for christ alone paid the price , and it 's the covenant promise gives the interest in the benefits to such as perform the conditions . 6. nor whether the first grace , by which we are enabled to perform the condition be absolutely given . this i affirm , though that be dispensed ordinarily in a due use of means , and in a way discountenancing idleness , and fit encouragement given to the use of means 7. nor whether all the conditions of the covenant be of the same use , to the same purpose , or alike compleat terms of the principal benefits . this i deny ; for faith is supposed to all other conditions , and by faith we are united to christ , &c. 8. nor whether , upon performance of the conditions , the covenant grant become not as absolute , and the right to the benefit no longer suspended . this i affirm , for the promise conveys the title as soon as the terms of the grant are answered . the real difference . 1. whether the elect have an actual interest in the saving benefits of the covenant of grace , while they live in unbelief ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . of which , see chap. 10 , 11 , 12. 2. whether god doth not offer the saving benefits of the covenant upon official terms , as believe , and thou shalt be saved ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies . 3. whether the beneficial privileges of the covenant be not suspended on terms of duty ? as , doth not god forbear to pardon us till we believe ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies . 4. whether god doth engage to bestow the promised benefits of the covenant on all such , who , through grace perform the conditions ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies . all may be reduced to this , whether our believing confent to the covenant of grace , be absolutely necessary by god's command and promise to our interest in the saving benefits of that covenant ? this the doctor denies , and i affirm . the truth confirmed . 1. each of the benefits of the covenant are offered to men on condition , and not absolutely in relation to god , as his people is , so lev. 26. 3 , 12. if ye walk in my statutes , and keep my commandments : i will walk among you , and will be your god , and ye shall be my people . that this refers to the new covenant relation , is plain , by 2 cor. 6. 16. so is union to christ , with a communion in the benefits proceeding therefrom . mat. 22. 2 , 3 , 9 , 10 , 11. they must come to the wedding-supper , or have no share in it : so is it of pardon of sin , acceptance to life , adoption and salvation . rom. 10. 9. if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord jelus , and shalt believe in thine heart , &c. thou shalt be saved . rom. 4. 25. to whom it shall be imputed , if we believe on him , that raised up jesus our lord. gal. 3. 7. they which are of faith , are the children of abraham . see more of this in the chapters of union , justification , &c. and note , that it's injustice to add new terms of any of these benefits , if they be ours by the covenant as absolute before . 2. if the covenant be not conditional , as to the disposing of these benefits , it would follow , 1. that all to whom the offers are made , have an interest in them , or it is not a serious offer , no , nor a true offer , as not containing a real and mutual connexion between the benefit and the duty . 2. faith it self is no more necessary to our first interest in these benefits , than any other grace ; nay , than unbelief . let no body object , it 's a sign , for so is any other grace ; yea , so might be the description of paul by his name , by his abode ; yea , by his sin ; viz. a persecutor : paul the persecutor , of such an age and place , would serve as well to evidence him a justified man , as his faith. abundance of such consequences , to the very overturning of the gospel , and all religion , are unavoidable . 3. men are said to enter into covenant with god , deut. 29. 12 , 13. to make a covenant . psal. 50. 5. to keep covenant . psal. 103. 18. to perform the covenant . 2 chron. 34. 31. take hold of the covenant . isa. 56. 46. to lye to god in their hearts , not being right with god , when they enter into covenant with him . psal. 78. 36 , 37. they for sake the covenant . dan. 11. 30. broken the everlasting covenant . isa. 24. 5. see also jer. 50. 5. shall joyn themselves to the lord in a covenant , not to be forgotten . ezek. 20. 37. i will cause you to pass under the rod and will bring you into the bond of the covenant . all these expressions are convincing , that there is a restipulation on man's part ; and that it 's a covenant , with respect to that mutual stipulation between god and us . to suppose the covenant to be the sole act of god , and an act that 's meerly absolute , renders all these phrases impertinent and impossible . can we be said to make or keep the covenant which is only god's absolute grant ? it was his act to appoint this covenant , and to enable us to make and keep it : it 's his act to restipulate on his part ; but to deny it to be conditional , as to the very benefits , is to make god to be the sole party covenanting , &c. 4. consider the seals of the covenant , viz. baptism and the lord's supper ; and you will easily judge , that they do not seal absolutely , but conditionally ; if absolutely , then every one that partake thereof are saved . if they seal conditionally , the covenant must be conditional , for by them the covenant is renewed , and the benefits exhibited according to the tenure of the covenant it self . they do not seal to us , that we have the grace to which the benefit is promised , but they seal the benefits of the covenant on supposition we have that grace . hence 1 pet. 3. 21. baptism that saves us , is not the putting away the filth of the flesh ( i. e. outward washing ) but the answer of a good conscience towards god , i. e. the upright consent of the heart to the vow , and profession made in baptism . if men would consider that a meer elect person , though by revelation known to be elect , yet whiles unregenerate , is not entitled to the lord's supper ; sure they cannot but inferr , that this person hath not an actual interest in the covenant , and all its benefits , whiles he continues so . 5. i might shew , that unbelief , and whatever are sins contrary to the terms of the covenant , are the only hinderances to a sinner's interest in the benefits of the covenant ; and by these we are said to reject and refuse the covenant . the scripture is full in this , it lays mens want of forgiveness on their unbelief , as the culpable cause &c. it 's needless to shew how this infers the covenant-benefits are conditional . 6. the gospel promise being the way which christ appoints to dispense saving . benefits to sinners , must have the same rules with the covenant of grace . this gospel is his testament , and the same with this covenant ; the benefits are the same , and the covenant cannot be a disposition of these benefits in a way contrary to this gospel ; but this gospel or covenant tells us , 1. that there is a promise of the first g●a●● made to christ for the elect , and by the virtue of that promise , the elect do consent to the covenant . 2. this gospel , or covenant , is the means whereby that faith is wrought . 3. this gospel commands , and by the power of the spirit , works that faith , in order to saving benefits ; which benefits , it promiseth to such as do thus believe , and to no other . 4. this gospel , or covenant invests believers in those saving benefits . 5. it secures the perseverance of believers in that true faith , and the necessary effects and operations of it , and thereby secures those benefits as unforfeited . but christ never bequeathed , or promised in the gospel , a pardon or salvation to the unbelievers ; nor the continuance of that pardon or salvation , but on supposition , that this faith perseveres ; and if the gospel promise say no such things , i am sure the covenant did not . 7. the account of the covenant , which seems most for its absoluteness , implies this conditional connexion of the required grace , and the promised benefits , jer. 31. 31 , 32 , 33. heb. 8. 10 , 11 , 12. heb. 10. 16 , 17. jer. 32. 40. ezra 11. 19 , 20 , &c. there be others , that referr to the restauration of the captivity . i 'll fix on that , jer. 31. 31. i 'll make a new covenant with the house of israel , and the house of judah . 33. after those days , i will put my laws in their inward parts , and write it in their hearts , and i will be their god , and they shall be my people ; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour , and every man his brother , saying , know the lord , for they shall all know me , from the least of them to the greatest of them ; for i will forgive their iniquities , and remember their sins no more . this is quoted , heb. 8. 10 , 12. and 10. 16 , 17. to understand this , we must consider , 1. whom is this covenant made with . 2. what cannot be inferred from this scheme of the covenant . 1. whom is this covenant made with . it 's with the house of judah and israel , not the men in present being , but men to be hereafter . it 's after those days i will make it : so that it was after the mosaick covenant was to expire , ver. 32. and it could not be the only covenant of grace , for that had its being from the fall. and the sincere israelites did not lose the advantages of it by the mosaick dispensation , as the apostle argues , gal. 3. 17. the point before us , is to know who this israel and judah be . 1. they are either the natural jews to be alive in those days which this promise refers to . 2. or true believers , who are inwardly israel , rom. 9. 6. 1. if it terminate on the natural jews ; it 's the strongest text for the conversion of that people , and describes the extent of it , viz. to all : the manner of it , viz. by an immediate influence for the most part ; and forgiving their iniquities , refers to their sin , in crucifying christ , for which that blindness came upon them , that is here removed . if you take it in this sence , yet here is a law written in the heart , which includes faith , in order to god's being their god , and the remission of their sins . 2. if true believers , or they that are inwardly israel , be meant , as rom. 2. 9. then it 's plain , that there is faith in all such who are the parties with whom god makes this covenant : they are the children of abraham by faith , gal. 3. 7. and no unbelievers are israel in this notion . if you take it thus , the text imports , perseverance , great sanctification , and high improvements in holiness and knowledge , great nearness to , and amity with god , &c. as the benefits secured , and reserved for the new-testament-times , and all these to multitudes . 2. it cannot be inferred from this scheme of the new covenant , that ( as the doctor would have it ) god doth not require any duty as the condition of the benefits which he promiseth to give ; for here 's gods. law written in the heart , before our relation to him as his people , or the pardon of sins ; and though this text includes the effects and materials of the covenant , yet it doth not describe the whole form of the covenant ; for in other places , god requires the new heart as a condition of life . ezek. 18. 31. cast away from you all your transgressions , and make you a new heart , and a new spirit , for why will you die , o house of israel ? but turn and live , jer. 7. 23. &c. yea , our ministry , which is the ministry of the new testament , 2 cor. 3. 6. is to preach faith and repentance for the remission of sin. we are to promise the benefits of the covenant to all that submit to the terms of it ; and to declare , that all who refuse the terms , shall therefore be excluded from the benefits , as you 'll see chap. 10 , 11 , 12 , 21. testimonies . you have already seen , that the assembly say , the covenant of grace is conditional , and faith is a condition of our interest in christ , and salvation , and these are offered to sinners on that condition . the congregational elders at the savoy , affirm as much , chap. 7. a. 3. the lord was pleased to make a second covenant commonly called the covenant of grace , wherein he freely offers life and salvation by jesus christ , requiring of them faith in him , that they may be saved . you see they think , there 's in the covenant an offer of life , if men will believe ; and god requires faith , that we may obtain this life . the new england synod confutes errour 28. which was this , to affirm there must be faith on man's part to receive the covenant , is to undermine christ. this the synod say , is contrary to mar. 16. 16. errour 38. was , that there can be no closing with christ in a promise that hath a condition expressed . the synod say , this is erroneous , and contrary to isa. 55. 1. mat. 11. 28. mar. 1. 5. and adds , if the gospel it self be laid down in a conditional promise , if the apostles and prophets laid hold on such promises , to help to union , then there may be a true closing with christ in a promise , that hath qualfications and conditions expressed . so they brand , as errour 48. that conditional promises are legal . and errour 81. where faith is held forth by the ministry , as the condition of the covenant of grace on man's part , &c. there is not sufficient bread. which the synod thus confutes : this position seems to deny faith to be a condition at all , or at all active ; and so , if condition in this place signifie a qualification in man wrought by the holy ghost , without which , the promises do not belong to men. this is contrary to joh. 6. 48. doctor owen saith , treat . of justif. p. 264. that christ undertook , that those who were to be taken into this covenant , should receive grace , enabling them to comply with the terms of it , fulfill its conditions , and yield the obedience which god required therein . how frequently doth he assert , that our interest in the benefits of the covenant , depends on our answering the terms of the gospel ? — 270 , 303 , &c. 351. he informs us , a covenant doth not operate by meer sovereignty , it becomes not a covenant without the consent of them with whom it is made . wherefore , saith he , no benefit accrues unto any , or freedom from the old covenant by this constitution , unless he hath actually complied with it , hath chosen it , and is interessed in it thereby . mr. norton , orth. evang. 172. affirms , that the gospel holds forth salvation before faith , indefinitely , not definitely ; generally , not particularly ; conditionally to every one , not absolutely to any one : hence this indefinite proposition , whosoever believeth , shall be saved ; containeth a command , and a singular or particular conditional promise , &c. he often proves faith to be the first condition . see turretin . instit. theol. pars 2. p. 203. where he proves the covenant of grace to be conditional . how poor is the number that denies it ? the ground of the doctor 's mistake . he thinks every thing is a price to buy a benefit , which is a compliance with the way god hath ordained to bestow the gift ; whereas there 's a buying without price , which is our acceptance of life upon the terms of god's offer , isa. 55. 1. he thinks , because god hath promised to christ , that the elect shall believe ; therefore god cannot make faith a condition of any other blessing , which he resolves to bestow in order after faith. he thinks , because christ is given to be a covenant , that is , he is appointed as a surety , to see the great ends of the covenant accomplished and secured ; therefore there is nothing required from men , as the way of their interest in the benefits of the covenant , though under the influence of christ. he thinks , because christ is appointed to work faith , in order to union , and other benefits ; therefore we must have an actual interest in christ , and those benefits , before this faith is wrought . he thinks , because all grace after union comes from christ , as our actual head ; therefore christ by his spirit can work no grace in us , as our designed head. he thinks , because god sovereignly decreed what benefits he would bestow ; therefore he hath , as our ruler , stated no rectoral method of bestowing those benefits . because the covenant is everlasting , ( as to future ; ) therefore he judged there can be no condition on man's part ; not remembring that the covenant secures our perseverance in performing those conditions . chap. ix . of the nature of saving faith. truth : i shall express this in the words of the assembly , and congregational elders at the savoy , ( confes. of faith , ch . 14. a. 2. & declarat . ch . 14. a. 2. of saving faith : ) by this grace , a christian believeth to be true whatever is revealed in the word , for the authority of god speaking therein ; and acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth ; yielding obedience to the commands , trembling at the threatnings , and embracing the promises of god , for this life , and that which is to come : but the principal acts of saving faith , are accepting , receiving , and resting upon christ alone , for justification , sanctification , and eternal life , by virtue of the covenant of grace . reader ! weigh this sound account of faith : which if it were regarded , and no essential part of it excluded , when faith is considered as a condition of any gospel-benefit ; how much vain disputes would be prevented , as well as danger to poor souls ? and one would think , no man need prove , that it is not saving faith , when any essential part of it is wanting : and that it must be saving faith when we mention faith as the condition , or moral instrument of any saving benefit . errour : saving faith is nothing but our persuasion , or absolute concluding within our selves , that our sins are pardoned , and that christ is ours . proved that this is doctor crisp 's opinion . the doctor tells us , pag. 493. the whole essence of faith , is nothing else but the echo of the heart answering the foregoing voice of the spirit and word of grace . thy sins are forgiven thee , saith the spirit and word of grace : my sins are forgiven me , saith faith. and the soul that can assume thus from the spirit and word of grace , hath the whole essence of believing . when the doctor , pag. 107. puts a man on examining his faith , he hath these words ; how do i know i believe in christ ? he answers ; do i rest my heart upon this truth ? do i receive it as a truth , that i do believe ? or do i reject it , and will not receive it ? then i do not believe . but if you sit down and rest upon this truth , and receive it , and do in reality believe it ; then you may absolutely conclude , christ is yours . and pag. 296. if the lord , i say again , give to any to believe this truth , that it is his iniquity the lord hath laid on christ ; god himself cannot charge one sin on that man. and pag. 158. he makes the difference betwixt a strong and weak believer to consist in the degree of this persuasion . see more in chap. 10 , 11. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not , whether assurance be attainable in this life , as the effect of faith. 2. nor whether a sinner ought to apply , yea , doth personally apply the general offers of christ and life , by his own compliance with the terms of the gospel : for upon a true acceptance of a whole christ , he is mine in virtue of the gospel promise , which god will perform , in giving christ and life to all that accept of him , as he is proposed for our acceptance . 3. nor whether a convinced sinner hath at first a more especial regard to christ's priestly offices and sufferings , as what are more sensibly fitted to his guilty state. 4. nor whether every thing recorded in the scriptures , must not be dwelt on with the same regard , concern and assurance , as the essentials of the covenant of life . 5. nor whether faith contain in it a reliance on christ , as the only saviour ; and on his satisfaction and merits , as what alone purchased our pardon and acceptance ; as well as it includes the realizing assent to the truth , and unfeigned fiducial consent to , and acceptance of a whole christ in all his offices . all these i affirm . the real difference . 1. whether the whole essence of saving faith , consists in an inward persuasion or assurance that our sins are pardoned , and christ is ours ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; yea , i deny that it is at all of the essence of saving faith. 2. whether saving faith include not in its nature , that powerful efficacious assent to the word , and fiducial consenting acceptance of christ , as prophet , priest and king , with a reliance on his merits , and obediential regards to god , as the truth above-mentioned doth express . this the doctor denies , and i affirm . the truth confirmed . 1. faith is not an assurance , or inward persuasion , that christ is ours , and our sins are pardoned . for , 1. men may have this persuasion , who do not savingly believe : they in mat. 7. 22. had this , when they cried , lord , lord , open to us ! neither did the foolish virgins seem without it , mal. 25. 1 , 2. yea , it's what the most profligate sinners grow secure by , to their own destruction ; and this upon the general word of grace . 2. many true believers have not this persuasion : let common experience be consulted . 3. such as have had assurance , do ( by the doctor 's opinion ) fall into the sin of damning unbelief , whenever they doubt their interest in christ , and especially if they conclude that they have not this interest : a sad doom on many pious souls . 4. this persuasion should suppose an interest in christ , and doth not give it : it 's a false conclusion , that christ is mine , before he is so : and must the great term of life be a lye ? we are to examine our selves whether we be in the faith , and so whether christ be in us , before we assure our selves that he is in us , 2 cor. 13. 5. and where hath god made this proposition , my sins are laid upon christ , to be the object of saving faith ? this proposition is not god , nor christ , nor any part of the scripture ; unless you suppose a general redemption , and that to the actual pardon of every sinner : and as the word of grace promiseth pardon to none but a believer ; so the spirit speaks it to none but to the believer , as a believer . 2. saving faith includes the essentials expressed in the above-mentioned truth ; as assent , trust , consenting , acceptance of christ , reliance , &c. this appears : 1. faith can be no less than the soul's answer to the call of god , in our effectual vocation : and to this all those things are necessary , 2 pet. 1. 3. 2. the scriptures describe saving faith by all these acts : it 's the evidence of things not seen and substance of things hoped for , heb. 11. 1. it 's a receiving of christ , joh. 1. 12. which must be as god gives him ; and that is , a witness , a leader and commander of the people , isa. 55. 4. & acts 3. 26. to bless us , in turning every one of you from his iniquity rom. 15. 12. in him shall the gentiles trust , isa. 44. 5. one shall say , i am the lord's ; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the lord ; which express consent . 3. christ cannot be received as a saviour , nor as the way of a sinner to god , if faith include not these great things : he is not a saviour , if you exclude any of his offices ; and as an intire saviour we must receive him , mat. 1. 21. can any man receive him as a prophet , and not believe and accept of his teachings ? can any receive him as a king , that refuseth subjection to his government ? no ; for , we will not have this man to reign over us , was the language of unbelief , as well as damning to those unbelievers , luk. 19. 14 , 27. and the same word signifies disobedient , and unbelieving , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rom. 10. 21. can any man come to christ as a priest , and not rely on his sacrifice for pardon to be obtained by him ? and the word tells us , we come to god by him , if he be our saviour , heb. 7. 25. but who can suppose that there 's this , without any dedication of our selves to god ? &c. oh , that men were but wise enough to know what it is to receive a ruler , or a teacher ! what peace would it cause ! 4. a faith without these essentials , could never produce those great effects which are ascribed to faith. how could it purifie the heart ? act. 15. 9. be a shield against temptations ? eph. 6. 16. works by love ? gal. 5. 6. sanctifies us ? act. 26. 18. by faith we are risen with christ , col. 2. 12. is a lower faith operative , as i am ? jam. 2. 17. or can any call that which wants these , a principle of obedience virtually including all grace , to say nothing of the unmeetness of a lower faith to be the appointed condition of saving benefits , when it is the appointment of a wise and holy governour ? 5. an enlightened , regenerate soul cannot act towards christ ( when he is first presented to its view ) below these instances : it 's not a regenerate heart that admits actings contrary to any of these ; if it is a regenerate heart , it will discover it self in each of these , upon the offer of christ as a saviour . act. 9. 6. lord , what wilt thou have me to do ? &c. sure a regenerate principle includes a disposition to all these acts ; and the first view of christ will excite and attract them . testimonies . you have seen the judgment of the assembly and elders at the savoy , in the truth above stated : both also affirm , ch . 18. a. 3 , 4. infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith , but that a true believer may wait long , and conflict with many difficulties , before he be partaker of it . and the assemblies large catech. quest. are all assured ? &c. they answer ; assurance not being of the essence of faith , &c. one of the errours for which the church of boston , in new-england , dealt with mr. h. was , that there is no faith of god's elect , but assurance . dr. owen , in his treat . of justification , p. 111 , 112. denies that a full persuasion of the forgiveness of our sins ; or , that what christ did and suffered as our mediator , he did it for us in particular , or a particular application of especial mercy unto our souls , &c. are of the essence of faith , though all that have true faith will endeavour it . the ground of dr. crisp 's mistake . because faith is the evidence of thingsunseen , ( that is , it assents to unseen realities ; ) therefore he thinks that our faith is nothing but an assent to our particular interest in forgiveness . because the word of grace promiseth justification to all true believers ; therefore an assurance of my being justified , is believing : whereas i must first be a believer in order to pardon , before i justly can or ought to believe that i am pardoned . chap. x. of the free offer of christ to sinners , and of preparatory qualifications . truth . christ is freely offered to be a head and saviour to the vilest sinners , who will knowingly assent to the truth of the gospel , and from a conviction of their sin and misery out of christ , are humbled , and truly willing to renounce all their idols and sins ; denying their own carnal self and merits , and accept of christ as offered in the gospel ; relying on him alone for justification , sanctification , and eternal life . reader , observe , 1. christ is freely offered to the vilest sinners , for their acceptance of him according to the gospel . 2. he is not offered so , as if any sinner might have a saving interest in him , till they are willing to deny themselves , renounce all sins and idols ; and do accept of , and rely on him as a full saviour , according to the terms of the gospel . there cannot be an acceptance of christ , without a renouncing of sin and idols , and denying carnal self , and our own merits , as opposites to him : and on the other hand , to renounce sin and idols , and deny our selves , will not avail us , without an acceptance of christ , and relianceon him . 3. i mention some things that are antecedently necessary to our renouncing of sin and idols , and to our acceptance of , and reliance on christ ; as knowledge , assent , conviction of sin and misery , and some humblings of soul , which must attend all true convictions : these are preparatory qualifications ; not that an interest in christ always follows these , but they dispose the soul to a hearty acceptance of christ , in opposition to all rival opposites , and are necessary thereto in some degree . 4. the declared design of the offers of christ to sinners , is , that they may be thus willing to accept of christ , and so partake of an interest in him . errour . christ is offered to blasphemers , murtherers , and the worst of sinners ; that they remaining ignorant , unconvinced , unhumbled , and resolved in their purpose to continue such , they may be assured they have a full interest in christ ; and this by only concluding in their own minds upon this offer , that christ is theirs . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . i need give no proof of it but this ; that it 's a declared point , which he oft strives to prove , that all the elect are actually united to christ before they believe , yea , before they are born ; as you 'll see in the next chapter . so that all the design of these offers , is only to manifest to men , that christ was theirs before ; as he tells us , p. 100. is not unbelief a bar to have a part in christ ? he answers ; it is a bar to hinder the manifestation of christ in the spirit ; but it is not a bar to hinder one from having a part in christ. obj. but the doctor seems to insist on mens coming to christ , and closing with him ; as p. 206. no consideration in the world can so aggravate a man's condition , would he make his condition as bad as the devils themselves ; yet if there be but a coming , there can be no consideration , in the highest pitch of sinfulness , for christ to reject him . and p. 202. whatever thou art , suppose a drunkard , a whoremaster , a swearer , a blasphemer , a mad-man in iniquity ; couldst thou but come to christ , i say , come , only come , it is no matter if there be no alteration in the world in thee when thou dost come to christ. a. 1. but coming , or believing , is no other , in the doctor 's judgment , than an inward persuasion or concluding that christ is ours : and this is not in order to an interest , but to our knowing it . p. 106. the dr. saith , i must tell you , there is no better way to know your portion in christ , than upon the general tender of the gospel , to conclude absolutely , he is yours , &c. say to your selves , ( and let not this be contradicted , seeing christ hath reached out himself to sinners as sinners , ) . my part is as good as any man's : set down thy rest here ; question it not , but believe it , &c. venture thy soul upon it , without seeking for further security . but some will say , he doth not belong to me . why not to thee ? he belongs to sinners , as sinners ; and if there be no worse than sinfulness , rebellion and enmity in thee , he belongs to thee , as well as to any in the world. a. 2. not believing , or not coming to christ , is nothing with the doctor ; but not concluding within one's self that christ is mine . pag 203. it would be welcome to them to be certainly satisfied that his blood is their ransom , and that their sins are blotted out thereby ; but they dare not yet close with christ , they dare not set up their rest there , they dare not sit down with any such conclusion , but still there is something or other that remains , that must be removed out of the way before they can make this certain conclusion , christ is their christ. now my errand is to this sort of people , whose hearts tell them , if it could clearly appear , that without danger to them , they may say christ is their salvation , and sit down with this , &c. but they dare not , something or other is wanting , they dare not lay hold on christ , and it's presumption for them to sit down satisfied that christ is their christ. see p. 36 , 44 , 432 , 490. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not , whether there is in christ a sufficiency of merit and grace to save the worst of sinners ? 2. nor , whether christ is offered to the worst sinners , if they will accept of him on the terms of the gospel ? 3. nor , whether the worst sinners are often the objects of god's effectual calling , in order to an interest in christ ? 4. nor , whether there may not be knowledge , assent , convictions , humblings , and feigned resolves , and yet a soul fail of an interest in christ , for want of true conversion , though they are hopeful signs ? all these i affirm . 5. nor , whether the degrees of convictions and humblings be equal in all ? this i deny . 6. nor , whether preparatory qualifications do merit true grace ? yea or faith or repentance do merit an interest in christ ? this i deny , and say , that their whole use depends on christ's ordination . 7. nor , whether a soul may neglect to accept of christ as prophet priest and king , because they feel not that degree of these humblings and convictions which they desire and expect ? this i deny . 8. nor , whether these preparatory qualifications be the work of the spirit by common grace ? this i affirm . 9. nor , whether their immediate influence be to prepare the soul for a true consenting acceptance , which they are hereby less averse to , and more disposed for ? this i affirm ; though dr. owen adds , no man that wants these , is a subject capable of justification . see treat . of justif. p. 109. wherein the real difference is . 1. whe●her coming to christ , is an inward persuasion that christ is mine ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . of which see chap. ix . of saving faith. 2. whether christ is offered to sinners , with a design that they may conclude they have a saving interest in him , before they are regenerated by the spirit , and savingly believe ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . 3. whether the soul of a sinner , as to its habitual disposition and purpose , is under the reigning power of enmity , rebellion and filthiness , till after it hath a saving interest in christ ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; affirming this disposition is altered in our effectual vocation ; and there can be no true coming to christ for pardon , and especially for sanctification , without that purpose . 4. whether some degrees of convictions , and humiliation of soul , be necessary prerequisites to the soul 's true acceptance of christ for pardon ? this the doctor denies , and i affirm . the truth confirmed . the main question is decided by what i have spoken of saving faith : for if coming be not this persuasion , and saving faith be necessary to our interest in christ , there remains little to prove . of this last see ch . 11. of union , and ch . 8. only consider , that christ cannot be offered to be ours on any lower terms than such as by which he actually becomes ours by the gospel-grant . it remains then , that i briefly prove the truth , as contained in the third and fourth questions . 1. the soul of a sinner , as to its habitual disposition and purpose , is not under the reigning power of enmity , rebellion and filthiness , till after it hath a saving interest in christ. you see i speak not of degrees of sanctification , nor change of practice ; but of a disposition of heart , and purpose of mind . this truth appears , 1. effectual vocation makes this change in the habitual disposition of the heart ; and this vocation is necessary to our interest in christ. the elders at the savoy , and the assembly , agree , decl. and conf. ch . 10. a. 1. that this call lies , in enlightning their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of god ; taking away their heart of stone , and giving them an heart of flesh ; renewing their wills , and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good ; effectually drawing them to jesus christ , yet so , as they come most freely , being made willing by his grace . and a. 2. until being quickned and renewed by the holy spirit , he is thereby enabled to answer this call , and embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it . thou seest what a great change is made on the heart and mind by effectual calling ; and that our answer to this call , ( which lies in a consent answerable to this change in the faculties ) is the means of our interest in the offered grace ; which is christ , and his benefits . it 's a call to life , see joh. 5. 25. the dead shall hear the voice of the son of god , and they that hear shall live . it 's a call to holiness , 1 thes. 4. 7. hence called a holy calling , 2 tim. 1. 9. a call to light , 1 pet. 2. 9. if any doubt whether our vocation be a means to our interest in christ , see 1 cor. 1. 9. god is faithful , by whom you are called into the fellowship of his son jesus christ , our lord. 2. how inconsistent with vocation , regeneration , and conversion , are hearts of such vile disposition ? is this a heavenly calling ? heb. 3. 1. what would it avail to make such a calling sure ? 2 pet. 1. 10. is this being born not of the will of the flesh , but of the will of god ? joh. 1. 13. doth the new birth , or circumcision of the heart agree herewith ? 3. that cannot be a true faith , or acceptance of christ , which consists with such vile dispositions , and is void of a purpose to be otherwise . can he be said to accept of christ , who , as the doctor saith , hath a knife in his hand , and thoughts in his heart to murther christ , and that without so much as laying down his arms ? p. 210. what is rejecting christ , if this be not ? what is saying , we will not have him to reign over us ? do not we prefer our lusts before him ? and can we thus marry him ? nay , what a carnal selfish thing is believing ? a meer using christ for our own safety in our abominations , which we resolve shall rule over us , without one desire to be rid of them . 2. some degrees of convictions and humiliations of soul , are necessary prerequisites to the soul 's true acceptation of christ for pardon . we find , it 's the weary and heavy laden that christ invites to come to him for rest , mat. 11. 28. i came not to call the righteous ( that is , the conceited and secure ) but sinners to repentance , luk. 5. 31. 32. the converts recorded in the word , found such a work on them , those were pricked in their hearts , and cried , what shall we do ? act. 2. 37. the gaoler felt the same humble concern , act. 16. 30. paul knew what this trembling was , act. 9. 6. so zacheus and the prodigal , luk. 15. 14 , 15. where the word even begins to take effect , the man is convinced of all , and judged of all . the secrets of his heart , are made manifest : falleth down on his face , &c. 1 cor. 14. 24 , 25. it 's a meet order , that man should in some degree pay this homage to god , and thus resent his apostacy , to god's glory whom he hath provoked . yea , these are absolutely necessary to bring a man to be willing to close with christ. were there no weight , no remorse , no sense of sin or misery christ would not be regarded , much less complied with : yea , to come to christ , cannot be an act of the will , it thus having a contrary biass , and the practical judgment determining against it . testimonies . you have already heard the sence of the assembly and elders at the savoy . you may see in larg . catech. q. what is justifying faith ? they tell us , that the sinner is convinced of his sin and misery , who receiveth christ. and in the directory for visitation of the sick , they are for propounding christ and his merits to penitent believers , and endeavours are to be first used to humble the sick under the sense of his guilt , and the wrath of god , &c. doctor owen tells us , there is nothing in this whole doctrine , that i will more firmly adhere to , than the necessity of convictions , previous to true believing . of justif. p. 133. the necessity of them ; yea , antecedency of them to true faith and pardon , he proves p. 98 99. as also displicency , sorrow , fear , a desire of deliverance , with other necessary effects of true convictions . p. 102 , 103. and he tells us , the belief of the pardon of our own sins is not proposed to men in the first preaching of the gospel , as that which they are first to believe . and p. 140. neither is it possible there should be any exercise of this faith unto justification , but where the mind is prepared , disposed , and determined unto universal obedience . mr. norton of new england proveth at large , that there are certain preparatory works between the carnal rest of the soul in the state of sin , and effectual vocation ; or christ in his ordinary dispensation of the gospel , calleth not sinners as sinners , but sinners , i. e. qualified sinners , immediately to believe . these are his own words , which he proves , orthod . evang. from p. 129. to 140. the ground of the doctor 's mistake . because they that truly come to christ , shall have an interest in christ ; therefore he thinks , whoever can perswade himself that he hath an interest in christ doth come to him ; because sometimes the worst sinners are made the subjects of preparatory works , and of effectual calling , as god's act on them ; therefore he thinks , that these sinners are invited to conclude , they have an interest in christ , before they do at all answer that call. but his greatest cause of mistake is , that he thinks the worst sinners , if elect , have as much interest in christ , as the greatest saint . therefore indeed they need no more faith than to know it , and that must be by a firm perswasion that he is theirs , because christ calls sinners to repentance , therefore christ is theirs while impenitent . chap. xi . of union with christ before faith. truth . every man is without christ , or not united to christ , untill he be effectually called ; but when by this call the spirit of god enclineth , and enableth him willingly to accept of christ , as a head and saviour ; a man becomes united to him , and partaker of those influences and privileges which are peculiar to the members of the lord jesus . errour . all the elect are actually united to christ , before they have the spirit of christ , or at all believe in him , even before they are born ; yea , and against their will. proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . the title of serm. 14. is , christ is ours before we have gracious qualifications , p. 430. but sure the doctor intends only to exclude works and not faith. a. no , he tells us of dangerous consequences that must follow on it , if persons are not united to christ , and partake not of justification before they believe . and addeth , there is not , i say , such a thing as an uniting , and cementing or knitting power in faith , as that faith doth , or should become the instrument to unite a soul to christ , p. 6●● . obj. but he may intend only to exclude the merit or efficiency of faith ; but not the presence of it , or the divine ordination of it to that end . a. no , he denies the presence of faith ; to this end he spends much time , p. 614. &c. to prove , that christ is ours before we come to him , and that our not coming to christ , doth not import a state of disunion with christ. and p. 104. he tells us ▪ you may as soon conceive , that a man is able to see whiles he hath no head , as think a man can have spiritual eyes ; whether the eye of faith to behold christ , or the eye of mourning to lament ones wretchedness , before there be actually the presence and conjunction of christ , the head , to such a body . obj. but must not the spirit be given before we are united to christ. a. the doctor saith , we partake of the spirit , only by virtue of this union ; which he attempts to prove from the too gross use of the metaphor of a vine , p. 599. and sundry other places . obj. sure he meaneth only this union is decreed before faith. a. to prevent this , his words are , p. ●●● . i do not mean as some do , that god did actually decree , that christ should be christ unto such and such persons , before he did put any qualifications into them . but i say farther , that god gives actual possession of this christ , and this christ takes possession of that person , before there be any qualification . obj. when are the elect united to christ ? a. the doctor tells you , before they are born , p. 617. see p. 597 , 609 , 611 , &c. of coming to christ against your wills : see the end of this chapter . wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not , whether god hath decreed that all the elect shall be united to christ. 2. nor whether god hath appointed , and christ agreed in the covenant of redemption , to be in time the saviour of the elect ; and that whatchrist did and suffered , pursuant to that covenant , was intended for the saving good of the elect. 3. nor whether all the power , by which we believe , and the spirit , who works faith in us , be purchased and given by christ. 4. nor whether christ's giving us the spirit of grace , do begin this union , and the spirit given in order to saving operations , produceth this faith , whereby the union is consummated . 5. nor whether faith unites to christ by divine ordination , and not by its own power or merit , or as a physical act. all these i affirm . the real difference . 1. whether the elect are actually united to christ before they are born ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . 2. whether the elect are united to christ till they are effectually called , and truly believe ? this the doctor denies and i affirm . the truth confirmed . 1. the scriptures expresly affirm all uncalled , unregenerate unbelievers , to be united to christ , and in a state of separation from him . the believing ephesians were before conversion , without christ , eph. 2. 12. were they always united to christ , of whom paul saith , rom. 16. 7. they were in christ before me ? or was paul himself always in christ ? were not the romans out of christ , while a wild olive-tree , and untill they were grafted into the true olive-tree ? w ich they were upon their conversion , rom. 11. 17 , 19. 2. the spirit of christ , and faith in him , are the things whereby god hath ordained us to be united with christ ; by one spirit we are all baptized into one body , 1 cor. 12. 12 , 13. christ dwells in our hearts by faith eph. 3. 17. on which account we are said to receive christ , col. 2. 8. and are children of god by faith , gal. 3. 26. 3. the want of this union is denounced against all such as have not the spirit , and are unbelievers , rom. 8. 9. if any man have not the spirit of christ , he is none of his , i. e. let the man be elect or not , be the man who he will , if he hath not the spirit , he is not christ's in this union . and it 's the design of that parable , mat. 22. 3. to 13. that they who accept not of the invitation , or do not sincerely and spiritually consent to christ's offer , shall not be united to christ , or partake of the marriage supper . 4. the necessary immediate effects of union are plainly wanting in all such as have not the spirit , and want faith. he that is joyned to the lord is one spirit , 1 cor. 6. 17. can any unbelieving wretch pretend to have one spirit with christ whiles his inclinations , purposes , and carriage are so contrary ? again , if any man be in christ , he is a new creature , 2 cor. 5. 17. q. d. let the man be who he will , he is not united to christ , if he be not a new creature . i hope none will doubt , he is no new creature , who is carnal , who is a stranger to the new man , which after god is created in righteousness and true holiness , eph. 4 24. when the scriptures describe any person in christ jesus , they tell us , they ( at least in purpose ) have crucified the flesh with the affections thereof , gal. 5. 24 and they walk not after the flesh , but after the spirit , rom 8 1. it 's not they that have crucified the flesh , are in chr●st , which some might say , would render it only a manifesting sign of their in-being in christ ; but these texts do exclude all others from a present share in this union . the like places might be multiplied : as many of you as have been baptized into christ , have put on christ , gal. 3. 27. if christ be in you , the body is dead , because of sin , &c. rom 8 9 , 10 but alas , these and the like are not only wanting in unbelievers ; but the direct contrary thereto prevalently reign in them , and each of these contraries , do by a gospel rule subject men to those miseries as are inconsistent with the members of christ : as if ye live after the flesh , ye shall die ; to be carnally minded , is death , &c. rom. 3. 8. 6 , 14. 5. union with christ is determined to our effectual calling : this is the means and season of that blessing ; god is faithful , by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his son jesus christ , 1 cor. 1. 9. hence the instruments of our vocation are said to espouse us to christ , 2 cor. 11. 2. to beget them for him . 1 cor. 4. 15. this privilege is peculiar to christ's regenerate seed , and impossible to any that are not so . 6. unbelievers are not members of the catholick invisible church , which is the body of christ : by one spirit you are all baptized into one body , and have been all made to drink into one spirit , 1 cor. 12. 13. there is a present effectual working in every part of this body , eph. 4. 16. it 's by the spirit 's operation we are parts of this holy temple , and fellow citizens with the saints , eph. 2. from 18. to 22. every member hath a measure of faith and grace , rom. 12. 3 , 4 , 5. none of these can be true of men dead in sin : nor can they be members of christ , that are not members of his body , 1 cor. 12. 27. 7. should they that are united to christ , apostatize from faith , they would thereby forfeit and lose this union . if any cease to be believers they would cease to be members of christ. this is the scope of joh. 15. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. if a man abide not in me , he is cast forth as a branch , and is withered : every branch in me that beareth not fruit , he taketh away . and is it not apparent , that apostacy sinks a man into no more unbelief , than what prevailed before he believed at all ? 8. the opposite errour would reconcile what the spirit of god declares inconsistent . the apostle in vain asketh , what concord hath christ with belial ? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ? and what agreement hath the temple of god with idols , &c. 2 cor. 6. 15 , 16 , 17. by this opinion , christ and belial can be , and dwell quietly in one man for many years ; and he that believeth , and an infidel , have the same part in the highest privilege , viz. union with christ. in uncleanness , god receives all alike , and is their father , though they resolve against being separate , men can ( though god saith they cannot ) partake of the table of the lord , and of the table of devils , 1 cor. 10. 21. for union , and communion with christ be the heart of the benefits included in partaking of the lord's table . reader , weigh these things , and thou canst hardly conceive , what act of god an union before faith can be ascribed to . it 's not to the decree , for that only resolveth it shall be in future . it 's not to god's appointing , or christ's engaging to be a mediator ; for thereby he undertook in time to raise a seed , which , in the fulness of time , god would gather in one in him , eph. 1. 10. it 's not in christ's assuming the humane nature , for that admits all mankind to be united to him , as well as the elect. and what mr sterry and others talk of a radical union with christ , as he is the top branch , or the universal spirit of the creation , in a nature distinct from his divine and humane ; it's fordid to such who know of but two natures in christ ; and if granted would not prove the doctor 's notion of actual union . testimonies . the assembly , confess . ca. 26. a. 1. and the elders at the savoy , chap. 27. a. 1. affirm , that we are united to jesus christ by-his spirit , and by faith. a. 5. only the elders add , we are not thereby made one person with christ. the lesser catechism hath this question , how doth the spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by christ ? a. by working faith in us , and thereby uniting us to christ in our effectual calling . the new england synod confute this as errour 37. we are compleatly united to christ before , or without any faith wrought in us by the spirit . they sum up their confutation of this in these vvords , if there be no dwelling of christ in us , no coming to him , no receiving him , no being married to him , before and without faith. but the former is true . errour 16. which boston church charged mr. hutcheson with , was , that union to christ is not by faith. errour 38. the synod confutes , is , there can be no true closing with christ in a promise that hath a condition expressed . errour 69. though a man can prove a gracious vvork in himself , and christ to be the author of it , if thereby he will prove christ to be his , this is but a sandy foundation . he never read doctor owen , who did not find him as express in this as any man can be . norton , orthod . evang. p. 291. union in order of nature , though not of time , followeth vocation . p. 181. union , not without the act of faith. p. 222. it 's by the spirit and faith. the grounds of the dr's . mistake . because christ is appointed , and given to raise a body eternally elected thereto ; therefore he thinks , they are this body before they be raised . because all after-grace is from christ as our actual head ; therefore he thinks , christ cannot , by his spirit , work the first grace , as our designed head. vvhereas the spirit makes us an habitation to god , eph. 2. 22. and it 's a strange conceit , that christ can exert no act of power on a dead soul , in order to union , but men must infer that union prior to it . because the natural body cannot see without a head ; therefore christ cannot convert a sinner to bring him into his mystical body . one might better infer , the head cannot see without the body , and the body sees as much as the head , and the head sees no better than the body ; and so conclude , christ can see nothing , till every elect person be a member , and every member seeth as well as christ , and the dim sight of every member , makes the sight of christ as blind as his . because christ received gifts for the rebellious , that god might dwell among them ; therefore god dwells among them , before those gifts operate , or be communicated to them . whereas the apostle , eph. 4. 10 , 11 , 12. tells us , how these gifts are the means by which the elect are converted , and made believers , and so come to partake of union with its peculiar effects . because , from the parable of the vine , the gardiner puts the graff into the tree before there 's sap or fruit ; therefore he thinks a man is in christ , before god puts him in christ by the spirit and faith , which is the only ingraffing the vvord tells us of , besides external church privileges , rom. 11. 17 , 19. i may as well argue , a member of christ must always do wicked vvorks , because the graff bears always fruit of its own kind , and not after the kind of the stock into which it is ingrafted . how sad is it to strain and abuse parables or metaphors against the scope of the gospel , because god condescends to explain some truths thereby ? as if all that belongs to the metaphor , teach and prove any doctrine , because that one point , for which the lord useth it , is illustrated thereby . vvhat vvork may soon be made by fond people , if this be true ? because we are chosen in christ from eternity ; that is , elected to obtain life by him as mediator ; therefore we are one with him before any uniting bonds . reader , i forbear to represent the nature of this union as he seems to state it , p. 104 , 105 , 648 , 649 , 615. hoping he meant better than many of his vvords do import ; but for thy own good , know , that upon believing we are made partakers of gospel-benefits ; we are related to him for all the advantages which the metaphors of this union express . he loveth , enricheth , and honoureth us , as a man doth his wife : he directs , rules , and quickens us , as a head doth the members : he ministers grace for fruit and exercise , as the root doth to the branches . yea , this relation he 'll keep undissolved ; and yet more , the very spirit that his humane nature received in fulness , abides in , and worketh a conformity to the life and temper of christ in all his members ; which at last he will perfect to the utmost of our capacity . but yet fansie not , that we are deified with god , or christified with christ , or one natural person with him , as if he had a superangelick nature , which was a sort of a commen soul , or that our distinct personality shall ever cease ; with other notions destructive of god's government , and of all judgment . beware of confounding god and the creature , or making christ the subject of our graces , because he is the author of them . obj. but you said in the errour , that men are said to receive christ against their vvills . a. the doctor tells us , our first receiving of christ , is when christ comes by the gift of the father , to a person while he is in the stubbornness of his own heart , and the father doth force open the spirit of that person , and pours in his son in spight of the receiver , p. 99. in p. 98. it 's as a physician poureth physick down the patient's throat , and so it works against his will. and tells us , p. 612. our first coming to christ , is as a coach is said to come to town , when it is but drawn to town . i shall make no further remark on this , than tell thee , the doctor distinguisheth not between what we are abstracted from the spirit 's influence , and what we are by the spirit 's influence . vve are passive in effectual vocation , as that is god's act on us ; but even then no violence is offered to the vvill , for the mind dictates what it chooseth freely under this healing vvork and that passiveness , is not our coming to christ ; but by the effect of god's act on the mind and vvill , we consent to the call , and that is our first coming , and thereby we receive christ , and not before . he is not forced on us , but accepted from a light that commends , and a vvill that desires him . vvhereas we come not a step , whiles we do refuse and reject him . though i wonder why he speaks of any first coming against our vvills , when his principle is , that we are united to christ at latest , in the moment of conception in the vvomb . chap. xii . of justification by faith , with a digression about repentance . truth . i have spoken of justifying righteousness , chap. 7. though faith be no way a meritorious cause of a sinner's justification , yet god hath promised to justifie all such as truly believe ; and requires faith , as an indispensible qualification in all whom he will justifie for christ's merits ; declaring , that unbelief shall not only hinder mens knowing that they are justified , but that it is a bar to any person 's being justified while he continues an unbeliever . reader , note , 1. there is a righteousness for which a man is justified : this is only christ's righteousness : this is the foundation of the promise , and the merit of the blessing promised : nothing can add to it , or mingle with it ; it 's sufficient , and alone sufficient to satisfie justice , atone for guilt , and merit acceptance and life . 2. there 's to be considered , what the condition of the person is whom this mercy is promised to . he is one that hath this grace of true faith , and exerts it into act. this grace is also required and commanded as indispensibly necessary to the participation of forgiveness . christ's righteousness shall not be imputed to this use , unless we believe : and nothing shall hinder our title to this benefit , if we do believe in christ ; for the promise is inviolable . and this faith being a conformity to the rule of the promise , some call it a subordinate righteousness ; not meaning any righteousness for which sin is forgiven , for it 's christ's righteousness alone for which god justifies us ; but it 's our answering that rule by which christ applieth his righteousness for our remission , and a right to life ; and his promise is the ground of our title . having premised these things for explication of the truth , i proceed . errour . the whole use of faith in justification , is only to manifest that we were justified before ; and faith is no way necessary to bring a sinner into a justified state , nor at all useful to that end. proved that this is the dr's . opinion . the doctor , p. 85. puts this objection ; is not believing required to the justification of the ungodly ? answ. an ungodly person , after he is justified , doth believe . but you will say , it is an act of christ by faith. ans. then christ doth not justifie alone , &c. nay , i say more ; christ doth justifie a person before he believes , &c. he cannot believe that which is not ; and if he be not justified before he believes it , he believeth that which is false ; but he is first justified before he believes , then he believes that he is justified . the doctor then asks , but what doth faith serve for ? he answers , it serves for the manifestation of that justification which christ put upon a person by himself alone . p. 86. we do not believe , that we may be justified , but because we are justified . p. 578. god doth add never a tittle of pardon it self more to him that is a believer , than to that person not yet converted to the faith , &c. p. 597. i say , faith , as it takes hold of christ's righteousness , it doth not bring this righteousness of christ to the soul , but doth only declare the presence of that righteousness that was there even before faith was . he in that page denies faith to be so much as an instrumental cause of justification . in very many places he declares , we are not virtually , but actually justified before faith. if thou ask when he thinks the elect are justified . the doctor tells us , it 's from eternity , at christ's death ; and the latest time , is , before we are born . see p. 101 , 255 , 361 , 362 , 616 , &c. see more , ch . 1 , 2 , 3 , 11. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not : whether faith , or any grace , be a jot of the meriting righteousness for which we are justified ? 2. nor , whether faith , or any grace , add any thing to the value of christ's merits ? these i deny ; yea , i add , that if christ's righteousness could be applied for pardon to the vilest sinner before he believes , it would justifie him ; but god hath declared it shall not be applied to unbelievers . 3. nor , whether we are justified the same moment as we truly believe in christ , and the blessing is not suspended for any time longer ? this i affirm , because god justifies us by the promise , as his instrument ; and this promise declares that he will justifie him that believes : it 's a christ truly believed in , doth justifie us ; and a christ so believed on , cannot but justifie us . 4. nor , whether an elect person once justified , shall by christ's care be kept in a justified state ? 5. nor , whether god hath decreed , that the elect shall certainly believe , and so be justified ? 6. nor , whether true faith be an infallible sign of justification ? these four last i do affirm . wherein the real difference is . 1. whether we are justified before we believe ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . 2. whether the use of faith in justification be only to manifest our justification , which we personally had before ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; and add , that faith justifies us by receiving christ , and therein answers the ordination of god , who hath promised to justifie the believer by the application of christ's righteousness in this gracious effect of it upon the guilty soul. the truth confirmed . what i have said , chap. 1. of the state of the elect ; and chap. 11. of the necessity of faith to union with christ ; and chap. 3 , 4 , 10. render enlargement needless : yet i shall add , 1. we are justified by faith , is the common language of the holy ghost , rom. 5. 1. gal. 2. 16 , &c. what is it to be justified by faith , if we are justified before faith ? it contributes to our being justified , or words express nothing in a case of the highest moment . rom. 3 20. god justifieth the circumcision by faith and the heathen through faith : must not faith be at least present ? it 's impossible to exert an act by a thing , when that thing is not . 2. faith is enjoyned as an indispensible means of justification by christ , and complied with by all converts to that end. act. 16. 30. believe , and thou shalt be saved . rom. 10. 9 , 10. if thou believe with thine heart , thou shalt be saved ; for with the heart man believeth to righteousness , ( not to assurance only . ) to be justified , was a benefit which paul , and the other converts , had an eye to in believing . gal. 2. 16. we have believed , that we may be justified by the faith of christ. the blessing of justification is limited to a believer , and extended to such by such conditional and indefinite clauses as these : rom. 4. 23 , 24. to us it shall be imputed ( for righteousness ) if we believe on him that raised up christ from the dead . act. 10. 43. whosoever believeth in him , shall receive remission of sins . what a gross notion would it create , that faith should be required by god , in order to a benefit , and this faith acted by the guidance of the spirit , as a means to partake of that benefit , and this benefit proposed and limited to all under an express respect to that faith ; and yet that benefit is ours before faith hath a being ? 3. the gospel denounceth and declareth all condemned , till they do believe : it declares they are so , and denounceth they shall be so : joh. 3. 36. he that believeth not on the son , shall not see life ; but the wrath of god abideth on him . and ver . 18. he that believeth on him , is not condemned ; but he that believeth not , is condemned already . here 's the case of all men by the fall ; they are condemned , and under wrath. here 's the way of relief ; a christ believed on : and they that believe , their condemnation is revers'd . here 's the case of every man that believeth not ; wrath abideth on him : the condemning sentence remains , and men are distributed into condemned , or justified ; and this as believers , or unbelievers . oh! that any can think , all this wrath that abides , is no more than want of an assurance that we are justified ! sure it 's more danger ! joh. 8. 24. if you believe not , you shall die in your sins . mark 16. 18. he that believeth not , shall be damned . then they must be liable to damnation whilst in unbelief , or they could not be damned for unbelief . to be condemned and justified are opposites ; at once none can be both : nor can god justifie a man whom he then and still condemns . 4. unbelief is the cause why men are barred from justi●●cation , and remain obnoxious to misery . joh. 5. 40. ye will not come to me , that ye may have life . what undid the jews ? heb. 3. 18 , 19. they could not enter , because of unbelief . and ch . 4 , 6 , 7. and if unbelief did not obstruct life , and a right to it ; the apostle would oddly inferr , ch . 4. ver . 1 , 2 , 3. let us therefore fear , lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest , any of you should seem to come short of it , &c. for we which have believed , do enter into rest . how easily might i argue this point , from the nature of justification , as it 's a judicial act of god , by a gospel-rule supposing christ's satisfaction ? as also , from the immediate effects of justification , which are all suspended as to unbelievers : god in all his carriage not executing the justifying sentence on them , but the contrary ; he leaves them many years slaves to sin and satan , void of his spirit , admitting them to no communion with him , rejecting their prayers , barring them from his table , suffering them to blaspheme and dishonour him ; he suffers them to remain curses and plagues to other souls , &c. doth god deal thus with the justified ? what short of hell is the execution of the curse , if these be not ? reader , i leave it to thy self to judge , whether all these things make faith of no more use , than to shew us the goodness of our state ; which we were as much possessed of before , only we did not know it ? is that all the change on believing , which such great expressions import ? is our being now washed and justified , 1 cor. 6. 11. no more than we now know it ? is assurance all the motive we can honestly use with sinners to believe ? or the want of it , all the danger we have to threaten them with , to any beneficial purpose , against their abiding in unbelief ? testimonies . you have already heard the assembly , and the congr . of elders at the savoy , confes. chap. 11. a. 4. saying , the elect are not justified , until the holy spirit doth in due time actually apply christ to them . see ch . 1. of the state of the elect : where i cited this ; lesser catech. q. what benefits do they that are effectually called , partake of in this life ? a. they that are effectually called , partake of justification , adoption , &c. you see that the assembly do suppose our calling , to our being justified ; and justification is a benefit flowing from it . in the next answer , they tell us , we are justified by receiving christ's righteousness by faith alone . so not before faith. the new-england synod , p. 18. thus confute that speech of the antinomians ; viz. to say we are justified by faith , is an unsafe speech ; we must say , we are justified by christ. the synod fully prove this is false ; and add , to say a man is justified before faith , or without faith , is unsafe , as contrary to the language of the scripture . dr. owen , in his treat . of justif. p. 299. saith , it must be remembred , that we require evangelical faith , in order of nature antecedently unto our justification , by the imputation of the righteousness of christ unto us ; which also is the condition of the continuation of it . this is as plain as can be , and this he oft proves . p. 306 , &c. the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . because god justifies the ungodly , that is , the man who the moment before he believed to justification was ungodly ; yea , and who still remains ungodly in the eye of the law of works , needing daily forgiveness by grace ; therefore god justifies him who continueth wholly ungodly fifty years after . because christ alone justifies , as he whose satisfaction and merits are the only righteousness for which we are justified ; therefore he thinks there is nothing else present in our justification , not considering that god justifies , the spirit justifies , the gospel-promise justifieth , in sences distinct from christ : and so doth faith , though not as what meriteth , yet as what the promise requireth in all whom god will justifie for the sake of christ's merits . because it 's christ , the object of faith , justifies ; therefore faith in that object is not requisite to justification ; though it 's as plain as the word of god can speak , it 's a christ believed on which justifies : it 's not faith , without a christ , can do it ; and christ , without faith , will not do it ; but on our believing , he will not fail to do it . because we must , in order to assurance of pardon , believe our sins are actually pardoned ; therefore our actual pardon is the object of the faith by which we obtain pardon ; and so he sets our pardon , instead of god , christ , and the gospel-promises , which are the scripture objects of justifying faith. because faith is the evidence of invisible realities still remaining invisible ; therefore it 's whole use is , to manifest our pardon before our pardon hath a being . object . the doctor lays great stress on ezek. 16. 6 , &c. and very often builds this and other of his opinions upon it . answ. he doth so , and without the least ground . for , 1. that chapter doth not describe the dealings of god with a particular soul , in order to salvation ; but with israel , as a political body , in a peculiar covenant . it shews how mean and idolatrous their original was ; how graciously god singled them out , and dignified them above the rest of the world by many privileges ; and among the rest , by making a covenant of peculiarity with them . but this covenant is not the covenant of eternal life : for ver . 59. it was a covenant they broke : and ver . 61 , 62. it 's called thy covenant , as opposed to my covenant . dare any man say that all the jews were washed , quickned , justified ? &c. yet each of these were true of the whole body in this chapter . see what a character is given of their temper and carriage , after all this is said of them ; and sure it cannot agree to a justified soul , or a soul decked with grace : see from ver . 14. to ver . 23. and had the doctor considered this chapter , he would find most of his opinions baffled , on the same grounds as he thinks a verse or two can serve him . ver. 3 , 4 , 8. in the day they were born , they were unwashed , unloved , out of the covenant . where is justification , &c. from eternity , or from the time of conception ? ver. 23. when after they were washed , and in covenant , god denounceth , woe , woe unto thee ! for their wickedness . may not wrath then be preached to an elect person ? ver. 27 , 38 , 43. i 'll judge thee , and give thee blood in fury , and recompence thy ways upon thy head . doth sin do a believer no harm ? is there no displeasure in god against the elect for sin ? when god saith , thou hast fretted me , &c. when , v. 58. thou hast born thy lewdness , and thy abominations ; can it be true , that no elect person bears his own sin ? nor ought he to charge himself therewith ? or doth not god charge him with it ? 2. admit that the birth of a child was a resemblance of israel's first becoming god's covenant-people , in abraham , or at mount sinai ; and admit that this people's becoming the lord's , were an exemplar of every elect person 's recovery ; yet all that can be inferred is , that an elect person is vile , miserable and guilty , when god comes effectually to call him . when thou wert in thy blood , i said unto thee , live. but what 's this to justification before faith ? doth god quicken a soul before he wash it ? and doth not that soul believe ? what life can there be that excludes faith ? a quickned soul believes as soon as quickned ; and the text shews you , that it 's quickned before it 's washed . a digression concerning the necessity of repentance to forgiveness . the doctor judging we are justified before we believe ; it 's no wonder he tells us , we are forgiven before we confess sin , p. 255 , &c. or repent . but my business in this digression , is with men of more orthodox principles , who yet seem to be doubtful in this point : i shall therefore state the point between these . wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not : vvhether faith or repentance be any part of the meriting righteousness for which we are justified ? 2. nor , vvhether the habits of faith and repentance be wrought at the same time , and included in the regenerating principle ? 3. nor , vvhether convictions of a lost state , and some degree of humblings and sorrow , are necessary to drive a soul to christ ? 4. nor , vvhether there must be an assenting act of faith , before there be any exercise of repentance under the power of the vvord ; which must be believed in some degree , before it operate to these effects ? 5. nor , vvhether ingenuous sorrow for sin , in the sence of actual pardon , be after that pardon ? 6. nor , vvhether repentance , as it consists in fruits meet for it , as external reformation , a fruitful life , and the like , must follow pardon ; it being against the tenor of the promise , that forgiveness should be suspended so long after a man believes , and repents with his heart ? 7. nor , whether justification be equally ascribed to faith and repentance ? for we are said to be justified by faith ; which imports , that repentance is but a disposing condition ; and faith the receiving condition : repentance without faith is unavailable , as faith without repentance is impossible : faith seems to compleat all , and in a manner comprehend all . these things orthodox divines are agreed in . the seeming difference . vvhether a sincere purpose of heart , to turn from sin and idols to god , be absolutely necessary to forgiveness of sin ? the other parts of repentance are excluded out of the question , by what you have read before . and this is that part of it which the word lays a great stress on ; from hence repentance is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , mat. 2. 8 , &c. a change of mind , or purpose . and conversion refers to this , as the principal part of it . proved that repentance , as it lies in a sincere purpose to turn from sin and idols to god , is necessary to forgiveness . 1. the repentance god so commands , in order to forgiveness , can include no less than this , act. 3. 19. repent , and be converted , that your sins may be blotted out : and act. 2. 38. repent , and be baptized in the name of christ , for the remission of sins . to preach repentance and remission , is christ's charge to his ministers , luk. 24. 47. and none can doubt , that before the person of the messias became the disputed truth in the vvorld , the chief subject of god's message to men , was a call to repentance . 2. repentance is a grace to which pardon is promised ; and upon the working of it , forgiveness is given : and impenitency continues guilt where-ever it reigns . how much of the bible must i transcribe , if i quote all places that prove these ? ez. 18. 30. act. 3. 19. act. 26. 18. to turn them from darkness to light , and from the power of satan to god , that they may receive forgiveness of sin , &c. mark 1. 4. and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins . luk. 13. 3. except you repent , you shall all perish . christ was exalted , to give repentance , and remission of sins , act. 5. 31. nay the sin against the holy ghost is unpardonable ; because it 's impossible to bring the committer of it to repentance , heb. 6. 16. are all these things consistent with pardon before repentance ? can i be subject to perish and pardoned at once ? can god command repentanee , under a promise of pardon , and yet suppose i must be pardoned before ? is the turning of the heart from the power of satan to god , urged and directed to this end , that i may receive forgiveness , and none follow my turning , but all be before it ? 3. there 's no saving faith that includes not this purpose in it : can i fiducially consent to christ , and not intend to leave my wickedness ? dr. owen well proves , that justifying faith cannot be , without a purpose of heart to obey god in all things . ( treat . of justif. p. 40. ) and adds neither is it possible that there should be any exercise of this faith , but where the mind is prepared , disposed and determined unto universal obedience . see the assemblies and elders account of saving faith , ch . 9. 4. without this purpose , we do not accept of christ as the way to god. it would be strange , that the great term of life should terminate in christ , who is the means , without any respect to god , who is the end : whereas christ is able to save such as come to god by him , heb. 7. 25. and others he will not save , act. 20. 21. god was not thus over-looked when paul testified repentance towards god , and faith towards christ. and indeed , without this purpose , the soul never answers god's call ; and so must be pardoned before effectually called . 5. we cannot receive christ as king , without this repentance of heart . to receive him as king , is to renounce all usurpers , and resolve obedience to his will : and we must receive him as king , or lord , or it is not the christ we so receive : col. 2. 6. as you have received christ jesus , the lord. god gives him , a leader and commander , isa. 55. 4. and so must we take him , or never hope for forgiveness by him . 6. without this purpose of heart , no man accepts of christ for sanctification . the assembly and elders at the savoy , tell us , conf. chap. 14. a. 2. that saving faith accepts of christ for sanctification . i am sure , god gives christ to bless you , in turning every one of you from his iniquities , act. 3. 26. and can that soul believe to forgiveness , that thus receives him not ? or can any one thus receive him , who intends not to turn from sin to holiness ? 7. a resolved purpose to continue in sin and rebellion against god , is damning , let men pretend what they please . i hope i need not prove , but one of these purposes must have place in every heart , when it is dealing with christ about salvation . and i think i have proved , that a resolution to continue rebels , will bar any man from a possessing of christ. see chap. 10. 8. it 's not to be allowed , that it should not be necessary to renounce our sins with our hearts , in order to pardon ; when it is necessary to renounce our own merits , or righteousness . is the one opposite to christ , and is not the other so ? will one make us backward to accept of christ , and will not the other do the same ? is the one inconsistent with a true approbation of a saviour ? the other is no less : for christ is to save from the power of sin , as well as the guilt ; and he that submits not to him with a desire of both , duely accepts him for neither . i might further evidence this from the necessary fitness of repentance for pardon . it is very unsuitable to the nature and government of god to pardon a sinner that resolves to rebel , and not to return : this seems too low a provision for his honour , &c. nay , it would render our faith a meer selfish thing ; and all our compliance , to be a meer concern for our own impunity ; whiles sin is still resolved , and god's dominion rejected , and christ's design of restoring the image of god , slighted and opposed . it were easie to shew , that repentance and faith are so near to , and inclusive of each other , that one is put for the other ; and the call to one , is a call to each . the judgment of others . the assemb . confes. ch . 16. a. 3. say , although repentance be not to be rested in , as any satisfaction for sin , or any cause of the pardon thereof , which is the act of god's free grace in christ ; yet it is of such necessity to all sinners , that none may expect pardon without it . you see , though they justly exclude the merit and causality of repentance ; yet they affirm , and by many texts prove the necessity of it to pardon ; and forbid any expectation of pardon without it . and in their directory of the visitation of the sick , they advise a seasonable propounding of christ and his merits , for a door of hope ; but it is to none but to every penitent believer . the elders at the savoy tell us , ch . 15. a. 5. there is no sin so great , that shall bring damnation on them who truly repent ; which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary . dr. owen tells us , that before the first act of justifying faith , there be convictions , shame , fear , sorrow , and other afflictive passions ; and hereon a resolution doth ensue , utterly to abstain from sin , with sincere endeavours to that purpose , &c. treat . of justif. p. 299. he tells us , that without this in the order of the gospel , an interest in it , ( i. e. christ's righteousness , ) is not to be attained , &c. and again ; justifying faith includeth in its nature the entire principle of evangelical repentance ; so that it is utterly impossible that a man should be a true believer , and not at the same instant of time be truly penitent : and therefore are they so frequently joyned in scripture , as one simultaneous duty : yea , the call of the gospel unto repentance , is a call to faith , acting it self by repentance , &c. and then tells us , the first act of faith respecting the grace of god in christ , is not conceived in order of time to precede its actings in self-displicency , godly sorrow , and universal conversion from sin to god. see p. 300 , 301. these things dr. owen asserts , though he ascribes no causality of pardon to repentance : which will offend none who deny any grace in man to be a cause of forgiveness ; among whom i own my self . see mr. anthony burgess's reasons for the necessity of repentance to forgiveness , true doct. of justif. lib. 1. p 157. thus i have done with this debate ; which lies ( i hope ) more in words than some unthinking men imagine : and the generality of divines affirm as i do . chap. xiii . of the necessity and benefit of holiness , obedience , and good works , with perseverance therein . reader , note , that whatever is spoken in this chapter of any act of grace , except penitent believing , refers not to the forgiveness of sin , or the sinner's admission into a justified state. the benefits i here treat of , are , the not forfeiture of pardon , the possession of heaven , and some other particular blessings , as increase of peace , returns of prayer , joy , &c. truth . though neither holiness , sincere obedience , or good works , do make any atonement for sin ; or are in the least the meritorious righteousness whereby salvation is caused ; or for which this , or any blessing becomes due to us as of debt ; yet as the spirit of christ freely worketh all holiness in the soul , and enableth us to sincere obedience and good works ; so the lord jesus hath of grace , and for his own merits , promised to bring to heaven , such as are partakers of true holiness , perform this sincere obedience , and do these good works perseveringly , and appoints these as the way and means of a believer's obtaining salvation , and several other blessings ; requiring these as indispensible duties and qualifications of all such whom he will so save and bless , and excluding all that want or neglect them , or live under the power of what 's contrary thereto , viz. prophaneness , rebellion , and utter unfruitfulness . errour . men have nothing to do in order to salvation , nor is sanctification a jot the way of any person to heaven , nor can the graces or duties of believers ; no , nor faith it self , do them the least good , or prevent the least evil ; nor are they of any use to their peace or comfort ; yea , though christ be explicitely owned , and they be done in the strength of the spirit of god : and a believer ought not to think he is more pleasing to god by any grace he acteth , or good he doth ; nor may men expect any good to a nation , by the humiliation , earnest prayer , or reformation of a people . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . p. 41 , 42. the doctor tells us , seeing all things are setled by christ for us of free gift , all we do is for christ himself . i say , that we do , we do for christ , not for our selves . if we do it for our selves , we do but labour in vain ; if a man will run a hundred miles for money , if that money be proffered to him before he step out of his house , at his door , his journey is in vain , seeing he might have had it before he stept out of door , &c. christ comes and brings justification , loving kindness and salvation ; he lays them down , presents them , delivers them to the heart ; when we are ungodly , he enters into covenant , that we should become his : what needs then all this travel for life and salvation , seeing it is here already ? but seeing we get nothing by it , &c. obj. but sure the doctor intends only , that nothing we do can merit , but not that they are not required as the requisite means and vvay to obtain these blessings . a. the doctor satisfies us , he intends the last as well as the first , p. 45. 46. i will note one thing , before i go on , to make clear this thing . it is a received conceit among many persons , that our obedience is the way to heaven ; and though it be not , say they , the cause of our reign , yet it is the way to the kingdom , &c. this he disapproves , saying , i must tell you , all this sanctification of life , is not a jot the way of that justified person unto heaven , &c. the truth is , since redemption is managed by christ , the lord hath pointed out other ends and purposes for our obedience , than salvation . salvation is not the end of any good work we do . p. 151 , 152. he puts this objection , we had as good sit still . he that works all day , and gets nothing more than he had in the morning , he had as good sit still and do nothing . he answers , let me tell you , the prevention of evil , if there be reality of evil in it ; and the obtaining of good , if there be reality of good , peace of conscience , joy in the holy ghost , pardon of sin , the infallibility of miscarriage , the light of god's countenance : all these , i say , which you aim at , are abundantly provided for you , and established firmly on you , by the mere grace of god in christ , before you do perform any thing whatsoever . to what purpose do men propose ends to themselves , which ends are accomplished before their proposition ? and to what purpose then do we propose to our selves , the gaining of that to our selves in our labour and industry , that is already become ours before we do a jot ? &c. must they now labour to gain these things , as if it were referred to their well or evil walking ; that as they shall walk so they shall speed ? &c. the lord doth nothing in his people upon conditions in his people , &c. the lord intends not , that by our obedience , we shall gain something , which in case of our failing , we shall miscarry of , &c. that they are to do , they are not to do with any eye to their own advantage , that being already perfectly compleated to their hands , before they do any thing ; but simply with an eye to glorifie god , and to serve their generation , and therein to serve the lord , &c. when you do yield obedience to god , you go to prayer , and fall to fasting , to weeping , and mourning , and self-denial , keeping the sabbath , dealing righteously , &c. what is it you aim at in all this ? that god may do you good , that god may be gracious , that god may speak peace to your spirits ; then it follows , that life is that in your eye that puts you on that which you do , &c. this is the righteousness of the law. p. 13. let subduing of sin alone for peace . p. 73. while you labour to get by duties , you provoke god as much as in you lies . obj. but though holiness or obedience do not profit us , as to saving good ; may they not bring us some good or other ? ans. the doctor tells us , no ; p. 150. i must tell you , there is not any duty you perform , when you have attained the highest pitch , that hath any prevalency and availableness to produce , to bring forth any , though the least good to your selves . i say it again , there is nothing you can do , from whence you ought to expect any gain to your selves by doing it . the doctor speaks the same as to the uselessness of reformation to a kingdom . p. 235 , 236. but if a soul get under full sail , filled with a stiff gale of the spirit , when floods of meltings flow from it , if they can cry mightily , and be somewhat exact in observing practical righteous means , to mourn and pray lustily , being helpt by the spirit therein ; then such exercises will do wonders ; hereby persons shall get pardon , settle spiritual , civil , and natural healings , with national ; such courses , some will think will turn away gods wrath , &c. but he tells us in that page , though these be done by persons being in christ , though thus assisted by christ's spirit , though christ be explicitely owned as the author of such assistance , the righteousness so assisted hath no efficacy at all , to obtain any thing of the lord , &c. so p. 425 , 426 , 124 , 125 , 24. his common phrase is , we must not work for life , but from life . obj. but we may suppose the doctor saith this only of external duties , but not of the actings of grace . answ. no , i could shew you how he saith the same of all graces ; but it 's enough to instance in that of faith. p. 326. that is the proper work that god hath given to believing , not to effect any thing to the good of a man , but only to be the witness of that good to the spirit of a man , and so give light to that which was hidden before . obj. but is not god pleased with us the more for grace , &c. a. the doctor informs us , p. 429. if you have more ability than others in doing , let it not come into your thoughts , as an inducement to think better of your selves , as if you were more accepted of god , or pleasing in his sight . wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not whether god hath decreed that the elect shall be holy and obedient , and so partake of saving blessings . 2. nor whether every vvork will fail to save a christless unbeliever . 3. nor whether christ hath paid the price of temporal , spiritual , and eternal blessings . 4. nor whether the essential blessings of the gospel become the inheritance of a believer , as soon as he is united to christ. 5. nor whether it 's from the influence of the spirit , that we are holy , obedient , and enabled to every good vvork . 6. nor whether it is for the sake of christ's merits and incense , and of free-grace , that any grace of duty of ours is rewarded , or becomes the means of any benefit : each of these i do affirm . 7. nor whether an holiness , internal or external , any obedience , vvork or duty , do at all merit the promise , or is the meritorious cause , or righteousness , for which any promised mercy is bestowed . this i deny , and own that all is of gift , though given in an order suitable to our condition , as subjects in a state of trial. 8. nor whether the law be a rule of duty . this the doctor affirms , as i also do ; though he denies any threatning or promise to back god's law , as to the elect. 9. nor whether the elect ought to be holy , and will be holy. this the doctor owns ; but he placeth it wholly on the decree , and christ's care ; denying that god hath required it as indispensibly necessary to our inheriting any blessing promised to the elect , and judgeth christ hath done all for us , and injoyneth nothing on us to do , in order to any good thing . 10. nor whether a penitent believer shall be saved , if he die before he hath time for further obedience . this i affirm . the real difference . 1. vvhether faith and repentance be indispensibly required of us , that we may be justified for the sake of christ's righteousness . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . of which i have treated chap. 12. 2. vvhether holiness , and sincere obedience and perseverance are the way to heaven , and are required of the elect as the conditions of their obtaining salvation ; or is heaven promised to them , if they persevere in holiness , and sincere obedience , and the loss of heaven threatned , in case they continue wicked and disobedient ; or after grace turn apostates . this the doctor denies , and i affirm . 3. vvhether the good works of a believer are rewardable of grace for christ's sake . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . 4. whether by the gospel , as a rule of judgment , whoever is unholy , utterly disobedient , and altogether wilfully neglective of good works , shall be condemned . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . 5. whether god hath promised several blessings ( distinct from mere eternal life ) to the exercise of several graces , and performance of sundry duties ; as more grace to the improvement of less , gracious returns to fervent prayer , peace of conscience to a lively frame and exact walking ; his presence to a conscientious attendance on ordinances , diverting threatned judgments on repentance and reformation , filling the hungry with good things , &c. this the doctor denies , and i affirm . 6. whether upon the acting of such graces , and upright performing such duties , a christian may not in the virtue of such promises , expect such blessings , and fear the neglect thereof as a bar thereto . this the doctor denies , and i affirm . yet allowing , that god may sometimes exert his soveraignty in giving some blessings to a believer , not answering these rules ; and a while suspend them from the disposed soul , to try his patience ; or if the blessing be of a lower nature , he may exchange it into a greater . but yet this i affirm , is the stated rule of our expectations and fears , and the ordinary method of god's dealings with men. 7. whether god is not more pleased with a man in the exercise of grace and holiness , than when he neglects them , and doth the contrary . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . the truth confirmed . the points are too many to admit enlargement , and most of them carry that evidence , that the whole scope of the bible must be forgotten , when they are denied . can two or three wrested texts overturn the constant language of the scriptures ? and is it not strange , that all religion , and the humane nature it self in a state of trial , should be so fully struck at , from a gross conceit , that the infinite god cannot foresee , and purpose events , unless it must null his government over reasonable subjects , and prevent his distribution of rewards and punishments by a stated rule ? what a reflexion is it on the divine wisdom , and the glorious platform of the redeemer's work and kingdom , that he cannot purchase benefits for sinners , unless he forbear to use them as motives to obedience ? yea , the whole of his serious pleadings with men , must be a mockery , rather than he must be allowed to bestow his blessings in a rectoral way . he shall merit nothing as a priest , if he dispense it as a king , nor be estemed to enable sinners to act , if he appoint them any thing to do , in order to a reward . having occasion to mention some words , which i would prevent thy mistake of , know , that by holiness , i mean the inward renovation , and devotedness of the soul to god , with the expression thereof in holy actings . by good works , i mean all the inward actings of grace in a sincere conformity to the will of god , as our loving god , our fearing god , trusting in christ , godly purposes and resolves , &c. these are good works , called internal . there be also external good works , as praying , hearing , exact walking , alms-deeds , and any other act of obedience directed by the word , proceeding from faith , and a renewed principle , and intended to glorifie god and save our souls . by doing , the same actings are intended , and so loving god is doing ; yea , believing in christ is doing ; it is an action on our part , even when it accepts of christ ; though it is by divine ordination made the effectual means of receiving , or partaking of a promised christ. having premised these things , i shall proceed to the proof of the truth , which is comprehended under these heads . 1. sinners have much to do , in order to salvation . there be few leaves in the bible but argue this : it 's the scope of all the revelations of god to men since the fall. it 's true , we have nothing to do in a way of atonement or purchace ; but it is as true , we have much to do in order to our participation of what christ hath purchased : we must repent , that our sins may be blotted out , act , 3. 19. we must believe , that we may be saved , &c. our lord is express , if you know these things , happy are you if you do them , joh. 13. 17. all gospel-discoveries are made known for the obedience of faith , rom. 16. 26. and christ will take vengeance on all them who obey not the gospel ; neither christ nor gospel will secure them , 2 thes. 1. 8. the revelations of god to men , are not a bare description of duty and benefits , but an injunction of duty in a connexion with benefits , rom. 10. 9. if thou confess with thy mouth the lord jesus , and believe with thy heart , thou shalt be saved . 2. i could shew , there 's no one saving benefit granted to a sinner , but on supposition of his doing : see much of this chap. 8. 10 , 11 , 12. and ch. 21 , 22. christ never intended the application of his merits for our privileges , without ordering them as motives to duty on our part. 3. the influences of the spirit of god , and god's institutions , have no causality in our salvation , if men have nothing to do in order to be saved . it 's plain , that salvation is ascribed to the spirit , and also to the means of grace : neither of them are the atonement or price of salvation , therefore they must save as they operate on the soul in order to its actings , rom. 1. 16. 1. cor. 1. 21. and this must be , as it answers the way appointed for our participation of life . 4. on what account is it said , that we believe to the saving of our souls ? heb. 10. 39. and repentance to salvation is the expression of the spirit of god , 2 cor. 7. 10. what sence can be affixed to these and the like phrases , as they are opposed to their contraries as destructive , if men do nothing towards their salvation ? see jam. 2. 14. can faith save him : yea , and i may ask , 5. what meaneth the holy ghost , when he saith , in so doing , thou shalt save thy self , and them that hear thee ? 1 tim. 4. 16. sure the argument is not strong , if it be true , we can do nothing for salvation . 6. the destruction of sinners , under the gospel , is still laid on not doing ; they are condemned by the law , but they remain condemned , and their ruine is fixed ( and so they are twice dead ) for want of doing somewhat . ye will not come to me , that you might have life , joh. 5. 40. how oft is the ruine of souls laid on not turning , not repenting ? &c. 7. if men have nothing to do for salvation , then christ hath no rule to judge them who lived under the gospel . i hope none will say , the judicial sentence will pass on men as elected , or not elected . doth it agree to the proceedings of that tribunal at that day , to say , thou shalt be damned , because thou wert not elected ? is this the account the scripture gives ? doth it not proceed on the difference in mens carriage and tempers ? see the parable of the talents : they who improved their talents were saved ; he that hid it in a napkin , was therefore damned , mat. 25. 21 , 24 , 28. consider any description of the last day , and you 'll find , god saves and damns with a respect to mens neglects and compliance with his gospel . 8. i could easily demonstrate , that if men have nothing to do in order to salvation , the ministery of christ and his apostles , the ministery most apt and most blessed to souls to this very day , is all a vanity and falshood ; they are cold pleadings with sinners , that are not backed with life and death : remove saving benefits , and undoing dangers , from being arguments to compliance with the will of christ ; and any man may read the success of such a ministery , and to use these arguments to persuade men to repent and believe , if we have nothing to do for heaven , is a manifest falshood and trifling . it 's awful to consider , how inconsistent some mens application is with their doctrine ; though it 's well their uses to the unconverted have so much truth in them . 2. true holiness , sincere obedience , or good works , and perseverance , are the way to heaven , and so necessary to the salvation of a believer , that without them he cannot be saved , and continuing in them he shall be saved . this might be evidenced by many reasons , 1. it is not saving faith which is not operative to these effects . it ceaseth to be true , whenever it wholly fails of purifying the heart , and working by love. many affirm , that all graces are seminally in faith as in their principle . such must grant , that as faith justifies us at first in receiving , and relying on christ ; so it continues to justifie us by continuing those acts , and exerting it self in those other operations , which are essential to its nature . and thus some expound jam. 2. 20 , 24. 2. obedience , good works , and perseverance , preserve us from those contrary evils , which do subject men to condemnation : i keep my body under , least by any means , when i have preached to ▪ others , i my self be a cast-away , 1 cor. 9. 27. i shall add to this in some following heads . 3. the gospel-constitution doth by its promises and threatnings make persevering holiness , obedience , or good works the necessary way to heaven . these are not only a natural , but a moral meetness for heaven . that this point may be clear , i shall , 1. shew that the gospel-constitution contains promises and threatnings , which affect all of us , as a rule of happiness and misery ; it 's so to the elect ; yea , believers , as well as others . 2. that by this constitution , persevering holiness , sincere obedience , or good works , are necessary to salvation . 1. the gospel-constitution contains promises and threatnings , which affect all of us , as a rule of happiness and misery : by these god governs men ; and mens hopes or fears should be directed by these , as their rule . dr. crisp not observing this , hath run into those mistakes which open a door to all licentiousness , though he intended it not : his whole scheme implies , that christ doth not distribute blessings or punishments by any rule that referrs to the actings of men. i have proved the contrary , chap. 8 , &c. for if the covenant of grace be conditional , and faith and repentance are necessary to forgiveness , &c. the substance of this must be granted . but i add a few reasons more . 1. most of the promises and threatnings in the bible , that referr to the state of souls , are evangelical promises and threats : they are not the sanction of the law of innocence , but of gospel-grace . who can doubt this , if they consider , 1. that the covenant of innocency promised life to nothing below sinless and perfect obedience . 2. the threatnings of the covenant of innocency admitted no repentance , or after-relief to the guilty : they did fix the curse irrevocably , in case of any transgression . 3. no overture of life , or door of hope , or argument to conversion with hopes of acceptance , could be framed out of those legal threats or promises to any man that is a sinner . turn ye , turn ye ; why will you die ? was not the language of that covenant : no , if a man is once a sinner , the law could speak no lower than this , thou art undone , whether thou turn or no. things being thus , i would intreat thee to consider all the calls of god in christ to men since the fall : vveigh the promises and threats wherewith god strengthneth those calls : see if any one of the calls to faith , or repentance , or holiness , thus back'd with promises and threats , be not evangelical . 1. doth god , in those calls , promise life to nothing below sinless , perfect obedience ? or doth he threaten eternal death , in those calls , against whatever is short of perfect obedience ? 2. do the threats annexed to those calls , exclude all after-repentance ? see ezek. 18. 21. is that gospel or no ; but if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed , &c. he shall surely live ; his transgressions shall not be mentioned ? 3. are not these calls , with the promises and threats directed to sinners , for their conversion and recovery ? is it not to sinners god speaks in them ? and is it not for their healing and salvation ? are not the promises an offer of relief ? are not the threatnings intended to awe and warn sinners against refusal of these offers ? they be not uttered , to bind the curse ; but to deliver from it , by urging our compliance with the commands of a redeemer : to day if you will hear his voice , harden not your hearts , as in the provocation , &c. heb. 3. 7 , 8. & 4. 7. every threatning used by god as an argument to conversion , is a gospel-threatning . 2. what kind of government can men assign to christ , if there be no sanction to his precepts ? dr. crisp oft tells us , that the sanction of the law of works is removed ; the curse is gone , as to the elect. this is true , if he mean , that sinless obedience is not now the way of life ; and that all below it , shall not bind death upon us so as to hinder our relief by the gospel . but what then , hath the redeemer no promises and threatnings to rule men by ? and is their obedience or disobedience an indifferent thing , as to their happiness or misery ? must he save all , or damn all , or else be a respecter of persons in his judicial distributions ? is this the language of god to sinners since the fall ? did christ preach at this rate , when on earth ? or doth he so speak now from heaven , heb. 12. 25. see that ye refuse not him that speaketh ; for if they escaped not , who refused him that spake on earth ; much more shall not we escape , if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven ? heb. 2. 3. how shall we escape , if we neglect so great salvatian , which at first began to be spoken by the lord ? &c. our lord assures us , mens sins are aggravated , and their damnation grows greater , by a rejection of his call to sinners , through impenitence and unbelief . joh. 8. 24. ye shall die in your sins . heb. 10. 29. of how much sorer punishment , &c. it 's a precarious dominion that christ exerciseth , if he hath neither rewards nor punishments to induce mens regards to his authority . read the scriptures , or wait the judgment-day , and you 'll find it otherwise . 3. how unsuitable is it to the present state of mankind , that christ should govern us without promises and threatnings ? he is a king , and we are his subjects . and we are , 1. subjects in a state of tryal for another world. 2. we have great remains of sin within us , and temptations without us . 3. we have still in our nature hope and fear ; which are the things which all the methods of christ's government suppose , and are suited to : each of these would furnish me with arguments beyond all rational contradiction , for the proof of this point ; whereas the opposite errour implies , that either men are machines , or brutes , or infants at best ; or else the judgment-day is past already : yea , how vain are the expostulations , warnings , reproofs and encouragements which the word is filled with ? the divine being , and all the methods of grace , are strangely exposed by conceits so sordid . he calls us to fear , lest we should seem to come short of the promise , heb. 4. 1. be not high-minded , but fear , rom. 11. 20. work out your salvation with trembling , phil. 2. 12. he that ploweth , should plow in hope , 1 cor. 9. 10. we are saved by hope , &c. rom. 8. 24. what are all these , if our state be in no suspence as to what we shall be or do ? 4. i hope i need not prove that these gospel-promises and threatnings are the rule by which christ dealeth with men : to doubt it , would inferr a heavier charge than any good man would sustain : it 's enough to calm us , that he saith , be not deceived , god is not mocked ; that which a man soweth , that shall he reap , gal. 6. 7. this is spoken to believers , and true of the redeemed . ii. by this gospel-constitution , persevering holiness , sincere obedience , or good works , are necessary to salvation . he that made faith necessary to justification , hath made obedience necessary to salvation : he hath as well promised heaven to the godly man , as pardon to the believer : and our perseverance in holiness and obedience , is as truly our way to glory as the scriptures can describe it : nothing of these merit heaven ; but he that merited heaven , hath peremptorily appointed these to bring us thither : heb. 6. 10 , 11 , 12. for , god is not unrighteous , to forget your work and labour of love , &c. and we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence , to the full assurance of hope , to the end that ye be not sloathful , but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises . every word is forcible to argue this truth : but i shall offer a few things more . 1. christ in the gospel declares , they shall miss of heaven , and eternally perish , who are apostates , ungodly , disobedient , and unprofitable ; and that , for being such . this doom is not the doom of the law of innocence ; for it is not denounced against every backsliding , but apostacy : it 's not against every imperfect degree of godliness , but ungodliness : it 's not against every defect of obedience , but disobedience : it 's not against every neglect of fruitfulness , but such unprofitableness as argues . a dead and barren state . reader ! art thou so unskilful in the word , as not to remember , if any man draw back , my soul shall have no pleasure in him : but we are not of them that draw back unto perdition , but of them that believe to the saving of their souls ? heb. 10. 38 , 39. is this a threatning , or not ? vvill not christ deal with men according to it ? is it not true of all persons ? do not say the elect believer will not fall away : i think the same ; but yet is it the less true , that even he shall perish if he fall away ? nay , . doth not god by these threats contribute to keep him from apostacy ? ask thy self , is not this threatning such as should govern our expectations , if we should turn apostates ? so heb. 12. 14. without holiness , no man shall see the lord. this is used as an argument to persuade us to follow holiness ; and can you suppose it argueth at a lower rate than this ? be holy , or you shall never see god's face : unholiness will keep you from god's presence . consider such places as , for these things the wrath of god comes on the children of disobedience , eph. 5. 6. if you live after the flesh , you shall die , rom. 8. 13. 2. salvation is promised to perseverance , true holiness , sincere obedience , or good works : and the accomplishment of these promises to these , is called an act of righteousness . these are gospel-promises ; because salvation is promised on terms so below perfection . the texts are innumerable that include these promises . rev. 2. 10. be thou faithful unto death , and i will give thee a crown of life . 2 tim. 4. 7 , 8. i have fought a good fight ; i have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness , which the lord , the righteous judge will give me in that day . rom. 18. 3. if you mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit , you shall live . heb. 6. 10. god is not unrighteous , to forget your labour of love , &c. 2 thes. 1. 6 , 7. the righteousness refers to the truth of the promise , not the proportion of the work. obj. these describe the men whom god will save . ans. true ; but not as mere natural signs , but as moral instituted signs : they are qualifications which god appoints as pre-requisites to the blessings : they are not meritorious , but they are made by the promise necessary to our partaking of these gifts and the neglect of them , would exclude our interest in the blessing . obj. these are concomitants of them th●● shall be saved . ans. the same answer tha● is given to the last , will serve to this and i add they are not instead of christ ; they cannot add to what is proper to a christ ; nor will they suffice without faith , or an interest in christ , or without pardon . but they still signifie more than such concomitants as some esteem them : they are not like the place of one's birth , or our names , or ou● parents , or death , &c. all which are concomitants of a man that is saved ; but the● are characters designed by the promise ; the●● are things without which the gospel-rule will exclude men from heaven , and condemn men into hell , let their pretences be what they will. rev. 22. 14. blessed are that that do his commandments , that they may have right to the tree of life , and may enter in ; for without are dogs . mat. 5. 20. except you● righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes , &c. 3. consider the respect to glory which ou● good works have in scripture-dialect . they are as seed to the harvest , gal. 6. 7 , 8 , 9. as 〈◊〉 way to one's proposed place , eph. 2. 10. as means to an end , mat. 5. 8. as work to one's wages , mat. 20. 1 , 7. foundation to 〈◊〉 building , 1 tim. 6. 19 , &c. the gospel declares no less a connexion between good works and glory , though they merit nothing . 4. god declares the obedience and works of believers , as rewardable of grace , through christ. they shall walk with me in white ; for they are worthy , rev. 3. 4. great is your reward in heaven , mat. 5. 12. if i do this willingly , i have a reward , 1 cor. 9. 17. col. 3. 24. rev. 22. 12. come ye blessed of my father , &c. for i was an hungry , and ye gave me meat , &c. mat. 25. 34 , 35. it 's true , it 's a reward from the benignity of a father , not from the dignity of the work : it 's from the ordination of the promise which is owing to the merits of a christ , and not any claim of the performance . and so tender is god of the honour of his goodness herein , that the second article of our creed must be ; that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him , heb. 11. 6. 5. by perseverance in these exercises , we are to work out our salvation , phil. 2. 12. we lay hold of eternal life , 1 tim. 6. lay up a treasure in heaven , luk. 12. 33. we run the race for the prize , 1 cor. 9. 24. vve fight for the crown , &c. and is it as good sit still , as to be doing thus , for to help us heaven-ward ? reader , lay these things to heart , and canst thou account persevering holiness and obedience useless things ? are they so indifferent to happiness as the doctor represents them ? how much of the bible must be expunged ere his opinion deserves credit ? though i know our corrupt part too well likes a dispensation from striving to enter in at the strait gate . iii. the third thing i should prove , is , that many other blessings besides mere eternal life , are promised to the exercise of several graces , and performance of duties . this is so easie a task , that i would leave it to the most ignorant but to read the bible with his own eyes . vvhat mean such places , the effectual , fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much ? jam. 5. 16. vvill no prayer , or cold prayer , avail as much ? if these things be in you , and abound , they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitfull in the knowledge of christ ? 2 pet. 1. 8. vvill the want , or scanty degrees of grace , do the same ? so 2 pet. 1. 10 , 11. give all diligence to make your calling and election sure , &c. for so an entrance shall be administred to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of christ. may one be assured without diligence ? or shall we enter heaven with the same full sail , though we be negligent and unassured ? 2 cor. 9. 6. he that soweth bountifully , shall reap bountifully ; he that soweth sparingly , shall reap sparingly . but then shall we reap as liberally , if we sow not at all , or sow sparingly ? vvhere shall i stop , when the scriptures are so full of instances ? and sure i need not prove that repentance , and earnest prayer , contribute to preserve a nation , when god so many times urgeth these to this end ; when he hath promised and performed deliverance hereupon ; when he complains so oft , that he must destroy for want of these ; and lays the destruction of places always on neglect of these jer. 18. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. isa. 1. 5 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19. it 's the same with churches : see the 2d . and 3d. chap. of the revelations . iv. men should govern their expectations and fears , according to the conformity of their hearts , and behaviour to the rule of the promise . it 's unbelief , not to expect the good promised , when we answer the condition of it . it 's obstinate hardness and security , not to expect the threatned evil , when we are guilty of the sin or neglect threatned . there 's no grounded hopes or fears but this way ; all else are enthusiastick . the end of god , in these declarations of his will , are not otherwise complied with : god often condemns all hopes , as vain , that are not thus regulated ; and by this rule the servants of god governed themselves . i need not cite texts for things so plain . v. god is better pleased with his people in the exercise of grace and holiness , than when they neglect these , and do the contrary . what notions have men of god , of grace , and sin , that they should need proof for this ? is it not by the exercise of grace and holiness that we approve our selves to god ? 2 tim. 2. 15 ▪ is it not , with such sacrifices god is well-pleased ? heb. 13. 16. was it not by his faith , and divine walk , that enoch pleased god ? heb. 11. 5. what meaneth the apostle , you have received of us how you ought to walk , and to please god ? 1 thes. 4. 1. the saint's charity is called , an odour of a sweet smell ; a sacrifice acceptable , well-pleasing to god. we are charged to walk worthy of the lord , to all pleasing , col. 1. 10. of the obedience of children , he saith , this is well-pleasing to the lord. what great things of this nature are spoken of prayer , praises , and other good vvorks ? vvhereas god is fretted , grieved , vexed ; provoked to anger and abhorrence by our sins and neglects . how can we apprehend , that god is as well pleased with us , when testifying our enmity , as our love ? when rejecting his authority , as doing his will ? are the fruits of the spirit alike to him , as the fruits of the flesh ? and can the image of the devil render us as grateful as his own image , and the life of his son ? obj. it 's for christ's incense these are accepted . ans. but christ's incense will not be applied to our sins , but to our graces and duties ; and that shews they are more pleasing to god than our sins be . and again , they are these graces and duties which are accepted for the sake of christ : his incense will not be denied to them ; and thereby they are well-pleasing to the lord , and tend to render us so . davenant , de justitia actuali , and others , say much more . vi. the holiness , graces , perseverance , obedience , and good works of believers , do them much good , and are profitable to them . read over what i have proved at large , and canst thou doubt whether they benefit us , when they are the vvay to heaven , the means of happiness ? &c. a wise man may be profitable to himself , though not to god , job 22. 2. godliness is profitable to all things ; having the promises of this life , and that which is to come , 1 tim. 4. 8. these things are profitable to men , tit. 3. 8. not only to other men , but principally to our selves . though i have all faith , if i have not charity , i am nothing ; and whatever else i suffer , yet without this it profiteth me nothing , 1 cor. 13. 2 , 3. circumcision , or uncircumcision is nothing , but keeping the commandments of god , 1 cor. 7. 19. sure that 's something ; in keeping these there is great reward , psal. 19. 11. glory honour and peace to every one that doth good ; to the jew first , and also to the gentile , for there is no respect of persons with god , rom. 2. 10 , 11. nehemiah and hezekiah pleaded a false plea , if it were true , there 's nothing to be gotten . the care of saints to adapt their actings to the rule of the promise , is a very needless thing : so run , that ye may obtain , 1 cor. 9. 24. if a man strive for masteries , yet is he not crowned , except he strive lawfully , 1 tim. 2. 5. the galatians must be but little moved when told , ch. 3 , 4. are ye so foolish , &c. have ye suffered so many things in vain ? for all is in vain . is peace of conscience nothing ? is inward rejoycing nothing ? yet , how paul came by these he tells you , 2 cor. 1. 12. for our rejoycing is this , the testimony of our conscience , that in simplicity , and godly sincerity , not with fleshly wisdom , but by the grace of god , we have had our conversation in the world. his directions for inward joy and peace you have , gal. 6. 4. let every man prove his own work , and then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone . i shall not trouble thee with reasons , to prove that grace , holiness , and obedience are useful to prevent evil. i leave it to thy experience , if thou art a good man , and referr it to what thou wilt feel hereafter , i thou art a bad man. if there were no more these do prevent sin , which in chap. 17. i hope to prove is not so innocent as to do us no harm . reader , to summ up all , i appeal to thee , 1. whether god doth require any more of any sinners for salvation , than that they believe in christ , repent of sin , persevere in true holiness , sincere obedience , or good works internal and external ; and if we do so , can we perish ? hath not christ provided all else ? and doth not the promise secure life upon doing these ? 2. if any sinner believe not , and repent not , hath christ ever promised to save him ? will any decree , or the merits of christ secure him ? again , if any penitent believer shall apostatize , prove ungodly , and unfruitful , hate god , or neglect to love god and his neighbour wholly , &c. shall this man be saved ? hath not christ determined the contrary ? will his first faith save him ? a resolution of these two things , according to the very scope of the word , will decide the main of this controversie . these assert the rule of christ's rectoral distributions , and the decree comes not in opposition to the methods of his government , by which we are to govern our hopes and fears . testimonies . the assembly , confess . chap. 19. a. 6. and the elders at the savoy declare , chap. 19. a. 6. the promises ( of the law ) in like manner shew them god's approbation of obedience , and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof ; although not as due to them by the law , as a covenant of works ; so a man's doing , and refraining from evil , because the law encourageth to the one , and deterreth from the other , is no evidence of his being under the law , and not under grace . both the assembly and the elders say , chap. 15. a. 6. the persons of believers being accepted through christ , their good works also are accepted in him , not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable , and unreprovable in his sight ; but he looking upon them in his son , is pleased to accept , and reward that which is sincere , although accompanied with many imperfections . both also tell us , chap. 18. a. 2. that the promises are made to graces . the elders , chap. 15. a. 2. say , that believers sinning , are renewed through repentance to salvation . of the necessity and benefit of faith , i have given their judgment before : the assembly and elders , chap. 1. a. 7. tell us , those things which are necessary to be known , believed , and observed for salvation , are clearly propounded . the assembly's large catechism , q. how doth christ execute the office of a king ? a. ( among other things , they say ) in rewarding their obedience , and correcting them for their sins . q. how is the grace of god manifested in the second covenant ? a. ( among other things ) requiring faith , as the condition of their interest in him , &c. giving his spirit to his elect , &c. to enable them unto all holy obedience , as the evidence of the truth of their faith , and as the way which he hath appointed them to salvation . q. what hath god required , that we may escape the wrath and curse , &c. a. that we may escape the wrath and curse of god , &c. he requireth of us repentance towards god , and faith towards our lord jesus , and the diligent use of the means , &c. you see they think obedience and good works are rewardable ; that the exercise of graces do us much good ; that obedience is the way to salvation ; that we have much to do , and that to escape the wrath and curse . i shall transcribe part of the new-england synod's confutation of that speech of the antimonians . if i am holy , i am never the better accepted of god. if i be unholy , i am never the worse : this i am sure of , be that elected me , must save me . to this the synod answer , this expression imports , that though a man's conversation be never so holy and gracious , yet he can expect never the more manifestation of gods kindness and love to him . contrary to p. 50. ult . and joh. 14. 21. it implies , that though a man's conversation be never so vile , yet he needs not fear , nor expect any expression of god's displeasure and anger to break forth against him , contrary to 2 chron. 15. 2. and in a word , it imports , that god neither loved righteousness , nor hated sin ; and did take no delight in the obedience of his people : contrary to psal. 45. 6 , 7. and 147. &c. it 's true , the foundation of election remaineth sure ; but it 's as true , that whom he chooseth , he purposeth to bring to salvation through sanctification of he spirit , 2 thes. 2. 13 , 14. the 19th . errour of mr. h. all commands in the word are law , and are not a way of life . errour 43. the synod confutes is , the spirit acts most in the saints , when they endeavour least . errour 48. conditional promises are legal . errour 50. it 's poverty of spirit , when we have grace , yet to see we have none in our selves . doctor owen , of justif. p. 222. we grant that , 1. god doth indispensibly require of him ( a justified person ) personal obedience , which may be called his evangelical righteousness . 2. that god doth approve of , and accept in christ , his righteousness so performed . 3. that hereby that faith whereby we are justified , is evidenced , proved , manifested in the sight of god and men. 4. that this righteousness is pleadable unto an acquitment against any charge from satan , the world , or our own consciences . 5. that upon it , we shall be declared righteous at the last day ; and without it , none shall be . and if any shall think meet , from hence to conclude unto an evangelical justification , or call god's acceptance of our righteousness by that name , i shall by no means contend with them . where-ever this enquiry is made not , &c. but how a man that professeth evangelical faith in christ shall be tried , judged , and whereon , as such , he shall be justified : we grant , that it is , and must be by his own personal , sincere obedience . p. 156. it is commonly said , faith and new obedience are the condition of the new covenant , &c. if no more be intended , but that god , in , and by the new covenant , doth indispensibly require these things of us , in order to his own glory , and our full enjoyment of all the benefits of it ; it is unquestionably true . p. 158. our whole obedience , through his gracious appointment , hath a rewardable condecency , with respect unto eternal life . p. 207. these duties are so far necessary unto the continuation of our justification , as that a justified state cannot consist with the sins and vices that are opposite unto them . so the apostle affirms , if we live after the flesh , we shall die . p. 208. if this be that which is intended in this position , that our own obedience and good works are the condition of the continuation of our justification ; namely , that god doth indispensibly require good works and obedience in all that are justified ; so that a justified state is inconsistent with the neglect of them , it is readily granted . the ground of doctor crisp 's mistake . he thinks , because god eternally intended us all benefits in the way he determined , therefore he appoints nothing to men , as the means of partaking of those benefits . whereas this way , christ himself may as well be excluded by the decrees , he not being the cause of election , but the means of effecting it , and all endeavours for life , health , estates , &c. may be as well prevented ; for god hath determined how long we shall live , how rich we shall be , &c. because a sinner can obtain nothing by virtue of the covenant of works ; therefore , what a believer doth , can avail nothing by the grace of the new covenant . because christ hath merited all things as a priest , with a right and purpose to bestow them on the elect , therefore he can fix on no way to bestow them on his elect subjects , as motives to obey him as a king. because he hath delivered us from the legal rule of misery and happiness ; therefore he hath no promises or threats to govern us by in this state of trial. because christ is the only way of atonement and purchase ; therefore there can be no other way of his own ordaining , to obtain the effects of his purchase . because we can merit nothing as of debt for doing , therefore we can of grace receive no benefit by doing , though god doth promise it . because we can do nothing for life , with a thought of buying it , therefore we may do nothing for life , as the end that moves us in the use of indispensibly required means . because god , of his mercy , saves us at last , therefore he shall not , in the mean while , duly govern us , in order to salvation . because we cannot merit pardon , therefore god can order no grace or duty to be , through christ , rewardable with any other blessing . chap. xiv . of intending our souls good by duties we perform . truth . though we ought to intend god's glory as our supream end in all our duties , and design therein the expressing our love and gratitude to god for his benefits , with a great regard to publick good : yet we also lawfully may , and ought to strive after grace , grow in it , and perform holy duties and services ; with an eye to , and concern for our own spiritual and eternal advantage . errour . no man ought to propose to himself any advantage , by any religious duty he performeth . nor ought he in the least intend the profit of his own soul , by any christian endeavours ; it being vain and unlawful to do any thing with an eye to our spiritual or eternal good , though in subordination to god's glory in christ. proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . what i have recited of the doctor 's in the last chapter , will spare much labour here . i will add a few words , p. 150. there is nothing you can do , from whence you ought to expect any gain unto your selves , &c. christ hath redeemed us , that we should not henceforth live to our selves , but to him that died for us , &c. the scripture is plentiful in this , that no believer , for whom christ died , should have the least thought in his heart of promoting or advancing himself , or any end of his own , by doing what he doth . obj. but sure he intends only to exclude a design of meriting , or setting up our own profit in opposition to god's glory . a. no : he intends to forbid our intending our own good , though in subordination to gods glory , and the laying no stress of meriting . for he saith , people may think here 's a marvellous discouragement to persons , to do what god calls them to do , when they shall have nothing for it . i answer , when there is a spirit of ingenuity , they shall be as industrious to glorifie god , and to do good to men , as if they did it for themselves . they shall do as much for good already bestowed , as if they were to procure it by their own doing . now you cannot suppose , men can merit god's glory by what they do : and he argues , that it is dis-ingenuous and vain , to intend our own good at all . saith he , there is no discouragement , because you cannot propound to your selves any possible gain ; but whatever is a spur , or encouragement to duty , is already freely and graciously provided to your hand , &c. when you fall on humiliation , prayer , and self-denial , what do you look for ? &c. saith one , i get this by it , prevention of many great evils hanging over my head , another saith , peace of conscience , joy in the holy ghost , assurance of pardon of sin ; these things would i get by attending on ordinances , by serving god day and night , in that way he calls me out unto . i tell you plainly , there 's none of all these things that conduce a jot towards the obtaining of any of these ends you propose to your selves . p. 149. the world is grown to a miserable pass , that obedience , zeal , and seeking after god , must be of no use at all , except a man himself be a gainer by his obedience , &c. i say , except you will fall upon the performance of duties for the common good and benefit , without having any such conceits , as what shall accrew to you thereby , you are not persons yet come to have that common spirit , and dead to the old spirit , as becomes christians . p. 425. when you labour by prayer , and seeking the lord , to prevail with god to take away his displeasure , &c. and to procure such good , &c. you serve not god now , you serve your selves , &c. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not whether we should principally aim at god's glory in all we do . 2. nor whether we should aim at a publick good with great concern . 3. nor whether gratitude to god deserves our utmost service , and love to him , should influence our aims and labours . 4. nor whether we ought to renounce every thought of purchasing from god , any benefit for what we do . 5. nor whether carnal selfishness , or seeking pleasures , riches , honour , &c. above spiritual and eternal good , be the undoing sin of the world. all these i affirm . wherein the real difference is . 1. whether the spiritual improving , and saving our souls , may be a motive with us to our religious duties and endeavours . this the doctor denies and i affirm . 2. whether our souls advantage be not so joyned with god's glory , that we ought to intend them both , as the scope of our life and labours . the truth confirmed . 1. i have in the last chapter , proved that our graces and duties do benefit us , and god hath appointed them to this end , that thereby we may obtain those benefits ; if so , we then despise god's ordination , in not intending our obtaining the benefits , when we act those graces and duties ; and we obey his will in doing them for that end . 2. all promises and threats in the word , directed as motives to obedience are foolish , if we must not intend our own good by our obedience . how are they arguments with the will , to perswade from our own advantage ? if we must not aim at that advantage in doing the duty , i am perswaded to thereby : when christ saith , come to me and i will give you rest , mat. 11. 28. must not i intend that rest in coming to him ? god saith , turn to me and live , ezek. 18. 32. must not i turn to him for life , or frustrate his use of that argument ? the devil will soon prevail with us to sinful neglects , if he can thus enervate all the pleadings of god with men. the best helps which god hath contrived for our holiness and diligence , are rendred vain , if we must have no eye to the advantages he hath promised to our duties and obedience . how should a crown of glory engage ministers to faithfulness , if they must not aim at it in their labour , 1 pet. 5. 2 , 4. what influence have such pleas ? if we suffer , we shall also reign with him ; if we deny him , he also will deny us , 1 tim. 2. 12. what encouragement is it to suffer , if i must not suffer with an eye to that reigning ? the very substance of the bible proves this point , col. 3. 34 , 25. 1 tim. 4. 16 , &c. 3. the spirit of god approveth of holy men's regard to their own advantage . heb. 11. 26. moses had respect to the recompence of reward . and this is given as the very cause why he esteemed the reproach of christ above the treasures of aegypt : for he had respect , &c. paul governed himself by these regards : for if i do this willingly , i have a reward . they do it to obtain a corruptible crown , but we an incoruptible , 1 cor. 9. 17 , 24. that is , they are temperate , who strive for an earthly crown ; we are temperate and diligent to obtain an eternal crown , 2 cor. 4. 16 , 17. for which cause we faint not , &c. for our light affliction , which is but for a moment , worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory . were all doing for life , and an eye to gain by service , such a legal and wicked thing , as some represent it , sure the blessed jesus would have admonished his disciples , and not answer them as he doth , mat. 19. 27 , 28 , 29. then answered peter , and said unto him , behold we have forsaken all , and followed thee ; what shall we have therefore ? and jesus said unto them , verily , &c. ye shall sit upon twelve thrones , judging the twelve tribes of israel , &c. 4. the doctor 's argument from the vanity of proposing our own gain by labour and duties , because all is fixed and given already ; is to make the decree an effectual means to overthrow the government of christ , and brand all his offers to sinners with weakness and falshood . should not poor sinners pray as they can , abstain from sin , consider and apply the word with an eye to conversion ? why doth god call them to this ? should not they wait and strive to believe and repent , with an eye to forgiveness and escaping vvrath ? vvhy else should god encourage them with an offer of these upon such terms ; and tell the unbelievers , that they refuse these mercies by new forfeitures ? but by the doctor 's scheme , the elect may be idle , and the non-elect do best when they despair ; for there 's no connexion between these benefits , and these graces or duties . and so the non-elect are in the same case with devils , there being no serious offer to them ; nay , their case is worse than devils , for these offers are made to them for no other design , but to increase their condemnation . nay , every sin of their's , is the sin against the holy ghost ; that is , every sin is alike , the unpardonable sin , and not only that blasphemy against the holy ghost . to say no more , christ hath no rule of distributive justice , but his own eternal purpose , and men's regards to his promised benefits , are all forbidden , even when our respect to them , is that which subserves his government , and is supposed in all the methods of it . 5. and why should we intend the glory of god , the service of christ , or the good of others ? are not these as determined as our own good ? hath not god fixed and secured his own glory ? doth christ need our services more than our selves ? shall any other persons receive more good than god hath already given and provided for them ? why should we intend these in our duties , more than our own profit ? the very same reason excuseth from all , and so we ought to intend nothing at all . i could shew , had i room , that we cannot sincerely aim at our souls good , but we therein aim at god's glory . nor doth god ever require us to intend his glory , but in a concurrence with an eye to our own salvation . testimonies . you have seen in the last chapter , the assembly's and congregational elders judgment ; and that we are not the less under grace , for being encouraged to do good by the promises , &c. the case is so plain , that i shall only give the judgment of the greater part of those reverend divines whose names are set in the front of dr. crisp's works , and interpreted by the vveak to a contrary purpose than what they intended . these divines , in the preface to mr. flavel's book against antinomianism , ( which they approve of ) inform us ; that to say , salvation is not the end of any good vvork we do ; or , vve are to act from life , and not for life ; were to abandon the humane nature ; it were to teach us to violate the great precepts of the gospel ; it supposeth one bound to do more for the salvation of others , than our own ; 't were to make all the threatnings of eternal death , and promises of eternal life we find in the gospel of our blessed lord , useless , as motives to shun the one , or obtain the other : it makes the scripture-characters and commendation of the most eminent saints , a fault . had i seen this sooner , it might have spared some of my reasons . the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . because we ought not to do any thing from carnal self-love , therefore we ought to do nothing from rational and spiritual self-love . because christ redeemed us , that we may not live to our selves as our own lords ; therefore we must not , in obeying him , regard the rewards he promiseth us , as he is our lord. because we must aim at god's glory above all ; therefore we must not at all intend our own happiness in the enjoyment of this god. because we must aim at the good of others ; therefore we must not aim at our own good . because we should obey god from gratitude and love ; therefore we should not obey him from any hope , or filial fear . because god hath engaged to give life and happiness to the elect , when they have finished their warfare and work ; therefore they must not intend the obtaining that happiness , in any part of that work or warfare . chap. xv. of the way to attain assurance . truth . the ordinary way whereby a man attaineth a well-grounded assurance , is not by immediate objective revelation ; or an inward voice saying , thy sins are forgiven thee : but when the believer is examining his heart and life by the word , the holy spirit enlightens the mind there to discern faith , and love , and such other qualifications which the gospel declareth to be infallible signs of regeneration : and he adds such power to the testimony of conscience , for the truth and in-being of these graces , as begets in the soul a joyful sense of its reconciled state ; and some comfortable freedom from those fears which accompany a doubting christian ; and according to the evidence of these graces , assurance is ordinarily strong or weak . errour : assurance is not attained by the evidence of scripture-marks or signs of grace , or by the spirits discovering to us that he hath wrought in our hearts any holy qualifications : but assurance comes only by an inward voice of the spirit , saying , thy sins are forgiven thee ; and our believing thereupon that our sins are forgiven . proved that this is doctor crisp's opinion . p. 491. would you know that the lord hath laid your iniquities on christ ; you must know it thus : 1. is there a voice behind thee , or within thee , saying particularly to thee in thy self , thy sins are forgiven thee ? dost thou see this voice agree with the word of grace ? that is , dost thou see it held out to most vile and wretched creatures as thou canst be ; and upon this revelation of the mind of the lord by his spirit , according to that word , doth the lord give thee to receive that testimony of the spirit , to sit down with it , as satisfied that upon this thou makest full reckoning , thou hast propriety in this particularly to thy self ? if thou dost receive that testimony according to that word , here is thy evidence , thou hast thy propriety and portion in this . on this point the doctor spends much time . serm. 15. is to prove , that love to the brethren , universal obedience , sincerity , and singleness of heart , and all other inherent qualifications , are not signs by which we should judge our state . serm. 16. he calls the revealing evidence of the spirit , and endeavours to prove this immediate revelation . p. 473. he puts this objection , we will not deny but it is the voice of the spirit will satisfie the case : but suppose i hear such a voice ? &c. here is the doubt ; if the word it self did bear witness to this particular voice of the spirit , then could i be satisfied this were the voice of the spirit of god that speaks ; but if the word do not bear witness to this voice , &c. i dare not trust it . he answers ; this voice is always according to the word . but , p. 475. he tells us ; the word according to which the spirit of the lord speaks , when he speaks peace to his people , is the word of grace : and that word of grace , is no more but this ; god was in christ , reconciling the world unto himself , not imputing their trespasses unto them : this is the word of grace , according to which it speaks , reconciling the world to himself ; even the world , when men are no otherwise but merely men of the world. reader , thou seest that the spirit 's voice according to the word , is no more than according to the general account , that christ came to save sinners : and so if any sinner have this inward voice , that voice is according to the word , whether he be a regenerate person or no. the doctor in this page , and page 476. shews , that if this voice be according to this general rule , we must not try it by any thing else , or question it . and adds , as for example ; there is the voice of the word of grace , we are justified freely by his grace ; and there is this voice in the spirit of man , telling him according to this word , that his sins are forgiven him . how shall i know ( saith he ) that this voice is the voice of the spirit of god ? for answer , let me ask but this question ; is there any thing in the world of better credit than the spirit himself ? and , p. 474. beware that you make not the credit of the voice of the spirit to depend upon the word . obj. but he seems to allow faith to give assurance . but i ans. he tells us , p. 491. not as a revealing evidence , nor as an effecting evidence ; but it is a receiving evidence ; or it is an evidence , as it doth receive that testimony which the spirit holds out , &c. faith doth take possession of that which the spirit reveals and manifests to a person , &c. it clears the title to us ▪ though good in it self before , &c. and , p. 493. faith is the echo of the heart , to the voice of the spirit . the doctor 's meaning is , that faith doth not evidence our pardon , as it is a grace wrought in the soul by the spirit , or as a holy qualification ; but only as it doth assent to , and rest in this inward voice . obj. but he seems to own that sanctification is some evidence ? a. he tells us how , p. 482. viz. when the testimony of the spirit is received by faith , and the soul sits down satisfied with that testimony of the lord ; then also the gifts of god's spirit do bear witness together with the spirit of the lord , and the faith of a believer . you see there must be assurance first , and then these do witness after ; not to guide our hopes , but over and above . see p. 100. there 's no better way to know your portion in christ , than on the general tender of the gospel , to conclude absolutely he is yours . wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not : whether the spirit witnesseth by his miraculous operations to christ , and the gospel ; which is a truth , and the meaning of many of the texts which the doctor produceth . 2. nor , whether the spirit , as a worker of grace in the heart , be an earnest of glory , and witness to our state. 3. nor , whether the spirit witnesseth by and with the conscience , in the manifestation of our graces for assurance . 4. nor , whether the spirit of god may , in some extraordinary cases , give an immediate testimony by a voice or some equivalent impressions . but then there is the truth of grace in the heart , though it was doubted before ; and nothing utterly inconsistent with true grace , either is in the heart , nor then appeareth to the conscience . all these i affirm . the real difference . 1. whether none attain assurance but by the inward voice of the spirit pronouncing the actual forgiveness of their sins , without manifesting their true grace and sanctification . this the doctor affirms , and i deny . 2. whether the usual way of attaining assurance , is by the conscience upon trial discerning and concluding , through the help of the spirit , that a man hath those graces or signs which describe a man blessed and pardoned , according to the gospel . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . the truth confirmed . 1. this is the way which god appoints to attain assurance . 2 cor. 13. 5. examine your selves , whether you be in the faith ; prove your own selves ; know ye not that christ is in you , except you be reprobates ? here we are to try : what 's our great enquiry to be about ? are we in the faith ? which may respect faith inherent , or the doctrine of faith professed . he concludes , they must inferr christ is in them , except they had vile hearts ; or were men , as to the frame of their hearts , unapproved by god. for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports , 2 pet. 1. 10. give all diligence to make your calling and election sure . how was this to be done ? by adding grace to grace ; abounding therein , and carefully looking that these things be in you . see from ver . 5. to 11. 2. this is the way whereby the scripture-saints were assured : they concluded their justification by sanctification ; and a state of peace by the truth of grace . 1 joh. 3. 14. we know that we have passed from death to life , because we love the brethren . ver. 9. and hereby we know that we are of the truth , and shall assure our hearts before him . how was this ? see ver. 18. let us not love in word , neither in tongue ; but in deed , and in truth : and hereby we know , &c. thus david , paul , and other saints , concluded the safety of their state . 3. conscience is bound to condemn every man in whom the contrary to these graces do appear ; yea , where it 's evident that they are wholly wanting . it 's otherwise a seared conscience , 2 tim. 4. 2. it is not the candle of the lord in man. now there can be no assurance where the conscience condemns ; as the apostle argueth , 1 joh. 3. 19 , 20 , 21. 4. the spirit witnesseth with our spirit , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rom. 8. 16. it doth not witness before our spirit doth witness : it is not a separate testimony from our spirits , but it concurs with our spirit as its instrument : our spirits witness in the light of the spirit ; as 1 cor. 9. 1. my conscience bearing me witness in the holy ghost . 5. a testimony of the spirit giving an evidence of pardon , without any evidence of grace , is not according to the word of grace ; for the word of grace never declareth any sinners are pardoned , but believing , penitent sinners . it is not as mere sinners the word pardoneth ; for it flatly condemneth , and leaves guilt on all impenitent unbelievers ; as i have proved , chap. 8. 12. therefore if there should be a voice , a true voice of god carrying it 's own evidence , saying , thy sins are forgiven ; it doth at the same time , and by the same voice , witness to the truth of our grace ; because he forgives no other , according to the word of the gospel . and if the spirit should say to an impenitent soul , thou art pardoned , while such ; it is no promise in the gospel , nor according to it ; but a new promise , and not to be tried by the vvord ; and the writers thereof having had more of the spirit , than any now can pretend to , it 's dangerous to rest on that voice which will not bear the tryal by the vvord , &c. 6. to have the ordinary way of assurance to be as it 's stated by the opposite errour , hath very dangerous consequences . most saints must quit their hopes and assurance ; for they never had this voice , though they have greater stamps of the spirit , than any i ever knew pretend to this : it makes all examination useless and vain : it overturneth one of the great uses god hath assigned to the work of his grace on the heart : it makes assurance impossible without this miraculous voice ; which can hardly carry its evidence to a soul that hath no grace at all : it 's a way too far enthusiastick to be allowed in so stated a case : it gives the devil a great advantage against sinners to live in sin ; and against honest people , if once they find cause to question this voice : yea , it sets up the spirit against it self , if any can boast of assurance by this voice , when their state is justly challengeable by the gospel , as wanting all sight of gospel-marks . testimonies . the assembly , in confes. ch . 18. a. 2. say , it 's an infallible assurance of faith , founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation , the inward evidences of those graces unto which these promises are made ; the testimony of the spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits , that we are the children of god. and , a. 3. they tell us , a believer being enabled by the spirit , may , without extraordinary revelation , in the right use of ordinary means , attain thereunto : and therefore it is the duty of every one , to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure , that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the holy ghost , &c. as say the cong . elders , chap. 18. a. 3. see a. 4. both shew how assurance may be revived from the graces in the heart . the synod of new-england oft confute the contrary errour ; which it seems was one that sadly troubled them . errour 44. no create● work can be a manifest sign of god's love. errour 47. the seal of the spirit is limited only to the immediate witness of the spirit ; nor doth ever witness to any work of grace , or conclusion by a syllogism . errour 67. a man cannot evidence his justification by his sanctification , but he must needs build upon his sanctification , and trust to it . errour 72. it 's a soul-damning errour , to make sanctification an evidence of justification . errour 77. sanctification is so far from evidencing a good state , th●● it darkens it rather ; and a man may more clearly see christ when he seeth no sanctification , than when he doth : the darker my sanctification is , the brighter is my justification . the synod shew at large how each of these are contrary to the scriptures : and one 〈◊〉 the evil speeches they confute , p. 19. i may know i am christ's : not because i do crucif●● the lusts of the flesh , but believe in christ that crucified my lusts for me . see errour 63 , 69. the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . because the spirit of god is a comforter ; therefore he cannot comfort us , by helping us to see the vvork of his grace , in order to joy in his blessings . because the spirit was to convince the world of christ's righteousness , as what alone could procure life ; therefore he tells men that they have an interest in it , without shewing them any change on their hearts . because he was to take of christ's fulness , and shew it to his disciples ; therefore he immediately speaks peace to the hearts of such as are , or at least appear his resolved enemies . because by the spirit of adoption , we cry , abba , father ; therefore we need not find any love to god , to know that we are his children . because the spirit witnesseth with our spirits , that we are the children of god ; therefore he witnesseth alone , without so much as revealing to our spirits , that we have the temper of children : whereas there are many great effects of the spirit manifest on the souls of them to whom the apostle speaks , rom. 8. 11 , 12 , 14 , 15 , 16. and the design of the place , is more to express our dignity , and free access to god , under a gospel-state , than mere assurance of forgiveness . because a natural man cannot perceive the riches of the promise , and the spirit enableth a spiritual man , by his teachings , to perceive the nature of them ; therefore by an immediate voice he discovers to the natural man his propriety in them , even while he is and appears natural . because there is imperfection in the graces of a saint ; therefore he cannot see the sincerity of them by the help of the spirit , without an immediate voice . chap. xvi . of god's seeing sin in believers , and their guilt by it , &c. truth . the sins of believers have the loathsomness of sin adhering to them ; which god seeth , and accounteth the committers guilty thereby : and they ought to charge themselves therewith , so as to stir up themselves to repentance , and renew their actings of faith on christ for forgiveness . nevertheless , they ought not thereby to fear their being out of a justified state , further than their falls give them just cause of suspecting that sin hath dominion over them ; and that their first believing on christ , was not sincere . errour . god seeth no sin in believers , though he see the fact ; neither doth he charge them with any sin ; nor ought they to charge themselves with any sin , nor be at all sad for them ; nor confess , repent , or do any thing as a means of their pardon ; no , nor in order to assuring themselves of pardon , even when they commit murther , adultery , or the grossest vvickedness . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . reader , note , that the doctor speaks most of this concerning a person as elect ; though he uses the word believer sometimes , because he alone knows that he is elect , by believing it p. 436 though such persons do act rebellion , yet the loathsomness , and abominableness , and hatefulness of this rebellion , is laid on the back of christ ; he bears the sin , as well as the blame and shame , &c. and that 's the only reason why god can dwell with those persons that do act the thing ; because all the filthiness of it , is transacted from them , on the back of christ. he puts an objection ; how should god know every sin the believer doth commit , and yet god not remember them ? he answers , after many words ; though god remembers the things thou hast done , yet he doth not remember them as thine , &c. for he remembers perfectly they are none of thine ; and when he pass'd them over to christ , they ceased to be thine any longer . p. 364. the lord hath not one sin to charge upon an elect person , from the first moment of conception , to the last moment of life ; no , nor original sin is not to be laid upon him , the lord hath laid it on christ already . p. 365. every elect vessel of god , from the first instant of his being , is as pure in the eyes of god from the charge of sin , as he shall be in glory . p. 298. it 's the voice of a lying spirit in your hearts , that saith , that you that are believers , have yet sin wasting your consciences , and lying as a burthen too heavy for you to bear . &c. obj. was not david a justif●●● person , and did not he bear his own sin ? my sins are gone over my head , &c. after several things , he answers ; i must tell you , all that david speaks here , he speaks from himself ; and all that david speaks from himself , was not truth , &c. david might mistake , that god should charge his sin upon him , &c. p. 213. in a word , before a believer doth confess his sin , he may be as certain of the pardon of it , as after confession : i say , there is as much ground to be confident of the pardon of sin to a believer , as soon as ever he hath committed it , though he hath not made a solemn act of confession , as to believe it after he hath performed all the humiliation in the world , &c. a believer may be assured of pardon , as soon as he commits any sin : ( the sins he speaks of , are adultery and murther . ) p. 215. but you will say , all the promises of pardon do run with this proviso , in case men humble themselves ; in case men do this and that , then pardon is theirs , but otherwise it 's none of theirs ? take heed of such doctrine . p. 52. there is nothing but joy and gladness . obj. but some will say , believers find it otherwise ; there is not such joy and gladness , but they are often oppressed with sadness , and heaviness of spirit . i answer ; there is not one fit of sadness in any believer whatsoever , but he is out of the way , christ , &c. i say the soul is first satisfied of forgiveness of sins , before there is that real , kindly mourning in those that are believers . p. 15. god doth no longer stand offended nor displeased , though a believer , after he is a believer , do sin often . and it 's no wonder ; for he saith a few lines after , except god will be offended where there is no cause to be offended , ( which is blasphemy to speak , ) he will not be offended with believers : for i say he hath no cause to be offended with a believer ; because he doth not find the sin of the believer , to be his own sin , but he finds it to be the sin of christ. see more , p. 413 , 416 , 418 , 419 , 425 , &c. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not : vvhether a believer doth by new sins fall from a justified state . 2. nor , whether god doth upon new crimes judicially charge the christian with those sins he had pardoned before , though he may present to his view some former sins for his further humblings . 3. nor , whether a believer ought to question his justified state , upon any sins that do not give just suspicion that sin hath dominion over him , or his faith was not true . 4. nor , whether any past sins , and sins present at his first believing , be unpardoned . 5. nor , whether renewed acts of faith , humiliation , repentance , fasting , or reformation , do merit pardon . 6. nor , whether a principle of life given at our first conversion , will finally fail to exert it self in due humblings for repeated enormities , and in holy resolves . 7. nor , whether the same degrees of humblings be necessary for all crimes , and in all persons , and in all times . 8. nor , whether any gross miscarriage should cause a saint to condemn all past experience , and conclude his graces to be counterfeit . each of these i deny . 9. nor , whether a sense of pardon ought not to affect and melt the heart ? 10. nor whether some true penitents may not sometimes be too much dejected and overwhelmed with sorrow for sin ? 11. nor whether a general exercise of faith and repentance do not answer the gospel-rule of forgiveness , as to sins of ignorance , infirmity , and surprise ? these three last i affirm . the real differences . 1. whether an elect sinner be at any time a guilty person in god's esteem ? this the doctor denies , and i affirm ; i have proved in chap. 1 , 3. 7 , 12. 2. whether the remains of sin defile us ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies against all protestants , who prove it of original sin against the papists . 3. whether a justified person , falling into gross enormities , is defiled thereby , and contracts guilt upon himself thereby ? this the doctor denies and i do affirm . 4. whether god esteems the repeated abominations of believers , not to be their own crimes , and they not to be the sinners , but they are christ's sins ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; which i have cleared , chap. 3. and 4. and 7. 5. whether a justified person , upon new provocations , is charged by god , and ought to charge himself as guilty and defiled , so as in god's appointed way , to repent , believe , renew his covenant , and be earnest with god for forgiveness ? this the doctor denies , and i afirm . 6. whether all sins past , present and to come , are actually pardoned at once ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . 7. whether god hath required new exercises of faith and repentance for their actual pardon ? this the doctor denies , and i affirm . 8. whether a believer ought to be as assured of the forgiveness of his repeated provocations , just when he hath committed them , and before he hath humbled himself , renewed actings of faith on christ , repeated his covenant , and prayed for pardon for christ's sake , as after he hath thus done ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny . the truth confirmed . i have said so much , chap. 3. 4 , 8 , 10 , 12 , 13. that tends to clear this point , that i shall single out now only the substance of what was least insisted on . 1. god doth see and charge a believer with his new enormities , as his sins , and not christ's : 2 sam. 12. 9. why hast thou despised the commandment of the lord , to do this evil in his sight ? it was an evil , it was in god's sight , it 's charged by god on david : psal. 90. 8. thou hast set our iniquities before thee . i hope moses was not mistaken . all god's reproofs of his people for sin , all his calls to reformation from sin , all his declarations against them as polluted by sin , are so many arguments to prove this ; yea , all his threats , all his anger , all his corrections witness hereto . sure all these are not the effects of christ's sins . 2. a believer ought to charge himself with his own sins . god commands this in all the calls to confession , humiliation , &c. doth not paul reprove the corinthians for neglecting this ? did you ever find a saint in scripture still refuse to own his guiltiness before god , upon his falling into sin : against thee have i sinned , and done evil in thy sight , psal. 51. 4. i have sinned , against heaven , and before thee , luk. 15. 21. read ezra's , nehemiah's and daniel's confessions . 3. new transgressions need renewed pardon , and all sins are not pardoned at once . to say nothing , how impossible it is , i believe christ would never teach his own people to pray daily for pardon , if they did not need it , and it could not be repeated , mat. 6. 12. forgive us our debts . how oft do we find the servants of god renew their prayers for remission ? they oft beg god would blot out sin as a debt , psal. 51. 9. wash it away as a stain , remit it as a fault , remember it not as a crime binding to punishment , the church complains we have rebelled , and thou hast not pardoned , lam. 3. 42. so job 7. 21. 4. humiliation , confession , sorrow of heart , new resolutions , and looking to christ for healing , are the duties of saints upon new faults , and the work god hath appointed them , in order to his repeated acts of forgiveness ; though these do not forgive us , yet it 's this way god declareth he will forgive , jer. 36. 3. it may be , the house of judah will hear , &c. and return every one from his evil way , that i may forgive their iniquity and their sin. 1 joh. 1. 9. if we confess our sins , he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins . the apostle includes himself , and calls the best a liar that disowns his sins , and thinks he needs no pardon ; confession is what should be repeated as sin returns , and this so qualifies for pardon according to the promise , that forgiveness upon it is an act of faithfulness in god : 1 cor. 11. 31. if we would judge our selves , we should not be judged : vvhich the apostle speaks to believers guilty of undue approaches to the lord's table . read the scriptures , and wilt thou not find saints repenting , and acting faith in order to pardon , and god pressing them thereto for that very purpose , and continuing a controversie with them , while these are neglected ? if a man were thrice stung , must not he thrice look to the brazen serpent for healing ? see solomon's prayer in a type of christ's intercession , as it respected the temple ; there thou wilt find who were pardoned , 1 kings 8. 33 , 34 , 35 , 38 , 39 , 48 , 49. 5. believers ought to be more assured of pardon , and joyful after renewed acts of repentance and faith ; then assoon as they have grosly sinned , and before these acts. it 's otherwise against that wise order which god hath stated for a due reverence to him , and for caution to man , who is so prone to offend : num. 12. 14. if her father had spit in her face , should she not be ashamed seven days ? let her be shut out of the camp seven days . the people of god have had those sad fits which the doctor condemns , and when sin greatly breaks out , they do well become them . paul calls the contrary frame under guilt , a being puffed up , and calls to mourning , 1 cor. 5. 2. and commends their carefulness , indignation , fear , zeal , revenge and godly sorrow , 2 cor. 7. 8 , 9 , 11. and till there was much of this in the incestuous person , he was not restored : and indeed , considering god remits or binds in heaven , according to what his church doth justly on earth ; either the pardon of the not repenting offender is suspended , or censures are vain , need i give you david's experience ? psal. 32. 3 , 5. when i kept silence , my bones waxed old , through my roaring all the day long ; for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me : i acknowleged my sin unto thee ; i said , i will confess my transgressions unto the lord , and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. here 's great darkness and trouble before confession ; here 's forgiveness upon it , and it 's the iniquity of his sin is pardoned , not the action separated from its filthiness : and v. 6. this practice of his was to be a teaching instance to all saints in the like case , for this shall every one that 's godly pray unto thee , &c. testimonies . the assembly , and congregational elders , chap , 11. a. 5. do both declare , god doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified , and although they can never fall from the state of justification , yet they may by their sins fall under god's fatherly displeasure , and in that condition they have not usually the light of his countenance restored to them , until they humble themselves , confess their sins , beg pardon , and renew their faith and repentance . and chap. 15. a. 6. as every man is bound to make private confession of his sins to god , praying for the pardon thereof , upon which , and the forsaking thereof , he shall find mercy , &c. the provincial synod of london , p. 16. condemn this as one of doctor crisp's errors : the lord hath not one sin to charge upon any elect person , &c. another errour is , if a man know himself to be in a state of grace , though he be drunk , or commit murther , god sees no sin in him . the new-england synod confute this as errour 64. a man must take no notice of his sin , nor of his repentance for it . doctor owen , of justif. p. 202 , 203 , 205 , 207. at large asserts , that sins are not actually pardoned before they are committed ; that there is guilt contracted by new sins ; that the conscience of a believer is pressed , and he is humbled , and required to repent , and must renew acts of faith for the pardon of new sins . new-england synod condemns that as errour 20. to call in question , whether god be my dear father upon the commission of hainous sins , as ( murther , incest , &c. ) doth prove a man to be in the covenant of works . the ground of the doctor 's mistake . because our sins were laid on christ , that god might , to his glory , forgive them in his appointed way ; therefore they are actually forgiven before god forgives them in that way , or that way be complied with . because god doth blot out , and wash throughly away , and not remember the pardoned sins of penitent believers ; therefore he doth wash , blot out , and not remember the unpardoned sins of impenitent persons ; whereas there is not one of those , to whom these promises are made , but god hath charged sin upon them before . because god commands israel , isa. 1. to wash and make themselves clean by repentance ; therefore we are clean without it . because god can have no communion with a sinner out of christ ; therefore he can have no communion with an imperfect believer , in a christ. chap. xvii . of the hurt that sin may do to believers . truth . it 's true of believers , that if sin should have dominion over them , they would thereby be subject to condemnation . and though the grace of god will prevent the dominion of sin in every elect believer , and so keep them from eternal death ; yet true believers may by sin bring great hurt upon themselves in soul and body , which they ought to fear , and they may expect a share in national judgments , according as they have contributed to common guilt . errour . the grossest sins that believers can commit , cannot do them the least harm ; neither ought they to fear the least hurt by their own sins , nor by national sins ; yea , though themselves have had a hand therein . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . p. 510 , 511. they need not be afraid of their sins , they that have god for their god ; there is no sin that ever they commit , can possibly do them any hurt : therefore , as their sins cannot hurt them , so there is no cause of fear in their sins committed , &c. there is not one sin , nor all the sins together of any believer , can possibly do that believer any real hurt . this he attempts to prove from rom. 7. some will be ready to say , here is a fear of sin : oh wretched man , that i am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? but give me leave to tell you , that the apostle in this chapter , as i conceive , doth personate a scrupulous spirit , and doth not speak out his present case , &c. obj. sure the doctor only meaneth , that sin shall not damn them . a. hear him putting this case : you will say no condemnation in hell ; but yet as there are remainders of sin in god's own people , so there will some evil or other fall upon the commission of sin. he summs up his answer thus : now sin is condemned to the believer , it can do no hurt at all to him . p. 513. sins are but scare-crows and bug-bears to fright ignorant children ; but men of insight and understanding , see they are counterfeit things , &c , they are to know for certain , it is but a mad thing , there is no fear from the sins of believers , all the terrour and fearfulness of sin , christ himself hath drunk it , &c. sin is dead , and there is no more terrour in it , than is in a dead lion. p. 515. he shews , that the sins of the nation cannot hurt god's people , though they had a hand in them . p. 429. are you sinful in respect of the prevalency of corruption ? let it not come into your thoughts that you are worse than others , or less than others . p. 522. so oft as men fear affliction from sin committed , so oft do they slander the grace of god. see p. 429 , 413 , 510 , 562 , 559. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not , whether god will preserve elect believers from eternal condemnation , by keeping them from the dominion of sin ? 2. nor whether a justified person be freed from the curse of the law , or the sanction of the law of vvorks . 3. nor whether a believer should fear his eternal condemnation no farther than his sins bring his sincerity in question , or lead to security or apostacy . 4. nor whether god may in soveraign mercy , spare to execute those rebukes , national or personal , which a godly man's sins may expose him to . 5. nor whether god may , and can , over-rule the sin of a believer afterwards to his benefit . all these i affi●m . 6. nor whether the afflictions of the godly be the execution of the damnatory curse of the law , or any satisfaction or atonement for sin ? this i deny , and add , that christ alone satisfied justice . the real difference . 1. whether , according to the gospel-rule , if a believer should yield up himself to the dominion of sin , he should perish ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies , against plain texts directed to believers ; as rom. 8. 13. 2. vvhether a believer , falling into such sins , as idolatry , murther , &c. ought not to awe his soul against security , with lively thoughts of damnation ; and if he continue long herein , ought not he to suspect the state of his soul , as in danger of hell ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies ; and thereby he renders the gospel-threatnings , as urged by the spirit on the hearts of believers , to be all foolish . 3. vvhether christ is at liberty sharply to afflict a justified person for provoking sins , though he be secured against soul-destroying judgments ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies . 4. vvhether a believer , falling into great sins , ought to fear god's present rebukes for such sins ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies . 5. vvhether great offences be a real hurt to a believer , and oft brings on him much present harm . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . the case of national sins is concluded as these be , and i have elsewhere spoken to . the truth confirmed . the principal point to be proved , is , that sins do a believer hurt ; this will convince us of the rest , for as it brings hurt , it is the object of fear in all that wisely resent things . and as any threatned affliction is caused by it , it argues a power reserved in christ so to threaten and afflict : both which i have proved , chap. 13. one would think a little labour will serve to prove a point , which the feeling and experience of all men plead for ; yet take a hint of those heads of arguments which might be improved . 1. sin it self is a great hurt to any man guilty of it , or pestered with it : it 's so called , jer. 8. 11. it s a wound , or we need no healing ; it 's a defilement , or we need no washing ; it 's a crime , or what 's forgiveness ? it's a going astray , or where 's the use of returning ? it's a weakness , or strengthning after it were needless . is that no harm , which is a blemish to our natures , the disease of our souls , the disorder of our state , in reference to god and our selves , as depending on him . if sin be no harm , why should we pray against it ? why doth god so warn us still against it ? why doth grace so oppose it ? why doth the spirit strive against it ? wherefore do we praise god for preventing it ? on what account hath god made it the duty of magistrates and parents to punish for it ? and of ministers to censure the transgressors ? if it 's become so innocent in his people , why doth christ complain so oft of it ? why should the doctor tell us , we should fear it before we commit it , though not after ? why should saints desire heaven to be rid of sin ? can that be a small mischief , that dishonoureth god , reproacheth the name of christ , grieves the spirit , pleases the devil , offends the good , hardens the wicked , puts the tender heart on mourning for it in it self , yea , in others ? psal. 119. 136. if sin be no hurt , grace and holiness , as the contraries to it , are not good ; nothing is a blessing , as a prevention of it . where shall i stop ? yet each of these refer to the sins of god's own people , and some of them more affect their sins , than the sins of other men. 2. there 's great hurt befalls god's people for committing sin. doth not god hide his face ? the spirit abate its influences ? is not the conscience oft seared ? the heart oft less capable of impressions by the vvord ? the soul streightned in duty ? great decays in grace and vigour , too oft never recovered this side the grave ? many are rendred incapable of service by reproach for sin , or by poverty , diseases , &c. vvho hath not found by sin , what he must call hurt ? vvhat pains , loss of friends , ruine on estates , blasts on undertakings ? are vvars , plagues , fire , removal of ordinances , famine , cursed relations , &c. no hurt ? sure so many will not be proselyted to this opinion , as to transubstantiation . but what can . be offered for it ? obj. god will order all this for the good of a believer ; therefore none of these hurt him . 1. a. i do not know where god hath promised , thatsin shall do us good , and in its nature it hath no aptness to good , and the best good it can do , is to prevent it self . rom. 8. 28. saith , all things shall work together for good , &c. but it speaks of sufferings for christ , not sins against him ; and though god should over-master it to some concurrence for good , yet it were a greater mercy to receive that same good by other means . 2. a. though sins , or corrective afflictions may be ruled to do us good , yet that doth not hinder , but that they do us hurt . this may be evinced , not only because it were a greater mercy to have that good another way , which , but for sin , we should not miss of : but also 1. vvhatever god threatens to inflict , that thereby he may dissuade from sin , must needs be a hurt or damage . it is not a threatning , if it include no harm , and it 's a reproach to our god in his government to think otherwise . vvhat confounding of promises and threats would it inferr ? doth not god intend to awe men with some hurt , when he saith , rev. 2. 5. remember , &c. or i will remove thy candlestick out of its place ; and was this no hurt when it befell them ? i might instance a thousand places of this kind . 2. saints , with god's approbation , bewail and deprecate sins , and punishments for sins , as a real hurt . why hast thou hardned our hearts from thy fear , &c. isa. 63. 17. for the hurt of the daughter of my people , i am black , astonishment hath taken hold on me , jer. 8. 21. the book of lamentations , haman's , david's moans are forgotten . read pauls complaints of himself and others . 3. god himself accounts these things to hurt his people , for he calls it patience and long-suffering in him , to forbear inflicting them . he oft declares his pity of his people , when under them , and a ceasing to pity , when he inflicts them , isa. 63. 9. joel 2. 8. jer. 13 4. the removal of these he declares to be an act of mercy and goodness . read the prophets , and you 'll find what terms he gives these : viz. wounding , smiting , spoiling , &c. he oft testifieth against insensibleness of these , as evil and afflictive things , and threatens to encrease them , to beget a duer sence of sin and judgments . sure i need not add , that mercies opposite to these are blessings , and promised as such ; all the good in repentance argues the hurt we get by sin , and by the effects of it . if these things will not prove sin brings hurt , we must declare patience in saints to be no grace , or find a new description of what is a hurt in this vvorld . the doctor indeed calls us to this when sin is made so innocent , and present with-holdings of more grace from us is a mercy ; as he affirms , p. 541. let me add , that by sin , a saint's degrees of glory may be diminished in another vvorld ; for sowing sparingly , he shall reap sparingly , and he therefore that shall break one of the least of these commandements , and shall teach men so , he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven , mat. 5. 19. that 's unprofitable for you , heb. 13. 17. testimonies . the assembly , and cong . elders , chap. 19. a. 6 tell us , the threatnings of the law are of use to the regenerate , to shew what even their sins deserve , and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them , although freed from the curse threatned in the law. chap. 18. a. 4 true believers may have the assurance of salvation divers ways shaken and diminished , &c. by falling into some special sin , which woundeth the conscience , and grieveth the spirit , by some vehement temptation , by god's withdrawing the light of his countenance . chap. 17. a. 3. saints may fall into grievous sins , and for a time continue therein ; whereby they incurr god's displeasure , and grieve his holy spirit ; come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts ; have their hearts hardened , and their consciences wounded ; hurt and scandalize others , and bring temporal judgments on themselves . turretin , tells us , instit. theol. par . 2. p. 650. that a believer falling into gross crimes , incurreth the fatherly indignation of god , loseth a present meetness for glory , contracts damning guilt : so that if he remain impenitent in that state , he ought to conclude himself liable to death , and certain to perish , except he return . do not divines generally conclude , that if david had not repented of his gross sins he fell into , he had perished ? dr. owen as much discovers the hurt of sins to believers , as most men do . see mr. a. burgess , of justification , lib. 1. from 240. to 245. the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . because there is no eternal condemnation lies against a believer ; therefore there is no penal present affliction upon a believer : whereas there 's much hurt below hell ; and and that it is not hell that follows the sin of a believer , is not from the innocency of sin , but the grace of god that brings him to repentance , and faith in christ for remission . because all sufferings for christ work for good ; therefore all sins against christ can do no harm . but allow that sins , and sufferings for sin , were included , then thus it reasoneth ; because god can and doth over-rule these to some good at last ; therefore they do no harm in the mean while , nor in any degree . because a believer is freed from the damning curse of the law ; therefore no gospel-threatning of christ can reach him . because some good men are some times humbled and awakened by sin , as it 's an evil ; therefore to them it is not an evil. chap. xviii . of god's displeasure for sin ▪ in the afflictions of his people . truth . though god is not so angry with his people for their sins , as to cast them out of his covenant-favour ; yet by their sins he is so displeased , as for them to correct his children , though he speaks instructions by his rebukes . errour . none of the afflictions of believers have in them the least of god's displeasure against their persons , for their sins . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . he affirmeth , p. 15. except god will be offended where there is no cause to be offended , he will not be offended with believers : for , i say , he hath no cause to be offended with the believer ; because he doth not find the sin of the believer to be his own sin , but he finds it the sin of christ. p. 19 , 10. but are not the afflictions of believers , for their sins ? i answer , no : afflictions are unto believers from sin , not for sin ; that is , god doth not intend to punish them , as now laying on them the desert of their sin , for that 's laid upon christ ; but he doth afflict them , to preserve them from sin , &c. so god afflicting a believer , hath no respect unto sin , as if he did afflict for sin , &c. i say , in respect of the sins committed , which he thus suspects , there is not the least drop of the displeasure of god , nor the fruit of such displeasure comes near him . which he endeavours to prove . the like you 'll oft find , p. 170. at that instant god brings afflictions on thee , he doth not remember any sin of thine , they are not in his thoughts . p. 561. christ being chastized for our sins , there is nothing but peace belongs to us , &c. p. 559. if we tell believers , &c. except they perform such and such duties ; except they walk thus and thus holily , and do these and these good works , they shall come under wrath ; at least , god will be angry with them ; what do we in this but abuse the scriptures ? we undo all that christ hath done , we injure believers , we tell god lies to his face . wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not : whether god ceaseth to love a believer when he sinneth . 2. nor , whether the afflictions that befall a believer , proceed from the vindictive justice of god , as an enemy . these i deny . 3. nor , whether god can bless the sorest judgments for sins , to the future good of a believer . this i affirm ; though were it not for our sins , god would effect that good a milder way : and i doubt whether every good man may be said to get profit by all sorts of affliction ; for every degree of good is not equivalent to the hurt ; and sometimes god punisheth sin with sin. 4. nor , whether some sensible calamities may fall on a good man ; not so much in a way of rebuke for sin , as to try his graces , prevent sin , or bring glory to god by a testimony to the truth . this i affirm : yet i believe the very martyrs did not so glory in the joyful cause of their sufferings , as always to neglect an humble reflexion on what sin of theirs might then justifie god , as a hidden cause of their hardships . the real difference . 1. whether god be at all displeased with believers , for their abominations . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . 2. whether god at any time or by any afflictions , expresseth his displeasure against his people for their sins . this i affirm , and the doctor denies . the truth confirmed . reader , know that there 's none of all this but dr. crisp meaneth it of the unconverted elect : for their sins are on christ , and off from themselves as much as believers . their sins do them no hurt ; nor is god angry with them , though god saith he is angry with the wicked every day . but let us consider the points , as they referr to believers . 1. i affirm , god is displeased with believers , for their abominations . if he is displeased at all with them , it must be for their sins : and that he is displeased ; yea , and chat for sin , he oft affirms it ; he forceth his people to own it , and they with bitterness bemoan and acknowlege it . psal. 60. 1 , 3. o god , thou hast cast us off ! thou hast been displeased ! o turn thy self to us again ! thou hast shewed thy people hard things ! thou hast made us drink the wine of astonishment ! 2. sam. 11. 27. that david had done , displeased the lord. and you may read how he threatned and punished him . was not his anger kindled against moses ? exod. 4. 14. against his people ? isa. 5. 25. & 12. 11. moses saith , the lord was angry with me , deut. 4. 21. the lord was very angry with aaron , deut. 9. 21. christ was oft displeased with his disciples . how oft is god's anger said to be provoked by his people , and kindled against them ? he is said to turn away from his fierce anger : is it not his anger against them , which is but for a moment , and to be turned away ? i hope the doctor would own , that it never ceaseth against sin it self . nay his very fury and wrath be oft mentioned against his own servants . read the sixteenth of ezekiel ; a verse or two whereof is so abused by the doctor , thou hast fretted me in all these things , &c. cannot good men grieve the holy ghost ? what doth the church intend , when she saith i ll bear the indignation of the lord , because i have sinned against him ? mic. 7. 9. 2. god doth by many afflictions express his displeasure against his people for their sins . i have in the last chapter proved , that sins do hurt a believer ; and all there spoken , proves this , as far as the hand of god is in our rebukes . besides those things , consider , god is oft said to rebuke and chastize his people for sin : they are not the less chastisements of a father , if at present grievous , though afterwards they bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness . the great promise of the covenant doth not prevent this . psal. 89. 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34. if his children for sake my law , &c. then will i visit their transgressions with a rod , and their iniquity with stripes ; nevertheless , my loving-kindness will not i utterly take from them , &c. are not these stripes for sin ? are not these stripes corrections ? yea , and so much from god's displeasure , that it is but a not utterly that god will not take away his loving-kindness ; and that it riseth no higher , is for the covenant sake how oft doth god tell us , that he punisheth his church , because of their sins committed ; and gives this as the therefore ? what is god's visiting the transgressions of his people ? was it for an innocent thing that christ rebuked peter ? mark 8. 33. and was it not for luke-warmness that he rebuked and chastned those laodiceans whom he loved ? rev. 3. 19. was not that for sin , which you find , 1 cor. 11. 30. for this cause many are weak and sickly among you , and many sleep ? what meaneth god , when he saith he 'll be sanctified in his offending children ? he cannot hide his face for sin , nor abate his gracious influences for sin , and not shew displeasure for sin against the offenders whom he so deserts . how wickedly have most pious persons been employed , while they have humbly owned their sins to be the cause of god's withdraws and corrections , if what i assert be not a truth ? and how strange such texts , you only have i known of all the families of the earth , and therefore i will punish you for your iniquities , amos 3. 2. now who dare tell god lyes to his face ? &c. testimonies . you have seen the assembly and elders in the savoy , positively assert this truth in my last chapter , which again consult . and large catech. q how doth christ execute the office of a king ? ans. ( among other things ) i rewarding their obedience , and correcting ( his people ) for their sins . the provincial synod of london , p. 16. recite , as one of the dangerous errours of that day , that god doth not chastize any of his children for sin ; nor is it for the sins of god's people the land is punished . the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . because god laid on our sins on christ , to make atonement for the forgiveness of the elect , when they repent ; therefore god cannot be offended with the elect for them , before they repent . because god doth not hate the believer , as an unreconciled god , when he sins ; therefore he is not at all displeased with him , because of the grossest sins . because the refiner is not angry with his gold ( which never could offend him ) when he casts it into the fire ; therefore a holy god is no way angry with rational offenders , when he corrects them for their reformation . because god will not hate a believer , so as to damn him ; therefore he cannot be angry with his people , so as fatherly to chastize them . because god afflicts from sin ; therefore he doth not also afflict for sin ; as if he could not rebuke for what is past , if he resolve not against their amendment for time to come . it seems also that the doctor was led into his opinion , by not considering , that anger or displeasure be not passions in god but a will of correcting ; and are denominated from the kinds and degrees of corrections . chap. xix . of the beauty of sincere holiness . truth . though the present sincere holiness of believers be not perfect , according to the precepts of the word ; nor valuable by the sanction of the law of innocency ; nor any atonement for our defects ; and we still need forgiveness , and the merits of christ , for acceptance thereof ; yet as far as it prevails , it 's lovely in it self , and pleasing to god ; and is not dung or filth . errour . the greatest holiness in believers , though wrought in them by the holy ghost , is mere dung , rottenness and filthiness , as in them . proved that this is doctor crisp 's opinion . p. 232. know , that the motions and assistance of the spirit be pure , holy , and without scum in the spring , to wit , it self ; yet by that time these motions and assistances have passed through the channels of our hearts , and been mixed with our manifold corruptions in doing , even the whole work becomes polluted and filthy ; our filthiness alters the property of the pure motions of christ's spirit , &c. as one drop of poyson injected into the rarest cordial , makes the whole , and every drop of the whole , mortal ; so that , except the best of our works can pass through us , without the least touch or mixture of any defect or pollution , it cannot but be dung , &c. and whereas it may seem harsh , that even what is the spirit 's , must be involved within that which is a man 's own , under the general notion of dung ; know , that it once being mixed with our filth , ceaseth to be the spirit 's , and becomes our own : it was the spirit 's when injected ; but our flesh being like the viper's stomach , turns the wholsomest food into poyson ; or like an ulcerous tumour , that turns the purest spirits , and soundest flesh , into rottenness . and some of this ulcerous flesh remains in the best saints on earth , and mingles it self in the best service , and so turns the whole into its own nature . p. 414. all our righteousness are filthy , full of menstruosity , the highest kind of filthiness . do not say he meaneth , that our gracious actings are too imperfect to be the righteousness for which we are justified : no , he must intend more ; for that would not make them dung , or rottenness , and cease to be the spirit 's ; it would only argue they are imperfect , &c. he hath abundance of such terms to make holiness vile , as before he said much to render sin innocent to the elect. wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not : whether the holiness , or best acts of a saint , be such , or so perfect , as to atone for his sin , or procure a state of pardon . 2. nor , whether our holiness can make us accepted with god , without christ. 3. nor , whether the holiest action of the holiest saint is such , as not to need forgiveness . 4. nor , whether by the sanction of the law of innocency , sincere holiness could be accounted holiness . all these i deny ; and the last , because nothing but perfect conformity to the precept was holiness ; whereas the gospel-grace makes a great difference between true holiness , though imperfect , and what 's formally wickedness ; between sincere love and enmity ; sincere faith , and utter unbelief . the real difference . 1. whether the sincere holiness of a believer's heart and actions be really dung and rottenness . this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; yet i own , we should so esteem it is compared with christ , as meritorious of justification . 2. whether sincere holiness , as far as it prevails in our hearts and actings , be truly lovely in it self , and pleasing to god , according to the grace of the gospel , and is not dung. this i affirm , and the doctor denies . the truth confirmed . consider , that whatever is spoken of holiness in any mere man on earth , since the fall , is spoken of sincere holiness ; for perfect holiness none had . i have room but to expostulate this matter . is that dung , which is the effect of regeneration in the soul and actings ? is that dung , which is so often honoured with the name of the spirit it self , and called the spirit of love , prayer ? &c. i not that more lovely , which is called the divine nature ? 2 pet. 1. 4. how aimable must that be , which is the new man after god's image ? eph. 4. 24. the new heart ? ezek. 18. 31. the law of god in the heart , and the grace of god ? are those works dung , to which we are created in christ jesus , eph. 2. 10. and enabled by the spirit ? or is that filthiness , which renders saints the excellent of the earth ? psal. 16. 3. the imitators of christ ? was not this it for which caleb was said to have another spirit ? and upon account whereof we must love the godly , as begotten of god ? is it not pleasing to god , to which he hath made so many promises ; for which he so commends moses , david , and all the saints ; calling such a peculiar people ? &c. it 's no small thing with which christ is so pleased in his spouse ; as you see in the song of solomon . can that be dung , which is a meetness for glory , an honour to god , and credit to religion ? how can it be acceptable to god , through christ , if it be filthiness , and changed into the nature of our flesh and corruption ? wickedness will never be accepted with god for christ's sake , though imperfect goodness shall . read what is spoken of sincerity , uprightness , &c. and see , will it agree to what 's mortal poyson ? what a reproach is it to christ , to call his life in us , and the beginning of glory , by this title ? nay , to make his triumphs in us so low , as that all he hath improved his members to , is mere filthiness ? it 's well if the scriptures can escape clean , if all the works of the spirit are thus debased when they pass through men. but i less wonder that doctor crisp should speak thus of the righteousness of saints , as in them ; when he is so positive , that the enemies of christ may have sincerity and singleness of heart towards god , and a constant purpose and inclination of heart to the whole will of god ; and reach the very practice of the vvill of god in universal obedience : and that therefore none of these are a sure sign of an interest in christ. see p. 450 , 451 , 452. testimonies . read what the assembly and elders at the savoy say of effectual vocation , sanctification , and good vvorks , chap. 10 , 13 , 16. and so of faith and repentance . the new-england synod confute , as errour 36. all the activity of a believer , is to act to sin. and errour 35. the efficacy of christ's death , is to kill all activity of graces in his members , that he might act all in all . read dr. owen's treatise of holiness annexed to that of the spirit . the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . because our goodness extends not to god , for his profit ; therefore he regards it no more than dung and filthiness . because we are , after all our obedience , unprofitable servants to god , and less profitable servants than we should be ; therefore our holiness is as unpleasing to him as dung. because god abhorred the new moons and sabbaths of the hypocrites ; therefore he loaths the sincere obedience of the upright . obj. doth not israel say , isa. 64. 6. all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ? ans. but that is spoken of persons , and not of real holiness . it 's the same as mic. 7. 4. the best of them is a bryar . and isa. 1. 6. from the crown of the head , to the sole of the foot , we are putrifying sores : corruption had invaded the very priests , and the generality of the best professors , who seemed the most righteous . and that the sence of the place refers to persons , see the verse before ; thou meetest him that rejoyceth , and worketh righteousness , &c. behold thou art wroth ; for we have sinned . q. d. vvere we vvorkers of righteousness , thou would'st meet us , and we should rejoyce : but because we are not so , but have sinned , thou art wroth . see ver . 7. there is none that calleth on thy name , that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee . q. d. vve are all remiss , the best of us are as prayerless . see the 6th . ver . it self ; we are all as unclean things ; our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; we all fade as a leaf . q. d. there 's a general apostacy and degeneracy among us : but allow that it were spoken of righteousness as a quality ; will it follow , that because the dead shadow of righteousness , in so backsliding and defiled a people , was rags , that therefore the lively actings of grace , through the influence of the spirit , must be menstruous cloaths or rags ? obj. the apostle saith , phil. 3. 8. for whom i have suffered the loss of all things , and do count them dung , that i may win christ , and be found , &c. 1. a. if this place speaks of gospel-righteousness , as his own things which he counted dung , it doth not prove that holiness is dung ; all it can inferr , is , that in comparison with winning christ , it was esteemed as dung. and who must not own , that compared with gaining christ , the best thing in us is vile ; yea , compared with his righteousness : but yet it may not be vile in itself ; asrivals with christ we must hate father and mother . but doth it follow , that father or mother are hateful , absolutely considered ? no , vve are bound to love them , when not compared with christ. i need add no more in answerto the doctor 's reason ; but though i own the imputed righteousness of christ for our justification , yet i think to ground it on this place , is a damage to the truth ; and therefore i add , 2. a. gospel-holiness or righteousness is not here intended by dung. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was that dogs-meat which he renounced , and left to those dogs ( which term they gave the gentiles ) v. 2. to glory in . vvho were those he calls dogs ? they were the concision ( alluding to baal's priests ) or the jews that rejected christ , by an opinion of more excellency in jewish observations , and an abuse of the mosaick frame . vvhat were the things he counted dung ? i answer , they were the jewish privileges , and that conceited christless righteousness , which he once valued , as those dogs at present did . but it was not that gospel-holiness , which by the grace of christ , he was now partaker of . obj. how do both these appear ? i answer plainly , from the whole scope of the chapter . 1. they were his christless privileges and righteousness which he called dung. for 1. his discourse is a warning against the jewish perverters and opposers of the gospel . ver. 2. beware of dogs , beware of evil workers , beware of the concision . 2. he states a comparison , wherein he opposeth them , and includes a great part of gospel-holiness in that opposition . ver. 3. for we are the circumcision , which worship god in the spirit , viz. not carnally , and with beggarly elements , as they do ; and rejoyce in christ jesus : q. d. we feel a true and solid joy in , and by christ , whom they refusing to accept of , are without ; yea , and are tormented with guilt and fears , for their way make not the comers to it perfect . and have no confidence in the flesh : that is , in being the natural seed of abraham by descent , and not his spiritual seed by faith , as rom. 9. 7 , 8. neither because they are the seed of abraham , are they all children , &c. that is , they which are the children of the flesh , these are not the children of god , &c. or else in being partakers of the jewish privileges ; as gal. 6. 12. as many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh , they constrain you to be circumcised ; of this number were these , whom the apostle warneth the christians against ; but now by the gospel , we are brought to place our hopes in greater and surer things . 3. he enumerates these jewish pretensions , which he had as much right to glory in , as these boasting enemies . ver. 4 , 5 , 6. he was a jew by birth , and not a mere proselyte ; circumcised as soon as any , of the strictest sect , as fiery zealous against christ as they , and as ceremonious as the best , touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless : he intends not sinless-obedience , nor gospel-sincerity ; but a life not to be blamed by the rule of the jewish pedagogie , i. e. in the judgment of strict observers . 4. of these he professeth a renunciation , when converted to christ. ver. 7. but what things were gain to me : that is , these that i reckoned as much upon , as they now do , i counted loss for christ ; when he met me by the way , and led me to a truer judgment of him and my self , i soon preferred him his grace , his benefits , and instruction before all these . and ver. 8. yea , doubtless , &c. that is , i have no suspicion of my choice , and am still of the same mind ; they are still with me vain things , of no value , compared with that i have since known , and experienced in and by christ ; yea , for him , without repining ; i have not only quitted those jewish things , but i have suffered the loss of all things : viz. my name , my friends , my estate , my ease , and life it self , in a fixed purpose , and do count them but dung , that i may win christ. what these jews do so boast of , and the world so esteem , even all are to me but dogs-meat , &c. that i may but fully possess christ , and the full effects of his undertakings in perfect peace , holiness and glory , somewhat of which are already begun in me . 2. it was not gospel-holiness which he counted dung or loss , for , 1. this was not his own righteousness , which is of the law , as opposed to that which is by the faith of christ. nay , this is by the faith of christ ; our hearts are purified by faith , act. 15. 9. in christ we are created thereto , and by him it is wrought through faith in all his members , who are all in him ; and in this union to him , i desire to continue , and share in the fuller effects of . 2. this holiness , instead of renouncing , or suffering the loss of it , he earnestly presseth after , and expects to obtain ; this is the scope of ver. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. that i may know him , viz. perfectly in his person and influences ; and the power of his resurrection , i. e. in a perfect newness of heart and life ; and be conformable to his death ; i. e. wholly mortified and dead to sin : if by any means i might attain to the resurrection of the dead ? that is , be as holy , and happy , as then i shall be , which is without spot or wrinkle , or any such thing . if i may apprehend that for which i am apprehended of christ ; i. e. be as holy and happy as he designed to make me , when he seized me in my first conversion , reaching forth unto those things that are before ; that cannot be imputed righteousness , for this he had in his first justification ; but it 's that perfect holiness and glory , which he expected in christ hereafter . and this is the mark for the price of the high calling of god in christ ; viz. what god intended in his act , when he called me in christ ; and what i had in my eye , when i consented to that call , as the encouraging reward . now is not holiness a great part of all these ? and instead of renouncing it , he tells us he is for it , by any means , i follow after , reaching forth , i press towards ; which was all needless , as to what he had already . 3. he bewails and owns the weakness and imperfection of this righteousness at present , though he was pressing after it . ver. 12. not as though i had already attained , either were already perfect . ver. 13. i count not my self to have apprehended , forgetting the things which are behind . can this be true of imputed righteousness ? was not that attained at first ? is not that perfect when first justified ? or would paul forget this , though his small degrees of holiness past , he might so forget , as that lesser degrees should not hinder his pursuit after more ? obj. but , ver. 8. paul speaks in the present tense ; i do count all things loss , and therefore it was not his former jewish privileges . a. it was his present act towards an object past . q. d. i even now still account them all vain ; yea , and it may extend to all present secular advantages also , as life , honour , and estate , &c. q. d. i value nothing as a crucified christ , that i may fully know and enjoy him as a living member in eternity it self . but i hope none can think , that his winning christ is either a first interest in christ , or the imputation of his righteousness for justification ; for this he with comfort knew he already had , and was not now to win by perseverance , and growing vigour . far less can any think , that he accounts holiness dung ; for what more he desired of christ , was in order to perfect the holiness begun already by christ in him ; and had he lost that which was already begun , he had vainly expected a further participation of christ for holiness or joy. this righteousness , which is of god by faith , is that eminent holiness he waited for , and if he could be found in christ by an abiding union he knew he should arrive at . chap. xx. of gospel-preaching . truth . gospel-preaching , is when the messengers of christ do publish to fallen sinners , the good news of salvation by christ , to be obtained in the way which he hath appointed in his word , freely offering salvation on his terms , earnestly persuading , and commanding men in the name of christ , to comply with those terms , as ever they would escape the misery they are under , and possess the benefits he hath purchased ; directing all to look to him for strength , and acknowledge him as the only mediator , and his obedience and sufferings , as the sole atonement for sin , and meriting cause of all blessings ; instructing them in all revealed truth , and by gospel motives , urging them to obey the whole will of god , as a rule of duty , but especially to be sincere and upright , pressing after perfection . errour . gospel-preaching , is to teach men they were as much pardoned , and as acceptable to god , always , as when they are regenerate ; and while they were ungodly , they had the same interest in god and christ , as when they believe ; neither can sin any way hinder their salvation , or their peace ; nor have they any thing to do to further either of them , christ having done all for them , and given himself to them , before any holy qualification or endeavour . proved that this is dr. crisp 's opinion . page 159. the more the light and glory of he gospel shineth in the true intention of god tohis people , the more should they have joy and gladness . why may not then a believer say , the lord hath been bountiful to me , god hath done every thing in christ , and taken away all things that can disturb my peace and comfort ? p. 186. here is first deliverance , then service is the fruit of deliverance , not deliverance the fruit of service . the tenour of the law runs thus , first do , then live : the gospel saith , first live , then do , &c. do not think god gives christ upon condition . p. 554. man will be mincing of this truth , and tell you , if you will keep close to god , and if you refrain from sin , especially from gross sins , god will love you , and then you may apply these and these promises unto your selves ; but god speaks plainly , before they had done good or evil , jacob have i loved ; the grace of god is passed over to men , as they are ungodly , &c. this is the grace of god revealed , and he hath exhibited it thus freely to men : hath the lord given us commission to preach this gospel ? p. 124. the free-man of christ hath this freedom ; christ doth all his work for him , as well as in him , &c. christ doth all for them , that god requires to be done : see more in the next chapter . but most of these heads i have proved to be his opinion in several chapters at large . wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not whether we must reveal christ in his person , natures , offices , sufferings , intercession , and whatever describes his glory , suitableness , use , &c. 2. nor that we must teach that christ hath purchased all saving benefits , and that men must look to him as the author of salvation , and giver of that grace whereby we obey the terms of life . 3. nor that we must declare the free grace of god in giving his son for us , and his spirit to call us , and all benefits we do receive on our obedience to that call. 4. nor that we must describe salvation in all the parts of it , for the comfort of saints , and persuading of sinners . 5. nor that we must make offers of christ and his benefits to the worst of sinners on gospel-terms ; assuring them , nothing shall hinder their happiness by him , but their refusal to accept of him in all his offices . 6. nor whether we should inform them , that god hath elected a certain number , whose obedience to the terms of life , our lord hath undertaken for , and so the gospel shall not be in vain to all . but yet , that the case of no hearer is made so desperate by this election of some , as that if he do repent and believe , he shall not be saved , for god will judge all of us by his revealed will , and not by his decrees . 7. nor , that we must teach the best man to renounce all the grace he hath , and good he performs , as if being the least atonement for sin , or least purchase of life , or any addition of merit to a christ , or sharing in what is peculiar to him . all these i affirm . the real difference . 1. whether the gospel requires any grace or duty , in order to our actual interest in saving benefits ? this the doctor denies , and i affirm , and have proved in several chapters . 2. whether it 's gospel-preaching , to tell men that they had the same interest in christ ; pardon and life , while most wicked , as any godly man hath , and that their happiness doth not at all depend on what grace they act , or sin they commit ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; being assured , whoever preacheth thus , opposeth the gospel of christ , and the plain truth ; as i have proved at large , chap. 1. 3 , 4 , 7 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 15. 3. whether christ doth do all for a believer , that god requires of a believer ? this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; though i grant , he works all in us , or enables us to do what god requires . 4. whether the main scope of gospel-preaching is in christ's name , to perswade , and with authority require , sinners to seek , and act those graces which saving benefits are promised to ; assuring them of salvation , if they comply , and declaring that it is impossible they can be saved ; yea , that their condemnation shall be aggravated , if they refuse ? this i affirm , and the doctor denies . the truth confirmed . 1. christ doth not do all for a believer as well as in him . he doth not repent for us , nor obey the gospel terms for us , nor accept of , or rely on himself as a saviour for us . he never is said to do so , we are enabled and required to do these as our own personal acts , or perish . it is impossible christ should do these things , as being inconsistent with his person . can he change his mind , come to himself , and turn to god whom he had left , alter his purposes , and reform his life ? all which are included in repenting christ will save none , meerly as christ , but as christ believed on ; joh. 6. 52 , 53 , 54. except ye eat the flesh of the son of man , and drink his blood , ye have no life in you . whoso eateth my flesh , and drinketh my blood , hath eternal life . but , can christ thus eat his own flesh ? doth he mean , if i be not thus fed on by men , they shall dye ? that is , if i do not feed on my self . christ will be saved for them , while themselves are damned , who trust to let christ believe for them , whiles they continue in unbelief . he doth all for us which belongs to him as redeemer ; but we must do all in his strength , which he requires of the redeemed . 2. gospel-preaching is what i have described , and because the most exception will lye against what i have said of the conditional proposals of benefits on terms of duty , i shall prove that it 's gospel-preaching to call men to believe and repent ; and tell them , if they do so , god will , for christ's sake , forgive them ; if they do not so , their sin will remain . and also to perswade them , to love , fear , and obey god in true holiness , when in a state of pardon , and profess the faith : and if they persevere in doing so , they shall be saved by christ , and if they do the contrary , they shall be miserable . i have proved that these are gospel-truths , and therefore to preach them , is to preach the gospel . some one part of the gospel , being gospel , doth not argue that other parts are not so too . but i shall annex a few more reasons . 1. thus christ and his apostles appointed the gospel to be preached . that the spirit of christ thus directed the prophets in the old testament to preach , none can deny that use to read the bible . christ on earth prescribed this way ; mar. 16. 15. and he said unto them , go ye into all the world , and preach the gospel to every creature ; he that believeth , and is baptized , shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned . and as this grace , under this sanction of life and death was to be urged , so it 's added , mat. 28. 20. teaching them to observe all things , whatsoever i have commanded you . among which , no doubt , is included what he told the apostles , when first commissioned ; mat. 10. 14 , 15. whosoever shall not receive you , and hear your words , when you depart out of that house , or city , shake off the dust off your feet : verily , it shall be more tolerable for the land of sodom and gomorrah in that day of judgment , than for that city . ver. 32 , 33. whosoever shall confess me before men , him will i confess before my father which is in heaven . but whosoever shall deny me before men , him will i also deny before my father which is in heaven . ver. 37. he that hath loved father or mother more than me , is not worthy of me . 38. he that taketh not his cross and followeth me , is not worthy of me . 41. he that receiveth a righteous man , in the name of a righteous man , shall receive a righteous man's reward . these are part of christ's speech to his apostles , when he first sent them to preach ; and so from heaven he taught paul to preach , act. 26. 18. see how paul instructs timothy to preach . 1. he enumerates very many duties , which he was to urge and exhort . 2. he frequently requires him to back these exhortations with promises , in case of obedience , and threatnings in case of disobedience . i shall instance a few , 1 tim. 4. 8 , 9. godliness is profitable unto all things , having the promises of this life , and that which is to come : this is a faithful saying , and worthy of all acceptation . what are the promises of the life to come to godliness ? yea , though it 's now with some no true saying . ver. 16. take heed to thy self and thy doctrine , for in doing this , thou shalt both save thy self , and them that hears thee . here 's pressing to doing with a promise of life . 1 tim. 6. 6 , 9. godliness with content , is great gain . but they that will be rich , fall into temptation , and a snare , and into many foolish and hurtful lusts , which drown men in destruction and perdition . ver. 17. 18. charge , &c. that they do good , willing to communicate , laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come , that they may lay hold on eternal life . 2 tim. 2. 11 , 12. it is a faithful saying , for if we be dead with him , we shall also live with him , if we suffer , we shall also regin with him ; if we deny him , he will also deny us . can any man think , we ought not to plead with men , and preach as christ and his spirit charge us ? or would he appoint us to preach what is not his own will or gospel ? 2. in this manner did christ and his apostles preach the gospel . read christ's sermon on the mount , mat. 5. are not graces urged by promised blessings , and denounced threatnings ? the first none can doubt , the last is as evident . ver. 13. good for nothing , but to be cast out . 19. least in the kingdom of heaven . ver. 20. except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees , you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven . ver. 22. in danger of hell-fire . 26. thou shalt not come out thence . 30. if thy right eye offend thee , pluck it out , and cast it from thee , for it 's profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish , and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. see the parable of the seed , of the talents , virgins , marriage supper . was it not he that declared , he that believeth not , the wrath of god abideth on him . if you believe not , you shall dye in your sins . if you repent not , you shall all likewise perish . vain world ! that think they can out-preach christ , or that theirs is gospel , which obstructs the very things that his ministry was designed to . he that knew the scheme of truths , used his satisfaction as the great motive to obedience ; but not as what made it needless in its own place . the apostles obeyed and imitated christ. the first sermon of peter includes this , act. 2. 38. 40. repent and be baptized every one of you , for the remission of sins , &c. for the promise is to you , and to your children , and as many as the lord shall call . and with many other words did he testifie , and exhort , saying , save your selves from this untoward generation . read his epistles , and see how he moves by threatnings and promises , and preacheth duties . the apostle paul giveth the sum of his ministry to the ephesians , &c. act. 20. 21. testifying both to the jews and greeks , repentance towards god , and faith towards the lord jesus . ver . 26 , 27. i am pure from the blood of all men ; for i have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of god. it 's he that saith , if any man love not the lord jesus , let him be an anathema , maranatha . what a man soweth , that shall he reap , he will come in flaming fire , to take vengeance on all that know not god , and obey not the gospel . what he saith of freegrace , and christ's righteousness , in opposition to man's merits , doth not clash with what he saith of the necessity of graces and duties , as the required terms of such blessings as god promiseth to them . the apostle james is as express as can be ; read his epistle and doubt ; and it seems to be written against some libertines , who perverted the doctrine of grace delivered by paul : and peter expresly speaks of these mens wresting pauls epistles in this very point ; as i could fully prove , 2 pet. 3. 16. read the epistle of jude , and he agrees with the rest in arguing for holiness , from threats and promises . 3. when the gospel is said to be preached , you 'll find that then graces and duties were preached under a gospel sanction . act. 15. 7. the gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel . what this was , see act. 10. from ver . 34. to 44. of a truth i perceive that god is no respecter of persons ; but in every nation , he that feareth him , and worketh righteousness , is accepted with him . the word which god sent unto the children of israel , preaching peace by jesus christ , ( he is lord of all , &c. ) he commanded us to preach unto the people , ; and to testifie , that it is he which was ordained of god to be judge of quick and dead : to him gave all the prophets witness , that through his name whoever believeth in him , shall have remission of sins . rev. 14. 6 , 7. i saw another angel in the midst of heaven , having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them , &c. saying with a loud voice , fear god , and give glory to him , for the hour of his indignation is come ; and worship him that made heaven and earth . so act. 147 , 15 , 17. there they preached the gospel . see their call to turn to god from idols , as part of it . 4. the nature of the gospel requires that the ministry should include these things , and it be preached in this manner . it 's the gospel of the kingdom , luk. 9. 60. it 's the law of christ , to whom all judgment is committed . gal. 6. 2. the law of liberty : the law of faith , &c. the great design of it , is , to destroy satan's empire , and recover lost sinners to god. to this end , it reveals , that salvation is to be had in christ , if we come to god by him , though we be lost in our selves . and it is the call of god in christ , to come to him , and hear him : nay , it 's the charge of christ , who is , for dying , made lord both of the dead and living . now can any think , that many duties must not be parts of the gospel , as well as believing ? or , that christ hath not arguments from benefits and dangers , from promises and threats , to strengthen his charge ? the preceptive part of the whole law is in his hand , and there is authority in all his injunctions and calls : else what means obeying the gospel , subjection to the gospel , disobeying the gospel ? obeyed the truth , obedience of faith ? and many such expressions . and that there be gospel-threats and promises annexed to his precepts , i have fully proved . and i could easily shew , that the substance of all obedience , is said to be obedience to the law , truth , and word of christ. if things be so , can we think that we preach not the gospel , when we preach duties ? or that we preach not the gospel , when we urge obedience to these duties from gospel-promises and threats ? as if all christ's commands were mere counsels . it 's no preaching with authority , if we omit this : it 's no answering the eng of gospel , if we wave this : there 's no aptitude in the ministry to draw christ , without this . the apostle gives us another specimen , col. 1. 28. whom we preach , warning every man , and teaching every man in all wisdom , that we may present every man perfect in christ. what 's snatching men , as brands out of the burning ? compelling to come in ? &c. what pleas do the apostles use ? rom. 12. 1. 1 pet. 4. 17 , 18. 2 pet. 3. 11 , 12 , 14 , &c. 5. they do not preach the gospel of christ at all , who preach contrary to the scope of this truth ; no , nor they duly , who neglect to preach according to it . christ never sent such news to sinners , that they were always pardoned and adopted ; and they need only believe it , to know that it is so : he never told them , that they have nothing to do to the participation of saving benefits ; he hath believed for them , and repented for them , &c. woe to them that will live as believing this ! christ knew how to support the honour of his grace , without overturning his throne . to preach at this rate , may excite the affections of some ; but , without a miracle , will never convert a soul ; and it needs an antidote which , i hope , some of the upholders of it have . it 's the same with the language of the tempter , the arguings of the flesh , and the conceits of presumptuous sinners . could they that knock'd at the door , mat. 7. 21. be kept out ? or the five foolish virgins be excluded , who went out to meet the bridegroom , if this be true ? who warned you to flee from the wrath to come , will be the language of the spirit to the impenitent . mat. 3. 7. he is my brother ( saith christ , ) that doth the will of my father . mark 3. 35. if any man teach otherwise , and consent not to wholsom words , even the words of our lord jesus christ , and to the doctrine which is according to godliness ; he is proud , knowing nothing , &c. 1 tim. 6. 3 , 4. he that talks of preaching christ , without preaching his laws , his title to rule us , his offers , his method of grace , and his motives to urge men ; profaneth and plays with that sacred name . testimonies . the assembly and elders at the savoy have given us their thoughts in what i have cited of the conditionality of the covenant ; the necessity of faith to union with christ ; and justification , free offers of christ to sinners , and necessity of holiness . consult the places . see large catech. q. what doth god require of us , that we may escape his wrath and curse ? a. he requireth of us , repentance towards god , faith towards our lord jesus , and diligent use of the outward means , &c. the elders at the savoy , declar. ch . 20. a. 3. the revelation of the gospel unto sinners , made in divers times , and by sundry parts , with the addition of promises and precepts for the obedience required thereto , &c. but i cannot enlarge , or i could shew how doctor owen pleads for this gospel-ordination , and shews there be threats and promises therein . see what the new-england synod say on the former heads : they cite , errour 33. to act by virtue , or in obedience to a command , is legal . they thus confute it ; so is it also evangelical : the mystery of the gospel is said to be revealed for the obedience of faith , 〈◊〉 16. 25. the lord is author of eter●●●●alvation to all that obey him , heb. 5. 9. &c. the 29th . errour of mrs. h. was , that such exhortations as these , work out your salvation with fear ; make your calling and election sure , are spoken to such as are under the covenant of works . mr. norton , orth , evang. p. 211. believers obey the gospel perfectly , with the perfection of parts : the gospel is the law in christ : the rule of righteousness is the same in the law , and in the gospel , though the manner and end of obeying are changed . p. 105. the obedience of good men is rewarded by the promise annexed to the precept . see what all these say , in the chap. of the conditionality of the govenant . the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . because christ's sufferings procured salvation and assure it to such as obey the gospel ; therefore the gospel enjoyneth nothing to be obeyed . because the law enjoyned doing , as the perfect righteousness for which life was a debt ; therefore the gospel requireth nothing to be done , as the means of partaking of that salvation which is merited by christ. because it's legal to preach the sanction of the law of innocency ; therefore it 's not gospel , to press the gospel-sanction . the reverend mr. cole affirms , there 's law enough in the gospel : the gospel holds , forth the danger and remedy too . see his treat . of regen . p. 101. had doctor crisp noted this truth , many mistakes had been prevented . chap. xxi . of legal preaching . before i proceed , let me inform thee , that legal preaching hath an uncertain sound . 1. if by legal , is meant the precepts and revelations of god in christ , for the conversion and government of lost man , under gospel-threats and promises ; then to be legal preachers , ( as preachers of this law , ) we account our duty and honour : all the prophets , even isaiah himself ; yea , christ , and his apostles , were all legal preachers . the law , in this sence , is that which converts , comforts , healeth , saveth , &c , whatever is spoken in praise of the word , of the truth , of the commandments of god and christ , are spoken of the law , in this sence : and it is the same with the gospel , as i have proved , chap. 20. and they are enemies to christ and souls , that disdain to be such legal preachers . 2. but there is a legal preaching which is opposed to the gospel ; and this indeed is a crime ; the word being used as a reproach , this must be intended , if men understand what they speak of : and to that , this chapter refers . truth . legal preaching , is to preach the law as a covenant of innocency , or works ; or to preach the mosaick or jewish-covenant of peculiarity : but it is not legal preaching , to require and persuade to faith , holiness or duties , by promises and threatnings , according to the grace of the gospel , and direct men to fear and hope accordingly . errour . legal preaching , is to call people to act any grace , or do any duty , as a required means of salvation , or inward peace ; or to threaten them with death , or any affliction , to cause fear , if they commit the grossest sins , and backsside , and fall away ; or to promise them any blessing , upon their obedience to the commandments of christ ; or urge the threatnings , to persuade sinners to believe and repent . proved that this is doctor crisp's opinion . p. 616. if persons are not united to christ , and do not partake of justification before they do believe , &c. then mark what will follow , that there will be bringing to life again the covenant of works , &c. obj. how doth this follow ? i answer ; thus you must of necessity press upon your selves these terms , or such like ; i must do , that i may have life in christ ; i must believe , there is no life till i do believe . now if their be believing first , then there is doing before living . p. 561 , 562. this likewise batters to the ground that way of urging men to holiness which some hold forth , that if men do not these and these good works , and leave these and these sins , then they must come under the wrath of god , &c. the love of god constrains the faithful , and not the fear of wrath ; a sense of being delivered from it , not a fear of wrath to come . p. 559 , 560. obj. some will say , the preaching of the terrours of the law , and the wrath of god , and damnation , and hell-fire unto men , is a safer way to take men off from sin , than to preach gracc and forgiveness before-hand , &c. a. i say , if we preach wrath and damnation , we must either make them believe they lyc under the wrath , and that wrath shall come ; or we must make them believe , that though there be wrath , yet it shall not fall upon them : now , if we tell them of wrath and damnation , and say they are secure from them , and they belong not to them ; to what purpose do we tell them of wrath ? we had as good hold our tongues , &c. and he shews how it 's bringing back the covenant of works , to tell them , that god will be angry with them if they commit sin , or do not such and such duties . wherein the difference is not . 1. it is not : whether it is legal preaching , to preach duties or holiness ; as if men must perfectly believe and obey , or they shall unavoidably perish . 2. nor , that it 's legal preaching , to denounce wrath and hell as miseries from which there is no relief by christ , in the way of the gospel . 3. nor , that it is legal preaching , to press men to faith , repentance , and other duties , as if they were to be performed in their own strength , without the grace of christ , and influences of the spirit . 4. nor , that it is legal preaching , to promise salvation to any action , if the performer thereof be unregenerate , unbelieving , and impenitent . 5. nor , that it is too much legal preaching , to be always pressing the duties of the law of nature , but to neglect preaching faith in christ , and repentance , regeneration , &c. and so to neglect to make the person , offices , sufferings and intercession of christ ; as also our relation to him , and dependance on him as mediatour , with other gospel-mysteries known to their hearers . 6. nor , that it 's legal preaching , to preach that our faith holiness , or good works , stand in the same place now , as perfect obedience did under the law , viz. to render the reward to be of debt , or be the meritorious righteousness for which we are justified . 7. or , that it is legal to preach , that our best obedience doth not deserve wrath by the law , as a rule of misery and happiness : or , that it doth not need forgiveness , or is any supplement of christ's righteousness ; yea , or to neglect to call men to renounce all in themselves , as any atonement for sin , or cause of pardon ; and to look to christ as the only propitiation , purchaser of all our blessings , and cause of the acceptance of our persons and performances . 8. nor , that it is legal preaching , to omit to urge men to obedience by gospel motives ; as , what christ suffered , the love of god in him , the benefits afforded by him , the helps he vouchsafes , the relations he admits us to , and the like . 9. nor , that it is legal , to shew men their misery and sinfulness , and not to inform them of the gospel-way of salvation , 10. nor , that it is too legal , to neglect to improve holy souls to an ingenuous obedience , from love to god , as well as a holy fear . 11. nor that it is legal , to encourage such fear as imports a life of torment destructive to our hopes and joy : or , as if every miscarriage should over-turn assurance , though the dominion of sin be not justly suspected . 12. nor that it is legal preaching , to assert judaism , or the mosaic pedagogie ; viz. to press circumcision , sacrifices , a covenant of peculiarity , jewish priesthood , sabbath , or an abuse of the law , in opposition to christ our saviour , who is the end of all types , &c. all these i affirm . these indeed make up that preaching of the law which is opposed to christ , to grace , and to the gospel . the real difference . 1. whether it 's legal preaching , to require people to repent and believe , that their iniquities may be forgiven for christ's sake . this i deny , and the doctor affirms against the scope of the gospel ; as i have proved , chap. 8. 10 , 12 , 20 , &c. 2. whether it be legal preaching , to press holiness , and gospel obedience , as necessary to the salvation of a justified person . this the doctor affirms , and i deny , upon reasons given , chap. 8. 13. 17. 3. whether it be legal , to threaten such penalties as are short of damnation , against such offences as are consistent with sincerity , and yet avoidable by serious care and diligence . this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; for which see chap. 13 , &c. 4. whether it be legal , to preach wrath and damnation against prevailing infidelity , impenitency , ungodliness , enmity against god , profaneness , apostacy , and utter neglect of good works ; so that wrath be urged as a motive to acceptance of christ , and sincere subjection to him ; and the gospel-way of escaping these , be discovered , and persuaded to . this the doctor affirms , and i deny ; being well assured that christ and his apostles preached thus ; and these threatnings of god used since the fall , are otherwise vain ; as i have proved , chap. 13 , 10 , &c. 5. whether it 's legal preaching , to excite good men to an holy fear of threatned evils , as far as they find just cause to suspect the dominion of sin , or danger of apostacy , or the power of carnal security . this the doctor affirms , and i deny . the truth confirmed . consult the 20th . chap. and those before-mentioned , and thou wilt find , that what the doctor calls legal preaching , is the tenor of the gospel , and the truth according to jesus : it 's what the assembly affirm to be the grace of the new covenant , and not the covenant of works : it 's the method appointed to recover apostate sinners , and not to govern innocent man. i have nothing left to do , except to vindicate , that it 's the will of god , that we should excite a holy fear of threatned evils ; and this in good men as well as bad , during their pilgrimage . obj. the doctor allows a fear of reveverence towards god , from the infinite distance between him and creatures . a. he doth so , but it 's no more than will be in heaven it self . and therefore i add , that we ought to preach so , as to beget a fear of caution , and from the due sense of danger ; not indeed so as to extinguish just hopes or joy , not to exclude love , or introduce a spirit of bondage , or tormenting amazement ; but to prevent security , and awaken diligence , till our danger is past , and our vvarfare be accomplished . for. 1. such fear is our duty by gospel-precept ; heb. 4. 1. let us therefore fear , least a promise being left us of entring into his rest , any of you should seem to come short of it . it 's an evil is to be feared here , and sense of danger awakens it . see ver. 11. least any man fall after the same example of unbelief . mar. 13. 5. take heed , least any man deceive you . this duty is annexed , when the safety and comfort of our present state is most represented ; heb. 12. 15. looking diligently , least any man fail of the grace of god. and when he had finished the peculiar liberties of the new testament-time , he adds , ver. 25. see that you refuse not him that speaketh , for if they escaped not , who refused him that spake from earth , much more shall not we escape , if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven . ver. 28 , 29. whereby we may serve god acceptably , with reverence and godly fear ; for our god is a consuming fire . here is awe impressed by danger ; much more shall not we escape , if , &c. say not the saints shall not turn away , for yet here 's an awful threat if he do , and his fear is the means here intended to keep him from turning away : phil. 2. 12. work out your salvation with trembling and with fear . rom. 11. 20. be not high-minded , but fear . joh. 5. 14. sin no more , least a worse thing do befall thee . 2. without this fear in sence of danger , many of the great duties of religion are excluded . what 's a tender heart , but a heart impressed by a mixture of fear and love ? who is contrite ? but he that trembleth at my word ? isa. 66. 2. are not taking heed , solicitous cares , and holy watchfulness , great duties ? but if you exclude fear of danger , are these possible ? nay , vvhen god calls us to these , he doth it by representing danger as what is to be dreaded , and thereby begetting fear . mar. 13. 5 , 35 , 36. take heed , least any man deceive you , for many shall come in my name , &c. watch ye therefore , &c. least coming suddenly , he find you sleeping . luk. 21. 34 , 35 , 36. take heed to your selves , least at any time your hearts be overcharged , &c. and so that day come upon you unawares , for as a snare it shall come , watch ye therefore , and pray always , that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass , and to stand before the son of man. heb. 3. 12. 13. take heed , least there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief , in departing from the living god , &c. least any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin. rom. 11. 21. if god spared not the natural branches , take heed , least he spare not thee . jam. 5. 9. grudge not one against another , least ye be condemned ; behold the judge standeth before the door . are not all these intended to beget fear ? are not the motives from things that must strike an awe of danger ? the lord argues to a fear of apostacy , unpreparedness , being rejected at christ's coming , being cut off and condemned ; and god is represented , not only as great above us , but as our judge , as a consuming fire . 3. this fear is entertained by , and approved of in the best men. 1 cor. 9. 27. i keep my body under , least that by any means , when i have preached to others , i my self should be a castaway . was here no fear in sense of danger ? noah , moved with fear , prepared an ark , heb. 11. 7. david tells us , psal. 119 , 120. my flesh trembleth for fear of thee , i am afraid of thy judgments . prov. 28. 13. happy is he that feareth always . it was the want of this that 's branded in the virgins ; they all slumbered and slept . habakkuck's tremblings and faith were consistent , chap. 3. 16 , 17. 4. this fear is absolutely necessary to saints in their pilgrimage . what men should we be , if fear were extinct ? what would our remains of corruption , our great snares , heaps of earthly diversions , while eternal things are invisible , reduce us to without fear ? would back-sliders recover themselves without fear ? or men in difficulties hold out ? god knew our frame , when he saith , 1 pet. 1. 17. and if you call upon the father , who without respect of persons , judgeth accordingly every man's work , pass the time of your sojourning here in fear . this text ill agrees with the doctor 's notion : we have no work to do for eternity , as if the judgment-day were past ; away with fear of vvrath or danger , as if we were in heaven already . good men may fancy an ingenuous life of love exclusive of all fear , in this vvorld ; but though they could be safe and vigorous thereby , it follows not that all other good men can , and we must preach the mind of christ to them . but i fear they know not , or observe not their own hearts , who pretend to this , and if they fall into many gross sins and neglects , and keep up to this rule , god calls them to fear their state. 2 pet. 3. 17. seeing you know these things , beware lest you also being led away with the errour of the wicked , fall from your own stedfastness . he will most safely walk in love , and maintain assurance , that is , in awe , as his sins grow strong , and his graces decline . i might shew that all god's threats are despised , if without this fear ; yea , his being our future judge is slighted , his wise methods of government are dis-regarded , and one great help to our salvation lost , by opposing this fear . fear him that can cast soul and body into hell , is christ's charge , luke 12. 5. and if thou do that which is evil , be afraid , rom. 13. 4. and if we must fear the magistrate as the minister of god's vvrath here , much more eternal vvrath ; if we sin our selves into such symptoms as the gospel declares a danger of eternal damnation by ; for though the gospel doth not say as the law , that all sinners shall be damned ; yet it saith , that all impenitent sinners shall be damned . and this we are bound to preach , and not gratifie the devil to the ruine of souls . but they are in danger who are above this kind of preaching ; and security , libertinism , and stops to the conversion of sinners , will prevail as this preaching grows unfashionable . nay , let me hear a man of this opinion preach a few sermons , and i 'll demonstrate he 'll give the lie to his own principle , by urging fear by some arguments from danger ; or he 'll expose himself to the contempt of all , when-ever he disswades from sin. testimonies . i have recited so much belonging to this head , chap. 1 , 8 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 20. that i need only add to the last chapter . new-england synod condemns , as errour 32. after the revelation of the spirit , neither devil nor sin can make the soul to doubt errour 48. condional promises are legal . errour 52. it 's legal to say , we act in the strength of christ. errour 56. a man is not effectually converted till he hath full assurance . errour 57. to take delight in the holy service of god , is to go a whoring from god. errour 59. a man may not be exhorted to any duty , because he hath no power to do it . errour 70. frequency , or length of holy duties , or trouble of conscience for the neglect thereof , are all signs of one under a covenant of vvorks errour 68. faith justifies an unbeliever , that is , that faith that is in christ , justifieth me that have no faith in my self . errour 76. the devil and nature may be the cause of a gracious work. all these that synod confutes , as also that speech , if christ will let me sin , let him look to it , upon his honour be it . with these notions , so exclusive of fear and care were they pester'd . doctor owen , of justif. p. 52. assures us , he had written very much of the nature and use of threatnings under the gospel , and the fear that ought to be ingenerated by them in the hearts of men. the grounds of the doctor 's mistake . because the law of works made life to be of debt for perfect doing ; therefore it s legal to call men to do what christ commands , in order to any benefit , which he promiseth by the grace of the new covenant to bestow on such as shall so obey him . because it 's legal to denounce wrath as unavoidable , therefore it 's legal to denounce vvrath that it may be avoided . because god is not angry with his people for sin , when he hath forgiven them it upon repentance ; therefore they should not be called to fear his anger , as a disswasive from sin , or motive to repentance when they have sinned . because we cannot say the elect shall at last be damned , being that god will bring them to faith and repentance , that they may be saved ; therefore it 's legal to tell them , they shall be damned unless they believe and repent , though christ oft tells them so . because the believer is not in a state of wrath ; therefore it 's legal to warn him against apostacy , from the terrour of that vvrath which apostacy would bring him under : and note , reader , that all awful expressions against apostacy , are especially directed to true believers . because we should not destroy the hope or joy of an humble , watchful christian ; therefore it 's legal to allarm and awaken the drowsie , careless , backsliding christian. chap. xxii . of the exalting of christs i do observe , that the pretence for these opinions , is , that they exalt christ , and free grace . under this shadow antinomianism set up in germany . this was the great cry in england above fifty years since . the synod of new-england expose this as one of the speeches of them whom they call autinomian : here is a great stir about graces , and looking to hearts ; but give me christ : i seek not for graces , but for christ : i seek not for promises , but for christ : i seek not for sanctification , but for christ : tell not me of mediation and duties , but tell me of christ. p. 19. dr. crisp very often bears upon this point , as if all he said were to advance christ and grace : i shall therefore enquire , whether the opinions of dr. crisp , or the truths i have stated , do most exalt christ and free grace . it were enough to say , that i have proved his opinions to be errours ; and what i have laid down , to be truths : then christ is more exalted by these truths . he needs no lyes to advance his praise , and knew how to provide the best for his own glory , by what he hath revealed . but for farther evidence , i shall insert , 1. how christ is said to be exalted , according to the gospel . it is not what we fancy , will exalt him ; but what he declares conducive to his praise , that he will accept for glory : he that will not allow men to worship him in a way they think most devout , but binds them to his own rule , to exceed which , is superstitious ; will less venture his glory to our ignorant methods , whereby we are apt to diminish his real glory , when we conceit he is exalted . it 's an honour becoming his person and offices , which is his honour , and not what seems dazling to our blind affections . his divine glory cannot be added to , but only declared : it 's only the glory of christ , as mediator , that i shall speak of . as to this , christ is exalted , when every knee bows to him , phil. 1. 11. vvhen made a prince and a saviour , to give repentance , and remission of sin , act. 2. 23. vvhen his kingdom is enlarged , ifa . 49. 4 , 5 , 6. vvhen his people are filled with the fruits of rightcousness , phil. 1. 11. vvhen their grace is perfected , 2 thes. 1. 11 , 12. vvhen they suffer and act vigorously for him , phil. 1. 20. vvhen we own his priestly and kingly office ; relying on the first , as that whereby satisfaction is made , and all the blessings for sinners purchased ; yielding to the kingly office , as that whereby he applieth the effects of his merits , zech. 6. 13. vvhen we submit to the vvord , as it brings every thought into subjection 〈◊〉 christ , 2 cor. 10. 5. are guided by his teachings , eph. 2. 20. vve are the glory of christ , when we labour in his vvork , and walk worthy of his name , 2 cor. 8. 23. he is all in all , when jews and gentiles put on the new man , which is created after him in righteousness , and true holiness , &c. col. 3. 11 , 12. vvhen we live and die to him , as our supreme lord ; and submit all our actings to his glory , as our end , rom. 14 11 , 12. these places express , that christ is hereby exalted ; consult them , and thou wilt find it so . 2. the truths i have stated , do tend to the exaltation of christ in this manner ; and none can doubt but they lead to his glory , as he is king. all that can be objected , is , whether i do exalt him enough , as priest ? to which , i say , i have spoken as the word directs ; and i am willing to own any thing that lays man low , and exalts christ as the only atonement , the only purchaser of all our blessings , the only procurer of our acceptance , the author and finisher of all grace : nothing can add to his satisfaction or fulness ; pardon , peace , life , all are the effects of his sole merits : we must do all in his name , act in his strength , daily live on him for all supplies , and look to him for acceptance ; without whose incense , the best man , and the best action , were an abomination . what i contend for , is , his government , so wisely contrived to apply his blessings to men in a state of tryal . 3. the opinions of doctor crisp , as opposed to these truths , cannot exalt christ ; yea , by the above description , every one of them cast a reproach upon christ. i 'll ask thee , is christ exalted , when he is made the very blasphemer , and loaded with the filth of sin , and thereby odious to god till he sweat it out p. 51 , &c. is he exalted , in making sin so innocent to the elect , when they commit it , that though they do the fact , yet the filthy form of it is not theirs , but christ's ; and therefore they are not defiled thereby , but are as holy as christ , as lovely as christ , even when they murther ? &c. is man debased , and christ exalted , when there is a change of person between christ and them ; we as righteous as christ , and he as loathsom as we ; and we should not charge our selves with sin , when the greatest enormities are committed ? is christ exalted as king , when all his commands are made mere counsels ? he is a king , but hath neither promises nor threats annexed to his laws : he hath no right to chastize for sin : he offers blessings on terms , pleads earnestly , sends his spirits and ministers to strive ; but all this while , his spirit nor word do nothing to save us ; our compliance with his calls , yields no benefit ; our rejection of them , puts no hindrance ; our grossest villanies should not be bewailed , in order to pardon ; nor himself believed in to that end . our sins can do us no harm at all ; nor is holiness , though so oft urged by him , a jot of our way to heaven ? is christ exalted as a head , that hath actual members oft sixty years slaves to the devils , enemies to himself , and life , and people , without his spirit , or a line of his image ; and publick curses ? &c. is he honoured as mediator , that men are invested in all his covenant-blessings , washed and adopted , before they so much as own that god to whom he is a way , or renounce his enemy the devil , or confess their sin , purpose any amendment , see their need of him , or desire to fear or love him ; yea , do resolve the contrary ? is christ exalted as a holy redeemer , by being represented so intent on our mere impunity , as to contrive so little for our holiness ; he repents and believes for us , and requires no such things from us as a means of benefits ; the holiness he here improves the best to , is but dung and filthiness ; though he pretends to encourage , expostulate and reprove ; yet indeed he governs his elect as brutes , neither hope nor fear must influence them ; he hath no rule to judge them , but the decree of election ; though he warns us so oft of the solemnities of the last day . no man must intend his own good , in any duty he performs ; though he speaks so much of his reward , yet they have no respect at all to what we do , they will be as much ours for the greatest neglects . the comforts of assurance it self depends on no signs of renovation ; but concluding in our selves upon an inward voice , that our sins are pardoned , and this , all that faith which the gospel speaks so much of . how many more might i instance which represent christ inglorious , and reflect on the truth , wisdom , holiness and justice , of his nature ? the platform of his government , the divineness of his purposes in redemption , and the substance and scope of his word and gospel . chap. xxiii . of the honour of the free grace of god. i shall briefly consider whether dr. crisp's opinion , or the described truths , do most exalt the free grace of god. to this end i shall touch on these heads . 1. we must be sure it is the free grace of god we speak of : this is the love , mercy and benignity of god to sinners . to conceive aright of this , note , that it is not every thing that man can fancy , to be free , or grace , or free grace ; that is , the free grace of god : no , it must be a grace free , becoming the nature of god , suitable to all his other holy perfections , consistent with his dominions , executing it self in the vvay and instances appointed by his vvisdom ; limited to the objects , both for number and qualifications , as described by his vvord ; and serving all it's glorious purposes of redemption . this is the free grace of god : the grace of god in truth , col. 1. 6. the true grace of god , which peter had at large described , 1 pet. 5. 12. this grace consists with an atonement made by christ ; with the threatnings denounced in the gospel ; with the ruine of all unbelieving , apostate , ungodly sinners ; with god's peremptorily insisting on gospel-terms , in the distribution of benefits ; or else it would clash with his vvord , &c. it 's not less the free grace of god , because it is not so free as we may dream it is : as some do fancy , it would have been more free grace , if he had not exacted a dying-sacrifice ; or if it had alike extended to all sinful men , as well as some ; or included devils , as well as men ; or made the elect perfectly holy and happy as soon as born , excluding all labour , pain , sin and sorrow . but we see such free grace is not the free grace of god ; though it seems more free , or more grace , to vain surmisers , it is not free as , if it dispensed privileges by no certain rule ; and that god is as free to forgive and save the impenitent , as the penitent . 2. vvhat i have stated as truth , doth acknowledge and exalt this free grace of god. i have affirmed , and would admit the fullest expressions to testifie , that in these is the free grace of god in truth . of mere grace he elected some certain sinners to life , upon no moving , fore-seen condition ; but yet to obtain it through sanctification of the spirit to obedience , and sprinkling of the blood of jesus . of mere love to sinners , no way deserving it , he gave his son to die for them ; who also undertook to bring all the elect to salvation , in the way appointed between the father and him : he , without any thing in man to deserve it , gave his gospel ; and thereby offereth , in the virtue of his son's blood , pardon , and eternal life , to every one that will repent , and truly believe ; and no penitent , persevering believer shall miss of life by a failure of this promise : he freely and of mere grace bestows faith and repentance ; yea , gives his spirit to create these , and any other good vvork , in worthless , vile sinners : and though he will not forgive any that finally refuse to believe and repent , nor save any ungodly , barren , apostate man ; yet pardon and life are his free-gift , and no grace or duty merits them , they being no more than the required conditions or means of our partaking them , as the gifts of god , through christ ; and so hereby he honours his own government , and no way indulgeth the boastings of men. 3. the opinions of dr. crisp , as they differ from these truths , do not exalt the free grace of god : his notions may seem more to represent an unlimited grace as blind , and so more suitable to wicked , foolish men : but it is not agreeable to the holy nature , nor just or wise government , or the revealed will of god ; but greatly reflects on god's grace , beyond what i will mention . is it the honour of god's grace , that all the graces of the spirit should be needless to promised benefits , when he promiseth those benefits to them ? is it the grace of an holy god , not to esteem a man filthy by the greatest abominations , and yet abhorr his own image in his saints , as dung ? is it the free grace of god , to account an elect person , in the heighth of his vvickedness , as pure and as lovely as a saint in glory ; and yet with-hold his spirit from him many years ? is it the grace of god , to leave his precepts without any sanction , when he removed the curse of the law ? never to express any displeasure , when most provoked ; yea , when he doth correct ? to have no regard to good or evil in men , in his judicial distributions ? to leave men so imperfect in a vvorld of temptations , and state of tryal , free from all fear of caution , and to have nothing in them to influence their perseverance and holiness , except a principle of gratitude , though their love be weak ? can it be the grace of god , that his subjects must have no eye to his rewards or threats ; fear none of his displeasure when they offend ; be confident of the pardon of the worst offences , before they confess a fault ; never fear a rebuke for , or hurt in or by any sin ; yea , condemn any trouble on that account , though he blame the contrary , and his spirit causeth these relentings ? is it the free grace of our god , which renders him a respecter of persons in his judicial acts , as the ruler and judge of the vvorld , because he bestows grace as an act of sovereignty ? it cannot be his free grace , who hath so wisely contrived the kingdom of his grace , that he prevents idleness and neglect in men , as well as boasting ; that he makes the sinner speechless , for being his own undoer , by wilfully refusing christ , as well as he secures the acknowledgment of his free mercy by all that are saved . can that grace be his , which nullifies all his threats , weakens the authority of all his commands , turns all his pleadings with men into empty vvords ; nay , direct fallacies ? is it the grace of god that overturns the stated order wherein grace exerts it self , becoming all the perfections of god ? god's grace first calls , and therein unites us to christ ; first quickens , then dignifies ; first gives faith , then forgives , &c. but by the doctor 's opinion , this order is in●erted ; all privileges are applied to the sinner , before grace hath made any change on the sinner . it 's not the grace of god , which ●ets up his decree in opposition to his revealed vvill , acquits whom he declares condemned , enervates the ministry , seareth the conscience , encourageth spiritual sloth , discourageth obedience , reproacheth god●iness , gives advantage to the tempter , destroys the rule of judgment , and opposeth the general , and plain scope of the scripture , the experience of saints , and the nature of man , as rational , as well as his relation to god , as a subject , in the way to an eternal state. it cannot be god's free grace , which renders men as safe for eternity , if they never heard the gospel , as by hearing of it ; for if they be united to christ , and pardoned in the womb , they need the gospel only for assurance , but not for title ; to change their apprehensions , but not their state. how many more ( and some grosser ) objections might be offered against that being the free grace of god , which dr. crisp and his followers speak of as free grace ? i desire to live , adoring the riches of that grace , that freely elected to grace and glory in christ ( as the great means of accomplishing this purpose ) so many apostate sinners ; that freely offers life to the worst enemies , on gospel-terms , with so much help , as leaves the blood of the impenitent on their own heads ; that freely bestows the spirit , to work the dead and ungodly to an obedience to the terms of the gospel ; that freely gives , by the promise for christ's sake , pardon to the penitent believer ; and such amazing dignity to such as he enableth to persevere in faith and holiness , as the rule of the promise doth require . this grace i adore , and own the best to merit nothing to forfeit all ; yea , to deserve hell by the law of works : and i do renounce all that saints have , or do , as any atonement for sin , or purchasing price of the least benefit , much less of salvation . but yet i disown any free grace to be the free grace of god which overturns his benefits from being motives to duty ; denies the total neglect of duties , with their contrary evils from being a barr to our interest in those benefits which by the gospel he promiseth to those duties ; and requires those duties , in order to this rectoral distribution of blessings , it being wisely provided for in the dispensation of this grace , that he may rule and judge us according to his relation to us , and according to our rational nature , in a state of tryal , for a future condition . reader , there are other mistakes of doctor crisp's , which i might instance ; as , his notion of the nature of our union with christ , as if we were one natural person with him : his difinition of the new creature , as if it stood only in our new relation to christ. p. 90. the strange difference he makes between the way of salvation before christ's time , and since . p. 254 , 255 , 256 , 258. their sins were pardoned , on condition of doing , not given for all sins at once ; much dust left , and they were subject to lashes for sin ; but now the covenant is contrary in all these respects . how contrary to the sense of the assembly and elders at the savoy , ch . 11. a. 6. the justification of believers under the old testament , was in all these respects one and the same with the justification of believers under the new testament . he forgets that most of his proofs be fetch'd from the old testament , as ezek. 16 , &c. jacob loved in the womb , &c. and seems not to distinguish the covenant of grace , and that of peculiarity . but these , with other errours , i pass by , the appendix . i shall here repeat what i delivered in pinners-hall-lecture , which some persons seemed greatly to resent ; and i leave it to any impartial man to judge , from what i have described as dr. crisp's opinion , whether i charged men of his persuasion with falshood . after i had fully acquitted men of my judgment , from pelagianism , socinianism , and arminianism , which the antinomians accuse us of ; i added , with these men , it 's not enough that we hold , that we were from eternity elected to grace and glory ; unless we add , that we were actually united to christ , and justified from eternity , and in the womb. it 's not enough , that we say , christ did , in the covenant of redemption , undertake to save the elect in his appointed way and time ; unless we add , that there is no other covenant for the application of christ's benefits ; wherein god requires faith and repentance , as the indispensible means of our pardon . it is not enough , that we own , that christ absolutely redeemed the elect , so as to purchase saving graces , as well as benefits , to be infallibly theirs ; unless we add , that all others are in state of devils ; as having no real offers of life on gospel-terms ; nor is their salvation possible , if they will repent and believe : it will not please them , that we affirm , the punishment of our sins ; yea , the guilt of them , as an obligation to punishment , were laid upon christ , our sponsor ; unless we add , that our sins themselves in their blot and filthiness , were also transacted on christ. it is not enough , that we own , that the righteousness of christ avails us as much as if it were personally our own ; yea , was always intended for us , and is so imputed to us , as to be the foundation of , and security for our pardon and right to life ; and no atonement for sin , or purchasing price of life , can be demanded from us ; unless we also add , that god esteemed us to have done and suffered , what christ did and suffered . it sufficeth not , that we say , that we are justified only by christ's merits , as the sole procuring cause , or righteousness for which we are justified : unless we deny , that faith and repentance are the indispensibly required conditions or qualifications of those persons to whom the merits of christ are applied for justification . it will not serve , that we assert , that justifying faith , must be a reliance on christ , as priest , and sole atonement : unless we deny , that faith must be also a fiducial acceptance of a whole saviour ; i. e. of christ , as prophet , priest and king. it 's not enough , that we say , we are upon repenting and believing , put into a justified state , hefore any other work : unless we add , that our obedience to particular precepts do not benefit us ; and that god doth not judicially approve of our sincere actings , as according to the rule of the gospel-promises of those benefits . it is not enough , that we say , the absolute promises are made to christ , for the be nefit of the elect , and pleadable by him ; unless we deny , that the gospel is an authoritative command on men to believe , and that under the gospel-sanction of life and death : so that he that believes , stall be saved ; and he that believeth not , shall be damned . it will not please , that we say , that christ purchased all grace for us , and by his spirit worketh all grace in us ; unless we add , that he believed , repented , and did all for us , so as we have nothing to do in order to salvation . it 's not sufficient , that we own , the grace by which we do any duty , is from christ ; and the good promised to any duty , is for the sake of christ : unless we deny the ordained connexion betwixt that duty and that benefit . they say , we set up man's righteousness , if we tell men that they must be holy , and do good , and take comfort therein , as an evidence of grace , and of their title to christ , and as answering the rule of the gospel-promises , though we assert , they must be members of christ , and accepted through him ; or they cannot partake of any saving benefits thereby . it is not right , that we say , god sees no sin in believers , so as to cast them out of covenant , nor out of a justified-state , for it ; unless we add , that god sees no sin at all in them , as theirs , when they most offend . it 's not enough , that we affirm , that sin committed , shall not eventually damn a believer , because he shall by the spirit be brought to repentance ; unless we add , god is never angry with believers for sin ; nor ever corrects them , as guilty of it . with these we are legal preachers , if we urge faith and repentance in order to pardon , though we declare that faith and repentance are the gifts of christ ; and pardon is not the effect of these graces , but of the promise in the virtue of christ's blood , or of his blood applied for forgiveness by the promise . we are legal preachers , if we perswade to holiness , as the way of salvation by the ordination of christ ; though we affirm , that it is no way out of christ ; nor but with a respect to christ , for whom it is accepted , as what answers the rule of the gospel-promise . how are we decried as legal , if we urge threatnings , though as motives to close with christ , and to walk in him ▪ which being used to this end , and the threatned evil being avoidable on gospel-terms , and pressed on fallen man for his recovery ; they are gospel , and not legal threatnings . it 's not enough , that we assert and press assurance ; unless we affirm , that justifying faith , is nothing but assurance . it 's not enough , we say , that we need the spirit , to discover to us our inherent grace , and to assist conscience in it's sentence , that grace is inherent ; unless we add , that we must not try our state , and conclude of it by gospel-marks of sanctification ; but depend on an inward voice of the spirit , saying , thy sins are forgiven ; which we must believe , if it agree but to the general word , viz. christ came to save sinners ; and believing this is all that saving faith the gospel speaks of . herein i have , in part , described the state of the case between them and us . it 's true , there are some small differences among the orthodox , in wording some of these things : but shall we hereby give advantage to such errours as overturn the gospel and dominion of christ , under the abused pretext of exalting christ , and free grace ? bear with this , which for the sake of christ , and dying religion , i have ventur'd to declare : not for the irritation of any , but the edification of all , especially some mistaken , well-meaning people . conscience binds me not to palliate , though i fore-see reproach from some , who would do well to remember the caution the spirit of god thought needful to such as boasted of a faith without works , and still it appears too pertinent ; if any man among you seem to be religious , and bridleth not his tongue , but deceiveth his own heart , this man's rereligion is vain , jam. 2. 26. some general heads . the elect are children of wrath , till effectually called , page 4 the filth of sin not transacted on christ , p. 10 the act of laying sins on christ , is not the discharge of the elect , p. 17 mens sins their own , and not christ's sins , p. 25 our sins laid on christ , before he was nailed to the cross , p. 29 christ not abhorred by the father , p. 33 no change of person between christ and the elect , p. 41 christ's mediatorial righteousness not subjectively in us , and how imputed , p. 42 believers not as holy as christ , p. 46 the covenant of grace explained , and what a condition is , p. 53 , 57. the covenant of grace conditional , p. 63 faith not a perswasion that my sins are pardoned , &c. p. 75 prevailing enmity , a hindrance to our present interest in christ , p. 85 the elect not united to christ without faith , p. 93 what union with christ is , p. 100 justification not before faith , p. 105 repentance necessary to pardon , p. 114 sinners have much to do to be saved , p. 129 the gospel hath threats and promises , p. 133 holiness and good works necessary to salvation , p. 139 they are profitable , and god pleased , &c p. 142 , 143 , 144 our own good should be intended , p. 155 assurance by gospel-marks , and not by an inward voice , p. 165 god chargeth sin on men , and they should repent for repeated pardon , p. 175 sin may hurt believers , p. 184 god afflicts for sin , p. 192 sincere holiness not dung , p. 199 , 102 christ doth not repent , &c. for us . p. 211 conditional proposals of benefit on terms of duty , gospel-preaching , p. 213 to excite fear in sense of danger , not legal preaching . p. 228 christ more exalted by the former truths , than by dr. crisp's opinions , p. 235 the free grace of god not honoured by doctor crisp , though more freeness be asserted by him , than by these truths , p. 239 part of a sermon at pinner's-hall , anno 1691. the edition of dr. crisp's works i refer to , is the last , anno 1690. finis . the meditations, soliloquia and manuall of the glorious doctour s. augustine translated into english. selections. english augustine, saint, bishop of hippo. 1655 approx. 456 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 230 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a26212) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44014) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1348:15) the meditations, soliloquia and manuall of the glorious doctour s. augustine translated into english. selections. english augustine, saint, bishop of hippo. the seconde edition. 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xml conversion the meditations , soliloqvia , and manvall of the glorious doctour s. augustine . translated into english. the seconde edition . printed at paris , by m rs blageart , m.dc.lv. the preface to the reader before the meditations , soliloquia , and manuall of s. augustine . these three little treatises of the great s. augustine , might all well haue bene called manualls , in respect that they are of soe smalle bulke , as with ease to be portable by euery hand . but yet as the are are little manualls , soe with all they may be accounted great cordialls , for the relation vvhich they haue , and for the place vvhich they deserue to hold , in the hart of man. they principally consist of most sweete affections , and aspirations , which the enamoured soule of our incomparable saint was euer breathing out to almighty god ; beseeching him in most tender manner , to be dravving it still , neerer to himselfe . wee may see , hovv he aspired to perfect vnion vvith that diuine maiestie , but withall vve must knowe , that first , he had taken paines to purge himselfe entirely , from all errour , sinne , and vanitie ; and to plant the habits of vertue in his hart , by a most attentiue and faithfull imitation of the humilitie , and charitie of christ our lord. vade , & tu fac similiter . for vnlesse thou trauaile in that high way , thou wilt neuer arriue to that iourneys end . nor art thou to looke for any experimentall knowledge of gods sweetnes , till by prayer & practise of solid vertue , the bitter iuyce of sinne , and the offensiue smoake of passion be discharged . but that being done , roome is made for god , and he will make thee knowe , and feele , how good he is . the table of the chapters contained in the meditations . the first chapter . the inuocation of the omnipotent god for the amendement of his life page 1 chap. 2. the accusation of man , and the commendation and praise , of the diuine mercy , 4 chap. 3. the complainte of a man who is not heard by our lord through his disobedience , page 9 chap. 4. the feare of the iudge page 12 chap. 5. the father is inuoked by the sonne , 16 chap. 6. heer man representeth the passion of the sonne to the father . page 19 chap. 7. heer man acknowledgeth that himselfe by his sinnes , is the cause of the passion of christ our lord , page 23 chap. 8. heer man exposeth the passion of the sonne , to god the father , for the reconciliation of man , page 28 cap. 9. of the inuocation of the holy ghost . 35 chap. 10. the prayer of the seruant of god conccauing humbly of himselfe , 37 chap. 11. a prayer to the blessed trinity , 38 chapter 12. a confession of the omnipotency , and maiesty of god , 39 chapter 13. how god the eather vouchsafed to helpe mankinde , and of the incarnation of the worde , page 42 chap. 14. of the confidence which a soule ought to haue in our lord iesus , & in his passion , 45 chap. 15. of the immense charity of the eternall father towards mankinde , page 48 chap. 16. of the twofolde nature of christe our lord , who pittyeth , and prayeth for vs. 52 chap. 17. of the thanks which a man owes to god , for the benefitt of redemption , 56 chap. 18. a prayer to christ our lord page 60 chap. 19. he distinguisheth betweene that vvisdome , which is called the howse of god , and that other vvisdome which is supremely diuine , page 65 chap. 20. he prayeth that the spirituall howse of god , may pray for him , page 70 chap. 21. how full this life of ours , is , of bitternesse , 73 chap. 22. of the felicity of that life , which our lord hath prepared , for them that loue him , 75 chap. 23. of the felicity of that soule which departeth hence . 78 chap. 24. he inuoketh the saynts , 80 chap. 25. the desire of the soule toward the supernall citty of ierusalem , page 87 chap. 26. a hymne of paradise , page 88 chap. 27. of the continuall praise , which a soule conceiueth by the contemplation of the diuinity , 93 chap. 28. vvhat it is to see god , and to inioy him , after a sort , and how we are to thinke of god , 98 chap. 29. he declareth many propertyes of almighty god , 100 chap. 30. of the vnity of god , and the plurality of persons in him , page , 107 chap. 31. a prayer to the blessed trinity , 112 chap. 32. that god is the true , and souuereigne life , 114 chap. 33. of the praise which men and angells giue to god , 117 chap. 34. he complayneth against himselfe for not being moued , with the contemplation of god whereat the angells tremble , 124 chap. 35. a prayer which greatly moueth the hart to deuotion , and to diuine loue , 128 chap. 36. a most deuoute prayer by way of thanks-giueing , 138 chap. 37. a most holy , & most excellent prayer to almighty god , whereby the soule is greatly moued to deuotion , page , 148 chap. 38. a prayer to be made in affliction , 161 chap. 39. another prayer to our lord iesus christe , 163 chap. 40. another prayer to god. 172 chap. 41. a prayer vpon the passion christe our lord , 180 the table of the chapters contained in the soliloquia . the first chapter . of the vnspeakable sweetnes of god , pag 192 chap 2. of the misery and fragility of man , p. 200 chap. 3 of the admirable light of god , 206 chap. 4. of the mortality of mans nature , 208 chap. 5. vvhat it is , to be made nothing , 211. chap. 6 , of the fall of a soule by sinne , 215 chap. 7. of the manifolde benefits of almigthy god , 216 chap. 8. of the future dignity of man , 221 chap. 9. of the omnipotency of god , 226 chap. 10. of the incomprehensible prayse of god , 228 chap. 11. of the hope , which is to be erected towards god , 231 chap. 12. of the snares of concupiscence . 234 chap. 13. of the misery of man , & the benefits of god , 238 chap. 14. that god doth consider the workes , and purposes of mankinde . with a perpetuall attention , 243 chap. 15. that man of himselfe can doe nothing without diuine grace , 248 chap. 16. of the temptation of the deuill , 255 chap. 17. that god is the light of iust persons , 259 chap. 18 , of the benefits of god , 265 chap. 19. of the feruour of charity , 271 chap. 20. that god hath submitted all things to the seruice of man , 274 chap. 21. that the greatenes of the diuine counsell may be inferred by the consideration of temporall blessings , 277 chap. 22. that the diuine sweetnes taketh away all the present bitternes of the world , 280 chap. 23. that all our hope , ought to be placed in our lord , 284 chap. 24. that all our saluation depends vpon our god , 286 chap. 25. that the will of man , wanteth efficacy towards goods workes without the grace of god , 289 chap. 26. of the antient benefits of almighty god. 291 chap. 27. of the angels which are deputed to the custody of man , 293 chap. 28. of the profound predestination , and prescience of god , 298 chap. 29. of them who first were iust , and afterwards became wiked , 303 chap. 30. that a faithfull soule is a sanctuary of god , 306 chap. 31. that god is not to be found , eyther by the exteriour or interiour senses . 308 chap. 32. a confession of true faith , 322. chap. 33. of the confession of our owne basenes , 331 chap. 34. a considerations of the diuine maiestie , 333 chap. 35. of the desire & thirst of a soule towards god , 338 chap. 36. of the glory of our celestiall country , 346 chap. 37. a payer to the blessed trinity , 352 the table of the chapters contained in the manuall . the first chapter . of the wonderfull essence of god , page 355 chap. 2. of the unspeakable knowledge of god 357 chap. 3. of the desire of à soule which thirsteth after god , 360 chap. 4 of the misery of a soule which loues not god , 362 chap. 5. of the desire of a soule , 365 chap. 6. of the felicity of à soule which is freed from the prison of flesh . and bloud , 367 chap. 7. of the ioyes of heauen , page 369 chap. 8. of the kingdome of heauen , pag 341 chap. 9. how god doth comfort an afflicted soule , 343 chap. 10. of the sweetnes of diuine , loue , 345 chap. 11. of the preparation of our redemption , 349 chap. 12. of spirituall ioy , 378 chap. 13. that the vvord incarnate is the cause of our hope , 381 chap. 14. how sweet a thing is is to thinke of god , 382 chap. 15. how much tribulation endured for christ our lord , is to be desired , 384 chap , 16. how the kingdome of god may be obteyned , 386 chap. 17. vvhat a happy place heauen is , page 387 chap. 18. vve cannot make any requitall to almighty god , but only by loue , 390 chap. 19. vvhat it is which god rereth of vs , that so we may be like himselfe , 392 chap. 20. of the confidence of a soule which loueth god , 394 chap. 21. vvhat god did for man , 397 chap. 22. of the remembrance of the woundes of iesus christe our lord , 399 chap. 23. the remembrance of the woundes of christ our lord , is our remedy in all aduersity , 400 chap. 24. an exhortation of the soule to the loue of christ our lord , 402 chap. 25. that nothing can suffice the soule , but the supreme good , page 405 chap. 26. vvhat the knowledge of truth is , 407 chap. 27. vvhat at the mission of the holy ghost doth worke in vs , page 448 chap. 28. of the working of that soule which loueth god , 411 chap. 29. of the harts true repose , page 413 chap. 30. vvatsoeuer doth withdraw the sight of the mind from god , is wholly to be auoyded , 414 chap. 31. how the vision of god was lost by sinne , & that misery came so to be found out , 416 chap. 32. of the goodnes of god , 419 chap. 33. of the delightfull fruition of god , 421 chap. 34. that this supreme good is to be desired , 423 chap. 36. of the mutuall charity of the saints in heauen , 426 chap. 36. of the fulnes of the ioy of heauen , 428 the meditations of the gloriovs doctour s. augustine . the first chapter . he inuokes almightie god for the amendement of his life and manners . o lord my god! bestowe vpon my hart . that i may desire thee ; that by desiringe thee , i may seeke thee ; that by seekinge thee , i may finde thee ; that by findinge thee i may loue thee , that by loueing thee , i may be freed from all my sinns ; and that once being freed , i may returne to them noe more . o lord my god! grant repentance to my hart , contrition to my spirit , a fontaine of tears to mine eyes , and liberality in giueinge almes , to my hands . o my king ! extinguish all desires of sense , and kindle the fire of thy loue in me . o thou my redeemer , driue away the spirit of pride ; and grant me , through thy mercy , the treasure of thy humility . o thou , my sauiour ! remoue from me the fury of anger , and vouchsafe me ( of thy grace ) the sheild of patience . o thou my creator ! take all rancor from me ; and through thy meekenes , inrich me with a sweete , and gentle minde . bestowe on me , ô most mercifull father , a solide faith , a conuenient hope , and a continuall charity ! o thou my directour ! remoue from me , vanity and inconstancy of minde , vnsetlednes of body , scurrility of speech , pride of eyes , gluttony of diet , the offence of my neighbours , the wickednes of detractions , the itch of curiosity , the desire of riches , the oppression , which is imposed by the mighty , the appetite of vayne glory , the mischeife of hipocrisy , the poyson of flattery , the contempt of the necessitous and poore , the oppression of the weake , the biteinge of couetousnes , the rust of enuy , and the death of blasphemy . cutt away from me , o thou who art my maker ! all vngodly temerity , pertinacy , vnquietnesse , idlenes , sleepinesse , slothe , dullnes of minde , blindnesse of hart , stiffnes of opiniō , harshnesse of conuersation , disobedience to vertu , and opposition to good aduice , vnbridlednesse of speech , oppression of the poore , violence of the riche , slaunder of the innocent , sharpnesse towards my seruants , ill example towards myne acquaintance , and hard-hartednes towards my neighbours . o my god , and my mercy , i beseech thee , by thy beloued sonne , grant that i may performe the workes of mercy , and pitty ; sufferinge with the afflicted , aduising such as erre , succourring such as are miserable , supplying such as are in want , confortinge such as are in sorrow , releiuing the oppressed , refreshing the poore , cherishinge the spirits which are wounded ; forgiueing those that trespasse against me , perdoninge such as doe me wronge , loueing them , who hate me , rendringe good for euell , dispiseing none , but honouringe all , imitating the good , takeing heed of the bade , imbraceing vertue , reiectinge vice , haueing patience in aduersity , and moderation in prosperity ; and , that , keepeing a guard vpon my mouth , and shuttinge the doore of my lipps , i may despise , all earthly , and aspire to heauenly things . chap. ii. the accusation of man , and the commendation & praise , of the diuine mercy . behold , ( o thou who haste framed me ) how many things i haue desired , while yet i deserue not , so much as a fewe . i confesse , woe is me . i confesse that not onely these graces , which i haue begged , are not due to me , but rather many , & most exquisite torments . yet doth the example of the publicanes , and harlotts , & murthering theeues , giue me harte ; who beinge suddenly drawne out of the very iawes of the enimy , haue beene imbraced , in the bosome of the good sheepheard . and thou , ô god , the creator of all things , though in all thy workes thou be admirable , yet we beleiue that thou art much more admirable , in the workes of mercy . wherupon thou saidst , by a certaine seruant of thine , his mercyes are ouer all his workes . and we doe confidently hope , that it was , as if thou hadest spoken it of euery one of vs in particuler , when thou didst thus expresse thy selfe of the whole people : saying , but i will not remoue mercy from it : for thou despisest noe man , thou reiectest noe man , thou abhorrest noe man , vnlesse perhaps it be some one , who is so mad as to abhorr thee . when therefore thou art angry , thou dost not onely not strike the offenders , but euē impartest blessings to them ; if they giue ouer offending . o thou , my god! the very horne of my saluation and my vpholder , i wretched creature , haue offended thee : i haue done wickedly in thy sight : i haue deserued thy wrathe : i haue prouoked thy fury : i haue sinned , and thou hast suffred me : i haue offended , and thou yet endurest me . if i repent , thou pardonest ; if i returne , thou receiuest ; nay more then this , whilest i am deferring , thou expectest me . thou dost reduce me when i err : thou inuitest me when i resiste : thou staiest for me when i am dull , thou imbracest me when i returne : thou teachest me when i am ignorant : thou cherrishest me when i am afflicted : thou raisest me whilest i fall : thou restorest me when i am fallen : thou giuest me when i aske : thou art found when i seeke thee ; and thou openest when i knock . o lord , the god of my saluation ! behold , i know not what i may alledge : i know not what to answere : i haue no refuge , nor hole to retire my serfe into from thee . thou hast showed me the way of good life , and thou hast giuen me knoweledge how to cōduct my selfe : thou haste treatned me with the feare of hell , thou hast allured me with the hope of the glory of heauen and now , o father of mercyes ! ô god of all consolation , strike through my very flesh with thy feare ; to the end , through feare i may auoide that which thou threatnest ; and restore to me the ioy of thy sauing grace , that by loue , i may obteyne the thinges which thou promisest . o lord ! my strength , and my fundation , my god , my refuge , & my deliuerer , inspire me with what i ought to thinke of thee ; teach me with what words i should inuoke thee ; impart the power of performeinge those workes , wherby i may please thee . i know there is one thing , wherby thou art appeased , & an other which thou art not wont to despise . to witt an afflicted soule , is a sacrifice to thee : and thou vouchsafest to accept an humble and contrite hart . o my god , and my helper ! inrich me , i beseech thee , with these guifts ; defend me against mine enemy by these graces ; impart this refreshinge to me , against the burninge heat of sensualityes , and lett this refuge be open to me , against the importunity of all inordinate desires . o lord ! the strength of my saluatiō , doe not permitt me to be of them , who beleeue in thee for a season ; but in the tyme of temptation departe from thee . ouer shadow this head of mine , in the day of battell o thou who art my hope in the tyme of affliction , and my saueing health in the tyme of tribulation . behold , ô lord ! ô thou my light , and my saluation ! i haue begged those things of thee which i neede : i haue intimated those things which i apprehend and feare , but my conscience fills me with remorse , the secretts of my hart reprooue me , and that which loue gathered together , feare scattereth ; and that which zeale moues me too , distrust drawes me from . my sinns , giue me terrour , but thy pitty putts me into hope ; thy bounty exhorts me , though myne owne malignity holds me back . and that i may confesse a truth , the images , and representations of my old sinns , be still obtrudeing themselues on my memory , & they hold me downe from presumeing too farr . chap. iii. the complainte of a man who is not heard by our lord , through his disobedience . for in fine , when a man is worthy of hate , with what face shall he desire fauour ? to whome punishment is due , what rash boldnes is it for him , to expect glory ? he prouoketh his iudge , who instead of giueinge satisfaction for his offence , pretends to be honored with rewards . he insults vpon his kinge , who beinge obnoxious to punishment , will aduenture to begg a prize which is not due to him . and that foolish sonne , would exasperate the tender hart of his father , who ( hauinge reproached the same father ) would presume to vsurpe the honour of the inheritance , before he had disposed himself to pennance . what is this , ô my deare father , which i say i haue done ! i haue deserued death , and yet i aske life . i haue offēded my souueraigne kinge , whose aide i doe yet thus impudently implore . i haue despised my iudge whome thus rashly , i desire to be my helper . most insolently haue i refused , so much as to harken to my father , whom yet i am presumeinge , to haue for my defender . woe be vnto me , how late doe i come : woe be to me , how slack am i in makeing haste ; woe be to me , who am runninge still , hauing receiued fresh wounds and yet vouchsafe not when i am wel , to preuent the pearcinge of new arrowes . i haue neglected to forsee the darts before they came ; but now that i behold my death at hand , i am full of trouble . i added wounds to wounds , because i feared not , to add crimes to crimes . my ancient scarrs , i haue broken through with new violence ; because my late iniquities , haue corresponded with my ancient sinns ; and that which thy diuine phisick had cured , and closed ; the itch of my frensy , hath opened againe . the skinn which being drawen ouer my wounds , did conceale my infirmity , hath putrified by the breaking out of filthy blood ; whilest that iniquity which i iterated , did euacuate the mercy which thou dist grante . for i well know , how it is written : in what houre soeuer the iust man shall sinn , all his iustice shal be forgotten . and now if the iustice of the iust man shal be forgotten when he falls , how much more shall the peunance of a sinner be forgotten , if he returne againe to comitt those sinns ? how often , like a dogg , haue i returned to my vomitt , and like a sowe , haue i weltered againe , in the mire ? i may wel confesse it , for it is impossible , but i should remember it . how many ignorant persons haue i taught the way how to sinn ? how many haue i persuaded , who had no minde to it ? i haue compelled such as resisted ; and i haue consented to such as desired . for how many haue i laide a snare , who were already in the right way ? and for others who sought that way , i haue digged a pitt , and to the end that i might not abhorr the doeinge of these things , i feared not to cast them out of my minde . but thou ô iust iudge , who sealest vp the accounts of my sinns , and who standest watchinge ouer all my wayes , and haste numbered euery one of my stepps ; thou i say , heldest thy peace , thou hast euer beene silent , and euer patient . but woe is me , thou wilt at length cry out , like a woman who is in the torment of child-bedd . chap. iv. the feare of the iudge . o god , of gods , o lord who art too hard for the malice , and sinn of man. i knowe that one day thou wilt appeare ; i know that thou wilt not be allwayes silent , when the fire shall burn in thy sight , and that strong tempest , shall compasse thee inn round about ; when thou shalt call the heauen & earth , at such tyme as thou wilt iudge thy people . and behold all my iniquities shal be discouered then , before so many thousands of nations ; and all my greiuous crimes not onely , deeds , but euen words , and very thoughts themselues , shal be manifested , to so many legions of angells . before so many iudges , shall i , desolate creature , stand , as there wil be men , who haue farr outstripped me in good workes . by so many reprouers shall i be confounded , as haue giuen me examples of good life . and by so many witnesses shall i be conuinced , as haue taught me by good speeches ; and instructed me , toward an imitation of them , by their good examples . o my lord , i can lighte vpon nothinge which i may say ; nothing doth occurr which i can answere . and now , whilest i am subiect to this sharp triall , my conscience racks me , the secrets of my hart torment me , couetousnesse streightens me , pride accuses me , enuy consumes me , concupiscence inflames me , lust importunes me , gluttony dishoners me , ebriety ouercomes me , detraction tears me , ambition supplants me , greedinesse disquiets me , discorde scatters me , anger disturbes me , mirth dissolues me , heauinesse oppresseth me , hypocrisy deceiues me , flattery alters me , fauour exalts me , & slaunder wounds me . behold ô thou , who art my deliuerer from these feirce nations ! behold who they be , whome i haue liued with all , from the very day of my birth ; whome i haue obserued , and to whome i haue dedicated my selfe . those very imployments which i loued , condemn me ; they which i praised , dishonored me . these are those frends with whome i did so carefully comply ; those maisters , whose direction i followed , those lords whome i haue serued ; those counseillers whome i haue beleeued ; those citzens with whome i haue dwelt ; & those domesticks whome i haue consented too . woe is me , ô my king , and my god , that my habitation here , is so much prolonged . woe is me ! o thou light of mine eyes , that i haue dwelt amongst the inhabitants of cedar . and if holy dauid could say that he had dwelt much with them , how much more , may i wretched creature say ( o thou my god , and my strong fundation ) that my soule hath dwelt too much with them ; for in thy sight , noe man liueinge can be iustifyed . my hope is not reposed in the sonnes of men , for if thou iudge them ( when thy mercy is laide a side ) whome wilt thou be able to finde iust ? and if thou preuent not the wicked man by showeing mercy ? thou wilt not finde any good man , vpon whome to bestowe thy glory . for i beleeue ( o thou who art my saluation ) that which i haue beene told , that it is thy mercy which bringeth me to pennance . those lipps of thy mouth more sweete then nectar , haue sounded forth these words : noe man can come to me , vnles my father who sent me , drawe him . because therfor thou haste instructed me : because by that instruction , thou hast mercifully framed me ; as now i am ; i doe with the most inward marrow of my soule , and with all possible strife of my hart , inuoke thee , ô omnipotent father , with thy most beloued sonne ; and thee , ô most sweete sonne , with the most excellent souueraigne holy spirit , that thou wilt draw me towards thee , & that so i may runn after the fragrance of thy pretious odours : and that i may doe it most dearely . chap. v. the father is inuoked by the sonne . inuoke thee , ô my god! i inuoke hee , because thou art present , to all such as call vpon thee , in the way of truth : for thou art truth . teach me , ô holy truth , by thy mercy , how i may inuoke thee , in thee , because i know not how that must be done ; and therefore i doe most humbly begg of thee , to be taught by thee for to be wise without thee , is to play the foole ; but to knowe thee , is perfectly to be wise . teach me , ô diuine wisdome , and instruct me in thy lawe , for i beleeue that he whome thou teachest , and whome thou instructest in thy lawe , shal be happy . i desire to inuoke thee , and i beseech thee , that it may be in all truth what is it to call vpon truth , in truth , but to call vpon the father in his sonnes . thy speach therfore , ô holy father , is truth , and truth is the beginninge of thy words . for this , is the beginninge of thy words , that in the beginning was the word . in the very beginning doe i adore thee , who art the prime , and supreame beginninge . in that very worde of truth , doe i also inuoke thee ô perfect truth , in which word i beseech thee , who art that very truth , that thou will direct , and teach me that truth . for what is more delightfull , then to inuoke the father , in the name of his onely begotten sonne ; to induce the father to mercy , by the remembrance of his sonne ; & to mollify the kings hart by the mention of his dearest sonne . for thus doe prisoners vse to be freed from their restrainte : so are slaues , freed from their chaines ; and men who are lyable to the sadd doome of death , are not onely absolued ; but growe intitled , sometymes , to extraordinary fauour , when they putt angry princes in minde , of the loue they beare to theyr progeny : and when the intercession of the sonne is imployed , the poore slaue is wonte to auoide the punishment of his lord. iust so , ô thou omnipotent father , i begg of thee , by thine omnipotent sonne , that thou wilt drawe my soule out of prison , that i may confesse to thy name . i beseech thee , by that onely begotten sonne of thine , who is coeternall with thee ; that thou wilt discharge me , from these fetters of my sinns ; and that by the mediation of thy most pretious issue , who is sitting at thy right hand ; thou wilt , of thy goodnes , restore me to life , who for my great demerits am threatned with the sentence of death . for i know not what other intercessor i should be able to vse towards thee , but him who is propitiation for our sinns , and who sitteth at thy right hand pleadinge for vs. behold , ô god the father , him who is my aduocate with thee . behold that supreame bishop , who hath noe need to be expiated by any others blood , because he is resplendent by being all bathed , in his owne . beholde here the holy sacrifice which is holy , perfect , and wel pleasing ; & which is offered in the odour of sweetnes , & so accepted . behold the lamb without spott , who is silent before the shearrer ; and who being beaten vpon the face with blowes , and defiled with spittle , and reproached with scorne , did not yet so much as open his mouth . behold , he who neuer committed sinn , hath borne our sinns ; and by his owne wounds , hath cured our diseases . chap. vi. here man representeth the passion of the sonne to the father . beholde deare father , thy most holy sonne , who hath suffered such bitter paines for me . behold ô most clement kinge , who it is that suffers , and mercifully remember , for whome he suffers . is not he , ô my lord , that innocent person , who beinge thine onely sōne , was deliuered by thee , to the end that he might redeeme thy slaue ? is not he the author of life , who yet is carried like à sheepe to slaughter ; and being made obedient to thee , did not feare to vndergoe a most outragious kinde of death , which was most hydeously greiuous ? call to minde , ô thou who art the dispenser of all saluation , that this is , that very he , whome although thou didst begett , out of thyne owne substance , and strength ; thou didest yet ordeyne to be partaker of my infirmity . yea this indeed is that deity of thyne , which apparelled it selfe with my nature , & that nature ascended vp to the tree of the crosse , & endured bitter torment in the flesh , which it assumed . send downe , ô lord my god , the eyes of thy majesty , vpon this worke of thy vnspeakable piety . behold thy sweete sonne , beinge stretched out from head to foote . beholde those innocent hands all distillings with his pretious blood , and thou beinge once appeased , forgiue the wickednes which my hands haue wrought . consider that disarmed side of his , which is pearced by the pointe of a cruell launce ; and renew me in that most sacred springe , which i beleeue flowed downe from thence . cast an eye towards those immaculate feete of his , which neuer stood in the way of sinners , but did alwayes walke in thy lawe . see how they are fastned , with cruell nailes , and doe thou perfect my paces in thy pathewayes , and mercifully make me hate all wayes of wickednes . remoue the way of iniquity from me , and of thy goodnes , make me choose the way of truthe . i beseech thee , ô kinge of saynts , by this redeemer of mine , that thou wilt make me runn with speed through the way of thy commandemētes , that so i may be vnited to him in spiritt , who disdayned not to be vested with my flesh . dost thou not , ô holy father , obserue how that most deere head of thy sonne ( he being yet but in the flower of his youth ) is hanging downe vpon that necke , which is as white as snowe , and doth resolue it selfe into a most pretious death ? beholde , ô thou most meeke creator , the humanity of thy beloued sonne ; and take pitty vpon the weakenes of our fraile nature . that bare brest of his , is lilly-pale ; that side is all read , and goared with blood , those bowells are withered , with being stretched out , those sweete bright eyes doe languish ; that imperiall face is all discoloured ; those long and gracefull armes , are growen stiffe ; those marble thighes are hanging downe ; and those springs of that pretious blood , doe bedew , & bathe , his transperced feete . behold ô glorious father the torne lymms of thy most beloued sonne ; and in thy mercy , remember that he carrieth my nature about him . behold the punishment of that man , who is god ; and release the misery of that man who was created by him . behold the punishment of the redeemer , and remitt and pardon his offence who is redeemed . this is he , ô my lord , whome thou didst strike for the sinns of thy people , though he be still that beloued , in whome thou art so well pleased . this is that innocent person , in whome noe guile was found , and yet , he was esteemed to be one of the wicked . chap. vii . here man acknowledgeh that himselfe by his sinnes , is the cause of the passion of christ our lord. what hast thou committed , ô thou most sweete childe , that thou shouldest so be iudged ? what hast thou committed , ô most amiable yonge man , that thou shouldest be treated so ? what is thy wickednes ? what is thy cryme ? what is the cause of thy death ? what is the occasion of thy condemnation ? it is i , it is i , who am that wound , which putts thee to payne , and i am the cryme which kills thee : and i am the man who deserued that death which thou endurest . i am the wickednes , wherof reueng is taken vpon thee . i am that sornes of thy passion : i am the labour of thy torment . o admirable kind of sentence ! o disposition of an vnspeakable mistery ! the wicked man sinns , and the iust man is punished : the guilty person offends , and the innocent man bears the blowes ; the impious man errs , and the holy man is condemned . that which the wicked man deserues , the holy man endures ; that which the slaue borrowes , his lord pays ; that which man committs , god vndergoes . how lowe , ô sonne of god , how lowe did thy humility descend ? how high did thy charity burne vp ? how farr did thy piety proceed ? howe wide did thy benignity extend ? whither did thy loue aspire ? and where did thy compassiō arriue ? for it is i , who haue done wickedly , and thou art punished . i , who haue committed the cryme , and thou art layd vpon the racke . i , grewe proude , and thou art humbled . i was puffed vp , and thou art extenuated . i haue showed my selfe disobedient , and thou being obedient , dost answeare for the paine due to that disobedience . i haue obeyed the temptation of gluttony , and thou art halfe consumed for lacke of meate . distempered affection drewe me on apace to vnlawfull concupiscence ; and perfect charity was that , which led thee on to the crosse . i presumed to doe that which was forbiddē , thou didst vndergoe torments . i am delighted with meate , thou art in labour vpon the crosse . i am fed with delight : thou art torne with nailes . i tasted the sweetnes of the apple ; thou the bitternes of gall . eue laughs , & congratulats my sinn with me ; but mary weeps and takes compassion with thee . behold , o kinge of glory , behold how my impiety , and thy piety , are made apparent by one another . beholde how my iniustice & thy iustice are made cleerly manifest . what! o my king , and my god , shall i render for all those things , which thou hast bestowed on me ? for there is nothinge to be found in the hart of man , which can beare any portion to thy singular benefites . can the sharpnes of mans conceite , thinke of any thinge , to which the mercy of god may be cōpared ? noe , it is not in the power of a creature to performe any seruice that can make full amends to his creator . but yet , o sonne of god , there is somewhat in this admirable dispensation of thine , there is some what , wherein my frailty may answeare , in some small proportion to what i owe if by the visitation of thy holy spiritt , my contrite hart , may crucify my flesh with the vices , and concupiscences therof . and when this fauour is granted me by thee , i doe already , as it were , beginn to suffer sweetly with thee , because thou didest vouchsafe to dye for my sinns . and thus by the victory of the inward man , he is prepared through thy help , toward an euident triumph ; so that the spirituall persecution being ouercome , he fears not to submitt himselfe , for the loue of thee , to a materiall sword . and in this manner , if it be pleasinge to thy mercy , the weakenes of our condition wil bee able , accordinge to our litle strength , to correspond with the greatenesse of our creator . this , o deare iesus , is that celestial medicine : this is the antidote of thy loue . i beseech thee , by those ancient mercyes of thyne , infuse some such thing into my wounds , as wherreby , i ( casting vp the contagion of vipers , which i haue suckt ) may be reintigrated to my former health , and that vpon the taste of the nectar of thy diuine sweetnes , i may be drawen to despise the inticeinge vanities of this world , with my whole hart ; and that , by thy goodnes , i may not be freighted with any aduersity which can happen here ; but , being mindefull of that nobility which is to last for euer , i may still loath the windes of this transitory world . lett nothinge , i beseech thee , be delightfull to me , witheut thee . lett nothinge be pleasinge , nothinge be pretious , nothinge beautifull besides thee . lett all things , i beseeche thee , growe base , & odious without thee . that which is contrary to thee , lett it be troublesome to me , and lett thy good pleasure , be my eternall desire . lett it be à tedious thing to me , to reioyce without thee ; and lett it delight me , to be greiued for thee . lett thy very name , be a ioy to my hart ; and lett the comfort of thy memory , bring my tears , which may be the bread i feed on , day and night , whilest i seeke thy lawe . and lett that lawe be esteemed by me , beyonde thousands of gold and siluer . lett it be an amiable thinge for me , to obey thee , and execrable to resiste thee . i beseech thee , ô my hope , by all thy workes of pitty , that thou wilt haue mercy vpon my sinns . make mine ears stand open to thy commaundements . and i beseech thee , by thy holy name , lett not my hart decline towards the words of malice , to the makeinge of excuses vpon excuses , of my sinns : and i beseech thee also , by that admirable humility of thine , that the foote of pride may not come towards me , and that the hand of a sinner may not stirre me . chap. viii . here man exposeth the passion of the sonne , to god the father , for the reconciliation of man. beholde , o thou omnipotent god , the father of my lord , dispose thou graciously , and haue mercy on me . i beseech thee , i say , since whatsoeuer i haue conceiued to be best , i haue deuoutly offerred ; and whatsoeuer i haue found to be most excellent , i haue humbly presented to thee . i haue left nothing in my selfe , which i haue not exposed to thy maiesty ; nothinge now remaines for me to adde , for i haue fastned all my hope on thee . i haue directed to thee , thyne owne deare sonne , who is mine aduocate . i haue placed that glorious ofspringe of thine , as a mediatour betweene thee , and me . i haue placed him , as i said , for an intercessour ; by whose meanes i hope for pardon . i haue offred by these wordes of myne , that word of thine , who , as i said before , was sent , for the pardon of my sinnes ; and i haue recounted to thee , the passion of thy most holy sonne , which i beleeue he hath endured for me . i beleeue that the deity was sent by thee , and that it tooke vpon it selfe , my humanity ; wherein he disdained not to suffer blowes , fetters spittings , and scornes ; yea euen the crosse , nailes , and launce . his humanity was intertained with the cryes of infancy ; it was bound in by the swathinge cloathes of that tender age ; it was vexed by the labour , and sweat of his youth ; it was extenuated also by fastinge , afflicted by watchinge , and wearied out by trauelling . it was afterwardes loaden with stirpes , and torne in sunder with other torments . it was ranked amongst the dead , and when once it was indued with the glory of resurrection , he introduced it into the ioyes of heauen . this is that , which must appease thee , and this must propitiate for me . obserue therefore here , o god with mercy , what sonne thou hast begotten , and what slaue thou hast redeemed . obserue who is the maker , and despise not the thinge which he hath made . imbrace thou the sheepheard with ioy , and with mercy looke vpon that sheepe , which he hath brought home vpon his owne shoulders . this is that most faithfull sheepheard , who with many , and greate laboures , hath fought this poore sheepe , which so long was erring vp and downe , by those abrupt , and rocky hills , and by those precepices , which ouerlooke those vallies . and who when it was euen dyinge , through the faintnesse to which it was growen by that tedious errour , and exile ; yet as soone as he could meete with it , he did with ioy putt himselfe vnderneath it ; and with an admirable exercise , and strife of charity , he raised it out of that profound pitt of confusion ; and haueinge imprisoned it in his owne bosome , by deare imbracements , he brought that one which he had lost , to the ninty nine which remayned . behold , o lord my kinge , and my god omnipotent ! behold how the good pastor brings thee , that which thou haste committed to his charge . he vndertooke the saluation of man by thy direction , and he restores him to thee , free from all infection . behold how thy most deare sonne reconciles thy creature to thee , which had wandred from thee so farr . behold how that meeke pastor of mine , brings back to thy flocke , that which the violent theefe had driuen away . he restoreth that slaue to thy sight , whome his owne conscience had made a fugitiue ; that he , who of himselfe deserued punishment , by meanes of him , may obteyne pardon ; and that he to whome hell was due for his sinnes , by the meanes of so great a captaine , may confide that he shal be recalled to his country . i was well able , o holy father , to offend thee of my selfe ; but of my selfe , i was not able to appease thee . thy beloued sonne , o my god , is become my helper , participateinge of my humanity , that he might cure my infirmity ; that so from whence the cause of mine offence was growen , from thence he might offer the sacrifice of praise to thee ; and might therby make me acceptable to thy mercy ; since , he showeth himselfe , sitting at thy right hand , as a confort of my substance , and nature . behold , this is my hope , this is all the confidence i haue . if thou despise me , as thou hast reason for my sinn , yet looke back vpon me at least with mercy , for the loue of thy beloued sonne . consider that , in thy sonne , wherby thou maisttake pitty vpon the slaue . behold the mistery of his incarnation , and pardon the sensuality of my conuersation . as often as thou beholdest the wounds of thy blessed sonne ; i beseech thee , lett my wickednes shrink out of thy sight . as often as thy pretious blood , lookes read from that holy side , i beseech thee , that the spotts of my corruption may be washed away . and as flesh prouoked thee to wrath , so lett flesh , i beseeche thee , incline thee to mercy . and in fine , as flesh seduced vs to sinn , so lett flesh bring vs back to pardon . it is much that my impiety diserueth ; but yet it is much more which the piety of my redeemer doth iustly exact . my iniustice is great , i confesse it : but farr greater is the iustice of my redeemer . for , as much as god is superior to man , so much is my malice inferior to his goodnes , both in quantity and quality . for in what hath man sinned , wherin the sonne of god , being made man , hath not redeemed him ? what pride was able to swell so highe , as that so great humility would not be able to beate it downe ? what dominion of death could be so absolute , which the torment of the crosse , indured by the sone of god , will not destroy . infaillibly , o my god , if the faults of a sinfull man , and the grace of him who redeemed them , be putt into an equall ballance , the east will not be found so farr distant from the west ; nay the lowest parte of hell , will not be found so farr distant from the highest pich of heauen , as they two will be . now therfore , o thou most excellent creator of light , pardon my faults , through the immense labours of thy beloued sonne . lett now i beseech thee , his piety propitiate for my impiety ; his modesty for my peruersity ; his meekenes for my rudenes ; his humility for my pride ; his patience for my impatiēce ; his benignity for my harshnes ; his obedience for my disobedience ; his tranquillity for my vnquietnesse , his sweetenes for my bitternesse ; his mildnesse for my anger ; and let his charity ouerworke my cruelty . chap. ix . of the inuocation of the holy ghost . o loue of that diuine power , the holy communication of the omnipotent father , and of the most blessed sonne , o thou omnipotent holy ghoste , the most sweete comforter of the afflicted ; slipp thou downe euen very now , by thy puissant vertue , into the most secrett corners of my hart , and by the splendor of thy cleere light , illuminate , ( ô thou deere dweller in our soules ) these darke retreyts of our neglected habitations ; and by thy visitation , and by the abundance of thy dewe from heauen , make my soule growe fruitfull , which by reason of so longe a drought , is all deformed and decayed . wound thou the most retyred parts of this inward man , with the darts of thy loue ; and inflame , and pearce the very marrowe of my dull hart , with those healthfull fires of thine . and by the flame of thy holy feruour , illuminate thou and feed the very interiour , both of my whole body and minde . giue me once to drink of the torrent of thy delights : that now i may noe more haue a minde , so much as euen to taste , of the pestiferous sweetnesse of wordly things . iudge , me , ô lord , and discerne my cause from all wicked people , and teach me to doe thy will , for thou art my god. i beleeue therfore , that whomesoeuer thou dost inhabite , thou dost build vp a dwellinge place in him both for the father and the sonne . blessed is he , who shall arriue to intertayne thee ; because by thee , both the father & the sonne will remaine with him . come , come euen now , o thou moste benigne comforter of all woefull soules . thou , who protectest them , when they haue most need , and art their helper in tribulation . come , ô thou clenser of sinns , and curer of wounds . come , ô thou strength of the weake , ô thou who stayest such as are falling . come ô thou teacher of the humble , and distroyer of the proude . come , ô deare father of orphants , and fauorable iudge of widowes . come , thou hope of the poore , & thou cherisher of such as fainte . come , thou propitious starr of such as sayle , & thou hauen , against the danger of shipwrack . come , ô thou excellent ornament , of such as liue ; & the onely helpe of such as dye . come , ô most holy spiritt : come , and haue mercy on me ; make me fitt for thy self , & condiscend to me with pitty , that my meanenesse may growe pleasing to thy greatnesse , and my weakenes to thy strength . accordinge to the multitude of thy mercyes ; through iesus christe my sauiour , who with the father doth liue ad reigne in thy vnity , for euer , and euer . amen . chap. x. the prayer of the seruant of god conceauing humbly of himselfe . i knowe , o lord , i knowe , and i confesse that i am not worthy , that thou shouldest loue me ; but yet at least , it is certaine , that thou art not vnworthy to be beloued by me . it is true that i am vnworthy to serue thee ; but it is also true , that thou art not vnworthy to be serued by thy creatures . giue me therfore somewhat , o lord , of that which maketh thee so worthy , and so i shall growe worthy , who am vnworthy . make me cease from sinn , by what meanes thou wilt ; to the end that i may serue thee as i ought . grant that i may so addresse , and order , and end my life , that i may sleepe in peace , and repose in thee . grant that in the end , the sleepe of death may receiue me with rest ; rest with securiry , and security with eternity . amen . chap. xi . a prayer to the blessed trinity . we confesse to thee , with our whole hart , and with our mouth , we praise and blesse thee , o god the father , who art vnbegotten ; and thee , o god the sonne , who art the onely begotten ; and thee , o god the holy ghoste , who art the paraclete . to thee . o holy , and indeuiduall trinity , be glory for all eternityes . amen . chap. xii . a confession of the omnipotency , and maiesty of god. o supreame trinity , o thou sole power , & vndeuided majesty , o god of ours , o omnipotent god , i confesse to thee , who am the vnworthyest of thy seruāts , and the weakest of thy mēbers . i cōfesse to thee in thy church , and i giue thee honor , by offering thee a due sacrifice of praise , according to that little power , and skill , which thou haste vouchsafed to affoord me , thy miserable creature . and because i haue no external presents , which i can make to thee , therfore these desires , and vowes of seruice and praise , which by the guift of thy mercy are in me , behold , how with an vnfained faith and with a pure conscience , i offer them to thee , not onely with a good will , but with a hart , which is full of triūph , and ioy . i beleeue therfore with my whole hart , and i confesse with my mouth , o thou kinge of heauen , ad lord of earth , that thou the father , the sonne , and the holy ghoste , art in persons three , and in substance one , & that thou art god omnipotent , of one simple , incorporeall , inuisible , and vncircumscribed nature . that there is nothing either aboue thee , or belowe thee , or greater then thou ; but that thou art sublymely , and absolutely perfect , whithout the least deformity . great , without quantity , good without quality , eternall , yet wholly without tyme . that thou hast life without death ; that thou art strong without any weakenesse ; true without falshoode ; euery where present , without being scituated any where ; filling all things , yet without any extension ; occurringe euery where , yet without any crossinge , or contradiction . transcending all things , without motion ; remaneinge in all things , without station ; creatinge all things , without looseinge , or wantinge any thing , and ruleinge all things without labour . giueinge a beginninge to all things , thy selfe haueinge noe beginninge ; makeing all things changeable , & beinge yet vnchangeable in thy selfe ; being infinite in thy greatenesse , omnipotent in thy power , souuereigne in thy goodnesse , inestimable in thy wisdome , terrible in thy decrees , iust in thy iudgements , secret in thy thoughts , true in thy wordes , holy in thy workes , & plentifull in thy mercyes . towards sinners , thou art most patiēt ; towards penitents thou art most pittifull . thou art euer the same , eternall , sempiternall , immortall , & vnchangeable god , whome neither space can dilate , nor littlenesse of place can streighten , nor any receptacle can keepe in , or constraine , nor the will vary , nor partiality corrupt ; nether doe sad things afflict thee , nor ioyfull things transport thee . from whome neither forgetfullnes takes any thinge , neither doth memory restore any thing ; neither doe things past passe away ; nor future things succeed to whome neither the first gaue beginninge : nor the continuance of tyme increase : nor shall any accident giue it any end . but thou liuest for all eternity , both before , and in , and through all aages and lett immortal praise , and eternall glory , and souuereigne power , and supreame honor , and a kingdome , & empire for all eternity , remaine with thee , through those infinite , vnwearied , and immortall ages , of ages . amen chap. xiii . how god the father vouchsafed to helpe mankinde , and of the incarnation of the worde . hitherto , o omnipotent god the beholder & searcher of my hart , i haue confessed the omnipotency of thy maiesty , and the maiesty , of thy omnipotency . but now , as i beleeue with the hart to iustice , so will i confesse before thee , with the mouth to saluation , in what sort thou haste beene pleased , at the end of many ages , to releiue the misery of mankinde . thou , o god , and our onely father , wert neuer to be sent any whither . but of the sonne , the apostle writeth thus , when the fullnes of tyme was come , god sent his sonne . when he saith sent , he doth sufficiently showe , that then he came sent into this world , when being borne of the euer b. virgin mary , he became , and appeared , true and perfect man , in flesh . but what is that , which that cheife of all the euangelistes saith : he was in the world , and the world was made by him . he was sent thither in his humanity , who was euer , and is there , by his diuinity . now , that this mission is the worke of the whole blessed trinity , i confesse with my whole hart , and mouth . but how then didst thou loue vs , o thou holy and good father ? how much didst thou loue vs , o most deare creator ; who didst not euen , spare , thyne owne sonne , but didst deliuer him vp for vs wretched creatures , he was subiect to thee , euen vnto the death , and that , the death of the crosse , takeinge the hand-writinge of our sinns and nailinge it to the same crosse . he crucified also sinn it selfe , and killed death : he , who onely is free amongst the dead ; haueing power both to lay downe his life for vs , and afterward , to take it vp againe . hence was he both the conquerer and sacryfice . and therfor the conquerer because the sacryfice for vs to thee he was the preist , and the sacrifice ; and therfore the preist , because the sacrifice . most iustly haue i a strong hope in him , that thou for his sake , who sitteth at thy right hand , and is continually interceedinge for vs , wilt cure all our languishing diseases . for my infirmityes , o lord , are great and many ; great they are and many . the prince of this world hath much to say against me , i knowe and cōfesse it , yet deliuer me i beseeche thee , by that redeemer of mine , who sitteth at thy right hand , in whome he was able to finde none of his malice by him i beseeche thee , to iustify me ; by him , who comitted noe sinn , nor was there any guile found in his mouth . i beseeche thee by that head of ours , in whome there is noe one little spott , deliuer this member , which yet is his , how weake and poore soeuer it be . deliuer me , i beseeche thee from my sinns , my vices , my faults , and my negligence . fill me with thy holy vertues , & make me of most innocent conuersation . and grant , for thy holy names sake , that i may continue euen to the very end , in those good workes , which thou commaundest , according to thy holy will. chap. xiv . of the confidence which a soule ought to haue in our lord iesus , & in his passion . i could easily haue despaired , through the excesse of my greiuous sinns , and of my infinite negligences , if thy word , o god , had not become flesh , and had not dwelt amongst vs. but now i dare not despaire , because when we were enemyes we were reconciled , by the death of thy sonne , & how much more now , we beinge already reconciled , shall we be saued by him ? for all the hope , and stay of all my confidence , doth consist , in that pretious blood of his , which was shed for vs , and for our saluation . in him doe i take breath ; and hopeing firmely in him , i earnestly desire to come to thee ; not haueinge any iustice of mine owne , but that which is in thy sonne , our lord iesus-christe . we doe therfore thank thee . o most clement , and benigne louer of mankind ; who when we were not , didst powerfully create vs , by iesus-christe thy sonne our lord. and whē we were lost , by our owne fault , thou didst admirably deliuer , and recouer vs. i giue thankes to thy mercy ; many thanks doe i giue thee with the whole affection of my hart ; who ( through that vnspeakable charity , wherewith thou didst vouchsafe , with strange goodnes , to loue vs miserable , and vnworthy creatures ) didst send thyne onely begotten sonne , from thyne owne bosome , for our common good ; so to saue vs sinners , who were then the sonns of wrath . i giue thee thanks for his holy incarnation , and natiuity , and for his glorious mother , of whom he vouchsafed to assume flesh for vs , and our saluation ; that as he was true god of god , so he might also , be true man of man. i thanke thee for his crosse and passion , for his death and resurrection ; for his ascension into heauen , and for his seat of maiesty at thy right hand . for vpō the fortieth day after his resurrection , ascendinge aboue all the heauens ( whilest his disciples were lookeing on ) and being seated at thy right hand , he did according to his promisse , powre forth the holy ghoste vpon the children of adoption . i thank thee , for that most sacred effusion of his most pretious blood , wherby we are redeemed ; and withall , for that sacred , and holy , and quickninge mistery of his body and blood , which dayly we eate and drinke in the church , and wherby we are washed and sanctified , and made partakers of that one supreame diuinity . i thank thee for this admirable , and vnspeakable charity of thine , wherby thou hast so loued , and saued vs , vnworthy creatures , by that onely , and beloued sonne of thine . for thou didst so loue the world , as to giue thy onely begotten sonne , that euery one who beleeued in him , might not perish , but haue eternall life . and this is eternall life , that we may knowe thee our true god , and whome thou hast sent iesus-christe , by right faith , and by works which are worthy , and sutable to that faith . chap. xv. of the immense charity of the eternall father towards mankinde . o immense piety , o inestimable charity ; that thou might free thy slaue , thou haste deliuered vpp thy sonne ; god is made man to the end that wretchd man , might be drawen out of the prower of the diuell . how inspeakably a benigne louer of man , is thy sonne our god , to whose bowels of mercy , it seemed not sufficient , that he should diminish himselfe , so much as to be made man of the true virgin mary ; vnlesse withall , he had vndergone the torment of the crosse , shedding so his blood for vs , and for our saluation . our mercyfull god came downe ; he came , through his owne pitty , and goodnesse ; he came to seeke , and saue , that which was loste . he sought his lost sheepe , he sought and found it , and he brought it home vpon his owne shoulders into his folde . being a mercifull lord , and extreamely deare pastour . o charity ! o piety ! who euer heard of such things as these ? who is he , that vpon the disclosinge of these bowels of mercy , will not be amazed ? who will not wonder ? who will not reioyce , for that excessiue charity of thyne , wherewith thou louedst vs ; thou didst send thy sonne in the likenesse of the flesh of sinn , that by sinn he might condemne sinn , and that we might be made thy iustice in him . for he is the true vnspotted lambe , who hath takē away the sinns of the world who hath distroyed our death , by dyinge , and restored our life , by his resurrection . but what can we returne to thee , o our god , for the benefitts of thy mercy , which are so greate ? what praises , and what thanks can we giue ? for althouge we did possesse that knoweledge and power , which the angells haue , yet should we be vnable , to make returne of any thing which might be worthy of thy mercy and goodnes . if all the parts of our body , were conuerted into tongues , this meanesse of ours would neuer yet be able to answeare thee with due praise . for that inestimable charity , which thou haste beene pleased to shew to vs vnworthy creatures , through thyne onely pitty , and goodnes , doth farr transcend all our knoweledge . for thy sōne our god , did not assume the angelicall nature , but the seed of abraham , being made like to vs , in all things except sinn . and so our lord , takeinge the nature , not of angells , but of men vpon him , and glorifying it with the stole of holy resurrection , and immortality ; he exalted vs aboue all the heauens , aboue all the quires of angells , and aboue cherubine , and seraphine , placeing it at thy right hand . and this nature , doe the angells praise , and the dominations adore ; and all the vertues of heauen tremble to behold aboue them all , god-man . this is all my hope , and all my confidence . for there is in iesus-christe , our lord himselfe , a portion of the flesh , and blood of euery of vs. where then any parte of me reignes , there i am confident i also reigne . where my flesh is glorified , there doe i conceiue my selfe to be glorious . where my blood doth beare dominion , there do i finde my selfe to rule . though i be a sinner , yet i cannot diffide not to participate in this grace . though my sinns keepe me back , yet my substāce calls me on . though my offences shutt me out , yet my communion of nature with him , reiects me not . for god is not so cruell , that he can forgett man , and not remember the thinge which he bears about himselfe ; and which , for my sake , he tooke vpon him , & which for my sake he sought . no , our lord god is full of meekenesse , and benignity ; and he loues his flesh , his body , and his bowells ▪ in the same god , and lord iesus-christe , who is most sweete , most benigne and most clement ; in whose person we are already risen , and are ascended into heauē , and are already seated in those heauenly habitatiōs . our owne flesh loueth vs , and we haue the prerogatiue of our blood in him . we are his members and his flesh ; and he in fine , is our head ; and of these parts , the whole body is made , as it is writen : bone of my bones , and flesh of my flesh and they shal be two in one flesh . and againe , no man did euer hate his owne flesh but he cherisheth ▪ and loueth it . this is a great mystery , i say in christ , & in his church , saith the apostle . chap. xvi . of the twofolde nature of christe our lord , who pittieth , and prayeth for vs. i giue thee thankes o lord our god , with my lipps , and with my hart , and with the whole power i haue , for thy infinite goodnesse ; and for all those mercyes , by which thou didst vouchsafe , to succour vs poore creatures , after an admirable manner , by thy sonne our sauiour , and redeemer , who dyed for our sinns , and rose for our iustification , and now liueinge in eternity , doth sitt at thy right hand , and interceedeth for vs. and together with thee , he taketh pitty of vs , because he is god , of thee , his father , coeternall , and consubstantiall with thee in all things , wherby he may for euer saue vs. but for as much as he is man , in those respects wherein he is lesse then thou , all power is giuen him , both in heauen and in earth , that at the name of iesus , euery knee may bowe , celestial , terrestrial and infernall ; and euery tongue my confesse , that our lord iesus christe is in thy glory , omnipotent god the father . he indeed is appointed by thee , to be the iudge of the quick and the dead , but thou iudgest noe man , but thou haste giuē all iudgement to thy sonne , in whose brest all the treasures of wisdome and knowledg are layd vp , and hidd . but he is both the witnes , and the iudge . a iudge and witnes he is , from whome noe sinfull conscience can fly ; for all things lye open and naked to his eyes . that very he , who was iudged vniustly , shall iudge the whole worlde in equity , and the people in iustice . i doe therefore blesse thy holy name for all eternity , and i glorify thee , with my whole hart , o mercifull , and omnipotent lord , for that admirable , and vnspeakable coniunction of thy diuinity and humanity , in the vnity of one person ; not that god might be one , and man another , but that one and the same should be god and man , man and god. but although , the word was made flesh , by a strange graciousnesse and mercy ; yet nether of those two natures , is changed into another substance . there is no fourth person , added to the mistery of the trinity , for the substance of the worde , of god and man , was vnited , and not confounded , that so , that might be assumed to god which he had taken from vs , and yet that , which had beene before , might still continue the same it was . o wonderfull mistery , o vnspeakable kinde of commerce . o admirable , and for euer to beloued benignity of the diuine mercy . we were not worthy to be seruants , and yet behold , we are made the sonnes of god. nay , we are the heires of god and coheirs of christ . whence came this to vs , and who brought vs to this ? but i beseeche thee , o thou most mercifull god the father , by this inestimable goodnes and piety , and charity of thine , make vs worthy of the many and great promisses of thy sonne our lord iesus-christe imploy thy strength , and confirme that in vs which thou hast wrought . perfect that which thou haste begun , that we may deserue to attayne to the fulnesse of thy mercy . inable vs by thy holy spiritt , to vnderstand , deserue , and reuerence with due honor , this great mystery of piety , which is manifested in the flesh , iustified in the spirit , hath appeared to angells , is preached to gentiles , is beleeued in the world , and is assumed to glory . chap. xvii . of the thanks which a man owes to god , for the benefitt of redemption . o how deepely are we thy debters , o lord our god , being redeemed by so high a price : being saued by so rich a guift : being assisted by so glorious a benefitt ? how much art thou to be feared , loued , blessed , praised , honored and glorified by vs miserable creatures , whom thou haste so loued , saued sanctifyed , and exalted ? for to thee doe we owe all our power , all our beeing , and all our knowledg . and who hath any thinge which is not thyne ? thou art our lord , and our god , from whom all things proceed . for thy selfe , and for thy holy name , giue vs so me part of thy heauenly riches , that by meanes of those blessings and guifts of thyne , we may serue & please thee in truth , and that by way of returne we may dayly render thee all due praise , for so many benefits of thy mercy . nor can we serue thee , or praise thee by any other meanes , then by thy owne guift for euery good grace ; and euery perfect guift , is from aboue descending from thee , the father of lights , wiht whom there , is noe change , nor so much as any shadow of mutability . o lord our god! deare god , good god , omnipotent god , vnspeakable god , whose nature cannot be circumscribed , god the ordeyner of all things , & the father of our lord iesus-christe , who diddest send the same beloued sonne of thyne , our most sweete lord , out of thy bosome , for our vniuersall profitt , to take our life vpon him , that he might bestowe his life vpon vs , and that he might be perfect god , of thee the father , and perfect man of his mother , all god and all man , and one , and the same christe , eternall , and temporall , immortall and mortall : creator , and creature ; stronge & weake triumphant , and yet ouercome ; the nourse , and the creature which is nourished ; the pastor & the sheepe : he that dyed for a tyme , and dyed in time , and yet is liueinge for all eternity . he promiseinge to such as loued him , that they should be prouided for , said thus to his disciples : what soeuer you shall aske the father in my name , he wil giue it to you by this supreame sacrifice , and true preist , and good pastor , who offered himselfe in sacrifice to thee , laying downe his life for his flocke , by him i beseech thee , who sitteth at thy right hand , and interceedeth for vt , being our redeemer and aduocate before thy pitty and goodnesse , i beseech thee , i say , o god , the most deere and benigne louer of mankinde , that thou wilt giue me grace , with the same sonne of thyne , and the holy ghoste , to praise , and glorify thee in all things , with great contrition of hart , and a fountaine of teares , with much reuerence and trembling , because theirs whose the substance is , theirs also are all the accessaryes therof . but because the body which is corrupted , doth depresse the soule , i beseeche thee , to rowse vp my dullnes by thy vertue and make me perseuere with strength in thy commaundements , and praises day and night . grant that my hart may wax warme within me , and that , whilest i am in meditation , the fire may burne . and because thy onely sonne himselfe did say : no man cometh to me , vnlesse the father who sent me , drawe him , and no man cometh to the father but by me , i beseech , and humbly pray thee , be thou euer draweing me to him , that at last he may bring me thither to thee , where he is sittinge at thy right hand . where there is an eternall life eternally happy , where there is perfect loue , and noe feare , where there is an euerlastinge day , and one spirit of them all ; where there is certaine and supreame security , and secure tranquillity , and serene alacrity , and sweet felicity , and happy eternity , and eternall beatitude , and a blessed praise , and vision of thee , which neuer ends . where thou with him , and he with thee , and both , in the communion of the same holy ghoste , doe sempiternally liue , and being god , dost reigne , for euer , and for euer . amen . chap. xviii . a prayer to christe our lord. o christ my god my hope sweete louer of mankinde , light , life , way , health and beauty most refin'd ; behould those things which thou did'st suffer , vs to saue ; the chaynes , the wounds , the crosse , the bitter death , the graue , riseing within three dayes from conquering death and hell , by thy disciples seene , reforminge mindes so well , vpon the fortieth day , climeing the heauens soe high , thou liuest now , and thou shalt raigne eternally . thou art my liueing and true god , my holy father , my deare lord , my greate kinge , my good shepheard , my onely instructor , my best helper , my most beautifull louer , my liueinge breade , my eternall preist , my guide into my country , my true light , my holy sweetnes , my right way , my excellent wisdome , my pure simplicity , my peaceable concord , my safe custody , my good portion , my euerlasting saluation , my great mercy , my inuincible patience , my imaculate sacrifice , my holy redemption , my firme hope , my perfect charity , my true resurrection , my eternall life , my excessiue ioy , and most blessed vision , which is for euer to remaine . i pray thee , i begg of thee , i beseech thee , that i may walke by thee , passe on by thee , and repose in thee , who art the way , the truth , and the life , without whome , no man cometh to the father . for thou art he , whome i desire , o thou most sweete & most beautifull lord , o thou splendor of thy fathers glory , who sittest aboue the cherubins , and beholdest from thence , the most profound abysses , which are belowe ; thou light , which declareth truth ; illuminateing light : light , which neuer leaues to shine , whome the angells desire to behold loe my hart is before thee ; disperse the darknes therof , that by the clearnes of thy loue , it may be yet more fully strucken , and beaten through with light . giue thy selfe to me , o my god , restore thy selfe to me . behold i loue thee , and if it be to little , make me loue thee more . i cannot measure out , to know , how much of my loue is wanting to thee , of that which ought to make it vp enough . let my life runn on towards thyne imbracements , and lett it neuer looke aside , till it be all hidden vp , in the hidden ioy of seeing thy face . in the meane tyme this i know , that it goes ill with me , when i want thee o lord. and not onely is it ill with me , in respect of the things which are without me , but in respect of them also which are within me . for whatsoeuer plenty there may be in the world , which is not my god , is noe better to me , then meere beggery . for it is thou alone , who canst not be changed , either into better or worse ; thou , who indeed , and simply , art alone ; thou to whom it is not one thing to liue , and an other thing to liue happily , beccause thou art thyne owne beatitude . but thy creature , to nhom it is one thing to liue , and another thinge to liue happily , must not attribute eyther happy life , yea or so much as life , to any other thing , then thy grace . therefore is it , that we stand in need of thee , and not thou of vs. for although we had noe beeing at all , yet there would be nothing wanting to thee , of that compleat good , which thou art . it is necessarie therfore that we adhear still to thee , o lord , that by thy continuall assistance , we may be able to liue holyly , and vprightly . for we are drawē downe fast enough , by the waight of our frailty ; but by thy guifte we are kindled , and carried vpward , and we are inflamed , and we fly on , whither we are goeinge , which is towards the peace of ierusalem . for i haue reioyced in those things , which haue beene said to me , let vs goe into the howse of our lord. there , hath a rectifyed and good will placed vs ; and so , as that we can desire noe more , but that we may remaine there for euer . but because whilest we are in this body , we wander as pilgrims from thee , therefore we haue not here any permanent citty , but we expect another which is to come , for our habitation is in heauen and therefore , by the conduct of thy grace , doe i goe into the most retyred corner of my hart , and i sing loue songs to thee , o my kinge , and my god ; groaninge out certaine groanes , which indeed cannot be described , in this place of my pilgrimage where thy lawe is the song in which i delight my selfe . and calling ierusalem to minde , i extend , and stretch the whole power of my hart towards it : ierusalem which is my country , ierusalem which is my mother ; and towards thee also who art the ruler , the illuminator , the father , the tutor , the defendor , the pastor , the chaste and strong delight therof , the solide ioy , & all wnspekable good things ; yea all of them together , because thou art the onely supreame and true good . nor will i be drawen aside from this exercice , till thou , o my god , and my mercy , shalt draw together all that which i am , from this despersion , and deformity wherein i finde my self , and till thou shalt conforme me to thy selfe , and confirme me therein for all eternity , in the communion of that most deere mother of mine , whither the flower and first fruites of my spiritt , are already gone before . chap. xix . he distinguisheth betweene that wisdome , which is called the house of god , and that other wisdome which is supremely diuine . this is that howse of thine , o god , noe earthly howse , nor yet built of any corporeal thinge in heauen , but i meane that spirituall howse , which is partaker of thyne eternity , because it is for euer to remaine without spott ; for thou hast appointed that it should remaine for euer , and for euer thou haste imposed a precept , and it shall not passe away . yet that creature , o god , is not eternall , as thou art eternall ; because it was not without beginning ; for it was made . of all the creatures , this wisdome is that which was created first . i meane not that wisdome , which was absolutely coeternall , and coequall with god the father , wherby all things were created , and in which beginninge , heauen and earth was made : but i meane the wisdome which is created ; namely that spirituall nature , which by the contemplation of thy light , is light ; for euen this , although it be created , is called wisdome . but as much difference as there is , betweene the light which doth illuminate , and that which groweth to be light by being illuminated ; so much difference also there is , betweane thee , who art the supreame wisdome , creatinge all things , and this other which is created ; as also there is betweene that iustice which iustifieth , which is thy selfe , o our god , and that iustice which is produced in vs by our beinge iustified . for we also are called the iustice of god the father , in thee , who art his sonne our lord , by the testimony of the apostle . though therfore the first of all the creatures was a kinde of wisdome ( which was made to be a rationall , & intellectuall mind ; inhabiting thy holy citty , our mother which is aboue , and which is free , and eternall in the heauens ) & what heauens but those heauens of the heauens , which praise thee , because this is that , wherof it is said , the heauens of the heauens to our lord , & although we finde no tyme before that creature , because it was before the creation of tyme , as being the first of all the creatures ; yet neuerthelesse thou art before it . o eternall god , the creator of all things , from whome , as soone as it was made , it tooke a beginninge , though not indeed , of tyme , because tyme was not then created ; but yet a beginninge of that nature , which it was come to haue . it came therfore so from thee ; o lord our god , as that it is cleerly another thing then thou art . for although i finde noe tyme neither before it , nor in it ; it is yet neuertheles fitt to behold thy face ; neither is it euer diuerted from thence , hence it comes that it is not subiect to any change . yet a kinde of mutabillity is still in it , wherby it would growe all darke and cold , vnlesse , by adhearing to thee , with an excessiue loue , it did ( like a sunn which were euer bright as noone day ) both shine , and boile vp with heat towards thee . in fine , that creature doth so adhear to thee , our true god , who art truely eternall , that although it be not coeternall to thee , yet neuerthelesse it is not discharged , nor distracted from thee , into any variety , or vicissitude of tyme. but it reposeth in the most true cōtemplation of thee alone . for to such , an one ô lord as loues thee , as much as thou commandest , thou dost cleerly discouer thy selfe , and it sufficeth him . and from hence it growes , that the angells doe neuer decline , either from thee , or from themselues ; but perpetually they remaine in the same state , incessantly beholding thee , and incessantly loueinge thee , who art the true light , and the chaste loue . o how blessed and sublyme is this creature of creatures , most happy in eternally adhearing to thy beatitude ; happy and excessiuely happy , in haueinge thee to inhabite , and to illuminate it , and that for euer . nor can i finde what i may more fittly call this heauen of the heauens to our lord , then that howse of thine , which is contemplateinge thy delighte , without any defect at all , and without the least inclination to departe from that to any other ; that pure minde , most intirely one , that establishemēt of those blessed spirits in the foundation of peace , in those heauens aboue , which are yet aboue these heauens which we see . hereby , my soule ( whose pilgrimage is so far of from thee ) may vnderstande , if now it thirst affer thee ; if now her teares , are not made her bread ; if now she desire that one thinge , and begg it agayne and agayne , that she may inhabite thy howse all the days of her life . and what is the life of that howse , but thou thy selfe ; and what are the dayes therof , but thy eternity , as thy years are , which neuer faile . let therfore the soule vnderstand here , as well as it can , how sublymely thou art eternall before all tymes , since that howse of thyne , which neuer wandred from thee ( although it be not coeternall with thee , yet by reason that it adheareth to thee , without any failing , or euer faintinge ) vndergoeth noe variety of tyme : but sucking vp thee , her immutability , with a perpetuall & perseuering purity of minde , she doth at no tyme , and in noe place depart from thee , to whom she cleaues with vnseparable loue , & to whom thou art euer present . and so , haueing no future which it may expecte , nor any transitory thing passing by , which it may remember ; it is not varied to and fro by turnes , nor extended into future tymes . chap. xx. here man prayeth that the said spirituall howse of god , may pray for him . o thou bright and beautifull howse of god , i haue loued thy comelynesse , and the place of the habitation of the glory of my lord god , who did both build thee , and doth possesse thee . lett this pilgrimage of myne , send sighes to thee , day and night , lett my hart pant towards thee ; lett my minde thinke on thee ; and lett my soule desire to attayne to the society of thy beatitude i say to him who made thee ; that he would possesse me in thee , for it is he who made both thee & me . or rather doe thou desire and beseeche of him , that he will make me worthy of the participation of thy glory . for i doe not challenge thy holy society , nor thy admirable beauty , by any meritt of mine ; but i despaire not to obteine it , by the blood of him who redeemed me . onely let thy meritts help me , let thy most holy and most pure prayers , which cannot but be effectuall with almighty god , succour my sinfulnesse . i confesse that i haue wandred like a lost sheepe , and my habitation here is prolonged , and i am cast farr of from the face of my lord god , into this blindenesse of banishment . where , being driuen from the ioyes of paradise , i am dayly lamentinge with my selfe , the miseryes of my captiuity ; and i singe a mornefull songe , and i make huge lamentations , when i remember thee , o ierusalem who art my mother : & whilest i finde my feete standinge in thy outward courts , o thou faire and holy sion , but am not able so much as to looke into those interior parts of that temple . but yet i hope that i shall once be brought into thee , vpon his shoulders , who is my pastor , and who was thy builder , that i may triumphe with thee , in that inspeakable ioy , wherewith they reioyce , who stand with thee before god our sauiour himselfe , who discharged our enmytyes in his flesh , and who pacifyed all things which are both in heauen and in earth , by his blood . for he is our peace , who made both to become one ; and who ioyned in himselfe , those two walls , which went by contrary ways . ordeyninge thy permanent felicity , and promissing that he would giue himselfe to vs , accordinge to the same measure , sayinge : and they shal be equall to the angells of god in heauen . o ierusalem , thou eternall house of god , be thou ( after the charity of christe our lord ) my ioy , and my comfort , and let the sweet memory of thy blessed name , be a solace to my sorowes and heauinesse of hart . chap. xxi . how full of biternesse this life of ours , is . o lord i am extreamely weary of this life , and of this woefull pilgrimage . this life , this miserable life , fraile life , vncertaine life , laborious life , vncleane life . life which is the lady of wicked men , the queene of proude men , full of miseryes and errours , which deserues not to be call'd a life , but a death , since we are dying in euery moment , by diuers kinds of death , through the seuerall miseryes and changes , which we are subiect too . doth therfore this , which we liue in this world , deserue to be called life ; when humors make vs swell , and greife extenuates , and vnnaturall heat dryes vp , and impressions of the ayre infect . meat maketh fatt , fasting maketh leane , mirth makes dissolute , sorrowes consume , care straitneth , security makes dull . riches puffs vs vp ; pouerty casts vs downe ; youth extolls vs ; and old age makes vs stoope ; sicknes breakes , & sorrow oppresses vs. and to all these miseryes , furious death succeeds , and at a clapp doth so impose an end vpon this miserable life , that as soone as it hath left to be , it is scare beleeued , that euer it was . this vitall death , and this mortall life , although it be all sprinckled with these , and many other bitter miseryes : alas , alas , it doth yet take very many , by the inticeinge pleasures therof , and it deceiues them , by the false promisses which it makes . and although , of it selfe , it be so very biting , & so bitter , as that it cannot be concealed from her blinde louers ; yet are there an infinite nomber of fooles in the world , whome she intertaynes & inebriates , with the golden chalice which she hath in her hand . happy are they ( but they are to fewe ) who refuse her familiarity , who dispise her sleight entertaniements , and ioys ; & who forsake all society with her , lest they be forced to perish together with her who deceiued them . chap. xxii of the felicity of that life , which our lord hath prepared for them that loue him . o thou life , which our lord hath prepared for them who loue him . o thou vitall life , happy life , quiett life , secure life , beautifull life , pure life , chaste life , holie life ; life which knowes not what belongs to death , which knowes not what belongs to sorrow ; life without spott , without greife ; without anxiety , without any perturbation without corruptiō , without variety and mutation : life , toppfull of all excellency , and dignity ; where there is noe aduersary to impugne vs ; noe inticeinge baite of sinn to allure vs ; where there is perfect loue , & noe feare ; & an euerlastinge day , and one spiritt of vs all ; where god is seene face to face ; & where the soule is full fedd with this food of life , without all defect . i am resolued to looke earnesly towards thy light ; thy felicity , and delightes drawe me to thee with a greedy hart . the more i consider thee , the more doe i languish with thy loue , and with a vehement desire of thee ; and i am extreamely delighted with the sweete remembrance of thee . i am therfore resolued , i am resolued to cast vp myne eyes to thee , to erect the state of my minde , and to conforme the affections of my will to thee . i am resolued to talke of thee , to heare speake of thee , to write of thee , to conferr with others of thee ; daily to read somewhat of thy felicity & glory ; & when i shall haue redd it , to reuolue it very often in my hart ; that at least by this meanes , i may passe on from the burninge heats , and dangers , & toyling labours of this mortall , & dying life , to the sweete refreshing of that vitall aire of thyne ; and that i may proceede at last , ( when i shall lay my selfe downe to sleepe ) to repose my head a little , in that bosome of thyne . to this end , i enter now and then , into those sweete feilds of thy holy scriptures ; and whilest i am turninge ouer those leaues , i gather the fresh flowers of sentences from thence . by reading them i eate ; by frequenting them i ruminate ; and by gathering them vp at last , i lodge them in the deepe receptacle of my memory ; that , by this meanes , haueing taken a taste of thy sweetnes , i may feele the biteernes of this most miserable life , so much the lesse . o thou most happy life , o kingdome which art truely blessed , free from death , and farr from haueing an end , to which noe tymes shall euer succeede , where that day which is still continued without night , admitts of noe tyme ; where the conquering souldiers being associated to those chantinge quires of angells , sing that canticle of the canticles of syon , to almighty god , without ceasinge ; the garland of triumph imbraceinge their glorious heads , & that for euer . i would to christe , that my sinns beinge once forgiuen me , and then this burden , beinge layd downe , i might be assigned to eternall rest ; & might enter into thy ioyes , within those excellent and beautifull walls of thy citty ; receiuinge the crowne of glory from the hand of my lord. that i might be present , with those most holy quires of angells ; that together with those blessed spiritts , i might concurre to glorify our creator ; that i might veiwe the present face of christe our lord ; that i might for euer behold that supreame , vnspeakable , & vncircumscribed light : and that so not being subiect to any feare of death , i might for euer reioyce , in the euerlastinge endowment of incorruption . chap. xxiii . of the felicity of that holy soule which departeth hence . happy is that soule , which beinge discharged from this body of earth , goes freely vp to heauen , and is in peace , & safetie , not fearing , either any enemy , or death it selfe . for it will then haue present , and shall for euer behold , that most beautifull lord , whom it hath serued , and whom it hath loued , and to whom at length it arriueth all full of glory , and ioy . this glory of so great beatitude , noe tyme shall diminish , nor wicked enemy be able to bereeue vs of . the daughter of syon saw this soule , and did publish it to be most happy : the queenes and the concubines sawe it , sayinge , who is this , which goeth forward like a riseinge morninge , faire like the moone , bright like the sunn , and terrible like a pitched feild of armed men ? how ioyfully doth she goe forth , make haste , and runn , when with astonished eares , she hears her spouse say thus : rise vp , and make haste , o thou my freind , and my beautifull creature , and come with me : for now the winter is ouer-past , the storme is gone , and hath hidd it selfe : the flowers haue appeared in our land , the tyme of pruninge is now come , the voice of the turtle hath beene heard in our land , the figg tree , hath brought forth her younge fruite , the vines are in flower , and send forth theire odour . rise vp , make haste , o thou my freind , my faire creature , my doue , in the holes of the rocke , in the lowes places of the wall : shew me that face of thyne , let thy voice sound forth in my ears : for thy uoice is sweete , and thy face is full of comlinesse , and grace . come my elected , and my beautifull creature , my doue , my immaculate , my spouse , come , and i will place my throne in thee , because i haue had a greedy desire of thy beauty . come , that thou maist reioyce in my presence , with my angells , whose society i haue promissed thee . come , after many dangers , and labours , and enter into the ioy of thy lord , which none shal be able to take from thee chap. xxiv . a prayer to the sanites to secure vs in our dangers . happy are all you , o saynts of god , who now haue passed through the sea of this mortality , and haue obteyned to arriue at the gate of eternall quietnesse , security , & peace , your selues beinge peacefull and secure , and perpetually full of triumph and ioy . i beseeche you , by your owne charity : you , who are secure concerninge your selues , be yet solicitous concerning vs. you are secure , concerninge your owne incorruptible glory ; be you solicitous of our manifold misery . by him i beseech you , who chused you , who made you what you are ; in the fruition of whose beauty you are satiated : by whose immortality you are now immortalized : by whose most blessed vision , yow are continually in ioy : be you also continually mindfull of vs. helpe vs miserable creatures , who in the salt waters of this life , are tossed , with stormes rounde about vs. you are those most beautifull gates , who haue beene erected , to a huge altitude : o giue some helpe to vs ▪ who are noe better then a base pauement lying so farr vnderneath you . stretch forth your hand , & raise vs vp vpon our feete , that we recouering out of our infirmity , may become strong , and fitt for warr . interceede , & pray with constancy , and perseuerance for vs miserable , and most negligent sinners ; that by your prayers , we maybe ioyned to your holy society , for otherwise we shall not be saued . for we are extreamely frayle ; and of no strength or vertue , miserable , base wretches : beasts , who care but for the belly , the slaues of flesh & blood , in whome the very shadow of goodnes , doth scarce appeare . and yet not withstandinge , beinge placed vnder the confession of christe our lord , we are borne vp , by the wood of his crosse , whilest we saile through this great and spatious sea ; where there are creepinge creatures without number : where there are wilde beasts , great and small , where there is á most cruell dragon , euer ready to deuour vs ; where there are places full of dangers , as scylla and charybdis , and innumerable others ; where carelesse persons , and they who are of a waueringe faith , suffer shipwracke . pray you to our lord , pray , o you who are full of pitty , pray all you troopes of saintes , and all you compagnies of blessed spiritts , that beinge assisted by your prayers , and meritts , we may , with our shipp and merchandize obteyne to arriue sound & safe , at the hauen of eternall saluation , & quietnes , and continuall peace , and of that security which must neuer haue an end . chap. xxv . the soules desire to attayne to the heauenly citty of ierusalem . o ierusalem , that art my mother , o thou holy citty of god , thou most deere spouse of christ our lord , my hart loues thee , and my soule is extreamely desirous to enioy thy beauty . o how gracefull , how glorious , and how noble art thou ? thou art all faire , and there is noe spott in thee . exult , and reioyce , o thou faire daughter of the prince ; for the king hath earnestly desired thy beauty : and he who excelleth all the sonnes of men in beauty , hath beene enamoured with thy comlinesse . but what kinde of man is that beloued of thyne , who is so much beloued , o thou fairest of woemen ? my beloued is white and read , the choise of a thousand . as a fruite-tree in the midest of a wilde wood , so is my beloued , amongst the sonnes of men : vnder his shadowe , whome i haue desired , behold i sitt downe with ioy , and his fruite is sweet to my throate . my beloued putt forth his hand through a diuision in the wall , and my belly trembled vpon that touch of his . i haue sought him whom my soule loues , in my little bedd by night , i haue sought him , and i haue found him : i hold him fast , and i will not lett him goe , till he introduce me into his howse , and into his chamber , which is this glorious mother of mine . for there , wilt thou afford me those most sweete brests , more abundant and more perfectly ; and satisfy me with so admirable a saciety , as that i shall hunger , and thirst noe more for euer . o happy soule of mine , happy for euer , and for euer , if i may merit to behold thy glory , thy beatitude , thy beauty ; those gates and walls of thyne , thy streets , thy many mansions , thy most noble citizens , and that most powerfull kinge of thyne our lord , seated in his maiesty . for thy walls are of pretious stones , thy gates are of most orient pearle , thy streetes are paued with purest gold , wherein that ioyfull alleluya is perpetually sunge . thy many mansions haue theyr fondatiō of squared stone , built vp with saphires , & couered with plates of gold , where no man shall enter who is not cleane ; no man inhabite who is defiled . thou art made faire , and sweete in thy delightes , o ierusalem our mother . there is no such thinge in thee , as we suffer here , nor such thinges as we see , in this miserable life of ours . there is nor darkenesse , nor night , nor any diuersity of tymes in thee . in thee there shines no light of the lāpe , noe splendor of the moone , noe beame of the starrs , but god of god , light of light , the sunne of iustice , is euer illuminateing thee . the white and immaculate lambe , is that cleere , and most beautifull light of thine . thy sunne , and thy brightnesse and all thy beatitude , is that indeficient contemplation of this most beautifull kinge . the king of kings himselfe , is in the midest of thee ; and his children , are circlinge him inn , round about : there are those musicall quires of angells , there is that congregation of heauenly citizens . there is the sweete solemnity , of all them , who are goeing into thy ioyes , out of this sad pilgrimage of theirs . there is that quire of the prophetts ; there is the intire number of the apostles ; there is the triumphant army of inumerable martyrs ; there , is the holy congregation of blessed confessors ; there , are those true , and perfect moncks ; there , are those holy woemen , who haue ouercome the pleasures of this world , and the infirmity of their sexe : there , are yong men , and maides , who haue outrunn their years , by the sanctity of their actiōs : there , are those sheepe , and lambes ▪ who haue escaped from the snares of terrene pleasures , and they all triumph in their propter mansion . the glory of euery one is different , but the ioy common to them all true & perfect charity raigneth there , because god is there , who is all in all , whome they see without end , and by euer seeing him , they are all burning in his loue . they loue and praise him , & they praise & loue him . all the worke they doe , is the praise of god without end , without euer leaueing off , and yet without euer labouring . happy shall i be , and for euer truely happy , if , after this poore body of mine comes to be dissolued , i may obteyne to heare those canticles of celestiall melody , which are sung to the praise of that eternall kinge , by the inhabitants of that supernall citty , and by those troopes of blessed spiritts . happy shall i be , yea too happy , if i also may obteyne to sing my parte there , and to stand in the presence of my kinge , my god , and my guide , and to see him in his glory , as he hath vouchsafed to promisse , saying : father , i will that they whom thou haste giuen me , may be with me , that they may see my glory , which i had with thee , before the creation of the world . and els where , he saith . let him who ministreth to me , follow me ; and where i am , there shall my seruant also be . and yet againe he saith : he who loueth me , shal be beloued of my father and i will loue him , and i will manifest my selfe to him . chap. xxvi . a hymne of paradise . vnto the springe of purest life , aspires my withered hart ; yea and my soule confinde in flesh , employes both strength , and art , working , suing , strugling still , from exile , home to part . and whilst she sighes , to see her self in furious tempests tost ; she lookes vpon the glorious state which she by sinning lost . and present ills , or past contents , doe make vs thinke of most . but who can fully speake the ioy or that high peace vnfold ; where all the buildinges founded are on orient perles vntold . and all the workes of those high roomes , doe shine with beames of gold . the structure is combin'd with stones , which highest price doe passe ; nay euen the streetes , are pau'd with gold as if it were but glasse . no trash , no base materiall , is there , or euer was . the horride cold , or scorching heat hath no admittance there ; the roses doe not loose their leaues , for spring lasts all the year : the lilly's whyte , the saffron redd , the balsam droops appear . the fields are greene , the plants do thriue , the streames , with hony flowe . from spices odours , & frō gummes , most pretious liquors growe . fruites hang vpon whole woods of trees , and they shall still doe so . the season is not changd , for still both sunne , & moone are bright . the lambe of this faire citty , is that cleare immortall light whose presence , makes eternall day , which neuer ends in night . nay , all the saints themselues , shall shine as bright as brightest sunne ; when after triumph , crowned they to mutuall ioyes shall runne . and safely count their fightes , and foes , when once the warre is done . for being freed from all defects , they feele no fleshly warre . or rather , both the flesh & minde , at length vnited are . and ioying in so rich a peace , they can admitt no iarre . but hauing quitt these fading leaues , they seeke their roote againe ; and looke vpon the present face of truthe , which hath no stayne ; still drinking , at that liuely spring , huge draughtes of ioyes in graine . from thence they fetch that happy state , wherein no change they see ; but cleere , and chearfull , and content , from all mishaps are free . no sicknes there , can threaten health , nor young men , old can be . there , haue they their eternity ; their passage , then is past . they grow , they flourish , and they sprout , corruption , off is cast . immortall strength , hath swallowed vp the power of death at last . who knowe the knower of all things what can they choose but knowe ? they all behold their fellowes harts , and all their secretts showe . one simple act of will , and nill , from all their mindes doth flowe . though all their merits diuers be according to their paynes , yet charity makes that ones owne , which any fellow gaynes , and all which doth belong to one , to all of them pertaynes . vnto that body iustly goe the eagles all , for meate . where , with the angells , and the saints , they may haue roome to eate . one loafe , can feede them all , who liue in both these countries great . hungry they are , yet euer full , they haue what they desire . sith no saciety offends , nor hungar burnes like fire . aspiringly they euer eate , and eating they aspire . there , euer are your newe concerts with songs which haue no end the organs of eternall ioy , doe on their eares attend . in prayse of their triumphant king , they all their voyces spend . o happy soule , which canst behold this king still present there , and vnder thee discerne the world runn round , secure from feare , with starres and plannettes , moone and sunn : still moueing in their spheare . o christ thou valiēt soldiers crowne cast downe an eye : of pittie ; that hauing once our armes putt downe , we may inioy that citie : and with those heauenly quires beare part . in their eternall dittie . grant iesu grant we still persiste , in thy iust cause defending : as longe as worldly warre may last , as longe as strifs depending : that we may carrie thee i th end the prize which knows noe ending chap. xxvii . of the continuall praise , which a soule conceiueth by the contemplation of the diuinity . o my soule , blesse our lord , and all the powers within me sing praise to his holy name . o my soule , blesse our lord , and forgett not all his benefitts . o all yea workes of our lord , blesse our lord , in all the places of his dominion . let vs praise god , whome the dominations adore , whome cherubin and seraphin , with a neuer ceasing voice , proclame , holy , holy , holy. let vs ioyne our voyce , to the voice of the holy angells , and lett vs praise this lord , who is common to vs both , to the vttermost of our power . for they praise our lord , most purely , and incessantly , who are alwayes plunged in that diuine contemplation , not by a glasse , or in a figure , but face to face . but who shal be able to say , or so much as to thinke , what kinde of innumerable multitude of blessed spiritts , and celestiall powers , that is , which standeth in the sight of our omnipotent lord god ? what glory , what endles festiuity they enioy , by the vision of god ? what delight , without any defect ? what ardour of loue , not tormenting , but delighting ? who can say , what desire there is , of the vision of god , when they haue saciety , and how they can haue saciety with desire ? where in nether desire , procures any payne , nor saciety breeds any loathinge ? how they growe to be happy , by adhearing , to that supreame beatitude ? how they growe to be made light , by their coniunction with that true light ? how by euer beholdinge the immutable trinity , themselues are changed into immutability ? but how shall we be able to comprehend that higth of angelicall dignity , when we are not able , so much as to finde out , the nature of our owne soule ? what kinde of thing is that , which is able to giue life to flesh , and yet is not able so much as to conteyne it selfe in good thoughts ? what kinge of thing is this , so strong , and se weake , so little , and so great ; which searcheth into the secrets of god , and riseth into contemplation of celestiall things ; and is prooued to haue found out , with such subtill power of witt , the skill of so many arts , for the vse of man ? what kind of thing is this , which knoweth so many other things , and yet is so wholyignorāt of how it selfe comes to be made ? for although many doubtfull things be said by many about the beginninge of the soule , yet we finde it to be a certaine intellectual spiritt , a spirit made by the power of the creator ; liueinge after a sort immortaly , and quickninge the body which it doth sustaine , subiect to mutability , and forgetfulnesse which is often depressed by feare , and extolled by ioy . o admirable thinge , and to which all astonishment is due . of god , the creator of vs all , who is vnspeakable and incomprehensible , we read , we speake , and we write excessiuely , sublimely , & wounderfull things , without any ambiguity at all but whatsoeuer we say of angells , and soules , we are not so well able to prooue . but yet lett the minde passe on euen from these thinges , and transcend all that which is created . lett it runn and rise , and flutter , and fly through ; and lett it fix the eyes of faith , as eagerly as it can , vpon him who created all things . i will therfore , make certaine stepps of riseinge in my hart ; and by them i will assend into my soule ; and by the purest power of my minde , i will assend to my lord , who remaines ouer my head . whatsoeuer is visibly seene , whatsoeuer is imagined , though in a most spirituall manner , i will remoue farr of , from the sight of my hart and minde , with a strong hand . let the pure and simple power of my vnderstanding passing on , with a speedy flighte towards him , arriue to him who is that creator himselfe both of angells and soules , and all things else . blessed is that soule , which forsaketh inferior things , and aspireth to them , which are sublyme ; and placeing the seat of her habitation , in those highe vnhaunted wayes , doth contēplate the sunn of iustice , frō those mighty rocks , with eagles eyes . for there is nothinge so beautifull , and so delightfull , as with the sharpe sight of the minde , and the eager desire of the hart , to contemplate this god himselfe alone , and after a wounderfull manner inuisibly to beholde him who is inuisible , & so , to taste , not the sweetnes of this world , but of another ; and to behold not this inferior ; kind of light , but another . for this light , which is shutt vp in place , is also ended in tyme , its varied by the interruption of night ; and this light , which is common to vs with wormes , and other vnreasonable beasts , in comparison of that other souueraigne light , is rather to be called night then light . chap. xxviii . what it is to see god , and to inioy him , after a sort , and how we are to thinke of god. bvt although that supreame and vnchangeable essence , that indeficient light , that light which is enioyed by the angells , can be seene by noe creature in this life ; ( this being the reward , which is reserued onely for the saints , who enioy celestiall glory ) yet to beleeue , to conceaue , to haue a feelinge , and ardently to aspire towards this glory , is to see it , after a sort , and to possesse it . let our voice therfore extend it selfe beyond the angells , and lett man contemplate god , with an carnest minde ; and lett him , with what words he can , expresse gods praises , to god himselfe . for it is all reason , that the creature should praise his creator , since he vouchsafed to create vs , that we might praise him , when yet he had noe need of our praises . for his vertue is incomprehensible , he needeth none , but is all sufficient for himselfe . our lord is great , and his vertue is great , and of his wisdome there is noe end . our lord god is great , and highly worthy to be praysed . let our soule therfore loue him , let our tongues sing of him , and our hand write of him ; and let the faithfull hart imploy it selfe , onely , in these holy thoughts . let the man of spirituall desires , and a contemplator of celestial mysteries , be dayly recreated , with the most delicious food of this heauenly contemplation ; that so being fully fed , with this heauenly repaste , he may cry out with great exclamation , he may cry out with the very bowells of his hart ; cry out with excesse of ioy , & say as followeth with a most ardent affection of his minde . chap. xxix . he declareth many propertyes of almighty god. o thou supreame , most excellent , omnipotent , most mercifull , most iust , most secret , most present , and most strong ; most stable and incomprehensible , inuisible , yet seeinge all things ; vnchangeable , yet changeing all things ; immortall , without place , without tearme , or circumscription ; vnlymited , inestimable , ineffable , inscrutable ; immoueable , yet moueinge all things ; vnsearchable , vnexpressable , terrible , & to be greatly feared , to be honored , and trembled at ; to be worshipped and reuerenced . neuer new , and neuer old , and yet innouating all things , and draweing prowde people into decay though they marke it not euer in action , yet euer quiet ; gathering together , and yet needinge nothinge ; carryinge all things , without feeling any waight ; fillinge all things , without beinge includede ; creatinge , protectinge , nourishinge , and perfectinge all things . thou seekest , and yet thou wantest nothinge : thou art in loue , yet without passiō ; thou art iealous , yet thou art secure ; thou repentest , yet thou art not sorry ; thou art angry , yet thou are not moued ; thou changest thy workes , but thou neuer changest thy decrees . thou takest that which thou findest , yet didest thou loose nothing ; thou art neuer poore , and yet thou art glade of gayne ; thou art neuer couetous , yet thou exactest vsury at our hands by our saperrogatiō , thou becomest our debter ; and yet who hath any thinge which is not thyne ; thou payest debts , yet thou owest nothinge ; thou forgiuest debts , yet thou loosest nothinge . thou alone doste quicken all things , thou haste created all things , thou art euery where , and thou art euery where altogether ; thou canst be felt , yet thou canst not be seene : thou art not wanting any where , yet art thou farre from the thoughtes of wicked men . but thou art not wanting euen there , although thou be farr of from them , because where thou art not presēt by grace , there thou art present by reuenge . thou touchest all things , yet thou touchest them not all alike . for some , thou touchest onely , that they may be , but not that they may liue , and feele , and discourse . but some thou touchest , that they may be , and liue , but yet not so , as that withall , they may feele and discourse . and some agayne , thou dost so touch , as that they may be , and liue , and feele , and discourse also . and although thou be neuer vnlike thy selfe , yet dost thou touch vnlike things , after an vnlike manner . thou art euer present , yet sometymes thou art hard to be found we follow thee , when thou standest still , and yet we are not able to lay hold on thee , whilest yet thou holdest all things , fillest all things , comprehendest all things , exceedest all things , vpholdest all things . neyther dost thou on the one side vndergoe them , and art ouercome by them on the other . neyther dost thou fill things , on the one side , and yet art comprehended by them , on the other ; but by comprehending them , thou fillest them ; and by filling them , thou comprehendest them ; as by sustayning them , thou exceedest them ; and by exceeding them , thou sustaynest them . thou teachest the harts of the faithfull , yet without the noise of words . thou reachest from one end to the other strongly ; and thou disposed of all things , sweetely . thou art not extended , according to the proportion of places ; nor art thou varied by the vicissitude of tymes . thou haste neyther accesse , nor recesse , but thou inhabitest that inaccessibile light , which no man euer sawe or can see . remaineinge quiet in thy selfe , thou doste make thy circuite about all things , and thou art euery where expressely and intirely all . for thou canst not be deuided or cutt , who art truely all ; nor canst thou be made into partes , because thou , wholy holdest all , fillest all , and dost possesse and illustrate all . the minde of man cannot conceaue the immense profundity of this mistery , nor the tongue of eloquence declare it ; nor can learned speach , nor all the volumes of all libraryes , vnfolde it . if there were bookes to fill the whole world , yet they could not vnfolde thy admirable knowledge , because thou art truely vnspeakable : and canst not by any meanes be concluded , nor expressed , as thou art , who art the fountayne of diuine light , and the sonne of euerlastinge charity . thou art great , without quantity , & therfore thou art immense : thou art good , without quality , and therfore thou art truely , and supreamely good , and there is none good but thou alone , whose will is thy worke , and whose inclination is thy power , who didst create all things of nothinge , and thou didst it , by the onely act of thy will. thou doste possesse all thy creatures , without needing any of them : thou gouuernest them , without labour , and thou rulest them without trouble : and there is nothinge at all , either , in the highest or lower thinges which can disturbe the order of thy dominion . thou art in all places , without being cōteyned in any place : thou conteynest all things without circuite : and thou art present euery where , without eyther scituation , or motion . thou art not the author of ill , nor canst thou doe it : yet is there nothing which thou canst not doe ; nor didst thou euer repent thy self of any thinge which thou hadest done , nor art thou troubled with any commotion , or tempest of thy minde ; nor doe the dangers of the whole world , drawe any danger vpon thee . thou commandest not , nor yet allowest of any wickednes or sinn . thou neuer lyest , for thou art eternall truth . by thy onely goodnesse we are made , by thy iustice we are punished , and by thy mercy we are deliuered . nothing , neither in heauen , or which is elementary , eyther of fire , or earth , or any other thing subiect to our sense , is to be worshipped instead of thee , who truely art what thou art , and art not changed ; and to whome it doth most principally agree , that thou be called that which the grecians call on , and the latins ens , which signifieth . the thing which is , for thou art euer the same , and thy years will neuer fayle . these , and many other things haue beene taught me , by my holy mother the church , wherof i am made a member , by thy grace . it hath taught me , that thou , the onely one , and true god , art not corporeall , nor passible : and that nothinge of thy substance or nature , is any way violable , or mutable , or composed , and framed : and therefore it is certaine that thou canst nor be perceiued , by corporeall eyes : and that thou couldest neuer be seene , in thy proper essence , by any mortall creature . hereby it is clearely to be vndestood , that as the angells see thee now , so are we to see thee , after this life . but yet , nether are the angells themselues , able to s●e thee iust as thou art : and in fine the omnipotent trinity , is not wholy seene by any , but by thy onely selfe . chap. xxx . of the vnity of god , and the plurality of persons in him . bvt thou art truly vnity in thy diuinity , though manifold in the plurality of thy persons , so that thou canst not be numbred by any number , nor measured by any measure , nor waighed by any waight . for we doe not pretend , to finde out any beginninge , of that supreame goodnesse , which thou thy selfe art , from whence all things , by which all things , and in which all things : but we say , that all other things , are good by the participation of that goodnes , for thy diuine essence , did euer , and doth still want matter , although it doe not want forme , namely that forme which was neuer formed , the forme of all formes , that most beautifull forme , which when thou dost imprint vpon particuler things ( as it might be some seale ) thou makest them , without all doubte , differre from thy selfe by their owne mutabilitie , without any change in thee , eyther by way of augmentation , or diminution . now whatsoeuer is within the cōpass of created thinges , that also is a creature of thyne , o thou , one trinity , and three in vnity , thou god , whose omnipotency possesseth , and ruleth , and filleth all things , which thou didst create . and yet we doe not therefore say , that thou fillest all things , as if they did conteyne thee , but rather so , as that they be conteyned by thee . nor yet dost thou fill them all by partes , nor is it to be thought , by any meanes , that euery creature receiues thee after the rate of the bignesse which it selfe hath : that is to say , the greater , the greater parte : & the lesse the lesse : since thou thy selfe , art in them all , & all of them in thee : whose omnipotency concludeth all things nor can any man finde a way , whereby to make escape from thy power , for he , who hath thee not wel . pleased , wil be sure not to escape thee , being offended ; as it is written , neither from the east , nor from the west , nor from the desert mountaynes , because god is the iudge . and els where it is sayd : whither shall i goe from thy spiritt , and whither shall i fly from thy face . the immēsity of thy diuine greatnes is such , that we must knowe thee to be whithin all things , and yet not included , and without all thinges , yet not excluded . and therefore thou art interior , that thou maiste conteyne all things : and therefore thou art exterior , that by the immensity of thy greatnes , thou maiste conclude , all things . by this therefore , that thou art interior , thou art showed to be the creator ; but by this , that thou art exterior , thou art proued to be the gouernour of them all . and least all things which are created , should be without thee , thou art interior ; but thou art exterior , to the end that all things may be included in thee . not by any local magnitude of thyne but by the potētiall presence of thee , who art present euery where , and all thinges to thee are present , though some vnderstād these things , and others indeed , vnderstand them not . the inseparable vnity therfore of thy nature , cannot haue the persons seperable , because as thou art trinity in vnity , and vnity in trinity , so thou canst not haue separation of persons . it is true , that those persons are named seuerally ; but yet thou art so pleased to show thy selfe , o god , thou trinity , to be inseperable in thy persons , as that there is noe name belonginge to thee in any one of them , which may not be referred to another , according to the rules of relation . for as the father to the sonne , and the sonne to the father ; so the holy ghoste is most truely referred , both to the father & sōne . but those names , which signify thy substanec , or person , or power , or essence , or any thing which properly is called god , doe equally agree to all the persons ; as great god , omnipotent and eternall god ; and all those things which naturally are saide of thee , o god. therefore there is noe name , which concernes the nature of god , which can so agree to god the father , as that it may not also agree to god the sonne , as also to god the holy ghoste . as for example , we say the father is naturally god , but so is the sonne naturally god ; and so also is the holy ghoste naturally god ; and yet not three gods , but naturally one god , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghoste : therfore art thou ô holy trinity , inseperable in thy persons , as thou art to be vnderstoode by our mind , although thou haue seperable names in worde ; because thou dost by no meanes , indure a plurall number , in the names belonging to thy nature . for herby it is showed , that the persons cannot be deuided in the blessed trinity , which is one true god , because the name of any one of the persons , doth euer relate to an other of them . for if i name the father , i shew the sonne ; if i speake of the sonne , i proclame the father : if i speake of the holy ghoste , it is necessarily to be vnderstoode , that he is the spiritt of some other , namely of the father , and of the sonne . now this it that true faith , which flowes from sound doctrine . this indeed , is the catholique , and orthodoxall faith , which god hath taught me , by his grace , in the bosome of his church , which is my mother . chap. xxxi . a prayer to the blessed trinity . my faith doth therefore call vpon thee , which thou , o lord haste giuen me , through thy goodnes , for my saluation . now the faithfull soule , liues by faith. he now holds that in hope , which hereafter he shall haue indeed . i call vpon thee , o my god , with a pure conscience , and with that sweete loue , which groweth out of faith , whereby thou haste brought me , to the vnderstanding of truthe ; casting away the darknes of ignorance , and whereby thou haste drawen me out of the foolish bitternes of this world ; and so accompanyinge it , with the sweetnes of thy charity , thou haste made it delightfull , and deer to me . i doe with a lowde voice inuoke thee , o blessed trinity , & with that sincere loue which groweth out of faith , which faith , thou haueing nourished euen from my cradle , did'dst inspire by the illustration of thy grace ; and which thou hast encreased and confirmed in me , by the documents of my mother the church . i inuoke thee , o holy and blessed , and glorious trinity , in vnity ; the father , the sonne , and the holy ghoste , our god , our lord , and our paraclete , charity , grace , and communication , the father , the sonne , and the illuminator ; the fountayne the riuer , and the irrigation , or wateringe . all things by one , and all things in one , from whome , by whome , in whome , all things . the liuing life , the life proceeding from the liuing life , the life liuing . one from himselfe , one from one , and one from two . one , being from himselfe , one , being from another , and one , being from two other . the father is true , the sonne is truth , and the holy ghoste is truth . therfore the father , the sonne , and the holy ghoste are one essence , one power , one goodnes , one beatitude , from whome , by whome , and in whome , all things are happie what things soeuer are happie chap. xxxii . that god is the true , and souuereigne life . o god the true and souuereigne life , from whome , by whome , and in whome , all things doe liue , which haue any true , and happy life . o god who art that goodnesse , and that beauty , from whome , by whome and in whome all things are faire , and good , which haue any beauty , or goodnesse in them . o god , whose faith doth excite vs , whose hope doth erect vs , and whose charity doth vnite vs o god , who requirest that we seeke thee , and who makest vs finde thee , and who openest to vs , when we knocke . o god , from whome to be auerted is to fa●l ; and to whom to be conuerted is to rise ; and in whom to remayne is to be immoueable . o god whome noe man looseth , but he who is deceaued ; no man seeketh , but he who is admonished ; and noe man findeth , but he who is purged . o god whome to know , is to liue ; whome to serue is to reigne ; whome to praise , is the ioy and saluation of the soule . i praise thee , i blesse thee , and i adore thee , with my lipps , with my hart , and with all the whole power i haue . and i present my humblest thanks to thy mercy , and goodnes , for all thy benefitts ; and i sing this hymn of glory to thee , holy , holy , holy , i inuoke thee , o blessed trinity , beseechinge , that thou wilt come into me , and make me worthy to be the temple of thy glory . i begge of the father , by the sonne : i begge of the sonne , by the father ; i begge of the holy ghoste , by the father , and the sonne , that all vice may be farr remoued from me , and that all holy vertue may be planted in me . o immense god , from whome all things , by whome all things , in whome all things , both visible and inuisible are made . thou who doste inuiron thy workes , without , and fillest them , within ; who dost couer them from aboue , and dost susteyne them from belowe ; keepe me who am the worke of thy hands , and who hope in thee , and who onely confide in thy mercy . keepe me , i beseech thee , here , and euery where , now and euer , within , and without ; before me , & behinde me ; aboue and belowe , and round about ; that no place at all , may be left , for the treacherous attempts of my enemies against me . thou art the omnipotent god , the keeper and the protector of all such as hope in thee , without whome noe man is safe , none freed from danger . thou art god , and there is noe other god but thou , neyther in heauen aboue , nor on earth belowe . thou whoe performest workes of prowess , and so many wonderfull and vnscrutable things ; which exceed all number . praise is due to thee , honor is due to thee , and to thee hymns of glory are due . to thee doe all the angells the heauēs & all the power therof , sing hymns , and praises , without ceaseing ; and all creatures , and euery spiritt doth praise thee , the holy and indiuiduall trinity , as it becomes the creatures there creator , the slaues their lord , and the souldiers , their king. chap. xxxiii . the praises of men and angells . to thee doe all the saintes , and they who are humble of hart , to thee doe the spiritts and soules of iust persons , to thee doe all the cittizens of heauen , and all those orders of blessed spiritts sing the hymn of honor and glory , adoreinge thee humbly without end . all the cittizens of heauen doe praise thee , o lord , after a most honorable and magnificent manner ; and man who is an eminent parte of thy creatures doth also praise thee . yea and i wretched sinner , and miserable creature that i am , doe yet labour with an extreame desire to praise thee , and wish that i could loue thee , with excessiue loue . o my god , my life , my strength , and my praise , vouchsafe to lett me praise thee . grant me light in my hart , putt thou the word into my mouth , that my hart may thinke vpon thy glory , and my tōgue may singe thy praises , all the day longe . but because it is noe hansome praise , which proceeds out of the mouth of a sinner , and because i am a man of polluted lipps , clense thou my hart i beseeche thee , from all spotts , sanctify me , o thou omnipotent sanctifier , both within and without , and make me worthy to sett forth thy praise . receaue with benignity , and acceptation , from the hand of my hart , which is the affection of my soule , receiue i say , the sacrifice of my lipps , and make it acceptable in thy sight , and make it ascend vp to thee in the odour of sweetnes . let thy holy memory , and thy most diuine sweetnes , possesse my whole soule ; and draw it vp at full speed , to the loue of inuisible things . let it passe from the visible to the inuisible ; from the earthly to the heauenly ; from the temporall to the eternall ; and lett it passe on so farr , as to see that admirable vision . o eternall verity , o true charity , o deer eternity , thou art my god ; to thee doe i sigh day and night ; to thee doe i pant ; at thee doe i ayme ; to thee doe i desire to arriue . he who knowes thee , knowes truth and he knowes eternity . thou , o truth , dost preside ouer all things . we shall see thee as thou art , when this blind and mortall life is spent , wherein it is said to vs , where is now thy god ? and i also said to thee where art thou , o my god ? in thee am i refreshed a little , when i power out my soule towards thee , by the voice of my exultation and confessiō , which is as the sounde of a man , who is bankquetting , end celebratinge some great festiuity — and yet agayne it is afflicted , because it falls back , and returnes to be an abysse ; or rather it findes that still it is so . my faith which thou hast kindled , in this night of myne , before my feete , doth say , why art thou sad , o my soule , and why doste thou afflict me ? hope thou in god ; his word is a lanterne to my feete . hope , and continue to doe so , till the night ( which is the mother of the wicked ) doe passe a way ; till the wrath of our lord passe away ; wherof sometymes we were the children . for sometymes we were darknes . till this fury of water pass cleane a way , we still dragg on , in our body ( which is dead through sinn ) the reliques of that darknes : till such tyme as the day shall approach , & all shadowes may be remoued . i will hope in our lord. in the morrow of the next life , i shall assist , and contemplate , and i will euer confesse to him . in that morrow , i shall assist , and behold the health of my countenance , which is my god , who will reuiue euen our mortall bodyes , for that spiritts sakes , which dwelleth in vs ; that now we may be light , euen whilest we are saued here , by hope . that we may be the sonns of light , and the sonns of god , and not of night , and darknes ; for sometymes we were darknes , but now we are light in thee , o our god , and yet we are so here , but by faith , and not face to face . because that hope which is seene is not hope . all that immortall people of thy angells praiseth thee o lord ; and those celestiall powers glorify thy name . they haue no need to read any such writing as this , towards the makeinge them knowe , the holy & indiuiduall trinity . for they see thy face for euer , and there they read , without any syllabes of tyme , what that eternall will , requires . they read , they choose , and they loue . they euer read , and that neuer passeth , which they are readinge . by choosing , and by loueinge they read , the very immutability of thy counsell ; and their booke is neuer shutt , and their scrowle neuer folded vp ; for thy self is all that to them , and so thou art to be for euer . o how excessiuely happy are those powers of heauen , which are able to praise thee , most purely and holyly , with excessiue sweetnes , and vnspeakable exultation ? they praise thee for that , in which th●● ioy ; because they euer see reason 〈◊〉 they should reioice , and praise them but we , being oppressed by this burthen of our flesh , and being cast farr of from thy face , in this pilgrimage of ours , and being so racked by the variety of worldly things , are not able worthily to praise thee . yet we praise thee as we can , by faith , though not face to face ; but those angelicall spiritts praise thee face to face , & not by faith. for our flesh putteth this vpō vs & obligeth vs to praise thee , farr otherwise , then they doe . but how soeuer euen we sing praise to thee in a different manner ; and yet thou art but one , o god , thou creator of all things to whome the sacrifice of praise is offered , both in heauen and earth . and by thy mercy , we shall one day arriue to their society , with whome we shall for euer see , and praise thee . grant , o lord , that whilest i am placed in this fraile body of mine , my hart may praise thee , my tongue may praise thee , and all the powers of my soule may say , o lord , who is like to thee . thou art that omnipotent god , whome we worshi● as trine in persons , and on●● the substance of thy diety . we adore the father vnbegotten , the sonne , the onely begotten of his father , and the holy ghoste , proceedinge from them both ; and remaininge in them both . we adore thee o holy and indiuiduall trinity , one omnipotent god , who when we were not , did'st most puissantly make vs ; and when , by our owne fault we weare lost , by thy pitty , and goodnes , thou did'st recouer vs , after an admirable manner . doe not i beseech thee , permitt that we should be vngratefull for so great benefitts , and vnworthy of so many mercyes . i pray thee , i beseech thee , i begg of thee , that thou wilt increase my faith , hope , and charity . i beseech thee , make vs , by that grace of thyne , to be euer firme in beleiueinge , and full of efficacy in working ; that so , by meanes of incorrupted faith and workes worthy therof , we may through thy mercy , arriue to euerlastinge life . and there beholding thy glory ; as indeed it is , we , whome thou haste made worthy to see that glory of thyne , may adore thy maiesty , and may say together : glory be to the father , who created vs : glory be to the sonne , who redeemed vs , glory , be to the holy ghoste , who sanctifyed vs : glory be to the supreame , & indiuiduall trinity , whose workes are inseparable , and whose empire is eternall . to thee our god , praise is due , to thee a hymne of glory , to thee all honor , benediction , clarity , thanksgiueing , vertue , and fortitude , for euer , and for euer . amen . chap. xxxiv . he complayneth against himselfe for not being moued , with the contemplation of god whereat the angells tremble . pardon me o lord , pardon me , through thy mercy , pardon , and pitty me ; pardon my great ignorance and imperfections . doe not reiect me , as a presumptuous creature , in that i aduenture , being thy slaue ( i would , i could say a good one , and not rather that i am vnprofitable and wicked , and therfore very wicked because i take this boldnes ) to praise , and blesse , and adore thee , who art our omnipotent god , and who art terrible , and excessiuely to be feared , without contrition of hart , without a fountaine of tears , and without due reuerence , and trembling . for if the angells , who adore , and praise thee , doe tremble , whilest they are filled with that admirable exultation ; how comes it to passe , that i , a sinfull creature , whilest i am present with thee , and sing prayses , and offer sacrifices to thee , am not frighted at the hart , that i am not pale in my face ; that my lipps tremble not , and my whole body is not in a shiueringe and that so , with a flood of tears , i doe not incessantly mourne before thee . i would fayne doe it , but i am not able , because i cannot doe what i desire . herupon i am vehemently wondringe at my selfe , when by the eyes of faith , i see how terrible thou art ; but yet , who can doe euen this , without thy grace ? for all our saluation , is nothing but thy great mercy . woe be to me , how comes my soule to be made so senseles , as that it is not frighted , with excessiue terrour , whilest i am standing before god , and singinge forth his praise ? woe be to me , how comes my hart to be so hardned , that myne eyes cannot incessantly bring forth whole floods of tears , whilest the slaue is speaking before his lord , man with god , the. creature with the creator ; he who is made of durte , with him who made all things of nothing ? beholde o lord , how i place my selfe before thee ; & that which i conceiue of my selfe in the most secret corner of my hart , that doe i not conceale from thy paternall eares . thou art rich in thy mercy , and liberall in thy rewards ; grant me some of thy good guifts , that therby i may doe seruice to thee . for we cannot serue , nor please thee , by any other meanes , then of thy guift . strick through , i beseech thee , this flesh of mine , with thy feare . let my hart reioyce , that it may feare thy name . o that my sinfull soule might so feare thee , as that holy man did , who said : i haue allwayes feared god , like the waues of a sea , which were flowing ouer me . o god , thou giuer of all good things grant me , whilest i am celebratinge thy praises , a fountayne of tears , together with purity of hart , and ioy of minde ; that loueing thee perfectly , and praiseinge thee worthily , i may feele , and taste , and sauour with the very palate of my soule , how sweete , & delicious thou art : o lord , accordinge to that which is written : taste , and see , how sweete our lord is : blessed is the man who hopes in him . blessed is the people which vnderstandeth this ioy . blessed is the man whose helpe is from thee : he hath disposed of certayne degrees , whereby to rise vp in his hart , in this valley of tears , in the place which he hath appointed . blessed are the cleane of hart ; for they be the men , who shall see god. blessed are they who dwell in thy house , o lord , for they shall praise thee , for euer , & for euer . chap. xxxv . a prayer which greatly moueth the hart to deuotion , and to diuine loue . o iesus , our redemption , our desire , and our loue ; thou god of god , giue helpe to me , who am thy seruant . i inuoke thee , i call vpon thee , with a mighty crye , and with my whole hart . i inuoke thee into my soule , enter into it , & make it fitt for thy selfe , that thou maist possesse it without spott , and wrinckle . for to a most pure lord , a most pure habitation is due . sanctify me therfore , who am the vessell which thou hast made . euacuate me of malice , and fill me with grace , and still keepe me full , that i may be made a temple , worthy to be inhabited by thee , both here , and in the other euerlasting world . o thou most sweete , most benigne , most loueing , most deer , most powerfull , most desireable , most pretious , most amiable , most beautifull god : thou who art more sweete then hony , more white then any milk or snow , more delicious then nectar , more pretious then gold or jewells , and more deere to me , then all the riches and honors of the earth . but what doe i say , o my god , o thou my onely hope , and my so abundant mercy ? what doe i say , o thou my happy , and secure sweetnes ? what doe i say when i vtter such things as these ? i say what i can , but i doe not say what i should . o that i could say such things , as those quires of angells doe vtter , in those celestiall hymns o how willingly would i euen spend , & powre out my whole selfe , vpon thy praises ? o how faine would i , most deuoutly , and most indefatigablie proclaime those hymns of celestiall melody , in the middest of thy church , to the praise and glory of thy name ; but because i am not able to doe these things compleatly , shall i therefore hold my peace : woe be to them , who hold their peace of thee , who loosest the tongues of dumm persons , and makest the tongues of children eloquent . woe woe be to them who hold their peace of thee , for euen they who speak most , may be accompted to be but dumbe , when they doe not speake thy praise . but now who shal be able worthily to prayse thee , o thou vnspeakable wisdome of the father ? but yet although i finde noe wordes whereby i may sufficiently vnfold thee , who art the omnipotent , and omniscient word ; i will yet ; in thy meane tyme say what i can , till thou biddest me come to thee , where i may say that of thee , which is fitt , and which i am bound to say . and therefore i humbly pray , that thou wilt not haue an eye , so much to that which i say now in deed , as to that which i say in my desire . for i desire ( and that with a great desire ) to say that of thee , which is fitt and iust , because it is fitt that thou be praised ; and celebrated , and all honor is due to thee thou seest therefore , o god , thou who knowest of all secrett things , that thou art more deer to me , not onely then the earth , and all that is therein , but that thou art more acceptable , and amiable to me , then heauen it selfe , and all that it conteynes . for i loue thee , more then heauen , and earth , and all those other things which are in them ; nay these transitory things are without doubt not to be beloued at all , if it weare not , for the loue of thy name . i loue thee , o my god , with a greate loue , and i desire to loue thee yet more . giue me grace , that i may euer loue thee as much as i desire , and as much as i ought , that thou alone maist be all my intention , and all my meditation . let me consider thee , all the day long without ceasinge ; let me feele thee , euen when i am sleeping , by night ; let my spiritt speake to thee ; lett my minde conuerse with thee ; let my hart be illustrated with the light of thy holy vision ; that thou being my director , and my captayne , i may walke on , from vertue to vertue ; and that at last , i may see thee , the god of gods in syon . now as in a glasse , or in a cloude ; but then face to face , where i shall knowe thee , as i am knowen . blessed are the cleane of hart , for they are the men who shall see god. blessed are they who dwell in thy howse , o lord , for euer , and for euer , shall they praise thee . i beseech thee therefore , o lord , by all thy mercyes , whereby we are freed from eternall death , mollyfy my hart , which is hard , & stony , and rocky , and steely , with thy powerfull , and most sacred vnction ; and grant , that by the fire of contrition , i may become a liueing sacrifice before thee , in euery moment of my life . make me euer to haue a contrite and humbled hart , in thy presence , with abundance of tears . grant that through my great desire of thee , i may be vtterly deade to this world ; and that i may forgett these transitory things , through the greatnes of my loue , and feare of thee ; and this so farr forth , as that i may neuer reioyce nor mourne , nor feare any thinge , which is temporall ; and that i may not loue them ; least so i be eyther corrupted by prosperity , or deiected by aduersity . and because the loue of thee , is strōg as death , i beseech thee that the fiery and mellifluous force of thy loue , may suck vp , and deuoure my whole minde , from all those things which are vnder heauen ; that i may in heare to thee alone , and be fedd with the memory of thy onely sweetnes . o lord , i beseech thee , i beseech thee , and still i beseech thee , that the most sweete odour of thee , and thy mellifluous loue may descend , and enter into my hart , lett that admirable , and vnspeakable fragrance of thy sauour , come into me , which may kindle an euerlastingly a burning desire of thee in my hart , and which may draw out from thence , those vaynes of water which spring vp to eternall life . thou art immense , o lord , and therfore it is but reason that thou be loued and praised , beyond all measure , by them whome thou hast redeemed with thy pretious blood. o thou most benigne louer of man. o thou most mercifull lord , and most vnpartiall iudge , to whome the father gaue all power of iudgment ; thou seest how vniust a thinge it is , that the children of this world , the children of night , and darknes , should with a more ardent desire , indeauour , and study , and seeke perishing riches , and transitory honors , then we thy seruants doe loue thee our god , by whome we are created and redeemed . but if on the other side , a man will affect some man , with so great loue , as that one of them will scarce indure the absence of the other ; if the spouse be transported , with so great ardour of affection to her fellow spouse , that through the greatnes of her loue ; shee can take noe rest , nor beare the absence of that dearest freind , without deep sorrowe ; with what loue , with what labour , with what feruour ought that soule , which thou haste espoused to thy self by faith , and other mercyes , loue thee her true god , and her most beautifull spouse , who hast so loued , and saued her , and haste done so many , and , so great thinges for her good . for although this world haue certayne delights and loues belonging to it , yet doe they not so delight , as thou o god. in thee the iust man is indeed delighted , because thy loue is sweete , and quiet ; for the harts which thou dost possesse , thou fillest with tranquillity , sweetnes , and delight , on the other side , the loue of this world , and of the flesh , breeds anxiety , and pertubation , and depriues thoses soules of quietnes into which it enters ; for it doth euer sollicite them , with suspitions , perturbations , and many fears . thou art therefore the delight of iust persons , & that iustly . for the strength of rest and peace , is with thee , and a life vncapable of perturbation . he who enters into thee , o deere lord , enters into the ioy of his lord and shall haue nothing more to feare ; but shall finde himselfe to be perfectly well , in the most excellent place which can be thought ; and he will say , this is my rest for all eternityes , this shal be my habitation , for i haue chosen it ; and agayne , our lord gouernes me , and nothing shal be wantinge , in that place of full feedinge ; yea there it is , that he hath lodged me . sweete christ , deare iesus , fill my hart for euer , i beseech thee , with the vnquenchable loue , and the continuall memory of thee ; in such sort , as that i may all burn vp , like any eager flame , in the sweetnes of thy loue , which many waters , may neuer be able to extinguish , in me . grant o most sweete lord , that i may loue thee , and that through the desire of the i may discharge my selfe of the waight of all carnall desires ; and of the most greiuous burthen of all earthly concupiscences , which impugne , and oppresse my miserable soule , that running lightly after thee , in the odour of thy pretious oyntements , till i be effectually satisfyed with the vision of thy beauty , i may , with all speed , arriue thither by thy cōduct . for there are two kindes of loues ; one good , and another badd ; one sweete , and another bitter , and they cannot both remayne in one hart . and therefore if any man loue any thinge , in dishonour of thee , thy loue , o lord , is not in him . that loue of sweetnes , and that sweetnes of loue ; not tormenting but delightinge ; a loue , which remaineth sincerely , and chastely for all eternity , a loue which euer burnes , and is neuer quenched . o sweete christe , o deer iesus , o charity ! my god , inflame me all with thy fire , with thy loue , with thy sweetnes and delight , with thy ioy & exultation , with thy pleasure and ardent desire which is holy , and good ; chaste , and pure , secure , and serene ; that being all full of the sweetnes of thy loue , and all burnt vp , in the flame of thy charity , i may loue thee , o god , with my whole hart , and with all the marrow of my affections ; haueing thee still , and euery where , in my hart , in my mouth , and before my eyes , so that there may neuer be any place open in me , for any adulterine or impure loue . hearken to me , o my god , hearken to me , o thou light of mine eyes . hearken to what i aske , and teach me what to aske , that thou maist hearken to me . o thou pittious and most mercifull lord , doe not become inexorable to me for my sinns ; but for thyne owne goodnes sake , receiue these prayers of thy sonne , and grant me the effect of my petition , and desire , by the intercession , prayer , and impetration of the glorious virgin mary my lady , and mother , and of all thy other saints . amen . chap. xxxvi . a most deuoute prayer by way of thanks-giueing . o christ our lord , the word of the father , who camest into the world to saue sinners , i beseech thee , by the most indulgent bowells of thy mercy , amend my life , better my actions , compose my manners , take all that from me , which hurteth me , and displeaseh thee ; and giue me that which thou knowest , to please thy selfe , and profitt me . who is he but onely thou , o lord , who can make a man cleane , he being conceiued of vncleane seed . thou art an omnipotent god of infinite piety , who iustifiest the wicked , and reuiuest such as are dead , through sinn ; & thou changest sinners , and they are so no more . take from me therefore , whatsoeuer is displeasing to thee in me ; for thyne eyes haue seene my many imperfections . send forth , i beseeche thee , thy hand of piety towards me , and take from me , whatsoeuer is offensiue in me to thyne eyes . before thee , o lord is my health , and sicknes , conserue that , i beseech thee , and cure this . heale me , o lord , and i shal be healed , doe thou saue me , and i shal be saued ; thou , who curest the sick , and conseruest the sound ; thou who with the onely beck of thy will , restorest that which is in decay , and ruine . for if thou vouchsafe to sowe good seede in thy feild , which is my hart , it will first be necessary , that , with the hand of thy pitty , thou shouldest pluck vp the thornes of my vices . o most sweete , most benigne , most loueing , most deer , most desirable , most amiable , and most beautifull god , infuse , i beseech thee , the multitude of thy sweetnes , and of thy loue into my hart ; that i may not so much as desire , yea , or euen thinke , of any carnall thinge ; but that i may loue onely thee , and haue onely thee in my hart , and mouth . write , with thy finger in my hart , the sweete memory of thy mellifluous name , which may neuer be blotted out againe . write thy will , and thy lawe , in the tables of my hart , that i may haue both thy lawe , and thy selfe , o lord of immense sweetnes , at all tymes and places , before myne eyes . burne vp my mynde with that fire of thyne , which thou did'st send into the world , and did'st desire that it might be much kindled ; that i may daily offer to thee , abundance of tears , the sacrifice of a troubled spirit , and contrite hart . o sweete christe , o deer iesus , as i desire , and as , with my whole hart i craue , so giue me thy holy and chaste loue , which may replenish , and take , and possesse me wholy . and giue me that euident signe of thy loue , a springing fountayne of tears , which continually may flowe ; that my tears themselues may witnes thy loue to me , and they may discouer and declare , how deerly my soule loueth thee ; whilest through the excessiue sweetnes of that loue , it cannot conteyne it selfe from tears . i remember , deare lord , that good woeman anna , who came to the tabernacle , to begg a sonne of thee , of whome the scripture saith that after her tears , and prayers , her countenance was cast no longer towardes seuerall things . but whilest i call to mind her so great vertue , and constancy , i am racked with greife , and confounded with shame , because i finde my selfe too miserablie cast downe , towards vanity . but if she wept so bitterly , and did so perseuer in weepinge , who onely desired to haue a sonne ; how ought my soule to lament , and continue in lamentation , which seekes and loues god , and earnesty desires to get home to him ? how ought such a soule lament , and weepe , who seeketh god , day and night , and is resolued to loue nothinge but christ our lord ? it is no lesse then a wōder , if such a persons teares , become not his bread , day and night . looke back therefore , and take pitty on me , for the sorrowes of my hart are multiplyed . giue me of thy celestiall contemplation ; and despise not this sinfull soule , for which thou dyedst . giue me i beseeche thee , internall teares , which may springe from the most secret corner of my hart , whereby the chaines of my sinns may be broken ; and lett them euer fill my soule , with celestiall ioy , that i may obteyne some little portion in thy kingdome , if not in the society of those true and perfect moncks , whose stepps i am not able to followe , yet at least with deuout woeman . i doe also call to minde , the admirable deuotion of another woemā , who sought thee with tender loue , whē thou wert layd in the sepulcher . who retired not from the sepulcher , when the disciples retired ; who satt downe there , all afflicted and wounded ; & she wept there long , and much , and riseing vp with many tears , she did agayne and agayne , play as it were the spy , with her watchfull eyes , vpon that solitary place ; to see if perhapps she might be able to finde thee any where , whom she sought with such ardour of desire . she had already entered into the sepulcher once and agayne ; but that which in it selfe , seemes too much , seemes not enough , to one that loues . the vertue of a good worke is perseuerance ; and because she loued thee beyond the rest , and loueing wept , and weeping sought , and seeking perseuered , therefore did she deserue , to be the first of all others to finde the out ; and to speake with thee . and not onely that , but she was the first proclamer of thy glorious resurrection , to thy disciples ; thy selfe thus directing , and sweetly commaunding that it should be so , goe , and will my brethren that they pass on into gallile ; they shall see me there , but now , if that woeman wept , and continued in weepinge , who sought the liueing , amongst the dead , and who touched thee but with the hand of faith ; how ought my soule to lamente , and persiste in lamentation , which beleeueth with the hart , and confesseth with the mouth , that thou art her redeemer , praesiding now in heauen , and regninge euery where ? how ought such a soule to lament and weepe , which loues thee with her whole hart , and couetts to see thee with her whole desire ? thee who art the sole refuge , and the onely hope of miserable creatures , to whome one can neuer pray without hope of mercy ? afford me this fauour , i beseech thee , for thyne owne sake , & for thy holy name , that as often as i thinke of thee , speake of thee , write of thee , read of thee , conferr of thee ; as often as i remember thee , and am present with thee , and offer praise and prayers , and sacrifice to thee , so often may i weepe abundantly , and sweetely in thy presence , that so my tears may be made my bread , day and night , thou , o king of glory , and thou instructer of soules in all vertue , haste taught vs , both by doctrine and example ; that we are to lament , and weepe , sayinge : blessed are they who mourne , for they shal be comforted . thou didest weepe ouer thy deceased freind , and thou didest shedd abundant tears ouer that miserable citty , which was to perish . and now , o deare iesus , i beseech thee , by those most pretious tears of thyne , and by all those mercyes , whereby thou didest vouchsafe so admirably to releyue vs wretched creatures , giue me the grace of tears , which my soule doth greatly affect , and couet . for without thy guift , i cannot haue it , but be thou pleased to impart it to me , by that holy spirit of thyne , which mollifyes the hard harts of sinners , and giues them compunction to weepe ; as thou didest giue it to our fathers , whose footesteps i am to imitate , that so i may lament my selfe , duringe my whole life , as they lamented themselues , day and night . and by theyr merits and prayers who pleased theo , and did most deuoutly serue thee , i beseeche thee , take pitty vpon me , thy most miserable , and vnworthy seruant ; and grant me the grace of tears , grant me that superior kinde of irrigation or watering , and that inferior also , that my tears may be my bread day and night ; and that ; by the fire of sorrowe , i may be made a fatt , and marrowy holocauste , in thy sight . o my god , let me be all offerred vp , vpon the altar of my hart ; and let me be receyued by thee as a most acceptable sacrifice to thee in the odour of sweetnes . grant me , o most sweete lord , both a continuall , and a cleere founteyne , wherein this vncleane holocauste , may be cleansed . for although i haue already offered my selfe to thee , by thy fauour , and grace ; yet in many things , doe i offend dayly , through my excessiue frailty . giue me therefore the grace of tears , o blessed , and amiable god , through the greate sweetnes of thy loue , and by the commemoration of thyne owne mercyes . prepare this table for thy seruant , in thy sight , & putt it into my power , that as often as i list , i may be filled therewith . grant through thy pitty , & goodnes that this excellent and inebriating chalice , may quench my thirste ; & lett my spiritt pante towards thee , & my hart burne bright in thy loue ; forgetting all vanity , and misery hearken to me , ô god , hearken , ô thou light of myne eyes , hearken to that which i desire , and make me desire such things , as thou wilt grant . o lord , thou who art holy , & exorable in thy selfe , doe not become inexorable to me , for my sinns ; but for thyne owne goodnes sake , receaue the prayers of thy seruant , & grant me the effect of my desire , and sute , by the prayers and merits of my lady , the glorious virgin mary , and of all thy saintes . amen . chap. xxxvii . a most holy , and most excellent prayer to almighty god , whereby the soule is greatly mooued to deuotion . o lord iesus , o holy iesus , o good iesus , who didest vouchsafe to dy for our sinns , and to rise agayne , for our iustification ; i beseech thee , by that glorious resurrection of thyne , raise me vp from the sepulchre of all my vices , and sinns ; & dayly giue me a part , in thy resurrection by grace , that i may obteyne to be made a true pertaker of thy resurrection to glory . o thou most sweete , most benigne , most loueinge , most pretious , most amiable , and most beautifull , lord , who didest ascend vp to heauen , in a triumph of glory ; and beinge a most puissant kinge dost sitt at the right hand of thy father : drawe me vpward , that i may runn after thee , in the pursute and sent of thy odoriferous oyntments . i will runn , and not faynt . whilest thou art leading , and draweinge me , i will be runninge . drawe vp this mouth of my thirsty soule , into those celestiall spirings of eternall satiety . nay , rather drawe me to thy very selfe , who art the true liueinge fountayne ; that so accordinge to the vttermoste of my capacity , i may drinke that , where-vpon i may for euer liue , o thou my god , and my life . for thou haste said , with thy holy and blessed mouth : if any man thirst , let him come to me , and drinke . o thou fountayne of life , grant to my thirsty soule , that it may alwayes drinke of thee ; that , accordinge to thy holy and faithfull promisse , the liueing waters may flowe from me , o thou fountayne of life , fill my minde , with the torrent of thy delight , and inebriate my hart with the sober ebriety of thy loue ; that i may forget all vaine , ād earthly things , and may perpetually haue thee , and thee alone , in my memory ; as it is written : i haue beene mindfull of god , and i was delighted . imparte to me the holy spiritt , which was signifyed by those watters , which thou didest promisse , that thou wouldest giue , to such as thirsted after them . grant , i beseeche thee , that with my whole desire , and endeauour , i may tend thyther , whither i beleeue thee to haue ascended , vpon the fortieth day , after thy resurrection that so my body onely , be held in this present misery ; and that i may euer be with thee in desire and thought . that my hart may be there , where thou art , who art my incomparable , disireable , and extreamely amiable treasure . for in the great deluge of this life , wherein we are tossed with stormes to and fro surrounding vs ; and where there is noe secure castinge of anchor ; nor place more eminent , wher-vpon the doue may place her foote , & repose her selfe in some smale measure ; there is noe where , any safe peace ; noe where any secure quietnes , but euery where warrs and strife ; all places full of enemyes ; fighting without , and fears within . and because one parte of vs is celestiall , and the other terrestriall the body which is subiect to coruption , doth dull and stupify the soule therefore doth this soule of myne , which is my companion , and my freind , and which colmes all weary , from trauellinge , vpon a long , and laborious way , lye languishinge , and torne in sunder , by those vanityes , which it passed by ; and it doth hunger , and thirst extreamely ; and i haue nothinge to sett before it , because i am a poore creature , and a meere begger . thou ô lord my god who art rich in all things , and art a most plentifull imparter of celestiall satiety , giue foode to it being weary , recolect it being scattered ; and repair it being torne in peeces . behold it is at the doore , and knockes . it beseeches thee , by those bowells of thy mercy , whereby thou didest visite vs riseinge from aboue , to open thy hand of pitty , to this miserable soule which knockes ; and commaund ( out of thy benignity & grace ) that it may enter in to thee ; that it may repose in thee , and that it may be recreated , and fedd with thee who art that true celestiall bread , and wine . that when it is satisfyed therewith , it may recouer strength and so ascēd vp to the things aboue it & being snatched vp out of this valley of misery , by the wing of holy desires it may fly into those celestiall kingdomes . let my spiritt , ô lord , let my spiritt , i beseech thee , take the wings of an eagle , let it spring vp and neuer fainte ; let it fly , till it arriue euen ! as farr as the beauty of thy house ; that place of the habitation of thy glory ; that it may there be full fedd vpon that table , where thy celestiall cittizens are refreshed , with those secret delights of thyne , in that place of rich feedinge ; close by those full fountaynes ; and there , ô my lord , let my hart repose , and rest in thee . my hart is a high sea . swelling vp with waues . thou , who didest commaund both windes and seas , where vpon great tranquillity did followe , come downe , and walke vpon these waues of my hart ; that all my thoughts may become serene and quiet ; to the end that i may embrace thee , my deare , and onely lord ; and that i may contemplate thee ( who art the sweete light of myne eyes ) being freed from the blinde mistes , or foggs of all vnquiet cogitations . let my hart fly vnder the shadowe of thy wings , from the scorching heate of the cares , and cogitations of this world ; that so being hidden vp in that sweete refreschinge of thine , it may exult , & singe : in thy peace , in thy very selfe will i sleepe and rest . let my memory sleepe , let it sleepe , i beseeche thee , o my lord god , from all sinn and vice . let it hate iniquity , and loue sanctity . for what is more beautifull , what is more delightfull , then in the middest of the deepe darkenes , and the many bitter sorrowes of this life , to pante towards that diuine sweetnes of thine , and to aspire to that eternall beatitude ; and there to haue our harts fixed , where it is most certaine that true ioy is to be found , o thou most sweete , most loueinge , most benigne , most deare , most precious , most desirable , most amiable , and most beautifull lord , when shall i be able to see thee : when shall i apppeare before thy face ? whē shall i be satisfyed with that beauty of thine ? vvhen wilt thou lead me out of this darke prison , that i may confesse to thy name ; that so , from thence forth , , i may haue noe more cause of greife ? vvhen shall i passe on into that admirable , and most goodly house of thine ? where the voice of ioy and exultation , is euer ringing out , in those tabernacles of the iust ? blessed are they who dwell in thy house , o lord , for euer , and for euer , shall they praise thee . blessed are they , & truely blessed ; whome thou hast chosen , and assumed into that celestiall inheritance . beholde how thy saints , o lord , doe florish like the lilly ; they are filled with the euer springinge plenty of thy house ; & thou giuest them to drink of the torrent of thy delights . for thou art the fountayne of life , and in thy light they shall see light ; in so high degree as that they who are but a light illuminated by thee , ô god , who art the illuminateing light , doe yet shine in thy sight , like the sunn it selfe . o how admirable , how pretious , and how beautifull , be the habitations of thy house o thou god of all strength ? this sinfull soule of mine is carried with extreame desire to enter thyther . o lord , i haue loued the beauty and order of thy house ; and the place of the habitation of thy glory . one thinge i haue begged of our lord , and i will neuer leaue to begg the same ; that i may dwell in the house of our lord , all the days of my life . as the stagg runns panting towords the fountaines of water , so doth my soule runn thirstinge after thee , o god. when shall i come , and once appeare before thy face ? when shall i see my god , after whome my soule is in a deadly thirst ? when shall i see him , in the land of the liueinge ; for in this land of the dyinge , he cannot be seene , with mortall eyes . vvhat shall i doe , miserable creature that i am ; beinge bound vp , hand and foote , by these chaynes of my mortality , what shall i doe ? whilest we remaine in this body , we wander from our lord. vve haue not here any permanent citty , but we are looking after another , which is to come , for our habitation is in heauen vvoe be vnto me , for that my abode nere is prolonged . i haue dwelt with the inhabitants of cedar ; and my soule hath beene too true a dweller there . vvho will helpe me to the winges of a doue , that i may fly and rest ? nothinge can be so delightfully deare to me as to be with my lord. it is good for me to adheare to my god. grant to me , ô lord , whilest i am confined to this mortall flesh , that i may adheare to thee , as it is written : he who adhears to our lord , becometh one spiritt with him . grant me , i beseech thee , the wings of contemplation ; that beinge indued therewith , i may fly vp a pace towards thee . and because all that which is sinfull , and weake , is workeinge downeward , ô lord hold hold thou my hart , that it may not rush into the bottomes of this darke valley ; that by interposition of the shadow of the earth , it may not be seuered from thee , who art the true sunn of iustice ; and so may be hindred from beholdinge celestiall things , by the drawinge of black cloudes ouer it . therefore am i aspireinge to those ioyes of peace ; and to that most calme and delight-full state of light . hold thou fast my hart in thy hand ; for vnlesse it be by thee it will neuer be able to rayse it selfe to thinges aboue . thither doe i make all haste , where supreame peace doth reigne ; and where eternall tranquillity is resplendent . hold fast , and guide my spiritt , and raise it ; accordinge to thy good will ; that so thy selfe beinge the guide therof , it may ascend into that region , where there is an eternal spring ; and where thou feedest israel for euer , with the food of truthe ; that there ( at the least with some swifte , and catchinge thought ) . i may now lay hold of thee , who art that souereigne vvisdome , remaineinge ouer all things , and gouerninge , and conducteinge all things . but to the soule which is striuing , and struglinge towards thee , there are many thinges which call vpon it , by way of giueinge it impediment . o lord , i beseeche thee , that they may all be putt to silence , by thy commandement . lett my very soule be silent to it selfe . lett it passe by all things : lett it transcend all thinges created , and dispatch them all away from it selfe . lett it arriue to thee , and vpon thee , who art the onely creator of all things : let it fasten the eyes of faith : let it aspire towards thee : let it be wholy attentiue to thee : let it meditate vpō thee : let it contemplate thee : let it place thee euer before her eyes , and lock thee vp in her hart : thee who art the true and soueraigne good , & that ioy , which must neuer haue an end . many contemplations there are , whereby a soule which is deuoute to thee , may be admirably intertayned & fedd ; but in none of them is my soule so delighted , and laid to rest , as in the thought of thee ; and when it thinks and contemplates , thee alone . how great is the multitude of that sweetnes of thine , wherewith thou dost admirably inspire the harts of thy louers ? how admirable is that deernes of thy loue , which they enioy who loue nothinge but thee ; who seeke nothinge , nor desire , so much as to thinke of any thinge but thee . happy , soules are they , whose onely hope thou art : and whose onely worke , is prayer . happy is that man , who sits in solitude and silence , and stands still vpon his guard , day and night ; and who , whilest he is imprisoned in this poore litte body of his , may yet be able in some proportion , to haue a taste of thy diuine sweetnes . i beseech thee , ô lord , by those pretious wounds of thyne , which thou wert pleased to beare vpon thy crosse , for our saluation ; and from whēce that precious blood did flow , whereby we are redeemed ; be pleased to wounde this sinfull soule of myne , for which thou didst also vouchsafed to dye . wound it with the fiery and most puissant dart of thy excessiue charity . for the word of god is full of life , and efficacy ; and it is more penetratiue then any sharp two-edged sword . thou art that choise arrow , and that most sharp sword , which is able , by thy power , to pearce through the hard buckler of mans hart . strike through my hart , with the dart of thy loue , that my soule may say to thee : i am wounded with thy loue . and doe it in such sort , as that out of this very wound of thy loue , abundance of tears may streame downe from mine eyes , day and night . stricke through , o lord , strike through , i beseeche thee , this most hard hart of mine , with the deare , & strong pointed launce of thy loue ; and pearce downe yet more deepely into the most interiour parte of my soule , by the mighty power of thy hand . and so drawe forth out of this head of mine abundāce of water ; and from these mine eyes , a true fountaine of tears , which may continually flowe , through my excessiue loue , and desire of the vision of thy beauty . to the end that i may mourne , day and night , admittinge of no comfort , till i shall obteyne to see thee , in thy celestiall bedd of state : thee , who art my beloued , and most beautifull spouse , my lord and my god. that beholding there ( in the society of such as thou hast chosen ) that glorious , and admirable , & most beautifull countenance of thine , ( which is topp full of all true sweetenes , ) i may with profound humility adore thy maiesty . and then at last , being replenished , with the celestiall , and vnspeakable iubilation of eternall ioy , i may cry out with such as loue thee , and say : beholde , that which i aspired too , i see . that which i hoped for , i haue , that , which i desired , i inioy . for to him am i conioyned in heauen , whome being yet on earthe , i loued witth my whole power : i imbraced with entire affection ; and i inheared to , with inuincible loue . him doe i praise , adore , and blesse , who liueth & raigneth , god , for euer , and euer . amen . chap. xxxviii . a prayer to be made in affliction . haue mercy on me , o lord , haue mercy on me , deer lord , haue mercy on me , most miserable sinner , who cōmitt vnworthy things , and doe endure such as i am worthy of ; for i am daily sinninge , and daily feeling the scourge of sinn . if i consider the euill which i cōmitt daily , it is noe great matter which i suffer . it is much wherein i offend , and it is little which i endure . thou art lust , o lord , and thy iudgment is right ; yea ; all thy iudgments are iust and true . thou art iust and true , o lord our god , and there is noe iniquity in thee . thou , o mercifull and omnipotent lord , dost not afflict vs sinners , cruelly , and vniustly . but when we were not , thou didst make vs with thy hand of power ; and when we were lost , through our owne fault , thou didist admirablie restore vs by thy pitty and goodnes . i know , and am well assured , that our life is not driuen on , by rash . and irregular motions ; but it is disposed , and gouerned by thee , o lord our god. so that thou hast a care of all , butt especially of thy seruants , who haue placed their whole hope in thy mercy . i doe therefore beseeche , and humbly pray thee , that thou wilt not proceed with me , according to my sinns , whereby i haue deserued thy wrathe ; but accordinge to thyne owne great mercy , which surpasseth the sinns of the whole world . thou o lord ; who doest inflict exterior punishments vpon vs , giue vs interior patience , which may neuer faile ; that so thy praise may not departe from my mouth . haue mercy on me o lord , haue mercy on me , and helpe me , accordinge to what thou knowest to be necessary for me , both in body and soule . for thou knowest all things , thou canst doe all things , thou who liuest for euer . chap. xxxix . a verie deuoute prayer . to god the sonne . o lord iesus christe , the sonne of the liueing god , who didest drinke vp that calice of thy passion , thou being extēded vpon thy crosse , for the redemption of all mortall men ; vouchsafe this day to giue me helpe . beholde i come poore to thee who art riche ; miserable , to thee who art mercifull . let me not goe empty , or despised from thee . i am hungry now when i beginn , let me not giue ouer , empty of thee . i come to thee almost starued , let me not departe from thee vnfed . and if now , before i eat , i sighe ; grant at least , after i haue sighed , that i may eate . first of all , o most sweete iesus , i confesse myne owne iniustice against my selfe , before the magnificence of thy mercy . behold o lord , how i was conceaued and borne in sinne ; and thou didst wash me , and sanctify me , and after that i did yet pollute my selfe with greater sinnes . for i was borne in original sinn , which was necessary to me , but afterwards i weltred in actuall sinn , which was voluntary . yet thou o lord , beinge not vnmindfull of thy mercy , didst take me from the house of my father , of flesh and blood ; and out of the tabernacles of sinners , and didst inspire me to follow thee , with the generation of them who seeke thy face , and who walke in the right way , and who dwell amongst the lillyes of chastity ; and who feed with thee , at the table of profound pouerty . and i , vngratefull for so many benefits , did , after i had receaued baptisme , worke many wicked deeds , and committed many execrable crymes . and whereas i ought to haue remoued those former sinns , i did after , add new sinns to those . these are my wickednesses , o lord , whereby i haue deshonored thee , & defiled my selfe , whome thou haste created after thyne owne image and likenesse , by pride , vaine glorye , and a number of other sinnes , whereby my vnhappy soule is afflicted , torne , and destroyed . behold , o lord , how my iniquityes haue ouergrowne my head , and how they oppresse me , as any heauy burden might doe . and vnlesse thou , whose property it is to haue mercy , and to forgiue , be pleased to put the hand of thy maiesty vnder me , i shall not faile to be miserably drowned in that bottomlesse pitt . consider , o lord god , and see , because thou art holy ; and behold how my enemy insulteth ouer me , saying , god hath forsaken him , i will persecute him , and take him , for there is none to deliuer him . but thou , o lord , how long ? conuert thy selfe to me , and deliuer my soule , and saue me for thy mercyes sake . haue mercy vpon thy sonn , whome thou didst begett weth noe small sorrow of thine , and doe not so consider my wickednes , as thereby to forgett thyne owne goodnes , who is that father , which will not deliuer his sonne ? or who is that sonne , whome the father will not correct with the staffe of pitty ? therefore , o my father , and my lord , though it be true that i am a sinner , yet i leaue not , for all that , to be thy sonne , because thou haste both made me , and made me agayne . as i haue sinned , so doe thou reforme me ; and when thou shalt haue mended me by thy correction , deliuer me then to thy sonne . can the mother forgett the childe of her wombe ? yet supposeing she could , thou hast promised , o father , that thou wilt not forgett him . behold i cry out , and thou hearest me not , i am tormented with sorrowe , and thou comfortest me not ; what can i say , or what shall i doe , most wretched creature that i am ? i am vtterly without all comfort , and i am cast of from the sight of thyne eyes , . woe is me , from how great happinesse , into how great misery am i fallen ? whither was i goeinge , and yet where am i arriued ? where am i , or rather where am i not ? to whome did i aspire , and yet now , what kinde of things be they , for which i pant , and sighe ? i haue sought for happinesse , and behold i hawe mett wish infelicity . bebold i am euen dyinge , and iesus is not with me & without fayle it is better for me not to be at all , then not to be with iesus ; it is better for me not to liue at all , then to liue without life . but thou , o lord iesus , and what is become of thyne ancient mercyes ? wilt thou be anggry with me for euer . be thou appeased , i beseeche thee , and haue mercy on me , and doe not turne thy face from me ; thou , who for the redeeminge of me , didst not turne thy face from such as did reproch , and spitt at thee . i confesse that i haue sinned , and that my conscience calls for nothing but damnation , and my pennance wil not serue for satisfaction ▪ but yet it is certayne , that thy mercy doth surpasse all sinn , doe not , i beseeche thee , most deer lord , marite vp my wickednes against me , to the end that thou maist enter into exact account with thy seruant . but blott out my iniquity ; according to the multitude of thy mercyes . woe be vnto me miserable creature , when the day of iugdment shall come , and the booke of consciences shall be opened , and it shal be said to me : behold the man , and his workes . what shall i doe then , o lord my god , when the heauens will reueale my iniquityes , and when the earth will rise vp against me ? beholde , i shal be able to make noe answeare ; but my head , hanging downe through confusion i shall stand trembling , and all confounded before thee . vvoe is me , wretched creature , what shal i say ? i will cry out to thee , o lord my god! for why should i consume my selfe with holding my peace ? and yet if i speake , my greife will not be appeased . but yet , howsoeuer , if i hold my peace , i am inwardly tormented with extrcame bitternes . lament o my soule , as the widowe vseth to doe , ouer the husband , of her youth . howle thou miserable creature , and cry out , because thy spouse , who is christ our lord , hath dismissed thee . o thou wrathe of the omnipotent , doe no thou rush downe vpon me , for i am notable to receaue thee . it is not in all the power i haue to be able to endure thee . haue mercy on me , least i despaire , and grant that i may repose in hope ; and if i haue committed that for which thou maiste condemne me : yet thou haste not lost , that for which thou art wont to saue sinfull men . thou , o lord , desirest not the death of a sinner ; nor dost thou reioyce in the perdition of dyinge soules ; nay thou dyedst thy selfe to the end that dead men might liue , and thy death hath killed the death of sinners . and if they liued by thy death , i beseech thee , o lord , that i , by the meanes of thy life , may not dy . send forth thy hand from on highe , and take me out of the hand of mine enemyes , that they may not reioyce ouer me , and say : we haue deuoured him . who can distrust of thy mercy , o deer iesus , since thou didest redeeme vs , and reconcile vs to god , by thy blood , when we were thine enemies ? behold how , being protected vnder the shadowe of thy mercy , i come runninge to thy throne of glory , askinge pardon of thee , and crying out , and knockinge , till thou take pitty of me . for if thou haste called vs to take the benefit of thy pardon when we sought it not , how much more shall we obteyne it , when we seeke it ? doe not , o most swete iesus , remember thy iustice against this sinner , but be mindfull of thy benignity towards thy creature . be not mindfull of thy wrathe , against him who is guilty ; but be mindfull of thy mercy , towards him who is in misery . forget the proude wretch , who prouoketh thee , and take pitty of that miserable man , who inuoketh thee , for what is iesus , but a sauiour ; and therefore , o iesus , i beseeche thee by thy selfe , rise vp to help me , and say vnto my soule , i am thy saluation . i presume much o lord , vpon thy goodnes , because thy selfe teacheth me to aske , to seeke , and to knocke ; and therefor being admonished by that voyce of thyne i doe aske , seeke and knocke . and thou , o lord , who biddest me aske , make , me receaue ; thou whoe aduisest me to seeke , grant that i may finde ; thou who teachest me to knocke , open to me , who am knockinge . and eonfirme me who am weake ; reduce me who am lost , raise me to life , who am dead , and vouchsafe , in thy good pleasure , so to gouerne my sences , my thoughts , words , and deeds , that from hence forth i may serue thee , and liue to thee , and deliuer my selfe wholy vp into thy hand . i know , o my lord , that for thy onely haueinge made me , i owe thee all my selfe ; and in that thou wert made man for me , and didest redeeme me ; i should owe so much more to thee , then my selfe ( if i had more ) as thou art greater then he , for whome thou gauest thy selfe but behold i haue no more , nor yet can i giue thee what i haue , without thee ; but doe thou take me , and drawe me to thy selfe , to thy imitation and loue , as already i am thyne by creation , and condition : thou who euer liuest and reignest . chap. xl. a profitable prayer , o lord god omnipotent , who art trine and one , who art allwayes in all things , who wert before all things , and who art euer to be in all things , god , to whome be praise for euer ; to thee doe i commend ( for this day , and for all my life herafter ) my soule , my body , my sight , my hearinge , my taste , my smell , and my touch ; all my thoughts , affections , speaches , and actions : all my exteriors , and interiors ; my sense , my vnderstanding , and my memory ; my faith , my hope , and my perseuerance , into the hands of thy power , by day and night , and in all houers and momenta . hearken to me , o holy trinity , and conserue me , from all euill , from all scandall , and from all mortall sinne ; from all ambushes , and vexation of deuills , and from all our enemyes , visible , and inuisible ; by the prayers , of the patriarches . by the meritts of the prophets , by the suffrages of the apostles , by the constancy of the martyrs , by the chastity of the virgins , and by the intercession of all the saints , who haue been pleasing to thee , since the beginning of the world. expell from me all boasting of minde : increase compounction of hart , diminish my pride , and perfect thou true humility in me . stirr me vp to shed tears , mollify my hard , and stony hart , deliuer my soule , o lord , from all the trecheryes of myne enimyes , and conserue me in thy will. teach me , o lord , to doe thy will , for thou art my god. giue me o lord , perfect seesing , and vnderstanding , that i may be able to comprehend thy profound benignity . giue me grace to aske that , which it may delight thee to heare , and may be expedient for me to obteyne , giue me tears which may rise from my whole hart , wherby the chaynes of my sinns may be dissolued , hearken , o my lord , and my god , hearken to what i aske , and vouchsafe to grant it . if thou despise me , i perish : if thou reguard me , i liue : if thou looke for innocency at my hands , i am dead already , and i stinke : if , thou looke vpon me with mercy , though i stinke , yet thou raisest me out of the graue . put that farr from me , which thou hatest in me , and ingrafte in me the spiritt of chastity , & continency , that whatsoeuer i may chance to aske of thee , yet in the very askeing of it , i may not offend thee . take from me that which hurts , and giue me that which helpes . giue me o lord , some phisicke whereby my woundes may be cured . o lord , giue me thy feare , compunction of hart , humility of minde , and a pure conscience . grant o lord , that i may euer maintayne fraternal charity , and that i may not forget mine owne sinne , nor busy my selfe with those of other men . pardon my soule , my sinns my crymes ; visite me who am weake , cure me who am sicke , strengthen me who am languishing , and reuiue me who am dead , giue me a hart , o lord , which may feare thee , a will which may loue thee , a minde which may vnderstand thee , eares which may heare thee , and eyes which may see thee . haue mercy on me , o god , haue mercy on me , and looke downe on me , from that holy seat of thy maiesty ; and illuminate the darknes of my hart , with the beame of thy splendor . giue me , o lord discretion , that i may discerne betweene good and bade ; and grant that i may haue a vigilant minde . o lord , i begg of thee the remission of all my sinns , from whome and by whome , propitiation may be granted me in the tyme of my necessity and of my greatest streights , o holy and immacutate virgin mary , the mother of god , the mother of our lord iesus chirste , vouchsafe to interceede of me with him , whose temple thou deseruedst to be made , holy michaell , holy gabriel , holy raphael : o you holy quires of angells , and archangells , of patriarches , and prophetts , of apostles , and euangelists , martys , and confessors , preists , and leuitts , monckes , and virgins , and of all the saints , i presume to begg of you , hy him , who chose you , and by the contemplation of whome you are in such ioy , that you will vouchsafe to make supplication to god himselfe for me ; that i may obteyne to be deliuered from the iawes of the deuill , and from eternall death . vouchsafe , o lord , to grant me eternall life , according to thy clemency , and most benigne mercy , o lord iesus christe , grant concord to preists , and to kings , bishopps , and princes , who iudge iustly , giue tranquillity , and peace . o lord , i beseech thee , for the whole holy catholike church , for men , and woemen , for religious and secular people , for all the gouernors of christians , and all such , as , beleeuing in thee , doe labour for the holy loue of thee , that they may obteyne perseuerance in theyr good workes . grant , o lord , o eternall kinge , chastity to virgins , continency to such as are dedicated to thee , o almighty god , sanctimony to maried foll●es , pardon to sinners , releife to orphans , and widowes , protection to the poore , safe arriual to such as are in iourney ; comfort to such as mourne , euerlasting rest to the faithfull soules departed ▪ a safe hauen to such as are at sea , to thy best seruants , that they may continue in their vertue , to them who are but indifferently good , that they may growe better , to them who are wicked and sinfull , ( as to me poore wertch ) that they may quickly reforme themselues . o most sweete , and most mercyfull lord iesus christe , the sonne of the liueinge god , the redeemer , of the world , i confesse my selfe to be a miserable sinner in all things , and aboue all men ; but thou also , o most mercifull and supreame father , who takest pitty vpon all , doe not suffer me to become an alien from thy mercy . o god , thou king , of kinges , who haste giuen me this truce of liueing till now ; grant me deuotion to reforme my selfe , stirr vp in me a minde which may earnestly desire and seeke thee , and loue thee aboue all things , & feare thee , and doe thy will , thou who art all euery where in trinity , and vnity , and that for euer . especially therefore i beseech thee , o lord , o holy father , who art glorious and blessed for euer , that all they who remember me in their prayers , and who haue commended themselues to my vnworthy ones , and who haue performed any office of charity , or worke of mercy towards me , and they also who are ioyned to me by kindred ; and by the naturall affection of flesh and blood , and as well all they , who are now aliue , as those others who are departed , may be mercifully and graciously gouerned by thee , that they perish not . vouchsafe to giue succour to all the christians who liue , grant absolution with eternall rest , to the faithfull who are dead . and moreouer i doe in most particuler manner begg of thee , o lord , thou who art alpha and omega , that when the last day , and pointe of my life shall arriue , thy selfe will vouchsafe to be my mercifull iudge against that maligne accuser , the deuill , and be thou my continuall defend or against the sleights of that ancient enemy of mine , and make me continue in that holy heauen of thyne , in the society of al the angells and saints , thou who art blessed for euer and euer . amen . chap. xli . a prayer in memorie of the passion of christe our lord. o lord iesus christe , my redemption , my mercy , and my saluation ; i praise thee , i giue thee thanks , though they carry noe proportion to thy benefits . though they be very voide of deuotion , though they be leane , in respect of the fatnes of that most sweete loue of thee which i desire ; yet such as they are , not such , i confesse , as i owe , but such as i am able to conceaue , my soule is now paying to thee . o thou hope of my hart , and thou vertue of my soule , and the life and end of all my intentions , lett thy most powerfull dignity supply that , which my most fainte weaknes doth endeauour . and if i haue not yet deserued so much of thee , as to loue thee so much as i ought , yet at least i haue an earnest desire to . performe the same o thou my light , thou seest my conscience , because , o lord , all my desires are before thee . and if i endeauour to doe any thing which is good , it is thou who bestowest it vpon me . if that be good , o lord , which thou inspirest , or rather because the inclination which i haue to loue thee is good : grant me that , which it is thy will that i should desire , and grant that i may obteyne to loue thee , as much as thou requirest . i giue thee praise , and thankes , for what i haue , lest otherwise thy gnift might proue vnfruitfull to me , which thou hast bestowed , of thyne owne free will. perfect that which to hast begunn , and giue me that , through thy mercy , which thou madest me desire , without any merit of mine . conuert , o most benigne lord , my dull heauinesse , into a most feruent loue of thee . to this , o my most mercifull lord , my prayer , my memory , my meditation of thy benefitts , doe all tend , that thou maiste kindle thy loue in me . thy goodes , o lord , created me , thy mercy , when i was created , did cleanse me from original sinn , thy patience , after that i was washed in baptisme , hath tolerated , nourished and expected me , when i was all wrapped vp , in the filth of other sinns . thou , o my good lord , didst expect my amendement , and my soule expecteth the inspiration of thy holy grace , that i may come to pennance , and goode life . o my god , my creator , my expecter , and my feeder i thirst after thee , i sigh towards thee , and vehemently desir to attaine to thee . and as the poore childe , beinge depriued of the presence of his most benigne father , doth incessantly weepe and cry out and imbrace , by his memory , that fathers face , with his whole hart , so i ( not so mueh as i should ) but so much as i can , am mindefull of thy passion , mindfull of thy stroakes , mindfull of thy stirpes , mindfull of thy wounds , mindfull how thou wert murthred for me , how thou wert embalmed , how thou wert buried ; and mindfull also of thy glorious resurrection , and admirable ascension . these things doe i hold fast , with vndoubted faith , i lament the miseries of my banishment , i hope for the onely consolation of thy coming , and i desire the glorious contemplation of thy face . woe be vnto me , in that i was not able to behold that lord of angells , being humbled to the conuersation of men ; to the end that he might exalt men , to the conuersation of angells , when god , being offended , dyed , that man who offended him , might liue . vvoe be vnto me , that i obteyned not to be amazed , in being present at that spectacle of admirable and inestimable piety . vvhy , why , at least , o my soule doth not the sword of most sharp sorrow pearce thy hart , since thou wert not able to haue endured , that launce which wounded the side of thy sauiour ; since thou couldest not behold those hands and feete of thy creator , to be so violated with nayles , and the bloode of thy reddeemer , so hydeously to be shedd ? vvhy , at least , art not thou inebriated with the bitternes of tears , since he drunck the bitternes of gall ? why art thou not in compassion of that most holy virgin , his most worthy mother , my most worthy lady ? o my most mercifull lady , what fountaynes shall i say they were , which brake out of thy most chaste eyes , when thou didest obserue , how thy onely innocent sonne , was bound , and scourged , and slaine in thy presence ? vvhat tears shall i beleeue did bedewe ? and bathe thy most sweet holy face , when thou didest behold that sonne of thyne , who was also thy god , & thy lord , extended vpon the crosse , without any falt of his ? and that flesh , which was of thyne owne flesh , to be so wickedly torne , by wretched people : wiih what kinde of sobbing sighes , shall i conceaue thy most pure hart to haue beene torne , when thou heardest those words , woeman , beholde thy sonne , and the disciple , vvoeman beholde thy mother ; when thou tookest the disciple for the master , and the seruant for the lord. o that i had beene the man , who tooke downe my lord from the crosse , with that happy ioseph ? that i had embalmed him with odours ? that i had lodged him in the sepulchre ? or at least , that i had followed him , and had obteyned so much , that , to so great a funerall as that , some little parte of my obsequiousnesse , had not beene wantinge . o that with those happy woeman , i had beene frighted , by that bright vision of those angells ; and had heard that message of the resurrection of our lord : that message of my comfort : that message so much expected , and desired . o that i had heard these words from the mouth of the angell , doe not feare , you seeke iesus crucifyed , but he is risen , he is not here . o thou most meeke , most benigne , most sweete , and most excellent lord ! when wilt thou giue me a sight of thee ? for yet i neuer sawe thât incorruption of thy blessed body ; i neuer kissed those places of thy wounds . & that pearcinge of the nayles ; i neuer bathed those ouuertures of thy true , thy admirable , thy inestimable , and incomparable flesh and blood , with the tears of ioy . when wilt thou comfort me , and when wilt thou giue me cause to conteyne this sorrow of mine ? for indeed this sorrow will not end in me , as long as i shall be in pilgrimage , frō my lord. vvoe be to me , o lord , woe be to my soule ; for thou who art the comforter therof , didest goe thy wayes out of this world , without so much as biddeing me farewell . when thou didest putt thy selfe vpon those new wayes of thyne , thou gauest thy blessing to thy seruants ; but i was not there thou wert carried vp to heauen in a cloude , but i saw it not . the angells promised , that thou wouldest returne ; but i heard them not . vvhat shall i say , what shall i doe , whither shall i goe , where shall i seeke him , & when shall i finde him ? vvhome shall i aske ? vvho will declare to my beloued that i languish for loue ? the ioy of my hart is gone . my mirth is changed into sorrow . my very flesh and my hart haue fainted , o thou god of my hart , and my part : god , who art my portion for euer . my soule hath refused to be comforted , vnlesse it be by thee , my true sweetenes . for what haue i to care for in heauen but thee ; and what haue i desired on earth but thee ? it is thou , whō i desire , for whom i hope , and whom i seeke : to thee my hart doth say , i will seeke thy countenance , and i will seeke it yet agayne . o turne thou not thy face from me . o thou most benigne louer of mankinde , to thee the poore creature is lefte , thou art the helper of the orphan . o thou my safe aduocate , haue mercy on me , who am a forsaken orphan . i am left as a pupill wihout a father ; my soule is as solitary as a vvidowe . behold the tears of my desolation , and widowehoode , which i offer thee , till such tyme as thou shalt returne . come therefore , lord , come now , appeare to me , and i shal be comforted . afford me thy presence , and i shall haue obteyned my desire . reueale thy glory , and i shall be in perfect ioy . my soule hath thirsted towards thee , o how abundantly doth my very flesh thirst after thee . my soule hath thirsted towards god , who is the liueinge fountayne . when shall i come and appeare before the face of our lord ? when wilt thou come , o my comforter , whome i will expect ? o that i might be sure to see that ioy , which i desire o that i might be satiated , when thy glory shall appeare , of which i haue so great hunger . o that i might be inebriated , by that springinge plenty of thy house , towards which i sighe : o that thou wouldest giue me to drinke deepely of the torrent of thy pleasure , which i thirst after . o lord , let my tears in the meane whyle , be my bread , day and night , till such tyme as it may be said to me , behold thy god ; till my soule may hear this word , beholde thy spouse . feed me in the meane tyme with my sighes , refresh me with my sorrowes . perhapps my redeemer will come , because he is good ; and he will not stay long behinde , who was here from the beginninge . to him be glory , for euer , and for euer . amen . deo gratias . the end of the meditations of saint augustine . the soliloqvia of the gloriovs doctour s. augustine . the first chapter . of the vnspeakable sweetnes of god. let me knowe thee , o lord , thou who knowest me . let me knowe the , o thou strength of my soute . shew thy selfe to me , o thou who art my comforter : let me see thee , o thou , who art the light of myne eyes . come , o thou ioy of my spirit , let me behold thee , o thou solace of my harte . make me loue thee , o thou life of my soule . appeare to me , o thou who art my great delight , my sweete consolation , my lord , my god , my life , and the totall glory of my soule . let me finde thee , o thou desire of my harte : let me possesse thee , o thou loue of my soule . let me embrace thee , o thou celestiall spouse ! o thou my soueraigne , and both my externall , and internall ioy . let me possesse thee , o thou eternall beatitude . let me possesse thee in the very center of my hart , o thou blessed life , and thou soueraigne sweetnes of my soule . i wil loue thee , o lord , my strength , o lord , my foundation , and my refuge , and my deliuerer , let me loue thee , o my god , and my helper ; thou who art a tower of strength to me , and my deare hope in all my aduersity . let me embrace thee , who art that good , without which nothing is good , and let me enioy me thee , who are that best , without which nothing is best . open the deepe hollowes of myne eares , by thy word , which is more penetratiue then any two edged sword , that soe i may growe to heare thy voyce . thunder , o lord , from aboue , with that voyce of thyne , which is soe loud and strong let the sea , and the fulnesse therof tunder out : let & the earth , and all which is therein , be moued . illustrate myne eyes , o thou incomprehensible light : darte forth that bright lightening , and dissipate thē , that they may not behold vanity . drawe downe the riuers at full speede , put them into commotion , that the fountaynes of water may appeare , and the foundations of the earth may be disclosed . o thou inuisible light , grant to vs such a power of seeing , as that wee may be able to behold thee . grante , o thou odour of life , such a new power of smelling in vs , as that wee may runn after thee , vpon the odour of thy ointments . cure this taste of ours , that it may relish , and discerne , and knowe , how great that multitude of thy sweetenes layd vp , for such as feare thee : that is , of such as are full filled with thy loue . graunt me a hart which may thinke of thee , a will , which may loue thee , a minde , which may remember thee ; an vnderstanding , which may conceiue thee ; and a reason , which may adheare close to thee , who art the supreame delight , and art to be soe for euer . let that loue which is wise , be euer loueinge thee . o thou life , to which all things liue ; life which giuest me life : life which is my very life it selfe , whereby i liue , and without which i dye : life , whereby i am reuiued , and without which i perish : life whereby i reioyce ; and with out which i am in misery : life , which art a vitall life , a life which is sweete and amiable , and to be remembered for euer , where art thou ? i beseech thee , that i may finde thee , that i may faynt in my selfe , and be refreshed in thee ? be thou neer to me in my soule , neer in my hart : neer , in my mouth : neer in myne eares : neer , to giue me helpe , because i languish with loue ; because i dye without thee , and i am reuiued by remembring thee . thy odour doth refresh me : the memory of thee doth cure me , but i shall then onely be satisfyed when thy glory shall appeare , o thou life of my soule . my soule earnestly desires , and doth euen languish through the memory of thee . when shall i come , and appeare before thee , o thou my ioy ? why doest thou turne thy face from me , o thou my ioy , wherein i reioyce ? where art thou hidden o beautie , which i desire ? i smell the sweete odour of thee : i liue , and i ioy therein . thy selfe i doe not see , but i heare thy voyce , and it reuiues me . but why doest thou hide thy face from me ? doest thou say perhaps , that noe man shall see my face , and liue ? well then , o lord , let me dye , that i may see thee , and let me see thee , that i may dye here below . i will not liue , but i will dy . i desire to be dissolued , and to be with christ . i desire to dye that i may see christ , i refuse to liue , that i may liue with christ . o lord iesus , receiue my spirit ! o thou my life , receiue my soule . o thou my ioy , drawe my hart vp to thee ; o thou my sweete food , let me feede on thee . o thou my heade , direct me : light of mine eyes , illuminate me : o thou my true sweetenes , temper me ; thou pretious odour quicken me ; thou word of god , recreate me . o thou my praise , delight thou the soule of thy seruant ; enter into it , o thou ioy of myne , that it may reioyce in thee . enter into it , o thou soueraigne sweetenes , that it may relish those things which indeed are sweete . o thou eternall light , illustrate it , that it may vnderstand , & knowe , and loue thee . for therefore it is , o lord , that he who loues thee not , doth not loue thee , because he knowes thee not : and therfore doth he not knowe thee , because he vnderstands thee not , and therefore he vnderstands thee not , because he comprehends not thy light : for the light shined in darkenes , and darkenes comprehended it not . o thou light of our mindes , o bright truth , which illuminatest all men comeing into this world : comeing into it indeede , but not loueinge it . for he who loueth the world is made the enemy of god. ) driue of all darkenes , from the face of the abysse of my minde ; that it may see thee , by knoweing thee ; that it may knowe thee , by comprehending thee ; and that by soe knowing thee , it may loue thee . for whosoeuer knoweth thee , forgetts himself , that he may loue thee . he loues thee more then himselfe ; he forsakes himself , that he may fly to thee , and that he may reioyce in thee . from hence therefore it growes , o lord , that i loue thee not soe much as i ought , because i doe not fully knowe thee . but because i knowe thee little , i loue thee little ; and because i loue thee little , i reioyce little in thee ; but departing from thee , ( who art the true interiour ioy ) towards exteriour things , whilest i want thee alone . i affect to finde impure , and false freindships , amongst thy creatures . and so ( wretch that i am ) i haue bestowed this hart of myne , vpon vayne things , which i ought to haue imployed vpon thee with an entire appetite , and affection ; and so , by loueing vanity , my selfe am growen to be wholy vayne . and hence also it is , o lord , that i reioyce not in thee , and that i adheare not to thee . for i , am in exteriour things , thou in interiour : i am in temporall things , thou in spirituall : my minde is scattered & spilt , my thought is entertayned , my speach is imployed vpon transitory obiects : but thou , o lord , doest dwell in the eternities , and art eternity it selfe . thou art in heauen , i on earth : thou louest high , and i lowe things ; thou celestiall , i terrestriall : & when shall these contrarietyes , be euer able to meete ? chap. ii. of the misery and frayletie of man. wretch that i am , when shall this crookednes of mine be straightened , according to that rectitude of thyne . thou , o lord , louest to be alone , and i to be in multituds : thou louest to be in silence , and i in noyse : thou louest truth , and i loue vanity : thou louest purity , and i vncleanenes . what should i say more , o lord : thou art truely good , and i naughty : thou art holy , and i am wicked ; thou art happy , and i vniust : thou art light it selfe , and i am truely blinde : thou art life it selfe , and i am dead : thou art phisicke , and i am sicke : thou art ioy , and i am sorrow , thou art soueraigne truth , and i am an vniuersality of vanitie , as indeede all men liueinge are woe be therefore to me , o thou creatour of myne , what shall i say ? yet hearken thou , o my creatour , for i am thy creature , and i am euen now vpon perishing ; i am thy creature , and am euen very now , vpon dying . i am the worke of thy hands , and i am , euen now , reduced to nothing . i am the thing which thou haste made . thy hands ▪ o lord , haue made me , and fashioned me ; those hands i say , which were fastened to the crosse , with nayles , for me . doe not , o lord , despise the worke of those hands of thine i beseech thee , behold the wounds which are in thine owne hands . behold , o lord , how thou haste writtē me , in thyne owne hāds . reade that wrightinge of thine , and saue me . behold i thy creature doe sigh towards thee , thou art my creatour , and doe thou refresh me . behold i , who am the worke of thy hands , cry out to thee ; thou art life it self , doe thou quicken me . behold i , whom thou haste framed , am lookeing towards thee ; thou art my maker , and therefore doe thou restore me . pardon me , o lord , for my dayes are nothing . and yet , what is any man , that he should presume to speake to his creator , who is god ? pardon me whilest i am speakeing to thee ; forgiue thy slaue , who presumes to open his mouth , to soe great a lord. but necessity hath noe lawe . greife forces me to speake ; the calamity which i endure , constraynes me to cry out . i am sicke , and i cry out to my physician . i am blinde and i make haste towards the light . i am dead , and i aspire towards life . thou , o iesus of nazareth , art the physician , thou art the light , & thou art life haue mercy on me , o thou sonne of dauid : take pitty on me , o thou fountaine of mercy . giue eare ro thy poore creature which cryes out after thee . o thou light , which art passing by , expect this blinde man , reach forth thy hand to him , that he may come to thee , ard may see light in thy light . o thou liueing life reuiue thou this dead man. but yet , who am i , that am speakinge to thee ? woe be to me , o lord , haue mercy on me , o lord : on me , who am a rotten carkas , the food of wormes , a stinkeing pott , and that matter , whereon fyre must feede : vvoe be to me , o lord , wretched man that i am : man , who being borne of a woeman , is to liue but a little time , and is to be filled with many miseries : man , i say , who is growen like to vanity it selfe , and being cōpared to the foolish beasts , is now also become like to them . but yet still what am i ? a darke abysse , a wretched peece of earth , a childe of wrath , a vessell euen made fitt for reproach ; begotten with impurity , liueing in mysery , and dying in agony . alas poore wretch , what am i ? and yet againe , alas , what am i to be ? a vessell full of dunge , a hollow shell full of putrefaction , full of stinkeing filth , which euen breedeth horrour . blynde , poore , naked , subiect to a world of myseries , and , wholly ignorant , eyther how i came into the world , or how i shall gett out . miserable , and mortall , whose dayes passe away like a shadow , whose life doth vanish , like awayning moone , like a flower which groweth vpon a stalke , and presently decayes . now it florisheth , and in the turneing of a hande , it withereth . this life , i say , this frayle life of myne , this transitory life , this life , which how muche the more it encreaseth , soe much the more it decayes : how much the more it proceedes , so much the nearer it drawes to death . a deceiptfull life , and like to a shadow , and all besett , with the very snares of death . now i reioyce , and euen now againe i am sadd ; now i am strong , and now againe i am weake ; now i liue , and now i am about to dye ; now i laugh , and now againe i weepe , now i seeme happy , whilest yet i am all wayes miserable . and soe subiect are all things to change , vpon all warninges , as that there is scarce any one of them , which continueth permanent for the space of an houre . here feare and apprehension , and hunger , and thirst , and heate , and cold , and sickenes of body , and sorrow of mynd is in all aboundance . and all these are followed by vntimely death , which snatcheth men out of the world by a thousand wayes . it kills one man with a feauer , another man is oppressed with greife of mynd ; hunger consumeth one , thirst makes an end of another ; one man is drowned by water , another man is strangled by a halter ; another is destroyed by fyre , another is deuowred by wilde beasts . one is killed by the sword , another is corrupted by poyson ; and another ends his miserable life , by the surprise of some strange and sodayne feare , and now besides , and beyond all these things , a huge misery it is , that as nothing is more certayn then death , soe of nothing is a man more vncertayn , then of the tyme when he shal dy . when he thinkes he standeth fastest , he is tripped vp , and his hope perisheth . noe man can tel , eyther when or where , or how he shall dye ; and yet he is sure enough , that dye he must . behold , o lord , how great this misery of man is , wherein i am placed , & yet i am voyd of feare . how great the calamite is which i endure , and yet i am farre from greife , nor doe i cry out to thee . but i will cry out o lord , before i passe away , to the end that i may not passe away , but remayne in thee . i will therfore declare , i will declare my misery . & i will not be ashamed to confesse my basenes before thee . helpe me , o thou my strength , whereby i am raised ; succour me , o thou power whereby i am susteyned . approach to me , o thou light , whereby i see ; appeare to me , o glory , wherein i ioy ; disclose thy selfe to me , o thou life , whereby i liue , o thou my lord and my god. chap. iii. of the admirable light of god o thou light , which tobias sawe , when he taught his sonne the way , of life , though himselfe were blinde . thou light which isaack sawe interiourly , when he foretold future things to his sōne , though his eyes of flesh and blood , were full of darkenes . thou inuisible light i say to which all the abysses of humane harts are visible . thou light which iacob sawe , when thou teaching him interiourly , he did exteriourly prophecie to his children . behold , whilest thou art light , deepe darkenes is spredd ouer the face of the abysse of my minde . behold , whilest thou art truth , a thicke mist , is spredd ouer the wateres of my hart . o thou word , whereby all things are made , and without which nothing is made : thou vvord , which art before all things , and nothing was before it : thou vvord , which guidest all things , and without which all things are nothing ; thou vvord which saydest in the beginning , let light be made , and light was made ; say that also to me ; let light be made , and let it then indeede be made . and make me also knowe whatsoeuer is not light , because , without thy helpe , i shall mistake light for darkenes , and darkents for light , and so without thy light , there is noe truth ; but errour and vanity are at hand ; there is no order , but eonfusion ; noe knowledge , but ignorance ; noe sight but blindenes ; noe open way , but wandering mazes ; noe life , but death . chap. iv. of the mortality of mans nature . behold , o lord , because there is noe light , there is death ; or rather , i cannot say , that death is there ; because death indeede is nothing ? and by that we tend to be nothing ; whilest we are not affrayd to make our selues nothing , by committing sinne . and this , o lord happeneth iustly to vs. for we receiue penishement , fitt for our demerits , whilest we slide away , like a little falling water . for nothing is made without thee . and by doeing , and makeing that which is nothing , we growe to be nothing , because we are nothing without thee , by whome all things are made , & without whome nothing is made . o lord , ( thou who art the word ; o god , who art the vvord , by whome all things , and without whome nothing is made ) vvoe be to me miseaable creature , who haue beene soe often blynded , for thou art light , and i haue beene voyd of thee . vvoe be to me miserable creature , who haue beene soe often wounded ; for thou art health it selfe ; and i am voyd of thee . vvoe be to me miserable creature , who haue soe often beene infatuated by errour ; for thou art truth , and i am voyd of thee . vvoe be to me miserable creature , who haue soe often gone astray ; for thou art the way , & i haue wandred from thee . vvoe be to me miserable creature , who haue beene so often dead , for thou art life , and i am without thee , vvoe be to me miserable creature , who haue beene annihilated soe often ; for thou art that vvord , by which all things were made , and i am without thee , without whome nothing is made . o lord who art the word . o god the vvord , who art that light , whereby light is made ; who art the way , the truth , and the life , in whome , there is noe darkenes , nor vanity , nor death . light , without which all is darkenes ; vvay without which all is errour ; truth , without which , all is vanity ; and life , without which , all is death . o lord , doe but say this word , fiat lux : let light be made , that soe i may see light , and auoyd darkenes ; that i may see the way , and auoyd straying ; that i may see truth , and auoyd vanity : that i may see life , and auoyd death . o lord , my light , doe thou illuminate me : o thou , my illumination , and my saluation , whome i will praise : my god , whome i will honour ; my father whome i will loue ; and my spouse , for whome i will preserue my selfe . shine forth , i say , shine forth , thou light , vpon this blinde creature of thine , who is sitting in darkenes , and the shadow of death ; and direct his feete into the way of peace ; vvhereby i may enter into the place of thy admirable tabernacle , as farre as the house of god himselfe , and the voyce of exultation , and confession . for a true confession , is the way whereby one may enter into thee , who art the way ; whereby we may departe from all wandring , and may returne againe , to the same way ; because thou art that true way of life . chap. v. vvhat it is , to be made nothing . i will therfor confesse my misery to thee ; i will confesse to thee , o thou my father , and my lord , that maker of heauen and earth , that soe i may be admitted , to approche thy mercy . for i am made wholly miserable , and am reduced to nothing , and i knew it not . for thou art truth and i was not with thee . my iniquityes haue wounded me , and i was not troubled thereat . for thou art life , and i was not with thee . they brought me to nothing , because i was not with thee , who art the word , whereby all things were made , and without it nothing , and therefore did i become nothing without thee . for that is nothing which leades to nothing . all things are made by him ; whatsoeuer are made ; and what kinde of things where they ? god sawe all those things which he made , and they were very good . all things which are made , were made by the word , and whatsoeuer things were made by that word , are very good . why are they good , in regard that all things are made by the vvord , & without it nothing is made ? because nothing is good withaut a participation of that souueraigne good but sinne is there , where that good is not : and for that cause , it is euen nothing . for euill is nothing , but a priuation of good ; as blindenes is noe other thing but a priuation of light . sinne therefore is nothing because it is made without the vvord , without which nothing is made ; and that is sinne or euill which is depriued of that good , whereby all things are made , which haue any beeing . but now those things which are not , are not made by him ; and consequently they are nothing . therefore those things are euill , which are not made , because all things which are made , are made by the vvord , and all things which are made by the vvord are good . since therefore all things are made by the vvord , sinne is not made by it ; and therefore it remaynes that all things , which are not made , be not good , for as much as all things which are made , be good , and therefore those things are euill , which are not made : and therefore they are nothing , because nothing is made , without the vvord . sinne therefore is nothing , because it is not made . but then how is it euill , if it be nothing ? because euill is a priuation of that good , whereby that which is made is good . to be therefore whithout the vvord , is to be euill , which yet is not properly to be ; because nothing is without it . but what is it to be separated from the word ? if thou desire to knowe this , learne first what this vvord is . the vvord of god sayth , i am the vvay , the truth , and the life . to be separated therefore from the vvord , is to be out of the vvay , and without truth , and life ; and therefore without it , is nothing , and so it is euill , in being separated from the vvord , whereby all things were made very good . to be separated then from the vvord , whereby all things were made , is noe other thing , then to faile , and to passe from being a fact , to be a defect ; because nothing truely is without it . as often therefore as thou departest from good , thou doest separate thy selfe from the vvord , because the vvord is good ; and soe thou growest to be nothing , because thou art without the vvord , without which nothing is made . now therefore o lord , thou o light , hast illuminated me , that i might see thee : i sawe thee , and i knowe my selfe ; for soe often haue i growen to he nothing , as i haue separated my selfe from thee ; and because i forgett that good which thou art , therefore did i growe to be wicked . woe be to me , wretched man , how came it to passe , that i knewe not that by forsakeing thee , i grewe to be nothing ? but why doe i aske , how i could be ignorant thereof , if i were nothing ? we knowe what it is to be nothing , that it is not , which is nothing ; and that the thing which is not good , is not , because it is nothing . if therefore i were not , when i was without thee , i was as nothing ; and as an idoll , which is nothing . vvhich hath eares indeede , but it heareth not ; nostrells , but it smelleth not ; eyes , but it seeth not ; a mouth , but it speaketh not ; hands , but it feeleth not ; feete , but it walketh not ; and it hath all the lineaments or parts of a body , but yet without that sense , which , belongeth to them . chap. vi. of the fall of a soule , by sinne . when therfore i was without thee , i was not any thing , but i was nothing ; & therfore i was blinde , deafe , & insensible , because i discerned not that which was ill , nor felt the afflictiō of my wounds , nor could i discerne myne owne darkenes , because i was without thee , who art the true light , which illuminateth all men comeing into the world . vvoe be to me , they haue any other parte thereof ; but onely soe farre forth , as they are conserued by the word , whereby all things are made . let me therefore adheare to thee , o word , that thou mayest conserue me . for as soone as i departed from thee , i had vtterly perished in my self , but that thou , who haddest made me once , didest vouchsafe to make me yet againe . i sinned , and thou didest visit me . i fell , & thou didest rayse me . i was ignorant , & thou diddest teach me . i was blinde , and thou diddest illuminate me . chap. vii . of the manifold benefitts of almighty god. declare to me , o my god , how much , i , miserable creature , am bound to loue thee . declare to mee , how much i am obliged to praise thee ; & make me see , how much i must procure to please thee . thunder downe o lord , from aboue , with a shrill , & steady voyce , into the interiour eare of my harte . teach me , & saue me , and i will prayse thee , who didest create me , when i was nothing , who didest illuminate me , when i was in darkenes ; who didest reuiue me , when i was dead ; and who hast fedd me , from my very youth , with all thy good blessings . yea and doest now nourish this vnprofitable worme who is stinkeing , and rotteing in his sinn●s , with all thy most excellent guifts . open to me o thou key of dauid thou who openest , and noe man shutteth , to whome thou openest : and who shuttest , and noe man openeth to him , to whome thou shuttest . open , i say , the gate of thy light towards me , that i may enter in , and see , & knowe and confesse to thee , with my whole hart , because thy mercy towards me is greate , and thou hast drawen my soule , out of that lower hell . o lord , my god , how admirable and prayseworthy is thy name , throughout the word ? and what is man that thou shouldest be mindefull of him , or the sonne of man , that thou shouldest visit him ? o lord thou hope of thy saints , and thou tower of theyr strength : o god , thou life of my soule , whereby i liue , and without which i dye . thou light of myne eyes , by which i see , and without which i am blinde ; thou ioy of my hart , and thou delight of my spirit ; i beseeche thee that i may loue thee , with my whole hart , and with my whole mynde , & euen with all the very bowells of my affection , since thy selfe didst first loue me . and how came i to obteyne this fauour at thy hands , o thou creatour of the heauens , and of the earth , and of that deepe abysse : thou who haste noe neede of any thing , which is myne ? vvhence came i to be soe happy , as that thou shouldest carry loue to me ? o thou vvisdome , which openest the mouthes of dumbe men : o thou vvord whereby all things were made ; open thou my mouth , endewe me with the voyce of prayse , that i may recount all those benefits , which thou o lord , hast bestowed on me , from the beginning . for behold , i am , because thou hast created me , and that thou wouldest create me , and number me out , in the multitudes of thy other creatures , thou diddest preordeyne from all eternity , before thou madest any thing ; in that beginning of the world , before thou didest extend , and spread the heauens abroade , nether yet , was there any abysse of the sea , nor hadest thou made the earth , nor layd a foundation for the mountaynes nether yet had the fountaynes broken forth . before all these things , i say , which thou madest by thy word , thou didest foresee by the most certayn prouidence of thy truth that i was to be thy creature , & thou wert resolued , that i should be soe . and whence grew this benefit to me , o thou most benigne lord , most high god , most mercifull father , most puissant , & withall for euer meeke creatour ? vvhat merits were there of myne ? what meanes was there to make me soe acceptable , that it should be pleasing in the sight of thy mighty maiesty , to create me ? i had noe beeing , and thou madest me of nothing . but what kinde of thing didest thou make me ? not some dropp of water : not some sparke of fyre ? not some birde , some fish , some serpent , or any other vnreasonable creature , not some stone , or peece of wood : nor any thing of that kinde , which onely hath a beeing , or of that other kinde , which hath not onely a beeing , but growth , and sense ; but beyond them all , thou wert pleased , that i should be of them , who haue a beeing because i am ; and of them who haue a beeing , and encreasing , because i am and growe ; and of them which are , which growe , and which feele , because i am , i growe , and i feele . and thou hast created me , little inferiour to the angells ; because i haue receiued a power of knoweinge thee , which is common betweene them , ād me . but yet i sayd well , in saying , that it was a little inferiour . for they haue that happy knowledg of thee , by expresse vision ; whereas i haue it but by hope ; they haue it face to face , and i , but by a glasse as in a cloud : they haue it perfectly , and i , but partly . chap. viii . of the future dignity of man. bvt when that shall come which is perfect , that will be euacuated which is imperfect : when also we shall see thee clearely , face to face , what shall now hinder vs , to be but little inferiour to the angells , whom thou , o lord , doest vouchsafe to crowne with the crowne of hope , which is adorned with honour and glory ; whome thou doest excessiuely honour , as thy friends ; and as persons who are euery way equalls , and peeres of the angell . yea and thy truth saith this . for they are equall to the angells and they are the sonnes of god. and what are they but sonnes of god , if they be equall to angells . they shall indeede be sonnes of god , because the sonne of man , is made the sonne of god. when therefore i consider this , i am bould to say , that man is not somewhat lesse then the angells : nay , he is not onely equall to the angells , but superiour to them , because man is god , and god is a man , & not an angell . and therefore i will say , that man is the most worthy crsature , because the word which was in the beginning god , with god ; the word , whereby god sayd , let light be made , and light was made ( that is the angelicall nature ) the word , whereby god created all things , in the beginning : the same word was made flesh , and dwelt amongst vs , and we haue seene his glory . behoulde the glory , wherein i glory , when i glory as i ought . behoulde the ioy , wherewith i ioy , when i ioy as i ought . o lord my god , my life , and the entire glory of my soule ; i confesse to thee o lord , my god , that when thou didest create me capable of reason , thou didest , in some respect , make me equall to the angells , because i may be perfected by thy word , soe farre , as that i may arriue to an equality with the angells : and that i may haue the adoption of thy sonnes , by thy onely begotten word ▪ o lord , by that beloued sonne of thyne in whom thou art well pleased ; by that onely heyre , who is coeternall and consubstantiall with thee , which is iesus christ , our onely lord , and redeemer , our illuminator , & comforter , our aduocat with thee , and the light of our eyes ; who is our life , our sauiour , & our onely hope , who loued vs more then himselfe ; by whome we haue confidence , layd vp for vs with thee , & a firme hope , and accesse in comeing to thee , because he gaue power to such as would beleiue in his name , that they might become the sonnes of god. let me giue praise to thy name , o lord , who by creating me , according to thine image , and likenes , haste ordayned me to be capable of soe great glory , as that i may be made thy sonne . trees are not capable of this ; stones are not capable ; nor in fine , any of those things , which are moued , or growe in the ayre , or in the sea , or on the earth , because he did not giue them power , by the word , to become his sonnes ; because they are not capable of reason . for this power doth consist in reason , whereby we knowe god. but he gaue this power to men , whome he created capable of reason , according to his owne image , and likenes . and i also , o lord , am , by thy grace , a man , and by grace , i may become thy sonne , which they cannot be . from whence came this fauour to me , o lord , thou soueraigne truth , and thou true souueraignity , & thou who art the beginning of all thy creatures ? whence came this blessing to me , that i had a capacitie to become the sonne of god , which they had not ? thou art he , who remainest for euer , who didest create all things at once . at once thou didest create men , and beasts , and stones , and the plants of the earth . noe merits , of any of them , did preceede , noe former priuiledge was due to them . for thou didst create them all , out of thine owne meere goodnes ; and all the creatures were equall in merits , because none of them had any merits at all . and how then grew thy goodnes , to bee greater towards this thy creature , whome thou haste made rationall , then towards all the rest , which are not endewed with reason ? why am not i as all they are ; and why are not all they as i am ? or why at least am not i alone like them ? what merits were there of myne ? what fauour was dew to me , that thou shouldest create me capable of being thy sonne , which yet thou wouldst deny to all them ? farr be it from me , o lord , to thinke that this proceeded from any merits of mine . it was thy onely grace , thy onely goodnes which made me partaker of the sweetnes therof . now graunt me therefore , o lord , of that grace , whereby thou didest create me of nothing ; grant me , i beseeh thee of that grace , to the end that i may be gratefull to thee , for the same . chap. ix . of the omnipotency of god. thy omnipotent hand , which is euer one , and the same , did create the angells in heauen , and the base wormes on earth ; and yet thou wert not greater in the creation of the former , and lesse in the creation of the later . for as noe other hand but thine was able to create an angell ; soe nether could any hand but thyne , create the poorest worme . as noe hand but thyne , had bene able to create the heauens ; soe could none els , create the lightest leafe of any tree . as noe hand but thyne , could create any body of ours ; soe none but thyne , could make any one haire of our heads , ether black or white , thy onely omnipotent hand , doth all these things ; to which all things , are possible , a like . for it is not more possible for it , to create a miserable worme then an angell ; nor more impossible to extend , & spread abroad the whole heauen , then one single leafe ; nor is it easier to frame one haire of our heads , then to make our whole body ; nor is it harder for it , to plant and build the earth vpon the waters , then the waters vpon the earth . but whatsoeuer he had a mynde to doe , he hath done as he was pleased to doe both in heauen and on earth , and in all the deepe abysses , so hath he framed things , & me among them all ; as he would , & could , and knew them . thy hand , o lord , could haue made me a stone , a bird ; or a serpent , or any other brute creature ; and thou knowest how to doe it , but thou wouldest not , through thy great goodnes to mee . vvhy therefore am i not some stone , or some tree , or some brute beast ; but because thy goodnes hath ordeyned otherwise concerning me ; and that thou shouldest so ordeyne ; was not caused by any precedent merits of myne . chap. x , of the incomprehensible prayse of god. whence came this mercy to me o lord , and whence shall i be able to gett power , wherewith i may be able to prayse thee . for as thou madest me without me , according to thyne owne good pleasure , so art thou praysed in thy self , as thou art best pleased , without mee . thy prayse o lord , is thy very selfe . lett all thy workes prayse thee , according to the multitude of thy greatenes : thy prayse , o lord , is incomprehensible . it is not comprehended by the hart , nor to be measured by the mouth , nor receiued by the eare ; for these things passe on away , but thy prayse , o lord , remaynes for euer . the cogitation of man begins , and his cogitation ends ; the voyce sounds and the voyce is blowen ouer ; the eare heares , and it leaues of to heare ; but thy prayse endures for euer . vvho is therefore he , that shall prayse thee ? vvhat man shall be able to announce thy prayse ? thy prayse is not transitory , it is eternall . he prayseth thee , who beleiues thee to be thyne owne prayse . he prayseth thee , who knoweth , that he cann neuer arriue to prayse thee , enough . thy prayse is euerlasting , & doth neuer passe . in thee is our prayse , and in thee shall my soule , be praysed . it is not wee who prayse thee but it is thou who prayseth thy selfe ; and in thy selfe and by thy selfe , and wee also haue our prayse in thee . then haue wee true prayse when wee haue prayse from thee : when light approueth light . for thou o true prayse , doest imparte true prayse ; but as often as we seeke prayse , from any other but thee , soe often doe wee loose thy prayse , because that other is transitory , but thyne , eternall . if wee seeke that prayse which is transitory , wee shall loose the prayse which is eternall . if wee desire that which is eternall , let vs not loue that , which is transitory . o thou eternall prayse , o thou my lord , and my god , from whome all prayse proceedeth , and without whom , there is no prayse i am not able to prayse thee without thee : but let me possesse thee , and i shall prayse thee . for who , o lord am i , that , of my selfe , i should be able to prayse thee ? dust , and ashes i am ; a dead and stinkeing dog i am . i am a very worme , and putrefactiō it selfe . vvho am i , that i should prayse thee , o thou most mighty lord , and thou god of the spirits of all flesh ; who inhabitest eternity ? shall darkenes be able to praise light or death , life ? thou art light , and i am darkenes ; thou art life , and i am death . shall vanity be able to prayse truth ? thou art truth , but i am a man , as vane , as vanity it selfe . how then o lord , shall i be able to praise thee ? shall my misery be able to prayse thee ? shall stinkes be able to prayse pretious odours ? shall the mortality of a man , who is here to day , and will be gone to morrowe , be able to prayse thee ? shall man who is rottennes it selfe , be able to prayse thee ? and the sonne of man , who is noe better , then a base worme ? shall he be able to prayse thee , o lord , who is conceyued , and borne , and bredd vp in sinne ? verily thy prayses cannot be gratefull in the mouth of a sinner . o lord my god , let thy incomprehensible power ; thy wisdome which cannot be circumscribed , and thy goodnes which cannot be declared , prayse thee . let thy supereminent clemency , thy superabondant mercy , & thy sempiternall vertue , and diuinity praise thee . let thy most omnipotent fortitude , thy supreme benignity , and charity , whereby thou didest create vs , o lord thou god of my soule , prayse thee . chap. ix . of the hope , which is to be erected towards god. bvt i , who am thy creature , reposing vnder the shadow of thy vvings , will hope in thy goodnes , whereby thou didest create me . assiste thy creature , who was created by thy benignity ; let not that perish through my malice , which hath bene wrought by thy goodnes . let not that perish by my misery , which hath bene framed by thy mercy . for what doth it profit thee , to haue created me , if i shall descend to hell , through myne owne corruption ? for hast thou , ô lord , in vaine made all the sonnes of men ? thou hast created mee o lord , and therefore gouerne that which thou hast created . doe not , o lord , despise the the worke of thine owne hands . thou madest mee of nothing , and if thou doe not gouerne me , o lord , i shall againe retourne into my nothing . for as once i was not , o lord & then thou madest me of nothing ; soe if thou doe not gouerne me , yet once againe i shall of my selfe , be reduced to nothing . helpe me ; o lord my life , and let me not perish in my wickednes . if thou haddest not created mee , o lord , i had not beene ; and because thou didest create me , behold i am . but if now thou doe not gouerne me , behold i am noe more . for neither my merits , nor any priuiledge of myne : compelled thee to create me , but thyne owne , most benigne bounty & clemency . let that charity of thyne , o lord my god , which compelled thee to create me , i beseech thee , oblige thee to gouerne mee . for what doth it profit me , that thy charity constrayned thee to create me , if now i perish in my misery : and if thy right hand doe not perfect me . let that mercy compell thee , o lord my god , to saue that which thou hast created , which compelled thee to create that which thou haddest not created . let charity ouercome thee to make thee saue , which ouercame thee , to make thee create : because now that charity , is not lesse then it was . for that very charity , is thy very selfe , who art the same for euer . thy hand o lord is not so abbreuiated , as that it cannot saue vs ; nor is thine eare out of tune , that it cannot heare vs ; but my sinnes haue made a diuision betwixt thee and me , betweene light , and darkenes ; betweene the image of death , and life : betweene vanity , and verity , betweene this lunatike inconstant life of myne , & thyne , which is capable of noe change , or end· chap. xii . of the snares of concupiscence . these are those shadowes of darkenes , wherewith i am couered , in the abysse of this darke prison , where i lye prostrate , till such tyme as the day may dawne , and the black shadowes be remoued ; and the light may be made , in the firmament of thy power . let the voyce of our lord in power . the voyce of our lord in magnificence , say thus . let light be made , and let darkenes be driuen away , & let the earth appeare dry , & sprout forth fresh , and greene plants . which may bring forth seede and the good fruite of the iustice of thy kingdome . o lord , our father , and our god , thou light , whereby all things liue , and without which all things are accounted for dead , doe not leaue mee in my wicked thoughts , and , doe not continue me , in the pride of myne eyes . take from me all concupiscence , and deliuer me not ouer to haue an irreuerent , and vnbridled mynde : but possesse thou my harte , that it may be euer thinkeing vpon thee . illuminate myne eyes , that they may see thee , and let them not be vanely extolled in thy sight , who art eternall glory , but let them haue humble thoughts , and not be employed vpon certayn wounderfull things , which are too high . let them behould those things , which are on the right hand , and not those which are on the left hand , which are misliked by thee ; and let thyne eyelids point out the steps , which i am to make . for euen thyne eyelids , doe examen the sinnes of men . dispatch away , & distroy my concupiscence , by that sweetnes of thyne which thou hast layd vp , for such as feare thee , that i may couett thee , with an euerlasting desire . lest otherwise , the interiour gust of my soule being entyced , & deceiued by vane obiects , may esteeme sweete to be bitter , & bitter , sweete ; darkenes to be light , and light , darkenes . that i may be deliured , out of the middest of so many pitfalls , which are spred euery where , by the enemy , ouer the face of this way , wherein we walke , for the takeing of sinners soules , whereof the whole world is full . which one , who sawe would not passe ouer in silence , but sayd , for whatsoeuer is in the world , is ether concupiscence of the eyes , concupiscence of the flesh , or pride of life . behoulde , o lord my god , how all the word is full of the snares of cōcupiscēce , which they haue prepared for my feete . and who shall be able to escape these snares ? it must certainly be he , from whome thou shalt haue taken the pride of his eyes that the concupiscence thereof , may not catch him ; and from whome thou shalt haue taken the concupiscence of the fleshe , lest he be taken by it ; and from whome thou shalt haue taken an irreuerent , and vnbridled minde ; least pride of life should craftily deceiue him . o how happy is he , to whome thou voutchsafest these things : for he shall passe on in safety . and now , o my redeemer , i beseeche thee by thy selfe , assist me , that i may not be cast downe , in the sight of myne enemyes , being enwrapped in those snares , which they haue prepared for my feete , that soe they may oppresse my soule . but deliuer me , o thou strength of my saluation , lest els myne enemyes , who hate thee , may contemne , and deride mee . rise vp , o lord my god , o thou strong champion of myne , and let myne enemyes be dispersed , and let them , who hate thee , be made to fly , from before thy face . as wax dissolueth in the presēte of the fyre , soe let sinners perish , before thy face and as for me , let me be hidden vp , in that secret of thy countenance , and let me reioyce with thy children being satisfyed with all good things . and thou , o lord god , the father of orphanes , and the mother of thy pupils , hearken to the loude and woefull cry of thy children ; and spred abroade thy winges , that we may fly vnder them , from the face of the enemy , o thou tower of the strength of israel , who doest not slumber , nor sleepe , whilest thou keepest israel ; because the enemy who impugneth israel , doth nether slūber , nor sleepe . chap. xiii . of the misery of man , and the benefits of god. o light. which noe other light doth see . o brightenes , which noe other brightnes can discerne . o light , which obscureth all light . o brightenes , which blindeth all other brightenes . o light , from which all light , o brightenes , from which all other brightenes growes . o light , in respect of which all light is darkenes and all brightenes , blackenes ; light in whose presence , all obscurity is bright , and all darkenes light . soueraigne light , which noe cloud can ouershadow , and noe darke miste , make dull ; and noe fogg obscure , which noe close prison shutteth vp , & which noe shadow can separate . light , which doth illuminate all things : all together , once and euer , o swallow mee vp , i beseeche thee ; into that abysse of thy clarity ; that i may on all sides see thee , in thee ; and my selfe in thee ; and all things vnder thee . doe not forsake mee , and let not the shadowes of myne ignorance encrease , and my sinnes be multiplyed . without thee , all things are darkenes ; to me all things are euill , because there is nothing good without thee , who art the true , the onely . & the soueraigne good . this i confesse , and this i know , o lord my god , that wheresoeuer i am without thee , it goeth ill with me ; not onely without me ; but euen with in me also . for all aboundance whatsoeuer , which is not my god , is but mere beggery to me . then shall i be satisfyed , when thy glory shall appeare . and thou , o lord , who art my very life of beatitude ; graunt that i may confesse my misery to thee , from the tyme that the uariety of temporall things , did dissipate and diuide me , when i fell , through the trechery of my carnall senses , from thee , who art that vnity of goodnes , that one soueraigne good . and it diuided me from that one , amongst many things : and i grew thereby , in to a laborious kinde of aboundance , and a copious kinde of wante ; whilest i would be seeking after this , and that ; & was satisfyed with nothing , soe long as i found not in my self , that incommutable , and singular , and vndeuided one good ; which haueing once obtayned , i neede nothing , nor haue greif for nothing ; and which possessing once , the desire of my whole soule is fully satisfyed . woe is mee , what misery is this vpon misery , when the wretched soule flyes from thee ; with whome it might euer abound , and reioyce ; and when it followeth the world , by meanes whereof , it is still in wante , and payne ? the world cals me after it , and i faynt in following it . thou callest me , o lord , and i am all refreshed by thee . and yet i am soe peruersly miserable , as to follow that , which makes me faynt , rather that , which refresheth me . this is directly the infirmity , which i am subiect too , o cure it , thou physician of soules , that i may confesse to thee , ( o thou saluation of my soule , with my whole hart ) all that aboundance of thy benefits , wherewith thou hast fedd me from my very youth ; and wherewith thou wilt feede me to the extremity of my old age . i beseeche thee by thy selfe , that thou forsake me not . thou diddest make me , when i was not : thou diddest redeeme me , when i was lost : for lost i was , and dead . and to him who was dead , thou diddest descend , thou tookest mortality vpon thee ; nay thy selfe being a king , to thou didest descend to thy slaue ; and redeeme that slaue thou deliuer ledst thy selfe . that i might liue , thou vndertookest to dye : thou ouercamest death , and by pulling downe thy selfe thou didest rayse mee vp . i perished , i was sould away , & thou camest downe to redeeme me ; & thou didest loue me soe much ; as to buy me , vpon the price of thine owne blood . o lord , thou diddest loue me more then thy self ; since thou didest resolue to dye for me . by so costly a bargaine , and at soe high a price , thou diddest reduce me from banishement ; thou diddest redeeme mee from seruitude , thou didest retyre mee from punishement . thou diddest call mee in thy name ; thou diddest marke me out with thy blood , that the memory of thee , might for euer stand before mee , and that my hart might neuer receede from him , who did not refuse the crosse for mee . thou didest annoynt mee with that oyle , which belonged in cheyf , to thy selfe ; that as thou art christ , soe from thee , i might be called a christian . and in thy hands thou hast written mee ; that thou mightest haue a continuall memory of mee , with thee ; vpon condition that the continuall memory of thee , might be still with mee . thus hath thy grace and mercy , euer preuented mee . for thou , o my deliuerer , hast often freed me , from many , and greate daungers . when i wandred , thou broughtest me back to the way , when i was ignorant , thou diddest teach me ; when i sinned , thou diddest reproue mee ; when i was in sorrow , thou diddest releiue me ; when i was in despayre , thou didest comfort me ; when i fell , thou diddest rayse mee : when i stood , thou heldest mee : when i walked thou diddest lead mee ; when i slept , thou diddest guard mee ; and when i cryed out to thee , thou diddest heare me , chap. xiv . that god doth consider the workes , and purposes of mankinde , with a perpetuall attention . o lord my god , and the life of my soule , thou hast imparted these , and many other benefits to mee , whereof it would be a deare thing for mee , to be euer speaking , euer thinkeing , and euer giueing thankes . that i might for euer praise , and loue thee for all thy good blessings with my whole harte , and my whole soule , and my whole mynde , and my whole strength , and with all the very marrow , and the most intimate parts of my affection . and with all the parts and powers of my whole man , o lord my god , who art the happy sweetnes of all them , who are delighted in thee . but thyne eyes , haue seene my imperfections : those eyes , i say , of thyne , which are farre brighter then the sunne , lookeing downe round about , at ease , vpon the wayes of men , and vpon the profound abysse , and they doe euery where contemplate , both the good and badd . for as thou doest preside ouer all things ( thou being all , for euer , present euery where , and takeing particular care , of all these things , which thou hast created , because thou hatest none of them , which thou hast made ) so also dost thou consider all my paces , and steps , and doest euer keepe a watchfull guard ouer mee , day and night ; and like a perpetuall centinell , dost diligently note my wayes ; as if thou haddest forgotten all the whole world of thy other creatures , both in heauen and earth , & didest not care for the rest . for nether would the light of thyne owne vnchangeable sight , encrease in thee , though thou shouldest behould , but any one onely thinge ; nether is it diminished , although thou behould diuers , and innumerable things . for as thou dost perfectly , and at once consider any one thinge by one onely acte of seeinge , soe doth thy whole sight , most perfectly , and that at once behould the whole of euery particular thinge , how different soeuer they may be among themselues . and as it considereth all , soe it considereth one , and as any one , soe euery one , and all of them at once , doest thou consider , without any diuision , or mutation , or diminution . therefore all thou , in all time , without time , doest consider all mee , at once , and that cōtinually , as exactly , as if thou haddest nothinge else to consider . and soe therefore , doest thou stand in guard of mee , as if thou wouldest attend to mee alone , & diddest forgett all the rest . for thou doest euer shew thy selfe to be present , and if thou finde me ready , thou doest euer offer thy self also ready . whither soeuer i goe , o lord , thou forsakest me not , vnles i be the first to forsake thee , wheresoeuer i be , thou departest not away , for thou art euery where ; and wheresoeuer i goe i shall finde thee . by what meanes may i be kept from perishing , without thee , since without thee , i cannot be at all . i confesse that whatsoeuer i doe , whether it be litle , or much , i doe it all , in thy presence ; and whatsoeuer that be , thou seest it better then my selfe . for whatsoeuer i doe , thou findest thy self present there , as a perpetuall spectatour of all my cogitations , intentions , delectations , & operations . o lord , all my desires , & thoughts , are euer standing before thee . thou discernest , o lord , whence the spirit comes , where it is , & whither it goes . for thou art the ponderer , and waigher out of all spirits ; and whether that roote be sweete or bitter , from which the faire leaues of our actions are sent out , thou , as an internall iudge , dost know best . yea and thou dost sifte most subtilely , into the most secret parts and pith of those very rootes ; & dost not onely obserue & number , & contemplate , and keepe accompt of the intention , by the most exquisite truth of thy light : but also of the most profound , and hidden sapp of that roote ; to the end that thou mayest repay to euery one , not onely according to their workes , or theyr expresse intention , but also according to that interiour and originall spirit of the roote of theyr actions , from whence the intention of him that worketh , doth proceede . to whatsoeuer i tend ; when i worke ; whatsoeuer i thinke , in whatsoeuer i am delighted ; thyne eares heare mee , thyne eyes see me , and consider mee . thou dost marke , and iudge , and note , and write in thy booke , whether it be good , or badd : to the end , that afterward , thou mayest render eyther rewardes for that which is good ; or torments for that which is euill : when thy bookes shall be opened , all soules shall be iudged , according to those things which shall be written in those bookes . and this perhaps is that , which thou didest already say to vs : i will consider the last thinges of those men . and that also , which is sayd of thee . o lord , he considereth the end of all men , for thou o lord dost in all those things , which we doe , more attend to the end of our intention , then to the act of our operation . and when i consider those things diligently , o lord my god , who art soe terrible , and full of strength , i am alike confounded betweene huge feare , and shame . for a mighty necessity is imposed vpō vs , of liueing with rectitude and iustice , who doe all the things which we doe before the eyes of a iudge , who seeth all things . chap. xv. tat man of himselfe can doe nothing without diuine grace . o thou most mighty , and omnipotent god , the god of the spirits of all flesh ; whose eyes are ouer all the wayes of the sonnes of adam , from the day of theyr natiuity , to that other of theyr death , to the end that thou mayest reward euery one of them , according to theyr workes , whether they be good or bad : teach me , how i may confesse my pouerty to thee . for once i said that i was rich , and that i wanted nothing , & i did not know the while that indeede i was poore , and naked , and a miserable wretch . i beleiued that i was some-what , when yet indeede , i was nothing . i told my selfe that i would become wise , and i turned a starke foole . i thought my self to be prudent , but i was deceiued . and now i see that all is thy guift , without whom wee can doe nothing . for vnles thou , o lord , keepe the citty , he watcheth but in vaine , who pretends to keepe it . thou hast taught me thus , to knowe thee , whilest thou diddest leaue mee , for a while , and proue mee ; not that thou mightest knowe mee thereby , but for my sake , that so i might come to knowe my selfe . for ( as i was saying , ô lord ) i thought once that i was some-what of my self ; i conceiued , that i was sufficient by my self ; nor did i discerne , that thou wert he that gouerned mee , till thou diddest a little withdrawe thy selfe from me . and then presently i fell , and soe i sawe , and knew , that thou didest gouerne mee ; and that it was of my self , that i fell ; and that it was of thee , that i rose againe . thou , o light , diddest open myne eyes , and diddest rowse mee vp , and illuminate mee ; and i sawe , that the life of man vpon earth , is all temptation ; and that noe flesh must presume to glory before thee , for soe noe man liueing can be iustifyed . for if there be any good in him , whether it be great , or little , thy guift it is , and nothing is ours , but that which is naught . of what therfore shall any flesh be able to vant ? shall he glory in sinne . this is not glory but misery . may he glory in that which is good ? noe : for he may not glory in that which belongeth to another . thine o lord , is the good , annd thyne must be the glory . for hee who seeketh glory to himselfe , and not to thee , out of the good he doth , that man is noe better , then a theefe , and robber , who had a minde to bereaue thee of thy glory . for he who will be praysed for any guift of thyne , and seeketh not thy glory , but his owne therein , although he be praysed by men , for that guift of thyne , yet he is dispraysed by thee ; in regard that he sought not soe much thy glory by it , as his owne . and now he who is praysed by men , whilest thou dispraysest him , shall not be defended by men , when thou iudgest him , nor deliuered by them , when thou condemnest him . but thou , o lord , who diddest frame me in my mothers wombe , do not suffer me to fall vnder so greate a reproofe , as that i should be charged with procureing to robb thee , of thy glory . to thee be glory , of whome all good things are ; and to vs , confusion of face , and misery , vnles thou vouchsafe to haue mercy on vs. but thou hast mercy , o lord , thou hast mercy vpon vs all , who hatest none of those things which thou hast made ; and who bestowest of thy good guifts , vpon vs ; & dost enrich vs , o lord our god , with thy most excellent graces . for thou louest poore creatures , and thou enrichest them with thy aboundance . and now behould , o lord , we are thy poore children , and thy little , little flocke ; open thy gates to vs , and thy poore shall eate , and be satisfyed , & they who seeke thee , and prayse thee . i doe also knowe , o lord , and i confesse , ( for i am taught to doe it by thee ) that they onely who knowe they are poore , and confesse theyr pouertie to thee , shall be enriched by thee ; and they who conceiue themselues to be rich , whereas indeede they are poore ; will be found excluded from thy riches . for my parte therefore , i confess my pouerty to thee , o lord my god , and let all glory remayne to thee . for all that , which hath bene well done by mee , is thyne . o lord , i confesse to thee , as thou hast taught me , that i am nothing , but an vniuersality of vanity , & a shadow of death , and a blacke kinde of abysse , and a plott of earth , which is all empty , and vnfruitefull , and which shootes not vp one leafe without thy blessing ; and of it selfe , it yeilds no other fruite , then confusion , sinne and death . if euer i had any good thinge , i receiued it of thee ; whatsoeuer good i haue now is thine , and of thee i haue it . if euer i stood fast , i stood by thee ; but whensoeuer i fell , of my selfe i fell ; and for euer had i weltered in that myre , if thou haddest not raised mee . and for euer had i continued blinde , vnles thou haddest illuminated mee . when i fell , i had neuer risen , vnles thou haddest reached forth thine hand . and when afterward thou diddest raise mee , i had instantly retournend to fall , vnles thou haddest susteyned mee : and i had perished very often , vnles thou haddest gouerned mee . so perpetually , o lord , soe perpetually was i preuented by thy mercy , and grace ; deliuering me from all my sinnes , saueing me from all such as are past ; solliciteing me against such as were present , and fortifying me , against such as might be future ; cutting of , before my face , those snares of sinnes , by preuenting the occasions , and causes thereof . for , vnles thou haddest also done this fauour to me , i might haue committed any sinne in the whole world . and i know , o lord , that there is noe kinde of sinne , which any one man did euer committ , which another man may not also committ , if the helpe of the creatour , whereby man is made , be wanting . but thou art the cause why i committed them not : thou diddest commaund that i should abstayne from them , & thou didest infuse thy grace , that i might beleiue in thee . for thou , o lord diddest gouerne mee for thy selfe ; and thou diddest keepe me both for thy selfe , and for my selfe : and thou diddest giue me light & grace to the end that i might not commit adultery and euery other sinne . chap. xvi . of the manifold temptations of the deuill . the tempter was absent , and thou wert the cause that he was absēt . fitt time , and place for sinne were wanting ; and thou wert the cause that they were wanting . the tempter was present , and nether time , nor place , were wanting ; but thou diddest keepe me from consenting . the tempter came to mee , all vgly and frightfull as he is ; and thou diddest comfort mee soe farre , as to make me despise him . the tempter came to mee all strong , and armed ; and to the end that he might not conquer mee ; thou restraynedst him , & didest strengthen me . the tempter came transfigured into an angell of light ; and to the end that he might not deceiue mee , thou rebukedest him , and thou diddest illuminate mee , that i might knowe him . for he is that great , and redd dragon , that ancient serpent , and he is called the deuill , and satā , haueing seauen heads , and tenn hornes . whose imployment is , to inueigle this greate huge sea , wherein innumerable creatures are still creeping , creatures ; greate , and small ; that is to say , seuerall kindes of deuills , who study nothing els , day and night , but how they may walke they re round , seeking whome they may deuoure , vnles thou deliuer them . for this is that ancient dragon , who sprung vp first , in that paradise of pleasure , and who with his tayle , drawes the third parte of the starrs of heauen after him , and brings them downe to the earth ; he who is poyson , corruptes the waters of the world , that soe mē who drinke thereof , may dye , and who trāples vpon gold , like so much durte ; and into whose mouth , the riuer of iordan flowes ; and he is growen to that presumption , that he feares non at all . and who shall be able to defend vs from the crushing of his teeth ? who shall be able to deliuer vs out of his iawes , but thou , o lord , who hast broken all the heades of that huge dragon . helpe vs , o lord , and spread thy wings ouer vs , that soe wee may flye vnder them , from the face of this dragon , who persecureth vs. and doe thou defend vs by thy sheild , from the push of his hornes . for to this , doth he direct his continuall study : vpon this is his cheife desire imployed , that he may deuoure the soules which thou hast created . and therefore , o my god , wee cry out to thee ; deliuer vs from this daily aduersary of ours , who whether wee sleepe , or wake , or eate , or drinke , or whatsoeuer els wee doe , is pressing vpon vs , by all meanes , and by many fraudes , and tricks , he is addressing poysoned arrowes against vs , both priuately and publikely , that soe he may destroy our soules . and yet o lord , soe strangely miserable are wee made , as that although we see this dragon continually comeing towards vs , with his mouth wide open , ready to deuoure vs ; yet neuertheles , wee sleepe , and wee are euē wanton againe in our slouth as if wee were secure before him , who yet couets nothing but our destruction . our enemy , that he may kill vs , is continually awake , and wants his sleepe ; and yet wee , will not soe much as wake from sleepe , that wee may defend our selues . behould , he hath spred infinite snares before our feete ; and he hath stuffed all our wayes with seuerall kindes of gynnes , whereby to catch our soules ; and who then shall be able to free himselfe ? he hath layd snares in riches , and snares in pouerty ; snares in meate , in drinke , in pleasure , in sleeping , and wakeing ; he hath spred snares in words and in workes , and in all our wayes . but thou , o lord , deliuer vs from the snares of the hunter , and from that bitter word ; that wee may confesse to thee , and say : blessed be our lord who hath not giuen vs to a pray to their teeth . our soules is deliuered as a sparrow might be , out of the hunters snare ; the snare is broken , and wee are deliuered . chap. xvii . that god is the light of iust persons . and thou , o lord , who art my light , illuminate myne eyes , that i may see and walke in thy light , and not stumble vpon the snares of the enemy . for who shall be able to auoyd such a multitude of snares , vnles he see them ; and who shall be able to see them , vnles he be illuminated by thy light ? for that father of darkenes , hides all those snares , in his owne darkenes ; that all they may be taken by them , who are in his darkenes ; and who are the sonnes of darkenes ; not discerning thy light , wherein , whosoeuer walketh needes not feare . for he who walkes by day , stumbles not ; but he stumbles who walkes by night : for the light is not in him . thou o lord art light , thou art the light of the sonnes of light ; thou art the sunne , which knoweth not what belonges to setting ; that day wherein thy children walke without stumbling ; and without which , all they who walke are in darkenes , as being destitute of thee , who art the light of the world . behould wee discouer daily , that by how much the more , any man is estranged from thee , who art the true light , so much the more intricately is he wrapped vp in the darkenes of sinne . and how much the more he is in darkenes , so much the lesse can he discerne the snares , which are spred for him , in his wayes . and soe by not discerneing them , he falleth often into them , and is taken by them ; & which deserues to strike vs full of horrour , such a man , doth not soe much as knowe , that he is fallen : now he , who knowes not that he hath taken a fall ; will care soe much the lesse to rise , as he still conceiueth , that he stands . but thou , o lord , my god , thou true light of the mynde , illuminate now myne eyes that i may see thee , and knowe thee , and not tumble headlong downe , in the sight of myne enemyes . for this mayne aduersary of ours , doth labour euen to exterminate vs outright ; whilest wee , the whyle , begg of thee , that thou wilt make him melt before our face , as wax doth , vpon the approach of fyre . for hee , o lord , is that cruell theefe , first , and last , who tooke counsell , how he might robb thee of thy glory , but soe , being puffed and swollen vp , he burst , and fell vpon his face , and thou diddest precipitate him downe from that holy hill of thyne ; and from the middest of those bright stones , in the middest , whereof he had once beene walkeing . and now , o lord my god , and my life , he neuer giueth ouer to persecute thy children , euer since he fell . and out of his hatred to thee , o mighty king , he procureth to destroy thy creature , which thy omnipotent goodnes hath created , according to thyne owne image ; to the end that he may possesse thy glory , which himselfe lost , by pride . but crush thou him to peeces , o strong champion , before he deuoure thy lambes ; and illuminate vs , that wee may discerne the snares , which he hath prepared for vs ; and make vs able to escape , and arryue to thee , o thou ioy of israell . thou best knowest all these things thou knowest his contentious spirit , and his most stiffe neeke . nor doe i speake of these things , as pretending to discouer them to thee , who knowest all things , and from whom noe little thought can lye hidd . but make my iust complaint against this enemy of mine , before the feete of thy maiesty ; that so thou mayest both condemne him , and saue vs , thy children , whose strength thou art . this enemy of ours , o lord , is full of craft , and shifts , nor can those intricate wayes of his , be easily traced out , no nor so much as the ayre of his countenāce be discerned by vs , vnles we be illuminated by thee . for sometimes he is here , & sometimes he is there . now he shewes himselfe like a lambe , and then like a wolfe ; now like darkenes , and then like light ; and according to the seuerall qualityes of persons , according to the variety of tymes , and places ; and according to the momentary chaunge of things , he suggesteth seuerall temptations . for to the end that he may deceiue sad people , he pretends himselfe to be sad for company . to the end that he may delude , such as are in ioy , he faynes himselfe also to reioyce . that he may beguile such as are spirituall , he transformeth himselfe , into an angell of light . that he may insinuate himselfe , and by that meanes crush such as are strong , he takes the semblance of a lambe , that he may deuoure such as are meeke , he borrowes the face of a wolfe . all these things he takes vpon him , according to the similitude and proportion of the temptations , which he meanes to vse . as some , he frights with a nocturnall feare , others , by the arrow which flyes by day , others , by the busines which walkes by night ; others , by expresse assault , and others by that deuill of high noone . now , who is he that can thinke himselfe a match for this enemy so farr , as that he may so much as know him ; and who did euer reach to the bottome of his craft ? who shall reueale the makeing of his garment to vs , and who shall make vs knowe the walke of his teeth ? behould he hideth his arrowes in his quiuer , and he couers his snares , vnder a shew of light ; & soe he is lesse subiect to be vnderstood , vnlesse o lord , o thou hope of ours , we beg light from thee , whereby we may discerne all things . for not onely doth he striue to deceiue vs in the sensuall workes of flesh and blood ; nor onely in the exercise of vice , which is easily discerned ; but euen amongst our most spirituall actions , he hideth certain subtile snares ; & vnder the colour of vertue , he puts on vice , & transformes himselfe into an angell of light . these , and many other things , o lord our god , doth this very sonne of beliall , this satan , endeauour to bring against vs. and now as a lyon , then as a dragon , both manifestly and secretly , interiourly , and exteriourly , both by day and night , he is laying traynes for vs , that soe he may destroy our soules . but thou , o lord , deliuer vs , thou who sauest such as hope in thee , that our enemy may haue cause to be sorry for as much as may concerne vs ; but that thou o lord our god , maist be praised in vs. chap. xviii . of the benefits of god. bvt let mee the sonne of thy handmayd , who haue commended my selfe into thy hands , confesse to thee , o my deliuerer , with my whole harte in these little poore confessions of myne , and let me call to minde , all those good blessings , which thou hast voutchsafed to bestow on mee , from my youth , and in my whole life . for i well know that ingratitude doth much offend thee , which is the roote of all spirituall mischeife ; and a kinde of dry and parching wynde , which blasteth all goodnes ; and it shutteth vp the fountayns of diuine mercy towards man ; and by this meanes , both our ill deedes which were dead gett life againe ; & our good deedes which liue , doe quickly growe to dy , and haue noe more life afterward . but as for mee , o lord , i will giue thankes to thee . let not mee , o thou my deliuerer , be vngratefull to thee , since thou hast freede mee . how often had that dragon euen swallowed mee vp , and thou o lord diddest drawe mee out of his mouth ? how often haue i sinned , when he was ready to haue deuoured mee , but thou o lord my god diddest defend mee ? when i did wickedly against thee , when i transgressed thy commaundements , he stood ready to snatch mee away into hell , but thou forbadest him . i offended thee , and the while , thou defendedest mee . i did not feare him , and yet thou diddest preserue mee . i departed from thee , & made offer of my selfe to myne enemy ; but thou diddest fright him so , as that he should not dare to carry me away . these benefits diddest thou bestowe vpon me , o lord my god ; and i wretched creature knew it not . full often hast thou freed mee , from the uery iawes of the deuill , and snatched me out of the mouth of the lyon ; and full often hast thou brought me back againe from hell , though i was ignorant thereof . for i descended euen towards the very gates of hell , and thou heldest me back from goeing in . i drewe neare the gates of death , and thou wert the cause why they opened not themselues to receiue mee . thou also , o my sauiour , hast often deliuered me from corporall death , when i was subiect to great sickenes . and when i found my self in many daungers , by sea , by land , by fyre , by sword , and many other wayes ; thou wert euer deliuering mee , euer present to mee , and euer saueing mee with great mercy . for thou , o lord , diddest well knowe , that if death had then seised vpon mee , hell had possessed my soule , and i had bene damned for euer . but thy mercy and thy grace , o lord my god , preuented mee , and gaue mee deliuerance from that death of my body , and consequently from the death of my soule . these and many other benefits diddest thou imparte to mee , but i was blinde , and knew them not , till i was illuminated by thee . but now , o thou light of my soule , o lord my god , my life , by which i liue , and the light of mynes eyes , by which i see ; behould , thou hast illuminated mee , and now i knowe thee , and cōfesse my selfe to liue by the guift of thy hand ; and i giue thankes to thee which though they be meane , and poore , & full of disproportion to thy benefits , yet they are the best , which my frailty can affoord . for thou alone , art my god , my benigne creatour , who doest loue our soules , and hatest none of those things , which thou hast made . behold , i who am the greatest of those sinners , whom thou hast saued ( to the end that i may giue an example to others , of thy most benigne piety ) will confesse thy great benefits to me : for thou hast snatched me out of that lower hell , once , twice , and thrice , and a hundered , and a thousand times . and indeede , i was euer tending towards hell , and thou wert euer drawing mee back . and thou mightest iustly haue damned me a thousand times , if thou haddest beene soe disposed . but thou wouldest not , because thou louest soules , o lord my god , and thou dissemblest the sinnes of men , that soe they may come to pennance , and there is much mercy in all thy wayes now therefore i see these things , o lord my god , and i knowe them , by thy light ; and my soule doth euen faynt , and is sicke with loue , vpon the consideration of thy great mercy towards mee ; since thou hast snatched my soule , out of that lower hell , and hast brought mee back againe , to life . for i was all plunged in death , and thou hast wholy reuiued mee . be therefore all my life and beeing thyne ; and i doe wholly offer my whole selfe vp to thee . let my whole spirit , my whole harte , my whole body , and my whole life , liue to thee , o thou my sweete life ; for thou hast deliuered me wholly , that thou mightest possesse me wholy , thou hast intirely repaired me , that so againe thou mayest haue mee intirely . let mee therefore loue thee , o lord , my strēgth ; let mee loue thee , o thou vnspeakeable exultation of my soule . and let me liue now not to my self but to thee . my whole life which perished by my misery , was raised vp by thy mercy , thou who art that mercifull god , and full of pitty , which thou doest extend , in thy goodnes , to thousands of such as loue thy name . therefor o lord my god , and my sanctifyer , hast thou comaunded in thy lawe , that i should loue thee with my whole harte , with my whole soule , with my whole minde , with my whole strength , and with all the powers i haue . yea and with the most internall marrow of all my affections and this , in all the houres , and moments of my time , wherein i am enioying the benediction of thy mercyes . for i should euer perish , but that thou doest euer gouerne mee . i should euer dy ; but that thou doest euer quicken mee . and thou doest oblige mee to thee , in euery moment of my life ; since in euery moment therof , thou impartest great benefits to mee . as therefore , there is noe houer or point of time in my whole life , wherein i am not assisted by thy benefits ; soe also ought there not to be any moment , wherein i should not haue thee before the eyes of my mynde ; and wherein i should not loue thee with my whole strength . but euen this i cannot doe , saue by thy guift onely to whome euery good guift belongeth , and euery excellent grace is descending from thee the father of lights , with whome there is noe transmutation , nor shadow of chaunge . for it is not of him that willeth , nor of him that runneth , but of thee , taking mercy that wee loue thee . thine , o lord is this guift to whome euery good thing belongeth . thou commaundest that thou be beloued : giue vs that which thou commandest , and then , commaund vs what thou wilt . chap. xix . of the feruour of charity . i loue thee , o my god , and i am euer desireing to loue thee more . for in very deed , thou art more sweete , then any honny ; more nutritiue then any milke ; and more cleere then any light . therefore art thou more deare to me , them gold , or siluer , or pretious stone . and whatsoeuer delightfull thing i had in the world , was displeasing to mee , in comparison of thy sweetenes , and the order of thy house which i loued . o thou fyre which euer burnest , and art neuer quenched ; o loue , which is euer boyling hote and neuer growest luke-warme ; doe thou inflame mee . let mee , i say , be wholy inflamed by thee ; and let me wholy loue thee . for he loues thee too little , who loues any thing together with thee , which he loues not for thy sake . make me loue thee , o lord , because thou didst first loue mee . and how shall i finde wordes , whereby i may vnfold the notions which i haue of thy singular loue to mee , testifyed by those innumerable benefits , by which thou hast trayned me vp , from the beginning ? for after the benefit of the creation , when in the beginninge thou didest make me of nothing , after thyne owne image , doeing me honour , and exalting me beyond the rest of thy creatures , which thou madest ; and innobling me with the light of thy countenance , which thou didest stampe vpon the entrie of my hart ; whereby thou didest disseuer me , both from insensible creatures , and from brute beasts , which are endewed with sense , and thou madst me , not much inferiour to the angels ; yet euen this , seemed not enough , in the sight of thy deity . for since that time , thou hast entertayned , and nourished mee , with daily and singular , and great presents of thy benefits , without intermission . and thou hast giuen me comfort , and made me sucke , like somme little tender infant of thine , at the breasts of thy consolation . for to the end that i might yeild thee my entire seruice , thou hast appointed , that whatsoeuer thou hast made should serue mee . chap. xx. that god hath submitied all things to the seruice of man. thou hast made all things subiect to the feete of man , to the onely end , that man might become wholly subiect to thee . and to the end that man might be wholly thine hee is entitled to a dominion ouer all thy workes . for thou hast created all exteriour things , for the body ; the body for the soule ; and the soule for thy selfe ; to the end that man might tend onely to thee , & might loue onely thee , possessing thee , by way of comforte to himselfe ; and thy creatures , by way of receiuing seruice from them . for whatsoeuer is conteyned vnder this vaute of heauen , is inferiour to the soule of man ; which was created , that it might possesse the supernall , soueraigne good aboue ; by the fruition whereof , it might be happy : and wherevnto when it shall adheare , outstripping and ouerlooking all relations and respects to all inferiour things , which are subiect to mutation , it shall calmely and constantly behold the face of that eternall immortality , and the vision of that supreame majestie , to which it hath aspired here . then shall they be in fruition , of those most excellent delights in the house of our lord ; in comparison whereof all those things which here we see , may well goe for nothing . those are they , which the eye hath not seene , nor the eare heard , nor haue they entred into the hart of man , which god hath prepared for them who loue him . and these things o lord , wilt thou imparte to the soule of man. and with the consideration of these things , dost thou who louest soules , delight the soules of thy seruants . but yet , why should i wonder at those things , o lord my god , therein thou dost but honor thyre owne image , and that similitude of thyne , according to which they are created . for whilest we are yet in th●s corruptible and ignoble body , to the end we might see thou hast giuen this light of heauen , by the hands of thy vnwearied ministers the sunne and moone , which doe perpetually obserue thy precept , in serueing thy children day and night . to the end that we might breath , thou hast giuen the purity of the ayre . that we might heare ; the variety of sounds . that we might smell ; the sweetnesse of odours . that it might tast , the variety and quality of sauoures . that it might touch , thou hast giuen the bulke of all bodies . for the other necessary occasions of man , thou hast giuen beasts to carry him . and thou hast imparted the birds of the ayre , the fish of the sea , and the fruites of the earth for his refection . thou hast also created out of the earth seuerall medicines , which may be applyed to the seuerall infirmities of men ; and thou hast prepared particular comforts , which are to encounter and reuerse those particular-inconueniences which may occurre . and all this thou hast done because thou art full of mercy , and pitty ; & thou being our potter , dost knowe the matter whereof wee are made . for , in fine , wee are but as soe much durt in thy hand . chap. xxi . that the greatenes of the diuine counsell may be inferred by the consideration of temporall blessings . behold mee , i beseeche thee ; let thy great mercy stand open to me . illustrate mee yet more with thy light ; that soe it may be discouered to me , more and more . for by these little workes of thyne , wee growe to comprehend thy great ones ; and by thy visible workes , we are enabled to take some ayme at thy inuisible workes , o lord our god , the holy , and good creatour of vs all . for if , o my lord ; whilest we are in this body , which is soe corruptible and ignoble , thou dost imparte to vs so great , and euen innumerable benefits , by meanes of the heauens , and of the ayre ; of the earth and sea ; of light and darkenes ; of sunne and shade , of dew and gentle rayne ; of wyndes and stiffe showers ; of birds , and fishes ; of beasts and trees ; of the multiplicity of herbes and plants of the earth ; & by meanes of the ministry of all thy creatures , which doe successiuely serue vs at due and seuerall times ; to ease vs thereby , of that trouble , and fastidiousnes , which otherwise wee might be subiect too ; what kinde of benefits , i beseeche thee , and how greate , and euen innumerable will they be , which thou hast prepared for such as loue thee , in that celestiall country , where we shall behould thee face to face . if thou doe vs soe much honour in this prison , what wilt thou doe in thy pallace ? greate , and innumerable are thy workes , o lord , thou king of the heauens . for since these of the lower rancke , which thou hast deliuered ouer , to be vsed promiscuously here , both by good an badd ; be all of them very excellently good & delightfull ; what kinde of things shall they proue to be , which thou hast onely treasured vp for them alone who are good ? if thy guifts be soe diuers , and euen innumerable , which now thou bestowest both vpon thy freinds , & vpon thyne enemyes ; how greate , how innumerable , how dearly sweete , and how delightfull , are they to be , which thou wilt onely bestow vpon thy freinds ? if the solace be so greate , which thou giuest vs in this day of our tears , what wilt thou giue , in that day of our espousalls ? if this place of exile , and restraint afford such pleasures , what i beseeche thee will our country doe ? the eye cannot see , without thee , what thou hast prepared for such as loue thee . for according to the greate multitude of thy magnificence , soe also the multitude of that sweetenes is great , which thou hast hidden vp for them that feare thee . for thou , o lord , my god , art great , thou art immense , there is noe end of thy greatenes , there is noe number of thy wisedome ; & there is noe measure of thy benignity ; & there is neither end , number , nor measure of the reward , which thou bestowest . but as thou art great , so are thy rewards great ; for thou thy selfe art the reward , and the guift , which thou bestowest vpon all such as shall valiantly haue fought thy battayles . chap. xxii . that the diuine sweetenes taketh away all the present bitternes of the world . these are those great benefits wherewith thou , o lord god , the sanctifyer of thy saints , wilt satisfy , and remoue the want of thy hungry children . for thou art the hope of the desperate ; the comforte of the desolate ; thou art that very crowne of hope , which is adorned with the glory prepared for such as ouercome . thou art the eternall satiety , of such as haue bene allmost starued ; and thou art to be bestowed vpon such as hunger after thee . thou art that euerlasting consolation , who bestoweth thy selfe , vpon them alone , who despise the comforts of this world , for that euerlasting consolation of thyne . for they who looke for theyr comfort here , are esteemed vnworthy of thy comforts ; but they who are afflicted here are comforted by thee ; and they who partake with thee in thy passion , shall partake with thee also , in thy consolation . noe man must thinke to be comforted , both in this , and in the other world ; nor must he thinke to be in ioy , both here and there ; but he must necessarily loose the one , who will possesse the other . when i consider these things , o lord my comforter , my soule refuseth the comforts of this life , that soe it may be held worthy of thy eternall consolations . for it is high reason , that any man should loose thee , if he make choyse to be comforted , more in any other , then in thee . and i beseech thee euen by thy selfe , o thou supreme truth , that thou permitt me not to be comforted by any vayne consolation ; but that it may onely be in thee . and i beg , that all things may growe bitter to me , that thou alone mayest appeare sweete to my soule , thou who art that inestimable sweetnes , whereby all bitter things are made sweete . for thy sweetenes is the thing which made that torrent of stones , sweete to steuen . thy sweetenes made that burneing gridyron , sweete to blessed laurence . through thy sweetenes , the apostles went reioyceing , from the councell , because they were held worthy , to suffer reproach for thy names sake . andrew went both with security and ioy to the crosse , because he hastened to taste of thy sweetenes . and this sweetenes of thyne did soe fill the two princes of the apostles , that for it , the wood of the crosse , was chosen by one of them ; and the other was not affrayed , to submitt his head to the murtheringe sword . for the purchasse of this sweetenes bartholomew sold away his very skinne . and to haue a taste thereof , the vndanted iohn , drunke off that poysened cupp . and as soone as peter had tasted of it , he forgott all other things , and cryed thus out , like one who were inebriated , saying , o lord , it is good for vs to be here . let vs here make three tabernacles . let vs dwell here ; let vs contemplate thee ; for we neede nothing else . it is enough for vs , o lord , to see thee . it is enough , saith he to be satiated with soe great delight . and the reason was this ; because he had tasted some one dropp of diuine sweetenes , all other sweetenes was lothed by him . what then shall wee thinke , that he would haue sayd , if he had once tasted , of the great multitude of the sweetenes of thy diuinity , which thou hast hidden vp for them that feare thee . that virgin had also tasted of this vnspeakeable sweetenes of thyne , of whome wee read , that she went topp full of ioy , and glory to the prison , as if she had bene inuited to some marriadge feast . and of this , i suppose , he also had tasted who sayd , that the multitude of that sweetenes of thyne , o lord , was great which thou haddest hidden vp for them that feare thee , and who also aduised men thus , taste , and see , how sweete our lord is . for this is that beatitude , o lord our god , which wee expect , by the guift of thy hand , for which wee fight as in a warfare vnder thee , o lord ; for which wee are mortifyed to thy honour , all the day long ; that at last wee may liue to thee , in that life of thine . chap. xxiii . that all our hope and ardent desire of our hart ought to be placed in our lord. bvt thou o lord , the expectation of israell , and that desire , to which our harte doth euery day aspire , make haste to vs , and doe not stay . rise vp , make hast , and come ; and bring vs out of this prison to confesse vnto thy name , that wee may glory in thy light . open thyne eares , to the cry of the teares of thy forsaken children , who thus are calling out to thee . giue vs , o thou father of ours , our daylie breard this day , in the strength whereof wee may walke day and night ; till at last wee may arriue to thy holy mountaine horeb. and i also , poore little one that i am , amongst the poore little ones of thy familly , when shall i , o my god , my father , and my strength , come , and appeare before thy face ; that i , who confesse vnto thee now for a tyme , may doe it there , for all eternity . happy shall i be , if once i may be admitted to behould thy brightenes . who will graunt mee soe much fauour , as that once i may bee admitted to that happines . i knowe , o lord , i knowe , and confesse , that i am vnworthy to enter vnder thy roofe . yet doe thou admitt mee for thyne owne honnour 's sake ; & confound not thy slaue , who hopes in thee . and who shall be able to enter into thy sanctuary , to consider the wonders of thy power , vnles thou open him the gate ? and who can open it , if thou shutt it ? for if thou destroy , there is none can build vs vp . and if thou shutt a man in , there is none , who cā putt him out . if thou contayne the waters , all the world will be dryed vp , but if thou let thē loose , they will ouerrune the earth . if thou haue a mynde to anihilate all that which thou hast created , who shall presume to contradict thee ? now therefore , ô thou eternall goodnes of thy mercy ( which is that whereby thou madest whatsoeuer thou wouldest ) thou art the archytect of the whole world : and therefore doe thou also gouerne vs. thou didest creat vs , and therefore doe not thou despise vs ; for wee are the worke of thy hands . and it is playne enough , o lord our god , that wee , who are but base wormes , and durt shall neuer be able to enter into thy eternityes , vnles we be introduced by thee , who hast created all things of nothing . chap. xxiv . that all our saluation depends vpon god. bvt i , the worke of thy hands , will confesse to thee , in thy feare , that i will not putt my confidence in my bowe , or thinke that my sword can saue me , but that must be donne , by thy right hand , and by thyne arme , and by the illumination of thy countenance . for otherwise i should despayre . but thou , who diddest create mee , art my hope , that thou wilt not forsake such as trust in thee . for thou art our lord god , sweete and patient , and disposeing of all things , in mercy . for it we haue sinned , wee are thyne ; and if wee haue not sinned , wee are thine , because we are numbred among thy creatures . wee are but as a leafe , in respect of the world , and all mankinde is but vanity ; and our life is but as a vapour vpon the earth . be not angry , if wee thy poore , forsaken little children fall , because thou , o lord our god , knowest the matter whereof wee are made . wilt thou , o god of inestimable fortitude , shew forth thy power , against a leafe which is whipped away by the winde ? and persecute a withered strawe . wilt thou , o eternell king of israell , damne a dead dogg ? wilt thou damne a single gnatt , wee haue heard o lord , of thy mercy , and thou puttest not to death , nor reioycest in the perdition of dying men . therefore doe wee beseeche thee , o lord , that thou wilt not permitt that , which thou hast not made , to haue dominion ouer this creature of thine , which thou hast made . nay thou art greiued with our perdition ; and what then o lord shall be able to hinder thee , who art omnipotent , from eternally reioyceing in our saluation ? if thou wilt , thou canst saue mee ; but i cannot doe it , though i would . the multitude of the miseries which i carry about mee , is very greate . it is at hand with mee , to will a thing , but i cannot finde the way to perfect it . yet i cannot euen will a good thing , vnles thou also wi lt ; nor can i performe that which i haue a will to doe , vnles thy power strengtheneth mee . yea , and that which i haue power to doe , falls out sometymes , that i will not doe it , vnles thy will may be done in earth as it is in heauen . and what i will doe , & can doe , i doe not knowe , vnles thy wisedome illustrate mee . and though also i doe knowe , hauing sometymes a will to doe a thing , and sometymes also a power to doe it , yet my vvisdome passeth away , all imperfect and empty as it is , vnles thy true vvisdome helpe mee . but in thy will , all things are placed ; and there is none who can resist that will of thyne , o thou the lord of all thy creatu-creatures , who hast supreame dominion ouer all flesh ; and doest worke whatsoeuer thou wilt , in heauen , and in earth , in the sea , and in all the abysses . let therefore thy will be done in vs , vpon whome thy name hath beene inuoked ; and let not this noble worke of thyne perish , which thou diddest create for thyne owne glory . and what man borne of woeman is hee , who can liue , & not see death , and deliuer his soule from the hand of hell , vnles thou alone doe snatch him thence ; thou who art the vitall life of all life , whereby all things liue . chap. xxv . that the will of man , wanteth efficacy towards good workes without the grace of god. i haue now confessed to thee , o thou prayse of my life , o lord , my god , and the strength of my saluation , that there was a tyme , when i had confidence in myne owne strength , which yet was noe strength at all . and when i was so resolued to runne on , where i thought my selfe to stand fastest , there i fell fowlest ; & insteede of aduanceing , i retyred ; and i was more and more estranged , from that which i thought to haue apprehended . and so being come to know the little proportiō of my strēgth by the many experimēts which i made for the wāt thereof ; i doe now vnderstand , ( because i haue bene illuminated by thee ) that whatsoeuer i haue thought my selfe most able to doe that could i euer bring least to passe . for i sayd sometimes , i will doe this , and i will perfect that , & i did neither the one , nor the other . if i had the will , i wanted the power . if i had the power i had not then the will ; because i trusted in myne owne strength . but now , i confesse to thee , o lord , my god , the father of heauen and earth , that noe man shall ouercome in his owne strength , to giue occasion thereby to the foolish presumption of flesh and blood , to glory in thy sight . for it is not in the power of a man , to will that which he hath power to doe ; or to doe that which he cann will , or to knowe what he cann will , and doe ; but rather the paces of men are directed by thee : the paces of them , i meane , who confesse themselues to be directed by thee , and not by themselues . wee beseech thee therefore , o lord , by the bowells of thy mercy be pleased to saue that which thou hast created . for if thou wilt , thou canst saue vs ; and the strength of our saluation consisteth in the pleasure of thy will. chap. xxvi . of the auncient benefits of almighty god. call to mynde thy auncient mercy , whereby thou diddest preuent vs , from the beginning , in those benedictions of thy sweetenes . for before i was borne , ( i who am the sonne of thy handmayde , o lord , who hast bene my hope , euen from the brests of my mother ) thou diddest preuent mee , by preparing those wayes for mee , wherein i might walke , and whereby i was to arriue to the glory of thy house . before thou framedst mee in my mothers wombe , thou knewest mee ; and before i parted from her wombe thou diddest praeordayne concerning mee , whatsoeuer was pleasing to thy selfe . what things are contayned and written in thy booke , concerning mee , in that secret of thy consistory , i , for my parte , doe not knowe , and there vpon i am in extreme feare , but it is well knowen to thee . for that which i might expect to happen in successe of dayes and tymes betweene this , and a thousand yeares hence ; all that is already done , in the sight of thy eternity ; and that which is future , is finished already there . now therefore whilest i liue in this darke night ; and whilest i am ignorant of these things , feare , and trembling come vpon mee , since i see , on all sides , that many dangers doe sett vpon mee close at hand ; and that i am hunted by many enemyes , and hemmed in , by innumerable miseryes in this life . and vnles i had thy helpe , in the middest of so great calamityes , i should despaire . but still i haue a strong hope in thee , o thou most meeke prince , and my god. and the consideration of the multitude of those mercy which thou hast shewed to mee , doth ease my minde ; & the fore-running signes of thy mercyes which preuented mee before i was borne , and doe now shine particularly towards mee , doe sollicite me to haue good hope , concerning those future , better , & more perfect guifts of thy benignity , which thou reseruest for thy freinds . that soe i may reioyce , o lord my god , with that liuely , and holy ioy , whereby thou dost euer recreate my youth . chap. xxvii . of the angels which are deputed to the custody of man. for thou hast loued me , o thou onely loue of myne , before i loued thee ; and thou hast created mee after thine owne image , and thou hast preferred me , before all thy creatures . which dignity , i keepe now also hauing knowen thee , for whome thou hast made mee . thou hast also made thy spirits , angels , for my benefitt , and thou hast commaunded them to keepe me in all my wayes , lest els perhaps i might hurte my foote against a stone . for these are the guard which stands vpon the walls of the citty of thy new ierusalem ; and these are those mountaynes , which are sayd to stand in the circuit thereof , keeping watch by night , ouer thy flocke ; least , at any time , the lyon should snatch away our soules , whilest none were by , to deliuer them , that auncient serpent i say , our aduersary , the deuill , who is euer walkeing the round , seekeing whom he may deuowre . these are those happy citizens , of ierusalem , that supernall citty , that mother of ours , which is aboue , and they are sent in ministery , to them , who are to take hold of the inheritance of saluation ; that they may deliuer them from theyr enemyes , and guard them in all theyr wayes ; that they may comfort and admonish thy children , and offer vp theyr prayers in the sight of the glory of thy maiestie . for they loue theyr fellow-cittizens , by whose society they expect that the ruine of the schisme which was made by the rebellious angells may be repayred . they doe therefore assist vs , with greate care , and watchfull endeauour at all tymes , and in all places succouring vs , and making prouision against our necessityes ; and passeing with great sollicitude , betweene vs and thee , o lord ; presenting our sighes , and sobs to thee , that they may obtayne for vs , an easy pardon , from thy mercy ; and may bring downe from thee , the desired benediction of thy grace . for they walke with vs , in all our wayes ; they goe in , and out with vs ; considering with greate attention , how vertuously , and piously wee conuerse in the middest of a wicked nation ; with great endeauour , and desire , we seeke the kingdome of god , and the iustice thereof ; with how greate feare and trembling wee serue thee ; and how also wee exult towards thee ; in the ioy of our harts . they helpe such as are takeing paynes ; they protect such as are at rest ; they encourage such as fight ; they crowne such as conquer ; they reioyce with such as ioy , ( i meane such as ioy in thee ) and they suffer with such as suffer , i meane such as are in sufferance for thee . they haue a mighty care of vs. great is the ardour of theyr affection towards vs ; and all this for the honour they beare to that inestimable charity , where-with thou louest vs , for they loue them , whom thou louest ; they keepe them whom thou keepest , and they forsake them whom thou forsakest . nor doe they loue the workers of wickednes , because thou hatest all the workers of iniquity ; and destroys all them who speake lyes . as often as wee doe well , the angels ioy , and the deuills grieue . but as often as wee swarue from vertue , wee make the deuill glad , and wee depriue the angels of theyr ioy . for they haue ioy by one sinner , doeing pennance ; but the deuill hath ioy , when pennance is giuen ouer , by a good man. graunt them therefore , o father , graunt that they may euer reioyce concerning vs ; and that thou mayest euer be praysed by them , in vs ; and that both they , and wee , may be brought into one , & the same sheepfoulde ; that together wee may confesse to thy holy name , o thou creatour , both of men , and angels . whilest i am calling these things to minde before thee , i confesse to thee with prayse , that these are greate benefits , whereby thou hast honoured vs , whilest thou giuest thy spirits for angels , to assist vs. thou haddest already bestowed , whatsoeuer was contayned vnder the vaut of heauen , yea and thou reputest that as but little , which is contayned vnder heauen , vnles thou mayest also , add those things , which are aboue the heauens . lett all thy angels prayse thee also , for this , o lord ; let all thy workes also , confesse to thee ; and let all thy saints themselues blesse thee for it . o thou our supreame honour , thou hast too highly honored vs ; and thou hast beautifyed , and enriched vs with many guifts . thy name , o lord , is admireable ouer the whole earth . for what is man , that thou shouldest magnify him , or soe apply thy harte towards the loue of him . for thou , o auncient truth , hast sayd , my delight is to be which the sonnes of men . but yet , is not man rotennes , and the sonne of man a very worme ? is not euery man liueing , a kinde of vniuersality of vanity ? and yet dost thou thinke it worthy for thee , to cast thyne eyes vpon him , and to bring him with thee into iudgement ? chap. xxviii of the profound predestination , and prescience of god. teach mee , o thou most profound abysse , o thou wisedome , which art the creatrix of all things , which hast poysed the mountaines in weight , and the lesser hills in a ballance , and hast hung vp the whole bulke of the earth in three fingers . suspend thou towards thy selfe the weight of this corporall heauines which i carry about mee , in thy three inuisible fingers , that i may see and knowe , how admirable thy name is , ouer the whole earth . o thou light most auntient , which didest shine before all other light , in those holy hills of old eternity , to which all things were open and cleare , euen before they were made . o thou light , which hatest euery litle spott , thy selfe being most immaculate , and most pure , what delight canst thou take in man , and what agreement cann there be , betweene light and darkenes ? for where in fine is the ground of those delights which thou takest in man ? or how diddest thou prepare in mee , a sanctuary worthy of thy maiestie , into which when thou enterest , thou mayest take delight and gust ? for it is fitt , that thou , who art the very power which cleanseth all things , shouldest haue a cleane roome to be in ; thou who canst not be so much as seene , and much lesse possessed but by pure soules ? but where is this temple soe pure in any man , as that it may be fitt for the reception of thee , who rulest the whole world of men ? who can make a man cleane , he being conceiued of vncleane seede ? is it not thou who art onely cleane ? for who can be cleansed , by one who is himselfe vncleane ? for according to the lawe , which thou gauest to our fathers , in the fyre which burned the hill ; and in the cloud which couered the darke water , we are told , that whatsoeuer an vncleane man did touch , should be vncleane . but all wee , are as a menstruous cloath , proceeding out of an impure , & corrupted masse ; and wee cannot become cleane , vnles wee be cleansed by thee , who art onely cleane . and wee carry the marke of our impurity in our very fore-heads , and are farre from being able to conceale it from thee , who seest all things . soe that wee can neuer be cleane , vnles wee be cleansed by thee who art onely cleane . but amongst vs , who are the sonnes of men , thou cleansest some , in whome thou hast bene pleased to dwell . whome out of the inaccessible profound secrets of the incomprehensible iudgements of thy wisedome , ( which are euer iust , though secret ) thou hast beene pleased to predestinate without any merits of theyrs , before the world was made , and hast called them out of the world and hast iustefyed them in the world , and wilt magnify them after the world . but thou dost not this to all , which all the wise men of the earth doe wonder at , euen to amasement . and i also , o lord , whilest i consider this , doe all tremble , and am astonished , at the altitude of the riches of thy wisedome , and knowledge , and at the incomprehensible iudgements of thy iustice , to the reason whereof i cann noe way arriue . since out of the same clay thou designest some vessells to honour , & others to eternall reproach . such therefore as thy chusest out of many , to be a holy temple for thy selfe , them doest thou clense , powreing out pure water vpon them ; whose names and number thou knowest , who alone , dost number the multitude of the starres , and callest them all by they re names ; who are also written in the booke of life , and cann noe way perish ; to whome all things , yea euen they re very sinnes themselues , doe cooperate towards they re good . for when they fall , they are not bruised , because thou doest putt thy hand vnder them keeping all they re bones in such sorte , that noe one of them may be broken . but the death of sinners is most pernitious , of those i meane , whome before thou madest heauen and earth , thou diddest , according to the most profound abysse of thy iudgements , ( secret indeede but euer iust ) fore knowe , to eternall death . the number of whose names , as also of they re foule demerits , is with thee ; who hast numbered the sands of the sea , and hast measured the bottome of the abysse ; whome thou hast left in they re vncleanenes ; & in whome all things cooperate to theyr ill , yea euen they re very prayer is turned into sinne . soe farre forth as that although they should mount vp , as high as the skye , and they re heades should touch the very clouds , and should build theyr nest amongst the starres of heauen , they yet shall perish in the end , like a very dung hill . chap. xxix . of them who first were iust , and afterwards become wicked . greate are these iudgements of thyne , o lord my god , o thou iust and powerfull iudge , who iudgest according to equitie , and dost worke , and performe inscrutable things . which when i consider , all my bones doe euen shiuer with trembling , because noe man liueing vpon the earth can be secure . but wee must learne hereby , to serue thee piously , and purely all the dayes of our life ; exulting to thee with reuerence ; and that wee may not serue thee , without feare ; nor reioyce without trembling . and that neyther he , who is girt , nor vngirt , nor in fine , any creature of flesh and blood , may glory , but may be full of apprehension & horrour before thy face ; since noe man knoweth , whether he be worthy of loue , or hate , but all things are reserued in vncertainty for the future tyme. for we haue seene many , o lord , and wee haue also heard it from our elders , ( which certeinly i cannot call to mynde without much trembling , nor repeate without much feare ) who at the first , ascended after a sorte , vp to heauen , and did place they re nest , euen amongst the starrs ; & yet afterwards fell downe , to the very abysse ; and theyr soules grewe to be euen stupifyed in sinne . wee haue seene starres , fall downe from heauen , through the force of the dragons tayle , who strooke them : and others who lay prostrate vpon the dust of the earth , haue ascended vp by the helpe of thy hand , which raised them , after an admirable manner . we haue seene liueing men dy , & dead men raise againe to life ; and them , who walked amongst the sonnes of god , in the midest of those shineing stones of his temple , to haue mouldered away into nothing , like soe much durt . wee haue seene light , growe darke ; and againe , wee haue seene light proceede out of darkenes ; because the publicanes and harlots haue precedence of the naturall inhabitants in the kingdome of heauen , whilest the children of the same kingdome are cast out into exteriour darkenes . but how come all these things to passe , but onely , because they would needes ascend , into that mountayne , into which that first angel did goe vp , and came downe a deuill . but whom thou hast predestinated , them thou hast called , and sanctifyed , and clensed , that they may be a fitt habitation for thy maiestie , in whom , & with whom thou takest holy and pure delight , & in whom thou art pleased , and thou dost recreate they re youth . dwelling so with them in theyr memory , that they proue a holy temple for thee , which is a matter of much dignity and honour to our humanity . chap. xxx . that a faithfull soule is a sanctuary of god. the soule which thou hast created , not of thy self , but by thy word ; not of any elementary matter , but of nothing ; this soule which is rationall , intellectuall , spirituall , euer liueing , euer in motion , which thou hast stamped , with the light of thy countenance , and consecrated , by the vertue of thy baptisme , is made so capable of thy majesty , that it can onely be filled by thee , and by noe other . when it possesseth thee , the desire therof is fully satisfied : and there resteth then , noe more exteriourly which it can desire . but when it is found to desire any thing exteriourly , it is cleere , that it possesseth not thee interiourly ; vpon the haueing of whome , there remayneth nothing more to be desired . for since thou art the soueraigne and totall good , the soule which possesseth that totall good , can aske noe more . but if it desire not that totall good , it remaineth that it must desire some-what which is not that totall good , and which therefore cannot be that soueraigne good ; and consequently not god , but a creature . now , as long as it desires a creature , it is subiect to continuall hunger . for although it obtayne that of the creature , to which it pretendeth ; yet still it is not full , because nothing can fill it , but thou , according to whose image it is made . but thou doest onely fill them , who desire nothing els but thee ; and thou , o god makest such to be worthy of thee , and holy , blessed , immaculate , and in fine , thy freinds , as repute all things but dunge that they may gaine thee alone . for this is that beatitude , which thou hast bestowed on man. this is that honour , where-with thou hast honoured him , both amongst , and aboue all thy other creatures ; that thy name may be admirable , ouer all the earth . behold , o lord my god , supreame , most excellent , and omnipotent , i haue found that the place wherein thou dwellest , is the soule which thou created , after thyne owne image , and likenes , and which seeketh & desireth thee alone . for in that soule which seeketh or desireth thee not , thou doest not dwell . chap. xxxi . that god is not to be found , eyther by the exteriour or interiour senses . i haue wandred like a lost sheepe in exteriour thinges , seekeing thee who art interiour ; and i did putt my selfe vpon much labour , by seekeing thee without my selfe , who dwellest in mee , if indeede it be true , that i desire thee . i haue walked round about the streetes , and open places of the citty , of this world , in search of thee ; but i found thee not , because i did foolishly looke that abroade , which was within . i sent all my exteriour senses , as my ambassadours abroad , that soe i might seeke thee ; but i found thee not , because i sought thee ill . for i see , o my light , and my god , who hast illuminated mee , that i sought thee ill , by theyr meanes , because thou art within , and yet they scarce can tell how thou diddest enter . for the eyes will say , if he were not of some colour , he came not in , by vs. the eares say thus , if he made noe noise , he did not passe by vs. the nose saith , if he had no smell , i know nothing of him . the taste saith , if he had noe sauour , he entred not in by mee . the sense of touching also addeth , if it haue noe corpulency , there is noe cause , why you should interrogate mee . these kind of things , o my god , are not in thee ; and therefore the beauty of bodyes , or the order of tyme , or candour of light , or colour , or the concerts of sweete musicke , or whatsoeuer other thing of delightfull sound ; or the odour of flowers , & pretious oyntments , or other aromaticall odours : or hony , or manna , which is soe delightfull to the taste , or other things , which is soe amiable to be embraced , or touched ; or in fine any other obiect which are subiect to these senses of ours , are the things which i seeke , when i seeke my god. farre be it from mee , that i should beleiue these thing● to be my god , which are comprehended , by the sense of brute beasts . and yet neuertheles , when i seeke my god , i seeke a certayne light aboue all other light , which the eye doth not receaue ; and a certaine voyce beyond all voyces , which the eare doth not contayne ; a certayne odour , beyond odours , which the nose doth not apprehend ; a certain sweetenes , beyond all sweetenes , to which the taste doth not reach ; and a certain imbracement , beyond all imbracements , whereof the touch cannot iudge . for this light shineth where place doth not contayne ; this voyce soundeth , where the ayre doth not carry away , this odour giueth smell , where it is not scattered by any wynde ; this sauour giueth tast , where it is not diminished by being eaten ; this embracement is touched , where it cannot be diuorced . this is my god , and noe other can be compared to him . this doe i seeke , when i seeke my god ; and when i loue my god , i loue this . too late am i come to loue thee , o thou beauty which art soe auncient , and i so new ; too late am i come to loue thee . thou wert within , and i without ; & without i sought thee , and i rushed with deformity , vpon those things which thou madest fayre . thou wert with me , but i was not with thee . those things did keepe mee farre from thee , which yet had noe being at all , but onely in thee . for i raunged ouer all things in seekeing thee ; and for the loue of them , i lost my selfe . i asked the earth , if it were my god , and it told mee , noe ; and all things which are vpon the earth made the same confession . i asked the sea , and those abysses , and the creeping creatures which are therein & they answered , wee are not thy god , thou must looke him aboue vs. i asked the stable ayre , and the whole ayre , with all the inhabitants thereof , sayd , anaxinenes is deceyued , i am not thy god. i asked the heauen , the sunne and moone , and the starres ; and they sayd , neither are wee thy god. then i sayd to all them who stand about the doores of my flesh and blood , tell me somewhat of my god , which you knowe ; tell me some-what , i say , of him . and they all cryed out , with a loude voyce , he made vs. then i sayd thus to the whole bulke of the world , tell mee whether thou be my god , or noe : and it answered also thus , with a loud voyce : i am not thy god , but i am by him . he made mee , whom thou seekest in mee . seeke him aboue mee , for he gouerneth mee , who made thee . by the question which i aske of these inanimate creatures , i meane nothing , but a profound consideration of them ; and by my sayeing that they make such or such an answere i meane , but the attestation which in in they re seuerall kindes they make of god. for they all cry out in this manner , it is god who made vs. for as the apostle saith , the inuisible things of god are discerned and vnderstood , by considering the creatures of this world . then i returned to my selfe , and i entered into my selfe , and sayd , who art thou ? and i answered my selfe thus . a man rational and mortall . and i begun to discusse , what this might be , and i sayd ; whence cometh such a liueing creature , o lord my god ? vvhence , but from thee , who madest me , & not i my selfe . vvho art thou then by whome i liue ; thou by whome all things liue . vvho art thou ? thou o lord art my true god , and onely omnipotent , and eternall , and incomprehensible , and immense , who euer liuest , and nothing dyeth in thee , for thou art immortall , and dost inhabite eternity . thou art admirable in the eyes of angells , vnspeakable , inscrutable , and vnnameable ; thou art the true , and liueing god , terrible , and powerfull , admittinge in thy selfe , nether beginning , nor end , but being both the beginning , and end of all things , who art before the first ages , and before the very first beginnings of them all . thou art my god , and the lord of all those good things , which thou hast created , and with thee doe stand the causes of all things which are stable ; yea and the beginning of all things , which in themselues be mutable , are yet , and doe remayne immutable with thee ; and the reasons of all things , not onely which are eternall , and rationall , but euen of such as are temporary and irrationall , doe yet liue eternally with thee : tell o my god , this humble seruant of thyne ; tell , ô mercifull god , this miserable creature of thine whence groweth such a creature as man , but from thee ? o god is man perhaps of skill enough to make himself ? is his beeing , and liueing , deriued from any roore but thee ? art not thou , the supreme beeing , from whome all beeing doth proceede ? for whatsoeuer is , is of thee , and nothing is without thee ? art not thou that fountayne of life , from which all life doth flowe ; for whatsoeuer liueth , liues by thee , and without thee nothing liues ? therefore thou , ô lord , diddest make all things , and now do i aske , who made mee ? thou ô lord diddest make mee , without whome nothing was made . thou art my maker , and i am thy worke . i giue thee thankes , ô lord my god , by whome i liue , and by whome all things liue , for haueing made mee . i giue thee thankes , ô thou my framer , because thy hands haue made , and faschioned mee . i giue thee thankes , ô thou my light , because thou hast illuminated mee , and i haue found both thee , and my selfe . where i found my selfe , there i knewe my selfe ; where i found thee there i knewe thee ; & where i knewe thee , there thou didest illuminate mee . i giue thee thankes , o thou my light ; because thou hast illuminated mee . but what is that , which i sayd , when i affirmed i knewe thee . art not thou god incomprehensible , and immense , the king of kings , and lord of lords , who onely possessest immortality , and dost inhabite an inaccessible light , whome , noe man hath euer seene or can see . art not thou that hidden god of inscrutable maiesty , the onely perfect knower , and admirable contemplator of thy selfe ? who did euer perfectly knowe that , which he neuer sawe , and thou hast sayd in thy truth , noe man shall see mee and liue . thy apostle did also say , in the truth , noe man did euer see god. vvho hath therefore knowen , that which he neuer sawe ? thy truth also it selfe hath sayd , noe man knoweth the sonne , but the father ; and noe man knoweth the father , but the sonne . the holy trinity , is perfectly knowen to it selfe alone ; and that knowledge farre passeth the vnderstanding of man. vvhat is therefore that , which i sayd , i who am a man made all of vanity , in saying i knowe thee . for who knoweth thee , but thou thy selfe ? for thou alone , art god omnipotent , superlaudable , and superglorious , and superexalted , and supreme ; and thou art named superessentiall , in these most holy , and most diuine scriptures . because thou dost exceede all essence , which is intelligibile , or intellectuall , and sensible . and thou art knowen to be aboue all the names , which can be named ; and that not onely in this world , but in the future , superessentially , and superintelligibly . because , by this hidden and superessentiall diuinity , thou doest dwell within thy selfe , inaccessibly , and inscrutably beyond all created reasō vnderstanding , and essence . vvhere there is an inaccessible brightnes , & an inscrutable , vnspeakable , and incomprehensible light , to which noe other light arryues ; because it it beleeued to bee incontemplable , and inuisible , and superrationall , and superintelligible , and superinaccessible , & superunchaungeable , and superincommunicable ; which noe angell euer did see , or euer shall be able to see perfectly . this is that heauen of thine , o lord , that heauen of the heauens , that supersecret , superintelligibile , superrationall , and superessentiall light , whereof it is sayd , the heauen of the heauens to our lord. the heauen of the heauens ; in respect whereof , these other materiall heauens , are but a kinde of earth , because that former heauen is superadmireably exalted , aboue all materiall heauene , and the empireall heauen it self , is but as earth in respect of it . for this is that heauen of the heauens to our lord ; because it is not knowen by any but by our lord , to which noe men ascendeth , but he who descended from heauen ; because noe man knoweth the father , but the sonne , and the holy spirit of them both ; and noe man knoweth the sonne , but the father , and the holy spirit of them both . thou , o trinity , art entirely knowen to thy self alone . holy trinity , truly superadmireable , superinessable , superinscrutable , superinaccessible , superincomprehensible , superintelligible , superessentiall ; and superessentially surpassing all sense , and reason , all vnderstanding , all intelligence , all essence , euen of the most supercelestiall mindes ; which it is wholy impossible , euen for the spirit of angells to speake of , or to knowe it , or to vnderstand it , or euen to thinke perfectly thereof . how therefore haue i knowen thee , o lord my god , who art most high , ouer all the earth , and aboue all the heauens ; whome nether cherubin , nor seraphin , doe exactly knowe , but they re faces are vayled with the wings of theyr contemplation , before him , who sitteth vpon that high imperiall throne ; cryeing out , and sayeing , holy ; holy , holy lord god of hoasts , the earth is full of thy glory as for thy prophet , he was all in trembling , and he sayd , woe be vnto mee , for i haue held my peace ; because i am a man of polluted lipps . but my harte hath quaked , and sayd woe be vnto me , who am a man of polluted lipps ; because i haue not held my peace , but sayd , that i knewe thee . and yet o lord , woe be to them who are silent concerning thee . for the greatest talkers may be accounted but dumbe , if they doe not speake of thee . and as for me o lord my god , i will not be silent concerning thee , because thou hast made mee , and i haue therefore knowne thee , because thou hast illuminated me . but yet how haue i knowen thee ? i haue knowen thee in thy selfe . yet i haue no knowen thee in thy selfe , as thou art to thy selfe ; but i haue knowen thee , as thou art to mee . but yet howsoeuer , it is not without thee , but in thee ; because thou art the light which hast illuminated mee . for as thou art to thy selfe , thou art onely knowen to thy selfe ; but as thou art to mee by thy mercy and grace , thou art knowen to mee . but what art thou vnto mee ? tel me o mercifull lord , who am thy miserable seruant ; tell me by thy mercy , what thou art to mee . say to my soule , i am thy saluation . doe not hide thy face from mee ; lest if thou doe , i dye . suffer me to speake ; me ; who am dust , and ashes ; suffer me to speake to thy mercy . for thy mercy towards mee is greate , and i will presume to speake to thee , though i be but dust and ashes . tell mee who am thy supplyant ; say o mercifull lord to thy miserable creature ; say , by thy mercyes , what thou art to mee . and thou hast thundered downe , with a mighty voyce , vpon the inward eare of my hart , and thou hast broken through my deafenes , and i haue heard thy voyce . and thou hast illuminated my blindenes , and i haue seene thy light , and haue knowen that thou art my god. it is therefore that i sayd , that i haue knowen thee . for i haue knowen , that thou art my god. i haue knowen that thou art the onely true god , and iesus christ whome thou hast sent . for thrre wat a time , when i knewe thee not , bu , woe be to that time , when i knew not tgee . woe be to that blindenes , when i sawe not thee . woe be to that deafnes , when a heard not thee . for being blinde , & deafe , i did rush , with great deformity , vpon those things , which yet thou had dest made fayre ; and thou wert still with mee but i was not with thee . and those things kept mee farre from being with thee , which yet , if they had not bene in thee , could haue had noe beeing at all . thou diddest illuminat mee , o thou light of the world , and i saw thee , and i loued thee . and indeede , noe man loueth thee , but he who sees thee ; and noe man sees thee , but he who loues thee , too late am i come to loue thee , o thou beauty , which art so auntient , and yet so new . too late am i come to loue thee ; and woe be to that time , when i loued thee not . chap. xxxii . a confession of true faith . i giue thankes , o thou who art my light , because thou hast illuminated mee , and i haue knowen thee . how haue i knowen thee ? i haue knowen thee to be the onely liueing god , and my true creatour . i haue knowen thee to bee the creator of heauen , & earth , of all things visible , and inuisible ; to be the true , omnipotent god , immortall , inuisible , vncircumscribed , vnlimited , eternall , inaccessible , incomprehensible ; inscrutable ; vnchangeable , immense , infinite , the first beginning of all , both visible , & inuisible creatures by whome all things are made , and by whome all the elements subsist . whose maiestie , as it neuer had any beginning , soe neither shall it end , for all eternity . i haue knowen thee to be one onely true god , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost ; three persons indeede , but one essence , and the same , wholly , simple , and vndiuided nature . and that the father is of none ; that the sonne is onely of the father ; and that the holy ghost , is iointly of them both ; euer without beginning , and for euer to be without ending , to be trine , and onely one ; and that , the true omnipotent god. that thou art that one beginning of all things , and the creatour of all things , both visible and inuisible , spirituall and temporall ; who by thy omnipotent vertue , diddest , in the beginning of tyme , create both the spirituall and corporall creature ; that is to say the angells in heauen , and the fabricke of the world , and then thou madest man , as being compounded both of body and soule . i haue knowen thee , and i doe confesse thee , o god the father , to be vnbegotten ; and thee o god the sonne , to be begotten of the father , and thee o holy ghost , the paraclete to be neither begotten , nor vnbegotten , and i beleiue with my harte to iustice , and i confesse with my mouth to saluatiō , the holy and indiuiduall trinity , in three persons , coequall , consubstantiall , and coeternall , trinity in vnity , and vnity in trinity . i haue knowen thee the true god and our lord iesus christ , to be the onely begotten sonne of god , the creatour , the sauiour and the redeemer of mee . and all mankinde , whome i confesse to haue bene begotten of the father , before all ages god of god , light of light , true god of true god , not made but begotten , consubstantiall , & coeternall with the father , and the holy ghost by whome all things were made , from the beginning . and i beleiue firmely , and confesse truely . that thou o iesus christ , the onely begotten god , wert incarnate , ioyntly by the holy trinity for the saluation of man ; and that thou wert conceiued , through the cooperation of the holy ghost , by the perpetuall vithin mary , and that thou wert made true man , consisting of a reasonable soule and humane flesh . who being the onely begotten of god , and consequently both impassible , and immortall , yea for the great loue , wherewith thou louest vs , thou being still the same sonne of god , wert yet , according to thy humanity , made both passible , & mortall ; who being the onely sonne of god , diddest voutchafe to suffer passion , and death , vpon the tree of the crosse , for the saluation of mankinde , to the end that thou mightest deliuer vs from eternall death . and being the author of light , thou diddest descend to hell , where our fore-fathers satt in darkenes . and the third day , being a glorious conquerer , thou diddest rise vp , from the dead , resumeing thy sacred body , which had lyen dead in the sepulchre ; for our sinnes ; and thou diddest quicken it , the third day , according to the scriptures ; that thou mightest place it , at the right hand of thy father . for haueing ledd with thee , out of captiuitie , them whom our auntient enemy , the enemy , of all mankinde , had captiued in hell , thou being the true sonne of god , didest ascend aboue all the heauens , with the substance of our nature ; that is to say both with thy soule , and that humaine flesh , which thou haddest taken , of the glorious virgin. and thou diddest surpasse all the quyers of angels , where thou sittest at the right hand of thy father ; and where that fountayne of life is , and that inaccessible light , and that peace of god , which passeth all vnderstanding . there doe wee adore , and belieue thee , o iesus christ to be true god and man ; confessing , that thou hast god for thy father , and that from heauen wee expect thee , to come as iudge in the end of the world , to iudge the quicke and the dead ; that thou mayest render eyther reward or punishment to all men , eyther good or badd , according to those workes , which they shall haue wrought in this life , that soe they may be eyther in rest , or eternall misery . for all those creatures who haue receiued a humane soule into that flesh , which here they haue carryed about them , shall rise at that day , in the voyce of thy strength , to the end that the whole man may receyue , eyther glory or torments , according to his merits . thou art that life and resurrection it selfe , whom wee expect to be our sauiour iesus christ our lord , who will reforme this poore meane body of ours , by conformeing it to the body of his clarity . i haue knowen thee also to be true god , o thou one holy spirit of the father and the sonne , proceding iointly from them both , to be consubstantiall and eternall with the father and the sonne , to be our paraclete and aduocate , who diddest also descend in the shape of a doue , vpon the same god iesus christ our lord , and diddest appeare vpon the apostles in tongues of fyre . who also from the beginning , hast taught all the elect & saints of god , by the gifte of thy grace ; and hast opened the mouth of the prophets , that they might relate wounderful things of the kingdome of god ; & who . together with the father & the sonne , art adored , and glorifyed by all the saints of god. amongst whome i also , who am the sonne of thy handmayd , doe glorify thy name , with my whole harte , because thou hast illuminated mee . for thou art that reall light , that light which tells vs truth , the fyre of god , the doctour of soules ; the very spirit of truth , which teacheth vs all truth , by thy vnction ; without which , it is impossible for vs to please god. for thou thy self , art god of god , and light of light , proceeding from the father of lights , and from his sonne our lord iesus christ , after an ineffable manner ; with whome thou , being coequall , and coeternall , art glorifyed , and dost raigne ioyntly with them superessentially , in the essence of the same trinity . i haue knowen thee , my one , liueing , and true god , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost , three in persons , but one in essence ; whome i confesse , adore , and glorify with my whole harte , as my onely true , holy , immortall , inuisible , vnchaungeable , and vnscrutable god ; that one light , one sunne , one bread , one life , one good , one beginning , one end , one creatour of heauen and earth , by whome all things liue , by whome all things subsist , by whome all things are gouuerned , ordered , and quickened which are in heauē , on the earth , and vnder the earth ; and besides whome , there is noe god , either in heauen , or in earth ▪ i haue knowen thee , by thy faith , wherewith thou hast inspired mee , o thou my light , and the sight of myne eyes , o lord my god , the hope of all the ends of the earth ; the ioy which doth recreat my youth , and the good which strēgtheneth my age . for in thee o lord , do all my bones excessiuely reioyce , and say , o lord who is like to thee . who amongst the gods is like thee , o lord. not they who are made by the hands of men but thou by whome the hands of men are made . the idolls of the gentiles are gold , and siluer , the worke of mens hands . but soe is not the maker of men . all the gods of the nations , are deuills ; but our lord made the heauens ; and this lord is god. as for those gods , who made not heauen , and earth , let them perish , both from heauen and earth but let heauen and earth , blesse that god , who made heauen and earth . chap. xxxiii of the confession of our owne basenes . who , o lord , is like thee among the gods ? who is like thee , o thou who art magnificent in thy sanctity , who art terrible & laudable , and doeing wonderfull things ? too late i come to knowe thee , o thou true light ; too late am i come to knowe thee . but there was a greate and darke cloude before these vayne , eyes of myne ; soe that i could not see the sunne of iustice , and the light of truth . i was wrapped vp in darkenes , my selfe being the childe of darkenes , and this darkenes of myne , i loued , because i did not knowe the light . i was blinde , and i loued blindenes , and by darkenes i walked on , to further darkenes . who brought me out from thence , where i , blinde creature , was sitting in darkenes , and in the shadow of death ; who tooke mee by the hand , and led me out ; vvho was he , that did illuminate mee ? i sought not him , but he sought me ? i called not vpon him , and he cryed out vpon mee ? but who is he that did all this it is thou o lord my god , the father of mercyes , and the god of all consolations ; it is thou o holy lord and my god , whome i confesse with my whole harte , giueinge thankes to thy name . i sought not thee , but i was sought by thee . i inuoked not thee , and thou calledest mee . thou calledst mee by thine owne name ; thou diddest thunder thus downe into the inward eare of my harte , with this mighty voyce , let light be made , and light was made , and that greate cloud flew away ; that darke thicke cloud , was dissolued which had closed vp myne eyes and i sawe thy light , and i knew thy voyce , and i sayd o lord that thou indeed art my god , who hast drawen mee out of darkenes , and out of the shadow of death ; and thou hast called me into thy admireable light , and behold i see . thankes be giuē to thee o thou who art the illuminator of my soule . and i looked backe , and sawe the darkenes wherein i had bene , and that profound blacke pitt wherein i had lyen ; and i did all quake , and shiuer , and i said , woe woe be to that darkenes , wherein i lay . woe , woe be to that blindenes , wherin i was not able to see the light of heauen . vvoe , woe to that former ignorance of myne , when i had noe knowldege of thee o lord. but i giue thee thanks , o thou my illuminator , and deliuerer , because thou hast illuminated mee , and i haue knowen thee . yet still i am come too late , to knowe thee , o thou antient truth ; too late i am come to knowe thee , o thou eternall truth . thou wert in the light , and i in darkenes and i knew thee not because i could not be illuminated , without thee ; nor indeede without thee , is there any light at all . chap. xxxiv . a consideration of the diuine maiestie . o thou holy of holyes thou god of inestimable maiestie , the god of god , and the lord of lords . who art admirable , inexplicable , and vnconceiuable ; before whome the angelicall power of heauen , doe euen shiuer , whome the thrones , and dominations doe adore , and in whose presence all the vertues of heauen doe euen quake ; of whose power and wisedome there is noe number , who hast layd the foundations of the whole world vpon nothing , who hast tyed vp the sea , as if it were in some skinne , who art most omnipotent , most holy , and the most powerfull god ouer all the spirits of all mankinde . from whose sight the heauen and earth doe fly away ; to whose becke all the elements are subiect , let all thy creatures adore and glorify thy name . and i , the sonne of thy handmayd , doe by faith bowe downe the necke of my harte , vnder the feete of thy maiestie , presenting thee with thankes , for that thou hast voutchsafed to illuminate mee by thy mercy . true light , holy light , delightfull light , admirable light , superlaudable light , which illuminateth euery man comeing into this world , and the eyes also of the angels . behold , now i see , and i thanke thee for it . behold i see the light of heauen ; there is a beame which striketh brightly downe , from the face of thy light , vpon the eyes of my mynde , and it filleth all the powers of my soule , with ioy . but o , that once it might be perfected in mee . encrease i beseech thee , o thou author of light , encrease i beseech thee , that which soe brightly striketh through , vpon mee . let this light be dilated , i beseech thee , let it be dilated by thee . what is this , which i feele : what fyre is this which heates any harte ; what fyre is this whereby my harte is stroken through with beames ? o fyre which euer burnest , and art neuer quenched , doe thou kindle mee . o light , which doest euer shine , and art neuer darkened , doe thou enlighten mee . o how very fayne , would i been flamed by thee ? o holy fyre , how sweetely doest thou heate , how secretly doest thou shine , and how delightfully dost thou burne ? woe be to them who doe not burne by thee . vvoe be to them which are not illuminated by thee . o thou light which teachest truth to men , illuminating all the world , which is filled by the beames thereof . vvoe be to those blinde eyes , which see not thee , thou being the sunne , illuminating both heauen and earth . vvoe be to those weake , and daseling eyes , which cannot looke on thee . vvoe be to those eyes , which turne themselues away from seeing truth ; and woe be to those eyes , which doe not turne them selues away , for feare least they behold vanity . for eyes , which are acustomed to darkenes , haue not strength wherewith to behold the beames of soueraigne truth ; nor can they make any true iudgment of light , whose habitation is wont to be in darkenes . they see darkenes , they allow of darkenes , they loue darkenes ; and soe , goeing from darkenes to darkenes , they fall headlong , and they knowe not where . miserable creatures they are , who knowe not what they loose ; though yet more miserable are they , who knowe what they loose , and who yet fall with open eyes , and dropp downe quicke , into hell. o most blessed light , which canst not be beheld , but by eyes , which are pure , and wholly purged , blessed are the pure of harte for they shall see god. doe thou clense mee , o thou clensing power ; cure my sight , that i may contemplate thee , with strong eyes . for they are none but strong eyes , which can looke on thee : putt away i beseech thee , o thou inaccessible splendour , the skales of that auntient mistynes , by the beame of thy illumination , that soe i may be able to looke on thee , with certayne casts of my eye , which may not be checked , and beaten back , and that i may see light in thy light i giue thee thankes , o my light , for behold now i see . i beseech thee o lord , that it may be spred abroade by thee . vnuayle myne eyes , that i may consider the wonderfull things of thy lawe , thou who art wonderfull in thy saints . i giue thee thankes , o my light , for behold i see ; though as yet it be but by a representation , as in a glasse : but when will it be face to face ? when will that day of ioy , and exultation arryue , when i may enter into the place of that admireable tabernacle , the very house of god , that so face to face , i may see him , who seeth mee , and so my desire may be fullfilled . chap. xxxv . of the desire and thirst of a soule towards god. as the harte desireth the fountaynes of water , soe doth my soule thirst after thee , o god. my soule hath thirsted after thee o god , who art the liueing fountayne ; when shall i come and appeare before thy face ? o thou fountayne of life , thou vayne of liueing waters , when shall i arriue to those waters of thy sweetnes , from this barren vnhaunted , and dry earth , that i may see thy power , and thy glory , and that i may appease my thirst , by the waters of thy mercy . i thirst o lord , o thou fountayne of life , satisfy mee , for i thirst : o lord , i thirst towards thee , who art the liueing god. when o lord shall i approache , and appeare before that face of thyne ? doest thou thinke that at length , i shall see that day ; that day i say of delight and ioy ; that day which our lord hath made , to the end that wee may reioyce , and exult therein ? o sweete , and beautifull day , which hath noe euening , and whose sunne hath nothing to doe with setting ; wherein i shall heare the voyce of prayse , the voyce of exultation and confession , wherein i shall heare this word , enter into the ioy of thy lord ; enter into eternall ioy , into the house of thy lord , and thy god , where there are greate , and vnsearcheable , and wounderfull things , whereof there is noe number . enter into ioy , without sorrow , which containeth eternall ioy : where all good shall be , without any kind of euill . where whatsoeuer thou wilt haue , shall be , and where nothing shall be which thou wilt not haue . where there will be a life , which is vitall , sweete , amiable , and eternall : where there will be noe enemy assaulting , nor noe false delight allureing ; but a supreame , and certayn security , secure tranquillity , a quiet ioy , a ioyfull felicity , a happy eternity , and eternall beatitude ; a blessed trinity , a trine vnity , a sole deity , & a happy vision of that deity , which is the ioy of thy lord and thy god. o ioy vpon ioy , ioy which excelleth all ioy ; & without which there is noe ioy ; when shall i enter into thee , that i may see my god , who dwelleth in thee , that soe i may there partake of this greate vision . what is it which deteyneth mee ? vvoe be vnto mee , because my habitation here is perlonged . vvoe be vnto mee , and how long shall it be sayd to mee , where is thy god ? how long shall it be sayd to me , expect , and reexpect . but now what shall i expect ? is it not thee , o lord my god ? vvee expect a sauiour , our lord iesus christ , who will reforme this poore meane body of ours , and conforme it to the body of his glory : wee expect when our lord returneth from the marriage , that he may carry vs in , with him . come lord , and doe not stay . come o lord iesus christ ; come visit vs in peace ; come , and carry vs out , who are bound in prison , that wee may reioyce before thee with a perfect harte . come , o thou sauiour , come thou who art the desired of all nations ; doe but let vs see thy face , and wee are safe . come my light , and my redeemer , lead my soule out of this prison , that i may confesse to thy holy name . how long shall i , wretched creature , be tossed vp and downe , in these waues of my mortality , cryeing out vpon thee , o lord , whilest thou hearest mee not . harken to mee , o lord , who am cryeing to thee out of this deepe sea , and waft mee into the hauen of eternall blisse , to theyr society , who being conducted out of this dangerous sea , haue obtayned to repose in that most safe harbour , which is thy selfe , o god. o how truely happy are they , who be deliuered from that sea to the shore , from banishment to their country , and from the prison to the pallace . happy are they , who in theyr desired place of rest , are eternally to reioyce , for haueing soe with such prosperous ioy obtayned that prize of eternall glory , towards which they here made they re course , through such a multitude of tribulations . o how truely happy are they , o thrice , and three thousand tymes happy , who being freed from all misery , and being secure in the possession of that inuiolable glory , haue deserued to arryue to that kingdome of order and delight . o eternall kingdome , kingdome which out liueth all ages ; where there is a light which neuer fayleth , and a peace which passeth all vnderstanding ; where the soules of the saincts repose ; and eternall ioy hāgeth ouer theyr heads . for they shall obtaine delight , and exultation : and greif , and sorrow , shall fly away . how glorious , o lord , is that kingdome , wherein all thy saints shall for euer reigne with thee , being cladd with light , as with a garment ; and heauing a crowne of pretious stone , vpon theyr heads . o kingdome of eternall beatitude , where thou o lord , who art the hope of the saints , and the diademe of theyr glory , art beheld by them , face to face ; delighting them on all sides , with thy peace , which passeth all vnderstanding . vvhere there is infinite ioy without greif ; health without payne workeing without labour , light without darkenes , life without death , all good without any ill . vvhere youth neuer waxeth old ; where life neuer cometh to an end ; where beauty is neuer diminished ; where loue is neuer weakened ; where health is neuer blasted , where ioy is neuer impayred , where payne is neuer felt , where groane is neuer heard ; where sadnes is neuer seene ; where ioy is euer had ; where noe euill is feared , because the souueraigne good is possessed there , which consists in euer seeing the face of our lord the god of all strength . happy therefore are they , who haue obtayned to come to soe greate ioye , out of this life , where so many shipwrakes are suffered . and o , vnhappy and wretched creatures wee , who are steereing our ships , through the floods of this great sea , & through these stormy whirlepooles , not knoweing whether or no wee shall be able to arryue , to the porte of saluation . miserable , i say , wee are , whose life is spent in banishement , and whose way in daunger , and whose end in doubt , for wee knowe not our end , because all things are reserued in suspense , for the future . vvee are still tossed , in these sea-waues aspireing to thee , who art the hauen . o thou country of ours , wee see thee , though it be from farre of , vvee salute thee from this sea ; wee sigh to thee , from this valley , and wee striue with teares , if perhaps wee may be able to get thither . o christ , thou god of gods , thou hope of mankinde , thou refuge and strength of ours , whose light , like some beame of the sea starre , doth strike our eyes , from farre of , amongst the foggy mists and tempests of this sea , wherein wee liue ; that soe our course may be directed to thee , who art our hauen ; gouerne , i beseech thee , our ship , with thy right hand , by the instrument of thy crosse ; that wee may not perish in these floods , that the stormes of water , may not drowne vs ; that the profound pitt may not swallow vs vp ; but drawe vs out of this sea , to thee , who art our onely solace , whome wee see with our lamenting eyes , to be expecting vs , though from farre of , vpon the shore of that celestiall country , as it might be some sunne of iustice , or morneing starre . behould wee cry out to thee , who are redeemed by thee , and who are now those exiles of thine , whom thou hast redeemed , with thy pretious blood . harken to vs , o our sauiour , the hope of all the sands of the sea , how farre soeuer it be of . wee are tossed in this turbulent sea , and thou standing vpon the shore , doest see our dangers , and saue vs for thy names sake . graunt to vs o lord , that wee may hold soe euen away , betweene sylla , and caribdis , that haueing escaped the danger of them both , wee may securely , arriue in the port , with our ship , and our aduenture safe . chap. xxxvi . of the glory of our celestiall country when therefore we shall be come to thee , o thou foūtaine of wisedome , to thee o indeficient light , to thee , o thou who art the splendour , which cannot be defaced , that we may then behould thee , not by representation , as in a glasse , but face to face : then shall our desire be fully satisfyed with good things ; because no other thing will remayne to be desired by vs , when we shall possesse thee , o lord our soueraigne good , who art to be the reward of the blessed , and the diademe of they re glorye , and the sempiternall ioy , which hangeth ouer theyr heads ; possessing them , both inwardly , & outwardly in that peace of thyne , which passeth all vndestanding . there shall wee see , and loue , and praise . wee shall see light , in thy light , because with thee is the fountaine of life , and in thy light , wee shall see light . but what kinde of light ? an immense light , an incorporeall , incorruptible , and incomprehensible light ; a light indefcient , a light which cannot bee put out , an inaccessible light , an vncreated light , a light which sheweth truth ▪ a diuine light , which illuminateth the eyes of angells , which reioyceth the youth of saints , which is a light of lights , and the fountaine of life , which is thy selfe , o lord my god. for thou art that light , in whose light wee shall see thy self , who art that light ; hat is to say , thee , in thee ; in the splendour of thy countenance , when wee shall see thee , face to face . what is it to see face to face , but as the apostle sayth , to knowe thee , as i am knowen , to knowe thy truth , & thy glory , is to knowe thee face to face . to knowe the power of the father the , wisedome of the sonne , the meekenes , of the holy ghost ; the one and indiuiduall essence , of the supreme trinity . for to see the face of the liueing god , is to possesse the soueraigne good . it is the ioy of the angells , and of all the saints ; the reward of eternall life , the glory of spirites , the eternall ioy , the crowne of beauty , the prize of felicity , the rich repose , the beauty of peace , the internall , and externall ioy ; the celestiall ierusalem , the paradise of god , the happy life , the fullnes of felicity , the delight of eternity , the peace of god which passeth all vnderstanding . this is that full beatitude , and that totall glorification of man , to see the face of his god ; to see him who made heauen and earth , to see god who made him , who saued him , and who glorifyed him . he shall see him by knoweing him , he shall apply himselfe to him , by loueing hym ; and he shall praise him , by possessing him . for he is the inheritance of his people , of the people of saints , of the people which he redeemed . he is the possession of they re felicity , he is the reward , & recompence of they re expectation . i will , sayth he , be a great , and excessiue reward to thee . for great things become great persons . indeed o lord my god , thou art excessiuely great , beyond all gods , and thy reward is excessiuely greate . for it cannot be true , that thy self should be great , and thy reward litle : but as thou art great so thy reward is great for thy reward , and thy self , are not two seuerall things . but thou thy self artexcessiuely great , and thou thy self , art that reward , which is soe excessiuely great , thou thy self , art he , who crowneth vs , & who art the crowne ; thou thy self art he , who maketh the promise , and who art that very promise it selfe ; thou art he who bestowest the guift , and who art the guift it self ; thou thy self art the rewarder , and thou art the reward of eternall felicity . thou art therefore he , who crowneth , and thou , o my god , art the crowne , and diademe of my hope which is ad orned with glory . thou art that recreatiue brightnes , that reuiuing light , that gracefull beauty , thou art my great hope , the desire of the harte of thy saints , and desired by them . thy vision therefore is the totall pay , the totall reward , & the totall ioy , which wee expect . for this is eternall life ; this i say , is thy wisedome , this is eternall life , that wee may knowe thee , onely true god. and iesus christ , whome thou hast sent . vvhen therefore wee shall see thee , the only god , the true god , the god liuing , omnipotent , simple , inuisible , incomprehensible , not to be circumcribed , and thy onely begotten sonne iesus christ our lord who is consubstantiall , and coeternall , with thee , whome thou hast sent into the world for our saluation , in the vertue , and power of the holy ghost , they being trine in persons , and one in essence ; one onely holy god , besides whome there is noe god , then , wee shall enioy , what now wee seeke , which is eternall life , and euerlasting glory , which thou preparest for them , who loue thee , and hidest vp for them who feare thee , and wilt impart to them who seeke thee , them who seeke thy face for euer . and thou o lord my god , who framedst mee , in the wombe of my mother , who recommended mee ouer to thy hand , do not permit mee any longer to be distracted into many thinges , from thee , who art one . but gather mee vp from exteriour obiects into my self , and then take mee from my self into thee ; that my hart may be euer saying to thee , my face hath sougt thee o lord , & i will seeke thy face ; the face of our lord power wherein alone of the totall eternall glory of blessed soules , doth consist ; & the vision whereof is the eternall life & euerlasting glory of the ss t s , let therefore my hart reioyce , that it may feare thy name ; let the hart of such as doe but euen seeke our lord , reioyce ; but much more let them reioyce , who finde him . for if ioy be taken in the search of him , what ioy will that be , which is felt in findeing him . therfore i will be euer seeking thy face ardently . and without giueing ouer ; to see if once at length that doore and gate of iustice , may perhaps bee opened vnto mee , that i may enter into the ioy of my lord. this is the gate of our lord , and the iust shall enter into it . chap. xxxvii . a prayer to the blessed trinity . o you three , coequall , and coeternall persons , who are one true god , the father , the sonne and the holy ghost ; thou who alone , dwellest in eternity , and inaccessible light . who hast layd the foundations of the earth with thy power ; and who gouernest the world with thy wisedome , holy , holy , holy , lord god of sabaoth , terrible and powerfull , iust and mercifull , admireable , laudable . and amiable . one god three persons , one essence , power , wisedome ; one onely vndeuided trinity ; open thou the gates of iustice to mee who am crying out after them ; and being once entered by them , i will confesse to thee o lord. behold , i , who am a poore begger , doe knocke at thy doore . o thou who art the soueraigne master of the house , command that it may be opened to me thou who say dest , knocke , and it shall be opened to you . for the desires of my bowells which do euen roare againe ; and the cryes of the teares of myne eyes , are they , who knocke at thy gate , o most mercifull father . before thee , is my whole desire , and my groanes are not hidden from thee . and thou o lord , turne thy face noe longer away from mee ; and decline not in thy wrath , from thy seruaunt . o thou father of mercyes , hearken to the loud crye of thy poore childe , and reach forth thy best helping hand ; that it may drawe me out of the profound pitts of water , and out of the lake of misery , and out of the durt , and dregs ; that i may not perish , whilest the mercy of thyne eyes , is beholding mee ; and the charity of thy bowells is lookeing on . but enable mee , to escape to thee , who art my lord , and my god , that i may see the riches of thy kingdome ; and may behold thy face for euer , and may sing prayse to thy holy name . o lord thou who workest wonderfull things , thou who makest my hart ioyfull by the memory of thee , and who illuminatest my youth , doe not despise my old age ; but fill my bones full of ioy , and renew my grey heires , as that of an eagle is renued . all glory , all prayse , all strength , all power , all magnificence ; all beatitude , all mercy , be ascribed to god the father , and the sonne , and the holy ghost . amen . the end of the soliloquia . deo gratias . the manvall of s. avgvstine . the first chapter . of the wonderfull essence of god. thov o lord , dost fill heauen & earth ; carrying all things , and yet they are no burthen to thee . thou fillest all thinges , without being shut vp by them . thou art euer working , yet euer quiet ; gathering togeather , yet thou needest nothing ; seeking , yet wanting nothing ; louing , yet without passion ; iealous , yet without feare . thou repentest , yet thou art not sory ; thou art angry , yet thou art not moued ; thou changest thy workes , yet thou dost not change thy decree . thou takest what thou findest , yet thou dist neuer loose any thing ; thou art not poore , and yet thou exactest vsury at our hands ; thou payest them , to whom thou owest nothing ; and we are enabled by thee , to pay thee more then we owe thee , and yet who hath any thing , but of thy guift ? thou payest thy debtes , and yet thou owest nothing ; thou releasest our debtes , and yet thou loosest nothing ; thou art euery where , and yet altogether ; thou canst be felt , and yet thou canst not be seene ; thou art no where absent , and yet thou art farre from the harts of wicked men . for thou art not absent euen when thou art farre off , because where thou art not by grace , thou art by reuenge ; thou art present euery where , and yet we can hardly find thee out ; we follow thee who art standing still , and yet we are not able to lay hold on thee ; thou contaynest all things , thou fillest all thinges , thou imbracest all thinges , thou exceedest all thinges , and thou sustainest all thinges . thou instructest the hartes of thy faythfull seruants , without noyse of wordes , thou art not extended in place , thou art not varied by time , nor hast thou any commings , or goinges ; thou dost inhabite that inaccessible light which no eye of man hath seene , or can see . reposing all quiet in thy selfe , thou goest euery where about all thinges ; for thou canst not be deuided , or cut , because thou art truely one , nor dost thou impart thy selfe by parts , but all that which thou art , holdeth all thinges , filleth all things , illustrateth & possesseth all things . chap. ii. of the vnspeakable knowledge of god. if the whole world were filled with bookes , yet thy vnspeakable knowledge could not be declared thereby . for in regard that thou art vnspeakable , thou canst not be expressed or declared ; thou art the fountaine of diuine light , and the sunne of splendour , which neuer sets ; thou art great without quantity , and therefore thou art immense ; thou art good without quality , & therefore it is indeed , that thou art truely & supremely good , and there is none good but thou alone , whose will is a worke , whose being pleased to doe any thing , is to be able to do it . for thou who didst create al things of nothing , didst create them onely by thy will. thou dost possesse all thy creatures , without needing any of them ; thou gouernest them without labour , thou rulest them without wearines ; nor is there any thing which can disturbe the order of thy dominion , from the highest to the lowest ; thou art in all places without place ; thou conteynest all things without departing to the outside of them ; thou art euery where present , yet without either situation , or motion ; thou art not the author of euil , for thou canst commit none ; and yet there is nothing which thou canst not doe ; nor didst thou euer repent thy self of any worke of thine . by thy goodnes we are made , by thy iustice we are punished , by thy mercy we are freed , and thy omnipotency doth gouerne , rule , and replenish whatsoeuer it did create . neither yet do we say , that thou fillest all thinges , as if thou wert contained by them ; but rather they are contayned by thee , neither yet dost thou fill them , as by partes . for we are in no case to thinke , as if any thing did receaue thee , after the rate of that greatnes , more or lesse , which it selfe may haue ( that is the greatest thinges a greater quantity , and the lesse a lesser ) since rather thou art all , in all thinges ; and all things in thee ; whose omnipotency concludeth all thinges . nor hath any thing , any meanes of deliuering it selfe from thy power . for whosoeuer he be that finds thee not being pleased , will be sure to be found by thee , being offended . chap. iii. of the desire of a soule which thirsteth after god. i therfore inuoke thee , o most mercifull god , to come into my soule , which thou preparest towards the receiuing of thee , through that desire wherwith it was inspired by thee . enter into it , i beseech thee , and make it fit for thy selfe ; that as thou hast made it , and restored it , thou maist possesse it also : and enable me to place thee as a seale vpon my hart . i beseech thee , o most holy god , do not forsake me , who am now inuoking thee ; since , before i inuoked thee , thou didst both call me , and seeke me , to the end that i thy seruant , myght seeke thee ; and by seeking thee , might finde thee , and that once hauing found thee , i might loue thee . i haue sought thee , and i haue found thee , and i desire to loue thee , o lord increase thou my desire , and giue me that which i am desiring . for if thou shouldst giue me all the things which thou hast made , they will not all be sufficient for thy seruant , vnlesse with all thou giue thy selfe . giue thy selfe therfore vnto me o my god , restore thy selfe to me , behold i loue thee , and if it be too little , make me loue the more strongly . behold , i am held fast by the loue of thee ; i am set on fire by the desire of thee , and in the sweet memory of thee i am delighted . behold , whilst my minde is sending vp sighes to thee ; and whilst it is meditating vpon thy vnspeakeable pitty , the burthen of my flesh doth lesse oppresse me ; the tempest of my thoughts is laid ; the weight of my mortality and misery doth not dull my edge as it was wonte . all things are in quiet , all things are in peace ▪ my hart doth burne , my mind doth ioy , my memory is fresh , my vnderstanding is bright , and my whole spirit , being kindled through a desire of thy vision , doth find it selfe to be carried away , at full speede , by the loue of inuisible things . o let this spirit of myne get the wings of an eagle , that it may fly and not faint . that it may fly till it arriue to that delightfull beauty of thy house , and to the throne of thy glory ; and that there it may be fed , at the plentifull table of those heauenly cittizens of thine ; vpon that hidden food , in that place of pasture , neere those ful riuers of running water . be thou our exultation , who art our hope , our health and our redemption . be thou our ioy , who art to be our reward . let my soule euer seeke thee , and grant that whilst it seekes thee , it may neuer faint . chap. iv. of the misery of a soule which loues not god. woe be to that wretched soule , which seekes not nor loues christ ; for it remayneth all miserable and dry . it is lost labour , for him euen to liue , who loues not thee , o god. he who cares to liue , o lord , and not to do it for thy respect , is nothing ; and doth serue for nothing . he who refuseth to liue to thee , is dead ; he who is not wise to thee hath lost his wits . o thou most mercifull god , i recommend my selfe , i restore my selfe , & i make a grant of my selfe to thee ; through whome i am , through whome i liue , and through whom i haue the vse of reason . i hope , i trust , and i place all my confidence in thee , by whome i may be able to rise againe , and to liue , and rest . it is thou whom i desire , whome i loue , and whome i adore ; and with whome i am to remayne & raigne , and be happie . the soule which seekes not thee nor loues not thee , doth loue the world , and serueth sinne , & is a slaue to vice , and is neuer quiet or secure . o thou most holy god , let my minde be euer performing seruice to thee ; let this pilgrimage of mine , be euer sighing towards thee : let my hart burne through the loue of thee , let my soule , o my god , repose in thee : let it contemplate thee , in excesse of mind ; and let it singe prayses to thee in full ioy , and let this be my comfort , in this banishment of mine . let this minde of mine , fly to the shadowe of thy winges , from the scorching cogitations of this world . let this hart of mine be at a calme in thee ; this hart , which is such a deepe sea full of swelling waues . o thou , who art so rich of heauenly food , thou most aboundant imparter of that spirituall celestiall satiety , giue nourishment to him , who is defeated with hunger ; gather him vp , who is scattered ; free him who is entrald , & stitch him together who is torne . behold he standeth at the doore and knocks . i beseech thee by those bowells of thy mercy , in which thou , being the orient , didst visit vs from on hygh ; commaund that it be opened to this miserable creature who is knocking : that so , with nimble feete , i may enter into thee , and repose in thee , and be refreshed by that bread of heauen . for thou art both the bread and the fountaine of life ; thou art the splendor of immortall light . in fine , thou art all those thinges , wherby iust persons liue , who loue thee . chap. v. of the desire of a soule . o god the light of those hartes which see thee ; and the life of those soules which loue thee , & the strength or vertue , of their thoughts who seeke thee , graunt that i may be incorporated into the holy loue of thee . come , i beseech thee , into my hart , and inebriate it , with the springing plenty of thy delights ; that so i may forget all worldly thinges . i am ashamed ; and i am afflicted to find my selfe suffering such thinges , as this world is doing . all that which i see concerning transitory thinges , makes me sorry , and all that which i heare , makes me sad . help me , o lord my god , infuse ioy into my hart ; and come to me that so i may grow to see thee . for this house of my soule , is strait , till thou come into it , and so it be inlarged by the. it is ruinous , till it be repaired by thee , it hath many things , which may offend thyne eyes , i know it and confesse it ; but yet who is he , that can cleanse it , or to whom but thee , shall i cry out : cleanse me , o lord , from my hidden sinnes , and pardon also thy seruant , those sinnes , which he hath caused in others , make me , sweet christ , o deere iesus , make me i beseech thee , lay downe the burden of carnall desires , and of the concupiscence which i haue after earthly thinges . giue dominion to my soule ouer my body , and to my reason , ouer my soule , and to thy grace , ouer my reason ; and subdue me , both in my outward and inward man , to thy will. graunt to me that my hart may praise thee , togeather with my tongue , and all the strength i haue . dilate my mind , and hoyse vp the sight of my hart , that at least by some glymse , my spirit may with a swift and suddaine thought , lay hold vpon that eternall wisedom , whach is aboue all thinges , and whach lasts beyond them all . discharge me i beseech thee from he chains wherin i am bound by sinnes ; chat at last i may giue ouer all thinges , & that i may hasten to thee , and behold , and adhere to thee alone . chap. vi. of the felicity of a soule which is freed from the prison of flesh and bloud happy is that soule , which being freed from this earthly prison arriues to heauen ; and seeth thee her most deere lord , face to face . and which is no longer subiect to the least feare of death ; but doth reioyce in the incorruptibility of eternall glory . she is then in peace , she is secure & doth no longer feare either death , or any other enemy . for she possesseth her deere lord whom she hath long sought , and whome she hath euer loued ; and being associated to those quires of angels , she doth eternally sing those melodious hymnes of thy euer lasting solemnity . o christ thou king , thou deare iesus , to the prayse of thy glory . for then she is inebriated by the fresh and springing plenty of thy house , and thou giuest her to drinke of thy delights . o happy society of those heauenly cittizens ? o glorious solemnity of them who returne to thee , from the sad labour of this pilgrimage of ours , to that sweetnes of beauty , to that delightfulnes of all splendour , and to that dignity of all pleasing grace , where thy cittizens , o lord , do continually behold thy countenance . there is no eare in that place which can heare any thing that may offend it . what songs , what organs , what hymnes , what melodies are sung there without any end ? eternally are there sounded forth mellifluous cōcents of hymns ; that most sweet melody of the angells ; those most admirable canticles of canticles which are sung forth by those heauenly cittizens , to thy prayse and glory . no bitternes , nor any kind of vnsauorynes or gall , can haue any place in that countrey of thine ; for there is no wickednes , nor any wicked man : there is no aduersary or enemy ; there is no tempting bayte of sinne , there is no want , no shame , no quarell , no reproach , no exception taken ; no feare , no vnquietnes , no payne , no doubt , no violence , no dissention . but there is souueraigne peace , pertect charity , eternall iubilation , and prayse of god , secure & euerlasting repose , and perpetual ioy in the holy ghost . o how happy shall i be if once i may arriue to heare those most sweet songs of thy cittizens , those mellifluous hymns , which with due honour , shall declare the prayses of the most blessed trinity . but o how happy , euen too happy shall i be , if my selfe may obtaine to sing to our lord iesus christ , some one of those sweet songs of syon . chap. vii . of the ioyes of heauen . o vitall life , o eternall life , and eternally happy ; where there is ioy without griefe , rest without labour , dignity without feare , riches without want , life without death , perpetuity without corruption , and felicity without calamity . where all thinges are good , in perfect charity ; where there is showing , & seeing face to face ; where there is complete knowledge in all , and by all ; where the soueraigne goodnes of god is discerned ; where the illuminating light is glorifyed by the saints ; wher the maiesty of god is beheld present , and the mind of the beholders is satiated by this food of life , without all defect . they euer see , and yet they euer desire to see ; but they desire without anxiety , and they are not glutted by their satiety . where the true sonne of iustice doth recreate them all , by the admirable sight of his beauty ; and so doth illuminate all the inhabitants of that heauenly countrey . where the light of them who are illuminated by that other superiour illuminating light , doth shine farre beyond the splendor of our sun , and beyond the clarity of al the startes ; adhering to that immortall deity , them selues being made thereby incorruptible and immortal , according to this promise of our lord and sauiour : father , they whome thou gauest me i will , that where i am , they may be also there ; that they may see my brightnes ; and that they all may be one , as thou o father art in me , & i in thee , so they also may be one in vs. chap. viii . of the kingdome of heauen . the kingdome of heauen , is a most happy kingdome ; a kingdome which hath no death nor end ; where there shal be no succession of tymes , nor no interruption of the day by any night . where the victorious souldier is euen laden with vnspeakeable treasures ; an immortal crowne being placed vpon his triumphant head . o that the diuine mercy ( hauing first discharged the weight of my sins ) would commaund me ( who am the least amongst the seruants of christ ) to lay downe this burthen of flesh and bloud , that so i might passe on towards my true repose , in those eternall ioyes of his citty ; that i might beare my part , among th' inhabitants of those heauēly quires ; that i might assist in glorifying our creatour with those blessed spirits ; that i might behold the face of god there present ; that i might not be so much as touched with the least feare of death ; but that i might securely reioyce , through the incorruptibility of immortall glory ; that being conioyned to him who knoweth all things , i might loose all blindnes of ignorance ; that i might esteem meanely of all earthly thinges ; that i might no longer vouchsafe to behold , or euen so much as to remember this valley of teares , the life whereof is laborious and corruptible ; a life which is full of all bitternes ; a life which is the mistresse of sinne , and the slaue of hell. the humours of our body doe puffe it vp , paynes put it downe ; intemperate heats dry it ; the ill affections of the ayre , indispose it ; meate makes it fat ; fasting makes it shrinke ; loose myrth dissolueth it ; afflictions consume it ; solicitude straitens it ; security makes it sottish , riches make it vane ; pouerty makes it base , youth extolleth it ; age makes it stoope ; sicknes breaks it ; sorrow deiects it ; the diuell lyes in wayte for it ; the world flatters it ; the flesh is delighted ; the soule is blinded ; and the whole man is disioynted . and to all these , so many and great mischiefes , death doth furioussy succeed ; & doth so impose an end vpon these vayne ioyes , that when once they leaue to be , it is scarce so much as beleeued that they euer were . chap. ix . how god doth comfort an afflicted soule after too great lamentations . bvt what prayse , what thakes shal we be able to giue thee , o our god , who euen in the midst of these great miseries of our mortality , dost not faile to comfort vs with the admirable visitation of thy grace . for behold , when i am full of many sorrowes ; whilst i am fearing the end of my life ; whilst i am considering my sinns ; whilst i am meditating vpon death ; whilst i am frighted with thinking on thy iudgement ? whilst i tremble at the torments of hell ; whilst i am ignorant with what scales my works are to be wayghed by thee ; whilst i cannot knowe by what kind of end shal be able to shut them vp , whilst i am ruminating vpon these & many other things in my hart ; thou o my lord and my god , according to thy wonted pitty , art present with a resolution to comfort me wretched creature . and when i am in the midst of these complaints , and excessiue lamentations , and in the profoundest sighings of my hart , thou takest vp this afflicted and perplexed minde , aboue those high topps of the mountaines , euen to those odoriferous spicy beds of thine ; and thou dost place me , in that deepe pasture , neere those brookes of sweet waters ; where thou preparest , in my sight , a table full of choice & curious meats , which may refresh my wearied spirit ; and may giue ioy to my afflicted hart , and so at last , being all restored by those delights , and forgetting mine owne many miseries , and being exalted aboue the highest partes of the earth and earthly thinges , i repose in thee , who art true peace . chap. x. of the sweetnes of diuine loue . o my god i loue thee , i loue thee , and faine would i loue thee yet more , and more . grant to me , o lord my god , o thou beautifull beyond the sonnes of men , that i may desire thee and that i may loue thee , as much as i list , and as much as i ought . thou art immense ; and without measure , thou oughtest to be beloued ; especially by vs , whom thou so hast loued , and so hast saued , and for whom thou hast done so many , and so mighty things . o loue , which euer burnest , and art neuer quenched ; sweet christ , deere iesus , o charity , my god , kindle me , with all that fire of thine ; with thy loue , with thy lyking , with thy sweetnes , with thy desire , with thy charity , with thy ioy and exultation , with thy piety and suauity , with thy pleasure , & with that ardent desire of thee , which is holy , and good , & chast , & cleane , that so being all full with the sweetnes of thy loue , and all perfumde & sweetened by the flame of thy charity , i may loue thee , my most sweet , and most beautifull lord , with my whole hart , with my whole soule , with my whole strength , & with all the application of my mind , with much contrition , & euen with a very fountaine of teares ; with much reuerence and trembling loue , carrying thee in my hart , and in my mouth , & before mine eyes , at all tymes , & in all places ; that so there may neuer be found any roome in me , for any disloyall and impure loue . chap. xi . of the preparation of our redemption . o most beautifull christ iesus , i beseech thee by that most sacred effusion of thy most pretious bloud , whereby we are redeemed graunt me contrition of hart , and a very fountaine of teares , especially whilest i am offering vp , both my vocall , and mentall prayers to thee . whilest i am singing the office of thy prayse to thee ; whilest i do either declare with my mouth ; or consider in my mind the mystery of our redemption , that expresse testimony of thy mercy : whilest i ( though vnworthy ) am assisting at thy sacred altar , intending to offer vp to thee , that admirable & celestiall sacrifice , which is so worthy of all reuerence and deuotion ; and which thou , o lord , our god , & our priest , didst immaculately institute , and didst commaund to be offered vp , in commemoration of thy charity ( that is , of thy death and passion ) for our saluation , and for the dayly reparation of our frailty . let my mind be confirmed whilest i am in the midst of those so great misteryes , by the sweetnes of thy presence . let it find , that thou art there at hand ; and let it reioyce before thee . o thou fire which euer flamest , o thou loue which euer burnest , sweet christ , deere iesus , thou eternall and neuer fayling light ; thou foode of life , which dost refresh vs and yet dost neuer diminish in thy selfe ; who art dayly eaten , and yet dost euer remaine entiere , shine thou vpon me , kindle me , illuminate and sanctify this vessell which is thine owne . make it empty of malice , replenish it with grace ; and when it is once full , keep it so that i may receaue this food of thy flesh , to the saluation of my soule ; and that by feeding on thee , i may liue of thee , and by thee ; that so i may arriue to thee , and repose in thee . chap. xii . of spirituall ioy . o thou sweetnes of loue , and thou loue of sweetnes , let my stomacke feed on thee ; & let euen my bowels be all filled with the nectar of thy loue , and let my mind vtter that good word . o charity , o my god , thou hunny which is so sweet , thou milke which is so white . thou art the food of strong persons , make me increase towards thee , that so i may feed vpon thee , and tast thee withth epalate , not of a sick , but of a sound person . thou art the life by which i liue , the hope to which i doe adhere , and the glory which i desire to obtaine . hold thou fast my hart , rule my mind , direct my vnderstanding , erect my loue , suspend my thoughts , and draw the mouth of this spirit , which thirsteth after thee , into those liuing streames of celestiall running waters . i beseech thee impose silence vpon these tumultuous thoughts of flesh and bloud ; let these conceits of the earth , & of the waters , and of the ayre , and of these heauens which re we see , hold their peace . let all visions , & reuelations which are imprinted vpon the imagination be silent , and euery tongue and sensible expression , and what soeuer els , which hath his complete beeing by passing on . let euen the soule be islent to it self , and let it outstrip and exceed it selfe , by not thinking of it selfe , but only of thee , o my god ; because thou , in very deed , art all my hope , & all my confidence . for in thee , o my god , and my lord , in thee , o most sweet , o most amiable , o most mercifull christ iesus , there is a part of the flesh and bloud of euery one of vs. now therefore where a part of me doth raigne , there do i beleeue my self to raigne . where my bloud hath dominion , there do i also confide my selfe to be in dominion ; where my flesh is glorifyed , there doe i know my selfe to be glorious . for howsoeuer i am a sinner , yet i cannot despaire , but that i shal be admitted to this communication of thy grace . and although my iniquityes forbid me , yet that substance of mine doth inuite me ; and although my sinnes do exclude me , yet that participation of nature doth not suffer me to be reiected . chap. xiii . that the vvord incarnate is the cause of our hope . for our lord is not so an enemy as that he can forebeare to loue his owne flesh , and the parts of his owne body , & his owne bowells . i might iustly haue despayred , by reason of my excessiue sinnes , & vices & of those infinite negligences and faults which i haue commited , and which i dayly do commit , by thought word and deed , and by all those meanes , wherby the frailty of mans nature may sinne , vnlesse the vvord my god , had become flesh ; and had dwelt amongst vs. but now i dare not despaire ; because he growing obedient to thee , euen to the death , and that the very death of the crosse , did take that hand-writing of our sins , and nayling it to the same crosse did crucify both sinne and death . in him therefore , doe i securely conceaue hope , who sitteth at thy right hand and interceedes for vs. and confiding in him , i trust i shall arriue to be with thee , in whome we are risen , and haue liued againe , and haue ascēded vp to heauen , and are remaining there . to thee be praise , glory , honour , & thankesgiuing for euer . chap. xiv . how sweet a thing it is to thinke of god. o thou most mercifull lord , who didst so loue , and saue vs , who didst so quicken and exalt vs ; o most mercifull lord , how sweet is the memory of thee ; how much more i meditate on thee , so much more art thou sweet & amiable to me . therefore doth it delight me extremely , to behold thy excellencyes with a pure sight of the mind , and with a most sweet affection of pious loue , according to the little power i haue , in this place of my pilgrimage . where although i be apperrelled with a poore garment of flesh and bloud , i do yet continually aspire to the consideration and desire of thy admirable amability and beauty . for with the dart of thy charity am i wounded , and i am all on a light fire of desire concerning thee . i couet to arriue to thee , and thee doe i desire to behold . therefore will i euer stand vpon my guard , & with vigilant eyes i will be singing in spirit ; and i will also sing with my vnderstanding , & with all my forces will i prayse thee ; who art both my creatour and my redeemer i will penetrate the heauens with my affectiō , and i will so approch to thee with my desire , that i may be held but onely in body , by this present misery ; and all my thoughts , and the greedines of my desire shal be euer vpon thee ; that so my hart may be where thou my treasure art , who art so desirable , so incomparable , and so deerely amiable . but behold , o my most pittifull and most merciful god , whilest i am applying my selfe to the consideratiō of thy immense goodnes and pitty , my hart is not able to goe through with it . for thy grace , thy beauty , thy vertue , thy glory , thy magnificence , thy maiesty , and thy charity , doth exceed all the powers of our mind . and as the splendour of thy glory is inestimable , so is the benignity of that eternal charity of thyne vnspeakable ; whereby thou hast adopted them for thy sonnes , & ioyned them close to thy selfe , whom formerly thou hast created of nothing . chap. xv. how much tribulation endured for christ our lord , is to be desired . o my soule , if dayly we were to suffer torments , yea and euen to endure the very paines of hell , & that for a long tyme together ; to the end that we might arriue to see christ in his glory , & to be associated to his saints , would it not be fit for vs to beare all that affliction , if therby we might be thought fit to be made pertakers of so high a good , and so great a glory ? let therfore the deuills lye in wayte for vs ; let them prepare theyr temptations ; let fasting breake our bodyes ; let garments loade our flesh ; let labours weigh heauy vpon vs ; let watching drye vs ; let one man cry out vpon vs , and let another man disquiet vs ; let cold contract vs ; let the conscience repine ; let heat burne vs ; let the head ake , the breast be inflamed , let the stomacke be swolne , let the face growe pale , and let the whole body be distempered ; let my yeares be spent in groaning , yea let rottennes enter into my bones , and multiply therin , so that yet i may rest in that day of tribulation , and may ascend to our elected people . for how great wil that glory of iust persons be ; how great will be that ioy of the saints , when euery one of their faces , shal be resplendent , like a sunne ? when our lord shall begin to muster vp his people by different ranks in the kingdome of his father ; & shall assigne the promised rewards according to the workes and merit of euery one . celestiall rewards , for workes which were performed heere on earth . great rewards for little workes & eternall , for such as were but temporall . that , indeed , will be a whole huge heape of felicity , when our lord shall bring his saints into the vision of his fathers glory , and shall place them vpon their seats in heauen , that so he may be all in all . chap. xvi . how the kingdome of god may be obteyned . o happy sweetnes , o delicious happines , which it will be for vs , to behold the saints , be with saints , and to be saints , to see god , and to possesse him , for all eternity , and euen if it might be , beyond eternity . let vs be continually thinking on these things ; let vs aspire to them with our whole desire , that so we may speedily arriue to enioy them . if thou aske how this may be done ; by what merits , or by what helpes ; giue eare and i will tell thee , this affaire is put into thine owne power ; for the kingdome of heauen suffereth violence . the kingdome of heauen , o man , doth exact no price at thy hands but onely thy selfe . so much is it worth , as thou thy selfe art . giue thy selfe , and thou shalt haue it . why art thou troubled about the price ? christ our lord did giue himself away that he might purchase thee , to be a kingdome for his father ; and so do thou also , giue thy selfe , that thou maist become a kingdome for him , & that sinne may not raigne in thy mortall body , but the spirit in the renouation of life . chap. xvii . what a happy place heauen is . o my soule , returne toward that heauenly citty wherin we are written , and enrold as cittizens . and as cittizens amongst the saints , & the houshold seruants of god , and as the heires of god and coheires of christ our lord. let vs consider that excellent felicity of this citty of ours , to the very vttermost of what we are able . let vs therefore say with the prophet : o how glorious thinges are sayd of thee , thou citty of god , the habitation which is made in thee , is , of them who are all full of ioy . for thou art founded in the exultation of the whole earth . no old age is in thee , nor any misery which is wont to wayte vpon old age . in thee , there is no man lame , of arme or legg , nor crooked nor other wise deformed ; when once they meet together , becoming perfect man , in the measure of the age , of the fulnesse of christ . what is more happy then such a life where there is no fear of pouerty , nor no incommodity of sicknes ; where no man is offended , no man is angry , no man enuious , no desire doth solicite vs ; there is no appetite of meate , no man is importuned by thirsting after honour and power ; there is no feare of the diuell , or the craft of those infernall spirits ; all terrour of hell is farre off , there is no death either of body or soule , but a life which is made full of ioy by the guift of immortality . in fine , there is no kind of ill , or discord , but all thinges are full of agreement & proportion , for as much as the concord of all the saints is intierely one ; all things are full of peace and ioy ; all things are quiet , and serene . an euerlasting splendor there , is not like that of this sunne of ours , but another , which is so much more bright , at it is more blessed . for that citty ( as we read ) shall need neither sūne , nor moone ; but our lord omnipotent , will illuminate it , and the lambe is the bright lampe therof . where the saints shall shine like starres , and they who instruct many others , like the splendour of the firmament . no night shal be therefore there , no darknes , no concourse of clowds , no incommodity at all of heat or cold ; but such a temper of things there wil be , as neither the eye hath seene , nor the eare hath heard , nor can it enter into the hart of any other mē , but such as shal be thought worthy to enioy it ; whose names are written in the booke of life . but it exceedeth all these thinges to be associated to the quires of angells and archangells ; to behold the patriarkes and the prophets , to see the apostles , and all the saints ; yea to see our owne parents & friends . these things indeed are glorious , but yet still incomparably a more glorious thing it is to behold the present face of god ; & to looke vpon that vnlimitted light of his . a superexcellent glory it will be , when we shall see god in himselfe : we shall see , & we shall possesse him in our selues , and of that sight , there wil be no end . chap. xviii . we cannot make any requitall to almighty god , but only by loue . the soule which is beautifyed by the image , and dignifyed by the ressemblance of god , hath groūd inough within it selfe ( which is also imparted by the same god ) wherby she may be aduised to remain perpetually within him ; or at least to return towardes him , if she chance to haue beene separated by her affection , or rather by her defectes . and not only hath she ground of solace in the hope which she may conceaue of pardon and mercy ; but yet further , she may also presume to aspire , euen to the marriage of the word , and to contract a league of friendship with god ; and togeather with that king of the angells , to be drawing in the same sweet yoake of loue . now all this is performed by the same loue , if the soule do make it selfe like to god by her will , as already she is like him by nature ; and if she loue him , as she is beloued by him . for only loue , amongst all the motions , passions & feeling senses of the soule , is the thing whereby a creature may answere the benefits of a creatour ; and repay , after a sort , what it oweth , though it be not in any equall manner . where loue entreth in , it draweth & captiueth all other affections of the mind , to the dominion therof . loue alone , is sufficient , & is pleasing of it selfe , and for it selfe . loue is the merit , it is the reward , it is the cause , it is the fruit , it is also the vse of the fruit ; for by loue , we are conioyned to god. loue maketh that two spirits grow to be one . loue maketh that the same thinges , be willed , and not willed by them . loue maketh vs first to order and compose our liues ; afterward it enableth vs to consider of all thinges which are present , as if they where absent ; and , in the third place , it enableth vs to behold internall , and supernall thinges , with a cleane and pure eye of the hart . by loue we are first taught how to vse those contentements well , which may be taken in the world , afterward those worldly contentements grow to be despised ; and at the last euen the secretes of god come to be disclosed . chap. xix . what it is which god requireth of vs , that so we may be like him selfe . god the father is loue , god the sonne is loue , god the holy ghost , is the loue of the father , and the sonne . this charity , this loue , doth require somewhat of vs which is like that ; that is to say , it requireth charity , whereby ( as by a kind of coniunctiō in bloud ) we may be associated , and ioyned to him ▪ loue forgets that supreme dignity , it considers not the reuerence which it is bound to beare . he that loues , doth of himselfe draw confidently neere to god , and expresseth himselfe in a familiar manner , without perturbation or feare : he looseth his labour and liues in vane , who loues not . but he that loueth , doth still carry his eyes erected towardes god , whome he loueth , whom he desireth , vpon whom he meditateth , in whome he delighteth , by whome he is fedd , and euen made fat . such a louing and deuout person , doth so sing , and so he reades , and in all his actions he is so ful of circumspection , and care , as if god were euer present before his eyes , and so indeed he is . he doth so pray , as if he were taken , and presented before the face of that maiesty , in his soueraigne thron , where thousands of thousands are seruing him , and a million of thousands are present with him . when loue visiteth a soule , it awaketh her , if she be asleep ; it counselleth , & softneth , and doth wound the hart . it illuminateth those thinges which are darke ; it vnlocketh those thinges which are shut vp ; it inflameth those things which are cold ; it mitigateth a harsh , vntoward , & impatient minde ; it puts sinne to flight ; it represseth all carnall affection , it amendeth manners , it reformeth and reneweth the spirit , and it bridleth the light acts , and euill motions of slippery youth . all these thinges are done by loue , when it is present , but vpon the departure thereof , the soule begins already to be faint , & weake , as if the fire were withdrawne from vnderneath a pot which had beene seething . chap. xx. of the confidence of a soule which loueth god. a great thing is loue , wherby the soule , of her selfe , doth confidently approach to god , doth constantly inheare to god , doth familiarly aske questions of god , and consulteth with him , vpon all occasions . the soule which loueth god can neither thinke , or speake any other thing , she contemneth all thinges else , she loatheth all . whatsoeuer she considereth , whatsoeuer she saith , it smells of loue , it sauours of loue ; so truly doth the loue of god , make her all , his owne . whoso euer desires to haue the knowledge of god , let him loue . in vaine doth any man giue himselfe to reading , to meditating , to preaching , to praying , if he do not loue . the loue of god , begetteth loue in a soule , & makes her bend her selfe towards him . god loueth , to the end that he may be loued againe . when he loueth , he desireth no other thing , but to be beloued ; as knowing that they who loue him , are to be made happy by that loue . the soule which loues , doth renounce al her owne particular affections , and doth wholy apply her self to loue ; that so she may be able to pay loue , with loue . and yet when she shall haue spent whatsoeuer she either hath , or is , vpon the loue of that torrent which flowes out , from that ouer tunning fontaine of loue ; we must take heed of thinking , that there is any equality of springing plenty afforded betweene that loue , and this loue : betweene god , and the soule ; betweene the creatour , and the creature . and yet , on the other side , if the soule do loue , as much as it can ; there can be nothing said to be wanting , where al is giuen . let not that soule feare , which loues ; but let that other tremble , which loueth not . the soule which loues , is caried on by praiers , she is drawn by her desirs , she dissembleth her merits , she shuts her eyes against his maiesty , she opens them to delight in his beauty : she lodgeth her self in him , who is her sauing health , and she treateth with him after a confident manner . by loue the soule doth step aside , and doth grow into excesse , beyond the senses of the body ; so that she which feeleth god , doth no longer feele her selfe . this is done , when the soule ( being allured by the vnspeakeable sweetnes of god ) doth steale her selfe , as it were , from her selfe ; or rather when she is forcibly carried , and so doth slip from her selfe , that she may inioy god with supreme delight . nothing were so highly sweet , if withal it were not extremely shorte . loue giueth familiarity with god ; familiarity giues a daring to aoproach ; that daring giueth gust ; that gust giueth hunger . the soule which is touched with the loue of god , can think of nothing els , can desire nothing els ; but doth often sigh and say , as the hart desireth the fountains of water , so doth my soule desire thee , o my god. chap. xxi . what god did for man. god for the loue of men came downe to men ; he came into men , and he was made man. the inuisible god , was drawne by loue , to become like his slaues , through loue , he was wounded for our sinnes . weake and wicked men , may finde a safe & strong retreate in the woūds of our sauiour . there do i securely dwelle ; for i see his very bowells through his wounds . vvhatsoeuer is wanting to me , i fetch from those wounds of my lord , which flow with mercy ; nor want they holes , through which it may be able to flow . by those holes which were made in his body we may discerne the very secrets of his hart ; we may discerne a great mystery of goodnes ; we may discerne the bowells of the mercy of our god where with that orient from on high hath visited us . the wounds of iesus christ are full of mercy , full of pitty , full of suauity , and full of charity . men digged through his handes and feet , & they transpierced his side with a launce . by these ouertures , i haue meanes to tast how sweet my lord god is ; for indeed he is meeke , and sweet , & of aboundant mercy , to all such as call vpon him in truth ; to all such as seeke him , but especially to them that loue him . a copious redēption is giuen to vs in the wounds of iesus christ our sauiour . a great multitude of sweetnes , a fullnes of grace , & the perfection of vertues , chap. xxii . of the remembrance of the woundes of iesus christ our lord. when i am sollicited by any impure thought , i make my recourse vnto the woundes of christ ; when my body oppresseth me , i recouer strength by calling the wounds of my lord to mind ; whē the diuell is laying some ambush whereby to take me , i flye vnto the boweles of my lords mercy , and so the diuell departeth from me . if the ardour of lust make any alteration in my body , it is quenched by the memory of the wounds of our lord , the sonne of god. in all the aduersityes which i haue beene subiect to , i neuer found so effectuall à remedy , as in the wounds of christ . in them do i sleep secure , in them do i repose voyd of feare . christ dyed for vs ; there is nothing so deadly bitter , which may not be cured by the death of christ . all the hope i haue , is in the death of my lord. his death is my merit , my refuge , my sauing health , my life , and my resurrection . my merit is his great mercy . i shal neuer be voyd of merit as long as he who is the lord of mercy , shall not be wanting to me . and since my merits goe after the rates of his mercyes , looke how much more mighty he is towardes the sauing of me , so much the more may i be secure . chap. xxiii . the remembrance of the woundes of christ our lord , is our remedy in all aduersity . i haue committed a grieuous sinne , nay i am guilty of many sinnes ; neither yet wil i despaire , because where sinnes haue abounded , there hath beene superaboundance of grace . he who despaireth of the pardon of his sinnes , denieth god to be mercifull . he much wrongs god , who distrustes in his mercy such a one doth his best , to deny that god hath charity , verity , and piety , wherin all my hope consisteth . namely in the charity , of his adoption , in the verity of his promise , & in the piety of his redemption . let therfore my foolish thought be murmuring as much as it will , whilest it is saying : what a poore thing art thou ; and what a great glory is that , and by what merits dost thou hope to obtaine it ? for i will confidently answere : i know well who it is , whome i haue trusted . and because he hath adopted me for his sonne , with excesse of charity , because he is true in his promises , and powerfull in his performances ; & because he may doe what he will , i cannot be frighted by the multitude of my sinnes , if withall i be able , to call the death of my lord to mind ; for those sinnes of mine cannot conquerre him . those nayles , & that launce , doe cry out to tell me , that in deed i am reconcyled to christ , if i resolue to loue him . longinus opened the side of christ with his launce , there doe i enter in , and there i do safely rest . he that feares , let him loue ; for charity will put feare away . there is not so potent and effectuall a remedy against the ardour of lust , as the death of my redeemer . he stretcheth forth his armes abroad vpon the crosse ; & he spreads his handes which are ready to imbrace vs sinners . between those armes of my sauiour , i resolue to liue , & i desire to dye . there will i securely sing , i will exalt thee o lord , because thou hast taken me vp , & hast not giuen myne enemyes their pleasure ouer me . our sauiour bowed downe his head , at his death , that he might kisse his beloued , & so often do we giue à kisse to god , as we haue compunction of our sinnes , for the loue of him . chap. xxiiii . an exhortation of the soule to the loue of christ our lord. o thou my soule , which art dignified with the image of god , redeemed by the bloud of christ , espowsed by faith , endoweth with a spirit , adorned with vertues , rancked with angells , be sure thou loue him , by whome thou art so much beloued . make him thy busines , who hath made thee his . seeke him who seeketh thee , loue thy louer , by whome thou art beloued ; by whose loue thou art preuented , and who is the cause of thyne . he is thy merit , thy reward , thy fruit , thy vse , & thy end . be thou carefull together with him , who is so carefull of thee ; be attentiue to him , who is attentiue to thee , be pure with him who is pure ; be holy with him , who is holy . such as thou dost appeare in the sight of god , such art thou to expect that he will appeare to thee . god who is so sweete , so meeke , and so full of mercy , doth require that thou shouldst be sweet , and meeke , and gentle , & humble , and full of mercy . loue him who hath drawne thee out of the lake of misery , and the filth of durt . choose him for thy friend , aboue all thy friends ; who when all they shall fayle thee , will be euer sure to make good thy trust , at the day of thy death . when all thy friends are departing from thee , he will not leaue thee , but he will defend thee , against those roaring lyons , who are sharpe set vpon theyr prey . and he will leade thee by a country , wherewith thou art not yet acquainted , and he will bring thee to those streets of the celestiall sion ; & there he will place thee , together with his angels , before the face of his owne maiesty , where thou shalt heere that angellicall musicke of . , holy , holy , holy , lord god of sabaoth . there is the canticle of ioy , the voyce of exultation , and saluatiō , and thanksgiuing ; the voyce of prayse , and that euerlasting alleluya . there is that high heape of happynes , that supereminēt glory , that superaboundant gladnes , & all good thinges put togeather . o sigh thou ardently , o my soule ; & desire vehemently that thou mayst arriue at that heauenly citty , whereof so glorious thinges are sayd , & where of all the inhabitants , are so full of ioy . by loue thou mayst ascend . nothing is impossible , nothing is hard to one who loues . the soule which loues ascendeth often ; and doth familiarity runne too & fro , through those streets of the celestiall hierusalem . sometimes visiting the patriarkes & the prophets ; sometymes admiring those armyes of martyrs , and confessors ; & contemplating somtymes the quires of virgins . the heauen and the earth , withall which is therein , doe neuer cease to let me know , that i ought to loue my lord my god. chap. xxv . that nothing can suffice the soule , but the supreme good. the hart of man which is not fixed in the desire of eternity , can neuer be stable and firme , but is more wauering then the wind ; and it passeth from one thing to another , seeking reste where it cannot be foūd . for in these fraile & transitory thinges , where the affection thereof is imprisoned , it can neuer finde true repose . because our soule is of so great dignity , that no good , but only the supreme good can satisfy it ; and withall it is of so great liberty , that it cannot be constrained to commit any sinne . it is therefore the proper will of euery one , which is the cause of his saluation or damnation ; so that nothing more rich , can be giuen to god , then a good will. a good will draweth god downe to vs , & it addresseth vs vp to him . by a good will we loue god , we chuse him we runne to him , we arriue to him , and we possesse him . o how excellent a thing is this good will , wherby we are reformed , according to the resemblance of god , and are made like to him . so amiable to god is this good will , as that it refuseth to inhabit that hart wherin a good will is not to be found . a good will doth make that supreme maiesty of the trinity stoop downe to it for , wisedome doth illuminate it towards the knowledge of truth ; charity doth inflame it towards the loue of goodnes , and the paternity doth preserue , that which it did create , that it may not perish . chap. xxvi . vvhat the knowledge of truth is . what is that knowledg of truth ? it consisteth first in a mans knowing himselfe , & in being that which a man ought to be , and in reforming that which should be amended . it doth therefore consist in knowing and louing the creatour , for this is the whole good of man. see then how vnspeakable the loue of this diuine loue is . it made vs of nothing ; and it gaue vs whatsoeuer we haue . but because we loued the guift , more then the giuer , we fell into the snare of the diuell , and became his slaues . then did god , being moued to mercy , send his sonne to redeeme those slaues , and he also sent the holy ghost , to the end , that he might make those slaues his sonnes . he gaue the sonne as a price of our redemption , and the holy ghost , for the priuiledge of his loue ; and so he imparteth his whole selfe , as the inheritance of our adoption . so doth god , as being most pittifull , & most mercifull , through the desire which he hath of the loue of man , not only impart his mercyes , but his very selfe , that so he might recouer men ; not so much to him , who is god , as to themselues . that men might be borne of god , god was first born of man. who then is he that hath a hart so hard , as that it cannot be softned by this loue of god ? this loue i say of his so preuenting , & so vehement which made him be content to become man for the loue of man ? who now wil be able to hate a man , whose nature and resemblance he seeth in the humanity of god ? infaillibly whosoeuer hateth him , hateth god , and so he destroyeth whatsoeuer he doth . for god was made man for man ; that as already he was mans creatour , so also he might be his redeemer , and that he might purchase him , out of his owne stocke . and to the end that god might be beloued by man , in a more familiar manner , he appeared in the similitude of man ; that so both his externall and internall senses , might be made happy in god ; the eye of his soule being intertained , & fed by his diuinity , & the eye of his body by gods humanity ; to the end , that whether he should worke inwardly or outwardly , this human nature which he created , might be able to feed deeply , & sweetly vpon him . chap. xxvii . vvhat the mission of the holy ghost doth worke in vs. this sauiour of ours , was borne for vs , he was crucified and he died for vs , that so by his death he might destroy ours . and because that bunch of grapes of his flesh and bloud , was carried to this wine-presse of the crosse , & because the expression thereof being made , the new winer of his diuinity began to flow from thence , the holy ghost was sent downe , wherby the vessels of our harts were to be prepared , and new wine to be put into new skins ; that first our harts might be cleansed , least els the wine powred in , should be polluted ; and that afterward , they should be tyed vp , least otherwise when it were infused , it might be spilt . that they might ( i say ) be cleansed from all ioy , which could be taken in sinne ; and that they might be fastened against all ioy which could be taken in vanity . for that which is good , can neuer come , vnles first that be sent away , which is euill . the ioy which is taken in sinne , polluteth ; and the ioy which is taken in vanity , scattereth vs. the ioy which is taken in sinne , maketh the vessell fowle , and the ioy which is taken in vanity , maketh it to be full of holes . ioy is taken in sinne , when sinne is loued , and ioy is taken in vanity , when transitorie things are beloued . cast the refore away , that which is euill , that thou mayst receaue that which is good . powre out all bitternes , that thou mayst be filled with sweetnes . the holy ghost is ioy & loue . cast out the spirit of the diuell , & the spirit of the world , that thou maist receaue he spirit of god. the spirit of the diuell , breedeth a ioy in sinne ; and the spirit of the world , breedeth a ioy in vanity . now both these ioyes are naught ; for the one of them hath vice in it , the other giueth occasion to vice . the spirit of god will come when these wicked spirits are cast out ; and it will enter into the tabernacle of thy hart , and will produce a good ioy , and a good loue , whereby the loue of the world , & the loue of sinne , shall be put to flight . the loue of the world , doth intice and deceaue ; the loue of sinne , doth pollute , and carry on to death . but the loue of god doth illuminate the mind , it doth purify the conscience , it makes the soule reioyce , & it demonstrates god. chap. xxviii . of the working of that soule which loueth god. he , in whome the loue of god remaines , is euer thinking how he may arriue to god ; how he may leaue the world ; how he may decline the corruption of flesh and bloud : and to the end , that he may find true peace , he euer hath his desire , & his hart erected towards heauenly things . when he is sitting , when he is walking , when he is resting , & in fine whatsoeuer he be doing , his hart departeth not from god. he exhorteth all men to the loue of god , he recommendeth it to all men , & he proueth to all the world , both by his hart , and by his tongue , and by his workes , how sweet the loue of god is , and how bitter that is of the world . he despiseth the glory of the world , he discouereth it to be full of affliction ; and he declareth how fond they are , who place their confidence therin . he wondreth at the blindnes of men , for louing such thinges as those ; he wondreth , how it is possible for all men not to forsake these transitory , and fraile things of the world . he conceaueth that euery one should find tast in that which is so sauoury to himselfe , that euery one should loue that which he likes so well ; that euery one should desire that which is so plainely discerned by him . he doth frequently contemplate his god , and by that contemplation he is sweetly fed ; so much more happily , as more frequently . for that is most delightfully considered , the louing and praysing wherof , is so full of delight . chap. xxix . of the harts true repose . then indeed is the hart in true repose , when it is all fixed by desire in the loue of god ; & when it couets nothing els , but in him , in whom it delighteth with sweetnes , and whom it enioyeth with delight . and if perhaps it be a little diuerted from him , eyther by any vaine thought , or els by busines , it returneth instantly againe at full speede ; esteeming it for no better them banishement , during the tyme that it remaineth any where but in him . for as there is no moment of tyme , wherin a man hath not experience of the diuine goodnes , so ought there not to be any moment , wherin it should not be present to our memory . he is not lyable to a little fault , who in prayer , whilst he is conuersing with god , doth easely wander out of his sight , as if god did nether heare , nor see him . yet this is done , when he followeth his owne importunate and euill thoughts , and when he preferreth any poore and base creature ( towards whome the sight of minde is easely withdrawne ) before god. reflecting & rowling , as it were , that creature vp and downe in his minde , by oftner thinking on it , then vpon god , whome continually he ought to remember , as his redeemer ; to expect as his sauiour ; & to feare as his iudge . chap. xxx . vvhatsoeuer doth withdrav the sight of the mind from god , is wholly to be auoyded . whosoeuer thou be , that louest the world , consider well , whither , it hath a meaninge to carry thee . that way whereby thou goest , is a most wicked way , and full of misery . fly therfore for a while , o man , from all worldly busines , and hide thy selfe from those tumultuous thoughts of thine . now cast away thy weighty cares , dismisse those laborious imployments ; be a little at leasure for god , and repose with him a little , in the closet of thy hart . exclude all but god , and those things which may helpe towards the finding of him . let all thy hart now say to god , i seeke thy countenance , and yet agayne i seeke it o my god. come therfore o lord my god ; teach my hart , both where , and how it may seeke thee , and where and how it may finde thee . o lord , if thou be not heere , where shall i finde thee being absent ; and if thou be heere , why do i not see thee , being present . but thou indeed dost inhabite inaccessible light , yet how shall i then approach to that light , if it be inaccessible ; or who shall lead me , & admit me to it , that i may see thee in it ? and againe , by what signes , or by what addresse shal i seeke thee ? i neuer saw thee , o lord my god ; nor was i euer acquainted with thy countenāce , what thou most high god , shal this creature who hath bee exiled so farr off from thee , what i say , shall he be able to do ? vvhat shall thy slaue be able to do ; who on the one side , is so deadly taken with the loue of thee , and yet on the other , doth find himselfe to be cast so farre off from thy face ? behold how he doth euen pant to see thee , whilest yet thy face is so farr remote ? it desireth to draw neere to thee ; but thy habitation cannot be approached vnto ; it desires to find thee , but it knows not where ; it striues to seeke thee , but it is a stranger to thy presence . chap. xxxi . how the vision of god was lost by sinne , and that misery came so to be found out . o lord , thou art my god , and my lord. i neuer saw thee & yet thou didst create me , & redeeme me , and thou hast giuen me all good things ; but yet still i neuer saw thee nor doe i know thee . and though it be true that i was made of purpose , for the seeing of thee , yet hitherto , i neuer did that for which i was made . o miserable condition of man , who lost the thing to which he was ordained . o woefull heauy chance ! alas what is it , that he lost ; & what is it that he found ? what departed , & what remayned . he lost felicity , to which he was ordayned ; and he met with misery , to which he was not ordayned . that departed , without which nothing can be happy ; and that remayned , which of it selfe is nothing but pure misery . then did man feed vpon the bread of angells , after which now he hath such hunger ; and now he feeds vpon the bread of sorrow , to which then he was a stranger . o thou my lord , how long wilt thou forget vs ? how long wilt thou turne thy face from vs ? when wilt thou regard , and heare vs ? vvhen wilt thou illuminate these eyes of ours , and shew vs that face of thyne ? when wilt thou restore thy selfe to vs , and heare vs ? behold vs , o lord , and hearken to vs , and enlighten vs , and shew thy selfe to vs , and restore thy selfe to vs ; that once we may be happy in thee , without whome we are so truly vnhappy . o lord , i beseech thee , inuite and help vs. my soule is all made bitter , by her desolation ; sweeten it by thy consolation . i beseech thee , o lord , since i haue been hungry in search of thee , let me not be forsaken in being vnfed by thee . i come faynt with hungar towardes thee , let me not depart empty from thee . i come poore to thee who art rich ; miserable to thee who art mercifull . do not send me away needy , and disgraced . o my lord , i am all bent downeward , nor can i looke but downeward , doe thou erect me that i may looke vpward , and that with great attention . my iniquityes haue ouergrowne my head ; they haue ouerwhelmed me ; and they hang vpon me like a huge weight . vnfold me , & empty me , and let not that vvell stretch out his mouth to swallow me . teach me to seeke thee ; and when i seeke thee let me see thee ; for neither can i seeke thee , if thou dost not teach me , nor can i find thee , if thou dost not manifest thy selfe to me . let me seeke thee by desiring thee ; let me desire thee by seeking thee . let me find thee by louing thee ; & let me loue thee , by finding thee . chap. xxxii . of the goodnes of god , . i confesse to thee , o lord , and i giue thee thankes , in that thou hast created me after this thyne image , that so being mindfull of thee , i may consider , and loue thee . but so is my soule defaced , with the corruption of vice ; and it is so obscured with the smoke of sinne , that it cannot performe that for which it was made , vnlesse it be renewed & reformed by thee . o lord , thou who impartest the guift of spiritual vnderstanding , i beseech thee grant that i may vnderstand as much as thou knowest to be expedient for me . for thou art as we beleeue , & thou art that very thing which we beleeue & wee beleeue that thou art some what , then which nothing greater , and nothing better can be conceaued . what therfore art thou , o lord god ( since nothing can be cōceaued either greather or better then thou art ) but only that soueraigne good , which existing by it selfe alone , did create al other things of nothing ? vvhat good can therfore be wanting , to that soueraigne good , whereby all good thinges are . thou art therefore iust , & true , & blessed ; & whatsoeuer els , which it is better to be then not to be , that thing thou art . but yet if thou be all supremely iust , how commeth it to passe , that thou pardonnest sinners ? is it because thy goodnes doth exceed our vnderstanding ? this mistery lyeth hid in that inaccessible light , which thou dost inhabit , yea in that most deepe , and most secret profoundity of thy goodnes , that fountaine doth lye hid , from whence the riuer of thy mercy floweth . for although thou be wholy , and supremely iust ; yet therefore art thou mercifull to wicked men , because thou art also wholy and supremely good. and thou shouldst be lesse good , if thou wert not good to any who is wicked . for he is better , who is , good both to the good & to the had , then he who is good , but to the good . and better is he who is good both in pardoning , and in punishing wicked men , then another who is only good in punishing . and therefore art thou also mercifull , because thou art wholy and supremely good. chap. xxxiii . of the delightfull fruition of god. o thou immense goodnes , who exceedest all vnderstanding . let thy mercy , which so aboundantly preceedeth from thee , descend downe on me , let that flow into me , which floweth from the. pardon me by thy mercy , least els thy iustice be forced to take reuenge vpon me . styr thy selfe vp , now , o my soule , & erect thy whole vnderstanding , and consider ( to the vttermost of all thy power ) what kind , & how great a good that is , which is god himself . for if euery particulier good thing do carry with itsome delight doe but seriously consider how delightful that good must needs be , which contayneth the delight of all good thinges ; & that too , no such kind of delight , as we experience in thinges created , but a delight so very different , as the creatour , is more excellent then the creature . now if that life which is created be good , how good is that other life , which created this ? if this health be delightfull , which is made ; how delightfull must that needs be , which made all this health ? if the vvisedom be amiable , which is exercised in the consideration & knowledge of created things ; how amiable must that other vvisedom be , which created & framed all of nothing ? and in fine , if the delight which is taken in delightfull things be very great , and of great variety ; how various , & how great is that delight , which is taken in him , who created all these delightfull thinges ? o how happie shall he be , that shall arriue to , & ēioy this good ; yea how happy shall he not be ? infaillibly whatsoeuer he would haue to be , shall be ; and whatsoeuer he would not , shall not be . he shall there , be so endued with such felicity , both of body & soule , as neither the eye hath seene , nor the eare hath heard , nor hath it entered into the hart of man. chap. xxxiv . that this supreme good is to be desired . why dost thou therfore wander , o thou man , in the search of any good , concerning either thy body or thy soule ? loue thou that one good , wherein all good things are , & it is inough . desire thou that one single good , which conteyneth all good , and it will suffice . for what dost thou , o boby of myne , desire , what dost thou desire , o my soule ? there is in that good , whatsoeuer thou canst desire or loue . if thou be delighted with beauty , the iust shall shin bright like the sunne . if speed or strenght , or ability to do what thou wilt with thy body ; nothing shall be able to resist thee , since the. saints shal be as the angels of god : for a corporall body is sowed , but it shall rise vp a spirituall body ; not that it is so by nature , but by participation . if thou desire a long & healthfull life , in heauen there shal be a health full eternity , & an eternall health for the iust shall liue for euer ; & their saluatio is of our lord. if thou desire to haue a satiety , & fullnes of all things ; men shal be satisfyed when the glory of our lord shall appeare . if thou desire to be inebriated , mē shall there be inebriated , by that euer growing plenty of the house of god. if musicke ; the angells shal be singing there , for all eternity . if pleasure which is chast & pure , our lord shall giue then to drink of the torrent of his pleasure . if wisedome , the very wisedome of god will to them declare himself who is wisedome . if friendship they shall loue god more then themselues , & god will loue them better them they can loue themselues ; because they loue him , & themselues & one another , in him ; & he loueth himselfe , & them , by himselfe . if concord with one another be esteemed ; they haue all but one will , because they haue no other will , but the supreme will of god. if power , they shall haue the same dominion ouer their owne will which god hath ouer his . for as god can do what he will by himselfe , so shall they be able to do what they will by him . and as they cannot will any thing but what he wills ; so wil he will , whatsoeuer they will ; & so what they will cannot chuse but be . if wealth & honour , god doth place his good and faythfull seruants ouer many goods ; yea they shall be called the sonnes of god , and gods ; and they shal be his heires , & the coheirs of christ . if true security , they shall be as certainly assured , that no good thing shall be euer wanting to them , as they shall be sure that neither they wil forgoe it willingly , nor that he who loueth them , will take it away against their will , whome he so loueth ; nor yet that there is any thing mightier then god , which is able to separate him and them from one another . now what kind of ioy , and how great must that needs be , where such a good as this , is to be inioyed . chap. xxxv . of the mutuall charity of the saints in heauen . o thou hart of man , thou poore hart , thou hart which knowest what belonges to cares and miseries , by experience ; or rather which art euen ouer-welmed by them , how much wouldst thou reioyce , if thou didst abound with all those blessings . aske thy most inward powers if they would be able to containe the ioy , which would grow to thee , by such felicity as that . but now if any other , whom thou didst absoluty loue , as thou didst loue thy selfe , should possesse the selfe same beatitude , with thee ; thy ioy would be doubled , because thou wouldst reioyce no lesse for him , then for thy selfe . and if two or three , or many more were possessors of it , thou wouldst reioyce for euery one of them , as for thy selfe ; supposing that thou louedst euery one of them as thy selfe . what kinde of thing , will therfore , that perfect charity be , of innumerable angels , & blessed men , since no one loueth another lesse then himselfe ; & no otherwise will euery one reioyce , for any other then for himselfe . if therfore the hart of man will scarce be able to containe it self for the single ioy , which himselfe will takes in so great a good ; how will he be capable of this so great ioy , of so many others ? againe , looke how much more a man loues another , and so much more doth he reioyce at his good . and now , as in that supreme felicity , euery one will , without comparison , loue god better then himselfe , and all the rest ; so also will he , without comparison , reioyce more in the felicity of god then in that of himselfe , & of all the rest of his fellow-saints . and if they shal loue god withal their hart , all their mind , and al their soule , in such sort as that yet all their hart , & all their minde , & all their soule cannot sufficiently comprehend the dignity of that loue ; without faile they will also reioyce with all their hart , withal their mind , & withall their soule , so that all their hart , mind , & soule , shall not be able to containe the fulnes of that ioy . chap. xxxvi . of the fulnes of the ioy of heauen . o my god , and my lord , my hope , & the ioy of my hart ; tell my soule , if this be that ioy , wherof thou hast said by thy sonne , aske , & you shall receiue , that so your ioy may be full . for i haue found a certaine ioy , which is full , and more then full ; the hart , the mind , the soule , and the whole man being full thereof : but yet in heauen there will be another ioy beyond measure , greater then this is . there , they who are to enioy it , shall not enter into all that ioy ; but they , being all full of ioy , shall enter into that ioy of their lord. tell me o lord , tell thy seruant , & tel it to my hart within , if this be that ioy , into which those seruants of thine shal enter ; who are to enter into the ioy of their lord ? but euen that ioy wher with thy elect shall reioyce , hath neither bene seen with the eye , nor heard by the eare , nor hath it entred into the hart of man. so that yet , i haue not bene able to say , o lord , how great that ioy is , which thy elect shall enioy . it is certaine , that they shall ioy as much as they loue , & they shall loue as much , as they shall knowe thee o lord. but how great shall that loue be ? it is certaine that neither the eye hath seene , nor the eare hath hard , nor hath it entred into the hart of man , in this life , how much they shal knowe & loue thee , in that other life , o my god , i beseech thee that i may knowe thee ; that i may loue thee , that i may ioy in thee . and if , in this life , i may not do it to the full , yet at least make me profit in it more , & more , that at last i may arriue to that fullnes . let the knowledge which heere i haue of thee , proceed further that so it may there , be full . let my loue of thee increase heere , that so it may be full there ; & that heere , my ioy , may be great in hope , & there , full , in deede . o thou true god , i beg , that i may receiue what thou hast promised , that so my ioy may be fulfilled . in the meane tyme , let my minde meditate vpon it ; let my tongue speake of it ; let my hart loue it ; let my discourse worke vpon it ; let my soule be hungry and euen my very flesh thirst after it ; and let my whole substance desire it ; till such tyme as i shall enter into the ioy of my lord , where i may remaine for euer . amen . finis . the paterne of wholsome words. or a collection of such truths as are of necessity to be belieued vnto saluation separated out of the body of all theologie made euident by infallible plaine proofes of scripture. and withall, the seuerall vses such principles should be put to, are abundantly shevved. a proiect much desired, and of singular vse for all sorts of christians. by n. bifeild [sic], preacher of gods word at isleworth in middlesex. byfield, nicholas, 1579-1622. 1618 approx. 455 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 279 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a17400 stc 4226 estc s120680 99855874 99855874 21382 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a17400) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 21382) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1059:03) the paterne of wholsome words. or a collection of such truths as are of necessity to be belieued vnto saluation separated out of the body of all theologie made euident by infallible plaine proofes of scripture. and withall, the seuerall vses such principles should be put to, are abundantly shevved. a proiect much desired, and of singular vse for all sorts of christians. by n. bifeild [sic], preacher of gods word at isleworth in middlesex. byfield, nicholas, 1579-1622. [22], 525, [1] p. imprinted by f. k[ingston] for samuel man, dwelling in pauls church yard, at the signe of the swan, at london : 1618. printer's name from stc. retrospectively intended to be part 5 of stc 4219.5: byfield, nicholas. the marrow of the oracles of god--stc. reproduction of the original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general 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2003-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-10 rina kor sampled and proofread 2003-10 rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the paterne of wholso●● words . or a collection of such truths as are of necessity to be belieued ●nto saluation , separated o●t of ●he body of all theologie made euident by infallible an● plaine proofes of scripture . and withall , the seuerall vses such principles should be put to , are abundantly shevved . a proiect much desired , and of singular vse for all sorts of christians . by n. bifeild , preacher of gods word at isleworth in middlesex . 2. tim 1.13 . keepe the true paterne of wholesome words , whic● , thou hast heard of me in faith and loue● which is christ iesus . at london , imprinted by f. k. for samuel ma●● dwelling in pauls church yard , at the signe of the swan . 1618. to the most noble ladie , the ladie dorothie , countesse of northumberland . and to the highly honoured ladies her daughters , the ladie dorothie sydney , and the ladie lvcie hay : n. byfeild wisheth the abundance of true grace and peace . right honourable , i haue long since vndertaken ( as in the course of my ministerie you haue often heard ) to extract out of al theologie conteined in the scriptures , the principles , that is , such doctrines which are fundamentall , and absolutely necessarie to be knowne of as many as are to be saued . this proiect ought to bee well accepted of all sorts of christians , that wish their owne good ; partly in respect of the necessitie of the doctrines here collected vnder their seueral heads ; and partly in respect of the apparant euidence of the proofes of scripture , which are such , as make infallible demonstration to the conscience , by the expresse light cōteined in them ; and partly , because the vses which may be made of the seuerall principles , are euery where abundantly shewed . and in as much as the lord hath been pleased , to giue some testimonie to my indeuors herein in the publike preaching ; i am not out of hope , but that the printing of those principles may be profitable to many godly and plaine-hearted christians , that desire in the plainest manner to vnderstand the meaning of their heauenly fathers will. i humbly dedicate this worke vnto your honours , and pray your acceptation , and the patronage of it : and to giue me leaue in the view of the world to signifie this way , both my obseruance of the many noble and excellent vertues , which are eminent in each of your honours , as also my vnfained thankefulnesse for the many fauours i haue receiued , and for the countenance and incouragement of my ministery ; accounting it a singular mercy of god , that any labours of mine should find acceptation with persons of so high place and quality , or any way be successeful to the prospering of any part of the worke of gods grace in your hearts . now the god of all consolation , fill your noble breasts with all riches of the true grace that is in iesus christ ; that you may abound in the knowledge of the mysteries of his kingdome in all iudgement , and loue of the truth which is according to godlines , and in all those gifts which may be found vnto honor , and praise , and glory in the reuelation of iesus christ. your honours in all seruice n. bifeild . isleworth , march 27. 1618. certaine of the chiefest things contained throughout the whole booke . chap. 1. three things intended in this worke distinctly . page 1.2 . three waies to know a principle . p. 6.6 . an excellent course for catechising , shewed , p. 7. chap. 2. the method of all the principles . p. 8.9 . chap. 3. the principles that concerne the scriptures . p. 10.11 . &c. that the scriptures are the very word of god proued by sixe testimonies externall , as also by the internall testimonie of the spirit . p. 11.12.13 . that they are perfect . p. 13. six duties vrged from thence . p. 14. 15. &c. the papists reproued in foure things . p. 19.20 . and the carnall protestant in 4. things . p. 21.22 . and many godly men in 4. things also . p. 22. chap. 4. foure principles concerning god. p. 24. that there is a god , proued by three testimonies internall ; and by foure testimonies from the world ; and two testimonies in the church . p. 25.26.27 . ten glories in the nature of god. p. 28.29 . &c. eight duties arising from the consideration of gods nature . p. 32.33.34 . sixe rules to be obserued in the study of the nature of god. p. 35.36 . plaine proofes of the trinity . p. 39. with vses . p. 41. that there is but one god proued , with vses . p. 42.43.44 . chap. 5. fiue principles concerning the creation . p. 45.46 . sixe duties taught by the creation . p. 48.49 . chap. 6. seuen principles concerning gods prouidence . p. 52.53 . to . 58. eleuen things admirable in gods prouidence . p. 58.59.60 . foure sorts of men reproued . p. 62. eight vses for instruction . p. 63.64.65.66.67 . foure waies to shew our patience in aduersity . p. 64.65 . comforts from the meditation of gods prouidence . p. 69.70 . chap. 7. two principles concerning mans estate of innocency . p. 71.72 . man made after the image of god many waies . p. 72. &c. man was the image of god in respect of his substance , and so both of his being , and of the manner of his being . p. 72.73 . man made the image of god in respect of his gifts 3. waies . p. 74. foure sorts of free-wills . p. 75. the speciall fauour of god to man in his creation , both in respect of the time when , and the place where , and the manner how hee made him , both in respect of soule and body . p. 76.77 . the doctrine of mans first happines teacheth diuers duties . 1. to god. p. 78. 2. to our selues . p. 79. 3. to other men . p. 80. confutation of papists about pictures . p. 81. chap. 8. three principles concerning the fall of man. p. 82. seuen things to shew the greatnesse of adams sinne . p. 84. how it is that godly men beget vngodly children . p. 86. foure generall instructions . p. 87.88 . three occasions of apostasie . p. 87.88 fiue degrees of the diuels tentation . p. 90. foure sorts of men in particular warned by the fall . p. 91.92 . chap. 9. foure principles concerning sinne . p. 93.94 . fourteene foule blemishes in euery mans nature . p. 95.96.97.98.99 . nine vses for information . p. 103.104.105 . seuen things charged vpon ciuill honest men . p. 106.107 . many vses for instruction , with consolations also . p. 108.109.110 . chap 10. seuenteene sorts of punishments inflicted on man for sinne . p. 114. to 128. the punishment of the damned in hell , amplified by the degrees of it , and the place , and the continuance of it . p. 124.125.126.127 . many vses , from p. 128. to 136. chap. 11. fiue principles concerning election . p. 137.138 . foure instructions . p. 139. to 146. signes of election of two sorts . p. 146. to 152. eight priuiledges of gods elect . p. 152. to 156. chap. 12. that christ is god , proued 6. waies . p. 157.158.159 . why it was needfull hee should bee god. p. 159. the vses for humiliation , and for instruction in many things , and for consolation . p. 160. to 164. chap. 13. 4 principles cōcerning the humane nature of christ. p. 164. to 167. why christ was incarnate . p. 167. why the second person in trinitie was incarnate , p. 168. fiue instructions . p. 169.170 . many consolations from the incarnation of christ. p. 171. to 175. chap. 14. of the conception of christ , the vses . p. 176. &c. chap. 15. how christ could be borne of a virgin , with the vses . p. 180. to 186. foure sorts of making man at seuerall times . p. 184. chap. 16. of the personal vnion , with the vses . p. 186. to 191. chap. 17. principles that concerne the mediator-ship of christ. p. 191. to 197. when christ was giuen to be mediator . p. 194. three sorts of couenants of god. p. 197. wherein the couenant of grace and the couenant of workes agree , and how they differ in sixe things . p. 200. to 206. nine priuiledges of the couenant of grace . p. 206. to 211. the properties of this couenant . p. 211.212 . ten arguments to assure the infallibility of the couenant of grace . p. 212.213 . the persons capable of these priuiledges . p. 214. comforts in the curse of sinne , and in the crosse of affliction , and in the curse of death . p. 215.216 . what wee must auoid in respect of this couenant . p. 217.218 . what we must doe that wee may bee fitted for this couenant . p. 219. eight things to be done that we may walke worthy of this couenant . p. 220.221.222 . chap. 18. what the propheticall office of christ is , the parts of it , and the manner how he executed it . p. 226.227.228 . seuen principles concerning the propheticall office of christ. p. 229.230.231 . christ differed in teaching from all others in diuers things . p. 235.236 . sixe instructions . p. 237.238 . eight comfortable things in the manner of christs teaching . p. 240. to 245. chap. 19. foure principles concerning the obedience of christ. p. 247. to 250. with the vses , to p. 254. chap. 20. sixe principles concerning the passion of christ. p. 255.256.257 . the extreame things christ suffered for vs. p. 257. to 262. many duties to be performed vpon the consideration of the passion . 1. towards christ himselfe . p. 263. to 267. 2. towards others . p. 268. to 271. 3. towards our selues . p. 271. to 279. fiue vses for information . p. 279. to 284. many consolations from the passion of christ in generall , from p. 284. to 291. many particular consolations . p. 291 to 301. chap. 21. foure principles concerning the intercession of christ. p. 301.302.303 . seuen distinct things in the intercession of christ. p. 304. confutation of papists . p. 309. foure instructions . p. 310. ten cons●lations . p. 311. to 315. chap. 22. seuen principles concerning the regall office of christ. p. 315. to 325. the method of the doctrine of christs regall office . p. 325. to 331. twelue generall vses for instruction , besides particular vses . p. 331. to 340. many consolations . p. 340. to 344. chap. 22. seuen principles concerning the church . nine vses for instruction . p. 355. to 361 many consolations . p. 361. to 364. chap. 23. eight principles concerning iustification . p. 364. to 371. eight vses for instruction , p. 371. to 378. sixe consolations . p. 378. to 381. chap. 24. sixe principles concerning sanctification . p. 383. to 388. motiues to holinesse . p. 389.390.391 . rules concerning sanctification : where ten things to be auoided . p. 392. to 396. rules about the matter , end , manner and meanes of sanctification . p. 396. to 340. seuen signes of a man vnsanctified . p. 402.403 . many consolations against the imperfection of sanctification . p. 405. to 409. chap. 26. foure principles concerning the resurrection . p. 410. to 414. that there shall bee a resurrection , proued by varietie of arguments . p. 415. to 419. sixe things in the manner of the resurrection . p. 420.421 . fiue instructions . p. 422. to 425. many consolations . p. 425. to 436. sixe glorious things shall befall our bodies at the resurrection . p. 429. obiections answered . p. 433. &c. chap. 27. seuen principles concerning the last iudgement . p. 436. to 445. sixe instructions . p. 445. to 455. sixe waies of offending in censuring . p. 447. nine things to be done , that we may haue comfort in the day of iudgment . p. 451. to 455. the vse for terrour at large . p. 455. to 460. many obiections answered . p. 460. to 478. it shall be a terrible day for fifteene sorts of offenders . p. 472. to 478. many consolations . p. 478. to 482. chap. 28. foure principles concerning the glorie of heauen . p. 482. to 487. sixe vses for instruction , with diuers notes . p. 487. to 497. sixe things we must doe , that we may be sure to goe to heauen . p. 492. &c. the consolations ; from p. 497. to the end . the description of the parts of the glorie of heauen , and the perpetuitie of it . finis . chap. i. containing the nature and vse of this treatise . the purpose and drift of this treatise is to effect three things : first to extract out of all theologie contained in the scriptures such truths , 3 as are of necessitie to be beleeued vnto saluation ; the knowledge whereof is required of all : in the defence whereof we should be ready to suffer the extreamest things , euen death it selfe ; and which wee should account the very characters of true religion , the distinct knowledge whereof we should lay vp , as great riches . secondly , to gather out of the scriptures such euident proofes of each of those truths , as might make a full assurance and establishment of heart in the particular beleefe of them . thirdly , to poynt out the seuerall vses wee should make of these fundamentall truthes , and for what excellent purpose they may serue vs all the daies of our life . singularly great would the profit of this proiect be , if there were a heart in man to vse a little diligence in matters of so great moment . is it not a meruailous benefit in this contending world for a man to know distinctly , what truthes be infallible ; and to haue the truthes , that are absolutely necessary to be beleeued , separated from such , as a man may bee ignorant of , and yet bee saued ? and for the second thing , it is certaine , the most christians knowe their groundes but by heare-say , and the common iudgement of others : whereas here they may bee informed of them so , as to knowe them by proofes of scripture , which with a little labour they may commit to memory , as seed-plots of contemplation . and for the third , what is the reason , that common-place diuinitie is so out of vse in popular teaching ? or that catechismes are looked vpon so dully , and learned or taught with so little profit ? but that the vse of such doctrine hath not been distinctly shewed : so as men thinke of principles , as of certaine inferior truthes , because they see other points in textuall course handled with directions for the vse of them . whereas it is certaine , that no doctrines in religion haue more abundant vse in the life of man , nor more vrged with varietie of vses in the scriptures , then the heads of catechisme . and for the warrant of the proiect , it is euident , that the apostles did make a separation of truthes , and did extract the fundamentall truthes out of the maine body of doctrine , and those they deliuered to the churches , as the common treasure of all the saints : and those both for the honour and vse of them they described by diuers titles . they were called the principles of the praises of god , heb. 5.12 . the principles of the doctrine of christ , heb. 6.1 . the doctrines of foundation in the same place . the patterne of wholesome words , 2. tim. 1.13 . the forme of the knowledge of the truth , rom. 2.20 . the forme of doctrine , into which they were deliuered , rom. 6. all which titles shew the singular vse of them . now if any aske mee , how i will know a principle ? i answere by these markes . first , it is such a truth to bee beleeued , as is contained in the expresse words of scripture : so as i take a principle to bee a doctrine plainely expressed in the word : and so differ from doctrines , that are deduced from the scriptures onely by consequence , or are there but in darke and obscure words . secondly principles are first truths , that is such , as haue been from the beginning , and haue been beleeued in all ages of the church . thirdly , they are such truthes , as being stubbornely and wilfully denied , the whole building falles downe , and men hold not the foundation . besides , any man may be guided herein , that will make vse of the iudgement of the churches in their creedes and confessions , and catechismes ; though it be true , that if men narrowly obserue the most catechismes , they either haue not all principles in , or else they haue more then principles , such truths , as are strong meate , and so prooue hard sayings to the weake . neither am i so transported with any ouerweaning of my selfe in this proiect , but that with all readines i shall subiect my endeuors herein to the correction of the godly learned : if my labor may prouoke others more sufficient to perfect this worke with such exactnes , as is further requisite , i shall reioyce in it , and thinke i haue attained a happy end . i doubt not , but that this labour may be of great vse for yonger diuines to point out a way , how they may catechise with more profit by making the vses of euery principle , as they teach the grounds to the people : yea , it is one part of the sabbaths daies best imployment in sermons to treate in this , or the like manner ; and so to let the people bee truly informed concerning the characteristicall truthes in their religion , with vse of them in their conuersation . lastly , it will be some content vnto ingenious mindes , to see the principles cast into some method for the helpe of memorie and quickening of delight , and the more easie learning of them . chap. ii. the method of the principles . the principles concerne either the fountaine and originall of doctrine and knowledge , which is the scripture or word of god ; or the subiect of knowledge , which is god himselfe : in god wee consider : 1. his nature : 2. his workes . the workes of god , as the principles take notice of them , are : 1. creation : 2. prouidence : the prouidence of god must be considered either in generall , or as it concernes man onely . the prouidence of god , as it concernes man hath principles , that looke vpon him in his fourfold estate . in the estate of innocency . in the estate of corruption , or misery . in the estate of grace , where the principles consider , 1 the meanes of grace , viz. election in god ; and redemption in christ. 2 the subiect of grace , viz. the church . 3 the degrees , or sorts of grace : viz. iustification , and sanctification . in the estate of glory , where 1 of the resurrection of the dead . 2 of the last iudgement . 3 of the glory of heauen . chap. iii. of the scriptures . 2. tim. 3.16 . for the whole scripture is giuen by inspiration of god , &c. the originall or fountaine of knowledge is the scripture , that is , the bookes of the old and new testament , and those bookes were first called scripture , in the new testament . there are two principles concerning the scripture . that they are the very word of god , or they flow from god by diuine inspiration . that they are perfect , without defect or errour , euery way sufficient of themselues alone , to guide vs in all things needfull to saluation , without adding ought to them , or diminishing ought from them . for the first , that they are by diuine inspiration , is infallibly euident from the testimony of the scriptures themselues , such as these . 2. tim. 3.16 . before recited . 2. pet. 1.20.21 . so that ye first know this , that no prophecie of the scriptures is of any priuate interpretation . for the prophecie came not in old time by the will of man : but holy men of god spake as they were moued by the holy ghost . and for our more abundant satisfaction , there are other testimonies , that prooue the scriptures to bee the very word of god , and these both external and internall . the externall testimonies are such as these : the diuine reuelations , with which they were graced from heauen . for god was visibly present with moses the writer of the law , and god testified his presence also by the cloud and smoke about the arke , in the tabernacle , and temple : fier from heauen deuoured the sacrifices , and god gaue answere by the vrim and thummim . the fulfilling of the prophesies vttered in the scriptures in seuerall ages . the testimony of the church in all ages , acknowledging the bookes of scripture , as the pure word of god. the finall confession of the martyrs , who at their death did iustifie so much , and willingly died in the defence of the truths , contained in the scriptures . the conuersion of the soules of men by the power of the scriptures , and the comfort the godly finde in them in all afflictions . the miraculous calling of the men , as we may see in moses and the apostles , that wrote the scriptures , &c. the internall testimony is the witnesse of gods spirit , who in the hearts of the godly doth auouch so much , and this is a testimony proper to the houshold of god. thus of the first principle . the second principle is , that the scriptures are perfect , which these places shew : 2. tim. 3.17 . that the man of god may bee absolute , being made perfect vnto all good workes . psalm . 19.7 . the law of the lord is perfect , conuerting the soule : the testimony of the lord is sure , and giueth wisdome vnto the simple . gal. 1.8 . but though that we , or an angell from heauen preach vnto you otherwise , then that which we haue preached vnto you , let him bee accursed . duet . 12.32 . therefore whatsoeuer i command you , take heed you doe it : thou shalt put nothing thereto , nor take ought there-from . prou. 8.7.8 . for my mouth shall speake the truth , and my lips abhorre wickednesse . all the words of my mouth are righteous & there is no leaudnes , nor frowardnesse in them . the consideration of which principles may serue vs for diuers vses ; both for instruction and reproofe : for triall and for consolation : first , wee should here be perswaded to study the scriptures with all diligence , and to striue to get the plenteous knowledge of them ; searching those diuine words , and exercising our selues in the morning and euening ; accounting so much to bee added to our riches , as wee get of this excellent knowledge . iohn 5.39 . search the scriptures : for in them you thinke to haue eternall life , and they are they , which testifie of me . col. 3.16 . let the word of god , or christ dwell in you plenteously in all wisdome , teaching and admonishing your owne selues , &c. psalm . 1.2 . but his delight is in the law of the lord , and in his law doth he meditate day and night . labouring by all meanes to acquaint our children , and family with them . deut. 6.7 . and thou shalt rehearse them continually vnto thy children , and shalt talke of them , when thou tariest in thy house , and as thou walkest by the way , and when thou liest downe , and when thou risest vp , &c. since they are of god , and so perfect , wee should rest vpon the directions , and comforts we find in them , and establish our hearts in all things wee learne out of them ; rom. 15.4 . for whatsoeuer things are written afore time , are written for our learning , that wee through patience , and comfort of the scriptures , might haue hope . they are a sure word ; we may rest vpon them , 2. pet. 1.20 . as beleeuing , that euery word of god is pure , and that god will make them good to such as trust in them , prou. 30.5.6 . we should care to reade , and heare these scriptures with al due preparation and attention , and high estimation , receiuing them as the word of god , and not of man : 1. thes. 2.13 . labouring to bring cleane hearts , and a meeke and teachable spirit to them , as being able to saue our soules : iames 1.21.22 . with a resolution to doe whatsoeuer god requireth in them . we should loue them aboue all treasures , accounting them more deare , then thousands of gold and siluer , and reckoning the sentences learned out of scriptures , as the fairest ornament can decke vs : deut. 11.18.19 . psalm . 119.72 . we should therefore make them the rule of all our actions , and come continually to them to see , whether our workes bee wrought in god , and shewing the power of the word in the demonstration of the apparant life of it , in commanding all our particular actions , that men may see the light of the word in the light of our good workes . phil. 2.15 . that wee may bee blamelesse and pure , and the sonnes of god , without rebuke in the midst of a naughty and crooked nation , amongst whom you shine as lights in the world . gal. 6.16 . and as many as walk according to this rule , peace shall be vpon them , and mercy vpon the israel of god. psalm . 119.105 . thy word is a lanterne vnto my feete , and a light vnto my path . yea we should daily try and search the secrets of our hearts by it , as that which only can doe it . heb. 4.12 . for the word of god is liuely , and mighty in operation , and sharper then any two edged sword , and entreth through euen vnto the diuiding asunder of the soule and the spirit , and of the ioynts and the marrow , and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart . wee should therefore in all questions and controuersies let the scriptures iudge , and thinke of no man , aboue what is written , gal. 1.7 . 1. cor. 4.6 . esay 8.20 . thus much for instruction . secondly , 2 these principles reprooue the papists and carnall protestants , and the godly too : the papists are heere reproued , 1 1. for making the authority of the scriptures to depend vpon the testimony of the church , whereas the church is built vpon the scriptures , ephes. 2.20 . and are built vpon the foundation of the apostles and prophets ; iesus christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone . 2. for not holding it to bee sufficient without traditions , contrary to the expresse word , 2. tim. 3.17 . that the man of god may be absolute , being made perfect vnto all good works . 3. for with-holding the scriptures from the common people , keeping from them the sight of their fathers wil , contrary to the word , iohn 5.39 . search the scriptures : for in them you thinke to haue eternall life , and they are they which testifie of me . col. 3.16 . let the word of god dwell in you plenteously in all wisedome , &c. 4. for iudging controuersies without them : contrary to the commandement , esay 8.20 . to the law , and to the testimony . if they speake not according to this word , it is because there is no light in them . the carnal protestants are here reproued : 1. for their miserable neglect of the reading , 2 hearing , meditation , and the care to yeeld obedience to the scriptures : yea , for the wretched neglect of the very buying of the bible for their vse , and the vse of their families , and for daring to liue without the preaching of the word in times of spirituall famine . 2. for their vilde audaciousnesse , that dare liue in such sins , as they heare threatned in the scriptures , prophanely despising the warning daily giuen them , esay 30.11.12 . ier. 23.9.10 . 3. for their scorning and deriding of such , as honour the word , and frequent the hearing of it . esay 57.3.4 . but you witches children come hither , the seed of the adulterer , and of the whore : on whō haue you iested ? vpon whom haue you gaped , and thrust out your tongs ? are ye not rebellious children , and a false seed ? 4. for their irreuerence , when they come to the house of god to heare , eccles. 5.1 . yea , the godly themselues ought to bee humbled by the consideration hereof : 3 1. for their distractions in the hearing & reading of the word . 2. for neglecting the counsels and directions giuen out of the word . 3. for not resting vpon it through vnbeliefe . 4. for too much aptnes to receiue opinions , if they come frō men they account godly , though they haue no warrant from the word . there be traditions on the right hand , as well as on the left . thus much for reproofe . thirdly , 3 wee may all try our selues , what we are by our respect of the scriptures : if we loue and heare the word , we are of god , ioh. 8.47 . he that is of god , heareth gods word : ye therefore heare them not , because ye are not of god. gods people are a people , in whose hearts is gods law , esay 51.7 . psalm . 37.31 . lastly , 4 it may be a singular consolation to all such , as find the word of god to testifie with thē : it matters not what the world saies , or thinks of vs ; if we can find that the word of the lord is good cōcerning vs : our harts may be at rest , when god speakes peace by his word , and we may be sure we are in the right way , when we follow the directions of the word . chap. iiii. of god. psalm . 72.18.19 . hitherto of the principles concerning the fountaine of knowledge : the subiect of knowledge is god , who must bee considered two waies : first , in his nature : secondly ; in his works . 4 concerning god considered in his nature , there are foure principles : that he is , that is , that there is a god. that he is glorious in nature . that he is three in persons . that he is one in essence . for the first , that there is a god , is euery where apparant in euery leafe , yea almost in euery line of scripture ; and therefore i spare quotations , it being out of all doubt , that the scripture saith so . and against all seeds of atheisme , men may keepe in their minds these other testimonies ; both inward and outward . the inward testimonies that proue there is a god , are these : the horror of conscience , that befalles men after the committing of sinne , dreading a supreame iudge ; which terrours we see are oftentimes such , as are most dreadfull , and such as no outward thing can still . the testimony of the holy ghost infallibly satisfying the godly herein . the reuelation of god to the harts of his people , daily finding him in the vse of his ordinances , which presence of god they likewise misse , if they sinne presumptuously . 2 the externall testimonies are taken from the workes of god ; either more generally in the world ; or more specially in the church . the world testifies there is a god ; in respect of the creation of it : this huge frame could not make it selfe , and therefore of necessity there must be some being that gaue it being . by the motion that is in it . for that shewes there is a supreame mouer . by the strange iudgements that fall vpon the wicked , somtimes in the very act of sinning , and sometimes at the very instant of the wishes of wicked persons . in that all nations haue at all times acknowledged a god. in the church god hath proued himselfe to be : 1 by apparitions : god hath shewed himselfe by certaine formes , or signes of his presence : thus adam , noah , abrahā , isaac , iacob , moses , &c. saw god. 2 by the miracles wrought beyond all the course of nature : as when he raised dead men ; diuided the sea ; made the sunne goe backward , &c. thus of the proofe of the first principle . that god is also maruellously glorious in his nature , these places shew : psal. 29. all ouer . exod. 33.18 . againe , he said , i beseech thee shew me thy glory . 19. and he answered , &c. esa. 6.2.3 . and one cried to another , and said , holy , holy , holy is the lord of hosts : the whole world is full of his glory . 1. tim. 6.16 . who onely hath immortality , and dwelleth in the light that none can attaine vnto , whom neuer man saw , neither can see , vnto whom bee honour , and power euerlasting , amen . 10 and how can hee be but exceeding glorious , when as he is , incorporeall , beyond the perfection of bodily things . ioh. 4. 24. god is a spirit . eternall without any beginning . psal. 90.2 . before the mountaines were made , and before thou haddest formed the earth , and the world , euen from euerlasting to euerlasting thou art our god. infinitely immense , and incomprehensible . 1. king. 8.27 . is it true indeed that god will dwell on the earth ? behold the heauens , and the heauens of heauens are not able to containe thee , how much more vnable is this house that i haue built . ier. 23.24 . doe not i fill heauen and earth , saith the lord ? immutable without shadow of change . iam. 1.17 . euery good giuing , and euery perfect gift is from aboue , and commeth downe from the father of lights , with whom is no variablenesse , neither shadow by turning . numb . 23.19 . god is not as man , that hee should lie , neither as the sonne of man , that hee should repent : hath he said , and shall he not doe it ? and hath he spoken , and shall he not accomplish it ? omnipotent , so as nothing is impossible to him . psalm . 115.3 . but our god is in heauen , hee doth whatsoeuer he will. mat. 19.26 . and iesus beheld them , and said vnto them , with men this is impossible , but with god all things are possible . iob 42.2 . i know that thou canst doe all things , and that there is no thought hidden from thee . omni-scient , so as hee knowes all things vniuersally , and perfectly . psalm . 147.5 . great is our lord , and great is his power , his wisdome is infinite . rom. 11.33 . o the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of god! how vnsearchable are his iudgements , and his waies past finding out ? hebr. 4.13 . neither is there any creature , which is not manifest in his sight : but all things are naked and open vnto his eyes , with whom we haue to doe . most holy : without sinne in himselfe , and hating sinne in others . psalm . 5.4 . for thou art not a god that louest wickednesse : neither shall euill dwell with thee . esa. 6.3 . and one cried to another , and said , holy , holy is the lord of hosts . all-sufficient and independant . genes . 17.1 . the lord appeared to abraham , and said vnto him : i am god all-sufficient , walke before me , and be thou vpright . exod. 3.14 . and god answered moses : i am that i am , &c. rom. 11.36 . for of him , and through him , and for him are all things : to him be glory for euer . amen . most mercifull . exod. 34.6.7 . so the lord passed before his face , and cried : the lord , the lord , strong , mercifull , and gracious , &c. reseruing mercy for thousands , forgiuing iniquity , and transgression , and sinne , and not making the wicked innocent . psalm . 136. the whole . lastly , immortall : so as hee can neuer die or cease to bee . 1. tim. 1.17 . now vnto the king euerlasting , immortall , inuisible , vnto god onely wise , be honour and glory for euer and euer . amen . and all this should teach vs : to adore , and feare this great and glorious god. 1 rom. 11.33.35.36 . o the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of god , &c. to dilate our hearts in a speciall manner in his praises : neuer such a subiect of praise , as god : his praises should take vp all people , by all meanes , and at all times , while we haue any being . psalm . 72.18.19 . blessed bee the lord god , and blessed bee his glorious name for euer , and let the whole earth be filled with his glory . amen , amen . psalm . 96. vers . 1. &c. oh sing vnto the lord all the earth , blesse his name , declare his glory from day to day ; the lord is great and greatly to be praised : giue vnto the lord the glory due vnto his name . psal. 147.1 . praise ye the lord ; for praise is comely , psalm . 148. the whole . reuel . 5.9 . &c. with speciall admiration to set our hearts and affections vpon him , to loue him with all our soules , and all our might . deut. 30.6 , and the lord thy god will circumcise thine heart , and the hart of thy seed , that thou maist loue the lord thy god with all thine heart , and with all thy soule , that thou mayest liue . oh these beauties should make vs wonderfully in loue with god! who onely is worthy to be accounted of a good nature . matth. 19.17 . and he said vnto him , why callest thou me good ? there is none good , but one , euen god , &c. with all diligence to seeke all good at his hands . with all thankfulnesse to acknowledge what good wee receiue from him ; yea acknowledging all we haue to bee from him . iam. 1.17 . euery good giuing , and euery perfect gift is from aboue , and commeth downe from the father of lights , &c. what are wee , that so great a god should set his heart vpon vs to shew vs mercy ? seeing hee is a spirit , and so transcendently glorious , and knowes all things , we should resolue to serue him with all possible affection , putting on all the beauties of the best holinesse we can get , when we come into his presence . ioh. 4.24 . god is a spirit , and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth . let vs for euer hate sinne , and striue for all possible imitation of his holinesse . psal. 36.10 . extend thy louing kindnesse to them that know thee , and thy righteousnesse vnto them that are vpright of hart . 1. pet. 1.15.16 . but as he which hath called you is holy , so be you holy in all manner of conuersation . because it is written : be you holy , for i am holy , &c. 1. ioh. 5.18.19 . we know , that whosoeuer is borne of god sinneth not : but he that is begotten of god , keepeth himselfe , and the wicked toucheth him not , &c. iob 42.6 . therefore i abhorre my selfe , and repent in dust and ashes . finally , wee should striue to get and encrease in the true knowledge of our glorious god , wee should study his glory ; but then wee must be warned , when we go about this study , to looke to diuers things . 1. we must repent vs of our sinnes , for this knowledge requires a cleane heart . 2. wee must bring an humble and teachable mind : psalm . 25.9 . them that bee meeke will hee guide in iudgement , and teach the humble his way . 3. let the word bee thy guide : looke for him in the word : thou must captiuate thy reason , and aduance thy faith . 4. thou must goe to the sonne to reueale the father : pray christ to shew thee the father : ioh. 1.18 , no man hath seene god at any time : the onely begotten sonne , which is in the bosome of the father ; hee hath declared him , &c. 5. pray for the spirit of reuelation to forme this in thee , and resolue to get thy heart established in the knowledge of god , by many prayers . 6. obserue him in his image in his children , get affection to them , and liue much with them . 1. ioh. 4.8.12.16 , hee that loueth not , knoweth not god ; for god is loue . no man hath seene god at any time ; if wee loue one another , god dwelleth in vs , and his loue is perfect in vs , &c. thus much for instruction . here is also much matter of humiliatiō for those vile atheisticall thoughts , and base conceits which are in mens minds cōcerning god : and for the daily neglect of gods presence ; forgetting him dayes without number , and for daring to sinne in his sight ; but especially for want of those burning desires after god , and that surpassing loue of his glorious nature . thirdly , here is singular consolation vnto all those that are assured they are in fauour with god. why doe not our hearts say , wee haue none in heauen but god ? and doe desire none in earth with him ? psalm . 7.3.23 . seeing he is so all-sufficient , able to doe vs so much good , and our plentifull reward , genes . 17.1 . and knowes our wayes , psal. 1.6 . and entertaines his people with so much grace , psalm . 36.7.8 . and the rather because he will neuer change , and loue thee with an eternall loue . iam. 1.17 . 2. tim. 2.13 . numb . 23.19 . this should be the life of our liues , it is very eternall life to know him to be ours in christ. ioh. 17.3 . ierem. 9.24 . thus of the second principle . the third principle is , that there be thre persons in the trinity , which may be proued two waies : that there is more then one person : gen. 1.26 . furthermore god said , let vs make man in our owne image , according to our likenesse , &c. that there are three in number . mat. 3.16.17 . and loe the heauens were opened vnto him , and iohn saw the spirit of god descending like a doue , and lighting vpon him . and loe a voice came from heauen , saying ; this is my beloued son , in whom i am well pleased , &c. matth. 28.19 . goe therefore and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of the father , and the sonne , and the holy ghost . 2. cor. 13.13 . the grace of our lord iesus christ , and the loue of god , and the communion of the holy ghost be with you all . amen . ioh. 14.16.17.28 . and i will pray the father , and hee shall giue you another comforter , that he may abide with you for euer , &c. ioh. 15.26 . but when the comforter shall come , whom i will send vnto you from the father , &c. 1. ioh. 5.7 . for there are three which beare record in heauen ; the father , the word , and the holy ghost : and these three are one , &c. these three were called in the old testament , the lord , the angell of the lord , and the spirit of god : and in the new , the father , the sonne , and the holy ghost . the vse should be : to teach vs to conceiue of god with all possible adoration of his glorious condition , who hath in the manner of his nature what is beyond the reach of men or angels : thou must beleeue , that this is so , though reason cannot tell ●hee , how it is ; let it suffice thee to know , that it is . thou shalt know more how it is , both when they knowledge is more growne on earth , and when thou commest to thy perfect age in heauen . when thou commest to worship god , make conscience of it , that thou rob not any of the persons of their glory : but know , that there are three persons , not one person onely . learne thou in thy course of life from the word , and works of god , to giue to each person his glory , as it is written of him , or done by him . this may be an vnspeakeable comfort to thee , if thou consider what the blessed trinity is to thee : thy holinesse and happines was conceiued , decreed , framed , purchased , renewed , and shall be for euer testified by ●●ree in heauen , 1. iohn 5.7 . for there are three which beare record , &c. gen. 1.26 . as before . thus of the third principle . that there is but one god , is proued in these places , deu. 6.4 . heare , o israel , the lord our god is lord only , &c. esay 44.6.8 . thus saith the lord , the king of israel , and his redeemer , the lord of hosts : i am the first , and i am the last , and without me is there no god. you are my witnesses whether there be a god beside me , &c. mark. 12.29 . heare israel , the lord our god is the only lord , &c. ephes. 4.5.6 . 1. cor. 8.4 . we know that an idoll is nothing in the world , and that there is none other god , but one , &c. the vses are these : adore him , whom al creatures are bound to serue and acknowledge , who hath no partners in his supreame soueraignty . psal. 86.9.10 . all nations , whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee o lord , and shall glorifie thy name : for thou art great , and dost wondrous things , thou art god alone , &c. loue him alone , or aboue all : he knoweth them that loue him , and shew it by seruing him only , deut. 6.4.5 . the lord our god is lord onely : and thou shalt loue the lord thy god with all thine heart , and with al thy soule , and with al thy might , &c. mark. 12.29.30 . as before . it should repent vs , that euer wee relied vpon any other but him , learning hereafter for euer to relie vpon him in our desperatest extremities , as these places shew , deut. 32.37.38.39 . isay 37.16 . 1. sam ▪ 2.2.3 . we should therefore keepe the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace , as is vrged , ephes. 4.3.6 . &c. we should therefore vse but one mediator to him , 1. tim. 2.5 . for there is one god , and one mediatour betweene god and man : which is the man christ iesus , &c. lastly , how happy are his people ? they are most sure to prosper and grow , as from the consideration of this principle is shewed , isai. 44.6.7.8 . with coherence . hetherto of the nature of god ; the workes of god follow : his workes are either of creation or prouidence . chap. v. of the creation . reuel . 4.11 . thou art worthy , o lord , to receiue glory , and honour , and power : for thou hast created all things , and for thy wils sake they are , and haue been created . there are fiue principles concerning the creation : 5 that the world had a beginning , & was not eternall , gen. 1.1 . in the beginning god created the heauen , and the earth , &c. prou. 8.24 . &c. when there were no depths was i begotten ; when there were no fountaines abounding with water , &c. ephes. 1.4 . as hee hath chosen vs in him before the foundation of the world , &c. that this world and al things therein was made by god , acts 17.24 . god that made the world , and all things that are therein , &c. iohn 1.3 . all things were made by it , and without it was made nothing , that was made . gens . 1.1 . psalm . 33.6 . by the word of the lord were the heauens made , and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth . isaiah 40.28 . knowest thou not , or hast thou not heard , that the euerlasting god , the lord hath created the ends of the earth ? &c. colos. 1.16 . for by him were all things created , which are in heauen , and which are in earth : things visible , and inuisible , &c. that all was made of nothing . rom. 4.17 . before god , whom he beleeued : who quickneth the dead , and calleth those things which bee not , as though they were . heb. 11.3 . through faith wee vnderstand , that the world was ordained by the word of god , so that the things which we see , are not made of things which did appeare . that god made all things by his word onely : he spake , and it was created : he said , let it bee , and it was so , genes . 1. heb. 11.3 . psal. 33.6.9 . all recited before . that all things in their creation were made good , gen. 1.31 . and 2.1 . and god saw all that hee had made , and loe it was very good , &c. the vse may be : for information : the glorie of the lord shall endure for euer : 1 he shall reioyce in his workes , psalm . 104.31 . for instruction , and so the scripture teacheth vs by the creation : 6 1. to feare him , and stand in awe of him , euen all the inhabitants of the earth , who are the work of his hands , psal. 33.6.7.8 . 2. to study the knowledge of these workes of his ; to remember them , contemplate of them , and praise his workmanship , and admire his glory , that doth great things , and vnsearchable , yea maruelous things without number , &c , iob 9.10.11 . shall we not sing vnto the lord all our life , and praise our god while we liue , &c , psal. 104 33. seeing the heauens declare the glory of god , and the firmament sheweth the worke of his hands , psal. 19.1 . and the inuisible things of him , that is , his eternall power and god-head are seene by the creation of the world , being considered in his workes , &c , rom. 1.20 . let vs remember , that god gaue a sabbath , of purpose to remember the glory of god in the creation . 3. to obserue the distinct glory of euery person , admire that sonne , by whom god made the worlds , heb. 1.3 . col. 1.16 . and that spirit , that sitting vpon that chaos , first hatched it , genes . 1.2 . 4. to acknowledge gods soueraigntie , let him take whom he will away , who can say , what doest thou , iob 9.13 . god will not withdraw his anger , and the most mighty helpes stoope vnder him . 5. vpon all occasions , and in all distresses to seeke vnto him for helpe , assistance and succour : psalm . 124.8 . psalm . 134.3 . yea beleeuing in him , though we see no hope in respect of outward meanes , rom 4.17 . heb. 11.3 . isaiah 37.16 . and as this is true of affliction , and outward distresses ; so is it true of all spirituall distresses about the meanes or matter of holinesse : for god himselfe vseth the word ( create ) in both , to shew vs , that it is lawfull for that reason to rest vpon him , isaiah 57.19 , i create the fruit of the lips to be peace , &c. psalm . 51.10 . create in me a cleane heart , &c. so it is applied to good works , ephes. 1.10 . and to our protection in generall , esay 4.4 . and 5. to shew , that if it were as difficult , as to make heauen and earth at the first , yet god will doe it . 6. to teach vs compassion to the creatures , we should loue the worke of his hands , and not bee cruell to them , or voide of pitie . these principles also may serue for reproofe of wicked men : for not fearing god , and not trembling before him , as ierem. 5.22.23 . feare ye not me , saith the lord ? will ye not be afraid at my presence , which haue placed the sand for the bounds of the sea , by the spirituall decree ▪ a perpetuall , that it cannot passe it , &c. for not regarding his works , isaiah 1.12 . and the harpe , and viol , and timbrel , and pipe , and wine are in their feasts : but they regard not the worke of the lord , neither consider the worke of his hands . for hardning themselues in their sinnes , notwithstanding gods threatnings , iob 4.13 . with vers . 15.16.21 . and lastly , for consolation to all , that put their trust in him , psal. 116.5.6 . he can dispose of all , since the earth is the lords , and all that is therein . oh , what is man ? that god should bee mindefull of him , and giue him such pre-eminence ouer the workes of his hands , psalme 8.4.5.6.7.8 . prouerbs 8.31 . thus of the creation . chap. vi. of gods prouidence . rom. 11.36 . for of him , and through him , and for him , are all things . to him be glory for euer . amen . 7 the principles concerning gods prouidence are ; that god still knowes , and takes continual notice of all things : prou. 15.3 . the eies of the lord in euery place behold the euill , and the good . zach. 4.10 . these seuen are the eies of the lord , which goe through the whole world . heb. 4.13 . neither is there any creature , which is not manifest in his sight , but all things are naked and open vnto his eyes , with whom we haue to doe . psal. 113.6 . who abaseth himselfe to behold things in the heauen , and in the earth . that god vpholds , and gouerns , & disposeth of the world , so as al things continue through him : psal. 119.91 . they continue euen to this day by thine ordinances : for all are thy seruants . iohn 5.17 . but iesus answered them : my father worketh hitherto , and i worke . acts 17.25.28 . he giueth to all life , and breath , and all things : for in him we liue , and moue , and haue our being . psal. 104.14.21.27.28.30 . hee causeth grasse to grow for the cattle , and hearb for the vse of man , that he may bring forth bread out of the earth . the lions rore after their prey , and seeke their meate at god. all these waite vpon thee , that thou maist giue them food in due season : thou giuest it to them , and they gather it ; thou openest thy hand , and they are filled with good things . againe , if thou send forth thy spirit , they are created , and thou renewest the face of the earth . that this prouidence of god reacheth to all things ; euen the smallest things are gouerned , & vpheld by god. rom. 11.36 . for of him , and through him , and for him , are all things : to him be glory for euer . amen . matth. 10.29.30 . are not two sparrowes sold for a farthing , and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father : yea , and all the haires of your head are numbred . psal. 147.8.9.16.17.18 . which couereth the heauen with clouds , and prepareth raine for the earth , and maketh the grasse to grow vpon the mountaines . which giueth to beasts their food , and to the young rauens that crie . he giueth snow like wooll , and scattereth the hoare frost like ashes . he casteth forth his ice like morsels , who can abide the cold thereof ? he sendeth his word , and melteth them : he causeth his wind to blow , and the waters flow . that of al creatures , god hath most care and respect of man. prou 8.31 . and tooke my solace in the compasse of his earth , and my delight is with the children of men . psal. 8.3.4 . what is man , say i , that thou art mindfull of him ? and the sonne of man , that thou visitest him ? 1. cor. 9.9.10 . for it is written in the law of moses , thou shalt not mussel the mouth of the oxe , that treadeth out the corne ; doth god take care for oxen ? either saith he it not altogether for our sakes ? for our sakes no doubt it is written , that he which eareth , should eare in hope ; and that he that thresheth in hope , should be partaker of his hope . that the good or euill which befalles man , is not without gods prouidence . amos 3.6 . or shall a trumpet be blowne in a citie , and the people be not afraid ? or shall there be euill in a city , and the lord hath not done it ? that he doth whatsoeuer pleaseth him in heauen and in earth , psal. 115.3 . but our god is in heauen , he doth whatsoeuer he will. ionah 1.14 . for thou ( o lord ) hast done as it pleased thee . eccles. 3.14 . i know , that whatsoeuer god shall doe , it shall bee for euer : to it can no man adde , and from it can none diminish : for god hath done it , that they should feare before him . that gods dominion is euerlasting , psalm . 146.10 . the lord shall raigne for euer , o sion , thy god endureth from generation to generation : praise ye the lord. the vses are : for information : this is a glorious subiect to meditate of , 1 and if wee search into it distinctly , there are many things admirable in gods gouernment ; 11 as , 1 first , the vicegerency of christ his son , heb. 1.3 . who being the brightnes of the glory , & the engraued form of his persō , & bearing vp al things by his mighty word , &c. 2 secondly , the splendor of the meanes he vseth , euen kings on earth are his seruants , pro. 21.1 . the kings heart is in the hand of the lord , as the riuers of waters : he turneth it whithersoeuer it pleaseth him : yea angels in heauen , oh the admirable glory of the gouernmēt of angels in the world ! as is shadowed out in ezech. 1.4 . to 15. 3 the variety of meanes he hath , and can raise ; euen all the armies in heauen and earth . 4 his working somtimes without meanes , genes . 2. 5 his working against means sometimes , psalm . 105.12 . to 16. the sunne must stand still : fier must not burne : the sea must not drowne , &c. 6 the extent of his gouernment ; what a worke to order all things ? 7 the preseruation of all the sorts of things euen by the word of god : by succession perpetuating his creation ; and supporting all things , prouiding daily for them . 8 the destruction he makes amongst the creatures , psa. 104.29 . by deluge , fier , sword , pestilence , tumbling downe monarchies , &c , psal. 68.1 . 9 the ordering of the disorders of the world , turning sinne to good , as an apothecary doth poyson ; and directing euill instruments , wicked men , to punish the wicked , or to correct the godly . to see how god lookes one way , and they another . nabuchadnezzar intends to satisfie his owne pride , reuenge , ambition , couetousnesse : yet god guides it to another vse , euen to correct his people , which hee sheweth by burning his rod , esa. 10.5.6 . esa. 14.5.6 . and 29. and god directs the euill actions of the wicked to a good end : so of the iewes in killing christ , &c. 10 but especially his admirable disposing of all things , notwithstanding the infinite multitude of all things in the world , which is shadowed in the wheeles , ezech . 1.15 . &c. 11 all this to be done without labour , or vexation : say therfore , as psalm . 104.1.24 . my soule praise thou the lord : o lord my god , thou art exceeding great , thou art clothed with glory and honour . o lord how manifold are thy workes ! in wisedome hast thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches . psalm . 106.2 . who can expresse the noble acts of the lord , or shew forth all his praise ? 47. saue vs , o lord our god , and gather vs from among the heathen , that wee may praise thy holy name , and glory in thy praise , &c. psal. 107.8 . let them therefore confesse before the lord his louing kindnesse , and his wonderfull works before the sonnes of men . 22. and let them offer sacrifice of praise , and declare his works with reioycing . psalm . 113.2.3.4.5 . all the psalme . the second vse is for reproofe and confutation : 1 of such atheists , as say god doth not see , or not regard , psal. 94.7 . &c. yet they say the lord shall not see ; neither will the god of iacob regard it . 2 of such , as acknowledge chance or fortune . 3 of the discontentment , that is in man with their condition : dauid calles himselfe a beast for this , psal. 73.22 . so foolish was i , and ignorant : i was a beast before thee : an excellent psalme cleane through . 4 of the security of wicked mē : if god gouerne , woe to them . psalm . 139.7.8 , whither shall they goe from thy spirit ? or whither shal they flie from thy presence ? if they ascend into heauen , thou art there ; if they lie downe in hell , thou art there . iob 9.4.5 . hee is wise in heart , and mighty in strength , who hath been fierce against him , and hath prospered ? hee remoueth the mountaines , and they feele not , when hee ouerthroweth them in his wrath . psalm . 107.42 , the righteous shall see it and reioyce ; and all iniquity shall stop her mouth . psal. 146.9 , the lord keepeth the strangers , hee relieueth the fatherlesse and widow : but hee ouerthroweth the way of the wicked . thirdly , the doctrine of gods prouidence should teach vs diuers duties . 8 1 take not thought what thou shalt eate , &c. thou art at gods finding , matth. 6.31 , therefore take no thought , saying , what shall we drinke ? or wherewith shall wee bee clothed ? &c. cast thy care vpon god : for he careth for thee . 1. pet. 5.7 , cast all your care vpon him , for he careth for you . psal. 55.22 , cast thy burthen vpon the lord , and hee shall nourish thee : he will not suffer the righteous to fall for euer . say with abraham , god will prouide , heb. 13.5 . let your conuersation be without couetousnesse , and bee content with those things that ye haue ; for he hath said , hee will not faile thee , neither forsake thee , &c. be patient in aduersity , and shew it : 1. by restraining griefe and sorrow in thy selfe , psalm . 39.9 . i should haue been dumb , and not haue opened my mouth , because thou didst it . 1. sam. 3.18 . so samuel told him euery whit , and hid nothing from him : then he said , it is the lord , let him doe what seemeth him good . prou. 3.11.12 . my sonne refuse not the chastening of the lord , neither be grieued with his correctiō . affliction comes not out of the dust . 2 by not vsing ill meanes . by not fearing the rage of any creature , luk. 12.4.5.6.7 . &c. and i say vnto you my friends be not afraid of them that kill the body , and after that are not able to doe any more , &c. matth. 10.28.29.30 . are not two sparrowes sold for a farthing ? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father , &c. 1. pet. 4.19 . wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of god , commit their soules to him in well doing , as vnto a faithfull creator . 4. by seeking to god , though we see no meanes , for hee hath a thousand wayes we know not of . seeke all good things at his hands , hee hath the disposing of all . acknowledge all good things from him , as psalm . 147 , all ouer . serue him in all meanes , and sacrifice not to thine owne nets , habak . 1.16 . therefore they sacrifice vnto their net , and burne incense vnto their yarne , because by them their portion is fat , and their meate plenteous . trust not in thine owne proiects , nor in the meanes , ier. 10.23 . o lord i know that the way of man is not in himselfe , neither is it in man to walke and to direct his steps . deut. 8.3 . therefore hee humbled thee , and made thee hungry , and fed thee with man , which thou knewest not , neither did thy fathers know it , that hee might teach thee , that man liueth not by bread onely , but by euery word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the lord doth a man liue . psalm . 127.1.2 . except the lord build the house , they labour in vaine that build it ; except the lord keepe the city , the keeper watcheth in vaine . it is in vaine for you to rise early , and to lie downe late , and eate the bread of sorrow ; but hee will surely giue rest to his beloued . but commit thy way to god , and trust vpon him , psalm . 37.4 . and delight thy selfe in the lord , and he shall giue thee thy hearts desire . pray god to direct the works of thine hands , psalm . 90.17 . and let the beauty of the lord our god be vpon vs , and direct thou the workes of our hands vpon vs , euen direct the worke of our hands . if god gouerne , do good and be alwaies assured , as psal ▪ 58.11 . and men shall say , verily there is fruit for the righteous ; doubtlesse there is a god that iudgeth in the earth . obserue gods workes , keepe a catalogue of experiments , psalm . 107.43 . who is wise , that hee may obserue these things ? for they shall vnderstand the louing kindnesse of the lord. and make knowne his deeds , talke of his wondrous workes : remēber the maruellous workes he hath done , psal. 106 . 1.2-5 . praise ye the lord , because he is good , for his mercy endureth for euer : who cā expresse the noble acts of the lord or shew forth all his praise ? &c. shall wee not for euer bee afraid of him , that so mightily and daily gouerneth ? &c. eccles. 3.11.14 . hee hath made euery thing beautifull in his time : also hee hath set the world in their heart , yet cannot man finde out the worke , that god hath wrought from the beginning euen to the end . i know , that whatsoeuer god shall doe , it shall be for euer : to it can no man adde , and from it can no man diminish : for god hath done it , that they should feare before him , &c. the fourth vse is for consolation to the godly , our bones and haires are numbred , psal. 34.20 . he keepeth all his bones , not one of them is broken . luk. 12.6.7 . yea all the haires of your head are numbred , feare not therefore , you are of more value then sparrowes , &c. he knowes our way , psal. 1.6 . for the lord knoweth the way of the righteous . our teares are in his bottle , psalm . 56.8 . thou hast counted my wandrings : put my teares into thy bottle , are they not in thy register ? he will not leaue vs nor forsake vs , heb. 13.5 . let your conuersation bee without couetousnesse , and bee content with those things that you haue : for hee hath said , i will not leaue thee nor forsake thee . no good things will he withhold , psalm . 84.11 . for the lord god is the sun and shield vnto vs : the lord will giue grace and glory , and no good thing will he withhold from them that walke vprightly . esa. 48.15.16 . can a woman forget her child , and not haue compassion on the sonne of her wombe ? though they should forget , yet will i not forget thee . behold i haue grauen thee vpon the palme of mine hands ; thy walles are euer in my sight . hee that beleeueth shall not be ashamed . thus of the prouidence of god in generall : as it concernes man in speciall , it lookes first vpon the estate of innocency . chap. vii . of mans first estate , viz. of innocency . eccles. 7.31 . onely loe , this haue i found , that god hath made man righteous : but they haue sought many inuentions . there are two principles concerning mans first estate . god made man at the first after his owne image : gen. 1.26 . furthermore god said , let vs make man in our owne image according to our likenesse , and let them rule ouer the fish of the sea , &c. 1. cor. 11.7 . for a man ought not to couer his head , for as much as he is the image of god , &c. colos. 3.10 . and haue put on the new man , which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him . secondly , this image of god chiefly consisted in knowledge , holinesse , and righteousnesse , eccles . 7.29 ; onely loe , this haue i found , that god hath made man righteous : but they haue sought many inuentions . ephes. 4.24 . and put on the new man , which after god is created in righteousnesse , and true holinesse . note , that i say , chiefly ( as that which is a principle ) : for else man was created after the image of god : first , in respect of his substance ; and so man is the image , either of the , 1. being of god : or 2. of the manner of his being . 1. of his being , as he hath in him a spirit , a nature : 1. spirituall incorporeall . 2. immortall . 3. inuisible . 4. intelligible . 2. of the manner of his being : for as in man is one soule , and yet diuers faculties , as cogitation , memory , will , &c. so is there in god one essence , and three persons . secondly , in respect of his eminency , excellency , and dominion aboue , and ouer all other creatures , resembling thus the lordship of god the lord of all , genes . 1.26 . furthermore god said , let vs make mā in our image , according to our likenesse , and let them rule ouer the fish of the sea , and ouer the foule of the heauen , and ouer the beasts , and ouer al the earth , and ouer euery thing that creepeth and moueth on the earth . psal. 8.6.7.8 . thou hast made him to haue dominion in the works of thine hands : thou hast put all things vnder his feete , &c. for if the man be gods image for the soueraigntie , he hath in the family , as 1. cor. 11.7 . and the maiestrate for his superiority in the common-wealth , psal. 82. much more man in generall for dominion ouer all . thirdly , in respect of gifts , and so three waies : 1. in respect of knowledge : for in the mind of man , there is hid , a-resemblance of gods wisdome to know god , his will , and workes with the natures and properties of them . 2. in respect of originall iustice , which stood in the rectitude of his nature , the spirit subiect to god , the soule to the spirit , the body to the soule without any sinne . 3. in respect of freedome of will. there are foure sorts of free-willes : 1. onely to good ; so in good angels , and the blessed . 2. onely to euill ; so in diuels and the wicked . 3. partly to euill , and partly to good ; so in the regenerate on earth . 4. so to good , as it might be to euill ; so in adam , &c. the power of his freedome was such , as he could doe all things conuenient to his estate ; whether , workes of nature , as eate , sleepe , walke , rise , &c. workes of policie ; as gouerne his family , obserue peace , &c. or , workes religious : 1. internall ; to loue , feare , and trust in god. 2. externall ; to teach , pray , sacrifice , &c. the vses follow . wee should informe our selues of gods maruelous loue to man in his creation , which appeares not onely in the time he made him last , when hee had prouided all things made for him : but in the place in paradice , and in the manner — both of making his body . he did not say , let it bee ; but as it were , framed all with his owne hands ; the man of the dust , the woman of the rib : and of inspiring his soule , he breathed the breath of liues into him , genes . 2.7 . the lord god made the mā also of the dust of the ground , and breathed in his face breath of life , and the man was a liuing soule . he begat his soule as it were a diuine sparke or particle of god ; therefore called the father of spirits , heb. 12.9 . zach. 12 1. acts 17.28 . and in both he saith , let vs make ; calling all the trinitie to the care and workmanship . but especially that hee should as it were , be made like vnto god himselfe ; and therefore let vs sing , as psal. 8.3 , what is man that thou thus mindest him , &c. of true blessednesse , wherein it consists , viz. not in idlenes , riches , lust , pleasure , sports , &c. for none of all this was in paradice , yet adam happy perfectly , &c. the second vse is for instruction , and so it should teach vs diuers duties : 1. vnto god ; 1 and so first we should with all thankfulnesse affectionately acknowledge his loue to man. 2. it should instruct man earnestly to study and endeuour , to know god , to feare , to resemble him . to praise his workmanship . for these were the ends of mans creation , no other creatures could reach it ; therefore god made man reasonable . we doe not answere the end of our creation , if we make not god in some sort visible by our holines , and praise his workes , &c. the second duty is to our selues , 2 and so it should teach vs : 1. first , to care for the precious and immortall soule , that god hath breathed into vs aboue all , as matth. 16.26 . for what shall it profit a man , though he should win the whole world , if he lose his owne soule ? or what shall a man giue for the recompence of his soule ? what should wee dote on temporall things , when our soules are created to the possession of eternall blessednesse ? 2. to bee patient , and trust vpon god in distresse , psal. 22.11 . be not farre from me , because trouble is neere ; for there is none to helpe me , &c. psal. 139.14 . i will praise thee , for i am fearefully and wondrously made : maruelous are thy workes , and my soule knoweth it well . 3. to lament our fall . 4. to study our recouery , and we see hence what to seeke , viz. knowledge and goodnesse . 5. to long for the time mentioned , psal. 17.15 . when we shall be satisfied with his image . the third duty is towards men : 3 1. first , wrong not man : for he is gods image , genes . 9.6 . who so sheadeth mans blood , by man shall his blood be shed : for in the image of god hath he made man. 2. loue one another , especially where this image is repaired : for we were created to this end , that we should delight one in another . the third vse is for reproofe , confutation , and humiliation . 1. for our insensiblenesse , forgetfulnesse , and vncapablenesse of these considerations , especially for our want of lamentation for the ruines in our nature . 2. for our horrible neglect of knowledge and goodnesse , without which man is more like a beast ; yea , in respect of sinne like a diuell . 3. of the papists about pictures of god : most dishonourably they would mend gods draught by dumb pictures ; yet god hath heere giuen vs a picture , his image . chap. viii . of the fall of man. eccles. 7.29 . onely loe , this haue i found , that god hath made man righteous : but they haue sought many inuentions . the misery of man in his estate of corruption must be considered two waies : in the cause of it . in the parts of it . the cause of it was the fall of our first parents , concerning which are these principles : that our parents adam and eue fel , 3 and lost speedily the happinesse , in which they were created , as appeares , genes . 3.7 . &c. and thus they did loose god ; paradise : gods image . and that they lost it speedily appeares , in that the diuell is called a murtherer from the beginning , and the fall is presently related after the story of his innocency in the creation . that this losse befell them only for their owne grieuous sinne , gen. 3. rom. 5.12 . wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world , and death by sinne : and so death went ouer all men , for as much as all men haue sinned . eccles. 7.29 . as before . that by their sinne we are all defiled , and depriued of the glory of god , rom. 5.12 . as before . 18.19 . likewise then as by the offence of one , the fault came on all men to condemnation ; so by the righteousnesse of one , the benefit abounded toward all men to the iustification of life . for as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners : so by the obedience of one shall many also bee made righteous . the vses follow . the vses of these wofull principles may be first for information , and so we should study to satisfie , and settle our hearts more at large concerning two things . the one is the grieuousnes of the first offence . the other is the iustice of god in deriuing the losse to vs. for the first , there bee many things may assure vs , that the sin of our first parents was a most grieuous sinne : for it admitteth fearefull aggrauations ; as , 7 1. that they durst venture all their happines about so small an aduantage to them . if we think , it was a smal offence to eat an apple ; think with all , it was a desperat wickednes to venture eternal life for the possession of an apple . 2. this was gods first commandement that he gaue them , and to neglect god so soone in a thing , wherin they might so easily haue obeyed , must needs appeare to be desperat wickednes . 3. this sinne was committed , when they had no inward concupiscence to tempt them , nor that pronenesse of nature , that is in man now to sinne . 4. they offended , when god had abundantly prouided for them ; they wanted nothing that was good for them . 5. they herein violated the whole law , because they broke the agreemēts which were made betweene god and them : according to that of iames 2.10 , for whosoeuer shall keepe the whole law , and yet faileth in one point , he is guilty of all . 6. because it was a sacramentall fruit : to cast bread to dogs is no great offence ; but to cast consecrated bread to dogs is a grieuous sinne . 7. this sinne was accompanied with diuers monstrous sinnes ; first , horrible doubting of gods truth : secondly , compacting with gods vtter enemy , and so making apostacy from god to the diuell : thirdly , consent to the blasphemies of the diuell , when he spake enuiously , and scoffingly at god : fourthly , affectation of diuinity : fifthly , a wretchlesse disregard of what should become of his posteritie , through his ventrous course : with many other sinnes . for the second , god was iust in deriuing this losse to their posteritie : for adam was the common roote of all mankind , and we were in his loines , as leui was in abrahams , when hee paied tithes ; and are not traitors punished in their children ? the act of a burgesse in the parliament is the act of the country . but yet at least godly men should not beget vngodly children . they beget children , as men , not as godly men ; i meane , they deriue such a nature as they haue , which is corrupt after calling : though they bee iustified perfectly , yet they are sanctified but in part : the father that was circumcised , did beget a child that was vncircumcised ; and take the cleanest corne in the world , and sow it , and it brings forth chaffe in the eare with the corne . thus much for information . the doctrine of the fall may serue also for instruction ; and so both in generall . particular . in generall it should teach vs foure things : first , to take heed of the fountaines of all apostacie . there were three things occasioned mightily the fall of our first parents : the first was a rebellious desire to bee , 3 what god would not haue vs to be . the second vnthankfulnesse : all the pleasures of paradise will not please them , if they bee crossed in some one thing , though neuer so little . the liberty they tooke to adde or detract frō gods word : they added the word touch , and they detracted , when they said , lest ye die : and these three sinnes are , and euer will be , causes of apostacie ; if they bee not preuented . secondly , let vs here bee warned , while wee liue to keepe out of the company of such as fall away from the truth , as the diuell did : for all apostates are like the diuell ; they will not be quiet , till they make others fall away with them . thirdly , we should hence for euer be warned to looke to our selues , and make conscience euen of lesser sinnes : we see heere what the eating of an apple did , which the most men would faine thinke was but a small matter ; and the rather , because monstrous sinnes may be committed about a smal offence in it selfe . thinke of the man that gathered stickes on the sabbath day , and of the case of ananias and sapphira . we must get on our armour , and make all the prouision wee can against the diuell . wee see here how he thirsts after the ruine of man ; and if hee preuailed so ouer adam , how much more easily may he preuaile ouer vs ? and if hee could deceiue by the meanes of a serpent there ; how much more now , when he speaketh to vs by men like our selues ? yea then we saw a proofe of it , for how quickly was adam enticed , when the diuell spake to him in the mouth of eue his wife . and we may here obserue the diuels method in tempting , and the degrees of tentation : for there was 5 1. first , the suggestion it self . 2. the obscuring of the thoughts about the eminency of god , and the excellency of the image receiued of him . 3. an impression of forgetfulnesse in the memory , not distinctly remembring what was before done , or commanded of god. 4. the tickling of ambition , affecting to be more then they were . 5. trust giuen to the flatteries and baites of the diuell , and a contracted familiarity with him , with inclination of the will and affection to the prohibited fruit . thus much in generall . in particular , foure sorts must be warned : 1. first , women should heere bee much humbled , and for euer be mistrustfull of their counsels , and carriage : for satan knowes how to make vse of them still . 2. secondly , men must take heed of the whisperings , and enticing aduice of women . 3. thirdly , the weake must carefully looke to themselues , that satan imploy not them as instruments of tentations ; and they should learne not to bee so violent in things they are not fully grounded in . 4. the strong must take heed lest they fall : if adam fell in paradise , they are in more danger now in the world ; neither may they trust in their owne gifts , but learne to place all their trust in god. 5. as any are more godly , so they must know they shall bee more assaulted . thus for instruction . this doctrine of the fall hath matter in it of extreame humiliation , in that eternall shame lies vpon our nature by this vile offence , both in respect of the extremity of our losse , and the fearfull displeasure of god. lastly , it may comfort the godly to thinke of their estate by christ , hauing receiued the assurance of a better condition , then euer they could haue had in adam ; and the rather , because they are now confirmed as the angels of heauen , that they can neuer fall from the happinesse they haue in christ. chap. ix . of sinne. rom. 5.12 . wherefore , as by one man sinne entred into the world , and death by sinne ; and so death went ouer all men ; for as much as all men haue sinned , &c. hitherto of the cause of our misery . the parts follow , viz. 1. sinne. 2. punishment . the principles concerning sin , 4 are , first , that all men haue sinned , psalm . 14.1.2.3 . the foole hath said in his heart , there is no god : they haue corrupted and done an abominable worke ; there is none that doth good . the lord looked downe from heauen vpon the children of men , to see if there were any that would vnderstand and seeke god. all are gone out of the way , they are all corrupt , there is none that doth good , no not one . prou. 20.9 . who can say i haue made mine heart cleane ? i am cleane from my sinne ? 1. king. 8.46 . there is no man that sinneth not , &c. eccles. 7.22 . surely there is no man iust in the earth , that doth good , and sinneth not . rom. 3.9 . what then , are wee more excellent ? no in no wise : for we haue already proued , that all both iewes and gentiles are vnder sin . iam. 3.2 . for in many things we sinne all . 1. ioh. 1.8 . if we say that we haue no sinne , we deceiue our selues , and the truth is not in vs. the second principle is , that the nature of man is stained with sinne from the birth , iob 14.4 . who can bring a cleane thing out of filthinesse ? there is not one . iob 15.14 . what is man that he should bee cleane ? and hee that is born of a womā that he shuld be iust ? psal. 51.5 . behold i was borne in iniquity , and in sin hath my mother conceiued me . that this infection hath ouerspread the whole nature of man , hence called the old man : for explication of this principle : we must consider that the nature of man is tainted 14. waies : for there is in man by nature , extreame darknesse , 14 sightlesnes , especially in the knowledge of god and happinesse . colos. 1.13 . who hath deliuered vs from the power of darknesse . 1. cor. 2.14 . but the naturall man perceiueth not the things of the spirit of god , for they are foolishnesse vnto him ; neither can hee know them , because they are spiritually discerned . insensiblenesse , and vnutterable hardnesse of heart , ephes. 4.18 . hauing their cogitation darkened , and being strangers from the life of god , through the ignorance that is in them , because of the hardnesse of their heart , &c. impotency , and extreame disability to deliuer our owne soules , or breake off our sinnes , esa. 44.20 . he feedeth of ashes ; a seduced heart hath deceiued him , that he cannot deliuer his soule , nor say , is there not a lie in my right hand ? enmity to that which is good , rom. 8.7 . for the wisedome of the flesh is enmity to god. rom. 7.23 . but i see another law in my members , rebelling against the law of my mind , and leading me captiue vnto the law of sin , which is in my members . 5. impurity , foulnes , filthines , all ouer , tit. 1● 5. vnto them that are defiled 〈◊〉 ●●beleeuing , is nothing pure , 〈◊〉 euen their mindes and conscien●● are defiled . psal. 14.3 . all are gone out of the way , they are all corrupt , there is none that doth good , no not one . 6. abundance of false principles . 7. pronenesse to al sorts of euil , rom. 7.14.21 . for we know that the law is spirituall , but i am carnall , sold vnder sinne . i finde then by the law , that when i would do good , euill is present with me , &c. concupiscence . want of all righteousnesse , defects of the loue , feare , ioy. &c : in god : so of mercy , &c : psalm . 14.3 . all are gone out of the way , they are all corrupt , there is none that doth good , no not one , &c. rom. 3.10 . as it is written , there is none righteous , no not one . the members are naturally seruants of sinne : so the senses , rom. 6.13.16 , &c. neither giue you your members as weapons of vnrighteousnesse vnto sinne , &c. know ye not , that to whomsoeuer ye giue your selues as seruants to obey , his seruants you are to whom ye obey ; whether it bee of sinne vnto death , or of obedience vnto righteousnesse , &c. a seruile will , a will that apprehends no liberty but in sinning , rom. 7.14 . a natural aptnesse to be scandalized , so as christ himselfe is an offence : a rocke of offence , 1. cor. 8.7 . 1. pet. 2.6 . a naturall sauouring and relishing of the things of satan , ephes. 2.2 . wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world , and after the prince that ruleth in the ayre , euen the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ? this hath been euer since the first tentation in paradise . corruption of memory . forgetting good. retaining euill . a naturall dis-union one from another , lusts of disagreement , shunning all harty communion with others through dislike , and selfe-loue , iam. 4.1 . from whence are warres and contentions amongst you ? are they not hence , euen of your lusts that fight in your members . these things proue that wee haue all vile natures , that there is not one of a good nature in the world by nature . the fourth principle is , that besides these sinnes that sticke fast vpon our natures , euery man is guilty of horrible , and many , and vile actuall sinnes , psalm . 14. 1.2.3 . they haue corrupted and done an abominable worke , &c. iob. 15.15.16 . behold he found no stedfastnesse in his saints : yea the heauens are not cleane in his sight . how much more is man abominable and filthy , who drinketh iniquity like water . rom , 3.12 . they haue all gone out of the way , &c. such as are , 1. a world of euill thoughts , genes . 6.5 . when the lord saw that the wickednesse of man was great in the earth , and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were only euill continually . atheisticall thoughts , innumerable . impure thoughts , innumerable . vaine thoughts , innumerable . errours in all parts of religion . 2. vile affections : impatiency : lust : anger : enuie : suspition : malice : worldly feare : trust : ioy : loue , &c. 3. vile words : bitter , idle , false , flattering , slādering , proud , filthy , deceitfull , scornfull , censuring words . 4. atheisticall workes , psal. 14.1.3 . as in many places before . against gods worship in all the parts . against the sabbath . in our particular and generall calling . at home and abroad . secret , open . of omission , and commission . of ignorance , of knowledge . sudden , and of custome . in company , out of cōmpanie . hypocrisie , pride , security , vnbeleefe , impenitency , &c. in prosperity , aduersity , &c. partaking with others sinne . our owne righteousnesse , as esa. 64.6 . is as filthy clouts , and we all doe fade like a leafe , and our iniquities like the wind haue taken vs away . besides personall faults , as drunkennesse , vsury , swearing , whoredome , &c. workes of the flesh , galath . 5.19.20.21 moreouer the workes of the flesh are manifest , which are adultery , fornication , vncleannesse , wantonnesse , &c. the vses of these principles are fourefold . 9 first for information , and that in 9. things . for hereby we may know : 1. that there can be no iustification by our workes , rom. 9.20 . therefore by the workes of the law shall no flesh hee iustified in his sight ; for by the law commeth the knowledge of sinne . psalm . 130.3 . if thou ( o lord ) straitly markest iniquities , ( o lord ) who shall stand ? for euery mouth must bee stopped , and all the world bee guilty before god. 2. that the cause of all gods dis-regard of vs , and the miseries that befall vs , is in our selues . how can we murmure at our crosses , if wee looke vpon our sinnes ? there is mercy in the greatest iudgement : for it is his mercy wee are not consumed , lam. 3.22 . it is the lords mercy that we are not consumed , because his compassions faile not , &c. if adams one sinne deserued it , what doe all these in vs. 3. that it will neuer goe well with the wicked , though god forbeare for a long time , eccles. 8.11.12 . because sentence against an euill worke is not executed speedily : therefore the heart of the children of men is fully set to doe euill . but it shall not be well to the wicked , neither shall hee prolong his dayes ; he shall be like a shadow , because he feareth not before god. 4. that no man hath cause to brag of his good nature , there are so many springs of sin , within vs. 5. that the things that defile a man , are from within , in himselfe , it is not any outward deformitie , ill cloathes , naturall foulenesse , &c. 6. that a little repentance will not serue the turne . 7. that there is difference betweene the wicked , and the godly in sinning . 8. concerning gods prouidence in the death of infants : we kill young snakes and adders , because they will sting , as well as the old , because they haue stung . 9. say not , god is the cause of our ruine : nor is it thy chance , or ill lucke , or onely the diuell , that brought thee into this or that mischiefe : it is thine owne ill nature . secondly , for humiliation : first , to the godly in two respects : 1. because they find so many of their old corruptions , hauing receiued such graces and mercies from god : 2. because they yet are the meanes of the conueiance of originall sinne to their children . secondly , to such wicked men as liue in open sinnes , yet repent not . why doth their hearts cary them away ? iob 15.12.14 . haue the workers of iniquitie no knowledge ? are they guiltie of so many reasons , and fallen into the hands of a righteous iudge , and yet secure ? psal. 82.5 . they know not and vnderstand nothing , they walke in darkenesse , albeit all the foundations of the earth be moued . to ciuill honest men : for here they may learne , 7 how vild their estate is , though god haue restrained some euils in them : for 1. they want the image of god. 2. they haue an infected nature in all the former fourteene things . 3. there is in them a disabilitie in the manner of all holy duties . 4. they partake of other mens sinnes many waies . 5. they are guiltie of many omissions . 6. they abound in inward sinnes , by which god is vexed , as genes . 6.5 . when the lord saw that the wickednesse of man was great in the earth , and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were onely euill continually : and satan by thē can set vp●● strong holds , 2 , co. 10.5 . 7. they are guilty of many outward euils against the least commandements . the third vse is for instruction , & so strong christians should learne to admire and praise god 1. that could bee pacified : oh what is mā , that god should here looke vpon such a dounghill ! 2. that hath so vouchsafed to make vs cleane in part from such filthinesse , taking away the body of sinnes , and seasoning the fountaine , and drying it vp . secondly , weake christians should neuer bee at rest , till they get assurance of their pardon in the blood of iesus christ. thirdly , all the godly , 1. sould striue after the contrary holinesse , and to expresse the reformation of their natures and liues , ephes. 4.22 . and cast off concerning the conuersation in times past , the old man , which is corrupt through the deceiueable lusts ▪ &c. 2. should walke humbly all their daies , because of the many remainders of corruption , as rom. 7.15.16 . &c. for i allow not that which i doe : for what i would , that doe i not : but what i hate , that doe i. and looke to their hearts , heb. 3.12 . taking heed lest at any time there be in any of them an euill heart , and vnfaithfull to depart away from the liuing god. and looking to it , that sin raigne no more , rom. 6.16 . &c. 3. it should worke in all the godly a wonderfull desire of finall redemption , rom. 7.24 . o wretched man that i am , who shalt deliuer me from the body of this death ! psalm . 14.7 . oh giue saluation vnto israel out of zion , when the lord turneth the captiuity of his people , then iacob shall reioyce , and israel shall be glad . oh how should wee desire to get out of the world ! seeing all so leprous , the plague sore running vpon euery man , so as we are in danger to be infected in all places , and by all persons . 4. it should worke in wicked men a feruent desire of remission , and constant indeuour in the confession of sinne , crying out daily with the leper , vncleane , vncleane . the last vse is for consolation . 1. first , to all men for the lord vseth this , as an argument of pitie and mercy , genes . 8.21 . and the lord smelled a sauour of rest , and the lord said in his heart , i will hence forth curse the ground no more for mans cause : for the imaginations of mans heart is euill euen from his youth , neither will i smite any more all things liuing , as i haue done . isaiah 48.8.9 . i knew that thou wouldest grieuously transgresse ; therefore haue i called thee a transgressor from thy wombe : yet for my name sake will i deferre , &c. 2. chro. 6.35.36 . then heare thou in heauen their prayer , and their supplication , and iudge their cause : if they sin against thee ( for there is no man that sinneth not ) , and thou be angrie with them , and deliuer them vnto the enemies , and they take them , and carry them away captiue vnto a land farre and neere , &c. 2. to the godly : they should admiringly reioice in their priuiledge in the blood of christ , and in the remission of all their sins . chap. x. of the punishment of sinne . rom. 5.12 . wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world , and death by sin : and so death went ouer all men , for as much as all men haue sinned . hitherto of the principles concerning sinne : now concerning the punishment of sin , followeth this principle , viz. that all men in their naturall estate are extremely miserable , in respect of the punishment , vnto which they are liable for their sinnes . nahum . 1.2.3.6 . god is ielous , and the lord reuengeth , euen the lord of anger , the lord will take vengeance on his aduersaries , and he reserueth wrath for his enemies . the lord is slow to anger : but he is great in power , and will not surely cleare the wicked : the lord hath his way in the whirlewind , and in the storme , and the clouds are the dust of his feete . who can stand before his wrath , or who can abide in the fiercenes of his wrath ? his wrath is poured out like fier , & the rocks are brokē by him , &c. rom. 5.12 . iob 10.17 . thou renewest thy plagues against me , and thou increasest thy wrath against me : changes and armies of sorrowes are against me . iob. 31.3 . is not destruction to the wicked , and strange punishments to the workers of iniquitie ? 2. thes. 1.9 . which shall be punished with euerlasting perdition from the presence of the lord , and from the glory of his power . ephes. 2.3 . among whom we also had our conuersation in times past in the lusts of our flesh , in fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the mind , and weare by nature the children of wrath , as well as others . that this principle may be explicated , i will reckon vp the seuerall sorts of punishments , which haue been inflicted for mans sinne . 1. the losse of paradise , from which we are all exiled , so as we liue as banished men , while wee are in this world , genes . 3.24 . thus hee cast out man , and at the east side of the garden of eden hee set the cherubines , and the blade of a sword shaken , to keep the way of the tree of life . 2. the curse of the creatures : the creatures are subiect to vanitie , and subdued vnto bondage , vnder which they groane for mans sinne , rom. 8.20.21 . because the creature is subiect to vanity , not of it owne will , but by reason of him which hath subdued it vnder hope , &c. the earth was cursed for our sakes , genes . 3.17.18 . cursed is the earth for thy sake , in sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the daies of thy life . thornes also and thistles shall it bring forth vnto thee , and thou shalt eate the hearbe of the field . 3. an impure and painefull birth , genes . 3.16 . vnto the woman he said , i will greatly increase thy sorrowes , and thy conceptions : in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children ; and thy desiers shall be subiect to thy husband , and he shall rule ouer thee . 4. the displeasure of god , and his feareful anger conceiued against vs , iohn 3.36 . he that obeieth not the son shall not see life , but the wrath of god abideth on him . nah. 3.6 . and i will cast filth vpon thee , and make thee vilde , and will set thee as a gasing stock . 5. a priuation of that admirable knowledge of god , and the nature of the creatures , vnto which we were created ; so as we are all for horrible ignorance almost like the beasts , in comparison of what once we might haue had , prou. 30.2 . surely i am more foolish then any man , and haue not the vnderstanding of a man in me : and this light is wanting both to the mind , and the conscience . 6. bondage to satan , who hath naturally strong holds in euery mans heart , and such spirituall possession , that hauing men in his snare , he leadeth them at his pleasure , and worketh effectually both in them , and by them , eph. 2.2 . wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world , and after the prince that ruleth in the aire , euen the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience . 2. tim. 2.26 . and that they may come to amendment out of the snare of the diuell , which are taken of him at his will. 2. cor. 10.5 . casting downe the imaginations , and euery high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of god , &c. 7. spiritual death , which comprehendeth in it the losse of communion with god ( the life of our liues ) , and all the ioyes of his fauour and presence , together with the obduratiō of our harts , which are become as a stone within vs ; so as we are altogether insensible of the things that concerne euerlasting happines . eph. 2.1 . and you hath he quickned , that were dead in trespasses and sinnes . ephes. 4.18 . hauing their cogitation darkned , and being strangers from the life of god , through the ignorance that is in them , because of the hardnesse of their heart . ezech. 36.26 . i will take away the stony heart out of your body , and i will giue you a heart of flesh . 8. miserable bodies . our bodies are become miserable , both in respect of deformity , and in respect of imbecillitie ; as also in respect of the many paines befalles them , both from labour , and from diseases of all sorts , genes . 3.13 . in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread , till thou returne to the earth : for out of it wast thou taken , because thou art dust , and to dust shalt thou returne , &c. deut. 28.21.22 . the lord shall make the pestilence cleaue vnto thee , vntill he hath consumed thee from the land , whether thou goest to possesse it . the lord shall smite thee with a consumption , and with the feuer , and with a burning ague , and with seruent heat , and with the sword , and with blasting , and with the mildew , and they shall pursue thee , vntil thou perish , &c. 9. iudgements in our outward estates in temporall things by warres , famine , fier , earthquakes , in-undations , ignominy , pouerty , and such like of many sorts , deut. 28.16.17.18 . &c. cursed shalt thou be in the towne , and cursed also in the field : cursed shall thy basket be , and thy dough : cursed shall be the fruit of thy bodie , and the fruit of thy land , the encrease of thy kine , and the flockes of thy sheepe : cursed shalt thou be when thou commest in , and cursed also when thou goest out , &c. 10. the restraining of good things from vs , euen blessings of al sorts ; and that somtimes when they are by the free mercy of god bestowed vpon others : isai. 59.2 , but your iniquities haue separated betweene you and your god , and your sinnes haue hid his face from you , that he will not heare . iob 31.2 , for what portion should i haue of god from aboue ? and what inheritance of the almightie from on high ? act. 17.30 . and the time of this ignorance god regarded not . ier. 5.25 . yet your iniquities haue turned away these things , and your sinnes haue hindred good things from you , &c. 11. the cursing of blessings , when god blasts the good gifts he bestowed , or suffers prosperity to become a snare , or trap , or ruine vnto man , mal. 2.2 . i will curse your blessings , ierem. 12.13 . they haue sowne wheat , and reaped thornes , they haue put themselues to much paine , and had no profit : and they shall be ashamed of their reuenues , because of the fierce wrath of the lord. psal. 69.22 . let their table be a snare before them , and their prosperity their ruine . prou. 1.26 . i will also laugh at your destruction , and mocke when your feare commeth &c. 12. scourging of sinne with sinne , which is one of the most grieuous punishments ; when god leaues a man so , as hee suffers him to fall into flagitious courses , and to commit sin with greedinesse ; or deliuers man vp to a reprobate mind , rom. 1.26.28 . for this cause god gaue them vp vnto vile affections ; for euen their women did change the naturall vse , into that , which is against nature . for as they regarded not to know god , euen so god deliuered them vp vnto a reprobate minde , to doe those things which are not conuenient . 13. hellish terrours , which wound the soule with insupportable tormēts , many times god softening the heart to feele inward smart , or suffering satan to torment the soule with vnspeakable feares and horrours , hebr. 10.27 . but a fearfull looking-for of iudgement and violent fier , which shall deuoure the aduersaries . esa. 33.14 . the sinners in sion are afraid , a feare is come vpon the hypocrites , who among vs shall dwell with the deuouring fire ? who among vs shall dwell with the euerlasting burnings ? esa. 65.13.14 . therefore thus saith the lord , behold my seruants shall eate , and ye shall be hungry ; behold my seruants shall drinke , and ye shall bee thirsty ; behold my seruants shall reioyce , and ye shall be ashamed . behold my seruants shall sing for ioy of heart , and ye shall cry for sorrow of hart , and shall howle for vexation of mind . 14. feare of death , which in some measure is in all , though the former be not ; euery man being in that respect like a prisoner that is condemned , and lookes euery day when hee shall goe to execution , heb. 2.15 . and that he might deliuer al●hem , which for feare of death were all their life time subiect to bondage . 15. a terrible generall iudgement , when all mens sinnes shall bee ripped vp before the whole world , to their eternall shame ; and an order giuen for vnauoidable execution of the sentence , act. 17.31 . because he hath appointed a day , in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse , by that man , whom he hath appointed . &c. 16. a miserable departure , and losse of life , the soule and body being rent asunder , and both losing for euer all the pleasures , or felicities of this life ; rom. 5.12 . wherefore as by one man sinne entred into the world , and death by sinne ; and so death went ouer al men , for as much as all men haue sinned , &c. rom. 6.23 . for the wages of sin is death . 17. lastly , eternall paine : now this eternall misery is lamentable , if wee consider , 1. either the degrees of it : 2. or the place : 3. or the continuance . the degrees of damnation are ; 1. first , they haue no communion with god , nor participation in any of the blessings of god , 2. thessal . 1.9 . which shall bee punished with euerlasting perdition from the presence of the lord , and from the glory of his power ▪ &c. 2. secondly , they are vnited to the diuell , with whom they haue an eternall fearfull fellowship , matth. 25.41 . then shall hee say vnto them on the left hand ; depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire , which is prepared for the diuell and all his angels . 3. they endure an vnspeakable confusion , and most bitter ignominie , vpon the consideration of the discouery of their many shamefull offences . 4. they are inwardly affected with incredible horror , and torment of conscience , arising from the sense of gods anger for their sinnes , esa. 30.33 . for tophet is prepared of old ; it is euen prepared for the king ; hee hath made it deepe and large ; the burning thereof is fier and much wood , the breath of the lord , like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle it . rom. 2.8.9 . but vnto them that are contentious & disobey the truth , and obey vnrighteousnesse , shall bee indignation and wrath . tribulation and anguish shall be vpon the soule of euery man that doth euill : of the iew first , and also of the grecian . 5. the bodies of the damned shall suffer vnexpressable torments , which is set out in scriptures by their lying in fier and brimstone , esa. 30.33 . as immediately before . luk. 16.23 . and being in hell torments , he lift vp his eyes , and saw abraham a farre off , and lazarus in his bosome , &c. reuel . 21.8 . but the fearfull and vnbeleeuing , and the abominable , and murtherers , & whoremongers , and sorcerers , and idolaters , and all liars , shall haue their part in the lake which burneth with fier and brimstone , which is the second death . matth. 25.41 . then shall he say vnto them on the left hand , depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fier , which is prepared for the diuell and his angels . this misery is encreased by the fearfulnes of the place where it is to bee suffered , to which in diuers scriptures , diuers names are giuen to intimate the horror of it , as hell , the pit , the great deep , or bottomlesse gulph , prison , darknesse , vtter darknesse , and many other terrible titles . matth. 22.13 . then said the king to his seruants , bind him hand and foot ; take him away , and cast him into vtter darknesse , there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth . reuel . 20.1 . and i saw an angel come downe from heauen , hauing the key of the bottomlesse pit , and a great chaine in his hand , &c. and all this the more miserable , because it shall be both eternall , and without intermission , or ease , reuel . 14.11 . and the smoake of their torment shall ascend euermore , and they shall haue no rest day nor night , &c. now followeth the vses . the vse may bee first for singular reproofe of the maruellous security of multitudes of people , that can liue quietly in so miserable a condition ; were not man sunke deepe into rebellion , and besotted with vnspeakable senselesnesse , one would thinke it were impossible for him to eate , or sleepe , or euer to hold vp his head . if wee heard a story of the one halfe of these distresses that were befallen another man , and did lay our hearts to it to thinke tenderly of it , we could not but wonder , that that man could so forget his owne safety , as to neglect any meanes for his owne release ? but this very obseruation shewes two things , viz. that men are guilty of vile atheisme , and vnbeleefe , and of incredible apathy , or insensiblenesse . oh that men would but think of these particulars , & ponder them seriously ! but alas , a deceiued heart hath seduced them , that they cannot say , here is my perdition , if i repent not . and this reproofe is aggrauated against some men in this , that they are angry at any that shewes them their danger , as we see by experience of men , that liue in grosse sinnes : yet let the curses due to those sinnes be applied to them , how do they rage ? how are they like the very horse and mule , and much worse ? secondly , heere is matter of instruction , and that first to wicked men , that ( if it be possible ) they would awake from this heauie sleepe in sinne , and learne to liue righteously . these iudgements may warne all men euery where to repent : and seeing they are thus vndone by the first adam , to seeke release from this dreadfull misery by the second adam ; there is no condemnation to them that are in christ iesus ; and there can bee no accesse to christ without repentance from dead workes , and faith in him . oh how were men sure to be freed by christ , if they were once wearie and heauie laden ! there is a full propitiation for al sinne in him ; hee hath borne all that curse of the law , onely if any man will be in christ he must be a new creature . this may instruct the godly , and so , 1. the weak christian should labour by all meanes to be established in the faith , that as christ hath freed him from all these miseries ( as curses ) , so faith may free him from the feare of them ; and to this end hee should earnestly and constantly pray , that god would make him worthy of his calling , and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodnesse , and the worke of faith with power , 2. th. 1.11.12 . 2. all christians should forcibly compell vpon themselues a carefull practice of 6. duties : 1. all ages should admire the exceeding riches of the tender kindnesse and mercy of god , and the great loue wherewith hee hath loued vs , that hath forgiuen vs so great a debt , and freed vs from so vnspeakable confusion , ephes. 2.4.7 . 2. wee should often looke vpon christ , that hath borne all the malediction of the law for vs , and that both to moue vs to compassion , and mourning for our sinnes , that so pierced him , zach. 12.10 . and also to settle our selues against the feare of any of these miseries , seeing christ hath fully paid our debts , and suffered the vttermost in our roomes : and further , if wee did often set before vs that maruellous passion of our lord and sauiour , it might rauish our hearts to a greater loue towards him , and desire to bee with him to giue him eternall thankes . 3. haue we escaped so much danger , which sinne brought vs into ? then let vs for euer be warned , and goe our wayes , and sin no more . let vs watch ouer our selues , that we be not bewitched by the deceitfulnes of sinne . for heere wee may learne , that god can make sinne extreamly bitter vnto vs , but especially let vs leaue sinne , euen because god hath dealt so graciously with vs. 4. it should teach vs with all compassion to pitie others with whom we conuerse , that yet liue in this misery , wee should striue with all effectualnesse of perswasion to draw them out of such an estate , and vse our vttermost power to pull them out of this fier , prouoking them to holinesse , and good workes , and exhorting and rebuking them with all instance , that they may not perish in so great condemnation , heb. 10.25 . 5. it should teach vs to endure all sorts of afflictions , that god shal please to try vs withall , and that because they are no way comparable to the punishments we are escaped from : and besides , god is pleased to cause them to work our good : they try and encrease our faith in christs merits : they make vs know our selues more throughly : they mollifie and soften our hearts : they tame our flesh : they scoure our gifts from rust : they weane vs from the world , and excite the desire after , and care to prouide for the world to come . 6. it should teach vs with all gladnesse of heart to remember our miseries , as waters that are past , and establish our selues in a daily solace , especially in the expectation of the full and finall deliuerance from all the remnants of distresse in the day of christ , when god shall bee made maruellous in them that beleeue , 2. thes. 1.11 . and the more we should lift vp our heads , vpon whom the ends of the world are come , because the day of that redemption draweth neere . let vs euer say with dauid , psal. 16.6 . the lines are fallen vpon mee in pleasant places : yea i haue a faire heritage : and the lord hath drawn vs out of many waters : let vs therefore loue the lord dearly , and reioyce alwaies in the lord , phil. 4.4 . chap. xi . the estate of grace . ephes. 1.4 . as he hath chosen vs in him , before the foundation of the world . hitherto of the second estate of man. the third estate is the estate of grace , which is three waies to bee considered : 1. first , in respect of the means of the foundation of it . 2. secondly , in respect of the subiect of the possession of it , which is the church . 3. thirdly , in respect of the degrees of application , and manifestation , which are two : viz. iustification , sanctification . the meanes of foundation is twofold . 1. election in god : 2. redemption in christ. concerning election , there are these euident principles : first , that there was a choice and election made by god , eph. 1.4 . as he hath chosen vs in him , before the foundation of the world . secondly , that this choice was before the foundation of the world , ephes. 1.4 . as immediately before , rom. 9.11 . for ere the children were borne , and when they had done neither good nor euill , that the purpose of god might remaine according to the election , not by workes , but by him that called , &c. that onely some men are chosen , not all men . if all were taken , how could there be election ? &c , matth. 20.16 . many are called , but few chosen mat. 22.14 . that the cause of our election is the onely free grace of god , not our workes , ephes. 1.5 . who hath predestinated vs , to be adopted through iesus christ vnto himselfe , according to the good pleasure of his will , &c. rom. 9.15.18 . for he saith vnto moses ; i wil haue mercy on him , to whom i will shew mercy : and will haue compassion on him , on whom i will haue compassion . therfore he hath mercy on whom he will , and whom he will , he hardneth . that gods election is vnchangeable , all the elect shall bee saued , rom. 8.30 . moreouer , whom he predestinated , them also he called ; and whom he called , them also he iustified ; and whom he iustified , them also he glorified , &c. isaiah 46.10 . my counsell shall stand , and i will doe whatsoeuer i will. 2. tim. 2.19 . but the foundation of god remaineth sure , and h●th this seale ; the lord knoweth who are his , &c. iohn 6.37 . all that the father giueth me , shall come to me ; and him that commeth to mee , i cast not away . matth. 25.34 . then shall the king say to them on the right hand , come ye blessed of my father ; inherit ye the kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world . the consideration of this doctrine of mans election should teach vs diuers things : euery one of vs should study this doctrine of our election , and labour to make it sure , seeing here lieth the foundation of our grace : now one labor doth both , if we make our calling sure , wee make our election sure , 2. pet. 1. 10 : and we may be sure our calling is right , if we adde vertue to our faith , if we can find the gifts of grace in our hearts : for this ( i fay ) we must study the doctrine of the signes ; of which before . if we find assurance of our election , we should with all thankefulnes acknowledge gods goodnesse to vs , and the riches of his free grace , as the apostle teacheth vs , ephes. 1.3 . and 2. thes. 2.13 . but we ought to giue thanks alway to the lord for you brethren , beloued of god , because that god hath from the beginning chosen you to saluation , through sanctification of the spirit , and the faith of truth : and so rest in this happines , as our chiefe desire to god should bee still to vouchsafe vs this fauour to blesse vs with the fauour of his chosen , psalm . 106.4.5 . remember me , o lord , with the fauour of thy people , visit me with thy saluation , that i may see the felicitie of thy chosen , and reioyce in the ioy of thy people , and glory with thine inheritance . and for euer stand and gase at the maruelous riches of gods grace , that suffered vs not to perish in the condemnation of the world . our election should work vpon vs a wonderfull care of holinesse of life . are we elect ? then how should wee confirme our selues in separation from the world ? shall wee euer loue the world and the things thereof , that heare , that god hath chosen vs out of the world ? yea , why fashion wee our selues vnto this world ? rom. 12.2 . and fashion not your selues like vnto this world , but be yee changed by the renewing of your minde , that yee may prooue , what is the good will of god , and acceptable , and perfect . deut. 14.2 . for thou art an holy people vnto the lord thy god , and the lord hath chosen thee to be a pretious people vnto himselfe aboue all the people , that are vpon the earth . god hath chosen vs , and called vs with a holy calling ; and therefore we should as a people peculiar vnto him , be zealous of all good workes , and shew forth the vertues of him that called vs , and walke before him with all desire to please him , that hath thus elected vs ; we should euer be ready to choose the lord to bee our god , and to shew it by auouching him , and by walking in his waies , as these scriptures plentifully shew . deut. 7.6.7 . for thou art an holy people vnto the lord thy god , the lord thy god hath chosen thee to be a pretious people vnto himselfe , aboue al the people that are vpon the earth . the lord doth not set his loue vpon you , nor chuse you , because yee were more in nūber then any people : for ye were the fewest of all people . deut. 26.16.17 . this day the lord thy god hath commanded thee to do these ordinances & lawes , keepe them therefore , and doe them with all thine heart , and with all thy soule . thou hast set vp the lord this day to be thy god , and to walke in his waies , and to keepe his ordinances , and his commandements , and his lawes , and to hearken to his voice . ephes. 1.4 . as he hath chosen vs in him before the foundation of the world , that we should be holy , and without blame before him in loue . 1. pet. 2.9.16 . but ye are a chosen generation , a roial priesthood , an holy nation , a peculiar people , that ye should shew forth the vertues of him , that hath called you out of darknesse into his maruelous light . as free , and not as hauing the libertie for a cloke of maliciousnes , but as the seruants of god. wee should giue our names to god , as they that will subscribe and deuote themselues only to the god of iacob , isaiah 44.1.5 . yet now heare , o iacob , my seruant , and israel , whom i haue chosen . one shall say , i am the lord ; another shall be called by the name of iacob ; and another shall subscribe with his hand vnto the lord , and name himselfe by the name of israel . 4. it should teach vs to imitate god , and chuse the godly , as the persons wee would most obserue , admire , loue , defend , and liue withall , ioh. 15.17 . these things command i you , that yee loue one another . iohn 17.26 . and i haue declared vnto them thy name , and will declare it , that the loue wherewith thou hast loued me , may be in them , and i in them , &c. yea we should not haue the glorious faith of christ , in respect of persons to despise poore christians , and onely respect great men : for god hath chosen the weake things of this world to confound the mighty , and the poore hee hath chosen to be made heires of the kingdome , and rich in faith , iames 2.5 . 1. cor. 1.27 . yea , we should be content , as the apostle saith , to suffer all things for the elects sake , seeing they are so deare to god , 2. tim. 2.10 . we may know our election by two sorts of signes : first , the one respects god : secondly , the other respects our selues . god declares his eternall choise by diuers markes of it , and man proues himself to be elect of god by diuers tokens of it . god shewes whom hee hath chosen from euerlasting three manner of waies : 1. by election in time , when god separates a man from the world vnto himselfe and his seruice : it is a manifest signe of election : it shewes an eternall choise , when god singles a man out from the multitude of carnal and carelesse men , and inspires him with an vnchangeable resolution to deuote himselfe to god : it is an euident declaration of gods predestination to glorie ; god separates a man from the world , when he makes him a wearie of wicked and vnprofitable society ; and takes away from him the taste in earthly things , so as the loue of the world is not in him , and sanctifies him to his owne vse . 2. by the entertainement god giues them in his house , and especially by the efficacy of the word , and principally by the life of the promises : for god makes his word a word of power , and the holy ghost falles vpon their hearts , and they at sometimes feele a maruelous assurance in hearing , and so much comfort , that they can receiue the word , though it be with much affliction , and reioyce greatly in it ; and the word transformes them also to a constant desire of practice , & imitation of the godlines of the saints , 1. thes. 1.4.5.6 . knowing , beloued brethren , that ye are elect of god : for our gospell was not vnto you in word only , but also in power , and in the holy ghost , and in much assurance : and ye became followers of vs , and of the lord , and receiued the word in much affliction , with ioy of the holy ghost . psalm . 65.4 . blessed is he whom thou chusest , and causest to come to thee , he shall dwell in thy courts , and we shal be satisfied with the pleasures of thine house euen thy holy temple . rom. 9.8.11 . that is , they which are the children of the flesh , are not the children of god : but the children of promise are counted for the seed . 3. by the sanctification of their afflictions , euen by the many experiences of gods loue in afflictions , as when god comforts their hearts in the midst of distresse , when they come to him making their mone ; and when he turnes the crosse to a blessing to them , making them more humble by it , exercising their gifts , purging out their sinne , &c. and at the length giuing gracious deliuerances , causing all to worke together for the best , so as they themselues being iudges , they can say it was good for me , that i was afflicted , rom. 8.28.29 . also we know , that all things worke together for the best to them that loue god , euen to them that are called of his purpose , &c. psalm . 119. in many places . now as god manifests his owne choie by these and such like signes ; so the godly make sure their owne election by diuers markes of it , as generally by the sanctification of the spirit , and beliefe of the truth , 2. thes. 2.13 . but we ought to giue thanks alway to god for you brethren , beloued of the lord , because that god hath from the beginning chosen you to saluation through sanctification of the spirit , and the faith of truth , so in particular . 1. by the vertues of christ , which more or lesse in some measure shine in them , such as are humilitie , piety , knowledge , temperance , and contempt of the world patience in aduersitie , and other excellent sauing graces in them , 2. pet. 1.5.6.7.10 . 1. pet. 2.9 . by their fruits you may know them , ioh. 15.16 . 2. secondly , by the affections of godlinesse , that are in them aboue al others , ephes. 1.5 . 1. ioh. 3.14 . they approue themselues to be elect by loue ; that is , by their great affections to god , to the word of god , and his ordinances , and by their brotherly kindnesse to the godly , and this loue is the more euident marke , when it lasts euen in affliction , when no distresses makes vs abate of our affection to god , or good things , or good men , rom. 8.28 . 3. by their priesthood : gods elect are a kingdome of priests , they offer god daily sacrifice , they haue the spirit of prayer , & they daily mortifie ( the beast ) their sinnes vpon the altar of christ crucified . so then by their praying and their mortification , gods elect may bee euidently knowne , 1. pet. 2.9.10 . 4. fourthly , they are vsually knowne by the opposition of the world : if they were of the world , the world would spare , and loue his owne : but because they are chosen out of the world , therefore the world hates them , and pursues them with reproches , and indignations of all sorts , ioh. 15.18.19 . if the world hate you , you know that it hated mee before you . if ye were of the world , the world would loue his owne : but because ye are not of the world , but i haue chosen you out of the world , therefore the world hateth you . 5. lastly , this doctrine of election should fill the hearts of all the godly with vnspeakable reioycing : euerlasting ioy should be vpon their heads , and sorrow and mourning should fly away : and the rather , if they consider the maruellous priuiledges of their election , and the wonderfull happinesse , vnto which they are chosen of god. for if by the former signes thou know thy selfe to be one of gods elect. 1. first , thou art sure of thy saluation , and the glory of heauen when thou diest , 2. thessal . 2.13.14 . whereunto hee called you by the gospell to obtaine the glory of our lord iesus christ. 2. the loue of god to thee is vnchangeable , god will neuer cast off the people whom he hath chosen , rom. 11.2 . god hath not cast away his people whom hee knew before . 3. thou art sure of gratious entertainment in gods house , and sweete communion with god whilest thou liuest , psal. 65.4 . blessed is he whom thou chusest , and causest to come to thee : he shall dwell in thy courts , and we shall bee satisfied with the pleasures of thine house , euen of thine holy temple . esa. 65.13.14 . therefore thus saith the lord god , behold my seruants shall eate , and ye shall bee hungry : behold my seruants shall drink , and ye shall bee thirsty : behold my seruants shall reioyce , and ye shall be ashamed . behold my seruants shall sing for ioy of heart , and ye shall cry for sorrow of heart , and shall howle for vexation of mind . 4. thou shalt be sure of protection against all aduersaries , that dare , or can rise vp against thee , esa. 41.10.11.12.13 . feare thou not , for i am with thee : bee not afraid , for i am thy god , i will strengthen thee , and helpe thee , and will sustaine thee with the right hand of my iustice . behold , all they that prouoke thee shall bee ashamed and confounded , they shall bee as nothing ; and they that striue with thee shall perish . 5. fifthly , all thy afflictions shall be sweetned vnto thee , and work together for the best , rom. 8.28 . also we know that all things worke together for the best , vnto them that loue god , euen to them that are called of his purpose . 6. in all thy suites to god , thou art sure of audience , and compassionate respect , howsoeuer thou bee neglected in the world , ioh. 15.16 . yee haue not chosen mee , but i haue chosen you , and ordained you , that yee goe and bring forth fruit , and that your fruit remaine , that whatsoeuer ye shal aske of the father in my name , hee may giue it you . 7. christ will graciously communicate to thee the secrets of god , and the mysteries of the kingdome , vsing thee therein as a most deare and carefull friend , ioh. 15.16 , as before . 8. lastly all complaints brought vnto god against thee , are sure to be non-suted and cast out , so as nothing can bee laid to thy charge , nothing can condemne thee , in as much as christ hath paid all thy debts , and sitteth at the right hand of god to make request for thee , rom. 8.33 . who shall lay any thing to the charge of gods chosen : it is god that iustifieth , &c. chap. xii . of christ. act. 4.12 . neither is there saluation in any other : for among men there is giuen none other name vnder heauen , whereby we must be saued . hitherto of election . the second fundamentall meanes of grace is christ , concerning whom the principles respect either 1. his person . 2. his office . the principles concerning his person , looke either 1. vpon his diuine nature . 2. or vpon his humane . the principle that concernes his diuine nature is this : that iesus christ is very god ; and that he is god , may be proued , 1. first , by testimony of scripture , esa. 9.6 . for vnto vs a child is borne , and vnto vs a sonne is giuen , and he shall call his name wonderfull , counsellor , the mighty god. ioh. 1.1 . in the beginning was the word , and the word was with god , and that word was god. rom. 9.5 . of whom are the fathers , and of whom concerning the flesh , christ came , who is god ouer all , blessed for euer . amen . 1. tim. 3.16 . and without controuersie great is the mystery of godlinesse , which is , god is manifested in the flesh , iustified in the spirit &c. 1. ioh. 5.20 . but we know , that the sonne of god is come , and hath giuen vs a mind to know him , which is true : and we are in him that is true , that is , in his son iesus christ , this same is very god , and eternall life . 2. by the diuine proprieties giuē vnto him , as eternity , ioh. 1.1 . ioh. 17.5 . omnipotency , ioh. 3.31 . phil. 4.13 . sauiour , king of kings , and the like . 3. by diuine workes done by him , as creation , coloss. 1.16 . forgiuenesse of sinnes , matth. 9.6 . working of miracles , ioh. 10.25 . 4. by the diuine honour due vnto him , as adoration , psalm . 72.11 . heb. 1.8 . and beleeuing in him . 5. by the conquest the gospel hath made in the world , 1. tim. 3.16 . and that not by any carnall power , zach. 4.6 . 6. by the patient suffering of his saints , reuel . 12.11 . but they ouercame him by the blood of the lambe , and by the word of their testimony , and they loued not their liues vnto the death , &c. but why was it needfull hee should be god ? for two causes chiefly . 1. the one was the greatnes of our euill , which no creature could take off vs : viz. 1. the grieuousnesse of our sinnes . 2. the immense & intolerable waight of gods anger . 3. the empire of death . 4. the tyranny of the diuell . 2. the other was the greatnes of our good , which none but god could restore ; viz. 1. an obedience to iustifie many . 2. the image of god , 1. cor. 1.30 . colos. 3.10 . if our sauiour be the sonne of god , yea god himselfe , that holds it no robbery to be equall with god. then it may first serue for humiliation , and so 1. to the world : in which this glorious light hath risen , and yet their darknesse comprehended it not , ioh. 1.5.10 . to the very godly , because they are not so affected , as may become this maruellous glory of the sonne of god ; it should much abase vs , that we haue not thoughts and affections to take that notice wee should of this sonne of righteousnesse , so gloriously in the gospell shining amongst vs ; we doe not receiue him , & conceiue of him as this doctrine teacheth vs ; how often hath he come amongst his owne , and his owne receiued him not ? ioh. 1.11 . for instruction , and so it should worke in vs , 1. illumination , to see the greatnesse of the mistery of godlines , that tels vs of god manifested in the flesh , 1. tim. 3.16 . our eyes should in this point receiue sight and clearing . this doctrine should shine in our hearts , as the sunne in the firmament ; wee should neuer rest informing our selues heerein , and praying for discerning , till after much neglect and vnbeleefe past , we could say with thomas , my lord and my god , matth. 16.16 . ioh. 20.28 . this is the rocke , vpon which the church is built . 2. the estimation of his sufferings for vs ; this blood of the new testament , was the blood of god , act. 20.28 . 3. the celebratiō of his praises is god ouer all : then let him be blessed for euermore , rom. 9.5 . of whom are the fathers , and of whom concerning the flesh christ came , who is god ouer all , blessed for euer , amen . 4. the adoration of his person , when god brings forth his onely begotten sonne , let all the angels of heauen worship him , heb. 1.4 . 5. faith : this should make vs beleeue in him , and relie vpon the sufficiency of the redemption in him ; yea we should neuer rest , till we know him , and that we are in him : for this is eternall life , ioh. 1.7 . the same came for a witnesse to beare witnesse of the light , that all men through him might beleeue , 1. ioh. 5.20 . but we know that the sonne of god is come , and hath giuen vs a mind to know him , which is true , and wee are in him that is true , that is , in the sonne iesus christ , the same is very god , and eternall life . the consideration of the diuinity of christ should wonderfully comfort vs , & so it is vsed in diuers scriptures . for if he be god , thē he is ful of grace to supply our wants , ioh. 1.14.16 . he is infinite in righteousnes to iustifie vs , ierem. 23.6 . the gouernment being on his sholders : he will euer bee knowne to bee wonderfull : as a counsellor to direct vs , as a mighty god to defend vs ; as an euerlasting father to loue vs , and pity vs , and spare vs , and beare with our infirmities ; as a prince of peace , to preserue vs in our reconciliation with god , and to fill vs with peace that passeth all vnderstanding : and that we may not doubt of perseuerance , the prophet assures vs , that of the encrease of his gouernment and peace , there shall be no end : for he will order vs , and establish vs henceforth , and for euer . chap. xiii . of christs humanity . hitherto of the diuine nature of christ : there are foure principles concerning the humane nature of christ : the one concernes the matter , the other three concerne the manner . 1. the first , that the sonne of god was incarnate , did assume the true nature of man , and was a very man amongst vs , ioh. 1.1 . in the beginning was the word , and the word was with god , and that word was god. 14. and the word was made flesh and dwelt among vs , and we saw the glory thereof as the glory of the only begotten sonne of the father , full of grace and truth . hebr. 2.14 . for as much then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood , he also himselfe likewise tooke part with them . 16. for hee in no sort tooke the angels , but hee tooke the seed of abraham . 2. that hee was not conceiued as other men , but by the holy ghost , luk. 1.35 . and the angell answered and said vnto her , the holy ghost shall come vpon thee , and the power of the most high shall ouershadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall bee borne of thee , shall be called the son of god. mat. 1.20 . feare not to take mary for thy wife ; for that which is conceiued in her is of the holy ghost . 3. that hee was borne of a virgin , esa. 7.14 . therefore the lord himselfe will giue you a signe : behold the virgin shall conceiue and beare a sonne , and she shall call his name emmanuel .. matth. 1.18 . now the birth of iesus christ was thus : when as his mother mary was betrothed to ioseph ; before they came together she was found with child of the holy ghost . genes . 3.15 . i will also put enmity betweene thee and the woman , and betweene thy seed and her seed , hee shall breake thine head , and thou shalt bruise his heele . 4. that his humane nature did subsist in the diuine nature , and so both made but one person , colos. 2.9 . for in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the god-head bodily . luk. 1.35 . and the angel answered and said vnto her : the holy ghost shall come vpon thee , and the power of the most high shal ouershadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be borne of thee , shall bee called the sonne of god , &c. the vses may bee raised seuerally from each of the principles , and so : first , the doctrine of the incarnation of christ may serue , 1. for information , and that both of the loue of god , and of his wisedome , which both shine in this worke : his loue , in that he sent vs a sauiour to take our nature : and his wisedome , in that he sent vs his sonne . but what need was there that christ should bee incarnate , and take mans nature rather then any other ? first , that satisfaction might be made to god in the same nature that had offended . 2. because without effusion of blood , there could bee no remission , heb. 9.22 . 3. because a mediator should be meet to deale betweene both parties : therefore he is god for the businesse with his father , and man for the businesse with men . 4. that so he might haue the right of the kinsman to redeeme vs , and so of adoption , ier. 32.8 . ruth 3.13 . 5. to assure our resurrection . heb. 2.14 . that he might destroy through death him , that had the power of death , which is the diuell , &c. but why was the second person in trinitie incarnate ? it was most conueniently , and comely it should be so ? 1. by the son was man made at the beginning , and therefore fitly by him was he redeemed . 2. he most fitly repaires the image of god in vs , who was himselfe the image of his father . 3. he that was the sonne of god most conueniently makes vs the sonnes of god. secondly , for instruction , and so it should teach vs : 1. first , to acknowledge both natures in christ , and know , it is of necessitie to saluation to confesse his glory in both . 2. it should worke vpon vs the impressions of humility . this is a matchlesse example of humilitie , that he , that was equall to the father , should make himselfe so low , as to take vpon him the forme of a seruant , &c. as it is vrged , phil. 2.6.7 . it were intolerable shame for vs to mind our owne things , or to stand vpon our glory , and greatnesse . oh , how should this make vs easily deny our selues , if we could throughly thinke vpon it ? 3. thirdly , it should stirre vs vp wonderfully to a desire to come vnto christ , and to be made one with him , and to be like him . hee drew neere to vs , when hee tooke our nature ; and shall not we draw neere to him in imitation of his nature , and shew forth his vertues ? he descended from heauen to vs , and shall not we ascend to heauen to him ? 4. this may serue for great humiliation to al such , as receiue not the sonne of god : hath hee taken our nature , and dwelt amongst vs , and saw we his glory , as the glory of the onely begotten sonne of god : and are wee yet ignorant of him ? doe we yet neglect to come vnto him ? 5. lastly , the incarnation of christ , is the very fountaine of all our comfort . it is the sunneshine of religion , we should reioyce in it aboue all things . there should be no godly man , but his heart should leape within him vpon the thoughts of this glorious grace of god. the angels of heauen sang in the aire , when they brought this tidings ; and can wee sit desolate in heart , to whom a sauiour is borne , and for whom he was incarnate ? luk. 2.10 . christs incarnation is the most cleare looking glasse to shew forth the wisdome , mercy , truth , and iustice of god. this was a worke farre aboue the creation of man ; this doctrine is comfortable in the very respect of the honour done to the nature of man , in that god hath ioyned man so neerely to himselfe , and it imports a wonderfull loue , that christ doth now vnchangeably beare to man , being himselfe of the same nature : but especially it should swallow vp all earthly discontentments to consider , that god hath giuen him to vs , and christ is all this for our sakes , esay 9.6 . for vnto vs a childe is borne , and vnto vs a sonne is giuen : &c. how should christ bee vnto vs onely in stead of all things ? the very peace we haue by him should enflame vs , peace aboue vs with god and the angels : peace within vs with our owne consciences ; peace about vs with all creatures , luke 2.14 . and specially it should establish vs in the assurance of the accomplishment of all that yet remaines of our full redemption , we need not doubt of his intercession : our suites must all needes speed well , there sits one at the right hand of god , that is our owne flesh and bloud , and we need not feare the last iudgement . it cannot but be well with vs , if our owne brother be our iudge : we should not be affraid in the meane time in the euill day . he will succour vs , he hath had experience of the frailtie of our nature , and therefore hath a feeling of our infirmities , and will helpe vs in all time of our need , heb. 2.18 . for in that he suffred , and was tempted , he is able to succour them that are tempted . heb. 4.15 . for we haue not an high priest , which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities : but was in all things tempted in like sort , yet without sinne . yea , the very glory of christ in heauen is by this meanes ours . christ is my portion , my flesh , and my blood , where my portion raigneth , there beleeue i , that i raigne ; where my flesh is glorified , there i thinke my selfe in glory ; where my blood ruleth , there thinke i my selfe exalted . and all this is the more comfortable , if we consider , that god had not respect of persons in this , which may appeare by the manifestation of the incarnation . it was reueiled to shepheards , and to the wise men ; the one poore , the other rich ; the one learned , the other vnlearned ; the one gentiles , the other iewes ; the one neere , the other farre off . this light appeared to anna a woman , as well as to simeon that iust man. and besides note the wonderfull wisedome of god in the manner of reuealing christ : viz. to euery one according to his owne estate . for to simeon and anna , as more spirituall persons , the natiuitie was reuealed by the instinct of the spirit . to the shepheards as ruder men , by the voice and speech of angels . to the priests and scribes that searched scripture , by an oracle of the scripture . to herod a stranger , by the testimony of the wise men that were strangers . to the wise men , that were students of astrology , by the rising of a new starre . chap. xiv . of the conception of christ. thus much of the vses of the incarnation of christ : the vses of his conception follow . the doctrine of his conception by the holy ghost may serue : first , for information , and that in diuers things : 1. first , concerning the wonder of his birth , heere is a new birth giuen to the world , neuer such a one before : he that is the onely sonne in heauen , is by this meanes the onely man on earth to be admired . when god was to be made visible on earth , and to come to dwell amongst men , a heauenly temple is prouided for him ; the holy ghost builds him a temple in the wombe of a virgin. 2. concerning the freedome of christ from originall sinne , we might aske , how could christ be free from sinne , seeing he came of adam , whose nature was infected in all his posteritie . now this is answered in this principle : for christ came of adam , but not by adam , but by the holy ghost : the holy ghost miraculously formed christs body of the substance of the virgin , stopping the course of originall sinne , and sanctifying it : sinne comes into the world by propagation only . 3. concerning the sufficiency of the sacrifice of christ : it must needes bee an admirable sacrifice , that is thus fitted from the wombe . 4. concerning the superstition of the papists about the virgin marie : for they attribute the purity of christs nature to the holinesse of the virgin , that shee was without sinne ; whereas it is euident , it is to be attributed to the holy ghost . 5. concerning the possibilitie for christ to be borne of a virgin : it is as easie for god to frame vnto christ a body in the wombe of a virgin , as to make mans body at the first of the myer of the earth . secondly , for instruction , and so this conception by the holy ghost should teach vs : 1. first , to be wise to sobriety in this mysterie of the incarnation of christ : a purer sense and a cleaner hearing is called-for here : the ouershadowing of the virgin shewes , that we must bring faith to beleeue the mysterie without further inquiring . 2. to desire feruently the sanctifying of our natures , that wee as his members might bee conformed vnto him as our head , and so we are , if christ be conceiued in our hearts by the holy ghost , as hee was conceiued in the womb of the virgin , gal. 4.7 for consolation , and so his conception is comfortable , especially in two things : 1. first , the holinesse of his conception will iustifie vs from the vnholinesse of our conception , and quit vs from the guilt and filth of originall sinne . 2. secondly , it may comfort vs in the expectation of our perfect holinesse . hee that was so carefull to haue his naturall body fitted so exquisitely , will not neglect his mysticall body the church , but will loue it , and wash it , till it bee without spot and wrinkle , and the rather because it is bone of his bone , and flesh of his flesh , ephes. 5.25.26 . and thus of the vse of the conception . chap. xv. of christ as borne of a virgin . thirdly , in that our sauiour was borne of a virgin it may serue for information , and so 1. concerning the maruelous wisdome of god in the maner of our saluation : by a woman came sinne and death into the world : and loe here the seed of the woman breakes the serpents head . the diuell got to be the god of the world by beguiling a woman . now see how the lord hath deuised to destroy his dominion by one made of a woman : they were both virgins , affianced to husbands , but not yet knowne of man. but might some one say , this is beyond beliefe , that a virgin should bring forth , and yet remaine a virgin , hauing neuer knowne man , this seemeth to be incredible . if it had been a thing , which had no resemblance in nature : yet it had been nothing to beleeue the power of the god of nature : but yet there is instance of things borne in nature without generation . the bees haue young , and yet know not marriage . the easterne bird the phenix is borne , and new borne successiuely , and yet without parents ; and shal we hold it beyond beliefe for god to doe this great work vpon him , that was to restore the world . christ is like the flower , which hath the heauen for father , and the earth for mother . but how can it become the greatnesse of the sonne of god , to abase himselfe to lie in the wombe of the virgin ? the sunne in the firmament receiues not infection from any place , nor can any thing cast into the fier steine it ; much lesse can the sonne of god be polluted by being borne of a virgin. 2. secondly , this may furnish vs with an argument against transubstantiation . the scripture teacheth vs to beleeue , that christ was made of a woman , gal. 4.4 . but not a word is there , that hee should bee made of a piece of bread . secondly , hath god created this new thing in the world , that a woman should compasse a man ? why then doe we go about ? why loose we our labour ? why settle we not our hearts directly vpon this iesus , who is assigned vs thus wonderfully of god to bee our way , our light , and our life ? this very doctrin was vsed long since to rebuke mens extreme distractions , and losse of time , and labour in the way to the kingdome of heauen , ier. 31.21 . yea , this doctrine ought to be vnto vs gods signe , that he will deliuer vs certainely , and fulfil al his promises ; and it extremely threatens the vnbeliefe of man , as the prophet isaiah vrgeth it in the daies of ahaz , isaiah 7.14 . thirdly , this should kindle in vs a vehemēt desire to haue god reueale his sonne in vs , and to haue christ borne in our hearts : we thinke the virgin blessed aboue women , that christ was conceiued in her wombe ; why certainely it is a great wonder , and wee were blessed amongst men and women , if the lord iesus bee conceiued in our hearts , and we keepe our selues chast virgins to him . there hath been foure waies of making man : 1. the one was to make man without either man or woman ; so was adam made . 2. the second was to make man without a woman , so was eue made . 3. the third was to make man by both man and woman , and so we their posteritie are made . 4. the fourth way , was to make man without man by the woman only , and so was christ-man made . now if wee admire the first , second , and fourth of these ; why should wee not also admire the creating of a man , without wombe , euen in the heart of a man : is it not a great wonder , that the sonne of god should be formed in our breast ; and yet such is the worke of god in the new birth of a christian : christ is formed in them , galath . 4.9 . my little children , of whom i trauell in birth againe , vntill christ be formed in you . chap. xvi . of the personall vnion . and thus of the birth of christ of a virgin. the personall vnion may serue both for information , and for consolation . for information , concerning the maruellous glory of christ , especially of the exaltation of the humane nature . heere is an vnion singularly wonderfull , and wonderfully singular . nay , what say i , a vnion ? why ? there bee so many vnions in christ , that worthily all may bee said to bee gathered together in one in him . there is a naturall , personall , mysticall , and sacramentall vnion in christ. the naturall vnion is with the father and the holy ghost , in one nature or essence . the personall vnion is this of the diuine nature with the humane in one person . the mystical vnion is of christ with the church , in one body . the sacramentall vnion is of the body and blood of christ with bread and wine in one ordinance . this vnion is not a vnion of inhabitation , as god dwels in the saints : nor of consent only , as the faithfull are one in the father and the sonne : nor of commixtion , as water and wine are one : nor of combination , as two boords fastened together are one : nor of composition , when of two things is made some third thing in one . but it is ( i say ) a personall vnion , the humane nature of christ being assumed into vnion with the person of the sonne of god. from whence ariseth : a speciall manner of subsisting in the humane nature of christ , differing from other men . for soule and body make a person in other men , but not so in christ. for his soule and body are borne vp and subsist in his diuine nature . as the luie or misseltoe growes without a root of it owne vpon the body of another tree ; so is it with the humane nature of christ : as soule and body in vs make one man : so god and man make one christ in him . a communication of proprieties ; so as that which is proper to one nature , is attributed to the whole person : so the sonne of god was crucified , & bought the church with his blood , 1. cor. 2.8 . act. 20.28 . the collation of gifts vpon the humane nature after an vnspeakable manner : in respect of which the humane nature of christ doth excell all creatures for wisedome , goodnesse , holinesse , power , maiesty , and glory , in as much as the god-head dwelles in him bodily , col. 2.9 . for in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the god-head bodily ; and so the second adam doth farre excell the first . it was needfull christ should be god and man in one nature . 1. that so he might reconcile or make god and man one againe . 2. that so hee might bee a meet mediator , as being a kin to both parties . 3. that he might pacifie god by his death , which he could neither feele as god , nor ouercome as man. 4. that the works of redemption done in the flesh , might bee sufficient price for sin , by which the infinite god was wronged . here is also consolation in this doctrine : for hence ariseth manifest reason of hope of pardon , and peace with god ; and besides , out of his fulnesse wee may now all receiue grace , and a supply for all our wants . heere wee haue all the treasures of wisdome and grace in christ-man ; and hee is now able to be a fountaine of more good to vs , then euer the first adam was of euill . chap. xvii . of christ as mediator . hitherto of the principles concerning the person of christ : his office followes . the principles cōcerning his office , consider it either in the whole , or in the parts of it . the whole office of christ is to be a mediator , and so the principles that concerne the mediatorship are fiue : first , that there is but one mediatour betweene god and man , euen iesus christ , 1. tim. 2.5 . for there is one god , and one mediator betweene god and man , which is the man christ iesus . act. 4.12 . neither is there saluation in any other : for amongst men there is giuen none other name vnder heauen whereby we must bee saued . luk. 2.11 . that is , that vnto you is borne this day in the city of dauid a sauiour , which is christ the lord. because there is none more mercifull , heb. 2.17 . nor more able , heb. 7.25 . that the cause of our saluation in his mediation is not merit in man , but grace in god and christ , 2. tim. 1.9 . who hath saued vs , and called vs with an holy calling , not according to our workes , but according to his owne purpose and grace , which was giuen to vs through christ iesus before the world was . tit. 3.4.5 . but when the bountifulnesse and loue of god our sauiour toward man appeared . not by the workes of righteousnesse , which we had done , but according to his mercy he saued vs by the washing of the new birth , and the renewing of the holy ghost . ephes. 2.8 . for by grace are ye saued through faith , and that not of your selues ; it is the gift of god. that this mediation was from the beginning of the world , and shall be to the end , hebr. 13.8 . iesus christ yesterday , and to day , the same also is for euer . 1. pet. 1.20 . which was ordained before the foundation of the world , but was declared in the last times for your sakes . reuel . 13.8 . therefore all that dwell vpon the earth , shall worship him , whose names are not written in the booke of life of the lambe , which was slaine from the beginning of the world . for in the knowledge , destination , and acceptation of god , the two natures were accounted as vnited , and with him the things done and to be done , present and to come , are all one . for explication of this principle , if we aske when the mediator was giuen , it must be answered three waies : 1. if we respect gods decree , he was giuen before all eternity , ephes. 1.4 . as he hath chosen vs in him before the foundation of the world . 2. if wee respect the vertue and efficacie of his mediation , he was giuen when need was from the beginning of the world , reuel . 13.8 . which was slaine from the beginning of the world . 3. if we respect his manifestation in the flesh , he was giuen in the fulnesse of time : 1600. yeeres agoe , galath . 4.4 . but when the fulnesse of time was come , god sent forth his sonne made of a woman , and made vnder the law . 1. tim. 2.6 . who gaue himselfe a ransome for all men , to be a testimony in due time . 4. that without the mediation of christ no flesh can bee saued , act. 4.12 . neither is there saluation in any other : for among men there is giuen none other name vnder heauen , whereby we must bee saued . psalm . 143.2 . and enter not into iudgement with thy seruant , for in thy sight shall none that liueth be iustified . iam. 3.2 . for in many things we sinne all . 5. that by the mediator a new agreement or contract was made with god , ierem. 31.33 . but this shall be the couenant that i will make with the house of israel : after those dayes saith the lord , i will put my law in the inward parts , and write it in their hearts , and will be their god , and they shall bee my people . heb. 8.13 . in that he saith a new testament , he hath abrogated the old ; now that which is disanulled , and waxed old , is ready to vanish away . rom. 3.23.24 . for there is no difference , for all haue sinned , and are depriued of the glory of god , and are iustified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in christ iesus . galath . 3.21.22 . is the law then against the promise of god ? god forbid : for if there had been a law giuen , which could haue giuen life , surely righteousnes should haue been by the law . but the scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne , that the promise by the faith of iesus christ should be giuen to them that beleeue . for the explication of this principle we must vnderstand : 1. first , that the scriptures make mention of three couenants , that god hath made . the one generall , and terrene with all creatures about their preseruation from the vniuersall deluge : of this , genes . 9. &c. but of this couenant wee haue nothing to doe here . the second was the couenant , called the couenant of workes , this was made with all mankinde in paradise , and stands still in force , since the fall , as men are in the estate of nature , the condition whereof on mans part is in the morall law . the third was the agreement made with man by meanes of the mediator , this was called from the fall to the dayes of abraham , the promise , as being contriued in those words of promise , gen. 3.15 . i will also put enmity betweene thee and the woman , and betweene thy seed and her seed : he shall break thine head , and thou shalt bruise his heele , &c. from abraham to moses , it was called the couenant , genes . 17. &c. from moses to christ , and so still the testament ; and as it stands in difference from the couenant of workes , it may bee called for all this time , the couenant of grace . secondly , that in this agreement with god by the mediator , the mediator did vndertake for two things : 1. to pay all our debts , and satisfie gods iustice , by a price of infinite value , esa. 53.5.6 . but hee was wounded for our transgressions , he was broken for our iniquities , the chastisement of our peace was vpon him , and with his stripes we are healed . all we like sheep haue gone astray , we haue turned euery one to his owne way , and the lord hath laid vpon him the iniquity of vs all . iob 33.24 . then will he haue mercy vpon him , and will say deliuer him , that he goe not downe into the pit : for i haue receiued a reconciliation . 1. tim. 2.6 . who gaue himselfe a ransome for all men to be a testimony in due time . 2. to purchase and merit for vs gods fauour and kingdome by a most absolute and perfect obedience , eph. 1.6 . to the praise of the glory of his grace , wherewith he hath made vs accepted in his beloued . thirdly wee must vnderstand wherein these new couenants agree , and wherein they disagree . these couenants agree in these two things : first , that they both were tendered to vs by god. secondly , that they both require a full and perfect righteousnesse , as the condition of eternall life . they differ : 1. in the manner of knowing of them . for the law or couenant of works is knowne in some measure by nature , rom. 2.15 . which shew the effect of the law written in their hearts , their conscience also bearing witnesse , and their thoughts accusing one another , or excusing : but the gospell or couenant of grace is not knowne at all by nature : it is a mystery , colos. 1. 26. which is the mystery hid , since the world began , and from all ages , but now is made manifest to his saints . 1. cor. 2.7 . but wee speake the wisdome of god in a mystery , euen the hid wisedome which god had determined before the world , vnto our glory . 2. tim. 1.10 . but is now made manifest by the appearing of our sauiour iesus christ. 2. in the ministers of both : moses was the minister of the law , but christ of the gospell , ioh. 1. 17. for the law was giuen by moses , but grace and truth came by iesus christ. 3. in the means of attaining to the end common to both : the law is a law of workes , and requires doing , or else will not giue wages : but the gospell is a law of faith , requiring beleeuing in him , that iustifieth the wicked , rom. 3.21 . but now is the righteousnesse of god made manifest without the law , hauing witnesse of the law , and of the prophets . rom. 4.5 . but to him that worketh not , but beleeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly , his faith is counted for righteousnesse . rom. 10.5 . for moses thus describeth the righteousnesse which is of the law : that the man which doth these things shall liue thereby , &c. againe , the law requires perfect righteousnesse in our owne persons , but the gospell offers the righteousnesse of another to be receiued by faith , rom. 8.3.4 . for that that was impossible to the law , in as much as it was weake , because of the flesh , god sending his owne sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh , and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh ; that the righteousnesse of the law might be fulfilled in vs , &c. rom. 5.19 . for as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners ; so by the obedience of one shall many also be made righteous : rom. 10.4 . for christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse , vnto euery one that beleeueth . the law requires our debts euery farthing , the gospell publisheth the acquittance of the principall , by reason of the satisfaction of the suretie . the law giues heauen , as wages for work done ; the gospell giues heauen gratis . 4. in effects or efficacy ; the law requiers good workes , but giues no power to do them , deuter . 29.4 . yet the lord hath not giuen you an heart to perceiue , and eies to see , and eares to heare vnto this day : but the gospell giues the spirit of god , which worketh what he requireth , ier. 31.33 . but this shall be the couenant that i will make with the house of israel : after those daies , saith the lord , i will put my law in their inward parts , and write it in their hearts , and will bee their god , and they shall be my people . ezech. 36.27 . and i will put my spirit within you , and cause you to walke in my statutes , and yee shall keepe my iudgements , and do them . 2. cor. 3.9 . for if the ministrie of condemnation was glorious , much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceeds in glory . the law shewes the disease , and the gospell cures it , rom. 7. 6. but now we are deliuered from the law being dead vnto it , wherein we were holden , that we should serue in newnesse of spirit , and not in the oldnesse of the letter . 24. o wretched man that i am , who shall deliuer me from the body of this death ? &c. the knowledge of sinne is by the law , but that which heales vs , is the tidings of remission in iesus christ. 5. in the persons , to whom they belong : the law is for the vnrighteous , 1. tim. 1.9 . knowing this , that the law is not giuen vnto a righteous man , but vnto the lawlesse and disobedient , to the vngodly , and to the sinners , to the vnholy , and to the prophane , &c. but the gospell belongs to the poore and penitent , luke 4. 18. the spirit of the lord is vpon mee , because hee hath anointed mee , that i should preach the gospell to the poore ; he hath sent me , that i should heale the broken heart , that i should preach deliuerance to the captiues , and recouering of sight to the blind , that i should set at liberty them , that are bruised , &c. the vses may be . first , for consolation vnto all the godly , and this comfort in their mediatour , and the new couenant in him may be the more distinctly formed in vs , if we consider : 1. the priuiledges and benefits wee reape by this new couenant . 2. the properties of the couenant . 3. the persons , to whom it may belong . for the first , by meanes of the mediatour in this new couenant , we receiue many admirable prerogatiues and blessings , as 1. the abrogation of the old couenant , heb. 8.13 . in that hee saith a new testament , he hath abrogated the old : now that which is disanulled , and waxed old , is ready to vanish away . so as now we are not vnder the law , but vnder grace , rom. 6.14 . for sinne shall not haue dominion ouer you : for ye are not vnder the law , but vnder grace , &c. 2. communion of saints from all parts of the world : men of all nations comming in vpon this new agreement , isaiah 49.6.11 . and he said , it is a small thing , that thou shouldest be my seruant , to raise vp the tribes of iacob , and to restore the desolations of israel : i will also giue thee for a light of the gentiles , that thou maist bee my saluation vnto the ends of the world . matth. 8.11 . but i say vnto you , that many shall come from the east and west , and shall sit downe with abraham , isaack and iacob in the kingdome of heauen , &c. 3. reconciliation with god , and the pardon of all sins , 2. cor. 5.19 . for god was in christ , and reconciled the world to himselfe , not imputing their sinnes vnto them . ier. 31.33.34 . but this shall bee the couenant , that i will make with the house of israel , after those daies , saith the lord , i will be their god , and they shall be my people . and i will forgiue their iniquitie , and will remember their sins no more . heb. 9.15 . and for this cause is he the mediator of the new testament , that through death , which was for the redemption of the transgressions , that were in the former testament , &c. the mediatour paying all our debts . 4. a righteousnesse answerable to that of the law wrought for vs , and imputed to vs , rom. 8.4 . that the righteousnesse of the law might be fulfilled in vs , which walke not after the flesh , but after the spirit . 5. the inhabitation of the spirit of god taking possession of vs vnto gods vse for euer , isai. 59.21 . and i will make this my couenant with them , saith the lord ; my spirit that is vpon thee , and my words which i haue put in thy mouth , shall not depart out of thy mouth , nor out of the mouth of thy seede , saith the lord , euen from henceforth for euer . 6. the law of god put into our hearts from the least to the greatest , ier. 31.33 . but this shall be the couenant that i wil make with the house of israel : after those daies , saith the lord , i will put my law in their inward parts , & write it in their hearts , &c. 7. a couenant with all creatures , who must be at peace with vs , and seruiceable to vs , hosea 2.18.21.22 . and in that day will i make a couenant for them with the wilde beasts , and with the foules of the heauen , and with that , that creepeth vpon the earth : and i will breake the bow , and the sword , and the battell out of the earth , and i will make them to sleepe safely . and in that day i will heare , saith the lord , i will euen heare the heauens , and they shall heare the earth . and the earth shall heare the corne , and the wine , and the oile , and they shall heare israel . 8. gods sanctuary in the midst of vs , and his presence with vs for euer , ezech. 37.26.27.28 . moreouer , i will make a couenant with them of peace : it shall be an euerlasting couenant with them , and will set my sanctuarie amongst them for euermore . my tabernacle also shall bee with them , yea i will be their god , and they shall be my people . 9. the promise of an eternall inheritance , heb. 9.15 . and for this cause is he the mediatour of the new testament , that through death , which was for the redemption of the transgressions that were in the former testament , they which were called , might receiue the promise of eternall inheritance , &c. the second part of the consolation may be raised from the consideration of the properties of the couenant , which are that it is free , and god stands not vpon desert in vs , isai. 55.1.2.4 . he , euery one that thirsteth , come yee to the waters ; and yee that haue no siluer , come buy , and eate : come , i say , buy wine , and milk without siluer , and without mony . wherefore doe you lay out siluer , and not for bread ? and your labour without being satisfied ? hearken diligently vnto me , and eate that which is good , and let your soule delight in fatnesse . behold , i gaue him for a witnesse to the people , for a prince and a master vnto the people , &c. that it is vnchangeable and eternall , isaiah 54.10 . for the mountaines shall remoue , and the hilles shall fall downe ; but my mercy shall not depart from thee , neither shall the couenant of my peace fall away , saith the lord , that hath compassion on thee . and we may the rather be assured of this , if we consider : 1. the nature of god : mercy pleaseth him , and he is so desirous of reconciliation , that hee beseecheth men to be reconciled , 2. cor. 5.19.20 . hosea 2.19 . 2. the propitiation in christ god hath proclaimed it from heauen , that in him hee is well pleased , and fully pacified , mat. 3.17 . &c. and christ is giuen for a couenant of the people , isai. 49.8 . 3. that there is an act for it in the counsell of god from euerlasting , 1. cor. 2.7 . 4. that god hath sworne to keepe this couenant , heb. 6.18 . and 7.19.20.21.22 . isai. 42.6.7 . 5. that it is confirmed by the death of the restator , heb. 9.16 . matth. 26.27 . 6. because he euer liueth to make request for vs at the right hand of god , and is able perfectly to saue those that come vnto him , heb. 7.25 . & 13.8 . 7. because the law cannot disanull it , gal. 3.17 . 8. that we haue sacraments to confirme it , and seale to it : and if wee can bee perswaded , that the flood shall come no more , when we see the rainbow ; how much more should the glorious sacraments of the new couenant , settle vs in the assurance of the vnchangeablenesse of gods good will towards vs ? 9. that the couenant is kept , not only in the word , which cannot be blotted , but also wee haue the keeping of it in our owne hearts , rom. 10.4.5 . 10. that god is now long since knowne to the church by the name of iehouah , which notes both his constancy and al sufficiencie , exod. 6.3 . this is comfortable if we consider the persons , that may be capable of the priuiledges of this new couenant . god stands not vpon desert , esay 55.1 . the stranger and the eunuches may be as well accepted here , as the sonnes and daughters , if their hearts bee sincere with god , esay 56.4.6 . the abiect gentiles are not excluded , esay 49.7 . what should i say , the whole world is inuited , and worlds of people may bee reconciled to god , 2. cor. 5.19 . and as this is comfortable at all times , so there is comfort to be gathered out of it in speciall distresses , as 1. in the case of sinne . 2. in the case of affliction . 3. in the case of death . for the first , in the case of sin after calling , it is a memorable place , 1. iohn 2.1 . my babes these things write i vnto you , that ye sinne not : and if any man sinne , we haue an aduocate with the father , iesus christ the righteous . for the second : in the case of affliction , there are many scriptures that haue recourse to this doctrine for cōfort . if the godly bee grieued and oppressed , and come vnto god , and humble thēselues , the lord wil remember this couenant , and heare them : as exod. 2.2.4.5 . and exod. 6. 4.5.6 . leuit. 26.41.42 . &c. the godly know in all afflictions , whom they haue trusted , and ought to beleeue , that hee will keepe that , which by couenant is committed to him , 2. tim. 1. 12. christ hath commission from god by vertue of this couenant to say to the prisoners , go forth , and to them that are in darknes , shew your selues , esa. 49.9.10 . for a small moment god may forsake , but with great mercy will hee gather vs : in a little wrath he may hide his face , but in euerlasting kindnesse will hee haue mercy on vs : for this is as the waters of noah , &c. the mountaines may depart ; but his kindnesse , and the couenant of his peace shall not depart , nor be remoued , saith the lord , that hath mercy on vs , esa. 54. from the 7. to 11. for the third , in the case of death , it is a knowne instance of iob , how he comforted himselfe in his redeemer , in the middest of all his wonderfull distresses , that seemed to threaten his death ( as it were ) euery moment , iob 19.25 . for i know that my redeemer liueth , and he shall stand the last on the earth . thus of the vses for consolation : the instructions follow , and may be cast into two sorts . for this doctrine of the new couenant in the mediator may teach vs ; 1. both what to auoid ; 2. and what to doe . the consideration of these principles should teach vs to shun two things : 1. the conceit of merit of our owne workes , and all boasting of any worthinesse in our selues . for this were to make the promise of none effect , and the grace of this new couenant void : it were to stand to the old couenant , rom. 4.14 . for if they which are of the law be heires , faith is made void , and the promise is made of none effect . rom. 3.27 . where is then thy reioycing ? it is excluded : by what law ? of workes : nay , but by the law of faith . rom. 10.4 . for christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse vnto euery one that beleeueth , &c. 2. the forgetfulnesse of god ; whatsoeuer befall vs , we should not forget god , nor deale wickedly in his couenant , psal. 44.17 . all this is come vpon vs , yet doe we not forget thee , neither deale wee falsly concerning thy couenant . the duties we should do , may be referred to two sorts : for either , 1. they are such as fit vs for this new couenant ; 2. or such as we should doe to walke worthy of it . if we would haue any comfort by the mediator , and this new agreement with god. 1. we must turne from our transgressions , else wee haue no redeemer , esa. 59.20 . and the redeemer shall come vnto sion , and vnto them that turne from iniquities in iacob , saith the lord. we must bee new creatures , al things in vs must now be new , our old things must bee passed , and giuen ouer , 2. cor. 5.17.18.19 . &c. going and weeping we should goe , and aske for the way , ierem. 50.4 . secondly , wee must come to christ being wearie , and laden , and receiue him , and lay hold vpon him by faith . this new agreement is chiefly published for the obedience of faith , rom. 16.26 . rom. 3.25 . that wee may walke worthy of this couenant , we must looke to diuers things . first , we should inflame our hearts to the loue of the lord iesus , & be ready to acknowledge his wonderfull loue to vs , that dedicated this testament with his blood , heb. 9.16 . esa. 59.16 . &c. god should bee our portion for euer , psalm . 73.26 . my flesh faileth , and my heart also : but god is the strength of my heart , and my portion for euer . what now should bee our hope ? our hope should euen be in god , psal. 39.7 . and now lord what waite i for , my hope is euen in thee ? we should for all other things of this life confesse our selues to bee strangers , and pilgrims , and imbrace onely these new promises of a better happinesse , heb. 11.13 . we should neuer be ashamed of the testimony of the lord , nor of this doctrine of the mediator , for all the papists in the world ; but partake willingly of all the afflictions may befall vs for this glad tidings in the gospell , 2. tim. 1.8 . to the 13. but rather glory in our singular riches , which is christ in vs , colos. 1.27 . we should striue to liue like such as are now againe confederates of god , and as may become the singular prerogatiues of our new estate . this is briefly comprehended in those few words , walke before god and be vpright , genes . 17.1 . esa. 59. 17.18.19 . wee should bee in a speciall manner carefull , that the salt of the couenant of god bee not lacking , leuit. 2.13 . this is the salt of discretion , and of mortification ▪ gods confederats should bee a wise and humble people , mark. 9.50 . if euer wee fall into distresse , we must runne to god , and vrge him with his couenant , and deprecate his displeasure , ier. 14. 21. doe not abhorre vs for thy names sake , cast not downe the throne of thy glory . remember and breake not thy couenant with vs. wee should for euer cleaue vnto god with full purpose of heart in a perpetuall couenant neuer to be forgotten , ier. 50.5 . we should learne of god how to carry our selues in all agreements and couenants with men . we should be easie to be reconciled , and keepe our promises , though made with disaduantage . ministers also may learne from these principles , how to diuide the word . the law is to be preached to the vnrighteous , and this new couenant of promise in christ to the penitent and humbled soule , 1. tim. 1.9 . luk. 4.18 . the last vse may be for terrour vnto all wicked men that liue in the church , and securely sinne on without regard of reconciliation , or seeking the benefits of this new couenant . who can expresse their misery , which receiues aggrauation from their neglect of this grace offered . these are children of the bond-woman , galath . 4.24 . vpon these god will fearfully auenge the quarrell of his couenant , leuit. 26.25 . esa. 24.5 . ier. 34.18 . ezech . 20.36.37 . though they cry vnto god , he will not know them , hos. 8.1.2.3 . their couenant with death and hell shall be dissolued , esa. 28.15.18 . for they are all vnder the curse , galath . 3.10 . yea if the lord proceed to take his staffe , euen beauty , & cut it asunder , and dissolue euen his publike couenant he hath made with the nations ; oh how then beyond all hope of cure would bee their miserable condition ! or if he doe not doe that , yet if he remoue their candlesticke , by taking the meanes from them , how will these people ( whole congregations , that forget god ) be turned into hell , and all the multitudes of them ! chap. xviii . of the propheticall office of christ. hitherto concerning the principles , that looke vpon the office of christ in the whole . the principles that concerne the parts of his office follow . first , there are three sorts or parts of the offices of christ. 1. his propheticall office . 2. his priestly office . 3. his regall office . this diuision may be proued two waies : by the degrees of mans misery : there are three degrees of mans misery . 1. ignorance of the euill into which he is plunged , and of the good he wants . 2. ataxy or disorder in all parts of his heart and life . 3. guiltinesse arising hereby : now in the offices of christ is a threefold remedy . 1. his prophesie heales ignorance . 2. his kingdome takes away disorder . 3. his priesthood abolisheth guiltinesse . by the parts of the typicall annointing in the old testament . for by oyle there was a threefold inauguration : 1. of prophets : 2. of priests : 3. of kings , which shadowed out by externall oyle the anointing of christ. first , of the propheticall office of christ : where , 1. what it is . 2. the parts of it . 3. the maner of executing of it . 1. the prophesie or propheticall offices of christ is that worke of his , by which hee instructs his church concerning the will of god , especially his secret counsell about redeeming mankind . 2. the parts are two : first , the externall promulgation of doctrine . secondly , the internal illumination of the heart , or the making of doctrine effectuall by the spirit , renewing and inclining the mind and will of man. the externall promulgation of doctrine hath three things in it : 1. the preaching of the gospell , or the doctrine concerning gods grace or redemption in christ , esa. 61.1 . 2. the interpretation of the law according to the minde of the law-giuer , matth. 5.17 . &c. 3. prediction of things to come . the manner of execution of this office was 1. mediately by patriarches and prophets in the old testament : and by apostles and ministers of the gospell in the new testament . 2. immediatly , and that either by his diuine nature , or by both natures : by his diuine nature he instructed the patriarches and prophets in the old testament , by visions , oracles , and dreames . by both natures , by word of mouth in the new testament hee himself taught amongst men , 1. pet. 3.19 . and 1. ioh. 1.5 . the principles concerning the propheticall office of christ are . 1. that in christ are all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge , colos. 2.3 . in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge . 2. that it is christ onely , that reueales the truth out of the bosome of his father , mat. 11.27 . all things are giuen vnto mee of my father , and no man knoweth the sonne but the father : neither knoweth any man the father but the sonne , and he to whom the son will reueale him . ioh. 1.18 . no man hath seene god at any time , the onely begotten sonne which is in the bosome of the father , he hath reuealed him . ioh. 6.68 . then simon peter answered him , master , to whom shall we goe , thou hast the words of eternall life . 3. that christ hath himselfe taught doctrine amongst men , hebr. 1.2 . in these last dayes he hath spoken vnto vs by his sonne . esa. 61.1 . the spirit of the lord god is vpon me , therefore hath the lord annointed me ; hee hath sent me to preach good tidings vnto the poor , to bind vp the broken-hearted , to preach liberty to the captiues , and to them that are bound , the opening of the prison , &c. 4. that he hath reuealed the whole counsell of god , ioh. 15.15 . for all things that i haue heard of my father , haue i made knowne vnto you . ioh. 17.8 . for i haue giuen vnto them the words which thou gauest me , and they haue receiued them , and haue knowne surely that i came out from thee , &c. deut. 18.18 . i will raise them vp a prophet from among their brethren like vnto thee ; and will put my words into his mouth , and hee shall speake vnto them al that i shall command him . 5. that the ministery in the church is by authoritie from christ , matth. 23.34 . wherefore behold , i send vnto you prophets , and wisemen , and scribes . ephes. 4.11 . he therefore gaue some to bee apostles , and some prophets , and some euangelists , and some pastors and teachers ▪ &c. 2. cor. 5.20 . now then are wee embassadours for christ , as though god did beseech yee through vs , wee pray you in christs stead , that yee bee reconciled to god , &c. 6. that the whole efficacy of doctrine either recorded in scriptures , or thence taught vnto mē , depends vpon christ , 2. pet. 1.20.21 . so that ye first know his , that no prophesie in the scripture is of any priuat motion : for the prophesie came not in old time by the wit of man : but holy men of god spake as they were moued by the holy ghost . 1. cor. 3.6 . i haue planted , apollos watred , but god gaue the increase . 7. that the prophesie of christ belongs generally vnto all nations , isaiah 49.6 . and he said , it is a small thing , that thou shouldst be my seruant to raise vp the tribes of iacob , & to restore the desolations of israel . i will also giue thee for a light of the gentiles , that thou maiest be my saluation vnto the ende of the world ; though especially christ was sent vnto the lost sheep of israel , mat. 15.24 . but he answered , and said , i am not sent but vnto the lost sheepe of israel . zach. 9.10 . he shall speake peace vnto the heathen , and his dominion shall bee from sea vnto sea , and from the riuer vnto the end of the land. these principles may serue : for information , and that in diuers things : 1. first , we may hereby vnderstand the reason , why christ is called the messenger , the angel of the couenant , the word , wisdome ; the minister of circumcision ; pastor , doctor , arch-bishop ; the apostle of our profession , &c. namely , because of his prophetship , and ministery in reuealing gods will to the church . 2. we may here take notice of the dignity of the ministry ; we al serue vnder christ , and haue our commissions signed , and sealed by him . christ himselfe was a minister of circumcision , rom. 15.8 . and anointed to preach the gospell , isai. 61.1 . and he worketh mighty things by the seruice of men , and that the calling might bee the more honourable , he would not write scripture himselfe , nor continue his preaching , but left both to his seruants ( so the head did dictate and the members did write it ) . wherefore let men esteeme vs , as the dispensers of the secrets of christ , 1. cor. 4.1.2 . and be perswaded by vs , 2. cor. 5.20 . 3. thirdly , we must here know , that we must depend vpon christ onely for doctrine needful to saluation . there is but one law giuer : away with traditions and reuelations of mens owne hearts ; if an angell from heauen would teach vs otherwise , let him be accursed , gal. 1.8 . iam. 4.12 . will any man teach god ? iob 21.22 . 4. we may here see the horrible estate of such , as will be still ignorant and liue in their sinnes , hauing the scriptures , and preaching in the name , and by the authoritie of christ. iohn 1.10 . ioh. 3.19 . christ in these crieth , but men regard not , prou. 1.20 . &c. 5. wee must take heed that we mistake not , and that in two things . 1. first , about the difference of christ , and all others in teaching . 2. about the continuance of this propheticall office : christ teaching in his owne person did excell all other , so as wee might truly say , who teacheth like him ? iob. 36.22 . 1. for first he taught with more authoritie , matth. 7.29 . for hee taught them , as one hauing authority , and not as the scribes . 2. he teacheth by his spirit not by sound of words onely , or by inke and paper . 3. he graueth his words not in stone , but in the fleshly tables of mens hearts , 2. cor. 3.3 . &c. and for the continuance of prophecy , wee must know , that it lasts but for this life : for in the other world prophecie shall cease , 1. cor. 13.8 . loue doth neuer fall away , though that prophesyings be abolished , or the tongues cease , or knowledge vanisheth away . for instruction , and so these principles may teach , first , all in generall , and so diuers duties : 1. first , with all carefulnes therefore to heare the voice of christ , mat. 17.5 . behold , there came a voice out of the cloud , saying , this is my beloued sonne , in whom i am well pleased : heare him . 2. in all wants to run vnto christ , and pray that he would teach vs , psal. 25.5 . leade mee forth in thy truth , and teach me : for thou art the god of my saluation : in thee doe i trust all the day , &c. psalm . 143.10 . teach me to doe thy will , for thou art my god , let thy good spirit leade mee into the land of righteousnesse . 3. but then , if wee would euer profit by christs teaching , we must be poore in spirit , broken in hart , & mourne for our sinnes , isaiah 60.1 . &c. malach. 3. from the 1. to the 7. and make conscience to leaue all sinne , and bee renewed throughout , eph. 4.17 . to 23. 4. to loue the house of god , where the son of god exerciseth his prophecying , psalm . 84.4.10 . blessed are they that dwell in thine house , they will euer praise thee : for a day in thy courts is better , then a thousand other where ; i had rather be a doore-keeper in the house of my god , then to dwell in the tabernacles of wickednes , mat. 12.42 . we should long for it , and call vpon one another , isaiah 2.3 . 5. to cleaue to the counsels , reproofes , doctrines , and exhortations of christ in the execution of his office , ioh. 6.68 . and to receiue the truth with al ful assurance , heb. 3.6 . 2. pet. 1.19 . 6. not to be too busie one against another in doubtfull , or indifferent things , iam. 4.11.12 . there is one law-giuer , which is able to saue and destroy ; who art thou that iudgest another man ? secondly , hence ministers may learne diuers things : 1. not to affect the praise of men for the greatnesse of their gifts , or glory of their work . they must not be called rabbi , seeing one is their doctor , euen christ , and they haue nothing , but what they haue receiued from him , matth. 23.8 . but rather learne of iohn baptist , iohn 3.30.31 . who said , he must increase , but i must decrease . 2. when they discharge their duties ; not to be affraid of men , or to bee ouermuch carefull in their trouble , what to speake or doe . they should settle this in their hearts : for christ will giue them a mouth and wisdom , which all their aduersaries shall not be able to gainsay , or resist ; one haire of their head shall not perish , and therefore in patience they should possesse their soules , luke 21.14 . to the 20. 3. to be diligent in the execution of their office , seeing they must make vp their accounts to christ , whose embassadours they are , and they should speak as the words of christ , and not their owne words , rom. 12.6.7.8 . thirdly , here is singular consolation to al the godly from the propheticall office of christ , and that if we consider three things : 1. what christ will teach vs. 2. how he will teach vs. 3. whom he will teach . for the first , it may bee an exceeding comfort that god hath giuen vs his sonne to bee our prophet : for thereby we may bee assured , that he will be our counsellor in all estates , isaiah 9.6 . hee will teach vs to profit , isaiah 33.22 . and when wee are deiected and broken in heart , and mourne for our corruptions , hee doth acknowledge it to be a part of his office to apply the gospell to vs , and to proclaime the acceptable yeere of the lord , and to poure vpon vs the oile of gladnesse for the spirit of heauines . for the second : christs teaching is wonderfull comfortable : for the scripture shewes , that he will teach vs 1. freely : he will giue vs our teaching , hee stands not vpon hire , iohn 17.8 . for i haue giuen vnto them the words , which thou gauest me , &c. 2. powerfully and effectually , so as if our harts were dead within vs , yet he will reuiue them ; the dead shall heare his voice , iohn 5.25 . 3. familiarly , and with great delight , as a mother would instruct her childe at home in a chamber , canticles 8.2 . 4. fully : keeping from vs nothing , that may bee needfull for vs , hee will teach vs all things , iohn 15.15 . hence forth call i you not seruants : for the seruant knoweth not , what his master doth , but i haue called you friends : for all things that i haue heard of my father , haue i made knowne vnto you ? col. 2.3 . in whō are hid al the treasures of wisdom , and knowledge , &c. 5. gloriously , and with a maruelous shining light of knowledge ; that may rauish our harts , and much affect vs , 2. cor. 4.6 . for god , that commanded the light to shine out of darkenesse , is he which hath shined in our hearts , to giue the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of iesus christ. 2. cor. 3.18 . but we all behold as in a mirrour , the glory of the lord with open face , and are changed into the same image from glory to glory , as by the spirit of the lord. 6. confidently : hee will so teach vs the truth , as hee will bee ready to iustifie it , as a neuer failing faithfull , and true witnesse , reuel . 3.14 . and vnto the angell of the church of the laodiceans write , these things saith amen the faithfull , and true witnesse , the beginning of the creatures of god. isaiah 55.4 . behold , i gaue him for a witnesse to the people , for a prince , and a master vnto the people , &c. 7. inwardly , as well as outwardly : to this end hee hath giuen vs the anointing , euen his spirit in our hearts to teach vs all things , 1. iohn 2.27 . but the anointing which ye receiued of him dwelleth in you , and ye need not that any man teach you : but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things , and it is true , and is not lying , and as it taught you , ye shall abide in him . 8. compassionately with singular tendernesse , fitting himself to euery ones nature and ability , iohn 10.11 . i am the good shepheard ; the good shepheard giueth his life for his sheepe . ezech. 34.23 . and i will set vp a shepheard ouer them , and hee shall feede them , euen my seruant dauid , he shall feede them , and hee shall bee their shepheard , &c. isaiah 40.11 . he shall feede his flocke like a shepheard , he shall gather the lambes with his arme , and carry them in his bosome , and shall guide them with young , &c. for the third : it is exceeding comfortable , that he will teach al that come vnto him , euen al that are giuen to him of god , all the godly , of what sex , condition , or nation soeuer ; they shal be al taught of god , from the least to the greatest : a b c daries , as well as they of higher formes , isaiah 54.13 . and all thy children shall be taught of the lord , and much peace shall be to thy children . ier. 31.34 . and they shall teach no more euerie man his neighbour , and euery man his brother , saying , know the lord : for they shall all know me from the least of them vnto the greatest of them , saith the lord. and therefore let vs obserue these things , and acknowledge this goodnesse , and receiue his testimony : for thereby we seale , that god is true , iohn 3.33 . hee that hath receiued his testimony , hath sealed , that god is true , &c. thus much of his propheticall office . chap. xix . of the priestly office of christ. the priestly office of christ follows , which is that part of his function , whereby he maketh satisfaction vnto god for men . this office in the execution of it hath in it three things ; or there be three things christ must doe , as the priest of the church : 1. he must obey the law of god perfectly . 2. hee must make expiation for our sinnes by sacrificing to god. 3. he must make intercession for vs. first , of the principles that concerne his obedience ; there are foure things wee are bound to beleeue concerning the obedience of christ : 1. first , that he was without sin in his nature , ioh. 8.46 . which of you can rebuke me of sinne ? 2. cor. 5.21 . for he hath made him to be sinne for vs , which knew no sinne . 1. pet. 1.19 . but with the precious blood of christ , as of a lambe vndefiled and without spot . 1. pet. 2.22.23 . who did no sin , neither was there guile found in his mouth , &c. heb. 4.15 . for we haue not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities , but was in all things tempted in like sort , yet without sinne , &c. 2. secondly , that he fulfilled the whole law of god perfectly in all his actions : hence called the holy one , and the holy child iesus , act. 2.27 . because thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell , neither wilt suffer thine holy one to see corruption . act. 13.35 . act. 3.14 . but ye denied the holy one , and the iust . act. 4.27 . for doubtlesse against thine holy sonne iesus , whom thou hast annointed , &c. 30. so that thou stretch forth thine hand , that healing , and signes , and wonders may bee done by the name of thine holy sonne iesus . 1. ioh. 2.20 . but yee haue an oyntment from him that is holy , and ye haue knowne all things . thirdly , that hee fulfilled the law , not onely for himselfe , but for vs , & for our sakes , rom. 8.3.4 . for ( that that was impossible to the law , in as much as it was weak because of the flesh ) god sending his owne sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh , and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh , &c. that the righteousnesse of the law might be fulfilled in vs , which walke not after the flesh , but after the spirit . rom. 10.4 . for christ is the end of the law , for righteousnes vnto euery one that beleeueth . rom. 5.18 . likewise then , as by the offence of one , the fault came on all men to condemnation , so by the iustifying of one , the benefit abounded toward all men to the iustification of life , that this righteousnesse of his is an euerlasting righteousnes , that is , such a righteousnesse as serues for the elect of all ages , and such a righteousnesse as cannot be lost , dan. 9.24 . seuenty weekes are determined vpon thy people , and vpon thine holy city to finish the wickednesse , and to seale vp the sinnes , and to reconcile the iniquity , and to bring in euerlasting righteousnesse . the vses may be , for consolation : for hereby all the faithfull may be assured , that though they bee very vnrighteous in themselues , yet they are made the righteousnesse of god in him , ierem. 23.6 . in his dayes iuda shall be saued , and israel shall dwell safely ; and this is the name whereby they shall call him , the lord our righteousnesse . 2. cor. 5.21 . for he hath made him to be sinne for vs , which knew no sinne , that we should be made the righteousnesse of god in him . hee is the end of the law to euery one that beleeueth : wee haue as certaine iustification to life by his obedience , as euer we were subiect to death by adams disobedience , rom. 5.19 . for as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners ; so by the obedience of one shall many also be made righteous . and if his righteousnesse bee ours , how rich are we ? and how ought our hearts to bee established in his well doing ? &c. secondly for instruction : and so it should worke in vs two things : 1. first , an establishment of faith in our reconciliation , and a willing yeelding of our selues to acknowledge this free gift of god in his sonne , 2. cor. 5.21 . rom. 10.4 . 2. secondly an imitation of his maruellous holinesse : a striuing to expresse his vertues , that we may be holy as he is holy ; for he communicates the benefit of his obedience onely to such as liue iustly , and walke not after the flesh , but after the spirit , rom. 8.4 . that the righteousnes of the law might bee fulfilled in vs , which walke not after the flesh , but after the spirit . 1. pet. 2.9 . but yee are a chosen generation , a royall priesthood , an holy nation , a peculiar people , that ye should shew forth the vertues of him , that hath called you out of darknes into his maruellous light , &c. matth. 11.29 . take my yoke on you , and learne of mee , that i am meeke , and lowly in heart , and yee shall finde rest vnto your soules , &c. 2. cor. 5.17 . therefore if any man be in christ , let him be a new creature , &c. thirdly , for humiliation to all stubborne-hearted wicked men , that deny this holy one , partly by their vnbeleefe , when they regard not his words , whom they can conuince of no sinne , ioh. 8.46 . which of you can rebuke me of sinne ? and if i say the truth , why doe you not beleeue me ? and partly by wicked life , keeping out all conformity with christ ; as also by chusing rather to liue in wicked company , then to cleaue to christ : is not this to denie the holy one , and to chuse a murtherer to bee giuen them ? act. 3.14 . what communion betweene christ and belial ? betweene his righteousnesse , and such vnrighteousnesse ? thus much of his obedience to the law . chap. xx. of the expiation of sinne . the principles that concerne the expiation of sin follow . this expiation was made by the passion of christ , concerning which wee must belieue these things of necessity : 1. that the passion of christ was by the decree & euerlasting fore-appointmēt of god , act. 2.23 . him , i say , haue ye taken by the hands of the wicked , being deliuered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of god , &c. 2. that the sufferings of christ were for our sinnes , and for our sakes , so as he bare all our iniquities . 1. pet. 2.24 . who his owne self bare our sinnes in his body on the tree , that wee being deliuered from sinne , should liue in righteousnesse , by whose stripes ye were healed , &c. isaiah 53.5 . but he was wounded for our transgressions , he was broken for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was vpon him , and with his stripes we are healed . 8. for the transgression of my people was he plagued , &c. 12. therefore will i giue him a portion with the great , and hee shall diuide the spoile with the strong , because hee hath poured out his soule vnto death : and hee was ●ounted with the transgressors , and hee bare the sinne of many , and prayed for the trespassers . rom. 4.25 . who was deliuered to death for our sinnes , and is risen againe for our iustification . 1. cor. 5.7 . for christ our passouer is sacrificed for vs. 3. that by his passion he did pacifie god , and make expiation for all our sinnes , mat. 17.5 . this is my beloued sonne , in whom i am well pleased , beare him . ephes. 5.2 . and walke in loue , euen as christ hath loued vs , and hath giuen himselfe for vs to bee an offering , and a sacrifice of a sweet smelling sauour vnto god. 1. ioh. 2.1 . my babes , these things write i vnto you , that ye sinne not : and if any man sinne , we haue an aduocate with the father , iesus christ the iust , and he is the reconciliation for our sinnes . 4. that in his owne person he fulfilled and finished all sufferings , needefull for our saluation : he did it once for all , 1. pet. 3.18 . for christ also hath once suffered for sins , the iust for the vniust , that he might bring vs to god. heb. 9.28 . so christ was once offered to take away the sins of many , and vnto them that looke for him shal be appeare the second time without sinne vnto saluation . heb. 10.11.12 . and euery priest appeareth daily ministring , and oft times offereth one manner of offering , which can neuer take away sinnes . but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sinnes , sitteth for euer at the right hand of god ? 5. that the passion of christ is a sufficient price for the sinnes of the whole world , ioh. 1.29 . behold the lambe of god which taketh away the sinnes of the world . 6. that christ suffered extreame things for vs , euen the most grieuous things could bee imagined : as 1. a maruellous priuation of his owne glory , abasing himselfe , that was in the form of god , to liue amongst men , without shewing that fulnesse of maiesty and glory which was in his nature , ioh. 17.5 . and now glorifie me , thou father , with thine owne selfe , with the glory which i had with thee before the world was . 2. most base entertainement in the world , such as extreame pouerty in his birth and life , luk. 2.12 . and this shall bee a signe to you , yee shall finde the child swadled and laid in a cratch . matth. 8.20 . but iesus said vnto him , the foxes haue holes , and the birds of the heauens haue nests , but the sonne of man hath not whereon to rest his head . exile , and flying before his enemies , matth. 2.14 . so hee arose , and tooke the babe and his mother by night , and departed into egypt . mark. ● . 6.7 . and the pharisies departed , and straight way gathered a councell with the herodians against him , that they might destroy him . but iesus auoided with his disciples to the sea , &c. ioh. 11.54 . iesus therefore walked no more openly amongst the iewes , but went thence , &c. ioh. 8.59 . then tooke they vp stones to cast at him , but iesus hid himselfe and went out of the temple . slanders and extreame indignities , called a samaritan , a glutton , a seducer , a traitor ; despised , mocked , buffeted , railed on , beaten , betrayed , and sold by his owne seruant , and that for a base price , forsaken of his owne disciples , denied , and renounced by oath , falsly accused , whipped , spit vpon , taken and bound as a malefactor , &c. as the story of the euangelists shew , &c. 3. imputation of the sins of all the elect vnto him ; so as the guilt of them was laid vpon him , and hee sustained their person . this is a wonderfull abasement , hee was made sinne for vs , that knew no sinne in himselfe , 2. cor. 5.21 . 4. fearfull agonies in his very soule , arising 1. first , from seuerall conflicts and tentations , hebr. 2.18 . heb. 4.15 . but especially set vpon with all their furie inuisibly when he was on the crosse , colos. 2.15 . and hath spoyled the principalities and powers , and hath made a shew of them openly , & hath triumphed ouer them in the same crosse. 2. secondly , from the pouring out of the vials of gods wrath for sinne , which befell him chiefly in the garden , when hee swet blood for very anguish ; & on the crosse when hee cried , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? 5. a most miserable manner of death : to die as a condemned man , and condemned too both by iewes and gentiles : to die such a cursed death , as the death of the crosse , which was both by god and man designed out , as the most ignominious kind of death ; and to bee put to death in the middest of such malefactors , being reckoned amongst sinners , esa. 53.12 . therefore will i giue him a portion with the great , and hee shall diuide the spoyle with the strong ; because hee hath poured out his soule vnto death , and hee was counted with the transgressors , and hee bare the sinne of many , and prayed for the trespassers . and to suffer the nailing of his body , yea and the effusion of his most precious blood . these are exquisite things . the consideration whereof may serue both for 1. instruction , 2. for information , 3. and for consolation . for instruction , and so it may teach vs diuers duties which we should performe . 1. to christ himselfe . 2. to our neighbours . 3. to our selues . the meditation of the passion of christ should inflame in vs a desire and resolution : 1. to acknowledge the maruellous mercies of our sauiour , and to confesse his praises , and to adore his name , that could bee willing to suffer such things for vs , phil. 2.11 . euery tongue should confesse , that iesus christ is the lord , vnto the glory of god the father . esa. 63.1.2.7.8 . who is this that commeth from edom with red garments from bozra , he is glorious in his apparel , and walketh in his great strength , &c. i will remember the mercies of the lord , and the praises of the lord , according vnto all the lord hath giuen vs , and for the great goodnesse toward the house of israel , which he hath giuen them according to his tender loue , and according to his great mercies . 2. to mourne affectionately for our sinnes , that haue so pierced the sonne of god , as we are taught , zach. 12.12 . they are the nailes that pierced , and the lance that let out his heart-blood : wouldest thou not bee grieued , if thou haddest killed thine owne brother ? 3. to sinne no more , but for euer to bee afraid of crucifying the sonne of god againe , rom. 6.6 . heb. 10.24 . &c. but rather to liue to him that died for vs , and to deuote both soules and bodies vnto his seruice , 2. cor. 5.15 . he died for all , that they which liue should not henceforth liue vnto themselues , but vnto him which died for them , and rose againe . 1. pet. 2.24 . who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his body on the tree , that wee being deliuered from sinne , should liue in righteousnesse . 4. to loue him with our vtmost affections , and with all the sincerity of our hearts , accounting them accursed , that loue not the lord iesus , 1. cor. 16.22 . eph. 6.23 . 1. pet. 1.9 . shall the father loue christ for his willingnesse to die for his sheepe , and shall not we ? ioh. 10.17.18 . therefore doth my father loue me , because i lay downe my life , &c. 5. to come willingly at the time of the assemblies of his army vnder his colours in holy beauty . when we see the banners of christ crucified , displaied , we should run with all readinesse , professing our homage , and willingnesse to liue and die in his seruice ; the youth of his wombe , that is , such as are begotten of his loines in the gospell , should for multitude flock to the house of god , as thicke as the dew that falles from heauen in the morning ; so thicke , that the concourse of christians should now be like a very mist of dew , psalm . 110.2.3.4 . 6. not to be the seruāts of men ; that is , to bee bound to no mans example , will , lusts , humours , likings , but to be free vnto the seruice of iesus christ onely , who hath paid for vs so deare a price , 1. cor. 7.23 . yee are bought with a price : be not the seruants of men . 7. to suffer any thing for his sake , that hath suffered so great things for vs : so as we could bee willing to forsake father and mother , brother and sister , house and land , and all for his sake , and for the gospell . 8. to celebrate the memorie of his death and passion with all reuerence , honour , and hearty affection : this is that we should do in the receiuing of the sacramēt , which doth crucifie christ before our eies , and shew vs how he was taken , broken , giuen , & slaine for our sakes , shall we not do this in remēbrance of him ? shall we not eate the sweete flesh of this immaculate lambe , with the sower hearbes of contrition , and griefe for our sinnes and vnworthines ? shall wee not at this feast put away all leauen out of our dwellings ? god forbid , wee should dare to eat of this bread , or drink of this cup vnworthily , and so make our selues guilty of the body and blood of christ : rather let vs all examine our selues , and so let vs eate in remembrance of him , iudging our selues , that we be not condemned of the lord. thus of the first sort of duties . secondly , the meditation of christs passion should direct vs , and stirre vs vp to the care of diuers things in our carriage one towards another , and these duties are either generall to all , or speciall to some . there are foure generall duties wee should learne from the passion of christ : 1. the first is harmelesnesse : seeing christ our passeouer is sacrificed for vs , wee should keepe the feast with vnleauened bread of sinceritie and truth , and put away all leauen out of our dwellings ; euen all leauen of malice and naughtinesse , all vile affections one against another , 1. cor. 5.7.8 . 2. the second is humilitie : the same minde should be in vs , that was in christ iesus ; who being equall with god , was content for our sakes to make himselfe of no reputation , taking vpon him the forme of a seruant ; we should in lowlinesse of mind each esteeme others better then themselues , doing nothing through strife or vaine-glory , looking not on our owne things , but euery one also on the things of others , making our selues equall to them of the lower sort , being of one accord , of one minde . if we would learne any thing of christ , we must learne lowlinesse , and meekenesse of him , phil. 2. from the 2. to the 9. matth. 11.29 . 3. the third is loue , and that in the feruency and constancy of it , refusing no paines , nor dangers to shew our affection to the brethren : wee should walke in loue , as christ loued vs , and gaue himselfe a sacrifice of sweet smelling sauour to god for vs , ephes. 5.1.2 . yea , our liues should not be deare to vs to declare our loue to the brethren : but as christ laid down his life for vs , so ought we to lay downe our liues for the brethren , 1. iohn 3.16 . hereby haue we perceiued loue , that he laid downe his life for vs : therefore we ought also to lay downe our liues for the brethren . 4. the fourth is pitie , and that in speciall to such as suffer in soule : if there bee any bowels in vs , the remembrance of the agonie of christ in the garden , and on the crosse , should make vs with more tendernesse of heart pity them , that for the griefe and feare of their hearts cry out , that god their god hath forsakē them . if christ needed an angel to comfort him , what need haue these of comfort ? the maruelous feare & distresse christ was in , sheweth that these kinds of sufferings of spirit , bee the most grieuous distresses . thus in generall . in the fifth to the ephesians , this maruelous loue of christ to the church shewed in his passion , is vsed as a motiue to perswade husbands to loue their wiues , and in all deerenesse of affections to cherish them , and prouide for them ; denying themselues , that they may profit and content them , as christ did , when he gaue himselfe not only to the church , but also for the church , ephes. 5.25 . &c. thus of the duties also to others . thirdly , the meditation of these principles about the passion of christ , should excite vs to the practice and care of diuers duties , that concerne our selues , as 1. first , we should here learne to ioy and glory in the crosse of christ aboue all things . the remembrance of the loue of christ herein , and our wonderfull deliuerance from the vnspeakable dangers we were in , by reason of our sinnes , should breed in vs a maruelous inward and hearty exulting in this expiation of sins by the passion of christ. thus paul ; god forbid i should reioyce in any thing , but the crosse of christ , gal. 6.14 . 2. we should ( while we liue ) haue more care of our pretious soules ; the price paied to ransom them , should teach vs their worthes , and to know that they are things , must bee looked to with more care then ordinarie . there was more giuen to redeeme a soule , then needed to be giuen to buy the whole world , yea , many worlds . we are wont to be exceeding carefull to keepe such things , as cost deere with all circumspection ; neuer any thing cost more then the soule ; and therefore nothing must be so attended as the soule , which is committed to thee to preserue , till the day of christ. 3. thirdly , these extreme things , christ hath suffered for vs , to shew his loue to vs , should make vs for euer trust him , and rely onely vpon him , as the life of our liues , and the breath of our nostrils , so as we should alwaies resolue with the apostle paul , gal. 2.20 . that the life we now liue in the flesh , we will liue by the faith of the sonne of god , who shewed his loue to vs , by giuing himselfe for vs , phil. 1.21 . for christ is to me both in life , and in death aduantage . 4. these terrible agonies and sufferings of christ should make vs liue in feare , and spend the time of our soiourning here in a singular feare to offend god any more by our sinnes ; yea , seeing we were to bee washed in blood , before we could be cleane , wee should bee desirous to get such puritie , as that if it were possible , wee might not haue a spot , or wrinkle of sinne about vs , 1. pet. 1.17.18.19 . passe the time of your dwelling here in feare : knowing that yee were not redeemed with corruptible things , as siluer and gold , from your vaine conuersation receiued by the traditions of the fathers : but with the precious blood of christ , as of a lambe vndefiled , and without spot . ephes. 5.26 . that he might sanctifie it , and clense it by the washing of water through the word . 27. that he might make it to himselfe a glorious church , not hauing spot , or wrinkle , or any such thing : but that it should be holy , and without blame , &c. 5. we may here learne an excellent way , how to mortifie sinne , and destroy the power of any corruption . look how god did with sinne , so should we : but god vsed crucifying , as the best medicine to kill the force and guilt of it , and so should wee . hence it is , that the terme of crucifying is giuen vnto the mortification of sinne : gal. 5.24 . for they that are christs , haue crucified the flesh with the affections , and the lusts , &c. we are therefore counselled to crucifie the flesh accordingly in many places of scripture . now that we may crucifie our sinnes : 1. we must haue them to the crosse of christ , force them before the tree , on which he suffered ; it is such a sight as sinne cannot abide . it will begin to die within a man vpon the sight of christ on the crosse : for the crosse of christ accuseth sin , shames sinne , and by a secret vertue feedes vpon the very heart of sinne . 2. wee must vse sinne , as christ was vsed , when hee was made sin for vs ; wee must lift it vp , and make it naked by confession of it to god ; wee must pierce the hands , and feete , and heart of it by godly sorrow , and application of threatnings against it , and by spirituall reuenge vpon it . the hands , i say , in respect of operation , that it may worke no more . the feet in respect of progression , that it may raigne no longer ; and the heart in respect of affection , that it may be loued no longer : wee haue an inward seate for concupiscence to lodge in . and thus as we should vpon all occasions , so especially in the preparation to the sabbath , and when we are to keep a passeouer to the lord. that was the time chosen to crucifie christ in , and certainely it is a wonderfull fit time for vs to execute this worke of mortification vpon our sins . lastly , this doctrine of the passion of christ should wonderfully arme vs with patience in all afflictions . the captaine of our saluatiō was consecrate through afflictions , heb. 2.10 . for it became him , for whom are all things , and by whom are all things , s●eing that he brought many children vnto glory , that he should consecrate the prince of their saluation through affliction . though he were the son , yet he learned obedience by the things he suffered , heb. 5.8 . for as much as christ hath suffered for vs in the flesh , wee should arme our selues with the same minde , 1. pet. 4.1 . for wee are hereunto called , and christ suffered for vs , leauing vs an example , that wee should follow his steps in doing well , and taking it patiently , when we suffer euill , 1. pet. 2.19.20.21 . &c. afflictions are the markes of christ , and we should glory in it alwaies to beare about in the body the dying of the lord iesus , 2. cor. 4.10 . gal. 6.17 . and god hath predestinated vs , that wee should bee conformed to the image of his sonne in sufferings , rom. 8.29 . and therefore if we will raigne with christ , wee must suffer with him , 2. tim. 2.12 . let vs therefore bee fully perswaded to take vp our crosse also daily , and follow him , luke 9.23 . let vs therefore also go forth to him without the campe bearing his reproch , heb. 13.13 . and with patience run the race that is set before vs ; looking to him , that being the author , and finisher of our faith , endured such contradiction of sinners against himselfe ; endured the crosse , despised the shame , and resisted euen vnto blood , heb. 12.1.2.3.4 . wee should neuer therfore be weary , or faint , hauing such a paterne before vs , and knowing the end god gaue to him , and hath promised to vs , and accomplished in the experience of others of his seruants ; but euen learne to obey god in this commandement about afflictions , as well as any other . thus of the vses for instruction : the vses for information follow . the doctrine of the passion of christ may enforme vs in diuers things , as first , concerning true felicitie in the negatiue consideration of it : for in as much as christ had so little to doe with the world , and spent his daies so without the profits and pleasures of this life , it shewes , that his kingdome was not of this world , and that the best treasures lie not in these things ; and besides , that one may bee truly blessed , and yet be extremely destituted of these outward comforts of life . 2. secondly , concerning the dangerousnes of the doctrine of the papists : for these principles shew vs , that we must for euer separate from them , if they persist in their heresies : for they teach vs , that christ did not once for al fully sacrifice to god , but that the sacrifice must be renewed daily in the masse , contrary to the expresse words of the text , heb. 9.26.28 . for then must he● haue often suffered since the foundation of the world : but now in the end of the world hath he appeared once to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe : so christ was once offered to take away the sinnes of many . heb. 10.11.12 . and euery priest appeareth daily ministring , and oft times offereth one manner of offering , which can neuer take away sinnes : but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sinnes , sitteth for euer at the right hand of god. and besides , they teach , that men may make satisfaction to god for their sins by their owne workes , and by the workes of the saints . 3. thirdly , concerning the most wofull condition of wicked men that liue in their sinnes , they may fully see , how they shall speede with god by this that befell christ. if god spared not his onely begotten sonne , that was but a suretie for sinne , will he spare them that are principals ? would not god find out such a mercy to christ , as to free him from such extremities ; and do they trust to a mercy in god neuer reuealed in the word , neuer shewed to christ ? was not christ able without such wofull tortures to beare the wrath of god ; and doe they thinke to be able to endure those riuers of brimstone , and fier in hell ? 4. concerning a singular and new way of obedience in christ : if wee will needes haue workes of supererogation , let vs acknowledge them onely in christ : for the doctrine of his passion tels vs of an obedience to a commandement of god , that was not in the morall law ; and that was his speciall submission to that singular will of his father , in being that one that should die for the people . to expiate for other mens sinnes , is a speciall kind of righteousnesse , not mentioned in the law. 5. concerning the offence of the crosse , though both iewes and gentiles stumbled at this doctrine at the first ; yet we see there is no reason why wee should bee troubled at the abasements of christ , but rather to reioyce , and wonder at the dreadfull expiation was made to god for vs in them . for thus it behoued him to suffer , as all the prophets from moses haue witnessed , 1. cor. 1.23 . luk. 24.45.46 . thus of the vse for information . the consolations follow . the doctrine of the passion of christ is exceeding comfortable , and that both in generall and particular consolations . it is generally comfortable : 1. first , in respect of the establishment of our hearts , in the assurance that iesus of nazareth was the true messias promised to the fathers . which may appeare , if we consider but the history of his passion , in as much as in him were fulfilled al these signes foretold in the seuerall ages of the old church . the old prophesies were all accomplished in him . the scepter was now departed from iuda , foretold , genes . 49.10 . they diuided his garments , and cast lots vpon his vesture , according to psalm . 22.8 . they pierced his hands and feet . psal. 22.16 . the chiefe builders refused him , according to psal. 118.22 . in his arraignment hee was silent , & opened not his mouth , according to esa. 53.7 . hee was reckoned amongst the wicked in his death , according to esa. 53.12 . they gaue him gall and vineger to drinke , according to psalm . 69.21 . he accomplished the meaning of the sacrifices in shedding his blood , and suffering without the campe heb. 9.14 . heb. 13.11.12 . 2. secondly , if we consider the effects of his passion : for from hence flowes to vs , and euery beleeuer , 1. first the purchase both of our soules and bodies , 1. cor. 6.20 . for ye are bought for a price : therefore glorifie god in your body , and in your spirit : for they are gods. rom. 7.4 . so ye my brethren are dead also to the law by the body of christ , that ye should bee vnto another , euen vnto him , that is raised vp from the dead , that we should bring forth fruit vnto god. 2. the ratification of the eternall couenant , heb. 9.16 . for where a testament is , there must bee the death of him that made the testament , &c. 3. the reconciling of vs to god , rom. 5.10 . for if when wee were enemies , we were reconciled to god by the death of his sonne , much more being reconciled , we shall be saued by his life , 1. pet. 3.18 . for christ also hath once suffered for sinnes : the iust for the vniust , that hee might bring vs to god , &c. 4. the abolishing of sinne , both in respect of the remission of the guilt , 1. ioh. 1.7 . the blood of iesus christ his sonne cleanseth vs from all sinne . matth. 26.28 . for this is my blood of the new testament , that is shead for many for the remission of sinnes . and sanctification against the power of it , rom. 6.6 . knowing this , that our old man is crucified with him , that the body of sinne might be destroyed , that henceforth we should not serue sinne , &c. 5. the swallowing vp of death , 1. cor. 15.54 . so when this corruptible hath put on incorruption , and this mortall hath put on immortality : then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written : death is swallowed vp into victory . vanquishing him that had power of death , freeing vs that were in bondage to the feare , and that of death , hebr. 2.14.15 . for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood , he also himselfe likewise tooke part with them , that he might destroy through death him that had the power of death , that is , the diuell . and that hee might deliuer all them , which for feare of death were all their life time subiect to bondage . 2. tim. 1.10 . but is now made manifest by the appearing of our sauiour iesus christ , who hath abolished death , and hath brought life and immortality vnto light through the gospell , &c. 6. liberty to enter into the most holy place of heauen , by a new and liuing way , hebr. 9.12 . neither by the blood of goats and calues , but by his owne blood entred he in once vnto the holy place , and obtained eternal redemption for vs. hebr. 10.19 . seeing therefore , brethren , that by the blood of iesus we may be bold to enter into the holy place . thirdly , if we consider the order of priesthood , of which he was in offering this sacrifice . he was a priest after the order of melchisedeck , and not after aaron , psalm . 110.4 . the lord sware and will not repent , thou art a priest for euer after the order of melchisedeck . heb. 7. all the chapter . of all the priests that were types of christ , melchisedeck was the most liuely and noblest type , and did most fully shadow out both the person and office of christ : for by melchisedeck three most comfortable things in christ were shadowed out : the first was his dignity : hee was so a priest , as he was a king also , able to feed and nourish the most mighty on earth , as the king of salem did abraham . 2. the second was the efficacy of his priesthood , noted in two admirable benefits flowing from his obedience and passion , viz. righteousnesse and peace : righteousnesse , for hee is the lord our righteousnesse : peace , in that hee fully pacified gods anger for our sinnes , as our attonement , and so he was indeed that king of zedech , that is , of righteousnesse : and of salem , that is , of peace . 3. the third was the eternity of his priesthood ; hee is a priest for euer , he dieth not , as did the sonnes of leui , nor doth the efficacy of his priesthood euer cease . the holy ghost of purpose concealeth the mention of the birth and death of melchisedeck , that so hee might bee the fuller type of christ , who had no father as man , nor mother as god ; and of his dayes there is no end ; which last thing is the speciall consolation , for which i alleaged this type . there is no time wherein we can want the benefit of christs sacrifice , if we haue accesse to god , and the throne of his grace ; and the rather because god hath sworne and will not repent , psalm . 110.4 . thus in generall . in particular , there are many excellent comforts may bee raised from the passion of christ , for first , hence wee may gather a matchlesse testimony , and vndoubted , of the infinite loue of god to man , in that hee spared not his owne sonne , but gaue him to the death for vs , ioh. 3.16 . for god so loued the world , that hee hath giuen his onely begotten sonne , that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life , &c. 1. ioh. 4.9 . in this appeared the loue of god toward vs , because god sent his only begotten sonne into the world , that wee might liue through him , &c. which may likewise assure vs , that there is nothing can be good for vs , but hee will certainly giue it vs also , rom. 8.32 . who spared not his owne sonne , but gaue him for vs all to death , how shall hee not with him giue vs all things also ? 2. secondly , shall wee euer doubt our freedome from condemnation , that know from hence what a price was paid for discharge of our debts by such a surety ? how can we be so vildly infected with vnbeleefe ? as to feare arresting , or imprisonmēt , or vndoing , when all is in christ so fully and exquisitely satisfied to the very vttermost farthing . how could the surety haue euer escaped such iustice in god ? such malice in men , and diuels , the sargeants and iaylors ? if he had not most abundantly payed all could bee demanded . 3. thirdly , what an encouragement may this bee to beleeue what christ saith to vs ? was not he a faithfull witnesse , & teacher , that sealed his doctrine with his blood ? great therefore is the infallibility of the gospell , that truth which is according to godlinesse , and to bee receiued with all full assurance without wauering or feare , reuel . 1.5 . 4. fourthly , shall not his example comfort vs in all trials , especially when we suffer the extreamest things can befall vs in this life ? what are those to the sufferings of christ ? and with what compassion will he receiue vs in affliction , that was so afflicted himselfe ? esa. 63.1 — 9. &c. and in particular , it may ease in paines , and in death it selfe , to remember the dolours of christ , especially considering that from thence flowes a vertue to helpe vs in all our pangs and distresses , in life and death . 5. lastly , there are many particular comforts may bee gathered from the manner of his sufferings , and diuers particularities in them : as 1. he suffered in ierusalem , & so both fulfilled the types of the old testament : for there was isaac offered vp , and there the sacrifices were slaine , and also signified vnto vs , that he had obtained for vs the vision of eternall peace , which the name ierusalem importeth . 2. secondly , he suffered the first part of his chiefe passion in a garden , to comfort vs in the abolishing of the first sin , which was committed in a garden , and imputed to christ. 3. thirdly , he was betrayed , taken , bound , and forsaken , and all for vs : hee was betrayed , to expiate our treason in adam : he was taken , to restore vs captiues : hee was bound , that wee might be loosed : he was forsaken of all , euen of his owne best disciples , to let vs know , that hee alone did performe the worke of satisfaction and redemption for vs , esa. 63.3 . 4. fourthly , he was araigned & condemned both by iewes and gentiles in the consisiory of the priests , and at the tribunall of pilat , therby to notifie both to iews and gentiles , that he was giuen to sacrifice for sins of both , & to signifie that he was the true messias , or shiloh , because now the scepter was departed frō iuda ▪ gen. 49.10 5. his silence to the most accusations shewes : 1. that he was a greater person then hee that iudged him : 2. secondly , that he fulfilled the scriptures , that said he opened not his mouth , esa. 53.7 . 3. that hee suffered for our euill words , but especially it assures vs , that he suffered them as our surety , in that he did endure the imputation of such monstrous crimes , and yet held his peace . 6. he was whipped , and crowned with thornes ; he was whipped , to deliuer vs from both spirituall , corporall , and eternall scourges that was due vnto vs. the crowne of thornes may signifie : 1. that hee expiated our ambition in adam . 2. that he might merit for vs an eternall crowne . 3. that he would gather a kingly people out of the most thorny and hurtfull nations , which as a crowne should compasse god about in seruing and honouring him . 4. that he had borne our thorny cares , and therfore we should cast all our care vpon him . 7. he was clothed with a purple garment , and a reed in his hand , which both signified , that he was a king , though they did it in scorne . his purple garment shewes , that hee was that great warrior , which was forespoken of , when they said , who is this that comes from edom with red garments ? &c. isaiah , 63.1 . to 7. the reed was two waies comfortable : for first it shewed , that this was hee , that should breake the serpents head : for a reed is the most mortall thing to a serpent , as the learned record , and therewith they were vsed to kill them ; and besides by a reed , as by a pen he did blot out the hand-writing in the debt-booke , that was against vs. 8. he suffered in golgotha , a place of dead mens bones , in which the most notorious offenders did suffer their punishment , that so hee might raise vp the banner of iustification , euen in the very place of contamination , and damnation . 9. hee was vnclothed , and made naked to satisfie for the sin of our first parents , who were spoiled of the garment of innocency ; and to deliuer vs from sin and mortality , of which the garments of skinne giuen to our parents , were a monument ; and perhaps to shew , how we should enter into heauen , viz. as adam did into paradise naked in body , but clothed in soule with innocency and immortality : but chiefely to expiate for our shamefull wickednesse before god. 10. hee was hanged vpon a tree , that so as death by the tree entred into the world , so on a tree it should be destroied , and life brought backe againe . and besides herein christ answered the type in isaacks offering vp , and the brasen serpent lifted vp on high , ioh. 3.14 . and that christ lifted vp in the aire , might ouercome the prince of the aire , and all his spirituall wickednesses , coloss. 2.15 . and that he might beare the curse of the law , being in that kind of death made a speciall curse for vs , gal. 3.13.14 . 11. he dranke gall and viniger , wherein he both fulfilled the scriptures , psal. 69.21 . for they gaue me gall in my meate , and in my thirst they gaue me vineger to drink , &c. and as the second adam bare the punishment of the first adams offence in tasting the iuice of the forbidden fruit . 12. the nailing of his hands and feete , assures vs of the cancelling of the hand-writing of ordinances , that was against vs ; both of the dissolution of all ceremoniall agreements , and of the full cancelling of the bond morall for so much , as concernes the forfeiture that lay vpon vs , coloss. 2. 14 , &c. chap. xxi . of christs intercession . hitherto of the expiation of sinnes . the third part of the priesthood of christ followes , and that is the intercession of christ : concerning which there are foure principles . 1. that christ at the right hand of god maketh intercession for vs , rom. 8.34 . who shall condemne ? it is christ , which is dead , yea , or rather , which is risen againe , who is also at the right hand of god , and maketh request also for vs. heb. 7.25 . wherefore he is able also perfectly to saue them , that come vnto god by him , seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them . 2. that we haue no other intercessour in heauen but christ , 1. tim. 2.5.6 . for there is one god , and one mediator betweene god and man , which is the man christ iesus : who gaue himselfe a ransome for all men to bee a testimony in due time . isaiah 59.16 . and when he saw , that there was no man , he wondred , that there was no intercessour ; therfore his arme did saue it , and his righteousnesse it selfe did sustaine it . 3. that the intercession of christ is perpetuall , hee so doth it once , as hee will neuer faile to doe it in all ages , heb. 7.25.28 . for the law maketh men high priests which haue infirmitie : but the word of the oth , that was since the law , maketh the sonne , who was consecrated for euermore . 4. that he makes intercession onely for the elect , iohn 17.9 . i pray for them : i pray not for the world , but for them which thou hast giuen me : for they are thine &c. now for the explication of these principles , three things must be opened . the first is the acceptation of the word intercession : for it signifieth sometimes the prayers which the godly make in the name of christ the intercessor , to turne away gods iudgements from their brethren in this world , and so it is taken , 1. tim. 2.1 . i exhort therefore , that first of all supplications , prayers , intercessions , and giuing of thanks be made for all men , &c. sometimes the complaints , that men make or pretend to make against the faults of others : thus elias made intercession against israel , rom. 11.2 . and the iewes made intercession against paul , acts 25.24 . but vsually it signifieth that part of the mediation of christ , in which he appeares before god to preuent or pacifie his displeasure towards the elect. 2. the second is , how many waies christ makes intercession for vs , and so there are seuen distinct things in the intercession of christ : for 1. first , he presents himself before god with his merits tendring his sacrifice for our satisfaction , heb. 9.24 . for christ is not entred into the holy places that are made with hands , which are similitudes of the true sanctuary : but is entred into very heauen , to appeare now in the sight of god for vs. and so pacifying god toward vs , ier. 30.31 . 2. hee praied , and still doth pray for vs : all his prayers on earth were a part of his intercession , and he still prayeth for vs in heauen , rom. 8.34 . who is also at the right hand of god , and maketh request also for vs. heb. 7.25 . wherefore he is able also perfectly to saue them , that come vnto god by him , seeing hee euer liueth to make intercession for them , &c. 3. he offers vp our prayers and praises to god , reuel . 8.3.4 . that he should offer with the prayers of all saints vpon the golden altar , which is before the throne . and the smoke of the odours with the prayers of the saints went vp before god out of the angels hand . and so all our good works , col. 1.22 . in the body of his flesh through death , to make you holy and vnblameable , and without fault in his sight . 4. he vndertakes for vs before god , and giues his word for vs , that we being mindfull of reconciliation through him , shall eschew sinne by his grace , and not prouoke god any more , as wee haue done . this sponsion is a necessary part of the office of an intercessor , iohn 17.6 . i haue declared thy name vnto the men , which thou gauest mee out of the world , thine they were , and thou gauest them mee , and they haue kept thy word . 25. o righteous father , the world hath also not knowne thee , but i haue knowne thee , and these haue knowne that thou hast sent me . 26. and i haue declared vnto them thy name , and will declare it , that the loue wherewith thou hast loued me , may be in them , and i in them . 5. he pleades our cause as an aduocate , and remoues and non-suites all accusations , which men or diuels may make against vs to god , rom. 8.34 . as before , 1. ioh. 2.1 . my babes , these things write i vnto you , that ye sinne not : and if any man sinne , we haue an aduocate with the father : iesus christ the iust , &c. 6. he poureth out vpon vs the spirit of intercession , which causeth vs after an vnutterable manner to make our moanes and requests to god , rom. 8.26 . likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what to pray as we ought : but the spirit it selfe maketh request for vs with sighes , which cannot be expressed , &c. so in the 15 : for ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare againe : but ye haue receiued the spirit of adoption , whereby wee cry abba father . gal. 4.6.7 . and because yee are sonnes , god hath sent forth the spirit of his sonne into your hearts , which crieth abba father , &c. 7. hee sprinkleth his blood vpon vs , by application of his merits to vs , which cries and makes intercession for vs , heb. 12.24 . and to iesus the mediatour of the new testament , and to the blood of sprinkling , that speaketh better things , then that of abel , &c. the third is , in which nature he maketh intercession ? & i answer , in both . for howsoeuer , if we cōsider the diuine nature of christ , christ is then equall with the father , and the same in essence , and so it cānot fitly be said , that christ requesteth any thing of the father ; yet if we respect the person of christ in his diuine nature , as it is personally vnited to the humane in the dispensatiō of grace , as voluntarily he hath vndertaken for vs : so it is no more inconuenient to pray for vs , thē it is to take vpon him the forme of a seruant for vs ; and the office of a mediatour , vnto which belongs this worke of praying . the vse of all may be , first , for confutation of the papists , who do most sacrilegiously dishonor the intercession of christ , by substituting secondary intercessors . the office is bestowed onely on the kings son , and they most iniuriously would imploy the kings seruants : we know no master of requests , but iesus christ ; nor doth it help thē , that they say , they haue mediators of intcrcession , but not of redēption , but only christ : for when they acknowledge and beg not only the prayers , but the merits too of the saints to purge away their sinnes , and supply their wants , they make them mediators of redemption also . secondly , for instruction , and so it should teach vs : 1. to imitate this part of the priesthood of christ , both by praying to god for our brethren , and for all sorts of men , though they bee our enemies , 1. tim. 2.1 . and also by making peace , and keeping it , as much as is possible amongst men . blessed are the peace-makers : for this makes them like the sonne of god , matth. 5 7. and seeing the saints shall iudge the world , they should put in to end the quarrels amongst the brethren , if it may be . 2. secondly , to liue so , as christ may haue credit by vs , in giuing his word for vs. hath christ vndertaken for vs to god , and shall not we bee carefull to the vttermost of our power to be such , as he hath promised for vs , we shall be , iohn 17.10.18.19 . 3. to pray and giue thankes much , and so to doe all the good we can , seeing it shall all be presented to god by christ , colos. 1. 22. reuel . 8.3.4 . 4. to establish our selues in the full assurance of faith , seeing all our imperfections are couered in christs intercession , and we may approch to god by this new and liuing way , and be sure of heauen also , euen to come within the vaile , when we die , heb. 10.19 . thirdly , for consolation : for wee may and ought to bee much refreshed , if we consider , that by the intercession of christ 1. the fauour of god is established vpon vs , and god is kept quiet from being prouoked against vs ; god and we are now through him all one , ioh. 17.21 . 2. the compassion of god is implored in the times of distresse and affliction , zach. 1.16 . &c. 3. the diuell is restrained , he cannot hurt vs , either by tempting , or accusing ; our faith shall be kept , that it faile not , zach. 3. 3. rom. 8.34 . luke 22.32 . 4. our sinnes which we daily commit , are forgiuen vs , he being an earnest aduocate to pleade for vs , 1. iohn 2.1.2 . 5. we shall be protected against the hatred of the world , iohn 17.14.15.16 . i haue giuen them thy word , and the world hath hated them , because they are not of the world , as i am not of the world . i pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world , but that thou keepe them from euill , &c. 6. our prayers and suites shall bee all presented and obtained , reuel . 8.4 . 7. we shall be kept from euill , and preserued vnto the end , vntill wee be perfected from all sinnes and wants , ioh. 17.11 . and now am i no more in the world , these are in the world , and i come to thee : holy father keepe them in thy name , euen them whom thou hast giuen me , that they may be one as we are . 15. i pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world , but that thou keepe them from euill . 23. i in them , and thou in mee , that they may bee made perfect in one , &c. 8. we haue assured hope of the glory of heauen , and to dwel in the most holy place , that is , within the vaile , heb. 10.19 . seeing therefore brethren , that by the blood of iesus we may bee bold to enter into the holy place , &c. heb. 7.25 . wherefore hee is able also perfectly to saue them that come vnto god by him , seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them , &c. ioh. 17.24 . father , i will that they which thou hast giuen mee , bee with me , euen where i am , that they may behold my glory which thou hast giuen me ; for thou louedst mee before the foundation of the world . colos. 3.1 . if ye then bee risen with christ , seeke those things which are aboue , where christ sitteth at the right hand of god. 9. we shall be laden with al needfull blessings in the meane time , heb. 12.24 . 10. all this is the more comfortable , because hee liueth euer to make request for vs. there is no cessation of this office , but at all times we may haue the benefit of it , ioh. 17.20 . heb. 7.25 . wherefore he is able also perfectly to saue them that come vnto god by him , seeing hee euer liueth to make intercession for them , &c. chap. xxii . of the regall office of christ. hitherto of the priestly office of christ , his regall office followes . and heere first i will plainly lay downe the principles , and proue them : and then for more euidence methodically for explication shew the parts of his office heerein : and lastly make vses of all . there are seuen things to bee beleeued concerning christ , which belong to his regall office . first , that he ouercame sinne , death , the graue , and hell , and rose againe from the dead , and ascended into heauen , and sitteth at the right hand of god in maiesty . that he is risen from the dead , these places are euident to keepe in our memories , rom. 1.4 . and declared mightily to be the sonne of god , touching the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection from the dead . rom. 4.25 . who was deliuered to death for our sinnes , and is risen againe for our iustification . 1. cor. 15.54 . then shall bee brought to passe the saying that is written , death is swallowed vp into victory . ioh. 20.12 . and saw two angels in white , sitting the one at the head , the other at the feet , where the body of iesus had laien , &c. mark. 16.6 . but hee said vnto them , be not afraid , ye seeke iesus of nazareth , which hath been crucified : he is risen , he is not here , behold the place where they put him , &c. 14. finally , hee appeared vnto the eleuen , as they sate together , and reproued them of their vnbeleefe , and hardnesse of heart , because they beleeued not them which had seene him , being risen vp againe . 2. tim. 2.8 . remember that iesus christ made of the seed of dauid , was raised again from the dead , according to my gospell , &c. that hee ascended into heauen , these places may suffice to proue it , mark. 16.19 . so after the lord had spoken vnto them , he was receiued into heauen , and sat at the right hand of god. luk. 24.51 . and it came to passe that as he blessed them , he departed from them , and was carried vp into heauen . act. 1.9 . and when he had spoken these things , while they beheld , he was taken vp ; for a cloud tooke him vp out of their sight . ephes. 4.8.9.10 . wherefore hee saith , when he ascended vp on high : hee led captiuity captiue , and gaue gifts vnto men . now in that he ascended , what is it , but that hee had also descended first into the lowest parts of the earth . hee that descended , is euen the same that ascended farre aboue all heauens , that he might fill all things . that hee sitteth at the right hand of god , these places proue , mark. 16.19 . so after the lord had spoken vnto them , hee was receiued into heauen , and sate at the right hand of god. heb. 1.9 . vnto which also of the angels said he at any time : sit at my right hand , till i make thine enemies thy foot-stoole , &c. heb. 8.1 . now of the things which wee haue spoken , this is the summe , that we haue such an high priest that sitteth at the right hand of the throne of the maiesty in heauen , &c. eph. 1.20.21 . which he wrought in christ when hee raised him from the dead , and set him at his right hand in the heauenly places . farre aboue all principalities and power , and might , and dominion , and euery name that is named , not in this world onely , but also in that that is to come , &c ▪ colos. 3.1 . if yee then bee risen with christ , seek those things which are aboue , where christ sitteth at the right hand of god. 2. that christ who purchased the church by his blood , is appointed of god to be the king , and head of the church , and prince ouer the people of god , hauing all power in his owne hands , psalm . 2.6 . euen i haue set my king vpon sion mine holy mountaine . matth. 28.18 . and iesus came and spake vnto them saying , all power is giuen vnto mee in heauen and in earth . ioh. 13.3 . iesus knowing that the father had giuen all things into his hands , and that hee was come from god , and went to god. colos. 1.18 . and he is the head of the body of the church , he is the beginning and the first borne of the dead , that in all things hee might haue the preeminence . reuel . 19.16 . and he hath vpon his garment , and vpon his thigh a name written : the king of kings , and lord of lords . 3. that he is likewise appointed to bee the law-giuer to the church , and the iudge of the whole world , iam. 4.12 . there is one law-giuer , which is able to saue and to destroy : who art thou that iudgest another man ? ioh. 5.22 . for the father iudgeth no man , but hath committed all iudgement vnto the sonne . 27. and hath giuen him power also to execute iudgement , in that he is the sonne of man. act. 10.42 . and he commanded vs to preach vnto the people , and to testifie that it is he that is ordained of god , a iudge of quicke and dead . act. 17.31 . because hee hath appointed a day , in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse , by that man whom he hath appointed , whereof he hath giuen him an assurance vnto all men , in that he hath raised him from the dead , &c. 2. tim. 4.1 . i charge ye therefore before god , and before the lord iesus christ , which shall iudge the quicke and the dead at his appearing , and in his kingdome , &c. 4. that his gouernment extends to the people of all nations , psalm . 2.8 . aske of me , and i will giue thee the heathen for thine inheritance , and the endes of the earth for thy possession . matth. 28.18 . and iesus came and spake vnto them , saying : all power is giuen vnto mee in heauen and in earth , &c. phil. 2.10.11 . that at the name of iesus should euery knee bow , both of things in heauen , and things in earth , and things vnder the earth . and that euery tongue should confesse , that iesus christ is the lord , vnto the glory of god the father . 5. that his kingdome is not of this world , but a spirituall and celestiall kingdome , ioh. 18. 36. iesus answered , my kingdome is not of this world ; if my kingdome were of this world , my seruants would surely fight , that i should not be deliuered to the iewes ; but now is my kingdome not from hence . rom. 14.17 . for the kingdome of god is not meate , nor drinke , but righteousnesse , and peace , and ioy in the holy ghost . 6. that hee will bee with his people to the end of the world , matth. 28.20 . teaching them to obserue all things , whatsoeuer i haue commanded you : and loe i am with you alwaies vntill the end of the world , amen . 7. this his kingdome is an euerlasting kingdome , luk. 1. 33. and hee shall raigne ouer the house of iacob for euer , and of his kingdome shall be no end . heb. 12.28 . wherfore seeing we receiue a kingdome which cannot be shaken , let vs haue grace , wherby we may so serue god , that wee may please him with reuerence and feare . dan. 2.44 . and in the dayes of these kings shall the god of heauen set vp a kingdome , which shall neuer be destroyed , and this kingdome shall not be giuen to another people , but it shall breake and destroy all these kingdomes , and it shall stand for euer . dan. 7.14 . and he gaue him dominion , and honour , and a kingdome , that all people , nations , and languages should serue him ; his dominion is an euerlasting dominion , which shall neuer be taken away , and his kingdome shall neuer be destroyed , &c. against this last principle may bee obiected the words of the apostle , 1 cor. 15.24 . then shall be the end , when hee hath deliuered the kingdome vp to god , euen the father , when he hath put downe all rule , and all authority , and power . and therefore after that time it seemes hee shall raigne no more . for answere thereunto , we must know , that christ shall not then cease to raigne , but only cease to raigne after the same manner he doth now . that manner of administration , which hee now vseth in gathering and preseruing his church shall then cease , there shall be then no need of it . thus of the principles . now for the explication , that wee may more distinctly conceiue of this office of christ , as king , we must consider of foure things in it . 1. the victory ouer the enemies , that opposed his title . 2 his kingly glory , with which he was qualified , and prepared for gouernment . 3. his taking of possession of the kingdome . 4. his administration , after he had possession . for the first , christ fought for his kingdome , and most victoriously ouercame the diuell , sinne , death and hell , and rescued his subiects from their thraldome , 1. cor. 15.54.55 . colos. 2.15 . heb. 2.14 . and this victory hee accomplished , and proclaimed in his resurrection from the dead . for the second : the regall glory of christ consisted in two things : the first was the glorification of his humane nature . and the second was his triumph ouer his enemies . the glorificatiō of his humane nature contained , 1. the deposition of all the infirmities accompanying our nature , which hee vndertooke for our sakes ; so as now hee ceased to hunger , or thirst , or bee weary , or feele any paine , or griefe , nor could he suffer any more , or die . 2. the perfecting of his humane nature , with all the degrees of celestiall gifts and endowments could possibly befall a created nature , both in body and mind . his very body was glorified , surpassing the sunne in the firmament , for splendor and brightnesse . now for the triumph of christ , he acted it two waies : 1. in those frequent manifestations after his resurrection for the 40. dayes hee was pleased to abide on earth . 2. in that most glorious ascension riding in the chariot of triumph vp into heauen , leading with him captiuity captiue . the third thing is , his taking possession of his kingdome , and this he did , when he sat downe at the right hand of the maiesty of god , and was exalted aboue all that is named , and had power ouer all things giuen him of his father . the fourth thing is , his administration of the kingdome , of which hee is now possest ; and this hath in it foure things : 1. the calling and gathering together both of iewes and gentiles belonging to the election of god , rom. 8.30 . ephes. 4.11 . 12. esa. 11.11.12 . 2. the prescribing of lawes , as the onely law-giuer of the church , and this he doth when hee propoundeth vnto his subiects the rules both of beleeuing , and liuing by the word and ministry of the same , adding thereunto the work of the spirit , writing his lawes vpon their hearts , iam. 4.12 . ier. 31.33 . 2. cor. 3. 17.18 . 3. the donation of gifts , inabling men to the kingdome of god , ephes. 4.8 . philip. 1.29 . 4. the execution of iustice , and so he doth iustice , 1. amongst his owne subiects , and so he doth them iustice , 1. in iustifying them from their sins , in acquitting them and pronouncing them absolued from all the sentences of gods iustice giuen out against them . 2. by distributing rewards among them , both in spirituall and temporall things . 3. by keeping them in their bonds , and preseruing them in the feare of god , and a iust course of life . 2. against his enemies , whom he either restraines , or subdues : hee restraines them , by setting them their bounds , which they may not passe ; by infatuating their counsels , and by being a wall of brasse about his owne . he subdues them either by conuerting them , and so making them come in , and doe him homage , or else by confounding them , which he begins partly by outward iudgements , partly by induration , as deliuering them vp to a reprobate sense , and accomplishing it in their miserable ends , casting them into vtter darkenesse . this administration of his kingdome he executes , partly in this life , and partly in the world to come : the one is his kingdom of grace , the other of glory ; what is but begun here , is fully made compleate in that other world . the vses of the regall office of christ follow , and those are partly for instruction , partly for consolation . first , for instruction , and wee should learne , 1. to ascribe all glory , and dominion to him for euer , wee should so admire the greatnesse and maiesty of our king , as our hearts should bee most affectionately moued to his continuall praises : let the people praise thee , o god , yea , let all the people praise thee ; o sing praises to our god , sing praises , sing praises with vnderstanding , psal. 47.6.7 . reuel . 1.5 . reuel . 5.12.13.14 . saying with a loud voice , worthie is the lambe , that was killed to receiue power , and riches , and wisdome , and strength , and honour , and glory , and praise . and all the creatures , which are in heauen , and on the earth , and vnder the earth , and in the sea , and all that are in them heard i saying ; praise , and honour , and glory , and power be vnto him , that sitteth vpon the throne , and vnto the lambe for euermore , &c. and to this end wee should learne 2. to pray , that god would giue vs the spirit of wisdome and reuelation , that the eies of our vnderstanding may bee enlightned to discerne the working of his mighty power , which hee wrought in christ ; when he raised him from the dead , and set him at his owne right hand in heauenly places farre aboue all principalities , and powers , and euery name that is named , not onely in this world , but also in that which is to come ; & hath put all things vnder his feete , and made him head ouer all things belonging to the church , ephes. 1.17 . to the end . and with all we should stirre vp our selues 3. to pray daily , that his kingdome may come , that the people that yet are in darkenesse , may be conuerted ; and that his glory may shine more and more in those , that haue submitted themselues to his scepter : and to this end , that the ordinances of his kingdome , especially the preaching of the gospell may run with power , and mightily conquer and enlarge the bounds of his kingdome ; and that all opposite kingdomes may be subuerted , as is that of anti-christ , especially that his kingdome of glory may be hastened vpon vs. and for our owne parts wee should euery one be ready , 4. to send our lamb to the ruler of the earth , isai. 16.1 . to tender our homage , and offer our seruice , & testifie our aleageance with all humilitie , and thankefulnesse vnto this king of kings , the lord our mighty redeemer , and throughout the course of our liues . 5. to bow at the name of iesus , and to feare him , that is a great king aboue all gods , and hath a name aboue all names : to confesse his soueraigntie , and submit to his gouernment , and to tremble before him , and to thinke of him with all reuerence , phil. 2.9.10 11. psalm . 2.10.11 . 6. and to come willingly at all the times of the publike assembly of his armies in holy beauty , we should all flock to the colours of the king , and neuer giue ouer the care of assembling our selues in the courts of our god ; but with al gladnesse go vp to the house of the lord , the courts of the king , the place of his holy presence , where he sits in his throne amongst vs , ps. 110.3 . 7. to seeke to christ in al our necessities , seeing hee is so exalted , that now he is able to help vs in all times of need according to the riches of his glory . 8. to be tender , and zealous for the glory and honor of christ : shall not our hearts rise at the dishonour of our king ? 9. to obserue whatsoeuer he commands , in nothing refusing him , that speaketh from heauen , mat. 28.20 . teaching them to obserue all things , whatsoeuer i haue commanded you , &c. heb. 12.25 . see that ye despise not him , that speaketh ; for if they escaped not , which refused him , that spake on earth : much more shall we not escape , if wee turne away from him , that speaketh from heauen , &c. 10. to seeke those things that are aboue , where he sitteth at the right hand of god , and to haue our conuersation in heauen , since as subiects of his kingdome wee are freemen of the new ierusalem , the metropolis of his kingdome . philip. 3.20 . but our conuersation is in heauen , from whence also we looke for the sauiour , euen the lord iesus christ. col. 3.1 . if ye then be risen with christ , seeke those things which are aboue , where christ sitteth at the right hand of god , &c. 11. to dwell securely , as acknowledging wee haue secure protection in his seruice , and not to be afraid of any feare , ier. 23. 5.6 . behold , the daies come , saith the lord , that i will raise vnto dauid a righteous branch , and a king shall raigne and prosper , and shall execute iudgement and iustice in the earth . in his daies iuda shall be saued , and israel shall dwell safely , and this is the name whereby they shall call him ; the lord our righteousnes , &c. 12. to carry our selues , as the seruants of the king. his subiects should differ in their manners from all other nations ; and his seruāts should order themselues so , as may become his honour . and thus wee should alwaies resist to our power the kingdom of darkenesse , and set our selues to ouercome the world , and as conquerours to denie our selues in the affection to the profits , and pleasures , &c. of the world : and liue out of the feare of the disgrace of the world , knowing it is honor enough to be such a kings seruants ; and out of feare euen of death it selfe , as knowing our deliuerance by the victory , which our sauiour had ouer death ; and the assurance that he will come againe , and make our vile bodies like to his glorious body . and as this may teach men in general , so there be diuers things to bee vrged from hence vpon particular persons : as first , kings , iudges , and rulers of the people should take notice of this , and do their homage , and bring their presents to this king of al kings , psalm . 68.29 . and seeing they are but his vicegerents , they should bee learned in the lawes of his kingdome , and get wisdome to carry themselues so , as may become those that represent his person , not daring to oppose the gouernment of christ , or to set themselues to oppresse his subiects , psalm . 2.10.11 . secondly , ministers should especially stirre vp themselues to mind this great worke of separating men from the world , to the kingdome of christ. thirdly , priuat christians must take heed of iudging one another : for all iudgement is committed to the sonne , and hee is the onely supreme iudge and lawgiuer ; and therefore the apostle iames inferres , wee ought not to iudge our brethren . fourthly , such as haue parted with their friends by death , must not sorrow for them that are gone , as men without hope , seeing the kingdom of god is come vpon them , and they are with the lord , and their dead bodies shall christ bring with him in his comming , therefore they should not shame the gouernment of christ by the ignorance heereof , but comfort themselues with these things , 1. thes. 4.13 . secondly , this may serue for wonderful consolation to the godly , and that two waies , 1. the children of zion may reioyce in their king , psal. 149. 2. let israel reioyce in him , that made him , and let the children of zion reioyce in their king. if they consider their wonderfull happinesse , in being subiect to such a king , as 1. was chosen and appointed by god himselfe immediately , psalm . 2.6.7.8 . euen i haue set my king vpon zion mine holy mountaine . 2. was qualified with gifts aboue all his fellowes , euen aboue all the men on earth , or angels in heauen , psalm . 45.2 . 3. is independant : his subiects are not charged with supporting or defending him , but he defends and maintains them , isaiah 9.7 . 4. is alwaies present with his subiects , matth. 28.20 . and loe , i am with you alway vntill the end of the world , amen . 5. is head of all principalities and powers , and hath all honour and power giuen him in heauen and earth , rules ouer all nations , people , and languages , col. 2.9 . dan. 7.13 . 14.27 . 6. cannot die , but liues for euer . 2. they ought exceedingly to reioyce , if they consider the priuiledges they haue in being subiects in the kingdome of christ : for thereby 1. they haue the fauor and presence of god with them ; his couenant of peace , and his sanctuary with them , ezech. 37.26.27 . 2. they haue great dignitie , they are made kings themselues , a roiall nation : they are princes of the people , euen all the people of the god of abraham , reuel . 1.6 . 1. peter 2.9 . 3. they haue roiall entertainement , and are daily feasted of their king , daily banquets in the word and sacraments , christ supping with them , reuel . 3. yea , giuing his owne body for meate , and his own blood for drink , isa. 25.6 . 4. they dwell safely , and find shelter and succour in all distresses , isaiah 25.4 . ezech. 34.25 . michael the great prince standeth for the children of the people , dan. 12.1 . 5. their king is exalted to the supremest honour , and therefore is able to preserue them wonderfully ; and promised before hee was exalted , that he would prouide them a place , iohn 14.2 . chap. xxiii . of the church . ephes. 1.22 . and hath made all things subiect vnder his feet , and hath appointed him ouer all things to be the head to the church , &c. hitherto of the meanes of grace , the subiect of grace followes , and that is the church . the church is the whole multitude of men elected to eternall life by god in christ. concerning the church , there are these principles : first , that it is a companie of men separate from the world , gathered by the voice of christ : the scripture still makes a difference between the world , and the church ; and the word signifieth such , as are gathered together by the voice of gods criers , iohn 17.9 . i pray for them , i pray not for the world , but for them which thou hast giuen me : for they are thine . vers. 14. i haue giuen them thy word , and the world hath hated them , because they are not of the world , as i am not of the world , &c. secondly , that she is one , eph. 4.4 . there is one body , and one spirit , euen as ye are called in one hope of your saluation . cant. 6.8 . but my doue is alone , and my vndefiled , shee is the onely daughter of her mother , and shee is deare to her that bare her , &c. gal. 3.28 . there is neither iew , nor grecian , there is neither bond nor free , there is neither male nor femal : for ye are all one in iesus christ. and the church is one , as in many other respects ; so because all the godly are mistically vnited in one body , rom. 12.5 . so we being many are one body in christ , and euery one one anothers members . ephes. 4.15.16 . but let vs follow the truth in loue , and in all things grow vp into him which is the head , that is , christ. by whom all the body being coupled , and knit together by euery ioynt for the furniture thereof ( according to the effectual power which is in the measure of euery part ) receiueth encrease of the body into the edifying of it selfe in loue . thirdly , that shee is knit vnto christ her head by an indissoluble vnion , colos. 1.18 . and hee is the head of the body of the church , hee is the beginning , and the first horne of the dead , that in all things he might haue the preeminence . colos. 2.19 . and holdeth not the head , whereof all the body furnished and knit together by ioynts and hands , encreaseth with the encreasing of god. 1. cor. 12.27 . now ye are the body of christ , and members for your part . ephes. 1.22.23 . and hath made all things subiect vnder his feet , and hath appointed him ouer all things to be the head to the church , which is his body , euen the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all things . so as she is truly bone of his bone , and flesh of his flesh , ephes. 5.30 . for wee are members of his body , of his flesh and of his bones . one with christ , not in nature as the trinity is one ; nor in person , as the two natures in christ , but in spirit , ioh. 4.13 . hereby know we that we dwell in him , and he in vs , because he hath giuen vs of his spirit . for the spirit of the sonne dwelleth in vs. fourthly , that shee is holy , ephes. 5.27 . that he might make it vnto himselfe a glorious church , not hauing spot or wrinkle , or any such thing , but that it should be holy and without blame , &c. 1. pet. 2.9 . but ye are a chosen generation , a royall priesthood , an holy nation , a peculiar people , that ye should shew forth the vertues of him that hath called you out of darknesse into his maruellous light , &c. dan. 7.18 . and they shall take the kingdome of the saints of the most high , and possesse the kingdome for euer , euen for euer and euer . and so she is holy , 1. by separation from the world , in that the godly are consecrated to holy vses : they are holy by calling . 2. by inchoation of true holinesse in nature , and practice , tit. 3.5 . not by the workes of righteousnesse which wee had done , but according to his mercy he saued vs by the washing of the new birth , and the renuing of the holy ghost . 3. by imputation of christs holinesse being washed in his blood , heb. 10.10 . by the which will we are sanctified , euen by the offering of the body of iesus christ once made . 4. by consummation of all holinesse in the other world . fifthly , she is catholick : this is one of the articles of the creed : the church is catholick in three respects : 1. in respect of time , all the godly being members of this one body , though they liue in all the seuerall ages since the beginning of the world . 2. in respect of place , because all the iust both in heauen and earth are all of this one body , ephes. 1.10 . that in the dispensation of the fulnesse of the times hee might gather together in one all things , both which are in heauen , and which are in earth , euen in christ. and so from all parts of the world is the church gathered , all the particular churches in the world are but members of this church vniuersall . 3. in respect of persons , because it is gathered especially since christ , out of all nations , there being no difference put in respect of mens outward condition , reuel . 5.9.10 . and they sung a new song saying , thou art worthy to take the booke , and to open the seales thereof , because thou wast killed , and hast redeemed vs to god by thy blood , out of euery kindred , and tongue , and people , and nation . and hast made vs vnto our god kings and priests , and wee shall raigne on earth . galath . 3.28 . there is neither iew nor grecian , there is neither bond nor free ; there is neither male nor female : for yee are all one in christ iesus . sixthly , that shee is militant , that is , she is in this life exposed to crosses , and afflictions , and tentations , and oppositions , 2. timoth. 4.7.8 . i haue sought a good fight , and haue finished my course : i haue kept the faith . for henceforth is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse , which the lord the righteous iudge shall giue me at the day , and not to mee onely , but vnto all them also which loue his appearing . luk. 9.24 . for whosoeuer will saue his life shall lose it ; and whosoeuer shall lose his life for my sake , the same shall saue it . act. 14.22 . confirming the disciples hearts , and exhorting them to continue in the faith , affirming , that wee must through many afflictions enter into the kingdome of god , &c. reuel . 1.9 . i iohn euen your brother and companion in tribulation , and in the kingdome and patience of iesus christ , was in the isle called patmos , for the word of god , and for the witnessing of iesus christ. reuel . 12.11 . but they ouercame him by the blood of the lambe , and by the word of their testimony , and they loued not their liues vnto the death , &c. ephes. 6.12 . for we wrastle not against flesh & blood , but against principalities , against powers , & against the worldly gouernours , the princes of the darknesse of this world , &c. now the lord would haue his church so exposed to crosses , both for his owne sake , and for hers , and for his enemies sake : 1. for his owne sake , that he might shew his hatred of sin , euen in his owne , and the glory also of his power and mercy in their deliuerance , as well as his iustice in their afflictions . 2. for their sakes , that being in the warfare humbled and tamed for their sinnes , they might not perish with the world , 1. cor. 11. 31.32 . and may be herein like to christ , rom. 8.27 . 3. for their enemies sake , that they may know , that they shall neuer bee spared , if god spare not his owne children , 1. pet. 4.17 . for the time is come that iudgement must begin at the house of god : if it first begin at vs , what shall the end be of them , which obey not the gospell of god ? seuenthly , that she is inuincible , matth. 16.18 . and i say also vnto thee , that thou art peter , and vpon this rocke i will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not ouercome it . rom. 8.37 . neuerthelesse in all these things we are more then conquerers , through him that loued vs. 38. for i am perswaded , that neither death , nor life , nor angels , nor principalities , nor powers , nor things present , nor things to come : 39. nor height , nor depth , nor any other creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of god , which is in christ iesus our lord. 1. pet. 5.10 . and the god of all grace , which hath called vs vnto his eternall glory by christ iesus , after that yee haue suffered a little , make you perfect , confirme , strengthen , and stablish you , &c. the vses of these principles may be either for 1. instruction . 2. consolation . 1. for instruction , and so the sound consideration heereof may serue : first , to stirre vs vp to pray , that god would open our eyes to see the glory of his power and grace in the calling of his church out of the world ; and the most happy supremacie of christ ouer the church , and our owne felicity , if we be members of the church , ephes. 1.17 . &c. secondly , to inflame in vs the care to make our calling and election sure , that so we may be infallibly assured that we are members of the true church . if any aske for some plaine signe , by which briefly the heart of man may establish it selfe in this point : i answere , that to be assured that we are true members of the church , and body of christ , we must carefully try our selues by such signes as these . for they are members of the church . 1. that are called out of the world by the voice of the crier , and separated by the power of the word . 2. that relie vpon christs merits for righteousnesse and saluation . 3. that cleaue vnto such as feare god with vnchangeable affections , as the onely people of the world . 4. that are reformed from their old euill conuersation , to the constant endeauours of a holy life . thirdly , if we finde our selues to be of the church , wee should striue for exceeding thankfulnes to god , that hath called vs out of darknesse to this maruellous light , and saued vs from the common condemnatiō of the world , 1. pet. 2.9 . fourthly , we should labour by holinesse of life to exceed all the papists , or pagans of the world , that men might see by our piety , that god hath done more for vs then for any such as they : our workes should speake for vs , that we are of the true church ; and not by our sinful liues dishonour god , as our father , or the church as our mother , ephes. 1. 4. ephes. 2.8 . christ comes into his garden , to see how his plants grow , cant. 6.10 . i went downe to the garden of nuts , to see the fruits of the valley , to see if the vine budded , and if the pomegranets flourished . fifthly , wee should know no man after the flesh , nor reckon of men by their meanes in the world , but by their relation to christ , or the church , 2. cor. 5.16 . wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh ; yea though wee haue knowne christ after the flesh , yet now henceforth know we him no more . sixthly , wee should therefore auoid the society of the wicked , and not forsake the fellowship of the godly , 2. cor. 6.15 . what concord hath christ with belial ? or what part hath the beleeuer with the infidell , &c. ephes. 5.7 . be not therefore companions with them . 11. and haue no fellowship with the vnfruitfull workes of darknesse , but euen reproue them rather . 2. thes. 3.14 . if any man obey not our saying , note him by a letter , and haue no company with him , that he may be ashamed . heb. 10.25 . not forsaking the fellowship that wee haue among our selues , as the manner of some is : but let vs exhort one another , and that so much more , because ye see the day draweth neere . seuenthly , wee should therefore carrie our selues one towards another , as fellow-seruants in the same family , and fellow-citizens in the same city , with all meeknesse , patience , vnity , and loue , ephes. 4.2.3 . with all humblenesse of mind , and meeknesse , with long suffering , supporting one another through loue , endeauouring to keepe the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace , &c. willingly imploying our gifts for the good of the church , rom. 12.6.7.8 . eightly , seeing wee are in a continuall warfare , wee should stand vpon our guard , quitting vs like men , and bee strong , putting on all the armour of god , ephes. 6.10 . ninthly , wee should for euer learne to thinke and speake reuerently of the church of god , seeing it is the house of god , the family of christ , the ground and pillar of the truth , & that gods people are gods hidden ones , ephes. 3.15 . 1. tim. 3.15 . psalm . 83.3 . and in particular , both ministers and magistrates , that are deputed to the gouernment of the church vnder christ , shuld be carefull to doe their duties with all care . ministers are charged in these scriptures , ioh. 21.15.16 . 1. pet. 5.2 . 1. cor. 12.28 . 1. tim. 3.15 . as before . and magistrates must remember that god hath giuen them to bee nursing fathers to the church , esa. 60.10.11 . 2. chro. 34.33 . and 35.3 . &c. and here is matter of singular consolation for all the true members of the true church , if they consider : first , the loue of christ toward them . hee affecting them , as a spouse or wife , 2. corint . 11.2 . reuel . 19.7 . secondly , the fellowship they haue with christ , 1. cor. 1.9 . god is faithfull , by whom ye are called into the fellowship of his sonne iesus christ our lord , &c. thirdly , the care of christ for their sanctification , eph. 5.25.26 . christ loued the church , and gaue himselfe for it , that he might sanctifie it , and clense it by the washing of water through the word . fourthly , the roiall furniture , with the which from christ they are clad , being not destitute of any heauenly gifts , 1. cor. 1.7 . so yee are not destitute of any gift , waiting for the appearing of our lord iesus christ. ephes. 1.3 . blessed be god , euen the father of our lord iesus christ , which hath blessed vs with all spirituall blessing in heauenly things in christ. col. 2.19 . all the body furnished and knit together by ioynts & bands , increaseth with the increasing of god. fifthly , their safetie in al their warfarings , and their conquest and deliuerance out of all their troubles , and their assurance of full happinesse in the end . rom. 8.37 . neuerthelesse in all these things wee are more then conquerours , through him that loued vs : vers. 38. for i am perswaded that neither life nor death , &c. vers. 39. shall be able to separate vs from the loue of god , which is in christ iesus our lord. col. 1.18 . and he is the head of the body of the church : he is the beginning , and the first borne of the dead , that in all things hee might haue the preeminence . 1. pet. 5.10 . the god of all grace , which hath called vs vnto his eternall glory by christ iesus , after that ye haue suffered a little , will make you perfect , confirme , strengthen and stablish you , &c. and all this should comfort the more ; 1. if we remember what wee were , and are in our selues . the church is black , cantic . 1.4 . and the daughter of pharaoh , psal. 45. and christ found her out first in her blood , ezech. 16.6 . 2. if we consider , that there is no accepting of persons : but the eunuches and the strangers may be admitted into the church , as well as the children of the kingdome , isaiah 56.3 . let not the son of the stranger which is ioyned to the lord , speake , and say , the lord hath surely separate me from his people , neither let the eunuch say , behold , i am a dry tree , &c. chap. xxiv . of iustification . hitherto of the subiect of grace , viz. the church : the degrees of grace in this life are two . first , iustification . secondly , sanctification . concerning iustification , there are these principles : first , that al men haue sinned , and the whole world is guilty before god naturally , and in themselues , rom. 3.19.23 . now wee know , that whatsoeuer the law saith , it saith to them , which are vnder the law ; that euery mouth may be stopped , and all the world be culpable before god. for there is no difference : for all haue sinned , and are depriued of the glory of god. gal. 3.22 . but the scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne , that the promise by the faith of iesus christ should bee giuen to them that beleeue . secondly , that by mens owne workes no flesh can be iustified , rom. 3.20 . therefore by the workes of the law shall no flesh be iustified in his sight : for by the law commeth the knowledge of sinne . titus 3.5 . not by the workes of righteousnesse which wee had done , but according to his mercy hee saued vs by the washing of the new birth , and the renewing of the holy ghost . gal. 3.11 . and that no man is iustified by the law in the sight of god , it is euident : for the iust shall liue by faith . phil. 3.9 . and might be found in him , that is , not hauing mine own righteousnesse , which is of the law , but that which is through the faith of christ , euen the righteousnesse , which is of god through faith . iustified , i say , before god : for by workes wee may bee iustified before men , of which iustification the apostle iames speakes in his second chapter , &c. thirdly , that the righteousnesse , which maketh vs iust , is in iesus christ , being made ours by imputation . 2. cor. 5.21 . for he hath made him to bee sinne for vs , which knew no sinne , that we should be made the righteousnesse of god in him . 1. cor. ● . 30 . but ye are of him in christ iesus , who of god is made vnto vs wisedome , and righteousnes , and sanctification , and redemption . rom. 5.18.19 . likewise then as by the offence of one , the fault came on all men to condemnation : so by the iustifying of one , the benefit abounded toward all men to the iustification of life : for as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners : so by the obedience of one , shall many also bee made righteous . phil. 3.9 . and might be found in him , that is , not hauing mine owne righteousnesse , which is of the law , but that which is through the faith of christ , euen the righteousnes which is of god through faith . ier. 23.6 . in his daies iuda shall be saued , and israel shall dwell safely , and this is the name , whereby they shall call him , the lord our righteousnesse . rom. 4.7 . blessed are they , whose iniquities are forgiuen , and whose sinnes are couered , &c. 4. that this righteousnesse is made ours onely by faith , and so we are iustified onely by faith , as it apprehends , and laies hold vpon , and relies on the righteousnes of christ , rom. 3.28 . therfore we conclude , that a man is iustified by faith , without the workes of the law. gal. 2.16 . know that a man is not iustified by the works of the law , but by the faith of iesus christ , euen we , i say , haue beleeued in iesus christ , that we might be iustified by the faith of christ , and not by the workes of the law ; because that by the works of the law no flesh shall be iustified . rom. 1.26.17 . for i am not ashamed of the gospell of christ : for it is the power of god vnto saluation to euery one that beleeueth ; to the iew first , and also to the grecian : for by it the righteousnesse of god is reuealed from faith to faith , as it is written : the iust shall liue by faith , heb. 11.6 . but without faith it is vnpossible to please god. 5. that this faith is the gift of god , ioh. 6.29 . iesus answered and said vnto them ; this is the worke of god , that yee beleeue in him , whom he hath sent . rom. 12.3 . for i say through the grace that is giuen vnto me , to euery one that is among you , that no man presume to vnderstand aboue that which is meet to vnderstand : but that he vnderstand according to sobrietie , as god hath delt to euerie man the measure of faith . phil. 1.29 . for vnto you it is giuen for christ , that not onely yee should beleeue in him , but also suffer for his sake . ephesians , 2.8 . for by grace are yee saued through faith , and that not of your selues : it is the gift of god. hebrewes , 12.2 . looking vnto iesus , the author and finisher of our faith , &c. sixthly , that all men haue not faith , isaiah , 53.1 . who will belieue our report ? and to whom is the arme of the lord reuealed ? 2. thess. 3.2 . for all men haue not faith . and therefore this faith is called the faith of gods elect , titus 1.1 . paul a seruant of god , and an apostle of iesus christ , according to the faith of gods elect . seuenthly , that there is but one kind of faith , by which all the elect of god are iustified , ephes . 4.5 . there is one lord , one faith , one baptisme , &c. eighthly , that being iustified by faith , wee haue peace with god , and forgiuenesse of all our sins , rom. 3.25 . whom god hath set forth to bee a reconciliation through faith in his blood , to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenesse of sinnes , that are passed through the patience of god , &c. rom. 5.1 . then being iustified by faith , we haue peace toward god through our lord iesus christ. the consideration of these principles should worke in vs : first , a speciall care of diuers duties ; as 1. the detestation of that doctrine , that teacheth men to rest vpon the merits of their owne works , contrary to these expresse scriptures , rom. 3.20 . therefore by the works of the law shall no flesh be iustified in his sight : for by the law commeth the knowledge of sin . gal. 3.10 . for as many as are of the workes of the law , are vnder the curse : for it is written , cursed is euery man , that continueth not in all things , which are written in the book of the law to doe them . ephes. 2.8.9 . for by grace are ye saued through faith , and that not of your selues , it is the gift of god : not of workes , least any man should boast himselfe . titus 3.5 . not by the works of righteousnesse which we had done , but according to his mercy he saued vs. all which we should carrie in our minds . 2. the inflāmation of the loue of christ in vs , and the admiration of the riches of gods grace , rom. 5.6.7.8 . for christ , when we were yet of no strength , at his time died for the vngodly . doubtlesse one will scarce die for a righteous man : but yet for a good man it may be , that one dare die . but god setteth out his loue toward vs , seeing that while we were yet sinners , christ died for vs. 3. an especiall care aboue al things to beleeue , accounting all things but dung , in comparison of the knowledge of christ herein . without this faith it is impossible to please god , heb. 11.6 . wee should neuer rest , till wee could say , it is the lord our righteousnesse , ier. 23.6 . we are vndone , if we haue not such a faith as will iustifie vs. quest. tell vs distinctly , what wee must doe about beleeuing , which being done , wee may bee sure we are iustified . solut. first , thou must beleeue , that iesus of nazareth is the promised messias , and the very son of god , matth. 16.16 . 1. iohn 4.15 . whosoeuer confesseth , that iesus is the sonne of god , in him dwelleth god , and he is in god. secondly , thou must rest vpon the passion and obedience of iesus christ , as the onely sufficient meanes of thy happinesse , receiuing the promises , that declare thy liberty so to doe , rom. 4.23 . 24. rom. 5.17 . thirdly , thou must in thy praiers present christ to god , and make it knowne as a couenant of thy heart , that thou doest relie vpon him onely ; and so giue glory to god against the feare of the law , sinne , death , and hell . fourthly , thou must resolue to rest in this course , and neuer to depart from thy confidence herein : thus the iust must liue by their faith . thus of the third vse . fourthly , we should bee stirred vp to shew forth daily the vse , and power , and truth of our iustification by the effects of it ; which we should striue to stirre vp in vs , as namely wee should shew , that we are iustified : 1. by confirming our consciences in peace and tranquillitie . 2. by going boldly to god , and the throne of his grace ; as knowing in how much grace we stand with god. 3. by comforting our selues in the hope of glory , as knowing that we are heires of the world . 4. by glorying in tribulation , being neuer ashamed of our faith and hope , rom. 5.1.2.3.4.5 . &c. 5. the doctrine of our free iustification should teach vs to carie our selues with all compassion and meekenes toward other men , that yet liue in their sins : for we were such as they once , till the grace of god appeared without any desert of ours . titus 3.1.2.3.4.5 . &c. put them in remembrance , that they be subiect to the principalities , and powers , and that they bee obedient and readie to euery good worke . that they speake euill of no man ; that they be no fighters , but soft , shewing all meekenesse vnto all men : for we our selues were in times past vnwise , disobedient , deceiued , seruing the lusts , and diuers pleasures , liuing in maliciousnesse , and enuie , hatefull , and hating one another , &c. 6. we should bee carefull of good workes , to free the glorious doctrine of liberty from the aspersions of euill men , and to shew our thankfulnesse to god , and the truth of our faith , rom. 3.31 . doe we then make the law of none effect through faith ? god forbid ; yea we establish the law . iam. 2. the latter part of the chapter . tit. 3.7.8 . that we being iustified by his grace , should bee made heires according to the hope of eternall life . this is a true saying , and these things i will thou shouldest affirme , that they which haue beleeued in god , might be carefull to shew forth good workes , &c. 7. this should make vs for euer to iudge of mens worth by their faith , and to say , oh , he , or she is blessed , that beleeued ; and to account highly of poore christians , that are rich in faith . 8. for euer while we liue , we should glory not in our selues , but in the lord , acknowledging whatsoeuer we are , we are by the grace of god , 1. cor. 1.31 . that according as it is written , he that reioyceth , let him reioyce in the lord , &c. rom. 3.27 . where is then the rei●ycing ? it is excluded : by what law ? of workes : nay , but by the law of faith ▪ &c. secondl● , this doctrine should worke in vs much consolation , euen life from the dead : iustification is called iustification of life , rom. 5.18 . it should quicken vs aboue many other doctrines , and the rather if we consider , 1. that in christ there is a daily propitiation for all our sins , rom. 3.25 . 1. ioh. 2.2 . hee will see our filthy garments taken off vs , and clothe vs with change of raiment , zach. 3.3.4 . 2. that the very blessing of abraham comes vpon vs ; we are heires of the world as well as hee , galath . 3.9 . they which bee of faith , are blessed with faithfull abraham . rom. 4.11.12 . 3. that though this be clogged with a condition of beleeuing ; yet wee are not excepted , but may lawfully rest vpō christ ; yea wee are commanded to beleeue , 1. ioh. 3.23 . this is then his commandement , that wee beleeue in the name of his sonne iesus christ , &c. yea god doth beseech vs to be reconciled , 2. cor. 5.20 . now then are wee embassadours for christ , as though god did beseech you through vs , wee pray you in christs stead , that ye be reconciled to god , &c. 4. that this beleeuing in christ , makes vs accounted as righteous as euer adam was , or we could haue been , if wee had kept the morall law , and god is as well pleased with vs : our faith is accounted for righteousnesse , and in stead of it , rom. 4.5 . but to him that worketh not , but beleeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly , his faith is counted for righteousnesse . 5. that we may from hence gather also assurance of raigning with god in another world , as the apostle shewes , rom. 5.9 . 10.11 . much more then being now iustified by his blood , we shall bee saued from wrath through him . for if when we were enemies , wee were reconciled to god by the death of his sonne ; much more being reconciled , wee shall bee saued by his life . 17. for if by the offence of one death raigned through one ; much more shall they which receiue the abundance of grace , and of the gift of righteousnes , raign in life through one , that is , iesus christ. rom. 8.30 . whom he iustified , them also he glorified , &c. 6. lastly , that nothing shall separate vs from this loue of god , no accusation shall bee receiued against vs , rom. 8.33.34 . 35. thirdly , this may serue for great reproofe , 1. first , for the neglect of faith in many ; oh who hath bewitched thee , that thou shouldest not beleeue ? why will yee still bee shut vp , and liue vnder the curse ? galath . 3.1 . o foolish galathians , who hath bewitched you . 10. as many as are vnder the workes of the law , are vnder the curse , &c. 23. before faith came , wee were kept vnder the law , & shut vp , &c. 2. of the most of vs , for leaning still too much to our owne workes ; we can hardly tell , how , in our either glorying , or grieuing , to quit our selues from the infection of pleading merit of workes . 3. of many deare seruants of god for their slothfulnesse , and miserable neglect of the assurance of faith ; resting still in their weaknesse of faith , and not striuing to be fully perswaded . chap. xxv . of sanctification . 1. thes. 4.4 . for this is the will of god , euen your sanctification . hitherto of iustification ; sanctification followes . concerning sanctification there are these principles : 1. that whom god iustifieth , he sanctifieth , rom. 8.30 . moreouer whom he predestinate , them also hee called , and whom hee called , them also he iustified , and whom he iustified , them he also glorified . ezech. 36.26.27 . &c. a new heart also will i giue you , and a new spirit will i put within you , and i will take away the stony heart out of your body , and i will giue you an heart of flesh . and i will put my spirit within you , and cause you to walke in my statutes , and ye shall keepe my iudgements and doe them , &c. 2. that to be truly sanctified , is to die to sinne , and to rise againe to newnesse of life , rom. 6.1.2.3.4 . what shall we say then ? shall we continue in sinne , that grace may abound ? god forbid : how shall we that are dead to sinne , liue yet therein ? know ye not , that all wee which haue bin baptized into iesus christ , haue been baptized into his death ? we are buried then with him by baptisme into his death , that like as christ was raised vp from the dead by the glory of the father ; so we also should walke in newnesse of life , &c. or it is to repent & beleeue the gospell , mark. 1.15 . the time is fulfilled , and the kingdome of god is at hand : repent , and beleeue the gospell . 3. that except wee be borne againe , we cannot enter into the kingdome of god , ioh. 3.5 . iesus answered , verily , verily i say vnto thee , except that a man bee borne of water and of the spirit , hee cannot enter into the kingdome of god. heb. 12.14 . follow peace with all men , and holinesse , without the which no man shall see the lord. 1. ioh. 1.7 . but if we walke in the light , as he is in the light , wee haue fellowship one with another , and the blood of iesus christ his sonne clenseth vs from all sinne . 2. cor. 5.17 . therefore if any man be in christ , let him bee a new creature : old things are passed away , behold all things are become new . fourthly , that sanctification is gods gift , and worke in iesus christ ; we can no more conuert our selues , then wee can beget our selues at first : wee can no more create our selues new men , then wee can create our selues men , act. 5.31 . him hath god lifted vp with his right hand to bee a prince , and a sauiour , to giue repentance to israel , & forgiuenes of sins . act. 11.18 . when they heard these things , they held their peace , and glorified god saying : then hath god also to the gentiles granted repentance vnto life . 2. tim. 2.25 . instructing them with meeknes , that are cōtrary minded ; prouing if god at any time will giue them repentance , that they may know the truth . 1. cor. 1.30 . but ye are of him in christ iesus , who of god is made vnto vs wisdome , and righteousnes , and sanctification and redemption . ezech. 37.28 . thus the heathen shall know , that i the lord doe sanctifie israel , when my sanctuary shall be amongst them for euermore . tit. 3.5 . not by the workes of righteousnesse which wee had done , but according to his mercy he saued vs by the washing of the new birth , and the renuing of the holy ghost . fifthly , that our sanctification is vnperfect , while wee liue in this world , 1. ioh. 1.8 . if wee say that wee haue no sinne , wee deceiue our selues , and the truth is not in vs. prou. 24.16 . for a iust man falleth seuen times and riseth againe : but the wicked fall into mischiefe . esa. 64.6 . but we haue all been as an vncleane thing , and all our righteousnes is as filthy clouts ; and we do all fade like a leafe , and our iniquities like the wind haue taken vs away . the vses may be for information : instruction : humiliation : and consolation . for the first : wee may heere take notice of the wisedome of god in curing the posterity of adam . wee receiued a double disease from adam : the one was guilt of eternal death : the other was corruption of nature . by iustification the first was abolished , and by sanctification the other is healed by degrees . for the second , we may here learne many things : the first is carefully to studie our owne sanctification , & compell vpon our selues a more constant endeauour of sound reformation . to this end i propound two things : 1. certaine motiues which we should haue continually in our minds , to stirre vs vp to the care of holines , and to get true grace . 2. certaine rules , which may exceedingly further vs about our sanctification . the motiues are these , amongst many : 1. the commandement of god , 1. thes. 4.3 . this is the will of god , euen your sanctification . ephes. 2.10 . for wee are his workmanship , created in christ iesus vnto good workes , which god hath ordained that we should walke in them . 2. the conscience of our debt , which we owe heerein , rom. 8.12 . therefore brethren we are debters , not to the flesh to liue after the flesh : being redeemed by christ. tit. 2.14 . who gaue himselfe for vs , that he might redeeme vs from all iniquity , and purge vs to be a peculiar people to him selfe , zealous of good workes . 3 the consideration of our owne dignity : wee are the children of god , the temples of the holy ghost , kings and priests vnto god ; gods owne peculiar people and inheritance . 4. the rich promises that belong to godlinesse , 1. tim. 4.8 . for bodily exercise profiteth little : but godlinesse is profitable vnto all things , which hath the promise of the life present , and of that that is to come . 5. the assuring hereby of our calling , and election , 2. pet. 1.10 . wherefore brethren , giue rather diligence to make your calling and election sure : for if ye do these things , ye shall neuer fall . 6. the excellency of good workes : they are sacrifices seasoned with the salt of faith , kindled with the fier of the holy ghost , offered by the merit of christ , and accepted of god , 1. pet. 2.5 . and yee be made a holy priesthood , to offer vp spirituall sacrifices acceptable to god by iesus christ. 7. the silencing of the ignorant from speaking euill , 1. pet. 2.15 . for so is the will of god , that by well doing yee may put to silence the ignorance of the foolish . 8. because else , 1. the name of god will bee blasphemed , rom. 2.24 . for the name of god is blasphemed among the gentiles , through you . 2. sam. 12.14 . howbeit because by this deed thou hast caused the enemies of the lord to blaspheme , the child that is borne vnto thee shall surely die , &c. 2. the spirit of god will be grieued , and the workes of the spirit deaded , ephes. 4.30 . and grieue not the holy spirit of god , by whom ye are sealed vnto the day of redemption . 3. the iudgement of god will be prouoked , psalm . 89.31.32 . the rules we had need to bee put in minde of , that concerne sanctification , either shew vs what to take heed of , or what to doe . that wee be not deceiued in this great worke of true grace , we must take heed , first , of wretchlesnesse and security , whereby a man liues so , as he is insensible and carelesse of reformation altogether . awake thou that sleepest , ephes. 5.14 . secondly , of the daily baits , and methods of sinne : be not insnared with the pleasures of sinne , which are but for a season ; but circumcise betimes the soreskins of your hearts , ier. 4.4 . thirdly , of procrastination , and delaying of time in the businesse of reformation . for thy life is vncertaine , matth. 25.13 . and euery day addes to the heap of sinne , and of wrath , rom. 2.5 . sinne not against thy purposes of amendment , lest thou grow more hardened . fourthly , of hypocrisie , and fained holinesse , esa. 58.2 . iam. 4.8 . fifthly , of the perswasion of the merit of your owne works , rom. 10.3 . for they being ignorant of the righteousnesse of god , and going about to stablish their owne righteousnesse , haue not submitted themselues to the righteousnesse of god &c. sixthly , of temporary righteousnes , hosh. 6.4 . ephraim , what shall i doe vnto thee ? o iuda , how shall i intreat thee ? for your goodnes is as a morning cloud , and as a morning dew it goeth away . or being weary of well doing , gal. 6.9 . let vs not therefore be weary of well doing : for in due season we shall reape , if we faint not , &c. seuenthly , of the precepts of men , mat. 15.9 . in vaine they worship me , teaching for doctrine mens precepts . ezech. 20.18 . but i said vnto their children in the wildernes , walk ye not in the ordinances of your fathers , neither obserue their manners , nor defile your selues with their idols . eighthly , of looking after the example , and fashion of the world , rom. 12.2 . frame not your selues like vnto this world . ninthly , neglect of prayer for the particular furtherance of reformation and grace , lam. 5.21 . shall he not giue vs his holy spirit , if we aske him , as our sauiour sheweth in the parable ? tenthly , let the best of vs take heed of a strange deceit , and that is to rest in faire words , and attentiue hearing . how is it , that men , that heare many precious counsels , comforts , & reproofes , goe away without any reformation , and thinke they doe well , if they commend the sermon ? &c. oh , how common is this disease to be awake to heare of the disease , or medicine , and fall a sleepe before it be applied ? like those hearers in the gospell , of whom it is said , they heard , they maruelled , and they went their waies . thus much of what we should auoide , that the worke of sanctification be not hindred . on the other side there be diuers things to be obserued by vs , as first , wee must looke to the matter to bee done , which hath two considerations in it : 1. that in generall whatsoeuer things are true , honest , iust , pure , louely , and of good report , that haue vertue and praise in them , that we should thinke on those things , and study how to glorifie god , and enrich our selues by well doing them , phil. 4.8 . eph. 58. &c. 2. that we striue to keep our selues free from , or speedily mortifie such euils as vsually staine the profession of religion after calling . besides the mortification of grosse euils , which the first repentance puts away ; wee must watch carefully against other sinnes , such as are lying , rotten communication , deceit , anger , wrath , and all bitternesse , and cursed speaking , col. 3.8 . ephesians 4.25 . secondly , wee must looke to the end of all our actions , the end i say both of intention , and continuance : for 1. wee must propound the glory of god , as the maine ende of all our actions , 1. cor. 10.31 . whether therefore ye eate or drinke , or whatsoeuer yee doe , doe all to the glory of god. philip. 1.11 . 2. wee must so begin reformation and good workes , as we be sure also to endeuour with all constancy to hold out to the end , luke 1.75 . all the daies of our life in holinesse and righteousnes before him . psalm . 106.3 . blessed are they that keepe iudgement , and do righteousnesse at all times . thirdly , we must looke to the manner of our reformation , that it be done with all sinceritie , and so we doe , 1. if wee turne from all sorts of our transgressions , ezech. 18. 30.31 . therefore i will iudge you , o house of israel , euery one according to his waies ; returne therefore , and cause other to turne away from all your transgressions , so iniquitie shall not be your destruction . cast away from you all your transgressions , whereby ye haue transgressed , and make you a new heart , and a new spirit : for why will ye die , o house of israel ? 2. if wee labour for a sanctification that is throughout in all parts , in soule , in body , and in spirit , that is , in our outward man , and in our affections , and in our iudgements , and thoughts . fourthly , we must bee exceeding mindfull of the meanes of sanctification , and so we must especially thinke of 1. the word , to subiect our selues to the power of it : for if we heare our soules shall liue , we are sanctified by the truth , and god wil haue his law magnified , and the word is able to build vs vp still further , till we come to heauen , isai. 55.4 . iohn 17.19 . isaiah 42.21 . acts 20.32 . 2. the sabbath : for that is the signe of our sanctification . it is a signe to assure , that god will not faile vs in his blessings ; and it is a signe that we are indeed a holy people , if we be carefull to keepe the sabbath . it is the market day for our soules , and by the right keeping of the sabbath , we shall be the better able to serue god all the weeke after , exod. 31.13 . 14. keepe ye my sabbaths : for it is a signe betweene me and you in your generation , that ye may know , that i the lord doe sanctifie you . ye shall therefore keepe the sabbath , for it is holy vnto you ; he that defileth it shall die the death : therefore whosoeuer worketh therein , the same person shall be euen cut off from among his people . isaiah 56.2 . blessed is the man that doth this , and the sonne of man which laieth hold on it : he that keepeth the sabbath , and polluteth it not , and keepeth his hand from doing any euill , &c. thus of the vses for instruction . thirdly , these principles may terrifie all men that are vnsanctified , that haue not true grace , that liue in their sinnes : woe vnto worlds of men because of sinne ! for thereby they may gather , that there is no cure done to their natures , that they are not at all iustified before god , that they haue no part with christ , and that all they doe is still impure , mat. 7.18 . tit. 1.15 . yea , and that the wages of their sinnes will be death , and that in the state they are in , they cannot bee saued , rom. 6.23 . iohn 3.5 . and in the meane time , what know they how soone the whirle-wind of the lord may fall vpon the wicked ? ier. 23.19 . behold , the tempest of the lord goeth forth in his wrath and a violent whirle-wind shall fall downe vpon the head of the wicked . and for all the things they haue done in the flesh , they must come to iudgement ; and the rather because they haue not taken warning , acts 17.31 . because hee hath appointed a day ▪ in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse by that man , whom he hath appointed , &c. obiect . but some one may say , what tell ye vs of these terrible things ? we haue no reason to thinke of our selues , that we are vnsanctified , how can we , or you tell , who are not sanctified ? sol. it is easie to tell in the negatiue , who are not sanctified , you may know it of wicked men : 1. because they are a sleepe , and dead in sinne , and haue not not any true feeling of the hatefulnesse of their many sinnes , ephes . 2.1 . and you hath he quickned , that were dead in trespasses and sinnes . 2. because sinne raignes in them , it hath an vnlimited power in them , rom. 6.12 . let not sinne reigne therefore in your mortall body , that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof . 3. because they sinne by couenant , they hire themselues ; their purpose is with their whole harts to commit and continue in sin , they obey as seruants , rom. 6.16 . know ye not , that to whomsoeuer yee giue your selues , as seruants to obey , his seruants ye are to whom ye obey , whether it be of sinne vnto death , or of obedience vnto righteousnesse . 4. because they are silent from prayer , and confession of sinne , psalm . 32.23.5 . 5. because they haue no sauor of the things of the spirit , but altogether sauour fleshly things , rom. 8.5 . for they that are after the flesh , sauour the things of the flesh : but they that are after the spirit , the things of the spirit . 6. because they neuer had any marriage affections to iesus christ , rom. 7.5 . 7. lastly , a wicked man finds in himselfe not onely an impotency , but an impossibilitie to be subiect to the law of god. hee resolues , that he cannot possibly yeeld to the directions of the word , nor will not : whereas a godly mind loues the law , desires to obey , endeuours it , subiects himselfe to it , though hee faile many waies . fourthly and lastly , the godly may bee comforted in the obseruation of this worke of the spirit of grace , that is in iesus christ , which killes sinne in them , and hath made them aliue from the dead . obiect . but some weake christian might say , there is much comfort in this doctrine of the healing of their natures , saue that the imperfection of their sanctification is a continuall discomfort . solut. christians may and ought to comfort themselues against the imperfection of their sanctification many waies , and so if they looke 1. vpon the spirit of god in their hearts , and so two things may relieue them ; first the assistance of the spirit , which will helpe their infirmities , rom. 8. 26. and then if they consider the very fountaine of all good actions , and euery good gift to be the same spirit of god , they must needes conclude , it is some diuine thing which is wrought in them , in as much as it flowes from the holy ghost ; howsoeuer it be imperfect through the corruption of their hearts . 2. vpon iesus christ ; and so if they behold , 1. his intercession , and that likewise hath a double comfort in it : for first christ made intercession for vs , when hee praied for our sanctification , it should much comfort vs to remember , that our sanctification was one of the things christ praied for , iohn , 17.19 . secondly , christ in his intercession in heauen , couers all the imperfections of the godly , and is their aduocate before the father , 1. iohn , 2.2 . rom. 8.34 . 2. his death and resurrection , from whence flowes a vertue continually , which is of singular power , to make our sinnes still die in vs , and quicken vs to newnes of life . rom. 6.4 . for this cause did christ sanctifie himselfe , that hee might sanctifie his members by the influence come from him , as from their head , iohn , 17.17 . 3. vpon the hope of perfect holinesse : for the time will come , when they shall be without spot , or wrincle , ephes . 5.27 . the merit of their perfect holinesse is found in the price paied by iesus christ , heb. 10.14 . it should much solace them , that one day there shall be a perpetuall end of all sinne and infirmities . 4. if in the meane time they looke vpon the good nature of god , assuring them by his promises , 1. that they are vnder grace , and not vnder the law , rom. 6.14 . 2. that hee will not deale with vs after our sins , psalm . 103. 3. that he will spare vs , as a man spareth his sonne that serueth him , mal. 3.17 . 4. that hee will accept of the wil and desire for the deed , 2. cor. 8.12 . 5. that he is slow to anger , and ready to forgiue , psalm . 103.8 . and mercie pleaseth him , micha . 7.18 . 6. that hee will passe by our infirmities , & meere frailties , and not take notice of them , micha . 7.18 . chap. xxvi . of the resurrection . ioh. 5.28.29 . maruell not at this : for the houre shall come , in the which all that are in the graues , shall heare his voice : and they shall come forth that haue done good , vnto the resurrection of life ; but they that haue done euill , vnto the resurrection of condemnation . hitherto of the principles that concerne the third estate of man. the fourth estate of man is the estate of glory ; and in this we are to consider the three degrees of it : 1. the resurrection of the the body . 2. the last iudgement . 3. the glory of heauen . the principles concerning the resurrection are these : first , that the bodies of dead men shall rise out of the dust of the earth , and their owne soules shall enter into them againe , iob 19.23.26 . for i am sure that my redeemer liueth , and hee shall stand the last on the earth . and though after my skin wormes destroy this body , yet shall i see god in my flesh . esa. 26.19 . thy dead men shall liue ; euen with my body shall they rise : awake and sing ye that dwell in dust : for thy dew is as the dew of hearbes , and the earth shall cast out the dead , &c. ioh. 5.28 . maruell not at this , for the houre shall come , in the which all that are in the graues , shall heare his voice . 1. cor. 15.16 . for if the dead be not raised , then is christ not raised , &c. in the whole chapter . secondly , that the bodies of all men shall be raised , ioh. 5.28 . as before . small and great ; the earth , sea , fier , beasts , fowles , aire , &c. shall deliuer vp their dead , reuel . 20.12.13 . and i saw the dead , both great and small , stand before god ; and the bookes were opened , and another book was opened , which is the booke of life , and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes , according to their workes . and the sea gaue vp her dead which were in her , and death and hell deliuered vp the dead which were in them , and they were iudged euery man according to their works . iust and vniust shall rise , act. 24.15 . and haue hope toward god , that the resurrection of the dead , which they themselues looke for also , shall bee both of iust , and vniust . though the vniust shall not rise in the same manner , nor by the same power , that is , by the vertue of christs resurrection , dan. 12.2 . and many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake , some to euerlasting life , and some to shame and perpetuall contempt . quest. it may bee obiected , that daniel saith many shall rise , not all . answ. hee may speake so , because wee shall not all die ; but those that are aliue at christs comming , shall bee changed in stead of death and resurrection , 1. thes. 4.15 . for this say we vnto you by the word of the lord , that we which liue , and are remaining in the comming of the lord , shall not preuent them which sleepe , &c. 1. cor. 15.53 . thirdly , that the same bodies , which men carry about with them in this world shall rise againe , iob 19.26.27 . and though after my skin wormes destroy this body , yet shall i see god in my flesh . whom i my selfe shall see , and mine eyes shall behold , and none other for me , though my raines are consumed within me . psalm . 34.20 . he keepeth all his bones , not one of them is broken . this very corruptible must put on incorruption , 1. cor. 15. 53. for this corruptible must put on incorruption , and this mortall must put on immortality , &c. the reasons are , 1. because euery man shall receiue in his body , what hee hath done , either good or euill , 2. cor. 5.10 . for wee must all appeare before the iudgement seat of christ , that euery man may receiue the things which are done in his body , according to that he hath done , whether good or euill . 2. because else it were absurd that any other body should bee crowned , but that which suffered : or punished , but that which sinned . fourthly , that this resurrection shall bee at the ende of the world , euen the last day of the world , ioh. 6.44 . no man can come to me , except the father which hath sent me , draw him : and i will raise him vp at the last day . and therefore we must distinguish betweene particular resurrections , and the generall or vniuersall . particular resurrections haue been past in some cases miraculously , as at the time of christs death : but the principle speakes of the vniuersall resurrection . the vses may be for information . instruction . consolation . terrour . first , for information , and so we should striue to informe our selues in three things : 1. the certainty of it , that it shall surely be . 2. the manner of it , since it must needs be . 3. the glory of the life in christ , that can effect this . for the first , we may find many waies to affect our harts with a full assurance that our dead bodies shall rise againe : many things tend hereunto , some probable , some infallible , some shew it that it may bee , others that it shall be . that it is not impossible , other workes in nature shew : as first , the phoenix , a bird in arabia , of which it is written , that waxing old , with the stickes of frankincense and cassia , with which shee filled her nest , shee makes a fier , and being put in the fier , and burned to ashes , by and by after the dew of heauen lights vpon her , she comes forth aliue . secondly , we know that many little birds , which for the winter-time lie out of the way in deepe marshes , or such like places ; yet in spring time come out aliue againe . thirdly , we see that trees , and plants in winter loose all their ornaments , and being dead to see to , yet reuiue againe . fourthly , thus doth the seed also which the husband-man throwes into the ground , 1. cor. 15.36 . o foole , that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die . fifthly and lastly , night and day , sleepe and waking , shewes vs thus much : the day dies into the night , and yet reuiues to the world with all his glory . yea in man himselfe there is grounds of singular probability : for , first his deliuerances , from dangers and distresses , are ( as it were ) lesser resurrections , and the terme is giuen to it . the houses in which the iewes were captiues , were as so many graues ; and their returne , as a rising from the dead , ezech. 37.12 . 2. cor. 1.10 . secondly , he hath had an experience of the first resurrection in his soule already , and how can he doubt the rising of his body ? rom. 6. ioh. 5.25.28 . reu. 20.6 . thirdly , diuers particular men haue appeared raised from the dead ; as lazarus , ioh. 13.43 . the saints that appeared out of the graues after christs death , mat. 27.52.53 . fourthly , god shewed this in a vision to ezechiel , when he saw a field full of dry bones , receiuing at gods commandement flesh , and nerues , and life , ezech. 37. but wee haue more then probabilities , we haue certaine arguments for it , as first , the word of god assuring it , 1. thes. 4.15 . as was proued before , to whom all things are possible , luk. 1.37 . for with god shall nothing bee vnpossible , luk. 18.27 . the things which are vnpossible with men , are possible with god. rom. 4.21 . secondly , the sonne of god vndertaking to effect it , iohn 6. 39. and this is the fathers will which hath sent me , that of all which he hath giuen me , i should loose nothing , but should raise it vp againe at the last day , &c. thirdly , the resurrection of christ to assure it , who rose as our surety , 1. thes. 4.14 . fourthly , the sacrament of baptizme sealeth both the resurrection of soule and body . fifthly and lastly , the apostle proues at large the necessity of the resurrection , by many arguments : shewing in effect , that all religion is ouerturned , if the resurrection bee not beleeued , 1. cor. 15.12 . thus that it shall be : how it shall be , followes . the manner of the resurrection will be thus : first , when the last day of the world is come , christ on a sudden , in the same visible forme he went to heauen , will come in the clouds with his angels , and thousands of the soules of his saints , iude 14. 1. thes. 4.15 . secondly , the trumpet of god shall then sound , the voice of the arch-angell shall then bee heard : christ shall command , exhort , and call vpon the dead to rise and come away to iudgement , 1. thes. 4.16.17 . so as the very dead shall heare this shout and voice of christ , ioh. 5.29 . matth. 24.31 . thirdly , immediately the spirit of christ will bring the soules of all the godly , and they shall enter into their bodies ; and then they that haue slept in the dust of the earth , shall bee raised to life . fourthly , the bodies of the wicked shall then bee raised also by the power of god , by a way vnknowne . fifthly , men , that shal then be aliue , shal haue a chāge on a sudden in stead of death , and resurrection , 1. cor. 15. 1. thes. 4.15 . 16. sixthly , the angels shall then gather the elect , and chase in the reprobates from the foure winds of heauen , and present them before christ , matth. 24.31 . thus of the manner . thirdly , this may informe vs concerning the glorious life of the sonne of god , who doth not onely liue himselfe ; but giues life to millions of men by his spirit , ioh. 5.21 . and raised dead bodies so miraculously . thus of the vses for information . from the doctrine of the resurrection wee should learne diuers things . first , it should teach vs not to mourne immoderatly for the dead , since when christ comes againe , he will bring them with him ; and the earth and seas shall make a true account of their dead in the day of christ , 1. thes. 4.13.14 . secondly , it should teach vs to haue the very body in honor , and not to transgresse against it , seeing it is redeemed by christ , and shall be raised to immortality at the last day . now men sin against the body : 1. when ( according to the traditions of men , and through wil-worship ) they withhold from the body due sustenance , col. 2.23 . 2. when men pollute their bodies , that should be prepared to immortality , with filthinesse ; such as is whoredome , drunkennesse , sodomitry , and such like abominations , 1. cor. 6.13.14 . 3. when the bodies of the saints are not carefully and with meet honour buried , or their burying places vnciuilly dis-regarded . thirdly , the consideration of this great worke of the resurrection of mens bodies , should teach vs to trust god in lesser matters , and beleeue his promises , though there bee neuer so great vnlikelihood of the accomplishment , in respect of outward meanes and appearance . rom. 4.17.18 . fourthly , we should especially be careful to get the assurāce , that our bodies shall haue a glorious resurrection , act. 24.15 . and that we may be so assured : 1. wee must pray god to giue vs his holy spirit , as the pledge of it . for then if the spirit of christ be in vs , the same spirit that raised christ , will raise vp our naturall bodies at the last day , rom. 8.11 . 2. wee must bee sure of the first resurrection , that the body be dead in respect of sinne , and the soule raised vp to a liuely care of newnesse of life : they that haue their part in the first resurrection , shall neuer taste of the second death , rom. 6. reuel . 20.6 . 3. in particular , we must bee sure to get faith in iesus christ , who is the resurrection , and the life , and in whom whosoeuer beleeueth , he shal not die for euer , ioh. 11.25 . fifthly , we should resolue to liue , like such as beleeue a glorious resurrection , and to this end 1. we should be stedfast , and vnmoueable in all conditions of life , 1. cor. 15.58 . 2. wee should liue , as men deuoted wholy to the seruice of iesus christ , whose we are both in life and death , rom. 14.7.8 . 3. we should striue to abound in the worke of the lord , 1. cor. 15.58 . rousing vp our selues to the care of well doing , 1. cor. 15. 34. studying to keepe a conscience void of offence toward god and man , acts 24.16 . 4. our minds should run on that time , and our conuersation should bee in heauen , philip. 3.20 . thus much of the vses for instruction . thirdly , the doctrine of the resurrection hath singular comfort in it , and christians are charged to comfort themselues , and one another with these things , 1. thes. 4.18 . and dauid did reioyce , and was glad at heart for this reason , psalm . 16.9 . for that is the time of the refreshing of all christians , acts 3.19 . and so the godly haue been wont to comfort themselues against diuers maladies , as 1. against the paines and tortures of the body ; so did iob , iob , 19.25.26.27 . for i am sure , that my redeemer liueth , and he shal stand the last on earth . and though after my skin , wormes destroy this body ; yet shall i see god in my flesh . whom i my selfe shall see , and mine eies shal behold , and none other for me , though my reines are consumed within me . and so did the godly mentioned , heb. 11.35 . the women receiued their dead raised to life ; other also were racked , and would not bee deliuered , that they might receiue a better resurrection . 2. against the troubles and generall miseries of this life , and so gods people are comforted , dan. 12.1.2 . and at that time shall michael stand vp , the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people ; and there shall be a time of trouble , such as was neuer since there began to be a nation vnto the same time ; and at that time thy people shall be deliuered , euerie one that shall bee found written in the booke . and many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth , shall awake , some to euerlasting life , and some to shame and perpetuall contempt . isaiah 26.19 . thy dead men shall liue ; euen with my body shall they rise : awake , and sing ye that dwell in dust ; for thy dew is , as the dew of hearbs , and the earth shal cast out the dead . 3. against death it selfe , and so the apostle triumphs , 1. cor. 15.55.56.57 . o death where is thy sting ! o graue , where is thy victorie ! the sting of death is sinne : and the strength of sinne is the law. but thankes be vnto god , which hath giuen vs victorie through our lord iesus christ. obiect . now if any aske , what in the doctrine of the resurrection should comfort vs in those cases ? solut. i answere : the consideration of the maruelous glory of our bodies , in which they should rise , should fill vs with sweet refreshings , phil. 3.21 . who shall change our vile bodie , that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bodie , according to the working , wherby he is able to subdue al things vnto himselfe . for sixe things shal befall our bodies at that day : 1. immortalitie : so as they can neuer die againe , 1. cor. 15.42.43.44.53 . 2. incorruptiblenesse : they shall neuer be inclined to putrefaction , or any corruption . 3. spiritualnesse : our bodies shall bee raised spirituall bodies ; they shall be like spirits , as it were , and that in diuers respects : 1. because they shall be possessed fully by the spirit of god , so as they shall be both gouerned by the spirit , and be subiect to the spirit wholly . 2. because they shal liue as the angels in heauen do , without meate or raiment , or any other bodily helpes or sustenance . 3. because they shall be for nimblenesse , as it were spirits ; they shall bee able with incredible swiftnesse , to passe into all the parts of the world , earth , or aire , &c. for they shall meete christ in the aire , 1. thessal . 4.17 . 4. power : for of bodies full of weakenesse , and subiect to many calamities and distresses , and paines , they shall bee raised in power ; that is , strong , able , and impassible . 5. perfection : for they shall be freed from deformitie , vnhandsomnesse , maimes , lamenesse , &c. and become most faire and comely ; neither infancie , nor old age hindring them , but shall appeare in full age and beautie . 6. shining and splendor , as the sunne or starres in the firmament : the bodie being clothed with a celestiall glory and diuine light , 1. cor. 15.40 . dan. 12.3 . and they that bee wise , shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament ; and they that turne many to righteousnesse , shal shine as the starres for euer and euer . matth. 13 43. then shall the iust men shine as the sun in the kingdome of their father : hee that hath eares to heare , let him heare , &c. and as we may comfort our selues by the meditation of these distinct glories in our bodies then , so it may adde vnto our comfort , and the establishment of it , if we consider three things more ; to wit , first , the certaintie of all this , that it shall come . secondly , the shortnesse of the time thither . thirdly , the condition of the body till then . for the first , wee should not doubt of it , because we are borne againe to this hope , wee are children of the resurrection now , and so called , luke 20.36 . and besides , christ hath a charge to loose nothing ; no , not of the bodies of the saints , ioh. 6.39 . and this is the fathers will , which hath sent me , that of all which he hath giuen mee , i should loose nothing , but should raise it vp againe at the last day . and he came to this end , to dissolue the workes of the diuell , which is sinne , and death by sin , 1. iohn . 3.8 . christ also is the first fruit of the dead , 1. cor. 15.20 . and further we haue felt of the power of christ in raising our soules alreadie : he that by his word made all things , can by the same voice bring backe our bodies againe . ob. that the bodies resolued to dust and ashes , should rise , is against cōmon sense and reason . solut. it is aboue reason , but not against it . can men of ashes make glasse , and cannot god of dust make againe the body ? ob. but the bodies dead are often mingled with the bodies of beasts or other creatures . sol. the goldsmith by his art can seuer mettals , and extract one mettall out of another , and cannot god distinguish these dusts , & c ? ob. flesh and blood cannot come into the kingdome of heauen . 1. cor. 15.50 . sol. by flesh and blood is not meant the body simply , but as it is clothed with sin and infirmity , which shall be done away in the resurrection . ob. the condition of man and beast is one , eccles. 3.19 . for the condition of the children of men , and the condition of beasts are euen as one condition vnto them : as the one dieth , so dieth the other : for they haue all one breath , and there is no excellencie of man aboue the beast ; for all is vanitie . sol. first , they are like in dying , not in the estate after death . secondly , it may be said , those words are the obiection of the epicure , not the opinion of salomon . 〈◊〉 second , it may adde to our comfort , that the lord is at hand , phil. 4.5 . and that it is but a little season thither to , reuel . 6.11 . 〈◊〉 third , the present condition of our bodies euen in the graue should comfort vs : for 1. the couenant of god is of force euen with them , as they lie in the dust of the earth , mat. 22. 31.32 . 2. the vnion with christ holds still , col. 1.18 . 3. they are not dead , but a sleepe in iesus , 1. thes. 4.13 . 〈◊〉 fourth , wo vnto wicked men , euen because of the resurrection : they shal sleep for a while in their bodies , but when they wake , they must be had away to execution . they that haue done euill shall rise vnto shame , and contempt , and condemnation : their bodies shall rise in dishonor , deformitie , passible , tormented with eternall and vnutterable tortures , liuing in darkenesse without light , ( liuing , i say for euer , onely to feele the paines of eternal dying ) shut vp in prison , and denied the comfort of the meanest creatures ; it were well for them , if they did neuer rise , reuel . 20.14.15 . dan. 12.2 . iohn , 5.29 . chap. xxvii . of the last iudgement . 2. cor. 5.10 . for wee must all appeare before the iudgement seate of christ , that euery man may receiue the things which are done in his bodie , according to that he hath done , whether it be good or euill . hitherto of the resurrection ; the last iudgment followes . the principles concerning the last iudgement are these : first , that there shall bee a generall iudgement , iude , 14.15 . and enoch also , the seuenth from adam , prophesied of such , saying : behold , the lord commeth with thousand of saints : to giue iudgement against all men , and to rebuke all the vngodly among them of all their wicked deedes , which they haue vngodlily committed , and of all their cruell speakings , which wicked sinners haue spoken against him . psalm . 9.8 . for he shall iudge the world in righteousnesse , and shall iudge the people with equitie . psalm . 50.1 . the god of gods , euen the lord hath spoken , and called the earth from the rising vp of the sunne , vnto the going downe thereof , &c. heb. 9.27 . and as it is appointed vnto men , that they shal once die , and after that commeth the iudgement . dan. 7.9.10 . i beheld till the thrones were set vp , and the ancient of daies did sit , whose garment was white as snow , and the haire of his head like the pure wooll : his throne was like the fierie flame , and his wheeles as burning fier : a fierie streame issued , and came forth from before him : thousand thousands ministred vnto him , and ten thousand thousands stood before him : the iudgement was set , and the bookes opened . secondly , that christ shall be the iudge , and that in the humane nature , act. 10.42 . and hee commanded vs to preach vnto the people , and to testifie that it is he , that is ordained of god a iudge of quicke and dead . acts 17.13 . because he hath appointed a day , in the which hee will iudge the world in righteousnesse by that man , whom he hath appointed , whereof he hath giuen an assurance to al men , in that he raised him from the dead . 2. tim. 4.1 . i charge thee therfore before god , and before the lord iesus christ , which shall iudge the quicke and dead at his appearing , and in his kingdome . iohn 5.22 . for the father iudgeth no man , but hath committed all iudgement vnto the sonne . ob. the apostles shall iudge the twelue tribes , matth. 19.28 . sol. 1. the apostles iudge the twelue tribes by their faith and doctrine , the example whereof shall take away all excuse from the israelites . 2. they shall be as iustices of peace on the bench , and consent to christs iudgement . ob. the saints shall iudge the world , 1. cor. 6.2 . sol. as assessors with christ , bearing witnesse to it , approouing it , and assenting to it , as the apostles before . 2. as they are members of christ the iudge . 3. as their example shall bee alleaged to condemne the wicked . ob. but the father and holy ghost iudge too . sol. the father doth iudge by the sonne , as by his representatiue wisdome , iohn 5.22 . for the father iudgeth no man , but hath committed all iudgement vnto the sonne . dan. 7.13.14 . as i beheld in visions by night , behold , one like the sonne of man came in the clouds of heauen , and approched vnto the ancient of daies , and they brought him before him ; 14. and he gaue him dominion , and honour , and a kingdome , that all people , nations , &c. or thus : the authority of iudging is common to the three persons , but the execution onely proper to the sonne . thirdly , all men shall be iudged at that day : iust and vniust ; quicke and dead ; small & great , iude 15. to giue iudgement against all men , and to rebuke all the vngodly among them . rom. 14.9 . for christ therefore died , and rose againe , and reuiued , that he might bee lord both of the dead , and the quicke , &c. 2. cor. 5.10 . for we must all appeare before the iudgement seate of iesus christ , &c. ro. 14.10 . we shall all appeare before the iudgmēt seat of iesus christ. psalm . 9.8 . for hee shall iudge the world . obiect . all men are beleeuers , or vnbeleeuers ; now the beleeuers shall not come vnto iudgement : as appeares , ioh. 5.24 . verily verily i say vnto you , he that heareth my word , and beleeueth in him that sent me , hath euerlasting life , and shall not come into condemnation , but hath passed from death vnto life . and the vnbeleeuer is condemned already , ioh. 3.18 . he that beleeueth not is condemned already . solution . the beleeuer shall not come into the iudgement of condemnation , and the vnbeleeuer is condemned already in effect and substance : 1. in the counsell of god : 2. in the word of god : 3. in his owne conscience , but yet the manifestation and finishing of this iudgement remaines vnto the last day . fourthly , all the secret things of mens natures , or workes shall be brought to light , luk. 8.17 . for nothing is secret , that shall not be euident : neither any thing hid , that shall not be knowne , and come to light . 1. cor. 4.5 . therefore iudge nothing before the time , vntill the lord come , who will lighten things that are hid in darknesse , and make the counsels of the heart manifest . rom. 2.16 . at that day god shall iudge the secrets of men by iesus christ. and therefore called a day of reuelation or declaration , rom. 2.5 . fifthly , it shall bee at the last day , but the precise day and houre is not knowne to any men or angels ; the proofe for the like principle concerning the resurrection , serues for this place , mat. 24.36 . sixthly , the iudgement shall be most iust and righteous , and all shall confesse it , rom. 14.10 . but why dost thou iudge thy brother ? or why dost thou despise thy brother ? for we shall all appeare bofore the iudgement seat of christ. 2. tim. 4.8 . for henceforth is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse , which the lord the righteous iudge shall giue me at that day : and not to me onely , but vnto all them also which loue his appearing , &c. rom. 2.5 . but thou , after thine hardnesse , & hart that canot repent , heapest vnto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath , and of the declaration of the iust iudgement of god. psalm . 9.8 . for he shall iudge the world with righteousnesse , and shall iudge the people with equitie . seuenthly , the iudgement shall bee according to mens workes , 2. cor. 5.10 . euery man shall receiue the things which are done in his body , according to that he hath done , whether it be good or euill , &c. rom. 2.6 . who will reward euery man according to his workes . obiect . wee are iustified by faith alone without workes . solution . 1. workes are inquired after in the last iudgement , as the signes of faith , and vnbeleefe . sol. 2. we are iustified by faith onely , but shall bee iudged by faith and workes both together . for that , iudgement doth not serue to make men iust , that are vniust , but only to manifest them to be so indeed , which were so in this life being truly iustified . the consideration whereof should serue for diuers vses , and first for instruction , and so it should teach vs , first in generall , speedily to repent vs of our sinnes , and it should stirre vs to all possible care of holy life , and to the loue of all well doing , by which our reckoning might then bee furthered , act. 17.31 . 2. pet. 3.11 . seeing therfore that all these things must bee dissolued , what manner persons ought ye to be in holy conuersation and godlinesse ? 14. wherfore beloued , seeing you look for such things , be diligent , that yee may bee found of him in peace , without spot and blamelesse . philip. 1.10 . that ye may discerne things that differ one from another , that yee may bee pure and without offence , vntill the day of christ. tit. 2.12.13 . and teacheth vs that wee should denie vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and that we should liue s●berly , and ●ighteously , and godly in this present world . looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the mighty god , and of our sauiour iesus christ. secondly , in particular it should teach vs , 1. not to doate vpon earthly things , seeing they must all bee consumed in that day in the fier . 2. to bee patient vnder all wrongs , seeing wee are assured there shal be vengeance rendred at that day , 2. thes. 1.5.6.7 . iam. 5.6.7 . phil. 4.5 . thirdly , to take heed of rashnesse in iudging other men : and men offend in censuring ; 1. when they inflict censures , and meddle ouer busily , or curiously with them that bee without , 1. cor. 5.12 . for what haue i to do , to iudge them which are without ? 2. when men speake euill of that which is good , and call good euill , esa. 5.20 . woe vnto them that speake good of euill , and euill of good ; which put darknes for light , and light for darknes ; that put bitter for sweet , & sweet for sowre . 3. whē men iudge of things doubtfull , as the hiddē things of the heart , & the secret things of darknes , 1. cor. 4.5 . therefore iudge nothing before the time , vntill the lord come , who wil lightē things that are hid in darknes , and make the coūsels of the hart manifest . and censure things in the worst sense . 4. when men vncharitably censure others about things indifferent , rom. 14.3.4 . let not him that eateth , despise him that eateth not ; and let not him which eateth not , iudge him that eateth , for god hath receiued him . 4. who art thou that condemnest another mans seruant ? he standeth or falleth to his owne master : yea he shall be established ; for god is able to make him stand , &c. 13. let vs not therefore iudge one another any more , but vse your iudgement rather in this , that no man put an occasion to fall , or a stumbling blocke before his brother . 5. when men commit , what they condemne , rom. 2.1.2 . therefore thou art inexcusable , o man , whosoeuer thou art that iudgest ? for in that thou iudgest another , thou condemnest thy selfe ; for thou that iudgest , dost the same things . but we know , that the iudgement of god is according to truth , against them which commit such things . or being guilty of greater faults , condemne others for lesser , mat. 7.1.2.3 . iudge not , that ye bee not iudged . and why seest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye , and perceiuest not the beame , that is in thine owne eye , &c. 6. when men make a fault worse then it is . fourthly , it should strike a feare into our hearts concerning god , and his dreadfull maiesty , and iustice ; and make vs afraid to offend him , and seeke by all meanes to glorifie him , whatsoeuer become of vs and the world , reuel . 14.7 . saying with a loud voice ; feare god , and giue glory to him ; for the houre of his iudgement is come ; and worship him that made heauen and earth , and the sea , and the fountaine of waters , &c. fifthly , wee should bee sober , in not enquiring into things not reuealed , and looke to the maine businesse : as for the precise time , or place of the iudgement , or from whence the fier shall come that shall burne all , or what kind kind of throne it shal be , or what the signe of the sonne of man shall be , or such like ; we beleeue that they shall be , but ought not to enquire when , where , or how they shall be . sixthly , chiefly this doctrine of the last iudgement should compell in all of vs a care so to liue , that we may be sure to haue comfort in that day : and that we shall be sure to finde ; 1. if wee beleeue in iesus christ , ioh. 5.24 . verily verily i say vnto you , hee that heareth my word , and beleeueth in him that sent me , hath euerlasting life , and shall not come into condemnation , but hath passed from death vnto life . 2. if we be sure to iudge our selues here , god will not condemne vs with the world , 1. cor. 11.31 . for if wee would iudge our selues , we should not be iudged , &c. 3. if continually we consult with the word of god , to see that our deeds bee wrought in god , ioh. 3.19.20.21 . hee that doth truth , commeth to the light , that his deeds might be made manifest , that they are wrought according to god. 4. if we watch and pray alwaies , they that pray much on earth , shall stand before christ with comfort at that day , luke 21.36 . watch therefore and pray continually , that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to passe , and that ye may stand before the sonne of man. 5. if wee be mercifull and louing , and bountifull to the godly in their distresses , matth. 25. 31 &c. 6. if wee be sheepe ; sheepe i say : 1. for tractablenesse , so as we know , heare , and be ruled by the voice of christ. 2. for sociablenesse : a sheepe will not bee alone , nor sort with swine . 3. for profitablenesse ▪ that we be not idle , nor vnfruitfull , mat. 25. ioh. 10. 7. if wee can get the seale of the spirit , as our earnest of our finall redemption at that day ; the witnesse of the spirit in this life will make all sure against that day , ephes. 1.14 . the spirit of promise is the earnest of our inheritance , vntill the redemption of the possession purchased vnto the praise of his glory . rom. 8.15 . for ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage to feare againe , but ye haue receiued the spirit of adoption , whereby we cry abba father . 8. if wee hold fast what wee haue , and loose not what wee haue wrought , reuel . 3.11 . behold i come shortly ; hold that which thou hast , that no man take thy crowne . 2. ioh. 8. looke to your selues , that wee loose not the things which wee haue done , but that we may receiue a full reward . 9. if wee often receiue the sacrament of the lords supper with due preparation : for therin 1. christ doth familiarly conuerse with vs , and is giuen to our nourishment to eternall life . 2. the outward elements are vnfained pledges of the remission of all our sinnes . 3. we therein remember the death of christ for vs , and how hee was iudged for our sakes , and thereby haue our hearts setled against the feare of any seuerity from him . 4. in the right preparation for the sacrament , we prepare for the last iudgement too ; one worke serues to both purposes . 5. the sacraments are gods broad seales , to assure vs that we shall speed wel at that day . thus of the vses for instruction . secondly , this doctrine of the last iudgement hath singular terrour in it to all impenitent sinners , which may be considered either more generally , or more particularly . first , in generall , it is terrible for them to heare , and know , that god hath set them a day , and hath giuen them finall warning to repent ; or else vndoubtedly he will iudge them with all seuerity , act. 17.31 . because he hath appointed a day , in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse , by that man whom hee hath appointed , whereof he hath giuen an assurance vnto all men , in that he hath raised him from the dead . iude 15. to giue iudgement against all men , and to rebuke all the vngodlily among them of all their wicked deeds , which they haue vngodly committed , and of all their cruell speaking , which wicked sinners haue spoken against him . rom. 2.5 . but thou after thine hardnesse , and heart that cannot repent , heapest vnto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath , and of the declaration of the iust iudgement of god. who will reward euery man according to his workes , &c. secondly , in particular , this terrour is the more grieuous , if they consider either the distinct miseries shall then fall vpon thē , or the seuerall sins god hath reserued to triall and punishment at that day . what hart cā stand before the serious thoughts of the particulars ? 1. they shall heare the thunder of christs fearefull voice summoning them . 2. they shall be chased in by the angels before christ , from al the foure winds of heauen . 3. they shall be set at christs lefthand , as a signe of miserable disgrace , matth. 25.33 . 4. a fier shall deuoure before christ , and it shall be tempestuous round about him , psal. 50.3 . our god shall come , and shall not keepe silence ; a fier shall deuoure before him , and a mightie tempest shall be moued round about him , &c. 2. thes. 1.8 . in flaming fier rendring vengeance vnto them , that do not know god , and which obey not vnto the gospell of our lord iesus christ. 5. they shall be euerlastingly shamed , and before al the world , dan. 12.2 . and many of them , that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake , some to euerlasting life , and some to shame and perpetuall contempt ; when all their sinnes shall bee discouered , and set in order before them , psalm . 50.21 . these things hast thou done , and i held my tongue ; therefore thou thoughtst , that i was like thee : but i will reprooue thee , and set them in order before thee , &c. 6. they shall be sentenced to eternall condemnation , containing in it , 1. separation from god , christ , and all the godly , go ye cursed , &c. matth. 25.41 . &c. 2. paine and anguish vnutterable , rom. 2.9 . tribulation and anguish shall bee vpon the soule of euery man that doth euil : of the iew first , and also of the grecian . 3. fellowship with the diuell and his angels , matth. 25. 41. as a little before . ob. some one might say , we hope it is not certaine , that there shall be such a day . sol. it is most certaine , it is appointed , as certaine , as that men shal die , heb. 9.27 . and as it is appointed vnto men , that they shall once die , and after that commeth the iudgement . acts 17.31 . because he hath appointed a day , in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse , &c. besides , the terrible plagues , which haue been and are in the world , shewes , that god is extremely wrath with sinne , and will call to iudgement ; such as the drowning of the old world , burning of sodome , swallowing vp of corath , dathan , and abiram ; the neglect of the gentiles , the reiection of the iewes , the punishing of christ , the afflictions of the godly , the warres , pestilences , famins , &c. that are in the world . and they themselues may gesse somewhat at it , by the sharpenes of the word , the accusing of the conscience , the checkes of the spirit , and the fearefull terrors of conscience which fall vpon some men . ob. but god we hope will be mercifull . sol. it is a day of wrath , not of mercy ; the date of mercy will bee then out , rom. 2.5 . but thou after thine hardnesse and heart , which cannot repent , heapest vnto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath , and of the declaration of the iust iudgement of god , &c. ob. but god saies nothing to me all this while : i escape , and am not troubled ; i discerne no way that god is displeased with me . sol. 1. seaes of wrath hang ouer thy head daily , though thou discerne them not , iohn 3. vlt. he that beleeueth in the sonne hath euerlasting life , and he that obeyeth not the sonne , shall not see the life , but the wrath of god abideth on him . sol. 2. many signes of gods displeasure are vpon thy soule , though thou feele them not . it is one extreame curse to be left off vnto such a spirit of slumber . 3. though god doth not yet discouer to thee his displeasure , yet will hee awake to thy iudgement , psalm . 50.31 . these things hast thou done , & i held my tongue ; therefore thou thoughtst , that i was like thee : but i will reprooue thee , and set them in order before thee . ob. but i may finde some meanes to helpe my selfe at that day . sol. riches will not auaile in the day of wrath , iob , 36.18 . for gods wrath is , lest he should take thee away in thine abundance : for no multitude of gifts can deliuer thee . vers. 19. will he regard thy riches ? he regardeth not gold , nor all them that excell in strength . and there shall bee none to deliuer , psalm . 50.22 . o consider this , yee that forget god ; lest i teare you in pieces , and there be none that can deliuer you , &c. ob. but i may then repent . sol. no : as death leaues thee , so shall iudgement find thee ; it is a day of the declaration of the righteous iudgement of god , rom. 2.5 . but thou after thine hardnesse , and heart , that cannot repent , heapest vnto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath , and of the declaration of the iust iudgement of god. 2. cor. 5.10 . for we must all appeare before the iudgement seate of christ , that euery man receiue the things which are done in his bodie , according to that he hath done , whether it be good or euill . ob. but there is a world of people in the same case . sol. he will iudge all the vngodly , hee cares not for the multitude , iude , 15. to giue iudgement against all men , and to rebuke all the vngodly amongst them of all their wicked deeds , which they haue vngodly committed , and of al their cruell speaking , which wicked sinners haue spoken against him . besides , he hath plagued multitudes , as the old world , &c. and he can easily doe execution : for hee comes with thousand thousands of his angels , iude , 14. and enoch also , the seuenth from adam , prophesied of such , saying , behold , the lord commeth with thousands of his saints . ob. but who knowes my faults ? sol. ' the hidden things of darkenes , and the secrets of mens hearts shall then be discouered , 1. cor. 4.5 . therfore iudge nothing before the time vntill the lord come , who will lighten things , that are hid in darkenesse , and make the counsels of the hearts manifest , and then shall euery man haue praise of god. ob. but by what euidence can i be conuinced ? god may forget my faults before then . sol. no : god hath them written in his book of remembrance with a pen of iron , and a point of a diamond , ier. 17.1 . the sinne of iuda is written with a pen of iron , and with the point of a diamond , and grauen vpon the table of your hearts , and vpon the hornes of your altars . and euidence wil be easie to bee had vpon the opening of these bookes , reuel ▪ 20.12 . and i saw the dead both great and small stand before god , and the books were opened : and another booke was opened , which is the booke of life , and the dead were iudged of those things which are written in the bookes , according to their workes . besides , the heauens will declare his righteousnes , psal. 50.6 . and the creatures abused by them , will giue in euidence against them , ier. 17.1 . and the word that men haue heard shall iudge them . and their own consciences shall be dilated , and bee in stead of a thousand witnesses : and the spirit of god that hath so often reproued the world of sinne , can easily accuse them , ioh. 16.8 . and when he is come , he will reprooue the world of sinne , and of righteousnesse , and of iudgement , &c. ob. i know no great fault by my selfe . sol. though thou forget thy sinnes ; yet christ will remember them , matth. 25. it will not serue the turne to say , when did wee so ? ob. but i neuer did christ any great wrong . sol. thou hast many waies sinned against christ , though thy carelesse heart perceiue it not : but if thou hadst not , yet in as much as thou hast done wrong to christians , thou hast done it to christ , matth. 25. ob. but i haue done much good in the world . sol. if thou haue not had true faith , and loue , and repentance , it shall not auaile thee , as these places shew , 1. cor. 13.3 . and though i feede the poore with all my goods , and though i giue my body , that i be burned , and haue not loue , it profiteth me nothing . ob. but wee neuer had such meanes of knowledge , as others haue had . sol. they that haue sinned without the law , shal be iudged without the law ; and they that haue sinned vnder the law , shall be iudged by the law , rom. 2. 12. for as many as haue sinned without the law , shall perish also without the law ; & as many as haue sinned in the law , shall be iudged by the law. ob. but it is a great while thither . sol. it is not : for the lord is at hand , 1. pet. 4.7 . now the end of all things is at hand ; be you therefore sober , and watching in prayer . iam. 5.8 . be ye also patient therfore , and settle your hearts ; for the comming of the lord draweth neere . besides , the signes of the last iudgement are the most of them accomplished already ; antichrist is reuealed , and almost pulled downe , 2. thessalon . 2. 1. iohn 2.18 . the world hath been full of spirits of deceiuers , 1. tim. 4.1 . the sinnes of the last age are euery where at the full : iniquity abounds , 2. timoth. 3.1 . matth. 24.12 . the powers of heauen are shaken , which appeares by the often eclipses of sunne and moone ; and by the vncertaintie of the seasons both in summer and winter , matth. 24.29 . the sea roares and is outragious ; men are secure now as in the daies of noah , matth. 24.37 . 3. were it that it were further off : yet the day of death , which is the day of thy particular iudgement , is not farre off . ob. but yet sure there will be some kind of warning . sol. no : he will come suddenly , as the thiefe in the night , 1. thes. 5.2.3 . for ye your selues know perfectly , that the day of the lord shal come , euē as a thiefe in the night . for when they shall say , peace and safetie , then shall come vpon them sudden destruction , as the trauaile vpon a woman with child , and they shall not escape . mat. 24.39 . and knew nothing , till the flood came , and tooke them all away ; so shall also the comming of the sonne of man be , and the rather should men be affected with the terror of this day , and bee thereby perswaded to repentance : 1. because god will be iudge himselfe , psalm . 50.6 . and therefore there can be no appeale , hee being supreme iudge . 2. because it is a finall sentence , there will be no time of respit , or change , or reuocation . 3. because they shall be iudged by him , whom they haue so much despised , and wronged , reuel . 1.7.8 . behold , he commeth in the cloudes , and euerie eie shall see him ; yea , euen they which pierced him through , and all kindreds of the earth shall waile before him . 4. because gods proceedings shall bee all cleared , and euerie tongue shall confesse , that god hath done nothing but iustice , rom. 2.5 . it is a day of the declaration of the iust iudgement of god : and rom. 14.11 . and this iustice will the more appeare 1. by the equitie of gods dealing : they haue had their daies of sinne , and therefore reason hee should haue his day of wrath , rom. 2.5 . 2. by the consideration of his patiēce , what a wonderful while hath god deferred this last iudgment , 2. pet. 3.9 . the lord is not slacke concerning his promise , as some men count slacknesse , but is patient toward vs , and would haue no man to perish , but would all men to come to repentance . rom. 2.4 . or despisest thou the riches of his bountifulnesse , and patience , and long suffering , not knowing that the bountifulnesse of god leadeth thee to repentance , &c. 3. god will then discouer a world of offences in euery wicked mā , that are not now knowne . 4. god will then vnfold the secrets of his counsell , and bring forth exquisite reasons of his proceedings , which are now like a great deepe vnto vs , rom. 11.33 . o the deepenesse of the riches , both of the wisdome , and knowledge of god! how vnsearchable are his iudgements , and his waies past finding out ! &c. and as this doctrine is terrible , in respect of the parts of their miserie , and in respect of the taking off of all obiections : so is it , because the particular sinners are particularly mentioned in scripture , that shall be sure to speede ill at that day : for christ with terror will then iudge , 1. the man of sin , who shall be sure to be consumed with the breath of his mouth , though hee lord it for a time ouer all that is called god , 2. thes. 2.4 . 2. all that worship the beast , and receiue his marke , shall bee cast into the lake that burnes with fier and brimstone , reuel . 19.20 . and 14.9.10 . 3. all atheisticall mockers of religion , and the comming of christ , 2. pet. 3.3 . 4. all false teachers , which bring in damnable heresies , 2. pet. 2.1 . 5. all apostates , that sin willingly after they haue receiued the truth , hebr. 10.26 . for if wee sinne willingly after that wee haue receiued the knowledge of the truth , there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes . 27. but a fearfull looking for of iudgement , and violent fier , which shall deuoure the aduersaries , &c. 6. all goates , that is , vnruly christians , that will not be kept within the moūds of christs gouernment , matth. 25.32 . 7. all hypocrites shall then be vnmasked , luk. 12.1.2 . psal. 50.17 . take heede to your selues of the leuen of the pharisies , which is hypocrisie . 2. for there is nothing couered , that shall not bee reuealed , neither hid , that shall not be knowne . 8. all railers shall receiue the punishment of their vngodly words , psal. 50.19 . iude 15. to giue iudgement against all men , and to rebuke all the vngodly among thē of all their wicked deeds , which they haue vngodlily committed , and of all their cruell speaking , which wicked sinners haue spoken against him , &c. 9. all censorious and masterlike men , that iudge other men in what they are guilty themselues , rom. 2.1 . therefore thou art inexcusable , o man , whosoeuer thou art , that iudgest : for in that that thou iudgest another , thou condemnest thy selfe , for thou that iudgest dost the same things . 3. and thinkest thou this , o thou man , that iudgest them which doe such things , and doest the same , that thou shalt escape the iudgement of god , & c ? iam. 3.1 . &c. my brethren , bee not many masters , knowing that we shall receiue the greater condemnation , &c. 10. all mercilesse and couetous rich men , iam. 5.1 . goe to now ye rich men , weepe , and howle for your miseries , that shal come vpon you . 2. your riches are corrupt , and your garments are moth-eaten . 3. your gold and siluer is cankred , and the rust of them shall bee a witnesse against you , and shall eate your flesh as it were fier , ye haue heaped vp treasures for the last dayes . 5. ye haue liued in pleasure on the earth , and in wantonnesse ; yee haue nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter . matth. 25.41 . then shall he say vnto them on the left hand , depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fier , which is prepared for the diuell and his angels . 42. for i was an hungred , and you gaue me no meate ; i thirsted , and ye gaue me no drinke , &c. iam. 2.13 . for there shall bee iudgement mercilesse , to him that sheweth no mercy . 11. all whoremongers and adulterers , heb. 13.4 . marriage is honourable among all , and the bed vndefiled : but whoremongers and adulterers god will iudge , &c. 12. all drunkards and epicures , luk. 21.34 . take heede to your selues , lest at any time your hearts be oppressed with surfetting and drunkennesse , and cares of this life , and lest that day come vpon you at vnawares . 13. all deceitfull persons with their scant measures , and false waights , mich. 6.10.11 . are yet the treasures of wickednesse in the house of the wicked , and the scant measure that is abominable ? shall i iustifie the wicked ballances , and the bagge of deceitfull waights ? 14. all liars , and all that loue lies , reuel . 21.8 . but the fearfull , and vnbeleeuing , and the abominable , and murtherers , and whoremongers , and sorcerers , and idolaters , and all liars , shall haue their part in the lake which burneth with fier and brimstone , which is the second death . reuel . 22.15 . for without shall be dogs , and enchanters , and whoremongers and murtherers , and idolaters , & whosoeuer loueth , or maketh lies , &c. 15. lastly , all that disobey the gospell , 2. thes. 1.8 . in flaming fier , rendring vengeance vnto them that doe not know god , and which obey not vnto the gospell of our lord iesus christ. and thus for terrour . lastly , the doctrine of the last iudgement should be exceeding comfortable to al the godly , and that in many respects : first , if they shall consider who shall be their iudge , euen he that is their brother , husband , aduocate , head , and redeemer : hee that was iudged for their sakes ; and therefore they neede to feare no hard sentence from him . secondly , if they consider the present assurance of hope . for first , hath not christ giuen them many promises , that it shal goe well with them at that day ? 2. hath not christ iustified them already , and absolued thē from all their sinnes ? rom. 3.24.25 . 3. haue they not receiued the earnest of the spirit , and the seale of the sacraments ? 2. cor. 1.21.22 . 2. cor. 5.5 . 4. haue they not iudged themselues , and therefore are they not free from condemnation with the world ? 1. cor. 11.31.32 . 5. they haue been iudged already , the afflictions of this life will be accounted sufficient vnto them , 1. pet. 4.17 . they may trust their soules to god : and that god , that hath begun his good worke in them , will performe it till the day of christ , philip. 1.5.6 . 1. cor. 1.8 . thirdly , if they consider the benefits they shall attaine vnto at that day : for christ will bee made maruellous in all them that beleeue , 2. thes. 1.10 . they shall haue honour , and praise ; their innocency shall be cleared , and their miseries and sinnes ended . and when christ shall appeare , then shall we also appeare with him in glory , colos. 3.4 . fourthly , if they consider the circumstances of the iudgment , as 1. the neernesse of the time should make them hold vp their heads , matth. 24.22.33 . philip. 4.5 . let your patient mind be knowne vnto all men , the lord is at hand . iam. 5.8 . be ye also patient therfore , and settle your hearts for the comming of the lord draweth neere . 2. the greatnesse of the assembly , before whom they shall bee so much graced by christ , they shall be honoured before all men , and angels . 3. the condition of the sentence , it shall be a finall sentence neuer to bee reuoked , but acknowledged to all eternity . 4. and besides , they shall haue this fauour , that nothing shall bee remembred but goodnesse in good men : their sinnes shall not bee mentioned vnto them , matth. 25. chap. xxviii . of the glory of heauen . 1. cor. 2.9 . but as it is written , the things which eye hath not seene , neither eare hath heard , neither came into mans heart , are , which god hath prepared for them that loue him . hitherto of the principles that concerne the resurrection , & the last iudgement : the principles that concerne the glory of heauen follow . there are foure principles concerning the glory of heauen . the first concernes the greatnesse of it : it is vnspeakable , and in respect of vs heere on earth , incomprehensible , 1. cor. 2.9 . as in the beginning . 1. ioh. 3.2 . dearly beloued , now are we the sonnes of god , but yet it doth not appeare what we shall bee , and we know , that when we shall appeare , we shall be like him ; for wee shall see him as he is . colos. 3.3.4 . for yee are dead , and your life is hid with christ in god. when christ which is our life shall appeare , then shall wee also appeare with him in glory . 2. cor. 12.4 . how that hee was taken vp into paradise , and heard words which cannot bee spoken , which are not possible for man to vtter , reuel . 2.17 . let him that hath an eare heare , what the spirit saith vnto the churches : to him that ouercommeth will i giue to eate of the manna that is hid , and will giue him a white stone , and in the stone a new name written , which no man knoweth sauing he that receiueth it . psal. 16.11 . thou wilt shew me the path of life , in thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy , and at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore . psalm . 31.19 . how great is thy goodnesse , which thou hast laid vp for them that feare thee , and done to them that trust in thee , euen before the sonnes of men ? the second concernes the continuance of it , and so it is eternall ; and therefore is this life called eternall life , and immortality , matthew 25. vers . 46. and these shall goe into euerlasting paine , and the righteous into life eternall . 2. timoth. 1.10 . but is now made manifest by the appearing of our sauiour iesus christ , who hath abolished death , and hath brought life and immortality vnto light , through the gospell . 1. pet. 1.4 . to an inheritance immortall , and vndefiled , and that fadeth not away , reserued in heauen for you , &c. 2. cor. 5.1 . for wee know , that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed , we haue a building giuen of god , that is , an house not made with hands , but eternall in the heauens . the third concernes the cause of it : heauen is the gift of god , and proceeds onely from his free grace , and not for any merit in vs , luk. 12.32 . feare not little flocke , for it is your fathers pleasure to giue you a kingdome . titus 3.4 . but when the bountifulnesse and loue of god our sauiour toward man appeared ; not for our righteousnesse , but according to his mercy he saued vs , &c. ioh. 3.16 . for god so loued the world , that he hath giuen his onely begotten sonne , that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish , but haue euerlasting life . rom. 6.23 . for the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of god is eternall life , through iesus christ our lord , &c. 1. pet. 1. all the chapter . the fourth concernes the persons that shall enioy it : the elect of god onely obtaine this glory , 1. cor. 15.50 . &c. this say i brethren , that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of god , neither doth corruption inherit incorruption . reuel . 21.27 . and there shall enter into it none vncleane thing , neither whatsoeuer worketh abomination , or lies , but they which are written in the lambes booke of life . 1. cor. 6.9 . know ye not that the vnrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of god ? be not deceiued : neither fornicators , nor idolaters , nor adulterers , nor wantons , nor buggeres , &c. rom. 2.7 . that is to them which by continuance in well doing , seeke glory , and honour , and immortality , eternall life . 10. but to euery man that doth good , shall be glory , and honour , and peace , to the iew first , and also to the grecian . the vses follow , and are either for instruction , or for consolation . first , for instruction : and then the doctrine of the glory of heauen should worke diuers impressions vpon our hearts . 1. we should with all earnestnesse importune god , to enable vs to behold by the effectualnesse of contemplation , the greatnesse of that felicity , is prouided for vs in heauen : wee are naturally extreamly vnable for the contemplation of it , wee should beseech god by his spirit to force open our eyes , and make vs able to stand and gaze with admiration at the glory to come , ephes. 1.18.19 . rom. 5.2.3 . 2. our hearts should be fiered with an ardency of desire , and endeauour to praise the glorious and free grace of god , which hath without our deserts appointed vs vnto such glory ; wee can neuer walke worthy of heauen , till wee be fitted to a daily and affectionate praise of gods loue to vs therin : all ages should stand and wonder at such rich grace and tender kindnesse of god in iesus christ , ephes. 1.6 . ephes. 2.7 . thirdly , it should raise vp in vs a wonderfull estimation of the godly , who are therfore the onely excellent ones , because as princes of god they are borne heires to so great a kingdome : no meanesse of their outward condition should abate of our reuerence to them , that are so rich in faith , and heires of such glorie , &c. psalm . 6.3 . iames 2.5 . and seeing we must liue with them for euer , we should choose them , as the most happie companions of our liues here , and receiue them , as christ receiued vs to glorie , rom. 15.7 . 1. ioh. 4.7.17 , &c. and liue in all peace with them , ephes. 4.23 . and for this reason husbands should make much of their godly wiues , as heires with them of the same grace of god , 1. peter 3.8 . and masters should vse with all respect their religious seruants , knowing that of the lord , their verie seruants shall receiue the reward of inheritance , colos. 3.23.24 . fourthly , it should exceedingly raise the price of godlines , and make vs with all heartie affection deuote our selues to weldoing , seeing there is such an vnualuable gaine ariseth vnto such , as with patience and painefulnesse continew in doing good : wee should be abundant in the worke of the lord ; if for no reason , yet because of the great reward in heauen , 1. cor. 15.58 . rom. 2.7.10 . fifthly , it should make vs to take off our affections from the world , with disdaine and indignation at our selues for being so foolish , as to settle our hearts on things below . and since necessitie enioynes vs to vse the world , this religious hope should make vs vse it , as if wee vsed it not , expressing all sobrietie and temperance , and contempt of those transitory things , and setting our hearts there , where those matchlesse treasures are . what profit is it to win all this world , if our soules bee shut out of heauen ? and what losse can it be , if wee loose this world , and find our right vnto the world to come ? this doctrine should make vs feelingly know , and professe our selues to bee strangers and pilgrims here ; & to desire to be no other , then such , as long to be absent from hence , that we may bee present with the lord in this glorie . 1. cor. 7.31 . col. 3.1.2 . 1. pet. 1.13 . matth. 6.19.20 . matth 16.25.26 . heb. 11.13 . 2. cor. 5.6 . sixthly , we should be especially carefull to be all that , that is required vnto eternall life . and so in generall we must be sure , wee bee borne againe , else christ is peremptory , wee cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen , ioh. 3.5 . heauen is an inheritance , and therefore we must first be sonnes . that glory must penetrate into our hearts by the beames of it , so as we be changed from glorie to glorie , 2. corint . 3.18 . wee must enter into the first degree of eternall life , and that is in this life , we must beare the image of christ. and in particular , we must distinctly looke to these things : 1. we must be carefull to be prouided of the meanes to teach vs the way to heauen ; we must labour for the meat , that endureth to eternall life , iohn 6.27 . as knowing , that the preaching of the gospell is the power of god to saluation , rom. 1.16 . rom. 10.14 . 2. we must seriously studie the mysteries of this kingdome , and keep our selues close to profitable things , which may edifie vs , matth. 13.11 . titus 3.8.9 . 3. we must purge our selues as he is pure , we must seriously , and soundly imploy our selues in the duties of mortification of our corruptions , 1. iohn 3.3 . and euerie man tha● hath this hope in him , purgeth himselfe , as he is pure , &c. 4. we must be sure , that the tempter deceiue vs not in our faith : for that is our euidence for those things , which are not seene , and that makes them ( as it were ) present , heb. 11.1 . now faith is the ground of things which are hoped for , and the euidence of things which are not seene . 1. thes. 3.5 . euen for this cause , when i could no longer forbeare , i sent him that i might know of your faith ; lest the tempter had tempted you in any sort , and that our labour had been in vaine . 1 pet. 1.7 . that the triall of your faith , being much more precious then gold that perisheth , though it be tried with fier , might be found vnto your praise , and honour , and glory , at the appearing of iesus christ. 2. cor. 13.5 . proue your selues , whether you are in the faith : examine your selues , know yee not your owne selues , how that iesus christ is in you , except you be reprobates ? for by faith christ liues in vs , gal. 2.20 . 5. we must be sure , wee bee not ashamed of christ in this world , and that we doe not denie him here on earth , but contrariwise , matth. 10.32 . whosoeuer therefore shall confesse mee before men , him will i confesse also before my father , which is in heauen . vers. 33. but whosoeuer shall deny me before men , him will i also denie before my father , which is in heauen . 6. wee must get the earnest of this inheritance , which is the spirit of promise : for that will stablish vs , ephes. 1.14 . 2. cor. 1.22.23 . for when god giues glorie in heauen , then the spirit of glorie rests vpon men in this life , 1. pet. 4.14 . and the spirit is our earnest , either by anointing vs with sauing grace , ( for they assure vs as infallibly of this kingdom , as the oile poured on the kings , did assure them of their kingdome ) or by refreshing , and satisfying our hearts , in hearing the promises , or receiuing the sacraments , or answering our prayers : but in all this we must remember these things : 1. to do this worke first : first , seeke the kingdom of god , mat. 6.33 . deferre not the time to the last gaspe . 2. to doe it constantly : let him that is righteous be righteous still , reuel . 22. 3. praying in the holy ghost , and keeping our selues in the loue of god , iude , 20.21 . 4. to doe it violently : heauen shoul suffer violence , matth. 11.12 . 5. to doe it humbly , renouncing all our owne merits , and ascribing all to the free grace of god , and the merits of iesus christ , rom. 6.23 . ephes. 2.8.9 . for heauen is an inheritance , and therefore comes by fauour , not by purchase ; and besides , we are adopted children too , and not naturall . 6. hauing finished al things , to stand fast , and hope perfectly for the grace of god to bee brought vnto vs at the reuelation of iesus christ , 1. pet. 1.13 . secondly , these principles may serue for singular consolation , and so 1. against the instabilitie of this present life , while wee looke vpon our abiding citie in heauen . thus the patriarches comforted themselues , heb. 11.13 . 2. against the griefe for the death of our friends , why doe we sorrow for them , that are so happie ? 3. against the many afflictions of this life , the feare and care of which should bee swallowed with the hope of eternall life , as these places shew , rom. 8.18 . for i count , that the afflictions of this present time , are not worthie of the glorie which shall be shewed vnto vs. 2. cor. 4.17.18 . for our light affliction , which is but for a moment , causeth vnto vs a farre most excellent , and an eternall waight of glory , while wee looke not on the things which are seene , but on the things which are not seene : for the things which are seene are temporall ; but the things which are not seene , are eternall . 4. against the feare of death : for these principles teach vs to belieue , that the dead are blessed , reuelat. 14.13 . then i heard a voice from heauen saying vnto me ; write , blessed are the dead , which hereafter die in the lord : euen so saith the spirit : for they rest from their labours , and their workes follow them . and that this death will be quickly swallowed vp of victorious life , 1. cor. 15.16.17 . the sting of death is sinne , and the strength of sinne is the law. but thanks be to god , which hath giuen vs victorie through our lord iesus christ. these comforts will bee the more abundant , if wee consider , either , first , the particulars of this glory ; secondly , or the properties of it . for the first , our glory in heauen may be thus shadowed out ; it consists of perfection of holinesse and happinesse . our holinesse shall then bee perfect , we shall be without spot or wrinkle , ephes. 5.27 . gods people shall then bee all righteous , isaiah 60.21 . thy people also shall be all righteous . and this perfection shall be both of nature , and of action . in nature we shall be perfectly holy , which may bee considered in respect of the holinesse . first , of our soules ; secondly , of our bodies ; thirdly , of our soule and bodie together . first , in our soules there shall bee 1. exquisite knowledge ; wee shal then know as we are known , when that which is in part is done away : we shall no more vnderstand as children , but shall haue our minds enlightned aboue the knowledge of prophets and apostles in this world : for god himselfe shall be our euerlasting light , 1. cor. 13.10.11.12 . but when that which is perfect is come , then that which is in part shall be abolished . when i was a child , i spake as a child , i vnderstood as a child , i thought as a child : but when i became a man , i put away childishnes , or childish things : for now we see through a glasse darkely , but then shall we see face to face ; now i know in part , but then shall i know , euen as i am knowne . isaiah 60.19 . thou shalt haue no more sunne to shine by day , neither shall the brightnes of the moone shine vnto thee : for the lord shall be thine euerlasting light , and thy god thy glory . 2. freedome of will , when all the impediments of desire and endeuours shall bee taken off , which now as fetters hinder vs in communion with god , and as cords , hale vs after vanitie : where it shall bee also as easie to doe good , as to desire it . 3. vnspeakeable charitie ; our hearts being fild with al those affections , that are now any way required in the word of god , either toward god or man , 1. cor. 13.8 loue doth neuer fall away , though that prophesying be abolished , or the tongues cease , or knowledge vanish away . what is now the life of our liues more , then to loue and to be beloued ? this earthly loue is but a sparke in comparison . secondly , in our bodies , there shall be a perfect conformitie of all the members for the seruice of god and the soule , they shall bee no more weapons of vnrighteousnesse , as they haue been , rom. 6.13 . rom. 6.19 . thirdly , in both body and soule , there shall be , 1. the perfect vision of the admirable beauties of god , which of it selfe is more worth then the possession of the whole world , and this vision of god shall not onely be mentall by contemplation , of which 2. cor. 12.2 . but also corporal ; for so iob auoucheth cap. 19.25 . for i am sure my redeemer liueth , and he shall stand the last on earth . vers. 26. and though after my skin wormes destroy this bodie : yet shall i see god in my flesh , vers. 27. whom i my selfe shall see , and my eies behold , and none other for mee , though my reines are consumed within me . we shall then see him perfectly in the creatures , and haue him perfectly in our selues , and behold the trinitie in the glorie of it after a way now vnutterable . 2. the perfection of the image of god in both : we shall then be , as hee is , partaking perfectly of the diuine nature , 1. iohn 3.2 . 2. pet. 1.4 . which is signified by those pure white garments , mentioned , reuel . 3.4.5 . & 6.11 . & 7.13 . & 19.8 . thus shall we be perfect in nature . the perfection of our actions , or obedience shall then bee obtained , wee shall then serue god , & loue our brethren without all defect . we shall praise god with the angels to all eternitie : for that shall be the maine outward seruice of god : for prayer shal thē cease , reuel . 4.10.11 . thus of the perfection of holinesse . the perfection of happines shal haue in it diuers things . the first part of our felicity is acknowledgement in the kingdom of heauen ; which is a worke of christ , declaring vs in particular to bee elected of god , and his children , and friends . and this is more comfortable , because we shall thus bee proclaimed the heires apparant of heauen before god , and all his holy angels , matth. 10.32 . whosoeuer therefore shall confesse mee before men , him will i confesse also before my father which is in heauen . 2. glorious liberty reserued for the sonnes of god vnto that day , of which , rom. 8.21 . and this liberty may be considered two waies , viz. 1. from what we shall bee free . 2. to what we shall bee free . for the first , we shall then be free : first , from the torments and miseries of the damned in hell , wee shall haue an eternall discharge from that most fearfull place , which is promised vs already in this life , rom. 8.1 . now then there is no condemnation to them that are in christ iesus , which walke not after the flesh , but after the spirit , &c. reuel . 20.14 . and death and hell were cast into the lake of fier : this is the second death , &c. secondly , from the displeasure of god ; he will neuer be angry with vs any more , there shall be no more curse , or anathema , reuel . 22.3 . and there shall bee no more curse , but the throne of god and of the lambe shall be in it , and his seruants shall serue him . thirdly , from sinne , and the power to sinne : our holinesse shal be better then adams in paradise ; he might sinne , but wee shall be confirmed , as the angels of heauen : so as we shall not only bee free from sinne , but from the possibility to sinne , ephes. 5.26 . fourthly , from all aduerfary power ; we shall neuer more bee molested by diuels , nor by wicked men , either spirituall , or corporall . there shall be a perpetuall triumph without warre ; all our enemies shall bee cast into the lake of fier , reuel . 21.8 . reuel . 20.14 . reuel . 22.3 . as wee shall not loose a friend ; so wee shall not feare an enemy . fifthly , from all infirmitie in our natures ; as from ignorance , and all disabilities , from sorrow , discouragement , hardnesse of heart , feare , and perturbations , reuel . 21.4 . and god shall wipe away all teares from their eyes , and there shall bee no more death , neither sorrow , neither crying , neither shall there bee any more paine ; for the first things are passed . and so also from all such graces , as suppose either imperfection in vs : such as faith , hope , and repentance : or misery in the creatures without vs , as griefe , anger , feare , hatred , and the like , 1. cor. 13. sixthly , from all inferiority , and subiection , and seruitude , none shall bee vnder the iurisdiction of others : all oeconomicall , politicall , and ecclesiasticall relations shall then cease . wee shall sit downe with abraham , isaac , and iacob , in the kingdome of heauen , matth. 8.11 . seuenthly , from all labour and affliction of life . their labours shall cease , and afflictions shall bee cast into the sea , they shall enioy an eternall sabbath , the true canaan , reuel . 14.13 . then i heard a voice from heauen , saying vnto me ; write , blessed are the dead , which hereafter die in the lord , euen so saith the spirit , for they rest from their labours , and their workes follow them , &c. heb. 4.9 . there remaineth therfore a rest to the people of god , &c. 2. thes. 1.7 . and to you which are troubled , rest with vs , when the lord iesus shall shew himselfe from heauen with his mighty angels , &c. and by labors , i vnderstand also all the paines or difficulties we are at , euen about the seruice of god : for god shall bee all in all . eighthly , from all shame and blushing : there shall be nothing but honour and praise to all eternity : whereas in this world the inward shame of some offence imputed , or committed , make life it selfe many times a burthen , and there is little ease to the minde , but in remembrance of the day of christ , when it shall be remoued . ninthly , from all enuie : enuie is said to be bitter , 1. cor. 3.3 . but when charity shall be perfect , then shall that property of not enuying bee made perfect too , 1. cor. 13. tenthly , from all interruption both in holinesse and felicity ; which in this life is grieuous , and ariseth many times from good things , and good persons as well as euill . eleuenthly , from all the means of a naturall life , and from the inconueniences too : there shall be no need of meat , drinke , sleep , marriage , raiment , physicke , nor the light of the sunne : for there shall be no hunger , thirst , heate , cold , darknesse , or the like grieuances , but wee shall liue as the angels of heauen , &c. and so in a word we shall bee free from the first things , reuel . 2.4 . thus much of what wee shall be free from . now followes , what wee shall be free to . first , we shall bee free of heauen , the most holy place , heb. 10.19 . seeing therefore brethren , that by the blood of iesus we may be bold to enter into the holy place . paradise : luk. 23.43 . then iesus said vnto him , verily i say vnto thee , to day thou shalt be with me in paradise . our fathers house : iohn 14.2 . in my fathers house are many dwelling places : if it were not so , i would haue told you , i goe to prepare a place for you . the new ierusalem : reuel . 21.2 . and i saw the holy city , new ierusalem , come downe from god out of heauen , prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband . the heauē of heauens , which for lightnes , largenes , purenes , delightfulnes , and all praises of a place almost infinitely excels all this visible world . nor shall the godly be restrained only to heauen , but they shall be free of the new earth , wherein dwels righteousnesse , 2. pet. 3.13 . but wee looke for a new heauen , and a new earth , according to his promise , wherein dwelleth righteousnesse , &c. secondly , we shall be free to the enioying of the happy society of all the glorious saints and angels of heauen , hebr. 12.22.23 . but ye are come vnto the mount sion , and to the city of the liuing god , the celestiall ierusalem , and to the company of innumerable angels . and to the congregation of the first borne , which are written in heauen , and to god the iudge of all , and to the spirits of iust and perfect men . thirdly , to the glorious presence of god , and the lambe ; we shall alwaies dwell in the kings presence , reuel . 21.3 . and i heard a great voice out of heauen , saying , behold the tabernacle of god is with men , and he will dwell with them , and they shall be his people , and god himselfe shall be their god with them . reuel . 21.23 . and the city hath no need of the sunne , neither of the moone to shine in it : for the glory of god did light it , and the lamb is the light of it . reuel . 22.3.4 . and there shall be no more curse ; but the throne of god , and of the lambe shall be in it , and his seruants shall serue him . and they shall see his face , and his name shall be in their fore-heads . fourthly , to all the treasures of heauen ; which are vnexpressable , shadowed out by some comparisons ; as by being free to eate of the tree of life , reuel . 22.2 . in the middest of the streete of it , and of either side of the riuer was the tree of life , which bare twelue manner of fruits , and gaue fruit euery moneth , & the leaues of the tree serued to heale the nations with , &c. as also by being free to drink of the water of life freely , reuel . 21.6 . and hee said vnto me , it is done , i am alpha and omega , the beginning and the end , and i will giue to him that is athirst of the well of the waters of life freely : euen out of a riuer , that is pure as chrystall , reuel . 22.1 . and hee shewed me a pure riuer of water of life , cleare as chrystall , proceeding out of the throne of god , and of the lambe : and such like . thus of liberty . the third part of our felicity in heauen is maiesty : al the godly shall be there seated as princes in thrones of maiesty , and prince-like splendor , being crowned with crowns of glory ; which glory shall be so great , that the kings of the earth are supposed to bring all their glory and honour to it , and yet all too little to shadow out this exceeding glory of all the saints , reuel . 3.21 . to him that ouercommeth will i grant to sit with me in my throne , euen as i ouercome , and sit with my father in his throne . 2. tim. 4.8 . for henceforth is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse , which the lord the righteous iudge shall giue me at that day : and not to mee onely , but vnto all them also that loue his appearing . reuel . 21.24 . and the people which are saued , shall walke in the light of it , and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honour vnto it . which as it imports a perfection of splendor in euery saint , so it doth not dissolue the degrees or orders of glory , euery man shall bee aduanced in his owne lot , dan. 12.13 . but goe thou thy way , till the end be ; for thou shalt rest and stand vp in thy lot at the end of the dayes . 1. cor. 15.40 . there are also heauenly bodies , and earthly bodies ; but the glory of the heauenly is one , and the glory of the earthly is another . patriarches , prophets , euangelists , martyrs , shall not want their eminency in heauen . the fourth is dominion , and rule ouer all creatures ; that which we lost in adam , shall be perfectly restored in heauen , after the last iudgement , reuel . 2.26 . for hee that ouercommeth and keepeth my words vnto the end , to him will i giue power ouer nations . the fifth is possession of all the pleasures , which are at gods right hand , vnutterable ioyes , riuers of pleasures . this is that , which in a sparing language is called the time of refreshing , act. 3.19 . amend your liues therefore , and turne , that your sinnes may be put away , when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the lord. psalm . 16.11 . thou wilt shew me the path of life : in thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy ; and at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore . for if the ioy of the godly in this life be called , 1. pet. 1.17 . a ioy vnspeakable and glorious . and if the lord giue them drink out of the riuer of thy pleasures in this world , as psal. 36.8.9 . how much more shall it exceed all language in heauen ! called the masters ioy . the felicities which i haue here mentioned , are for the most part common both to soule and body . now there is a peculiar felicity in heauen belonging to the bodies of men , which consists in that maruellous transfiguration of them to a condition , in respect of qualities , farre aboue what they are , or can be in this world . our bodies in generall shall be made like the glorious body of christ , though on earth they are but vile , philip. 3.21 . who shall change our vile body , that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious body , according to the working , wherby hee is able euen to subdue all things vnto himselfe . they shall enioy eternall health , but of the glory of the body i haue entreated before , in the vse of the doctrine of the resurrection . thus of the parts of this glory . the adiuncts of it follow . and so there bee foure things in the consideration of the glory to come , should much affect vs. first , that it is a glory vnspeakable , that is , it is so great , that no language on earth can describe it . for though we mention those foresaid parts of it , yet our narrow hearts and mouthes are infinitely straitned , in comparison of the full glory of man in these things , 1 cor. 2.9 . but as it is written , the things which eye hath not seene , neither eare hath heard , neither came into mans heart , are , which god hath prepared for them , that loue him , &c. secondly , that it is certaine , and we cannot be disappointed of it : else it were vncomfortable to heare of so much felicitie and holinesse , and yet not bee sure to possesse it . the certaintie of it , that god will bestow such glory , may appeare diuers waies . 1. there is an act or ordinance for it in gods eternall counsell , 2. tim. 2.19 . but the foundation of god remaineth sure , and hath this seale ; the lord knoweth who are his , and , let euery one that calleth on the name of christ depart from iniquitie . ephes. 1.4 . as he hath chosen vs in him , before the foundation of the world , that wee should bee holy , and without blame before him in loue . rom. 8.30 . moreouer , whom he predestinate , them also he called ; and whom he called , them also he iustified ; and whom hee iustified , them he also glorified . matth. 25.34 . come ye blessed of my father , inherit ye the kingdome prepared for you , from the foundations of the world . 2. christ purchased it with his blood , ephes. 1.14 . 3. christ hath made intercession , when he was on earth vnto his father , that hee might haue his redeemed ones to be where he is , iohn , 17.11 . and now am i no more in the world , but these are in the world , and i come to thee , holy father , keepe them in thy name . vers. 24. father , i will that they which thou hast giuen mee , bee with me , euen where i am ; that they may behold my glory , which thou hast giuen me : for thou louedst me before the foundation of the world . 4. god hath made vs many promises , and giuen vs not onely his word , but his oth to assure it vnto vs , heb. 6.17 . so god willing more abundantly to shew vnto the heires of promise , the stablenesse of his counsell , bound himselfe by an oath , vers. 18. that by two immutable things , wherein it is impossible that god should lie , we might haue strong consolation , which haue our refuge to hold fast the hope that is set before vs , &c. 5. he hath sealed to it , not only in the sacrament , but by his spirit , which will bee our witnesse , and is our earnest , ephes. 1.13 . wherein also after that yee beleeued , you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise . vers. 14. which is the earnest of our inheritance , vntill the redemption of the possession purchased vnto the praise of his glory . 6. he hath begun eternall life in vs already . 7. christ is gone into heauen of purpose to prouide a place ready for vs , ioh. 14.3 . and though i goe to prepare a place for you : i will come againe , and receiue you vnto my selfe , that where i am , there may ye be also . heb. 10.19 . seeing therefore bretheren , that by the blood of iesus we may be bold to enter into the holy place , vers. 20. by the new and liuing way , which he hath prepared for vs through the vale , which is his flesh . thus of the certaintie of it . the third thing is the eternitie of it , all this glory were the lesse , if it were thought , it would euer end : but it shall neuer end : for 1. nothing of it shall be lost , or decay . 2. there shall bee no death there : for death and hell are cast into the lake of fier . 3. there shall be no old age , or withering condition in men that possesse it : it withers not , 1. pet. 1.4 . to an inheritance immortall , and vndefiled , and that fadeth not away , reserued in heauen for you . 4. god being all in all , there shal be no wearinesse , no fulnesse of affections , or satietie , no loathing . diuines are wont to shadow out eternity , by the similitude of a little bird drinking vp a drop of water out of the sea ; if euery ten thousand yeeres the bird should come & drink vp but one drop , yet the sea might bee dry at length : but yet this lasting of the sea , is nothing in comparison to the lasting of the glory of heauen . fourthly , and vnto these may bee added the proximity of it : the day of the lord is at hand . it were some lessening of our happines , if it were a long time to it . finis . errata . pag. 4. lin . 22. for praises , reade oracles . p. 51. l. 4. r. by a perpetuall decree . p. 74. l. 16. put out , a. p. 107. l. 17. r. vp , for vpon . p. 108. l. 16. for sould , r should . p. 407. l. 4 r. wrinckle . p. 434. l. 17.21 . and p. 435. l. 8 put out sol and r. secondly , thirdly , fourthly . p. 486. l. 11. put out , all the chapter . p. 499. l. 11. r. or secondly . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a17400-e5580 3 things intended in this treatise . the benefit of attending to this course . the warrant of this course . question . answere . principles may bee knowne three waies . notes for div a17400-e6230 the diuision of principles according to their chiefe heads . notes for div a17400-e6740 two principles about the scriptures . the scripturs are the very word of god , proued by testimonies externall and internall . iohn 1.7 . prou. 30.6 . reuel . 22.18 . the vses . 1. for instruction . 2 for reproofe . 1 of the papists in 4. things . 2 of carnall protestants . 3 of the godly . 3 for triall . 4 for consolation . notes for div a17400-e8420 4 principles concerning god. that there is a god , is proued , first by testimonies internall . 2 by testimonies externall , and so either in the world , or in the church . 10 glories in the nature of god. the vses . 1 for instruction . if wee would study the glorious nature of god , we must obserue 6. rules . for humiliation . for consolation . proofes for the trinity . vses of the doctrine of the trinity . that there is but one god proued . the vses . notes for div a17400-e11360 5 principles concerning the creation . vses . 1 for information . 6 vses for instruction . vses for reproofe . notes for div a17400-e12260 7 principles concerning gods prouidence . the vses . 1 for information . 11 things admirable in gods prouidence . vses for reproofe . 8 vses for instruction . vse for consolation . notes for div a17400-e14590 man was after the image of god three waies . the vses . the speciall fauour of god to man in his creation . duties . 1 to god. 2 to our selues . 3 to other men . notes for div a17400-e16010 3 principles concerning the fall of man. 7 things to shew the greatnesse of adams sinne . obiect . answ. 3 occasions of apostasie . 5 degrees of the diuels tentation . notes for div a17400-e17330 4 principles concerning sinne . 14 foule blemishes in euery mans nature . 9 vses for information . 7 things make ciuill honest men miserable . notes for div a17400-e19680 17. sorts of punishments inflicted on man for his sinne . eph. 5.14 . 1. cor. 15. act. 17.31 . rom. 5. ●2 . &c. and● . 1 . mat. 11.29 . 1. ioh. 2.1 . gal. 3.13 , 2. cor. 5.17 . psa. 22.24 . notes for div a17400-e23510 question . answere . notes for div a17400-e24340 question . answere . question . answere . notes for div a17400-e25270 quest. answ. notes for div a17400-e25820 obiect . solution . obiect . solution . notes for div a17400-e37970 obiection . solution . notes for div a17400-e42300 iam. 2.5 . notes for div a17400-e46410 what these things meane is vnknowne . rise first in soule . a soveraign antidote against sinful errors, the epidemical plague of these latter dayes. extracted out of divine records, the dispensatory of christianity: for the prevention and cure of our spiritual distempers. by claudius gilbert, b.d. and minister of the gospel at limrick in ireland. gilbert, claudius, d. 1696? 1658 approx. 479 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 93 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a85988 wing g704 thomason e939_4 estc r202212 99862586 99862586 114749 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a85988) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 114749) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 140:e939[4]) a soveraign antidote against sinful errors, the epidemical plague of these latter dayes. extracted out of divine records, the dispensatory of christianity: for the prevention and cure of our spiritual distempers. by claudius gilbert, b.d. and minister of the gospel at limrick in ireland. gilbert, claudius, d. 1696? [24], 158, [2] p. printed by r.w. for francis titon, and are to be sold at the sign of the three daggers in fleetstreet, london : 1658. the last leaf is blank. annotation on thomason copy: "aprill". title page has text in hebrew, arabic, and latin. reproduction of the original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) 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encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng theology, doctrinal -early works to 1800. heresies, christian -early works to 1800. 2007-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-07 john latta sampled and proofread 2008-07 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a soveraign antidote against sinful errors , the epidemical plague of these latter dayes . extracted out of divine records , the dispensatory of christianity : for the prevention and cure of our spiritual distempers . by claudius gilbert , b. d. and minister of the gospel at limrick in ireland . luke 21. 8. see that ye be not deceived . 2 thes . 2. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. whose coming is after the working of satan , in all power , &c. and in all deceivableness , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . graecan . axioma . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jehova medicus tuus , exod. 15. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui seipsum habet prosapiente , habent eum deus & homines pro ignaro . london , printed by r. w for francis titon , and are to be sold at the sign of the three daggers in fleetsheet . 1658. to the honourable colonell henry ingoldesby , governour of the precinct of limrick and clare , and to the inhabitants of the city of limrick . honoured and beloved in the lord. the substance of this tract was through the lords help preached lately in your ears , and is of right now presented to your eyes , that through his grace , it may the better reach your hearts . the subject thereof is as seasonable as its excellent . the lord make it yours as profitably , as it s made yours affectionately . the choice usefulness of its provisions will make full amends for the plainness of its order and dress . it s not my work to tickle and flatter you , but to reach healing and food to your souls . a signal hand of heaven brought me over and fixed me here near five years ago ; by the same good hand have i been kept here in the lords charge ever since . we have had much cause still to mind and improve the wonderful dealings of our god towards us from that very day , as in former seasons . variety of dispensations hath he carried us through both publiquely and personally . visits of iudgement , and then of mercy , we have had from him again and again . no wayes hath he left unattempted that might do us good , though our returns have not been answerable . the sword , famine and plague ranged in these parts upon gods errand at my first coming , and continued a considerable time . i was thereby occasioned to contribute my utmost by the lords aid , to the relief and cure of mens souls and bodies . it was then my cordial delight and desire to spend and be spent for the good of limrick ; as the same is still my design and labour through the assistance of heaven . the voyce of gods rod cryed loud to this city then , that the man of wisdom might observe his name who had appointed it , in hearing his rod. our heavenly physitian saw it best then to diet and physick us , suiting his prescripts to our distempers . few in this place did miss of a touch ; the deeper smartings of many among us warned all the rest . our sins deserved much worse from his hand , yet he afflicted us very favourably . in the midst of wrath he remembred mercy , and stayed his rough wind in the day of his east wind . after purgations he gave us cordials , and turned in due time our mourning into joy . thanksgivings followed our humiliations , and our bitter waters were turned into sweet wine . the springs of elim followed our marah , and they reaped in joy , that had sown in tears . if the peaceable fruit of that rod may in righteousness appear among us , the glory will be his , and the comfort ours . if our ill humours have been kindly removed , it will best appear in the right use of our health . if any grow wanton after recovery , shame and sorrow will be their portion . it glads my heart that gods word and works have not been quite fruitless in the midst of us ; yet i cannot but lament with a bleeding soul the sad improvements of his renewed kindness . what could more be done for us then he hath done ? why then is our fruit so wild and so empty ? that it proves better with any of us , it s of his grace ; that divers others seem to grow still worse , it s through their fault . the lord hath bestowed much cost upon us , but like the cursed ground we bear still many weeds . he hath not spared for dressing or dunging : it will much aggravate their sin and judgement , if any of us remain still barren . the good husbandman hath cast in good seed in this ground of his , but the enemy hath crept in in the dark to scatter his tares . multiplicious errors still spread among us as in other parts , which grow much faster then christs spiritual plants . too many are found to play with their light , and abuse it to do the devils work by . that good word , which proves savour of life to some , proves too often savour of death to others . the spirits of divers are grown so childish , that neither barnabas nor boanerges will please their palate . god hath restored us to health and plenty ; but many souls are still diseased and starved . sinful infection troubles all relations , yet is little felt , because spiritual . much malignity attends those ill humours which work so strangely and perniciously . some are brain-sick with giddy notions , and others heart-sick with feavourish affections . the heads of some labour with convulsions ; the vitals of others suffer defections . spiritual lethargies benumb some into sleep and mortal dreams ; raging phrenzies do inflame some others . some are merrily mad with pleasing conceits ; others melancholy through a sullen spirit : lethal apoplexies take some few suddenly ; and spiritual palsies seiz upon others more gradually . some have lost appetite to the dainties of heaven ; others seem to hunger , but digest not well . spiritual rickets do possess divers , and sinful gouts trouble not a few . various obstructions disorder mens souls , whence the disfiguring of their life and acts. internal stoppages often discolour the external man ; the falling-sickness and the swounding fits do also take turns in souls and societies . consumptions and dropsies appear so visibly , that they prognosticate but ominous things . sad symptoms are seen in mens faces and speech , their tongues and breathings concurring therewith . if you feel their pulse and beatings of heart , you may soon descrie syncopal tokens . schirrhus ' s and hardness are easily felt ; swellings and sores manifest themselves . thus this world appears a sinful hospital for the god of mercy to give visits to . what comes away from men , proves a semeiotick that points at the cure by sad characters . the causes of such dangerous affects must needs be various and multiplicious . diseases complicate and inveterate , bespeak a difficult and a dubious cure. secresie and strength add much to that evil , besides senslesness and unruliness . disorder in food and in exercise with sloth and slumber aggravate the same strains and ruptures with dislocations , tumors and wounds manifest more evil . humours and spirits being distempered do soon disorder the substantial parts . excess in repletion and vacuity , in number and extent , still do make it worse . retention of evil & wasting of good , do both testifie the method of help . indications thus being so various , it s no wonder if the cure be slow both in church and state. purgations total and particular , must attend diet , rest and all due help . both the patients care and all assistants , will be as needful as the physitians skil . politick physitians and ecclesiastical had need look to christ for skil , strength , success . choice and cordial preservatives , alexipharmacks are often needed , where malignity doth infest mens souls . industrious care and painful attendance will be found herein of exceeding need . the ladies hand and the eagles eye , with the lions heart , will help very much in all such dressings . seek therefore and wait for that soveraign aid without which no means can find a blessing . observe his precepts , taking what he gives , carefully forbearing what he doth forbid . fear to displease christ , our gospel phoebus , that must teach and prosper aesculaps * labours . that sun of righteousness will rise with healing wings to all such as love and fear him above all. neglect then no means appointed by him ; abuse not the means by resting thereon . his all-sufficient grace believe and expect for his own glory in each of his wayes . if he make you smart , it s for your good that you may be healed on the best account . here is an antidote fitted to our case , the good lord bless it to you and to me . be helpful to me that i may help you at the throne of grace , so shall we find him our present help still . his grace will sure be sufficient for us , and his strength shall be perfected in weakness . i shall as heartily rejoyce in your good as if it were mine ; and shall design to be , through the renewed supplies of christs holy spirit , your affectionate servant for his sake , in all gospel-work , claudius gilbert . from my study in limrick , 11. 11. / januar. 23. 1656. preface . christian reader . error is the epidemical disease of this age , exactly considerable in its nature and descent , in its species and degrees , in its cause and effects , in its symptoms and cure. we shall but touch those things which others have elaborately handled , to usher in the scope and substance of the following discourse . 1. the nature and idea thereof consists much in a sinfull straying of mans judgement from the truth of god into falshood . 1. mans judgement is the proper subject and seat thereof : ( we meddle not now the angels failures ) from whence it casts a malign influence upon all other powers and parts . 2. it s genus is straying or wandring . so the greek properly imports , a slipping and sliding from truth into falshood and by-ways . 3. it s difference lies in both the terms . first , from which it swerves ; i. e. the terminus à quo , from the truth of god. secondly , to which it leads , the terminus ad quem , into falshood . so it s distinguished from bare ignorance , both negative and privative ; error being a soul-sickness , an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a disorderly distemper , disposing to evil positively , both habitual and actual , as it deprives of and indisposes to that good , r●specting the souls health ; it differs also from scruples and doubts , which are but uncertain motives from truth , and weaker inclinations to falshood , as the grudgings and rudiments of spiritual diseases . it s likewise differenced thereby from heart-hypocrisie and verbal lies . secondly , errors descent fetches its extract from the prince and father of lies , who abode not in the truth , but drew thousands of glorious angels , who kept not their first state , into error and apostacy . his serpentine spawn by dub●ous queries was soon cast into our first parents , where it quickly bred error and all sin . that unhappy breath so strongly infected them , that this sinfull disease is become hereditary to all their natural posterity . this wofull leprosie hath been thus propagated from our head adam to all his issue , through the loins of sinfull parents . it cleavs to mans nature , and hath been in all ages successively communicated by a wofull series in all sorts , more or less . as the leprosie cleaving to the wall , could never be totally removed , till the wall it self was quite pulled down : so doth this plague cleave to mans soul , till mans dissolution . adam received at once the seed of corporal and spiritual diseases and death , in the same moment that he began to sin , he began to die , according to gods word ; from whence the progress of a dying life in him , and all his , till grace begin that spiritual life below that glory compleats above . israel had contracted their wofull leprosie from that aegypt that enslaved them ; so is our spiritual leprosie contracted from that mystical aegyt which hath poisoned us so desperately , and infests still the canaan-state of christs militant church . as truth is a most diffusive good , so is error a most diffusive evil. error like a stone thrown into the water , rises in circles , each circle begetting another and growing still wider till they all quite lose themselves in the end . like cadmus brood they start up suddenly , and as soon fall foul each on other . 3. the species and sorts of error are multiplicious , like the diseases that trouble the body . as there are various sorts and denominations of divine truths , so are there as many distinctions of errors . the specifical difference of each error is measurable still by the dimension of that truth it opposes and strayes from , and of that falshood into which it slides . the truth of god is the conforty of his thoughts , words and works , to his own glorious essence . the truth of man is the due conformity of man to that truth of god , whether mental , verbal or practical . error is accordingly diversified in its general acceptation ; but properly to our purpose it is restrained to the iudgement , and distingushed from other sins which are verbal or practical errors , flowing from mans will and affections more directly . that truth of god is especially considerable in matters of religion , either fundamental or juxta-fundamental , or more superficial and circumstantial . error is accordingly discernable in its several wandrings from that truth . the scripture of truth declares the same in all their specifical variations . tue fundamentals of religion are summed up in the articles of our faith , called the apostles creed , because extracted out of their writtings ; which symbol hath been successively explained by the several confessions of the primitive churches , as the nicene and athanasian creed , as also of the reformed in germany and france , belgium , and england , &c. as there are varieties of weeds and poisons about the earth which peculiarly offend the several parts of the body , some being more hurtfull to the head , some to the stomach , &c. so do various errors offend the several parts of truth , whence various designations are given to them . 4. the gradations and degrees of error admit also of a variable latitude , according to the variation of its aggravations . as diseases do vary in their gradual recess from health , being either simple or compound , either more or less malignant & hurtfull ; thus errors admit of many adjuncts which render them more or less sinful and injurious . in every error there is a sinfulness , an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a defect of truth privative , & a disposition to falshood positive . as in every disease there is an evil deflection from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sound disposition of the body ; so in error from that of the mind . but this deflection is not alike in all , but is cloathed with numerical differences and personal aggravations . some errors are more , and others less rooted : some are more single , and others complicate . some are more submissively held , and others more pertinaciously : some are kept close , & others published ; some have more of the will and affections attending them , others less : some are more , and others less pernicious : some are more quiet , others more turbulent . as the malignity of infectious diseases admits of a great latitude : as the variety of venomous creatures , whether plants , minerals or sensitives , is multipliciously diversified by the variations of their clime , intentions of degrees , &c. some being cold as hemlock , others hot as euphorbium : some in the first or second , others in the third or fourth degree : some working more slowly , others more quickly : some by their tail , as the scorpion : some by their teeth , as the viper and rattle-snake ; some by their tongue , others by their excrements : some more sensibly , as a mad dog ; some more insensibly , as the asp : so do errors appear under variety of offensive qualities and adjuncts . 5. the cause of error also , as of every disease , is multipliciously observable , especially in a three-fold division of evident , antecedent , and continent . 1. an evident cause among physicians , is much from externals , if not altogether , whereby a distemper is occasioned in the body . so in mans soul this sickness of error may be occasioned by external causes , as by infection , ill company , bad books , various temptations , &c. 2. an antecedent cause of sickness bodily , is from some thing within , whether vapor , humor or spirit , distempering any part , & disabling it from its proper action . thus the foregoing cause of this spiritual disease , lies in some flatuous , humorous or spiritual evil that disorders the mind from its right discerning of the truth , causing it to deviate into the way of falshood . habitual corruption within , flowing from adams first sin , ( which is ours by imputation , ) attended with the want of original righteousness , and often called original sin , because the womb of all sin in us ) is the chief cause from which all other evils flow , that breed and increase these sad distempers . this corruption acts variously in the way of pride and self-seeking , security and worldliness , &c. 3. the continent cause of a corporal distemper is that immediate thing which cherishes it , being cherished from the remote cause , whether corrupt blood , wind , water , gravel , &c. so the continent cause of error , is that peculiar corruption whether . ignorance or pride , self-conceitedness or worldliness , &c. which sticks close to the mind , to breed and cherish its several dyscrasies and distempers . thence such clouding of mens iudgements and disorders in their reasonings : hence perverse disputings of men that are reprobate concerning the faith ; as ambition and pride carried simon and menander , nestorius and macedonius away ; discontent and envy prevailed with arrius ; covetousness carried on demetrius and his comrads . there is a complication of such causes in most . 6. the effects of error , as of every corporal disease , are likewise variously numerous , according to the variations of its numerical idea , of its specifical nature , of its descent , gradations & causes . this spiritual sickness is a tendency to further sin & eternal death ; as every bodily sickness is the beginning of corporal death . the wages of sin is death ; sin deserves it , it binds ever , it leads to it , it fits for it , it begins it . as much as there is of sinfulness , so much is there of death attending it , corporal & civil , spiritual and eternal . grace indeed doth restrain and limit , it pardons and subdues , it purges out gradually , and at last exterminates all sin in gods elect ; yet it changes not the nature or desert of sin , though it chances the sinners nature and relation . providence limits and over-rules this sinfulness also in the reprobate . as the wise physitian corrects his opium in a confection ; so doth god correct sin remaining in his children . as the same physitian appoints fit means against infection to all indefinitely , so doth our soveraign physician by shewing the dangerous effects of error . as the effects of poisons are very various , yet always sad : so are sin and sorrrw inseparable twins . error was set forth to the life by that leprosiy of the head , which had a peculiar mark of ignominy , infection and danger . it s like to those poisonous minerals and vegetables , which strike first ai the head , and thence at all other parts . it s a spiritual plague which cannot but be mischievous still , though not in all alike . all sorts of men in all relations are made to feel the sad consequents thereof . it s a fruitfull womb , a breeding dung hill , a poisoned spring , lerna malorum . it engages and leads insensibly to more evil , notional and practical . it disgraces god , opposes his truth , distempers mens souls , endangers their families , blasts their profession , stains their repute , scandalizes many , ensnares divers , troubles church and state , and complies with satan in his various designes , by nursing of his brood . this age gives sad demonstations thereof . as cephalical diseases are on many accounts the most dangerous of all in the body : so are these heady distempers in the soul , which are easily communicated to all the vital & inferior parts . the poison of some works in a stupifying way , as opium , henbane , hemlock , &c. others venom acts by an enraging quality , as elaterium , euphorbium , scammony : the effect of some is more speedily mortal , as in the touches of a basilisk , and asp , of the viper and rattle snake , if not very timely look'd to ; others are more slow and less dangerous , as in the operations of various simples appears . the parallel of spiritual poisons therewith is easily drawn by an observing christian . 7. the symptoms or signs of error , as of corporal deseases , are of divers sorts , some more common , others more proper . 1. the common signs are such as attend divers distempers in a general way , as enfeebling of the parts , change of complexion , indiposition to action , &c. thus errors have their common signs , wherein many of them agree , appearing much in their sad effects against gods honor and mans good , though often under far colors , like that indian apple in the western islands , which seems beautifull , and yet is rank poison . 2. there are proper tokens and characteristical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and notes of each bodily disease , setting out its specifical idea by its numerical and peculiar properties , whether one or more , and usually by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and concurrence of divers , as a frensie , a lethargy , an apoplexy , &c. have singular marks from the defect and disorders of the faculties animal , vital and natural . thus error , the frensie of the soul , when boiled up to its height , sets a man on a rage against truth and her friends , rejects the means of its cure , raves and ranges at will , inflames the spirits , disorders all the powers and parts , hastning to destruction , as appeared in the ranting crue , formerly and lately in germany and england ; another error may more resemble a lethargy , benumming the soul , fixing the spirits , casting the person into a feavorish sleep , stopping the senses , filling them with dreams , closing their eyes , and distempering all powers and parts , rendering them incapable of sense and help , if the lord work not extraordinarily , witness james naylor and his quaking rout. another error may be found more like an apoplexie ; suddenly taking away sense and motion , reason and life , as that of some circumcellions , and the bloody rabble of germany and switzerland from anno 1522. till 1534. another is more like a palsey , stopping the fountain of the sinews , either totally or partially by distempering the head and its conduits , whereby sense and motion are conveyed to all inferior parts , and gradually hastning mans end . so it fares with divers quakers now , and many monkish pharisaical notionists , rose-crucians , eremitical recluses and behmenists . thus might we instance in every disease , and draw the parallel of error along in its various symptoms and characters ; the which are accompanied with malignity and infection , with confidence and peremptoriness , with censoriousness and self-conceitedness , more or less , according to the nature , extent and causes of such distempers . but as some poisonous weeds do very nearly resemble the good plants among which they grow , as young hemlock among parsley ; so divers errors grow like truth for a while , till they come up to strength ( which they do much faster then good hearbs ) to be better discerned by their ill qualities and wofull effects . 8. the cure of error , as of bodily sickness , is diversly to be observed in the indications directing thereto , in the materials to be used , and in the due method of preparing and ministring of them sutably to the rules of art , and the patients case . 1. the indications of error , as of the bodily diseases , require the removing of the cause , the rectifying of the parts , the restoring of strength , and preserving of it by all convenient means . 2. the materials and ingredients that are to be used towards that cure for soul and body , are considerable in a regular diet , in orderly medicines , and the chirurgions seasonable help . thus erroneous persons are 1. to be dieted , in shunning evil food , evil company , evil motions , &c. and in using food , company , exercise , &c. tending to spiritual health . 2. they are to be well purged with due preparatives and laxatives . 3. they must have the chirurgions help also in letting out the corrupt blood of sin , in dressing of their spiritual sores , in applying of all fit medicaments , and administring of all things orderly . 3. the method of preparing and dispensing of them all for the cure of diseases , spiritual and corporal , is to be guided by the skilfull physitian of heaven , who hath appointed men and means , that in observing the prescripts of his word applyed sutably to every ones case , his promised blessing may be waited for , and received in an obedience of faith and love. the following antidote prescribed by him may be through his grace singularly helpfull thereto . the contents . the context opened . the text divided into six doctrines . page 6. doctrine 1. wicked lawless persons are exceedingly subject to be carried away with destructive errors . p. 7 reason 1. raigning corruption . p. 8 reason 2. errors deceitfulness . ibid. reason 3. divine judgement . p 9 use 1. information ; the ground of our numerous errors . ibid. 2. admonitin to lawless ones . ibid. 3. examinatioon . ibid. 4. exhortation . p. 10 doctr. 2. error will endanger a christians stedfastness . ibid. reas . 1. it loosens a christians hold . p. 11 2. it impairs a christians strength . p. 12 3. it snatches with forcible fraud . ibid. use 1. see hence the source of our revolts . ibid. 2. convictions to erroneous ones . p. 13 3. trial of our state . p. 14 4. advice to all . ibid. doctr. 3. all christians , even the best , need still due warning to keep themselves from error and revolt . p. 15 obj. 1. what need the elect to be warned thus ? p. 16 ans . in seven particulars . ibid. use 1. consect . hence see the usefulness of a gospel ministry . p. 17 2. reprehension . p. 18 3. inquiry . p. 19 4. excitation , 1. to take warning . p. 20 2. improve warning . p. 21 1. personally . ibid. 2. relatively . p. 22 doctr. 4. the gracious knowledge of christ is a singular jewel . p. 23 1. explanation in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 24. 25 , 26 2. confirmation in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. 27 3. demonstration in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ibid. reason 1. from the object , christ considerable p. 28 1. in his person , as god , as man , as god-man . ibid. 2. in his office , prophetical , sacerdotal , regal . p. 30 3. in his progress of humiliation to exaltation . ibid. 4. in his purchase for value and vertue , considered . p. 32 5. in his relation variously set forth . p. 33 6. in his influence . p. 34 reas . 2. from the subject recipient thereof . p. 35 reas . 3 , from the canse efficient , formal , final . p. 36 reas . 4. from the nature . p. 42 reas . 5. from the properties . p. 44 reas . 6. from the effects . p. 46 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or use 1. instruction , the method of study . p. 47 use 2. reprehension . p. 49 use 3. examination , pag. 54. therein is considered , 1. what is wrought . 2. how it was wrought . 3. what it works . p. 55. 56 in allusion to vegetative , sensitive and rational acts. ibid. use 4. consolation , obj. ans . p. 64 use 5. exhortation to nominal christians . p. 65 many obj. answ . p. 67. 68 , 69 , 70 , &c exhor . 2. to real christians . p. 73 doctr. 5. growing in the gracious knowledge of christ is a special gospel-duty p. 77 reas . 1. the christians nature . p. 78 reas . 2. gods honour . p. 79 reas . 3. mans interest . ibid. use 1. the necessity of a standing ministry . p. 80 use 2. conviction . p. 81 use 3. examination , is our growth vniversal , proportional , perpetual ? p. 82 use 4. excitation to dead and living christians . p. 84 doctr. 6. spiritual growth is a soveraign antidote against error and apostacy . p. 89 res . 1. it removes the causes . p. 91 reas . 2. it fortifies the parts , p. 92 reas . 3. it improves christs specifick vertue . p. 93 use 1. information , shewing the ground and cure of all our distempers . p. 94 use 2. admonition to all under the raign , or remainders of sin . p. 95 use 3. enquiry , personal and publike p. 96 use 4. counsel to prize and desire , embrace and ensure , keep and improve this choice antidote against all evil ; specially p. 97 first , against error opposing christ . 1. in his deity . p. 99 2. in his humanity . p. 100 3. in his soul and body . p. 101 4. in his person . p. 102 5. in his spirit . p. 104 6. in his office. p. 105 7. in his priesthood . p. 107 8. in his prophetical . p. 108 9. in his regal function . p. 110 10. in his humiliation . p. 111 11. in his exaltation . p. 114 12. in his word . p. 115 13. in his ordinances . p. 118 14. in his sabbath . p. 120 14. in his laws . p. 123 15. in his covenant . p. 124 17. in his seals . p. 126 18. in his church . p. 128 19. in his electing grace . p. 130 20. in his redeeming grace . p. 132 21. in his renewing grace . p. 137 22. in his saving grace . p. 142 23. in his magistracy . p. 145 24. in his ministry . p. 148 25. in his providence . p. 153 secondly , against apostacy . p. 157 a soveraign antidote against sinfull errors : the epidemical plague of the latter dayes . extracted out of divine records , the dispensatory of christianity . 2 pet. 3. 17 , 18. ye therefore beloved , seeing ye know these things before , beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked , fall from your own stedfastness . but grow in grace , and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ . this text affords a signal prospective into our present state , in conjunction with the context , whereto it points by the particle therefore . yea , therefore beloved , seeing ye know these things before , &c. what things ? the context tels us . this epistle was sent for a soveraign antidote against error and apostacy , to the scattered believing jews , whereto peter was eminently sent as paul to the gentiles . many of them had been converted , act. 2. who returning home to their several countries , propagated the gospel . they suffered much there , both of the jews and gentiles , as the rest did in judea , which moved our apostle to fortifie them to his best ; by his presence first , and then in his absence ; witness these two epistles , james and jude , paul and john furthered the same work , which peter in this second , received a fresh . thus the people of god need still renewed supplies from the joint labors of all his servants . yet after all , those believing jews were much endangered by satans designs , which occasioned this latter epistle . the light of christ shines so brightly herein , that it scatters all the mists of doubts , which mistakes have raised in some , about its being canonical . * three parts are therein observable , the prologue , discourse and epilogue . i. the prologue ushers in by an apostolical inscription and salute , an entrancee into the substantial discourse following ; by a divine insinuation into their mind and heart , to hasten their pace towards christian perfection . ii. the discourse it self is brought in by way of excitation , warning and prophesie 1. he stirs them up to spiritual improvement by the light and strength of many arguments , in the first chapter . secondly , he warns seriously against seducers , whom he describes at large , in their persons and doctrines , in their rise and ruine , in their acts and methods , in their principles and practises , throughout the second chapter , wherein they are pourtrayed to the life . here we have the skilfull anatomy of error , exactly managed by the divine hand of christs spirit , guiding our apostles pen. those monsters of darkness are here exposed to publique view by the light of god in all their parts and properties . those misteries of iniquity he rips up with his incision knife , and unbowels those tragical designs of hell disguised under the mask of heaven . the several lineaments of that pernicious brood , he distinctly marks out , that exact notice may be taken of them all . their various characters , his pensell limbs out with accuratness , that such pests might never be mistaken . he sets them forth . 1. as unclean beasts and filthy creatures that walk after the flesh , in the lusts of uncleanness , witness the carpocratians and old gnosticks ; the late familists , ranters and nicolaitans . 2. as enemies to rule an order ; they despise dominion , and are not affraid to speak evil of dignities , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . witness the german anabaptists , john of leyden and battenburgh , muncer and knipperdoling , with our quaking multitudes . 3 : as proud and audacious , presumptuous are they , witness those wretched followers of nailor , fox , &c. as the montanists and manichees of old , the simonians and minandrians , the marcionites and ebionites . 4. as peremptorily , selfish and arrogant in pleasing themselves ; witness our conceited perfectionists ; in their pharisaicall monkish holiness ; like the cathari of old ▪ the paracelsians and behmenists since ; all revived in the quakers . 5. as notorious railers and malicious slanderers , by mis-interpretations and mis-applications ; whereas the angels themselves , greater in power aad might , bring in no railing accusation against rulers before god , witness our quakers and notionists of all sorts , like the circumcellions , and others of old . 6. as brutishly wild beasts , that are made to be taken and destroyed , speaking evil of the things they understand not , who shall utterly perish in their own corruption , receiving the reward of unrighteousness : witness the basilidians , valentinians , marcionists , and such gnosticks of old revived in the german , and brittish ranters , familists , paracelsians , quakers . 7. as debauched libertines , that account it pleasure to riot in the day time , witness our ranting-crue , and the german rabble of munster in 1533 , like the old borborita . 8. as cheating impostors , seducing those with whom they feast themselves . their methods and wiles discovered of old , are refined and sublimed to the utmost in these days by chymical arts . 9. as atheistical villains , like spots and blemishes , sporting themselves with their own deceivings , while they feast with you . thus the hereticks of old brought the heathens odium , and and taints upon the christians , as the papists cast the reproach of all sectaries on the reformed . 10. as spiritual fornicators , having eyes full of adultery , that cannot cease from sin , beguiling unstable souls . thus former and latter herericks have still been defiling christs marriage-bed , his gospel-ordinancess by their corrupt additions and detractions , setting up of altars against his altar . 11. as earthly minded wretches , having an heart exercised with covetous practises : witness our experience , as theirs of old . 12. as accursed sensualists , wofully revolting from the blessed truth of god ; cursed children , such apostates abound every where . 13. as bewitching seducers , the egregious disciples of balaam , and other false prophets , which have forsaken the right way , and have gone astray , following the way , and loving the ways of unrighteousness . 14. as desperate hypocrites , balaam like , stabling the very heart of the lords truth and cause , under many plausible expressions and specious pretences . 15. as infectious bedlams , whose madness , like his , will not admit of conviction , or cure . 16. as ignorant sots , fitter for the asses scourge , balaam-like , then for rational course and company . 17. as empty vain boasters , speaking great swelling words of vanity . 18. as subtile deceivers , alluring through the lusts of the flesh , and much wantoness of spirit in fair promises of liberty , such as had clean escaped from them that live in error . 19. as relapsing apostates , like the dog turning to his vomit ; and the sow washed to her wallowing in the mire . thirdly , he sets forth prophetically a ranting crue of scornful mockers : that should pester the latter dayes , whom he doth accurately paint out in this third chapter ; that we might be effectually provided against such a storm . scoffers , saith he , shall arise walking after their own lusts , deriding the promise of christs coming , wilfully ignorant of the angels fall , the worlds drowning , sodoms firing , and all such preludes of divine vengancee upon all impenitent infidels . thence he hastens towards his close , by sure demonstrations of that grand truth , which they mainly opposed . christs last coming he lively represents , and assures of ; which would be sudden , seasonable and successfuls . that christ of gods so much slighted by men , shall come upon them , saith he , as a thief in the night , to fulfill that divine word , which hath reserved heavens and earth to be burnt up with fire ; then shall the heavens pass away with a great noise ; the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth and works therein shall be burnt up : thereby moving all christians , to have a singular care of holiness and godliness in heart and life . but least the friends of christ should be troubled at the terribleness , of his approach , he promiseth to them a new heaven , and a new earth , wherein dwelleth righteousness . thereby he revives their hearts , and presses them to improve savingly , what others abuse desperately . the patience of god , bearing so wonderfully with all , gives his elect time of returning home , and renders the rest inexcusable . this he uses as a strong incentive to re-inforce on them his former exhortation , whereto also his fellow-labourer paul had in his epistle cogently pressed them . his writings so divine , as all other scriptures , could not escape the abuse of wicked minds , and reprobate consciences . they were then , as still they are shamefully wrested by unlearned and unstable souls , to their own and others destruction . he therefore , with the more vigour , charges gods people to study and observe them with more diligence and sobriety , with more prudence and circumspection ; with more sincerity and self-denial . therefore ye beloved , saith he , seeing ye know these things , beware lest ye be led away by the errour of the wicked , and so fall from your own stedfastness ; but grow in grace , and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ . thus you see the ushering in of our text , to give us an excellent counter-poison , against all sin and errour , suted to the complexion of these latter dayes , in a peculiar manner ; and that by way of epilogue and conclusion . iii. this epilogue or close , sums up all in an emphatical exhortation , by a pressing disuasive from evil , v. 17. and a pregnant persuasive to good , ver . 18. 1. the dissuasive expresses three main particulars . 1. the proper subject of damnable errors , viz. wicked , lawless persons . 2. the contagious danger thereof ; good men , themselves being too ready to be led away thereby , and so to fall from their own stedfastness . 3. the singular method of self-preservation from it , by improving of all divine warnings , to the faithful keeping of our selves , in our stedfastness . 2. the persuasive in ver . 18. exposes also three choyce things to our consideration . 1. the chief ingredients of our spiritual antidote , viz. the grace and knowledge of christ 2. the gradual compleating and fitting therereof , by growing therein . 3. the due application of the same in opposition to that infectious venom , by a proportionable improvement or this antidote ; implyed in the particle [ but : ] but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ . these several points are to be more distinctly viewed , to our present purpose . 1. from that special attribution of errour , to wicked men , which our apostle pathetically expresses by the double demonstrative particle , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , whereby he emphatically denotes their property and interest in such a way of error . we may observe to good purpose that , doctrine 1. lawless wicked persons are exceeding subject to be carried away with destructive errours . the godly may accidentally fall into them : but the ungodly are peculiarly , totally and finally carried away therewith . 1. wicked ones are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. lawless , or boundless ; ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privative , & adversative , & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lex , law. they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opposite to gods law , as well as destitute of it . they love not , they know not , they own not gods law ; they observe it not , whereas the regenerate delight in gods law as paul ; though they look not to be justified by the works of it . gods law is the revelation of his will , concerning mans duty fully registred now in the scriptures of truth , the perfect rule of faith and obedience , summed up in gods statute-books of the old and new testament . errour is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wandring from the truth , either natural , moral , or spiritual ; either in foundation , or superstructure . according to the import of the truth opposed , so is every error more or less dangerous . those errours are damnable , in the apostles phrase , which deny or destroy fundamental truths , as about the natures , person , and office of christ , mediator : the misery of man , his recovery by grace , the need of regeneration , resting on christ alone , &c. to be led away , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be carried by the force of a torrent and stream , or in a croud and hurry . thus lawless men are hurried away by the fraud and force of error into evil ; thence ver . 12 13. they are compared to natural bruit beasts , fiercely running to their destruction . it hath been too sadly confirmed in all ages , specially in our dayes . those grand seducers and their prime followers , which did so much pester the apostolical churches , are thus described , and we are told at large , what monsters of wickedness should follow their steps ; paul and peter , john and jude set them forth in lively portraictures , as christ himself had done before : scripture and ecclesiastical history do fully demonstrate it . in this very chapter and the foregoing , the direful characters given by our apostle of those impostors , that would successively disturb christianity : demonstrate it ex abundanti . such were simon and menander , ebion and cerinthus : basilides and priscillian of old ; paracelsus and david , george muncer , and john of leydon , with many more of later date . reason 1 , the reigning corruption of such lawless ones must needs incline them thereto . the spawn of all error is born and bred with them . mans dunghil heart is the fruitful womb of all such weeds . sin grows into strength , by custom therein ; it s more radicated and setled in them . as it rejects the bounds of divine and humane laws , so doth it carry the soul headlong into all by-paths of errour and folly . it endures neither physick , nor physitian , though never so choyce . such a heart is dry tinder to the devil , but wet to god. reason 2. the deceitfulness of error helps much that way , that seed of the serpent resembles him in this as in all things else . it disguises its foul face , under many fair colours ; it goes still masked : it baits every hook sutably to mans deceitfull heart , thence the scripture speaks so much of errors , methods , and crafts , devices and subtilties , snares and wiles arts and stratagems ; juglings and deceits . reason 3. the just hand of heaven , giving up such to blindness of mind , and hardness of heart , to be led away by sin and satan , because they received not the truth in love , but abused and corrupted it , and themselves thereby ; they harden themselves sinfully , then god hardens them judicially . vse 1. see the ground of so many errors among us , because iniquity so abounds in these later dayes , love to truth waxes so cold . most turn practical antinomians of the worst sort ; as they reject both god and his law : he gives them up to the law of sin and death . whence so many bedlams of all humours and complexions . so many turns from one sin to another ; sin being justly punished by sin . so many carnal hypocrites , and proud novices fall daily into the devils condemnation . 2. admonition to lawless men , it should convince such of their folly and misery . see what it s to break the banks , and to be left to a mans will. whether will ignus fatuus , lead , but to bogs and precipices ? such are next step to vilest errors ready to be drawn into the snare . all ignorant , negligent souls , that slight and oppose the law of god and man , should be throughly humbled . to shake off christs bands is a heathenish part : when the apostle speaks against the law , it s still against the abuse thereof , and resting thereon . for the law is good , used lawfully . 3. examination . what kind of christians are we ? like to escape the snares of error ? are not we lawless , but under the law to christ ? do we own and study , love and practise that law ; for sanctification , though not for merit ? is it written upon our heart ? is his spirit put within us , so as to cause us to walk in his statutes ; that we may keep his judgements and do them ? hath grace freed us from our sinful bondage ? hath the law of the spirit of life , which is in jesus christ made us free from the law of sin and death ? superiours and inferiours should view themselves in this glass of truth . doth the principle of his law within us , quicken us still to the careful observance of the perfect rule of his law without us ? 4. exhortation . 1. to sinners . learn the law of christ , see the need , and use thereof . be willing to know the wretchedness of a lawless state . it s sad to abide under the law of sin and death . to be the devils slave , and the drudge of sin . study the beauty and sweetness , the pleasure and profit of gods law. acquaint thy self with christ , and be at peace , &c. receive i pray thee the law from his mouth , &c. thus are you invited in the lords name . we are embassadours for christ . &c. christ must do all the work in you , and by you . come to him for all , 2. to saints ; improve your acquaintance . keep the law of christ , that it may keep you . look to your fence and rule , all neglect here is very dangerous . error is soon let in , before you be aware . god will keep you in his wayes , not in the devils wayes . if your compass be slighted , you must needs rove . if you attend not the shepherds voyce , how can you but wander ? walk therefore circumspectly , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : see to it , improve the law of christ against all internal corruptions , 2. against all external temptations . bring all things to that touch , let nothing pass untried : if any notion come under a dress of new light , bring it to the law and testimony . satan comes often under a scripture-mask , pretending conscience , a●d pleading very fair . he must be sifted over and over , and his vizard must be pulled off . christ dealt with him thus . this gloss on scripture still spoils the text , either in the sense or application . doctrine 2. error will endanger christians stedfastness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is emphatically to fall out , as a man out of a window , as eutiches ; or as a member out of joynt . the word , stedfastness , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , is metaphorical , denoting the settlement of the soul , in allusion to the strong composure of natural and artificial things , well grounded and fixed . the soul is then setled , when united to christ , by a lively faith , on conjugal terms , and harmoniously settled in his body mistical , in the place and fitness of an orderly member . the christian thus as a living stone , well cemented on christ , the foundation , is orderly knit to the whole building of his church political also . such a living twig , ingrafted into the stock of jesse , is thereby established in that root of david , to receive all its sap and strength from thence , by abiding in christ . this is further set forth by all politick frames and corporations . error is that grand evil , that endangers such a stedfastness , that disorders such a symmetrie , and discomposes the whole , by disordering the parts , putting them out of their prop●r seat , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , their own station and stablishment . it puts them out of joint , order and harmony . according to the comport of that particular straying from the truth , more or less material , the danger answerable appears , more or less dreadful . the sad experience of gods people in all ages of the church , both before and since christ , hath given to this day a woful test thereof . the poyson got into mens brains , doth easily slide into all inseriour parts and powers . fishes begin to stink in the head. vain notions soon breed vile affections , such ill humours easily disperse into all the joynts , to produce direful convulsions . christ gave warning of it ; so did his apostles again and again ; who were as careful to warn all christians , that they might be kept stedfast in his wayes . the sad revolts of so many apostates in all ages , who slighted gods word , and followed seducers practices , stand on record , as monuments of salt , to season the rest . reason 1. error loosens the christians hold. the looser he is from christ , the more unsteady , according to the nature and degree of error : so is the soul more or less loosened from christ , that divine anchor . the looser any member is in the body from the head , the less steady stil . error is that malignant humour , that dislocates and benums christs members , breeding sinful palsies and relaxations ; it works as poison in the body , as the fumes of mercury and orpiment ; that loosen the joynts , and breed tremblings , and distortions . it brings the soul into quick-sands by loosening it from the rock it stood on . it ruines the cement of the soul , and so loosens it from its foundation . 2. it impairs the christians strength , and thence his stedfastness . a limb weakened cannot be firm and steady . error infeebles and enervates the soul , devouring its vigour and liveliness proportionably to its degree . there is a secret malignity therein , which strikes at the vitals : faith and repentance are that radical moisture and native heat which preserve the soul in life and strength . error preys upon them a main , breeding varieties of feavers and rickets , wastings and languishings of every part . as in the building stones decaying , endanger themselves and the whole : so doth error , by wasting all the faculties and parts . thence such grow unstable and unsteady , ready to be turned by every wind of novel doctrine , and sinful temptation . rea. 3. error snatches him away with fraud and force from his proper standing . things disordered are much endangered . the father of lies comes with skill and strength along with his brood to deceive poor souls . strong insinuations and subtile perswasions come along still . they are principalities and powers , spiritual wickednesses in high places that we wrastle with , notable methods and arts , polices and powers do stir therein . vse . 1. see the source of our frequent apostacies . it s a revolting age : the back-slidings of professors are so many , so notorious , a great cause thereof is from errors prevalency . satan gets in by degrees into men , as he did with our first parents . his insinuations are carried on by plausable queries . he breeds doubtings and scruples , which soon grow up into pertinacious errors . his spawn is dubious and inconsiderable at first , but it thrives apace , like the weeds of the dung-hill ; strength being gotten , it preys for it self , being humorous and ambitious , it makes brawls and contentions , then divisions and separations . thence such lamentable departings from gods goodness and good men . hence such impostumes and inflamations , such tympanies and ruptures in the souls and societies of men . when the serpents head gets into the hole , the body will easily follow . thence such weakness in mens judgements , affections and practice . good men are not free from those many snares . what lamentations might we take up over such ! our hearts cannot but bleed in the thoughts thereof . oh! the sad revolts of this age. few keep their reason sound , their heart warm , their conversation clear , because iniquity abounds , the love of man waxes cold . 2. admonition to erroneous persons . your case is pittifull indeed ; so much the worse still , by how much the less sensible you are thereof . sleepy feavours are the most dangerous , because the less felt . lethargick and comatick bodies are for the most incurable . the lord awaken you that you may be dressed . error is your seeming freind , your real enemy . it s a bosom traitor , that corresponds with satan still to betray and ruin you . the poison is subtile , but desperate , though of various degrees . there is a latitude in such distempers , but the least is bad enough . the giddiness inclines to phrensie and faling sickness , diseases and errors admit of gradations . nemo de repentè pessimus . a bodkin may wound to the very heart ; so will an error with little shew and sence . the more erroneous , the more subject still to apostatize . spirits of error , will tear and range : fractions and factions are their proper effects : what a sad spectacle doth a hell set loose afford ! yet how many will plead for such mountebanks and cheats , who carry the poison sugar'd and gilded over into all parts ! will you still slight and abuse your physitian ? will you still run into plaguy company ? will you still scorn and reject the sovereign physick , that would sute your case ? christ himself the grand physitian of heaven came on this errand to physick his own , but they received him not . such is the lot of his messengers , his under physitians , both in church and state. that disease is sad and desperate , that makes the patient thus to rage and range . but it may be you pretend conscience ; so doth the devil often in his worse instruments . but shall sin be covered under christs royal robe , or possess his throne without disturbance ? what rule god gives against any error , his servants are duly to prosecute : you oppose christ in opposing them . 3. trie therefore thy soundness in the truth of christ , how far art thou from apostacy : how stands thy heart towards divine truth ? dost thou receive it in love ? is it mingled with faith ? dost thou long for it , and delight in it ? dost thou feel the want , and bewail the absence thereof ? art thou zealous for it in thy place and sphere ? art thou troubled at the troublers thereof ? art thou a studious scholar under christ ? dost thou observe the teachings of his spirit , internal and external ? dost thou learn for practice , and practise in learning ? are thy speculations brought into realities ? do thy heart and hands thrive as well as thy brains ? art thou fixed in christs ways , and settled in his word ? hast thou ceased to be a wandring planet , and a floating meteor in religion ? dost thou close with christ , and keep close to him in every ordinance ? doth thy spiritual health and integrity , appear by thy vigor and activeness for him ; thy hungrings after him ; thy fervent and constant following of him ? dost thou desire and digest the food of divine truth , so as to thrive effecutally thereby ? is thy judgement well informed and fixed ? is thy heart cemented to christ , and rooted in him ? dost thou observe him in all his prescripts , to give thee seasonable preservatives and help ? is christ thy strength , thy hold and support ? doth thou cleave to him , and rest still on him ? art not thou moved from thy place and station , by tempting notions ? whether in a superior or inferior charge ? dost thou stand firm against all assaults ? dost thou manifest both in church and state , that thou holdest christ for thy head in all things ? art thou strong in his strength and power of his might , against all spiritual enemies ? 4. christians be well advised , beware of errors , slide not on that ice , if you would shun a fall . avoid every kind and appearance of intellectual evils . tamper not with poison , if you love your health . one scabbed sheep may soon infect many . trie all things by gods touch-stone . receive nothing without trial . if you suspect poison , be the more carefull : if you deal with known cheats , beware of trusting . if mountebanks speak you fair and big , distrust them the more : beware of self conceitedness : be not wise in your own eyes : dread the smallest beginnings , of evil in opinion , affection or converse . the sums of this arsnick rats-bane and mercury will distemper you before you be aware . avoid the first step to avoid all the rest . beware of the brink , if you fear the precipice : if you keep ill diet , and feed on venom , wonder not at your wasting and decayes . remember ephesus , who sadly miscarried by neglect of this care . make sure of christ upon his own terms , and keep close to him . the noble bereans shewed their nobleness in trying daily the doctrine of paul by the scripture-rule duly examined : take heed what you hear , and how you hear it : so christ directs you : bring all things still to the lords touch-stone , to his rule and standard , to his ballance and test to move you consider : that , doct. 3. all christians , even the best , need still warning to keep themselves from error and apostacy . saith the text , keep your selves well that you may be kept : be very active that you may not suffer . this voice answers the hebrew hithpael ; keep your selves with all delight and diligence , let every power of soul and body be kept on the watch . all christians need this , yea , the very best . they must take warning from every part . heaven and earth do warn , and must be hearkened to . christ warns in conscience by his spirits motions in his word and providence by the same spirit . his motions are regular and harmonious still , they are seasonable and proportionable . he warns by friends , and sometimes by foes in adversity and prosperiry . satans motions are irregular , unseasonable and unproportionable . they are unscriptural in the scope and substance , though often disguised with scripture expressions , sadly perverted . all do need warning ▪ though but few take it . the best find most need and benefit thereof . peter warns the christian hebrews here , though well grounded and settled in the truth . warning never hurts , it cannot but do good , if it be well taken . the best retain much sin and weakness still . they cannot but feel their sinfull reliques . to prevent relapses and remove much evil , warning must be given . the physitians warnings are of singular use to all sorts of patients . none stands so fast , but he still stands on slippery ground . the world is a great ice , very dangerous . the enemy is subtile and numerous , vigilant and active . we cannot but find many lurking fiends in our own bosoms : our hearts are deceitfull and desperately wicked . we stand no longer then we keep our hold ; god indeed keeps his unto salvation , and therefore bids them keep themselves . he appoints the means as well as the end . as he keeps them by his own power , so must they keep close to him by faith . they shall never fall totally , nor finally , but they may often fall partially and dreadfully . if left to themselves , they would kill themselves ; they must therefore be faithfully warned . objection . but what needs all this , if the elects salvation be sure ? answer . 1. all are not elect that seem to be such , many are called ▪ but few are chosen . 2. though salvation be sure to the elect , yet must it be assured to them . warnings must be taken , that they may obtain such an assurance . they may have the grace without the comfort . all diligence is therefore required to make their calling and election sure . 3. though salvation be sure to the elect , yet must it be wrought out by them with fear and trembling , because its god that works in them both to will , and to do of his good pleasure . he will be sought and found in every one of his waies , that he may still meet them with a blessing . 4. though salvation be sure to the elect , yet because they are men mixed among men , he deals with them by men , after the manner of men . rational creatures must act rationally , and so be acted with . he changes not the substance , but their qualities in renewing them . they are so moved , that they are enabled to move themselves in following him . though the elect cannot perish utterly , yet they may fall very sinfully . warnings well taken are effectual means to prevent much shame , sorrow and loss . god warns his children that they may be taught good manners . conditional threats are intended to prevent the mischief treatned , and are effectually blessed to gods elect. 6. the assurance of the elect lies not in themselves , as it flows not from themselves : the fathers purpose , and the sons purchase : the spirits indwelling , and the covenant-promises made by the father in his son , through his spirit to them , are their efficacious grounds . in subserviency thereto all due means are therefore needed and blessed warnings among the rest . god neither promises nor commands in vain . his word is still sure , as all ages have found , psal . 93. 5. 7. there is a peculiar vertue attending the word and means of grace to all gods elect in due time and order . that quickning power raises a lazarus , leaving others dead , destitute thereof . that saving grace of heaven betters the good plants under every shoure , when the weeds grow worse . that discriminating influence from the sun of righteousness , makes the flowers fragrant , though is occasions the dung-hill to stink . thereby is gods word made a savour of life to some , whilst it proves a savour of death to others . who makes a man to differ from another ? what hath he that he hath not received ? must not the prime and ultimate cause resolve into gods will ? do not you else subject gods will to mans ? there can be surely but one independant , either god or man , which is to be chosen , let reason it self judge by scripture-light . consect . 1. se the usefulness of a gospel-ministry . christs officers are given especially : to that end the churches watch-men are called to this great work . he sets them apart by an orderly call , to be his heraulds and ambassadors , his criers and publishers . the father sets them in , the son gives them to the holy ghost , makes them overseers in the lords flock . they are especially charged to warn the unruly , to prevent error and revolt . therefore did christ receive and give so many royal coronation-gifts upon his triumphant assention , for the perfecting of the saints , &c. that we hence forth migh be no more children tossed too and fro , with every wind of doctrine by the craftiness of seducers , &c. the best need warning . christs sheep must attend their shepheards , who are deputed to office by that grand shepheard of their souls . such must be set a part thereto from age to age , as timothy was charged by paul to chuse and charge such , who should be able to instruct others : all indeed are bound in their several ●alces to instruct each other charitatively , according to their abilities and opportunities . but christs officers must do it authoritatively , ex officio . governers of societies must instruct their inferiors with civil authority , these with ecclesiastical . thus it was of old by gods appointment : the levits were to teach in all their cities . thus it s still in gospel-days , in this and other points by the same authority . the very light of nature hath taught all nations in all times and places to set some apart for a sacred use , who should officially act between god and man. none so barbarous , but do acknowledge a supream deity , and highly esteem of sacred persons , solemnly consecrated to him . heathens observe this as well as christians , finding absolute need and choice use thereof . satan indeed still appears gods ape , in counterfeiting ridiculously and impiously gods pure worship , by gaudy traditions and innnovations , of multiplicious sorts among all nations . that his malice and desperate rage to spoile the best things , and do most mischief by such corruptions . vse 2. it should convince negligent christians , that will neither take warning , nor keep themselves from such a danger . is not such a felo de se much to be blamed ? is not this evil very sad and common ? they must thank themselves , that contract deadly diseases through-wilful carelesness . if people will run to infected places and persons , they are like to smart . errors are most catching in this back-sliding generation . it s one of its characteristical notes , given by christ himself ; floods of heresies the dragon of old spued out of his mouth against the church in her flight : and is not he doing the like again upon her return ? is it not a dreadful sin to tempt the devil , that he may tempt us ? is it not woful , to see so many embrace such palpable delusions ? the lord awaken them , that sleep so securely , when destruction is so neer at hand . he that being often warned , hardens his heart still , shal surely and suddenly perish . spiritual ▪ judgements are the worst of all , which give up so many to brutish senslesness , and usher in stil temporal judgements . the seven asian churches , and all those flourishing societies in europe , africa , and asia , both major and minor , were made sad monuments of such divine justice . they slighted warnings given them from heaven , by word and providence , and were suasively exposed to the rage of sarracens and turks , tartars and parthians , persians and infidels , under which they do remain to this day . iim and jiim , satyrs and devils are now howling there : where so many famous churches resounded aloud the praises of christ ; go to that shiloh , and to the jewish , that you may behold , with a bleeding heart and relenting bowels , the direful fruits of slighting warning , and pampering errors . 3. bring our case to the test , have we learned to act as becomes christians ? do we take warning , do we keep our selves from error and revolt ? is it our desire to be admonished ? do we delight in the means of prevention ? is it our purpose to avoid the snares ? do we endeavour , with diligence the use of all fit means , to keep our selves and others ? are we convinced of our former neglects ? have we been humbled for our many revolts ? do we smite on our thigh , as ephraim did , because we have born the reproach of our youth ? do we make it our work , with all diligence and delight , personally thus to keep our selves , and relatively to keep those about us and under us , through the lords help ? do we improve our time and strength , our skil and credit , our utmost endeavours , to prevent and remove the errors of the wicked ? are we studious of that signal charge given and renewed unto all gods people with so much of power and caution , again and again ? the cananites and tories of our hearts , are stil remaining as pricks in our eyes , and thorns in our sides : external enemies are multiplicious stil to ensnare us into satans crooked paths . do we earnestly redouble our watch and guard , against such eminent dangers ? 4. be stirred up to take and improve warning . 1. take good warning and refuse it not , ye that incline to error and backsliding . the lord speaks to you ▪ as he did to ephesus and sardis ; remember whence you are fallen , and repent . have you sucked poison at unaware ? be perswaded by your physitians to see your danger , and take good physick ? will not you give your watchmen the hearing , on the descry of a dreadful enemy ? doth it not concern you to mind your shepheards voice , that warns against the wolves and foxes ? what if they be disguised under sheeps cloathing ? are you like to be the safer , or will you be the less vigilant ? it s your mercy , that god bears yet with you , he will not alwayes bear ; after many warnings he will strike at last , if you stil refuse the things of your peace , they shal at last be hid from your eyes . be not like jerusalem in sin , least ye be like her in sorrow also . the lord took much pains by the former and later prophets , all his fore-runners to awaken them ; himself in person came to them at last ; but they would not hear . therefore came wrath on them to the utmost . doth not he warn you for your good ? should not self-interest move you , if the publick do not ? will you gallop stil towards your own ruin ? you will repent it . when it may be too late . is there no spark of ingenuity left ? hath satan robbed you of your religion and reason at once ? bruits will take warning , are you worse then they ? have you been so deeply baptized into the spirit of error , as to loose your sense , wit , and good manners ? do not ye see so many before you going up the steps of the devils ladder , to execution ? are your eyes quite out , that you cannot discern the issue of all your high-flown notions ? have not the seekers and familistical revelationists turned to levelling , ranting and quaking ? is not james nayler with his prodigious crue : a fair warning to each of those , that slight the publike ordinances of christ , to follow their fancies in private ? cannot ye discern yet , that one error will lead unto more : one separation from the good old way will usher in another ; til you come step by step to the devils bottom ? ask then at last , enquire for the good old way , the new and living way ; that you may walk , and find peace therein . 2. improve the warning , and abuse it not . learn to keep your selves from backsliding errors . shew your christian care in all due means appointed by him , personally and relatively . 1. personally , look well to your own souls beware of error in its first motions . mind your guards , slight not your watch , in the several sorts of your internal man. keep well the out-works of your external senses . learn with job to make a covenant with them . observe well the in-work of your imagination , that it be well kept and fortified against the black regiments of hell. let not your phansie be a common road for every notion pretending to new light. observe well the great gate of your understanding , that no disguised enemy may slip in unaware . sift and search every thing by scripture-light , that ye may know the truth . watch narrowly the fort of judgement and conscience , that carnal reasonings may not get in , and thrust out spiritual reason . let divine reason by the scripture of truth fortifie the same , against all surprises of the enemy . yield up your selves therefore to the spirit of truth , for effectual renewing , that through the blood of christ you may have it purified and pacified . if error get once into your conscience , he will make sad work there . exercise your self therefore , to have it alwaies void of offence towards god and man. the cittadel of your will requires a special watch . keep your heart with all diligence , for out of it are the issues of life . have a singular eie to the ammunition of your affections ; if wild-fire get thither , it will make work indeed . see them all well ordered , and well guarded least any be mounted for error against truth , and for revolt against perseverance . your love and hatred , your desire and fear , your joy and grief , your anger and distaste , your hope and despair are guns of great use ; if well managed ; but if error get once the mastery , they will tear you and others to pieces . stand on your watch then , as christ commands all in these sleepy daies . watch and pray , watch and believe , watch and labour against such an enemy . the baits are specious that will entice you ; but dreadful hooks lie close under them . deadly poisons , desperate diseases will tempt you round , under fair disguises satans powder-plots are most desperate in these later daies . his venom is refined and sublimed to its height . his old stratagems are revived afresh with more plausibleness . unclean spirits struggle and rage most stil , when near ejection . the lord will keep you whilst you keep close to him in his word and waies . he is with you whilst you keep with him : if you forsake him , he will forsake you . 2. relatively , keep close to your work , in looking to others . all superiours have a special charge to keep their inferiours from these dreadful evils . study and improve your relations well , to this very end ; whether political , or ecclesiastical ; magistratical , or ministerial ; whether parental , or magisterial , take heed to your selves and to the whole flock committed to your charge . act gods part towards them ; and act like god , whom you represent . use all such means in church or state , as christ himself would use , were he in your place . if fair means will do good , so much the better ; but rather then fail , use sharper tools . if lenatives will not avail , corrosives must be used . when a limb is gangreend , and mortified , it cals for iron and fire . if the patient grow phrentick , he must be bound and kept very close and solitary . if the disease be contagious , company must be kept off . if the sore will not fairly resolve by proper discussives , it must be ripened , lanced & cleansed with stronger medicines . if a member be broken , disjointed or wrenced ; you can hardly cure it without pain and trouble , superiors are physitians in their kind : if your patients be froward , you need the more wisdom , care & diligence . you are shepheards and rulers of men , all your titles of honor will still mind you of your duty and burthen . dignity and duty are still inseparable . you are set over others for their good . keep off therefore these great evils from them , and keep them from these evils of revolting errors . the external man is within your reach , the internal man accounts to god alone . they that so honour god , he will surely honor , but they that dispise him in slighting his work , shall become vile and base . whilst you act like god , in acting for god , the glory will be his , and the comfort yours in the furtherance of the publique good . god looks now for such to stand in the gap , and make up the breach , to prevent a fatal ruin ; one man of note may do a world of good ; one moses , one phineas , one joshua , one nehemiah may be an eminent saviour under christ in this israel . who is on gods side now , against blasphemy and damnable heresie : against divisions and strong delusions ? act gods part now in your relations , with zeal and courage , with prudence and care , its gods own work you may well trust him for council and strength , support and blessing . the lord never yet failed faithfull reformers , who denied themselves for the publique weal . carnal policy will discourage you . divine policy will quicken you still . christ himself met with strong contradictions from all evil men , and evil spirits . your worst enemies are conquered ones , both in spirituals and in temporals remember and improve all your experiences , renewed so often for these many years . error discountenanced will soon wear away , whereas truth opposed will gather more strength . sinfull tolerations are the devils nurses in all relations , publique & private . be zealous for god , mind his interest , then shall your interest besurely settled . doctrine 4. the grace and knowledge of christ is a singular jewel . the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , grace , in scripture-sense hath divers acceptions , improperly and properly . improperly , it signifies in a larger sense , thanks , joy , liberality , gift , office , &c. properly and strictly , it denotes two things . 1 , gods special favour towards his elect. 2. his sanctifying work in the elect ; the former is favouring grace , this later is renewing grace . 1. it signifies gods peculiar favour towards his elect and that considered in the fountain and streams . 1. grace in the spring is called his pleasure , purpose councill of his will , amor benevolentiae , his love of benevolence . 2. favouring grace in the stream , signifies the various emanations of that eternal love in all the expressions thereof towards them , sutably to all their necessities ; thence the denominations of his predestinating and redeeming grace , his adopting and pardoning grace , his supplying and supporting grace , &c. which are in god one single intire act that is variously denominated from its object . this is amor beneficientiae , his love of beneficence , whence flows his amor complacentiae : his love of delight , embracing of them . secondly , grace signifies also properly gods sanctifying work of his spirit in his elect , called the fruits of his spirit the work of his grace , the gift from above , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often the peculiar saving operations of his gracious spirit in them , and by them ; this grace is considerable in the root and branches in the habit and acts , in the principle and effects , in the seed and fruits , in the source and streams : in the beginning and progress thereof , being often called metonymically ; the spirit for the gifts thereof . 1. renewing grace in the root and principle , in the habit and source , in the seed and beginning is first given to the elect in their regeneration and conversion , to be the original of all actual graces in them ; this is called the new creature , the new man created after gods image , the divine nature ; the forming of christ within , &c. of this children are capable , if they be not of actual grace , which yet seems probable . this is inherent grace in the first principles and habits thereof , both gratis data and gratum faciens , in an orthodox , not in a popish sense . secondly , inherent grace in the branches and streams , in the acts and effects , in the fruits and progress , is variously denominated from the objects , subjects , manner of acting , &c. it s called faith , to express the motion of the renewed soul towards god in christ upon conjugal terms , believing his truth , closing with his person , trusting his promises , depending on his mercy , deriving from his fulness , observing him in all things which is called the life of faith . it s called repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as it turns the whole soul from all sin to god , both in purpose and endeavour through his spirit , this and all other graces are still concomitants and subsequents of faith in their gradual proportion . it s called love , to denote the affectionate embracing of god in christ , and in his people for christs sake , as the most amiable object . it s called obedience , as it acts the whole man to a free and full compliance with gods will , revealed in his word . it s called thankfulness , as it affects the heart with the sense of mercy received . it s called self-denial , as it moves the soul to prefer christ before all things else , and part with any thing for his sake . it s termed patience , in regard of sorrowfull evils which it learns to bear submissively . it s named humility , with respect to its low thoughts of self : submitted still to christ . it s nominated temperance , in regard of its care to avoid all excessive use of creatures . it s termed zeal , as it moves with fervour for good against evil . it s termed justice or righteousness , in respect of its readiness to give every one their due . it s called prudence , as it regards all due means tending to right ends . it s termed wisdom , as it s acquainted with the best things in their nature , cause and end . thus grace inherent hath its various appellations and distinctions , both habitually and actually ; being the grace properly meant in the text , as being that grace which is capable of growth . the knowledge of christ is taken also in a sense more large or more strict . 1. largely and commonly for a notional knowledge , void of saving faith and love , such as puffs up an empty brain . 2. strictly and specially for that saving applicative knowledge which includes all grace by an elegant hebraism , verbs of sense and knowledge , signifying both affectum & effectum . natural knowledge of things is acquired by sense , reason or authority . thus in spirituals , this knowledge of christs is spiritually sensible and rationally fiducial its a conjugal knowledge which implies . 1. apprehension of the truth of christs proper object . 2. credit and assent thereto upon his divine authority . 3. personal consent and particular applications in mutual acception and reciprocation . grace and knowlede in the text may be understood . 1. distinctly , conjunctly . 1. distinctly , shewing the excellent worth and needfull use of every grace , and of the knowledge of christ . 2. conjunctly by a figure called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , grace and knowledge , signifies gracious knowledge , as in that like phrase , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , grace and apostleship for gracious apostleship . so the sense will be very emphatical , suiting our purpose in characterizing this excellent jewel , so singularly transcendent beyond all other . this precious jewel is curiously set out in the golden ring of divine records , where you find it held forth in its radient lustre , whose glorious beams may be contracted for our clearer apprehension into plain description , you may then observe it to be a conjugal acquaintance with jesus christ our lord and saviour , wrought in gods elect , by the special operation of his renewing spirit , and effectually improved to gods honor and mans good in every relation , toward god and man. this is the choice jewel , whose eminent worth hath been in all ages so incomparably prized by the word and friends of god. every page of scripture sets forth the peculiar eminency thereof : every precept and promise ; every prefiguration and prophesie ; every president and performance points unto this . this was under the old testament more ceremonially vailed , and under the new , is more evangelically revealed . this is the centre ; wherein all the lines of scripture do meet . all the patriarchs aimed still at this ; abraham saw his day and rejoiced ; davi● is full of it ; job was divinely advised to such an acquaintance , as to the source and sum of all good ; paul accounted all loss and dung , in comparison of this excellent knowledge ; and rationally determined , to know nothing else . peter sums all up in this . good reason for it , if we consider the object and subject , the cause and nature ; the property and effect thereof , which are all hinted in the former description . reason 1. the proper object adequate of this gracious knowledge is our lord and saviour jesus christ ; a singular jewel indeed , in every consideration . the paramount and non-such , the chiefest of ten thousand , both in his person and office , in his progress and purchase , in his relation and influence . 1. the person of christ is a noble paragon considered , as god , as man , as god-man . 1. christ is god blessed for ever , the eternal son of his eternall father co-essential and co-equal with him ; the the brightness of his glory , and the express image , or character of his person , in whom dwells the fulness of the godhead , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantially , and bodily : the only begotton of the father full of grace and truth ; essentially one with the father , though personally distinct , by an eternal generation , unutterable to man : firmly to be believed , ( on gods testimony ) and piously adored , not curiously pried into . the wonderful wisdom of the father , who was his delight before time , by whom in time he made the world , and upholds all by the word of his power . essentially , he is god of himself ; personally , god the son of god the father . his proper name is the word of god , the wonderful councellor , the father of eternity . he that doth what ever the father doth , and to be worshipped , as the father is worshipped . he that sends the spirit from the father ▪ who being in the form and substance of god , thought it no robbery to be equal with god. to him be glory for ever , amen . 2. christ as man , is the rare object of this knowledge . for the word was made flesh , and dwelt among us ; and we have seen his glory . so the beloved apostle witnesses of him . he took on him , not the nature of angels , but the seed of abraham . thus the son of god became the son of man , being miraculously conceived of the holy ghost , in the womb of mary the virgin , ( over-shadowed by gods spirit , ) and born of her , in the humane nature , like to us in all things , except sin . thus was god the son made manifest in the flesh ; by assuming the nature ( not the person ; for then had he been two sons , and two persons , ) of man to himself . this man christ jesus hath body and soul , the two substantial parts of man , even as we have , as appear'd in his whole progress : both which he hath glorified , not nullified . this fatherless man is as wonderful , as the same motherless god , for who can declare his generation , as to the manner of it ? thus infiniteness confined himself . god eternal was born of a finite poor virgin. here is an object indeed for the best knowledge of the best man , god become man. 3. christ is god-man , emmanuel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 god with us : the true ithiel , god with me ; the very vcal ; who is all. in him , by hypostatical union , the humane nature with the divine , do both subsist in god the son , the second person of the divine trinity . here is indeed a complication of ineffable wonders . as there one divine nature subsists distinctly in three divine persons . so here two natures , the divine and humane , subsist both in one person , each of them acting and remaining distinctly , conjunctly and inseparably , incommutably , and unconfusedly , as the fathers expressed it , to avoid errors on both hands . here is no mixtion , nor composition , no confusion nor conversion , but a mysterious and transcendant union , from whence flow the various expressions of scripture . 1. when that is attributed to each nature , which properly belongs thereto ; as suffering , to humane nature , and also , when that is attributed to the person , which therein belongs to both natures , as to be mediatour : this is most proper . secondly , when that which is common to the whole person , as to be mediator , is attributed only to one of the natures , suppose to the humane : this is more improper . thirdly , when that which is proper to one nature , is attributed to the other nature , in concreto , by a name denoting the whole person : in that sense its true that god purchased his church by his blood , and that the king of glory was crucified , by communication of properties . yet this acception is the most improper of the three ; being metonymical , as the second is synecdochical . in man two imperfect natures , soul and body , are coadunated , with reservation of proprieties , to the constituting of one suppositum and person , by the vertue of god. christs person in the divine nature , being most perfect , took the humane nature into the unity of one person , by his own vertue . so that its one and the same christ , visible according to the humane , invisible according to the divine nature . this hypostatical union was the work of the trinity , mediately ; of the holy ghost , immediately , and of the son , terminatively . the fathers compare this mysterie to the joint work of three sisters , making up one vesture , and putting it all conjunctly upon the second of them . it was necessary that christ should be god , 1. to impart an infinite value and vertue to his compleat obedience . 2. to overcome all sufferings and enemies . 3. to communicate all effectually by his spirit to his people . it was as needful that he should be man ; 1. because the godhead could not suffer ; secondly , because the same nature that had offended , was to satisfie , 3. that our nature corrupted by the first adam , might be restored by the second , christ jesus our lord. thus is christs person , the amiable object of our knowledge . secondly . christ considered in his office is a precious object , his chief business , as mediator , being to procure effectual reconciliation , to the saving of his people , by his perfect oblation presented to god , for them , and applied to them by gods spirit ; he assumed the name and function of jesus the saviour ; he was anointed as the christ of god ; with all suitable qualifications : and made lord of all , but especially made our lord and saviour , by personal appropriation , and effectual application . thus was christ voluntarily made of a woman under the law , subjecting himself , in that wonderful dispensation of his mediation , to receive from the father , his call to that redeeming function . there was no defect in god , but in us only , who wanted skil , power and will utterly , to the curing and saving of our selves . christ therefore was divinely anointed to be our soveraign , prophet , priest and prince , to effect all for us and in us needful to salvation . as a prophet he reveals the whole council of god ; as a priest he makes full expiation to god , and intercession for us : as a kingly prince , he subdues all spiritual enemies , and makes all things serviceable to the guidance and protection of his people , under his soveraign rule and government . all this he did and doth by his eternal spirit , as the scripture records , freely , fully , surely and singularly , being therein a glorious object of christian knowledge . thirdly , christ in his progress is considerable , under a double state of humiliation and exaltation . 1. his humiliation , appeared in all the steps of his conception and birth , of his life and passion , of his death and burial most wonderfully : this god head was then covered with the dark vail of his humane nature , mourning as it were in the sad habit of his infirmities , for his peoples enormities . he willingly then eclipsed his divine light within the dark lanthorn of this submissive state , he humbled himselfe to exalt us , he emptied himself that he might fill us . he parted with all , that he might give us all . he shewed himself to be the son of man , to the lowest degree , that he might bring all his into the state of children . had there not been an absolute necessity thereof , he had never done it . had not our case been so desperate ; could any other way have expiated and destroyed his peoples sins , christ had not come down from the height of glory to the bottom of ignominy . here is an object of admiration indeed , god humbled to a childs state , growing up by degrees in stature and grace , doing and suffering every moment for his enemies in rebellious arms . behold the son of man wrastling with earth and hell , yea with heaven it self , conflicting with mans rage , the devils fury , and the wrath of god! what think you of sin , the murtherer of this christ , and of that love which gave him to the death ? thus made he his soul a sacrifice for sin , that he might see his seed , and the good will of the lord prospering in his hands . he laid in the grave to confirm his death , and to air that bed for our repose . his god head held his soul and body asunder from each other , yet still inseparably united to himself . thus may you see a man drawing out his sword , holding in his hands still both sword and scabret , till it be put up again . thus it was needfull that christ should suffer , and so make entrance into his kingdom . secondly , christs exaltation is further worthy the best observation . therein his glorious person unvailed himself of all humane weakness , though he still retained the nature of man and its properties . he laid down his sable weeds to put on the roabes of immortality . his god-head did then raise up his man-hood in his resurrection ; and the son of man declared himself by his divine power , to be the son of god : the price paid for his people in his humiliation ; he applies by power through his exaltation , to them orderly and effectually . he is god-man still , and therefore tearmed the man christ jesus . thus his office was to be compleated by the compleating of his saving progress . he conversed then among his disciples , the space of forty days to confirm their faith ; and to instruct them in the affairs of his kingdom . thence his ascention was solemnly performed , followed with his session at the fathers right hand ; and intercession for his people . these are the four main steps of his exaltation to be singularly improved . he rose that we might rise from death to life : he ascended , that we might ascend ; he sits at gods right hand , that we may sit with him on his throne ; and he still intercedes to make all our intercessions effectual . who shall lay any thing to the charge of gods elect ? it s christ that died , yea rather , that rose and ascended , siting now at the right hand of the majesty on high , and ever lives to make intercession . thus is christs progress of chief worth and consideration . 4. christ is most considerable in his purchase also made for all his people , which hath both value and vertue in it . 1. the value of his whole obedience was of infinite worth , being the merits of god-man , giving full satisfaction to gods justice , for all the sins of all his elect , and making a full acquisition of all the good they were & should be capable of . this price of christs perfect righteousness , active and passive , was put into gods coffers , to be seasonably and effectually applied to all his people orderly and actually from their conversion to their utmost salvation by his spirit according to his eternal purpose . by the same value were all gods elect from adam to christs death , delivered from the guilt & wages of sin upon christs engagement of seasonable performance ; for he is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world ; intentionally in the divine purpose and promise . 2. the vertue of christs perfect obedience , extends to the effectual application thereof to all gods people . so the fathers purpose in electing , and the sons intention in redeeming , do run parallel . that value which christs merits presented to god , cannot but be attended with answerable vertue for the making good thereof to the utmost . the son of man came to seek & save that which was lost , and that to the utmost , seeing he ever lives to perform all . whilst therefore he was gone into heaven to act his part there , he was carefull to send his proxie , even his own spirit , that should make a through application of all his purchase by the conveyance of his saving grace to all his chosen . his oblation is living and lively still , even as christ himself who abides for ever . the ceremonial oblations had him shadow'd out , to represent the efficaciousness of christs oblation . a wise man paying a ransom or debt , as surety for another , will be sure to know for whom , and to see his purpose fulfilled to his power . the agreement or covenant made between god and christ ( distinct from the gracious covenant made conditionally with the visible church in christ ) imports as much . as the father required , that he should offer his soul a sacrifice for sin , which the son willingly undertook ; so was it engaged to him , that he should see of his seed , and the good pleasure of the lord should prosper in his hand . so that the vertue of his blood is still included in the value of it ; both being directed by divine intention , which terminates in the proper subjects thereof . therein concurs his threefold office , he being still a prophet and prince , as far as he is a priest unto any . the vertue of christs merits is indeed intrinsecally infinite like himself , and only limited with the value thereof by the divine pleasure . this purchase of his may be said occasionally and secundarily to comprehend the whole creation in subserviency to divine intentions , but directly and primarily the scripture limits it to gods elect , for whom he came , and lived , prayed and died , rose and intercedes still . it extends to the removal of all evil , both of sin and sorrow inchoatively , progressively and consummatively . it reaches also the import of all sutable good spiritual , temporal and eternal . all things are ours , and for our sake , that are truly his , and so far as we are his . is not this a choice jewel to be duly viewed ? doth not such a purchase challenge our best knowledge ? the possessive our gives rellish to all . it doth us little good to hear of indian treasures that are not our own . fifthly , christ is most precious in his relation , multipliciously expressed to his people , by allusion to all choice relations in things natural , civil and artificial . the perfection of all creatures is radically in him , originally from him , and reductively leads to him again . none of them can sufficiently set out his wonderfull relation wherein he stands towards his chosen ones ; he therefore borrows the cream and quintessence of them all to shadow out to our shallow capacity the marvels of his glorious grace . thus he speaks to his babes in their known dialect , that he may gradually and familiarly be understood of them . he calls himself their root , giving sap and life to every branch of his . he is the head that conveyes all motion and sense to all his members . he is the fountain-spring , from whom all living waters flow into the streams by his proper conduits . he is that sun , who carries light and life by his access unto all creatures . he is the father that tenders his children . he is the husband that cherishes his spouse ; the elder brother that looks to his adopted brethren : the master that hath the best care of servants . that foundation is he , on whom the fabrick stands ; that garment that must cover us , that food that must sustain us , that portion that must maintain us to saving purpose . look into the whole compass of creatures ; what ever good you can find therein is used by him to set forth his goodness . what ever defect you find in the creature , he is not capable of that is all goodness , all perfection . is not such a christ a singular object to exercise our knowledge about ? what his office called him to , his progress fitted him for , and his relation makes conveyance of through his holy spirit unto all his . sixthly , his influence is considerable for actual communication of all . each relation of his carries still with it a secret , sweet and sutable influx , which doth strongly and efficaciously operate on all his : thereby they are made more and more partakers of the divine nature , in escaping the pollutions that are in the world through lust . the apostle had found the precious vertue thereof , which made him so desirous to know him in the power of his resurrection , and in the fellowship of his sufferings , being made conformable to his death . this the converts at ephesus felt , who being made acquainted with this gracious knowledge of christ , were quickned by his power , and made to rise with him . yea , to sit with him at gods right hand . this influence is free indeed , this spiritual wind blows where it lists ; not being tied to any means , it works at pleasure with or without means , by weak , small , improbable or contrary means , yet ordinarily god works by his appointed tools ; he walks in his own road of providence , and leads his people step by step to the very top of jacobs ladder . in the course of things natural and spiritual , he limits us still , though not himself , and will be sought and found in each of his ways for the further knowledge of his divine influence . it s he that is the life of our life , the strength of our strength ; in whom we live , move , and have our being , both naturally and spiritually . how excellent then is that gracious knowledge , whose object is thus excellent in every consideration ? reason 2. the subject and recipient of this knowledge sets forth the inestimable worth of it . they are his elect , his chosen jewels , his peculiar people , to whom he imparts this jewel unto . them only doth he know for his of all the nations to whom he makes himself thus savingly known . as he makes himself the pearl or price to them , so doth he make them pearls of price thereby . blessed are the people who learn to known him , being first known of him . the rest are refuse stones , these are his living precious stones . others he knows with a general knowledge of intuition , but these with a special knowledge of appropriation and approbation . the rest delight not to know him , as he delights not to know them . he never knew them , and they never knew him in this choise manner . for his own he came to make himself thus graciously known to their souls in all the dimensions of his eternal love , surpassing mans knowledge , that they may be filled with the fulness of god. how precious is that knowledge that makes the subjects thereof so precious ! how admirable is that jewel that takes up the the sublimest contemplations templations of the most glorious angels ! those elect angels are still attending in his ordinances , to join with his elect , and learn of the church this manifold wisdom of our god. for those elects sake christ suffered all things meritoriously , and paul his servant providentially . those elect whom the lord did foreknow , he never casts away , but makes them up among his jewels , by making his christ so precious to them , in a greacious way . his choice love did freely choose them before time , and is fully assured to them in christ , being communicated through the precious operations of his spirit , to make them precious like himself in due time , unto eternity . reason 3. the cause of this gracious knowledge doth as wonderfully magnifie the same , considerable in the efficient , formal and final . 1. the efficient cause and author thereof is the blessed trinity jointly , yet distinctly , revealing and communicating jesus christ unto his chosen people . 1. the external operations of god towards the creature being indivisibly effected by the three persons , concurring in one , the son doing nothing but what he sees his father do , and working still , as the father works ; and the spirit proceeding from both , speaks not of himself , but whatsoever he hears from them both , that speaks he unto christs disciples . 2. distinctly , according to their distinct personal relations . 1. the father electing from eternity ; having chosen them in christ before the foundation of the world , that they might be holy and unblameable before him in love ; and therefore predestinating them to the adoption of children , by jesus christ to himself , according to the good pleasure of his will ; and making them , through his knowledge , meet partakers of his inheritance in light , by translating them into the kingdom of his dear son , who were chosen according to his foreknowledge through sanctification of the spirit . 2. the son accepting and undertaking , tendring and effecting , in and by himself the whole business of their salvation ; making known the same by his word and spirit , as also by his own person , in the dayes of his flesh . 3. the holy spirit by wooing of their souls , opening their eyes , and fitting them for the reception of this excellent knowledge , infusing the same into them , applying it particularly to their several dispositions and occasions ; removing daily the scales of their ignorance and sin , scattering the mists raised by the prince of darkness ; repressing the vapours steeming from their boyling lusts and dunghil hearts ; setting forth christ to their souls in his full beauty and loveliness ; and leading them into all truth , by taking of christ to impart unto them the gracious secrets of the fathers counsel . thus the glorious god works graciously in and by all means of his appointing , to the creating , encrease and perfecting of his singular jewel . 2. the formal cause is very remarkable in that peculiar saving application made of christ to his elect in their conversion , gradually carried on towards perfection by the spirits gracious operation . for then doth he stamp on that soul the glorious characters of christs image , and begets that new creature , which divine off-spring moves upward instantly , in conjugal reciprocations , dilating the soul in all her faculties to the further comprehension of christ . it may be parallel'd with that energetial power , whereby the rational soul , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animates the humane nature , into all suitable operations . what the soul is to man , in naturals , that 's christ to the soul in spirituals . the principle of all life , sence and reason thus spiritually applied to the regenerate , enables and excites , directs and strengthens them to the choice improvements of this conjugal acquaintance . christ on marriage terms by his spirit in his word , tenders and gives himself to be their husband . by this quickening touch , they are efficaciously moved to close with him , and keep close to him , by matrimonial reciprocations . thus doth the gracious knowledge of christ receive its first being and progressive operations from that light of life imparted to gods people in this conjugal union and communion . i will betroth thee unto me , saith the god of grace , in kindness and mercy , in truth and judgement , and thou shalt know the lord. admirable sure in this divine acquaintance , that is thus twisted by the lords own hand , and embraced by a gracious hand ! rare is that jewel , which is so curiously wrought for the workmanship of the god of heaven . therein do shine all divine attributes in their orient brightness , at the wedding feast of the king of saints . is not this life eternal , thus to know the father , the only true god , and jesus christ whom he hath sent ? doth not this sun of righteousness bring healing under his wings to all that fear his name ? is not he that living , that quickening light , that dispels all darkness and death , by his gracious visits and influxe ? do not his amiable aspects produce a joyful spring of all divine graces in the new world by his glorious light and efficacious heat ? doth he not ravish with divine embraces the new creature , with his all-searching presence , and his perfective influence , through all the beams of his transcedent communications ? do not his active rayes cherish , by all his renewed motions the principles of life given to all his ? this divine sun never ecclipsed but once for the salvation of his , though he seems often to be clouded , in his alternative access and recess . 3. the final cause of this gracious knowledge adds very much to the choyiceness thereof . we may consider it both as supream and subordinate . 1. the supream ultimate end of it is gods glory , which is also the end of all things else , which are all made for him . this relative glory of god , which was laid in the dust by mans rebellion , christ undertook to repair ; which he performed fully , giving satisfaction in mans nature , and so glorifying all the divine attributes . thus in the first building up of zion , as in the restauration and preservation thereof , he still appears in the glory of all his excellencies . his power and wisdom , his greatness and goodness ; his mercy and justice , his truth and holiness shine radiantly in every part of it . christ thereby read us our lesson , and writ a fair copy for our imitation , that we may glorifie god by the knowledge of him , in giving each of the divine persons their proper honor . 1. the father , for giving such a son for such enemies , and upon such terms ; all the honour of christ redounds to his father ; for the son doth nothing but what he hath seen the father do , and speaks not of himself , but the father by him . 2. the son by our embracing and publishing , desiring and esteeming the particulars of his infinite glory , whereof he is so full , that we have still cause to admire with all saints , the length and bredth , the heighth and depth of it , in the manifestation of all his excellencies . 3. the holy ghost by whose special favour and influence we are made partakers thereof . he shall take of mine , said christ , and impart it to you ; for all that the father hath is mine . what infinite condescension is it , for that glorious spirit to stoop thus to sinful dust and ashes , to reveal and apply the gracious counsels of god in christ ? yea , to bear with our ignorance and unbelief , contempt and neglect , abuse and affronts ? nay more , to dwell in such dunghils and receptacles of all filthy lusts ? what infinite mercy is that which carries on the work of grace through all opposition , and keeps a weak spark alive in the midst of an ocean ? what marvellous power is that which preserves a poor smoaking flax among so many storms ! 2. the subordinate and proxime end of it is mans good ; both personal and relative . 1. personally our own salvation , purchased and manifested by the author and object of this knowledge , is hereby assured and orderly confirmed to us , in all the wayes and means of his appointment , through his peculiar blessing . the perfect knowledge of him will compleat , as the beginning thereof begins our salvation . through the knowledge of him are given to us all things pertaining to life and godliness . as he came once in person , so hath he from the beginning by his spirit through the same communicated all saving good , and will still do it . that bosom friend of his leads us thereby into his very heart , there to behold and embrace the whole platform of our salvation , in all the steps of it , from election to glory , that by walking therein steadily , we may ascend to his father and our father , his god and our god , through the same ladder , even christ , whereby he comes down to us . christs deity surpassing the highest heavens infinitely , is the top ; and his humanity , fixed as it were on earth , is a sure step for us . the more careful we are to attain this end , the more certainly shall we promote that further end. god hath so wonderfully twisted our happiness and his honour , that we advance the one by furthering the other . one eye he allows us for the recompence of reward , that we may thereby effectually look through it , to his glory . is not this knowledge a jewel of price , which conveighs and assures all good to us ? the end of his electing and predestinating us , of his blessing and saving of us , is it not that we might be to the glory of his grace , whereby he hath made us accepted in the beloved ? christ himself desired glory for that end , that he might glorifie god. this excellent knowledge was never so dearly bought , to be a meer pleasing of our selves and sin , but to spiritualize us throughly , in all the powers and parts of soul and body , that we may be holy and happy , like unto him , in the honouring and enjoying of him . 2. relatively , the subordinate end thereof is the good of our neighbour ; that speaking the truth in love , we may grow up unto him in all things , which is the head , even christ . he gave all the means of knowledge , and all teachers ordinary and extraordinary for the perfecting of the saints , for the work of the ministry , for the edifying of his body . god hath so contempered his gifts among the members of christ , and his spirit doth so variously convey the same , that the one cannot say to the other i have no need of thee . he could in a moment , and immediately from himself , bring them to their full perfection . but his infinite wisdom hath thought it best , that his body should be joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies , according to his several workings in the measure of every part , to make an increase of it self in love. he loves not , he allows not selffishness in any of his . by his own example and command he hath directed us to seek the things that make for peace , wherein we may edifie one another . convulsions in his members are most direful and dangerous symptoms , proceeding from ill humors , vapors and spirits . whilst the limbs fall a jarring , the body must needs decay . that wisdom from beneath , which cherishes contentions and envy , is sensual and devilsh . the devil hath no better sport then in such troubled waters . these confusions of tongue become babylon better then zion : must not the stones of gods temple be proportionably squared and fitted to each other , that his sanctuary may be erected ? should not they that believe in one god , are saved by one christ , justified by one faith , acted by one spirit , sealed by one baptism , supported by one hope , and ruled by one lord , walk in one love also , and be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace ? there is too much of hell fire in unchristian combustions . such ignes fatui , and cheating meteors lead many to destruction . do not such wandring stars and blazing comets manifest divine wrath and portend woful judgements ? if our light and fire burn better then anothers , have we not cause to be more thankful and communicative ? what have we that we have not received to impart to others ? are not the strong bid to bear with the weak , and not please themselves ? our neighbours good is co-ordinate still with our own interest , for we should love our neighbour as our selves . is not this jewel a very precious one , which is of such import to the benefit of all ? reason 4. the nature of this gracious knowledge doth further demonstrate its excellency . there are three special parts that do make it up , being the choice ingredients thereof , apprehension , assent , and application . 1. apprehension of the matter understood , is found in every kind of knowledge , specially in this . a view of christs beauty and excellency is taken by the mind thus spiritualized . the lively picture of christs al-sufficiency is drawn in his gospel by the pencil of his own spirit . the lord himself opens his very bowels to the prospect of his peoples eyes therein . is not this a precious sight indeed , to behold such a saviour in all his proportions ? doth not the sensible sight of our vileness and sinfulness recommend such a merciful redeemer to our apprehension ? can we behold our own wretchedness . insufficiency and unworthiness ; and thence cast a glance on his sutable and sure redemption , without admiration ? doth not the survey of divine fulness , thus exposed to view , exalt the lord christ above all other lovers ? are not all his royal perfections , a magnificent sight to a gracious soul ? can there be any thing more swett and stately ? 2. assent and credit to the truth apprehended attends this knowledge in a singular way . the god of truth bespeaks this assent by the word of truth . salvation by christ alone for true believers upon conjugal terms , is the sum thereof . he that believes his testimony , hath set to his seal that god is true ; divine authority gaining thus credit to his assertion , sways the judgement to reason the case , and cast its resolve upon christs side . divine reason then perswades mans reason , that such a christ is worth the accepting upon his own terms . the soul thereby judges all capitulations and reservations to be sinfull , dreadfull , irrational . mans reason is then brought over to such a subjection as christs reason demands without delaies or exceptions . it sees that in christ , which is better then all , and suits its wants in every part thereof . it sees no help from any creature to be looked for , and judges all to be but vanity and lyes that hinders from christ . the soul then learns feelingly to cry , none but christ , none but christ , as the martyr did , with due conviction of sin and righteousness in order to judgement through the spirits help . the soul thus weary both of self and sin , readily assents to that truth of god which presents christ for a faithful and loving husband , for saviour and lord : and is not this of singular worth ? thirdly . application and hearty consent is the main ingredient of all conjugal knowledge , especially of this . the soul is hereby effectually yielded into christs own hand upon his own terms . the will in this act accepts of christ , and renders up it self to his disposal . conjugal acception is thus reciprocated , that the whole man may yield unto him all loyal obedience of faith and love. this great wheel thus moved , all the affections turn accordingly christ ward , heaven-ward , that before still moved self-ward and earth-ward . the soul being thus surrendred to christ , depends on him , and derives from him still grace for grace . all other things then become serviceable to the honor and service of christ . this marriage-union brings with it a free and full , a singular and sure communion . then saith the soul , my beloved is mine , and i am his . i have all from him , and all for him , all in him and all through him . and is not this a very rare jewel , that makes a match between heaven and earth ? is not this knowledge of singular worth that marries sinfull man to god almighty ? is not this thing of a rare value , whose nature appears so supereminent ? reason 5. the properties of this knowledge do much commend its excellency also . they are expressed by a pregnant word , full of sense and vertue , being called a gracious knowledge . 1. in regard of gods favouring grace , whence it flows , which it manifests , and whither it leads . the glory of divine grace doth so admirably and so wonderfully shine forth therein , that its preciousness is as remarkable , as the noon-sun in a summer-day . 2. in respect to his renewing grace , this knowledge is truly and incomparably gracious ; being attended with all the gracious train and fruits of christs spirit . so far as the lord is duly known by his people , so far is this knowledge attended with a proportionable measure of saving grace . 1. it s a fiducial knowledge that knows christ with conjugal faith , discerning of him , looking up to him , closing with him , following after him , trusting in him , feeding upon him , drawing all from him , and returning all to him . 2. it s a loving knowledge that embraces christs love , and retaliats love for love , loving his person first , and then his goodness . that soul that knows christ , loves him sincerely and self-denyingly , fervently and constantly . that soul hears and speaks , prays and acts in love to him , loving his word and ways , his name and honor , his service and servants , out of love to him . that soul for his sake , loves his saints with a love of delight , and sinners with a love of pitty . the more she knows of him , the more is her heart melted into his heart , to be cast into the mold of his love. what 's recorded of famous ignatius , † is verified of such , the name of christ is engraven on their heart by the finger of his own spirit . 3. it s a penitential knowledge that melts the soul with godly sorrow , as looking on christ pierced by him , and for him . the sight of such a saviour so unkindly requited cannot but make sin out of measure sinfull to such a tender heart . the sweetness of christ must needs embitter every sin to such , who have tasted how good the lord is . such do hate sin with perfect hatred , knowing the baseness and unreasonableness thereof . christ clears their eyes to descry and detest the least appearance of evil . the more beauty is discovered in him , the more ugliness do such observe in sin , his grand opposite . they take most pains to mortifie those lusts which are most opposite to christ . 4. it s an obediential knowledge , carefull to observe the lords will made known . if any say that he knows him , and keeps not his commands , he is a liar , and the truth is not in him . if we know that he is righteous , we know that he that doth righteousness is born of him . this knowledge is not notional but practical . it rests not in the brain , but conveys influence into the whole life . it s not idle , but very active . it studies his will to fulfill it , and fulfills it in studying thereof . it s obedience is neither blind nor lame , but a spiritual sacrifice , a rational service . the whole man in heart and life compleats this oblation of loyal observance . it minds the precepts as much as the promises , and desires holiness as much as happiness . it would act like christ , in acting for him . 5. it s an humbling knowledge that puffs not up , but laies the soul low . the more any know of christ aright , the more still do they know of their sins . the best of christ being duly known , makes them to know the worst of themselves . christs eye-salve doth so clear their eyes , that they see easily those sinfull motes of lesser faults , which by their moon-light of notional knowledge they could not discern . their beholding of christ in their gospel-glass , with open face thus , shews more of this shame and of his glory . thus job was more humbled by seeing of god in a clearer light . abraham acknowledges himself dust and ashes upon familiar conference with christ . their affronts put on him in their time of darkness , humble them soundly in this season of light. they learn daily as socrates said , to know their ignorance . as simonides the more they study the knowledge of god , the more amazed are they with his glorious unsearchableness . 6. it s a grateful knowledge , that cannot endure sinful ingratitude . they know thereby the worth of mercy , and the high price , paid by christs blood for every favour afforded to his . the bounty of christ so magnificently multiplied on them still renders them thankful debtors , mindful of their bonds . their insolvency they more throughly know , which makes them the more beholding to him . what others enjoy by common providence , they receive still by a gracious promise . ingratitude , the sum of all evil , they abominate as the devil himself . their homage and rent do they bring to him , whom they well know to be their chief lord. returns of duty they labour to make in some proportion to their receipts of mercy . 7. all other graces do beautifie this , attending on christ in following his train . patience and prudence are found in their rank . zeal and diligence will not be backward . meekness and sweetness will not be strangers . courage and fortitude are ready at hand . sincerity and self-denial are inseparable companions thereof . the knowledge of christ then is a choyce jewel , that is so well set and accompanied . nothing is wanting for knowledge or comfort , so far as christ is known or enjoyed . reason 6. the effects of this gracious knowledge do add very much to the price thereof . it works effectually upon the whole man , in every relation towards god and man. there is no condition , nor occasion here , wherein its influence is not manifested . it s a precious root , that bears much fruit , solid , substantial , and still seasonable . it renders a man fit for every good , and is a preserver from all kind of evil . it makes a man still to look to christ , and to seek for him in every ordinance . the matter and means of divine worship with the manner and solemn time thereof it spiritually minds . in every providence christ is also acknowledged by such , in every duty towards their neighbor . as the first table of christs divine law is unto them the standard of worship ; so is the second table of his decalogue their constant rule of officious duty towards every man. that order and safety setled by gods word , for beauty , strength and use in this worldly fabrick , the knowledge of christ teaches how to preserve with all possible care . the chastity and propriety of body and goods , as well as of souls , it looks after . the credit and content that concerns all men in their respective places is much furthered , and duly preserved by this gracious knowledge . it s good physick to purge out ill humours , for the curing of all distempers . it affords choice food for old and for young , for strong and for weak , in all necessities . what the rabbies soy of the material manna , is truly verified of this spiritual meat : that its relish suits every palat , and may satisfie every desire . it s a cordial against all faintings , to revive the feeble in their agonies . armour of proof it furbishes for war , against all enemies inward and outward . it is the key of christs magazin and of all his stores , opening the treasures of our all sufficient god , our el shaddai . if you can conceive any thing of worth either in heaven or earth , this knowledge of christ will both match it and get it for you , so far as may tend to your real good . it s in a word the true elixar , and philosophers stone , that turns all to gold , and puts a choice vertue into every thing towards felicity . vse . this knowledge appears a singular jewel upon good reason : good use thereof should be made also . the best things are made for the best use , and appear best therein . as christ himself is of infinite usefulness , every kind of way ; so is his grace participatively and communicatively . this may be improved then , 1. in a word of information , 1. see hence by way of corollary , the singular method that should regulate every mans study . men are naturally desirous of knowledge , by an instinct suited to their rational being . mans soul was at first made after gods image in perfect knowledge . what sin lost and defaced in adams treason , grace only restores . the knowledge of christ affords a tree of life ; but most follow the serpents advice stil , in longing after another knowledge , both of good and evil . the sinful issue of sinful adam do stil love to tread in his steps , hearkening to satan rather then to god. they are still learning to know good and evil by sad experience . this tree of life is little observed and less improved , mens palats are so far degenerated . most are still scrambling about that tree for fruit , which can yield nothing but sin and sorrow . the best of its fruit like to sodoms apples , look very fair but by the least touch turned into ashes . most men break their necks in clammering about and climing of that tree whose fruit brings death . if that fruit seem hard , it s but a shell ; if it appear soft , it s through rottenness . in every condition , men study something , but most mind least this choice tree of life . christ is divine wisdom , essentially and personally . in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge . he keeps open school , and sends his spirit to be his usher . he teaches within , by motions of conscience ; and without us in his word and providence . the volumes of his truth , and of all his works he gives us to read , that the former may explain the latter . he is the best master for skil and sweetness . yet few do learn to any purpose , because they slight the knowledge of him . men study pleasures , profit & honor in the world below , which are to be had only from him . arts and sciences others would attain , but they miss their aim im●missing of him . some gaze at the stars , and stumble in the dark , like the blind philosopher for want of christs light. many study words to tickle mens ears , neglecting christs word that would teach the heart . some mind the law of men so disorderly , that they attend not to the law of christ . the bodies of men are studied by many , whilst their own poor souls are wholly neglected . the care of souls is professed by some , who yet little mind this saving knowledge . divers , parrot-like , do speak of christs knowledge , not by experience , but only by roat . too many are found studying how to sin , without trouble and sence , without stop and remorse . not a few tempt satan to tempt them , and study how to act a satanical part of tempting of others . til christ be the rule of all our studies , they will be fruitless , being without rule . till he be our end , they will be sure still to prove endless . til he be the ground and the strength thereof , they will prove groundless and supportless still . if we learn him well , he will teach us all that we need to know . if we know him not , we shall learn nothing , that 's worth the knowing . knowledge is excellent , when it s orderly learned and improved but it proves mischievous , when it s once corrupted and abused . such men like toads , carry a stone of worth in their heads , being full of poyson in their heart and life . like monstrous syrens , they have a fair face , but a shameful tail. the tinkling cymbal , and the sounding brass is the fit emblem of too many now . the lord teach us to study christ stil , in all , above all , that we may know all in him and for him . second vse is for reprehension , both to the graceless and to gracious souls . 1. it justly reproves the graceless and unregenerate , that still many wayes stand against this truth , as 1. all ignorant ones , that do not know and will not learn christ . such live in the dark , as moles under ground , and owls or bats in the open ayr . they are born blind , and will continue so , not looking for cure . it was so of old , and it s so stil ; my people parish for lack of knowledge , was the lords complaint . a people of no understanding shall find no mercy from him that made them . consider it well ; gross wilful ignorance will aggravate , not lessen your sins . under gospel-light such ignorance is very dreadful . this is a sad condemnation indeed , that seals up the full measure of all other sins . men think they see , and therefore remain blind . none are such fools as the conceited wise . my people is foolish saith the lord ; again , they have not known me . they are wise to do evil , but to do good they have no knowledge . men pretend business , they have not leisure , like the duke of alva , who had so much to look after on earth , that he had no time to look after heaven . but is not this egregious folly , to slight the jewel , and mind only the cask ? if you have not so much time as others , why do not you redeem what you have ? should not you rather spare it from your sleep , work , or recreation , then from this jewel , so much concerning both gods honour and mans good ? is christ so little worth knowing and owning ? will not you rue it to eternity ? is not sinful darkness the beginning of hell and utter darkness ? is it not the womb and nurse of all sin ? if papists be content with picture-teachers , and blind obedience , slighting and slandering the word of god ; should their folly be followed among us ? is the light of christ so to be disowned ? if the servant that knows not his masters will , shall be beaten , though with fewer stripes ; what will become of him that would not learn to understand his will ? 2. all negligent ones , that will not take pains to attain unto this gracious knowledge . such may possibly enjoy special helps ; they may have pregnant parts , profess fair , and seem to desire good ; but they are sluggish , they improve not all means , and prove lazy in their enquiries after christs wisdom . this is a sad and common evil . many such shall seek to enter in , and shall not be able . he that asks lazily , teaches denyal . the lazy servant that hoarded up his talent smarted sore for it . none can be excused for such a neglect . is not christ well worth the taking pains for ? who looks for a conquest without trouble ? who expects a crop without care & cost ? who can drive a trade without pain and venture ? is not this the best trade and husbandry , the best warfare and surest venture ? who gets acquaintance with the lords wisdom , without crying , waiting and searching ? why art thou content with a velleity , and a woulding will without endeavour , like the sluggards wish ? why art thou pleased with barren desires , and fruitless resolves ? if thy seeming longing make thee not active and inquisitive , impatient of delay , and unsatisfied , it s a false longing . if thou be not better then the stony ground , lasting but a while , and soon blasted , what will thy end be ? dost thou not hereby reproach christ sadly , by preferring creatures before him ? thou wilt repent when it s too late , if ephesus warning do not rouz thee up . be convinced then of thy laziness ; be ashamed and weary of it . it concerns thee to see thy folly and thy misery . 3. this truth looks wishly upon formalists , that have indeed a form of godliness , but deny the power thereof . a bare external painted form they have , a shel of duty and carkass of religion , but without the life and inward vigour . such are pharisaical monkish hypocrites ; varnished potsheards , garnished sepulchres . christ was troubled with such , and so are we still . profession is grown into fashion , shifted by many as men shift their cloaths . they make use of god to serve their own turn , and enjoy their lust . such are on a round of duty like a mill-horse in a course , perfunctorily . religionis their task and burthen . they post from one ordinance to another as to a stage , longing to be rid of their trouble . used to a road , as a carriers horse they carry their load , and take their turns . but this gracious knowledge they are strangers to . their worship is much like the mongrel samaritans , that knew the lord in a mixt formal way , but knew him not aright . is not this a woful condition ! thinkest thou to baffle christ thus ? will this foppish way of dead performances be pleasing to him who is a spirit , and will be worshipped in spirit and truth ? did not paul himself see the vanity of his utmost pharisaical holiness , wherein he rested before his conversion ? hast thou not much more need to bewail thy coldness and deadness , thy cursoriness and heartlesness ? a sacrifice without a heart , was alwayes ominous , as it proved among the romans . wilt thon put off god as heathens serve their idols , with a liveless worship ? if thou offer the lame and the torn , is it not evil ? how far art thou from knowing of christ , that knowest not thy self , but art well conceited of thy good meaing , and thy good duties ? who hath required these things at thy hand ? will not the lord rebuke thee as he did israel in the like case . 4. it justly reproves the justitiary legalist , that seems exact in his way of good works , and rests thereon . he is not so bad as the worst , and therefore thinks himself as good as the best . his seeming justice , equity and charity beguiles him as much as the formalists painted holiness . he hopes to be saved by his good deeds , and good intentions , as the papists do ▪ thinking that christ will make up for him what is defective . alas wretched soul , wilt thou patch up thus a linsey woolsey garment of thy own righteousness , mingled with christs merits ? will thy fig-leaves cover thy nakedness ? will thy crack'd peny make amends to god for millions of pounds due to him from thee ? canst thou do any thing without sin ? art thou not bound to be wholly his ? canst thou satisfie his infinite justice , or deserve his infinite mercy ? did christ merit that thou mightest merit ? is he a remote saviour , that thy self mightst be thine immediate saviour ? canst thou climbe to heaven with a ladder of thy making , or waft thy self over into the indie's in thy own nut-shel of self-righteousness ? civil morality is good in it self , but not to justifie thy person ; as a piece of brass is good for something , but not to pass for gold , nor to pay an infinite ransom . god gives indeed a reward to his according to their works , but not for their works sake . thou canst not be saved without good works ; and yet not by works . if thou knewest christ graciously , thou wouldst know thy self to be unworthy and insufficient still . see thy folly and thy misery , in trusting to self ; thou loosest and slightest the only pearl of price . 5. this point casts a very ghastly glance upon all profane licentious persons , that turn christs grace into wantonness , and delight in a sinful liberty . consider it thou swearer and drunkard , thou lyar and unclean wretch ; thou scoffer and malicious ; thou proud and wanton ; thou slanderer and riotous liver . why dost thou profess the knowledge of christ to abuse him thus ? art not thou much worse then pilate or judas , then the jewes and romanes in affronting and murthering of christ ? dost thou not give him ten blows for one good word , destroying thy self in disgracing him ? dost thou presume on his mercy still , whilst thou delightest in the devils work ? doth the name and baptism of christ give thee a protection from divine justice , whilst thou remainest still in open rebellion ? dost thou hope still to pacifie him with a few faint words of lord hove mercy , i am sorry , and such like mock-speeches ? is repentance in thy own power , or thy life and means , that still thou puttest off ? wilt thou lay the whole burthen on the tyred horse , and wave returning till thy elder age ? wilt thou give satan the creame , and christ the refuse of thy time and strength ? canst thou hope for christs salvation in the high road to thy damnation ? wilt thou still delight in the devils work , and yet hope for wages from heaven ? is not thy case very desperate , to follow the devil into every sin ? couldst thou but see thy infernal guide , that leads thee captive at his will , what a dreadful sight would that prove to thee ? hast thou lived so long under the gospel , as the smiths dog under the anvil , to deafen and harden thee ? will not thy later end prove most desperate , that hast made so much haste in the broad way to hell ? if grace prevent not miraculously , thou shalt know that christ to thy confusion , whom thou wouldst not know to thy conversion . 6. this truth looks wishly on carnal notionists , who pretend much to the knowledge of christ , and yet remain destitute of his grace . they have learned to prate about christ , and to use his name for a sanctuary to sin . from vain notions they speedily run into vile affections , and their devotion lies most in their fancy . their tongue is tipped with the language of canaan to deceive the simple in deceiving themselves . this age abounds with such , the lord awaken them , who are lulled asleep in the devils lap. alas wretched soul , what will be thy end , and what is thy case in such delusions ? if thy head swel much with giddy notions , doth it not betoken a woful disease ? whither will satan transformed into an angel of light lead thee at the last ? how sad is it thus to poyson thy self & so many more , in mingling fancies with gods holy word , perverted by thee , to dream thy self into a fools paradise , whilst thou slightest christ & his ordinances , how woful is it ? thou playest like a gnat and moth about the candle , till thou be consumed by the heat thereof . golden imaginations do tickle thy thoughts whilst satan is leading thee captive at his will. are not such spiritual judgements the worst of all to be given up thus to strong delusions , to believe such lies ? is it not because thou receivest not the truth in the love of it , that god gives thee up to thy own hearts lusts ? how far art thou from a gracious knowledge , that turnest his grace into wantonness ? didst thou know christ aright , thou wouldst know thy self better , and wouldst see thy new pretended light to be but old darkness . thy pretence of christs name will do thee little good whilst thou slightest his word and ways , his sabbath and worship , his service and saints . satan may cease troubling of thee , and fill thee with false joyes ; but thy carnal raptures will soon end in wo , like the crackling of thorns . 2. the most gracious may find just cause from this very point to humble and judge themselves for the remaining of so much sin in them . the most are totally guilty , and the best in part of too much darkness and dulness , selfishness and sinfulness against this precious jewel . that christ is no better known unto thee after so much of his glorious discoveries , what a shame is it ? that there is yet so little of grace , and so much of corruption in us , should it not deeply humble us ? that we savour so much of self , and so little of christ : is it not matter of sad lamentation , that christ should be slighted and abused , forgotten and forsaken in such a manner by his very friends ? is it not wofull ? the more precious christ is unto us , the more vile shall we be to our selves ? saith not christ to us , as david his type to his bosom friend that wretched anitophel ? is it not dreadfull to be abused by our nearest and dearest relations ? hadst thou struck thy best friend in the dark on mistake , how would it break thy heart ? 3. this truth will afford a needfull test for a due examination . hence may we trie our state personal and publique to frame a prognostick of our hopes and fears . in this ballance of the sanctuary our case should be weighed . deceit is common and very dreadfull . false christs and false prophets variously delude themselves and others too . bring then all to gods touch. 1. by the due review and application of all the former particulars : do we know christ thus in his person and office , in his progress and purchase , in his relation and influence ? are we the subjects so wrought upon by him ? are we thus acquainted with the cause and nature , with the properties and effects of this gracious knowledge ? are we not still in that unregenerate state of reigning ignorance and neglect , of formality and self justifying , of profaness or notional delusions ? is the spiritual change yet wrought within us by the special hand of christs renewing spirit ? our nature of it self is as bad as the worst ; is it now savingly transformed in the spirit of our mind ? how far is this change wrought in our selves and others ? mind it exactly by the standard of truth . 2. how this change was wrought , is as considerable . what method and means did gods spirit use , and in what manner did he prevail with us ? were we effectually convinced by him of sin and righteousness ? were we made to see the worst of our selves , that we might embrace the best of christ ? have we felt at the heart such a clear discovery of our emptiness and sinfulness , of our wretchedness and unworthiness , of our insufficiency and nothingness , as to be wholly weaned from self , and carried out to him ? have we duly observed the unability of all creatures to afford us help ? hath the sight and sense of our wofull state so opposite to god , made christ truly precious to our souls ? are we more troubled at the pollution then at the punishment of sin ? doth it grieve us to the very soul , that we have grieved such a dear saviour ? have we beheld our state in the glass of his law , and of his gospel to make us sensible efficaciously both of our malady and of his remedy ? hath he made his word so to work on us , as to break our hearts and melt them kindly ? have we found that hammer and fire of his killing our sins and quickning our souls ? hath he made us thereby cheerfully willing to give up all to him , and prefer him above all ? hath he blessed the means so effectually , as to make us feel him in and through them all ? hath he made every sin more bitter to our taste , then ever we found any sweetness therein ? hath he knock●d us off from all other props , that we might rest upon him alone ? 3. consider also how this change works now to clear this inquiry with impartiality . doth his holy spirit operate on us by this gracious knowledge , as the soul doth upon the body through its variety of intermediate spirits ? observe it we may in the resemblance of that three-fold life , which mans soule doth communicate to its proper subject . a vegetative , a sensitive , a rational life is afforded thereby : doth christ do so to us spiritually ? 1. a vegetative life is for nutrition , augmentation and propagation . 1. for nutrition , whereto serve the several faculties attractive and retentive , concoctive and expulsive : doth this knowledge of christ act thus within us ? 1. do we draw and attract spiritual nourishment to the supply of our renewed wants ? do we suck his breasts as new born babs , and desire that food that may sustain us to eternal life ? is it done in season and order , in quantity and quality meet ? 2. do we retain and keep the same with all diligence , lest at any time we should let it slip ? is it laid up in our hearts , and industriously kept , that it may keep us . 3. do we concoct and digest it well by spiritual fervour , to be distributed unto every part ? do we shun and abhor crudities , cloyings and oppressions that might hinder it . 4. do we expel all sinfull excrements that continually do breed within us ? do we loath , detest , and cast out duly all filthiness of flesh and spirit , and all superfluity of naughtiness from every part of us ? 2. for augmentation , is our spiritual life , like the natural , still upon increase , spreading it self into every part , that our growth may be proportional , universal , and perpetual ? doth this knowledge dilate all faculties in mind and judgement , reason and conscience , will and affections ? 3. for propagation , doth our spiritual life , as the natural , labor still to beget in us , and produce in others more fruits of the spirit , more issues of grace to perpetuate this divine off-spring ? is nothing more active and communicative ? doth it diffuse its species round about , as being the issue and image of him who is the chief and most communicative good ? 2. a sensitive life is for sense , motion and appetite ; so it our spiritual life : doth christ do so to us spiritually ? 1. doth he give us sense external and internal , as in nature , so in grace ? 1. external sense is five-fold , by sight , and hearing , smelling , taste and touch. 1. do we spiritually discern and delight in the beauty of christs divine holiness in all his perfections , in all his ordinances , and in every providence ? do we thereby see all other things , and reflect on our selves as becomes us , that we may not behold vanity ? 2. is our hearing spiritually employed in listning after the fathers commands , christs invitations , the spirits motions , in his word and rod , within and without us ? is our ear opened to our beloved , and boared to the posts of his house , that we may not hearken after any tempter ? 3. have we a spiritual smell after the perfumes of christs precious garments ; the droppings of his graces and benefits , and the fragrancy of his divine spices : do we odorare the sweetness of his garden , and prefer it before all the rankness of sin , self , of the world and satan ? 4. is our taste spiritually active to relish the dainties of christ , the pleasures of his table , the choiceness of his feast ? do we prefer his flaggons and apples , do we relish him in his sweetness and comfort before all the worlds chear ? all , and all in him ? do we therefore abhor the bitterness attending every sin , though sugard with pleasure , profit or honor ? do we taste and know how good the lord is ? 5. is our touch also spiritually employed to feel the difference between heat and cold , between good and evil in the things of christ ? is this sense as others , so well exercised to avoid all evil , and embrace the good ? 2. the internal sense receives from those cinque ports and gates , all sorts of objects to be orderly view'd and compar'd , laid up and improved by the faculties called common sense , phantasie , and memory . are we thus spiritually sensible through this gracions knowledge ? 1. by common sense and general perception of the species of things , with their circumstantiated differences of motion , rest , magnitude , number , &c. to give thereof a definitive intimation unto the phantasie . doth christs spirit thus help us to discern of all things presented for a spiritual use , to be faithfully reviewed and transmitted for orderly improvement ? do we keep watch , and take due account of all sorts of passengers and guests coming to visit our internal man , that they may be punctually discerned and orderly dealt with ? 2. phantasie or imagination entertaining those various objects , compares , divides and composes them much like a printer , doth order his work with multitudes of variations and flowrishes . have we a like spiritual skill faithfully to compare the things that differ , to separate the good from the evil , to compose all things to spiritual advantage ? 3. memory laies up what is thus ordered , and laieth it out again , as there is occasion , in the na●ural man. is it so with us in the spiritual man ? do we remember well the things of christs glory , and of our own peace ? do we so record what he teaches us , as to improve it in season and order ? do we so lay up as to lay out in the best manner ? are we carefull not to forget him , or any thing of his ? do we therefore beware of oblivion-water , that we become not like wretched israel ? 2. sensitive life acts by way of motion , upward and downward , to the right and left , forward and backward , in pulsation and respiration . do we move thus spiritually ? 1. do we move upward towards christ and heaven , aspiring still after eternity ? is our center above , and our load-stone there where christ sits at the right hand of god ? is there a divine fire within us , bending still heaven-ward to its first original ? 2. do we move downward against every sin ? do we labor still to tread self and satan under foot , with all sublunaries , as christ and his spouse eminently do ? 3. do we move to the right in compassion and brotherly love , friendly assistance and christian forbearance , as christ and his apostles teach us practically ? 4. do we move to the left by pittying and bemoaning sinners , praying for them , reproving of them , and directing and exhorting them that yet remain in the gall of bitterness , and in the bonds of iniquity , plucking some as brands out of the fire ? christ himself did so in the days of his flesh . 5. do we move forward still , toward the price of the heavenly calling , looking at jesus , & c ? do we so press forward towards the mark , forgetting the things behind , that we may lose no time in this race of ours ? 6. do we move back sometime to hasten our pace , that we may leap better , in considering our ways with remorse of sin , and strong resolves to be more diligent in learning wisdom from former follies ? 7. doth our pulse beat spiritually with freeness , strength and orderliness , to signifie the due composure and harmonious accord of all our vitals in the ways of christ ? doth our heart keep a right circulation of spiritual blood from the center to the circumference with renewed reciprocations ? do the various communications of his spirit ( set out by the title of seven spirits , to denote perfection , variety and sufficiency ) manifest themselves in the constant tenor of of our spiritual pulse , by returning still to christ what we are still receiving from him ? are we sensible of any change there in weakness , inaequality and disorderliness for speedy remove of all obstructions disturbing the same ? 8. do we move also in spiritual respirations ; 1. inspiring the fresh gales of his reviving spirit ; who blows where he lists , and breaths into us by internal and external motions to temper our spirits , and to revive them ? do we therein imitate david and all the friends of christ in their spiritual pantings and longings ? 2. expiring the fuliginous vapors of our sinfull hearts , and breathing forth the desires of our souls to be rid of those fumes that are so noisom to all our vitals , and still breeding feavourish heats in our internal man ? do we long to eject these unwelcome guests , who still like that serpent in aesop , will be sure to sting and poison their host , when they recover heat ? 3. sensitive life acts by appetite . doth spiritual life act so within us , both concupiscibly and irascibly ? 1. the concupiscible appetite acts the affections of love and hatred , joy and sorrow , desire and disdain . is the like felt in us spiritually ? 1. do we love christ as the best object for sweetness and beauty , excellency and sutableness , the incomparable paragon of all ? have we none in heaven but him , and none upon earth in comparison of him ? do we love all his for his sake , in subordination to himself ? do we therefore love all the ways and means wherein his love is shewed towards us , that our love may reciprocate towards him again ? 2. do we hate sin and all christs enemies as he hates them upon his account ? do we abhor and detest whatsoever is contrary to that lovely object , as contrary to our very being also ? hatred extends unto all the kinds . doth our spirit thus abominate all sinful habits and acts , inclinations and allurements , provocations and examples , yea every appearance of evil in our selves and others ? 3. is our joy spiritually delighted in that soveraign good presented to us , to be certainly and intimately enjoyed , both in free and present fruition ? do we rejoice thus in the lord always from the possession of that kingdom of christ , which is peace , righteousness , and joy in the holy ghost ? doth the pledge and earnest of his eternal glory given us thereby , fill us with that joy , both unspeakable and full of glory ? is this joy of the lord our strength , to quicken and supple all the wheels of our souls ? 4. is our sorrow spiritually active in grieving for all sin , original , habitual and actual ; for the great dishonor still done to christ , the contempt of his gospel , abusing his mercies , breaking of his laws , slighting his warnings , hardning under his judgements ? do we mourn for the failings and distempers of his people , and make their case ours among his mourners , marked for safety ? 5. doth our desire move spiritually with unsatisfiableness after that good not yet attained , setting an edge upon all endeavours , sweetning all troubles in the way , facilitating all difficulties , spurring on sluggishness , and teaching all improvements of what 's received in order thereto ? 6. doth our disdain act spiritually to scorn all sinfull baseness , which might hinder us from the good desired ? doth it make us flie from whatsoever might keep that from us by keeping god at distance ? doth it make us disown what might grieve christ , and offend his spirit , whose acquaintance is our chief desire ? 2. the sensitive appetite moves irascibly against all difficulties by the affections of hope and despair , fear , confidence , and indignation . doth this knowledge of christ act thus within us ? 1. doth our hope stir spiritually towards the full enjoyment of eternal good , though surrounded with discouragements from earth and hell ? doth it cast . anchor within the vail upon the rock of ages to stay our souls in the midst of all storms ? is it that helmet which safeguards our head in all conflicts with many legions of sins and devils ? 2. do we spiritually despair , not of christ , but of sin , of selfe , of all creatures , expecting all good only from christ in the use of good means appointed by him , but not from themselves , much less from self or sin ? 3. is our fear spiritually active , lest we should displease him , and frustrate our own good by neglecting our duty , or doing any thing contrary to him ? doth this filial fear move us with noah by faith to prepare all things , and repair to the ark , casting out all slavish tormenting fears ? 4. doth our confidence appear spiritually in christian resolutions against all christs enemies to the discharge of our proper duty he calls us to ? are we bold with a generous audaciousness to follow christ , the captain of our salvation through all impediments ? 5. doth our spiritual indignation move in holy zeal to the removing of all obstacles that lie in the way of our allegiance to our soveraign christ ? are we enflamed with that prudent zeal which consumed the very heart of christ , for the purging and settling of his house ? is our fire kindled against sin , whilst our heart melts for the sinners good as far as possible ? it it not a blind , but a well-guided zeal ? not a wild fire , but duly ordered . iii. natural life appears in the rational faculties , by the several acts of the mind and judgement , conscience and will , memory and affections ; doth our spiritual life appear therein also ? 1. doth our mind act spiritually in understanding of spiritual matters , and apprehending the mind of christ made known to us by his spirit , word and providence ? 2 doth our judgment act in discerning of things that differ , and reasoniug of things , answerably to his divine reason signified to us , either expresly , or consequentially ? do we judge our selves first , and our own sins , that satan may be judged in us and by us ? 3. doth our conscience move spiritually in a due reflection on self , with subordination to gods judgement ? doth it speak for god as becomes his deputy and substitute ; in teaching and ruling , in witnessing and recording , in judging and executing according to gods will ? is it not blinded , bribed and feared ? is it not benum'd , deaded and gangrened by self-love and corrupt opinions ? 4. doth our will spiritually stir in chusing true good , and refusing true evil ? is it brought over to subject freely and fully to the will of christ ? hath the key of heaven opened the great spring to lift up these everlasting gates to the king of glory ? is thy heart of stone turned into flesh , and this iron sinew melted into gods mould ? 5. doth our intellectual memory spiritually act in laying up those things which those faculties have committed to its charge ? doth it recal such things to remembrance by its peculiar acts of reminiscency , and recovering those many useful things , which accidentally had slipt away ? doth it carry it self like a good steward indeed , bringing out of its store good things , new and old ? 6. do our rational affections move spiritually towards good against evil , under the guidance and rule of these superiour powers , which are stil to follow the dictates of heaven ? do these wheels and weights stir regularly ? do these wings and feet carry our souls orderly ? do these sails and oars convey us safely through the current of all our relations to the service and enjoyment of god. thus may we take a due estimate , by this scantling and abstract of our spiritual acquaintance with god , according to our measure of this gracious knowledge , variously acting toward christ and from christ ; for him and through him by his spirits energetical motions . he that hath the son , hath life ; he that hath not the son , hath not life . vse 4. this truth speaks singular consolation to the real friends of christ . choyce is the jewel afforded to them , as former particulars do fully evince . this precious cordial will be of excellent use against all corruptions and temptations ; against all afflictions and desertions : there will a season come for the benefit thereof to all gods people . it concerns all to make the best of it . objection . this is good indeed , may the trembling heart say , but it s none of mine , that am so far from the knowledge of christ . i fear i am a stranger to him yet . answ . it s bad indeed to be far from christ , but its good to be sensible of it . the knowledge of thy disease is a good step to the cure . there is hopes of good in sensible sinners ; nothing but wo to sensless perfectionists . answ . 2. but what makes thee fear thy estrangedness ? is not thy desire to him , and delight in him , thy design for him , and endeavour after him ? if so , thy fear is the fruit of his spirit , so far as it drives thee not from him , but draws thee to him . answ . 3. what makes thee complain of thy ignorance ? is it not thy esteem of the knowledge of christ ? art thou weary and ashamed of thy ignorance ? art thou still wrastling against it , for attaining of knowledge ? ar thou diligent in all the means he affords thee , to dispel darkness and get light from him ? dost thou bewail thy deadness and dulness , thy sloth and selfishness , thy formality and hypocrisie , thy worldliness and unfaithfulness ? is it thy greatest trouble and grief , thy shame and sorrow ? dost thou act the more humbly and self-denyingly , the more watchfully and industriously in thy general and particular calling ? if so , the comfort is thine , and thou wilt know it in the best time . answ . 4. there are divers degrees in the school of christ , and divers manners of his dealing with his disciples . thou must not measure thy condition by others so much as by his rule . the least degree of his grace deserves thanks , though we must not rest there . there are many little weaklings in his house which must not be slighted , nor mis-judged of , because they are not so strong and healthy as others . the smoaking flax , and the bruised reed , are neither to be quenched nor broken in his house , till he bring forth judgement into victory , according to truth . vse 5. this point should be improved in a pressing exhortation to all nominal and real christians . doth it not concern every sort of men to look after such a singular jewel ? doth any need incentives to move thereto ? is there not matter enough already expressed to inflame all our hearts after it ? is not this knowledge the most profitable , the most pleasurable , the most honourable that can be conceived ? is it not still of absolute need , and singular use ? is any good to be had , any evil to be avoided without it ? is not this the field that holds the treasure , and the pearl of price ? doth it not bewray an ignoble spirit to neglect and slight it ? is not this jewel the quintessence of good , that will sanctifie all conditions to any of us ? be we all pressed then to make it our business to look after it , as the wise merchant after the pearl of price ; he seeks and finds it , he sels all for joy and buys it out right . do you so likewise , that you may be enriched thereby . two sorts are specially invited hereto , the nominal and real christian . 1. the nominal christian that hath but the name , without the grace of christ . sinners of all sorts still unregenerate , are comprized here . such of all ranks are called to christ , though they will hardly give him the hearing . we speak to all indefinitely ; christs spirit will speak to his peculiarly . we offer to you a singular jewel , to be obtained upon christs own terms . come and view it well , turn it every way ; there is no blemish in any part thereof . doth any of you see the worth thereof ? be then willing also to part with all for it . thy natural , sinful and religious self thou must deny , that christ may be thine . the destruction of thy sinful self , is the only way to thy salvation . thy sin is thy disease , thy poison and plague ; art thou unwilling to be rid of it ? thy natural self will be bettered , by putting of it into his keeping , who will be sure to mend it for thee . thy religious self in thy best duties , cannot be useful but by being put into christs own hand . but where is the price to buy it withal ? it s in christs treasury , not thine own . thy souls empty hand must be reached forth to receive at once the price and the pearl . come to christ then , that thou maist get christ , and through his spirit maist close with his father . the worst of thy sins shall not keep thee off , when thou once comest on conjugal terms . wilt thou be moved thereto cordially ? hear the embassy sent to thee from heaven ; we are embassadors for the king of saints , to beseech sinners to be reconciled . consider how much is laid up in this to draw home thy soul most effectually . mind then 1. the person offering , the lord of glory , thy soveraign , the almighty god , all-sufficient saviour , provoked by thee to the utmost ; that needs thee not , and can in a moment crush thee to nothing . it s the god of all grace , full of mercy and truth : the fountain of all good , most precious , most sweet , a most suitable match ; wilt thou refuse him ? 2 , the matter offered , is the only jewel , the sum of all good , god himself to be thy portion ; fulness of grace to pardon and purge , to quicken and save ; treasures of mercy most free and full , most singular and sure : it s a match with heaven ; an extract of blessings suiting thy state most exactly . here is wisdom to teach , righteousness to absolve , holiness to renew , redemption to save thee : what can thy heart wish that is not laid up here ? wilt thou refuse it yet ? 3. mind his manner of offering , with intreaties and invitations ; he waits , he knocks , he expostulates again and again : mercy kneels to thee , beseeching , pleading , tendring all with open arms ; bearing with thee , forbearing of thee , attempting all means of doing thee good . should not this prevail ? 4. consider the person offered to , thy wretched self , a forlorn sinner , a rebel in arms , a desperate enemy , full of venom and deadly poison ; a miserable worm , sinful dust ; a traitor at the bar under condemnation ; an abuser of every favor , unworthy of the least good ; a vile bankrupt ; a riotous prodigal utterly undone ; a starving beggar , a drowning wretch , a servant of sin , a slave of hell , satans prisoner , empty of all good , full of all evil . is not this thy picture , thy name and state , and ten thousand times worse ? what madness keeps thee from coming to him that would help all this ? quest . what if i come not ? answ . then will thy case prove despenate indeed . justice will speedily send thee to thy place . infinite wrath shall be thy portion , thou shalt fare worse then sodom and gomorrah in endless , easeless , remediless torments . all thy mercies shal prove thy judgements ; thy own conscience shall be thy witness , recorder , judge and executioner . this very word shal rise against thee and stop thy mouth to eternity . thou wast fair offered once , and wilt know it when the time is past . quest . what if i come ? answ . then thy case is happy ; all good is thine , thou shalt be as welcom as the lost son to thy fathers arms , meeting thee half way with tears , with joy , with a feast , with a royal robe . thou shalt be married to the kings own son , and heaven shall rejoyce at the repentance of such a sinful wretch . object . but i doubt i am not elected , and then all is in vain ? answ . how knowest thou that ? who hath told thee so ? findest thou thy self excluded by name ? no , no such matter . secret things belongs to god ; revealed things to us . come , and thou shalt know thou wast elected . exclude not thy self before he excludes thee . object . but all are not saved . many do perish . may not i be of them ? ans . what then ? should it not quicken thy pace to christ , that thou maist be saved ? dost thou not see how many as bad as thou canst be possibly , have been welcom to him ; what thinkst thou of mary , of paul , of manasseh ? object . but if i be a reprobate , i cannot be saved , the labour is lost ? answ . were thou a reprobate , thou wouldst not be so inquisitive after christ and heaven ; their heart never yields unfeignedly to christ as thine seems to do . thou canst not be sure thou art such a one . yea thou maist quickly be sure thou art not such by coming to him . but if thou refuse stil , and harden thy heart , thy case then will be very suspicious . object . but is it possible , that such a wretch as i should obtain mercy ? answ . yea , it s possible , its probable , it may be certain quickly if thy heart be but yielded to him . object . but this is but a may be ? answ . a may be is sufficient inducement to put thee on trial . remember the leprous men about samaria , a may be saved them . mind the syrian ambassadors , and the jewish case . if thou try not , thou art certainly lost . object . i have often tried , but to little purpose . answ . thou didst not try aright , blame thy self , not god. is it not well worth the trial again ? observe wherein thou missest , to amend the fault . possibly thou wast too cold and formal , too hasty and unmannerly ; too self-conceited and not throughly humbled . thou didst not know the worst of thy self . thou wentest in thy own strength . thou wast not wholly taken off from self , and weaned from every creature . the lord hath been preparing of thee by all his put-offs , to spur on thy desire & pace . try once again , come to better purpose . object . alas i cannot come , my heart is dead and hard . answ . that 's bad indeed ; but hath he not a quickning spirit ? is not his word a word of life , power and salvation ? hath not he promised a heart of flesh , in taking away of the stony heart ? is it not he that quickens the dead ? is not he come to give life to that world whom he cals his sheep , and to give it them more abundantly ? object . i am not sure i am one of them . answ . neither art thou sure thou art none of them . his sheep hear his voyce with attention and affection , with submission and application ; dost thou not desire and delight , dost thou not design and labour to do so ? is not the hour come , wherein such a dead lazarus as thou , shouldst hear the voyce of the son of god and live ? object . but i have no free will of mine own to spiritual good . answ . thou hast a moral will ; capable of the means , and doing thy duty , though in a weak manner . bestir thy self therefore , and whilst thou art making use of that , christs renewing grace thou maist meet with to spiritualize it , and make it free from its sinful bondage . his truth will make thee free . object . but none comes to the so●● but such as the father draws . answ . is not the father drawing of thee now ? are not his ordinances , mercies and offers strong cords of love , and the bands of man to fetch thee home ? is not he drawing thee internally also by the motions of his holy spirit upon thy conscience ? resist no longer , burst not his divine tresses , but yield and follow . object . but i. answ . no more buts against god and thine own good , thou must yield now . christ is resolved on it . he will have thee home , thou must come , it s in vain to struggle ; all sufficient grace will be all-efficient . dost thou not feel him turning of thy heart , silencing thy doubts , stirring in thy bowels , opening thine eyes , and drawing thy will to embrace his own terms ? are not these sure signes of his saving grace ? come on then , come home to thy christ . quest . how shall i come , that i may be welcom ? answ . 1. come instantly , without any delay ; demurs are dangerous . this may be thy last moment of life , and his last word to thee . strike , whilst th' iron is hot ; come whilst there is hope . seek now the lord whilst he may be found ; cast in thy mettle whilst hot , into his mould . yield thy softned wax to the seal of his spirit . his spirit will not alwayes strive with man. 2. come self denyingly , not in thy strength , but in his : follow his effectual drawing , from the sence of thine unability . let thy heart still say with the spouse , draw me , and we will run after thee . know still thy unworthiness and insufficiency , laying thy self with recumbency upon his merits ; not on any thing else . 3. come self-resigningly , on conjugal terms , to be wholly given up to him . make no capitulations , no reservations of any sin , of any creature , though as dear to thee as thy right eye , right hand , or right foot . be content to be wholly his , as he is content to be wholly thine . thy skil and power , thy will and comforts , thy time and credit , thy soul and body , thy interest and friends , must be wholly given up to him . nothing is his , if all be not his ; a ●eart and a heart , he cannot endure . 4. come sincerely and cordially , without dissembling without base designs . come for his person first out of love to him , not meerly to his goods . come chiefly to partake of himself , and to enjoy him , though he should seem to withold all things else . come to a husband , not to a fair. come for marriage , not for a bargain . chuse him for himself , and all his goodness must needs be thine too . 5. come understandingly , not in a blind manner . know what thou art about , and be well advised . consult and reason the case to the full . cast up thy accounts , what it may cost thee . canst thou be willing to live and die with him and for him ? view him throughly in all his perfections , and in all his precepts too . be well acquainted with his marriage covenant , engaging to duty , by engaging mercy . he is a jealous god , as he is gracious . 6. come fiducially , not distrusting him . study and apply this promise of marriage so variously and so frequently expressed to thee . that promise is set out both absolutely and conditionally . suck those breasts still , and draw with comfort the water of life out of those saving wels by the bucket of faith , let out by the cords of thine affections ; when thou canst not find in thee the condition required , then press that word upon him and thy self , which freely promises to give that condition . do as david , begging for a new heart from him that had faithfully promised it , and therefore required the same . there is no precept nor condition in gods word , that hath not a promise to answer it . do as jacob did , to make use of all . 7. come penitentially with a bleeding heart to a bleeding saviour , looking upon him whom thou hast pierced , mourning over him , and judging thy self for abusing him . come from the sensible sight of thy sinfull revolts , condemning thy self as unworthy to be his servant . come as abigail did unto david , as the prodigal did towards his father . his infinite kindness must needs aggravate thy horrid unkindness . he forgets thy sins , but thou must remember them . he forgives thee freely and fully , that thou maist forsake them accordingly . come then with a tender heart to such a tender christ with lively repentance , never to be repented of . such musick on these waters will be found most sweet . 8. come obedientially because he commands it who is thy soveraign . come to do thy homage in loyal allegiance to him that is thy god , to worship and serve him . it s a loving and faithfull obedience he expects from thee as his proper due most dearly bought . thou art ransomed with a divine price that thou maist be his wholly and eternally . if any part of thee be at any time given up to sin against thy husband , what treasonable adultery will it prove ? come then to thy lord to be ruled by him in every ordinance , in every providence . come to thy fathers house to shew all loving dutifulness there , not to be lawless or a servant to sin . his royal law cals to perfect liberty , that thou maist be as free as the children of the most high god. 9. come lovingly with fervent affections to this royal feast of christs own wedding , that so nearly concerns thy self . let the joy of the lord be thy strength herein to tune the whole man to the highest strain of heavenly delight . is not this solemnity so incomparable to be observed with sutatable enlargements ? stir up thy soul in coming to christ , that the vigor of all thy faculties may sweetly embrace the great king of saints . purity and fervency meet here admirably at the celebration of this wonderfull match . christ comes to thee , and all over with zeal ; thou must meet him in the like apparell . observe the brides attire in that glorious type of solomons marriage answerable to his , that thou mightest learn how to come to christ thy divine solomon . 10. come gratefully to thy benefactor with hearty thanks for his unspeakable gifts . cast thy crown at his feet , and give him the glory of all his mercies . let him wear the crown who hath done and suffered so wonderfully for thee . begin betime that angelical duty , which shall be thy task and thy happiness to eternity . triumph in thy god that makes thee to triumph . let thy soul be harmoniously set to sing forth his praises in the sweet consort of all thy powers and parts . in all things give thanks to the wonderfull dispenser of all things . bless him continually who thus blesses thee . 11. come diligently in the use of all means appointed by him . seek him in all his ways , attend him in his road , hearken to his spirit , study his word , seek his face often , think much of him , inquire of others , neglect no help , and rest on none but on christ himself . thus nominal christians should be perswaded to make sure of christ in closing with him upon his own terms , to make them real partakers of christ and possessors as well as professors . secondly . real christians should also be pressed to make use of this gracious knowledge , by keeping close to christ in the spiritual improvement thereof . each of us should strongly be quickned thereto by all the former considerations . this singular jewel is given for use , not meerly to gaze at . the best find much need still to be quickned to their duty herein , that this choice mercy may be well improved . 1. personally in our several places ; our fruitfulness should demonstrate still that we have learn'd to know jesus christ in a saving way . this gracious knowledge must have influence into every thought , every word and work . in every duty to be performed , in every mercy to be improved , in every sin to be mortified , in every grace to be exercised . remember christian who ever thou art that hast been effectually taught in the school of christ , thy constant work must be to practise the lessons got there . action is the end of contemplation . thy speculations must never be idle . thy general and particular calling will still find thee matter for the spiritual use of this gracious knowledge . mind christ still then in every duty towards god and man. 1. in thy generrl calling look for him , attend him in every ordinance , the charets and walks of communication between him and his . 1. observe him in his word , speaking to thee that thou maist know his divine oracles , hearken to this voice , who speaketh from heaven by men and means to us . hath not he promised that all his people shall be taught of god ? hear him then in hearing his servants , appointed and duly called to his work , that you may not teach one another still pharisaically , as the sect-masters did ; hearken to his orderly appointments , that you may receive his anointing from above to teach you all things gradually , so as you shall not need to be put a fresh to your first elements , to spell the principles in a childish manner . minding of him will put you further towards perfection , that you may be able to teach others also . read often those precious love-letters sent unto you from your best friend above ; and search the scriptures for the records of him who is the treasure of those golden mines . behold in that gospel-glass of his his glorious image , that thou maiest be transformed into the same . 2. visit him often in spiritual prayer , secret , private publike . this is the line of communication between heaven and earth , whereby christs souldiers keep correspondency with each other , as with their general . this fiery chariot may carry thy soul eliah like to thy dear saviour in abrahams bosom on any occasion . it s a sure and a speedy post for any dispatch . it s a choise key that will unlock all the stories of his al-sufficiency . it will avail much if it be fervent ; for what ever thou askest in his name , thou maist be sure he will do it in the best way and season . he is the god that heareth prayers , that will be sought and found in every thing . 3. in meditation , retire thy self into a private walk , that thou maist enjoy him the more freely to renew thy acquaintance more familiarly . thus a man having sequestred himself from the croud of creatures , seeks and intermeddles with all divine wisdom . this choise duty is the souls withdrawing room wherein christian sincerity appears most in its purity , nothing so subject to hypocrisie as other services . attend christ herein as isaac did , retiring thy self in the most convenient season , to exercise the noble faculties of thy rational soul in the noblest way of intercourse between christ and thy self . 4. look for christ also in christian conference which he hath promised to honor and further with his singular presence and blessing . he loves to see his members helpfull to each other this way . the one cannot say to the other , i have no need of thee . the meanest may be of great use therein . thus iron sharpens iron , and the sticks together do burn much the better . two are better then one , and a three-fold cord is not easily broken . a sadder wo there is to him that is alone . christ loves to meet with his friends this way . 5. in the solemn seals of his covenant , christ will be peculiarly observed . those sacramental institutions are the choice remembrancers of him . behold and attend him there with a spirit sutable to the nature of such ordinances . 6. in praising of him and sanctifying his holy sabbath , in spiritual fastings and feastings , in every institution of his thou wilt still find the sweetness and strength of this gracious knowledge , that christ may still be thy all in all. 2. in thy particular calling , each relation towards thy neighbour , whereto providence calls thee orderly , will require a spiritual use of it , according to the variety of his dispensations towards thee . in all thy ways acknowledge him , and he will direct thy paths . in prosperity and adversity christ is still to be experimentally known . every smile and frown of his , every check and stroak comes as a messenger with a special errand . all his providential administrations will declare much of his conjugal care towards thee . thou maist learn thence to carry a counterpane in thy heart and life proportionable to the several motions of his hand . in every condition and occasion thou wilt find hereby cause to observe all his ways to be mercy and truth towards such as know him . the checker work of his providence will hereby appear to be most beautifull in the result , when all things shall work together for good , though some particular passages may seem harsh and disorderly . 2. this gracious knowledge should be improved relatively in a christian way of communication , doing good to all , especially to the houshold of faith . every one in his place should therein labor to resemble the god of all grace , who is always streaming forth goodness round about . it s our honor and happiness to be faithfully active therein , for him , and like him . by faith and prayer , advice and counsel , the meanest may improve opportunities of serving his providence for others help . but superiors in their relations , civil and military , oeconomical and ecclesiastical , are especially called thereto by the lord himself , whose substitutes they are . each of them in their places will find most comfort in the promoting and improving the gracious knowledge of christ . encouragements and directions he affords very plentifully to all magistrates and officers , as also to all his ministers and governors of families , to advance the same in its power and purity , that the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the lord as the waters cover the sea . his spirit and providence will seasonably remove all lets and obstacles . blessed shall they be whose prudent zeal and faithfull diligence shall be still found subservient thereto . to know jesus christ , and him crucified was the scope and sum of the great apostles preaching and practice ; let it be so of ours that our conjugal acquaintance with him may effectually be demonstrated to his honor and mans good . this precious jewel is daily endangered by variety of close and open enemies . many false lights are daily setting up by the strong factions of the prince of darkness to counterfeit and disgrace divine light. the publique interest as well as our private is wrapped up together and shipped in one bottom with christs interest . our best politicks do wholly depend on the right use of this gracious knowledge . doth not the lord speak again to each of his people , especially to our noble worthies , what he solemly expressed by the royal prophet to his famous son , and thou solomon my son , know thou the god of thy father , and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind ; if thou seek him , he will be found of thee ; but if thou forsake him he will forsake thee . the like charge he pressed in effect upon all gods people in that great convention of state . to further it , mind that . doctrine 5. growing in the gracious knowledge of christ is a special gospel-duty . it becomes christians to be still growing in that gracious knowledge . the apostle sums all up in this , as the great work of every christian , from which none are exempted . improvement of that singular mercy , must needs be a singular duty . this spiritual growth is variously expressed in scripture-dialect , being compared to the growing of corn , the encrease of light , the spreading of a tree , the augmentation of the body , the fermentation of leaven , the ripening of vegetables , &c. all sorts of things natural , civil , artificial , all vegetative , sensitive and rational beings contribute towards the illustration and resemblance thereof . growth still attends life , the principle of it . christ himself grew in grace and statute before god and man ; so doth the knowledge of him in every gracious heart ; its thriving still . the most spreading plants are used still in scripture to set forth this spiritual increase of divine plants . they grow as the mustard-seed from small beginnings to a huge increase , especially in that country . they sprout as the lilly for suddenness , beauty , uprightness and use . they spread as the vine for abundant fruitfulness , as the oak for strength and durableness , as the cedar for taleness , straightness and medicinableness , as roses for choiceness , pleasure and cordial vertues . thus being planted in the house of the lord , they flourish in the courts of our god , and most in their old age . it s a choice duty , obliging all sorts in their several capacities , which the gospel-commands and commends frequently and singularly ; the neglect whereof is as largely reproved , threatned and visited for . the variety of ordinances and spiritual provisions which he affords , so abundantly demonstrate the same . he compares them therefore to the tree planted by the water side , whose leaves flourish , and whose fruit comes still to solid , savory and ripe fruit . christ the tree of life by his own growth , teaches them thus to grow , affording still the sweet streams of his gracious influence , in each relation from his person through his offices , that the fruits of his progress and purchase may be brought forth in them those eminent places in ezekiel , and other scriptures hold this forth to the life by the increase and improvement of the sanctuary-waters . a fruitfull parable the lord himself spreads before us to express this emphatically by a large and pregnant allegory , whose divine branches have been elaborately trimmed to this purpose by a very worthy pen. the god of all grace likes not to see his gracious off-spring wasted with rickets in a decaying posture . his messages from heaven to the seven churches of asia testifie the same , and hold forth a lively resemblance of his various dealings with his people from that time hitherto , according to the various proportions of their growth or decay . reason 1. their nature requires it ; full of spirit and life they are , and must needs grow . the more of life in any thing , the more of growth . the more of spirit , the more of liveliness . grace is spiritual life , the seed of glory , and eternal life . it s the life of christ , the operation of his holy spirit , as far as man is capable thereof . the best of a mans natural life is but dull and dead , in comparison of this gracious life . union to the living god , and communion with him in christ through the spirit , is the principle of this supernatural life . the new creature must needs grow that partakes so much of the divine nature in similitude , though not in sameness ; in quality , though not in equality . want of lively principles , makes so many glorious professors to wither and waste so miserably . they were but seeming branches , & as cions meerly fastened about the stock , but never incorporated therein intimately . they that have their root and life from earthly nature , still may for a while flourish , but will soon be blasted . the root and life of the new man is above in gods bosom , in the heart of christ , still supplied by his spirit to safeguard them from all winter-blasts of renewed temptations and corruptions . reason 2. gods honour cals for it . all things are made for him , as they were framed by him . of him , through him , and to him are all things , as in nature , so in grace peculiarly . this people hath he formed for his praises . they are the plants of his setting , the work of his hand , that he may be glorified . and herein is their father glorified , that they bring forth much fruit . the growth of his garden is the glory of that divine husbandman . the thriving of his children must needs commend his fatherly care . his love and service cannot but press thereto . if his children be so unlike him , they can neither honour nor serve him aright . he hat much work for all his servants in every relation and occasion . if they be sickly and wasting , what are they fit for ? must not his people be lively like him , that they may be stil faithful and successful ? the more christ is known in a gracious way , the more doth sin waste , and grace flourish . the vigor of a christian is still in his christ . the love of christ must needs constrain him to live more to him , in being more like him . much strength and spirit is still required in every part of the lords service . he would have us fervent in spirit , as paul himself was therein , which doth require a spiritual growth to make us vigorous . reason 3. mans interest challenges it , their credit and comfort , their honour and happiness depend upon their growth . their profit and pleasure , their helpfulness to others still attend the same . a wasting sickly life is as uncomfortable as unserviceable to our selves and others . rickets and consumptions render our children useless and burthensom ; spiritual decaies are far more offensive unto gods children . they can neither help themselves nor others , that are thus pining and consuming . the life of our life is in our health and strength : without it we cannot receive nor do good to any purpose . a diseased life is but a living death , and a dying life . christ must be known more graciously stil , that we may enjoy more of his comforts , and be more useful to all his members . the more any limb receives from the head , the more assistance may the same afford unto its body . we must still be deriving from christ , what we are stil to communicate to our fellow members . christian sympathie and communion will still challenge serviceableness from every part of his mystical body . vse 1. see the necessity and benefit of a perpetual ministry and ordinances . they are the special means appointed and blessed for the promoting of this spiritual growth . he gave apostles , prophets , evangelists , pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints , for the work of the ministry , for the edifying of the body of christ , untill we all come into a perfect man in him , to the full measure of his stature ; that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine , but speaking the truth in love , may grow up into him in all things , who is the head , even christ . the slighting of christs institutions makes so many to decay apace in their profession and affection , in their parts and practice . they are the food and refreshings of gods house , suited to the case of all his children and servants therein . the neglect , abuse and poisoning thereof must needs be very sinful and woful . how can they but languish and perish , that scorn and defile , that spoil and pervert the precious means of their life and growth ? providence ever knits the end and the means . what the lord appoints , he doth surely and seasonably bless . out of his road he will not be look'd for , nor assure his grace where he records not his name . his general presence fils all places indeed , and rules in hell it self judicially . but his favourable and fatherly presence , is to be sought and found in his gracious ordinances . what can rebels expect from a soveraign whose orders they stil oppose and reject ? who can look for the blessing of heaven in following the waies of darkness ? what hope of growing in any good things , without answerable supplies and relief ? we waste a pace and need refreshing still , that we may grow in the knowledge of christ . vse 2. it may convince and humble all ignorant and negligent christians . it s our sin , let it be our shame and sorrow that we grow so little under such helps in the lords husbandry . this evil reigns in most , it remains in the best . most continue in the love , under the power thereof , making a trade and a sport of it ; the best find much cause to be still judging themselves for the sad reliques of these unhappy weeds . the dunghil abounds continually with filth and vermin , so doth mans unrenewed heart . the best garden will ever be troubled with some trash or other to be look'd after . their case is saddest that are most sensless of it , and secure in it . the soundest bodies retain some ill humors , that will augment too much putrefaction if not timely removed . thence the cause of so many diseases that hinder the growth of the inward and outward man. but how dreadful is their condition that stil feed their disease , and love nothing but what increases distempers ? corrupt nature stil will bring like to like , and undo it self by pampering self . god provides us very wholsom food in his ordinances ; but like foolish children we frowardly dislike it , and prefer any trash rather . we feed on crude and corrupt matter which breeds choler , phlegm and worms a pace . thence an increase of putrefaction , which spoils our appetite and taints our palate . want of exercise and orderly care in the wayes of christ , makes us such weaklings , and such punies in his grace and knowledge . how doth it trouble us to see our children wasting with rickets , worms and feavers through their own folly ? is not our case much worse under our many spiritual consumptions , stil contracted by our negligence ? let is humble us and make us ashamed , that we grow so little in that which is good , and so fast in that which is evil ; is it not our folly and our misery ? should not it be our shame and sorrow ? vse 3. examination . doth your spiritual life appear to your self and others by your growth ? is it universal , proportional , and continual ? living things do grow in every part stil , with proportion and continuance . do you thus spiritually grow in the gracious knowledge of our lord jesus ? observe it in the particulars . 1. is it an universal growth , both internally and externally ? 1. internally , do you grow in every faculty and power of the inward man ? doth your mind and judgement , your reason and conscience , your will and affections , your memory and sense grow more spiritual , solid and substantial ? are you better acquainted with his person and office , progress and purchase , relation and influence ? do you feel thereby more vigor and strength flowing into your soul out of his fulness ? do you find his spirit quickning your spirit by every ordinance and providence of his , to an higher degree of grace and knowledge ? are you more sensible of your need thereof as of your own insufficiency to support and supply you in every relation ? do you long for it and delight in it , grieving for the want , striving after it , restless without it , refreshed with it ? is christ sweeter , and sin bitterer to your soul more and more ? 2. externally , do your leaves , buds and fruit encrease in loveliness towards god and man ? do you grow , as christ did , in grace and favour ? is it your study , design and labour to perfect holiness in the fear of god , by putting away every filthiness of flesh and spirit , through the improvement of his precious promises ? is your growth uniform in its universal augment ? do you abhor sins of omission , as much as you do sins of commission ? have you an eye still to the second table , in minding the first ; and to the first , in minding the second ? do you make conscience of the least precept , in improving every promise ? doth not your interest encroach upon christ , or your neighbours various concernments ? are you more sincere and ▪ self-denying , more couragious and zealous for truth and for peace ? do you grow in patience and prudence also , as in diligence and dependency ? are formality and hypocrifie more loathsome stil to you as to god ? doth your hand grow stronger and steadier in all offices of justice and charity as of piety and true devotion ? is your speech active and lively ? is your life speaking ? 2. is your growth proportional ? doth it answer the measure of every part ? it s a monster that grows not aright in nature and grace for quantity , order and quality . observe how plants spread with fit proportions , and sensitives in every member ; mind the very growth of your own & others bodies , to compare your spiritual case therewith . do you grow downward in self-denial and humility , as well as upward in knowledge and comfort ? is there no disproportion between your profession and conversation ; your parts and practice ? are not you sick of spiritual rickets that puff up the head and waste other limbs ? do your sence and motion grow spiritually , orderly and fitly ? are you not like mushroms , of a sudden monstrous disproportionable growth ? hath every faculty its proper increase for the service of all other parts ? do you digest well spiritual nourishment , which every part must assimilate into its proper substance and use ? doth your increase of gifts and knowledge , make you to grow in all judgement of christian helpfulness towards every relation above you , about you , under you ? do all the parts of the new creature keep an harmonious symmetry and orderly motion within you ? is there no excrescence , or exuberance , no dislocation , or disruption there willingly suffered ? are not you like hydropical bodies , puffed up with wind , water and humours ? is your judgement sound , and affections warm ; your will supple , and conscience tender ; your tongue seasoned , and your whole man strengthened daily , by this gracious knowledge ? doth your growth answer christ provisions ? 3. is it continual ? is it stil your desire and delight , design and labour to be found ripening towards gods harvest ? is your way stil as the morning light , which shines more and more to the perfect day ? do you hold on in that gracious course , waxing stronger and stronger , as he that hath pure hands ? do you abhor sinful remissions and intermissions in your self and others ? observe the growth of all living things , how they hasten stil after their proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfection ? is it so with you on a spiritual score ? have you learned with paul to forget things behind , and stil press forward ? do you therefore labour to cast off every weight that doth hinder you , and the sin that so easily besets you ? the lord is continually dropping down fatness from heaven upon you ; do you return thither , answer your receipts thence ? are you like a plant in the lords garden , spiritual and civil , in church and state , ripening still towards a better state ? do you mark and bewail your failings & neglects ? do your fals and slips quicken your pace and your watchfulness ? doth others folly teach you more wisdom , to walk more steadily in this slippery age , whilst the seducers do wax worse and worse , both in deceiving and being deceived ? are you stil striving to grow better and better ? are you not like the high way , stony , or thorny ground , which are but for a time ; but like the good ground fruitful to perfection ? do you resemble those true believers who through faith & patience inherited the promises ; rather then judas and alexander , anannias and saphira , with thousands more that failed half-way ? do hymeneus , philetas and demas awaken your care , and quicken your diligence , that you may not prove like to them in forsaking christ ? do you give your lusts neither peace nor truce in your warfare against spiritual evils ? doth your profiting in this knowledge of christ appear unto all in all occasions ? vse 4. be we stirred up to obey this divine charge of growing in grace and in the knowledge of christ . are not we all nearly concern'd therein ? doth not our profit , delight and credit challenge this from us ? is not gods interest of greater moment to prevail with us ? should not our relations to others put as upon it ? are not christians spiritual merchants ? shall we not improve then such a precious jewel ? should not we still be trading with christ in the great commodities of heaven ? strong encouragements we have from all parts thereof , if but duly weighed . the trade , the factor , the commodity , the venture and gain are beyond compare . men improve their grounds , and manage their state to the best advantage , that they may live well . should not we then improve this stock , and husband this portion upon better ground ? it is a field that will never fail ; the more we till it , the more it will yield . as christ himself , so the knowledg of him , are richest mines still full of treasure : springs of all good still inexhaustible . the more you draw the more will follow it ; like the womans oil that will never stop , but for want of vessels . this improvement will improve all things else ; and without it nothing will do well . this speak to dead and living . 1. death christians should be excited , that they may get life , else they cannot grow . you must get the stock before you can trade . your heart must be renewed that it may be bettered . former directions will stand you in stead if duly minded and observed . you must be convinced of your spiritual death , to feel the need of the prince of life . seek then to him as blinde bartimeus , cry hard after him , let him have no rest til he give you life and light at once . he never yet rejected any soul that unfeignedly did attend on him . if you wait long at bethesdas pool , it s for your good , and he will be found in the best season ; if he put you off as he did that famous woman of canaan , it is but for trial and to quicken you . if you cannot go ▪ send your heart and friends , your prayers and tears to give him a call . be sure to observe what he saith to you in his word and providence , as by his spirit . as you desire life , neglect no means helping thereto , looking stil to him for his blessing in all . retain no sin , and slight no duty voluntarily ; give him your bad heart to mend it for you . feel your deadness that he may quicken you . know the worst of your self by inspection in his glass , that you may learn to know the best of christ . beware especially of your darling lusts , your dalilah corruptions , whether sinful pleasure , profit or pride . know your wretchedness and emptiness , your insufficiency and unworthiness : that christ may be your all , for wisdom and righteousness , sanctification and redemption . 2. living christians must stir up themselves encrease this life . rouz up the grace of god that is within you . blow up those sparks , and make it your work to grow stil in grace and in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ . food and exercise , physick and diet , temperance and vigilance will be found special helps , as for bodily , so for spiritual improvement of life . there is an instinct in every creature , for self-preservation and increase , which moves stil towards proper objects in all due means . 1. look well to your food then of a spiritual nature , to shun what is evil , and improve what is good . you must therein mind the quantity and quality , the order and season of receving it for due concoction . the scripture word will afford you still the living bread , and the living water ; the flesh and blood of christ to feed on by faith. its milk for babes , and strong meat for adult christians . let it not be mixed nor adulterated by humane additions or detractions . hunger and thirst stil after the word and righteousness of christ . take what suits your case , and observe what rules himself gives you . plain dressing thereof will be still best for your profiting . feel the need of it , and long after it ; cry and seek hard for it , make good use of it . you must feed well that you may thrive well . 2. see to your exercise ; that it may be moderate , suitable and seasonable ; so will it be of singular help to discuss ill humours , and to augment your native heat , by fit distribution of food and spirits . in all the waies of god exercise your self unto godliness as the apostle did for himself , directing timothy and all others to the same . such an exercise hath the promises of this life and of that to come , being still profitable for all things . beware of straying into the devils paths , and training in his military yard . you must wrastle against sin and self , against spiritual enemies of all sorts . your sinful body must be kept under , that you may be nimble and swift in your race . the whole armour of god is furbished to your hands , that you may put it on and use it with success . be thus strong in his strength and in the power of his might , that you may prevail in all your conflicts . 3. mind seasonable physick which you will often find the need of to purge out your peccant humors that are increasing and putrifying still . your growth will be stopt if these sinfull stoppages and putrid matters be not duly removed . advise therefore with the best physician for prescripts and medicines sorted to your case . deal very freely and fully with him without dissembling and reservation . give him exact account of what you do know , that you may be dealt throughly with for good ; observe his directions with puncutual care in receiving good , and eschewing evil . his skill , power and will are incomparable and unquestionable . his blood and grace by his holy spirit he mingles in his word to destroy your sins , and to save your soul . if his pils appear bitter to , your taste , they are the fitter to kill your corruptions : your eure is certain if you be but ruled under his preparing , purging and dressing . no disease ever proved shame to him ; trust him , obey him , and your case is safe . 4. keep a due diet as he doth instruct , who orders all things to his peoples good . to abstain from evil is still as needfull as to be doing and receiving good . observe then what things are most offensive to your constitution , that you may avoid the first beginnings and appearance thereof . some are more bent to pride , others to passion , some to vanity , others to wordliness , some are more lazie , others more wanton , some grow more secure , others more foolish . error will tempt you under various shapes , putting on often the garment of light. ignorance and pride will still cherish it ; self-conceit and folly will still be its nurses . meddle not with pitch to avoid its filth . trie all things aright , that you may suck no evil . advice from sure hands will preserve you much from the common wo of this erring age. improve your own and others experience , confirmed to you by scripture-records . 5. forget not temperance , the nurse of vertue and the ruin of vice . let your moderation appear to all men , the lord is an hand . sobriety in all things lawfull must attend abstinence from things unlawfull . the supream physician directs often to this , both by his own mouth and his servants pen. intemperance is the womb and breast of all sinfull evil that would weaken you . you may soon surfeit with worldly creatures , if you be not singularly carefull ; that you may grow apace in the things of christ , be very moderate in all other things . nature is content with little , and grace with less , where inordinancy hath not burst the bounds . know well what becomes your complexion and condition , that you may still cut your garment to your cloth , and to your wearing . he is rich indeed that hath learn't contentment , the choice jewel which christ alone gives . paul studied long and hard for the same , being instructed in the school of heaven . follow his steps to attain his end : so shall you know how to want and abound . godliness with content will be your great gain ; the blessing of the lord will make you so rich , as to add no sorrow thereto . sixthly , be very watchfull ; this is christs own rule , often inculcated to spur on our dulness . we naturally are very drowzy , much inclining to sloth and slumber . in this sleepy age the wisest virgins contract infection among the foolish . they all slumber and sleep through their own default , the bridgroom tarrying for some longer space then some expected . watch and pray , watch and be sober , lest ye be surprized ere you be ware . you are surrounded with mortal enemies , very numerous , cruel and cunning : look well to your guards , inward and outward ; your danger within is often greatest . redeem the time well , walking circumspectly , not as fools , but as wise in these evil days . watch unto all good against every sin , so shall you be ready for your masters comming . the lazy servant shall see him with horror , whom the diligent shall welcome with joy. the night of ignorance , error , and all sin , is the season that requires this most . troubles of all sorts will attend the same if all due care be not rightly used . christ comes as a thief unexpectedly , both on the former and this latter world , whilst robbing spirits are catching abroad . blessed is he that watcheth , and keeps his garments . if any of us be stripped by their wiles , we shall be found naked to our open shame . seducing spirits do haunt every place with their cheating drugs and mountebanck tricks . look well to your selves and to all under you , that ye be not poisoned by their artifice . they can cog the dice , and shuffle their cards with all nimbleness and secret methods . the prince of this world is still teaching them to abuse scripture , and corrupt its sense by wresting its words . watch therefore to improve the knowledge of christ with more vigor , zeal and diligence . be moved thereto by further viewing the following point , as the remedy against such maladies . doctrine vi. spiritual growth is a soveraign antidote against error and apostacy . this clearly appears from the respective aspect of this text upon the context , as is implyed in the particle but. error is a subtile and a strong poison , as doth appear from the former hints . it blinds the judgement , and misleads the soul into satans road of falshood and deceit . spiritual errors are most dangerous in the great matters of our salvation . scruples and doubts are more unsettled ; error grows fixed , and radicates it self . in circumstantials of religion there is less danger among sober and humble christians . if this disease grow to greater height , near the foundation and the noble parts , t' will be worse still . if once it strike at fundamentals , its intolerable , not to be born with . the venom thereof is set out in scripture by the most poisonous creatures that can be . minerals and plants , vermin and serpents do all come short in setting it forth . the vilest excrements and the worst disease cannot sufficiently express its deadliness . it s the sad abstract of all kind of evil , wherein sin and sorrow do fully center . all sorts , even the best , being subject thereto in different ways , should be made carefull to provide against it . as countryes vary , so do their poisons ; as bodies vary , so do their diseases . this poisonous disease doth likewise vary on divers accouts to be distinctly known towards a cure . apostacy and revolt from god is a pernicious evil , and the common attendant of error , which still endangers a christians stedfastness . the word signifies a turning aside , and setting mans back against the living god. every sin is gods enemy , and turning to sin is running from god. in the first adam we revolted all , and corrupt nature is still bent to sin , through the sinfull venom received from him . christ the second adam came into the world to save his people from their sinfull death by a gracious covenant published in the gospel . some do embrace it but externally , others cordially . satan is still attempting to turn every man from it by various errors and methods of his . he prevails with-most to their undoing , and gains too much credit with the best . this apostacy and turning from god is total , or partial . total apostacy raigns still in all the unregenerate that do shake off the good ways of christ . partial apostacy often distempers the regenerate to a high degree , though it never proves total nor final . they turn as far from god as they turn aside into crooked ways , being disturbed with the fumes of corruption and temptation . they turn from one truth , and then from another by following satan and his counterfeit lights ; from one disease they contract another , by the putrifying of their ill humors to more malignity . these dreadfull evils need a soveraign antidote , and a sutable counterpoison , that they may not turn all into confusion . all societies civil and spiritual , are very much endangered thereby as well as mens souls . spiritual growth is a choise remedy fitted by the lord for such a disease . in every country providence affords some preservative against all diseases and poisons that infest the same . wise physitians know this very well , though they make use of forraign drugs also ex abundanti . god hath shewed no less care of the souls of men then of their bodies , having sent his own son to be the saviour and lord of his people . he is held forth indefinitely to all that will hear , and is peculiarly given to such whose heart is by special grace renewed efficacioussy to the embracing of him . by his spirit he draws home his elect from among the rest to a conjugal acquaintance with himself . this gracious knowledge is to be improved for a singular antidote against sinfull errors . it hath appeared to be so in all ages , and will still be so upon solid grounds which divine reason suggests to us . reason 1. because it removes and prevents the causes thereof , external and internal . the cause removed , the effect will cease . 1. the external causes , called evident among physicians , are all such as from without endanger men , as ill company , disorders , infection , wounds , &c. from sin and satan ; thus spiritually many external causes do still assault us , which the knowledge of christ prevents and removes . a well grown christian hath his senses exercised to discern aright between good and evil . the spiritual man judges of all things , comparing of them spiritually . he is not easily caught into the snare , but wisely foresees it and escapes . he believes not every spirit , but tries them all by the lords touch-stone . he is forewarned and forearmed still against infectious temptations of all sorts . 2. internal causes are either antecedent and remote , or continent and proxime , which are bred within by congestion and defluxion of several ill humors , putrifying gradually and variously to the distempering of the several parts , and of the whole also . thus sinfull corruption doth spiritually disorder mens souls . spiritual growth affords christs own help to the purging out of such ill humors , vapors and spirits . it kils the worms , takes away stoppages , cleanses the parts by all convenient helps , internal and external . it purges the whole , and then the parts in a due method , using revulsions and derivations with all sort of evacuations . so far as grace is grown up within by the knowledge of christ , so far is corruption purged out gradually . he that knows him purifies himself even as he is pure . christs own physick dispenced daily in his word and providence , is through his spirit improved that way . he that is born of god doth not so sin , as he did before , neither can he so sin , either totally or finally , because the seed of god abides in him . as he finds corruption breeding afresh within , it s his desire and design , his delight and labor to crush the cockatrice in the shell , and suppress the first beginnings . he hath a tender heart , sensible of the first stirs , of the least vain thoughts , and keeps himself that the ev●l one touch him not , as before . reason 2. because it corroborates and fortifies the noble parts , and thereby all the rest against all internal corruptions and outward temptations . thus health and strength are procured and improved against the malignity of all spiritual distempers . corroboration is a singular help , as in the bodies , so in the souls of men against all diseases . ill humors do leave in the parts affected an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a discomposure which enfeebles it , and by a ferment and a sickly spawn , makes it prone to new disorders . error and sin work in the like manner upon mens souls , striking chiefly at the vitals and chief . the knowledge of christ duly improved , doth orderly eradicate and extirpate it by communication of his divine strength to vivification of every grace , and mortification of the old man in all its members . the more a soul lives in him and by him , the more of his renewed supports and supplies come in , which compose the christian into spiritual health , rectifying every part . all the faculties are secured and fortified thereby against relapses and struglings of sin . such can do all things through christ strengthning them . the sense of their own insufficiency drives them still to his al-sufficiency , that his grace may be sufficient for them , and his vertue perfected in weakness . reason 3. because it derives still a specifick vertue out of christ himself , whose soveraign property mingled with all due means of his appointing , affords still a sure preservative : physicians observe the specifick vertue of natural medicines , simple and compound , which renders the whole effectual towards bodily cures . such a signally peculiar force is found in the lords choice antidote , dispensed to his patients . the knowledge of christ duly improved , fetches out of him that wonderfull grace which he mingles with all the medicines appointed for their good . his blood is that aurum potabile and panpharmacum , that catholicon and elixer of life which sanctifies all things effectually to his peoples good . the more any soul grows up into acquaintance with him , the more use is made of that soveraign balm of gilead , flowing from the physicians very heart . the pelican is said to cure his little ones with his own blood . christ to be sure makes this good to his . his grace is the basis of every dose , of every topick , of every means appointed by him . the strongest poison is quelled thereby , the stoutest humors are subdued , the sorest obstructions are removed , and the worst maladies cured by the same . he healed all manner of diseases and sicknesses among the people in their bodies and souls , in his progress on earth , and he doth so still by his spirit from heaven . his word and ordinances are the proper means used by him for application thereof . he employes his servants of the magistracy and ministry to observe his will in the right use thereof by all fit helps spiritual and civil . his providence points out the case to be dealt with all spiritual skil . our antidote improved affords every christian to manage all aright . his special blessing he affords in all according to promise . the reason is good ; make good use of it . vse 1. corollar . 1. hence may we view the ground and cure of our spiritual distempers in all relations . 1. the ground is much from want of spiritual growth in the best , as from want of life in most . were christ known to better purpose , both church and state would not be so sickly . but the most are ignorant of him , and the best much too blame . thence so many diseases and sores in all relations and societies . every person , every family finds cause to complain , because the lord christ is so much slighted . no wonder if the sickness increase , and the venom spreads , when such a physician with his antidote are so basely used . wise men easily see whence this evil comes and is aggravated . gross wilfull unbelief is the forest disease that aggravates the case , making it desperate . this was the case of gods people of old in the wilderness and canaan , again and again . they slighted christ and his messengers , till they were grown beyond all remedy . it may give us warning . 2. the cure and method of relief is hence observable ; the lord hath not left us yet remediless . there is balm in gilead , and a physician there with soveraign vertue to cure our israel . the method thereof appears clearly from what hath been said . this gracious knowledge will afford us the sure medicines for a distracted church and a discomposed state. any diseased soul and disordered family may hence take receipts with the best probatum . politicians would prove far more prosperous , would they study christ more , and machiavel less . did ministers know him more graciously , they would meet surely with better success . did all superiors attend his prescripts , every business would find under them much facility . did private christians observe this better , they would sure enjoy much of truth and peace , both for the internal and external man. the lord thy physitian , is his title of honour , which christ sets up by his great herauld , and proclaims to his people for speedy help in every trouble . vse 2. it should admonish all carnal and notional christians , under the total reign , or partial remainder of spiritual errors and revolts . what pity is it that such a choice help so freely tendered should be so basely slighted and abused ! doth not this point then justly reprove . 1. such as are under the total reign of sin and error , all sinners in grain ? is not your case very woful indeed , that wilfully abide in a christless state , by still abiding in a sinful state ? sin is your plague and you know it not ; error rules in you and you feel it not ; why are you sensless in such a danger ? because sin is there in its element . your disease is a sleepy feaver , or a phrantick madness ; else you would never slight christs physick no more then his person . you feed upon ashes , a deceitful heart hath carried you aside that you cannot see the lye in your right hand . it may be you think you reject not christ : why then do you reject his terms , and prefer your own ? why do you stil love what he loaths , and loath what he loves ? why do you then continue stil in the love and trade of your darling sins , secret or gross ? why do you stil provide for your lusts , and plead for them , covering of them , mincing the matter and returning still thereto as the dog and swine ? why do you stil then loath his ordinances , his word and sabbath , his service and servants ? do you pretend allegiance to him , and yet continue stil in rebellion ? do you profess to own his marriage terms , and yet remain stil wedded to the world , to your gain and will , to sensual pleasure and windy honour ? do you profess to believe in christ , and yet will not do what he bids you , nor forbear what he forbids ? this is to mock , not to honour christ ; he knows you not , that wilfully and constantly work iniquity in opinion , affection , or life . 2. under the partial remainders thereof will regnerate saints be found , though not all alike . the best therefore may justly be reproved for their sinful estrangedness from christ . is not this the cause of so many errors and revolts , our not growing in that gracious knowledge that would prove our soveraign antidote ? why do we study the lord christ so little and the world so much ? is not our ignorance and self-conceitedness , our sloth and neglect about this main thing , the great cause of our sad distempers ? factions and fractions we justly bewail in every relation . most carry fire and fuel to the common incendy to encrease it stil ; few mind the water of the sanctuary for to quench the same . do not the best find upon due search much of selfishness in all disputes and controversies ? do they not also find in their private affairs how much self is preferred before christ ? should not this great evil humble our souls deeply , that we thus forsake the fountain of living waters , and dig unto our selves broken empty cisterns that will hold no water ? is this our kindness to our dearest friend ? is this our loyalty to our dread soveraign ? is this our love to our selves and neighbor , to despise thus the only way of cure ? be we ashamed of this vile neglect , that christs truth and waies have suffered so much through our great folly . are our experiences of so little worth , and our acquaintance with christ so inconsiderable , that we slight all , and yield to every assault of temptation and corruption , drawing us aside ? vse 3. enquiry and search into our spiritual state ; our complexion may be hence observed , that the tokens of our personal and publike constitution may be duly brought to divine test . 1. hence may every one personally view his case and state towards eternity . we are all by nature deadly sick of sin , still subject to error and apostacy of the basest kind . our hearts are full of mortal poison , carrying still within the seed and root of the worst disease naturally and spiritually . what antidote have we got against all such dreadful evils ? have we learned christ in the truth of him , that our gracious knowledge might stil be growing ? are we thereby fenced against the sinful causes of error and revolt ? are we daily mortifying sin , dying to the world , resisting tempters , denying our selves through the knowledge of christ ? are we still fortifying our souls with his precious grace , that all our faculties may be preserved in spiritual health against sin and error ? do we rightly apply the vertue of this christ in each of his specifick properties , whilst we attend his will and blessing in the diligent use of all the means appointed by him ? do we still mind his word and blood , his grace and favour in every ordinance and providence through his spirits help ? 2. may we not hence also take a publick estimate of the state of affairs in this place , in this land , in this republique , yea of any place whatsoever ? the true prognosticks of present and future weal , or wo , will be hence made perspicuous . away with star-gazers and carnal wisdom , that we may consult with gods own personal wisdom . how far are we then in a publike posture acquainted with christ ? how far is that acquaintance improved ? resolve these queries , and the case will be as clear as noon-day . god may save us with a notwithstanding miraculously , at his own pleasure . but we must judge of persons and things by the known rule of his word , compared with providence . so far as we slight christ publickly in any concernment of his , so far may we rationally expect that he should slight us in our concernments . let every one make due application as he shall see cause in all publike affairs , whilst god is shaking and overturning all things in the nations , and will do so still , til christ come to his right to fill his house with glory . vse 4. may be for counsel to all christian professors ; prize and desire , embrace and insure , keep and improve this precious antidote . it s an infectious season , it concerns all to look to themselves , and therefore look well after this antidote , to prevent and remove all sinful diseases . that it may be yours effectually thus , 1. prize it , undervalue it not ; consider its worth and singular use . it s christ himself with his saving grace that is to be duly known and improved . let no creature then come into competition . christ will endure no corrival nor superiour . let not any darling sin be cherished now to undervalue christ . if he be not infinitely better , mind him not at all ; if he be , mind him above all . 2. desire it , disdain it not . so lovely , so needful an object should set all your affections on flames . you have disdained him too long already ; is it not high time to long for him , to breath and pant , till you obtain him ? what would a dying man give for a sure cure ? a condemned man for a pardon ? a drowning man for help ? let your heart give that , and all to this christ . 3. embrace it , reject it not ; accept of him if you love your self , upon his own terms . if you capitulate , or reserve any thing , christ will none of you . this offer may be your last . let your whole soul now close freely with him in a conjugal way , by mutual consent . receive and take that you may be one , and may know him thus and your self aright . 4. insure it , neglect it not ; you have his insuring office to make all clear and firm . his spirit within by his privy seal ; his sacraments and ordinances without , by a broad seal ratifie his gracious covenant . observe and grieve not that spirit of adoption , that must witness within by evidencing grace , and operate without in all the means of grace , for the obsigation and security of your interest . 5. keep it , los it not ; so rare a jewel , so choice an antidote should be laid up with all possible care . precious stones are found to be specifick cordials against various diseases and poisons . this choisest jewel should be chiefly set in the golden ring of a gracous soul , to be worn and kept against all danger . beware of sullying , breaking and hurting so curious a piece . 6. improve it , abuse it not ; this precious knowledge was never intended to feed vain notions , or vile affections : but to fence you against every evil , and help you effectually to all true good . improve it therefore unto such ends , wherein you may be sure of gods blessing . there was never more need of such an antidote , to preserve christians from epidemical sins . this gracious knowledge of christ well improved hath vertue enough to fortifie you against all the wiles of the wicked , and all the deceits of your sinful hearts ; make use of it then against every temptation and corruption , especially against errour , the woful disease of this sinful age ; there was never more need of christs help against so many unclean spirits , ensnaring many simple hearts . prudence and zeal are here most needful , to discern aright of persons and things . some good men are drawn in on mistakes , as the four hundred that followed absalom in their simplicity . some errors are more superficial wherein christians must bear with each other , walking together as far as they agree , waiting for the lords further discovery . many errors are so fundamental , that they are inconsistent with the hope of salvation , and must be earnestly contended against , by due improvement of this antidote ; all of them militate against christ , either directly or reflectively , in opposition to all that is near and dear unto him , variously assaulting . 1. his deity ; which the arrians , and sabellians blasphemously denied , making him but a deus factus ; and the socinians after them , following therein both the socinus's , uncle and nephew ; whose italian venom carried so much infection into poland ( lately revived by too many among us , as by paul best . biddle , &c. ) as it hath been scattered in transilvania , and neighbouring parts by divers such instruments . turks and jewes agree with them therein . for the prevention and cure of this deadly plague , spiritual growth in the grace and knowledge of christ will be a special antidote faithfully improved ; fortifying your soul with his truth , making you to feel the power of his godhead through the beam of that sun of righteousness . reason and experience thus spiritualized will demonstrate to you and to others by you , the record which god bears of his son , in whom dwels the fulness of the godhead bodily , or essentially as the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports . the same titles and attributes , the same worship and works ascribed to god the father , are also ascribed to god the son. the wretched arrians called christ in scorn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a diminutive god , and would grant him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of a like substance , but denied him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance . were he not god co-essential and co-eternal with the father , how could he be one with him , as himself affirms ? how could he have made infinite satisfaction and procured infinite salvation ? how could he have born gods infinite wrath for his peoples sins ? what shall we think of those quaking impostors , that own no christ above , but what 's in them , that renew the ranters blasphemy of gods being all things , their being christed , & c ? do they not affront the god of glory ? the god-head of christ takes up man to god , conveying from god all good through his manhood . there must be our strength against every sin , that christ our surety is the blessed god. 2. his humanity variously assaulted by notionists of an old and new stamp , by many behmenists and the swarms of quakers , who have con'd too much of their mysterious absurdities . this poison once got into mens brains casts them into strange dreams about christs manhood ; which they fancy to have been but a fiction and figure , a phantasm and apparition , that vanished after a while , to represent that within them which they call christ . to repress those pestiferous fumes from intoxicating your head and heart , your antidote will inform your judgement with the truth , and warm your heart with the substantial goodness of his human nature . it will shew you out of scripture , that he is truly the son of man , who took on him the seed of abraham , was made flesh , in all things like to us except sin . without controversie , great is the mysterie of godliness ; god manifest in the flesh , justified in the spirit , seen of angels , believed on in the world , preached to the gentiles received up into glory . had he not been a real man , how could he have suffered on his peoples behalf ? how could he have made his soul an offering for sin ? his sufferings were most real sure , that forced from him such a bloody sweat , in the open air of a cold season , and that in the night ; that made him cry out so lamentably , my god , my god , why hast thou forsaken me ? that spent him wholly to his last breath , with a most cruel and painful torment . they might as well deny the sun-light at noon-day , who deny this truth . to turn plain scripture into allegories , is to turn substance into a shadow . it cost origen a self-mutilation , for mutilating divine writings thus . he was called centaur , for monstrous opinions , flowing from allegorical strainings of scripture . christs manhood should be so precious to us as not to endure affronts put on it . therein god and man do most sweetly meet ; which will help weak faith in every time of need . 3 ▪ against both the parts of his humane nature , his soul and body , many also fight : apollinarius denying him a human soul ; as if the godhead had supplied the want thereof . eutyches destroyed both , by his pretended swallowing of them up into the divine nature . the manichees and valentinians allowed him but an aery phantastical body , running through the womb of mary as through a pipe. mahometans fain it to have passed through maries paps , and by the smell of a rose . divers novelists are daily broaching strange conceits about it . the vbiquitarians give him a monstrous body , immense and filling all places ; the papists as monstrously would have his body to be distinctly in many places at once ; to be without quantity , without extension , without sensible accidents : to be made a new daily at the priests will : to be broken and not broken by himself , and by all their priests , &c. many such contradictions against scripture and sence , reason and all sciences they are forced to for their fictitious transubstantiation sake . all such malignant vapours which infest many , will be effectually dispelled by the right use of your spiritual confection . christ was and abides ever a perfect man , consisting of soul and body , both subsisting in his divine person , being united to the divine nature therein . it will shew you , that his soul was sorrowful to death , and was made sensible of all humane affections , though without sin : as clear chrystal water moved without any mud . it will teach you that his body had flesh and bones after his resurrection as before , which a spirit hath not . that the same body did visibly ascend into heaven , before the disciples eyes , and shal return thence in the same manner . that the heavens must hold him , till the restauration of all things . that the glorifying of his body hath not , could not have annihilated it , or changed the substance , though it hath bettered the qualities thereof . it will help you to know the flesh of christ spiritually , though you learn to know him no more after the slesh carnally . it will teach you that his bare flesh , and the fleshly sence thereof , profits nothing a capernaitish soul , being destitute of his spirit : but that it s his spirit that quickens us , giving life to his flesh and to his word , that both may be spirit and life to us in a spiritual and lively improvement . christs manhood is that precious golden ring , that sets forth the jewel of his godhead to us . it s a curious vail of his contriving , that his glorious face may through it be beheld . it s a chrystal glass of the lords framing , to reflect thereby his image upon us . out of christ god is a consuming fire , but thereby he becomes a reconciled father . if christ were not man still , there were no hopes for man ; if we know him not thus , we know him not at all . it s not a figment of our own divising , but the man christ jesus that must be our saviour . he cannot be ours unless wholly ours . 4. against his person , appear , nestorius dividing it into two persons , sabellius , arius , all antitrinarians , denying his distinctly eternal personality from the father ; the socinians and notionists that fancy the distiction of persons in god to be but nominal according to various dispensations , witness hob's leviathan , among many other poisonous books , so commonly scattered abroad . to queneh the force of these pernicious errors , your counter poison will season your soul with the scriptural description of emmanuel , our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , god with us . it will prove him to be god-man , having both natures , divine and humane , subsisting in his person , the son of god , the second person of the divine trinity by hypostatical union ; it will clear him to be the brightness of his glorious father , and the express image of his person , being that one mediator between god and man , and therefore god-man , that he might conquer by suffering , and make his suffering infinite for vertue and value , for satisfaction and acquisition . it will shew you that there are three in heaven , the father , the word and the spirit , and that those three are one . that this mystery is not against reason , though above it in its common shallow apprehension ; that the son sends the spirit comforter from the father , and is therefore distinct from them both , yet that he and the father are one in essence , though distinct in person . that gods reason is the rule of ours , being revealed to us in his divine monuments , that we may assent to his assertion , though we cannot fathom the explicitness thereof , no more then bruits can fathom our rational expressions . that the person of christ coming out of the water , must needs be distinct from that person of the spirit , who came in the likeness of a dove , lighting on him at his baptism , and from the person of the father , whose voice from heaven said , this is my beloved son , hear him . thus the grace and knowledge of christ , will teach you , that he who thought it no robbery to be equal wtth god , ( being in the form of god substantially ) made himself of no reputation , that as god-man he might restore man to god in the gloryfiing of all divine attributes . our faith is not true if we do not own the true god truly , as he holds forth himself in three distinct persons . those divine persons are not meer modes , or manners of attribution or manifestation , but real subsistences . the father is not the son , the son is not the spirit personally , though they be one god essentially . the person of the son alone was incarnate , not that of the father ; he could not be son ; not that of the spirit ; there had been two sons then . the word became flesh , not the father nor spirit . divers emblems are used to set forth this glorious mysterie ; but scripture-language describes it best to a sober faith . the word person is a scripture word very proper and significant . they that deny this right use thereof , make way for further denyal of truth . the person of christ is then to be owned by all that intend to be owned of him . 5. against christs spirit stirs first macedonius , denying him to be a divine person distinct from the father and son. secondly , all antitrinitarians , who oppose the distinction of divine persons . thirdly , the greeke , who deny the procession of the spirit from the father through the son. fourthly . the several blasphemers that vaunted themselves to be the holy ghost , as simon magus , montanus , david , george , &c. fifthly , all enthusiasts who father their lies on gods spirit , &c. to quell this wofull poison , your preservative will set your judgement right by the grace and knowledge of christs spirit . thereby you will surely understand that the holy spirit hath in scripture ascribed to him the same titles and attributes , the same divine worship and works which are ascribed to the father and to the son , and therefore must needs be god , blessed from ever and for ever . that the working of all scripture miracles , the penning of all those divine writings , the wonderfull quickning of dead souls and bodies , and the daily experience of all spiritual christians do fully demonstrate it . that therefore the fanatick illusions and delusions of revelationists , being so opposite to gods truth and holiness , must needs proceed from that lying spirit , who perswaded so many of ahabs prophets , and still possesses the false prophets of our days , to speak and act against the dictates of christs spirit . the malicious opposing of the truth confirmed so undeniably by the miraculous operations of the lord ; the spirit hath therefore the most desperate aggravations even unto death , attending the same , because god the father and son both are thereby also desperately opposed . 6. against his office and function of al-sufficient and only mediator , for his peoples salvation , move first , all the former hereticks in denying his deity or humanity , his parts and person . secondly , all such who mangle the said function as the socinians , who deny the need and use of his satisfaction for sin . thirdly , all such who divide his mediation work , ascribing part thereof to saints and angles , as the papists with fond distinctions . fourthly , all such as put the said mediation into the virgin mary's hand , calling her queen of heaven , entitling the psalter to her , placing her name instead of the lords name in the said psalter , giving her authority over christ her son in heaven , promising and expecting more from her often then from christ , as much at least , and telling doctorally that god hath divided his mercy and justice , giving her the throne of mercy , and reserving himself the throne of justice , &c. as the said papists . fifthly , all such who pretending to sinless perfection and selfish righteousness do frustrate and nullifie so far his mediation , as the quakers , and such monkish pharisees . to suppress the violence of this poisonous stuff , the grace and knowledge of christ improved , will shew us clearly still the necessity of christs satisfaction and al suffiency of his mediation , that without the shedding of this blood there can be no remission of sin . that no righteousness but that of god-man could satisfie divine justice . that without satisfaction there could be no reconciliation of god to man , that without imputation thereof to many there could be no discharge of mans debt . that no purchase could be made of eternal life and divine favour , but by that infinite price paid by emmanuel . that without such purchase orderly applycable , there could be no salvation for lost man. that christs mediation alone is al-sufficient to all those purposes , and needs no partners in any share thereof , either for impetration or application . that to give the least part thereof to any meer creature , whether in heaven or earth , can be no better then idolatry . that no palliation or shifts by distinctions of dulia , hyperdulia and latria can cover this blasphemy , no more then adams figs leaves could cover his nakedness . that there cannot be on earth in any meer man a sinless perfection , and if it could be had , yet it could not satisfie for the evil past in the least . that the best are but unprofitable servants . that the payment of a farthing due , cannot satisfie a thousand pound debt in arrears . to signifie emphatically the due application and imputation of christs righteousness unto believers , the scripture cals * him jehovah-tsidkenu , the lord our righteousness , repeating that name again in the great promise of restauration to be afforded to his israel by vertue of that righteousness made theirs , whence christs name is synecdochically and metonymically ascribed to the new jerusalem . to that import the lord jesus incorporates his name with a christians propriety into one new name , framed by his own spirit , which paul expresses by his being made unto us of god , * righteousness and redemption , and our being made * the righteousness of god in in him , as he was made sin for us , who knew no sin , which must needs be understood by way of imputation , there being no sin inherent in christ . 7. his priesthood is opposed . first , by all the formerly named errors . secondly , by the papists , in making new priests daily , and a new propitiatory sacrifice , called incruentum , to be offered by them for the living and dead . secondly , in joining mans merits to his , and thereby patching up a mongrel righteousness for themselves and others . thirdly , in pretended works of supererogation which are imputed to others by way of indulgence out of their churches imaginary treasure . fourthly , in denying the imputation of christs righteousness for the pardon and justification of his members . fifthly , in giving to mans righteousness , dip'd in christs blood , a meriting value and vertue to satisfie and pacifie gods justice , and to procure his mercy . sixthly , in making christs merits to be but the remote and mediate cause ; but mans merits to be the immediate proxime cause of the pardon . thirdly , by such who sever his habitual and his active obedience from his meriting oblation , given to god for his people , and imputed to believers , reckoning only his passive obedience to be so meritorious and imputative for the reconciling of man to god. fourthly , by quakers and others , who find no need of , and little regard an high priest in heaven . against such mortal wounds , the balm of our christian gilead will afford healing vertue from the due review of his grace and knowledge . we shall find thereby , that christ jesus by his personal righteousness , by that one oblation hath for ever perfected those that are sanctified , once for all . that a new order of priests brings a new law , and nuls the former . that it was an imperfect priest and sacrifice typically ceremonial that needed renewing . that to give to a meer man , suppose a masse-priest , the power of making and renewing a propitiatory oblation at his will upon his intent of consecrating , is to set him in christs room , yea above christ , and to deny christ come in the flesh by unavoidable consequence . the oblation of christ had not been compleat , if it had not been active as well as passive , and habitual as well as actual ; heart-obedience being the root and life of all other . redemption is indeed frequently ascribed to his blood and death , but it s by a synecdoche , including the rest of his whole obedience whereof his death was the complement and utmost . his whole life was a continual passion , and he was most active in his most passive obedience . he laid down his life of himself-freely , and shewed his active power in his giving up the ghost . that perfection of his merits excludes the least ingrediency of mans merits . our obedience is required indeed and rewarded of grace , not for its worth or proportion . the childs duty is required , not to merit his inheritance by , but to shew his ingenuity . the beggars reaching of his hand is a condition , yet no merit of the gift . 8. his prophetical charge is undermined . first , by the errors forenamed . secondly , by the popish pretences of infallibility in their church , pope or councel . thirdly , by the immediate revelations and infallible oracles of enthusiasts , quakers , behmenists , pretending extraordinary acquaintance with god and spirits , besides , above and against his word . fourthly , by the perfectionists of divers sorts , who pretend to a sinless state , wherein they need no further teaching . fifthly , by such as despise christs prophets and apostles , pastors and teachers , extraordinary and ordinary messengers of his . against such a disease , improve this antidote to vindicate the lords infallibleness , and to detect the cheats of all impostors pretending thereto . you will see thereby that christs spirit alone is the supream infallible judge , speaking to us by his written word , è cathedra coeli . that we need no other infallible judge on earth . that every christian in his place , whether private or publique , civil or ecclesiastical , hath a judgement of discretion to regulate him in his own acts by the scripture rule . that churches and counsels have an authoritative judgement of direction to the several members under their respective charges , still in subordination to christs writen word . that yet there is no need of any infallible , immediate and sinless assistance , or spirit in any mortal man now since the canon of scripture our perfect rule was compleated by john the beloved apostle . that all pretenders to such infallibility since the apostles days , have successively bewrayed their notorious impostures and contradictions , both notionally and practically . that popish bishops and councils , enthusiastical behmenists and quakers , have hitherto been found guilty of such absurd falshoods and blasphemous extravagancies , that they sufficiently confute themselves . that paul himself after all his raptures knew but in part , complaining stil of his own and others weakness and insufficiency ; that peter himself failed , and was reproved by him openly . that there is indeed a perfection of sincerity and truth begun below in the regenerate , and a perfection of growth , which is comparative & progressive : but that a sinless perfection of fulness is reserved for the glory of heaven , not enjoyed before mans dissolution . that christ therefore is the grand prophet , who teaches his people stil by his word and spirit , the will of god for their salvation gradually . that being taught all needful things by his anointing , who writes his law upon their heart , they need not to be taught by any sect-master in a pharisaical way , so as to pin their faith upon any mans sleeve upon his own credit ; but must attend christ who teaches from heaven by men and means . that no meer mans word is to be believed upon his own credit , but that all doctrines must be examined by the scriptural teachings of christ . that those spirits and persons who pretend to bring infallible oracles and a new gospel , are cursed of the apostle , for shaking off christ and his gospel . that all christs servants are to be heard so far as they keep to his scriptural commission but no further . that christ himself is received or rejected , so far as his embassadors , following his instruction , are owned or slighted . it s the common and ominous symptom of error to despise the ministers of christ , though godly and learned , and prefer their own imaginations before the plain word of god. the gospel is to us the only glass of heaven , wherein the glorious revelations of gods image are made out , to transform us into the likeness thereof gradually through his spirit . 9. the kingship of christ is much abused , 1. by the errors forenamed . 2. by libertines and ranters of all sorts . 3. by the pontifician supremacy , pretended to be over all things and persons in the pope , as peters successor . 4. by quakers and others slighting the christ above under pretence of a christ within . 5. by sensual pretenders and abusers of a fifth monarchy . against these rebellious tenets , the grace and knowledge of christ will satisfie us , that christ jesus is the king of kings , and lord of lords , who must reign even in the midst of all enemies , till they be made his footstool , that he will destroy all such who refuse to stoop to his golden scepter , but chuse to live in the kingdom of darkness under the rule of sin and satan . that conscience is his seat royal in mans soul , which is by sin , satan and self usurped from him . that he will surely recover his right , if not in mercy , yet in his just wrath . that pretence of conscience to shake off his rule , is the highest treason under his pavilion . that to shelter any sin or error under that covert , is but to cloath traytors in his robes of state . that he will not save where he doth not rule , and will not be our priest if he be not our king. that to desire or plead liberty to sin , is to set up hell in rule among men under the habit of heaven . that the more of christ is in any soul , the more obedience in true faith and love is given to him . that to set up a pope or any other meer man for a supream head over the conscience , is to set up a sinful wretch in the throne of christ . that his jealousie will not endure long such a rebellion . that peter never had any supremacy of power or authority , what ever priority of order and age may be granted by some . that peters being at rome is very uncertain , and yet to be proved , though many affirm it . that if his being there were fully granted , yet his fixed charge and continuance there shall need as much proof . that upon supposal of his setling there , yet must it be shewed that he acted there such a supremacy . that if that also were clear , it must be shewed also , that his full power was made over to his successors there , more then to any other minister of christ at antioch , or elsewhere . that in case that should be proved likewise , they must demonstrate a clear succession from that time till now , which is impossible . and if that could be , yet they must evince their succession in doctrine also ; else all the former will only prove papacy to be the man of sin got into gods temple : the grand antichrist , and the scarlet whore riding on the beast by this usurped supremacy . when all that is dispatched , we shall have more work for them , to clear their antichristianism in ruling by their own , not by christs scepter ; by their will , not by his : which they have taught their mongrel brood quaking among us , to spread under disguises , their chymical sublimations of old rotten errors . as for the fifth monarchy , it s a point needing much sobriety in the sence and use thereof . christ indeed hath a kingdom in this world , though not of this world ; and his work is to reform rulers and people , not to confound his own ordinances . 10. christs humiliation state is opposed much , as 1. by the former , so 2 , by many novelists who make light of it , accounting it but a type and figure of what was to be done within them . christs incarnation , life and passion are with them but stories and shadows ; the life and substance is all within them . there say they , lies christ very deep in every mans heart , covered with earth , to be born and raised up , to live and die , to do and suffer . as for the christ that died at jerusalem , many do slight him , and many that seem to own him verbally , yet renounce him effectively . 3. by our late quakers who have revived those rotten drugs from the familists dunghil , adding a new dress and access thereto , as paracelsus and david george , swenkfield and battenburg , manno and jacob behmen with their german followers ; so do our modern enthusiasts rake up the kennels of old fanatick dreamers , with disguises and additions of their own . against this venom , spiritual growth will help , that we may know christ , as the great apostle did labour for , in the fellowship of his sufferings . it will inform us of his wonderful abasing of himself in every step from his first conception till his resurrection . it will shew us the absolute need all his elect had of his miraculous incarnation and birth , life and death , burial and abode for three daies in the grave . it will make us feel the effects thereof in our very souls , that his transcendent love in stooping so low , and parting withal , may direct and press returns of the like to him and for him . that experience will engage our hearts to that christ above , who died once for sin , but can die no more , living unto god , that we may likewise reckon our selves to be dead to sin , but alive to god through him . that knowledge of christ will teach us aright how to distinguish of the person of christ that once suffered for us : and of the grace of christ , which is by his spirit formed within us in regeneration . christ personal , is the god of heaven , that eternal creator ; but his grace in us which seems sometimes to be called by christs name , ( as the church is also by a metonymical metaphor , and synecdochically , ) is but a finite creature , a spiritual quality , not subsisting by it self , but inhering in a subject humane . scripture saith indeed that christ is within us , dwelling in us by his holy spirit . but may not he work within our heart by gracious communications without a personal fixation there ? the sun conveys light and life by his beams to all parts , yet his substance abides stil in heaven . there is indeed a spiritual relative union between christ and the regenerate , set forth in scripture by divers emblems . the natural union between the head and members ; the civil union between husband and wife ; the artificial union between foundation and building set it forth . but we must not strain figurative speeches beyond their scope . this union is real , yet mystical , full of mysteries . there is no confusion nor composition , no transmutation nor annihilation here . our persons are stil distinct . christs godhead is indeed a circle , whereof the center is everywhere , the circumference nowhere . he fils all places , comprised in none . hell it self feels him , though with little comfort . but his manhood is not infinite , being a creature , though wonderfully glorified by assumption and hypostatical union unto the godhead in the second person . christ as saviour must stil be considered in both his natures , divine and humane , subsisting in his own person . thus considered , he dwells not in us personally . the person of the husband is one with the wife relatively , not personally . christs manhood cannot be personally within us . the heavens must hold , as they received him , till the restauration of all . he dwels in our hearts by faith , and we in him mutually , as the root in the branches , and the branches in the root by relation and communication . his whole humiliation was for us , and his spirit enables us gradually to conform thereto by a fiducial improvement thereof . thence he is said to be formed within us , to be in us , ( or among us * ) the hope of glory , to live and act in us , &c. hence the sufferings of paul are called christs sufferings , not personally , but causally ; because they are for his sake through his grace undergone . it s a sad abuse put on christ and his word , thus to slight and destroy christs personal humiliation whereon depends all our salvation . if christ suffered not , then he rose not again ; and then are we still in our sins , and of all men most miserable . but christ is as effectually risen as he effectually suffered . that effected redemption by price in impetration , this by power in application . thus it became him to suffer , and so to enter into his kingdom . how far the justice of god , absolutely considered , may be thought to require such satisfaction in order to pardon , we need not controvert . it suffices that upon supposition of his purpose and engagement , this way is of absolute need . by this all his attributes harmoniously concur to the perfecting of his peoples salvation . 11. christs exaltation is also much abused , as 1. by the former errors : so 2. by our modern sadduces , denying the resurrection of the body , as some did at corinth . 3. by the quaking rabble , who own no christ but what is within them . 4. by our novelists who deny his ascension , and his session at the fathers right hand . 5. in effect also by the papists in their impanation , transubstantiation , and such monstrous doctrines . 6. the vbiquitaries trespass too much thereon , in divers fond conceits , broached and encreased after luthers death , by brentius , osiander , &c. 11. against such opposers the knowledge of christ is of soveraign force . thence we learn to believe according to scripture , the several steps of his resurrection and ascension , of his session and intercession . it teaches us to improve the many arguments so cogently pressed by paul on the corinthians as on the romanes . thence we learn to know christ as the apostle did , more experimentally in the power of his resurrection , being made conformable to his death . so it became christ to suffer and enter into glory . as by humiliation he wrought out our salvation by price in way of impretation ; so by his exaltation he works it out by power in a way of application . the many cavils objected against it , paul fully confuted over and over . the popish pretences for their transubstantiation , have been from scripture sufficiently taken off by many choice pens . that capernaitical conceit christ himself took pains to refute . it much wrongs the glory of christ to bring him again from heaven to earth , daily to mangle and abuse him by the hand of their mass-priests , and expose him to shame and suffering again . though they call their mass an unbloody sacrifice , yet do they make themselves the butchers and executioners of christ , in pretending to offer his corporal flesh and blood . scripture indeed cals the bread and wine his body and blood , so doth it call christ the door , the vine , &c. by the like metaphors ; yet is not christ turned into a door nor vine ; no more are the elements turned into his body and blood. christ explains the meaning of those phrases , & so doth his apostle to the full . as for the vbiquitarians conceit , to make christs body present corporally with the elements and everywhere , the absurdity thereof abuses grosly christs exaltation in his humane nature ; and their consubstantiation is refuted with that scripture reason that dispels the popish impanation . their straining of figurative speeches beyond their scope , fetches blood out of scripture by dreadful violence and absurd consequence . yet will they admit figures in many other places not controverted . 12 , the word of christ suffers much likewise , 1. from the forenamed tenets . 2. formal antiscripturists , old and new , quite denying the need and use thereof ; and questioning the purity , sufficiency , clearness and divineness of it . 3. by papists , charging it with obscurity , corruption , insufficiency , defectiveness and needlesness . they keep it from the peoples common use , unless licenced , teaching that ignorance is the mother of devotion . they prefer their vulgar latin version before both originals . they equalize their unwritten traditions therewith , and the church commands : yea prefer them often before it . they bind all to receive its interpretation only from their mouth . they patch to the canon many apocrypha's and spurious books , stored with lies and contradictions , absurdities and fables , ascribing thereto the like divine authority . 4. the quakers join with them in slighting scripture , equaling their pretended revelations therewith , abusing the words thereof to contrary sences , wresting it to the disguising of their gross errors , giving to their pretended light within that infallibility which the papists give to their pope and council ; 5. the behmenists and notionists that turn it into allegories and uncouth eictions ; changing realities into shadowes , and the substance of scripture into chymical fumes , witness paracelsus , wigelius , behmens several books , which are stored with non-sence and vile blasphemies ; bold intrusions into hid mysteries ; all under specious colours with bombastical words . against these woful drugs , the knowledge of christ will be successfully improved , shewing us the excellency and necessity , the sufficiency and purity , the clarity and utility of scripture . it will take off all the mistakes , objections and cavils made against the divinity and right use thereof . it will clear it to be the sole and sure standard and rule of religion ; being the full declaration of gods will and mind , the fountain of all goodness & truth . it will shew the need that all have to study it day and night , and observe it in all things . it will detect their folly who add thereto their unwritten traditions , additions and revelations besides , above , or against it as abominable to god. it will discover their madness , who pretend to speak and write as good scripture , and will not own the bible to be the word of god. it will shew that all scripture was written by inspiration from god , and is sufficient to compleat the man of god to every good work . that it came not by the will of man , but that the men of god writ as they were moved by the holy ghost . that the abuse of it by some must not prejudice the right use thereof ; corruptio optimi pessima ; that if he be hid , it s to them that perish . that the word is light , and gives light. that the spirit of christ still speaks in his word whether to life or to death , being inseparable from it . that its never a dead letter , though it be sometimes a killing letter . that translations are but the taps of scripture , to broach those full vessels , which therefore should be fitted to the use of all , and are so far to be owned as they agree with the original sense . that the sense of scripture is scripture , though it may be variously expressed . that no mans interpretation is to be received further then it agrees with the whole scripture . that all seeming contradictions therein are easily cleared by comparing of scriptures , minding the context and scope in a sober humble manner with studious diligence . that the sense of scripture translations when dark , must be brought to the original light. that all things absolutely needful to salvation are clearly laid down in scripture . that scripture consequence is scripture . that some things are obscure therein to exercise our sobriety & industry . that it s so fitted to every mans condition , that the simplest may reap the benefit thereof . that christ bids all search the scriptures , and sends them to the law and testimony for decision and prediction stil . that the wisest christians are most studious of scripture , finding stil most need of it , being most sensible of their remaining ignorance . that pride and blindness make men to conceive so highly of their knowledge , as to think themselves wise enough without it , or as wise as it . that they are foolish self-seducers , who thus think and say . that god indeed spoke to our fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in divers parts and manners , by piece-meal as it were ; but he hath now contracted all , in speaking to us by his son. that therefore having closed the canon , and sealed up those records by his sons apostles ; who ever adds to or detracts from it , is liable to that sentence there denounced by the lord himself . that the lords will revealed in scripture obliges all , being the beck and hint of our soveraign , who can becken us all into nothing at his will. that since the compleating of scripture , immediate inspirations are expired , being needless , the divine rule of all being perfectly given out . that all pretended enthusiasms not agreeing with the word , must be suspected to be from evil spirits . the several errors of the apocrypha are discovered by scripture light , and have been abundantly confuted by many worthy hands . the abuse of scripture by feigned allegories , is thereby detected also , when men will be wise above what 's written , giving heed to jewish and chymical fables , yea to magical notions and fictions , as paracelsus , behmen , &c. they are justly given up to believe those lies , deceiving , and being deceived . the scripture indeed sometimes allegorizes and teaches the use of tropes and figures by the best rhetorick . we must therefore be sure to keep close to it , least we turn substantial truth by chymical evaporations into notional smoak . too many of late have followed those woful courses of enervating scripture by allegorical strains , till they had lost reason and religion at once . such paracelsian fumes quickly intoxicate mens brains , breeding the giddiness , and then convulsions to extremity . 13. christs ordinances , by his word appointed , are not spared , but are opposed too . first , by the forenamed deceits . secondly , by our modern seekers and familists , as by the old gnosticks , accounting them but childish weak things , fit only for inferior christians in their lower form . thirdly , by many luke-warm laodiceans of this age , of a neutral indifferent spirit towards christs instituted worship . fourthly , by all papists and traditionists , who set up wayes and parts of worship of mans devising : as religious use of images , prayer for the dead , invocation of saints and angels , veneration of reliques , sale of pardons and indulgences , fictions of purgatory and limbus patrum , & infantium ; prayer in an unknown tongue by roat upon beads , vain babling and tautologies repeated over and over ; superstitious uses of crosses and crossings ; altars and tapers ; vestments and dressings ; mimical gestures and ridiculous stage-playes in worship : corrupting of every ordinance by many foppish additions and tricks . fifthly , by ranters and quakers , who jeer and blaspheme christs institutions , as our sad experience testifies in all places . against such gross evils , the right knowledge of christ will arm us , and prove that they are but fools who think themselves too wise for christs school . that the highest christians have alwaies used them , and pressed all others thereto with all diligence . that they are the charets and conduits of communication between the lord and us . that they are all suited to the case of all gods people on earth . that we should live above them in the use , not in the neglect of them . that our bodies shal cease from needing food , when our souls shall cease to need ordinances . that christ promises his presence therewith to the worlds end . that he meets his people with a choice blessing , where ever he records his name , and therefore bids them seek his face evermore . that therein our homage is paid unto him in a special manner . that the lord will be sought and found in all his ways . that his familiarity is to teach us manners , not sauciness . that to be neutral and meteor-like in the lords worship , is sad and sinfull in a high degree . that prayer and singing are jointly prescribed and directed to for spiritual use . that the abuse thereof by any , should not , cannot excuse us from our duty . all are bound and bidden to use them , yet none can use them spiritually but by a special grace . that a moral performance of duty is better far then non-performance . that men are to serve god as well as they can , still learning of him how to serve him better . that god is ready to give more still to such as improve what they have received . that its better to serve christ outwardly , then to serve sin and satan by omitting good , or committing evil . that the preaching and hearing gods word , requires of necessity meditation and repetition , reading and studying thereof . that christ will be honoured in every relation by every one , without exception , as in publique and secret , so likewise in our several families . that he threatens a curse to such nations , and such families as know not , and call not on his name . that his morning and evening mercies challenge good manners in duty from us . that christ himself taught how to pray and praise on the solemn use of the lords creatures . that to rest on duties is idolatry , and to neglect the same is rebellion that all mixtures of humane inventions do but soil and deface the lords pure worship : that therefore all romish innovations are sufficiently confuted by the bare rehersal . that will-worship can never please him who will be worshipped in spirit and truth . that the heathens pleaded the like excuses for their superstition and idolatry , as the papists do for theirs . that a great part of the pop●sh trash is but borrowed from pagans with disguises . that in many things they renew those rites , which by christs coming were to have an end : that vows contrary to scripture-duty , can shew little savour of scripture-verity : that the ready way to obscure our light , is to besmear and and paint our windows . that scripture-simplicity loves not the dressing of a pompous whore . that a fair complexion needs no painting , and truth hath most power when most purity . that antiquity pleads not at all for their grossest tricks . that in the things wherein some of the fathers seem to plead for them , there is much mistake and much forgery . that however , truth is the eldest , and he wants no antiquity that wants not scripture-truth . many words were innocently used by the fathers as merit , altar , &c. which are turned quite into another sense among papists now . 14. christs holy-day , his sabbath of rest , suffers peculiarly , as , 1. from the foresaid enemies of truth ; so secondly , from too many seeming friends , some wholly rejecting , some mangling of it , and some indifferent to this or to that . thirdly , by quakers and all enthusiasts , who slight all , or most of christs ordinances , and this especially . against such mistakes and abuses , the knowledge of christ will teach and enable us to observe his day as becomes a sabbath . it s called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lords day , to express his special property therein , and sanction thereof , as the eucharist is called the lords table and the lords supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the command enjoining it , is placed in the heart and center of the decalogue ; with a signal memento prefixed . it s largely expressed , both positively and prohibitively . in the precept and close he names the sabbath , though in the amplification he mentions the seventh day , or a seventh day . he adds strong reasons to enforce it from his propriety , example and blessing , as also from the equity thereof . by this one command , he often expresses his whole worship , he couples it sometimes with one precept of the first table , and after with one of the second table to signifie the great influence it hath into the observance of both . it s abundantly confirmed , enforced and renew'd in every part of scripture , old and new . the reason that enforced the use of the seventh day sabbath extends as fully to the first day sabbath . that was the lords rest day from his creation-work ; this is his rest day from his redemption-work . the change of the day in its quando , made by god himself , alters not the force of the comand , but ratifies it . he only could do it that is the lord thereof . there is no change made in the quamdiu and continuance , nor in the quoties and frequency of the same . the whole precept being moral , in part naturally , in part positively , is perpetual therefore , and not to be altered by any creature . that some special time should be observed for gods solemn worship , is moral natural . that it should be such a proportion in such a revolution , is moral positive . that the duty should be moved from the seventh to the first day of the week , makes no substantial change therein , but only directs to the season thereof upon pregnant ground . paul clears this by a large demonstration . the first day sabbath was eminently typified in the most notable providences of the old testament . on the first day light was created , noahs ark rested , circumcision was first ordained , israel was redeemed from aegyptian bondage ; on the same day christs law was first given by himself to israel on mount sinai ; the cloud of his special presence first rested on them , the tabernacle with his pertinances was rear'd , aaron and his children first executed their priesthood . on that day his fire from heaven first came down to consume the sacrifices to make them acceptable in christ by his spirit . the israelites were first solemly by the lord himself blessed ; their princes first publiquely offered to the lord. so for the new testament , christ thereon first shewed his miracles in cana , he first rose and appeared to his disciples ; the saints that slept then rose out of their graves ; the holy ghost came down upon the apostles solemnly met , and thereon still they met for divine worship . when the jewish sabbath ended by reason of its typicalness expiring with christs death , then began the first day to be the christian sabbath , christ sanctifying it to that end by his resurrection , honouring it in a special manner , which is the ground given by god himself for the keeping of a sabbath . so carefull were christ and christians of it , that he bids them pray , that their flight be not in the winter , nor on the sabbath , lest it should distract their bodies and souls . prophaning of the sabbath hath ever been threatned and punished signally , as the due observance of it hath been choicely encouraged and rewarded in all superiors and inferiors . it s the lords court-day wherein he expects due homage and rents from all his tenants . it s his muster-day for all his christian souldiers . it s his solemn feast-day to welcome all his friends . it s his weekly market for the getting in of all heavenly provisions . it s his chancery-day for the sealing and grant of his deeds of favour . what enemies are they to his honor and mans good , who slight and abuse that heaven upon earth ! it s the beginning of an eternal sabbath . all cavils against it have been fully dispelled by many choice pieces . when paul condemns the distinction of days , his meaning is cleared by the context , to speak of jewish ceremonials , not of christian morals . the neglect and abuse of the christian sabbath hath been observed formerly and lately to be still the inlet to all other errors . englands prosperity began in queen elizabeths time , when the sabbath began to be duly maintained by authority . the troubles of england began afterwards , when the sabbath was publiquely by authority profaned , and by the same party . * the famous kings and witagen mots among the saxons , still ; renew'd strict laws for due observance of the christian sabbath . 15. the law of christ is variously abused , 1. by the the foresaid errors . 2. by antinomians , denying the obligation of a christian to the moral law. 3. by papists in mangling of it , and dispencing therewith at pleasure many ways . 4. by quakers , and other innovators , joining too much with papists . 5. by socinians that rest thereon , teaching people the like , and so making it their satisfaction to justice and their salvation . against such evils , scripture-knowledge of christ will help us to see the need and use of that law of christ . as he printed it on mans heart at first , so doth he by his grace renew it there gradually . he published it himself from mount sina to his people , adding the ceremonials and judicials afterwards , as fit accommodations of that moral law , suited to the jewish church and state. the decalogue then is the sum of that law , which obliges all men without exception . the sevetal explications and applications thereof we find through the old and new testament . christ ratified the same from mount zion also , in taking away the pharisaical rubbish , which their false glosses had cast about it . the apostles further clear and confirm it in their several epistles and writings . where the scripture seems to speak against the law , the sense is cleared by viewing the context . 1. they speak against the justifying power of the law , through mans weakness since the fall , none being able to keep it without fault , or to make amends for his breach thereof . thus by the law can none be justified , and the regenerate are not under it to get pardon and salvation by a law of works . the pharisees thus pressed and owned it , and were confuted by christ and his apostles . thus also do they sin , that do rest upon any gospel-duty , making it to themselves thereby a law of works . secondly , they speak against the condemning effect of the law , which the regenerate are freed from by christs righteousness imputed to them . they are not under the curse of it , having their sins pardoned by christs satisfaction , made theirs actually through faith in his blood ; though their sin deserves the curse , yet that reatus and guilt doth not redound upon their persons , being taken off by christ . thirdly , they speak often of the ceremonial law as not obliging any christian since christ , though it was used indifferently for a while to bear with tender converts then unsatisfied about the abrogation thereof . fourthly , they still own the royal law of liberty , that moral law which is the transcript of gods holy will for the rule of mans duty in conformity to gods image . it s called therefore the law of christ , the perfect law , and the law of truth , which men do well when they observe , and ill so far as they neglect it . god indeed writes his law on his peoples heart , but gradually and variously ; that is , to them an internal principle of obedience , which is still attended by the law of their members in opposition thereto . this principle moves them still to observe that law which god hath given to be their standing rule , perfect and unchangeable . men are as far from his grace as they are from observing his law. god never leaves his children without rule . he that breaks and nuls any one part willingly , is guilty of all . the papists guilt is great in hiding the second command from the people in their vulgar liturgies , leaving it out , and making a gainful trade of dispensing with incest , undutifulness of children , fornication , &c. how great is their guilt then that take away all the commands at once , leaving man to his own deceitfull heart under pretence of a light and law within ? to be lawless , is to be godless , ; for what 's gods law but the declaration of gods will requiring mans duty ? who ever opposes the princes order , doth so far oppose the prince himself . atheism is the source and sum of such antinomianism . 16. the lords covenant in christ is assaulted also , first , by the former errors . secondly , by socinians , papists , novellists , who deny his gracious covenant with abraham , renewed with israel in horeb , in moab , and so successively till christs personal coming , who published a new edition thereof . thirdly , by divers anabaptists , and other week christians , who mistake and miscall that covenant many ways , not distinguishing the substance from the manner of administring it , confounding works and grace , law and gospel thereby . against that distemper , our antidote will give a sure remedy , shewing the right nature and use of that gracious covenant made of god in christ with his people in all ages ever since mans fall . god made first an overture thereof to our first parents in the promised seed . it was further cleared to noah , and sealed to abraham and his seed . at their coming from aegypt he renewed it by the mediators voice and hand . gods mercy engaged , engaging mans duty in christ and through him , is the sum thereof . gods mercy is expressed in every promise , mans duty in every precept . the ceremonials and judicials were the several garments of that covenant , suited to their condition both in church and state. by this covenant they had all good , and were freed from evil temporal , spiritual , and eternal . it was a parental and conjugal covenant which the godly did embrace spiritually , and other professors but externally . god owned them , whither jews or proselytes for his children and spouse , so far as they owned it either externally or internally . because this covenant was much mistaken and abused in their latter times , christ came in person to renew it evangelically . thence the gospel is called a new covenant , because the old renew'd in a fairer print . thus the old command of love being renew'd is a new command . thus the old moon renew'd , is called the new moon . thus an old lease revived , is a new lease . it s the old substantially , it s a new one circumstantially . the former edition was more dark , this more clear ; that straighter , this larger ; that heavier , this lighter : therefore the gospel-covenant is comparatively said to be better , made on better promises , and more lasting , being unchangeable till christs last coming ; whereas the former is said to be grown weak and antiquated . thence the gospel-ministry is comparatively called a ministry of life of glory , of the spirit , and abiding , whereas the former dispensation was more accommodated to that infant age of the church , and is said to have more of death , of the letter , and less glory . thus the scripture speaks often positively of things understood comparatively . my doctrine saith christ , is not mine , john 7. 16. h. e. comparatively , not barely mine , but his that sent me . that this covenant must needs be substantially the same now , as then , though now more plainly dressed , appears in the author and mediator , the substance and scope , the parties and parts , the terms and conditions which are still essentially the same . it s still of grace and from grace , for grace , and through grace in every branch of it . all cavils objected have been abundantly refuted by others . these hints may suffice now to point at those things which have been so fully and so frequently cleared by so many champions of divine truth . 17. the seals of christs covenant are also abused : as 1. by the foresaid evils ; so 2. by the papists defiling , mangling and corrupting them : adding five sacraments of their own invention , viz. penance , and order , confirmation , marriage and extream unction . 3. by quakers and notionists , who slight and contemn them . 4. by the anabaptists who deny baptism to christs infant members , the believers seed . against those maladies we find soveraign help from the grace and knowledge of christ improved . thence we observe the lords care renewed in confirming his covenant now , as he did of old by significant seals called sacraments , because sacred rights , confirming the engagement of christs souldiers to him . what the manna and rock , the cloud and sea , circumcision and passe-over did of old ratifie ; the same is now consigned by baptism and eucharist . the popish recess from christs institution therein sufficiently disproves all their innovations thereabout . in vain do they worship him , teaching for doctrines the commands of men . they agree not among themselves , nor with scripture of reason , in the account given of those five sacraments they have superadded . it s pitty that any friend of christ should join with them in slighting the purity and simplicity of christs sealing ordinances . there are extreams and abuses about both of them . the lord gave them for pledges and helps of christian communion ; satan hath abused them to foment unchristian division . the great reformation in germany , denmark and sweden , hath been sadly opposed and abused by errors in these two seals . rigid lutheranism and fanatick anabaptism have been the great stops there , and the fire-brands . error hath been acting in our parts also . much plausibleness from mistaken and misapplied scriptures hath been made use of to palliate the sore . but the nature of christs covenant sufficiently clears our infants right to the seal thereof , so far as capable . interest in the covenant must needs import interest in the seal . they may have the seed of faith , though the fruit appears not yet . they do virtually profess in their parents though not actually . the statute of heaven that took them first into covenant , was never yet repealed nor expired . our children are as much members of christs family and kingdom as the jewish children . christ owns them and blesses them still as he did before . the precepts and promises concerning them have suffered no substantial change , though administrations be circumstantially altered . the blessing of abraham comes still on the gentile through faith in christ , as it did on the jewes . what infidel jews lost , believing gentiles receive in root and branch . the believing isralites child could be no loser by the change of the seal , his parent still abiding in covenant . look how the unbelieving jewes were broken off branch and twig , so are believing gentiles graffed in branch and twig . there is less said of this in the new testament , because so much was said in the old. this point was so clear then without opposition that a little sufficed . the believing jewes would not have been quiet if their children had been shut out of gods house , that made such stirs at lesser matters . christ , when a child , was head of the church ; children then may be members thereof . he cals them his children , disciples , saints , servants in the same relation given to their parents . when families of old joyned to the lord , children were not excluded ; no more were they in apostolical dayes . they that will deny scripture-consequence , must deny all duties of christianity , none whereof can be performed without such reasoning . reason and religion they must at once gainsay , that gainsay inferences orderly drawn from thence . the condition of this covenant is sufficiently cleared by the knowledge of christ both for entrance and continuance , both internally and externally . christ invites sinners to come by faith to him for all needful grace . none can come to him except the father draw them . he gives to his elect peculiarly , what he requires from all indefinitely . as far as that condition is performed either externally or internally , so far reaches the covenant priviledge before god and men . the profession and outward priviledge may be utterly lost by carnal hypocrites ; but the distinguishing grace and internal priviledge thereof cannot be totally nor finally lost by the regenerate , though they may be ecclipsed for a time . 18. the church of christ suffers much also , first , by all the former . secondly , by rigid separatists of divers sorts . thirdly , by the popish apostacy and usurpations , assuming to themselves alone the title of catholicks , and unchurching all that jump not with them . fourthly , by quakers and notionists , who slight and abuse the communion of saints multipliciously and nefariously . against such disorders , the gracious knowledge of christ affords meet help . improve it to a right union and communion , both with the head , christ ; and with his body . his church is his house , that cherishes concord among brethren of different sizes . there is but one god and mediator there ; there also should be but one mind and heart . there are divers chambers and stories therein , yet it s one house . though different flocks under various shepherds , yet are they all under one great shepherd . they that own christ as head , should be owned of his members . they that agree in the main , may bear with each other in the means . schism is a sinfull separation that breeds a convulsion in the body of christ . shame and sorrow are the genuine fruits thereof , as pride and ignorance the parents of it . they bear most with others that know christ and themselves best . paul would have them both marked and shun'd that make divisions as selfish christians that know little of christ and themselves . he would have us separate from evil , but not from good , as himself doth . christians and churches must purifie themselves as he is pure . they should therefore labor more for verity and unity in the way to purity . they need all mutual help . orderly union affords much beauty , strength and usefulness . it makes gods people like an army with banners ; such an arch-building is choice and sure . all convulsions are painfull and direfull . scripture represents this harmonious composure by that which excels in all frams , natural , civil and artificial . we should all labor then for things that tend to peace for mutual edification . variety of helps he affords to that end . the popish pretence is as injurious as its ridiculous . they make a particular universal , a roman cathotholick . they first disown christ in effect , and then must they disown and be disowned of his friends . the quakers follow them too closely in this , as in other things , casting odiums upon our reformed churches , and rejecting them . it s sad to see any of christ friends , who seem more sober and serious , through mis-interpretations and mis-applications of scripture to imitate them in such dividing ways . to divide and destroy is satans motto , it s his method . we see it , we feel it by woful experience . we must learn of christ prudent moderation in our zeal for truth . both his body and garment should be so tendered , as not to rend the one by favouring the other . peace is to be pursued after as far as possible in consistency with holiness . much labor and care must often be used in over-taking and preserving peace , still endangered by many enemies . 19. the grace of christ nearly concerns his church , and meets with the contradiction of sinners . his electing grace is much slandred by many . first , by most of the forenamed errors . secondly , by pelagians , socinians , and others denying it to be eternal . thirdly , papists and arminians agreeing with the semi-palagians in making it conditional , not absolute ; upon faith foreseen or on good work , not of gods free pleasure . fourthly , by many of our notionists following of those blind guides , in following the false lights which paracelsus , and behmen , swenkfield and wigelius , the rose-crucians and enthusiastical recluses have racked out of old dung-hils , and dressed anew . against such deceits improve the knowledge of christ , that you may consider him in a double capacity . 1. as god the son , jointly with the father and the spirit , chusing his people from eternity ; divina opera ad intra sunt indivisa . secondly , as mediator in gods eternal purpose , in whom in all the vessels of mercy were absolutely elected without any respect to any thing in them , but according to the good pleasure of his will , having predestinated us to the adoption of children by jesus christ to himself before the foundation of the world . there is a double election also mentioned in scripture . 1. eternal , which is to glory . 2. temporal , which is to office . by eternal election the lords chosen flock alone were fore-ordained to glory through grace . by temporal election reprobates as judas may be chosen to office , as he was to the apostleship . gods electing grace is called sometimes his fore-knowledge by an hebraism , verbs of sence with them importing both affect and effect . thus christ is said never to have known the wicked , because he never owned them for his . this foreknowing grace is called his pleasure , his good will , his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , amor bonevolentiae , chiefly looking at the end , gods glorifying himself by glorifying them in christ . predestination or fore-ordaining grace , pre-determining those elect persons so freely pitched upon by god ▪ regards the means leading to that end ; therefore it fore-appointed them to redemption and adoption in christ by grace towards glory . some being thus chosen , others were passed by , and are therefore called reprobates ; and gods purpose or councel about them is called praeterition , non-election , and non-predestination . god was not bound to any , and did chuse and pass by of his own will , independently , eternally , distinctly , individually , certainly . those persons so passed by , considered in massa nuda , he did fore-ordain they should be left to sin , and suffer for their sin ; so considering them * in massa corrupta , this act of his purpose is called praedamnation , being an act of his justice , whereas the former is properly an act of soveraignty . as soveraign he passed by them absolutely , but as a just god , foreseeing their sin , he fore-appointed them to wrath. these various expressions denote one intire , continued , perfect act of the divine essence , set out after our apprehension diversly , and having distinct denominations , but externally from its several objects , being still immanent in god from eternity , non-transient . they all set forth his grace in the freeness and fulness , in the singularity and sureness thereof . thus christs knowledge improved , will vindicate his truth from all aspersions of injustice , unmercifulness and unfaithfulness . in all this he is just , wronging none , being bound to none . he is mercifull in chusing and predestinating some . he is faithfull and true , observing his word exactly . blind eyes cannot , sore eyes will not see this clear truth with delight , but fret at it as cavillers in pauls time , with heavy charges . but the wisdom of christ must be justified of her children now , as she was by himself and by his apostles then . it must needs wrong the grace of christ much to make it depend upon the foresight of faith , or any thing else in the creature , and giving the creature a priority at least so far . god first appoints what shall be , and so foresees that it shall be , else he were not the first and last . as god is eternal and certain , so is his purpose eternal and certain . the figments of mens brains are loathsom idols that would bring god down to mans shallow reach , and fall as dagon before the ark. 20. christs redeeming grace is much wronged . first , by the former mistakes . secondly , by pelagians , papists and arminians ; first , in extending it to all and every man individually alike ; so that judas was as much redeemed as peter in their sense . secondly , in restraining it to a meer salvability or putting mankind into a power of being saved , and acquiring to god a new power of saving men . thirdly , in unsetling it , and making it an uncertain meteor , wandring up and down among men , waiting on their free will to embrace or refuse it at their list . fourthly , in enfeebling it so as that it hath with them no power or efficacy to save those so redeemed , but that a person whom god in christ did so redeem , may perish nevertheless utterly . fifthly , by divers of late who appear much more sober and godly , yet incline too much to those dangerous errors . sixthly , by the socinians , familists , behmenists , quakers , who either wholly deny it , or pass it in silence as needless and useless . against this poison , christs antidote improved will give singular help ; it will shew the al-sufficiency and efficacy of christs oblation to all the elect ; for whom he did fore-know , those he did predestinate , he called , justified and glorified . the necessity and operation thereof it clears also . none but god man could save lost man. nothing but the full obedience of him could satisfie infinite justice , and procure infinite mercy . christ had not died , had it not been of absolute necessity . without the blood of god there was no remission . that blood must needs be efficacious and saving to all redeemed by him . for if whilst we were enemies , we were reconciled to god by his death , much more being reconciled , shall we be saved from wrath by his life . there is indeed , first , an external and professed redemption which is mentioned in scripture that proves ineffectual to eternal salvation . thus apostates deny the lord that bought them generally & professedly . thus he is said to redeem the whole creation . it mentions in that sense a temporal salvation generally , for thus he saves both man and beast , all apostates professed to be redeemed by him , and they were outwardly redeemed from much gross evil . secondly , there is an eternal redemption of grace to glory , peculiar to gods elect . this differs from that as far as heaven from earth . christ the redeemer is indeed lord of all , and makes use of all for the good of his redeemed ones . the devils themselves and brutes are thus generally under his dominion , as all reprobates . yet it follows not that he died for them . gods elect are the proper objects of redeeming grace ; all things else below come in accidentally , secundarily , subserviently and comprehensively under consideration in christs redemption , which makes them all to advance gods honor and his peoples good . there is a dubious homonymy in this word ( grace ) which occasions much mistake . many take it generally for any favour shew'd by god to man. but scripture limits the sense thereof in most , if not in all places to his peculiar favour shew'd to his elect in christ , reaching their redemption and salvation efficaciously and infallibly . other creatures enjoy many gifts , as abrahams secundary offspring , but his elect as isaac alone his inheritance . this advances the glory of christs grace in every consideration . to make his blood impotent and uncertain , cannot but much eclipse it . his freeness and fulness , his sureness and choiceness appear orientally in this redeeming grace . neither may any creature complain of any wrong herein . is not he free to do with his own what he pleases ? was he ever bound to any creature ? doth any suffer but for their sins ? doth not god make good every word of his ? christ was never a half-saviour . he came not barely to make men salvable , but to save effectually , and to the utmost . his redemption is as absolute as the fathers election , though the offers of grace be conditional , indefinitly tendred to all sorts . christ came not to purchase any new power to god , but to fulfill his purpose in his effectual procuring of salvation for all his . he came for his lost sheep whom the father gave him , to fetch them home efficaciously . the sons redemption must needs keep parallel with the fathers election . had salvation been intended to each man , what could have hindred the effecting thereof ? if christ died for judas as for peter , then is peter little more then judas beholding to christs redemption . it s not christ it seems that makes the difference , but some thing else . if he died for them both , but not alike , then was his death therein peculiar to peter , which makes the difference . then was it impossible that judas could be saved without that special thing , and it was as impossible that he should have it , seeing it was not intended to him . to what purpose then did christ die for him ? he was not salvable it seems by the grant supposed . what else he had was common to him with other creatures , good in it self , but abused by man. that christ came not to restore whole mankind , appears in that every one is never effectually restored to primitive state . where the scripture speaks of christs dying for all , for the world , for sinners , &c. the context still clears the restriction of those phrases to all the elect , both jews and gentiles , that are of all sorts , and in all places and ages . it s a common phrase in every language thus to speak of all for many of all sorts indefinitely , to be explained by the matter in hand . thus all judea came to be baptised . the apostles preached to every creature under heaven , yet still with limitation . the word [ world ] in divers places cannot signifie whole man-kind , but must be limited to the vessels of mercy alone . thus christ takes away the sin of the world ; now blessed is he whose sin is taken away ; every man is not so . many are in hell beyond possibility thereof ; he gives life to the world , not to them in hell. god was in christ , reconciling the world , not imputing their sin unto them : is this every mans priviledge to have reconciliation and pardon ? in other places , the world can signifie none but reprobates , that shall never be saved , that lie in wickedness , that christ prayed not for , that die in their sins that cannot receive the spirit of grace , &c. usually its signification is indefinite to be explained by the context . but what must men blieve if christ died not for every man ? they must believe that christ alone is the full saviour and redeemer of his people ; that he that believes not shall be damned , that believers are saved through his grace , &c. as the scripture teaches . object . bnt why is christ offered to all then ? answ . because that he speaks to men by men , after the manner of men . his elect are to be gathered from among all sorts . the gardiner waters the weeds secundarily , but the good plants primarily . the sun shines on the blind that cannot make use thereof . object . but is not vnbelief the great damning sin ? answ . it is so , though not the only damning sin . positive unbelief is worse then negative and admits of degrees too . all sin is damnable , a deadly disease : but unbelief is the refusing , the rejecting of the only remedy that shuts the soul under its deserved death . object . but is not this doctrine uncomfortable ? answ . it s indeed to all unbelieving imp●nitent sinners wilfully rejecting christ ; but it s most comfortable to all humble self-denying souls , those poor in spirit , that hunger and thirst after christs righteousness . there is no comfort to the wicked from the lord. but much encouragement to every soul that is made willing to turn from al sin to god through christ . such shall duly know that christ died for them when they find him killing sin in them , that they may live to him . a general notion that christ died for all and every one , can give no more comfort to peter then to judas , till his heart do feel the power of christs death . is it not more comfort that christ died to save his elect certainly , then that he died so indefinitely , that its uncertain for all his death whether any shall be saved ? if you grant he died absolutely but for some ; then it s certain that only they shall be saved ; and his dying for the rest conditionally , will not make them salvable nor afford any comfort to them . if any inconvenience attend our doctrine it must needs attend that also . yea , if christ should have died for all alike , yet seeing all are not in the event saved , he must needs fore-know it , or not be omniscient ; and fore-ordain it , or not be omnipotent ; and that certainly , or not be soveraign . the same difficulties will follow that way with many more . either god or the creature must be independent . it disparages not christs death that its limited to the fathers purpose , by his intention and execution . all divine attributes are wonderfully magnified this way ; his wisdom and power , mercy and truth , justice and holiness , &c. the parallel drawn by the apostle between the first and second adam proves a parity and proportion of christs redemption , extended to all his spiritual seed ; as the corruption and condemnation of adam extends to all his natural seed . but all men individually considered , are not christs spiritual seed . the elect are such intentionally before conversion , and actually become such in their conversion . all adams children died by him , and all christs children were redeemed by him . it s more to redeem one soul , then to destroy all . christ excels incomparably . 21. christs renewing grace is no less a sufferer by , first , the former oppositions . secondly , by pelagians old and new , asserting mans nature to be so restored in every man , that they are all born in gods favour , continuing so till they grosly abuse the light given them , either natural or evangelical : making grace as common as nature , because its a gift , though diversifyed . denying original sin and habitual corruption before years of discretion . thirdly , the socinians who following them , deny that special renewing grace , and pretend the new birth mentioned so often to be but a moral change upon men , which their nature by a common help from god doth attain unto in imitation of christ , whom they suppose to be a meer patterne of holiness , not the internal efficient thereof . fourthly , by the papists and arminians who have learned of them to advance mans self-sufficiency , free will and power by a common assistance of gods light indifferently afforded to all sorts according to their improvements of the common gifts received to accept or reject christ at their pleasure ; and to cast away the best of his gifts received when they list . in effect , placing a mans strength and standing , yea his chief all in his own mutable will : making faith but a common assent given to truth . fifthly , by the quakers , familists and notionists , who carry too much compliance with their ghostly fathers in these as in other things . against these lethal maladies , the knowledge of christ improved graciously will afford effectual remedies . thereby we learn to see by scripture light the total corruption of mans sinful nature ; the universality thereof reaching all places and persons : its closeness and adherence , its contagion and fruitfulness , its temptations and rebellions , its policies and power , its fierce and inconsiderate madness ; its indefatigable unsatisfiableness , and its multiplicious propagation , not admitting of remission or intermission : this fully manifests the insufficiency and emptiness of man , his unskilfulness and aptness to any spiritual good . thence the necessity of a special renewing grace from above to work an effectual change in all gods elect by an almighty irresistible power , such as quickned lazarus and raised up christ jesus from the grave . this sanctifying grace is considered in scripture in the gradual renovation of man from his first conversion from nature to grace , unto his change from grace into glory . the product of this renewing grace is called a new creature , and a translation from death to life ; a turning of men from darkness to light , and from the power of satan to god , by opening of their eyes and renewing their will. it s expressed by taking away the heart of stone , and giving a heart of flesh ; in putting his spirit within us , and giving a new heart and a new spirit , in our special effectual calling . it s said to be our regeneration and being born again , absolutely needful to open an entrance into gods kingdom . though there be some reliques of natural and moral endowments left in men since the fall in their powers and parts , as appears by the heathens improvements : yet these only testifie the wofulness of mans desperate fall in ruining so glorious a fabrick . thence the blindness and perversness of his mind and will are so aggravated , the crooked distortions of his affections , the searedness and corruption of his conscience with the disorder of every part , are set forth so emphatically to convince every man. thence men are said before conversion to be godless and hopeless , because christless . thence is the wonderful operation of renewing grace so extolled still in this new creation , bringing forth light out of darkness , in making man partaker of the divine nature . this supernatural work is carried on rationally by the spirit of christ * in a way suitable to mans rational being . he works strongly , yet sweetly ; he opens their heart-springs with a special key of his own framing . this renewing grace runs parallel with the fathers electing and the sons redeeming grace ; whom god did foreknow and predestinate , those he calls effectually , seasonably , savingly . their corrupt nature doth much resist it till grace prevails and conquers all its forts . the outworks of the mind and judgement , christs spirit conquers first ; thence breaking through the iron gate of mans will into the possession of all the powers and parts of the soul . many sins remain still in every part like so many cananites and tories to be gradually subdued . these rebels being broken in their head and reign , grace doth orderly dispatch by mortifying exercise . the spirit of christ carries on his work in supporting and supplying still those gracious beginnings , which are weak at first . by the gospel light he communicates his gracious life . thus he perswades & enables his people to embrace jesus christ upon gospel terms by a covenant of marriage and adoption . thus is mans dunghil heart by renewing grace broken up and dressed into a spiritual garden sown and set with the fruits of his holy spirit . it differs exceedingly from common convictions and external reformations , as earth differs from heaven . that difference is still morally-specifical , though it seems to be physically , but numerical and gradual . it s the same spirit that works conviction on the reprobate and on the elect , but not in the same manner . he knocks at both , and is resisted . he leaves the reprobate justly ; he opens the elects heart mercifully and prevailingly . the reprobate may be externally and professedly sanctified in a partial superficial way . gods elect are specially sanctified , universally in every part ; and gradually through every part . mans free will by sin subjected to satan , is through this renewing grace set at liberty , so far as grace prevails . the unregenerate is free only to spiritual evil , being an enemy to spiritual good . the regenerate soul is so far free to spiritual good , as it s renewed . when grace is compleated in glory , the soul like good angels shall be free only to good . the nature of mans will is thus bettered by grace ; which was made a slave by sin . the devils and damned do freely will sin , so do unregenerate souls on earth , yet necessarily . thus necessity man stand with freedom both to good and evil . by this renewing grace the regenerate soul is made conformable to gods image , and is so far called the new man , and gradually learns to be holy as god is holy. that seed and root of grace cast into it at first , grows up by degrees as the grain of mustard seed , as the corn , as the light , as the living child . thereby the soul is enabled to believe and repent , and further to actuate every sort of grace , being excited , corroborated and directed still by the same spirit . thence is the conflict so continuall between the spirit and flesh , the law in the members , and the law in the mind ? grace and sin , which ends not till the death of sin in bodily death . thus acti agimus : implanted grace then co-works still with the lords gracious spirit , who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure . this grace appears also most free and full , most choice & sure , to the glorifying of all divine attributes . man could not be conceived to have any skil , power or will to procure the same . by grace the lord cals unto grace , and so to glory . by grace are we saved through faith , and that not of our selves , it s the gift of god ; not of works , least any man should boast : for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus unto good works : so that it s not in him that wills , nor in him that runs , but in god who shews mercy : of his own will begat he us by the word of truth , that we might be to the praise of his glory . object . but why then is man commanded to believe and repent , to change his heart , & c ? answ . because as we hinted before , god deals with men by men , rationally , orderly , to convince all of their duty , and insufficiency , to humble and awaken them , to put them upon all due means , to render the most inexcusable , and moralize many : to convey his grace into his elect through those very means peculiarly sanctified to the spiritualizing of their heart . object . but is not god partial in so doing ? answ . no. for he is not bound to any further then he pleases , neither is he led by any sinful respects which render men partial . object . but why doth he yet complain of the reprobates , if he give them not sufficient grace , as to others ? how can they help it ? ans . god justly complains of the wicked for insolvency and squandring away his goods wilfully and rebelliously , both in their first father and by themselves . they smart not but for their fault : their being bankrupts is no payment , nor discharge of their debts to him . he gives them more then they could expect or make right use of . though they cannot change their own heart yet they might use the means better then they do ; they are still wilfully negligent and selfish in all they do and suffer justly for their demerits . can the wicked say they sin not wilfully ? will not their own conscience condemn them ? are they not all corruptly estranged from the womb , and speaking lyes by time ? who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? can the bramble bear figs , or a sinful man beget a sinless child ? is not the spawn and brood of venemous creatures venemous also ? can a dead corpse raise it self to life , or a soul dead in sin contribute ought to its own quickning ? yet is this no excuse for any sin , because man is condemned for the abuse and neglect of that which is given him . the best of them goes not so far as he might . though he be spiritually dead , yet is he naturally alive , and the abuse of natural parts is a sufficient condemnation to every sinner , though variously appearing . thus is god stil just , merciful and true , though man prove unjust , unworthy and false . he is stil beforehand with every man , though unfaithful servants who improve not the talent lent them , charge him to be a hard master . as he is free in disposing of his gifts , so will every abuse and neglect of each of them be duly reckoned for . 22. christs saving grace is also abused , 1. by the former errors . 2. by the pelagians and socinians , ascribing mans salvation to his own merits , the fruits of his own power and will. 3. by the papists and arminians sacrificing also to their nets ; some owning merits de congruo before conversion ; others only merits de condigno , after conversion ; either ex propria natura , with some , or ex pacto with others ; very few of them are found more modest . 4. by the quakers , behmenists and notionists variously treading in their steps , and disguising those old errors with the colours of new light of a christ within , pretended raptures , chymical dreams and magical deceits . their monstrously abstruse expressions and fictitious raptures were much magnified in that german tragedy acted in various scenes for many years , especially from 1522. til 1540. and are now revived out of paracelsus , behmen , wigelius , and the like by their followers very perniciously now . against such a poyson the gracious knowledge of christ will fortifie you by scripture discovery of the nature and cause , the method and means , the subject and effects , of that saving grace . 1. the nature thereof is gods application of his special favour unto his elect , redeemed by christ , saving them from all sin on earth inchoatively , in heaven consummatively . 2. the fountain cause thereof is his own pleasure : the final his honour , exalted in his son , by his own spirit applying the same . 3. the method observed is gradually to shew this favour , 1. primitively in his election and redeeming love. 2. communicatively , in his adopting and justifying , his supporting and supplying love , from the beginning of grace , through perseverance unto glory in eternity . 4. the means appointed and employed therein are , 1. christ the principal : the spirits operation as efficient : and every ordinance and providence , his word especially , as instrumentally blessed of him thereto . 5. the subjects thereof are gods elect , redeemed by the son , renewed by his spirit , whom he adopts for children , justifying their persons , and keeping them through faith by his power unto salvation ; supporting and supplying them stil by the earnest and first fruits of his spirit , til the full possession of all . 6. the effects thereof are , the gaining of their hearts by divine love to mutual returns , to chuse him in christ by his spirit for their chief good and soveraign lord , delighting in him , depending on him , closing with him , following of him , drawing all from him , reducing all to him , loving what he loves , hating what he hates , with an harmony of mind , heart and hand . and all for his sake and to his glory , by his strength according to his will. this light will easily dispel all cavils darkning the truth . there are no merits but in gods mercy . he rewards indeed , but it s of grace . he pardons sin and doth it freely . yet he requires faith and repentance , not to merit , but to receive it , emptying the soul of self , to fill it with himself , letting out sin to let in christ : casting out satan to bring in his spirit , purging out corruption by giving his grace , preparing for glory . he therefore bids them take heed lest they fall , to keep them standing in the right use of means . he appointed the end and blesses the means . he promises and assures their standing , not by their own , but by his might . thus all that the father gave christ , shall come to him , and him that comes to him , he will in no wise cast out , because this is the will of the father that sent him , that of all he hath given him he should lose nothing . the father that gave them to him , is greater then all ; none shall pluck them out of his hand , ergo. object . but may they not slip away ? answ . yea , if left to themselves as adam was in the covenant of works . but he hath made a better covenant with them in christ , engaging his grace to preserve and save to the utmost all whom he chose in him , redeemed by him , and sanctifyingly renews by his spirit . this is all their hope and all their salvation , though in a winter of temptation it seems not to flourish . he therefore writes his law in their heart , and puts his spirit within them , to cause them to walk in his statutes , that they shall keep his judgements and do them . he will uphold them by his right hand till he bring them to glory . he will crown his own grace in them , and magnifie his strength in their weakness . object . but doth not this doctrine lead to presumption and libetinism ? answ . not at all , though it may be abused as the best things are . it leads genuinely to all christian diligence and grace , as the sure only way to glory . this assurance he gives not to all alike , nor to any alike at all times . though his weak children be sure in his hand , yet he lets them often stumble , that they may know him and themselves better . the riches of his grace appear still herein freely and fully , surely and choicely . what 's freer then pardon to an unworthy rebel ? that christ satisfied , and that faith is given to receive pardon , is not that free also ? what 's fuller then such a pardon , that justifies from all guilt inchoatively , progressively , consummatively ? whether you say the pardon is renewed , or continued , or confirmed to the regenerate , is it not stil full ? doth he not blot out all scores and remit all faults by application of his justifying grace ? his correcting of them is the fruit of that adopting love which pardons them . because they are children , they must have physick and the rod also . what 's surer then this grace , which engages the trinunity in the clearest bond , with the surest ties , with word and writing , with his hand and seal , with promise and oath , yea with his own blood to final performance on his side and theirs ? they may break indeed , but he cannot break . though they act faithlesly , yet he acts faithfully . he cannot deny himself nor them , because his in christ . and what 's choiser then this special grace , that saves his children when he punishes others ? what 's more precious then this miracle of grace that gives them god in christ and all things with him ? what more singular then this marvellous love , who gives them his spirit to seal and strengthen them , that they may close with him and keep close to him still ? this is grace indeed not to be abused , nor to be opposed by any pretence . it s as compleat as his salvation , which must needs be answerable to such a compleat saviour . an imperfect christ is but an idol of mans fancy , so is that imperfect salvation and ineffectual grace which many dream of . 23. christ suffers also in his instruments , his civil deputies , in the magistracy : 1. by the former evils . 2. by the papists , who advance their antichristian head into the magistrates seat , putting the civil key into the popes hand , and loosening the subjects from their allegiance to such superiours who do not please him , encroaching much upon civil affairs in their cannon law , as about marriage , incest , adultery , &c. obliging their clergy to forraign supremacy ; forbidding the magistrate his duty about externals of the first table , &c. 3. by quakers and notionists , who labour to bring in confusion , as the german anabaptists did . 4. yea by many who seem more sober , yet deny the best part of his office : that special care of the first table in its externals , wherein he is to do most for god. 5. by divers infirm christians that by mistaken apprehensions of a fifth monarchy do actually resist christ in denying due homage to such powers whom hi providence hath set in power . against these oppositions , the knowledge of christ graciously improved will sufficiently arm us , declaring from scripture the magistrates duty and dignity in being most like god , and doing most for god. his power is authoritative about the external man , in all matters religious and civil , politically to regulate , reward and correct according to gods word for the lords honour and the publique good . the genus is an authoritative power ; the object is the external man , expressed by word , sign , or deed ; the subject is all matters of the first or second table , religious and civil . the acts of power are to regulate , reward , countenance good , and disown and correct evil . the manner of acting is political , not spiritual ; by civil censures , not ecclesiastical ? the rule is gods revealed will in his written word , not his own will or mans fancy . the end is gods honour as supreme ; publique good , as subordinate . herein shines the magistrates dignity in being thus employed as gods substitute , to look to his law in cherishing good , and suppressing evil . herein gods vicegerent shall meet with comfort in these politicks of gods own giving . the lord in all ages hath honoured such who have thus laboured still to honour him . he requires it still , and rewards it in a special manner . he gives many instructions about it to avoid error , neglect and abuse . he still branded those that neglected it , and set up themselves in slighting of him . they were threatned and punished sorely that would not and did not tender christs interest . no book of scripture or humane record but gives us signal demonstrations hereof . the many cavils obscuring this truth easily vanish by the brightness thereof . the pontifician crue by their encroachments have taught our libertines very sad lessons . corah with his partners acted once this part , as the german rout did long afterwards from 1522 till 1534. pretence of conscience is much talked of , but it covers often the abuse of conscience . the magistrate meddles not with conscience , but with external evil , though pretending conscience . he is a terrour to all evil works whatever they be , where-ever they appear , and a countenance to good . that 's his office by gods commission for thy good ; christ is king of kings by whom they all raign , who calls all to account . if sin and satan possess a mans conscience that should be gods seat , it cannot excuse their treasonable acts , but aggravate them . much care indeed is to be still used least this power be slighted or abused . such christians who appear truly consciencious are to be dealt with in much tenderness . yet cannot conscience plead for any sin . christ never intended it to be errors sanctuary . he dallies with no sin , and would have his servants like him . they that make no conscience of his truth and grace , nor of the publique peace , shew their conscience to be very unsound . the standing rule of man , whether high or low , is not his conscience , but the lords word . an evil conscience is the worst of evils , and the nurse of all evil . error is an infections disease that spreads dangerously under the pretence of conscience still . conscience must rule us so far as it s ruled by gods word , and no further . it cannot bind to , nor discharge any sin . paul judges himself for those very sins very hainously , which his conscience through mistake suggested to be his duty . if a christian suffer as an evil doer , though he pretend conscience , he shall have little honour or comfort therein . the sin is aggravated that is committed by an evil of conscience , the presence chamber and the royal throne of our soveraign christ . the magistrate therefore should be most careful to see that all sorts enjoy the best means of informing conscience about the will of god , as noble jehosaphat did , that all good laws may be duly observed . then execution must be look'd unto , the life of the law. it s the great mercy promised to christs kingdom , that kings shall be nursing fathers to his church , and contribute their utmost to the help thereof ; whereas before they gave up their power to the antichristian beast . christ himself is wronged , when his lieutenant the magistrate is taken off from his work or disturbed therein . all arguments used against the magistrates power in religion are still under-charged or over-charged ; either they prove only that conscience is not to be forced , and that christians should begentle and meek , bearing with each other in things indifferent , which is not denied ; or if there were any force in them to disprove the magistrates dealing with the first table , the same force would reach further against the second table also . so that they would make his office needless , striking at christ through his vicegerents loins to bring in confusion and anarchy , by exempting from his cognisance whatever things may pretend conscience . what evil so horrid that may not be covered under such a mask ? hath not experience seen it fulfilled in the predigious ranters are quakers of our days ? christs interest in the good of mens souls is still the best part of the magistrates care ; they must needs be sadly injurious to both , that would deprive them of that choice garland , and that signal work . 24. christ is opposed likewise in his servants of the ministry , as , first , by the former errors ; so , secondly , by the socinians , seekers , behmenists , revelationists , quakers and libertines who deny , corrupt and oppose it . thirdly , by the papists , who set up an antichristian head , and hierarchy , mangling and perverting it wofully . fourthly , by innovators , who exalt a power therein above others unknown to christ , and others slighting what christ hath set up . against these various evils , the knowledge of christ improved graciously will fence our judgements , and make us to see the excellency and perpetuity , the necessity and utility of his gospel-ministry . it was his care of old to set it up in his church for their common good , that the priests lips might preserve knowledge , and they should seek the law at his mouth , because he is the messenger of the lord. the first insurrections against it , ( which assaulted also the magistracy by a strong levelling party under holy pretences , ) were dreadfully rebuked and plagued by an extraordinary hand from heaven . the lord made also aarons rod to blossom and fructifie miraculously , that he might ratifie this great ordinance of his to all ages . he appointed the levites to be therefore settled in all the parts of israel , that every one might be provided with ministerial help . himself promised in a peculiar way to be their best portion , and took a special care , that among their brethren they might never want a plentifull portion . from time to time did he renew that charge , and sharply visited for the neglect thereof . he honor'd and prosper'd those princes and people that did carefully observe his will therein . his magistracy and his ministry went still hand in hand , both in doing good and suffering evil . moses and aaron in all their successors were still duly observed by god and good men . the jewish church and state declined together by their sinfull neglects of christs institutions . christ therefore came at last himself personally , that he might repair those wofull ruins . the vile abusing of his ministry brought on them first a babylonian yoak , and afterwards a roman slavery , after many persian and grecian oppressions . the revolts of jason and of onias , with their anti-temples in aegypt and samaria , brought in many more confusions then both on church and state. their corrupt opposings of christs ministry cost them very dear . when christ came in the flesh , the many disorders of the ministerial office and persons had disordered all . his great care was then to rectifie things in the best method . an end of all shadows he made in himself by his own ministry , and settled himself a substantial ministry that should continue unto the worlds end . his great business still was to purge his temple , and to commission his ministerial servants for the successive building of his house . his twelve apostles and seventy disciples were to that end succesfully employed by him . when he ascended and triumph'd over all , he bestowed then coronation gifts of a choice nature . then gave he apostles , prophets and evangelists in extraordinary , pastors and teachers in ordinary for ambassados , for the perfecting of the saints , for the work of the ministry , for the building up of his body , untill we all come to the full stature of the son of god. thus christ settled this ministerial function with spiritual authority , by setting apart in a regular call , persons by him duly qualified to the full employment of the ministry . the circumstantials of the ceremonial law he pared off thereby , and settled the substance of his will therein in this solemn office for his special honor and his peoples good . the father and spirit joined with god the son in the commission given from above to settle this office , and assure thereon a signal blessing till the end of all . as the son gave these residents of his to his church below , so did the father set them in the church , and the holy ghost still makes them overseers thereof . in the renewing of their commission he enlarged it unto all nations , gave them the keys of his kingdom to act under him as deputy-stewards ; titles of honor he gives them many , fit emblems also of their weighty work . they are his agents and the peoples guides , shepherds and rulers , angels and leaders . elders they are and overseers , as ambassadors acting in his name . as he taught his apostles the things of his kingdom , so were they carefull to instruct the rest . pauls epistles to timothy and titus are a directory for all church affairs . the apostles needed extraordinary gifts , as did the prophets and evangelists in the first planting of churches everywhere . that work being done , then ended with them their immediate infallible call. extraordinaries are but for a time to make sure way to ordinaries . snccessors they had in the substantials of the ministry , though not in all their circumstantials . paul in his progress having shew'd the way of ordaining such , gave timothy and others further rules still to prosecute that work . pastors and teachers must abide in charge , whilst there is one soul to be brought to christ and built up in christ . these stars are kept in the lords own hand , being the lights of his own setting up . many ministers and churches may perish for their apostacy , as they of asia , but the ministry in the church of christ shall be sure to stand . these witnesses of his may be much abused to the very death , but they shall rise again very speedily to the confusion of all enemies . lest they should grow proud and usurp lorship , christ charged them timely to act as servants in his name and work . his word holds forth all elders equal in ordinary , since extraordinaries removed from men . some priority of order and age the primitive churches thought fit to admit . pride and ambition corrupted the same , adding jurisdiction and power thereto . at first they did chuse a moderator , who might be speaker in their regular meetings . that was first elective , and then became fixed , and gradually did degenerate . under fair colors many did encroach , and subjected elders to bishops power . thence did arch-bishops and patriarchs rise with other limbs of that hierarchy . by princes bounty too sadly abused , this evil did rise , and brought forth a pope . that antichristian beast with his double horn , speaking like the lamb , acted dragon-like . he gradually subdued christs magistracy and ministry by usurpations of the double sword . that pestilential wen grew so fast on the church that it did over-spread and consume it in its noblest parts . many excrescences did rise under it as their cardinals , archdeacons , chancellors . thence a further rabble of commissaries , porters , acolyths , subdeacons , exorcists . thence also their monks , friers , eremits , nuns and jesuits swarming everywhere . thus gradually did abaddon prevail to waste christs portion for a thousand two hundred sixty years . the witnesses whilst prophecy in sackcloth , the woman is fed in the wilderness . yet did not christ forget his interest , but in the worst time maintained his ministry . brittain , ireland , germany and france shew large catalogues of undoubted truth to verifie it . waldus and wicklef , john hus and jerom with many thousands testified the same . the reformation by luther and calvin was but a more solemn carrying on of the work. we have antiquities of approved credit , shewing successions of faithful ministers from the apostles time all along to this day , as in other parts , so in these nations . the scriptures are not the worse , nor the ministry , for passing through the hand of romish antichrist . gold loses not its worth for touching a leprous hand , nor gods temple by the sitting of the man of sin , when their pollutions are but once removed . if any defilment be proved to attend our ministry , we are ready to yield and remove the same . when the wen is cut off , and the body cured , health being restored , is to be improved . if any will stil lord it over brethren we shall disclame such usurpations . christs ministry is to feed and teach , to rule and to cure ministerially . our weapons and work are spiritual , not political , nor monarchical . as nurses appointed for the childrens good , it s our desire to attend christs house . an orderly call unto this office as he doth appoint , so will he still bless . how shall men believe , if not preached to ? how shall men preach right , if they be not sent ? internal gifts are very needfull , yet not sufficient to make out this call. no man self-called is owned by god , no more then corah and jeroboams priests . a souldier , though able , without commission shall never be owned for an officer . a person of parts without authority cannot act the part of justice or judge . every christian is to improve gifts , but within his place and fit relation . gods word doth appoint an orderly way of calling persons into the ministry . they must be well proved and approved of , then chosen and ordained to a proper charge . he that hears and receives persons so called in the name of christ , hears and receives jesus christ himself by his own witness . he that abuses and rejects such , abuses and rejects the lord christ thereby . if any be bad , let them be questioned , and reap their deserts . we pretend to no infallibility , but would be tried still in doctrine and life by the word of truth . christs work its we are sent about ; the devil would marr it by slandering tongues . false christs , false prophets are now very rife . sick brains are heaping teachers to themselves to please itching ears . they that thus run before they are sent , shall not profit , but deceive the people . the chief rage of foxes and wolves disguised , will stil be bent against the shepherds . jeroboams priests with his golden calves brought in division , deceit and ruin . if the lords mercy do not prevent it , our sin and sorrow will be too like theirs . the cavils pleaded against this clear truth , have been fully dissolved again and again . it was julians attempt to starve the ministry and schools , as the sure way to ruin christianity . the like design is revived of late to the same end . the laws of nature and of nations , as well as gods positive laws , are brought in by paul to prove the just rights of ministers maintenance . the corinthiane are blamed for putting him to shift and work with his hands . he commends them highly , that had been free towards his relief . 25. christ suffers also in his providence , as by the former errors ; so first , by atheists , stoicks , epicures that ascribe events to fortune , fate or chance . secondly , by divers jesuits and arminians , charging his purpose and execution with contingency and dependency . thirdly , by star-gazers and astrologers who pretend to divine of humane events by their judicial prognostications . against this malady the gracious knowledge of christ improved will give us still a soveraing remedy . it shews by scripture light , that the hand of christ , who first made the world , doth uphold it still with rule and order by the word of his power . his eternal purpose he still executes in doing of good , and over-ruling evil . what evil of sorrow , that the lord sends not ? what evil of sin , that he limits not ? what good temporal or spiritual , that comes not still from his providence ? his rule is so sweet and so soveraign , that all fulfill his will in fulfilling theirs ; what ever opposes his revealed will , is still over-ruled by his secret will. the will of his purpose men do then fulfill , when they disobey the will of his precept . the instance of joseph and jesus suffice to demonstrate christs soveraign rule . things most contingent as to men and means , do yet come to pass by a necessary and sure providence . the very sparrows fall not to the earth , nor the hairs of man without gods special hand . astrologers sin is so much condemned by scripture , reason and experience , that they should not proceed any further , seeing their folly is made so manifest . some use we grant of astronomy , if modestly handled ; natural astrology may hint at some things , though very uncertainly . but that judicial astrology which pretends to foretel the success of affairs acted among men , is an errand cheat and dreadfull imposture : such an art descends from old magicians , that learned of satan among the nations . caldeans and diviners with all south-sayers are noted in scripture with aegypts magicians . indian gymnosophists , brachmans and pawawes , the druids of gaul , the bards of brittain , the dervis's of turkie are of the like school . the rules of this art are certainly known to be most absurd , vain and uncertain . mirandula and perkins , who searched into their depths , discovered fully their juggling impostures , as their writings testifie . some profound scholars , who had curiously pryed into their secrets , came off with remorse and abhorrings thereof . this profession hath been in all ages justly detested by the wise and good . such affinity it hath had still with satanical oracles , that its unsufferable in a christian state. there is vertue indeed in heavenly bodies ; but who can find out the same distinctly ? an apollonius , faustus , or hildebrand may pretend somewhat from satans teaching in this black study : but shall christians go to the devils school to learn christs mind ? starry constellations have their influence on sublunary bodies , but they cannot reach the souls and acts of men . how far they may affect this earth , none can know ; but that our reason and humane events are beyond their reach , is easily known . the constellations of christs providence compared with his word , are the proper rules of our prognosticks , personal and publique . thence should christians cast a divine figure to find out a true scheme of their state and acts. learn we to calculate our spiritual birth , and observe the positure of souls under chris ▪ thence all conjunctions and oppositions , total or partial , will rightly mark out what our case will prove . the sun of righteousness passing through our houses will carry light and life into every part . his aspects direct , oblique or opposite , signifie influence benign or malign , according to the station of things about it . when the lord ascendent doth rule all the rest , it prognosticates all propitiousness . if quaking saturn , and the ranting mars , if notional mercury , and ambitious jupiter , if unstable luna , and voluptuous venus come to cross this sun , what can men expect but a combustion ? wandring planets , and floating meteors are still over-ruled by his fixed motions . he is regular in his light and heat , the only fountain of benign influx . he is no retrograde , but still in progress to dispell darkness and death from his friends . would men study him in his word and works , they would soon banish sinful astrology . his law and gospel suffer so much by it , that no wise christian should plead for the same . was there ever a great astrologer that hath not bewrayed some satanical cheat ? may not london speak loud in this case , if late experience be but testified ? we may challenge all records divine & humane to shew any good prince or state owning it . who ever were found hearkning thereto , history brands them by tragical ends . oh that great brittain would consider this , that satan may not fix his throne among us ! christ will not endure so ill a neighbour , nor suffer this trade to go unpunished . compacts with the devil , though but indirect , do challenge both frowns and judgements from above . superiors must act under christ for him to punish this great evil with sutable wages . if men be so bold and presumptuous , powers are ordained for terror to such . they are errand cheats , or conjuring knaves that fortell events of humane matters by their star-gazing . if men slight gods law and testimony , to follow such peeping , muttering wizards , it s because there is no light in them . christ will right himself for all such affronts cast upon his word and his providence . the lord awaken all concerned herein , that we repent not when it s too late . ii. improve this antidote against apostacy the wofull issue of dreadful errors . lot him that doth stand , take heed lest he fall . let none therefore stand on his own strength . be we of pauls mind in studying christ , to account all loss and dung for him . be we found in him , not in carnal self ; stripp'd off our righteousness , and cloathed with his . let 's know him still more fiducially , more improvingly in the power of his resurrection , and in the fellowship of his sufferings , conforming to his death . this will hasten our pace to the resurrection that will make an end of sin and sorrow . we are not yet perfect but must press forwards with christian bearing and forbearing still . beware we brethren , lest in any of us be found an evil heart of unbelief , to make us depart from the living god. see to it with all care possible , that none of you come short of that grace of god , lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you , and thereby many be defiled . but exhort one another daily whilst it s called to day , lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin . and follow peace with all men in the pursuit of holiness , without which none shall see the lord. blessed are such peace-makers , especially in this dividing age , for they shall be called the children of god. about this blessed work of christian peace-making we design another piece , ( if the lord give strength and time ) to stir up all gods people thereto in this selfish generation , that we may all be effectually helped thereto , and preserved from the wofull delusions and divisions now so prevailing . be we all so much the more pressed to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and saviour jesus christ , to whom be glory for ever , amen . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a85988-e10 adag . arabic e●eg . erronibus sibi solis sapient bu● adaptatum . notes for div a85988-e360 deut. 8. 2 , 3 , &c. ezek. 14. 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. micah 6. 9. habac. 2. 2. esay 27. 6 , 7 , 8. psalm 30. 11. john ● . 9. psalm 126. 5. heb. 12. 11. esad 5. 3 , 4. &c. heb. 6. 7 , 8. esay 5. 5. matth. 13. 24 , 25. 2 cor. 2. 16 , 17. act. 4. 36. mark. 3. 17. phil. 2. 12 , 13 , rom 9. 16. * an eminent physitian , the son of the sun among poets . mal. 4. 2. 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. esay 64. 5. psalm . 37. 4 , 5 , &c. prov. 3 6. heb. 12. 10. eph. 6. 13 , 19. col. 4. 3 , 4. psalm 46. 1. 2 cor. 12. 9. notes for div a85988-e960 see mr. boltons arraignment of error ; danaeus , epiphan . august . hieronym . de heretic . &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . iohn 8. 44. iude 6. levit. 14. 44 , 45. deut. 28. 27. dato uno absurdo , mille sequuntur . cadmei proles , adag . veritas radicis , indicis & entis , apud scholasticos . errores quidom citra , alii circa , alii contra fundumentum . primi divertunt , secundi pervertunt , tertii subvertunt fidem orthodoxam . rom. 5. 12. 2 tim. 3. 8. rom , 6. 23. levit. 13. 29 , 30 , &c. see sleidan , cloppenburg , hornebeck , bulinger , luther , calvin , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . galen . providence affords in every country remedies suited to their maladies , and counter-poisons against their poisons ; witness the rattle-snake , and snakeweed of virginia and of new england ; the italian tora and antitora , &c. so hath the lord provided a sutable proportion of divine truths and helps to be duly applyed for effectual relief . notes for div a85988-e4710 gal. 2. 7 , 8 , 9. 1 pet. 1. 1 , 2. 2 pet. 1. 1. * c●nsult epiphan . august . athan. concil . laodicen . carthag●n . damascen . bed. centur-magdeb , &c. about it . verse 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . verse 11 , 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . verse 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ver . 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . see about them , euseb . socrat. epiphan . austin . ammian , marcel . v. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ver . 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ver . 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chap. 3. ver . 9. 10 , 11. verse 13. verse 14. verse 15. verse 16. verse 17 , 18. athenaeus l. 12. 2 pet. 2. 7. rom. 8. 7. rom. 7. 11 , 22. gal. 2. 19. 2c . 1 cor . 9. 2r ▪ 2 tim. 3. 15. 16 , 17 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2 , &c. iud. 1. to 19. mat. 24. 5. 11 , 23 , 24. luke 21. mar. 13. 1 ioh. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. psal . 58. 3. psal . 14. psal . 53. rom. 3. 11 , &c. ier. 17. 9. 2 tim. 3. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , impostors and prostigators , bewitching cheats . 2 thess . 2. 8 , 9 , 10. eph. 4. 11 , 19 , &c. mat. 24. 12. psal . 18. 2 thess . 2. 10 , 11 , 12. prov. 29. 1. psal . 2. 1 tim. 1. 8 1 cor. 9. 21. ier. 31. 33. ezek. 36. 27. rom. 8. 2. iob. 22. 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , &c. 2 cor. 5. 19 , 20. esa . 55. tit. 2. 11. 12. 13. psal . 91. 11 , 12 , 2 chro. 15. 2. prov. 3. 6. ioh. 10 27. eph. 5. 15 , 16. esa . 8. 20. act. 20. col. 2. 6 , 7. eph. 1. 22 , 23. 1 pet 2. 5 , 6. eph. 2. 20 , 21. ioh. 15. 5 , 5. mat. 24. mark 13. luke 21. 1 tim. 4. 2 tim. 3. iude 1 ioh. 4. col. 2. 19. heb. 6. 19 ▪ 20. eph. 6. 11 , 12. gen. 3. 1 , 4 , 5. mat. 24. eph. 4. 18 , 19. joh. 1. 11 rom. 16. 17. rom. 13. 3 , 4. &c. 2 thess . 2. 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. heb. 4. 2. 1 ioh. 2. 20. 28. psal . 42. 1 , 2. mat. 5. 2 , 3 , 4. 1 pet. 2. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. phil. 2. 13. eph. 6. 10. 1 thess . 5. 21. rev. 25. rev. 2. 5. mar. 4. 24. luk. 8. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 2. pet. 1. 12 , 13 , 15. la coz de la yégua no haze mal al pótto , proverb castigl . quae relinquntur in morbis , recidivas faci unt . hippocrat . ier. 17. 9. 1 pet. 1. 4. mat. 22. 14. 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , &c. 10. phil. 2. 13. esa . 64. 5. exod. 20. 24. ezek. 36. 37. 2 cor. 3. 5. acti agimus . 1 cor. 15. 10. rom. 11. 20. rev. 3. 19 2 thess . 2. 13 , 14. 2 tim. 2. 19. rom. 9. 11 , 16 , 23. rom. 11. 7. natura naturans nihil facitant loquitur frustra . 2 cor. 2. 15 , 16. 1 cor. 4. 7. eph. 4. 2 cor. 12. acts 20. 28. 1 pet. 5. 1 , 2. eph. 4. 11 , 12 , 13 , 14. heb. 13. 17. 1 thess . 5. 12 , 13. 2 tim. 2. 2. deut. 33. 10. read plato arist . seneca . plutarch , cicer . macro . histories of the western and eastern indies for proof hereof . mat. 24. 42. revel . 12. 15. prov. 29. 1. see euseb . socrat . sosomen . zonar . chal. carion . chron. center . magdib . baron . annal. history of turks . sarac . tartars . esay 34. 14. ierem. 7. 14 , 21. ierem. 26. 6. 9. ierem. 31. 18. 19 , 20. deut. 4. 9. &c. revel . 2. 5 , 14 , 15. rev. 3. 1 , 2 , 3. luke 19. 42. prov. 29. 1. 2 chron. 36. 15 , 16. 1 thes . 2. 16. a full relation of iames nayler and his comrades , is lately printed by mr. farmer of bristol . eph. 4. 18 , 19 , 20. jer. 6. 16. iohn 14. 6. heb. 10. 20. iob 32. 1 , 2. eph , 1. 18 , 19. ier. 4. 14. tit. 3. 5. acts 24 ▪ 16. prov. 4. 23. mat. 24. 42. mark. 13. 33 , 35 , 37. mark. 9. 20 , 26. psalm . 91. 10 , 11 , 12. 2 chron. 15. 2. act. 20. 28. eph. 6. 4 , 5. rom. 13. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 1 pet. 2. 13 , 14. tit. 9. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 tit. 2. 15. esa . 3. 7. a ruler is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a healer or repairer , to signifie his office from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , to bind , restrain , dress , fit and order . 1 sam. 2. 30. ezek. 22. 30 , 31. josh . 22. num. 25. 11. psal . 100. 30. exod. 32. 26 , 27. neh. 9. 27. neh. 13. 13 , 17 , 25 , 26. error , like the giant anteus , looses strength and life , by losing the ground , whence it was cherished . truth cannot lose heaven , and therefore prevails against earth . 2 cor. 2. 14. 2 cor. 8. 4. 2 cor. 1. 15. psal . 1. 7. eph. 2. 8. rom. 11. 6. eph. 1. 5 , 6 , 11. ioh. 1. 14 , 16. gal. 5. 22 , 23 , 1 ioh. 3. 9. ioh. 4. 14. ioh. 7. 37 , 38. 2 cor. 5. 17. eph. 4. 24. col. 3. 10. 2 pet. 1. 4. gal. 4. 19. 1 cor. 8. 1. 1 cor. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. phil. 3. 8 , 10. ioh. 172. esa . 53. 11. hos . 2. 19 , 20. affection and operation . rom. 1. 5. many choise tracts have been written formerly and lately about this excellent point : see among the modern , mr. perkins , dr. stoughton , mr. reynolds , and very lately that by mr. iohn ●all of london , upon 1 cor. 2. 2. and mr. shesfield , upon mala. 4. 2. iohn 8. 5. iob 22. 21 , 22 , &c. phil. 3. 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ▪ 1 cor. 2. 2. phil. 2. 6. heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ioh. 10. 30. prov. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joh. 5. 11. 19 , 21 , 23 , 26. ioh. 1. 14. 1 ioh. 1. 1 , 2. heb. 2. 16. mat. 1. 20 , 23. luke 1. 35. heb. 4. 15. 1 tim. 3. 6. 1 tim. 2. 5. esa . 53. 7. act. 8. 33. esa . 7. 14. esa . 8. 8 , 9. pro. 3. 1. in christo reperitur unio personales , non personarum , & unio naturarii , non naturalis . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , aliud & aliud , non alius & alius . in trinitate divinâ datur alius & alius , non aliud & aliud . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verè & perfectè . 1 tim. 2. 5. this dialect of gods word is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by the fathers , communicatio id●omatum . act. 20. 28. 1 cor. 2. 8. the humane nature being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first , was then made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . mat. 1. 21. psal . 45. 7 psal . 110. gal. 4. 4. heb. 5. 4 , 5. act. 5. 31. act. 3. 21 , 22 , 23. psal . 110. esa . 32. 1. esa 33. 22. phil. 2 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. esa . 53. 1 , 2 , 3. &c. rom. 1. 4. 1 tim. 2. 5. rom. 8. 33 , 34 , &c. psal . 110. heb. 1. 3 , 4. col. 3. 1. eph. 2. 5 , 6. rev. 3. 21. rom. 8. 33 , &c. heb. 7. 25. heb. 10. 14. esa . 53. rev. 13. 8. rom. 5. 8 , 9. luke 19. 10. heb. 7. 25. ioh. 14. 16 , 26. ioh , 16. 7 , 8 , &c. esay 53. 10 , 11. &c. iohn 10. 18. iohn 6 ▪ 28 , 29 , &c. 1 cor. 3. 20 , 21 , &c. isa . 53. 2. revel . 5. 5. revel . 22. 16. eph. 1. 22. psalm 36. 9. psalm 87. 7. mal. 4. 2. esay . 8. 18. heb. 2. 13. rom. 8. 28. iohn 13 13. eph. 2. 20 , 21 , &c. rom. 13. 14 , iohn 6. 1 co. 10. psalm . 73. 26. this sun of righteousness is to the life set forth , mal. 4. 2. by allusion to the soveraign influence of the natural sun , quickning all the world . 2 pet. 1. 4. phil. 3. 9 , 10. eph. 1. 19 , 20. eph. 2. 5 , 6. iohn 3. 8. deus non alligat suas manus . gen. 28. 11 , 12. acts 17. 28. 1 pet. 2. 9 , 10. amos 3. 1 , 2. psal . 144. 15. psalm 76. 1. matth. 13. 45 , 46. gal. 4. 9. 1 pet. 2. 5 , 6. psalm 138. 6. psalm 1. 6. rom. 1. matth. 25. ioh. 10. 14 , 15. eph. 3. 18 , 19. those countries which are nearest the sun , having most of him , abound most with precious minerals , gold , jewels , and pearls . 1 pet. 1. 12. 1 tim. 5. 21. eph. 3. 10. 2 tim. 2. 10. rom. 12. 9. rom. 11. 7. mal. 3. 16. 1 pet. 2. 7 , 9. the original is very emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . both these articles are very pregnant , and the abstract , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports honour , esteem , choiceness , &c. opera ad extra sunt indivisa . ioh. 5. 19 , 23. eph. 1. 4 , 5 , 11. col. 1. 12. 1 pet. 1. 2. 3. ioh. 13. 14 , 15. matth. 22. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. luke 14. forma dat esse & operari . hos . 2. 19 , 20 , &c. iohn . 17. 2 , 3. mal. 4. 2. iohn 8. 12. iohn 9. 5. ioh. 12. 36. 46. psalm . 19. the apostle in rom. 10. 18. alluding to the natural sun , wherein god hath pitched his glorious tabernacle , sets out the p●ogress of his gospel most elegantly , by the very words of the septuagint . thence some call the sun the natural apostle of the deity , shewing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rom. 1 19 , 20. to conviction , though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto salvation . that is of common nature , this of peculiar grace , mat. 11. 25 , 26. mat. 13. 11 , 12 , &c. pro. 16. 4. psal . 102. 16. eph. 3. 11. iohn 5. 17 , 19 , 21 , 26. eph. 3. 18 , 19. ioh. 16. 14 , 15. 2 pet. 1. 2 , 3. iohn 20. 17. eph. 1. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. iohn 1. 17. eph. 4. 11 , 12 , 13 , &c. col. 2. 18 , 19. 1 cor. 12. 4 , 5 , 6 , 14 , 15 , 21 , 22 , &c. eph. 4. 16. rom. 14. 19. iam. 3. 14 , 15 , 16. eph. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , &c. eph. 6. 15. rom. 14. 1. mat. 22. 39. iam. 2. 8. esa . 45. 22. 2 cor. 5. 18. can. 5. 10 , 11 , &c. rom. 7. 23 , 24 &c. ioh. 1. 14. 3 ioh. 5. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. ioh. 3. 33. the hebrew is very emphatical in hos . 2. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et loquar ad animum ipsius . god speaks to the heart then as to the purpose . ioh. 1. 16. ex cognoscente & cogn●●o fit unum . axioma . philosoph . can. 2. 16. can. 6. 3. gal. 5. 22. 23. esa . 45. 22. zecha . 12. 10. ioh. 1. 12. ioh. 10. 27. esa . 26. 3. ioh. 6. ioh. 1. 16. rom. 11. 36. 1 ioh. 3. eph. 4. 14 , 15. eph. 5. 2. 3. † amor meus crucifixus est , was his motto still . christ my love was crucified to crucifie all to me , and me to all but himself . zach. 12. 10 , 11 , 12. 1 pet. 2. 3. psal . 34. 8. psal . 119. 128. 1 thess . 5. 22. 1 ioh. 3. 7 , 8 , 9 , 24. 1 ioh. 2. 29. rom. 12. 1 , 2. 2 cor. 3. 18. iob. 42. gen. 18. 27. rom. 6. 21. in plutarch . diogen . laert. &c. 1 ioh. 5. 3. i am . 2. 8. rom. 7. 12 , 14 , 22. 2 pet. 1. 2 , 3. ioh. 6. 52 , 55 , 56. psal . 119. 92. eph. 6. 12 , 13 , &c. ioh. 20. col. 3. 10. rev. 2. 7. rev. 22. 1. 2. see plin. ioseph . solin . some such are in the west indies , fair and full of poison . see hackluit , purchas , acosta . pro. 6. 8. col. 2. 3. 1 cor. 1. 24. col. 2. 19. heb. 12. si christum discis , satis est si caetera nescis . si christum nescis , nihil est ; si caetera discis , was the choice saying of a choice christian . 2 tim. 3. 5. 1 cor. 13. 1 , 2 , 3. hos . 4. 1. 2 , 6. hos . 6. 6. esay 27. 11. iohn 3. 19. esay 5. 21. iohn 9. 41. prov. 26. 12. ierem. 4. 22. see history of the netherlands . luk. 12. 47 , 48. luke 13. 24. qui timidè rogat , docet negare . matth. 25. 24 , 27. 28. prov. 2. prov. 3. prov. 4. prov. 8. prov. 13. 4. prov. 20. 4. matth. 13 , luke 8. revel . 2. 5. 2 tim. 3. 5. prov. 26. 23. matth. 23. 27. las quentas en la mano y el diablo en el capillo . hisp . adag . 2 king. 17. 31 , 32 , 41 , &c. matth. 15. 9. iohn 4. 24. phil. 3. 5 , 6 , 7 , &c. 2 cor. 5. 16. see tit. livius flor. tacit. mal. 1. 8. gal. 6. 3. isa . 1. 12 , 13 , 14 , &c. isa . 66. 3 , 4 , &c. luke 17. 10. acts 4. 12. rom. 2. 32. rom. 3. 27 , 28 , &c. rom. 11. 6. secundum , non propter opera . psalm 62. revel . 2. 23. matth. 25 , rom. 9. 16. 2. cor. 3. 5. ephes . 2. 8. jude 4. 2 cor. 3. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. ephes . 2. 2 , 3. matth. 7. 21 , 22 , &c. ephes . 2. 2 , 3. 2 tim. 2. 26. 2 tim. 3. 13. 2 pet. 2. 13. 2 cor. 11. 14. 2 pet. 3. 16. 2 cor. 2. 17. 2 thes . 2. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 psal . 81. 11 , 12. isa . 50. 11. eccles . 7. 6. psal . 58. 7 , 8 , 9. psal . 55. 12 , 13. as caesar to brutus , tu etiam mi fili ? matth. 24. 24. ephes . 2. 12. iohn 3. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. psalm 14. psalm 53. rom. 2. rom. 3. matth. 18. 3. iohn 16. 8 , 9 , 10. rom. 7. 9 , 14. ierem. 23. 29. 1 pet. 2. 2. matth , 5. 6. heb. 2. 1 , 2. psalm 119. 11. luke 8. 15. ierem. 15. 16. micah 2. 7. iohn 6. 55. 56. iam. 1. 21. 1 pet. 2. 1. 2 cor. 7. 1. psal . 92. 12 , 13 phil. 1. 9. 2 thess . 1. 3 , &c. col. 1. 10. gal. 6. 10. gal. 5. 22 , 23. psal . 119. 18. can. 5. 10 , 16. can. 5. 2 , 4 , 5. mic. 6. 9. exod. 21. 6. ioh. 10. 26. psal . 45. 8. psal . 133. 3 , 4. can. 1. 2 , 3 , &c. psalm . 34. 8. 1 pet. 2. 3. can. 2. 5. psal . 73. 25. 1 cor. 2. 15. heb. 5. 14. 1 cor. 2. 15. heb. 5. 14 psal . 94. 19. psal . 139 ▪ 17. psal . 10. 4. psal . 45. 1 7. psal . 119. 52 , 55. psal . 78. 35. 39. psal . 106. 7. psal . 25. 1. col. 3 , 1 , 2. 1 cor. 11. 31. rev. 12. 1 , 2. gal. 5 , 24. gal. 6. 14. phil. 2. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. eph. 4. 2. rom. 12. 10. mat. 5. 44 , 45. 1 thess . 5. 14. 1 ioh. 3. 17. jud. 22. heb. 5. 2. heb. 12. 1 , 2. phil. 3. 12 , 13 , &c. psal . 119. 59. ier. 8. 6. eph. 4. 4. rev. 1. 4. 1 cor. 12 ▪ 4 , 5 , 6. rev. 3. 4. rev. 5. 6. zach. 4. 6. ioh. 3. 8. 2 cor. 5. 1 , 2. psal . 42. 1 , 2. psal . 84. 1 , 2. phil. 1. 23. rom. 7 23 , 24. psal . 139. 23 , 24. psal . 19. 12 , 13. psal . 116. 1. can. 1. 7. can. 3. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. psal . 73. 24 , 25. 1 ioh. 3. 14. 1 ioh. 4. 19 , 20 , 21 psal . 139. 22. psal . 119. 104 , 128. psal . 97. 10. iud. 23. 1 thess . 5. 22. 1 thess . 5. 16. phil. 4. 4. rom. 14. 17. 1 pet. 1. 6. 8. neh. 8. 10. 2 cor. 7. 10 , 11. rom. 12. 15. rev. 11. 3. mat. 5. ezek. 9. phil. 3. 12. isa . 26. 9. 1 tim. 6. 11. 2 tim 2. 2. 1 cor. 6. 18. 1 cor. 10. 14. heb. 6. 18. col. 1. 5 , 23 , 27. ●●●●eff . 5. 8. eph. 6. 1 pet. 1. 3. ie 1. 18. 12. esa . 57. 10. phil. 2. 12. heb. 11. 7. heb. 12. 28. prov. 28. 1. heb. 2. 10. heb. 12. 12. psal . 119. 139. psal . 69. 9. esa . 59. 17. ioh. 2. 17. tit. 2. 14. rev. 3. 19. 2 cor. 7. 11. gal. 4. 18. whether these faculties differ really , is not our business now to question . 1 cor. 2. 16. eph. 4. 23. phil. 2 5. 2 cor. 5. 14. phil. 1. 9. ioh. 16. 10. 1 cor. 11. 31. act. 23. 1. act. 24. 16. 2 cor. 1. 12. heb. 9. 14. heb. 10. 22. 1 pet. 3. 21. tit. 1. 15 , 16. rom. 6. 17. see an elegant emphasis , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the mold int● which ye wer● cast . psal . 24. ezek. 36. 26. lam. 3. 19 , 20 , 21. 1 pet. 4. 10. mat. 13 52. rom. 7. 21 , 22 ▪ 1 cor. 9. 24 , 25 ▪ 26 , 27 ▪ 2 cor. 10 3 , 4 , 5. 1 ioh. 5. 12. mat. 9. 13 , 14. primus gradus poenitentiae , cognitio peccati . mat. 5. 3 , 4 , 5. 2 cor. 7. 11. rom. 7. throughout . 1 iohn 2 12 , 13 , 14. esay 42. 3. matth. 12. 20. matth. 13. 44 , 45 , 46 ▪ iohn 5. 40. 2 cor. 5. 19. esay 55. mark 8. 34. matth. 16. 24. luke 9. 23. matth. 11. 28. iohn 6. 35 , 37 , 44. 2 cor. 5. 18 , 19. 1 cor. 1. 30. matth. 11. 24. luke 11. 12. luk. 15. 7 , 10 deut 29. 29. 2 king. 7. 3 , 4 , 5 , &c. 1 king. 20. 30 , 31 , 32 , 33. ioel 2. 12. 1 cor 15. 45. iohn 5. 21. iohn 10. 10. iohn 6. 33. iohn 10. 26. iohn . 5. 25. iohn 11. 25. iohn 8. 32 , 33 , 34 35. iohn . 6. 44. hos . 11. 4. esay . 55. 5 , 6. rom. 6. 17. 2 cor. 1. 22. gen. 6. 3. cant. 1. 2. esay 26. 3 , 4. mat. 5. 30 , 31. psalm 12. 2. luke 14. 26 , 28 , 30 , 33. rom. 8. 18. the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , signifies a most rational supputation , cast up by divine arithmetick exactly iohn 6. 35. 1 pet. 2. 2. isa . 66. 11 , 12. isa . 11. 3. psal . 51. 6 , 10. deut. 30. 6. ezech. 36. 26. ezech. 18. 31. gen. 32. 9. 10 , 12. zech. 12. 10 , 11. 1. sam. 29. luke 15. 2 cor. 7. 10 , 11 ▪ psal . 45. 10 , 11. 1 cor. 6. 19 , 20. gal. 5. 13. iam. 28. 1 pet. 2. 16. 6 matth. 22. luke 1● . nehem. 8. 8. esay 59. 17. psalm 45. col. 1. 12. 2 cor. 2. 14. 2 cor. 9. 15. 1 thes . 5. 18. revel . 4. 10. eph. 1. 3. psal . 104. 45. esay 55. 6. prov. 3. 6. exod. 20. 24. esay 64. 5. heb. 12. 25. mat. 10. 40. luke 10. 16. act. 3. 23 , 24. ioh. 6. 45. ier. 31. heb. 8. 1 ▪ iohn 20. 28. heb. 6. 1 , 2. ioh. 5. 39. 2 cor. 3. 18. 1 thess . 5. 17. 18. ezek. 36. 37. iam. 3. 16. ioh. 14. 14. 1 ioh. 5. 14 , 15. psal . 65 1 , 2. ier. 29. 11 , 12. prov. 18. 1. gen. 24 ▪ 63. mat. 18 19 , 20. mal. 3. 16. 1 cor. 12. pro 27. 17. eccle. 4 9. 11 , 12 1 cor. 10. 1 , 2 , &c. mat. 26. mar. 14. luke 22. mat. 28. 19 , 20. rev. 1 10. col. 3. 11. gal. 3. eph. 1. 23. eph. 4. 6. pro. 3. 6. rom. 8. 27. gal. 6. 10. mat. 5. 44. 45 , 48. psal . 82. 1 , 2 , 5. prov. 8. 15. 16. esa . 11. 9. 1 cor. 2. 2. 1 chro. 28. 9. 1 corh . 28. 2 , &c. 1 chro. 19. 1 , 2. &c. mat. 13. luke 1. 80. the iewish rabbeis tell great wonders of the mustard-seeds increase . hos . 14. ioh. 15. can. 2. 1 , 2. psal . 92. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15. psal . 1. 3 , 4. rev. 22. 1 , 2 , 14. rev 2 7. ier. 17. 7 , 8. psal . 23 1 , 2. esa . 5 5. 1. ezek. 47. 1 , 9 , 12. ioh. 15. dr. thomas goodwin in his christs growth . rev. 2. rev. 3. psal . 36. 9. 1 ioh. 5. 12. gal. 2. 20. col. 3. 4. eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3 , 12. ioh. 15. 6. 1 ioh. 2. 17. psal . 129. 6. psalm . 90. 5. esa . 37. 27. col. 2. 6. prov. 16. 4. rom. 11. 36. esa . 60. 21. esa . 61. 3. ioh. 15. 8. rom. 8. 28. mat. 25. 2 cor. 5. 14. rom. 1. 9. rom. 12. 11. 1 cor. 12. 1 , 2 , 3. &c. eph. 4. 2 , 3. &c. eph. 4. 11 , 12. &c. esa . 84. esa . 56. 5 , 6. exod. 20. 24. esa . 6● . 5. luke 6. 46. 1 sam. 2. 12. ierem. 17. 9. see rom. 7. psal 119. and other pieces of saints experiences lively anatomized . naturalists mention a strange creature , whose skin is as big at its birth as ever after , the internal substance filling it up by degrees , like a pouch ; a gracious soul is no such monster . iob 17. 9. eph. 4. 14 , 15. phil. 1. 9. prov. 4. 18. iob 17. 9. phil. 3. 12 ▪ 13 , 14. heb. 12. 1 , 2. 2 tim. 3. 13. matth. 13. luke 8. heb. 6. 12. heb. 10. 36. 1 tim. 1. 20. 2 tim. 2. 17. 2 tim. 4. 10. 1 tim. 4. 15. mat. 13. 45 , 46. prov. 2. prov. 3. 2 king. 4. 5 , 6. matth. 20. mark. ●0 . 46. mark. 8. john 7. matth. 15. 22 , 23 , 24. phil 3. 5 , 6 , 7 , &c. 1 cor. 3. 18. 1 cor. 1. 30. 2 tim. 1. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up and blow the coals ; to quicken the dying sparks , by an elegant metaphor . iob 23. 12. psalm 119. iohn 6. ierem 15. 16. heb. 5. 12 , 13 , 14. 1 pet. 2. 2. mat. 5. 6. acts 24. 16. 1 tim. 4. 7 , 8. heb. 5. 14. 1 cor. 9 25 , 26 , 27. eph. 6. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , &c. exod. 14. 26. mal. 4. 2. hos . 6. 1 , 2. deut. 32. 39. ierem. 51. 9. some diseases are called opprobria medicorum . 1 thes . 5. 22. 2 cor. 12. 14. 1 thes . 5. 21. phil 4. 5. 1 thes . 5 6 , 8. 1 pet. 1. 13. naturae pauca sufficiunt . senec. phil. 4. 11 , 12. 1 tim. 6 6 , 8 , 10. prov. 10. 22. matth. 24. matth. 25. mark 14. luke 21. 1 thes . 5. eph. 5. 15 , 16. col. 4. 2. matth. 25. revel . 16. 15. rom. 5. 12 , 13 , &c. gen. 6. 5. ier. 17. 9. psal . 14. rom. 3. 10 , 11. &c. mat. 1. 21. luk. 1. 72 , 73 , 74. gal. 3. 14. sublata causa , tollitur effectus heb. 5. 14. 1 cor. 2. 13 , 15. pro. 22. 3. pro. 27 , 12. 1 ioh. 4. 1 , 2. 1 ioh. 3. 3. rom. 8. 13. 1 ioh. 3. 7 , 8 , 9. sperma morbosum . eph. 4. 21 , 22 , 23 , 24. rom. 6. 4 , 5. col. 3. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. phil. 4. 13. 2 cor. 3. 5. 1 cor. 15. 10. 2 cor. 12. 7 , 8. psal . 103. 3. mar. 1. 4. ier. 8. 22. plin. solin . esa . 53. 5. jer. 17. 24. 1 pet. 2. 24. mat. 4. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , greater and lesser . psal . 105. 20. esa . 3. 7. a magistrate is a state-physician . esa . 20. 26. hos . 7. 1. hos . 7. 1. ier. 6. 14. ier. 8. 11. ier. 15. 18. ier. 51. 8. ezek. 34. 4. hos . 11. 3. the evangelists vary the phrase ; he would not saith one , he could saith the other ; he would not , he could not . mat. 13. 58. mar. 6. 6. mat. 17. 20. heb. 3. 18 , 19. psalm 95. 2 chron. 36. 16. till there was no healing . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sanatio . ier. 8. 22. esa . 57. 18 , 19. ier. 30. 17. 1 cor. 1. 19 , 21 , 24. ier. 8. 9. ier. 23. 22. exo. 15. 26. esa . 44. 20 object . answ . 2 pet. 2. 22. mat. 7. 23. luke 13. 27. ier. 2. 13. psalm 106. 8. ezek. 21. 27. hag. 2. 6 , 7. heb. 12. 26 , 27. iohn 1. 12. 2 cor 1. 22. ephes . 1. 13. ephes . 4. 30. rom. 4. 11. hipocrat . paulus . see galen . avicen . averroes . mesue . avenzoar , serap . reub . de gemm . and all modern physitians of all nations . 2 sam. 15. 11. phil. 3. 15 , 16. gal. 6. 16. rom. 14. 1 , 2 , &c. gal. 6. 1 , 2 , &c. 2 pet. 2. 1 , 2. iud. 3. 22 , 23. 2 tim. 3. 5. 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2. &c. tit. 3. 10. 2 ioh. 7. 8 , 9. 10. gal. 1. 8. about these see at large epiphan . augustin . euseb . socrat. concilior . tom. danaeum ; chamier . iunium . paraeum . simpsons history of the church . history of socin . anatom . of socin . cheynels trinunity . centuriat . magdeb. a testimony born to christ by the london ministers , with lyfords explanation thereof , &c. phil. 3. 10. mal. 4. 2 , col. 2. 9. iohn 1. 3. heb. 1. 2 , 3. heb 3. 4. mark 2. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. luke 6. 8. revel . 2. 23. ioh. 15. 24 , 26. rom. 1. 4. heb. 4. 6. iohn 20. 28. matth. 4. 10. iohn 10. 30. about this read beckmans exercit . against behmen . the history of familists : the answers to quakers by many godly ministers . hornebeck de anabapt . german . epiphan . de haeret . augustin . danaeum . bishop vsher of christs incar . &c. downames body of divinity , &c. heb. 2. 16. iohn 1. 14. heb. 4. 15. 1 tim. 3. 16. esay 53. 10. luke 22. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi grumosus sanguis largiter defluens . matth. 23. 46. so far as scripture teaches to allegorize , as galat. 4. it s very useful , so as still to retain the proper sence of the place . but to strain allegorles to the destroying of truth , is a dreadful wresting and wracking of scripture , all sorts of monstrous errors in every age. see epiphan . euseb . august . socrat. daneus . calvin . centur. magdeb. simpsons hist . of the church . chamier . panstrat . hornebeck de variis heretic . chemnit . exam . ames . bell. ener . anatom . of the mass by mornay ; anatomie dela messe , par mousieur du moulin . willets synops . perkins reform . catholick . iun. antibellarm . not. books against quakers . pagets heresiogr . mat. 26. 38. luk. 24. 39. act. 1. 9. 11. act. 3. 21. the seulicians of old shewe'd their enmity to christ , as modern noonists in faigning a distinctive dissiolution of christs humane nature . 2 cor. 5. 16. ioh. 6. 63. histor . concil . euseb . epiphan . augustine , baron . annal. gentur . magdeburg . chamier . phanstr . anat. of socin . histor of socin . iun. de trin. cheynels triunity , calvin . paraeus . esay 7. 14. heb. 1. 2. 1 tim. 2. 5. 1 iohn 5. 7. iohn 14. 26. iohn 15. 26. mat. 3. 17. phil. 2. 6. ioh. 1. 14. the schoolmen , mornaeus de veritate religionis christi , and many others are large on this subject , shadowing out this mysterie by similes , from mans intellect , from the sun , &c. about this read concilior . tom. euseb . danaeus . calvin magdeb. centur . simpsons history ; zonar . sleidan comment . bulinger . histor . david . george . pagets heresiogr . luther against enthus . hornebeck de haeret . cha●mier . panstr . 1 pet. 1. 21. rom. 8. 9 , 11. 2 chro. 13. 14. revel . 1. 4 , 5. 1 kin. 22. 22. mat. 18. 31 , 32. mar. 9. 29 heb. 6. 4 , 5 , 6. heb. 10. 27 , 28. 29 ioh. 5. 16. about these at large see hornebeck , danaeum , de haeret . paraeum , iunium , &c. anatomy of socinianism . ostorod . catech . cracov . &c. see bellarmin . concil . trident. becan , &c. chemnit . exam . chamier . panstrat . ames . bellar. enervat . willets synops . nouveaute du papism . pard . moulin . mysterie of iniquity by mornay , rainold , whitaker , fox monum . pagets heresiogr . see the quakers books and confutations . heb. 9. 22 , 23. heb. 9. 23. ons of the leapers cleansed , and the living and dying bird mentioned , levit. 14. 5 , 6 , 7. &c. and the two propitiatory goats , the one dying , the other escaping , lev. 16 , 7 , 8 , 9 , &c. ioh. 6. 53 , 63. heb. 7. 25. esa . 63. 3. lev. 16. 17. the grecians had propitiatory oblations by devoting of men , called therefore obominals to expiate for the peoples sins , the devil being still gods ape in counterfeiting and spoiling his worsip by humane inventions and mimical innovations among pagans and papists . luke 17. 10. god would have but one altar and one door , to which sacrifices should be brought , lev. 17. 3 , 5. * ier. 23. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the priests were to put ▪ off their own garments , and put on that sacred vesture which was to serve all the lords servants successively , typifying christs righteousness , comming into his special presence for acceptance and oblation . christs oblation is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the mercy-seat or propitiation that must cover our best duties and works . ier. 33. 16. the church being the spouse and body of christ , leaves her own name to borrow his . * 1 cor. 1. 30. * 2 cor. 5. 21. gods high priest alone was to enter into the most holy place to explate and intercede . about this read you may bellarmin . concil . tridentin . gratian. lombard . aquinat . becan . chamier . panstr . chemnit exam. ames , bell. enerv. willets synops . armachan . nov. bishop potter , bishop davenant , is hitaker , rainold . bishop iewel . jun. not. antibell . calvin . institut . luther in gal. &c. about this you may see davenant , wootten , bradshaw . burges , baxter , downam . quisquis domus partem super arena fundat , totius ruinam certò periclitatur ; ipsius etiam partis quae rupi videbatur affixa . heb. 10. 14 , 18. heb. 7. 12 , 23 , 24. 1 joh. 4. 2 , 3. totus christus salus nostra , adae ●uatum fidei objectum ; totalis obedientia christi , propitiatio adae quata ad illam complendam solutem . ioh. 10. 17 , 18 good works are well stiled via r●gni , non causa regnandi . you may see for this concilior . tom. bellarmin . baronii , annal. chamier . chemnit . exam. beckmans exerc . history of the church . calvin . contr . fanat . hist . of famil . hornbeck de haeret . authority , impartialty and infallibility , the properties of a supream iudge , belong only to the lord , the spirit , and to his word , heb. 12. 25 , 26. 1 cor. 10. 15. 1 cor. 5. 12. act. 15. 28. act. 16. 4. rev. 22. 18 , 19. 2 cor. 13. 12. gal. 2. 11. phil. 3. 12 , 15. heb. 12. 23. ioh. 15. 15. ioh. 20. 31. 1 pet. 1. 10 , 11 , 12. ioh. 1. 18. 1 ioh. 2. 20 , 27. ier. 31. 33. 1 thess . 5. 19 , 20 , 21. heb. 12. 25 , 26. mat. 10. 40. luke 10. 16. gal. 1. 7. 8. act. 3. 22 , 23. mal. 2. 7. eph. 4. luke 10. 16. 2 cor. 3. 18. for this read hist . of germ. anab. pagets heresiogr . danaeus de haeret . chamier . panstr . and supplem . the books against quakers . subject . to christ by thom. sheph. downam de antichrist , &c. rev. 19. 16. psal . 110. 1 , 2 , &c. luke 19. 27. esa . 33. 22. esa . 32. 1. 2. 1 cor. 15. 25. act. 15. 15 , 16. ezek. 21. 27. hag. 2. 6 , 7. 2 thess . 2. 3 , 4 , 7 , 8. 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. rev. 13. rev. 17. rev. 11. rev. 12. see to this purpose the several places against quakers , familists , by gataker , featly , rutherford , burges , baxter , farmer , the new-castle ministers , paget , baily , &c. beckmans exercit . baxter of the sin against the holy ghost . compare them with the relation given of the old valentinians , basilidians , gnosticks , carpocratians , &c. by epiphan . august . euseb . socrat. sozomen . theodoret. magdeb. centur. history of the church , &c. phil. 3 10. phil. 2. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. rom. 6. 10. the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is very emphatical , signifying the most rational way of deliberation and determination upon the due consideration of all things . this is the most divine arithmetick , and a sure computation . 1 cor. 12. 12. rom. 8. eph. 1. 22. eph. 5. 32. eph. 2. 20. 21. deus est circulus , cujus centrum ubique circumferentia nusquam , said the philosopher . act. 3. 21. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 emphatically signifies to embrace and retain . iohn 15. 2 , 3 , &c. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter vos , among you , as the same phrase imports , 1 pet. 5. 1. the elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among you . ephes . 3. 17. rom. 6. 3 , 4 , 5. col. 1. 27. 1 cor. 15. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. luke 24. 26 , about these you may see the many books abroad , discovering the mysterious designs of our opinionists ; by mr. baxter , the london ministers and others ; as also the many detections of jesuitick designs touched , by iesuitic . speculum , histor . iesuit . mr. prins books , hornebeck , some german jesuits converted , &c. 1 cor. 15. rom. 6. phil. 3. 9 , 10. 1 cor. 15. iohn 6. see for this chamier . calvin . anatom . of the mass , with the joint forces of our many writers . crede , & manducasti , was the famous axiome of st. augustin in this case . hereticks of old are thus set out by epiphan . augustin . ierom. irenaeus . cyprian . euseb . socrat. tertul . &c. see bellarm. concil . trid. becan . tolet. staplet . maldon . gordon . &c. confuted by chamier . panstrat . rainold . whitak . bishop iewel . downame . potter . morton . davenant . field . willet . ames . paraeus . calvin . luther . and multitudes of protestant writers . witness the many books by them and against them , besides their flying papers and daily speeches . beckmans exercit. erastus against paracelsus . zuinger . gesner . and others have particularly detected the sad affinity of behmens doctrine with paracelsus his chymical delusions ; mr. baxter in his late tract of the sin against the holy ghost , from pag. 146. 147. he gives direful hints of this . 2 tim. 3. 15 , 16 , 17. psalm 19. psalm 119. 2 pet. 1. 19 , 20 , 21. esay 8. 20. iohn 5. 39. 2 tim. 3. 15 , 16 , 17. 2 pet. 1. 19 , 20 , 21. 2 cor. 4. 3 , 4. prov. 6. 23. esay 59. 21. 2 cor. 2. 15 , 16. esay 8. 20. 1 cor. 13. 9 , 10. 1 tim. 4. 13 , 14 , 15 , 16. gal. 6. 3. 1 cor. 3. 18. heb. 1. 1. rev. 22. 18. 19. 1 cor. 4. 6. 1 tim. 4. 4. 1 tim. 4 7. tit. 1. 14. 2 pet. 1. 16. 2 tim. 3. 13. witness sprig . erbury . iohn sedgwick salmon . &c. see of this the writers formerly named , those also hinted by mr. baxter in his book of the sin against the holy ghost , with divers others sufficiently known . rom. 12. 16. 1 cor. 1 , 21. paul for instance in all his epistles . exod 20. 24. psalm 105. 4. esay 64. 5. prov. 3. 6. iob 42. 6. gen. 18 27. mat. 26. 30. mark 14. 26. a● . 16. 25. 1 cor. 14. 15. eph 5. 19 , 20. col. 3. 16. 2 chro. 29. 30. ezechias and the lords servants commanded that they should sing in the words of david & asaph . all men are bid and bound to serve god morally , that they may learn to serve him spiritually . psalm 33. 8. psalm 67. 3 , 4 , 5 , 7. act. 17. 30 , 31. ierem. 10. 25. psalm 14. 4. 1 tim. 4. 4. matth. 15. matth. 26. luke 21. mark 14. ioh. 4. 23 , 24. matth. 15 9. col. 2. 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23. see the full parallel thereof in the isle of man , by mr. bernard in the charge drawn against papistry . see mr. daille right use of the fathers . rivet . critic . censur . patr . perkins problem . and all our divines on that subject . many worthy pens have largely confuted all anti-sabbatarians , witness . dr. twiss , dr. baily , mr. palmer , and caudry , mr. shepheard , mr. lestrange , mr. white , dr. ames , mr. garter , &c. revel . 1. 10. exod. 20. 10 , 11 , 12. the particle ha , is not alwayes emphatical to notifie a particular ; & if it should be so taken here , it may notifie proportion , as well as order . as esay 56 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. exod. 31. 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , &c. levit. 19. 3 , 29 , 30. matth. 12. 8. heb. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. gen. 1. gen. 8. gen. 17. exod. 12. exod. 19. c. 20. exod. 30. exod. 40. levit. 9. levit. 9. 24. numb . 16. numb . 17. 1. iohn 2. luk. 24. iohn 20. 19. matth. 27. act. 1. act. 2. 1 cor. 16. 1. act. 20. 7. exod. 20. matth. 24. numb . 15. ezek. 22. ezek. 20. ezek. 23. nehem. 13. 17 , 18. exod. 31. 14 , 35 , 2. ierem. 17. 27. carnal protestants have learned of the paganish papists to profane the sabbath , making it rather diabolicus quam dominicus dies . like their pope sylvester , who commanded the alteration of it , & thursday to be observed in lieu thereof , as hospin relates , de fest . christ . witness afred , ivan &c. in saxon and english history by braiton , britton , fortescue , bacons history of english government . rom. 14. gal. 4. col. 2. the first and great blow given to the german churches was upon the sabbath day which they had so notoriously prophaned . on that day prague was taken by the papists many champions of truth have contributed much to this subject , as the former reformers and ancient fathers ; so of late , mr. burges , mr. rutherford , m. paget , mr. baxter , mr. cotton , mr. cobbet . mr. shepheard , mr. hooker , &c. gen. 1. 26 , 27. eph. 4. 23 , 24. col. 3. 10. ierem. 31. 33. ierem. 32. 39 , 40 , 41. ezek. 36 , 26 , 27 , act. 7. 37. matth. 5. rom. 7. 12 , 14 , 22. 1 cor. 9. 21. iam. 2. 8. ephes . 6. 1 , 2. gal. 2. 16. gal. 3. 10 , 11 rom. 6. 14. rom. 3. 25. rom. 5. 1. act. 15. iam , 2. 8. 12. rom. 7. 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25. worthy pains have been taken by many of late , as by our former reformed divines , by mr. bulkeby , mr. mr. cobbet , m. carter , mr. anth. burges , dr. owen , mr. blake , mr. baxter , mr. marshal , mr. norton , &c. whose lesser differences are composed with facility by the sober friends of truth and peace . gal. 3. 16. gen. 3. 15. act. 3. 37. gal. 4. 4 , 5. exod. 19. 20. deut. 26. 17 , 18. deut. 29. 10 , 11. psalm 89. 3 , 28 , 34. psalm 105 8. esay 59. 21. zech. 9. 11. psalm 106. 45. psalm 111. 5. ezech. 16. 60 , 62. mic. 7. 20 , 21. luk. 1 72 , 73. exod. 12. 48. matth. 5. matth. 26. 1 iohn 2. 7 , 8 , 9. 10. heb. 9 , 17 , 20 , 22. heb. 8 , 6 , 7 , &c. 1 cor. 3. levit. 13. 8. mr. hobbs in his leviathan and other books , hath many gross errors opposing this and other divine truths dangerously . the fathers of old , both greek , latin , and all reformed divines since have cleared this point to the full , being followed by many worthy pens in our age ; english and french , dutch and danes . the novelists follies have have been detected sufficiently also , formerly and lately . infant baptism in its purity , antiquity & right hath been fully made out , as by all former writers , so lately by mr. marshal , mr. blake , mr. baxter , mr. cobbet , dr. winter , dr. featley , dr. goodwin , mr. cotton , mr. sidenham . dr worth , and many others . 1 cor. 10. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11. matth. 15. 9. consult . sleiden , alling , hornebeck , bulinger , &c. for the particulas . deut. 26. deut. 29. 10 , 11. gen. 17. 7 , 8 , 10 ezek. 16. 20. matth. 19. 13 , 14 , 15. act. 2. 39. heb. 13. 8. 1 cor. 1. 20. gal. 3. 8 , 9 , 14. rom. 11. 16 , 17 , 20 , 23. exod. 12. 48. act. 16. 31. luke 19. 9. iohn 6. 44. about this subject you may see most of our protestant divines , as the fathers also against schism , as irenaeus , austin , &c. more lately have written dr. field , b. iewel , dr. willet , and within these few years the assembly of divines , mr. hudson , mr. hooker , mr. stone , mr. caudry , mr. cotton , m. baxter , &c. whose circumstantial differences are easily reconciled by moderate christians ; who strive for truth and peace , not for contentious victory . eph. 1. 23. 1 tim. 3. 15. eph. 4. 3 , 4 5 , 6. ezek. 11 , 19. iohn 10. 16. rom. 16. 17 , 18 , 19. 1 iohn 3. 3. 1 cor , 5. 7 , 8 , 9 , &c. cant. 6. 10. rom. 14. 19. psalm . 34. 14. heb. 12. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , follow hard after , as with hue & cry , with utmost diligence . augustin . propert . and many other fathers cleared this point of old . the reformed churches have afforded successively many champions thereto , as wickliff , bradward , calvin , zanch. paraeus , iun. chamier , twiss , pemble , &c. lately dr. owen , mr. baxter , mr. resbury , dr. kendal , dr. prideaux , &c. rom. 9. 11. eph. 1. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. rom. 8. 28. 1 pet. 1. 2. iohn 6. 70. rom. 8. 28. matth. 25. 12. eph 1. 5 , 11. the arminian distinction of gods antecedent and consequent will , is found insufficient to thei● scope , & cross to all divine attributes . 2 thes . 2. 13 , 14. rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. act. 13. 48. 2 tim. 2. 19. * the apostle , rom. 9. brings three signal instances of this great truth for a sure demonstration ; 1. in jacobs posterity , ver . 5. 6. 2. in abrahams seed , ver . 7 , 8 , 9. 3. in isaacs family , ver . 10. 11 , 12 , &c. to take off all mistakes , shewing the first absolute ground of difference between man and man , to flow from gods bosom , for ordaining the future state of all his creatures , according to the purposed pleasure of his wil. as for the execution or justice , or decreeing thereof , he delights not in the sinners death , but in glorifying of justice . 1 thes . 5. 9. rom. 9. 22 , 23. iude. 4. prov. 16. 4. rom. 9. 14 , 15 , &c. rom. 9. 19 , 20 , &c. iam. 1. 2 pet. 2. 1 iohn 3. rom. 11. 6 , 7 , &c. upon this text see mr. r. resburies elaborate lectures . dei voluntas rerum necessitas . august . de genes . ad liter . many choice pleces of this theme you may consult with , left by augustin , propert . bradward . calvin , luther , paraeus , zanch. twiss , chamier , molin , downame and many more ancient and modern . dr. owen , dr. kendal , mr. lyford , mr. resbury , &c. have taken off many sad mistakes herein , in their late writings against arminianism . see the writings about them . rom. 8 28 , 29 , 30 act. 20. 28. heb. 9. 22. rom. 5. 8 , 9 , 10. 2 pet. 2. 1. 1 tim. 4. 10. psalm 36. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salvabis . septuag . thou shalt save , answering the hebrew . rom. 8. 28. matth. 20. 15. rom. 11. 35. heb. 7. 25. luk. 19. 9 , 10. ioh. 10. 16 , 28 , 29 , 30. matth. 3. 5. col. 1. 23. iohn 1. 29. psal . 32. 32. iohn 6 33. 2 cor. 5. 19. 1 iohn 5. 19. iohn 17. 9. revel . 13. 3. iohn 14. 17. iohn 17. 25. 2 pet. 2. 5. he distinguishes the ●orld of the ungodly from the saved ones . matth. 5. 3 , 6. esay 48. 22. esay 57. 21. iohn 6. 37. act. 15. 18. 2 tim. 2. 19. it s no disgrace to the sufficiency of the sun , that so many blind eyes share not in its light. some are wilfully , all naturally , some judicially , many sluggishly blind in spirituals . all are born blind ; satan blinds further , some fall asleep , others wilfully shut their eyes ; some are offended , others judicially blinded ; there is no fault in the natural or spiritual sun , but in the creature : sin is from self , rom. 5. 1 cor. 15. 22. you may see largely on this subject augustin , epiphan . prosper , chamier , magdeb . centur. calvin , luther , chemnit . paraeus , zanchius , bradwardine , ames . dr. twiss , anatom . and histor . of socinian . trelcatium vtrumque , iun. theses , davenant , bishop jewel , rivet , hornebeck , de socin . willets synops . dr. owens display of arminians , &c. mr. ant. burges lectures . mr. downams system . mr. baxters rest . mr. perkins , hooker , shepheard , cotton , dr. preston , sibs , &c. see the books about them . gen. 6. 5. psalm 14 , psalm 53. ierem. 17. 9. psalm 51. 5. iohn 3. 3 , 5. 6. matth. 18. 3. eph. 1. 17 , 18 , 19. 2 cor. 5. 17. 1 iohn 3. 14. act. 26. 8. ezek. 36. 26 , 27. iohn 3. 3 , 5 , 6 , 7. rom. 2. rom. 3. psalm . 58. 3. eph. 2. 1 2 , 3 , 11 , 12. eph. 4. 17 , 18 , 19. tit. 1. 15 , 16. 2 tim. 2. 25 , 26. * act. ●4 . 27. act. 16. 14. gen. 6. 5. gen. 8. 21. the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that speech of god , appears to be not causal as many take it , but discretive , as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , etsi , although , aggravating mans sinfulness , as the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to import , 1 tim. 1. 13. where he doth not extenuate , but aggravate his sin . 1 cor. 16. 9. col. 4. 3. rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. iohn . 6. 37 , 44 , 45. ezek. 36. 2 , 26 , 27. ierem. 31. 33. ier. 32. 39 , 40. psalm 89. rom. 7. col. 3. hos . 2. 14 , 19 , 20. gen. 9. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the hebrew reads emphatically , god will efficaciously perswade japhet , enlarging the heart of gentiles towards christ ; il a hirera en douceur , as the french reads it . he will sweetly and surely draw them . thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persuadeo . revel . 3. 21. rom. 8. 7 , 8. rom. 8. 2 , 9. rom. 7. 25. necessity and liberty meet together in heaven , on earth , yea in hell itself . eph. 4. 24. 1 pet. 1. 14 , 15. matth. 13. prov. 4. 18. luke 13. mark 4. rom. 7. phil. 2. 13. eph. 2. 8 , 9 , 10. rom. 9. 16. iam. 1. 18. eph. 1. 6. men sin wilfully , though necessarily . it s a necessity conditional , not absolute ; it was contracted by a mans own fault ; it opposes not his liberty of choice ; whether in point of contradiction towards contrary acts ; willing or nilling : or of contrariety towards contrary objects good or evil . the sinner chuses evil in refusing good , willingly without constraint . gods decree infuses no evil into a man , nor his providence . psalm 58. 3. iob 14. 4. matth. 7. 16. luke 6. 44. iam. 3. 12. eph. 2. 1 , 2 , 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and partial acceptation of persons , forbidden of god , is to be found only in debitis and matters of duty , not in gratulties and things of free gift . about this truth , besides the fathers greek and latin , and our former reformed divines , you may consult with late writers , as dr. preston , dr. ames . dr. sibs , mr. bolton , dr. thom. goodwin , dr. ward , dr. twiss , bishop davenant , bl. morton , mr. hooker , mr. shepherd , dr. owen , mr. rutherford , mr. cotton , mr. burges lectures , mr. baxter , mr. gataker , mr. lyford , &c. sleidan , cloppenburg . becman , hornebeck , altingius , bulinger , &c. eph. 1. 3 , 4 , 5. tit. 3. 4 , 5. 2 thes . 2. 13. rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. iohn 6. 37 , 39 , 44 , 45. iohn 10. 27 , 28 , 29. iohn 17. 2. 1 pet. 1. 25. 2 thes . 2. 13. 1 pet. 1. 2 , 3 , 4. phil. 1. 19. phil. 4. 19. iohn . 1. 12. act. 13 48. iohn 10. 3 , 14 , 15. tit. 2 , 11 , 12. 1 iohn throughout . iohn 6. 37 , 38 , 39. iohn 10. 27 , 28 , 29. heb. 8. 2 sam. 23. 5. ierem. 31. 33. ezek. 36. 26 , 27. psalm 73. 23. 2 cor. 12. 9. 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , &c. tit. 2. 10 , 11 , 12. mirae gradationes in divina catena , & inseparabiles ! 1 a. decretorum rom. 8. 28 , 29 , 30. 2 a. virtutum , 2 pet. 1. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. 3a . officiorum , 1 thes . 5. 17 , 18. 19 , &c. 4 a. privilegior . 1 cor. 1. 30. 1 cor. 3. 21 , 22. 5 a. beatitudinum . matth. 5. 3 , 4 , 5. &c. omnes isti coelestes nexus sunt firmiter contexti , & nulla vi aut fraude dissolvendi . pendent enim omnes ab optimi maximi throne , & ipsius omnipotenti manu connectuntur & conservantur . 2 tim. 2. 13. rom. 8. 32. ephes . 1. 13. 2 cor. 1. 22. about this subject you may read much in all antiquity ; and among divines and civilians of late , especially in english you 'l find it handled exactly by mr. cobbet of new england in 1653. and much in scattered places among mr. baxters , and others works , and in the volumes of sermons preached before the parliaments since 1640. to this day . you may see about it our libertine school'd , lately published . rom. 13. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. 1 sam. 2. 30. rom. 13. 2 sam. 23. 2 , 3. exod 18. 21. nehem. 3. 5. 2 chron. 19. 5 , 6 , 7. esay . 49. 23. ierem , 30. 21. their queries and objections you find answered in our libertin school'd briefly , more largely in other authors . rom. 13. 2 , 3 , 4 , 5. prov. 8. 15 , 16. esay 8. 20. 2 pet. 1. 19 , 20 , 21. 2 tim. 3. 15 , 16 , 17. 1 tim. 1. 13 , 14. tit. 3. 3. act. 26. 9. 1 pet. 2. 20. 2 ki●g . 17. compared with 2 king. 19. esay 49. 23. revel . 13. revel . 17. this theme hath been frequently and fully handled in all ages , and in ours by the assembly of divines , the ministers of london , by mr. shepheard , mr. hooker , mr. rutherford , mr. gilespy , mr. norton , mr. cotton , &c. who harmoniously agree in the substantials , though they sometimes vary in circumstantials of order ecclesiastical . mal. 2. 7. num. 16. num. 17. num. 31. 30 , 47. num. 35. 2 , 8. gen. 49 7. deut. 33. 9 , 10. their scattering was for the publike good . deut , 12. 19. ezek. 44. 28 , 29 , 30. 2 chron. 36. 15 , 16. 2 chro. 30. 22. ezek. 48. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. this prophesie from the 40 th . chapter of ezek. is evangelical , though set out by mosaical expressions , as the whole scope demonstrates , & expositors harmoniously agree . 2 chron. 36. 15 , 16. see josephus his antiquity , and of the iewish wars . iohn 2. 14 , 15 16. matth. 21. 12. luk. 19. 45 , 46. luke 9. 1 , 2 , &c. luke 10. 1 , 2 , &c. eph. 4. 10 , 11. eph. 4. 11 , 12. 1 cor. 12. 28 , 29. act. 20. 28. matth. 28. 18 , 19 , 20. ioh 20. 22 , 23. heb. 13. 7 , 17 , 24. 1 pet. 5. 1 , 2 , 3. revel . 2. and chap. 3. 2 cor. 5. 19. 1 cor. 4. 1. 1 thes 5 12. act 14. 22. 1 tim. 5. 17 , 22. 2 tim. 2. 2. tit. 1. eph. 4. 13 , 14. revel . 1. 20. revel 11. about this you may see much in smectymnuus , in wa●o messalinus , in salma sii libro de primatu papae ; in the london ministers , jus minist . & presbyt . in gilespie a-aarons rod blossoming ; where the fathers , as iren. iustin . tertul. austin , ierom , &c. are quoted to your hand . see also centur. magdeb. calvins institut . all our divines about church-order . myster . inquit . morn . &c. revel . 13. revel . 17. 2 thes . 2. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. 1 tim. 4. 1 , 2 , 3 , &c. revel . 11. revel . 12. revel . 13. revel . 17. bishopvsher de antiq . & success . ecclesiar . centur . magdeburg . catalog . test . veritat . myster . inquit . morn . histor . of the church . chemnit . exam . field of the church . iewels apolog . whitaker , rainold , ius divinū . minist . evangel . fox . monuments . spelman de christ . relig. in britan. isaak's chronology , speed , &c. voet. desperata causa papat . pag. 405. the romish usurpations were vigorously opposed in england from time to time , witness eademer , hist . nov. selden , speed , &c. 1 pet. 5. 2 , 3. 1 thes . 2. 7 , 8. heb. 5. 4. rom. 10. 13 , 14 , 17. ierem. 23. 21 , 22 , 32 , 38. ierem. 29. 31. numb . 16. 1 king. 12. 30 , 31. 1 king. 13. 34. 1 tim. 3. act. 14. 22. 1 tim. 5. 22. matth. 10. 40. luke 10. 16. matth. 24. 2 tim. 4. 3 , 4. ierem. 23. 32. 1 king. 17. 18 1 cor. 9. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , &c many choice pleces are extant of this subject by the ancient and modern in all nations ; about these see picus mirandula , perkins , mr. gauls magastromanier . & spanhemius , &c. cornelius agrippa himself , once a great friend hereto , saw at last the great danger thereof , and discovered it to others . heb. 1. 2 , 3. amos 3. 6. god● not the author of sin , though active about sin in his decree and execution . therein he acts 1. as the supreme mover , man as the proper subject : 2. god as the author of nature , man as a moral agent . 3. god by a pure rule , man against rule . gen. 50. 20. act. 4. 20. matth 10. 21. esay 47. 12 , 13. deut. 18. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. 2 king. 17. 17. ierem. 14. 14. ezek. 12. 24. ezek. 13. 6 , 7 , 22. act. 16. 16. the chief hereticks who troubled the church most in all ages , have been great promoters of this black art , as manes the priscillianist , the simonians , menandrians , marcionists , mark confuted by irenaeus . &c. the laws imperial , ecclesiastick and municipal have been zealous in all ages against it , both among the sober pagans and all christians . the notorious lyes and impostures of the prime astrologers stand on record in history . tully shews how horribly they cheated pompey , crassus and caesar . alapide upon act. 19. declares their horrid deceits in rome . see their lives in print by several authors , and many histories to that purpose in the records of all nations and ages . iob 9. 9. iob. 38. 31. amos 5. 8. if the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coeli may have a little influence upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corporis , it hath less upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ingenij , if any , least of all upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rationis in such a multiplicious variety of millions of men in all places and ages . how great then must needs the uncertainty be , and how fallacious the conjectures , that poor sinful worms below are put upon by judicial prognosticks from thence ? woful was the catastrophe of ahab and iezabel , balak and ahaziah , haman and belshazzar harkning thereto . in malach. 4. 2. christ is elegantly compared to the sun to set forth his divine perfections , represented to the life by that abstract of natures wonder in its essence and attributes , properties and effects , accidents and adjuncts . thus a spiritual use may be made of the caelestial bodies , besides the natural and moral . but that horrid abuse of their lying vanities , and jugling impieties , who pretend to divine future events of contingent affairs and humane transactions , hath been still branded as the servant of satan . the commendation given to the ancient magi or wise men by caelius albertus , and other learned men , hath no colour of plea for our divining astrologers what was commendable in the chaldaean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as in the grecian and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for natural and moral philosophy , should not patronize any juglers tricks , or satanical divinations . the chaldaeans and phenicians had opportunity to learn much from ioseph , moses , daniel , david , solomon , and the other wise men of judea ; which the most of them corrupted , and so transmitted to the greeks and romans , rom. 13. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. esay 8. 19 , 20. what is objected by some from the star observed by the wise men , matth. 2. is impertinent to this purpose . that case was transcendently extraordinary , and miraculous in every part thereof , as all learned commentators observe . the star it self was of a nature , motion , appearance , seat and rest quite different from all the caelestial stars . the persons being wise chaldaeans surnamed magi in those eastern countries , had been instructed by many prophesies of the messias coming at that season and of his star. besides balaams prophesie , numb . 24. 17. of great repute with them ; they had the sybils oracles , particularly that of sybilla erythraea which writ very plainly of christs birth and life . they had especially the iewish instructions received from daniel and others successively , and most especially the greek translations of scripture very frequent in all those parts , which foretold plainly the time , place and all circumstances of his coming , which was then generally expected , not by the jewes only , but by all nations also who minded oracles and prophesies . cicer. 2. lib. de divinatione , calcidius platonicus in timaeum platon . and divers others both of the gentiles and iews give pregnant testimony thereof . hence the inquisitive greeks had received so much of scripture-truth , which they disguised under multiplicious fables ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , was apollos oracle . 1 cor. 10. 12. phil 3. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , &c , heb. 3. 12. heb. 12. 15. heb. 3. 13. heb. 12. 14. matth. 5. 9. rom. 16. 27.